Dark Matter Ascension

Shhiv was just finishing up her workout. A solo session. She had her cosmopanel playing music on a nearby table, and as she set the weights up on the rack, it went silent. She looked over and saw Xera standing above the item. "Oh, hey!" Shhiv sat up and used a towel to wipe away some sweat, "What's going on?"

"Did you hear about what happened to Churkun Delta?"

Shhiv stopped, "No." She stared at Xera, trying to read the expression of The Architect. "Why?"

"Troxanir destroyed the world," Xera state. "He turned it into a nuclear, apocalyptic wasteland. I'm so, so sorry."

Shhiv shrugged, "It's fine. I never had an attachment to that place. It sucks that a ton of people died…I assume…but I didn't really know anyone there. Bev is my only friend from that world."

Xera's demeanor instantly shifted to that of a business professional, "Ah, well then. No condolences were necessary."

Shhiv stood up and approached the slightly shorter woman, "I may have been born there, but I'm a Khrox citizen through and through. I have no intentions of leaving, unless Jace and I are going on a trip somewhere."

Xera smiled, "Good. That is good to hear. Well then, I will leave you to it."

"Hold up," Shhiv stated, stopping Xera from tapping her wrist pad. "How is he? I sent him some messages, but he hasn't replied."

"He has been busy fighting," Xera replied. "He is almost back to a location near a Cosmic Corridor portal. I…I'll give him a few days off. Does that suffice?"

Shhiv nodded, "Yes, that works. Thank you."

Xera tapped her wrist pad and vanished. Shhiv went over to the elevator and tapped off a message to Jace.

-----

[Hey handsome.]

[I've got a whole ton of movies lined up.]

[I also found some new recipes to try.]

[See you when you're home!]

-----

She pocketed the cosmopanel, exited into her apartment, and to her surprise Jace was standing there – and he looked just as shocked as she was. "I…oh. Thanks, Xera." Jace grinned and stepped forward, hugging Shhiv. "I missed you."

She returned the embrace, "Let's get you out of that armor! You can tell me all about the cool stuff you've been doing." She ran a hand through his hair, "This changed color. Is it permanent?"

Jace nodded and began taking off his armor in the hallway, leaving it in a small pile near the door. "Yeah. Do you like it?"

"It makes you look like a predator," she replied. "Which is all positive in my book." She saw his arms and legs matched, now that he was out of his armor. "Oh, and you're symmetrical!"

"I got that Arbiter guy's legs and the other arm. Plus, I'm really close to level 100 in my Advanced Class. Just 300,000 more Stardust…and I'm there." She could hear the joy in his voice. "I'm almost strong enough to beat up Troxanir and let Chroma's soul free."

She cupped his face and gave him a little cheek-lick – the closest approximation to a kiss she could give given her physiology. "Let's get you out of that armor, into that hygiene station…and then lets just relax on the couch and see where things take us."

He grinned and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Sounds like a plan."

Priam was surprised, at first, when they got out of the tunnels, into The Cosmic Corridor, and Xera just instantly warped the group away to the apartment. She explained that the group was getting two days of free time.

Now, he was seated in his father's chair and reading a book. One of his favorite genres – mythologies of other worlds. The one he was reading aloud from was called the Edda, and Dee was out of her chitin, in a puddle-like shape next to the fireplace.

"This Loki guy sounds like a real fun person," She stated as Priam took a short breather to sip some tea.

"Mhmm. Plus there's another guy named Utgarde-Loki we haven't even got to yet! And then Logi! Oh, and Ragnarok is probably the best part. You'll love it."

Dee's eyes in her goop shifted to the top of her mass to look at Priam, "I'm a bit curious if you'll indulge me…I love that you're so into this dead religion stuff-"

"Mythology," Priam corrected.

"Right. You have met gods. Literal gods. But you want to read about dead ones?"

Priam closed the book – keeping the bookmark firmly in place – and got off the chair to stand next to the fire. "It is important that we not just learn new things, but also remember the lessons of the past."

"Sounds poignant," Dee said.

"Father's words. Sure, those gods may or may not have existed in Earth's ancient past; but nonetheless we can pull away lessons from those stories. And those lessons can help us live better lives."

"If it makes you happy. I'm just content to listen to your voice. You get so cute when you start getting glued and racing through the words with such speed."

Priam smiled and scrambled back into the chair, flipping the book open. "Then let's keep reading!"

Greg looked over at Missy after their amorous session on the bed. He made sure to hold her close, squeezing her hand as she recovered her breath. "That…was great…" she said.

"Glad you liked it," Greg replied as he gave her a kiss and rolled off the bed. Throwing on some clothes, he went towards the kitchen. "What do you want to eat? I'm starving."

She laughed and put on a bathrobe, "I would love some pasta dish. Something with some cream, some spice."

