|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 9:06 pm
 |
|
|
 |
Research. That was the directive of the mission.
It wasn't the first time Peyton had been ordered to the Haunted House, nor would it be her last, but it was the first since learn what had happened to Nevada. Not a fate the dainty Sun really had to be all that concerned against, her own weapon very much in tact, shield in place, but still. It would have been foolish not to take that unfortunate event under consideration. Extra precautions in the form of runic bandages tucked away safely in the pack at her hip, and plain old caution.
The text had told her to be at the portal at 7 am to meet her partner. It was 6:45, she was early, but then she'd already been awake, had a run, cleaned up. Peyton was a morning person, had been for years, and it had come in real handy on Deus, when they liked to call their soldiers out at absurdly early hours.
She didn't know who her partner would be, but so long as it wasn't Rep, she doubted very much that there wouldn't be any problems. Hopefully.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 9:32 pm
|
|
|
|
Excitement more than anything pervaded his being: finally, a chance at the Haunted House. A real chance. They had discouraged basic trainees from going in themselves, and Jack being who he was, he never got a chance to pester someone into taking him along. With things mostly settled down in Deus, this opportunity couldn't have come at a better time: he had recovered in full, there weren't any particular issues he had found himself entangled with, and he wasn't blindly drunk. Perfect.
His morning began in a remarkably similar way, with a strict 4:30 am alarm (as always, anticipated but never pre-empted), followed by a quick jog around the training fields (half an hour, always trying to beat his personal best in laps), then a shower and shave (today with more careful attention to his trimming than usual, evening things out but attempting to cultivate a respectable amount of facial hair), and finally by 6:05 am he considered himself ready for the day. Jack then idly spent some time in the lab lounge, fiddling with the machine some more before fixing himself a hot thermos of coffee to go, making a quick pass around the infirmary (there were less people there than before, good) before finally making his way towards the lighthouse.
He kept his pace languid, mostly to restrain his overeagerness to get this chance to study the house more. Yes, it was meant to be a patrol, and yes, it probably meant they might encounter something, but these were details. Since Shiloh's death and return, he had begun to wonder about a few things . . . And perhaps his partner would be able to fill the gaps for him. Jack had hoped--hoped, for once in his miserable life--that his luck would smile on him today and give him someone who knew their stuff. It wasn't like he socialized a lot either, so there were plenty of people who didn't know him. It'd be a great excuse to stop Finn's insane idea about blind dates to get him to stop being a hermit.
But Jack's moment of optimism was as brief as as heartbeat. He did not have sufficient luck to net him a knowledgeable acquaintance: he did, however, have the luck to be partnered with someone whom he had tried to choke.
"Ah. You." That was his clearly disappointed greeting to Peyton as he crossed the threshold into the lighthouse. He eyed her over his mug as he took a drink from it likeit held alcohol instead.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 9:54 pm
|
|
|
|
Noise pulled her attention from one of the many windows towards the entry way to the light house, and the figure that came striding in was enough to plaster a rather unpleasant, albeit mild, smile on glossed lips. One that grew at the obvious disappointment in his tone. "Ah, me." She, on the other hand, managed an almost mocking neutrality. Utterly casual, from features to body language. There was no point in getting angry, and showing him any negative emotion would have been counter productive.
<I do not trust this one. He has tried to hurt you before, he could do it again.> Warrick's voice growled through her mind, the demon's hackles already rising, and much to his chagrin, his partner didn't seem to be listening. Or at least didn't seem to care.
"Good morning, Sunshine." She looked a fair bit healthier than the last time he'd seen her. The bags had faded, the hair was styled up at the back of her head, the clothing her usual complimenting style. A pair of shorts, a white cami, and a loose fit, dark halter tied at the back of her neck. It left the tattoo between her shoulder blades very viable. As well as the thick scar just to the left of it.
<Peyton...> It was a warning, and finally she soothed him, internally, silently. She knew Jack was anything but harmless.
But that's what made it so fun.
"Are you ready?" A small hand raised to indicate the portal, and again she grinned, flashing pearly whites in the early morning sun. "Have you been here before? It can quite unpredictable." Something she'd learned through not one, but two precious visits and confrontations.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 10:40 pm
|
|
|
|
He supposed it was a silver (or very, very vague gray) lining that at least Peyton somewhat knew her way around the area. Someone really must have hated him, though, to arrange this farce of a match up. His eye twitch briefly, though not because of Peyton's quiet insolence (he had endured far, far worse than that). Strangely, it was because of deja vu. Sunshine. What a funny little word. (What utterly wrong lips.)
