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Post by Vapovile on Apr 11, 2018 3:20:53 GMT
So they had Kaspa doors that led to wherever they wanted?! How did they set the destination?! Arachne never had a Kaspa of his own, so this was all new information to Caroline. She couldn't ask for any further information before Martha sprinted off out of sight with a plate of food, Caroline frowning slightly at the placement of Robin's hand. Her expression then softened as she leaned against the counter. "As a matter of fact, we haven't!" Caroline extended her hand toward Robin to shake. "I'm Caroline, nice to meet you!" She stated happily. Once they shook hands, Caroline would shake her head slightly in disappointment, motioning her eyes to where Martha had been so Robin knew she saw what happened. Not to self; keep an eye on the money. Or better yet...ask for the money from Martha so she could watch it herself! "Sooo...you must be super helpful if you want to haul this heavy furniture back to the house with us." Caroline stated, making things just a little more uncomfortable for the thief.
---
Helen barely moved while Jane drew her, her yes shifting to watch Martha for a few seconds in the short time she joined them. She didn't exactly know why Martha gave her the thumbs up of approval...was letting Jane draw her a favor or something? Finally, Jane had finished her sketch and Helen lowered her book slightly to look at it. It looked decent enough, on par with the other drawings she saw in the notebook. It was strange to see her own image in something that wasn't a mirror or camera. Helen hadn't thought yet to commission someone to paint her a portrait, mostly due to her worry that they'd mess it up intentionally because they hated her. Helen nodded her head at the comment about her boss.
"He's picky, to put it lightly..." Helen's sentence trailed off. "I wouldn't bother with him at all. Or any of them, honestly." Her eyes motioned toward the house, seeing Caroline looking happy as always, talking with Robin. "...except Caroline. She's fine." The lower half of her face was still mostly obscured by the book, making it a little harder to read Helen's expression.
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Post by HungryHunter on Apr 12, 2018 6:39:43 GMT
"Yeah, we met. I'm Robin." Robin's golden eyes flashed over Caroline's outfit as she shook her hand. "Oh, that stuff's expensive. I guess you can get the nicest stuff when you run the world, huh?" Robin just shrugged at the jab. "I don't lift like Ash, but Josefina doesn't like the crowds at Vorpal's. It's nice to have some more muscle along when you're moving that much furniture, right?" Robin gestured to show off her toned arms. "We do need a lot of furniture..." Yuu admitted. Robin was roughly as physically strong as Yuu, only Josefina and Ash outmatching her. And keeping her away from Arachne was smart. She might try stealing from him. She was certainly impulsive enough.
"Well... yeah, maybe not him. Marika doesn't like being drawn. Miles thinks the picture I did was cute though. I... don't think he'd feel like that about an Arachne picture." Jane rested her chin on a hand, looking over at the crowd. It was a strange sight with all the new dolls and Arachne, Marika and Miles laid low. "So... Caroline's more like you than him?" Jane looked around for the named doll. She wasn't sure who that was.
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Post by Vapovile on Apr 18, 2018 8:27:05 GMT
Caroline decided to ignore Robin's comment about her outfit. While it was nice to be rich and not have to worry about buying almost anything her heart desired...she didn't like how it came at the expense of thousands of people that Arachne forced her to take over, powerless to stop his rampage. She glanced out toward the garden, trying to determine who this 'Josefina' was. It was impossible to gauge how strong a Hidden World person was just based on muscle mass. "I'm guess this Josefina is...the golem?" She asked. Shrugging her shoulders, Caroline interlinked her hands behind her head and crossed her legs casually. "Well, that's really nice of you to help! I can certainly help carry furniture as well. But..." Walking over to the counter, Caroline grabbed the serving spoon and took some lasagna from the pan. "That is something we will do after food. We'll come get you when it's time!" With a cheerful skip in her step, Caroline walked out into the lawn once more and approached Martha, lowering her voice. "Hey...mind handing me the money? I don't really trust your sister there to not steal it off you. Nearly got it back in the house there." She whispered.
