LRAB Chapter 305: She is a hugger…..
Chapter 305: She is a hugger…..
"See your guilty heart ♪"
The sound of the alarm music was the first thing that Ale noticed as her awareness slowly returned to the real world. She had half expected to wake up somewhat sore since this was not the bed she was used to sleep on.
What she found waking up was... different, instead of finding herself in the bedding she had set up in a corner of [Big Sister]'s spare office, what she found herself was in a different bedding...
Roughly one meter to the side, being used as a hug pillow... By [Big Sister] who was still asleep.
Somehow, Ale hadn't expected that to happen, yet again, she couldn't say she was surprised by that. Either way, it was good being back, after everything that had happened.
"Main Core?" Ale asked inwardly.
[Yes Mistress?]
"That did happen right?" Ale sighed as she tried to worm her way out to no avail, [Big Sister] was hugging her quite strongly and she was doing something with her Mana that didn't allow her to separate her from the spot she was in.
[Which part?]
Cheeky thing, she knew exactly what Ale was asking.
"This bit." Ale said as she willed the blue screen back to the front of her awareness.
Notice:Error count increased.
Unexpected error found.
Data rewrite attempt blocked.
Critical error found.
Awareness restored from backup provided by local administrator finished.
Please continue to endeavor in a way that benefits a True Saintsworths.
May you continue to be the Light that lights up the Beacon of Civilization.
Ale had felt the jarring effect that Alexa caused, but she had seen it as an outsider. More than anything, at the moment she had asked about the Main Core inside herself, Alexa had reacted first with surprise, then with outright hostility.
A hostility that while was not pointed straight at her, it was so heavy that it had caught her off by surprise. And if that wasn't enough...
[Warning, thought process closing in to Psychic Hazard.]
Something had happened, Ale had two sets of memories inside her of the same event.
The first led straight to a white ripped out and burned memory, the image was frayed at the ends and there was something coming out of Alexa.
The second was a patched-up memory filled with syntax errors as if a toddler had attempted to recreate a scene using crayons, which Ale had assumed was either one made out in an attempt at self-preservation... Or by Alexa in an attempt to help her.
The third one?
Well, it was the normal one, the one where thousands upon thousands of the weird-ass worms came crawling out from within the rifts within reality that Alexa had made.
The cracks within the mindscape where also somewhat in the same spot than the frayed on parts of her memories.
Ale hadn't attempted to ask or even question about those, she could feel the good intentions from Alexa's questions, and the fact that the girl had attempted to, or at least tried to, ensure that Ale wasn't being bullied by Main Core.
By any iteration of Main Core.
"So... What do you think about Alexa?" Ale asked, "If we go by the assumption that you really aren't the original Main Core, or an iteration of it."
[She is a dangerous entity.]
[She is not human.]
"Neither are we." Ale said smirking, "Human I mean, all Core Users are dangerous. And we aren't an exception, did you finish going through my memories? I am not harmless."
[Mistress is different. While you were dangerous even before I came, that was a power derived from Alexa. Also, I can guarantee you this Mistress. You are Human.]
"Thank you for the nice words." Ale said smiling, "So, any actual changes? From before to now."
[None.]
[Your abilities should work the same as before. And the information tether you wished to create is in working order.]
"It is?" Ale said as she closed her eyes and focused inwardly, trying to find the connection to Alexa's mindscape.
It took her a few minutes of testing and probing, but eventually she found the link back to the mindscape, poking at it she got the mental image of the white mindscape of old.
"Can you do something about this?" Ale said confused, "It looks different from what I remember."
[Would this suffice?]
A second later the image shifted and instead of a vague image now there was a giant holographic projection on the void outside the room she had within her own mindscape.
Within that projection Ale could see Alexa looking at the TV, which was broadcasting her point of view... Which was not something interesting, since Ale was currently staring emptily at the ceiling.
Ale didn't understand how Alexa found that funny or interesting, at all.
"Can we transmit to Alexa?" Ale asked trying to find a way to communicate with the little girl.
[Opening channels.]
[Forwarding instructions. Security keys and security certificates.]
Ale browsed everything and ensured everything was in working order, she couldn't help but notice half of these things were under a timer, so they wouldn't work forever, not that she couldn't make them permanent.
But decided against that, Main Core had warned her about going into Alexa's mindscape like she was, and... it was Main Core's previous preparations (Albeit hastily made) that had helped Ale survive that.
