When Tasha returned to the family tower, she saw that everyone was at least roused and at the dining table. They were all still naked, with mussed hair and fur and Sasha was actually dozing in his seat. Liza and Aaron were in the kitchen area, with Aaron working on coffee duty. "Oh, you're returned," Liza greets Tasha. "And you're still naked, which is good. We've hidden all of your clothes. And by that I mean everybody's clothes." Gabriel is the only one at the table that looks alert and pretty happy as he waves Tasha over.
And so Tasha clip-clops over happily and has a seat -- on Gabriel. "Hi!" She leans back, and unlike the others, is actually washed and she smells like hot springs. "You look happy, most everyone looks happy. Sasha looks asleep."
Gabriel gives Tasha a kiss on the cheek and wraps his arms around her. "They're all lightweights," he claims. "Except for Hakeber. She was wide awake as soon as the prospect of bacon filtered through to her brain." Hakeber is across the table, keeping Katie propped up on one side and Sasha on the other. Sasha has a little bubble going in and out in one nostril. "I had to carry Sharon. Vasha is a tough one to get moving as well."
Tasha kisses Gabriel back and is content to be held, because Gabriel is very comfortable and she has resolved some problems thanks to her long talk with Galatea. "That does sound like me, although I distinctly remember being better at napping and waking up on time. All this cushy life is bad for me." Despite her claims she snuggles in and looks in no hurry to leave being 'cushed'.
Aaron brings out the first round of coffee, which perks up Sasha and Sharon at least. Vasha seems indifferent to it, other than taking in the smell. "I actually sore," she complains.
"You get used to it," Tasha insists, then sticks her tongue out at, essentially, herself. "Time toughen up! Some day, you may be as robust as I am." And so she flexes, even if her arm isn't the resilient body part in question.
"You are all out of shape," Aaron claims. "You're missing a lifetime of growing into your bodies. Or you're Hakeber. Your physical training starts today."
"But I like being soft and squishy," Sharon complains. "Mostly."
"It sure did!" Tasha's tail wags, then wraps around Gabriel's arm. She titters, which is very girly of her, then spreads her hands primly. "While you were all lazing about I was already working on things like training. Sharon and I will be mastering our flames, and all four of us need to convene to decide on some internal matters. And I need to talk to Gabriel, all of me, Katie, and Hakeber some time soon."
"We're all right here now," Katie notes, holding her mug with two hands. "So.. dinner? I need to work on the basic training schedule with Aaron still."
"Hey, I plenty strong," Vasha notes. "You lack stamina and have no idea how best to use your strength," Aaron counter-argues.
"I'm the pretty, brainy, fun one," Hakeber argues. "Which is why you need to be able to run-away without collapsing after forty paces," Katie points out.
"And you need find out what your limits really are now, Tasha," Aaron says. "Luckily we have a fully stocked weight room."
"Yeah, I have no idea what my limits are in this body," Sasha concedes.
"Oh, well, then I'll just say things even if it's a bit embarrassing. Sharon's apparently my self-opposite, or maybe opposite-self? The part of me that's unlike people's expectations of me. My softer side. She has potential in mastering a healing flame, and that's useful. So we'll do that. For all four of us, we need to work on a undermine. No, wait, that's not it, submind. The opposite of an overmind. Because were, in fact, one person and one soul, even if we're four. And what we learn, grow in to, and do, all come back to that same soul. It will support us all as it grows, as we do. And we should now be aware our mortal soul is bigger than it was." As for finding her limits, she sticks her tongue out at Aaron next. "I can fly at hypersonic speed and shoot plasma from my hands, we have guns that shoot across space. I find the need for personal muscles a little trivial, but okay."
"You just made my point, Tasha," Aaron says. "In this new world, people can get amazing abilities from their technology. So why does Yue know martial arts? Because nobody expects that. Being able to hide skills is important, because technology is as much a weakness as a strength. It's for more exploitable than muscle."
"Your special abilities don't work on Caltrop, remember," Gabriel reminds Tasha. "There are ways that they can be suppressed. That's why leaning magic and hand-to-hand combat are both important."
"Under that logic muscles are as much a strength as they are a weakness too," Tasha counters, her ears wiggling in a Silent-One laugh. "I just can't think of the last time I had to punch something. If anything, relying on my strength so much made me prone to getting injured. BUT I know your point so fiiine." She shrugs her hands up in surrender.
The Lapi grins. "Good, because Katie, Yue and I will be your sparring partners," he claims.
"I agree about magic, too. Magic is the Space Army Knife of special powers. If all those tools were made out of fire," Tasha adds. her tail tries to wag but it's around Gabriel so it just shifts his arm. Slightly.
"Submind.." Sasha ponders.
"Pah, I fought a dragon and ate it's heart, I'm not afraid of bunny, monkey, and sparkle-dog." Tasha then blows a kiss towards Katherine. "I love you Katie!"
"So, finish up your coffee and be ready to do some laps around the inner wall of the landing field," Aaron says. "Let's see how far each of you can get, and then afterwards you'll get your clothes back. Sharon can have shoes for this."
"Mooore torture," Tasha laments.
"Working out together will help your bond," Katie claims.
"Our complaing powers will increase fourfold!" Tasha declares.
"I'll be leading the run," Katie says. "I've had endurance training. I only expect one of you to keep up with me."
"Is there a prize?" Hakeber asks.
"I volunteer Vasha, she's insisted she's strong and athletic. I am just a cute goat-bird-noise-wolf, I'm only good for prancing through forests," the red woman insists.
"I expect both you and Vasha to last the shortest time," Katie tells Tasha.
"That's great because I also expected to last the least. All of you and your legs offend me with your walking." But Tasha doesn't look offended, she looks comfortable and like she might fall asleep again.
"Running tones your ass," Katie points out. "That's basically what an ass is for."
"I can think of a few other uses," Gabriel says. "I'll be running too. It's been awhile and I don't want to get soft."
"Sasha uses his ass for different things," Tasha counters, "That's why it needs to be soft!"
