sweethymns | Pictures in the Dark

[Oren stands still as Iona runs past and then his silvery eyes settle on the other three. He makes a slight heaving motion with his chest as if sighing. Kind of.]

Good practice. For her.

[As Michael follows Iona out, Morgan cuts in with a "ha!" at Oren's comment.]

I don't see how any of this is good for either party. Not only do we apparently need to deal with a monster on the loose, but more importantly, we've just failed our job and voided our contract with our client.

Talk about rude. I'm trying to decide if I should be more concerned or angry. Maybe both?

Hey, never mind that-- [She's more curious about something else.] What did she mean she answered to someone more intimidating than our client? What happened to just running a nice peaceful cafe?

Grandmother.

[THE DEADLIEST OF ALL DEADLY AND INTIMIDATING FIGURES.

As they talk, the walls are beginning to be covered with golden and thin threadlike veins; Iona's reinforcing the gallery so that the monster can't have an escape route.]

Probably knew more than your client.

[Jake, on the other hand, is visibly annoyed, but that may not come as a total surprise, given his personality.]

Probably, but it doesn't change the fact that we could have gotten through this without having to deal with a monster on the loose. Now, who knows what's gonna happen to us?

[He motions at the walls to accentuate his point.]

Now we're gonna have to probably fight it, aren't we? Great.

[Oren looks pointedly at Jake, but decides not to remark at his assertion. It's more or less what he's thinking anyways.]

Dealt with monsters before?

We have, but usually we have Jake and Thomas here to help us. The best I can do is charm a monster to stop attacking briefly, and Morgan there just stands off to the side and looks pretty.

Well, I do a bit more than that sometimes.

[Oren stares at Morgan, piercingly so. He remembers what Jake said about him in particular.]

Do you now.

[It almost sounds curt.]

[Just a grin on this side, and a refusal to say much more, since he didn't ask specifically.]

[Jake wants to change the subject, thank you. Morgan's powers make him uncomfortable, even just talking about them, especially with his brother standing right next to him.]

All we're gonna need is my powers. We'll be fine without Thomas here. [He's trying his best to sound confident -- and he is, at least, confident in his powers. The part about not knowing what they're fighting, exactly, is the problem, but he tries not to let that slip through in his tone.]

Just as long as no one else gets in the way.

Ah. You blocked.

[Jake's powers did pique Oren's interest. He did demonstrate a little back at the cafe and to see it work on a much bigger scale was astonishing in its own right.

Oren's phone vibrates and he takes it out casually. He hasn't panicked or shown an ounce of concern over this whole monster business. He puts it on speaker.]

Edited 2016-07-04 00:44 (UTC)

OREEEENNNNNN!!!

[She's so loud...]

Okay, so I made sure that thing can't get out and it's basically kind of crawling all over the walls right now. I think it's made out of... Dust? Bugs??? If it was just bugs, a HUGE can of Raid would be WONDERFUL right now!!

[There's another screeching noise on her end of the phone as she shouts over the noise.]

Crap--!! It's heading your way! Also, don't tell Grandma what happened, PLEASE?!

[And she hangs up...]

[There's silence at first when Oren hangs up, and then:]

Well, that doesn't sound good.

[Thanks, Lyra.]

Uh, hey, Oren, you got any cool golem powers or something that can help us out? Otherwise we're basically just stuck with Jake's invisi-tentacles.

[Oren glances at Jake.]

It'll do. He hits. See what happens.

I'll step in. When needed.

[He cuts in.]

Fine by me. And they're not tentacles.

I'm ready whenever this dust-bug thing shows up. [He crosses his arms, mentally cursing that it had to come to this. For once in his lifetime, why can't a job go smoothly?]

[They don't have to wait long then. A combination of the beastly screech AND a loud buzzing begins to fill the room around them. The ground begins to shake.

Say hello to your new friend, friends!!

It towers over the four of them and Oren studies it briefly before stepping in front of Lyra and Morgan (mostly Lyra, her ability won't work for this monster).]

Ready when you are.

[Oh gross WHAT IS THAT THING]

Ugh, gross! [Yep, stating exactly what's on her mind, as always. More disconcerting, she can already tell that her powers won't work on that thing one bit; she feels no connection whatsoever to the creature towering above them. That's going to be frustrating, that feeling of uselessness -- but she'll dwell on that later, after they've dealt with this.]

[As for Morgan, the first thing that flashed through his head was that he might be able to steal its soul and end the fight right then and there. Of course, he's smart. He's not going to just run in and attempt to do so, not without knowing what the creature could do, or without weakening it.

And Jake might be the majority of their brute force right now, but he's still calling the shots when it comes to the three of them.]

Hit it hard, Jacob.

[Give it a little experimental swing, dear half-bro. You get to the be guinea pig.]

Way ahead of you.

[He's already prepping an attack, and sends out a wave of pure force right towards the creature. He wonders if it'll connect, though -- it isn't a usual solid mass, like most of the creatures they've had to fight before.]

[The swarm creature, fixes what's supposed to be its beady eyes on the four of them before stumbling backwards as a result of the invisible force executed by Jake. It doesn't quite fall over, but parts of it burst or scatter into individual bugs.

A few of them fly towards Oren who simply holds out his hand (and for a split second there's a flicker and his hand looks like it's covered in luminous crystals) and there's a burst of light that deters and disintegrates the bugs. He nods in confirmation.]

Keep doing that.

I'll burn.

[Burn? Jake hardly has time to question it, nor does he particularly wish to. He hasn't seen any abilities belonging to Oren until now, other than super strength, but he's not going to second-guess him, at a time like this. He wonders how effective his attacks are going to be in the long run, when the creature just scatters and reforms after each hit.

So he doesn't even blink twice at the flicker of light. He's seen stranger, in this crazy new life he's found himself in. If Oren can disintegrate them, he'll oblige.

He doesn't give verbal affirmation, he just lashes out with another attack towards the creature, a long, horizontal swipe, throwing an arm forward to guide it.]

Pictures in the Dark

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AFTER A 1000 YEARS

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