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Post by Taelyrn on Feb 9, 2009 3:36:33 GMT -6
(OOC: Gonna be a bit of double posting in this thread, just so everybody knows now. If I'm anticipating one, I'll show it by adding the dashed line to the end of the post, just as I've done with this one.
Also, this thread begins one week after Taelyrn leaves Etrah after Visignis and Viviana's wedding.)
[glow=white,1,500]Somewhere in the North American Midwest, the sun was shining. Birds were singing, a breeze was blowing through green leaves, and the weather was mild. A brown house sat on a small hill, surrounded by other homes. Off the back of this house jutted a small porch, with a waist-high wooden railing around it. And, seated on this railing, checking his watch occasionally and glancing through the windows of the home, sat Taelyrn, the Warrior Angel of Light.
As he noticed a woman in the house preparing lunch, he absentmindedly reminisced about the past week, from the time he’d left Etrah until now. He’d found the way easily enough and, after making sure he could still find his way back, followed Pyrodeus’ advice, spending 2 or 3 days in the Radiant Plane, sharpening his abilities. When he finally returned to Etrah, he’d have some new tricks to show the others.
Then, satisfied with his progress and impatient to return to his self-assigned mission, the young Warrior Angel had settled on Earth, getting in touch with an old family friend who had agreed to keep his presence a secret. Over the last few days, they’d worked out a rough schedule, one which Taelyrn was, thus far, enjoying quite a bit. When he needed food, it was available. Sleep was a nonissue. He spent his mornings helping out around Harry’s (the friend’s) church, and his afternoons and whatever nights he wished keeping an eye on his family (as far as Harry knew, he was ‘re-connecting’ which, in a sense, was true).
However, his evening work with Harry was always an unexpected pleasure. Harry, a pastor, volunteered his services at the local hospital. Taelyrn joined him most nights, attending mass in the hospital chapel, and paying visits to elderly patients with the pastor. The work was fulfilling, and then…beep beep beep!!
Snapped out of his thoughts, Taelyrn panicked for a moment, dropping his concentration as he fumbled for the alarm button on his watch. He’d retrieved the thing from the house his first night, resulting in more close calls than he cared to remember. When he finally managed to hit the button, he sighed, looking up…directly into the eyes of his mother.
Silence, at first, then a clang as she dropped the spatula she’d held to the patio deck. Her hands raised slowly to her mouth, her eyes wet with tears as she looked directly at the Warrior Angel. He cursed, concentrating again on bending the light around himself to regain his invisibility. At the sight of her long-lost son disappearing before her eyes, Annette Davidson fell to her knees on the wood deck, her hands clasped tightly together. Seeing his father come out of his parent’s room and start towards the doorway, Taelyrn cursed silently, flying away as quietly as he could. His mother, still kneeling on the deck, staring at the spot where her son had stood moments before, whispered only one word as he flew away.
“James…”
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[/glow]
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Post by Taelyrn on Feb 9, 2009 5:16:40 GMT -6
[glow=white,1,500]A few hours later, Taelyrn, now disguised as his human self, was stepping out of a room, leaving Harry and a distraught senior behind. He loved doing the work, he really did…but when people, especially the elderly, started talking about death…it made him uneasy. He’d already died once, and, barring unnatural causes, he’d keep it that way.
Harry didn’t know the specifics, but he knew such talk made the young man uncomfortable. So, when this particular patient had begun to despair over their own inevitable end, Harry had sent him out to go get a drink from down the hall.
On returning from the vending machines, he saw Harry stepping out of the room, sighing as he ran a hand through his thinning hair. Harry was by no means a small man, and seeing him make such an exasperated gesture brought a smile to Taelyrn’s face. He knew Harry was ready to leave, and as he recalled, the elderly woman whose room they’d just left was their last patient. Anticipating this, he began walking past Harry, down the hall towards the elevator.
“Hang on a sec, James. One more stop tonight.”
Shrugging, Taelyrn followed Harry down an intersecting hallway, into a room where the beeping of an EKG could be heard. More than ready to walk in on another senior on their deathbed, Taelyrn stepped into the room, his hands in his pockets and his eyes cast downwards. When he finally raised them, however, he stopped, and his breath caught.
