Aberrant: Children of Quantum Fire - Rainbow Room

[Quantum Fire]

The nova only club in Ibiza was a one of a kind experience, here nova's could unwind, relax and even do crazy things they couldn't do elsewhere. The main room was the rainbow room, but it went up 3 stories, and underground 4, with other rooms devoted to other purposes, just about anything one could imagine. Baseline's not allowed in, which had some folks irritated, but Andy Vance was the owner and had the right to decide who he would let in or out.

There were some powerful drinks and drugs that were specifically designed to work on a nova's philology by a nova genius who worked for Andy, something a bit more powerful then Amp Wells, and some of the drinks spiked with other things (OOC: See Pheromones in New Flesh for different possible drinks). The drinks also varied in strength, for those tougher then others, Andy himself had tested a number of them.

Music in some of the rooms was deliberately hypnotic or touched upon sounds beyond normal human hearing, or used light sculpture to enhance the performance in interesting ways.

OOC: Time Frame is any..

[Maia]

For Maia, it was all surreal. She'd come this time largely as a chaperone, to keep there from being any trouble, and because it was simply expected that nova models make at least one appearance at the club.

She still limited herself as though she were baseline, it being a convenient excuse to not indulge in the debauchery she'd only heard of practiced here.

[Karren Gaunt]

Coraline, on the other hand, was far less repressed than she normally was around outsiders as she acclimated for the second time to the benign sensory overload of the club, cheeks flushing as she drank in the raw perfection of the space the young metamorph was in. No place in the Baseline world was truly safe, but here, at least for now, the danger shouldn't be physical.

She turned on one heel to face Maia and the antisipated arival of her brother Butch through the Rainbow Room doors, smiling broadly as she raised her arms as if in presentation of their surroundings, striking good looks with her trademark blue-on-black eyes framed by locks of auburn hair. This outing was her idea of escaping from the slowly gathering social pressures of life on Alex's submarine, and she was determined to have it go right. Her siblings deserved it while they still could without provoking a global witchunt for their fellow 2nd Gens. *She* deserved it for her work with both Devries and Uncle Shen this past week. And Traveler had been kind enough to grant her the afternoon off.

She resisted the impulse to extend her senses in search of the young Nova whose potential presense made an ever-so-small part of herself hum with contentment even beyond the induced euphoria of the place. She wasn't quite sure she'd want to come back to herself or that she wanted to encourage such... thinking in herself.

[Butch_Cole]

Butch made his way through the doors of the Rainbow Room behind Maia and Coraline. When he was on the island, before they all got on the submarine, Butch was beginning to get cabin fever. Maybe it was seeing the same people over and over again every day in the same old place. Then they all were crammed into an even smaller space. Granted, Alex had created a truly impressive space for their use, but Butch got antsy after a few days.

Thankfully, Cora had suggested this little outing for her, Butch, and Maia before he lost it completely. The desire to get out and see something new overrode any fear of being tracked to the Rainbow Room. How long would they be there for? A few hours? Would Project Proteus be able to find him that quickly? Best not to think about it too much. He would be very careful not to cause a ruckus unless absolutely necessary and would avoid the authorities at all cost. He would have to be on his toes.

Through the doors, Butch tried not to be overwhelmed but it was very difficult not to feel a sense of awe at the Novas-only club run by Andy Vance. It would be quite interesting to meet some new people and cut loose a little. Even with all of his concerns, Butch would try to loosen up and enjoy himself.

"So, Cora," Butch said. He adjusted the collar of his leather jacket, then ran his hand through his close-cropped black hair. Then, he straightened his sunglasses. "Feel like giving us a quick tour or you wanna bust a move right away?"

[Quantum Fire]

Even as they were standing there, speaking a moment, someone came up to them, someone Cora would recognize. "Coraline, how pleasant to see you again, I was hoping you would drop by for another visit, might I know your friends?" It was Norman, but he had only seen her once before, and she'd looked different every day. Should she ask, he tap his nose, and reply that her scent hasn't changed.

