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[bitebiggerthanherbark]

@pixiexmegan

Megan laughed a little before taking her hand and shaking it gently. “It’s nice to meet you Rahne. I’m Megan” she introduced herself, “or Pixie. I answer to either…” he codename had become used more often than her real name back at Xaviers…

“Yeah, just a bit further than Scotland… I’ve been in New York for a couple of years. I was one of Xavier’s students…” Megan wasn’t exactly a mutant who could hide what she was…

Nothing can make Rahne blush faster than a pretty girl and hi? Hello? Try the prettiest girl she’d ever seen just accepted her hand and laughed at her stupidity. She must’ve looked like she was having a heat stroke from the fire burning in her cheeks.

“Guess ye could call me Wolfsbane, but that starts folks referrin’ to me as Wolfie which is a trend ah’d rather avoid here,” she laughed. “But ah like Pixie. With the hair an’ the wings, makes sense,” she rambled, noticing how long she’d been holding Megan’s hand, dropping it immediately with another nervous laugh.

“Knew it. X-People have a certain smell to ‘em. Like ancient books and that weird pizza they serve,” she joked. “Raised under the mansion’s roof myself as a wee pup...as in just a few years ago. Though, not much growth has happened since,” she said, waving an arm over her 5′2″ head. “How was New York?”

Pixie Girl // OPEN to one

[bitebiggerthanherbark]

@pixiexmegan

Megan bit her lip as the water poured down over the other woman, frowning slightly in helpless sympathy at her current situation.

At least the water seemed to calm her temper…

“What was all the commotion?” she asked, wondering if there was a chance it might return. 

Megan liked to speak with people from Britain, even if she hadn’t lived in Wales for a long time, her accent was still obvious. She missed Betsy, who had grown up in London, and enjoyed speaking with Jess who she’d recently learned also grew up in England. “So, Scotland, huh? How’d you end up here?”

Rahne slicked her hair back, hoping for a 1950′s, the Outsiders Ponyboy look, but she highly doubted it. She probably just looked like the wet dog she was always meant to be. Just a sopping clown.

“Oh, that? That was my impression of a woman with no pride. How’d ah do?” she joked with a sigh before she extended her hand. “Name’s Rahne. Sorry ye had to witness my impromptu baptism. Apparently, God was in a mood. An’ ah was shipped here by me mum. Hope to do her proud, an’ help fight the infection just like anyone else here. Bout’ yerself? Wales’s bit far from here, aye?”

Pixie Girl // OPEN to one

[bitebiggerthanherbark]

@cablesdaughter

“the crowd is here, good luck with the line” Hope smirked and crossed her arms. She liked to avoid that ammount of people, she didn’t need so many people to be around her but now she didn’t have much choice. The red head looked into Rahne’s eyes. At least she wouldn’t have to go buy her food. “and get some food for yourself, okay?”

“I disagree, dreams, happiness, loss and fear are the motivation. Panic will only make you get caught and die early” she shook her head and sighed. All X people were really fucked up, weren’t they? “what about beating the shit out of the pain and moving on?” that could end the depressing cycle her people had “ohhh… Makes sense” she stood by the entrance “get the food and then we get out of here”

“Yer tellin’ me,” Rahne groaned with a soft gulp, scanning the crowd with dread. Like Hope, she wasn’t much for crowds either. She talked a big game, but people were dangerous. Untrustworthy. The nerves were already making her itch, only now when she realized she had to actually deal with the consequences of her actions. Why didn’t she just run again?

And get some food for yourself, okay?

Oh, yeah. She’s a decent person that Rahne crashed into and obliterated her lunch because she’s a chaotic moron. Damn compassion straight to hell.

“And dying early isn’t the worst thing that could happen,” Rahne sighed, gritting her teeth at the honesty, but turned the darkness into a joke. “Especially when facing these animals. Look at ‘em, it’s like hunting season. There’s enough pizza fer everyone, ye don’t have’ta claw anyone’s eyes out there, buddy,” she nodded over to a mutant who was elbowing people in order to reach the fresh pizza, the smell of pepperoni and warm dough wafting through the air.

“Aye, well wish me luck, lass. Looks like, fer once, ah might actually need it,” she whispered, wincing before she ducked into the crowd.

