Magical Girl Policy- Chapter 39

Robynne grinned as she backed up the last of her files. She then ruefully smiled as she turned off Windswept one last time. Carefully, she removed her backup hard drive from the case and popped its panel back into place. She tapped the plain, black case like it was a confused puppy. “You got me through some rough times, old girl. Don’t worry though. I’m not sending you out to pasture. I’ve got someone special lined up for you. You’re going to need to help her out the way you helped me out.”

A light chuckle, full of pity, sounded from behind Robynne. She spun around to see Kara standing there shaking her head but clutching her heart. “Oh. My. Goodness, Robynne. This is actually strangely touching… I mean, it would be if it wasn’t also the most dorky thing I’ve ever seen. And that’s saying something since last night I went to a social full of nerds, one of which was wearing some chain mail.”

Robynne winced. She hadn’t realized that Kara had been standing there when she started consoling her rig. But she couldn’t show she was embarrassed. Nor could she let that comment stand. “Okay, this is not as dorky as Chainmail Guy.”

Kara gave her that loving yet somehow condescending, motherly smile she had perfected. “Robynne… you were reassuring your computer that it wasn’t being abandoned like a mother dropping her kid off at daycare. Your computer.”

Robynne frowned and couldn’t help but pout a little. “I built this thing with my own two hands. I put a lot of myself into ol’ Windswept. Heavens knows I spent even more time playing on it. I guess… I don’t know. Haven’t you ever met someone who got super attached to their car or their house or something? The time comes to replace it but, well, you need to replace it but part of you doesn’t want to let it go because it represents a part of your life that’s… this computer is the last thing that I poured my heart and soul into as Robert Dreese. I don’t know… I guess it’s weird.”

Kara bit her bottom lip and winced. “I’m sorry.” She rushed over and gave Robynne a quick hug. Robynne stiffened. “I didn’t mean to belittle you like that. I was just trying to tease you a little.”

Robynne shrugged and remained still. Sooner or later Kara would have to end her hug. “It’s fine. I know you were just teasing. It is kind of silly to talk to inanimate objects.”

Kara let go and Robynne breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, you’re right though. People get attached to things that represent some part of their life.”

“Still… I probably shouldn’t be talking to Windswept like a pet… still, it’s way less dorky than Chainmail Guy.”

Kara winced again, still obviously feeling guilty for her comment. “Definitely less dorky than Chainmail Guy… and Chainmail Guy was an oddity, right? Like, I mean, even for a club like SFEERS that was unusual?”

“I mean, felt like it to me. Lots of people were giving him odd looks. I’ve certainly never seen something like that outside of Halloween or something. Must be someone who also attends something like the Renaissance Fair Club or something and has mutual interest.”

“Wait,” Kara said blinking, “is there such a club?”

“I mean, probably. That sounds like a type of club that would exist at least locally if not officially affiliated with the University.”

“Fair point, I suppose,” Kara said with a nod. “Change of subject though, you said you were sending your old computer to a new home?”

Robynne nodded with a wicked grin. “Yup. Giving it to Angela.”

“Angela? Why Angela? I mean, I know her laptop is old but it’s not like she can take a desktop to her classes.”

“Psh! Classes?” Robynne dismissed Kara’s comment with a chuckle. “This is sooo not for productivity. She’s going to play Aspect Realms with me.”

Robynne was pleased to see the befuddled look in Kara’s ocean blue eyes. “Angela is going to play that game with you?”

“Oh yeah. We got it all planned out last night. I mean, like, if anyone is going to benefit from us sticking it to that biscuit Cammy, it should be Angela, right? So if I’m getting a new computer Angela gets first dibs on Windswept.”

“Well, I see the thought there.” Kara nodded slowly. “But are you sure Angela will enjoy playing that game with you? I mean, it’s not like she’s ever expressed an interest in video games.”

“Of course!” Robynne assured Kara. “I mean, Aspect Realms isn’t just any game. It’s an MMORPG. Sure, I’m going to try to guide her towards PvP combat as that what I specialize in but…”

“You’re doing that thing again where you use acronyms and act like I know what they are.”

Robynne blinked. “Oh. Right. Sorry. Um, Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game is MMORPG and Player Versus Player is PvP.”

“What makes it Massive Multiplayer?”

“I, well, it just means there’s a lot of players on one server.”

“Well, I get the ‘a lot’ part but at what point does it constitute as massive? I mean, when I’m watching you play I only see about, what, forty people fighting?”

“Well, those are just battlegrounds. Those will vary from sizes of twelve man up to fifty man teams.”

“Oh, wow. That sounds like a lot to keep track of.”

