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Description
The old man sat back slowly, his body conforming perfectly into the groove years of use had formed in the well worn chair. Everything was just a bit sore from his trip into town. Doing the simplest things left him so tired so quickly. Man aging sucked! A wrinkled hand ran over the side of his head. Where once skin and hair had been, only smooth metal remained. The brain surgery and implants certainly saved his life but having a significant portion of his skull replaced sure got itchy. He lifted his smoldering cup of tea and inhaled the aromatic steam as it warmed his face and calmed his muscles. Such a busy day. Peace at last.

"GRANDPA!" The door slammed open as a booted foot kicked it dramatically.

"Gack! Good grief you little... Knock will you?" He set his tea down, grateful that he had only just avoided spilling molten lava with the scent of honey and herbs all over himself. He attempted to glare at the fuzzy waif who came hopping in carrying a large metal case but couldn't help but smile every time he saw Nicole and the eager passion written all over her face. This is why you're garbage at discipline, he thought. She bounced up and down on her feet, tail wagging and proudly holding whatever she had looted from the junkyard or some slow witted gangster's vehicle.

"I'm sorry. But you have to see this! I found one, " Nicole squeaked with an ear to ear grin. Her ears couldn't stop twitching and her sharp little teeth gleamed. This must be good. "I snagged a nearly in tact man portable psionic generator!" She stopped as he raised an eyebrow wondering why a valuable but commonplace item had her so excited. His suspicion she was pausing for dramatic effect was instantly validated. "First generation post war." The old man's mouth opened slightly in surprise as he placed his palms on his knees and leaned forward in interest.

"Well now my dear. That is quite-"

"Amazing! Phenomenal! Fantastic! Spectabulous!"

"You made that last one up."

"All words are made up Grandpa." That got a hearty laugh from him. She was right now that he thought about it, he had no way to counter that. This one always kept him guessing. "Think about all the cool shit I could build with this if I can get some control crystals. The power bleed and crystal burnout is like a hundred times better than anything we have now. I could get an exoskeleton working. Or a stable superconductor. Or even a hoverbike. Oh! I could even..." The old man grinned as she went on. All that weariness and irritation with the world had evaporated as the ferret hybrid burned with enthusiasm and zest for life right in front of him. That's why he did this even at his age, he happily reminded himself. He'd taken in over a dozen orphans over the years but Nicole was special. He stroked his beard as he listened to her, deeply tempted to tell her about the relic he kept in storage for her but spirited and independent as she was, that was too much power for her just yet. But it wouldn't be long, not with her. Practically the blink of an eye and she'd be shining brighter than he ever did.
---

Nicole De La Fyr is a 12 year old tech prodigy. She's fiendishly intelligent and irrepressibly spirited. She's half ferret, half human (bear in mind that in this setting, humans are from a different planet than the anthro species which are the descendants of psychically inert aurorans which ironically survived the civil war far better). As with nearly all hybrids, her anthro genes are quite dominant but she's still self conscious about her more human attributes such as plantigrade feet and spots bare of fur. Body image issues are one of the only areas where she lacks confidence. She was born and subsequently abandoned in the Grand City's lower red light district, likely the product of illicit services. She was initially raised by the state. She did well with her early education and was exceedingly bright but fled to the streets after a traumatic experience. She was later adopted in a malnourished state by Dr. Nikolai Cask, one of the world's most brilliant scientific luminaries when he was a young man. In his older age post experimental brain surgery, he had taken to caring for orphans with potential and educated them himself rather than teach at some stuffy academy or university.

Nicole is the team's utility character and tech support. While not much of a fighter stat wise, she makes it up for it with sheer versatility. Her initial equipment seen here consists of power gauntlets and magnetic razor rings. She controls them with high powered magnetism and is capable of using them in close combat but prefers to fling them like rapidly rotating boomerangs. She's far more dependent on items than other characters and is consistently crafting new ones. Despite her age, she's brave and witty with a somewhat brazen attitude and vulgar sense of humor reflective of her streetwise upbringing.

