Sensational

by Agentaace

Sense8 AU, don't need to know Sense8 to understand the story! The 8 human kids are connected psychically. They live all around the world, they've got their own struggles, they've got their own shit to deal with. It's April 13th, 2012, all of their sixteenth birthday, and suddenly their lives are even more complicated with the addition of psychic powers.

2. Chapter 2

Part 1: John

John Egbert has met most of his cluster, by now, and the weekend's been a blur of introductions and questions and new people and new places. It's been a lot. But that's not to say that it's not sweet as all hell, because it really is! In fact, the return to school on Monday and the return to his life of normalcy feels really weird. That morning he slips back into his routine like nothing happened at all. Maybe it didn't.

Anyways, part of his routine is sitting at the end a table alone during lunch, the period right after English. He's got his headphones in and he's listening to some music, his math homework due next period out on the table next to him. He would have done it over the weekend, but, well, he was a bit preoccupied, and he feels like it's understandable that he slipped up. It's just some stuff he needs to finish from spring break, is all. He doesn't understand why teachers insist on assigning any homework over break at all, but he guesses it's fine to keep in practice so that he doesn't forget anything they learned.

But it's too late for that, apparently, while John frowns down at the numbers he's reading. He twirls the pencil around in his hand, going back and forth over the paper as he tries to write something, anything, because it's better than nothing. Finally he sighs and puts the pencil down, taking another bite out of his sandwich instead while he gives the paper a stern look of disapproval.

"Is that math? Can I help?" a voice asks. He's gotten used to random voices interjecting themselves into his day, by now. It didn't take long at all, surprisingly. John looks up to see Jade Harley sitting on top of the table, who he'd briefly spoken to in the flurry of hasty introductions. She's lively, is the word for it, really tall and very lanky with a heap of hair that can be tamed about as much as John's own perpetual bedhead can be. He has absolutely no idea how she keeps it that long without cutting it down to size, seriously.

"Can you?" John asks, taking out one earbud. He wants to be discreet about talking to the people sharing part of his mind, but also, he knows that nobody's looking at him anyways. "That'd be great, if you can figure any of this out."

"Oh yeah, I may be more of a science gal, but math holds a place in my heart too!" Jade says, leaning over the paper, aforementioned hair spilling all over the table. John takes the paper bag marked with his name and subtly moves it to the side, clutching his food a little closer to his chest to avoid her. She looks at his homework for a bit, chewing one lip and frowning, before humming in confusion. "This math is weird."

"I know," John says regretfully. "It's also due in an hour, so, anything helps me out here." Jade looks up for a second, making eye contact, then looks down again.

"Well, it's just trigonometry, so it should be simple, just…" she frowns, and seems less inclined to actually help him, instead just taking his pencil and scribbling notes on the paper for him. John sits back and watches her, trying to figure out what she's doing, but honestly it looks a little beyond him and beyond what they're learning in his sophomore year math class. After a bit she looks back at him, uncertain, and passes the paper with the pencil on top of it over to him. "I think that's good. I'm not super sure, but, it's right at least even if it's not what the teacher wanted!"

John looks at it and can't really tell, so he just sighs. "It's probably fine, it won't matter in the long run." He puts it into his bag, focusing back on his food, offering Jade a pretzel from a ziploc bag of them his dad packed. She takes it and they both taste it, which is definitely the weirdest part of this whole thing so far.

He looks around in the space where Jade is, which apparently is her room, and sees an open suitcase on her bed, half filled with clothes and assortments of the randomest things John has ever seen. Her window on the far wall is wide open, and it's pitch black, with cold night air drifting in, which is a startling difference from the midday sunshine that John is experiencing. Jade hops up from her bed and goes to her metal wardrobe that leans against the wall, taking just an armful of shirts and dumping them in the suitcase before squashing them down with her body weight.

"Are you… going somewhere?" John asks, wondering if that might be too personal of a question. But is there such thing as privacy within the cluster? As far as he's found, not really. Except that Dirk guy, who didn't want to tell anyone anything and honestly seemed like kind of a jerk, but everybody else seemed open to really getting to know each other. Jade, especially.

"Yep! I'm going to Japan with my grandpa for a business meeting, I'm hoping that while I'm there I can visit Jane in person!" Jade says cheerily, and he has to rack his brain to remember who Jane was. If she was from Japan, then she's most likely the short Japanese girl, right? Is that racist? ...No, probably not, John decides. He'd only talked to her briefly.

"Yeah, she was nice," he says, in an empty sort of way, just for the sake of responding more than anything else. Then a thought occurs to him, and suddenly he's sure he's seen her face before. "Wait, wait, that's not… she's not Jane Crocker, is she?"

"Yep!"

"Jade! If that's Jane Crocker then that means her mom is the batterwitch herself!"

Jade gives him a confused look, but she's still smiling like she's amused at his entirely justified paranoia. "Yeah, that's who my grandpa is meeting, John, the head of the Betty Crocker empire. Though, to tell you the truth, I don't think her name's actually Betty."

"No shit, Jade, of course that's not her real name," John says, standing up and pacing around Jade's room. At least, this version of himself does, the real him is still sitting down, just looking incredibly irritated while he eats his pretzels. "What kind of business does your grandpa have with her? What does he do?"

"He's a scientist, they're probably developing some more tech," Jade shrugs. "It doesn't really matter, I'm pretty sure she's not actually evil. It's just conspiracy theories."

"Sure, that's what everyone says, but if even one thing goes wrong, don't say I didn't warn you. There is something off about that whole thing and I don't believe for a minute that the other heiress really just went to Argentina and then came back in some act of rebellion. There's gotta be more to the story, right? She's been acting so weird since she got back, you can at least admit that."

Jade's looking at him out of the corner of her eyes while she stuffs more clothes into her suitcase, and while John's in a fury, she mutters to herself, "Oh, boy, he's crazy."

And okay, that's, well, honestly fair. It actually gets John to calm down a little bit, remembering that he doesn't actually know Jade, and that this is one of her first impressions of him. They met three days ago. And now she thinks that he's actually crazy. And he has met Jane, and she seemed perfectly normal! A little intimidating, for sure, but only because she was wearing like a pantsuit and using big words. He takes a breath and forces himself to relax.

"Sorry, that's the one thing I get a little intense about. It's, um, probably something to do with the amount of Betty Crocker baking products I've had in my life," he admits, rubbing the back of his neck. He digs around in the paper bag with his real body, and pulls out a plastic tupperware of cake, the one that he'd helped make for his birthday. He opens it up and offers it to Jade, "This is my birthday cake, it's Betty Crocker, too, see?"

Jade picks up the plastic fork from in the bag and takes a bite, since he's offering, and her face lights up. "That's really good!"

"Yeah, that's the worst part," John sighs. "Not as good as from scratch, of course, but you know. Still decent." Jade seems to accept the weird perk of his personality, and just laughs while she eats another bite of cake. John doesn't mind if she eats the whole thing, because as far as they've been able to figure out, he's actually the one eating it in the physical world. Something about Jade only being a mental representation? Her and Rose were the ones really getting into the science and mechanics of it, he's just going off of what he'd been told.

"Well, I'll let you know how it goes, I guess," she says. With some effort she zips up her suitcase and sets it upright on the ground. "But please, tell me about American high school! It's always looked so cool in the movies, and I've always wanted to go!"

"Do you… not go to school?" John asks hesitantly.

"Well, I did when I was little, but then my grandpa just taught me. He's a scientist, so he was a way more reliable source than our teachers anyway. And now I'm taking some college courses online, and those are cool, but you know. Not really the experience," Jade explains in a rush.

"Oh, okay, well, I think you can probably hang around for my next couple of classes," he shrugs. "It's just math and chemistry, and then I have band practice."

Her face lights up in delight. "Chemistry! I'll have to see if they're teaching it right!"

He laughs, a little nervously, "Uh, yeah, it'll be fun." He checks the watch on his wrist and sees that they only have a minute or two left of lunch, so he hurries to finish up his food while Jade starts talking again, stuff about chemistry that honestly just flies right over John's head. He's not stupid, he's actually a bit of a nerd if he's being completely honest, but the details of nuclear physics are beyond him. Why does Jade know so much about nuclear science, anyway?

---

Part 2: Rose

Rose Lalonde has never been in love before. She's just barely sixteen, of course she hasn't. The closest she's come to any of that was with Alice from the Twilight saga, in the misspent days of her youth. Middle school is a trying time for anyone, and she does not per se regret this unfortunate lapse in judgement, but how was she to resist the charms of a vampire with a pixie cut?

All this being said, on this quiet unassuming Monday, the universe in all her cosmic wisdom has decided to test Rose.

Rose works as a library assistant at her uppity private all-girls school in upstate New York, and this means that when new students are enrolled, it is her solemn duty to show them the highs and the lows of the Academy. She considers herself more than adequate in her responsibilities, and the fact that her tongue feels tied paired with an accompanying burst of nerves can be blamed in their entirety on one miss Kanaya Maryam.

"You say you're from Lebanon?" Rose asks, escorting the much taller girl out of the administrations office. Kanaya pulls off the school uniform much better than Rose ever can, graceful and elegant in her stature and movements, every gesture flowing with the ease of water.

Kanaya nods, speaking with her accent that does incredible things to Rose's insides, "Yes, that is what I said, because it's true," and then she smiles at her own joke and Rose has to look away before she does something completely unacceptable like trip over her own feet.

"Alright," Rose smiles back, maintaining her own dignity for now. "Why did you move here? I can only imagine that upstate New York doesn't hold nearly the same charm, if it even holds any at all."

Kanaya hesitates, and Rose raises a single eyebrow. Oh, a woman of a mysterious past? Do go on. After a moment, she says, "I wanted to simplify my life."

"Then you've found the right place," Rose responds, deciding not to press her at all. It would surely only lead to a tense, agitated silence on both their parts, and then where would they be? She points to the set of double doors as they pass. "That room is the gymnasium, we will have assembly there as well on Wednesday mornings, and the locker room will be through there too."

"Not yet," Kanaya says.

"Hmm?" Rose asks, surprised. Kanaya isn't looking at her, but at her inquisitive hum she turns, the faintest dusting of red across her cheekbones as if she could be embarrassed.

"Oh, just thinking aloud, don't mind me." She sends a sharp look to no one in particular, and now Rose is confused, suspicious, and has the slightest glimmer of knowing in the back of her mind. But again, she has decided not to press the girl on anything concerning her past, or her present, for that matter. It would be rude to ask such personal questions when they've only just met, after all, but Rose does not plan on this being their last conversation. She will have another opportunity to ask, she will make sure of it. She will have her answers.

