Non-HPU: Beacon of Hope

[Buster]

it takes a minute or so, and a pitcher of water (which she couldn't finish until she'd upended half the contents of the table's salt shaker into), but June is finally able to stop coughing.

"What'd you do that for?!" she whines.

[Legotron123]

Kolt didn’t respond to Saffy at first, mostly because he was busy glaring frustratedly at the hand still clamped around his muzzle. Quint, you can let go of my hand now.
Are you going to keep rambling after you have been told to stop?
Noooo.
Well all right then.
As he regained control of his arm, Kolt rolled his eyes, muttering ”finally” under his breath before turning to look at the young Celican. ”Well, if you want some advice on how to become exceptional, I’d recommend practicing your running. On my planet, you’d be classified as a Striker-Trump, so your best strategy in a fight would be to run in, tap an opponent to copy them, and then run out before using your new power against them.”
—
Liz gave an understanding look to Crewmen Mother Of Named Character. ”If you want my advice, I’d let him have at least one. If you try to get rid of all of them, he’s just going to blurt them out anytime there’s more than a second of silence, so let him put one in near the beginning so he can get it out of his system.”

[Buster]

Que a multi handed facepalm. Kol may be having a hard time following the conversation but Kolt clearly hasn't caught any of the 'don't want to be a fighter' sentiment being passed around.

"I suspect a better idea would be gloves."

[Welsh Halfwit]

"I..I thought you were ready to catch it," Jaken remarked, his ears dipping back in shame. "I'm sorry."

[Legotron123]

”Ooo, yes, excellent point Kol, you always have good advice.” Kolt said, not noticing the quadruple facepalm his friend was doing behind him. ”Find a brand of glove that’s really soft and doesn’t irritate your fur, because you’re going to need to wear them all the time. You don’t want to risk touching someone you didn’t know had powers and getting caught off guard. Also, once you find a good pair of gloves, get multiple copies of them, that way if something happens to one, you can easily replace it.”
What was that I JUST said about rambling?
Hey, this is good advice to help her adapt to this.

[Welsh Halfwit]

"Gloves," Saffy asked, thinking. "you mean like the rubber things dad wears when working on cars?"
"That's what they're called," her Father agreed. "Thank you, sir," he said, nodding to Kolt as Saffy tried not to break her fear by giggling at Kol (and only just managing it) "I'll have to order some in. Decorative gloves aren't... common here," he explained. "They get in the way of the claws, y'know?"

[~\Rook/~]

A bright light surrounded the two as they stepped through the ring of light. When it subsided, they would find themselves in the Predator Digital Cockpit. All around them, they could see what Predator saw. "Welcome to me." Predator's voice said around them. "Enabling shared controls. You are now able to partially control our movements."

"Nice place," Keeva admitted, looking around before moving to one of the control seats. "So when do we brag about this to Lewis, Dan? He'll be SO jealous!"

"Heh, he would be very jealous indeed!" Dan chuckled as he made his way to the seat beside Keeva. "The look on his face would be priceless!"

------

All of a sudden, Recon blinked through the window and landed in front of Traci. "Hi, Traci." She said casually.

Probably for the first time in her life, Traci was surprised. But, it wasn't the fact that Recon appeared from nowhere that got her. "Ah! Recon! I just made that bed!!"

"Sorry about that! I think Hive has things under control, let's see if we can get this whole place to better-than-new status before the owner gets back!"

Traci sighed. "Alrighty. First, you remake that bed. I'm going back to the laundry room, we need more sheets for the next few rooms." She replied. "We could also chat about things as we work too.. Used to do that at the C.I.D, helps pass the time."

------

Jaken watched June carefully. He placed a piece of the jerk Chicken onto his fork and, when he figured she was ready, flicked the piece towards her mouth.

Which immediately gets the sharklet coughing as it landed mid-inhale.

Rika almost spits out her water. "Oh my goodness Jaken! June, you alright!?"

"Sorry," Jaken said, wondering how to do that food clearing move on a Sharky Fox. "Shoulda waited. You OK?"

it takes a minute or so, and a pitcher of water (which she couldn't finish until she'd upended half the contents of the table's salt shaker into), but June is finally able to stop coughing.

"What'd you do that for?!" she whines.

"I..I thought you were ready to catch it," Jaken remarked, his ears dipping back in shame. "I'm sorry."

"That was a very silly thing to do, Jaken! You should of let June know before you did, or not done it at all!" Rika scolded. She then sighed. "Good boy for apologising, though.
I'm also sorry for yelling." She added before settling back in her seat and continuing to sip her drink.

------
[Writer's Note: Took some liberties with Recon's lines to better fit. Hope that's ok Cyber!]

[CyberDragon]

"I understand," Hawk lamented, "It's just...when you seen the things I've seen and had stuff happen that no normal being should survive...it makes you volatile. Which is why my Other Side here tends to be my voice of reason most of the time." As they emerged in the lobby and Hivemind brought up about the apartment, Hawk shrugged and replied "I'll make it easy for you: Keep the room simple. I don't need anything fancy or complex."

Hivemind sighed. "Hawk, I've been in the exact same position. I've known hundreds of people in the exact same position. Different people respond to it in different ways, but you can't let yourself get out of control. In the field, that can cost lives. Part of your training will include therapy to help you control your anger." Hivemind led Hawk into an elevator, and the two rode it up to one of the higher floors. They got out, and Hivemind led Hawk down a few doors. He opened it up to show a completely empty grey room. "Don't worry. This is what all rooms look like before customization. You said to make it simple, but I still need to know the kinds of things you need or are used to. Let's see..." Hivemind stepped forward into the room, and considered things for a moment.

"Obviously you will need at the minimum a bedroom, a restroom, and a main room..." Hivemind said. The ground and walls started to shift and move, like living clay. one of the walls moved in closer, and rectangular sections cut themselves out. The cutouts started melting, reforming themselves into doors. "You'll need a mini-kitchen with a replicator, of course..." A corner of the floor on the main room started to liquify, and the material bubbled up and lifted off of the ground, squaring off and forming counters, a fridge, a replicator, a sink, oven, microwave, and whatever utilities may be needed for cooking. "A place to sit... A TV..." The floor came alive once more in two other sections lifted from the ground, solidifying in the form of a basic cloth couch and a functional TV. The rest of the floor started taking on a certain smooth texture. Cracks and lines started forming in the material, and the texture shifted to something more along the lines of straight grain wood. When it solidified, the room had a hardwood floor. "Probably should do a table and some chairs too. What do you think? Anything that needs adding?"

------------------------------

"...Well the four hundred and twelve hour Starcraft XVI Marathon is definitely getting top priority. Even over Tal and the twerp."

"Gee... thanks..."

Hivemind smirked. "Don't worry, your pop-culture experience and memories will be preserved. As will Talya and June. Speaking of..." Hivemind turned to Talya's HK droid. "What about you? Any memories you especially want me to store, or any you don't want me to store?"

------------------------------

Something in what mrs Nocturl said has Ruby's eyes shining like her namesake stone and a mischievous smile on her face. both versions of it. it doesn't take long to find out what as as soon as she has eyes on the lieutenant she marches over points dramatically and announces, "WE DEMAND A SHRUBBERY!"

The lieutenant was sitting on the couch, looking depressed. Or rather, he was hovering upside-down in a sitting position about a foot over the couch looking depressed. When Ruby barged in, however, his face immediately lit up with a huge grin. He swooped down from his position, turning himself right side up and taking on a dramatic and important pose. "And Then..." the replicator in the kitchen suddenly started itself up of it's own accord, "When you have found the shrubbery, you must cut down the mightiest tree in the forest... WIIIIITH...!" The replicator dinged, and something rocketed out of it, flinging itself towards Nocturl and Ruby. "A HERRING-oops!" The lieutenant made to catch the flying object, which turned out to be a fish, but it phased right through his incorporeal hand, passing through Ruby's projection, and hitting her sleeping body in the face. Nocturl stared as the fish drooped down the ensign's face, resting on her snout between her eyes. Then he started laughing. "AHAHAHAHA! Sorry about that! haven't gotten the hang of picking things up as a ghost yet. Though I've figured out how to do spooooky things with electronics."

"A-and the first thing I have to do is apologise for one of my staff," Corp told Mrs Nocturl as Ruby made her play. "As they'll probably jabber on about 'Spam' and 'suits you' for a few minutes..." He took a breath and prepared to move outside his comfort area. "How are you coping, Ma'am?"

