Perhaps as a mercy, no dreams penetrate your fog of slumber. You slowly rise in a moist, sweaty, warmth, your body hot but not terribly uncomfortable as you rise to conciousness.
Seeing Tellu breathing softly by you, memory returns. The lab coat over you has grown more overbearingly suffocating than nice, making you want to shed it off. Dammit...you're sweating up a small ocean here. Tellu doesn't look as badly off, you notice.
Yet beyond that, a simple peace and quiet reigns.
Ami blinks groggily awake, wincing a bit at the oppressive warmth, and dabbing at pools of sweat. Gently, so as not to wake Tellu, she peels back the labcoat, and lays in the open air for a bit.
Tellu seems more than comfortable, though. Why is it so hot to me, then? Ami wonders. Wait. The bracelet grants me limited immunity to cold...would it affect my tolerances in the other direction?
Experimentally, Ami removes her talisman from around her wrist...
It's pleasantly cold to the touch, like a blast of air conditioning to your fingertips. Once removed...slowly, your body does seem to cool, the excessive sweating slowing.
While it is still warm on the border of hot in here and you're showing it, it's not quite so stuffy now.
Ami nods to herself, the brief touch from the talisman having settled her considerably. Smiling a little, she lays back to enjoy the rest time she has right now, and the company. It's so serene in the garden...she makes a mental note to return more often. Tellu and her plants are wonderful and and gentle companions.
It's still a bit warm...I'll have to check with Tellu, I think...Well, later, when she wakes up. Ami moves closer to Tellu again, so that the green haired woman won't think she pulled away, but declines to pull the labcoat back, letting her eyes close again, waiting for Tellu to wake.
Snuggling against someone..you haven't done this in years, since you slept with your mom when you had mono.
Frankly, you have to wonder why you don't have someone do this with mor eoften. It's just so nice, so restful...so warm...so...oh. And that, too, you suppose, even if the person in question hasn't done that and shows no interest in doing that with you as far as you know.
You don't doze back off, but it's not long, either. "Mmmmm...." Tellu moans, slowly moving away to stretch out.
Ami doesn't move, and simply slowly opens her eyes, a flicker of wistfulness there. Whoever does win her heart is going to be lucky...I think I already am to be her friend...
Rolling away slightly herself, Ami sits up slowly, arching a little in a stretch and smiling shyly. "How are you feeling?"
"Much better. You don't even snore, Ami," Tellu giggles, her mood brighter despite the still lingering marks of tears and mussed up hair. You probably look the same if not considerably worse and smellier, though, you realise. "It's nice to have someone to curl up next to...I kind of miss that."
Ami nods and smiles, blushing a bit. "I haven't slept with anyone since....well, mother, back when I had mono." she agrees. "It's a nice feeling. I feel so much better...I really don't know how to thank you." She replies humbly.
"You don't have to...let's just do this again soon," she smiles, agreeing with you as she takes a strand of her long hair, frowning as she inspects it. "It's the best sleep I've had in a very long time...
Though, I'll need to brush my hair," she grumbles, uncharacteristically, at the task ahead of her. "Long hair is such a bother some days...can't tie it back up when it's all knotty like this."
Ami smiles a little, nodding. "Lets." she agrees softly, then smiles again, enviously. "Perhaps, but you do have beautiful hair...utility is nice, but it reduces the amount of pride you can take in it." she notes, then wipes at the still there sheen of sweat on her forehead, and notes the talisman's absensce.
"Tellu..." Ami ventures, changign the subject briefly. "Is it...warm in here? Or, warmer than normal?" she asks curiously, blushing. "I don't know what's involved in caring for the garden in the winter..."
"Yes...but brushing it can be terrible. It makes you want to chop it all off when you have to do it yourself," Tellu replies, glancing at a overhanging strand of green hair. "It's better when someone else brushes it for yo-"
Stopping at your second part, "No, not particularly, but I'm used to being in here. The laboratory rooms in the back are air conditioned and heated differently, if you need to cool off."
Ami shakes her head, dismissing the point. "No, that's fine...I've been unusally temperature sensitive, that's all." she demurs, waving her hand. "Ano...would you like help with your hair? I'm not practiced, but I can help if you show me how." she offers, embarrassed.
"I'd love it, Ami," Tellu smiles at that, rising up and brushing her pants. "It's not hard, I'll show you....in fact, do you mind if I brush your hair, too? It's such a nice shade of blue."
