Upon entering the briefing room, Closure stood up and gave a wide smile to welcome him back with. Soon after sitting down, Ace filled her in on the situation, which left the chief engineer rather wide-eyed before she pulled at her face and groaned in annoyance at the fact they now had to deal with Laterano officials after wrapping up their little incident.

"Kal'tsit's going to chew us to a pulp…" Closure whined before gazing at Evan. "I know you had no control, but seriously, do you have any idea how much trouble you are? Well, whatever…maybe we need to set some boundary rules, and sign you up for basic combat training. Though, good job for not giving into their demands and being somehow agreeable enough to not land yourself in the deep end. That at least is commendable."

"Well, where I come from, you generally don't fight back. Just let the officials handle it."

"Yeah, that's not gonna fly here," Ace cut in. Once he had their attention he flatly said, "Rhodes Island is in an odd, but not uncommon, position where its employees are encouraged to act in tough situations. This can be chalked up to unfavorable bias from officials to downright corruption as we commonly deal with the infected. Even basic non-combat operators need training in how to handle a tough situation due to this. While what happened today was a freak accident and misunderstanding, it can be the norm at this company."

"Wow…talk about complicated…though, I will admit that seeing what Rhodes does, I wouldn't mind learning some basic training."

At this, Ace grinned and said, "Good attitude, I'll help arrange for some sessions once we get back onto the landship."

Closure gave a sigh of relief then turned to the smart screen in the room, upon which it lit up to show the profiles on Mostima and Fiammetta., "Alright, now onto the next order of business. Now, we actually have a good amount of data on Mostima, on account of her being a member of Penguin Logistics. Yet, despite our general knowledge, a lot of unknown remains. So some basics, while she is a PL messenger, she is also a Nuncio, which is what complicates things some. Nuncio's…" Closure stopped to start pulling up the general information. "...are actually rather unique. A Nuncio is a special type of messenger who answers directly to the Laterano faith. Conceived by the current pope, they're politically neutral messengers meant to exchange information between different political factions. If two cities allied to different nations need to communicate, they typically use Nuncios. Mostima, however, is by far the most complicated Nuncio we've ever come in contact with."

"She's also crazy destructive with her staves and arts," Ace chimed, interrupting Closure who happily lended Ace the limited floor. "In tests, her power with arts can reach destructive capabilities that allow her to be filed under the class of Top Operator, which is only second to Elite, in fact many Elites are also considered Top Operators due to the fact they alone can turn the tides of battle or provide an extreme tactical advantage no one else brings. In Mostima's case, not only are her arts destructive beyond belief, but they're unique in that they're one of the rarest form of arts, Temporal Arts."

Evan nearly did a double take before stammering a little to address his thoughts, "T-Temporal arts?! Like she can control time?! Ok, that's just straight up magic. That would violate so many laws of physics…"

"Ok, now I'm curious, which laws might it violate?"

"Laws of entropy, things can usually only happen in one direction in time, in the normal case, that's forward. Also likely breaks some laws of general and special relativity. Normally, only objects moving at the speed of light or near, or objects in gigantic gravitational fields can experience time distortion capable of what you're probably talking about."

Silence followed briefly before Ace turned his head and asked Closure, "You want to translate that?"

"...Don't put me on the spot like that, but what I think he's saying, only crazy fast or crazy…heavy things can do that as far as his knowledge goes…"

"More or less, but I mean like, cosmically heavy, that some things taken from such an object would weigh as much as a mountain in a simple spoon."

"...What…?"

"We're getting off topic, so, Mostima's staff…" Ace awkwardly said, trying to redirect their attention.

"...Yes, Mostima's staves…I'm not an expert in the field of arts, but they're strange artifacts that allow her to cast temporal arts. One is known as the Black Lock, which is capable of halting time, however briefly. The other is the White Key, capable of...well, we're not entirely sure. The best result the tests could give was it alters the flow of time, but we're not entirely sure. According to Kal'tsit who conducted the tests, if Mostima had used the full extent of her power, it would be capable of leveling Rhodes Island."

"Now when you say level…"

"We mean the landship could have been flattened, not figuratively, literally. Whatever the Lock and Key are, they're some terrifying power, the only saving grace is that power takes a while to build up and channel," Ace commented as though someone carrying around a WMD was a normal occurrence.

