Welcome to Gaia! ::

The next steps by the helpful wizard, dubbed A.P.O.L.L.O (A Piece Of Lame Lousy Operating system), guided Otto through several steps including a brief explanation of how weaponization worked ("We are paving the way to a better future!") and why this was a good thing ("Saving the world one problem at a time with the use of weapons and violence!"). While this was going on a loading bar was slowly churning, moving from ten percent, to thirty, to seventy. The cylinder that Aleria was standing in hissed a bit, and then slowly, begrudgingly hummed to life, brighter and brighter. A strange electric buzzing filled the air, a sharp crackle filling the atmosphere, enough for everyone's hairs to stand on end, and for Fear creatures to feel a sensitive whine, a strange pitch to it that sounded almost familiar -

- For a second despite the electricity and chaos Amrita and Thackery could almost see something so strange and raw, peeled from physical shape and essence. It was horrible, it was destructive as it left nothing but just the smallest of cores behind and then it became beautiful as bits and pieces respun themselves, reshaping, intertwining-

- As finally the cylinder slowed with a soft hiss and left only a weapon behind. Beautiful perhaps, or simply cold. In its raw, exposed state, just converted, it almost felt just like Aleria, as if she was still there reassuring this was quite her choice.

'Cooldown period in session' said the wizard helpfully on the popup window. 'Please wait thirty seconds before removing the weapon from the chamber. How would you like to rate your experience, we would like to know your feedback!

[Very Good]
[Excellent]
[Really Exceptionally Good]
[Very Super Good There Is No Bad Option Because the Programmer Doesn't Want To Get Fired]

"Don't even think about it." Amrita growled against Thackery; there was no way she was going to lose two people in one day. Especially since she knew Tack a lot more than she did Aleria. The patchwork refused to let go of the boil, quite thankful for a friendly and familiar presence despite the horrible surprise it had initially been. The air around them began to feel charged, and the whine that followed made her flinch, her feature pinching as if it would ease the sound.

Yet she forced herself to watch as Aleria was torn apart to their core and then some, peeled and stretched until there was something so small and so tiny left. Her trembling grip on Tack tightened as she watched in absolute horror as it began to reform; she saw no beauty in this. There wasn't anything there to illicit awe from her. All it did was make her more miserable than she was when she first arrived, and that was saying something.

The conversion came to an end, and Amrita's gaze dropped from the newly formed weapon, a sad smile on her lips. "Well would you look at that, Aleria. You're blue. Just like you wanted..." She said softly, as if the Demon would hear her. The words trailed off into a small whimper, her head turning to bury her face against Thackery's shoulder once more, allowing herself these last thirty seconds of cooldown to openly mourn the loss of what could have been a dear friend.

A success. Unlike when Nuru had been weaponized, Otto had seen this one through from beginning to end. Somehow, he didn't feel guilty like he had then. Maybe he really was dead inside..

The blonde looked back down to the console after it was all over, and curled his lip at the choices provided. "Seriously? It's like Mark programmed this thing." He huffed and clicked the first option. Better not to rub them Life dudes egos too much. But, the machine worked. And it was surprisingly easy to use for something made of science.

He looked over to the pair of students with very different reactions to the procedure. "I'll take you back to the lighthouse once I wrap up here." he said casually, dreading the uncomfortable walk back with little miss 'I hate you'. "And uuuuh.... who're you exactly?" He asked Thackery, raising a brow. "Don't tell me them seance weirdos managed to figure out how to summon for real."

"Yeah, yeah Both of you. Fine." Otto muttered distractedly, leaving the console to get Aleria out of the converter. He had the manual in hand, looking for whatever was standard procedure. Was there an after care chapter? When did it turn into a tablet? Why was no one taking care of him?

LIFE AS AN ADULT IS HARD!

Injured? Thackery didn't look injured, but Amrita turned a curious stare to her friend anyway, looking him up and down for signs of injury. She didn't find any glaringly obvious ones, which lead her right back to the assumption that these cloaked people were complete kooks. It was all too easy for her to glower right back at them; she didn't have time for this. She just wanted to take her friend and fellow council member, and go home.

"He belongs back in Halloween. With his friends and his brothers. And me." She continued to frown at their audacity, and suddenly turned towards Otto with a new resolve. "I'm not going home unless Thackery comes with me." Which was clearly a threat that meant 'and I won't leave you alone until I get my way because you're the a*****e who started all this'.

The commotion as Mimsy passed the room was hard to ignore.

Her brow furrowed and she stopped to stare at the door, slipping her papers back into the folder she carried. Though her intention once she looked inside was to simply satisfy her curiosity and move along - and she almost had, when it appeared at first as if it were some strange sort of romantic undertaking - she caught a glimpse of something that she felt compelled to address.

"What--who--was that?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at an empty-handed Otto as she stepped inside. This room was not very familiar to her, but she was well aware of its intended use, and Amrita's presence in it was uncomfortable at best. Gaze fixed on the other hunter, she took one step towards the ghoul to be within her reach.

In the meantime, Thackery used the arrival of the lady-with-hurty-friends to wriggle free of the handholding. As much as he liked holding hands, there would be plenty of time for that in the future, after he checked out the really cool new thing to play in.

Maybe Aleria wanted to join them by being a weapon, he reasoned; in his mind, there were plenty of ways to help them, and being a weapon couldn't have been the only one.

The machine probably just worked like some really fancy initiation process, all automated and smart! It would just give him another neat bracelet, or maybe a pin, kinda like the one that meant he was a member of the Student Council. He clasped his hands together and very slowly began to move towards the chamber, his eyes glimmering at the sight of it.

All signs indicated that he just wanted to look at it.

And that had been all he wanted to do at first, until he thought of how strong he could be if he was a real true member of Deus Ex. This could allow him to protect his friends here and at home! There was truly nothing better.

With one quick motion, he smashed his hands onto the button he'd seen Otto press, then leapt into the chamber, his wagging tail steadily thumping against the side.

The gross breach of safety protocol went temporarily unnoticed as Mimsy's expression shifted from suspiciously stern to dolefully disappointed.

"Aleria," she slowly repeated, frowning at the dropoff slot. It was an unfamiliar finality, the strange concept of knowing that she would never share a fond conversation with them again, and she wasn't sure how to touch the feeling it left behind. That realization made her posture stiffen, eyes hurriedly finding Amrita again.

"Please assure me that you are not--"

And then she was. Or she moved like she intended to go into the chamber too, at least, shouting what must have been a nickname for the canine. Panic surged through her, and she acted without taking any time to address the odd feelings that accompanied it, dropping her documents in favor of stopping Amrita. She lunged towards her, thin arms stretched as far as she could manage, and clumsily tried to 'rescue' her by attempting to wrap her arms around her middle.