Theo asks the oracle to shuffle the deck seven times. "It's a magic number, as far as I know.. I'm sorry but you sound incredibly hot under that robe!"
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Nissa waits patiently by the bowl, though she stops hovering directly over it now that she’s said her prayer. Seeing she’s no daughter of Zeus, it’s unsurprising she will receive a less immediate response, if at all.
She’s pretty sure she did all the stuff Theo did, except be a god. Oh... and he cut himself with a Nordic weapon. Oh, my Nordic weapon’s a sap. Bonking myself on the head would just make me look dumb.
Ultimately, the fairy decides to skip the hurting-yourself part. She’ll swim and fly and take in all the beauty surrounding her.
Nissa swims and flies and takes in the beauty that surrounds her. Mists and steam sometime obscure her vision. She soon founds herself in a quieter section of the pool. A few women bathe there amidst the steam. Nissa cannot be sure she didn't find nymphs after all.
Wow... talk about being surrounded by beauty. I’m the *least* hot gal on this planet!
Nissa is not bothered by her thought at all. She flutters closer to the women and introduces herself. “I’m Nissa van Donk, a guest of Enyo’s. Is this, like, the women-only section of the bath? It’s lovely here. Is it okay if I join you?”
Nissa then transforms to her human-ish self, wearing nothing but a smile.
…and maybe her confidence was, initially, just a rehearsed face on a pose she’s made a thousand times before (albeit with clothes on). Yet, now, the extrêmement petite model feels a strange sense of belonging here in this bath. She isn’t worried about being accepted or rejected by the flawless feminine forms towering over her (even if they’re seated).
She isn’t star-struck like she thought she’d be. She isn’t embarrassed by her toddler-sized stature. She doesn’t feel a need to pretend not to have insecurities, or cry on a shoulder, or stand a certain way. She just sees herself among people.
People she would like to know.
“…and, would you mind if I ask you your names?” she continues as her glowing eyes meet theirs.
Charles groans at the horrible puns, then frowns slightly, crossing his lower arms. He seemed to... have been fed the lines? What kind of a superhero name was "New Patriot", anyway? It all seemed engineered, somehow...
He shivers slightly as he's reminded of the whole thing with Mr. Portly and the jump into the Superman origin story. Shaking off the thought he continues on with his business, trying to ignore how the fur on the back of his neck was sticking up.
The Oracle ignores Theo's attempt at turning the discussion to her hotness. It may, however, have coloured her reading of these cards. ALthough she seems to be unfamiliar with the cards, her gift allows her to use them for divination, and she does.
"In your past, I see the Hanged Man, bringer of Wisdom and Revolutions. He reveals that you have started on a time of testing and trial; you have begun on the path of prophecy but you are not ready; you must put others before your appetites, Theodore. In your present, the Five of swords. You see her this man stealing swords from a battlefield? This is a weak man taking the easy path, being less than what he could be, and debasing the gifts he was given. In your future, I see a man walking away from a surplus of drink. You might see a man unhappy with this world; I see a man with the strength to seek another."
She leaves the cards on the table for a moment for Theo to observe and then pours a drink for him from a decanter she brought with her.
The nymph-like women smile and one hands Nissa a drink.
[dice=Sense Motive]1d20+1
Charles groans at the horrible puns, then frowns slightly, crossing his lower arms. He seemed to... have been fed the lines? What kind of a superhero name was "New Patriot", anyway? It all seemed engineered, somehow...
He shivers slightly as he's reminded of the whole thing with Mr. Portly and the jump into the Superman origin story. Shaking off the thought he continues on with his business, trying to ignore how the fur on the back of his neck was sticking up.
Theo groans. "Yeah! That sounds about right!" The godling ponders, "'Path of Prophecy', eh? Don't suppose [u]you[/u] know where this prophecy is?" The Olympian asked The Oracle.
Nissa accepts the drink. She looks at it, wondering what it is.
“I’m not twenty-one yet,” she says as if she never experienced underage drinking on a foreign planet before. “Not that I intend to refuse your hospitality. Seriously, thanks, ladies.”
Nissa begins to sip from the cup, slowly, taking in the flavor...
