Aberrant: Children of Quantum Fire - Agreements and Disagreements [3.0]

[Quantum Fire]

With the discussion, agreement and disagreement postponed to the next day, Zia, Eric and their guardian Joseph were all found rooms for, by Serenity. For that matter, it was clear after a moment that each of these rooms had been selected by Traveler, sense there were personal touches in each of the rooms that allowed them to feel safer.

Traveler himself however, made no appearances over the next day, but he did leave them a note.

Over the next few days, I will be unavailable, as I scan the changes in the timelines based on your actions. Try not to do anything too drastic over the next week, as to the children, don't forget, though, they are in much the same situation you all were. Also, Lynn, while these two aren't plants, but your concern is a valid one, sooner or later they will try to find you based on what happened today, including telepathic scanning.

[Karren Gaunt]

Coraline rolled to wakefulness with mild groan, and looked across her room. The young metamorph’s room was part personal space, part artist’s workshop, with anywhere up to a half-dozen smaller works incompletion on various cluttered shelves in the chamber. Not that *she* would have any problem finding things there. The lion’s share of the workspace was taken up by a large, irregularly shaped stone she had had Maia dredge up from the seafloor not two days ago, it’s natural form screaming potential to Cora. Some of that potential had begun to be chipped free last night in her artistic fugue, the vaguely triangular shape already surrendering the outlines of her family past and present in a shower of stone chips. Still a work in progress, but far from her worst work in her admittedly-biased opinion. The artistic afterglow brought a ghostly smile to her face.

Click to reveal..

Visual Arts Roll http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3047870/ Six Success.

Coraline stood up and stretched in her eufiber nightgown, instinctively looking to her left where she hung a full-length mirror to check out what she was starting out as each morning. She blinked at the stunning, red-headed, 5’7 Caucasian stranger who met her blue-on-black gaze, the reflection blinking back. She was used to not recognizing herself in the morning, but this… She could probably give Maia and Marina a run for their money looking like *this*. She gave the mirror a few more seconds of preening consideration, posing once or twice to confirm that, yes, she did look that good this morning. A faint quantum crackle or two at the back of her thoughts confirmed that their were possibilities to test with this shift, and she *twisted* once.

Nothing happened save for a tiny drain on her quantum reserves. (Copycat without a target)

Coraline tried again with a different unfamiliar quantum muscle (Ms. Nobody), and the unreal girl facing her in the mirror softened her raw visual impact and became a far more familiar kind of stranger, black-haired and dusky skinned, an anybody lacking even Cora’s usual black-on-blue eyes as Tells. “Hello?” the young metamorph asked her reflection curiously, frowning and then hesitantly smiling as the word lacked her usual chorus of tones, merely the voice of your average 17 year old girl with an accent from anywhere. She grinned and released the spark she was holding, the stunning red-head returning like a log surfacing from a bog, flesh flowing and shifting back into place.

Oh, she could work with this. But first, her early morning stalk to the nearest shower before breakfast.

[LydaLynn]

Epiphany didn't usually feel home sick. But last night, she had missed her family. She had pulled up her Mother's old memories and run through them like a familiar record. That inner sorrow had lead her to again sleep in one of the hot springs. It wasn't the same as sitting the the lava of an active volcano, but it was comfortingly similar. And, honestly, though she knew that in theory she would be fine, Pip had never managed to emulate her mother that much. The thought of her wings on fire always kept her from trying a real lava pit.

She didn't want to admit, even to herself, that part of her decision had to do with Zia's uncontrolled empathy. Epiphany knew it shouldn't bother her, but it did. And though she would have loved to keep a shield up through the night, not only did it drop when she slept, but it ate too much of her personal energy to keep it up for the evening, let alone the rest of the night.

She had managed to get the network set back up with Warren included before heading out to the hot springs. Of course, she wasn't sure she'd be able to look at Darrik today after having forgotten to knock when she went to pull him into the new link. She wouldn't do that again and really wished she had a mental brillo pad.

This time Pip had intended to sleep in the hot springs, so she had brought along a towel and comb and other morning necessities so when she went walking back into the complex she didn't look like a coughed up hairball.

[Toby Lupin]

Darrik sat at a meal table, hands set in Gendo Ikari fashion, as was his wont. There were several threads to consider since yesterday. Security- with the unexpected leakage of Zia, but things had gotten out of control too fast. And then the plans from there:

The Aberrants. With the swift rescue of Zia, Eric and Joseph, they would certainly improve perceptions of this family, so time to start working the leverage there as much as possible. And continuing the rescue of other 2nd gens.

But of course, more allies would be preferable.

