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The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

Amelia

---

Amelia returned Lynn's look of curiosity with one of her own. Lynn's surface level persona had been simple to pin down. Unlike Amelia, she wasn't a trouble maker out of a desire to rebel against an unjust society. She was a troublemaker by necessity and by how she was raised. However, it was the details where Amelia has really having trouble in pinning her down. Lynn apparently had a very strange set of scruples that she held to for what Amelia had expected. Amelia had expected Lynn to not give a shit about the cop she now know was named Radvi, and yet she was first to try and stabilize him of anyone. On top of that, Amelia wasn't quite sure where exactly she stood with Lynn. Clearly she held some curiosity to Lynn, or she would have told her to fuck off much sooner then now.

Amelia cocked her head at Lynn's jewelry comment. Jewelry? Why would Lynn give a shit about what people were. "....Oh. Ooooh." Amelia's eyes flickered with understanding. "Jewelry. Right. Guess I am too then. Though I'm more interested in the people the generous and caring people of the Promise would want to give welcome presents of nice bracelets." Amelia's tone was so dripping with sarcasm one could swear they could hear it fall like raindrops to the ground. Amelia scoffed at her own comment and rolled her eyes at nothing in particular. "This whole thing is a fucking joke."

Amelia looked up at Lynn with a raised eyebrow at her next question.

"That jacket, you... that from like a motorcycle or something?"

Amelia gave a genuine smile back. "Yep. The good shit. It's lucky. Because I'm lucky to even still have it at all." Amelia looked it over a bit admiringly. "My parents are the fucking worst. And when they finally figured out I had no intention of dressing like a lady, you know, as if they had any right to control what I wear to begin with, they insisted if I wore a leather jacket it'd be some department store fashionable crap. I had already gotten my powers at this point, so that shit wasn't happening. When they tried stalking me through the store so I'd get something they approved of, I went to the bathroom, teleported to a store more my style, and bought this." She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall, looking proud. "Spent the rest of my money on something my parents liked but I had no intention of wearing, and smuggled the real one out. My first major success smuggling shit around."

She looked back over at Lynn. "I haven't seen them selling anything like this myself, but I wouldn't be surprised. Especially if they insist on pretending there are still seasons up here. Just don't expect anything with real leather. That shit's pricey." Amelia suddenly looked a little disappointing. "Fuck me. I just remembered getting sent up here cheated me out of a motorcycle. Dammit."

Amelia considered asking Lynn something in return, looking her over with curiosity again. In the end though, she decided against it. Lynn would probably not be very forthcoming with answers without some actual rapport between them. And Amelia....couldn't actually say one way or the other if she had. Better not to risk it.

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

Amelia

---

Amelia had always been the type to be suspicious of the motives of authority. She might as well drink that shit for breakfast. But Amelia now believed she knew what it was like to be a goddamn conspiracy theorist.

After the nightmare that had been Homecoming, Amelia felt like she had been weirdly overlooked by the police. Apparently if you wanted to dodge encounters with Gennedy, be the person to deliver the injured guy to the ER. Amelia had seen fit the throw in one quick jab at Lynn before plotting her escape, however. "Don't look at me! I said shit or get off the pot. You had plenty of time to let go." Still, Amelia had answered the questions that needed answering, made sure her friends were ok, and then promptly made herself scarce before big bad Gennedy could show his ugly mug.

A few days later, Amelia had gotten the full explanation of what was going on for Keaton. Well....as close to a full explanation as she could get. And from everything she had heard from that, cowardice or not, Amelia was now convinced going incognito for a month or two had absolutely been a good call. Apparently the band had been caught right in the center of some of the worst of it, tangling with two seriously fucked up parahuman criminals. Worse still, apparently the murderer had been involved in that two. And now Amelia finally had a name.

Arianna.