The lieutenant's mom watched the events unfold, sighing with a paw on her face. When she removed it though, she had a smile on her face. A slight one, and clearly tired, but it was there. "No, I must apologize for my son's behavior." She said. "For better or for worse, and as ironic as it is, he's been far more lively since he died. His father and brother were fixed up within an hour of getting to the hospital. I admit, I was surprised at the speed of their recovery." She looked over at the three visitors. "Though I keep hearing strange things about this ship. I can't tell what's true, and what's exaggerated. Granted, my son is going to attend his own funeral, so I don't know what's real anymore."

Liz gave an understanding look to Crewmen Mother Of Named Character. ”If you want my advice, I’d let him have at least one. If you try to get rid of all of them, he’s just going to blurt them out anytime there’s more than a second of silence, so let him put one in near the beginning so he can get it out of his system.”

Mrs. Nocturl nodded. "Thank you. I was amused enough by some of his ideas. They might make things a bit less tragic... But would you mind if I asked a few questions? I haven't had much of a chance to get out and about. First, I suppose, do you know what that ship-wide alert was about earlier?" she asked.

------------------------------

Chris followed the mech over to the commotion, "What kinds powers did they get?"

"From the sound of things, temporary power duplication." MT said back to him. "Seems things are under control here."

"Try using a third as much firemoss for seasoning the meat and not heating it. that might be a start."

Hivemind nodded in acknowledgement.

"Oh," Saffy said, still craning to look the Varanian in the eye, "that, um, sounds good?" She stepped back, lowered her gaze and rubbed the back of her neck before looking to Kolt. "I might not mind being exceptional," she said, "but in a few years?"
"About ten if I have any say," her father chipped in. "anyhow, since that's hopefully dealt with, may I show you to your rooms? Some of them aren't quite ready yet but they will be shortly. Saffy, go get a new shirt on, yeah? Show Mr Mind that rock whilst you're at it?"
Behind them, the Deputy was clearly thinking about something.

While Hivemind dealt with the others, Gadgeteer simply gave a slight bow to Saffy and stepped over to the deputy. "Is it anything I need to bring up with Hivemind?" he said, referring to whatever the deputy was thinking about.

Kolt didn’t respond to Saffy at first, mostly because he was busy glaring frustratedly at the hand still clamped around his muzzle. Quint, you can let go of my hand now.
Are you going to keep rambling after you have been told to stop?
Noooo.
Well all right then.
As he regained control of his arm, Kolt rolled his eyes, muttering ”finally” under his breath before turning to look at the young Celican. ”Well, if you want some advice on how to become exceptional, I’d recommend practicing your running. On my planet, you’d be classified as a Striker-Trump, so your best strategy in a fight would be to run in, tap an opponent to copy them, and then run out before using your new power against them.”

"Kolt..." Hivemind started with a hand on his forehead.

Que a multi handed facepalm. Kol may be having a hard time following the conversation but Kolt clearly hasn't caught any of the 'don't want to be a fighter' sentiment being passed around.

"I suspect a better idea would be gloves."

”Ooo, yes, excellent point Kol, you always have good advice.” Kolt said, not noticing the quadruple facepalm his friend was doing behind him. ”Find a brand of glove that’s really soft and doesn’t irritate your fur, because you’re going to need to wear them all the time. You don’t want to risk touching someone you didn’t know had powers and getting caught off guard. Also, once you find a good pair of gloves, get multiple copies of them, that way if something happens to one, you can easily replace it.”
What was that I JUST said about rambling?
Hey, this is good advice to help her adapt to this.

"Gloves," Saffy asked, thinking. "you mean like the rubber things dad wears when working on cars?"
"That's what they're called," her Father agreed. "Thank you, sir," he said, nodding to Kolt as Saffy tried not to break her fear by giggling at Kol (and only just managing it) "I'll have to order some in. Decorative gloves aren't... common here," he explained. "They get in the way of the claws, y'know?"

"I can have some custom gloves ready by tomorrow for her. Free of charge, multiple sets. Don't worry about a thing." Hivemind said. "Shall we head to our rooms then?"

Kol shrugs, inadvertently shifting the icepack from earlier, and having to move it back after. "I was going to guess that expression was his being delirious from hunger. we really need to find him some food, scrawny doesn't look right."

"Good grief, Kolt. Kol's right. I'm bringing in a ton of food for you all. Especially you, Kolt. I hope you like butter, sugar, fried things, and sauces made from heavy cream, because you're going to need to get your weight back up in a hurry. As he was saying this, a sort of cargo aircraft flew in from above. It was somewhat larger than the ibis, and had what looked like a truck with a trailer hanging in the open cargo area. The dropship hovered above the hotel parking lot, then started lowering the truck. It hit the ground with a dull thud, and the dropship flew off. "That's where you guys will be getting your food." Hivemind said. Hatches on the trailer's sides opened up and dropped down, opening up a window through which people could order whatever they wanted from the food truck. "The truck will be there until I either need to move it to free up space, or until we leave, so feel free to go eat now or wait until after you see your rooms."

------------------------------

Hannabelle watched the movie gunfight play out, clearly having a fun time being rude and noisy. "Bullets do damage in stone from 300 yards," she called, "your piddly car door can't stop them from 30!" She looked towards the door, where a customer was clearly having an agitated word with someone. "Reckon we're going to be asked to shut up," she 'whispered' to Gear.

"Aye, they'd better." Gear replied. "I don't like it when people're to timid to call me out on things just because I'm a Champion Founder. Ah! Finally we get a sniper in this sniper movie." He said, pointing to the screen. "Let's see if he actually aims to count for wind and bullet drop... Nope!"

------------------------------

"Nice place," Keeva admitted, looking around before moving to one of the control seats. "So when do we brag about this to Lewis, Dan? He'll be SO jealous!"

"Heh, he would be very jealous indeed!" Dan chuckled as he made his way to the seat beside Keeva. "The look on his face would be priceless!"

"I would offer to let you pilot me to him. That's a look I would love to see. However, I must remain in range of the Genemod lab until my other two passengers have finished up what they are doing there." the droid said, walking around a bit, looking at the stores below. "I wonder what organic beings purchase in these things." He said. The droid got into a quadrupedal stance, and peered into what was apparently a clothes shop much to the alarm of the people inside. "I somewhat doubt they have anything in my size here." He stood up, taking note that he was getting quite a bit of attention from crowds of people below with cameras. In response, the Predator drone started up it's stealth drive. It's feet hovered a few feet off of the ground, and it's entire 40-50 foot tall body became completely invisible. Predator started carefully scaling one of the buildings to stay out of the gasping crowd's way, never actually touching the building, but rather hovering a fixed distance from it as if gripping it with some invisible force.

------------------------------

"You know, I was going to say 'that's rough buddy, but I don't think that would help. Brad said. Meanwhile, ken has turned into a R2-D2 toy and is rolling around. Brad sees Ken and remarks with"Hmm, guess he liked that movie, I had gone to an antique shop a few days back, getting a VHS player along with the Back to the Future trilogy and the Star Wars trilogy."

"Right..." The Lycan said, looking at the former dog with a raised eyebrow. "Anyway, I assume you are starting your training tomorrow?"

------------------------------

"Yeah." Nat answered

"Alright then." Hivemind led Nat further into the food court.

A few minutes later, the two stepped into a restaurant that smelled deliciously like cheesy foods of all kind. A waiter showed Nat to an open table, took his order, and stepped out. A few minutes later, he came back with a cheese sandwich.

------------------------------

Tatiana dashed to her side, gliding along the ground to keep the frisbee in a comfortable distance. "Maybe. But Kolt always looks so busy. Busy freaking out about something or someone. What if he has better things to do than help the pseudo psycho mercenary find a hobby?" She pivoted slightly before reversing the motion and throwing the disc back. "Eh, guess I'll ask him anyway. Maybe the planets will align and he'll be open."

"Are you kidding?" the demigod laughed, lifting higher into the air to catch the Frisbee. "Kolt loves talking about his culture and the things he enjoys. I don't think much would please him more than to share his interests and find things he can enjoy doing alongside his teammates. You could ask him about the Kingdom Hearts game he started when he first got here, or any shows he likes. If you REALLY want to get him talking about interests, you could ask about the Super Squadron he's mentioned. And, if all else fails, you could introduce him to telekinetic Frisbee. Or laser tag. That just popped in my head, but I bet you both would enjoy it." He reeled his hand back, and at the last moment shifted his aim high above the ground and launched the disk at an increased speed. "Oops! Hand slipped!" he said, obviously joking.

------------------------------

Probably for the first time in her life, Traci was surprised. But, it wasn't the fact that Recon appeared from nowhere that got her. "Ah! Recon! I just made that bed!!"