"What.. heyy!" Sasha complains. "I demand to have an electric ass-poking device to keep Tasha moving!"
"Is it even possible for you to get sof-" Tasha pauses at the obvious joke, then corrects, "To not be in shape, Gabriel?" He then gets another kiss, just because.
"Electric devices are more of Sharon's interest set," Tasha notes solemnly.
"And Katie's," Tasha adds a second later.
"I'm not in my prime anymore," the big wolf claims.
"I will have the most powerful device of all," Aaron claims, and produces a small metal tube. When he blows through it, it makes a horrible whistling noise that affects everyone but Sharon.
"Ahh.. if hangover was a noise!" Vasha complains, covering her ears.
Tasha's ears immediately go down. It startles her so much she does what comes first to mind when assaulted by scary loud noises, which is to bark at it. more specifically, to roar-bark at it. So now there's roar-barks and horrible whistling.
The keening torture sound stops, and Aaron looks surprised at how effective it was. "I wish I had one of these when I was in the jungles," he claims.
"I'd have stolen it and thrown it off a cliff, or sent it to the Mage Guild like other cursed objects," Tasha complains.
"I guess it really is only annoying to predators," Aaron says. "Are you all ready to get your blood pumping and your hearts racing.. while being upright?"
"I need more motivation," Hakeber claims.
"The one who lasts the longest gets to say how the bacon is distributed," Aaron offers.
"I'm half prey but it wasn't half annoying, which I feel is unfair," Tasha further complains. She clings to Gabriel's arm. "Saaave meee."
"I'll be running too," Gabriel says. "Along with the mercenaries. Well.. Mr. Gold and Mr. Pink anyway."
"Uuuuuuuu.." Sharon moans and turns bright red. "I can't run naked in front of a man! A human man!"
"The rest should have to run too! If we fliers have to run, everyone has to run!" Tasha then nods over to Sharon. "Sharon needs clothes. I was and am Sharon for a while and also now, I know!"
"Fine.. she can have shorts and a halter like Yue will be wearing," Aaron concedes. "And a hair-tie or sweat-band."
"I have to sweat too?" the human asks in horror.
"Yeah it's really weird," Tasha agrees with Sharon's horror.
"It gives humans superpowers though," Katie claims.
"The power.. to be uncomfortable," Tasha confirms.
"Well, everyone but Sharon can head to the field then," Aaron says. "Liza can get her outfitted."
"Do you want me to carry you?" Gabriel asks Tasha.
Tasha starts sliding off Gabriel. "No, I need to demonstrate leadership qualities, such as walking a short distance and melting Aaron's whistle if he becomes obnoxious. More obnoxious." Tasha hops to the floor, then extends a hand to take Gabriel's so they can walk together. "So did you and Katie make out? You can tell me!"
"I honestly don't know," Gabriel says. "I couldn't see who I was with most of the time."
"Apparently Sharon and I together create a massive psionic sexy wave," Tasha explains as they walk towards the field.
"I didn't make out with anybody I hadn't already made out with before," Katie claims.. which probably doesn't mean much if the quartet was technically the same person.
"I thought you were just warming up for my arrival," Gabriel says with a smirk.
"I grabbed as much as I could!" Hakeber boasts. "I may have swallowed a feather though."
"Sharon woke me up by straddling me, which she should know leads to things. And she's me so she has no excuse. So we did things, and the resonance spread outward from my extremely sexy soul." Tasha's free hand sways as she walks. "And I was with everyone at least once. Once again, leadership skills."
"You'll all get your honorary Lapi badges later," Aaron says.
"I wonder if a fifth me could be a bunny. Oh, and the sixth, a cat! Then I can sleep all the time," Tasha muses, nodding.
They aren't the first to arrive at the airfield. There's already a table there with an umbrella, with Kai and Jonas sitting at it. Yue is doing stretches next to it, and Mr. Pink and Mr. Gold are also doing warmups in their running shorts. There are duffel-bags stacked next to the table, along with towels, and there are several large carafes on top of it with some cups.
Mr. Black is basking near the wall, along with some of the Kobolds. There's no sign of Whisper or the dragons though.
Tasha might be embarrassed if she didn't end up naked so much, and if she didn't know she's at least middlingly powerful among the various assorted weird aliens present. You might say she's jaded, but she'd argue it's more of experience and confidence. "Annnd here we are, the execution gound."
"Hiiiieeee!" Kai waves from the shade of the umbrella. "Look, I brought the doctor in case any of you pass out!"
"A wise choice, and an unsurprising interest in our misery," Tasha calls back in a cheery voice, waving in return.
"I also asked Tia to turn off your kinetics," Kai says, just as cheerily.
"The track we're following is about 1.5 kilometers," Katie says. "This is going to be a test of endurance, so we won't be all-out running, but jogging. And we're only carrying the weight of our bodies this time. I will be disappointed with anyone who drops out before two full laps."
"And I expected you to do so, because it was predictable," Tasha sing songs merrily. That's not exactly right, but she did suspect Kai, Tia, or both would interfere if she cheated, and she's become more clever as she's had to second guess a host of aliens with personal problems.
"That's Katie-speak for do your best but don't die trying," Tasha tacks on to Katherine's review.
"This may seem impractical to some of you, but you may need to do EV work in zero gravity conditions," Gabriel says. "It is extremely strenuous, despite what you may think. So lets line up! I think I see Sharon coming."
"All joking aside, you should probably take this seriously. I mean, I came here willingly, so take that under consideration." Tasha hurries over to the start line so she can be first on it, if likely not first to return to it.
"I would eventually like everyone to be able to go a full 28 laps," Katie says. "That's only 42 kilometers, which I'm told elderly humans sometimes run through cities for fun."
Vasha stands right next to Tasha of course, with Katie out front. Behind her Mr. Gold, the Silent-One. Gabriel and Mr. Pink are side by side as well, and Yue and Sharon are paired up. That puts Sasha behind Vasha. "They're all yours, Miss Kaboom!" Aaron announces. "Set the pace!" And with that Katie starts off with what looks like an easy lope.
