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Aberrant: Children of Quantum Fire - [Interlude] No Fate but What We Make (Fin)


Karren Gaunt

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It took Coraline longer than she thought it would to gather their guests for departure. First was enthusiatic greeting from the girls and their mothers after a month's absense. Then there was the enivitable barrage of questions about what she had been doing, and what had happened to her eyes, and a dozen and one other topics she was glad to answer so that she could get her offer out there to an attentive audience. After *that* was a babble of excitement at the chance to stretch their wings after nearly two months aboard the Primus, excitement that only dampened slightly as Angel asked about the safety precautions.

The assurance that they would be watched over Coraline, Warren, and Butch, flared the excitement high again, and it was in a cloud of laughter and lingering questions about 'Qi Meng', especially from the two mothers, that the young metamorph made her way into the sub bay with their charges in tow. Already smiling at the pleasant afterglow of realizing another part of what she had been missing in Shen's Valley, Coraline's chorus carried a large note of familial teasing upon spotting Butch, "So Warren's not here yet? Anyway, unless you've gotten eufiber in the month I've been gone, take your shirt off, Brother. Don't want to rip anything giving you wings."

Rose and Thorn titered happily, not at all adverse to sneaking a peak at the handsome young nova who had helped rescue them.

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Butch removed his standard black t-shirt. Underneath it, the gathered young novas saw the chiseled physique of Butch's torso. He wasn't particularly shy, but he did feel slightly uncomfortable on display. However, he did only have a limited number of t-shirts and didn't want to ruin one.

"Ok, Cora," Butch said. "Nothing in the way now. Go on and do your thing. I'm sure Warren will be here soon, and then we can all hit the sky."

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There was a whisper and a nearly-invisible blur of movement before Coraline reappeared to Butch's side, one hand on his shoulder and a teasing smile on her lips before she pushed out with her quantum and made her foster brother's flesh subject to her own node's gift and her own will.

The flesh on his back bubbled and churned even as his bones and muscles became lighter and more effiecent. Four lumps erupted into two pairs of wings. The higher set spread wide and darkly with a pattern like some monstrous starling. The lower, smaller and less response, matched the coloration, more glorified aerial rudders than anything else, not that anyone seemed inclined to complain about the effect. Coraline had the pride of an artist as she molded the palms of his hands into grip-and-release surfaces. The guests were merely human in the face of quantum-boosted good looks that could propel the medic nova himself into the media shark pool if he felt so inclined.

"There we go. That should the trick," the young metamorph softly intoned, pulling her hand back after leaving a final mark on his flesh in the form of a gently raised ring with twin hatch marks at two and three o'clock. Her mark.

[envoy] 4:40 pm: okay, bodyshift other's die roll. last five mega.

envoy *rolls* 18d10: 10+4+8+3+10+8+7+3+5+3+8+3+6+3+1+8+7+10: 107

[envoy] 4:41 pm: huh. fourteen.

Let's see... Two levels of wings, hollow bones, two levels of vanes, adhesive grip, and improved skeletal muscles. That's a net (m-str) hours of quantumless flight with a +5 die pool of dex+athletics, -2 difficulty, and the ability to cling to walls in pinch. Beware of -3 soak vs bone breakage, though. ;)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Butch felt the changes that Cora had caused and marveled at her abilities. Closing his eyes for a moment, he relaxed and let her work her magic. No, perhaps magic wasn't the right word. What she was doing was art. Cora was expanding from sculpting stone to working in the medium of flesh and bone. With the changes complete, Butch opened his eyes and flexed the wings his sister had given him. He felt lighter, too, and was ready to lift off into the sky.

"Thanks, Cora," Butch said. "You've really outdone yourself this time."

With that, he opened the bay doors and felt the cool air rushing across the ocean waves that Primus had risen above. The wings Cora had gifted him flexed. He took a few steps back from the doors and ran for them. When he reached the edge, Butch leapt upwards and spread his wings. Laughing, he climbed high up into the sky. He did a loop then dove towards the ocean and then skimming across its surface. Butch hadn't heard anyone else making their way out, but he was sure they would soon. For now, Butch enjoyed the freedom of the skies with hardly a care at all.

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