[color=MediumOrchid]"This is ingenious, Miss Fletcher, but there is one issue I can think of..."[/color]

"Yeah Riley?" 

[color=MediumOrchid]"Which one of these goes in first, the 'milk' or the 'cereal'?"[/color] the alien girl asked her, holding the box and the milk jug in each hand as she sat in front of the card table. Jordan Fletcher sighed inwardly, wondering how exactly her life had gotten to this point. She didn't ask for much, just a nice job working security for Poseidon and a decent place to live in Pacific Point, without any of this nonsense with meta-humans back in New York. And yet here she was trying to explain the concept of breakfast cereal to a tentacle-headed alien chick that got mailed to her apartment a week or two ago.

"Um, it doesn't really matter, just make sure it goes in the bowl," Jordan said, saving her internal griping for another time. "And use the spoon this time."

[color=MediumOrchid]"Right, I can handle this,"[/color] 'Riley' announced, defiantly pouring milk all over the cereal before taking a large spoonful of the rainbow-colored flakes and sticking it in her mouth. She chewed cautiously for a moment before she taking another spoonful with a content look on her face.

[color=MediumOrchid]"S'really good,"[/color] she declared, her voice muffled by her mouthful of cereal. [color=MediumOrchid]"Overly sweet, yet satisfying!"[/color]

"Really glad you liked it, then," Jordan said, barely restraining herself from giving Riley an encouraging pat on the shoulder. Again, Jordan was surprised at the absurdity of this situation, but not as much as she was surprised to see the alien itself taking things so well. Or at least she thought she was an alien. 'Riley' looked like one, and given her interests Riley certainly seemed to think she was one too. Maybe it was because she didn't know any better, but Riley seemed to be taking the fact that she was sealed inside a metal tube and shipped off to parts unknown quite well. It was confusing to say the least, but Jordan decided a week ago that she wasn't going to dwell too much on it for the time being. The facts still made her head hurt, and frankly she was more concerned about what would happen if the higher ups at Poseidon found out what she and Dr. Martel were using this defunct testing room for.

"Morning everyone," came a relaxed sounding, lightly accented voice as the door opened. Speak of the devil, Jordan mused, and he shall appear, complete with wire-framed glasses and disheveled black hair showing the signs of turning gray.

"Morning, Doc," Jordan said with a nonchalant, joking salute.

Riley mumbled something through a mouthful of cereal that Jordan assumed was a greeting.

"Verbose as always," Martel commented before setting a box down on the card table. "I take it things have been going well here, then? Riley is okay being on her own."

"Oh yeah, she has her own TV with Netflix to watch Star Trek all day, she's set." Riley nodded in agreement and flashed a Vulcan salute, which was a little less recognizable given that she only had three fingers.

"Yes, good," Martel said, sounding distracted as he dug through his box. "Right, speaking of living long and prospering, I have something to test with you before we run some more....well, tests, Riley." With a brief pause, he extracted a pair of what looked like thick bracelets made from metal and purple glass and set them gingerly on the table, prompting a confused look from both girls.

"Interesting," Jordan said, picking up one and turning it in her hands to get a better look. "Aww, they even match her eyes..."

"For god's sake be careful with these," Martel snapped, roughly taking it back. "They're psionic inhibitor units, designed to control Riley's abilities, and I don't know about any long-term effects on normal humans yet." Riley painfully swallowed her cereal with a look of mixed alarm and indignation.

[color=MediumOrchid]"Inhibitors? Doesn't that mean limiting things?"[/color] she asked. [color=MediumOrchid]"But I don't need any limits on my powers, see?"[/color] Riley held out her hand and concentrated, her eyes glowing as a rough purple sphere the size of a fist formed in her hand.

[color=MediumOrchid]"See, I can handle th-"[/color]

*FWOOOOOM*

Without warning the sphere shot straight up from her hand like a bullet, physically throwing her off the chair with a yelp as it impacted the ceiling with a very loud thud, bursting with a thunderous boom that seemed to shake the entire room, forcing Jordan and Martel to duck for cover and launching everything lighter then a paperweight into the air.

[color=MediumOrchid]"On second thought, maybe the inhibiwhatsits are a good thing,"[/color] Riley said sheepishly as her eyes reappeared over the edge of the table, glancing from the milk and soggy multicolored flakes covering it to the large scorch marks left on the ceiling by yet another errant psiblast.

"More importantly," Martel gasped as he stumbled back to his feet, brushing off his lab coat, "The last few batteries of tests we did confirmed at least one of my theories about psionic energy, namely its degrading effect on biological matter."

[color=MediumOrchid]"I'm...not going to melt, am I?"[/color] Riley said weakly, suddenly looking and sounding terrified.

"No no, you never were going to 'melt'," Martel said, reassuringly. "My theory was that psionic energy has a degrading effect on biological matter. To put it simply, using psionic energy causes your body to break down."

"Still sounds like melting to me," resounded an unconvinced Jordan,.

"Yes, but the point I'm making is that she happens to be built to handle it. Riley's genetic makeup is better tuned to harnessing this energy then ours would be, so this has a far less detrimental effect on her body. As best I can tell, the energy will only have a physical effect on her if she uses too much of it too quickly, hence the need for inhibitors."

[color=MediumOrchid]"So, if I wear them I [i]won't[/i] melt?"[/color] Riley confirmed, looking curiously at the inhibitor bracelets.

"Precisely, though I can't imagine a situation where you would ever need to overexert yourself."

"See now that you said that it's probably going to happen," Jordan said with a laugh.

"Well if these next tests bring the building down you have every right to point out that I called it, Miss Fletcher," Martel said dryly.

[color=MediumOrchid]"I can bring down buildings?!?"[/color] Riley shouted a little too eagerly.

Jordan and Dr. Martel exchanged worried looks.