New Meaning to Mess Hall || OPEN to Two

[bitebiggerthanherbark]

@crossedbadluck

Felicia laughed at the exchange out of pure enjoyment. “You’d be surprised how many people I’ve outrun. It helped in the old days, but people don’t like being left behind when there’s a threat of zombies showing up. I just have to ask before I dash out of sight on you.

“And hey, not gonna badmouth spandex or heroes.” The best men in her life had come with both. She still remember both fondly. “I’m ready when you are, lone wolf. I’ll try not to cramp your style too much.”

Rahne looked up to Felicia (literally, her 5′2″ frame was laughable compared to Felicia’s 5′10″), snorting at her comment. “Outrun a wolf? Ye might be able t’put up some fists an’ fight a damn good fight, but yer gonna be choking on tail if ye think yer gonna ‘dash out’ on me. But hey,” Rahne raised her hands, “ye can surely try. Jus’ promise right here, right now, before we head out, we got each other’s backs, aye? I won’t dare’t leave ye, and ye won’t leave this runt behind,” she offered, hand extended.

Scavenging Mission

[bitebiggerthanherbark]

“Don’t know if ye noticed, but it’s kinda the end of the world,” Rahne laughed brightly. “And where’d’ya turn when it all goes belly-up?...other than the local pub,” she pointed out with a wink as she placed the barrel aside, running a hand through her wet hair, slicking it back with a grin. “To where all Earth’s mightiest heroes have gathered to help fight the great, big fight,” she concluded, but her confidence wavered. 

“Er, least that’s what meh mum believed when she reckoned ah come here. Just seems the infection’s here for the long-haul,” Rahne sighed, but shook herself off, not wanting to scare off the other woman with her melodramic memories of her mother and spiraling anxieties about the apocalypse. “What ‘bout ye? How’d ye come across this hero Cracker Barrel?”

Pixie Girl // OPEN to one

[bitebiggerthanherbark]

@strikingsharpe

Brandon’s ears had lifted as soon as the alarm began blaring, sort of like a sudden connection considering how vital he was to Haven’s power. Someone nearby blurted out instructions, or well, more like orders for him to find out what was happening though Brandon’s curiosity was already peaked and he was following the noises increasing volume as he floated away from his position.

Brandon frowned. He glanced around as he moved closer to the room setting off the alarm - knowing full well it’d be in full lockdown mode within a minute. He had a fist clenched - with another electricity circulating around it to knock anyone out. If required, he’d have to use other methods though he’d have to wait. He reached the room and was shocked to see two people he hardly recognised inside, causing his eyebrows to raise.

“Wha- what the fuck are you two doing in here? Who are you?” Brandon asked. He recognised the boy. One of the Young Avengers lot, they’d teamed up once but that was when the world was alive. The girl was a new face. Though Brandon knew it didn’t matter. “Okay, get out! We’ve got literal seconds until-“

His voice was cut off by the door slamming shut and locking them in, startling him slightly. He let out a groan - one mixed with an odd variety of annoyance, anger and confusion. He turned around and frowned more than he thought he actually ever could and pointed a finger at them, a small bolt of electricity bouncing off it but making sure it didn’t hit them. “You’ve both got some explaining to do - what are you doing? What’s all this?”

Only the impressive crackle of the newcomer’s fingertips and the raging alarms filled the tense silence of the file room. The death toll of the crash of the metal doors over the room’s only escape (so far as she could tell) was still ringing in her ears as she stared down the barrel of Thunderstruck’s finger-gun, his scar wicked under the flashing red lights. 

For a moment, she feared her brain had shut down, abandoning her at the first sign of trouble. However, she took refuge in the look of pure shock on Billy’s face, her unfortunate accomplice just as caught off guard as herself as he gripped the files in his hands like his life depended on it. And then, it came.

The nervous laughter. The nervous tick that drove her ex-teammates bonkers when they were faced with any irrational crisis. 

And, this was certainly a crisis. Stark’s security system had her on lock-down for breaking and entering in a room with two wizards that she’d just met that night. Her mouth began to run before her brain could scream at her to stop.

