[Fiction] Badlands 101 [Incomplete]

[Lee Jones]

6:00 AM Badlands National Park.

The rugged landscape of the Badlands is interrupted by the occasional grass patch. On one of these patches is a small collection of tents and metal storage containers. Closer examination reveals a large excavation. Students and volunteers are setting up shop to continue an excavation of a heavily habitated area of south west South Dakota.

People were busily moving equipment into place while backhoes removed fill dirt that was deposited to protect last seasons progress.

In the middle of this activity is a man of remarkable beauty and force of personality. Lee directed members of the crew to their spots. taking time to speak with crew leaders about the plans for the day.

"It's going to be a long day," Lee thought to himself. He was anxious for his special guests to arrive. He was looking forward to their arrival more than anything.

[Regina Newcastle]

The trip had been long, as Regina measured time. She had never been to the colonies before; never been out of Europe, in fact, despite the many field expeditions her studies had taken her on. Lee's invitation to spend a little time on one of his digs was a unique opportunity for lots of reasons, and while Regina's primary academic focus was nova physiology, like all field researchers, she reveled in the thought of getting out of her books for awhile to get her hands dirty with some actual, physical history.

It hadn't been easy, even before she left, though. Money was as tight as ever, but thanks to some deft bureaucratic maneuvering between Doctor Jones, Regina, and some mild chicanery with assorted financing bodies, she had managed to secure a round-trip coach ticket and bus fare from Sioux Falls International to Badlands National Park, albeit not much else. It'll be a lean few days, Regina told herself, but to hell with it, I've been meaning to lose a few kilos for awhile, anyway, and this was too good an opportunity to pass up.

She stepped off a Greyhound bus at about ten in the morning, and caught a growler out to where Doctor Jones had instructed someone to wait for her arrival.

The park itself snuck up on Regina, dazzling her momentarily with its beauty and sprawling magesty. America was so...big, she observed, gaining a rapid appreciation for why so many people first came here and fought so hard to stay. The wonder was almost instantly replaced by a sort of sour trepidation, however, as her academic self took hold, reminding her of the particularly bloody history this place had. Names like "Wovoca" and "Chief Big Foot" invoked sinister lessons in the danger of false belief, and names like "Wounded Knee" reminded her of what terrible consequences those beliefs can have. Inside, she grimaced, but her face betrayed nothing, ever an unflappable mask of cautiously observant curiosity.

She greeted her driver in a pleasant manner, and he greeted her in kind, although somewhat abruptly. "Yer, uh...Regina, right?"

Regina nodded politely. "Yes, sir. I assume Professor Jones made you aware of my arrival, then. Thank you for coming out to meet me."

The man, a healthily rotund fellow with a goatee and beard wearing khaki shorts and rugged boots continued to eye her, somewhat sceptically, as he opened up the passenger side of the jeep for her. "You're, uh...not exactly what I expected out of a nova, ma'am. You're not really all that strange looking, kind of..."

"Plain?", Regina interceded, already knowing that was what he meant, though it wasn't what he was going to say.

The man blanched. "Err, no, I just--"

"It's alright", Regina cut him off. "Please, can we just go to the site?"

The ride back to the dig was mercifully brief, and somewhat awkward, at least for the driver. Regina opted to sit in the back seat, out of view of the driver save for nervous glances he made in his rear view occassionally, as if to be certain that his passenger wasn't really crawling with tentacles or preparing to smite him with godlike wrath for his perceived indiscretion. For her part, Regina ignored him, taking in the magnificent scenery instead. She knew her driver the moment she first spotted him, and decided that there was nothing to be gained in making polite and idle chatter. Instead, she sat, tacitly, judging, thinking, observing.

Fifteen minutes from departure, the jeep rolled over a rocky outcropping as the landscape revealed a small, scrubby path of earth dotted with canvas and gleaming with metal. The driver pulled up to just inside the perimeter of the camp and pointed to a tent nearby. "You should be able to find Doctor Jones in there", he said, "or more probably somewhere around her. The guy tends to be very hands-on, so he could be anywhere. Err, anyway, that's the best place to start. Good luck, huh?"

"Thank you", Regina retrieved her bag and made a brief walk to the tent. The rugged leather boots she opted to put on back at Heathrow turned out to be a good call, and she found that she was glad she packed light, bringing only a few changes of clothes, a couple of books, and a hopelessly outdated laptop that served as little more than a word processor and occassional music library.

