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~ [i]Retconned Into Somewhere Or Another[/i] ~[/center]

A light thud reverberated through the interior of the Earth Bastion, carried through the metal of its construction - the sound of something intentionally quiet landing atop its hull. In the night air, the infiltrators hair and fur danced against a light ocean breeze, [url=https://i.imgur.com/82BCXVT.jpg]the bells that had been formed as part of her swimsuit[/url] held firm in her left hand to prevent unwanted noise. 

It would be the first time Thalia had properly engaged with Penny Asimov for months - in her mind, their last encounter at Cindy's meetings barely counted. There was a sense of nervousness in her, but furthermore, an underlying, sickening sense of apprehension. The Boss of The Penrose Independent had made her stance painfully clear, enough for even The Vixen to recognise it. There was a good chance that her issues began the moment she fled from Penny's lair those months ago. In some ways, it felt like crawling back to an old flame for forgiveness, and she hated herself for thinking so.

She took another step forward, scanning the top of the Earth Bastion for an opening or hatch. Approaching Penny during the day would have been a smarter, more acceptable way to have gone about things, but in some perverted twist of confidence, Thalia felt more comfortable sneaking her way in, than making the choice to approach her inland. Her ears and tails were low, keeping her form obscured against the moonlight in case anyone on the island chose to look towards the ship. And onwards she pressed.

It wouldn’t take long for Thalia to notice something had gone wrong with her plan, in fact it hardly lasted more than a few steps into the Earth Bastion. For as she crept further into the ship it’s massive engine would start up and the darkened corridors of the ships internal network would light up.

For far above in the ships command deck, still riddled with blankets and pillows, Penny had awoken. She had woken up initially due to the light reverb of the intruders first landing. Paranoia about this place keeping her rest light. Internally she had cursed about not affixing the cloaking artifacts, as at this distance she knew nothing about who it was that landed upon her ship.

Once Thalia had entered however, Penny melded into the Earth Bastion more completely till she was effectively everything and everywhere in relation to her battleship. The lights in the corridors and the starting of the engine reflex due to seeing who it was that had come skulking about in the night.

[color=9e0039]“Thalia”[/color] Penny’s voice echoed out near the fox girl [color=9e0039]“What are you doing here?”[/color] her voice would ask thought there was notable tension in it. At the same time one of the walls ahead of Thalia began to twist and distort and Penny stepped through seamlessly not long after, though her feet never fully detached from the floor and her entire stance was tense and ready for anything.

In the back of Thalia’s mind, the sudden spurring of the Earth Bastion had been enough to suggest that her attempt at stealth had been thwarted. She didn’t care - in a small sense, she was impressed. It had come to her attention that Penny had somehow come to be in possession of the ship, but to see and experience it up close was another thing entirely, though technology had never been her strongest of suits.

Penny’s voice, though, resounding out around her from no source in particular, through her steps off entirely. Thalia had heard similar tones a number of times before; memorised them, even. Fear, distress, anxiety, distrust - she had become well acquainted with the words in which those emotions took refuge, and as the wall before her warped into the form of Penny, she took an instinctual, hesitant step back.

[colour=Silver]”Me? - I-I’m, not really doing anything, just, y’know, a-admiring the ship, it’s pretty cool and all, and,”[/colour] Thalia retreated by another step, ears lower, avoiding eye contact, [colour=Silver]”...I shouldn’t have come, I’m sorry. She said I had to, and she’s right, but… it’s fine~! I’ll just, uh… h-head out over here, I guess.”[/colour]

Penny’s readied stance rapidly deteriorated as Thalia slowly backed off, as did her anxiety. In it;s place was something easier to read but harder to deal with [color=9e0039]“Really?”[/color] She couldn’t help but ask as she crossed her arms and shifted her weight onto her back foot [color=9e0039]“You decided to sneak into the Earth Bastion, my ship, practically my second Lair, just to look around and now you want to leave?”[/color] Penny said calmly, though the anger in her eyes told a different story.

