Ventus sighs, shoulders slumping, ears splayed, and tails hanging low to the ground. “If you insist Lamu, I’ll head on over. Hopefully she really is doing better.”

Looking down at herself, she chuckles before adding, “I should get changed first, it wouldn’t do to wear this to the lab.”

Shrugging, Lamu walks off. “Just make sure to report soon.”

Walking off, Ventus gets surrounded by the awoken present. Deciding that she’s had enough public speaking for the day, she travels along the fabric to her room.

Once there, she carefully changes out of her kimono and nagajuban before storing them. Shifting her mana outfit to make herself a dress, she smiles. Looking into the mirror she smiles before washing off her face.

Wearing her short heels, she then travels along the fabric to the lab. Appearing right in front of Avery’s lab, she smiles while her tails and ears swish and twitch rapidly, clearly nervous.  Taking a calming breath, she steps into the room. “Hello. Are you here Avery?”

Jumping when she feels a hand touch her shoulder, she turns to see Avery standing there. “Ah, so you are. Reporting as ordered.”

Avery shakes her head, clearly amused before turning serious. “Come, let’s sit you down, there are a number of things to discuss.”

Nodding, she moves to a seat in Avery’s office, before sitting down, back straight so as to not pin her tails against the chair. “What’s up Avery? You seem serious.”

Sighing, Avery settles into her own chair, left leg folded over her right. “Yes, due to your consistent bloodwork showing signs of de-aging so to speak, it’s been decided that we test every awoken for these signs. We found similar signs, though to a far lesser degree among them all. Perhaps a month or two of de-aging compared to your 30 or so years of it.”

Blinking, Ventus tilts her head, “So you’re saying according to my bloodwork, I’m a newborn?”

Shaking her head, Avery responds, “Not quite. In terms of cellular degradation, yes. Otherwise you are a perfectly healthy adult woman outside of your hormones going crazy. After talking through it with other researchers, we believe your mana has made you biologically immortal.”

“So I can’t age, but any other form of death can still get me, right?” Upon seeing Avery’s nod, she continues, “Well that’s not the worst thing ever. In fact that’s pretty good.”

Shaking her head, Avery continues, “You can’t let this escape this lab. Everyone here has taken oaths of ethics, even if Senta violated them. If others knew, you’d be consigned to being materials.”

Shuddering, Ventus nods. “I won’t be sharing this, that’s not an issue. However, I am thankful for the warning Avery. Now then, what tests do you need?”

Shrugging, Avery closes the door, and with a click locks it. “Well we could do it two ways. Same tests just different order to clarify. “The first is to have you enter simulated combat and then have your mana tested to see what all it can do. The other is the opposite.”

Nodding slightly, Ventus turns to the door. “Why’d you lock it Avery?”

Chuckling Avery sits back down and gestures towards a nearby device. “The mana testing process is, painful to put it bluntly. I can’t have people breaking in due to your screaming. As for combat simulation, we can just skip that, orders from Lamu. We wouldn’t have enough combat ready staff able to contend with you, that aren’t your future squad.”

“So really it is just one method and that’s to get my mana examined, hmm?”

Shaking her head, Avery answers, “I didn’t lie about it being two methods. You can either have it tested painfully, or you can attempt to manipulate it to have only a wisp tested. That shouldn’t end up hurting at all, but it is only a theory at the moment.”

Shrugging, Ventus answers, “I’ll try, but I’m still expecting pain. Do I go to the device, or does it get wheeled over here?”

Smiling, Avery brings the device over to Ventus and gestures to a crystal in the center of it. “That’s the sensor, so try sending some mana into that first.”

Nodding, Ventus sends a wisp of her mana into the device. The device stirs and starts performing calculations, before returning an answer of “Soul stage past initial phase. Cannot test with this array.”

Blinking in surprise, a grin on her face, Avery leans close to the text, muttering about intent based language. “Well, good news or bad news first Ventus?”

Shrugging, having noticed the language being weird, as if it were twisting but still appearing English. “Bad news first I guess.”