It was then, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a brilliant looking fellow being swarmed with khaki-clad men and women and hastily shouting directions to various people about him. He seemed totally in his element, keen as a razor's edge. Propping her modest rucksack on the side of the tent she'd been walking towards, she weaved her way through the people darting back and forth through the area with specimens or tools, approached the handsome figure at the center of the chaos, and smiled, impishly, pushing her glassed up the bridge of her nose, and asked "Doctor Jones, I presume?".

Hoping desperately that he'd get the joke.

[Lee Jones]

Over the commotion Lee heard an unfamiliar voice. The accent placed her from Essex, which meant that it had to be the first of his guests. Turning and wearing a jovial smile, "I thought I told you to call me Lee. You're in America now, we're big and loud and we use first names. This," waving his hand to all the dust and activity, "is far to informal for titles like Doctor. Besides, I don't really need you reminding me, I was there. I walked on the podium and everything. People clapped, my mother cried, it was all very moving."

Lee turns toward an open walled tent. His body language suggests that he wants Regina to walk with him. "I hope your trip was enjoyable. Was the Jeep there when you arrived? I sent him early, didn't want you waiting."

[Wakinyan]

The Dakota sky started to fill with dark and ominous clouds. The speed of their formation seemed unnatural even in an area where a storm could blow through an area in only a few minutes. Lightning danced within the dark gray clouds and thunder clapped and echoed within the steep walls of the canyons of the badlands.

Then from the anvil of the thunderhead that rose thousands of feet into the blue Dakota sky a dark shape emerged lightning played across it as it began a circling decent. Huge wings flapped and thunder sounded with each beat.

As the Thunderbird descended to earth the storm that had came with him began to break apart. As if only held together by it's will or was being forced apart by the force of it's will.

Wakinyan finally closes in on the small encampment. Circling slowly as the sun begins to break through the dissipating clouds. His hyrbid mixed griffin form was immense compared to it's normal size which was large by itself. Over twenty meters long, adding his tail put him well over thirty meters. The wingspan was even more staggering in excess of one hundred and fifty meters from wing tip to wing tip. Most of the staff knew he was coming, most knew he was large but no one expected the size in which he now was. On top of that a almost palpable fear could be sensed in the air. Like rabbits who watch a hawk that is circling overhead the feeling that a predator was watching you could not be ignored.

With steep banks Wakinyan leisurely began to descend to the earth below. He was showing off and knew it but it was part of who he was. The griffin finally angled in for a landing careful to land on the lip of the canyon near the camp as to not kick up dust or disrupt the camp with the displacement of air as his massive wings thumped the air and sat him down.

With a happy look the towering feral Nova rumbled out a welcome that sounded like a thunderstorm decided to speak. "Hello Dr. Jones. I hope I am not to late." Despite obviously speaking the huge beak never moved.

[Regina Newcastle]

Catching up to Doctor Jones, Regina makes a mental note to accord herself to his wishes, informal and unconventional as she thought they were.

"Yes, of course...Lee", she enunciates, practicing the address, "Thank you, your driver was timely and polite. He was waiting for me when I arrived, and the trip was beautiful. I've never been out of Europe, you know?"

Quite suddenly, the sky above grew dark and fierce, and thunder bounced off the canyon walls like the drumming of an angry god. Had Regina not grown up in a country with far more thunderstorms than livestock, she would have been tempted to assume that the noise was the hoofbeats of an army of horses on the approach.

Regina knew otherwise, however, even before she could see him. Wakinyan had arrived.

During the tumult that heralded the mythic beast's arrival, Doctor Jones' camp erupted into an even more frantic chaos, scrambling to cover the exposed earth in tarps. Regina turned to Lee, and with a single arched eyebrow, flatly stated "I believe your other guest is here." She directed her gaze upward. "And he's making quite an entrance."

[Lee Jones]

Responding to Regina's comment about leaving Europe, "Is that so? Well no time like the present. Beautiful place though. I might say that about every place I've ever been, but it's still true."

As the thunder moves in Lee looks skyward. He watches Wakinyan's approach with amusement. Addressing Regina, "Yes, he likes the attention, no shame in that. There's that old saying, If you've got it flaunt it. Oh and watch out, he likes to charm the ladies."

As Wakinyan touches down Lee extends his arm and says, "Of course not. Now is just as good a time as any." Pointing to Regina, "This is Regina. You may remember her from the OpNet forum. I invited her to come, we may have use of her skills." Turning to Regina, "This is Wakinyan, the Thundergod himself, or whatever they're calling him these days."

