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05 – Stories, Secrets
Screen had described the sim as a haven for discerning frogs, and it wasn’t hard to see why. Magnolia adjusted herself so that her head was propped on folded arms, giving her a view out into the strategically-lit caverns. Water dripped in a manner specifically programmed to relax whoever was listening. The large pool in the centre had a waterfall that ran gently, and despite appearances, none of the surfaces were ever slippery under your feet. And in direct opposition to half of her DNA coming from a bird, there was something calming about being in an enclosed space. The masseuse sim worked on her shoulders, making the occasional scripted…
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49 – Doubts and Answers
‘I like you,’ Mags said. Curt ran the sentence through his head a few times, then propped himself on an arm to look over at the still-naked Mags. ‘Obviously,’ he said. ‘You don’t kick me out as soon as we’re done. I know that’s a rare privilege.’ She required a pillow, slipped it behind herself, tossed a towel aside, retrieved her phone and stared at it for a moment before looking back to him. ‘You don’t think the afterglow is sacred. I hate when people insist on silence after fucking. If you’re in love, it’s different, but when it’s just sex, I don’t need some stupid countdown hanging over my…
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43 – Cake
In a way, the rest of the day was familiar. After the accident, she hadn’t been in a coma – which was apparently Ryan and the others were referring to “being dead for nearly a month”. No coma, but a long stretch without many memories. A long sleep, like a princess in a castle. After she finally had a longer period of wakefulness, the days had been filled with tests. Blood draws and tentative appointments with specialists to address what hadn’t been sorted in the major surgeries. A lot of her doctors had been hesitant to give her details – assuming that either she wouldn’t understand what was going on…
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33 – Domestic Bliss
Picard launched into a speech, and around mouthfuls of pizza, Curt heard himself mumbling along. Dinner and Trek had become a nightly ritual. Most episodes were familiar enough to fade into white noise when he needed to pick up a file and work, but comforting enough when his attention strayed from the Agency. The unofficial aide position was still as fraught with difficulty as it had been in the first few days – stepping on Ryan’s toes with some bits of processing, becoming even more of an outsider amongst his peers. But just like his early days as a recruit, he was finding a routine, despite the discomfort. It was…
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25 – Pretence
Magnolia pressed her security card against the sim room’s operations screen. It was rarely a good sign when a meeting with an agent was to take place in a sim. In what amounted to a holographic chamber capable of recreating anything from your weirdest sexy fantasy to the tiniest detail of all your underlings dying on a failed mission, there was always the chance that the tech would be used to chew your ass out – and not in the fun way. Jane was there to audit them – something that was far overdue from an outside perspective and something that could destroy her Agency and her life. So much…
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18 – Far From Basic
Ryan adjusted the blinds on the board room windows – the tinted glass kept out the majority of the glare. Still, it was something to fill the time, something to pass the seconds before everyone else arrived. A meeting macro had aligned the table, set out jugs and glasses – everything was in place, except for the participants. At his place at the head of the table sat several folders. Copies of both the basic outcomes of the night before. Under normal circumstances, these would be the meat of the discussion, as well as a preliminary folder with facts about Stef’s condition. Jones walked in, nothing more than a tablet…
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17 – The Simplicity of Touch
When nothing else called her attention, she liked to spend the hour before any relatively important meeting near Taylor, so that she could ensure that he was on time. Not that it was something that Ryan commented on – he knew better than to start shit over something so petty. Still, she was sure that Clarke kept a record of every tiny transgression, for the day he needed blackmail. Magnolia casually ducked the thrown knife, then ran forward on the balance beam, dipped and tagged the finish line, listening for the second knife as she turned to run back towards the starting position. As she headed towards the start position…
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15 – A Love Story
Magnolia knocked on the door to Taylor’s office and waited the requisite four seconds. The door had two locked modes – locked to the entire world, and locked to everyone except her. By default, she was allowed in, but experience had taught her to give her commander a moment to consider whether or not he wanted company, or needed silence. After a silent count to four, she tried the handle, and it opened easily. People thought Taylor was simple. People were idiots. The recruit population at large saw nothing but an imposing hulk of a man with a penchant for snapping the necks of his enemies. They imagined him to…
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14 – Soft Mornings
There was softness, and there was safety. Waking up was rarely a slow process. Being able to ascertain her immediate situation upon waking was a skill she’d crafted over a life of uncertainty. A life where safety that had existed upon going to sleep might have disappeared overnight. Magnolia stared at Screen’s soft back, adjusted the blanket, and snuggled in further, slipping one leg between Screen’s, trying to meld with her best friend’s marshmallowy form. Sleeping rough, sleeping around people she didn’t trust, sleeping next to people who didn’t respect her…all had given her a comprehensive roster of skills. An ability to recognise what a change in breathing might mean,…
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37 – Observations and Evidence
There was a knock at the door. Stef looked up from the sliding wooden puzzle from hell that Jones had sent as a get well present and stared at the door. ‘Um?’ ‘Me, Mimosa,’ came a woman’s voice. She quickly ran through the catalogue of people she’d met and tried to identify the voice. It was probably- ‘Magnolia,’ Magnolia clarified. ‘Open up.’ She hopped off the bed, stumbled, then opened the door. Magnolia – dressed in another cute dress that still somehow conveyed the impression that she could kill with a pinkie finger – smiled. ‘Perfect, you’re already dressed like a nerd, come on.’ She looked down at the Spider-Man…
