[Fiction] From The Ashes

[Li Ai Jun Yen]

Ai nods and murmurs soft greetings in reply to Procyon's friends. When the call for drinks comes, she declines, having no interest in alcoholic drinks.

[GDP_ST]

Procyon smiles at the waiter and orders, his rich thrumming voice clearly audible over the noise of the music.

"A Smoking Node for me, please." He leans closer, he voice dropping into a murmur. "And the lady will have a tropical fruit smoothie. Thanks."

He gave the waiter a winning smile before turning back to the group.

[Doctor Nova Madigan]

Oh great, Meghan thought, watching those around her order dangerously alcoholic drinks, everyone's going to get lit but me. Her own body had no use for alcohol, the same as it had no use for any other beverage or food.

"Just a Coke, please," she said, adding her ordinary drink order to the list. While she would derive no sustenance from the drink, a Coke still tasted good, and holding onto a drink would help her to fit in socially. Meghan turned to Knockout to ask her about the Ampwell she'd requested, and spotted Knockout's driver's license before she could return it to the pocket in her Eufiber.*

"Daniel Waters?" she thought. That's really weird. Why does she have a guy's driver's license?

While Meghan mulled that thought, another memory surfaced in her mind: the passionate liason she'd had with a female-bodied Wakinyan one month earlier in Rio de Janeiro. At Procyon's insistence, Wakinyan had spent a week living as a woman, and Meghan had jumped at the chance to show Waki what Sapphic love could be like. It had been pretty damned good, as she recalled.

The incorrect light bulb came on inside Meghan's mind.

"You're a shape-changer, aren't you?" she whispered to Knockout, leaning conspiratorially close to her new and astonishingly attractive acquaintance.

(* Perception 3 and awareness 3: 4 successes total-- live die roll witnessed by Ashnod.)

(** Mistakenly posted on Flicker's account.)

[Magnum Opus]

Knockout blinks, taken by surprise. "Me?" She begisn to blush, clearly embarassed. "No, no. No. Not a shapeshifter, no. Why d'you ask?"

[Mithril]

Meghan was taken aback by the rapid refutation of her seemingly-inspired hypothesis.

Huh, weird, she thought.

"Then whose driver's license was that you just flashed?" Meghan asked Knockout. She had leaned close to her and kept her voice as low as she could inside the raucous club. "More to the point, who is Daniel Waters? I'm kind of confused now."

[Magnum Opus]

Knockout goes dead pale. I'm caught.

Okay. Think. Think. There's got to be a way to weasel out of this. Tell her that it's, I dunno, your brother's wallet. ...except then why would I have my brother's wallet?

I can't be holding it for him. Why on Earth would I? I looked in it. I acted like it's mine. Maybe it was my brother's photo I.D. and I'm holding onto it 'cause he's dead and...

... and I'm considering lying about a dead relative. I'm seriously considering it.

I'm caught. I wanted to keep this in a bottle, but... I'm caught.

Knockout closes her eyes and whispers as quietly as she can. "It's me. I'm Daniel Waters." She sighs, having let the cat out of the bag. "It's my driver's. And I'm not a shapeshifter. I just wish I was, so I could sometimes go back to the way things used to be, before my eruption..."

Knockout is radiating pure apprehension - Meghan and the others can see her cape go rigid and taut, and her eufiber hardening unconsciously.

[Mithril]

"Okay," Meghan said simply. She took Knockout's elbow and turned her a quarter-turn away, so that their faces were obscured from the others nearby.

"I can deal with that. Seriously. I'm titanium now. I didn't used to be. That was a pretty freaky thing for me to adjust to. It's really hard to freak me out anymore."

After a thoughtful pause, Meghan continued: "In any case, you're really hot. I could keep this quiet for you, you know. Want me to keep it quiet? I can do that. No problem." She smiled to reassure Daniel of her sincerity.

Meghan tried to keep her thoughts away from sex, and failed.

I wonder what she's like. . .

[Magnum Opus]

Knockout relaxes, and manages a bit of a smile.

Well, I feel about two inches tall. She's made out of metal and there's a giant tiger-guy behind me and I'm upset over turning into a beautiful woman?

"Please do. I'm trying to keep this under wraps. My parents are kinda being weird about it, and so are a lot of my friends, and... well, if it got out it'd just be terrible. My eruption was kinda embarassing... though, well, I guess everyone here would have me beat."

"I kinda go by Danielle now. It just seemed... I dunno, a natural progression, you know? Anyways. Thank you." She gives Meghan a quick peck on the forehead. "Thanks for understanding."

She thinks I'm hot. Oh, boy. I wonder what she's like... can she turn into anything?

Stop thinking those thoughts.

[Mithril]

For all that she flirted with other novas, Meghan was always delighted when her expressions of her feelings were reciprocated.

"Okay Danielle," she said quietly, "What do you say we turn around and be sociable before people start talking about us?"

Meghan grinned and winked slyly, the blank disc of her right eye momentarily disappearing and then reappearing.