[Regina Newcastle]

"...watch out," he told her. "He likes to charm the ladies."

"Charm". That word still tasted bitter in her mouth. Regina knew a bit about the nova called Wakinyan from the OpNet forums. She'd never spoken to him or been introduced, but she knew him by reputation, and that reputation was somewhat less than favorable. To her reckoning, Wakinyan had bought up the "I'm a god" rubbish, or at least, he played it up enough to make Regina a little incredulous of his sincerity. Nevertheless, she told herself, she hadn't come here to make enemies, and doubtless Doctor J-- Lee had very good reasons for Wakinyan being here. She resolved to be polite, and let the fellow stand on his own merits. Reputation means so little in the world of novas, anyway; everyone has their conclusions about you.

Lee finished up the cursory introductions, to which Regina appreciatively nodded her head, making steady eye contact with the creature above. The normal handshake wouldn't do, of course, so she was at a bit of a loss for social graces when dealing with quadrapeds. "Greetings, Wakinyan", she said with a pleasant but matter-of-fact demeanor, smiling just slightly. If she was awed or afraid by the fearsome figure towering over her, nothing in her expressions betrayed it. Her face and body were, as ever, an implacable mask of serene inquisitiveness.

[Wakinyan]

As the sky continues to clear Wakinyan's form began to shrink almost like watching a balloon deflate until the Nova was back to his proper albeit still large size.

A casual hope allowed him to close the distance between Lee and Regina. Sniffing the air slightly upon landing the griffin padded closer to the two before finally coming to a stop within arms length of them both.

"Regina it is nice to meet you. I am curious as to the skills you have. Since I haven't heard about you much on the OP I must say I am curious."

Despite the fact that his rumbling voice does not betray any lecherous intent his mind is already sizing up the female. His nose has already began sorting through the various scents coming from her. She was cute in a sexually repressed librarian kind of way. To make matters worse that academic nature could easily keep her out of reach if he tried to move her. He didn't write the idea off entirely but knew that investing a great deal of effort on her probably would prove most fruitless.

Trying not to let his study of the female become to obvious he turned to Dr. Jones with a happy grin on the raptor face. "What is the game plan Lee? Has work already gotten underway and how can I help?"

[Lee Jones]

Lee observes the exchange between his guests. He recognizes the look in Wakinyan's eyes, but says nothing. He doesn't want to embarrass or irritate either party. Instead he says, "We have already started, but there were a few things we needed to get out of the way." He knows that Wakinyan is sensitive to even subtle body language and conveys the message that 'this is not the time or the place.'

Addressing both guests he says, "I thought I would start with a tour, so that you have enough background to get started. Then I thought I would pair you off with some graduate students and have you work on the same area. I'll be there to supervise, but obviously I'll need leave from time to time to attend to other things."

Raising his hands in a questioning position, "Ready to get started? Any questions?"

[Regina Newcastle]

Regina knew what Wakinyan was doing, and she wasn't happy. The rush of hot breath on her thighs, the way his pupils dilated when he inhaled around her: he was sizing her up, and not for a fight. Had she not possessed total control over all her physical reactions, she might have cringed. Lecherous boys were one thing, but Wakinyan and his ilk were just the latest in a mercifully short string of novas who had invited her into the "We're-All-Novas-So-That-Means-We-All-Shag-Each-Other-Because-We're-Above-Petty-Baseline-Mores" Club, a club that she'd flatly rejected all invites to. From what Lee had said - or rather, the way in which he said it - Regina gathered that he wasn't a member, either. She was relieved to see him miming for Wakinyan to cut the shite out of the corner of her eye. Glad to know there's a gentleman about, she told herself.

Lee made his address, asking Regina and Wakinyan if they had any questions before they began.

"None, D--Lee", Regina fumbled. "It all sounds terribly bloody fascinating. I can't wait to begin. Show us around, then?"

[Wakinyan]

With a slightly irritated look Wakinyan sneezed and scratched behind an ear. Trying to act like nothing was going on in the first place. Moving slightly further away for Regina he gave her a slightly wary look. Wonder if she has ice powers. Cute but not worth that much effort cute. He joked in his own mind as he tried to concentrate on the tour Dr. Jones was giving.

"I am still a bit confused Doc." Wakinyan rumbled as he examined the site. "This is a Paleo and Archaeological dig? How does that work?"

