Nightfall, Children of the Elements

[CodastertheDisaster]

The street was deserted. Eerily silent. Soft, but deep footfalls echoed off of the walls of abandoned buildings. Cockroaches and mice scrambled underfoot to get away from the large newcomer. He stopped as the vermin scuttled away. "Damn, this place did go to hell," he observed. "Can't leave for a few months without getting infested, I suppose," he continued on. His voice was deep, and slightly raspy. Certainly not a voice that would belong to a seventeen-year-old. However, this was precisely the case.

The boy's name was Epsil. He was tall and semi-muscular, being much stronger than his lean appearance showed. His skin was oddly pale, his eyes a glowing, predatory amber. A pair of dark jeans and black boots, a white shirt, and a grey trench coat were all that was visible on his person. His hair was wavy and jet-black, pushed away from his face and cascading down his shoulders. Slightly crooked teeth were visible behind a mischievous half-grin. He slouched slightly, his body language very nonchalant. The fact that he was so young, yet alone and still alive in fair health was a clear display of how able a fighter he was. It didn't matter how good at hiding and surviving you were, the demons could always sniff you out. So you had to kill them, which is what Epsil did.

A few paces later, the boy strode out from the alley he'd been in, into the middle of the street. A few rays of sunlight poked through the grey sky to light the desolate and wrecked shell of the city. Once, it had a name, but that was long forgotten, all traces marked out by graffiti or scavenged or just simply destroyed.

Epsil sighed loudly, stretching his arms towards the sky. "'S nice to be home, I guess," he said to himself, letting his arms drop. His eyes scanned the street for a few moments, looking for anything that was moving towards the sound. Nothing, aside from the standard vermin, and a few crows moved. He sighed again, groaning. "I was really hoping someone'd come on out to play," he drawled on. 'Come on out to play' was an ambiguous statement. He was either going to decimate any demons that popped out, or welcome any humans with open arms.

Epsil was a loner by nature, but the survival of his race still took priority. "No need to be shy, 'ol Epsil isn't a bad person~" he called out, strolling on down the street with his hands in his pockets.

[blackoutEquinox]

The skyscraper was anything but silent. Wind screamed through the broken panes of glass that used to make the tower shine in the sun. Now these broken panes were like the eyes of a skull, this sky scraper was a monument to the remnants of humanity. However, this hulking tower wasn't empty. A young man all of nineteen years looked out from the roof of the skyscraper over the dead city, his ghillie cloak making his lithe frame look bulkier than what it actually was. His camouflage cargo pants and boots looked quite worn down, faded colours and patches showing the age of the clothing. The "newest" thing he wore was a ballistic vest with the kevlar plates removed from it. The man had taken it from the skeletal remains of a soldier in a tank along with all the ammo that had been found within the tank, about 200 5.56 rounds and 150 9mm rounds. He turned to look at the two people sitting behind him, the last of his people.

Lilith looked up from the rifle she was cleaning and smiled at him, her long red hair falling over her eyes. The boy sitting beside her reached over and brushed it back from her dust covered face. It was clear from their actions that these two, Marcus and Lilith, were very close to each other. Lilith quickly reassembled the M14, the same gun the other two men were armed with, and slung it over her shoulder. They were all similarly dressed, same style of cloak, boots, and pants, with the only real difference being what they wore on their chest. Lilith had a black tank top while Marcus wore a his ragged plain white shirt. Marcus turned to look at his elder by two years and said, "Lilith and I are ready to get our heads out of the clouds Aculeus."

"Good, we need to get out of sight fast," Aculeus responded smoothly.