"Sorry about that! I think Hive has things under control, let's see if we can get this whole place to better-than-new status before the owner gets back!"

Traci sighed. "Alrighty. First, you remake that bed. I'm going back to the laundry room, we need more sheets for the next few rooms." She replied. "We could also chat about things as we work too.. Used to do that at the C.I.D, helps pass the time."

"Alright." Recon hopped off the bed and, in less than a second, had it tidy again. She followed Traci down to the laundry room and helped her carry the sheets. "I can't remember if I've asked this yet, but how are you enjoying the new job? I hope it meets what you were hoping it would be!"

[SeanWolf]

Hawk was impressed with the tech used. "Well," he then said, "Not really, other than plenty of closet space and access to your libraries as I got some reading to catch up on...I also do require a computer. But send me the best parts as I rather build it myself." He then adds "And for the record, I will need a bit of help with bringing my affects from my ship up here as I amassed a good collection of stuff."

[furrygamer793]

"I guess, not really sure though." Brad said, shrugging

~~~~~~~~~

Nat is eating the grilled cheese sandwich. "So, Hivemind, what's it like being in charge of the Champions?"

[Hlaoroo]

At the mention of the brothers' grandmother, Mr. C's face turned sad. It only lasted for a moment before he cheered up, but it was clear for a short while something was upsetting him.

Sarah leaned in very close to Cailean's ear. "Ah c'n think've bet'r things ta do wi' yer tail," she breathed before pulling back to return to normal volume. "We may have ta do that sometime, Connal," she remarked.

"What's th' matter, Mr. C?" Conall signs, tilting his head.

Cailean blushes as Sarah whispers in his ear.
"Och, ye wee terror." he giggles, elbowing her playfully.

~~~~~~~~

"Only when the Captain and Corp weren't there," Dabry chuckled, happy for the attention. "Then it was all open necked shirts and ripped trousers. And that's a very pretty tongue," he added, unsure why.

Aggie blinks and then bursts out laughing.
"Ah think tha's th' first time anyone's ever complimented me on mah tongue!" she chortles. "But thanks!"

[Welsh Halfwit]

Keeva laughed at Predator's antics. "I have the feeling you're going to be quite famous, Pred! Probably popular too." She mused for a moment. "What if they could build you a smaller, remote, drone you could control somehow? Even a biological one you could store here when not in use? I mean, you could learn to control it, yeah? Then you could wander around all these places, looking like everyone else, eating, drinking, shopping... Whatever you like, really? I mean, could Hive do something like that?"
--------------
"You ever watched those Police team shows," Hannabelle asked as the user clearly considered whether or not to ask them to shut up. "Y'know, the ones where they always have a long range sniper and, unless it's the character's defining characteristic, it's always the young female? And they're always a crack shot from half a mile when, earlier, they couldn't hit from twenty yards with a pistol?" She looked over to where the attendant was still dithering and mentally pictured his request. "So are we, mate," she said.
-------------
"It seems this ship is part small country, part battlestation," Corp explained, keeping his expression impassive. "This morning was about the ship intercepting a small fleet of hostiles. Nothing to worry about, really."
------------
"Hmm," the Deputy started. "Oh! Well... it COULD be nothing but... We did find a dead guy up by that hill a couple of months back and records showed he was one of the few Celicans with an ability. He could, er, what was it? Ah, yeah. He could produce high velocity ice shards from his hands and from his forehead. We only found that later, of course, and it explained why we didn't find a projectile. Theory was, of course, that he'd put a hand under his muzzle and fired off some ice upward as the kill shot had come from low down. Just gets me wondering if one of the local Prey animals found that cave like Saffy did?" He gave a wry grin. "Some say that a 'sport' means both sides have a chance to win, perhaps now they have it?"
-----------
Saffy, meanwhile, trotted over towards the reception building and her room, hoping to avoid Traci whilst trying not to make it look like she didn't want to be friends.
----------
"Really sorry, June," Jaken said, keeping his ears down after Miss Rika's comments. "Won't do it again. Unless you'd like to try a bit" he added, returning to his own seat.
----------
"I think I'll take a Bacon Double Cheeseburger and a Lemon milkshake if you have it," Jenny challenged, knowing there might not be much left after the others, particularly Kolt, had ordered. "If you don't have Lemon, Strawberry will do."
---------
"My eternal pleasure," Dabry said cheerily, putting his arm around her shoulders as they headed back. "You don't mind the arm, do you," he asked quickly. "There isn't a Gillie going to come and take it off at the shoulder, is there?"

[Neon Icy Wings]

Tatiana flew up to better head off the frisbee. "This is telekinetic, it would be a concentration slip, not hand slip." She said, joking in return. "... I suppose you're right. I'll just have to remember to ask him later. Here's hoping an angry pile of sand doesn't interrupt everything then." She easily caught the disc and threw it back, increasing it's speed a little above to what it was when thrown by the aspect.

[Buster]

The lieutenant was sitting on the couch, looking depressed. Or rather, he was hovering upside-down in a sitting position about a foot over the couch looking depressed. When Ruby barged in, however, his face immediately lit up with a huge grin. He swooped down from his position, turning himself right side up and taking on a dramatic and important pose. "And Then..." the replicator in the kitchen suddenly started itself up of it's own accord, "When you have found the shrubbery, you must cut down the mightiest tree in the forest... WIIIIITH...!" The replicator dinged, and something rocketed out of it, flinging itself towards Nocturl and Ruby. "A HERRING-oops!" The lieutenant made to catch the flying object, which turned out to be a fish, but it phased right through his incorporeal hand, passing through Ruby's projection, and hitting her sleeping body in the face. Nocturl stared as the fish drooped down the ensign's face, resting on her snout between her eyes. Then he started laughing. "AHAHAHAHA! Sorry about that! haven't gotten the hang of picking things up as a ghost yet. Though I've figured out how to do spooooky things with electronics."

"I was gonna say, I don't remember the fish slapping dance being in that movie." She answered back having a bit of a tough time suppressing her giggles enough to speak clearly, as the other her just stood there staring cross-eyed at the fish.

------------------------------

Hivemind smirked. "Don't worry, your pop-culture experience and memories will be preserved. As will Talya and June. Speaking of..."

"Pop...What?" Kobor just asks, confused.
"Obsolete 21st century term, for media that has a significant if short lived and easily dated social impact on a particular generation." Talya answers back by way of explanation, though if kobor's response is any indication, it doesn't actually help.
"What does that have to do with playing every seed of the campain generator in one sitting, being the closest thing i have to tactical training?"
"____ if i know."

Hivemind turned to Talya's HK droid. "What about you? Any memories you especially want me to store, or any you don't want me to store?"

"I'll port the nanofab files to solid state, along with the registration and licensing, so it can be carried as equipment." Talya starts, before pausing a moment as if thinking. "Keep my technical manuals and software engineering skills. Factory reset the rest, there are some firmware bugs that need to be cleaned out, and they're tied to a lot of things."

------------------------------

as kol's main goal is to find her room and see if this ay-cee thing is as good as jenny had mentioned, food is put on the backburner and following their host to the rooms is given priority.

besides, shes eaten more in the last few days than she usually does in a month.

------------------------------

"Really sorry, June," Jaken said, keeping his ears down after Miss Rika's comments. "Won't do it again. Unless you'd like to try a bit" he added, returning to his own seat.

June just scowls at him, part of her though is genuinely scared. her abilities have been spotty ever since the surface, and while they've been getting better in the last hour they didn't kick in at all just then...

it takes a moment before she speaks. "Dont... do that, again..."

[Legotron123]

Once Jenny had ordered her food, Kolt walked up to the truck, excited to tryout more alien foods. ”Ooo, so much to choose from!” He exclaimed as he looked at the menu. And looked. And looked. And kept looking, mumbling about different items and clearly unable to pick out what he wanted. Eventually though, he came to a decision. ”You know what, let’s keep this simple, just get me one of everything.”
—
Liz let out a quick laugh when Mrs. Nocturl mentioned hearing strange things about the ship. ”I don’t know exactly what you’ve heard, but considering all the stuff I’ve seen, I’m pretty sure most of it is true. I mean, I had to buy shapeshifter clothes yesterday, and ain’t that a sign of how weird things are.”

[Deske]

Denver raised an eyebrow, "Wait you mean you were chasing it and then just, Boom, lightning? That had to have been a fun experience. I heard lightning gives things a sort of metallic taste to them."
-----
Colorado snorted as a particularly funny scene played out, then again, and again until he was practically crying with laughter.
-----
"That could be pretty useful. If she doesn't want to do the hero stuff she could always take a rather low-key power and use it towards whatever job she wants to do."

