Logs: Not USB Sticks
NPCs: None
Summary: Having been told that Liliana might be joining them in a dangerous hunt, Coda and Rune set out to learn a little more about her.
Log
The hour is pretty late for the normal person to be out and about shopping for books however that does not stop this store from staying open. There is an occult shop heading upstairs after all for those who know how to follow the clues and those into the occult do keep rather odd hours. Liliana is sitting upon the counter, one leg dangling off the side while her other foot is on the counter, leg bent at the knee with a book resting upon it. There are no other customers in the store but soft, relaxing music plays softly throughout the building.
---
The hour is pretty late for the normal person to be out and about shopping for books however that does not stop this store from staying open. There is an occult shop heading upstairs after all for those who know how to follow the clues and those into the occult do keep rather odd hours. Liliana is sitting upon the counter, one leg dangling off the side while her other foot is on the counter, leg bent at the knee with a book resting upon it. There are no other customers in the store but soft, relaxing music plays softly throughout the building.
---
When one is a bit of a night owl, late is kind of relative anyway. Coda certainly fits into that category. Not that he doesn't look like he's all dressed up and ready to go to work in an office somewhere: he nearly always does. Stepping in with Rune, he pauses to look all around the shop; it's a pretty place, with plenty to look at.
"I keep finding all these little places I've passed a dozen times and haven't ducked into yet. I have to say this is one of the cooler ones," he says. It stands both for idle observation and for greeting to the proprietress at the counter.
---
Rune steps in behind Coda, looking around the shop, stepping past a couple of the other customers as he peruses the wares on offer. "I mean, I'd say that in San Francisco occult shops are as ubiquitous as chinese food, but like chinese food, they all have what you expect, but none of them ever have everything that you want. You gotta mix and match these things."
Glancing over to the counter, though, he sees the tiny firebrand in what appears to be a yoga pose of some kind, giving her a little wave of greeting. "Made it," he says. Because there was an invitation extended, naturally. Who cares if it's been almost a week?
---
Liliana hears customers come in and she peeks over, pausing in whatever she is studying. Downstairs it would seem this is your everyday bookstore, not an occult item in sight, unless you count the strange carvings of different areas of the floor! hmmmm interesting! There is a giant willow tree though with a little house built into the trunk with the children's section inside of it.Liliana hops down off of the counter and gives a friendly wave to Rune and Coda. " Well hello gents. Glad you finally made it. Come to see if you can solve the puzzle to locate the hidden passage way to the special shop?" the tone she uses makes it sound like she is perhaps a mystery dinner host or a ghost tour guide or something but her bright smile shows she is glad about seeing them.
---
"You're not wrong, my friend, you're not wrong," Coda says to Rune.
As Liliana makes her appearance, Coda laughs in easy-going fashion and says. "Well. I personally cannot leave a puzzle alone, so if you're going to make us solve it vs. actually leading us there then I suppose I can pass a little time that way. Though that might cut into conversation time. And buying things time."
He grins at her. "That's up to you. Strictly as a business decision, of course."
---
Rune, though, seems interested in the puzzle game. Because of course he is. "I'm game," he tells her, looking around the shop. "Any where in particular that someone should start looking? Or is the starting point part of the puzzle too?" His eyes flow over the titles of the books and wares on display, looking for anything that stands out. In a word, or a color, or even the orientation of the books themselves.
---
Liliana laughs softly to Coda and says " Its incredibly obvious and easy so I assure you it wont take any time at all. If you dont get it in a few seconds I will just show you. I designed it this way to make those coming feel a little accomplished or part of a secret even though its not a secret at all really. " She turns her smile over to Rune and seeing he seems interested she says " I've found that in life the answers we seek are often right under our noses!" The books on the shelves seem to be well organized but there seems to be no occult clues there, just an amazing organization system!
---
Coda grins as Rune takes up the challenge, and he doesn't jump in to start solving it. Instead he spots a copy of Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz and plucks it off the shelf, apparently intending to buy that one. Given he doesn't even look at the flap it's probably one he was thinking of reading anyway.
Still, curiosity is one of his defining features, and while he forgets to look for the secret door what he does end up doing is crouching down to run his fingers along the floor carvings, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise. He traces his fingers over them, looking thoughtful, but doesn't ask about those. Indeed, until the mystery of how to get up to the Occult Shop is solved he isn't ready to ask anything at all yet. He straightens.
