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Post by Felypsa on Sept 13, 2010 15:01:35 GMT -6
Mirror had to give a sly smile as she followed after Leon, down the elevator. Of course, as soon as they got to the lab, she got a nasty glare from his sister, the angry ninja lady, but Leon didn’t have time for her. Star watched them with narrowed eyes, but didn’t breathe a word. She was tense, ready to attack and defend if need be. In her mind, Leon was being too trusting—again. Holding his hand out to the outcast, even if it meant endangering himself and everyone around him. Somni was one thing…but this complex shapeshifter with shady morals?
With a smile grin, Mirror pricked her own finger and squeezed it, a bit of silvery liquid coming out. This one did not solidify, however, but merely stayed in the test tube, and the tiny wound on her fingertip healed over instantly. “Have a blast,” she said sweetly, handing over the test tube. Oh the crazy things he would surely find from that. An easily morphing DNA and physics-defying chemical bonds, for starters. She didn’t mind, unashamed of herself and her abilities.
Upstairs, Somni had eaten a little bit, but was mostly still unsure about everything. Finally, unable to stand it, she turned to the wall. “HARVY, what’s Leon doing? He’s all right, isn’t he?” She assumed so, or else the house security system would be going crazy, but all the same, she wanted to be certain. She didn’t know what was running around or what it was entirely capable of.
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Post by Dark Strider on Sept 13, 2010 17:43:08 GMT -6
HARVY looked at the girl with a bit of concern for her. An emotion that Leon had placed into him, as well as a whole slew of other ones. Something that made him far more advanced then a regular A.I. The ability to understand from the human side of love, caring, jealousy, and concern. "He's fine, Somni. He's busy working on a few things, and I don't know if he'll be up for a while. But he says that he hopes you're feeling better and he'll be up as soon as he could." HARVY said, sending her the emotions that played in Leon's eyes.
Meanwhile, Leon worked carefully and quickly, taking the sample in the test tube and placing it under the microscope. Zooming in one thousand times, Leon took a small strand of the cells, moving them to the side and using a powerful image enhancer. Taking a picture, Leon photographed the bonds between the strands of DNA. Hundreds, instead of the simple double helix of Human DNA was what he got in reply. His jaw rolled as he tried to blink off of the shock and awe left behind from the discovery. Simply amazing. The complexity of the DNA strand was incredible, but somehow familiar. It followed the helix shape found in normal Human DNA, but multiplied hundreds, perhaps thousands of times. Each strand was its own testimony to the nearly limitless potential of the being. Leon, after removing the sample from under the microscope, moved it to a table where two electrically charged rods sat apart. Leon moved the small test tube between the two nodes and an arc of energy bolted through the sample, and right to the other diode, without even slowing down. Leon looked at the sample, astounded. The sample basically channeled the energy through itself directly, not affecting the "blood" at all.
Leon ran many tests, each showing seemingly impossible results. Leon documented the test results, the photos, the breakdown of the cells and the make up of the DNA strands, trying to compile the information. But, the problem was, there was so much information to go through, Leon didn't know where to start, but on the level of the DNA. "Alice, if you don't mind. I'm going to need you to take out guest here, up to a room so I can keep working on this. I think I see a pattern here." Leon said, tracing a genetic map with his finger. He muttered to himself several times, seeing familiar genetic patters, patters of animals on this planet, of human ones, and of anthro ones. Hoping that she had followed Leon's request, Leon took the sample, which was now in a nearly indestructible container, sealed away, and held it up to the light. It shone, to his eyes, with different colors. "I would like to keep this sample for a little while longer, if you don't mind." Leon said to Mirror, if she agreed to go along with Alice. Leon stood over the information, piecing the multitudes of problems, computations, possibilities, and limitations of the blood sample. Flabbergasted was really the only word Leon could use to describe his mental state.