[Long]

Long didn't miss a word of the conversation and chuckled lightly. It was a suprise to find out the attractive young woman had been a man before erruption. It wasn't the first he'd ever heard of such a thing, but he had to admit it was the most complete transformation he'd seen. The node and quantum do many strange and wonderful things. I and Wakinyan are perfect examples of that. He looks over to Samhra and indeed the others gathered at the table. considering that all of us with the exception of Ptesan-wi couldn't pass for human, indeed she's the most normal looking person at this table.

He scanned the dance floor and found Stellar their dancing with some other nova and smiled. "Hell it's an opnet reunion, we only need a few more." He said in a soft voice to no one in particular.

[Hugin]

He nods and lifts her glass in response, "To Barnes" and downs his glass of wine in a gulp.

"That was subtle...for you." Hugin wasn't suprised. Of all of the players Machina was the most emotional, least likely to hide what he was feeling. It was inevitable. Pong couldn't have cared less about Barnes as a person, Pinella was in the game for pure profit and Hugin stepping away was more profitable then revenge. The other? A few were cowards, others simply incapable of being a threat, but Machina? Machina was piss and vinegar with the capability to back it up. This meeting was inevitable. Might as well get it over.

"So, has reaming Japan given you enough closure or was there something else you wanted? You hardly seem the type to get all weepy about one body. Especially with your past. Let it all out Machina, say what you want." She grinned slyly, "As if I could stop you."

[Harold 'Mythic' Anderson]

Wow, this is just nuts, just look at all of these novas… and Carver… God she looks so hot like that… corners, she said something about corners before leaving New York… The waiter’s question knocked Harold out of his thoughts, making the young nova pay attention to the entire room instead of his lovers body beneath his fingers, “Oh, sorry, uh… How about an Amp Well?” Yeah, that’s real slick, just act like another tourist nova.

“A Colorado Bulldog for me,” Carver added immediately after Harold ordered, turning to smile brightly back at him. Wow, she is just the most beautiful and sexiest nova here… *You’re just thinking that because you know you’re going to get us all night long without lifting a finger,* both Jael and Willa sent through the link with a sultry thought as Carver herself rubbed her hip against him with sensual grace.

Oh God, who could even stand after something like that? Harold suppressed his gasp even as he tugged Carver a little closer with a hand that slipped briefly a little too deep into her ribbons, *How could I not think about those thoughts; you two are dead set on driving me wild!* Not that there was anything wrong with that, of course. He felt her twitch even at that accidental touch and he nodded at the matching flesh and metal novas in a – most likely vain – attempt to distract her, *I’d introduce you to Meghan and show you that she wasn’t being a tart or anything with me… but, uh, something tells me she would be more interested in being a tart with you.*

Okay, okay, just talk with people, don’t think about those corners… or striped hair hanging down… maybe splayed against a dark wall… Damnit! “Oh, sorry, yes, it’s good to meet both of you,” Harold smiled at both Long and Procyon, “I’m still just taking in the whole place an’ everything… you guys fit in here way more than me. Unless, you know, I’m changed or something.” Oh, great, yeah, might as well call them freaks too.

Turing to get a brief view of the whole club, Harold squinted when he caught a familiar sight out on the dance floor. “Hey, that’s Stellar out there,” he said to Carver with just enough volume to get over the music, “I didn’t know she was going to be here… how about we dance after we get our drinks?” *And maybe find some privacy before I explode from desire or embarrassment…*

[Machina]

So the slouch knew about what I'd been up to. That doesn't surprise me much at all, seeing as how all of my actions were punctuated with a very subtle little "fuck you" that only someone of his caliber was in a position to decipher. My way of reminding him that I hadn't forgotten what he'd done. I hadn't really expected to get a chance to give the murderous little fucker a piece of my mind so soon, though. I'm starting to regret coming out here less and less.

Chocolate swigs his wine down in one gulp. More boisterous than he usually is, tonight. I must be setting him off his center. But then, the types he's used to dealing with wouldn't dare act this crassly around him. Outside of his Boy Scout troupe in Nova Vigilance, it's all "Oh, Hugin, delighted to see you again!" and "Good show, how ribaldous!" bullshit. Sycophants. Baiting or mocking a guy like him can earn a fella a short trip to the great beyond if he isn't careful. But me, I've got a long-standing habit of enjoying the taste of my own foot.

"So", she smiles, "has reaming Japan given you enough closure or was there something else you wanted? You hardly seem the type to get all weepy about one body. Especially with your past. Let it all out Machina, say what you want." She grinned slyly, "As if I could stop you."

True enough on that point. True enough all around. That's one of the big differences between me an' Hugin: he doesn't know how to be who he really is, and me? Shit, I don't know how to hide who I am. I don't suppose I'm going to have another chance like this, so I figure I better make myself plain while I've got the air. But first. "Hold on a sec", I wave him off as I stand and direct my gaze towards the bar. "I think we'll both need another stiff drink. Whaddya have?"

"Another of the same, please." He shakes the glass gently by the flute, pinky extended, smiling coyly. I snatch the glass from his hand and stalk up to the bar, directing another gruff half-smile to the busy bartender, and after telling the skirt not to screw me on the portions, return with two drinks, a glass of wine and a rum & coke big enough to shut down a zip's kidneys.

I take a gulp and start to lay it out, stream of consciousness style. "You're giving me too much credit. My hands are all but clean of Japan, the few middle fingers I knew you would notice notwithstanding. You can blame the cannibalization of your power base on Pinella and a couple of the kids, mostly Christobal and Alice-6. Well, that and the C-Z, but you must have expected that.

