Rinoa blinked as Squall quickly closed the gate.
Zell, who had been about to follow, nearly fell over! "They hell, broody!?"
The quiet boy just… Stared at the now closed gate in contemplation.
And nodded. "Egress is blocked. Sarah claims to be secure?"
Rinoa blinked as Selphie tried to sneak around her team leader to peek out the gate while Squall absent mindedly blocked her attempts."Uh… Yeah?"
He hummed. "Request that she joins us as soon as possible."
Zell flickered his fists! "Yo, the heck bro!? Why don't we go to her and get this over with?"
Selphie was casually moved back from her curiosity again as Squall frowned. Or uh, basically looked the same. "It would be more efficient to wait here."
Huh. "What's going on? I thought Sarah was just sharing some food?"
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Alright, Sarah accepted: This might have gotten out of hand.
There were now self refilling food tables in ALL the various 'meditation' gardens, except the ones belonging to students out on missions or doing field work.
At some point she had made the poor decision to 'reduce traffic' by spreading more stations into the halls themselves… Then the side rooms… Then the more DISTANT areas…
Not sure when the various monsters started showing up, but they'd snag a serving dish or two and eagerly consume the mess while ignoring everyone else. Since the plates and tables kept being refilled from her Inventory, they'd eat till full and fall asleep… Or head back (to the Training Center, apparently) to relieve themselves before getting back to eating.
All the pets were gathering up in one of the rooms with their owners cheerfully taking cute pictures or cleaning up the mess their personal death monsters made while trying to gorge themselves.
And uh, it was loud.
So now ALL the various visitors and recruitment people and so on and so forth had found out about this thing, along with a lot of staff and… Well, the crowd got bigger.
And the situation more complicated.
She needed to individually track each and every dish, the rate of consumption, the freshness, if anything was damaged or soiled, and so on and so forth.
And, when no one was viewing a specific issue or dish, to [[Harvest]] the flaw and replace it.
At first, this was trivial… But now the complexity was going up with every new serving table and new wave of customers.
More eyes made seamless replacement a bit more tricky. More consumers required more supplies. And while none of this food was the ultra high quality stuff she had shared with her boss and potential harem mates earlier, it WAS far higher quality than most food she had ever made before. It drew and kept attention. A lot of it.
This meant that she had to be a bit tricky, to ensure no one noticed how items moved or changed or refreshed. More and more subtle with slight changes.
Eventually, despite being very careful, her bone wings were starting to locally return to this level of S̹p̩͎̟ḁ̳͇̱̲ce̺̙͔̣, and it became more tricky to keep it quiet.
Eventually, she HAD to stop restricting her wings from displaying.
Fortunately, Rinoa's 'Disguise' had LOTS of fiddly bits. And Sarah was clever.
Now, her various cloth scraps and scarves and sleeves and leggings and cloaks and covers were hiding away individual dimensional bones, her wings fragmented and secluded away in pockets and tubes and layers and so forth.
With her hood down, her glowing eyes were nearly completely hidden and the only REAL issue at this point was the extra control her wing fragments gave her complicated outfit.
More than one staff member or student got a bit of a shock when a scarf suddenly reached out to move something while her other limbs were busy, or when bone hiding material moved unnaturally out of the way of her busy bustling.
But uh… At least her outfit wasn't technically alive, right? So what if she had hundreds of dimensional skeletal structures turned into something between a bone cloak and fragmented bits of cloth manipulation?
It looked the same as before! Mostly. Sort of.
Alright, she looked like she had doubled in weight because all the wing bits tended to float around a little, but she wasn't fat or something BEFORE this shift and most of these people had been super busy eating and stuff, but it was good enough for government work!
And that mattered because she WAS a government, technically.
Oh well. At least she was getting a LOT of good data from this for 'Research'. Especially a lot of raw ingredients [[Scans]] as the dishes went through the processing methods for feeding everyone.
Though Adam insisted on being quiet, he DID leave notes for her to bump into when she connected to the Warehouse system, even if those comments were deliberately not time stamped or signed.
Seriously, something about this Jump had him ALL the way hands off this time, it was nearly amusing.
Anyway, the notes pointed out that her new systems could and DID automatically generate, test, and optimize farms for every new Jump and for every plant and creature she [[Scanned]] along the way. However, like he ALSO noted, nothing lived between Jumps to new areas.
So this brought up two things: One, each farm was recreated from scratch and [[Harvested]] at the end of each Jump; Two, local animals are more efficient to raise.