[color=9e0039]“Fine then”[/color] she would say after a moment of tense silence, the corridors moving in response to Penny’s words. The way that Thalia had come from was rapidly changing into a simple straight hall leading out of the Earth Bastion, all the various doorways and turns being smoothed over. [color=9e0039]“If you want to run away. Again. There you go. I won’t try and stop you this time.”[/color] She’d say once she was sure that Thalia had seen the change. [color=9e0039]“But don’t expect us to still be friends next time we meet if you do”[/color]

[colour=Silver]”Second Lair… it’s nicer than the warehouse,”[/colour] Thalia replied. Her head turned, and her gaze caught the shifting hallway. She was being deadlocked into a decision - stay, or retreat further. The claustrophobia of the situation was beginning to close in on The Vixen, she could feel it, until her hands clenched into fists to stop them shaking. Without looking at Penny, she stepped backwards up to the hallway wall, and slid down to the floor.

[colour=Gray]”Did you get some[/colour] [colour=Silver]board games like I asked?”[/colour] As she looked towards Penny, she wrapped her hands around her knees. Along with the joke, Thalia smiled. But the smile was one part of a complex expression, betraying facets of emotions utterly alien to the faces she once wore. More pained, more lonely, more sad, and more manifold - more scared than even the night she ran away.

Silently Penny released the breath she had been holding. She’d been afraid that Thalia would run but she needed the other girl to know that it was the last chance. Needed her to understand that if she ran it was over. She was thankful that it turned out well, but next came the hard part. 

Audibly, and visibly Penny took a calming breath placing most of her anger off to the side, she wasn’t calm, but she was measured in her actions. [color=9e0039]“No”[/color] She would respond, her tone weary, as this conversation had the possibility of being exceptionally painful for the mechanical girl. [color=9e0039]“There hadn’t been much of a point after you ran”[/color] She would explain moving to sit across the hallway from her unexpected guest. The hallway expanding as she did, opening up so that both girls had a bit of space to themselves.

[color=9e0039]“You should see the warehouse now though, spent the last week cleaning up. You’d hardly recognize the place”[/color] Penny would add with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes as lurking just beneath the surface was all the hurt and confusion she’d yet to deal with, alongside all the anger. Yet if there was one thing that Penny knew it was that if you pushed too hard things broke.

[colour=Silver]”Haven’t had much time to play games recently, either,”[/colour] were Thalia’s only words as Penny wandered over across from her. Somewhere in the back of her mind she had seen things going wrong. Being attacked, being exiled - a layer of distrust permeated her like a miasma, no doubt The Vixen’s influence. Moments passed in between Penny’s smile, Thalia clawing at something to say lest the conversation die within moments of beginning.

[colour=Silver]”Hope you’ve stopped storing your clothes in boxes if it’s cleaned up,”[/colour] was all Thalia could come up with. With caution, she matched Penny’s smile halfheartedly, eyes trained to the floor away from the girl. Her words were quieter, and dissonant, and superseded with a layer of fear, afraid to voice something that would contract the hallway once more and force her back to the cold ocean breeze. A dull thud resonated through the hall as she leant her head back against the wall, tilted up to gain view of the ceiling, [colour=Silver]”Wouldn’t want [i]another[/i] girl to stumble onto your little collection, huh? I remember your face from back then, imagine it with one of your closer friends~”[/colour]

Contrasting Thalia’s skittishness Penny was nearly motionless, her gaze never leaving Thalia as they spoke. Her legs and back were visibly merged with the titanic ship and throughout it part of her attention was diverted into the running of the Earth Bastion to ‘keep her hands busy’ as it were. She would be patient.

[color=9e0039]“Nope, still got them in boxes”[/color] Penny would reply evenly from her spot. There were dozens of things Penny wanted to ask, or more likely scream, the fox girl across from her, but she could see the fear that was near to overwhelming her. [color=9e0039]“Moved where the boxes are though”[/color] She would continue [color=9e0039]“No one I wouldn't want to see them will be finding them”[/color] With all of her clothes being stored in her room at Chloe’s apartment, it was an easy statement to make.

