Aberrant: Children of Quantum Fire - [Interlude] A Night Out [Complete]

[Shosuro Miren]

Puck frowned and reached out to squeeze Star's hand. "I actually tried to find her after you decided to joint. I haven't been able to locate her yet, but I'm still looking. I'm not as connected as many in the Teragen, but we've got time. We'll find her."

He could pick up her internal conflict, just the most minute of physical clues adding up to a picture as clear as if she'd spent the whole night trying to explain how she felt. It was still disorienting, noticing and understanding like he did now, especially in busy places like the Rainbow Room. Still, it did help with Exalt! and with knowing the right thing to say or do to help his friends feel better. "The data, that would probably help a lot, give us a better starting point for finding where she might have went within the Teragen or what kind of name she might have taken." He smiled encouragingly at her, certain that given enough time that they'd be able to find her - or, maybe a little depressingly, possibly what had happened to her. Chrysalis wasn't without its risks, nor was simply identify as a Terat in this day and age.

He sat back, watching the room and enjoying the closeness of his family, blood and otherwise; Lotti was right, this was a good idea. He moved just a little to lean his head against Infinity's teasing fingers and pulled Eden close to him. He smiled down at her, then grinned and scooped up a dollop of guacamole dip from the platter and dotted the tip of her nose with it. He licked off the rest of the delicious concoction and challenged her with laughing eyes to retaliate.

[Doctor Varroxxian]

"Thank you. I mean, there's no rush ... its just, the longer that I go without seeing her. The more it makes me worry. She was in a bad state - mentally - when she sought out her secretive associates."

"At least she knows my Nova name. She'll recognize Starseed if she hears it, and correlates it. I just hope she is well enough ... I know she might have changed radically. I just hope She and I can still relate. Its well known your group has a process of some sort, but the specifics aren't out there. She was going to go through that process."

"Its just that I don't know what to expect."

[Shosuro Miren]

Puck frowned. In Chrysalis? Well, that will make things much harder. "Star, if that's the case, then I probably won't be able to make contact with her until she's...done. I'll still look, but it could take more time than I originally thought. I'll circulate your name, though, and see if anyone knows her or if she's...available."

"As for what to expect," he took a breath and sighed. "I can't honestly tell you. It's different for everyone."

[Doctor Varroxxian]

Of course, neither Star - nor her Mother at the time - had any real knowledge of what Chrysalis was ... Star only knew that her Mother had been introduced to a secret. A secret she could not even reveal to her own flesh and blood. Star didn't mind that so much. Still, lets hope it is safe.

"Did I ever tell you Puck? You are great!"

"Enough of somber stuff - there must be fun things to talk about. Like what goes on here. Any interesting stories?"

[Toby Lupin]

Darrik listened with the whole group, and his girls too. Seemed like he wasn't the only one with dealing with a converted mother, not that any issues besides the initial one at the Demon's Carnival (as he mentally had nicknamed it) had cropped up. Then when the lighter fare came into suggestion, he grinned wickedly and suggested, "How about the night I met Gwen and Agatha?" That earned him a playful swat from the latter, which only extended his grin.

"Too risque? Okay, how about the night I met Puck and Infinity? Plenty of interesting things happened then... The dance Chang did... OH!" He grinned politely before telling a short story. "Glory was there. And apparently approached Chang to talk about something." He gave a no-joke serious expression before continuing. "Impressive enough. I don't know, or will speculate what they talked about... but it ended up with Gloria running off almost tail between her legs. And Chang laughing almost as if she was the super-villain comic cardboard cutout associated with Terats. The most eerie yet entertaining laugh I have ever heard."

[Brute]

Brute settled in more with both Infinity and Puck there to calm her. Occasionally she made Mr. Bear dance, but eventually settled on hugging him in her lap while she tried the food and they talked.

When Infinity put her hand on her head she flashed a smile her way. It felt good to be touched without… what? Fear, she supposed. Her mother’s screams still echoed in her mind. Dimly she thought she could remember her mother’s skin sticking to her own, frozen against Brute’s flesh.

She was trying to be strong for Puck, but it was so hard sometimes. The Rainbow Room was not a gentle place to be. But maybe this was for the best. If she relaxed here, around other Novas, could the outside world really throw much more chaos at her?

Ah think ah mahght need to come here a few times, though. This place is weird as all hell.

Then Puck hugged her, and put dip on her nose.

Her mouth fell open. She wiped the dip off and began looking around for some suitable method of revenge, while her brother was distracted talking to Star.

“Infinity, can ah have that dip, please?”

“Sure.”

Infinity handed it to her. It was mayonnaise, she thought. Brute put a carefully measured dollop of it on one finger, and focused her freezing aura there, not going cold all over, but just there, the sort of cold that ripped at skin and flesh and bone, and turned the mayonnaise into a frosty, hard glob, stuck to the end of her finger.

She took careful hold of the back of Puck’s shirt, pulled it out a little, then dropped the frozen mayonnaise down the back, grinning evilly.

[WhiteRain]

Chang Zha-Yang sat upon a rock on the coastline of Ibiza, looking out to sea and watching the birds.

It was a mundane thing to do, not the sort of thing people associated with the superhuman. They might think otherwise if they realized she was studying the individual feathers of them in flight, how they moved in the wind and caught the updrafts. Or perhaps they would not, and think it some quaint oddity by one of the world’s so-called oddest Novas. Nothing was exploding, after all.

She had been there for hours, lost in rapture. It was less the birds and their feathers which captured her, but more the play of light across them as they wheeled on the horizon, framed by the setting sun. The sea below the birds seemed a flowing field of fire, glistening in the gathering dark.

Dimly she knew one of Lucrezia was nearby, keeping watch over her.

All of a sudden it seemed that the world darkened, as if time were accelerated. She knew it was not that, though.

Chang’s mind had been so focused on the images directly in front that she paid little attention to anything else. But now all of those backlogged sensations, observations and sounds came crashing in on her mind like a tidal wave. At inconceivable speed, her mind processed and considered the input, as she caught up on nearly four hours of input in under a minute.

It was dark now. The moon shone down, glittering bright and white above. Finally, she rose.

Baselines had been coming and going to watch her, taking pictures from the roadside above, babbling in a dozen languages and sharing stories about the mysterious White Rain. Those baselines quickly learned that a Nova sitting there doing nothing for hours on end, not even breathing, was not especially exciting. No explosions from this Nova, Chang thought.

She softened herself, melting into creamy liquid, and flowed up to her feet before reforming. Chang flared her hair around her body, sweeping it out into a great cloud around her before wrapping her limbs and clothing her in her traditional chong-sam, with high heels.

Two of Lucrezia were still waiting, each of them a twin of the other. “Hey, beautiful,” one of them said. “How was the late afternoon, sunset, moon rise and early evening?”

“Pleasant enough to hold my attention,” Chang said. For once she simply jumped up from the rocks and over the railing onto the pavement. She did not really like it. It felt better to stretch or shift or melt. “What time is it?”

“Just gone one in the morning,” Lucrezia said. “Night’s young if you’re a Nova.”

“Puck is at the Rainbow Room.”

“And the ducks are in the roost,” the other Lucrezia replied.

Chang frowned at her. “Pardon?”

“Oh, it just seemed a bit of a non-sequitur. Why do we care if Puck’s in the Rainbow Room?” Both Lucrezias shrugged, though only one spoke. “Of course I already knew that, but still, why do we care? He’s having fun like everyone else. Well, maybe less than most with his sister around to cling onto his arm like an oversized dumb-bell.”

Chang turned to look towards the Rainbow Room, and the enticing sound of music and Novas talking from inside it. As close to home as any she had right now. It was calling to her, in a way. She needed to digest the things she had seen in the sunset. There was a painting in this, or perhaps a sculpture. “That was cruel, my love.”

“Only if I say it to her face,” Lucrezia said in an exhausted tone. “And I’m saying it exactly the way it is. Puck is normally out there on the dance floor lighting up the world, especially when his pal Infinity is around. Now he’s sitting in a corner with a couple of friends having a quiet dinner. Just like a responsible adult,” she added, emphasizing every word. “Yes it was a cruel quip, but this is a good sign to me. Eden seems like a full time job.” When Chang glared at her, she held up her hands defensively. “Puck was a kid before, in some ways he still is, but he can’t afford to be where Eden’s concerned. He fucks up, that kid’s going off the rails. He’s the only thing she’s got and that’s an enormous responsibility.”

Chang nodded. That’s interesting, she thought. Most of her knowledge of Eden Klitzkow came from what Puck had told her. To date they had not met. Lucrezia spoke with the sort of certainty that could only come from meeting someone and coming to a conclusion. Perhaps that is another reason to return to the Rainbow Room, then.

She pressed in close to her wife and kissed her on both sets of lips. “Ride me?”

“Always.”

Chang sighed and stepped onto the road. She compressed and then stretched out, warping and swelling into steel and leather, taking on the form of a sleek red sports bike. She celebrated every little hardening of herself, into metal or rubber or leather, and when she was settled and Lucrezia slipped onto her seat, then the second one slipped over behind her and hugged close, she felt divine. A shiver ran through her whole metal body, which turned into the beginnings of her engine gunning into life.