It cost nearly nothing to use Warehouse systems to recreate cuts of animals or parts of plants or whatever, but to raise something from Bioshock she needed to recreate the environment for that world over that entire facility to ensure no errors or accidental issues cropping up during pregnancy, maturity, aging, etc and so forth.
Same held true for Rick and Morty creatures (Which uh… There were a LOT apparently) and the ones from the Final Fantasy 7 Jump.
It was just cheaper to raise local animals and plants, since no energy or focus was wasted simulating the correct environment… Even better to [[Scan]] the ingredients or even the final dishes for cheap reproduction at a later date. Why raise a whole cow if you want two hamburgers? Why grow a mountain of lettuce and tomatoes to get toppings?
So Adam was still improving stuff in the background (Focused on security and defenses, obviously) and had adjusted the units related to food preparation to better gather data related to base components and finished dishes… To more cheaply allow her to eat her favorite foods from older, more expensive Jumps with impossible components or abilities related to the dishes.
In other words, by [[Harvesting]] all these monsters in her Final Fantasy 8 Jump farms (Thankfully only ones with non-sapient minds were constructed by default) to fuel this festive feast, it let 'Research' examine the ongoing [[Scans]] to determine a selection of the healthiest cuts of meat, the most potent veggies, the most delicious fruits, and so on and so forth.
Not just the best of the best, which could theoretically get old or repetitive, but a range of the top choices to be used in future dishes. A semi-randomized selection of optional ham slices or cheese wedges or dinosaur ribs or whatever.
She still COULD duplicate a single sandwich a thousand times, of course… Just, now she didn't have to when her Warehouse could make a thousand slightly unique (And delicious) options instead.
A mental prod from Shiva had her blink and stop reading the never ending notes… Oh. "Excuse me."
Move this girl, move that boy, change out their sandwiches with something fresher and move between… Man, there was a mess of people out here. "Sorry, pardon me. Oh, the fish dishes are two gates that way. No, thank you, but I appreciate the offer. Excuse me."
Lots and lots of people.
Sorry, Rinoa… It may take a few minutes to get over there without blatantly using Sorcery to skip a few steps.
And she MIGHT be constantly using S̰͔̩̩̮p̯͍͉a̪c͎̰͔e̪̻͇ to cheat right now, but it was stealthy! Super stealthy!
Looking at the near wall of ravenous people… Sigh, she was going to get in trouble for this, probably.
Ah well, that wasn't a good enough reason to throw out what actual stealth she had by just ripping reality open or vanishing out of the crowd to speed things along.
The fact that it delayed any upcoming complaints or rants had nothing to do with it.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Headmaster Cid slowly backed away from the Quad down on A12 and paused.
That. That had been a small herd of
Grat.
Just… Sitting against the wall and eating from a massive tray of roasted pork.
The same students that would normally fight these creatures to the death were just… Walking past them, busy and eager to get their OWN food.
And, to be fair, the smells from that direction were astoundingly delicious and tempting.
Just… What the heck was going on here?
An electronic alert from his modified Junction system had him pause his mental debate (Ignore creatures and acquire food? End the threat and take THEIR food?) and a smile slipped out.
Edea was here, in the Parking facility.
He was
running/
speed walking/moseying in a smooth and cool and totally young way to
hug her and never let go/
cry in her arms/
rant about his staff abandoning him to food focused hedonism/
show her the more kinky experiments he had designed/
tell her about the amazing new magic manipulation toys/meet up with his significant other and catch her up on the situation.
It would probably help if HE knew what the situation was, but that was a problem for future Cid.
Ah, good! He got here pretty quickly. He was presentable, right?
A bit of straightening out the clothing, a bit of calmness (because he had to move briskly, not that running nonsense.), his hair, uh. Good enough. Let's do this!
And nearly was smashed into by a fast moving young lady. "SorryIGottaGo
ThereIsFreshButteredCornAnd…" The sound faded away.
Headmaster Cid blinked at the fast moving girl.
Had that been Ellone?
Salvation chuckled as love wrapped her arms around him. "Sorry, dear. The girl wasn't entirely clear, but apparently her old friends were having a picnic of some sort."
Concern? Frustration? Hidden fear? Lonely heartache?
None of that mattered anymore.
The better half of his life was back, and he could breathe again. "I missed you."
Like time never died and his home never emptied, the loving hum of his bewitching beauty calmed his Soul.
Edea sighed, happily, her enhanced body easily lifting him like a twig. "Mine."
Yours. Always.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Rinoa and the rest had left the gate sort of opened, gawking at what seemed to be a world wide festival of insanity rioting on outside.
