2014.01.11 - Cuckoos... IN SPACE!

As promised, it wasn't long before Noh-Varr invited Phoebe, and if she wanted, her sisters to the Marvel. He once again hid it in the water and simply waited in the ship, sitting back in the captain's chair in his Captain Kirk-like manner. He's already raised the ship when he detected her getting close, having the ramp extended out to lead up inside.

Normally Phoebe might have come alone like last time, but considering some of, the unknown to others, issues the Five-in-One had been having. As well as the crazy experiences that have been going on, she decided her sisters should come along as well.

When they arrived to his ship and entered they were quite a sight. Gone again was the Academy of Tomorrow uniform instead they all wore matching black outfits. Black studded bustier, black extremely short shorts, a mesh button up shirt and knee-high platform boots with 8 straps going along the front. The make up was dark and smoky except their lips which were painted to be as pale as the rest of their skin.

"Thank you for this trip Mr. Noh-Varr," the girls said to him in unison, "We really could use time away from the planet. It gets noisy down here."

"I've had time to study the energy output I get from the five of you." Noh-Varr explains as he types at the alien controls of his computer, the walls all covered in different screens that show readouts and calculations of space. "We can't leave the solar system, I'm not familiar with the political climate of the this universe yet, but we can go anywhere you want inside of it. It should be easy with your powers."

He turns around in his seat, and there are exactly five seats for each of them. The bridge of the ship looks a little different than the last time Phoebe was in it. Slightly different number of seats, more screens on the walls. The layout is obviously very variable. "You've never been to space, right? That is still incredibly strange to me."

One of the girls snickered as she saw the new layout, "He changed the desktop. I win. I told you he'd have changed the desktop."

The other girls smiled and chuckled a bit themselves. Another one of them spoke up and said the girls new estuary accent still on display "I'm Phoebe, for the information and ease of communication. And no sir, we've never been in space. At least... we don't think so. Much of our memory is lost, or at the very least jumbled."

The five girls got into the seats and the one who called herself Phoebe at least spoke up, "And if it was possible, we'd very much like to see it all. The entire solar system. But to begin we would like to see the Kuiper belt."

"I've been in the Sol system before, mostly for ancestral purposes. So I know it well." Noh-Varr turns around and the screens start changing again, most of them reading information in the kuiper belt. A few objects seem to be targetted with a bit of information over them in red, but the information is written in Kree.

"You all believe my ship can fly quite strongly, so it seems I will be able to easily show you the system." He suddenly presses a few buttons, and then they start moving. The main screen directly in front of him acts as a kind of window. There's a harmless flash of light when they break through the atmosphere, but unlike the time they flew to the North Pole, the speed that they're going isn't quite as apparent.

This, obviously, is mostly due to the massive distances in space. They can see the moon quickly begin to approach as they pass by it, but looking at different planets, moons, and other astral bodies seems more like a fast car ride than a speeding space ship. "I don't think we've spoken alone, me and the five of you. Do you have any questions?"

The girls all looked at each other and then back to Noh-Varr. Phoebe once again spoke for the five of them, "Actually, we do have many for you. But the one we wish to start with is one that is that pressing on us the most."

She sighed and then said, "Why do you trust us so much, Mr. Noh-Varr? Outside of Roxie and Emma Frost, no one actually trusts us. And even Ms. Frost only trusts us so far. Yet you seem to take what we say at face value and believe it. Why wish to know what we have done to earn such trust so that we can use it on others."

"I am only twenty-one, you do not have to call me mister. I only recently learned that it is a thing that someone old is called." Noh-Varr points out before actually answering their question. At this point they're on a long flight past Jupiter, giving them a nice long look out the window. He's expanded the screens so that it's a bit of a panorama of space, offering a fairly incredible view.

"I have no reason to distrust you. You are all genetically superior to most of the humans on your planet. I know whenever you're in my mind, and you have yet to actually do anything that would be unethical for someone with your abilities to do." He turns around in his seat to face the five, the ship apparently doing a good job of navigating itself for the moment. "But aside from your genetic superiority, you are also mentally highly evolved. You understand Kree social and ethical concepts that most humans have trouble psychologically resolving. I believe that if I ever introduced you to the Kree, you would not be instantly rejected as inferior as most humans would. I find you all..."

He pauses, as if searching for the words. "Perhaps it would be closest to say that I believe you are bursting with potential, and also that it is comforting that you are not weak-minded enough to be afraid of what might be outside the boundaries of your understanding. I respect you, and I do not believe you are bad. I believe the reason you are distrusted is purely fear of your superiority and power. I do not fear you."

