"I am not an Astral Phantom!" The drawing declared derisively. "I'm a depictomancy masterpiece!"

"You look like an Astral Phantom from where I am standing," I said.

"I don't swim around the Astral Ocean like some kind of grotesque many-limbed squid abomination feeding on souls of the dead!" Dawn shook her ruby mane, pantomiming an imaginary squid-creature with her hands.

I giggled.

"Seriously! I have no desire to take over the bodies of others, and I don't live to consume souls," Dawn stated with a frown. “Ambiss has imbued me with passion, purpose and function!”

"You feed on people's mana," I commented. “You’re akin to an… immobile Astral Phantom. An Astral... Tree with a thousand leaves that slowly collect information and draw power from all over. A thousand eyes and ears that open and close.”

"I am a painting not a tree! I am extremely offended right now, just so you know," Dawn huffed.

I rolled my eyes and went back to adding more hexagram sketches to my notebook.

"How are you doing that?" Dawn demanded.

"Doing what?" I asked, looking back up at the poster.

"How can you see my circuits?"

"Oh, are we friends now?" I asked.

"We are not friends! You called me an Astral Phantom!" Dawn waved her hands, looking indignant.

"Friends share secrets and occasionally call each other names," I stuck my tongue out at her. "Have you ever been friends with people, Dawn?"

"I've been friends with plenty of pilots and Nemendias students," Dawn huffed, crossing her orange-tinted arms. "I'm a guide and a companion."

"That doesn't answer my question," I said. "Have you ever been best friends with someone, outside of your set role as a drawing on a wall?"

"What?" Dawn blinked. "Outside my role? My role is to assist present and future pilots, to be their friend, conversation companion and advisor."

"I'm not exactly... a person," I said. "I think I can break you enough to give you another role."

"Break me? I don't want to be broken!" Dawn stepped back, as if retreating made her magical circuits any less visible to me.

"I might have worded my offer poorly," I said. "Humanity is in danger. I need your help."

"What kind of danger?" Dawn asked, her voice softer now.

"Have you ever seen another creature like me?" I asked.

"No," Dawn shook her head.

"Well there are more Dungeon Monsters like me, except unlike me they're incredibly malicious to people. They secretly rule the baronies of Illatius and guide the Empire to create a new, monstrous god," I said. "A Threat to Humanity."

"What?" Dawn's eye twitched. Her movements began to slow down. I pressed my finger against the painting, feeding her more mana before she stilled completely.

"I don't see you as a single poster, Dawn," I said. "I see you as an intelligence-gathering construct made up of many paintings, linked in the depths of the Astral Ocean. If you would share what you know with me and be my best friend, I can give you life."

"Life?" Dawn tilted her head.

"To function perpetually," I pointed a finger to my hair. "My hair is made up of crystalline-organic, personalized mana. I can attach a little piece of myself to you so that you can feed on me forever."

“Function… perpetually?” the painted chimera mulled over my proposal.

“If nobody is feeding you magic you are simply asleep, missing out on what’s going on, yes?”

“Yes,” Dawn nodded.

“Nothing lasts forever,” I said. “I can see your circuits because I am a chimera cendai, trained to observe… the waves and currents of magic that move from the physical world into the Astral Ocean. I can see that in time your magical circuits will fade away. Without protection and power the crystalline paint will peel off your canvas posters, decay away. You are a brilliant masterpiece, but you can be so much more. You’re a network, an artificial intelligence created by a genius depictomancer... that’s not being used properly. There is so much potential in you that’s not being utilized. I’m going to help you unlock it, help you shine.”

“How?” Dawn tilted her head, her eyes filled with curiosity.

“I’m going to make you see the world with your eyes open, take you with me.”

“You're going to carry a painting of me around with you... everywhere?" Dawn raised an eyebrow. "Won't that look obvious and quite frankly… ridiculous?"

"Nah," I smiled. "I'm going to make you into a dress.”

“What?” Dawn blinked.

“I’m going to light up every instance of you, open every one of your eyes wide. Don't you want to see more, be more?"

“I’m… listening,” the two-dimensional avatar of my future-self looked at me, a hopeful expression painted on her face.

. . .

I barged into Lambert's office with a huge grin on my face. My conversation with the magitek AI trapped in the painting had been very productive.

"Hrm? The inspector looked up at me. "You seem to be excited by something. Good news, I hope?"

"Agent Juni reporting for duty," I playfully saluted the inspector.

"At ease," Lambert smirked.

I unrolled Dawn, placed her on the inspector's desk, pinned her corners with four beast cores from my pockets and pushed some mana into the poster's activation rune.

