Aberrant: Children of Quantum Fire - Lunar Excavations [4.1]

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: LydaLynn

But when Warren became filled with resolve about the scientists, Pip reached out a hand to cover his. 'No. Those who did that died at my father's hands. Those that remain were not there. I hate Teragen for what it did, I still have those memories lash out at me. But we don't know who truly is innocent and who is guilty. We can not become them, allowing ourselves to fall to their level because of the pains some who adopted the same cause did in that cause's name. I can't work with them, but I also can't accept that all of them are of such abject evil. And more than that, I can't accept the stain such killing would put on your soul.'

Warren mentally snorted with amusement at himself and the line he'd drawn in the sand. Thankfully he wouldn't need to put 'The Plan' into horrific reality. With some minor quibbles he agreed with she'd said. He'd been looking at the edge of the world and found it wasn't what he'd thought. With relieved amusement he verbalized, Almost a pity. It was a good/bad plan, it would have worked.

Originally Posted By: LydaLynn

Suddenly Pip couldn't stop the flood of memories of the brother who's mind she shared...

Not able to meet his eyes, she pulled away from the link, afraid of what she might learn from his reaction...

Warren saw himself reflected in Pip's mind and he froze, spellbound, not able to think. Then the link ended and he was alone in his head again. Like before but worse, now he knew.

Decision time.

He was a jumble of unresolved contradictions where it came to Pip.

He trusted/enjoyed/wanted her inside his head. He admired and respected her. She was the least corrupted by their power, the most moral. His favorite sister.

That was just him hiding. He didn’t want to risk what they had, but at the same time he also wanted more. Somewhere down the line she’d changed from being ‘the favorite sister’ to being… what? Something you don’t call ‘sister’ unless your neck is very red.

Warren reached over and took Pip’s hand and saying softly, “Same here,” kissed her knuckles.

[LydaLynn]

Epiphany startled at Warren's words. She still hadn't processed them when she felt his lips on her hand. Stunned to immobility, she tried to process what he had said, what he meant.

It wasn't possible, he couldn't . . . had she done something, changed his mind while she was there in some subtle way neither of them noticed? Was she being 'magnificent' again? Replaying all that had happened, making sure her brilliance was safely pulled into herself, Pip couldn't see any way in which she had influenced Warren.

But that meant . . . slowly, so very slowly, Epiphany looked up at Warren, her eyes half lidded. Trembling slightly, she tried to see him, just him, in that moment. Not with her mind, but with her eyes. He was there, as he had always been. But something in his eyes . . . then she couldn't see anymore. Pip's eyes flooded with tears, but she couldn't think about them or what they meant.

With a choked sob Pip threw her arms around Warren's neck. Her body warm and shaking with emotion, she couldn't speak past the lump in her throat. With the network down, she couldn't speak to his mind either. But right now the emotion was too much and she couldn't bring herself to stretch her mind out to his, this once she would do things as a normal person, feeling the person she was with and talking and listening without the undercurrent of emotion. This time she would know that what she heard was what he intended to say.

[Courier]

Warren hugged Pip and waited for her to stop crying. This was the point in a romance novel where he was supposed to kiss her, but he'd go slow and careful. Maybe skip the several times where things blow up.

After Pip seemed to calm down he repeated and then continued somewhat disjointedly, "Same here. You're in my thoughts and memories. I'm a better person for having known you. You're the least corrupted by her power. And all that is off topic, isn't it?"

Trying again, Warren swallowed and nervously explained, "Somewhere down the line I went from thinking about you as 'my sister who I love' to just being 'Pip who I love and who I'd like to start dating.'"

[LydaLynn]

Epiphany blinked rapidly, trying to clear her eyes. A few tiny drops of tears clung to her eyelashes, making them sparkle. She looked up at Warren, her eyes shining and wide. "You . . .? I, I didn't know. I thought . . . I thought it was just me."

Pip pulls back slightly, her hands still lingering on his shoulders, unwilling to break their contact. "I thought I was just seeing what I wanted to see. You're always there and so nice, even when I don't deserve it. I . . . Are you sure? I want, I want for things to be real. I'm so afraid, my powers, I don't understand them. I don't know if . . . I don't want to change anyone, for anyone to . . . but you especially, about this . . . I couldn't live with myself if . . ."

She swallowed hard and turned her head, eyes lowered, "I like you very much. I love you as family and . . . I don't know. I know what my parents felt for each other, but . . . I don't really know what love feels like, for me. I . . . I'm sorry. I think I'm doing this all wrong." Epiphany again turns to look into Warren's eyes, her heart laid bare in her own.

[Courier]

On some level Warren still wasn't totally sure it was a good idea. It felt right. He wanted it. But it was a huge step forward.

As Pip kept her hands on his shoulders Warren put his lightly on her waist. He said a little hesitantly, "We're doing fine. This is new and a big change. And... you didn't change me in there. I invited you in because..." Warren swallowed, admitting the next thing would be hard, "Partly because I thought this might happen. Maybe you'd like what you found in my head. And if you didn't... I figured... well I hoped... well... if everything was all in my head then I thought you'd let me off easy."

Warren met Pip's heart gaze with his own and said, "And... and I'm not sure what to do now. You're family, and I've never been here before either."

Warren lightly tried to pull Pip closer to him.