---
Jane's question made Helen pause to think about how to word this answer. Caroline was indeed not a sociopathic ass like Archie or Stitches, but also wasn't someone who Helen wanted to compare to herself. Helen tried to keep her image as a classy, artistic person, while Caroline surrounds herself with dozens of people and dresses crudely. "...in some respects, I guess." She responded. "Caroline's good at heart...I just don't want a comparison drawn between us." One other area where Helen differed from Caroline was social life. Helen had nobody to actually talk to about anything, while Caroline had too many friends and lovers to keep track of. Such behavior was repulsive to Helen.
"...so what are people like here? More like you or him?" She asked, looking at Arachne above her book. It was clear Jane wasn't going away, so might as well try gathering some information without having to talk with everyone.
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Post by HungryHunter on Apr 22, 2018 7:27:02 GMT
"Yes, Josefina is indeed a unique member of the family. I'll introduce you to everybody later if you like." Yuu offered from behind a pan she was scrubbing out. She sighed when Caroline left. Things were going to be even more complicated with this new influx of guests. She turned to the sink with a deep frown. How was she going to get rid of them?
"Huh? Yeah, sure. She's still gonna try when she realizes I don't have it. Keep an eye on anything else valuable you've got. She's horrible." Martha handed over the stack of bills that Robin so craved before going back to helping Cassandra cut up her food. "Uh... I liked the doll you were based on. She took good care of Jane. So if you're like her, we're going to get along." Martha attempted a smile, but it just looked confused. She had only just figured this out, and that was weird in itself. But this being Cadence was even stranger.
Jane wasn't sure what Helen meant by her words. She guessed it was another case of her just being a little snobby. Caroline did something weird but wasn't actually bad, so she separated herself. "Like me? Yeah, only people like him are Marika and Miles. They're really bad, but everybody else is really nice when you get to know them! Ash is self-centered and Martha's a little grouchy, but they're good sisters." Jane glanced at Sidney and Chelsea, but decided not to mention them. They weren't that bad, really. Not Chelsea anyway. Sidney was a little worrying around anything with wires.
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Post by Vapovile on Apr 26, 2018 10:05:58 GMT
"She's a thief, huh...?" Caroline mused, giving a small smile. She had dealt with many would-be thieves in her time, her wealth being attractive for them to target her. "Don't worry about me, I got this covered." Caroline reassured, appearing to put the money into her pocket...but allowing it to fall through a hole in her pants and into the back of her boots, the view obscured by her legs. The mention of her 'base' interested the snake-like doll. "Did she now? I'm afraid I haven't heard much about the one I am based on...besides that my boss hated her the most. You should tell me more about her later!" She said happily, taking a bite of lasagna. If she had to guess...Jane was the one who was standing next to Helen, based on how both her and Janet appear to be the most helpless ones.
---
Jane's nervous glance around at Sidney and Chelsea made Helen frown slightly in annoyance. It was clear she was trying to omit something about those two, especially since both of them were talking with Arachne. Nobody should willingly hang around that monster. But she figured pressing the issue would only lead to nervous stammerings. Perhaps she should direct Jane to Caroline; she was more adept with social stuff like this. "I see." She turned a page in her book. "...nice to know." She stated. Ugh, was that one of those 'conversation roadblocks' Caroline talked about? How to salvage this without looking like a jerk? "...looks like food is being serviced. Let's go." Putting her book down, Helen began to elegantly walk toward the house. Once inside, she held out a paper plate for Jane if she decided to follow. That was the polite thing to do, right?
---
HWIC HQ
Walking down the streets of Seattle, Melody took in the sights with a look of wonder on her face. To most people, she just looked like a weird tourist who lost the group she was going with. Once she got to a seemingly innocuous building covered in tinted glass, Melody confidently walked through the front doors and into the lobby. She had called ahead to arrange a meeting between herself and Aria, though the person on the end sounded skeptical, to say the least. The person sitting at the receptionist desk was a woman with dark red hair and bright green eyes, wearing a grey coat over a white button up shirt, with a long black skirt beneath. She looked up from a stack of papers at Melody, interlocking her hands with curiosity.
