Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
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Post by Blue Jay on Jun 16, 2016 18:55:55 GMT -7
Omar was a young prodigy of a policeman. Despite coming from a small mountain town, Omar had graduated at the top of his class, and, just earlier this year, had joined the police force with high praise from all who had instructed him. For the past two months, he had been working in a smaller town two states over, but with the recent tragedy in the Emerald city precinct, the city had put out the call for more officers. Omar’s superior saw big things in the young officer, bigger things than the small town could offer him, and so recommended him. He was transferred just this week. He had already moved into his small apartment, made friends, and found a Starbucks on the way to work. He was adjusting to the city well. It was a big change, but it helped that a number of the other new transfers were from rural areas as well. The police force here was so busy, and it seemed something was always happening. But perhaps the biggest and starkest change for him was the very reason he was here now; supers. Omar had seen plenty about supers on the news and internet. He’d taken a couple of classes on them in college. One night, in his last town, he’d even jumped out of a building moments before a super demolished it with a blast of light. He’d told that story a lot at his last precinct. Tonight, as he drove down the streets of the city on the evening patrol of his 5th night on duty, his partner, another transfered officer named Hector, tapped his shoulder and pointed out the window. On the neighbouring rooftop was the silhouette of a person. Suddenly, the shadow vanished. The two searched for where the figure had gone, and a moment later they heard a yell to their right. The person had reappeared, and, as they could see in the light of their headlights, knocked out someone in the alleyway. A gun was on the ground and another person, a simple civilian on his way home, very much looked like someone who had just seen a super stop his mugging. Omar had heard of some supers attempting to “stop crime” and knew from statistics and reports that their “help” resulted in more harm than good. With the circumstances of his arrival he had a bad taste in his mouth for supers, and these vigilantes were little better than those who were outright harmful. Omar and Hector looked at each other. Without exchanging a word, Hector turned on the siren and Omar stomped on the gas. --- No matter how hard he tried, Blue Jay couldn’t shake the police car. He couldn’t believe he’d been seen; it was a cloudy night and he had purposely come to one of the less populated parts of the suburbs to do this night’s speedrun. For the record, he’d stopped one robber, one mugging, and had scared off three people who looked like they were about to try something. And now, for the last ten minutes, he’d been trying to get this police car off his tail. He’d almost lost them a couple of times, but then he’d drop down into an alleyway, ready to get back on with his evening, and he’d hear those sirens behind him and got caught again in the set of headlights. This was the fifth time he had to quickly port back up to a rooftop as they, yet again, spotted him. The whole thing was getting irritating. He was beginning to wonder if maybe he should pop one of the police car’s tires with his sword or hit the front of the car with a small shockwave just to get them to leave him alone. Not paying attention to what he was doing, Blue Jay missed his jump. He let out a yelp as he realized the nearest footing was five feet in front of him - the rooftop he was going to miss - and twenty feet below him - the ground he was now going to hit. Normally he could recover from something like this and land on his feet just fine, but rather than solid ground, directly below him was the edge of a dumpster. He tripped and fell on his back in the alleyway. He didn’t hear the sword clatter on the ground, but as he sat up, Blue Jay quickly realized it was no longer in his hand. What he did hear was the police car pulling into the alleyway. Blue Jay scrambled to his feet. He was looking wildly around for his blade (which was actually kind of helped by the blinding headlights) when the officer’s voice came on through the car’s speaker: “Freeze or we’ll shoot!” Blue Jay tensed. This was not a good time to be shot. It seemed he had a couple moments before they were actually in position to make good on their promise, but with his sword nowhere to be found, this situation was getting very complicated very fast. Aurora Disicio
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Pandaemonium
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Jun 17, 2016 23:13:30 GMT -7
It was rare for Aurora to move at night, but she was coming to like the effect her aurora had under the cover of darkness. There was still no point in attempting to be stealthy; if anything there was even less point than during the day considering how bright her aurora was. It was bright enough to put the streetlights to shame. Normally she preferred how the sun reflected off of it, but the way it lit up her and everything around her was nice in its own way. It was almost like a spotlight, just a spotlight that wouldn't stay the same color for more than five seconds. Given how cloudy it was, it almost looked like a brightly colored storm. It was pretty interesting in her opinion.
Her mission for the night wasn't exactly time sensitive. It could have easily waited until the morning, but Aurora just didn't feel like waiting. She had become particularly interested in the Keepers lately after finally getting to fight a couple. She had a particular distaste for the shadowy organization, and even if she could respect some of what they did, she wanted to expose them. Thus, she was going to go explore Malachite Isle tonight, while making no effort to conceal that she was there. If they decided they needed to attack her because of it, all the better. Aurora knew she wasn't going to win this with subtlety. There was a reason she didn't do subtlety. However, she could to bright and flashy better than anyone, and she had some reasonable investigative abilities of her own. Their tricks could only work for so long, they could only hide behind rumors for so long before someone went to investigate. Now was just a matter of trying to find a few weak spots to exploit to get them to move.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of police sirens. She didn't really care if they wanted to chase her, she was used to it by this point and she could deal with them. When she looked over her shoulder however, she was surprised to see that they were going in the opposite direction. Just as well, she didn't need the distraction. She continued moving, paying no mind to the sounds. As she continued, the police car appeared to loop around, heading back in her direction. It seemed unlikely that they were perusing her still, but taking the most direct path meant crossing paths with them. She still didn't care and didn't bother to alter her course. Once she got close, she heard something that made this whole situation much more relevant to her. 'Freeze or we'll shoot.' Aurora's eyes narrowed, and she looked down only to spot an idiot hero in a dumpster. It was most certainly an appropriate place for Blue Jay to be, and she couldn't help but be somewhat amused by the irony of him being perused by the police over her, but she still found the situation irritating. It was completely unacceptable, and she wouldn't let it stand.
The police were approaching quickly, and Blue Jay was frantically looking around for something rather than getting out of there. While she still wasn't surprised he felt at home in a dumpster, she doubted he was so stupid as to actually freeze when spotted by the police. Upon closer inspection his sword was nowhere in sight. These powers that relied on objects that were easily destroyed or lost were so frustrating. As tempting as it was to leave, it was obvious he couldn't take care of himself. She wasn't sure what the extent of his power was, or how well it worked when he didn't have his weapon. Even if she had disarmed him multiple times, she was pretty sure she only pushed the sword itself away and never the sheath. Whether or not that made a difference, she wasn't sure, but if she heard news of another dead super, or even saw him looking like swiss cheese later down the line, she still wouldn't be able to live with herself. She fought for all supers, no matter how stupid they were and no matter how little they deserved it.
