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

[Maia]

Of the sisterhood, Maia was unmatched in speed. She'd witnessed things over the link, and then the shattering. She had questions for Aunt Serenity, but they could wait, as the Superhumanly perfect young woman ran off after her sister.

Just this once she thanked the Elevator for not being fast, and smiled as she was easily able to keep up and arrive before the Elevator.

"You know you don't have to run away. We are FAMILY, Epiphany."

She'd barely stayed in control while chasing after her, and while still clothed, there were some frayed edges now. Maia shook her head. "Honestly, It's okay, really."

[Karren Gaunt]

"That's what families do after all. Help without reserve or resentment," added Coraline's chorus from a point about a few feet off the ground, only caught behind Maia due to the fact Aunt Serenty's unmasked presense had hit her greater than human senses that much harder and her pause to avoid breaking the sound barrier indoors.

She crossed her arms over her chest, features supportive as she bobbed in the air, "You should have told us. If I had had any idea what that name provoked... You're my sister. I'd never let anyone hurt you, and I regret anything I ever do to hurt you or any of the others."

[Toby Lupin]

Darrik stayed quiet, but pale as he felt Pip's pain and watched Serenity calm her down. He watched as Cora and Maia left, and hoped they would bring her back. Nonetheless, given the repeated instances related to the Teragen... A thin look of malice came over him.

"No dealing with the Terats then. If they did something horrible to Pip, then enemies they are."

[LydaLynn]

As Epiphany blinked tears from her eyes, she listened to Maia and Cora. They were so sure they were family, but though she cared for them, Pip had always known her real family was out there. But they cared about her here. More than that, they wanted to help her.

Suddenly a wall in her mind fell. She had family here, she didn't need to be alone. Even though they saw the horrors in her mind, they accepted her. Pip felt the universe click into place around her.

Flames, sudden, unexpected and pure erupted on all surfaces of her body. Epiphany was immolated in fire, but neither writhed nor screamed. Under the flames, she changed, though that was not obvious to the others.

Click to reveal..

Quantum Conversion:Fire during Apothesis

[Butch_Cole]

To see Serenity's Nova form was to behold something awesome in the truest sense of the word. Her beauty was...magnificent. There was something incredible about her voice, too, and Butch was glad she was on their side.

Butch watched his sisters run off. He wanted to follow, but figured that the girls would be ok and could talk Pip down. Besides, too many faces might make things worse. Whatever it was that caused her to freak out must have been terrible...

He made his way over to the children, who were asleep following Serenity's command, and gently picked up Zia. As he made his way to the door, he overheard Darrik's comment.

"Damn right, Darrik," Butch said. "Anyone want to grab Eric? I think we need to take the kids back to their rooms while we sort this out. If not, I'll be right back and I'll take him."

Carefully, Butch made his way down the hall in a direction opposite the one Pip ran off. If he had to make his way to Zia's room the long way, so be it, but it'd be best to keep her away from Pip for now.

[Toby Lupin]

"Sure." Darrik nodded and moved for the younger boy, picking him up with a huff, for he did not have the strength of the others, or many of them anyway. As he lifted Eric up, he reflected on a subtle or not so subtle truth in his dealings with his family. Despite the loss of a father, despite the moving about constantly to different cities...

No real danger. Or rather, the prospect had been more intellectual than real to him. He had not found his parents eliminated before his eyes like Cora, or... been tortured like Epiphany- a thought which made a grand alien chill and patch of darkness collect around him unconsciously- nor ran like the children had before Darrik had come to rescue them.

He had not hid on the island for many years, but had gloriously fucked his way through a multitude of temporary lovers before coming to the island... Which admittedly was not a sin, having been lucky to possess the most normal existence of all the teens.

So why did he feel so guilty about it?

[Quantum Fire]

At first it wasn't all that obvious, but within moments after the flame surrounded her, everyone with a node within a few meters of Epiphany felt it, the surge of energy as the quantum forces around her multiplied by an order of magnitude. For those like Cora, with Quantum Awareness it also created waves of quantum energy in the air around her that she could see, as suddenly for a moment, Epiphany's quantum potential increased to infinity for an instant, then collapsed into a understandable whole.

