Impact: Chapter 1

[Shin]

Wyuna and Dustin had both woken up, both were understandably tired. The pair seemed puzzled by their new arrival. Wyuna was probably asking about something but neither of them made sense of it, instead Dustin spoke;

"Yeah who what... I mean, who is that, Alan?"

"Well, it looks to be Kaden's sister. One of those monsters were after her... she managed to protect herself with some sort of bubble. The kid decided to go charging in, things could've gotten ugly."

Alan needed to have a word with this one as well, but was he going too far? Pretty much everyone were adults, what right did he have to tell them off? Caliban continued the story for him;

"Well, as soon as the monster was down, he starting banging on her dome... the pair of them passed out, and that's pretty much it. Have the others come back yet? It's pretty quiet around here.

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

The old guy had ignored him... maybe he wasn't a real doctor after all... or was something like a bottom specialist. Kayla was still pretty upset about killing something and the strange loud one had gone to check on something.

Grown-ups were strange. They worried about everything and got cross over little things... was this the future?

[Nanami Touko]

"Sister, okay, cool." He leaned back against the tree, trying to get back into relaxing. And then nothing was wrong.

"... Have the others come back yet? It's pretty quiet around here."

Except that. "No, they haven't come back yet. I'm starting to get a little bit worried. I think if they're not back within another hour, we should go and check on them. I mean, they've been gone almost three now, haven't they? Right? Wait Wyuna how long have I been asleep you wouldn't know you've been sleeping too..." He shook his head, trying to wake himself, stopping to smack his forehead. "Right, never mind me, I think I need to wake up first. I'm probably just worrying too much, they should be fine."

Edited August 2, 2012 by seph1212

[ReformBlade]

Making sure that the new girl was following him, Janson caught himself up with the others. "I think we've spent enough time here, so unless there's really something you want to look for here, I'm gonna suggest we leave now before more of those monsters find us." And with that, Janson headed out of the school and made his trek back to camp with some supplies slung over his shoulder with his only good hand. Looking out over the landscape sprawled out before him, Janson couldn't help but smile. "So many unknowns... What's going to give first?" he muttered to himself.

--------

The camp was a welcome sight to Janson as he placed his bag of supplies next to where last night's fire was. He would have joined in conversation but he was feeling out of it, exhausted and in pain. Immediately plopping himself down next to a tree without a single word, Janson began examining his wrist. It's gotten a little better... but oh my god this pain, I don't know if I can take much more of this. Biting his jacket's collar as he gripped his wrist, Janson attempted to realign it with painful results. It was back in place, of course, but the man wanted to cry from the pain. Not gonna cry, not gonna cry goddammit, I'm better than this. How can I hope to be worthwhile if a little thing like this is gonna make me cry? The familiar sensation of his healing washed over him, placing him in a rather calming mood. Ups and downs... Am I really so bi-polar?

"Well that was... weird." Wyuna said to herself in more rustling. Dammit, someone say something so I can talk... She was extremely interested in what supplies they had brought back now that she was awake. Of course, she had a few choice words for Janson when she'd get some time to talk to him. Something involving 'you lying son of a bitch' crossed her mind.

[Phoenix]

Reality

Firmia was too shy to speak to the others just yet, and followed Janson closely until they arrived at the camp and he began to try and treat his wrist. She cringed as he put it back in place and then sat down behind him. That had to hurt ... "A-are you okay ...?" She felt both helpless and useless in that moment. She felt the urge to help him somehow, but all she seemed to be able to do most of the time was get stuck on things. It probably wasn't even a good idea to touch anyone while she was so on edge. "Did one of those ... things ... do that to you?"

[ReformBlade]

"Like I said, I'll be fine, and yeah th-those things did that to me... It bit my arm so I... I smashed its head to the ground." Sniffling to try and calm down and stop any tears from escaping, "It's scary what we'll, well, what I'll do to survive and try to keep us all safe and get through this. Whatever this is anyway..." Feeling a little depressed, just looking over at Firmia cheered him up, glad to see that at least some form of humanity still lived on. "Well, I know it was all very sudden, but are you alright? I didn't even ask if you really wanted to come along, I'm sorry if it sounded like I was forcing you. It's just a very weird world we've landed on, and it's extremely dangerous. I believe with others you'll fare better..."

