Border of Life [closed]

Hano's heel sliced through the air, not meeting the relief of a target, and she turned to see Callum's unscathed, blank expression. She straightened, with the visage of innocence, like she never attacked him in the first place, tilting her head down. The words of Shepard swelled in her heart, and her processor spurred in her brain. Connections were being made, web upon web of possibilities, of social etiquette, of norms and how she broke them. Red. All she saw was red.

And when the girl, her vision melting around her, turned to see Mackenzie with one of the fawni, one of the creatures she loved and wanted nothing more than to greet... Hano backed up, knowing only one thing after so many internal errors, her circuits alight. Fight or flee. She'd already tried the first option, and so the girl backed up, and waving her hands, vanished in a quick burst of light. Dozens of fawni appeared from the bushes, their precautions dispelled, gathering around where she disappeared, sniffing the ground and making small purrs.

She broke fast, and from how poorly Hano reacted, she must have either overloaded or felt overwhelmed by how her emotions had taken over her mind. It was giving him a headache in itself, over how all of this happened because of a Fawni and one small comment. Callum's eyes fell on Mackenzie for a moment, who had successfully approached the shy fae-like creature from earlier, gaze glowing softly with a harsh light. "That was a bad move, Ms. Whiskers." He halfheartedly shrugged. "Not that it's any of my concern."

His fingers flicked the UI open, and he tapped onto the teleportation tab, the scroll down menu towards Roslare. As his avatar flickered around, he quietly muttered, "I'll message you two with details about the gatekeeper." With that, he disappeared, leaving the twins alone together in the forest with the Fawni that had began to gather around.

At the hurt that seemed to come from the AI at her advance upon the small creature, Mackenzie was left stunned. She made a mental note to apologize to the AI later, when she wasn't so... overwhelmed. Humans were complicated creatures, that was for sure. She hoped that Hano wouldn't end up hating them too much, of course, that may not be within her programming.

Watching with slight interest as the Fawni seemed to suddenly jump out in curiosity, she turned raised an eyebrow at Callum's comment. "I'm not Whiskers. Either way, thanks for forwarding the info." Her first comment held a slight tone of sass. That nickname was reserved for her brother. She'd put up with ZeeZee before she put up with Whiskers.

Giving the Fawni a final pet, Mackenzie stood, turning towards her brother. "I'm going to head back into Roslare. You can come if you'd like - I'm going to check out some Ranger gear for the gatekeeper."