Lena

"You want to put what in my garage?" Lena rubbed her ears, positive that she hadn't heard correctly.

Candy rolled her eyes. "The telepathy machine Brad and I are working on!"

Yep, that's what she thought she heard. "I get that the university is doing a lot of remodeling, but —."

Candy shook her head and then flicked away the hairs that got stuck in her lip balm. "We haven't been working on this on campus. Brad's roommate just got handed a baby boy he didn't know he had, and he's freaking out, trying to baby proof everything. Not to mention, the kid has some lungs on him. It would be a lot easier for us to relocate the project here than trying to work when little Scotty's napping. We just are not going to get any lab space on campus. Too many complications."

"— But my garage is not part of your lease agreement. If I was even interested, I'd have to check the homeowners policy to see if I'm insured against weird science accidents taking out the house," Lena finished.

"We can sign a new lease, just for the garage. I'm sure lab insurance isn't that expensive. I'll get Mamaw to cover it." Candy played her ace, and Lena sighed, defeated. True, it was her house, but Candy was her cousin and their grandmother's darling. Mamaw Ruthy was sadly lacking in ruth when it came to her dynasty.

"Fine," Lena said, rubbing her forehead. "But! You just lost the right to complain about me taking over the living room for game nights."

*~*~*

Jason

"Hey, Jace! Remember that game my cousin got me into?"

Jason gave Rob a distracted glance through the vid chat app while he finished parking. "That's the first thing you say to me? No 'hello, how ya doing?' Really?"

"Hey, Jace, how you doin'? You free on Thursdays? My game has a couple of openings." Rob frowned. "Wait, are you driving and talking on your phone?"

"Parking, and Momma called me just before you to hit me up for cash again so I wasn't actually paying attention to her."

Rob said, "Damn, no wonder I got that pissy greeting. So, you good for gaming?"

"Sure, I can get the specs for my character from you tonight, right?" Jason put his truck in Park and turned it off. He turned to face the phone camera more directly.

"Yep. In fact, Lena said she just needs a couple hours notice if we want to go over to her place for character creation."

Jason recognized their shared living room behind Rob, along with Aaron bent over familiar looking books. "You said a couple openings. Who else you asking?"

"My little bro, of course. You know he's got the hots for Lena's roommate. It's a brotherly obligation to help him out a bit."

Aaron glanced up from the books and grabbed a nearby stress ball. Jason watched Aaron conk his older brother in the back of the head. "Oh, shut up already, Bert!" Aaron said.

Rob and Aaron shared the same mother, but had different fathers. While they had similar builds and narrow facial features, Rob took after his Mexican father almost as much as Aaron took after his Nordic father. They called themselves the Morgan brothers because their mother, in an attempt to preserve her maiden surname, had given them both the middle name of Morgan.

"This isn't your way to wiggle into hosting games in our apartment, is it?" Jason asked.

Rob shrugged. "It's nice that that's an option, but Lena twisted Candy's arm hard enough to stop poking at us."

Jason raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Really? Then why the openings?"

"I told you Greg and Sandra got engaged, right? Their families pulled them into serious wedding planning stuff. I think Greg's there more to help Sandra stay sane. She was already stress crying when they told us the news last night."

"I'll get more details tonight. I need to get to class," Jason said.

"I'll let Lena know we're covered," Rob said. "Smell ya later!"

Jason laughed, turned off the call, and got his stuff together. The walk from his parking spot to his Macroeconomics class took twenty minutes, not bad considering the size of the Cal Poly Campus and the densely packed parking lots.

Even though this was his second year in college, it still felt weird to look around and see so many fresh faced kids in his classes. There were some older students, but not many. From all reports, next year would be a bit better as transfer students had to come in ready to apply to their program colleges.

California was also a change, but one he found easier to take to. For one thing, his momma and mooching brother were back in Alabama. They were still too close, but anywhere with cell reception was too close.

It took a strong effort of will to put her last call out of his mind and focus on what mattered: his education.

*~*~*

Rob

"You are such an ass, Bertie!" Aaron said as Rob hung up the call with Jason.