In the bed before him, hooked up to both and EKG and an EEG, was an angel. At least, that’s what he thought at first. It was the easiest way to explain the way her beauty struck him. However, after a moment, he realized he could feel no angelic aura about her. As near as he could tell, she was human. Stepping back to the door, he looked at the nametag: Doe, Jane.
Noting that as curious, he stepped back into the room, asking Harry about it. Apparently, she’d been found in the middle of a field two towns away, unconscious, and somehow, both burned and frostbitten. They’d managed to treat the burns and frostbite rather easily, and neither would have a lasting effect. However, she hadn’t woken up since, and if it continued, she was due to be transferred to another, bigger hospital within a week.
Thus far, only three things were certain about the girl: first, nobody had any idea who she was, or where she’d come from. Second, the metal bands on her wrists were, by any means allowable inside a hospital, indestructible. Finally, the patterns displayed on the EEG showed that she recognized speech, and was in a near-constant dream. Upon hearing this, and looking at the expression on her face, Taelyrn decided that a nightmare was probably closer to the truth. [/glow]
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Post by Leyra on Feb 9, 2009 14:18:16 GMT -6
Leyra struggled against her bonds, secured to the walls of her prison by the chains attached to her wrists. The ones in the coats had finally left, taking their needles and too-tight cuffs with them. She wasn't sure how long she'd been here, but she didn't like it. Every few hours, it seemed, more coat-wearing torturers came and went.
She heard footsteps, and backed against the wall of her cell, trying in vain to obtain some kind of cover. In the real world, her body lay motionless as Taelyrn and Harry walked into the room. In her mind's eye, however, something curious was happening.
The first figure reminded her of the ones in the coats, except his was black. However, what was most curious about him was that he seemed to be glowing, lit up from the back, somehow. Then, he stepped away from the doorway, and, eyes wide, Leyra saw the source of the light.
At first, she thought it had to be a trick. After all, people didn't glow like that. and they definitely didn't have wings. A sense of calm came into the room with the bright one, a feeling so strong it even overcame her alarm, at least for the moment. In the cell her mind had built around her, she sat in the corner, quiet, as the black-coat and the bright one talked of her.
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Post by Taelyrn on Feb 9, 2009 23:24:22 GMT -6
[glow=white,1,500]Stepping outside of the hospital room, Harry put on his hat, preparing to leave. Taelyrn, however, stood by a window in the hallway, making no motion towards the exit. Harry raised an eyebrow, a small smile crossing his features. “Not leaving with me tonight, eh?” Smiling back, Taelyrn shook his head.
“If it’s about the girl, James, all you can do is pray. The treatments are keeping her alive, but it almost seems they’re fighting her for that much.” Harry sighed. “Well, I’d best be getting home. Long day today, dinner’s going to be cold for sure. I’ll see you tomorrow?”
Taelyrn nodded, gazing out the window at the lights that lit the nighttime city. He heard Harry’s footsteps going down the hall, stopping at the elevator. With a thought, he brought the light from near Harry to his own eyes, watching as the old pastor climbed into the elevator, and left. Relaxing, he stepped away from the window. He was bothered, to be sure. Between being noticed at his family’s home and reacting as he had to the girl…he didn’t really know where his own head was at.
But something Harry had said had struck him. All you can do is pray. No guarantee it would do much more than ease his own conscience, but it would do that much, at least. Looking around, he noticed he was in the old wing of the hospital, built before security cameras were a necessity, especially in a town this size. Making sure he was alone, he walked to the girl’s room, closing the door behind him. Whatever he was about to do, he didn’t want to be found.
Crossing the room to the window, he closed the blinds as well, before moving to stand at the foot of the bed. He’d be greatly bothered by his actions later, if only for the profound lack of rational thought applied to them. Now, though, he truly didn’t care. Truly relaxing for the first time since coming back to Earth, Taelyrn’s form shimmered, shifting into that of a Warrior Angel.
Kneeling before the bed, he folded his hands, bowing his head and closing his eyes. It was a pose taken out of habit, from a childhood where his parents had made church a priority. Those years were now long since passed, but the motions of prayer came just as easily now as they did then. His wings relaxed, floating freely in the air behind him, illuminating the small room.
