|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 9:49 pm
Most members of L.O.T.U.S. couldn't even guess that they had an African native in their midst. Senzangakhona was something of an enigma in the main facility, and he liked it that way. He disappeared more often than he was present, worked into all hours of the night simply training by himself. It was likely that only the Sians knew where he really was at any given time, should they wish to know. Though he seemed to possess his own, silent agenda, he was always there when he was needed and always, always ready.
Senza was taking one of his breaks, if you could really call it that. His thick, muscular torso was exposed to the night air, skin nearly black beneath the moonlight. He stretched slowly, arms above his head, pulling one another. One leg propped itself against the nearby stone bench, pushing until his calve burned with pleasurable aches. He had finished a small bout of running around the garden, and was cooling down by ensuring his limbs stayed loose. Sweat glistened on his keen brow, all of his senses heightened and tuned to the night due to the adrenaline still thrumming through his system.
Once he was finished, the behemoth of a man sunk into a seat on the garden's stone bench. He focused on his breathing even as he took in the silhouettes of flowers, slowing it down with a startling amount of control. Fingers grazed the black leopard skin tied to his hip, reveling in its softness, and of a time and a place far from him. Aside from the pelt, he was wearing a pair of long pants, soft material so that his legs would be able to still breathe while keeping him decent. He was barefoot and bare otherwise.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 10:05 pm
Most members of L.O.T.U.S couldn't even guess that they had a crazy bumpkin of a Portuguese farmgirl their midsts. Until they woke up one day and found their rooms and wardrobes redecorated for them. Or somehow everything in the cafeteria had turned into dried fish and eggs. Or when the gardens were converted in one day to a field of hardy frozen crops. Or when the electricity went out and someone started screaming that the Judgement Day had come. Or when litterboxes got set up all over the kitchens. Or when someone set up a shrine to the Virgin Mary in the middle of the computers- Actually, perhaps a few of them did know of "that Portuguese loony."
Most members of L.O.T.U.S couldn't even guess that they had a superadvanced theater robot in their midst. Actually, most members weren't even aware they had a French recruit. Eponine, trembling, shy, Eponine, had honed her blending-in skills her entire life (which was actually two years, but that didn't sound as impressive). She didn't want to be seen. When she sat at a table everyone thought it was unoccupied. And sometimes even the Sians didn't know which basement she was lurking in. Estrelas always did, it seemed, and so this night, she was hauled out of the comforting darkness and into the gardens by a shadow with a heavy accent and a large rabbit.
"Estrelas, where are we going?" Eponine whispered, her eyes wide. "It's night already-"
"Shhh! Ah am going to show you a ghost!"
"Ghosts?" Eponine squeaked. "I thought they weren't real!"
"Well, Ah thought that unicorn not real either, but it is! Ah saw one on com-pew-tar!"
Eponine sighed and reluctantly tagged behind Estrelas and Angel. "Umm, Estrelas?"
"Yah?"
"...Are you sure you know what you're doing?"
"YES!" Estrelas declared. "Sometime Ah walk out here and there a ghost! It a VERY BIG ghost! VERY BIG! And as BLACK AS THE DEVIL'S EYES-" here she crossed herself "-THEMSELVES! It an EVIL SPIRIT! And there is the SKIN OF A SLAYED DEMON tied around its body!" Estrelas whispered.
"Sounds scary!" Eponine whispered.
"Yes. It run around, you see, and make this TERRIBLE TERRIBLE noise like someone panting!"
Eponine shuddered. "What if it's a monster?"
"Ah bring Bible."
The silence stretched for a while as Eponine tried to comprehend how a Bible would help. "...And?"
"....Shhh!! We there!
Slowly in the moonlight a dark and foreboding figure revealed itself. Eponine's frightened eyes took everything in- the huge form, the highlighted muscles, the skin of the slain DEMON, and the skin so dark it was of the night itself!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 12:54 pm
"You do realize that the two of you are making enough noise to wake the dead?"
Einar had been roused from whatever it was he'd been doing by the sounds of two women chattering away nearby, and it had caused his usually smiling face to frown with annoyance and make him move to locate the source. He hadn't been sleeping well at night lately and was trying to find a way to exhaust himself, so the shrieks of two sirens over stupid things seemed to annoy him greatly.
The Norwegian new recruit was probably well known enough based on his attire and his eye patch, perhaps.
"If that really was a demon he'd have come over here by now and sliced you to pieces. In my time the best thing to do when you spot one is drop all your belongings and start to do a traditional dance."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 2:04 pm
A walk through the gardens was always a happy and pleasant time for Lokiari and in fact, she spent much of her time wandering about looking for things to entertain herself with. This night, much quicker than others, she seemed to discover more going on than was normal as she came back up the path she'd just completed walking to finish a full circuit of the garden to find a man who seemed to be settling down after something that had required considerable stamina, judging by the way he was breathing.
