Nothing is impossible to a willing heart

[sponsorigami]

Who: Flowers Over Bones
What: Powers Over Flowers under the guise of Flowers Over Birthdays
When: March 13th-ish
Where: Luce's room, FoB penthouse, Virgo HQ
Warnings: None for content, but Virgo should worry whenever FoB talks to each other

A meeting to talk about Luce's upcoming birthday is the "official" story the band may use if asked. And, maybe some of that will even happen. Their manager, Angel, is left to sort out involvement in "Fairy Trials" and comb through a few new compositions in the common area.

However, the reality is that Luce has called together the band to show them something, and as it turns out, she's not the only one with a few new surprises.

Comments

[giglio_madonna]

[It takes triple checking to make sure Angel isn't coming in on them anytime soon before Luce is satisfied. Setting the various recipes aside, she takes a breath and stands up.]

Remember, after Solstice, I said that I didn't have any strange powers? Well... I've figured something out.

[The ring the man in the silver helmet had given her feels so warm on her finger. In its center, the jewel is a warm orange. While she still can't explain it, there's a tickle of delight in her still that it's responding to her. Deep in her core, she knows that this is a fickle object.]

[Taking a deep breath, she closes her eyes and concentrates on the feeling she' felt while with Tiger. It was more than the concern, or the empathy. At the center of it, surpassing everything else... was a will to do whatever she needed to do.]

[Now that she's felt it once, it's so easy to find it again. It's the same feeling she puts into her singing.]

[The first sign is at the ring, a brilliant orange flame bursting out from it. In no time at all, however, the fire is consuming her utterly until her entire body is awash in its soft heat. It's not harmful at all, just soft, and welcoming, and harmonious.]

Turns out there is something.

[trustme]

[ Doctor watches quietly like an interested cat, head bobbing up and down following that ring once she draws attention to it. The flame isn't worrisome at first, more like an illusion coming out of the ring but as it starts to surround her he opens his mouth and makes a concerned noise. ]

What is this? It looks like fire but its not fire.

[ For starters her bedroom isn't ablaze now. ]

[sponsorigami]

[ Ivan nearly jumps to find some water when he see the flames surround her. His mind wants to twist the orange fire to blue-green, but Ivan shakes the thoughts away. Luce is fine. She's not crying out in pain or fear. This is... her power. ]

... Does... does it do something...?

[faithfulflame]

[Rei leans forward in her seat, eyes not exactly wide, but definitely luminescent. She's interested in this. Extremely so. Her lips curl upwards in a smile and she reaches a hand out towards the flames. And finds...]

It's not real fire. I...can't move it. But it's definitely something.

[Lowering her hand.]

What can it...?

[i_am_not_cute]

[That fire looks real enough to Pao-Lin, such that she instinctively backs away and gathers up her skirt when it engulfs Luce. But if Rei says she can't move it, then it probably isn't real. Also the carpet hasn't caught ablaze or anything, so there]s that.]

Is it like...a hologram or something?

[giglio_madonna]

No, no hologram.

[She extends one arm alight into the middle of the group, letting them feel the faint but definite warmth.]

It's part of me. My own energy. I discovered it because- [The urge to sigh is bitten back. She's still not happy about it.] -Tiger Universe was in Defying Atmosphere's penthouse, in horrible shape. When the fire came, it... seemed to help him, a little bit. Mentally. Like it brought him back together for a while.

[True enough, that's what contact with the flame does. A strange feeling of harmony, of things feeling a little more like they should be.]

But it doesn't seem complete to me...

[trustme]

I definitely feel something from it. [ Doctor reaches out to put his hand closer to it. ] This aura is radiating a sort of... calmness.

Very Zen! You wouldn't think about calming people as a super power but with the things we've been through this is going to be a very helpful very cool power. I wonder what else you can do with it. -If you glow in the dark and light dark places with it, for example.

[faithfulflame]

You think...there's more? I mean, it definitely doesn't seem like mine.

[She blinks and listens to the story, breathing in and out in something akin to awe.]

More...I don't know...passive? I don't know if it's for fighting like mine.

[sponsorigami]

[ He slowly reaches out and feels the calm and warm the fire brings. But something besides that power catches his attention.

... How did Tiger Universe get in Defying Gravity's place? He's from Pride.

Ivan opens his mouth to ask, but then he closes it. That's a question for another time. ]

... I... know my shapeshifting feels "complete" now, like I can control it and have all the forms I used to have. If you feel like something's missing, then there might be.

[giglio_madonna]

Tranquility is Rain, dear.

[The response tumbles out from her mouth without much say-so from her mind, and Luce pauses, rubbing at the ring on her finger that's still burning brightly. Rain, Tranquility... The soldier.]

[Storing this information away for later, she focuses on drawing back her flames. It comes easy to her, until there's just fire flickering about her fingers. She looks back to Ivan.]

Really? Did you... talk to that person again? With the helmet?

[sponsorigami]

[ "Tranquility is Rain"? Rain can be very tranquil... though he doesn't know how it applies to this conversation. The second part is easier. ]

Yes, I did. I jammed with them. I... I'm trying to remember as much as I can, but I'm still being cautious.

[trustme]

Have we all met those helmet fellows now? [ He turns specifically to look at Pao-Lin in case things had changed on her part. ] I've only met them once still, just before the telepathy started. Can we confirm they're connected to our powers? That what they say is true when they say they're "returning" something?

[faithfulflame]

I've seen them a few times. Regularly even...

[giglio_madonna]

The same here. The last time, in fact...

