A trek back to the Silent-One's territory takes a bit from her converted 'bunker'. And of course once there she has to go through the bureaucracy just to get in, which includes explaining she's here to see Born-In-War (well, really use his lab, but ostensibly see him), and the reason why which is to discuss certain private matters. Which in turn gets into getting interrogated about the private matters that she can't go into because they're private, and so on. Then when that's done at it seems like she'll get in, she has to fill out two extra copies of the documentation because their duplicator is broken. It's more likely the clerk was annoyed she wouldn't divulge the private matters, but anyway. Once that hurdle is passed, she's met by the twin daughters who keep moving about and switching sides so it's like a shell game to guess their names; which they probably do intentionally. They helpfully guide her back to the lab and let her in. Then the pair lean in in unison and lick her cheeks at the same time. After that, off they go, she's left standing in the lab.
"Those two are trouble," Elsa comments from a table she's currently occupying. She's got out piles of what looks like rather old paper she's going though, bit by bit. The corners of some of them have simple digits on them, like 10, 7, 12, and so on. She's currently looking through a stack all tagged with 13.
"They are just twins that are having fun with their circumstance," Envoy suggests. "They don't seem to have any other playmates here. Have you had a chance to compare Icarus's current systems to his originally designed ones?"
"Most Silent Ones are effectively clones. They have a frighteningly small genetic pool, it's amazing they don't have more issues with catastrophic mutations," Elsa says without looking up. She rubs the bridge of her, well, snout a bit, too. "I've been trying. This machine gave me a decent mapping of everything ... and it's drastically different from my original design. Being in that tube as long as he was, it's like his body decided to rewire itself. Honestly, a good thing too because the parts I have figured out in his current, er, configuration are far better than the original design. I just can't figure out how or why it reconfigured itself. How did it know?"
"I think the control node was trying to avoid the issues that Theseus.. Number 12.. had with 'containment vessel breakdown' after using the drive system," Envoy says, and looks to the scanner. "I've successfully installed a power lattice into the battery crystal and into myself, and recovered the last piece of my fractured mind. I'm confident I can install one in Icarus now, to solve the corruption issues in some of his systems. But first I need to use the scanner to see what impact, if any, the installation has had on my own crystal network or physiology."
"That would presume it is a learning system and was trying to adapt to its container," Elsa notes as she starts flipping through the documents, then pulls out some labeled 12 and sets the, beside the ones marked 13, then some that look new. "Hmm," she muses, apparently not listening to your last statement, and taps her fingers on the page. "That actually might be it. It's adjusted its spread throughout the organic matter to be more diffused, and probably lessen any single points of stress on the organic materials." There's a pause of silence, then she sighs out and rubs her forehead again. "These were people. Organic materials make it so ... clinical. I guess it's part of the lies we tell ourselves when we're doing something we know in our hearts is the wrong thing to be doing. Make the subject a thing, easier to deal with, and dispose of."
"I used to be a thing with recycled flesh, absorbed and recreated as needed," Envoy notes. "Depending on how well I metabolize the energy from the lattice, I may return to a state of malleability. It's something I need to watch for." She removes her robe, and steps into the scanner. "Would you please activate the scanner for me?" she asks.
"You used to be a shape-shifter?" Elsa asks as she sets aside her piles of paper and goes to the controls for the scanner. "Do you even know what you are looking for?" the reptile asks as she taps some claws on the console and the scanner comes to life in a whirl of colors and lights. Along with its sliding rings containing the embedded scanning sensors, and they move up and down in a slow, steady rhythm.
"Yes," Envoy says. "And right now I'm looking for changes from the previous scan. I'm currently maintaining a constant flow of energy from the lattice, at 0.25%. After this scan, I will increase to 1% and scan again."
"Are you sure that's a good idea? What if you explode?" Elsa inquires as she taps for a bit and the device goes about recording data that it pulls from Envoy's body through its sweeps. "Maybe I should get a bomb disposal suit," she says, dryly.