All three bent to grab their too light rucksacks and walked to the stairway that led all the way back to the first floor. The stairs went down twenty stories and opened up into the remnants of a hotel lobby. Aculeus took the time to take in the features of his last two friends from Oasis. Sixteen year-old Lilith was the fair-skinned, green-eyed, redhead female of the group and also the shortest of them. She couldn't be an inch over 5'6" and used it to her full advantage. When Aculeus looked at Marcus the first thing that drew his gaze was the boy's dark black hair, like a moonless night. Marcus stood at a solid 5'11" and was quite muscular, his muscles were more prominent than Aculeus' even though Aculeus was much stronger by far. Marcus' tan complexion hinted at Arabian ancestry, which was supported by the fact that he spoke Arabic and was Muslim. They all spoke Arabic with each other, simply because most people couldn't speak it in this area which meant they could have private conversations in front of other people.

The entire time he was taking in the sight of his companions, Aculeus thought of the way he looked. His eyes were a deep green, reminiscent of a dark treetop; his skin had a light-brown hue that always reminded him of tree bark. His brown hair was a curly mess, reaching down to the spot between his shoulder blades, and always seemed to have small leaves caught somewhere within the chaos of his hair. But his most defining feature was his left arm. It wasn't his actual arm, he had lost it fighting his first demon when he was ten, instead where his left arm should be was a series of what appeared to be vines, in the shape of an arm, complete with fingers and most of the "muscle" groups that would be found in a normal arm. It had taken almost a week to make the first time but if he lost it, and he had before, he could remake it in about ten hours if he focused.

Aculeus looked out on the street through a shattered glass door and checked to see if anything was about. He didn't see anything so he motioned for his companions to follow him as he stepped out onto the wide sidewalk. "Keep your head on the swivel," he told them as they began to walk down the street. It had only been about ten minutes before Aculeus heard an echo of someone calling out. All he could make out was "isn't" and "person" which made him laugh a bit on the inside. He managed to discern the direction the sound had originally come from and led his group towards the source of the shout.

[General Azimuth]

The black haired boy's eyes flashed open. Where was he, and why? Or, more importantly, who was he? The last thing he remembered was, what? He didn't know. He looked around, his topaz eyes seeing what seemed to be a facility, though what for he had no idea. He saw pods throughout the room, if that was the right word. The pods were about 7' tall by 3' wide, big enough to easily hold all but the most over-sized of people, and they were in columns of ten, and rows of 20.

The boy took a step forward, a little weak on his feet. He turned back, realizing he had also been inside one of the pods. He saw a plaque next to it, with "Ex: 1A, X." When he first saw it, however, he read it as XIAX, and its presence next to his pod made him assume it was his name. "That answers 'who'. Now for where, and why," he said to himself. He walked slowly towards a red glowing light at the end of the hall, glancing at the windows on the pod doors. There weren't people in every one, but the few that did have people contained teens, 16 or 17 at the oldest. He realized he didn't actually know how old he was. He looked at the glass on the next pod, catching a glimpse of his reflection. He seemed to be about 15.

Xiax, as he had 'chosen' to call himself, finally reached the red light, which turned out to be a lighted sign saying "Exit" over top of a metal door. He pushed the door open, and found himself outside a warehouse-like building, surrounded by trees, with a city's skyline visible in the distance. He started walking toward the skyline, when he heard a growling noise. To his left, he saw a silver furred wolf, its teeth bared at him.

He slowly walked toward the wolf, when it suddenly started running at him. It jumped before it reached him, and sailed overtop of him. Xiax turned to follow its movements, and saw it attacking a strange being. It was 4' tall and blood red. Its head and torso were that of a small man, but it had horns atop its head and the legs of a goat. The wolf attacked the creature, snapping at its legs. The creature hit the wolf, and the animal flew across the clearing, hitting the side of the building with a thud.

A sudden, seemingly irrational rage swelled inside Xiax. He may not have known the wolf, but no animal should be treated that way. He felt his face elongate into a snout, as his knees reversed direction and his nails and teeth grew into claws and fangs. He ran at the monster, gaining a foot in height, and slashed its chest, a black, thick liquid spilling from it. Blood. Xiax, fueled by rage, tore it to shreds. Only when it was dead and unrecognizable did he stop, and he shrank back to human size, his snout, fangs, and claws receding, his knees righting themselves. He panted a little, before walking over to the wolf.

