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A rather weird person once said, that all friendships start with just the right step and with good food and drink. To be honest, that weird person was not Feather but Feather took it to heart anyways...of course in the oddest possible way.

After a week into the training in the Mirage Arena, Feather almost want to call it quits. Oh boy did their muscles ache and their bruises bruised over the first ones, due to Feather bruising themselves while sleeping too because how did these three bruises appear on their arm and leg? It was about this time, Feather decided to get and know a few people a bit better and maybe get rid of this weird grump cloud that has settled over. This is ignoring the fact Feather thinks there something going on with Kyla, but there is always something going on with Kyla in the most polite and understanding way yet mildly infuriating because Feather tends to get second hand worry.

Well not today, Feather's gonna have fun with some new peeps and eat good food and drink stuff and have a good time.

Commandeering the kitchen for tonight, a little unknown fact about Feather is that they used to want to run a cafe, still kinda do but it means they have handled the art of making small eats. A small assortment of snack-able items, like nachos with diced up peppers and tomato and melted mixed cheese, thin sliced soy sauce marinated beef (home Chinese recipe it's good stuff), sliced tofu curd with sesame oil, dango of multiple colours and flavours and all so familiar, real Canadian poutine, other known as just a Canadian making poutine and many more. Assortments of different cultures, the little clusters of food made their way into the living room on multiple serving platters. A bunch of trips back and forth, and telling as many people as they saw on the way about a mini party in the living room, Feather started digging out a bunch of drinks.

Well to Feather, all rum is 'Captain Morgan' being really new to the liquor and alcohols. Juices, lemonade to make the 'lemonadè', oh look at all these wines, a few bottles of those, what is this clear one? Oh well that was taken with as well, and in the living room was nicely set on a table the whole set of foods and drinks and Feather shouting down the hallway.

"HEY EVERYONE! DO YOU WANT TO MEET MY GOOD FRIEND CAPTAIN MORGAN? COME TO THE LIVING ROOM!"

They sighed, seemingly losing fun.

"Yes to what. Freedom to do what you wish, or being a slave to the darkness," they said. "Okay, maybe something simpler on the mind. Pick one that sounds fun! 'Freedom' or 'Slavery'," they said slowly, moving their hands right, then left. They did this a couple times as they repeated the words. "Freedom? Slavery. Freedom. Slavery? Freedom! Slaaavery."

"That’s reasonable," Janex said with a shrug when the Broker mentioned his price for further information. Of course that would be the price. If they were doing this to deliberately sabotage the Darkness, they needed to protect their a**. What better way to do that than by removing information from a possible informant? Not that she would have, not of her own volition, but it was a risk that the Broker couldn’t take.

She nodded along as they spoke, filing the information away and mentally adjusting her assessment of the offer as they went. She was surprised that this person had their very own genie, but made no comment. When they were done, Janex needed just one more bit of information before she made up her mind for sure.

"These wishes," she asked. "If I give them to you, and I find another genie, a different genie, would that one be able to grant me wishes? Or is this a permanent, universal, no-wishes-for-you thing? I don’t know what I would use them for, but I would feel much better having that option somewhere down the line."

"Oh, no, just this genie. I mean, I think? I'm pretty sure it's on a genie-by-genie basis, one sec," they said, lifting the bottle to the shadows of their hood. A second later, though, they looked back toward Janex. "Yeah, genie-by-genie basis, so you're good."

"WOO!" they shouted, throwing their arms up before clearing their throat and getting a bit more serious.

"Okay, so the first thing you need to do is dive down and rip out the seed," they said, nodding. "Cosmic magic is powerful, but the darkness is on a completely different level. Only you can rip that sucker out. I'll be here while you focus, so don't worry, but that's the absolute first step that must be done."

She nodded, lowering her gaze in meditation, and moments later, lifted a hand to her chest, where a sickly black tumor-like manifestation formed; she pulled it away and threw it on the ground with a snarl, and with equal hatred the Broker snapped their fingers, setting it ablaze with iridescent flame.

In seconds, even the ash was gone.

"Then we make the trade; repeat after me..."

The wishes traded, the Broker stood back, uttered something under their breath, and green dust slowly swirled out from the bottle to ensnare the Replica. She hovered off the ground, lifted by cosmic energy, as the transition occurred.