---
Rune gives her a little grin, eyes still running over the various bookshelves. That is, until he comes to one in particular. Stopping in front of it, a small smile starts to form, an eyebrow raising. "Harry Potter," he starts, reading off the titles. "Wizard's Hall. Beautiful Creatures..." He points to the shelf, that little smile quirking a bit. Reaching out a hand, he runs his fingers over the books, examining the titles, pressing against the wood of the shelves lightly so as not to damage it, in case he's wrong...
---
Liliana sees Coda with the book he chooses and she gives him a soft smile though stays quiet while they look for the puzzle. When Coda bends and studies the carvings on the floor her eyes seem to twinkle with joy, he's on to something! Her smile grows but seeing Rune is headed towards the back bookshelves she follows gracefully. When he starts looking over the shelf with the theme to the books and carvings to match those on the floor leading back there she starts to bounce a little with excitement. When he pushes upon the carving on the right side of that shelf there is a "click" sound and the bookshelf gives way, shifting and opening up to reveal a staircase leading upwards. Liliana claps her hands and says "Bravo! you have found it! Come on up and look around!"
---
Coda looks briefly startled to realize that the carvings were actually part of the entire puzzle in the first place. "Quite clever," he says warmly. "You must have looked for some time to find you a contractor willing to build you a secret passage."
Once Rune goes up he will too, since he was well behind the other man, the book tucked now into the crook of his arm.
--
Rune steps back as the shelf swing open, looking at the set of stairs, making sure that the books don't actually come off the shelf. "Very clever," he agrees, heading up the stairs and taking a look around at what's on offer in this little hidden nook of the shop. "Nice selection," he reports, stepping up to one of the shelves and pulling down a shining black paperback with silver lettering. Witchraft in Theory and Practice, by Ly DeAngeles, thumbing through it as he looks at the diagrams and headings. A slightly more practical, scientifically minded treatise on the practice of magic focusing on history and symbolism, rather than sappy spirituality.
---
Liliana bounces her way up the stairs with them, closing the shelf behind them and even flicking a lock so they can have some privacy. She shakes her head to Coda's comment about the contractor and says " It already had the second story when I bought the building I just had the door handmade to be a bookshelf. Money will get you most things you want and when that fails... well, im convincing." She says with an amused little grin. She seems more relaxed and comfortable up here and she goes over to where the tea pot is and informs them " I'll make us some tea. We won't be interrupted up here I locked the door for some privacy. You guys look around all you want or just chill in the cushions and chairs. " She peeks at the book Rune holds and says " Oooo good choice! I like that one! Isn't it cool how magic is so different for each and every person? their magic catered to their beliefs and the way they view the world?"
---
Of the two of them, Rune is probably the one who needs a bigger stack of magickal supplies; and thus the selection only gets only a cursory glance from him for the moment. "Tea would be lovely, thank you." He settles into a papasan chair, and there's Liliana with an opener.
"Do you practice, Lili?" he asks, tilting his head to one side. "Not everyone who offers occult items for sale does, after all. Even enthusiasts who enjoy reading the literature do not, always."
Locking the door and giving them privacy: the key to getting Coda to skip beyond anything but the most surface of small talk. Not that he's trying to cut Rune off from his own commentary or questions of course. He just takes advantage of the opening when one presents itself.
---
Rune looks over at Coda, giving the man an amused smirk as he gets straight to the heart of the matter. "Efficient," he offers to Coda, and then, over to Liliana, "Yeah, tea would be great." Though he takes the time to answer her questions, too. "It can be pretty amazing," he says. "Frustrating, too. The thing about magic is -- it's all based on belief. So if two people's beliefs come into conflict, things have a tendency to get ugly. And with magic -- well. You're dealing with unusually willful people. There's no real orthodoxy. Soooooo..."
The thought there is clear enough. Conflict is the rule of the game.
---
Liliana gets busy making a pot of tea with the help of a hotplate and soon the delicious scent of herbal tea with hints of fruit mixes in with the other scents of the shop. When Coda asks if she practices she arches a brow ever so faintly and she says " I do. Im sorry I was under the impression you were friends and um..." she tried to think of a good word to use and decides upon " associates... of Khoi. He apparently already spoke to you about Je... crap what did he call it... the ebay scammer or something? Did he also not tell you who I am? " She pours the tea into three china cups and places them on a tray with a bowl of sugar and a bowl of honey as well. She walks over and sets the tray down, offering a cup out to Coda and then to Rune. " But yes, But not in the same way you boys do if you are what I think. I was born with mine. You awoke to your's. Yes?"