Now, Amelia could handle the loose psycho, to a point. She could handle the fucked up people in the prison. But what really threw her for a loop was the fucking black and white incorporeal freaks that saw fit to entangle ordinary students into the mix. Amelia didn't give a shit that said students could cause a raging inferno or turn into Godzilla or defy the concepts of distance and space. In the context of the situation, they were ordinary. And she didn't care if they had been calculated to be involved in the conflux of events, or if they had stumbled onto a weird program, or if the fucking tooth fairy told them so. The fact that they had to be prepared to possibly get involved to her translated as being made to clean up the Promise's own mess, and admitting to its incompetence.

Amelia had not expected the first part of the Promise she would deface was her own room, but reality seemed to be going sideways. Amelia had converted one of her walls into a makeshift conspiracy board, tacking several papers and pages to her wall. It wasn't very impressive per say, but it helped her keep everything in perspective. It also had helped her fight the urge to run off and deface literally anything she could find, as she was starting to go stir crazy. As Amelia paced in her room again, she couldn't help but mutter "I swear to god, I am tagging something fucking EVENTUALLY."

Amelia jumped a bit as she felt her phone go off. Checking it, she was surprised to see a message from Cara. ”New arrivals scheduled to board at 1PM! Be at the Loading Bay or be square!"

Amelia shook her head. "Cara. Cara. Of all people, you should know by now I have no interest in joining the kumbaya club, especially now."

Cara couldn't help but banter right back in a sarcastic tone. "True. But wouldn't you also want to help out....what was the phrase you called them? Fellow degenerates?"

Amelia paused, cocking her head and thinking it over. She twirled a can of spray paint in her hand, before setting it down on a table. "Shit, that's a compelling argument." Amelia looked at her watch. An hour and a half to go. Well fuck, perhaps the degenerates might be a little less panicked if they saw some mischief right out of the gate. "Hmmmm. If I rush it I got time." Amelia threw on her jacket, and suddenly vanished from her room.

Amelia suddenly appeared in the hallway outside the loading area. Over the last few months, she was starting to establish something of a.....teleporter's code of politeness. Less out of wanting to be polite, more out of not wanting to be slugged across the face. Don't teleport directly into a chair, don't teleport mid conversation, and teleport to the door of a room so you still open it were near the top of that list. Stepping into the loading area, she got a look across the room, before suddenly raising an eyebrow. Why, on the hellish fishbowl above god's green earth, was Lynn one of the first people here? Amelia had to know.

Amelia walked up to who she was strongly hoping was considering her a friend of sorts. "You know, you were the last person I expected showing up for the love bomb horse shit at all. And you are an hour and a half early. What's the occasion?"

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

Amelia

---

Amelia tensed a bit as Keaton asked about how many people she could teleport. She flashed back to a time her and her old crew were tagging a billboard of some corrupt asshole police chief. Amelia couldn't be bothered to remember his name, just the clown hairdo, donuts, and gun she'd given his picture. What she did remember, however, was how their escape had gone to shit very fast. She'd been up there with 2 friends of hers, and they had to move quickly to dodge the spotlight the cops were aiming at them. Unfortunately, the difficulty with teleporting more people fucked with her concentration, and one of them had wound up crashing down the fire escape when they landed. He survived, but it was a hard sell to tell his parents what they had been up to. Amelia shook her head, returning to the reality of the current situation. "I've never tried more then two other people. But the more people there are the more effort it takes."

Amelia rapidly shifted her gaze between the panicking, emotional, distraught Eli and the far more composed, though absolutely livid Lynn. Amelia caught on quick, spotting where Lynn was applying pressure to his head. Taking a deep breath, she rolled up her sleeves and stuck her hands down to help put pressure on the head wound. "Oh fuck....that's so gross...." Amelia bit her lip hard. She had no intention of taking Lynn anywhere she didn't want to go. Though that was partly because she really couldn't. All Lynn needed to do was keep her eyes on her and they'd go nowhere. So, in an effort to appease the definitely about to faint Eli, Amelia gave her a well meaning smile and nod.