After a quick debate with herself, she chose to come into his area from the front - at least that way she was less likely to surprise him. Since he was much larger than herself, she felt that not annoying him straight off the bat would prove the wiser choice. On the wind she thought she heard the nattering of two women, but she was more focused on the person that she found more interesting for the time being. After all, since she'd gotten back, meeting the new recruits had happened fairly quickly - but this man certainly didn't look like the scrawny recruits she'd been running into...
Stopping a few feet in front of him, she gave a grin and a wave, "Hello, there!" Well, maybe she wouldn't startle him too much...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 2:46 pm
He could hear them, though his heartbeat pounded in his ears. He was just trying to decide whether or not to search them out. His head turned as a third voice joined the ranks, his black eyes boring into the foliage that contained them. A growl churned out of his throat, rough as sandpaper. Someone was spying on him- he would not stand for it. He was not the type to play games, and he planned to quash this one quickly.
As he got to his feet, too smooth to be really tired, he heard the sound of someone approaching. Reluctantly, he turned his head to the one who was addressing him, able to see how pale her skin was in the moonlight. He simply stared at her, silent and stone-faced even though her greeting had been unquestionably cordial.
"Do you need something?" It wasn't an offer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 3:04 pm
Estrelas and Eponine both spun around at Einar's sudden appearance.
Well, the two girls were strung-up enough as it was, what with searching for demons and evil spirits and all. They were ready to be scared, and well, the opportunity presented itself-
"EEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHKKKKKKK! Estrelas and Eponine began screaming.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
Still shrieking in pure icy terror, Eponine used her superhuman robot strength to bolt in a heartbeat and right into Estrelas. Still screaming, they both fell over and got up and ran again, only to collide with each other in the darkness again.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK!!!Eponine shrieked.
"OHMILORDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!Estrelas howled.
"EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHKK!They both screamed, then ran again and slammed into each other, falling down again.
Angel snorted in surprise and watched the two supposed-humans bouncing off of each other.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!they shrieked, then fatefully, tumbled through the bushes and rolled confusedly to right in front of Senza.
Eponine recovered first. "ESTRE- ESTRE-"
Estrelas still recovered quickly, though. Still screaming, she dropped her bundle of anti-evil-spirit material and Bible and began waving her arms and jumping up and down, doing a very traditional dance. Eponine followed suit, jumping up and down like a ninny and waving her arms too.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 3:16 pm
Einar's eye opened wide at the sound of the two girls shrieking, and he winced noticeably as he covered his ears and squatted down in an effort to make the sounds go away. The sound rang in his ears no matter how much he tried to block it out, and he shook his head side to side in an effort to clear as much as he could from his mind.
"god shut up! SHUT UP!"
There were few things that bothered Einar, so very few, and screaming happened to be on that list (along with ladders and crying people, go figure). It made him think entirely too much and that was somethign he didn't want to do right now. His own voice was loud as he yelled at the girls to be more and more silent, the color slowly draining from his face.
"SHUT THE HELL UP!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 3:29 pm
The thought of giving the clearly upset man an answer flew out the proverbial window as screams began to ricochet through the previously clearly garden's air. Amused as the two girls fell out from the bushes, and ironically enough recognizing the insanity that was Estrelas quicker than she did the voice of her fellow Norwegian, Lokiari found herself laughing at the silly dance they quickly began performing. Or, at least, the dance Estrelas appeared to think she was performing - Eponine's version looked...more frantic. First addressing the two hoppers, she chuckled, "Are you practicing to be a rabbit, Estrelas?"
Then Lokiari recalled how Einar had been shouting at the two girls to shut up, and she turned her attention to him. He'd seemed slightly calmer last time she had met him, the loud noises and the shrieking seemed to have cracked what had appeared to be a very strong exterior. This intrigued her, and she made a mental note of the fact to inquire after it later, when there weren't as many people around, and she moved in his general direction, offhandedly tossing the tall man an amused, "Apparently I'm here to help with damage control."
Approaching Einar, she stopped outside of his 'personal bubble' before asking, "God kveld. Vil du ha et glass ol?" It was a bit of a joke, considering she had no alcohol handy, but it was her unobtrusive way of saying, 'Hey, you all right, or do you need a drink to calm back down?' With a grin, she stood there in as disarming of a fashion as she could think of, not entirely sure if he'd be all right with her approaching him any closer.
