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| The Sins of Men and Angels; [Utopia] | |
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| Topic Started: Jul 18 2012, 07:46 AM (3,084 Views) | |
| Wolfsbane | Jul 26 2012, 04:57 AM Post #46 |
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Wolf Form
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It had all fallen down. The Broodling had failed her queen for the last time. "No..." she gasped as she fell down from the pedestal she had taken control from. Around both her and Rahne Sinclair, the Brood-shaped mind scape began to crumble, fall to pieces. The Broodling struck hard on the ground and lay there, gasping and wheezing in her death throes. "Well... looks like... looks like ye've won after all..." she gasped as the red wolf padded her way forward. "At least... at least I can take solace... that I was nae the only one who failed her Brood... she... muh queen..." Rahne could muster no sympathy for the creature, no sorrow as it lay dying at her feet. "Do ye... do ye think... do ye think when The Queen and I meet in the afterlife... she'll forgive me?" the Broodling asked. Rahne pondered this for a moment, glancing down at the pitiable creature as it began to crumble away. "I think ye'll both be too bloody busy burnin' in hell t' care about each other," she snarled, and walked away as the Broodling finally died. There was a light in the distance, a warm glow Rahne hadn't felt in years. It was time to go back home. *** "Miss Rahne?" a young girl who went by the name of Polly* whose exoskeleton was slowly melting away, revealing her natural green skin underneath, and the octopus tentacles that replaced her legs began to poke through the holes in the armor. All around the dead body of the Broodling, children were reverting to their natural states. "You're not dead, I know you're not! Get out of there!" the girl pounded on the creature's carapace. Ever since coming to the Institute from the Morlock Tunnels, Miss Rahne had always done her best to help her. Help her learn to read. Helped her with her math. Helped her believe in herself. Helped her believe that despite what she was, she could be somebody special, somebody important. "Wake up!" she yelled, and a muffled groan sounded out from inside the carapace. "She's in here!" Polly called out, and began digging her fingers into the armor to find purchase, peeling away at it as hard as she could. She used her fingers, she used her tentacle legs, she pulled with all her might. "C'mon, help me!" she grumbled, and the other kids began clambering in to help, punching at the chitin as it withered away under the onslaught of the cure. They pulled chunks back, pieces, widening cracks until a soft, pale white hand shot out through the opening. The dead armor cracked wide open, revealing Rahne Sinclair, naked as the day she was born and covered in a slimy film. She was exhausted. Sore. But she didn't care. She was alive and she was herself again. She'd prance around naked for the rest of her life if she had to, she had herself again. "H... hey, kids..." she gasped as she crawled out of the discarded and dead shell that was for four days her hellish prison, coughing up a gob of greenish phlegm. She felt disgusting, she felt as weak as a newborn kitten. But she didn't care. A cheer rose up from among the children. They'd done it. They helped Miss Amara defeat the monster and then they saved their teacher from it. They were heroes in their own right, even if for only a little bit. {* = Polly is based upon a character named Molly who appeared in the 2002 "Icons: Chamber" miniseries by Brian K. Vaughan and Lee Ferguson. I had opted to use her as one of the Morlock kids before remembering her name. Upon Heather's advice, the character's name was changed to avoid confusion.} |
![]() [size0]Say the dog and butterfly, in the air they like to fly. Dog and butterfly. She knew she had to try, and she float back down to the warm soft ground, laughing - she don't know why, but she had to try, she had to try. Dog and Buttefly. Avatar by Natalie, signature by Olga. My graphics set is complete again! Thank you so much! | |
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| Psilord | Jul 26 2012, 06:39 AM Post #47 |
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Reality Warping, Flight, Has a Pet Galactus
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They came, they came and they kept coming, and the blue and black broodling that was a boy from the future, was so painted in their blood that he was nearly purple. He could hear Jean and Danger keeping the swarm moving, the human and the machine working in such perfect concert that if he was not busy ripping the head off something that might have once been some sort of sabertooth cat, he might have watched with awe. He felt the swarm, the hivemind wrapped around his and felt their pains, their triumphs, but there was one that he reached for, even in the middle of the lust for blood and death, and the rising chill of the freezing that was to spell their end and the salvation of the world. Rachel, beautiful in her new wasp like form, beautiful not because of how she looked, but because of how she fought for what was right. Stomping his clawed feet into the muck that had been once alive, he got a sudden image of her, in the human form which had never seemed weak to him despite the strength of this new body, fighting just like this, fighting to save the world, the world of the future that had fallen so greatly from what it was right now a quarter of a century earlier. As their failure to cure the Brood virus brought the parting of the shields overhead upon them, he sought out his girlfriend, his love and lover... If they were going to die, he wanted to die with her... But he was still, at this moment, still commanded by the swarm, and he was ordered to protect the queen. ::I'm down, but the cure... It worked. Danger, shut the shields! Run the numbers! Run the numbers!:: Scott's voice cracking through the neural net. ::Brood virus eradicated. Environment restoration in progress :: Danger announcing victory. Another swarm approached, a last hope gambit of vengeance, not expecting to win, just wishing to cause the most damage out of spite, and Franklin sprang on his new powerful legs, and he met them... and the cloud of the aspirated cure they brought with them. The pain of rebirth was as great as that of his transformation but it was less the return to humanity as it was the sudden rush of his powers coming back to him. Franklin's broodform rippled, the withering carapace reshaping, molecules restructuring, and exhausted, aching, stomach roiling, blood on his tongue, the young man rose to unsteady legs, dressed in a blue and black uniform that called to mind something that slipped his grasp, as he staggered into the Queen's chamber. "We're back," he cried, blue eyes meeting Jean's, "It worked, oh my god, it worked!" Meeting Jean's eyes, he said, "I... Rachel...." There was nothing more for him to fight, the war was over. "Jean..." She nodded once, and Franklin smiled, a bloody smile but one of pure joy and triumph. He had never doubted that they would win, but in those last moments, he had realized that it didn't matter if they didn't, as long as the world was saved. Franklin had never entirely understood how to be a hero, not that he recalled. He had ideas, and he had notions, but in the world he came from, it was the first purely self sacrificing act that he had ever made that had thrown him backwards in time to crash land, confused and dangerous in Central Park. He remembered none of that and he wouldn't remember it until his damaged mind allowed him too. But as he staggered out into the snow, already melting as Danger restored environmental controls, through the debris and the dead and dying that had been the enemy swarm, now just torn and rotten meat. "Rachel!" he called, "Rachel, honey!" Please let her have survived. |