Selphie pointed! "Those girls are in my combat class, not sure how they got that
Glacial Eye to just help them chill their drinks like that or why they are all eating ice cream, but they are great at unarmed combat.
She gave them a once over. "Hmm. Maybe. After we try and snag Seifer, we'll see… But they seem lacking."
The bright yellow dressed girl nodded. "Honestly, a good amount of the melee focused combat students are the ones who are really talented at Junctioning magic to strength… And, if they are lucky, HP and vitality. They tend to have low accuracy and magic compatibility, so their body becomes their strongest attack."
Zell snorted. "Not all of us!" His body flickered into a dozen patterns. "It's not a fallback choice for me, it's a calling!"
Squall was tracking the nearest creatures with suspicion, but wasn't bothering to contribute to the discussion.
Sure, the girls were pretty enough. Like, not compared to Selphie or anywhere CLOSE to Sarah, but something about them felt… Weaker. Shallow.
It was an odd sense, really. "What about her?"
Anther beauty in a sea of angels, this woman seemed to be somehow elegant and refined despite balancing two plates and eating from them simultaneously. More importantly, that whip on her hip had… Pleasant mental connotations attached to it.
Squall huffed. "Instructor
Quistis Trepe. Very competent, can be insistent."
Selphie snorted. "She's like only 18 and is one of the BEST Instructors at the Garden, but she seems to lose all her poise and decorum when our leader is nearby. Strict, but really nice… Honestly, she deserves that
fanclub."
Zell grumbled. "No idea what she sees in this guy, but she is so competent she can instruct students during SeeD exams, even in the field, without Junctioning a GF at all. She can, and she does, but for the weaker stuff around here? Total domination."
He noticed the others looking at him and blushed, looking away. "Just saying, she's earned that respect."
Selphie grinned right back at his embarrassment. "Zell's right though, her focus is uh… A bit locked on, if you will."
Rinoa grinned! Another woman (Attractive, powerful, smart, whip) to pull into plan 'Mud Wrestlemania'! "Right, she's on the list. Anyone else we should get?"
Squall groaned. "I'd suggest, ma'am, that we wait until other contract interests have been contacted first. After all, I am unsure if one or BOTH of Seifer's team is down in medical, or even if he is interested in the assignment."
Meh, Rinoa waved him off. "Just gathering ideas right now, nothing wrong with that."
Honestly though, some people just resonated with her more than others. These people she had bumped into felt… Deeper. Connected with the world, somehow. More valuable, more interesting, more attractive!
Sure, the librarians were hot and those skirts… Mmm, those skirts.
But more like a one time snack, not a long time commitment. Not like the hotness trio and whip girl over there.
And, of course, NONE of them fell into Shiva's or Sarah's range… But that was a bit unfair of a comparison to work with, really. So far her personal sexy ranking had a top twenty list… And then, above the top, the Sexy Sorceress and the Sinful Shiva.
Kind of skewed the results, so uh. Better to just accept that and move on.
And aside from the depressed hunk's possible bromance with the unmet Seifer and this sexy young teacher cutting through crowds like a sharp blade ignoring reality, most of these other men and women were… A bit lacking.
Yeah, her evaluation scale might be way off.
Then again, it may be a side effect of Sarah herself.
After all, Rinoa had noticed fairly quickly that, when hanging around the woman, powerful people seemed to subconsciously draw closer while weaker people (physically, mentally, or magically) had trouble sticking around.
Like, Selphie nearly smashed INTO them, and Zell was the only boy who didn't suddenly empty the corridor they had been walking towards. And, of course, Squall himself seemed to be unnaturally easy going with Rinoa directly… Shiva was snickering about him being the 'perfect Junction host boy toy' or something?
Again, dem muscles.
Right. "Sarah's trying to head back but uh… Yeah, this lunch/dinner thing kind of expanded and she's being held up. So we are stuck here ANYWAY, why not keep an eye out for a bit of talent?"
Zell just huffed, before retreating to the meditation area to do another 'meditative combat routine', aka Shadowboxing. Selphie just leaned against Rinoa and went back to people watching (Yep, she was a cuddler! Score!), and Squall… Seemed distracted?
Uh. Very distracted. "Hey tall dark and sassy… You alright?"
The man seemed… Confused? Alert? "I'm sensing… There may be someone coming."
What?
