Exodus: The Assassin's Path 83 Belle

Quinn sat on the edge of the dock, his eyes closed as he enjoyed the warmth of Ravenwood's sun. The people who cared about him most were very worried, but when he had asked for some s.p.a.ce to clear his head they had given it to him.

"Are you going to stay here long?"

Quinn turned at the sound of a woman's voice. A Silverleaf woman was standing at the edge of the dock. "Hmm, forever most likely."

The woman was closer to brunette than any high elf Quinn had ever seen. She was quite thin with a triangular shaped face. It was nearly impossible to guess the ages of High Elf women, but Quinn would thought she was a bit older than him.

"Oh.. is that so?" She carried a plain wood staff that was nearly as tall as she was. "This is my favorite place to sit."

"I don't mind sharing the spot." Quinn scooted over to one side, the dock extended about 10 feet over the water but was only 3 feet wide.

"Really? Thank you." The woman began walking toward him, the staff she held carefully finding one edge of the dock before she stepped on in.

Quinn watched the woman slowly make her way toward him, he hadn't realized that she couldn't see, until she used the staff. "I moved to the left side of the dock,"

"Oh.. thank you." After a few moments she sat down next to him. "I'm Belle," she introduced herself and then closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth of the sun on her face.

They sat there for several minutes, Quinn had expected her to start a conversation, but she didn't. "I'm Q, by the way."

Belle nodded, "I know that."

"You do?" Quinn was just starting to realize that there were many Silverleaf family members that he hadn't met yet. Perhaps another outing to Exodus would be nice.

"Yes of course, I've heard you speak many times." Belle turned her face toward him, her sightless eyes were the same color as the Ravenwood sky. "Although I'm not sure what you look like."

"Well... I'm exceedingly handsome." Quinn smiled as a hint of humor crossed her face.

"And very modest." She dipped the tip of her staff in the water, moving it around slowly.

Quinn watched the waves she created slowly move away from the dock. "Yes.. I'm by far the most modest person around."

This time the smile peeked through, "the girls do say that you are quite handsome and very tall."

Quinn nodded, then stopped when he realized that she couldn't see that, "of course.. both of those things are true."

The Silverleaf woman finally laughed, "you are very funny Q."

Quinn didn't have any blind friends, but he could imagine that knowing what someone looked like would be preferable. "Hmm.. want to touch my face?"

"You don't mind?" Bell turned toward him, placing her staff on the dock. She raised her hands tentatively in front of her.

"No, I don't mind. I'm going to guide your hands for a moment," he gently gripped her wrists and brought her hands to his face. Her hands were soft but quite cool.

Her expression changed several times as her fingertips touched his cheeks, then chin and nose. "Oh.. well that nose is a bit unfortunate."

"What? I have a perfect nose!" Quinn made a face at her as she was touching him.

She laughed when she felt it, "so mature... oh, these ears of yours." She finally put her hands down, she looked like a completely different person when she laughed.

Quinn put his hands on his ears, "what about them?"

"Nothing... am sure they come in handy when exploring dark caves." She smiled innocently and then turned back toward the sun.

Quinn laughed, leaning back on his elbows. "What kinds of things have you been doing since arriving in Ravenwood?"

"The trip to Exodus was very nice by the way, besides that I mostly stay in the tent. My sisters have ch.o.r.es and tasks to do, so I try to do a bit of exploring." Belle's smile stayed on her face, she wasn't someone who felt sorry for herself. "I do the best I can."

"I like it when people try their best." Quinn dipped his fingertips in the water and flicked some at her.

She blinked when the water hit her cheek, she put her hand out, palm facing up. "Is it finally going to rain during the daytime?"

Quinn smiled and turned back toward the sun, "guess so." A moment later he was doused with water as she used her staff to splash him.

"Looks like it might be a real storm for once." She was exceptionally good at keeping a straight face.

Quinn laughed first, then she started as well. He wiped his wet face with the back of his sleeve. "d.a.m.n...that was overkill."

They laughed at each other for a few moments, Quinn forgot about the stress of earlier.

Bell wagged her finger in the air. "Splas.h.i.+ng a blind woman... what were you thinking?"

"Umm.. that you wouldn't see me."

She laughed again at his words, her lips spread in a genuine smile. "That ear remark must have really stung."

"No comment." Quinn stood up slowly, stretching his arms over his head.

"I bought a lot of nice things when we went to Bizarro's." Her head followed the sound of his movements, "my sisters and I really appreciated it."

"I'll plan another Exodus trip for everyone." Quinn reached in his inventory, "hey.. I've something for you." He took one of her hands and placed the small sphere inside it.

Shadowfiend

Pet Type:Feline, Primal

Description: Nothing is known

concerning the abilities of Shadowfiends.

