Aberrant: Children of Quantum Fire - [Fic] Wildly Beating Hearts

[z-The Morrigan]

Three days after Jungle Storms...

Morri crouched, one leg extended behind her, her head tilted back. Her right foot was beneath her, bearing most of her weight, as her fingertips pushed lightly to the floor. Despite being posed on a dance floor, she was wearing her usual tank top and olive BDU pants. The drum beat rose in a rolling tide, raising her to her feet, her body moving in sharp, jerking movements in time to the music. Tahir bounced out onto the padded floor, his own movements sharply rhythmic. The large lion's blue eyes were narrowed with concentration. Not only was he moving his body with graceful ease, he was watching Morri closely.

The two novas danced together in ritualistic formality, their lean, strong bodies fulfilling the ancient story of the Primal Queen. It was a myth in the Primal Lands; the goddess who created the world had once been challenged by an intruder. The Suns ran through this ceremonial dance on the shortest day of the year, which was when the epic battle had occurred. There were many versions of the fight; the Suns' mythos said that the Primal Queen had banished the shadowy invader, releasing the sun from the shadows the evil god had tried to wrap around it. The Suns drew their strength from the sun and this dance was the story of the salvation of that power.

The final music faded; Tahir said it wasn't exactly right, but it was close enough for them to practice. Normally, the honor of performing this saga in dance was reserved for the heir and a great hero of the Suns. This year, according to Tahir, that honor was being given to Morri. The respect shown to her would be used to pay off the Tribe's debt to the Morrigan. They'd even conceded to alter it a little because she was a two-legged; as far as anyone could remember, she was the first two-legged who'd be allowed to perform the saga on the Short-Day. She hadn't said so to Tahir, but she wished she'd earned it the traditional way. The Suns always treated her with stiff but complete deliberateness. Even Tahir had been overly formal with her to start; had he not been with her constantly he'd probably still be acting with excessive officiousness.

"How was that?" Morri asked before repeating herself in French for Tahir's benefit.

Tahir nodded. "Good. You've learned to dance quickly," he rumbled in Feliod, then repeated himself in Lion. It was the way that Morri was going to learn the more complex language, even if she'd never have the mouth for it.

"I've always been good at dancing," Morri told him in both languages, an amused glint coming into her eyes. "Let me show you my music." She turned back to the music system, going out to the opnet to choose a song. As the first raucous notes poured out of the speakers, Tahir's ears flicked back. "Come in!" the human nova crowed as she started to dance. She didn't bother to repeat herself in French as she moved her body to the music. After a moment, her enthusiasm passed to the lion; with a covert look around, he started his own dancing. It was mostly shuffling his paws around in a complex rhythm with the occasional hop. "That's it!" Morri laughed as she spun around, grinning at her furred friend.

Drum music:

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Modern music - mentally update for 2027:

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[LydaLynn]

Epiphany had been looking for a good place to practice her language work. Thinking the open space of the dance floor would make a good acoustic environment she had wandered in that direction. Hearing music from inside, she had almost turned to leave when she heard a voice call out over the music, "Come in!" Not sure who it was, but not surprised that she had been noticed, having lived with novas all her life, Pip turned back with a shrug. Opening the door, her eyes widened at the sight.

Though most people would have paused at the sight of a dancing lion, Pip was struck by the sight of Morrigan dancing. It wasn't a dance like her mother would have performed, more primal and intense, but this was the first time she had seen someone dance alone for the joy of dancing in a very long time. In her mind Epiphany couldn't help but remember her mother and the emotions that came with the memory dampened her eyes.

[z-The Morrigan]

Morri was having fun. Tahir never relaxed like this in the Primal Lands; as Omore of the Tribe, he was supposed to uphold the pride and dignity of his people. In other words, he was to act like he had a giant stick up his ass. Tahir may not have liked Morri's world's, may have found it dark and dirty and crowded, but here he was free to act however he wished. Here, he was allowed to be a young lion; to act like the teenager he was.

The music ended and Morri laughed from the sheer enjoyment of the dance. Tahir's tail twitched with joy; then he hopped up and wrapped his forepaws around her, dragging her to the ground. A human would have been mauled; Morri just giggled as the lion's greater bulk pinned her to the floor. His teeth scraped over her flesh harmlessly; his claws snagged but didn't rip her clothing.

