Violet lands in the city and looks at a map Krystal sent her while looking a bit confused on where to go. She quickly finds a yellow camping tent set up on one of the sidewalks. It looks rather unassuming aside from a logo which looks like a Sun with the letters S.E. on them in black. Violet walks into the
tent and notices Luna sitting on a couch and playing a game in her computer.
Luna waves with a smile, “Oh hey Violet, welcome to Toby’s lab!”
Violet waves back and looks impressed by the amount of books and computers, "Hey Luna! How are you doing?"
"I'm alright. Just waiting for Toby to be done with whatever he's doing." Luna smiles. "Should be out shortly. Please look around as you wish."
Violet looks around at the computers and books in the area. The computers are all locked with passwords. The books seem strange. Some are rather large and heavy with titles suggesting science and electronics, some have some strange titles in other languages. Even a couple look encrypted? Violet also notices the superhero comics, specifically Marvel comics. Some are Fantastic Four, and many of the others are The Avengers. Clearly, Toby has a taste. Lastly she notices two books that pique her interest. One is titled Dreams, Exploration Into Their Subconscious and the other is Magic - An Understanding of Magical Abilities.
Violet picks up the Dreams book. As she reads, she learns about dreams Luna has been having and the author tries to explain why they're happening. It doesn't seem to be very fruitful. An excerpt from the book reads, "As 6969 is the only known remaining LUNA in existence, it is difficult to say why she is having these dreams. Is it a warning for the future, or just a means of torture? Or perhaps is it trying to tell her something?" And then it just goes into extremely technical information about REM sleep, the subconscious, and how they play a part in memory.
Then she reads the Magic book while waiting for Toby. Magic: An Understanding of Magical Abilities seems to be a primer from Luna's home veil about how Magical Abilities work, but in a simpler to understand way: An excerpt from the introductory chapter reads,
"In my World, a system of various abilities exists. These abilities can either be innate, meaning the user is born with them, or learned, taught via various methods. These abilities have a rather long name back home, it's something like Autogenous Abilities of Augmentation, but I find it much easier to call them Magical Abilities, or just Magic.
Magic can take many many forms. These can range from elemental powers, to telekinesis, or even the ability to summon creatures to fight for you and more! It's honestly impressive how varied Magic can get. Most of those capable of performing Magic are locked into two spells. Some people can have more than 2, but it's extremely rare. Those of certain life paths are barred from performing Magic for their entire lifetime. The author of this section does not agree with this, but it is what it is until 'The Authority of Arcane Affairs' or henceforth called the AAA, decides otherwise.
Nobody knows when Magical Abilities were introduced into our World. Some say they appeared alongside the meteor that killed the dinosaurs, but rumor has it, a powerful wizard of some kind forced our World to accept Magic. What matters is Magic exists now and the better one is able to coexist with it rather than fight against it, the better our lives will be."
Luna looks over at Violet reading the Magic book and chuckles, "I think you should check the author of that book.”
Violet looks to the author of the book. On the front cover, it says: MAGIC: An Understanding of Magical Abilities by Luna Grey. She seems impressed, “Oh wow! I didn’t know you wrote a book? That’s amazing!”
Luna smiles, "well an archivist's job is never over. I archive literally everything I can get my paws on. And in this case. it got published in my home World! I was even nominated for an award, but some other dude won it instead. Something legend book, I don’t remember."
At this point, Toby walks in. He's a rather tall and skinny human, 6ft 1in. He has grey hair and aviator goggles on his head, and wears a yellow plaid suit with a Solaire logo pin on the lapel. He walks over to them with a sincere and warm smile. "Oh hello... are you Violet?" Toby’s voice is kind of gruff, but it's almost grandfatherly.
Violet nods towards Toby, “That would be me! You’re Toby, right?”
He goes to hand Luna a hot chocolate in a thermos. "Yes, that’s correct.” A high pitched DING! is heard by the pair, “Whoops, my cake is done! Be right back.”
Luna smiles gleefully, "I'm so glad he's here. Missed him a lot."
Violet looks to Luna and nods, "How long has it been since you have seen him?"
Luna thinks out loud, "Well let's see here. I was pulled out of the lab when I was 21… r-right? It’s still vague.”
Over in one of the corners, Krystal’s voice - which sounds like Luna’s though deeper and a bit more artificially synthesized - is heard from a traditional suit of armor with a ton of various electronics attached to it, “Yup, you got it.”
“13 years then,” Luna sighs wistfully.
Toby walks back in with a frilly pink apron on without any shame in the world, “Ah so the cake’s done. Anyone want some?”
Violet shakes her head, “no that’s okay. Didn’t you need help with the telepathic thingy?”
"...perhaps we should go into the testing room?" Luna asks Toby nervously.
