Prey: A Character Driven RP [FINISHED]

[JoJo]

Maya still couldn't quite believe where she was. Part of her wanted to jump and run around in excitement, but she knew that someone who was meant to be there wouldn't do that, so she kept walking alongside Takeda at a normal pace. Though the corridor was quite busy, none of the people striding through paid either of the children much attention. Maya felt very important as she swaggered past a couple of security guards who were smoking and who didn't even bother looking at her. A couple of the passers-by did give her a curious glance however.

"They must be impressed" she thought to herself. She presently came across a partially open door. Inside was an empty darkened area surrounded by heavy red curtains that reached all the way to the ground. From beyond these came the sound of loud talking. She peeped round to the curtain to see she was at the edge of a set. There were several adults sitting on sofas discussing something with a lot of words she didn't understand. In front of them were an audience and four big cameras focused in on the stage. She quickly ducked back behind the cover again.

"It's an grown-up show." Maya whispered to her companion "Do you think we should walk in?"

 

[RootbeerJello]

Basaran looked up from his table. Two men had come from a back room, perhaps an extension of the bar. One was dressed in clothes that seemed a little old-fashioned, even for the time Basaran came from. The other man was underdressed in a simple shirt and jacket, like most people he had seen since awaking.

Basaran got the sense that they weren't normal humans. They had an aura of more power about them, visible in their posture and movements. The man in the shirt and jacket coughed and said something to the other man. They had seen him.

 

[SeanTheSheep]

"Ugh, don't tell me about things flying around your head. The first few days after I got this were a nightmare. Things kept floating behind me, and I'd see them in my peripheral vision, then they wouldn't be there when I turned around. I figured out how to control it by focusing on stopping it all, I still broke a vase though." Lily said, gesturing with her hands to illustrate her point better. "I've known a few specials in my time, a few of them were powerful, some weak and seeking help. An awful lot of them met their demise quickly. That's why I don't tell people my secret"

 

[Sporky111]

"I don't really want to watch people talking about stuff." Takeda said, trying to understand what they were saying. It seemed like they were saying 'stocks' and 'market' a lot, but he didn't think they were talking about any market he'd seen before. "Let's find another show."

He tapped Maya on the shoulder, then walked back out into the hallway. They went down a little farther and found another room that was left open a crack and looked in. This time they seemed to be on the side of a set, with the audience on one side of them and the set on the other side. It seemed to be people talking, but this set seemed a lot brighter and they looked like they were having more fun.

The audience suddenly laughed and applauded at something the host said, and Takeda flinched away, then he looked back in. "This looks like more fun." he whispered to Maya, "You want to watch this one?"

 

[JoJo]

Maya slowly turned her head and then nodded at Takeda. She slipped through the open door and scuttled on her hands and knees to a shadowy corner of the raised platform on which the audience sat. Luckily it seemed that they were too engrossed in what was happening on stage to notice the two interlopers who had just entered. Now the lighting was dimmer, Maya removed her sunglasses and balanced them on top of her hat with care. Even out of sight she still shook slightly with fear; only the memory of how crushingly lonely she had been during those months invisible stopped her from trying to dismiss the illusion that the kitsune had created.

As she sat back, settled down and watched the show she felt herself relaxing. The funny antics and bright colours of the program; added to the close presence of Takeda, allowed Maya to lose herself and forget about her troubles. Familiar memories of the safety and quiet of home flooded back to her, the laughter of the audience inspiring giggles from herself even when she didn't understand the joke. For just a few precious minutes the stray child truly felt at peace again.

 

[SamuelT]

<spoiler=UghUgh>Sorry guys, I'm insanely busy with exams and whatnot (FINAL YEAR ARGH) so I'll not be able to make big updates.

Just know that the two illusionists will be followed and shadowed by the same cultists with the traditional holy weapons against demonic forms, the Anomaly won't be bothered all that much, Magician and Vampire will be hunted by normal means and the Fox and Girl will be approached by people to help them. As for the giant and bone-angle, same as the vampire and magician, where the bipolar will have attempts to incarceration via non-aggravating means.

Do with this what you will.