[~\Rook/~]

"Alright." Recon hopped off the bed and, in less than a second, had it tidy again. She followed Traci down to the laundry room and helped her carry the sheets. "I can't remember if I've asked this yet, but how are you enjoying the new job? I hope it meets what you were hoping it would be!"

"Oh, erm.. I think you have asked that before, but I'm not sure. I've been enjoying myself though, it's a pretty huge change of pace from working in the C.I.D. which I'm very glad for. Even doing this has been enjoyable!" Traci replied, gesturing to her quick folding of the bedsheets. "It's almost.. Therapeutic. Reminds me a lot of when my mom taught me sewing and dress-making!"

------

"Really sorry, June," Jaken said, keeping his ears down after Miss Rika's comments. "Won't do it again. Unless you'd like to try a bit" he added, returning to his own seat.

June just scowls at him, part of her though is genuinely scared. her abilities have been spotty ever since the surface, and while they've been getting better in the last hour they didn't kick in at all just then...

it takes a moment before she speaks. "Dont... do that, again..."

"Now, now, June. I know you're upset, I would be too, but Jaken really is sorry for what he did and he won't do it again.." Rika chimes in with a soothing voice. "..Just say you accept his apology and both of you please finish your food. I'd like to get home, out of this armor and just relax with you two being friends. Okay?" She finishes, giving both kids a light smile.

------

Dan didn't pay much attention to Keeva and Pred's conversation, as he distracted himself with his data-pad. Somehow it still worked in this virtual space..

[Welsh Halfwit]

"Oh," Sana said lightly, it did have a bit of a strange taste but, after three days at Hunt camp without a catch, it was quite welcome," she finished, picking up a couple of menus and offering Denver one. "I think we're supposed to read these," she asked.
-----------------------
"'S'OK, Miss Rika," Jaken said awkwardly, "June can still be mad if she wants. I might be. Even if'n I am sorry..."
-----------------------
Cherry snuggled in to her love's side and laughed at roughly the same places as Colorado. After a while, a thought came to her. "I wonder what the Muppet Films look like in this universe? I liked their Christmas Carol."

[CyberDragon]

Hawk was impressed with the tech used. "Well," he then said, "Not really, other than plenty of closet space and access to your libraries as I got some reading to catch up on...I also do require a computer. But send me the best parts as I rather build it myself." He then adds "And for the record, I will need a bit of help with bringing my affects from my ship up here as I amassed a good collection of stuff."

As Hawk mentioned the different things he needed, the room continued to shift and shape itself to fit his needs. The walls opened up, forming a walk-in closet with a large capacity. The floor rose up, and shaped itself into a computer desk. The only thing the strange matter didn't make were the computer parts. "I'll send you the components you need for the computer separately. Programmable matter doesn't make efficient computer parts for some reason. Always ends up running too hot and lagging. Smaller computers like what's in the replicator are fine, but the more complex the computer gets the more noticeable the drawbacks. Anything else you can think of?"

----------------------

"I guess, not really sure though." Brad said, shrugging

"You and our other recruit will both officially begin your training tomorrow." Hivemind said. "First lesson will be to gauge your powers."

"Given who you'll be training with, it's also a lesson of "There's always a bigger fish". Don't expect to win your first super fight. Hivemind tends to start off difficult and adjust things from there." The Lycan said.

----------------------

Nat is eating the grilled cheese sandwich. "So, Hivemind, what's it like being in charge of the Champions?"

The hive droid sat down in the chair on the opposite side of the table. "It's a lot of work, to be sure. It's a lot of stress, a lot of worry. A lot of people I care about who put their lives on the line daily to help others. But in the end, it's worth it. The Champions themselves agree. Those that don't move on to different things." the droid said. "How long have you been wandering for?"

----------------------

"What's th' matter, Mr. C?" Conall signs, tilting his head.

Cailean blushes as Sarah whispers in his ear.
"Och, ye wee terror." he giggles, elbowing her playfully.

The strange old man shook his head sorrowfully. "Oh... it's your grandmother... Suffice it to say, she is not well. She is not dying, but can you imagine how she must be feeling? She lost so many people she loved in such a short time. She hasn't been the same since..." He shook his head. "If only there were a way to let her know that all of you are alright. That she need not mourn any longer because you will see her again." The old man sighed, hanging his head. Then, after a moment, his head lifted slightly. "Unless... I don't suppose any of you three have a cell phone on you, or something with a camera?"

----------------------

Keeva laughed at Predator's antics. "I have the feeling you're going to be quite famous, Pred! Probably popular too." She mused for a moment. "What if they could build you a smaller, remote, drone you could control somehow? Even a biological one you could store here when not in use? I mean, you could learn to control it, yeah? Then you could wander around all these places, looking like everyone else, eating, drinking, shopping... Whatever you like, really? I mean, could Hive do something like that?"

"I do know that Hivemind makes it a point to never replicate a living thing, so it is unlikely he would provide me with an organic body unless I had desperate need for one." Predator said, spreading out his wings and taking off into the air.

Dan didn't pay much attention to Keeva and Pred's conversation, as he distracted himself with his data-pad. Somehow it still worked in this virtual space..

"I cannot help but notice your overall reaction to being in the digital pilot's seat of a sentient war drone has been unusually blase'. Is there something on your mind?" the drone asked Dan.

----------------------

"You ever watched those Police team shows," Hannabelle asked as the user clearly considered whether or not to ask them to shut up. "Y'know, the ones where they always have a long range sniper and, unless it's the character's defining characteristic, it's always the young female? And they're always a crack shot from half a mile when, earlier, they couldn't hit from twenty yards with a pistol?" She looked over to where the attendant was still dithering and mentally pictured his request. "So are we, mate," she said.

"I think we watched different police shows, 'cause I don't remember that trope. Most I remember from cop shows are overly angry commissioners, bureaucrats obstructing the loose-cannon protagonist, and the main character gettin' taken off'a every case and solvin' it themselves anyway." Gear mentioned.

----------------------

"It seems this ship is part small country, part battlestation," Corp explained, keeping his expression impassive. "This morning was about the ship intercepting a small fleet of hostiles. Nothing to worry about, really."

"Right..." Mrs. Nocturl deadpanned. "Small. That announcement mentioned civilians weren't supposed to enter the outer fifty miles. That means at the least, this place is over one-hundred miles across in each direction if there's going to be an outer fifty miles. I've also been hearing about other strange things... creatures like us, but without intelligence and who walk on four legs. People with extraordinary abilities, whole teams of them. Though, considering my son and what we went through after boarding, that is the least surprising thing..."

Liz let out a quick laugh when Mrs. Nocturl mentioned hearing strange things about the ship. ”I don’t know exactly what you’ve heard, but considering all the stuff I’ve seen, I’m pretty sure most of it is true. I mean, I had to buy shapeshifter clothes yesterday, and ain’t that a sign of how weird things are.”

"Ah... Right..." Mrs. Nocturl said. "Um... Thank you, Captain... I suppose it's nice knowing that it's the world that's gone insane, and not me."

"I was gonna say, I don't remember the fish slapping dance being in that movie." She answered back having a bit of a tough time suppressing her giggles enough to speak clearly, as the other her just stood there staring cross-eyed at the fish.

"...Though that could change..." Nocturl's mom groaned.

Meanwhile, the Lieutenant was laughing hysterically. "Oh man, this is exactly what I needed right now. Though I don't think you're here to cheer me up. Let me guess, you're having problems with ghosting in your sleep?"

----------------------

"Hmm," the Deputy started. "Oh! Well... it COULD be nothing but... We did find a dead guy up by that hill a couple of months back and records showed he was one of the few Celicans with an ability. He could, er, what was it? Ah, yeah. He could produce high velocity ice shards from his hands and from his forehead. We only found that later, of course, and it explained why we didn't find a projectile. Theory was, of course, that he'd put a hand under his muzzle and fired off some ice upward as the kill shot had come from low down. Just gets me wondering if one of the local Prey animals found that cave like Saffy did?" He gave a wry grin. "Some say that a 'sport' means both sides have a chance to win, perhaps now they have it?"

"Hmm..." Gadgeteer hummed. "Hivemind isn't going to like that. He isn't going to simply let an animal with powers that dangerous roam around freely. He'll want to quarenteen it, and probably either destroy the cave or remove all of the glowing stones from it..."

"And with good reason." Hivemind inturrupted. "Imagine whatever prey animal that was getting hunted again? Any Celican that hunts it could very easily get killed. As for the cave, things that cause glitches normally only have a chance at causing a glitch. More often than not, it just causes cancer, or radiation sickness. It's why I strongly discourage people from seeking out powers."