And so Tasha follows. She has no illusions, she's in a new body with little exercise, and she can't rely on a lifetime of work anymore. It's unfair, but it's better than being dead or a genetic mess. The complaining is there to help her vent frustration without imploding, as running is hardly the most pressing matter she has to deal with.
But it is.. well, simple. No huge stakes riding on it beyond bacon, no impossible expectations or consequences to worry about. It's just moving together as a group on a nice morning.
Once the big buildup is past, Tasha has to admit it's rather nice. She's enjoyed a walk through the forest on several occasion and this feels like more of that, except with a goal in mind. "Our little weasel said she ran in to you while hunting," Tasha asides to Vasha.
"Oh, thought we lost her somewhere," Vasha squawks. She's been jogging with her mouth open. "She gonna try and steal a dragon, I bet."
"That will be fun to watch," Tasha agrees. "At least I was able to find her before she starved to death or something."
The Vartan opens her beak for a bit, being 'air-cooled' which is easier when flying. "Where Reeka now?" she asks after the cooling break.
Tasha also jogs with her mouth open, because panting is the canine version of sweating. She has her wings tucked to reduce resistance. "Oh, somewhere. Like Kai she exists everywhere and nowhere until there's trouble, then she's right there. She has quantum superannoyance."
At least Tasha can also sweat through the pads on her hands, but Persephone didn't seem to add any other special cooling systems to her makeup. Vasha has the worst of it when it comes to cooling down with this sort of activity. And Tasha can see the brief 'footprints' that Katie leaves from sweating through her feet. They finally pass the table, marking the first lap down.
"We're still alive!" Tasha waves to the seated people as they job past. "Believe in Team Bird!" And then they're past and heading in to the forest.
Some of the Kobolds on the sidelines cheer, or something like cheering. Hooting. Of course Tasha has no idea how those behind them are doing.
Tasha would check but she assumes Kai and Tia cut her communications too, because that would be more obnoxious than not, and she knows Kai and Tia is going to be mad at her forever until she recovers that piece of her soul -- a problem for another time. "Think the others are okay? Sharon and Sasha have it easier than us, I'm expecting them to come out ahead," she tells Vasha.
Vasha is already taking really deep breaths, and her wings are drooping a bit. "Heh.. heh.. mebbe they drop out already?" she suggests. Of course they didn't see anyone at the recovery table, so probably not.
"One.. more.. lap. then we're done," Tasha assures Vasha. Tasha has somewhat more exercise on her belt, what with having existed longer and fighting dragons, but not a lot more. But she's died, she's used to physically pain, she can take a beating despite her melodramatic complaints. She can go two laps. "Next time.. We make everyone fly."
"Yah.. best way to keep.. cool.." The Vartan is really laboring now. Her muscles probably aren't any more sore than Tasha's.. it's the heat that is the problem. If they were running faster they might be able to keep cooler, for a while anyway.
The second lap is nearly done now though as they round the corner past the Astraea and the recovery table is in sight!
Tasha decides she's going to have to really complain about the exercise program if it's not taken Vartans in to account. There's no excuse to run other species ragged in an attempt towards two-legged performance. Once she's not panting and exhausted, she's going to have to say something. "I'll.. deal.. with.. it. We need.. our own.. workout."
"That.. means.. Shojo.. running.. it.." Vasha gasps. Shojo can be intense about such things. But the table is in reach now, with it's supply of cool water. Katie's already passing it!
Tasha races past the table.. and snatches two bottles of water, one of which she immediately hands over to Vasha. "Drink, drink," she urges before gulping down her own. "And I'd rather run with Shojo and Lacci then have my wings fall off and my hooves split because I'm trying to be.. a.. Karnor." Another gulp. "Maybe we can weave in running with flying with running some more. A flyathalon."
"Why.. are we still.. running?" Vasha asks, pouring half of her bottle over her head. This earns a bark of complaint from Sasha behind her.
"If we.. run in to the forest.. we can hide there.. " But Tasha slows. She doesn't want to make poor Vasha run more than she shoulder. "Lets.. head back. We can say we did.. a bit more.. and look good."
"Cheating!" Vasha says, appalled. "I don't need bacon," she then says, and starts to slow down and drift to the side.
"But we did do a bit.. more! We ran past.. the finish line.. and almost to the forest!" Tasha follows Vasha, then sits down on the grass and splays out, panting heavily.
The respite is interrupted when Hakeber piles on top of Tasha. "I am a bad Templar.." the Karnor laments. "Baaacon.."
Tasha hugs Hakeber despite being hot. "Your biggest muscle.. is your brain.. which is bad at running." She rolls Hakeber to her side, then asks, "How'd.. you do?"
"How? I fell as soon as you did," Hakeber says. "Not even the power of butts in front of me or being Queen of Bacon could make me go any further. And I went through Templar boot camp.. not that long ago."
"Our marshmellow.. lifestyle.. has made us weak.. over distances.. on feet and.. hooves. And I just fought.. a dragon." Tasha holds up a hand. "Want to see some.. magic?"
"Will it make my lungs burn worse than they are now?" Hakeber replies.
"Only if I use it.. on you." Tasha's lowers her hand and abandons the idea. Then she's just there for a while. Panting.
It's relaxing, despite the thumping of her heartbeat. On the next pass, it looks like Sasha has dropped out (probably back at the table). That just leaves Katie and Gabriel to represent the Karnors, Mr. Gold for the Silent-Ones, and the three humans.. which means at least one of the Tashas is still in the game. Sharon looked like she'd even gotten her second wind.
"This game feels rigged," Tasha notes to Vasha -- and to Hakeber for some reason. "Where is Shojo.. Someone bring Shojo to me."
"We wasn't involved," Vasha says. "He miss out on seein' me in all me glory."
"Shojo doesn't understand exercise," Hakeber wheezes.