 

[Sporky111]

Takeda smiled to himself as they sneaked into the audience unnoticed. He loved being all stealthy and hidden. The people around them, even the ones within arms-reach, didn't even notice the two oddly dressed children coming in late.

He scooted over in his seat to sit next to Maya as they watched, putting his arm around her back. It was a protective gesture, and he could feel her shivering slightly at first. But she relaxed as the show went on, and the two of them were soon just as engrossed in the people on stage as the rest of the audience.

However, the show had to end eventually. The people on stage said goodbye and their lights dimmed, but for some reason Takeda couldn't understand they stayed at their seats as some music started to play.

The dark platform they sat on was illuminated, and the crowd started to move around. Takeda stayed in his seat, watching them clear out.

"Are you lost?"

The boy and girl jumped a bit at the voice, and looked for it's source. There was a young man peeking over the edge of the platform. He had a friendly look in his eyes, but his face was concerned.

"We're not lost." the kitsune said confidently, standing up. He glanced over his shoulder at the door, which was now fairly clear of people.

"Where are your parents?"

This was a question Takeda heard often, and one that he was always prepared to answer. "Mom just went to the bathroom." he said, starting to leave while holding Maya's hand.

"Why don't you wait here? You might get lost."

This gave him pause, and he thought over a response. This time the worker had a bit of suspicious look, as if he were noticing the odd clothing they wore for the first time. He looked down at his companion nervously, hoping she would have something to say that would allow them to leave unimpeded.

 

[JoJo]

"Um..." Maya had no idea what to say to the peering young man, she looked downwards and nervously gripped Takeda's hand while shuffling her feet. She tried to mumble something that would make sense but the words just wouldn't form on her lips.

"I think you two better come with me until we find your Mom."

The employee reached forwards slowly with a beckoning hand, attempting something that resembled a friendly smile. As his stubbled face drew closer Maya suddenly recoiled, as if an invisible tether formed from pure fear was pulling her away. She let go of Takeda's hand and bolted through the opened door into the brightness of the corridor, dropping the heavy coat as she did so. People looked around in surprise at the running girl as she barged past them. All she could think of was escape from the scary man, she didn't even know whether the kitsune had followed her.

Even as Maya ran she thought she could hear footsteps behind her. She spotted an open door to her right and without any hesitation dashed in. She kept on going through the shadows, until she came out to find some people sitting on comfortable-looking chairs. They had been having a rapt conversation but now stopped; instead staring at her with a look of confusion on their faces. She slowly turned around to see the bright lights behind her, an audience numbering in the hundreds watching her in bewilderment, the studio cameras filming her every move and transmitting it out to many more viewers in their homes. As this realisation be apparent Maya covered her face with her arms and let out a cry of terror before the illusion that made her visible abruptly vanished, leaving the set in disarray.

Spoiler: OOC

@Sporky: Just to make it clear, I've left open whether Takeda followed Maya or not, or how far he did, as I wasn't sure what he'd do in this situation.

 

[RootbeerJello]

<spoiler=Snippity Snip> Stuff

Wait, does that mean I'm still stuck free-forming my own random plot for an indeterminate amount of time, or are you still gonna be posting?

 

[Quad08]

"No, I'm coming along"

Gabriel replied firmly as he shook his head, as if trying to dispel the pressence that hung in the air.

Adam nodded, a small smile playing on his lips at the young magicians determination. Sort of like another he knew long ago...

Qucikly shaking such thoughts from his mind, Adam and Gabriel made there way back to the scene of the destruction. Police were on the scene now, along with the Fire Dept, paramedics and even the Center for Disease Control. Men and women in quarintine suits were wandering the area, scanning the ground with a variety of strange insturments.

A police officer quickly intercepted the path of the two men, an expression of unease on the young womens face

"I'm sorry gentlemen, but this area isn't safe for civilians. Please take a detour down this way..."

She motioned down a side street, but Adam quickly asked

"Please...my little sister was visiting a friends house...and I haven't heard from her yet..."

"I'm sorry sir. If you're looking to identify remains, you'll have to go to the central hospital a few blocks from here"

Nodding sadly, Adam and Gabriel made there way down the side street

"Alright, it seems like we have two options here. One, we can wait until all the cops and goverment agents leave. Or, we head to the hospital and I can try and use my gift on the bodies, see if this presence left any clues on the bodies-"

Adam explained, before he was cut off by Gabriel suddenly stopping, much to Adam's confusion

"What is it?"