The lion got her down and started grooming her. "Hey!" Morri yelped as the rough tongue rasped over her body. He was mostly 'cleaning' her eufiber, but his tongue was dislodging her clothing, flashing hints of her mocha skin. "No fair!" It was particularly not fair since one-sided grooming was a sign of dominance. Morri positioned her hips and rolled, and Tahir found himself on his back with Morri sitting on his stomach. Not to be outdone by her friend, Morri started to groom him in return, 'cleaning' his chest. It was mostly for show, of course, but she really licked him. Otherwise it didn't count. Tahir grumbled but didn't stop, his tongue rasping over her pants.

The human nova was on her third lick when she realized they weren't alone. Blinking, Morri glanced up at the door to the room. One of the guests stood in the doorway, watching them. As Morri stared, Tahir realized that he wasn't the focus of the girls attention. He rolled his head around until his blue eyes caught Epiphany's. The tip of his tongue still extruded from between his teeth.

"Epiphany." Morri was glad she'd remembered the unusual girl's name. The dark-skinned woman stood up and pulled a clump of lion fur off her tongue. Tahir rolled to his feet and shook out his fur. "Can I help you with something?"

[LydaLynn]

Epiphany blinked rapidly a few times, in truth she hadn't really been seeing them for a while, to wrapped up in her memories. "No, I'm sorry, I . . . I thought I heard . . . it doesn't matter, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. I'll just leave you two to your fun." Her hand on the door behind her, she flashed a wan smile before giving a slight nod and sliding out the door. The blush on her cheeks mostly hidden by her fur.

Still thinking of her mother, and by association her father and Uncle Spike, Pip stopped not too far down the hall. She wondered where they were, if they were safe and well. And for a moment she allowed herself to think about the sibling that was out there somewhere. She didn't often think about her family, the memories tender and too wrapped in the question of 'what if'. Epiphany had managed the basics of teaching dance to her sisters, had even danced at the Rainbow Room without the memories flooding through her. But seeing Morrigan dancing alone, as her mother often had, brought the memories to the surface. And once they were there, they didn't want to be put back up.

In honesty, it was a welcome distraction from the voice of Demon that had been so much a part of her thoughts of late. And reliving the happiness of her youth was refreshing and almost cleansing. She hadn't intended to interrupt their hostess and hoped she hadn't created too much of a bother.

[Karren Gaunt]

Coraline had been making an effort to explore the palace for the first time since they arrived, usually out taking in the city or off breaking ground on Qi Meng on Uncle's mountaintop or somewhere else out in a world she had been denied for too long. Flitting along the hallways and generally distracting the palace functionaries by virtue of being her visually-stunning self, she noted some music ahead change and then stop, followed by Pip stammering through (another) apoligy for doing nothing wrong that she could tell. Although she could understand the nervousness if the animal sounding footfalls indicated her sister ran into who she thought she had.

Truth be told, the Morrigan made the young metamorph nervous, too. Not because of any great unknown powers she may have, but because of her greater experience in using them. Uncle Shen was still showing her up during their training spars...

That said, the Morrigan was just another Nova and a host as well. What was the worst that could happen? The young metamorph padded around the corner and offered Pip a wry smile, chorus bemused as she gestured down the hallway to a, oooooh interesting, dancehall, "Who are you running away from now, sister, and for what terrible crime?"

[LydaLynn]

Epiphany blinked the last of the mist of tears from her eyes. "Oh, hi. I just . . . stumbled in on the Morrigan dancing and just . . .not running, bowing out less than gracefully."

[Karren Gaunt]

"Dancing? I don't see a reason to run away from someone dancing who doesn't sound overly upset when they spot you," answered the young metamorph certainly, "Come on, let's go introduce ourselves, Pip. Besides, I want to see this dance hall. Could be nice."

She made to lead the way back to where the Morrigan had been, giving her best encouraging smile over one shoulder. She wanted the company in this encounter, too.

[LydaLynn]

Epiphany takes a deep breath, then another, reminding herself that she had done the best she could for her family. For all that Pip loved her adoptive family, she missed and wondered and worried about her birth family. It had been a while since she had been so strongly reminded of them and the sensation had hit hard. But Cora was right, there was no reason to avoid someone just because they reminded her of her lost loved ones.

Nodding, her back straightening and her wings settling back into a more comfortable and natural position on her back, Epiphany followed Cora. Giving Morrigan a slight smile as the pair moved back to the dance hall, she waited for the other to speak before saying anything. It was then Pip realized what she had seen earlier from the lion and her gaze turned to study him, politely, as she waited.