Dear Lord…
[/glow]
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Post by Leyra on Feb 10, 2009 0:43:47 GMT -6
The black-coat and the bright one left after a while. Leyra wasn't quite sure how long, as time was more flexible in her cell than it ever had been, but she could tell enough to know it wasn't an exceptionally long visit.
She remained indifferent as the black-coat left. She was surprised, however, by what she felt when the bright one followed suit. At first, it was simply the loss of the feelings of calm that the bright one seemed to radiate. That much, she had expected. What she hadn't, however, was a slight empty feeling as the door closed, cutting her off from its light. She shook her head, pushing the feeling away. That was why she'd come to the cell, wasn't it? To get away from feeling?
Settling into the corner, Leyra's eyes absentmindedly followed her chains, from the links on her wrists to the point where they disappeared into the walls. There was enough slack to move to the corners of the room, but not enough to reach the door that led out. There was no point in struggling anymore...she'd begun to realize where she was, at least as far as this cell was concerned. She'd been through too much, and her mind had had enough. Whatever had happened to her body, her mind had shut down, trapping her here.
Not that it was all bad, she supposed...yeah, there was the occasional visit from the whitecoats, with their needles and their own, deceptively soft versions of the cuffs around her wrists, but it was better than the last ten or twelve years had been, by far. These people, whoever they were, didn't seem the least bit interested, or even aware, of her abilities. That made things alot easier. Until the bright one showed up, at least...whatever it was...
The door creaked open, shedding bright light back into the cell again. The bright one had returned, it seemed. However, this time, it seemed rather less interested in her, flitting about the room, almost nervously. Then...something happened. The bright one, vaguely human in shape, seemed to kneel before her, loose rays of light streaming off of it's form. These rays reached out to the walls of the cell, first touching the rough stone, and then...then it seemed as though they'd burrowed in, somehow.
She was vaguely aware of softly-spoken words from the bright one, but she wasn't paying it much attention. As she watched, mouth agape, light seemed to spread in cracks along the surfaces of her cell. In moments, every surface, walls, floor, and ceiling, was spiderwebbed with light. Then, in an instant, fast enough to shock her eyes for a moment, the walls...fell away. Everything faded away. Everything but the light, and the chains.
However, these too were soon gone, fading away into the soft, warm, calming light she found herself surrounded by. Only her cuffs remained, and, as she looked up, so did the door. She could see some semblance of a shape move towards the door, then fade away. The bright one had left, she knew. Somehow, she knew...and she wanted to follow it.
Standing on a now-invisible floor, she walked slowly, cautiously, towards the wooden door. With a shaking hand, she reached for the ancient-looking doorknob, grasping it tightly before turning it, and pulling the door open. She gasped, stunned by a sudden rush of sensation as she was reconnnected to her body, now in a state of dreamless sleep.
In the now-dark hospital room, her expression changed, softened. The nightmare, it seemed, was over, at least for now.
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Post by Tobias on Feb 10, 2009 5:51:02 GMT -6
The aged man jogged down a few steps into a hall. No one knew he was there, which was just as well, considering the rifle strapped to his back. It would have been foolish to have stayed in an accelerated state while moving about, so he only used it when necessary to stay hidden. Most hospital staff didn't think too kindly of people carrying guns around their building.
He'd only reached this town this morning, having followed the source of the signal. Tobias had landed in this world a week ago, having emerged from the portal in a place the locals called San Diego. From that point, he followed the signal eastward, until he arrived in the small town that held this hospital. Seeing as he'd rather not have traveled on foot, he commandeered one of the native vehicles along the way. He believed that they had referred to it as a 'motorcycle.' It was parked outside.
His mission was to find the source of a dimensional disturbance, a Kuryr. Having dropped from the last step, Tobias' eyes were fixed on his palm. A transparent, green display lit the skin, a form of radar shown on it. There was a small dot, almost directly ahead, pulsating at a steady pace. He was getting close, very close.
The sound of a door knob turning took his attention, making him look up. A man was walking out of a room, the one that held the Kuryr. Tobias vanished from sight, accelerating himself. He quickly slipped into the room before the door closed.
