Actually, I'll give it to you...

In the walk through the church of St James Cathedral, there were several statues, not the least venerated was Mother Francis Xavier Cabrini (who's favorite quote was burned into the desk in the archives office).   The woman in Sphere's arms bore an uncanny resemblance to the likeness of the statue of Mother Cabrini.

Father Murphy will also have taken Alicia to one such statue.

I rolled for Sphere to recognize.  Ember Saint is out of the loop on this on due to proximity, but I'm sure that's only a temporary thing.

Sphere considers a moment as a sudden realization flashes across his face.

"Oh my...hmmm..." he mutters to himself as he notices her gold-flecked eyes.

He wonders if he can use his colony to try and determine if the woman before him is colonized as well. He knows his colony has "flashed" or otherwise communicated somehow with those of the other Aegis metas (i.e. the PCs), so maybe he can ask them to try and identify any microbes in the woman who looks like Cabrini.

He thinks to himself, inwardly.

"Hey you guys? Do you see this woman here before me with the gold flecked eyes? Can you please try to flash her or otherwise try and sense if she has a colony within her that you can communicate with?"

"Oh...!", Alicia exclaimed after Father Murphy brought her to the statue.  Despite not having seen the floating woman up close, she immediately picked up on the similarities to the representation of Mother Cabrini that Father Murphy was trying to show her.

"This has to be a coincidence," the tiny woman blurted out in disbelief.  She didn't know what Father Murphy was thinking but there was no way that she was going to be sacrilegious to think that this might be some form of resurrection or reincarnation.  Maybe there was something with being around people with superhuman powers that reduced her belief in actual miracles.

"To go that far to model her appearance after Mother Cabrini is either an act of extreme devotion or else someone is using her to cruelly mock the church, just like they did when they burnt her motto into your desk."

"Whoever she is, it looks like she needs our help," Alicia explained.  "Let's go back and see if we can figure this out."

OOC: I'm making the assumption that Father Murphy's reaction was his realization as to who this woman resembled.  If not, what was he looking at when he commented "Oh, sweet mother"?  If this seemed to come out of the blue, she might start to wonder about some type of mind control affecting people within the church, and if so, she would be concerned that it might eventually affect her as well.

Hah!  I'm not going don the mind-control route here.    Good call, though...

Sphere
"Hey you guys? Do you see this woman here before me with the gold flecked eyes? Can you please try to flash her or otherwise try and sense if she has a colony within her that you can communicate with?"  Jake asked his colony.

And moment later, the speaker responded.
If they are there, they are not responding.   But the energies around this one...  She is... new.  A child.

"My name?" the woman said slowly, moving her mouth as if speech was unusual or uncomfortable to her.   "I'm...  Irene?"  But she didn't sound so certain.   "No.   I...  I don't know.   I should know that.  It's  probably just chemo-brain... It'll come to me..."

After a moment in Sphere's arms, she seemed immensely more aware, and cognizant that they were still floating high above the altar.  "I was naked, wasn't I?"  she whispered.   "And there's a bunch of people watching us.  Can... can we go down now?"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:33, Wed 23 Dec 2020.

Alicia

Father Murphy took a long moment to consider ALicia's words.  "It will have an impact on the parish, this is true."  His words were slightly slower, more considered than he'd used earlier in their interactions.

He carried Alicia back to the altar where Sphere had wrapped the woman in one of the priestly robes offered to him.  "I'm not going to suggest a hostile or antagonistic reason.  Not yet."

In the short-time they were gone, two of the other staff had corralled many of the parishioners and ushered them out the door, leaving perhaps a scattered dozen folks inside the latge main chambers of the church.   But it was difficult, as the presence of Ember Saint had also gathered an enormous amount of attention.  Cel-phones were out and the whole thing was captured and streamed live...

Sphere smiled at her, although in a friendly funny way rather than anything mean. Situations like these called for pleasant rated-G humor to lighten the mood.

"I definitely don't think you're dressed currently in your best Sunday church clothes right now, but it does indeed beat being in your birthday suit. Some suits simply aren't a good fit for church after all." he replied to the floating woman with a chuckle.

"So with that said, I'm going to carry you in my arms and we're going to float our way into the priest's office in back, where we'll come up with a better clothing scheme for you."

Sphere tapped his left ear a moment, and muttered as he used his communicator.

