Writer’s spot: Greetings friends! And for any doubts, blame word.

SO, this is the SECOND chapter I wrote today. The first one, when I was about to get to the last phrase before finishing it, Word decided to crash on me. I thought, “Hey! It auto-saves, so what could go wrong?” Guess what, it didn’t. lost EVERYTHING. EVERY. SINGLE. THING. So yeah… At least I feel that it's better than the first one...

BESIDES, tomorrow is lazy-day, so don’t expect chapter. I MIGHT make an Insania SS or Xtra chapter, but don’t expect too much. Sunday will have a chapter for sure, but will still decided between Insania and Reinstall, so no promises there.

Beep, and enjoy your story!

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Ruby woke up groggily, taking all of her energy just to not start going back to sleep again when she had such a comfortable feeling all around her. Yet, after much mental effort, she finally managed to convince herself of standing up and leaving the bed, only to notice that something a bit more physical than simple laziness held her in place.

She pulled her head back from Lunn’s embrace, and somehow managed to wriggle her way out of her arms. A quick look around and she noticed that she was back at her room on her home, and a quick look down made her notice that, for some reason, she still had the dress she used back at the meeting.

Tilting her head confused, she didn’t really have enough mental strength to think of such complicated stuff, so she ended up shrugging it up and leaving that aside. Slowly stepping away from the bed, the young morfian made her way to the bathroom, where she started washing her face to wake up a bit more. Just then, she felt as the mental link connected.

[Good morning princess.] Beepy said cheerfully.

[Morning Ruby!] Ekis also greeted her.

[Morning guys…] She replied still sleepy. [Why me still dress?]

[What?] Gaz asked confused.

[I think she’s asking why she’s still wearing her dress.] Ekis said.

[Oh! That!] Gaz said nodding. [You were groggy all the rest of the day and didn’t have a chance to change your clothes before passing out for the night.] The robot said. [And I’m pretty sure that Lunn passed out due to blood-loss, but I can’t be sure.]

[You are Sooo cute when you are sleepy!] Ekis said cheerfully.

[Hmm?] Ruby asked confused, the meaning behind the two’s words passed straight through her head unprocessed due to the sleepy feeling. At least she now knew why she was still wearing the dress, so it wasn’t all that bad.

Finally washing her face to help wake up a bit more and brushing her teeth, she looked at her reflection on the mirror, seeing herself reflected. She lightly frowned while staring her reflection, and used her free hand to lightly spread out her eye-lids.

“They… Are strange again…” She murmured lightly to herself, as she saw her iris border extending slightly into a shape that lightly resembled a gear, and if she didn’t know better, she would say that it was spinning very slowly. Yet, the moment that she blinked, it was back to normal.

She sighed loudly, already getting used to this scene in the morning. Even if she still didn’t know the true meaning behind it, she was almost sure that it was somehow Ekis’ influence, and if these last couple of days with the goddess in her head taught her anything, was that she was just as likely to understand what was happening as Ruby herself. Still, she didn’t feel anything different, so she decided to leave it alone.

Finishing that, she left the bathroom and started looking around the house for breakfast. Finding a table done but no one to share with, she quickly sat up and started serving herself of some bread, butter and coffee.

[Sorius left to scout the city yesterday. Get to know streets, contacts and such. Ross and Volgoff took the truck’s cabin to get some things from their old base and also take the other trailer and the jeep.] Gaz explained to her.

[I see… But shouldn’t they stay around in case of another attack?] She asked confused.

[Ross said that the blacktriggers wouldn’t attack anytime soon. Their client got found-out and they got hit hard twice in a short time.] Ekis said.

[He thinks that they will lay low for some time. At least in this city.] Gaz finished for her.

[I see… Then only Yllivia, Lunn, Mirage and we are left?] She asked and Gaz nodded. [I see… Where are you right now?] She asked him.

[The garage. Ylli is trying to find something to paint and she wants me to stay close to her.] Gaz said with a shrug.

