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<blockquote data-quote="Captain Claymore" data-source="post: 2097879" data-attributes="member: 12634"><p>PART FOUR.</p><p></p><p>6:30PM - Arcadia Park, Downtown.</p><p></p><p><em>... Children wake up,</em></p><p> <em>hold your mistake up,</em></p><p> <em>before they turn the summer into dust.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p> <em>If the children don't grow up,</em></p><p> <em>our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up.</em></p><p> <em>We're just a million little god's causin' rain storms turnin' every good thing to rust.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p> <em>I guess we'll just have to adjust... </em></p><p></p><p> The punk lyrics of The Arcade Fire blared out over a small boom box perched on a city-green park bench. D sat on his board in the grass nearby as three other friends pulled off minor skate tricks on the sidewalk steps of a nearby walkway. To call them friends might be overstating things. D knew them and sometimes hung out with them, but Dave, Martin and Joey weren't "come over for dinner" or "bail me out of jail" friends. He just hung out with them sometimes - when he wasn't working, or doing something more important. Right now he was practicing meditating through distraction, attempting to tune out his surroundings and focus inward.</p><p></p><p> Dave bailed - barely managing to catch himself without cracking his shin on the steps. He cursed good naturedly before brushing back his spiked blond hair, collecting his board and coming towards D. He plopped down next to him and pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. D was only nominally aware of all this, still intent on meditation.</p><p></p><p> "Dude... you got a light?" Dave's breathing was still labored from skating. He obviously had no clue to what D was trying for.</p><p></p><p> D blankly reached into his deep pocket and withdraw a bic. Holding it out somewhere near Dave's face he flicked it and waited a few seconds. Then he lifted his other hand toward the same unseen face with his fingers in the V shape of "give me one". After a few seconds and then realizing he had one, D proceeded to do to himself what he just did to Dave - by stuffing the smoke in his semi-agape mouth and putting the lighter somewhere close. After finally lighting it... he focused in on the tunes... As much as it was a mantra to his life now, it was a mantra to his meditation. Letting the lighter fall to his lap he lightly bobbed his head and focused inward. The air around him began to shimmer a bit, and continued to do so for approximately fifteen minutes while he dumbly dragged the smoke back and forth to his mouth, but never actually flicked the ashes.</p><p></p><p> The tracks changed several times on the CD while D zoned and pedestrians passed by unnoticed. He had just come to a quiet spot in his trance when the voice came to him, at first barely discernible, then with greater clarity.</p><p></p><p><em>"Alta lungo mana colalye? Uye sí uquen lemba nilya..."</em></p><p></p><p> It was as if he were listening in on a nearby conversation. The sensation was not new to him - though it had been awhile since it last manifested unintentionally. Of course, generally the language was english instead of creepy gibberish, and it wasn't repeated in a sibilant whisper like this.</p><p></p><p> The phrase repeated several more times, each repetition growing more urgent.</p><p></p><p><em>"Alta LUNGO mana COLALYE? Uye sí UQUEN lemba nilya..."</em></p><p></p><p> D's eyes opened wide as a powerful surge of essence tingled along his spine. Something magical had just happened, and it happened close by.</p><p></p><p> At first glance nothing seemed to have changed in his immediate surroundings. A black couple could be seen walking through the park, cars went by on the street across the green. Martin and Joey were still skating, Dave was no longer by his side. By the quality of the light D guessed that he had been out of it for more than a few minutes. Something had just happened, but there was no trace of it now, besides a diminishing sensation that raised the hairs on D's arms.</p><p></p><p> D snapped out of his trance and began to stuff his skateboard into the back of his pack. Raising up with his old bike in tow and grabbing his dropped lighter on the way up, he began to subtly scan about for any suspicious characters who might be about. Not noticing any, He dug a little into his stores of essence, pushing the range of his search a little further out and began tapping on the psyches of anyone within short shot. Nothing, nothing, and then Dave came out of the restroom babbling something unknown and previously unheard and that drew D's attention. Still walking about casually he veered toward Dave to find out what he is up to. "Yo, Dave," he called as he began to trot, bike and all, up to intercept him.</p><p></p><p> Dave seemed not to notice D until he was right in front him, and then he sort of turned and gave a half smile. "What's up... D?</p><p></p><p> As Dave turned and answered, D increased the pressure of his mental probe, attempting to dig through the strange, foreign chatter that whispered through his friend's mind. he searched for key bits of information, like <em>*What did you just do?