DeVries. Profit-minded yes, but Darrik could probably invoke the fact of his father's previous occupation at DeVries to Anna. Besides, DeVries had plenty of clients that needed more subtle and under the table aid.

The Teragen. Very potent allies, but the opposition of Pip and the likely alienation of the baseline public could be troublesome. Besides, there was a greater risk for entanglements in their squabbling ways, demanding a certain commitment.

And Pip too, not to say that Darrik hadn't imagined the more beautiful girls stumbling onto him privately, but her reaction to his.... erotic interests had been less than heartening. But she'd recover from it, he had no worries.

*Come into the kitchen soon folks, we need to discuss what comes next.*

[Butch_Cole]

Butch Cole had no need for sleep given his quantum altered bioenergy manipulations. At times he did it anyway, but the night after the rescue Butch did not sleep at all.

It was not excess adrenaline. Butch was aware at all times of the status of his physical condition and could control much of it. Shortly after returning to the island from battle, his adrenaline level dropped, his heart rate slowed, and his breathing returned to normal.

Once everyone was settled, Butch returned to his room and sat in his favorite battered leather recliner. After removing his sunglasses and hanging up his leather jacket, he put his feet up and thought about what they had been through.

There would be more battles, of that he was sure. The key was ensuring he and his siblings were victorious in those battles. So, what made them so successful this time around, he wondered. They had the element of surprise on their side for one thing, but that would not always be the case. Not only that, but they were able to act quick...damn quick. True, they also had an advantage when it came to force. Butch recalled watching Maia turn a nova to mush with a terrifying hit. Coraline had become a metamorphing dervish of death. And then there was the nova he rotted to a puddle of nothing...

Not that he was competitive or anything, but being around novas like his siblings made Butch eager to improve himself. Thinking back, Butch realized that his sisters had acted quicker in battle than he had, something he wanted to change. With all the juice flowing through him making his body a frightening and efficient weapon, Butch wondered if he could make his mind operate in a similar fashion.

Could he think faster? Just how efficiently was his brain operating? There had to be ways of squeezing more out of his grey and white matter. He focused and opened himself up to his sense of body awareness. After a few minutes, Butch was able to focus on the state of his brain, his nerves, his whole nervous system. For most of the night and much of the next morning, Butch sat and thought through the idea of changing, improving, making his mind...faster. When he stopped, the changes were not enough to call his mind a lightspeed weapon of war, not yet, but he felt different. Still, this would take time. Butch would dedicate as much of his free time as he could to this project. In the end, it would be worth it.

Expanding your mind was one thing, but all that space, that speed, had to be put to good use. Tactics and strategy. That would be his focus. Using the computer terminal in his room, Butch gathered together a small library of electronic material concerning the philosophy of war, military strategy, large and small unit tactics. The last section was what he tried to deal with first as he thought it'd be most useful.

He gathered a collection of accounts of famous nova battles from multiple sources. Everything from Team Tomorrow's first raid on Al-Burhan to their defeat in the Equatorial Wars (though they somehow managed to spin it as a victory...) to their battles in Kashmir, Butch got what he could from books to news reports to video footage of Project Utopia's pride and joy in action. After sifting through some fanboy crap, Butch got a great critical account of some of Nippontai's battles. When it came to Elites, Butch found detailed accounts from African brushfire wars, the tri-nation conflict in the Kashmir, as well as other smaller battles in South America and Southeast Asia. With a world obsessed with Novas there was a veritable treasure trove of tactical information out there for the finding.

Looking at the clock, Butch saw it was early morning and he hadn't got much past the data gathering stage. Somewhere in all that data was information about his father, a successful elite before he had to go into hiding thanks to Butch. Soon, he'd find out more information about some of the battles his dad took part in, but for now, after taking a quick sniff of the air around him, Butch realized he needed a shower.

**********************

Wrapping himself in a towel, Butch made his way to the showers. He washed the dirt and stink off, then, when he was finished, he wrapped the towel around his waist and headed back to his room.

As he stepped out of the bathroom, he saw an unfamiliar female face making her way down the hallway. Cora's shifting features took some getting used to, but they were always interesting. This time though...

"Wow," he said, quietly. She was only a few feet away, and he hoped she hadn't heard him. The face was gorgeous and framed with red hair, a favorite of Butch's. He tried not to stare too much. What did she think of his multi-faceted, green eyes? He hoped she wasn't creeped out like some baselines were...

"Hey, Cora," Butch said once she was closer. "I think the showers are all yours. Must be your lucky day."

Then he heard, Darrik's telepathic message.