"Welcome. I take it you are...Melody Miyata?" She asked with suspicion. Melody enthusiastically nodded her head. "That's me! Nice to meet you again, Mia!" She excitedly stated. Mia frowned slightly at the mention of her name. "So you know my name, huh? Feh." Mia rolled her eyes at the newcomer. It was such a pain dealing with so many strange people that walked through that door. Not too long ago, she had to test a being calling himself a 'demon god'. "Well you're not getting any further until we get some info. Mind helping out here?" She called into the room behind her.
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Post by HungryHunter on Apr 27, 2018 8:41:43 GMT
Jane nodded and followed, and soon the entire kitchen was crowded with dolls. They filled the space like sardines until Marika's will hummed through the walls and they shuddered further apart, raining dust from the ceiling as cracks formed. "Honey, it's all right, everybody will be out of the kitchen soon." Yuu gently steered Marika into the empty hallway. Under enough stress, Marika started warping the kaspa unconciously. While her power over it was incredible, she still needed to obey the rules of architecture to some extent. Enough unplanned shifting would drop the ceiling on everybody's heads.
Yuu returned to pile up everybody's plates, breathing a sigh of relief as the room depopulated doll by doll. The tension in the back of her neck didn't let up even when the room was empty. Watching Caroline leave of Jane smiling at another of the new dolls just made it spread, clawing at the back of her head, grinding away at that little bump of bone on the back of the skull. Marika's dread was made manifest in the cracks on the ceiling. Like the kaspa, her heart would only heal when Yuu got rid of Arachne. The only question was how many more cracks she would form getting rid of him.
At Mia's call, a man with shoulders that would make a football player jealous and legs like a grasshopper strode into the room. He straightened a striped purple tie and looked at Melody from under long brown hair. "Hello, Melody. Please follow me." He gave a friendly smile and lead her to a small room with a single table and a filing cabinet in the corner. Melody would feel her powers being snuffed as she crossed the threshold. Steve gestured her to sit and pulled a key from his pocket. From the cabinet he drew a small stainless steel flask and a black cube, neither with any distinguishing features.
"Do you recognize what either of these is?" If she was truly from the HWIC of the future, she should. The box would check Melody's DNA and fingerprints for matches to anybody in their databases, just in case she was a criminal. The flask was filled with water from the hidden well of Veritas, the Roman goddess of truth. One swig and Melody would completely lose the ability to lie for up to an hour. She could still bend the truth near the point of breaking or refuse to speak, but outright lies would be impossible.
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Post by Vapovile on Apr 28, 2018 15:07:36 GMT
Melody's eyes lit up when she entered the room, seemingly not caring about feeling her powers being snuffed out. "Oooooh...I've been in here many times! Only they renovated it a little bit where I'm from." She stated, darting her attention across the room to take in the differences. When the man began to mess with the cabinet, Melody squinted slightly at him, trying to figure out who he could be. Perhaps he was an agent who left before she joined the HWIC? Once he produced the two items, Melody's face lit up again.
"Yep, I recognize those! That box scans people's fingerprints and matches it up with the Intelligence division's database, and the liquid forces people to tell the truth! I forget where they said they got it from though...I was the head of everything, so I was mostly concerned with big picture stuff. I suppose this means I'm being put under an interrogation now?" Melody asked. Mia closed the door behind them and leaned against a nearby wall to prevent both people from entering and Melody from leaving. "We just want to ask you some questions, alright? It's already weird how you knew where our headquarters was." Mia stated. Everything about Melody was suspicious to her. Someone this young was running the HWIC in the future? Seriously?
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Post by HungryHunter on Apr 29, 2018 3:06:01 GMT
Stephan didn't draw too many conclusions from her knowing about the tools in the room. While she could know those by actually being from the future, she could obviously also know them from having been interrogated before. "Interrogation is a harsher word than I feel is appropriate here. This is just a conversation." Stephan straightened a notepad with a reassuring smile. "So, Melody. What year did you come back from?" He'd start with one that was hard to obfuscate. If she gave an abnormal answer, either she was delusional or she was telling the truth.
