Welcome to Gaia! ::

Theresa bounced on her toes happily at all of the compliments she was getting. Even with the adult wardrobe, the behavior made her look like an excited child. She smiled at Theonis and chirped, "I feel great! And look!"

Theresa held her right arm out and reconfigured it into her go-to rifle, a blade, and a drill in rapid succession. She turned her arm back to normal and declared, "It doesn't hurt anymore! I can change as much as I want and it doesn't hurt!"

She turned around and gave Gidget a crushing hug. "Thank you for the nice clothes!"

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Ravan wandered into the pool area. It was still early enough that not many people were there. She picked the same one that she had wandered into two days earlier. After she snagged three bottles of water from the locker room, she entered the pool area and sat next to the edge just like she did the time before. She took one of the bottles and just looked down at it. The substance that she often killed to get was in such plentiful supply in Valhalla. In front of her too, but she knew from experience not to drink from pools.

A few others high school aged kids walked in, talking and joking with one another. So much for a moment of quiet to think. She looked down at the water and wondered if Aqua knew she was there. Ravan adjust her position until she was laying prone. She put her face as close as she could to the water and whispered, "Hello? Aqua? Can you here me? It's me, Ravan. Y'know, the floating girl with the water bottles."

The way she described his introduction was very much like her Alec, she breathed and smiled, "Right, I know that logically I just need to get my feelings on the same page. Yeah, maybe some tea will help." She took a sip and made a face. The tea was sitting there too long. She poured the tea out and reused the teabag. She set her timer for two minutes. She took her new cup to the table focusing on the teabag. She looked to Alec and Lekolonni (Alec in small doses). Her mother joined not long after. Once the tea was ready started to sip no sugar as she would normally. When she felt that she has started to blush she held that feeling then let it go in small doses. I think I’m getting better… just gotta drink it all in, in small doses…. She blushed then proceeded with her routine.

Alec listened to Lokelonni explain how to remedy his and Kerana's mental link issue. All the while he stole peeks at Kerana, at times meeting her gaze. Each time it resulted in his blushing and smiling awkwardly.

"Alec, are you listening, or are you making goo-goo eyes at Kerana?" Lokelonni chided.

"Ah! Sorry. I didn't mean to zone...goo-goo eyes?"

"A phrase my Freya used to tease Kaelonni. I find it amusing."

Lokelonni turned her head in the general direction of Kerana and said, "Nice of you to join us, dear. Hopefully what I have to tell you will settle youe nerves."

"Alec tells me you shared a dream last night, and that the two of you are having difficulty keeping your thoughts and feelings to yourself. The reason is actually very simple. Your relationship is still relatively new. The two of you are still trying to learn about one another and are curious as to what the other person thinks of you. That desire, in conjunction with your link, has caused your mental boundaries to completely drop. The solution is simple, but not easy. Alec tells me you have entered a sort of shared dream space before. When you have time, go back there together, and envision some sort of divider that can block big thoughts, but still allow your link to know when the other is in danger."
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Anima inhaled sharply through his teeth, "Tssss, yeeeeah that's gonna be easier said than done."

"Remember when Nymphe said that it'd be up to someone on Earth. That wasn't just us blowing smoke. I can wipe away a life no problem, but when it comes to actually doing something about a marked soul? Well, that was more in my son's wheelhouse. He made a tool for the job. Now that tool is in someone else's hands."

"The scrawny emo kid?" Freya asked with some doubt.

"Aye, tha' be the lad." Aether was about to continue speaking until she could palpably feel the heat that came from Ingnis. She cleared her throat and continued. "The death scythe is the only thing capable of parsing a soul from the body. From there it's up to him and what he learned from Crosis. Sorry, but we really can't do anything to help you...especially since Legio somehow stumbled into putting your soul back into your body."

"I know right?! Shane was able to manage it by using his soul as a conduit to the well, destroying his in the process. How you managed to do it still baffles us. You should've seen Anima's face. He was all rawr rawr rawr he's not the life guy. He can't do that. Rawr rawr."

"Oh go soak your flaming fat head you lazy eyed psycho!"

"My head's not fat!

"Oh...my god." Tellus groaned while he rubbed his temples.

"Ahem. As far as Eclipse goes, were we to seal him in here with us, Trinity would not be able to ascend. He either needs to give his boon to her willingly, or be killed to release it to the one who has the the half. If he died in Empyrean, his boon would die with him. Believe me, if I could have a word with my son, I would not hesitate to destroy what he's become."

"Sorry darlin'. We'd love to help y'all out with that, but some things are still outside our power or bound by dumbass cosmic laws."

Lumen jumped up and down with his hand raised while he grunted, "Oh oh oh! I got it. Pick me pleeeeeease!"

"Oh for- Lumen! We've been speaking in turns this whole time! You don't need our permission to speak!"

"Oh, right! But show him the thing. The first thing."

"Myes, he may actually like that. Legio, my androgynous thing, would you like to see the birth of the universe?"