The wolf seemed fine, if a little dazed, and started licking the blood off Xiax's hands and face. "You're not so scary, at least when you're happy," he said, laughing. "You wanna come with me?" The wolf licked him again. "I'll take that as a yes. So, you need a name. Its a little unoriginal, but how 'bout Fang?" The wolf barked happily, and got up, as Xiax turned back to the skyline. "Let's go, Fang." The pair began their journey to the city, leaving the facility behind.

[CodastertheDisaster]

A few minutes passed, and Epsil sighed. "What, you don't want to come see me? Fine, just throw my affections away. It's not like I care," he called out sarcastically, just as he heard the echoes of something hitting a wall. It didn't seem to far off, so the boy took a few steps towards the direction of the noise. He whistled nonchalantly, taking long strides. He seemed out of place in the wasted city.

He reached the end of the street and shrugged, looking up the side of a smaller building. He took a running start, leaping up against the bricks. He kicked off the side, doing a flip and repeating his action again at another wall, so that he twirled through the air to land on the roof of a building. He started running, leaping off the side and jumping from rooftop to rooftop, following the sound.

His precision hearing helped a lot. He'd only heard the noise for a few seconds, and instantly he was able to detect it's aproximate location. He could see a person petting a canine below the building, so he hopped down, falling lightly behind the boy. He seemed to be a couple years younger than Epsil.

"Howdy," he called out in his ever-present carefree tone.

[Shadoe Mayari]

Normally, people would be worried about a small boy hanging around on his own. Especially if his hiding spot happened to be on top of a very precarious, broken-down skyscraper. He was at the age where he had lost most of his childish fat, but puberty has yet to kick in. His blond curly hair covered up his fierce blue eyes. His yellow hoodie and brown shorts were a tad big for him, but it wasn’t like they were getting in the way, so he didn’t complain. By his waist was a large brown satchel, filled with stuff a child like him would have. He didn’t really look much, but the kid knew what he was doing.

He called himself Hasta. His real name was Justin, but he thought that was too boring. He hadn’t a clue to how he came up with Hasta, maybe it was from one of his old books or something. But, he liked his name. It sounded like the word ‘haste,’ which suited him pretty well.

Hasta stood at the very edge of the building, looking down at the city below. He noticed birds flying away from something, so he focused his eyes to the street. He saw what looked like a small group and smirked. He waited until they were almost beneath where he was and jumped.

Now, most people would be alarmed to see a small boy plunging to what could possibly be his death, but Hasta knew what he was doing. Halfway down, he began to use the wind around him to slow down his fall. When he was about twenty or so feet from the ground, his free-fall had turned into a dainty float down to the ground. He landed just behind the group, and immediately noticed how much bigger they were compared to him.

[General Azimuth]

Xiax looked over at the sound, seeing a young man walking towards him. Fang growled slightly, but he set his hand on the wolf's head. "Not yet," he whispered, only audible to Fang. The guy seemed harmless enough, but you never could be too sure. The wolf calmed down, though it still seemed a little tense. Louder now, so the other could hear him, he said, "And you are?" ready to counter any attacks the guy might send his way.

[CodastertheDisaster]

Epsil continued sauntering over to the boy, grinning all the while. "Me...?" he said out loud, over-dramatizing the moment. He stopped about three feet from the boy. "Well, I'm...A person," he replied, grinning maniacally. He chuckled, slapping his knee. "I'm just fuckin' with ya. I'm Epsil," he added a few minutes later.

Epsil took another step forward, a beam of light lighting his face, making his eyes seem to glow that much brighter. While it wasn't quite winter yet, the temperature seemed to drop slightly, a chilly wind cutting through the city. Epsil's smile faltered for a second, replaced by an expression of deathly seriousness. As soon as the gust finished, the boy's features lapsed back into his devilish grin. "Odd," he remarked.