[z-The Morrigan]

When Epiphany fled, Morri was confused. The girl seemed to have been embarrassed that she'd been watching them. Morri and Tahir had been dancing in a public room. If they'd wanted to be assured of privacy, they needed to go to a private room, like her bedroom. "What custom was that?" Tahir asked her, dropping the attempt to speak in Lion after.

"None that I know of," Morri said with a shrug. "She seemed-" The red-eyed nova cut off as the two young women came back into the room. Tahir was still flopped on his back, Morri perched on his stomach. To 'normal' people, the scene looked uncomfortably like bestiality, but the two young novas were unaware and completely comfortable with their situation. "Hello again Epiphany. Hello, Cora," Morri greeted, her British accent ringing in her tone.

Tahir grunted and rolled. Morri slid off of him but turned it into a graceful twist that landed her in a lotus position. As Tahir lounged next to her, Morri asked, "Can I help you two with something?" Her smile was friendly but her reputation was well-known, and her 'handler' wasn't here.

[Karren Gaunt]

"Maybe. I was exploring the palace when I heard my sometimes over-polite sister run away from you," Coraline answered with a respectful nod to the older nova and her companion, "Decided to see if I could help her get over her nervousness and confront my own about King Einherjar's legendary guardian."

Her chorus was both teasing and honest, a quick glance at Pip showing she meant no harm in the jibe. Node knew she had her own faults and secrets.

"So this is the dance hall? How often does it get used by anyone other than yourself and your companion?" she followed up, genuinely interested. No Rainbow Room, not by far, but still very impressive and the way the acoustics seemed to carry... Someone smart had put a lot of effort into the space, and that Cora had no trouble apreciating.

[LydaLynn]

Epiphany smile, her lips carefully covering her teeth, at the pair. She would let Cora speak with Morrigan, for now Pip was just there, uncomfortable, but not wanting to leave either. For all that she wasn't outgoing, that didn't mean Pip didn't appreciate the company of others.

[z-The Morrigan]

"It only gets used for practice and formal occasions," Morri said, reminding herself to be relaxed around guests. They hadn't given her any reason to be jumpy, but she didn't have Einherjar's natural ease for being around people. It was easier to do around women, so she didn't react poorly to them. Besides, she wasn't outnumbered yet.

Her eyes flicked to the tiger-woman, and she wondered if one or more of her parents had come from the Primal Lands. The poor souls that had been cross-bred were always viewed with pity and fear. They were abominations of nature, believed to be insane or evil. But Morri knew that some novas here were just as mutated, almost to the point of animalistic. The far more likely answer was that Pip was simply that way.

Next to her, Tahir asked in a throaty rumble, "Why is the human one nervous about you?"

Morri blinked and looked up at Cora. "Why are you nervous about meeting me? You've done nothing to merit my wrath, or else I'd be ripping your teeth out your arse, not talking to you." She sounded exactly like King Einherjar in that moment.

[Karren Gaunt]

'You could try' went the obvious thought flashing through Coraline's head, the slightest reflexsive stiffening of her muscles accompanying Morri's mild threat.

She forced it away though, chorus even as she answered, "Because this is your ground and you one of it's guardians. Because you have a reputation at being very good at doing what you can do. And because I haven't socialized with other Novas outside my family nearly enough to be really healthy so I'm sure I'm doing something wrong. That's all."

The young metamorph gave a chargined smile, honest and hoping to recover from her faux pass.

[LydaLynn]

Epiphany, content that Morrigan was speaking with Coraline, allowed her attention to wander to the lion. Sitting, cross-legged on the floor, her wings carefully spread to keep from being sat upon and yet she tried to keep them from making her look any larger than she had to. Pip carefully didn't put her head lower than the lion's, but tried to keep it on the same level. Meeting his gaze, she narrowed her eyes and slid them to the side before putting her hands palm out in front of her. She kept an ear out for the conversation, but decided that in this room, it might be easier to be accepted by the lion than his more human friend.

While she knew she could reach out with her mind to the lion, Epiphany refrained. That, more than anything, Pip thought would be seen as an intrusion upon Morrigan's territory. For now, she would see if body language would be enough to encourage the lion into a friendly interaction. Later, if things seemed to be going well, she might ask Morrigan for permission to 'speak' with him.

[SalmonMax]

At that point, Alexandra padded into the room on bare feet, wearing navy blue sweatpants, a white tank top, and...weirdly...some kind of paisley handkerchief tied loosely around her neck. On her head was an elaborate set of goggles with opaque lenses and lots of little blinking lights. In her hand was something that looked like a dizzyingly complex flower made from aluminum foil without putting a single fold or crinkle into it. She was waving it to and fro, a little frown on her lips.