The Oracle walks away, stepping gracefully from rock to rock. With the water so dark and the rocks just beneath the surface, it looks like she is walking across the water. Even so, she must know, or divine, where the rocks are to be able to stride away, her head up.
The oracle left one card on the table, The Fool.
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Nissa suddenly finds herself in a moonlit spring, surrounded by wilderness. Through the rising steam, elegant silhouettes converse softly, their voices like songbirds. Nissa swims toward them.
The maiden nymphs…?
She introduces herself like before, this time certain she’s in the right place. Whether she has a right to be in this place is another matter, but she eagerly anticipates the reply from the Artemisians... or perhaps Artemis herself is among them.
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Theo sat there, sulking as only godling can. His worse fear were realized. He was seen as less than worthy in the eyes of Olympus. "I put my appettites before others..I haven't had sex in three weeks..That's a long time for me!!"
As he sat in his self-enforced funk, Theo didn't realize the party temple was fading away, sounds and smells becoming distant. Until Theo felt a cold tapping on his shoulder. The godling turned around.. to find Lord Hermes standing there in all his glory, tapping him with his caduceus. Before Theo could really react to his exalted brother appearing before him, Hermes spoke in a handsome tone.
"Word of advice? Clench."
Without understanding why, Theo was seized by the herald god by the shoulder and lifted off the ground effortlessly. The ceiling of the Temple of Delphi faded away as both beings rose into the air. Theo looked down at the new world below as it flashed far below him. In moments, the horizon gave way to a looming mountain, just too large to be real! Both beings flew at high speeds directly at the mountain face, only to course-correct seconds from disaster and Hermes flew them straight up the mountain. Looking to his left and right, Theo could see World 7 shrink before them as they rose, higher and higher into the atmosphere. Through multiple cloud banks, the divine beings flew until the mountain even out. Every Disney film or other Hollywood depiction of Mt. Olympus paled by comparison to the real deal. Mt. Olympus. In all it's glory! Both beings flew up and over the pristine marble steps up until the massive gates to enter Mt. Olympus.
This is where while in flight, Hermes had let Theo go.
As befitting a godling, Theo rolled with the fall several times and at great speed, to only flip up and end standing on his own two feet in a flourish of physical mastery and control.
The God of Travelers laughed above him. "Well done, little brother! Don't be so hard on yourself!" Hermes then tipped his caduceus to the bewildered godling and flew away. Theo turned to watch Hermes go, smiling with amazement. Theo was so lost in the moment, the godling did not hear the gate of Olympus open a dozen or so feet behind him.
Oupis is a true tree-hugger. Captain Planet would approve, though from her conversation with Nissa, she would not approve of him. Oupis would probably be named Major Planet if she were a superhero.
Golden-haired Loxo was first discovered by Artemis as a small child. She had wandered alone in the forest into a cave where three bears lived. She angered them by eating their food and napping in their dwelling, yet the nimble child was able to run away, and ended up safely in the Hunting Goddess’ protective custody.
Happy Hek is a joyful redhead. She is a talented musician, artist, masseuse, equestrian, archer, chess master, and stone-skipper. But the girl can’t hold her liquor.
As for Artemis... Nissa takes a good look at the goddess who’s unlike the curvaceous blonde in the nude painting. Or the short-haired boss lady in the non-nude illustration. The real Artemis is rugged, as if carved from nature, yet there is a gentleness about her—like that of an animal. Her green eyes could shift from curious cat to pouncing panther in a blink. And with that well-tanned skin and those dark wild curls, the goddess, in the flesh or clad in earth tones, would surely blend in with the earth herself!
She does not boast of her prowess, though Nissa wouldn’t mind that. Instead Artemis asks Nissa why she chose to come here of all places. Nissa tells of her friend’s home, of the art, of the way her friend speaks of ‘Arty’ with such casual admiration… Nissa never expected to one day meet the real Artemis. “Oh, but of course I forgot my camera!”
Nissa does eventually tell her own story, explaining that the Dawnflower is a sun goddess, “kinda like your brother.” She transforms to her fairy form, telling of her powers and all the friends who helped her. (Artemis might realize Addison Lane and the Vermilion Vixen are obviously the same person, though Nissa doesn’t know this.) She ends the story with experiences of her first day at work, meeting Charles Wilde and exploring her own personal “chariot” on L.C.’s fingertip.