“Okay bad news first then. Your mana can’t be tested with what we currently have discovered in the caverns. Good news, we already know what you can do, and we learned more besides that. For example, we learned that soul stages are a thing, and that the first for awoken is considered to be the initial phase.”

Ventus chuckles, seeing the excitement gleaming on Avery’s face. “Okay, but then what all is this device supposed to measure?”

Avery’s expression freezes before she sighs. “It tests mana capacity, density, and purity typically. I suppose we’ll just have to use one of the recovered rings to test that for you. We’ve been able to measure the standard drain of it.”

Blinking, Ventus shrugs before standing up. “Very well, let’s go I suppose. The sooner we get this done the sooner the rest of my day opens up.”

Chuckling Avery nods and unlocks her door before opening it and leading Ventus towards a large storeroom. Picking out a ring after checking the label, she tosses it to Ventus. “Catch that, put a drop of blood on it, and then wear it.”

Nodding, Ventus catches the ring before biting d town on her thumb, dripping some of her silver/black blood onto the ring. The ring shudders before flashing silver and black. Attempting to slide the ring on, it  easily slides onto her finger before shrinking. It becomes tight enough to not slip off, but loose enough to not damage circulation. “Oh wow, this is pretty impressive. So how does this work?”

Chuckling, Avery shows her own off. “It can form a barrier against water. Very useful for both canceling humidity and for staying dry during the rain. I figured you would appreciate that far more than I do. It can’t prevent sources of liquid the size greater than say a golfball, so grabbing a drink still isn’t a problem.

Nodding, Ventus activates the ring, blinking as the air suddenly feels dry around her. “Simple enough to activate, just have to thread mana into it it would seem.”

Avery nods, walking around Ventus. “You can’t see the barrier Ventus, but it’s the same as your mana. Silver and black merging and fighting. It is translucent though, so you’re still visible. Time to go take a shower Ventus, that’s when our test truly begins, so you can remove the barrier for now.”

Chuckling, Ventus shakes her head. “This drains far less than I take in passively, even this far from  the crevices, so I’ll leave it on for now.  I’ll take us to the baths, but I’m staying dressed in the shower. We’ll see how it goes.”

Nodding, Avery  holds her clipboard tight before grabbing Ventus’ wrist. “Let’s go then.”

Taking Avery with her, they quickly arrive at the woman’s baths and Ventus steps to the shower, her mana outfit having silver and black traces amongst the white. Turning it on, she chuckles as the water pours onto the floor around her, having slid off of the barrier. “Well do you want the good or bad news Avery?”

Laughing, Avery fiddles with the shower settings, making the pressure increase. “Sure what’s the bad news?”

Ventus shrugs, the mana drain increasing slightly with the pressure, but still not higher than her passive absorption. “Bad news is I am spending less than I passively absorb from even one tail, and I have nine. Good news is the exact same thing hehe.”

Fiddling with the settings some more, Avery grins as an enormous amount of high pressure water starts pouring onto the barrier around Ventus. “And now?”

Taking a moment to judge how it’s feeling, Ventus shrugs. “About the same drain really. Maybe slightly higher, but so slight it isn’t really worth mentioning.”

Nodding again, Avery turns the settings back to normal before gesturing for Ventus to turn off the water.

Doing so, Ventus walks over to the bath, and shrugs. “It wouldn't hurt to test I guess, so in I go.” Stepping a foot in, the water nearby gets displaced, thankfully not getting splashed out of the tub yet. “Ah there we go, a noticeable increase in drain. Maybe half of one tail’s intake as an estimate. I’ll stop so as to not make a mess, but it seems I’ll need to turn it off to drink.”

Laughing, Avery is in the midst of note taking. “It seems so, but also you didn’t notice, but the barrier hardened, no longer translucent when you stepped in. Likely your mana is a perfect match for the ring’s function, allowing it to work to a stronger effect.”