"AEGIS this is Sphere. Please have one of my junior agents go fetch a complete set of women's clothes and bring them to the church ASAP. Notify me upon arrival. Thanks."

He turned his attention to the woman again.

"The lovely gentleman with the wings and the cute little lady are my good friends and can be trusted. Let's get you in back now as I'd like to treat you a bit more with my healing wind just in case, and we can relax and let you get your bearings until the clothes I ordered for you arrive."

Sphere motioned to Ember with a nod of his head letting the man know he was going to head to the priest's office now, before taking the woman fully into his arms and gently flying across the room and hovering through a hallway to the priest's office with her. He hoped Alicia and Ember would follow.

As Sphere carries the woman into the office, Alicia delays slightly to try to catch Ember Saint for a brief private conversation before joining them.

"Did she say anything about who she was or what happened to her?" the doll-sized woman whispered her question.

Before allowing him a chance to answer, Alicia revealed what Father Murphy had shown her. "There are some statues here in the church.  One of them was of Mother Cabrini -- the one whose motto was burned into the desk?  Well, this woman looks a lot like the woman depicted in that statue."

"I'm not saying that it's her," she immediately followed up so that there was no confusion as to the point that she was making, "but there's something going on for that to be just another coincidence."

Father Murphy led them to one of the smaller meeting rooms.  Like the office, it had dark wood-panel walls and a thick carpet.  A small window looked over the street but most of the view was covered by trees.

There was a short bookcase on the far-wall with a bunch of children's books, and an little dollhouse in garish colors in the corner.  There was a red leather divan against the near wall, and a dark wood desk and chair on the other side.  It a quiet place, probably used for one-on-one meetings and family-counseling.

The woman seemed grateful to be out of the public eye.  Though she still seemed largely bewildered.

Father Murphy led the way in and set up a small electric kettle.

"Okay." the woman said, a little more strongly, once she'd taken a seat on the divan.   "So... who are you?  and what am I doing here? I don't... I don't remember anything.  I don't.  Who am I, again?"

Sphere had made sure to set her down on the Divan, before floating to the office too and flagging in his fellow Aegis agents and the priest. The door closed with a quick flick of his hand as a soft gust blew it shut gently. His feet touched the floor as he began to walk normally again.

He flicked his hands again and an empty chair that was set near a corner of the room began to float through the air before being set gently down near the Divan, where Sphere sat down on it so he could talk to the woman more sociably rather than standing over her.

"So the year is 2020 AD. We are currently in the United States in a newer city called Emerald City, in the United States. We're in the Saint James Cathedral." he said, trying to help her orient as he was unsure what she did or didn't passively know.

"My name is Sphere, and yes I have weird powers but we're on Earth and this is no dream. With me is a priest here named Father Murphy, and my friends here are Alicia and Ember Saint, and before you ask again no we're not angels and this isn't Heaven. Sure some worship us as gods or call us metahuman or other things good and bad alike, and I suppose some other time we could have a long and exciting philosophical discussion about what a god with a small g is and what's a human and so on, but now is not the time. If we do though - coffee and lunch is on me. But suffice to say that we think of ourselves a simply being very uniquely talented humans thrust into very uniquely weird circumstances." he replied.

"We are part of a special organization that's affiliated with the United Nations called AEGIS that helps normal people with both normal and not-so-normal problems. And today, we're here to try and help you and this Cathedral." he continued.

"We don't know who you are, but we'll do our best to do right by you and find out. You do have a striking resemblance to a famous nun that has passed away, but you are alive now so I'm not convinced you are her. You mentioned the name Irene before. Does that mean anything to you as you think about it? And do you have any memories about how you got here or what you were doing floating in the center of the church? I infused you with my healing power as you seemed to have been injured at some earlier time, but something like this will take you trying to help us as well if we're gonna figure anything out."

OOC: He is using his features to get an automatic 24 on a persuasion check similar to how he did in the bus tunnel accident scenario to basically crank on his trademark charisma to help her further trust him and be helpful, as well as retain control of the situation socially.

"I'm not a nun.  Not particularly religious.  I mean, I liked the singing.  The singing was nice.  And Irene's my..."  she shook her head, a sudden impulsive movement rife with frustration.  "Agh.  Why can't I remember?  Did someone do something to me?

The woman flicked her wrist out as if she were trying to wick water from wet fingers.  She sat a moment, her head cocked to one side, her face scrunched up in confusion.  "that... was weird."