[Karren Gaunt]

Blushing slightly in embarassment that she, the mega perceptive of her family, had forgoten so obvious a fact when dealing with one of her fellow Novas, Coraline smiled at Norman and gestured at her siblings. "Of course," her chorus laughed lightly before continuing, "Norman, this is Maia and Butch. They're training with me at my school and are as close as family to me. Butch, Maia, this is Norman. He and his friends helped me to get over the fact this place is so amazing in every way possible that I was frozen in place about six feet over there."

The young metamorph pointed at the spot, adding over the link in explaination, 'I'm trying to not lie too much. These aren't baselines after all, and I don't think anyone will try to hurt us openly here yet.'

[Maia]

Maia nodded. "Nice to meet you Norman." The stunning young beauty was recognizable to anyone who followed the world of fashion, because unlike Cora, her appearance didn't change.

"I imagine this place was probably pretty intense for you the first time."

[Butch_Cole]

Butch nodded once at the young blue skinned Nova named Norman and extended his hand in greeting.

"Nice to meet you, Norman," Butch said. "Call me Butch. Thanks for helping Cora out on her first visit. Hopefully you can help me and Maia, too. This place is...well, hell, it's a bit much."

[Quantum Fire]

Norman smiled slightly at the words from Butch and Maia, as well as Cora's response. "I may be able to help with that regard, however, the main room isn't the best place for that, it's almost designed to be overwhelming even to nova senses. There's a room devoted entirely to music and dancing, I remember you enjoyed that, also, Jenna and Morgan might be up for a game or two."

[Karren Gaunt]

Especially novas, thought the young metamorph to herself as a klaediscope of colors played over her smiling features. There was a synergy of all five of her senses here that made the artist in her take frantic notes and hints of more beyond even what she could causally detect...

Coraline commented, "Yes, I did. Very much. But this is their first time here and we're expected back in a few hours, so I'm prepared to let them call the shots this time around, Norman. At least until they're happy and distracted and I can slip off to dance for a few songs worth with you."

She blinked her blue-on-black eyes. Wait. What. Where had that last bit come from?

[Butch_Cole]

Butch looked sideways at Cora for a moment, somewhat surprised at her reaction to the young Nova named Norman. She hadn't said much about her and Darrik's previous visit to the Rainbow Room, but Butch knew that she had enjoyed the place very much. Initially he had thought it was the appeal of the by-Novas-for-Novas nature of the place. Now Butch knew another reason why.

"Actually, I think we'll be fine on our own. Ain't that right, Maia?" He motioned with his head towards the club twice, smirking. "Why don't we go check the place out on our own and let Cora and Norman get reacquainted."

[Maia]

Maia also looked at her younger sister, and then smiled. Everyone had to grow up sometime. If there was anyone she'd trust in a club, it was Butch, he'd lived a harder life than the others in some ways, and was much more streetwise.

"Go ahead and have fun Cora, you don't need to babysit Butch and I."

She smiled to Butch, and nodded, perhaps this litle excursion could be some fun.

[Karren Gaunt]

But but... Coraline's expression proclaimed objection in the face of her siblings withdrawal, uncertainty and fear holding her tongue even as she realized part of her very much wanted to spend the time with Norman. If he wanted to spend this time with her that is.

"Ummm," she said, flushing slightly and eufiber shimmering through a half-dozen colors in time to her pulse as she mustered her thoughts against distraction within and without, "You don't mind, do you? I just kind of assumed you'd want to just now. My changes kind of bother people who meet me the first few times, and I wouldn't want to force anything."

[Quantum Fire]

Norman bowed over Cora's hand, lifting it to his lips and kissing the back of her hand in a manner that could only be said was courtly before responding. "It would be a delight to have you as company this evening, I do not mind in the least, Lady." He shifted his own eufiber to a mirror like effect that was focused on her shifts.. to match her slightly.

"Now, if you want to, we can dance here, or we can move to the music and dance room, which is a rare experience, I must admit.. Harmonic is playing there tonight.. something she calls all body music."

[Karren Gaunt]

Oh. The young metamorph *liked* the idea of something called 'all body music'. It sounding *interesting*, and with Norman not rejecting her clumsy approach... She grinned to nearly split her face. "Sounds fun," she replied, fighting the impulse to take off the ground and flit there faster, "Let's go there."

Her eufiber shifts calmed slightly, going from a nervous habit to a barely consious game of up and down visual tag. If there was anything coraline knew, it was working her eufiber.

