bad plans (open)

[Hadrian]

[glow=red,2,300]

Hello, hello, are you listening?
Hello, hello, are you there?
You've tuned the voices out but now the symptoms are everywhere
You are, you are, you are part of this
I know you think you're much more
You better think again
Because you're one defenceless animal

[/glow]

Citole Snare was a good looking woman - a tall, good-looking woman, who would probably be even more appealing if she was not so blatantly aware of it.

Her long salon-blonde, perfectly layered hair, tumbled around her chest like a golden waterfall, the sides tucked artfully behind her ears. This afternoon she was dressed in killer heels, a black pencil skirt, and short-sleeved yellow blouse with the two top buttons undone to expose more cleavage. The clothes are expensive, and hugged her lush curves.

At the base of her throat, a solitary diamond glints, matching a pair of single-carat studs in her ears. She was very well groomed - one of those women who grew up with money and breeding, though her breeding seemed to be lacking, with her blouse open just a little too far.

Citole had the house to herself today. Erik was busy at work, and she was spending the day away from the hospital so she could catch up with several documents and paperwork in her study-office at home.

So far, some fairly sufficient head-way had been made in regards to the troop of paranormals in which she, and a doctor Delilah Douglas were focusing on. Though she did not wish to vocalize it, Douglas' progress with her targets was rather commendable. Especially that progress made with the unicorn Quam Ghaver, who had been a nurse of sorts back in Miami. He was trusting of those around him; overly so, in Citole's opinion. Which worked in their favor. The unicorn lived with both Tara Chan, and her partner Azure McKenna, so as long as Delilah remained cozy with Mr. Ghaver, and Citole with Erik, the DNA analysis and simple tests carried out upon their newborn Carmen would continue as planned.

Citole felt unquieted by Delilah's success in her infiltration of the group; as though her deficit of progress was beginning to reflect poorly on her work ethic, and it frustrated her to no end. Something would need to be done. But in thanks to Miss McKalla and Miss Malhotra's wariness of her involvement, progress was slow. Use of the jewel wasp venom research was lacking, which frustrated the woman to no end. She had worked countless hours into the research, cutting and pulling many strings along the way. To wait any longer... no, unacceptable. She needed a plan.

The sound of a kettle screeching yanked Citole from her thoughts. Blinking rapidly, she glanced at the pen she held clenched in her hand, watching with a strange interest as she realised her knuckles had turned white. She dropped the pen, and shook her wrist as she rose to her feet with a lithe grace, and swiftly made a beeline for the kitchen, where sure enough, she found that hot steam was shooting out of the kettle spout.

Quickly, she flicked off the kettles switch, and began collecting a box of teabags from the food cupboard, a mug, sugar cubes, and some skim milk from the fridge. Finding her IPod dock, she then scrolled through it till she found a song, 'Sweet Dreams (Are made of this)' performed by an artist called Emily Browning, and turned up the volume. It was as she turned up the volume, however, when she heard a knock at the front door.

With an arched brow, and narrowed eyes, she walked at a slow gait towards the door to discern who the visitor may be. Cautiously, she opened it wide enough so that she was able to peer out onto the porch, and blinked as she realised it was the dark-haired alien with duo-toned eyes; Tara Chan's friend Mister Hadrian Brenna. Citole's glacial eyes widened in surprise.

"Hi," Hadrian offered her a crooked smile, which clearly did not quite reach his eyes.

"Hello," Citole glanced him up and down briefly, before composing herself, and pasting on a smile. She opened the door wider, and swept her arm in a motion which beckoned him inside. "How unexpected, Hadrian. How may I help you?"

"Actually, maybe you can." He stepped inside and glanced around as Citole closed the door behind them. "I didn't want to bother Dylan." Or vice versa. "He can be a bit of a branch in the mud." To this comment, Citole actually cracked an amused smile.

"Would you like some tea?" She asked, waving towards the breakfast table as she walked back towards the kitchen.

"Sure. So, thing is, I woke up this morning with a bad ache in my lower stomach..."

"On a particular side?"

"No." Hadrian helped himself to a seat, and leaned forwards so that his elbows rested on the table in front of him.

"So, it may not be appendicitis."

"Appendix? My species don't have those."

Citole nodded, making an 'ahh' sound as she fetched another mug. "What can you tell me about your anatomy?"

"My heart is on the right side of the chest, not the left. It beats a little slower than a humans heart. I have two left kidneys, and one on the right. Both my intestines are the same size. I have two livers as well."

Fascinating!

So having the alien here may proove more useful then she assumed. With a furtive glance at the kitchen table, she turned her back to Hadrian and opened a bottom drawer, taking out a First Aid Kit. Under the bottom of the drawer was a small key. Unlocking the kit, she pulled out a small vial, with a dropper filled with liquid. Unscrewing the lid, she filled the dropper, and squeazed half of the dropper into one of the mugs. She placed two sugars into the mug for sweetening, and stirred it in.

"Your tea." She announced, setting a mug in front of him and taking a seat.

Taking a sip of her own tea, she smiled sweetly. Hadrian took a few sips for himself.

What a stupid, stupid idea.

Stupid.

Okay, it was haphazard to say the least. Citole wasn't stupid. She'd see right through this plan, surely.

Shooting an uneasy glance back at the car behind him, Hadrian grumbled, apparently to himself, as he walked up a drive way towards an upscale-looking home. "If this plan goes sour, you're the first person I'm going to blame. You do know that, right?"

It was Edison he was addressing, through a sneaky little in-ear receiver thing which Dylan assured each of the boys they'd be able to communicate to each other through. It was Edison who had come with him here, and was (hopefully) about to try and spy around Citole's home as Hadrian distracted her. He cringed. "Who knows what this woman has hidden away... evil instruments of torture."

He awaited Edison's reply, attempting to keep an impassive expression as he neared the front door. Who knew, she was probably already watching. The thought alone gave Hadrian the chills.

If things went downhill, at least Hadrian could say with relative sincerity that it was all Edison's idea. It was Edison's idea to use him as bait. Like a piece of meat on a hook, dangling over the enclosure of some hungry lioness.

'You’re the one going to pretend to be sick.' Eddy had said, and from the tone of his voice, Hadrian was being given little choice in the matter. It was no old news that Edison was definately more suited in the sleuthing department though.

It was good though; actually getting along with Edison for a change. His opinion of the demon had changed drastically since the day they'd met. He was still the same old insane, reckless, and just a tad bit cruel demon demon they all knew and cared about, but within the last few months Edison had changed. He was at least more patient, and less inclined to resorting to acts of aggression. It almost seemed as though the demon was beginning to care about someone (or someones) other than his own self.

Which is why Hadrian agreed to work with him on this one. He'd read through a few of Dylan's books on Human sickness', and memorized which ones sounded the most suitable for one who wanted to fake a sickness. So, Hadrian was currently about to approach Citole and pretend to be sick in an effort to distracting her, while Edison snooped around the rest of her house to see if he could find anything dodgy.

The sleuthing thing was Xara's idea. To try and find info on Citole, yes, but probably not quite to go about it as the boys planned on doing it. Well, at least they were working together! There's an upside to most situations, aren't there?

Hadrian knocked on the front door twice, and waited.

A few moments later, Citole appeared, looking every bit both intimidating, and lovely with her hair hanging loosely below her shoulders, wearing expensive-looking jewelry, a black pencil skirt, and a yellow cotton blouse, open at the front to expose her cleavage. She looked... surprised to see him. Which shouldn't have come as a surprise.

After an awkward greeting, she allowed him to enter the house. It was spotless, relatively upscale, modern, with a few paintings hung up here and there. The kitchen floors were covered in hardwood, the countertop were made of marble. He could see a stainless steel fridge, oven, and stove with no apparent dials. There was a clear glass fruit bowl, with bananas, and a few kiwi fruit sitting in it. He took a seat at the kitchen table, which was made of wood matching in color to the floors. In the background he could hear the disembodied poignant sounds of a woman singing, her voice sending chills down Hadrian's spine.

Citole asked how she may help him, sounding ever so formal. So he informed her that he was experiencing a stomach ache. The fact that he had not wanted to trouble Dylan about it seemed believable too. Sure enough, he was not the only one who grew fed up with Dylan's awkwardness, either. As nice as the doctor was, he was sometimes hard to deal with if you were lacking patience.

So now he was about to have tea, with Citole, in her kitchen. He had no idea if Edison was in the house yet. That had been part of the plan, Hadrian hoped the demon hadn't forgotten. While he distracted Citole, Edison was meant to do some spying around. Be safe, Ed, for crying out loud.

To keep conversation going - as well as keep Citole busy - Hadrian told her a little about his anatomy, knowing it would undoubtedly spark her interest anyway.

"My heart is on the right side of the chest, not the left. It beats a little slower than a humans heart. I have two left kidneys, and one on the right. Both my intestines are the same size. I have two livers as well."

Fascinating, right.

"Your tea," She announced, setting a mug in front of him and taking a seat across from him. She took a sip, and so Hadrian smiled, though it didn't reach his face, and took a few long sips.

Hadrian's duo-toned eyes stared vacantly down at the patterns of the kitchen table, blinking slowly every so often. Citole stared at him with an impassive expression, her hands folded, making her look as though she was deep in thought.

"Excuse me." Citole spoke after a long moment, her tone placid. "Hello?"

Hadrian blinked rapidly, and inclined his head back up so he could stare at her.

"That's better. Now, I'd like to ask you a few questions, and I would appreciate it if you remained relaxed and answer them truthfully. What is your name?"

"Hadrian." He answered, as though he did not find that it was strange that she'd asked, at all. A small, dopey smile played upon his lips.

"Are you sure?" She urged, the tone of her voice remaining the same.

He frowned slightly, and began to lazily look around the room again.

"Focus, please." She snapped her fingers in front of his face. He turned to face her immediately, staring now at the air between them.

"What is your real name?" She tried again.

"Morke."

"Why did you choose to call yourself 'Hadrian Brenna'?"

"I didn't." Hadrian shook his head. Citole stared at him expectantly. "Someone else did."

"Who?"

"A woman I lived with." He smiled fondly, looking around at him again. He frowned, looking slightly puzzled as he pointed a long finger towards the curtains against one of the walls. "Did you know your curtains are breathing?"

