Activated Pt. 13

Author: The Architect

Authors note: I really like how the story is progressing, I've sort of let the characters drive it. We have in this part the lead up to Jen's party and it is the conclusion of project MJaM. Also, Sandy has the room to herself for the weekend, I wonder what will happen?

Sandy PoV

I snapped awake at 6 again, I didn't feel the manic need to run, just the regular need. I was able to get in a 5k and then some breakfast, scrambled eggs which would be much better mixed with bread, some cinnamon and vanilla, baked and covered by syrup. I was able to get back and clean up with more than enough time to head to my 8:30 accounting class.

I got a text from Calliope, "Wear a dress similar to what you are giving Jen, you are going to stand in for her when we rehearse."

Makes sense, I do actually have a similar dress, I could almost wear the one I'm giving Jen but while we are very similar the match isn't perfect. I'm a little bigger in the tits, she is a little curvier. I trust Calliope, she did a sculpture by just imagining a pose my parents never made and you would never know it.

I can't wait till this afternoon.

Alex and I caught an Uber to the park, Calliope told us she'll drop us off when she is done.

I switched into a nice sundress and brought the one I'm giving to Jen. I just realized this is my contribution, it isn't as good as a ring or painting but years from now she will remember her bestie gave her that dress. Solid 3rd place, I can settle for that.

Calliope leads us to a clearing at the top of a hill. "Okay, Alex you stand up there behind those bushes, there is actually a bench up there, just be careful because sometimes there are birds you see..."

"I get it."

"Sandy, once he gets in place, I want you to walk up there, you are just up there for your other crazy friend to paint your picture, nothing out of ordinary. Alex, when you see her, you walk up and get down on one knee perpendicular to where I am standing."

She pulls out a sketchpad and a piece of charcoal.

"Sandy, she is your best friend, try and react as you think she would."

As Alex kneels in front of me, I clutch my hands to my chest. I'm expecting her to bounce a little, that isn't something she can capture. Then again, maybe she can so I add that to my reaction.

Alex goes through the motions to put on the ring, which is secure in his dorm room.

"Give me a sec, I want to take a few more pictures."

"Got it, you can come down, I should have enough."

"We have 2 choices; I can drop you back off or we can swing by my place and I can drop you off after I make the painting."

"Alex, you HAVE to see her in action."

"Okay, I'm clear the rest of the day, I'm not meeting Jen until 6 so I have more time to get changed."

"Good, it is better when I can do this fresh in mind. Hop in kids, we got some painting to do."

Poppy doesn't live far from the park, something that will come in handy in the fall. I still can't believe that we are going to move in here in the fall, out on our own.

When we get in there, we found she already had things setup. Now we wait, she pulls out the sketch, looks at the pictures on her phone, asks to see the dress, has Alex do a twirl, that last bit might be her sense of humor. Maybe 5 minutes in she starts to paint and I can see the signs, she just shut out the outside world. This why her studio is going to lock down really tight for her to paint. I won't go overboard, no poison darts or rolling boulders but beyond that I make no promises.

It takes her a little over an hour to come out of it, I can see the strain, this is a lot easier when you have a picture or people posing. Much like 'besties', as Jen named the first picture, makes you feel the friendship this one is pure love. Alex is in awe, he's never seen anything like this before, while she was in her trance, he asked me about her pace.

"Alex some painters take weeks or months, she is creating a painting from her pure imagination, I'd figure she'll take about 90 minutes from past experience."

She signs the painting, walks over to the couch and it is like her strings are cut and gravity takes hold.

"Calliope, you might have outdone yourself."

"I don't know what to say, is it rude to say this is a little better than the one the girls have in their room?"

"No Alex, and that one was a lot easier for sure. Study the picture, see if you can match the placement on Saturday."

"Shouldn't be tough, it is what we practiced."

"Calliope, Sandy, if you want to do that other thing, I am open to that."

"Really?" I can't believe he said that.

"Alex, let's play it by ear, we're going to come back here after you give her the ring, she is going to be worked up so much she might burst. If she wants just you, Sandy and I can go down to this nice juice bar down the road. If not, well then that will be a lot of fun too."

Alex goes back to looking at the painting.

"Let's get the plan for the day down. I'll text Jen tonight that I want to paint her for her birthday. Sandy, you give her the dress in the morning and insist she wear it. Alex, you uber over and sit on the bench up there, you won't see us coming so we'll text you. We get her to pose on the hill, she won't question where I want her to stand. Sandy, you setup the camcorder and tripod, oh, Alex take this." Calliope gets up and pulls a black plastic thing out of the camcorder case. "Remote mic, do you see the on switch, remember that. It has a 50-yard range, we should be good, remember everything you say will be captured, imagine your future kids may one day watch this." He nods. I don't think there is any danger, I haven't heard him curse once in all the time I have known him.

