Aberrant: Children of Quantum Fire - [CoQF] Testing the Waters [2.0]

[Sunstar]

"Cora...."

Marina said walking over to her, the last of fog fading around her as she walks over to the rest of the group.

"We've beaten them THIS time. But the main strength that the hunters have is their numbers. We've won the battle but the war's not over till we drop the metaphorical nuke on their main power structure"

The young water element says nodding before turning to Maia

"Maia are you ok?"

[Maia]

No I'm not. Maia was by far the single most honest person in the house. She could lie easily enough, it was a learned human behavior, she just saw no point in it. She made it to the showers and turned them on to a temperature most would find scalding.

I found out something about myself today I wish i didn't need to know.

[Karren Gaunt]

The young metamorph's bubbling happiness was doused fairly throughly by everyone's sour reactions, her little dance coming to a halt. Honestly, was five minutes of celebration too much to wait before going back to the topic of the long war ahead of them all? She felt a bit miffed at some of the comments, too.

"Forgive me for sharing my happy epiphany that we aren't all going to die instantly for acting against interests of the Powers That Be long as we're careful and smart in how we continue in the future," she muttered, "From now on I'll bottle everything up and explode over the least provocation three incidents down the line."

[Kasheal]

Oz liked the sound of Butch’s suggestion, seeing what they had achieved might help him put it in perspective a little. He started thinking about the kids again and what they must have gone through while being chased.

He looked up from the floor suddenly with a worried expression on his face. “Crap! Oh-man-oh-man-dad-would-kill-me-how-could-I-not-think-” He turned to Darrik. “They-weren‘t-injured-were-they?-no-bruises?-or-cuts?-we-don‘t-even-know-them-one-could-be-ill-or-infected-I-best-check.” His speech raced as usual again now his mind had found a familiar concern.

The thought that someone might need medical attention had managed to distract him from recent events quite well and he continued to not think about the fight as they headed to find the kids. Logically Oz knew it wasn’t exactly a productive way to deal with the issues but it would have to do for now.

“Wait-up” he called to Butch as he quickly moved to catch up. Just before they rounded a corner he remembered his manners, turning back to Darrik he called back down the hallway. “Oh-yeah-thanks-for-getting-us-out-of-there-and-if-your-not-too-tired-you-should-come-too...we-might-need-your-words-to-calm-Alex-if-she‘s-really-pissed.”

[Quantum Fire]

In an interesting development, the boys departed, leaving the three girls, who had been together the longest, Cora, Maia and Mariana, moving together into the showers, as Butch and Oz headed to deal with the matter of the children presently entering into Alex's domain.

[Sunstar]

"Sorry Cora. It's just I don't want any of us getting cocky. We get over confident, we let our guard down. We let out guard down even for a moment, and one of us could die. I don't even want to think about that happening to one of us."

Marina looks at Maia for a moment before saying something.

"You're still thinking about earlier aren't you? About the fight."

[Maia]

Since it was just the three of them she nodded, even though steam concealed most of her. "Yes."

"I keep thinking there was a way to accomplish that without killing them all."

She shook her head. "And Yet i lead the charge Marina. I reacted, and hit that nova with nearly full power. I felt his bones shatter and disintegrate as I hit him, and I didn't stop. The only reason I didn't hit another is the rest of of them were already dead or dying."

She hugged her arms around herself. "I know they were motherhunters, I know they were badguys in this war, our enemies, but I've never killed a person like that. Fish and game are one thing, that's food, but what I did was murder, plain and simple." Her voice was low, and actually didn't stay steady. Killing another nova had shaken her.

[Karren Gaunt]

Marina earned herself a mildly-cross look from the blood-splattered metamorph but Coraline eventually nodded understanding if not apreciation for the others raining on her parade. Underneath it all, she still felt the joy bursting for expression, her muse pumping out an idea a second for her to try and capture, the fact she was, in fact, not the helpless child her parents had died to save those seven years ago. Like some day she could stop peeking over her mental shoulder all the time and actually be able to like and be liked by other people, trust them even. That... that... Words weren't enough but with the way Maia was reacting... Cora reined herself in with an effort.

"Yeah. It was murder. And I'm sure Darrik and Alex will have lectures ready for us in the morning as to why doing it will only make the 2nd Generation's situation worse. And I'm sure that once I drop down from this freaking wonderful emotional high I'm on, I'll be slightly more somber about it all, but... We'll beat it. We'll beat them. As a family," she directed aloud to Maia.

[Maia]

She looked at her younger siste and nodded. "I feel good that none of us was hurt, that we got the kids out safely and all. I really do. We accomplished that easily."

She reached out and set a hand on Cora's naked shoulder. "You fought well today Cora. I may not like that we chose to do things that way, but if it comes to it, that is how it has to be done. Quick, clean and efficient."

Sh ran her fingers through her long hair. "We can't let them identify us, and we have to protect each other."

She looked at Marina. "The fog was a great idea, obscuring exactly what happened. There's no doubt another group of novas attacked, but Proteus won't know who. The thing to remember is they will likely not be so unprepared next time."

"We'll win, because we're right, but in this we can't let ourselves become like them."

[Sunstar]

Marina hugs Maia from behind.

"Important thing is we got out alive, in one piece and with the kids safe. It was murder, yes. But understand this, they were going to murder those kids, if not do something worse. All because they dared to be born as what they are. Just like us. I don't know about you, but anyone who can freely go through with this...."