----------------------

"I think I'll take a Bacon Double Cheeseburger and a Lemon milkshake if you have it," Jenny challenged, knowing there might not be much left after the others, particularly Kolt, had ordered. "If you don't have Lemon, Strawberry will do."

As she was actually the first one to get there, the people behind the counter had no trouble getting Jenny her order. They served it in a recyclable cardboard and paper basket before handing her the lemon milkshake. "Thank you very much! Have a nice day!"

Once Jenny had ordered her food, Kolt walked up to the truck, excited to tryout more alien foods. ”Ooo, so much to choose from!” He exclaimed as he looked at the menu. And looked. And looked. And kept looking, mumbling about different items and clearly unable to pick out what he wanted. Eventually though, he came to a decision. ”You know what, let’s keep this simple, just get me one of everything.”

The man behind the counter blinked a once or twice, then turned to look at a Hive droid who was supervising. The hive droid nodded, and the people in the trailer started getting to work. In not too long, baskets upon baskets of food items, healthy, greasy, fried, baked, meat, veg, fruit, dessert, even more alien items. Burgers and pastas and other goodies seemed to almost flow out of the window like a stream of food baskets. Sometimes, more strange items like what appeared to be a basket of tentacles, Some kind of weird organ meat served over strange tube-like vegetables, and what looked like steak, but was marinated in some kind of purple sauce.

"This place serves food from different planets. It's a bit of a fusion restaurant." Hivemind said.

----------------------

Tatiana flew up to better head off the frisbee. "This is telekinetic, it would be a concentration slip, not hand slip." She said, joking in return. "... I suppose you're right. I'll just have to remember to ask him later. Here's hoping an angry pile of sand doesn't interrupt everything then." She easily caught the disc and threw it back, increasing it's speed a little above to what it was when thrown by the aspect.

By now the Frisbee was moving quite fast, having accelerated well beyond what a Frisbee was ever designed to go. "Don't worry, Tatiana. There won't be any sand monsters or threats for you to deal with for the rest of the day. Given I can see the future and manipulate reality, I think you can trust me on this. I'd suggest either talking to him tonight during dinner, or talking to him tomorrow afternoon." The demigod spun around and whipped the Frisbee back towards Tatiana.

----------------------

"I'll port the nanofab files to solid state, along with the registration and licensing, so it can be carried as equipment." Talya starts, before pausing a moment as if thinking. "Keep my technical manuals and software engineering skills. Factory reset the rest, there are some firmware bugs that need to be cleaned out, and they're tied to a lot of things."

Hivemind was silent for a while, clearly not liking the idea of erasing so many of Talya's memories. "Fine." He said finally. "I'm backing up your memories now. Either of you have any suggestions as to how to get them back in your heads? As I've said to both of you, any implant I put in the host could get eaten by the colony. I suppose I might be able to ask Predator to digitize you again and integrate your old memories that way... But Predator's systems weren't designed to modify a person's mind."

----------------------

"That could be pretty useful. If she doesn't want to do the hero stuff she could always take a rather low-key power and use it towards whatever job she wants to do."

"It appears as if that is what Hivemind had her do." MT replied. "It also appears a cargo aircraft just air-dropped a food truck in the parking lot. Would you like to eat something now?"

----------------------

"Oh, erm.. I think you have asked that before, but I'm not sure. I've been enjoying myself though, it's a pretty huge change of pace from working in the C.I.D. which I'm very glad for. Even doing this has been enjoyable!" Traci replied, gesturing to her quick folding of the bedsheets. "It's almost.. Therapeutic. Reminds me a lot of when my mom taught me sewing and dress-making!"

"I suppose it is. Definitely a break from life-threatening danger and planet-eating alien warlords." Recon glanced out of the window and saw Kol walking on her way. "Did we get Kol's room? If not, we'd better put this super speed to use and get the rest of the rooms done fast."

[SeanWolf]

Hawk was silent for a moment as he began to think if there was anything else he needed. After a few, he replied "Not really. Everything else I need, mainly my clothing, gear, and other personal affects, are on-board my ship and I'll bring those up once we're done....what do you think?" His other side then takes over his voice and answers "We like it. Nice view out the window to boot" Hawk then regains controls and adds "So I take it this is the end of the tour or is there something else that needs to be taken care of?"

[Buster]

"...Though that could change..." Nocturl's mom groaned.

Meanwhile, the Lieutenant was laughing hysterically. "Oh man, this is exactly what I needed right now. Though I don't think you're here to cheer me up. Let me guess, you're having problems with ghosting in your sleep?"

"How did... Did being dead make you psychic? I'm not that obvious am i?" she groaned, mentally marking this as a tentative step forward in her main objective, and a failure in her secondary objective of keeping the lieutenant distracted.

----------------------

Hivemind was silent for a while, clearly not liking the idea of erasing so many of Talya's memories. "Fine." He said finally. "I'm backing up your memories now. Either of you have any suggestions as to how to get them back in your heads? As I've said to both of you, any implant I put in the host could get eaten by the colony. I suppose I might be able to ask Predator to digitize you again and integrate your old memories that way... But Predator's systems weren't designed to modify a person's mind."

"well, you could try a cerebral port? don't know how well it would work with no cerebral cortex to act as an IO controller though... Also i've never made one and who knows how sane the local equivalent is."

----------------------

"I suppose it is. Definitely a break from life-threatening danger and planet-eating alien warlords." Recon glanced out of the window and saw Kol walking on her way. "Did we get Kol's room? If not, we'd better put this super speed to use and get the rest of the rooms done fast."

running across the two speedsters, she was slightly confused why they were the ones tending things, and just kinda stares at them looking dumbfounded.

----------------------

and now June is pouting for an entirely different reason, given the only one who's ever told her her behavior is wrong is hivemind and he was easily enough ignored and snuck away from that time.

[Welsh Halfwit]

"Nae cam'ra," Sarah said, checking her pockets, "but ah got a comm if'n that's've any use, like," she said, offering the small communications device.
------------
"Don't forget the air con, Kol," Jenny called, waiting for Kolt to finish his gutbuster order before heading over towards the room.

The owner diverted course towards Kol and invited her to one of the rooms set up for Equinna. Toughened sheets over a heavy set bed in the middle of the room and a large, metal, chair with a solid bottom and firm but comfortable (he hoped) seat and backing and a vid screen set into the wall with a larger than normal remote control on the heavy duty sideboard with large scale cups and a mini kettle. In the side room was a large scale latrine in a wet room. "This is one of the, uh, more equipped rooms we have," he announced.
------------
Saffy was headed over to her room when she realised the Hive wasn't actually with her right now. She waited like a patient teenager until he was ready to follow.
-----------
"Can I ask that you at least leave the mountain standing," the Deputy asked. "I really don't wanna write that report. 'Yes, sir. I see. When dd you last see the Mountain?'"
----------
"It's so nuts it's practically sane, Ma'am," Corp reported. "Generally, though, the people are the same. Love, hate, fear, avarice, greed, passion. This universe has them in equal amounts to ours. But they're a lot more on the positive side here. You're safe enough, wherever you go." he gave her a sly grin. "Even if you want to see those very odd versions of our races." He sighed. "There's a lot of interest in this place, even if it's only home for a while." he went silent, thinking he'd spoken a lot more than usual. Was that a 'new normal' too?
---------
Seeing June's miserableness, Jaken began playing little games with his cutlery, trying to see if he could cheer her up a bit. Little things like having them 'bow' to each other and 'missing' the food with stabs from his fork, twitching his knife to move the meat at the last second, then wagging a finger at the 'culprit' cutlery.
--------
"Oh, they're fun too," Hannabelle replied, "I play 'trope bingo' with those ones. Oop," she said as an attendant made their way over.
"Pardon me, Ma'am and..." he noted who the other person was. "s.s.s.s.sir.... Um... Other cinema goers have s...said you...
you have been a bit, um, loud. Could..." He swallowed. "Could you, um, keep... keep it down a, um, little?"
"What do you think," Hannabelle asked as the attendant wrung his hands and looked extremely unhappy behind her. "He DID ask nicely. Pathetically, but nicely."

[Neon Icy Wings]

Tatiana dashed to get in front of the frisbee. "Well, that's nice to know. Then the only monster I have to go up against is social interaction. I just hope he's free around dinner. Don't wanna forget or anything." She reached out her telekinesis, and fearing for the disc's life, quickly redirected its trajectory to avoid it snapping from a sudden stop, sending it back towards the Aspect. "I wonder what Kolt will suggest as hobbies for me?"

