Log:Queen for a Day

2020/07/18 Sentinel Grimm Queen 1

Griffin Freeman and Kat Prince have been locked away for days now in their Home Away from Home- the Alaskan Homestead far and away from most people, just the way Griffin likes it. Kat has kept her promise too, filling in for the Star-Spangled Sentinel whenever no one else was available to do the job & so he's kept his promise in return, resting & letting her doctor on him as required.

Griffin is dozing on the couch with a Wood & Country magazine (for homesteaders of course) draped over his chest where it fell & the last embers of a fire glow weakly in the wood burning stove.

There's a brief breeze as CopyGriffin enters in that faster-than-the-eye-can-usually-see way after dealing with a brush fire in California that threatened homes in the La Canada hills. He even smells faintly of campfire from it. He notes the fire, races, out, chops wood rapidly, and returns with an armful to stoke the fire.

After setting down the pile, he shrinks back down into petite, cute little Kat, wearing her casual clothes. To the outside world, none are the wiser that Griffin is down with some nasty flu.

And quite the nasty flu it is. For one so keenly attuned to energy, that's one thing that Griffin has lacked these past few days. He once shared concerns at not feeling very normal or mortal... He may be regretting that somewhat, now. Sleeping, drinking, eating, and excreting vast quantities of phlegmucous have been the extent of his activities. Mostly the first two and the last. Even his chest, and possibly the magazine, have been ...oozed. Having to breathe mostly through one's mouth wouldn't make him drool any less in his sleep, either.

Copycat tosses another log into the fire to get it going okay, then looks over to Griffin. Yikes! What a mess. Poor thing! She goes to the kitchen counter and wets a clean hand towel so she can clean her man up. She walks over and starts but gently dabbing at his face and beard, trying not to disturb him too much or startle him awake. "Hey, Handsome," she coos softly.

Griffin has suffered most of this with little complaint- mostly thanks to Kat's amazingly tender bedside manner & also because breathing is hard enough as it is, much less mustering up the energy, flem & other requirements to facilitate speech.

His eyes flutter at hearing Kat greet him though.

His reply comes as a soft, probing grunt before his eyes open. He clears his throat a little and opens his eyes.

"Hey Kitten..." He says, still looking tired. "I thought you stepped out... you're back already?" He inquires, still very much uncertain how much time has passed between his long blinks.

The dabbing and cleanup goes rather well. Efficiently even. The beard (always the hardest to tend!) is quickly immaculate... at least as phlegmucous goes. The rest of him may need more work, though, as ... wait.

Is it getting worse? It didn't seem that he'd ... leaked quite that much down himself, before. That's when something else is noted.

It's moving. The globs, strings, and trails of Sentinel Snot are.... migrating slowly down his clothes to the floor, leaving a slightly glittery trail. Like tracks of a stampeding horde of snails, the smear of moist floor continues across the room.

Copycat smiles and nods. "Yup. It didn't take too long, but it was long enough for you to fall asleep. Do you need an energy top up? Some tea? Both?" she offers sweetly after cleaning him up. She tries to hide her worry for him, seeing him so sick and spent. But he insists he doesn't need to go to the metahuman hospital wing.

Griffin sits up a little, looking at Kat with grateful, faintly glowing eyes. "Maybe both? Te-tea first, please." He answers before coughing- still being quick enough to cover his mouth before he can spread his sickness about. Or so he thought.

Its stealing a glance at the inside of his hand that sets Griffin with worry & concern.

He sees just how much phlem is lost with his effort & then sees a bit more of the trails leading away from him.

"Am I really leaking that bad? I mean I feel like it... but... that seems... excessive... right?" He asks, weakly lifting his hand to point at the trail a cross the floor.

"I don't even... *COUGH* remember getting up to go over there." He notes.

"Yeah, that...that is a lot," Kat says worriedly and hands him the moistened towel to clean up. "Hm?" she asks, then looks over to see what trail he's talking about.

