xx49.07.30 | 19:55 | Still Wednesday | [LUS]

Okay okay OKAY okay I can do this, I can be cool and calm about this, it's just Doctor Chimpanzio, he's just a person like me, he's just the superhero who took down EleMental without harming any living thing oh my GOODNESS that was awesome okay deep breath and just say hello, that's all, just a simple, easy word, just two syllables, just say hello, just say hello—

"YOU ARE AWESOME AND YOUR HAIR IS SO SHINY."

"...and this is my daughter, Charlotte. She's unconventional."

"Charmed." Chimpanzio is smiling at me, he's old but he's SO ... SO ... SOMETHING. "Splendid dress."

"And this is Charlotte's friend, Charlotte Crescent."

"Ah, another Charlotte," Chimpanzio says. He smiles at C2. "And another splendid dress. I suppose you've worked out a nickname to e-e-ease things up?"

The stutter's new. He never had that in any of the old videos.

"C2," says C2. "Because my name—"

"—is Charlotte Crescent, two Cs and so C2. Wonderful, wonderful. Ah, considering the fact that you're h-h-here, I do assume, that is, that you have some kind of promotion? Second generation, or a 'new power' as we're apparently c-c-calling them?"

"I would be considered a new power," C2 says. "But we're not precisely certain what my promotion is. Perhaps aura hardening."

"Ah! Very useful, excellent, excellent. I, er, I've been ... ah, Silhouette—do excuse me, er, C2. Silhouette, or Mrs Powers, or Violetta, lovely to see you again, I regretted not having the chance to speak to you on the, er, p-p-previous ... what's the word, I know there's a word, it simply won't come to mind, this is maddening, er, quite m-m-maddening—"

"Don't strain yourself, Peter. It's nice to see you too. Did you spot the fruit platter yet?"

"Ah. Humour. Ever your strong point, Violetta."

I want to say something, I so want to be a part of this stupid conversation but I know I'm just standing here staring. I just noticed my mouth was open and shut it. Now Dad's taking Chimpanzio away, towards the food tables—

"C2," I say. "C2, I ... um ... well done!"

"Thank you?"

"Charlotte, you must relax," Mum says. "If you can't handle yourself around Peter then I shiver to think how you'll do with, oh, Daisy or Belnyet—you know, those with actual presence."

"Doctor Chimpanzio has presence! It's right there in his power, Instinctual Empathy, I mean I know it's supposed to work on animals better than humans but still, that's presence! Oh! That means I've got it too! C2, do you feel a sudden, inexplicable attraction to me?"

"I..."

"Mum? Do you feel oddly attracted to me right now? Just a little?"

"Charlotte, I wish you'd think before you speak."

"Like mother like daughter ... or so they say."

Mum puts on a glassy smile as she turns; Tsunami is behind us. She just came in I guess, VERY quietly. She looks AMAZING, in this slinky black dress thing, Mistian style so it's really tight and long and it's the EXACT same colour as her hair and it makes her eyes look really bright and kind of scary actually. Her nose is so sharp.

"Suu Sato," Mum says. "I wondered if you'd come."

"I wouldn't miss it. Not after your husband's ... impassioned invitation."

Oooh tension.

"No guest tonight?" Mum asks. "No 'wards' to display for the rest of us? No second generation Satos to show off?"

"Unfortunately not," Tsunami says. Her scary eyes go over me and C2. "Some of us have had more important things to do than ... breed."

Oh rats Dad is here.

"Suu, I'm so glad you made it. Things looked a little dicey there for a while."

"In more ways than one. I came for you, Forte, no one else. I don't forget my debts."

"Nor do I," says Mum. She's smiling at Tsunami in a really scary way. Tsunami is smiling back, almost as scarily.

"And I have never left a promise unfulfilled," Tsunami says. "Not ever."

I don't actually know what went on with Tsunami and Mum and Dad, just that she's Mistian, from one of the outer islands, and that Dad helped her with something, I don't really know the details except because of what they did together the island's habitable.

"Ah, Tsunami—or Suu or Miss Sato, all of these 'handles', rather c-c-confusing at times, I'm glad you came, I've been wanting to share some rather interesting findings that may be pertinent to your, ah, what to call it, labels labels l-l-labels, 'cause', perhaps? Come come come, let us sit and chat a while, 'catch up' and such."