[Lee Jones]

Lee begins the tour with a reassuring pat on Wakinyans fore leg. He walks in a circle around the site pointing to different locations. At each area he pauses and explains what was found and what it means. In the upper layers there are recent Lakota remains. As the tour progresses layers go deeper in time. The last layer that Lee points out is the oldest.

The most recent excavation is a paleolithic site and Lee stops to conclude, "Here is where we are going to work." Wakinyan speaks up and Lee pauses to absorb his question fully. "Well that's an excellent question. Archaeology has about as many definitions as there are archaeologists each with its own issues. The study of material culture is how I define it. The problem with this definition is, where does culture begin? If we find a tool that dates to 2 million years ago is it a cultural relic? Homo sapiens didn't manufacter the tool, but Homo habilis did. Did Homo habilis have what we could call culture? Possibly, but most people would agree that a Homo habilis site would be researched by paleoanthropologists or paleontologists. What I'm trying to say is that there is a lot of grey area. We know that there are human remains at this site and that they left cultural remains, so it is an archaeological site. But we also know that the dates they pulled from last season are much earlier than current theory accepts. This National Park has a fantastic Oligocene record,” Lee pauses to see if everybody is following. He sees some questioning looks from some volunteers, "That's about 20-35 million years ago, think mammoths and giant elk. Last season they found some Pleistocene remains as well. We expect to find more this season. So that makes it a paleolithic archaeological site, a sort of combination or shared space project.

"So long story short, it is confusing, because it's both. There is going to be over lap. "This is why Regina is here." He points to Regina. "She'll be able to help us distinguish which animals are from what time. And that will help build a chronology to bring some sort of sanity to the dates that have been found."

[Regina Newcastle]

Regina genuflected slightly at mention of her name, and in recognition of the reasons for which she was attending. "That's right", she said. "I'll be analysing the remnants that are excavated, and if any living tissue is found, I can do even more, like determine genetic qualities of a given specimen. That's what I do", pointing the comment at Wakinyan.

Turning to address Lee specifically, Regina adds "I noticed one of your men cleaning a brontotherium vertebrae a ways back. I hadn't realized that your crew would be digging that deep."

[Wakinyan]

He had the distinct feeling she was answering a comment that he didn't mention. Telepath, I didn't sense her but some can do that. Well at least that is one more thing that is gonna make this a lot of fun. At least that blond over there is giving me a more welcoming attitudee

Wakinyan turned suddenly his thoughts of blond grad students, Regina and her powers evaporate. Looking over the site he shudders and looks back at Dr. Jones. "There is something here that needs to be told. Let me take a good look around the site and get a feel for it. If they want to come they will tell me so." He grimaces slightly. "I don't always get a choice. But I have never tried touching that far back before."

For all his bravado and spectacle of entrance the young Nova actually begins looking rather nervous as if he is suddenly unsure of himself and the surroundings.

[Regina Newcastle]

Cocking a single eyebrow, Regina queried, "They?" The tone was that of honest inquiry, more to the aim of a broader explanation than a simple definition. From what Lee had told her about Wakinyan's powers, she'd already extrapolated what the thunder god meant.

[Lee Jones]

Lee addresses Regina's question while he taps in some information on a handheld computer that a crew chief handed him, "It wasn't our intention to dig that deep. But the National Park asked us to keep an eye out for anything and in the interest of science I agreed. Sometimes things just pop up and you don't have any control over it, but I won't refuse a challange."

As Wakinyan turns and his powers begin to contact another existance Lee gestures to a few students who grab recording gear and notebooks. Lee whispers to Wakinyan, "If at any point the crew needs to back off tell me."

[Wakinyan]

Wakinyan doesn't seem to hear the professor as he moves around the dig site. Brilliant indigo eyes seem to flick about looking from one excavation to the other. Any thoughts of mating, women or trying to impress them are instantly forgotten.

Voices in the earth beckon him and his node pulses sending a quantum shockwave through time and space around them excavation. The griffin tears up as the pain of the power threatens to crack his skull open.

There is so much here, to much here. For a moment he feels like a swimmer who has pushed himself to hard and to far and slowly is beginning to drown. For all his might he begins to tremble as his own power bucks his control.

