Chapter 611: Where do you Keep your Dead Bodies?

"That seems to be everything," said Nira checking over her data pad once more. "Do you have any more questions before I introduce you to the two demons responsible for monitoring the procedure?"

"Well… what can you tell me about the demons actually doing the procedure? I know you… sort of… but I haven't even SEEN them or what they're supposed to be good at," said Lily.

"Well, I don't know too much about them myself. I'm certainly not on personal terms. In fact, I do not know what Rank they actually are. I do know I'll need to give you a special brooch to wear so that simply standing in their presence doesn't cause issues, but I don't know if that's because you're human or to stop any contamination from their auras when conducting the scans. I don't cause enough disturbance myself, so you're fine with me.

"As to what they do… I know one is going to be responsible for working the equipment to build your knew body and ensuring that there is no issues with it, while the other is responsible for ensuring your soul's safety with a minor secondary duty to ensure your current body suffers no ill effects. While watching the procedure I'll also be partially responsible for monitoring your original body alongside the second doctor."

*That doesn't exactly tell me much… but I guess that's fine. It's not like I know much more about normal doctors. Granted most normal doctors don't even know that the soul exists let alone have the qualifications to mess around with it, so maybe it's more important… though wait. Nira seems to have unintentionally raised an interesting question. Perhaps a concerning one as well.* 

Lily scrutinised Nira who just looked back with a cheerful smile and open demeanour. Lily wanted to stare at her until she gave up the answer she was looking for, but Nira likely wouldn't know what her question even was let alone the answer to it just yet. "So… um… you sort of gave me a thought but… err… what happens to this body once I'm not in it anymore?" asked Lily.

"That…" said Nira with a finger on her cheek, "is an excellent question now that you bring it up. I have no idea. I don't really know what standard procedure for that would be. Let me just…" Nira started swiping across on her data pad, words and numbers streaming by faster than Lily could see as Nira searched. "nope, not in my notes. I have no idea. We should really find out actually.

"Still…" Nira sat up and got a slightly more serious face, "I doubt anything particularly bad will happen. My first assumption is that it would be burned because it just isn't safe to leave an old body lying around. The problems you could cause with a complete body that has had its soul removed are quite numerous. Not just to you, but on a wider scale. So destruction is certainly an option, and definitely the safest thing.

"The next most likely is that they'll keep it in secure storage for a while. I've never heard of someone having issues after the first day in the new body. If you were going to have issues they'd become apparent really quickly and if your soul isn't happy we'd know within the hour… but this is also a bit more experimental then normal, so maybe they'd want a safety margin? Not really sure how long it would be stored for anyway…" Nira trailed off as she considered what she knew of it the long term storage vaults but came up mostly blank. It wasn't really her department. "I suppose they might also give it to you… but storage would be an issue and again, wouldn't want it stole because that would lead to bad things…"

*Well. That's… honestly I don't really know how to feel about that. I'm not exactly sure any of these options sound pleasant to me. Do I want to know my body is stored on ice somewhere? Or watch it get burnt to cinders? And like… what about keeping it? At first that sounds like the best idea, keeping it for sentimental reasons, but… it sounds dangerous to do it that way and what sort of creepy person just has a dead body in their closet.

Even if it's their body, and only sort of dead. Why didn't I think about this before? Did I just assume my body would be used in the process or something? We were told it was a whole new body multiple times and Nira has even said 'new body' a few times before. This… well this requires some thought but at the same time I don't have that time.*

"Something the matter Lily?" asked Nira with what felt like genuine concern. Lily didn't really have the brain space to properly determine if it was on not. On Nira's side of things, she really was concerned. She was under the impression Lily had wanted to go through with this. For Nira, this was the first true hesitance Lily had shown. Of course there was the more typical, which is better, type of concern she was familiar with when listing treatment options or looking at dresses, but she could tell this was rather close to an existential crisis.

"I… I… Yes. Yes there is but there also isn't? I mean… ok first thing's first, I'm getting the upgrade still, I… even if I don't like the implications, which I'll get to, I think it's worth it." *The chance to stay with Kat forever even if it doesn't work out. MAGIC. Actual REAL MAGIC and quite a few nice little touches to my humanoid form but at the same time…* "I just… don't know how to feel about what's going to happen to my old body. I mean… I just didn't really think about it I guess?

"And like… this isn't just getting a new car or saying goodbye to an old house, because well, those things suck too even if the new stuff is necessary or better," *Trust me I know how necessary it can be to move house,* "but… this is MY body you know? I never planned on getting an upgrade. And yes sure, some people get plastic surgery but I'd never want that. To… to try and 'fix' my body and make it look better that way. Yes, I do know that it might sound hypocritical considering I plan to upgrade my body…

"But I feel like this and that are different things… and even if I didn't it's not really the issue here. I have no idea what I'd want done with it. The stuff you listed… I don't particular like any of them. Part of me really wants to keep my body around because it's mine and I grew up with it and it so many ways… it IS me… except it's not and souls are real and like I thought I understood that, and with the confirmation that souls are real it's easy to say I'm a soul piloting a body…

"It doesn't FEEL like that though. I feel… I don't know how I feel. I guess… for some reason I felt like my body would get used in the process? Or just sort of dealt with somehow I guess? Now that I've had to think about it. I… I don't even know. I mean what would you want done with your body?" At some point during the rant Lily had started to stand up and gesture wildly, Nira just let her get it out of her system completely. When Lily dropped herself back into the chair, Nira even gave her a few more minutes.

Then a few minutes after that as she realised she didn't rightly know the answer to that question. "I'm not sure either Lily. I… well I have had my body since birth. I'm also not sure if it's even possible to turn my body to ashes. Additionally, as a medical professional I have a much better idea of both the security we have here, and of the consequences of letting my body fall into the hands of others, which, actually now that I think of it… would be much worse then yours, simply due to power disparity. Still, I trust my Faction to keep it safe if they stored my body. So… probably storage or incineration. As much as keeping it may sound nice to me on paper I know I'm not strong enough to protect it properly"

*Yeesh, if Nira doesn't think she could protect her body acceptably then I doubt Kat or I could. So that really shouldn't be an option… and I suppose if they need to keep my body around just in case something horrible goes wrong that's better then death… I… I'm not happy with this. I don't know if keeping my body locked up is easier on me then burning it… but I might not have a choice really. It has to be one of the other for safety reasons… and I don't rightly know which is worse, or more likely.*