Both Lucrezias stroked her, caressing the curves and flawless lines of her new shape. “It’s kind of funny,” one of them said, “men say their cars need love. But here’s my bike, and she literally runs on it.”

Chang roared to life under their touches, and Lucrezia eased her into the traffic, while one of them giggled in delight.

On the way back, though, Chang’s mind was not lost to bliss. In truth the idea of Lucrezia meeting Eden worried her. She loved her wife so much that it terrified her to think of it at times. Once she could never have imagined such a feeling. But she had no illusions about Lucrezia’s nature. Anything not-Chang was a tool to her, to be used for their combined glory, or for one or the other.

Chang knew little about ‘Brute’s capabilities, but what she knew suggested the girl possessed enormous destructive power. Lucrezia would see her as exactly that: a weapon to be used for Chang’s protection and the furtherance of her goals. Eden was not Shiv or Meh’Lindi or others of the close inner circle whom Lucrezia had genuine feelings for. She was the sister of one of Chang’s students, and of the second generation. She was a prize to be won to their cause, and a weapon to be wielded against their enemies.

Should I warn Puck, I wonder? Chang pondered that as Lucrezia moved onto the open road and pushed Chang to greater speeds, racing her through the night with her hair flying behind her.

It was an odd juxtaposition, worrying about her wife’s intentions while sharing this with her. They rarely went for night rides, but Chang loved them just the same. Perhaps they should do them more often.

There were issues to consider with that, though. Puck liked Lucrezia. She was a very easy person to like. Beautiful, graceful, charismatic, and extremely skilled at putting her natural-and-supernatural abilities to their best use, a Nova of Lucrezia’s capabilities would once have stood tall at the apex of world society. But unlike the Narcosis’s of the world, Lucrezia realized the power of simply never being seen. A few saw right through her and knew her for the devious manipulator she was, and Chang at least loved her for it, but most met her, knew her, loved her and never even knew they did. And all the while they were being reeled into some obscure plan being concocted on the other side of the world.

If Lucrezia tried to use his sister, though, Puck would not forgive. She doubted he would even forgive a harsh word said about her, and little did Lucrezia know that there was a high chance he had overheard their little exchange.

She put a part of her mind aside and tasked it to work on this issue, forged a mental box around that process and left it to its own devices, with just a little quantum kick to get it ticking over on its own. She wanted to enjoy the ride, and not be weighed down by these thoughts.

Chang relaxed, and let herself be driven, and luxuriated in the gifts her eruption granted to her.

***

The Chang who entered the Rainbow Room was unique. The Lucrezias beside her shifted shape into gorgeous ice-blonds dressed all in white sheer silk with high heels. Chang clad herself in a cold blue dress which left her shoulders bare, with blue lipstick and eye shadow. As the bouncers respectfully opened the doors and waved her on in, her glowing eyes shifted to blazing gold and red, shining in the brief dark of the entranceway before entering the club proper.

Her hair flooded into a wave of snow white and soot-black, and tightened on her cock to pin it up against her breasts as usual.

“Chang,” said Darion, conversationally, from his table facing the door forty feet away. Only a fool shouted when they wanted her attention, and he was far from a fool.

Most of the Novas present gave her and her companions at least a cursory look before going back to their business. Chang noted every glance, calculated, considered, but dismissed them all. Nobody seemed to have any pressing business with her.

Puck was over in the corner with his sister, Infinity, and two Novas that Chang had seen before but never spoken with. She noted the flock of Children of Teras on the dance floor. It could be a rowdy evening.

She strode towards Darion’s table. She found it hard not to look down to Lucrezia’s long, lissom legs, each showing just a little with every step, inciting her desires. Instead she just focused an inordinate amount of attention on the delights offered in her periphery. Both of them took one of her arms, the eye candy accompanying the star.

Darion Mograine was as handsome as ever, the lines of his face not too strong, not too weak, his hair and eyes glittering silver and shining with a multitude of colours under the Rainbow Room’s lights. His sword lay flat on the table in front of him, and the two halves of a spherical black device lay beside it. He was riffle shuffling a pack of cards. “My queen,” he said, by way of greeting. “I see you’ve gone for cold colours tonight. An odd choice, if I’m honest, but I must say it suits you.”

Chang swelled her buttocks out, causing her dress to billow, and morphed the flesh into a trio of chairs for herself and the Lucrezias, who both slipped easily into the role of eye candy, using subtle quirks of body language to somehow not be noticed, to be beautiful and amazing and yet direct every ounce of attention onto Chang. In truth, she had not the faintest idea of how Lucrezia did it.

“What is this, Darion?”

He glanced down, following her gaze. “A pack of ordinary baseline playing cards, with a minor difference.” He turned the deck round. The bottom picture was the ace of spades, card of death in many people’s estimations. It bore a delightful, subtle drawing of Shiv which brought out all the Nova’s sinister qualities, a face shot with one hand up and clawed, and it had cut three lines down through the leather of her mask. “Finally put those drawings I commissioned to use.”

Chang smiled. “It was hardly a commission, Darion. It is always a pleasure to draw my friends. Which card did you give for yourself?”

“I didn’t. The cards were designed by a friend. Not a Terat. He works in the entertainment industry in Bombay. Want to see a magic trick?”

“I fear even your skill might be thwarted by my ears, Darion,” she said. “I’ll hear the card moving through the air.”

He nodded. “This much is true. But what if I fool you one time, eh? Won’t that be special?”

Chang laughed. “It would. You shall have your chance before long. Did you want me for something, or were you just saying hello.”

Darion tower-shuffled the deck a couple of times, then slammed it down on its side on the centre of the table. His lip quirked in a smile, he winked, and then tapped the deck. It fell over, and somehow spread out into a flawless spread of ace through king in every suit. And on the top, the joker, given Darion’s face and form, wearing a knowing smirk and with a twinkle in his eye, his sword sheathed and resting on his lap. “Come on,” he said, “that was pretty good.”

“I concede,” Chang said, raising a hand. “Your friend has a cruel sense of humour. At least he did not dress you in motley.”

“Hey, don’t knock it until you’ve tried the hat. You can do a lot with bells.”

One of the Lucrezias leaned forward. Her voice, when she spoke, was several octaves higher than her normal sultry tones. “I have to admit, Darion, I haven’t the faintest fucking clue how you did that. I’m so much easier to impress than my wife. How did you do that?”

“Magic, obviously,” Darion said with a wink. He collected the cards again and shuffled them properly before sliding them into a black leather deck holder. “I’m not just showing off to your wives.” He leaned forward and dropped his voice to the barest whisper. “My magic egg had some other contents.”

Chang raised one hand, reached out with unseen quantum fingers, and tugged upon the patterns of sound swirling all around them. She pushed some away and contained theirs, creating a sort of dead zone that would make it much harder for people to listen in. I will need to practice this little trick, I think.

“First there’s this,” Darion said. He rapped his knuckles on the table then unfurled the hand face up. Chang felt the tremor through the floor. It was an incredibly controlled, perfectly placed and effortless strike which caused one half of the egg to jump a little, and a small black datastick came spinning out of it and landed in Darion’s open palm. This was Darion’s real gift. No explosions for him, just precision, control, and an unmatched understanding of movement.

“A datastick,” Chang said. “What is on it?”

“Oh, this and that,” Darion said. “I’ve had a little project going to collate legal data worldwide so we can get a read on how the wind is blowing for Novas. It paints a rather amusing picture of how much Utopia is doing for us, that’s for sure. Your old pal Scrambler has been on an evangelical recruitment drive for The Primacy, and pulled a few people in. What’s going to piss you off is that he’s targeting periphery members of the Pandaimonion who’ve approached you. You know, Shiv and Meh’Lindi’s lot.”

Chang sighed. “Troubling,” she said. “I presume he has been successful?”

“Yep,” Darion said. “You’ll not be receiving any more messages from Saiki, Jango or Thorel any longer. They’re signed up, slimy, and joining the battle against humanity as we speak.” He made a mock salute. “My report’s detailed, I’ve included all the information I could find.”

He tossed the stick across the table to her. It came to a stop precisely on the edge, half-off, balanced just right.

“I’ve just given Shiv a poke,” one of the Lucrezias said.

Chang nodded and handed the stick to her. At that moment another girl came past, giggling as she talked to a Nova with wings and a tail. She took the stick from Lucrezias hand. Another copy, she realized. With a moment of thought she picked out the other copies. Lucrezia had organized them in such a way that they criss-crossed, handing off the stick with grace and subtlety, until one of her casually deposited the stick in Shiv’s cleavage on the other side of the club.

Chang turned to her. “What was the purpose of the poke, given your following action?”

Lucrezia smiled. “I wanted her a bit closer to deliver the stick most efficiently.”

Darion observed the exchange dispassionately. “That’s about it. My egg mostly had stuff for me. I’m sorting out booking for a party venue. Snow wants to organize a grand sleep over. I sense a disaster in the making given the way things are going between our lot and Narcosis’s, but you know what she’s like.”