[color=9e0039]“I’ve got to ask though”[/color] Penny would start after a moment of silence, her voice still even but once again weary [color=9e0039]“Why?”[/color] The core of the issue really. The one thing Penny couldn’t understand [color=9e0039]“Why did you run?”[/color] She’d ask plainly keeping all but minor hints of her pain from leaking through. She’d wait a few beats [color=9e0039]“Or why seek me out now? If the first is too much right now”[/color] She desperately wanted her first question to be answered, yet she knew she would be fine not knowing. She’d grown past it, for the most part, thus she also offered a, hopefully, easier path if Thalia needed it.

Thalia hesitated. She couldn’t answer to Penny why she ran; the reason why felt as though it would insult her more than appease her. The indecision was easy to read upon her face, as she grit her teeth and directed her gaze further away. The surroundings remained silent as she thought, blinking back tears and digging her nails into her arms, retreating further into the ball she had formed of herself.

[colour=Silver]”Eden said to me - talk to Penny, or kill yourself,”[/colour] she finally said, burying her face into her knees. Her ears fell flat against the top of her hair, and Thalia closed up, blocking line of sight from Penny to her face, and vice versa, [colour=Silver]”Turns out suicide is a lot harder when there’s something in your head that wants to live, more than it wants to kill. I-I… didn’t know what else to do after that.”[/colour]

There would be a moment of silence after that admission. One in which Penny’s heart silently shattered. The look of hurt and sorrow that spread across her face going unnoticed by Thalia due to burying her face. [color=9e0039][i]‘I... suppose that… says everything really’[/i][/color] Penny thought as she grappled with that truth. That talking to her was ranked as a worse situation than killing one’s self.

For a second, Penny slipped away. Seeking refuge within the cold, emotionless, grip of the Engine. Within that second it contemplated tens of millions of ways to terminate Thalia and which would be the most effective.

 Two separate things stopped it from initiating the attempt.

[color=9e0039]“Well”[/color] Penny would say her voice and face unchanged from the last time she spoke, and her momentary loss of humanity going unremarked. [color=9e0039]“Here we are.”[/color] The look in her eyes had changed though now completely closed off to Thalia. Not hateful or wrathful, or sorrowful. Just flat indifference. She would continue the conversation. Because she had no way of knowing how that stupid dolphin would react if she went about trying to kill Thalia. And even if Dan did nothing, Thalia wasn’t worth waking up Chloe. 

That could come later.

[color=9e0039]“Mind if I ask who Eden is?”[/color]

[colour=Silver]”The head of that newspaper, the PI. Told me her name was [b][i]Eden Campbell[/i][/b],”[/colour] Thalia answered, quietly. She hadn’t noticed any changes in Penny - keeping her face hidden. And as she continued to speak, thinking of the past, she began to cry, [colour=Silver]”Sh-she said I was an animal, and she’s right. I-I ran away from you, ‘cause every time that’s happened before, people died. Sometimes they were people I knew and… were my friends. You’re the last person I’d ever want to hurt, but everything I ever do hurts people. So that’s what you do with an animal you can’t control, right..? You put it down.”[/colour]

[color=9e0039]“That’s…”[/color] Penny would trail off, uncertainty showing through her tightly guarded facade as she processed this latest bit of information. It was at odds with what a lot of what she had been assuming for most of this time and she wanted to believe that things weren’t as bad as she had thought.

But it was difficult, due to having been potentially burned by Thalia already, as well as the situations with Veronica and Alicia, and Penny wasn’t sure if she could handle it again if Thalia was lying to her now. Regardless of her Oath to Beacon.

Yet it was feeling Thalia’s tears hit the floor that tipped the balance. [color=9e0039]“Thalia”[/color] Penny would say softly her gaze critical of the fox girl across from her constantly seeking any hint of deception. [color=9e0039]“Do you…”[/color] she’d pause for a moment trying to determine the softest way to ask [color=9e0039]“Do you remember what happens when you Redline? Or is it all just blacked out?”[/color] She’d ask just as softly, because the answer to that had the potential to change things. Not everything, some damage was too deep to go back to how it had been, but hopefully enough things.