Whatever that had been.
So she would decide to trust a little Main Core, Alexa also had Ale's best interest in mind, but the little girl was not the best when being subtle or helpful in those aspects it seemed.
"Alexa, you there?" Ale projected following the instructions that Main Core had forwarded to her.
"Ale! You awake!" Alexa answered back immediately, neither her eyes nor face changed expression though, "Where are you? I can hear you from the TV, but you are just staring into the void. Is it fun?"
"It is not, but [Big Sister] has me in a thigh hug." Ale tried to tweek a little the programs that Main Core had given her, somehow she got a few ideas when thinking about that.
And before she even knew it, she had edited most of the base code and changed it into something else.
It wasn't even a second after thinking about doing that, and the code was totally different, she should have run it through a depurer or something to ensure it was stable, but Ale somehow knew it would work. So she just executed it and...
"Hello world." A copy of Ale materialized before Alexa.
"Ale!" Alexa reacted instantly jumping at said copy.
"Sorry about that, this is a hologram." Ale said as Alexa's metaphysical body phased through the Hologram, "I just wanted to give you something to speak to."
"....Ale is a meany!" Alexa said puffing out her cheeks cutely, or attempt at doing that, the motion was... wrong somehow.
For one, she wasn't breathing, or blinking, at all.
Did Alexa just not... run the automated human bodily responses inside here? Not that she needed to, they were the only people that would be around here after all.
Ale looked down at her own Hologram, it was... behaving as her own body would.
But this one was tied to her own self-image, which in turn was linked to what her actual physical body was doing. So it was cheaper to translate those into the Hologram than to code an entirely new holographic body.
... That may make no sense to the layman, but it made perfect sense for Ale, so she was sticking to that.
"I'll work on it, there is no reason why this couldn't work like my usual body." Ale said shrugging, "So, I was just testing the connection to ensure everything was okay after what we talked last night."
"All is good, right Main Core?" Alexa said looking at the ceiling.
["Everything is nominal, data stream is working as... it was designed for after all the downgrades done to it."]
[Data stream is within nominal targets after all the requested data is being sent.]
[Any inefficiencies in the processing of data can only be the result of the other side badly managing the raw data.]
"Okay okay," Ale said raising her hands, "Jezz.... Main Core, just send the data they asked. Main Core, stop being a bitch."
Ale did not clarify who she was insulting of course, Ale was not that petty.
"Then all is good!" Alexa said nodding, "And Ale should focus outside, [Fan Girl] is waking up."
Ale turned her awareness to look around and sure enough, [Big Sister] was starting to move, her breathing was changing in tempo too. How had Alexa noticed that?
"Thank you for noticing, see you around then!" Ale turned off the program and fully focused outside.
"Ggghhhuuuuu...." Just in time for [Big Sister] to start stretching and releasing a long grunt as she woke up.
"Morning [Big Sister]." Ale said turning her head to the left and up.
She had turned her body to the right as she had attempted to leave the grasp of [Big Sister], but since she hadn't managed to, she decided to remain there.
So now that she was turning her body to the left, she was looking straight at [Big Sister]'s torso.
So she had needed to look up to find the face of the former [Wind Core], nowadays [Space Core] user.
"Oh.... morning Ale." [Big Sister] said smiling at her, "I... right...what are you doing in my room? Didn't you say that you would sleep in the office?"
Ale couldn't help but look around.
[Environmental data and sensory data check up...]
[Confirmed.]
[Mistress is currently in the same room where she went to sleep.]
[Checking on data logs...]
[Detected a surge of Space Mana roughly 42 minutes after host fell asleep.]
[No hostile intentions were detected within Mana.]
[Mana Signature matched Skye Venti.]
[No alarm was raised.]
Oh.
"We are in the office you let me sleep in." Ale said raising an arm and pointing at her previous sleeping spot, "That is where I went to sleep last night."
Ale then pointed to where they were right now.
"And this is where I woke up." Ale didn't think she had rolled all the way here, she didn't move that much while asleep. Not that she had evidence of how she was when sleeping though.
[Mistress is a kicker.]
[You don't roll while asleep.]
[You also seem to latch onto whoever is sleeping with you and then snuggle up to them.]
[It is kinda-]
"Finish that sentence, and I am breaking your Core again and testing how good my gacha luck is."
[Noted.]