"Okay," Rose shrugs, and Kanaya looks quietly relieved. They enter a new section of the school, where Rose has most of her classes, and she remembers to ask her, "What grade did you say you were in?"

"I believe here I am a senior, in the twelfth grade," she answers.

Rose nods like this information means nothing in particular to her. "This is where I have my classes, in the underclassman hall. It's a shame we won't have any together," she says with a sudden bold inspiration.

Kanaya laughs, to her relief. "Yes, a shame," she says.

"Oh, who's the girl!" That's not Kanaya, nor anyone Rose has talked to before, which honestly narrows down the options of who it could be quite drastically. Fallen into step beside her and Kanaya is a girl with dyed bubblegum pink hair, and from Kanaya's lack of reaction this has to be another one from her cluster. They had done some brief introductions, but it had been difficult, to say the least, to accomplish the seemingly simple feat of collecting them all into the same room through the limited use of psychic abilities. They still don't even have a final tally of how many are included in their cluster. The man in the white and green suit had said there were seven others from her, but still, she would prefer some confirmation.

But Rose remembers this girl's name to be Roxy. She doesn't answer her, can't in their current company, but instead says, "Kanaya, what do you do for fun?"

"Kanaya? That's such a pretty name!" Roxy says enthusiastically, making large hand gestures that Rose has to incredibly subtly dodge.

Kanaya, blissfully unaware of this exchange, thinks to herself for a moment and answers, "I like to make and design clothes, I suppose. I tailored my uniform myself." She flares her skirt a bit, adjusting her cardigan, and now this explains why it looks to fit her so much better than Rose, who feels slightly less inadequate now.

"Oh damn," Roxy says, "Pretty and talented? Rose, what are your secrets!" Rose takes a breath and splits her attention between her school with Kanaya and what looks to be Roxy's school, with a class going on around them. In Roxy's world, Rose can talk freely, while Roxy cannot.

Rose, or at least a mental interpretation of her dwelling within Roxy's mind, says, "Would you kindly not interfere with this perfectly innocently intentioned school tour I am giving my new transfer student?"

In Rose's world, her own mental interpretation of Roxy snorts. "I'm not interferin'! I wanna be your wing-woman, help you score the girl. I'm getting mad vibes here, you can't tell me you don't like her."

Rose rolls her eyes in both worlds, and is about to respond when Kanaya asks, "Rose? Have I lost you?"

She blinks, saying, "No, no, sorry, I just zoned out for a moment." She looks up and meets Kanaya's eyes, and she sees the moment that Kanaya gets that same look of knowing as well. And now she isn't sure whether or not either of them will acknowledge the knowing, or at least the suspicions of knowing. She will let Kanaya decide. The ball is officially in her court.

"Oh, okay," Kanaya says carefully, and Rose lets out a quiet sigh of relief. She tries to focus on the rest of the tour, but it gets a bit harder as Roxy continues to distract her, as her math class is 'mad hells of boring' and she needs something to do. Nevertheless, she seems to be prevailing, and the cover the gymnasium, underclassmen halls, dining hall, upperclassmen halls, the sanctuary that Rose has never stepped foot in, the dormitories for on campus students, and finally they loop back around to where the library and the admissions office is.

Having finished her tour that went near flawlessly, even though she had an extra passenger, she gestures to the library. "And you can find me in there the majority of the time, when I don't have class. Should you need me," she says with a smile, forcing herself to make eye contact. Confidence is key.

"Oh shit, forward," Roxy comments, unnecessarily. Rose's smile twitches, but she manages to ignore the other girl.

"You have been a perfectly delightful hostess," Kanaya says, fluttering her eyelashes and dipping her head. Rose thinks that this might be the end, for her, but she makes an effort to stay strong and keep it together. Roxy does nothing to aid this and elbows her in the side with a shit-eating grin. It seems that when you share a mental space with someone they get to know you far too well far too fast. Or, perhaps, they are just privy to your thoughts. She will have to run tests on how deep this runs.

"Thank you," Rose accepts the compliment graciously. "Second period should be starting soon, do you need me to escort you to your class?"

"I think that I can manage to find it on my own," Kanaya says, and Rose would be lying if her heart didn't drop the tiniest bit. She nods and turns to go back into the library and gather her things, but Kanaya holds out a hand as if to grab her and makes a little noise that Rose cannot identify. "Rose, wait, um-"

"Yes?" Rose turns back, possibly too eagerly, raising an eyebrow. Kanaya puts her hand down and composes herself, clearing her throat.

"I would like to talk with you some more," she begins. "May I have your phone number?" Rose blinks rapidly, faced with what she had been quietly hoping for, but in no way expected to happen. Though, she supposes Kanaya could be asking for any number of reasons. She could always be straight, after all. Maybe she just wanted to talk about the something. This, too, would be a fascinating conversation, and Rose decides that if this is the case she will not be disappointed in the slightest.

"Oh, of course," she says, hastily pulling her cell phone from her pocket. Kanaya pulls out her own from the bag slung over one shoulder. Kanaya passes her phone over, and Rose enters in her phone number while Kanaya does the same. "In case you ever need help with anything school wise, or, um, otherwise."

Kanaya laughs with a smile and they give back their respective phones. "Thank you," she says, and they stare at each other just a moment too long. Long enough that Rose is forced to wonder if Kanaya is having the same sort of crisis she is. Kanaya looks away first, clearing her throat, and says, "I should go to class. We should both go to class."

"Yes, I suppose we should. Well then, goodbye Kanaya, it has been a pleasure to meet you," Rose says with a miniscule curtsy. Kanaya gives a little wave and then turns to continue on her day. Rose is smiling, and she keeps smiling.

"Ohhhh my god!" And that's Roxy's reappearance, and she's grinning ear to ear. Her words come out in a quiet hiss, obviously bubbling over with the need to comment.

"You were awfully quiet throughout that whole exchange," Rose says, tucking her hair behind her ear and reentering the library.

"That was perfect! You've got game, Rose! And she's a senior," Roxy gushes, eyes looking starstruck. If she wasn't halfway across the world Rose would be worried about competition. But as it stands, she doesn't feel she needs to worry. "I didn't want to distract any of that, it was beautiful."

"Well then, thank you."

Later that day Rose finds herself home from the academy, driven there by her mother, who at the moment is hanging up her monochrome jacket and her bright pink scarf on the rack living next to the front door. Rose takes off her shoes and places them on the mat right underneath it, doing it fast so that she may leave her mother's presence sooner.

"Rose, dear, what would you like for dinner?" Not soon enough, it seems. Her mother has wandered to the kitchen, where she stands looking in the refrigerator, acting for all the world like she's planning a home cooked meal. But Rose knows better, and knows that her mother will end up ordering food delivery or, if she's really feeling like trying, heating up microwave dinners.

"Anything would be absolutely perfect, mother," Rose says, smiling in her direction only to drop it a second later. Her mother pouts her lips in perhaps disappointment, probably wishing that Rose were able to do her job for her. Not today, and not ever.

"Oh, goodness," says someone who is not her mother. Rose would think she would be used to this by now, but she can't help but widen her eyes in surprise and dramatically spin around, momentarily forgetting her mother's presence. It's not a member of her cluster, like she suspected, but rather Kanaya, looking a mixture of bewildered and surprised.

Rose blinks several times to assure herself this is not a new form of psychosis, that perhaps all this 'Sensate' business was totally in her own head. This seems to break all of the rules they had hesitantly gathered, so for now, all she can do is watch to see if Kanaya will say something else. She briefly ponders the idea that Kanaya could be here in the flesh, but a glance at her mother shows only the look of vague curiosity on her face, not one of shock at seeing a stranger in her house.

Kanaya does speak, again. "Terribly sorry for the surprise, I was not sure if this would work." Rose holds up one finger at an angle where her mother cannot see it, gesturing for Kanaya to wait one second.

She turns to her mother, fishing her phone out of her pocket, "Phone call," and puts the phone up to her ear as she hurries towards the stairs. With any luck she will be able to talk freely. Kanaya follows her up the stairs.

"...Rose, you do know that this is not a real phone call, right?" she asks.

"Of course. I'm aware of the situation," Rose says. She reaches her bedroom and kicks the door shut, tossing the phone onto the bed. "I wasn't aware that this could happen. You're not in my cluster, are you?"

"No, no," Kanaya laughs. She explains, "Once Sensates make eye contact they can visit even if they are from different clusters. How long have you been awake?"

"Four days," Rose shrugs. "I haven't quite gotten the hang of it yet, being a Sensate doesn't come with a rule book."

"It certainly does not-"

The door swings open and Kanaya cuts herself off, looking toward it in alarm. Rose's mother pokes her head in, and Rose darts a glance at the phone sitting dark on her bed, too late to pretend to use it, now.

Her mother looks apologetic as she pushes the door open a little more. "I'm so sorry, Rose, I didn't mean to eavesdrop," though she most certainly did, that was a lie, "but I thought you said the word Sensate?"

Rose and Kanaya share a shocked glance, which damns Rose more than words could have, and Kanaya mutters a quick apology before vanishing. "...Have you heard that word before?" Rose asks after quietly cursing Kanaya's decision making skills in crisis.

"I have. A long time ago, back in my school days, I researched the subject quite a bit. It was all hypothetical, until…"

"Until when, mother?"

"Well. Until now."

---

Part 3: Dave

Dave's current mission is to find some food, the same as every day around the time it got dark in Houston. The stash in his closet won't last him forever, after all, and hard ramen doesn't taste good when even he's desperate, so if he can find another source, he will. The first step is to get out of his room, so he walks up close to the door and listens. He knows that he won't hear anything, but not even trying would just be lazy. He has to cover all his bases, here.

But as he can't hear anything, as predicted, so he has no choice but to just take the risk and go for it. His left hand loosely grips a sword, which is about as relaxed as he can afford to be, because walking around in this house without a sword would be suicide.

He edges open the door and so far so good. Hallway clear, check, look up at the roof, no ninjas or puppets or threatening notes to be seen, check. Door to the bathroom across the hall is open, but the light is off, could still be a potential threat, he'll stay clear of it. He steps lightly, making no sound and maneuvering a little boost of speed past the bathroom door. Nothing jumps out at him, which does little to put him at ease, because if it's not coming from the bathroom, then it'll be somewhere else, but from here he just has to turn a corner and he'll be in the kitchen-combined-living-room and also Bro's room. Basically, all of the apartment that isn't his room and the bathroom in one convenient space. If he went fast enough, he could dart across the room and directly out the door onto the stairwell, but he has no money and there is no way he could make it out without some sort of confrontation. Unless, of course, Bro isn't home, but he'd bet there would still be traps littering the kitchen.