[Phoenix]

Explanation

"I'm fine-or ... I will be. I just wish Mister Nielson had ... had ... decided to join us," she put it in words she could stand at the moment. "I can't remember what happened, but Mister Nielson found me in that school. He told me about how things used to be, but I can't remember any of it. He even said I was a student at that school and that he was one of my teachers ..." she explained. She began scratching the side of her head toward the end of it, wondering exactly why she couldn't remember anything. If she bumped her head that hard, she figured there would still be some lingering pain or something. "I don't mind coming with you and the others, I'm just not sure how I can help. I don't want to be a burden on anyone." If I hadn't been so helpless, things might have turned out differently. Mister Nielson would be here. Right here in the camp. The thoughts came with a horribly guilt ridden expression. She had to find a way to make up for that, somehow ...

[Ether]

Janson had appeared to acquire a small girl, who had basically remained close to him the whole while back to camp. There was no problem with it, she supposed, any survivors were a plus, and someone her age would need support. The other new boy, it seemed, was a relative of Kayla's.

'Some people have all of the luck... her brother and Grandfather are both alive...'

The image of her blade piercing through Dave flashed through Selena's mind, causing her to rub her left temple wearily... there was nothing she could do for her right, as a small tear fell, though it was but a one, and was quickly wiped aside. Regardless of whatever personal plights she might be experiencing, there was no room to falter. They now had two children to care for, as well as the rest of them, and while the inmate promised loyalty, one couldn't help but be at the very least a tad concerned for his past, especially with the admitted crime being thievery.

'I suppose I'll need to be on the lookout for him...'

A pang of hunger. Right, one of those cells she had siphoned from Kayla had given her strength to move, and in her haste, she had still not yet eaten... she would grab something from the supplies in a short while, Selena reasoned, as the camp finally came back into view.

'Another...?'

Another young girl was passed out next to Kaden. It seems that the younger generation was either tenacious, or quite lucky, a good deal of them seemed to be fighting the odds and surviving, despite their age.

[Nanami Touko]

Dustin

He continued his less weary watch for the group, fiddling with the gun some more, making sure he was careful not to shoot it off.

----------

Almost asleep again, he heard the rustling that had once again become Wyuna's voice.

"Well that was... weird."

Of course, he couldn't make out a word of it. "Uh, Wyuna... here, I guess?" He spoke at her loud enough for her to hopefully get his voice. That should help her out. Turning his head, the group had finally come into focus. His fears washed away, he stood and stretched, glad that everyone had come back... un... unarmed. He spotted Selena, and fell back down, against the tree. I told her to let me go with her. "I told you to let me go!" He shouted at her as he jumped up from his spot, storming his way over to her. "I told you, I should have gone with you! I mean, I just..." he stopped shouting, hand on his head, "I could've helped, I could've stopped this, how did this even happen, I just..." he fell onto the ground, head in his hands, "Jesus..."

Amera

That little girl's getting pretty close to Janson... wish he'd let me get that close. She didn't let it bother her on the way back, deciding to land herself next to him and the new girl once they had.

"I don't mind coming with you and the others, I'm just not sure how I can help. I don't want to be a burden on anyone."

Catching the end of their conversation, she felt like chiming in. "Sorry, didn't mean to eavesdrop, just heard you talking to Janson, uhm. I'm Amera, it's nice to meet you. I wouldn't worry about that, though..." She smiled to herself, "I think we should just all be happy to be alive right now... I mean, that was quite a crash. And if you really want to help, I'm sure there's something we can get you to do around here. Maybe you could wash clothes or help Alan keep stock of the medicine... although Kayla will probably want to do that. But still! There's gotta be something. There's always something for someone to do." She giggled to herself cheerfully, kicking her legs a little against the ground.

"And how are you, Janson?" She shot him a question and a smile.

Edited August 3, 2012 by seph1212

[Ether]

Dustin stormed over to her, with regards to her severed arm. She simply shook her head as he fumed, looking down from him.

"There was nothing you could have done. One of them tagged me when I was up on a ledge, and knocked me off. Even if you had been with me, you couldn't have gotten down fast enough without hurting yourself. By the time you would have been able to peel it off of me, it would have taken the arm off, and I would have killed it already." Selena replied, still shaking her head.