"Well, Doggyboy, you and your pet might want to take shelter. I get the feeling shit's about to go down. Oh, and nice work," he added, motioning to the torn up demon body on the ground. He spun on his heel, and began to walk away, pausing after a few long strides. "Or, you can stick around. I don't mind."

[blackoutEquinox]

The survivors had been walking for a while towards the echo, any chill being held off by the thickness of the cloaks. They walked with Aculeus on point, followed by Lilith and Marcus. The equipment they wore weighed the pure humans down a little bit which meant a lot of walking. Aculeus could basically ignore the weight due to his superhuman strength. The sound led them past a decrepit skyscraper, about forty stories tall. As soon as they were directly in front of the building the wind suddenly picked up, unnatural wind. The three knew immediately it wasn't a demon, those hellish creatures liked to scream and holler before they attacked as a group.

Aculeus looked up and saw part of what he expected. What he had expected was someone his own age using their powers to make themselves known. Instead he saw a young boy coming down gently on the wind, like a feather. When the young boy landed to group made a quick assessment of the boy; the boy wore clothes that looked just a little too big to fit him and his eyes were mostly hidden by some crazily curly blonde hair. The boy had a satchel with him as well, which pointed to him being alone, which he would be able to pull off judging by how skilled he was with his powers. "He's adorable," Lilith whispered to Marcus as they walked to flank Aculeus.

"Keep focused Lilith," Marcus shot back in a whisper, "He could kill us at a whim if he chose to do so."

Aculeus shushed them as they took their positions behind him. "Sweet skills kid. Good job on not killing your self." He held out his hand and proclaimed, "My name is Aculeus Willow of Oasis. Who are you?" Hopefully this kid wasn't poo-brained. He likely wouldn't be, kids tended to mature faster these days.

[General Azimuth]

"Yeah, weird. Epsil, huh? What do you mean, 'shit's gonna go down'? What's going on?" Fang's ears suddenly perked up, and the wolf ran off. As it turned, his hand brushed its eyes, and suddenly Xiax saw, more. He could still see Epsil, in front of him, but he could also see buildings flying by. The colours were off, although it slowly became normal, but he could tell it was from a lower viewpoint, and that it was moving fast. He tried to ignore it, and continued talking to the newcomer. "I'm Xiax, by the way. I'm, kind of new here, so I'm not sure what's going on. What, was that thing?" he asked, indicating the demon.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fang had heard voices somewhere else, and after confirming that Speedy was harmless, decided to check it out. He still had no idea how a human could move that fast. He had heard someone yelling, suddenly he could smell someone, and then moments later the guy had shown up. He didn't know what 'Epsil' meant, but Master seemed to feel unthreatened by it. He arrived where he had heard the voices, and lurked in the shadows, seeing 4 new humans, one female, the other three male. One wasn't right, though. His arm was a plant, and he and the small one had similar scents to Master and Speedy.

[CodastertheDisaster]

Epsil chuckled, continuing to walk off at a medium pace. "It means that some very mean creatures are going to kick our ass if we aren't careful," he replied dryly. He listened as the animal's paws clicked against the concrete, fading off. He lost the canine's location after a few moments.

"Xiax, hm? Sounds like a sick name to m- Wait, new? And you don't know what the demons are...? Uh, where have you been the past twenty years? It's not like the demons are new. For Christ's sake man!" His tone wasn't mean, just tinged with his ever-present sarcasm. "So uh, do you want to chase your dog? He might be on to something." Epsil's smirk faded, but his demeanor was still very nonchalant.

[Shadoe Mayari]

"Hasta," the boy said, squinting through his bangs. He had difficulty making out the group's features, for he could barely see the hand that was held out in front of him. The man in front of him was a giant blob to him, but the two behind were a bit clearer. Without squinting, all Hasta could really make out was the girl's red hair; everything else was too similarly colored and difficult to discern.