Leon kept hard at work with the material, and his information, which was still rolling in. Leon took everything he had seen, read, even from what he speculated. He pooled them all together, working late into the night. Finally, at nearly three in the morning, Leon made a gigantic leap in his understanding. Leon had been trying to reconstruct the DNA of Mirror and compare it with a humans. Maybe it was his exhaustion, or a lucky key press, but Leon typed in a command that he didn't even think about, and a recreation of the blood sample began to be produced. Shaking off all his thoughts of going to bed and continuing the research in the morning, Leon slapped himself awake and moved over to the genetic replication, looking at it and the real sample. It was a perfect match, on both of the visual and the sub-atomic levels. Leon nearly cheered aloud as the replication was a success. Now that he could replicate the sample, Leon began to wonder what else he could do with the sample. Wondering, Leon typed in a command to bring up a digital representation of a sample of his blood and Mirrors. He combined the two and tested it through a computer simulation. What resulted was nearly as incredible as his first look at the DNA of Mirror. The two samples mixed nearly instantly, resulting in a kind of hybrid of the two. Having the basis of Leon's humanity, while it retained all the skills that Mirror had. The possibility to replicate the powers of Mirror, from the genetic scale anyway. [/center][/size] ((This next part is something I thought of at the last second. I want to test it out, and am wondering how well it will work. So, if you don't mind, could I follow along with this and see how it plays out?)) [/size] Reviewing the information, Leon wasn't really paying close attention to the key strokes, and accidentally began the replication process again, this time, creating a kind of membrane. Looking over the scrolling information, Leon nearly failed to notice the lights on the machine going. Taking a second glance, Leon turned to look and realized his mistake. He quickly stopped the replication process and walked over to the machine. A fog of condensed water had filled the small tube where the samples were produced. Not able to see through the mist, Leon opened the chamber to allow the water vapor out. The seal cracked open and the fog exited, leaving a small glinting piece of... well... what looked like a piece of skin behind. Knowing that it was extremely stupid to reach in and touch the... whatever it was, Leon, following his scientist fascination, reached into the container and picked it up. It quivered like a piece of skin would, even had generally the same color of it. Leon arranged it in the center of his palm, looking at it carefully, keeping his face away from it as an extra precaution. He was also wearing gloves, which he was thankful of. But, then again, it was probably a bad idea to be wearing an over shirt rolled up at the sleeves. The piece of "skin" reacted to the warmth of Leon's breath and the heat coming from his hand.
The flesh, if that was a good word for it, moved rapidly, coming into contact with Leon's bare arm. Leon though tough as he was, could only reel with the pain that the piece of flesh had inflicted on him... well... in him. It had rapidly melted into a kind of ooze that worked its way into his flesh, moving through his body, along with his heart beat. Leon felt like his body was on fire, as the organism worked through his body, the crawling feeling of change following the searing pain. From his arm, the organism worked through his chest to the other arm, the rest of his first of arm, up to the top of his head to the bottoms of his feet. Slowly, the ache disappeared, and ended. As soon as it ended, however, it began again, as Leon collapsed to his hands and knees, breathing hard, his face hidden in his hair which now fell over his face, casting it into darkness. There was no entry point visible on his arm, and his skin returned to its normal hue immediately. It felt like his skin was crawling, a tingling in his arms, as well as a residual burning from the... fusion? Leon wasn't sure... but he felt different... He was glad that Alice wasn't there. "HARVY, don't you say a damned word to anyone about this..." Leon said between clenched teeth. He forced himself up onto his feet and stumbled to the computer terminal. He typed in several commands and shut down the lab for the night. A sudden great exhaustion came over him as he rode the elevator up. Once the doors dinged open, Leon stumbled out of the car and up the stairs to his room. Into his room, and onto his bed, Leon could only think about laying there, very still until the sun came up in the morning. [/center][/size]
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Post by Felypsa on Sept 13, 2010 18:53:08 GMT -6
Leon was playing with fire…and a virtual god…perhaps he would learn to be careful after this. Or maybe not.
In spite of HARVY’s reassurance, Somni didn’t like the fact that she didn’t see Leon all day. In fact, she had stayed up most of the night, although she ended up falling asleep on the couch. Alice had taken Mirror to a guest room warily and stood guard outside of it, just in case. Pft, who needed sleep, especially when there was danger around. Well, okay, even Star did nod off a bit, completely missing Leon’s stumble back into his room.
Mirror was up all night, watching TV. Yeah, really. It was the fastest way to absorb multimedia images from around the world. And with a single touch, she could learn even more. This world was full of hypocrisy and deceit…selfishness and arrogance. Like the race she had left behind, only more technologically advanced, and of a greater variety. Identity seemed to be an obsession. Who am I? asked everyone. What is my purpose? Mirror could understand that, but she knew exactly who she was now. She was the singular most powerful being on this entire planet. And what she chose to do with that power…was at her own discretion.