Unstrapping his gun, the officer looked about the room. There was a figure on a bed, the assumed Kur invader. He was taken back almost instantly, a gasp forcing him to exit the accelerated state. Tobias had never seen a Kuryr up close, only heard of them. He'd been expecting something more monstrous, like the Ravens. What lay before him looked more human, than anything else.
His unready gun in his hand, the fingers wrapped around the shaft of the barrel, he sighed. Now there was an impasse. He swore to kill any being that had an affiliation with Ravens, himself excluded, but he couldn't bring himself to shoot a human so easily.
(Short, craptastic post, yes. I'll be better later.)
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Post by Taelyrn on Feb 11, 2009 3:09:48 GMT -6
[glow=white,1,500]Taelyrn whistled softly to himself as he unfolded a table at Harry’s church the next day. There was a lunch event that afternoon, and he and Harry were setting things up for the caterers, who would be arriving in a few hours. Hearing the older man’s heavy footsteps, Taelyrn walked out into the hallway, where Harry was struggling with a large folding table. Smiling slightly, Taelyrn gently lifted the table from the man’s grasp, carrying it into the cafeteria with ease.
“Thanks,” Harry gasped. “It’s really been great having some extra help around here. Don’t know what I’d be doing without you.”
Taelyrn smirked as he set the table up. “Knowing you, Harry, you’d have come in early today, probably thrown out your back a few times getting this done by yourself. I’ve been telling you to get some actual help around here.”
“Now, why would I go and do a thing like that? I’d end up jinxing our little arrangement, I just know it! Besides…” Harry’s voice trailed off, his tone hesitant.
“What? You figure giving me work will keep me from leaving again? I told you when I got back, it’s only temporary.” Taelyrn sighed. He knew Harry wanted him to stay. He couldn’t, though. Not forever. It was hard enough keeping that decision in his mind every day while he watched his family. He’d wanted so much to knock at the door, come back home, explain everything. But…in talking to Harry, and watching them…it seemed that they’d just gotten over the worst of his disappearance. He wouldn’t let himself put them through that again.
Harry matched Taelyrn’s sigh with one of his own. “So you say. And yet, wherever you’ve been that you can’t stay away from, you managed to leave it behind just fine to come visit. If you were so desperate to get away from the place, James, why are you so set on returning?”
He stopped, blinking. Glancing at Harry over his shoulder, he continued, un-stacking a stack of chairs and placing them around a table. “I had to come back, Harry. I left things unfinished here, loose strings that needed to be tied up. Once that’s done, I have a responsibility to go back. I’d love to stay, Harry, but no number of incentives is going to do the trick.”
Harry shook his head, stopping at the last word. “Incentives, huh? Is that what you call it? What about the girl?”
Taelyrn smiled, lightening his tone. “What about her? She’s a charity case in a hospital, Harry. Even if she wasn’t in a coma, a girl like that…”
Harry smiled slightly, resuming his help. “A girl like that what, James? Does the prodigal son have a crush on the so-called charity case?”
Taelyrn stared at Harry, dumbfounded and blushing. “Wh-what? N-no…that’s crazy…isn’t it?”
Harry’s smile grew, and he let out a small laugh as he shook out a tablecloth over the table. “You never know, James. This might just be my profession speaking, but God works in mysterious ways.”
Taelyrn scoffed. “Don’t I know it, Harry. Don’t I know it.”[/glow]
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Post by Leyra on Feb 12, 2009 0:30:50 GMT -6
Leyra awoke to a flurry of activity, complete with rushing bodies, hushed-yet-excited speech, and a quiet chorus of beeping from the various machines in the room. As she looked around, she saw a number of whitecoats with their heads together, whispering excitedly to one another.
Middle of the night, no reason at all!
There HAS to be a reason. This isn't a miracle, here.
I've worked in this place for 25 years, and I've never seen something like this. Sounds like a miracle to me.
Leyra shook her head, trying to clear her head, focus her thoughts. However, it seemed as though her mind was filled with fog, and every thought she had seemed...muddy, somehow. Glancing down at her arm, she noticed an IV hooked up to a bag by her bed. She swore in her mind, managing that much at least. The sight of the needle had sent a chill down her spine, reminding her of the way the Empire had 'controlled' her and her abilities.
