Fortune favors the bold, Isabella reminded herself. Then, she took a deep breath and stepped out into the deep end. Keeping her head held high, her back straight, and her face an imperious mask, she walked while exuding a confidence that was borderline arrogance.

As she exited one of the transit portals in the Training District, her Attainment Majestic Presence flared with power, warmth spreading from the tattoo anchoring it on her neck. It pushed the force of her soul outward and she immediately felt a response from students nearby. Their souls flickered, like candles compared to her bonfire, but she ignored their sudden attention and awe as they turned to regard her. From what she could see, they didn’t appear to be anything more than stragglers from the disparate neutral Factions. The poor fools.

Her brother followed quickly on her heels as she set a fast pace towards their destination: a tea shop run by the mysterious new Oni. The last report she’d heard from the Forums was that the Golden Girl was there herself, surrounding it with her lackeys.

Oddly, the stones under Isabella’s feet resonated with each of her steps, as though in response to her Attainment, announcing her travel and somehow bolstering its power. She’d noticed similar effects like this during the day, traveling back and forth escorting refugees but grown accustomed to it. Her Attainment didn’t do subtle, and something about the magic of this place played into it. That, or her Attainment just really liked grandstanding. Even the buildings and murals shined brighter in her presence, as though trying to compete for attention.

“Are you sure this is going to work?” D’marco asked quietly, tetsubō held at the ready on his shoulders. She could see his expression straining though, likely because he’d wanted to add a stupid comment that her soul’s pressure was preventing.

“It will,” she assured him. She tried to keep her voice down, but it came out like a stage whisper carried on an open mic—everyone in half a kilometer probably heard her. Adjusting her grip on the spear resting in the crook of her arm, she focused on projecting absolute confidence as she marched forward, trying not to grimace in annoyance. If she lost her composure her Attainment would falter.

That was also an unavoidable, and frustrating, aspect of her power. The Attainment had a lot of quirks, almost like it had its own rule set—at least when compared to others of its kind. Considering the source Saras had said the Attainment’s line was based from, however, Isabella wasn’t surprised. In the end, the entirety of its functionality rested on the power of her personality. In the hands of someone like Tanya, the Attainment would be all but useless.

A few moments passed by before her brother spoke again. “We won’t be attacked, right?” She couldn’t tell if he was nervous or disappointed as he kept glancing around.

“My Attainment stopped an idiot playing at assassin dead in his tracks earlier,” she replied haughtily, sensing rather than seeing the response from those watching her. More awe, more respect. It fed into her power, making it temporarily stronger—that was why she was taking the long route to her destination. She needed people to see her marching defiantly towards her enemy.

Truthfully though, she hadn’t even sensed the knife-wielding bastard when he’d tried to attack her, but her Attainment had managed to bring him to a skidding halt at her feet. One awkward moment of him prostrating later, and he’d just turned tail and fled. It was only later, based on his loose description, that she learned it had been the Stalker come to mug her. It was unlikely then, that she’d been in any real danger.

But it was better if others didn’t know that. That way her potential enemies wouldn’t know how fragile her Attainment could be. After all, true killing intent would shatter it—she’d felt that from Shaggy Breeches. She was still irritated, knowing he’d likely been humoring her power at the time as part of his ‘game.’

“Hey, so I'm still gonna get a chance to…ah…” Her brother trailed off. Likely, he was about to question if he’d get to try for the Oni’s Gift, something he could have easily expressed if he’d finally just realize he needed to leave out his usual idiotic commentary. She loved her brother, but he could frustrate her like nobody else.

“Of course, you will. I told you, I’d prefer it if you got the Oni’s Gift. But you still need to earn it on your own.”

In actuality, she’d tried to offer him help, but outside of some Alchemical supplements, he’d turned her down. She wasn’t the only one with pride issues in their family, the stubborn brat.

“Good,” he finally said. “Good. I was worried you’d try to—”

“Enough,” she cut him off. There were too many people listening. “Just stick to the plan.”

The parts I told you, she added silently. She heard a strange snap and turned to face her brother.