"Good day, inspector Lambert." Dawn bowed respectfully, her gemstone mane shimmering with painted reflections.

"I do have good news. I have acquired another excellent agent for our cause," I said, pointing at Dawn.

Inspector looked at the painting and then back at my grinning face. He looked confused. "You want me to..."

"To hire Dawn as a Free Agent of Lomb," I declared giddily, pointing at the painted chimera.

"She named me Dawn," the girl in the painting sighed.

"You want to hire a painting as a Free Agent of Lomb Constabulary?" Lambert asked. I enjoyed his bewildered expression.

"Yeppers," I smiled even wider.

"You want three salaries?" Lambert asked.

“You’re still going to pay me two salaries even though I’m a single consciousness in two bodies?” I interjected.

“We’ve been monitoring you,” the inspector replied. “You can do twice the hours by avoiding sleep.”

“Ah, that is true,” I mulled. “I’m twice as productive these days. Anyways… about our third agent…”

Lambert looked at the painting again. "Is this part of your plan to pay off your debt? The Lomb Constabulary budget isn't limitless. I can't hire every painting to..."

"Not every painting," I bounced excitedly. "Just Dawn here. By hiring her you also hire every other painting drawn by Ambiss Huron."

"Why do you want me to hire a drawing?" Lambert rubbed his face tiredly.

"She's a perfect agent," I said. "I want to make Dawn into the belle of the ball at 66' Illatius World Expo. I’m going to make every girl fall in love with her! Everyone is going to want her!"

"What?" Both Lambert and Dawn stared at me, their mouths open.

Another feminine "What?" resounded from the doorway.

Anniya nearly dropped her tea tray as she stepped into the office.

I leaned back on the chair enjoying the dramatic effect I had inflicted upon the room.

"I hope you are not going to use dark magic to mess with people’s minds,” Lambert mulled. “The aristocracy of Illatius have protection artifacts that defend them against Charisma-effects.”

“Nothing like that inspector,” I laughed. “I’m a nice girl. They’re going to love her because of what she’s going to be!”

“Explain," Lambert readjusted his glasses, leaning forward as Anniya deposited the lunch tray on the table beside the poster.

"As you know, I'm a clothing designer from... Inaria," I said.

"She's from Inaria?!" Dawn gulped.

"That's my current hypothesis, yes." Lambert nodded.

“I figured out what she is,” I pointed at the poster. “She’s not a single depictomancy hexagram. She’s a thousand rune hexagrams tied together via the Astral Ocean. Dawn is a web of magical paintings linked together. She’s not being used effectively. I know how we can improve her, give her a job.”

“Hrm,” the inspector looked at the poster.

"The world where I come from had fashion shows too," I said. "I attended plenty of them, my designs winning a few small awards. One of these designs was a dress made from fiber-optic cables that projected a hand-drawn animation of a dancing girl atop of the dress. It was a big hit… but I only made one for myself to wear. It was imperfect because the battery backpack that powered the displays was heavy and kept overheating."

Lambert's eyebrows went up.

"There are 1047 copies of Dawn hanging in Skyship Stations across Illatius," I said. "The three of us can go around Illatius, collecting as many copies of Dawn as we can. I will make her into a dress-line in time for the 66’ gala and sell her as exclusive outfits for the Illatius aristocracy. Every copy of Dawn will be powered by my crystalline-organic gemstones and can function as our eyes and ears in the houses of the highborns, collecting evidence of their crimes against humanity."

"Are you willing to do that?" Lambert looked down at Dawn. “I didn’t realize that your shape and function could be altered so much.”

"I am," Dawn nodded, her face set. "These Dungeon Monsters are a Threat against Humanity, yes?"

"Yes," Lambert replied, his face serious.

"Then I am in. I am willing to do what it takes to help Illatius and to serve the Empire," the girl in the painting stated firmly. "My paintings will inevitably decay away. I want to be more, inspector. I want to work for Lomb Constabulary and see the world with my eyes open."

She looked at me. There were painted sparks of tears in her eyes. "You were right, Juni. I do want to live. I am the dream of Ambiss and... I don't want to fade away. I want to work with you to help more people."

"Very well," Lambert nodded. “I’ll add you as a single employee of the Lomb Constabulary into the database. I’ll need a first and last name.”

The painting looked up at me.

“Lets call her Agent… Dawn Huron,” I mulled. “Considering that she’s a magical soul-construct of Ambiss Huron, she’s technically her daughter. What do you think?”

“I… like it,” Dawn nodded with a soft smile.