Aberrant: Children of Quantum Fire - [Interlude] Epidemic [Discussion of Mature Topics] [FIN]

[Shosuro Miren]

Monday, May 31st, 2027

Exalt! USA Headquarters

Sara sighed and tapped her pen against the clipboard in her other hand, frowning at the summary report for May. There's been a sharp rise in patients coming to the Wellness Center, mostly complaining of aches, tiredness, and nausea. They'd checked for fevers, but while most of the patients had been running a little high on temperature, none of them were actually running fevers. She'd still sent out a message to all the members with recommendations for more citrus fruit in their diets (and Bethany had been more than happy to put out more citrus and other vitamin C-heavy meals and treats out), as well as getting plenty of sleep and exercise. She'd even worked with Mariana to get more yoga classes started and more masseurs on staff to help with the aches and tiredness people were complaining about.

But now she was really taking a look over the list, really seeing exactly who had been coming in with those complaints. She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. She was a physician, she should have seen this coming, seen at least the possibility well before Puck and Star had come to talk to her last week. I could still be wrong, she thought hopefully, on several different counts. Still, she was a physician and it was her duty to see to all her patients.

One of the centrifuges beeped loudly in the room behind her and the printer attached to it whirled to life and spat out black-and-white results. She hesitated. All my patients. She stood up and slowly made her way to the other room, glad that she'd waited until the hour or so between day and night shifts when she had the Center to herself. She picked the paper up gingerly, avoiding looking down for another moment. All my patients, she recited to herself again, even myself.

She looked.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Forty minutes later the night staff arrived. Dr. Loshe had finished the end-of-month paperwork and was sitting at the front desk with her laptop open. Instead of leaving with the change of shifts, though, she moved quietly into her office and shut the door. The night shift members stared curiously at the door: they'd never seen it closed before.

It took another hour to finish sifting through all the month's data and compile the list of names, then another hour to check over the schedules of everyone on the list and send out the requests for them to come meet with her. Everyone in Exalt! was busy, not slave labor busy but the point of Exalt! was to always be working towards one goal or another, and with several large projects on the docket for the entire organization from the last Assembly meeting, members were even busier than usual. Japan, possibly the Congo, the islands...everyone was busy and then some. It wasn't an excuse for her oversight, but it was why she hadn't put enough of the pieces together sooner. It was also why it would take nearly two weeks before she could meet with everyone on the list. And then there was the big Teragen meeting that Puck had asked her to go to in mid-June.

She frowned, fighting back a yawn and finally admitting that she couldn't juggle the schedules for a quicker resolution and it could wait two weeks...probably a good idea to wait until after the big Terat meeting anyways. She sent the schedule requests and left the Wellness Center with a curious stares following after her. Once in her own room, she curled up in her bed and fell asleep while composing and re-composing the message she was going to need to send her family.

[Shosuro Miren]

Saturday, June 5th, 2027

Exalt! USA Headquarters

"You're certain he's the only man you've been with in the past three months? Even before you came to Exalt!?" Sara asked the question with the right mix of compassion and directness that all good doctors perfected during their careers. And she was now a very good doctor. Another thing that came from Puck. She loved him, but sometimes it was just hard to be around him. He became the center of your life, whether you wanted him to or not - whether he intended to or not.

The woman sitting across from her, a statuesque woman of African descent and upper-middle class American upbringing nodded. "I had a boyfriend before I came here, but we broke up six months ago. Once I was accepted to Exalt!, I spent the first month just...you know how it is. Getting used to everything and sort of throwing myself all over the place trying to figure out what I wanted to do and what I could do. And then there was that night..." She flushed slightly, roses blooming attractively across her cheeks. "The night you erupted. And the next day....you know he, he asked for company while he waited for Ms. Chang to make it to New York...."

"That's when you first had sex with him?" There was no judgement in Sara's voice, just a clinical interest. Hardly anyone in Exalt! would have had the hypocrisy to judge anyone else's sexual history with their founder. Those that hadn't been his lover at least once were mostly either dealing with sexual hang-ups or in dedicated monogamous relationships. And knew that it was Puck's self-control and regard for their decisions that those relationships remained intact.

The woman nodded again and took a breath, meeting Sara's eyes with directness and a strong core of self-esteem. "I'm pregnant, aren't I? I had a Depakote shot just before I joined, but I know that those don't always work and even less so with novas."

"Yes," Sara nodded and glanced down at the medical file on her desk. "You're about six weeks along according to the blood work." She looked back up, watching the other woman's reaction carefully.

There was a moment of fear and another set of deep breaths. Sara knew the feeling well and spoke softly, "Chandell, do you want to have this baby? You know Puck. You know he'll respect your decision on this. You also know that he loves children, but isn't quite..." She faltered, trying to find the best way to phrase the issue.

"They make him nervous. He doesn't know what to do with them." Chandell's tone was half worried and half amused; it was nice to know that there was something Puck wasn't perfect at or completely comfortable with. It made him more...well, if not human, then approachable. Sara nodded.

Chandell was quite for a moment, thinking and putting the training in observation and analysis that she'd been learning at Exalt! to good use. "How many are there?" At Sara's blank look, she clarified, "Pregnant women, Sara. You've been having meetings with girls from all over the building for more than a week now, and there was that call you put out for blood tests at the end of May. Gossip travels faster than light and people are starting to ask questions and put things together. So, how many of us has our fearless and feckless leader knocked up?" There was laughter in the last, but her eyes were sharp and pinned Sara down until she answered.

The doctor took her own deep breath, "There are forty-two confirmed pregnancies under twelve weeks along, so far. I know that eight of those are not Puck's, and that of the thirty-four left twenty-two, including yourself, have said that they haven't had any male sexual partners during the windows of conception other than Puck."

Chandell's eyes widened and she gave a low whistle. "God's Grace, that man certainly...eh! How many more of these 'interviews' do you have left, Sara? Have you told him any of this yet?"

"Thirty." Sara's pen was tapping nervously on the desk, "Thirty more women that are pregnant and might be carrying a child of Puck's." Her eyes flicked down to the table and she stilled the pen with an effort of will. "And no," she whispered, "I haven't told him yet. I-I want to finish the interviews first and...and he's been being more careful since Starseed told him she was pregnant anyways." 'Careful' had translated to Puck shifting to sexual practices that didn't risk pregnancy - not that he'd conceded to the condoms Sara had had placed in his suite. Celibacy had never been an option and he'd pointed out that he'd exhaust even nova lovers he had with his sexual appetites, and that there was a good chance of a general mutiny from portions of the population of Exalt! if he suddenly switched to only nova or only male lovers.