Citole was growing impatient.

"Alright. Now, Hadrian, I want you to tell me about the people you live with." Hadrian's attention slowly shifted back to her. He rose his eyebrows at her, but his eyes remained half-lidded.

"Hm?" He then snorted, and began to giggle.

"What do the others think of me, Hadrian?" She asked, as innocently as she could.

Hadrian continued to titter. "Ahehe... well. Um. Heh. Tara likes you, but Xara doesn't!" He smirked. "'Cause you're a creepy lady." He added matter-of-factly.

"I see."

Hadrian frowned again, and glanced at the now-empty mug in front of him. "What did you put in here?" He mumbled.

"Don't worry about it. Just turn your mind off, and let the tea take effect." Citole wasn't sure if she could really effectively pull off a soothing tone of voice. "How's that stomach?" She arched a brow at him.

Hadrian giggled again. "It's very okay."

"You told me it was aching."

He shook his head.

"You lied?"

Hadrian nodded.

"Well, Hadrian. I don't appreciate that. Why would you lie to me?"

Hadrian did not answer, instead, he began to laugh uncontrollably.

"Maybe I should've used less than half a dropper. She muttered. "Did you come here alone?"

Hadrian continued to laugh, shaking his head. Citole swiftly rose to her feet. "Stay seated." She ordered, stalking pointedly into the kitchen and rummaging through one of the drawers near the oven for a metal meat tenderizer.

"What'r you doing with that?" Hadrian watched her with a stupid, puzzled expression.

"Let me show you." She hissed, and with one swift swing of her arm, felt the satisfying thud of metal connect against the back of the doped up aliens' head. Hadrian slumped forwards in his chair, his forehead hitting the table hard, while his hair covered about half his face. After a heartbeat or so making sure he wasn't about to move again, Citole stalked over to the front door, locked it, and then stormed towards the passage way of the house, listening intently for any noises.

[glow=red,2,300] + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ NOTES xx Citole's wearing this linky.

She be comin' at chu all wiv a mallet, yo! Evil lady with evil implements of evil. And she's after Eddykins! Run Eddy! Run!

I hope this gives us something to work with

++ TAGS xx OPENNNN[/glow]

[/right]

[Mooka]

The lovely irritating voice of his comrade came in over the intercom attached to his ear. If the plan goes sour, you’re the first person I’m going to blame. You do know that, right? It had been the first thing said to him over their doohickey, and what a lovely start this was! Things were only going to go up here for sure! Gosh, even his inner thoughts had sass.

Edison snorted and let out a quiet chuckle at what had been said. Typical best friend to blame him for everything, and the worst part was, everyone else in their group would probably believe it. Hadrian was just the perfect alien man with the perfect life, where as he was the annoying demon that was put on the planet to ruin everyone and everything he crossed paths with.

“If you do tell, I’ll add to those pretty little scars of your how about that?” He hissed with a slight playful tone. There were two on him already if his memory was fresh. Three claw marks on the back of his neck from their first occurrence. Ed had caught Haddy playing boyfriend to his sister annndd maybe he slightly overacted on that one. Only slightly. The other was the bullet wound on the right side of his chest. To be far on his part, he hadn’t actually remembered that Hadrian’s heart was in the wrong place, he’d actually been aiming for a lung. Though he wasn’t sure what sounded worse, actually aiming for his heart, or just shooting him in general. Oh well, it was the past. No hard feelings anymore.

“Yes like shrink rays and voodoo dolls, shessh Hadrian don’t let your imagination get he best of you. Now less talking, do work.” He sniffed, waiting for the sound of the door opening and pleasantries exchanged before moving on in.

Ed has planned ahead for this one; missions like these were the only things he took seriously. Thinking of the best possible form to take was fairly easy. Something small to fit inside cracks, have some sorts of digits to grab things, and be quick enough to hide or run away. So a type of rodent was one of his few choices. Luckily for him, a rather annoying mouse had somehow found its way into his office. With some difficulty he had eventually managed to catch it, half dead unfortunately, but managed to take some blood form it before it met the reaper. Varmints were least good at something, and luckily, Dylan was such a smarty-pants that he made a mouse size intercom, nice enough of the guy Ed supposed.

The brown rodent scampered from his hiding spot in one of Citole’s bushes by her front porch. He scurried back towards the opposite side of her home, not wanting to enter anywhere close to where Hadrian was currently at. A mouse with a head piece might be a little more than suspicious. He always switched off the transceiver, deciding it would be safer if no noise crept through and gave the other away for now. He’d turn it on later once he was inside and had a place to hide.

Finding a suitable drain pipe, he crawled up it, singing the itsy bitsy spider to himself as he did so. Like most drain pipes, there was debris that had collected when it last rained, and made climbing fairly easy, though it was a tight fit in there, making him feel somewhat claustrophobic. The shingled roof was a welcoming site, though he dared not take a break at this moment, knowing there was a lot more climbing and running in his intimate future.

Having broken into enough homes, he knew what to look for up here: a loose shingle, a dip in the roof, and thousands of other things. Today was his lucky day, as his nose twitched towards a familiar scent. Hopping over the distance of a few feet, he found a hole chewed by fellow rat brethren, though by the looks of it, the occupants were long gone. Either killed by the devil woman or eaten by her. Most likely the later. Any who, this hole was perfect to explore any room in the house he desired through the ceiling. Squeezing his plump belly though the hole, he began to stumble around the lattice work of rat tunnels, looking through small holes of light to see the room below. Bathroom, laundry room, kitchen…hello Hadrian! Everything seemed to be going well from what he could see. Citole had just set down a cup of some hot beverage before he assumed the two would begin to chat away. He was proud of his alien buddy for managing to keep this much conversation going.

Onwards and upwards, he chose a room that looked promising. It was obviously a home office, a desk, filing cabinets, bullet board, and large copy machine looking thingy-mer-bob. Scampering, crawling, climbing, falling, he made it out of the wall and into the room and onto the floor. Still no break, he didn’t have the time to waste.

After looking at his surroundings for a few twitchy nosed moments, he picked an ideal spot to search. Along one wall was a sleek desk which had a fancy looking computer on. Though unfortunately, the decent upwards would be rather difficult. There wasn’t a chair by it, and only bolts and nuts were sticking from the desk’s surface. With a small nod for energy and to boost his ego, he grabbed onto a bolt with his small paws and began to climb up rock wall style, shimming across at some points in order to find the next hand grab. There were a few close slip ups, but he eventually made it, flopping himself down on the surface, panting heavily.

Once he caught his breath, the mouseketeer began to look around his new play place. The computer was buzzing quietly, which meant it was on, and there were files of papers stacked neatly in different piles. He scurried over to a pile and sat on his rump, lifting up the corners of the pages to read the tittles. Boring, boring, boring boring-wait. He flipped back a few pages and eyes widened at the familiar name. Xara. He pushed the paper on top of it off, and started down at the file. It was everything about her, blood type, history, everything. He shoved that one off now, below it was another file, this one made his heart stop for a moment. A picture of the wide-eyed baby Carmen was paper clipped onto it, along with vital signs and other information. How’d she acquired this data was obviously not from just chatting with the vampire couple. This was baaaad.

Edison thought this was a good idea to reestablish communications with his bromance partner, and switched the headpiece back on. “Oh Haddy I got her now, keep distracting her alright?”

He stopped though with a puzzled expression as after a few minutes there was no sound coming in from the other end. “Haddy?” He squeaked quietly.

Something was wrong.

The mouse scampered off the stack of papers and shifted his head around quickly trying to find a place to hide. There was no time to stack them up neatly again, and his best hope would be that the woman didn’t notice them out of place until he had the opportunity to stack them back up neatly again.

As the desk backed up to the wall, there was a small chest, looked like it held jewelry or other valuables, which was tucked away in the corner, creating a small triangular space of room behind it. As he heard the door handle jiggle, he jumped over the top of the chest and behind it, curling himself into the tiniest ball possible, hoping to whatever God there was that she wouldn’t find him.

(( Eddy’s mouse form: 2.bp.blogspot.com/-JoXwb2Q4H-Y/Tjhy7MRyFEI/AAAAAAAAACI/W1_wMhUy-A8/s1600/field%20mouse.jpg So cute and full of rabies *nomnom*

Okay drunk/drugged up Haddy is kinda adorable just saying…>-> Must resist…))

[Hadrian]

[glow=red,2,300]

Hello, hello, are you listening?
Hello, hello, are you there?
You've tuned the voices out but now the symptoms are everywhere
You are, you are, you are part of this
I know you think you're much more
You better think again
Because you're one defenseless animal

[/glow]

Citole's cool, glacial eyes scanned every surface around her, wary of each sound her ears were able to perceive. The alien said that he was not the only being in her house. The particular narcotic she had administered to Hadrian had inhibited his ability to tell lies, making him more inclined to tell the truth.

Though with that being said, Hadrian would not be saying much to anyone for a while now.

Holding the meat tenderizer high in the air, Citole stepped as quietly as her heels would allow, walking with lithe grace along the passage way wall. What was she meant to expect? Despite her apparent composure, the tall blonde could practically hear the blood thrumming through her own eardrums, the anxiety in knowing that someone else was in her home enhancing the sound.

It was crucial that she focus. Pausing at a doorway, she pressed her ear against the frame and listened intently, on high alert for any unusual noises. She turned the door handle, releasing the latch, and swung it open in one swift movement. Empty. Nothing except a broom, and an old vacuum cleaner. Citole scowled at herself.


There was another room. Citole could have slapped herself for not thinking of it in the first place; her study. With purposeful strides, she drew closer to her study, her eyes locked on the door. With a smooth motion, she took the handle in her hand, and rest it there, taking a moment to ready herself. Turning it slowly, she then swung the door forward; The back of the opposite handle slamming against a cabinet behind it. Citole glanced around.

Empty.

Yet, something seemed off. Not quite able to place exactly what it is, Citole stepped into the room, and slowly began to walk around, glancing behind her every so often, anxious that someone unwelcoming may be behind her.

Pale, manicured fingers trailed along the filing cabinets to her right, drawing an invisible line over the reddish-brown mahogany desk. The chair had been wheeled off to the side when Citole had decided to make herself some tea. Usually she would lock the room, and keep the key upon her own self somewhere. Of course she had not anticipated any visitors today, as she'd assumed she was home alone. Who knew how long there had been an intruder in her home before that alien showed up at her front door.