Nodding along, Ventus can feel the fabric getting tugged when she is using the ring, solidifying slightly near her. “Oh hehe, I think I figured out how to let something I want through. Let’s go get something to drink.”

Nodding, Avery finishes her note taking, and grabs Ventus’ arm. “Let’s go, Ventus.”

Wincing as her stomach cramps again, Ventus rubs it to try and ease the cramping. “Sure, but we’re walking. The mess hall isn’t that terribly far afterall.”

Looking over at Ventus in concern before chuckling, she guides Ventus towards one of the toilets, closing the stall door so that it is between them. “Check if you need to change whatever it is you’re using to protect against your flow. You’ll want to do so every few hours. More often if it feels excessively damp.”

Smiling, Ventus checks, and wordlessly reaches into her personal pocket in the fabric to grab more supplies. Quickly switching things out, she smiles and opens the door. “Thank you Avery, I know how to use them, but not the specific timings, so that really helped.”

Shrugging, Avery grabs Ventus’ wrist once more, almost dragging her out of the dorm building before calling a pickup service. “Yes, two passengers to downtown please. Specifically to the central square. We’ll walk from there.”

Tilting her head, Ventus looks confused. “Why aren’t we just eating at the mess hall? Also, I could just take us instead of you calling a ride.””

Scratching her head, Avery laughs and cancels the ride she just scheduled. “I suppose you’re right, yes. To the central square then please.”

Nodding, Ventus wraps her mana around them both, and the next second they’re in the central square. “Where to now, Avery?”

Chuckling, Avery gestures towards a high end sushi location to the left. “Over there I think. It shouldn't be too bad all things considered.”

Blinking in surprise, Ventus’ mouth starts watering. “When did they open a sushi place here? How do they even get the supplies here fresh?”

At this point, Avery is bent over laughing, enjoying Ventus’ reactions. “Well you sleepy kitsune, while you were changing during those five months, plenty of advancements were made. Many were reverse engineered of course, but we have devices that can keep things fresh for days. Even after that, the supplies are mostly good assuming you freeze them then.”

Ventus shrugs at that, her pocket doing the same thing. “Makes sense I suppose, though only a few days? I guess they really need to step things up hehe.”

Walking into the restaurant, everyone there pauses before the hostess chuckles. “Ah a Kyuubi. Fitting for you to come here then. Come along, let’s get you seated. Pleasant seeing you too Avery.”

Smiling, Avery guides Ventus to their seats before ordering some of everything. 

Tilting her head, Ventus looks unsure. “Is it okay to order this much Avery? I don’t know if I can eat all of what you ordered.”

Smiling, Avery winks at Ventus. “Oh trust me, you’ll be able to, though it isn’t all for you. As for the price, awoken get to eat free here so long as they are either clearly identifiable like you, or have shown their ID with the awoken status on it. I’ll still be paying, since I don’t like that system, but this is for you to know, miss kitsune hehe.”

Ventus frowns, her ears splayed. “So I guess I’ll need to go get a new ID hmm? Well that does make sense, I just haven’t been off base aside from with you, so I haven’t needed it yet.”

Nodding, Avery grabs her phone and sends a few texts as they wait. Soon after, a text arrives on Ventus’ phone from her bank. 

“We have received updated information that you are an awoken. We will need you to arrive and update your information.”

Ventus sighs at that, “So you’re helping with that are you? Thank you Avery. It doesn’t make up for what you did while you were controlled because there’s no need to make that up. You weren’t in your right mind, though I could tell you meant it all, just probably not nearly as aggressively.”

Avery chuckles, and starts to eat slowly as the food arrives. “Go ahead Ventus, eat up. You’ll love it.”

Nodding, Ventus careful takes the food with chopsticks and eats. With the first bite her tails go ramrod straight and she starts purring before she eats more quickly. 

Avery chuckles, and continues to eat slowly, enjoying her meal, but leaving the vast majority of the incoming sushi for Ventus. “So this is the other thing that was concerning. Your body’s metabolic rate has skyrocketed. You probably noticed to an extent already, but it’s gotten worse rather than stabilizing.”