"And amazingly, that's all we know, but we have been told by Mostima herself, we're perhaps the third party that knows anything about her to this extent. The other two can presumably be Penguin Logistics and the Laterano big wigs. Then there's her overseer," Closure commented while pulling Fiammetta's profile again. "While Fiammetta isn't registered in any capacity in Rhodes Island, she is frequently seen accompanying Mostima with frightening regularity. Oh, right, Mostima has a weird tendency to vanish and is nearly impossible to track down. She sort of comes and goes as she pleases, which makes Fiammetta the only one we know of capable of tracking her down consistently. Anyways, Fiammetta is a Notarial Hall Elite, and we only know this because Executor, our chief Notarial Hall official on the island called her such. Everything else is in Laterano, and they aren't willing to give us so much as a scrap of blank paper if the situation doesn't warrant it."

This was a lot to take in, and now that Evan saw this was all they had to say about the two he would be meeting, he felt a few questions should be asked, just in case.

"So, should I assume that telling them about my…" Evan glanced at Ace briefly. "Origin is to be avoided?"

"You mean the fact you're from another world?" Ace asked casually. "Sure, avoid it, but that information is ultimately yours to disclose. Even though it is under clearance, it does not mean Rhodes Island is capable of controlling what you share. For instance, all Elite Operators' birthdays, such as my own, are classified information. This does not stop us from sharing it openly, but by keeping the information under lock and key, it means its only avenue is by word of mouth. As for what I'll advise, unless Mostima threatens to level the whole city plate, I'd personally rather not tell her. As it stands, she's not bound by any contract to Rhodes Island save for her own whims, which can be fairly fickle as far as we know. The only reason she's in the combat operator database at all is because she chose to register."

"Look," Closure cut in. "What we're trying to say is, this is all we know we can give. Whether or not you trust them is up to you. We're not going to tell you how to interact with them, but we're not going to let you go uninformed. Now go wash and rest up, we'll take you to the meeting point tonight, but don't lose sleep over it. If Notarial Hall really wanted you, you would be halfway to Laterano by now, that's all I can say for sure."

Normally, LGD meetings with the chief were very tense, but there was a pattern to them usually, especially when considering official topics that became recorded and archived. One could always point to an instance of written data to have it processed if they needed to verify whether an action was warranted.

Then there was whatever tomfoolery Swire had found herself in, sitting with Ch'en in the office of Chief Wei, discussing the potential disaster that had just occurred and may have occurred.

And boy did she not like what she was seeing in the eyes of the chief and his niece.

Ch'en was simply looking down at her lap, eyes swirling in thought as she tried to salvage the situation in scenarios in her mind. The chief himself wasn't much better as he simply stared beyond the realms of human ken. Scheming something up in his mind to the same end Ch'en was thinking: How were they going to 'fix' the situation with Notarial Hall?

Swire may have a rather lax work relationship with Ch'en herself, but not even she felt comfortable enough to so much as whisper to the dragoness. No, this is a look on Chief Wei, she had seen on her grandfather when he was thinking about how to handle his next political endeavor. A deep unsettling feeling swirled gently, but she shoved it down, opting to wait for orders rather than comment.

Suddenly, Wei sighed and clasped his hands together in front of him, moving to gaze at the two before saying, "There's no way out of this…if we try to make any premature moves it gives Notarial Hall full excuse to treat it as an act of aggression. After that, there's too many bad roads to risk taking. Even if we're right to be suspicious, all of our connections rooted to Laterano may grind to halt. That's a risk I'm not willing to take…"

"Then…" Ch'en primed before slowly re-affirming, "We aren't going to do anything?"

"Well, on the contrary, you could send some public guards, increase patrols, but nothing drastic. If you mobilize a significant portion of the LGD on this issue, it will only serve to damage us in the long run. Best to keep it small and have faith Rhodes Island and Notarial Hall work out their own issues. Personally, I think it would be best to let Rhodes Island and Notarial Hall work their own issues out."

"But what about Evan, what if they're trying to use him!" Ch'en tried to argue, only for Wei to raise a hand and give a sharp glare to his niece.

