The lounge is busy. Dr. Knight has Hakeber propped up against Shojo on the couch, with Liza curled up next to her while he conducts an examination of them. Aaron is behind the bar collecting the bits of thistlebark he'd given to Hakeber and Yue is on hand to try and get a read on the mental states of the three on the couch. Gabriel is still on the bridge, waiting to see if the makeshift S.O.S. Tasha had sent actually garners a response, and Lacci hovers near Tasha looking worried.
For her part, Tasha stands with her arms folded, her gaze constantly sweeping across the injured and her expression a thin-lipped mask for barely contained anger and nervousness, ears back against her head. "You have questions for me, Lacci?" She asks without looking over, tone forced gentleness with the anger stripped out for Lacci's sake.
"What happened?" Lacci asks. "I remember Hakeber running around and.. and then.. uh.. I don't now. All of my feathers went poof."
"We were contacted by a hostile entity, then attacked when it appeared that entity could no longer keep us." Tasha nods her head towards Hakeber, indicating her. "Hakeber did something to drive it away; I had been trying to negotaite with it when she arrived." 'Negotiate,' Tasha decides, is an even enough word to describe what she was doing. Threatening, trying to dismantle through words, searching for a weakness and extracting information would also suffice, but wouldn't have been as curt. Vartans are curt when angry. "The creature encasing the sun is sentient and aware and it's weapon is the 'Trumpet.' It's been in a slowly decaying stalemate with the Berserkers, and we made for a distraction."
"Why did it.. how did it.." Lacci seems to stutter, unable to formulate a question that makes sense to her. She finally points to the bar and asks, "I don't understand any of this, but above all I do not understand what wood shavings have to do with it! Berserkers and.. things that surround stars and sound that travels through space.. I can't deal with that yet. So.. wood shavings? I know what wood is, I've touched it before!"
"It's from back home. Thistlebark. It disrupts magic, really means that it interferes with the function of the Sifran probablity matrix, which is some part of how the Sifra can modify reality. The way it was explained ot me, they interfere with how reality looks at the higher level by interfering with the, um, projection of it. The basic data. So, thistlebark somehow interfere with that, which means that Ogdru-hem was doing things in a similiar way. What we saw behind the bar was it projecting some part of itself in to us and at that spot, and it lost its grip when the wood and ... And, whatever Hakeber did interfered. You could say we jammed it." The hybrid woman shrugs a little, not quite knowing herself. "It liked to talk. They're often arrogant, you know? Anyway, we're going to see if we can kill it."
"It disrupts spirits," Aaron says from behind the bar. "Hakeber was also using a spell on it."
"Why are you.. we.. trying to kill it?" Lacci asks, then her feathers poof out again. "If it's dead, what will the Berserkers do?"
"What he calls a spirit can be understood as another kind of life," Tasha explains, knowing 'spirit' won't do more than confuse Lacci. "Or not life. Some aren't alive, or sentient, or both. There are beings that exist like we do, and then there are outsiders, and many other kinds besides them. Some of them seem to exist as, um, expressions of modified reality, like a computer projecting a hologram, except the hologram is made from our reality. Higher dimensional beings do things that that, too." She scratches her nose, not out of itchiness but in thought, then answers, "Dealing with them is kind of my job. This one's hostile, and it's trapped, and we know where it is. So I'm going to deal with it. The Bersekers ... I don't know. Maybe shut down. Maybe try to spread. But they'd do that eventually some day, so why not dealw ith it now?"
"Well, can we deal with it now?" Lacci asks. "Berserkers are.. I don't think we have anything that could deal with a fleet of them, I mean. They're more technologically advanced than anything we're allowed to access from the Library."
"I'm going down to use Jonas's magic maker box," Aaron says as he gathers the last bit of thistlebark into his little leather pouch. He doesn't look very happy.
"Lucky for us I don't have to rely on the Library alone." Tasha tilts her head, chewing on her lip, then nods a little to herself as she sorts a thought in to its mental space. She'll probably need to look the part, if they come. "You see, Lacci, I have the help of more than just the Galactics. I sent out a distress call to the Titanian fleets, and I'm going to consult with a few others. Higher beings. This is my job, and here it is, so I'm going to figure this out."
Tasha gives Aaron a nod, which comes off like an approval and permission. Commanding. She doesn't seem to notice. "Jonas, Yue, how are our people looking?"