Robynne shook her head. “It is, but that’s not what makes it quote-unquote massive. Fighting against other players is only one small part of the game. There is also the main world where people complete quests and level up in. That’s much bigger and has thousands of people per server.”

“Thousands? Yeesh. I’ll stick to Hop Dance Mania, thank you… you sure this won’t be too overwhelming for Angela?”

Robynne nodded. “We’re just going to start with basic leveling of her character. I’ll wait and see what she gets interested in trying out. Some people like me get into the competitive side. Others like to just level up a lot of characters to max. Others like getting to endgame content and work with teams of people to take down big bosses. And, like, others get into the collection part of the game, trying to get every mount or outfit they can. Even if none of those float your boat, you can even become someone who just tries to play the Arcane Marketplace to buy and sell mats and earn profits. I mean, I don’t get why anyone would enjoy that but there are people who do.”

“I see. So you’re just sort of planning to play with her until you figure out what it is she enjoys?”

“Seems to be the only way to go about it, I think. I mean, yeah, it’d be way more convenient for me if she got into PvP. It’s what I’m into and, not to brag, what I’m petty awesome at.”

Kara rolled her eyes. “I think bragging is exactly what you intended to do there.”

“Didn’t really need you to point that out.”

“Vivian ran off to church. Someone has to keep your ego in check.” Kara smirked. “So now that I’ve apologized for belittling your pet computer, time for a change of subject. Did Eli’s text say something about a cheerleader spy?”

That wasn’t a topic Robynne was too excited to talk about. “Yeah.”

Kara folded her arms and gave her best concerned-mother face. “You absolutely sure you’re up to this? If Cammy is sending spies to check up on you and figure things out–”

“Even if I wasn’t sure,” Robynne interrupted, “the computer components are already on their way. I’ve already shown up to SFEERS in a cheer uniform. I’m not going to back out now.”

Kara raised a skeptical eyebrow. “That’s not the same as, ‘I’m sure about this, Kara.'”

Robynne rolled her eyes. “I’m sure about this Kara.”

“So you say.”

“Kara, you’re worrying too much,” Robynne said, trying to assure herself as much as she was trying to assure Kara. “So what? One cheerleader was sent to try and figure out who Bluster was. One. Cheerleader. Upon hearing that, Noriko got up and insisted she’d help Mal with the, and I’m quoting Noriko here, ‘delivery of the contraband.’ Before leaving I saw her pull a license plate out from one of her drawers. A license plate. Whoever the little snitch Cammy sent was, even if she’s Cammy’s absolute best spy, even if she stuck around to trail the computer parts, which I doubt she did… even if all that was true, I somehow don’t think she’s ready to go toe-to-toe with Noriko.”

“A license plate?” Kara asked. “Why would she… no, I suppose I shouldn’t ask why she has a spare license plate. I should more ask what would she do with a license plate?”

“I suppose,” Robynne mused, “she’s worried that if someone stuck around they would run Mal’s license plates, figure out who the driver is, connect me to Mal and Mal to Angela and my cover would be blown?”

Kara put her hand on her hip. “You really think Cammy has someone who can run plates for her?”

Robynne shrugged. “Well, according to Angela’s story, she at least got campus police to not look too closely at Angela’s evidence. She may have some influence with them.”

“I suppose,” Kara admitted. “Still, I think she is going a bit overboard on the paranoia.”

“My introduction to Noriko was her walking Cory and Eli at swordpoint, stealing Cory’s laptop, and nearly walking off with my phone. Paranoia is sort of a default setting for her.”

“Another fair point. Still, it’s a bit much.”

Robynne’s eyes went wide as she “smelled” a pinewood forest up in the mountains. “Mal’s here.”

Kara frowned, then closed her eyes in an attempt to focus. “Huh. So she is. Still don’t know how you do that.”

Robynne stood up and walked backwards out of the bedroom with a confident shrug. “I’m just a natural.”

“I think Vivian’s having a bad influence on you.”

“Vivian’s a bad influence on everyone,” Mal bellowed. Robynne smiled as she rounded the corner to see the Amazon plopping various boxes on the kitchen table. Mal was wearing a simple red tank top and, what Robynne guessed were yoga pants. Or maybe they were simple workout sweats. Robynne really couldn’t figure out the difference between the two. “Ace, I hope you appreciate that I interrupted what had been a very good workout because of this.”

Kara giggled as she followed Robynne out of her bedroom. “Why do you even bother working out? If Vivian’s right, you undo all your workouts every time you transform.”

“Workouts relax me,” Mal explained. “They help everyone really. Regardless of what you get out of it, they produce some sort of chemical reaction in your brain.”

