Aberrant Pt. 03

"No, you do not kick the ass of people who observed you doing something risky. You chalk that up to a lesson to be more stealthy next time. And I'm saying we should save his job then he can decide if he wants to quit," Vanessa added when Alexa looked like she wasn't about to take Gillian's advice to heart. Sean nodded to Vanessa's explanation, trying to back her up. Gillian looked like she wanted to do anything but be here and be glared at by an increasingly agitated Alexa.

The door opened to the cafeteria and Alaska, their former trainer, walked in. She sighed. "Hey guys," she said, her voice subdued. "I hear, uh, everything kind of...went down the crapper..."

Vanessa nodded to Alaska, shaking her head. "Two people fucking in a bathroom stall lead to someone getting fired and labeled a pedophile.." She growled.

"What do you mean, 'everything?'" Alexa snapped. "We're just trying to go about our business and I've now got someone peeping on me during my private time!"

Ska shook her head. "The press loves jumping on novas with any aberrations," she said, shaking her head. "Loves it." She glared at Alexa. "Have you not realized, have I not made it clear? You. Don't. Have. Private. Time. Doubly not if you're a Utopian, which Cheddar damn well was!"

"Listen, Kentucky, I'm not above cracking a few skulls to get people to leave me alone. I did it in high school, and you bet your ass I'll do it again!" Alexa stopped herself from prodding Alaska with a finger full force. That wouldn't have been pretty.

"Cannot fault either of them for being human, Utopian or not. Cannot change the past either." Sean said with a shrug as he stepped between the two.

Gillian blew out a breath, rubbing her cheeks. "Busting skulls is the worst thing we could do about this."

"Which is the perfect reason Utopia should be going to the bat for David. While he and Alexa did fuck up, they did so in a particularly human way, something Utopia should be trumpeting to the hills. A non-human looking nova managed to get headlines behaving inappropriately in a way that any normal human would as opposed to leaving behind a trail of bodies?" She pointed to Alexa, "And you need to at least admit you fucked up having sex in public. If you railed him and a dozen fucking guys in your bedroom you'd be totally in the right, but you should not be having sex in bathrooms unless you can be damned well sure you won't get caught."

Alaska blinked again, then opened her mouth, looking at Vanessa. "That bit about the non-human novas, that's...a really good point..." She said. "I'm glad someone in your group is making sense!" Then, feeling Alexa poking her again, she turned her glare back on the younger nova. "Don't push me, Fairchild, I will smack you down if you push me."

Alexa glowered at Alaska for a time, dancing on the knife's edge of taking a swing at the pompous Utopian. "Where's David?" she ground out through clenched teeth.

"What matters at this point is getting an on the record protection for David, and if Utopia decides that is still not enough then to keep him from any contract traps and get him something far better. You don't want this turning into a brawl in this room." Sean stated, trying to remain calm - though his voice was coming through clenched teeth despite it. His own powers - those that weren't related to his intelligence - tugged at the edge of his perception, his agitation making his...other form want to emerge.

That wouldn't help. And, so, after forcing his jaw to unclench, he added: "Ska, can you get us information on where Utopia is going to take this and possibly a copy of a standard basic contract?"

As Alexa asked, she got her answer: David came out of the elevator, looking like he had burned through every bit of quantum energy he had - his wings were drooping, his scales dulled, even his clothes seemed baggy.

Ska, unaware of the dragon walking behind her, nodded. "I got it basically memorized - and David was a contracter, not a freelancer. So, that includes a morality clause. Something that he should have remembered..." She shook her head.

"Out of my way, bitch," Alexa said, pushing past Alaska as she hurried over to David.

Vanessa sighed, "That.. is a bit of an issue since he agreed to the morality clause.. which is why I didn't want to sign on with Utopia.." She grumbled slightly, then grabbed Alexa's arm, "Hey! Do not talk that way to someone who's basically on your side!"

Ska stepped back, lifting her hands, shaking her head as David blinked, seeing Alexa, Vanessa, and Ska all standing beside one another. He looked like he wasn't...quite sure what to do. Or think.

"She's on her own damn side!" Alexa snapped at Vanessa. "The side of stuck up pricks and moralistic assholes!" Her voice softened by an order of magnitude as she turned to David. "You okay?" she asked, reaching out to take his hand.