"Hakeber is exhausted," Jonas says. "Adrenaline burn-out. The others are in some sort of catatonia." Yue speaks up next, saying, "I think they're in mental nightmare loops. Liza should transition to exhaustion and sleep once her stress hormones wear out, and Jonas is managing her chemistry to make sure there isn't damage from it. Shojo is harder to deal with, since he's not showing any physical signs of stress. May have to pull him out chemically or with a shock."
"I see." Tasha sweeps her gaze across the two, then steps forward. "Do what you can for Liza, I'll see what I can do with Shojo. If we can't do anything, then do what you have to, to keep him with us." She waves Lacci to follow over, then sits herself down beside Shojo and bites her lip as she leans in to look in to his eyes.
The Vartan's eyes are unfocused and a bit dry looking. He probably hasn't blinked since he was put into this state.
Tasha's sigh is long. She shakes her head at what she's seeing, too angry to really show concern, but still feeling it. After a moment of watching the sad sight of Shojo, thinking if she hadn't brought him here he'd never have experienced this, she pushes past the self-pity and comes to a decision. First, she reaches over and gently pushes his eyelids shut. Then she shifts him, tucking her arms under his and pulls him to lay out across the couch, his head resting against her chest and wings folding around him. She gives him a hug, putting her head to his. She thinks of what to say.
The man's breathing is slow and steady, as is his heartbeat. To all outward appearance he's asleep. Yue kneels down next to them and takes one of Shojo's talons in her hands. "I'm not sure what he's experiencing," she says. "Do you know what he's most afraid of?"
"I can guess, but I don't want to discuss his fears to a room full of people." Tasha looks up, to the others that aren't nearby. "Jonas, could you move Hakeber and Liza to the infirmary? Come back and check on us in a little while?"
"Sure.. can you help me, Lacci?" Jonas asks, as he picks up Liza.
"Of course, doctor," Lacci says, going back into military mode. Given the current situation, it's probably a relief for her to have something to do. She carefully carries Hakeber.
Once the others are gone, Tasha lays her head back down against Shojo's and closes her eyes. She then starts to gently rock him, uncertain if it will help her, but finding it helps her -- so maybe. "Shojo's always been angry," she tells Yue, leaving her head where it is, hoping the closeness helps some small bit. That he doesn't feel like she fears he does. "And lonely. He left his Clan because his disease made him feel unwanted, so he tried to fight the world that hurt him by curing it to death. Helping in the way he couldn't be helped. Joined the Knights, who give up everything. Just look at Hake-bear, people don't do that wehn they have something that keeps them back home."
The hybrid woman exhales, head shaking. "So, Shojo becomes a medic. And to everyone he seems immovable, invincible, like a robot. But he's not a robot! No one seems to notice how angry he is, or how much he's always suffering, he just keeps it inside and plays the robot part, always an outsider. There but not there. A person, but not really. He seems like a robot so I guess he must just be one! I bet it hurts every time someone tells him that. Everytime they look at him like he's a thing."
Tasha opens her eyes long enough to blink several times, the pulls in a sniff, sharp and quick. "So I brought him along. Yes, out of pity. Shojo becomes a medic to heal the world, well, I find lonely people without hope and I give them some. A chance. Because I know. People akways looked at me like I was a freak, too. I know. But Shojo had it worse, so I wanted to give him a chance when the world didn't. But I don't know if that helped or made things worse." Her head shakes, then goes back down to rest on his, eyes closing. "Pitied, forgotten, and maybe neevr as useful and as needed as he wants to be. I think Shojo is afraid of being nothing. Nothing to himself, to us, or anyone. Something to pity, or a joke, and he isn't even allowed to be angry because then he'd be a monster too."
"I'm not sensing any anger, just fear," Yue says. "I've never tried to read him before though. His condition is that he doesn't have any involuntary muscle movements, isn't it? Do you know if the disease is progressive?"
"I don't. Jonas would." Tasha bites her lip. Had she been wrong about the anger? No, she's certain she saw it now and then, in flashes. Maybes she saw it as more because anger was how she dealt with being different, she doesn't know. "Maybe he's afraid of getting sicker. But that's not really something to worry about out here, is it? We can probably find a cure. He told me once he was afraid he wouldn't be who he was if he got better, but I don't think he'd die for it. If he's afraid he might get cured and be someone else, I don't really understand how to deal with that."