Ami flushes selfconciously and touches the tips of her hair, before smiling embarrassedly and nodding. "If you want...there's not much of it to brush, though." she agrees.
Leading you out as the plants move away for their master, "But it's longer than last time...you could do something with it," she says, thoughtful. "Hmmm....
What sort of hair do you like, Ami?"
Ami follows Tellu out, blinking in surprise. "I've never....really considered that." she admits. "Uhm...I've always thought Mako-chan had beautiful hair...Umu...And I like your hairstyle, and Usagi-chan's..." she ventures.
"For looks, you can't beat long hair," Tellu agrees, falling into a comfortable walk and talk past the plants of her overgrown garden. "Short hair is easier, but long hair just gorgeous....you should grow your hair out, Ami," she follows up with, eyeing it again. "If you had a foot more or so of hair, you'd be stunning. It's a shame you've kept it so short, sometimes."
Ami blushes, uncertain how to respond to that. "Well...I am trying to grow it longer, but...I'm not so good at taking care of it, like you and the others are." she admits. "I've also thought of cutting it shorter."
Gasping, perhaps mockwise, "Don't, Ami! It would be such a shame...it's just getting to the point where you can do some fun things with it." Leading you to back and an unintrosive door, "I wish it was longer or I had a magical spell to make it longer, but there is still hair to work with."
Ami giggles, ducking her head a bit shyly and nods. "I'll put myself in your hands, then..." she trails off suddenly. "I wonder if my diguise pen could add length..."
Tellu nods along, before making the obvious question of, "Disguise pen, Ami-chan?" Notabe is the suffix, one she hasn't used before.
Turning to you, "You have something that could help your hair?"
Ami blinks and smiles, feeling a warmth inside as Tellu calls her Ami-chan. "I think so." Ami agrees. "The Mercury disguise pen can change appearance fairly drastically, so it should be able to..."
"Then, we're going to have to see how you look with long hair," Tellu nods, leading you through the door. A small hallway attached to the end of the greenhouse leads you to a small suite of rooms. Past the front one with all sorts of scientific works for horticulture and the like, the farthest back room looks like a personal area. A bed, a table, a small refrigerator, even a little bathroom with a shower.
Inviting you over to the bed, "So...what do you want to try, Ami? How long are you going to make your hair?"
Ami looks around curiously, noting that aside from the telltale signs of Tellu's specialty, she could easily be in her lab on the moon. No wonder Tellu seems like a kindred spirit...we seem to have a few things in common.
At the older girl's question, Ami flushes a little, mildly selfconscious, but also flattered slightly at Tellu's enthusiasm. "Uhm...What do you think?" She asks shyly. "I'm hardly an expert..."
Thoughtfully pursing her lips and peering at you, "Something....long. How about you just extend your hair down to your waist? That's plenty to work with..and you have such nice hair, Ami."
Nodding to herself, "We'll find something for it."
Ami can't help but smile a little nervously at the picture that brings to mind. Waist length hair is so...elegant, and refined, and feminine...words that bring Rei up in the mind's eye, or perhaps Setsuna. Definitely not herself.
However, she gamely withdraws her disguise pen from subspace, and holds it up, invoking the power.
"Mercury Power! Change me into Ami Mizuno with waist length hair!" she calls out.
I wonder what this will look like...
Shimmering in a bubble of water as your body distorts and changes to the magic...you appear posing, holding your long hair in your hands by the middle, a loose white ribbon tied around the center. Wow...it's....
A bit heavy, you can feel it tugging on the back of your head, but...wow. Your hair...it's so much nicer when it's not seen in the mirror. It looks so alive and silky to the touch...
Ami blinks, and embarrassed blush fading as she drops the pose, and looking down at the loose ponytail in her hands, absently running her fingers through the azure strands, impressed despite herself. Is this really my hair?She thinks...then begins wondering at the conceit of that particular thought. She looks up at Tellu for the older girl's approval.
"How's this?"
Tellu nods in approval, inviting you again to sit down. "It looks lovely, Ami. It really does..."
Smiling as she ponders, "You could do so many nice things with hair like this, too."
Ami shyly sits on the bed beside Tellu, waiting for the other girl to give her a bit of instruction on how to proceed. "I wouldn't know what to do with it." she admits. "Mother's hair isn't very long, either, so I never learned to deal with it when I was younger."