“Official alarm maintenence check,” Rahne blurted out, immediately wanting to retrive the words and try again, but what was done was done. It was do, or die now. She looked up towards the ceiling and around the room, nodding with scholarly conviction. “Aye, ah’d reckon it’s up an’ runnin’. Wouldn’t ye say?” she motioned over to Billy, hoping against all hopes he’d play along with her idiocy, but she extended her hand to the newcomer before Billy was backed further into the corner she’d already backed him into. “Haven’s safe now. Ye can turn off the alarms, now, yeah? Gonna wake the whole facility at this rate,” she shouted to the newcomer with a poised smile, praying her nervous laughter was coming off as charming rather than guilty. But, she was doubtful.

@stolenselfhelpbooks @strikingsharpe

[bitebiggerthanherbark]

@causewere-connected

It was one of those days where Tony had just felt too wound up to do anything constructive. He’d had been working on perfecting his friend’s new eye which now just needed the colours balancing out and some of the weight distributed better. It had taken some doing as well as a million and one conversations about what could be added, what she wanted it to do with regards to movement and was she sure she didn’t want a digitalised heat tracker installed.

He was only slightly joking.

There was still Dum-ees circuitries that needed tweaking and some parts definitely needed upgrading and the arc reactor powered car … He’d just showered and just no. He needed to get out of his little cave and just do something for himself.

Nat was out, no doubt visiting the other couches she draped herself across. he did miss her company even if most nights they just shared the same space. No words to exchange. There had been fewer since most of her conversations started with how you feeling? or more directly, from him, was the focus of the complex procedure. He knew she worried it might not work and it was something he needed to remind her that could be a reality.

Raising to his feet, Tony pulled a tight smile and patted Dum-ee as he gave a concerned chirp. “I’ll be okay bud, just hold the fort till I get back. Jarvis, power down the lights. and begin diagnostics on all current projects.”

–

He wasn’t sure how or even why he ended up at the infirmary. A weak case of just following his feet that felt strangely familiar. Years ago he’d visited orphanages just to spend time with the children who wound up there and just offered them his time and affection. There were large sums of funding too but that was neither here or there.

Following a few signs, he wound up in the maternity station. The staff were a little surprised to see him and a few comments were shared and laughed over. One or two of the children were ‘foundlings’ with little tags attached to there tiny ankles stating just that. It was heartbreaking and another trigger that as a growing community they needed to do more, though funnily enough one of the staff was nursing her own and without though had expressed enough to keep the youngest happy and gaining its strength.

“Do you mind if?” gesturing to the small cot and Tony was sure the poor woman was close to falling off her chair with both shock and delight.

“You’d like to? … of course, Mr Stark! Just be sure to wash your hands, she’s due a feed in the next half hour so if you’d like you can give her that too”

–

She was so small, little fingers just barely wrapping around his finger as he gently rocked her. A little fussing but nothing a few soft-spoken words couldn’t soothe. Only then did he catch the lonesome figure standing at the glass screen, the staff seemed to pay her no mind but he was curious. it was hardly a respectable hour. Tilting his head he kept his gaze firmly on the young woman who seemed to be looking back with a deer caught in headlights expression. With a slight nod of his head, he gestured for her to come in. To sit down if she needed or even to just say hello to some of the small bundles.

Rahne blanched under Stark’s gaze, almost choking on her own spit with the nervous swallow she’d forced down her dry throat. She could feel her eyes begin to prick with tears at how wide they were, reflecting the moonlight like a true wolf in the night, trying to place them anywhere other than on the dark brown eyes that held her firm. Steady. Kind and welcoming as she noticed how he was nodding for her to come in. Inviting her to join him with a happy smile. A smile she’d never seen before in any textbook pictures, but maybe that was her mind playing tricks on her.

Then, she had The Fear. The Fear that only a chaotic spaz who doesn’t know how to emotionally handle themselves would know. Did he know? Know she’d only gotten herself in trouble time and time again since she got- no. No, he doesn’t know because she was invisible. A face in a sea of nameless, mutant, superhero faces. He didn’t know her. Was he just being...kind? Offering a stranger the opportunity to indulge in a conversation with his brilliance? Or, give him the chance to tell her, to her face, to ‘get lost’?

Rahne waved those thoughts away, choosing to look at facts that she could see right in front of her rather than relying on the preconceived notions she’d come to believe in her studies. Maybe the only rational thing she’d done in what seemed like years. He was cradling a child that didn’t belong to him, and by the tag attatched to the baby’s foot, she didn’t seem to belong to anyone. ‘Foundling.’ Rahne read the word like reading her own eulogy. A child left behind. Unwanted (as far as she knew, but projection was strong with this one).

