15139/The More You Know

The More You Know
Date of Scene:	13 June 2023
Location:	Lakeside Batcave Annex
Synopsis:	Dick learns a bit more about Essix and her abilities.
Cast of Characters:	Dick Grayson, Essix

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Dick Grayson has posed:
    The day after Dick discovered his stowaway, he was up bright and early to begin figuring out how things were going to work. He had a good feeling about Essix, based on both a gut feeling and all the clues he had been trained to look for both by Batman and the police academy. He might be totally wrong given that he was trying to figure out a non-human life form, but either way, it already knew about the mini-Batcave and his identity, so he's really hoping he read it correctly.

    Descending to the cave, he addresses the bucket off to one side. "Good morning Essix, did you rest well?"

Essix has posed:
None of the computers had been touched, but everything else was sparkling clean, we're talking spotless, even the floor and ceiling. Essix had been extremely bored, so she found the cleaning supplies and went to work. She would have cleaned the computers, but Dick has specifically told her not to touch them.

He was correct that she was in her bucket, having required her regeneration time, but when she heard his voice, the lid of the bucket lifted off and she poured out. First she was a puddle of aqua on the floor, then she flowed up to form the same not too perfect human form.

"Good morning Mister Grayson!" she said /way/ too cheerfully, and even waved enthusiastically at him. "I did in fact rest very well. It is quiet down here, no sounds of cars in the streets or people talking, no sirens or people stomping around."

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Being a trained observer, Dick notices the cleaning almost immediately. It's not a bad thing, really. Especially since he's not great at it, given that he grew up with a butler and didn't do a lot of his own cleaning. In his defense, he was both going to school in the day and being Robin at night, so he didn't have a good deal of free time for that sort of thing. Which is probably why Alfred did it along with all his other duties.

    "Yeah, We're a bit outside the city, so we don't get much noise here. And I see you kept yourself busy last night. Thank you." He heads over to the small conference table tucked to one side of the cave and takes a seat, motioning her to take one of the others.

    "I figured we'd start by talking for a while, trying to get to know a bit more about you, if that sounds ok?"

Essix has posed:
"It was quite in Central Park," Essix comments. "But a homeless man stole my coffee can and was forced to pretend like I was a mouse to escape before he stuffed the can in his pack."

Walking over to the table, she pulls out a chair and sits herself down. Her hands get folded in her lap, a smile on her face as she looks to him. "That is perfectly acceptable. There is still a great deal I need to learn regarding acceptable social protocols, so I apologize if I say something too bluntly or in a way that might be offensive. It is not my intent at all."

Dick Grayson has posed:
    "Not a problem, I'm sure we'll be able to work around any lapses in communication. Now, you said you want to learn to help people the way I and the other heroes do, so let's begin with your abilities. I have to know what you can do before we start trying to figure out how you can help others."

    "Now, I know you can change shapes, so we'll start there. I can see that, not to offend, but you haven't got human appearance quite down yet. How wide of a range of forms do you have? You just mentioned having to pretend to be a mouse, so apparently you can make yourself smaller than you currently are. Can you also get larger, or is it human sized and below?"

Essix has posed:
It seemed easier to Essix to answer his question by demonstrating. She could tell him all the things she could be, but there was no guarantee he'd believe her. He was, after all, just learning about her.

"The complexities of the human face are difficult because no two are the same, unless it is what you call twins," she explains first. "I learn how to become something by touching it, and even though there are numerous types of canines, numerous kinds of felines, birds, mice, rats, at the core they are basically the same. Humans are not so, but I am learning and slowly mastering it."

With that said, she now goes into what she calls "the show". From sitting there as a human she flows into the shape of a coffee cup sitting on the table in front of him, then into a dinner plate, and then a fancy glass. When the dinner is finished the takes the form of a cat and walks down the table, becoming a chihuahua, then a beagle and at the end a German Shephard hops off the table and darts back around the table to wag her tail at him.

From canine she moved into a chair, then a cabinet that looked exactly like those in the cave, then she melted into a rifle much like the gangers had used. One might think that all this shifting would be exhausting, that there would be a limit but she keeps going. Rifle to handgun and then into a bicycle, motorcycle and in the end she is a small Honda hatchback... in red.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Dick watches the demonstration without questions, waiting for her to finish before nodding, "Ok, you've got quite a range then. That alone could be used pretty well, but let's keep exploring your abilities. Do you have superhuman levels of strength, or are you difficult to harm, that sort of thing? And do you gain the abilities of the form you take, like flying as a bird or breathing underwater like a fish?"

    He's tapping a few things into the keyboard projected onto the table, perhaps taking notes or trying to work out questions he can ask her.