She felt the cool smoothness of the tiny sphere. "Is this a stone?"

"Yep... I have to get back, the dock is all yours." Quinn stood up, watching her as he did.

"Okay Q. Thanks for the company." She waved at him with her free hand, while keeping the sphere tightly grasped in the other.

*Ba'Avriel*

Quinn flapped his wings hard, quickly gaining alt.i.tude. The blind High Elf was on his mind when he caught an updraft a few minutes later, he felt a sense of loneliness when he looked at her,perhaps a pet would help.

*Hunt*

Quinn glided on the thermals, circling lazily as he let the winds take him. He found himself close to the courtyard He landed near the fountain, Bali and Jali were nowhere to be seen. He came in at a sharp angle and then swooped to the ground, his feet skidded on the dirt as he nearly went into the fountain.

A quick glance around told him that no one had witnessed his near miss. "Best log off I guess."

*******

It was a bit after lunch when Quinn walked down the stairs, Tal was the only one around, she looked up from the oven as he approached.

"Oh good.. ready in 15 minutes hun," Tal placed an oven mitt on the island before walking around it to hug him.

"Smells great whatever it is," he rested his hands on her hips and stayed like that.

"Beef and vegetable pot pie, made it myself." Tal leaned against him, enjoying his warmth. "Feeling a bit better?"

Quinn nodded, "just caught me by surprize, I probably should be use to it by now."

Tal leaned forward brus.h.i.+ng her lips against his. "You've been considering the possibility of using that gem in combination with the implants and memory sh.e.l.ls we received from HYLO?"

Quinn let his hand slide up until it rested on her flat stomach. "Only briefly, somehow I think it wouldn't be as easy as that."

Tal smiled, "I spent an hour talking with a software/AI engineer that I know, she's quite fascinated by the possibilities. Want to hear what she told me?"

"Sure. Is she familiar with TAP?" Quinn let his hands slide down and he took a sweat at the kitchen island.

Tal nodded and poured them both some iced tea and then took a seat across from him. "TAP is run by a Supercomputer that get's it's input from the Game developers."

"Oh, I thought it was monitored by an AI." Quinn took a sip of his drink as he listened.

She shook her head, "No, only the NPCs in the game are AIs, those are quite special."

"How so?"

"They are what is called Low Artificial Intelligence ent.i.ties or LAIs. LAIs have roughly the same capacity as human's do. They are randomly smart, dumb, funny, average or crazy."

"So they are typically like us."

"Yes. They can learn, develop interests, friends.h.i.+ps and talents. What do you think happens when an NPC gets permanently killed in the game?" Tal got up for a moment and removed the pot pie from the over, she sat it down to cool and then returned to her chair.

Quinn shrugged, "this super-computer that monitors them makes another."

Tal shook her head, "it isn't capable of doing so. Try again."

Quinn thought about it for a moment. "The developers have to add them into the system."

"Nope... come on Quinn, you figure things out better than anyone I know."

"The super computer doesn't make them and the developers don't add new ones". Quinn stared at the ceiling for a minute while Tal place his lunch in front of him and handed him a fork. "They reuse them."

Tal's pretty blue eyes stared at him, "that's why you are so impressive."

Quinn started eating, "I'm right?"

"Yes...They LAI sh.e.l.l is so complicated, it isn't efficient to keep remaking them. When an NPC dies, the memory section of the sh.e.l.l is erased and the entire thing is repurposed for another NPC."

"It's virtual reincarnation." Quinn closed his eyes, savoring the taste of his lunch.

"Wow.. good a.n.a.logy. My friend used the terms 'core' and 'specials'. The repurposed AI retains the 'core' key parts, but the 'specials'-things like gender, personality and abilities are rerolled." Tal picked up a second fork and helped herself to a bite of his lunch.

"My mom folded time for several minutes, during those minutes she was no longer anch.o.r.ed by her body, she only existed in the game."

Tal didn't have to pretend that this fascinated her. "It is possible that the supercomputer that monitors TAP, treated her as an NPC because of that. It is programmed to adapt and make decisions based on logic. It wouldn't be logical for a player to be able to continue playing after the anchor was cut loose."

Quinn could see all the connecting points. "Which she was able to do because of her implants."

Tal's expression turned sad, "my friend also said that restoration would be impossible without both the core and the specials. The core could be anywhere or anything by now."

Quinn continued to think about the topic while he finished his lunch. "The core could be a NPC boss in a dungeon, or a shoemaker in Pearl. There is no way to tell. The specials are stored in the Soul Gem as an ordained soul."

Tal nodded, "lets retain the parts we have, who knows what the future will bring. I'll have another discussion with my friend."