"Guess you'll need to hurry up. Wouldn't want to keep pretty boy Darrik waiting," he said, winking. Then, continuing, "Seriously though. This meeting? I feel like me and you've got plenty of ideas in common and we gotta make sure the others hear us."

[Karren Gaunt]

"I'll be quick and not keep the braintrust waiting, Butch," she answered with an easy smile that clearly comunicated 'yes, I heard you, but I don't mind', "Overslept after working on a project very late last night, or else I'd probably have beaten you into the shower this morning."

The sisterly smile tracked Butch as she slipped past him into the bathroom and locked the door behind her, telepathic voice adding to all the siblings, 'Anyone check to make sure our newcomers got fed and taken care of yet? That's the one thing more important than this meeting honestly.'

[Maia]

Maia also heard the summons, and she snorted. For once she wasn't outside, actually laying in her room reading a book. She set the book down and made her way to where the two new arrivals were. "Good morning. Have you had breakfast yet? I was on my way to the kitchen, and if you'd like to come along I can make something for you if you like."

[LydaLynn]

Epiphany headed into the kitchen silently. She wanted to wait until everyone was there and ready, and fed, for those who needed it, before getting into any kind of discussion. And she wanted to wait until she had everyone shielded too. But knowing her limits, she wasn't going to put up a shield until it was time, saving her energy.

[Butch_Cole]

Given what he had seen of Cora in combat and just after, Butch was surprised at her concern for their guests. The blood-soaked, giddy girl from yesterday didn't exactly match the picture Butch had in his mind of a girl concerned for the well-being of a couple of orphans and their guardian. There was something refreshing about it...

Butch returned to his room and dressed. He selected an ancient Rage Against the Machine t-shirt, one of four t-shirts that had belonged to his father. Johnny Hellfire would have been furious if he knew that his son wasted time throwing mementos into a bag instead of running, fleeing full-tilt away from those hunting them. They were just things, he would have said to his son.

If he focused his senses on the fabric, Butch could still smell his father. It was comforting. The shirt was in surprisingly good condition, but then again Butch was very particular about caring for the last remnants of his father's existence.

Then he put on his torn jeans and combat boots. Finally, Butch put on his sunglasses and left his room. He walked into the kitchen.

"Morning, folks," Butch said. "Hope everyone had a good night."

He walked over to the coffee machine and started the pot brewing.

[Karren Gaunt]

Coraline quickly and professionally showered out the bits of basalt dust out of her hair and skin, humming in chorus to herself as she worked the soap to lather in her hands and over her body, taking some more of the lingering smells and feels of yesterday away from her body. Yesterday's temporary euphoria was just that: temporary, and if they wanted the next incursion to go as gloriously well *and* avoid becoming another Rousieu's puppets, they'd have to do some hard thinking.

Coraline was a little bit suspious of the timing of that 'surprise' rescue mission, a frown crossing her lips. If her doubt was true and yesterday had been an intentional test...

A few minutes of toweling and one morphed-up sleeveless, red-and-white patterned eufiber sundress later, Coraline padded barefoot into the kitchen an expectant smile on her lips and in her blue-on-black eyes. "Good morning," she called softly in a familar chorus of tones from perhaps just a bit more unfamilar than normal features, part of her gauging the potential reactions of her siblings, "I'm not the last here, am I?"

[Sunstar]

"No you are not" Marine said walking in .. clearly she had been in her room messing with her Eufiber again. She's dressed in...well...in a blue and white Lolita style dress, complete with stockings and a pair of mary janes. She sits down in a chair and leans back. "Morning everyone. Hope you all are doing well today. So what did you want Darrik?" She said looking back and Darrik with her Blue on Blue eyes.

[Courier]

Warren woke up in his utterly white nothing-to-see-here bedroom. Waking up was always an experience as his consciousness realized...

25,186 seconds had passed since his last conscious evaluation. He was bordering on late for getting up. Things had changed. Warren rose to his feet and sliced off several feet of hair growth while he evaluated.

The Earth had continued to rotate, his position and absolute velocity had shifted.

The Earth had continued it's orbit around the Sun, his position had shifted.

The Sun had continued it's orbit in the Galaxy, his position had shifted.

Tidal forces (presumably from the Moon) affecting himself had changed.

Various siblings were up and about.

And...

...??? This was a better start to the day than normal. He'd managed to get through his crash list of sensory updates without being sidetracked and he'd done other things at the same time.

He successfully did that once a month or so... waking up was like listening to six people talk at the same time. Too many interesting things going on.

No point in showering, prolonged exposure to hard vacuum was remarkably cleansing and he'd done that only a few hours ago.