Essix has posed:
Now that she's finished "the show", which does in fact change each time she does it, Essix flows back to the chair into her human form with a rather pleased expression on her face.

"I have not tested just how large I can get," she says first. "I was worried to draw that much attention to myself, but I believe I can get quite large and fully detailed in that size."

Now she takes a moment to consider his actual questions. "I am afraid I do not quite understand 'super human levels of strength', however I can tell you that human bullets, bats, clubs, knives, arrows... these do not hurt me. I was shot once when I placed myself between an innocent woman and a ganger shooting, thus I know it has no effect."

Now the hard part, the extending of trust toward him. It was difficult to know if she should, if she could, but he had offered to assist her, to train her, so it felt right to share with him. "I do have weaknesses. Fire is one, it is exceedingly painful, it is a force of nature that can..." she pauses, looking him in the eyes, reading him. "It can kill me. In fact, it is the only thing that can. I do not require air, I can exist in space or at the depths of your oceans, but fire..." she actually shivers and changes the subject to the next part.

"The electricity humans use to power things does not hurt me, but it does force me to revert to my natural form. It was very embarrassing," she sighs. "I was being a squirrel, running along the power lines, got... zapped and melted to the ground. I scared a woman very badly, and felt so horrible about it."

"Finally, when I become an animal I do gain their abilities," she continues, hoping she got to all of his questions. "I can fly, swim, etc. As a panther I have claws and teeth to attack with, and the like. I really enjoy flying, in fact pigeon has been my favorite animal so far."

Dick Grayson has posed:
    He nods as she speaks, taking in the information until she hits the squirrel story. He tries, he really does, but at last he just has to laugh, holding up a hand to ask for a moment to compose himself so he can listen to the rest of what she has to say.

    "Sorry, but I can just picture this woman watching a squirrel and then it just melts and splorks to the ground. That's the sort of thing that could just throw your whole day off."

    He takes a few breaths, then says "Ok, go ahead." It turns out she was almost done anyway, but he listens and nods. "Ok, it sounds like you do have the makings of a very good hero. Being that hard to hurt is very, very useful. That's why I wear armor, in fact, because I am affected by things like blades and bullets. And to be honest, fire isn't really healthy for anyone, so you're not alone there. There are a few heroes I know who can ignore it, but many more who are harmed by it."

    "Ok, I think that gives me the basics, at least. We might eventually test some of your limits, like the how large question. A car is quite a bit larger than a person, so we know you can add a decent amount of mass to yourself." He considers a moment then asks, "Have you had any sort of combat training? It's fairly important for two reasons, one, so you know how to defend yourself and others, and two so that you don't end up killing people you are fighting by accident."

Essix has posed:
When he laughs regarding the squirrel moment, Essix does in fact smile and perhaps giggles a little. She hadn't really thought of it from the perspective he did, and realizing now that there was in fact some humor to it, she couldn't help but enjoy it with him.

"Oh! I can also /be/ armor for someone," she exclaims, then without another word flows around his body to be an exact match of a jacket over his currently worm jacket... fitting like a glove. She doesn't stay that way long, after all she did just invade his personal space.

Back in the chair she grins a bit sheepishly, "Sorry, I should have asked.... but yes, I can protect others, and I... I am quite strong, I just do not know 'superhuman'. As for combat training, no, I have had none at all, not even a little and have no racial memory of any form of combat other than the basics of knocking people and things away from myself."

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Dick nods, then jumps just a tiny bit in surprise when she demonstrates being armor, but she apologizes before he can say anything about it. "Yes, always best to ask, but it's ok, we're both in a learning situation here. I think we will probably spend a good amount of time on combat training, that's important if you're going to be a hero, because the bad guys don't tend to give up just because you ask them to."

    He considers her for a moment, then says, "Just a second, I want to get something." He stands and steps into the equipment room, then comes out holding a pair of police handcuffs. He offers them to her and asks, "Can you turn into these?" She takes them for a moment, then puts them down and turns into an identical pair and then back. "Ok, good. Now, if you take hold of my wrists, can you turn into the handcuffs locked around them?"

Essix has posed:
Essix nods with a grin and a quiet, "Those are not complex at all."

Next was just a moment to consider, then she grabs his wrists with her human hands, returns to her natural form while pulling his hands together and forming the cuffs around each to hold them in place.

"Like that?" comes a quiet, squeaky voice from the underside of the cuffs. Difficult to form all the parts required for speech, in a small enough form on the cuffs, and yet still be able to be heard... but she did it.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    "Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking. This is one way to end a fight quickly, at least if you can hold onto the person." He then starts trying to pull his wrists apart, and tries twisting the cuffs, testing to see if the cuffs she has become are as hard to escape as the real ones.