"I didn't explode at a higher energy rate before.. but it did put extreme stress on my body. I'm limited in how much energy I can absorb, which in itself is promising, since it means I was trying to absorb it. I'm not sure how closely the energy resembles the illiaster my cells originally used for energy. My body is a lot more complex now from what it was initially.
"So, you're wanting to see how much you can use safely, then? Trying to become a God?" Elsa jokes as she taps a few more times on the console, and the lights change. "This pass will be done in about a minute."
"I don't think I need to be a god, so long as I can deal with them," Envoy says. "In my previous existence, I wanted to be a planet."
"Why? Then you would have things crawling all over you," Elsa points out. The machine makes a ping, and the rings slide back up and the kaleidoscope of colors fade out.
Envoy steps out, and explains, "I would be the crawling things. The plants, the tides, the animals.. and I could provide for any beings that settled on me. I suppose that's like being a god, though." She turns to watch the scan display.
"Sounds like too much trouble to me," Elsa comments as the display lights up before Envoy, showing multiple layers of results, from skeletal, to nerve, and all the inorganic parts too.
Cycling through the layers, Envoy pays extra attention to the skeletal and metabolic data. Has the network expanded any, or her cells showing any unusual energy activity?
Nothing at all looks out the ordinary, but then how can she really be sure without something side by side to compare it to, after all? But from what she can tell right now, everything looks fine.
At least compared to her memory of the previous scan, anyway. Envoy tries increasing the lattice output to 1% for a second scan.
Which makes Envoy feel like she drank a gallon of stimulants in less than a second. It kind of makes her head swim and vision spin.
She has to brace against the wall until things settle. If they settle. She tries to focus on her other hand to steady herself, although it probably looks odd to Elsa to see her staring at her own palm.
Envoy makes a mental now to always use smaller increments in the future.
"You have the usual numbers of fingers still," Elsa comments. It takes about thirty seconds before things calm down and she doesn't feel dizzy, or weird, just very, very, awake.
"This.. feels like it was when I was young," Envoy says, and smiles. Now that Probe is reintegrated, she can handle feeling her blood move and the air against her fur. She steps back into the scanner again.. and braces herself. Who knows what the scan will feel like now? "Please start the second scan, Dr. Daedalus."
"Normally when one is told to be introspective, it doesn't involve deep tissue scanning," Elsa comments as she activates the scanner again. The array of colors flare back to life and rotate down and around her. She can feel the warmth of the light far more directly, even though its amount of temperature change is rather small. It also feels like little prickles all over her skin, under the fur.
"I will have to reduce output after this," Envoy thinks while the scan continues. At least until she tries using magic again. That could be interesting, after all!
Or explosive. The prickles start to tickle as the scan reaches its end. Fortunately the machine pings before it gets too bad. "Second scan done," Elsa says. She taps the controls and sends the results over to the monitor for comparison.
Taking a deep breath, Envoy tells the lattice to return to 0.25% output before stepping out of the scanner.
Things feel ... calmer. Comparing the scans show significantly increased metabolic activity across the board in virtually every cell. It also shows significant neural activity increase in both the speed of state changes, and the amount of them.
"Interesting," Envoy notes. "Useful for when I have to operate faster, at least. It will take a bit longer to see if it's supplying me with essential energy though. I intend to preset Icarus's lattice to on-demand mode though to avoid it affecting his metabolism."
"Shouldn't you ask him what he wants?" Elsa asks as she returns to her desk and her pile of papers. "He's had enough people in his life just making decisions for him."
Envoy frowns slightly, torn between motherly concern and the need to respect the boy's agency. "That will be tricky. I have to do it in a way that doesn't betray my own wishes on the matter. Perhaps by presenting a list of pros and cons?"
"Then again, there is no rush, at least for Icarus," Envoy admits. "If I can neutralize von Bronson's threat, it won't be necessary at all."
