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Post by carcinoGeneticist on Dec 30, 2008 23:05:50 GMT -5
The man stood in the doorway to the building, taking a moment to get his bearings about him. It had been a long time since he'd taken a job like this, and he could feel his nerves at it. He did his best to suppress those feelings. It just wasn't the time to be worried. He slipped from human to biped form and edged his way into the dilapidated complex. He had to squeeze past heaps of garbage and rubble to get in, but he couldn't very well move the heap. Too much noise for what he was here to do, not to mention the time it would take him to put the mess back where it started. He crept through the room in perfect silence, slipping into the shadows and listening carefully with his oversized ears. There was nothing out of the ordinary. When he reached the room that he'd been informed his target would be found in, the Bat stopped and shifted the colors of his coat to match those of a Golfam/Lowland mix. It took a little more concentration to mix regions as he had, but it would provide him better cover in case anyone saw. He slid his katars from their sheathes at his sides and stepped into the room. The empty room. The room that was so utterly dusty and empty, no one could have lived in it for years. Seth felt the fur on the back of his neck bristle slightly, but he shook it off and began to search the place. Who knew? Maybe he'd find something worthwhile in this junk-heap. |
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Post by The Jenn on Dec 30, 2008 23:18:46 GMT -5
Open space was a rarity in the Outer Bazaar. Even rarer was the space that could be deemed as both unoccupied and safe. Space like that didn't really exist unless you made it exist, and Jak was always on the hunt for another building he and his brother could claim and make their own. They'd had to jump around once or twice when the neighborhood turned nasty, but they always had somewhere to call home. Well, the neighborhood was looking pretty nasty again and, short of stealing enough money to buy a property - which he was strongly debating sometime in the near future - Jak had to make do with what was available. He wore one of his 'neutral' bodies, one that didn't tend to incense anybody like a brown-mix body might. He was a Corvie tonight, a bipedal ferret with purple markings, about fifteen years old. While investigating the vacant and recently condemned property, he heard footsteps below and froze, startled. Somebody else was coming in here? He'd been watching the place for like a month and nobody lived here. Damn it, were they seasonal or something stupid like that? Bleh. How annoying. He quickly ducked into the hall closet not far from him and waited as the footsteps got closer, and then stopped almost right outside the closet door. Neat! Good thing he wasn't in his normal body and wheezing through his pipes. The guy looked big, but it was hard to tell. He could see dark spots and paler hair in the moonlight shining through a large hole in the roof, illuminating the man. And then... it changed. He could only stare as the spots melted into a splotchier look and the placement of the markings changed entirely. He was still staring through the crack in the closet door as the man passed by. What the hell was that? Could this guy really be another person like him?! Another Joker?! He didn't know if there were any others. Oh, he couldn't let this guy just walk out of his life. Not now. Not after that. He had to find out if that was the case. The guy walked back past the closet door after another moment and he grinned, pushing back the door and stepping out. The squeaky thing made more noise opening than it had closing. "Are you a Joker?" he whispered in a loud, hoarse voice, expression eager. |
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Post by carcinoGeneticist on Dec 30, 2008 23:33:24 GMT -5
At the squeaking noise, Seth whirled in place, fur standing on end and making his already-impressive bulk even more than it had been. He moved into a defensive position, glistening blades of the katars at the ready. If this was the target, then he'd die now. It at least saved Seth the effort of trying to track the man down, wherever he might have run off to, and he felt a small grin begin to tug at his mouth.
But then all the man saw was a boy. A teenager, to be exact, but definately not what he was expecting to see. The boy was fairly grimy and looked like he must be a local, not exactly someone who proved a threat. His posture eased itself slightly as he tried to think of what to ask. "Why are you here? What do you want? What the fuck?" all seemed perfectly reasonable, but when the boy interjected with a question of his own, only the last statement seemed appropriate.
"What the fuck?[/b]" the man asked, blinking his eyes in alarm. The question was totally out of left field, completely preposterous. "How... What... I...[/b]"
What else was he supposed to say? This kid was obviously completely bonkers.
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Post by The Jenn on Dec 30, 2008 23:40:54 GMT -5
Ooh, the guy was a quick one. Look at how fast he moved and whipped out those cool weapons! Jak couldn't help but approve. At the same time, he felt the danger crackling in the air for a second before it was diffused by the man's baffled question.
