UE Issue #3: Smash and GRAB

[Leitz]

Knight Light sighed. "P..pencils are so much b..better. CH..CHiP, c..can you understand me?"

He waited for confirmation, and continued. "August of Eighty and Jan of eighty-t..two were the d..dates the B..BinoBros showed up. They c..came from space. So, c..can you p..plot the stellar b..body locations for those d..dates, their ship trajectory, and kn..known rate of speed?"

He looked at Azir and shrugged. "I was st..studying p..planetary motions the other night, and wondered if they were from our solar system or outside of it. Th..they look a lot like us, if th..they are from here th..then they may have headed home afterwards. Th..that's my hobby."

[Leitz]

Apologies for the long list of responses, still catching up.

"My light sabre c..can c..cut th..through steel, if I g..go slow." Knight Light stood straight and looked at Dos Seso. "I'm happy to learn how t..to fight b..better. You're right, I d..don't start fights. B..but if I have t..to fight, I d..don't run from th..them, either."

"And if Oleander is willing t..to let you into his b..brain, I will, t..too. It's embarrassing, b..but not b..bad."

[VonAlric]

Dos Seso

"Hmm... Oh, I didn't give you enough detail there, sorry about that. When I connect, there are different..... layers that I can look at. I would only connect to the top layer, the one where your conscious mind is at. When you think something or have a general emotion, I could tell what it was. The other layers, like your subconscious or even deeply buried memories, are too personal for me to connect to as a co-worker. I have gone into lower layers on those who had information I needed but it is a violation of privacy that I really don't do unless it is called for. So, you would not have to worry about me learning things that you don't want me to know, like you girlfriend's pet name for you or what you really think about her. Just as long as you don't think about them when we connect. Remember," he winks at the youngster, "don't think about her."

[gurusql]

Knight Light sighed. "P..pencils are so much b..better. CH..CHiP, c..can you understand me?"

He waited for confirmation, and continued. "August of Eighty and Jan of eighty-t..two were the d..dates the B..BinoBros showed up. They c..came from space. So, c..can you p..plot the stellar b..body locations for those d..dates, their ship trajectory, and kn..known rate of speed?"

He looked at Azir and shrugged. "I was st..studying p..planetary motions the other night, and wondered if they were from our solar system or outside of it. Th..they look a lot like us, if th..they are from here th..then they may have headed home afterwards. Th..that's my hobby."

CHiP

"Perhaps you are right that a pencil is better than me. I am sorry, but I do not enough information to perform those computations." says CHiP with a slightly lower volume than normal.

[Rex]

Azir

Chuckling, "I don't think your girlfriend has anything to worry about. I don't date, in my culture it is mostly arranged marriages."

[Leitz]

CHiP
"Perhaps you are right that a pencil is better than me. I am sorry, but I do not enough information to perform those computations." says CHiP with a slightly lower volume than normal.

Knight Light faced CHiP as best he could, and his tone was friendly. "F..focus on what you c..can d..do, your value is n..not d..determined by what you c..cannot d..do. We c..can work on the c..calculations t..together, later."

Azir
Chuckling, "I don't think your girlfriend has anything to worry about. I don't date, in my culture it is mostly arranged marriages."

An angry scowl crossed his face as he looked away from Azir. He took a slow, deep breath, turned back to her smiling, and winked. "And you th..think she would b..believe that if she saw us t..together? Have you looked in a mirror lately?"

[Rex]

Azir

"Yes, I have. But if need be Dos Seso is a very smooth talker. I am sure he can explain it to her so she understands."

[VonAlric]

Dos Seso

"Hmm... I guess I could tell her that Senorita Azir has a thing for agents, not supers. That would probably convince her."

[Rex]

Azir

"Whatever works I suppose."

[Leitz]

Knight Light shook his head softly. "She d..doesn't know what I am, and I won't lie to her. If we're g..going to know each other's identities, th..then let's figure something out."

Having walked around the house with him, Azir saw that he doesn't speak much, and often doesn't say everything. He looked at her directly. "I will t..tell you who I am, b..but you d..don't have t..to d..do the same. Maybe, if something happens to me, th..then you c..can t..tell her th..then."

[Rex]

Azir

"OK Knight Light, you certainly don't have to but if you want I swear to Allah that I will keep your secret."

[Leitz]

Knight Light looked around, to see if anyone would join them. With whomever, and Azir, he nodded to a spot away from the group.

"My n..name is Meuddyn Ibnin, b..but P..Perry and my friends c..call me Th..thin." He pulled out his wallet and held out a high school photo of a beautiful African American teen. "She lives with her G..Granpa, since her p..parents are d..dead. We're g..going to g..get married, b..but I have t..to g..get some st..stuff d..done first."

He spoke quietly, but gave you his address, Perry's address, and spoke lovingly about his mother and little sister. He spoke respectfully about his step-dad "George", and Mister Hoffman, "Granpa". It's not a leap to guess that Mister Hoffman and Thin's Mom are listed as insurance beneficiaries.

When the photo came back to him, he looked at it and smiled. "D..Dos Seso is right, I d..don't p..pick fights. G..George says a man must d..decide what he is willing t..to d..die for, b..but a warrior must d..decide what he is willing t..to k..kill for. I have my answer."

