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om_mainNori and Bigby recruit another pair of street kids.
Toby was pacing.
It wasn't as if there was much else to do. They'd stopped running two days earlier, if you could call it running when it involved two buses, the BART system, a cab, and two jumps via Tybalt's shadows that had left her shivering, breathless, and even more annoyed with Tybalt than even she had ever thought possible. They'd apparently lost their pursuers the previous day, and holed up in a boarded over abandoned storefront somewhere in Berkeley.
The problem was, she had absolutely no idea what to do next.
Going back seemed like a bad plan. A call to Dare from a disposable cell phone the previous day had resulted in more questions than answers - the younger girl had told her that Devin was acting edgy and even more belligerent than usual, so much so that she and her brother were actually considering getting the hell out of Home before he went off the deep end. Moreover, when Toby'd asked if Devin had said anything about her absence, Dare had sulkily confided that he'd smacked her when she'd asked.
Putting two and two together? Home was definitely off limits.
Toby continued pacing. If nothing else, she figured it had to be driving Tybalt insane. She'd take what she could get.
One thing abandoned shopfronts weren't well equipped with was comfortable furniture. Tybalt had made do through the simple expedient of shifting into cat form and curling up in a corner. Apparently he could sleep anywhere.
Anywhere Toby wasn't pacing. For the past few minutes he'd been watching Toby with his ears getting progressively flatter and flatter against his skull. Finally the cat hopped to his feet and stretched. The feline motion seemed to stretch his body out to an impossible degree and somewhere in the middle of it he wasn't a cat anymore, but a very annoyed looking young man.
"Must you pace like that? I'd have though that after the last while you'd be happy to NOT be moving around for a little." He asked archly, but with a snap of annoyance underlying his dispassionate expression.
"Why, is it bothering you?" Toby retorted, turning towards him and planting her hands on her hips. "Sorry, not everyone can just turn into a cat and take a nap."
"Obviously." Tybalt shot back. He left both the fact that that was her problem and the fact that he was a big enough person not to hold that against her unspoken. but definitely implied. "But wearing a circle in the floorboards is hardly going to help you get out of this mess. So why bother? Unless you have some sort of grudge against that particular circle of floor? Did it offend your delicate sensibilities?"
"It's not holding up anything capable of making coffee. That's offensive enough." She sighed and let her arms drop. "Look, we're stuck here, and I'm too tired for this bullshit. Unless you've got any ideas about what we're going to do next, just shut up, okay?"
"How about this? I'll do the shut up part if you do the sit down part. Together we can pretend to be patient. And when the after work rush starts I'll see about acquiring you some coffee. And some food." As peace offerings went, that one was pretty ungraciously delivered. But it was more productive than his usual snark at least. And Tybalt did settle back down (in human form), so maybe he'd keep to the shut up part.
Toby let out a resigned sigh and sat down on the floor. "Fine. Though it's not like you're any less visible than I am. I'm entirely capable of feeding myself."
Tybalt stretched and leaned back again the wall. "Let me know when you learn how to walk through shadows to get away from trouble. Then you cam get food and I can have another nap." Other than that attempt to have the last word he was content to close his eyes and just wait for their next move. At least nobody knew where they were.
Noriko's eyes were trained on the store the kids were apparently holed up in, even as Lehnsherr gave them one last preparatory speech. Nothing they didn't know already - two street kids, a guy and a girl, even more on edge from being chased by the Facility, one of them a cat shifter who could travel via shadows, the other an unknown mutant - but it didn't hurt to listen to it all once again, and to Lehnsherr's recommendations. Caution, calm, don't overdo the kinship, look out for yourselves. He'd keep an eye out for any incoming Facility teams while they tried to get the two kids to come with.
Noriko had made a point to keep her gauntlets, this time; the point really wasn't to hide the fact that she was a mutant, and if she had to use her electricity, she always preferred having them on. Just in case. She was dressed in her regular ripped jeans, her battered old denim jacket thrown over a New York Dolls tee.
"Got it," she told Lehnsherr, making eye contact with him, then with Bigby. She nodded in the direction of the store; trying to sneak up on the kids would likely not end well, so they might as well use the direct approach.
Bigby nodded an agreement, and started for the store. He wasn't sure how this would go, but at least this time they were going fully informed. Or closer to, anyway. "Let's hope we get through this one with as few stabbings as possible this time, huh?"