Originally Posted By: Darrik

*Come into the kitchen soon folks, we need to discuss what comes next.*

Warren made sure he was decent and opened a gate to let him walk directly into the kitchen. He said, "Yo, what's up?"

[Toby Lupin]

Cora looked surprisingly more beautiful, which surprised Darrik, but time to not caught up in his more prurient interests. He folded his hands and observed everyone present. "Well, I presume we want breakfast... and we should consider what next? We're going to be dealing a bit more with Madame Rosseau in the future, but we need more than her. Time we continued shopping around for allies. Either way, I... and Cora as a lookout, will be visiting either members of the Teragen or DeVries. As the only visible faces of an unknown group of novas, for the time being. I wonder where people would prefer the first visit?"

[Courier]

Warren glanced at Cora, looked at her again... someone else was also having a very good morning... and realized what Darrik hadn't said.

Warren replied, "Hold up there. Before we go over what next, let's compare notes. I thought we were having an interesting day but coming back with new 2nd gens? What happened out there?"

[Butch_Cole]

"Hey, Warren," Butch said. "Yeah, we were pretty busy out there. We met up with Rousseau, who was ready and waiting for us. A bit disconcerting. She seems to know Uncle Shen from way back, which kind of makes sense given how easy it was to set this up.

"Anyway, we chatted a bit, and she told us Project Proteus is still quite active. Then she told us she had some 2nd gens in hiding and that they were in danger. Then all of a sudden they were in danger off in New Zealand. Hunters were after them. Darrik shadowmoved us all to Kiwiland, and right behind the hunters, I might add. Luck or skill, either way, nice work," Butch nodded to Darrik.

"So, a bunch of suits with bad intentions were after the kids and their keeper. Two novas, three baselines. They had to go. So they went. Some faster than others. We took the kids back here to make sure they were safe."

Butch took a breath, then added, "That's the short version. If you want the grim and gory details, I'll tell you all about it later."

[Courier]

Things changed at Butch's recollection of blood and thunder. Heart rates changed, perspiration altered and the wind changed the room's air pressure. Warren reviewed and disregarded the changes as irrelevant. Dimly he wondered if this was a new sense but he disregarded that thought too. Warren went still as he pieced together puzzles, fitting events to motivations.

Project Proteus.

He'd have bet money they weren't behind the mother hunters. That sort of thing seemed more the Directive's style, and the Directive at least could arguably have something to gain. Proteus was associated with Utopia. This was like finding evidence that someone's paranoid theories about your kindly aunt being a serial killer.

Click to reveal..

In case it's not obvious, Warren has finally balanced himself. Oh, and Lie Detector On.

[Karren Gaunt]

Coraline grinned, pleased threefold by the others reactions, Butch's quick precise summary of yesterday's successful raid, and her vital role in Darrik's plan as to how to continue. With Darrik as the mouth and her as the eyes, she had every confidence they'd get through clear even should Traveler's contacts turn out bad.

"If we decide to move forward with new contacts to prevent us from utterly depending on Rousieu, we go through Uncle Shen again," Cora added softly in her chorus of voices as she moved into the kitchen behind a counter and began breaking eggs into a large bowl for scrambling, "We at least weren't attacked by our contact *this time*. Possibly manipulated despite our best efforts, but not attacked outright."

The 'if we move forward with new contacts' contained heavy emotional overtones of '*when* we move forward with new contacts'.

[LydaLynn]

Epiphany stiffened as Teragen was brought up again, but managed not to have a flashback meltdown. Listening to the report, she felt compelled to speak up. "So . . . stuff happened. But, instead of thinking about what was going on, you jumped in. I can understand that. What I don't understand is that yyoouu hhaavvee iinnssttaanntt access to communications with the rest of us. WWhhyy did we not get a heads up until after everything was over and these new people were dropped in our laps?" Pip's frustration was evident in her echoed words.

[SalmonMax]

Abruptly Alexandra's mental 'voice' cut in. It seemed oddly disjointed, and cut through with bursts of what could only be termed 'static,' or some kind of mental white noise.

stupidSTUPID...these conduits...-fzzt-...guys is this meeting IMPORTANT?? Thes straps are just fakematter so I've only got a few more hours tototo...-chrzzzzt-...and the deep electric conduits are giving me no end of grief. ssssleeepfood...time...-zzzhht-...Going to skip this meeting. Too much to do. Just don't do anything stupid.