Her laptop buzzed quietly. The screen was on stand-by, showing indication that no one had been looking on it. It was the paperwork on the table which caught her attention; despite the fact the paperwork had multiplied in the last few weeks, she had set them out in a relatively organised fashion. Now, a few of the papers were scattered. Alarm bells sounded in Citole's ears.

Someone was in here. It was a real possibility they still were.

Leaning over the table, she leafed through the paperwork which had been tousled and skim-read the first few lines. One was Xara, and the others was Carmen. Her eyes narrowed.

With a scowl, Citole lent over the desk and shut off the laptop, pulling down the lid with a faint click. Hadrian got through the front door, but if there was in fact another person here then how did they get in without her knowing? Surely they should have made some noise. Well, now the alien was not conscious enough for her to question. Not that she was getting very many answers from him anyway.

"I am getting fed up with all of the suspicions," Citole scowled at no one in particular, as she placed the tenderizer on the desk, and began to hastily, and roughly, collect the papers and stack them in a few manila folders. "The sooner this is all over with, the better!" She picked them up, and dropped a folder. Swearing a few very un-lady like words, she bent to pick it up, and slammed in down on the table in frustration. The tenderizer fell to the floor with a heavy thud. "I will not tolerate this!" She snapped, opening a few draws under the table quite forcefully, making more noise then she intended in her haste.

Her lips curled into a sardonic smirk as she pulled out a small tranquilizer gun, and tested the weight of it in her hand. She then carried it with her, out of the room and back towards the kitchen.

Walking pointedly past the unconscious alien at her kitchen table, Citole placed the tranquilizer on the countertop, and rummaged through a bottom drawer for some duct tape and a pair of scissors by the stove. Then, she marched back to the table, and grabbed a fistful of Hadrian's hair, yanking his head back so she could see his face. Still out cold. She then grabbed one of his arms and not-so gently dragged him off of the chair, dropping him onto the hardwood floor, where she proceeded to cut off a rectangular piece of tape, and press it firmly over his mouth. She then taped his wrists together behind his back, and then his ankles. Once finished, she retrieved the tranquilizer, and placed it in the back of her skirt.


Citole gritted her teeth as she grabbed Hadrian under the arms and heaved him from the floor, lugging the upper part of his body backwards while his chin lulled against his chest, his feet dragging across the floor as Citole walked backwards, half-dragging/half-carrying the alien towards the laundry, where there was another door leading out to the carport. She dropped him beside the boot of her car, a white Audi R8, and circled it so that she could open the drivers side door, and unlock the boot with a click of a button beside the seat. Closing the drivers side door, she then walked back to Hadrian, lifted him again and not-so-gently hauled him into the boot space. Then, with a final look of contempt, she slammed it shut.

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

Citole sat in her study once more, a document open on her laptop as she typed out more of the written documents with efficient speed. She had washed her mug of tea in the sink, and placed the one which Hadrian had drank from into the bin, but not before dropping it on the floor to make it look as though she had accidentally broken it. The table had been wiped over, and chairs set back as they had been before she had received her visitor.


Something was still off. After another inspection of the house, Citole decided that it at least appeared empty. But now, sitting in her study, she was unable to shake that irksome feeling as though she was being watched. Glancing around very briefly from time to time, she sniffed the air as well, detecting a strange odor in the air. It was musky. "What..." she muttered, and glanced around, sniffing.

Then a search began. She half-rose from her seat, and started moving things about, checking behind the laptop screen, and under the table itself. She sneered, and moved a folder aside, leaning over her desk to inspect the floor. Then something caught her eye. It could have been anything, but it was a very subtle movement, to her left.

With narrowed eyes, Citole slowly wrapped her fingers around a simple velvet jewelry chest, and yanked it towards her. A look of utter revulsion crossed her face at the sight before her. "Rodent!" She screeched, and swung her palm towards the little brown mouse in order to swat at it... hard, aiming for the wall on the opposite side of the desk.

[glow=red,2,300] + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ NOTES xx Mean Citole just totally bitch-slapping Mousey Eddy! The bitch

Feel free to do whatever ya want ^_^ I'm up for ideas! I do need to stop torturing Haddy so much though... time to kick Eddy's ass!

++ TAGS xx OPENNNN[/glow]

[/right]

[Mooka]

The mouse felt his breath hitch as he could feel the gaze of the woman he couldn’t see. He knew he was going to get found right then and there, and that’d be it. Hadrian would be found out and the two of them would be shot and turned into lab rats. Rats...heh.

Anyways, puns aside, he knew this was the end for their little mission. It had ended faster than it had even begun! Ed was unsure where Hadrian was at the moment, and he imagined he was still sitting back at the table; Citole must have come over to check on some sort of noise. Funny though, he thought he was being rather quiet, she probably had alarms or other things set up as well. Wouldn’t surprise him in the least, all of these valuable files laying around seemed just a tad suspicious with no protection. Though thinking about it some more, they’d probably caught her off guard so things were just lying about. Less thinking more hiding…

Edison winced as she reached over and- shut the laptop. A small amount of hope flooded back into him thinking things would be okay for now. As she spoke aloud he shrunk even more knowing that the words were aimed towards him. Oh she was tired of the suspicions? Well if she didn’t have paper lying around about people hew knew, then maybe he wouldn’t be as suspicious. And the part she spoke about the sooner ‘this was over with’ made him wonder.

He felt his feet hover off the surface of the wood for a moment as some large force was applied to the surface, making everything bounce slightly. Ed had thought Citoles was always a calm collected person, but everyone had their limits, and apparently people sneaking around her home bothered her to no end. Couldn’t blame her there.

Then in a flurry she stormed out of the room and down the hallway towards the kitchen again. He took this time to try and get back in touch with Hadrian. “Haddy? You okay bud? Really appreciate it if you spoke now…” Still nothing. He was really starting to worry.

While waiting for the opportune moment to leave, he listened to any sounds that could be coming from down the hall. The loud sound of something porcelain smashing on the ground one made his ears fold over in pain. This whole not knowing anything was killing him! He couldn’t even guess at what was happening not to far away.

After a few minutes, to his absolute delight, Citole came back into the study, and this time to stay. The creek of the chair lead him to believe that she had sat down in it, and from his position he could see the laptop screen flip upwards and the furry of fingers across the keys could then be heard. The mouse puffed up his chest in annoyance, his tail flicking ever so slightly as he tried to curl it around him tighter. Patient was never a word used to describe him, and this waiting! Gah, boring!

Little to his knowledge, the clacing of long nails on plastic had stopped a moment ago, and his intimate doom was looming around the corner. The next thing he heard was the screeching of a female voice and saw a well manicured hand flying towards him.

With a small thud he smacked against the wall, his head spinning, vision dotted with black and blue waves as his body slinked the long distance down to the floor; the fall slightly less painful than the smack. Though he could tell he had received some minor brain trauma from the collision, and is whole body ached already, which wasn’t great news for the condition of his bones. Hopefully nothing was broken and he got off with a few sprained or torn ligaments.

The rush of adrenaline helped him in this situation. Sitting here on the floor for a good few hours seemed really inviting, but the thought of behind stepped on by the large heels he saw before him was not inviting in the slightest. With a great deal of effort, he swung himself onto all fours and began to scamper past the looming figure and towards the door, his projectory was a bit off as he saw two doors, causing him to smack headfirst into the molding along the bottom of the wall. A loud squeak of pain and a few sidesteps to the left and he was on his way again. The only thought on his mind was to find Hadrian where the two of them could at least protect each other.

Scampering mixed with falling and tripping, he moved down the hallway towards the opened well light area which appeared to be a kitchen from what he could tell. It was also the place the crashing noise had come from, and the place Hadrian was supposed to be in. With a few more feet in front of him, as feet touched slippery tile, his body skidded sideways, causing him to tumble over into a heap of mouse. But he had made it into the kitchen without getting stepped on. Everything would be okay now.

Edison’s small heart dropped, Hadrian wasn’t there.

Everything in the kitchen looked perfect and serine. No cups of coffee were on the table, no chairs were pulled out to indicate someone had been sitting down, and most importantly, no longhaired alien. There were no clues from what he could see at his level, no indications of anything; it was as if nothing had ever happened. Oh god this was much worse than it was supposed to be. He should have been the one pretending to be sick, not Hadrian! Oh god Sage was going to kill him. And a large part of him actually worried for the safety of his little buddy. Where could he have gone?

Not caring anymore now lives were in danger, the mouse turned black and exploded into a puff of smoke. As the cloud drifted upwards limbs became more defined until good old human Edison was standing upright in the middle of the swanky kitchen. “You tell me where the fuck he is right now!” He snapped, not giving Citole, who he had assumed followed him, the time of day as his mind worked on overdrive. It had only been a few minutes, ten at the top! Hadrian had to been in her home /somewhere/, he was sure of it.

Edison began to frantically look around the room, peered outside of the window, tapped on different parts of the wall to see if there was a secret lab entrance hidden away, opened up the fridge and the stove to make sure no Hadrian salami had been prepared. Though sadly, he found nothing.

Spinning on his heels he glared at the blonde, green eyes twinkling with a glimmer of anger. “Oh you messed with the wrong man today Citole! Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way eh? You tell me where he is or I will kill you.” He was getting himself worked up, hew knew he was always slow at reacting to things when he did this, but he couldn’t help himself! Things were not making sense, and he wanted some answers. “I know you are a formidable woe, a devil in a woman’s body, but don’t think I won’ enjoy bashing in your pretty little skull. What did you do with him!” Despite trying to look the most convincingly serious as he could be, Edison torso drooped and swung a bit as he couldn’t quite maintain his balance. The light in the room was also seemingly blinding and he had to squint so his head didn’t explode.