If asked of her travels, Nissa is happy to share her otherworldly adventures...!
"What happened next?" asks Enyo to a confused Theo. The World 7 TAROT godlings are gathered around Theo and Nissa. They're sitting on rocks, the grass, or each other's laps. You're still at the pool, but no one else is. The sun is coming up. The naked people and the oracles have all gone home. The steam that rose from bubbling pools is replaced with a slight fog. No one is in the water anymore.
"Theo! You were telling us where you went! What happened next? Did you meet your Dad?"
Everyone waits. Not one of them doubts the truth of what Theo is saying. When Nissa looks over she sees why. Theo looks different. Before he looked like an extraordinary human; now he looks positively divine. Besides, they've all heard that there were 'thin spots' at the Pools of Delphi. They're jealous you found one but they're now swearing they'll be coming back next week with something or someone Norse to sacrifice, see if Theo's strategy will work for them.
Nissa, like Theo, will feel a little confused about the last couple hours. Later the godlings will tell you again what that's called--gate-lag, the feeling of displacement and forgetfulness that results from leaping to Mount Olympus, or other dimensions, using thin spots or gates. They'll tell you this several times, because you'll forget it several times. It will wear off in a bit. "You'll get used to it, or just use your wand. It only happens with gates that have been in use a long time; you must have passed through one," a slightly drunk and less-uptight-than-usual Adon explains to Nissa.
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Charles pauses just outside his destination, still mulling over the news story. Hadn't he even heard that horrible pun before?
Before he can place it, his thoughts are interrupted by a familiar contralto voice. "As soon as I heard you'd gone and gotten weirder I knew you'd be down here."
Charles suppresses a groan. He'd kind of been hoping that Dr. Martin wouldn't be working right now, but it had been a vain hope. It was perfectly clear to him that she loved her work, after all.
"Well don't just stand there, get over to the 3D-scanner and let's get you measured. It's pretty clear you've grown."
He steps through the door into a large workshop/laboratory. Charles had been here several times already, given his, er, unique equipment needs. And Dr. Martin had *always* been here, every time he'd been in. Today she is dressed in a blue coverall with lots of extra pockets, her graying hair pulled back to keep her vision clear. She watches Charles as he makes his way over to one wall.
"Spread your arms, just like last time."
For some reason, as he spreads his arms out, Charles remembers an exhibit on Italy he'd visited once, in specific the sketches from Leonardo da Vinci. Hadn't there been one with a bunch of different arm positions in the same sketch?
"Now hold still," Dr. Martin commanded before pressing a key on the keyboard she was sitting in front of.
A faint beep and the quiet whisper of an array of sensors slowly rising up a track on either side of him followed her keypress. Charles holds as still as he can, even holding his breath for the couple of seconds the scan took.
"Hmm... looks like six-point-two-three more centimeters of height since last time. Limb length and chest width remain proportionate," Dr. Martin states after a moment of staring at her screen. "So what brought it on this time?"
Charles thought it a bit strange she said 'this time' when this was the first time he'd, er, metamorphosed since coming to Boston Theoretical. "Well... it came on after I was exposed to the... whatever that was with the Atlantean."
"Exposure to trans-dimensional energies?" She swivels her chair to look straight at Charles. "Yes, I'd theorized you would be particularly sensitive to such, given both the incorporation of at least one non-terrestrial organism into your body, not to mention your flagrant disregard for the laws of conservation of mass and energy in spite of your shapeshifting not fitting any known pattern for supernatural transformation. Yes, that means we'll need to increase the osmium content of your armor, give you some better shielding against further instances... unless you're wanting to encourage such things?"
Charles shakes his head emphatically, but before he can speak Dr. Martin continues, "Of course it will be fantastically expensive, but I'm certain your equipment budget has been increased, we'll just have to make sure we stay within your constraints. You got gills, as well? We'll have to allow fluid exchange over them if you're planning on making use of them. Of course I can't guarantee the changes will be reflected in all three of your necks when you change forms, but given how your shapeshifting has functioned thus far I would expect it to do so. I wonder if your transformation picks up more on the design or the intent... your clothing doesn't shift with you but your armor does, which somewhat suggests intent, but..."