"Now sit down. Your leg is still injured, Dustin, it isn't good for you to be jumping and stomping like this."

[ReformBlade]

"Amera's right, and even if you can't help, which I doubt, you have every right to life. Same as the rest of us. We're not dropping you simply because of some usefulness factor." Janson mentioned rather calmly. "And I'm... Well I've been better but I'll be fine..." Holding his wrist gently to his chest, he cringed every so often at the pain. "Sorry you had to go through any of this, both of you. Thankfully only two of us got severely hurt from any of that, and we made a pretty good haul, and to top it off we found a few survivors, so I don't know about either of you..." A sharp intake of breath, "But I'd say it's pretty decent, what we've done today."

"Hey, Dustin, keep it together" Wyuna spoke up in his voice. "Even if you could have done something, there's an equal chance something could have happened to YOU, you know. Don't go fretting over what could have been, okay? She's back, and that's what matters, isn't it?" Looking over to Selena. "You are okay, right?"

Edited August 4, 2012 by RainbowKitty

[Nanami Touko]

Dustin

Nothing I could do. Hah. Sounds familiar. He stood, still frustrated with himself. "You don't know that. You don't know if something different could've happened. Just because I don't have some crazy ass power doesn't mean I can't be useful!" He didn't want to let that frustrate him, but it was beginning to get difficult.

"Now sit down. Your leg is still injured, Dustin, it isn't good for you to be jumping and stomping like this."

"And you're missing an arm, what's stopping you? I don't give a damn about this leg anymore... Are you even alright? Can I get you anything? Please don't tell me to sit down again, I'm tired of doing nothing. I can get Cyrus to look at the leg and then I can be more than some useless lump." He sighed and started freaking out, but hearing himself, he came back down to earth, in a manner of speaking. "I know, I know, I just... I hate being useless. It sucks, y'know?"

Amera

"Ah, you know, whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger," and whatever almost kills you scars you for life, "so I don't think I'm any worse off. Besides..." she took his free hand, giving it a small squeeze, "you're right. We did pretty good today, and we're all alive. That's what matters, isn't it?" She smiled again, letting him have his hand back, and turning her attention to the girl, "So, uh... I never did get your name, but I'm curious... what's your, 'power'? I mean..." she thought for a moment on how to explain it, "I can jump and kick and do all sorts of things with my legs. Janson has super fast regeneration powers or something... what can you do?" I hope she doesn't explode. That would be a terrible power.

Edited August 3, 2012 by seph1212

[Ether]

"It hurt like hell when it got ripped off, but now... I don't feel a thing." Selena replied to Wyuna, before Dustin continued.

"It isn't a matter of power or not, Dustin." Selena stated flatly, shaking her head.

"Even if your leg wasn't hurt, the only way you could have gotten down in time was if you jumped and landed right on the thing... if that would have happened you would have been badly injured, if you survived at all... fact is, from the time the thing swiped at me, it was a matter of seconds before my arm came off in it's jaws. The only thing you could have done was taken the hit for me, and where would that have gotten us? If it would have happened to you, it wouldn't have died after ripping off the arm, and even if it had, you would have kept bleeding. You would have died, Dustin." Selena concluded, her expression stating that there wasn't room to argue the issue.

"You're useful Dustin, you're alive. You can scout, you can hunt, you can bind wounds, you can do what needs to be done, but you can't do that if you neglect that leg. If that wound gets infected, what will you do? We don't know if Cyrus can fix that, and all of the medical equipment aside from basic first aid has been destroyed. So don't beat yourself up over what you can or can't do, just focus on staying alive and healthy." Selena added, shuffling her feet slightly by this point.

"You have a wonderful gift that you're taking for granted, Dustin." Selena began, her voice soft, as she turned away from Dustin to hopefully bring Cyrus over.

"...you're still human." She muttered under her breath, not sure whether he had heard or not... after she said it, her mind hoped that he had not.

