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melody - Wednesday, March 17, 1999, 10:48 AM -------------------------------------------- Melody peeks her head in. Tracy smiles as you enter, "Hello Melody. How are you?" You say, "Annoyed. Can I vent around you?" Tracy cocks his head to one side and gently places a hand on your shoulder, "Of course" Melody hugs you tightly, then bursts out "Students! They can be so dumb." Tracy hugs you warmly in return., holding you close in a brotherly embrace. He gently murmurs, "What happened hon? What did your student do?" You say, "I lost her." Melody grumbles as she sits down. Tracy sits next to you, remaining close. He asks softly, "Lost her?" Melody nods. "I was hoping to awaken her, but she's just...not ready." Tracy touches your shoulder, "Hon...even th emost promising may never awaken while some of the most unlikely will do so readily. Potential is often hidden between the constraints and programming of society." You say, "That's not it. She's got potential. She just won't listen, and I won't Awaken her and make her a target." Tracy nods, listening as he takes your hand. He listens without judgment or comment now, waiting to see if you elaborate but mostly wanting you to get it out. You say, "She said something about seeing a talking white rabbit and her girlfriend taking off after it with a knife because she was hungry. Now..I don't know about you, but that gives me a bad feeling." Tracy opens his mouth and then shuts it. You can just SEE the Alice in wonderland comment perkilating in the Goth sarcasm section of his mind and being beaten back. You say, "Go on, say it." Tracy coughs, "It sounds like Alice in wonderland meets survival lesbians from Mars...but that was totally uncalled for of me" Melody grins. "Yeah, but even so...doesn't it strike you as odd?" Tracy smirks, "Odd? Has she been rolling in poppy patches?" You say, "I'd think so, except this other person saw the rabbit too." Tracy nods, "Talking rabbits on this side of the Gauntlet. Ooookay. I, for one, would use a gun to catch my small, fleet footed, dinner and I cerainly would not be hunting TALKING rabbits." Melody nods. "Right. I mean, it makes the hair rise on the back of my neck! So I told her to stay away from this person, or I wouldn't teach her." Tracy frowns, "But...umm...Melody hon, how well DOES she know you? You said this was her girlfriend?" You say, "Ex-girlfriend. But that's not the point, Tracy. If she chooses relationships over teaching, she's a sitting duck for the technos." Tracy nods, "Okay. I am going to venture something that may make you angry then, though I hope it will not as I consider you my sister. Firstly, Iris and Lilly come first in my life. Secondly, did she know you long enough and had you become close enough to her that she would think of your advice as BEING good advice?" Melody nods. "Yes. And I know they come first, but you were Awakened and knew how to hide first, right?" Tracy nods, "Yes. And I have been there to help Iris as a psuedo-mentor as well since she was an orphan." You say, "So it's not the same thing. Who the heck knows what she's associating with? If I Awaken her, I make her more vulnerable." Tracy nods, "I understand that and I am not questioning that." he smiles warmly and gently pats your hand, "I just wonder if you might have been too abrupt and absolute in you ultimatum. You might have fared better in slowly weening her away from such associations over time before beginning her training...but then, I am a young Scientist myself. I have never been through this kind of thing." You say, "Perhaps. But all in all, I don't regret. She failed a test of fire, as far as I'm concerned." Tracy nods, "It is both good and hard to not have regrets about such things. I often wonder what Erin would have done if I had not followed her to Blackrock when she offered and had chosen to stay where I was." You say, "Erin....?" Tracy says, "My mentor. Dr. Erin Thorn." You say, "You never told me much about that." Tracy smiles a bit sadly, "There is...umm, not much to tell really..." Melody nuzzles your hand gently and regards you. Tracy looks distant for a moment, regretful and remorsefully sad. His eyes bear the feeling someone who has seen a battlefield and its horrors and he looks, perhaps, a bit out of place for a moment. Melody strokes your wrist soothingly. Tracy smiles warmly, "I really cannot thank you enough for being there for me when I came out of the Gauntlet." He struggles a moment with his left arm and then squeezes your shoulder lightly with it. Melody smiles gently. "I wish I could have gone looking for you." Tracy shakes his head, "You did all you could, Melody. All you could. I am thankful I had someone I coul trust to hold me when I came back through... the isolation of htat place...well, it quite simply frightens me. I am a trained Dimensional Scientist but just as I am a mountain climber, it does nto make me immune to the fear when I slip and fall from a mountain peak and have only my safety rope to hold me." Melody slips her arms around your waist and cradles you to her. "There were so many levels to that fear." Tracy sighs softly and allows himself to be cradled almost gratefully even if he is very chaste about the contact. "You touched my mind when I came through." he murmurs. You say, "Yes...yes, I did. I was looking for you with it before that." Tracy nods, "I thought I vaguely remembered your presence in my mind. Had you not been someone I trusted that would have driven me over the edge." Melody says softly "You can always trust