D’marco was blushing slightly, jaw grinding as he rubbed his chin. He looked annoyed before meeting her eyes, then glanced away, shrugging. She guessed he’d tried to say something pithy, some asinine remark or joke, only to have that backfire. She didn’t say anything though, choosing to just turn back and continue walking. D’marco usually responded to anxiety with jokes, much like their father.

The rat bastard, she thought, fighting the urge to grind her teeth. We need a way out of this damn city, and soon. The idea of her younger siblings being back in his custody made her feel nauseous, but she knew their mother wouldn’t be able to step in. She’d already failed at that before, it was why Isabella had stepped up instead. Transitioned her entire life, selling her body and mediocre fame in a bid for money. Whatever it took to provide in the wake of their parents' failures.

Lately though, she’d been losing sleep thinking about her younger siblings out there, alone. Staring at an alien city in the sky, wondering where their sister and brother had gone. She had nightmares of them being abandoned and lost. Those nights, Isabella would wake, screaming. Crying. Praying, even, if just for some hope that they’d be alright. It was easier to put her faith in a God she didn’t believe in than in their parents. How ironic was that?

Stop thinking about that, she told herself. She needed to focus. To take control of the situation while she could before it was too late. However, as she subtly looked around on her march, keeping an eye out for minions of the other Factions, she felt D’marco’s gaze on her back. Her Attainment made it feel…untrusting? That wasn’t what she needed right now.

The idiot’s probably worried I have plans to steal ‘his’ Gift. Did he think she had some elaborate trick prepared? Something similar to the ones she’d pulled off at college parties before she’d had to drop out to take care of everyone? He still hadn’t figured out how she’d beat all those jocks, something she’d always lorded over him. But she had no confidence that a stupid party trick, one designed for drunk meat-heads, would do jack shit to a greater Spirit. The Oni would probably just snap her arm off.

Though it’s probably better than his plan, she thought. Her idiot brother’s grand strategy was to bank on his Power Strike Attainment to smash rocks faster than the Oni. A feat that, according to the Forums, had already been tried. But for some reason, D’marco translated ‘affinity with Oni’ to ‘Obviously going to succeed where others failed.’

Whatever, she thought. Let him try. Her plans didn’t factor his win or loss into them. She knew he’d probably resent her for that, and she felt bad for keeping him out of the loop, but her brother had unfortunately shown over the years that he could be unreliable under pressure. Too much like their father: hot-headed, impatient, immature. The only way Isabella felt she could trust him tonight was by using him like a tool. She hated doing that—hated feeling like she was always doing that to everyone around her, not just him. But she didn’t know a better way, and tonight…tonight would be life or death.

That was why she hadn’t told anyone her real plan, just in case someone was listening. Call it paranoia, but if it happened once, it could happen again.

“Keep the message stone close. Just in case,” she told her brother, as they neared their destination. She hoped they wouldn’t need their pregnant seer’s help, but Isabella would take any advantage they could get. D’marco was right to worry, after all.

Her true plan was at best reckless, and at worst borderline suicidal. If it backfired—death would be the merciful way out. Both of them could end up Bound as Thralls to the Golden Girl.

But it won’t come to that, she told herself. She’d put too much into her plan to have it fail. And even if she wasn’t able to pull off the hat trick, if her primary goal did work out, then…

Tonight would be the night Rebecca Rosenberg died.

Sparks flew in the air, bouncing off of Millie’s Mage Armor. She ignored them, however, and sat hunched over a panel of golden metal in the War-room of the Weaver’s Hall. A glowing Mandala was formed between her fingers; shaped from her Mana thanks to a complex Foci that was latched to her like a gauntlet. The middle of the Mandala produced a small, focused laser. It let her carve into the material as she worked.

The Lesser Severing Beam was a weak Spell all things considered, easily tier-one and barely a few inches in length. It wasn’t the only Spell this particular Foci had, but from what she’d found it was little better than having access to welding equipment. Still, she was glad to have found it, even if the panel was glowing like a miniature sun under her ministrations. Something she suspected was more a byproduct of her lack of familiarity with the Spells than anything else, sadly.