"That's a shame," Tellu nods, taking your hair in her hands. Soft and skillful, she gets a brush and a cup of water, sprinking it in the areas she slowly begins to work on. It's hypnotic, soothing as she passes the brush through again and again.
"The main thing is that you need to brush it every day, and brush it a lot. Otherwise, it turns into a tangled, knotty, nasty mess. It's a pain to do it by yourself, but it's wonderful when you have someone to brush it for you."
Ami shivers, slightly startled by how good the motion feels, and she can't stop herself from purring slightly. "Wow...you're right..." she breathes, her eyes closing a little as Tellu works though her newly long locks of hair. "Mmm..." she trails off, blushing a little. "I could get to like this..."
"It's nice, isn't it," she giggles, working your hair with natural ease. "Just close your eyes and relax, Ami-chan. Once we get it brushed out, we'll figure something to do with it!
How about we try Usagi's hairstyle first? You'd look really cute with those twin ponytails?" Another giggle, as she imagines it.
Ami blushes and starts to protest...but hesitates. Well...why not? She didn't say I had to wear them home... Red faced, she nods and changes her mind, laughing softly. "All right, so long as there's no photographing involved." she giggles nervously
"I promise...though, I do have a mirror," she laughs back. "Hold on....once I finish...."
And thus, you find yourself lulled by the soothingly, motherly attention. It's so restful and nice, to have someone take care of you like this. Finally, though...."Okay, Ami. I'm going to use hairbands for this, so just hold still."
Ami gives Tellu a short nod before relaxing and letting the green haired girl do as she pleases with her hair, closing her eyes and waiting, being as still as she can without going stiff.
Your hair is looped and tied, manipulated by your skillful friend.
It doesn't take as long as you'd think, before, "Okay, Ami," she smiles, handing you a fairly large handmirror. "Stand up so we can see it!"
Smiling with mingled amusement and apprehension, Ami stands up obediently, opening her eyes and looking for the mirror. "How does it look?"
(http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/ebiris/odangoami.jpg)
"It's cute," Tellu giggles again, as you look in the mirror. From this angle, you can't see the twin ponytails going down, held behind your back at the moment. But, the twin dumplings are there, as Usagi-like as ever.[/img]
Twin spots of red flare to life on Ami's cheeks as she looks at herself in the mirror. Fighting down the initial embarrassed urge to hide, Ami begins to giggle.
"It's...different." she manages, then in a fit of mischief, she hooks one arm, her wrist bent slightly askew and slides the other arm through it, pointing at herself in the mirror, and raising her voice's pitch slightly. "In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!"
Her expression cracks, and she covers her mouth to smother more giggling...
"...heh...he.h...hah...ha......Hahahahahah..." Tellu follow suit at your mimicry, as the warm laughter of two girls fills and gives live to the room.
"Ami, you should try your hair like this again and show Usagi. She'd probably love it," Tellu grins widely, patting your back. "You could even....heh....that pen also changes your clothes?"
Ami blushes and returns Tellu's grin. "Mm-Hmm." she agrees. "It's quite variable...it can reproduce anything I can think of." she smiles, raising her eyebrows, inviting Tellu to continue, a slight glint of amusement shining in her eyes.
"Well...maybe Usagi can see the blue haired Sailor Moon, defender of justice," Tellu says, again falling to giggles. "See if she can keep up at her own game with her friend Ami?"
Ami blinks, beginning to smile, then collapsing into laughter. "We can have a pose off!" she giggles, clutching her sides. "Though, I'll have to brush up on my speeches..."
Joinng you in almost hysterical laughter, Tellu manages to fire off this between gales of humor. "You can even try to out speech her like that," she says deliciously, falling onto you for support.
Ami leans on Tellu in return, shaking with the effort of attempting to smother laughter. "I don't know...It's pretty hard to out-speech her." she gasps. "I don't think I could hold a straight face..."
In the back of her mind, in a corner more together than her current state, Ami basks in the moment. It been far too long since she's been able to laugh like this...
"She is pretty good at them, but..." Tellu snickers, trying to regain her composure. "It would be worth finding out, though, wouldn't it?"
Ami nods, snickering. "Oh, without a doubt." Ami agrees, the hilarity dying down slightly, but the amusement still going strong.
