Defenders of New York (Super Hero's)

[Angelus]

OOC: I have no problems with you using my character, if it helps things to move along.


Greg's eyes shot open and he looked around at his room, wondering if everything had been a dream. It had to have been a dream he thought to himself because if it wasn't a dream then it was the damn weirdest thing that he had ever been through although some good had come of it, well two good things had come out of it.

He found out that he wasn't crazy, that the things that were happening to him; how he kept disappearing when he never meant to, how he kept disappearing when he least wanted to were not a dream and that he was not going crazy. They were part of him, they were now his powers and he had to find some way to control them - he now had to make them his own so that he could show Elliot what he could do.

Something foreshadowed that though, something that made his powers seem like a mere thought and that was Lily. He never thought that he would find someone like her, someone that he was goind to be about to connect with. He just wish that he had gotten her phone number because he knew right now he was going to call her so that he could talk to her.

It was then that he felt as though he was disappearing again and went to touch his bed but he fell through it with a loud, long string of words that were heard by his down stairs neighbour as he passed through her ceiling and hit her floor with a thud just to hear her scream.

 

[Ravenloft]

Elliot

Elliot was unable to pick up his phone before it went to his voice mail, but the instant he checked it, instead of the worry most people would feel, he could only feel a small sense of relief. "Thank goodness that at least one of them came to their senses." He muttered to himself as he rushed through the facilities he had prepared for his school mates, in anticipation of their return.

He arived in the installation's expansive hanger, where, primed for take off, were several heavily modified VTOL jets. Taking out a simple control stick, Elliot pressed a button, and one of the VTOL's took off. It was keyed into a program chip embedded in the card he had given Ike.

When it reached her, a holographic message would play for her, instructing her to simply step into the jet, sit back, and enjoy the ride, as it was programed to return to where Elliot was.

He had one jet for each of them waiting, just waiting for them to contact him.

 

[Private_Label]

Ike: Leaving on a Jet Plane....

After calling Elliot, Ike pulled the sheet off Ryan.

She ran her hands over his shiny skin. He looked like one of those sculptures of an ordinary person, dressed in the requisite librarian tweed coat. Only he wasn't painted colors of normal flesh, but a silvery metallic. If he has been a piece of art, it would be exquisitely detailed, individual strands of hair, and eyelashes in painstaking detail. She tapped on his neck, it sounded as if he was solid clear through. Part of her mind was numb from shock, while another part of her mind started making lists of tests that could be performed on him to discover what he had become.

She tried to pick Ryan up, but soon realized he was too heavy for her to move alone. She made a quick call to the front desk to ask to borrow a hand truck and someone to help her get the "sculpture" off the bed.

It was touch and go as she explained it off as a drunken stunt pulled by her Reunion classmates to the hotel staff. She was just finishing with them when the VTOL Elliot sent for her landed in the parking lot outside her room. The hotel staff ran off in the direction of the office- where she was certain someone was calling the police. She waited to see who would exit the craft as the rear hatch lowered. When the Hologram appeared at the top of the ramp and spoke, Ike realized she would have to move Ryan on to the plane herself. Thank goodness the Motel staff had left Ryan on the Hand truck. It was an effort to get him up the ramp, but once inside, she saw some cargo netting on one side and wheeled Ryan over and strapped him to the wall with the netting and with heavy duty straps to keep him in place. She wheeled the hand truck down the ramp and gathered all her persona items from the room, and the few items of Ryan's that they had removed the night before – shoes and socks mainly.

She secured her suitcases in another section of the cargo net and sat down in one of the seats.

"OK," she said to no one in particular, "I think I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

OOC: If Catrina or Daniel, or anyone else want to arrive before the rear hatch closes, they are welcome to ride along with Ike. Ryan is a metallic statue secured in the back just as you enter the rear of the plane.

 

[TumbleUpStairs]

Nick was understandably wiereded out. He kept glancing over at Melissa, at how her mouth was now flat and her nose smaller and how her upper lip just kind of...blended into her nose. How she didn't have pupils anymore, just iris. That was the part that creeped him out the most.

