(Rewritten) Ch. 25 – A Burden Shared…

"Thinkin' only therapists an' such can help folk with their troubles? Fool’s errand, that. Ya even know how few of ‘em there is? How many minds ya reckon one person can fix?! Ain’t enough hours in all their lives t'gether, chucklehead.

Do some damn numbers ‘fore ya tell me t'leave it to 'em professionals, ya plank."

– Aunt "Auntie Care" Carroll, a Listener defending her community initiative from corpo PR intrusion, March 2055

***

Leah could see! And she had a headache. But she could see!

Blinking furiously, she slowly focused on Tinea, and holy fuck, was it worth it.

Tinea was hella cute. She had a heart-shaped face with an Asian bent to it, had the black hair to go with it, but was otherwise European in color with only the slightest of olive tinges. Ice-blue sunrise eyes, a brilliant bow of a smile returning hers (I knew she had a pout!), thin lines for brows, and a button nose Leah really wanted to nibble on.

But more importantly, antennae! Glorious feather dusters constantly in motion, fluffing at Leah's face with the softest, fuzziest of touches.

"Hi, Leah. Wanna try making a sound? It's been more than long enough for your voice box to recover."

"Aaaaah… Oh!" Leah's heart was beating fast, tears covering the lens of her new eye. The raw amount of emotion surprised her, shocked Leah back into voicelessness. She hadn't realized just how fucked up she'd felt, unable to express herself.

Tinea held her closer with soothing noises and pressed kisses to her forehead, and the pressure in her heart lifted a…lot. Leah broke out in sobs, but for once they felt clean. Like they actually meant something.

"Don't worry, Leah. A little longer, a little bit more patience, and you'll be able to talk again. Soon."

"Mmm," Leah nodded and rested her forehead on Tinea's shoulder, letting the contact help her come down a little, until she remembered that she needed the bionites to heal.

Being able to see what she was doing as she latched on again, changed things a little. There'd been a degree of separation earlier, kind of like the difference between taking an aug-call and talking to somebody in person. This felt a bit more personal and if the circumstances weren't what they were and she wasn't as drained as she was, she might've found the situation awkward. Right now it was just really, really sweet and she wondered at Tinea's ability to just…accept things as they were and how that affected even Leah herself.

Leah remembered what Tinea had said about 'this all (What all?) being new to her'. She was both a little confused and really rather curious, but she chose to just live in the moment for the…moment. Questions could be asked later. Once she actually had a tongue to ask them with.

"Your other socket's still empty. Want me to cover it up? I can make you a silk patch." A fuzzy worm popped up above them, making Leah twitch in surprise and Tinea twitched in turn with an adorable blush, but just waved the tail and continued, "That's just my tail. Look, it's got a spinneret on its end. I crafted the cocoon we're in with it."

Oh! Leah looked around herself and studied the dimly lit bubble they were in. It wasn't too big, maybe two meters across? Very cozy. She could see a tunnel dug through the wall beyond Tinea's shoulder and saw a thick wall made of fuzzy stuff. Silk? Had to be, from what Tinea had said about the patch and the spinneret. Which was hella interesting!

She could see five complicated-looking…fingers?, hiding within the fuzz at the tip of the tail. They weren't moving right now, but she thought they might be multi-jointed. It reminded her a little of the printer heads of those really expensive all-purpose 3D-printers (Which she'd always dreamed of owning one… Maybe now that she was a samurai?) that could create some seriously complex pieces. Wouldn't this spinneret be able to weave any shape, then, just like those printers?

"Hma?"

"Wanna see it in action?"

"Mm!" Leah nodded. Tinea lifted the tip of the tail against the membrane of the comfy dimly-illuminated bubble they were inside, and attached a string of silk to it. With a slight sag to the line, she attached it to another point two hands away, then began speeding up as she wove a handkerchief-sized blankie. Or rather, a scarf, as she went so fast that Leah had trouble keeping up. That's hella quick. How's she doing it?

Tinea giggled when Leah looked back up at her with a big eye. "Class II spinneret. I just think about what I want, and it sorta does it by itself? Except that part of my brain effortlessly keeps pace and I can consciously change stuff in real time. It's freaky, and awesome. The Class II catalog was expensive, but the spinneret itself was surprisingly cheap at only a hundred points.

"Want me to cover that other eye? It'll begin healing in an hour or so, and uh, I imagine it might not look so nice during the process. Well, I haven't actually seen the bionites in action yet, so I don't really know."

And feel that fuzzy, fuzzy appendage all over me? Yes, please! Leah nodded enthusiastically.