“I do. Thank you Darion, keep me informed.”

Chang rose in unison with her wives, reabsorbing the chairs and allowing the skeins of sound to return to normal.

“I will. See you later, your grace, for magic, and trickery.”

Lucrezia blew him a kiss. “When she disappoints you by seeing through your pitiful attempts, come see me for an easier audience.”

“With a ringing recommendation like that, how can I refuse?”

Chang proceeded across the club to one of her quiet sitting spots, and shaped a couch for herself and her wives. One of them slipped into her lap and put her arm around her shoulders. The other sat at her side, leaning against her shoulder.

So, Scrambler’s counter-recruiting, is he? She relaxed to consider, while her wives gently stroked her hair and planted loving kisses on her bare shoulders.

[Doctor Varroxxian]

Star watched Brute work her prank out of the side of her eye, and just kept listening to the stories - not betraying a bit of what might happen.

Focusing her attention on Darrik to keep the group focus on him, she nodded as he followed his story.

[Shosuro Miren]

Puck gave a satisfying yelp as the glob of cold aioli tumbled down the line of his spine, the nova somehow gracefully wiggling the frozen prank out of his shirt and waistband. He stared at his sister in shock and surprise and then grinned, diving for her and the ticklish spots on her body. He also cheated: no matter where he touched her, it was is if he was somehow tickling every ticklish part of her. It only took a moment or two for both of them to be engulfed in giggles, though Puck did relent fairly quickly.

He leaned and whispered almost silently to her, "Okay. We're even. Now, sibling team up! Who do we get next? Infinity? Darrik? Star? The new guy...Shaman?"

[Brute]

Brute giggled and writhed on the seat, very carefully controlling her strength. She was in Infinity’s lap, and could have hurt her. It felt so nice, so happy, that she would have been fine for it to last forever. Puck let her back up quickly, though, and Infinity pushed her out of her lap with a grin.

Maybe that’s the sort o’ thang families get up to, she thought.

Mr. Bear had fallen out of her lap in the struggle, and she went under the table to pick him up and place him in her lap. She turned him round and made him look up accusingly into her eyes with his own small dark ones. She kissed him on the nose while Puck whispered in her ear.

“Ah ain’t never been tickled before, Puck,” she whispered back. “That felt kahnda nahce. S’ funny the kahnda thangs ya miss out on when ya dad thinks y’all are a bad mistake.”

Brute leaned back in the seat, not depressed for once. She was just subtly sad, and intimately aware of the life of loss that had shaped her. It was such a little thing, tickling, but it wasn’t that sensation she felt the lack of, but the intimacy that it entailed. She looked out over the Rainbow Room, so overwhelming with the beautiful and the graceful, and wondered at what sadness might have shaped them. Dr. Sellas said that a lot of Novas had painful histories, that those were often the cause of their eruptions. All that any of them could do was try not to cry, and get on with it.

“Darrik,” she said, really just picking a name out of the air. So let’s try, she thought, and see what happens.

[Toby Lupin]

Darrik smiled, pretending to ignore the pranks and the whispers, while continuing to tell his stories of the Rainbow Room. Of course, preemptive action was fair play, wasn't it? At other sections of the room, imps congealed out of shadow, grabbing ice cubes. "Let me tell you a story about the Imps of DarkIce, everyone." With the force of his nova-level personality engaged now to hold people's attention, no one noticed the imps moving with powers to expeditiously set themselves into place.

"Long ago, a wizard created the Imps of Dark Ice, black things that were given one commandment. Go forth... and drop ice cubes down the shirts of daring pranksters." He snapped his fingers and the imps in pairs, dropped ice down Puck and Brute's clothing, causing Puck to gasp and yelp again, Brute showed some surprise. Darrik grinned. "Prank before they prank you, I say."

[Shosuro Miren]

Puck gave Eden an almost betrayed look when she didn't have nearly as much of reaction as him, but his lips quirked up into his impish smile and he murmured, "You hold him, I'll tickle."

Brute nodded in instant sibling understanding and the two descended on Darrik, pinning him to the booth and tickling him with that same utterly unfair touch. Gwen and Agatha both burst out laughing and refused to help at all other than to egg Puck on. Really, life wasn't fair.

From across the room, Chang could hear the entire exchange and two older Terats noted that at least for the moment Puck seemed his old self again. He was gathering quite an interesting collection of friends and partners outside of the Nursery children; even Norman had stayed mostly with his childhood companions and none of the Nursery "graduates" had delved into the world quite a much as the three-year-old prodigy currently treading the line between carefree playfulness and giving in to his natural inclinations to make his touches more than just ticklish. Except perhaps Infinity.... It was a little strange, to see two of her students so...innocent and young. Most of the novas that found their way to her had been touched (and usually scarred) deeply by life before taking up her banner and her lessons. These two, though, they were almost like blank canvases. Canvases with the power to change the world on a whim. Or end it, Chang reminded herself.

Puck finally relented, then entire table engulfed in giggles and good cheer; he caught site of Chang and Lucrezia and waved them, beckoning them over. If he'd heard Lucrezia's words or suspected any ill intentions against his sister from the manipulative multiple, he hid it with a master's grace. He grinned at them, "Chang, Lucrezias! Come over? I have peoples to introduce!"

[WhiteRain]

There was something deeply enjoyable in being relaxed amidst the ecstatic chaos of the Rainbow Room. Chang knew she owed much of that to her wife.

She was cleaving well to her new forms, though she had made a few changes. Though both bodies were still ice-blond, still all dressed in pure snow white, ones lips were deep green, the other’s violet, and their eyes were both a dull red.

It struck her again how neatly they played into the cold colours Chang herself was wearing. The deep blue of her dress, lips and eye-shadow worked in unison with the flowing blackness of her hair. Her eyes messed things up a little, of course. She could see the colours of them shining in her wife’s hair, a subtle glow of crimson and yellow, fire colours.

The Lucrezia in her lap leaned in closer and kissed her on the lips, while the other caressed her shoulder. Chang could hear the others manoeuvring carefully to ensure that they were not disturbed.

She did not lose herself in her wife, though. Lucrezia was not trying to monopolize her entire being. When she wanted to, she could have it. Even as she enjoyed the warmth and closeness of her beloved, she listened as she always listened.

In particular she listened to Darion at his table, testing magic tricks and cutting his cards, muttering the words of a Japanese haiku under his breath. And she listened to Puck and Brute giggling like children, acting innocents in this place of vice, sin and general iniquity. In a way it was more disturbing by far than anything she could produce. This was no place for innocents. But it was a place for Novas. And how many of us are innocent, really?

The twinned thought was more sobering. Novas could not afford innocence. They possessed too much power. The old adage about allowing children to be children was invalid when those children had the power to crack the atom amidst their tantrums. The reports coming out of the Nursery were scattered, the result of a no-doubt deliberate attempt to restrict information on Bounty and Scripture’s charges, but Chang had met enough of them pre-apotheosis to recognize power when she saw it. Any one of them would have made her look laughable before her Teragen days.

We will end up with a rather sober culture, I suspect, Chang thought. She was not much of a political theoretician, though. Her dear Snow had some more… rosy, ideas for their united future. But how much of that was born from childish wishful thinking? They never had figured out how old Snow was, but Chang suspected she was of the second generation, and if not, she simply erupted young.

They lack their elders’ well-worn cynicism, she mused, her lips pressed against the violet lips of Lucrezia, her mouth drinking in her wife’s heat and stirring passion. That long tongue slithered into her mouth and deep into her throat, the way it always did when she was becoming aroused. But will that unite us, or just drive the young away from the old?

Puck called her over.

Lucrezia heard it too. The one at Chang’s side sighed. The one in her lap slowly leaned back, unwinding her tongue and flicking it in the air like a writhing snake before unwinding it into her mouth. She looked down on Chang with smouldering, lusty eyes. Her breasts were close to her face, luring her.

Chang resisted. “Later, I think.”

“That boy has no sense of timing,” Lucrezia said, sliding gracefully from her lap. “Else he picks his moments well, and I need to find various pointy things to stick him with.”

Chang rose up, reabsorbing the couch as she did. “Things like your nipples?”

“For a start,” Lucrezia said. One of them momentarily stretched her right nipple into a blade, smiled, and sucked it back in. “But hey, all of me can be pointy if I’m in the mood.”

She began to make her way over, with Lucrezia on her arms as before. There was a delicate balance at work here. Puck was changing at a fast and furious pace. And Brute was… different. She was a blank slate of sorts, wounded, bleeding from the soul, and ripe for manipulation. It worried her more than she could say that she felt the need to protect Brute from many of her colleagues in the Teragen. Weren’t they all trying to create a world for their children? Yet who could see the innocent Brute, know her powers, and not see Shrapnel or Scrambler swooping in to turn her to their destructive causes? For her own good, of course.

Our love can be a painful thing, Chang thought. And it can be more dangerous than even our hate from time to time.

Chang came over to the table and stood before the assembled Novas, with her glorious wife-copies still on each arm. “Good evening, Puck,” Chang said. “And to the rest of you also,” she said, nodding to Infinity, Starseed, Darrik and his paramours, and Shaman. “There are many new faces here.”