"She goes up there and you walk out, kneel and them give her the ring. I can't stress this enough, if she faints you need to catch her!" This gets a laugh, she is 90% kidding, well, high 70s. "When you give her the ring and she says 'yes', you walk down to us, I do the switch-a-roo and show her the painted picture. I expect there will be bouncing and some squealing at that too, we need to make sure that is on the camera too."

"Wow you have this all planned out."

"Well, let's say a lot of my early life was spent daydreaming of stuff like this." she pauses, "I'm starting to plan out something for Mike and me."

"Mike who?"

"Alex, Poppy is dating my brother Mike back in Virgina."

"Oh wow, you might become sisters-in-law."

Poppy meets my gaze and shrugs; you are not fooling me.

Friday night we figured it was time to confirm something.

"Arcturus, we seek an audience."

"SANDRA PENOLOPE, JENNIFER ANN, YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE SO FORMAL, I AM LISTENING."

"Look who is talking."

I hiss "Jen!"

"HOW DID YOU ENJOY YOUR VACATION?"

"That I did not expect. We really enjoyed it, thank you for asking."

"YOU HAVE A QUESTION."

"Yes, I seem to be able to read people very effectively, I have been able to steer their actions. Is this my gift?"

"CORRECT."

"Why did I need to discover it?"

"I WANTED TO RECORD YOUR ACTIONS."

"It was a test?"

"NO, BASED ON YOUR PERSONALITY THERE WAS ALMOST NO CHANCE YOU WOULD ABUSE IT, YOU HAVE ACTED TO HEAL MANY WITH THE SKILL, BROUGHT PEOPLE TOGETHER. YOU ARE SPECIAL SANDRA PENOLOPE AND YOU ARE ALSO JENNIFER ANN."

"Wow, I guess that is how we got first class tickets."

"THAT IS A CORRECT CONCLUSION"

"Can you share with me any of the plan now?"

"IT IS NOT A PLAN AS YOU UNDERSTAND IT, THE GOAL IS TO IMPROVE HUMANITY, THIS WILL TAKE THE ACTIONS OF SOME SPECIAL PEOPLE LIKE YOU BOTH AND CALLIOPE ATHENA"

"Thank you, Arcturus, we will be worthy of your gifts. Thank you for talking to us."

"I WILL BE HERE WHEN YOU WISH TO TALK SANDRA PENOLOPE, JENNIFER ANN. CONGRATULATIONS JENNIFER ANN. EOF."

"Congratulations? Huh?"

"Maybe he is wishing you a Happy Birthday?" Gee, I would hate to break it to Alex that an artificial super intelligence spoiled the surprise.

I wake up on Saturday at 6am and I am full of a different sort of energy, I'm not sure a run will cover it but I'm going to start with one anyway. 5k and breakfast I return to the room, Jen hasn't moved at all, I think.

Kneeling down next to her bed I whisper, "Jenny, wake up... wake up... it's your birthday... wake up."

Her eyes closed, "If you love me, you will let me sleep."

"No can do, we have a big day ahead of us. You have to open my present and we need to be over Poppy's by 11am, she insists there is a narrow window where the light will be prefect and there is no sense arguing with her over that."

"Jenny sleepy, can I have another few minutes?"

I respond by rustling the tissue paper in the gift bag.

She draws a full breath just to sigh, and she starts to sit up. Apparently, she is nude, I resist the urge to comment or start anything, I'm quite proud of my willpower.

I hand her the bag, her eyes open up and she pulls out the dress, I made sure it was on top of the other outfit, I decided to give her both.

"Oh, the dress is beautiful, and I really like the skirt, blouse and jacket."

"I showed Poppy the dress, she wants you to wear that today."

"I was going to wear-"

"Ah, ah, are you going to argue with the mistress of light and shadow."

"I guess not."

"Now get on some frumpy clothes and get some food, if you spill on the dress, she will take it out on me."

Hugs are exchanged and she starts to get ready, I decide to change into something nice as well. I'm so excited about the stuff with Jen the fact I'm seeing Michael later fell to second place in my thoughts, I hope he likes my dress.