Dave grits his teeth and takes a risk, inching out into the room with his grip tight on his sword. He gets a smuppet straight to the face for his trouble, and he hisses out a swear before he can filter himself. It bounces off of him and falls to the floor, and there's a huge pin sticking out of it with a piece of paper on it. He already knows what it's going to say, but he takes a cautious look around at the seemingly empty room and picks it up anyway, tearing the paper off the pin.

Roof. Now. There's pizza, if you can reach it.

Okay, so that solves a couple of problems. Yes, there's food in this apartment, yes, Bro is home, and yes, he's not getting out of this without a fight. Only variable is if Dave can actually win the fight, or if Bro will just call it a day and leave after kicking his ass. Hopefully he'll still get some pizza out of it either way, because that second option seems pretty likely.

So he hauls himself up to the roof. It's only April but in Houston it's always like being in the dead of summer, and the fact that the sun is setting doesn't make a difference to the wave of heat that hits him the second he emerges from the stairwell.

His eyes spot Bro almost immediately, which means that something's up, there's something he's not seeing, and that concerns him. Bro is perched on top of the air conditioner, his own sword resting with the tip on the ground while his hands are folded up on the handle under his chin. There's a very tempting box of pizza sitting next to him. Behind each of their shades they make eye contact for a split second.

Then a second projectile comes flying at his head, and this time he becomes aware of it just in time to lunge out of the way, throwing himself to the left while he raises his katana defensively. It doesn't make contact with anything yet, but he sees for an instant the blue glass eyes of Lil Cal, that grinning fuck, sailing past him, and he feels his heart give a little jolt in some automatic response wired deep in his brain.

The next flash brings the glint of metal, and when he throws his sword up in defense it makes contact with a sharp noise that disrupts the quiet evening everyone was having so far. Really it doesn't stand out against the honking of car horns and shouting and other general sounds that happen in every downtown metropolitan area.

And then there's another guy in front of him, and he's throwing up a blade of his own and if he hadn't done that Dave would've missed it and gotten hit. The new guy is between him and Bro, who's come to a stop in front of him with his sword braced against Dave's, and his mouth twitches in a way that reads as approval to him. Like he did something Bro didn't expect. Which was shitty, because by now he'd think he'd at least be expected to know how to block. Lil Cal thrown into the situation always throws him off his groove, though.

The new guy darts away at the same time and speed as Bro does, but the difference is that Dave can still see New Guy, whereas Bro's as good as disappeared. He shares a look with New Guy, who actually looks kinda familiar, with slicked back blonde hair and shades like Bro's and an aviator jacket paired with fingerless gloves. A bad idea for the Texas heat, but he's not judging, here, not with unseasonable fashion.

Dave really needs to stop being distracted. Bro comes at him again, and while he accidentally stumbles back a few steps he gets his sword up just in time to deflect the blow. The come faster and faster, and in some unspoken truce New Guy steps in and where Dave's a second too slow he picks up the pace. He's fast, probably faster than Dave, but definitely not faster than Bro, because that's mathematically impossible.

"Does this happen often?" New Guy asks. Weird, though, because Bro doesn't spare him a single bit of attention, which tips off Dave that maybe he planned this and New Guy's not actually on his side. Which seems far fetched, but hey, it kind of made sense, right?

"Yeah," Dave grunts, shoving Bro's sword away from where it would have impaled him. Probably somewhere important, too, is his liver on his right, or his left? Both? He's got kidneys on both sides, he knows that for sure, and oh fuck, he's distracting himself again. Gotta stop doing that.

"Do you always suck this bad?" New Guy asks, and yeah, definitely not on his side, here.

"Fuck you," Dave says, and Bro's face gives another subtle twitch, and that one means he's annoyed. Then Bro disappears, and that does wonders for Dave's paranoia as he spins in a circle, eyes darting everywhere in search of him and the next attack. "Are you helping or not? Who are you?"

"I'm more of a knives kinda guy," New Guy says, making a grabbing motion to Dave's sword. "I'll see what I can do with this, though."

Dave pulls his sword in closer, defensively, "No, I'm not letting you leave me unarmed, no way."

New Guy's shades aren't reflective like Dave and Bro's, so he can see him roll his eyes. Rude. "Seriously. Let me handle it for a second, trust me." His words are fast, with some kind of accent that Dave can't place but he figures it must be European because he knows what Spanish accents sound like and it's not that, and it's not anywhere African or Asian, either, but that's mostly based on this guy's unbleached but still really blonde hair and skin that's barely any darker. His expression reads as urgent, too, and well, Dave knows that he's not good enough to beat Bro yet. That's why he's still being trained like this every day, until he is good enough. He was going to lose either way. Might as well see where this went, right?

So he hands over his one weapon of defense, shrugging, eyes darting back and forth and still not seeing Bro and that's making him anxious as hell but here he is, trying new things.

New Guy takes his sword, puts the tip of it under his boot, and bends it until it snaps right in half. He holds it up, expression blank, and says, "Knife."

"Dude," Dave says, shocked by this turn of events.

"It was kind of a shitty katana," the guy shrugs.

"I know that, it doesn't mean you just get to break it," he protests. And oh, there's Bro, he's back and swinging at him. Dave sidesteps, defenseless now, and New Guy picks up the slack, using the newly shortened blade's close range attacks to their fullest. He jabs it in and out, and Bro manages to twist around fast enough each time that none of the blows land.

But the weirdest thing is that Bro's completely ignoring Dave, now, in favor of New Guy, and he doesn't even spare a glance when Dave slowly edges himself out of the danger zone. New Guy's good, too, and he's so much faster than Dave. He fights different, and it looks like it's just enough to throw Bro off for a good minute or two. Then he gets the hang of it again and starts beating New Guy back, and New Guy must not be practiced at rooftop battles because he's letting himself be driven precariously close to the edge. Dave follows after them at a safe distance, wondering when Bro was going to spin around and decapitate him or something.

He sees the moment that New Guy takes one step too far and half of his shoe hits open air, and he watches his eyes widen and one hand fly out to grab something that's not there, dropping the half-sword in the process. It falls down off the edge, and hopefully doesn't impale any innocent pedestrians below. Then Bro snatches a hand out and grabs the front of his shirt, hauling him forward onto his feet, vanishing a second later.

New Guy takes in a few gasping breaths, and Bro doesn't reappear. Dave cautiously makes his way over, to check on him, but keeps an eye out for Bro, shoulders tense.

By the time Dave reaches him and the guy gives a little nod that he's fine, Bro still hasn't reappeared, and Dave lets himself relax. He's done for the day.

"You good?" Dave asks.

"Of course," New Guy says, and he straightens and gets his composure back together, face going back to being completely neutral. He pauses a beat, then sticks out his hand. "Dirk."

"Hell of an introduction," Dave snorts, surprised. He takes the hand, though. "Dave."

"So that was…?" Dirk asks, looking towards the door to the stairs.

"Bro," Dave says, and he gets deja vu. Didn't he have the same exchange with that Rose girl? Then a horrifying thought occurs to him. "Oh, shit, you're not one of those, like, hallucinations, are you?"

"Um," he says, caught off guard. "Yes?"

"Oh, no," Dave says. "I feel like an idiot." He gives Dirk another look, and then shrugs in acceptance and strides over to the air conditioner, and his prize of the night. The pizza's still warm, fresh from wherever Bro picked it up. Three slices are missing. He picks one up and takes a bite, tasting the sweet taste of victory without getting his ass kicked, for once. He can still feel some bumps and bruises, those'll hurt more later, and he can't remember getting half of them but he doesn't need stitches. So. A win for the team, in his book.

"Well. It looks like you needed the help, so, you're welcome."

So Dirk turned out to be an asshole. "Wow, okay, you don't get any victory pizza. I had it handled just fine, this is a daily occurance, man. If I couldn't do this on my own I would be dead by now."

Dirk's eyebrows furrow. "Okay. I'm definitely not an expert on familial relationships of any kind, but, I'm not sure it's normal to get beat up by your brother every day with sharp objects."

Dave laughs. "Nah, dude, that's just how we are. I wanted to learn how to swordfight, he's teaching me. It's not that deep, fam." Dirk's hand darts out and Dave flinches on reflex, but he doesn't get far enough and Dirk takes a hold of his arm. His shirt's a three-fourths sleeve, so his forearm is mostly exposed. Dirk pulls it closer to him, looking at the mess of scars that interrupt the flow of his skin, the white lines contrasting against the darker shade of his skin.

"That's a big one," Dirk comments, using his other hand to point out the thickest white line, running down the outside of his arm down from the back of his elbow.

"Lotta stitches, good thing Bro's so good with puppet making. Sewed it right up," Dave nods, uncomfortable but pretending he's not, and he pulls his arm away until Dirk gets the hint and lets go. Suddenly Dirk is staring at him, way too closely like an examination, and Dave shifts uncomfortably and takes another bite of pizza while avoiding his eyes. "If it makes you feel better," he stares out into the skyline, "it's not any of your business."

"I- Yeah, I guess you're right," Dirk says. He shifts away a bit, and Dave lets his shoulders relax again. He doesn't remember when he tensed them. "Well, this has been super fun, I've got other things to do, so. See ya."

"Samesies," Dave agrees. "Later." And Dirk just disappears from sight. Like Bro does, except somehow Dave has an internal sense that says Dirk is actually gone. And then a sense that Bro is not.

A second later there's a sword to his throat, and Dave jerks his head back to hit against the metal of the air conditioner.

"You want to explain any of that, kid?" Bro asks. He doesn't know what to say. So Bro gets more specific. "I just watched you argue with yourself, step on your own sword and break it, and then pull out moves I know I didn't teach you, and believe me, I'd know if you were getting extra lessons somewhere. Spill."

Dave doesn't really know how to do that, or at least not in any way that Bro will actually believe. So. He panics and goes with the first thing he thinks of. "Uh- New coping mechanism."

---

Part 4: Jade

Jade is never taking an early morning flight again. Sure, she likes being up in the morning, but this is just way too much! Her flight leaves at 7:15, and her grandpa says they have to get there a couple hours early, so in the end she had to wake up at three AM because she still had to pack. That is too early to be functioning! Humans aren't meant to exist before five! At least she got to hang out with John, and hang out at a real American high school while she waited to board the plane. Grandpa had gotten used to her being even more spacey than normal, and he makes sure to give her a little nudge if he really needs her attention.

But after all that, she's not able to sleep on the plane at all. She's been on them a couple of times, but her grandpa usually leaves her home, so she just gets to go on the occasional vacation when he's not traveling for work related reasons. His technology is widely sought, by buyers from all over the world, and Jade is proud of that.