*</em> and <em>*Where are you going?*</em> The babble subsided briefly and D was able to hear a partial thought, <em>*...ust hurry to the church. Leave him and g...*</em> before the chatter covered Dave's thoughts again. It was as if something was deliberately masking Dave's thoughts, and the strain of piercing the veil sent a spike of pain into D's mind.</p><p></p><p> He resisted the urge to rub his temple. Looking down briefly, he decided how best to answer Dave's question. What's up indeed?</p><p></p><p><em>Church my ass,</em> D thought to himself, <em>I don't believe Dave has been into a church in his life.</em></p><p></p><p> "I have no where to be right now. Do you mind if I just walk and talk for a bit," D answered to the question of what's up.</p><p></p><p> "You headed any place special or do you want to go and see if we can find a bag," he asked Dave in an almost too casual manner. D fell in step next to his "pal", and tried not to be too intrusive. Waiting for a reply he shifted the bike to his other side, interposing it between him and Dave in a minor attempt to represent separation.</p><p></p><p><em>If he's charmed or being controlled, I would rather not alert the puppeteer to any opposition or overt curiosity on my part,</em> D mulled mentally, <em>just two buds hangin' and chattin' is all we have here.</em></p><p></p><p> Dave gave back an empty smile, "Sorry, I've got something... important to take care of. I'll talk to you later ok." He dropped his board to the ground and jumped on, momentarily surging ahead. If D didn't know what he knew, Dave may have seemed just a little off. Having heard the strange mental chatter inside his friend's head moments ago, he also noticed a certain glassiness to Dave's gaze. Now he had to decide what to do about it all.</p><p></p><p> D stopped where he was, somewhere between Dave, who was skittering off to some unknown church, and the public stinkroom Dave had recently exited. Someone cast something, and it was not Dave, but perhaps on Dave. "It was close, perhaps the caster is still nearby," D whispered back into his own face. He quickly shot a glare back at the restroom, and looked to see if anyone had recently exited or even been nearby to said building. Then, trotting, he came up quickly to the entrance and checked to see if anyone was inside. The air began to shimmer slightly about D's person as he cautiously opened the doors and began to check the space within, having dropped his bike right in front of the entrance.</p><p></p><p> He hurriedly checked the four stalls, finding nothing and no one inside. As he turned to leave, he noticed something on the small mirror above the sink. It was a black, shiny liquid, spattered across the surface of the glass. Bending a little closer, he smelled a pungent, cloying aroma. Whatever it was, it was still wet, and a few drops could be seen on the white porcelain sink as well. All in all, it represented maybe a tablespoon of liquid. the aroma began to sting his nose a little.</p><p></p><p> "," Donovan intoned. He bolted for the door, and snatched up his bike in mid stride. He jumped on the seat and rode quickly off into the direction he last saw Dave. He hoped he could catch site of Dave and follow him without following close enough for anyone else watching to notice. At least until he saw what church Dave was thinking of, <em>then perhaps....</em> His thoughts trailed off as he focused and tried to notice which way Dave had gone.</p><p></p><p> There were a few moments of panicked searching before D spotted Dave's blond head two blocks up and turning the corner. He was pumping forward on his skateboard, obviously in a great hurry. Switching his old mountain bike into a higher gear, D pedaled as fast as he could in pursuit of his friend.</p><p></p><p> The bike was faster than Dave's board. Though D had a near miss with a parking car, he soon had Dave in his sights, yet far enough back to hopefully avoid suspicion. He tried his best to visually scan the landscape for whoever was responsible for the magic, but it was difficult while negotiating the still-busy streets and sidewalks of Downtown.</p><p></p><p> Four blocks later, Dave flipped his board up into his hand and walked up the steps of Saint Sebastian's Catholic Church. There were four other young men lounging on the steps. Two were no more than kids really - twelve, maybe thirteen tops. They each had a skateboard in their laps. The other was perhaps sixteen and wore ragged jeans and a worn leather jacket over a faded white t-shirt, his BMX bike resting against the bottom step. None of them looked familiar to D.</p><p></p><p> As Dave approached them they all looked up briefly. From D's position across the street it was hard to tell, but it didn't seem that they spoke any greeting. They simply registered Dave's presence and went back to a casual silence. Dave sat down alongside them, put his board across his knees and looked around. D backed up several steps. He wasn't sure why, but he decided it would be best if Dave didn't know that he had followed him - at least not yet.