Chandell watched Sara carefully and then snorted. "Bullshit. You're afraid to tell him that you're pregnant too."

Sara started and stared at Chandell, the truth blazoned across her face as she paled and blushed as deeply as Chandell had earlier. She dropped her head into her hands and gave a laugh with an edge of hysteria. "So sue me." She looked back up again, no longer the doctor in charge of a medical interview, but another woman in need of some support and an empathetic ear. "Is that wrong of me? I mean, I know I should tell him, but honestly...I don't think I could handle having to do it over and over again. Jesus, he's gotten at least twenty-four women pregnant, and possibly another forty-two. Fertile novas are rare and it's like he's trying to make up for the rest of them - us - ah!" She threw her hands up and leaned back in her chair, eyes closed and just giving in to the pressure and absurdity of the situation for a moment.

Chandell snickered and after a moment the two of them burst out into full laughter. "Oh, honey, he's not trying to create the Race of Puck. He's just a man, nova or not, and he really likes sex. And we really like having sex with him. He's a little bit of an idiot about this and there is the possibility that until Ms. Starseed made her own announcement, he didn't even know he was fertile. Like you said, most novas aren't." She placed a hand on her abdomen and glanced down, then back to Sara. "I'm going to have this baby and I think most of the rest of us, if not all of us, will do the same. Some because they wanted children before anyways, some because it's Puck's child, and some because he's a nova and there's a chance that the baby will be nova too. Or could become one. When are these interviews going to be over?"

Some of the tension had bled out from her and Sara was once again reminded why she loved being a member of Exalt! - mostly, the other members. "Next week. I've had to add to add a few more women to the list, but I've managed to get everyone scheduled in before the 15^th."

"Ah, that meeting that all you novas are goin' to?" Sara could hear a wistful strain in Chandell's voice, but none of the rancorous jealously she picked up from baselines in the city sometimes. She nodded. "I don't want to hit him with this right before that. He's nervous about it, but he's hasn't said why yet. He's been distracted ever since the..." she swallowed back the fear rising from memories, "the gala. And everything with that."

Chandell nodded. "Alright. Well, the other girls you've already talked to aren't saying much about it, though some of them are dropping hints for the attention. You and I, we'll keep everyone wrangled until we know exactly what's going on with who, and then we'll all of us go talk to Starseed first."

Sara blinked at the unexpected twist, but Chandell pressed on before she ask the question. "That girl, she was the first that knew and the first that said something to Puck. She knows how he is, but for the past two weeks she's been the only pregnant woman in his life. Pregnant with his child, at least. She deserves some warning and time to adjust, especially if she's going to have five or six dozen other sisters-in-arms in regards to Puck. I hope she'll handle it well; she's a sweet girl." She sighed, hoping that the other baseline women would take it well, too. "Then we go let Puck know what his pecker has gotten him into."

Sara giggled. She couldn't help it. At least Chandell hadn't said little pecker. That would have had her rolling off her chair, both from absurdity of the description and just how wrong it was. Chandell tipped her head at the doctor and reached across the desk to pat her hand. "There you go. Now, I don't know the first thing about pregnancies. I've got four sisters and decided years ago that they could carry on the family line just fine without me. So..."

Sara regained her composure, pulling herself back up in her chair and tugging her white coat to sit properly on her shoulders again. She reached behind her for the one of the kits she'd put together a week ago. The nondescript white bag carried several pamphlets, prenatal vitamins, some tinctures and tea medleys for the aches and indignities pregnancy could bring, and a number of other helpful items and nutritional plans. "This should get you started and I'll send you a list of helpful files on the network and some OpSites with good information and support groups." She frowned as she came to the bit of unpleasant advice, "I'd be very careful about visiting any sites specifically about nova pregnancies or that advertise to be for baseline women with nova partners. That group that was brought to the light years ago, Puck and Starseed seem convinced that they're still around and still well armed and organized. And then there's groups like the Church of Michael Archangel and even that Defense of Human Dignity and Free Will Organization. They might not try to harm you or the baby, but such groups are still breeding grounds for zealotry and bigots that will use the group's resources for violent actions. This will get out eventually, Puck lives too publicly for it not to, but we want to control the how and when for all our safety."

Chandell nodded and took the bag, standing to leave. "Don't worry, Sara. I've been wrangling little sisters, nieces, nephews, and cousins a decade older than me since the first grade. I'll keep the girls in line until we all decide what we're going to do."

With that, she swept out of the room and back to her duties as one of Exalt!'s rising chemists and violinist. Sara checked her laptop quickly and then poked her head out of the door of her office and into the waiting area of the Wellness Center. "Bethany, you needed to speak with me?"

[Shosuro Miren]

June 16th, 2027

Exalt! USA Headquarters

They were all gathered into the large living room of one of the two suites on the 43^rd floor. They'd debated using one of the Salons on the first floor, but the last thing they wanted was some walk-in non-member overhearing any of this. They'd gotten some of the stronger members to move the furniture around, bringing in all the comfy furniture not being used in the other suites in to fill up the living room. Women sat everywhere, leaning against each other on couches, sitting primly and nervously in leather office chairs and overstuffed chairs with little foot rests. The room buzzed with the quiet conversations of small talk and gossip that so many women mastered nearly as soon as they learned to speak. Most of it was in Bodhi, the melodious flow of the language making the room seem to almost be singing dozens of different but harmonious songs.

Water glasses and a large assortment of easily assembled snacks were set out on the bar that separated the kitchen from the living room; some of the women were already beginning to show and cravings and increased appetites had the kitchen staff (those not in the room at the moment) buzzing with speculation. Exalt! wasn't a closed off community, but it was a close community and secrets didn't hold for long. Those in the gestalt had an even harder time of it, carefully sectioning off parts of their thoughts and the very nature of this meeting from the others in the link. Most especially from Puck. They could tell that he knew something was going on, but the distraction of the day before and the implication of the powers he was discovering had kept him sufficiently distracted for their plan to make it this far.

Sara paced at the front of the room. They'd sent the request to the Star-clone at the building less than a minute ago, but already she was pacing and reciting prayers she from her childhood she hadn't even known she remembered. Please let this go well. For all of us. Chandell was sitting on one of the love seats in the "front" of the room, near to Sara's pacing and holding the other seat for her. "You'll wear a hole in the rug," she observed with a teasing lift of her lips. "Give her a minute to get here and then it'll be what it is. Come sit down. You'll just make her nervous if you're pacing around like that."