[colour=Silver]”I remembered the feeling,”[/colour] Thalia said - distant, uncertain, and trembling. Pulling on the memory of that feeling, the blackened depths with which she associated her Monstrous Metamorphosis and The Vixen, was hard on her. It was something Thalia attempted to forget at all costs, every time it occurred, and though there were no lies in her account, within her voice was a gradually increasing note of anxiety, building with every second it remained in her head, [colour=Silver]”I-I think I subconsciously lock away the memories, but I couldn’t get rid of that [i]feeling[/i], like my mind and body were collapsing in on themselves. That I was falling, and being crushed at the same time. I… I had to pick up the pieces and figure out what I’d done whenever I found the bodies. I let you see me like that, and when I woke up I wasn’t in the alley, and a-all I could think about was that feeling, and I, I didn’t know what else to do…”[/colour]

Penny let her head drop back to the wall behind her, letting out a sigh as she did. [color=9e0039]“It’s always the smallest things”[/color] She would murmur to herself. She wanted to be mad, wanted to be angry, as in the end Veronica had been right. Thalia and Penny had put different weights to how they felt about each other, but the metallic girl couldn’t find it in her to blame Thalia for that, for not trusting Penny as much as Penny had trusted her.

Instead she was just sad at the loss. It was too late to go back. Too much had happened, for the both of them but they could pick up the pieces that still remained and try and start a new. [color=9e0039]“You carried me away.”[/color] Penny would say after a time [color=9e0039]“I had gotten injured and it looked worse the it was, you Redlined and rather than stay and fight any of the Beacon members that had shown you carried me back to the warehouse”[/color] she would explain her gaze distant for the first time in the conversation.

[color=9e0039]“I had assumed”[/color] she let out a weak chuckle at that, remembering an old adage about such [color=9e0039]“Assumed that you’re transformation was more like mine. I remember everything about my changes, you see, in perfect detail. Everything. Every single thought and reasoning, every bit of physical feedback. Burned into my memory forever more.”[/color]

[color=9e0039]“So I thought we would be able to talk about it when you woke up”[/color] Penny’s voice would crack due to the painful memories, but she would just let out a long breath before continuing onwards [color=9e0039]“But you just panicked and ran, and I had no idea why. I tried to call you for hours afterwards. I waited for you to come back. But you never answered and never came back.”[/color] There was no reproval in her tone as she explained things, just an echo of her loss and hurt.

[colour=Silver]”I shouldn’t have run… i-it’s been so hard,”[/colour] she sniffled, finally raising her head from her knees to wipe away the tears, a faint, sorrowful smile on her lips at Penny’s account. They too were clearly not lies - Thalia’s eyes were bloodshot red, cheeks flushed, smile unstable and obscured. Her tears were a far cry from the girl she had shown to Penny those months ago, but though exaggerated, they were that much closer to her own truth, paired with her uncharacteristically cagey body language, and pained tone. Her own head fell back against the metal wall behind her, to gaze up at the ceiling, [colour=Silver]”When I realised that I’d run away from you, I lost it again. The transformation tried to get me far away, but I-I got caught up in a cycle for most of the day. M-my phone was already gone when I took control back… Lothreen tried to talk me down, but I blamed her for it all and she vanished.”[/colour]

[colour=Silver]”From there I’ve got… whole days and weeks missing,”[/colour] she continued, leaning forward from the wall to nestle her chin into the crack between her knees. Thalia’s gaze half fell onto Penny, not really look at her, but into, through, and beyond her, to something completely other. Her furrowed brow and concentrated until the stare crossed the line between observing her former friend, and trying desperately to visualise something that she had no recollection of, [colour=Silver]”I guess the transformation, or something like it… uh… took on a mind of its own? Eden called it ‘The Vixen’, so I suppose they got to know each other. It’s been… fighting me. Winning, u-up until recently. It… doesn’t want to talk to you…”[/colour]

Penny wasn’t bothered by the intense gaze, too decentralised and too exhausted at the moment for it to really register. [color=9e0039]“Not surprising, that it’s developed its own self.”[/color] She’d say [color=9e0039]“Or that Lothreen disappeared. They are us minus human plus something else and the Gods have always been fickle.”[/color] To say nothing about how Penny herself could track the slow development of the Engine with each time she Redlined.