Aurora started to lower herself to the ground as the police got into position. Before they could shoot, she moved her aurora to the end of the alley and dropped a large piece from the side of the building not long before the police shot. The bullets ended up embedded in the slab and the police started to back away slowly. It was a shame neither of them were wearing gloves or she'd deal with this directly and just take their guns away. This would have to do for now. She took one last step off the ledge of a nearby window and landed on the ground with a metal clang, her aurora coming back towards her and slowly rotating around her feet. She could hear one of the officers grab a radio and mumble something into it, but she couldn't quite make out the words. Given the situation, she assumed they were calling for backup.
"If you go northeast from here you'll find a neighborhood full of upper middle class people," she said offering a hand to help him up. "If you cut through their yards it'll be hard for the police to follow you, and most of them don't have very tall fences. The presence of a second super should give you enough time if you're quick."
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Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
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Post by Blue Jay on Jun 20, 2016 0:00:47 GMT -7
The omens were clear. A sparkling glow from the sky, the crash of displaced building parts, the sound of those stupid metal shoes his hands were far too acquainted with on pavement, but like a doomsayer stumbling upon the true end of times, Blue Jay couldn’t believe it.
He’d given up on finding the sword in the dumpster - or anywhere else nearby, as since it hadn’t hit the ground, the damn thing was probably gone. He’d been counting the seconds, trying to figure out how long he had before he had to start worrying about bullets, when the light from the headlights got significantly brighter. Above him. He wondered if he was seeing things, because surely- But Blue Jay had seen enough of that aurora he swore he could still see it when he closed his eyes. He didn’t know of anyone else who could drop an entire wall from nowhere.
In one sense he was grateful. This meant he wasn’t going to be full of lead, and that was always a good thing. In another sense, he was... confused. Confused and conflicted, enough so that when Aurora addressed him it took him a couple moments of dumbfounded silence before his mouth figured out how to make words again. While he was waiting for his mouth to stop buffering, he took her offered hand and pulled himself out of the dumpster that, at least, had broken his fall, and steadied himself in the alleyway.
“Got-” his voice cracked. Clearing his throat and telling himself to wake up already, he tried again. “Got it.” He said with a nod. “I owe you one.”
As he had thought, his sword was nowhere to be seen. Stupid thing, it always chose the absolute worst times to do things like this. He guessed he was running. As he turned to go, he wondered if it was alright to leave the two officers with Aurora. She didn’t seem to be the sort to cause any major harm to civilians. At least, that’s what he had thought before the whole bank fiasco. He should stay - he would’ve stayed, helped see the officers safely off, if he was able to take a bullet without his sword. Blue Jay had some sense of self-preservation and he was not interested in getting shot in this alleyway tonight. If Aurora possessed any mortal malice, that slab would’ve landed on the police themselves, not in front of them. He could always come back later to check on things. Presently, he needed to get out of here before backup showed up.
Blue Jay took off at a sprint for the other end of the alley. He knew this part of town and knew she was right; he just needed to get past here and then he could avoid the police in the neighborhood. Maybe ditch his mask and pretend to be a teenager out past curfew, since he didn’t have his sword.
But the police were damn good at picking the wrong times to be effective at their jobs, and were seriously on it tonight. Blue Jay came to a skidding halt as a second set of headlights turned into the other end of the alleyway. “Aurora-” He yelped.
The officer already had a gun aimed out the window of the car. Nowhere to run, no cover nearby, Blue Jay simply ducked down to try to make himself a lesser target. The sword wouldn’t let him die, he told himself for lack of any idea of what to do. Not like this.
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Pandaemonium
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Jun 20, 2016 17:18:15 GMT -7
Aurora was pleasantly surprised when Blue Jay actually let her help him up. She fully expected him to push her away, but apparently he was pragmatic enough to not care who saved his useless ass. She raised an eyebrow when he said he'd owe her one, but didn't press on it. He didn't owe her anything, or at the very least, she wasn't the type to collect on it unless she was desperate. Not for something like this. With the powerless idiot hero taken care of, she was able to turn her focus back to the police. She didn't intend to do too much, but they wouldn't be able to pursue either of them by the time she was done.
Sadly, she only got as far as the slab she dropped when she first got here before backup arrived. Aurora clicked her tongue in irritation. They must have been patrolling nearby already if they were able to get here this fast. She was counting on at least having a few minutes to at least let Blue Jay get away, and maybe deal with their cars. No time to worry about that right now, she heard another gunshot and it made her whole body twitch. The bullet dissolved into particles before it got too close to the idiot hero, who just decided that rolling over was the best way to handle this situation. She didn't have time to consider her options. Without thinking, she dropped a large section of asphalt between the cop's backup and them to at least slow them down and prevent them from shooting for a moment. Them, she dissolved the metal on her shoes and darted for Blue Jay. She could run pretty fast even with the metal on, but without the glorified training weights she felt like she was practically walking on air. Normally she wouldn't have bothered, but if she was going to have to worry about a bunch of dead weight she didn't want to take any chances.
Once she was close enough, she unceremoniously grabbed Blue Jay bey the back of his hoodie. It might choke him a little bit, but she didn't have time to make this trip comfortable. She especially didn't have the time or patience to deal with all his squirming, so without missing a beat, she pulled him closer to her and punched him right in the stomach. The punch wasn't hard enough to do any damage, and it probably won't even hurt for that long. It was just meant to knock the wind out of him long enough for her to sling him over her shoulder and get him out of there. Her aurora descended on them, surrounding them to hopefully obscure the police's vision. It wasn't very condensed, so they would still be somewhat visible, but it would have to do. She didn't want to cut up Blue Jay too badly, and even this much was likely to be uncomfortable even if it was unlikely to break the skin.
