Night 52: Bus Unloading Area

[spandexorgtfo]

[from here]As they stepped outside, Kratos took a deep breath, taking a moment to savor the feeling of fresh air, even though it was still tainted with the silent evil that surrounded the institute. Then, moment finished, he returned to the task at hand

Comments

[thestormishere]

[ From here. ]

There was a small object on the ground that Lightning noticed while slipping through the door... after a moment, she realized where she'd seen it before: the bundle of similar items back in the desk of 'her' room. However, she didn't hesitate at all in choosing to ignore it- whatever they were, they were apparently not in short supply... and she wasn't about to go picking up things she didn't recognize the use for. It was very possible that whoever had left it there in the doorway had done it on purpose.

She was already conflicted enough. As much as she wanted to simply ask the man about his own power, she refrained, still holding that letting him demonstrate again first might be wiser. Exactly how that was going to take place, however, remained to be seen. Wary as she was, the thought preoccupied her as she stepped outside, taking a deep breath of the chill air in the same way she had the night before. The area seemed quite different with the outside lights on, of course... the young woman briefly squinted with

[justthedealer]

"Mutant." Remy was quick to correct her. "I was born dis way." So she wasn't from somewhere that was familiar with mutants. That might or might not work against the whole prejudice thing, but he'd do what he could with what he was given. She didn't exactly have the best of attitudes to begin with. "An' if we're givin' out names, you can call me Gambit." With a name like Lightning, she shouldn't have too much trouble accepting that.

Now that they were outside, the man backed away from the entrance just enough to get a better view of the exterior. It was pretty basic, nothing he hadn't scaled before. Of course then he'd usually had the proper tools needed for the job and right now he was left with nothing but the clothes on his back, some playing cards, a flashlight, a radio, and some pens. This wasn't exactly wall climbing material and as much as he'd been thinking it over on the way out he couldn't quite figure out how to make this wall climbing material. He just had to hope the building itself had some options available

[thestormishere]

Mutant? Lightning's brows drew together as she digested that. Although she'd heard of it, problematic things like mutations or birth defects were rare in Cocoon, due to the advanced health care its residents became entitled to at... well, birth. That was especially true of expectant mothers- anything to keep the people mostly happy, of course. Mostly. That same health care hadn't been able to save either of her parents, after all, and she now knew the true reason the fal'Cie had for keeping the world's population complacent. Did they really care about Cocoon's people? Definitely not.

Of course, obviously he wasn't from Cocoon anyway. At this point, Lightning wasn't sure whether or not he should be glad for it, unusual 'mutant' traits aside. "I see... 'Gambit' it is," she answered simply, echoing what he'd said earlier, and left it at that. It was a strange name for a strange person, but she certainly wasn't one to judge

[justthedealer]

Remy kept close to his new companion, if only so that they wouldn't get too separated in the dark. If there were indeed monsters here, that would be when they'd strike. The flickering lights made that easier for now, but it also made it easier to be distracted by possible fleeting shapes out of the corners of his eyes. It felt for a moment as if they were already surrounded, beasts waiting right where the darkness began, and he kept one hand on the pack of cards in his pocket

[thestormishere]

Lightning began to say something, but her words came to an abrupt end as she suddenly whipped her head to the side, distracted once again by something in the corner of her vision. However, after a breath or two of tense pause and nothing revealing itself, she once again had to accept it was nothing more than a mental illusion, caused by the irregularity of the lights and corresponding shadows on the outside of the building.

The young woman pressed her lips together in annoyance. She didn't feel any more stressed than she thought she should be in a situation like this, but a jumpy demeanor didn't exactly give off the best impression. Her agitation showed as she glanced back again at Gambit, then moved close enough to place a hand on the relatively smooth wall. Trying to climb here would be near impossible... the idea was quickly becoming outright ridiculous.

"We could try back inside too," she started tensely, "There were some windows on the ceiling and a balcony beneath them in that one room. If we just... hm."... Hold on." There

[justthedealer]

The idea that they might be wasting their time out here stung Remy's pride just a little. If there was a way up from the inside, one would think it would have been found already. The head doctor might hinder everyone's progress, but surely out of all of them, someone would have made progress that way. Then again, he couldn't have been the first one to try this method either. Somehow or other, they were going to have to make something out of this little excursion, even if they didn't make it up the wall itself.

He hadn't put much thought into what abilities his new companion might have, if any, so when she started to try and activate... something, he stopped to watch her in surprise. Really, he should have warned her first. It was possible she hadn't been told that everyone's powers had been weakened here, but having not known she was going to try anything to begin with

[thestormishere]

Lightning's senses rapidly spiraled back to her, along with a great deal of annoyance and, though she wouldn't have admitted it, a strong sense of embarrassment. She aimed a sideways glare at the man's legs as he approached her, body subconsciously tensing just in case he tried anything. Weakness was something she made a point to keep carefully locked away most of the time, especially from people she didn't know. Sending herself to her knees was... absolutely ridiculous of her.