(( I like Citole xD She’s like: I’m a strong independent white woman, I don’t need no man.” Dunno x3 Poor Haddy we gots to save him from the evil trunk of cars. Maybe Citole wants to play some sort of game( like a saw movie –snort- Those movies scare me o-o) or ask ed some questions before maybe telling him where Hadrian is? ))

[Hadrian]

[glow=red,2,300]

Hello, hello, are you listening?
Hello, hello, are you there?
You've tuned the voices out but now the symptoms are everywhere
You are, you are, you are part of this
I know you think you're much more
You better think again
Because you're one defenseless animal

[/glow]


The small mouse connected with the side of the wall, making a satisfying thud before it fell to the floor in a stunned state. Citole sneered at it in distate, watching as in a flurry of moments, the tiny brown blur proceeded to scamper out of the study, practically tripping over itself as it dashed through the hallway.

Infuriated, Citole marched after the mouse, heading towards the kitchen while her eyes swept across the floor in search of the offending rodent. Once she did reach the kitchen, she did not expect to see a young man standing there, instead of the small brown mouse. Around the man, floated a strange black vapor which gradually began to dissipate.

Oh, damn. She knew this guy. What was worse, is that things suddenly made so much more sense. The intruder was Edison. Edison was a shapeshifter, which explained why he'd been able to enter her home without being detected. Heck, he probably came through the front door, hiding upon that pesky alien Hadrian for all she knew.

“You tell me where the fuck he is right now!” He ordered, to which Citole responded by placing a palm up in the air in an attempt tp placate the angry shapeshifter. He bustled about her kitchen, feeling across the walls, slamming cupboards and drawers, looking out windows, opening the fridge and oven as though suspitious that his friend may be in either.

"Mister Brenna is secure, Edison." Citole spoke in a deceptively calm tone of voice. "However, if you attempt to threaten me again I may feel compelled to alter his safety."

So they sent two of their own to spy on her. The audacity! The nerve! From the sounds of things though, they'd sent the two most unlikely of the group to work together. And see what happened? Would that work to her advantage or her disadvantage? There must be other people who knew that they'd be paying her a visit, surely. So she'd need to choose her cards carefully. On the other hand, she was sprung, was she not? This was things she would need to find out. She would have to test this out...

"Now, I would like to ask you a few questions Edison, and I'd appreciate it if you answered them truthfully. Please don't bother lying to me, either. I will know whether or not you are lying, because I may opt to ask a few which I already know the answer to. As another insentive, let me remind you that at my will I do have the means to alter your friends safety. It is in your hands." She watched the demon with her cold, glacial eyes, a cruel smirk playing upon her lips. "Perhaps you would like to take a seat? You look as though you may swoon at any moment. You aren't any good to me if you are unconscious."

[glow=red,2,300] + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ NOTES xx Ahaha SAW!

Reminds me of not long ago, my mum was saying she thought a fly had buzzed into her ear and was probably still in there. My sister and I had a good ol' laugh about it, saying that she was probably a participant in a Saw situation and that soon enough we'll see the TV flick on all on it's own and that Jigsaw doll thing will pop up going "Hello, Paula. I want to play a game. A small insect has flown into your ear. You have exactly thirty minutes to remove it before it self destructs..."

++ TAGS xx OPENNNN[/glow]

[/right]

[Mooka]

Edison squinted his eyes as the blonde woman raised a hand to him. The nerve of her! So what he had just broken into her home, looked through all her things, and left mouse dander everywhere. She was the one in the wrong at the moment, not him! Once his temper flared he had an awful time quelling it. If Hadrian’s life wasn’t in her palms he’d search the home for the nearest weapon and watch the life slip from her pretty little figure. Making sure she stayed alive as long as possible, well aware of everything that was happening.

These murderous thoughts had been quelled recently, for years to be more exact. When he was younger he thought about killing people more than was healthy always blaming it on his traumatic life changing event. Though that was his crutch on which he leaned on so heavily. Sage seemed just fine completely normal, so why wasn’t he? People just don’t think about killing other people. People don’t try to kill their friends! Ed knew there was something off, wrong, about him but he’d never admit that to anyone. A small part of him embraced his dark side. Hell, he wouldn’t be who he was now without it. He’d be a small oblivious human in a small town going about his miserable life.

Citole’s words brought him back to what was at hand, which wasn’t much better than what he was thinking.

Secure! The word sounded like nails sliding down a chalkboard. That meant Hadrian was in a place which he would not cause any trouble, which was most likely inescapable. God he felt like ringing the alien’s neck for getting himself in this situation. So many emotions, so little times. His head was swimming with all of his thoughts while trying to maintain his balance and consciousness.

“Oh we’re on good terms then eh? He’s Mr.Brenna and I’m Edison. Can I call you CeCe then dear? He laughed softly, pressing his lips together to form a thin smile. Jokes were the best, especially when you were on thin ice already. “If you take my words for the truth, then sure I won’t threaten you again.”

“Fine I’ll play along.” He threw his hand up in the air wishing he hadn’t and he stumbled a few steps to the side before catching himself, scowling. Being questioned right at this very moment in time did not seem appealing in the slightest, but he was in between a rock and a hard place at the moment, and didn’t have much choice.

The fact that she knew things about them already only strengthened the appeal that she had been spying on the whole group. Who knew what she knew, it could be everything or nothing, and if he told her, more claim would be pressed on his shoulders. Citole also pulled the Hadrian card, which made him frown, still wondering where she could hide a grown alien man in this room. The places that he could be hidden were becoming less and less, opting him to believe that Hadrian was in fact not here.

“I don’t need anything from you sorry, hate to be rude.”

(( You liar you! O-o Or are you telling the truth? Dx I don’t knoooow I hope your mom’s well and alive with both her arms!))

[Hadrian]

[glow=red,2,300]

Hello, hello, are you listening?
Hello, hello, are you there?
You've tuned the voices out but now the symptoms are everywhere
You are, you are, you are part of this
I know you think you're much more
You better think again
Because you're one defenceless animal

[/glow]

Citole pursed her lips together in a thin line, arching a brow as she watched the demon with impatience as clear as day written on her features. She didn't even bother masking it. So, even while she threatened the safety of his friend, the demon was running his mouth. A risky move. Perhaps even a bit stupid. But then, Edison had never given Citole the impression of stupidity before. Foolhardy, perhaps? Then again, his mind did not seem to be in the best state as of right now, either. He looked as though he may keel over at any given moment. She had hit him fairly hard. In Citole's defense - and his credit - though, he had startled her. Not many people were capable of that.

"The truth, and your cooperation is all I ask of you, Edison." Citole reminded him in a dry tone. "And," she added with a thin smile. "I don't think that you are the one in a position to be threatening anyone. Not in your state."

Confirming her statement, she watched as Edison swooned sideways, barely catching himself at the same time. But, to her satisfaction, the demon offered to play along, providing he remained conscious.

As far as interrogation goes, Edison was not the most ideal of candidates. But he was the best she had, for now, providing her cover wasn't blown completely already. In order to preserve her facade, certain measures had to be made. If certain people had to be thrown to the wolves, so be it. Citole's job was one of the most important things in the world to her. Actually, it was the most important thing. She had worked long and hard for the possition of power she had gained. A few meddling paranormals were not getting in the way of that. They were simply a few faces in a sea of irrelevance, and would remain so. She was with the government after all. They could make anything look like an accident. She was the best paracetoid researcher/biologist the government had. Hell, possibly best in the world. Without sounding too braggy...

To gain power, you must give up allot to gain it. Whatever it is you want, you have to put in the time, the practice, the effort. It has to be very important to you. And once you have attained it, it is your power. It cannot be given away; it resides in you. It is liturally the result of your discipline. That was one of Citole's philosophies. Biotechnology itself had proven to be the greatest revolution in human history. It easily outdistanced atomic power, and computers in it's effect on everyday life. Biotechnology continued to transform every aspect of human life: medical care, food, health, entertainment, and very bodies. That was something which Citole strived to improve on a daily basis. Why could these beings not realize that the research she was carrying out was vital for the greater good?

So, maybe Edison was not going to be as cooperative as Citole had hoped. As far as his state of well-being at this point was concerned as of now, was questionable. He was making in blatantly obvious that he was not really prepared to cooperate with her, despite the threat that his friend may be in danger if he didn't. Though something Citole had learnt early on was that as far as the possibility of questioning the paranormals of Xara Malhotra's little group, Edison had certainly not been her first choice. Why? Well that much was obvious simpply judging from his behavior as of that very moment.

"Well, Edison, unfortunately you've giving me the wrong answer. Since you are uncooperative, I guess you are of no use to me after all." Citole arched a brow at the demon, reaching for the tranquilizer still hidden at the back of her skirt and fired it directly at him. "Pity."


......................................................................................................

Sheets of rain swept sideways across the windscreen of Citole's R8 as she calmly dragged two inert bodies by one arm each away from the blinding white headlights. As if by magic, every traffic light she had needed to drive through to get to the mountain dirt roads turned green just as she reached it, classical music playing loudly over the dashboard speakers.

Mud squelched under Citole's gumboot clad feet as she dragged the alien, and demon with her, towards a steep slope which evetually lead to a small, yet deep flowing river. She dropped both not-so-gently from her grip, and peered down, barely hearing anything else over the sound of the pelting rain. It was quite a trip downwards if you were to fall... with little trees or rocks to gain footing in order to attempt a successful climb out of. The perfect place to dump two very annoying home invaders.

A simple nudge of her gumboot was all it took to send each of the men down the slope, through the mud. Then, with a cruel smirk, she turned on her heel, and walked away...

The first thing Hadrian became aware of that there there was a blinding pain in his head, consuming all other sensation. He groaned as he returned to consciousness, keeping his eyes closed, as they felt liked led. Besides the molten fire that was in the back of his skull, the rest of his body felt like it had been thrown through a concrete wall.

Hadrian had a sudden realization that he quite possibly had been thrown through a concrete wall, for all he knew.

After consciousness returned, memories also came flooding back. The idea which both he and Edison had conjured up to get at Citole, the mad woman herself, that nasty tea, feeling... strange, something hard hitting the back of his head, and now…

Hadrian opened his eyes, and immediately saw double-vision of wet dirt. He could feel it against his cheek. He blinked a few times, clearing his sight as he allowed his senses to return, attempting to let each sensation sink in. He noticed that he was very cold, and wet. No, he was soaked through, and so was everything around him, he realised. So he was outside. Well, obviously. He glanced up, and realised that he was surrounded by trees which towered above him, the branches twisting together, as if caging him inside. Damn, no sign of any roads, or paths for that matter. So they'd probably have to walk. They, yes. Was Edison with him? Hadrian cursed inwardly, as he tried to sit up to gauge what had happened to his friend and why he was not currently running his mouth.