Aurora's first thought was just to open a hole in the nearest wall and replace it, but there was one problem with that plan. If she didn't dissolve the entirety of something, there would always be a fault when she put it back. A fault in this case meant that the police would be able to break through it with some effort. She would likely be faster, but sending one team that way to chase them, and a second to the next alley to surround them would put them right back in the same situation, except that one would arguably be worse. She could easily outdo them in terms of mobility, and having the high ground would make it easier to deal with their cars. That seemed like the way to go. Keeping one arm firmly around Blue Jay, she jumped off the ground, then off the side of the dumpster, then spawned something else to jump off of until she was about two stories up. It exposed her a little bit now that the police had gotten closer to her barriers, but she was confident that she would be able to block any further shots. It became apparent that was a miscalculation quickly. There were four of them, each shooting at roughly the same time from several different angles. Aurora had a split second decision to make. She could dissolve one of the bullets easily, but the rest would be far too fast to grab. She could block one side, but she could only materialize items one at a time. It happened so fast that it often looked like she could materialize several things at once, but that was never the case. One of them was getting shot. It'd be easy to just use Blue Jay as a meat shield, he certainly deserved it since he was the only reason she was here, but it was because of that she wasn't going to let that happen. She dropped a piece of wall between him and the police, dissolved one of the two bullets that would hit her, and took the final one in the back. Quickly, she opened a hole in the wall, shoved Blue Jay through it, practically throwing him, before she hit the side of the hole she created and rolled into the building.
Aurora was seeing stars for a moment because of the impact, but she wasn't feeling that much pain. All she could feel was the odd sensation of burning metal in her ribs without it hurting. She could smell the ocean, freshly cut grass, and smoke, but she knew that none of those things were there. Forcing herself to her feet and staggering as she did so, she sent her aurora back outside. She roughly remembered where their cars were, even if she couldn't see them now. The threat wasn't gone yet, and there was no way she was going to be able to move as well. She didn't want to run anymore anyway. Never again would she refuse to fight back. Never again would she be worried about destroying anyone that didn't deserve her sympathy. Her aurora spread out across the sky, and two large chunks of wall fell from it. There was a crunch as they landed on top of the police cars, but that wasn't where she intended to stop. Slowly, favoring her left side, the side that didn't get shot, she made her way to the opening she created in order to finish this.
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Pandaemonium
Posts 343
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Post by Blue Jay on Jun 23, 2016 13:10:35 GMT -7
There was supposed to be a kind of pride to being a super. The kind where one can stand alone, unarmed, against many highly trained professionals with firearms and come out on top, or where civilians ran in fear at the mere appearance of the masked powerhouses because they knew they didn’t stand a chance. Supers were strong and to be feared; strong enough that many supers saw themselves above unpowered, and people mused in chat rooms if superpowers were indeed the next stage in human evolution.
Blue Jay definitely felt like the next stage in human evolution. First jerked suddenly via his hood, then gut-punched (with an “oomph” like he was ironically coughing someone’s name), tossed over a shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and blinded by Aurora’s aurora, he was really feeling the power. While Aurora was figuring out how she was going to get the two of them out of there and acting on said plan, he was still struggling to fill his lungs back up with air and get a handle as to what was even happening. A small part of his pride was fighting a dieing battle to stay alive.
But the world did not stay still and wait for him to catch up. He didn’t see the shots - he couldn’t see hardly anything - but rather heard them. Four shots, thuds of bullets hitting a wall, and, and one meeting its mark. He hadn’t been the one hit, he knew that, but he felt its force. But, he didn’t think it was possible for Aurora to be shot with her powers. Police had tried and failed - that’d been the case just a moment ago, down in the alleyway. The bullets just seemed to dissolve around her. But, what else could’ve happened?
And then he hit the floor. He skidded along the ground on his side until his back hit the corner of a cubical. For a moment he remained there, in the dark quiet of the office building, offset by the blairing of sirens and their lights outside, trying to fathom what couldn’t have been more than a number of seconds. Aurora had picked him up, saved him from being shot, and then, had got shot herself.
He scrambled to his feet. Aurora had been shot. The police had shot her, and now she was standing before her hole, her aurora outside. Why wasn’t she taking cover in the building? She had to know the police were going to fire again.
From outside came a crash, and the sirens went silent. Blue Jay’s eyes widened with the realization. She wasn’t going to- What was she doing? She wasn’t still fighting, was she? She was clearly injured and they were not withholding fire. They would gain nothing by winning this “fight” and had plenty to lose if they lost. They should be running.
He could see the malice in the way she walked. Before, he wouldn’t have thought she was willing to do anything drastic, but the air about her now said that if he didn’t do something now, the police force might be down another four officers.
So Blue Jay acted rashly, doing the only thing he could think of without his powers. He ran at Aurora, making to grab hold of her jacket. “Stop! What are you doing!?” He yelled. He could see the hole made by the bullet. Thinking a silent apology to Aurora, the police officers, and just the city in general really, he yanked her back from the hole with enough force that, if she gave way, it wasn’t unlikely he’d end up on the ground again.
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Jun 24, 2016 19:17:45 GMT -7
Despite the position her arms were in, there was enough resistance on Blue Jay's pull that it was more like she had her arms crossed rather than at her side. A quick tug on it was more than enough to throw her off balance. Aurora attempted to regain her footing, but her body just wasn't moving right at this point. Unfortunately, she still favored her right side in general, so when she put her right foot down and twisted to the right a bit, her whole body just collapsed onto the floor. The sound of a few more bullets going off filled the room, most hitting the outside wall and one hitting the ceiling inside the room they were in after going past the two of them. It was fortunate that he at least had the decency to pull her away from the hole or she might have gotten hit again while she was too distracted to turn the bullet into particles. Aurora herself landed with a thud, wound side down, on the floor. Even though she still wasn't feeling any pain, her body was still in a state of shock, even more so now than it was a little while ago. She was clearly having more difficulty even getting back up.
"I'm making it so we can't be pursued dumbass!" she shouted, the anger in her voice thick for even her. "I'm not going to be able to carry your useless carcass around anymore, so we've completely lost our edge in maneuverability. So just get in the corner and stay out of my way until we can get out of here."
Aurora wasn't sure how much longer she'd have to handle this. She wasn't sure how much she was bleeding, she was already having some difficulty breathing, her head felt like it was spinning and it was only getting worse by the minute. It was times like this that she cursed her compulsion to do stuff like this for people that didn't really deserve it. Slowly, she forced herself to her knees and didn't bother getting up further. This was enough to see over the hole, it would do. She couldn't afford to be slowed down anymore; if this moron decided to pull her away again it'd only completely screw them over. As much as she wanted to handle this with a little more finesse, speed needed to be prioritized. Once she could see where the police were standing, another block of concrete dropped and landed not more than a few feet away from them.