Melissa could feel his eyes, his mild fear, his confusion. Luckily there had been an address on the card that Elliot had given her, and it had been easy enough to get ahold of a map to the location.

In an effort to conceal her body's strange new shape - the twisted legs, her swelling shoulders and the muscularity of her arms - Melissa had worn clothes that were bigger than any of her others: long, crinkly shirt with a dark colored block pattern and a semi-authentic kimono she had gotten when a friend had cleaned out her closet a few years back. Melissa was also wearing a white bucket hat covered in pins from various vacations she had taken in an attempt at concealing her ears, which had moved higer up on her head, grown small points and were beginning to cup around themselves.

Nick stopped his truck for a red light and when a vehicle pulled up next to him, at the passenger side right by Melissa, she ducked down slightly and pulled her kimono up as well as she could.

"We'll be there soon." Nick said, trying to reassure her and also himself.

 

[cats]

Alexis Durran

IC: At work: "You see this wine will be just slightly tart with your Apple pie. Now to eloborate a bit on what I was saying, I'd like you to pour just a bit of salt on your fingure tip, now lick it and try the wine again." The woman looked at me. 'It tastes sweet now.' "And that is what I enjoy about this wine, you don't truly understand a wine until you try it plain, with an Apple, an orange, and a bit of salt. Then you can understand how it reacts."

I made my way back in to the kitchen, a busboy was carring out another bottle of wine, runing towards a chef straining pasta. "Hey watch out for..." The chef turned around with his pasta and hit the busboy across the head, knocking him to the floor. The bottle fell and hit the ground shattering. I hope it wasn't a good wine.

"Let me help" the chef helped the busboy up and I gathered the numerous pieces into a pile with my hands. Best to git the little sharp ones now I looked back at him "Well accident's happen." I looked back at the pile and was suprised to see I was holding four big pieces. Huh I thought I was getting more pieces then that. I reached over for a few that I missed and pulled them into the pile. To my suprise they joined into one of the pieces.

'Alexis what are you doing, reasembling the bottle or something.' I wondered myself briefly.

 

[Wolfsister]

Lily stared morosely into her fridge. She took a long time looking at the collection of food in there, or lack thereof. She sighed. She didn't like going out of her apartement, but she didn't particularly look forward to eating the two week old Chinese takeaway, or the nine day old pizza that had taken up residence in her fridge.

"No Sam I am, I will not eat green eggs and ham..." she muttered to herself as she closed the fridge door. "Well, Tinky's Green Grocer it is." she said to herself. Living alone, being what she was, she had long ago chased away the few friends she had been lucky enough to dredge up. She had been too weird for them. They had come to call her Shadow, because that was what she was, a shadow. Never in one place for too long, or never actually there in the first place. Her life consisted of her apartement, and that was that.

Luckily, she made it all the way to her car without incident. She rumaged around in her purse for her car keys and started her car with a sigh. She always hated starting the car, the spark created when the engine turned was always a hazard. She waited to see if she would burst into flame again. She didn't.

You know, there were some days that she believed that she could be normal again. When she ignited Tinky's cabbages at the greengrocer, she realised this wasn't one of those days. Luckily, Tinky had been prepared and had three buckets of water on hand incase.

She smiled weakly at the little old lady. "Thanks Tinky, i'm real sorry about those..." she pointed lamely at the newly doused cabbages. Tinky looked at her, and then gave her a generous smile and patted her hand, "Like you were sorry last week?" she asked with a glint of laughter in her eyes. She shook her head at Lily, "I like it when you come around. You're a strange one that's for sure, but still, you bring excitement to these old bones of mine." she chuckled.

Lily smiled at her, she really liked Tinky. She was the only person that hadn't run when she realised that Lily was a freak. "Yeah, just like last week."