A jolt of pain shot through Hadrian's head, and he bit off a scream as he fell back, breathing hard through his nostrils. It was only then did he realise he could not open his mouth, and his hands were stuck behind his back. His feet were also bound together. Son of a ...!

He turned his head to one side, locating Edison out of the corner of his eye, a few feet away. The demon was tied up, just as he was, facing away from him, and was not moving.

"Mmph!" Hadrian attempted to speak, regardless of knowing it was pointless. Your mouth has been taped shut, idiot, he mentally berated himself.

With great effort, Hadrian managed to sit himself upright, but not without the movements sending new pains through his jarring limbs. He moaned every time he moved, his whole body drenched. It must have bucketed down while he and Edison were lying there for who knows how long.

He had to try and get himself free, and there was only one way he could think of. Mentally thanking Andromed evolution for blessing him with longer limbs, and neck, Hadrian slowly, and agonisingly began to slip his wrists under his backside so they were then under his thighs. Then, tucking his knees up to his chin, he proceeded to awkwardly slip his feet through so his arms were then in front of him rather than behind. With some effort, he fumbled with the duct tape around his wrists, having to pick at it for a minute before he was able to tear it off of him. On closer inspection, Hadrian saw angry-looking, magenta welts had formed where the tape had rubbed against his skin.

Without wasting too much time, Hadrian slowly pulled away the tape from his lips, and breathed out a heavy sigh of reliefb. Without bothering with his legs, Hadrian managed to crawl his way over the slippery wet dirt back over to Edison, gritting his teeth as his joints protested painfully. He was winded and light headed by the time he made it over, but what concerned him more was that the demon still hadn't moved. Shit. Hadrian touched a finger to his ear, trying to get his comm to work, but he heard only static.

"Ed," he whispered as he checked Edison for injuries. "I'd really appreciate it if you'd say something right about now."

[glow=red,2,300] + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ NOTES xx Hahaha! No lie Though there was no Jigsaw puppet, and I don't think she had a fly in her ear after all, tbh. We'd know by now, if there was a maggot crawling back out again. XP Ewwwwww!

++ TAGS xx OPENNNN[/glow]

[/right]

[Mooka]

A thin laugh came out of his throat at her statement. All she asked for was some cooperation, how kind of her! Obviously she did not know who she was speaking to! Asking Edison to play nice and listen was like asking any five year old to sit still and be quiet, nearly impossible. He had had his time listening and being pleasant. He’d had rather strict mannered parents who demanded you sit upright at any given time and said ‘sir’ and ‘ma’am’ on most occasions. Eighteen years of being held under someone’ rule was enough for him, and ever since the accident, he’d given even less of a shit about listening to other people. Life was too short and worthless to play by the rules. Cheating was the only way you got anywhere in life anyhow.

Wrong answer?

His brows furrowed together while he watched her curiously, unsure what exactly she was seeking from him. Honestly, he hadn’t been paying that much attention to the situation, and hadn’t noticed that Citole’s hand had slipped behind her. Though it wasn’t long until it hit him, wait….no something did actually hit him! Edison groaned as his hand shot up to the area slight above his stomach, touching at the lovely dart sticking out of his skin. Oh this was just great.

Damn it, she cheated. “Unfair…” He whined, vision swimming into an even darker abyss as he lost control of his body after a few more tumble, making acquaintance with the floor. The demon didn’t have time to say anything else as his lids became heavy and quicker than he knew he was out like a light bulb.

-------

This was definitely one of those times where real life mixed in with a dream. Usually you were late to school and a bell would ring, but then as time passed, you realized that the bell wasn’t stopping, and it was actually your alarm clock beeping in order to wake you so you would not be late for such class. Today was just a teensy bit different. There was absolutely no dream happening, just darkness, with a thin, almost annoying voice that seemed to be coming from far away.

Grunting slightly after realizing the voice wasn’t going away, he tried to peel an eye open, finding it rather hard as he just wanted to sleep. “Five more minutes mom…” He groaned, trying to swat at whoever was there, but wished he hadn’t. A searing pain ran through his wrists as they objected to the sudden movement, and he groaned, pressing his face into the mud.

Things began to come back to him rather quickly. He and the alien’s little adventure, the alien’s disappearance, then being shot with a tranquilizer. “Hadrian!” He grinned, rolling over as best he could, stretching his neck to look at him despite his pounding head. Felt like a bad hangover, his stomach churning slightly, and he gulped back the contents in his stomach.

Once the wave of nausea had passed, he addressed his friend once again. “You cared the hell out of me! What happened in that room with that she-devil?” Edison paused, and looked over Hadrian’s freed hands, resentment bubbled up inside him.

“Well don’t just sit there princess.” He snapped, wriggling around slightly with impatience. “Untie me damn it.”

(( Sorry this is kind of short. :C Ew maggots are the worst! Yet…slightly cute! Like slugs <3 ))

[Hadrian]

[glow=red,2,300]

Hello, hello, are you listening?
Hello, hello, are you there?
You've tuned the voices out but now the symptoms are everywhere
You are, you are, you are part of this
I know you think you're much more
You better think again
Because you're one defenceless animal

[/glow]

Hadrian released a sigh of relief as Edison slowly regained awareness. 'Five more minutes, mom.' The alien chuckled in amusement, arching a brow as he continued to prod the demon in the shoulder with one hand, urging him back. He peered intently at Edison, watching as recognition finally reached his face. Once it had, Hadrian was surprised by the great wave of relief which swept through him.

"Hi there, Eddy." Hadrian greeted him with a matching grin, pleased and amused by the demons jubilant greeting. Who ever knew he would be so happy to see the guy moving, and speaking, and more importantly, very alive and relatively well, all things considered.

As awareness and recognition returned, so did - evidently - memories. Hadrian soon found himself being berated at by the demon, for scaring him. What had happened after the she-devil decided to knock him out? She had obviously decided to do away with Edison in a similar fashion to himself. The groggy demon appeared fine as far as injuries went. The worst Hadrian seemed to have was a knot on the back of his head.

"I scared you?" Hadrian did not bother to mask the amusement in his tone as he sat back down on his backside beside Edison and began fumbling with the tape around his ankles. "I don't know how we got here, for one. After she gave me some tea, I started to feel strange. Everything looked alive, as if colors were breathing..." he shook his head, knowing that it sounded ridiculous. "Anyway, she knocked me out. Now we're here. I'm as out of the hoop as you are," he added, fairly sure he'd accidentally worded the expression wrong.

He had to admit that Edison did look a little funny, tied up like this. After all, how many opportunities came along where Hadrian had some level of control over Edison in this way, anyway. And after a little 'princess' comment, Hadrian felt compelled to just let the demon squirm for a little bit. "A friend in need is a friend indeed, right?" Still tempted to leave him wriggling for just a little bit longer, Hadrian stepped over Edison, and squatted on his heels beside the demons taped-up hands. As he began to untie him, a memory flashed back into mind. "By the way! What happened to our little communication line? You didn't hear any of it for yourself? Where were you?"

Once Edison's arms and legs were free, Hadrian stood up, wincing as his aching muscles protested the movement. His duo-toned eyes scannd their surroundings as his third eyelids swept across each eyeball from time to time as a light sprinkle of rain drizzled from th sky above. To the right of him was a long steep slope which carried on for some good four or five hundred meters. They appeared to be in side kind of oval "bowl" with a long river to their left with water which ran fast downstream. The trees were thick, and did indeed appear to cage them inside.

"She may as well have thrown us in a hole," Hadrian muttered, dryly. "So, I figure our choices are we either risk drowning in the river, see if there's a safer way out of here on the other side, or try and climb this thing." He pointed at the muddy slope. Neither were a very appealing thought. As good a swimmer as Hadrian was, he was not all that keen on the idea of attempting a swim in a freezing river with a strong current. In certain places in the rainforests, the trees were so thick that the ground or water beneath it would recieve very little to no sunlight what so ever. As a result, the ground or water would ice over, regardless of the season.

As for climbing? Ed could try that first. Hadrian didn't want to be the first out of the two of them to make a complete clown of themselves.

Strolling over towards the river, Hadrian knelt at the edge of the river an dipped a hand in, waving it around for a few seconds. Pulling it out, he winced at the icey chill, leaving a slight burning sensation after it. "Neither one is going to be enjoyable."

[glow=red,2,300] + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ NOTES xx Snails are cool too

++ TAGS xx OPENNNN[/glow]

[/right]

[Mooka]

I scared you?

It took him a few minutes to register to tone of Hadrian’s words, being a bit slow after his sudden slumber. “Oh fuck off.” He rolled his eyes as Hadrian didn’t even try to mask the pleasure from his words or facial expressions. Typical moment in their relationship, even at their worst they still liked to poke fun at the other. Though there was a mall hint of a smirk at the corner of Edison’s lips. He just couldn’t resist a well timed jab.

The demon blinked slowly while he watched Hadrian undo his own ties around his feet, wondering how he managed to break his hands free in the first place. Question for later, there were more important things to worry about at the moment.

His blood boiled slightly as Hadrian retold what he could remember. Obviously she had put something into his drink, a hallucinogenic or narcotic of some sort. Though the woman’s occupation did leave room for more bizarre objects to be placed into his mug. The ideas of acids or a tiny tracker were not out of the range of possibilities. Knowing the alien, he most likely took the drink from the crazy scientist without a second thought. “It’s out of the /loop/ idiot.” He laughed, shaking his head in slight disbelief at the alien. It was funny how people forgot that everyone else in the world, universe, wasn’t raised in the same manner you were.

Edison stayed still, much to his displeasure, as he waited for Hadrian to untie him. The alien seemed to be taking his time with the maneuver, but if he snapped at him he was afraid Hadrian would jut leave him tied up for a good while longer. Anything to avoid that embarrassment.

The demon cringed inwardly as Hadrian asked about the ear piece. Thinking on it now, it probably wasn’t the sharpest idea for him. This whole thing could have been avoided if he’d heard exactly what was going on. Heck, that was why they were wearing the ear pieces in the first place right? “I turned it off.” He said blatantly, not wishing to how any acknowledgement that he had done anything wrong. There was no turning back time, they were stuck where they were and that was that. “I didn’t want to give myself away hiding now did I? I thought you could have handled things on your own, guess not though.”