"But you're not wrong, Hugin. I've done my fair share of killing, and I guess that's easy enough to figure out. It ain't really the killing that upsets me. Barnes was a turd, and I'm not shedding any tears over his passing. Never liked the fucker. Sure, I'd like to know the why, but you know I want to know why, and I guess if you were gonna tell me, you'd do it, and just the same as I wouldn't bother asking you, if you ain't telling me, askin' you won't change that. What I really want to know is what, specifically, what makes you think you deserve immunity. The others, well, shit, most of them are just happy to see you gone. Your absence creates a power vacuum that the kids are trying their damndest to exploit, and the better players are happily taking fist-sized bites out of your fallen empire. But me? Mostly, I'm fucking apoplectic at your arrogance. The others are willing to leave you alone because they're afraid of you and because they benefit from you leaving. I'm just not prepared to start a war I don't want to finish. And in spite of my better judgment, I actually like you, James, despite your inherent fucked-up-ness. I remember when you were the only person I thought I could relate to. I consider you a friend, in as much as I've got such a fuckin' thing, which isn't much, pretty fucking clearly.

"So, maybe, after all, that's all I wanted. To let you know what I thought. And to understand. But you've got to meet me halfway there, brother." I finished talking and consulted my drink. It was empty. Having said my piece, and said it well, I scan the room, pretending to look for the bar, but really I'm checking out the curves on that 'Stellar' dame. I don't suppose I should much bother even talking to her, seeing as how I seem to have rubbed her the wrong way straight from the start, but damned if I can't enjoy the view. Strong, healthy body, pretty face, good fighter, killer attitude...my kind of girl, if I wasn't pushing forty-five. Give up, old man. Go get yourself another drink and let James digest your venom.

"I'll be right back", I tell James without looking back to him, my eyes vacant and dark, lost somewhere between desire and maudlin angst. I'll be goddamned if I don't feel like a kid, again. I light another butt on my way to the bar and return in a flash with a shot glass full of Jim Beam. This time, I couldn't be bothered to even give the Greek statue skirtless skirt the time of day. I sit back down, putting my drink soundly in front of me, and put my eyes everywhere that isn't Hugin.

His move.

[Magnum Opus]

Knockout nods to the Girl Made of Titanium, and turns back to the group, looking a bit more relaxed.

Well, that's a load off my chest! Shoulders. Still, if I want to keep that a secret I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and get a new set of I.D. I wonder if I should change my name entirely...

"Oh, drinks." She takes a smoking glass full of rainbow-hued fluid off the tray offered by the waiter. She downs it in one gulp.

"Mmmm. Hmmm." She examines the empty glass. "It tastes a little like bubblegum. How come no much think gooooooooooood..."

Knockout sways, the glass slipping from her fingers as her eyes cross. "Gwwwwwwuuuuuuuuuahhhhh. Muhfwuhhhhhhhmmmmnuuuss."

I can taste the rainbow.

Everything's all blurry. Wow.

Forty-two. Forty-two. Fwan.

I wonder if this is how a mandarin chicken feels before it's stuffed in a laser cannon and fired at the moon.

Who filled the Phoenix Room with taffy?

Feels like I'm knocking on heaven's door.

I wonder if Axl Rose is ever going to release that new album he's still working on?

I wonder if that honeybee crawling behind my left eyeball is going to stop.

Oh boy - oh boy - here we go -

"H-bhhh! Uhd. Nhh." She wipes a few tears from her eyes. "... well, that wasn't so bad! I'll have another. What's in them?"

[Ptesan-Wi]

Watching Knockout react to whatever it was she just drank made Ptesan-Wi extremely thankful for the nice, safe glass of ginger ale that she was nursing. After a year living in a cave, even soda pop was a bit of a rush - the sugar content in the stuff was through the roof compared to anything she had consumed in the past few seasons - and taking it slow seemed a good alternative to turning into a hyperactive Chatty Kathy... especially considering the company.

Anyway, that rainbow thing would probably kill me very, very dead. Anti-quantum or no, I just don't have the fortitude of a nova.

Turning to one of her favorites of this stamina-rich breed, Ptesan-Wi smiled before trying for a quiet and private conversation. With the prelude of a sort of mental throat clearing, she sent, *Sorry to be kind of direct on this, but have you had any luck with that archive information you mentioned in N!Prime chat a few weeks ago? I know, I'm pushy, but... yeah, I'd love to know more about people like me. I feel more alone than Wakinyan does, I think.*

[z-Carver]

Did... did Procyon just order for his girlfriend after she said no? Carver wondered with surprised, distracted for a moment. But only a moment; how could anything capture her attention for long with she was with her beloved?

The thought about Li Ai and Procyon was put aside for her consideration of her lover. Harry's fingers brushed somewhere they shouldn't have in public and Carver's knees nearly buckle. *Save your explosions for me,* Carver thought, adding a silent throaty laugh that sent shivers down Mythic's spine. "Dancing sounds wonderful, honey," she answered, giving him a chaste peck on his cheek that wouldn't have offended a nun. It still made her lips tingle with desire.