Had he slurred or something? Or did the guy not realize what it meant to be able to change like that? He hadn't understood for a long time, until he pieced together some of the gossip he'd heard and his brother helped him figure it out. "You know, a Joker. Cause you changed looks like that. 's what Jokers do." Normally this was not the type of conversation he would be having with someone. His shape-changing was his own business, and Amhal's, and nobody else's. But if this guy was the same as him... the same kind of freak... what was under that big, hairy exterior?
To prove his point, he changed from a Corvie to a Solandrian like the man had before. He stayed a ferret, but the fur grew thicker and a blue mohawk sprouted from his head. He looked up expectantly, grinning wide, though not as wide as he would have in his natural body.
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Post by carcinoGeneticist on Dec 31, 2008 0:19:30 GMT -5
Seth was completely flabbergasted. The child was clearly out of his dirty little mind, that was the only possible explaination for the words that were coming out of his mouth. Seth had grown up in the Glacier, where he'd never had time for the follies of mythology, and he didn't believe in Jokers in the slightest. He'd humored Heilyn's own beliefs, but for him they had always been a distant and amusing waste of time. And here was this crazy little child, asking if he was a Joker.
"You saw that?[/b]" he asked, furrowing his brow. There had only been a few people who had seen Seth change, and only those in his immediate family had seen it without being killed. "Look, kid, I don't know what kind of stories you've been reading, but I-[/b]"
His words seemed to fall on deaf ears as the ferret demonstrated the ability. At first, Seth just wondered if the child had an ability similar to his own, but there was something different about it. Something that made him stop. The mane that sprouted from the boy's head. Seth could change his coat to almost anything he could think of, but he couldn't grow anything he didn't have.
"That was pretty cool,[/b]" the man commented slowly, trying to keep his cool. In an effort to keep the boy's interest, he shifted again, letting the disguise fall and reveal him to be what he really was, red eyes still glinting with confusion. "Are you a Joker?[/b]"
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Post by The Jenn on Dec 31, 2008 0:26:42 GMT -5
Jak stared at him for a second, eyes wide and intent. And, honestly, a little crazy. The instability was visible. You could feel it. "I can't read," he said matter-of-factly to Seth's statement.
And then he changed again! Was he going to make this a game? Jak was always up for new games. He smirked and changed to a Morganberry, one of the garishly bright and clashing ones, though the colors were muted in the moonlight. The Solandrian mohawk disappeared once again, though he kept his ferret self intact.
"I think it's cool," he agreed with another grin. "And maaaaaaybe. Depends. I'm nowhere near as big as you. Are you really that big? I mean... that big? Y'know, you're huge. Did you know that? And really hairy. You've got my mom's nose. She was part bat, I think. Mostly dog. Like me. She was a lot prettier than you, though. And she had more purple with her brown. I like purple."
The possibility of meeting someone like him had gotten him all excited, and when he got excited, he tended to ramble. If he'd been in his natural form, he would have been shuffling and hopping from foot to foot.
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Post by carcinoGeneticist on Dec 31, 2008 0:34:06 GMT -5
The tumble of words that sprung forth from the child's mouth almost completely overwhelmed the man and he blinked again. It took his brain a moment to process what the child said, and even then he wasn't quite sure he fully caught everything. Illiterate, and... He seemed to think that this wasn't Seth's true form? That seemed to be the strangest part of all.
At least, it did until the boy began yammering on about his mother. Seth could feel the blue ridge that ran from forehead to tail tip stand on end, and it took a strong effort on his part to smooth the fur down once more. The boy's description... It was too familar. Far too familiar.
"No, no, kid,[/b]" he said patiently, trying to push that from his mind for now. The boy had pointedly not answered his question, but Seth was beginning to think that he understood why. He kneeled slightly to bring himself closer to the teen's level, making eye contact for a moment. He knew that his size could be... intimidating, to say the least, but there was more to the movement than making the youngster feel comfortable. Seth couldn't believe what was going on. "This is what I look like. I can only change my markings, nothing else. Why? Is that not your real look?[/b]"
He needed to see to be sure.
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Post by The Jenn on Dec 31, 2008 0:41:18 GMT -5
Seth's size didn't bother Jak. He just thought it was cool. "I can almost get size like yours, but not quite yet. I'm not old enough yet. Everything comes out looking my age, and nobody my age is as big as you."
