Shifting Winds (Open)

Partisan had met Alec a few weeks ago when she had wandered into his shop during the Fall Clean Out Sale. Back then she had only spent time in the shop watching cartoons while the blonde who owned the shop attended to the occasional visitor here and there. The blonde had let her stay until the shop closed later that day and when he found that she had no place to stay, he allowed the young woman to stay with him for the night.

The next day she had gotten up early and after leaving Alec a thank you note, she had left to begin her hunt for her main target…Phalanx. Phalanx, her younger brother, he had decided to work with the enemy rather fight against him and so just like that she and he had become enemies. She hated having to do such a job, but at the same time felt responsible for the erroneous path he had taken. She could not allow him to simply run about and do what that vile creature that now controlled S.E.A.R.H commanded of him. While she hoped deep down inside she could sway her brother away from the vile snake, if she had to she would destroy him. There were no other options in her mind; however, before anything could be done she had to find the other.

So she began her search, high and low for clues as to where the guy was hiding. She spent the whole day searching, but as night time settled over the islands, the machine was no closer to finding him than before. With a sigh, she had begun to look for a place to stay and once again bumped into Alec who was on his way home from shopping. Seeing the girl again, he invited her to come over and in the end allowed her to stay with him once more. Something she appreciated greatly.

And so began a trend. Partisan would wake up early and do her hunting, while Alec went to work or school depending on the day. When the sun began to set, she would wander about a bit to explore before returning to Alec’s house for a rest. By the fourth day, he was fine allowing her to become a roommate (housemate?) leaving her with a key so she could get in and out of the place at will. By following week the pair were awkward friends, but in a good way and by the third week it was like they had always lived in that fashion.

While life had settled on one end, the machine was finding herself becoming highly distressed with the lack of clues she was finding on her brother. Maybe she needed to go out further to find him or maybe she simply needed to wait. Either way, the hunt was getting frustrating and so the young woman had thought to take a small break and do something else for the moment.

So she decided to see what the whole school thing was about. While Alec seemed to be cool working, he seemed to be very excited to go to school, but why the woman did not know. So determined to figure out what was more fun than exploring the shop the guy ran, she decided to follow him to school... An experience that was quite odd for her indeed.

When she walked with Alec, people would stare and whisper things as they passed, while others seem to simply gawk in shock at the sight. While the machine didn’t understand this staring at first, she quickly learned that Alec with a girl was not a normal thing.

He was the top in all of his classes and so was seen always with his nose in a book rather than socializing, so to see him with whatever this “girlfriend” concept was, was pretty much big news around the school apparently. It was strange, but the machine went along with it. After all, Alec didn’t seem to be bothered by what was being said, so this was good no?

In any case, Partisan would sit through two lessons – one on numbers called Math and another on things that had passed called History. While the Math class was basic and dull to her, the History class was fascinating and left her wanting more when the session ended; however, she found she wouldn’t get to know more until the next day the class occurred again. A bit disappointed, she would follow Alec to the library where he was suppose to only be picking up books; however that event drastically changed when two seconds after walking into the library the intercom would go off making the following announcements.

“Due to adverse conditions outside, all students are to remain within the school or their dorm rooms until further notified. All classes and activities taking place outside have been cancelled. All students are to go back to their rooms or inside of the school immediately. I repeat. Due to….”

“Say what?” the librarian practically groaned as she gave the intercom a frown. “Man I was looking forward to my kendo practice after this.”

Alec would nod in agreement as he began to speak to the librarian about what had just been announced. Partisan, on the other hand, would drift from the library and back out into the hall where she found confused and displeased students all about apparently discussing what was happening. Heading up the stairs at a quick pace, the groups would slowly thin out before vanishing all together as she got to the door that led out to the roof.

The staff of the school hadn’t come up here yet, so it was with ease that she was able to get outside. Once outside, she would stop and stare at the strange scene around her as she moved closer to the gate that surrounded the edge of the school. All around a strangeness hung in the air as above the sky was a strange purple color while three distinct stars hung in it in a triangle formation.

Crimson eyes would continue to observe this. Even when she heard the door open and few minutes later and Alec’s voice, the usually bubbly machine would remain serious.

“What’s wrong Patty?” Alec would ask as his flickered between her and the strangeness around him.

“I am not sure yet and that is what worries me,” she would mutter back as her eyes moved watched those strange stars in the skies. What was happening here?

More stars were appearing in the sky causing Alec to look from his friend to the skies and back again with concern on his face. On one hand, he wanted to go in like the announcement said, but on the other he couldn’t leave Patty out here. Biting his lip a bit he would hesitate before heading over to her and taking her hand.

“Come on, Patty. Let’s go inside,” he would say before proceeding to head to the door; however, he would only get a few steps in before he felt the connection between them grow taunt. Pausing, he would look back at his friend only to see she had zoned out or something. She was staring up at the sky and her eyes seemed to go blank. What on earth….? Concerned, the boy would approach her with the intent of trying to snap her out of whatever trance she was in.

However by that time Partisan wouldn’t be listening as her body became unresponsive for a moment as a strange program within her was activated. She could feel power radiating within and something else there, but what was it? And why did it feel so natural to her?