"Let's make that no stabbing at all," Noriko requested wryly, but this was her usual kind of humor. She grew silent as they neared the door, listening in for what might be going on inside the store and very aware that whatever it was, Bigby would pick up on it before she could.
Toby sat on the floor for a few minutes, fidgeting, then gave up and got back to her feet. "Do you think they're going to find us again?" she asked Tybalt, who, typical to form, looked as if he were falling asleep.
Tybalt had found himself a corner to slump into. Even half curled up like that on the hard floor he managed to look comfortable and reasonably at ease. Which was dispelled a bit when he cracked an eye open and frowned. "Well, there's nobody left to sell us out anymore. So there's that." He groused. "We still need to consider moving on. In the morning though."
Noriko slowed as they neared the front door, shooting Bigby a look to know whether there was anything of note going on inside, or if they should just go ahead and make their presence known.
Bigby paused, listening, smelling. He held up two fingers, then gestured to indicate one was in the corner, and the other was nearer to the door. There was no way they wouldn't see them coming, so they'd just have to be ready.
"So what, we're just going to keep moving from place to place?" Toby demanded incredulously. "Where's next, Napa?"
Toby didn't get the usual bickering back from Tybalt, who suddenly seemed to have lost the expression of bored annoyance in favour of a tight frown of concern. "Shh." He whispered harshly, and pointed towards the door. He didn't bother to add 'Someone's coming'. That should kind of be obvious with the way he hopped to his feet in a tense, ready crouch.
"Don't-" Toby broke off as she realized why Tybalt was shh-ing, and nodded and moved to the side of the door. She pulled her her knife out of her pocket and assumed a read stance of her own. Maybe if they kept taking out the assholes, they'd stop sending them. It was worth a shot, anyway. She was getting sick of being hauled all over the San Francisco area.
Bigby gestured that one of the people had moved closer to the door. One of, maybe even both, the mutants must have heard them coming. Advanced hearing, maybe? A psychic? Either way, no more surprise on their side. He pointed to himself, then the door, indicating he should go first. Healing factor, and all that fun stuff. He put his hand on the door, and looked at Noriko. Ready?
Noriko nodded, hanging back and ready for, hopefully, pretty much anything. But she trusted Bigby, and it made sense for him to go first, since he had a better idea of what was going on.
At Noriko's nod, Bigby opened the door and went inside.
As soon as the door opened and he stepped inside, Toby started to move. Grabbing at his arm, she pressed the tip of her knife against his back - then paused as she realized the newcomer was a teenage boy rather than one of their prior pursuers. Great, either the men in black were changing tactics drastically, or they'd managed to hide out in someone else's spot. The latter being somewhat more likely, she pulled back the knife a little, though her grip didn't loosen and she didn't let go of his arm. "Your place?" It hadn't looked occupied, but then, it wasn't like they'd searched the whole building, either. He could have setup upstairs.
Unlike Toby, Tybalt didn't take the direct approach. There were enough shadows for him to vanish into easily, so he stepped out of the room and into the street a little way behind the two strangers. Toby could do the talking, he'd be ready for trouble.
"Nope," Noriko replied from the doorway, hands held out a little distance from her body in the universal sign for harmlessness. Of course, that might just draw their attention to the metal gauntlets she was wearing, but she'd happily field questions on that topic if it meant the knife moved farther away from Bigby's throat.
"Then what are you doing here?" Tybalt asked from behind them. Right now he reckoned getting answers and making them aware they were surrounded was more useful than staying hidden. "You'll excuse the suspicion, but strangers have not been good to us recently."
"You might as well take that knife away," Bigby said. "It's not gonna do much."
"What, you don't bleed?" Toby retorted. She pulled the knife back a few inches, though she kept hold of the kid's arm, her eyes flicking apprehensively towards whatever the metal things were that his partner was wearing. "Answer the question - if this isn't your place, what do you want? I seriously doubt you're selling Avon."
"We're selling something way better than that," Noriko replied, staying in the door frame but turning so that she had both kids in her field of vision, keeping her hands in easy view of them. There was no use pretending they weren't here to sell something, and the blunt approach was always her default. "We're mutants too." She raised one gauntleted hand slowly and waved its fingers, tendrils of electricity winding around them for a couple of seconds. "And no, we're not with the people you've been running from." Because her paranoid mind would have gone there, in their place.