"Talk too much," Shojo hisses. "Can hear you." He barely moves his beak though, and doesn't open his eyes.
"Well tough," goes Tasha, who just hugs on to Shojo that much more. "Wake up and stop letting the stupid sun-bottle get to you and I promise I'll stop."
There isn't any more activity from Shojo for over a minute. "Give me time," he manages to say. "Been locked in before."
Tasha chews on her lip for a moment, but then nods. "Alright," she conceeds. Turning, she nods Yue towards the exit. "Go help Liza and Hake. I'm going to stay here a while."
There's a loud THUNK on the hull before the proximity alarm goes off. "Unknown ship just appeared and dropped something on us," Gabriel says over the intercom. "Prepare for boarding! Heavy hitters to the corridor junction!"
Tasha's eyes snap open. It takes her a moment to get her bearings, but she grew up on ships and the impulse to act when an emergency is announced is as reflexive as breathing. She gives Shojo a quick kiss on his forehead and murmurs, "Titanian party just arrived, need to pull out Rustpuppy," and then immediately detangles herself. She rubs at her right arm, which had fallen asleep, turning in place until she remembers her armor and halitool are back in her quarters. She begins that way.
By the time she gets the awkward armor on and takes the lift down, meetings are already underway. Two unfamiliar Titanians are just outside the lift, in the junction where the main corridor meets the transverse one connecting the airlocks and passages back to the rear of the ship. Between then and the bridge are Gabriel, Lacci and Moka - with the dolphin being the only one with a weapon, even though it's part of her walking harness. The Titanians are wearing armor made of.. skulls, apparently - though of creatures Tasha isn't familiar with. Both of the space wolves turn to look at Tasha when she emerges.
Tasha shifts her halitool to her right shoulder, lifting her left hand in greeting. She takes a moment to make a show of looking around, first at the Titanians and their skull armor and then to her crew, before turning back to the boarders. "What," she begins in a bark, " ... 'hi' not dramatic enough, got to jump on board with fancy skull-suit?" She rolls her uncomfortable shoulders in her armor, having meant to fix that little discomfort, deciding it helps her look extra non-chalant.
"Hmph, you got that Mauler look," the larger one says. He then smacks his fist against his chest and says, "Commander Redgore of Divine Lobotomy. This my lootin' aunt, Skullcup." The smaller one does have a cup at his belt made from a skull. It was initially lost amidst the general skull decor though. "You Rustpuppy? Trick fishermen out of hammer ship?"
"Yah," replies Tasha, who wags her big armor tail and grins widely. "Good trick, right? Better than sitting around in junkyard, anyway, bor-ing. Got big stuff to do." The young faux-Titanian walks forward, right up to the other Titanians and then waggles her free hand out towards the rest of her crew. "Those mine, do ship things, talk to Galactics so blah blah blah polotics blah blah can dock at port. Kind of important." She then trusts her hand out to the Commander and grins wider. "Welcome to Dark Horse, sneaky Progenitor-mission anti-god ship. Want snacks?"
"What sort of snacks?" Skullcup asks, but gets elbowed by Redgore, who does not shake Tasha's hand. "Why you send call?" he demands instead. "Busy. Stuff to do. Come out of our way."
"Got gods to kill, why else?" Tasha pulls out her datapad from a pouch at her side, fumbling the keys due to her relatively enormous armored gloves, then turns the image towards the two Titanians. "Sun-Bottle God and Berserkers. Had stuff to say about ship, also say killed Tnuctipin. Berserkers win eventually, but maybe not time. God outsiders and old-angels fighting it out, whoever wins, well ... " she balances her halitool, then removes the hand long enough to hold out, then crush in to a fist, " ... no more universe, yah? So got to deal with it. Except, just one ship, new crew. Bottle-god has Trumpet and Berserkers have ... Berserkers."
"So, what you try already?" Redgore asks, arms still crossed against his chest.
"Try talking." Tasha shrugs again, then puts her datapad away in favor of scratching her chin. "Use some magic. Going to talk to other gods, see what-what. Trumpet kind of a problem though. Keep disabling ship. Knows we're there. Messes with brain, nightmare loops. Said something about flying ship though bottle-body, in to sun, that do it, but then Berserkers get bored, maybe go fly around. Same if help Berserkers win. Bottle-God can't kill them. Need all Ogdru-hem contained before too late, or rest not matter, yah?"