Empire or not, she needed to get out. Her instincts screamed at her to jump, to portal her way out of the too-small room, with its sickly clinical smell and its whitecoats with their needles. She waited, tense and trying to fake sleep, until the whitecoats had left, then set about forcing her unresponsive body to remove the IV. She didn't have the dexterity to grab the needle itself, so, driven by fear and instinct, she clawed into her arm, determined to get the needle out whatever it took.
By the time she'd even registered the nurse's screams, she was already being pinned down to the bed, while doctors rushed to stop the bleeding of her arm.
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Post by Taelyrn on Feb 12, 2009 1:11:04 GMT -6
[glow=white,1,500]Taelyrn tapped his foot in the hallway, unsure of what else to do. Their normal hospital visit had gone awry when one of the patients, in fact the elderly woman from the night before, flatlined. They'd rescusitated her since, but only to call the family and for Harry to hold a final prayer session for her. Taelyrn had excused himself, gone down to the ground floor, taken a short walk to get some air, and then come back. The praying had ended, and it seemed the elderly woman had followed suit. Harry was now consoling the family, while Taelyrn waited in the hallway, attempting to ignore the presence to his right.
It was the old woman. "You know, I thought there was something different about you. Can't say I was expecting this, though."
Taelyrn, disguising the act as a stretch, gave a shrug. The hall was by no means busy, but there was enough activity that a teenager talking to himself would be noticed. He waited for the hall to clear momentarily, then turned to the woman. "Anything I'm supposed to do, here?"
The old woman laughed. "Oh no, dear. I'm just waiting, I suppose. I just need to see that my family's going to be alright, decided I might as well join you out here."
Taelyrn couldn't help but give the woman a blank stare. "Join me? How did you know I was even here? You were in the room, weren't you?"
"Of course, dear. But you're simply too bright to ignore. As soon as I passed, I looked around, and saw a bright light out in the hallway. I figured it was, well, the light."
Taelyrn looked down. "Ah. Well, sorry to disappoint." Looking at the door to the room, he could hear calm, yet shaky voices moving steadily towards the door. Taking a chance, he looked back to the woman's spirit, raising a finger to his lips in a 'shh' gesture. She nodded.
The door opened, and Harry, followed by the woman's family, emerged. There were teary eyes all around, but they seemed to be alright. A few of them gave Harry handshakes, and a few others gave hugs, before they walked down the hall. Standing to join Harry, Taelyrn looked around. The old woman's spirit was gone.
----- [/glow]
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Post by Taelyrn on Feb 12, 2009 1:32:15 GMT -6
[glow=white,1,500]A few minutes later, Taelyrn was in slight shock as he listened to Harry and the doctor talk. Apparently, at some point in the night, the girl's nightmares had ceased. The doctors had no explanation for it. However, that didn't explain the crease in the doctor's brow as he spoke to Harry, nor did it explain the worried tone in his voice.
"She's been awake for all of 3 hours, maybe 4. In that time, she's attempted to pull out her IV on 5 seperate occasions. We can't figure out what's wrong with her."
"5 seperate times? Don't you have any security around here?"
"Yes, we have security! After the second attempt, we had two guards in the room. She tried anyway. Then, we added two more, and she managed to time it during the shift change. This last time, we actually had her physically restrained, and she was biting the tube, Harry!!"
"What's the situation now?"
"We put her under, gave her a tranquilizer. She should be out for another hour or so. Gives the staff a chance to regroup, too. I'm sorry, Harry, but under the circumstances, I can't let you in to see her tonight."
Harry nodded, patting the doctor on the shoulder before walking with Taelyrn to a row of seats. The two sat in silence for a moment, Taelyrn still looking surprised, while Harry's expression was more agitated than anything else. Finally, the older man stood to take a short walk, promising to return shortly. Taelyrn nodded.
He looked up after Harry's footsteps faded out of earshot, before standing up on his own, finding an empty bathroom, and fading from sight. With any luck, he'd be able to get in and out before Harry got back. However, as he reformed in the girl's room, he stopped, just as stricken by her now as he had been the night before.