"His loss. Probably destroying Lacci from our.. psionic.. wave." Tasha glances at Hakeber, remembers, then nods. "Oh right.. the.. thing. Well.. One of us will have to.. come up with.. a exercise routine."
On the next pass, the group is down one Cheetah, and Katie is now behind Gabriel and Mr. Pink. Sharon is trailing further back, behind Yue.
"Competitive eating," Hakeber suggests. "Marathon.. sex."
"So much.. for Team Tasha. I sued to be.. in better shape. Before my shape got.. demolished." Tasha does sit up though, rested enough to do so. "I'll submit a change for wing-use sections of the run so we can job and then flt to cool down. Maybe we can use the mountains, run and fly the perimeter."
"What are you three doing here?" Aaron asks he comes over. "This exercise isn't about running."
"We're resting. On the grass." Tasha tries to swat at Aaron, but he's too far away. "We're discussing changing the running to running and flying due to your anthropocentric two legged ground based tyranny."
"So, have the two of you ever had that much of a discussion before about anything?" the Lapi asks.
"We talk regularly enough!" Tasha waggles a hand towards Vasha. "I'm just busy! I slew a dragon like two days ago."
"Yes, yes, dragons are tough.. and you had a magic sword didn't you?" Aaron asks. "I'm more interested in if you two have bonded any better."
"Vasha and I get along fiiine, don't we Vasha?" Tasha waves to her hippogryph counterpart.
"I wanna beat you at stuff," Vasha admits. "Just.. gotta."
Sasha wanders over to join them, bearing water and towels. "We are all officially done," he announces. The runners go past.. and it's just Gabriel, Mr. Pink and Yue now.
"I don't want to be.. competitive though. I have enough things to struggle against and enough internal voices wanting my attention. I'vr already achieved a lot. I don't need to prove anything." Tasha stretches, accepts a towel and more water, and wraps herself up since she doesn't sweat. "Also I'm surprised Mr. Gold dropped out before the others."
"Like Lapi, Silent-Ones are sprinters," Aaron explains. "Digitigrade carnivores don't have the same energy-saving tendon structures, and only need to be fast for a short period. Ancient humans, though.. they actually just kept after their prey until it died of exhaustion. Gabriel is in impressive shape, but then again he was engineered to be superior."
They are soon joined by Sharon, who missed the lecture on why she's a better predator. She looks more soaked than any of them, of course. Even her hair looks sweaty.
"I can see how I might die of exhaustion if a Human hounded me enough. I was engineered only to be cute and have kids. Persephone likes cute things." Tasha finally stands back up, walking over to stand next to Sharon, whose shoulders she massages. Se gives Sharon her towel. "So we're all good at something and this isn't that something for everyone."
"I guess you and Vasha just need to learn how to stay put and fight," Sharon says, a bit weakly.
"Oh, they'll know how to fight in close quarters where using weapons would be too dangerous," Aaron promises.
"I can fight! I beat a dragon in a single-combat duel. I needed the power of the ansible and the sword because one Tasha and one dragon are not equal combatants in a fair one on one duel. It'd be like Hakeber fighting a Titan with a knife and a gun." Tasha huffs, ruffling up her mane, possibly to look ever more offended. "Though it would be nice to have real tactics and skills instead of winging it all the time. Still, a difference in raw power between beings can't be easily overcome with training alone, that's why Humans invented guns and robots."
"Now, what if you had to fight the dragon in the hallway of a spaceship, surrounded by essential and possibly fragile life support equipment?" Aaron asks. "What if there were two dragons? What if you need to keep some guys from getting past you?"
"I'd die because I'm not a match for a dragon in single combat. The way to win would have been to not end up in that position in the first place, to kill them by tricks and traps. Oh and dragons are immortal and only a few things can kill them, so, also, I wouldn't have been able to kill them at all under normal circumstances -- and without the Blue to protect me it'd have already crushed me with its aura." Tasha gives Aaron a very raised brow, knowing look. "There's a difference between dragon-likes and real dragons. They're entities of magic and force. The best thing to learn is to not fight them, or if you have to, win by whatever you can do. It's like asking, "How would Lacci beat the Melchior in hand to hand?" the answer is she wouldn't."
The rabbit's ears go down (well, the black is almost always down), and he says, "You know that isn't what I meant. You're going to a Khattan space city. You know they enhance their agents, which means they are prepared for hand-to-hand combat and that means their environment will be set up to give them an advantage. Weapons are detectable, from what Yue's told me, and civilians just don't go around armed out here. You've got some tricks from Galatea, but the others don't, and we know those abilities can be negated with Sifran crystal. I'm trying to make sure you are prepared, at least enough that I won't be sick with worry."
"Our advantages are that we know how to get by without fancy tech in a fight, and I'm going to make sure you have dirty tricks that they won't even think to be watching for," the Lapi adds.
"You know I'm exhausted right? What you don't know is I had a very long talk with a piece of my soul and Galatea about weighty matters before I came back." Tasha rolls her head, then shrugs. "I'm a bit literal right now, it's easier to think about. I am part Vartan. Anyway," she inhales, then exhales, "I agree with you. Dragons are just a bad example. You reminded me of a moment where I saw again how small and weak I am without all my inherited and granted abilities, and no amount of exercise and martial arts would have kept the small hill I was fighting from crushing me more or less instantly."
"Not every battle is with a monster," Aaron says. "But getting to that battle is key. Being taken out with a choke-hold from some bodyguard is just as likely as being eaten by a space dragon or whatever they've got hidden in their ridiculously gaudy snow-globe space station."
"Well, I agree with that. You should have just said, "Tasha, sometimes mortals fight mortals without weapons, and you should be better at that just in case" and I'd have been like, "okay". Bad analogies confuse me." Tasha pops a water bottle in to the front of her muzzle, leans back, and then drops her head and the bottle, which lands in her hand. "I admit I am worried about the unknown part of this. I don't like not knowing what they have in there, but at least I have magic. Also I think I can kill a dragon myself now, because I am like, one fifth dragon now."