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| Jean | Jul 26 2012, 04:52 PM Post #48 |
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Telepathy, Telekinesis
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Her mind was spread across a hundred other minds, familiar but alien, and each one fighting to survive. In the physical world, her green eyes stared unblinking out over battlefield that had once been a lush valley but saw nothing. However, her thoughts swam through the mindscape, following the mental lines that connected Danger to the X-Swarm. :: Designate: Jean Grey-Summers, connection to Designate: Rusty Collins is weakening.:: ::I see it, :: Phoenix reported as she followed the glowing tangle back to where Rusty was fighting the Brood with Freakshow. Unseen and unfelt by the boy, she strengthened the connection that the Brood queen's virus chipped away at the link. In her mind, she flew between them all, strengthening their connection to Danger, and keeping their minds out of the Brood queen's slavish grasp. Then the call came in from Cyclops - the virus worked, the queen was dead... They had won. She barely had the wherewithal to nod to Franklin as he rushed off to Rachel, while she took in the cost of their victory through Scott's mind. "Oh no," she breathed sadly. "Danger, release the neural net," she called to the machine as she took to the air. Phoenix soared over the battlefield. "Find Hank and get the infirmary up and running," she called down to the X-Swarm who were rapidly becoming X-Men once more. At the ravaged crater where Cyclops fought the brood queen, Phoenix landed beside her husband and went down to her knees... the first one to his side, as always. "I'm here, Scott," she said, relieved to the point of tears that they, and he, had survived what had seemed a hopeless battle. She leaned forward, touching her forehead to his. "I brought you a spare pair," she said as she straightened and fished out the spare glasses she kept in one of her uniform pouches and put them in his hands. "Everyone is waking up," she said as she shrugged out of her uniform jacket and laid it on top of Marrow, purple and newly birthed from the remnants of the queen. It was a relief to see she had survived the experience. Looking around and taking in the scene, she saw the still and bloodied, small form of Nat'ren and her heart broke. "I wish... I wish I'd been able to save him." Scott felt the neural net release and the hive mind sensation was swept away, but he wasn't alone, because Jean was there, suddenly, swiftly, always the first to him, the reason he would never again be alone. She touched him and he blindly pulled her close, as she slipped the glasses to him. He wasn't going to kiss her until the taste of blood was out of his mouth. She tended to Marrow, and then mourned for Nat'ren and Scott was again remembered why he so in love with this woman. She burned with compassion for everything, everyone. "You did save him, Jean. He died free, he died making a choice that he would never have been able to make without you. He saved us, saved the world, and may have saved his people. He died a hero. That was because of us, Jean, that was because of you. He didn't survive, but you did save him, honey." For a moment her thoughts flickered back to the destruction of their school and the small corpses they'd had to put in the ground then too. "I'll take the three of you to the infirmary," she said finally, the idea of leaving Nat'ren behind was unthinkable, "and then do a fly-by and see who needs the most help." She reached out and touched Marrow's shoulder, then the four of them lifted in to the air, buoyed by fiery orange energy and sailed toward the temple. |
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| Rusty Collins | Jul 26 2012, 06:02 PM Post #49 |
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Unregistered
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From his towering perch, Rusty watched in exhausted amazement what was unfolding below. The frigid air was a lot more noticeable now, but he kept his attention focused on the battle below, hurling churning balls of fire at the Brood as Kevin stomped his way back into the nightmarish battlefield. Flashes of orange lit bloomed as his flames exploded and spread flickering shrapnel in a splashing array. Most of the battle was aerial here. He spied a number of his friends furiously buzzing past, locked in airborne struggles for their lives and he was struck with a sudden sense of surrealism. He’d heard of battle fatigue, and in his time in the Naval boot camp had known people who had suffered other types of mental trauma from seeing horrific events and being incapable of digesting them. Was that what was happening to him as a strange sort of euphoric buzzing took hold of his facilities? He wasn’t sure…but he did know one thing. What he was seeing was something he’d never forget. That was for damn sure. And then he saw her. She was shouting, her arm buried in another Brood creature as she fished around for something to damage that would kill it. Rusty saw the creature go limp and fall from the sky…and shortly after he saw her plummet and crash into the ground violently. “Doreen!” Seeming to forget his own tattered and useless wings, Rusty took to the air, immediately losing altitude as his own body started to slake off the foreign shell. It was an instinctual blast of fire that slowed his fall, and though he landed hard he was able to push himself back up. Bits of chitin peeled off like a second skin, his body beneath was bloodied and scratched but his stubborn fighting will pushed him to his feet nonetheless. And so he hobbled across the clearing as the Brood perished. His focus was singular until he stood over her and looked down. The shell had cracked and splintered off of her. She seemed badly hurt, but to his immense relief was still breathing. Looking around at the last throes of the battle, Rusty took what was left of his strength and knelt beside her. Gently he scooped his arms under her and gritted his teeth as he stood. Pain tore through him, but he pushed it aside and put one foot in front of the other as he made his way toward the building and ultimately the infirmary. He had very little left, but he’d make sure she got some medical attention. |
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| Marvel Girl | Jul 26 2012, 08:02 PM Post #50 |
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Unregistered