</p><p></p><p> On the white message board next to the church's name plaque were the words, "Monday, May 9th, 8:00pm - Requiem Mass for Robert Foster" spelled out in removable black letters. A half dozen pigeons flew over D's head and landed on a stone cornice next to one of the church's massive stained-glass windows.</p><p></p><p> <em>Well, at least I know which church,</em> D thought to himself. <em>Way too weird for my tastes, Why Dave, why here, why... !</em> "Maybe they want me," he whispered aloud. With his best James Bond imitation, and in an extremely round-about, most likely unorthodox method, he made it behind a nearby car, just barely within range if he pushed it a little harder. Resting against the back of the car he let reality slip and tried to get a grasp on the mana. Having lost the outside, he tugged at his own stores of energy and added a bit of go-go juice to extend the range of his mind reading ability. The focus gave him a little bit extra on the back side as well so he drilled a little deeper trying to find out what was up. Again resistance, and the only answer that returned from either was, <em>*We must wait here until further instructions.*</em> "Damn that makes me suspicious," he noted to himself, again thinking about why anyone would want two no talent nobodies. "Back to me it seems," while he continued to sit and replenish his stores of energy. <em>Is this a trap? After all this time could they want me, and if they do, then for what? I better not hang here too long. In this state I would never see them coming,</em> was his last thought to himself before he tuned back into reality, after he had sat long enough to gain back what he had just spent.</p><p></p><p> Back in a more comfortable spot for surveillance, D mulled over the whos, whats and whys of his current situation. If the magic was truly aimed at catching him, why the church? Why not have Dave just clock him over the head back at the park? If he wasn't the target...? Let's face it, he had no ing clue if he wasn't the target.</p><p></p><p> Between ten and fifteen minutes had past before the next two joined the growing crowd on the steps. Both young men, this time he judged them in their early teens. Like the others, these simply joined the group silently, skateboards in hand. D was debating on whether another mindscan was worth the risk when he saw a third new arrival walking towards the church's side entrance.</p><p></p><p> This man was taller than average, with short, blonde hair, a motorcycle jacket over a black t-shirt and faded jeans. He scanned his surroundings as he walked towards the church, and D had to fight the urge to duck. Before D had the chance to concentrate on essence patterns, the guy had disappeared through the door.</p><p></p><p> "Not exactly church attire," he whispered to himself.</p><p></p><p> Moments later another four kids, on boards and on foot, came down the sidewalk. They passed the side entrance and made their way across the lawn to the steps. Eleven young men now loitered on the steps of the church. <em>Maybe it's youth outreach night, </em>D thought sarcastically.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Captain Claymore, post: 2097879, member: 12634"] PART FOUR. 6:30PM - Arcadia Park, Downtown. [i]... Children wake up, hold your mistake up, before they turn the summer into dust. If the children don't grow up, our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up. We're just a million little god's causin' rain storms turnin' every good thing to rust. I guess we'll just have to adjust... [/i] The punk lyrics of The Arcade Fire blared out over a small boom box perched on a city-green park bench. D sat on his board in the grass nearby as three other friends pulled off minor skate tricks on the sidewalk steps of a nearby walkway. To call them friends might be overstating things. D knew them and sometimes hung out with them, but Dave, Martin and Joey weren't "come over for dinner" or "bail me out of jail" friends. He just hung out with them sometimes - when he wasn't working, or doing something more important. Right now he was practicing meditating through distraction, attempting to tune out his surroundings and focus inward. Dave bailed - barely managing to catch himself without cracking his shin on the steps. He cursed good naturedly before brushing back his spiked blond hair, collecting his board and coming towards D. He plopped down next to him and pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. D was only nominally aware of all this, still intent on meditation. "Dude... you got a light?" Dave's breathing was still labored from skating. He obviously had no clue to what D was trying for. D blankly reached into his deep pocket and withdraw a bic. Holding it out somewhere near Dave's face he flicked it and waited a few seconds. Then he lifted his other hand toward the same unseen face with his fingers in the V shape of "give me one". After a few seconds and then realizing he had one, D proceeded to do to himself what he just did to Dave - by stuffing the smoke in his semi-agape mouth and putting the lighter somewhere close. After finally lighting it... he focused in on the tunes... As much as it was a mantra to his life now, it was a mantra to his meditation. Letting the lighter fall to his lap he lightly bobbed his head and focused inward. The air around him began to shimmer a bit, and continued to do so for approximately fifteen minutes while he dumbly dragged the smoke back and forth to his mouth, but never actually flicked the ashes. The tracks changed several times on the CD while D zoned and pedestrians passed by unnoticed. He had just come to a quiet spot in his trance when the voice came to him, at first barely discernible, then with greater clarity. [i]"Alta lungo mana colalye? Uye sí uquen lemba nilya..."