[Nanami Touko]

"You don't have to explain it to me, I know I probably would've been useless. I know that well enough already." She jumped into a pep talk, which made him chuckle. "I can do all that but I can never be as amazing as anyone else here, you know?" He wasn't yelling anymore, he was even smiling, "I can't heal people, I can't make soundwaves, I can't jump or heal or change or... whatever. And I know that those things all cause problems to you all too, but at least you can do these amazing things." He sighed, a final attempt to not let it get to him. "But you're right, you're right! I'm not useless, I should probably try to get over myself. Just get Cyrus to help me out here, and everything'll be hunky dorry, right?"

"Hey, Cyrus, if you've got it in you, come and fix up my leg, could yah? I've been waiting a while!" He smiled at him, still upset at himself on the inside. About to stroll back to the tree and relax for a moment, Selena said something under her breath. He caught the gist of it, not impressed. "Yeah? So are you." And then it was back to the tree, to wait for Cyrus to work his 'magic'.

[Phoenix]

Power

It sounded like a couple was arguing nearby, and this Dustin guy seemed to be in a similar boat as Firmia. She was in no hurry to run into a bloody skirmish just to help out, though. Maybe 'scouting' like the injured woman mentioned. Figuring out what she could do that was actually helpful would have to wait a minute or two now that one of the others was speaking to her. She was surprised to hear about the woman's legs, but wondered why it was just them and not her arms too. She decided to remember to ask her about that sometime after she replied. "I'm Firmia. My power is ... um ... turning into glue? I don't know. I just get stuck on things when I'm scared and can't get off until I calm down. Even my clothes get stuck to me." she explained, pinching and lightly pulling on her school uniform once. That power wasn't active at the moment, it seemed. "It's not very helpful. You're supposed to run when you're in danger, not get stuck against a wall ..." she added in a pouting tone. The whole thing seemed ironic to her with those big mutants on the loose.

[Ether]

It seemed Dustin had something to say about it, and he had in fact heard in the end... but it wasn't of consequence. No one could consider any part of her that had been mutated to be human... and if earlier events were any indication, the whole of her becoming that way was inevitable, provided she survived that long.

"It's a forgone conclusion." She muttered to no one in particular, as she made her way towards the cover of the foliage.

'No matter what... I can't freeze up like that again...'

[ReformBlade]

Janson was intrigued by her new-found power, smirking a little at her pouting over it "I dunno, that'd be a pretty amazing power if you can learn to control it. You'd be like that one oldschool comic book hero... what was his name again, I think it was Spider-man? Yeah. Maybe if you learn to harness it in bursts or something you can scale walls and ceilings, and that's hella useful. You could be amazing at reconnaissance and espionage." Shifting his position a little, Janson turned more towards Firmia. "To me, that sounds a hell of a lot more useful than what I could do, for instance. All I can do is just... take beatings repeatedly in a quicker timespan than most. Yeah that sounds 'cool' and all, but it just means that when I get down to it, I get to experience more physical pain than anyone else here, if you wanna quantify it all. Which is fine by me, to be honest." Turning away again and staring into nothing in particular before looking down to his still healing wrist. "I wouldn't wish this on anyone, but I'm glad I got it all the same. I'd be dead many times over without since I'm such a screw up, but I like to think that because of it I can at least... make everyone else have a chance."

"Dustin... What do you even want to hear from us after that?" In his voice she began again. "I'm not going to argue with you on this but I'd like to ask a favor. Please stop placing us on a higher rung for something we didn't actively accomplish. That's... pretty much racism to some extent, and I've never been a fan of it in any form."

[Sakusa]

Kayla dropped off her supplies near the campfire at the first chance she got, smiled weakly at Alan, and nudged her little brother toward their grandfather. "Don't look at him funny, he's real, you know!" she attempted to joke to lighten the mood, but she was seriously afraid of talking to Alan about Cyrus. How was she even supposed to explain things to him? The old man with the dead animal on his chin was definitely not her boyfriend, but he was definitely becoming more than a friend. She let out a lengthy sigh and kept her mouth shut during the arguments. When the action began to wind down she remembered something semi-important and quickly dug through the backpack Amera brought back.

"Hey Dustin, here!" the spontaneous blonde ran over to him and shoved a bunch of pens and pencils into his hands. "The pen I gave you couldn't possibly last you for long, so I kept you in mind when we went scavenging!" she exclaimed, smiling nervously. "Anyway Cyrus, hurry up and get over here, you silly bag of old bones! I'm gonna check on Janson, so take of of Dustin for me."