[Regina Newcastle]

Watching the spectacle unfold before her, Regina watched, tacitly, scrutinizing the great beast as he begins to surge with quantum energies. This is what Doctor Jones had mentioned in the letter, she told herself. This so-called "talking with spirits" Wakinyan does. This should prove most interesting. I wonder... Losing herself in thought, Regina began to focus her attention on the figure of the massive gryphon before her, intently watching his every move, studying him, trying to unravel the mystery of his ability. Wakinyan's powers seemed to have no roots in mathematics or probability, which she had surmised was how many novas made effect of their ability to predict future events or read the past. How, then, could this work? Some form of quantum memory, perhaps? Clearly, his personal ties to this land influenced his abilities, though she concluded that was Wakinyan's subconscious influencing his powers, not that there was anything truly "special" about this land in any spiritual sense. There is no spirit world, she reaffirmed.

Regina paused for a moment to survey the assembled functionaries in the area, staring in mute, gape-mouthed awe at the display before them. Yokels, she silently cursed, before turning to Lee.

[Lee Jones]

Lee leans over a little to whisper in Regina's ear, "I don't know what's going to happen, but I hope you can keep a slightly open mind to it. I know you are much more of a hard scientist than I and there are times when I might be too open minded. I need you to stick to your guns. That way, at the end of this, we can hammer out what happened and how it can be used in academia."

[Regina Newcastle]

Regina listened intently to Lee's caution, mentally nodding along as he did. She was genuinely interested in understanding Wakinyan's abilities, but she wasn't about to get swept up in how awe-inspiring they were. "Sticking to her guns" wouldn't be a problem. She steeled her gaze at Wakinyan and grimaced slightly, discerning, listening, waiting.

[Wakinyan]

At first it seemed like nothing was going to happen. Wakinyan stood transfixed as if mesmerized his eyes staring into the side of a canyon wall.

Then it happened. A shadow moved the sound of movement. It was like an entity that crept upon them until with a sudden burst of motion forms coalesced all around the camp. Human and Animal all ethereal visions. Some familiar White Settlers and Natives interacting in some retelling of a scene from long ago. Huge horse like creatures thundering next to bison larger than a modern day SUV.

Ghosts or afterimages it did not matter what they were. As far as the eye could see the canyon replayed scenes of the past. Some recent, some ancient. The students with cameras tried to focus on certain scenes but the scene would play and be replaced moments later with another act from the past of the holy place of the Lakota.

Most had lost track of Wakinyan or were to distracted to notice that he began to change. His wings folded and seemed to meld into his body. His beak was replaced by a muzzle with fangs longer than a grown mans arm. Feathers replaced totally by a short fur.

The feline looking creature for those who knew such things was identified as Smilodon populator It's broad chest and thick muscles left little room for doubt. The huge feline sniffed the air carefully as it examined the jumbled scenes that played around it.

Suddenly it found real people. It's still glowing indigo eyes locked onto Lee and the students near him. The look upon it's feral features only seemed to say one thing.

Prey

[Lee Jones]

Wakinyans appearance was imposing to say the least. Many of the students had begun to back up slowly. Those who had recording devices has all but let them fall from their hands.

One student, who had been fairly entranced by the display of images, was sitting on the ground near Wakinyan. As Wakinyan began to survey the pit he took special attention to the student. Anybody who wasn't gripped by fear or awe could see the mind of the hunter working. The nostrils flaring as the beast takes in the scent. The eyes focusing to size up the target.

Wakinyan's new cat for began the initial stages for a pounce. Lee had decided it was time for action. He knew he would have to draw the attention away from the student.

Lee approached slowly. He was staring intently on Wakinyan. He seemed more radiant, more likeable, maybe even delicious. In a loud grabbing voice Lee shouts, "Wakinyan, don't listen to the instinct. Listen to yourself."

The beast that Lee knows to be his friend turns it's head. Wakinyan's feline frame begins to walk in a circular path across the excavation as it makes it's way to Lee. Suddenly the muscles along it's back tense up and it pounces toward Lee like a house cat to a laser pointer.

Lee tries to jump backward, but the cuff of his pants are caught in the first two nails...talons of Wakinyan's new paws. The two scramble up the side of a dirt pile. Lee's greater than human strength keeps the cat from taking an immediate strike, but the superior position and leverage allows the cat to get the upper hand or paw in this case. The left paw of the great cat is firmly planted on Lee's face and neck.

"This isn't you, this isn't Wakinyan. You are not a slave to you power, it obeys your command." Lee whispers out beneath the pads and fur.

Wakinyan looks deeply into Lee's eyes in a decidedly non-hunter way. The look of a mind beyond predator and prey. The look of a friend.