[Karren Gaunt]

Rolling her eyes at Alex's telepathic declaration, Cora commented dryly to Pip, "As I recall, it was a very busy, very emotional five minutes between the time we were told about Project Utopia's private Motherhunter program and our returning with the newly-rescued children. What would you have changed about all of us getting back home alive and unhurt, five dead Motherhunter trash left to be picked up by their Baseline puppetmasters, and two Nova children saved from the brink of death the way some of us were saved?"

She loved her sister, she really did, but sometimes all the waiting in the world had to be set aside for action. That's why they'd sparred in the Danger Room wasn't it? A little faith would be nice.

[Courier]

Warren said, "Project Proteus. The mind boggles. Associated with Utopia. What do they think they're doing? Helping humanity? The bulk of their novas can't know."

Warren stated, "Pax has to be in on it. This is why Team Tomorrow never brings in Mother-hunters; Pax is one of them. Why...? Oh! He wants to stay the strongest nova on the planet."

Warren asked quietly, "So... do we try to take him out?"

[Toby Lupin]

Darrik shook his head frustratedly. "Don't be daft Warren. One, he's too powerful. Second, you have no evidence for that. The fact is, though Proteus is hiding behind Utopia, and uses Utopia as they must, they're ultimately separate I would say. And really, T2M doesn't bring in motherhunters because the world isn't supposed to know they exist. Team Tomorrow is in the dark, as the majority of the world has to be for motherhunting to succeed."

"Of course, the Directive, the Church of Michael Archangel, others, they have reasons to motherhunt too. Proteus is just one of our likely foes. But one thing you're right about, we're projected to get more powerful, hence the motherhunters run scared and think our existence makes an automatic threat. Anyway, we need more allies, we need favors in the bank to call on."

[Courier]

Warren replied, "In theory, I open a gate four or four hundred thousand light years away, we walk him through the other side, then we leave him there. And admittedly there are problems. Lack of proof is an issue. Risk is a huge issue."

Warren hesitated then said, "But it is very hard to understand how this is happening without him knowing about it. Maybe he's a dumb brick, maybe he's only looking the other way, maybe he really is incompetent, maybe, maybe... or then again, maybe not."

"Whatever the case is, I think we can cross Utopia off our list of potential allies."

[Butch_Cole]

"Warren, I don't know if picking a fight with Pax is gonna do us any good," Butch commented. "He's one Nova. Yeah, a powerful Nova, but I think there are bigger netloads of fish to fry. If he steps to us, then maybe we exile him to some far off galaxy. If he goes after 2nd generation Novas, then for sure that option comes into play. For now, I say we let that sleeping Pitbull lie. But that doesn't mean there aren't elements within Utopia we can't count on."

He poured himself a hot cup of coffee. Liberally, Butch added cream and a heaping spoonful of sugar. Stirring, he sat down at the table across from Darrik.

"As for other allies, I think that's a good idea, but we have to figure out who and what we expect from them. Take the Aberrants. We made contact, Rousseau seemed amenable to helping us rescue some other 2nd gen novas, and, hey, it worked, two sweet lil' orphan 2nd gen novas are in our care. Is that all we want our contact with the Aberrants to be though? They give us targets and we move? Ok, for now it might work, but I think we need some long term goals for these alliances, too."

He took a drink from the mug, satisfied with the coffee.

"And then who do we approach next? Teragen? I don't know if we can count on them to be honest. Some parts of them might play ball, but they aren't exactly centralized. It's not as if we find the General and he tells the Colonels who tell the Majors and down the chain to help us out. I feel like we might only be able to get individual factions of them to help us. And that might alienate other factions or worse turn them against us. As far as I understand the Teragen. Anyway, that's something I think we should consider."

He paused. "But that's just my two cents on that topic. So far."

[Quantum Fire]

At this point, Serenity, who had walked in just as they were speaking, looked over at Butch and Warren a moment, before turning her gaze to the others.

"The pantheon of Teragen is the best described as a dysfunctional family, they will act to protect one another, but just as often have conflicts between themselves. Of them, Count Orzaiz is the most trustworthy and easiest to work with, but like all Teragen, he is going to have ulterior motives. He is potentially honest about them, if you press him on the issue. After him, I can think of only a few others I would suggest you approach." She glanced over at Epiphany a moment, then continued.

"Certain aspects of Teragen are just as bad, in certain ways, as the mother hunters, but they are often less known to the others within the movement. Divis Mal is their leader, but more in the way that Zeus is the leader of the greek gods then as an source of authority.

More importantly, according to Shen, there are second generation nova's among the terats as well, those are the one's I think you folks might have the most in common with, they are the ones you should consider seeking out, though Orzaiz if you can."

She paused a moment, before turning her advice to other matters, speaking up on regards to some of the other groups.