[Eail]

Cyrus couldn't help but notice how awkward Kayla was acting at the moment, 'Probably has something to do with me and Alan. 'That's gonna be a fun conversation if there ever was one.'

Dropping his share of the supplies next to everyone else's Cyrus walked over to Dustin and got on the ground near him. "I suppose I've been holding out on this for a while eh? Anyways, let's get to work." Putting his hands down on the injured leg the not quite doctor focused on returning the limb to it's former state. Once the healing was done he pulled away panting, "There.... that should do it...." he chocked out while he backed against a tree "I'm just gonna rest here for a bit."

[Nanami Touko]

Dustin

"I don't even know, Wyuna. The world practically ends... and here I am, the same as always. I should be laughing, you know? That I get stuck being normal." He smirked again. "I wouldn't worry too much about that. I still think you're all human, albeit humans with awesome powers. No race anything here. I'll suck it up and do what I can, you know? Just..." he brought his smirk back down, "I don't like being told that my being there would've changed nothing. Selena seems to be getting increasingly cold as well, and that's no help to anyone. I hope she remembers that no matter what she's still... one of us. I guess. Look at me getting all hopeful after all that complaining, I must be bi-polar or something, haha."

"Hey Dustin, here! The pen I gave you couldn't possibly last you for long, so I kept you in mind when we went scavenging! Anyway Cyrus, hurry up and get over here, you silly bag of old bones! I'm gonna check on Janson, so take of of Dustin for me."

The sudden burst of exuberance scared him, jumping back up against the tree. But the surprise was well worth it. "Wow, wow this is great! Thank you so much, Kayla!" His mood turned around entirely, shooting for his notebook to start writing immediately, the feeling of wood against his hand a pleasant reminder of how things used to be. "Don't worry about me anymore, Wyuna, I'll give it a rest." But Cyrus wasn't, finally coming over to heal up his leg. All the pain in his leg suddenly disappeared, giving the knee a bend to test it out. "Yeah, wow, take that rest, this is amazing!" He stared at his leg in disbelief for a few moments, before going back to scrawling on the notepad. "Let me know if anyone needs any help, now that my leg is better. If not, I'll be here writing."

Amera

"Yeah, I don't know what you're talking about Firmia, that's a lot cooler than what I've got." She smiled at the girl, glad that her power wasn't something ridiculous. "Though wouldn't that ruin clothes? I guess that part would suck. It'd cost so much to have to keep buying new ones in case yours ripped because your power turned on!" She stuck her tongue out and laughed a little. "But I agree with Janson, that is a pretty cool power. Better than mine. I can't even use my legs after I do anything crazy. And hey, Janson, come on, your power's cool too! You're, like... almost invincible! That's kinda cool, right? Though I guess everything hurting would be a bit much..." She scratched her head, wondering what to do next. "Maybe we should go look over the clothes we brought back? I know I won't want to wear this stuff for another day, I've already sweated into it. Don't want to ruin everyone's noses."

Edited August 3, 2012 by seph1212

[Ether]

It seems Dustin had been preoccupied... that was good. It was better if no one else were to witness what was to follow... it wasn't something she could hope to explain or convey... it was just... something Selena felt had to be done.

What must have been a good 50 feet into the cover of the brush, Selena stopped walking, and sat herself against the trunk of a tall tree, looking wearily at the now shifted blade attached to her wrist. Her foot as well, shifted into a metallic state, though not quite as tough as the blade. Selena attempted to steady herself for what was to come, but she couldn't help but feel her arm shake nigh-uncontrollably as she prepared herself.

'...just... don't look. This will get easier with time... repeat until it's nothing at all...'

Closing her eyes, gritting her teeth, and turning her head, Selena thrust the blade downward without a second thought, forcing the scream back down her throat as the blade tore into the softer metal of her foot, piercing it clean, and making it's way to the nerves hidden beneath, those that proved themselves still very much alive. Pulling the blade from her shifted flesh was almost as excruciating as thrusting it in, as it tore itself a new path out, causing Selena to shudder violently as she braced against the tree, her breaths heavy. Looking down at the extremity reform itself to it's usual shape, the hole dissapearing entirely, leaving pain the sole reminder of a wound that had else-wise healed.

'...I need to... withstand this so that... so that I don't freeze up next time...'