“Endorphins,” Robynne said with a grin as she spread the various boxes around the table. She had been iffy on the whole needing-to-extort-Cammy thing but with all the components lying in front of her, she was really happy she had listened. She would never have been able to build a computer like this on her own. She had planned to piecemeal upgrade Windswept one component at a time. Her computer would have never been top-of-the-line, but rather would have had individual components that, at the time of their purchase, were good, but would eventually become outpaced by better technology as she moved on to upgrading the next component.

But this… this was going to have some of the best components money could buy. This baby would run anything and probably be up to the task for years to come. Aspect Realms in particular was going to look amazing! She was going to run it on max settings finally!

Noriko hopped through the still glowing portal, breaking Robynne out of her reverie. She held a brown box about the size of her entire torso in her arms. Before she had even landed, she was deftly placing the box on the ground and twisting her body back towards the stone portal. She swiped her hand across the portal’s face and it closed. Huh. Robynne didn’t know you could do that. Robynne had always just let the portals close on their own.

Kara squinted. “Noriko. Is something wrong?”

The ninja-girl took a deep breath before turning back to the group. “I heard people coming up the path. I dislike that we are using this midday.”

Mal frowned. “Using the Standridge Stones was your idea in the first place. I wanted to just drop the boxes off. You insisted that…”

Noriko held a single hand up defensively. “I simply had hoped Ms. Darling would have been patient enough to wait until tonight to receive the components.”

Robynne smiled, crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. “Ms. Darling? Now I know you’re mad at me.” The corner of Noriko’s lips twitched. That was as close to an annoyed scowl as she’d ever give. “But can you blame me? I want to start getting this assembled right now. You can’t make the kids wait until Christmas night to open their presents. It’s Christmas morning. I’m opening these babies now.”

Mal picked up the box to Robynne’s video card and examined it with a confused look. “True enough, but could you have at least sicked Noriko on me after my workout had finished?”

“Noriko insisted. There was no stopping her, I mean, short of transforming but that’s cheating.” Robynne said as she pulled out a pair of scissors from a drawer in the kitchen.

The ninja girl sighed, “Well, this will definitely delay the Twins.”

“The Twins?” Robynne asked. “Why are Nick and… the other Twin… um…”

Kara chuckled, “Will.”

“Yes. I clearly knew that.”

Kara nodded. “Obviously I should have let you finish your sentence.”

“Obviously.”

Noriko placed the box for Robynne’s computer case on the table. Then she stood with her hands behind her back as if she were a soldier delivering an intelligence report to a general. “I thought it best to have Will give your components a look over to make sure they have no bugs on them. It would be a most efficient way for Ms. DeCroix to keep an eye on you.”

Robynne stopped. “Bugs? Noriko, she’s a cheerleader, not a Russian spy.”

“She clearly had monitored Angela’s phone. To make a sports analogy, it’s a play in her playbook.” Noriko’s eyes shifted from Robynne to Mal and back to Robynne, as if she was checking for a correction to the analogy.

Mal rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but that was different, Noriko. Angela was given that phone by Cammy herself. She had time to open it and have tech guys or someone put a virus or spyware or something on the phone. Everything here was delivered to my brother’s apartment. It’s still boxed.” Mal shook the video card box demonstrably. “Several of these are still shrink wrapped, for Gummi’s sake!”

“I will admit the shrink wrapped items are unlikely to have been tampered with, but my responsibility is to protect your identities. Robynne has irked a woman who has been shown to leverage technology and subterfuge to gain an intelligence advantage in the past. We should not be so complacent as to not check on that possibility when we have a technological savant on the Hush Corps. We cannot assume Cammy would not go so far as to hire a fake delivery man to keep the appearance of normalcy.”

Mal and Robynne opened their mouths to protest but Kara’s soft voice stopped them like a sheep walking in front of oncoming traffic. “Thanks for being so willing to go the extra mile for us, Noriko.”

Mal and Robynne glanced at Kara who just smiled. Noriko gave a quick sigh. “Just doing the job that is needed.” She then walked off to her room as if Kara had just dismissed her and the discussion was closed.

Mal raised an eyebrow. Kara responded with a soft shrug. Robynne guessed Kara thought little could be gained from arguing with the ninja. She was probably right.Noriko took her job very seriously. An argument with her would likely go nowhere. Besides, Noriko just wanted to make sure to keep their identities safe. And what was the harm in letting a guy who was a techno-wizard take a look at her rig?