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Post by Vapovile on Apr 29, 2018 22:02:38 GMT
"Hm..." Melody put her right hand under her chin, thinking about what year it was where she was from. "2049! So that's...21 years from now? So yeah." She relaxed after giving the answer. Mia crossed her arms across her chest when she heard the answer. "2049, huh? So how old are you?" Mia asked. "22! I was born just recently in my timeline at this year, though it looks like the split happened sometime before, since my mom hasn't had any kids yet." A small flash of sadness could be seen on Melody's face, but her usual happy nature quickly returned.
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Post by HungryHunter on May 1, 2018 0:01:58 GMT
It checked out. She truly believed it, at the very least. "22? It's a lot of responsibility for somebody so young." Stephan's voice took a gruff edge. He remembered Aria's first years as leader. Hell, he remembered his own first years as Nucleus. Nobody should have such responsability dumped on them so early. "Ah, yes. What did you come for? Time travel is a serious matter." He had never interviewed a time traveler, but the HWIC had dealt with several over the centuries of its existence. 90% of them wanted to change something. Save a family member, prevent a great disasters. The other 10% wanted to win the lottery with the numbers they looked up from the safety of the future.
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Post by Vapovile on May 1, 2018 0:46:28 GMT
The usual happy-go-lucky expression on Melody's face grew into a serious frown when Stephan asked about what she came for. Should she divulge this information to people besides her family and Aria? It did make sense...she did want the HWIC's cooperation and they'd need multiple agents working on the case. She let out a small sigh and closed her eyes, counting to 10 mentally to try and not distract herself. "Well...I'm here because someone else came to this timeline before me. He calls himself...Arachne." Mia's eyes squinted at the name. Didn't she hear about a serial killer with that last name before? "He's a horrible...horrible person. He kills people and reanimates their bodies to serve him. I suppose you could call him a necromancer...but he's a little more specialized than that." Melody cleared her throat, placing a hand in her pocket and silently pressing a fidget button on a cube she had.
"He has completely destroyed the world where I'm from...you see. Millions of these zombies that he calls 'dolls' roaming around murdering anyone they can find. The HWIC and several other Hidden World organizations have contained the hordes to specific locations...but their force is still overwhelming." Melody began pressing the button slightly faster to keep concentration. "I'm trying to keep this brief, since I want to give Aria the full details when I meet with her. But the short version is; he managed to find a device that let him travel back in time...and is now here. I don't know why though. But I have to stop him, no matter what!" Melody stated, having stopped pressing the button. Mia glanced over to see Stephen's reaction, her role here mostly being to assist if the person being questioned became violent.
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Post by HungryHunter on May 1, 2018 6:50:57 GMT
"He could be a relation of Marika Arachne, if the name and dolls are any connection. Mia, do we still have contact with Cadence Arachne? She might know something." Stephan couldn't see the connection. He hadn't met the serial killer but he had read her file after Aria had battle her a few years back. Marika was certainly a monster. She was responsible for at least dozens of deaths. But a world-conqueror? That was something unusual to be connected to her. Were there other people like her in the world? More powerful people? Or did Marika hide potential they didn't know? "If he's in her kaspa, he can't be tracked. It's what's kept us from stopping Marika ourselves. I assume you want to talk to Aria to advise her on handling him?"
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Post by Vapovile on May 1, 2018 23:15:42 GMT
"Yeah, we got contact with Cadence Arachne. Though she specifically said, and I quote..." Mia cleared her throat, putting on a slower, more bored-sounding voice. "...don't bother me unless it's necessary..." She stated, going back to her original tone again. Melody piped up at the mention of Marika. "Yes, he's Marika's son! I heard stories from my mom about how my sister was made by Marika, and that many other dolls were made by her! I know the whole story about what happened with her in my timeline...but it's kinda something I want to tell Aria in private, if you two don't mind." Melody stated. While she was in a different timeline, there were events that she didn't want to explain out of respect for the current versions. Mia took a mental note of this omission.