"Ugh," Redgore says, and rubs his forehead. "Ship too fancy," he points out. "Not proper Titanian ship. You need blow up sun. Fix everything, yah?"
"Ship you got is ship you got," Tasha counters, head rolling from side to side. "Might be god-killing ship if Tnuctipin not so brainy-smart. And dead. But kind of jerks, so eh, yah? Still, is really fancy." She sniffs, eyes wandering as she thinks, then spots the cup again and has to grin. "Nice cup," she notes, before looking up and also adding, "Hard to blow up sun when got fancy ship, no bomb, and Bottle-God hugging sun like mate. Was thinking distract it, mebbe, fewer Trumpet to Berserker means they go faster. Can't shoot us and them both, yah? But, shoot us out of Maelstrom, mebbe not time to reach sun. and ship not equipped for blamo."
"Zerkies gonna drop or shoot stuff into sun, yeah?" Redgore asks, while Skullcup beams at the compliment. "But messed up by Trumpet? Trumpet hit all them at once then, so no aim. It hit everything in range. But only machine minds hit. So don't use those. Everything fine! Wait for Zerkies get messed up, go drop all their crap on sun. Or get new crap and drop from far away. Suns wants to blow up all the time. Just too fat."
"Yah, hrrm, 'delicate gravitic balance'." Tasha rubs her muzzle again, thinking hard. She could do it all, except ... "Problem. Fancy ship need fancy brain, Tnuctipin almost smart as Sifra, even Old Ones think so. Got to use smarty-brain to fly ship, but smarty-brain not like Trumpet. Lost control once after arrive, then almost get shot again when leaving. Can talk to core, but rest?" She reaches her left hand up to her head, as if she had a sudden headache. "Ugh."
Redgore just stares at Tasha for a moment, before saying, "Can't plan course, write down instructions for manual control?"
"Don't tell Kaa that," Moka says.
Tasha makes a sniff. Not in indignation, but a shrug of those those, bemused. "Huh. Yah, maybe. Got to talk to brain, see how to write down something like fancy-ship course. Is not just movement but control most systems, but many also automatic so probably stay on and walls not fall apart and mess everywhere." Which makes Tasha wince. If the walls vanished, it would be one colossal mess. "Mebbe other good have something to say. Pretty good idea though."
"So, easy fix; drop dense stuff from far off," Redgore suggests. "Mebbe not enough to blow up star, but enough to mess up god a bit, let zerkies finish stuff they gonna drop on it."
"Sound OK. If that fail, try other way. Try and figure out ship too, see if Bottle-God lying or not. Say Tnuctipin create ship to kill Bottle-God, but maybe big liar too." Tasha then turns to her crew, asking, "We got big mass we can use somewhere? Tow metal from A, maybe?"
"That's two lightyears away," Gabriel says. "We.. haven't tried to tow anything through the Maelstrom. There's plenty of neutronium in-system that the Berserkers have been manufacturing through whatever nanotech process lets them do that though. Kaa is good at nudging things. Orbital billiards isn't that complicated."
"Wonder why Berserkers not try it?" But Tasha shrugs. "Out of range is out of range, guess they not think of it, or too late. Well, worth shot, right?" And then she turns back to the Titanians. "We win, any skull or bone left over you get some. Kind of want skull-helmet now, though."
"Dolphins got big skulls," Skullcup offers as advice.
"Oh, zerkies will hate it if you touch their stuff," Redgore notes. "Mebbe they need all o' it for their big plan or something. Can also throw ship. Don't need to do anything but get up to speed in right direction. Do whatever it is make hammer ship a weapon."
"Yah but all squeaky and need them for stuff-doing. Well." Tasha rubs her head with a free hand, mussing up her hair as she looks around for a long moment before saying, "Is probably weapon. Bottle-god all blah blah blah about core until Hake-bear magic him away with not-magic wood. Might be something, might not if liar. Worth try." She sniffs again, that same bemused way. "So three plans, mebbe four. Pretty good. Good. Hokay, you can go now, yah? Want snacks first?"
"Got coffee?" Redgore asks, and Skullcup wags his tail at the suggestion.
"Big wolf run on coffee, of course got coffee." Tasha turns and begins walking towards the galley, waving the two Titanians to follow along. "This way, try not freak crew out. 'cept Lacci, look scary at her. Bird with freckles. Poof out."
"Hey," Lacci complains, but still keeps her distance from the Titanians.