[Regina Newcastle]

Regina seized; she could sense the pheremonal rage roiling through Wakinyan even before his body began to change, and could feel his logic centers winding down to apathy like a clock running out of power. As the broad, dense feathers of Wakinyan's hide began to replace themselves with a blanket of coarse fur, Regina knew that in a moment, all that would remain would be an atavistic beast. Her mind raced through a thousand possible scenarios, but her body could only act on one. Her fingers curled up and her gaze steeled as she prepared for the worst. She could feel the farahcytes flooding her brain, flowing new life through her body.

With a snarl, Wakinyan reared back to pounce, but before he could complete the action or Regina could act, herself, Lee interceded, stealing Wakinyan's attention from a hapless student, and all at once, like a coiled spring, Wakinyan was upon him.

For a fraction of a second, Regina's hands tingle with quantum warmth, and she was only a fraction more from unleashing upon Wakinyan. But her mind, possessing far more celerity than her body, saw Lee wrestling with the creature Wakinyan had become, struggling but surviving, entreating to him, appealing to anything within him that might still be sentient, and as Lee spoke, she sensed it, the barest glimmer of thought returning to Wakinyan's clouded, feral mind. Her hands unclenched, still wary of Wakinyan's next action, aware that he could very probably kill Lee at thats moment if he so wished, and relatively certain that she was more interested in the survival of the latter than the former.

[Wakinyan]

The eyes met as blood trickeled from the point where the large claws touched flesh. Suddenly the creature regained a focus of intellect and the quickly dawned a look of shock. The ancient hunter backed off the professor as the moment that had consumed let him slip from it's grasp.

The ghosts and echos of the past faded like fog in the morning sun evaporating back to the time in which they rightfully belong.

Despite being the ancient beast the look on Wakinyan's face is one of embarassment and sorrow. "To much, I touched to much." He rumbled without the huge fangs and maw ever moving. "I was trying to impress you professor and I pushed to hard. I am sorry."

As he speaks Wakinyan's form melts and moves. Smaller as it reshapes itself moving from animal to humanoid then to a young native man. As he shifts clothing seems to form around him sliding down from his neck flowing over the muscles of his chest and abdomen as they flow into their human shape. Covering his groin and legs until he is a barefoot Lakota man in a T-shirt and pair of beaten up blue jeans.

Wakinyan offers his hand to Lee to help him to his feet. He still looks like he expects to be told to leave but tries to stand calmly with his hand outstretched toward the prone man on the dirt pile.

[Lee Jones]

Lee accepts the hand of the newly transformed Wakinyan. He stands up dusts himself off and says in a calm appreciative voice, "No need to be sorry. I wouldn't have asked you to come here and display your power if I didn't think I could handle it. I knew the associated risks."

He walks into the excavation so he is more centrally located. In his most calming voice he says, "I'd like to apologize for frightening you all. Unfortunately there are times when a Novas powers can get away from them. But such is life, it's how we learn and I hope we can all benefit from this."

The crew is visibly less tense and Lee continues, "So let's get back to work and see if we can't find something good. Maybe gold and dinosaurs," Lee joins the crew in a chuckle at that last statement. The crew returns to their areas.

Returning to Wakinyan and extending his arm across his shoulder. "Don't worry about this. You need to push yourself or you'll never grow. Sometimes we soar and sometimes we crash. My own eruption was fueled from a push that was too much for me to handle, but because I learned from it I was able to better myself. It helped that I popped that lump in my brain, but it was personal growth nonetheless."

Lee looks around to make sure work is continuing. "So tell me, what was it like?"

[Regina Newcastle]

Wakinyan froze, releasing the professor, and Regina, gradually, sceptically, began to ease off, herself, returning to her placid, neutral state. If she was surprised to see Wakinyan's deific state dissolve into the features of a young Lakota man, for whom Regina didn't need any powers to see was rather ashamed of himself, she didn't betray it. I wonder if that's what Wakinyan looked like before his eruption?, she heard herself say in her own mind. Much better than that horrid Scythian myth rubbish.

Lee took unnatural care in quickly sewing the entire situation up and calming the alerted crowd, and it wasn't long before work had resumed, although Regina could plainly see that the spark of wonder and exictement had washed out of the assembled eyes; they gazed at Wakinyan now with a sharp, ragged glint of horror, some ancestral memory recognising themselves as the archetypal prey in the presence of an archetypal predator. Wakinyan still looked penitent, but Regina surmised that horror served his egotism as well as love. Only tyrants believes themselves gods, and a tyrant loves attention, no matter the form.