The Five-in-One looked at each other and than back at Noh-Varr. Phoebe spoke, "We appreciate your honesty and have to admit that we like your answer. It helps the rest of us understand why Phoebe is sexually attracted to you."

The girls continued as one voice for a moment, they did find it hard to have a 'speaker' for them all the time. The natural state was connected, "We have to admit to you Mr. Noh-Var, we ourselves view ourselves as superior to most of the people we share our lives with. Only yourself, Ms. Frost, Hope Summers, Roxie Darling, Charles Xavier and a being called the Martian Manhunter. Most of them are telepaths. You are the only one who is not capable of direct mind-to-mind contact who we consider to be even close to our level of understanding."

Phoebe went back to talking for the collective, "We recently attempted to show Professor Xavier and Ms. Frost the collective we exist in and we could only show it to them in the most abstract of terms. They were not capable of experiencing the link at all. It made us... sad for them."

"With the Plex, I was able to influence the minds of thousands of people at once. But he was destroyed. I will probably rebuild him one day, but he is beyond the current capabilities of human resources." Noh-Varr crosses his arms as he considers this, the idea of a collective. "I am familiar with the concept of a hivemind. I have encountered entire species of hiveminds. The Supreme Intelligence, which as I've told you is the ruler of Kree civilization, is technically a hivemind. Many Kree minds over generations that join a collective intelligence. I have not personally experienced one, but I find that the average human mind is fairly inefficient."

He tilts his head slightly, his tone and expression pretty calm and casual. He seems to be speaking of them as both a collective and Phoebe as an individual at the same time. It doesn't seem to bother him much. "I originally was going to have incredibly sweaty and energetic sex with Phoebe up here. But I understood if all of you wanted to see space at once."

The girls minds seemed to know something about "influencing thousands of minds at once" but it was buried deep in there programming... they mean memories! Yes memories. They didn't have programming, they were living beings after all.

"The Supreme Intelligence sounds like an interesting concept," the girls admitted through Phoebe's mouth, "It does explain why you do not find the five of us to be unusual. It sounds like the Kree are very knowledgeable of a species. And we approve of them placing the mentally superior in control. But don't tell Ms. Frost we said that, she dislikes when we are open about our superiority."

To Noh-Varr's last statement Phoebe's eyes go wide and she blushes. She had been flirting with him at their birthday party and he did make a comment about 'when she was 18' the first time they met. But really. She didn't expect that, "Oh! Well... there's always another time. Unless...." She turned to look at her sisters.

The other four girls all frown and shake there head 'No.'

"When it comes to your own species, you should indeed recognize that you are superior, but you shouldn't say it. You should allow others to simply recognize it. Your superiority should mostly be saved for other species, so that you can show you are the height of your species' genetics. People in your position..." Noh-Varr takes a moment to make eye contact with each of them, before settling on Phoebe. "You want to be an example of what everyone else can aspire to. You want to be loved, feared, and see as a valuable member of your society. The only time you truly need to //say// you are superior is when another species does not know their place. You tell them, and then you //prove// it."

"Thanos is an example of a member of a superior species. Almost every planet that is actively involved in matters beyond their own solar system knows of Thanos. If someone doesn't know him, all he needs to say is 'I am Thanos'." He smiles at that, delivering it in his own cool way. "If they don't know what that means, then they will. That is the sign of a truly superior person."

He looks thoughtful for a moment, tapping his chin. The kuiper belt can be seen coming up in the distance, but the closer they get, the more distant the objects seem to be. "If one of you has intercourse, won't the rest of you experience it as well?"

"Then perhaps," Phoebe said as all five of them got a little small smirk on their face, "That is why we call ourselves: "

All five girls began speaking at once again "The Five-in-One. It tells you all you need to know about us. We are the Five who are as One. It shows our superiority in one simple statement."

To the question about their experiences with intercourse and what it would mean for the other four, Phoebe spoke, "We can... cut one of us off from the collective. We have done this recently in order to punish one of us for their actions. But it is unpleasant for us to be apart. Both those that remain and the one who is cut off. We don't like doing it."

The Cuckoos communed some more and Phoebe added, "It is one of the problems we face while seeking out sexual partners. Though we are one, we all have different... tastes. Thus the other four can make intercourse unpleasant for the one and the partner if they are against the coupling. We've only agreed on one potential partner... but there are issues with that choice. More than we originally thought due to new developments with our X-genome."

