What goes bump in the night

"Thank you." She growled out at him. "I'd suggest not ignoring me next time." Haiku glanced back again; she was observing this one more than the others why? He was a human; no extraordinary abilities or mutations. But her gaze zeroed in on him for some reason. Perhaps he was rival to her skill? Perhaps he even intimidated her? She dismissed the second thought. No one would intimidate her at first glance....except maybe Shepard when he got seriously angry. Haiku looked again at the blade in his hands then spoke at a random whim.


"If you feel like testing that blade out some time, I'll spar you a bit. I'll even go easy on you." She grunted; this was her normal reaction when something slightly amused her. But Haiku never smiled; she couldn't after that day. Haiku turned away and headed out the door a little quicker than usual, trying to escape the gaze of the one-armed man.
 
Adrian smiled eagerly to himself at her quip as he watched her leave. Go easy on him, eh? To say something like that...she would have to be either horribly arrogant, or extrodinarily skilled. He was certain it was the latter, and that was wonderful to him. He looked forward to honing his skills against her.
 
"Well firstly, I can show you this 'abode' I just mentioned. I do have a few questions for you, as unlike the others our information is quite limited. All we know is that you have an extraordinary knack for making the unlikely and improbable happen on a regular basis. As for possible combat skills, or other abilities, our intel is sorely lacking. Most importantly however . . . I am led to believe you are housing someone, or someTHING inside your body."
 
*sigh* "Its not like I do it on purpose. Things just... happen around me." Lucky says despondently. "For example, I could say that behind that door," here he points at a nearby closet, "is a 12-foot italian sub sandwich. If i were to open the door now," he stands up, and walks to the door," i have roughly equal odds of there being a large sandwich there, or a bunch of hungry sharks." Opening the door, he reveals an aardvark, and says, "And its completely uncontrollable, except for a few, certain cases where i can force what i call a 'Chance' to occur." glancing down at the aardvark, he asks, "Can we get something for the aardvark? its looking a bit hungry." whereupon the aardvark interjects, and says, "No thanks, i ate on the way here," and pulls the closet door shut.
 
Shepard raised an eyebrow, his only show of surprise at the current situation


"Not the oddest thing I've seen in my life . . . but it's up there."


He calmly continued his discussion


"I know about your ability. What I'm asking is any other skills you may possess. And you still haven't answer my question about the 'other'. Sarisa described a gray cloud exiting your body earlier."
 
"OH!" he said, face brightening up, "You must mean tau7. Its a cloud of nano-machines that i met when a 'Chance' went wrong... Anyway, tau lives inside of me, and i go around and show it what life is"
 
"Nanomachines? As in a colony of microscopic machines that can recreate themselves?"


He eyed the man for a few minutes


"May I speak with this . . . tau7?"


----------------------------


Xans continued for a little while before coming to the end of the sector


"And this . . . is the hall that leads to the residential area of the compound. If you head down the hallway you will find Gregor's desk. He can give your room assignments.
 
Adrian, after thanking Xans for his guidance, strolled down the hallway until he reached the aformentioned desk, and adressed the man stationed there. "You are Gregor, yes? I am Adrian. I was told that you would give us our room assignments."
 
Shepard raised an eyebrow


"I am fluent in french and german, but I must confess that I do not. Would you be willing to translate? I am assuming you are able to communicate with . . . tau7."


He wasn't sure whether to call a group of nanomachines them, it, him, or her


-----------


"Yes I am, Mr. Borskov. You are on the second floor, room 213. I believe you and Vojta shall be sharing."


There was a spiral staircase on either side of the desk, and one could see four floors above.
 
"Excellent, thank you," Adrian said with a satisfied smile, and departed up the staircase.


Samuel cautiously approached the desk after Adrian had finished. "Greetings, sir Gregor. I am Samuel. Where might I be rooming?"
 
"Well . . . lacking that, can you give me some information on . . . them? I need to know what they are capable of as commanding officer."


---------------------------


"Samuel? . . . . Ah, you sir are on the fourth floor. Room 401, right by the staircase. You will be sharing with another I believe . . . Ah, one . . . . it says his name is "Muerte" and nothing else."


He handed a key to the young man
 
Samuel accepted the key and headed up the staircase, but instead of entering his room he headed for the roof. Once there, he leaned slightly on the railing as he breathed deeply, and took off his gloves, stowing them in his pocket. The brisk night air and cool breeze felt wonderful on his hands that had been covered all day. He carefully reached into his vest's inside pocket (being careful to handle things with only his left hand so his right one wouldn't damage them) and took out a cigarette, lit it, and smoked it slowly, breathing leisurely, and finally relaxing.
 
Neimi was following with Muerte, looking around nervously. She had no idea what was going on; why was she grouped with these two?