"If you are talking about your reaction just now, don't worry about it," Alicia said compassionately.  "We have a special appreciation when it comes to weirdness."  That point seemed to be unintentionally emphasized when one considered the size of the miniature woman who was speaking and her scale in relation with the children's toys in the room behind her.  She allowed everyone else to be seated first before settling into one of the child-sized seats in which these other fully grown adults would not have been even to fit.

"But if something weird happened right before that, can you tell us what you think it was or what it felt like?" she asked, "No matter how strange it seems."

"Sphere, I think that you had a similar reaction earlier when you were floating in the air with her, like you kind of zoned out on what you were doing momentarily," Alicia explained.  "Do you remember that?"
Perhaps if Sphere related what happened to him first, the woman may feel more inclined to speak about her experience as well, she reasoned.

Sphere was about to respond to her, when he waited silently for her to be dazed and un-dazed.

Then Alicia spoke.

"Hmmm...well it was weird. When I was healing her it seemed ok, but when I talked to her to try and snap her out of whatever fugue state she was in, it was like I heard the sound of a church bell echoing. Like it were reverberating through a large cavern or something. but the sensation...as quickly as it began, it stopped a short moment later." he said.

He turned back to the woman.

"Ma'am? Just now...did you hear an echoing sound or something? Can you tell us if that means anything to you?"

"No," she said. "I'm sorry.  no sound.  No. uh. epiphany.  It was a reflexive motion."

She did the motion again, like Spider-man flinging webs.  "I was expecting a graphical UI.   Time, weather, where the hell I am.  Is it wrong that I can handle eight-inch people and guys with big wings, but I'm more freaked out that I can't call up my Agent?"

She stopped for a moment and made a self-satisfied little smirk.  "My Agent."

She lifted her right hand and examined her wrist.  "There's no scar."  And, almost reflexively, one hand went to her chest, massaging her sternum.

Then, in a very small voice, she whispered.  "This isn't my body."

OOC: I'm assuming her scars vanished under Sphere's powers. Please correct me narrator if I'm wrong.

Sphere shook his head.

"Actually...when you were floating in the middle of the church, you were all yellow and glowing and stuff so no one could see your body clearly. But when I got closer, I saw that you had scars on your body. Like you had undergone some surgury...or multiped ones for that matter." he replied.

"Except my healing power is really potent when I commit all my energy into it. I can heal wounds and even regenerate lost organs in ways even the best technology available can't. I thought something horrible had happened to you, so I started healing you thinking you had possible brain injuries." he continued.

"So that's why you don't have any scars anymore. You were muttering something about being ready to die and then went catatonic and then there was the echoing bell sound. I don't know what you mean about your body being different, but it's likely due to me that you don't have scars anymore."

I'm assuming her scars vanished under Sphere's powers. Please correct me narrator if I'm wrong.

It's a reasonable assumption, but I can neither confirm nor deny.

OOC: Understood.

And how does she respond to post 53?

When this woman first mentioned about not being able to call her agent, Alicia initially thought that she might have been delusional, as if she was actually some type of celebrity with professional representation.  The search for a scar on the wrist ended that speculation.  It was like this woman was missing something... a piece of technology... some type of implant?

"It's not just the scars that are missing," Alicia contributed.  "It was what was underneath them.  Some kind of technology, right?"

"What do you think is missing?" she asked.  Keeping her talking might help to jog something in the woman's memories.

"When you're feeling up to it, we'll help you find a mirror so that you can see what you look like.  However, if you're having problems with your memory, you might not be able to recognize yourself to remember what your body should look like," the shrunken superheroine cautioned.

Alicia had her own special understanding as to what is was like to find yourself in what seemed to be the wrong body.  At one time, she had been a normal-sized adult but had to face the challenges of adapting to her current size.  That didn't happen overnight so there was no way that they should expect this woman to handle this situation any better than she did.

"I... yes."  the woman said.

"I should have an implant here." She touched her wrist. "And, I think, a pace-maker here."  she said.  "I think my name is Sam.  Samantha.  But it might be the name of my agent."

After a moment, Mary regarded Sphere with very a very clear, unflinching gaze. "I was ready to die, young man." and her voice resonated with age and authority... neither of which she actually had.   "I remember that I was waiting for someone, that there was one last thing I needed to do before I could just let go.  and... I think I did it."