Chimpanzio takes Tsunami kind of cutely by the hand and leads her away. She goes willingly, with one last parting look at Dad, and one last parting look at Mum. I think I actually shivered. I just wish it wasn't my parents, it's hard to get truly excited about superhero tensions when it's your mother and father who are involved. Now Mum's dragging Dad away, not physically, she just gives him this look and he's powerless to resist.

"That was ... interesting," C2 says, in a low voice—lower than normal, that is. "There appears to be some history between your parents and Miss Sato."

"I wish I knew the details, it seems so juicy! I know it's my parents but it's also, like, superhero drama! SO much more interesting than non-superhero drama. Is there any salt water around here? I want to see how strong I got Tsunami's power!"

"Salt water manipulation? That seems specific."

"I think it's actually the salt or minerals or something that she controls, I don't know, but compared to someone like Lake or Splash Damage she's WAY more powerful, apparently it's totally scary when she gets going, so even though I've probably only got her power at like thirty percent strength or whatever I bet it's still really strong!"

"I noticed a small flask partially hidden in the back of her dress," C2 says. "Perhaps filled with salt water?"

"That would make perfect sense," I say, surreptitiously trying to see—but Tsunami's sitting down now. I guess what C2's talking about is the wide band thing around her midsection, it's black, the same colour as her dress, with an elaborately tied bow at the back—hidden by the chair she's sitting on.

"Perhaps later," C2 says. I smile at her, that's such a good thing to say. "Do you know who else is coming?"

"Trigger Harpy! And her DAUGHTER apparently, can you even imagine? And then ShyFire of course, and—oh! I've got another one! Another new power—the elevator!"

"Hello? Oh! Hello, you must be Charlotte, and C2. I'm—"

"YOU'RE SHRINKING VIOLET AND I LOVE YOU!"

The youngest of Mum and Dad's collective and one of the youngest 1st Gens twelve years old when she promoted she was persecuted by everyone around her because New Bala was totally anti-super back then and still is I guess then she was unofficially adopted by Mum and Dad's group and then later officially adopted by Grim but then he died during The Event oh my gosh she's changed SO MUCH how old is she now like thirty? Her nose is bigger! And her face is kind of pinched but she's still really pretty argh there's just too much awesome in this room already!

"Um. Heh. Thanks, I guess your parents might've told you some stuff about me? Oh, wow, Chimp? Chimpanzio! Sorry guys, I gotta say hi—maybe talk to you later? CHIMPY!"

Oh the smile on Chimpanzio's face and the way Violet went bounding over to grab him in a hug, I'm crying, I KNOW these people, these are ... these are MY people, I know this is the first time I've met them all but I honestly know them all so well, if Grim was Violet's father then Chimpanzio was everything else to her—maybe because of their powers, Chimpanzio handled animals, Violet handled plants, they always understood each other in a way that no one else could ever really get ... I mean, at least, that's what I've always thought. I don't know for sure except yes I DO know for sure, the way they're chattering away now like the years apart mean nothing and even the way Tsunami's watching them, she gets it too, maybe she's kind of scary and kind of vampy towards my dad but she understands, we ALL understand—

"Ah, such a touching scene. Perhaps not the last we shall see tonight, hmm?"

Dr Tsezch. I keep getting so distracted, I didn't even hear him come up behind me before he spoke. He looks the same as always, old but not as old as he should be, I don't know if that makes sense or not, with his spiky blonde hair and bulky black goggles and odd grey-dark skin and CONSTANT lab coat, white of course, and then there are the black leather gloves, there was a rumour that he's got mechanical hands under those, oh I want to just pull one off to see. Must resist. Must resist. His nose looks really big tonight, why am I noticing everyone's noses? His lips go really thin when he smiles.

"You are C2? Miss Charlotte Crescent?" Dr Tsezch asks. He holds out a creepily gloved hand, which C2 shakes. "A rare pleasure. I'm told you are the possessor of an unusual condition, an inability to instinctively 'read' the emotions of others? Fascinating. What must life look like to you, I would dearly love to peer through your eyes. Of course," he adds with a sinister chuckle, "that would necessitate the opening of your skull and the removal of your brain."