Tybalt folded his arms over his chest and gave the two of them a long, hard look. "She's not kidding about finding out whether you bleed by the way. My friend here is not known for her gentle temper.* He pointed out mildly. "So if you aren't with the people chasing us, why are you trying to sell us anything? Or are you going to try peddling that you happened to come in here by accident?"
"If we came in here, deliberately, selling something, it's unlikely it was an accident," Bigby replied dryly, then gestured to the knife. "Can you move this already? Like I said, it's not gonna do much good." And he was getting tired standing here with a knife to his neck.
Against her better judgement, Toby made a show of dropping her hand down to her side, and even more reluctantly let go of the kid's arm. "Fine. It's not an accident, you're mutants, you know we're mutants, and you're not with the people who have been chasing us. What are you selling?" She looked over at Tybalt and said, "Close the door before we draw any more attention?"
Good, progress. Noriko lowered her hands, slowly, and walked inside the building proper, so the teleporter (that was how she assumed he had gotten behind her earlier) could come in as well and close the door. Only once he had done so did she turn to the two of them, as she came to stand beside Bigby. "We live in a school for mutants, you might've heard of it. It's the real deal. We used to be on our own, too."
Following the others in, Tybalt closed the door and leaned against it. If anyone was going to be in charge of the way out, it was going to be him. "So is this a recruitment drive? I'm afraid we are a little short on tuition money." He quipped dryly.
"It's an offer," Bigby replied with a casual shrug. "No strings. You can come to the school, or you can stay here. Your call."
Toby looked over at Tybalt. "You think it's legit? I heard something on the news a couple of months ago about someone opening a school somewhere in New York. Figured it for bullshit, but..." If nothing else, it'd be a free trip to somewhere other than San Francisco. It wasn't as if either of them could stay here.
Tybalt took a moment to make sure the two newcomers could see exactly how skeptical his skeptically raised eyebrow was. Then he shrugged diffidently. "I've always wanted to see New York. Let's think of it as an adventure." Turning to Nori and Bigby he smirked crookedly. "Alright then, consider your pitch successful. Show us what you have to offer."
Toby was pacing.
It wasn't as if there was much else to do. They'd stopped running two days earlier, if you could call it running when it involved two buses, the BART system, a cab, and two jumps via Tybalt's shadows that had left her shivering, breathless, and even more annoyed with Tybalt than even she had ever thought possible. They'd apparently lost their pursuers the previous day, and holed up in a boarded over abandoned storefront somewhere in Berkeley.
The problem was, she had absolutely no idea what to do next.
Going back seemed like a bad plan. A call to Dare from a disposable cell phone the previous day had resulted in more questions than answers - the younger girl had told her that Devin was acting edgy and even more belligerent than usual, so much so that she and her brother were actually considering getting the hell out of Home before he went off the deep end. Moreover, when Toby'd asked if Devin had said anything about her absence, Dare had sulkily confided that he'd smacked her when she'd asked.
Putting two and two together? Home was definitely off limits.
Toby continued pacing. If nothing else, she figured it had to be driving Tybalt insane. She'd take what she could get.
One thing abandoned shopfronts weren't well equipped with was comfortable furniture. Tybalt had made do through the simple expedient of shifting into cat form and curling up in a corner. Apparently he could sleep anywhere.
Anywhere Toby wasn't pacing. For the past few minutes he'd been watching Toby with his ears getting progressively flatter and flatter against his skull. Finally the cat hopped to his feet and stretched. The feline motion seemed to stretch his body out to an impossible degree and somewhere in the middle of it he wasn't a cat anymore, but a very annoyed looking young man.
"Must you pace like that? I'd have though that after the last while you'd be happy to NOT be moving around for a little." He asked archly, but with a snap of annoyance underlying his dispassionate expression.
"Why, is it bothering you?" Toby retorted, turning towards him and planting her hands on her hips. "Sorry, not everyone can just turn into a cat and take a nap."
"Obviously." Tybalt shot back. He left both the fact that that was her problem and the fact that he was a big enough person not to hold that against her unspoken. but definitely implied. "But wearing a circle in the floorboards is hardly going to help you get out of this mess. So why bother? Unless you have some sort of grudge against that particular circle of floor? Did it offend your delicate sensibilities?"