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Teeth sank into her shoulder, she screamed and swatted a set of clawed fingers across the flightbound broodling's roaring maw, knocking it away. Darting through the air she wove in and out of the black cloud of the Brood Swarm, doing all she could alongside others to keep them away, to keep them at bay. It was savage conflict, bloody conflict. This was a battle for humanity, a trait which ironically, it sorely lacked. And then she felt it, that cold blast of air as the shields that held the tropical jungle paradise steadfast against the blasting arctic tundra beyond its borders began to crack and droops and sink. Tangled in a scratching, clawing, biting, snarling snag of Brood and transformed X-Men, ahe shouted. "Low! GET LOW!" She clawed them away, cast herself downwards towards the Earth. Casting a look behind her she saw as the Brood began to frost behind her, slowing in their cold blooded pursuit as the chill, deadly to man but quciker and deadlier to the insectoid creatures all here had become, began to work its icy magic, frosting their wings, rendering them immobile behind her as she shot for the ground. But as they came near she felt something invade her nose, her mouth and her body. There was no smell to it, nothing out of the ordinary, but the odd green haze tinting the air in their unique vision betrayed the fact. McCoy had succeeded. As icy corpses dropped behind her she felt the temperature sink even further before a lurching wracked her insides and she yelped, falling. The carrapace shrivelling drying, crumbling away as she tumbled. Her vision went blurry and she began to spin wildly towards the ground as her wings broke away, victims to the velocity of her descent. The cold followed closer. The ground approached all too quickly. And then she felt it return, her nature, her thoughts. Danger no longer present in her mind but instead the myriad mental shouts of those still turning back, those searching for their comrades. Her Father, her mother, her lover. In that instant she felt the psychic link between her and all those nearby flood back into her consciousness. As more of that dying carapace sloughed off to reveal clean skin beneath she tried to maintain her focus in freefall, thinking back to that day with Meggan, with Northstar, with Franklin. Nobody was here to catch her. Nobody. She wouldn't couldn't go out now. Not here, not after she and her people, her friends, and her family had concurred the unconquerable. She wouldn't go out as collateral damage. She was too willing to live. Too determined. Passion ignited a bright red-orange fire around her, and as it flared a whistling screech filled the air as she drove heavy into the soil, rutting the ground, carving a swath through grass and dirt and dying Brood inside a cocoon of returning telekinetic force. She skidded slowly to a rumbling stop. And then it all went dark. Rachel! A green eye fluttered open, looking around. Rahcel, Honey?! She shot up from her prone position, looking around at the groove she'd carved into the ground. Had that been nearby, or in her head? Rachel Summers, daughter of Jean Grey and her Husband Scott, Future Freedom Fighter and Temporal Assassin, pulled herself to shaking feet, wiping sweat from her brow, using her own mental prowess to bolster her fortitude, to stay awake. ::Franklin.:: She sent out the wavering astral voice. Honing in on him. She had spent much of her life the last two years hunting down the specific psionic frequencies of specific mutants. This offered her little to no trouble. Wandering the rapidly putrefying battlefield she stumbled about. Cresting some dead dinosaur, she tumbled down it's shredded side, ::Franklin I'm here.:: Seconds to minutes to moments and she became aware of just how far from the temple proper she'd meandered in her fall. And then she saw him, wandering about the field. Whether mind or heart had led her she didn't care. She shot forward, landing in a rough run to keep her balance, and she nearly collided with him, throwing her arms around him, kissing him in celebration and relief. "We won." She said, and then she kissed him again. She wanted to go to sleep now, but no. It was too much a moment to waste. Too much a victory to miss. |
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| Derek Addams | Jul 26 2012, 10:15 PM Post #51 |
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Unregistered
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JP Between Bruiser and Wither _________________________________________ <"YOU'LL DIE BY MY HAND!!!"> "I'm gonna KICK YOUR ASS, Kid!!!" A series of chitters in a language not his own combined with shouts in the one that was. He slammed into the hulk, determined to get him as far away from that platform as possible. The momentum sent them tumbling end over end as he slashed with his claws. The human side of him was holding back. The Broodling had no such reservations. But both were clear on keeping the thing back from the portal. As they rolled the claws dug into the broodling, causing him to make a loud screeching noise followed by shouting now in the brood language. He did not care if the human understood. <YOU BETRAY YOUR FAMILY. YOUR MOTHER. THERE IS NO GREATER TRAITOR THAN YOU.> The wound stung and the cold air made the creature feel more sluggish but still he fought with fury against the creature. His pinchers poised for attack and tried to trap the creature. He would rip him to pieces with his teeth if need be. The creature could feel his hold on the host slipping. He would not wind up like the others. He would die as a proper Brood should Kevin try for control! Derek screeched in confidence as his claws found their mark, saliva dripping from his fangs at his quarry's remark. The thoughts of the broodling and the mutant once again merging and dancing as he roared. ,<MY FAMILY IS HERE! My hive and home that you threaten and were once part of!> "Kevin!!! WAKE UP!!!", his human voice came through the clacks and snarls. The bloodlust was intoxicating. It called to him, pushing and twisting at him to keep digging his claws in, keep ripping into that soft flesh beneath the hardened chitin that served as his target's best defense. But he hesitated. He remembered. Kevin Ford... A kid with an ability that he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy. Kevin Ford. Yeah, he was probably one of the angriest little shits from foster care he'd ever met. Kevin Ford. Touches a single thing and it dies. Kevin Ford. HEEEEEEEEE IS OUR ENEMY!!! the broodling screamed within him, and Derek winced, and his grip loosened. "Kevin... come on... fight!!!" The creature was ready to strike down the former man. It wanted to sink its teeth in around the little broodlings neck and remove it from existence for its insolence. Its large jaw opened and as the creature started to move its head forward something changed. The boy had stopped responding to the mindscape trickery and the broodling had simply assumed that Kevin had given up as many weak humans do. The large broodling body released its hold on the smaller one and reared back, its midsection clearly open for attack. <I... WILL...NOT STOP!"