As Robynne grabbed a screwdriver, she considered how Kara diffused the argument. She hadn’t told anyone they were wrong. She had simply thanked Noriko. Thanking her had taken the wind out of Robynne and Mal’s desire to argue. It had make Noriko feel appreciated. A clean and simple approach to stop an argument with kindness. Robynne definitely wouldn’t have thought to do that. Then again Robynne had grown up an only child while Kara had been the only girl in a family with… how many brothers did she have again? It was some crazy number that Robynne couldn’t process. Robynne guessed you learned conflict resolution much better in that type of family environment.

Malloy tapped the box to the graphics card to the processor box. “So you know how to put this all together?”

Robynne smirked. “Yeah. Why?”

Mal shook her head and sighed. “Because this looks insane. I would have figured only super geniuses like Will could do this.”

“And what makes you think I’m not a super genius like Will?”

Mal rolled her eyes. “You’ve been spending too much time around Vivian lately.”

Kara giggled. “To be fair, she’s also spent a lot of time with your brother and Cory too. They could be partially responsible for her increase in snark.”

“I’m really not getting full credit for my snark here. I was plenty snarky before Cory or Vivian came along and recent events have only encouraged that habit more.”

“True enough,” Mal sighed. “But still, I mean, I don’t know, Ace. I knew you were smart but I just figured putting a computer together would require, I don’t know, a degree or something.”

Robynne shook her head. “It’s more like a car engine than a some nuclear accelerator. I don’t know how to assemble the parts but as long as you know how the parts hook up to one another it’s pretty basic.”

Mal snorted and shook her head. “I think I understand how our Spirit Sticks work more than computers. Might as well just call it a ‘magic box’ for all I understand about how they work.”

Robynne nodded. “Yeah, that’s actually a common issue.”

“It’s a common issue that people understand how our Spirit Sticks work more than computers?” Kara teased.

Robynne didn’t lift her head from examining the list of items she had ordered to make sure she wasn’t missing anything before she started. She did however point her screwdriver in Kara’s direction. “Leave the bad jokes to Vivian. They don’t suit you.”

“Psh,” Kara said with a dismissive wave. “I will decide what suits me. Not you. I was making bad jokes long before I ever met Vivian.”

“Question,” Mal said, putting the box with the graphics card down. “Do you do that dumb thing my brother did and name your computer? Please tell me you don’t.”

Kara let out a huge laugh at that. Robynne gave a quick chuckle as well. “My last computer was named Windswept. My laptop is named DustDevil. I’m thinking I’m going with a ice-based name for this one.”

Mal looked to the ceiling and shook her head. “Why am I always surrounded by such dorks?”

Kara giggled cutely as Robynne sat down. “Why ice themed?”

“Well, the case I got is black with blue trimming and– where are they?” Robynne searched through the boxes. “Ah, here they are. I got these neon blue LED lighting elements and case fans.” Robynne slid the boxes out and immediately frowned.

Mal leaned in. “Um, Ace, those aren’t neon blue.”

Robynne stared at the two bright pink fans with disdain. “Yeah. I noticed.”

Kara picked up the LED box and winced. “And these are labeled as hot pink, not neon blue.” She gave a hopeful smile. “A shipping mistake maybe?”

“I doubt it.” Robynne turned her attention to the largest box and more carefully read the label. “I ordered a Blitzmax GZ Mid-Tower Gaming Case. This, however, is a Fotonix Corona Mid-Tower.”

“I’m assuming that means something bad?” Mal asked.

Robynne stabbed the taped ends of the box with the screwdriver and quickly ripped the box open. “BlitzMax cases tend to be more styled case shapes with simple colors. Fotonix cases on the other hand tend to have simpler shapes, but more vibrant colors. They also tend to be a bit more expensive.”

Robynne moved the box to the floor where she could get better leverage. She gripped both sides of the styrofoam casing that kept the case protected in the box and pulled. With a aggravated groan, she plopped the case on the table. The plastic was porcelain white. Simple, but stylish pink flourishes dotted the various edges.

“I don’t think ice-themed names will work with this.” Kara observed.

“You know, you said Cammy looked pissed when you gave your list of demands,” Mal pointed out. “We should’ve seen something like this coming. She has quite a talent for spitefulness.”

Robynne crossed her arms and groused. “It’s clever. Choose the exact opposite style case than the one I asked for. I made it a point to make sure these couldn’t be traced to me. That means, however, I can’t request a return of any kind either; my name isn’t on any receipts or orders. So my options are use the super girly case or pay for a new one out of my own pocket.”

“Or go groveling to Cammy for the case you originally wanted,” Mal grumbled. “I’m sure that’s what she’s hoping for.”

“She can kiss my angelcake if she thinks that’s happening.”