[Letting the flame diminish, she clasps her hands together.]

It was right after I was... released. The one in silver, they played their music and it was like everything Juno did to me cleared up out of my head. After it stopped, of course, everything reverted, but still...

[i_am_not_cute]

[Pao-Lin's hands ball themselves up in her skirt a little.]

...I saw them after one of our concerts earlier this week. I met them before in back November, when me and Ivan ended up in that warehouse, but this time they talked to me...

[A headshake.]

I don't know what they returned to me, though.

[Pao-Lin has started feeling strangely comforted by all their stage equipment, though, especially when things are up and running and there's a buzz in the air that seems to be something other than the magic of their music. Something like restlessness overrides what she thinks should be weakness and lethargy in her veins. Lately she's been hungrier, too. Lately she's been hungering for something but she isn't sure what, not yet.]

[sponsorigami]

With this and the ghosts... do you think they're working together? To help us remember our true selves?

[ Ivan remembers his conversation with one of Rei's space ladies, Alex. Alex knew someone with blue skin, just like Arpegius and Stella. There seems to be some kind of connection. ]

[trustme]

They must be. Or they must have the same goal. Memories, powers, they're both revelations of the truth.

[ Doctor rests his chin on his palm and covers his mouth for a moment. Then he suggests another thought. ]

I wonder what it would take for us to escape Virgo. We're not entirely helpless any more. We're just not as strong as Blanche.

[faithfulflame]

[Ivan's statement makes sense, but Doctor's suggestion breaks her out of her thoughts.]

We can't. We...have something in our heads. A chip, that tracks us. Serena...she told me. If we try to run, they'll appear and pull us back. And I don't think we can fight them. Not yet.

[i_am_not_cute]

If they were strong enough to bring us from wherever we are and brainwash us, then we definitely can't fight them yet. They must be really strong to do all of that.

We have to find out more. And we probably can't face them head-on, right?

[But her hands curl into fists a little, as though she wants nothing more than to sock Blanche in the face with a good and direct straight punch.]

[sponsorigami]

Something in our head...

[ He places a hand to his temple as if he could feel the thing there. That disturbs him. He's sneaked out of Virgo a few times without his bodyguard. Does that mean they knew where he was the whole time? Who he was?

Is his shapeshifting not much help after all? Because if it's in him while he looks like someone else...

Something makes him recall being caught in the warehouse by the tattooed man, Jake Martinez. That's his name; he remembers it. Ivan is shapeshifted into someone, trying to sneak in, find the hideout, and the secret to the powered suits. His cover is blown. Jake Martinez knows who he is. He always did. And the reason he could do that is because he can read minds. Ivan never stood a chance even under the guise of another. ]

D-Damn it... then that... that nulls my shapeshifting's usefulness... if they know...

[ He's going to get caught and beaten within an inch of his life, and how much he can help is very limited. ]

[trustme]

It doesn't make you useless. GPS is good for tracking us if we try to leave Virgo but it's useless for elevation. You exact location in the building will remain a mystery. -As you've proved all ready when you climbed through the air ducts. We can still trick them within the building.

[ Please Ivan, don't beat yourself up. You've done a lot to help the cause. ]

The chip is a setback but we learn something from it. If there's a way to disable or even remove the chips we'll be free to try escaping. It means Blanche and his company had to resort to technology to track us- his fancy powers weren't fancy enough for that!

Technology is so much easier to fight against! We don't have to be stronger than Blanche- we just need to be smarter.

[giglio_madonna]

[Wordlessly, Luce reaches over to extend an open palm for Ivan, if he wants to take it.]

Removing them would mean getting inside our own heads somehow. Unfortunately, none of my visions hint that I'm any sort of brain surgeon.

[Verde, the scientist from her visions- he'd be perfect for this, Luce is sure of it. Unfortunately, if he's here, she hasn't seen him.]

Turning them off seems like a more viable option, but we don't even know how they're made.

[trustme]

I think- or feel- or know- that I would be able to do something about them if I was my regular self. I haven't gained back that knowledge yet though. I've had memories where I'm working on computers and machines complex like nothing you've ever seen, but I don't have the ability to do that back. [ He sighs loudly and slouches. ]

Apparently it's been a long time since I met with the fellows in the helmets.

[ He perks up to add another fun fact. ] I think I have medical abilities too! I could be a doctor. [ Sorry. He thinks it's funny. ]

So if I could just get those skills back that would be very handy! [ He calls this up into the air on the off chance the ghosts are around and can suddenly help out with that. ] Speaking in our heads is nice and all but it's a little frustrating when you know you should be able to do something more than you're currently able to do to solve the predicament at hand. [ He shakes both fists in the air. ]

[faithfulflame]

[Rei nods decisively, listening to what Doctor has to say. She agrees, naturally, and her anger swells. She's so sick of feeling helpless, and her fists clench.]

I know. I know, somehow, that if I was myself...I could tear this building apart.

[Heat swells around her, unbidden and unwanted, but totally beyond her control at this point. She doesn't even know it's happening, by her rather nonplussed reaction.]

It's so...irritating.

[i_am_not_cute]

[Pao-Lin happens to be sitting by Rei, and her eyes widen when she feels the sudden surge of heat coming from her bandsister. Worried, she inches away.]

Um, Rei...

[sponsorigami]

[ It's harder to go against his negativity, especially when it concerns himself. Ivan feels a little ashamed that he's worried about what he can do when there are bigger things going on.

Luckily, something else distracts Ivan. ]

Rei, do you... need a breath of fresh air on the patio?

[ Fresh, cool air. ]