[furrygamer793]

"I guess, not really sure though." Brad said, shrugging

"You and our other recruit will both officially begin your training tomorrow." Hivemind said. "First lesson will be to gauge your powers."

"Given who you'll be training with, it's also a lesson of "There's always a bigger fish". Don't expect to win your first super fight. Hivemind tends to start off difficult and adjust things from there." The Lycan said.

"Hmm... okay." Brad replied, then asked "Who am I training with, exactly?"

~~~~~~~~~

Nat is eating the grilled cheese sandwich. "So, Hivemind, what's it like being in charge of the Champions?"

The hive droid sat down in the chair on the opposite side of the table. "It's a lot of work, to be sure. It's a lot of stress, a lot of worry. A lot of people I care about who put their lives on the line daily to help others. But in the end, it's worth it. The Champions themselves agree. Those that don't move on to different things." the droid said. "How long have you been wandering for?"

"I... don't really know. I guess all my time as a chimaera." Nat said, he was clearly uncomfortable about the question. "How long has this ship been around?"

[Hlaoroo]

By way of answer, Conall pulls his computer from his belt and holds it up with a grin.

"Wait..." Cailean blurts as something occurs to him. "Mister C...If ye can get a message back tae Grandma... Can ye get us back tae?"

~~~~~~~~
"It's kinda comfy actually." Aggie admits, "An' Ah was wonderin'. What wuid ye think o' bein mah gillie?"

[Welsh Halfwit]

Dabry pretended to think about that a moment. "I... think I can say I'd like that," he remarked. "I mean, my arm likes being around you, Aggie and, if the Gillie would beat me up for it, I suppose I should BE the Gillie, eh? Difficult to beat myself up." He smiled a broad smile at the forever young Canine.
----------------
"If'n 'e gets through," Sarah confided, "best jus' t' tell 'er yer stuck in a 'nuth'r un'verse. Might nae be smart t' say yer in 'eav'n wi' yer folks, eh?"

[Legotron123]

Once Kolt’s food was ready, he took it to a nearby table and almost immediately started devouring it. Each dish was eaten in under half a minute, as he switch from hands to utensils and back again. No scrap of food was granted mercy from the slaughter, as he consumed everything in front of him. Eventually, he ran out of food, and stood up, now back to his original girth levels. ”Ready to check out our hotel rooms?” He asked Jenny, sounding as chipper as he usually did.
—
Liz let out another laugh at Mrs Nocturl’s words. ”Believe me, I wouldn’t be surprised if this all turns out to be some nasty fever dream. Would certainly make more sense than winding up in a world where it always seems like the laws of physics have taken fifty shots of tequila and are trying to make out with a pinball machine.”
”Feels more like sixty shots to me.”

[Buster]

"Don't forget the air con, Kol," Jenny called, waiting for Kolt to finish his gutbuster order before heading over towards the room.

The owner diverted course towards Kol and invited her to one of the rooms set up for Equinna. Toughened sheets over a heavy set bed in the middle of the room and a large, metal, chair with a solid bottom and firm but comfortable (he hoped) seat and backing and a vid screen set into the wall with a larger than normal remote control on the heavy duty sideboard with large scale cups and a mini kettle. In the side room was a large scale latrine in a wet room. "This is one of the, uh, more equipped rooms we have," he announced.

"Does it have an air conditioner? Jenny keeps bringing that thing up..." she asks while slowly walking in and looking around the room.

[Welsh Halfwit]

"Oh, er, of course," he replied, heading over to a box with a dial that linked to a larger, long, box with slits high up on the wall. "Turn this to the left for colder air from the fans and to the right for warmer," he instructed, demonstrating with a twist of the hand.
---------------
Jenevive hustled her cubs to their rooms, splitting the pair of them up after a small squabble. "The Lycan doesn't want to hear you've been fighting, does he," she asked.
"Probably not," Corvis replied, guessing that was the correct answer without really meaning it.
"He'd probably hate that shirt," Golten said, getting in one final shot before darting into his room.
---------------
Absolutely," Jenny said, letting Kolt lead the way to the rooms. "Cleaner Traci," she called, "if you want a tip it's 'get to the food truck before we go for seconds!"

[Deske]

"Yeah, sure." Chris said turning towards the food truck. After stepping up in line and seeing the first few baskets come out, he had a good idea of what he wanted to eat. But after seeing the next 20 or so come out and go to the same person, he was beginning to question whether or not the line was actually going to move enough for him to order in the first place.
------
Denver took the menu. "Oh really? I was lead to believe my instincts might choose something for me," he said as he closed his eyes and dragged a clawtip across the menu, stopping on a random spot before opening them again. "I guess they said, 'Start with something you know,'" he said, lifting his claw off the word Hamburger.
------
"Hmm... Honestly I've always liked Fraggle Rock. Maybe we could spend a little more time here to watch a Christmas Carol and pick out all the differences?"

[Buster]

"Oh, er, of course," he replied, heading over to a box with a dial that linked to a larger, long, box with slits high up on the wall. "Turn this to the left for colder air from the fans and to the right for warmer," he instructed, demonstrating with a twist of the hand.

As soon as the machine is identified Kol immediately sets it to its coldest possible and turns the fans up to full.

Once the temperature in the room has made a sharp enough drop, she starts pulling of the segments of her damaged armor, letting out a sigh of relief to be out of the now-lukewarm tin can. leaving it in a pile in the corner. Not caring in the slightest that her host now has a clear view of her in not but undergarments. Not that she has much to see by mammalian standards, considering shes a reptile, so the things are basically superfluous.

she says something in a tone that implies gratitude, but with her helmet off and three feet away from her under her boots and greaves the translation is garbled and notably delayed.

- - - -

Seeing June's miserableness, Jaken began playing little games with his cutlery, trying to see if he could cheer her up a bit. Little things like having them 'bow' to each other and 'missing' the food with stabs from his fork, twitching his knife to move the meat at the last second, then wagging a finger at the 'culprit' cutlery.

Considering june's predominant state of mind is defiant anger toards rika's ineffective attempt at scolding her, the distraction hardly has the desired effect.

[~\Rook/~]

"'S'OK, Miss Rika," Jaken said awkwardly, "June can still be mad if she wants. I might be. Even if'n I am sorry..."

..And now June is pouting for an entirely different reason, given the only one who's ever told her her behavior is wrong is Hivemind and he was easily enough ignored and snuck away from that time.

Seeing June's miserableness, Jaken began playing little games with his cutlery, trying to see if he could cheer her up a bit. Little things like having them 'bow' to each other and 'missing' the food with stabs from his fork, twitching his knife to move the meat at the last second, then wagging a finger at the 'culprit' cutlery.

Considering june's predominant state of mind is defiant anger toards Rika's ineffective attempt at scolding her, the distraction hardly has the desired effect.

Rika stares quietly at June over the rim of her glass of water before setting the drink down with a sigh. "June, are you going to be mad at me for telling you off all night? I was hoping we could get to know each other better and be friends.." She asked in a sad tone. "..I'll be very sad if you don't want to be friends with me."

------

"I suppose it is. Definitely a break from life-threatening danger and planet-eating alien warlords." Recon glanced out of the window and saw Kol walking on her way. "Did we get Kol's room? If not, we'd better put this super speed to use and get the rest of the rooms done fast."

"I did that room, while you and Hive were dealing with Saffy." Traci replied, finishing up with a second laundry basket. "I'm not sure how many other rooms I did though, so we shou-"

"Cleaner Traci!" Jenny called, "If you want a tip, it's 'get to the food truck before we go for seconds!'"

Traci blinked. "Food truck? When did we.." She looked out the window. "..Oh. Well then. Do you want to have some dinner first? I'm sure we've got enough rooms for everyone for now.. Maybe.. I hope..

------

"I cannot help but notice your overall reaction to being in the digital pilot's seat of a sentient war drone has been unusually blase'. Is there something on your mind?" Predator asked Dan.

Dan looked up from his pad in confusion. "Uh, blase'?" He replied questioningly. "I don't know that word, but as for what's on my mind I just kinda.. Got bored. No offence but droids and robots, even if they're sentient, don't really interest me. As for your 'control centre' here, It just feels like being in a holodeck. Nothing special." He added flatly. He then realised how he sounded and looked down at the floor. "S-sorry, I sound like a jerk.."