At least Griffin doesn't feel like he's leaking from anywhere other than mouth and nose. Otherwise, that could be ...awkward. As he looks to his hand, he can see, and, maybe worse, -feel- the bits he coughed up start to -move- across his hand. The trail on the floor also looks to be getting longer, and another glob drips from his clothing to land on the floor nearby... and continues to well, crawl its way along the trail towards the far side of the room. Motile mucous?

Griffin double takes to his hand. Maybe even a third take for those who can move and see faster than the human eye.

"Oh god... this is... not just a cold, Kat. You should... I don't know." He says, the last part a stunning revelation. She's already been exposed to whatever this is- but his instinct is to protect her specifically.

He tries to stand up, struggling to his feet so he can at least stand in front of Kat.

He looks at his hand as he does and tries to vaporize the dancing boogs but he's so tired.

Copycat stares in utter confusion as the trail still seems to be flowing away. Or moving? That can't be right. The floors must just be uneven. Where is it even running to, specifically? "That's really not normal, Handsome," she comments, not noticing what he's looking at on his hand.

She looks over to him as he seems stunned and gets up. "I think we do need to get you to a doctor right away, Handsome," she urges tenderly as he struggles and stares at his hand really hard. "You need professional medical attention," she moves to touch his shoulder to comfort him if he'll let her.

He doesn't stop her- mostly because he doesn't sense it right away.

"I don't know that that's an option, Kitten." Griffin says in reply. "I'm not sure we can leave here without exposing... everyone else to this. Whatever this is- and you're right. Its certainly not normal." He turns and shows her his hand, noticing her own on him only then which causes him to step away- for her safety.

Copycat gasps at the sight of the crawling ooze on his hand. "Oh my ....what is that? Maybe we can still get a biohazard team to receive you. I...I guess me, too."

The lead mass of 'dancing boogs' already on the floor finally comes to a stop. It then oozes upwards. Vertically. Upon...nothing(?) before shimmering and vanishing.

"You don't look well and should rest. No need to rise on -our- account." For a moment, it seems that the mucous has evolved to be on speaking terms with Griffin. That is until the source of the voice flickers and fades into view.

A familiar feminine form in rusty brown and dark magenta chitin, with wing-like appendages sprouting from her shoulder blades...

Sentinel's adrenaline spikes- and suddenly he feels as if his home, nay every sanctuary he holds dear has been sullied from body to bed. He is incensed by the idea of his and Kat's home being turned into a battlefield.

"That's the thing about us Alaskan boys, we've got manners. And we still know what chivalry means." He says, putting his tired body in front of Kat.

"Looks like we had you on the ropes if you're resorting to being lung butter..." He notes, trying to summon his inner fires to keep Kat safe- and prevent the land he loves from becoming the Queen's new ecosystem.

Copycat gasps in horror a the animating ooze that seems to have come from, of all things, her Handwarmer+. That mutating thing piggybacked off of him!

She's close to swooning when her Handwarmer+, after all his exhaustion and illness the past few days, still finds the strength to put himself between her and harms way.

Now's no time to waste. She knows Griffin needs all the energy he can get. With a flash of light, she turns into a near angellic-looking being of pure light and lays a hand on Griffin's shoulder. In Spirit's slightly echoing voice, CopySpirit says, "You're going to need this." His hand glows, and energy tries to flow into Griffin's absorption field.

Griffin's aura cracks from the sudden burst of energy granted to him from his SuperCharging Handwarmer+.

His stooped and tired demeanor disappears and energy roils over him.

He takes a deep breath- perhaps for the first time in ages, which is saying something for someone who can spend hours in space.

"Thanks Kat- you're a life saver." He says, seeming to come to life with a simple touch from the love of his very long life.

His eyes flare to life and he locks them on the Queen. They narrow forcefully as he takes stock of his inner reserves and what's on the line.

The squirming blobs speed up their charge from Griffin to The Queen, absorbing into the latter once they reach her. "You do not understand..." her tone conveys that this does not surprise her, and was expected. "We came only to collect our ...students. You are a very good teacher, Griffin Freeman..."

Her eyes turn towards the Kat-now-Spirit and her head tilts. "Though, in hindsight, perhaps not the only one..."