Sean nodded to Ska's explanation. "Well then, read it to me word for word. Such clauses can be challenged." He said as he stepped up next to Ska and gave her a pat on the back. "Seriously, contracts are a mess."

"No, she's on the side of people who realized you fucked up! Just because you don't deserve the shit you're getting doesn't mean you didn't also fuck up." Vanessa growled at the other woman, fully aware that she had almost no chance if the other woman decided to get physical.

Ska clenched her jaw and didn't rise to Alaxa's snapping - which was drawing some glances from the caffateria. David withdrew his hand, nervously.

"G-Going aright," he said, casually. "Uh..." He seemed uneasy with the idea of touching Alexa, even in a chaste way.

Alexa let her hand drop, shoving her hands into her pants pockets. "Yeah..." she said. "Super, right? Fan tucking fastic." She was almost smoldering with rage.

As Alexa slid her hands into her pockets, Ska laid out the basics and showed the wording to Sean. But as Sean's eyes flicked across it, David looked over at Vanessa, smiling slightly.

"Yeah...y-you're...right, I did kinda mess up..." he said, looking miserable, his wings closing around his shoulders. "Just...it felt nice not being with someone who freaked out because of the scales." He sighed, sligthly.

"Well.. even if we can't beat the letter of things, we can still probably help David keep his job.." Vanessa sighed slightly, shaking her head.

"We didn't fuck up," Alexa said. "Some asshole stuck their nose where it shouldn't have been. I mean, it was a tiny bathroom in the back of a Mexican place on the beach? How the hell could anyone have possibly seen us?"

David's nares turned bright gold. "Y-You were kinda loud..." he muttered, quietly, his tail coiling around Alexa's ankle.

Alexa looked back at Alaska. "Hey Mississippi, who broke the story first?"

Ska frowned slightly. "TMZ," she said, not rising to Alexa's . "The reporter left his name off the list for some reason."

"You keep ignoring you did fuck up! Having sex in a public bathroom is fun because it's risky. And part of risk is the chance you will get fucked over." Vanessa sighed, "You need to accept that you did something dangerous and got fucked for it." She said irritably.

Sean nodded at what they just went over. "Okay, David, do you want your job back- and Ska, can you inform said manager that I need to speak with him or he will be served for breach of contract. Well, Utopia as a whole. But same thing." He corrected himself.

Ska blinked slightly. "Huh?" she asked, while David jerked his head up as well - also looking startled.

Sean sighed. "Utopia cannot break contract over the article as written. The source isn't credible, and even if it is true it doesn't violate the morality clause. Attempting to claim that it does violate morality can be see as an act of discrimination and will be seriously considered for legal action."

Alexa glowered at Vanessa. "Alright, Vanny, since your so keen on making 'fuck ups' public, just tell me all the dirty laundry about your relationship with Tavi. I'll go tell the press about every fight you two have ever had, since, y'know, fuck ups deserve to be known to everyone in the world." She spread her arms wide. "I'm waiting."

Sean was starting to look irritated at the display going on before him.

"You don't seem to understand." Vanessa sighed, "You had sex publicly. You fucked up. You seem to be utterly unwilling to accept any sort of responsibility for things. And the reason I keep bringing it up is because if you don't accept HOW you fucked up, you could do it again.." She shook her head. "I don't want to see either of you hurt, but if you don't understand what you did wrong it will keep you from not doing it in the future.."

Tavi glared at Alexa, her lips pursed as she clenched her fists, while David stepped forward, taking hold of Alexa. "Lexy...she's right," he rumbled, quietly, speaking into her ear. The last five minutes had seen Jared pulling into the parking structure of the Rashound facility. After having made his way inside the building, it wasn't particularly hard to figure out where his friends were. Hell, he could even hear half the conversation from down the hall. Alexa snorted and leaned into David, rocking back on her heels and leaning against his broad chest. She wanted to fight the entire planet in that moment.

David closed half his wing around Alexa, squeezing him against her, forgetting his earlier reluctance. "You can't punch everything, you know?" he asked, quietly.

"I mean. You can, but it won't fix anything," Jay said.

"I want to punch something," Alexa muttered. "Preferably a cliff so I can watch the rock face crumble."

David shook his head. "Sean, Vanessa, Jay..." he said. "You guys seem to have an angle...I'm no good at talking, and Alexa needs to cool off. Can..." He blinked. "W-where did Gillian go?"