[Butch_Cole]

Butch and Maia made their way through the crowd and away from Cora and Norman. Of course, Butch would want to keep an eye on the two of them, but he would be discreet about it. Cora seemed surprised when Butch suggested he and Maia go off on their own. Some social interaction with other novas might do Cora some good. Especially with a nova that she seemed interested in...

We won't be far away, Cora. Don't worry. We'll have plenty fun on our own. You let us know if you need us, Butch sent to Cora.

He led Maia towards the bar and signaled the bartender. Leaning on the bar and turned towards Maia, Butch said, "So I'm just gonna have something sweet to drink, nothing too crazy. I don't want to be off my guard in a place," he made a quick circling motion with his index finger, "like this. Also, I'm po'. So broke I can't afford the O and R."

He winked at her and shrugged.

"Anyway, how you like modeling so far, Mai? I ain't had much of a chance to talk with you about it. You dig the catwalk or wish you were doing something else."

[Maia]

Maia's thoughts to Cora echoed butches, though she ended with "Have fun."

She didn't ake a drink, she'd heard stories, and as such she resolved to do nothing more than dance tonight.

"I actually do enjoy it, truth be told. I'd been to shoots before, when I was very young. I remember my mother loving to do them, and she always seemed so happy when she did a show."

"I don't think Cora likes it much but considering how exposed we are there, I can understand it."

"What about you? I haven't seen you much either, what have you been up to?"

[Butch_Cole]

"Sometimes I forget that you knew your Mom," Butch said. He was quiet for a moment. His own mother was a mystery to him, and he usually had little interest in knowing more about her. She abandoned him and his father when Butch was an infant and never made an attempt to return. What more did he need to know than that?

Butch continued, "So, being on a shoot must be just like old times for you. That's kind of nice."

The bartender finally came over and Butch ordered a cranberry juice. When she scurried off to get his drink, Butch turned back to Maia.

"I think Cora kind of needed this night out. She's been dealing with a ton of stuff lately. Modeling. Extra training with Uncle Shen. I think I needed it too. It's tough for me sometimes, y'know? Maybe I'm too cautious, I don't know, but I don't want anyone tracking me down in public. I don't want to mess things up for the rest of y'all. Believe me, it took a ton of convincing on Cora's part to get me out here for the night. As for what I've been up to?" He shrugged. "Reading a lot. Mental exercise." He flexed a muscle, mock-seriously. "Plenty of old fashioned muscle, but," he said tapping his head, "this needs some work, too. So, I've been devouring all sorts of things from Caesar to Von Clausewitz to Sun Tzu and then watching all sorts of battle footage and whatnot. Other than that? Um, just trying to stay sane. And I think we should dance. What do you say?"

The vibe of the place was getting to him, and he felt himself loosening up a bit...

[Maia]

Maia nodded. She knew the names from history lessons, and knew, knowing Butch, that they were generals and strategists. "It's funny how most of what they taught us is still very applicable today isn't it?"

She smiled, suprised that he asked her to dance, and nodded. "If I dance with anyone here, I'd prefer it was you."

"You want to stay in here in the main room, or go to one of the other's Cora's friend mentioned?"

[Quantum Fire]

Originally Posted By: Envoy

Oh. The young metamorph *liked* the idea of something called 'all body music'. It sounding *interesting*, and with Norman not rejecting her clumsy approach... She grinned to nearly split her face. "Sounds fun," she replied, fighting the impulse to take off the ground and flit there faster, "Let's go there."

Her eufiber shifts calmed slightly, going from a nervous habit to a barely consious game of up and down visual tag. If there was anything coraline knew, it was working her eufiber.

Norman smiled at her and offered her his hand, then lead her from the main room though several rooms, and downstairs, underground, to a room that seemed to be bigger then it could be, there was a stage, but the entire room, floors, walls, roof, were made of some kind of mirror or reflective surface, it looked like a reversed disco ball, with thousands of small human sized mirrors, though they must be stronger then they looked, because not a one was broken. Someone had also done something with gravity here, because it was completely non-existent, full 0-G in the entire room.