CopySpirit dims a little after shunting so much of his reserves into Griffin. "Anytime," he says as he regards the Queen-construct with an unreadable expression due to the lack of visible features. "You infected Griffin and used him as a breeding ground," he observes in a condemning tone. "When did you get to him?"

Griffin doesn't look so understanding right now- especially after the Queen's attention falls on CopySpirit.

"NO. YOU don't understand. You've gone too far." He says simply, falling silent for Copycat's question to be answered. Plasma streamers snap in the air and the side of his nose ticks as a vein rises from his neck. He holds himself in perfect stillness while they talk for fear of lashing out and doing something he might regret in the long run.

"He is a remarkable creature," she smiles to CopySpirit. "Wouldn't you agree? Life. Energy. The same; one begetting the other." Her eyes turn back to Griffin as the streamers form, as if they are a very timely validation of her words. "A passing touch in a crowd of adoring fans is nothing... and we will go as far as is necessary. We are life."

"We flourish."

"We grow."

Her eyes close a moment before snapping back open, now with a glow. Rather than golden, they are her personal hue of lavender. The glow dims somewhat as it spreads, glowing veins or 'cracks' trickling along her cheeks. Excess purple haze 'bleeds' from the corners of her eyes.

"We evolve."

CopySpirit watches as a sense of horror rises up inside him at what this creature's done. "What makes him remarkable is something you can't replicate or steal," he intones as he starts to brighten again, recovering his energy.

Kat would want to protect the homestead they built together, but their little piece of heaven's been compromised. And the personality she's now swayed by would choose stopping the Queen over sentimental attachments.

CopySpirit raises his hand at the Queen as bands of light start to shoot towards her. "We can't let you leave to rejoin your collective with this stolen power."

The bands of light envelope around the Queen, cocooning her in light.

CopySpirit warns Griffin, "That won't hold her for long."

"I don't mean me. I /never/ mean me. I've run through jungles and arid wastelands before I got powers. I've been shot and stabbed & hung & tortured all before I could fly. So let's talk 'understanding'. Understand this, I will burn this cabin down to protect these woods from you taking root here. I don't care what you steal from my body." He says as his voice rolls into a low rumble.

Those that can see infrared see Griffin's normal 100 degree body temperature rising as he begins emiting in infrared.

"But I will burn this wood down, and the valley beyond. And the countryside beyond that- I will eradicate every inch of this parkland to keep her safe. I will turn the whole Ring of Fire to ash to keep your slime off and out of her..." He points at the Queen and steps toward her.

He glances back to Kat for a half second, considering his options.

Fighting the Queen might just mean she will definitely take her- change her. Copy her. Or worse.

"You have nothing to learn from her. You keep her out of your machinations. She's not for your meatgarden." He says, his tone shifting a bit- a keen ear might even think there might be some wiggle room there, but even if not its clear what he's fighting for and its not Stolen Power.

With Kat taking the offensive he moves to back her up- though he knows his powers best. He charges hoping to pull his energies back from this Queen-Copy.

Within the bands of light, The Queen looses a short laugh. "You wish us to leave, you wish us to stay. Such disharmony..." Glowing eyes pan between them.

"What is it you truly wish of us? Peace? Protection of others? We now possess the means to grant this, here and now.

"Victory? Our destruction? You could, perhaps, one day achieve this... at the cost of billions of ours, and millions of yours. It could be the extinction of all."

"But she'd be safe." Griffin says as if this doesn't sound like a terrible bargain. "That's all I care about. Everything else is window dressing."

The air around his hands begins to dim as he inverts his energy field to drain.

Kirby-dots abound.

The Queen gasps as Griffin once more proves his energy-matter conversion by siphoning some of her own power. The lavender glow dims.

"I'm all in. Life. Energy. Death. Entropy. Whatever it takes." Griffin says angrily.

CopySpirit worries about how far Griffin is willing to go. The devastation he'd be willing to inflict to keep her safe. Copycat's been barred from reuniting with him in the far future due to the time barrier, after promising him she'd be back. How far has her future Handwarmer+ gone in search of her now that she's vanished from his future timeline?