"Evan, does not warrant a response. He is not an asset of Lungmen save for a minor business partner. I don't know what's so hard to understand here, but if we act secretly or too openly, we lose an important piece."

"Evan's not a piece to be bargained with!"

"Ch'en, please cease. You're letting your emotions speak above your duty," Wei warned, which to Swire's shock, shut the argumentative dragon up immediately. Ch'en shut her mouth and settled back in her seat, although Swire could see some stress around the knuckles.

"As I said, if we act, we lose. I don't like it any more than you, but our best option is to wait and hope this blows over."

"...As you wish, Chief Wei…" Ch'en struggled to affirm before standing up and leaving. Swire followed shortly after. Upon catching up with the Superintendent who was walking at a rather brisk pace, Swire decided now was the time to ask what that weird atmosphere was about, though she had a guess. Sadly, she had to make physical contact to get her attention by placing it on her shoulder. At this, their gazes met after the dragoness whipped her head around to meet Swire's with her slits closed dangerously.

"What was that all about? I thought we were going here to report the incident, but you're acting like something's not right."

"Maybe if I could get some space to think, I could sort this out."

"And do what? Disobey Chief Wei's direct orders and wisdom? That could put your career in jeopardy!"

"He's not going to fire me from the LGD, you know that."

Swire blinked a few times, a reminder dawning on her that Ch'en either didn't care or didn't know about Wei's true plans for her. Seriously, it had been obvious since they were little, and another more envious part took root. Swire bared her fangs and soon after a slap rang out and a brief searing pain shot through Swire's palm.

"Will, you, get, a, grip! Do you have any idea who you are?! And don't tell me you're Superintendent of the LGD, second in rank only to Chief Wei. What is it you're trying to accomplish, to prove with this insufferable game you force everyone around you to play?!"

Ch'en couldn't seem to process and simply seemed stunned, Swire nearly primed her hand for another round. That was, until footsteps sounded and Fumizuki came running into the hallway. She saw the two and immediately regained posture before calmly walking over.

"What happened? Is everything alright?"

"Clearly not, look at her. One little slap and a criticism and she shuts down!" Swire said before snapping a couple fingers in front of Ch'en. That was when a simple plop sounded from the floor, and her initial train of thought halted. With eyes that now reflected her own visage with their glistening tears, Swire backed away and watched as another streaked down.

"Miss Swire, you should leave immediately, I'll handle this from here."

She obeyed, stepping away to watch as Fumizuki wrapped an arm around Ch'en and dragged her to an isolated room. Yet, she didn't leave immediately. She just stood there for a bit, watching where the two had left her line of sight before realizing herself that she was producing some of her own fluids in response. This was quickly hidden by her tougher mask and she gave a 'tsk' before striding over to the elevator.

Meanwhile, Fumizuki sat Ch'en down in a chair and gently moved her hands along the girl's arms before silently squeezing her palms.

"It's ok dear, we're alone, everything will be fine."

Ch'en shook her head, too broken to speak at the moment. In response, Fumizuki began rubbing her palms.

"Let it go, you can tell me. You don't have to, but I'm here. I will always be here."

The dam broke.

Ch'en's face scrunched up, finally caving and a sniffle sounded before she started simultaneously sobbing and speaking, "How can you say that? After all that's happened, how could you ever believe the words coming from your mouth."

"Because, no matter what, I will never leave you. I know it's hard, and you've been so strong. I'm very proud to call you my niece, but even the strong need their time to let go and rest."

"It's not fair."

"I know…but I'll be here, a shoulder for you to lean on whenever you need it. I will be the ears you can whisper all your secrets to, no matter how embarrassing. For now, you've earned the right to let go."

Ch'en wrapped her arms around Fumizuki and she gently patted the lung's back tenderly. Small waves and oscillations slowly but surely calmed her down, and she hummed a soft Higashinese tune she sang to a much younger Ch'en, and still would should the poor girl let her. For a while, they were in their own world, aunt and niece, or perhaps mother and daughter if one stretched the definition.

"I must admit…" Ch'en muttered into her shoulder. Fumizuki gave a hum to affirm she was listening. "I was quite happy yesterday. Being a dress up doll was embarrassing yet thrilling, walking through the parks with people I know brought me hope, and the finballs under the lamp were delicious. For once, I thought I could allow myself one day, one day, and Evan payed the price for it."