> The creature inhaled and screeched, its insides starting to feel like they were burning. What was this? Had the one-eye'd one defeated his Queen? "Derek" The creature hissed out in Kevin's voice. Something was wrong... he could feel it. The air he sucked into his lungs seemed thicker somehow, and the creature beneath him had stopped struggling. "Kevin... Kevin, are you there!?" There was a slight groan from his opponent as it began to slump back and turn gray in color. Derek could feel it, too. That thing. That thing that was so bent on tearing it to shreds was beginning to die. He collapsed, his claws still deeply imbedded in the hulk. Even those were beginning to feel less and less like a part of him and more like something that needed to be shed. He writhed on the ground as he felt the presence of the broodling slipping away, pulling his hands free of the the husk as the wings fell off his back. He could hear the voices clearly now. Scott... That was the first one. Jean...? Frankie? Where's Kel? The plan had worked. They'd won, but... He sat up abruptly and glanced at the portal. Nothing got through, right!? KEVIN!!! His head shot to the thing that may as well have been a rock. The thing laying there was gray, cracked, dried, and immobile... Dead. Shit... Shit shit shit!!! Kevin's head had been so very busy with the broodling struggling so hard against him. The false world with his family had been more than enough to send the boy over the edge. That was when he heard someone shout out to him. Wake up. Kevin. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Kevin. He felt his body go unresponsive, felt the pain disappear and for a moment thought that turning into that creature had been the end of him. No more Kevin Ford. The large claws felt cold and unresponsive. There was a feeling of building pressure around him, as if he were sinking. Everything went dark. Kevin became aware of himself as he jerked up, a broken piece of armor tearing into his arm. He shouted and coughed against the lifeless husk, a thin body stuck in a large container. How...? He supposed how didn't really matter at the moment. His powers weren't yet working since the squishy innards he was pressing up against were still whole. Somehow he doubted that would last for very long. "HELLO?" And there it was. That tiny trace of a voice the bruised mutant recognized. He yanked himself to his feet and started kicking at the face as he grabbed the massive bone protruding out of it. It was dry and hard. He couldn't even tell which part was the actual face anymore. All he could hope for was that he missed Kevin when he kicked at it. Shit... shit shit shit! Air... if anything of Kevin was left in this husk, he needed air. He continued to kick furiously across the base of the horn, keeping his hands firmly gripped on it as he jerked and swiveled it around. Finally, he wrenched it free and saw the dusty and decaying innards falling into themselves, and amongst them, arms. Human arms. "Hang on, Kev! I gotcha!" He shouted as he dove for them and pulled. "I gotcha!" He could see the rest of him coming up from the dust, coughing as he wrapped his arms around the kid's waist and pulled, the dust flying into his eyes and nostrils. And then another sensation came to him. It was faint and weak, but that didn't change the pinpricks of pain that shot across his arms, and the alarm that went off in his head as he realized he was losing strength in his entire upper body. "FUCK!!!" Derek dropped him like a hot potato across the dusty remnants of the husk. His arms felt like jelly, and his chest was starting to go a bit numb. He fell backward and focused on breathing, relieved that the body he'd pulled out of it was doing the same. He was breathing. Kevin was breathing. ::Bruiser here...:: Right... he had to report... He leaned back, resting on his elbows before they gave out beneath him. ::Kevin's... Wither's back... exhausted, but... we're good...:: He leaned up and glanced at the swirling energy on the platform. It was close. Way too close. ::Portal One... secure... nothin' got through... He let his head hit the ground as his eyes found the roof of the Savage Lands reforming themselves. He didn't even notice they dropped. That would have been bad... real bad. ::Can I pass out now...?:: He didn't wait for the answer. |
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| Sarah Vale | Jul 26 2012, 11:47 PM Post #52 |
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Technopathy
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Shoe’s scanners gave Sarah constant updates, from the portals that were slowly opening, to the temperature of the air around her. She heard Danger’s warning, the ratios relayed and the precautions being taken. They were out of time. But that meant nothing to the suited girl, focusing on the large monster Victor was already climbing. She could see him, going higher, lenses zooming in to focus on the swarm that was multiplying around him – as she took out the legs of the creature, she saw Anole fall. Viciously tearing into the body of the beast, slamming it sideways so that it would fall away from her friend. Scanning his body, she detected the tiny holes, the venom that was likely immobilizing him, and she fired a few short blasts at the smaller broodlings around him. She should stop, check on him, carry him out of the way…But the temperature was dropping, and quickly. Danger had implemented the eradication procedures, and unless the cure worked now, there would be little point in checking on anyone. Had they truly failed? It was unthinkable, but Sarah had considered that. She didn’t want to think about them failing; she had every faith in Scott, and his plans. But as her gauge showed the temperature, icy winds blowing in fast, she could admit…She was scared. Clamping down on that fear with an iron grip, Sarah fired another blast, because if she was going to die here, she’d die fighting. Cyclops’ call to defend Danger was strong, and Sarah turned towards the building, remaining close enough to Victor to guard him. And then she felt it – through her connection to the technology of the temple, the air dispersal units fired up, and for a moment, the technopath froze in place, figures running through her mind at warp speed. It was the cure, it had to be. The temple seemed to groan as the pathways opened, and the strange mist engulfed everything. Analyzing it, Sarah stared in astonishment as the smaller Brood puppets began falling, carpeting the ground in bodies. Through Danger, she felt Scott’s declaration, his instruction, and Sarah could see those around her twitching as the cure took hold, forcing them back to normal. The first thing she noticed was the weakness in those who were changing back. The second thing she noticed was that they were naked. Without a second thought, she blasted into the air, racing at top speed back into the temple, to the infirmary. The neural net had been dropped, so instead, Sarah carried out as many of the blankets as she could find inside the infirmary, heaving them outside where she scanned the field. Rusty and Doreen were the first to catch her attention, with Rusty looking like he might fall over at any time. Two blankets from the pile were grabbed and the seven foot robot stomped over to them, draping a blanket gently over Doreen, as well as over Rusty’s shoulders. “Let me help, you look like you need it.” She held her arms out, one for Doreen, but also one for Rusty to lean on, because he needed attention too. There was little point in her exiting Shoe now, when she needed the strength to keep going. Getting the two of them into the infirmary, she helped Rusty set Doreen onto a cot, keeping the blanket over her. “Keep an eye on her, okay, Rusty? I’m gonna try and find Dr. McCoy,” The purple and silver robot exited the infirmary, lifting an arm to wave at Jean. She picked up more blankets, lifting off until she was a few feet above the carnage littering the ground, scanning the ground for fallen friends, and making her way back to where Anole was. Landing beside him, she draped the blanket over him, crouching down. “Vic, hey, I don’t wanna move you if you’re hurt, so wake up.” |