"DeVris can be trusted to keep to the letter of agreements, but the woman keeps her cards close, it is difficult to be sure what she's up too. Generally, I think she would favor the next generation of novas, but she would also be seeking to maneuver matters to her advantage among them."

"Cyrus and his group may have already built a hidden station within the system, it's difficult to say, the league does walk on the moon on occasion, they might have an off planet base for discussions, you might want to consider him as one potential source, but he won't be willing to fight anyone, I don't believe."

"Thomas Sering and his protectors might be a good contact also, I believe their group is planning to move off planet in the next few years, he's very non-interventionist, but he would be willing to take in any nova's, or nova children under his protection, once they are off the planet, I'm sure."

[Courier]

Warren evaluated the entire Pax situation. Pip couldn't dominate. The entire team combined couldn't hurt him. That left... getting Pax to willingly walk through a gate. Talk him into it. Deception. Perhaps Pax could chase Warren and one other through it. Or Warren join T2M for a while...

Possible, not very promising, and not a high priority. Warren shelved those plans and shifted to evaluating Serenity's words. It wasn't lost on him that contacting Utopia wasn't on the list.

Warren grinned when Serenity talked about Cyrus' crew exploring the moon. It was time to put that into perspective.

Warren said, "On the subject of space exploration... Alex is going to be a lot more useful than I'd expected. Yesterday at her recommendation we explored one system, the life zone has a gas giant... and one of it's dozens of planet sized moons is a water world. No life thought. Several other worlds had minerals just lying around for the taking."

Warren hesitated then decided to say it, "It's one data point, but I think finding EarthTwo, Three, etc won't be that hard. Water world right off the starting gate implies it's common for the 'likely' stars."

[Karren Gaunt]

There was an interested gleam in Coraline's blue-on-black eyes at the mention of possible 2nd Generation Terats, a gleam the young metamorph buried as she began to scramble up the first wave of the large portion of eggs she'd cracked open as the conversation went on.

"So good news from the braintrust then and plenty of viable contacts to pusue," she ventured softly into a conversational void over the sizzle and crackling of her work, attempting to nudge the conversation back on track, "But any objections to Darik and I going through Uncle Shen to arrange further meetings as long as we're more careful to avoid suspiously timed rescue missions and permanent comiments?"

[Butch_Cole]

Butch was glad that there were options out there for them to approach. He had suggested the Protectors previously, and thought they'd be particularly useful. Prior to his death, Butch's father was seriously considering throwing in with them and opting out of the rest of the world to keep Butch safe.

The Teragen issue was of more concern though. While there was potential danger in meeting with any groups that are out there, there was more danger involved in meeting with the Teragen. But the prospect of other 2nd gen Terats was most interesting. They could be a good source of allies, but, at worst, they could be powerful enemies...

He took another sip of his coffee, and responded to Cora:

"I'm good with that if you guys make room for one more when you go see Orzaiz. I'd feel a lot more comfortable if we had Darrik as our mouth, Cora as eyes, and me as muscle, but only if it comes to it. Otherwise, call me a bodyguard or whatever, and I'll stand quietly in the background. Either way, I think we should try and arrange it to meet up with as many of these 2nd generation Terats as possible. Get to know some other Novas our own age and level of...rarity."

He nodded at Warren, and said, "And I think we should strike up a working relationship with the Daedalus League and the Protectors. We can share information on space exploration and maybe even eventually find a spot for the Protectors to move to if they're so interested in leaving Earth. Of course, we should find a spot for ourselves first, but then, who knows? Good to know some potential neighbors out there. They might even be able to help us with some logistics and stuff. Plus, like you said, Aunt Serenity, they might even be able to take on some foundlings eventually."

[Quantum Fire]

Originally Posted By: Maia

Maia also heard the summons, and she snorted. For once she wasn't outside, actually laying in her room reading a book. She set the book down and made her way to where the two new arrivals were. "Good morning. Have you had breakfast yet? I was on my way to the kitchen, and if you'd like to come along I can make something for you if you like."

Eric and Zia had been put in two rooms next to each other, mostly because they had refused to be separated, and the door between the two rooms was wide open. The young girl got up and yawned, but Eric was up almost instantly as Maia asked if they were hungry. For a moment, Maia could feel a bit of fear as Zia woke up, followed by relief as the girl realized where she was, and that she was safe.

"Breakfast sounds good." He said, even as he moved out of the view of both girls to change from his pajamas into a shirt and jeans.

Zia was also wearing some sort of pajama's, but on her it seemed to be more like a night gown, elegant and cute. She also got up, and pulled out a pair of jeans an a t-shirt in her size, getting dressed and coming out of the room just as Eric came out of his. Both of them looked at Maia and waited for her to show them the kitchen.

