Thea's Reprise

Chapter 11: Upgrade

Indigo opened the door to their office, motioning for Kris to enter. Kris shook her head,"You can go first." They shrugged and walked in, going over to the wall near the second room. "I didn't really have time to bring it up, so you might have to follow me...". They smiled nervously. Kris looked around, when she examined this room beforehand, it was out of necessity. Now that she was feeling better, she began to notice the little things. Their room was carefully decorated, having prehistoric toys on some of the shelves and framed old weapons on the walls. As she examined the room, Indigo smiled,"Liking the decor?". Kris turned to Indigo,"Huh? N-No I-" they laughed,"It's ok It's ok. I like it too". They walked over to her and pointed at the toys,"Those are all from the Anno Domini era. It's the time where humans were the top creatures on the planet."

"I still don't understand how that was possible.." Kris scoffed.

"What do you mean?"

Kris shrugged,"I mean, they were...really weak from what I read on the bookshelf. They couldn't do half of the things we do, and-"

"Ah, I see what your dilemma is." Indigo snapped their fingers.

"Huh?" Kris turned to them in confusion.

Indigo walked over to the framed weapons, "It's true that humans were exceptionally weak. The A.D. version of your Paratana encounter would've ended with you dead at the first strike." Kris shuddered at the thought,"So if that was the case, then how did they become 'top creatures'?". Indigo pointed to a rusted bear trap, "Well for one, they were incredibly smart, and used traps or throwable weapons to kill their prey without having to enter direct combat. The planet was a lot less..hostile, so it was easier to run into animals that weren't bulletproof.". They took the bear trap out of the frame and showed it to her,"This thing probably wouldn't work on anything now, but back then it could subdue Common Era Ursari!".

Kris examined the trap, "...huh.". Reaching inside for a moment, she touched the center and the trap shut."Ah!". Although it didn't pierce her skin, it did scare her. She jumped at the sudden movement, grabbing the claw and immediately pulling it open. Indigo reached out,"W-wait!" The mechanism snapped and each half fell on the floor. Kris covered her mouth and the two stared at the broken bear trap on the floor. "I'm so sorry..." She looked at Indigo as they put their hands in their pockets. "Nah, it's fine. That was just the one for display. I've got a couple more in my cabinet.". Kris breathed a sigh of relief,"Well that makes me feel a little better, but I'm still sorry for breaking it..". Indi flicked their wrist and smiled,"Don't sweat it, I can show you some more sapien weapons another time.". They walked back over to the wall and kicked it, making the elevator open as Kris crossed her arms.

'They really like elevators, huh..'

Indigo walked in and motioned for her to follow,"Are you coming?". Kris snapped out of her thought and walked over,"Y-yeah..". She got into the elevator and leaned against the wall. Indigo pressed a button and the door closed, making the elevator lower itself shortly afterward. Kris jumped a bit and turned to them, "Um, this elevator only goes up and down, right?". Indigo smirked and crossed their arms, "Ronin got you, didn't he?". She blushed and turned to the side,"N-No, why do you ask?" turned to the side,"N-No, of course not! I just...I'm curious, ok?". They laughed, giving Kris an odd sense of comfort, "Well then, I assure you this elevator only associates with the y axis..". Kris stared at them in confusion, "The who now?". Indigo sighed and smiled,"It only goes up and down, sweetie..". She nodded and quickly fixed her face, "Ok...". She said as the elevator stopped. The door opened to a blacksmith's forge. It was made of brick walls, with a workbench on the left next to a bucket of weapons. There was a furnace in the center, and on the right was a large barrel of melting weapons. Indigo walked in as Kris examined the room, following them over to the bench, "I had some time to work on your daggers since Rose told me about your fight." They picked up the daggers to reveal it now had a black outline on the blade as well as wristbands hanging from the bottom by a black cord.

Kris tilted her head,"Those...weren't on my daggers before.".

"I know," Indigo nodded, "That's why I added them."