As Lee spoke, Regina interceded with a bite from her own eruption story. "When I erupted, I was very nearly hurt badly, and..." She paused, conflicted for a moment as to whether she should speak, but continued, "Someone else was hurt very badly. It is the occasional and perpetually-peripheral spectre that shadows the power we have. Don't be distraught. Nobody was terribly injured."

[Wakinyan]

"I was trying to impress you and everyone else." The young Lakota replies as he shoves his hands into this pants pocket. "I tried to grab it all. Everything I could connect to. It felt kind of like spinning around until you are so dizy you fall down. But I didn't fall down I turned into." He slides a hand from his pocket and gestures with a sort of shrug. "You know."

Wakinyan surveyed the crews as they resumed their work. The looks he recieved didn't make him feel to comfortable. He didn't come here to scare people he had came to learn and all that had been learned so far was that he could let his own power spin him out of control. And then their was the girl next to him who couldn't have been much older than he was and yet she looked at him not with fear as most seem to but rather a sort of disdain. 'First impressions are great' he thought as he shook his head as he turned his attention back to Lee.

"Mine wasn't so bad." He says in response to the comments about eruptions. He forcefully changes the subject however and in doing so displays how much he tries to avoid talking about it.

"I can try again if you like Lee. I just won't try to grab everything. Go slower and by plot perhaps? You have any idea on which the order I should go?"

[Lee Jones]

"Don't worry about it. It happens to everybody."

Lee followed Wakinyan's eyes as they searched the excavation. He met each apology and embarrassment.

"I would like you to try again, if you're up to it." Lee pauses to find a suitable area to start with. "Ah," he says pointing. "Why don't we start over here with something a little closer to home." He walked backward across the site looking at both novas. "This area is more recent so you might be able to relate to it a little better. You might be able to maintain the connection a easier if the lifestyle of the residual memory is similar to your upbringing. Then we can build up to some of the more distant relations. Maybe even return to an animal, but this time I'll try to keep it safer for the crew."

[Wakinyan]

Wakinyan nods his face set grim and determined. "Alright let's give it a shot."

Walking over to the area indicated Wakinyan lost himself in thought. Lee wasn't strong enough to stop him. Regina might be able to freeze him with her cold stare to which he rolled his eyes a bit at that as he squatted down and picked up a stone. Turning it over in his hand. If he freaked out again he might kill everyone in the camp. He simply could not do that he had to control himself better.

The lightning in the young Novas eyes flared and danced over the surface of the orbs. Suddenly he looked at Regina seeming to scrutinize her it quickly became apparent that he seemed to be looking through her, past her.

The tromp of shod hooves and the creak and groan of wooden wagons filled the air. A column of calvary soldiers materialized around the small work team. Seemingly real in every detail but touch their blue uniforms worn and well traveled. The spoke gruffly with each other displaying a camaraderie that seemed to come so naturally to soldiers.

Some spoke of gold in the hills to the west. Others spoke of killing dirt worshippers. The Battalion of men that made their way up the ravine was led by a dashing fellow wearing the marks of general and wearing a buckskin fringed coat above his calvary uniform. He spoke with an air of confidence and arrogance to a civilian with a dapper hat doing his best to take notes as well as guide his horse up the ravine with everyone else.

Wakinyan could not help but to smirk and say. "Custer died for your sins." With a gleam in his eyes.

[Regina Newcastle]

This time, things presumably went as planned. She watched the young man wander over to another area, picking up a rock in his hand and turning it over methodically, lost in thought. Regina could see what he was mulling over. Would he lose control again? Would he not be able to contain himself this time? Perhaps. This time, however, they'd be ready for it. And so would she. Her nostrils flared somewhat as she began to force a surge of farahcytes through her cortex in preparation.

But no. The world around them faded away, spilling into a landscape quite a bit like the one they had left, but different, more visceral, more ancient. Sodiers in uniform began to move around the site, escorting horses or carriages, talking, shouting orders, commisserating about the ensuing battle. They were ignorant of the presence of the students or their machinations, moving through the people assembled as though they were being simply projected on the landscape holographically. A toeheaded young man in a dapper uniform with long locks and a moustache whom Regina identified as General George Armstrong Custer turned and rode away from a young gentleman who was eagerly taking notes aside him, followed by the assembled soldiers as they rode away to battle.

None of it impressed Regina all that much. Holograms, she thought. A common enough power. And this scene, realistic as it is, easily could have been reproduced from memories or old Westerns. Altogether deeply unsatisfying. He'll have to do better than that. Much better.

Still seeming as if to stare right through her, Wakinyan coyly uttered "Custer died for your sins".