"I would think my genetic superiority would make me a potential partner. You are aware that I've conquered worlds, correct? I doubt that there are many, if any on your planet who could make such a claim." Noh-Varr finally stops once they've entered the kuiper belt. Despite popular belief, there aren't thousands of asteroids crashing into each other. It's more like they're surrounded by thousands of incredibly dark moons which they can mostly see because Noh-Varr's ship is shining light on them. "Asteroids aren't very exciting. I apologize if this is a disappointment."

But back on the original topic... "But as I was saying. Despite my prowess at war and combat, I also have knowledge beyond 99 of the people on your planet. The one percent is mostly a margin for potential mutant or alien exceptions. How many potential mates, with the correct resources, could literally show you the edge of the universe? No... how many people could tell you, objectively, what is actually there? At least in most of the universes I've visited."

"This is true," Phoebe said, "You are number two on the list, there is only one among us who does not like the idea of sexual intercourse with you. But if you keep feeding our ego like you have been doing she will likely come around as well."

The girls look at their new surroundings. All the girls jaws dropped in amazement. For Noh-Varr, perhaps any sci-fi fan as well this would look so weak and mundane. But for the Five-in-One who have no use for escapist entertainment and only knowledge of pop culture has come from what they have stolen from the minds of others. this was amazing, "No Mr. Noh-Varr. This is... something we have never experienced before. It is the opposite of the mundane and drabness of our usual existance."

The girls spoke as a single unit again, "Can we go to the Oort Cloud? Or is that too far outside our solar system. We understand that it is one quarter of the way to Proxima Centauri so we would understand if that is considered outside the solar system."

Back to the subject at hand and Phoebe spoke for them again, "You are a great potential for a mate Mr. Noh-Varr. There is no doubt to any of us about that. It is individual tastes that is the issue. At least two of us prefer females to males. One of us prefers physical prowess over mental prowess and is turned on by Dorkuses."

One of the girl separately said, "Hey! He's not a Dorkus!"

The other four in unison, "Yes, Leo Luthor is definitely a Dorkus."

Phoebe went back to speaking saying, "You can see despite our collective existence we have individual personalities that do... grate against each other. It makes romantic involvement complicated."

"That would be a little far, yes. Going beyond the kuiper belt makes it possible to enter some sort of dispute. The Marvel is incredibly fast, but beyond that, defense is difficult. I do not know the neutral zones of this universe. And even then, you can't always expect Skrulls and pirates to respect them." Noh-Varr turns around to begin navigating through the cloud, before turning back into the system itself, though he's taking his own good time as he turns around to face the girls again. "One day I will show you all of those things, but it is simply too potentially dangerous right now."

He rests his arms on the sides of his chair, considering their concerns. "I cannot do anything about preference for females. But the idea of someone focusing exclusively on mental or physical prowess is almost alien to a Kree. I know hard sciences that even many in my race do not completely understand without the proper study. And as you can see, I am a genetically flawless physical specimen." He holds out his arms, as if to demonstrate. "If I have a weakness, it is perhaps in my level of wisdom at times. But it has not gotten me killed yet."

"Then we would like to see Jupiter next." Phoebe clarifies Noh-Varr, the girls would have to save the Oort Cloud for another journey when Noh-Varr was more familiar with the inter-solar politics of this universe.

"As for our preference for females it is not a complete desire one way or another, we would define ourselves as pan-sexual in nature. Most people don't appeal to us sexually in any way whatsoever. Just our respective choices have had some sided towards one gender or the other. For example the one we have all agreed on is female. But as I said there are complications that have come to light since we turned eighteen."

Phoebe did an appreciative gaze in the direction of Noh-Varr as he showed off. Her mannerism changed slightly as she stopped speaking for the Five and instead started speaking for herself, "And believe me, I can tell you are a flawless specimen. Can't wait to find out more. Buttttt... Esme still doesn't like the idea. Her loss for not being able to see the perfection in front of her."

"We can safely fly above Jupiter without getting caught in its gravity, close enough to get a nice view. The original Marvel could probably have flown inside of it." Noh-Varr takes a brief moment to turn around and change course, and right now they can see Jupiter almost as if it were a distant moon. But he very quickly turns back around to continue talking. "When I met you all, which was before I knew much about human genetics, I assumed that once a genetically superior human is born, a few more identical humans are created. It made sense at the time, though I was mostly judging you physically. I did not know a whole lot."

He frowns slightly now, though it seems mostly like a thoughtful frown. "I don't know much about human courtship. I've dabbled in trying to figure it out, but it appears to be highly varied. I was going to court Emma Frost, but I believe I have more of a connection with you. I'm not sure if it's Phoebe or all of you, but I enjoy all of your company. I feel as if we're equals. I do not feel that way about most humans."