[Adrian Moss]

Shaman nearly choked on his drink when he saw the two come up. He sputtered slightly. They were pretty-scary, not pretty-beautiful like Her. All the same ...

'I need to do something.'

'Like.'

'Like something they've been beating into my head at the Palace.'

'Oh.'

He stood up,

"Prince Shaman, of the Congo. It is a pleasure to meet you," and then he bowed partially from the waist.

'That could have gone worse.'

'Something is seriously wrong here.'

'Something is definitely not right.'

'Well, we know who they are. They were at the Palace seeing Sakura. I wonder what that was all about.'

'How about - none of our business?'

'Yeah, like I want to cross either one of those in a dark alley.'

'Or a well-lit one.'

'Yep.'

'...'

'There is something about them I just don't get.'

[Doctor Varroxxian]

"Hello, I'm Starseed. A pleasure to meet you." She said to Chang and Lucrezia. She really didn't know what to else say, as she knew who they were ... she felt she should make it a more formal introduction but was sitting in the back of the booth ... so she extended her hyper-flexible torso upwards a bit and made sort of a slight sitting-but-standing bow that didn't require her to stand or somehow extricate herself.

She still smiled her normal warm smile, but her mood was clearly at ease here. The shock and keen edge of initial Rainbow Room excitement had passed, and the lightness of the pranks balanced out any serious edge that meeting such prominent Terats might otherwise bring her.

.

[WhiteRain]

A prince amongst Novas, Chang thought. How absurd. She had heard through the grapevine that Einherjar had a son, but never realized she had seen him before. But no hint of her disdain entered her voice when she replied. Such high courtesy was a natural thing to her, especially with her own ironic and comparable honorific.

“‘Prince Shaman of the Congo, your majesty’,” Chang said, all four of her voices in perfect, musical harmony. When Shaman looked confused, she went on. “I am The Mirror Queen, your royal highness, ruler of the mind’s eye and lands still to come. If we are to stand on formality and protocol, it’s only appropriate that you address me correctly. To do less would be quite rude.”

To her credit, the two Lucrezias at her side remained stoic, and smiled placidly at the collected Novas. It was another of her, half way across Ibiza who burst out into sudden and seemingly inexplicable laughter. It was another of those moments which made Chang wonder about how her wife perceived the world, that she could shunt emotions felt by one of her copies from that body so as to be expressed by another. I must join with her mind when we make love next, as confusing as it is. It has been too long. And it was a confusing place. Most telepaths could make no sense of the feedback they received. But Chang had a lover’s edge; Lucrezia always eased her in, welcomed her, and helped her while their minds were one.

“These are my wife, Lucrezia,” Chang said, kissing first one, then the other copy on the lips. The two of them gave a curtsy in Shaman’s direction.

“I’m not royalty, though,” one of them said, in a conspiratorial whisper. “I married her for the sex, not the throne.”

“True,” said the other one, her tone honey-sweet, “too true.”

Chang inclined her head to him and gave a very slight bow, as was appropriate for one of higher station speaking to one of somewhat lesser. He was just a prince, after all. “I pray you are not cursed with ambition, your royal highness. Your father is likely to sit his seat for a very, very long time.”

She turned her attention from Shaman to the others. Starseed’s greeting, in comparison to Shaman’s, was a delight.

Chang unwound her arms from her wife’s copies, then twisted her entire torso around three hundred and sixty degrees, stretched upwards a foot, and gave an exquisitely elegant – though alien – bow of her own, greeting Starseed as an equal. She unwound and again took the Lucrezias’ arms.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, too, Starseed. I must confess you have me at a disadvantage. I know nothing of you. No doubt that’s exactly why Puck invited me over. And this, of course, is Eden.” She looked down at Brute, reading the girl’s look of terror with ease.

Is that… yes. She’s covering her teddy bear’s eyes. Oh dear.

Brute was sitting stock still, wide-eyed, using her hands to make Mr. Bear cover his own eyes and covering his eyes with her hand at the same time.

Chang smiled at her, putting all the warmth she could into it. “I understand, Eden. I am not what people call, family safe. I’m afraid the Rainbow Room is not the best place for a teddy bear, but it’s a perfect for someone like me. I’m sorry that my appearance offends you.” It was a calculated choice of phrase.

Brute responded as she expected her too. “Naw, it’s me, not you. Ah don’t wanna impose or nothin’. This place is jus’ really overwhelmin’.” She gathered herself. “We’re both pleased ta meet’cha.”

“And to Darrik and Infinity, it’s good to see the both of you again. How is everybody enjoying their evening?”

[Doctor Varroxxian]

Replying to Chang Star said with her happy smile "I am new on the scene. Before this, I ... well, lived a quiet life. One could say that certain children are a challenge to raise in this day and age. Spent most of my time in the last while off world. Then I noticed Exalt!"

The subtext was clear, she was a second gen ... and Star knew her story was typical enough that Chang would easily extrapolate.

"Its really been much of what has kept me here. Philosophies of personal growth. Good friends. Interesting places, interesting people, fascinating ideas put into action. There is a tremendous amount I have been learning thanks to Puck, and far more on the horizon."

[Adrian Moss]

Shaman immediately bowed back.

"I am a Prince by accident of birth,your Your Royal Highness, while you have earned your title. Still, thank you for your courtesy. We missed each other last time you were at the Palace."

Giving a slightly lesser bow to the many multiples,

"Lady Lucrezia, it is a pleasure."

Well, that was a total lie. He was disturbed and confused. His confusion was over the actual presence of Chang and Lucrezia. He didn't get it. It was like they ran at a wall too hard, or something. Actually, it was pretty terrifying. He wasn't sure to make of the ... terats. They were supposed to be unsettling and it worked. What he couldn't figure out was the 'Why?'. It was like they were some disjointed segments of multiple people.

'Yeah, terrifying.'

'If there is truth to the belief that we make ourselves this way, what does this say?'

'To me?'

'Well, we are still alone here.'

'Hmmm ... it's got to be painful.'

'Sex? With that thing?'

'Why do that to people?'

'It drops most baselines who want to live right out of the pool. Most novas too.'

'Maybe that's the point.'

'Lucrezia?'

'Makes more sense, but I get the sense that she's insane.'

'Girl-insane?'

'Yep.'

'Well, she's either very limber, a shapeshifter, or likes sending one of the clones off to die once in a while.'

'I wonder if she feels it?'

'I think feeling it is the point.'

'That doesn't make sense to me.'

'We haven't walked in their shoes.'

Yeah, got to agree with that.'

'They're not Her though. They don't feel it and they don't look it.'

'Nope, definitely not Her.'

'She's so natural and they try too hard.'

'What would we do if she turned out this way?'

'I imagine we would learn to live with it. We don't have a choice.'

[Shosuro Miren]

Puck beamed at Star's praise, blushing a little but mostly just looking excited that he'd found others that shared his vision and passion. He gave Eden a squeeze with his arms; she'd done very well, better than most, for her first encounter with Chang. He motioned to the open side of the booth, "Make a seat and stay for a bit? Unless you've other things to attend to tonight?"

He nodded out to the dance floor. "We're out in force tonight. I'll be amused to see if the club makes it through the night without being set on fire or something. I don't think there's been this many of use out and in one place at time before."

"Shaman," he glanced over at the young man, a speculative look on his face. "I remember reading that the King of the Congo suddenly had a son and another daughter." He grinned. "Utopia's probably still in fits about that. Bad enough that there's a nova national leader and that that nation is fast becoming a world leader in just about everything, but then he had the temerity to go be fertile and have children. Whatever is the world coming to?"

His teasing grin was turn on his mentor and her wifes, "Now, when are the two of you going to settle down and have some children? They dynasty must life on!" He toasted his own joke and dissolved into giggles, entirely pleased with himself and watching both Chang and Lucrezias for their reactions. He might not be cutting loose on the dance floor with his Nursery-mates, but Puck was still living it up and enjoying himself immensely with his new friends and new-found family.

[WhiteRain]

Chang shook her head at Puck. “I do not have much else to do right now, no.”

Her dress rippled as her buttocks erupted outwards, obvious through the thin material and then visible as they expanded outwards to both sides before solidifying into a three person couch decked out in rich red leather. She sat demurely, her hands folded in her lap, while the two ice-blond goddess Lucrezias sat down on either side of her.

“Thanks, Puck,” the rightmost Lucrezia said to him, “she was totally going to just stand there looming over you until someone asked her to sit.”

“It would have been rude to impose,” Chang said. “I have well learned that my presence can be somewhat… bracing at times, even for other Novas. Accordingly I do not inflict my presence on those who do not desire it.”

The other Lucrezia leaned on her shoulder. “You’re such a dear.”

Chang continued to keep her amusement concealed when she turned back to Shaman. His obvious discomfort and disingenuous attempt to hide it, compared to the complete relaxation of Starseed and honest horror of Eden, was quite indicative. Most likely he’s learned to stand on protocol. Such is at best a paper shield. I wonder if the others know Einherjar has a child of the second generation?

