forum Runner's Start (Private)

Started May 19, 2019 by Deleted user

tune

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(June 28, and the same to you!)
He winced sympathetically, rubbing the back of his neck. "I never thought my life was particularly hard, but your's makes it seem like I lived in a fucking mansion."

((May 23, and thanks!))

She snorted. "That's not even the worst part," she said cryptically with a shrug. "Street rats tend to have it the hardest, especially ones that don't particularly belong, or have some issues," she added while spiraling a finger around her temple.

"Oh, God," Runner said, rolling his eyes. "Now you're making me feel normal."

She grinned, then looked back up at the sun. "The basic details are this: I and a few other shifters were taken off the street to be used as lab rats. Illegal underground labs were experimenting on us for the development of drugs. If you fought, you were 'house broken'," she put air quotes around the two words, "while being made an example of in front of the other children. I fought every chance I got. The constant testing is why I can't take any medicine."

"Well…..shit." Once again, he had no clue what to say in response. "I'm…..sorry, I guess?"

She shrugged nonchalantly. "I've gotten over it by now. What's done is done. I became a killer and hunted down those bastards to teach them a lesson." She looked at her scarred arms again. "That was my sole purpose in life for a while. Fate, it would seem, is even more stubborn than I am, and wouldn't let me go. So I became a weapon for hire and took jobs that would make them fear my name—fear the once helpless girl they tormented for years."

"What brought you to that cargo container?" he asked randomly, thinking back to the first time they met. "Were you on a job?"

She tilted her head and thought about it. "Yeah, I was. One of the containers were shipping prototype drugs for an investment."

"Did you look up the crew before going?" he asked, biting the inside of his cheek. "Was I supposed to be on it?"

"No," she said automatically, "You weren't. You were a surprise I wasn't prepared for," she admitted with a shrug, glancing over at Runner.

He let out a sigh, scrunching up his nose in frustration. "There has to be a reason why I was there. Where was it going?"

"Costa Rica," she said, searching through her memory while he asked his questions. "I have no clue what the original purpose of the cargo ship's being there was, but I do know that there was a man wanting to invest in the drugs there."

"Is there anything going on in Costa Rica? A large pulse of magical energy? A powerful demon fucking stuff up?"

"I dunno, Cin didn't say anything," Tessa said, curling her nose as she tried to think about it. "We could always check it out real quick to see, because I kinda blew the ship up before it could get there."

"Do we have enough time?" he asked, tilting his head. "Mom seems to want this whole world-saving thing to happen as soon as possible."

"To win a war means to fight in multiple battles," Tessa said, unfolding her legs and looking directly at Runner. "If we can knock out anything happening in Costa Rica, that's one point for us. One step at a time. Rome wasn't built in a day."

He kept eye contact with her for a few moments, then nodded. "Well, the sooner, the better. Are you ready to go?"

Her eyes gleaned as she smirked. "I'm always ready for a fight, especially if it involves fire and explosions."

"Alright," he said, slapping his legs as he got to his feet. "Cast a spell my way and we can get going."

She got to her feet with minimal effort, flinging a small sun beam his way as she did so. Her blood was already humming with anticipation.

He reached out with his left and and swiped at the spell before it could reach him, slapping it to the ground at his feet. To complete the portal, he jumped up and slammed both feet into the ground. It was almost like the ground beneath him was hollowed out, because he fell right through the ground and ended up on his back on a Costa Rican beach.
"It worked!" he called through the portal, "Hop on in!"

She snorted at the dork she was working with, then hopped through without a word. Unlike the doofus, she landed in a neat crouch. Her fingers pressed into the sand as she took a look around her. Luckily for them, it was relatively empty—and anyone that might've seen their entry made quick work of looking away thanks to Tessa's glare.

"I need to work on my landings," he grumbled, rolling over onto his stomach and getting to his feet. A frown immediately chiseled itself onto his features as he regained his composure. "Something's here, for sure. Powerful enough to be felt from across the island."

"It takes a lot of pain tolerance and lower body muscle," Tessa said in response to his grumbling, having heard him clearly. She swiveled her head around, nose flaring as she scented the air around her, still in a crouch with one hand braced against the sand and the other draped over her one knee. "Think you can get a general direction? I don't particularly care for trekking over the entire place in search of a something."

He closed his eyes in response, taking a deep breath and holding it in. He stayed there for almost a full minute before he finally exhaled and snapped his head to the North.
"There," he said, pointing in the direction. "It's burning the back of my throat. Like smoke would if I inhaled some. Does that mean anything to you?"