No Light [Riley]

[Eluard Verlaine]

Post Theme Song

It was evening when Eluard was passing by the coffee shop he had decided to stop frequenting. Behind its clean glass walls, a young woman still wearing her work apron looked out into the streets, her shoulders slumped and expression distant. She was the reason the information dealer had stopped coming by. A few weeks ago she had scribbled her phone number onto the lidded coffee cup she had given him. Her interest in him had come as a surprise and an unwelcome one at that. As far as he knew, she was a simple civilian who would have nothing to benefit from associating with him in any way. Moreover, if Eluard could avoid involving himself emotionally with someone, he would do his best to do just that.

Although he would probably never forget the incident, he didn’t consider it as he passed by the respective coffee shop and it came as another surprise when the young woman sprung from its doors and stopped in front of him with widened brown eyes. She was the perfect image of terrified and hopeful as her hands gathered to her chest. “I thought I’d never see you again,” she said, her voice small in the diminishing sunlight. Eluard’s hands were in the pockets of his long dark coat, the surprise in his eyes at her sudden appearance fading quickly behind a calculatedly cold stare. “And you wouldn’t have, had you not stepped out,” he informed her simply and made to walk past her.

He tried not to notice the hurt in her eyes, the moistness forming in them. Truthfully, whatever she thought she liked about him had to be a mere illusion. Even if it had been for around a year, all they had ever exchanged were simple lines of greeting and business every morning he came to grab coffee. Regardless, her determination to hold onto the misconception was strong, when he moved past her she sunk her fingers in the sleeve of his coat and held on. Eluard stopped. “Why are you treating me like this? Don’t I at least deserve a reason for not even getting a chance?” She was investing a lot of resources into keeping her hand from shaking. Although she wouldn’t admit it, she knew he was a single father with no apparent woman in his life. Stalking and researching people wasn’t usually her thing, but he had become a little project of sorts.

“I don’t know you,” he began, an icy eye on her over his shoulder, “and I wouldn’t want to get to know such a plain woman.” Her hand drew back at that, freeing his sleeve which he collected back to his side immediately. Tears spilled from her eyes from the shock of being insulted so easily. “You… you always smiled every morning. You seemed like someone else, y-you…” She took a step back, for the first time realizing she didn’t actually know anything about him. “Go home, Sarah. We will not meet again.” Eluard turned at that, leaving the disillusioned woman behind, something frosty in his eyes. Underneath the front his heartbeat had briefly gained a few beats to its rhythm. Sarah was in no way unattractive and Eluard wasn’t immune to others’ displayed affection, as misguided as it was.

Although the words he had spoken had been necessary, some part of him regretted them, but it was quickly smothered by the thickening darkness. There was no room in his life for a defenseless woman, not if he could avoid it. It helped that he didn’t actually care also, however briefly her own feelings had moved him. Such were the thoughts he was having when he stepped around the corner and into an alley that was even darker than the main street. His purpose for the night was becoming clear in his mind as he travelled through the gloom. Intending to find a certain city vigilante had brought him down these paths and rumors said he was sighted mostly around this sector. The man was unknown to him and he intended to change that as well as find out if he was a mutant.

Eluard faced his second surprise for the night in the form of six thugs emerging from the shadows. So distracted had he been with thoughts of the meeting with Sarah that he had forgotten to put on his mask – the one he wore whenever he changed identities and became the White Serpent even the criminal presence in Endonia was wary about, for lack of knowing what he was capable of and who he was connected to, if nothing else. It was too late to fix that now. The first thug stopped in front of him lazily, carrying a large bat. Eluard didn’t have an impressive build. He stood at about 5 feet and 10 inches and he was slim whereas the tall brutes before him were ripe with bulging muscles.

“Welcome to Norric’s alley. All who pass through these ‘ere parts ‘ave to pay toll,” the thug informed him with a crooked grin. “Now give us everything ye ‘ave or things will get messy.” As it stood, Eluard had quite a nice sum of cash in his wallet. Although he could afford to lose it, he knew these kinds of thugs and they would take off with his legal documents as well, they could even see some papers that were strictly for his eyes, and he couldn’t have that. His sharp blue eyes passed between them quickly, measuring his chances of getting out of this alive and un-robbed. The possibility was slim but present. He had no choice but to take it. His lips curled up in fake confidence, the first rule of battle – make your opponent doubt their changes of success. He could make use of the slightest hesitance on their part.

“Gentlemen, although I acknowledge your request, I fear I must politely refuse to comply. I advise you allow me to leave or else I cannot be held accountable for the misfortune that may befall you.” What a rotten day to forget his anesthetic syringes at home. He would have to make do with hand to hand combat, and the long knife he had in his coat. The biggest thug laughed and that was the signal Eluard was waiting for. Negotiating his safe passage was useless. His boot collided straight with the thug’s jaw as he had sprung forward impossibly fast, sending the man stumbling to the side and the others hurling right at him. Eluard was again reminded why it was a good thing to have as few people close enough to miss him, if something were to happen, as possible.


((Sorry this took so long to post!))