"Cora," she said, aiming the flower at her sister. "Pip," she went on, moving it to the other. "And the other one I don't know...definitely not Ein though. Would that be the Morrigan?"

She pushed the goggles up off of her eyes and grinned. "Sweet. I nailed it. Hey everyone. What's up?"

[z-The Morrigan]

"We were dancing," she said, her hand resting on Tahir's shoulder to make it clear who 'we' was, "and then Cora and Pip showed up. I'm socializing." The last was said with a touch of awkwardness, as if Morri knew that saying she was socializing was a sure sign she wasn't doing it right. She confirmed this by telling Cora, "I don't socialize with people outside of Ein, Tahir, Tavon and a few people around here. Mostly mercs, so Jason doesn't like me talking to Dani without her around, for example." She said it lightly, but a flicker of emotion crossed her face, as if it bothered her.

"What are you doing?" she asked Alexandria, remembering that Jason had said people like to talk about themselves and what they were interested in.

[LydaLynn]

Pip, realizing the lion isn't going to venture away from Morrigan, pulls her hands back into her lap. Looking up at the other's glowing red eyes, she smiles. "You sound like I think sometimes. Socializing is not the easy thing some of my siblings make it out to be. Sometimes I think they breath personality. I have a hard time just talking to people. . . . Though, I'm similarly curious," Pip turns to Alex, "What were you doing? Those goggles look new."

[SalmonMax]

The weird gear vanished from Alex's head and hands and she gave Morri a curious look.

"Socialize with a lion, eh? Neat. As for me...I was working on a project. Refining the sensitivity of my quantum detector so I can identify signatures at range. I needed to verify that the contacts I was tracking were really Cora and Pip. I should add you to the database too, actually. There, no more false hits."

She smiled at her sisters. "What about you guys? Bothering the lady of the house?"

[Karren Gaunt]

"Morri's free to tell me to move on when she wants if she wants to be alone," Coraline commented in return to Alex before focusing her blue-on-black gaze on their hostess and her *very unusual* companion, "But, coming from someone who thought less than a couple months ago that everyone in the world would automatically want to kill me, socializing with novas is just a matter of trying somewhere you feel safe. Baselines are much weirder, but... eventually, I hope to find out how to get along with them without relying on my node."

[z-The Morrigan]

"The Congo is about being safe," Morri replied to Cora, her fingers kneeding Tahir's shoulders. The lion's muscles were tightly tensed and his tail coiled and uncoiled with sharp snaps. "Einherjar has made it so." Her voice softened as she spoke his name. "You are welcome to stay here as long as you need to feel safe, Cora. Ein and I may enjoy this all the time, but we are not the only ones it extends to." Cora nodded her thanks.

Morri looked at Tahir, sighing a little when she realized he was pointedly ignoring Pip. The amalgamated nova made the lion nervous; such a creature was an abomination at home. Taint in the Primal Lands rarely caused a nova to develop animalistic features from another species. "Excuse me," she said, her red eyes catching Pip's. "I am sorry to be blunt, but you are not very human-looking. Why?"

[SalmonMax]

Alex chuckled. "Looks are deceiving. I'm less human than anyone in here. I'm just better at hiding it than most."

[Karren Gaunt]

"All novas are human, Alex, no matter what we may look like or be made of. We just have to expand the definition as written by baselines," Coraline commented softly before pausing to add, "Unless someone like you has made some non-human novas by now. That could have happened."

[LydaLynn]

Epiphany seems a bit surprised for a moment before she smiles slightly, "That's a good question. I never really got a good answer from my parents. But the gist is that my father, when he became nova, took on some taint. And with that, he grew tiger stripped fur, though his was white and black. I think the orange is a reflection of my mother's fire. I don't know where the wings came from, my mother had wings, phoenix wings made of fire, but only when she was flying. I like to think that my eyes are inherited from my mother, though hers weren't slitted, but were filled with flames. But honestly, when she was pregnant, my mother was kidnapped, stolen and taken to a lab. I . . . woke up while she was there, I think it was her fear that helped me become aware before I was born. We were there for two weeks before we were able to contact my father." Pip takes a deep breath, but continues her story, "I know they experimented on us. I picked up the thoughts of some of the scientists there, but there were more of them, and they did some things as directed from outside sources that they didn't understand. I believe that I look like this because my parents love each other and that love manifested as a child who combined aspects of both of them into something new. But sometimes . . . sometimes I fear it was something else, something influenced by the evil people who decided their desires were more important than the health, wellness, and happiness of a young family."