---
"Am I not always?" Coda asks Rune, of the efficiency. Yes, he heard the subtext there, and he only offers an unruffled smile in return. After all...
It got where he wanted to go, anyway.
"We are associates of Khoi's," he agrees. "And we have heard about Jeir, you don't have to call him the ebay scammer. He told us very little about you that was...hmm. Forgive me. Coherent? And since he has proposed that you come with us to do something about Jeir, it seemed prudent to get to know you a little better, and to know what your skillset might be."
Born vs. awakened. He gives a slight nod to confirm the answer to her question, but looks back over at Rune as he admits slowly, "I'd never heard of anyone who was just. Born with it. Before."
---
"Associates is a good word," Rune agrees, some amusement there. "And no. He didn't tell us anything about you. Though half the time I'm convinced that he doesn't even know who he is," he agrees, piggybacking on Coda's statement that Khoi sometimes gets a little incoherent.
Still, there's tea, so he puts the book down, going over to have a seat and get to work on that. "So you follow the same practices as Khoi, one assumes?" He brings the tea up to his mouth, then stops, suddenly pensive -- "...and if so, should I be driving after I drink this? No judgment. Mere practicality."
---
Liliana ah's and nods to Coda's words, taking her own seat and getting comfortable. " Yeah, Jeir is a prick and I told Khoi if he didn't let me come along to stop this a-hole I was going to make him beat himself up." She gives a sweet smile but then says " I am a psychic. I am able to effect the mind and thus the body in many different ways. I am able to shield my mind and I have telekinesis abilities. Khoi wants to get me to join your group. I have already done a mission for him to get him intel of Jeir. " She laughs a bit at their comments about Khoi and says " Yeahhhh Kinda makes you wanna shake him sometimes." She shakes her head at Rune's question though and says " No, I dont do things the way he does. I'm noticing a lot of differences and it's just tea, I promise." She flashes him a reassuring smile before looking back to Coda " The telepathy started at a very young age. It wasn't something I could control. It was maddening and hurt, so many voices at one time. I was to young to know it wasn't normal. Kinda why my parents kept me out of school and secluded to the estate."
---
Coda, who had already taken several sips of the tea, does pause until Rune gets the answer to that question, because he had *not* parked in a good spot for 'just leave your beloved Leaf there overnight and get an Uber home when the tea turns out to be psychedelic.' There wouldn't have been judgement from him either, but it could very well have offered some logistical issues.
When Liliana assures that it's *just* tea he goes back to drinking it with an air of relief. He's listening to every word out of her mouth, and he nods slowly. "Ah," he says, and, and, well, some of what she says puts him a little more at ease. "Thank you for the explanation. Have you known Khoi for very long? Or did you meet because of the Jeir incident?"
---
Liliana takes a few sips of her tea but she shakes her head at the question about Khoi. " I met him recently when I moved to town. I was taken by Jeir a few weeks after we met.So, while I was in the shipping container I was reaching out with my mind to scan for people. After over a day of being forced to just stand there I finally pinged on a mind. A mage named Tyler. Him and two others came into the container. The spirits inside of us forced us to attack. I was able to mind control my two employees to lay down and stop attacking. Khoi showed up when it was over. I rewrote my employee's memories so they wouldn't remember getting taken. It was horrible. But they think we went on an employee team building trip. So don't ask them about it they aren't like me."
---
"Do not worry. I had no plans to retraumatize them further by asking them about things they were unlikely to understand," Coda says, raising his hands and pat-patting the air a little bit. "It's not even necessary when you're already providing the relevant details. Including quite a few that did not make it into the file I received."
He looks at her as if seeing her through new eyes though, slightly narrowing his own. "Your own resilience is commendable. That is quite the thing to live through, to go through."
---
Rune has been strangely quiet, just taking in what the others are saying. Especially Liliana. Just taking in all those little details, the ones she puts out there, the things she might be leaving out, filling in the holes in his head as he goes. "That's quite the tale," he says, finally, sipping at his tea. "And quite the risk." A meaningful glance to Coda, there, but whatever he's thinking he keeps it to himself for the moment. "So. You and Khoi. You're -- close?" Though that isn't quite the word that tone conveys. But it's the politest way of asking he knows.