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| Freakshow | Jul 27 2012, 01:32 AM Post #53 |
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Unregistered
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The cure was released, vented in a green gas that exploded from the slots of the temple itself. It spilled out like a flood, reaching into the very cellular structure of every individual organism here. Taking effect, people began to change back, the animals and proto-humans too, all the natives and dinosaurs. There was a sort of hysteria about them, confusion and animalistic horror, and they began to filter back into the wilds. The Genoshan cast its eye on the predators, much less significant than him, raptors and other Savage Land animals. A low growl of warning, a metaphorical "dibs" on this area as his own territory, and they too began to wander away. Great teeth curved into its under-bite, hooking together in poor, interlocking edges. Orange eyes surveyed the aftermath of the battlefield. Cyclops was tending to the fallen Marrow -- alive or dead, Kevin could not tell. Too much blood and gore on the battlefield, it filled his nose with a rank scent that touched his monstrous instincts. The hunger of his many stomachs twisted still despite the meals it had already eaten. What had once been chilled and turning to the blizzard air of the deepest south had returned to tropical temperatures. The climate stabilized, Savage Land seemed to return to normal. But what was the loss? Great haunches sat where they were, Rusty rocketting off in a blaze to tend to the rodent girl. Phoenix went to her husband, Miss Sinclair was herself again, and everyone began to gather themselves. They were themselves again, in a way, but some were not. He knew the effects of the Brood infection, but even cured, there was a part of there still imprinted on his mind. He loathed it, but knowing it was dead, perhaps that wound could heal. The titan raised a three-clawed paw, the very same that had crushed the Rex's skull. This was the first time he had ever changed into this form since Genosha, the first time he had become it outside of the quarries. It was a necessity that he become it again. Kill the Rex, kill the Brood. He had done what he could to break the cycle of the Brood on his own, aided in the cure, and even cared enough not to let Rusty be eaten. That last one was probably the biggest deal, let's face it. Chlorine-colored fog rose up from the titan's skin, seeping through the crags of its scaled body and wrapped around it. Dissolving away, a quick bit of time later the gaseous distortion field faded, leaving Kevin himself standing there. Scratched up and bruised to no end, it was just a little bit of pain to move, nothing that would stop him. Better off than most, he bet, considering he was the one that was used to turning into something a lot uglier than normal. "Yeh okay?" The Genoshan asked, coming over the body of a dinosaur to find one of the other students. The young girl looked up to him and shook her head, arms covering her chest. "My leg is broken, I think. And I'm..." "So is everyone else. Here." Removing his own shirt and offering it to her, Kevin looked away while she put it on. As she did, Kevin flexed a bit of his mutation, changing his arms to match the nature of his leg. Scooping her up in his arms, the Genoshan made to leave the battlefield with her. "I can't believe we did it..." "Yeah." "Did you have any problems killing any of them?" Kevin grunted, stepping over the neck of a large proto-bird. "Only with one." |
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| Rho | Jul 27 2012, 03:36 AM Post #54 |
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Density Manipulation, Flight
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Xel'lirks fought like a man possessed, and in a way, he was. The skrull was fighting for more than just the sake of fighting; fighting for more than his word, more than this world. More than himself and his people even. He was fighting for everything...everyone. As the green of his being was covered with more and more ichor from the murderous insects that he mowed down by the score, he left his battle frenzied state and entered one of focus and calm. Each strike became less about brutal savagery and more about precision. A slice here to make a brood useless, phase out an essential part; crush another. He began fighting smart instead of just fighting. Maybe it was standing together with such a united front in the Brood/X-Men hybrids while his own were in seeming disarray. Maybe it was the sudden realization that only by working together were they stemming this seemingly and possibly endless tide of monstrosities. And as he tirelessly hacked through the enemy and broke their lines on his way to the heretic queen, he was swarmed and nearly overwhelmed by a throng of large and aggressive brood who wanted no one near their mother. Cyclops was there though; he could catch occasional glimpses through the bodies that relentlessly tried to tear through his invulnerable armor. And after throwing several off, they swarmed in another direction...towards the temple. The cure must have been working and the Queen wanted Danger stopped; he couldn't let that happen. With the others, he flew into battle, using Rho's powers once again to their fullest potential. Barely perceptible distortions in the air shot from Xel'lirks hands, and an enormous crowd of writhing and slithering beasts were forced to the ground under immense weights and pressures; resulting in liquefied bone, organ and exoskeleton all. He hadn't even known they could do that. Amazement forgotten, he continued to fight to hold the line, and barely avoided a large set of jaws seeking to clamp around his jugular when the vents in the side of his peoples ancestral temple opened. It was a beautiful sight, this cure the humans created. The weaker Brood began dying by the dozen almost immediately...beautiful. As they fell by the score, he took to the air and flew in a beeline towards the two most important people on this field of primal battle. Cyclops and the Heritic Queen. He saw them conversing in the midst of battle, and he slammed on his breaks. "Now Cyclops, while she is weakened. Strike her down for the sake of both our worlds!!" He'd begun to feel the cold...he didn't like it. What happened next was solely Cyclops' decision, and he knew that nothing he could do would change it; but a small, fast darting green figure entered his field of vision from the corner of his eye. Nat'ren; he'd forgotten all about him during the fight. Showing immense courage and the propensity for self sacrifice, the neonate threw himself at the queen and injected something into her; he was stunned immobile as his punishment and reward was her bladed tail through his frail frame. The queen began to die then, and Nat'ren...he began to die as well. Xel slowly descended as the leader of the X-Men showed more compassion for a once enemy than he and his entire race showed for friends...it sickened him now to look back upon his own actions and those of his people. He almost didn't want to avoid that beam of crimson energy that suddenly flooded the sky. He did though; just barely and landed softly beside Scott and the body of his fallen brother. He stayed silent as Marrow was re-birthed from the corpse of the dead queen...and when she was free, he crushed the shell into nothingness with his rage. "For Skrullos!! No...not for Skrullos." He shifted into the form of Rho so he could shed a tear, then looked at the corpse of the brave neonate, already evolving into something far more graceful than a Skrull could ever be. Then he whispered softly..."For Nat'ren." |