Ventus pauses eating, before stretching, her bones popping. “Okay, so you need more tests to try and figure out everything going on, right?”

Shaking her head, Avery giggles as she points out, “I think your stomach is your fox form’s, and you’re trying to fuel it. After all, with the amount you’ve eaten, you would have burst your stomach by now.”

Ventus pauses at that, staring at the stacks of plates near her, before shrugging and eating more, everyone around her staring. “I can’t help that it is tasty, okay?”

Nodding Avery calls for more food, and smiles at Ventus. “Eat up Ventus. And you can store what you can’t eat, okay?”

Laughing, Ventus nods, happily helping herself to the sushi. “If you say so Avery, but yes please pay. Them doing this sort of thing for free would be too much, given my clearly enormous appetite.”

Nodding, Avery looks at Ventus’ happy expression before looking away, a slight blush on her face. “We’ll need you monitored, so either you can stay at my place or we put the equipment in yours. The choice is entirely yours.”

Ventus pauses, the second to last dish of the second set nearly to her mouth. “Oh, uhh if it isn’t an inconvenience then your place. That way the equipment doesn’t need to be moved around.”

Chuckling, Avery nods before asking, “Still hungry, or are you good?”

Looking around, Ventus sees the one who has to be the chef glaring her way. “Um, I think this will be enough for now, I don’t want to make the chef angry.”

Avery chuckles before ordering another set. “If he’s angry he can talk to me, see if he keeps his job.”

Ventus blinks in surprise, still only about half full despite all she’s eaten. “Uhm, sure. I didn’t even realize my appetite had increased so much, maybe it’s because I had unlocked that ability?”

Avery chuckles, pointing to the faintly gold outline of a giant fox on Ventus’ tail, “Possibly. It would make sense afterall since that should be your so called true body. However, we’ll still need more bloodwork to make certain, given the fact you haven’t had any since you unlocked that form.”

Ventus chuckles as she continues to eat, being tidy despite the sheer amount of food she’s consumed. “Makes sense. I assume you have some vials on you.”

Nodding, Avery walks around the table and sits next to Ventus. “Sure, but you need to finish eating first. You should hurry.”

Chuckling, Ventus nods and starts moving food into her mouth instead of just picking it up, subtle mana fluctuations around herself.

Avery smiles before asking for the bill. Upon receiving it she winces at the price, but hands over her card. “Yeah that was on me, this place is pretty high end. It’s a good thing it’s mine.”

Chewing her last piece, Ventus swallows before staring at Avery. “It’s yours? That’s amazing, but aren’t you the lead researcher?”

Avery nods, “Yes I am, but that isn’t all I am. I have several stores around town, all using materials either transported or manufactured with the scavenged technology.”

Blinking, Ventus starts to look concerned, her tails starting to reach towards Avery in a protective way, “You didn’t use company funds for this meal, right?”

Shaking her head, Avery grabs her card as it is brought back. “I did not, this was from my salary that I take as the owner.

Chuckling, Ventus stands before bowing towards the staff. “Thank you so much for the food, it was quite delicious.” Turning back to Avery she bows even deeper, “Thank you for the meal!” 

While she waits a few seconds, Ventus feels Avery put a hand on her shoulder, trying to get her to stand back up. “None of that Ventus, I did it because I want to be friends, with maybe more in the future. I’ll happily pay for your meals any time you cutie.”

Ventus’ tails stir the air before she stands back up. “Even so, I truly appreciate it, Avery. Shall we go get this paperwork sorted after you get that sample?”

Nodding, Avery quickly gets the blood she needs. Ventus doesn’t even feel the prick of the needle. 

As they head over, developments are stirring in the caverns. At the nexus where Ventus woke, the eggs have increased, and the first shakes wildly, cracks appearing in the shell. The eye is back, staring in Ventus’ direction while words come out of it. “Tshs iescs nh i arlp lub oey artoefst. Sruecgc ne oerd ttsowgor.”