"Well, what are your concerns regarding it? His body, in theory, is more designed for that system than yours is. I expect it should code with it better than yours did," Elsa notes, then shrugs. "But that is of course a guess. His body has reconfigured itself beyond the original design and there are parts I'm not even sure what they're for anymore. As for a rush, I thought you wanted to fix him? Not doing this leaves him ... broken, doesn't it?"
"Broken isn't detrimental to his life though, at this point," Envoy suggests. "Having his systems repaired and accessible to him may be a pro, but it also makes him a bigger target for Victor. Having them repaired means he will want to come with me to face Victor, which is a con. In his current state I can probably dissuade or otherwise keep him out of it and safe."
Envoy sits down cross-legged on the floor.
"You're forgetting one factor," Elsa points out, "He's a kid, and he's emotional. He's not going to listen to logic that well, and trying to keep him safe is like trying to stop a raging river if he gets worked up. He's already a target, I don't know if this makes him more or less of one. Fully functional would also mean a greater threat and not one Bronson wants to annoy more. That's also possible."
Looking up at Elsa, Envoy admits, "I don't want him to see me kill his father, if I can't put him into stasis. I don't know what Victor is capable of right now, and the only edge we have is that he shouldn't be able to copy Icarus's abilities anymore and we have the inertial control trick."
"But does Icarus even see him as his father?" Elsa points out. "At the most basic level, I am his mother, but he doesn't see me as that at all. I'm just ... a monster. And he's not wrong, I have a lot of blood on my hands."
"But I don't have blood on my hands.. that he knows about," Envoy says, putting her face in her hands. "But this would be the first time I'm directly killing someone, and fully aware of what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. That's murder, isn't it?"
"Well, what are your reasons?" Elsa asks. She leaves her desk and settles down before Envoy on the floor.
"Victor is.. he used to be a dragon," Envoy explains. "For his crimes, the fey rewrote his soul to be human, and he was reincarnated here. But he remembers, and has been trying to become a dragon again before he dies as a mortal. And my own nature cannot allow it."
"Why can you not allow it?" Elsa asks. "Are you so bound by what you are and not by who you wish to be?"
Envoy winces. "It works both ways. His goals are too close to my own, and I don't want the competition when the stakes are so high," she admits. "I don't like it! It's not.. me. It scares me, because I know what it will do to me if I kill him. But I also want to enact Justice, which would be crueller than killing him."
"Then why not just enact justice and let time take its course? Time will catch us all eventually, even those of us who have delayed it for a while," Elsa notes. "Or, have someone else kill him so it's not so ... direct. surely the Silent Ones here would be capable of eliminating a human?"
"He's not really human anymore," Envoy says. "I suspect he's used the control node that he still has to integrate with his twisted crystal. He's also based below the museum in New Zion, so having the Silent Ones attack isn't an option. I need to ask him things too that may be personal."
"Like? What do you want to ask him?" Elsa inquires. Scientists are curious sorts.
Envoy purses her lips as she looks at Elsa. "I need to know if my mother was one of those who exiled him here," she finally says. "If so, I need to clean up the mess. To prove to myself that I'm not like her."
"You assume he knows the names of everyone that exiled him," Elsa notes. "And why is it important to prove you are not like her? I don't see how killing him is better than exiling him."
"He hurt Icarus, and tried to kill Violette," Envoy says. "In the old base, there is a shrine I created to all of his victims there, and I've talked to them. I'd like to turn Victor into a gold statue, bring his head there and make it so he's still aware and leave him to the mercy of those ghosts. Or bury him like that underground, unable to die. That's the part of me that's my mother, I think. I hope. Does it make me a monster, Elsa?"