“Speaking of which,” she said, “Royal highness is your title, Shaman. I am ‘your majesty’. The styling originated in Italy in the form of ‘Highness’, and was used only by Kings and Emperors. Over the years it degenerated until it was used by all local rulers, but the ‘royal’ form was created by Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, a son of the King Phillip the third, of Spain. In Italy at the time it was custom to address dukes and the like by the title of ‘highness’ and the prince, rightfully, refused to do so unless he was in turn referred to by the honorific of ‘royal highness’. It promulgated from there to much of the rest of the world. ‘Majesty’ by contrast, was specifically created by the Romans to be a greater honorific than ‘Highness’, for the Imperial Emperor. Following Rome’s fall ‘Your Majesty’ was usually used to refer to God, but as Kings were divinely authorized to rule they became ‘your royal majesty’, thus acknowledging both their royal status and their divine mandate. I hope that clarifies the reasoning and sense behind our honorifics and prevents any further confusion on your part, and I likewise apologize if this is all familiar to you, your royal highness,” Chang said, her four tones just slightly out of sync, so her voice possessed a perceptible and eerie echo.

She then looked to Starseed. “I believe I have just uncovered Puck’s obvious ulterior motive for inviting me over.” Chang threw a sceptical glance at her student, and caught him grinning like a fool, and nodding. “I do not know if he has told you as much, but I am one of his teachers, a mentor of sorts. Accordingly he listens to me very slightly more than he listens to anyone else, which is to say slightly more than not at all.”

[Toby Lupin]

"Doesn't that describe you Darrik?" Gwen teased her lover, poking him in the side. Darrik smiled back in good humor. "Well, Chang is teaching me as well, so I must keep at least one ear open." Listening to Chang's seminar, he mock sighed and looked at Shaman and Chang both. "Well put mini-seminar, but the protocol isn't really called for here, Shaman. Your sister is doing well, last I heard, by the way."

[Adrian Moss]

"Your Majesty, my apologies."

'That's what I'm supposed to say, right?'

To Darrik,

"I think I see that now, and we keep in touch. She's catching me up to speed on a lot of things."

Shaman was beginning to calm down a bit, but clearly didn't know what to make of all this taint around him. Clearly Star didn't seem to mind, but then she had her Mother to deal with and that had to help a great deal. For him ... Morrigan was the closest he had come so far. It had to be that Puck had been raised around it. Darrik had no problems, so that meant he should be feeling somewhat normal.

'Okay. Darrik makes sense. He's capable of dealing with it, right?'

'Hey, we're different. Why can't other people be different?'

'Yeah, but these people are REALLY different.'

'Is this what it means to be terat?'

'It's not like we can just ask. Not here.'

'Maybe we can get Darrik to give us a clue later on.'

'Make a note of it.'

'Maybe we should talk to Cora about this.'

'What is she likely to know about it?'

'Maybe Alex then.'

'I don't think this is her thing.'

'I don't see Butch, Warren, or Pip enough to even know to ask them.'

'Dad's busy. Esperance ... she's not going to make time for me. Cora is a good choice.'

'Maybe we could ask her?'

'One: Title of Queen. Two: This is a club, not a school.'

'I think I would rather chew off my arm than ask L.'

'What was the lesson? Don't look at the person; look at their motivations.'

'Hmmm ...'

'Think about it.'

'Point. They are not so different after all. I don't know if that's depressing, or comforting.'

'A bit of both.'

The tension slowly eases out of his body as he masters his inner demons.

[z-Infinity]

“Uh, thanks,” Infinity said to the young blond guy, trying to remember where she’d seen him. She didn’t know every nova in the world and the name Shaman wasn’t ringing any bells. She didn’t usually get compliments like that from guys. “And sure, dancing sounds good.”

She leaned over and kissed Brute’s temple, then slid out toward the edge of the bench. Before she gets out, Chang and Lucenzia join them, and the black-haired girl eased back into the cushions, watching the back and forth. When it seemed to be done, she leaned over and glanced at Shaman. “Still want that dance?” she casually asked, even as she did another quick scan for Norman again. “I’m up for it.” She rose to her feet and extended a hand to him, giving him a little smile. Despite not having a nova’s beauty, she still exuded confidence as she stood in her shiny black dress.

[Doctor Varroxxian]

She then looked to Starseed. “I believe I have just uncovered Puck’s obvious ulterior motive for inviting me over.” Chang threw a sceptical glance at her student, and caught him grinning like a fool, and nodding. “I do not know if he has told you as much, but I am one of his teachers, a mentor of sorts. Accordingly he listens to me very slightly more than he listens to anyone else, which is to say slightly more than not at all.”

"I must admit, since about the first minute of Puck inviting me I have been thinking about talking with you, your wife, and many of your associates as the probability of encounter here indicated. Should the opportunity to discuss arises, I do promise to listen. My exposure, on many topics, has been limited to media, formal study, training, and experimentation. Poor substitutes for conversation in many cases."

Star thought: I am nowhere near her level, or Pucks ... but at least the conversation will be enriching from my end. How does one make stimulating conversation with a sphinx? Perhaps it will be sufficient that my level of commitment and effort in the discourse is high. This is a valuable opportunity .. I should allocate more energy to my mental processes.

[Adrian Moss]

'Wow ... saved by the Belle.'

"Sure, I still want to dance with you," Shaman beamed, clearly relieved.

Once they got moving, he leaned in, hoping it wasn't too close and said,

"Saved by the Belle. I was really screwing up back there, so thank you. I don't know what came over me."

'Belle? Seriously? Just because I think it doesn't mean we should say it.'

'Hell, she's being nice to us. Besides, she finally someone who doesn't remind me of Her.'

'And she's also socially interacting with us.'

'Always a plus.'

'And don't call her 'nice'. I've been told that's the Kiss of Death.'

Once they were on the dance floor, Shaman attempted to fit into the essence of the dance. First, he just started trying not to be a spaz. Then, he decided how he looked didn't matter. He could try and make Infinity look good, being his savior and all. Besides, everyone should be looking at her, right?

'Is she looking for someone else in the crowd?'

'Friend or foe?'

'Like we could tell the difference.'

'Maybe this should bother me more than it does, but it doesn't.'

'Maybe we can help her find who she's looking for, if he/she's a good thing.'

'It's only fair.'

'It would be nice to actually accomplish something for someone else.'

"Did you come here looking for someone else? Maybe I can help - be your wing-man or something."

[WhiteRain]

Chang was not quite sure what to make of Shaman. He was certainly poor at taking a hint. It might just be that he was very unaccustomed to taint. He’ll learn, I’m sure, she thought. His relations with Coraline and Darrik would likely improve his education immensely.

She inclined her head at Darrik. “Thank you. There is never such a thing as a bad time to learn something, and if one must insist on being part of a monarchy, it’s wise to understand where it comes from. The rock of history is not so easily diverted, especially when you’re so eager to chain yourself to it. Of course, I suspect the strife and trouble which comes with monarchies is exactly what drew Einherjar to that particular title in the first place. Please, Darrik, and your lovely… wives? Come and sit.”

Her couch expanded outwards in a sudden fleshy mass that flattened on the floor before rising up into a separate comfortable couch for them if they wanted it.

Chang turned her attention back to Starseed. While she was doing that, though, one of the two Lucrezias was taking the lead.

“So, Starseed,” she said, “what’s got you interested in us barring our dazzling good looks and whatever terrible truths Puck has been sharing?”

With Lucrezia leading off in such a familiar way, Chang decided to leave her own more formal words out and simply waited, hands in her lap, to answer whatever queries Starseed might put before her.

[Brute]

What in the bluest o’ blue hells is goin’ on round here? Brute’s primary focus was in making sure that Mr. Bear did not have any idea of what was happening in the world beyond his paws. Listening to Starseed and… them talk probably wouldn’t hurt, but anything beyond that…

The funny thing was, it was Lucrezia who got to her the most. Chang was freaky. Her eyes glowed like a monster out of an OpNet movie – especially eerie in the lower lighting of this part of the club – and her bits were eye-catching, but she was dressed and Brute could just concentrate very hard on not imagining at all what was underneath that dress.

Lucrezia, though, was so obviously, blatantly beautiful. Brute knew what kind of woman she was. ‘A woman of ill repute’.

Not including the Teragen terrorist purger of humanity and bringer of the end times, of course.

Brute was learning that a lot of Puck’s friends were not popular on the OpNet. Except when they were. That was confusing. On the other hand the sorts of people who thought they were great seemed to like wearing black leather, shouting a lot and wearing odd hairstyles. A bit like Puck, really.

She kept close to Puck, and tried not to be rude.

That mattered, somehow. Chang was being nice and polite, and so was Lucrezia, actually. She was just gorgeous, like Puck only a woman and not as pretty, but also not her brother. It was weird to call her brother gorgeous, even though it was true.

It was overwhelming, but Chang was Puck’s friend, and that meant she was probably Brute’s friend, too. She sat back in the seat, quietly turned Mr. Bear around and hugged him against her belly. Then put her shirt over him, just to be sure he didn’t see anything.

[Doctor Varroxxian]

Starseed amplifies her core mental processes before answering ...