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
=Shiva: Seriously, it's almost like we got another GF trying to connect to you.=
=Ifrit: Meh, it feels familiar. Probably fine.=
=Quezacotl: No! It feels freaking WEIRD!=
=A͘m͘͜͞m̛̕u͏̶̡h̸̷̨͢ą̀͘͠͠: Ḩu! T͟uh͝'̢d p̸a͟ t̢uha ̛aydeh͢k ̴ymnayt͘o̡!͡ E'̀s̵ u͜h̶ s͡o fyo!=
=Quezacotl: ACK!=
=Ifrit: {Snort!} Pansy.=
=Shiva: Hey, it's getting closer SUPER fast… On your left!=
Squall twisted, his gunblade loaded and twisted for a rapid strike, his mind already searching for a target to [[Scan]] and potentially [[Draw]] something useful from, something that would help him predict weaknesses and flaws…
And paused.
Why was
s̠h̯̫̩̮̦̪e familiar?
Her face lit up! "Squall! Zell! Selphie! Where's the food!?"
He blinked… As did his team. What?
Zell was confused as well, but Selphie had always been outgoing. "Uh… Everywhere?"
And she was TOO CLOSE! Why was he being HUGGED!? What did he do!? What was he SUPPOSED to do!?
=Shiva: Oh it's Ellone! Those older memories are always the hardest ones to protect when you Junction with us.=
=Ifrit: At least she cares about the important stuff. Good food and good fights!=
Where was he supposed to put his HANDS!?
Ellone (Apparently) refused to let go. "Not this basic stuff Selphie! The AWESOME stuff! Like your baby cucumber salad thing! Or those grilled wings Zell had earlier!"
His client on the other hand just perked right up. "Oh, you know about Sarah's special cooking? It's not as amazing as her targeted dishes, but I know she is more willing to use the expensive stuff with our private meals unlike the dishes out here."
Squall felt his mind glitch slightly. "Expensive?"
A delicate hand waved him off. "Sarah's restricted from using the most valuable stuff and the most recognizable ingredients when serving food around others, she's sticking to the stuff she's seen used and sold in Timber, Balamb City, and Balamb Garden."
Seeing the disbelieving stare, she twitched. "Well, mostly at least?"
Ellone STILL wasn't LETTING GO. "I've been mentally connecting to my childhood friends here, so I KNOW those weren't normal veggies."
She's been doing WHAT now!?
Rinoa blinked. "But… Oh. Oooh."
And now she looked frustrated. "Damn it, I KNEW someone would recognize something was up with the vegetables. Stupid sexy girlfriend and her absurdly expensive veggie platters."
Selphie on the other hand… "Wait, we knew you in our childhood?"
And… Ellone suddenly went a bit slack. "Yes? We all grew up together!"
A bit of awkward shuffling.
Ellone began to withdraw. "Right? You remember, right?" She began to frantically look at the three students. "You… You know who I am, yeah? You haven't forgotten our [[Connections]]? Right!?"
=Shiva: Oh for goodness sake, Squall! Here! {Orphanage.data}=
A massive migraine SMASHED into his everything! Pain beyond being stabbed, worse than electrocution, more twisted than burning! Damn it!
It broke his solid emotional control.
It destroyed his confident self restraint.
It broke him. "Ow."
What a headache… Oh. He said that last bit out loud, didn't he?
How embarrassing.
No, focus. "Older memories tend to get repressed or damaged when Junctioning. You'll have to be patient with us while we remember." Still, it was good to see her again. "It's been many years,
Ellone."
And then the hugging came back! WHY!?
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Zell was the most shocked at the situation. "I can't believe we all grew up together."
Selphie was just glomping onto the 'awkwardly hugging Squall' pile with Rinoa, who just seemed to enjoy his very mild freak out attack trying to deal with three girls being all grabby.
But for Zell… "Shit, BOTH the stuck up jerks that I've bickered with are like, basically my bratty older brothers or something." And wasn't there another? A
cowboy? At least the kid used to be obsessed with the idea back then. What the fuck!?
But that would basically make Quistis his hot older sister figure, one who was not biologically related. Which was like, several fetishes right there, not that he would share that with anyone.
And uh. Really put the slightly homoerotic overtones between broody here and his bad boy 'rival' Seifer into a new context, but Zell wouldn't judge them for THAT.
No, if he was going to ever criticise those jerks it would be due to their infuriating attitude and annoyingly stuck up actions, not whatever romantic angst might be going on in the background.
But dang. "This isn't going to be a thing, right?"
Rinoa blinked from being slowly pried off the team lead. "Hmm?"
He just waved at the group, and the girl he could now vaguely remember. "This thing with Ellone, where we find out that everyone we talk with and stuff were like our childhood besties or something. Because it is REALLY an awkward feeling having my memories sort of fade in and out like this."