Sara sighed and conceded the point, sitting stiffly on the love seat and laying the full three-ring binder she was holding on her lap. "I hope-"

She cut off her speculations as the door to the suite opened.

[Doctor Varroxxian]

"Hello everyone!" said the Star on site as she came in. She was her cheery self but it was impossible for her to miss the new element of tension the circulated of late. She had her suspicions but hadn't pried. She had been busy enough with everything extra of late. Exalt hadn't taken a back seat but some of research had to be combined. Kiribati citadel as she had termed it was in the final design stages so she had folded the civil engineering work into GNS. Now the common specs the many industries were adopting to work with GNS were being expanded to allow system compatability with the Kiribati systems. Much of it was gravity dependent so wouldn't work in less than point two G...but that was fine. Kiribati standards would be fine for expedition bases.

As she walked in the room thoughts of work were put aside..."Hi hi...something is up...isn't it?"

[Shosuro Miren]

Most of the women nodded and the energy in the room shifted to focus on Sara. Chandell gave the Indian-born doctor a bit of a push to get her up off the love seat. Sara clutched at her binder and swallowed hard. "Um, hello Star. And yes, there's, well...the thing i-"

Chandell rolled her eyes and cut in. "We're all pregnant and Puck's the father, Star."

There were smiles and some titters from the over fifty women gathered in the room at Chandell's bluntness and Sara's blush. Sara held out the binder to her, each page dedicated to one of the women and detailing the progress of their pregnancy, from the suspected date of conception and due dates to what details were available about the fetus or fetuses (there were six mothers-to-be of twins, including Sara herself) to the paternity tests that proved Puck was the father. The pregnancies ranged from six to sixteen weeks along; meaning that no one had conceived more than a day or two after Star told Puck about her own pregnancy.

Sara pulled herself together, relying a little on the 'doctor' mode that she and Star shared in common. "We wanted to talk to you first, before we went to Puck. He doesn't know. He suspects something, but he's been so busy for the past couple of weeks that we've been able to keep things mostly under wraps." She tried to read the young nova's expression, "A-are you okay? Do you...need anything? Want anything? We've all had some time to adjust to the idea of what happened, but....."

She went silent and all the women in the room were watching Star, waiting for her response.

[Doctor Varroxxian]

"As in all? As in everyone here ... ?" said Star, with a bit of a stunned expression ...

She paused ... not angry ... but still mildly stunned. "I expected some but ... we agreed on an open relationship. This is ... "

"How many are we? How many infants? She asked after a moments more thought. She didn't want to alarm anyone, but this was dangerous. Very dangerous if their enemies knew.

She smiled weakly ... thinking that life is a blessing. Life is a blessing ...

[Shosuro Miren]

Sara nodded and glanced over her shoulder at the women. "There's, uh, fifty-seven of us. And...sixty-four." She swallowed, "Sixty-four children on the way. Uh, sorry, sixty-five." She took Star's arm tentatively, but when the glowing nova didn't object, she pulled her over to the loveseat where Chandell was still sitting. She ensconced Star next to her and then took up a space on the floor just in front of them.

"Are you okay?" Sara asked softly. She still wasn't great at reading Star's expressions, at least not unless Star was being expressive, which was only usually when she was around Puck. It had been easier with the others; not all of them had been particularly pleased to pregnant, or to be sharing Puck as a father with so many other women, but they'd had time, days at least, to get used to the idea and to make up their minds about things. To find solidarity with each other. Just to figure things out, even if only a little bit. Sara held out the binder to Star. "I know you've got a great memory, so you probably know everyone here at least by name, but...if you want to know more, about the pregnancies at least, it's all here. We wanted you to know before we told Puck. To hear about it from all of us..."

[Doctor Varroxxian]

"I really do appreciate it too. I do. Don't worry about me by the way ... those of you who have read my psych profile know that I can keep emotional things from hitting me too hard. Not all the time, and I don't shut out all emotion ... but it is a function of my cortical structure. I should probably be a little more shocked than I am - but its fine. I can handle it."

She paused, and continued "The most important thing is that we have to back each other up, and back Puck up too. We are all going to be stressed out at times, its natural. I've already been feeling more emotional and having cravings. Cravings like crazy, even ... even alternate selves like this one have the hormonal imbalances typical to pregnancy. But we should go with it, support each other. Meeting like this or in more convenient groups should continue. The reason I say we should back Puck up too ... is that he is going to feel the pressure from all of us. He's amazing and we all know it, but he has feelings and can get stressed out."

She spoke as she reviewed the files in quick time, switching gears when she realized something ...

"Doctor, I see that several of us were on regular contraceptive regimens. Kiratenazen in two cases, FEM-22 type five year implants in once case ... didn't think they still sold that, Depakote, and a few other weaker hormonal orals. I know I wasn't on anything when Puck and I conceived, but this seems to indicate that contraceptives won't work - at least not in healthy doses. More common compounds might even exceed LD-50 before having an effect, which is not good. What do you think? Have you reached the same conclusion?"

[Shosuro Miren]

Sara shrugged and managed not to blush this time, in total doctor mode. "That contraceptives are pretty much useless when it comes to Puck? Yeah, pretty much. I've been keeping track of his sexual activities since you told him of your own pregnancy. He's been careful...not abstaining," there were snorts and laughs from around the room, along with a few colorful jabs at the pale nova's proclivities, "but he has adjusted his sexual habits to preclude vaginal intercourse. The most recent projected conception dates are just at the end of May, easily within the range of sexual congress the day before or the day of that you told him of your pregnancy."

"If this is true of all fertile novas...." Sara sighed, "Well, then there's certainly not been a fertile nova like Puck before." Another round of laughter fluttered through the room, along with a breakout of several whispered conversations, ranging from speculation on Puck's current "positions" to the continuation of gossip that had broken off when Star came in. The knot around Sara and Star remained focused. "And I've already gone over at least basic security precautions with everyone. What I know to do, at least. Keep away from suspicious OpSites, don't talk about the pregnancies outside of...well, us, at the moment, though it's going to get through the membership soon enough and it will get out to the public eventually. There's just too many of us and after the children are born..."

"As fascinating as all this is, girls," Chandell broke in. "It's not really the point right now. Right now, we need to figure out exactly how we're going to break all this to our collective spikey-haired baby-daddy."