"It's a plan," Tellu says warmly, loosening up as the two of you enjoy your shared bond of humor. "But...now what? Do you want to try something else with your hair, Ami-chan?"
Ami smiles a little touching the odangos as she looks in the mirror. "Maybe....something a little simpler?" Ami suggests, blushing and turning back to Tellu. "I...actually like this, but using the Mercury pen to do my hair every morning might be a bit impractical."
"You're probably right," Tellu concedes. "It's not the most practical hairstyle, even if it's cute." Leaning bakc, she inspects your flowing blue locks.
"Hm...how about up in a bun?" Tapping her knee as she thinks, a shake of her head follows. "No, I don't think that would be too flattering on you, Ami. Hm."
Ami nods fervently. "Too many of my teachers favored that hairstyle." she agrees, beginning to get into the spirit of things, shedding her shyness slowly, but her ease in Tellu's company growing by leaps and bounds.
"Umu...Perhaps just tying it back?" Ami suggests.
A nod there, as she hmms. "That could work for now," she nods approvingly, going to fish in a nearby drawer for a bit of black ribbon. "Here...I'll tie it right below the shoulder blades. It'll look nice without being tied too tightly."
Ami nods agreeably, presenting her back to Tellu, fingering a strand of the cerulean hair. "I wonder how Rei-chan manages." she muses, smiling a little.
"It can be hard," Tellu agrees, deftly tying your hair back. It feels less loose like this, less of a weight and more contained.
"There...you look good enough to present now," she smiles, picking up the dropped mirror and handing it to you. "It's simple but still attractive."
Ami raises her fingers to her hair, smiling a little. "That feels better than I expected." she admits, lifting the mirror to peer curiously at the end result...
Your hair flows back behind your neck gracefully, a waterfall in still form. Angling the mirror, you can see it loosely tied back, tamed enough while still having body and width.
The single band of black from the hand tied ribbon gives the hair a darker contrast, a band of black sand in the ocean.
"It works for you, Ami. You look so much more girlish that way, and it compliments you."
Ami blushes, nodding a little, fascinated by her reflection. "I...Like it." she admits sheepishly, embarrassed by her plunge into vanity. Brushing her bangs out of her eyes, she smiles shyly at Tellu. "It's better than the ponytail I had in mind...Is it hard to arrange like this?"
"Not terribly," Tellu smiles warmly, going and reaching to undue it. "Here, I'll show you how." Unbinding your hair, she gathers it and wraps it around your neck. "Hold it here," she instructs, "Almost as far as you can. An inch away from your neck, tie it there. It should be about right."
Ami does as instructed, marvelling at the peculiar feeling. There's something oddly...luxurious about long hair, even on one's own head.
Tieing it off, she looks up. "Like this?"
"A little lower, but yes," Tellu nods, taking your hands and guiding you directly. She has smoothly formed hands, body heat gently mixing with yours. "Ami-chan, like that...it's easy, it just takes a few tries to get it down."
Ami smiles, a nervous flutter running through her. The intimate touch hits an excitiable chord, but she carefully squelches that, not wanting to ruin the moment.
Taking a deep breath with the pretense of concentrating, Ami practices what Telu has shown her until she manages it...
It's not too hard. A few tries and smattering of guidance from the older girl gets you through it. She smiles down warmly at you, reminding you of how your mother used to smile at you when brushing your hair.
"That's it...and it's your turn now, Ami," Tellu comments, turning so her back is to you, and putting the hairbrush down. "Just be careful with the tangles...if you brush too hard, they'll pull out and it hurts. Not to mention that it's bad for your long hair."
Ami nods, picking up the brush, and reverently moving closer to Tellu's hair, picking up a long, emerald lock, and tentatively beginning to run the hairbrush through it, slowly brushing until the hair shines, looking almost like green silk, and he can't help but gasp.
"Oh my...and you liked mine? Your hair is beautiful, Tellu." she murmurs. Finding the repetitive motion strangely relaxing, Ami relentlessly attacks the rest of the shimmering jade cascades...
"Your hair's so nice...it suits you so much, especially since you have affinity with water. It's like the ocean in the summer," she smiles, closing her eyes as you work. "Mmmm...that's it, just keep going," Tellu encourages.
LEaning back into you a bit, she gives you as much access to her hair as possible, pretty much. "What do you think would look good with it once it's brushed?"
