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She almost asked who the singer was, but decided she could later if it was so important. "Yeah," she agreed. "And you can't be serious—there are just as many badfics involving the bookverse as there are the movieverse. Sometimes you get fics blending the two as well, and things get really fun. So no, I'd say there's even more of a chance seeing it butchered."

"She is a friend, first and foremost." The mage fished the Device out of his pocket; right now it looked like a simple pair of dog tags with a gem in their middle. "She helps me fight, true, but she is unlike a gun or a sword; rather, we fight together as one."
Amris turned rainbow-coloured for a moment, then flashed white and sped off.
Navare sighed. "You should apologise to it, Apparaat. It might be twisted, but it is still our comrade," he said quietly.

Taldaris glanced over to Amris. "And the flashiest armaments tend to fail just as often, if not more than a proper soldier's weapon. I would prefer to take a solid, reliable weapon over the latest technological gizmo."

He lifted his right forearm, which was encased in a plain gold bracer. Several motifs were etched around a polished blue gem set on the top, but the piece of armour was otherwise smooth and polished to a mirror shine. "Take this psi-blade for example. A simple sword for a simple soldier-- nothing more, nothing less. Any proper warrior can concentrate to channel their psi in order to produce a coherent blade. Portable ranged weapons are a rarity among my people but... ages of conflict have shown us that the oldest ways are sometimes the best."

"A Device, with a capital D," he said. "You see, where I come from, some people have an organ called 'Linker Core', which allows them to gather and use mana — think of it as ambient energy. Those people are mages or knights and the use — magic. What we call 'spells' are actually mathematical calculations. Some people make the necessary calculations by themselves; however, the majority use Devices for that purpose." The mage smiled. "All Devices are, essentially, AIs. How much personality they have depends on their type; Storage Devices have the least, while Unison Devices have the most. Apparaat here" — Navare tapped his breast pocket, from which a chain was protruding — "is roughly equivalent to a Belkan Armed Device. She wouldn't be quoting poetry any time soon, but she's hardy and dependable."
"She's a horrible bore, you mean," Amris piped up, coloured red.

"At the risk of repeating myself, I find all of this endlessly fascinating. I have spent nearly two decades in this place and yet I have not yet seen everything."

To Navare, he added: "What is this device you speak of? My kind use a mix of psionics and technology in all aspects of life, from civilian to military. Do your people have a similar system in place?"

"I have to rescind my previous statement, it seems." The Librarian was standing there, arms crossed.

"I mean, there's no proof, but it does fit their modus operandi. And actually, these guys are rather on the low end of the supernatural food chain, they make up for this with manipulation and organization. Seems like my author does like writing worlds with a high power level."

Richard made a face at Ix's answer. "If 'interesting' means an obnoxious, emo, hyper-arrogant wreck mocking basic rules of the 'verse, with a fixation against Ozpin and badly written weapons who at least provided a quick way to deal with him, yes it was. But I guess that gong in a Harry Potter badic must have been quite the surprise. Marina ended up with the same problem for her first mission, and her hexing pretty much sent us there right after se had arrived at our RC. That made for an intense first mission. At least you're from the bookverse, so I guess you've got less chance of seeing your actual world being butchered, even if it feels weird to you." He then listened for a few moments at the Aviator's song before sighing. "Well, that's quite sad. Beautiful but sad."

Charlotte wrinkled her nose. "I am so glad this is limited to your home universe."

Ix's eyes lit up. "That must have been interesting. I'm still trying to get used to missions into my home continuum; I still can't get over those weird uniforms the students wear in the movies."

"The sneaky geniuses behind Dracula's publication? They're psychic vampires feeding themselves by making humans around them feel emotions like lust, fear and despair, and they're don't shy about manipulating people to make their feeding easier, by using films for example. Remember how 'love' looks like in Twilight and do the maths. And I guess the vampires here are indestructible both for ego-stroking and dissuadng resistance. I don't know what would be the worst about this book and the other that were 'inspired' by it. People wrote and edited them straight, or some monster pushed them on the front side?"

Richard smiled back at Ix. "She and the other members of Team RWBY. and JNPR. You know what? It would be easier listing characters I don't like in this show. We also went in for a mission not long ago.."

The Aviator was standing by the doors, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. "And I still can't believe you tried to get me to sing that crap with the Librarian! Do you have any sense of decency?"

"I'm sorry," Zeb said, his ears flat against his skull. "I just thought—"

"Yeah, well, you thought wrong."

Both agents were silent for a moment.

"I just thought you would have fun if you tried it," Zeb said quietly.

The Aviator barked out a harsh laugh. "Yeah, fun. What's so fun about getting up there and singing in front of a bunch of people?"

Zeb shrugged. "I thought it was," he said quietly. His ears pricked up slightly. "C'mon, please? Just one? I'll let you pick," he added hastily.

"Oh, that's awful generous of you." The Aviator sighed and looked around. "I dunno. I mean, my glitter's bad enough as it is..."

"It's karaoke," Zeb said desperately. "Everyone's doing it and I don't see the DIA running in to arrest them for turning into Sues."