He did manage to see the wolf approach them and backed a little, but as it got closer it became blurrier. Eventually it became just another blob. He began to rub his eyes and tried to focus, but the blobs remained.

[blackoutEquinox]

"Nice to meet you Hasta," Aculeus said as he retracted his hand due to
the boy not taking it. "These people with me are Lilith Green and Marcus
Nejadeen," he told the boy, motioning to his companions when he said
their name. Lilith gave a slightly too ecstatic wave and a large smile.
Marcus only gave a nod, once again showing that he was the least social
of the group. Aculeus pulled the hood off his head to try and help the boy see him better; Marcus and Lilith did the same thing a few seconds later. Hopefully this would help him, but judging by the boy's lack of focus, it probably didn't mean anything. Aculeus heard the softest sound, like a foot pad, and turned.

Lilith and Marcus turned when they heard a sound behind them a few moments later. Lilith's eyes went wide as she lifted her rifle and dropped to a knee to get a better tag on the creature, while keeping the safety on. The wolf had a beautiful silver coat and was now the most magnificent creature she had had ever seen. Marcus had also raised his rifle to aim at the wolf, but instead of a beautiful beast he saw a threat to Lilith's life. He flicked his safety off and adjusted his aim for the wolf's chest. "Don't come near us!" he shouted at the wolf. He hated canines due to the fact that three-headed demonic hounds had been the creatures to sack Oasis.

Aculeus walked between them and pushed their weapons down. "How rude of you two. If it wanted us dead then it would have attacked already. And wolves don't hunt alone. This wolf is alone, so we can safely assume it isn't trying to actively kill us." He turned to Marcus and told him rather bluntly, "Safety on. Now." Marcus mumbled something under his breathe before quickly complying. Aculeus walked forward towards the silver-furred beast and stopped just outside of what he guessed to be the wolf's maximum leaping range, no sense in taking chances. He stood there, rifle hanging by the strap from his shoulder, and waited for the wolf to make the next move.

[General Azimuth]

"There, there are others, here, in the city." By now, Xiax had figured out that his second vision was what Fang saw, adapted to fit a human brain. "He found them. Two teens, a third, maybe slightly older, with a plant for an arm, oddly enough. Also, a younger boy," he said, still a little shocked by what he was seein. "Sorry, I have to go, Fang's about to get shot." Xiax ran off, hoping he isn't too late.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the safety clicked off, Fang bared his teeth, but the way his tail dashed between his legs betrayed his fear. Vines approached him, but he kept his gaze on the one who was hesitating about his safety. Girl seemed fine, and he wasn't sure about Squinty, but he slowly walked towards Vines, and sniffed at his hand.

Xiax finally reached the group, as he saw Fang's snout extremely close to the Plant boy's hand. "Sorry about him, he ran off. It won't happen again." He acted like a normal pet owner, like nothing was strange about the whole scenario. "I'm Xiax, this is Fang. Nice to meet you guys. And girl," he added, acknowledging Lilith.

[CodastertheDisaster]

Epsil watched Xiax run off after his pet with detached interest. "Wonder if he's like us," Epsil mused. He sighed and shrugged, deciding it would be in his best interest to follow. He once again leaped up the side of a building and began his high-speed trek across the rooftops. He quickly spotted Xiax's form running through the streets.

Epsil followed from the rooftops, and occasional wall. He paused about six stories above Xiax, over the growing group. He was on the side of a destroyed skyscraper, gripping the exposed support beams tightly. He wasn't worried about falling, it wasn't like the wind would get the best of him. His grip could most likely dent the metal if he truly cared about trying hard enough.

His grin was back, even alone above everyone else. For now, he'd wait until he was spotted. Or maybe he'd contact that Xiax fellow later to see how the others were. Maybe they'd all end up sticking together. Maybe not. Epsil would still look out for them. There wasn't much life left, especially with humans, so watching out for them and keeping them alive was one of Epsil's priorities.