SO CREEPY.

"Oh, don't worry, I'd never open your head without your express permission, I was simply musing aloud. Still! To rummage around in that squidgy mass between your ears would make for a delightful few hours. I'm sure that yours is the kind of brain I could simply lose myself in."

"Thank you." C2 actually sounds pleased, sometimes I don't understand my best friend at all. "Daniel Powers speaks of you with great respect, Dr Tsezch, I'm sure it's deserved."

"Ah, a coincidence! He speaks of you with great respect also, Miss Crescent, and I am equally as sure that this is deserved."

Blushing! C2's blushing! This is ... this could be bad!

"But as intriguing as your company is I must 'mingle'—I arrived with others who will be along shortly, they will no doubt serve as a distraction to fill the void caused by my leaving. Now, is there a doctor in the house? Of course I exclude myself for the purposes of this question—Doctor Chimpanzio, rhymes with Tzapazino!"

Huh. That's weird. My power detector just shot up to seventeen. That can't be right. Now it's down to sixteen—eighteen ... staying at eighteen. What's up with this thing?

"Charlotte?"

Oh my goodness it's Alice. And Harmony and two kids I don't know but Alice—

"Charlotte..."

She's so fragile, she's like a little bird, even hugging her I feel like I have to be careful—and I have to suppress her power, reverse empathy, it can make things complicated when there's two people with that power in the same room, the emotional feedback loop can get intense. I let her go and she hugs C2, they're both smiling, C2 is really the one who rescued her, I was ... busy at the time, oh, little Alice ... she's gained weight since I saw her last which is really, really good, she was so skinny and sickly looking, at least now she's got some colour in her cheeks and her hair's not so limp and lifeless, it looked almost white but now it's more of a pale blonde, and her dress is nice and bright, it doesn't really suit her but ... but she DOES look so much better, I think I'm going to cry because of it—

"Hey, you okay?"

Harmony. She's got a hankie for me. She's such a sweetheart.

"Thank you," I say. Harmony's a new power working with Gaia, she's like her lieutenant except that's totally the wrong word except oh well. She's got aura projection, which is like some kind of clairvoyance that I've never really totally understood ... hey, there I am. I look fantastic! That dress really is amazing, whatever Mum and Dad paid Briq it wasn't enough. Harmony looks good too, not as good as me, of course, but then she didn't have Briq to dress her. Her dress is all kind of loose and flowing in greens and browns, earth tones to match her simple, honest face. That sounds kind of bad, whoops. I heard Mum call her 'painfully earnest' once which is kind of mean but also kind of true. Her hair's braided nicely. Huh, I'm taller than her, I never realised—

Wait, am I outside of my body?

I'M OUTSIDE OF MY BODY HOW DO I GET BACK oh okay here I am again. Phew. Phew. That was kind of interesting. I'm going to have to be careful with THAT particular power, I can see. Oops, Harmony's talking to me, I should pay attention.

"—is Glen, and this is his sister Malon."

"Wait," I say, "Glen and Malon Tresfoil? No way!"

"Is this extraordinary?" C2 asks.

"You guys are ... wow, you're like thirty years old but you're still little kids! Did you guys JUST get out of that stasis field?"

This is too much, I didn't even know—I mean, of course I knew Gaia had them, that she was trying to figure out a way to get them 'unlocked', but that she succeeded ... Timelock, their mother, oh it's such a sad story but kind of beautiful, she had like 'stasis' powers, really rare and weird, mostly she did things like altering people's perception of time and space and that kind of stuff, then at The Event her last act before she died was to protect her children, she put them both into a stasis lock so that NOTHING could affect them, except apparently the weird radiation that got sent out by the big explosion 'set' that stasis so it was permanent ... at least until Gaia figured out a way to break it, apparently. All those years just frozen, I mean time didn't affect them so from their point of view it's like no time passed at all, but still ... waking up and suddenly being like fifteen years in the future, both parents dead, and still the same age they were when they were frozen ... no wonder they're timid. Both of them are hiding behind Harmony now. Alice looks nervous too.

"They're a little ... shy," Harmony says. "Come on, guys, Charlotte's not a bad guy, she's a hero—remember Alice telling you about her? She's the one who rescued her! C2 as well, this is C2, say hello to her."