In fact, it was bright enough that it likely would have blinded Millie, maybe even permanently, if not for her second new bit of gear: a set of magical glasses Isabella had purchased and given her. They were a tier-two enchanted item, worth two hundred and fifty Resource Points, but despite their bland description in the System’s Inventory Millie already loved them to bits. And that wasn’t just because they looked like an oversized, magical visor Geordi La Forge might have used.

The chunk of metal she was cutting fell to the War-room table, free of the plate. Millie grinned, her Mage Armor deactivating, and she leaned forward to inspect her work using her visor. The Artificer’s Augmentation Visor, or AAV, was apparently a cheap knock-off of the Illusionary Reality Devices the Fortune-Teller had used long ago. However, despite its ‘lesser’ status, it was incredibly useful.

Not only did the AAV protect her eyes, but it also changed her vision; creating illusionary projections on whatever she focused on. She could do a number of things with the illusions, mostly centered around measuring things, but the AAV could also create and store blueprints that could be used later on as outlines to help guide her. There were, unfortunately, severe limitations for how complex, and how many, patterns the AAV could create and store, but it sure beat using measuring tape and rulers.

Hell, I don’t even need my dad's old Craftsman level, she thought. He’d get such a damn kick from this!

It was hands down the most amazing sci-fi thing she’d found in Magincia. She almost considered forgiving the ruined place for being terrible. Almost. But the memory of her father, her worries over her situation, and the tasks ahead of her and her classmates sobered her quickly. It was nice to have new toys to play with, but it would take far more than a few trinkets to make up for the endless horrors the place had visited upon them.

Setting the large plate she’d been carving down, she leaned back in her chair as she lifted her visor up, and rubbed at her temples. Thankfully, she didn’t have to care about damaging the table—despite lasering the crap out of it, the panel was still room temperature. She wasn’t even sure if the sparks created while working on it were dangerous. She’d simply decided to use her Mage Armor anyway, just to be safe. Even if it did still create a small headache, it was easy enough to deal with.

“You know,” she said aloud. “Other people would probably think having something that's like a magic ruler would be lame, but fuck am I glad Issie got it.”

“Mistress?” Her robot responded. The metal girl was the only other one with her right now—most of the others had already departed. Katelyn and Catherine to the Archive Stacks, Tanya and Braylon to get the petite blond’s Attainment, Issie and her brother for some mysterious plan of hers to steal the Oni’s gift and keep the Golden Girl busy. Only CJ was lingering behind in his lab for a few last-minute preparations while Raj was out scouting. Soon, however, Tanya would return and Millie hoped to have her new skates ready.

Her robot was still waiting for an answer, she realized. “It’s nothing,” Millie said absently, waving her free hand towards the robot. “Don’t worry about it.”

Her robot looked at her skeptically, then shrugged. It was a very human response she’d taken up lately, probably due to having someone like Millie as her master.

Still, Millie hadn’t been confident she could pull this all off, and messaged the back of her neck, trying to work out some knots. Without the cutter, and without the AAV, she wouldn’t have gotten far, and she honestly hadn’t expected Isabella to authorize purchasing it, or anything really. The beauty had been miserly with the funds collected from the refugees and tight-lipped as to why—citing continued fears of spies from Liam on why she was being so close-chested about things.

When others had protested that, she’d asked them how likely it was that CJ could douse the entire Weaver’s Hall in holy water to check. Since that was an obvious impossibility, and with no proven way to detect Liam’s shadows yet (either because Detect Undead didn’t work on them or they’d all fled already, no one knew for certain), no one had been able to deny her after that, especially when she pointed out others could always be spying on the group as well.

It was an uncomfortable thought, but she had a point. Even still, Millie only trusted the girl because of the Weaver’s vision. It had depicted Isabella as the Queen of Pentacles, strongly suggesting she’d be successful both financially and socially. So far that had been proven right with the refugees. So what if the beauty wanted to be a little secretive, didn’t she have the right to be cautious?

It helped considerably when, last second, Isabella had opened up the gates and bought a flood of items for the group. It had been eye-boggling, to say the least, the girl still hadn’t even said how much she’d earned or had left. Millie wondered if that too had been part of her plan, a way to keep others from knowing what their class would be bringing into the coming battles, or might be able to reinforce with if needed. It was certainly more comforting to think she had the group's best interest at heart. Better to trust in her friend, even if the beauty could be testy.