Tinea smiled, and Leah got a silken pirate patch glued to her face, faster than she could react. Probably because she didn't have an eye on that side to react with.

And probably because she was completely and utterly focused on the sinfully soft tail nudging at her forehead and cheekbone.

Actually, it took a few seconds, but Leah was busy, and time passed way too quickly before that tail lifted away. She protested with a moan and ducked after it with her head. With a laugh, Tinea wrapped most of her tail around the shoulders and neck of Leah, who absolutely delighted in the sensation.

"It's awesome, isn't it? The hair's actually chitin, you know the stuff that insect exoskeletons are made of?" Leah looked up with a disbelieving expression and raised an eyebrow, so Tinea kept going, "Seriously. Ever see that fine fuzz in the pictures of bees? Or on those large pretty moths? Some other insects have it, too. That's basically what it is. Not any kind of mammalian fur."

With an amazed expression, Leah went back to exploring the fluff, rubbing her cheek against it and testing it with her nose and lips.

Then she remembered the antenna when they dipped in front of her face. It seemed like they were sort of tasting her skin, and she could see how the individual hairs feathered out from the stems towards her. They went from the even structure of bird feathers, to curly and chaotic motions that reminded her more of the artfully messy vanity feathers those elegant…chickens used to have. What were they called again? Dang things went extinct decades ago. Chickens…peacocks! Those. They had those big wide fans of large feathers with the eye in the top.

Tinea's antenna didn't have any eye patterns, but occasionally the fronds would curl along or away from the stem. Then they'd snap all straight and stiff and comb through the air, only to go all soft and fluff at Leah's face or spine.

After a minute of that, she looked back at Tinea's face and noticed a blush on there. When she tilted her head with an inquisitive murmur, Tinea averted her eyes for a moment and said, "I can't quite control them. While I can temporarily stop them from moving or make them focus on something specific, the moment I'm distracted they'll start doing whatever. Kinda like you can, but can't, control breathing."

Oh… Can't hide where her attention goes, huh? That's…surprisingly cute. I guess it's childlike? Hits me in all the right adorableness weaknesses.

Leah snickered a little, grinned, and nibbled on Tinea's collar bones.

"What? What does that mean?" Tinea seemed quite confused with no idea about how she was supposed to interpret Leah's action. Leah just shook her head, gave her another kiss on her collar bones, and returned to her nourishment.

While busying herself, Leah thought about things a bit. She wanted to prepare a gift for Tinea, but what? And more importantly when? She had literally zero points left.

Taking advantage of her new cybernetic eye's inbuilt aug computer, she opened the chat assistant with the flick of her eye, and began writing a message to Ypsilon.

> Leah: Ypsi, wanna get sth 4 T. Ideas?

Tinea? For points?

> Leah: yea

Neat! I like Tinea a lot. She's a nice person! How many points do you want to use?

Leah had to smile at Ypsilon's enthusiasm.

With a soft touch and gentle hands, Tinea guided her over to the other nipple and continued feeding her the healing bionites, and Leah relaxed again.

How many points? Well, she didn't think Tinea would like it if the gift was too expensive, not when she knew that Leah had none at the moment. But it shouldn't be too cheap either, or it wouldn't feel appropriate. Nothing below the 205 points her eye had cost.

> Leah: 250 - 300 pts

Okay, we can get her something really nice for that much! Oh! Do you want me to call Tinea's AI? I can tell her to keep it a surprise.

> Leah: yes!

Not even a second later, Tynea greeted Leah. Her voice sounded a lot more tinny than before and she could feel the slight vibrations as the eye used touch to conduct the soundwaves through the bone of her skull. It even fuzzed her vision slightly, until the eye adjusted and corrected for its own vibrations.

"Ypsilon has told me that you wish to gift Tinea an item, though I should reassure you that Tinea neither demands nor expects repayment."

> Leah: I figure, but wanna. T's good.

That she is. Do you already have a specific image of what you want it to be?

> Leah: want it useful. Dunno what T needs? Mayb sth that protects?

Understood. Tinea intends to get herself wings for flight, and her choice of catalogs plays into that. If you wish to provide her with defensive gear, it would either need to be able to keep up with her in flight or be light-weight enough not to hinder her mobility.

Well. Leah's Warforge catalog kind of didn't do light-weight, though it did mobile very well. The only defensive technologies she had that weren't heavy were force-field generators. There were some micro ones for integration into other stuff, too, but…those were kind of second-rate.

> Leah: forcefield? Small, so protect head only. Jewelry? Not specialized, though. Bad-ish shielding.