Of course, that changes today! Grandpa's got a business trip in Japan and after some begging and pleading, she finally gets to go! He says that it's her birthday present. She's not arguing, but she is a little curious to know why she gets to go on this specific business trip. It's a weird coincidence that her clustermate will be there, but it's not like Grandpa knows that Jane is a sensate, or that Jane's stepmom knows Jade is.

Planes are boring once you're above the clouds, is the main takeaway here. They're descending now, so at least it's over soon. The feeling of falling slowly through the air is a bit unnerving, but this plane was actually engineered by people under the Harley Foundation's employ, so there's not an airline she would trust more. Even so, she reaches down and gives a little scratch between Bec's ears to comfort herself. The giant, pure white dog has his own seat reserved, but instead he's lying down on the floor in the space between where Jade's seat faces her grandfather's. She's pretty sure that he's some kind of german shepherd, but they've never been completely sure.

"Grandpa, have you heard all the rumors about Betty Crocker? One of my clustermates thinks that she's evil or something," Jade says, breaking the silence. She's totally not throwing John under the bus, but she is curious and she does want something to rub in his face if it turns out he's completely wrong. Because she likes him. Good inter-cluster bonding activities, you know?

Grandpa looks surprised, his huge bushy eyebrows rising above his glasses for a second before coming back down with a chortle. "No, my girl, of course those aren't true. Betty Crocker's only the brand name, besides, she's not a real person. Unless miss Jane Crocker is somehow an evil megalomaniac at only sixteen, then no, the Crocker name has only innocent ties."

"He says there's, like, a secret organization pulling the strings, and everybody who knows about it gets murdered or something. Brainwashed, maybe, I don't remember the exact words."

"Now where would he get an idea like that?"

Jade laughs. "I don't actually know, I think he said internet forums? Definitely not the most trustworthy source." Grandpa laughs with her, and that's comforting. He would know, since he's in contact with Meenah Peixes, the current head of the company, or they wouldn't be on this trip at all. Jade knows that Jane is in training to take over, but she doesn't know how far her power goes at the moment. She just hopes they'll be able to hang out in person!

She's in better spirits when the plane lands. She doesn't have the evidence to correct John yet, but she's definitely looking forward to that glorious moment. His face would be so great. And maybe he would feel better, too, that there's no evil organization running the globe or whatever conspiracy theories he's got in his head.

Jane and her had arranged to meet at the airport, last time they talked, so she's there to meet them in a whole entire limousine with sideways seats and blackout windows and everything. It's too much, but it's also super cool and Jade's very excited.

Jade runs over to the car, and has to pretend to not know Jane. "Hi! I'm Jade Harley, nice to meet you!" she laughs, holding out her hand, and in a quieter voice she adds: "Officially, I mean."

Jane gives her a warm smile and shakes her hand. "Jane Crocker, a pleasure." She does the same for Grandpa when he arrives, and a driver takes their luggage and stows it away into the back of the car for them, which is awfully nice.

Once they're all in and the car is moving slowly through the streets of Osaka, Jade realizes there's an elephant in the room that really only she knows about. It's not Bec, who's curled up diligently at their feet, doing his best not to get fur all over the seats. But Grandpa doesn't know that Jane's a Sensate, and Jane doesn't know that Grandpa knows Jade's one. She bites her lip, wondering if she should open the conversation at all. Would Jane be cool with it, or would she feel like Jade was exposing her?

...Well, only one way to know! Besides, Jade trusts her grandpa, and Jane should too! He's basically the entire cluster's grandpa, since they're all kinda the same person anyways, right? "Grandpa," Jade starts, "Jane's a Sensate, too."

She's met with identical expressions of shock, for different reasons. Jane starts, "Jade-" but she waves a hand.

"Grandpa researches Sensates, it's fine if he knows! I've known almost my whole life, what's the point of keeping it a secret?" she explains, while her Grandpa is looking at Jane with an expression that she can't quite tell if it's just concentration or confusion. He looks very intent on whatever he's thinking. But he catches her looking at him, and straightens his back.

"Ah, what a coincidence!" He laughs. "In the same cluster, I take it?" Jade nods, while Jane looks back and forth between them, calculating the situation and not saying anything. Jade still can't really see the point of keeping this a secret, so no regrets, right?

"I haven't told my stepmother," Jane says after a pause. She doesn't seem to expect anything from it, but she just puts the information out.

"Why not?" Jade asks.

"Why should I?" she counters.

"Because she's one, too," Grandpa interjects, and what?! Jade drops her mouth open in surprise, turning to look at him. Jane blinks a few quick times, silent, and he continues, "I've been in business with her company for a long time. She's the reason that I know so much about Sensates, Jade. Lots of my research is funded by her."

"But that's- the odds of this are improbably high," Jane says, leaning back in her seat. "I didn't think that Sensates were this widespread, to have four in one place is insane. Right? I suppose you're the expert?" she asks, glancing first at Grandpa and then at Jade.

"Four?" Jade asks.

"You, myself, my stepmother, and my stepsister," Jane clarifies with a sigh. "My entire family tree, it seems." Grandpa nods like he knew this information, which Jade guesses he maybe did? Jade didn't, though!

"I think it's genetic, right Grandpa? If both Peixes are Sensates that kinda makes sense?"

Grandpa strokes his goatee, thinking. "It can be, I suppose. Clusters each have their own mothers, who in most cases aren't genetically related to any of their children. Using the terms 'mother' and 'children' loosely and metaphorically, of course, every cluster has one member who will someday birth another cluster, they don't necessarily have to be female. Meenah could possibly have given birth to Feferi's cluster, and to Feferi herself, in an unlikely scenario."

"Who is our cluster's mother?" Jane asks.

"If anyone would know, it would be the two of you," Grandpa shrugs. "Or another of your cluster." Jade sits back and closes her eyes, flicking through connections that she can almost feel as a physical force.

"Does anyone know who our cluster's mother is?" Jade says out loud, eyes still closed, and she projects the question through the seven tethers that connect her to the rest of them.

Suddenly the limo's a lot more crowded, each seat filled and maybe three people sitting on the floor. Bec perks up and looks around, which is an intriguing thought that Jade will have to look into! But later!

On Jade's right, Dave's sitting practically in John's lap, causing both of them to look really uncomfortable, even behind Dave's shades while John is openly weirded out. Jane presses herself closer to the door where she sits, with Roxy next to her and Dirk on her other side. Jake and Rose sit on the floor, and Dave soon slides himself down to join them.

They're all surprised, and a bit confused, talking over each other, but Roxy takes the lead and flaps a hand for silence. "Can you say that again?"

"Who's the mother of our cluster? Apparently they would have had to appear to at least one of us, to wake us up in the first place."

"Didn't you wake up first? I think I gathered that much from all the confusion!" Jake points out. Jade shrugs.

"A man in a white suit came to me that night and explained a few things," Rose says, projecting her voice. They all turn to look at her, and she gives Bec a pat while she talks. "He said that our cluster's mother was otherwise occupied, I believe."

"Is that a possibility?" Jane asks, looking at Grandpa, who gives her a confused glance. "That someone other than our mother Sensate woke us up?"

"Well, I'm not quite sure," Grandpa says, pushing his glasses up. "Has anyone been in contact with this other someone?"

Jane looks at Rose, who shakes her head. "I've tried, but he's been surprisingly elusive, and he failed to even provide any name."

"What a dick," Dirk comments under his breath, and Dave nods in agreement. John, sitting next between Jade and Dirk, gives him a weird look. Jade thinks that she remembers something between them, that John thought he was a dick. Ha, Dirk and dick, just one letter off. Jade hides a giggle behind her hand.

"So we don't know who our cluster's mother is," Jade summarizes. Everyone shakes their heads. She huffs. "Ugh. Well, keep a lookout, I guess," she shrugs, waving a hand in dismissal, and then the population in the limo is down to a mere two Sensates once more.

"Were they all here just now? The entire cluster?" Grandpa asks, a curiosity for knowledge alight in his eyes.

"Yep!"

"How many are you?"

She does a quick tally on her fingers, hoping desperately she doesn't forget anyone. That would be so rude! She even double checks that she gets Dirk and Dave, the quiet ones. "Eight!"

"Fascinating," he mutters, pulling a notebook from his bag and a pencil from behind his ear. Jane watches him with one eyebrow raised, thoughts inscrutable, while he scribbles down notes. Jade's not bothered, he does this all the time when she talks about Sensate things, it's a part of his life's research, after all!

"We're home. Jade, you can share my room, if you want," Jane says, and sure enough, the car comes to a stop a moment later, and the driver comes around to open the door for them. She pauses on her way out. "Shoot darn. I forgot to offer drinks, sorry," she gestures to a cooler sitting against the opposite wall from where Jade and her grandpa were sitting. Then she shrugs and gets out of the car.

Meenah Peixes herself is there to greet them, with a smaller version of herself in tow.

---

Part 5: Jane

Jane does quite like Jade. Her grandfather, not as much, so far, but only because she hasn't gotten a measure of him in yet. She does think it was incredibly hasty of Jade to expose the both of them like this, but she supposes that it led to good information. And now she knows that Jade might not be one to trust with a secret. So she has something to discuss with Feferi posthaste.

She gives a smile to her stepmother, who raises her lips in what might be called a smile as well, but to Jane it reads more like a sneer, a sarcastic return of the gesture. That's fine. Then she ignores Jane in favor of rushing over to Harley Senior, enthusiastically shaking his hand.

"Henry, my guy!" She steps back and gives him the once over that Jane gets on a daily basis, saying in disapproval, "You look a helluva lot older, what've you been eating?"

Harley Senior gives a chuckle, "Mrs. Peixes, how wonderful to see you again. You look as good as ever."

She jabs a finger into his chest. She's got a good head of height over him, over all of them. "I look better than ever, don't you forget that. Janey," she glances her direction, "The grown-ups have to talk. Go give that one the grand tour or whatever, but don't show her anything important!" She dismissively gestures to Jade and winks, then punctuates it with, "Now scram!"

Jane catches Jade's eye and nods, because the girl looks confused, and Feferi comes over and links arms with Jane. Together, the three of them leave the room while Harley Senior offers her stepmother his arm and leads her off in the opposite direction.

"So that's your stepmom!" Jade says, falling into pace with Jane and walking with a spring in her step.

"Yep," Jane nods. "And this is my stepsister, Feferi. Feferi, this is Jade Harley."

"Pleased to meet you!" Feferi says, reaching her free arm across Jane to shake Jade's hand. It's a weird maneuver to pull off while they're walking, and Jane nearly trips, but she manages to catch herself. They shake hands with matched exuberance, and now Jane's a little worried that they might get along too well.

