"I mean, uh —"

Hyacinth looks away. "Um. System name? You mean, like... a name for all of y'all in the one body?"

"I like to see it as a bit kinky, yes," Maya replies, laughing warmly. "And yes, that's exactly what I mean, a name for the whole set of us."

"That's cool. Play any pirate MMOs?" 

"Unfortunately we have yet to find one up to our standards on even a basic level, let alone one that might fulfill my daydreams of being a ship spirit," she replies with a frown. "Have you seen any good ones?"

"Unfortunately no, but I will make sure to inform you if I come across one that seems good."

Hyacinth squeezes Maya's hand and keeps walking. 

"So what do you think of CORA so far? Have you been enjoying it, or... does not being in front not work like that, or...?"

"We all derive some modicum of passive enjoyment from each other's enjoyment, even when we're not in front," she confirms, "but it is significantly stronger and more direct when we are in front, or at least in co-consciousness. It has proved to be an impressive game, so far, though I wish we had a good way to mesh the sort of bombardment-tank build I would most enjoy with the agility build the others appreciate."

"Yeah. I guess it must be awkward to have to share everything like that..." 

She shakes her head. "I hope you get to have plenty of fun too."

She smiles a bit wryly, cheeks coloring faintly, and nods. "I do. Seeing how affected you are around us, especially around Sable, has proven quite fun, for one example."

Hyacinth blushes. "Oh really, huh?" She giggles. "Well I guess I'll just have to keep being entertaining."

"I suspect it comes naturally to you," she teases with a grin. "Would you like to meet the next of us, now?"

"Yes, please!"

"Then I'll leave you with two things. One, it has been a pleasure to meet you properly. Two, our next headmate, Neopolitan — or Neo, for short — is mute. She will use sign language if you know it, and otherwise she will resort to gesture and expression and body language — or perhaps message you using the internal messaging system."

"Oh, I see! Thank you for the heads-up."

And then mid-step their body begins to change again. The new girl is much shorter, only five feet tall, and slender. Long, wavy hair tumbles down over her shoulders, left half brown and right half pink, with a white streak in the pink half. Her eyes are mismatched as well, the right brown and the left pink. She skips gracefully and turns to face Hyacinth, walking backwards before her, then blows a kiss.

Hyacinth gives her a little wave and a smile. 

Then...

She makes heart hands at Neo.

Neo grins wider, bounces in place, and makes heart hands right back at Hyacinth. Then she does a quick pair of back handsprings before bouncing in place happily once more.

Wow, she just really did that! 

Hyacinth applauds!

Neo bows and grins.

Hyacinth pauses to curtsey in return. 

Neo tilts her head, then points at Sin, then traces a question mark in the air with her fingertip.

Sin spreads her hands. She doesn't happen to know sign...

Neo rolls her eyes and snickers silently, and then Hyacinth suddenly gets a message.

I'm mute, not deaf. I was trying to ask if you had any questions you wanted to ask me.

Hyacinth laughs and nods. "Yeah, okay, sorry. Um..." Is there a reason why you're mute — nah. "How'd you learn to do handsprings like that?"

Training sims. They're what we do when we're between MMOs, since we all have special interest skills that make us feel more like ourselves.

Neo grins proudly — a bit smugly, even — and does a backflip, then keeps walking backward.