Amelia had a look of concern at first when Eli fell back into Archie's arms. But as Archie ran off to take her to the hospital himself, she couldn't help but give a sigh of relief. And Amelia thought that she was flakey in a crisis. Amelia looked up at Lynn. "You don't have to come, but I'm going now. If you don't want to get dragged along, I'd let go." Amelia turned her head back to the rest of the onlookers. "Same goes for the rest of you. Time to shit or get off the pot. If you're coming, hold on and close your eyes. Otherwise turn around and look away." Amelia waited a few seconds for people to grab on or let go if they wanted, before focusing on the hospital. Amelia spread her awareness down to everyone connected to her, their bodies starting to shimmer like they were unstable. Channeling her frustration into keeping pressure on Radvi's head wound, she forced her molecules to shift, and the group vanished with a crack in space and a sudden breeze as air rushed into the now vacant space.

At that exact moment, a crack in space tore open in the Promise hospital, with Amelia, Radvi, and anyone else attached appearing in its wake. Amelia shouted out, a bit more panicked then she intended, "We need a doctor right now! This guy's in really bad shape, I think he's been shot!"

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

Amelia

---

Amelia was uncomfortably tense as she stood by Eli and kept watch. Although Amelia gathered Eli was keeping them hidden, shereally didn't like how exposed it made her feel. She suppressed a desire to breathe heavily, biting her lip hard to maintain focus. Back in her vandalism days, she had always preferred the advantage of height that teleporting to the top of a building gave. Unfortunately, a forest didn't provide that as reliably. I need to get back into form for fuck's sake, she thought to herself idly, before refocusing on the issue at hand.

Amelia was also finding she did not like the uncertainty Lynn's approach was giving her. Sure, she felt that the authority behind the concept of The Promise was a violation of human rights and every concept of freedom she stood for, but these people were just...people. They didn't deserve getting...whatever the fuck this woman did to them. More to the point, Amelia couldn't quite read Lynn as well as she'd like. Her gut of living with people like her told her Lynn was looking for an excuse to burn this place to the ground, but she didn't like the possibility that she would, in fact, let her go.

And then, with a flash of action, it all went to absolute shit. Amelia watched from their hiding spot as a cop, and Freaky D of all people rushed in to fuck up the woman. Amelia, who had always been a runner over a fighter, simply watched with worry and fear. She grimaced as the cop fired off his strange taser....device...thing. She didn't like it one bit, but she'd be a liar if she said this person didn't deserve something to that effect.

And then in a matter of motions, the real woman sent them tumbling over the dead-fall, horribly injured, and vanished without a trace.

Amelia felt the horror well up inside of her. She wasn't sure if Eli noticed, but she broke away from her, stepping back several steps before suddenly teleporting deeper into the forest out of sight. Amelia slammed herself back against a tree, and brought both hands up to her mouth tight to suppress her sudden scream of primal fear. "Not again, not again, why did this happen again?!" At this point, it was no longer coincidence in Amelia's head. Every time she had gone out for something on the Promise, something horrible had happened, down to her first day. This place was not safe at all. It was a floating death trap from which she had no escape.

After a few moments, Amelia forced herself to take deep breaths and reassess the situation. As much as she desperately wanted to simply bail on the situation again, this time it wasn't just a dead body. Someone had been pretty seriously hurt. Not to mention, as Amelia began to vibrate again preparing to teleport, she felt her heart sink. She couldn't abandon these people she felt were her only remaining friends. Not a second time. Trying to steel herself, she punched into the tree beside her, gritting her teeth. "Focus, Amelia. Focus. It's just another run from the cops. Nothing you haven't done before."

Vanishing into her scar in reality again, Amelia appeared back in the clearing above where the guard and D had fallen. By some miracle, Natalie and Archie had joined the bunch, and the woman had not returned. Overhearing talk about getting Cara to call for medical attention, Amelia realized she finally had something she could do that would help.