As for Leon…whether he liked it or not, he was going to be on her side. If she had her way, though, he would like it. Mirror had to smile. Being human was going to be loads of fun.
A bad dream caused Somni to startle herself awake, but it was forgotten the moment she moved her head. Her heart was pounding, but she didn’t know why. It was early, just about dawn. With a yawn, she moved over to the kitchen to start making coffee and pancakes. Her stomach was growling and she remembered that she never ate dinner last night. Oops. “Leon’s still working, isn’t he,” she commented tiredly to HARVY. He always worked late and never got any sleep, in spite of her insistence that he needed some.
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Post by Dark Strider on Sept 14, 2010 16:51:00 GMT -6
HARVY cast a glance over Leon as he switched through the cameras. Remembering what Leon had said though, as he was programed to follow Leon's explicit orders, he didn't say anything. With a false laugh, convincing as well, HARVY turned on a small computer screen nearest Somni. "Look for your self. He wandered into his bed nearly dead tired last night. He had been working hard, and he needs the rest. But, we both know him. He's going to be up and Adam fairly soon. Its hard to keep him down." He commented, returning his attention the Leon.
Leon, however, had indeed fallen to sleep. But, his dreams were fraught with different images. Image of Mirror, for some reason, Leon knew who she was, where she had come from and who or what she had been. The images were in some places, fascinating, others, disturbing. Leon soon awoke, rubbing his forehead, as a massive headache had kicked in. He staggered up and backwards, into the wall, holding his head. Good thing he was close to the small medicine cabinet. He shambled over to it and pulled open the drawer. Out came the aspirin, which Leon swallowed with a small cup of water. Tilting his head back, Leon looked up and tried to focus his eyes. They swam, but for the most part, Leon could see clearly. Straightening, he turned and walked to the door, ignoring the pain. The door slid open and Leon walked out into the hall. The sunlight coming in through the gigantic windows. Leon squinted his eyes, but otherwise, continued walking to the room where Mirror was. Leon stood before the door, which slid open. Leon walked in, and found the television on. The remote sat next to Mirror. "You knew this would happen... didn't you?" Leon said, after the door slid shut. Leon leaned against a book case, trying to get the fog out his head. New feelings kept popping up in his mind, feelings of power, of strange abilities. He didn't understand how the fusion could have happened, and what had caused the sample to react so violently like it had. "You knew that I would engineer a duplicate piece of "you". You wanted it to... infect, is really the only word I can think of to describe the happenstance.
Leon shook his head, amazed that he had fallen into such a simple trap. His drive to discover to discover what lay outside of this world blinded him to the dangers of things that came from those other worlds. Now, he was possibly dieing, he couldn't tell if he was or wasn't. Leon was damned sure that his sister, Somni, or anyone else were not going to find out about this. "I want answers. I want to know why the sample I made reacted like it did. I want to know if you forced it to react to whatever... made it react!" Leon said, straining to find a better word. Three different voices were going on inside of him at that time. One was to search for a cure, that one spoke loudly. The second voice was the angry one, the one who wanted Leon to go in there and kill Mirror anyway possible. Rip her head off of her shoulders.
The third voice was one that Leon didn't expect. It didn't seem like his, because it told him to explore the abilities, to learn to live with them, to learn to like, even love them. It was hypnotic voice, one that kept pulling at his mind, forcing the others out of the way, becoming even louder and louder in his mind. It didn't even feel like his, the way it caressed him, soothed him and comforted him. Drawing him into the confines of relaxation and of security. Leon's senses kicked in, as he knew that Mirror now had an influence over him. A powerful one at that. Leon shook the thoughts out of his head and returned his attention to the shape-shifter sitting on the bed in front of him. "I want an explanation, and I want it now. No short cuts and don't try anything... please. It'd make this entire thing easier, and I wouldn't need to act like you were an enemy who I shouldn't listen to." Leon asked quietly. [/center][/size]
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Post by Felypsa on Sept 15, 2010 18:58:25 GMT -6
Somni peered into the screen and saw him passed out there. Aw, poor baby. But at least he was finally sleeping. Hopefully he would stay asleep until he was feeling better. But she wasn’t going to disturb him.
