Cindy knew her "stuffed frog" was up to something. Of course, that made no sense at all to anyone she talked to. In fact, her family was a bit concerned that she still clung so tightly to it. She knew it was a lifeless thing of cloth and stuffing, of course, but she also felt something deeper about it. For her, it was a communications device to a friend and companion that couldn't or wouldn't manifest any other way.
And she also knew that everything "it said" came from her own imagination, but somehow she could tell almost instantly if she deviated from the deeper meaning it was somehow providing her. It would withdraw if she persisted along "incorrect" lines, and she would feel it become more distant.
As she kept bringing more episodes of her favorite anime to the silly creature gatherings, she could feel approval. Even further, she was getting stronger, faster, and more agile at a rate far beyond her classmates, even the other kids living in Gateworld - so something was reflecting into her, she decided, from her hobby and play times.
Cindy decided to try talking to her family about taking some kind of martial arts lessons, on the one hand, and to try to "go by the feel" during her time at the lake, on the other hand, to see if she could replicate any "shinobe" abilities. The silly "cloning" ability from the anime was obviously silly to consider, but the swirling energy gathering in the protagonist's hands just felt RIGHT to her, and seemed like the perfect thing to practice. And the side character's strength and healing talents might be possible. She wasn't sure about the lightning guy or some of the other featured powers, but she could experiment and see if any of them also "felt right".
Frixprl was proud of the dream-time interactions with Cindy and the insights she provided into the human mind-set. He foresaw a great rise in his prestige among his people if his "humanity project" progressed as expected. They were already starting the 2nd expansion wave in Gateworld, and now had the keys to using Gateworld to expand their presence in their physical solar system. And, according to his macro-sense, one of the wind-borne had even made alien contact beyond the local galactic system - unfortunately, he was not yet at the level to be able to track that adventurous (or lucky) individual. Two other wind-borne had been eaten by slightly-more-local swarm concentrations - but they hadn't triggered anything with the ability to back-track them, so his humans were safe for now.
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Following Marc's advice to the President, the USA was slowly creating zoning laws covering Gate creation and use, thus allowing most of those who wanted to avoid the risks arising from Gateworld to have safe spaces and buffer zones. This was very helpful in preventing more pandemics from spreading. In the buffer zones, Gateworld "adaptation hotels" were springing up after it was discovered that a week or so in Gateworld would usually strengthen a person's immune system enough to ward off the more dire effects of the rapidly mutating Gate-borne diseases.
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At Salt Lake, Shane was quickly improving his new senses. He could now "feel" several yards around in great detail, "feel" the direction back to camp, and "feel" the presence of large fish in nearby water. He was starting to be able to do it in daylight, despite the interference of normal vision.
Shane had also noticed great results just from the workout of his daily explorations on his strength and agility - a 10-foot standing broad jump was no problem for him now, and he could easily hang from a rocky cliff with one hand, even being able (with difficultly) to pull himself (and his normal pack) up single-handedly.
As he sat next to the lake, meditating, he was able to draw in "mana" faster than ever. In fact, he could even see ripples in the still water that seemed to converge on him, but if he did it for long, small fish would gather and take in part of the energy themselves.
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After countless experiments, Rachel had managed to take one of her BFFs across to her Gateworld sanctuary - by mixing their blood before making the circles. Even then, it had taken over an hour of meditation and synchronized breathing, but Karmen was there with her, and they spent the rest of the day lounging in the mineral pools and having a feast in celebration.
Bringing stuff here with her was a royal pain, Rachel thought. Even "normal" things had to be in her "personal space" correctly in order to come with her - and she was only slowly getting a handle on just what that was. Essentially, it seemed to be whatever she could walk around with in a normal fashion, it seemed. Any extra burden or extra size risked being left behind. And, of course, it had to fit inside the circle she was using.
Two other members of her project had been able to follow her example so far, and each had described their own "unique and wonderous" landscape features. One of them also had a delivery room "return target", but the other one had appeared inside his old childhood home, which was NOT his actual birthplace, causing quite a stir with the current owners of the home. They were still in negotiations with the Project for use rights, but the owners had a temporary restraining order on the man for now. It appeared that their 14 year old daughter had not been pleased to have a man suddenly appear beside her bed out of thin air.
But still, one backpack at a time, Rachel's little world was becoming a happy refuge from the insanity of Earth.
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The Enfolie took in the strange being that had fallen from their skies with a huge broken wing slowing his fall. It's kind had never been seen before, but it hadn't attacked or tried to steal food, as Swarmkin scouts would always do. It didn't register with the Magi as a threat, either, so no exterminations teams had been sent. It did seem very attached to the strange coverings it wore, but had submitted to a fairly extensive examination with only minor resistance.
Their zenomeds said it was not yet adapted to the Universe of Pathways, and had no mana accumulation systems, so they deemed it harmless. For now, they would simply provide it with water, and experiment with tidbits of foods to see how its biochemistry functioned. It might not adapt and eventually die, or it might adjust and thrive. The same was true of communications - it seemed to receive just a hint of strong emotional broadcasts, but showed only confusion at concept-transmissions and standard body-talk.