Gabriel stood perfectly still, listening intently around him

"I heard...something"

The soft sounds of footsteps in the shadows of the surrounding buildings, barely heard by normal human ears, was all Gabriel needed to convince him that they were being followed

"Come on Adam, we need to get out of here"

 

[DktrAgonizer]

"Well, I never had it easy when my powers first materialized either." Rezetta frowned as she thought back on it, then said, "I was a kid, so I didn't know what was happening when things just started to pop up around me. None of it was real, but I didn't know that at the time. My uncle figured it out, but he... he didn't quite like it." She shook her head, running a finger along the edge of her glass. "The only others who knew about my ability were the people I knew when I was a part of the drug ring. They were all like me, half-demons. But, well, you know how that turned out."

Zetta stood up and walked over to the kitchen, placing her empty glass in the sink. She came back into the living room, about to say something else when she got a weird expression on her face. Closing her mouth, she walked quickly over to the window and pushed the curtain aside to peer out. "Well now, what have we here?"
She gestured for Lily to join her at the window and pointed. The window looked out to the apartment building's parking lot, one floor below them. Several people wearing black robes milled about the parking lot, holding things in their hands that she couldn't quite make out from here. She could hear them saying something, but it wasn't clear. Zetta opened the window a crack and the chanting was a more audible. "Huh. That's not English. What do you suppose those guys are doing?"

 

[Sporky111]

Takeda stood in shock for a moment as Maya ran off, looking at the man approaching in tense silence. It didn't take long for him to make up his mind though, as he was soon running after her. As he ran he clawed at the scarf and dropped it behind him, then knocked off the silly-looking hat and pulled his hood up.

He had to struggled to keep sight of Maya, as she was weaving unpredictably through people and had gotten a good head-start. But he could run faster than her and was able to close the gap fairly quickly.

Without warning she darted off into a side room. Takeda skidded to a stop and passed the door, but as he turned around he was roughly grabbed and lifted into the air. He immediately struggled to get away, not even looking to see who it was holding him. The person held him tightly, but the young kitsune managed to twist around and bite at . . . something.

His captor shouted and dropped Takeda, who scrambled to his feet and ran into the dark room Maya had gone to. There was the slight metallic taste of blood on his teeth as he silently searched the room. It didn't take long for him to find another bright doorway. Outside, amidst many people and cameras, was Maya.

"Oh no, oh no . . ." he muttered to himself, closing his eyes until he disappeared. He dashed out onto the set and grabbed Maya as she screamed, dropping the illusion from around her as well. "It's Takeda," he said quickly, the set already bustling with activity, "We have to hide, quickly."

 

[SeanTheSheep]

"Chanting" Lily said simply, standing a little away from the window so she could see out, but not be seen herself. "More accurately, chanting in Latin, if I'm correct, and they seem to be holding... various Christian paraphernalia. If I may say so myself Miss Morwood, you may not be as unknown as you let on." She summarised, formulating a plan in her mind as she spoke "I have an idea to find out what they have with them, how well they've done their homework, and more importantly, who they're working for." Lily said, walking into the kitchen and taking a kitchen knife out of the block sitting on the countertop. "Be ready to run." She added, walking out of the door.

When the door was safely closed behind her and she was down the hall a short way, she took off her jacket, took a hold of the seam on the shoulder and tugged as hard as she could, breaking the thread and creating a hole in the fabric. Next, she removed her shoes and socks, leaving them in the corner of the stairs as she made her way down. Finally, Lily rolled up her left sleeve and gritted her teeth. Gently, she pressed the knife to her flesh at an angle until she drew blood. Hissing at the pain, she dropped the knife and put some of the blood on her fingers, smearing it across her stomach, dabbing a strah across her cheek and dropping some onto her trousers and hair for good measure. She stemmed the blood flow by holding the skin in place with telekinesis and holding the blood back from the cut a little, but not enough that platelets wouldn't be able to form a scab over it. She ditched the knife in a waste bin in the lobby and brought tears to her eyes.