"Pigtails." Ami replies cheekily, continuing her long, languid stokes, then giggling. "Hmm...I'm not sure a ponytail would suit...what about a braid?" she ventures uncertainly. "Practical and attractive..."
"Mmmm....pigtails," Tellu blushes, almost pouting. "Ah....let's just go with the braid idea, Ami-chan," she chortles lightly. "How about a straight braid down the back, with a tiny weight tied in to keep it from flopping up?"
Glancing back from the corner of her eye, "Though...if you want to try something else.."
Ami ponders a moment, then smiles as she begins sectioning off hair for the braid, continuing to repetitively brush. "Hmm...I'll do that next, but...I have an idea." she smiles as she sets to work.
"Oh? Suprise me, Ami-chan," Tellu smiles, waiting for you to do your thing.
In fact, she lets her breathing regulate, almost resting completely as you go. She's completely open and defenseless to you right now. IT's touching, really, for her to trust her body's safety to you.
Ami smiles to herself, feeling a vague sense of relief? triumph? at being able to gain someone's trust on her own. Taking nothing away from Usagi's contribution to her life, making friends has always been hard...
She smiles and nods, warmly getting to work on the soft, silky jade waves, and binding the long hair into a soft rope of hair, and begins to coil it on the back of Tellu's head
Finally, the long braid coiled up into a crown of hair, resting on the back of the other woman's head, Ami snares a few hairpins from Tellu's odangos, securing it in place.
"It's not much..."
Taking her mirror, Tellu takes long moments in admiring it...
"It's beautiful, Ami," she says warmly, turning to hug you. "It's really nice!" So smiling, she retreats, again using the mirror to see it as best she can. "It's different from how I normally wear it, too," she says, flicking the back of it with her free hand. A tiny bit of greenish hair is fluttered with that, but not enough to do anything close to ruining your work.
Ami blushes, smiling with no small amount of pride at her first foray into hairdressing's success. She returns the hug, trying to keep her mind focused on the tasks at hand.
"It does look nice on you." Ami smiles warmly. "A little mysterious and....regal, almost." Tentatively, she reaches out and brushes Tellu's bangs a little lower. "You look really nice." she compliments shyly.
"So do you, Ami," Tellu beams herself. "It's a shame that all the boys are at home because of the storm," she giggles a moment later, blushing deeply and looking down.
"We could show Professor Tomoe or one of the Twins...I think their here, and ...this is too cute not to show someone." A hint of nervousness is there, despite her enthusiasm.
Ami blushes, nodding instantly, then adding, a little hesitantly. "Should we?" she asks, mirroring Tellu's nervous enthusiasm. "I'll go if you will." She agrees, giggling a little.
Reddening to match your innduendo of a sort, Tellu nods back. "Yes, lets," she agrees, despite a butterfly in her stomach and another in her voice. "Even if he's an old man," she giggles, "We'll knock him dead!"
Ami laughs, nodding encouragingly. "Absolutely." she smiles, a few butterflies of her own flying around. Holding out a hand, "Let's go, Tellu-chan..." Ami blinks and falters, realizing the suffix that slipped out, blushing. "Do you mind that...?" she asks, half apologetically.
Laughing at it and going to hug you again, "It's okay, Ami-chan. I haven't had anyone call me that in a long time. It's nice...and I certainly don't mind you calling me that." With another smile, then nervous blush as she goes on, "Let's find the Professor, okay?
---
It's not a terribly difficult task. In the Witches office, Miss Nakahime sleeps on the couch. In the far more pleasant surroundings of it, Professor Tomoe sits next to her, idly working with a handheld machine. His attention completely on it, he fails to notice you enter....
Ami raises her eyebrows, feeling terribly selfconscious. She glances up at Tellu, hoping the older girl has some sort of idea how to proceed, though even as she does, she meekly shuffles into the office itself, curious as to what's being done with Miss Nakahime..
"Ah...Professor," Tellu asks as you approach, loud enough to hopefully break his concentration. Nervous, she stops a little bit away from him, holding her hands in front of her demurely.
"Mmmm?" he asks absently, voice as far away as the stars above. Fidding with an imput dial on the handheld device, which almost looks like a Gameboy in design, he doesn't even glance up.
"Professor," Tellu asks again, voice catching a bit in embarrassed nervousness.
"Hmmm....oh, Tellu," he finally looks up, half shaking his head to dispel his distraction. "Ami."