CopySpirit looks to the Queen while reassuring Griffin, "You won't have to go that far, because she won't have anything to steal." There's an awful crack of bone and physicality as CopySpirit's form starts getting contained by boney carapace and spines. The light that isn't crusted over by this armor begins to dim into flesh as Copycat mimics the Queen in all her awful detail.

Segmented bones, like wings, burst out of her back as dread-like hair spills out form her head. Closed eyes open to glow with lavender-hued energy. "I'm the one who's going to do the stealing."

The Queen catches her breath, so to speak. "Sacrifice millions for one? Your power may be great, but your ideals are foolish." When CopySpirit changes, her eyes widen. In surprise, certainly. In dismay? Not exactly. "Perhaps you will now understand..." Her tone isn't malicious. In fact, it could be ...hopeful?

"I've already given up life and limb for my country. For the many." Griffin says. "All things being equal- I could give up what's left for her."

He doesn't step off that ledge.

"You promise life & equality but at the cost of freedom- at the cost of living a life worth living. She's given me that. I won't have you take that." Griffin replies to the Queen.

"I...understand. I am the Swarm." CopyQueen sorts through all the voices. The thoughts. The vast number of them, more than they ever realized were kidnapped. It's shocking.

CopyQueen's eyes flit slowly to the ground while sorting through it all. Then finally, those glowing lavender eyes look up to the real Queen. "And they are not yours."

"You will not stop what we have achieved. The Swarm will endure. Always." It is a statement of fact, not a threat. The Queen's eyes close for a moment, though whatever is enacted, is not immediately apparent. "Our liberation is already begun."

Griffin doesn't like that one bit.

"Well this campsite isn't going to be one of your staging grounds." He says, stepping up to syphon more of the Queen's energy from her.

Once more, or further, her power dims as Griffin siphons a portion of it away.

"She's not using it as a staging grounds. She's trying to leave the planet with all her children. And now that she's incubated your powers, she can. They're...leaving. They're all leaving," CopyQueen explains to Griffin as she senses millions of the presences growing distant. "You spread that ability quickly."

CopyQueen's head snaps to the Queen. "You know the humans won't stop hunting your children after what you took. Give back the humans you converted to your children. They're few compared to your swarm's whole. They were never truly yours. Return them, and the rest of your children won't be hunted by humanity again. So long as you never return, and don't bother human colonies ever again."

CopyQueen tries to reach the fleeting minds of any who were once human to get them to stay, or return.

The Queen takes several moments to regain her breath, or, more correctly, her energy. Her focus was already divided (moreso than usual) and that mentioned spread may well have required a great deal of effort. Were she not immobile, she may well have taken a knee.

"We have no further need of them..." she looks to her mimic, "and you -do- understand. A few abandoned children are a small price for the security of all..." Unlike Griffin's stated insanity, sweet or not. She closes her eyes once more.

"It is done. The humans will remain, as they were."

Griffin isn't a madman. He just had no idea what was really going on. His head snaps between the Queens as he tries to put things together. By the time he thinks he's got a grasp on the whole thing, CopyQueen has already brokered a deal to restore all the Humans the Queen assimilated into her hegemony.

"Wait- what? Did you... just... save the day? Everyone walks away- peacefully? Humanity is safe- and your collective isn't coming back?" He asks, looking a bit bewildered but also pleased by the prospect of a lasting peace.

"If each keeps up their end of the agreement," CopyQueen confirms. "You and your children will go far from human space. Find a planet uninhabited by sentients. I don't want to find out you're assimilating other sentient races and growing unchecked."

Copycat adds, "And I want all of your virus out of Griffin."

"That would be great." Griffin says, having no complaints about anything that's been said thus far. He also knows that that kickstart won't keep him in the game for long without having this 'bug' removed.

"Assimilation was never our desire," The OQ notes. "It was a necessity... until now. We will thrive on worlds no human would survive. There is no need for us to conquer, but we -will- defend ourselves, and any home we claim."