Crying on cue was the first way she had begun to make people do what she wanted straight after acting innocent, a few tears were all it usually took to get a reaction of "Ahhh, it's OK, look, it's fine, don't worry about it" from most people, but to fool these demon hunters, she'd need to properly turn on the waterworks. As she entered the lobby, there were a couple of tears threatening to run down her cheeks, but by the time she was halfway across the car park, she was in floods, and making incoherent screeching noises. As the hunters held out crucifixes and holy water towards her, they continued to chant, though one robed figure faltered and stopped chanting as Lily kept walking, her palms held flat out as she stumbled forwards, not stopping when she saw the items that would threaten Zetta. "Please... Please help..." She gasped as she grabbed hold of the monk who had stopped. From this close, she leaned against him and looked under his hood, he was younger than the rest seemed, probably no older than seventeen.

"I... It's OK miss, we have you now." He said, trying unconvincingly to sound reassuring. "What did the devilspawn do to you?" he asked, proving that he was after Zetta. The others gave disapproving looks to the boy, but didn't stop chanting. Whatever they were doing, it needed constant focus, and without the boy, it would take longer, but still be possible.
"She... She tied me up. She was going to kill me, kept muttering about 'virgin flesh'" Lily said breathlessly. The poor boy was clearly feeling very uncomfortable at this point, suddenly very aware of the fact a woman was clinging to him as if he was the only thing left in the world and tried to resume chanting weakly as he pushed Lily away. Seeing he was regaining his focus, Lily kept going. "She's got five of us trapped up there, you have to help us now!" She begged, turning from the boy to the man who seemed to be the leader. "Don't waste time weakening her, you have to help!"

 

[JoJo]

For a short time Maya tried to wriggle out of Takeda's grip until she heard his quiet but reassuring voice over the hubbub around her. She wrapped her arms around him and refused to let go as he half led, half-dragged her off the stage and into a quieter room through a small door. The raucous cries of shock and excitement could still be heard from the people on the set the two children had just left:

"Where did she go?"

"It must have been some sort of trick!"

"Did that little girl actually vanish?"

"This camera recorded the whole thing; I'll check the footage right away!"

Listening to their animated voices, Maya's anxiety slowly passed away to be replaced by a lingering sense of shame. Her flowery hat had been lost somewhere in the fray, and as she brushed her unkempt hair out of her eyes she realised that the headache she had been trying to ignore all day had returned stronger than ever. She looked guiltily down at the floor while fiddling with her fingers.

"I... I'm sorry I ran away from that man... he was probably nice but I didn't know what to say... please don't be angry with me..."

 

[SamuelT]

Snip

Gosh dern you use alot of edits. ;p

The most of the members looked at the man adressed. Who considered Lily for a moment, then gave a curt nod. All of them moved slowly, though deliberately, to the building, most of them getting some kind of object from pouches. They continued chanting all the while.

The man gave Lily a smile that he thought passable for reassuring.

"Blessed and holy objects." He said to her. "Works against the devilspawn. You're safe now, don't worry."

A small distance away, more people in the same garb were having an avid discussion, yet tried to keep their voices down.

 

[DktrAgonizer]

"Should have moved out of this city," Zetta muttered to herself, remaining at the window as Lily left. Rather belatedly, she realized she should probably do something about her visibility, in case any of the robed people glanced up and saw her peering out. She thought about making herself invisible, then thought against it and instead wove an illusion of the window curtain being in place. This made a sort of one-way mirror situation; Though she could still clearly outside, if anybody else looked at her window now, all they would see would be a curtain hanging over it from the inside.
Zetta opened the window a little further in order to hear better. She saw Lily walking through the parking lot and could barely hear her exchange with the monk. Zetta grimaced as the group began to move towards the building, shutting and latching the window and letting the curtain fall back into place. "I can work with this," she said to herself, wiggling her fingers in anticipation.