[CyberDragon]

Hawk was silent for a moment as he began to think if there was anything else he needed. After a few, he replied "Not really. Everything else I need, mainly my clothing, gear, and other personal affects, are on-board my ship and I'll bring those up once we're done....what do you think?" His other side then takes over his voice and answers "We like it. Nice view out the window to boot" Hawk then regains controls and adds "So I take it this is the end of the tour or is there something else that needs to be taken care of?"

"I don't believe there's anything else." Hivemind said. "You're free for the rest of the day to do what you wish. Though if you wish, we could speak about what kinds of things you can expect on the job. Or, we could speak about anything, really."

---------------------------------------------

"How did... Did being dead make you psychic? I'm not that obvious am i?" she groaned, mentally marking this as a tentative step forward in her main objective, and a failure in her secondary objective of keeping the lieutenant distracted.

"Nope." Nocturl shook his head. "It was a guess. For one, you're here and not resting like you should be with those kinds of injuries, and you've got enough bags under your body's eyes to go grocery shopping with."

---------------------------------------------

"well, you could try a cerebral port? don't know how well it would work with no cerebral cortex to act as an IO controller though... Also i've never made one and who knows how sane the local equivalent is."

"That... might work? Though would the neural side of the port survive the infection? It's connected to the brain, so it could have the same risks as an implant."

---------------------------------------------

"Nae cam'ra," Sarah said, checking her pockets, "but ah got a comm if'n that's've any use, like," she said, offering the small communications device.

"That could work if it can record things..." the Hobomancer said thoughtfully.

By way of answer, Conall pulls his computer from his belt and holds it up with a grin.

"Wait..." Cailean blurts as something occurs to him. "Mister C...If ye can get a message back tae Grandma... Can ye get us back tae?"

"Ah!" The hobomancer perked up a bit. "That should do it. May I have it for a minute?" He said, reaching a hand out to Conall and the computer.

In response to Cailean, the man shook his head. "I'm afraid not... The only reason Diligitis was able to bring you here so easily is because there are more holes in the reality he brought you in from than are in a soup strainer. Your home reality is far more stable. Fewer breaches in the laws of physics to move things through. Hivemind, however, will eventually be able to create a hole."

---------------------------------------------

Saffy was headed over to her room when she realised the Hive wasn't actually with her right now. She waited like a patient teenager until he was ready to follow.

"I'll be with you in a moment, Saffy." Hivemind called to her.

"Can I ask that you at least leave the mountain standing," the Deputy asked. "I really don't wanna write that report. 'Yes, sir. I see. When dd you last see the Mountain?'"

Hivemind laughed. "You know, contrary to popular belief, superheroes don't always solve problems by blowing them up. If the stones can't simply be removed, then worst case scenario is we seal the cave, or fill it in. But right now, I need to take care of the stone in Saffy's room." Hivemind started walking off, but before heading to Saffy, he turned to Gadgeteer.

"We can't let a feral animal with powers roam free." Hivemind said.
"You want me to go out there, hunt it, and bring it back?"
"Yes. You do that, I will deal with the cave."
"Alright." Gadgeteer walked up to the deputy as Hivemind headed over to follow Saffy. "Where was the body found? I need you to take me there."

Hivemind, finally done speaking with the deputy, walked up to Saffy. "Sorry about the wait. Please show me to the stone."

---------------------------------------------

"It's so nuts it's practically sane, Ma'am," Corp reported. "Generally, though, the people are the same. Love, hate, fear, avarice, greed, passion. This universe has them in equal amounts to ours. But they're a lot more on the positive side here. You're safe enough, wherever you go." he gave her a sly grin. "Even if you want to see those very odd versions of our races." He sighed. "There's a lot of interest in this place, even if it's only home for a while." he went silent, thinking he'd spoken a lot more than usual. Was that a 'new normal' too?

"Well... At least that's a relief... Feels like a long time since we've truly been safe..." She sighed, looking tired. "I will have to take a day to explore this new environment sometime."

Liz let out another laugh at Mrs Nocturl’s words. ”Believe me, I wouldn’t be surprised if this all turns out to be some nasty fever dream. Would certainly make more sense than winding up in a world where it always seems like the laws of physics have taken fifty shots of tequila and are trying to make out with a pinball machine.”
”Feels more like sixty shots to me.”

The old husky smiled halfheartedly. "Well... I suppose we'll see. Though I'm not sure if I would like to go back. Things have been... quiet for us. Our family is together, nobody is shooting at us, we have a house, a yard... It's almost peaceful when I'm not trying to keep my son from possessing the TV."

---------------------------------------------

"Oh, they're fun too," Hannabelle replied, "I play 'trope bingo' with those ones. Oop," she said as an attendant made their way over.
"Pardon me, Ma'am and..." he noted who the other person was. "s.s.s.s.sir.... Um... Other cinema goers have s...said you...
you have been a bit, um, loud. Could..." He swallowed. "Could you, um, keep... keep it down a, um, little?"
"What do you think," Hannabelle asked as the attendant wrung his hands and looked extremely unhappy behind her. "He DID ask nicely. Pathetically, but nicely."

"Hmm..." Gear hummed, thinking on it for a minute. "Not 'til he asks with more confidence. I'm not a Champion anymore. Not a leader anymore. I'm just a retired old fool doin' a favor for a friend. So stop actin' like I'm gonna eat yer liver with fava beans an' a nice chianti. That's her job." he said jokingly, pointing a thumb at Hannabelle.

---------------------------------------------

Tatiana dashed to get in front of the frisbee. "Well, that's nice to know. Then the only monster I have to go up against is social interaction. I just hope he's free around dinner. Don't wanna forget or anything." She reached out her telekinesis, and fearing for the disc's life, quickly redirected its trajectory to avoid it snapping from a sudden stop, sending it back towards the Aspect. "I wonder what Kolt will suggest as hobbies for me?"

"You'll have to ask him to know." the armored shell said. Diligitis flew in front of the Frisbee, stuck a hand out ahead of him, and tried to slow the disk down. "Nope! Slower! Slower! Slow-" thunk "Ah. Was going a bit too fast to slow it. Looks like you win this round! Not bad for a first run." The demigod lowered his hand, now holding the disk, to his side. He tossed it slowly and carefully to Tatiana. "As fun as that was, we should get you to dinner. Seems I somehow underestimated how hungry Kolt was, and he's already finished his twenty or so plates of food." Diligitis pointed a finger over the tops of some buildings over to a large "Motel" sign. "That's where you and the team are staying for the night. There's a food truck you can get dinner at in the parking lot." He said, flying closer to Tatiana to make it easier to talk without shouting. "I had fun. Thank you for humoring me for a bit. I don't get very many opportunities to just be with people, you know?"

---------------------------------------------

"Hmm... okay." Brad replied, then asked "Who am I training with, exactly?"

The Lycan and the Ice Wolf looked at each other, then grinned, before speaking at the same time.

"Titan."
"Titan"

"Good luck."

---------------------------------------------

"I... don't really know. I guess all my time as a chimaera." Nat said, he was clearly uncomfortable about the question. "How long has this ship been around?"

"Four-thousand five hundred and sixty two years." Hivemind said, not being serious. "Built by the ancient yugotta people from planet Beikiding."

He waited for a reaction, then gave the true answer. "Nah, I was just trying to see if I could make up something crazy enough it wouldn't be believed. Then I realized that the truth is already so crazy that nothing won't be believed. Anyway, the ship is about thirty years old. I built it myself using materials I gathered from my trade across thousands of star systems."

---------------------------------------------

"Yeah, sure." Chris said turning towards the food truck. After stepping up in line and seeing the first few baskets come out, he had a good idea of what he wanted to eat. But after seeing the next 20 or so come out and go to the same person, he was beginning to question whether or not the line was actually going to move enough for him to order in the first place.

Eventually the flow of food stopped, and the already tired looking man behind the counter stepped up. "Next person?" He asked, looking at Chris. "What are you hungry for?"

---------------------------------------------

"I did that room, while you and Hive were dealing with Saffy." Traci replied, finishing up with a second laundry basket. "I'm not sure how many other rooms I did though, so we shou-"

"Cleaner Traci!" Jenny called, "If you want a tip, it's 'get to the food truck before we go for seconds!'"

Traci blinked. "Food truck? When did we.." She looked out the window. "..Oh. Well then. Do you want to have some dinner first? I'm sure we've got enough rooms for everyone for now.. Maybe.. I hope..

"Well, if you got Kol's room, then I think we've got them all. Even most of the ones we didn't need to do." Recon said. "Let's go get some food!" And as soon as she said it, she vanished, having run out the room towards the food truck.