As she walked out of the store, she had to try very hard not to cry. She got into her car just as the first drops of rain spilled. She sat there, crying for a long time. The rain kept up with her tears.

When she made it back to her apartement, she picked up the phone with shaking fingers. She dialled the number she had memerised, Elliot's number. "H..hhello Elliot. It...its Lily Cooper. I don't know if you r.r.remember me, but i was at the reunion. Um, i really need to talk to you, about some th..th..things that i can do. I live at -" she provided the address, "-i can't go out anymore. Please i need -" she squeezed her eyes shut and uttered the words that she had promised herself she'd never say again, "-...I need help.." she hung up and leaned against a nearby wall. She slid down it to crumple on the floor.

Outside the rain raged against her window....

 

[Angelus]

Greg wished he was anywhere else at this point in time as he ducked the baseball bat that was being swung by his neighbour's boyfriend. He wanted to explain what had happened but how could he tell a person that wanted nothing more than to break him in half that he had super powers that he could not control. It sounded perfectly logical to him but he had actually had a chance to use them and know that there really were things about super powers but how could hell tell this person that.

As he ducked the swinging bat again and heard it smash a hole in the wall behind him he wished that he had been given super strength or something like that or even greater control over his powers but he knew that would only come with practice unfortunately and this was not the type of practice that he needed. He moved towards the door to the bedroom, wanting nothing more than to get out of the place as he looked at the man who was even now getting ready to swing the bat.

He raised his hands, "I am sorry that I fell through your girlfriend's ceiling and I did not mean to but if you would just let me go then I will never do it again."

"Do you think I am crazy or something. There is no way that you can fall through someone's ceiling!"

The baseball bat was swung again and Greg ducked it then made a run for the door. He opened it just in time to see the neighbour's boyfriend coming towards him and drived out in the hallway, looking for someplace to go.

It was then that he felt something flowing over him and knew that he was turning invisible which he thanked god for as the boyfriend came out, still looking for him.

 

[Private_Label]

OOC: I'm watching TS Katrina who is scheduled to make landfall less than 60 miles south of me. Depending on how the power holds up I could be off line a short while or weeks. Feel free to move Ike indoors with people or have her hanging out in the background.


IC:

Ike watched through the front window as the jet landed beside a small non descript building. It then taxied to a metal pad, that suddenly started sinking into the ground (ooc:hope you don't mind underground hangar Raven? It looked so cool on the X-Men movie). When the lift stopped moving the plane taxied once more to a final resting place before the rear cargo hatch opened.

Ike's footsteps echoed in the large underground hanger. Judging from the number of planes arranged along the sides of the room, several planes were missing. Picking up the others? Ike wondered.

"Hello?" Ike called out uncertainly, "Can I get some help please? I can't..." Can't what? Move Ryan by myself? Ike mused.

She gave a soft cough, "Ryan really needs some help getting out of the plane. If anyone is here?"

Ike started twisting a lock of hair in her fingers. She fidgetted, waiting. Ryan was changed but I wasn't... she wanted to add, but kept the thought to herself.

 

[Ravenloft]

Hologram: Elliot

From the hanger floor, an image of Elliot formed.

"Hello... Ike." A beam of light was scanning over her as the image greated her. "I can provide the assistance you need." The almost perfect image of Elliot said dryly.

The image seemed to shift its concentration upon the VTOL momentarilly. "Ryan will be taken care of, please follow me, Ike. I will take you to the real Elliot. Don't worry about the others, VTOL's have been dispatched for each of them. It is up to them if they wish to come here."

The image of Elliot turned, flickered once, and began to lead Ike into the building propper.

 

[cats]

Alexis Durran

OOC: I'll try and get back into the main flow today.

IC: I came inside and flicked on the lights. On the table lay the pile of mail, most of it still unopen. "Today has been an odd day" I announced to myself. I checked my answering machine and found no knew messages. "Well back to the mail."

I sat down and ripped open the first envelope and found it still sealed. I set the envelop down, and placed my hands over my eyes. "I must be having a nervous break down." I sat quietly like that for some time.