"What? You like the girl and you like gaming. What's the problem?" Rob asked, holding back a grin.

Aaron shook his head and went back to reviewing his character options.

Rob chuckled and rang up Lena.

"Hi, Rob. What's up?" Lena asked.

"Aaron and Jason agreed to try out our game. Jason should be back in an hour. When should we come over for character creation?"

Lena said, "Anytime after 4 should be fine, but Candy and her lab partner are moving their project into the garage this weekend, so there may be some traffic and distractions."

"Great," Rob said. "I'll ring you when we're on our way."

Rob turned around again to pester his baby brother, but Aaron had retreated to his room. Rob shrugged and got to work on his English homework.

His assignment was to write a persuasive paper, and the topics his professor had given them to choose from were, let's see, Voting Rights, The Balance Between Majority and Minority Representation, and The Most Important Skill. He sighed. It wasn't that he disagreed with Professor Martin's political views; Rob didn't know what the professor's views were. He also taught Political Science classes, and he had a bad habit of inflicting his passion for debate on his students.

Rob wasn't sure how The Most Important Skill topic fit in, but it looked like the least emotionally charged subject. The instructions for the topic said he could narrow down the context and suggested pulling from prior experiences. As he brainstormed ideas, his thoughts took him back to his last duty station, where he met Jason.

The two of them had gotten along like a house on fire from the start, irritated by the same lazy bastards they had to work with and sharing a similar sense of humor. Unfortunately, neither of them had much patience for idiots, and their supervising officer was too wet behind the ears to listen to his sergeants when they told him things he did not want to hear. Jason hadn't made it past Specialist because he wouldn't kiss ass enough to get a recommendation from the man. Rob got demoted to Specialist after a particularly inept call by the brass-brained idiot because someone had to be responsible for breaking the treads of the Abrams that had come into their bay for a routine engine check.

After that, they decided that they didn't need to keep busting their knuckles in the Army's maintenance bays. Jason had gone so far as to swear off mechanical work, period. Rob liked to tinker, but it was more his hobby than anything else. Their duty tours ended within months of each other. Rob's mom lived in San Luis Obispo and they had G.I. Bill benefits to turn into an education. They made the cut for Freshman Admissions at Cal Poly, and, well, here they were.

Rob was currently shooting for a Marketing degree, but that had more to do with Papi's plans for his future than his own.

Aaron was six years younger than Rob. He managed to get in with a local scholarship, the brainiac kid. Despite Aaron's fixation with becoming a park ranger or a game warden or something like that, both Aaron and Jason (who despised camping) had more in common than Rob and Aaron. They possessed a patience that Rob knew he didn't have. When the shit-talking started, they could go for hours, laughing, never a nerve struck.

Rob could smile through his butt hurt, but he still got butt hurt over the stupidest things. Jason steered away from the things he knew that Rob couldn't joke about, and did a much better job corralling Aaron's impulsive stupids than Rob ever could.

So, with all that in mind, Rob brought his thoughts back to his paper. What was The Most Important Skill and in what context?

The more he thought about it, the more Rob came back to the thing he admired most about both his brother and his best friend. They had a knack for appreciating what they had to work with. They still took time to wish for more, but they were able to make the most of what they had by knowing what they had, strengths and weaknesses.

*~*~*

Brad

Wailing fit to shame the damned in hell woke Brad. He groaned and pulled a pillow over his head, trying to tune out little Scotty's summons. There was something important he needed to capture about his dream, but what was it? As he was able to order the bits and pieces in his mind, Brad sat up and reached for the notebook he kept by the side of his bed.

The wailing continued while Brad took care of his morning routine, varying in pitch and with small hiccuping sobs in between. Brad, nerves stretched by the constant auditory barrage, tracked down his roommate.

Geoffrey was another ex-pat Brit, only unlike Brad, he had been much smoother with the ladies. Brad took a certain petty satisfaction in seeing his roommate's successes come back to bite him, and he didn't actually mind the little ankle bitter. However, Brad was also the oldest sibling of five and had had his share of watching over infants.