She was sleeping this time, really sleeping, no longer wearing the nightmarish expression from the last time he had seen her. The IV was gone, probably removed after the biting incident for sanity's sake. Only the EKG remained, and the steadily increasing speed of the beeping was the only sound in the room.
When she opened her eyes, he stopped, staring open-mouthed. He would have been embarrassed, but he was too busy being dumbstruck. Instantly, it seemed, she was looking directly at him, through him. He managed to shut his mouth, but it took some effort.[/glow]
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Post by Leyra on Feb 12, 2009 1:53:36 GMT -6
Leyra stared at the young man, examining him. He wasn’t a whitecoat, and he wasn’t one of the guards, either. She’d been woken up by something, something that had almost felt like the bright one again. But, looking at the boy in front of her, she chalked it up to wishful thinking.
Looking around, she noticed that her mind was clearer now. The needle was gone from her arm, and it seemed they had taken the restraints with them. Apparently, they’d expected something like a tranquilizer to keep her out. Their mistake.
Rising from the bed took some effort as her body worked out the various knots and kinks that had formed during its time asleep. Drugs had made her stiff, made her mind cloudy. She could move again, though, and that was a good sign. Ignoring the looks the boy was sure to be giving her. Instead, she moved around the room, gaining back some of her agility as she went. Finally, she found a drawer with her things in it, and scooped them up.
At some point during her movement, the EKG wires had come undone, and the beeping was now a flatline. She ignored it, moving towards the large window. Looking out, she picked out a hillside, and nodded.
In an instant, a body-sized blue-ringed hole appeared in front of her. A moment later, the inside of the hole was filled with a view of the hillside from the perspective of someone standing upon it. Glancing at the boy, she stepped through, closing the portal behind her as soon as she was clear, stranding the boy in the room, along with whoever she’d heard opening the door as she left.
Taking a look around, she ran to a small copse of trees, and changed back into her clothes.
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Post by Taelyrn on Feb 12, 2009 2:26:07 GMT -6
[glow=white,1,500]He couldn’t help but stare as the girl stood up calmly, grabbed her clothes, and stepped through a portal to escape the hospital. Then, however, as the door opened behind him, and Harry stepped into the room, he was shocked out of his…well, shock.
“James, what are you doing in he – WHAT IN THE GOOD LORDS NAME?!?!”
Apparently, he’d seen the portal closing. “WHAT WAS THAT!! James! James, answer me! WHAT JUST HAPPENED?”
Sighing, Taelyrn stood, talking behind Harry and closing the door, after making sure no one was running to see what the commotion was about. Thankfully, the place was designed to stifle sound, in order to prevent screams disturbing other patients. It seemed to be working. With the door closed, Taelyrn walked over to Harry, standing in front of the man, and placing a hand on each of the older man’s shoulders.
“Harry. I don’t know what just happened, but you need to calm down. Take a few minutes, calm yourself down, then leave, quietly. Do you understand?” He waited for Harry to nod before continuing. “Now, once you leave, head to the church. I’ll meet you there. But Harry? More than anything else, stay calm. Okay?”
Harry nodded again, speaking up as Taelyrn stepped away, turning to face the window. “B-but…James, what are you going to do?”
Taelyrn spoke over his shoulder, enhancing his vision to see a figure on the hilltop. Ironically, it was the same hill that Harry’s church sat on. They’d be meeting up sooner than he’d thought. “I’m going to find her, try and bring her with me to the church.” Half-turning to face Harry, Taelyrn looked the older man in the eyes, trying to keep him calm. “Harry, I’ll see you soon. I’ll explain everything then.”
Without another word, he turned back, and faded from sight, re-appearing on the hilltop. Looking around, he noticed something moving in a copse of trees, and started towards it. When the something ran, revealing itself to be a girl…scratch that, a woman, he disappeared again, teleporting himself directly in front of her. He did so this time in a flash of bright light, hoping to disorient her, if not stop her.[/glow]
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Leyra blinked rapidly, running right into whoever had appeared in front of her. Judging from the lights, though, she knew it could only be one being, one person. The bright one! She’d found him again! Still seeing spots behind her eyes, she latched onto him, clinging to him tightly.