She trails off, gaze unfocused as she mumbles under her breath, no doubt theorizing about him further. After a moment Charles clears his throat. "Uh... actually Dr. Martin, I was thinking..."
"And activity most people should engage in more often." Her gaze is suddenly laser-focused on Charles again. "But given you're brining it up now, this thinking has to do with your equipment?"
"Uh, yes, I was... thinking I should ask about a ranged weapon."
Charles hadn't yet seen her eyes light up like this. "This way!" she orders, practically jumping out of her chair and walking over to another door. She opens it, leads Charles down a short corridor, punches in a code at a door and presents her eye for a retinal scan. After a moment the door clicks and slides open.
Walking inside, Charles sees another workshop, but this one clearly dedicated to weapons testing. A number of boxy guns are racked up along one wall, locked in a case of some kind of transparent plastic. A couple of workbenches have half-assembled weapons of various sizes on them along with numerous parts, along with another computer desk which is much clearer of parts, while the rest of the room consists of a long shooting range.
Dr. Martin opens the case up and starts pointing at each weapon in turn, launching into a detailed description of the physical principles each is based on. Charles can't follow more than one word in three, but he shivers a bit as he manages to put together the kind of destruction a couple of them would cause.
He stops her as she is explaining the mechanism by which one of her weapons causes molecular bonds to cascaade-fail. "Dr. Martin, do you have any, um, less-lethal options?"
"Ah! A challenge! But it is one I've already met." She points at one weapon which resembles nothing more than a long metal box with a half dozen dials and buttons on the side and a couple of grips on the bottom. "Energy-matter converter. Funnily enough you actually inspired a part of it. I got to thinking about how you seem to make mass appear from nowhere when you assume your monster form and..."
"Um, what does it actually do, Doctor?"
Dr. Martin scowls up at Charles. "I told you. It's an energy-matter converter. It converts energy into matter. Do I have to... oh, here."
She reaches in and lifts the weapon in question out of its place then turns to Charles. "Take this, go over to the range, and I'll pop up some targets. It'll be easier than trying to explain physics to a zoologist."
Charles gingerly accepts the gun, a bit surprised at just how much the thing weighs. How was someone smaller than him supposed to use this thing? If anything it was perfectly sized for him... which... made him wonder...
He shoves the thought aside as he carries the weapon over to one of the firing positions. Dr. Martin, for her part, sits down at the computer and starts typing. Just as Charles reaches his destination, a number of small platforms rise from the ground in the gun range. On each of them sits... a glass of water?
"Aim anywhere downrange and pull the trigger. The settings should be good enough to see the effects," Dr. Martin instructs.
A million questions fill Charles's mind, but... well, he'd seen how Dr. Martin could be. She wasn't going to answer anything until he'd done as she asked. Hefting the gun with his upper arms, he did his best to sight along the top of it (how were you supposed to aim this thing without any kind of sights?) and pulled the trigger.
A low buzz was the only sign the gun was doing anything at first, but after maybe half a second several of the glasses in the area he'd pointed at frosted over, their contents freezing as well moments later. Then some bits of white formed in the air... snow?
"Now, I'll go ahead and let accounting know to take this out of your budget. I'll need to start working on a replacement, but I'll want your reports of how it handles in the field, suggestions for improvements, that sort of thing. It's a bit of a prototype right now but perfectly usable, I'll just have to throw together an instruction manual and send it along to your comm..."
Maybe an hour later, Charles finally escapes Dr. Martin's clutches and retreats to his room with his new weapon. He shudders a bit as he thinks about what kind of manual is going to come with it.
Theo sits down, holding his head in his hand. "I was . Mt. Olympus. Lord Hermes grabbed me up at took me to the gates itself." A sadness replaced Theo's confusion. "That's all I remember. That's it. Didn't see Dad. Or anyone, other than Lord Hermes. Why..leave me at the gates and ..that's it?!"
It's about this point in time when the alarms at Boston Theoretical start going off.
Charles jumps slightly as the alarm goes off, sudden tension in every muscle. Leaving his room he gets back out into the hall, new weapon slung over his back. He looks both ways and listens for signs of danger, trying to figure out if he was supposed to evacuate the building or run to fight something or what.