“It’s all an investment to win, right?” She muttered, then shook her head before stretching her tired, tool-clad arm on the table. She took a moment to look at the strange device that had gifted her with the oh-so-wonderful laser and sighed in annoyance.

She’d been right about her guess on the Orrery’s closet: it had indeed been for maintenance. It did seem fitting, after all, that the huge device would come with some way to repair it, given how deliberately sabotaged parts of it looked. However…she’d somewhat overestimated how much ‘help’ her Fate powers—if that was even what was at play—would give her.

The object on her arm was little more than a connected bracer and fingerless glove, so she considered it a gauntlet. That being said, it was ridiculously heavy. To the point that she doubted she could wear it comfortably for any real length of time. She suspected she knew why, as the material it was made of appeared to be gold, only it had more luster to it. A deeper radiance, like Yinman blue to natural blue, or Vantablack to actual black. This strange super gold was that to regular gold, and it was just as friggin’ heavy too!

Too bad the device was also broken, and much of what it could do was probably lost for good.

She wasn’t surprised about that. The contents of the maintenance closet had been extremely disturbing. When CJ melted its lock, and her robot pried it open, the three of them had been greeted by an unholy mess. Literally unholy (in her mind) causing her to sign the cross and try not to retch at the putrid sight and musty smell.

A strange black material had covered everything inside. Though most of it had long since died and dried out, the strange mold or fungi or whatever it was had left pockmarks, scaring, and stains on everything it’d touched. The rest was just black, disgusting goop, oozing over the floor. Thankfully, her robot had cleaned that up later, when Millie wasn’t there.

In the end though, most of the tools, items, even the few uniforms leftover, were simply ruined beyond salvage. The only working item she’d managed to find was her new gauntlet. Something that, based on her Eyes of Fate and the patterns in the mold, she suspected had been planted there.

It was only because of that strangeness that she kept it. Because at first, it hadn’t worked at all, despite looking mostly intact. She’d tried to fix it, to restore its once beautiful golden surface, now blackened and stained even after a thorough scrubbing, but a fifty RP Minor Mending scroll from Issie had barely affected it. A two hundred and fifty RP one though, a tier-three consumable that the girl had begrudgingly also provided, had managed to restore…some functionality.

While the gauntlet had tightened up and come back to life, there were slots on the surface designed for gems or other add-ons that just…dissolved into dust. Too far gone for the Spell to restore—she suspected—the repair had instead worked around the broken parts, jury-rigging connections to get a few workable Formations for her to draw on. While the Foci didn’t have a lot left as a result, it was about equivalent to Katelyn’s Healing Rod, offering several low-tier ‘maintenance’ Spells, so it was worth the investment in her mind. There wasn’t anything in the System that could do the same, so it was unique at least.

Using it, she’d sliced off a panel from the Orrery’s basement to use as the soles for Tanya’s roller skates. She’d had a lot of potential materials to work with, but something about the golden stuff just seemed…right. Even if it was heavy as sin.

Plus, she got to tear part of the Academy down, which was something she’d promised herself she’d do at some point.

What should I even call this gold stuff, anyway? She thought, lifting and staring at the sole. Supergold? Illustrium? Sparkle-alloy five thousand? She’d tried asking her robot earlier, but of course, the metal girl had been characteristically silent about it.

Millie grimaced and decided to put off naming the mysterious material for now. It was strange, however. Most of the Orrery was made with the material, the basement lined with it. But the orbs and walls were all fresh, shiny, and new. But not the gauntlet, and not the Orrery’s machinery—that was all some grey, steel-like material that had fused together.

But why? Why were some parts new, but others worn down, broken, or straight up moldy? How the hell had it even gotten like that? Did space have mold? Did Magincia have moisture problems? It was a mystery. One she couldn’t, for the life of her, fathom how it was even connected to her current situation.