[Shadoe Mayari]

Hasta frowned. More blobs, he thought. He started to get anxious, with all these figures around him that he couldn't really see. As Xiax approached them he took a couple of steps away from the group, just to get a clearer view. He began to rub his eyes again and decided to focus on something farther away, something he could actually see clearly. Hasta focused on a couple of birds flying around in the distance and used his powers to screw with them as the flew around, knocking them off course. He wasn't going to talk unless someone asked him a question or something. He'll just play around with the birds and let the big kids do the talking.

[blackoutEquinox]

The silver beast approached Aculeus carefully, ending with it's snout at his hand and sniffed. Suddenly a boy appeared, a few years old than Hasta but still younger any one of the Oasis survivors. The boy introduced himself as Xiax after he apologized for his wolf, aptly named Fang, running off and into us. Great, more introductions. I swear if I have to do introduce myself, Lilith, and Marcus one more time. . . Aculeus thought to himself before beginning introductions yet again. "My name is Aculeus Willow, I'm from Oasis." He turned slightly to point to Lilith, "The redhead over there is Lilith Green," she gave a wave and a smile, "And the tall, tan, and antisocial man is Marcus Nejadeen." Marcus nodded to Xiax before flipping Aculeus the bird.

"Aculeus can be a dick sometimes," Marcus told Lilith in arabic.

"Like you can't?" she replied fluently, with a raised eyebrow.

"I can be, I know, but I'm just saying; he's a dick sometimes."

Lilith snorted and punched Marcus' shoulder lightly. "At least we're alive because of him."

There was a solemn silence as they both looked back on still painful memories of their home and dead loved ones. "We need to get out of here," Aculeus told those assembled. "We're drawing too much attention out in the open, as seen by the way this group got here." He walked over to the skyscraper that Hasta had jumped off and walked through one of the shattered glass doors, the shards of glass crunching under his boots. "Follow me if you want to live." He proclaimed to the group. Lilith and Marcus snickered at the quote and promptly followed Aculeus into the half-destroyed building.

[quackers are yummylicious]

Nuala sat perched a top a building, her brown eyes flicking back and forth across the remains of the city behind her sunglasses, watching for movement. While cities tended to have more food and other supplies, the number of demons around also seemed to be increased. Being out in the wilderness for too long was risky, with the possibility of running out of supplies, but being in cities was risky as well. Nuala liked to divide her time, keeping out of trouble as best she could.

Her eyes settled on movement on the streets below, and she nearly jumped to her feet. She had to stay calm, she had to stay calm. Brushing wiry strands of her long scruffy brown hair out of her face, she lifted her sunglasses away from her eyes, looking down at the two groups slowly making their way towards each other through enhanced light beams. After only a few seconds, she winced, covering her eyes back up with the dark shades. She couldn't see them, but she was sure her eyes were already bloodshot.

Nuala had found early on that light had a certain affinity to her. She had difficulty controlling it to her will, and once she used to it to enhance her vision, it was often hard to turn off, hence the sunglasses to keep her retinas from burning up. She'd had enhanced vision for a few weeks now, surely she'd be able to turn it off soon. This was probably the longest stretch.

Getting to her feet, she dusted off her worn cargo pants, a few sizes too big and held up with an elastic cord around her waist, with callused hands, also a bit big for a seventeen year old girl. She wore a gray t-shirt, though it may have once been white-- she couldn't really remember-- tucked into her pants. Her sneakers, dusty and gray as well, were probably the only thing that seemed to fit her properly. Pulling a knife out of one of the various leather sheaths around her waist, she headed for the rickety stairs down, figuring there was safety in numbers.

[Rose Hathaway]

Her home was a small alley between two incredibly tall buildings. At night, when she slept, she’d look at the sky and the rooftops of those buildings. But she never went up there. Her fear of heights kept her away from it. Besides, she liked the dark her hiding place had. It brought her a distinct sense of calm and happiness.