Mirror, on the other hand, did not sleep. It did not seem to be necessary for her, even though she had taken on a human form. It was obvious that she didn’t function exactly like a human. Her eyes were closed, however, but it was a kind of meditation. Absorption, even. She was acquiring as much knowledge about the world around her as she could. The television helped. When Leon came in, she merely opened her eyes. He had many angry words for her, all of which she listened to in perfect tranquility.
“I did nothing, Leon, I assure you,” she said quietly. “Any part of me is bound to be curious. To want to learn as much as it can. The sample you have, no doubt, desired a symbiotic relationship. It could benefit from you, your experiences, your knowledge. And you, of course, can benefit from it…its abilities, its powers. It already learned from your own intrigue. It fed off your need for knowledge and responded in kind. No doubt it felt that the fastest and most thorough way to learn is to simply join with you.”
Her amber eyes looked up at him, her tan skin aglow in the blinking television light. “It is not entirely a bad thing, I think. You did want to learn as much about me as you can. Now this is made more possible. Worry not. You are still the stronger being, the one with the control. Nothing will happen that you don’t want it to.” The problem was that the line of what he wanted and what the piece wanted would start to blur, until they wanted pretty much the same things. But Mirror didn’t know when that was going to happen.
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Post by Dark Strider on Sept 16, 2010 14:36:16 GMT -6
The entire time Mirror was talking, the voice in Leon's head that wasn't his own talked to him, tried to soothe him, comfort him, bring him to accept her words and to allow the bonding to stay as it was. It was a powerful feeling, running through his body, Leon did have to admit. The feelings of everything he could now do surged within him. Images of unrestrained power floated through his head. All of those things were alluring, knocking down Leon's other senses, creating ones that wanted that power. But, Leon's most remote human senses, the ones of arrogance and the incredulous Human Nerve, shone through the pleasantries and reminded him of who he was and where he came from.
"I don't want your damned powers. I don't want the crap that comes with the fusion. I want to be my normal everyday self, without the whatever it is you want to call it, the parasite inside of me. I don't want you're powers, I want to be back to myself from yesterday morning." Leon said, his arms crossed. He was still leaning on the frame, looking down at Mirror who hadn't moved from her spot this entire time. Though his wants were there, Leon felt the presence in his mind urging him to take them... for him to try the powers out. The voice was powerful now, images floating through his head, knocking back the Human resolve in his mind. Mirror was someone who could give him everything he wanted... The voice said to him. Allow her in, allow her to learn and help you learn. You'll become more then you thought previous... The voice continued. It kept promising things, weakening his resolve.
Finally, Leon couldn't bare it anymore. "Fine, fine... Just stop talking to me through my mind damn it!" Leon said, looking directly at Mirror. "I know what you're doing. I can see it. I didn't only get your powers, you know... I can see what you're after... You and I are going to make a deal. Right here, right now. HARVY, seal off this room so that Alice can't get in or hear us." Leon said. Immediately, lights turned on at all the entrance points. In addition to that, the room became sound proof. Nothing was going to leak out of this room. "I want confidentiality protocol enabled. You know what that means HARVY. I'll manually disable it after we're done." Leon said. HARVY gave a simple acknowledgment and left the room, disabling any way someone could eavesdrop on the two.
"This deal isn't like the one before. I'll give these powers a time limit to impress me in a few specific ways, but without any interference from you or the parasite. That means no subliminal messages from you to it. I don't want it coxing me to forget the time limit or to convince me that I am satisfied. In return, I can promise you access to loads of different kinds of information. I learned about your ability to absorb information through contact with objects and people, from the dreams I had last night... I also want the... symbiote not to involve itself with my everyday life. I don't want it interfering with my work and relations with others. And, I don't want information from my own knowledge take. The things I hold in my mind are my own, and they could be deadly in other peoples hands. I don't want to take any risks." Leon said, outlining his general concerns. He didn't like it, but he had to find a way to go about this. [/size][/center]
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Post by Felypsa on Sept 17, 2010 11:38:58 GMT -6
Mirror watched him, her head tilted to one side, a curious look on her face as she watched Leon struggle with himself. “I’m not sure what you mean. That piece of me in there is no longer connected to me. It is its own being…lacking a personality. That is why it attaches to you. It is learning from you and encourages you to learn from it. It wants to become something…someone. It wants to become a true part of you. I have no control over its motives. It is merely trying to survive, at this point.”