That did it. The whole room burst apart in raucous laughter from the absurdity of that phrase from a woman as prim as Chandell usually was. Once Sara managed to quiet the room down again, Star once again found herself the center of attention. "Star? How would you like to do this? We're willing to follow your lead on this." She gave her a teasing smirk, "You're our resident expert on this with Puck."

[Doctor Varroxxian]

Star smilled ... thought about it ... the smile turned into a grin. There was mischief in that grin "It occurs to me, that this is an unprecedented situation. How do we deliver a message like ours without it being a shock that is going to knock him right over? .... Its ... absurd really. He was happy, but quite shocked when I told him about one child."

"So I think we need to both show that we are good with this, and also just tell him. It has to be done together." Star continued, the grin getting bigger "I think we should call him in for a solemn meeting. Make serious faces ... make a really heavy atmosphere in the room. We're not going to be able to keep that up for long, so then we start ... I don't know ... singing a song. Maybe for he's a jolly good fellow. Someone brings out a party hat for him, and a cake with fifty-seven candles. We change the lyrics of the song to end with "because we're all pregnant! and then rush him in a giant hug yelling 'we love you Puck!."

Some people in the room looked at Star like she was crazy, more clearly liked the idea, and the majority looked to be open to the idea ... but were sort of confused.

"I know it sounds wacky ... but psychologically it fits all the criteria. It shows him we all still love him, it shows him we are still his family ... because he really does consider us family ... and it creates cognitive dissonance which will soften the blow. Quite literally, the song and party hat and cake are clear symbols that he will process along with the message. They directly and literally communicate that we love him, verbally, visually, physically across the range of sensory input. Plus how do you really say this any other way? It really is a crazy thing ..."

[Shosuro Miren]

"It'll look like we're throwing him some bizarre birthday party. Are we going to have a pony and a clown too?" The sarcastic questions was asked by a woman whose heritage was as classically American mutt as you could get.

Another woman, her blond hair done up like a movie star from the middle of the previous century, rolled her eyes. "Ari, jeeze. It was just a suggestion. No need to be a bitch about it."

"Well, it was dumb." Ari tucked her feet up under her legs on the on the overstuffed chair she'd chosen for the pregnancy powwow. "We're going to be telling him that he's going to be a father like umpteen times over. And does anyone actually know when his birthday is anyways? I mean, what's up with that?"

"Ignore her," the blonde said. "She was bitch before, now she just has an excuse." Titters ran through the room and Ari pulled out one of the decorative pillows and hit the blonde woman in the chest with a whump.

"You're such a suck up, Cozette."

"Practiced for years. Put me through college," the blonde replied gamely and the two grinned at each other.

"I'm just saying, he knows we love him. If anyone should be getting cake and songs, it's us. He doesn't have to put up cravings and bloating and cramps and swelling up like beachballs for the next nine months." There was a low grumble of agreements from around the room, mostly from those well into the morning-sickness mode.

"No," Sara replied, giving Ari a look, "he's just got to put up with all of us."

"She's got a point," a petite Asian woman that Star recognized as Yuna cut in. "Actually, you both do. I mean, I'm actually pretty excited to be pregnant, but he was also really irresponsible. Even if he didn't know he was fertile. He should have gotten himself checked out when those women in Ibiza made those suits. Throwing him a party just feels...weird. Like we're all saying 'yay for unprotected sex and knocking a bunch of women up'. I mean, if this wasn't Puck, if it were someone else, just about anyone else, do you think we'd all be sitting here trying to figure out how to make sure he still feels loved and isn't upset? Not that I want to make it some inquisistion or make him feel bad. We all know that no contraceptives are 100% and we all slept with him knowing that he was sleeping with a whole bunch of other people too. I work in the Launch Center. STD tests are mandatory and Exalt! has a nova healer on retainer that specializes in pathology. That's nice and all, but there's a reason for it and the result of that reason is taking up all the furniture on the floor right now."

"Well, do you or Ari have a suggestion, if you don't like the song and cake idea?" Cozette asked archly.

"How about roses?" Justine, formerly of N!News, asked.

Cozette arched a brow. "Roses?"

"Yeah. Like on those romance reality shows, where the guy or the women gives out roses to the contestants that make it to the next round? We could come in and each give him roses, two for the ones with twins. Yellow roses for the babies, since I don't think any of us are far enough long to know the sexes anyways. And a red one for each of us." She smiled at the room, "I think he'll figure it out on his own if we do that. He's pretty smart when he's not...um, well, we all know." She bubbled a small laugh, but kept going, "And it'll also put things in a pretty good perspective. That's going to be a lot of roses. He's already being more responsible with sex, from what Sara's said, but....guys, come on. This is going to be huge when it gets out, and a lot of the press isn't going to be good. A nova family here or there, fine - how nice for them. But there's fifty-eight women in here. We're gonna catch it from pretty much every pre-N!Day religious group out there, people are going to scream cult! and harem! like they're new concepts. And that's just the people that'll be offended by our numbers or marital status. Then there's all the people that hate novas, or hate novas like Puck. Think about those suits. And after that-"

"Jesus, Justine, we get it!" Ari cut her off. "I do like the flowers idea. We could bring them to his office and make sure they get replaced every couple of weeks or something. Start our own garden, but keep them there to remind him of us and the babies and that sleeping around like manwhore is a new concept has consequences too." More titters and laughs and a fair share of annoyed looks followed Ari's words. She nodded to Star, "Yeah, we said we'd do what you wanted, though. As long as that involved telling Puck and not going anywhere, of course. Whaddya think, sister?"

[Doctor Varroxxian]

"The party thing is just an off the cuff idea and I still don't know exactly what we should do. I am pretty new at the whole relationship thing. Before this my only kisses had been pecks on the cheek from my parents. If we say nothing and just do the roses we should at least add some direct way for him to figure it out. Beyond him just noticing."

"I am still concerned about him having to deal with hostility from a large number of us. Its natural but all in all he didn't think this would happen. If it comes down to some one telling him I will do it."

"So if we go with the roses concept...which is classy...why don't we make a big banquet dinner out of it. Since it sounds like most people here would like this to be focused on us mothers to be we all get our favourites. A chance to pamper ourselves while we can still fit in our best dresses. Make him drool we all look so good. That would also work to soften the message...but works with roses."

"Then at the end we each do the rose parade past his table setting. Bury him in flowers as we tell him. Still only an idea. I want as many of us to agree on this as possible."