---------------------------------------------

Dan looked up from his pad in confusion. "Uh, blase'?" He replied questioningly. "I don't know that word, but as for what's on my mind I just kinda.. Got bored. No offence but droids and robots, even if they're sentient, don't really interest me. As for your 'control centre' here, It just feels like being in a holodeck. Nothing special." He added flatly. He then realised how he sounded and looked down at the floor. "S-sorry, I sound like a jerk.."

"The word means disinterested... And yes, you are to an extent being what I believe organics define as "rude." What is it you are interested in then, if this is somehow boring to you?" The Predator's voice asked.

[SeanWolf]

"Well, right now I'd like to get situated in here and check out this ship a bit more...but if you want you can come help me get my gear and stuff out of my ship and move it up here. It'll probably just be a couple bags and a few bits of gear, nothing more." Hawk replies as he removes his jacket he had on and places it on the bed along with his hat. "Actually there is one question I have and it's a bit of a lighthearted one: Your file on us...did it, by chance, happen to mention a 'bar-incident' on Charione Station two years ago?"

[Neon Icy Wings]

Tatiana chuckled happily, a little glad to have beaten Diligitis at the game. "If the area was tighter I wouldn't have been able to alter its direction in time. A sudden stop isn't a good thing in most cases." She gently caught the disk in her hand and tilted her head upon being informed of Kolt's eating speed. "That sounds like him. Considering his abilities he probably has adapted to eating as quickly as possible. Perhaps his metabolism has even accelerated to utilize the calories as soon as he can. Thank you for the information... I wasn't paying too close attention to the wheres and the whos, and Hivemind distracted me a fair bit." At Diligitis saying thanks her head lights came on with happy eyes to complete the smile. "You are a being of the universe. Ancient, powerful, but still one of us and deserving all the same. And... thank you as well, for giving me a new perspective on my thoughts, and such. I doubt I would have sought out someone else's thoughts on the matter."

[Hlaoroo]

Conall types in his password and then hands over the unlocked computer.

Cailean is disappointed at the news but tries, somewhat unsuccessfully, not to show it too much.

"Ah think if anyone cuid manage tae beat themselves up it's a cat. Ah've seen th' youtube videos." Aggie teases with a grin, leaning into the hug and putting her own arm around Dabry in return.
"All it takes is a red dot or a ball o' yarn and ye ferget yerselves. An' dinnae get me started on catnip!"

[Welsh Halfwit]

Dabry laughed, a sound that could probably be heard by the others. "I believe the correct rejoiner to that is... Bacon treats? Or is it Haggis treats up here?"
"'angin' round isn't gonna be all tha' bad, sure, me Muckle Marras*" Sarah said, dropping further into dialect.
---------------
Keeva stood behind Dan, her hands on his shoulders, squeezing reassuringly (and carefully with the one) as she waited on his answer.
---------------
The attendant, after looking over to Hannabelle - who 'clicked' her teeth together playfully - tried to draw on his experiences in the local Am-Dram society to put on a performance of coolness in front of an audience of two who were one of the people he most kinda sorta respected on the ship and someone who could, apparently, eat him for dinner. He imagined his knees were knocking and put his tail between them - metaphorically, at least - to stop them. "Of...of course," he said, reminding himself of where the nearest toilet was. "S...Sir, if you and your, um, da... uh, lady friend can't quiet down, I, er, would ask you to leave? But I'd much rather you enjoy the, uh, film you have, after all, paid to see. Sir."
-------------
"You are looking a little run down," Corp admitted. "On the HAVEN, I would already be making an appointment for the Doctor for you but, here... How can we help? As for the 'going back' part, I think that's something to discuss when it's possible, hmm?" He'd already given some thought to this. With no obvious route back available, people were going to make connections over here that they may not want to leave months or years down the line. Many would follow their duty but some would follow their hearts.
-------------
Sana looked up at Denver with her ears bent down slightly. "Am I screwing this up," she asked. "It's kinda my first time and all... Ooh, what's a Hawaiian Burger? Is that a fruit?"
---------------
"Ah, we can do that tomorrow night," Cherry said pleasantly, before kissing Colorado on the lower jaw.
------------
Saffy led the Hivebot through the reception, past the closed little restaurant and the Linen room to a locked door at the back. She stepped through into another corridor and took the third door on the right into a teenaged bedroom. A couple of ripped posters on the wall, a small laptop computer, a TeeVee facing an unmade bed, four identical outfits in an open small wardrobe and a number of more revealing ones beside them and a slightly glowing 'paperweight' of rock crystal on the computer table, weighing down some paper. "My room," she said, sitting on the badly sprung bed, "and my chief suspect," she added, turning the light on to aid what was coming through the window.
-----------
Jenny took a bite of her burger as she stood outside two rooms. "Which one's yours," she asked Kolt as she glimpsed a speedster head for the truck.
----------
"Of... of course," the owner said, not being sure of what else to say to the most unusual person he'd seen in a long time. He wasn't... horrified, per se, but he did have to fight his curiosity. "If.. if there's anything else you need, the reception is just across the way." He bowed to her and backed out of the room.
---------
The deputy tried not to look TOO obviously at the nearby vehicle as he said the location WAS about a half hours' walk from here...

*Muckle = big. Marras = Friend/Mate. (She's calling him a big mate here.)

[Buster]

Considering june's predominant state of mind is defiant anger toards Rika's ineffective attempt at scolding her, the distraction hardly has the desired effect.

Rika stares quietly at June over the rim of her glass of water before setting the drink down with a sigh. "June, are you going to be mad at me for telling you off all night? I was hoping we could get to know each other better and be friends.." She asked in a sad tone. "..I'll be very sad if you don't want to be friends with me."

"Then don't tell me what to do." June states, somewhat forcefully, albeit coming off as childish both because of how the words come out,and because she immediately followed it up with sticking her tongue out.

- - - - - - - -

"You DO remember that i had working R7-L jacks on each wrist, right?" talya asks, her tone conveying what almost sounds like concern. "IO ports arrent that hard to recreate."

[Legotron123]

Kolt looked back and forth between the two rooms, making all sorts of little noises under his breath as he tried to make a decision.
They are both the same. Just pick one.
Not true. One has blue wallpaper, the other has orange.
....Is that REALLY so important?
More than you can possibly imagine. After another minute or so, Kolt decided to sleep in the blue colored room, stepping inside to make sure everything was set up and to change out of his costume. Once he was done, he stepped back out into the hall, now wearing some rather cozy looking PJs, and looked over at Jenny with an awkward smile. ”So uh, you can think the others would be up for a movie night? I just discovered that all the worlds in this game I just beat were based on movies, so I figured we could see if the hotel has a room with a big wall to project some of the films on that the owners might be willing to let us use.”
—
Liz’ expression became much more dour after the prospect of going home was brought up. ”...I’d like to go back, if only to see my family again. My dad’s been getting up there in years, and I promised him we’d see each other at least one more time before he dies, but I don’t think I’ll be able to keep that promise now.” She went silent for a moment, before speaking up again. ”But that just means I have something to strive for, something to try to achieve. Something to keep me going.”

[~\Rook/~]

"Then don't tell me what to do." June states, somewhat forcefully, albeit coming off as childish both because of how the words come out, and because she immediately followed it up with sticking her tongue out.

Rika pouts a little, but then shrugs and smiles. "I can do that. You're your own person after all.." She replies. "..So! Can we be friends? No hard feelings?" She adds, picking up her drink again.

------

"Well, if you got Kol's room, then I think we've got them all. Even most of the ones we didn't need to do." Recon said. "Let's go get some food!" And as soon as she said it, she vanished, having run out the room towards the food truck.

Traci just laughed and rushed right after her, arriving at the truck a couple seconds after Recon. "Wow, big truck! You can order first if you want, Recon. Oh! Maybe we should get the same things! I don't mind having whatever.." She said as she arrived, looking up at the truck. "..Might be better if I try something new anyway, been too long since I have!"

------

"The word means disinterested... And yes, you are to an extent being what I believe organics define as "rude." What is it you are interested in then, if this is somehow boring to you?" The Predator's voice asked.

Keeva stood behind Dan, her hands on his shoulders, squeezing reassuringly (and carefully with the one) as she waited on his answer.

Dan shifted his shoulders stiffly a little as Keeva placed her hands on them, but he did seem to relax a bit due to the attention. "W-well, I'm much more into transport technology and space travel really.." Dan stated, still looking down at the floor. "..I don't think much of other technologies. T-they're still valid and have their uses, of course, b-but I'm just not interested in them at all. I try to find interest in some, like cyber-prosthetics or computing, but the rest.. I-I'm sorry, I'm rambling." Dan adds, hunching over a little more.