Perhaps I should talk to some one for a while. I grabbed the phone and dialed Robert. The phone rang three times and then picked up. 'Hello' Roberts voice began. "Hey Robert..." 'No one is home right now please leave a message.' "Robert it is Alex I was just looking to talk bye." I placed a hand over my eyes again and stared at the table. There I spotted a tiny card with Elliot's number on it. Well it couldn't hurt. I dialed the number and waited for it to pick up, but once it had, hung up. "You know having a nervous break down is a strange way to great an old friend." I'll wait for Robert to call back.

I waited a while with no response. I took a deep breath. "Something smells." I looked over to the trash. Well as long as I am waiting. I grabbed the bag and made my way out the front door.

I shut the door behind me, and looked at the street. There was some kind of aircraft parked there. Elliot standing by the door. This isn't a break down; I'm going insane.

'Hello please step inside and relax as the vehicle takes you to Elliot.' I smiled, well help is help even if it is a delusion. I stepped into the VTOL and strapped myself into a seat. "Take me to Elliot please." I wondered briefly if I should trust a delusion of a person to take me to the actual person, but if this would help me get threw work tomorrow then so be it.

 

[Private_Label]

Ike at the Hangout

The image seemed to shift its concentration upon the VTOL momentarily. "Ryan will be taken care of, please follow me, Ike. ...."

The image of Elliot turned, flickered once, and began to lead Ike into the building proper.

Ike heaved a sigh of relief. Ryan was now someplace he could be looked after.

She followed the Hologram into the building. There were glass windows that looked in upon what appeared to be a medical facility. Beds and monitors of various types. All shiny and new looking. Ike hoped they would be able to help Ryan.

Soon the hologram led her to a door, "If you will go inside and have a seat, Elliot will be along as soon as several more arrive." The hologram flickered out.

Ike opened the door to a large conference room. on one side was a sideboard with a continental breakfast set out. Pots of coffee and hot water for tea, various flavors of tea bags, little bottles of milk, orange and tomato juice on ice, bagels and other breads and various spreads for them, doughnuts, fresh fruit, cheeses. Ike took a bagel and smeared it with herb cream cheese, some OJ, an apple and some cheese.

She sat down to eat as she waited for the others to arrive.

 

[TumbleUpStairs]

Nick pulled his truck to a halt outside a large office-looking building, and Melissa looked up.

"We're here." Nick said, trying to sound positive. Melissa half-smiled for him, but she was sure it looked as strange as it felt on her strangely-shaped face, so it faded quickly. Nick reached over and patted her shoulder lightly.

They found a place to park, and Nick helped Melissa into the building. They were greeted after a time by a hologram that shimmered in front of them for a moemnt before speaking. "Welcome. Please follow me and I will take you to the others."

They followed the hologram to a closed door, where it requested they enter and then flickered out. Nick opened the door and Melissa hobbled in, using him for support. Without being asked he stuck around with her, and she was greatful.

Ike, the nice woman from the reunion, was already there, eating.

 

[Private_Label]

Ike sees Melissa's changes

. Nick opened the door and Melissa hobbled in, using him for support. Without being asked he stuck around with her, and she was greatful.

Ike, the nice woman from the reunion, was already there, eating.

Ike looked up as the door opened. Two people walked in... well, one person and one... who had been touched by Elliot in the way Ryan had. The odd looking person wore a long-ish dark crinckled skirt and a white hat on her head that was covered with button pins from various states and attractions from across the contry.

Ike stood and offered her hand to the man first. "Hi, I'm Ike Poston."

"Nick." The man replied taking the offered hand.

Ike turned to the woman/animal with him, "And you have met Elliot, I take it."

The animal-woman took Ike's hand. The face had a fuzzy down covering, and the nose and mouth and mouth were arranged in more of a muzzle like a chimpanzee or a pug dog's. Grey-green eyes met Ike's blue-grey ones. Ike looked puzzled for a moment trying to place them, "Melissa?" she asked hesitantly.