Sipping her drink, she was simply content to watch the other novas. She hid a little smile as she watched Danni and Meghan interacting; she wondered if there was a possible romantic match-up there. *You have your own romantic match-up to worry about,* Harry informed her, his fingers etching small circles on her skin.

Carver gave him a seductive grin, the one that he knew so well, and tossed the rest of her drink back. "Excuse me, folks, but I think I'd like to dance for a bit," Carver said as she dropped her empty glass on a passing tray. "Anyone care to join me?"

*Hello?* Harry sent, and Carver chuckled aloud, "Well, besides my partner, who I assume won't leave me alone on the dance floor?" *And yes, that's 'alone' in all the possible meanings, lover.*

[Harold 'Mythic' Anderson]

Oof, too many of this drink might be a bad idea, the idea is to have fun and not to just pass out. "Of course I'm coming," Harold smiled through a faint blush, "You've been the only one who can get me to dnace too." A memory of another night spent in a far less luxurious club filtered back into his mind and the blush was completely pushed away by his smile, *If you move those hips like you did last year then I don't think we'll be on the dance floor long enough to finish a song...*

Better see who else will come, that way no one will notice if couples disappear, right? "So, uh," Harold smiled back to the group, "Who's going to go make me look like a complete white guy out there?"

[Ghostwriter]

Samhra gives Ptesan-Wi a pointed glance.

*I believe you are something that was called a 'Mesmerist' in the 1920s,* she tells the young Lakota woman, dumping a packet of information concerning non-nova transhuman psychics into her mind. Much of it was tagged with 'speculative' - Samhra admitted that she could only make suggestions, not confirm something for real - but it was surely better than nothing.

[Hugin]

"Fine." Hugin's voice is friendly and light but just the tiniest bit of frustration colors his voice, and the multitude of whispers beneath.

"Of course I don't deserve immunity, Machina. I demanded it. I never played The Game for fun. I was deadly serious about what I was doing. Long term goals and all of that. Now that I don't need to play anymore I don't want former players looking to get back at me for past slights by considering me a part of the playing field. I'm certain someone will ignore my request and take a shot at me." Her grin stiffens slightly, "And when that happens I'll be forced to show if I have the capability of backing up my warnings."

He shrugs, "That's life."

Time for a little honesty. He deserves at least that much.

"I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. It wasn't any intention of mine. Standing above it all and treating the world like a chessboard doesn't work for me anymore. In order to do what I think is necessary I have to be in the thick of it."

She sips at her wine delicately this time, "You know what's coming. Anyone with half a mind does. I don't intend to be on the sidelines."

[Mithril]

Meghan realized that she suddenly had a lot of introductions to catch up on. She recognized a number of the assembled novas, knew a few, but had no clue whatsoever who a few were. Meghan decided to skip introductions and tend to those who she knew, for simplicity's sake. She also neglected to revert to her usual form, so she still looked like a slightly shorter titanium duplicate of Knockout.

"Proccie!" she shouted and waved to Procyon, straining to be heard over the booming sound system. Who's his date? she wondered.

Without waiting for a reply, she turned to Knockout. "Be right back," she told Danielle warmly, "Seriously." Meghan smiled and gave her a look which made it obvious that she intended to spend a lot of time with Danielle this evening.

Meghan slipped past Procyon and bobbed at Long's side, the way a speedboat bobs alongside an aircraft carrier. My god, he's huge, she thought.

"Is Timeslip okay?" Meghan asked Long, worried. "I mean, we're kind of friends. Is there anything I can do?"

Meghan shot a look over her shoulder to Danielle, eager to remind her that she intended to return in just a moment.

[Magnum Opus]

Knockout hoists up another rainbow-hued drink, not slamming it down quite so quickly - though still faster than she perhaps ought to.

I think she likes me! Do I like her? She seems sweet.

A flight of fancy hits her, and she wills her eufiber to climb up and over her face, covering her eyes and her hair down to the finest detail. Her cape and shoulder pads retract, and then with a shimmer, she's covered head to toe in silver.

"I'm Titanium Made of Girl! My tank is fight!" She downs some more Amp Well.

Clever. X-ray vision so you can see... and I guess I don't need to breathe after all. I wonder why no one'll tell me what's in this stuff...

[Long]

Long looks down to Meghan and smiles weakly. His voice is far softer than one would expect, and barely above a whisper. "She is doing as well as can be expected. In truth I feel guilty being here without her, regardless of the fact she wouldn't have come." There's a look of sadness in Long's pupiless blue eyes that's hard to miss.

"This has been a very difficult time for my family. The children miss their mother, and I miss my wife. When I speak with her I'll convey your concern to her. It will help her to know her friends are concerned for her, that someone other than her family is thinking of her, and not thinking about how to capture or kill her."

He shakes his head and sighs. "Sadly, there is little any of us can do. This is no small matter, and it will be a long time before she can even go out in public, if that ever occurs again." His voice is one of sorrow, tinged with what sounds like anger. At what or whom the anger is directed at is anyone's guess.

[Mithril]

Meghan listened to Long's words thoughtfully, taken aback by how such a powerful nova had been laid so low by recent events.

"I'd be very grateful if you did," Meghan replied quietly, confident that Long would hear. "I'd like to visit her sometime, if that's possible. I don't abandon my friends, especially in hard times."