After the Titanians leave, along with their scary looking Divine Lobotomy ship (which is built into a really big skull) there a few things to deal with, like getting out of the Rustpuppy armor. Gabriel says he'll go over Dr. Zerachiel's notes with Moka about how he thought the ship could be used as a weapon, and Hakeber and Liza have transitioned into normal sleep. While all the excitement was happening, Aaron managed to use Jonas's fabber to make rings for everyone with embedded thistlebark - for 'ghost punching' as he put it, but also to help protect against possession. It didn't seem to affect Yue's abilities though.
Tasha now had the free time to talk to her other advisor, which meant waking up Melchior. "Hello Tasha," the AI greets once she's plugged in. "Why is there an ugly looking smaller version of me in the hangar?"
"There's that Magi jealousy you all claim not to have because 'we don't feel emotions,'" Tasha remarks with a roll of her eyes and a grin. She parts the arm rest, then expalins, "Don't be mad, but I needed a smaller suit for working in smaller spaces. Because you're big, right? Right. If it really bothers you, I'll make Lacci pilot it. Does that sound fair?"
"Probably," Melchior agrees. "What have I missed since the exhibition combat?"
"Well, we decided to go explore some of the Ash Zones because the pay is good and we thought that we might find something useful or at least something that points to something useful, like the central Library hub. As it turns out, along with finding a star-system wide god-trap that had its own planet sized mechanical clock, we have also found an Ogdru-hem in the next system swarmed by Bersekers. It's hostile, it uses a Trumpet to disrupt machine intelligence, and it's been in a war with those Berserkers for thousands or millions of years. It'll lose, but I want it gone sooner rather than later for Ogdoad-reasons." She sniffs, then rubs her nose. She feels fidgety, and blames too many cups of coffee. "I called the Titanians for advice, so now we've got plans. Going to talk to Horus about using the ship as a weapon if the other plans fail."
"Have you looked at the other systems within the zone yet, or just the two you have mentioned?" Mel asks.
Tasha lays back, muzzle quirking in to a frown. "Just these two. Considering how dangerous its been so far, I didn't want to take on another big risk while we were still worrying about this one. Besides, it's our job to dealw ith the Ogdru-hem, and here one is. If I can't beat this one, well, I am going to beat this one."
"There may be useful resources in the other systems. If the first one is a 'trap' then it is possible the surrounding ones may also be traps," Mel says. "Studying them may reveal an exploitable weakness in this Ogdru-hem."
"Wellllll, I guess that's true. It does seem to enjoy causing fear and terror. Maybe there's more. It said it killed the Tnuctipin, so maybe they're around here too. Or, their runes, anyway. I'm not sure I want to meet the actual Tnuctipin." Tasha shakes her head. "They'll eat you!" She can still hear Blackwings -- the imposter, anyway -- say it.
"Was it referring to the species as a whole, or to the original crew of this vessel?" Mel asks.
"Both. It destroyed the Tnuctipin and did something to the crew. Turned them against each other, I think. Played on their distrust. 'Smart but suspicious,' is pretty much what it said. It also said this ship was built to kill it, and specifically the core is important, but Hake-bear chased it off before I learned more. It could be lying, too, but I'm not sure. They can be arrogant." And so Tasha shrugs, as if to say 'who knows'.
"Is the core related to the Ogdru-hem?" Mel asks.
"Well it is some kind of dark creature. Come to think of it ... " Tasha had been so worked up over the attack she didn't think on what happened with the core. Until then, it'd never actually responded to her. That it did she just took as a good sign and went immediately to the next priority on the last, pushing out all distractions from a lifetime of shipboard emergency preperation. Save the ship first, think about the rest later when you're not dead. "Uhm, the core kind of ... responded to me when I went to check on it. Got closer. Bigger? And wiggled. It's never done that before."
"Was this before or after contact with the Ogdru-hem?" Mel asks next.
"Uh, after. Right after it Trumpted at us." Tasha twists her muzzle. There could be a connection, or it could just be agitaed. Either way it is interesting. "I thought maybe Horus would have some idea, he's been studying the ship."
"How did the Ogdru-hem communicate with you?" the AI queries.
Tasha 'hrrms', then explains, "I think it touched our minds and also created some kind of avatar or image. Maybe both at the same time in some way that's both and neither, because it probbaly wasn't just an image in our heads. hake-bear threw thistlewood at the figure and it felt physical, but it looked like things we found unpleasant."