"You need to wary of Tashas then," Aaron says. "Gabriel will teach you how to deal with military-type fighting styles. Katie and Yue will cover sneaky-quiet stuff, and I'll cover dirty tricks and how to cause over-confidence in an opponent."
"And also some boxing," he adds.
"That's easy, no one ever takes me seriously. That's how I won my last fight, my translucent swords of doom look a little fake," Tasha says, wagging her tail. "I would like to request our jogging exercises add a flight course, so we winged-types can cool off and work our wings. Flight has been under-recognized by all our training programs, and there's a lot you can do from the air. With a spear or lance, you can strike with considerable force. You can attack from above, because people often don't look up as much as forward and down. You can drop a rock."
"Can't we just each have a Calligenia clone?" Sharon asks. "Are the space stations wide-open enough for flying tactics?"
"The ones I've been shown have some pretty big public spaces," Aaron says. "Corridors, tunnels and such.. less so."
"Not fair, couldn't even fly on Caltrop," Vasha complains from the ground.
"We still need flying exercises to keep our bodies in shape. It can't be good for us to neglect a large part of our bodies," Tasha counters. "And it's bad for flier morale to be excluded."
"Shojo and Lacci already don't socialize with the group as much," Tasha then points out.
"I don't know anything about Vartan flying exercises," Aaron admits. "Lacci might? Shojo would make you carry boulders."
"I'll look in to it and submit my suggestions," Tasha promises. "There's plenty of Galactic information, and if not, I'll send to Abaddon."
"Good luck finding much on Vartans in the library stuff," Aaron says. "Verrrry secretive, apparently. Although there are the ones on Caltrop that left their clans."
"What are you all doing lying around like this?" Katie asks as she approaches the group. Karnors don't sweat, but Katie may have dumped some water on herself because her fur is glistening.
"Whhhy do you still look amazing after all that," Tasha complains in a whiney not quite howl. "I used to be good at these things, now I'm a soft slow lump."
"Yeah.. the only that being soft works for is Sharon," Katie says. "And now that the exercise is over, I've come to confiscate her clothes."
"Nooooooooo," Sharon whines, but doesn't move from where she's flopped.
"I sense an ulterior motive," Tasha accuses, muzzled tilted up, snootily. "Why do we not need clothes now, are we trying to torment the mercenaries? Sharon?"
"She doesn't need them now that the run is over," Katie says. "The rest of us have to go naked, so she does too," the Karnor reasons.
"But where are we goooing, isn't it over?" More howly whining from Tasha.
"Or I can take her back to the compound and she can strip and shower off there," Aaron suggests. "She smells weird right now."
"Does she?" Tasha scoots over and starts sniffing at Sharon.
"Well, what's next is.. uh.. I have no idea," Katie notes. "And Sharon, you're better off stripping right now than being left in the clutches of the bunnies. They'll clean you up and Liza will give you a massage. You're too worn out to resist, from the looks of it."
Sharon smells.. salty. The rest of the odd odor is probably coming from her clothes, even though they're just shoes, shorts and a halter top.
There a few spots where the odor is stronger, especially her armpits.
"I knew it! Katie's just trying to get Sharon naked again." Another sniff by Tasha. "But you should probably go get a shower.. in our tower. Because Sharon can shower by herself."
Despite all of Tasha's complaining she hops back up, then begins to stretch. "Well, I am going to go jump in the lake, and then maybe I'll practice setting things on fire. Maybe I should ask Whisper to magic up somewhere I can do it without setting the forest on fire.. Or maybe the mountains? Or cave."
"The base has a firing range," Katie points out.
"How conflagration-proof is it?" Tasha confirms, ears swiveling over. "Oh, and Sasha? Bring some heat-detonated explosives! Annnd various Galactic-materials I can test."
"When do we get our clothes back?" Sasha asks after Tasha's request.
"Those may also need to be fire proof," Tasha adds to the request, nodding.
"That hasn't been decided yet," Aaron claims. "You should be happy to run around the woods naked and howling though."
"I no howl!" Vasha points out.
"I feel like we're being punished for.. something. Is this a plot? What's your plan, you two!" Tasha points but uses two fingers and splits them to point at Katie and Aaron. "Alternatively, what did I do wrong?"
"It's a bonding exercise," Aaron claims. "Katie and Hakeber are naked too, doesn't that make it worth it? And I suppose Gabriel prefers it this way."
"Or the bunnies are just being mischievous," Katie suggests.
"I bet he does. But I think it makes me feel awkward, I did grow up around exploitative-types, I sometimes still feel like I'm on display. I know Sharon's not comfortable with it at all." Tasha rubs her nose, shifting her weight to a hip. "I'm not exactly against it, but it's not as easy as just letting go."
"I bet they are. It's probably a secret plot to make me want to have kids," Tasha muses.
"I don't mind it," Sasha says. "I think it's helping me accept my new body more."
"I don't mind Sasha being naked," Hakeber joins in. "Or any of the others! I just have to suppress the urge to be grabby."
"I gueeess it's okay," Tasha concedes, eyes rolling dramatically as she waggles her hands placatingly. "I mean, I'm a bit used to it now."
"I have the best body, so I don't mind for now," Vasha claims.
"As the most naked when naked, I do prefer clothes," Sharon notes.
Tasha snorts a chuckle at Vasha's antics, then pats Sharon. "I think Sharon gets a pass. How about we compromise and she just wears shorts and a tank top? Being almost naked can be as sexy or more than being completely naked," Tasha offers in compromise.
"Well, be careful of cramping then," Aaron cautions. "I'm heading back to the starting line, but if any of you have muscle or back pain later come see me."
Hakeber asks, "If we go jump in the lake to cool down.. will the Phins be there too?" Neither Kaa or Moka was spectating during the run.
"I've heard heat helps, so I'm going to go make some. Sharon," Tasha turns to the girl, to herself. "I'll be working on my end of things, and I want you to meet with Shojo and Jonas and discuss some medical training. It will be easier to learn to heal if you actually know what to heal and how, and you can avoid draining yourself by learning to use available medical tools. Aaron may also be able to help there."