"Oh..." [Big Sister] closed her eyes for a second, Ale felt the wave of Mana spread around only for it to bounce back and come straight at them, then the second wave went farther before bouncing back, and so on and so forth.
Each wave bounced off a new wall before returning.
"Well, that was awkward..." [Big Sister] said scratching the back of her head, "I hadn't teleported while asleep in quite some time..."
That... sounded dangerous.
"This happened before?" Ale asked as she sat with her legs crossed and turned to look at [Big Sister], speaking while laying on her back was kind of awkward, more so because she needed to turn her head upwards and that was getting annoying.
Not like she could talk at [Big Sister]'s chest.
"Yeah... After... After my accident it happened a few times." [Big Sister] said as she also sat down, "...At least I brought my bedding this time."
Ale had... read more on the accident and the background of [Big Sister], both from the internal Saintsworths database and what [Vulcanus.exe] could provide her.
She had gotten way more data on [Big Sister] from the Saintsworths database when she was on Aquila, and that was a thing and a half.
"I used to teleport all over the place the first days," [Big Sister] said laughing, "I gave the researchers headaches for days, and when I managed to control it... I even tried returning home..."
Ale had read on that too, the clean up hadn't been pretty.
"Not that there was anywhere to return." [Big Sister] sighed, "Sorry for that, you just returned back after much problems and I am dooming and gloomy..."
"It's fine," Ale said shaking her head, "I had my crashout already, I crashed out a few times actually these last days."
And Ale understood [Big Sister], if could get a power that gave her hope to get something she wanted back... She would have burned as much Mana as possible attempting to get it back too.
[Big Sister] probably wanted to return to her home more than anything, but said home didn't exist...
She had ended like that after an attack from [The Scrambler], with memories of another life, another world, one that looked the same but was different. Just like...
"Just like that blonde asshole..." Ale said the last bit aloud.
"Your brother?" [Big Sister] asked confused, "What's him to do with this? Did he tell you something about me? Did he meddle on that too?"
He did, not directly, and not probably only after the fact, but that was not the point.
"No, not that." Ale said shaking her head, "You remember your home right?"
"Of course, I can teleport back here because of that." [Big Sister] said, snapping her fingers, the bedding they were in disappearing, probably returning to her room. "Part of my powerset depends on mental images. I need to know and analyze every aspect of any place I want to go back, if not the return can be... rough."
"No, not that." Ale said shaking her head, "Not here, I mean... your actual home, the one you remember from the... before."
"....The fake memories [The Scrambler] seeded and used to twist me." [Big Sister] said in an even tone, one that almost seemed wanted to bite at her, "Those?"
"They aren't fake." Ale said back, "Or you don't think they are, do you?"
"Of course not." [Big Sister] said opening her palm, within it, a green sphere of Mana danced as if it wanted to coalesce into something but couldn't, not fully. "But even if I focus all my memories and Mana into it, I can't make a bridge there. If it was a real place in space I could go there. I can teleport even to the moon you know?"
"If..." Ale raised her right arm, slowly it shone with a bright light as it changed first into her [Arm-mament] form, then the claws disappeared, leaving behind only an armored arm, "... If I give you the data of a place, can you attempt to open a gate there?"
"I need to actually see the place, a picture can only give so much." [Big Sister] answered, "For the moon bit I mentioned before the Saintsworths gave me a VR environment and even then the connection wasn't stable enough, we had to use an armored vehicle to ensure the travel was stable enough."
"How much data do you need?" Ale asked, "Environmental data? Sensory data? Atmospheric? Mana density? Barometric? I can give you all of that, it will feel like you were there."
"Main Core, can we transmit all the data I collected before of the memories Old man Alexanders gave me?" Ale asked inwardly.
[It is possible.]
"...Why are you asking?" [Big Sister] finally asked.
"...I... saw a place," Ale said slowly as she looked down at her armored hand, the tips of her fingers had shifted and now they had electrodes at the end, Ale could see the armored glove shifting and changing slowly, "A place that looked like Terra Nova, but it was different, with people that looked like those that we know, but also were different."
"...We can try." [Big Sister] said looking at Ale's armored glove, "... So you too then? Your power... is not what you said it was."
"...It is," Ale said smiling, "But it also is way more I guess, the main important things are the same though."
Now... Could [Big Sister] open a portal to alternate realities?
She claimed to have been able to open a portal to the moon, so would that mean she could open a portal into the alternate reality that old man Alexanders came from?