Resolving herself, Selena thrust the blade down again. And again. The only evidence her own cold sweat and the choked down whimpers escaping her throat.

'...this is... the fruit of my... resolve... I... I won't...'

[Shin]

Everybody soon returned. Thankfully, the gang had managed to get the fire going again. Very much to their surprise, they had returned with three new arrivals. Two seemed to be children.

"Grandpa!"

It couldn't be, his eyes were playing tricks on him. It was Richard. The two ran together for an embrace, Richard's eyes filling with tears.

"Grandpa, I was so scared... there were these monsters, and they ate people..."

"Don't worry, we're together now. These people are good people... well mostly good"

His eyes shifted over to Cyrus momentarily before returning to his grandson. He'd have some choice words for the student later on. His family came first, they always did.

"We'll pull through, I'll make sure of it... even if I have to right hook every monster in the city."

Edited August 3, 2012 by Shin Chan

[Jaybee]

Kaden

C-Char... lotte...

His limbs still felt weak, and the throbbing pain still existed in his head. Where was he? More importantly, how was Charlotte? He barely managed to force his eyes open, seeing the unconscious girl lying in front of him, blood dripping down the three claw scratches on her face.

"Char-Aaaah!" He let out a weak scream, trying to move his arms to push himself off the ground. The moment he exerted force on his arms, it burned in pain, and he had no choice but to collapse.

"Sis... H-Help..."

[Phoenix]

Combinations

The first thing that came to mind was an image of herself as a half human half spider creature cackling from the side of a building, and the environment around her seemed unrealistically dark, as if there was no moonlight at all. "Uhhh ..." She wasn't sure what else to say there. At the very least, if she was going to bee climbing around on walls, she wouldn't have trouble activating her power ... she was afraid of heights. Janson's deeper assessment of his own abilities prompted a small frown. That did sound pretty bad now that he mentioned it.

Amera's explanation made her laugh, though. "I'm trying to be careful with my clothes ... but see~? You can probably get away from those things because your legs are so strong. I'll just get caught on something. In fact ..." she paused crossing her arms and putting a finger on her chin. "Hey, can I grab onto you if we have to run away? How much weight can you carry and how long can you go before your legs get tired?" Grabbing onto the best runner/jumper seemed like a great alternative to the wall.

[ReformBlade]

"That'd be a good idea, actually. But I'd... rather you didn't get into a situation that'd require such a desperate tactic." Maybe that's the reality I should be acknowledging? The fact that we're possibly the last of our kind, on the run or murdering monsters out to kill us...? Nah. He smiled to himself. Not gonna be that depressing. Not for them anyway. "I'm sure a lot of us would be glad to help you out in a pinch, I doubt it'd be just me and Amera." At the mention of clothes and noses, Janson only now payed attention to his stench, forcing back his own vomit. "Y-Yeah... why don't you both go look for something...? No need to stick around dirty old me and stuff."

Edited August 4, 2012 by RainbowKitty

[Nanami Touko]

"I'm trying to be careful with my clothes ... but see~? You can probably get away from those things because your legs are so strong. I'll just get caught on something. In fact ... Hey, can I grab onto you if we have to run away? How much weight can you carry and how long can you go before your legs get tired?"

"No no no I couldn't do that, I'd eventually trip and my legs would lock up. I don't know how long I can force them to go. I don't want to try, either, not right now. Maybe in the future I can give them a stress test, but I need to be on my feet for the group. I seriously wonder if something could break, if I did push them too far. But you could always jump on my back and I could jump up somewhere. That'd be better than trying to run." She laughed a little, finally having fun, for real. After all that had happened she thought she'd be a bawling mess, huddled near some tree and avoiding any human contact. Have I become that jaded? Maybe I just really needed a laugh... "Anyway, Firmia, clothes!"

"Y-Yeah... why don't you both go look for something...? No need to stick around dirty old me and stuff."

"And you too, smelly boy! Can't have my boyfriend stinking up the place." She laughed at him as she stood, pulling him to his feet as well, almost stumbling over. "We'll scour the bags and find something to wear. Maybe I can treck to a river and get in a bath. That'd be amaaaazing. Is there one around here?" She was beaming at the idea, wanting nothing more than to clean off.