The Animal nodded, "Esss...."

"Sit, sit, both of you." Ike went and got some coffee & juice for the new arrivals.

Ike sat and sipped her own drink for a few minutes looking from Nick to Melissa. Curiosity finally won out over politeness.

"Melissa," Ike asked hesitantly, "may I get a better look at your... hand?"

 

[Wolfsister]

Lily waited for a long time for a call back. She waited for several hours, but it never came. She sat in desolute silence and stared at her phone.
For once in her life she wished that a fire would start and the whole place would burn, with her in it.

She surged up with a sudden burst of energy and picked up the phone, the cord ripping from it's wall socket. She ran to the nearby window and threw the phone out onto the street. The glass smashed and her breath heaved in angered despair.

After a while of staring at her broken window she did eventually calm down and concluded that she needed to get the phone back. She didn't have nearly enough money to buy another one, or the courage to walk into a shop and buy one either. She only hoped it wasn't smashed to pieces on the street below, and that she could get the window fixed with minimun fuss.

She walked to the window, cautious of the broken glass and leaned out, hoping to see her phone on one of the ledges below. Instead she saw a funny looking thing, a big black monstrosity parked on her street.

Curious she ran down the steps and out onto the street to get a better look at it. When she came nearer she saw that it was some sort of aircraft, and Elliot was standing next to it. She was just plain confused now..."Elliot, what are you doing here?"

The hologram spoke. "Lily, step inside and i'll take you to the real Elliot. He can help you. I am just a hologram. Step inside and get comfortable" the holographic Elliot indicated the VTOL.

She shrugged, stranger things had happened to her. She walked in and sat down, strapping herself in. Her heart almost gave out when it lifted off. Yeah, she was insane by now.

When she arrived another hologram took her to a room. Inside she faced three people she didn't know. A strange looking woman who seemed rather.....animalistic and two others that she recognised from the reunion.

"Uh, hello..." she said nervously, wishing for all the world that Greg was there.....

 

[Angelus]

Greg looked at the door to his room and wonder how he was going to get in there was the door was very much locked but it was then that he felt something within him, slowly taking him over and walked forward. As soon as he passed through the door into his apartment he let out a laugh and wondered how he was going to bring himself back to full view but it was then that he felt himself coming back and looked down at his hands to see them come into view which forced him to grab the closest thing to him, a large blanket and wrap it around himself to keep himself warm.

After he got dressed he walked slowly over to the phone and picked up the card that Elliot had given him before he had left the reunion.

"Elliot, it's Greg. I want to say that whatever your plans are that I am in so if you can please call me back or do whatever you are going to do I would be happy to be part of whatever you want me to do. Please do not keep me waiting too long because I need help with my new powers."

He hung up the phone, walked over to his couch and sat down on it, wondering what was going to happen next.

 

[TumbleUpStairs]

Melissa nodded at Ike's request, grunting slightly without really realizing she wasn't speaking right, and held up her hand as though giving a high five. Her fingers were realtivly normal, but her fingers were broader and tapered more than normal at the ends. They also curled slightly of their own accord, but not very far.

As the other woman came in the room Melissa dropped her hand quickly, embarassed, and shied away slightly.

Nick raised his own hand in greeting. "Hey."

 

[Private_Label]

Ike meets Lily

Ike looked over at the woman who entered the room.

"Uh, hello..." Lily said nervously.

When Melissa jerked her hand down and curled inward a bit, Ike reached out and gave her shoulder a brief squeeze of friendly support.

"At least you can move. Ryan is about as flexible as an iron girder." Ike whispered to Melissa and wanly smiled. Ike looked down and bit her lip.

Nick raised his own hand in greeting. "Hey."

Ike looked over at the woman. Had seen her last night while Ryan was arguing with Elliot? With Greg? She vaguely remembered something about the lady pouring a few bottles of water over by the door - then a wet Greg appearing.