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| Werewolf | Jul 27 2012, 03:56 AM Post #55 |
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Unregistered
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The Broodling was almost smiling as he raised his mighty stinger to go for a fatal blow. He was ready to destroy anything that stood in his Queen's way, and he would start with Everett. Everett. Why did he know this False Brood's name? Why did it even matter? His head spun, lurching out of his strike before it could find its mark, and he stumbled, glaring at the shattered follower of the Red Guardian on the ground. No! You won't hurt ANYONE! Jack Russell's voice thundered into his mind, and all else was silent. His Queen. His Queen.. what had they done wrong? It was a half-empty carapace that thudded into the ground next to Everett, splitting on impact. Even though Jack knew he was alive, he had been content to lay there at first, cocooned inside a skin that had been his. Then he remembered, and Jack was gasping, clawing at the crumbling exoskeleton until he slid free, naked and sore. There were worse ways to wake up. He lay blinking in the grass, looking to Everett earnestly. Jack tried to speak, but all he could do was cough up something wet that he didn't want to look at. Everett nodded that he was okay, and he mumbled something to Jack to go find Rahne, to go find his future wife and make sure she was okay too, but Jack was already gone, half staggering and half dragging himself across what had moments ago been a battlefield. Jack's senses were functioning again immediately, but it was almost too much at once, the scent of death and gore filling up into his lungs. Everything looked fuzzy, but he remembered where Rahne had been last. He could smell her scent, and if he listened hard enough Jack was certain he even heard her voice. His knees were burning as he tried to pick up a run, and there were spots flickering across his eyes, but the last thing he could do was wait to make sure Rahne was okay. The children gathered around her retreated a little at his approach, looking to him with wet hopeful eyes that he could barely see. "Rahne..," his voice broke weakly. Jack could have crumbled to his knees in relief and thanked anything that would listen for sparing Rahne's life, but he was certain he wouldn't be able to get back up again. Silently, he stooped to her, one hand lingering to touch her face. Summoning any strength left in his body, the feral man scooped his mate into his arms. When Jack managed to stand he swayed a little, but he swallowed thickly and steadied himself, clutching Rahne to his chest. He wasn't sure where he was supposed to be going, so he followed the shadows of those that could walk. |
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| Kitty Pryde | Jul 27 2012, 04:28 AM Post #56 |
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Unregistered
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As the 3 Brood infected dinosaurs bared down on Kitty it seemed she was going to be in for the fight of her life but as the trio of dinosaurs were about to attack suddenly to her surprise a member of the X-Swarm intervened and aided Kitty in the fight. It was difficult for Kitty to get a clear look of whom it was while she battled off with another dinosaur and didn't exactly recognize who came to her aid at a slight glance. However as the dust settled from the quick melee, The temperature quickly began to drop while the X-Swarm and Kitty continued to get over run with various types of Brood infected animals. Before Kitty looked around the battlefield outside of the Utopia Base for new potential targets she tried to catch a glimpse of her savior, Trying to decipher the appearance through the Brood Transformation she thought it looked an awful lot like the alleged Magneto Clone seeking refuge in the Utopia Joesph. However before she could completely confirm who it actually was the distraction of figuring out who it was caught up with her as she was blindsided by a swinging Brood tail that caught her above the head. As Kitty flew to the ground while the attacker stalked over to her. Her vision was fuzzy after the knock to the head and she couldn't see what exactly it was that was standing over her as it raised its deadly stinging tail over Kitty's Brood Heart and as it was about strike. Suddenly the Cure was released into the battlefield as her would be attacker dropped to the ground next to her while their simultaneous transformations back to normal began as the sun began shining warmly once again. Kitty tried to raise up her head and see what was going on but the pain of the transformation was too unbearable. But before she dropped her head back down to the ground and gave in to the complete transformation back to normal. She had to know what was going on around her, Where the others completing full transformations back to normal? She was able to look around briefly as she saw the other X-Men around her transforming back to their normal appearances knowing the battle was seemingly won and the cure was working she gave in to the transformation and dropped her head back on the hard ground and blacked out next to her would be attacker a cute baby deer. |
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| Rho | Jul 27 2012, 07:51 AM Post #57 |
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Density Manipulation, Flight