Marina hesitates for a moment and then

"You getting a hold of them was probably the nice thing that could have happened. I would have boiled their insides with the water that keeps them alive. Nice, and slow. And then made it all rip out of their body till their is nothing but dust. It's what the person you killed really deserved. It's what every single goddamn one of them ALL deserve."

Marina said this in a calm, matter of fact kind of voice.

[Karren Gaunt]

Coraline didn't exactly disagree with Marina's statement, truth be told, however more urgently...

"Watch out for your eufiber, Marina," she quibed with fleeting grin up at Maia, "Now if you'll excuse me, I may not have your fashion sense, but I know enough to realize that covered in blood isn't in this year."

[Sunstar]

Marina shakes her head.

"I'll probably just give myself a express rinse cycle so I can quickly see what's going on. THe kids must be driving Alex up the wall by now."

[Quantum Fire]

The warning was enough of a reminder however, that Maia and Eufiber didn't really agree with each other, but it was also inside the shower, with the water going, so it was easy for Marina to make the eufiber slide away from Maia where she hugged her. The shower wasn't the best place for clothing anyway, but eufiber was a bit different.

Even as they spoke, someone else entered the room, Serenity had left the others and come because Shen had told her she would be needed here. "Hello girls.. I brought Maia a Kimono to wear.. " She stripped down and joined them in the shower, giving each of the girls a hug in turn. "It's good that you all came back, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation.. I'm hear should any of you want to talk."

[Karren Gaunt]

Aunt Serenity had always struck Coraline as more than slightly weird with her habit of dorming down all the time around them, but it had never gotten beyond a mild 'okay, she's teaching us a lesson about Baseline limits' acceptance.

"I'm okay, Aunt Serenity. Better than okay in-fact," grinned the young metamorph, face stripped with blood coming off in patches under the warm water, eufiber rolled up onto one compact band on her upper left arm, "And my muse is screaming a dozen ideas a minute in my ear from the naked joy of it all, ideas I'll probably take out on that interesting boulder Maia dredged up from the seafloor for me from the sea bottom. *They* can be beaten. *We* can beat *them*. Those two children tormenting Alex right now are the proof its possible. I didn't believe it was possible before today. Not really."

[Sunstar]

Marina moves over to hug Serenity. Her Eufiber rises and shrinks till it's nothing but a choker around her neck.

"Hiya Aunty! Just washing up after a long day. Cora's excited about us rescuing those kids. And doing in the hunters that were after them. Me, I'm just worried. It's like a thousand questions are popping up in my head. Like what if we got lucky this time? Will we continue to be so fortunate? What's going to happen to us in the coming weeks? And...is He going to eventually come after us?" Marina's voice carries a hint of sorrow when says that last part. She purposely blocks herself from the link to avoid the others seeing what she's thinking.

[Maia]

Maia had remained quiet until Serenity had come in. "We did get lucky Marina, and should they ever find us, they will come after us with all they have. The stakes are immensely high here."

Maia gently hugged Serenity. She was the most fragile person there, and the one Maia was happy to see. She reminded her of her own mother. She finished cleaning and turned the water off.

"I'd like to meet the kids too, especially if they're going to be staying here." She took a towel and dried herself before putting on the kimono. "Thank you Aunt Serenity, I'll do my best to take care of this one."

[Quantum Fire]

Serenity smiled and shook her head slightly. "Don't worry about it, Maia, we all have our particular issues, there are worse problems then losing your clothing every time you exert yourself. A small part of the reason I keep myself to baseline limits is due to issues of my own" She walked over to Cora as the girl was washing and put an her on her shoulder, in a gentle gesture of affection.

"Your elation is understandable, Cora, especially sense I remember the nightmares you had after joining us, I think the rest of your foster siblings are a bit disturbed in other ways. Try your ideas and make you plans."

Then she turned to Marina. "As to the future, water child, I believe you will need to ask Shen, but I expect the answers are yes, no, it depends, and most likely, but not immediately. Shen likely can give a more detailed answer then that."

[Karren Gaunt]

"I will, Aunt Serenity," Coraline promised, the grin settling from estatic to content from someone just *getting it*. They were teenagers, Nova teenagers with the ability to potentially make things very difficult for the Powers That Be if they were careful and lucky, but teenagers none the less. A few hours of celebration over beating their oldest foe for the first time in the privacy of their home wasn't too much to ask.

That said, the young metamorph set into the task of finishing her shower, adding over one shoulder, "When they bring him out of his den, we'll be ready, Marina, take him down by numbers. That's what families do for each other."

[Butch_Cole]

Butch opened his mind up to the network and sent a message:

"I think we need to have a meeting. I know we all love them sooo much, but it's necessary. We need to figure out what to do now that we have these orphans and their keeper here. The group that stayed behind needs to know what happened with Rousseau, and those of us who went need to know what happened while we were gone. We can also talk through what needs to happen next. I say we meet later on to discuss things. If Aunt Serenity's around, we can have her watch our guests while we meet. Pip, if anyone's not on the net, get the message to them the old fashioned way."

[Karren Gaunt]

'Tommorow morning after breakfast would be better. We'll all be more objective about what happened then, and it's more important to get the children fed and settled before deciding anything more. One night of celebratory rest won't get us killed if Alex is half as clever in searching for and disarming bugs as she says she is,' countered Coraline over the link, frowning as she toweled herself off.

Oh gods, was a few hours too much? Jeez.

[Quantum Fire]

Closed - 3 Standard XP for everyone (will add it later)