Meghan looked over her shoulder to Danielle again, and nearly spit out a mouthful of Coke. Earlier, Meghan had taken on Knockout's appearance, and now Danielle had returned the favor.

In some countries, that would mean we're married! she thought, stifling a giggle. Meghan pried her gaze away from her new friend and back to Long, bound by courtesy to hear him out before she resumed partying.

[Erin 'Stellar' Donovan]

The little impromptu dance contest ended with Stellar and the other nova shaking hands, giving each other broad smiles in a silent thank you for the good time. He departed , making his way over to what appeared to be the friends he arrived with while Stellar remained on the dance floor, lifting her arms and closing her eyes and move to the repetitive beat of the novox dance music. She was there to relax and leave thing behind, so she cared little about who she was dancing with as long as they seemed to be there for the same.

Her movements were graceful, possessed of a fluidity of motion that was certainly inhuman. Her hips swayed in the tight, glossy pants, as if the beat were guiding them like a snake charmer, while her head and arms swayed above, hands hovering over her head, fingers snapping to the beat, creating small sparkles of light. Here she was free to be herself.. to truly relax. No need to dorm here to avid the crowd of fans or to keep from totally upstaging friends. She was surrounded by other novas, and it felt good. She spent so much time dormed, but it had begun to feel increasingly less bearable for such long periods, though it was something she would never admit. She was a nova, and she knew that this was now just as much a part of who she was now, for good or ill, and here she need to hide it.

Her form comprised part of the writhing mass of flesh and color that made up the dance floor until finally she took a break and walked to the bar. The thin sheen of sweat made her exposed flesh appear somewhat glossy, matching the polished with latex of her outfit as she moved beneath the lights toward the bar. Her chest heaved a bit as she caught her breath while walking with the tight corset on, her sparkling aura moving through the various displays of quantum expression that littered the club, stopping on occasion to sign a autograph for a nova fan as she moved ever closer to her destination and the refreshment she knew she could find there.

[Long]

"I will see what I can arrange when I next talk to her. I'll let you know." Long looks to Meghan and smiles. "I'm sure she'll find time to see you again." His tone is a reassuring one. There's obvious concern in his eyes, but a certain degree of affection. Timeslip had few she called friend, seeing one of them express concern was heartening, and it served to lift his spirits some.

[Mithril]

"Doumo arigatou gozaimashita,"* Meghan replied to Long, bowing fluidly. After a pause, she hugged him around his waist, her fingertips barely touching.

"Thank you again," she said softly as she looked up into Long's eyes, "I'd really like that."

Meghan backed away one step before pivoting smoothly on her toes, and then returned to Knockout. Meghan leaned close to her new friend and peered at the eufiber mask she wore, her eyes wide.

"Can you breathe in that?" she asked, curious.

(* Japanese for "Thank you very much," said with a connotation of extreme politeness and formality. Japanese has formal levels of politeness, and this is the absolute most polite way to say it.)

[z-Carver]

When no one wanted to dance, Carver pulled Harry onto the dance floor alone. This was not like the dancing that they had done before, so long ago in Chicago; rather than dancing with some area around them, the couple moved in close. Those watching could tell that the two novas had danced before; there was a synergy between them that was beautiful to behold.

Harry's hands slip under her dress, his fingers trailing over her skin. Carver moaned, the sound heard only in their linked minds, as he touched her in all the familiar ways. Carver's hands ran over his clothed body in a mirror of what he was doing to her. Without thought, they kissed, eyes sliding shut as they dropped into a world of sensual touch and pounding, heart-racing music.

Another set of hands touched her, and Carver smiled up at Harry, expecting to see a mischievous smile on his face. Instead, she saw him looking over her shoulder with anger, just as a woman tucked her head over Harry's shoulder. "Room for two more?" a masculine voice asked from behind Carver as the extra set of hands tweaked sensitive flesh.

"Don't," Carver said, choosing to deal with the woman touching her boyfriend. Her voice was cold and angry as she gazed at the interloper.

Harry's body shivered and morphed into a beautiful demon; the inhuman beauty of his face only accented the menance boiling over his features. "There is only room for two," Mythic said, his voice echoing with brimstone.

"Geez," the woman started with irritation, but the man put a hand on her shoulder. "Come," he said softly, "we can find someone else who wants to play."

As Carver turned back to Harry, he morphed back down into his normal form. *I can't believe they did that!* Carver thought indigently as she snuggled close to Harry, drawing comfort from his touch. A touch which was doing its best to wipe away the memory of a stranger's hands.

Carver took him by the hand, an idea forming in her mind. He saw the idea and was just as quick to follow, moving into the darkness with her. And there, they lost themselves in each other and the moment.

[Magnum Opus]

Knockout looks at Meghan and grins. "Don't need to. I get this little tingle in my forehead, but I don't need to breathe." Her voice sounds muffled. "I still do it out of habit though."

"These taste good. I'll have another."