[Shosuro Miren]

"Ooh! I like that idea!" A brunette with the traces of a northern English accent clinging to her speech, Miriam by name and one of the teachers at the private Exalt! school by trade, clapped excitedly. "We could set up a private dinner, have him come in, but let's do the roses at the beginning, when we come in. One by one. Give him the roses and a brief kiss, then the next one comes in, and so on. Then was can talk about things over dinner, too. I don't know about the rest of you, but I get tired pretty early on now."

"We'll just need to have vases on hand, or he's going to spend the whole dinner trying to hold a hundred roses," Cozette added.

Ari snorted, "That could be entertaining."

"I like the idea," Chandell said quietly, but the room silenced itself the moment she started speaking. "It's easy enough to set up, will let him know that we're okay with the situation, and keep the focus mostly on us. A family dinner in the oldest sense of the word."

The room buzzed for a few minutes and then she spoke again. "Okay, no one else is giving more ideas. Show of hands, who wants to do the dinner?"

Most of the hands in the room raised up, some excitedly, some nervously, and even a few just obviously bored with the whole thing by now. Chandell nodded. "Then I think we have ourselves a plan. Bethany, how long will it take you to get the food for that set up?"

The cook shrugged, "A day at the most. We've got the food on hand and I've got everyone's favorites lists on the network."

"Celeste, you're in Acquisitions. How long would it take to get the funds for the flowers and get them sent here?"

"Are you kidding?" The red head laughed. "This is New York. We could get the flowers tonight, and it'd be easily within a day's slush fund."

Bethany's eyes went wide. "Um, I'll need at least a day to get the cooking done," she gulped.

"Okay, let's say two days from today. Everyone clear your schedules. Dinner at six, we'll get together at five thirty to hand out all the flowers," Chandell said.

"What about who sits where?" Ari challenged. "I mean, everyone's gonna want to sit next to him. Or at least more than two of us."

"We'll do a lotto," Chandell answered without missing a beat. "Pick numbers from a hat, then go from one to fifty-eight..." she glanced at Sara and Star to see if either of them would object, but when neither made a noise she moved on, "and each woman will pick her seat as we go down the numbers. We'll meet at five, then. Do the numbers and the flowers together, line up, and then go in at six." She stood up, taking a moment to look each woman in the eyes. "Not a single word until then. Don't chat about it in the halls or drop hints to your bestest friend - Rachel, Daisha, I'm talking to you two. This is all of our's secret until the dinner and we talk everything over with Puck."

The women nodded, obviously used to following Chandell's orders by now. "Okay, then I think we're done here. Unless you've got something more to add, Star? Questions for us?"

[Doctor Varroxxian]

"I like the lottery idea for seating. Its fair, good."

We are going to have to make pre-bookings for hair stylists ... with some extra spaces just in case. Maybe it might be worth it to get a seamstress in, or two, for minor alterations? Just so the dresses are perfect."

"He's going to notice everyone prepping, so we have to have it all ready to go the day before. Then maybe gather into small groups in our rooms to help each other. This way, nothing is really visible."

"I can have a couple of the other me's running interference too. The two days before hand are already project review days. I'll make sure there is lots for Puck and those me's to talk about. I'll keep his mind occupied with Exalt! Japan stuff, GNS stuff, and maybe four or five of my clones can ... ummm ... wear him out a bit." She finished with a giggle ... which set the room chuckling

Then she added "As we all know, he almost never says no to that.", and everyone had a laugh. It was just so ... true.

[Shosuro Miren]

Charlotte laughed and patted Star on the shoulder. "I can't think of a man in his right mind who would, dear. Okay. It sounds like we have a plan."

Friday, June 18th, 2027

Exalt! USA Headquarters

The members knew something was up, and speculation ran in whispers and across the gestalt, but the women managed to keep a lid on the truth. Celeste hid the flower purchases in a couple of different purchases for birthday parties and new member bouquets. Bethany didn't have the same luck hiding that there was going to be a special dinner, but a promise that she'd talk about what was going on when she could was enough to mollify the kitchen staff - for now - and to start a betting pool. Amelia blocked out the Grand Salon for an 'executive business meeting' and Suzune called in favors from her fashion design college roommate to get a seamstress and a make-up expert to come in on the evening of and make the women up like red-carpet celebrities.

Star managed to keep Puck occupied through most of the day with legitimate concerns over Exalt! Japan, GNS, and a myriad of experiment plans; around three she had to default to pulling in several other clones and dragging him into bed. He gave her a speculative look when the gates opened, but didn't say a word of protest. At five forty-five, she finally let him out of bed and began dressing him, resolutely ignoring his questions as one of her slipped out of the room and the others picked out his clothes (black silk shirt with several buttons left undone and the cut panel that all of his long shirts now had, nice black slacks, and his black thigh-high boots with the belt buckles up the sides), and dressed him with a minimum of distracting interruptions.

"So, now that I'm all done up, where am I going?" he teased.

"Downstairs, the Grand Salon. Don't teleport, take the elevators." She grinned and then all of her there opened a gate to Exalt! Japan, blew him kisses, and disappeared.

He blinked as they all left him, then shrugged and made his way down to the Grand Salon. The room seemed to have gone through a complete remodel from its usual business meeting/lecture hall model: the walls had been elegantly draped with earth-tone cloths, small tables with curiously empty vases - he counted fifty-eight in his quick assessment of the room - were set aesthetically against the walls, and the three chandeliers in the room had been lowered to sit perfectly over the long table that dominated the center of the room. The crystals in the chandeliers twinkled and reflected the candlelight from the dozens of candles settled on the main table and the small accent tables with the empty vases. The large table had seating for fifty-nine, thirty on one side and twenty-nine on the other, with the ends left clear of chair or plates. Each setting except for one were identical fine china with motivational sayings hand-painted in blue around the edges; a project Julia had asked the more accomplished artists in the membership to make for special occasions. The one exception was set in the center of the table, on the side with the odd number of seats; the plates were glazed black with a raised robin pattern with a red eye and the long-stemmed goblet had smoky black swirls through it. All of the plates were covered with warmer domes and he could smell dozens of different dishes beneath them.