Regina grimaced sceptically. Custer certainly had nothing to do with her or her kin. She was tempted to add "Wovoka died for yours", but let it pass. She wasn't altogether certain he'd even understand the irony of such a statement.

Regina inhaled deeply, her eyebrows arching up. A cute trick, but she wondered what purpose it served.

[Lee Jones]

Lee watched as Wakinyan walked over to the new area. He was pleased to see Wakinyan considering his next move. From the beginning it was Lee's goal to help Wakinyan use his mind instead of relying on his size to conquer obstacles.

As the images walked through the site Lee observed their movement very closely. He was looking for anomalies. Anything that would indicate whether this was Wakinyan or residual memory.

"Wakinyan," Lee calmly spoke, "can you feel these images? That is, do they feel like they exist? Or do you only perceive them in your mind?"

[Wakinyan]

"If you are asking me if I am making this up. No, I have no idea more of what they are going to do than anyone else here."

Wakinyan purposely dodges one of the illusions of the past and squats down to watch the column move past. "I know Custer brought his troops through this area during a survey a year or so before the Little Big Horn. This has to be what this is it feels right to me."

Regina stood off a way with her almost bored looking demeanor to her. Wakinyan decided at that point that there was no need to bother with her any further. If she disliked him for whatever reason fuck her. He was here to learn he was here for Lee. Not to make friends with or chase some brainy bitch that was bitter, sour and frigid for no apparent reason.

[Lee Jones]

Lee moves closer to where Wakinyan is squatting. "No, I'm just trying to get a feel the level of interaction you have with these visions. Most baselines can 'feel' a person walking by them. Whether it's the displaced air flowing past their skin or the sound of the footsteps, they can tell someone is there. I would imagine that you would have a much greater perception. Do you feel these people in your mind or do you also feel them physically? Can you speak to them? Touch them?"

Lee stands up and walks behind one of the soldiers, "Could you ask where this guy was born? Or where they've been?"

Lee turns around, pulls the trowel from his back pocket and start poking through the dirt, "If we can find out any information about who they are and where they've been we might be able to find out if they lost anything. And then, potentially, find it and link it to the vision."

Lee pulls up a dirt clod, looking it over he tosses it to the side. "It's pretty clear that your visions are linked to something that allows you to perceive the past. It's not a common ability even among novas, but it does happen."

[Wakinyan]

Wakinyan seems to get suddenly apprehensive but reluctantly responds. "I can feel them. It's like I know what all has happened around me but most often I just do not pay attention. It's like tuning out the conversations around you in a busy restaurant."

He stands and makes his way over to one of the long knife horse soldiers. "Who are you?" The traveled and dirty fellow looks at Wakinyan like he just realized he was there for the first time and scowls. "Never you mind who I am you filthy pagan." The soldier turns and hustles to move back into his rank.

"I can interact with them. I can have them interact with all of us if I wanted to but the trouble is.." He gestures to the soldier. "They might not like you when you try or worse like earlier they want to live again. Otherwise I just let it run like a recording of the event that happened."

[Regina Newcastle]

Regina was very surprised to see Wakinyan speak to one of the quantum phantoms. For a moment, she was truly perplexed, turning it over in her mind, struggling to reach for some logical conclusion. There were many potentialities. Whatever it was Wakinyan could truly do, it was rare, and quite possibly unique to him. She wondered if all novas had these kinds of quantum tricks that were unique to them. She wondered if she was the only one who could do what she does.

"Wakinyan", she approached him with cautious steps, "Have you ever bothered to attempt to get information from these visions? Anything you didn't know? Aside from the revelation of seeing these things in vivid colour, have you ever managed to wrest from them information you could not have had otherwise? Do you think it would be possible to acquire information that isn't known except to those where were there at the time? What about location? Where all have you done this? Can you do it anywhere?" She realized she was getting a little excited, and caught herself. "Forgive me. It's really quite fascinating, I've never heard of a nova who could interact with these visions. My concern is that it may just be a projection of your expectations and desires, not fact, and I'm looking for a means to substantiate that." She paused, looking around, spying the troops on the march, and gestured with an outstretched finger. "How is it you can allow them to speak with us? And what must you do?"

Her face was no less business than ever, and it certainly didn't speak of a warming up to Wakinyan or anything emotional, but she began to at least appreciate the uniqueness of his gifts. That, in contrast, showed, her face lighting up with excitement and expectation of the thrill of the scientific hunt.