They walked over to her and gave her the daggers, helping her put the wristbands on. "Go ahead and put these on..." They muttered to themselves. "Anyways, Rose told me your biggest weakness was your inability to hold on to your weapons. So I thought of a way to mitigate that." They pointed to the wristband, "There's an extended steel wire inside connected to the inside of the blade. So if you throw or drop it, all you have to do is press a button to make it come back". They pointed to one of the two buttons that extended from the bands to her palms. Kris examined her blades and shrugged before tossing them across the room. The blades, however, only went an inch before immediately coming back into her hands. "Um..." Kris turned to them in confusion. "It didn't...go that far." Indigo thought for a moment, "That shouldn't...Oh! There's a button to release it." Indigo pressed the second button and the wire immediately dropped. "Try now!". Kris tossed one of the daggers, making it stab the brick wall across the room."Alright, now press the second one." Kris looked at her hand and used her thumb to press the second one, causing the cord to suddenly reel backwards. It rushed at Kris before she caught it, the force moving her arm back. Her eyes widened in shock,"H-Holy shit!"

Indigo clasped their hands together,"Great! It works!".

Kris took a deep breath,"Ok...so what about this new look?". Indigo immediately perked up, "Oh! So I noticed your daggers were made out of Avei bone, which is really smart because they're stronger than most other bones. But the caveat is that they don't break as clean, so it was chipping and flaking at the cracks.". Kris nodded, she didn't really know what the excited doctor was saying, but she didn't want to seem like she was any dumber than she already was. "So...you replaced the missing pieces?" She asked. Indigo nodded as they walked towards the bench and picked up holsters, "Mhm! I used reinforced obsidian, that way it's sharper and the breaks aren't as detrimental. Your holsters also have a sharpening mechanic, that way each unsheathe makes sure they're good as new. Just make sure to bring them back to me for a quick polish every few weeks, ok?". Kris nodded as she wrapped the holster around her. "Well alright.." .

The two stood there for a few seconds before Indigo smirked," You wanna test em out?-"

"Yes, please!".

Indigo laughed, "Alright alright, come on."

They pressed a door on the elevator. It opened and Indigo walked in, Kris following close behind. The door closed and they went up, going back into Indigo's office. "There's an obstacle course just outside of Tantu, if my designs were right, you should be able to use your daggers as grapple hooks."

Kris examined her daggers,"Yeah, that makes sense.."; Indigo walked out of the elevator and went towards the door. "We'll have to take the elevator that goes around,though.". They asked. Kris ran up to catch up with them,although hesitating at the mention of the elevator. "Um.." They smiled nervously,"We can just walk, if that's-". "No, no, it's fine! The elevator's fine.". She stammered, starting to walk with them. They smiled, reaching their hand out. Kris stopped and looked at their hand, "Um...". "Holding hands, you've never done it?". "N-No I..."

A memory of her mother appeared in her head. Kris held her hand while they ran through the city. "Mama! Mama, come on!". Her mother, tired, stumbled after her,"Ok ok!". They ran towards a small and battered house and opened the door, revealing an empty room with two bookshelves inside, one was full, the other had a single book on it."There's a new bookshelf!". Kris said, jumping up for joy as her mother smiled and put her hands on her hips,"This is what you brought me out here for?". Kris ran towards the second shelf and picked up the book with burnt corners, showing it to her mother,"Look, this one says 'Rhino'! It looks like a Paratana doesn't it?" She giggled.

The memory faded and Kris shook her head,"Y-Yeah, I've held hands before...". Kris looked at Indigo's hand, then up to match their eyes. "But, why are you offering?". Indigo shrugged,"Well, I know you totally aren't scared of elevators, but I am. They say people feel safer when they hold hands, so...".

Kris reached her hand out but paused,"Didn't you-". She looked at Indigo and they winked at her. Her eyes widened and she took their hand, smiling as they took her out of the office and walked down the hall. Kris didn't know what this feeling was. There were a lot of words she could use out there, most of them she hadn't yet learned. But there was one word she could grasp, one that continued to echo in her head as she entered the elevator.

Safe, she felt safe.