Honestly, she thought, setting the sole back down. I just hope stealing panels from the basement walls doesn’t bite me in the ass later. It was possible they were needed for the Orrery to function, though she figured if that turned out to be the case she’d just have to scavenge some of the weird gold from elsewhere and repair it later. She didn’t even think that’d be hard. She’d seen this specific material all over the Academy.

In fact, it made up Rebecca’s armor, it was in statues, murals, paintings, hell some buildings were covered in it, or entirely constructed from it. She was pretty sure it made up her uniform’s epaulets and accessory pieces too. Though she wasn’t entirely sure how they’d countered its weight. She suspected it was part of an enchantment.

“Manallium? Okay, seriously I need to stop,” she told herself. Her robot was giving her questionable looks. More than normal, at least.

Her poor naming convention aside, after a short time experimenting with the super gold, she was pretty sure she knew why the Magi had used it for practically everything. It seemed to be a superconductor, but for magic rather than electricity. Like a supernatural electrum. Though, she didn’t rule out the idea it may also be a superconductor in general.

She’d figured it all out when she’d tried to cut off the panel using the gauntlet’s laser. At first, it had completely resisted her. She’d been stubborn, however, and kept trying only to have the metal suddenly split, parting around the pulsing light as though reacting to the magic trying to cut it rather than actually being cut. Even after zapping the shit out of it for minutes on end, the material was cool to the touch, and one burnt finger had confirmed her laser was very much heated. Annoyingly, the metal had a habit of glowing as bright as the damn sun when it soaked up too much magic, something she’d found when she accidentally channeled a point of Mana into it. It dulled quickly though.

“Alright, enough of a break. Now for the hard part…” Millie said, lowering her visor back down and lifting the sole-shaped carving back up.

It took Mana to power her tools, which was frustrating but also a hallmark of the lower-tiered items. Still, the visor had juice remaining so she shifted the illusionary pattern to measure the length of the item. Then, she marked four locations where the wheels would go, set the sole onto the table, and grabbed a small, delicate vial she’d set to the side.

Inside was an alchemical glue CJ had made a while back. He’d tried his hand at all the ‘basics,’ she’d found. Though she hadn’t cared too much about the details, she just knew the substance didn’t lock things in place until hit with Mana as a catalyst.

Using the magic gloop, she filled in the areas illuminated by her visor’s markings and then set it down in front of her. Then, she grabbed the first of the wheels and slowly set the housing in place, taking great care to make it as perfect as possible. She’d already done some preliminary work prepping them—her earlier demo of the tables had been a tad sloppy—but it worked well enough.

After a minute, when she had all the wheels placed and leveled, she pulsed Mana into it, only to have the super gold glow as it drank it up. She growled in annoyance, sending another pulse, taking more effort to make sure it reached the glue this time. The process took a while to get right, and she wasted more Mana than she wanted to, but while it set, she got to work carving out the next sole after drinking down a Mana potion. She’d gotten three of them from Isabella, and had two left now. Investments on investments, she thought. Speaking of…

As she waited for its regenerative properties to kick in, Millie’s eyes drifted to a box nearby. It was small, but in it sat four small objects. The paired message stones the others would use when they were ready to contact her.

She hoped they were doing okay.

A short while later, when Millie had just finished carving out the second roller skate sole, a sound drew her attention. Looking up, she saw Tanya and Braylon returning.

“Hey guys,” she called out, setting the rest of the panel aside as she began to measure the sole with the AAV. “Tanya, I’ve finished most of your first blade but I’m working on the second. Give me like, ten minutes? I have a few more things I need to do for both, but you can check out my prototype if you want.”

Millie gestured to the side where the first version of her tinkering sat. The golden plate with four wheels had a number of straps attached to it to allow for adjustments, and one of Tanya’s shoes had been alchemically glued on top. After the two gave their greeting, Tanya cautiously made her way forward to grab it.

“Holy crap, Millie,” Tanya said, inspecting the prototype with no small amount of awe. “I, ah, I didn’t expect you to be able to pull a pair of roller-blades out of your tush, you know.”

Millie snorted. “Have you seen my dexterity after the training? This shit’s easy. Plus, I got some actual tools I can use. Even if some of them are barely functional.”