"Well ... there are many factors. I suspect it begins with my history, upbringing. I've had an education unrivaled by most, yet I had socialized beyond surface interactions with precisely twenty two people before my family situation changed. On the track of nouns, I have also been to many places but all of them lacking an abundance of people. Usually places lacking in the features that people shape. I've seen all of these things and more - but through displays. Like constantly window shopping. I did not lack for attention paid me, but it was a small social circle. Most of those twenty two did not share deep relationships with me, rather casual or professional."

"Then, prompted by both strong emotional stimuli and logical cases I spent most of my time in space. For the better part of a year, but subjectively I live parallel lives as I am in the habit of weaving multiple selves ... so it was several years my life were solitary. Given my life has been quite short, my time alone in space - save for my selves and rather un-conversational servitors - makes up a significant fraction of my subjective time alive."

"So I read, studied, built, explored, and experimented. Often I train and experiment with the best resources around, those of my own body or the environment which my abilities can shape. I had always imagined myself a social creature, operating within a hierarchy ... so I fashioned one from my various selves and servants. I did not miss social input or feedback on an emotional level, relative to baseline standards. I suspect this is due to fundamental differences in the physical and mental structures of my mind. Plus the coping mechanism of forming my own hierarchy."

"Then I came to the rational realization that I was fully prepared to leave the solar system, but had not. Something had been keeping me here. I rationalized it as a hunger for information, but this is only partially true. I can learn many things out there. So I then thought that I was lacking in the sort of information I can only acquire by living in culture. There are other minor dimensions, but that is the main thrust. I wanted to experience all the things I had been looking at through that window - all that cultural window shopping. The verified results of Intensive training and my accelerating personal growth metrics indicated that I should be safe if I exercised caution."

"Then I came across Exalt! I had been seeking others of my kind - for various practical reasons, but in this context as ... 'transitional exemplars' of socialized Novas. Exalt! provided an organization that met many needs in the context of socialization. Of course, there is the fact that Puck is of the second generation as I am. Yet he is of the Teragen. This was interesting, especially because much of my effort is somehow applied to personal improvement. Mother applied a scientific approach to rasining me, with goals, metrics, and analysis of considerable rigor. Though I can deduce certain basic features of Teras, I am an outsider not privy to secrets. Still, the philosophical basis of Exalt! appeals to me as do certain elements of Teras I suspect, have observed, or have synthesized in studies of public sources. Puck has not communicated anything inappropriate as regards secrets."

"You, and your wife are marvelous shape shifters. You live a lifestyle that is so alien to my personal experience. This provides a rich spectrum of both parallels and contrasts relative to myself. You spend time in wondrous places like this. Plus, you both do have dazzling good looks. Speaking objectively, without the help of a master stylist or reweaving my own form, I am quite plain by Nova standards. Thank you again for the makeover Puck (she grins)... Also, so many of this group are qualified socialites of one sort or another - and I am not. You both are also highly intelligent beings, likely a great deal wiser than I am."

"In many senses, talking with you is very interesting to me. I feel it will be formative, perhaps important in my pending apotheosis. I also hope it would be enjoyable and enriching for both of you."

INT for the scene

[Varro] 1:17 am: Rolling boost for INT

Varro *rolls* 6d10: 10+7+2+9+10+6: 44

For the scene, Star has M-INT 5.

[Toby Lupin]

Agatha and Gwen might have been a little unused to Taint, but Agatha had been a secret agent, and Gwen was easily composed anyway. They scooted out of the booth with Darrik, and certainly didn't mind the more intimate space as he and the girls leaned adoring against each other. The pretty scene persisted while they listened in on Starseed's explanation, and Gwen had an agreeing smile for Starseed at the end. "New and worthwhile experiences, that's why we get up in the worst of times."

"Otherwise, I'd never get out of bed. Nor would you two." Darrik teased, provoking little giggles from the girls. "So," he more seriously inquired, "you can create constructs too?" A jerk of his head brought the imps bounding from the booth top and leaping into the trio's laps. There was no doubt what they were now, if not before. "I would like to speak with you later about that... I've found some insights in making ones that are sentient... and more worth holding a conversation with."

Agatha playfully gave him a poke in the ribs. "You'll create our wedding planner then?" She gave an acknowledging glance to Chang. "We aren't married yet, but when the time is right, we'll have a ceremony and a good party."

[z-Infinity]

"Sure, I still want to dance with you," Shaman beamed, clearly relieved.

Once they got moving, he leaned in, hoping it wasn't too close and said,

"Saved by the Belle. I was really screwing up back there, so thank you. I don't know what came over me."

Once they were on the dance floor, Shaman attempted to fit into the essence of the dance. First, he just started trying not to be a spaz. Then, he decided how he looked didn't matter. He could try and make Infinity look good, being his savior and all. Besides, everyone should be looking at her, right?

"Did you come here looking for someone else? Maybe I can help - be your wing-man or something."

Infinity blinked at Shaman, pulled out of her hunt for Norman. “Uh… I’m being incredibly rude,” she said, looking distressed. “I hate it when people pull shit like that on me. I’m sorry, Shaman.” Red eyes locked on his as she gave her apology without flinching. “That’s pretty shitty to dance with a guy and not pay attention to him.”

The plain girl gave Shaman a brilliant smile and stepped forward, putting her arms around his shoulders. Her fingers curled into his blonde hair; he was cute and that made it easy to pay attention to him. But he wasn’t as cute as Norman, which made him much more approachable. He also wasn’t hung up on Coraline, which was a relief after dealing with Norman being all doe-eyed over her. Her body joined his in a rhythmic sway. “So, Shaman… tell me about yourself. I know you’re Einherjar’s son, but you’re more than a bloodline. So what is there to know about Shaman?”

[Adrian Moss]

He smiles and almost giggles.

"Shaman ... Shaman is kind of a boring guy. Let's talk about you."

Seeing he wasn't going to get off the hook that easily, he relented. He pulled her close and leaned down close, but not quite up to her ear.

"I know this sounds corny, foolish, or whatever, but I feel a kinship to all living things. Plants, animals, the basic biological processes ... that kind of stuff. The creatures that I understand the least is my own kind - novas. It's like I don't fit in anywhere. I mean, people are relatively nice to me, but they always have bigger things to do - more important things. I've tried to fit, but I'm not comfortable anywhere I go. I'm not an elite, or stellar explorer, or a techo-savant, or earth-shattering powers."

"Before I came here ... my best friend was a grizzly bear, I ran naked with deer and wolves, and I watched the salmon spawn. I brought blizzards down in midwinter, so the spring runoffs would be good. I bathe in the rain. I have plans make me shelters when I don't feel like sleeping under the stars. Real backwoods, hick stuff".

"I knew the people who raised me weren't my parents by the time I was ten. They didn't have much to offer, no shared understand of what I was going through, so I retreated into the wild. A few months ago, my world came crashing down. My 'parents were murdered - Dad was tortured. I ran away and ended up here. Suddenly Einherjar's my real Father and I'm like 'Holy Crap!' Now no one knows what to do with me, and I don't know what I want to do with myself."

'We could tell her that Coraline saved us.'

'We could compare her to Sakura, or Jason, or ... the list goes on.'

'And what would that do but be rude and hurtful?

'Your are with the woman you are with. No others should matter.'

'That almost sounded human.'

He grins,

"That's my excuse for being a putz. If you want further proof, I can break out my bird calls."

"Oh, wait! I got to get you one of my t-shirts. It's cool."

"It say: Divas Mal: "I reshape the Planet."

Caestus Pax: "I shatter mountains with one blow of my fist!"

Shaman: "I talk to cats."

"Let me know if you want one. I've sold five so far." (big grin)

"Now let's talk about you. For starters, you have a much cooler name than Shaman. It even has more letters."

He winks, trying to keep her at ease.

"Names don't mean much though. Who are you, the person behind the name Infinity. I honestly want to know."

And he honestly did.

[WhiteRain]

Lucrezia found Starseed interesting, for reasons Chang could have guessed while blind drunk. And the last time she was blind drunk – thanks to The Alchemist being playful – she misquoted several of her own written works and attributed the invention of the lightbulb to her wife’s left nipple.

The one at Chang’s side, though, turned to Darrik. “You have to get up for new and worthwhile experiences?” She put on a look of shock. “Why, Darrik, I was certain that you would be an excellent lover. Chang only gets out of bed when I let her.”

Her second copy spoke at the same time, only to Starseed, and in a completely different tone about a completely different subject. Not for the first time, Chang marvelled at her wife’s wondrous mind, and silently looked ahead to when Lucrezia would let her in, and let her feel it from inside. “Ooo, a duplicator,” she said, all smiles and easy charm. “I like duplicators. I’m perma-split, there’s twenty eight of me around,” she purred, and made a circling motion in the air with one flawless, elegant finger. “Some people guess that I’d ‘get used to it’ or something but that’s completely wrong, it’s as much fun now as it was ten years ago.”

Chang did not lean forward. She had no need to. She simply spoke, and let her echoing words carry. “My wife is a distributed consciousness. Not a hive mind. There is only one of her, in many bodies. If she pretends otherwise, beware, for it means she’s up to something.”