Meanwhile, a music was being played and sung here that seemed to resonate with her very bones, touching on harmonics that human's couldn't even hear, it was beautiful and almost frightening. Sound and light mixed in almost perfect harmony, with vibrations as well, affecting the sense of touch, and there was a scent on the air that mixed perfectly with everything else. Harmonic, the nova singer was the source of all of this, and there were about a dozen dancers here, all of them moving together in a pefect harmony.. this was the kind of thing that a recording could be sold on the OpNet for millions, but that was not the purpose.

Norman closed the door behind them, which was a mirror like everything else, but with a mark or two that made it a little different and able to be picked out with a glance. He then put his hands on Cora's waist and whispered very low, so as not to interupt the music and the patterns. "Something skin-tight let's you feel the vibrations better." His eufiber had shifted to some sort of skin-tight outfit that left his arms and legs bare, and showed off his muscles quite well. "Care to join the dance?"

[Karren Gaunt]

Coraline all but purred 'yes' in response with all her voices, licking her lips as what she could only describe as a perfect sensation rippled into her consious mind from all directions, her eyes alight with joy as she acted on the invitation and started measuring the rhythm with her fingers. Her eufiber followed, forming into her default backless training bodyglove, leaving very little of the supermodelesque body below to the imagination in return.

Slave or no, he was making her feel happy just to be around him, and her smile made that good feeling abundantly clear. "Did I mention last time that I can fly?" she quibed softly, using the ability to tug them gently through the zero-g chamber to a clear patch while they got settled into the synergy of the performance, "I'm actually pretty good at it."

[Quantum Fire]

"I hope I can see it some day then, my own capabilities run into the areas of electromagnetism actually, control over magnetism and electricity, perhaps we can compare someday, I am certain you would be able to run circles around me. But in this room, we can both fly, after a manner of speaking." Zero gravity movement took a moment or two to fully integrate with, but with her superhuman physical capabilities, she soon adapted, though she had her knowledge of flight to depend upon.

He gave her a wink even as his hand grasped hers and spun her in time with the music, mixing with the motions of the others who were dancing in her. He also was shifting the eufiber's colors in tune with hers and the shifting colors in the room, adding another affect to the mixes here.

[Karren Gaunt]

Coraline laughed, going with the motion and spun herself back in against him after being spun out in time to a rising melody that synergistically played on her eyes, ears, and touch at the same time. "Heh. I think I might be able to bring myself to like that with you, and I was raised to not share anything with anyone," she whispered in the moment of closeness, privately amazed at the honesty of the statement, "To not trust anyone outside my family. I think that might be a bad habit they're trying to get me to shed."

The beat pulled them out into another spin, her blue-on-black eyes gleaming with happiness as the 'monkey mind' chatter of worries and woes began to ebb away in the face of the happy trust of the now.

[Butch_Cole]

"I'd like to check out Harmonic," Butch said to Maia. "If you're not opposed to that of course. I remember hearing my dad get real excited about her a year or two before he, well..."

Butch paused to take a drink. He couldn't exactly remember all that his dad had said, but he distinctly remembered him mentioning something about Harmonic and how her music was doing something to soothe some of the growing tensions between baselines and novas. Perhaps Johnny Hellfire would have been pleased to know his son would have a chance of hearing her live.

He finished the rest of the cranberry juice. Thankfully, it was just cranberry juice. Butch was concerned about someone slipping something into his drink without his knowledge, but his quantum ability enhanced his sense of his own body. If there were something in the drink, Butch would know about it. While he wouldn't know what specifically was in the drink, there would be a silent voice within indicating the presence of something that would harm or alter him. The first time it had happened was when he was a kid and his dad had given him some canned spaghetti and meatballs. He gladly devoured half the can, but then he just knew that something was wrong with what he had just eaten. He sort of heard his body silent-tell him that it could have made him sick. For a moment, his stomach turned, but then his quantum abilities quashed any potential sickness. He belched, loudly.

"Something was wrong with the spaghetti, dad. My body fixed it. But I don't think you should eat any of it."

His dad looked at him very seriously for a moment and then laughed, dumping the rest of the spaghetti in the garbage. Butch tried not to think too much about what had happened to Johnny Hellfire a few years after that. Tonight was a night to relax and enjoy.

He shrugged and continued. "Anyway, I think it'd be cool to check her out while we're here. Shall we?"