There was a wave of relief over him as the ties were off, and he collected them from the ground, shoving them into his pant pocket in order for some crafty revenge use later. Surprisingly he didn’t hurt too badly, his vision was slightly blurry and he was tired but other than that he seemed fine. Hadrian looked like he was in more pain, wincing and groaning as he rose to his feet. The poor guy always seemed to be the one that had his ass served to him on all the adventures they went on.

Edison watched Hadrian carefully as he wandered the short distance to the river, keeping an extra eye on him in case he toppled over and into the water.

“I could shift and leave you all by yourself until you either died or some sorry sod found you.” As much as he’d /love/ to go home and get dry, he knew he wouldn’t hear the end of it if he left Hadrian, and honestly he wouldn’t leave the guy. Sorta-friends had to stick out for each other. He turned and winked at the other before laughing, moving over to get a better look at the walls entrapping them.

There were few trees that were placed at a good angle or close enough together to be grabbed easily. The rain of course didn’t help ether, as the side of the bowl looked like it was dripping brownie mix. He placed a hand on the steep slope, scowling as the wet dirt stuck to his finger tips. He dug a few centimeters until he hit dry dirt, but that was all it was. It crumbled as he tried to dig his fingernails into, which proved it wouldn’t be the best form for climbing. Scaling this would take a lot of slipping and sliding, if they could even be successful in their attempt. It didn’t look too likely.

“I’d rather take our chances looking around before we jump to any conclusions. There has to be some brush or an over turned tree at the top somewhere right? Maybe we’ll find a kangaroo and we’ll just hop in its pouch and travel out here!” Edison snorted.

He stuck out his hand, palm up, in the alien’s direction. “Take Eddy’s hand so you don’t get lost.”

(( Could you imagine if snails had arms? Legs? Well now you can: media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md1ipj91Ir1qekp3p.png ))

[Hadrian]

[glow=red,2,300]

Hello, hello, are you listening?
Hello, hello, are you there?
You've tuned the voices out but now the symptoms are everywhere
You are, you are, you are part of this
I know you think you're much more
You better think again
Because you're one defenceless animal

[/glow]

“Oh fuck off.”

Hadrian could not resist a light chuckle, recognizing the humor in the tone of Edison's voice. At least it was a good sign that the demons personality was not affected in the slightest. Then, of course, came a jab at the fact Hadrian had misworded the saying 'out of the loop'. Hoop... loop... one letter difference, c'mon. He was from outerspace after all. He was entitiled to making one mistake every so often. Thinking better then to comment on it - especially the idiot part, for now - Hadrian rolled his eyes.

Once his arms and legs were free, Edison began to explain his own side of their little adventure, a part which Hadrian was rather interested in, especially seeing as he was curious as to why Edison had not decided to make an appearance sooner. As Edison confessed to switching off the earpiece, Hadrian's jaw went slack. Say what...?! If Edison had admitted to switching off the earpiece before Hadrian decided to untie him, he may have reconsidered the act. "You. Did. What?" Hadrian gawked at the demon with an incredulous expression. "Skeeza su, Ed!" Hadrian placed both hands over his eyes, then through his hair in frustration. He paused, his fingers linked together behind his head as he stared at Edison with exasperation. "What was the point in having those things at all, then?" He sighed, and closed his eyes. No point in bickering over this, now of all times. If they were going to get out of this situation relatively unscathed, then they needed to get along. "Fine. It's done." He said, effectively dropping the subject.

No, he didn't handle it on his own. That's why Edison was meant to act as his backup. Focusing on the rain water running down his body from his hair into his clothes, Hadrian payed closer attention to the fact that they needed to find a way out of here before they drowned, starved, or died of something rediculous like hypothermia.

“I could shift and leave you all by yourself until you either died or some sorry sod found you.” Hadrian arched a brow and scoffed, smirking at Edison's suggestion as he went to take a better look at the water. "I don't know how Sage - or any of the girls, for that matter - would feel about that. You know I get along better with them then you do." It was true. For whatever reason, Hadrian seemed to get along a bit better with the girls. Of course there was Quam, and sometimes Barty. He and Edison though were under some different category all together, he may affectionately nickname "frienemies", which was a mix between friends and enemies. What was the saying, 'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?' Well if Edison was a frienemy, should he be kept closest?

Smirking at the demon, Hadrian took hold of a branch hanging not too far from the river and leant in as far as he dared. It did not look too shallow... perhaps waist-deep in most places but even then with a strong enough current, and the cold it would be too easy to lose your footing. Plus, chances of finding a more shallow spot seemed fairly unlikely.

Stepping back onto more solid ground, Hadrian turned around and headed back to Edison, who appeared to be playing with the mud. It wasn't as if they weren't covered in it already. Looking down at himself, Hadrian was having trouble locating a spot on him that was not now brown with mud. Even if the rain was doing an alright job at washing it away, the mud was even in his hair... much to his dismay.

"Having fun there?" He asked before Edison suggested they take chances in looking around. Although Hadrian was unsure of their chances of actually coming across some brush or an over turned tree, they seemed slim. "Well, it's a much better suggestion then swimming, or looking like utter dickheads trying to climb the slope." He shrugged, and then grinned, laughing as Edison told him to take "Eddy's hand" so he didn't get lost. "Oh. You're serious?" He sobered, and looked at Edison's hand for a moment longer, as if suspitious it was some kind of trick.

With only minor hessitation, Hadrian reached out his own hand, and grasped Edison's. The idea of holding a hand with five digits rather then four was something he had learnt not to feel was strange anymore. After you live for a few years in a world with a race with four fingers and a thumb on each hand, and you're the only one with three fingers and one thumb, you begin to feel as if you're the odd one out instead of the other way around.

Giving Edison's hand a gentle, but firm yank, he warned the demon. "Trip me, and you're going right down with me," before turning, and taking a few steps forwards. On his fourth step, Hadrian felt his own feet slide in the mud, almost toppling over before he was able to correct himself. He coughed once, avoiding Edison's gaze as they continued to walk.

After about ten minutes of walking, and searching for a suitable way out of their little 'bowl prison' Hadrian began to feel disgruntled. Sure that he could speak for both himself and Edison too, he was freezing cold, drenched to the bone, tired, and very very fed up with all this searching and wondering around. The only part of him that was warm was his palm, which was still firmly attached to Edison's. He wanted out of here!

Hadrian had entertained the idea of just telling Edison to shapeshift into a bird or something and fly off to find some help, but what with the forest being so thick, and their communication thingy down, the demon would probably have no luck relocating the alien even if he did manage to get to the others. So in an attempt to suggest some different ideas, and a jab at annoying the demon, for the past two minutes Hadrian had been alternating between complaining about their situation, and suggesting different animals Edison could transform into which may help them. "... Gorilla? You'd make a good one. Giraffe, with the long neck? Or an elephant? You could knock a tree over, rather than us just walking around searching for one. If you became a bear I could ride you. Plus you'd be fluffy, so at least you'd be warm! And I wouldn't have to walk around in these damn wet shoes! " He was silent for a moment, before he grinned cheekily. "I got it!" He announced, ”What about a gaint rabbit? That way you could just bounce us out of here. Plus, think how cute you would look. Little Eddy Cottontail."

Apparently he was the only one who thought it was funny. After the Little Eddy Cottontail comment, the subject was dropped.

It began to rain again, shortly afterwards. The sheets of rain sideswiping them as the wind picked up, creating a strange howling/whistling noises through the trees and rustling branches. "Spooky." He muttered, shivering then not so much from the cold, but that strange feeling you're being watched. "Y'know, maybe we should try and get out of this rain?" Hadrian called to Edison over the sound of the pelting rain. Knowing their luck, it would hail, or snow too. If the river was covered in ice in some places, it wouldn't surprise him in the slightest. Even on the warmer days, the top of the mountain was often covered in white sheets of snow. But then there was the task of trying to find some shelter. "It's bad enough we're soaked through but if we get caught in hail or snow as well as this stupid rain we'll freeze for sure."

Weather patterns were an interest of Hadrian's. They were partly a reason he was on Earth, actually. The science crew he was shipped with was sent on a mission to study weather patterns on neighboring planets. If the crew had made it here, they'd have more then likely agreed that the weather in Tasmania was most facinating; four seasons in a day, most of the time. In the few planets he had hovered over, he had seen nothing like it before. But then, they had strict orders not to set foot on any planets either so they'd never have been granted the oppertunity to study the climates close up.

Yet being in it... Hadrian was not so thrilled.

[glow=red,2,300] + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ NOTES xx

++ TAGS xx OPENNNN[/glow]

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[Mooka]

"I don't know how Sage - or any of the girls, for that matter - would feel about that. You know I get along better with them then you do." The demon scoffed, rolling his eyes slightly. Of course the comment was true, and that’s what pissed him off the most. Hadrian always had an insult that actually hit close to home. His insults were always shots at something said in the moment or gross exaggerations, never anything that had more than an ounce of truth behind it. It was rather hard to come up with insults of a person with noble intentions and little flaws.

Though one thing that was easy to poke fun of was Hadrian’s cluelessness. Though they weren’t the cleanest jokes in the world. Hadrian’s life tragedy was when he had been pulled out of his life and quite literally thrown onto Earth with little choice in the matter. So his off the wall assumptions of Earth phrases were rather too easy to make fun of.

Edison paid little mind to Hadrian’s comment of “having fun”. Oh yes, slopping around in mud and rain was a blast! The two of them looked like sad dogs that had left outside, especially Hadrian, whose long hair was plastered to his skull and face.

Giving a toothless smile, his brows rose as he looked to his hand while dipping his head. As if he would present this situation if he didn’t truly mean it. Hadrian’s hand felt odd. Only three of his own fingers fit in the groves between Hadrian, leaving two fingers to grasp the outside of his palm instead of the usual tow. He couldn’t help but look down and wiggle his fingers slightly. “This is like our first official date, walking in the rain holding hands, I wouldn’t trip you sweetheart.”