Toby nods in understanding, "Actually yes, let's do so."
Krystal tells the group, “Y’all go in first, I need to swap out real quick be ri--” Her voice goes silent and the armor goes still. A plainly visible orb of purple light seems to fly out of the armor’s electronics and into what seems to be an antenna above the entrance. Toby holds the door open for Luna and Violet to enter. Upon entering, they notice lots of foam soundproofing tiles and janky-looking handmade electronics, some that let loose sparks.
Toby nervously closes the door and lets out a heavy sigh, “So, uh. Welcome to our Private Room Violet.”
Violet notices his behavior and asks, “You seem nervous. Is something on your mind?”
Luna goes to sit in one of the comfortable plush chairs in front of a table. The table has a framed photo of a woman standing in a field of sunflowers, one that she cannot take her eyes off of. While staring at it, Luna explains, “This room exists to get away from Solaire’s surveilling eyes and ears. If they had any idea what we’re planning, we could be in mortal danger. Toby can you explain further?”
Toby nods and says rather bluntly, "We're trying to bring down Solaire."
Violet seems interested and asks, "I see. Well, I'm all ears and here to help. Where do we start?"
Toby takes a deep breath and begins to speak, "So first off, I should explain a bit more about Solaire. Solaire Enterprises is a company steeped in controversy. The LUNA project was originally designed to be an experiment, one designed to see if they could create the perfect lifeform. Unfortunately, playing the Many Gods Above was not their strong suit and they failed miserably. All of their attempts failed except for one, that’s Luna. Unfortunately, we don't really know much about how they created her. Or why, aside from fucking around and finding out. At some point, they quit. Went silent for years while continuing testing on her.”
Krystal's voice is heard from the loudspeaker on the wall above the door, "And then we got her out of there, got her to live with me. Trained her to be a normal functioning member of society, well as best as we could with our admittedly limited resources."
Violet seems excited and asks further, "I see... so how do we plan on taking Solaire down? They seem to be a pretty powerful company and they don't seem to be screwing around."
Toby takes a deep breath, "right now, our hands are tied. In creating Luna, they implanted a chip and a transmitter, one that constantly transfers data she learns. We're worried that if they caught onto what we were scheming, they may pull the trigger. In a way, if she learns too much and Solaire catches wind, Luna may be in danger of being killed.”
Luna nods and says, "Hence why we're in here right now. We have transmitter blocks in place so that information cannot leave, plus soundproofing."
“So what’s our next step? Like baby steps.” Violet asks while looking around in thought.
"That's exactly it. There really aren't any plays we can make yet. All we can do right now is learn what Solaire's planning with Project H and just keep Luna and Jane safe. Luna is extremely special." Toby explains, looking between the two warm bodies in the room
Violet nods, "Got it. I can do my best to protect you guys. If that is what is needed."
Toby nods in acceptance. Krystal is silent, the knowledge of events seven months prior still weighing in on her soul. It takes a few moments for her to realize just how screwed she is right now, but Luna eventually takes a deep breath and replies, "thank you Violet."
"I do have a theory about why Lunes has no memory." Krystal says. Luna looks over to the loudspeaker.
"Oh? Why do you think that is?" Violet asks the loudspeaker.
Instead of just saying her theory, Krystal instead posits, "Well, think about it this way: if you have certain sensitive documents on your computer and you didn't want others to know about them, what do you think you would do Violet?"
Luna facepalms, realizing Krystal is pulling the usual game on Violet, "Oh for fucks sake Krystal."
"Probably hide them deep down, folder after folder, if I could?" Violet reasons.
Krystal seems to accept Violet's logic and continues her point, "Okay, Now think about it this way: Lunes currently has no memory of the past, almost no long-term memory whatsoever. She is threatened with dying if certain things about overthrowing Solaire is leaked. Why do you think this is?"
"Probably because she might have valuable info?" Violet continues
"..." Luna goes wide eyed.
Krystal would nod, but her self is currently locked to a loudspeaker, so instead she plays a 'correct' sound effect, "I agree. I've seen tiny glimpses into her long term memory. It's currently locked away by many many locks, all of which we cannot safely access. I truly believe Lunes has the information required to bring down Solaire. We just need to figure out how to unlock them."
"Ya know, i just wanted to live my life. not... what the fuck." Luna looks completely boggled.
"Wow," Violet looks to Luna, "We got this. Everything is gonna be ok. We will figure this out."
Luna takes a deep breath trying to regain focus, but it doesn't seem to work. Just imagine being told you're potentially the reason Solaire eclipses. It's mindfuck worthy.
"Just focus Lunes. Close your eyes and take deep breaths. You are safe and loved Lunes. Toby and I will protect you." Krystal supports.
Toby looks concerned. He puts a hand on Luna's back and helps her to breathe.