In Pip's case, most of the quantum energies seemed to focus on her mind and brain, increasing her brainwaves to a superior magnitude that suggested immense power. But quantum energy also flowed into the rest of her body, increasing just about everything about her as her. Her node blossomed like a flower, growing vastly more powerful then anything either of the girls standing there had ever sensed from anyone, though should they ever later meet Divis or Pax they would recognize the feeling.

Everyone liked Epiphany, but suddenly for both of the girls seeking to comfort her, that effect seemed muliplied, they didn't simply like her, they adored her. It wasn't a conscious thing for Pip, at least, not at first, her charisma and beauty blossomed like a flower enhanced by her telepathic powers, and some of the power over flame and beauty she inherited to a degree from her mother.

Additionally, Epiphany had a blistering headache like she had never felt in her life, but she also had ironically, an epiphany, due to stress, remembered pain and fear, and perhaps most importantly, the love from her adopted sisters that had them seeking her out to help her.

Click to reveal..

Epiphany now has Mega-Charisma at 8 (with Endearing and Trustworthy) and Mega-Appearance at 3 (With Halo). Fortunatly she also has the tactful which means she can reduce the effect of the Mega-Charisma to something managable, but I'm ruling that until she gets control of herself, Cora and Maia get the full effect. Most of her other Mega-Attributes have also blossomed some and she's gained new powers, her Quantum is 8 and her Quantum Pool is 75. That is what is known with Node, more is available to those with Quantum Awareness (Cora in this case) or if Epiphany chooses to display any of her new powers

For those of you wondering, for future reference, Apotheosis can come on due to stress, pain, or anything that can cause eruption.. the base difficulty of it happening is 5, and Quantum is rolled.. with the difficulty become easier due to danger, fear, pain or being near death. I rolled for extreme stress, remembered fear and pain.. she got 5 successes. (10s count as 2 each).

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3069099/

The powers and abilities Pip just gained have been agreed upon between myself and her.. she's a lot more then she used to be a moment ago, but she's still thematically similar.

[LydaLynn]

With a cry of pain, the flames died away. Epiphany clutched her head as she reeled under her new senses. Not aware of the changes that affected her adoptive sisters, Pip whimpered slightly as she tried to deal with the changes in her mind.

Drawing a deep breath she finally opened her eyes. Though her legs were weak as she stood in the ashes of the carpet around her, Epiphany summoned inner strength to face her sisters. More than anything, she hoped she hadn't caused them more harm.

Just as Pip opens her mouth to ask if they are alright, the elevator behind her dings and the door slides open, derailing her thoughts.

[Karren Gaunt]

Click to reveal..

[envoy] 4:19 pm: anywho, now to see if Cora's brains melt out her ears in QF.
envoy *rolls* 10d10: 5+4+2+10+8+3+8+4+2+1: 47 (three successes)
[envoy] 4:20 pm: yup, they do.

Also, Coraline doesn't have Quantum Awareness.

Coraline could, for the heartbeat or two before the warm-fuzzy feeling of Epiphany's aura washed over her, almost physically feel her brains melt out her ears, the hyper reality of her sister's rebirth pinking out her perception. A small gibbering voice at the back of her head struggled in vain to invoke an animal 'flight or fight' response but was silenced as if with an assasin's bullet to the young metamorph's normally well-trained survival instincts.

"You okay, Pip? You look different," she asked hesitantly, chorus all worried, selfless lackey as if someone had clubbed her self-confidence over the head and she was addressing Divis Mal himself, still bobbing up and down in the air.

[Butch_Cole]

Butch stopped just outside the kids' rooms, when he felt the world change. Waves of Quantum flowed around him for a moment, then the sensation seemed to fade. A shiver slowly made its way down the back of his neck like the first thin trickle of sweat on a warm day. He turned to look at his brother.