[Machina]

Hugin nailed it. I nodded grimly, my jaw set. "Yeah", I told him, breathing in deep through my nostrils, a furtive frown jagging its way across my mug. "I know. And it'd be nice if I could just sign on to some group for when the inevitable happens, but man, the people you truck with, James, I can't have any brook with half those fuckers. Heads firmly up their asses, y'know? B'sides", I exhaled a jet of smoke, dashed out my butt and lit another, "I don't hate the zips, and I don't buy into that party line bullshit about how we're all so fucking wonderful. What happened to each and every one of us was a goddamned accident, James, a biological mistake, a fluke. A mutation. I'm not fuckin' around when I use that epithet. Look around." I gesture with my hand, palm up, my eyes locked onto his. "You see this? Sure, it looks fun right now, man, but for some people, this is a way of life. You can posture all you want about how they're 'experimenting' and 'exploring what it is to be a nova', but get your tongue out of my ass. You'd call the same behavior 'boorish' and 'atavistic' in humans. Tell me it hasn't occurred to you that a lot of these tin gods are just kids at play, retards who won the lotto." Before he can answer, I rail on, grinding out another butt on the tabletop, not stopping to get a fresh one out. "And yeah, I know your little group just tries to give everyone leave to figure it out on their own - and don't think for a second I don't see a reckoning coming, there - but in the meantime you and a few people I respect in that outfit are guilty by association with a bunch of complete assholes."

I sit for a moment, my jaw squared, and suddenly more interested in what's going on around me, my eyes dart around the room like stone daggers, hard and sharp. I pull a fresh pack of Luckies out of my jacket pocket and light up, letting him scrutinize me, thinking about what he said. He wasn't lying, or at least, if he was, I couldn't tell, and that was a pretty rare thing. He respected me enough to be honest, and that's more than many would ever get out of him. I felt strangely honored.

"Alright, Hugin. Y'didn't hurt my feelings, I'm not your fuckin' boyfriend. You know how I get, though, about people and their arrogance and their hubris. Just got me particularly riled up because I thought you had more respect for protocol than that. Like you said, you took the game seriously. Anyway. Thank you. For being sincere and honest with me. Maybe I should, but I don't think you're giving me a line. It comes out when you lie, you know. Most don't notice, but I've always had a pretty keen bullshit detector. You just have to know where to look.

"And hey, for what it's worth, I think it's cool that you're taking a more hands-on role in whatever-it-is-you're-after-and-don't-think-I-don't-know. The world needs more men of passion and vision with the will to power to make their ambitions reality. So...hey." I stook up, picking up my pack of smokes and tucking it inside my jacket. I threw out my mitt to shake it, hoping this time he wouldn't play the dainty act. "Good luck, my very good friend. I hope that when the ashes have settled we'll both be around to laugh at the fuckers who didn't make it. Don't be a stranger."

[Ptesan-Wi]

Ptesan-Wi had hoped for a trickle of news from Samhra regarding her origins. What she received was a flood. The basic information - that the term "mesmerist" had been used for people like herself almost a hundred years ago - was followed by a massive burst of information that made the young woman visibly reel for a moment, grabbing the edge of the table for support.

Once it was done, however, the feeling of being overwhelmed shifted to fascination. So much knowledge - even with much of it noted as "tentative" or "speculative" - given to her in a mere instant.... Ptesan-Wi had respected Samhra from their first meeting, but now the Lakota looked the winged nova in her feline eyes with a newfound re-doubling of that respect. *Thank you,* she managed to send, *it will take me some time to sort through, but if even a tenth of it pans out, it's a thousand times more than I had before. Thank you!* She smiled warmly, and considered giving the amazing woman a hug... but settled for taking and squeezing her hand for a moment, given the awkwardness of trying to hug a winged person sitting beside her in a booth.

Excitement was burning through her, and some of it just had to be bled off. She had watched the majority of those present reject Carver's offer and had done the same herself; now, however, it seemed like a perfectly wonderful idea.

"Well, if nobody else here is going to dance, I guess I'll just have to do so on my own," she said with an impish grin beneath suddenly glowing blue eyes and through a faint white aura, as the White Buffalo Calf Woman left the booth and took to the dance floor.

The song changed as she stepped out onto the floor, with the new tune being one of those new instrumental affairs with the driving base-line. Once on the floor, Ptesan-Wi hooked into that beat; the result was something that was half native traditional, half freeform club, and all - given her looks and the utter release she was allowing herself through the dance - eye-catching.

[Mithril]

Meghan looked past Danielle to the dance floor, where a number of their acquaintances had already gone.

They make it look so natural, she thought. While Meghan was outgoing as a nova, she'd been bookish and quiet as a human. She had no idea what to do on the dance floor, particularly a dance floor populated by novas.

Meghan looked to Danielle, who was still covered in silvery eufiber in an imitation of her own titanium form. She looked as awkward as Meghan felt, but Meghan was moved nonetheless by Danielle's show of flattery. Meghan had taken on the form of a number of novas, but no nova had ever intentionally altered their appearance to look like her.

Fair enough, Meghan thought, We'll look silly together.

Meghan took Danielle's hand. Through the smooth eufiber it felt warm and soft.

"Shall we?" Meghan asked, leading the way to the dance floor.

[Hugin]

Hugin takes Machina's hand and gives it a firm grip, "Thank you for a nice chat. I'm still getting used to dealing with other Novas face to face rather than through technical intermediaries."