She couldn’t remember her name, nor was she creative enough to name herself. And quite frankly, she thought names were frivolous and unnecessary. At least, until she found the right one. If she liked it, that would be her name. Now, if only she could figure one out…

Movement in the street outside caught her eye, and she stood from where she was sitting. As she drew nearer to the street, the lack of shadow revealed blonde hair pulled back in a messy braid with wire and green eyes on a pale face sprinkled with freckles. She was wearing a black tank top and khaki colored cargo pants beneath an army jacket, along with a pair of army boots stolen from a dead soldier. All of it was a little loose on her, but it was enough to cover her up and keep her warm at night. She peeked out after squinting to get her eyes used to the light and saw a group entering one of the buildings that created her hiding place. They looked heavily armed. She picked up her own gun, shoved the extra bullets into her own pockets, and snuck in behind them. Behind them lay a trail of broken glass, obviously crunched beneath their feet. That threw in obstacle up in being sneaky.

With a certain grace, much like a fox, she dodged the broken glass and stuck to the shadows of the interior of the building. Finally, she was ahead of them and nestled into a dark corner, just watching them. When they came near enough, she stepped out with her gun drawn. “Weapons down.” she said darkly. “On the ground. Kick them away.” Her voice somewhat raspy from a lack of use. She didn’t have anyone she normally talked to, and plus the stealth and silence she enjoyed made it so talking was just something to be used when needed. And now, talking was needed to give orders.

[Big Uri]

Aden picked through the rubbish silently, sharp green eyes squinting as he looked. He found few people took the time to properly search every nook and cranny of a place, with cities being the best example. Perhaps it was the certain stigma that picking through bins still carried with people, or maybe it was the oppressive claustrophobia that dark buildings seemed to rouse, what with the possibilities of demons hiding around every corner and all.

He preferred it. Not the fighting specifically, or even the fear, but the possibility that he could be less than ten yards away from trouble excited him. The chance to use his powers, demonstrate just why it was he had gotten so far was tantalizing. It wasn't like he had to worry about dirtying himself, as his once-light track suit bottoms were now caked with blood and mud, though he prided himself that only some of it was his. The state of his t-shirt didn't bear speaking about.

Not that any of this was on his mind as he finished his search, the only object of interest being a lighter, which he naturally pocketed. Why wouldn't he? It wasn't like there was any incentive not to loot in his world. He had to look out for one person, himself, and that was the way he liked it, with no restrictions. He walked outside into the mostly-fresh air, blinking at the change in light levels before seeing if he could detect any heat sources nearby.

His eyes widened slightly in shock as he felt a cluster of heat sources around the right size to be human, before shaking his head. His brown hair moved with it, just short enough not to get in his eyes, but still covering most of his forehead. He didn't care about looks, but he couldn't have it blocking his view. At that moment, however, he disregarded what he was seeing anyway. You never found people in groups of that size, not in the city. It was probably demons, and therefore far better to loop around and scope them out from afar.

Shouldering the largest of his few possessions, a scoped rifle that he had looted a couple of months ago, he began to trek all the way around the skyscrapers, making his way quickly but precisely, never looking anything less than alert. Just because he didn't see their heat signatures didn't mean there wasn't demons about, so he wasn't about to let his guard down any time soon. In his eighteen years, the one inescapable fact was that the moment you were careless, you were dead.

[quackers are yummylicious]

Nuala hesitantly stepped out of the building and into the light, glancing around and making a mental map towards where she had last seen the group of people, occasionally lifting up her glasses and looking around for any signs of life-- human or otherwise. Getting ambushed by demons was not on her to-do list.

She saw him first, or if he had noticed her, he didn't seem to really show any signs of it. This made everything even more impossible, meeting humans was rare enough, but this one seemed to be in a different group from the others. That would make two groups of humans, and she could only wonder if there were more.

Nonetheless, she gripped her knife tightly, deciding to follow the shoddily-dressed brown haired guy and see if he had noticed the other group of people as well. Could be interesting, if he didn't try to kill her or something. There was an awful lot of grime that looked suspiciously like blood on his clothes.