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Butch_Cole

He nodded at Warren, and said, "And I think we should strike up a working relationship with the Daedalus League and the Protectors. We can share information on space exploration and maybe even eventually find a spot for the Protectors to move to if they're so interested in leaving Earth. Of course, we should find a spot for ourselves first, but then, who knows? Good to know some potential neighbors out there. They might even be able to help us with some logistics and stuff. Plus, like you said, Aunt Serenity, they might even be able to take on some foundlings eventually."

Warren started to put together breakfast while remaining functional in the conversation and marveled at how good a morning he was having. Butch's ideas had implications...

Warren said, "I like and respect Daedalus. I like the idea of hanging out with them, I like the idea of helping them, I can boost other Warpers which I'm sure would be a hit. But they're seriously public and have no pretense of internal security. Anything we do will be in the news... so is that what we want?"

[Maia]

Maia smiled. "I hope you both slept well." She led them into the kitchen where mos of her siblings had already gathered. "What wou ld you like for breakfast?"

She looked to her siblings, suprised that cora looked differnt, easily as attractive as she did.

For Zia, she could feel Maia's deisre to make her and eric comfortable.

[Karren Gaunt]

"Morning, Maia. The others and I are just talking about where do we go from here," Coraline volunteered while delivering the finished contents of the pan into a bowl and starting on the second batch, "I'm making lots of eggs, someone else made coffee, but we haven't gotten anything else started."

Zia would pick up the distracted hum of conflicting emotions under a shell of contentedness, the young metamorph genuinely pleased to see her and Eric, but weighter things on her mind as well.

'So Darrik and I will make secrecy part of any bargain we strike with the League. Even they have to have some if they've really made a space base by now. Same goes for all of the others, at least for the first run meetings. Simple enough for our oh-so-persuasive younger brother to add in,' she continued via the link before pausing to give Maia a Reader's Digest version of the discusion so far, the memories blurred and compressed a little with a warm 'thanks' at the end for getting the kids.

[LydaLynn]

As Epiphany opens her mouth to reply to Cora, ready to point out that while THIS time things had worked out, they could have been walking into a trap and no one would have known where to look for them when they didn't return, Warren breaks in with a new topic.

As Warren and Darrik talk, Pip finds it harder and harder to maintain her equilibrium. The casual disregard that seemed evident in the conversation as the others joined in shook Epiphany harder. As they moved away from discussing Teragen, she was able to breath again. Her emotions a swirl of fear and frustration, she watched as the children were brought into the kitchen.

The flashback washed over her as the situation became too much to control. Epiphany had just enough control left to realize the force of her emotion would overwhelm the young empath. Having to choose between shielding and shutting down the link, Pip did the only thing she could.

As the memories washed over her, she tried to keep them out of the link, holding tight to the shield around the group as she rode the waves of deeply imbedded horror.

Pain, intense, sharp. Just above the eyes, watching as the scalpel cut, blood running. Electrodes leading to chattering machines as drugs course through the body, keeping him awake. Sudden lack of pain as eyes cloud, bloody hands seen holding . . .

Analytical, reason, detachment, study. Information is the ultimate achievement. Notes in a neat hand as instruments are studied, the weight of a node, what is it, what does it do? . . .

Shh, sleep, you don't need to see this little one . . .

[Courier]

Distracted, Warren nodded to the two youngsters absently. He liked them but he was busy.

Originally Posted By: Envoy

'So Darrik and I will make secrecy part of any bargain we strike with the League. Even they have to have some if they've really made a space base by now. Same goes for all of the others, at least for the first run meetings. Simple enough for our oh-so-persuasive younger brother to add in,' she continued via the link before pausing to give Maia a Reader's Digest version of the discusion so far, the memories blurred and compressed a little with a warm 'thanks' at the end for getting the kids.

Warren sent back, That could work... ideally we'd warp a group of us into a system and they'd do the system level exploration. That's the bulk of my juice usage. We could do multiple stars a day...

Originally Posted By: LydaLynn

The flashback washed over her as the situation became too much to control. Epiphany had just enough control left to realize the force of her emotion would overwhelm the young empath. Having to choose between shielding and shutting down the link, Pip did the only thing she could.

As the memories washed over her, she tried to keep them out of the link, holding tight to the shield around the group as she rode the waves of deeply imbedded horror.

Warren noticed something was off and sent, Pip? Realizing something was serious wrong he moved closer and grabbed her yelling, "Pip?!?"