---
Liliana blushes and looks down as Coda speaks of her resilience. " Well, Its more that Im stubborn...Senor Pedro was kind of a dick in my head and I figured if he was going to be a jerk and possess me I was not going to make it nice for him either. He would tell me how he was going to rape and kill me, even after they saved me from the shipping container Senor pedro continued. He hated me, hated all Americans. He would scream at me in my head and make sure I didn't sleep. So I just projected American patriotic music back at him. Wooo it made him mad. I'll be honest, I still wake up thinking that spirit is back inside of me. Never experienced anything like that. That is why I want to go after Jeir. He did that to me. He was going to use me to kill people. " She shudders, crinkles up her nose and rubs her arms a bit just remembering but Rune's question distracts her and she chuckles " Ah, no. Honestly I barely see him but he wants to see if my avatar wakes up." She then asks " What do you mean quite the risk?"
---
Now it's Coda's turn to shoot Rune a look. Right at that question he asks. It's amused and wry, his lips curling into a slight smile. Eyebrows shoot up and he looks down into his tea.
Granted that smile fades awfully quick when Liliana starts talking about the spirit that inhabited her and what it was threatening, replaced with something deeply concerned.
Something else she says deepens his frown even more, but he keeps that one to himself. She's asking Rune a question, and for now he's inclined to let Rune do the talking, absorbing what she's said, thinking it through.
---
Rune just gives a small shake of his head. "Just that it was risky, putting yourself on the line like that. It could have gone down very differently. And it sounds like you didn't exactly have much in the way of support, if you had to tug at someone's mind from the outside, and then endure an attack, and a possession." His tone is relatively flat, for the moment, level, calm. "I've seen those scenarios end bad, more than they end good. The good endings are a mixture of incredible skill, and incredible luck. Seems that you have a bit of both."
---
Liliana cocks her head to the side and studies Coda and his frowning for a moment but then she holds up her hands and says " Seriously, I mean he's a nice guy but im not even sure we're on the friends level yet. More like associates. Meh, more like I do shit for him and he makes empty promises to get me included." She laughs at that but then she looks to Rune. She seems confused and says " I didn't have a choice is was that or have three people have their butts kicked and my employees potentially killed. Hmm. Maybe its best it I rewind. So, I was here, at the shop. Well downstairs... we were closing up and a guy that came into the shop earlier in the day walked up to me and my employees. Right away we all three were possessed by these spirits. The difference between me and my employees in this is I could mentally interact with the spirit taking me over even if I had no control over my body. We were made to load into a van and it left. it was Jeir and he was talking about how we were going to go shoot up this place on memorial day. The spirits possessing us were going to force us to walk into a crowd and start shooting. I hardly knew anyone where. Two people, Khoi and Tyler. I didn't even know tyler was a mage. I had noone that would know I was missing, noone to look for me. So I stood in that container for over 24 hours. We didn't get to sit, or eat or drink or pee just stand. So yeah, I was grasping for any mind I could get."
---
Coda's frown has only grown deeper through this, and he's exchanged a few glances with Rune throughout the narrative. His mouth tightens, his brow furrows all the more.
"Have you received support? Any kind of warding, for example, to ensure that you do not just get possessed again if you truly do choose to re-enter this fray? It is not, sadly, among my talents at this time, but...it seems like something that ought to be done. If only to put your own mind and heart at ease. And...to clarify...Khoi recruited you to check the fireworks company employees after you were kidnapped, and did not try to involve you in this affair before? Or had Khoi already approached you prior to Memorial Day?"
He frowns thoughtfully and says, "The van. It came up to this shop. Do you have external security footage for your store? Did you capture a license plate number? Or even catch sight of a partial plate?"
He's also already glancing outside, as if wondering whether there's a chance in hell anyone will have exterior footage for the day before Memorial Day still, if Liliana herself doesn't.
---
Rune gives a little nod to Coda's words, voicing some of the concerns that brought about that particular look. Because there are important points to differentiate in there, somewhere. Still, he sips at the tea, and asks a follow-up question of his own. "And how are you doing, after something like that?" A bit of genuine concern, there. "Having someone else in your head for that long can be -- unsettling." His mouth presses into a line, a memory there, clearly, that isn't one bringing about any smiles any time soon.