She wanted to believe that Stark’s choice to come there that night to hold some babies that needed to be held was some sort of publicity stunt. A chance to further his grandeur as the greatest man and hero to ever grace planet Earth. But who was around to care for that sort of thing anymore? The hospital staff? No, it was late at night with no cameras, no journalists, nobody around to impress. This was all Stark.

But why?

Eventually, she sucked in a shaky breath and made way for the entrance to the ward. She ducked her head inside the soothing room, keeping her eyes on the babies that she passed, smiling at their restfulness. She chose to stand on the other side of the crib from Stark, curious eyes hidden behind fiery strands of stray hair as she sighed contently at the baby he was rocking back and forth. She swore she’d never seen a child more peaceful in her life. 

It was a few heartbeats before she realized Stark was waiting on her to say something. She scrambled her brain looking for something, anything to say.

But once she thankfully passed on, ‘so, you come here often?’ like a blessing from God himself, she resigned to resting her cheek on her folded arms as she leaned against the crib for support, never having been more unsure of herself. However, she somehow never felt safer at Haven than she did at that very moment, surrounded by warmth and serenity created by the nurses that cared for these children. Even passing them by on her way in, Rahne knew they all loved their jobs and each child inside the ward like their own.

She didn’t have to wonder why not a single child was crying, or upset. Maybe if she’d slept here she’d never have had the nightmares that kept her wandering in the cold the last four nights. But, perhaps, that was hopeful thinking. 

The nightmares would never leave her just like they never left the rest of the wakeful Haven residents that she passed on her late-night wanders. Everyone a zombie to their own mind even if the infection hadn’t reached inside the protective walls yet. Yet.

Regardless, at least these children were safe and in good hands. That she could rest easy on. She wondered if similar thoughts were running through Stark’s head in that moment, not that she had nearly worked up the courage to ask him yet. But he was awake as well at this ungodly hour. Something must’ve kept the genius from his bed.

Silent Night || OPEN to One

[bitebiggerthanherbark]

@cablesdaughter

Hope raised an eyebrow, she knew lots of weird people. Fuck, she knew her family and their friends, and all of them were a bunch of strange people but the words that left the girls mouth still kind of surprised her “well, what did you do?” she wiped a bit of food off her arm and crossed her arms “also, stop checking, you’re calling too much attention with the looking back thing” whatever this girl had been through had made her a bit… Jumpy, hadn’t it?

“I noticed, but look, panic will give you a heart attack. So, right now just take a breath, drink some water and try to calm down” she half smiled and shook her head “just get me what seems nice, I’m not picky… I didn’t even choose what ended up on the floor and just one question who is Jackson Pollock?”

  Rahne paused to think about what she was doing. “Ye’ve got a point, lass,” she admitted, keeping her eyes forward and relaxing her shoulders a bit as they entered the cafeteria, talking over the crowds that gathered for lunch, a crowd Rahne guessed that Hope had been trying to avoid. Whoops.

  “An’ ah’d disagree. Panic, guilt, love, and greed are the only things that keep us motivated an’ alive. Better to work with the pain than let it work ye, aye?” she returned, raising a dramatic eyebrow. “An’ Jackson Pollock was a man who made millions off throwing paint at a canvas. Mexican or Chinese?” she offered, nodding towards the food stands.

New Meaning to Mess Hall || OPEN to Two

[bitebiggerthanherbark]

  “Ah’d prefer to be wherever ah’m needed to be,” Rahne answered, trying not to hate the self-righteousness of her own words as they echoed around the empty interrogation chamber, no matter their truth. She swallowed her sudden awkwardness.

  “What about ye? Where’s yer place in this society?” she asked eagerly.

Arrival || OPEN STARTER

[bitebiggerthanherbark]

@stolenselfhelpbooks

“I don’t know how I feel about you looking into everyone’s files.” He mumbled, but, curiousity ran through him. Biting at him. The male huffed out a defeated sigh, nodding a little. “If I get to pull out files you aren’t allowed to read… fine.” He mumbled, dropping his light, hopefully that would make them seem less obvious.

Mumbling a spell to help him see in the darkened building, scanning the room around him. “Where are they then? The longer we wait the less time we have.”