"Drop your weapons, now!" she quickly turned to Blue Jay before he could do anything stupid in response. "And you, you pull me somewhere I can't see what I'm doing, you only increase the odds I'll drop something directly on them. Got it? Corner. Now."
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Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
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Post by Blue Jay on Jun 24, 2016 23:14:38 GMT -7
He probably should have been expecting Aurora to fall with him - that was kind of the point of his maneuver - but the truth of the matter was neither his feet nor center of balance were prepared. Blue Jay found himself, yet again, landing on the ground, on his back. This time beside Aurora. He was beginning to think he should have a bingo card for this.
This whole mess was because of that stupid sword. If it had just worked for him, he wouldn’t have needed Aurora’s help in the alleyway. He could’ve taken care of the police himself, he could’ve made his own escape, and Aurora wouldn’t have been shot. If he had it now, he could do... something. Be more than just a useless sack of potatoes. How, he couldn’t quite figure, but that was a problem for later. But of course, he thought bitterly, its honor would be tarnished to know it had been of any help to the likes of him.
Hearing but ignoring Aurora’s statements, he pulled himself quickly to his feet. “Why?! Why do you hate me?!” He yelled, looking wildly around the room. Of all the times for it to be a glorified stick of metal, now, when they were stuck on the second floor of an office building, Aurora struggling to get to her feet and policemen out for blood below, was a really really bad one. He saw neither blade nor hilt of his sword.
But he was not just going to go sit in a corner. He moved desperately into the nearby cubicles, searching for what likely wasn’t going to be there. Every moment they spent in this gridlock with the police was another opportunity for someone to get another serious injury. Both sides looking desperate; he couldn’t be sure what lengths the police were going to go to, or how Aurora was going to stop them. They had to get out of here as quickly as possible and the sword was his only chance of anything remotely beneficial.
Then, he saw it. Leaned against the nearest cubicle wall, empty when he’d looked just a moment before, was his sword. Blue Jay didn’t hesitate. He snatched its hilt and sheathed the blade without complaint or apology, and displaced. He could be thankful later; presently he too busy trying to figure out that “how”. He appeared an instant later directly beside Aurora with but a single plan that he wasn’t even sure was going to work. All he knew was that they needed to get out of here as fast as possible. He was pretty good at getting places very quickly, but those had always been solo trips. He’d never had a hitch hiker before.
But the present was as good a time as any to try. Unceremoniously, in much the same way she’d grabbed him by the hood, Blue Jay wrapped his arms around Aurora’s waste. Strength of the sword aiding him, he lifted her from the ground. His logic was as follows: when he displaced, his clothes and any other objects he was carrying moved along with him just fine, beginning and ending the sudden rush of speed as he did. Therefore, the same would happen to a passenger. It was as sound of reasoning as he was going to get under the current circumstances. His destination was the roof of the building at the far end of the alley, and, dearly hoping this was going to work or at least not fail horribly, he displaced.
It was an odd sensation, the sudden burst of speed; with cool air rushing around him and scenery whizzing past in a near unintelligible blur, while still feeling as though he was taking any normal step forward. Then, as quickly as it had started, it came to a stop. Coming out of a displacement had a similar feeling to stepping out of an air conditioned building on a day over 100°, and the world would come back into focus. The experience had been disorienting and strange when he’d first gotten his powers, but he’d grown so used to it since that it hardly ever crossed his mind.
Much to his relief, Aurora had made the trip with him. The strange part was, when he looked around, he had fallen short of where he had planned to end up. He’d made it onto the roof - thank goodness - but he’d been aiming for the far side, a spot not even at the edge of his range. He’d only made it about halfway across the roof.
The quick conclusion to be drawn was his range was shorted. Why, he could figure out later. The police cars were still visible over the edge of the building. Aurora had taken out their cars and thus their means of following them via vehicle, but he couldn’t stop yet. Spotting another, nearer rooftop, he displaced once again. It wasn’t until five blocks and four displacements later that he felt safe stopping.
He’d come to rest atop another office building, about ten stories tall. The windows were dark and the roof was littered with cover in the form of small greenhouses. In the distance, he could see the lights of the sirens. Carefully, he set Aurora down. They probably should keep moving, go somewhere, or do something, but for a moment he just needed to pause for a break. His mind was still reeling and he was unsure what to do or say. The best he could do was take a step back and offer her his hand to get up, if she wanted it, otherwise remaining silent.
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Jun 25, 2016 12:58:51 GMT -7
"Now is hardly the time for that!" she snapped.
Given there was no one else in the room right now, and it didn't look like he was shouting at the police, Aurora could only assume that he was shouting at her. The fact that he was getting this upset over some mean words and a little bit of manhandling was absurd. She knew he was touchy about this kind of thing, but worrying about it when they were being shot at? Aurora just rolled her eyes and returned to focusing on her mission at hand. Though, she did watch him out of the corner of her eye. He was at least getting out of the way, which was good, but he was wandering around clearly looking for something. That honestly worried her more than the police did. Blue Jay was known for trying things, things that tended to range from completely useless to incredibly stupid. It put her in an awkward position. He wasn't talking, so if he was going to try something against the police she couldn't coordinate properly, but more than that, without his powers his efforts probably wouldn't amount to much, especially when compared to what she could do.
Aurora didn't have time to worry about it. She had to deal with the current issue. Unfortunately, her instinct was right and she didn't get the chance. Just as she was about to start making some holes in the ground, she was lifted off her feet (or knees in this case). Even though the force of the grab wasn't that strong, it sent an odd sensation throughout her body; it was as though someone forced all the air out of her lungs, and was trying to do the same to her stomach. It didn't hurt, she still wasn't feeling much of anything, but her body still managed to find ways to protest being grabbed that close to her wound. Acting on instinct, she rolled just enough to get a good shot at his jaw with her fist. Between the police and being grabbed, she was so focused on dealing with perceived threats that she didn't notice she wasn't in the office building anymore. By the time the punch connected, Blue Jay was already starting to put her down. She tried to hit him with her full force, though it would be greatly weakened by the awkward angle and her wound. She still wouldn't be surprised if he lost a few teeth though.