"That's not true, I don't believe he blames you."

"No, but I would understand if he did…"

"Don't say that, Evan's a smart man, he knows it wasn't your fault."

"Why does it feel like it is?"

She wanted nothing more than to simply sigh, to curse her husband's name into the poor girl's ear. Ch'en didn't deserve any of her fate, but sadly it was the hand fate had dealt the poor child.

"Dearest niece, you're not a burden to anyone. Please, forgive yourself."

"But will Lungmen forgive me?"

She instinctively hugged her tighter, but then she was pushed off and she saw that look in her eye.

"You didn't take your medicine, did you…"

Carefully, she moved to try peeling off what clothing she could, only for Ch'en to grab her wrist.

"What difference does it make? One dose regardless, my fate's sealed in the end…"

For once, she had no response. She knew, deep down, Ch'en was right. Her husband still denied it, but she knew too. She wanted nothing more than to hug her again, whisper comforting words into Ch'en ears, but she knew the words just spoken rang true, and they struck like thunder. Even if they had years ahead, maybe decades if they were lucky, it would all come to the same result for Ch'en, one way or another. Fumizuki wanted to cry, for Ch'en's sake she wanted to show how much it hurt her too, but something deep down told her not to.

"You should have a child with uncle, it'll be a much better heir than I."

"No…"

"I don't think I could bear it, watching you grow old and alone while I slowly wilt away."

"No."

"I don't even know where she is, who she even is anymore, maybe…"

"No!"

She finally got her attention back.

"Ch'en, whatever you do, do not give up on yourself. You deserve answers, a chance to face your fate, a chance to end this cycle of suffering. You don't have to be your uncle…but…"

"I know, even back then I knew the choice was mine…" Ch'en replied before giving a sigh and looking out the window over Lungmen. "I thought I could do something with my life, but in that pursuit I may have wasted it."

"You still have years, you still have time."

"Time or no, it doesn't change the fact I'm infected."

The first sight to greet him upon entering the World's End, was chanting from the more rowdy and eccentric as the gangster penguin chugged an entire bottle of whisky in one go while standing on the table. He watched, a little bewildered, as the penguin refused to spill a single drop while glugging down the burning liquid, all the while everyone but Texas was chanting the same word, chug.

"It's ridiculous, I don't know what she sees in them," Fiammetta spat from next to him after he closed the door. "Mostima's likely in the back. Come on."

He obliged and they walked over to the back room of the tavern where the blue girl was rummaging through the liquor while humming a cheerful tune. While she didn't make any gesture to notice them, she spoke anyway.

"What do you think? Hard liquor on the rocks or a nice relaxing beer?"

Evan looked to Fiammetta, hoping to receive guidance, only for her to simply glare, or look, he couldn't tell the difference with her harsh gaze, always active. Thankfully, the target of her stare was Mostima.

"What do you think, Evan? Heard you're surprisingly knowledgeable, making drinks and all."

"Pass me a beer, it's been too long."

"You betcha, catch!"

He caught it, somehow knowing Mostima would throw the beverage, or her first instinct would be to. Contrary to his earlier meeting, he felt rather relaxed right now. He couldn't tell why, but while the subject seemed as though she were nothing but air, he could still feel her presence.

Really, it was a weird feeling.

"Sorry about making a scene back there earlier, kind of got a little worked up. Also, I had to make a point."

"What kind of point?"

At this, Mostima flashed a grin which coincided with the pop of her own beer and she pointed the beverage towards Fiammetta. He gave a brief 'ah' in response, and that's when something unusual happened. He suddenly saw the image of Ch'en moving to strike Fiammetta and remembered why Mostima had been forced to use arts. Completely understandable reaction to someone you care about being threatened.

Hold up.

His eyes widened and Mostima herself finally stopped chugging her beer. She gave a satisfied breath then said, "Been a while since I had something this good."

He could imagine, beer could be rather tasty, but he hadn't opened his and he knew somehow what she was talking about. Then, a small flavor profile briefly existed on his tongue and he finally realized something, that's when Mostima's eerie smile appeared, wider than ever.