"It's not holding up anything capable of making coffee. That's offensive enough." She sighed and let her arms drop. "Look, we're stuck here, and I'm too tired for this bullshit. Unless you've got any ideas about what we're going to do next, just shut up, okay?"
"How about this? I'll do the shut up part if you do the sit down part. Together we can pretend to be patient. And when the after work rush starts I'll see about acquiring you some coffee. And some food." As peace offerings went, that one was pretty ungraciously delivered. But it was more productive than his usual snark at least. And Tybalt did settle back down (in human form), so maybe he'd keep to the shut up part.
Toby let out a resigned sigh and sat down on the floor. "Fine. Though it's not like you're any less visible than I am. I'm entirely capable of feeding myself."
Tybalt stretched and leaned back again the wall. "Let me know when you learn how to walk through shadows to get away from trouble. Then you cam get food and I can have another nap." Other than that attempt to have the last word he was content to close his eyes and just wait for their next move. At least nobody knew where they were.
Noriko's eyes were trained on the store the kids were apparently holed up in, even as Lehnsherr gave them one last preparatory speech. Nothing they didn't know already - two street kids, a guy and a girl, even more on edge from being chased by the Facility, one of them a cat shifter who could travel via shadows, the other an unknown mutant - but it didn't hurt to listen to it all once again, and to Lehnsherr's recommendations. Caution, calm, don't overdo the kinship, look out for yourselves. He'd keep an eye out for any incoming Facility teams while they tried to get the two kids to come with.
Noriko had made a point to keep her gauntlets, this time; the point really wasn't to hide the fact that she was a mutant, and if she had to use her electricity, she always preferred having them on. Just in case. She was dressed in her regular ripped jeans, her battered old denim jacket thrown over a New York Dolls tee.
"Got it," she told Lehnsherr, making eye contact with him, then with Bigby. She nodded in the direction of the store; trying to sneak up on the kids would likely not end well, so they might as well use the direct approach.
Bigby nodded an agreement, and started for the store. He wasn't sure how this would go, but at least this time they were going fully informed. Or closer to, anyway. "Let's hope we get through this one with as few stabbings as possible this time, huh?"
"Let's make that no stabbing at all," Noriko requested wryly, but this was her usual kind of humor. She grew silent as they neared the door, listening in for what might be going on inside the store and very aware that whatever it was, Bigby would pick up on it before she could.
Toby sat on the floor for a few minutes, fidgeting, then gave up and got back to her feet. "Do you think they're going to find us again?" she asked Tybalt, who, typical to form, looked as if he were falling asleep.
Tybalt had found himself a corner to slump into. Even half curled up like that on the hard floor he managed to look comfortable and reasonably at ease. Which was dispelled a bit when he cracked an eye open and frowned. "Well, there's nobody left to sell us out anymore. So there's that." He groused. "We still need to consider moving on. In the morning though."
Noriko slowed as they neared the front door, shooting Bigby a look to know whether there was anything of note going on inside, or if they should just go ahead and make their presence known.
Bigby paused, listening, smelling. He held up two fingers, then gestured to indicate one was in the corner, and the other was nearer to the door. There was no way they wouldn't see them coming, so they'd just have to be ready.
"So what, we're just going to keep moving from place to place?" Toby demanded incredulously. "Where's next, Napa?"
Toby didn't get the usual bickering back from Tybalt, who suddenly seemed to have lost the expression of bored annoyance in favour of a tight frown of concern. "Shh." He whispered harshly, and pointed towards the door. He didn't bother to add 'Someone's coming'. That should kind of be obvious with the way he hopped to his feet in a tense, ready crouch.
"Don't-" Toby broke off as she realized why Tybalt was shh-ing, and nodded and moved to the side of the door. She pulled her her knife out of her pocket and assumed a read stance of her own. Maybe if they kept taking out the assholes, they'd stop sending them. It was worth a shot, anyway. She was getting sick of being hauled all over the San Francisco area.
Bigby gestured that one of the people had moved closer to the door. One of, maybe even both, the mutants must have heard them coming. Advanced hearing, maybe? A psychic? Either way, no more surprise on their side. He pointed to himself, then the door, indicating he should go first. Healing factor, and all that fun stuff. He put his hand on the door, and looked at Noriko. Ready?