Butch extended a hand to Maia and waited for her to join him.

[Maia]

Maia took his hand and smiled of course." She allowed Butch to lead the way mildly amused by how he'd worded things.

"Let's try to give Cora and her friend their space though. I've seldom seen her happy to meet someone who isn't family."

[Quantum Fire]

"Ah.. we can discuss things later, for now, let's lose ourselves in the dance." And with that, he turned himself entirely over to dancing with her, matching her movements and shifts with superhuman dexterity, though perhaps not quite as great as hers, he was very graceful and agile, and he was a master of dancing, his skill brought him closer to her natural capabilities, so both of them were actually well matched. Color mixed with sound, mixed with movement, mixed with movement, mixed with vibration, it was designed to please and touch as many senses as possible, pleasing harmonic's shivered though one's bones and and against the skin, though the eufiber, some of the other dancers were wearing even less then her, though non of them would be considered indecent.. it would be appropriate beach attire.

As Maia and Butch made their way to the Mirror and Music room, where Cora and Norman were, the room was somehow fully absorbing the sounds within, so they heard non of the music, as someone stepped in the way before they stepped though. "Not to be rude, but you not wearing eufiber.. " He glanced at Maia. "Part of the music within is supposed to be experienced against the skin, a swimsuit or dancer's leotard would be most appropriate within.. we can whip something up for you rather quickly, if you'll give us a moment?"

[Karren Gaunt]

Cora aquised to his stated design with a wry smile, letting her body tell her what it wanted to do in response to the world and and Norman's more practised moves with her brain only offering suggestions. True, most of her movements owed more to the martial arts than performing arts for their origins, but adapted, slowed and altered, to syncronize with Norman's movements rather than attack or defend. Often as not, she took the lead to spin them through the zero-g chamber, applying a touch of invisible thrust from her quantum abilities, hair haloing out around her head. Outwardly, the young metamorph looked like she was doing nothing but enjoying what she was doing, eyes overbubbling wells of the happiness informing her movements.

Inwardly, Coraline found herself in a state of happy mild fugue, fully aware of what was going on but feeling no particular urge to more than nudge things along the way they were going, not Pip's invassive 'pinkness' from before, but a sense everything was going to be all right. That if something did go wrong she would know in time to stop it so she didn't have to worry before hand. The sense that, here and now, and just maybe perhaps other places, she didn't have to be 'on duty' all the time in the outside world.

[Maia]

Maia shook her head. "That's because I cannot wear it."

She nodded. "If you can manage something not made of Eufiber, then I'd be appreciative." She left off that if not it was no particular loss to her.

[Butch_Cole]

Butch stopped short when someone got in their way. When a person said something like "Not to be rude" or "No offense" as a preface, well, Butch didn't usually like what was about to come next. Inevitably, it was something that could be seen as rude or offensive, and he wondered why more people didn't just say things straight instead of all the verbal dancing that usually went on.

He hoped that Maia wasn't too uncomfortable with this unknown person's comment about eufiber. Clothing was something of an issue when it came to the super strong Maia, who managed to destroy her fair share of attire. As for eufiber, Butch didn't own any either. His father had a eufiber outfit that he wore, but it was destroyed long ago. In the years since then, Butch had neither the money to by a eufiber outfit nor the desire to heist a colony of his own.

His eyes narrowed slightly, and a slight edge crept into his voice as he said, "Why don't you move along, hoss? If it's not a problem, I think we'll take our chances as we are in there. I don't see any signs saying we can't go in if we don't have eufiber on. Besides, I was raised to never take candy from strangers. You get me?"

He looked at Maia, and when he caught her eye, he motioned with his head towards the room, starting to walk again, completely ignoring the person who had stepped into their path.

[Maia]

"Or not. He has a point. I'm quite comfortable wearing what I have on." With that she allows Butch, who still had hold of her hand, to pull her onwards. She didn't care really about it all, and in truth she did know better than to take something from a stranger.

[Quantum Fire]

The man shook his head slightly, then sighed. "Have it your way, Harmonic simply asked me to remain here to make the offer, politely as possible, but even so, your free to enter as you like, but we could have the proper outfits within a minute or two, and not out of eufiber.. otherwise, you'll find it an interesting experience." He stepped aside to allow Butch and Maia to enter if they so chose.

