Ingress sighs, blushes, shakes her head.<br/><br/><strong>"Yes, I can see how that might have...uhm...yes, well, it <em>was</em> a rather unhelpful answer on my part."</strong><br/><br/><strong>"Not like any of us are experts.  The Scholarly Dragon is just, as you say, observant.  And smart.  Scary smart."</strong><br/><br/><strong>"She's scary, period."</strong><br/><br/><strong>"And probably immortal."</strong><br/><br/><strong>"So,"</strong>Ingress tries to get back to an earlier topic.<strong>"You feel yourself channeling the essence of Wolf, do you?"  You can hear the capital letter.  "i think that gives us a place to start.  I suppose the question is whether you are now an aspect of Wolf or were always a Wolf in some way.  I don't quite understand the reason she made you into a woman, though."</strong>Her eyes linger on you for a moment.  Her blush deepens and she glances away again.<br/><br/><strong>"Retribution,"</strong>is Junior's wry answer.<strong>"You've seen Alice, right?  I bet she assumed someone was having naughty thoughts and decided to let them experience the joys of being objectified.  Be really funny if you were gay to begin with."</strong><br/><br/>His tone carries no judgment, no mockery, no disdain for you...only a wry and resigned understanding that something unpleasant and life-altering has happened to you without your consent.  You also get the sense that no, he does not actually find this amusing.<br/><br/><strong>"Or perhaps she assumed you were pursuing me with foul intent, as I did, and acted to prevent...unpleasantness."</strong>Ingress's voice is apology and leisured repentance.<br/><br/><strong>"You have had a rough time of it. Word must have reached her."</strong>Junior shakes his head and meets your eyes again.  He's pretty good at pretending you don't have huge boobs.<strong>"Alice is incredibly dangerous but mostly harmless. She takes no sides, plays no games, cares nothing for any of the factions or their plots.  But she is also capricious and, as you have found, bends the rules at whim.  And Ingress has had some trouble of late with a street gang harassing her territory."</strong><br/><br/><strong>"It isn't that serious..."</strong><br/><br/>Junior gives her a look that all but screams 'do not lie to me', and Ingress looks down at her tea and sighs sadly.<br/><br/><strong>"Alas, it is that serious.  And I am lacking in options.  The girls are not exactly a crusading army to summon on a moment's notice.  I took them in to shelter them, not to use them as cannon fodder."</strong>She raises her head, gives you a tight smile.<strong>"So yes, that is a possibility.  Alice may have misunderstood your intentions and acted to protect me."</strong>