She stands and walks away with a smile on her face. He wanders on to the dancefloor and starts to whirl about with a gleeful abandon. Her limbs flail and whip with manic speed. He's far from the best on the dancefloor, but she does have a style all her own, mixing a dozen different schools of dance and infusing them with quantum energy.

[Magnum Opus]

"You, uh... you want to dance?"

She wants to dance! With me? I...

"I... I never really... danced before."

It wasn't entirely true. Danielle - back when she went by Daniel - had done a little slow dancing with Carol, in those few months they'd had together. Slow dancing was just a hug with shuffling set in, though - most of the time, Daniel had just been content to sit and watch. Much of Daniel's life was spent before a computer monitor, and maybe too much of it.

Daniel had liked it. Much of her life, she realized, had lately been about deciding what to keep and what to throw away - and just because he'd held off then, didn't mean she had to hold off now.

"... so you'd better show me how we do this." The eufiber slides off of Knockout's glorious face. She manages a smile for Meghan's denefit as the girl made of titanium leads her on.

[Mithril]

"Oh," Meghan replied to Knockout. "I'd sort of hoped you'd know how. I don't know how to dance either."

Meghan looked down, averting her gaze.

"I've never really gotten out much," she confided. "Most of my bravo attitude is a big front. I figure since I'm a nova now and I'm impossible to kill, people expect me to carry on like it's something I'm totally used to and so on. I'm not really like that."

Meghan looked back up into Danielle's eyes, wondering what she'd find there, and hoping it wouldn't be disappointment.

"Maybe we should skip the dancing and do something else instead," she suggested. Meghan stepped closer to Knockout and took both of her hands in her own and smiled suggestively, looking upward with her eyes slitted sensually. "I could teach you a few things about your new body, for example."

[Machina]

Hugin gives my mitt a good, strong squeeze and looks me in the eye. "Thank you for a nice chat. I'm still getting used to dealing with other Novas face to face rather than through technical intermediaries."

I grunt my assent, nodding slowly. "I know the feeling. Keep in touch, fucker." We part as friends.

I scan over the crowd again, making sure everyone's where I left them. The music has cooled down a bit, pulling the pulsating, undulated mass on the dance floor out of paroxysms and into and a slow, trancelike stupor. It'd be disgusting if it wasn't so alien. The larger crowd of people I knew was still a little thick for my tastes. Not surprisingly, everyone had congregated around our hosts for the evening. I got no interest in talking to most of them, though, so I take a pass for the time being. The night is young.

I tell myself I wasn't looking for the exact damn thing that I went straight for. I scan the room like I was looking for a target, my mind arguing with itself over the intent. Objectivity loses the fight to lust the moment I spot her. Damn. She looks even better covered in sweat than she did when she came in clean. Not a lot of dames can pull that off, that unmistakable ability to do something with fire and fury and look like a cool mil afterwards. I stand out in the crowd for a moment, pretending to finish my drink and my smoke, but really I'm examining the soft curves and harsh angles on a stretch of terra firma I'm thinking I'd love to test drive.

It's been awhile since I tried to put the moves on a skirt, and the last time I saw a woman as tough as a nickel steak like this one, I was still in the service. She rewarded me with five fingers and an open palm across the face for my efforts. Some dames like 'em sweet as saccharine and shallow as an asthmatic's breathing, though, and that sure as hell ain't me. I'm big and I could easily be called ugly if you took my face apart piece by piece and looked at it seperately. I've got a brutish quality about me that makes other guys hate me, but some women, well, some women want a brute. A woman this hard, maybe that's what she's looking for, a guy who won't treat her like a goddamned faberge egg. Maybe she's looking for a guy who she knows can hate and kill still retain a sense of kindness. Fuck it. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe she gets enough of that shit at work. Still, it ain't like I could be anything else. A tough bastard is who I am.

I stroll up to her, light another Lucky, my face cocky as all hell, and put my fist to the bar right next to her, summoning the priest at the only altar I ever pray at and bark out a request for communion in the form of a straight-up scotch rocks and one more of whatever the pretty young thing standing next to me was having. I turn to her and smile, doing my damndest to stay on the level. "Not a bad piece of moving out there, beautiful. I gotta admit, you gave a rush to even an old bastard like me." I punctuate "old bastard" with a bit of a wry smirk, wondering if she's made me yet. I throw down my pack of Luckies on the table, taking out one for myself and nudging the pack towards her.

[Xeno]

A mass of black oily ooze gurgled quietly through the fresh, clean ducts that ran in the unseen spaces of the Phoenix room. Occasionally as it passed a ventilation grate an expressionless grayish eye would bob to the surface, like an optically sensitive soap bubble, to glance around curiously before sinking back into the murk. The slime was accompanied by a faint odor reminiscent of burning plastic and cut grass which blended subtly with that 'new building smell'.

It spread itself luxuriously through the ventilation system, absorbing the wafting flavors of the bar's occupants with pedantic satisfaction. It was good that the place tasted happy now. It could still taste the death and pain that had been here so recently, but that unpleasantness would soon be but a bitter memory. Now was a time for celebration. Or at least, watching celebration. The Byzantine conundrum that passed for its mind had not yet determined that the time was right to mingle. There was some thought in that direction. However it had learned that people, particularly tetrapods, could be quite sensitive about the company they kept. Best to wait for them to disrupt their cognition with the appropriate ingested toxins.