---------------


Haiku was inside of her own room, number 209. The two halves of the room varied greatly. The obviously lived in portion on the right was very straight forward and without any major decorations. The walls were a steel grey and the floors wood. A plain looking wooden bed with navy blankets stood against the wall. A simple wooden set of drawers was on one side of the window and a mirror on the other. A small wooden book shelf housed a few books. The left side of the room as a stark contrast. It was a beautiful green with paintings of nature and animals on the walls. The bed had an ornate red coverlet with gold and white accents. The drawers' top was covered with magazines and books. A large vanity had carved flowers encircling the mirror. This side however seemed like it had hardly even been touched. In fact, it hadn't been for six months.


Haiku walked into the left side to the vanity. It was covered in candles and pictures of a girl who looked almost exactly like Haiku. Except this girl was smiling and had long, flowing blond hair that shone in the sun and moved in the breeze. She lit the candles in reverence then sat down in front of the drawers.


"Hello, Minuet." Haiku's stone face finally cracked with some emotion as she looked with pain at the center picture. "Today there are more new recruits. Some odd ones too. One of them intrigues me, probably because it's obvious that he can use a sword as well as I can. But I blushed when he looked at me." Haiku stopped for a moment, pondering. "This is not something I'm used to, sister. Why is this happening? What am I supposed to do?" Only silence answered her. "...I miss you." One single tear crept from her eye on the side of her face that was not covered. "I wish you were here to tell me what to do. You always knew what to do."


Haiku got up and blew out the candles unceremoniously. The talk had calmed her a bit; now, she should go get some practice in, just in case she was taken up on her offer. When she walked out the door, she saw the same man as before heading down the hallway. She turned quickly, taking her time locking the door and hoping he did not notice her.
 
Adrian saw the woman, and remembered her from earlier. He projected down the hall as he slowly walked down it. "You know, you didn't have to try being sneaky at sizing us up back there. I've nothing to hide...after all, we're allies, yes?" He noticed that his room was only a few doors down the hall from hers. "We're also neighbors, apparently. I'm Adrian, by the way." His casual friendly grin was present on his face, of course. It never seemed to leave his expression.
 
"Well, tau can kind of... it just..." stumbling over his words, he continues, "I've never really had to try and describe it before, but it can... infest? an organic entity, and act as a virus. I'm slightly hesitant to ask for that, as i dont really want that type of routine to become core to its identity. Tau can do the same to machines, though it can do so more easily, and occasionally form itself into a semi-corporeal mass, in order to physically interact with larger objects."
 
Haiku looked nervously back then forward; that smile....it made her think of Minuet's infectious grin that had always made her smile. "...I'm Haikura O'Reilley. Haiku for short. And people don't normally notice me sizing them up." Haiku finally turned around to face him. "We may be allies but that does not mean I trust you as of yet. No offense." Haiku mentally smacked herself after saying those last two sentences. Way to look like an ice queen, Haiku. Nice going. Then again, she could be classified as an ice queen, considering how little she interacted with the others. Why was she interacting with him again? Haiku had no idea.
 
Adrian shrugged slightly. "None taken. I would be a bit surprised if you trusted me completely. We just met, after all." He paused. "Haiku...not a common name, I'd say."
 
"I see, it's not something that can be so easily sized up. Well, it is of little concern if he has been living inside you for some time. I shall add this to your profile and we'll call it a day."


Shepard opened up the door into what appeared to be a quaint college room. There was a simple bed in the corner, with a few cushioned chairs lying around.


"Initially it was thought that a heavily controlled environment would be necessary. However, our resident doctor decided it would be better without the extra variables."
 
"No....I have no idea where it came from..." Haiku shrugged. "I'm just stuck with it." Her hand came up to adjust the metal mask on the side of her face slightly. Her eyes fell back on his missing arm then back again to his eyes quickly. She felt slightly guilty that she had looked there for some odd reason.
 
Adrian saw her glance at his...lack of arm, but thought nothing of it. "I advise you take pride in it. Your name is as much apart of you as your legs...and arms," he said, not-so-subtly acknowledging that she'd glanced at his wound. "Besides, a lot of the great and worthwile things in life aren't common....like a diamond, for example."


He wasn't aware of it, but he wasn't hiding his pain as much as he thought. His pain medications were wearing off, and it was starting to get to him.
 
"....I did not mean to.....look there." Haiku gestured towards the area of his missing arm. "I...apologize." She then noticed a bit of pain twinged his face. "Your pain medications are wearing aren't they?"
 
He laughed, but it was a little weaker than his previous expressions of mirth. "Think nothing of it. It's only natural to look. It's convenient for me because even as I view your mask, I look into your face." His smile fell just a smidgeon. "...And yes, the medicine is wearing off. I'd hoped to get some training in tonight, but I probably shouldn't with this injury being so fresh."
 
"....the mask is....a reminder of a failure." Haiku was trying to decide what to do. "Come. I'll take you to the infirmary and get you more pain meds." She felt obligated to do something.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 3 (members: 0, guests: 3)
Back
Top