Kai is just finishing the tests on Legion Mk II, going over the test reports with EIG. "I'm not entirely happy with the wiring for the infrared sensor, it's a bit too close to the power cable for the beacon. It has shielding, obviously, but there is a non-zero chance of interference. Can you run the unit test on gyroscope B1 again? The last run threw an assert and I don't like that. Maybe we can f-"
The alarm drowns out the rest of the words. Kai jumps, trying to remember what the procedure was for such situations. Failing to come up with anything, Kai hurriedly gathers up the equipment, slaps the hood down on Legion and sprints down the corridor towards the flight deck.
Nissa does notice the change in Theo.
“Well… something must’ve happened. Ya kinda have this... radiance.”
As for herself, “I got to meet Artemis, and three of her nymphs. They were sweet.” Nissa tells of her encounter. As Nissa gets to the part where ‘Arty’ asks of her time in Danesville, Nissa wears a look of mild befuddlement. “You know what’s weird though? I can’t remember what Artemis said to me.”
“I mean... I remember she had a message for me to pass on to my fashionista friend, Addison. Oh! And my superhero friend the Vermilion Vixen—which is funny, ’cause I only said Addy’s a huge fan of Artemis.
“But… I can’t recall what the message was. Not even the gist. Just the part after, I remember. I was like thumbs up, you can count on me!
“Awww, but she can’t count on me ’cause I forgot every word.” Nissa’s lips look maybe a little too pouty.
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Unsure what such an alarm means, regardless alarms tend to be alarming. Zellgato snags his tools and buzzes on the comms "Does... that alarm mean something specific? Where do I go?"
Wishing he'd properly read the protocol manuals he neglicated for tv.
When Enyo hears that Theo didn't meet dad, she commiserates with him. "Are you sure you didn't? Gate-lag's a real thing, you know. You might remember more later. It's kind of how this works and then people think you're making it up when you say, 'Oh, yeah, one more thing my dad, the God, told me is ...'; I mean, I'm still confused about why Hera adopted me when she's not even my real mom and dad denied I was his, but I am ... or even really what all happened. I just know I threw one of his lightning bolts at him and Hera adopted me. But, like, pieces of it are still coming back to me."
Back at Boston Theoretical Ron gets Zellgato, Charles, EIG, and Kai on the comms. "Someone has been killed in the medical bay....Two someones. Alarms going off all over the place down there...I don't know what's happening yet...Security is heading down there now, but I thought maybe you could do something?"
Boston Theoretical is mostly underground.
These are the levels, going down.
LOBBY LEVEL
SECURITY AND CAFETERIA AND PARKING
FLIGHT DECK AND 'AIR TRAFFIC'
DETAINMENT LEVEL (WHERE YOU HAVE CELLS TURNED INTO ROOMS)
MEDICAL BAY (MEANT FOR TRANSDIMENSIONAL PRISONERS)
RESEARCH LEVEL
It has several elevators and stairs
It sounds like Charles and Z are on the Detainment level and Kai is on the Research level.
"The prince! Did our deadline expire? Were we supposed to return him by now? Well, we can't, Theo and Nissa have the wand." Kai course-corrects at the last minute, cancelling the elevator order for the flight deck and changing it to medical bay, which is only one level up from where Kai is.
Buzing on the comms "I'm near some stairs, on my way; is there a lockdown protocol or anything?" Zellgato finished attaching his bayonet, and loading a special round and goes full speed, keeping an eye on signs nearby leading to the closests stairway-not wanting to wait for elevators and assuming security somewhere will isolate the floor to some extent.
"I've got eyes on him! He's in the elevators. It's the Prince or pirate or whatever he is. He's got a hostage, or, at least, I think she's a hostage," Ron shouts. "I think he's headed up!"
Buzing on the comms "I'm near some stairs, on my way; is there a lockdown protocol or anything?" Zellgato finished attaching his bayonet, and loading a special round and goes full speed, keeping an eye on signs nearby leading to the closests stairway-not wanting to wait for elevators and assuming security somewhere will isolate the floor to some extent.
"They say he's killed two people in Medical and that he's got powers!"
"The security protocol for most things is that we call security and they take care of it," explains Ron in a panicky tone, "Unless it's some extradimensional murderer, in which case you are the security protocol ... you and Nissa and Theo and Charles."