"Hello," Malon manages, then looks at her brother, Glen. "Come on, remember? You have to—"

"Hello," Glen says, in the smallest sweetest voice I've ever heard. "Hello, Miss Powers. Hello, Miss Crescent. Thank you for saving Alice."

Ahhh CUTE.

"Good boy," Harmony says, and she ruffles his hair. "I wasn't going to bring them but Gaia insisted, you know how she gets—well, maybe you don't. Trust me, she can be insistent. Said it'd be good for them, I guess I see her point."

"She didn't come?" I have to admit, I'm disappointed. Gaia is amazing.

"She wanted to but she's got to keep the Compass going—and she's backing you guys all the way on this, don't worry about that!"

Even though Harmony said that I do feel worried. And kind of sick, actually. And ... dizzy...

"Charlotte?"

How did I...

...

"—could not stand to greet me. Is my presence such a curse? Such a blessing?"

I know that voice. Lightning White. Oh my goodness, Lightning White is here. How did I get over on this side of the room? This is ... weird?

"Charlotte. You fainted."

"I did not! I don't faint!" I sit up, and a wave of something goes over my vision. "I ... feel ... weird."

"Dr Tsezch suggested that it may be a side-effect of mimicking so many different powers at one time."

C2's helping me sit up. Lightning White IS here, and that must be his daughter—wow, she looks kind of intense, her hair is amazing. Lightning White, though ... he's in his costume. Of COURSE he came in costume, that's just so him, and it's exactly the same, the same sleeveless leather vest, the same bare chest, the same long leather pants, the same mask covering the upper half of his face, blazing red and yellow with the same floral patterns that cover his clothes, it makes his eyes look so fierce, I have SUCH a crush on him.

"Why not? For old time's sake. Nothing up my sleeves, yes?"

Because of his fighting style, 'fistfight', I guess it sounds better in Dzodestran, can't cheat with iron bars hidden in his sleeves because he doesn't have any sleeves.

"No, I will not accept that—your help with Carmen, your untiring dedication ... Harmony, you are her saviour. Our saviour. This, I shall never forget."

Lying down again now. I wonder if I'm delirious? Weird tingling going over my body. Up my left leg and through my chest and down my arms to my fingertips and then back and up over my scalp and my face and now down my body and ending in my right leg.

I'm quite happy the tingling has gone.

"You listen to me, little woman, my parents were truer Dzodestran than ANY born on that vadrek rock!"

But he's just playing. He pretends ... he pretends he's angry ... but he's just ... sad...

"Well now. I've seen pictures, of course, but look at you, all grown up."

Envy Death is ... she's talking to me? She never ... never got a chance ... to prove herself...

"Perhaps it would be best if you spoke to Charlotte later. She's not feeling well at the moment."

"You're Crescent? I've heard a little about you. You should introduce yourself to Morgan, he was with me earlier—not my son, by the way, let's just make that crystal clear from the outset, but we must take care of our 'fellows', mustn't we, all part of the invisible contract. Now, in what way shall I amuse myself while I wait for your friend to recover—perhaps I'll go needle Belnyet a little more, Dzodestrans are such fun, don't you find? Charlotte, I do wish to speak with you. Later, when you're feeling firmer."

"I like ... your glasses..."

Envy's already gone. She's so much shorter than I thought she'd be. Her hair is nice, I wouldn't have thought a bob would suit her but it does. Her face is softer now. Without all the makeup. Without all the 'costume'. Public opinion; she saw the writing on the wall. Wore a lot of leather and spent hours getting her hair to do that. Larger than life. An act? Easy to leave it all behind. Cut her hair, traded contacts for glasses and leather for cashmere ... faded away...

"You missed some 'drama'," C2 says to me. Why am I lying down AGAIN? This is RIDICULOUS! "When Miss Smith arrived."

Miss Smith. Envy Death. Kate Smith. Not her real name. Identities behind identities behind identities.

"I don't think Miss Sato expected her to come here. There was a certain conflict between them. Between Miss Smith and your mother also. Were Miss Smith and your father ... 'linked'?"

"Just rumours," I murmur. "Nothing proven."

"It seems he was ... popular."

"First girl won," I manage to say, and then—

and

...

[DATASTREAM LOST]