---
Liliana narrows her eyes and says " I know what you're getting at. It was not Khoi's fault I was taken. So, don't go there. I was in his head, Jeir's. I know why he chose me. It was a total chance opportunity. He came into my bookshop looking for local history books. He saw the three of us there and just thought we'd be good for it. He left to prepare and came back at closing." She winces at the camera question and says " Don't have exterior cameras only exterior but his location has already been found. Well they think. He struck again with other people at a factory. Two employees set it on fire. I used my abilities to walk into the police department, spoke with and read the mind of the arresting cop then convinced him to let me speak to the arrested guy. Got into -his-mind and that is when we discovered it was Jeir. Got his address and Khoi did some digging." At the question of how she is she shifts a bit and says " Im fine. Im good. Just... fuck that guy, but Im fine. " She is also a bad liar.
---
"I'm getting at nothing, other than an attempt to establish a timeline," Coda says, shaking his head. "And to nail down facts. Such as the potentially important one you have just provided: Jeir made an apparent attack of opportunity. Local history books, you say? Which local history books did he ask about? That could be important as well. Did he buy any?"
He glances over at Rune as well, and that's a quick check-in glance. A non-verbal 'you good?'
As for her and her lying, well. All he says to that is: "I would not be fine in your shoes. I cannot imagine judging anyone for not being fine in your shoes." But leaves it at that.
---
"Most people would have been a gibbering mess," Rune admits. "Me included. You're holding up remarkably well." He gives Coda a glance in turn, offering a small smile. Apparently, at least one of them has had a bad experience with something very similar in the past. But his attention is mostly focused on Liliana. "As a matter of precaution," he starts. "You should know that the man you met is -- quite powerful. Even by our standards." A small beat there, to let that sink in. "There's a very good chance that this could end very poorly. If that were to happen -- do you have a plan to escape?"
Naturally, though, Rune's phone would choose that precise moment to start ringing. He looks down at the thing, narrowing his eyes with a sigh as he looks over to Coda. "Work. Sorry, I need to take this." And with that, proceeds into a corner to have what will prove a very boring conversation about scheduling and picking up shifts.
Seems that magic can't cure everything that ails ya, after all.
---
Liliana crinkles up her nose cutely but she says " Okay so Im not the best as I said I have nightmares but like, for the most part I am alone in this city. I see Khoi once in a blue moon, my family is not here and I am too new to town to have friends so basically, sometimes life sucks and fucks you up but suck it up, push it down and ignore it. What you can't ignore, well, pot is strong. " She looks over to Rune and tells him " Im sorry if talking about this brought up your own experience with stuff like this. As for him, I know it can be dangerous. Im willing to take the risk. I've been pushing myself to grow my abilities. I wanna help. As for getting out, just my abilities."
---
Coda pulls out a small notepad and a pen...instead of doing this with his phone like a normal person...and writes down his number. He leans forward to offer it to Liliana. "Text me yours," he suggests. A few more people that she knows, at any rate. "Even if we do ask some hard and irritating questions, you're not quite as alone as before, I think."
A pause, and he adds, "Before we go," because it does seem like a conversation that's wrapping up, "I want to ask you about something else. That day in the alley. With the angry woman, and the young man who was filming. Did you pick up on anything strange with your abilities that day?"
---
Liliana will pull out her phone and types the number in then sends out the text before she looks back up at Coda " I read the guy's mind. He was innocent. That woman was like furious in an unnatural way and then Corinna was the same. I completely think it had to so with those hate crimes going on around town.
---
And thus a new angle is introduced.
"Hate crimes? What hate crimes?" Coda asks, leaning forward, frowning sharply.
He glances over at Rune with his conversation about scheduling and the like going on over there, but Liliana still has his attention. He must have missed this news report...he doesn't always catch everything in current events, like most people.
---
Liliana seems surprised he doesn't know but she says " There has been a lot of hate crimes and out right attacks of Asian people here in town. Like a really big uptick. Its very strange. I'll be honest Im a little worried for Khoi.."
---
"I'll have to pull the news stories," Coda says, with a nod of his head...jotting down a little note in his notepad. God knows what he was paying attention to other than that but they live in an age of distraction, wherein there are always things to tear attention away from any one thing. "The rage did rather seem to focus on that one target though, that day. But not on Khoi. Not that day. A thing worth keeping in mind, one way or the other."