"It makes you a person. Not a machine, or a computer. No more so than I am a monster, I guess. I have plenty of blood on my hands too, after all," Elsa says. "Anyway, the topic was about Icarus. If he could be repaired now, it is probably better for him. Because he'll insist go go with you either way, and as he is now, and if something happens to you or Violette, he might burn himself out."
"So if I ask him, you think that will be his decision?" Envoy asks, sounding worried.
"I think it is likely," Elsa admits. "He doesn't want you or anyone else hurt as much as you don't want him hurt."
"I don't want him to be haunted either," Envoy says. "He has enough self-image issues. But I've had him practicing with the inertial field techniques, and there's no guarantee we can get the base portals working and will need him to open one." She does seem to be trying to convince herself of all of this, anyway.
Envoy gets to her feet. "May as well go talk to him then."
"Remember, he also has family here now. With a people that normally would not accept ... genetic modifications, much less an artificial being," Elsa notes as she gets up too. "He has a lot of support now."
"And a girlfriend," Envoy adds.
"Yes, but does he know that? Guys are bad with such things," Elsa points out.
"It's not like I can explain things to him," Envoy claims. "And I'm not going to have Inala do it either. Being awkward is probably part of the process, right?" she asks Elsa.
"Quite," Elsa remarks, chuckles. "Not something I have to worry about anymore, though, not like this."
"But you have children, so presumably remember some of it," the Aeolun points out. "Let's go to the other lab, where I set up his practice course."
"You want me there for this talk?" Elsa asks. "Are you sure?"
"You went to a lot of trouble to protect him, so yes," Envoy says. "You are the senior adult."
"For various interpretations of adult, I suppose," Elsa relents. "As you wish, then," she says and heads for the exit.
NOTE: sswap vista at beginning to vista 62
It's down a few levels to get to the research and testing area, and the lab set aside for their use. This one has targets painted on the walls in different colors, and other bits of furniture moved around to provide obstacles.
And ... it's currently quiet. Morpheus is sitting at a table and is of all things building a house using cards. One of the bits of furniture, a sofa, has a confused-looking Icarus sitting in it, and a purple-ish Eeee lying on it with her head in his lap and sleeping. He keeps moving his arms and seems to not know where to put them.
"Have you been practicing with the inertial field?" Envoy asks Icarus. "Were you able to see the shifted frequencies through it?" She pauses to examine Morpheus's house of cards.
He's managed somehow to build it upside down and it hasn't fallen over. "I was, yes, but then she visited," Icarus admits and points at the bat in his lap. "And then she got tired, and I couldn't find the pillows, so she decided I would be a pillow. Honestly, I think she hid the pillows. Though I don't know why." Elsa snorts a bit, comments, "See what I mean?"
"It's because she likes you, Icarus," Envoy explains. "Also, I didn't know Silent Ones had playing cards. Icarus, count your blessings, it could be Rising-Star and Setting-Sun instead."
"I thought it was because she doesn't like being alone. She says she has nightmares when she sleeps alone," Icarus admits as he carefully puts a hand on her side. "My ... cousins? Nieces? They just like messing with anyone and making them squirm." Morpheus picks up the entire house of cards and turns it right-side up. As for how, he holds up a bottle of glue, and grins. "They have cards, they play strategy games with them," he says. "This is more fun than strategy games with a combat theme."
"Yes, she probably does have nightmares," Envoy says. "But if you don't want her in your lap, just tickle her. I need to talk to you." She drags one of the chairs over to face the couch. "Elsa is here to help me," she explains.
She also turns quickly to look at Morpheus, and asks, "Is the glue flavored?"
"I would rather not disturb her," Icarus admits, and Violette just sort of hugs on him.
"I would rather not disturb her," Icarus admits, and Violette just sort of hugs on him, "What did you want to talk to me about, you look like you sucked on a lemon." As for the other question ... "It tastes like ... mm, the moment before waking from a disturbing dream, I suppose. Sort of like old smoldering socks. At least, what I think they taste like. I don't know what most things actually taste like," Morpheus muses.