"I didn't want any of this.. i just wanted to be normal." Luna groans while catching her breath.
"Right now, our tasks are threefold. We need to unlock Luna's long-term memory, we need to learn more about Project H, and we need Lunes to survive. I understand that things on your end are getting more and more intense by the minute. Various monsters and Worlds coming to attack. If we can handle all three of those, Solaire will fall," Toby explains.
Violet puts her hand on Luna's shoulder to try and reassure her. "We will take it one step at a time. It's gonna be ok Luna."
Luna takes another deep breath feeling the support from the three of them. "thank you.."
"You're gonna be fine Lunes." Toby reassures.
"So while we're on the topic of brain stuff and Solaire, should we talk about those dreams? Cuz I'll be honest, that was the first dream I've had since I died. Not exactly the biggest fan." Krystal's voice sounds annoyed.
"What do you guys think it could be?" Violet asks.
"I'm not sure. I've looked into shared dreams since we last spoke and couldn't find much information. At least in terms of what we three experienced," Toby explains, shaking his head.
"Nor am I. Not to mention, I got the least information out of the dream. Everything instantly went red, unlike what Lunes said." says Krystal.
Luna adds, "And I will admit, the dream felt familiar. Did it feel familiar for either of you two?" Krystal says no, and Toby nods.
"Somewhat. But certain events were wrong, or rather, were out of order." says Toby.
"Hmmm do you think you guys could piece them together? Maybe in order?" Violet suggests.
"That's the thing. I genuinely don't remember what happened. Just that aside from the distortion, something felt really wrong about the dream." Krystal seems confused.
Toby nods.
Luna continues, "I agree. I can't put my finger on it, but the dream... almost contradicted what actually happened that day. But for the life of me, I cannot remember the order it happened in."
"Nor can I," an electronic sigh can be heard from the loudspeaker.
"Apologies for being unable to be more forthwith with information, but it's a mystery we're currently trying to solve. Hopefully this will be the last shared dream we'll have." Oh he is so jinxing it. Luna facepalms. And if Krystal weren't in the loudspeaker on the wall, she would facepalm too. Then to change the subject to a more positive one, Toby asks, "Anyway, would you like to try out my prototype telepathic magic receiver?"
"Ooo I would love to if I can? May I?" Violet says.
Toby nods and Luna goes to disconnect the wire on the wall. The light signalling Krystal being in the loudspeaker turns off.
"Ahhhh much better," Krystal says feeling right back at home with Luna.
Toby hands Violet a small headset with a crescent moon on the label. "So all you have to do is put the headset in your ear and it should enable you to access Luna and Krystal's telepathic channel. And you should be able to communicate back with her as well."
"Alright!" Violet puts it on.
“Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3. Violet can you hear me?” Violet is now able to hear Krystal but it is a little loud. It sounds like actual human voice, similar to Luna’s but much more masculine and slightly deeper by comparison.
Violet gasps from it working, "Yeah! Too loud, but very clear.”
Toby shakes his head and apologizes, "Oop, that's my fault. If you feel around the side, there's a little volume slider."
Luna sighs.
Violet feels around for the volume slider as she turns it down a bit.
“Testing Testing, 1. 2. 3.”
The volume is perfect. Not too quiet and not too loud either.
“Ooh I wanna try. can you hear me too?" Violet hears Luna's telepathic voice as well. It's somewhat high pitched and a tiny bit artificial, kind of like if it were thrown into a voice modulation software.
Violet giggles a bit "Yep! All good!"
"Okay good! So two things. One, it's currently in its prototype state, so it may malfunction a little bit. Nothing dangerous, I promise. And two, the distance is sorta limited. Currently it will only work if Luna and you are in the same general area. I'm sure both Luna and Krystal will answer DMs if you need them past that."
Luna nods.
Toby then explains, "Shouldn't need any charging either. I imbued it with a little bit of my Electric magic, so it should be fine."
"Ah, so that's why my phone and laptop don't need charging?" Luna asks.
"Correct."
"Interesting." Luna yawns a little bit. She looks tired.
Violet smiles towards Toby, "Well thank you Toby. This is amazing. Unless we have anything else, it seems that Luna is gonna hit the hay."
Luna nods and looks really tired. "yeah,, I should probably get back home and take a nap.."
(purple)“I guess learning about everything today may have overwhelmed and stressed her out.”
Luna, Violet, and Toby leave the room. Luna hugs Toby and tells him, “I’m heading back now. Thanks for everything.”
Toby seems tired as well, "And I have some things I need to get done."
Krystal sounds like she's grinning, “Like some sleep?”
Violet agrees, "Yeah I think you should get some sleep as well."
Toby smiles and holds the door open to the outside for Violet. Luna disappears after waving goodbye. Violet walks out the door as she gives a wave to Toby.