[LydaLynn]

Epiphany hesitated for a moment, then allowed Warren to bring them closer. "I . . . I just . . . this is so weird. I mean . . . " Laying her head on his still slightly tear-dampened shoulder, "That we both feel this way, about each other. That we're this lucky, it's not . . . it doesn't work this way for most people. I . . . I have all these memories of crushed spirits and broken hearts and . . . " Suddenly her voice gets slightly husky and the words barely escape as whispers, "And I'm afraid."

Shivering slightly, Pip looks out at the park around them and stiffens. Blinking, twice, she slowly sits up. "Oh." Completely involved in each other, the pair hadn't noticed the slowly growing group of joggers that had stopped to watch the drama. It was as she saw them staring worshipfully that Epiphany realized she hadn't been holding her new awe inspiring aspects in check. "Ah . . ."

[Courier]

Warren started to answer Pip's statement then thought better of it. They'd both had lots of suffering in their lives and they'd have to work hard for their 'happily ever after'. Things always ended badly, otherwise they wouldn't end.

Then the baselines showed up. Their worship drove home it wasn't luck between Warren and Pip. How could a baseline make a good mate for either of them? There were first Gen's with minds Pip couldn't accidently break. There were first Gen's who would enjoy Jupiter's rings, but that was the exception, not the rule. If they wanted an equal, Warren's and Pip's options were pretty limited. Warren hadn't put it in those words to himself before, but it jelled things better than 'Pip is hot'.

Somewhat grateful for the insight the baselines had inadvertently made, Warren bowed to them and said quietly to Pip, "I think a lot of those memories don't really apply to us. We didn't trip over each other, this has been a long time coming. Apotheosis might have sped things up, but it might not have too."

Warren attuned Pip and made both of them invisible. He said, "So then... Rings of Saturn? Another McDonalds? Forward to the past?"

[LydaLynn]

Epiphany bit her lip. "I . . . I'm worried, I've had the network down for a while now. If anything happened, there'd be no way for anyone to get ahold of us. I . . . I would love to . . . do stuff. I mean, Saturn would be nice, but . . . "

Sighing, "I know I don't have to be responsible for everyone, but . . . I feel like I do. I just . . . As much as I hate some of the things I can do, some of it is necessary to keep everyone safe. I . . . this is so new, I don't want to end here, to go back and wonder if we were both sane to . . . I mean, I just . . ."

Laying her head on his shoulder again, "Okay, no doubts about it, I'm crazy. You're standing with a crazy woman. Heh, you're invisible with a crazy woman, can they still hear us?" Looking back at the now confused and slightly upset joggers, Pip shuddered. Even if she hadn't intended it, she had affected them, changed them. Their lives had been disrupted because she was there. For just a moment the idea flitted across her mind that she could take their memories of the last few minutes away. Firmly stomping on the idea, Epiphany turned to bury her face in Warren's chest. "We need to go, before I do something I don't intend."

[Courier]

What Pip was really saying was she wanted to go slow and let all this sink in. That was fine, they had time, this was important, and for the moment he'd just enjoy her head on his shoulder. Further offering to move them around in time might be more than he was actually up to and playing out a scene from 'Lost in Space/Time' wouldn't be good.

Warren said, "You're not crazy, you're... practical. That's a good thing. Ethical is too."

The baselines clearly could heard something and headed over to where the novas had 'disappeared'.

Warren put his arm around Pip's waist and a board lifted them into the air. A Warp gate formed, they went through, and Pip could see they were above their island home. The board drifted down towards one of the entrances as Warren wondered what he should do now.

[LydaLynn]

Epiphany looked up as she felt them warp to the island. Sighing as she watched the land approach. "Back to reality I guess. I hope everyone is still okay . . . and easy to find for the links. I . . . What should we tell them . . . about . . . you know?"

[Courier]

Warren clearly hadn't planned this far ahead. He said, "Umm.... I think we say we're dating." Wondering if Saturn was still a potential, he added, "And after the link is set up again, how far away can you be without it going down?"

[LydaLynn]

Epiphany nods, "Okay, that sounds good. But, maybe not until they ask. Not that it's secret, just . . . there's so much going on right now I don't want to be a distraction." Then she shrugged, "As for the network, I'm not really sure, I havn't tested it that much. But I don't think it would reach much past the moon when it's above the other side of the Earth. What were you thinking?" Her arm wrapped around Warren's shoulder felt natural. In the back of her mind she wondered how much of her attraction to him was because he was so much like her father. But she dismissed the thought. That he was like her father meant that he was a great guy, and that was what was important here.

[Courier]

Warren nodded in agreement and wrapped his arm around Pip's waist... his girlfriend's waist, now there was a thought he'd better get used to... and wondered how long it'd take everyone to notice. He said, "I was thinking I'd like to watch the sun rise from the moon with you. Maybe make a picnic out of it. " Warren held up a mental image of a turkey sandwich and glass of water, both frozen solid in a vacuum and then boiling as the sun hit them.

[LydaLynn]

Epiphany laughed at the image, relaxed with Warren. While it wasn't the first time he had heard her laugh, it was a rare thing, and the ease of the laughter was something new in his experience. With a lingering smile, "That sounds nice." Pip stopped herself from snuggling closer. She reminded herself that this was moving very quickly and if they wanted to avoid hurting each other things should be taken a bit more slowly. But she didn't pull back either. This was good and comfortable and felt right. She knew that hormones had something to do with that 'right' feeling, but she didn't care. As long as they were careful, they should be able to have a good and lasting relationship, even if the definition of that relationship changed.

[Quantum Fire]

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