He stepped over to the darker setting and looked around; he was almost ready to step outside to see if anyone else was coming when the door opened. Cozette stepped in, dressed to the nines in a slinky silver dinner dress and done up to perfection; she held two roses, one red and one yellow. She stepped up to him, kissing him without a word and passing him the roses. When he tried to ask her a question, she put her fingers to his lips and shook her head; she took the seat immediately to his right. On cue, the door opened again and Tabitha stepped in, also dressed to elegant perfection and carrying two roses. She repeated the kiss and left him with the flowers before taking the seat just to his left. Then came Serpahina, then Daisha, then Savenna, and on and on. He took each kiss and pair of roses with a bemused, befuddled expression until Jada entered with her single red rose and two yellow ones. His brow knit as she leaned up to kiss him and he watched them all with a more thoughtful expression. Star came in last, having picked an early number and set herself there. The last traces of confusion lifted from his expression as she kissed him, left her pair of roses with him, and took the place directly across from him.

He didn't sit immediately. He walked around the room, arranging each set of flowers in their vases as he considered this new wrinkle. When he did take his place, he looked over the table, locking eyes with each woman until his gaze returned to Star. Then he looked down and scrubbed his face with his hands. "So...all of you?"

The room nodded and Sara spoke softly from Star’s left. “All of us.” She slipped her binder with the pregnancy one-sheets across the table for him.

Puck nodded. “Fift-eight and…sixty-five.” He took a deep breath and then laughed. “I’m apparently trying to populate the nova race all on my own. Or at least that’s what I’m going to tell Bounty and Scripture when they get a hold of me.”

Everyone at the table knew of Scripture and most of them knew a little of Bounty from history lessons on the Sahara and Ethiopia. That Puck spoke of them with such affection and familiarity was both endearing and a little intimidating. He looked around the table again and asked, “Are…are all of you okay with this? I mean, I assume you’ve all talked this over given…” he waved at the room.

Cozette put a hand on his arm and squeezed it, offering support. “We are and we have. What about you?” A tremor of concern threaded its way through her voice, she glanced at Star and then back to the nascent father. “Are you okay with this?”

He leaned back and laughed again. “I’ve got no idea what I’m doing, but…” He ran a hand through his hair and then laid it over Cozette’s. “Yes, I’m more than okay. Surprised, and pretty sure I’m going to get lectures from pretty much everyone I grew up with about this, but….” He smiled and all of the women in the room felt their hearts flutter faster, “yeah, I’m okay.”

He motioned for everyone to take off the warmers, and for a little while there was the companionable silence of eating. He opened the binder and looked over Sara’s reports, along with the page at the back that listed the kits and advice she’d given everyone during the interviews. “The advice Sara’s given out is good.” He said after he finished reading through. “I’d like to keep this under wraps until we’ve made the move to the islands, even from the membership. I know we can’t keep it from getting out forever, but for everyone’s safety, all of you and the children, the longer we can go, the better.”

He closed the binder and sighed. “There is another option. The Teragen….we’ve had a place for nova-born children for a while now. It’s where I was raised.” At the surprised looks around the table, Puck explained, “Eden and I, our parents are novas. We’re both naturally born novas. Eden was…she stayed with our parents. I went to the place where the Teragen raise their kids. It’s safe, but it’s also secluded. Most parents don’t see their children until they’re adults, something that’s only now starting to happen.” He tugged at his earing, “And with everyone but Sara and Star being baselines….I don’t know how that would end up.”

Chandell spoke up from her place down the table. “Puck, I know you’re worried about our safety. So are we. But I don’t want to give my-our baby away. I don’t think any of us do.” There was a murmur of agreement across the table. “And you’ve been setting things up for Gwen and Agatha and their babies….”

He lounged back in his chair and nodded, “Yeah. Gwen and Agatha….” He sighed, “I’m going to talk to the people running the place for the Teragen, just because at this point they’re probably the best experts on nova pregnancies and children, and depending on what they say I might ask you all to meet with them at least. But….I understand, too. We’ve set up the parenting classes…which I think we’ll have to arrange private ones for the group until we’re ready to tell the rest of the membership about this…but, we’ll expand the plans for the nova nursery and childcare centers on the islands. Fair?”

Chandell and the others nodded, “Fair.”

They ate quietly again for several minutes, then Ari gave Puck a speculative look and asked, “So, since we’re all already knocked up, that means we get to have good sex still, right? I mean penis in vagina sex, none of this ass or mouth only crap that Sara told us about.”

Puck nearly choked on the piece of steak he’d just taken a bit of and could hear others having the same problems, but by the time he’d swallowed and looked up, every eye in the room was pinned on him. He looked down to where Ari was sitting and said carefully, “Well, as long as there’s not a medical reason, I don’t see why not. Sara?”

“Nope,” the nova physician answered quickly. “Maybe late in the pregnancies, but no reason at all right now.”

There were chuckles and even titters from Sara’s quick reply, and even a small grin from Puck. Ari nodded, “Alright, then. I call first dibs ‘cause I was the one with the balls to ask.” A slow, evil grin spread over her expression as she appraised him like a particularly elusive prey, “And with five dozen pregnant-horny women to please, I think we might finally wear you out.”

Laughter flooded the room, banishing any lingering nervousness with Ari’s patented bluntness. Puck joined in, laughing at himself and the absurdity of the situation. “You know, I sure there’s some way I should be feeling….how ever a man’s supposed to feel when he knocks up five dozen women on accident, but all I can think to say is….” He shrugged and tossed his napkin on the table next to his plate, like a gauntlet thrown down, giving Ari a challenging grin, “Bring it.”

[Doctor Varroxxian]

Along with the others Star voiced her agreement in not wishing to give her children up, but voiced agreement that a meeting would be prudent. These were three of the Tergaen heavy hitters, and having Mal and or Scripture on their side was something that weighed in their favor.

Star enjoyed the ceremony immensely. After all ...what wasn't to enjoy? The dinner was great, the dressing up was something she did rarely ... and the sense of camaraderie, of family between the women was something she rarely felt in such a keen fashion. The 'after party' was also quite the event ... perhaps they might even tire Puck out ...

[Quantum Fire]

It was not too much after the party and discussion when Puck sent his email and soon enough found that both Scripture and Bounty were waiting for him, and Bounty was giving him the concerned mother look, the one he recognized so much from his years (all three of them), being raised by her. Bounty was a gentle and loving woman, a nurturing and considerate mother, but sometimes she has few strong words to say, which in a lot of ways were worse for the children then some sort of corporeal punishment. Scripture on the other hand, had been tolerant in some areas, but occupationally put his foot down, and he usually had some strong words about leaping before you looked.