Amelia suddenly appeared down the dead-fall near the group, and made her way over to the guard and D. "Fuck that shit, they won't be here in time." Amelia knelt down next to them. "I can get them to the infirmary instantly. It'll be way faster then anything that needs to be sent out here." Amelia bit her lip, thinking through the plan herself. "Gennedy will probably try to push my shit in again, but fuck it. At this rate I'm gonna die on this death trap anyway. Might as well piss off the cops while I do it."

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

Amelia

---

The sudden appearance of Lynn right next to her started to steady out Amelia's panic. The firm grip on her arm started to remind her of the old crew she used to run with back on Earth. This wasn't her first scrape she had gotten into. Granted those scrapes had been against the cops chasing them for vandalism, not against a super powered murderer. But enough of the memory trickled back that she started to recover her nerves. "Yeah. Right. Ok. Ok I got it." Amelia spoke more to convince herself then Lynn. She didn't like leaving Lynn to the wolves, but in this state she wasn't going to be much help. As Lynn went forward, she started to duck behind some brush, before moving quietly up to meet with Eli.

Amelia looked conflicted as Eli talked about giving Lynn some backup. It wasn't just the murderer she was frankly worried about. Amelia had seen Lynn in action against Archie, and still remembered the firepower she could bring to the table. Being around her in a fight in the forest seemed like a poor idea. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the alcohol had mixed with her returning nerve, and she responded with a shaky nod. "Y-yeah. Ok. Fine." She responded in a shushed tone to keep quiet from both Lynn and the possible murderer. "But you're going to have to hide us from the both of them. My teleporting only works when no one can see me."

Amelia hesitantly got a look in the distance, trying to find a good spot to warp to. It was then that the figure emerged from the thicket, and Amelia's jaw tightened. "Oh fuck me, it is her." Amelia tensed her hands, nails biting into Eli's arm by accident. "It's that bitch D and I saw at the start of all this." Adrenaline pumping through her, Amelia spotted a place covered by enough of a thicket to give them a bit of cover. "There. I think that's the best space I can get us to." She said quietly. Amelia pulled out a bit of cloth, holding it in her hand as she wrapped an arm around Eli's shoulder. "Try not to puke. Passengers can get a little....yeah." And with that, assuming Eli agreed, Amelia covered Eli's eyes for a moment with the cloth, and the two suddenly vanished into a sudden tear in space, before reappearing at the spot behind Lynn and the woman without a sound.

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

Amelia

---

Amelia stifled a snort at Lynn's comment about her hair. For all of three seconds at least. Then she fell into a bit of a drunken giggle as she leaned back against her own tree. "No. No no, it's...it's totally fine. I know what you meant." She snorted. "And I mean, it's not like I'd..." Amelia caught herself at just maybe the last minute. The alcohol had been starting to talk, and Amelia was always one to be taken with those of the "bad person" persuasion. Still, a little voice in the back of her head told her maybe this wasn't the best time to be flirting, so she shoved the comment right back down. "Never-mind. It's cool. I'm cool."

Amelia looked back over at Eli's look of surprise and raised a finger to her lips in a shush motion while she smirked. "Oh, it's my whole...thing. I teleport. But not a normal teleport, I guess? Only when nobody's looking. Otherwise, when I try to do it..." Amelia's form suddenly began to shimmer and shake uncontrollably, before appearing a few inches to the left of where she had been before. She shrugged. "I can't get as far. Real pain in the ass, honestly." She seemed to shimmer a bit, before her goofy grin faded, and she slid down to sit on the ground with a little bit of a frown. "Causes a little bit of a headache too when people are watching. Not a fan."

Amelia's grin returned as Eli stated they wouldn't be going anywhere. "Yeah, fuck that. It's tradition, you know? Gotta stick together when this shit happens. It's supposed to be bonding or some shit." She smirked a bit, until the look turned inquisitive when she also started to hear the noise.

Pssh... shhnnk.

She leaned her head over towards the sound, not quite getting up yet. She didn't notice when the noise got clearer, but she did start to feel the gears in her head turning. "Huh. You know, it could be the drunk talking, but that almost sounds like a shove......."