He’d freed her from the prison her mind had made for her, and she knew he must have had something to do with her waking up in time to escape! She just knew it!
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Post by Tobias on Feb 13, 2009 20:05:47 GMT -6
A yawn, then a sigh. Tobias sat on the edge of a bed, wearing naught but his pants. He had found a hotel room to stay for the night, free of charge. Of course, no one knew he was using the room. He'd snuck in behind a young couple in his accelerated state, found a room with an open door, and stayed there for the night. Somewhere along the night, he'd also snuck behind the desk, stealing the key. He had a suspicion that he might need to return here. Also, it was a good measure to take against people walking in on him while he was sleeping.
Placing his head in his upward facing palms, the elbows connected to them resting on the knees, Tobias' memory played back the events from the previous night. That woman. Could she really have been a Kuryr? Every sign pointed to yes. He didn't want to, but he had to believe that she was his target. He sighed again, leaning back to sprawl across the bed.
His memory was still playing scenes back for him. This time, he was watching the war on his homeworld. They'd been invaded by Ravens, back when he only knew them as Impossibilities. The beings had remarkable abilities. These abilities broke the very laws of reality, defying any sort of law, or order. He remembered them well, their black, leathery skin, the yellow glow of the eyes, even the miscalculated proportions of their bodies. By all accounts, the name Impossibility was more fitting. Of course, after Xavier had saved his life, Tobias realized the reasoning behind the name Raven. The beasts were a race that had long since destroyed their home world, and became scavengers, using their power to suddenly appear on other worlds, taking the population by surprise as they spread their chaos. Every single time, it ended the same way. Eventually, the worlds that they invaded became nothing, part of the Non-Plane.
Since joining the IDPD, Tobias has fought with them, in their war to exterminate the Ravens, and both subspecies, the Kuryrs and Torials. Kuryr, from what he understood, were given limited access to the Raven's abilities, having only one or two specific abilities. Because of this, they were more able to keep their sanity, and, from what Tobias had seen, their humanity. Long ago, the Kuryrs had severed their ties with the Ravens. Torials, on the other hand were brutal monsters, overflowing with power. The beasts resembled nothing of humanoid shape, nor of the mind. They were hardwired to kill, and often kept as pets by the Ravens. Three years ago, the war had ended. Every last Raven, Kuryr, and Torial had been exterminated. At least, that's what the records had shown. As far as the books told, Tobias was the only being alive with Raven blood. The lack of such activity over the years helped uphold that theory.
Then this had to happen.
Tobias sat up, following his momentum, and getting off the bed. He picked his clothing off the floor, wrapping it around his torso. Walking toward the door, he slipped his boots on, and grabbed his rifle, slinging it over his shoulder. Upon opening the door, he vanished from sight, entering accelerated state. Fortunately, the front doors were opened, the young couple from the night before walking out. He slipped between them, and left the building, making his way to the parking lot. Saddling his borrowed cycle, he exited the state, starting it up. He rolled out of the lot, instantly throwing the throttle, then reentering the accelerated state. Tobias' ability was fashioned so he couldn't affect most things while in the state. However, he could carry things. In the case of the bike, he was merely using the throttle to give it the initial speed boost, and then accelerating to take that momentum and increase it exponentially. It was much faster than running. Of course, he could do this with any vehicle, the primitive ones just made it easier, due to the wheels. Every few minutes, he would exit the state, throw the throttle again, and vanish.
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Tobias leaned on the bike, looking through his scope at a woman running through trees. It was his mark. She was in mid stride, frozen apart from Tobias' timeframe. Having to have both hands on the bike, he'd followed her location via comm holo. It was a green, holographic screen that emerged from his comm device. It was much smaller in size than the one on his hand, as it was mostly meant for video conversation, but it worked just fine for the circumstances. The radar equipped on it had a fifty mile radius, and zoomed in when one got close to their target location. He had started out going to the hospital, but the signal suddenly jumped to this location. Apparently she had something of a transporting ability. Simple speed would be nothing to worry about, but if she was portal generator, she was a serious threat to existence.