When Stephen talked about the Kaspa, Melody cocked her head slightly. "Kaspa...oh right, my mom had one of those! Little pocket dimension. I suppose he could be in there...but yes, I want to talk with Aria about this matter. The faster he's either captured or killed, the faster my timeline gets fixed and...the less chance something could happen in this one." Melody stated. Her fingers were back to pressing the button in her pocket. Now it was a matter of nervousness than focusing her attention when it came to messing with the button.
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Post by HungryHunter on May 2, 2018 4:11:59 GMT
"Tell her it's necessary. A private meeting is up to Aria." Stephan hesitated, tapping his eraser on his chin. The important part of the interview was done. Melody wasn't a clear danger to anybody, and he needed to talk to Information about this. "Well, I suppose we can call her and ask if she's willing." He tapped a keypad beneath the intercom in the wall and leaned close. "Miss Miyata, this is Agent Walters. We have Melody Miyata here. She's checked out as safe and requests a private meeting." He lifted a finger off the button to let her respond from the other end.
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Post by Vapovile on May 3, 2018 3:48:05 GMT
The intercom was silent for around 30 seconds, which felt like an eternity for Melody. She had always admired Aria's long commitment to running the HWIC, and the era of peace she held throughout her reign. While Aria was mostly absent in Melody's childhood, she did provide insightful leadership advice that Melody used when she suddenly took over the organization years later. Finally, a female voice echoed through the intercom. "Send her to meeting room 2B. I would like someone to accompany her and take notes on the meeting. Thank you." She stated. Aria had specifically designed the meeting rooms to accommodate various levels of security. The 'A' series was effectively a normal room where people could freely use their powers, while the 'B' series had anti-HW abilities like the current room they were in. Aria of course designed special exceptions for her own agents in these rooms during the spell's creation.
"You heard her. Right this way." Mia stated, motioning for the doorway and leading the group to an elevator down the hallway. "Just walk in there, go to the 38th floor and he'll show you the rest." Mia stated. She had no interest in sitting in on a meeting. It was one of the reasons why she doesn't do much field work; she wanted to live her life on her own terms. The HWIC pays for her cooperation in rare circumstances, and she gets to live a quiet life. Melody nervously stepped into the elevator and waited for Stephen to enter. "Any problems with that?" Mia asked the agent.
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Post by HungryHunter on May 3, 2018 5:25:12 GMT
“Of course. I have enough seniority that Miss Miyata should have no complaints about my inclusion.” Stephan stood and entered the elevator with Melody. As soon as the doors closed, he gave her a smile. “If you’re worried about meeting Miss Miyata, don’t worry. She’s intimidating, but only because the job demands it. She’s one of the kindest people I know.” He was silent for a minute before speaking again. “Do you have an agent named Alan Walters working for you?” His grip was tight on the rail, his knuckles white.
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Post by Vapovile on May 3, 2018 16:39:23 GMT
Stephan's reassurance was nice to hear to Melody, since she had no idea what this Aria acted like compared to the future one. She gave him a smile and nodded her head. "Thanks! I uh...don't really know what to expect. She treated me like family before...so I don't know how nice she'll be now." Melody stated. While it was infrequent, she did find it unnerving whenever she was around and Aria had to be strict with someone. But that also made her admire her aunt for being a strong leader. When asked about Alan, Melody's eyes widened slightly. "You know Alan?!" She exclaimed, surprised. She cleared her throat before beginning again. "Ahem...well yes, he is still an agent in the Enforcement division. Before I reveal any private information, what is your relationship to him? Do you know about his...appearance?" She asked. It was extremely unprofessional to reveal an agent's appearance if it was abnormal, so Melody needed to know that Stephen knew before going into details.
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Post by HungryHunter on May 5, 2018 3:58:14 GMT
"Of course I do! Alan is my son!" Stephan's odd face formed an odd grin, ear to ear and just a little crooked. "Maybe you can meet him while you're here. He could use some encouragement right now." He smiled slightly less, but he still kept a light tone. "Nothing too serious, he's just a teenager. He's thinking about grades and girls more than the HWIC right now. I suppose that happens when you're a senior. He's certainly not a slacker though. I wish I was as focused when I was his age as he is." The elevator dinged to signal they had reached their destination and Stephan turned to let Melody go first.