[Riley Whelan]

Now I'll be bold...
As well as strong...
Use my head alongside my heart...

Riley was tired. Her day had been busy and she'd ran almost all over the place to get her school supplies. She'd woken up with the intent to laze around all day, but her dad had different plans for her. She gave a sigh as she trudged along, glancing up at the sky with a scowl. It wasn't allowed to get dark on her. That meant her day was pretty much over, and she couldn't do any lazing around. Giving a semi-growl she paused at a light, waiting for the sign to go and the cars to stop bustling around her. Stopping the strain of thought she'd had she made her mind go blank. Cars were run by computers, and if she thought too much about it she could potentially make those computers go haywire. She narrowed her eyes and thought about the things she'd gotten, wondering if her new metal ruler would stand up to the brutality of school days.

She made a small noise, happy in its sound as the light changed and she could continue along her way.

She'd noted a sign that advertised coffee, and thought that sounded like a brilliant idea, and figured she could get something nice to drink for the rest of the trip. Grinning almost wildly she sped her pace up, but paused mid-step as she heard a stressed....... Was that a voice or a thought? She frowned in concentration before picking up the stray thoughts of some people in the nearby alley. Glowering she focused more, backing up against the concrete wall of a building and shutting her eyes tightly.

Yes... There were a couple thoughts. One or two were aggressive... The other was passive, and a little worried. She focused more on the violent one, reading the outermost layers of thought as if she were following several threads. Frowning she picked up the thread that was the most immediate, and acted on that. Hurt this whimp. Take his rich ass money. That'll show the world... This be my alley dammit...

Her lip curled into a snarl and she thought over all the things she had bought today. There was that ruler, but she didnt want to ruin that before she got to actually use it for class... Then there was the scissors. Yes, those would work perfectly. What else? Ah yes... The stapler. She only momentarily frowned over the possible loss of her clothes... They were only street clothes anyways. Though... She did love the jeans... She gave a mental shrug and fug into her bag, pushing around the heavy textbooks that she could probably use as a bludgeon if it came down to it. She pulled the items she had deemed perfect for the defense of the defenseless and unpackaged them swiftly, discarding the weak cardboard before pocketing the staplers extra staples and loading it up.

She slung her bag around to her back before she quietly slid around the corner to the alley, not quite sure it was the right alley, but upon seeing the small group of people she determined it was.

She hid in the shadows quietly, thinking to herself with a short inner laugh. Sure, some blonde haired blue eyed fifteen year old girl who was shorter than most eleven year old’s was gonna scare the thugs. Sure, she was probably walking into the fight as the lesser being here, but hey. When others were in danger... Riley Whelan was no fool to mess with. She was like a small dog... Once she got her teeth into your shins... You were in more luck of bleeding out than her lettin' your leg go.

With that thought, she flicked the stapler open, steadied the scissors in her hand... And let out a roar of sound that really shouldn't have come from her person, leaping from her shadowy place and trying to draw the thugs attention immediately to her.

So take my flesh...
And fix my eyes...
That tethered mind free from the lies...[/color]

((Its a little sporadic, and I apologize for that. If its too sporadic let me know and I can fix it in the morning. xD))

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[Eluard Verlaine]

Eluard’s boot collided firmly with a thug’s jaw, sending him stumbling to the side and eliciting the murderous gazes of everyone else facing him as well as a flinch of confusion in a few of the wiser men. Normal people didn’t usually react like that when their life was threatened but the slender man’s crazy bravery and impressive kick reach wasn’t going to hold them off from trying to pummel him into the ground. They didn’t have time to immediately hurl themselves at him though, for another sound, much like a primal growl of female origin, distracted them from behind.

Although surprised, the quick thinker of the alley saw his chance and took it, jumping forward and forcing a fist in the rowdiest thug’s stomach, stealing the breath from his lungs. When it came to thoughts, the human mind often functioned in a “bare minimum” conceptual manner. Although propositional, fully worded conversations with the self could be had on moments of reflection, most times the mind coughed up just descriptors of things being seen, heard, tasted, etc, beginnings of actions, an essential word in a broader concept of intention, or nothing at all when actions were purely reflexive and didn’t need the support of inner language to manifest. As such, Eluard’s thoughts were under the form of: “Right. Many. Chance. What was that? No time.” With ample pauses where his mind was solely focused on imagery and his body was acting out a learned pattern of movement.

“A girl,” he registered the small blonde’s presence and immediately frowned. “Responsibility,” he immediately assessed when he recognized the implications of her participation in the fight and his focus on dodging two of the thugs while tripping a third intensified. “Don’t involve yourself!” He managed to tell her before striking another thug in the jaw and then making a hard poke motion with his fingers kept straight and firm on two spots of the man’s neck. “One, two,” his mind counted. “Success.” The thug dropped to the ground. “Being a surgeon has its advantages,” Eluard thought before reacting to an incoming blow, a little too late, and getting a slash of a dagger on his side. It ripped through his coat, shirt and grazed his flesh, starting to bleed but not being serious.

In all of this Eluard couldn’t well keep track of the girl’s movements and although he didn’t think it in words, he felt rising worry for her safety.