Greg knew exactly what to cook for her and used the integrated panel to get ingredients. Each item that he tapped on the touchscreen would appear in a small box a moment later in a surge of light-blue, starry energy. "Carbonara good with you?"

"Sounds divine," she said as she walked up behind him and rubbed his shoulders. "Two whole days with my man around the house? We are going to have so much time to cook, lounge in bed…oh, but I do have my daily workout with Shhiv."

"We'll make a double date of it," Greg said. "You, me, Jace, Shhiv. We can do a lifting competition. Maybe get Priam, Dee, and Quinn to judge it?"

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Missy kept rubbing his shoulders, moving up to the tense spots around his neck. "You focus on cooking, mister. I want my pasta to be delicious and carb heavy."

"Girl, I will cook you anything you want," Greg replied with a huge grin plastered on his face.

"A lifting competition?" Shhiv asked Missy over the cosmopanel video call.

"It could be fun. You versus me, Greg versus Jace."

Shhiv was distracted for a moment as Jace walked in wearing nothing. She was used to the sight but loved it nonetheless. "Popcorn?" he asked.

She nodded and patted the couch as she finished the call, "Tomorrow. Sure. But I don't know how it'll work with Jace's prosthetics."

"Chest press. His chest isn't prosthetic is it?"

"Nope!" Shhiv replied. "Just muscle."

"Yeah, we can do that. Okay, husband is making dinner and it's just about ready. Gotta go!" The cosmopanel shut off, and Shhiv set it to the side.

Jace had wriggled under the blanket and Shhiv snuggled up on him as she grabbed a handful of the tasty popped corn, savoring the buttery flavor and little pops of salt. "What are we going to watch first?" she asked as she used the holographic interface to scroll through the cosmoscreen's selections.

"Why don't you show me a movie from your world, and I show you one from mine?" Jace replied.

"Perfect," she said as she grabbed another handful of popcorn and fed it to Jace. "I know the perfect one!"

Jace walked out to the recreation level with Shhiv. Missy and Greg were already there, warming up. All of them were wearing fitness apparel, with Shhiv in her usual body suit getup, Missy in something similar, and the two men in looser fitness clothes. "Hey, you ready to get crushed?" Greg asked as he helped Missy re-rack a weight from a squat rack.

"In your dreams," Shhiv replied as she grabbed Jace's arm and tried to wrap her fingers around his bicep, "See that? That's muscle."

"No, that's prosthetics," Missy replied as she got out from under the squat rack. "The only competition that counts for Jace is going to be chest press and weighted abdomen curls." She pointed to the incline press, "Who is going first?"

"Whoever can do the heaviest," Greg replied as he began tapping buttons on the sides of the barbell. Enormous plates appeared, and he got himself situated. "Jace, mind spotting?"

He walked over and looked at the equipment, instantly understanding how it should work and how he should spot Greg despite never having done it before – all thanks to Edge of Possibility (Rank 3). He also knew that Greg's form was off…but this was a competition, and he wasn't going to tell his opponent that he could get a larger weight by adjusting his posture slightly.

Greg began to lift, and he was puffing out air. The man dwarfed Jace even out of his armor; an absolute giant of a man who was benching 1,200 pounds of weight. He set the bar down and frowned, "I can do more. Up the weight!"

Jace did so, increasing it to 1,500 pounds. Greg lifted that, also, with ease. "More," he stated. Again, Jace increased it. And this continued until Greg finally tapped out at 2,200 pounds. He got out from under the bar and was sucking in deep breaths. "Beat…that…"

-----

[Hey boss!]

[We know the exact amount you can bench press.]

[Your max for a single repetition is 7,500 pounds.]

-----

Jace set the bar to 5,000 pounds, and Greg's eyes went wide. "Uhh…I don't think I can spot you that much," Greg said.

"No need for a spotter." Jace got under the bar and gripped the metal. He put himself into the perfect position, and lifted up with immaculate form. He was able to perform twenty repetitions of the lift without breaking a sweat – whether that was due to the NICIF not allowing him to sweat, or his skin not having the ability to sweat – he had no idea. "I think I win," he said with a grunt as he set the bar down.

Greg was gobsmacked, to say the least. "That…I'm happy for you…but that's not fair."

Shhiv walked over and gave Jace a little lick on the cheek, "I knew my man was stronger."

Missy sighed, "Fine. You win." She pulled her cosmopanel out of her pocket, and tapped a few keys. "10 Stardust sent."

Jace leaned in to whisper to Shhiv, "You bet on the outcome?"

"Yeah, but it was a sure thing. No way he could beat my Jace." Shhiv tapped the bar's weight controls and set it to a more sane 300 pounds. Jace got behind the bar to spot her, and she was able to slowly progress up to a maximum of 350 pounds.