"Psht, he wouldn't wanna see that. He could probably just make his own or whatever. Like that blue guy from the comics."

"You mean Doctor Manhattan?"

"Yes! Finally! Someone I can talk to about The Watchmen. These scrub lords refuse to read comics or graphic novels. They say it's for children and man children."

"Oh that's utter bullshit!"

"Right?!"

"Uuuuuaaggh! That doesn't matter! You, Legio, do you want to see what they call the big bang or not?!"

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The aroma of a fresh pot of jo quickly permeated through the dorm. "Deora, how do you take your coffee?"

"I don't. Coffee is gross, and I'm not leaving my dark sanctuary."

"Um, it's not gross the way I make it, and you are absolutely coming with us. I'm not going to be the only one their without their polar partner."

Deora grunted in protest, "Just, I dunno, livestream it through our brain cable, or whatever."

Heather placed the cream and sugar down on the table harshly enough to make it rattle. She then took a tone she used to take when Larry would act up. "Deora Alvarez, I'm gonna count to three-"

"Count all you want. No voy a salgo."

Heather puffed smoked out her nostrils and trudged to the bed. She grabbed Deora by the ankles and tried to drag her out. Deora, however, made things more difficult by freezing her hands to the floor and making her body go limp.

"Oof. Sonova...it's like pulling a cat. Liv can you give me a hand? We can't have a minor show up to the meeting hungover."

Gidget shook her head, "This has very little to do with the recent assaults, and more to do with what Trinity and I built Valhalla to be. A safe haven for metahumans from Daedalus. A place where children could learn and feel safe while adults had a job and an opportunity for a higher education from the college on the surface. It can still be that, but does it have to?"

"Daedalus is dead. Between Trinity's squad halting Eclipse's plan, Theonis and Theresa's freeing of the prisoners, Rydia's exposé, Ravan's utter deletion of the HQ, and now the FBI and HLS are rounding up leftovers...we don't need to hide anymore."

"The President, whom I spoke with this morning, has granted me additional support and funds to rebuild Valhalla. But what if I didn't rebuild it? What if I remade it? Think of it. The underground facility would remain as it is for the purposes of research, power assistance, and specialised housing, but there could also be an actual neighborhood on the surface with schools and homes made to accomodate metahumans with special needs."

"Of course this is all tentative, but I wanted to know what you guys think. Especially you, Trinity. You helped me make this place into what it is when you were barely old enough to drink, and you stayed when I was at my lowest. I don't want to do anything without my big sister by my side."

Kerana let out a small snicker at the 'goo goo eyes' comment Lokelonni made when she caught Alec paying more attention to Kerana. She cleared her throat and nodded. "Not sure if it makes a difference, but it wasn't a dream but a vision. A vision he would normally get through his gift. This is what sprouted the conversation."

"Regardless, this… this does make some sense." part of her didn't want to stop sharing but she knew it wasn't right. Alec needed space to grow on the inside and he can't easily do that with her there constantly. There's already been a couple of instances where he couldn't share or go with him regarding death matters. It would make things easier for him and for similar reasons for her as well. She took a deep breath and a sip of tea, then attempted to look to Alec. She decided to look into his eyes the windows to his soul. She was starting to see a little more of her Alec, "I guess we could do this, a-after the meeting, right?" she managed to make it most of the way without blushing. Then proceeded her routine with the tea, it did seem to help.

"That sounds neat." Dawn replied. "What's an Island?"

Leo finished tying his laces and said, "It's a place with trees, sand, and coconuts. Mom and Dad used to go to them for supplies because the bio-beasts couldn't swim. But then the Hellstar showed up. You know the rest."

"Oh. But there aren't bio-beasts here now, right? So it should be safe for us to go together, maybe?"

"I thought you wanted to apologize to Trinity first?"

"Oh, right. Having things to do other than hide, scavenge, run, and fight is going to take some getting used to."

Leo looked to Crystalion and asked, "Are you planning on going alone? It may have been dangerous where we came from, but we knew what to expect. There could be anything out there now."

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Gidget nodded with a smile, "I'm glad to see you both cautiously optimistic. I don't want us segregated from from the rest of humanity, because we are still human. But you're right. There is still a lot of work to do when it comes to acceptance. Nothing happens overnight, and my idea for settlement and and eventual integration will take years to accomplish. Hell, I can't break ground for another year or so until after a UN summit regarding metahumans has been held. I just really wanted to know what you guys thought."

"Right now, we need to focus on the next lunar eclipse in the next five to six months. A plan doesn't mean anything if we get swallowed by some Lovecraftian horror. So I'll be putting all of my resources toward that until the mission is complete and we all come home safely."

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"A shared vision? Your connection truly runs deep. But no, the method should remain the same regardless of the depth. Once your meeting is over, you may place the divider and gaze longingly into each others eyes for as long as you want."

"R-right. After the meeting." Alec confirmed with an awkward blush of his own.