Dozens of tiny eyes twinkled behind the ventilation grates, watching the ebb and flow of the party-goers. It listened to the conversations with the innocent voyeurism of the half-asleep. Fine black tendrils ran between floor tiles and under carpet to snag crumbs and drops of beverage as they fell. Only the tiniest taste was necessary to 'conceptualize' the whole thing. The shadowy wallflower extended through the building like the root system of some immense alien plant. The source of the thing sat in the cold storage chamber of the Phoenix room. A 'trunk' of slick black ooze ran between a vent in the floor and a large silver oil drum, sitting in the midst of several empty kegs destined to hold potent beverages. The drum was covered in shipping notices and bumper stickers from around the world. Conspicuously etched into its surface were the large block letters XENO.

[Magnum Opus]

At Meghan's suggestion, Knockout's eyes widen and she blushes. Oh my.

What do I say? I don't know if I'm ready! I don't know if I ever really will be. But she's been making eyes at me all night, and... I think I like her...

She's made out of titanium. I'm trying not to let it weird me out, but...

She must be so alone. More than I am. At least I look kind of normal. She can't even go to a 7-Eleven without people looking at her like she's the new model of Terminator.

And... I am a little curious...

All right. Just pick your words carefully.

"Well... I think I know where you're coming from. I'm bookish and don't get out much either. And I'm a long ways from 'used to this,' too.

"But... don't take this wrong, but I've known you face to face for maybe half an hour. I do like you, Meghan, it's just... this isn't coming out right." She rubs the bridge of her nose.

"I'm not saying no. I just don't want to rush it. I want to get to know you better first. This is all new to me too - I flew across the ocean today, I don't have a passport or anything and I'm in a strange club mostly full of people I don't know. There's 'out of your depth' and then there's this. I..."

She slumps a bit. "I'm trying to say this in a way that doesn't shoot you down or hurt your feelings. How'm I doing?"

[Mithril]

Meghan chuckled warmly.

Poor kid, she thought, remembering the difficult time she'd had adjusting to nova life-- a time which was not very far in her past.

"You're doing fine, sweetie," Meghan replied reassuringly. Meghan glanced over Danielle's shoulder at the dance floor and formed a plan.

"Tell ya what," she said, "Let's go ahead and pretend that we know how to dance and not even care about how we look when we try it, as if it's what we meant to do, and just get to know each other more?"

And later we'll hump like bunnies, she silently amended.

The expectant smile she showed Danielle could have been one of affectionate support, or it could have been that of a minx. There was no way a casual observer could be sure.

[Magnum Opus]

Knockout smiles. "That sounds great. Just let me - ah, thank you." She takes a third Amp Well off the waiter's tray and downs it. "Hhhhhhbhh, okay, let's."

Maybe I ought to ease off on those.

Maybe you ought to take that stick out of your ass, Danielle.

She lets Meghan lead her out onto the dance floor, and takes her lead.

[Magnum Opus]

The pair of them dance for about twenty minutes before the Incident.

The music is 'Jump Around,' and that's precisely what Knockout is doing, apparently ignorant of the hypnotic effect that she has on people when she leaps up and down. After some initial awkwardness, Knockout gets into the groove with Meghan, doing flips and somersaults and aerial twists in midleap. She's not technically good and has a limited feel for rhythm, but as time goes on she gets more and more enthusiastic, trying new things.

Man - this is actually kinda fun! Why didn't I do this before?

'Cause I was too tightly wrapped before and my legs would hurt if I danced for too long. You know, as bodies go... okay, there's things about this one that weird me out but I got a pretty good one.

As the music heads into its climax, Knockout springs straight up into the air, looking down at the assembled clubbers for a frozen moment at the apex of her leap.

I might have to come here again. Finally - a place where I fit in just right -

Knockout sees the young woman with blue skin move into her landing spot a second before impact. It's the longest second of her life, as she tries frantically to defy gravity, and concentrates on up, up, up...

And away.

The impact of Knockout hitting the ceiling of the Phoenix Room, in a frantic attempt to keep from hitting a clubgoer, shakes the walls slightly. A few bits of ferroconcrete crumble to the floor.

"Cuhn suhwhuh guhv muh uh hund huh?" *

Singularity sees the young nova impact, and flies up after her. He chuckles at the sight of her half-embedded in the ceiling. "Okay, Miss Knockout, just relax. I'm going to pull you out."

He gives her a tug, and grunts, twisting a bit. "So how many did you have?"

"Guh fuhg yuhsuhf." **

"For the record, I haven't had to - nnf - do that in years - "

He pulls her free. Her hair and face are grey, covered in dust.

"You okay?"

She coughes out a small cloud. "Oh, I'm perfect." She looks up at the ceiling and groans. "I'm an idiot. Fuck."

He smiles warmly as he guides her down to the ground. "Don't worry about it. I'll put in a word for you."

"Yeah - yeah. Thanks. I just... pfeh. I need some air." She coughs again, and looks towards Meghan. "I'm just gonna step out for a bit..."

* [size:0] "Can someone give me a hand here?"

** untranslatable (i.e. don't ask)