The bags under Geoff's eyes matched the shambling steps he took while he paced with his son, trying to find something to comfort the baby. Brad walked up, put the back of his shower warmed hand against little Scotty's forehead and sighed. "Go down to the urgent care clinic. Your boy's got a fever."

Geoff almost cried. "Been. He's colicky and teething and has a cold. As bad as the crying is when we're walking it gets worse when I put him down. How does anyone ever get any sleep with an infant in the house?"

Brad rubbed his face. "Try taking off your shirt and letting him lay on your stomach. We've got a recliner. You can try falling asleep there. Some babies need more skin to skin touch than others."

The lamentations of the damned rose to new heights as Brad helped Geoff settle in, but trailed off quickly once little Scotty snuggled up on his father's chest.

"Candy and I will be moving the equipment out of the garage, but I'll make sure I'm the only one tracking through the house." Brad gave out the reminder while setting a lap blanket in easy reach.

Geoff thanked him with a silent smile and nod before closing his eyes.

*~*~*

Candy stretched and Brad could hear soft popping sounds as her shoulders and wrists released tension. "I'm done for the day. How about you?"

Brad looked over the boxes they had transported and nodded. "Knackered. We can put everything together over the weekend."

"Great. Lena said something about home made pizza for dinner. Want a beer to go with it?" Candy made the offer as she headed into the house via the doorway between kitchen and garage.

Brad followed. "Sounds good to me."

Lena, rolling out dough at the counter, asked, "Are you volunteering my cooking again?"

"You like cooking," Candy said.

"You're lucky I invited the guys over for character creation or you'd be offering to share your portion." Lena smiled at Brad. "Don't mind me. I just like to remind the beast in the room to ask before assuming everything's grand."

Brad shrugged. "Don't put yourself out on my account."

Lena laughed. "No worries. I'm not. But my cousin's got a problem with understanding boundaries. My sniping is for her benefit."

"*I* have a problem with boundaries?" Candy asked, incredulously.

"Yes," Lena said, moving the dough to circular pizza pans and cleaning up the counter.

"What do you call what you're doing right now?" Candy asked.

"Being rude without malice."

Brad could see the cheerful play between the two and relaxed. They continued to bicker while Candy fished out two beers from the refrigerator and handed one to Brad, keeping the other for herself.

During a break in the back and forth, Brad said, "Thank you, Lena, for letting us take over the garage."

Lena finished putting the first pizza in the oven and straightened. She made good eye contact with Brad and gave him a gentle smile. There was a deliberation to her movements that seemed rehearsed, or at least a touch forced. "You're welcome."

After a beat, Candy set her beer down and clapped. "Bravo! You did it!"

Lena dropped her face into her hands, her cheeks bright red.

Brad looked between the two women, confused. Candy, grinning, said, "She sucks at taking compliments. Usually by now, she'd be telling you how it wasn't anything at all, and probably bring up that I traded away my bitching rights over her game nights here."

"Game nights?" Brad asked, deciding to move the topic away from what obviously embarrassed Lena.

"Yeah," Candy said. "She likes to do this role playing Dungeons and Dragons stuff, but they use maps and models and stuff."

Brad perked up. "Really? What edition?" he asked Lena.

"Pathfinder, mostly. When I want to play a video game, I play a video game, so DnD 4th just isn't for me." Lena moved around, cleaning up her workspace and putting away unused ingredients.

"Have you tried 5th yet?" Brad asked.

"Nope," Lena said. "I'm getting tired of buying new rules books just because there's a new way to play, and the SRD leaves out too much of the game flavor to make it interesting enough to try out."

Candy leaned back, picking up her beer again and watched as they started talking the finer points of various systems.

When the doorbell rang and three men between Lena and Candy's ages were invited in, Brad trailed after. The new gamers quickly joined in and by the end of dinner, Brad and Candy were invited into the next game session and rolling up characters.