"Oh no."

Insidiously, almost as though it had always been watching and waiting, the feelings of panic began to drip into Amelia's brain. Of course, of fucking course. The one day that Amelia decided she would try to get out and reintegrate with her friends, and someone else had been murdered. Of course, this could all just be a massive jump to conclusion. And while some part of Amelia in the back of her head knew this, the panic was starting to block out that rational thinking. Amelia sprang to her feet unsteadily, her fight or flight response starting to kick in. "Why did I agree to meet at a park again? After last time?"

Amelia almost jumped as Eli's alarm went off, her body shimmering as though it wanted to teleport away on instinct. She looked over at Eli with a look of panic in her eyes. "What the fuck was that?"

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

Amelia

---

Amelia gave a wave and a quiet "Sup?" to the newcomer. This one didn't look stiff in the same way as Gen. Just formal. God, what was with these people? They were only in their late teens, but it felt like some of them were fresh out of military school or something. Maybe it was just different from her usual crowd of rule breakers, she didn't know. But this party? It was nice. Almost made her forget....

Oh. Right. Amelia's face fell a little as she remembered the nature of this place. Drinking at a party on a space station that represented everything she hated about para-human oppression. And apparently had lackluster security. Memories of plans to fuck with the system and make her message known came back into focus. Plans she had abandoned. Amelia downed another shot to try and forget that for a moment, laughing with Eli about Lynn's slurring.

And then, all of a sudden it wasn't as funny. Amelia recognized the look on Lynn's face. She'd seen it when her own crew got cold feet after a long drunk talk about how to stick it to authority. Lynn excused herself, and noticed Eli made her own effort to follow. Amelia didnt want to disparage Eli, but she had a gut feeling she might not be sure what route to take with this. So, Amelia excused herself in the opposite direction behind a tree, and warped her way across the site to nearby Lynn. She stepped out behind a tree to join them.

"You know, I get the feeling you're too cool for the holding your hair back while you puke thing, but the offer stands." She shrigged, keeping a distance from Lynn in an effort to preserve her unique sense of dignity. "Sorry. You know, if I brought up uncomfortable memories and all."

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

Amelia

---

Amelia smirked gleefully as she downed another jello shot, and looked right back at Lynn as she did so. "Well then. To not drinking like pussies." With that, she proceeded to down two more at once. Amelia was starting to figure that perhaps it would be fine to let her guard down here. At least for a little while. Unless it backfired completely, in which case she would probably vow to never ever to that again.

Amelia was listening in to drinking stories when she spotted some all too familiar faces making their way over. She'd had about 5 now and was starting to get a little tipsy. Which made her all the more bouncy and sassy for the reunion. "Well well well! Look what the oversized iguana dragged in!" She made her way over to the two of them to bump so fists. "Though to be fair, you could say the same to me. How's it going you two?" She glanced at Archie and Natalie, and the way they were standing together, and something seemed to click. "Oooh! Ooooooooh! What's this that's happening heeeeere?" She pointed at the two of them repeatedly with her trademark mischievous grin before laughing at herself. "Kidding. I'm kidding."

Amelia got a look at the new guy walking over. He didn't look half bad, in her opinion. Waaaaaaay too stiff though. Something would have to be done about that. Fortunately, it seemed Lynn was right on top of that as she broke out her secret stache. "Lynn, Tequila is definitely not Mexican sake. I can promise you that." She grinned, and continued in a teasing tone. "Also, what the hell? You can't just start a story like that and then drop it just as its getting good. Details woman! We need details."

She shook her head at the offer of cigarettes though. "Nah, I'll pass. I get enough shit in my lungs as it is. Speaking of which..." Amelia pulled out her ever present journal. "I need suggestions. Something to get my muse going. If you could put something up on a wall for all of the Promise to see, what would it be? We're looking for something provocative here people."