To Hakeber, Tasha admits, "They might be. Don't worry about Kaa, I know he seems grabby, but he isn't."
"Yeah. After I clean up," Sharon agrees. She seems unwilling to actually get up though.
Tasha starts walking, then sees Sharon has not also started walking, so she walks over and helps her up. "Sasha, engineering -- coordinate with Fred if you can. Vasha, learn to fight stuff better. You can join me on the range if you want."
"If you can beat me at arm-wrestling I'll give you clothes back," Aaron offers Vasha.
"Nooo clooothes foooreverrr," sing-songs Tasha as she starts walking towards the range.
The firing range is in a sublevel below the main one of the control building, conveniently next to the armory. There's a selector for different types of targets and simulations (including simulated return fire). The armory itself has firearms of various types, and from different ages, civilizations or realities that Kai is familiar with. There are even bows and crossbows next high-powered rifles that look like 'modern' versions of Tasha's favorite Gauss-gun.
"The mercs come down here a lot," Katie notes.
"Ooo," goes Tasha, who makes waggling-fingers at all the weaponry. "Don't mind if I do. I don't even recognize some of these!" She hurries over to the selection, stopping to take a look. Then she remembers Katie said something about something. "What? Oh, well, that makes sense, they're mercenaries. I'd be worried if they frequented the kitchen more."
Among the weapons are some oddly small guns that look like they could be carried in a pocket.
Tasha selects a few of the smaller guns, one modern-looking rifle similiar to her old gauss rifle, and.. a bow and quiver of arrows. The rifle gets leaned against the stall beside the bow and quiver, while the pistols are arrayed in front of her. "Now.. what ammunition do these take.. I suppose I should.. Oh." She rushes over and grabs what looks like a flintlock pistol and a breach loading short barrel shotgun pistol. These get added to the collection, then she starts looking at ammunition containers.
"Just bring a gun over to this shelf," Katie explains, patting a shelf on the back wall. "A drawer will open up with the ammunition for it."
"That's exciting." Tasha walks over with the two older style guns she just added, and lays them out. "I'm surprised we have things like this, but what's easier to make as a gun than an tube, a propellant, and something to accelerate? If modern guns won't work, something like this might. I want to see if I can replace the trigger and detonator assembly, maybe even the accelerator."
Most of the guns have straightforward ammunition, although the shotgun-style pistol displays several options, including small grenades. The tiny palm-sized gun gets a vial of amber liquid, and their are a lot of options for the rifle, from armor-piercing and anti-personnel to anti-aircraft. The different ammo for that comes in clips that also contain the power source for each, apparently.
Some of the more exotic ones also come with a familiar spray-on corneal display device.
Tasha selects basic ammunition for each weapon, wanting some form of baseline to draw off, leaving their ammunition next to each weapon so she can slowly memorize what they require, in case she needs it in the field.
But it's the tiny gun with its liquid needle that gives her pause. "What is this? Some kind of toxin?" She gives the bottle a little shake, holding it up to the light.
It's just an amber fluid. "I don't know," Katie admits. "It doesn't work with any of the target simulations. It's got that little patch that's either red or green, but it only turns green if you point it at a person. I mean, I pointed it at my other hand and it went green, but I didn't fire it."
"How strange." Tasha tries loading the fluid in the device, then tries pointing it towards her hand. "Maybe it has compatibility scan..?"
The little patch (which doesn't even light up) remains red when Tasha aims it at her own hand.
"Uh, it's red when I point it at me. I don't think it's detecting my favorite color, either." Tasha moves the gun away and frowns at it some more. "Are there instructions? Is there a wall I can hold it next to and it spits out how-tos?"
"Should probably ask Kai about it at some point," Katie says. "I tried looking it up in the base computer, but it doesn't show up, so it's not Terran from the ancient days this base is from."
"Odd that it stays red for you though," the Karnor woman muses. "Aim it at me but don't pull the trigger."
"Weird." Tasha does as requested, finger well away from the trigger. She peers at the patch expectantly. "Is this thing even made form known materials?"
The patch goes green, and there's a slight vibration in the grip as well.
"It's not metal, I don't think," Katie says. "Is it red or green for me?"
"It turned green and vibrated. Slightly. In the grip." Tasha points the weapon away again, frowning down at it. "It's so mysterious."
As soon as it isn't pointing at Katie, it goes back to red.
"Maybe it's a spy gun of some sort," Katie guesses. "Yue might know if that's the case."
"Maybe it's something from Kainudy's world to work against foreign species?" Tasha unloads the weapon and puts it and its strange fluid container on a different stall from the other weapons, her 'figure out later' pile. "It could be that, too. Maybe it's tailoring toxins to the target, but because I'm unique, it doesn't know what to do with me?"
"That would be handy, if we knew what the toxin did," Katie says.
"My ears are burning," Kai says from right behind Tasha.
"I'd love to know, but not at the cost of our lives. Dying is very inconvenient, Katie. You might come back as young looking as I am, and have to do all your training over again!" Tasha steps away from the strange weapon, steps down one stall, frowns, then steps down three stalls further.
"There's something I've wanted to try." Tasha opens her mouth, points in to it, closes, and says, "Do you think.. I can breath fire?"
"Spraying fire is easy," Kai says. "Circus performers do it all the time. But I assume you mean breath fire like a dragon, right?"
"I hate it when you just sneak up like that," Katie notes.
Tasha is used to it, and half expect Kai to pop up after she was mentioned -- as demons do -- so she only jumps a little. "What's worse is that she may have been here the whole time," she notes, then she turns to Kai. "Yes, like a dragon. It's a classic dragon ability, isn't it? Even Kainudy can breath fire."
"Lung capacity is a factor," Kai points out. "I only ever use it light things like cigars." She also picks up the little gun and vial. "This isn't technically a weapon. It's a modified medical tool. It condenses a medication into a solid needle and fires it at short range. In this case, it's a paralytic nerve again, and you're right that it needs to recognize the target species in order to formulate the dosage."