Skidding to a halt, and heading up the stairs instead of down, back on the comms "Keep track of exactly where he goes-you got cameras in the elevators? We need to be sure where he's going. Charles, I don't know much about you; think you can scale up an elevator and ambush while I try to get to the doors? Anyway to shut down the elevators?" Having no real clue what Charles is capable of, but loving the idea of a pincer capture-and laments heavily that he didn't endorse for a capture pole.
"Kai, he's in the other elevator. He's heading for this level I don't know how to shut them down. Is there anything you can do?" asks Ron.
"Already on it." At Zellgato's question about shutting down the elevators Kai had already started heading to the closest workstation on the medical level, pulling up schematics on the comm.
Charles growls as he runs towards the location indicated. "I'm not in armor. This might get messy," he says over the comm.
He should have known one of them needed to stay with the 'prince', but, well, his body had gone and decided that just because he'd almost died to sharks piercing his suit while deep underwater it needed to go and change, and then the thing with the wand, and...
Later. Time for blaming himself later. Now was time for limiting the damage. At least he'd been around Boston Theoretical long enough now he didn't need help navigating. He aims for elevator the floor above where the Prince was reported to be. Or maybe it should be two floors above? No, one, it sounded like Kai was going to be able to stop it.
Kai finds the elevator system quickly enough. Kai can see the Atlantean in one of the elevators with one of the doctors--the alleged hostage. She doesn't look like a hostage. She looks like she's trying to make out with him in the elevator.
He's heading for the Security-Cafeteria-Parking level. That's one of the most crowded places at Boston Theoretical.
Kai takes some screenshots of the elevator security camera and sends them to the others via the comm, together with the elevator's location and heading. "I'm going to stop it between levels, be ready to intercept."
"Can we force them to open on the least populated level? Ron; have any places been evaced or low on civvies?"
Now growing winded hustling up and down stairs, following signs and wishing he'd properly learned more than just his floor so far. But hustles his way toward where Kai indicates. "I'm guessing he probably is strong in close combat Charles, we might have some trouble-he has powers too. He healed Theo-not well but he did. If we have to fight, hard and fast, or maybe we can get the hostage away and lock him in the elevator."
Kai is monitoring activity in the vicinity of the elevator with the prince and his hostage, coordinating with Ron to direct civilians away from it and possibly start evacuating the building. Then Kai checks the pulsecaster pistol that is tucked in a holster attached to Kai's belt, making sure it is loaded and ready to be used. Between Charles's new form and Zellgato's upgraded weaponry, Kai doubts the little non-lethal pistol will see much use, but better to be prepared.
Sprinting through the stairways, towards wherever Kai ultimately directs, Zellgato has a moment he shudders; and hears a voice in his head "Don't forget the damn reptiles" and gets on the comms while running, "Ron, Kai, Verify the hostage for me. They actually work here, how long, are they actually a hostage, or are they taking the prince?"
Climbing a few more steps while they work on it, "Plan A-near elevators Charles. I'll shoot him to get his attention, you hip check the hostage into the elevator. Kai locks it down, we deal with the prince. Plan B-we're late. I'll run distraction, you take the hostage to safety, come back to rescue me."
leaving his comms open for opposition, clarifications, or for Kai or Ron to crosscheck the hostage, Zellgato takes a biohack to further increase his speed.
Theo pushed himself off the floor to the condolences of his extended godling family. "Well, I don't mean to be a bummer. This is a happy occasion, after all." Looking to Enyo, Theo asked, "So. Where do you recommend we go next, Big sis?"
Oh yes, that was a good point from Zellgato. Kai starts checking doctor's file as it related to her employment with Boston Dynamics, but also running a separate search on the internet, with parameters set to flag any organization affiliation or discrepancies in her records.
If at all possible, Kai would have stopped the elevator well before it reached the cafeteria level, and kept the doors shut.
Theo pushed himself off the floor to the condolences of his extended godling family. "Well, I don't mean to be a bummer. This is a happy occasion, after all." Looking to Enyo, Theo asked, "So. Where do you recommend we go next, Big sis?"
Normally, Nissa would feel just awful for enjoying herself off-world. But fortunately, she let the others know where she is. And without the unstable gate hanging open, no worries about an alien creeping onto the flight deck.