Selphie giggled! "Are you kidding me? I'd LOVE to have an excuse to hang out with and glomp all the hot girls if they suddenly have that cute 'girl next door' and 'childhood friend' backstory just dropped on them!"
Rinoa let Squall 'Win' as she was pushed away and then quickly latched onto the two other girls. "Yeah, it totally save's time. Though it is really weird that all of you are so powerful and sexy and hot and stuff."
They must have squeezed SOMETHING awkward on the new girl, because Ellone suddenly 'Eeped' and the entire group nearly fell over.
Huh. Well, that complement at least certainly helps to build one's ego.
Zell kept his grin small though. "I'm just saying, the more I see this girl the more… Like, I remember an old building? I think by the sea?"
It wasn't being repressed or damaged on purpose, it just felt so… Slippery. Hard to hold. A tall woman who smelled like rain? A man who told tales of adventure?
Just fragments, really. "It's messing with me a bit."
Squall seemed to have reached a limit. "Please. Desist."
Rinoa grumbled. "Fine, fine. Come girls, we will move the cuddle puddle back to our garden and share some of the good stuff for Ellone to try out."
Wait. "What about Sarah?"
A voice came from inside the room. "It was too crowded out there so I had to take a short cut. Hello there, Ellone! My name is Sarah!"
The new (sort of?) girl blinked. "Are you a cloth tentacle monster?"
A sinful tease floated out of the pillar of random clothing. "Are you interested in finding out?"
Urk. Bad thoughts, bad thoughts!
Well, more really REALLY good thoughts, but awkward ones to say the least.
Change the subject! "Hey Sarah, glad to see you are alright, we were a bit worried."
That was mild and not anything offensive, right?
Best he could hope for, he was always best with his fists and feet more than conversation and diplomacy. And Guardian Forces help them ALL if they had to rely on Squall to be a talkative distraction. Help us, Selphie!
The yellow social butterfly lit up and glomped onto the outfit mound. "Hey boss's girl! You got any more grub for our friend here? Ellone like… Sort of mentally connected to us or something when we ate the good stuff earlier and really wanted to try some."
The pile began to nod… And froze. "She connected to ALL of you when you were eating? As in, while you had the targeted meals, the special once a week ones?"
Uh. "Yeah?"
Was that a problem?
Ellone shrank back a little at the ḻ͍̥̯o͔͈o̘̻̳̙͈̼k̯̭̭̼̹ the hidden eyes gave her. "I was fine!"
The look didn't improve.
She wiggled. "I was… mostly fine?"
Nope.
She slumped. "I woke up after twenty minutes or so, and now I can stand and walk unaided."
Sarah sighed. "I can get you GOOD food, but you are pushing the line on targeted stuff for…" Her outfit g̱̬͕̫l̘̫̺͚͎͎ͅo͇̗̩̟w͍̩͚e̪̤̲͈d̹̭͖̳̤ for a moment. "...Another thirteen hours."
At the incoming protest, several sleeves and scarves and belts were held up. "No, to be safe you have to wait for a day or so before I can make you a targeted meal of your own. And it is only THAT short of a delay because you just shared someone else's experience and it wasn't targeting you directly."
Huh. She got to taste ALL those meals, not just his own?
Zell felt a bit jealous. Odd.
Ellone froze, mid pout. "Wait, you mean your food gets BETTER than that!?"
The mound shrugged. "Yeah, I'm still doing 'Research' on the food production methods right now. I'm actually testing the more mild stuff outside with the crowds at the moment to make sure there won't be any unwanted side effects from the high end dishes being developed."
And then the old table and food vanished, with a new one covered in what was nearly an art piece. One side focused on hot dishes, the other on chilled, with a number of glasses filled with strange drinks and clean servingware placed in front of a bone chair.
A stunned girl was gently moved into her seat by a complex cloth construct. "Now that I managed to gather a good amount of d̨́̕͟a̧͡t́͝a̵͜ to work with, would you mind trying out a few improvements I've been working on?"
Zell lost track of the others. And just… Savored the smell, the sight, the soft bubbling of the hot chili over there and the gentle tinkle as ice bumped inside the cooled soup over here. And somehow, the entire mess of unrelated dishes complimented each other, the scent a symphony of flavor in the air.
Damn it stomach! How dare you be so full right now!?
Integrated Ecological Statistics and ramifications aren't "weird," they're complicated. First tier, I.E. immediate impactors, are easy enough to visualize, and/or theorize. Second tier gets a little fuzzy, since they're often some combination of the event, and first tier effects. Third tier, okay, I'll admit get wonky, but that's solely down to environmental factors being unknown as to how tier one effects have their own knock on effects.