During that time, her aurora started darting towards her at speeds that made even Blue Jay's displacement look slow. Before he started putting Aurora down, it had already surrounded her body in a highly condensed form, making her look like a vaguely person shaped ball of colored light. Despite her body's protests, she managed to get her footing and even found enough strength to stand up straight. She blinked a few times, trying to get her bearings. Blue Jay had his sword now, they had to be a fair distance away from where they were or her aurora wouldn't have come to her like that. Not that far away though, she could still see signs of the wreckage she created, but it would do for now. It would take the police several minutes to be able to do anything at all. She lowered her aurora around her feet and had it spread out so it wouldn't be quite so blindingly bright.
It wouldn't be that inaccurate to say that Aurora lived about 10 or more seconds in the future rather than in the present. She was already looking around the roof in order to figure out what to do next. Blue Jay must have stopped for a reason, and she wasn't at all comfortable putting her life in the hands of someone else. She needed to have a backup. There were stairs leading down into the office building. Not surprising given the amount of plants up here, they had to be cared for somehow. This entire street was full of office buildings like this. They wouldn't have many places to hide, especially not for long periods of time if she were to pass out. There might be air vents big enough for her to fit in if she squeezed, so that would have to do if she couldn't find something better. She could confirm their existence in a little bit. Her body felt bad, but the pain still hadn't kicked in yet. With the police this far away, she suspected her surge of adrenaline from the hit would die down soon enough. She had to be prepared for that, there was no time to dally here with the idiot hero. She could feel some blood running down her leg, but it wasn't that much. She carefully prodded at the wound on her back. The bullet hit her ribs, about in the center just above her waist, at a sharp angle upward. Breathing was hard, but that was mostly because her ribs seemed to be having difficulty expanding like they should rather than because one of them was punctured. It made her breaths rapid and shallow and she still didn't feel like she was getting enough air. The bullet likely ricocheted off her ribs, that entire area was going to be a mess. There didn't appear to be any major swelling though, so between that and the fact that her lung appeared to be fine meant that she at least wasn't going to die from this. Probably. Cleaning it up could wait until she had a decent hiding spot.
"Sorry. Are you okay?" There was some amount of concern in her voice, but she was still talking like she might punch him, or anything else that got in range, at any moment. "Unfortunately, your plan had a flaw. My aurora's going to keep following me, letting them know our location until I get rid of it," she sighed. "I hate having to carry my things."
Without waiting for a response, Aurora slowly made her way to the stairs leading into the building proper. As she did, she raised her aurora towards her hands and a bag materialized in them. The bag started filling up with things she carried around with her just in case they'd be useful. She wasn't limited by how much she could carry, so there was no reason not to. Among the items was a very well stocked first aid kit, a few knives, some jerky, a very well stocked tool kit, a lighter, a bunch of wires, some cash, and some other miscellaneous items. The bag was big enough to hold it all easily, but it was pretty heavy, especially given she was keeping the metal parts of her boots in that instead of on her feet for the time being. Having to carry it like this was going to be pretty inconvenient. Once she had all the things she wanted to keep, she sent her aurora over the edge of the building, lowering as close to the ground as she could. Loud crashes echoed throughout the area as she dumped everything else she was carrying in her aurora on the ground below. The light became dimmer as she dropped things until it faded completely. At the very least, she wouldn't be as noticeable anymore.
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Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
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Post by Blue Jay on Jun 27, 2016 16:19:37 GMT -7
He’d been so concerned with getting out of the building as quickly as possible that he hadn’t put any mind to what Aurora was doing. As he was setting her down, he’d been preoccupied enough with trying to figure out what to do next that he was entirely unaware of the punch heading his way until it collided with his jaw. The fact that her aurora was doing something he’d never seen it do before did not help with his sense of security. He’d been caught up in the mass of particles enough that it was hard for him not to have a reaction similar to putting his hand on a burning stove whenever the cloud of sandpaper came his way, even if the injury incurred wasn’t necessarily comparable. The comparison to a swarm of angry sparkly bees was again feeling appropriate. Blue Jay half staggered, half jolted back, taking several unsteady steps away from the super.
He made a half-hearted attempt to regain his composure. Failing, he just sort of stood there, stunned, his hand on his throbbing jaw. His mouth tasted like blood. This was his life; getting punched, metaphorically or physically, by the people he was trying to help. He wanted to be mad at Aurora - he was doing his best to be of some use, and as far as he was concerned he’d done a pretty fine job of getting them out of there without having to unnecessarily hurt anyone else. He was thanked with a punch to the face. It had been his mess in the first place, and he was grateful she had come to aid him, but first she acted annoyed that he wasn’t doing anything and then punched him when he was being helpful? What did she want from him?
But then she did something he never thought he’d see her do; she apologized. Actually flat out said “sorry”, no roundabouts or half apologies. Of all the things he had expected the headstrong and prideful Aurora to say, that was one of the last of them, right beside “I was wrong” or “I like you”. He was almost more startled by this than he’d been by the punch. He wondered if something was wrong. Had she hit her head? Was the pain of being shot making her say weird things? He felt like he’d just experience some kind of omen, a sign from the gods and a prelude to some disaster. But, he could be sure it was sincere. He doubted she would have said it if she wasn’t.
“Y-yeah, no problem. I’m fine.” He said stiltedly. He let his hand drop back to his side. His jaw throbbed and he was wishing his mask didn’t cover his mouth so he could spit out the blood; he could tell he’d pretty well bitten his tongue and swallowing tasted strongly of iron, but he was fine. No real harm done, he guessed.
He simply watched her as she went about emptying her aurora. A good super would be making mental note of what she was doing for use in later battles, but he was attempting to pick up his problem solving where he’d left off. The police doubtless had seen her aurora run off, meaning it was likely they knew the direction they’d fled in. Additional backup probably wasn’t more than a couple of minutes away. Less if his luck was going to continue to fail in every conceivable way. Getting rid of her aurora certainly made stealth simpler, but he wasn’t sure how long it would take the police to consider them a lost cause and move on. Thirty minutes? Hours? Hopefully they had more important things to take care of than a wild goosechase with the two of them, but it was possible they were going to see this as a rare opportunity to finally stop weakened supers. This place had some hiding spots, but roofs and dark alleyways can only keep one hidden for so long.
“We’ve got to keep moving.” He concluded absently, coming to join her by the stairs. But where could they go? The natural thing to do was go to a hospital, but that obviously wasn’t going to work. They could just continue running until the police left them alone, but that plan had flaws in it as well. What they needed was a place where they could rest, see if they could treat Aurora’s wound, and not be seen by anyone who would be alarmed by two supers. “I can get us somewhere, I think.” if his powers were going to hold up. Blue Jay was feeling five steps removed from the whole situation, as though he was looking down at himself. He didn’t like the feeling.