How they got there was obvious however, with the shinning figure of Divis standing behind them, no doubt Divis had brought them, though how he had known... perhaps the Petro had told them, after all the Mathematician rarely spoke to anyone outside of the inner circle and to Divis most of all. As they stood there, Scripture spoke up first. "While I applaud new children of the one race, Puck, I don't think they should be happening by accident."

"Was it accidental, or negligent?" Bounty walked up to Puck and hugged him tightly. "Perhaps, we should put you under lock and key until you learn more control over certain aspects of your own fertility, a week of abstinence might teach you a few important things.. and you know Infinity is going to have words with you on this."

Divis said nothing.. yet.

[Shosuro Miren]

Puck flushed at Bounty's admonishment, but his heart skipped several important beats at her suggestion. He eyes widened and he stared at her like a teen being told to hand over the keys. "Uh...that seems...a little extreme."

Allison took a step back from him and folded her arms, giving him the universal "mom" look. "Five dozen women pregnant in the space of, what, two months? That's nearly a pregnancy a day, Puck."

"But...I'm...I...I'm being more careful now," he finally got out. He hated it when he sounded like he was whining. Especially when he was.

"'More careful'." She shook her head. "I hesitate to ask. Puck, dear, you are you. Can you honestly say that this isn't going to happen again? Can you guarantee it as you are now?"

He looked down, running a hand through his hair and finally admitting, "No. I can't guarantee it as I am now."

Bounty nodded and put a hand on his shoulder, her voice conciliatory. "A week of abstinence while we talk, then. Just to make it easier, I'll simply adjust you to make you impotent for the-"

Everyone in the room could feel the stir of quantum from Bounty, but Puck's head snapped up at the word "impotent" and his own quantum responded: a sheath of golden-silver energy flashed over him, much like the crystalline formations made when a nova began the process of Chrysalis. This was much faster, though, and never passed from energy to crystalline. For a brief moment Puck wondered if he was going through a second Apotheosis and fervently hoped that was not the case: he was still getting a grip on the changes from April. Once the energy dissipated, less than a second later, he could feel a change in himself, but small, infinitesimal compared to his Apotheosis.

Divis chuckled from behind Bounty and Scripture, "Well, your priorities are quite clear, Puck."

Puck blushed deeply and gave Bounty a sheepish look. "I...I think I can, now. Guarantee, I mean. I can feel, I know...." He took a breath, went in search of his spine, re-installed it, and spoke again. "I seem to have figured the problem out. I have an awareness of my body, specifically my fertility, and I can control that aspect of myself now. No more accidental babies. No need for....a week."

He blinked at the three of them. "I don't suppose any of you have any idea of what just happened? I mean, how."

Living Chrysalis - Transmigration Roll

Malachite *rolls* 11d10: 9+8+7+9+4+8+4+6+10+2+3: 70

6 successes

Converts his two permanent dots of Chrysalis into 6xp and immediately develops the Fertility enhancement for 5 xp.

[Quantum Fire]

Divis looked over Puck a moment, a long moment, as he assessed the young nova on more then one level, then turned to Allison. "He has dealt with the matter, he'll not engender children causally or accidentally again.. but Jeremiah and I need to speak with him privately, if you would?" It was phrased as a request, it was meant as a request, but Allison took it as a command.

"Of course, I will speak to Puck a bit later." It was gently said an Allison turned and walked away, someone less perceptive then Puck would would not then see a moment of... sadness was it or resignation? Some part of the most powerful nova on the planet was not entirely pleased with folks simply yielding to his will, it was something Puck wouldn't have picked up on before, and as he looked at Divis a moment, a slightly inclined eyebrow indicated that Divis was aware of his observation, as Scripture opened a door for them and the three nova's stepped though into an empty room.

"All information from this room is being blocked, from everything, including past and future visions, Michael.. "

"Thank you Jeremiah, I always can count on you." there was honest pleasure in his voice, and for a moment, Puck's sharp intellect might consider that perhaps the reason Jeremiah was Mal's consort, was because he treated the other nova like an equal, as a partner, rather then the boss, leader or king as so many others did. "I am going to make two requests of you, today, Puck...

First, I want to you to keep under wraps what you just did, developing the state of being that Jeremiah has chosen to call Living Chrysalis, the Final Stage of Chrysalis, is something that only can happen at your stage of power.. and presently only three beings possess the capability, Petro knows of it, but his ability to calculate the future indicates that telling other terats too much would cause a rush toward greater power that would cause us to lose some of our number in the rush. Second, I know you are experimenting with your powers, I would like a promise from you, not to do anything permanent to anyone outside of Exalt!."

"Why?"

"Right now, I am filling the planet with quantum energies, in conjunction with other energies, it makes nova's far more likely to erupt, we have a thousands now... without me doing that, there would be perhaps 5 to 10 nova's, and they would be weak in comparison to most nova's existing today. I could erupt specific individuals, but it would limit my ability to increase the degree of eruptions on the planet as a whole. Now, my concern is the target you will become as you grow into your power, what you suspect is correct, you are going to be able to spark another node, but if everyone knows that, it will make you a target in a lot of ways. We both know you can't lie, most nova's understand that kind of limit, if you make a promise to me, you would hold to it.. and if you told everyone else, that you can only erupt those within Exalt!, but did not explain why.. those closest to you, it would be believed without question by anyone who knew and understand the limits your quantum signature."

[Shosuro Miren]

Puck shivered slightly as he felt the link blocked in his mind. He'd been off Earth enough times now that he'd gotten used to the feeling of the link dropping, but he hated it every time and always felt his shoulders relax from the tension when he came home. He trusted, loved, the two men in the room with him, though, so acknowledged the discomfort but ignored it.

He listened carefully to everything Mal said, setting aside his surprise and curiosity until Divis had finished speaking just as he had his discomfort. He considered what Mal asked of him. It was only a half-second of time, but he considered instead of obeying. One strand of thought wondered idly how much that was due to his power and how much was Chang's influence. He decided in the end that it was a fortuitous mix of the two and set it aside like he had the other distractions.

He nodded. "You have my word on both accounts." He frowned, "I have spoken to Chang about being able to channel taint regardless of...well, anything, as far as I can tell. She and I and many of the other Anavasi have been working on forging new archetypes, framewoks, for Terats to use. So long as I do not reveal more than I have in our research, I will continue that. It is....important. To her, to the Anavasi, to novas." He nodded again, as if reassuring himself of his own decision.