"I guess I can light my cigarettes and cigars then," Tasha says, somewhat deflated. She glances at the weapon, frowns at it, but then begins to nod slowly. "That sounds useful. I bet Sharon would like one of those, too. Maybe she can expand in to using it for mutual medical purposes. It would make a nice backup weapon for me, most of my abilities aren't suited to gentle incapacitation."
"You can give people headaches, using the ansible's translation function," Kai notes. "You just need to practice until you can put them to sleep."
"And fire breathing is a potential option if your target is about a meter away," she adds.
"Hot kiss," Katie suggests.
"You do need to improve your strength and stamina to achieve higher-powered results with your flame though," Kai explains. "Remember when I used you to blast that living wall? How sore your back was afterwards?"
"Blast a living wall?" Katie asks Tasha.
"I feel like that's a use that would have Galatea frowning at me again," Tasha notes. "But I will practice that later, because it sounds useful. And okay, so I can, but lets see.. how to do it." She turns form the two, facing out to the range, and inhales. As she does she reaches inside to her inner flame, knowing she no longer needs to use simple tricks like clicking her nails to draw that flame outward. She then visualizes exhaling fire as she channels the flow of flame in the same way, but from within.
It's more of a burp of fire than a stream, and Tasha feels the heat on her face and in her mouth. It feels like eating a very spicy pepper.
Tasha holds her tongue out and her mouth open. "Raaaghh," she does in some distaste, fanning her face. "'OT." After a lot more fanning, lip smacking and mouth licking, not to mention panting she clears her throat. "That was less useful and more uncomfortable than I hoped. Oh, and the wall? Big living city next to a big lake with a big god. All of it awful. The city's apparently a legendary, pan-universal entity, so much so it's the archetypal lost city for a great many worlds and universes. Kai and I had to run from the city waking up in to a fleshy mess, invaders, and I think there was an army of things coming, too. Oh, and the angel. The angel was almost as bad."
"This sounds like stuff that Gabriel should not know," Katie says, and then grins. "So I expect you tell me all about it later. I'm trained in interrogation techniques you know."
"Pah, you've met Vasha, right? I'm a sailor, I love telling big stories. How else can I brag about all the stuff I do without seeming full of myself?" Tasha's tail wags and she grins. "Oh! Hey Katie. Watch this."
Tasha does the classic Katie Kaboom finger guns pose, but finger-gun-points down the range -- and then she's channeling fire as with the plasma bolt she learned to make earlier, except from both fingers.
The bolts are smaller than previously, and don't make it all the way down the range. Still neat looking though, even if they make Tasha feel very fatigued for a moment.
Tasha whips around and blows her fingers off, then gives Katie an exaggerated hip out, leaning forward, big one pose.
Then Tasha sags, arms dropping almost to the ground. "Can I carry myself to that device and have it reload me? Kai's right, I need more fitness-energy."
"Or you can ask Tia to just zap you all into peak performance," Kai suggests teasingly. "Well, you'd probably have to go into the tubes though."
"I sense a chaotic tone in that suggestion," Katie says.
"I sense Galatea frowning at me even harder. You know she remembers every slight? I mean that literally, every slight, all the time. Every time." Tasha pulls herself up, ears back. "Which is why she is forever mad at me. Oh, right, Kai? Galatea wants to talk to you about meeting Kainudy's maker. I suggested they should talk, since you know she has mommy issues, and our godmother's has a similar.. mindset? They remind me a little of each other in their loneliness. I thought bottom-up approach might help."
"Also I think every tone Kai has is chaotic," Tasha notes.
"And she wants to know what ol' Daniarood was really like then?" Kai asks, eyebrows raised. "Tia is powerful, but she can still be emotionally manipulated. I was able to manipulate her. But I can give her my memories of when we were all back on our version of Terra, and then Tyrrhyn, the world we made rather than wiping out Humanity."
"Is that what it was called?" Tasha makes mental notes and hopes she remembers. Memory, she must admit, is not always her strong suite. "Uh, well, I mean, it's less about reviewing old problems and dire struggles than helping Galatea manage living with so many burdens. It's clear she's holding a lot more in than I know about, and she wants to understand Kainudy, and gain her approval. I'm not sure forever chasing Kainudy for approval is good for her, Kainudy has her own problems and mistakes, and so does Daniarood. If we're going to.. what's the saying.. OH!" Tasha makes finger guns again at Kai. "Point fingers. If we're going to point fingers, everyone's guilty. And the older they are the more guilty they seem to get. What I'm hoping to that Galatea gains perspective and can see her family as a bigger whole, and not just Kainudy. Also there are parallels between all of you that I think Galatea misses in her focus on Kainudy."
"Well, Kainudy isn't her only mother," Kai notes. "But she's the one we roughly know how to contact. Galatea's problems mainly stem from her own limitations due to what she was originally created for. It makes it difficult for her to cope with making decisions."
"This is probably why Terran AIs always shut themselves down after a while," Katie says. "There's some island of instability they couldn't get past."
"That's another reason I wanted her to talk to Daniarood. If anyone knows how to make things that can cope and last, it's her. She might have insight on how to proceed without doing anything herself. My other thought is Persephone, who knows how to make people, too. Either way I thought Galatea might benefit from looking less to Kainudy and learn to look more to herself, or if she cannot, finding a way that she can." Tasha spreads her hands. "So it makes sense for me to help her see a wider picture of self sufficient and ways forward. And, wasn't she created to regulate some sort of world tree? Do you know what she meant when she told me "did she kill all those people"? And is she the same entity as before, or very different?"
"She was a marionette, made to serve as a seneschal to a demi-god of Justice," Kai explains. "Whenever she tries to find purpose, she always goes back to that base. She wants to be what she was made to be. What happens to puppets when they're handed the strings and their puppet-master dies?"