Looking around, the novas all realized that...Gillian...was gone.

###

With a soft crack, Gillian appeared - her hands shaking slightly. She hadn't...meant to run, really. But it had been so easy and so instant...and she was so fucking mixed up. She had left Alexa and Vanessa, shouting at one another, with that cute David cringing in the background, with Sean trying to put his oar in and Jay snarking and...it had all been too much. She sat down and looked around where she was - a large, green field, with a hedge nearby rising out beside a cobblestone path. The sky was dark, so she was a good way ahead or behind her old time zones. The faint cries of birds was...beautiful and calming, and the air felt warm and balmy.

But that didn't change the fact that the one thing she wanted to run from most was between her legs.

But before Gillian could sink into any more of her confused feelings, her ears perked...and she realized...

She could hear someone crying. It was coming from a copse of trees nearby - a soft, sniffling sound.

Almost reflexively Gillian stopped and gathered herself. She did what she always did; box her feelings up, store them away for later. She dashed her frustrated and self-loathing thoughts away with a few seconds of deep breathing, carefully focusing her attention.

The crying was what got her. She had always been the person to ask what was wrong when her siblings cried, and even ended up supporting her mother in those dark moments at night when everything felt to be too much. With her will gathered Gillian pushed herself up from the ground and went to investigate.

She was quiet, not wanting to openly disturb. Anything that was wrong she was hoping to fix; though inwardly Gillian hoped it was a simple bruised arm or broken ankle. Anything that would let her distract herself by helping somebody else.

As she moved over, she slipped up to a tree...and peeked...and was struck almost dumb. Silvery moonlight spilled through tree branches and upon a sight of beauty that Gillian had never imagined she would see. The woman had incredibly long silvery hair, cascading along her back, pooling on the ground around her. Pure silver hair, like the silver moonlight shining down overhead. Her body, though, was milk pale. Her breasts were immense, hanging only slightly above a broad, curved, cushy belly. Her thighs were that of a fertility goddess - her whole body was that of a goddess, really. Her face was round and gentle. Her hands were held over her face, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed softly.

The fact she wore a loose shift made of shimmering eufiber was only the third thing Gillian managed to notice after everything else.

That...forced a pause. Gillian gaped for what felt like minutes as all attempts to gather herself to help went with the wind. She leaned against a tree in the dark and watched with a hint of a flush creeping up on her cheeks. There had always been a reason she had crushed, like everyone else, on the group computer teacher Ms Zhong. It was why she heavily avoided topics about boys with her mother. Probably a hint to why she was really so confused and flustered back home, if she had been able to give it a real thought.

Gillian appreciated a soft figure, and seeing that infront of her forced her to really have to think. When it dawned on her that she could already feel herself getting extremely comfortable in her jeans she knew it was either run, AGAIN, or confront something.

With a deep breath Gillian did her absolute best to conquer her thoughts of lust and interest so that at the least she could investigate why this woman was crying.

The girl really didn't need to debate if this woman was a Nova or not so she simply abandoned the pretense to stealth. Stepping out of the woods Gillian carefully approached by walking along until she was in front of the moonlit nova. Kneeling, Gillian hugged her own knees and did her best to summon up her best smile as she spoke as soft, "Hello? Sorry to bother, but I heard you. Is anything wrong?"

The girl looked up, blinking as the other woman stepped out. She sniffed, then stammered. "Qui es-tu?" She asked, her voice musical and husky - and French. That was some hint of where Gillian had teleported too...but then the woman sniffed again, wiping some gleaming tears from her eyes, stammering. "Sorry, please...forgive me..." she said, speaking in acented English, an accent that made her words all the more beautiful. "I'm okay! J-Just fine!" She nodded, quickly, drawing her arm over her breasts, causing them to squish around her forearm, the softness of her flesh...so...supple and large. Gillian could imagine pillowing her face and most of her chest against just one of them!

Gillian's cheeks went a hint darker as the french nova hugged her chest for the take of modesty. She took a deep breath and forced her eyes to remain firmly in place on the woman's face, taking in every lovely little detail while she fought her brain for control of what to say.

"No, please don't apologize," She said softly with a hand raised. "I didn't want to intrude, you just look really...down, I suppose?"

