The Vigilante Chronicles Boxed Set 1 by Natalie Grey & Michael Anderle

Author:Natalie Grey & Michael Anderle [Grey, Natalie & Anderle, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: LMBPN Publishing
Published: 2019-03-04T07:00:00+00:00

29

Shinigami’s avatar leaned forward to stare at the board, then looked up at Barnabas. “What the hell is this?”

“I assume that’s a rhetorical question. It’s checkers.”

“We play chess.”

“We cheat at chess,” Barnabas corrected solemnly. He made a move. “I assume you’ve looked up the rules already?”

Shinigami gave him a look and made her move. A moment later, her pieces transformed to look like small grenades. “What?” She put an innocent expression on her avatar’s face. “I have to amuse myself somehow, right?”

Barnabas snorted in amusement as he moved a piece.

“You’ve been quiet lately,” Shinigami observed, and made her next move.

“I’ve been thinking.” Barnabas considered, then moved his piece.

“About?”

He smiled slightly. “Something that can’t be solved with intellect.”

Shinigami made a move. “Do you want to talk about it? This game is garbage, by the way.”

“From your displeasure, I can only assume you had a new strategy for cheating laid out.” Barnabas studied the avatar, which had conspicuously stopped moving. “Uh-huh. I thought so. As regards the issue I have no conclusions, and thus nothing to say yet.”

“I hear sometimes it helps simply to talk about things.”

“Are you trying to be my therapist?” Barnabas looked at her, bemused.

“I’m trying to help,” Shinigami retorted. “I don’t understand humans all that well, you know.”

“I know.” Barnabas smiled at her. “And I appreciate it; I do. If it helps, humans don’t understand each other too well either.”

“I’ve observed that on my own.” Shinigami cocked her head to the side. “Gar’s waking up in the Pod-doc.”

“Let’s go look.” Barnabas shoved his chair back.

“You don’t want to finish the game?”

“Nah, you’re right. It’s garbage.” Barnabas smiled at the avatar as she fell into step with him. “I just wanted to try something new. It’s nice having you take corporeal form, or appearing to—although you fuzz out a bit between the projectors.”

“Yeah, I don’t think my projection capabilities were designed with this in mind.”

“Probably not.” Barnabas opened the door to the medical suite and let Shinigami precede him in. He saw her smirk. “Yes, I know we can both go through the door at the same time. You look real, though.”

“What is ‘real?’”

“No philosophy. It’s been a long few weeks.”

She grinned at him as the Pod-doc slid open. Gar had a smile on his face. He looked taller, Barnabas thought.

“Okay, Shinigami, talk us through the changes.”

“Luvendi bone structure is comparatively weak,” Shinigami began. “My first change was to manipulate the underlying structure to more closely mimic human bones, which necessitated some other changes so that the body would maintain them in their current state. Since they’re heavier than Gar is used to, I also increased his muscle mass.”

“I feel great!” Gar stretched. “So strong!” He held up his hands and wiggled his fingers.

“It’s worth noting,” Shinigami continued, “that the Luvendi belief in their own weakness has some different causes than you might expect. First, it appears that your diet and lack of exposure to light in early years may have negatively impacted your development, both in bones and muscles.

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