For her sisters, this was something they had never heard from Pip. She was reticent to speak most of the time, and to talk about her family and past was almost unheard of. That she had opened up so bluntly was uncharacteristic and surprising.

[z-The Morrigan]

Tahir was watching Pip closely as she spot, his ears perked up a little to catch her words. "I've seen novas that are more non-human than you," Morri replied, unaware of how deeply personal the information Pip had just provided was. "However, you're not monstrous or deeply frightening, the way that they are. You seem, despite your differences, to be essentially normal." Realizing how that might sound, Morri added, "I hope my words don't offend; they're not meant as such."

Morri glossed over Cora's afterthought; best not to have people thinking too much about Tahir until he was comfortable sharing what he was with these children. Instead, she looked at Alex and said, "You smell like a machine, or rather like something that moves but isn't biological. Is that what you meant by not being human?" Such direct questions could be taken as rude, but there was no malice, even in her glowing red eyes.

[SalmonMax]

Alex nodded happily. "When I hit my apotheosis, I discovered a way to transform my body into a new form. I'm still made of cells, but those cells are now multipurpose cell-sized machines. I usually keep them in analogues of human organs just because I still feel more comfortable 'feeling' the way I used to. Like, I still breathe even though I really don't need to anymore. My arms and legs have analogues of bones and joints that operate exactly as human ones do, if stronger and faster. My outer layer exudes a thin film that resembles skin to most casual tests. And so on."

She poked her hand, then pinched the skin on the back of it and yanked sharply. A patch tore off, revealing a silvery layer beneath. New skin beaded out, looking like acrylic paint in flesh tone colors...but as it 'dried' it bonded with the skin around the edges and healed the hole entirely.

"My emotional attachment to the human form is still something I'm wrestling with. But while I'm living among human beings, it serves a good purpose too, so I'm in no hurry to lose it just yet."

[LydaLynn]

Pip had thought of replying, but was interested to hear Alex's response to Morrigan's questions. Watching her sister rip her skin away and speak of emotional attachment to the human form came as close to horrifying Epiphany as was possible without quite tipping that balance. Wisely, Pip decided to keep quite on that matter for the moment.

[Karren Gaunt]

Coraline could do a lot worse to herself than that on a whim, her entire form mutable to any degree she cared to push herself. Including a few things she discovered by accident and had no intention of doing again short of the most urgent duress. And she could do a lot of that to others, too, now. So Alex's clinical announcement didn't disturb her quite as much. It was nice to know how her genius sister thought at times, vaguely alien as it could sound.

"Take all the time you want with that choice, Sister. Speaking as someone who never looks at the same reflection twice, change can really throw you off unless you have the family to help remind you what's really important," the young metamorph offered with a delicate tap to her right temple and a wry grin, "I don't remember a lot about my apothesis, but aparently to blend in, my node had to make me stand out first. Or maybe it was a push into a bigger world than I was prepared to hide myself in."

[SalmonMax]

Alex just nodded. "Like I said, I'm in no hurry. In fact..." she trailed off and shrugged. "Anyway, it's not important to the discussion at hand. The point of all this is to say you're right, Morrigan. That's what I meant by saying I was less human, in some ways, than the others here. But then again, it also depends on how broad one's definition of human is."

[z-The Morrigan]

Morri frowned, lost in the middle of all the family's discussion of past events she wasn't privy to. Tahir was also listening, but the big cat suddenly rose to his feet and edged over to Pip. As the girl's eyes widened, Tahir began to sniff her. It wasn't invasive - not by cat standards, anyway - but it was inquisitive. He was picking out the unique scents of her, comparing them to his knowledge of the abominations his people called Hybrids.

"Why would you not want to be alive?" Morri asked Alex softly. For her, being alive was the best thing in the world. Why would a nova choose to not be alive?