In contrast, Jack had dressed up as if it were a formal mission (which, up until he realized who his partner would be, had been the point), every inch of skin covered by gloves, or coat, or dress shirt, or black slacks. The only thing that really stood out in the attire were his polished lace up boots which, much like his eyes, gleamed, and as always the green hair which seemed more punkish than usual against the reserved wardrobe. Like this, there was no visible sign that he had ever been burned.
He considered Peyton through half-lidded eyes, then scoffed softly at the first question. "This is my second visit," he replied coolly. "My first one lasted maybe two minutes. Almost-corpses have a way of interrupting investigations." Jack then patted his coat pocket, where the runic bandages lied. "I'm ready to mummify at a moment's notice, however." Though it was hard to tell if he meant actually helping avoid another near-death incident, or literally mummifying the body afterwards.
Jack made a mocking gesture of grandeur with his thermos towards the portal. "Shall we?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 11:00 pm
|
|
|
|
Keen eyes stayed on the tall Lifer, watching, analyzing any minute micro expression that might happen to flicker across those too familiar features. The twitch was caught at the endearment, and she filed that little tidbit away for later. It could have been nothing, or it could have been something. She wouldn't know without a little dedicated observation. But wouldn't it be fun if she'd found another way to dig under that freshly healed skin?
"Yeah," she agreed conversationally. "They're real bastards." The thermos was given a look, one that remained fixed as she lifted her gaze back up to brilliant greens. Expression speaking louder than any words she could have tossed up at him. It was silly bringing it, but let him loose it if he wanted.
"I've got bandages as well, in my pack, in case we need them." Better to mention them now, just in case something did happen, and she was unable to mention it later when they might be necessary. Peyton might not have liked Jack, but she couldn't say a damn thing against his work in Life division. He took his job seriously, the science side, and the medical side. It meant she held a thin sliver of respect for him, begrudgingly.
He gestured to the portal, and tore her gaze away from the thermos and headed in without another word.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 24, 2014 6:59 pm
|
|
|
|
He sincerely hoped they wouldn't need hers, too--not because of the dangers of a situation that would warrant two runic usages, but because he was now starting to wonder if Suns were all as incompetant as Chel was when it came to their own bandaging. Maybe yet again he would have to leave the Haunted House on short notice, towing a body behind him. (Maybe it would be an actually enjoyable experience this time.)
But Jack merely sipped from his thermos without a word and followed her into the portal.
Upon arrival, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath of the foggy atmosphere, and exhaled slowly. The very atmosphere was different here: something teased his senses much in the way other supposedly haunted places had before he had signed up for Deus. He felt, if for a moment, nostalgia for the days where he'd throw himself into shady places just to see if what he saw was actually true or not. And then he opened his eyes, remembered who he was now and who he was with, and sighed.
"So. Just a vanilla patrol task?" he asked Peyton, though his eyes were fixed on the house itself, drinking in the beauty of its decay. Poe would have shat himself with glee over this.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 25, 2014 11:55 am
|
|
|
|
The fog was unsettling. It had always been unsettling. It would always be unsettling.
Pausing just outside the portal, Peyton lay a hand on her chest, feeling the hard weight of the pendant that rested between the two layers of contrasting shirts. There was that small part of her that could see the place through the eyes of somebody else. Some nameless, unremarkable person that hadn't been followed by shadows, and hadn't been picked up by men in white coats. Where notion of haunting was nothing more than an exciting possibility, and not frightening reality.
A much larger part had the dainty hunter on guard from the very second they stepped into that fog drenched landscape. She took in the house. All rough edges and dark exterior. A foreboding silhouette against the paler haze that surrounded it. Nothing terrible had as of yet happened to her personally within those walls, but it didn't have to for her to realize the potential for disaster. She'd heard the stories, and she did not want to end up another cautionary tale or tragedy.
So the Sun took her time scanning the tree line, the fog, the shadows. Pale eyes narrowed as her palms itched to summon Warrick. "If we're lucky." When nothing moved in the gloom Peyton took point, edging forward at an unhurried pace that would pick up in speed as they reached open ground. "Every time I've been here we've run into something. A reaper first time, and a crazy ******** horseman the second."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 25, 2014 12:20 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 25, 2014 12:54 pm
|
|
|
|
"Reapers look like humans, for the most part. Tricky bastards." She snorted, remembering the reaper she and Evan had come across. He'd looked like just some innocent kid.