Lucrezia gave her wife an entirely lustful look with the one at her side. The other, still looking at Starseed, winked. “I’m always up to something. Especially when people think I’m not.”

“From the way Starseed speaks, beloved, I believe she is a cellular consciousness. It is difficult to form a hierarchy without multiple persons to do it with.”

Starseed looked between them. “Cellular? As in my consciousness is separated through the cells of my clones?”

“No,” Chang said, “my apologies. One of my students is a scientist, and one of her specialities is in Nova biology. She has made a lifetime study of the various ways that quantum effects the body, and the character of the changes it brings about. When it comes to duplicators, as she terms them, Meh’Lindi has split them into two broad categories, those with a distributed consciousness, and those with a cellular one. By ‘cellular’ she means ‘like a cell’, in that each of your copies possesses their own self-contained personality which may or may not be based on your own. Cellular consciousness includes Novas who suffer from severe personality disorders, who manifest multiple facets of their own being in their copies. My wife’s consciousness, on the other hand, is not seated in any individual but rather spread through every one of her clones. You could say she is a psychic gestalt. The ‘I’ to which Lucrezia refers is a form of godhead birthed out of twenty to thirty copies, identical down to the smallest facets of personality. By being linked, the effect is a singular being.”

Lucrezia leaned back, her every movement both a seduction and a misdirection, for she still kept the emphasis on Chang, never truly stepping forward from being her ‘date to the party’ clad in ironic, chaste snow white. “Yep, I’m like a swan. Under the surface my legs are paddling like mad, but up top I make it all look so easy.” She shrugged. “Meh’Lindi’s way out of my league on that stuff. I just glaze over, nod and smile. She knows what she’s talking about so she’s probably right.”

Starseed nodded eagerly. “That’s interesting. I did not realize that someone was being so studious on the Nova condition.”

Lucrezia laughed. “Oh, Meh’Lindi is studious, all right. She once raided a Utopian facility just to get their patient data because she couldn’t find it any other way. That was back in her Harvester days, though. These days she just asks me, I walk in looking like one of them and walk out with whatever Lindi wants. I’m such a sucker for her teeth. They’re so big.”

[Doctor Varroxxian]

"That gets me to thinking. I have suspected for some time it is a limitation related to my mind that puts a cap on my efforts to weave new selves. I can weave a nearly infinite variety of other patterns, but they are all mindless. Language alone does not express it adequately, but ... there is a threshold of resolution which I can operate above. I learned to weave myself because its easier, I can just recreate the general form and then I fill it in ... instinctual."

"Mother and I studied this in some depth, and it fit the pattern seen in the subconscious vs. conscious control levels most Novas exhibit - that is to say my control is mixed like the vast majority of others. For years, Mother and I theorized that one of the primary bottlenecks to developing a distributed network, or weaving more copies of myself was MR development. I reached eighth instar and subsequent development seemed to be limited by factors that correlate with the peak and saturation energy levels I can achieve."

"Of course, it is so much correlation and very little of definitive causation when it comes to quantum bio-physics."

"Now, maybe I am thinking that it has more to do with other factors ... If you have time at some point, I would enjoy learning about any exercises or techniques you practiced to get to your level. It is clear that I have some training to do, as I can only manifest six parallel selves on a regular basis."

...

"I would also be happy to trade data with Meh'Lindi. I have large of the dataset from my childhood, and have interesting data from recent assays done at Exalt!."

"I've recently been able to recreate the base mathematical models Mother used to describe the physics of my powers." she added, turning her hand palm up and in it displaying a globe of light. The hologram quickly resolved into an intricate model of something that looked like DNA with wave-particle model features integrated. Star clearly had to concentrate on something, but in short order the model began to animate, as planar sidebars with equations and animations of her shifting anatomy in a variety of cases formed in patterns around the central globe.

One of the side-bar planes did, in fact, relate to the sort of 'resolution' that Star had just mentioned. It detailed floors and ceilings to changes to thirty five key variables - the limits of the changes that she could make. Even a undergrad in physics would recognize many elements of the fine-structure constant layed out in this list. Star could, apparently, affect a vast array of changes to the physics that governed her own form - and by extension, other forms as well.

"There are recordings of more complex transitions - I have the records from years back, but some of those contain equations and assume models that are still beyond my ability to resolve. Mother has a flare for this which I currently lack. Plus I do not have super-computing facilities that are superior to the capabilities of my own mind, thus I have to work mentally. Even the new Nakagima-210 server-cluster back at Exalt! can't work through most of the models I would like to run."

"Still, these models have been, and are useful. Many of the constraints, avenues of exploration, and so forth they predict are accurate and useful. Maybe with more data, different data, the results might be interesting. Perhaps Meh'lindi might be better with the maths than I am."

...

"The thing is ..." Star said to the Mrs. Changs and to herself, "The more I uncover the more I feel there is to uncover, and the faster I change. Its like I can see what I am going to be tomorrow, and then tomorrow comes and it was mostly right ... but possibilities are starting to open really wide, the changes are becoming so subtle too. There are so many potential paths to choose."

"Then there is this ... barrier ... I have been living with for a long time now. I want to smash through it, but metaphorically its glass ... its hard to guage. Steps on all those paths might be behind the glass, or maybe not. If I didn't know about it, I might be more content - not that I want to be content - but in everything I do I see these limits that I know I can surpass. I just don't know how to do so."

"This is all difficult to articulate accurately in verbal language, and I do not know enough Bodhi either ... hopefully I am making enough coherent sense. I suspect, that at some point, you might have felt the same way?"

[z-Infinity]

It was good he was honestly interested in her, because she found that appealing. “First, I don’t think you’re a putz,” Infinity said, her red eyes expressive with interest. “We all are shaped by our experiences. Had your parents found a safe place with other nova children, you’d still talk to cats, but you might feel more comfortable talking to people, too. I was raised with a number of other children who were all more powerful than me, and I have been shaped by that experience, too.”

She curled her arm up on his shoulder, propping her chin on the back of her hand. The dark-haired nova was almost leaning on him as they swayed to the music together. “So my parents are in the Teragen, and they are hard-core believers. When I was born, I was secreted away to someplace safe to live. I was told that I was named Infinity because that’s what my parents believed that I was going to be capable of. But so far… I haven’t lived up to that expectation.” He could tell it was painful to admit, but she met his eyes as she continued, “I have no perceivable powers. None. Zilch. Nada. Zip. Which is what some people consider me. The zip with a node. So everyone I know is way more powerful than me. You can say, ‘I talk to cats’ but I don’t even have that.

“So who I am inside depends on whether you measure worth on powers. If you do, then I’m no one. If you don’t, then I’m an artist, a philosophist and always looking for a good time. If you know what I mean,” she added, studying his face before breaking into a wicked smile, “and I think that you do. I might be called a slut, but I’m not. I just haven’t found the right guy and I’m not sitting around waiting for him either. I have a lifetime to find him, or at least for him to realize I’m worth the chance.”

Shaman peered at her a moment before he asked, “Is he the one you’re waiting for tonight?”

Infinity sighed, a brush of mint-fresh breath teasing Shaman’s senses. “I guess. I’ve been in love with him for a long time, but was really too shy… well, scared, to do anything about it. Then he started dating this super-hot nova, and… I want to try to talk to him one last time and see if there’s something there, between him and me. If there’s not, I’ll let go. And if there is… maybe he’s the one.”

[Adrian Moss]

"Wow ... your frikken brilliant. Your right. What does it matter what you can do if you don't know how to use it. Big Deal. So you haven't found your ... voice ... your power yet. It doesn't matter, because when you get there, you already have the hard part figured out."

Shaman looks unabashedly impressed with Infinity, then ...

"Um ..."

'Don't say it.'

'For the love of God don't say it!'

"I'm a virgin. No, seriously, I've never had ... relations ... with a woman - with anyone for that matter."

"But, who you have sex with doesn't matter to me. It shouldn't matter to anyone but yourself. I mean, or bodies are one of the few things we own. So, you knowing more about something than me doesn't bother me a bit."

"You know, I don't usually open up like you. Your real. I gotta say I like that."

"As for waiting for someone ... ya, I'm kind of a sucker. She's special. She's powerful, and I that's powerful with a capital P ... and she thinks were friends."

Sigh.

"She's really great. I should be happy with us being just friends, but I get so confused were she's involved. You seem to know about that - having something that's really good, but wanting more. And, she's with a guy I can't touch. I don't come close. I don't hate the guy. He's just were I want to be."

Shaman inhales deeply.

"But I'm here with you and that makes me feel better than I've felt in a long time. You are a breath of fresh air. I don't want to run away with you, or anything. I just want to hang out ... get to know you because you are a person that's worth knowing more about."

"Wait, does that sound too corny? I didn't mean it that way."

He leans in and dances nearly nose to nose.

"You don't make it easy on a guy."