10:30 and Jen is radiant and we get an Uber over to Poppy's apartment, our future apartment. While I'm thinking about it, I pull out my phone and text Joe and Michael using our group text. "Tina, ignore this. Joe and Michael, can you come by a little early tonight and wait downstairs? I ordered the pizzas and cake to be delivered just before 7pm and I need someone to intercept and bring them up. Michael, you might need Greg's help."

I get a quick response; they accept the mission. Is it bad I'm thinking of pulling Michael into our room tonight during the party? Jen would forgive me, I'm sure of it.

We arrive at the apartment and Poppy is just finishing packing her SUV. She takes a good long look at Jen, "Perfect, I knew that dress would be prefect."

I pull out my phone and text Alex, "Poppy's car is loaded, are you in place?"

"Yes, I am nervous."

"You will be fine, stick to the plan. I will text you are we pull in, maybe 10 minutes."

Jen gets shotgun which is good, I'm worried she is going to see it on my face. Apparently reading others is one of my gifts but hiding my emotions is not something I seem good at; a good reason ninjas need to wear masks.

We pull up and start to unload, I text Alex we are here and he is not to peek. I will give him warning when she is coming up to his location.

Poppy and I grab the gear, when Jen tries to help, she is told she might mess up her dress. A little bulky, nothing the two of can't handle, she walks out to the base of the hill. I'm quick to setup the tripod and help, camcorder, I text Alex "Ok, we're almost ready to send her up, turn on the mic and clip it to your tie."

"Why do you have a camcorder?"

"Oh, we're going to record Cali painting."

"Oh." Seems reasonable, little does she know. Poppy has the canvas set; I don't think Jen realizes it is painted under the covering.

Calliope looks to the sky, "Jen dear, the light looks good, head on up, I'll tell you how to pose when you get there."

"Oh ok."

She walks up and reaches the top, as we rehearsed Alex comes into view.

"Alex? What are you doing here?"

I have to hand it to him; he follows Calliope's direction perfectly. I hear a little squeal as he drops to one knee, perpendicular to us mind you, and says, "Jennifer Ann Brown, will you marry me?"

"YES, YES, YES!"

He puts the ring on her finger and stands up to kiss her. They pause to look into each other's eyes then kiss some more. At this point I think they remembered we are still here and walk down hand in hand. "You two were in on this, weren't you."

"Guilty, but I want to show you something first." She uncovers the painting. Jen breaks out into tears; we seem to have overloaded her. She hugs Poppy, she hugs me, she hugs Alex again.

"Let's bring the gear back home, the painting is mostly dry but I don't want to risk it till it fully cures."

I get shotgun and we load up the car, Jen is straining the seatbelts so that she can hug Alex.

After parking we do a quick unload, Jen seems to have regained control for the moment.

"Ok, I know you are amazing but how did you paint this?"

"We sort of worked with Alex to stage it out then I dug deep to put it together."

She looks at the painting and starts to cry again, "It's so perfect."

I guess I'm feeling left out a little, "That's why I got you that dress."

She walks over to me and holds me at each shoulder. "Sandra Penelope, you are the reason we're all here. You introduced me to Alex; you introduced me to Calliope. I'm not sure about the whole world but you rescued mine for sure." She pulls me into a very full kiss and hug. I start crying too. The other ninja can't see me like this. Oh no, they could be hiding here already.

"Poppy, I have a favor to ask, any chance I can borrow your bedroom?"

"See, I predicted it. Yes, but I want to suggest something, we could try a foursome. We checked and even Alex is on board." We get a shrug and then a nod out of him.

"Seriously? All four of us?" We all nod. "I'm going to have to edit this part when I tell everyone about my prefect birthday."

We go into my future bedroom; Jen doesn't know I claimed it already. Clothes come off and there is much kissing, we were given one rule. He loves us all but only Jen gets to kiss Alex.

I hand him some lube; I think he gets the hint. I get down on the bed and Jen climbs on top, Poppy kisses Jen then descends on my pussy like there is no tomorrow, I don't hesitate and start kissing Jen and running my hands over her ass. I see Alex's dick enter her, a brief thought that I want Mike fuck me like that eventually but it really is hard to hold that thought at the moment. All of us girls are moaning, this is just too much, usually I can tell who is going to climax but everything is scrambled. And then it hits us, wave after wave, I don't want it to end but it slowly fades. I feel the full weight of Jen's sexy body on me, I think she might have passed out. Poppy is the first to say something in English.

"Is everyone okay?"

"Best. Idea. Ever!"

"I'm glad you approve Jen; we wanted this day to be really special for you."

"Alex darling, are you ok back there? Alex?"