Ami nods and smiles nervously, the anticipation just a bit much for her. After a moment..."H-How is she?" She asks, almost blurts, really, to fill the gap in the conversation.
"Resting," is the simple reply, as he turns his attention to you fully. An eyebrow is raised there in interest.
"Long hair, Ami? And..." Glancing at Tellu, he nods the same. Going on nicely enough, "It looks good on the both of you," Professor Tomoe nods, polite but not blowing his calm in enthusasim. Perhaps just as well, really..or not.
Ami blinks at that, and smiles, a bit shyly. "Thank you..." she murmurs, pleased, but...a little disappointed at being taken so completely in stride. Mentally shrugging, she glances at Tellu to gauge the other's reaction, this situation being somewhat new to her...
Still redfaced, Tellu nods her green topped head. "You like it," she asks quietly, looking back you way for reassurance.
"Ah..yes, both are quite becoming of you," he says dimplomatically, noting that he inspects Ami's longer hair with notable interest. "Though...how did you manage it? Some form of shapechanging magic, perchance?
And..." he smiles, warming to the exercise. "Why don't the both of you turn around, as well, so I can see better?"
Ami smiles encouragingly at Tellu as the jade haired woman looks her way and nods confidently. It's so strange how she can be so shy...she's so pretty. Ami muses, her train of thought cut short by the professor's added attention.
"Something like that." Ami blushes, glancing to the older girl. "It was Tellu's idea, I just used my disguise pen for it." She waits for Tellu to turn before aquescing to the professor's request herself.
Blushing more at your admission, "It was..." she murmurs, turning as asked.
"Ah, I see," Professor Tomoe says kindly enough, inspecting Tellu's hair reasonably enough, while waiting on you. "It's a nice distraction," he admits as he does so. Putting aside his device besides him, "Considering the past few days."
Ami nods, smiling a little more relaxedly. "Mm." she agrees, turning as expected. "I feel...quite a bit better." she admits, smiling at Tellu. "Tellu is wonderful company."
Ami glances at Tellu's body language. She hmm...She doesn't...have a for Professor Tomoe? Am I being silly? Not knowing what to look for, Ami suddenly wonders if she should be making an excuse to leave Tellu alone with the professor. But...no, it wouldn't do to leave her uncomfortable.
Ami nods inwardly, simply thinking for now. After all, playing matchmaker was more suited to Usagi's talents, and she wasn't fully confident in her hypothesis...
"It does look nice on both of you," he notes, taking considerably more time to admire your long hair versus Tellu's. "You can turn around now," he comments, chuckling lightly at the whole thing.
"Anyway, Ami," he says, moving onto matters. "I meant to talk to you about Mao and your work there, but I didn't have a chance to go into detail," he says easily. "And honestly, I could use an excuse to turn my attention away from this current matter of our guest for a little while."
Ami nods, smiling a little and casting a nervous glance at Tellu. She hoped the green-haired girl wasn't disappointed by the professor's...business-like attitude.
I wounder if this would be a good time to huff and stalk off, muttering about 'men'?
She bites her lip and hesitates for a moment before replying.
Tellu does so, nodding. "Mao," she asks, curious about the mentioned robot.
"It's Ami's work," Professor Tomoe demurs, letting Ami speak for herself.
Seeing as how Tellu seems more or less unaffected by the professor's suprisingly divided reaction, Ami decides she was overreacting, and nods.
"She's...a little android I've been working on." Ami smiles embarrassedly. "I was looking at the books in the library on the moon, and they had some fascinating technology in clockwork...I was able to make a little doll for Mako-chan that, in terms of intelligence is roughly on par with robotics technology."
Shyly, Ami goes on, "I learned a lot from that project, and it gave me ideas for another. I started combining what I knew of robotics with what I'd learned, and Mao-chan started to take shape. I'm not adept at general magic, but reading the texts was extremely enlightening as far as building an artificial intelligence...and the more I went along, the easier it seemed to get, until I hit the final problem."
She sighed, brushing a lock of errant blue hair over her ear with her fingertips. "Programming the capacity for a gradually learning intelligence...is impossible, with current technology. What we have now simply can't match a human brain. A computer only learns by programming, and that's not true intelligence. But, with a bit of magic introduced into the 'brain' I created, she should be able to learn, and grow, just like a human can."
"That's wonderful," Tellu smiles in encouragement. "She sounds like your baby you're making."