Tasha then nods over to Katie. "Galatea has no memory regulation, and she's part of a much larger system that, based on evidence, strongly appears to have been destroyed. I saw some of what happened, it didn't look good. I've been hoping to find a way to locate one of the demons thatw as there, or even the demon that attacked Khyrss and their daughter, and use its connection to that place and time to travel back and try to resolve things. Demons, like the Vril, are what they know, and they consume and store soul-memory -- they're also self contained universes. If that demon wasn't fully encased in that universe -- if it reached from outside in -- then maybe I can find it and reach in through it. It's because universes don't have to share time or anything else, and only bridges connect entities outside. That bridge could still exist, and for the demon, time may be immaterial."
Back to Kai, Tasha frowns. "I guess they fall down and lay there. Well, we know at least one god of Justice. Can we help Galatea achieve her original purpose?"
"Is that something Sam told you could be done?" Katie asks, since Sam is their only really demon expert.
"No, what she needs is to have her original purpose stripped away from her, but to her mind that means having one of her creators give her a new one," Kai suggests, then shrugs. "Making her decide for herself is what scares her. If she's not the one in control, then when she does things like go on a killing spree she can rationalize that it wasn't her choice, because she's a puppet."
"Killing spree," Katie echoes. "Just how powerful is she anyway? I know we can't stop her, but who can?"
"Everyone I've talked to seems to think it's maybe possible. I mean, what's Galatea's gate, or a worm hole, or any other bridge between other than a connection between two points? Demons are universes unto themselves. They may be memory-bridges, especially if they wren't contained in the universe and didn't remain there, effected by time and change. If they reached from outside, from a timeless space, then all of what happened is as 'now' for them as any other thing they're doing. It's something I realized fighting the Ogdoad. When you're outside of time and can connect anywhere, you're also vulnerable from anywhere, any time, all at the same time. We connect to the demon, then we ride through it to its connection at that point. Time's only linear until it isn't. Maybe it's something I understand because of the spore? I don't know," Tasha elaborates.
Tasha then nods to Kai. "That makes a lot of sense. It must be even worse, having served a god of Justice and probably designed to value Justice highly. If she's just a puppet all the guilt is someone else's. If she chose, it's her's." Tasha considers for a moment, rubbing her chin. "Where was I? Oh. So Kainudy's indisposed, and I'm not yet sure how we fix that other than Daniarood's suggestion and my own idea of using those connected to each entity fighting connect with them and drain their powers in a self-sustaining energy burn, then strike when they're weakened."
"There are different sorts of demons, but that reasoning holds true for entities like Thotep I think," Kai says. "Sam is a servitor, so is bound by locality in order to operate freely within this reality. As for stopping Galatea, probably Persephone. Barring that, herself. She has unlimited power, but she can only channel a limited amount of it. I don't know what that limit is though. She's certainly never tried to find out."
"I wouldn't know who to bet on in a match-up between Tia and that Fallen angel we met," Kai tells Tasha.
"So Persephone orrr.. herself. Using her overwhelming power that may or may not be enough. Yet, to do so, she must accept to severe her original purpose and accept responsibility and choice, which she is afraid of. She admitted as much to me, too." Tasha taps her chin, scrunches her brow, then asks, "Would she accept my judgment?"
"Errgh," goes Tasha at the thought of tangling with that level of power. "That was bad even with both of us, not that I'm that powerful. All we could do was defend ourselves. Oh, and Daniarood may help Galatea face her own choices. If anyone knows what it's like to live with eons of choices and miraculous powers, it's Daniarood -- and Persephone."
"You aren't one of her creators," Kai notes. "So I doubt it. I'm not certain if pain plays a part it in or not, either. Keep in mind that Daniarood isn't all that powerful, comparatively. She's more the subtle, mysterious ways sort of godhead. And she's has no.. conscience. You may think that I'm an amoral sociopath, but I don't even show up on the same scale as Daniarood."
"Oh I remember her telling me she's not that powerful. But I'm uncertain if she lacks a conscience. She reminds me of stories I heard of and found in Terran databases, of Humans 'raised by wolves'. I was looking at them for ideas for Gabriel and I, because we have Human-like entities we're taking care of. But it's different. Daniarood feels like a child who grew extremely old, alone. She wasn't raised by anything. Expecting her to be moral, well, which one? Of the probably millions? Who taught her? I believe she understands these things, but her foundation is so different from our own, she seems monstrous. Like an AI without guidance. Alien. No connection. I also believe she knows we know this, and that's why she avoids all others, because she knows how it will go. And that's how I approached her, and maybe why we get along. Things just are, with her. Without an answer. Like, why is rain wet? Who decided that morality? She's an entity where there was no decision, no guidance." Tasha takes a deep breath after all that talking, exhales, and concludes. "This is also why Galatea should meet her, to understand the difference between total freedom and predesign. Daniarood has no one to blame but herself, fate, reality, maybe chaos. Galatea has her creators. They both exist under the weight of years and decisions."
"Well, I can present Galatea with what my memories, with the caveat that at least some of them will be filtered through Kainudy's later hatred," Kai offers. "Ultimately it will be Galatea's decision, if she is able to come to one."
"That's true. And I think, eventually, I'm going to have to tell her that. There's no more to review, nothing to discuss. One decision or the other, or maybe some third option. Or how things are." Tasha tilts her head back and forth feeling the idea out. "Maybe she just needs to sit down and compare everything she likes and doens't like, then do what she likes and don't do what she doesn't. Well, more complicated than that, like ethics, or causes, but you get me."
"She's got a warehouse full of baggage to sort though," Kai suggests, and then grins. "Unlike myself! I don't carry any weight on my shoulders."
"Breakfast," Katie suddenly says.
"I can be a burden too!" Tasha then walks over and tries hug Kai, but more in a grab-and-lean sort of way.
"Yeah, Katie is right, you haven't eaten anything today," Kai says, and does help support Tasha. "You're too weak to fight Hakeber for the bacon."
"Food and sex acquisition are secret powers of Hakebar along with writing with both hands and seducing Silent Ones," Tasha admits as she starts heading out. "The guns will be here when we get back, so lets go eat."