Norman also saw no need to change things matching her, shifting to take the lead in those moments were it matched the music best, but then shifting back to following her lead when she chose to spin them though the chamber. The other nova appeared to be enjoying this dance with her as much as she was enjoying it, simply giving himself over to the ebb and flow of the moment, matching her movement for movement, color for color, shift for shift, vibration for vibration.

[Karren Gaunt]

Sometimes, life was very simple for the young metamorph. Blinding input came in and was filtered into something a human mind could translate. The input had a very clear, very direct solution possible within her abilities. Then you acted on that solution, triggering new input that pushed you forward through a world that was always willing to push you back if you didn't know what you were doing. And you did that with every single action, every single step, enhanced senses blessedly fast enough to keep up with enhanced reflexes in a slow-motion world. Action, reaction, action... Like the beat of her heart, or, and this realization sent more happy ripples through her unfocused thoughts, the movement of a dance with a good partner to good music.

A dance partner like Norman. Good music like Harmonic's. Almost as if this moment of her and him and the world was planned by something benign to shift the metaphor from 'push' into 'flow'.

The beat dragged her in close against her dance partner for a moment in passing, her lips brushing his ear and she whispered, "Thank you." Coraline wasn't sure who she was thanking.

[Butch_Cole]

Oh, for the love of God...

Butch stopped moving forward into the room. He looked up and shook his head in exasperation.

"Alright, hoss," Butch said. "You said this is supposed to be experienced against the skin ideally, right? Here's the deal then."

He let got of Maia's hand for a moment and pulled his arms from the sleeves of his leather jacket. Then he pulled his black t-shirt off revealing a well-muscled torso that would be the envy of many, baseline or nova. Bending down, he took off his boots and socks. All that was left on him were his jeans, and he was not about to take those off. He handed his clothes to the man standing just to the side who had offered them eufiber or whatever else it was.

"So, there's the skin I'm willing to expose. No need for you to whip anything up. Now," he quickly folded his shirt and jacket and put his socks in his boots handing them to the flunky. "I'm giving this to you. Harmonic put you here to help folks have a good time, then you can hold on to this for me. That'll help me have a good time. You mess with my shit, I mess with yours. Get me? Maia, it's up to you if you want what this guy's offering. If not, then let's get a move on and enjoy ourselves in there."

Some people, Butch thought, tired of dealing with this impediment to their good time...

[Maia]

Maia shook her head. "God Butch that was really uncalled for." She sighed and followed him inside. "You really shouldn't let people get to you like that. You need to learn to loosen up a little Butch." She placed a hand on his bare shoulder and smiled. "I thought we were supposed to have some fun tonight." She heard the music, and she admit it was entrancing, but still first things first, she looked for Cora. Not out of worry but out of curiosity. If anyone was wound tight, it was Cora. She hoped her little sister would be having a good time.

[Quantum Fire]

Even as Butch and Maia started to the door, they heard a harmonic sound behind them, if they looked back they would see the that the person who stopped them was talking to the air, and they would hear the following.. "Jason, I don't like the emotional harmonics I'm hearing out here, what do you think you are doing?"

Then the door closed behind them, silencing whatever response Jason had been about to make. A moment later as they entered the room which intensive music going on, floating in a room with no gravity, they both heard a slight tone within the music, a voice that was increadibly beautiful, and that even now they could hear singing from the platform, somehow she was also sending them a sound as well. "Your the only ones hearing this, I've wrapped it in the sound around around the two of you, I apologize for Jason, he was over zealous in following my suggestions.. please, enjoy the music, and allow me the chance to make it up to you after the concert." With that, she stopped doing whatever she had been to project those words to them, and allowed them once more to hear nothing but the song itself.

Meanwhile, above and to the right of them, Norman and Coraline were in the middle of the room and fully integrated into the music, in all of it's various aspects, vibration, light, sound, and seemed to be enjoying themselves considerably. Even as they danced, and Cora came close to him to whisper something in his ear, he shifted her around so that she was in the circle of his arms and whispered back.. "Your welcome..." Then he kissed her, softly, allowing her to draw back or not as she chose.