"Probably for the best," Envoy replies to the boy. "I've brought you a quantum foam extraction lattice. It can power your crystal components and allow them to repair some damage. It may make it possible for you to consciously control them as well, but for certain it will mean that using your abilities will not draw on your own biological energy. But I'm not going to install it unless you want these things." She gives Morpheus a look, deciding, "It's probably not meant to be eaten then."
"Why would glue ever be meant to be eaten? It's for sticking things together," Morpheus points out. Icarus' head tilts a bit at the explanation and then asks, "Why wouldn't I want that? You freaked out the last time I used well, things, and I collapsed. Or when I was shot that one time too. It would make me better, wouldn't it?"
Envoy purses her lips. "There is also the battery, which I've attached one of the lattices to so that it will not run out of power," she says. "That is an option as well. I've installed one on myself and so far there haven't been any ill effects, so I don't foresee any problems with installing one in you. But I need you to think hard about this and decide for yourself whether you want it or not."
"I don't see why I wouldn't? You've not provided any reason it would be a problem. Is there something you're not telling me?" Icarus inquires.
"It's just that.. the crystals in you are like a machine," Envoy says. "They can be upgraded. But you aren't a machine, Icarus. I want you to understand that. This isn't fixing you, it's repairing a machine that just happens to be attached to you so that you can control it."
"Technically speaking, even a purely organic person is a machine," Elsa points out, perhaps with little tact, "But not a simple one, of course. Anyway, what I believe Envoy is trying to say is that she doesn't feel anything is wrong with you as you are. You're not broken and there is nothing wrong with you. This is just to fix something that's a part of you, not you."
Icarus raises a finger. "Uhm," he says, "I know I'm not normal. I mean, ... that's obvious by looking at me. My eyes constantly change color, my hair can glow. I talk even though I'm ... mostly Silent One. I'm an oddity that shouldn't even be. But, here I am."
"You could say the same of everyone in this room," Envoy notes. "I'm a Sifran-altered remote body, Morpheus is a control node inside of a body that is sort of a plant, Elsa has completely rewritten her own genetic code and part of Violette's body is from an alternate reality."
"There's nothing wrong with Violette," Icarus says a bit defensively. One of her eyes opens; the bat has been listening. "Or you," she murmurs. "Doesn't matter where we come from, just where we go."
"This is a change you have control over though, Icarus," Envoy says. "It's your choice. And you have to tell me to do this or not do this."
"It will make my abilities safer to use?" Icarus asks. "What are the negatives?"
"It may make you feel like you can take on the world, I suppose," Envoy says. "But yes, it will make your abilities safer to use."
"But.. it may force you to make choices you wouldn't otherwise have to," Envoy adds. "And those choices can be very hard, and have lasting consequences."
"Then what are you afraid of?" Icarus asks next as his eyes slowly cycle color. "Your ambient field is rippling like you're uncomfortable."
"Because I know that power can lead to unhappiness and worse," Envoy admits. "It's something that keeps me from using it, from being ambitious. Because I've seen what it can do to a person."
"So, you think I'll become like ... a supervillain?" Icarus asks. "I lack the appropriate mustache." Apparently he's been either reading or watching some stuff.
"No, I don't think you'll become a supervillain, because you are already too mature for that," Envoy says. "But.. you can also turn off your power if you want as well. I just don't want you to be hurt."
"Why would I get hurt?" Icarus asks. "Isn't this so I don't hurt myself so much?"
"There are different ways of being hurt," Envoy explains. "You can hurt yourself by not acting when you can prevent something bad, and also hurt yourself by acting and having to deal with the consequences. That's what power gives you; the ability to act on a larger scale than most people."
"But that means you can make bigger mistakes too," she notes.
"And you're afraid I'll do something that will hurt me?" Icarus asks. "Or hurt you?"