  “Got something to hide, hm?” Rahne teased, but let it go. She’d found a partner in crime who could perform magic. She figured her luck could only extend so far. “Fair enough, mate,” she nodded, starting down the hallway with her accomplice begrudgingly at her heels, taking two lefts before approaching the door to the filing chamber on their right.

  Swiping the doctor’s ID and placing the fingerprint that she Scotch taped off the same ID on the sensor, she unlocked the room. Entering, she immediately approached the first computer of six to her right and entered the code to log-in. File after file appeared on the screen, trickling in from the top corner like a game of Solitaire. She chose one at random, but a hand fell on top of hers, halting her in her tracks, a reminder that this wasn’t a game she was playing alone.

[bitebiggerthanherbark]

Silent Night || OPEN to One

  She’d been walking Haven’s grounds for hours, feeling lost and completely out of control, an undertone of Haven’s perceived safety. The apocalypse wasn’t moving along. Even with the most intelligent people on Earth attempting to cure and fight it, it always remained. A constant in everyone’s lives. Slowly eating away at the protective shell that held this last place of ‘safety’ together.

  She could hardly breathe. Sleep was a pipe dream, nightmares of her past and uncertain future equally terrifying enough to keep her wandering under the starry night sky, a sky that still managed to bring her comfort. So, she kept her eyes high, reaching for better places that were just beyond her reach. Towards planets that knew nothing of this infection. Places that could find a restful night’s sleep. A restful night...among the stars...

  She almost keeled over right there on the spot, but she caught herself, shaking out the black dots that invaded her vision. She looked around in a daze to make sure no one had seen her half-death drop. But she was alone. Classic.

  She looked up towards the building before her with dreary eyes, the blurry lights drawing her in as she entered the sliding glass doors. The white hallways were surprisingly quiet. Yeah, it was night, but this was a hospital...she thought. Maybe, she was wrong, but even in her state, she could guess it was a hospital.

  She continued to wander, passing dark room after dark room until she came upon a large viewing window, the lights a calming blue-tone in this area. Looking in, she saw the bundled up, sleepy faces of about a dozen babies.

  Instantly, her heart rate relaxed and her ability to breathe returned as she sighed happily at the little bundles. She’d always adored children, a deep desire to protect their innocence before the realities of life could- they were so peaceful. She watched on with curious eyes, giggling as one of the babies stretched his little fists under his blanket with a big yawn before falling back to sleep. She stood content for a minute until movement caught her eye. She slowly moved her own dreary eyes, taking her delirious time to notice the brown ones staring back at her.

  Tony Stark.

  Immediately, she panicked, snapping out of her stupor. She tried to blink back the sleep that tried to overtake her...but thoughts came to her first. Stark had been cradling a baby, hadn’t he? Was it his-? No, by the pheromones, none of those children matched Stark. So, what was he doing-?

  Her curiosity got the best of her as she looked back towards Stark one last time before planning to make her break for it. Pretend this moment never happened, and move on, but- he was still looking at her. 

@causewere-connected

[bitebiggerthanherbark]

@crossedbadluck

“Possibly?” Felicia looked around. She wouldn’t mind if anyone else joined. It’d just be fun to head outside, no matter the number of people joining her. She was so excited that she didn’t mind joking around. “So long as you can keep up,  we won’t have a problem.”

She looked back at the woman would be her teammate. “Is it alright to ask what you do? I’m a thief- or rather I was before everything happened. So I’ll be able to get in and out swiftly, with all the good stuff.”

  Rahne scoffed, putting her hand to her chest in mock offense. “Ye wound me, lass. Ah can’t keep up? Ha! Ye humans have some real bloody nerves,” she laughed, shaking her head. “Ah could eat ye fer breakfast an’ a round of zombies before lunch,” she winked.

  “An ah’m so glad ye asked,” Rahne offered. “Before this, ah was a team-spirited superhero, spandex costumes an’ all. Embarrassing, ah’m aware. But, since that’s gone up in flames after the infection,” (that was a lie; it was due to her selfish, teenage love fantasy, but Felicia didn’t need to know about that now), “now ah’m jus’ a lone wolf...literally. Lycanthropy is my talent. Woof,” she teased, cracking her neck before looking out over the fields, seeing not a fellow scavenger in sight.