Suddenly, a bright flash caught his eye. There were only two things that could have visible motion in his accelerated state. One was a being with the same ability, and the other was light. Tearing his eye away from the scope, he glanced toward the flash. It was an orb of white light, steadily shrinking in size. As soon as it had vanished, another flash illuminated the area, near where the woman was. Looking back through the scope, which hadn't moved a bit, Tobias witnessed a second orb of light, this one quickly growing, and taking on human shape. It was the man he'd seen leaving the Kuryr's room the night before. This would complicate things a bit.
Tobias didn't intend to kill the woman, rather incapacitate her, and return her to headquarters. From there, she would be interrogated on the whereabouts of any other remaining Kuryr. If this man could do such a thing, perhaps he was one of them as well. He surely wouldn't allow the officer to take his comrade away. On the less likely chance that he wasn't a Kuryr, he still didn't belong here, in this world. Either way, he'd be taking them both back to HQ. Tobias lined up for the man's right kneecap, pulling the trigger. Exiting the acceleration, he watched the woman cling to his first target as the bullet left the barrel, screaming toward his knee. Vanishing again, Tobias lined up a second shot, on the woman's left heel. Once again, he fired, exiting his accelerated state to allow the bullet motion.
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Post by Taelyrn on Feb 13, 2009 22:41:29 GMT -6
[glow=white,1,500]Taelyrn’s instincts screamed at him as the girl threw her arms around him, but he didn’t think it was because of her. He couldn’t place it, though…not until the bullet ripped through his knee, sending him to the ground. His concentration shattered for a split second, his human form fading to reveal his true one. However, he regained it quickly enough to use a trick he’d learned on the Radiant Plane: he sped himself up, not quite to light speed, but enough to slow things down enough for him to try and get some idea of what was going on.
The smoke trail hadn’t yet faded, and he could see it leading back a ways, but what concerned him, besides the screams of pain from his knee, was the second smoke trail, heading towards the girl. Gritting his teeth, he threw up a shield around himself and the girl, slowing back down as he did so. He turned to look up at the girl, and swore at the flare of pain that shot up from the hole where his kneecap had been. Whoever was doing this, they were fast, and they were a damn good shot.
Gritting his teeth in order to concentrate, he turned the shield into a dome, and teleported into Harry’s church, taking a good deal of soil with them. He doubted they’d escaped the shooter, as they’d only teleported inside the building they’d been fifty feet away from moments before, but the doors were locked until Harry showed up, and being on hallowed ground had helped him focus before.
Not yet worrying about restoring the illusion of his humanity, Taelyrn shrunk the shield, passing through the girl and the ground they’d taken with them harmlessly. The shield shrank until it was a softball-sized sphere, focused around his knee. With any luck, the light would help speed up his healing, at least until he could be sure they were safe long enough to return to the Radiant Plane.[/glow]
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Post by Leyra on Feb 13, 2009 23:16:38 GMT -6
Leyra opened her eyes, gasping as her bright one collapsed, then again as she realized that it was the boy! The staring boy from the hospital was the bright one! However, as soon as he hit the ground, that form seemed to shimmer and fall away, revealing a cloaked figure with white hair. Was the boy a disguise? Perhaps it was…perhaps on this world, one such as the bright one couldn’t simply walk around in the open? She didn’t know much about this world, but it seemed to fit as well as any other explanation she could think of.
He seemed to speed up, blurring momentarily, before a bright wall of light appeared along her left side. Within a moment, however, this had grown into a dome around the two, disappearing into the earth around them. For a split second, the light grew brightly, enough to hurt her eyes if she hadn’t covered them, then faded, along with a slight sense of movement. Then, the light shrank, passing through her with a slight tingling sensation, and surrounding the bright one’s knee. He’d been injured, and had brought the two of them somewhere safe, it seemed.
Looking around, she gasped. Though some of the imagery was foreign, the size and decoration of the room they were in meant it had to be a church of some sort. Looking back down at her injured savior, she tightened her fists. She could fight, she knew. And if they needed it, she could also retreat better than most. Her bright one had already taken a hit protecting her. Now it was her turn to protect him.
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