"You too!" Jade gives Jane a slight conspiratorial smile, and Jane has to put a stop to that right now, before Jade lets things slip that Jane wanted to talk about in a controlled environment.

"So, how do you two know each other?" Feferi asks.

Jane blinks, then speaks before Jade can. "Well, we just met today. I picked her up from the airport." Her stepsister hums to herself and raises an eyebrow, apparently suspicious for no reason. Really. No reason to be suspicious at all, here.

But then Jade interjects, apparently picking up Jane's silent signals to keep quiet for now, but then not handling them very well. "Yeah! I've definitely never seen Jane before in my life!" Now it's suspicious, and Jane can't keep up the farce for any longer. Cearly.

Jane drags a hand down her face with a groan. "Okay, we need to talk. Let's go up to my room." She pulls Feferi after her by the arm, reaching her other hand out to snag Jade's and take her with them. There's an elevator that runs up to the second and third floors of the penthouse, where the bedrooms were located on the third. Technically, it couldn't be considered a penthouse in the literal sense of the word, but her stepmother would settle for nothing less than the best and penthouses were 'in fashion' at the moment, as she said.

Jane's room overlooks the Osaka metropolitan area as a whole. One huge window takes up the majority of wall space on one side, letting in plenty of natural light. She presses a button on the wall next to the door, among the row of various light switches and levers, and a heavy shade descends slowly over the window. She flicks on the overhead light, dimming it halfway.

"This is gorgeous," Jade says, leaning over a potted plant sitting on a pristine white shelf. She pokes her fingers around the leaves, gently holding them up to examine them. "I don't think you're watering it right, though, this leaf looks a little yellow." Things in her room are minimalistic, or at least as minimalistic as she can manage. There are things like clothes, papers, pencils, garbage all lying on the floor, which she would be embarrassed about, but they'd established there are no secrets between Sensates. Or stepsisters.

"I'll take that into consideration," Jane nods. She's more into botany as a little hobby, nothing serious, but maybe she should make the effort to keep this one plant alive. But there are more important things to discuss, and Feferi's staring at her with unbridled curiosity in her big round eyes, so she might as well just rip off the band-aid. This was gonna be awkward, hence the procrastination so far on her part. "So… Feferi. Your, um, theories about me being… whatever you are. They may not have been completely wrong."

Feferi gasps, grabbing her shoulders and swinging her around to face each other. "Jane! Why didn't you tell me sooner! You're really a Sensate, too? Was your rebirth on your birthday?"

"It was!" Jade supplies. "You're a Sensate, too, right? Was it the same for you?"

"Yeah!" Feferi gushes, letting go of Jane and skipping over to Jade. "Are you in Jane's cluster? Is that how she knows you?" Jade nods with a grin, and Jane was right that at least the two would get along. Their boundless energy would probably exhaust her before long.

"I thought it was all bullshit, because it sounded like it was," Jane explains defending herself. "But, then, I think it was Dirk who appeared to me first."

"Dirk as in quiet guy who John thinks is an ass?"

"Yes," Jane says, pointing a finger at her. "That one. Anyway, Feferi's known she was a Sensate for a while. She knew, somehow, that I was too, I guess?" She looks to Feferi now.

"Yep! Once you know the signs, it's really easy to find others like you."

"That's what Grandpa always says! So what's your cluster like?" The way Jade looks at Feferi it seems like there's stars in her eyes. From what Jane has pieced together, Jade hasn't met any other Sensates before, so she guesses this would be an interesting experience. Though, she's not sure that Jade has met anyone before, really. Just her grandpa, maybe the occasional business trip or employee under said grandpa. She reminds her a lot of Feferi, but in a more rugged sort of way.

"There's twelve of us," Feferi says, gesturing widely with her hands, and Jade is appropriately shocked. At this point, Jane feels like they're speaking another language that she doesn't quite know. "They're all over the world, I've only met a couple of them in person. One was-" her head ticks a bit to the side, in a sudden jerking motion, and then she blinks and shakes her head. "He was a traitor."

"What?" Jade asks, confused. Jane frowns at Feferi. She hadn't heard much from her about being a Sensate, on account of her usually shutting down the conversation pretty quick.

"Never mind that! Tell me about yours!" Then Feferi's back to smiling, eyes shining, and she moves to sit on the end of Jane's bed. Jade exchanges a quick glance with Jane, but neither of them say anything.

"There are eight of us in total," Jane says. "And you'll never guess who one of them is." The leading statement piques Feferi's curiosity, and Jane goes over to the portion of wall dedicated to posters, tapping one with a finger. Lots of them are of boys, or bands, or shows, some girls, too. Clothes, cooking ware, music, that sort of thing. The one exception is the boy in honestly scandalously short pants, leaning heroically out of a tree to gaze at the horizon with a grin on his face. He's got glasses, dark windswept hair, an islander's complexion, and green eyes that contrasted in the best way.

"Jake English? No fucking way," Feferi says, in awe. Jade stands up and goes over to the poster to examine it further, then laughs.

"Oh, yeah, I guess that's why he looked familiar," she shrugs. The posters share a wall with Jane's dresser, and a glint of red catches Jade's eye. She nudges a brightly colored box, with the lid laying next to it, her taller height letting her see right inside of it. "Hey, what's this? It looks familiar too."

"Oh, that," Jane says. She picks the tiaratop out of the box. "I got it for my birthday. My stepmother only has one gift idea for sixteen-year-olds." Feferi taps the matching golden band resting below her hairline on her forehead, where it then disappears behind her ears into her multitudes of tightly woven braids.

"Isn't CrockerCorp still developing these? I've seen designs back home, I think my grandpa might be helping design them," Jade says. She reaches for it, and silently asks permission to touch it, and Jane hands it over. Jade runs a hand around the circlet, this one red instead of Feferi's gold. CrockerCorp red, so it could be construed as a declaration that Jane was the heiress, or it could be merely designed to make the both of them paranoid and competitive. "It's using some weird new type of nuclear fusion, it's super early into research and development and stuff as far as I know. I didn't hear that it was safe yet."

"I got mine almost two years ago, it works just fine!" Feferi interjects.

"Huh," Jade says, putting a hand on her hip and handing it back to Jane. "Would you maybe want to put it on, so I can see how it works?"

Jane shrugs and puts it on over the short crop of her hair. It fits like a glove, naturally. "It might just be a promotional accessory, of course," she says, but Feferi shakes her head, which confuses her. Feferi has never before let on that it was anything else, not beyond that strange scene she witnessed right before Dirk distracted her. "...Is it not?"

"No, it's… well, something else? Here," she reaches over and presses the little button in the center, sporting the stylized H symbol, the chosen icon of the Peixes family for generations. It was older than CrockerCorp by a good fifty years at minimum, long before Jane's great-grandmother Betty Crocker was even born.

With the press of that button the technology switches on. To Jade and Feferi, nothing happens. But for Jane, it seems like images flash through her eyes, but more… impressions, of images, rather than actual ones. The feeling of words, instead of readable ones. She gets the idea that she has a new message, and she gets the impression that it's written in glittery pink comic sans.

The idea reads, Finally, she gets with the program! I spent a lotta $$$ on that tech, least you could do was put it on damn. But whatevs. Bigger fish to fry. Janey, babe, when were you gonna tell your stepma that you were a sensate? Kinda rude to leave me out of the loop.

Jane blinks, shocked, forcing her eyes to focus once more. She sees both Jade and Feferi eyeing her, Jade with concern, Feferi with expectations. "It's got a messaging system thing, my stepmother is texting me." Now she looks to Jade, brows furrowed in concern. "She knows."

---

Part 6: Roxy

"I'm just not sure that it's a good idea to drink with the voices in your head, is all," Callie puts her hand on Roxy's arm, concerned.

"Nah," Roxy scoffs. "I think it's a great idea. Listen, these voices? They're super chill! Rose is already like an alcoholic, it's fine. I think Dave had something to drink on his birthday too, just between you and me."

"And they're both also sixteen, right?"

"Yep!"

"You don't think that's a little early to be an alcoholic?"

"Callie," Roxy gestures to her room, the dishevelment of it all, the way her cardigan is around one shoulder and one elbow. "Have you met me and how I live?" Callie laughs, which is good, that was the goal, she doesn't like it when Callie's uneasy or worries about her. It kills the vibe, and then Callie is upset, and that makes Roxy upset. And then they're both upset and that's no fun for anyone.

"Does the fact that it's Tuesday mean anything to you?"

"It means there's no school tomorrow, yeah," Roxy shrugs. "Maybe for them, but not for me! I promise we won't stay up too late. Does that make you feel better, I don't want you to worry about me." She pulls an arm around her shoulder and squeezes, and Callie blushes which is like the best kind of reward-slash-reassurance.

"I guess so," she sighs, grimacing. "I've got homework to do, and this is the designated night to talk with my family, so… I hope you have fun, with, um, the voices!"

"Yeah for sure! Let me know if you need me after you're done talking to them, I'll be available for you any time." Roxy squishes her into a hug and smooches her cheek, Callie returning the gestures and gives a little wave before grabbing her bag and leaving Roxy's dorm. Man, she wishes Callie would be her roommate. She wishes the school didn't require her to be in a single! But if that's the condition for her going here at all, then she'll live with it!

Anyways, it was time to call in the voices. Calling them voices wasn't fair, they were also visions, and also they were real. Roxy shoves some things under the bed with her foot, trying to maintain at least some sense of decorum, and fishes out some bottles where they lay hidden under her bed. She sets them up nice on the desk, and lights a candle for good measure.

"Rose!" she calls, then thinks for a second. "Anybody else who wants to get drunk can come too!"

Rose appears as soon as she's called, looking distinctly amused already. "Is drinking the menu for tonight?" she asks, looking at the array of beverages set out.

"Yeah!"

"And you're aware that any of us drinking this would only serve to get you drunk, yes?"

"Okay sure, but I'm pretty sure if I just drink all this myself you'll probably feel something too, right? So why not make it fun?"

"That is…" Rose frowns, but she's definitely thinking it over! She's got one eyebrow raised and that means gears are turning. Her gaze is continually drawn to the varying types of liquor, and then she huffs. "One drink won't kill either of us. It is five PM on a school night, but I've started earlier." She sounds a little bitter about it.

"That's the spirit! It'll be fun. Team bonding and all that."

"Team bonding," she says dryly, nodding, then looks around at all the empty space in Roxy's dorm. "It appears to only be the two of us answering your call. I can procure some beverages of my own, and then we can get started, shall we?"