  “Seems we’re the only two assigned to this here mission. At least, the only two who decided to show up. Ready to head out, ye wet bandit?” she asked.

Scavenging Mission

[bitebiggerthanherbark]

@crossedbadluck

Felicia laughed with her. She wasn’t sure if it was a joke or not, but the sentiment was appreciated either way.

“Tricking the god of lies, impressive. Not many people can claim to have done that.” She would’ve given a lot to not have been here when everything first went down. But them’s were the breaks as it were. “I’ve only been around for a bit longer. Haven’t been out just yet, but I know my way around the place.”

  “Oh, he’ll come down here once the infection’s been cured’t try an’ ruin meh life,” Rahne shrugged. “Not really worried ‘bout it. Fooled him once, can’t wait’t do it again, lass,” she smirked, leaning back into the prospect of having to pay Loki back. She had until she infection ended to figure out her next move, figuring he wouldn’t near anything as disgusting as a place filled with zombies. Oh, the absolute horror.

  “But, since ye’ve been here a second, best place’t go when ye’re ‘bout to smack the living hell out of some bloke who stole ye’re lunch when ye weren’t paying attention...in theory...?” she asked offhandedly despite the burning rage...aye, he’ll get what’s comin’ to ‘im...

Don’t (Accidentally) Steal From Thieves

[bitebiggerthanherbark]

@stolenselfhelpbooks

“He didn’t need it… I magically cleaned it, it’s fine” Billy tried to defend himself, though the words were simply muttering. His body becoming more with drawn, even a little tense. More so when she asked the question. Who could he trust around here?

“I… I’ve know most of these people for a while. I trust them enough.” Billy didn’t fully believe himself. He’s seen how people changed, especially after losing everything. It was hard on them all.

“I certainly don’t trust you, I should be alerting someone.” Though he didn’t move from his place. Was it because he didn’t know where to go to alter someone, or he was just curious? Who knows.

  “Maybe ye shouldn’t trust me,” Rahne proposed cockily. “Ah am, after all, creepin’ through the hallways past curfew like a run o’ the mill criminal. But, ah don’t see ye headin’ fer the door...so, here’s the plan: ah’m gonna bust into Stark’s files’t learn every dirty, little secret everyone’s been so keen to hide ‘round here.”

  She stood back to watch her words sink into the poor guy’s brain, his nerves not as well conceived as he probably would’ve preferred, but he shaped up in the end.

  “Can’t imagine they’d told Stark everything,” Rahne explained with a sigh, “but ah’m willing to work with what ah can steal with my own bare hands, aye? Still keen to turn me in, magic man?” she asked, hands raised with a false pout jutting from her lips.

[bitebiggerthanherbark]

@cablesdaughter

There were noises, she could hear those a bit away as she walked towards her room. She just wanted to eat alone, she didn’t have to check what those were. People in Haven could take care of themselves and she just needed a break from all that happened around there.

Hope was just walking when she saw something too close, it was too late and she couldn’t move fast enough so she just had the ‘oh shit’ moment where all you could do was wait for the hit. She fell to the ground, along with her food. The girl just wanted to eat and this happened, she thought, but a voice interrupted her along with someone trying to clean the tip of her nose “well, I don’t want to get kicked out for killing you so that seems like the best plan”

She half smiled and looked into the girl’s eyes as she stood up. The girl was weird, no one would try to clean her nose but it was nice “hey, just buy me lunch, okay? No need to panic”

  “Doubt it’d get ye kicked out. Might even get ye a shiny, gold medal if ye’re the bloke ah was tryin’t get ‘way from,” Rahne smiled back as she popped up on her toes, eagerly steering the girl back towards the cafeteria, nervously checking over her shoulder for anyone following her. But, all she saw was curious faces, some even shrugging before ducking back into their rooms.

  “An’ ah specialize in panic, lass. Ah’m a real shoe-in for the Panic Olympics,” she rambled on, heart still racing with adrenaline. “But enough ‘bout me, what’d’ye like? What food did ah jus’ Jackson Pollock down that hallway and have to replace fer ye this afternoon?”