“And, are you okay?” He asked. He probably should’ve asked that sooner. She was walking, so that was probably good, and her punch had certainly hurt, but in truth he didn’t know the first thing about what to expect from someone who had just been shot. Dying dramatically in a pool of blood was what movies said was supposed to happen. Since there was neither a pool of blood nor a dieing Aurora giving her last words, things couldn’t be that bad, right?
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Jun 27, 2016 19:20:24 GMT -7
Aurora was glad she didn't have to explain why she punched him and that it was as obvious as it should have been. There were always risks when grabbing someone from behind in a very tense situation. It was exactly why she insisted on stopping his squirming before he did something unpleasant to her. Even so, she was still rather irritated with herself. She put a great deal of effort into remaining relatively calm in these situations, and even more effort into how to handle them. To completely lose control of herself so easily meant that she hadn't made as much progress as she thought she had.
Even with her back turned to him, Aurora could tell from his tone of voice alone that he was looking at her as though she grew a second head. Her expression flattened and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes, but she couldn't say she was surprised. It wasn't her fault that people used words incorrectly, so incorrectly that the words practically lost all meaning. People should only apologize when the legitimately messed up or did or said something they shouldn't have. Apologizing any more than that made a person's apologies meaningless dribble that they said only to make themselves feel better, stripping the word of any power it might have. Blue Jay's reaction alone was proof enough of that, even if it was annoying. More annoying than that though, she got the feeling he wasn't being entirely honest. Whether it was to protect her own feelings for some reason, or because of the current situation she wasn't sure, but before she could lecture him on that, the adrenaline in her system died down enough that the pain suddenly hit her like a truck.
If breathing was hard before, it was even harder now. Each breath felt like fire and like someone was trying to rip apart her ribs. Putting any weight on that side of her body felt even worse. The bullet didn't tear through anything that would stop her from moving technically, but at this point it might as well have shot through the bottom of her foot up through the right side of her body and out the top of her head. Every movement, save for the smallest ones, sent a jolt of pain up her side. It was bad enough that she had to lean against the door to the stairwell for a moment just to catch her breath. Despite that, all things considered it still didn't hurt nearly as bad as the first time she was shot, but that hardly helped her now. It was still bad enough to knock her on her feet in most circumstances. About the only thing keeping her up at this point was willpower and the knowledge that she'd be screwed if she didn't find a place to hide. After resting for just a moment, she opened the door and started making her way down the stairs. She was leaning heavily on the left railing in an effort to keep as much weight on that side as possible.
"Can't run. Go. I'll hide. Fight if necessary. Shouldn't be necessary."
As much as she hated talking like that, breathing was just too painful to talk normally. It should be specific enough for him to understand what she was trying to say at least, assuming he would even accept it. Aurora knew he said 'we,' but it hardly mattered. She wasn't about to leave her fate in the hands of one of her enemies. He seemed like too much of a clueless goody-two-shoes to do anything too terrible, but she didn't exactly want to present any opportunities either. She succeeded in what she set out to do, he could leave on his own easily so she just needed to worry about herself at this point. Considering she was starting to see black spots that would be easier said than done.
"Define fine. Won't die. Can clean up later."
Much like before, she wasn't bothering to turn around as she spoke. There was simply no time for it, and moving that much was extremely unpleasant right now. It was getting increasingly hard for her to keep her eyes open and the world was starting to spin. She could feel blood dripping down into her boots, making them feel a little sticky as she walked, but all things considered she really wasn't bleeding that much. It was unlikely that any of that was caused by blood loss, more by lack of oxygen and pain. The experience was taking its toll on her, and by the time she was nearing the bottom of the stairs, her body just couldn't hold out any more. Aurora collapsed, falling face first down the last three steps and landing at the base of them unconscious.
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Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
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Post by Blue Jay on Jun 28, 2016 13:06:22 GMT -7
Aurora was not okay and this conclusion was drawn from several data points. Current Aurora was leaning the railing like it was the newest update for her legs, whereas normal Aurora walked on those metal-toed shoes like she knew she was going to break one of your fingers today. Current Aurora was speaking in broken sentences. Normal Aurora not only spoke in full sentences, she spoke in full, angry paragraphs without pause.
“Aurora?” He began as she neared the bottom of the stairs. “Are you-”
More importantly and most starkly, current Aurora had just fallen down the stairs and stuck the landing with her face.
He answered his own question. Since it had originally occurred, the panic of Aurora being shot had been all but overwritten by other threats so that it registered more in his mind as something to factor into plans rather than something to worry about. With the fall of Aurora, however, adrenaline reminded Blue Jay that this was something he probably should be worrying about with all the kind and gentle care of a gut-punch.
Blue Jay ran down the stairs (forgoing his faster powers - indeed, he wouldn’t realize until later that he probably could’ve caught her if he’d been at all reactive) to Aurora’s side. He saw blood; there wasn’t all that much in actuality, but he couldn’t help but draw up the mental image of Aurora dieing in a pool of blood after being shot. The first thing he did was check her pulse, because that seemed like the sensible thing to do. She was indeed still alive. Also breathing.
“Shit.” He had no clue what to do next. Stop the bleeding? Looking a bit closer now, she didn’t actually seem to be bleeding too badly. That was good. Did he have anything clean he could use? She’d dropped what had looked like a first aid kit into her bag, he remembered. Scrambling for the bag, he dug hurriedly through it (basically dumping the contents out on the floor) and found his memory had not failed him. On a normal day, Blue Jay was fairly proficient with dressing wounds. This was not a normal day, and so he slapped on some bandages over her clothes and called it a job well done enough for now.
Blue Jay stopped himself at “what next” and forced himself to take a deep breath. He’d already figured out the next step: find a place where the police wouldn’t find them. Hospital was already out of the picture, and it wasn’t like he could ask Aurora if she knew of any good spots. HQ was… He could try to find a quiet building somewhere, but he wasn’t sure how long it’d be before Aurora was up and moving again (he chased off the thought of “if she ever was moving again”, because of course she wasn’t going to die and that notion was silly) and he didn’t want to have to find another place come morning.