She did her best not to seem to leery as she spoke next, rubbing at her neck now with her hand, "And it really doesn't feel right to leave someone to be alone."

She paused awkwardly in thought before reaching around to grab the single bag she had packed.

Digging around in the new duffel that Sean had bought her Gillian tugged out a thick woolen blanket. A nova now herself Gillian was perfectly aware that the chill night air didn't really bother either of them, but the rich black color of the blanket was all but impossible to see through.

Tugging the black bundle out she offered it up with a smile, "Here."

She sniffed. "How ironic to be down..." She said, shaking her head - then blinked as the blanket was taken out. She bit her lip, then took it from Gillian's hands, whispering a musical. "Merci...my name is Amelle..." She said, softly, ducking her head forward as the blankets were looped around her shoulders, drawing taut and tightly. This did nothing to hid her curves, but it did make Amelle look happier. She bit her lower lip. "What's your name, girl?" she aske, looking into Gillian's eyes.

"I, uh. I mean, name. Mine?" Gillian asked, stammering a little as she scratched her neck in a nervous tic. "Jacobs," She followed after a moment; and then she began to blush more before taking a deep breath. Just being called girl made her heart to crazy little jumps. "Gillian Jacobs. I...think I saw this place in a textbook once and sort of teleported here."

She rubbed her hands a little, nodding, "Kind of erupted a little less than a week ago actually. But, uh, enough about me." Gillian rambled as she leaned back onto her bottom. She got comfortable in the grass and stared down at it for a second in order to gather her thoughts. "Amelle? I really like it. How'd you end up out here Amelle?"

Amelle looked aside, her pale cheeks darkening with a blush. "Y-You don't want to hear a boring story from an old woman like me..." She said, shyly, sounding like a doe that was about to flee if frightened.

"I wouldn't be offering if I didn't," Gillian beamed, looking up after a few moments. "I really would like to hear. Honestly."

She shifted to a more comfortable seat after a few moments with one leg stretched out in the grass, the other folded over her thigh. "I mean, it's not really every night you meet a pretty woman in the woods, bathed in moonlight. Sort of a sign," Gillian added in the best 'teasing' tone she could muster. "Probably better than 'kids fighting, time to go'."

"I'm not pretty..." Amelle blushed, looking at her. "But thank you for your nice lies..." She smiled, sadly. "I'm...o-out here...b-because my engagement is broken off. My...my fiance...he broke it off. Over a text." She looked down. "Because e-ever since I erupted, I'm this...hideous whale." She put her hands over her face, starting to cry again.

That actually forced a mental pause in Gillian. The disconnect of logic was clear on her face as she stared at Amelle, dumbfounded. The complete confusion was almost innocent. When it dawned that Amelle could probably see the look plain as daylight on her face she did her best to mask the expression before putting on a frown.

"If I overstep any lines here, I apologize; but...You're not." She said, shifting closer so she could move to the older Nova's side to hesitantly reach for a hand. If Amelle retreated then Gillian wouldn't continue, but all she'd do if allowed was lightly hold and squeeze with assurance. "No lies; You're not a whale. I had to seriously force myself to think straight when I saw you. If your fiance really broke your engagement off with a text then they've no clue in the whole world what they've given up."

Gillian added another squeeze, "I'm sorry all the same. You really don't deserve that at all due to something you had no control over. It's a terrible feeling." Her brain made sure to log the comment for later when the words forced the young nova to suddenly re-evaluate the past few days as a nova and her own actions.

Amelle blinked at her, her mouth opening in a quiet O as she was held - her skin silky soft, her palm pressing to Gillian's. "O-Oh, you're too kind..." She said, her voice soft as she bit her lower lip. "B-But..." She looked down at her expansive breasts, her round rump, her broad thighs, her curved belly. "I don't know...I would not have chosen to look so. But my powers...the doctors say that my abilities, uh, how you say...use...fat cells?" She shook her head, shyly. "It's part of...how it all works, I do not quite follow it."

She drew back, then held out her hand. Her fingers sparkled and her breasts started to perk up - as if her whole body had become weightless. She floated up, shimmering with a pale blue light as she floated above Gillian - glowing and beautiful. "See?" she said. "I focus and can fly and float...and make other things float too..." She focused and her feet touched the grass again - her body sagging as she returned to gravity.