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 Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2025 12:17 am
Ending of ‘Completing the Circuit’ Ekstrom focused her pale blue eyes on the Code Piece then, watched curiously as the energy moved across the data lines within its protective glass cube.
There was something…different. Not just about her Wonder, but about her. She could feel it, though what it was she had no idea. And the best one to ask happened to be floating right in front of her. Granted, she had only ever communicated with the Code using the console. She had no idea if it could communicate with her without it.
Reaching out, she gently rested her hand against the glass encasing it.
“I don’t suppose you’d be able to tell me what just happened…?’ she asked, though the corners of her lips soon tugged up just a tiny bit, and she smiled the smallest of smiles at the silence that followed.
It would have been interesting to hear what the Code sounded like, but also she had questions she wanted to ask and was hoping (though only slightly) to have answered sooner rather than later. Given the way it sort of just…showed up on the main console on its own, there was no telling when she’d get to speak to it next.
With that in mind, Ekstrom quickly summoned her journal, jotted down a quick summary of what just happened, and started listing her questions.
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Posted: Mon May 26, 2025 7:58 pm
The glowing orb before her pulsed in a pattern that quickly became predictable. Light hummed a bit brighter every other second that passed. For a moment, she might as well have been talking to a lightbulb. There was undoubtedly a presence, like something–someone–was taking up space in the room before her. With no mass, with no body, the Code was only a misty ball of light, swirling with great precision. And then, something within in rippled, like a small stone tossed into a still pond. The orb trembled. It grew brighter. It answered. “It would appear that you and your wonder have transcended expectations and achieved new power together. You have a very strong bond with your Wonder. There are few who are capable of devoting themselves in the way that you have. You’ve been hard at work for quite a while already. How are you feeling?”
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Posted: Sat May 31, 2025 11:38 pm
It was the pulsing that caught her attention, that slowly made her look up from her journal to see the scene unfold before her. Suddenly, almost eerily, she could feel someone there, a presence she hadn't noticed until now. Ill advised as it probably was, she stared straight into the pulsing lightbulb, squinting in an effort to try and make something out. A face, maybe, or some kind of object beyond the misty ball of light…
And then it rippled. Trembled. Grew brighter, enough to force her to close her eyes and look away.
And then it spoke, and her heart about leapt into her throat.
Ekstrom snapped her eyes open and whipped her head back, wanting to properly be looking at it–ball of light or otherwise–for their first face-to-face (so to speak, anyway) conversation. She still had to squint, but it got more and more manageable the longer she stared.
She'd have to remember sunglasses for next time. Assuming, of course, that there would be a next time.
Or maybe her goggles? Though it felt rude to try and put them on right that second.
"Uh, I'm…fine, I think? I feel different, but not in a bad way." Quickly dismissing her journal, she again reached up and pressed a hand to the glass encasing the Code Piece, going through everything it said just then and wondering if there was any kind of hidden meaning in any of it. However many questions she might have, experience dictated this would be a short conversation, so she knew she had to pick and choose which questions to ask.
Though, to start...
"I'm guessing this is gonna be a short conversation like all the others?"
Just in case she was wrong.
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2025 8:19 pm
"Maybe," the Code answered, and while there was a timelessness to its voice, for a brief second there was also something playful. If they were on limited time, it wasn't going to waste it flippantly.
"Ekstrom is surging with power right now so it bodes well for your prospects. I can manage a bit longer than usual, probably. We'll see. It depends on what you wanted to talk about."
The Code was still glowing, like a lightbulb surging with energy. Despite the brightness, it was still gentle on the eyes, and produced a comforting sort of aura.
"Did you have something more on your mind?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2025 8:09 pm
She sensed the playfulness; it was new and fascinating. Maybe this was something akin to being starstruck? The Code, for all this time, had been the only thing guiding her, and was the closest thing to a mentor that she had considering she didn't have a ghostly ancestor on her Wonder like other Knights did. So it was surreal, being able to talk a little more face-to-face.
Not that it had an actual face, but that was beside the point.
Ekstrom beamed at the prospect of a longer conversation, stepping closer and gently resting her hand again on the glass.
"Just questions, I guess, and if anyone would have the answers I'm guessing it'd be you. My memory of this place is so limited, I remember destroying at least one portion of the Grid. And then getting..." Her brows came together at the memory, which she shook away. "Everything's kind of been a blur. The only clear thing in my sights was restoring the power, and now that it seems like that's done I'm not sure what more I can do for this place..."
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2025 5:08 am
“I hope you won’t stop working on things here just because you’ve got power back. There’s so much more you can do here. A bandaid is not the same as a suture and there are many open wounds here that you’ve yet to tend to. If you have questions, you should ask them quickly,” the Code pointed out. “You don’t have to explain why you want them answered. Curiosity is in the blood of all Mercury Knights, I think.” Though it seemed to urge her to speak with haste, the Code itself gave no indication that there was a need to rush. Perhaps it was simply better safe than sorry; if she had questions, it had answers. It just needed time to make sure she got them all.
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Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2025 11:52 pm
"Oh, I won't stop," she quickly corrected, worry burrowing into her tone. The last thing she wanted was for the Code to misunderstand. "What I mean, I guess…is like." She paused to think about how to phrase exactly what was on her mind, because she had absolutely no intention of stopping at all! There was more work to be done, even if it was just clean-up and repair, but it was more…
"I guess there was just more focus when it came to the goal of bringing power back?" The words came out slowly, as if she wanted to make sure the thought she was conveying was as accurate as possible to what was going through her mind. "Like…oh! Like there was just one head on the hydra." The confidence in her metaphor was clear in her voice, and she managed a small smile because of it. "Now that I've cut it off, a billion grew more in its place."
Still. Daunting as it felt, there was fondness in her tone. At the end of the day she loved this place and wanted to restore it and care for it, maybe even improve on it if that was still somehow possible.
"I guess maybe I'm wondering what to start on next. Do I comb through the whole place to try and list out what needs repairing? Do I maybe work on cleaning up all the dust and debris from…what happened here before? I'd love to sit and study the languages used in all the texts I'm finding about this place, too, but that feels like something I should worry about…"
She waved her hand, as if to dismiss the idea into the far, far future. "Later."
Ekstrom shifted her gaze, knowing full well there was limited time for this conversation so she really ought to pick and choose the right questions to ask. What to prioritize seemed like a good question, but what else…
"Oh, and you mentioned something about a new power earlier? Did you mean something more than my forcefield magic?" Which was something she wanted to work on using more effectively in fights, though finding a good space to train had been a challenge that she'd left on the proverbial table for a while now.
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