"Darrik," he said. "Did you feel that? Something...big just happened."

He opened the door to the rooms and helped Darrik with Eric. Then he put Zia in her bed.

"Let's go see what's up. I get the feeling we don't want to miss this."

[Toby Lupin]

Darrik, broken out of his thoughts, sensed the rumble of quantum, feeling how it seemed to bear down on them all, and nodded to Butch. Immediately, a deduction occurred to him. "From Pip's direction... either something wrong occurred- or-" his eyes lit with a sudden intellectual curiosity. "Apotheosis?"

He laid a hand on Butch's arm, and then they both were insubstantial as air. "I think going as the crow flies through walls would be best, so please don't pull away." He gripped there, holding the attunement and then led Butch through the wall towards the quantum source.

[Butch_Cole]

Butch nodded as Darrik took hold of his arm. He felt himself pulled towards the wall...and then through it. The idea of it was fantastic to some, but commonplace to the inhabitants of Traveler's sanctuary.

The word that Darrik mentioned before their quick jaunt through the walls was laden with meaning. Apotheosis. Uncle Shen had mentioned it before, but it was always just something lurking in the background. Butch had never really taken it seriously until now.

They finished their journey through the wall becoming substantial a few feet away from the girls. Butch took one look at Pip and was stunned. He stood staring at her, mouth opened, stupefied and silent.

[SalmonMax]

Meanwhile, downstairs in a new chamber that had been carved out of a natural cavern below the lab, Alexandra paused in her work. Insulated by distance and intervening layers of rock and metal, she wasn't sure what the fluctuation she felt was. A kind of pulse that throbbed in her already overtaxed node.

The pause brought other unwelcome sensations as well. She was hungry and thirsty. She was tired. The submarine hull was taking shape with maddening slowness as she used her power to reshape matter to purify and sculpt the iron and metals from the moon into a skeleton she could then create components into. The progress she was making was gratifying.

But she kept bumping up against hard limits. The limits of her body. The limits of her power. She'd never pushed herself like this before. Sometimes she felt like she might die. Other times she felt a surge of manic, stupendous energy, as if discovering long-buried nuggets within herself.

The only constant was the nauseating, pounding drumbeat of a doozy of a migraine thumping just inside her temples. She was sure it was just dehydration and fatigue. She'd go get some water and hit the sack. Right after she finished the skeleton of the third pressure hull and coning tower. Right after that.

[LydaLynn]

Epiphany fails to notice Darrik and Butch joining them in the hall. Responding to Cora, "Yeah, I guess so. My head feels like someone took an axe to it . . . a couple of times. I . . . did you know we have mice? Not many but . . . ow!" Pip clutches her head as pain spikes with the flexing of new abilities.

"I'm sorry, I . . . I didn't mean to go all drama or . . . whatever just happened. Are you two okay? I hope you didn't . . . was I just on fire? I . . ." Epiphany slowly sinks to the floor, her knees giving way. It is rare to see Pip sit, her wings getting in the way. As her body moves to the floor they spread into the hallway to so she doesn't sit on them. The unfurling of feathered wings seems unconscious, but they fill the end of the hall where she sits.

[Maia]

For Maia, the transformation was almost what she'd witnessed from Serenity, but this was one of her sisters. Epiphany's voice had the same virtually undeniable quality that Serenity's did, but that didn't bother her in the slightest. She knelt down next to Epiphany after she seemed to settle mindful of the wings, and put her arms around her.

Maia looked to Darrik and Butch. "I think it might be a good idea for one of you to go get Uncle Shen, or Aunt Serenity. I'm sure they are both aware of what we all just felt, but it might be best to have them nearby." Again her tone was authorative, but somewhat less like the motherly tone she'd used for Zia and Eric, and more along the lines of a concerned sibling.

She looked to Epiphany. "Yes you were on fire, no one was hurt, We're all fine Epiphany. The real question, is aside from the headache, how do you feel, are YOU okay?"