[Shosuro Miren]

Puck leaned back and watched the club happily. Star and Chang seemed to be getting along quite well, and Infinity was actually really talking with Shaman. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, or at least dealing with the chaos well in Eden's case. Puck hugged his sister tightly for a moment and murmured softly to her, "You doing okay? If you want, we could go dance like Infinity has with Shaman. We don't have to, though. I'm just offering. I think the conversation is going to get right over heads pretty quick."

The Nursery children had certainly taken over the club for the night, which mostly meant that there were nearly double the number of novas in or trying to get in to the club than normal. Their booth was an obvious point of interest for many of the club-goers; between Chang's position, Puck's emergence as a new player in the world, and the sheer collection of beauty at the table - not just the near overwhelming physical beauty of Darrik and Puck, but also the beauty and promise of the two pregnant nova women as well - but so far they were being left alone. That would probably change if any other big powers, other movers and shakers in the nova world, decided they wanted to chat, but right now Puck was more than content to watch his friend and fellow Exalt! member engage his mentor and wifes with such excitement and grace. He hugged Eden close to him again and smiled beatifically in his happiness of the moment.

[z-Infinity]

Infinity laughed at the line, despite it being a little cheesy. “I’m not supposed to make it easy on a guy,” she grinned, “that’s kinda a woman’s job in the sack. But thank you – I appreciate that.” She let herself lean on him more fully, enjoying the young man’s slight discomfort at his own body’s reactions. It was always a little discomforting for someone to realize their body didn’t exactly remain under their full control.

“If being a virgin bothers you, I’ll be happy to help you with that,” she added with a wider smile. He was certainly hot enough to have sex with – that would not be an issue for her. “I know some guys are nervous about their first time and want to have an experience partner teach them, while others prefer to have the first time be with someone special. If you’re happy the way you are, cool. I just wanted to put the offer on the table.” Oh yeah, I would certainly help him with that ‘problem’.

This ego-boost was a Mal-send, coming as it did before running into Norman. She’d been tense and upset before; now, she was relaxed and laughing, enjoying someone’s company. How could it be that someone she adored so much could make her so miserable?

Infinity didn’t want to think about that too much. “Yeah, your girl sounds like my guy. We should totally introduce our rivals to one another and see if they fall for them.” At his look, she gave him a devious smirk. “It’d solve all our problems if your rival took my rival off the board. Then you could have your girl and I could have my guy.”

[Adrian Moss]

He looks down at her so long and hard that almost stops dancing.

"You would do that for me?"

He looks around, lost,

"Man ..."

then he looks down again.

"You would give me one of the most important things in my life. I would never be able to forget you. At the same time, you are giving me this moment and time ... which I am not sure you understand how special it is to me as well. I don't know. Right now I think I know more about you and even more about myself than ever before. I don't want to give that up."

Shaman chuckles.

"I'm not going to forget you either way. How could I? Let's just dance and stay right here for as long as it lasts. If something changes later, and you still want to, we can do whatever. Thing is, I like you right now as you are. I'm not sure how great sex would be, but if its better than the way I feel right now, it might just kill me."

"Infinity, you let me breath. I kind of wish you had dressed to meet me here tonight. I really do."

[WhiteRain]

The Lucrezia talking with Star smiled. “Well, honey, we need to help you put on some weight. Six is just where we start. The fun doesn’t even begin until you’ve breached ten. Of course, it’s different for everyone,” she said, leaning back. Her flesh and dress rippled and creaked, filling the air with the sound of stretching and shifting latex. The pristine white ice goddess bulged and warped back into her ‘normal’ form, clad in PVC with bare legs and arms, soft red lips and shoulder length dark hair. The other, on Chang’s arm still, remained pristine. “Passion’s always been a driving force for my growth. You sound like you have a rather dreary paradigm, though. I’m afraid the science talk is a little over my head. I do fun.” She turned to Chang, her dark eyes full of seduction. “Don’t I, darling?”

Chang felt a purely carnal stirring in her body, and tried her hardest not to look. Lucrezia wasn’t doing any of that ‘reflecting’ business now. She was being glorious and beautiful and her. She just hoped she didn’t feel the need to show off. Lucrezia once joked that her most important power was being able to seduce Chang at will. Or more precisely, making it so I just don’t want to resist her. Most people don’t get that, and nobody can do it like her.

“So the rumour goes,” Chang said. She smiled at Starseed. “There’s no better Nova stripper or table dancer in the world, and she’s good at all the rest, too.”

“Well you have to admit, we Terats can be awfully dreary at times.”

“Conceded,” Chang said. She leaned forward to study the model Starseed had created. She stretched her neck out across the table, curving over, around and almost under the model, squeezing her head almost flat at times. She retracted her neck again after a few moments. “Fascinating. I cannot say how good you are or are not with mathematics, but Meh’Lindi is a genius with them. She’ll make any computer you can name look like it was put together with packing foam and common office staples. Not to insult my student’s technology, of course. Meh’Lindi long since gave up on using computers for calculations. Her own mind is far more accurate. She should be able to help you if this is a paradigm you find easily comprehensible. I function primarily on a philosophical level. Send one of you over to her in an hour if you wish, she will have been informed of your coming by then. As a warning, never drop in on her uninvited unless she has said you may do so. She has a habit of eating unwanted visitors.”

Chang studied the models, the numbers flickering and moving in Star’s hand. Her eyes focused, and her mind began to speed up at an exponential speed, working the numbers as best she could. Starseed had provided her with all the data she needed. No computer in the world could have moved faster, worked the calculations as many times as she did in those few seconds, or come to so accurate a solution. It took thousands of processes to find the minor errors, the slight failings in Starseed’s calculations. She felt quite sure the model before her was perfected by the time she was done, two seconds after focusing.

“Of course,” she said, smiling, “you’ve given me more than enough information to do a good job myself. Your mother is an intelligent woman, as are you. I can see some minor flaws in your model, however. Fifty three variables you haven’t accounted for.” She shrugged. “You did a good job. I don’t have what I need to take the calculations any further. I suggest that, if you’re willing, you work with Meh’Lindi to complicate the model and then return to me. If you are being forced to rely on mechanical assistance there’s no question that she can help you. Think of me as a processor unit. I won’t put out more than what you put in, but I’ll make the absolute best of what you do put into me.”

Lucrezia snickered. “The entendres, how they double before my eyes,” she bit her lower lip. “Where do I begin? I mean, you’re making it so easy on me I have to assume you want me to start talking dirty.”

Chang gave her a sidelong glance, and then looked back to Starseed. “My beloved wife. Smut elemental. Still, I suppose it helps bring our rather high-brow talk down a few notches. There is value in that. As to this ‘barrier’ you articulate, yes, I know what you speak of, but I doubt you know what I am referring to. Not yet, at least. Teras – I’m sure you’ve heard of it – eventually gives one a very precise feeling for the place and the qualities of that barrier. And then it lets you smash your head right through it. Yours, however, might be what the young refer to as apotheosis?”

She offered the last as a theory. It was hard to tell with second generation Novas. They were so powerful before they made their change, and she did not know Starseed well enough to gauge for sure.

Spending 1 QP to activate Hypercognition so as to run the model through its paces at extreme speed, using the information Starseed’s provided (which is basically all of it)

[Brute]

Brute listened to Chang and Starseed talk, and watched in wonder as Lucrezia bubbled and reshaped. She felt a little dirty just looking at her once she was… back to normal? The way they talked made it sound like she was back to normal. That was scary to think of. And the way she looked at Chang was like nothing she had ever seen.

Well, maybe a bit like the way Darrik and Puck looked at each other when Brute walked in on them, in that split second before they realized she was there and they pretended to not be gay for each other. But it was way more intense. It scared her, somehow, but she didn’t know why. All she knew was that when Lucrezia’s eyes passed over Darrik or Puck, there wasn’t even a flicker of the interest that she showed when she looked at Chang. And that… that wasn’t natural.

Puck’s hug came out of nowhere, and helped her tear her gaze away.

“Yeah,” she whispered, “ah haven’t the faintest idea of what they’re talking about. Star’s model looks kahnda pretty, though.” She folded her knees up and leaned against Puck, hugging Mr. Bear. And keeping his paws over his eyes, of course. No way was she letting him get a look at ‘normal’ Lucrezia. “No dancing for me, Puck. This place, ah… ah can see so much. The heat, ya know? Ah can see Novas up in the rafters, lookin’ down on us. Doin’ that thang you get up to more ‘n you probably should,” she gave him a playful poke in the ribs at that. “But down here s’all a mass an’… ah cain’t see where everyone’s comin’ from, Puck.”

She straightened up and turned to look at him. “Part o’ me’s still out there on the ahce, runnin’. Out there ah knew if anyone was comin’ from half a mile away or more. It’s so cold out there on the ahce fields that even the slightest warmth travels. An ah can always feel it, pricklin’ on the back o’ mah back. Ah’m always… worried. Lahke the guys in the helicopters are gonna come for me again. Ah mean… ah never knew why they came the first tahme. So why wouldn’t they come again? An’ here,” she shuddered a little. “Ah wouldn’t see ‘em comin’, Puck. An’ that scares me.”

Brute picked at the salad with one hand, helping to keep Mr. Bear’s paws in place with her leg.