Zetta let the small illusion she'd placed on the window fall away, now that it was unneeded. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she thought over Lily's act. She had no doubt that the robed figures would be entering her apartment soon. Hostages, she thought. I can definitely work with that. Shame I haven't practiced making solid illusions too much recently.
She imagined five teenage girls, with various states of torn clothing and cuts on their bodies, sitting huddled in one corner of her living room. They were pressed together in fear, hair all messy and with tears running down their cheeks. Zetta opened her eyes and saw the illusion of the girls there, where she had imagined them. So far so good. Next, she decided to paint certain areas of the apartment with streaks of blood, including a couple of bloody knives laying on the table.
"Needs something else," she muttered to herself, hands on her hips as she surveyed what she'd already done. She thought for a moment, aware that she was running out of time. Eventually, she wove a large, wolf-dog standing in front of the apartment door, hackles raised and bloody teeth bared in a snarl. She shook her head, moving the dog from where it currently was to stand close to the group of girls. After all, it wouldn't do for the strange people to open the door into her illusion and shatter it from the get-go.

"Right, good enough. That'll give them plenty of time to be distracted." Zetta turned and slipped out the front door, quickly weaving an invisibility illusion around herself. She planned on leaving through the apartment building's back door, where she hoped she wouldn't accidentally run into any more of the monks or whatever the heck they were. Lily, she hoped, knew how to handle herself.
As she quickly and quietly made her way down the stairs, she felt a strange tug in the back of her mind. She always felt this sort of strain, which indicated her hold on her illusions. She wouldn't be sticking around to see how the one in her apartment fared, so she knew she'd better be gone before that particular strain on her mind disappeared.

 

[Sporky111]

"I'm not angry, Maya." Takeda assured her, watching the door intently as they hid. "Just try not to run away from me, too. I don't want to lose you."

He gave a big sigh, scratching his head quickly with both hands as he thought of what they were going to do. There was really nothing else they could do in this building, they had both stirred up trouble and now there were probably people looking for them. Especially Maya, since she had even ended up on TV.

"I think we should just leave." he said softly, "It sounds like they're going to look for us. . . are you alright?"

 

[JoJo]

"I don't feel well today" Maya admitted as she slouched against the wall "my head and my arm hurts, and when I eat I feel like I'm about to be sick."

She carefully ran her hand along her invisible right arm. Around yesterday's bite mark the skin was swollen and painful to the touch, and the cuts themselves oozed a mysterious sticky liquid. She withdrew her hand in disgust.

"I think that dog's bite made me ill; it can't see it though. Let's go somewhere away from here and see if we can find a way to take a look at it."

 

[Sporky111]

"Well, when we get out of here we'll see if we can figure out what's wrong." Takeda said, reaching out to her. He felt a pang of regret upon hearing she was hurt. The whole reason he'd met her in the first place was to help her because of the dog bite. Somehow they'd forgotten about it since then.

His hand touched her and he quickly felt her take a hold of it. With a gentle pull, he led her out of the dark room. The studio was fairly empty already, but they still stayed close to the walls as they searched for an escape route.

The kitsune knew that the fastest way out of a building was to follow the red signs on the ceiling. They always led to a way out, and true to expectation the children were soon outside the building.

"We should find a place to hide." Takeda said, thinking out loud as he surveyed the area. "Do you know any places near here?" He thought that she would know, since she lived here. He hadn't been around long enough to find the little nooks holes in the buildings.

 

[JoJo]

"Round the corner there's a house where no-one lives. I think it might be haunted but ghosts only come out at night so we can go in. I have an idea which I'll tell you once we're in there."

Maya hopped slightly as she pulled Takeda along to the dilapidated shack, she had just remembered how long it had been since she had last used a toilet and the urge was now impossible to ignore. The house was tiny and grey with dull foliage growing up the cracked walls, weeds scattered the uneven slates that surrounded the abandoned dwelling. On either side huge office blocks loomed, their shadows rendering the little building dark and forgotten. She pushed the rotten door open and entered, the musty smell of damp and dead rodents hitting her nostrils immediately. The yellow plaster was falling of the inside of the house to reveal dirty and uneven brick work underneath.

"I haven't done a wee since I... um... yeh... just wait here for me here. If you see anyone else don't let them in!"

Leaving Takeda in the front room, Maya found her way to a quiet spot at the back of the house where she knew a lidless privy would be sitting mournfully on its own. A minute later she returned with a relieved look on her face.

"That's better... here's my plan. Even if you're a ki... kit... fox person you must turn invisible the same way I do. You could teach me how to make myself see-able again. Can you do that?"