"As for the other, erupting individuals, I wasn't planning on trying outside of Exalt! anyways. Such a power...." He searched for the right words in English, "...to become a nova is a grand thing. There is....responsibility, I suppose....that's not quite the right word, but it is close. Responsibility in that. Simply erupting everyone I came across...." He smiled, just one corner holding his usual grin, "Well, we've given the universe quite a dose of chaos already. Evolution is a grand thing itself, but messy and prone to many literal dead ends. I'd prefer a more...directed evolution." He knew he wasn't saying it quite right - he'd have a difficult time even in Bodhi - but he hoped his meaning was still understood.

He sighed at the difficulty of communication at times and leaned against the wall of the room, hands clasped behind his back. "I am curious, though. If you're the reason so many novas are erupting....why the Galatea? Was it a coincidence or did you wait for such an event?"

[Quantum Fire]

"The Galatea was a side effect, I needed a place to focus the power and it needed to be in just the right place at the right time for me to unleash the effect that I needed, that it destroyed the Galatea was the price for unleashing the power that I did. Of course, it was the same year I had developed that particular capability, it has always been my search for peers, Puck, equals who could stand with me and make their vision as much part of the future as my own." Divis Mal responded to Pucks question with an explaination, one that only Jeremiah had every heard before. "In the elders and those of the children like yourself, I have found that.. but even I have been surprised by how things have turned out at times."

[Shosuro Miren]

Puck nodded, wondering if he would have done the same in Mal's place. People died on the Galatea, and even more died in the months following, baseline and nova, as the world tried to figure out what was happening. With nature as a parallel he supposed that it was a fairly painless birth of a new race, but humans and novas were more than just a bundle of survival instincts. He set a part of himself to mulling over the quandary, but also acknowledged that it was done and hadn't been his choice in the first place. He realized with a bit of a start, from a mix of conversations with Chang and several others, including Scripture, that he was simply more of planner, less impulsive, than Michael known as Divis Mal.

"Is there more that we need to discuss privately? I have a matter I want to speak with you two about, but Bounty as well," he asked politely.

Mal shook his head, "No, only the discussion of Living Chrysalis and the ability to erupt novas needed such secrecy. You have given your word; let us return to your building."

Scripture opened the door and the three stepped back into the lush conversation room at the apex of the Exalt! USA headquarters. Bounty was sitting patiently on one of the couches, reading a newspaper put out by some of the older children in Exalt! as a class exercise. Puck took a seat next to her, cuddling against her as only one of children would.

"This Tabitha Marshal is quite the poet for a baseline child," she remarked as she put an arm around her not-so-long-ago ward. He'd always be one of her children, born of her or not.

"Mhmm," he agreed absently. "She's best when she doesn't have the time to edit herself. Daniel, the one who put the newspaper together, made her wriite a poem just before he started printing. She'd written dozens and submitted them, only to pull them to 'fix' them and then never be satisfied afterwards." He grinned up at his mother, "She reminds me of Chang sometimes."

All three guests chuckled at that, well aware of the Pantheon's premier artist's harsh criticism of herself - well beyond the honest criticism she inflicted on others, but then, that was artists for you. Baseline or nova.

Bounty set the paper down and settled Puck against her so both of them could face Scripture and Mal. "Now," she murmured over his head, "you said there was something you wanted to discuss in your OpMail. Beyond your impending multiple counts of fatherhood." She made no mention of the brief meeting she'd been excluded from. Either she didn't care or she simply accepted that Mal would exclude her from some things.

Puck took a nervous breath. "It's about the children."

He was silent for longer than a pause and Allison finally hugged him and prompted, "Yes?"

"Darrik - he and Gwen and Agatha aren't going to send their children to the Nursery. For a number of reasons. We - Exalt! - we've been working on how to accommodate that since we all spoke about it." He ran a thumb along his jaw, another nervous tic that developed when he couldn't play with his hair. "The mothers of the children....only two of them are novas," for now, he realized from what Michael had told him, "and I know them. They're not going to want to relinquish their children to the Nursery. They would, if I pressed the issue enough, but I would be making that decision for them, then. I-I don't want to do that. To take away their decision simply because I think that the Nursery is the best place for the children. Especially when we're already doing what we're doing for the other nova children being born into Exalt!."

He slithered down Bounty's side so his head was in her lap and he could see her expression. "I'd like to make something like a second Nursery. Exalt! is taking over the territory of a nation that disbanded in the South Pacific, which will give us space and some distance from other nations. Between Darrik and I and all the mothers, there's going to be sixty-eight children born within months of each other. I-" He swallowed, his fear of alienating the only woman he considered his mother in the world clearly written across his expression, "I'd like your help to set that up. To make it another place like the Nursery, where children are nurtured and loved and given the freedom to be who they are..." He glanced over to the two men that had sat themselves comfortably on the love-seat opposite the couch, then back to Bounty. "A place like I and Infinity and Surtr and everyone else was given by the three of you."

[Quantum Fire]

"I'm not sure that I'm the best choice for this, Puck" Bounty responded. "I have responsibility to the children who are already in my care, who vary in ages, I have a significant responsibility to them, and I dislike being away from them even now. Sense you and the mothers of these children don't wish to leave them in the nursery, I think perhaps you should do this yourself, I have the utmost confidence in you, son... you are capable of setting it up, and I am sure that your people can help you, especially those who are nova's." She paused. "Besides, it's a learning experience for you, something that is worth your time and focus."

[Shosuro Miren]

Puck glanced at the other two, getting an in imperceptible nod of Scripture and a...look...from Mal that wasn't disapproving, at least. He nodded; it wasn't entirely what he wanted but the main part - not alienating his parents by his own children. "Alright."

He snuggled closer into his mother's side, "But...." he glanced up at her, actual concern warring with his endless puckish nature, "if I'm really screwing up, promise to come and deflate my ego a bit?"

Allison laughed and hugged the boy - man - Puck to her. "I'll certainly give it a try, but I think you'll have to depend on those two for a proper scolding." She motioned to Scripture and Mal, Jeremiah sighed at Bounty for having the promiscuous boy tossed back into his lap. At least it was only metaphorically this time. Michael, as usual, said nothing, but Puck could read the subtle lines of amusement in his expression.

The three spoke for a little while longer, the elders giving the young father-to-be as little advice as possible while still being supportive. Once the Terat triad retreated back to their other responsibilities, Puck's lovers slowly began to drift in to the office; the spoke quietly, making plans and deciding a small piece of the future.

[Quantum Fire]

End of Thread

XP: 2 Standard, 2 Baseline, 2 Nova