A Conjuror's journey

With no breath in her lungs, Louise's scream died stillborn as she stared into the machine's false eyes. Completely lacking in social skills that would fit in with any of the peoples she'd encountered, facial expressions that made her uncomfortable, an appearance that seemed both mussed and altogether too pristine, and an overwhelming buzzing on her skin just by being near the girl; she'd thought that Penny was strange, but this... it was another abomination like Lily.

Only... Lily still has a human soul, unlike this thing.

Lightheaded and sucking in air after not breathing for who knew how long, she tried to compose herself. The golem had her hand in its grip and she could feel the mechanical strength in its fingers from both sides of the situation as her familiar runes continued to glow. It... P.E.N.N.Y. hadn't made any hostile moves yet, but that might change if it found that she knew. While Louise felt certain she could defeat the construct if need be, fighting was the one thing she was confident about not messing up. Compared to her, Ruby and Yang were both kind of pathetic in combat.

They probably wouldn't appreciate dying and needing to be brought back as liches like Kiba or ghosts their mother... though if they were bound to her as ghosts, she could be assured that they wouldn't leave her.

Shaking her head, the pinkette threw away such thoughts. Yang might be an uncouth bastard, but Ruby was somebody she could see being a good friend should they continue their association and both of them were better than base commoners... even if they were still from ignorant stock that didn't sound far removed from such, like Tai-Yang. The point was that they had potential and she didn't want to remove that because of her insecurities that she was all too aware of. If she wanted pets, she could find or maybe even try making some with Master Cynric's help.

So if fighting was out, she would need a more peaceful way to free herself and see them to safety from the threat that the others couldn't see. Assuming that she could fool P.E.N.N.Y. of her continued ignorance of its machine nature, Louise didn't think it would harm them intentionally.

SUBJECT: Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. Alias: Louise. Status: Friend*1​
OBSERVATION: pubescent, female, humanoid Sapient/Sentient organic. Coloration within standard human deviation. Physical abilities moderate. Aura abilities matching Atlas Academy minimum requirements, substandard for Specialist requirements, anomalous usage recorded for review*2​. Aura capacity exceeds all precedent.
*1​non-hostile, safety priority secondary to SUBJECT: Father and SUBJECT: Ironwood, Safety priority =/> P.E.N.N.Y. in non-hostile scenarios #1-568, Safety priority =/< in non-hostile scenarios #569-841, subject to status change dependent on continued threat evaluation in relation to SUBJECT: Father.
*2​SUBJECT: Louise Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière capable of varied Aura techniques matching deviation standards for individual Semblances. SUBJECT: Louise Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière declared extra-Remnant lifeform as reasoning for such abilities.

"Huh?" Louise said dumbly, blinking at the deluge of information about herself.

"Yes, Friend-Louise?" P.E.N.N.Y. asked cheerfully and Louise was unsure whether how to feel.

It was evaluating her. Pubescent wasn't a word she was familiar with, but the rest seemed to be some sort of generalized description and summary of her ability... and if she understood correctly, it thought she was the most magically powerful person it'd met. That would be flattering, but well... of course she was! It had only met these not-quite mages of Remnant. Ozpin was the only confirmed mage among the local populace and it might not have even seen him before.

SUBJECT: Ozpin-

Louise cut off the confirmation that P.E.N.N.Y. had met the old wizard, it didn't matter and she had more important things to deal with at the moment. The golem was apparently genuine in its regard for her at least. Oh, and the others were all staring at her inquisitively.

"C-can you let go of me?" The pinkette asked after clearing her throat.

Doing so without even waiting for her to finish speaking, the machine looked to its hand in confusion. After a few testing flexes of its fingers as it grew more confused, it shrugged and smiled back at her. "I'm quite excited to share a meal with your friends, should I retrieve the same flavors as last time for you?"

Nodding hurriedly, now freed and unsure of how to proceed. Watching the machine approach the register, Louise felt the sisters watching her in turn.

"She seems... nice." Yang offered, not noticing the way her words added an extra bounce to the abomination's steps.

Status: Anxious, but healthy.
Magicka: (12010/12010)

Choose:
[] Drag the pair out of the parlor and hurry away as you explain.

[] Feign agreement and wait for it to return. You just have to outlast this event and then you're free to avoid the machine forever. Nobody has to know about the terrible secret you've uncovered.

[] She isn't wrong, per se... just ignorant of its true nature. But it is nice, for an abomination that shouldn't exist, and that is more than you can say about some 'people' you've met. Maybe you can give the thing a chance?

[] Write in.