"Thanks Tal.." Quinn put the dishes away and cleaned up the kitchen.

"Welcome hun... got a sec before you log back in?" Tal grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the stairs.

"Sure.. what's up?" Quinn followed her, while he considered the rest of his day.

She closed the bedroom door behind him and immediately starting removing his clothes. "Even Anna is logged in at the moment, so it's okay if I'm a little loud."

Quinn grinned at her, "well.. I should thank you properly for making lunch."

************

Quinn stepped through the portal in Ravenwood and selected HQ. A moment later he was greeted by Mojo and Leah. Yaya and Remmy were chatting with Tal by the exit.

"Am I the last one here?" Quinn looked around, he didn't see Jinn or Ro-Ro.

Leah grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the door, come on Quinn.

Quinn saw it the moment he exited HQ. Although it was anch.o.r.ed half a mile away, the scope of it was enormous. The foundation platform was about two hundred feet off the ground, it was just over a thousand acres in size and 12 of the gnome propulsion devices were mounted within the support structure.

Tal was chosen to do the honors for the instbuild, she looked around to make sure everyone had arrived. "We all here?"

"Just a moment, I invited a guest who is running a bit late." Quinn looked at his hud again, he had given her a token for traveling to the HQ portal. A moment later the door from HQ opened and a spiky blonde haired woman dressed in black exited.

"Quinn!" Kora spotted Quinn in the crowd and approached him, she returned his bow.

"Instructor Kora, I'm so glad you could make it." Quinn had invited her to come to TAP and see the Academy.

"Just Kora will be fine Quinn," she hadn't been busy when Quinn asked her to come, so she accepted the offer from one of her former students.

Quinn gave Talia the thumbs up, "now we are good."

Tal used her hud to complete the choices, and the entire group watched as The Academy started to be built. From start to finish it took 20 minutes, no one had spoken during that time.

World Wide Announcement: The first Cultural Enhancement building has been established in Fora by the Fora Development Faction. The Academy of Military, Martial Arts and Science has been completed.

As soon as the building had been completed, Remmy signaled for the engineers to release the anchors. The pink haired engineer held a small control box in her hand, slowly the Fora Academy floated into the sky.

Quinn summoned Kawa and put the back rest down for a second rider, "Kora? Want to see it close up?"

"h.e.l.l yes." Kora jumped into the saddle, much the way you'd think a ninja would.

There was an inactive portal in front of the Entrance Gate, the entire Academy was surrounded by tall walls made of white stone.

"For now we will connect this portal to the Fora HQ and Ravenwood portals." Mojo joined the rest as they walked toward the gate.

The large group slowly walked through the Academy grounds, it would have gone much faster but Quinn wanted to go into every building.

Quinn was chatting with Kora most of the time, "Did you see the size of that auditorium?"

Kora nodded, "it's amazing, the practice fields, the cla.s.srooms, even the cafeteria. Everything has been thought of."

"Not everything." Quinn gave her an innocent smile.

"Really? What's missing?" Kora couldn't get over it's size.

"A Martial Arts Instructor." Quinn glanced at her to see her reaction.

"You want me to be part of the staff?" Kora's face showed her surprise, she was taken completely by surprise.

"Think about it for a few days, we are a ways from opening up. I'll have Anna draw up an offer so you can consider it properly." Quinn spied Ro-Ro out of the corner of his eye, she was thinking the same thing he was.

Ro-Ro was talking to Jinn, she caught the look from Quinn and took off running, the rest of the group staring as Quinn gave chase.

"d.a.m.n it... edit TAP gear, swimwear!"

The rest of the group followed at a much more leisurely pace, by the time they arrived at the Aquatic Center, Ro-Ro and were comparing cannonb.a.l.l.s off of the diving platform.

Leah smiled when she saw them, "Oh my." She was the next one in, eventually everyone joined them in the water.

Kora didn't have a swimsuit, but she wasn't bothered by that as she used her undergarments.

A game of horse and rider broke out in the pool, with Tal and Remmy completely dominating everyone. Quinn noted with some satisfaction that he and Jinn had at least managed to 'unhorse' Remmy 1 out of 3 times.

A few hours later the group finally returned to Fora HQ. Mojo had activated the portal before they left and had chosen to connect it to Ravenwood and HQ.

***********

Quinn arrived at the Songbird just over an later, he was dressed in a black suit and tie. He spotted Lara right away. Her short pale blue hair had been styled and she wore a dark blue dress with heels. "You look very nice tonight Lara."

She smiled sweetly when she saw him, "thank you Commander."

Quinn offered her his arm and lead her out the door. "I know just the place, Dia Giovanni's has the best Italian food in Exodus."

"Italian? I don't think I've tried that."