[Karren Gaunt]

The kiss was accepted eagerly, willingly, input by-passing brain entirely, and accepting that this was just a Perfect Moment, however unlikely, however impossible, and that she didn't need to be afraid of what was happening.

[Butch_Cole]

Butch floated up, up, up gently pulling Maia with him.

"Sorry 'bout that, Maia," Butch said. "Guy just got on my nerves. I'll be good from now on."

He winked and spun her around once, midair, letting the music flow around him. Letting her go, Maia could feel an increase in heat around Butch as he used his bioenergy to help him zero-g boogie. His movements were fluid and in tune with the gorgeous music filling the mirror room.

When he needed to, Butch could get down with his bad self. Back in Baltimore, Butch hung out with some pretty tough kids that knew how to party. There was that summer night a few months before Uncle Shen came to rescue him when it seemed like all of East Baltimore was out and getting down at sundown. A local kingpin tossed some drug cash around to keep the 'hood on his side with a big summer blowout. He recalled rolling up to the park in the late afternoon with Skinny and Jawaan and Little Big Man, the kids who lived near his abandoned rowhouse and didn't ask him about what was behind his shades. They just liked hanging on the corner with Butch and talking tough, occasionally chasing some other punks off the block or getting bottles thrown at them and running away. Jawaan and Little Big Man were look-outs for Peanut's crew of slingers in the last of the old low rises. Peanut worked for Dread, who was making a name for himself and taking more corners all the time, slinging dope and coke and Mite and it was even rumored he had a line on some Soma and "Super" Mite. Through them, Butch got the invite to the party. The good-ol'-bad-ol' days...

He smiled at Maia as he danced. "But I guess it worked out for us, huh? An invite from Harmonic? I'm pretty amped for that."

[Quantum Fire]

Even as dancing continued, Norman pleased with her reaction to his kiss, he allowed her to spin outward from him as he caught her wrist and the dance between the two of them grew a bit more intensive. For Cora, however, this was becoming more then a simple dance, even as she was deep in a moving meditative state, the pulse of her blood pounding though her veins, the vibrations of the music along her skin, the prefect integration of music with motion, and light.. and her mind not considering future or past, focused completely and utterly on this moment, hear and now.

This was what Shen had been teaching her, in fact, when she had asked, he had responded with the following words. "For your foster siblings, each has their own path to apotheosis, you however, my daughter... will find it in meditation and motion.. when you fully embrace the moment.. and that is one of the many reasons this is important."

As the dance continued, she began to change, her senses sharped, strengthened, reached fair beyond what she knew, her hearing was first, and still she heard new sounds in higher ranges that added to the incredible harmony in the room.. and she went further... her power and speed increasing at an exponential rate, as she then surpassed her partner in pure talent, becoming even more capable.. as her natural talent and capabilities reached beyond what was normally possible and into entire new areas... new perceptions and capabilities seemed to unfold in her mind like a flower suddenly opening... and her movements brought her to the center of the dance, with the others around her..

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3150852/

Welcome to Apotheosis, Cora...

[Maia]

Maia nodded. "No worries Butch, he was annoying me as well." She smiled and let the rhythm take hold of her. Watching her dance was something many men would pay handsomely for, and Butch got the show for free. She didn't let loose, there was obviously still some control there, as she needed it else she'd end up nude.

"The invite is cool and all, I just don't want her to feel it as an obligation. I hate putting people out like that."

Vaguely she became aware of a change in Cora, and sighed. Butch wasn't going to like this much she wagered.

[Karren Gaunt]

Coraline came out of her intensely-pleasant fugue as the changes wrought by her node pulsed to a close, a pleasant glow of sweat dotting her even-more superhumanly beautiful features, feeling simply... more. In every possible way. Her thoughts buzzing through her brain like frenetic fireflies as new heights of more extreme yet somehow easier to manage input flowed in from all sides as she drifted to a halt clinging to Norman, hair hanging about her face. This was... That was... She was... Oh God, she had, but... here? Oh God. The young metamorph gripped Norman more tightly, shaking a little. "Norman... I, I... That was..," her chorus stammered asynchronously, caught between lingering joy and birthing horror at what the family, and oh God Maia and Butch were *right there*, would do, think, the joy and wonder just winning out for the moment as she sought reassurance from the other young Nova, "Amazing. I..."