"Jen, I can see him sitting up in a daze, might take a moment. Sandy, you good?"

"Yep, good down here, covered with a Jen blanket to keep me warm."

"Sorry, I sort of lost muscle control for a bit there." I feel her slowly roll off me. "I'm ok making this a 'Jen's birthday' thing by the way."

"I don't know, I'm worried Alex won't survive."

Jen looks at him and scrambles around so she can cuddle him. "Alex, can you hear me."

"I-"

"Jen, he's going to need a few minutes."

"Change of subject, are you coming to my party tonight, Calliope?"

"Sure, and I'll bring the painting if we keep it away from the food."

"I will threaten everyone before we dig into the food, I still intimidate most of them."

"Can we go back to how you set this up? When did you know, he was going to propose?"

"I used my ninja-sense, when I asked him what he was giving you, it was very clear. It was Calliope's idea to stage it like that."

Alex seems to be coming out of it, "I... I"

"Nope, not yet. We wanted the scene to look like Poppy imagined it."

Calliope went into the other room and came back with the charcoal sketches and her phone to show the pictures from Thursday. I go fetch the camcorder and start to pull a copy of the video into my phone. Yep, still nude.

"Alex how are you now?" He turns to Jen; I suspect the world hasn't expanded beyond Jen yet. "I love you."

That is enough for Jen and triggers a fresh round of kissing.

"I'm going to hit the shower, you all Jen; welcome to join me. Once we get washed up, I'll bring you over and hang out till the party."

"I'll be with you in a second, just copying this video."

I put away the camera leaving Jen to smother Alex with affection and join Poppy in the shower. We come out a few minutes later, and find Jen has moved to a blowjob.

Poppy picks out a nice dress and I think I'm sticking with mine for now.

Jen comes out wearing her dress and Alex follows still putting himself together.

"We can clean up back at the dorm, why don't we get going."

We load up and head back to the dorm, a few hours to go before the party, I might go for a run.

I got to hand it to Calliope, she is always creating. She brought a sketchbook and colored charcoals to the dorm and has been capturing people as she went. Even did pictures for some of the students on a separate piece of paper. I'm betting the book is going to be part of her next showing.

6:45 comes around and mostly everyone is here except for the guys I have waiting for the deliveries. Time to make a speech.

"If I may have your attention. Thank you all for coming tonight to wish our Jennifer Ann a happy 21st birthday, we also have another thing to celebrate. Today at the park, our own Alex McGuire proposed to Jen, she said yes." I point to Calliope who uncovers the painting, the room goes quiet and they there is a cheer of congrats. Jen resisted before but now the announcement is made everyone wants to see her ring and she is very happy to show them.

"Yes, that painting by our own Calliope Bard is how it looked, remember that name, it will be in art books in a few years. Now I do want to stress that if anyone gets within 6 feet of it with food you will answer to me. I am willing to earn the wrath of Susan to keep it safe." Susan is rolls her eyes at that. "The pizza and cake are going to be here any minute." The elevator dings, Joe and Michael come out with the pizzas. I lock eyes with Michael and lose my place for a second. "Correction, looks like the pizza is here. Cake any minute. Everyone enjoy."

Sure enough Greg comes up with the cake next, chocolate with raspberry filling, chance of leftovers is slim. I think Greg and Jo are going to be a thing, unlike her ex-boyfriend I do know where this one lives.

Mike comes up to me. "Keep it cool, keep it cool, don't drag him into your room, everyone will hear" is on a loop in my head, the record skips off the track when he takes my hand. That seems to be one of his things, Sandy like.

"That picture is incredible."

"We staged it on Thursday with me standing in for Jen so we could keep the surprise."

"She painted it on Thursday?"

"Yes, she has insane talent."

"How did Jen react when she saw it?"

"Clearly top 5 things today." You holding my hand is in that top 5 too.

"I was hoping to talk to you later alone." Keep it together Sandy!

"Okay, we can duck into the room I guess." OMG, OMG, OMG!

"Let's socialize for a bit first, it isn't anything critical." Unless I explode.

"Yeah sure, let's get some cake, I picked my favorite bakery."

"Greg brought up another bag with some stuff in it, he left it over by the cake."

"No, no, no, I that doesn't get put out, those snacks have a limited audience." I rush over to get the bag before anyone looks inside.

The next 46 minutes were very long, sure I talked and socialized. It was at that point Mike found me again and we made it back to the room to talk. I closed the door, let's see what he has to say. We sit down on the bed next to each other and hold hands, I really like the hand holding part.