me, Tracy. I would have helped you find your way back." Tracy says, "I know Melody. I knew before, but afterwards I was sure in my hart. You are now one of my sisters, I feel that well and truely in my heart. It is hard for me that my other two sisters I cannot share what I am with them, but secrecy is the rule for a reason." You say, "The Shade was created to keep us all safe. Never again the Burning, Tracy." She leans forward and kisses your forehead gently. "Never again alone.." Tracy closes his eyes, "Never again." he murmurs gently. Slowly, he asks, "So...what did you glean of me from my fear in that moment?" Melody considers. "You weren't born afraid of enclosures." Tracy gives a softly bitter laugh, "Probably not" You say, "Want to talk about it?" Tracy mmms, I've only ever really spoken to Iris about it. Even Nicky only knows some of it. I'm not sure where to begin, really...speaking of it is not easy..." Melody says softly "Will you let me listen?" She touches your temple as she says the last word. Tracy murmurs, "Melody...listening to my thougths in that way would be, at the least, highly traumatic for you..." You say, "I'm willing to take that chance if you're willing to let me." Tracy looks thoughtful, "Iris shared the emotions with me." he sighs, "But I know you already got a dose of what was in there when I came through the Halo. Allright...but realize after this that only Iris will know me better than you do." You say, "You honor me, souldbrother." Tracy smiles faintly, "Perhaps, but this is part of the dark spot of my soul Melody." You say, "You mean there is one? I was beginning to wonder if you were even human. Soulbrother, listen to me: Perfect love and Perfect trust mean more than just the words." Tracy nods fractionally, looking at you with the eyes of a younger brother looking to his older sister. Eyes that are trusting and warm. Melody slips out her knife and opens it one-handedly, slicing across her palm and then reaching into her shirt. She pulls out her necklaces and bloods them. She then takes in a deep breath. "Let this place be sacred, a shrine of peace and trust. I enter the Circle in perfect love and perfect trust." Her eyes meet yours. "How do you enter the Circle?" Tracy's eyes lose the last of their uncertainty and he murmurs yet speaks clearly "With Perfect Love and Perfect Trust" Melody smiles at you, nodding, and wipes the blade clean on her dark pants before resheathing it. Her hand is still bleeding slightly. Melody keeps the reddened hand clasped around her necklaces. You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **You feel her...her touch is warm, cautious. How far in will you let her go? Right now, she's very much on the surface of things...waiting for permission.** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Within Tracy's mind there is a swirling sea of things. Powerful intellect flows about you, a mind that calculates and theorizes and yet also creates. Amidst this you see a pathway open up, a beautiful little cajun boy that is even more androgenous than the adult Tracy. One who is slender and as frail as glass with sad eyes of mismatched blue and green. He beckons you down a path through the calm tummult of churning thought and awareness.** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody goes deeper, given that permission. From the most surface thoughts, she floats down into your awareness...just listening. She smiles warmly at the boy.** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **The boy leads you past something that floats in th enearby seas. It is a surrealistic representation amalgamed together of several different ideas of what an Oil Drilling platform turned Marine Biology research station would look like. It falls apart with explosions as you walk past and you see two figures standing hand in hand amongst the flames as they are consumed by them. They are waving to Tracy and joined in love as they die together. The boys says simply, "Mommie and Daddy."** Melody keeps staring into your odd eyes, nodding a little. ** Yes. They loved you. ** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **The oddly intelligent little boy simply nods eerily. In the landscape of his mind you hear a bellowed, "BOY! Whare are you ya lil FAGGOT!" A shadowy figure, massive, impossibly large as he towers perhaps twelve feet over the path stomps towards you. The angellic boy murmurs, "I've been bad though." The scene flashes and goes white for a moment, your mind murned with the innocence and yet resignation of Tracy's eyes.** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **How have you been bad, dearling?** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **The boy is no longer with you, instead you see shadows cast on the wall as though through his eyes as he is beaten. You see in the shadows his clothes torn from him and the unmistakable silhouette of that larger man begining to then sexually abuse the child. You hear float through the mental landscape "I look like a girl. I am a sissy. Uncle says I am just like father, always with my head in the clouds."** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Uncle says if I look like a girl he will treat me the way one should be treated.** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody doesn't interfere yet. You are trusting and showing.** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **The landscape flashes and changes. You see the boy put into an ominous old refrigerator after, the feelings floating to you of his abused body aching. Isolation *flash* Light through a tiny hoe, the only window to the world *flash* Shame *flash* Guilt *flash* Finally, boiling anger.