[color=9e0039]“You could use a Red coin”[/color] She would offer up after a moment of thinking [color=9e0039]“Or a White. Either of them should be able to help long term”[/color] Already her mind was at work for a way to help Thalia. [color=9e0039]“Short term it depends on if you’re still triggering due to stress and such, but I might have something that can help with that”[/color]

Shortly after saying that a small section of the wall would open up near Thalia and a small tray would slide out holding a moderately sized, pale white, oval stone. [color=9e0039]“It’s a Meditation stone.”[/color] She would explain [color=9e0039]“Focusing on the stone while holding it helps you recenter.”[/color]

Removing one of her hands from around her knees, Thalia reached across to the tray, and brought the stone close. For a moment, she sat simply looking at it, running it across her hand, feeling its surface. Since the destruction of Purification Artifacts, she hadn’t used anything of similar nature. Holding something of that calibre brought about a vague sense of nostalgia.

[colour=Silver]”What are… red and white coins?”[/colour] she asked, glancing up from the stone cupped in her palm to look back at Penny, [colour=Silver]”I haven’t really been able to keep up with stuff recently. I got some bits from The PI, but after that went through… I still don’t know what happened at the graveyard, either. Kinda feels like Penrose has left me behind a bit, ha…”[/colour]

[color=9e0039]“Graveyard was the scene of a battle due to a horror nearly being summoned.”[/color] Penny would explain broadly [color=9e0039]“Beacon and anyone who made it there went up against a Monster boy and Monster girl siblings and their brainwashed minions.”[/color] She would rub her shoulder in phantom recollection at her own encounter at the graveyard. [color=9e0039]“We came very close to an apocalypse from what I hear.”[/color] She would add with a shrug before moving on.

[color=9e0039]“The Red and White, on the other hand, are a couple of new Coins that have started to circulate. Red Coins reshuffle your magic, and from what I’ve seen and heard the changes can be very drastic. One of my friends who used one went from being one girl with a water spec into twins with reinforcement and psychic.”[/color]

[color=9e0039]“White Coins are from Beacon and are powerful purifying agents. They break any prior Patron bonds that you might be suffering under and shift them to Beacon itself and come with an upgraded Spark that actively rejects corruptive agents. They are a hell of a trip to use, but not a bad one.”[/color]

[colour=Silver]”Hm…”[/colour] Thalia uttered, quietly, nodding along to Penny’s explanations and recounts. She took a moment to think. Stone in hand, she didn’t attempt to meditate on it, nor seriously look inwards to herself. She merely thought, for a short amount of time, about the past, and herself, and her Patron, and Eden. And everything that had led up to the past months. By the time Penny had stopped talking, the quietness clung to the space for a brief while longer, as Thalia sat and stared towards the floor.

[colour=Silver]”I… uh…”[/colour] she began again, abruptly, after several beats of silence. Her gaze slowly drifted from the floor, away from inside herself and back out towards Penny. Where she had gripped the stone until her knuckles ran white, Thalia loosened her clutch, so that the built up tension could be released, [colour=Silver]”...I-I still haven’t said it yet. That I’m sorry for leaving you. Doesn’t… really make up for anything, o-or mean anything right now… What if I just upped and ran away again tomorrow, right? - haha… ha… um… I-I’d be willing, to trying out one of those coins, but I dunno how The Vixen’d react. A-and, before any of that, I just... want you to know I’m sorry.”[/colour]

Penny didn’t seem bothered by the stretch of silence, content to simply let it reign freely. Still he reaction to Thalia’s words was, if anything, a curious almost non-reaction at first. Her gaze remain locked onto Thalia, as it had been for most of their conversation, but it seemed more distant after hearing what was said, more like she was just staring into space rather than observing. 

