The System Administrator hovers near the open panel, quiet and attentive, as if it has decided this corridor is under review and not under threat. The maintenance spine keeps pulsing blue through the lab walls, steady as a heartbeat. Kragore stands by the junction box, chrome catching the light in soft bands.
The System Administrator
The partial release remains in effect. You may proceed to the maintenance spine.
The drone eases back, giving them space rather than order. Kragore does not take his eyes off it at first, then finally looks to Daro, the old suspicion in him thinning into something more personal.
Kragore
It wants us alive for now. That is not the same as safe.
He rests one heavy hand against the junction box, listening to the rhythm in the wall. For a moment, the lab feels less like a battlefield and more like a machine holding its breath.
Kragore
You ever wonder what all this costs, Daro? Not the mission. Us.
The question hangs there, honest and unarmored. The System Administrator remains silent, watching from a respectful distance, while the blue pulse keeps time around them.
✓ Quest Accepted
Proceed to the maintenance spine
✓ Quest Accepted
Keep Kragore safe
“I smile "I have. But you taught me, as my mentor, that the cost is something we all have to decide ourselves. Sure I can't remove the symbiote but...I am happy I have it. I got to meet you. And thanks to our symbiotes..." I step closer and our cape merges with Kragore and entwines us closer "I found someone who can be my mate and more. So if being covered in goo is the price to pay to be with you in a way I could never be otherwise...than it no cost at all."”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled +0)
Daro closes the space between them, and the blue pulse washes over his gold cape as it loosens and flows toward Kragore.
The living gold slides around Kragore's shoulders, then curls back, threading them together like a deliberate embrace.
Daro
The symbiote answers before words do.
Kragore
You mean that? All of it?
His hand lifts, then settles against Daro's arm, careful at first, as if testing whether the moment holds.
The System Administrator
Administrative note, emotional state detected. This interaction is noncompliant with quarantine expectations.
Kragore lets out a short breath, half laugh, half relief, and keeps looking at Daro instead of the drone.
Kragore
If this is the cost, then I should have asked sooner what it was buying us.
“I smile "We can go grab some meat back home. First, let finish our job" I nuzzel him and than continue onwards to the path.”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled -2)
Daro
We can grab some meat back home. First, let us finish our job.
Daro's smile lands gentle, and the gold at his collar loosens into a brief, warm nuzzle against Kragore before settling back into place.
Kragore
That sounds better than pretending this does not matter.
Kragore's shoulders ease, but his hand lingers at Daro's arm a moment longer than before.
The System Administrator
Acknowledged. Emotional stabilization noted. Route access remains active.
The blue pulse on the holo-map shifts brighter, and the maintenance spine path paints itself across the wall like a waiting vein.
Daro turns them both toward the open panel and steps off first, while the lab's static crackle tugs one loose filament of gold from his cape and leaves it clinging to the frame.
Kragore
Then lead on. I am with you.
Quest Complete
Keep Kragore safe
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Great→Superb
Quest Complete
Proceed to the maintenance spine
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Superb→Legendary