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

Amelia

---

Amelia was holding her breath behind her cautious smile for the few seconds that Lynn seemed to be processing her arrival. When Lynn gave her a hearty, very inebriated greeting, Amelia let the breath out with relief, her grin switching to one more genuine. Apparently, contrary to everything that logic would tell her, Lynn's personality was somehow safer when she was drunk. The likelihood of catching fire was still up in the air, but that was a problem that she could worry about later.

Amelia grinned a little more mischievously as she caught the jello shot from Lynn. "Fuck yeah, now we're talking!" As Keaton grabbed Lynn's attention off her for a moment, she turned to Eli with a smile. "Hey! I'm Amelia. I met these guys when I first got here, but I've been laying low up until recently."

Amelia downed the first jello shot with a speed only a practiced degenerate could muster, and nodded approvingly a few times. "God damn. Its been way too fucking long since I've had some good booze." She was about to go looking for another when Lynn, seemingly out of nowhere, shouted about fish. She caught sight of the guy hanging out on the edge of the party and cocked her head, but quickly focused in on Lynn. Amelia quickly began to reevaluate her thoughts on how save a drunk Lynn actually was, but she blew it off for now. If push came to shove she had a pretty decent escape method. "Jesus Lynn, how hard did you pregame? The party just started."

When Lynn went off to get more alcohol, Amelia quickly turned to Keaton. "Hey Keaton, when you get a chance, I wouldn't mind if you could, you know. Fill me in on what I've missed with everyone." Amelia gave a quick knowing look, one fast enough that most people probably wouldn't catch on, but Keaton probably would. This was a line of conversation, of course, that Amelia dropped the moment Lynn came back. She had a pretty good hunch going down that road was not wise tonight. Least not with her in earshot.

Amelia shrugged at Lynn's question. "Eh, not too long ago, actually. Last year back at home. My friend Kyle was a senior, and managed to sneak us some booze at a house party one night. Pretty mediocre stuff, just some beer, but you gotta start with something."

The Promise - Second Star to the Right, and Straight on 'til Morning.

Amelia

---

Amelia got her text back from Keaton, and swore under her breath. "Dammit, I prepped for the wrong style of party." She sighed turning back around in her bedroom, and started to swap out her outfit. "Well, its a good thing I don't have to worry about travel time anymore." Figuring this would be a more casual affair, Amelia began to swap out her dress for a shirt a slightly lighter shade of black, and her nicest jeans. And by nicest jeans, that of course meant the jeans with the least holes in them. Amelia thought about it, and began to determine that a party at the camp grounds was probably in her best interest. It would allow her to reintroduce herself to people after her......absence, she could easily bail between the trees if she needed to. And most importantly, it would give her a better cover for her intended late night escapades.

Amelia thought to herself about the murder she'd been caught in too. It had been a while since she had real spent time with her....friends? They were probably still friends. At least Nat was from their occasional short conversations. Amelia frowned. She should probably find her tonight. She was probably the most worried. Regardless, Amelia wanted to know how things were progressing, and if she was still at risk to be brutally murdered.

Her outfit properly changed out, she fired off a quick text to Keaton.

"Count to 30. I should be there first."

With another tear opening in reality, Amelia suddenly appeared behind the trees around the campground. Spotting Keaton quickly around a few other people she didn't know, she made her way into the clearing. "Hey Keaton what's up?"

Amelia glanced around at the group, and suddenly had to make an intense effort to not let it fall off her face.

Oh fuck, oh fuck it's Lynn oh fuck.

Amelia wasn't stupid. Of all the people, Lynn probably did not look kindly on her disappearance. Her instincts rapidly tried to come to a decision. Act contrite? No, she hadn't actually done anything wrong, and didn't want Lynn to have any extra reason to think otherwise. Try to avoid her? No that was even worse. Amelia's instincts settled on a plan that she thought was really stupid, but probably the most likely to mend the gap that had definitely formed.

Play fucking dumb.

"Oh hey Lynn! Didn't know you'd be here."

Please don't burn me alive.