She experienced a forced Dive, as it were, watching the deepest layers of her heart go through everything. The missing holes in her heart's memories, from her original life before replication, were filling up, and for a brief moment, it was as if she had once more become Bobbi, only having lived the past few days as Janex. As a result, however, the black core holding her faux-heart together unraveled, and in that short, immeasurable instant, she ceased to exist, no heart to keep her alive.

However, a wish cannot end in someone's death or erased existence. The memories that unraveled, which would have simply slipped chaotically into the cosmos, were gathered and managed. Those from before her replication had their heartfelt ties shed away, and with the emotional factor gone, the memories were kept stored in the mind, as information—clear, concise, but impersonal. Those from after replication, those that were uniquely her own, were once more linked together, piece by piece, into a chain of memories. However, without the tainted core, the memories were wholly blackened no more; light was allowed to shine through, illuminating moments just as often as darkness would enshroud them.

The final result of this newly-formed memory chain was a heart borne of a natural balance, with no outweighing tendencies toward shadow or light. She was Janex, and yet she was more. Her goals and thoughts were still her own, but now she could perceive so much more on the spectrum. She was whole—but she was also unique. Alive.

The process ended as the emerald maelstrom slowed, allowing the woman to land softly on the ground, on her feet—before she fell to one knee, trying to recompose herself. In actuality, she was still on her Station of Awakening, getting a feel for her new self. Her new identity.

In her heart, she heard a soft, unfamiliar female voice:

You are still safe. Take your time.

The green dust, now simply mingling in the air, flew back into the bottle, as if sucked in by a vacuum, and the Broker replaced the stopper, shifting it into their robes.


On her new station, blank as it was, the nascent woman stood surrounded by a thick, multicolored mist that largely obscured her vision. Shiva, dark clone that she was, was absent—she could feel a presence, but it was not that spirit, and it was dormant.

As she tried to compose herself, she heard the woman’s voice again—not as soft, almost removed, like it wasn’t really her.


The mist in front of her parted, revealing a pedestal, above which were a pair of katar.

As she approached the pedestal, the voice spoke again:


With acceptance, she found herself drifting back to reality.


The new woman slowly stood up, rolling back her shoulders, releasing old tension.

"Good, good. Now, take this for most of the gifts," they said, tossing a small vial filled with sparkling liquid; she drank, and immediately felt the gifts bestowed, even as it tasted simply like water. They then held out a leather satchel. "And take a dress sphere from here," which she did, releasing a new flash and change of clothes. "And finally, these two crystals!"

She caught the two stones--one jagged, with the faint green of nethicite, and one smooth, with the pearlescent appearance of æthecite--and followed their instructions: first, imposing her will over the nethicite, she entered a cocoon of transformative dark power that felt simply cold, as opposed to the malignancy of the previous darkness; and second, she asked the æthecite for its help politely, asking it to allow it into herself, and she gained its unique shielding protection.

"Aaaaand that's that," they mentioned, clapping their hands together once. "You're on your own and truly free. As far as the safe houses are concerned, the first one is actually the Castle That Never Was; the one you used to know as Ajora has taken it over, gotten it shielded, and is making a looot of changes. He goes by Adam now. The second one is in Paris, a protected mansion owned by the one who used to be Elleon, now going by Hati. There's less room there, but it's at least on the planet; Never Was is still up in the sky. I don't know if you've been to the Paris house, but the address is..."

"And with that, you're a free woman!" they said, lifting their hands up again. "Feels weird, doesn't it? A little light, a little dark, a new conscience, and a very, very young heart."

"I've never met anyone who was legitimately so stupid that they made up things the other person said," the Broker said with a deadpan voice, clearly unsurprised by her response. "I never said you'd be under me. I never said you'd even have to see me again. Are you hallucinating, or really just that hopeless?"

"It’s… it’s… it’s something alright," she said, staring at her hands as she flexed her fingers. She felt so different from before. It was more than just having light in her heart, or having Bobbi’s memories separated—and she could think of the other woman without pain or regret or any negative emotion, which was a novelty. She couldn’t put her finger on it, exactly what was different or how it was different. It just… was.

A sound bubbled up from within her, ringing through the air before she truly recognized it for the laughter that it was. Not the derisive laughter from before, this was… she didn’t have words. Joy didn’t even begin to encompass it. It was short lived, but it was genuine and happy, and that was all she could ask for in a laugh of her own.

"I think it tickles?" she said, now staring into the shadows of the Broker’s hood where their eyes should be, her own eyes shining with joy. "I don’t know how else to describe it. It feels good, though. It's... it's everything I wanted my own heart to be."