[SalmonMax]

"I am alive," Alexandra said. "It's just a different kind of life." She chewed her lip for a second, translating her thoughts into something comprehensible. "Before my apotheosis, when my body was flesh and blood like yours, my powers were basically entirely mental in nature. I had the power to create and manipulate and destroy matter with a thought, and I was smart and fast and...all that. But what I found was that my ability to use my intelligence, and my powers, were limited by the limits of my body. Even though I could create weapons and armor, I had to make sure I could carry it, so it couldn't be as strong or as powerful as I could potentially make it. And I might make the best gun in the world, but I'd still have to be able to HIT someone with it...using my plain old reflexes and physical precision, which were decades behind my mind. And when I was building Primus, I constantly had to stop so I could sleep, or eat or drink...and it was adding time and resources to the project and...I just got sick of it."

"It's like...imagine you were this giant person, like three hundred feet tall and with the strength to pick up a mountain and move it around. But your HANDS were still just normally sized. All your strength, all your power, would mean nothing...because you were forced to try to use it with these tiny little hands that couldn't support what the rest of you could. My body became...a liability. It imposed limits on not only my future development, but on my current possible accomplishment."

Alex shrugged. "So I took a break from Primus, and I designed a new one. I have all the senses I used to have, and much more. I'm stronger, faster, and MUCH tougher, which means I don't have to be...coddled by everyone. From my point of view, it feels the same as it used to, only more so...like I was always seeing in black and white before, but now I see in full color. I feel MORE alive now, not less. And my body's abilities are now less asymmetric with my mind's abilities, which means that not only have my mental abilities increased...but I can use them much more efficiently. A twofold gain."

She grimaced a little and added, "And I'll be honest, some of it's about control too. An organic body has so many things that are involuntary. It's always requiring attention. It needs food...water...then it needs to eliminate the wastes. Air. Various little health issues that nevertheless add up to a lot of wasted time. This body works on my schedule...it doesn't demand I work on its. And that's valuable to me. And it's not like I don't have the OPTION of enjoying food, you know. I still have taste and smell. I could even configure a kind of digestive system to break food down into chemical energy if I really wanted to. That's the point of it all. With THIS body, I have options. I decide what I want, and how to get it. My old body...everything was decided for me, by genetics and organic chemistry. And it wasn't enough."

[z-The Morrigan]

"Life is about struggle and balance," Morri replied, her voice still uneasy. "Taking all of that away makes it too easy, devalues it." Had she not needed to breath, Khatar couldn't have hurt her, but Morri wouldn't take that away from herself. She needed to draw breath and feel alive from that action; she needed to be hungry and to drink to feel her body fueled. "Or so I see it."

How could one live without those vital needs? Morri knew that novas did it all the time; some turned their need to eat into needs for other things. Others just didn't need anymore. Morri couldn't understand living without any of those things. It seemed so foreign to her. And it seemed sad that Alex had given up all that living, just for convenience sake. That would be rude to state so the feral was silent on the matter.

[SalmonMax]

Alexandra chuckled. "There's still plenty of struggle and balance in my life, believe me. And it's been a lot of fun running around in the jungle while I'm here, and not having to worry about getting bitten or poisoned or any of that. You have some really interesting species living out here. In fact..."

She nodded at Morri. "I've heard you spend quite a bit of time out there too. Could I come with you some time? You're familiar with the area...you could probably show me all kinds of things I'd never have thought to look for."

[Karren Gaunt]

Coraline chuckled and decided to move on after a final wave. She had more of the palace to cover, after all before her training called her back to duty. Interesting dance hall though.

[z-The Morrigan]

"I would be happy to show you around the Congo." Morri knew that those words were possibly a lie; she might not enjoy such an excursion at all. But she might also enjoy it quite a bit; she wouldn't know until she tried. She might even make another friend in Alex. She didn't often make friends with dead things.

"What of you, Pip?" The odd-looking nova was still getting examined by a carefully-sniffing Tahir. "Do you wish to see the wilds of the Congo?"

[LydaLynn]

Epiphany sat still as she was sniffed by the lion. One hand extended, palm up and non-threatening for Tahir to sniff. If he seemed amiable, she would slowly reach forward to scratch the ruff of his neck behind his ears, ready to stop if he flinched or pulled away.

Looking up at Morrigan as Pip heard her name, "I . . . um . . . I guess? I hadn't really thought about it. I've been busy thinking about alot of other stuff honestly. There's so very much to decide and do. But I could use a break sometimes and seeing the wilds might be nice. One of the few things my family came to Earth to do was spend time in wild areas, there was less threat of conflict where there weren't people. It's been a long time since I was able to walk in nature without having to worry about spy satellites and mother hunters."

[Quantum Fire]

Old Thread...

XP: 2 Standard, 2 baseline, 2 Nova

Can continue if desired, but no further xp will be granted to it.