"Hi." Ike said to Lily, "I remember seeing you at the reunion, but I don't remember your name. I'm Ike, this is Nick and Melissa." Ike indicated the others. I guess you met Greg last night?"

 

[Angelus]

It was then that he heard the noise, the loud whining sound outside his window which caused him to get to his feet and rush to it. As soon as he made it to the window he saw the small sleek jet sitting out in the park that was across the road. He rubbed his eyes when he saw the jet and thought that he was going mad but when it did not go away, even after he pinched himself he knew that he was not going mad and ran out of his apartment and down the stairs as fast as he could.

He stopped as soon as he was close enough to the jet to watch its doors open and see Elliot appear as it out of nowhere.

"Okay, what do I do now?" he asked, looking at the Elliot.

"I do not know the answer to that question Greg. I am just here to pick you up as you have asked for when you called me. Now if you would please enter the jet I will take you to where you can get some help."

Greg looked at Elliot again and tried to think of something to say but could not think of anything and walked into the jet then sat down in one of the comfortable chairs. As soon as he did he felt it lift up off the ground and was pushed back into it as it took him towards his destination, where ever that was.

Before he realized it the jet landed and the door opened which caused him to get up and walked out of the jet to see that he was in a large open area. He stood there and looked around, trying to figure out what to do next but before he could even ask that question Elliot sprung up out of nowhere again and told him to walk down the corridor which had just lit up.

Greg looked at Elliot then walked down the corridor without saying a word. As he walked down the corridor he wondered what he was going to find at the end only to be surprised when he came to a large comfortable room where several of the people from the reunion were there.

He was truly surprised when he saw Lily standing with his back to him and it was then that he heard his name mentioned. He looked at the other three and said, "Did someone mention me?"

 

[Wolfsister]

Lily stood there, a bit of an odd expression on her face as she listened to Ike. She had noticed Melissa cringing and did notice her strange bone structure, though she didn't recall if she had met her before. She chose not to mention the slightly mishappen look of the girl. Who was she to judge? Compared to herself, everybody else was normal.

She nodded in greeting to Melissa, Ike and Nick as Ike said their names. She smiled nervously and extended her hand in greeting, but as soon as Ike mentioned Greg's name, her smile became more generous and her eyes began to sparkle with memory. "Yes, I...uh...that is my name is Lily. Yeah, i met Greg last night -" her eyes widened and so did her smile when she heard his name. She briefly closed her eyes and thanked whoever was generously watching over her.

"Yes, I met him. I can't say that I remember liking the guy though. He seemed a little....invisible to me," she slowly pivoted on one foot and turned her mischievious gaze to him. "I mean, he was callous enough to forget to give me his phone number," she said, then she whispered and winked at him, "Hey there." Then her face seemed to take on a mock expression of slight shock, "Oh Greg, I didn't see you there. You snuck up on me!" despite the fact that she had been staring at him for the last three minutes or so.

She was suddenly feeling a whole lot better, now that she wasn't in a room full of strangers....

 

[Angelus]

He stood there with mock indignation on his face but a smile on his lips, "Well I know about the invisible part as I am certainly that but I don't know about being callous. I seem to remember that you did not give me you phone number either or I suppose that is my fault."

He moved closer to her and whispered in her air, "I hope that I am not too late. Sorry about the phone number."

He looked at the others, "Hello all, sorry if I seemed to have made a grand entrance but it seems that I could not have helped it even if I could."

He stayed closed to Lily and kept on glancing at her because he knew that he wanted nothing more than to stay where he was, close to her.

 

[Private_Label]

Ike nodded to Greg as he came in and Lily greated him.

She sat back down in her chair. "Elliot seems to have provided a breakfast for us." She twisted a paper napkin for a moment.

As Lily and Greg found seats her smile slipped a bit. "Ryan is here too." She frowned, "He ... he hasn't reacted as well to what Elliot did as the rest of us."