Roxy just nods and follows Rose in her world, she's really digging the decor of the Lalonde estate. It's all minimalistic and white, and there's a lot of wizards on the walls. She's really into those in particular, wizards are the best. The carpet is soft and white, and Rose leads them down a hallway from her room that overlooks the living room below, where an even bigger wizard statue sits imposingly, at eye level with them up on the footway.

Rose leads the way to a door that turns out to be hiding incredible amounts of booze. Seriously, Roxy's jaw drops open as soon as they walk in. "No wonder you're an-" she starts to say, and then remembers some form of tact and cuts herself off. Rose shoots her a half-smile half-grimace, knowing, of course, exactly what she was going to say. But no secrets between Sensates, and no secrets between fellow alcoholics.

"Yes, my mother has been quite the influence in my developmental stages." She stops in front of the minibar, and looks back to Roxy. "What are you feeling tonight? I've mostly got wines, but vodka is just as easy to come by and I would be surprised if we didn't have some tequila lying around." She tilts her head, considering, and then says, "Well, I'm fairly certain you could find anything in here with enough digging. So take your pick."

"Okay, this is a supes fancy," Roxy says, "but maybe we should just do simple. I'll stick to vodka. But I can make cocktails!"

So that's how about an hour later, Roxy sits slumped over the back of her chair chatting with Rose, who lies on the floor on her back with one leg propped up. Her hands are folded over her stomach, and they're just laughing back and forth, and this is really fun! It's just after midnight where Roxy is, so they're making sure to keep quiet, but she's hit the point where it's getting harder to talk and easier to laugh and she kind of wants to go to sleep but also she would be down to go to a party. So the best part. Rose looks open and she's using smaller words for once, and with her guard loosened a bit she's really nice to talk to!

"Don't get mad at me, but I think y'all've got a bit of a drinking problem." And then Dave's there! He's standing next to the bed, looking at Rose on the floor who looks up with a benign smile and Roxy, who stands up and coordinates her legs just enough to stumble over to him without stepping on Rose.

"Dave! Just the person I wanted to talk to!" She says, putting an arm on his shoulder and leaning on him. She's got a couple inches on him heightwise, and this close she can almost see his eyes behind his sunglasses. He's got a poker face on, so she'll have to fuck with that a bit.

"...Yeah?" Dave asks. "Sure. Just as long as you two know that when you get drunk, we kind of all get drunk. Just. As a general heads up, I'm definitely not complaining or anything, but I figured you should know." Rose starts giggling, and she hides it behind her hand.

"Okay! Noted!" Roxy says, disregarding this. She leans back and readjusts to put a hand firmly on his shoulder. "But we gotta talk. About the trans thing."

Dave recoils immediately, pulling out of her grasp with an affronted noise. "The what thing?" Oops, she might've come on too strong. She does some quick reevaluations of Dave and his possible comfort zones, and then decides to gently backpedal.

"Nonono, don't freak out, it's okay! I am too!" she says. Rose is still lying on the floor, and she hasn't moved, but her eyes look more focused than they did a second ago. She thought Dave might be a little more chill about this, but if he wants to make this a Serious Talk instead of the fun conversation she wanted, then maybe they might need some privacy.

"I- what makes you think I'm- That?" Dave asks, fighting with his own face for control. He wants to get his pokerface back, she can tell, but he's visibly startled. She feels bad about that, super not what she intended.

"Rosey, babe, could you give us a minute?" Roxy stage whispers, and Rose nods, closes her eyes, and then she's gone. Roxy moves to sit on the bed, putting them more at eye level with him a little above her, maybe that'll make him calm down a bit. "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you! But, we're a little bit psychically connected now, and a girl can know things pretty easy. Not prying, I just recognize the signs! I just get them the other way around!"

"I-" He puts a hand up and pinches the bridge of his nose, huffing. "I'm not really supposed to talk about it. Bro says it'll only get my ass kicked if I go broadcasting my personal shit everywhere."

Roxy scrunches up her face like she's tasted something sour. "So you've never actually talked about it? With anybody?"

He shrugs, putting his hands into his pockets with the same motion, uncomfortable. "I've looked up stuff online, it's not like I have no clue about… stuff. I've got the medical shit on lockdown, I'm in charge of all that. Bro's kind of on a need-to-know basis, but we've. Um. Discussed."

"But where's your sense of community?" She gestures grandly with her arms, "Like not being alone and all that? Knowing other trans peeps, other gay friends?"

"I'm not gay," Dave aserts abruptly. "And I've got it taken care of, it's nobody else's business, end of story."

"Okay, okay," she holds her hands up placatingly. "That's totally cool. I just wanted to chat, thought we could bond a little, 's all."

Dave groans and slides down to sit on the floor with his back leaned against the bed. "Fine. What kind of wisdom have you come to seek from a one Dave Strider?"

"Oh! Um. Heh, I didn't think that far ahead!" She hums to herself, thinking while Dave sits in a patient silence. "Okay. I didn't have, like, parents? Or whatever your bro is? So, um, how did he take it? The news and all?"

Dave doesn't move for a second, and then he says, "Fine I guess. He kinda just nodded and gave me a thumbs up. Then training got more intense, said I had to get better if this was what I wanted to do with my life. He gave me a couple hundreds in cash, sent me to the mall to get new clothes and shit, and when I got back there was a bonfire with like half of my stuff on the roof."

"Okay, hold up, I have a few questions," Roxy says, holding up a hand. He looks up at her, perfectly passive, like half the stuff he said wasn't crazy in any way at all. "First question: Training for what?"

"Sword fighting. It's our thing. He had all these sweet katanas around the house and one day when I was like four I asked if he could teach me to use one. He took it super seriously, we fight every day. I still can't beat him so usually I just get my ass kicked."

"I- Okay. Sure," Roxy says, confused, and a little concerned. Mostly because he wasn't at all concerned about this, and she felt like he probably should be? Was it her place to tell him that? "Like, really weird, and probably illegal, but… okay. Next question: What the fuck? A bonfire? Seriously?"

"Yeah, it was sweet," Dave shrugs. "What did you do?"

"My foster moms from when I was nine figured out there was some gender fuckery going on here before I did, they told me. There was a lot of, like, hugging and crying involved. No bonfires!"

He snorts. "Sounds lame." Roxy shrugs, nothing she can do about it now. "Alright well as fun as this has been, and really, had a ball here, I should go do my other shit. And I think your girlfriend's texting you." He taps her phone where it's been discarded on the ground next to him, the screen lighting up every now and then.

"You mean Callie?" she asks, sliding off of the bed to join him on the floor. "Best friend! Not my girlfriend!" Dave raises one eyebrow pointedly above his shades. She rolls her eyes at him, and then checks her phone, sighing and biting her lip while she reads the spurt of texts. "Her family bonding time must not have gone that great, huh?"

"Is she chill with how much you drink?" Dave asks, out of nowhere, looking for all the world like he'd just casually asked about the weather. Roxy does a double take, registering what he asked a hot second later.

"Eh," she shrugs, confused. "What kind of question is that?"

"Just curious. We're, like, sixteen, and you and Rose have gotta be outliers, because as far as I know its a bit early to be an alcoholic. Especially when you've got seven other people attached to your brain."

"Hmm," Roxy hums, tapping her fingers on her phone. "Okay, maybe I'll work on that, and you work through your own issues, and we've got a deal. Yeah?"

"What issues?" he has the audacity to ask. It's her turn to dramatically raise an eyebrow, except she kind of raises both, because expressions are a little hard to control after three matinis.

"You've got a lot going on my dude, ask Rose if you really need the step-by-step, she'll psychoanalyze you without even bein' asked. So just figure out your shit, and I'll agree to figure out mine," she explains, and then holds out her hand. Dave still looks as bewildered as someone with no expression and big sunglasses can look, but he reluctantly takes her hand anyways, giving it a solid shake.

"Fine, but we should probably extend this pact to the entire group, none of us fuckers are mentally stable as far as I can tell."

"Agreed. I'll let everybody know tomorrow, maybe the point of the Sensate stuff is to help each other, right? Otherwise what's the point?" she asks. Dave gives her a long look, inscrutable, and then he just drops out of the conversation and vanishes. She'll take that as agreement!

---

Part 7: Jake

On this nice Wednesday evening, about half a week into this new chapter of his life, Jake found out that being a Sensate came with some sort of 'spidey-sense.' Sometimes he can feel prickles of something that he can't find the source for, and he can reasonably tell that they come from someone else, one of the other seven. As much as he wants to explore his newfound abilities, he has obligations yet that will not go away long enough for him to do what he needs to do. But he's got superpowers, he should have been crawling around in the vents of the F.B.I or something by now, learning national secrets and then telling his superiors those secrets, so they may continue with their high-tech gadget filled espionage missions, of which he is obviously the head.

But no. Emails. Emails all day every day, mixed in with the odd phonecall and the odd panicked intern wondering about their finances. It's enough to drive a man mad, the constant drivel of the masses and the responsibilities and all of it! When is he supposed to sleep!

Nausea hits him like a punch to the stomach, sudden and mixed with foreboding and fear. Jake doubles over with a hand on the offending area, looking up and around with fervor, but seeing nothing out of the ordinary. A phantom sensation, then, not one of his own. Yet, it's an oddly familiar feeling. He thinks it must have been a while, a year maybe, but he's felt this before. Still, it's not him this time.

Someone's in trouble, and now is Jake's chance to go to the rescue, like a real hero! Fuck yes!

Jake closes his eyes and does the trick that Rose taught them all, 'expanding' his consciousness, searching for the point of distress. It might be Dirk, or Dave, those two give off twinges of adrenaline most often, he's so far been able to mostly tune them out because he knows that there's nothing he can do for either of their situations. But this one seems serious.

Surprisingly, it's John, the least likely one Jake thought would source intense, gut-wrenching emotions. Fellow had seemed relatively chill, in any case.

Jake's standing next to John in his bedroom, slightly behind him, and he can't pinpoint what might be causing this. John stands stock still, and he's looking- oh. His dad stands in the doorway to his bedroom, face grave and concerned.

"Son?" John's dad asks. John startles, another twinge coming across the link.

"Yeah, okay, do I need to pack a bag? How long do you think we'll be there?" John asks, shaking himself the slightest bit. His dad looks a little relieved, and Jake would be too, but he can still feel the nausea rolling off of him.

"Not too long, most likely, but I think that it might be better for you to stay here for the night. I can call with updates, but really, there's no reason to subject you to this tonight," his dad explains, wrapping and unwrapping the end of his tie around his hand in a nervous gesture.

"Are you sure?" John protests weakly. "You don't need help with anything?"