Twisting her head to look back at the man she'd initially tried to see, she grinned, "What a night, eh?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 3:45 pm
Needless to say, the shrieks stole his attention. His body went rigid as an automatic stimulus, and he could only watch incredulously as two woman stumbled away from the bushes. They slammed into each other several times, a tangle of limbs before they were at his very feet. The black man was already taking a step back when objects spilled out before him, and he launched backward to stand on the stone bench he had once before been sitting.
His eyes glanced over them- meaningless trinkets and the Christian's book. He failed to look anything but spiteful in the din, and simply strode off the end of the bench and off into another part of the garden. Lokiari would look for him and he would be gone. Actually, he was only a few yards away, clearly trying to get out of the main area of noise. Let them deal among themselves- he wasn't having any part of the madness.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 3:58 pm
At the sight of Lokiari, Estrelas calmed down a little bit and stopped dancing "The Rabbit." She grabbed Eponine's arm and was promptly whacked in the head by the panicking Eponine.
"OWWW!"
"EEEEK!"
Both girls stopped and looked at each other. There was a silence as they looked to Lokiari and then to Einar.
Estrelas broke into a shaky grin, still hyped up on adrenaline and pure fear, and then whooped. "YOU SEE EPONINNY? AH SHOW YOU EVIL SPIRIT! AH SHOW YOU EVIL SPIRIT!" she bellowed. "HAHAHA!!! HAHHAAA!!!! AND LOOK! IT RUN AWAY LIKE EVIL SPIRIT! HAHAHAHAH!!! HAHAHA!!! HAHAHAAH!!!!"
Eponine trembled and leaned against her Portuguese friend. "Mmmhummhummhumm!" she squeaked.
Estrelas grinned wildly and siezed Lokiari around the shoulders. "RABBIT DANCE! HAH! BUT DID YOU SEE? DID YOU SEE???? EVIL SPIRIT RIGHT THERE! ON BENCH!!!" She let go and ran to the bench where the "evil spirit" had sat. "HAH! IT STILL WARM FROM THE HEAT OF HELLFIRE!" she screamed, crossing herself. "AND IT SMELLS LIKE.... LIKE PHEEWIEEE, SWEATY SWEAT!" she called.
Eponine whimpered, torn between fleeing from the human Lokiari and Einar and not looking like a nutcase. "Meeep..." she said faintly, still dazed. "Um... Hi? ...Did you see the evil spirit too? Err, I didn't think Estrelas was right at first..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 4:48 pm
"A beer would be nice, but a weapon to make them silent would be far more useful I think."
Einar's voice was shaky as he replied to Lokiari's question, his voice holding a bit of humor in it as well. Somehow or another the harpies weren't screaming as loud as they had only moments before and that gave the youth enough leverage to get pack up and look Lokiari in the eye, a grin on his face. There wasn't anything that could make him stop smiling.
"I think those two are far scarier when they're together than anything that could be possibly lurking around this compound. Any ideas on how to shut them up?"
He didn't seem to hear Epione at first, though he looked over at her and opened his mouth in a thin and vicious smile.
"Oh, that thing? It possessed me now, you should run away."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 4:29 pm
Disappointed to see the large man apparently running off to hide, Lokiari shook her head in a mild mockery of dismay before striking a pose of "oh my!" before the loud Estrelas and the frantic Eponine as they concluded their dance routine. Unable to keep the pose long, for the amusement at the comic pair, Lokiari surrendered to the chuckles that had been threatening her since they appeared and had begun to dance about like madwomen. Although she had to strive to not wince as she was suddenly grabbed about the shoulders, Lokiari rolled her eyes in Einar's direction as Estrelas continued her shouting and hopping about.
Once released, she returned her attention to Einar, again rolling her eyes as Estrelas began swearing the tall black man had, in fact, been an evil demon. Pleasantly deadpanning, "Sorry, I left my knives back in my room," Lokiari raised an eyebrow at the hint of shakiness she thought she'd heard in the man's voice. Although she wanted to question him and ensure he was quite all right, she instead opted not to, to instead respect his dignity, and merely sighed when he asked her for an idea on how to shut them up. When her fellow Norwegian informed them both that he was possessed by the evil spirit, she laughed before answering, "Not like that, that's for sure."
With a sigh, she turned back to Estrelas, hoping to explain before the woman began hoping about and shrieking once more, "That "thing" you saw was actually a tall man. A human. He's just from a lot farther South in the world than you are, Estrelas. You can get rid of him by dancing about with a Bible or anything like that, I'm afraid." In the hopes that that would calm at least one of them done, she glanced around for the man they seemed to have scared off. Estrelas ought to apologize, if nothing else, it wasn't very nice to try and exorcise someone for no reason, after all.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