Professor Tomoe nods. "It's revolutionary work in the field. It's a pity she can't publish it...the moment the word magic hit academia, it would be written off as the work of a madwoman regardless of any proof."
Ami flushes, nodding. "I don't mind, though. It's really for the best. I want her to be able to fit in, at least somewhat as she grows, and any undue attention would probably spoil that..."
"I...really do sound like I'm talking about a baby, don't I?" She realizes, laughing softly and reddening.
"Just a little," Tellu agrees, smiling and coloring at your own blushing passion.
Professor Tomoe merely nods, going on. "Be that as it may, Ami is likely correct. While the academic laurels would be impressive, there is quite a case for keeping her in a less observed and sensational environment."
Ami smiles in return at Tellu, then nods to the professor. "Even if it weren't for the derision that the word magic brings, I have reservations about how the general public might treat an artificial life form. For all the entertainment it's brought, the media hasn't exactly enouraged a progressive attitude toward the possibility. I'd be irresponsible to open her up to that simply for fame...the idea of being well know doesn't sit well with me at any rate." she admits shyly.
"Yes," Professor Tomoe nods to all of it. "Those are valid concerns...though, on this subject..."
Trailing off, he focuses his attention on you. "You mentioned beginning the final stages soon, Ami?"
Ami nods, smiling. "I actually finished earlier when Rei-chan took me up to the moon." she informs him, almost beginning to fidget as her enthusiasm blooms again. "I completed the tests on her neural net, and if I implimented your suggestions correctly, All that's left to be done is boosting the computer's storage and self-upgrading capacity, and activation."
Ami bounces lightly on the toes of her feet. "Those are the only steps I can't manage without magical assistance." she smiles.
"That's good work," Professor Tomoe notes. "As for it...once our current dilemma has sorted itself out," he glances back at your slumbering ex victim, Miss Nakahime not stirring amid the conversation, "PErhaps we can work on it?"
"I'd appreciate it." Ami agrees happily. "Do you have a secure place to store her if I bring her down early?" Ami asks earnestly.
"Anywhere down here, really," Professor Tomoe nods. "Though, there is more than enough space here if you want to devise some sort of storage place for her."
Ami nods and smiles. "I'll arrange something before I leave today." she beams. "Thank you."
With a nod, "Then....I should probably get back to work," Professor Tomoe smiles to you and then Tellu. "When you need to get home, the Twins are around. I can call them for when, since it's still so nasty on the roads."
Ami nods, smiling slightly still despite blinking a little at the topic switch, nodding a little to herself. Actually...I'm like that, too when I'm in the middle of something, aren't I?
She looks over at Tellu, raising her eyebrows and smiling wryly.
"Thank you, Professor," Tellu says, smiling back to Ami afterwards. "In that case...we'll see you later."
With that same smile, she departs, waiting for you..
Ami follows Tellu from the office, beginning to come down off her little burst of enthusiasm, and she glances at the older girl once they're some ways away from the office.
"We actually got him to react." Ami muses softly, testing the waters. "Though, not exactly what we'd hoped for." she sighs.
"Yes, but...." Tellu smiles slightly, turning to you. "Ah...he's not a 17 year old high school student, either," she blushes lightly. "It would have been odd if he'd acted quite like that...."
Ami laughs softly. "True." she admits, blushing. "It was very much in character."
She looks back up and smiles at Tellu. "It's just...the first time I've done something like this, so I was a little nervous." she confesses.
"So was I...Ami-chan," she laughs, soon falling into a fit of giggles. "I think we didn't do too badly, either..."
Warmly, she reaches out, taking your hand in hers to lead you along. "Did you want to find the Twins, or do something else?"
Ami smiles at Tellu, matching her pace. This is so comfortable... "Umu...What do you think?" Ami asks softly. "I hate to keep you from anything, but...I am enjoying myself."
That gets another blush, "Ami-chan....I'm enjoying this, too," she says quietly. "I don't get to spend much time with my friends. Why don't we get some lunch," she offers, beaming her smile.
OOC - Ready for a skip ahead?
Ami nods and returns the smile, the stress of just a few short hours ago seeming miles away. She gives the hand wrapped around her own a light squeeze before nodding. "That sounds wonderful."
OOC: Ready! *salutes*
And thus, Ami-chan and her friend go off, the day starting to pass....
OOC - New thread!