[Karren Gaunt]

Cora's expression rises and falls with every positive and negative word escaping Pip's mouth, spiraling into concerned dismay as her oh-so-dammaged and oh-so-caring younger sister collapsed to the floor in beautific confusion. She floundered for thoughts, for what to do to alleviate Pip's confusion now that Maia infuriatingly, no lovingly, no hatefully, no, no... wait, just finish the thought... had comforted Pip first. It would be rude to crowd someone like Pip...

Coraline all but wailed inside at the injustice of it, and hung in the air, waiting for Pip to need something other than the sympathetic emotional support all but bleeding out of the young metamorph.

[Sunstar]

Marina gets up and goes to Pip. "Are you okay? What happened, Pip?" Her thoughts exploding. Is she hurt? Did the flames burn her? Does she have fire powers? Can she even touch her any more? She looks over at Maia . "Is she OK, Maia? What happened to her?"

[Maia]

Maia nodded. "I believe so, and the flames were from her, so I doubt she's been burned. I don't know what happened, I can only guess." She turned back to Epiphany, awaiting her own words describing her condition, not wanting to speak anymore for her than she should.

Considering Marina knew just as well that Epiphany seldom sat as she did, and that her wings were fully unfurled, it was easy to surmise something had happened, but just what Maia was unsure about.

[Toby Lupin]

Darrik struggled mightily at the shock of it all. The urge to practically melt down and fawn over Pip was quite overpowering, and even the innate canny nature of Darrik was not proof against the charm she unknowingly broadcasted. Still, he at least could recognize it for what it was... and came to the obvious conclusion.

"You get Aunt Serenity." He told Butch definitely, with a sudden certainty of awe. "I'm sure Pip has had that Apotheosis Uncle Shen was speaking of."

[LydaLynn]

As everyone talked around her, Epiphany looked up, confused and a bit overwhelmed. But it wasn't until Darrik said the word that she understood what was happening. A slight nod, "Yes . . . I think, I think yes. I . . . I can feel . . . more. I . . . I don't know, it doesn't feel like so very much more, though. I can hear the animals, feel their thoughts. I . . . I can see . . . energies better than before, but . . . nothing spectacular. There's the fire thing, but I'm not sure how to use it. I . . . if this is Apotheosis, I don't think we're getting the big boost we thought we'd be getting."

Pip was still unaware of her sibling's reaction to her, thinking what she was seeing was their awe at her having experienced Apotheosis first.

[Karren Gaunt]

"No. I'll get Aunt Serenity, I'm faster," interjected Coraline in furious joy, flushing pink at being able to do something to help the glorious creature that Pip's Apothesis had had her become. But... wait... didn't that mean... Only a few... and... Could... Coraline's survival instinct, lying bleeding on the proverbial ground, sufficating in pink, took the oppurtunity to struggle for control again.

Click to reveal..

[envoy] 6:38 am: Ironic epiphany recovery roll

envoy *rolls* 10d10: 4+10+4+2+2+1+3+6+10+3: 45

[envoy] 6:39 am: nope.

The confusion faded from her blue-on-black eyes as the rebellion was crushed, and Coraline zipped off through the corridors in search of Aunt Serenity or Uncle Shen, a huge grin on her face at the thought of being useful to someone as good and perfect and kind as her sister Pip.

[Butch_Cole]

"Yeah, uh, you go," Butch muttered after Cora flew off.

There was something about Pip that made him want to stay right where he was and take it all in. When she spoke, everything she said sounded so damn... charming. He didn't want to miss anything else she might say.

"Pip," Butch said. "No reason to be all modest. That's really...sweet, but you're so much...more right now. And you look...awesome!"

He couldn't think of much more to say, and it sounded stupid to him the instant it left his mouth, but he hoped that Pip liked it...damn, he really hoped that...

[Quantum Fire]

Cora reached Serenity almost immediately, their aunt had been back in the room when everyone had sudden vacated it, and she look at Cora curiously when Cora returned. She hadn't felt the sudden surge, for the simple reason that she was dormed down again. "You seem a bit excited, Cora, what's the problem?"