The Five-in-One get oddly silent when Noh-Varr mentions the idea that he thought identical humans were made when a genetically superior one was found and after a moment Phoebe said, "That is the complication we were speaking of. The woman we have all agreed to be sexually active with was Ms. Frost. Sophie has a strong attraction to her and she is the most influential of our personalities."

They looked at the approaching Jupiter and they all smiled. They were in space, and they were enjoying this. They didn't often feel joy at this level. If they believed in faerie tale stories they would feel they were in one, but they did not.

"On our eighteenth birthday, the Academy of Tomorrow was attacked by U-Men," Phoebe said as she pulled the sleeve of her mesh shirt up to above the elbow, "Celeste and Sophie were hit by their weapon, a scalpel projectile weapon that was meant to cut flesh and organs out of it's victims. But despite the force of the projectiles knocking them over. Neither were harmed."

All the other girls had moved similarly to Phoebe, every one of them had there left arm exposed at the elbow. Then all at once, the arm from the elbow up to their hand turned into an organic diamond form. Just the arm though, nothing else. The girls spoken in unison, "Before coming to the Academy we have no memories except that of riding the Staten Island ferry and knowing that we had to find the Academy. We are five blonde telepaths with the ability to turn into diamond. All that makes us different from Ms. Frost is that we are interconnected due to the unique formation and chemistries of our brains."

Their arms turned back to normal and they smiled, "So for all we know, Noh-Varr. That is exactly what happened, someone saw Emma Frost and decided there should be more of her."

Finally, Phoebe started speaking alone again, "And we don't understand human courtship either. We barely understand human speech, we prefer the preciseness of telepathy. Thoughts are honest. And we all like you very much Mr. Noh-Varr, we do view you as slightly lesser due to your lack of telepathy. But that is more due to Esme's opinions than a collective decision."

"You should be thankful that I don't have access to the Plex. I was so angry at your planet that I intended to brainwash the majority of the species so that I could correct tbeir behavior. Though now that I know of your existence, and Emma Frost, I'm not entirely sure of how that would have gone." Noh-Varr raises a gloved finger to slide it against his tongue as they begin to slow down at Jupiter, starting to circle in orbit at a good enough pace to get a nice look at everything.

"This." he nods to the tip of his finger. "Is nanobots. My body is full of them. It's one of the technologies we've perfected. The nanobots in my body are as much a part of me as my ability to see or hear. They give me more control over myself than the average Kree. But I can do other things as well. I typically don't tell this to people. But while I cannot use telepathy on my own, I can mind control."

"We are the Five-in-One Mr. Noh-Varr, we doubt even with your Plex you would be able to brainwash us. We recently met the most powerful mind on the planet and he could not break through into our collective nor could he sense our existence as anything more than a regular person. We are above such things as mind control. We -are- mind control," Phoebe said with a bit of a smile and a look to what was out there. The girls were so amazed by all this. There was Jupiter, so close they felt like they must be watching it on television. It couldn't possibly be real.

"We are aware of what nanobots are, we are well versed in all current and theoretical theories of science. Tony Stark is one of our science teachers after. And we do like to just absorb thoughts as we encounter then, hence our ability to speak of Kree at the fundraiser we all attended," Phoebe added just when he mentioned the nanobots.

As they listen to the what Noh-Varr reveals to them they say in unison, "Now we are all finding you more appealing. We were unaware just how 'perfect' you actually are. Even Esme is starting to find you to be a good mate for Phoebe. She is just afraid that it will separate us. That any romantic entanglements will diminish us."

"It helps that humans do have words for some things. There are many concepts that I cannot properly explain with the English or any other Earth language. I will have to show you things in my mind one day." Noh-Varr smiles at their revelation, then just sort of casually shakes his head. "I find many human concepts of romance to be rather limiting. From what I've seen, most humans would try to monopolize you all, or feel threatened that you will obviously be involved with more than one person, because you will all experience that person. I have no such inferiority complexes. I accept that dating you is not an entirely traditional male/female experience, or entirely monogamous depending on how you view it."

As they fly incredibly close to one of Jupiter's moons, his chair slides closer to the five of them. It just seems to shift across the floor as if the metal were liquid. Then he offers his hand. "You cannot be diminished. You should not be afraid for your superiority. The thing you have to remember about being a superior member of your species, something very unique, is that you make your own rules. No one else can, because there are no other people like you. Nothing can diminish who or what you all are."

The girls watched as one of Jupiter's moon flew into sight. They were still in awe over this whole in space thing. There were someplace only a handful of human beings had gotten to be. It wasn't hu mbling... in fact it just fed their own superiority complex. They are after all, the Five-in-One.