He rocked back onto the main part of his bipedal ferret 'feet' as the man leaned closer, his expression changing from excitement to confused disappointment. "This is it? You can't change anything else? What, are you a half-Joker or something? Is your rank real? Or fake? Or half-fake? Do you get the suit but not the rank, or the other way around, or something like that?"
Sharp teeth bit the inside of his cheek as he stared at the man. Was he part Joker? If not, should he just run away? Or should he show him and scare him away? Or what? He didn't know the rules to this game. "Nooooooo." The sound was drawn out and drawled, sounding thoughtful. "I'm nothing like this. This is normal. I'm nothing like normal. I'm a dog. And a cat. And white and gold and purple and red and I breathe out my back and I have a glowing metal feeler and I can't stand right and I have bones coming out of my butt and my mouth opens all the way and I can drink and breathe at the same time. This isn't me at all."
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Post by carcinoGeneticist on Dec 31, 2008 1:04:52 GMT -5
"Guess that makes sense,[/b]" the man found himself saying, without really even realizing that the words were coming out of his mouth. It didn't make sense at all, what the fuck was he saying? Here was this bizzare shape-changing boy, speaking about things that had only been myths to him as if they were as clear as day and describing a mother that sounded eerily similar to his own daughter. He swallowed his nerves for now. He'd figure out what was going on.
He shrugged slightly, getting the distinct feeling of "unhappy" coming from the strange boy. He needed to keep the teen interested, or else it would be far more difficult to get the answers that he needed. Because at this point, he couldn't rest without them.
"I don't actually know. I think the rank is mine, at least. And yep, that's it for my shifting. It kinda blows, doesn't it?[/b]" he shook his head slightly. It was like playing pretend with his own children. And his... grandchildren, he shuddered to realize. As soon as you dropped the mask, the game was over and the child was pissed. "Seems like you're way more lucky than me.[/b]" he let a wistful tone creep into his voice with that. Being able to change anything, wouldn't that make him a capable assassin?
Keeping his cool when the boy described himself, however, that took quite a bit more work. He could feel his stomach twist unpleasantly, but not over the array of bizzare mutations described by the boy. No, it was by his most basic features - "I'm a dog. And a cat. And white and gold and purple and red..." - that set off the churning. There was no mistaking it, as much as he wanted to do so.
"Hey, what would you think if I told you I think I might know your parents?[/b]" he said, grinning crookedly at the boy. Had to be careful with this one. He couldn't rush it. Could this boy really be related to him? His... grandson?
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Post by The Jenn on Dec 31, 2008 1:16:42 GMT -5
"It kinda does blow, yeah..." Jak agreed with a sympathetic sigh. That was a wistful note. Him, lucky? Yeah, he was. He had his brother and his shape-changing. But he didn't want this guy to go all unhappy on him now, no! That wouldn't be cool at all. "But hey, only when you compare it to mine! On its own, it's still really spiffy. It's not like everybody can do that, either."
When the man mentioned his parents, his head tilted sharply and abruptly to the side and he stared at him, grin fading for a second before returning full force. And full of teeth. "You... wait, what? Really? How could you? I haven't even seen them since I was little! Well, except in my head sometimes, when I have a seizure and start foaming a little. Then I can see them. But only for, like, five minutes. It kind of blows. They look like they're somewhere really nice and they look happy. Well, uh. Mom looks happy. Happier than I ever saw her, anyway. Dad never really looks happy, but hey, he's Dad, right? Dads are weird anyway. I still don't get why he played that game on the mountain. My brother says it wasn't a game and that he left us there to die, but I kinda have a feeling there was something else behind it. We just didn't know how to play."
Yep, the man had opened a floodgate. Jak really did like to talk. He just didn't usually get to talk about himself. "Do you know them because you're a bat? Because you don't look anything like my Dad. And... hey. Hey. Wait. Waitaminute." Something was clicking, something he'd only just put together.
This guy, he was talking about his parents and how he might know them. And he was a huge hulking bat with a big mohawk. Once, and only once, he'd seized and seen a vision of his mom with a human guy who had hair kinda... like...
"If your name is Seth and you have a big, hairy human body, then you know my Mom," he said with a stare that could have burned holes through metal. "Cause this one time when I had a seizure, she was talking to a big, hairy human guy and somebody else, and that somebody else said something, and she said Seth, and that was the answer, but I think it was also a name. Are you a big, hairy human guy?"
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