Her eyes pan to Griffin. "We have already left him. His body will recover in short order." Back to her Copy. "You are free to implant in him what you will."

The CopyQueen continues to feel further children departing. The succession is rapid, though there are, admittedly, a great number to travel.

"So long as you only inhabit planets too hostile for other life forms, that seems...agreeable," CopyQueen states, knowing she's in no position to make that offer.

Hearing he won't have to suffer long & that sentient life across the galaxy won't be threatened by the Endless Queen causes him to breathe a sigh of relief. He notices his breathing has already grown a bit ragged despite pulling some extra energy from the Queen herself.

He retracts his hands from the Queen and the light begins to reflect off his hands once more instead of being absorbed by them and the tiny black dots fade away as the kugelblitzes vanish.

He takes a seat on the couch, deliberately keeping his eyes on the Original Queen. He'll be happy when she's gone and Kat is back to her normal self again, but he isn't really in the position to make any demands here.

"We are harmony, content with ourselves and survival," The Queen notes as more and more children depart. Finally, there is but one (or two, given the current situation). The glow about her eyes returns as Griffin's efforts cease, and then becomes brighter and spreads across the whole of her form. "It is other, imperfect, divided life that is the greatest concern..."

The lavender radiance rapidly increases in brilliance until, in a flash, she is gone.

CopyQueen looks to Griffin as he rests again. She can't wait until he's back in fighting shape. It'll definitely make her feel a lot safer. She looks back to the Queen. "Don't concern yourself with them beyond defending yourself. I can feel all your children have left, and the humans restored physically," she says. "Hopefully you left them in places we can retrieve them safely."

She watches as the Queen vanishes, then checks to make sure they are all truly gone. Her head tilts as if listening, then she looks over to Griffin again.

Griffin looks up to Kat and smiles proudly. His eyes linger on her for a long moment, remembering who is inside the shell perhaps before he says, "Looks like you've just brokered for peace with an alien civilization and saved the world."

His eyes are still glowing a bit brighter than before so that's something at least.

"I feel like we should go to Frisbieworld or something after that big win." He adds before clearing his throat.

CopyQueen studies Griffin a bit more, sorting through the Original Queen's memories to figure out why this all happened and how. What her origins were. Was she an alien all along? "Now you're mine to implant. For a new swarm." She's secretly trying to mess with Griffin.

Griffin's tired eyes go wide at that statement.

"Kitten?" Griffin asks with a gulp.

He holds his hands up defensively. "Remember who you are- the beautiful, pink-haired Goddess- /my/ non-Implanty Partner in love and this crazy lifestyle... remember?" He tries to think fast and speak faster, if only to keep himself from implantation!

CopyQueen turns her body fully towards Griffin while sorting through old memories. "Beautiful, pink-haired Goddess...?"

Griffin nods quickly. "Y-y-yes." He stammers. "Because- umm... if anyone earned it, it's you. You copied the Overlord and- and you /talked/ the Queen into peaceful cohabitation on the other side of the galaxy. If anyone deserves a little... umm plat- no. Worship, surely its Katrina 'Copycat' Prince. All you have to do is turn back into her and its all yours. Yup." He says, scooting down the couch to put just a little more room between them until he's sure she's in the driver's seat.

CopyQueen side steps to keep in front of Griffin as he scoots, regarding him still. And then smiling slowly. She takes a step towards him. Is she getting smaller as she gets closer? Another step. The carapace softens and melts away. Another step. Dreadlocked hair goes pink and soft. The last step leaves Copycat completely restored and standing right before Griffin, a great big smile on her face.

"Deal," she says in that impishly pleased way of hers.

Griffin's looks relieved when his Kitten returns to him but then seeing that pixieish loon on her face causes him to narrow his eye suspiciously. He suspects he got played but there's of course no way to prove anything... and technically he really enjoys making his woman feel like a Goddess- so a smile soon rises to his face.

He reaches up and pulls her into his lap, grateful for a return to normality- or at least what passes for 'normal' around here.

"Maybe we should... kiss on it." He teases, playing up his congested state to be extra gross to return a bit in kind.