New Meaning to Mess Hall || OPEN to Two

[bitebiggerthanherbark]

@stolenselfhelpbooks

He’d follow her once he spotted her. It wasn’t like he was going back to sleep any time soon, even if the warm bed was calling for him to return, back to one of the only safe places left in the world. Safety was a real gift, no matter what situation. He’d followed the other silently, staying mostly hidden by the cover of night. Magic could have been a good option but he wasn’t spotted yet.

The witch impulsively moved one foot back when she ran into him. Keeping him upright. “Oh, I stole this from a dead man… he didn’t need it.” That sounded way darker than he intended, but whatever. His hand glowed blue before a ball of light releases into the air. Letting him see better.

“What are you doing here?” Finally, the question we’ve all been waiting for. Billy’s free hand went straight to his hip and an eyebrow raised. A tired, frustrated curiosity painted over his face that was partly covered in hair he really needed to get cut. What good did breaking and entering do while they were all trapped in what was effectively box with a menagerie of people and superheroes.

His eyes scanned over her holding out his hand, where the light orb was anchored to. Eyes narrowed. Still curiously searching his mind for a reason to be here. Yet his sleep deprived mind couldn’t come up with a valid reason to why.

  Rahne took a step back from the guy in horror. “Stole it...as in, off his corpse?” she whispered with a shudder, pulling her own leather jacket tighter around her. “Ye’re one ballsy bloke,” she stated bluntly, letting out a long, low whistle. But, a thief...could that mean he’d be game for more trouble?

  Changing the mood, she looked the sassy wizard up and down as he lit his hand in blue flames, mirroring his impatient stance with her hand on her hip and her dark eyebrow lifted, her smirk on full display.

  “Before ah answer ye’re question, riddle me this, Grim Reaper...do ye truly trust the people around here?”

[bitebiggerthanherbark]

  Rahne crouched her way across the perfectly tended lawns, the stars and moon her only source of light at Haven’s ‘lights out’ policy in order to conserve energy. Noble, yet aiding and abetting cretins such as Rahne herself.

  Sneaking from her chambers with the codes she’d stolen from Dr. Howard Clarance, the first idiot she���d encountered in Haven, and hopefully the last, she managed to reach the side of the farm building unnoticed, only knocking over a jug of water. The small clang of metal didn’t seem to cause any disturbances, at least not any movement she could detect, so she moved on, sneaking her way to the mansion, knocking out a camera with a lofty toss of a stone that struck without a hitch.

  Judging the distance to the second floor window, she made her first attempt at hanging on the ledge, swinging up to land on graceful feet despite the Harley boots she was wearing. She jimmied the lock with one of her claws, lifting the window to slip into the shadows of the mansion hallway, latching it shut behind her. 

  She’d made it inside! Hail Mary, she’d actually made it in! Maybe she was taking advantage of Stark’s trust in Haven’s tennants (or his rumored declining health), but her trust wasn’t as easily satiated. Her inability to sleep with the looming thoughts of the stranger’s who were living in the rooms around her, what started her off on this suicide mission in the first place.

  She wiped the nervous sweat from her dark brows with a silent laugh, backing up until she felt a body behind her, feeling a leather jacket and denim skinny jeans with the palm of her hand, wincing in anticipation for a fight.

  “Before ye try an’ turn me in, gotta say, ye’re killin’ the leather trend,” she complimented. Her way of complimenting, anyway.

@strikingsharpe

The Stars are there || Open

He couldn’t do it. Billy stared right into the eyes of the zombies, their limbs reaching toward him, grabbing, pulling, ripping him apart. Their touch was fire to his body, yet they were cold as frost, making him shiver. His eyes widening as his vision began going dark, the hundreds of branch like appendages. His eyes widen, chocolate orbs filled with fear. He couldn’t hear himself. He couldn’t hear himself. He couldn’t hear himself. He couldn’t hear himself. Spells were not working. With one last stiff arm, it went dark.

A hitched breath left his mouth. The entirety of his body pushing itself into consciousness. It was still dark. He was slow to move, pushing himself up on the bed. Moving suddenly was to be avoided, lest he fall back into the many arms of the infected. He was emotionless, or holding it in until he was far enough from the bed, out of the room, out if the building, thanks to his powers.

If there was one thing he was thankful for, sitting alone outside on top of one of the farms buildings, it was the stars.

They were there.

Space always seemed to bring the best things, huh?

Billy was pulled back to reality by a noise, his hands glowing with bright blue hexes, scanning his surroundings.