[She’s still jealous that he have been spending all that time with you.] Ekis said with a playful laugh.

[I see… I’ll go greet her then.] Ruby said as she washed her dishes and made her way down from the kitchen towards the garage.

Once there, she saw as the lynnian stared at a blank canvas while frowning slightly. She had discovered that she liked painting from a few exchanges when they were travelling, but she hadn’t really seen her paint before, so she looked at the cat-girl with some curiosity.

Without taking her eye away from the canvas, Yllivia greeted her briefly, to which Ruby responded in kind.

But, when Yllivia noticed the young morfian approaching to take a look at her work, she turned to her, and suddenly a spark appeared in the back of her eyes.

“Wait here.” She said while holding Ruby by the shoulders.

Before she could even understand what was happening, Yllivia had already darted off upstairs. Ruby looked confused towards beepy, who was laying on the ground nearby, but he also looked at her confused. Their confusion only intensified when Ylli brought back a chair from the dining room and the mask that Ruby used during the meeting.

She put down the chair right in front of the canvas and then put the mask on Ruby, making her sit down on the chair, keeping her back straight up. Meanwhile, she had Gaz sit close to her just like a real dog, his front legs standing straight while he rested on his back ones.

Yllivia nodded satisfied before running back to the canvas and take out her paint-case and the brush. In less than a second she was already painting the scene on the canvas.

Meanwhile, mirage strolled on the garage, and seeing her owner standing still on the bench, the cat playfully made her way to ruby and leapt on her lap before starting to find a good position and nap away. Ruby blinked surprised for a moment before dejectedly starting to pet the cat robot.

…

“Can… Can I move already, Yllivia?” Ruby asked with a worried tone, as she felt her legs cramping up.

“Just a bit more.” She replied while looking at the morfian once again and nodding before turning back to the painting.

[Hey, Beepy, a little help here?] Ruby asked to the robot.

[I’m pretty sure he went on sleep mode one hour ago…] Ekis said with wry tone.

[He… he didn’t.] Ruby said while looking at the robot. No wonder she felt that it was strangely quiet for the last hour. [That bastard!]

Ekis laughed dryly for a few seconds, not knowing how to react to that.

Thankfully, after a few more minutes Yllivia nodded proudly and told Ruby that she could move, and after three long hours of standing still, Ruby finally slumped down on the seat before finally raising herself. On the way to walking towards Yllivia, she gave a quick kick at Gaz’s legs, making him fall face-first into the ground, waking up.

Once she finally saw the image, Ruby blinked surprised for a moment.

“Is… That me?” She asked confused.

[…? Oh, that’s your professor mode.] Gaz said with a lazy voice as he approached and saw the image.

“… Am I really that scary?” Ruby turned to Yllivia, who simply nodded confused by her reaction.

In the image, was the serious, cold and slightly scary looking professor, wearing her mysterious mask and gorgeous red dress. She had the look of someone extremely wise and knowledgeable, and seemed to be staring right through the soul of the person appreciating the painting. Besides her was an extremely proud looking wolf-robot with his chest sticking out proudly and a small robotic cat laid on her legs.

[You get ridiculously scary when you go all professor mode.] Gaz said with a nod.

[It’s like a different person altogether!] Ekis agreed with him.

[It… can’t be like that right?] Ruby asked confused. [I mean… I’m getting nervous just by looking at the image! It can’t be that bad.]

[Of course not, silly!] Gaz said cheerfully. [The real thing is two or three times scarier.]

Ruby felt a mix of fear and embarrassment at that statement. She knew that she got a bit more serious whenever she was preparing to start negotiating, but she never expected for it to be that scary.

“Deary...” Lunn said with a hesitating tone while coming downstairs.

“Lunn?” Ruby asked worried at her strange tone.

“Say, when…” Lunn hesitated for a moment, but in the end she shook her head. “Say, when will the money from Arcon-tec arrive? The one from your recent work?” The pink-haired elf asked worried.

“Hmm? It takes around one or two months, why?” Ruby asked confused, and the elf sighed.