"Feel that? That's how I knew for sure you were the anomaly. While I needed arts to enhance it, and still do to complete the connection, this marks the first time in years I've felt what you're feeling right now."

Yeah, it was almost like she could pick up, oh what was the word? Wait, he knew this word, but then he stopped himself and gave a bewildered gaze to the fallen angel.

"Would you mind explaining what it is you're going on about?" an impatient liberi finally butted in.

"Oh, easy, you know that weird thing sankta have where they can…sort of vibe with each other through low grade telepathy? Yeah, somehow I have an avenue to do that with Evan here."

Mostima took a sip for dramatic effect as Fiammetta's jaw dropped and her eyes snapped to Evan. Understandable too, since…

"Oops, gotta cut the connection, can't have you peering much into personal thoughts."

And just like that, Mostima seemed nothing more than air, and he no longer felt her presence linger.

"Alright, now I have more questions than answers, what do you mean you can make a connection with him?!"

"It's pretty simple, basic telepathy arts. Buuuut, that might be because he has the same…feel as the anomaly the staves picked up. Beyond that, I really know nothing, so Evan, feeling generous enough to share, or do you want to keep your secrets?"

"How about you give me an explanation, you still haven't told me what you mean by 'anomaly', which doesn't tell me much other than what you want to hear from me."

"Fair enough," she said with a shrug before taking a preparatory sip. So at the start of March, the staves picked something up, or reacted. Couldn't tell which, but two signatures came from it." Another sip was taken. "One was the signature of something powerful, like world-bendingly powerful. The second, upon examination, was your telepathic signature. Honestly, it sort of threw me off, considering I'm a fallen sankta and am cut off from having a telepathic connection with my kind. Either way, I made notes and it pointed towards Lungmen. Before I could go ask the boss what was up, Fia here files a full report straight to Notarial Hall."

"Someone had to."

Mostima gave a 'see what I mean?' smile before taking another sip.

"Anyways, we wait for orders and suddenly my next mission from the head honcho of the church is to track down this anomaly that literally rippled through time and halfway across Terra no less. So, only recently did I come to ask Emperor, and here we are."

Well, that was interesting to say the least. While Evan was used to tackling complicated information, this told him a few things: Mostima's staff could act as a space-time antenna, and that whatever event happened was actually very powerful despite the fact modern arts weren't able to pick up his location. Yeah, he was getting a hang on the subject thanks to Skyfire, he'd have to thank her later.

"I do have some questions before I agree to share anything, is that alright?"

"Sure, shoot man."

"If I share, will Notarial Hall and Laterano let me live in peace?"

"Honestly, probably. His Holiness is a very lax and understanding man, and if you aren't a danger to anyone, I'm like, eighty percent certain he'll just let you do your thing. Notarial Hall might want to keep a few tabs on you, but we could probably put a cap on that if you want."

"And should I worry about Notarial Hall?"

"Dunno, ask Fia," Mostima answered before taking a sip.

Evan looked to the liberi who glared, or looked, at him and answered his question, "I will admit I speak with bias, but it's as Mostima said, as long as you aren't considered a risk, you have nothing to worry about. Notarial Hall cannot move against your interests unless you move against ours. Unless you want to raise our suspicion, I recommend the truth comes out so we can properly assess such conditions."

"Though, I will admit resting bitch face here isn't the most reliable or unbiased source of information, since she's something of a career woman at Notarial."

"Piss off."

That one actually got a chuckle out of him, despite his better judgment, to which Fiammetta thankfully didn't acknowledge and Mostima's smile widened further.

"Well, sounds like you know something. My guess is when I got transported against my will, by some force I know nothing about, it seemed to have a great sense of irony and collided directly into Miss Swire's car, totaling it."

"Ha, serves that rich girl right, man does that sound like one hell of a situation. Where'd you transport from?"

"Middle of nowhere, on a highway in my home country."

"Eh, your country has permanent infrastructure highways? Not any place I've heard of, so that firmly places you outside of most places. Mind naming this country?"

"United States of America."

For the first time, he saw a look of shock cross Mostima's face, and Fiammetta seemed to notice as she finally registered why.

"So…a little broader, any cardinal direction from here…or…?"

"Nope, no cardinal direction. Whole other universe as far as I'm concerned."