She saw the girl grimace, however, as she struggled a bit with the item in her arms.

“Worried about the weight?” Millie said off-handedly.

“Y-yeah, but I don’t want to, ah…”

“It's fine,” Millie cut in, chuckling. She didn’t want Tanya trying to guilt-trip herself into accepting an item that would have been agony on the legs to use. She watched with some amusement as Braylon picked up the shoe, his eyes widening in shock. Yeah, holding something dense as gold will be like that, she mentally commented.

Pausing in her work, Millie took out a pair of Talismans.

“Light Foot Enchantments,” she said, sliding one forward for Tanya to inspect. “Sadly we had to get two, but they’re tier-one enchantments. Consider it a gift from Isabella—it’ll not only make you faster, but you shouldn’t have to worry about how heavy this super gold crap is.”

And, if this works as I think it will, Millie mused, then when she casts any Spells to make herself faster these shoes should help boost the effect. Assuming mega-electrum worked like that, at least.

Tanya nodded thoughtfully, considering one of the talismans, likely trying to gauge the Runes on it. Braylon, however, set the shoe down and came over to inspect Millie’s work directly. She had just begun applying the glue for the wheels.

He leaned down. “What is that?” He asked, gesturing to Millie’s gauntlet. She hadn’t bothered taking it off, which in hindsight was probably why her arm was getting sore.

“I think CJ wanted to call it an Omni-tool?” She said dismissively. “From Massive Effect or something? But it didn’t have holograms so he was ‘very disappointed.’ It’s more Infinity Gauntlet in my mind, but honestly, I don’t know what it's called. All I know is it has a couple, low-grade Spell Foci built into it designed around repair and construction.”

“And that was in with the Orrery?” He asked.

“Yup! Convenient that, right?” Millie said cheekily.

In truth, she highly suspected it had been planted there given the evidence, but she could admit that it was a plausible find. She just had trouble seeing any stroke of good fortune and not being paranoid that it was secretly a Fate Weaving of some kind or another. One she’d pay for later.

Apparently Braylon must’ve been of a similar mind, as he narrowed his eyes at the device before grunting. She was pretty sure that was man-speak for ‘seems suspect, but what can you do about it?’

She grunted back, shrugging. Man speak for ‘I know right? It is what it is though.’ He seemed pleased by her fluency in the guttural tongue of men and nodded sagely.

Meanwhile, looking back up, she saw Tanya trying on the prototype, tightening the straps on the shoe, and getting a feel for it. There was a genuine look of excitement starting to build in her eyes. She’d probably assumed the race was hopeless, but now, with something concrete to hold, she was gaining confidence.

Millie was grateful for that—of all the groups and the plans they had made, Tanya’s was the only one she believed in. She was pretty sure the Weaver’s vision had shown her a future Tanya, and the Knight of Wands was an omen that she was more likely to succeed than it appeared. How that would work out though…Millie had no idea. She could only hope Tanya would find a way with the tools she provided.

Speaking of tools. “So, did you get something sparrow-related?” Millie asked, pulsing Mana through the glue to start setting it while she grabbed the first sole and one of the Light Foot Talismans. “For your Attainment, I mean.”

Tanya looked up, wincing slightly at the glowing sole, before smiling. “I did! It was a good idea, actually. I don’t think I would have thought of it, given how it turned out for Rebecca and her, um, Bound.”

Millie cocked an eyebrow. Bound was the term being used for the Spirit-enslaved students of the Golden Girl. Why would Tanya…?

“Wait, what do you mean you wouldn’t have thought of it? What does your Attainment have to do with Rebecca?”

This time, Tanya looked confused, even looking towards Braylon like the big man could somehow explain. He just shook his head, raising his hands defensively as he stepped away. Guy speak for ‘I have no idea what's going on and I respectfully request to be left out of it.’ Probably a smart thing to pseudo-say.