"I've got it taken care of, don't worry about it," dad says gently, and then approaches John with his arms out. John accepts the hug, and then his dad says goodbye, and leaves the room.

Jake reaches out a hand and pokes the back of John's arm with a finger. John jumps as if jolted, spinning around and nearly tripping over his own feet. "What!"

"Apologies, didn't mean to startle you!" Jake says. He's slowly realizing that this might be less of an action mission and more of an… emotional one. He's much less proficient in this area, but it would be remiss of him to just up and leave now! So he asks, "What's happening?"

John looks to the door again for a second, "Oh. My nanna started throwing up, she's going to the hospital for the night. She's, um, sick. She's been sick for a while, now."

"That explains the gut-punch," Jake says slowly.

"You felt that too? Sorry," John says sheepishly. His eyes look heavy, is the only word Jake can think of to describe it. Like if Jake wasn't here he'd be having some sort of breakdown. He's just so ill-equipped to handle this right now.

"Not to worry, I've felt it before. My… Well, my gran got very ill like this a while ago," Jake explains. "So I… know how it feels," he frowns awkwardly.

"I'm sorry?" John asks. He thinks over his next words carefully for a moment, saying them slowly, "Did she get better?"

Jake closes his eyes, taking a breath. "No." He opens his eyes and attempts to brighten his demeanor, because isn't he supposed to be helping here? "But that doesn't mean that yours won't, of course."

Now both of them are uncomfortable. John sighs after a bit, breaking the silence, "She's been sick for a really long time. I'm used to this."

"It's still hard," Jake nods, understanding. "That's my gran," he points to the portrait of her handing up in her old office. "People still think she heads English Wildlife preserves." John now stands in front of Jake's desk, turning to look up at the picture taking up half the wall.

"How does that work?"

"Not very well!" Jake admits, biting his lip. "I sort of forgot to tell anyone that she died. Oh, please don't tell anyone, by the by. I'm not technically allowed to run the preserve until I'm eighteen."

John just looks bewildered. He's suitably distracted, which is all he could have hoped for, but he's not sure if it was a wise decision to give up his secrets so loosely. This had been so closely guarded, only himself and two others in the world knew, one of whom was on a different continent. John seems to be a trustworthy chap so far, in his eyes, but Jake might have considered being a touch more careful. In any case the cat's out of the bag now.

"That's- okay. Okay, sure, I'm not going to tell anyone," John says, still deep within the throes of confusion. Jake realizes once again that this might not be considered 'doing the comforting thing,' still.

"Um," Jake says, searching for something to say. John's room is an array of various movie posters, similar to Jake's, but it's clear they have different taste in movies. Not nearly enough blue people, though Howie Mandel might count…? He certainly is painted blue. Jake's never seen Little Monsters, but now he supposes he has an obligation to. Perhaps he could watch it with John! ...Another time!

John's been shuffling his feet, and now he collapses to sit on the bed in resignation to an awkward silence in a tense situation. "Man. You know what the worst part of this is?"

"What?" Jake asks, almost nervously. He doesn't know how this conversation could get any worse, and he worries. It still hasn't really occurred to him that he can leave at any time.

"My dad's gonna bake so many cakes tomorrow. Like, so many. Consolation cakes or whatever. He'll say they're for me, but we both know they're really for him. It's so obvious." John cracks a grin and, well, Jake can't say he was expecting that.

He laughs awkwardly because he doesn't really get the joke, but laughing is better than sitting and being miserable and worried, naturally. "Strikingly obvious."

And since this conversation feels like pulling teeth, Jake's incredibly grateful when his private cell phone starts to ring. God, he hopes it's urgent. He looks up to John for a second, apologetic, and John gestures, saying, "Go ahead, man. I'll be fine."

"You will be fine! Try to, erm, get a decent night's rest!" Jake says with a thumbs up and a weak smile. He pulls out his phone and then he's alone again, only the vaguest phantom sensations of John's inner turmoil still prickling at him.

He's barely answered the phone when a harried voice comes through. "Jake, we have a situation. Where are you?"

"In my bedroom. You sound out of sorts, what's the matter?" Jake asks.

"Okay. Stay there until someone comes and gets you, okay?" Serenity hangs up on him. He can only look at his phone in bafflement, wondering what his secretary/advisor/second in command was on about now. She had been there for him since before his Gran had been sick, and was there with him when she died. He quite literally could not have kept the preserve or his own position afloat without her. If something has rattled her so, it has to be serious.

Jake frowns at his phone and slides it into his pocket, going over to his bedroom window from which he can see the preserve headquarters neighboring the estate. Nothing seems remiss, though there is a large black car in the driveway. And Jake has seen movies, of course. Something's wrong. And he's also not going to stay put. What kind of hero would he be then?

Jake leaves his room and carefully makes his way downstairs to the living room. The trouble seems to be at the office, but he's going to be careful regardless.

He's carefully watching the front door, calculating his next move, when it throws itself open, making him nearly jump out of his skin. Jake puts a wall between himself and the door, peeking his head around the corner, and is able to relax just a tidbit when he sees that it's not a mysterious assailant, nor a devious adversary. No, it's just one of his security detail, followed quickly by Serenity herself.

"I told you to stay put," Serenity says, sighing. Jake rolls his eyes, and she continues, "Should have known you wouldn't, I guess. You've got the adventurer's spirit, like your gran." She readjusts herself to her surroundings, nodding to the security guard. Jake's fairly certain that the man's name is Keith, but he isn't entirely sure and he's not wearing any name badge or anything, which is awfully inconsiderate.

"What's all the fuss about, then?" Jake asks. Probably-Keith closes the door behind her and stands in front of it, while Serenity takes a look around the room. It's just the three of them.

"Your gran had some enemies. I'll tell you more later, but we need to get somewhere safe. There's a secured area under the house-"

"The one in the fireplace?" Jake asks, surprised, hooking a thumb over his shoulder. "I've opened it before, you just pull the brick out and push a button. That one?"

"You- Yeah, that one," Serenity nods. "Explored a bit, have you?"

"I've got the adventurer's spirit."

"Did you go inside?"

"Um… Well, no, I didn't want to disturb anything," Jake lies. He'd been so surprised that he'd forgotten to actually go down the tunnel, and when the idea later occured to him, it made him strikingly nervous. He'd resolved to go down it, ...someday.

"That's probably for the better. Come on," Serenity says. She crouches by the fireplace and slides out one of the bricks on the side of the mantle, the one that always looked a little loose.

Keith stays up in the house while Jake and Serenity make their way down the tunnel that shifts open in the back of the grand fireplace. There's dim lighting that Jake can't really find the source of, emitting from the walls, but it makes a few turns, until they arrive at an elevator that drops them down far below the earth. They emerge into a room that looks old and unused, but what was once a sterile-looking laboratory.

Three people seem to leave the elevator, only two physically there. Jake sees Dirk step into place beside him, looking around with passive curiosity. Not wanting Serenity to think any different of him, Jake doesn't say anything, but looks at Dirk until he thinks their eyes maybe meet, and he gives him a nod.

Serenity leads them through the front room, with only metal chrome walls and Spartan decor. There's some metal machinery stuff that Jake can't make heads or tails of, and when Serenity flips a switch outside the elevator everything hums to life and creates a background noise of buzzing machinery.

"So. The preserve," Serenity begins to explain, while he snaps his head around in every direction, taking it all in even though in this front room there's not a lot to take in at all. A big logo on the wall reads English Wildlife Preserve, which is almost comforting in its familiarity. "It's not just a preserve. We're organized to combat an empire, one that most people don't realize exists."

"I- Sure, that's all just dandy, but what was the ruckus upstairs? You seemed worried about it," Jake asks. Next to him, Dirk raises an eyebrow, but he doesn't have the proper state of mind to have two separate conversations at once, right now.

"They're starting to catch on to us, I think. We haven't been as active recently, after, well-" she cuts herself off. Jake nods, losing the head of any organization to msyterious illness would throw them all out of sorts. He wonders if Dirk is following. He sure doesn't emote very much, so Jake can never tell. "But that leaves only a more concerning alternative. That they've known about us all along, and have just chosen now to make a move."

"But who is them? I'm not playing the pronoun game with you, Serenity," Jake says, crossing his arms.

"Not to mention this all seems like some unnecessary plot bullshit," Dirk mutters next to him. Jake is inclined to agree on some level, but on all other levels he's a tad excited.

"SkaiaNet. CrockerCorp, the Peixes, all of them combined under one rule. We're one of the last places with power not under the influence of Meenah Peixes, and we really would rather stay that way. We can't do that if they assassinate you."

"Oh," Jake says, lost for words. "...So she wants to form a superempire? And we're the last ones resisting her?"

"There's a few others, actually, but this is the main branch, especially since the Harley Foundation was compromised. We've got to be very careful." She looks at Jake very seriously, and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Stay here until it's all sorted out. We're probably overreacting, but we can't be too careful, and we can't afford to lose the last heir of Judy English."

He's momentarily stunned by the gravity in her voice. "I will," he says after a second. "You promise to be careful, too, Serenity!"

She's already walking away, but she turns and gives him a little salute with a smile. It doesn't ease his nerves. Dirk's quiet presence next to him doesn't help much either.

---

Part 8: Dirk

Jake's weird grandmother's even weirder basement laboratory doesn't really register as all that weird anymore, not after the week he's had. It hasn't even been a week, but time seems like it's going at breakneck speed, what with all the rush of getting seven people crammed into his head leading to seven new lives to explore and dissect. So no, a secret laboratory can't really compare with the concept of being a Sensate, nor with whatever's going on with Jane and her new tech from her stepmom. Dirk's resolved to keep an eye on that one, he doesn't trust it.

But who is Dirk to ignore it when Jake's landed himself in some cliché action movie.

Serenity's the perfect person in place to have a hidden identity as a secret agent, after all. She turns and leaves the room while Jake's mind is surely reeling after the knowledge bomb that he's the head of a secret organization, and now Dirk has to step in. "I'll do some reconnaissance, you explore your new underground bunker. We've got a sure connection to the

Condescension, we should use it."

"What the blazes is going on?" Jake asks slowly, gradually coming back to his senses from the shock.

"Vive la résistance," Dirk says. "There's been buzz about Skaianet for a while, everyone's sure there's something shady going on. Guess we were right."

Dirk leaves Jake without another word and pops in to wherever the hell Jane is right now. And Jade, along with her. Those two are sort of a package deal for the foreseeable future. What Dirk is not prepared for is to immediately be face to face with the Condescension herself.

Jade and Jane both turn to look at him, and head honcho Peixes turns to look at him too, but he can't actually tell if she can see him. It's unnerving. Little Peixes is here too, but she looks much more confused with the sudden silence.