“Well… I’ve made some calculations and…” The elf looked worried for a moment. “With what I see, there’s a chance we might go into the red in a couple of weeks.”

“Didn’t we just get paid?” Yllivia asked confused. “By Ruby and Arcon?” Lunn nodded at those words, but she still took on a deep sigh.

“You see, Ylli. Even with those two payments, I fear that we might have some expenditures in the short term.” The elf said. “We didn’t have THAT much money to start with, and not only does Ross’ armor takes some money to keep running, we might have to buy some equipment they can’t bring over, and that’s not even counting on our regular maintenance. Besides, even if this house have all the appliances we need, when it comes to food, cleaning products and other consumables, we are completely dry, so we might have to buy that too.” Lunn said while shaking her head. “All that we have right now is what we brought in the trailer, so it’s not all that much and might need to be restocked soon.”

“That’s bad.” Yllivia said with a nod and a slight frown.

“Then, what will we do?” Ruby said worried. “Do we wait for Sorius to come back? He should have a plan, right?” But much to her surprise, Lunn smirked at the idea while holding a laugh.

“Nah. Contrary to what he looks, Mr.Seriouspants is horrible with handling money.” Lunn said with a shrug. “I’m usually the most responsible when it comes to money.”

[Says the girl that went on a shopping spree.] Gaz said with a laugh, and saw as Ruby nodded.

“Didn’t you take us to a no holds barred shopping spree?” Ruby asked.

“How did you think I saved so much money?”

[She have a very good point…] Gaz said with a wry tone. [Well, at least I don’t have to worry too much about that. Besides when resupplying the needles, I barely need to eat!] He said cheerfully.

[No money also means no more parts for upgrades, you know?] Ruby said with a taunting tone.

[THIS IS HORRIBLE! WE NEED TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM ASAP!] Gaz said in a worried tone while standing up.

“So, do you have an idea?” Yllivia asked and saw as Lunn nodded.

“Yeah. We could go, all four of us, and take a job at the nearby mercs HQ!” Lunn said cheerfully.

“Four? Ruby too?” Yllivia asked confused.

“Of course!” Lunn said while tackle hugging Ruby. "It's safer if she's with us. Besides, she’s so cute! She’s like our team’s mascot!” She said cheerfully.

“No. Beepy is the mascot!” Yllivia said in a surprisingly competitive tone as she hugged the robot.

“No. No, our princess!”

“Beepy!”

“Princess!”

[I’m… Not sure how to react about this.] Ruby said with a wry smile.

[Welcome to my world…] Gaz replied with a sigh.

“Then both are our mascots!” Lunn suddenly said and Yllivia nodded in agreement.

“We going now?” Yllivia asked after some time. “Then I’ll change gear.” She said before turning towards Ruby. “You too. Dress isn’t good for movement.”

“Okay then. ” Lunn said with a nod. “I’ll write a note in case Mr.Seriouspants gets back before us. Afterwards, we can go on our girl’s day out!” Lunn said with a cheerful tone.

“Girl’s day out?” Ruby asked confused, and saw as Yllivia shared her feeling.

“Yeah, all of us left in here are all girls, so it’s our girl’s day out, right?” Lunn asked while clapping her hands.

“What about Beepy?” Yllivia asked confused.

“Hmm! I’m pretty sure Beepy is also a girl at heart.” Lunn said, leaving the three looking at her confused. “I mean, back when we were on our shopping spree, Beepy seemed to be enjoying herself, right? That’s no doubt a girl's trait!” Lunn said cheerfully.

For a moment, the whole atmosphere around the room froze, as the elf’s information was slowly digested by the trio. Finally, after a few seconds, Beepy stood up and walked away

“Beepy?” Ruby asked confused, which seemed to be the same feeling as the other two.

[I’ll bury my head in the ground in shame for a moment. Call me when you are ready.] He said in a perfectly serious tone as he left the garage.

Ruby had to use all of her energy just to don’t burst out laughing like a madman.