[Rex]

Azir

"Rightly so and good advice. I will keep your secret and do what must be done if need be, but Allah willing it will not be needed."

[shaidar]

Eclipse turns to Oleander

"Yeah, we patrol as heroes, it simplifies things and I think the visible presence gets people use to seeing us, we've not been around long. We haven't shared our secret identities with each other yet, but I hope that trust is forming. So, bonobo brain and wizard brain, so does that mean you can do magic?"

[Pulpatoon]

Oleander is happy to let Azir and Dos Seso handle Knight Light's girlfriend concerns. He's aware that humans get either scandalized or fascinated by bonobo ideas on sex, intimacy, and gender, and he's not in the mood to field either response.

To Eclipse: "In theory, I should be able to do a lot of magic. Like, all the magic humanity's have ever mastered. But the wizard-brain gets filtered through the bonobo-brain, and most of it's lost in the process. Basically what I'm left with is, well, I can pull a bunch of stuff from my pockets. Mostly fruit and bugs. You know, the stuff I was focused on as a bonobo-kid when several dozens wizards suddenly crashed into my medulla oblongata."

To demonstrate, he pulls a pair of mandarin oranges out of his pocket, and passes one over to Eclipse. Peeling the remaining orange, he pops a section into his mouth and asks, "Is yer energy-stuff more sciencey? What sorta tricks can you pull with it? I have to admit, you got a snazzy look. If we take off with the media, the shutterbugs are gonna crazy over the the dramatic snaps they can take of you."

[gurusql]

Letting you have your organic discussions follow the wind whether it is about one mind or two, but if you start zapping me I might start dripping blood. (Tried to see if I could reference all the characters in that.)

In all seriousness, when you are ready for me to advance the calendar please let me know.

[shaidar]

Eclipse

To Eclipse: "In theory, I should be able to do a lot of magic. Like, all the magic humanity's have ever mastered. But the wizard-brain gets filtered through the bonobo-brain, and most of it's lost in the process. Basically what I'm left with is, well, I can pull a bunch of stuff from my pockets. Mostly fruit and bugs. You know, the stuff I was focused on as a bonobo-kid when several dozens wizards suddenly crashed into my medulla oblongata."

To demonstrate, he pulls a pair of mandarin oranges out of his pocket, and passes one over to Eclipse. Peeling the remaining orange, he pops a section into his mouth and asks, "Is yer energy-stuff more sciencey? What sorta tricks can you pull with it? I have to admit, you got a snazzy look. If we take off with the media, the shutterbugs are gonna crazy over the the dramatic snaps they can take of you."

"My powers are science. To be honest, I don't believe in magic. To quote one of my favourite authors...magic is science we don't understand yet, but ultimately in this job it doesn't matter how it works, as long as it works. In a nutshell...I can fly, have telekinetic powers with ferrous metals, can generate a forcefield and can influence electricity and electronic devices. Have you heard of the atom smashers they have at Fermilab? I can do a similar thing, generate an intense magnetic field that strips atoms apart into their sub-atomic components to generate plasma and then direct that at a target. So, and I'm really not trying to be rude, but apart from summoning fruit, does your wizard brain give you any other abilities? If you're here then agent McGinley thinks you'll be an asset to the team, and I trust him. "

[VonAlric]

Dos Seso

Seeing Poe produce the fruit again gathers Dos Seso's interest again. He begins to listen to that conversation a bit more then quickly speaks as Eclipse finishes. "I was wondering the same thing about what your role on the team would be. Knowing if you can go toe to toe with the villains or be supportive from a short or long distance helps us understand the tactics we should try to employ. We are still working out how we function as a team."

[Rex]

Azir

"Yes, understanding our roles in different situations is very important. My powers come from Allah, I worry not about the classifications we place on them."

[Pulpatoon]

Eclipse
"My powers are science. To be honest, I don't believe in magic. To quote one of my favourite authors...magic is science we don't understand yet, but ultimately in this job it doesn't matter how it works, as long as it works. In a nutshell...I can fly, have telekinetic powers with ferrous metals, can generate a forcefield and can influence electricity and electronic devices. Have you heard of the atom smashers they have at Fermilab? I can do a similar thing, generate an intense magnetic field that strips atoms apart into their sub-atomic components to generate plasma and then direct that at a target. So, and I'm really not trying to be rude, but apart from summoning fruit, does your wizard brain give you any other abilities? If you're here then agent McGinley thinks you'll be an asset to the team, and I trust him. "

Oleander Pan scoffs, in a good-natured way. "You could just as easily say that 'Science is magic, dissected, labeled, and reduced to its basest constituent parts.' Sounds clever, but neither statement is true. Magic and science are as different as analogy and analysis. They're both very useful, but shouldn't be mistaken for one another. Why do you think your brains have two halves?" He reaches out a finger and points to Eclipse's left temple. "Science." He points to the right temple. "Magic."

He shrugs. "I mean, obviously, that is oversimplified to the point of being very nearly false. But it's a functional approximation of the truth.

"As for my role on the team, I hope to hold my end up in a tussle—chimps and bonobos are pretty good scrapers. And I got a bit of magic here and there, some of which is more situationally appropriate than fruit. But my background is in investigation. Fifteen years as a gumshoe in New York. I expect McGinely figured I'd be the detective on the team."