“Um,” Tanya said, raising her hand as a small pulse of Mana came from it. “I thought this was what you meant?” A small Mandala formed on her fingertip, before a light coalesced above it, taking the shape of a small bird, pieced together rapidly one photon at a time. As the glowing faded, it left behind a mostly off-white bird, though it had brown, swirling patterns. Some parts of which veered on rust-red. It was…

A literal fucking sparrow. She got a fucking—

“Familiar?” Millie said skeptically, suppressing a sigh. “I thought the sparrow thing was metaphorical, not…literal!”

Tanya huffed, lowering her hand as the small bird flew effortlessly into the air. It circled her once, before alighting on her shoulder.

“How was I supposed to know that!?” Tanya squeaked. “You said I needed something sparrow-related, and Bartholomew is literally that!”

“Bartholomew? Bartholomew!? Who names a bird—”

“Greetings, Initiate McArthur,” an unbelievably deep voice said, coming from the bird. No, Millie thought. Don’t you dare be like this, don’t— “I am Bartholomew, Land Traveler of the Farseeker Flight. It is my honor to meet the revered friend of my partner, Tanya the Griffin.”

“Its…its Griffith,” Tanya said, a pained look on her face. The bird looked back at her, then turned back towards Millie. It clearly preferred its version and would not be dissuaded.

Millie’s eyebrow was twitching like crazy as she stared at the thing, affronted. This was tiny hat on bug-bot levels of absurdity, all over again. Especially since the bird sounded like a knock-off Christopher Judge from Stargate.

“Hi,” Millie said blandly, rubbing her temples. “Bartholomew.”

Oh my god, why did I let this happen? Millie silently bemoaned. Jesus give me strength, please? And yes I know I don’t even believe in you, but bro—come on. Why is this happening? Why?

The small bird bowed regally from atop Tanya’s shoulders, before flitting over towards Millie. It paused, cocking its little head to stare at the plate she was affixing the Talisman to.

“Ah, an excellent choice,” the bird said, its deep tones tingling Millie’s spine traitorously. She didn’t need these kinds of feelings from a tiny fucking bird! “Orichalcum is well regarded as the best choice for enchanting. Which, I believe, what you are doing could be construed as such.”

Great, I’m getting sassed by a tiny bird. Awesome—I needed this today like I needed a new hole in my head.

“Ori-what now?” Millie said, glaring briefly at the bird and then over at her robot. It somewhat stung that the Spirit was so forthcoming when her servitor hadn’t been.

“Orichalcum,” the Spirit repeated. “Some have likened it to ‘True Gold,’ it's one of the rarest forms of the Supernal materials.”

“Um, okay,” Millie said flatly, setting the now feather-light plate down as the enchantment took. She then grabbed the other boot and talisman. “So…not to sound mean or anything, but how will you be able to help Tanya with her race?”

The tiny bird puffed up, clearly affronted despite Millie’s attempt to stave that off. Tanya didn’t miss the rather obvious reaction, however, and leaned forward to defend her familiar.

“Bartholomew can do a lot, actually,” she said, giving small pats to the small bird. “As long as I give him Mana, he can cast a number of tier-one Spells on my behalf, most movement-related. It's slower than what I could do myself if I actually knew them, but he’s very efficient and knowledgeable.”

The bird puffed up again, though this time in pride. “Quite so, child. Quite so. Perhaps, Initiate McArthur, you too should consider—”

“No thanks,” Millie cut the bird off. She’d spent her life working in retail—she could smell a sales pitch a mile away given how many she’d been forced to make. “I’m not interested in getting a familiar now, or possibly ever. Especially not with a bun in the oven.”

The bird deflated, flapping its wings in an almost human-like gesture of awkwardness, before it alighted, flying back to Tanya’s shoulders. “I…see. To each their own. To each…their own.”

The weight of judgment in the bird’s tone left no question as to how little it thought of her now. Feeling’s mutual bub, she thought. She could tell, however, by the way the bird seemed to give zero shits about Braylon that the big man had already heard, and shot down, the same pitch.

At least if what Tanya got was a tier-one Attainment, Millie thought, then her bird can’t be a very powerful Spirit. It also claimed they were partners, so there shouldn’t be an issue of it trying to control her. Hopefully. That was a small blessing at least.

She set the second feather-light plate down and grabbed a shoe and the glue. “Will you guys be going out immediately then?” Millie asked.