Mostima blinked with an open mouth, and has clearly long stopped working, so it was his turn to give a mysterious smile. This was matched by Mostima and he found himself laughing alongside her, just at the sheer stupidity of the whole situation.

"Alright, got me there. Oh, thank the lord, I was expecting some form of doomsday or invasion scenario at first, but considering nothing seems to be in danger, I think I'll gladly take a surprise. Though, that does raise a question, any idea why you were transported or how?"

"Nope, none. Frankly, I'm just as confused as anyone else as to why or how I'm even here, much less breathing. Who knows, I'm just trying to figure out life now that I'm stuck here."

"Well, you're sure taking it in stride. Though after what you said, I'll be sure to put in a good word for His Holiness. Just so you don't have to see the likes of Fiammetta's ugly mug again."

This proved to snap the phoenix out of her trance as she seemingly automatically responded with "Fuck off, Mostima" before suddenly, and finally registering what had just been said. She gave Evan a once over and sighed, opting to walk out of the room for fresh air.

"Well, I guess I'm going to follow her for once, don't want her doing anything to bother you. Maybe I'll see you at Rhodes Island when I hop on by, maybe we can discuss something more interesting. I'd love to hear more about where you come from and what it's like, since I can't go there myself."

Mostima then crushed the can in her hand and tossed it to the ground without a care in the world. A fallen angel indeed.

Evan walked out in time to see that the rest of Penguin Logistics had moved on to other activities while Emperor himself was passed out on the table. He just left them to their devices and made his way back to the branch office. It wasn't the most fabulous trip to Lungmen, but he had a feeling it was going to come to a close soon enough.

The next morning they were to return to Rhodes, Evan was mildly surprised to see someone new. While he had been introduced to Lee in passing, the gaudy lung was speaking to his three tour guides from yesterday. As soon as he saw Evan, his lips curled suspiciously and he seemingly gracefully strode over and said in a rather smooth voice, "Well, good morning. Sleep well in spite of yesterday's events?"

"Shockingly, though that might be due to the fact I didn't have much opportunity to sleep the night before."

Lee smiled and tipped his hat. After that, he extended his hand and said, "We never got a proper greeting, name's Lee, owner and manager of Lee's Detective Agency, a private investigation bureau currently in partnership with Rhodes Island. Well, I say detective agency, but we take all sorts of jobs too."

Evan took the hand and Lee gave a surprisingly strong shake that made him feel as though he had no control over his own arm. What was odd was how Lee wore a seemingly smug look the entire time, but he didn't particularly feel threatened for some reason. There was an odd charismatic look about the Lung, as though he sort of wanted to know Lee's character. Perhaps he was curious, perhaps he feared what he was seeing was a facade, it didn't particularly matter though. He was curious, though, why this detective wanted to meet him.

"May I ask what I owe the pleasure of your visit to?"

"Well, you don't need to worry about that. I was curious, yesterday, whether you had any run ins with the Cat Mafia that put you at risk, only to find nothing, and a little clip circulating the Citynet depicting a crash between you and Miss Swire on the road, beyond that, I couldn't find anything. Not a scrap of information, as though your existence only started at that moment. So, I just had to see what this mysterious ghost was like, but you sure are…interesting for a ghost."

"In that…?"

"You don't seem to try to hide anything. Most people you find very few traces or mentions of usually have something that they want to leave behind, run away from, hide in their closet. You get the idea, but you yourself haven't given me a suspicious gaze at all, despite likely knowing I am a detective. But enough about you, anything you want to ask me?"

"What does your agency do for Rhodes Island?"

"Oh, a number of things. Most notably we track operator histories and cross-reference the information with their accounts to help build an accurate profile. We also help gather information on anything from current events to branch office events and try to decipher a story. Say an operator was embezzling money from the main landship to his branch office, we would investigate that as well by pouring over financial records, looking for inconsistencies or signs of forgery. You could say we're information specialists, and damn good ones at that."

"When you're not destroying property, causing disturbances, or bending the law," Ch'en shot back. "Honestly, we're grateful for all you do, but I do have to question your methods sometimes."