Mel then asks, "Was it present when the Horse was reacting oddly?"
"I don't know. It probably was." Tasha nods slowly, seeing the connection. "The Horse is something that ca defeat them, but it's strange it'd tell me that. Unles it wants to die. Or, was going to kill us and was just bragging because it was bored."
"Do not ascribe logic to their ways of thinking," Mel advises. "Katha-hem saw time differently. But if it was being truthful when it claimed this ship was created to kill it, it would imply that there is something specifically special about the Horse."
Tasha grimaces, then sticks her tongue out a moment later before saying, "It's really hard to understand something or figure it out when it could be saything what it says for any number of reasons including incomprehensible alien ones and just totally chaos." Her head shakes; what else can she do? "It said the core was special. The being inside the core. The metal is just ... The metal. But it's Tnuctipin technology designed to kill the incomprehensible, so I am having some problem figuring it out."
"Perhaps Horus knows of the Tnuctipin," Mel suggests. "He was to hunt down and destroy the Ogdru-hem, after all."
"Assuming he still remembers." Tash bites her lip, deciding her words are ubfair a second too late. "Well, I mena, he's been through a lot. He's not what he was."
"Was he ever what he was?" Mel asks, in a perfectly serious tone despite the oddness of the question.
"You mean a god? No, probably not, but the Ogdru-hem did call him one. I thought that was odd. The, um, remains of a god. In some ways they are like gods, because they are what they know, that means they're like ... Like the gods Titanians talk about. Gods of a thing. Except they're gods of what they know, and the Archons knew their people. Or maybe they didn't? I know some of them were detsroyed by their own children." It makes Tasha sad to think about, to think how far they'd come, what they'd become, destroyed by what they amde and are. She wonders some times if she started a people, would they some day come and destroy her? "But the Vril'ya are alien and hard to understand, even if they're us."
"Do you mean that non-deities are easy to understand?" Mel asks. "It seems that understanding oneself is difficult as well, much less others."
"It's all a big confusing mess," Tasha agrees. "The only thing I understand is that I make a better Titanian than I seem to make anything else, so maybe I'm a bad person to ask about these things."
"You are the only person I can ask though," Mel points out.
Tasha shifts in her seat, uncomfortable. "I know. I'm just angry over what happened and how little I understand. Shojo and Liza were hurt, and I think Hake-bear saved us all somehow. And what did I do? I spoke to that thing, and I didn't accomplish anything."
"You did not get hurt," Mel points out. "That is something."
"You mean me personally, or that the ship wasn't Trumpeted to death?" Tasha asks, head tilting.
"You personally," Mel clarifies. "Others who faced this manifestation were injured, correct?"
"Uh, Hakeb-bear and Lacci saw it too. Lacci saw a bad hologram, and I don't know what Hakeber saw. I told them to get away before it attacked them, then I confronted it." Tasha cocks her head to the side, frowning. "I did wonder about that. I asked, and it said I was the leader and it ws bored, but I wondered. I thought there was soemthing to it, and maybe it couldn't attack me. That it was bluffing. Even if it had knocked out the Niss, the Niss probably would have recovered and we were farther away that time. And the Ogdoad know me -- maybe they know everyone -- but they do know me specifically. Katha-hem said so. So, why not destroy me? Why didn't it try to crush me? Why haven't they all tried to crush me?"
"Perhaps they need you," Mel suggests. "Or they simply do not care. If they have been around for billions of years, the lives of mortals are but brief sparks."
"I feel like maybe it's the needing part. Otherwise why not just toy with me, like all the others?" Tasha shrugs, though. "Or maybe not? They're hard to know, like you said. Maybe I'm just really interesting to them, like a vid program. Maybe the Ogdoad think I'm just the greatest. That would be awkward."
"I think you are the greatest," Mel notes.
"I'm the only one you have to talk to," Tasha points out, but she still has to smile.
"I do not see how that is a factor," Mel claims.
"Mmmhmm, well, I am not going to argue against being the greatest because that would be dumb. No dumb." The last is said in her mock-Titanian accent. She then taps her head and notes, "But I should talk to Hours while I'm feeling good about myself, because who knows how that's going to go. For a big glowy not-fire he's entirely too Vartan to think of as anything other than familiar, and he's our creator, so what he says goes a long way."