Oh, I could help you out there. As it happens, Tinea has a very interesting catalog for that kind of thing. If we combine it with your Warforge Technologies catalog for a suitable powerplant, we gain access to some personal protection devices that are quite powerful despite their small size. Especially if we focus them on short-term bursts with a long cooldown, instead of sustained shielding.

> Leah: how big is small?

The emitter itself might fit on a fingernail. The powersource could fit in a wire a few millimeters across, and the computer to manage the device could be a skin tattoo.

> Leah: if emitter in pendant, what range?

That strongly depends on the shape and density of the field. The emitter is smart enough to adjust to incoming threats. At its weakest, the field can provide an airtight bubble around the entire head and torso for hours. At its strongest and most compact, it would deflect a Class 0 anti-tank round, after which it would need to recharge.

Leah wanted to protect Tinea's head above all. With enough points, she'd be able to come back from anything that wasn't fully dead.

> Leah: what designs T like?

She hasn't had the time to really develop her preferences yet. But from what I have observed of her, she seems to like fine over broad details. She consistently found herself distracted by discoverable particulars, such as how background colors and lights change the shade of her colorless tail, instead of blatantly declaring preferences herself. That may change with time as she settles into a style, but it hasn't as yet.

Huh. Plenty to unpack there. 'Hasn't had the time to develop her preferences?' Leah was increasingly curious about Tinea as a person, and she couldn't wait to be able to speak.

Well, with deeper knowledge of Tinea absent, she'd instead try to design something she thought might fit the woman's current presentation.

Let's see.

Tinea was a physically beautiful and adorable creature, with mostly adult and settled behavior. She took a lot of things in stride, from being stuck in unknown territory, to…breastfeeding a patient for the purpose of healing. Which somehow made it easy for Leah to not find it awkward. Yet Tinea showed flashes of immature reactions in her embarrassment around stuff she didn't quite control, like her antennae. She was also, obviously, chosen to be a samurai. And she'd shown Leah pity without it feeling demeaning.

That wasn't giving her any specific ideas, dangit.

> Leah: Ypsi, plz put T's face up?

Will do! Here you go!

A new window popped up in her vision, and Leah studied the two-dimensional picture of Tinea.

A pendant, or even a choker around her throat? No, that wouldn't give maximum protection to her brain. Earrings? Maybe. Actually, no. There didn't seem to be any holes in her lobes for that kind of jewelry. Guess she doesn't wear any?

So, something that…adhered instead? Or something to wear in the hair? No, that might fall out with violent movement, especially if Tinea learned to fly, as Tynea suggested. Yeah, adhesives.

> Leah: show components of device plz?

Another screen displayed a wire about the length of a hand, a little boxy something that was probably the emitter connected to the wire, and the pattern of a tattoo-CPU. Ypsi's voice introduced them:

The wire needs to stay that big! But you can change its shape some. As long as there is enough space inside to fit the nanoreactor, everything's fine! It has to connect physically to both the other parts though.

The emitter, which is the dangly bit, is connected with two little chains here!—The boxy thing was illuminated, followed by the leads holding the emitter to the powersource—But the shape of the emitter can change freely! It has to, to make the field change. There is a gem in the center, which is the actual emitter. The boxy metal around it is the changey bit! And then, on the other side from the dangly bit, the wire connects to the tattoo with all these little leads and the big adhesive saucer.

> Leah: Thanks, Ypsi. :)

It took a while, but with some back and forth explanations, she finally got the things lined up and fashioned in a way that flattered Tinea and provided her with the best protection the device could manage.

In its default state, The 'dangly bit' was a golden, leaf-shaped, downy feather with swung veins reminiscent of her antennae's fluffy mode. A purple glowing gem sat in the spine of the feather, a bit towards its tip; the core of the emitter.

The piece was attached via two golden wires to the equally golden rod containing the emitter's powerplant, which adhered to the center of Tinea's forehead with a round circle. As it stretched across her brow like a half-tiara, a bunch of tiny electrical leads extended from it like cybernetic roots, all connecting to the tattoo underneath. Finally the rod disappeared underneath the curtain of Tinea's black hair, towards her temple.

The tattoo itself was mostly invisible, but when powered, delicate dots and wires would light up with a subtle orange-golden glow, and Tinea would have small constellations shimmering across the tattoo.

> Leah: Yeah, that'll do. Thanks, Ypsi, Tynea.

> Tynea: You're welcome, and thank you for thinking of Tinea.

Always!

Now, she just had to save up the points needed. Which meant she had a goal, something to drive her.

It was all she needed. All she'd ever needed to feel motivated.

***

Below, an illustration (by Jero) of Tinea with Leah’s gift.