Noriko nodded, hanging back and ready for, hopefully, pretty much anything. But she trusted Bigby, and it made sense for him to go first, since he had a better idea of what was going on.
At Noriko's nod, Bigby opened the door and went inside.
As soon as the door opened and he stepped inside, Toby started to move. Grabbing at his arm, she pressed the tip of her knife against his back - then paused as she realized the newcomer was a teenage boy rather than one of their prior pursuers. Great, either the men in black were changing tactics drastically, or they'd managed to hide out in someone else's spot. The latter being somewhat more likely, she pulled back the knife a little, though her grip didn't loosen and she didn't let go of his arm. "Your place?" It hadn't looked occupied, but then, it wasn't like they'd searched the whole building, either. He could have setup upstairs.
Unlike Toby, Tybalt didn't take the direct approach. There were enough shadows for him to vanish into easily, so he stepped out of the room and into the street a little way behind the two strangers. Toby could do the talking, he'd be ready for trouble.
"Nope," Noriko replied from the doorway, hands held out a little distance from her body in the universal sign for harmlessness. Of course, that might just draw their attention to the metal gauntlets she was wearing, but she'd happily field questions on that topic if it meant the knife moved farther away from Bigby's throat.
"Then what are you doing here?" Tybalt asked from behind them. Right now he reckoned getting answers and making them aware they were surrounded was more useful than staying hidden. "You'll excuse the suspicion, but strangers have not been good to us recently."
"You might as well take that knife away," Bigby said. "It's not gonna do much."
"What, you don't bleed?" Toby retorted. She pulled the knife back a few inches, though she kept hold of the kid's arm, her eyes flicking apprehensively towards whatever the metal things were that his partner was wearing. "Answer the question - if this isn't your place, what do you want? I seriously doubt you're selling Avon."
"We're selling something way better than that," Noriko replied, staying in the door frame but turning so that she had both kids in her field of vision, keeping her hands in easy view of them. There was no use pretending they weren't here to sell something, and the blunt approach was always her default. "We're mutants too." She raised one gauntleted hand slowly and waved its fingers, tendrils of electricity winding around them for a couple of seconds. "And no, we're not with the people you've been running from." Because her paranoid mind would have gone there, in their place.
Tybalt folded his arms over his chest and gave the two of them a long, hard look. "She's not kidding about finding out whether you bleed by the way. My friend here is not known for her gentle temper.* He pointed out mildly. "So if you aren't with the people chasing us, why are you trying to sell us anything? Or are you going to try peddling that you happened to come in here by accident?"
"If we came in here, deliberately, selling something, it's unlikely it was an accident," Bigby replied dryly, then gestured to the knife. "Can you move this already? Like I said, it's not gonna do much good." And he was getting tired standing here with a knife to his neck.
Against her better judgement, Toby made a show of dropping her hand down to her side, and even more reluctantly let go of the kid's arm. "Fine. It's not an accident, you're mutants, you know we're mutants, and you're not with the people who have been chasing us. What are you selling?" She looked over at Tybalt and said, "Close the door before we draw any more attention?"
Good, progress. Noriko lowered her hands, slowly, and walked inside the building proper, so the teleporter (that was how she assumed he had gotten behind her earlier) could come in as well and close the door. Only once he had done so did she turn to the two of them, as she came to stand beside Bigby. "We live in a school for mutants, you might've heard of it. It's the real deal. We used to be on our own, too."
Following the others in, Tybalt closed the door and leaned against it. If anyone was going to be in charge of the way out, it was going to be him. "So is this a recruitment drive? I'm afraid we are a little short on tuition money." He quipped dryly.
"It's an offer," Bigby replied with a casual shrug. "No strings. You can come to the school, or you can stay here. Your call."
Toby looked over at Tybalt. "You think it's legit? I heard something on the news a couple of months ago about someone opening a school somewhere in New York. Figured it for bullshit, but..." If nothing else, it'd be a free trip to somewhere other than San Francisco. It wasn't as if either of them could stay here.
Tybalt took a moment to make sure the two newcomers could see exactly how skeptical his skeptically raised eyebrow was. Then he shrugged diffidently. "I've always wanted to see New York. Let's think of it as an adventure." Turning to Nori and Bigby he smirked crookedly. "Alright then, consider your pitch successful. Show us what you have to offer."