[Big Uri]

Aden kept moving quietly, finding the lack of activity in the city around him odd but keeping his nerve. He was emitting heat, not so much that it was immediately evident, and indeed it wasn't even that noticeable until you got too close to him, but one could feel it even fifteen or twenty yards away from him. It seemed to be unconscious, or if it wasn't, the brown-haired boy didn't seem to any mind to it. He was focused on being silent, holding the satchel at his side to make sure it didn't give away his presence.

Not that he had much to be making a racket with. He had a few shells for rifle, a small pistol that he had found with only two or three bullets, a packet of cigarettes, and some light food and drink, not enough to last him very long. He was evidently travelling light, but he didn't seem to be in too bad shape, at least not compared to his clothes. He was under six feet, that was definite, a few inches under it, though he was stocky and built athletically. A bandage adorned his right arm, just about visible under the sleeve of his t-shirt, and his cheek was cut under his left eye.

None of this showed in his movement, though, and he seemed to be perfectly fine, if a little bit cagey as he moved into position. Taking his rifle from his shoulder, he threw a cautionary look around, just before committing himself to looking, and saw her. He was caught off guard, since he hadn't seen a human in a good few months, but he reacted sharply, turning to raise the rifle towards her, his expression unflinching.

[quackers are yummylicious]

Nuala didn't really like having guns pointed at her. They were loud, that attracted attention. "How about we put the gun down," she asked, her voice low and raspy from an obvious lack of use. She wasn't in bad shape herself, though she definitely looked like she could use a good wash and maybe a comb. The expression on her face didn't seem to change that much either at the gun, her eyes only widening slightly behind her sunglasses for a second.

A long, drawn out sigh passed through her lips, and she coughed slightly, adjusting the bag she had slung over her shoulder. "I'll put the knife away if you put the gun down," she proposed, waving the glinting piece of metal a bit. If there was one thing she tried to take good care of, it was her weapons. She brushed a short strand of brown hair out of her face, watching the stranger carefully and hoping he'd put the gun down.

[Big Uri]

"That doesn't seem a fair trade," Aden finally spoke, having taken a second to deliberate. His voice was deep and hoarse, dry from dust and the time since it had been last used. His eyes were far from trusting as he stated at the girl, wishing he could see behind her sunglasses and get a read on her, at least. While it wouldn't have been much, he could at least have been able to see reactions.

"But fine, if you say so," he continued after another minute, putting down his gun slowly and carefully, his green eyes never wavering from her. He didn't seem too troubled by the action, shoving one hand lazily into his pocket. Despite the carefree tone he carried, however, he was still very much on edge, his hand nestling on the lighter in case he needed a naturally produced flame.

[quackers are yummylicious]

Nuala watched him carefully for a few seconds, before putting her knife back into its sheath. She watched his hand in his pocket for a few seconds, wondering if he had a switchblade or something in there, rocking back on her heels. Absentmindedly pushing her sunglasses higher on the bridge of her nose, she studied him carefully, before opening her mouth again, not really sure what to say.

"Uh...hi," she tried out, wondering if that was a suitable greeting. Both of them seemed to have been on their own for a while, so she wasn't sure if either of them knew what was rude or what was not. If no one could be offended, then it couldn't possibly be rude? She shook her head, trying to get herself off the current tangent and back to the possible dangers at hand.

[Big Uri]

"Howdy," he responded coolly, still keeping his distance and not really looking like he trusted her. He'd met humans before that were just as bad and just as dangerous as humans, so he wasn't about to trust this one so easily. That said, he admitted to himself, none of those had ever gotten as far as talking to him, but that in itself was no safety guarantee.

"Why were you following me?" he continued after a second, tilting his head quizzically to the side as he did. If she had wanted to kill him, why didn't she when his back was turned? She might not have had a ranged attack, he supposed, but surely she could have moved faster if she had wanted to track him.

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