The Aviator hesitated. She hadn't sung in centuries, after all, but she still remembered how much she used to enjoy doing it.

"Just one?" Zeb tried again.

"...Oh, f*** me, I must be crazy. Fine. But only because you asked nicely."

And just like that, Zeb's face split into a massive grin. "Yay! Thank you!"

The Aviator swallowed and headed up to the microphone, where she told Valon the name of the song. Gripping the mic almost hard enough to break it, she listened to the few opening bars, prayed for a low glitter count by the end, and began to sing.

"Heart beats fast

One step closer..."

She realized her throat was beginning to tighten, but she powered on, pouring her heart into the music. Her voice sounded... good. Too good, and she hated it, certain that her tracker was already beeping.

"I have died every day waiting for you

I'll love you for a thousand more...."

When she reached the end, she put the mic back on the stand. Her cheeks were wet, and she reached up to dry them as she hurried off the stage. Stupid emotions. Stupid karaoke night. Stupid, stupid, stupid everything.

"No kidding?" she said. "Interesting. Guess I should be thankful for near-invulnerability."

"Since when have you ever lamented that?" Ix asked.

"Well, never, but that's beside the point."

"So, RWBY?" Ix said, turning to Richard and giving him a tentative smile. "That's a good one—Yang's my favorite."

"Sorry, it's just in my world, Dracula was published by one of the Vampire Courts for screwing up one of their rival Courts by displaying all their strengths and weaknesses. Needless to say, this breed is near-extinct now."

Richard shrugged. "We don't have been on that many missions too, and we're here since January. Last one was a trollfic in Madoka Magica. My favorites fandoms at the moment are Dresden Files, Persona, and RWBY, but if I went for the full list, I would still be here tomorrow."

Ix rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment. "I only got here back in March, you see. And, um, fandoms? I read a lot, but I really liked Doctor Who." She licked her lips nervously before adding, "I used to binge-watch it with my mum and dad while recovering from... you know."

"I've been here two years, got nothing special to remark on," Charlotte offered, putting an arm around her partner's shoulders. "And I like reading about vampire stories done well. Dracula? Not nearly as dry as most people would imagine. Seriously, if you haven't read it, go do so, like, ASAP. It's great."

"Lottie, didn't the book come out just a few years after you were born?" Ix asked skeptically.

"Hum, 1897, so forty-seven years after."

"I do not sing that well.If I tried to go louder with my song earlier, I'm pretty sure it would have been horrible. Anyways, looks like you've got a song ready for the scene. Now Marina..."

The wizard sighed, before taking Richard's notes. "Fine. But I'll only sing if a find a song I like in these notes? Am I clear?"

"Yes," Richard said before going back to the two Floaters. "So, anything else you would to speak about? Missions, fandoms, anyting?"

"Sorry, I didn't hear it... I was still dazed from my face-to-floor, and when I collected myself there were Snerchphones on my head."

"Her song was from a movie you hadn't seen, Valon." Kala shrugged. "I thought that maybe it'd be spoilers."

"Um, honestly, I don't like it when people treat me like I'm still a kid, and bending over kinda smacks of that... Sorry. I just... There's a reason I joined at the age when I did."

"We'd rather not explain what happened," said Sarah. "I mean, Lapis knows more than I did, and Cupid told me a while back that he does, too, but... I'd rather not know the full story. Nobody would, anyway."

Lapis decided to change the subject. "So, what did you think of my performance? I was a Pokemon Coordinator in my homefic, and I sang a lot when I did my contest shows. I was trying to channel that particular period, and I think I succeeded."

She smiled and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"And I do know what to sing! Not telling, though. It'll spoil the surprise!"

... and immediately turned to Cupid, her eyes sparkling.

"So when are you gonna sing?"

"Happy to help a friend of a friend," she said. "Now could you please let go? I think Lapis wants me to introduce her to Valon..."

Cupid gave her a look indicating his assent.

"Um. Am I that scary? You actually look kinda huggable." At six-foot-six, Valon towered over Lapis; he knelt down in an attempt to be less intimidating.

Lapis nudged Sarah, who had just been used as a "cuddlefish" toy, and whispered, "Help me..."

Having recovered from the awkwardness, Sarah returned to her female partner's side. "Oh! Hi, Valon! I assume you've met Lapis, ri-"

"I ran off on him." Lapis buried her face in her hands. "Which was kinda stupid of me... I do get a bit irrational when I panic, okay? Anyway... Hi?"

"Valon, this is Lapis," said Sarah. "She's my partner, and she's really nice once you get to know her..."

Stephanie turned an even shinier gold color and reeled Sarah into a hug as well. "THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!"

"...something which I honestly should've done when they joined me and Lapis on an outing of our own."

"Wait, this was while Steph and I were dating, right?" asked Cupid.

"Yep. Steven Universe featuring three different anime continua. Luckily, we had three other agents with us, plus Seung-Li. It was pretty crazy, but we managed to pull through and got to hang out in Beach City afterwards."

"Sounds like you had a good time," said Cupid. "A better time than we did, that's for sure..."

"Oh, Va—"

He appeared almost as if by magic. "Yes, hon?" He froze at the sight of Lapis. "Er... hi?"