"That's fine." Anole said to Hulkling and exited the shelter. He perched himself on a low branch and leaned agaisnt the the trunk of the tree. He watched as his skin and battle suit began to change colors to blend in with the tree. He turned to look at the red domed sky. It hadn't changed much. He gave a sigh and turned his attention to the shelter's entrace. His eyes began sweeping the area for zombies and other intruders.
"Anole, I need to ask you a favor." Hulkling said, leaning against the base of the tree where the reptilian mutant had perched himself. "Don't mention my heritage to anyone else. It's going to be hard enough dealing with just..." he gestured back towards the cave where Xavin was sitting near Karolina. "With just Xavin there.
"You didn't know, so I'm not angry." he lied. He was plenty angry, but not really at Anole. "Just...don't do it again. Okay?"
Chase just stayed against the side of the wall, still really keeping to himself. Its not that he didn't like the people that he was currently surrounded by, he just felt like the only non powered one there. Heck even that girl without powers actually had a bow and arrow. All he had was his knife. He hoped Molly, Gert and nico were ok.
Xavin took a seat near the front of the cave as well. She positioned herself opposite of Eliza, noticing that she seemed to be keeping an unofficial watch of her own. Old instincts never died, and her training insisted that she assist in keeping watch by keeping an eye on the other side of the horizon. Most of the others had seen some battle, but something about this felt like more to Xavin. It felt more like soldiers holed up in a vast expanse of unfriendly enemy territory not knowing where help would come from, if help would come at all
( ... )
“You’ve never done something just to see if you could?” Eliza asked. “He’s almost a thousand years old. He’s bored. Doing this, watching us scramble and fight… it’s like reality TV. He probably thinks this is funny.” She watched the thing in the sky, rubbing her left wrist with her right hand. “Maybe it’s just a human thing, to want to reach out and hurt things when we’re bored and angry… but I doubt it.”
She jerked her hand away from her wrist and frowned, looking at the dirt beneath her. Where the hell had she gotten angry from?
The girl shivered and nestled against Cyrus.
“He doesn’t actually care about us as individuals. We’re… convenient. If he knows who any of you all are, he certainly doesn’t care. Maybe with me and Cyrus, he’s trying to provoke Grandma, but that’s doubtful.”
Xavin looked up at Eliza's words. Although she had not expected an answer, her response was definitely welcome. Getting this one to open up and give them necessary information had proved difficult before, when emotions ran high, but perhaps now that everyone had settled down somewhat, the empath would be more open to conversation. She had certainly answered Xavin's question, even if Xavin did not like that answer. It wasn't that it didn't make sense; it did. It was that the answer was not encouraging at all
( ... )
“You’ve got a plan,” Eliza said, drawing her knees up to her chin and studying Xavin closely. Something was certainly buzzing in the shape-shifter’s mind, something that, in someone else, Eliza might have called, a scheme. She almost wanted to cackle, but she knew the emotion she was feeling wasn’t her own, and ruthlessly pushed it away. “You want to take the fight to him, don’t you.”
The shape-shifter (Eliza was reluctant to label it either ‘he’ or ‘she’, as she couldn’t actually spot any of the things within it’s mind that she normally identified with one gender or the other) wouldn’t have been the first to do such a thing. Her family had stories about people who had tried taking the fight to the old monster.
Generally, the plan was called a creative suicide attempt.
But since they were already trapped here… why not.
"I have ideas." She grinned just a bit. "Which may become a plan, depending."
Xavin looked out at the sky for a few moments. Things were starting to click for her, but she wasn't quite sure if they were in the correct ways. Still, they had to do something. The solution, if things were as she thought, was obvious. She wasn't going to be a pawn in some madman's game. If this was a game, then she was going to be the opposing player. And she was going to win.
"That monster...I did not see it follow us too far before. Yet it knew exactly where we were. A flyer does not fly that fast and that hard unless it is sure of its destination. Otherwise, it risks crashing and dying. It knew the world, and it knew where we were. The only thing it did not know was what I had done to alter the environment
( ... )
Cyrus shifted again, going from wolfman form to naked human. Neither he nor Eliza seemed particularly perturbed by his nudity or his close contact with his cousin while naked.
"I wouldn't say that this place is a part of him so much as a world created by him." he said in a quiet voice. "But everyone in our family has some empathy. It's part of the family curse, the part that was passed down. We can always locate family within a certain range. This place probably amplifies his power, since he created it. I don't doubt that he knows exactly where and what we are."
"I wouldn't know where to start to try and destroy this place." Cyrus said, ducking his head. The shape-shifting alien felt rather like an alpha through his empathy, and being under the eye of an alpha-type always made Cyrus feel nervous. "And even if we could, I don't think he'd be that closely connected. It's..." the werewolf cast around for some sort of explanation. "It's like a marionette or something. He's manipulating it at a distance. Attacking the marionette wouldn't damage him."