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Xel'lirks and Cyclops JP Finally he turned to the man responsible for seeing them all through this storm. "I thank you, Scott Summers. My duty would have been to kill Nat'ren should this whole thing succeed. I am so glad you were the last face he saw. He deserved far better than this; much better. Tears were streaming freely now. "And while his death saddens me, I'm immensely grateful I wasn't the one who caused it...I find now I wouldn't be able to live with myself." Still wearing the face of Dontae, he locked eyes with the ruby lenses Jean had brought him. And in them he saw something peculiar, even as he felt the changes begin to wash over him to go along with his new and alien attitude. Brown gave way to scaled, green skin. And even then that began to grow pale and lose the harsh visage of the Skrull. "What is happening to me?" His head cocked slightly to the side in confusion, wondering if Scott knew as much as he hoped he did. Jean was there, and she was going to take them away to the infirmary, but as they were about to zip away, he realized that Xel'lirks had arrived to witness the last of the battle. Exhausted, aching, stomach roiling with the blood and flesh he'd consumed in the battle, Scott raised his hand, and said, "Jean, take Marrow and Nat'ren. I'll be along in a minute, I promise." She gave him a look of disapproval, but she would know why he asked it. As she set him down, and shot away, Scott, dressed only in the shredded cargo shorts he'd been running in, barefoot, bare chested, and looking like a wildman with blood and sweat and dirt caking every spare inch of him, still managed to exude a certain stoic calm. "Your Neonate did a great service to us all. We all owe him a great..." Suddenly, the changes began, the same changes that had come over Nat'ren in those last moments, and Scott put out his hand to steady the transforming man. "The Cure, Xel'lirks, it's cured you of your own brood infection, the one that your people devolved into skrulls to combat. You're nuwali, if the carvings the ancient ones left behind are accurate. It's not a side effect we expected." He pulled the changing alien creature to one of the water tanks, and motioned for him to take a look at his reflection. He looked at the hand touching his rapidly paling skin, skin that was also becoming as smooth, maybe smoother than a humans. He was thankful for it in the next few moments as the changes weren't all pleasant and he nearly fell to his knees as the pain clutched him. "It seems, millions of years of evolution;" he paused into a painful sounding fit of coughing as bones shifted, grew, shrank and disappeared altogether while organs did the same. "Is painful when forced so quickly." He forced a small laugh; finding hilarity in the situation when before there would only be annoyance and pain. He allowed himself to be guided to the clear water of the tanks and gazed at his reflection. He let out a startled gasp and nearly fell back upon seeing his new visage. "Cyclops... I look just like the ancients in the lore of our people. You have given me the greatest gift one could ever know. And I only know this now because of what you have done. Thank you." Xel commented on the pain of forced evolution, and Scott nodded a bit tiredly, "It is painful at that." As the newly born Nuwali settled into the form he had long ago been denied, Scott took a moment, to scoop out a handful of water, not minding that this water had yet to go through the purification filters, and he washed his face, swirling the water in his mouth to rinse the taste of blood and flesh off his tongue. Xel's gasp and stumble backwards drew his attention, and he caught at the man, again, "This wasn't my doing, Xel," he said, "But you're welcome. Does this change our alliance, though?" Immediately thinking of his people trapped, "We teamed up to fight the brood, now that you're no longer skrull, where does your alliegance lie?" "I'm sure you speak from experience;" he chuckled, thinking of how he'd been forced to evolve into a creature so foreign to his anatomy that it had to be nothing but agony. Hie shaky legs held firm in his new form as Scott washed the gore and grimace from his more than likely welcome human form. He nodded and smiled; a genuine one filled with no malice or deceit whatsoever. "Not directly, no. But you were at the epicenter of this entire plan...every action led up to this, and you were at the head of each one. So truly; thank you." This smiling thing; he figured he would be doing it very often in the future, and Cyclops question would net him a plethora of answers. "It changes nothing; yet it changes everything. The Brood may lie defeated, but we are still allies. And my loyalty is to my people; not the Skrull savages, but my true people. The Nuwali. And I think the Nuwali would welcome an allegiance with such honorable and powerful warriors. I'll tell you everything I know, Scott. That is what friends and allies do, isn't it?" Scott nodded, slightly, and said, "Come with me to the infirmary then. We'll talk on the way. I need details on everything you know about where my people are held, how we can get them back. Your people... this salvation we've given you? If there's a way to undo what they've done to themselves, we owe it to them. Ultimately, my people are not eye-for-an-eye people. Denying your people the chance to regain themselves is a cruelty that I am unprepared to commit." He gestured coaxingly to the temple and said, as he began to limp towards the growing throng of dazed and battered human and mostly human shapes that staggered around the dead and dying creatures that had been the enemy hive. "We'll talk there," he said again, "I can only stall so long before my wife comes back and scoops me up by the scruff of my neck like a kitten wandered too far from the nest." "Gladly. I didn't anticipate that the stresses incurred on my Skrull-Mutant Hybrid body would poorly transfer over to this one. But it is built for more intellectual pursuits while that deplorable Skrull form is nothing but violence and cunning savagery. A quick glance saw his three people rapidly shifting to what they were always meant to be; a nod of his head sent them where aid was needed for them and for others. As they walked, he listened to what Scott said; he was confident he had the information he wanted, but he was also confident he wouldn't like some of it. He informed him on the most basic of basics on the way; explaining about his people and the like while he gathered his thoughts. Informational small talk before he dropped the bombs on him, as the humans said. When they arrived, he groaned as he eased into an unoccupied seat, then he looked to Scott. " First of all, thank you for the kindness you've shown; many would have given considerably less. But As your kind say; I have good news and bad. So I'll dispense the good first. Skrull are not natural born thinkers and scientists; but Nuwali are. With my help, I believe Beast and I can pinpoint just what in your cure jump started our evolutionary process once more. After that, I suppose we can tailor a cocktail and delivery system...we would become walking vaccine's for what I see clearly now as the Skrull Sickness. And as for the ones we've abducted...well." He paused, still finding it hard to believe that only minutes ago, he would have rather died than revealing anything more than enough to tantalize him with the thought of rescue. "Your people are on Skrullos. A world existing simultaneously yet out of sync with Earth. Your people, along with hundreds, if not thousands upon thousands more have been replaced with sleeper agents...agents who will take your world outside this dome. To get them back; truthfully at the moment I'm not sure how. As a Skrull I could phase shift between this world and Skrullos, but it seems over time the powers uniform to the Skrull were no longer needed. I can't even shapeshift anymore." He held a hand out and the tip of his pinky turned to a blade, before warbling and turning back...he was truly Nuwali now; not a hint of Skrull remained." A look of sadness crossed his face and he looked down; not able to face the man whose family he'd help steal away in the night. And then a smile separated his lips. "Cyclops...I am Nuwali now. Take me to see the computer consciousness my people left in their stead. Take me to see Danger, and we may figure this mess out." |