It wasn’t long into their journey when Hadrian began to stumble, and Edison tensed his arm while tightening his grip to provide him with a stable grip. He didn’t ay anything about the slip up, knowing he’d mot likely fall over at some point and he’d appreciate it if there was no laughing from the other party. Small steps were the way to go through the mud, pushing your legs forwards without taking your feet off the ground. It was similar to ice skating with more stickiness added to it. This might even be enjoyable if they had come here on a picnic, but since they had been tossed into the basin like trash it was a much different story.

They walked hand in hand in silence for a good while, which was fine by him. Despite loving to hear himself talk, his second favorite sound was that of silence. The only thing ruining it was the steady pitter patter of rain as it tumbled to the ground.

Hadrian broke the “silence” with the word gorilla. Alright. He cast the alien an odd look, unsure of what reffering to the animal meant, aline lingo maybe? Things quickly began to make more sense as Hadrian listed more animal names, and suggested knocking a tree over. These were his ideas of how to get out of here? Now hope was completely lost of the two of them ever getting out of here.

“I’m not a magician Haddy. I need the blood of one of those animals, and do you know how hard it is to eat an elephant? Pretty damn hard. Trust me, I’ve tried.” He scoffed at the awful memory. Surprisingly, the only place you could even find an elephant anywhere these days was in a zoo. In an adventurous manner he had managed to get as far as up and over the gates to the exhibit before being spotted by a zookeeper. His poorly planned adventure had been around feeding time, which had nearly cost him an arrest if he hadn’t turned his tail and ran. Never again. “How about I turn into you again and knock down a tree with that thick skull of yours.”

“One of your better ideas since we got here bud.” He yelled back in a more friendly tone. If they stayed out in the open for too much longer he was sure he was either going to melt or collapse in a pile on the ground and just cry.

“Oh look!” He pointed in earnest towards a prime location for the duo to take cover from the weather while they rested and planned out their escape in better detail.

An old tree had been overturned, most likely from weather harsher than they were experiencing now. Its long branches were broken, some lay in piles, others dipped ominously into the running river that had nourished it from infancy and was now its final resting place. Those things had not caught his eye, what had been the series of upturned roots belonging to the dead tree. The force of the weight falling had upturned the earth below the plant; roots were twisted all around each other with created a tight mesh like ceiling. Though the shelter did resemble an open mouth with teeth dripping in saliva, the place looked perfect!

Without a comment from the alien, though he doubted much a protest seeing the situation they were in, he shuffled towards the tree pulling Hadrian along with him. “I don’t want to let go.” He whined in a fake voice before releasing his grasp on the other’s hand. Bending down, he scooted forwards on his heels until he felt dry dirt underneath his shoes. With a happy sigh, he turned himself around and plunked his rump into the ground. “It’s not wet thank god.” He moaned, digging his finger into the soil, bringing it up in handfuls then allowing the grains to slip between his fingers. This could entertain him for awhile.

Though as Hadrian began to situate himself, he decided it was his turn to get under Hadrian’s skin since he had made the last comments. “Oh since you’re trapped with me, I’m going to ask you a personal question you cannot ignore. When are you getting a job? Not a Blockbuster one, I mean a career, or something, anything!

[Hadrian]

[glow=red,2,300]

Hello, hello, are you listening?
Hello, hello, are you there?
You've tuned the voices out but now the symptoms are everywhere
You are, you are, you are part of this
I know you think you're much more
You better think again
Because you're one defenceless animal

[/glow]

They were a sorry looking pair, that was certain. As the duo trudged through the sludge and water, bracing themselves against the sheets of rain which soaked them through. The wind blew right through them.

Along the way, after Hadrians attempts at suggesting Edison he turn into a variety of different animals, the demon retorted with a comment about actually eating an elephant. Imagine that... the flesh of Earth creatures was unappetizing enough without having the image of someone you know attempt to consume it inside your mind.

Then came a smartass comment about "that thick skull" of his. Hadrian had to bite back a retort... something along the lines of a snarky remark about how Edison was a genius, and then remind him that although Edison may turn into him, he was still technically himself, not Hadrian, so it was still his own skull he'd be knocking a tree down with. The only reason he was going to bite back the response was because he wanted to keep on Edison's good terms for as long as possible if they were going to continue cooperating with one another.

“Oh look!” Lazily, Hadrian turned to face the point where Edison was pointing towards an old tree which had obviously been bowled over during some storm or a few. The tree itself looked ancient, but Hadrian found it impossible to determine how long ago it had fallen. It was the roots which fascinated him. They seemed to have weaved and entwined together, like a network creating the perfect ceiling.

Hadrian did not know what sort of tree it was, or how old it was, or why it had fallen, but he was certainly appreciating it. It actually looked fairly perfect in terms of shelter. Even if he was not keen on the thought of waiting out the storm under the branches, Edison certainly was, and from the amount of pressure he was currently applying to the grip he had on Hadrian's hand, he did not expect too much of a protest.

Who would have known he and Edison would actually be getting along as well as they were, given the circumstances of their very unique and rather complicated-at-times friendship, as well as current circumstances. So soon after their unfortunate encounter in Edison's appartment, they were both play arguing, and jesting. They even managed to have whole conversations at times.

As rediculous as it may sound, perhaps a blow out of such magnitude had been the push the duo had needed in order to get over their petty differences and forge a better friendship. It was just a shame it had come to that in the first place in order for them to figure everything out.

Bending down in order to fit through the very low "ceiling", Hadrian followed quickly after the demon, crawling into the little space, forcing his tense shoulders down with a slouch. “It’s not wet thank god.” He heard the comment, and sighed heavily as he parked his own backside on the dry dirt not too far from where Edison was seated.

The smallest slivers of moonlight creeped into the dark space which was the temporary shelter Edison had found for them. Hadrian frowned, realizing that although they were now out of the rain, hail or potential snow, they had nothing to keep them warm. Soon enough they would both be too frozen solid to do much else at all. Haddy stopped to consider their options. Truth be told they didn't have very many options. The way he saw it, no matter what they did, if they stayed here overnight they would both freeze. They needed to find a way out and get to somewhere warmer.

It was noticeably dryer and a little warmer under their little shelter though. The uprooted tree did provide protection from steadily increasing wind, and the ground was fairly dry. The smaller branches creaked strangely but the base of the trunk, and rest of it remained still. It had obviously fallen long ago.

Hadrian felt his joints tense up impossibly because of the cold. Personally he knew that neither he or Edison could have gone on much longer without falling to the ground in exhaustion and coldness. The only thing that kept him going was the thought that in this current situation, he had Edison's back just as much as he hoped the demon had his. For whatever reason, Hadrian believed he owed it to Edison to keep going and try and get back home. Then their priorities changed, and they had to get each other to warmth and safety.

Without really putting much thought into why, Hadrian took off his shoes before slipping off his drenched socks as well. No point in wearing them if they were not doing him any good anyway. Rubbing his now free hands over his feet, and wiggling his toes in order to try and get some more feeling into them, Hadrian attempted to feed some warmth into them using his palms. It was as he was doing this when Edison spoke to him again.

Hadrian glanced up, offering Edison an appraising look. "Who said I can't ignore you?" was his retort, but with a sigh, he decided to humor the demon with a reply anyway. "A job..." Since they were bribed to leave Miami, Hadrian, Sage, and Sirius had been living off of the money the government had given them. Hadrian had spent allot of that time searching for work, but with very little luck as far as interviews go.

What could an extraterrestrial being with little to no work experience on Earth do as far as work goes? There were programs which helped aliens and paranormals seek employment, but so far, in such a small city, there had been no such luck. Perhaps he could help re-build ships... like a machinist, not too unsimilar to the work he was doing on the spacecrafts on his own planet. "You offering me a job, Ed?" Hadrian joked half-heartedly.

Lightning struck close by, creating an ear-splitting crack sound, followed by a bright flash of white light which lit up their area as bright as day, and for a few seconds Hadrian could see Edison perfectly clear. "What would you suggest I do, anyway?" He asked, humoring the demon.

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+ NOTES xx Where do ya should we go from here? Maybe Viph comes across them, gives them a hand? I'm giving Haddy a break from getting hurt too, so maybe it's Edison's turn? Are we thinking drama, angst, bromance, bonding kinda thing?

Btw, The tree you described reminds me of buttress trees... very cool and easy to climb as well.

++ TAGS xx OPENNNN[/glow]

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[Mooka]

Edison huffed as the duo feel in to a moment of silence. He rested his head back against the slightly rotting plant material. It was slightly squishy yet still hard enough for his head to not cave in. Like a nature pillow! There was also no worrying about getting anything in his hair, unlike Hadrian’s. He couldn’t quite understand why the alien was determined to keep his hair so long. There seemed to be no practicality in the style. Unfortunately, he wasn’t really in the mood to insult his only hope for survival at the moment.

There was a small chuckle at the rhetorical question. While waiting for an answer he tried to keep warm. Wriggling his toe so they wouldn’t stay still, Ed lifted his hands to cover his mouth, breathing into them what warm air he still contained in his lungs.

If there was any water in his mouth, he’d have surely spat it right in Hadrian’s face. “Give you a job?” He laughed a bit awkwardly for a moment at the idea. Hadrian working with him? Knowing how he was prone to getting hurt he could hardly see how that would be a good idea. Though he was awful lonely most of the time, and a person to help lessen the workload would be nice at times. Hadrian was also one of the only people he could stand or consider calling a friend. The idea was growing on him.

“Well it’s hard to know what you’d be good at, let alone be hired. You’re…appearance is slightly lacking as far as professionalism goes.” He grinned cheekily for a moment. “You could be better at the more…illegal things don’t you think? You’d fit in will with the rougher crow of people even if you have teddy bear demeanor. So…essentially I am offering you a job. Not that you’d /ever/ want to work for me of course.” Honestly, if he was in the alien’s shoe he wouldn’t accept the job. He knew he was a real jackass.

As he opened his mouth to utter something else, he heard a noise.

“You hear that?” He whispered, eyes locked on the pitch black void outside their tiny fortress. It was hard to tell with the roar of the rain and the thunder, but he had sworn he’d heard a noise. Something similar to a cracking. At first the idea of lightening hitting a tree came to mind, but that noise would have been ear splitting. This one was quiet. Like the snapping of a twig.