** Melody draws in a slow, shaky breath, but her right hand still holds yours and her left the necklaces. Tracy's hands are cold, his flesh blanched, his heartbeat slow. You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody accepts your rage and affirms it.** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **The scenes go on and on. Every nook, cranny, and crevasse of the refigerator is known to you like a map of sorrow. The refigerator grows more and more cramped and limbs lengthen. A slender young man approaches a bloated, massive, older one. Tracy confronts his uncle with an eighteen year old body that is blade slender and wirey. "I'm going to college" The massive Cajun replies, "No ya aint, ya ain't never gonna leave here. You working foah me all yoah life." Anger wells into a palpable taste, a bitter bile in the back of your throat. You feel your knuckles impact with something hard yet covered by a soft layer. The pain is a fuel to the anger and Tracy stands over his uncle's unconscious body. Where was the fullfillment? He wants to tear the man limb from limb. Instead, with the last mote of willpower he has, he leaves and leaves it all behind. The terrible demon was taken in one fell shot.** Melody smiles slowly. You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody stands behind you, watching over your shoulder, within you.** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Tracy is nude now amidst the flows of his mind. The little boy guide has become a slender young man, well built and delicate but with an undeniable solidity. He murmurs "I never want to be alone again. Not alone in the dark, not with the walls crushing in around me"** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody wraps around you securely.** Melody says aloud and in your mond both "You are free to fly, Tracy." Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Tracy shivers, sinking into your mental embracewith abandon. It is, however, notable that he holds part of himself back. It is an indefinable part, one that you suspect only Iris may ever have open to her. But he takes immense comfort in having someone he trusts so implicitely to comfort his fears which so few even know about.** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody might notice, but if she does it's almost as if she expects it. Gingerly she probes at the old rage again, as if seeing how long the scar is.** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Free to fly..." the scar is long and present. There is emmanating from tracy towards you like a radiance a very familial but rather deep love. There is no mistaking he considers you his sister. But there is another landmark on the landscape of his mind which s eems guarded from you almost as though he fears you finding out about it. The scar becomes part of another mental path that forms as though unbidden in his mind. The path is a road into a distant, very dark, skyline of a city that seems covered in a perpetual cloud of blackness like a combination of stormcluds, smog, and coal dust.** Melody draws in another shaky breath. **You want me to see this..and you don't. Which for now? ** Tracy gasps softly, audibly swallowing. Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **There...there are things about me that are not normal Melody. I don't want to loose my big sister...** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody seems amused by that. ** You have toys that can take you into the spirit world. I cut myself and things happen. What IS normal? **** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **That city in the distance...it was normal for where I come from. But it does not exist here. My menories of it are very clear, it is not a place I dislike but it is a place I attempted to try to help heal. But the corporations contolled the government...Strip mining was one of the easiest and most lucritive things to do," his thoughts freeflow, not really realizing he is babbling so much out "and Blackrock was built on it.** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody sinks into the vision, hating it and wanting to memorize it at once.** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **All around you a cityscape fills your senses. Gothic building rise ominously from broken streets littered with literal human refuse. There are so many homless here that Tracy feels a mixture of emotion, remorse, disgust, empathy for having been there, and helplesness to do nothing. He is a shadow walking with you amongst them, but they are commonplace to him. He has to turn off his caring in order not to go insane. You see arms reach from an alleyway and pull him into it even as the coal dust chokes someone so used to fresh air as yourself. The bitter scents of garbage, burning refuse, and decay assail your nostrils and the city's overgrown scope is dizzying to your senses.** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Where is this place? Is it a Realm?** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **The sense of almost perpetual night overwhelms you. You realize it is daytime as the sun actually illuminates the city through the miasma above. The two who pulled Tracy into the alleyway slam him against the wall. Both have nightsticks and are quite obviously homosexual in their interest in Tracy as they sneer at him grabbing him in places that are far more than inappropriate and trying to bear him down, "We got ourselves a pretty one" They go to subdue him but he slams the nearest trashcan into one moving in a flurry of motion to snatch a lead pipe from the refuse and crack the other one accross the temple. The fight is short and one sided. Confused, Tracy beats them into unconsciousness and leaves them to bleed in the garbage. He drops the pipe and dust shis hands, "No. This is my home dimension. This is th eEarth from which I come. Blackrock is a typical city."** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Tracy's words are painful in their simple truth.** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody keeps a grip on her emotions. You feel her seal them away, leaving only her sympathy and concern for you. Rage...that doesn't help. But you sense it there before it vanshes from your perception.** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Before I came to Asheville, this was all I knew. A dying world in its last throes. No one cared that the environment they lived in was ruined. No one wanted to listen to Natural Biologists like myself who brought environmental solution sto the government only to have them pushed aside. This is near the old school that was shut down from rampant cases of blacklung due to some strip mines being too close. It is a no man's land, but the rest of the city is little better. I will take you , now, to my Chantry, Arthur's Celestorium..it is a long ways into the mountains..." there are the sensations of hiking and climbing, of escaping some of th emiasma but it clings to even ther peaks with the closeness of Blackrock's valley.** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody asks along the way **But I thought you were from Nawlins..?**** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Originally, yes. This place was my home for 4 years. But Nawlins is not much better, in some ways...it is worse."** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody assimilates this into her worldview and goes quiet, cool. She slides her hand into yours.** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Tracy takes your hand with a gentlenes that belies the harshness of the landscape. Here there is actually natural beauty left. The further up, the more trees even though many are blackened by soot. He presses his palm against a solid rock face and it vanishes to reveal a palmprint reader and retinal scanner on a heavy, sci-fi-like door. Letting it read his retina the door opens and you enter into a breathtaking hydroponics garden which seems like a museum to Tracy's mind of species of plant either dying out or extinct. Here htye trive and the air is rich with oxygen.** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody takes a slow, deep breath. Relief. She gazes around, noting any plants she doesn't know, fighting the screaming heebiejeebies at the tech.** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **The dome shale of the Hydroponics garden lets in sunlight from above as though it is a sunny day on th ebeach. As you walk through a womn who is about six feet tall, stout of build but bearing an amazonian beauty with chin length black hair in a stylish bob and horn rimmed glasses looks up from a computer terminal and small lab setup. She has a labcoat on and she doe snot seem to notice you. Smiling she says, "Tracy, hello hon." holding up a magazine shy announces triumphantly, "Book two of the Halo Trilogy made it to th eNew York Times best sellers list. You fans are responding well."** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody watches the woman curiously, and you for your reaction to her.** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Tracy smiles in both nostalgia and warmth, but his smil ehas th ehollowness of amemory that is the calm before a storm. He responds as though scripted "Thankyou Dr. Thorn. I could not have done it without you. I am just glad I am giving them a little mental escape from life's harshness. How are the carbon filtration roses coming?" She smiles and replies, "Their absorption rate has increased by 45 percent. But that is taking a backseat today, we have a new deep space jump gate that is being finished as we speak." Tracy ohs, "Yes, th ebig project they have ben working on for months..."** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody tenses at your expression. She starts looking around warily. The words "jump gate" worry her.** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Who is going to be the first to enter the flux point to Space station Wildside?" Erin smiles, "Dr. Crane with the Tyr's Axe Ethership. My Ophaniel has too many experimental devices to use, but I will be helping to set the Correspondence flux field."** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody knows the myth of Tyr. It's an auspicious name, for a battlecruiser...but for an exploration vessel?** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Tracy nods, "I'll be one of the dimensional ressonance monitors, right" Erin nods, "Yes. If anything goes wrong wiht the dimensional ressonance you try to correct for it and let the command know." The scene fades and Tracy turns to you "Things looked like htye woudl go smoothly. the new gateway was powerful and faster than the old one had been. Its first test run should have been routine..."** Melody squeezes your hand, sensing what comes next but letting you go through it in your own way, your own time. Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Tracy leads you too a console as the scene flashes into a different part of the Chantry-lab. A female voice announces, "T-minus 30 seconds until Deep Umbral rift and counting. 