The werewolf bit his knuckles nervously. "A weighted marionette on rubber bands." he amended. "Cut the bands and they'll snap his fingers, but I don't think even Grandmother could do that on her own. If we find where the spell is anchored, though..."
"What happens if we cut the spell loose?" Karolina asked. She straightened up, pushing her back against the wall for support. She'd been dozing for a while, but the combination of angry noises and a growing crick in her neck pulled her back to wakefullness
( ... )
"He can't create something from nothing." Cyrus murmured, ducking his head and shoulders in an effort to look small. He wasn't used to being in a position of authority, even if it was just an authority on some information. "If we could snap the threads, this-" he patted the dirt next to him, "-would probably go right back to where it came from and take us with it. Somewhere in Europe, probably, since that's where that side of the family is from
( ... )
"Great, a catch twenty two," Karolian turned to look at the tall, pale man as he spoke. Somehow, despite his size, her eyes seemed to slip right over and away from him. She hadn't really noticed him before, except to register his presence, but now-
"Why are you NAKED?!" she shrieked, hands flying up to cover her face. She'd been exposed to a great many radical cultures these past few months, but all of them wore clothing!
Eliza looked at Karolina and finally chuckled. "Ever tried to keep a werewolf clothed?" she asked, shoulders shaking with mirth.
She was the first to admit that it wasn't particularly nice to be laughing at her discomfort, but you had to take your jollies where you could find them, and her reaction was absolutely priceless. "I'm more worried about the fact that Cyrus has lost his glasses."
The albino teenager had jumped when Karolina had shouted, then cringed back against the wall, hunching down to make himself look small and non-threatening, something he did surprisingly well for six feet of pure muscle.
Xavin steepled his fingers in front of his nose as Cyrus spoke. He was refuting everything that Xavin could come up with. That was okay, though. He was used to that from others. Often, the process of gathering information and coming up with a plan was a process of elimination. Eliminate what is wrong and what won't work until you get to what will. The epiphanies that occurred in such instances no longer surprised him. They were simply part of the process
( ... )
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"You didn't know, so I'm not angry." he lied. He was plenty angry, but not really at Anole. "Just...don't do it again. Okay?"
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She jerked her hand away from her wrist and frowned, looking at the dirt beneath her. Where the hell had she gotten angry from?
The girl shivered and nestled against Cyrus.
“He doesn’t actually care about us as individuals. We’re… convenient. If he knows who any of you all are, he certainly doesn’t care. Maybe with me and Cyrus, he’s trying to provoke Grandma, but that’s doubtful.”
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The shape-shifter (Eliza was reluctant to label it either ‘he’ or ‘she’, as she couldn’t actually spot any of the things within it’s mind that she normally identified with one gender or the other) wouldn’t have been the first to do such a thing. Her family had stories about people who had tried taking the fight to the old monster.
Generally, the plan was called a creative suicide attempt.
But since they were already trapped here… why not.
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Xavin looked out at the sky for a few moments. Things were starting to click for her, but she wasn't quite sure if they were in the correct ways. Still, they had to do something. The solution, if things were as she thought, was obvious. She wasn't going to be a pawn in some madman's game. If this was a game, then she was going to be the opposing player. And she was going to win.
"That monster...I did not see it follow us too far before. Yet it knew exactly where we were. A flyer does not fly that fast and that hard unless it is sure of its destination. Otherwise, it risks crashing and dying. It knew the world, and it knew where we were. The only thing it did not know was what I had done to alter the environment ( ... )
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"I wouldn't say that this place is a part of him so much as a world created by him." he said in a quiet voice. "But everyone in our family has some empathy. It's part of the family curse, the part that was passed down. We can always locate family within a certain range. This place probably amplifies his power, since he created it. I don't doubt that he knows exactly where and what we are."
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The werewolf bit his knuckles nervously. "A weighted marionette on rubber bands." he amended. "Cut the bands and they'll snap his fingers, but I don't think even Grandmother could do that on her own. If we find where the spell is anchored, though..."
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"Why are you NAKED?!" she shrieked, hands flying up to cover her face. She'd been exposed to a great many radical cultures these past few months, but all of them wore clothing!
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She was the first to admit that it wasn't particularly nice to be laughing at her discomfort, but you had to take your jollies where you could find them, and her reaction was absolutely priceless. "I'm more worried about the fact that Cyrus has lost his glasses."
The albino teenager had jumped when Karolina had shouted, then cringed back against the wall, hunching down to make himself look small and non-threatening, something he did surprisingly well for six feet of pure muscle.
Sorry... he murmured.
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