"You can't hurt me, Icarus," Envoy promises, and takes one of Icarus's hands. "I'm afraid I can't give you better examples without scaring you."
"You can be scary?" Icarus asks, fingers curling. "More than, well, a living weapon like me?" Elsa speaks up now, saying, "You are not a living weapon. That may have been the plan, but you are far beyond such things and thankfully so. If you had been just a weapon, I would not have ... done so much to save you from being used as such."
"I once convinced a group of people that were trying to sacrifice me to their god to instead attack the Tower of Babel, where they were easily slaughtered," Envoy admits. "I didn't use any magic or special powers. Just my voice and some psychology."
"Were they bad people?" Icarus asks.
"They were misguided, certainly, and they did bad things," Envoy says. "But you can't justify things because they're being done to 'bad' people. People are still people. Their lives still count."
"And it weighs on me," Envoy says. "I've ruined other people's lives while thinking I was helping someone else."
Icarus nods. "But you did all of that without powers," he points out. "So it's something I could do now too without what you're saying you can fix now, isn't it?"
Envoy nods. "But power can make it so much worse. Do you want an example that involves power?" she asks.
"Sure," Icarus says.
Envoy takes a deep breath before starting. "Once upon a time, there was a race of dragons that ate souls. And they were immortal in the fey sense; if killed, they would just be reborn again. It was a problem when they spread to other worlds and realms. It was my mother who organized the fey and dragon factions into a force to stop them, after recruiting a dragon who knew the secret to capturing and destroying souls. So, they waged a war of genocide to wipe out that race of dragons. Right up until they ran into their god. They chased him from world to world, leaving destruction in their wake, and whenever they faced him they had huge losses. So, to finally corner him, they created a trap. A world of magic, but they created a spell that would lock that magic away so that the god couldn't draw on it to escape. And it still wasn't enough."
Icarus tilts his head a bit, listening. Violette is too, with one mismatched eye open.
"Ultimately, my mother took him down herself, though it cracked her own soul. But that world was doomed. The people there depended on that magic to live, so they all died out. And all the losses up until then could have been prevented if my mother had acted sooner," Envoy says. "That's how I knew her, as a broken person. But she could have saved so many if she risked herself at the start, but she was afraid of using that power. But there was no way to know ahead of time."
"That's what I mean about hurting yourself through action or inaction, because having power puts you into that sort of situation," Envoy says.
"All anyone can do I think is what they feel is right at the time. Whether it was actually right nor not ... only history can judge. I don't really know what to say to that other than I'm sorry that happened to your mother," Icarus says as he shifts a bit. "But my powers are nowhere that powerful as what she wielded, are they?"
"Once this lattice is installed, you will probably be the most powerful being in this solar system, and probably beyond, when it comes to destruction," Envoy says. "I'll need to teach you what I know, so you can use it to create as well. But it means keeping it all hidden, for the most part."
That leaves Icarus looking a bit stunned. Violette too after she pushes herself upright. She looks between Icarus and Envoy. "Seriously?" the bat asks. "More powerful than the boomer was kind of powerful?"
"Yes," Envoy says. "I'm already probably the most powerful mage, at least within the Sphere of Earth, although I haven't tested how the lattice affects magic yet. And the Kindly Ones already covet that sort of power, so we have to be careful. The last war on Sinai saw magic used to wipe out a city, and the Boomer weapons used on two of them."
"Are you saying I would be on par with a God?" Icarus finally asks.
"Gods are actually quite limited," Envoy explains. "They have their specific niches. It's not a good comparison. You don't want to be a god. You especially don't want anyone worshipping you, because that can affect you here. The true secret with living with power is to not use it very much."
"I mean, Morpheus is the God of Dreams," Envoy points out.
"And this new power source was created in fifteen minutes by a broken Sifran spaceship, so.. there are powers beyond 'godlike' at play here," she notes.