Slowly her gaze would return to the here and now. When it had returned she would speak.[color=9e0039]“I believe you and I accept the apology in the spirit that you are giving it”[/color] Penny had not yet forgiven Thalia however, and a small part of her wondered if she ever truly would. [color=9e0039]“If you truly want to try one of the Coins talk to Cindy.”[/color] She would go onto say [color=9e0039]“She’s got a stockpile of Red’s, I believe. That would be the quickest way to get one. Once we get out of here I should be able to get a White coin for you if you need one. It’ll take a day or two however.”[/color]

[colour=Silver]”Can’t believe doing this was this easy.”[/colour] Thalia said, accompanied by a quiet, light laugh. Her position on the floor shifted a bit, no longing withdrawing entirely into herself as it did so, [colour=Silver]”I don’t know what else to say… not sure where to go from here. If you can get a coin, I’ll try it. She won’t like it, though.”[/colour]

Pushing off from beneath, Thalia slid up the wall behind her, taking to her feet.
[colour=Silver]”Do you, uh, want this back?”[/colour] she asked, holding out the meditation stone still clutched in her grasp, [colour=Silver]”You probably don’t want me staying on the ship after all, with the whole… ‘losing control’ and ‘lack of trust’ bits, ha.”[/colour]

Penny just gave a tired smile as her friend stood up, glad that she was feeling better, even if she wasn’t quite sure if she herself was better or worse off just yet. [color=9e0039]“You can hold on to it”[/color] Penny would say gesturing at the stone as she moved to stand as well. [color=9e0039]“I don’t need it right now. In fact, I bought it because of situations like this”[/color] She would say chuckling at the timing of it all. [color=9e0039]“I’m opening up my lair, and some of the surrounding builds as a sanctuary slash homeless shelter. There are a lot of girls out there that don’t have anywhere to turn to. I’m planning on changing that.”[/color] She would explain with quiet conviction. 

[color=9e0039]“So, while your unfortunately right, I can’t say I’m fully comfortable with you staying on the ship”[/color] Both for the reason’s Thalia had offered, much more the latter than the former, but also that Penny wasn’t sure how Chloe would react to Thalia. [color=9e0039]“You’re always welcomed at the warehouse.”[/color] She would say honestly, before pausing as something occurred to her [color=9e0039]“You’ll likely end up there anyway. Cindy offered to help out with the project.”[/color]

[colour=Silver]”Okay, yeah… Thanks,”[/colour] she replied, with a smile far less pained than before. Being right about their current standings was a harsher reality check than expected, but Thalia had anticipated it since they began talking. The hardest part to come to terms with, was that their previous friendship could never be restored. She had expected that too, though. All that remained was to pick up the pieces, [colour=Silver]”Did you ever change your number? I-I’ve got some money at my… uh, current [i]lair[/i]. If I get a new phone, could we talk some more?”[/colour]

[color=9e0039]“It’s still the same”[/color] Penny would confirm, her smile becoming less tired and more relaxed and hopeful [color=9e0039]“Feel free to give me a call. Anytime”[/color] she would add before stepping closer to give Thalia a small hug. She moved slowly, giving the other girl time to back away if she wanted. [color=9e0039]“You’re still my friend Thalia”[/color] Penny would say softly [color=9e0039]“We’ll get through this”[/color]

Wordlessly, Thalia stepped forward, and accepted the embrace. For who knew how many months she had been without affectionate touch, without compassion, and without empathy from another. The last time had been Penny, just hours before she ran. For all the strength she had attempted to muster to deal with the mess she had made, still Thalia felt closer to tears than ever before, in the embrace of the closest friend she had ever known. She didn’t want Penny to see her cry again.

[colour=Silver]”Well, then,”[/colour] she said, pulling away from the hug, and quickly turning her back, to keep the tears in her eyes hidden from view, [colour=Silver]”I-I’ll see you later~! Kitsune Operative First Class, returning to base!”[/colour]

And then, she took off, out of the Earth Bastion, and into the night of the resort island.

[center]~[/center]

Penny would keep track of Thalia until the foxgirl was out of sight before letting out a silent sigh as her form would break apart and meld back into the Earth Bastion, as back in the command tower her eyes would open. The truth of the matter was that Penny had never left her nest of blankets, or at least her true body had never left. Gently she pulled the still slumbering Chloe closer to her as she resettled into the mass of blankets and pillows. 

She would be spending the rest of her night reviewing the conversation that she had just gone through, alongside her normal introspection about how she felt. All together she felt that it had ended well, and had high hopes about the future.