What could be out there was really was no mystery. It had to be an animal of some sorts, what humanoid creature in their right mind would be walking out in this weather? Though an unlikely idea of Citole coming back to finish them off ran across his mind. The woman was fairly determined to keep what they had seen a secret. An even slimmer possibility of the noise could be help. Xara was pretty quick on her feet, so was Sasha. The two of them would probably sprint the entire way to where they were once they heard wind that their darling perfect alien friend had gone missing.

The demon placed a finger on his lip while glancing at Hadrian, knowing the alien would mot likely protest with what he was about to do. Edison rose to his feet slowly so he was in a crouching position before waddling back out into the rain. He rose to full height once clear of the roots, looking around hopelessly as the rain drenched him again. Edison bent his knees slightly, still looking around for the sign of the noise maker, thinking himself ready to pounce or roll out of the way if any happen to pop out. “Hello?”


(( I miss Viph, so you should totally bring her in! Hm I’m down for giving poor Hadrian a break from being injured, dude needs a break haha. Maybe Ed and Viph get into a fight because it’s dark so they obviously can’t see each other very well yadda yadda. I’m thinking a well rounded mixture of everything.

Getting out of the bowl thing will probably be dramaful, thinking Hobbit like style with lots of falling/ close to falling experiences. With would involve some bonding with all of them helping each other out and such. ))

[Hadrian]

[glow=red,2,300]

Hello, hello, are you listening?
Hello, hello, are you there?
You've tuned the voices out but now the symptoms are everywhere
You are, you are, you are part of this
I know you think you're much more
You better think again
Because you're one defenceless animal

[/glow]

Most of the time, Hadrian enjoyed having long hair. When he first got here, his hair was shorter, just below his ears. Now it hung in loose waves around his shouders. He liked it, except for the times when Sirius was younger, and would pull on it unless it was tied into a ponytail, or times like now, where he was sitting under a tree with Edison, the two of them soaked to the bone, while his hair was a dissaray of tangles, knots, mud, and twigs. It was times like this where he wished he did not wear it so long, and actually took up the offers the girls extended to him when they asked to trim his hair at least.

As they sat in silence, Hadrian pondered what Edison had said about employment. There were times where Hadrian could simply brush off anything Edison said with an automatic response, but then there were other times, such as this where a stark remark or crack Edison shot at him would actually annoy or trouble him.

Edison actually seemed amused at the thought of offering Hadrian a job. The alien responded with an arched brow, unimpressed with the response. His appearance was "slightly lacking as far as professionalism goes.” ? In what way, how? His hair was the first thing that sprung to mind, but why not brush it more thoroughly more often, or tie it into a ponytail? Such simple grooming techniques gave a pretty good effect.

Proffessional attire meant clothes like suits and shiny shoes. Hadrian owned none. A tidy pair of jeans, sure. But nothing as far as a pair of trousers, shiny shoes, a black coat and ties.

As Delilah once described him, perhaps Hadrian was a "good boy in bad boy clothing" and with this he could use as his advantage. It was also a disadvantage, and if a mistake was made, it could possibly be his undoing as well. So great care would need to be taken.

But could he do it? Hadrian knew very little about what Edison did for a living. He did know that whatever it did involve, it was good money, but it also involved some fairly dodgy deals as well. Even with his "teddy bear demeanor" it never stopped Hadrian from aquiring a bit of a bad-boy image when he first reached the city in Miami. It was a reputation he earned fast, and one he did not mind having at all. It seemed all you needed was a leather jacket, a badass motorbike, and extraterrestrial genes.

"I'll - " Hadrian started, but as he spoke, Edison suddenly looked quite alarmed.

“You hear that?” The demon whispered, and Hadrian leant over slightly, straining to hear anything past the sound of thunder, and the rain which pelted down upon the ground around them but he couldn't pick up a damn thing.

So he tried smell. Hadrian's scent receptors were as good, if not better then a dogs, about 100 million times greater than a human's. Hadrian could smell many things... Edison's scent was the most prominent, seeing as he was closest. Then there was the mud, the rain... he was even able to determine the direction of the air current containing the smells in the air currents.

Anyway, Edison thought he could hear something above the rain, which had settled down somewhat to a point where the noise was bareable. So Hadrian let him be. The demon would not last too long in the rain before he'd be crawling back into their little shelter.

Hadrian peered at Edison with a mild feeling of uncertainty spread through him. He felt the hair on his body stand on end, and this time it was not just because of the cold. Holding back an urge to tell Edison not to venture out of their little shelter, Hadrian's eyes followed him instead. Besides, Edison "shushed" him with a finger to his lips, to which the alien responded by pinching his thumb and index finger together, then pretending to lock his lips with them, and "shooing" the demon out with his other hand.

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

Like most cats, Viph hated the rain. Unfortunately, she did not have the luxury of staying indoors. Not when her food supply was low, and of course she did not have the luxury of having anyone to help her either. A lone kut'kari, without a hive would not thrive on their own, is what her species used to say. Kut'lari's needed company. If one or more were injured, or ill, the others would hunt for them so they would not starve. Much like many animals on Earth.

It was times such as now, where Viph wished she had reconsidered Sasha's offer to have her stay with them. She had practically begged. But she had declined, insisting that she needed the outdoors and she would not thrive well in the city. Nights like this, she was unsure if the decision she had made was the correct one.

Viph knew from experience it was useless to attempt to search for animal tracks so she was relying on her sense of smell alone, and even then, she was not picking up a hell of allot. Sniffing the air, it was next to impossible to catch the scent of a potential meal over the rain. Oh yes, Viph's fur was soaked, and plastered to her skin. Her ears were laid flat aganist her head, and her eyes narrowed to slits as her mood dropped to complete irritation. The rain had not let up since she left the smell cave in which she was currently calling home and so far, the weather showed little indication it was going to give it a rest.

Knowing it was almost pointless to do so, Viph inhaled deeply anyway, opening her scent receptors once more as she attempted to stake out a scent... any scent, as long as it was edible. There was a scent, but it was faint. Not faint enough she could not roughly determine it's whereabouts, but still faint enough she was uncertain of what it was. When she had first begun hunting, every scent was so foreign to her she had to learn which smells belonged to which creature. This creature she smelt now was different. It smelt like no predator, or herbivore here. It smelt humanoid, of all things, she was sure of it.

So, she felt compelled to follow the scent. Through the saturated soil, Viph walked - or trudged, more like - until she reached a sort of steep slope in the Earth, with a long river running through the middle of it. With her keen eyes, Viph could see cracks of ice crystals flowing under the surface, as the water was not quite frozen. It was almost always cold up in the mountains, especially in the parts where the forest was so thick, perminant sheets of ice formed on the ground, or in the water. As beautiful as it was, it was rough conditions for a single being to live comfortably on her own.

Following the scent, Viph walked along the top of the slope, peering down towards the river with the ice crystals flowing within it, around rocks, and down the mountain. There was no guarentee if you followed it it would lead you to the bottom. It probably flowed into a lake, or perhaps around the mountain into larger rivers, or even a waterfall or two. If whoever had decided to trudge down this slope attempted to follow it, who really knew where they would find themselves.

Eventually Viph found herself standing above a massive overturned tree, with the roots hanging gnarled and twisted in the air. It had been dead for some time from the looks of things. This was obvious, seeing as all of the leaves had fallen from it, leaving the tree bare-looking. It was here the scent was strongest. But now she was close, she realised that the scent was neither predator, or prey... it was familiar. Very familiar.

Sniff... sniff... sniff... Viph sat in a crouched possition, then realizing whom the scent belonged to. Sasha's friends, Edison, and Hadrian. It was definately them, for they both had a fairly distinctive smell. Once she determined the scent, Viph looked about her, seeing that there was no practicle way of getting down there, and now discernible way of getting out.

It was while she was leaning over this slope she felt the slushy soil, now reduced to mud slip from under her, sending her scrambling for purchace down the slippery surface. She yowled, lips pulled back into a snarl as she attempted to dig her claws into a solid surface which was not there. She landed in a pile of leaves at the bottom.

Ears flat against her head, and tail thrashing back and forth in irritance, Viph scowled at the slope, making an unsuccessful attempt at brushing mud from her fur. Then she heard a noise - "hello?" - and her ears rotated forward, looking at a drenched demon. Immediately, her scowl vanished, and she peered at Edison with an amused interest.

"Hello, Edeesun." She stepped forwards, surveying him with her large green eyes, which shone emerald in the faint moonlight. "You are very long way from the city." Leaning forwards, she sniffed at him, ears swivelling left and right as she listened around them.

"Gotten yourself eaten yet, Eddy?" Came another familiar voice, and a moment later, Hadrian's head popped out from under the temporary shelter. The alien didn't look much better off, Viph realized, looking at the aliens messy hair and soaked clothing. The moment he noticed her, she could see him visibly tense, eyes wide. But then she watched his shoulders relax, as realization dawn on him as to who she was.

"Viph?" He blinked up at her, seemingly undecided as to whether or not he wished to leave the shelter.

"As hungry as I am, I do not think you would make a good meal for me. Why are you here?" She questioned, looking at the two.

"Long story. How did you get down here?"

"I fell." She winced as she admitted to it.

"Fantastic." Hadrian spoke, in a laconic tone. He looked up at Edison, "Ed, if you need me, I'll be out of the rain. Have fun playing with the kitty-cat."

Viph narrowed her eyes at him. "But I do not object making exception for dat one," she commented, nodding at Hadrian as he retreated back into the little shelter. "He is on my nerves." She then focused on Edison again, her ears alert. "I think you are not here for camping?" Her English was still rather butchered, seeing as she had not needed to communicate with other beings for some time, save for Sasha, who visited every so often. It needed working on. "I do not know how long you think you will live without heat, under diz tree." Using the tone of her voice, she attempted to make what a person may recognize as a gibe. Although it could have an opposite effect, and offend.

"You are two fools to be out here in this weather." She stated. "From the look of you it was not your decision. Where are the others? Sasha?"

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+ NOTES xx Wasn't too sure where to go with Viph But let's roll with it I like the idea of her and Eddy not seeing eye to eye Maybe she deliberately gives them a little trouble too. Not sure what, but we'll see where we go with it, haha!

++ TAGS xx OPENNNN[/glow]

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