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Post by Vapovile on May 6, 2018 0:20:34 GMT
"He's your son?!" Melody's voice pitched higher like a schoolgirl when she heard this revelation. She looked up and down his body to see any resemblance. "But...but you're not...ya know...green! Though I guess that makes sense..." Melody remembered how the species Alan is from are created. A small frown appeared on her face for a brief moment before she resumed the excited expression. "Sure, I'd meet him if you want me to! So he's a senior...so that makes him..." Melody counted down fingers on her hands, not doing any actual math in her head. "...18? 17? Depends on his birthday! Or he could be 19 if he was held back...hopefully not!" Melody nervously clicked the button in her pocket a few times to get herself back on track. "Anyway! He's a great agent in our time. I'll give you more details when we're in the room with my aunt, alright? Aunt...is she still my aunt even if she's from a different timeline where I don't exist..." Melody pondered to herself out loud.
Once the elevator reached its destination, Melody skipped out of it and was immediately greeted by a large wooden double door decorated with brass carvings along the sides. She stared for a few seconds, admiring the door. "Ah...same as in my timeline too. Guess I won't have my powers in here, huh?" She said to Stephen. Pushing open the doors, both of them were able to see the inside of the room. A long rectangular dark-wood conference table lay stretched out before them, its surface having been recently polished. The room had a projector setup along the ceiling, with a large screen below it that was raised up, only showing the light brown wall behind it. Aria sat at the opposite end of the table, her hands interlocked in front of her face as she sized up Melody. Without a word, she stood up and began walking toward the two of them. "Welcome to the HWIC, miss Miyata." Aria stated when she got within arms length, extending her hand. Melody grabbed her hand and gave a firm handshake, looking the HWIC president in the eyes. "Thank you, president Miyata!" She stated. Aria nodded her head and let go, taking her spot at the other end of the table. Melody sat on the right side, figuring the other end was too far away.
Once everyone was situated, Aria focused her attention at Stephen. "Agent Walters. Please take notes of this meeting." She asked, sliding a pen and notepad in his direction. "As I'm sure you're aware, we are also being recorded by cameras. You won't find them." Aria stated, Melody looking directly at where one was positioned in her timeline. The cameras were coated by an invisibility spell in addition to being miniscule. "Yep, I'm aware! Thanks for meeting with m-" "Also!" Aria interrupted, Melody reeling back in surprise. "I expect my time won't be wasted by your wild fantasies. You lie to me, and we will have you fined. Am I clear?" Aria asked. "Yes ma'am!" The future child stated, pressing the button in her pocket a few times. Aria looked at her and squinted. "Arms where I can see them!" She demanded. Melody's eyes widened. "Uh...sorry, I kinda have ADD. Pushing this button in my pocket helps me focus." She stated. Aria's eyes squinted once more. "Bring it out onto the table and you can click as much as you want." Aria instructed. Melody did and revealed the strange pink cube with various fidget devices on it. She gave it a few more presses and placed her hands on the table.
"Before we begin...agent Walters." She looked directly at Stephen again. "Was there anything suspicious about her behavior before now? Anything to note?"
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Post by HungryHunter on May 6, 2018 1:11:27 GMT
Stephan chuckled raised a hand. "I can be green sometimes." The Nucleus poured from his pores, emerald green and rubbery. He only covered his hand to quickly wiggle his fingers before retracting it. "Of course, he's adopted. Did anybody ever find more of his kind in the future? We've never managed to even find out what he was." Stephan asked as he followed Melody into the conference room.
He saluted Aria and took a seat in the middle of the table, bringing the clipboard up with snappy movements. "No Mam. She's confirmed everything she said before under the water of Veritas. She has withheld some information she wishes to relay directly to you, but not shown any signs of hiding facts otherwise." Stephan quickly made notes of his own observations on the clipboard. "She has confirmed the presence of another time traveler in our timestream she seeks to stop. An apparent relative of Marika Arachne. I was going to search for records of any living relations she may have, but as of now, we think he's her son." He quickly added the information Aria would be most interested in.
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