One thing was certain; they couldn’t stay here. The police got a nice hint from Aurora’s aurora where they were, and the dumping of her stuff hadn’t exactly been subtle. He could work a plan out once he started moving again.
He gathered her things back into her bag and slung it over his shoulder (nearly knocking himself over with the surprising weight of it, add one to his bingo board), and, as carefully as he could, put one arm under her back, one under her knees, and lifted her. Slowly, being cautious not to hurt her any further, he walked back onto the roof. Blue and red lights could be seen driving down the dark roads in the distance.
He looked around, wondering if he knew anywhere in this area that was going to be closed or something the next day, and realized he was actually fairly familiar with this area. His bus route ran right through the street beyond the building, and the grocery store on the corner was the sight of any late-night runs requested by his aunt. His house was only about a quarter mile from here.
He could take her back to his house. It wasn’t like he’d be surprising anyone with the arrival of two supers; he would get a chewing out from his aunt, no doubt about that, but she already knew who he was. Him showing up in a mask was not going to be a surprise. No one else in the boarding house, if they even noticed, would likely be too alarmed by it either.
The obvious flaw in this idea was if he took her back to his house, Aurora, a prominent member of Pandaemonium, someone who he had fought on multiple occasions and didn’t get along with even outside of blows, would know where he lived. If she wanted to, she could use this information to figure out who he was. Or, if that was too much work, simply arrive in the middle of the night to attack him in his sleep. Or, if that was too much work, she could just tell other members of Pandaemonium where he lived and let them do the rest of the job for her.
But, Aurora had taken a bullet for him and now she was unconscious and it was mostly all his fault. He had to do something, and this was the best something he could come up with. Sighing to himself, Blue Jay made up his mind. He seriously had to stop helping his enemies.
---
Even with his oddly shorted displacements, it didn’t take him too long to reach the boarding house. It was a large building, dark with the time of night and set back on a few acres of property on the outskirts of the suburbs. He did indeed get a chewing out from his aunt, who had been woken up in the middle of the night and “dragged into his super business for the tenth time, as though the papers weren’t bad enough” (for the record, this was only the third time). Electing the common room’s couch was probably a bad call, his room was ultimately decided to be the best location.
Blue Jay’s room was small and rectangular. On the short wall across from the door was the singular window, blinds pulled up so as to give the small potted cape primrose set on his desk some light in the mornings. A poster of the local college was taped to the wall. His furnature totaled at his bed, set to the side of the window and along the long wall, a side table beside the bed, his desk, placed in the center of the opposite wall, and a single bookcase which ran the rest of the wall from his desk to the door. Only a small walkway of floorspace remained. His room lacked much for decoration, and was actually fairly clean (because his aunt told him to pick up so he stuffed his mess in his closet).
He’d given her his bed. His aunt, who had a significantly greater medical knowledge than him, had dressed her wound. Her coat was hung on the headboard of his bed - washed, as his aunt had insisted. As were her boots, which were set just below and next to her bag. On the bedside table was a tall pitcher of water, a glass, and a couple of large oranges.
A couple of blankets and a pillow were dumped in a heap at the foot of his bookcase where he’d left them after he’d attempted to get some sleep. Fatigue had allowed him some rest, but worry had gotten him up after only a few hours. His sword was propped against the far corner of the room, a location that might come off as casual but actually had a good bit thought put into it. He didn’t want to come off as a threat, thus why he didn’t have it next to him or on his back, but he didn’t want it to be too far away either. Nor did he want it to look like he’d spent ten minutes trying to figure out the best spot to put it.
Blue Jay himself sat at his desk, pouring over his history textbook and working on an essay that was due yesterday. He knew wasn’t going to get any more sleep, and figured if he was going to be up he may as well make use of his time. His mask was still on, as was hers - he hadn’t so much as touched it. He was beginning to think she’d given him whiplash with her punch, if the additional pain in his neck and his headache were anything to go by. The ice pack he held to his jaw was starting to get warm, and he pondering grabbing another from the downstairs fridge. He realized this was the fifth time he was re-reading the same paragraph and he still wasn’t taking any of it in. He’d already gotten up at least half a dozen times to grab something from downstairs, or to go downstairs and realize he didn’t actually need anything. He was trying his best to concentrate on other things, but he couldn’t get the events of the alleyway out of his mind.
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Jun 28, 2016 17:48:10 GMT -7
Unfortunately, getting to Aurora's wound wasn't as simple as taking off her jacket and lifting up her shit. First, the jacket was physically attached to her top by dozens of tiny clips on the inside of it. The clips were dark, and clipped to the underside of the straps of her tank top, making them near invisible unless you really knew what to look for. Getting them off wasn't easy either; it was likely that Aurora treated her jacket and top as one article of clothing and put both of them on together, rather than separately, given how tightly they were clamped on. Underneath her jacket and top was a thin kevlar vest. It was lightweight, clearly meant to be worn under clothing without being noticeable and without limiting movement or being too heavy, rather than something meant to stop every bullet that came her way. Even so, it was probably one of the things that slowed down the bullet that hit her enough to prevent her lung from being punctured. Her chest had a simple binding: one ordinary sports bra worn the way it should be, with a second one on top of it, but worn backwards. It had two purposes, the first being to keep her breasts from getting in the way while she jumped around, and as a way to make Aurora look less like her 'true' identity. The last bit of clothing wasn't obvious at first. If it weren't for the way it was absorbing blood, the skin tight leotard she was wearing might have gone completely unnoticed given the color was identical to her skin tone.
Pulling down the leotard revealed what that and her jacket were trying to hide. Her arms, shoulders, the upper part of her back, and most of her chest were covered in scars, the most prominent one being a burn scar a little bigger than her head on her left shoulder blade. This was clearly not the first time she had been shot either. There were two other spots that looked like gunshot wounds, one in her armpit where it looks like the bullet grazed the bottom removing all the flesh there with it, and one in her chest, only a little to the left of dead center. The spot Blue Jay stabbed her through the arm was still bandaged, but that appeared to be the only recent wound. The rest followed no clear pattern. Several of them were clearly from sharp objects, but others appeared to come from more blunt objects, such as car keys. There were even several that looked like they came from stranger sources, such as lighters and even cigarettes. Her body wasn't completely covered with scars, but they were too numerous to count.