Jane stares at him calmly while Jade does a quick nervous glance to the Condesce, who seems to perpetually grin. "We gotta visitor?" she asks, raising both eyebrows at the two. Dirk looks to the girls and lets them make the first move. He thinks that it would be a mistake to accuse the Condesce of conspiracy right in front of her, but he is determined to fulfill this reconnaissance mission.

"Yes, one of my cluster. What's wrong, Dirk? I can feel Jake panicking from here. John, too." Jane is perfectly composed, her red tiaratop sitting high on her forehead. Jade fidgets nervously next to her, biting her lip, not saying anything, keeping a slight distance between where they sit together on the couch. Meenah Peixes sits on a couch across from them, while Feferi is on an armchair between them.

Dirk's head takes all of this into account while he puzzles out what to do next. "Jake is safe. I don't know what John's doing. How is this doing?" He raises one hand to flip at the scene before him.

"Fine," Jane says. "My stepmother, and my stepsister, are both Sensates as well," she gestures to both of them.

"Can they…?" He taps his ear.

"Hear you? No. Jade, can you handle this, please?"

Jade taps Dirk's shoulder, suddenly standing next to him not in the Condesce's penthouse, but on the roof of the parking garage he finds himself on this morning in Bremen. He's sitting on the ledge bordering the roof, but he stands when Jade asks for his attention. She's an inch taller than him, which is fucking impressive.

"Dirk, I'm worried about Jane," Jade begins. "She's… colder. I'm pretty sure it's the tiaratop, because Feferi kind of does the same thing when she's wearing hers. But Jane hasn't taken it off since yesterday!"

Dirk heaves a breath through his nose. "Right. One crisis at a time." His mind, of course, is perfectly capable of handling all of them. He's already resolved to check in on John, because he felt the spike of panic just like everyone else, but that had settled down into a quiet unease. Jake's had continued, and that's when he decided to deal with that. And now he's dealing with Jane, and Jade's problems with Jane. "Jake's house is under attack, possibly by people there under the Condesce's orders."

"The Condesce?" Jade asks, tilting her head to the side and frowning.

"I guess. His grandma apparently runs a secret resistance, there's an underground bunker and everything. There's layers and layers of bullshit happening over in the Jake zone." Dirk doesn't shrug. A normal person might have, but Dirk is very good at standing perfectly still.

"She definitely was asking Jane for details about the cluster last night, but I thought she was just being a good stepmom! Damn it, if John was right this entire time I swear to fucking God," she grumbles angrily to herself. She heaves a sigh. "Well, this isn't good! How can we fix it?" she asks. Practical. Dirk decided he liked her, even if telling Meenah Peixes anything at all was stupid and tempting fate. And maybe he could also ask John how he knew that Peixes was up to something.

"Well. We figure out why the Condesce is messing with Jake, first. Then we take precautions. Step one is probably to get the tiaratop off of Jane. Think you can handle that?" Dirk explains.

"Probably?" Jade bites her lip again.

"Cool. I'll see what Jake's gotten himself into." Dirk blinks behind his shades and Jade's gone, by his will, and he blinks again to reappear next to Jake, who is not where he left him. He did, after all, tell him to explore.

Jake is standing in front of a large screen, tapping through various images and live feeds. It's a simple CCTV system, offering different views of the surrounding areas and other rooms in the bunker. Jake pauses on the feed of the preserve across the road. He doesn't notice Dirk.

The black SUV is still there, a 2009 GMC Yukon Hybrid from the looks of it, all of its doors hanging open. At least four assailants from the vehicle, then. The door to the building is open too, but otherwise everything looks still. Seems like most people had gone home for the night, which seems like a massive oversight for someone as organized and determined as the Condesce seems to be. Hmm.

"They're trying to be tricky," he informs Jake. "Keep on alert."

Jake jumps, because he was not on alert, and accidentally bangs his hand into the control panel. "Criminey, Dirk, we need to put a bell on you," he swears, examining his fist for damage. At worst it might bruise. "What've they got up their sleeves, then?"

"Not sure yet. Who's in the building?" Dirk asks, with a miniscule gesture to the screen.

"Just security and janitors, I'd assume," Jake frowns and switches through camera feeds. Many of them show the interior of the preserve, most show no activity. That is, until they reach the camera showing Jake's office. There are three men inside, one staring at the wall with Jake's grandma's portrait and certificates, one rooting through the desk, and one looking into the filing cabinet.

"Do you know what they're after?"

"No, haven't the faintest," Jake shrugs. "Why don't we just ask them?"

"Because that's a shit idea," Dirk says, but Jake has already pulled out his cell phone and dialed it. Dirk clenches his jaw and takes a deep breath of disappointment. "Damn it."

On the screen, all three men turn towards the phone sitting on the desk. There's no sound, and the picture is in black and white, but at least it's in real time as the three exchange looks, some silent words, and then one carefully picks up the phone. He's the one who had been looking through the desk.

He picks it up, and on Jake's end there's a click, but he doesn't say anything. Jake opens his mouth to say something, but he looks confused and Dirk thinks that he'll definitely say something idiotic.

So Dirk snatches the phone out of Jake's hand. "Jake English speaking. What do you want?" His impression is piss poor because he's not trying, but it doesn't matter. On the screen, the tallest one holding the phone covers the speaker with a hand and says something unintelligible to the other two. He's got a dignified look to him, while the short one looks perpetually confused in the same way that Jake does, and the third one is of average height and looks pissed in a way that Dirk presumes is his default setting.

"What've you got?" the man on the phone asks. "Secrets? Valuables? Information?" While he talks he picks through the documents lying open on the desk.

Dirk lowers the phone and looks to Jake. "Anything?"

"I'll see where Serenity went," he says in a low voice, tapping on the console. There's only one large screen, so he has to switch away from the office. There's another man, big and beefy, standing guard right outside the office. Other than that, the building looks abandoned.

"Nothing you're interested in, gentlemen," Dirk says into the phone. "So I suggest you leave."

They find Serenity creeping into the preserve through one of the back doors, and she passes two knocked out security guards. She's got a handgun, holding it out cautiously in front of her as she slowly makes her way to the office.

"Oh, we won't be long," the voice on the phone says. Dirk gestures to Jake, and the screen, and he flips it back to the office.

"Shit," Dirk says under his breath. The office is empty besides the man on the phone. The other two are missing. Jake quickly looks through the feeds again, finding the big guy gone as well, and now they can't find Serenity, either.

"Remind me Jake, how's your grandma doing? It's been so long since we've talked." Jake's head snaps up at that, looking at Dirk and the phone, and Dirk just hands the phone to him.

"What do you know about my gran?" Jake asks, fighting to keep a level tone. He flips one more screen and finds the exact moment where Serenity is clocked over the head with a fist. She crumples to the ground, the big guy behind her, and the angry and short ones on either side of him.

"That's why we're here, isn't it? To get to know more, assuming that there is more to know. Anyways, Jake, it's been fun, but I think it's time to go. Good luck running the place by yourself. And just try to stay out of our way, okay?" The line clicks dead.

"I think they know my gran's dead," Jake says, face pale.

"What?"

"Oh boy, she's left a right mess behind, hasn't she?" he chuckles nervously to himself, ignoring Dirk's question and frowning heavily as he watches the men take Serenity's gun and go through her pockets. They take her phone, and from her wallet her identity badge with her keycard. Next time, they won't need to break in. Dirk can't tell if they got what they came for or not. "Well, I suppose it's action time!"

"Jake- wait-" Dirk starts, but Jake starts running from the security monitor room, through other rooms that Dirk doesn't have time to examine while he chases after him, until they're sloping up and Jake hops into the elevator, fidgeting with adrenaline while the doors close and they slowly travel upwards. Dirk asks, "What's your plan, here?"

"Fight them off myself, if I have to," Jake answers, pulling a pistol out from the back waistband of his pants.

"Where did you get that?"

"There's a weapons storage down there, found it while I was exploring. I know how to use it, not to worry, my gran taught me."

"Fucking christ," Dirk mutters. He might not be able to help Jake, nor stop him, but he can at least stand witness. He knows that Jake can't do this alone, no matter if anything he does will make a difference. The elevator doors open and Jake runs out, running through a short sloped tunnel.

There's a guy standing at the entrance to the tunnel, but Jake doesn't look surprised, and this one isn't wearing the same uniform as the four intruders to the preserve. "Jake," the man says, putting out an arm to catch him around the middle and lift his feet into the air. "You're supposed to stay put."

"Serenity's compromised, let me go, Keith," Jake argues, struggling against the man's grip. At least that's confirmation that this isn't another enemy. "Dirk, help me out, here!"

Keith looks though Dirk, who says, "No, I'm with him." He gestures to Keith with his thumb. Jake makes a frustrated noise.

Suddenly Serenity herself bursts through the front door to Jake's house, looking harried, a small trickle of blood running down her temple. Dirk analyzes and diagnoses her as having a concussion, though not a severe one. At the sight of Jake she lets out a sigh of relief and some of the tension seems to leak out of her.

"Good, you're safe. Next time stay put," she says. Keith puts Jake down, and Serenity holds out her hand for the pistol, which Jake reluctantly relinquishes. "They were looking for information on you, you know. So. If you've got any secrets, you need to tell me, understand?"

Jake looks to Dirk like he's asking for permission. "The Condesce seems to have a thing for Sensates. I'd keep that under wraps for now," Dirk advises. After all, she already had three at the moment, two of them under questionable mind control. It seemed like too much of a coincidence that she would try to go after Jake now. Letting anyone else in on their status looks like to much of a risk.

Jake doesn't say anything, just nods his head. Serenity sighs. "I'll make the police report, I guess. They should already be on their way after the alarm went off."

"I'm going to check in on some of my other sources, see if anyone can tell me more about Sensate stuff in general. I'll check in with you all later," Dirk says to Jake. Jake nods again, silently, and Dirk pops out of his world and back into his own. Poor kid looked pretty rattled. But he'd get over it. Now to see what he can find out.

---

A/N: an update- i really really like writing Rose and Roxy, Dave too, Dirk is great, Jane and Jade are fun because they advance the plot, John despite being my favorite character is real hard to write, and if the epilogue hadn't set me firmly aboard the "jake deserves better" train then i'd tell him to go fuck himself because he's really hard to write! help!

i said i wouldn't post this until i'd written most of chapter 3, and i lied! i haven't even really started chapter 3, so sorry, it probably won't go up for a while. unless i had some, per se... motivation? yeah anyways, tell me what you think, anything you like/dislike, anything you think will/should happen, etc, fuel meee