Recalling the horseman had her lip curling. "I hear they're all different. This one was all black skin and pale hair. She was crazy, and violent, and murderous." Delicate features pinched. "Well, they're all violent murderers, apparently. But this one was acting as if she didn't have anything to lose. Wild, unpredictable, and would stop rambling nonsense." It would have been easier if she the thing would have had any sense to her, but she hadn't. Like some well armed wild animal.
They reached the stairs, and Peyton returned to high alert as she opened the door, wide, pushing it flush against the wall before slipping inside. "Keep your voice low."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 25, 2014 2:48 pm
|
|
|
|
"So, like a cornered animal," he concluded with a small shrug. Weren't all of them like Peyton had described? He hadn't yet met one but had been victim to some of their handiwork. There were very few things in the world more dangerous than an intelligent animal. As a basic trainee it would have given him pause; now after his promotion, however, it only made Jack curious to see them in person. He knew the stories, the worst of what Halloween was capable of, but frankly he didn't think Deus provided many measures of safe consciousness either.
Everything was a nice, foggy gray area.
He scoffed quietly as they entered the haunted house. "If something finds us, it won't be by our voices," Jack said with a general motion towards them both. They stuck out like colorful blobs against the monochrome as it was, and the one distinct advantage these things had over them were heightened senses if not magic--not to mention Jack's height. Nevertheless, he remained alert.
"Anyone make a map of this place yet?" He should have thought to ask before walking through the portal.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 25, 2014 10:07 pm
|
|
|
|
"Like a rabid animal." Cornered animals didn't bite if the backed off. That hadn't been the case with the horseman. She'd pursed them, hunted them, attacked them. Out numbered, she'd still made a go of it, even with the odds stacked against her. It had been a scary thing to witness.
An impatient huff followed his insistence that low voices wouldn't help them much. It had her looking back at him, features cool, lips twisted to one side in a useless frown. Why did she bother? Maybe the monsters did have other means of finding them, but that didn't mean they had to make it that much easier for them.
At least he seemed to be on guard.
His question prompted a shake of her head, curls sliding over her shoulders. "No, they can't. The layout never seems to be the same twice." It meant they were going to have to take it slow, so they could keep track of the direction they'd come from. It also meant that getting lost was a very real possibility.
"It's in our mutual best interests to stick together." Safety in numbers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 25, 2014 10:28 pm
|
|
|
|
Jack made a thoughtful noise. So, a constantly moving labyrinth then . . . Or perhaps just a puzzle. Labyrinths were designed to keep targets trapped, whereas the house seemed to just exist. An anomaly, that was the word. If he had been alone he would have taken the time to study what populated its ever-shifting rooms held: as it was, he had to settle for cursory glances as they walked at cob-webbed furniture and broken mirrors, faded photos and moldy rugs, doors that refused to open and welcoming thresholds.
"Afraid I would leave you behind?" he asked with a faint smirk, raising a brow at Peyton. "I think I got the memo when I signed up for a paired patrol duty, Creedy. But if you're feeling faint of heart, you have your pendant. Or you could stand behind me, seeing as I'm the better fighter."
He was never going to let either of those matches go.
lizbot ready for some fun, ma'am!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 6:02 pm
|
|
|
|
Careful pace momentarily coming to a stop, she turned her head to look up at him over her shoulder with bored expression. "You'd leave me behind in a hot minute if you thought it meant getting away with your own hide unharmed." Fear had nothing to do with it, it was fact as she knew it. He did have a point though, she did have her pendent. She didn't comment on their previous spars, and his double victory. It had stung then, but so much had happened since, she just didn't have enough energy to worry over something so trivial.
Besides, they'd go head to head again. It was inevitable.
And then everything seemed to shift and settle, as if the house itself were breathing. The Sun hunter froze, air easing out past half parted lips in a slow exhale before she strained her senses and listened. Wood creaking, faintly, and then nothing. Everything seemed to settle again, and pale eyes narrowed down that dark hallway. "Is it just me, or does our path look narrower?" She murmured it, voice as low as she could make it and still have him be able to hear her.
Something white drifted through a door further down from them, and Peyton watched warily as it disappeared through another door across from where it had come.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