Phoebe spoke, "Well we can speak Kree whenever you wish. Our knowledge of it is directly based on your mind so we can understand it's concepts in a way no human can."

In regards to human ideas of romance Phoebe spoke for the Five-in-One, "Our biggest obstacle is having people understand the very things you just stated. We are the Five-in-One just as much as we are Sophie, Phoebe, Irma, Celeste and Esme. We are a whole and we are individual. Leo Luthor for example thinks that we are spiteful and angry to each other, in reality we are expressing what most people would see as 'internal conflict' but from the perspective of a greater whole. You are rather enlightened, Mr. Noh-Varr, it seems the Kree are truly more wise than the human race is."

As the moon grew closer and his chair approached them closer Phoebe spoke for herself, apart from the collective, "Monogamy is out of the question for us. If you are with one of us, you are with all of us, yet you are only with one of us. Like I said for us earlier. We can cut one of us out of our collective but it is... I don't want to use the word painful. It's more than painful. It's loss. The one disconnected is lost unable to cope. The other four are sadden for they want their lost sister. Even now... we are saddened because we are lesser because Hope is not part of our collective."

Phoebe spoke for them all again, "She is our errant sister. We are her Lights. So if you wish to be with Phoebe, which we all approve of now, you most be able to accept what that means. You will never be alone with her, because we will always be there. We will help when we wish, hinder when we wish."

"This does not bother me." Noh-Varr says very easily with a shrug, tapping his fingers on the edges of his armrests. "Your perception of yourselves is not far from my perception of you. I naturally have already thought of these things. I understand what being with you entails. I have zero inner conflict over the idea. Besides, as a Kree, I understand that my physical and mental prowess will not be matched. You will all experience a male other than myself, or a female, and I will not be in the least afraid that you will somehow favor them more than myself."

He turns his head to look out over at Jupiter with a gaze of consideration. "We are in space, completely alone and outside of any human laws or cultural standards. We can do what we like up here."

Phoebe looked at her sisters again with a bit of a pleading in her eyes. There was probably a thousand days of discussion in those few moments that they looked at each other. The Cuckoos's processed information so much faster than most people did, or even could.

All the girls spoke at once, "You may kiss Phoebe, and only Phoebe. It can go no further than that today. We aren't cheap and we aren't easy. Just one trip to the stars isn't enough to get into our shorts, no matter how provocative we dress."

"Unfortunately I believe most of these planets and moons are without life, otherwise I would take one over and name it after you." Noh-Varr states in a way that suggests he would or somehow could do this, rather than simply being flowery words.

He stands up suddenly, walking over to Phoebe and leaning down to face her, eye level. "I can tell you all apart even if you don't tell me, you know. You all think the same, you're all very connected, but there are little differences. When one of you thinks something the other doesn't. Most people probably don't notice, but I've watched you all a lot. I want to make it a point of seeing you all as individuals, but also as one."

"Mars had life, if Mr. J'onzz is to be believed. He's a Martian, so he claims. We wish to spend more time with him. His race was apparently telepathic with linguistic speech being a secondary feature. That was appealing to us, telepathy is our first language after all," Phoebe said as she spoke for them all, "But we do appreciate the offer. Perhaps when you learn the intrigues of galactic politics again we can go some where undiscovered and you can name some form of like the Phoebe."

To his statement of being able to tell them apart, "You, Ms. Frost and Hope. You are the only ones who can. It's funny that way. We plan on testing that assertion of yours some day though."

Then Phoebe relaxed a bit and smirked and said for herself, "And they weren't talking about some other day. What my sisters were saying."

She stood up out of her chair putting her hand on his chin and making sure that the eye contact stayed as she stated, "I want you to kiss me know," with a smirk she added, "You'll be my first, but I know it'll be good. Or do Kree not kiss?"

"I have practiced kissing extensively. We will discuss the Martians later, I am rather surprised to learn that they are dead here." Noh-Varr states as if he's been challenged, and immediately leans in to take her lips into his. A deep kiss, lips parted, and very skillfully knowing how to read what she likes rather quickly, even if she might not know it.

Noh-Varr could feel the girls enter the surface thoughts of his mind. They were looking for what he would like and would dislike and feeding that information to Phoebe. Her own kissing would be perfect for him. It would feel like he would like and then the feedback hit. Phoebe's own pleasure at his kissing of her feedback to him to add to his own pleasure. The joys of telepathy.

When the kiss ended Phoebe stroked Noh-Varr's face and said, "Okay that was much better than we ever imagined it would be."