“That’s the plan,” Tanya said. “Have the others already left? I know the Kate-Cat crew did.”

Millie smirked at the new nickname, then nodded. “The others had a few last-minute preparations to do, but they’re probably gone by now. Oh, by the way—Braylon,” she said, and the large man sat up. “Isabella got you something too.”

Millie gestured with her chin towards a large, wrapped object in the corner which Braylon approached. He lifted it up, a large, boyish grin on his face.

“Just try not to lose this one, alright Initiate Rowland?” She said, doing her best posh Q impression. The bird looked at her suddenly, mild indignation on its tiny features. Does it think I’m mocking its accent? Great—she was on a little bird’s shit list now.

Nearby, blissfully unaware of the blooming rivalry forming between Millie and the birb, Braylon laughed, strapping the shield to his arm, then pounded it excitedly. The low-grade, enchanted shield thrummed in response.

“She also got a number of potions,” Millie told them. “Healing, Mana, and Stamina, three of each, but you’ll have to split between you. Sorry.”

Tanya shrugged, drawing a small whistle of protest from her familiar who didn’t care for his perch moving. “Sorry, Bartholomew. But, yeah, I’m just happy we got something, you know? I was kind of worried Issie was going to hog all the RP from the recruits.”

Millie grimaced. “Yeah, well it's all a part of her grand plan, right?” Tanya frowned in solidarity.

Setting the shoe-affixed plate down, Millie grabbed the second skate and began gluing its shoe on. The straps, salvaged from many a wardrobe item, were all that was left after this.

“Be sure to have your speaking stone with you, okay? As people get closer to their destinations, I’m going to break out my oversized magic eight ball and do some readings. Hopefully, I can start giving you all advice by then.”

“Is there a reason you waited?” Braylon asked, playing with the adjustment strap of his new shield.

“Aside from needing more soul bits?” Millie said. She hadn’t been confident before that her soul could handle the Crystal Ball with only the bits she’d gotten from Liam.

Braylon blinked. “Well, yeah that, but I meant until we’re out on the field. Why not do a reading before we leave?”

Millie sighed. “Honestly?” She said. “It's about the difficulty. I can perform readings from afar now, but I don’t have the nuance to…er, set the stage, you know? I don’t know how to read something like: if person x goes to place y, what happens? I’m still restricted to doing consultations more or less on the spot, reading the situation you find yourselves in. The big thing now is, I can do that from here instead of having to be next to you.”

“Ah, got it,” Braylon said, nodding.

“Are you almost done then?” Tanya asked, gesturing towards the roller-blade.

“Just about. After this finishes setting, I’ll need to use the rest of CJ’s fancy glue that probably violates the Laws of Thermodynamics to throw on some adjustment straps for comfort. Then they’re all yours.”

Tanya grinned, though she furrowed her brows at Millie’s strange description. She didn’t understand though—none of them did. CJ’s glue was clearly cut from the same cloth as his reality-defying acid had been. Sadly, he was out of that. Now, Millie would have to settle for webs and holy water if she wanted to ruin anyone's days personally.

The group lapsed into amiable chit-chat as Millie finished the improvised roller blades, and once she was done she had Tanya try them on. The girl circled the war room, her sparrow flitting in the air circling her, laughing at how light they were and how fast they built up speed.

Bird’s not wrong, that metal crap is super great for enchanting. Even a shit, DIY stuff like this. Millie smiled in pride as she watched her friend soar.

Then she frowned when he saw a sudden look of terror on Tanya’s face. The petite girl waved her hands as she passed by Braylon, practically throwing herself into his arms. He caught her easily, of course, but looked confused. Especially as Tanya shot an accusatory glare at Millie.

“What?” Millie said defensively. “You don’t like them? Did I fuck something up? Did the glue break? The Talisman wear off? It should be fine, I put it between the shoe and sole, but—”

“Millie! Where the fuck are the brakes?”

“Oh,” Millie said. “Breaks. Right.”

She knew she’d forgotten something. She was kind of glad CJ was elsewhere now—he’d have given her all kinds of shit for this one.