"Well, if we tried too hard, we wouldn't have any competition. Keeps things interesting, no?" Lee said with a grin and squinted eyes to Ch'en who visibly got more annoyed. "Anyways, I'm looking forward to seeing what profile you do build, I'll be watching, Mr. Carvey. In the meantime, I've slipped a business card into your pocket, give us a call if you need anything done."

With that, the gaudy lung left, leaving Evan the opportunity to finally say his goodbyes to Swire, Ch'en, and Hoshiguma.

"Well, guess this is goodbye, you better keep writing, you're indebted to do that much for me at least," Beatrice jabbed, which led to a small laugh from him, but nothing much. "Though, if you ever need anything, I'm more than happy to lend what I can."

"Don't suppose money's on the menu?"

"Yeah, actually. If you need a little financial kickstart to a project, feel free to ring up, I'll make sure the terms are more reasonable than any bank or company you could otherwise ask. You know, a friend discount."

He smiled then looked to Ch'en who seemed rather pensive, as though she was still thinking about what she wanted to say. Hoshiguma noticed Evan's expectant stare before she did and gave Ch'en a little tap with her palm. The lung looked to the oni, then to him and then immediately away.

"H-Have a safe trip."

At this, Hoshiguma smiled then produced a piece of paper and handed it to Evan.

"That's Ch'en's mailing address, feel free to write to her as well, mine's also there as a bonus. You could always send the letters to the LGD headquarters. But I thought you'd like a little privacy, considering the rumors and all."

A quiet swear escaped Ch'en and she blushed a little, looking away while her tail swished happily, betraying her facial expression. Evan pocketed the note and thanked them, offering a wave as the three of them started walking away, and he prepared himself to not have much contact with them for a while outside of the old fashioned way.

Boy did he miss the internet.

Penguin Logistics had other business in Lungmen, so Ace and Closure were in his vehicle while a logistics transport device carried any cargo they had to bring back. After they stopped for lunch, Evan decided to show Closure how to work his vehicle. When it started up after a turn of the keys, she tilted her head in curiosity before asking, "So…now what?"

"Now, put your foot on the pedal to the left, and push. That will initiate the brake."

"Uhuh…"

"Now switch your mode to the Drive by activating the lever and pushing it to D."

"Ok…"

"Let go of the brake, and you should start coasting."

"Alright…" Closure finally let go and they both felt their inertia shift, and a sparkle appeared in her eyes. "It's moving! All on its own?!"

"Just press the brake if you want to stop-" his sentence was cut off by Closure slamming the brake and their momentum came to a screeching halt. "Well, I should've said ease onto the brake, the amount it's pressed determines the strength of the braking effect."

"Oh, sorry. That's really weird though, if I were using a regular vehicle, it would've just listened."

"No, you've got to play by the car's rules here. Let's try accelerating, again, ease into it."

Gently, she placed her foot down on the accelerator and they felt the combined force of the car pull them with it. Only problem was, Closure kept picking up speed.

"Let go, you have enough speed."

She obeyed and they started coasting.

"And if I want to stop, ease onto the brake…" she said to herself and gently pushed the brake. Slowly, but surely they got the car to a nice and orderly stop. "Alright, this is weird. Not at all what I imagined a car to function as from your world."

"What, just because we had to get creative, doesn't mean it didn't come with trade-offs. Your vehicles are stupid responsive to me, we always have to think about how to make the car go, not ask it and it just does. The engine is a machine and has its limits, but they can be worked around. Still, it takes some practice, learning the nuance of how to maintain a regular speed. Personally, I just constantly check the speedometer and adjust my foot accordingly."

"You sure you don't want a universal arts circuit installed for the controls?"

"I'd rather not. I like keeping it as it is, it reminds me of my origins or something."

During the conversation, Closure had been fiddling with the brake, forgetting she had to keep it pressed and seemed to get a little frustrated until, while they were stopped, Evan pulled the lever back to park and they stayed stopped.

"Oh, you have to use the lever to keep it stopped…"

Still, while he had satisfied his boss's curiosity on his vehicle, he still remained the one to drive it into the ramp, and then they were back in Rhodes Island. Oddly enough, he felt a little relieved, as though he were returning home for some reason.

Author's Note

So I'm getting this out to get it out. I don't have much to say, pretty tired today, but I did finish proofreading this one to the best of my abilities.

Thanks for the continued support, it honestly is nice.