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| Amara Aquilla | Jul 27 2012, 06:29 PM Post #58 |
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Unregistered
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If it hadn't been for the well timed entrance of Rahne's students, there was no guarantee that she could've held the upper hand against the broodling. Now the creature was laying cold, flat, and quiet against the ground. Dead by all appearances. The cure had initiated just in time. The exoskeleton began to fall off of Amara in chunks, the added anatomy of the wings and tail were some of the first to go. Though she was only changed for a short time it felt relieving to be in her own skin again, her personal temperature finally back to what it should have been. She didn't want to believe in the death of Rahne either and so as the children pounded on chest area of the carapace she simply stood and waited, quietly urging Rahne to wake up. There were many days in the history of the X-men where they wound up grief striken. She did not want today to be one of them. They needed today to work out for the better, at the very least, for these children. Noise came from inside and Amara smiled broadly, the shelling torn away within moments by the group of kids. "How do you feel? Do you need help to the infirmary?" Within a moment Jack was there at her side, embracing and scooping up Rahne and walking off with some of the others that were scattered about. Turning to the kids, Amara helped wipe the last bits of exoskeleton from a few and offered her hand out. "Good job everyone, You saved miss Rahne! If everyone feels like they can stand, we should go see who else needs help." Despite being clearly tired and covered with grime, the children showed the pride they felt as they nodded and verbalized their agreement. Heads held high, the group moved towards Network to help deliver blankets and check on those scattered around still. Polly maneuvered through the high piles and found a deer first, though it was clearly sleeping. "Miss Amaaara!" She called out, glancing back to wave over the tall blonde lady. "Lookit! I found a -- Miss Kitty!" With a handful of quick steps the little mutant tried to shake the brunette woman awake. "miss Kitty!" |
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| Wolfsbane | Jul 27 2012, 08:51 PM Post #59 |
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Wolf Form
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"I... I feel... disgusting..." Rahne groaned as she struggled to get up off the ground. Flashes of memory hit her. Memory bleeding over into her mind from the dead Broodling. One final "gift", as it were. She remembered assaulting Amara with deadly intent, trying with all her heart to murder her dear friend and then move on to murder more. She was thankful that God allowed her to be stopped before she could do something so unconscionably terrible. She remembered her exile. The shame she felt at being a failure, at being cast out for her weakness. She remembered the march, remembered her compatriots gleefully slaughtering innocents while she stood by and witnessed. Unable to do so herself, but unwilling to stop her friends. Jack... Kevin... they were converted alongside her. What she would have given to spare them, to allow them to not experience such hell as she had. "Legs feel like rubber..." she stammered, idly wrapping her left arm around a young one who felt so compelled as to give her teacher a hug despite all the ick and horror. Rahne was grateful for the gesture. Suddenly, upward momentum, her limbs dangling loosely at gravity's pull. A weak, tired smile came to her lips, eyelids heavy and drooping. She felt like she hadn't slept in days. It was possible that she hadn't. She wasn't getting all of the information from the Broodling, she probably never would. "Jack," she answered, allowing her head to bump against his chest as he began walking her towards the rest of the group. "Ye look like hell warmed over," she chuckled a bit, which turned into a light cough. She was sure she looked no better. She certainly felt no better. "She's dead, isn't she? The queen, she's... finally dead..." Rahne had found that even in her darkest moments, with Reverend Craig, with Proteus, with the Apocalypse... she didn't truly wish death upon someone else. She'd make an exception in this case. The Queen was dead, and Rahne Sinclair was glad for it. Maybe now Sarah could finally rest in peace. |
![]() [size0]Say the dog and butterfly, in the air they like to fly. Dog and butterfly. She knew she had to try, and she float back down to the warm soft ground, laughing - she don't know why, but she had to try, she had to try. Dog and Buttefly. Avatar by Natalie, signature by Olga. My graphics set is complete again! Thank you so much! | |
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| Rusty Collins | Jul 28 2012, 02:26 PM Post #60 |
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Unregistered
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Rusty continued toward the building, though every step shot unbearable agony up his left side. Breathing laboriously, he continued on-somehow oblivious to his complete exhaustion and to the tattered state of clothing that hung in shreds off of his and Doreen's bodies. His leg locked up and he almost took a spill, gritting his teeth and drawing strength from an inner resevoir of sheer stubbornness. But he was slowing, and with sweat stinging his eyes despite the freezing air surrounding him he wasn't sure he was going to manage to get them both to the safety of the infirmary after all. Thankfully that was when Network showed up, tall and unyielding. He rested against metal arms, the last bit of his strength starting to fade whether he wanted it to or not. When he hit the bed he realized he was covered with a blanket. Network was gone, but he'd heard her request to watch Doreen so he forced himself upright, pushing away the pain and the blackness that tried to sweep him under. He sat there holding his side and just looked at her. With her eyes closed and her body shut down she almost looked at peace-the anguish of the loss of her friend pushed aside for the time. But she was covered with that sticky syrup...the same mucus that Rusty had on him. He forced himsefl up and moved over to the sink to grab a couple of towels. Running the water until it came out warm, he took a moment to clean himself off a little. The white linen was smeared with tar and crimson and his body was covered with wounds...but somehow cleaning his skin invigorated him just enough. Taking one of the warm cloths he returned to her side, brushing back a strand of chestnut brown and wiping clean a smear from her normally rosy cheek. His voice was choked just a little as he said it, but nobody was there to hear his belated sentiment anyway. He hadn't had the heart to say it a few days ago, but now he felt like it needed to be said. "Happy birthday, Doreen." |
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2:22 PM Jul 11