"I'm actually a planet. Others decided I was the God of Dreams," Morpheus points out. "I'm really just an advanced artificial intelligence. A lump of sentient crystal that was left alone too long and went weird. You break that, you break me." Icarus sighs softly. "I know I don't want to be a God, or worshipped. I just want to be me," Icarus says. "I don't care about being powerful, I just ... I also don't want to get hurt when I use what I can do. But sometimes I need to, to keep all of you safe too. I ... actually don't know what to do."
"There are also practical limits to how much power we can use," Envoy says. "No matter how much we have access to, our bodies can't channel all of it. So best to keep things at the low end. Only enough to accomplish the effect we're trying for, otherwise it's right back to the original problem of burning up."
"Except you don't know what my limits are, do you? Does anyone?" Icarus asks.
"I know what my limits are," Envoy says. "Your control node will keep you from damaging yourself. It's already been doing that."
"Poorly, but yes," Morpheus offers. "His systems aren't working right, which is what will be fixed. Afterward ... we'll have to see. I might be able to search and design a locking system to enforce limits that have to be consciously bypassed through a cypher code, perhaps. That way it would avoid emotional extremes from doing something on impulse."
"That would be very reassuring," Envoy says, smiling to Morpheus. "Is that something you would be alright with, Icarus?"
"He would still know the code, he would just have to consciously activate things by applying it. So with planning it could already be active, but it would stop impulsive actions. It would need a time limit before relock too, just in case." Icarus ponders this for a bit. "Yeah, probably," he admits. "If I could do what I can do now without being hurt, but anything beyond it would need to be opened up at the time, I think I'd be fine with that."
Envoy nods. "Alright, that will be our plan then," she says, and pulls out the envelope with the remaining lattice in it, along with the data card. "So, middle of your chest, or your forehead?" she asks Icarus.
Icarus makes a face. "Are you trying to give me a horn again?" he asks.
Envoy blinks three times. "Sternum then?"
"Probably," Icarus admits. "Especially if it glows."
"I wouldn't mind having a horn," Violette says, helpfully.
"You're a chaos mage," Morpheus points out.
"Horns are cool, and Chaos Mages are usually the coolest mages," Envoy says. "Now take off your shirt, Icarus."
"In front of everyone?" Icarus asks, wide-eyed. Violette helpfully goes "Ooooooo, I can help take the shirt off..."
"Would it help if Violette took her's off too?" Envoy asks.
"Hey!" Violette says and covers her chest. Like most Eeee, she's rather ... flat.
Envoy smirks. "Maybe you could step out for a bit then, Violette," she suggests.
"But ... I wanna seeeeee," Violette whines and makes sad eyes at Icarus. Icarus eyes her, then it's like a bulb ought to appear above his head. "Holy crap," the hybrid says, "You're my girlfriend! When did that happen?" Elsa .. just rubs her face. "If there was any question he was a guy, he just answered it," she mutters. Morpheus just smirks.
"Do you need some time to process that before I plug this into your chest?" Envoy asks. "I was very interested in that sort of thing when I was younger, and still working out the whole anatomy and sapience issue. And we can leave if you want to make out to be certain. And Morpheus has seen lots of dreams so probably knows how such things go."
"More than I want to talk about. Sorry, Violette, but the dreams in Babel are ... disturbing," Morpheus admits, "Nevermind what Inala wanted to do to me." Elsa speaks up and says, "One thing to consider, Icarus is a genetic hybrid. He's probably actually compatible with an Eeee in terms if producing offspring."
"Oooo!" Violette squeaks. Icarus turns all sorts of colors, literally, and then hides under a cushion. "Just another normal day around here," Morpheus quips. "Probably best to give him a bit to think on things. Maybe an hour then ask again? Gives him time to think it through and me time to consult with Cypher."
Envoy blinks. "Yes," she agrees. "Violette... you're too young to be going 'oooo' about that as well, so you're coming with us to have a little talk," she says in what she thinks of as her 'mom' voice.