This was done by kitfox-crimson who once again nailed concept art from a bunch of text descriptions and filled in the gaps amazingly. He has a patreon worth checking out if you like comics at all. I added a gradient in photoshop to make her stand out a bit more. The original is here: www.deviantart.com/kitfox-crim…

Description
The old man sat back slowly, his body conforming perfectly into the groove years of use had formed in the well worn chair. Everything was just a bit sore from his trip into town. Doing the simplest things left him so tired so quickly. Man aging sucked! A wrinkled hand ran over the side of his head. Where once skin and hair had been, only smooth metal remained. The brain surgery and implants certainly saved his life but having a significant portion of his skull replaced sure got itchy. He lifted his smoldering cup of tea and inhaled the aromatic steam as it warmed his face and calmed his muscles. Such a busy day. Peace at last.

"GRANDPA!" The door slammed open as a booted foot kicked it dramatically.

"Gack! Good grief you little... Knock will you?" He set his tea down, grateful that he had only just avoided spilling molten lava with the scent of honey and herbs all over himself. He attempted to glare at the fuzzy waif who came hopping in carrying a large metal case but couldn't help but smile every time he saw Nicole and the eager passion written all over her face. This is why you're garbage at discipline, he thought. She bounced up and down on her feet, tail wagging and proudly holding whatever she had looted from the junkyard or some slow witted gangster's vehicle.

"I'm sorry. But you have to see this! I found one, " Nicole squeaked with an ear to ear grin. Her ears couldn't stop twitching and her sharp little teeth gleamed. This must be good. "I snagged a nearly in tact man portable psionic generator!" She stopped as he raised an eyebrow wondering why a valuable but commonplace item had her so excited. His suspicion she was pausing for dramatic effect was instantly validated. "First generation post war." The old man's mouth opened slightly in surprise as he placed his palms on his knees and leaned forward in interest.

"Well now my dear. That is quite-"

"Amazing! Phenomenal! Fantastic! Spectabulous!"

"You made that last one up."

"All words are made up Grandpa." That got a hearty laugh from him. She was right now that he thought about it, he had no way to counter that. This one always kept him guessing. "Think about all the cool shit I could build with this if I can get some control crystals. The power bleed and crystal burnout is like a hundred times better than anything we have now. I could get an exoskeleton working. Or a stable superconductor. Or even a hoverbike. Oh! I could even..." The old man grinned as she went on. All that weariness and irritation with the world had evaporated as the ferret hybrid burned with enthusiasm and zest for life right in front of him. That's why he did this even at his age, he happily reminded himself. He'd taken in over a dozen orphans over the years but Nicole was special. He stroked his beard as he listened to her, deeply tempted to tell her about the relic he kept in storage for her but spirited and independent as she was, that was too much power for her just yet. But it wouldn't be long, not with her. Practically the blink of an eye and she'd be shining brighter than he ever did.
---

Nicole De La Fyr is a 12 year old tech prodigy. She's fiendishly intelligent and irrepressibly spirited. She's half ferret, half human (bear in mind that in this setting, humans are from a different planet than the anthro species which are the descendants of psychically inert aurorans which ironically survived the civil war far better). As with nearly all hybrids, her anthro genes are quite dominant but she's still self conscious about her more human attributes such as plantigrade feet and spots bare of fur. Body image issues are one of the only areas where she lacks confidence. She was born and subsequently abandoned in the Grand City's lower red light district, likely the product of illicit services. She was initially raised by the state. She did well with her early education and was exceedingly bright but fled to the streets after a traumatic experience. She was later adopted in a malnourished state by Dr. Nikolai Cask, one of the world's most brilliant scientific luminaries when he was a young man. In his older age post experimental brain surgery, he had taken to caring for orphans with potential and educated them himself rather than teach at some stuffy academy or university.

Nicole is the team's utility character and tech support. While not much of a fighter stat wise, she makes it up for it with sheer versatility. Her initial equipment seen here consists of power gauntlets and magnetic razor rings. She controls them with high powered magnetism and is capable of using them in close combat but prefers to fling them like rapidly rotating boomerangs. She's far more dependent on items than other characters and is consistently crafting new ones. Despite her age, she's brave and witty with a somewhat brazen attitude and vulgar sense of humor reflective of her streetwise upbringing.

This was done by kitfox-crimson who once again nailed concept art from a bunch of text descriptions and filled in the gaps amazingly. He has a patreon worth checking out if you like comics at all. I added a gradient in photoshop to make her stand out a bit more. The original is here: www.deviantart.com/kitfox-crim…