Magical tattoo ink

Emilia taps on an intercom on her desk. "Safiya, please bring me the Rendrevrai ink to show my guests."

Beth blinked, tilting her head. "Ink? What good is ink going to do? I'd heard about, like, a machine where someone can become some astral form and then enter another body, I was thinking that maybe it would be more like that..."

With a chuckle, Emilia shook her head. "I already have quite a few people testing that out, I don't need more subjects zipping in and out of bodies. The ink, however, needs plenty more experimentation. Rendrevrai ink is very simple, it's like a tattoo. My assistant Safiya is quite a talented calligrapher, all she needs to do is write what we want to have happen on the right spot on a body, for example, 'duplicate body part', and then add in a few symbols and lines to be able to activate the spell via touch, and then really it's up to the imagination what can be done."

"And, uh, what exactly CAN be done?" Ivy asked. "I don't understand how, what, giving us extra arms helps our situation."

Emilia stands up, walking carefully to the window, turning her back to the girls as she looks out over her pristine estate. "I know precisely what can be done. You see, I have a lot of comparable experiences to Hideki and Yabusa ventures but recreating the more bizarre aspects of both companies through my own supernatural means has become quite a passion of mine. The neural harness, for example, is of course similar to the Ascend. I've heard things from other Hideki scientists though. Somewhere in their labs are the monsters you speak of, in particular there are two that I find to be immensely fascinating. One is a slimy mass of some kind, able to enter and infiltrate a body and take control of it from within by binding with it organically."

Ivy blinked. "That's weird, I can't even imagine that being a real thing..."

"And then there's the living skin." Emilia turned around. "The slime, I already have my similar experiments, the Ghost Machine for example can create beings that can enter others and take command of every movement they might make. The living skin, however, I hadn't really had any idea how to replicate properly for a while until the Rendrevrai ink was documented properly, my grandfather's notes were a bit too vague on its properties. The living skin, you see, has the property of being hollow and able to accept other people within itself to take control--the opposite of what the ghosts and the slimes can do. Instead of a being that can enter any other body, it's one where any other body can enter it. And this is what I propose for your little conundrum: the bodies sitting here would take a tattoo that allows other forms to gain entry into the body. You'd return home, your remote bodies would enter while wearing those bulky headsets, but now they're linked to your lovely outer physical forms in every aspect, not just the mind. You'd still use the headsets, that's another problem that I'm not interested in fixing, but I am indeed very interested in living skins, living bodysuits. That will satisfy my curiosities, it will solve aspects of your issues, and as a bonus, I would hire you on as employees so we can monitor your state and run experiments with the ink as necessary."

Transfixed on Emilia and her bizarre idea of how to rectify the situation, the girls jumped when they heard the door open. A woman in a business suit and golden glasses, with an enviable body and long rusty-brown hair, stepped over to Emilia's desk with a vial of ink and a pen. She nodded politely at the others, but she didn't smile or really show much interest in whatever Emilia might have in mind with magical ink. It felt very much like this woman would rather be anywhere else but here, and yet she remained dutifully by Emilia's side.

"Ladies, this is Safiya, she will be applying the ink today. We can do a test run, so you can see how everything works before committing to anything. The ink does come off with a different spell, so none of this is permanent, but if you accept my proposal then consider that you will keep the ink on yourself until termination of employment." Emilia sounded all business as she looked at the reactions of the other girls. The two in question, Beth and Ivy, definitely seemed more and more unsure as time went on, while Kelly clearly appeared content with being a spectator. "As for a test run..."

Safiya stepped up to Kelly, looking down at her. Kelly's carefree expression quickly soured, when she realized she'd gone from spectator to participant. "Whoa now, I didn't sign up for anything more than helping these two out?"

"Did I not fly you out here for free along with them?" Emilia asked, squinting at the suddenly **** Kelly Laudner before her. "You can repay me for the cost of the ticket, or you can do this simple thing without a fuss on behalf of your friends."

"Please Kel? This would be so much better if I could see it in action," Ivy said. Her voice already sounded a bit relieved that she might see a demonstration before committing to anything.

Beth nodded in agreement, and Kelly gulped.

"I... I guess..." she mumbled, before standing up. "What do we need to do? What sort of 'example' are you going to make of me?"

Safiya simply smiled, as she reached for the inkwell.