"Yes." she said after a moment.  "That feels true.  I mean, I could be pulling this out of thin air and I'm really on the verge of a nervous breakdown.  All of you could just be figments of my imagination, a morphine-dream to help me transition.  But I've fought too many wars to doubt myself."

"So, tell me.  You're an armored angel, a very small woman, and a..."  She looked Sphere up and down. "Well, I don't really know quite how to define you in an off-the-cuff and offensive stereotype manner.  Where on Erde did you three come from?"

Sphere smiled.

"It's just the reality that I'm very hard to characterize in an offensive and off-the cuff manner. I mean come on...I've got an award winning smile that's literally been on tv, and yes I can regenerate but really the secret behind my skin and hair are a whole lot of facials and spa treatments and really good shampoos without those nasty sulfates in them. Oh and I can fly and stuff which most people find to be pretty neat." he replied in a playful, gregarious manner.

"But if you REALLY want to call me something off-the cuff, you wouldn't be lying if you called me flighty. Oooo better yet, an air head! Head in the clouds! Ha!" he added with a chuckle.

"But no you're definitely not hallucinating and we're definitely real. As for where we come from...well, like I said we work for a government agency called AEGIS that focuses on helping people and governments alike with both mundane and highly unusual problems alike. But if you mean us three specifically? We are humans born on Earth. We just aren't like most humans is all due to special circumstances." he replied.

"And how about you miss maybe-probably-Samantha?" he asked.

"Are you from Earth too or from someplace else? And why would you have implants and pacemakers? Not that you probably need them anymore after I healed you but usually they'd have popped out of your body or something if they were invasive after I healed you. If they are benign then they may still be in there and we'd have to run an MRI and CT scan and take a look - which we'd cover of course. I told you - we're here to help."

Alicia smiled when Irene/Samantha speculated that this was some elaborate dream and was someone who must have known what it was like when they were under the influence of morphine.  There were plenty of times when she thought that maybe she was the one who was trapped in a dream and that her sick, but normal-sized, body was still stuck in a bed at some resort-turned-clinic trying to recover from whatever treatment she agreed to go through out of sheer desperation.

"These wars that you said that you fought, were you talking about health challenges?" Alicia asked, "Or do you remember being a soldier somewhere?"

Her mouth dropped open as she searched for words.  "Everything is a fight.  everything is a war.  I can still taste the bitterness of regret.  Frustration.  The apver dogs everyone, whether they know it or not." her voice trailed off...  "I'm sorry.  I"m grasping but it is just not there.  This is like trying to remember the name of the boy you kissed once a party a decade ago when you were a giddy schoolgirl and drunk on apple wine.   If I try to think, the thoughts, images, ideas... they flee like gossamer shadows."

She lifted a hand to her head. "I know this is probably inappropriate, but I'm really tired.  Maybe there is a eugenics test that might be able to help identify me?"

I have more for Samantha to share, but it just doesn't make sense for her to access this information yet.  She needs some down-time so I can have her come to you with it later...

I'd like to start wrapping this thread up so I can start in on the next scenes...

And, I'd like for you to figure out what the next step is--if there is a next step for this case...  It's okay if there isn't.  I can always conjure up more incidents, now that I have an overarching story-idea...

This message was last edited by the GM at 00:55, Sun 31 Jan 2021.

OOC: The next step is that Sphere is going to have Samantha taken into protective Custody by AEGIS, and will leverage his status and influence to make sure she doesn't get transferred around, messed with by others, or otherwise lost in the shuffle and I suspect Ember and Alicia feel the same. But right now I cannot think of a reason that we shouldn't do anything other than immediately take her into protective custody and let her rest, get some food in her, run some labs on her to assess her health, and of course some clothes on to the poor woman.

If you don't have any preference, then Sphere has AEGIS flunkies get her some clothes and take her back to the player characters official AEGIS homebase that was given to them and let her stay there as a guest, under clear expectation that Samantha please act like a good guest while under their care as well and not do anything to violate the hospitality they're showing her. He will ask Maddox if she could help with Samantha's memory issues and any other basic needs although will stress to her that she is a Guest of the AEGIS metas and that they won't tolerate any weird black-ops government style crap happening to her and expect her to be treated humanely and not as an experiment or prisoner.

Sphere will also have some other AEGIS flunkies get more powder samples from the church and other sites and take it to the lab to do testing and analysis.