"Oh don't tease the kids too much. If you could only see them." Raina insisted.

Lokelonni sipped her tea and replied jokingly, "I am over one thousand years old. I shall grasp amusement when there is an opportunity, and there is little you youngsters can do to stop me."

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"Splendid. This wont take long."

Anima broke from the group and approached Legio. "Okay. This shouldn't mess you up too bad since you don't suffer from the same mental fragility humans do. Just look into my eyes and don't break away. Blink, and you'll miss it."

Anima leaned in and snatched Legio's head with his hands. He blinked, then his pupils morphed into two infinity signs that intersected one another and spun faster and faster until they enveloped his irises.

Before Legio stood the infinite black of the cosmos. A process that took an incalculable number of eons happened in front of Legio like time lapsed footage of a blooming rose. Unseen matter, unknown to mankind, began to gather and compress that warped and bent the black into a space that could somehow be made out to look something like a spiral. Any mortal wouldn't know what they were looking at, and their brain might break at the sheer vastness of what they witnessed, but that power to perceive was gifted from the God to Legio.

Soon, the spiral compressed to a single microscopic point that became impossibly bright. With a deafening silence, the point erupted with the chaotic beauty that could only be attributed to the birth of the infinite. Lights with colors yet named, and materials without a place on the periodic table flew past Legio in a polychromatic race to expand further and further into the macrocosm with no finish line. The sight was nearly palpable, like a vivid dream.

That's when the perceivable became an anarchic, unintelligible series of sounds and sights that overlapped with everything. The births and deaths of stars, planets, and lifeforms happened all at once. A formless horror with many eyes and mouths. The lifeforms that became the infinite dead. An incalculable series of eight beings that couldn't be parsed from one another until there was an infinite white with eleven people. Eight gods, an anthropomorphic wolf woman, and two beings born from the ageless terror. A god with a vivid red aura clasped the head of one of those beings.

Anima looked directly to where Legio was looking down on himself and the others. He grinned and said, "Brace for impact."

There was a violent halt, and Legio was allowed to see from his own eyes once again.

Anima had let go of Legio's head, returned his eyes to normal, and rejoined the others.

Fenris looked from Legio to Anima and back. She addressed the eight and asked, "Is that it? You were looking at him for, like, five seconds."

Damien looked to Fenris and explained, "Time as we know it is a construct of intelligent beings that has no meaning in the greater sense of things. For all we know, he saw everything that ever was an infinite number of times while we stood here and watched."

"Naw, just once. But once the Daecalum gets involved, it gets dicey."

Umbra looked to Legio and asked, "How do you fair, Legio?"

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"Yup, that'll do it. C'mere you!" Heather grunt as she clamped her hands over Deora's and melted the ice. The strength of the dragon-meta soon overpowered the young Latina.

"Nuuuuuuu! That's not fair! Leggo of me!" Deora protested.

Heather lifted Deora in a bearhug and walked her toward the bathroom like an unruly toddler. "Young lady, I'm gonna make your coffee, and after you've had shower, you're gonna drink it with a smile on your face or so help me-"

Heather used Deora's lazily kicking feet to open the bathroom door and said, "Now are you gonna do this yourself, or do I have to start the water and throw you in while it's still freezing?"

Deora huffed and drawled, "Fiiiiine. I'll do it. I'm gonna like you a lot less after this y'know? Can you at least keep the lights off?"

"You can take a shower in a laser light show for all I care, just as long as you don't still smell like a Japanese distillery when you come out."

Heather left Deora to take care of things and closed the door behind her. She looked to Liv with an exasperated sigh and said, "It was a mistake to let her drink that much last night. Never again. How do you take your coffee, bright-eyes?"

Alec stood up and bowed his head to Raina and Lokelonni. "Y-yes. Thanks for the tea. It's not something I normally drink."

"Alec."

"Yes, Misses Carter?"

"I can see how much the two of you love and trust one another. I can also see that you hide a very deep pain. It's not a power, I can see it in your eyes and hear it in your voice when you talk about anything other than Kerana or the danger ahead. If she asks, don't lie to her. She'll know, and she'll worry. Trust her to still love you."

Alec was stunned but not really surprised. Raina type of mother he wish he'd had. She had an intuition that bordered on supernatural. Something he saw in Kerana as well. He nodded sincerely to Raina, stepped out the door, and closed it behind him.

He looked over to see Kerana lost in thought and twisting her tails. He walked up and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Kay?"

She spun around, her eyes completely white. He was startled at first, and wondered if she had some sort of visual power similar to his dark eyes. When she shook them back to normal he asked, "A-are you okay? Your eyes looked like the exact opposite of mine when I look to the future."

Alec then listened to her explanation and hypothesis. He looked down at his hand and mused, "Actually, you probably hit the nail on the head. I've always been sort of chronically sick. So much so that I didn't really know what healthy felt like until you brought me back to life. It all feels so alien, and now I look like I could run a 5k. It just happened so fast. Is this what it was like for you?"