Aberrant: The Long March - In-to-me-see [Mature]

[SkyLion]

After the tense ordeal on the surface, Cody had sat down in the quiet of his meditation chamber, lighting a single scented candle more out of habit and atmosphere now than any need for an external focus.

As he was sitting in stillness, Kyria entered the room and sat down easily opposite to him, crosslegged. Her presence was at once soothing and jarring. The scent of her called to him, her raw physicality reminding him of somthing had had let fall by the wayside decades ago. As an explorer of the mind he had let his physical needs diminish before the vast and open astral sky upon which he soared on wings of thought and memory.

Now, this amazing creature, so fresh and unburdened by the heavy toll of years had reached out to him upon his lonley and lofty perch and reawakened in him the lost desires of the flesh. He could smell her arousal, the unquenchable thirst of her youthful vibrancy an unmistakeable pull as she reached out with her thoughts and carressed him. Her thoughts were a soft wind and mighty waterfall at the same time.

Cody laughed at himself, old enough to be her great grandfather...and yet if anyone was a sutiable match for him was it not the gifted daughter of his best friend? Someone whom over the years had forged a connection that not even his venerable mentor Steven could accomplish. All of these thoughts, desires and doubts, were made transparent to Kyria as she effortlessly entered his mind, past the hardened defenses he had hidden behind for so many years. There was a question there, addressed to the innocence of her longing and the core of his hesitation even as he longed to reach out and fullfill his role as a man.

That question was, *Why me?*

[z028 Riley]

Her mind was quiet as she contemplated this. Here was a man that was both one of the greatest bastions of her people, and yet so vulnerable to him. She was young, she knew this, but she did not want to use the excuse for simple or cliched platitudes. That would demean both of them. She began with something odd:

*Do you know that before coming to the Lorean I had only met perhaps a total of two dozen other people? Of those two dozen, less than five stayed with me longer than a few days.* She looked thoughtful, almost pensive, but her emotions were calm, contemplative. *I grew up with every privilege my father could provide for me. Every privilege except freedom. I understand that now. I know he did not deny me this out of any malicious intent. He loves me. I am almost the most beloved person in his life, and I would never begrudge him his greatest love. Still, he is my father and he would use me. Mold me, shape me into everything he thinks a nova and a child of his should be. Most parents do, but my father is who he is and this means his will is such that denial is likely never to occur to his creations.*

She was quiet for another moment, idly running a hand over the candle flame and watching the skin of her palm tan, thicken, and then retreat as she moved the flesh in and out of the heat. Her brow furrowed. *I am more than just his creation, though. He has plans for me, uses for me, but being here and being alone from him for the first time, I discovered I had a will of my own. Cody, he'll spend the rest of his life perfecting the status of benevolent tyrant on my world. That is what he wants of me as well, to share that hidden throne and play nursemaid and tutor to humanity for however long it is that I will live.*

She looked away, ignoring the candle and the constant dance of her flesh and flame warring for health and physics. *I could say that I think I will better serve to help you all find the cure for Taint or discover the identity of thise Watchers that made Lorean, or an of a dozen other things, but the truth is I just want to spend some part of my life doing what I want. I'm not cruel, I do want to help, but I want to do so on my terms. I want to know who I am, since I've always been who my father wants me to be.* She looked back at him, eyes dark and serious. *A great deal of that desire has come from knowing you.*

She shifted, unconsciously leaning forwards towards the man across from her. *You treat me differently. You don't have an expectation of me to act a certain way or think of others a certain way. You can keep up with me, but it doesn't have to be an ever-going chess game to see if I've learned enough or understood enough. You look at me, you know I'm young, and while that excites you you don't treat me like a child or an inferior. I'm not your savior or your fetish or your perfection. I've been one of those at least to every other person I have known before coming here.*

She gathered the loose ends of her thoughts and put them together to finish, *With you I can be desired without being just a fantasy. Your mind is deep and complex.* She smiled at him, looking almost coquettish, *And to a telepath, what do you think could be sexier? I feel both safe and nervous when I'm around you. Your desire makes me want to strive for more, both for myself and for us, and I feel that mine does the same for you. We give each other both oppurtunity and incentive to become better, more for the sheer pleasure of sharing that. That is why you.*

[SkyLion]

Cody listened to her soothing thought-forms in his mind. So much said so simply and easily. Telepathy overcame all language barriers and in a sense was one of the truest languages of love that there could be. All the romantics with their endless notions and innuendos, always dancing around the truth, hinting at it, nudging it, pretending to acknowledge and the pretense of understanding. Most people could only hope to aproximate their meaning and intent and hope that the listener shared enough in experience and perspective to allow some level of comprehension. The baseline mind kept so many secrets, not only from others but from itself. This was a large part of what allowed Cody to manipulate other so easily. He held no self illusions, no conflicting agendas or warring states of conscioussness. He was complete...or at least he had thought so until he met Kyria.

With Michael there had been exploration, for he had been nothing if not hungrily curious. But it was a methodical and relentless scientific curiosity. He had approached Cody to understand the secrets of the mind and in many ways had quickly surpassed even that which Cody was capable of. That was what had first made Cody understand how his Quantum backlash limited him. The subatomic scarring from his eruption was just as effective as the scar tissue on a human athlete and he could go no further without risking further harm. It was then that he decided to fully back Andrew and his research.

But all of that was irrelevant now. All of his flaws, of which he had such intimate knowledge were laid bare before this woman. And she loved him in spite of everything. She didn't shy away from him and his darkest secrets. If anything, Michael had gone a step further than he had. She was no naive child when it came to the dark art of mental "reconditioning." She was, in every way, his equal.

*Thank you.*

Again, such a simple thought but with such direct communication nothing was ever so simple as the clumsy words one might express. It was true gratitude and appreciation, it was a brush against her heart space, a warm shiver spreading out from her chest and up her spine. Gently he entered her body, not yet physically...that would come in time. For the time being he delved deep into the core of her physiology, exploring every cell and lighting up her entire nervous system with pleasure and anticipation. It was small at first, and as he reached into her she reached into him, the meld already beginning like the first brushes of a lover's lips.

Along with the gratitude came a sense of opening and vulnerability, a surrenduring into that kiss. As they breathed in the bliss of oneness, the passion grew, building up slowly in wave after ecstatic wave of mutual appreciation and biometric feedback. A sprinkle of joy, a dash of aching nostalgia, a touch of tenderness, all blending into a cauldron of thought and emotion as their distinct waveform patterns merged into one.

It wasn't until the psychic feedback loop brought them to the heights and depths of orgasmic bliss...in a moment that could have been seconds or hours...that Cody finally reached out his arms...or was it Kyria...and they pulled each other into an embrace, hungry for the taste of skin and sweat and the ephemeral presence of their bodies subsumed into a creature of psychedelic union and breathless passion.