[Karren Gaunt]

"Pip apothesized! The others sent me to find help from you or Uncle Shen to help her," explained Coraline gleefully, wishing there was enough clearance between her and the celling to do the estatic loop de loops her thoughts were doing. Success! And so quickly! Pip was sure to be grateful to her for sure!

"You've got to come right away, Aunt Serenity! You must! She needs us to help her however we can and however she'll let us!"

[LydaLynn]

Pip looked up at Butch's words, blinked twice, then looked down at herself. "I do? I don't feel different." Studying her body, Epiphany couldn't see any differences, her chest was the same moderate size, her waist wasn't any thinner or her legs any longer, the colors all seemed the same.

Looking up in confusion, Pip finally saw the expressions on the faces directed at her. Her brow wrinkled with confusion. "Are you all okay? I . . . what is it? Do I have horns or something?" she reaches up to check as she asks the question. Defiantly worried at attention they're showing, Epiphany begins to panic, "What is it? What's wrong with me?"

[Maia]

Nothing's wrong with you Epiphany, just you're a little hard to ignore at the moment."

She smiled. "Not in a bad way, just a bit more than any of us were expecting." Clearly it was taxing even Maia to resist her charms, and yet she kept smiling.

"It's nothing you're doing actively, likely it's just an effect of Apothesis as Darrik called it. It's okay."

[LydaLynn]

"Oh, oh no. Oh, I'm so sorry! I . . . I don't know . . . how do I stop!? I don't mean to, I just . . . " One hand still rubbing her aching head, Pip seems to be trying not to panic. It's hard to tell how well she's succeeding, but so far she's still mostly calm.

Awkwardly getting to her feet and getting her wings back under control, "I . . . I should go, I should go and . . . I'm so sorry." Pressing the elevator button Epiphany is almost surprised as it slides open immediately, having forgotten that it had traveled down the shaft for her already. A wide-eyed step into the elevator covers her confusion as a shaking hand presses the up button. "I'm so sorry, so so sorry . . ."

[Maia]

Maia's hands loosened enough to release Epiphany and allow her to stand, and begin to move, but a firm hand against the door of the Elevator prevented it from budging at all to close. "You don't need to run Epiphany. You've got nothing to apologize for. We are your family, we WANT to help you."

"If you really want to go, I'll let go of the door, but you've been trying to spare us all so long, don't you think it's time you trust us, truly trust in your siblings?"

Her eyes communicated just as honestly, she didn't want Epiphany to leave.

[LydaLynn]

"I . . . I just . . . I don't know what I'm doing. I don't want you to . . . I don't want you to have to do anything. I don't know how to stop, I . . . I never want to do that to anyone, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I don't know how to fix it!" the last was almost a wail of anguish as Epiphany melted into herself, overwhelmed by everything that was happening.

[Toby Lupin]

Darrik stepped forward immediately, and wrapped a comforting arm around Epiphany immediately, making comforting shushing noises, compassion influenced by the sight of his charming sister holding a breakdown. "Pip, nothing wrong is going on. You've done nothing wrong, we're not hurt in any way, far the opposite. Bedazzled actually. The first step towards figuring how to control the effect is to calm down, dear girl. Deep breaths now."

Given the situation, he couldn't help but to feel the need to enhance his words with a deeper quantum undertone, though no one could sense it delved away within Darrik's natural voice.

Click to reveal..

Using Subtle first, and then Persuader added in to try and calm down Pip.

[LydaLynn]

Eye still overly wide, Epiphany nods slightly and takes Darrik's advice. A deep breath, another, the edge slowly begins to dull on the panic. Then she noticed again all the anxious faces looking at her, caring about her more deeply than seemed reasonable. Pip wanted to believe they cared for her, but she could tell the reactions were heightened and it scared her. More than anything she wanted things to go back to normal, for this strange new power to go away.

As her panic slowly wanes and her desire to pull back this new influence gains strength, slowly the overwhelming charisma subsides.

Click to reveal..

