December 28, 2017
North France, a few miles from Cherbourg-Octeville. The countryside.

Adélaïde surveyed the room once more, guaranteeing that it was spotless and worthy of Nova guests. It was. Adélaïde had something of a fascination with cleanliness.

And the room itself was nothing to scoff at. A high curved ceiling, cherry wood and, oddly, bronze, wherever you looked, and an ridiculous number of small, sometimes borderline tacky knicknacks and clocks of varying description. It was neither the height of fashion nor unimposing or modest. Just right for her purposes.

There was a collective chiming, enough to startle a deaf comatose goose, and somewhere a voice with a brooklyn accent sneered, "Two o'clock, two o'clock!" Had Adélaïde any neighbors, no doubt they would now be peering out their windows, dim faces screwed up in consernation. Luckily she had the countryside more or less to herself, which was just the way she liked it. Private. Secure. Tasteful.

Automate folded her hands in her lap and waited patiently for her guests to arrive.

How did the saying go?
I’m never late. I arrive exactly when I meant to.

Jager was feeling the pull of time against his mind once again. The node could only shield him for so much internal time before he began to feel that pull. It was a reminder that he belonged somewhere and perhaps to something. The grey faded to a field and a house in the distance. Jager considered just were he would allow reality to pull him back through.
What would be appropriate?

He would give the house and its resident, and any guests that had already arrived, some space. Jager felt himself slow down. It was an illusion to the effects he felt whenever he stepped back In and he let it pass. He felt the breeze and smelled the air. This place was pretty rural by its scents.

Jager walked to the door. It was a nice, if modest dwelling. It had the odor of careful cultivation about it … and some fine grade of oil. That made him smile. Jager knocked on the door and waited to hear the footsteps.

It hadn't been hard to find her home. Her directions and description had been perfect. From the lack of neighbors Long could tell Automaton was a nova who valued her privacy.

The Cold french air russed past him as he flew, and he knew it had been a good idea to remain in his natural form. "The last thing I'd want is for someone to see me shivering due to the cold."

He spied Jager from the air and landed a good thirty yards from him and the doorstep and shook the snow from his frame. For a moment it looked as though all his fur bristled, but then it all laid back down and he smiled, baring large pearly white teeth. "That always feels good for some reason."

"Hello old friend. It's been too long."

Adélaïde's enhanced senses were easily enough to notify her of the presence of two novas at her door, and with a blur of movement she was at the door, and she was swinging it open, and now she was smiling in a slightly daft way at the two novas. Really need to work on that.

Now what to say?

"Hello," she tried, tasting the letters on what passed for her tongue. That wasn't too bad. Something else.

"I'm very glad you could make it. Please, come in." That should do. As she said it her head whipped around, eyes making sure her rapid movement had not upset anything, but the living room was as pristine as it had ever been. Somehow this disappointed her.

There was a script, right? Yes, of course there was a script, with several hundred thousand permutations depending on the path her guests chose. Naturally this wasn't even close to mapping all the possibilities out, but it would serve. Roughly. Now she must take a seat, gesture for the others to do the same, ask them what would they like to drink? Their answer was pointless because all Adélaïde had was tea. Good, not too fast, remember not to rush it...Good? Good?

Good. Done. Wait.

Long nodded and bowed slightly. "The pleasure is mine, it is always pleasant to meet novas I haven't before somewhere other than a battlefield."

When she gestured to take a seat, Long looked to one of the sturdier chairs in the room and quietly took a seat, waiting for Jager to follow suit.

"You have a lovely home, Adélaïde, or should I address you by another name?" it was a genuine compliment and a loaded question all in one, but one that was needed.

Jager follows Long in. He moves with a fluid grace, taking in the room.

"Very well ordered," he comments. "More to the point, everything looks ... precise. Interesting."

Looking directly at Automaton,
"You have an incredible eye for angles and geometric symmetry. How do you compensate for the settling of the house?"

"This house was built to my exact specifications," Automate said. "The settling will not be a problem."

Automate turned to Long. "I prefer Automate or Automaton, actually, though Adelaide is acceptable as well. I assume you prefer to be know by your nomme de guerre?"

She smiled. "Can I get you something to eat? To drink?"

"Thank you Automate. Some Tea would be nice."

Jager stepped aside and let Long approach the table first.

"I admit, I kind of expect a lab set up of some kind. This place appears so ... homey."

"Oh, that's in another area of the house," Automate said simply. "I don't live with my work, you know."

"Whichever, I'll answer to both." Long smiles. "Some tea would be nice thank you."

He chuckles at her comment about not living with her work.

"I do in some part, but then again I also live with 4 nova children, Life is always interesting in my home."

Automate fetches the tea, pouring them both a cup. "Milk or sugar?" she asks.

Jager takes sugar with his tea and sits back and waits for the others to take their tea.

"So, what keeps you so dedicated to your courses of actions, Automate that you have spent so little time entertaining other novas? I'm afraid Long and I hog up our share of the Nova Spotlight, but you have successfully lived your life without it. What allows the two of us to now breach your carefully crafted wall of solitude? I'm really curious to know."

Long takes his tea without sugar and smiles.

"I admit to curiosity on my part as to why you agreed to this as well. Jager and I have lead rather public lives, Due to his being Head of the Windy City Knights and my Marriage to Timeslip.."

"Why suddenlly allow strangers into your home?" His voice isn't suspicious, but genuinely curious.

Automate smiles, but it seems strained. "I considered revealing myself for several months before actually doing so. I enjoy my solitude to an extent, but...I miss the world. And I think it's time I see a bit more of it, the novas in particular." Then she genuinely smiles, and it lights up her face. "Besides...I'm a bit star-struck. I wanted to meet you."

"Meeting our bretheren is generally a pleasant experience, espically since it no longer happens on the battlefield." His guard was up. Few novas just wanted to "meet" him.

"Really? I'm somewhat flattered by that. My stock in the movement has never been all that high. With certain developments it has certainly not risen any higher."

He looks to Jager. "Few smile kindly upon those who once took money to fight the baseline's wars, and fewer still think those of us who wish to find a way to coexist worth their time."