[Butch_Cole]

Things seemed to be going well for a while there. They had managed to have a productive discussion and were on their way to taking their next steps. Then the kids came in, and a minute later something happened to Pip.

Warren had grabbed her, yelling. Butch took a quick look at the kids and worried that they might be scared. They'd had a rough couple of days, and if they were to feel safe here, seeing people flip out or whatever was happening probably wouldn't help. And if Zia was an empath as they discovered when she arrived, this might not be a good place for her right now given the swirl of other emotions going on...

As calmly as he could, Butch approached Maia, "Maybe you should take the kids somewhere else while we sort this out. We can bring them food later."

[LydaLynn]

Pip seems unresponsive as what little concentration the flashback leaves her is dedicated to clinging to the psychic shields she has over the networked group. Without being able to concentrate on fighting her way back out, she's going to have to ride this one out.

Screaming, pain, scalpel, flesh cut, alien flesh grafted, shuddering wrong, pain, horror, aware, terror, stark chrome walls, clinical strangers in white observing, noting. . .

Epiphany whimpers slightly as she tires, losing the strength to keep all the memories from leaking along the network. Bits and pieces of horror and memories float detached through their connections. She would close the link as she has before, but she can't hold the shield without it, there is no way out for her as the flashback draws her deeper. . .

[Karren Gaunt]

Coraline blinks at the fractured impressions of horror coursing along the link from pip, just that much less phased by them due to her own unique way of learning how to get her abilities to work. A frown twisted her lips. Was this what she was trying to hide? How... You grew strong by sharing your pain with family, not witholding it.

She reached out mentally along the link, tapping on Pip's mental shields with a crude morse code for 'You are not alone. We will hold you up when you are weak as you would do the same. Ten are stronger than one, and together we can overcome anything. You are not...', looping the message time and again in the second-hand telepathic petrois she'd cobbled together since Pip came into their lives.

[Courier]

From the leak through Warren felt a mixed pity/horror/anger. This wasn't a bad dream, these were memories. Pip had lived through this. He wasn't sure whether to hope or fear that who ever had done this to his sister was still around.

Warren said, "Pip! Look around. You're here, not there."

[Quantum Fire]

Serenity looked to the others trying to calm Epiphany, and sighed, suddenly the woman vanished, and for the first time in your experience, she takes on her nova form. A woman of almost unimaginable beauty stands there, and she speaks a single word that rings though the room like a tuning fork.

"Sleep." The sound of her voice is both beautiful and disturbing at the same time, and it washed over you all enough to feel it's power. However, it was directed at the children, both Eric and Zia instantly begin to fall over, unable to resist the power of her command, that was to protect them from the emotions that Epiphany was feeling.

"Peace." This word was directed at Epiphany, to pull the girl out of her mental flashback loop, the moment Pip seemed in control of herself again, Serenity would once more dorm down to her baseline appearance.

Click to reveal..

In her nova form, Serenity has Mega-Appearance 6, Mega-Manipulation 5, Mega-Charisma of 5, and other relevant traits are Unearthly Beauty, Disturbing Voice. Her appearance stretches to accommodate hearing her as well as seeing her, so just hearing her voice is as glorious as looking at her, but it also is incredible disturbing, as her voice rings with tones that make one want to obey her slightest whim. Her theme would be the Word, most of her powers are based on her commanding or speaking to someone or something... it would also be clear by now that the real reason she doesn't take her nova form is how overpowering it is.

[LydaLynn]

The ringing bell tone voice pierced through the fog of the past as no other voice could. The images fractured, splintered, dispersed. With the images, the network also crumbled and Epiphany was again alone in her mind, but it was stable, calm.

The fog that normally occluded her perceptions as she fought her way out of the end of a flashback was missing. The world was clear before her eyes and for just a moment she was Serenity in her true nova form. Tears leap to Pip's eyes as the sight stirred other memories, memories of her mother's immense beauty.

Then, as Serenity returned to her normal form, Epiphany's mind returned to the present. She realized what she had done, the lack of control that had leaked out to the others. Feelings of intense shame and guilt flooded her mind as she saw the expressions on the family around her. This was not what she wanted, she would never have burdened them with these horrors.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry . . ." was all she managed to say before tears blurred her vision as she dashed from the room, desperate to hide from the justified accusations she was sure would be directed at her. No matter how little sense it might make to the others, Epiphany was sure that this was more than they should every have to know.

Dashing towards the elevators, Pip's vision blurred by tears, she stumbled, but kept moving. Only waiting for the elevator car stopped her headlong escape. As she stood, pushing the button repeatedly, a sob, heart-rending, echoed down the hall.