"I know that!" she said thickly, her hand still pressed into the aching Brand on her chest. She just hadn't known that her connection to Odin would have been severed completely. Nothing like this had happened to her before- it was one thing if she just didn't have enough magic or something, but this kind of reaction

[justthedealer]

Once again, Gambit found himself holding up both hands in a placating gesture. He had a feeling it wouldn't be the last time he'd be doing that with this woman. Express a little honest concern...

Her question caught him off guard, and he was immediately glancing in the same direction she was, listening intently for whatever it was she might be talking about. "What is what?" He didn't like not being the first one outside of Wolverine to catch anything that might be sneaking up on them, but then she could have some heightened sense and he wasn't aware of it.

And then he saw the shadows as well. It hadn't been his imagination before, then. Landel had some sort of shadow creature among the monsters here. Such a wonderful thing to run into their first night. He had another card in his hand before he'd even thought to draw it, but he didn't light it up yet. He had to save his energy.

He was suddenly and uncomfortably reminded of Golgotha. Hopefully he'd at least be able to keep his wits about him here.

[damned_monsters]

The shadows weren't the only thing moving, there in the darkness outside the building. Not far away from the two humans, the glitter of four pairs of beady eyes were visible at the very edge of the light -- low to the ground, lower even than knee height, it would be easy to miss. Easy for anyone who wasn't watchful and wary, that is.

For now, though, they didn't move. Only waited, anticipating an opportunity.

[thestormishere]

There were numerous things that Lightning was reminded of, though none of them were an exact match for what she was seeing... or known for being particularly real. They were just fairy tales and fantasies- the sort of thing prevalent in children's entertainment and the like. Magic, although not the sort she'd grown reluctantly but thoroughly knowledgeable about since being branded by the Pulse fal'Cie at Hanging Edge

[justthedealer]

That was a good question, really. Had he seen this before? He'd seen things like it, surely, but right now it was hard to tell for certain if what was happening now was like or related to anything he'd experienced in the past. At Golgotha, shadows hadn't been swarming at the edge of darkness like they were here. He thought he'd seen things that hadn't really been there, but those were clearly formed images in his mind - nothing like this

[damned_monsters]

The light passing over the four creatures showed little more than peculiarly shaped lumps of moss and dirt, like mud dolls a child had created and then forgotten, leaving them to be worn by weather. And yet in what could be faces their eyes glittered with reflected light, gazes fixed intently upon the two humans. It could be a trick of the eyes, like the shifting shadows. Or perhaps not....

[thestormishere]

If Lightning had had just a little more experience gained from the world where she currently thought she was, perhaps she might have been bit warier at the odd sight a short distance away. The pressure to survive on Gran Pulse was intense; it wasn't uncommon for creatures there to employ camouflage and other means to overcome their prey and predators. Feral monsters in Cocoon, however, rarely made a point to hide themselves, particularly in plain sight. They also didn't usually bide their time- if they meant to attack, generally, it was right away.

And so she frowned thoughtfully, decided to keep an eye on them, but did nothing so far against the weird shapes with glittering eyes, not entirely convinced they were a threat or even alive. More important at the moment was Gambit's answer, which sadly wasn't really what she had wanted to hear. Was it possible his memory had been tampered with like Snow's had? Furthermore... was it possible she had already seen this somewhere in the time between what she last recalled and her capture and

[justthedealer]

What was that she'd said? Fallacy? Falsie? It didn't really work in context either way (and when Gambit was correcting your grammar you knew you were in trouble) so he had to assume she was talking about something she was familiar with that he wasn't.

"Hollograms are a definite possibility..." Like the Danger Room, perhaps. This place used more advanced technology than the norm, that was for certain, though whether it had also been integrated from otherworldly locations was something worth looking into. Given what Logan had told him, it was possible this whole setup was just a series of holographic images, or a telepath altering what they saw. They might not even be here at all, but laying in an empty room somewhere...

Things could never just be simple, could they?

As far as that was concerned, Remy was already starting to squint toward the odd shapes when Lightning pointed them out. "Maybe dat's our source, non? You want we should investigate or just shatter dem?"

[damned_monsters]

It took less than the blink of an eye before they were moving, and moving very very fast indeed. Once in motion the creatures had more of a humanoid shape, albeit a vague one -- but there was no sign of fang nor claw to pose a threat. They did not attack to rend and tear, but only swarmed as a group toward the smaller of the two humans, stubby arms reaching out for her legs.

Only a touch against skin would be sufficient to spread their contact poison, paralyzing her and bringing her to the ground. Within reach. And with four of them, well... hopefully one would be successful.

[thestormishere]

Gambit also seemed not to know the identity of their newest problem, something that in one way Lightning would have considered fortunate. It wasn't good that neither of them knew exactly what to do about it of course, but she was still being careful about outing herself as ignorant of something she 'should' have already known. Vanille and Fang had managed to pass while away from their home to a point, but Lightning was cautious about whether or not she could do the same.

Should they act? It was hard to say, though she did mean to give an answer one way or the other... until suddenly what were previously nothing more than earthy lumps with ambiguous faces began to move and, needless to say, distracted the young woman from any reasons to let the things be.

But even when caught off guard she was still hardly unprepared. Lightning's name was one she had chosen herself, and it definitely wasn't one without justification- she was fast as well, and training had honed her instincts to the point where she didn't have to think about what to