The First Age

Sasha had an outburst just showing how whiney he was and how much Marta had been about him needing to relax. She had probably angered him with what she had said, but she didn’t care. It needed to be sad. How annoying. But her eyes were mostly on Jackson.

He sat down on the bench to lift weights and Marta zoned out into her own world. Nox rolling broke her out of it. He spoke to Sky and then began to leave. Oh, no! No, no, no, no, no, no! Don’t leave! Come back! she thought feeling herself begin to panic - but it was not the panic of panic attacks. It was just normal nerves.

She was left alone with Jackson. It was something that she thought she had wanted until it happened. Not that she wasn’t happy, it’s just she felt nauseated. She now understood the term ‘butterflies in the stomach.” She had no idea what to say. She just started by petting Splash on the head.

Ummm…Hi Jackson, how are you?” she said, she looked at him, hoping he wouldn’t think she was ugly and stupid. He probably did.

Noah might have tried to bench a few more plates than he could actually life comfortably. But Nox left and Marta had a small panic attack even if it wasn't completely visible, Jackson had become adept reading people. "I'm okay. Are you good?" He leaned back and lifted a couple of reps.

"Nox seems upset or excited about that. Should we follow him?"

Marta watched as he lifted a few more reps. She still had the butterflies in her stomach. He had seen something in her reaction to Nox leaving. Did he know what was going on with her? Should she tell him? ”Yeah, I’m okay…” she said, but even she knew she sounded unconvincing. The thing was nothing was wrong - she just didn’t know how to deal with what she was feeling and thinking.

Marta was confused. She wanted to talk to Jackson, but didn’t know what to say without sounding stupid. What if he didn’t like her too? That would probably hurt. Could they still be friends? ”Ummm…maybe we should follow him, see what’s wrong…” she both wanted to go and didn’t at the same time. The opportunity was here and she wanted to take it, but she also wanted to check on Nox.

Nox rushed upstairs to the living room. Where Sky had the data streaming through the holo screen. Liv was sitting on the couch with Lily lying on the floor. The data was just undecipherable data flowing through the room. I didn't have any idea what any of it meant.

"Sky can you render this with the software Cruz and Sage are working on?"

"One minute."

Nox nodded and glanced down at Lily on the floor and sighed. He'd have whisked her up with a weave of air but that wasn't possible. He went to his room and opened the case that had the new arm. It didn't look much different than the last one, except that it went over the metal peg that now stuck out of his arm.

He removed the cap that had been keeping him from injury. It was still sore, but it didn't look bad. It would have to do. He needed two arms without the power, even if it wasn't finished with whatever Sage was doing with the nanobots.

The connection was easy and it seemed to work right away with little calibration. It felt different this time. He couldn't quite place it. There were other things in the box but Nox just closed it to explore later. He grabbed the sling from the edge of the bed to tie Lily to him if or when she woke up.

Nox went out to the living room and the data was no longer a stream of data, but a replica of his body in the middle of the room. Liv stood staring at it. "What's that?"

"Sky can you give me two images at the same time, one from when Wicked first put the nanobots in and one from most recently"

"Yes."

Two images showed up. Nox couldn't really see anything. He wasn't interested "Tell me what's different Sky."

Jackson put the weight back on the bar. "You sure you are okay?" He stood up and walked over to her and offered her a hand up. "Nox is tough. Whatever it is he'll get through it and we can help."

Jackson came over to her, still trying to figure out it she was okay. The fact he cared just endeared him more to her. Still, she felt her heart beating faster in her chest at his approach. He offered his hand to help her stand, and she took it, rising to her feet.

”Yeah, I’m okay…” she repeated. ”It’s just…” she said, not able to look at him. She could do this. She braved the dream world and that was more dangerous than this. ”It’s just…I think…you’re cu…handsome.” she was going to say cute, but she changed it to handsome, thinking Jackson might not like cute. Marta looked down, her face feeling very warm and she shifted her feet nervously.

Jackson smiled at the compliment and put his arm around her shoulder then thought better of it and removed it till she heard what he had to say. "You're cute too. And I don't want you to take this the wrong way." Jackson sighed and looked far away "But let's be friends, see where it goes. I've only had my sisters and my marks before this. I don't want to fall into old habits, cause I could. I could be charming and show off and pretend to lure you closer. But I don't wanna do that. You're family and deserve more than that."

"I do think you are cute, a little young, but we got time. If you can be friends..." He offered his hand.