[/i] It was as if he were listening in on a nearby conversation. The sensation was not new to him - though it had been awhile since it last manifested unintentionally. Of course, generally the language was english instead of creepy gibberish, and it wasn't repeated in a sibilant whisper like this. The phrase repeated several more times, each repetition growing more urgent. [i]"Alta LUNGO mana COLALYE? Uye sí UQUEN lemba nilya..."[/i] D's eyes opened wide as a powerful surge of essence tingled along his spine. Something magical had just happened, and it happened close by. At first glance nothing seemed to have changed in his immediate surroundings. A black couple could be seen walking through the park, cars went by on the street across the green. Martin and Joey were still skating, Dave was no longer by his side. By the quality of the light D guessed that he had been out of it for more than a few minutes. Something had just happened, but there was no trace of it now, besides a diminishing sensation that raised the hairs on D's arms. D snapped out of his trance and began to stuff his skateboard into the back of his pack. Raising up with his old bike in tow and grabbing his dropped lighter on the way up, he began to subtly scan about for any suspicious characters who might be about. Not noticing any, He dug a little into his stores of essence, pushing the range of his search a little further out and began tapping on the psyches of anyone within short shot. Nothing, nothing, and then Dave came out of the restroom babbling something unknown and previously unheard and that drew D's attention. Still walking about casually he veered toward Dave to find out what he is up to. "Yo, Dave," he called as he began to trot, bike and all, up to intercept him. Dave seemed not to notice D until he was right in front him, and then he sort of turned and gave a half smile. "What's up... D? As Dave turned and answered, D increased the pressure of his mental probe, attempting to dig through the strange, foreign chatter that whispered through his friend's mind. he searched for key bits of information, like [i]*What did you just do?*[/i] and [i]*Where are you going?*[/i] The babble subsided briefly and D was able to hear a partial thought, [i]*...ust hurry to the church. Leave him and g...*[/i] before the chatter covered Dave's thoughts again. It was as if something was deliberately masking Dave's thoughts, and the strain of piercing the veil sent a spike of pain into D's mind. He resisted the urge to rub his temple. Looking down briefly, he decided how best to answer Dave's question. What's up indeed? [i]Church my ass,[/i] D thought to himself, [i]I don't believe Dave has been into a church in his life.[/i] "I have no where to be right now. Do you mind if I just walk and talk for a bit," D answered to the question of what's up. "You headed any place special or do you want to go and see if we can find a bag," he asked Dave in an almost too casual manner. D fell in step next to his "pal", and tried not to be too intrusive. Waiting for a reply he shifted the bike to his other side, interposing it between him and Dave in a minor attempt to represent separation. [i]If he's charmed or being controlled, I would rather not alert the puppeteer to any opposition or overt curiosity on my part,[/i] D mulled mentally, [i]just two buds hangin' and chattin' is all we have here.[/i] Dave gave back an empty smile, "Sorry, I've got something... important to take care of. I'll talk to you later ok." He dropped his board to the ground and jumped on, momentarily surging ahead. If D didn't know what he knew, Dave may have seemed just a little off. Having heard the strange mental chatter inside his friend's head moments ago, he also noticed a certain glassiness to Dave's gaze. Now he had to decide what to do about it all. D stopped where he was, somewhere between Dave, who was skittering off to some unknown church, and the public stinkroom Dave had recently exited. Someone cast something, and it was not Dave, but perhaps on Dave. "It was close, perhaps the caster is still nearby," D whispered back into his own face. He quickly shot a glare back at the restroom, and looked to see if anyone had recently exited or even been nearby to said building. Then, trotting, he came up quickly to the entrance and checked to see if anyone was inside. The air began to shimmer slightly about D's person as he cautiously opened the doors and began to check the space within, having dropped his bike right in front of the entrance. He hurriedly checked the four stalls, finding nothing and no one inside. As he turned to leave, he noticed something on the small mirror above the sink. It was a black, shiny liquid, spattered across the surface of the glass. Bending a little closer, he smelled a pungent, cloying aroma. Whatever it was, it was still wet, and a few drops could be seen on the white porcelain sink as well. All in all, it represented maybe a tablespoon of liquid. the aroma began to sting his nose a little. "," Donovan intoned. He bolted for the door, and snatched up his bike in mid stride. He jumped on the seat and rode quickly off into the direction he last saw Dave. He hoped he could catch site of Dave and follow him without following close enough for anyone else watching to notice. At least until he saw what church Dave was thinking of, [i]then perhaps....