Kara leaned in, obviously trying to cool Robynne down. “Couldn’t you use Windswept’s case instead of this? Give this case to Angela, maybe?”

Robynne nodded. “I could…” Robynne trailed off as she thought of all the work and all the things that could go wrong if she completely disassembled Windswept and reassembled it in this pink… thing. It just felt wrong forcing Windswept to wear this case. That computer had been too good to her to do that. “But that would be an awful lot of work. I’d essentially be building two computers today.”

“There’s a risk to that.” Robynne jumped at the sudden sound of Noriko behind her. She felt better to see Kara and even Mal jump with her. How had that girl left their room without them hearing the door opening again? “There is a chance someone might see the case in Angela’s room and word spreads to Cammy. I admit the chance is remote, but I think we should avoid any possibility of tying Angela and Robynne in Cammy’s mind.”

“Yeah, that’s a good point,” Robynne lied. The sequence of events that would have to occur for someone to find out what Angela’s game case looked like and Cammy finding out was too long to be realistic. Robynne didn’t want to admit she was shielding her old computer from having to be in a pink case. That was insane and she knew it. She couldn’t let them know.

“Let’s just go get a case at big box store or something,” Mal suggested. “My treat.”

“Seriously?”

Mal nodded. “I mean, my little brother would sometimes take his computer to these… I don’t know… parties of some kind. I’m assuming you plan to do the same at some point?”

Robynne chuckled. “LAN parties. And, yeah, probably at some point.”

“Then how the computer looks reflects you. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I think all this naming computers stuff is really weird–”

Kara chuckled, “You really know how to build a girl up, Mallory.”

Mal ignored Kara, “But I know you nerds put a lot of work and thought into these things. Your rig is a form of self-expression. You shouldn’t have to a computer that looks like it came out of a candy shop if you don’t want to.”

Robynne blinked in surprise. “Well, sugar, Mal. That’s really kind of you.”

Noriko cleared her throat. “If this computer is an extension of yourself though, wouldn’t keeping this case be more in line with your gaming persona, Robynne?”

All three girls faced Noriko who, if Robynne didn’t know any better, seemed to be a little nervous. Mallory raised an eyebrow. “How is pink anything remotely even Robynne?”

Noriko opened her mouth to say something but hesitated. Robynne smiled.Noriko didn’t look nervous but… well… Robynne could sort of tell she was. What was the harm in indulging Noriko a little? She had proven to be helpful when coming up with her new screen name, after all. “What do you mean, Noriko.”

“Well,” Noriko said, her usual calm returning to her voice, “watching you play your game, you tend to favor ambush tactics. Sneaking up on your foes and surprising them with a burst of damage they had not anticipated. A case like this would make people think you are some affluent gamer girl looking for attention and, thus, would underestimate your abilities. Thus you would, after a manner, ambush them. Also, the specs for this computer are quite powerful, yes?. People would not recognize the powerful interior, behind the rather effeminate exterior. I would recommend that is a rather apropo metaphor for yourself, yes?”

Robynne smirked. Kara chuckled, “She has a point.”

Mal frowned. “You seriously considering this now?”

Robynne gestured at Noriko, surprised at her own sudden turnaround. “I mean, those are good points.” Was she really considering this though? On one hand, this case was horrendously girly and Mallory had offered to go buy her a new case right now. That said, the selection at the big box stores didn’t tend to be the best. And this case was right here. And there would be a certain satisfaction she could get showing up to a LAN party with a computer that looked like a 4-year old girl’s birthday cake then owning the judgemental nubs.

“I mean, if I did stick with this case,” Robynne continued, “I’d need a good name for this. Thoughts?”

Mallory sighed and threw her hands in the air. “I tried to understand you nerds. I now have given up all hope of ever understanding.” Mal couldn’t however, hide the smile on her face.

Kara giggled. “Well, Mallory said it looked like it came from a candy shop. How about CandyCane or something. Because the strips of pink sort of look like candy stripes. Ooo, or maybe CandyStripe.”

The corner of Noriko’s lips curled. “Or how about CandyStrike to denote going on the offensive?” Robynne couldn’t help herself and burst into her cheerleader giggle. Robynne tried to say something but her laughter seemed to spur the ninja on. “Or perhaps CandySpite to denote that you are spiting Ms. DeCroix?”

Robynne kept giggling and Kara and Mal followed suit. Robynne finally composed herself and shook her head. “Noriko… you keep finding new ways to surprise me.”

Noriko shrugged, though she failed to hide how pleased she was with herself. “In lieu of Vivian’s presence, I must point out that I am a ninja. Surprise is what I am trained to do.”