29, 28..."** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody sits through the agonized secons with you.** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **3, 2, 1. ECM suite engaged. Telepathic communication now restricted to th elaboratory area only. All communications cut. Full stealth operation in progress. Reality shealding in place. Holding at 98 percent." Tracy announces, "This is Dimensional Monitor one. Dimensional ressonance building to 87, 88, 89, breach now active. Dimensonal ressonance held at 92 percent. No anomalies detected" A gruff male voice says, "Tyr's Axe ready for jump calculations. Etherial sails deployed."** The hair stands up on Mel's arms. Melody keeps her hand locked around her necklace. Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **The next few moments are tense. Ether calculations fly and th eship is deployed beginning to lauch. You then hear Erin's voice, "Alert, Jump coordinates chifted to unknown vector. Reading Deep umbral readings beyond horizon...what the HELL are you doing Crane?" Dr. Crane's gruff voice replies, "Following the course of my destiny"** Melody looks up at you, eyes searching. Almost fearful. Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **The corona of white and violet energy that swirls in the gate suddently turns an dominous green. It is a sickly green that is like looking into th eheart of madness. Tracy's looks fearful, "This is dimensional monitor 1, Diensional anomalies detected. Scratch that, the gate is going wild. What in th ehell, I am showing 15...30... 45...constantly growing numbers of incoming dimensional warps!!"** Melody slips her free arm around your waist. Tracy shivers slightly, his hands wringing. You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody shields you as best she can.** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Errin shouts, "Crane you bastard!!! You are NOT getting away with this!!" a sudden ecxplosion at Tracy's terminal sends him flying backwards. He impacts against a bulkhead wiht a resounding thud and his lungs burn as ht air is knocked form them. The monitor room is abuzz with activity and you see little green coronas appear, things stepping from them that belong in nightmares.** Melody leans against you, pulling you closer to her. Drying blood sticks her hand to her necklace now, but she kisses your hair gently, trying to be supportive. Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **A for armed beast with a mouth that is sideways and a spire-like carapice steps from a corona while Tracy is still stunned. Nearby a toung Scientist named Melissa Chang, a chines girl of perhapd 4'11" height with waist length black hair steps back away form it in terror. She goes for th eblaster at he rhip but it is knocked away by a meaty paw. A roar echoingly fills the room and nearby there are already the sounds of blasterfire, explosions, and the screams of th edead and dying. With infinite slowness Tracy makes his hand, feeling like a lead weight, unholster the colt .44 Python in his belt. He fires a shot just as the for armed terror that was once human by its shape knocks the girl to the floor and goes to finish her. Th ebullet pierces caripiced flesh and the creature roars in pain, black blood staining the floor. It turns on Tracy as he stands solemnly and begins to laugh. "Go ahead and laugh" Tracy murmurs...** Melody's finger twitch with yours as you shoot. Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Suddenly spiders appear otu of th eair, swarming the beast They shock it with metal taloned legs, slice it with lasers. Ther eis a massive howl in the air as the litterally tear the beast apart. Tracy smirks stoicly even as he feels the terror and relief wash over him with the adrenaline, "...because the guy with the gun always has the last laugh. Dimensional ressonance bullets are a bitch aren't they."** That reminds Vine, and she moves you carefully, so that you don't get "stuck" by other beings. Tracy's arm is stuck fast, immobile. Melody winces. Maybe you'll have to move it yourself. In any case...she listens, while attempting to work it free by small motions. Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Tracy's mind is a torrent of battle. He moves amongst th eChantry, one of the Scientists who is not running as fast as he can. his mind is focused on one thing, finding Erin, even as the flames from battle begin to sear hsi flesh and choke his lungs with smoke. He rloads countless times, killing Nephandi creatures with almost every shot fired. The mad howlers appear each time, shredding th ehorrible creatures with thie screaching howl. He is not th emost effective warrior in the Chantry, but he is one of th emor edetermined, helping Scientist after Scientist to Correspondence flux devices to escape. Fear is numb to him. Pain is numb. Fire, kill, rescue. A metallic computer voice ays "Dimensional ressonance overload on gateway generator explosion in... *KA-BOOOM* Tracy inds himself knocked into the laboratory he searched for. The sound of armour being clicked on is heard in the distance. The computer voice says, "Detecting incoming Technocracy arships. One Qui Le Machinea. Two Cassini armed universal craft. A total of 50 hitMark 5's deployed. Unknown quantities of Enemy Technomancers."** Melody is crying softly. She whispers "Oh, my broken-winged angel.." Tracy's skin is cold in memory. He remembers the next scene most poignantly of all. Melody keeps trying to work your arm free, it gives her something she can control for now. The past is gone, and she knows no Time to help it. Tracy's arm slowly comes free, but it takes work. You feel something like fabric ripping. Melody is careful, trying not to hurt Tracy in the process. She listens for pain sensations in his mind. Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **The heat curled paint on the walls, the smoke choked his lungs like a vice, "ERIN!!!!!!" he shouted horsely,** Melody winces again at the mental shout, still loud in the Now. It's patently obvious there's more than a teacher-student bond here. Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Tracy seems to not feel his body at the moment. Anything you do does not register as pain. He is lost in the past and sees th eamoazonianly beautiful woman from earlier siting up in a suit of powered armour like some Techno-knight. She is bloodied and wounded, but still bent on battle.** Melody watches, biting her lip, not bothering to brush away the tears. Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **"Tracy get to the correspondence flux point NOW!!!" her features are spattered with blood, her hair matted with it in places. She has worry i nher eyes, however, only for Tracy even as relief hits her for seeing he is allright. Tracy replies "Not without you...the battle has turned against us. The Technocracy is at the gates and the Nephandi aretearing the place apart. What happened!? How could this happen..." eeing the movement of maelific creature, Tracy hits it with a dimensional ressonance bullet from his smoking .44 as though it were common place. The Mad howlers again finish the beast off. Errin looks approving of the quick, decisive, action and looks solemnly to Tracy ""We were betrayed," said Erin grimly "Dr. Crane was a Nephandic infiltrator. He has paid for his betrayal at my hands, and I will not let them take this Chantry without a fight!"** Melody makes a sign of warding, now working on moving your torso as well. Tracy' storso sems to move easily enough, but his shoulder is stuck hin place much like the lower part of the arm was. Melody's hand slides along your skin in an almost sensual way that at another time might make you blush. Now.. Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **An explosion rocks the building to its foundations as the gleaming automations of the Technocracy join the fray against both fleeing Scientists and extradimensional demons. "Not by yourself!! Several of the remaining Scientists have escaped already, we cannot hold out against wo forces! The Technocracy will destroy the Chantry as surely as the Nephandi they will kill."** Melody loosens your shoulder, needing to do SOMETHING to make her feel better. Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Erin steps closer, a look on her face of caring and love Trcy had never seen etched so deeply and pasionately. She says "hich is why you are leaving too. I was born here, with many of the others, I shall die here." With that she kissed him passionately, never had her kisses been so intimate. they had alway sseemed like hey held back, as though she were a mother figure. now the kiss burne dwiht love. With that, Tracy is shoved through a Correspondence portal and the last thing he sees is an explosion as he is thrown between into an open energy environment which was far from th enormal correspondence flux.** Melody is familiar with Correspondance, and this sstartles her. Nothing in her experience is like an Etherite teleport, and she assumes this to be the standard feel. Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **In Tracy's mind, he feels a chill of fear. He feels out of body for a moment, free floating. He cannot feel his body at all, he is nothing but awareness traveling in a sea of energy.** Melody gets nervous, now. She is ready to bring you back in an instant if you show true distress. Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Ny now it shoudl have dropped him into a back alley or a gas station closet. but it continues and then sudenly he feels as though he falls into himself, rather like waking from a falling dream, only he feels his body again as it hits the grou with a thud.** Melody continues to work at shoulder and arm. Tracy's arm seems free now. He shudrs alittle in memory and hten goes calm again. Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **All around you is a misty fog. It obscures the horizon and you see a crossroads with the usual token waystation, like a gas station/convenience store that looks like it was built from scrap wood. All Tracy has is his clothes, the copy of th Kitab Al Alciar he rescued in passing, and nothing more. Not even his gun.** Melody winces again. Poor you. Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Tracy looks to you in the mental scape, "From here I found my way to Asheville...do you want to see?"** Melody affirms in the link. She does, very much. And you feel her respect. Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Not finding anything but his clothing and book, Tracy looks to the convenience store shack. Great. The roads extend in both directions in an endless seeming fasion. He heads for the shack warily and steps into it. It is rather odd in its normality. This place has th edefinite feel of the Umbra, but yet the Shack looks like it is for truckers and travelers on the highway. The normalcy ends wiht the woman behind th ecounter...** Melody doesn't recognize the Umbral feel, never havig been here, but her hair is standing on end. Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **The woman behind the counter is an alien. That much is obvious to Tracy and re-affirms his feeling that he was somehow transported umbral even without the use of a Dimensional Science proceedure. The question in his mind was where was he and how far from Blackrock Wyoming. The woman's ears are small and streamlined against her heat. Her eyes have an odd, aquiline, slant. Her skin has a not-quite- human sheen and her fingers are like slender tenticles. She is dressed in a red robe and nothing more. There is an oddly attractive beauty to her which Tracy does his best to simply ignore. He asks softly,"Hello...I would like some information. Where is this and how do I get back to Wyoming from here?"** Melody stands with you, fingers stroking over your arm as if to ward off webbing on the other side. Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **"Hello Pretty. What will the pretty pay for such infomrmation?"says the alien woman with a look at Tracy up and down that though you notice it in his mind's eye, he obviously did not and does not. You hear his thoughts, Figures. Nothing is ever free. He removes his silver claddagh ring, the jewelry he wears he has realized is not quite what he wore before though extremely close. "How about this?" She shakes her head,"No, it is only a trinket" Frowing Tracy asks, "Well...what do you want then? I have nothing more than this jewlry..."** Melody whispers unconsciously "Be careful." Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **"A little time with you Pretty" she steps out from behind the counter, reaching for him. He steps back, realizing her intenitons "I..think not. Thanks anyway" he walks backards, his hand searching for the doorknob. Before him the woman simply disrobes and Tracy tries not to think about how exoticly sensual she looks. He senses magick being worked and fights off a mind effect with his sheer will but slowly succumbs. The sudden sexual urges he batters back within himself, he tries to avoid her eyes but her tenticle fingers are soft as silk and strong as steel, making him look into her eyes as she carresses his chin. He fights so hard mentally that it drains him and soon he is in her thrawll "N...no!" The begins to try to remove his clothing and he no longer has anything left to fight it.** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody delves deeply into yours....trying to see if this is too now, too painful...a moment of indecision, and then she resolves. It's whited out in your mind, and there is a moment of absolute silence and peace. You are not enclosed, you float free, unalone. She is with you, the memory gone for now.** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Tracy floats free in the silence and peace, taking a fetal position. His mismatched eyes look to you with a warm gaze, unsure what comes next.** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody pets you. Not sexually, no. More like a mother caressing her child in its sleep. **You have known so little peace... but you are strong and wise** she whispers.** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **This place has been far more than I ever dreamed possible. Such a bright, green, world. I found my true love...I crossed Dimensions for her.** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody wonders if maybe you didn't just find your way to your true home.** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Tracy smiles a beautiful smile, "Perhaps I did. Ihave more family and friends than ever before even if I not as successful as an author. I just...wish I knew if Erin survived. I feel like a coward for not having continued on with the fight there..."** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody urges your mind gently away from such distractions.** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Tracy smiles with a warmth upon you that is so different from the Goth he portrays himself as. No mistake, he is still a Goth, it is an integral part to him. But he has a lot of love to give "Thank you for caring about me Big Sister."** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody is more beautiful in mind than body. Maybe she just hasn't learned Might yet? ** Ever welcome, Little Brother. **** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Tracy reaches out and caresses your cheek with a deep caring even if there is no, or at least little, sexual tension fromhim. He does find you attractive, both physically and mentally and cannot hide that in the landscape of his mind, however, his will is firmly set as his heart is. His love for Iris makes him inexorably loyal to her. "What did I do to gain your favor Sis?"** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody considers. ** I don't know. You make me feel the Priestess within me more strongly than most, I suppose. I wish our magick was more alike. Your mind fascinates me, but I don't understand it.**** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Tracy smiles, "Firstly...I am probably one of the few Scientists who will not wince at it being called Magick. But there are ways you can understand...though maybe not be able to use it still. You see...the Children of the Ether base everything around the Ether. It is what everything is composed of. My approach is a more rare one, however. I think of the Ether as a ressonance which everything has rather than a substance or energy. It is fully breathable in its pure form as any substance with pure Ether ressonance has the potential to be anything."** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody is already getting lost, but gamely trying to understand.** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Think of Etherial ressonance as being a pattern with limitless potential to be rearranged in the right hands. For instance, the way I see life. Every organism, every cell, has a pattern of ressonance. By first matching this pattern you can understand its intricacies. Then you can begin to rearrange it if you wish by varying the arrangement with sound, wavelength, or frequency modulation."** Melody's eyes glaze. Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **In Life. The Ether is the essence. The lifeforce.** Ah! Something she can understand..and promptly disagree with, in many respects. **The blood is Life, brother..** Melody remembers and moves your arm again. Tracy's arm sticks a little but moves when you move it. Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Tracy simply smiles at your statement of blood being the life. He asks a simple acedemic question "Why?"** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody launches into a complicated verbal and nonverbal explanation. It glazes you probably just as much.** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Tracy tries desperately to grasp the concepts. Finally he murmurs, "I can accept blood as acomponent of lifeforce, but the Ether resides not just there, but throughout the body. The Mitochondria of cells tend to be what carry the largest levels of Pure Ether Ressonance, afterall weare nothing without the bio-electricity the Mitochondria produce."** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody doesn't understand that. What she understands is the pure dance of Prime and Life in the blood, the sweetness of the Balefire rites, the endorphins of the Blood rites..** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **Tracy siezes upon the idea of dance and calls up onthe mentalscape the way he sees Prime. This is a two-fold image. He sees Prime as a soundwave and more accurately hears its song, rythm, timbre, and ressonance. In your mind he plays to you how he heard the serene, tranquil, symphony of the Grove on campus.** Melody affirms that. She herself sees blood as the Source, but can at least relate to your vision. Tracy pulls his tuning fork from his pocket and 'shows' you. He strikes the middle C tuning fork and its pure note reachesyoru ears as it does his. You feel in your mind that he listens and linked as you are you can hear the tones of your Quintessence and his own. His are crisp and clear notes, strongandwith the melodies of warm love. Melody hums along, with the tone of soeone used to chanting. Tracy smiles as you hum along. Melody's voice is totally untrained. Not bad, but. She changes the note to an "Om," deeply resonant. Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **We DO have a common thread afterall. Much of my Theory about the Ether is based on this. The ressonance of all things.** You mindsend to (Tracy) with: **Melody suggests you join in?** Tracy mindsends to (Melody): **I use my Science to shape reality the way a musician uses thier instruments to shape music.** Tracy joins in, adding his untrained but pretty tenor voice to yours. Melody leans back a little, taking another breath and "Oms" again, and filters the sound back through the link. Tracy uses your voice as the reference point for his own, letting out a gently ressonating tenor'Om'. Through the link he still hears the flows of quintessence using the pure, singular melding of sound as a reference point. Melody pauses after a while, grinning. "We should get Iris to do that during the labor!" she says, and you feel the mindlink ever so gently thin and part. Tracy laughs softly, his voice a gentle sound. "If she can concentrate on it, it might help her yes" Melody thinks a moment, then says softly "I can link the two of you, you know. If you want. So she doesn't have to." Tracy murmurs, "If she'll aggree to it, that sounds like a very good idea" Tracy flexes his left arm as it briefly sticks You say, "She won't be alone and you might be more coherant and able to say what she needs." Tracy nods, "I definitely like that idea" He smiles and scoots over to give you a very warm embrace. "Its funny...I feel so good now that I have opened up to you Sis." Melody hugs warmly. "And I understand now...a little. Not all. But...well. Priestesses heal. If you ever feel like you need help working through any of that old pain, or like it's affecting you, let me know?" Tracy says, "It does not matter to me that you are a Priestess. It matters to me that you are my sister"" Melody chuckles softly into your hair. "Dearling, can you be anything other than a scientist?" Tracy murmurs, "I am many things...a Husband, a Father, a Brother, an Author, but no, in all of those I am still a Creative Scientist at heart." You say, "So am I a priestess." Tracy chuckles softly "Point taken...but you are also my Big Sister" Melody strokes that luxurious hair gently. "How does Iris feel about me big-sistering you?" Tracy says, "I have not spoken extensively with her about it...but she seems to like you and she does not mind my other two sisters or my brother." You say, "Nicky...and?" Tracy says, "Kya and Rainelle aremy other sisters, I consider Galen family as well, but not really my briother like I do his hsband Nicky" You say, "Galen. Nice name. I don't know any of them." Tracy smiles, "You will meet them soon. But Kya and Rain are not Magi" You say, "Do they know you are?" Tracy shakes his head "No" Melody nods. "Good." Real approval in her tone.
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