    After a few moments of failing to break her, he nods. "Ok, excellent. It seems that you are just as strong as the normal handcuffs, so that's a move you can use to good effect that shouldn't hurt anyone too badly until you have more training."

    He sits back down and thinks for a moment. "Ok, that gives me all the basics to start with, so we're doing pretty well I think. Using this info, I think we can start your training."

    "One thing I will warn you, you may run across electricity more often than you might think. Some people use devices called stun guns or tasers that incapacitate people by applying a strong electric shock to them. Heck, I have electrical stunners built into the batons I fight with, so just be ready to face that sort of thing once you start trying to be a hero. Which actually does bring up another question... how long does electricity affect you? Can you turn right back into something, or do you have to stay in your native form for an amount of time?"

Essix has posed:
The touch of the handcuffs had allowed her to master how they were constructed, but also the materials that formed the item. That was the key to becoming anything she did.

Once he had finished attempting to escape her and sat back, Essix flowed back over to her chair and sat back. "It depends on how strong the shock is," she replies, folding her hands back into her lap. "The shock from the power line really knocked me for a loop, but I was able to form into a rat and scurry off after a short time. It does no permanent damage, so it is something we may need to test, if you are interested in shocking me at different voltages that is."

Dick Grayson has posed:
    He laughs a little, "Well, I don't know if I'm 'interested' in shocking you, but it probably is something we should test at some point, just so we both know what to expect if it happens in actual combat. If we're working together and you get hit with a stun gun, it's pretty important that I know how long you'll be out of the fight for."

    "Now with that taken care of for now, we move on to learning. How much do you actually know about Earth and it's cultures and history? I need to get a baseline idea of things you know or don't know about."

Essix has posed:
Essix hmmms softly as she considers the new question, and how best to explain. "My species exists as one entity and many, at the same time," she begins. "There is a hereditary memory that exists throughout the whole. When one of us goes further and further away from the whole, learning about planets, worlds, entities and such, they return to the whole with that information and new explorers are created to travel even further out then that last group."

Taking a moment to consider what she just said, to make sure it made sense, she then nodded to herself. "Once I landed here and emerged from my pod, the human that helped me allowed me access to a computer, and helped teach me how to search the internet for information. This is how I learned about a great many cultures and locations, and also how I learned to speak this English language. I know there there no substitute for learning things hands on, but it was a start."

Dick Grayson has posed:
    He nods, "Ok, that's a good start." He types a few things on the keyboard, then stands and comes over to the seat she is in. He reaches down and taps a small control stud embedded in the tabletop and a keyboard is projected onto the tabletop. One key looks like a monitor, he taps it and a holographic display comes up in front of her. "Your login is your name and the password is 'learning'. This one isn't connected to the main computer, so you can't hurt anything or get into any private information, but it's got full web access so you can continue to look into things that interest you."

    He sits back down in his chair and continues. "One thing I'm thinking we can do is take you along when I go on patrols, just to see what it is we do. You can follow as a bird, or you can be an item attached to my armor. Until I teach you to fight, patrolling would be more of a passive thing for you, just watching rather than actively taking part."

Essix has posed:
This was an entirely new kind of computer, or was it something else? It was a table with holographic images that looked like computer parts. Essix stared at it for the longest time without touching anything, one of the brows on her human face raised before she finally did poke it... literally, one finger poking a random key.

Distracted by his talking she looks up at him again. "Patrols? Like the police do, from place to place, watching for trouble?" She asks, wondering now why he patrolled when the police were supposed to, but it wasn't something to ask at the moment. "I would enjoy observing these patrols, and not involving myself, unless of course as a means of protection like a shield or added armor, but not directly engaging."

Dick Grayson has posed:
    He nods, "Yes, exactly like the police do. We tend to be looking for things the police would have trouble handling, like groups of ninjas or a supervillain up to something. We also listen in on the police radio to see if they run into that sort of thing so we can give them any help they might need. And sometimes, it's just things they don't know about until it's too late, like your gang war that came out of nowhere. The police simply can't be everywhere, so we try to fill in the gaps and handle the stuff they can't."

    He stands and says, "Now, I have a few things to do today, but I'm sure you can keep yourself busy. But come with me for a moment."

    Leading her to the end of the cave where vehicles are parked, he shows her a door to one side. "This is a way out of the cave, it's hidden on the other side, so I wanted to show you how to open it from outside. He does so, saying "This way if you want you can go out. Just be sure to close the door fully so nobody can stumble across this place by accident." He heads back up to the lakehouse, leaving her alone again for now, but with internet and an ability to wander if she wants.