Missy's turn came, Jace swapped positions with Greg, and the woman was able to get up to 290 pounds. She sighed with frustration. "Dang it! I was sure I could beat you on that one!"

Shhiv flexed her bicep, and her smile was practically ear-to-ear, "You never stood a chance."

Priam opened the door to his apartment as his guests arrived. "Hey, welcome in!"

Jace and Shhiv were first in, dressed in casual clothes. "Thanks for hosting a family-style meal," Jace said. "I am curious about this Fernaid cuisine you were raving about."

"Oh, it's great!" Priam replied. "Come on! We changed one of the rooms to a dining room. I've got the meal all set up, and then we are going up to your place for board games, right?"

Jace nodded, "Sounds right." He and Shhiv went into the other room, and Priam stayed at the door, greeting his guests. Within a few minutes everyone had arrived – all of the residents of the apartment building. Eight of them in total.

Priam stood at the head of the table, "Thanks everyone for coming. You are about to experience a traditional meal of my people. It is a unique dish. Nothing else like it!" He tapped the icons on the table, and manifested the food.

Plates upon plates of varying breads appeared, with dozens of flavored butters and cheeses. The entire room smelled like a fresh bakery, and Priam reached for the enormous, star-shaped chunk of bread that was braided with grilled meat and spices. Greg spoke up, "They call these tear-and-shares back where I'm from."

"Lots of carbs," Shhiv replied.

"That's what you'd think!" Priam replied with excitement. "A lot of this is just a vessel for flavor, but the bread is actually really healthy for you." He tapped the table and sent the nutrition information to Shhiv, whose eyes went wide as she checked her cosmopanel. "See?"

"No kidding?" She began eating with abandon. In fact the whole table was filled with naught but hungry people devouring a cultural cuisine near and dear to Priam's heart, and he felt so satisfied.

I belong here, he thought. With my allies.

"Yes! Another win for me!" Dee cackled with delight as she pulled the enormous pile of chips to her side of the table.

Everyone else at the table groaned and threw their cards in. Ollie was dressed up in his cute, little hat as he dealt out the poker hands. "Another win for the Plorp lady in green," he said in his deep voice.

"How does she keep getting aces?" Quinn asked with a groan. "No one is that lucky. Dee? Are you using a Skill to cheat?"

Dee frowned, "You know all my Skills. No way for me to cheat with that stuff." She looked over to Priam who was happy she was happy, but she could tell that he was a bit upset at the constant losses. "I think I'll sit out the next few rounds," Dee stated as she slid the cards back to Ollie.

Ree, her sister, leaned in towards her. "Mind helping me out? Reading them?"

Dee nodded. She had been learning every mannerism of the other Signers in her faction, and could read them very easily. She whispered rapidly, conveying information at a dizzying speed. "Shhiv and Jace keep messing with each other under the table. When he looks happy, it's not because he has good cards. Just ignore his hands – he never bluffs and plays it safe with his bets. Shhiv is always aggressive – it's why she's down to her last few chips. You can push her into going all-in with some taunting."

She shifted her gaze to Quinn, the one Signer she had not been around enough in the goop to really get a read on. "She's dangerous. Hard to read. Go with your gut." Next, she shifted her gaze to Greg and Missy, "Greg is serious and tries to maintain a poker face, but his right eye twitches when he has a good hand, and he flicks the back of his card with his pinky finger when he has a bad hand. Missy is just happy to be here, but she's keying off of Greg's plays."

"You're really good at this," Ree replied as the betting began.

Dee smiled, "I don't just blast people all the time. I watch them, too."

The two days of downtime passed in blissful peace. There was plenty of bonding time, and Jace made sure to spend every minute alone with Shhiv making her feel like the most important person in the whole universe.

As he floated in the water-cube-bed with her after their last amorous exchange, he whispered to her. "I want us to be ready."

"Ready for what?" she mumbled back.

"I'm almost at the point where I can get to this Astral Verge…and I don't know how I'm going to be able to get back. Or even if time passes the same. I'm worried about us. I love you, but I need to rescue Chroma because she was my responsibility."

Shhiv ran a finger across his torso, her tail flicking back and forth before wrapping around his leg. "It will be okay. You don't just beat Troxanir and then go right through to this Astral place. Right?"

"Xera is going to send probes first."

"Then don't worry about it," Shhiv replied. "We don't know much beyond what we know now. Just take things as they come."

He ran a hand through her hair. But I've always been a preparer, he thought. I don't just do things on a whim. It's normally planned out.

He pushed those thoughts from his mind as she sighed in his grip and snuggled him tighter. "When you do hit Tier 10 and defeat Troxanir…let's do it."

"Do what?"

"Get married," Shhiv replied. "Like what Greg did with Missy."

"I've got the perfect place in mind," Jace replied as he pictured the flower-covered mountain on Harkon Secundus. "I think you'll like it."