Ike's jaw clenched, and tears formed in the corners of her eyes, "He's... he's become a metal statue, andit's all my fault. Why couldn't it have been me? He should have been the one that had nothing happen to him. Not me." Her voice broke into a harsh whisper, "Why couldn't I have been the one to be affected."

 

[TumbleUpStairs]

Melissa reached out and patted Ike's shoulder, just as Ike had done moments ago.

"Elliot can help you." she said, though it sounded more like E'ot can hel' ooo than the proper words. Melissa didn't notice.

Nick looked over at Melissa with a mingled expression on his face, then added his own sympathies to Ike's situation. "We haven't even seen this Elliot guy yet. I'm sure things will be more clear once we do."

 

[Angelus]

Greg sat forward in his seat and looked at Ike with a smile.

"There is no reason to blame yourself for what has happened to Ryan. I know what I am about to say is somewhat pathetic but it is not your fault what happened to him. I think that everyone has reacted differently to what Elliot opened up in us last night and everyone will not be the same. This morning I fell through my floor and landed in my downstair neighbour's bedroom, scaring the life out of her but then again I had just gotten out of the shower," he let out a laugh at the image that he had just given her before he continued, "what I am trying to say is that all of us will be different, have different powers that have been opened up in us and I think what has happened to Ryan is just part of this for him. There is no need to say that what has happened to him is your fault because that is wrong; that is total crap. We all chose to see what would happen when we opened ourselves up to whatever Elliot was going to bring out in us and I don't blame him for that as I would rather have this gift then keep wondering what if I never had."

It was then that he suddenly noticed just how hungry he was and grabbed an apple off the tray in front of him, biting into it with a crunch.

 

[Wolfsister]

She smiled warmly as she looked at the tray of food. She remembered what was waiting for her in her fridge and shuddered. She selected an a few juicy grapes. Hmmm, she idly wondered if anyone had ever seen a grape on fire. She shook her head as she listened to the others.

"You have not been affected?" she asked Ike quietly. Slightly disturbed at Ryan's condition. A metal statue? Was he still alive then? How did he-? she blushed furiously and fought not to complete that thought.

She smiled at Melissa, she was beginning to recognise her now. She absently listened to Greg's little speech. She smiled again, her cheeks were beginning to ache slightly from all the smiling she had done in the past two days. Her face wasn't used to it.

By the time Greg had finished though, she had tears in her eyes and was having trouble swallowing the grapes. Why was she cursed to looking forward to spontaneously combusting every morning? Not to mention the weather always freaking out whenever she was around, when Ike was completely normal? A tear silently slipped free of its confinement in the corner of her eye. She dashed it away and gave a shaky smile. She was fine, really.

She wouldn't say anything of this to Ike, she wasn't that kind of person. She was the kind that suffered in silence. Besides, deep down inside, she was glad that Ike hadn't been cursed by Elliot's touch. She sighed and pretended to lean against the back of the seat and fall asleep. She didn't think that she could open her eyes without disgracing herself and crying.

No more tears fell from her, she would look like she slept, except for two things. Firstly, her chest heaved in ragged breath, trying to control her misery and secondly, unbeknownst to her, she was shivering. Her body shaking with the pure emotions raging through her.

She made no noise, trying not to call attention to herself, she always suffered in silence......

 

[Angelus]

Greg took another bite of the apple but before he could swallow it he noticed that Lily was very quiet and looked over at her to see that her eyes were closed as if she was asleep although she did not look like it. He knew that there was something wrong with the way that she was breathing and moved closed to her then wrapped one arm around her shoulder to hold her close before he leaned close enough to whisper in her ear.

"What is wrong. Please tell me what is wrong because I want to help as much as I can. I know how hard this is for you, not being able to control your powers as much as you would like and I wish I could tell you how you can do so but I am afraid I have no answers because I am as lost as you are. All I ask is that you let me in some way, in any way to help you as much as I can. Will you please let me do that for you?"