Aurora wasn't sure how long she'd been asleep when her eyes fluttered open. Some sunlight was starting to come through the window. After blinking a few times, she realized this was an unfamiliar window. Her heart skipped a beat, her eyes widened, and she quickly sat up, fast enough that her hair nearly went horizontal. Her body immediately made her regret it, causing her to slump against the closest wall. Where was this? A quick glance revealed there were two exits, one door, one window. She had no idea where the door led, but the window clearly lead outside. It would be the better option if getting out of this room quickly became necessary. The ground was soft, or more accurately, she was sitting on a bed. There was little else in the room. A bedroom? Aurora blinked blearily a few more times as her vision started to come into focus. It was odd, she was feeling a little on the chilly side even though the heat combined with the kind of clothes she tended to wear tended to make her uncomfortably hot around this time of year. She looked down. Bandages. Those weren't there before were they? She was pretty sure she simply hadn't had enough time to take care of her wounds yet. A cursory look over her own body made her freeze. Her arms were exposed. No wonder she was feeling cold, this was the first time in a long time she didn't have anything covering her arms outside of the shower. What happened? Who found her? Her eyes darted around the room again, eventually settling on the only other person in the room.
"You!" her voice was dark, lacking its usual power. "No one hears about this. Any of this. I swear I will--" she coughed before she could finish that sentence, her body upset that she took that deep of a breath in order to talk. "Where is this?"
Aurora continued looking around. Once she noticed her coat, she quickly grabbed it and put it back on despite her body's complaining. At this point she just felt naked without something covering most of her upper body.
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Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
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Post by Blue Jay on Jul 2, 2016 2:01:07 GMT -7
More than anything, his mind kept returning to her back. He’d only seen it between grabbing things for his aunt and helping her when needed, but it was hard to miss what was there. It had been a shock for him - it was hard to imagine burn scars and bullet wounds on someone as seemingly insurmountable as Aurora. She came off undamageable, like she could walk away, unscathed, from fights in which everyone else limped away. In all of his battles with her, he’d only managed to land a single blow on her.
He felt guilty seeing the bandaged stab wound in her arm. He was used to his wounds lasting no more than a week, and as such had expected it to be gone, but it’d been a couple weeks at least and it was still there. He didn’t regret fighting her at the news station. He knew he’d done what he had to, but he felt bad to see an injury he’d caused this long after the fact.
At last, though, she began to stir. Or, “stir” wasn’t quite as accurate as “jumped back to animation as though struck by lightning”.
“Aurora! You’re awake!” He said, enough joy and relief in his voice that one might think she was a close family member waking up after a week-long coma. The only reason he didn’t jump to his feet from his chair was because he’d done that earlier when someone’d knocked on his door to tell him breakfast was ready and he’d banged his knee cap against the top of his desk. Instead, he spun around to sit sideways in his cheap armless wooden chair, resting his elbow on the top and moving his ice pack from his numb jaw to his neck.
He felt the cumulative relief of a night’s worth of concern wash over him. He may have hugged her if there wasn’t still hostility in her voice, reminding him that, technically, they weren’t friendly parties. “This is my place. My bedroom.” He replied with a good bit more sobriety. “Sorry, they had all the five-star suites reserved already.” He laughed awkwardly. He nervously rubbed his knee, his laughter lasting about as long as his joke was funny, and his gaze turned out the window.
He felt like he was forgetting something. There was a lot he wanted to say; a lot he’d thought about saying when she finally woke up. “Thanks”, for one, and “are you okay”. He’d certainly had time to think about it. In the moment, however, he was so alleviated that he felt out of it. All was well, so said his brain, so he didn’t have to think about those stresses or standard issue statements for such a situation any more. He figured the feeling would pass fairly soon, and he wasn’t quite sure how he felt about that.
“Auntie said to eat something if you were hungry,” he motioned to the oranges, “and to drink lots of water.” He didn’t want to get into anything heavy. Not immediately, at least. That obligation could be put off for a bit longer.
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Jul 3, 2016 13:04:08 GMT -7
He brought her to his house of all places? Aurora glanced around the room again uncomfortably, eventually fixating on the window. She couldn't see out of it very well at this angle, so it was impossible to tell exactly where this particular building was. Based on the size of the room she assumed it was a small apartment in some apartment complex, which made it likely that she was currently somewhere in the suburbs. That area of town wasn't exactly small though, and it was heavily populated unsurprisingly. She wasn't sure how recognizable she was without her aurora given a lot of her clothing could pass for weird looking street clothing. The mask would likely be a dead giveaway however, so leaving wouldn't necessarily be easy. Not when she was still having this much trouble just breathing.
Aurora was also assuming that he lived alone based on the size of the bedroom here. She figured the rest of the apartment wasn't that much bigger, and thus wouldn't be that expensive. However, he mentioned another person, a family member in fact. Did he seriously not only expose her and her current state to other people, but also make it so that she would likely be exposed to them? That she would know who he cared about and where to find them? She always knew Blue Jay was an idiot, but she doubted he was that much of an idiot. Something was very much not right here. He was acting overly perky too, like he was almost happy to see her or something. It was really creepy. As if bringing an unconscious girl into his bedroom wasn't suspicious enough.
Her attention refocused on him, with her eyebrows raised, her unease apparent. There was no way this wasn't an act. She glanced at the oranges and water with an equally suspicious expression, but rather than pick anything up, she just folded her arms in front of her and gripped her coat more tightly. Her eyes narrowed as she looked back at him, and sighed. No one was ever nice to her unless they wanted something, she doubted this time would be an exception.
"Okay, what do you want?"
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Pandaemonium
Posts 343
Power Level 30
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Post by Blue Jay on Jul 4, 2016 0:33:03 GMT -7
The way she surveyed his room made him slightly uncomfortable. He wasn’t exactly used to having guests over - he couldn’t remember the last time he had - and he feared there was something in the “Book of Hospitalities that Go Unspoken but Everyone Expects Everyone Else to Know” that he was missing. Maybe he should’ve hung up some drapes.
He’d done his best to be as unthreatening and friendly as possible, but her unease was not unwarranted or unexpected. He returned her agitation and raised brow with his own raised eyebrow and a slight tilt of his head. “What do you mean, ‘what do I want’?” He asked.
He kinda wanted a sandwich, but he doubted that was what she meant. Was she expecting him to rub his hands evily together and demand her unending servitude because he’d helped her after she’d been shot? He might expect that from a Keeper, or her on a bad day, but she didn’t seriously think he’d pull something like that, did she?
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