Nissa stuffs all of her gear into her handbag, shoulders the bag, and transforms into her fairy form.
“It’s nice to be unburdened for once. I’m up for just about anything, as a spectator or a participant. Too bad L.C. isn’t here…”
Nissa suddenly recalls a story about Zeus appearing before Callista, Artemis’ then-favored maiden nymph, in the form of his own daughter Artemis. Nine months later, she gave birth to a baby bear. Did Artemis confirm this is true… or did Addison tell me when showing me her art collection?
“…but I’m okay with not bringing a date, and just having me some good ol’ fashioned sight-seeing—aromantic with no possibility of sexual encounters, like a school field trip.
“If you weren’t on bus five.”
Theo pushed himself off the floor to the condolences of his extended godling family. "Well, I don't mean to be a bummer. This is a happy occasion, after all." Looking to Enyo, Theo asked, "So. Where do you recommend we go next, Big sis?"Normally, Nissa would feel just awful for enjoying herself off-world. But fortunately, she let the others know where she is. And without the unstable gate hanging open, no worries about an alien creeping onto the flight deck.
Nissa stuffs all of her gear into her handbag, shoulders the bag, and transforms into her fairy form.
“It’s nice to be unburdened for once. I’m up for just about anything, as a spectator or a participant. Too bad L.C. isn’t here…”
Nissa suddenly recalls a story about Zeus appearing before Callista, Artemis’ then-favored maiden nymph, in the form of his own daughter Artemis. Nine months later, she gave birth to a baby bear. Did Artemis confirm this is true… or did Addison tell me when showing me her art collection?
“…but I’m okay with not bringing a date, and just having me some good ol’ fashioned sight-seeing—aromantic with no possibility of sexual encounters, like a school field trip.
“If you weren’t on bus five.”
Kai shuts down the elevator between floors. The hostage in the elevator takes this as a good reason to cuddle closer to the Atlantean who yells a question at her. She starts talking to him, but there is no audio in the elevator.
Her file says she's worked at Boston Theoretical for years and has top-secret clearance. She wouldn't have been allowed contact with a transdimensional beings otherwise. The 'personal notes' mention that she is happily married with no children.
She points at the camera and the Atlantean seems to see it and understand what it is for the first time. He points at it with his finger and everything goes dark. A second later the alarms go off.
Sounds like with Zellgato's speed, he'd get there first. The Atlantean is forcing the doors to the elevator open when you arrive.
Charles is a round behind.
Theo pushed himself off the floor to the condolences of his extended godling family. "Well, I don't mean to be a bummer. This is a happy occasion, after all." Looking to Enyo, Theo asked, "So. Where do you recommend we go next, Big sis?"
"Home. To sleep. You in a hurry or something? We need to choose your room at the Party House!" answers Enyo. "You guys live here now, right?"
"Sorry, Enyo. But this was a visit. An accident." Theo explained. "There only one godling that I know of on my world and that's me. But if I every make it to retirement age, this will be my new home. Besides, it seems like you guys have things well in hand here without me."
Nissa smiles. “Oh… that’s sweet of you, Enyo. I mean it. Theo, I get. But I would never have expected you’d offer me this honor.
“But… I have a…” Nissa is pretty sure Enyo can guess there’s a reason Artemis allowed Nissa to join a bath where everyone’s a maiden. “…girlfriend.
“I almost lost her that day you came to help us. Y’know, the chair-bomb. And work keeps us apart a lot, and I couldn’t even remove my armor without changing to fairy form until today, so… y’know… there’s so much I haven’t experienced in life, and I want to share these firsts with L…”
Nissa isn’t sure she had this girl-talk with the nymphs. She is perfectly comfortable telling this to Enyo, but with all these men…
Ohhhh… shít.
“…C.” Her entire fairy body and aura blush, emitting a sakura-pink hue. “Should I have just said ‘no thank you’ like a normal person?”
Charles swings his lower arms as he sprints up the stairs, leaving his upper arms free. His right is holding his comm up to his head, while he awkwardly keeps the other out of the way by holding it to his chest. "Ron, you said the Atlantean had powers. Did you get any clue what powers those are?"