Using Tactful

[Quantum Fire]

Serenity stared at Cora for a long moment, then she shook her head slightly. "A bit overwhelming, the change in your sister then?" There was a way for her to fix that, as she had just demonstrated, she could use her own capabilities to try and bring the girl back to herself a bit. But Serenity didn't like using her capabilities unless it was a situation that seemed that it absolutely needed it, there were a few personal disadvantages to her nova form. "Let's go then, Cora, darling, show me to your sister."

[Toby Lupin]

Originally Posted By: LydaLynn

Eye still overly wide, Epiphany nods slightly and takes Darrik's advice. A deep breath, another, the edge slowly begins to dull on the panic. Then she noticed again all the anxious faces looking at her, caring about her more deeply than seemed reasonable. Pip wanted to believe they cared for her, but she could tell the reactions were heightened and it scared her. More than anything she wanted things to go back to normal, for this strange new power to go away.

As her panic slowly wanes and her desire to pull back this new influence gains strength, slowly the overwhelming charisma subsides.

Darrik smiled as the overwhelming influence faded away, and then consciously withdrew the arm slowly away from Pip. "See? You've got control of it now. But remember, enhanced likability or not, we're family, and thus here for you. I'm sure you'll be helping us soon enough when we reach Apotheosis."

When, not if. A reflection of Darrik's comforting certainty.

[Karren Gaunt]

"Yes! Quickly!!," chorused the young metamorph looping back on herself in midair in a flutter of red-and-white fabric, leading the way back to the sibling's gathering at a tortrously-slow just faster than Baseline running pace. What the hell did Aunt Serenity mean? Pip wasn't overwhelming at all; she was perfect, the light on a summer's day, the feel of stone cracking just so under her chissel, the thrill of a supersonic dodge made with a hair's breadth to spare, the...

Her train of thought, such as there was of it, broke into ribbons as she returned to the gathering and found Pip but none of the warm glowing... Pipness? Her features registered confusion, dismay. Had it really been..? Had she been so completely taken by..? Was...

"...I found Aunt Serenity," she managed numbly.

[Quantum Fire]

"And I don't think you need me at this point, it looks like everything is under control, I'll leave you. Epiphany, welcome to your full strength, hopefully Shen will show up soon, but I suspect he deliberately absented himself because he knew this possibility was higher without him here." She looked over Pip for a long moment, then she paused, about to say something.. stopped.. rethought it, then decided not to say anything for now. "I'll see you all later, I think Zia and Eric should wake from what I did in another few minutes."

[Courier]

Warren was floored by Serenity, so much so he was behind Butch and Darrik in following Epiphany. Clearly awestruck and overwhelmed, he simply said "Whoa."

[LydaLynn]

"Oh no, Zia, do you think . . . is she okay? I didn't have the shield up. I should get the link back up and . . ." Epiphany's words stopped as she started to try and gather people into the link. Wincing, her hands clutched her aching head. "Okay, maybe not right now."

[Butch_Cole]

"No worries there, Pip," Butch said. "Aunt Serenity put the kids to sleep, put the whammy on them. Me and Darrik put them back in their beds and came to see what the hell just happened."

He hoped the kids were still ok, but they hadn't awakened when Butch and Darrik felt Pip's Apotheosis.

"Maybe you should go have a lie down yourself. If you need a lift to your room, I'm sure one of us can carry you."

[LydaLynn]

"But we were having a meeting and I ruined it. We really do need to talk, though maybe back in the kitchen again, the hall seems a little crowded and I know some of you have to be hungry still. I can lay down after that, there's so much we haven't figured out yet." Epiphany rose shakily to her feet as she spoke. "I really am sorry everyone, I didn't mean to . . . whatever."

[Sunstar]

Marina shakes her head. "No Pip. It's not your fault that this happened. It just came as a shock when it did. That's all." She moves over to help Epiphany up. "Let me help you, sis. Maybe getting some food into you will help calm the nerves." She looks over at the others, even with out the mindlink, the look on Marina's face clearly means 'Right, everyone?'.