*~*~*

Jason

Two months later …

"Come on! It'll be fun! And if it isn't, you can hold it over my head! You're the only hold out, Jace!" Candy flashed a gamine grin, her sherry brown eyes sparkling with mischief.

Jason looked around the gaming group and threw up his hands. "Fine! Fine! But I swear if this is a prank, you guys are in for it!" Throwing a stern look at the mischievous woman, Jason added, "And, Candy, I've got the tree-costume footage!"

Candy laughed and put her right hand on the nearest rules book, raising her left hand. "I swear that this is not a prank. It is part of the graduate project that Brad and I have been working on for forever! Are you satisfied?"

"No, but let's do this anyhow," Jason said, standing up.

Candy squealed and jumped up. "Alright! We've got everything set up in the garage!" She bouncy-pranced around the table and, planting her hands on Jason's back, shoved him down the hall.

Jason sighed, but let himself be pushed along. Aaron followed nearly on Candy's heels with Lena and Rob trailing behind. Brad, the sixth and final member of their group, awaited them in the garage.

In the garage, Jason focused first on getting Candy off his back. The others had all trailed in when he turned back around to look at whatever the two engineers had put together.

Brad, already in possession of a Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Physiology, was starting graduate studies in bio-mechanical systems. Candy was helping him as part of her graduation project for her Electrical Engineering degree. Jason (and most of their group) usually just nodded along when the two started enthusing about their fields of study.

He recognized that there was a kind of order to what, at first glance, looked like nothing more than an explosion of wires and boxes. Amidst the sea of multi-colored wires, Jason made out what looked like six upside down metal colanders.

"Really?" he said, mildly offended by what looked like B-grade movie props.

"It's perfectly safe, I swear! You can even strap me in first if you don't believe it!" Candy managed to add in a bit of shoulder action as she maneuvered around a desktop computer tower at the heart of the collection of wires.

Jason found himself with grave suspicions. "It doesn't look safe," he said.

"It only looks messy because this is a prototype," Brad said, far calmer than his partner-in-tinkering. Lifting the nearest colander thing and showing off the wires coming out of the punctured dome, he said "These are standard commercially available medical grade electronic sensors. They can't shock anyone. They are pretty sensitive, though, so please don't play with your phone while you're hooked in to the Dream Catcher."

"The Dream Catcher?" Rob said.

Candy rolled her eyes. "It's just a project name!"

"So what are all these sensors for?" Jason asked.

Brad gently set the wired half ball down so he could use both hands to fan out the bouquet of wires. "Basic biometrics, like heart rate, and some data gathering on your E.M. fields."

"Hey, talk in real words, please!" Lena said.

Brad looked at her without understanding. "Huh?"

Candy, looking slightly serious, said, "E.M. means electromagnetic. Remember me telling you about how your touch screens work?"

"Oh," Lena said. Then she shrugged. "Okay. Well, let's get on with it."

It took a solid half hour for Brad and Candy to get everyone hooked up, themselves included.

"This is going to be so fun!" Candy said, unable to sit still when Brad reached for a switch on the only box not wired to a person.

"Welcome to the future of connectivity," Brad said, grinning as he pushed the switch to the left.

The fan in the tower computer whirled to life.

«Testing. Testing.» Brad's voice echoed in Jason's mind.

*What the hell?*

Candy laughed. Jason felt it like the bubbles in a hot tub.

«Oh, good Lord! It *works*!» Lena's voice sounded the way cinnamon smelled.

Rob and Aaron looked at the four of them with confused expressions.

«Bradford Ajput Singh? Are you ready?» This voice was both deeper than most men's voices and tinny, as if distorted by distance. An odd herbal scent accompanied it.

Jason didn't hear if Brad answered. The blood in Jason's head pounded through his skull with an intensity that left him sick to his stomach. Which ever sense Brad and Candy's wires screwed with left him raw, his body hearing textures and tasting frequencies, his vision completely overwhelmed and his sense of scent warning him of the physical proximity of a hard, rough surface under his body. Unable to deal with the sensory shock, Jason's mind shut down, granting him a period of blessed unconsciousness.