---
Liliana hops up and says " I keep the things I wanna investigate." she goes and grabs what looks like a scrapbook and comes back over to him. She opens it, flips to the page then holds it out to him " two elderly woman stabbed and one punched in the face in broad day light. 80 something year old man fatally shoved onto the ground. In seven months at least seven elderly Asian people have been brutally attacked. "
---
Rune hangs up the phone, offering a bit of a sheepish look. "Sorry," he explains. "Boss gives me a lot of flexibility, given -- well." A quick bounce of his head to indicate 'we may be getting ready to go into a park to look for a crazy spirit-enslaving wizard and you know, that seems like a normal weekend'. Still, he managed to catch at least some of what she said before he got on the phone. "That -- thing, you talked about? Toughing it out, pushing it down?" He shakes his head. "You wanna be careful about that. People think it builds character, but what it really does? Is crack the mind." He stuffs the phone back down into his pocket. "And, you know. Given that what you do requires a fair degree of clarity and control... nothing good lies down that path, in the long run."
---
Coda's eyebrows flicker up in swift surprise as she's able to pull the news stories for him. But he wastes no time looking through them, jotting down the facts just in case they become relevant. "This is an interesting cipher you've got built here," he adds, absently, though not in a way that suggests he thinks he has the right to hear all about it. "The alley incident does not fit this pattern," he notes. "I'd hesitate to say it's not relevant but I hesitate to say that it is, too. Still, I appreciate you bringing it to my attention."
Then Rune is bringing up some frankly excellent points. He puts the album aside and nods solemnly in agreement with what the other man has to say, giving Lily another long concerned look.
---
Liliana gives Rune a smile when he returns and chuckles "Where do you work that you can tell your boss you're hunting a bad magic man?" She says to him but she does crinkle her nose at his words and she looks down. " I mean, its not like I can go to a therapist and be all ' so Im having trouble coping with the fact I was kidnapped, possessed by the spirit of a racist hispanic dude who hates America and held captive. They'd lock me away. Its why I don't do doctors. In the fire at the restaurant, which I also think was Jeir by the way, when I was burned I didn't go to the hospital I don't do doctors." She shudders at the though but then she looks to Coda and grins " Thanks. Im a linguist. kinda obsessed with languages. Older the better. " She hm's and thinks over what Coda says and has to agree. She runs her fingers through her hair again but says " Yeah he was in his thirties not elderly. Oh, by the way they erased the videos, I mentally compelled them to and then while you guys and that hot missionary dude were dealing with Corinna I altered the memories of the couple taking pictures and the teens. I made it so they didn't hear any mention of spies or anything special and I changed the named they heard going around."
---
Rune looks momentarily taken aback by the question. His eyebrows raise for a second, posture tensing a bit. It's not that what she's saying isn't accurate. Just that he didn't actually say that out loud. And definitely not to his boss. Yet she seems to know it anyway.
The upshots of being a psychic, one supposes. Though it does tend to make paranoid wizards even more paranoid about what secrets she might be accessing.
Which is certainly enough to put him off being quite as talkative, but not entirely. "You -- should probably be very careful about telling people you can read minds and erase memories," he suggests, voice tense. "There are some of us that don't take kindly to that kind of thing. In a violent way."
---
Coda puts his tea aside, tucks his notebook away, and stands up. He just shifts, hands in pockets, standing beside Rune in response to that tension. His face has gone to a polite blank for the moment; a man doing his best to conceal his emotions in every way, his reactions in every way. He doesn't interrupt, giving Liliana her chance to answer. ---
Liliana is looking at the scrapbook so she misses it at first. " Oh I told Khoi I wouldn't do it to anyone like you guys. He said its a violation and yeah I can see how it could be. So I don't go digging. I asked Khoi if he wanted me to before I changed anything in those people too. Now, there are times I can't help..." as she is saying that she looks up and sees Coda isnt sitting any more and then tension hits her in the face and she actually looks pained for a moment. " You didn't say something that I commented on didnt you? " She doesn't even to seem to know what it was ! She frowns and her shoulders slump a bit " I told you, I was born with it. I can't always control it but I don't actively -try-! Im sorry fellas. I really am. I don't know why some things get through. Im sorry to which ever one of you I did it to." Her bottom lip pokes out in a pout and she seems truly sorry and sad.
---
Rune shakes his head. "Just --" A long sigh, here, and a glance at Coda. "Just maybe remember that these are people. Not USB sticks. You can't just erase a memory and have everything be fine. When you're done, you end up with a different person. An altered person. And that -- is the kind of thing that gets people like Khoi into some seriously dire predicaments." All humor is gone from his face now. "So trust me when I tell you that, if it isn't an emergency? You don't want to get caught doing that. It won't go well. For any of us."
Looking back to Coda, though, he offers, "I think I've heard what I need to, though. She's not helpless or defenseless, so. I think we're in the clear."
