- Long Distance Communication, assuming Awakened are at both ends to communicate.
- Centralized registry of Energy signatures and coordination of permissions.
- Repository of Information and Knowledge gated by Seer approval.
~ * ~
Seb came downstairs the next morning to find Anya sitting on the floor against the couch. Concerned he hurried over, noticing how pale and clammy she looked as he got closer. "Anya?"
"I'm fine," she answered with visible effort before looking up at him with a smile that nearly had him forgetting her actual state. "Lisa is gone for good."
"You don't look- Huh?"
"I got up early and went to the meditation room," she explained. "Husks are a part of who you are, it takes effort to discard them. Deeming a Husk beyond salvage basically means you have to sever the Energy pattern from your own."
"And you thought doing this on your own was a good idea?" he asked, crouching down to help her up onto the couch.
"I didn't realize it would be quite so," she paused and got comfortable, "draining."
Seb shook his head and went into the kitchen, taking a moment to put coffee on before bringing her a glass of water. "Drink."
She took the glass and rolled her eyes. "I'm not sick Seb, well not physically sick. It's just strain and loss."
He just stared at her until she took a sip of water, then proceeded to drain the glass. "You could have told me. I might not have been able to help with the Husk but could have helped you back to the couch."
Refilling the glass he brought it back to her. This time she accepted it without comment and only drank half before answering.
"I didn't want you to see me in pain, all right!" she nearly snapped at him, her tone simultaneously frustrated and embarrassed. "It hurt a lot. I wanted to get it done and be here when you came down so I could tell you I was free of Lisa. Not have you walk in to find me on the floor."
He sighed and sat next to her on the couch. "I think I get it. I don't like it but I understand. But," he turned and wagged a finger at her, "as your retainer I have to remind you-"
"Seb," she cut him off, now glaring and irritated. "You don't get to use the retainer card every time you disagree with my choices. I decided to do it alone."
He paused, went to speak then put his hand down. He went to say something a couple more times before finally looking up at her and smiling. "So no more Lisa? No more Husk that will leave you wanting to scream in pain?"
"No more Lisa at all," she said, the hints of anger gone and all but bouncing despite still looking pale. "Everyday Husk is gone, War Husk is gone. She's gone."
"What does that mean for your ID?"
The momentary shock on Anya's face was priceless. Her smile dipped for a split second before she shook her head. "No, she's gone and I'm happy. They were able to set up an ID for me with the Husk before, I'm sure there are Seers who can get me a new ID or maybe even change my ID to match."
Hearing the coffee finish brewing Seb got up, made her a mug and brought it back to her. "I was going to ask what we had to do to start working on Husks today, but I've changed my mind. You're going to sit right there and eat breakfast then take it easy. I'm going to figure out what we need to do to fully move out of our apartments."
"I need to pack up a few things, but once I do the rest can be donated or gotten rid of for all I care. I don't need Lisa's stuff. I can start showing you what you need to do-"
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"Anya," this time he cut her off despite the fact he was halfway to the kitchen. "You were still bruised yesterday and you look sick, even if you aren't. You- we are taking it easy today other than dealing with the apartments."
Looking through the fridge he grabbed a case of eggs. "Now how do you want your eggs?"
~ * ~
Anya woke up after another day spent resting. As she got up to head downstairs she had to admit to herself that Seb had been right. She probably could have shown him how to work on his husk and gotten to work on her own but the extra time taking it easy had worked wonders.
Running into him at the stairs she smiled and said good morning before heading into the kitchen and getting coffee started. She wasn't going to let him change their plans today, her ribs felt fine, her bruises were finally starting to fade and the last of yesterday's Energy strain was gone.
"I feel great and slept well," she began once he joined her. "So today you get to learn how to create your Everyday Husk."
She saw him grin into his coffee mug before answering. "I'm not the one who keeps needing reasons to delay. I was ready yesterday."
She glared at him for a moment before sticking her tongue out. "It'll probably take a couple weeks to actually get the Husk fully made. The basics are easy but unless you want to look like a weird block-based mannequin that will terrify all the Unawakened it takes time."
"The first day or two is more or less meditating until the Husk itself takes shape. The rest of the time is shaping and refining it until it looks how you want it to. Once we get to that point we'll want to take turns or use separate spaces, but for the first few days we'll be together in the meditation room so I can help walk you through it."
"That makes sense," he answered. "I hope you don't mean spending all day for weeks though."
She laughed. "No. Don't want to spend more than half a day at a time unless you're really close to being done. As you saw yesterday Energy strain is," she shuddered slightly before smirking, "unpleasant and requires being waited on hand and foot."
"I didn't see you complaining, at least not after I brought you breakfast."
She gave a haughty sniff before focusing on her breakfast, knowing he'd be able to see her slight grin.
~ * ~
Two days later Anya was about to get Seb's attention and tell him it was time to stop meditating when his Husk snapped into place. She'd managed to complete the basic form earlier in the day and had been adjusting it in the broadest sense while offering guidance.
"I got it-" he started to say before falling back and hitting his extremely blocky head on the wall.
"Yup," she said with the briefest of snickers. She'd wobbled for a moment herself earlier, but wasn't about to tell him that. "Maybe I should have mentioned that the initial shape has bad coordination?"
"You think?" he asked sarcastically as he managed to sit up. "Although that didn't hurt nearly as much as I expected."
"Why would it? Even at your level a Husk is going to be at least a little stronger, faster, and more durable than your True Self," she answered.
"I guess I hadn't thought about that…" he trailed off for a moment before flickering back to his True Self, only to return to the Husk a heartbeat later.
She blinked in surprise. Switching back to True Self usually took a bit of effort to learn and the trick of how to return to the Husk was a lesson of its own.
"Did you just swap back and forth?"
As he returned to his True Self once more he nodded. "The Energy Pattern was right there, I could see the one for my True Self and the one for my Husk."
"That's…" she paused, what he was saying didn't make sense. "I had to learn how to swap between them, the guards had to learn, some of them took days to figure out how to get back into their Husk the first time. Some weren't able to get out of their Husk for a few hours the first time."
"But the Pattern is right-"
"What Pattern?" she couldn't help but interrupt.
"The Energy Pattern for the Husk? It's right there, sort of like how I know what the Seneschal's looks like? What the Sovereign's looks like?"
"You can remember the patterns?" She knew he could see the patterns, even see past the patterns, but he'd never mentioned remembering them.
"You can't?" he answered, seeming just as confused as she was.
A moment later she felt him reach out to form a band, the connection stabilizing with remarkable ease compared to even just a few days ago. Almost immediately she got a fuzzy set of images from him.
What are those supposed to be? she asked.
Energy patterns? The shape and flow?
It looks like a fuzzy underwater oil spill to me, she answered.
The image started to sharpen, coming into focus for a split second before they both winced, the band snapping in the process.
"Ow." "My head," they exclaimed together.
Rubbing her forehead she took a moment. "I think we're done in here for today. I was just about to stop you when you managed to form your Husk, and now I have a headache. But you really see those patterns and can remember them?"
"Yes?"
"For a moment there at the end I think I saw, was the last one my mother?"
"Yes!" Seb answered enthusiastically. "You could recognize it?"
She shook her head as she got up to open the door. "I've never seen it before in my life, but right before the backlash I knew what it was."
Holding out her hand she helped him up before finishing. "I think we need to go see the Seers the moment our Husks are stable. I really hope they have answers."
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