[/i] His thoughts trailed off as he focused and tried to notice which way Dave had gone. There were a few moments of panicked searching before D spotted Dave's blond head two blocks up and turning the corner. He was pumping forward on his skateboard, obviously in a great hurry. Switching his old mountain bike into a higher gear, D pedaled as fast as he could in pursuit of his friend. The bike was faster than Dave's board. Though D had a near miss with a parking car, he soon had Dave in his sights, yet far enough back to hopefully avoid suspicion. He tried his best to visually scan the landscape for whoever was responsible for the magic, but it was difficult while negotiating the still-busy streets and sidewalks of Downtown. Four blocks later, Dave flipped his board up into his hand and walked up the steps of Saint Sebastian's Catholic Church. There were four other young men lounging on the steps. Two were no more than kids really - twelve, maybe thirteen tops. They each had a skateboard in their laps. The other was perhaps sixteen and wore ragged jeans and a worn leather jacket over a faded white t-shirt, his BMX bike resting against the bottom step. None of them looked familiar to D. As Dave approached them they all looked up briefly. From D's position across the street it was hard to tell, but it didn't seem that they spoke any greeting. They simply registered Dave's presence and went back to a casual silence. Dave sat down alongside them, put his board across his knees and looked around. D backed up several steps. He wasn't sure why, but he decided it would be best if Dave didn't know that he had followed him - at least not yet. On the white message board next to the church's name plaque were the words, "Monday, May 9th, 8:00pm - Requiem Mass for Robert Foster" spelled out in removable black letters. A half dozen pigeons flew over D's head and landed on a stone cornice next to one of the church's massive stained-glass windows. [i]Well, at least I know which church,[/i] D thought to himself. [i]Way too weird for my tastes, Why Dave, why here, why... ![/i] "Maybe they want me," he whispered aloud. With his best James Bond imitation, and in an extremely round-about, most likely unorthodox method, he made it behind a nearby car, just barely within range if he pushed it a little harder. Resting against the back of the car he let reality slip and tried to get a grasp on the mana. Having lost the outside, he tugged at his own stores of energy and added a bit of go-go juice to extend the range of his mind reading ability. The focus gave him a little bit extra on the back side as well so he drilled a little deeper trying to find out what was up. Again resistance, and the only answer that returned from either was, [i]*We must wait here until further instructions.*[/i] "Damn that makes me suspicious," he noted to himself, again thinking about why anyone would want two no talent nobodies. "Back to me it seems," while he continued to sit and replenish his stores of energy. [i]Is this a trap? After all this time could they want me, and if they do, then for what? I better not hang here too long. In this state I would never see them coming,[/i] was his last thought to himself before he tuned back into reality, after he had sat long enough to gain back what he had just spent. Back in a more comfortable spot for surveillance, D mulled over the whos, whats and whys of his current situation. If the magic was truly aimed at catching him, why the church? Why not have Dave just clock him over the head back at the park? If he wasn't the target...? Let's face it, he had no ing clue if he wasn't the target. Between ten and fifteen minutes had past before the next two joined the growing crowd on the steps. Both young men, this time he judged them in their early teens. Like the others, these simply joined the group silently, skateboards in hand. D was debating on whether another mindscan was worth the risk when he saw a third new arrival walking towards the church's side entrance. This man was taller than average, with short, blonde hair, a motorcycle jacket over a black t-shirt and faded jeans. He scanned his surroundings as he walked towards the church, and D had to fight the urge to duck. Before D had the chance to concentrate on essence patterns, the guy had disappeared through the door. "Not exactly church attire," he whispered to himself. Moments later another four kids, on boards and on foot, came down the sidewalk. They passed the side entrance and made their way across the lawn to the steps. Eleven young men now loitered on the steps of the church. [i]Maybe it's youth outreach night, [/i]D thought sarcastically. [/QUOTE]
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