Still, she stood up, and held out her hand, clearly indicating that she would make the deal. “It will do what it has to to survive. But if you have superior willpower and control, it will submit to you. This I promise.” Her other hand she held up and to her chest, proving that she was making a vow. “I will not interfere. This will have nothing to do with me. My motives that I told to you in confidence before remain the same.” Her golden eyes locked with his, showing her seriousness, her earnestness. “As for the symbiote, I have every confidence that you will make it submit. You are the host, after all, and you will not let it take over every aspect of your life.”
She paused. “But if I may make a suggestion. Perhaps you ought to be honest to the people in your life about what is happening to you? Otherwise, if anything strange happens, they might not understand.” Mirror held up her hands. “I’m not trying to interfere. The choice is yours. However, I imagine that this is something your loved ones would want to help support you. From my understandings of your human relationships, that is.”
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Post by Dark Strider on Oct 18, 2010 19:01:06 GMT -6
Leon simply nodded as he turned and walked out of the door. He walked with a straight face, no smile, no frown, just a neutral look in his eyes and on his face. Making a short right hand turn, into his room, Leon went about gathering things together. His field pack, a rolled up sleeping bag, several water canisters and field rations. Once those were assembled in a chair in his room, Leon walked to the right-hand wall from the door. A large painting hung there, a portrait of Leon. Talking it from the wall, Leon simply threw it against the wall, smashing the frame and ruining the picture. behind it sat a normal wall, but Leon knew better. Pressing a hidden depression in the molding that ran around the walls.
A depression formed in the wall, where the painting had been. After rolling in a few inches, the section of wall that had depressed rolled up. Inside the cavity was a silver case. Leon reached in and pulled it out. The wall returned to its normal place as Leon turned and walked back to the chair with his supplies. "Leon... what are you up to?" HARVY asked. Leon didn't bother looking towards the screen, didn't bother replying to HARVY's question. Reaching up, Leon took the lapel mic off of his collar and out of his ear. Then, reaching to the back of his neck, Leon pulled the small transmitter for his GPS location out of his hair. Lastly, Leon took of his sunglasses. Taking all of these things, Leon tossed them onto his bed. Moving again, Leon approached his dresser. Opening the top left-hand drawer, Leon took out a small box. Opening it, Leon brought out his old eye-patch. Pulling it on and over his Demon's Eye, Leon tossed the box onto his bed.
Leon quickly packed everything away into his field pack, slung it over his shoulder, and exited his room. Walking down the grand stair case, past everyone, if they were still standing there, and to the coat rack. Leon took his coat and his hat, his sword and his combat vest and holsters. Pulling the coat and hat on, Leon pulled his sword onto his hip and slung the vest and holsters over his opposite shoulder. Opening the door, Leon stepped out into the morning air. He took a small pause and then nodded his head. He kicked he door closed gently and then he simply vanished.
~
Life had been hard for Leon, these last six months passing with agonizing slowness. Over time, Leon had learned how to control his new wild powers, making it possible for him to lose himself in a crowd with a new identity. Along with the ability to take on any guise he wanted, Leon found himself able to do a whole range of different things. Regenerate after combat, he was virtually immune to disease and sickness, and he was able to get darn near anywhere he wanted. But, in that time he was gone from the main scene, Leon watched over the city and his friends from the shadows. A new head hunter had come into the city, with the disappearance of Leon Deltova, A.K.A. Mr. Death, named Danthomir Valdust. A mask wearing young man, wild blonde hair, and clear blue eyes. It betrayed his position of a hired assassin. He appeared roughly twenty, maybe younger. His most imposing feature, however, was the high powered Sniper rifle he always employed to do his jobs. A 50 caliber Anti-Material rifle, with rounds powerful enough to pierce through several M1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks with a single pull of the trigger, Danthomir, simply known as Dan to those who employed him, used a wide variety of attachments to make the already deadly weapon, even more deadly.
It was a rainy day when Danthomir had an unfortunate business proposition thrown at him. He was to take out a high priority target, simply known as the Shadow. Little was known about him, as he was a tough one to track, as well as to get information on. It was known that he had fairly long silver hair, and he wore an eye-patch on his left eye. Not a whole lot of people fitting that description. Well... if he had remembered what he was taught, it was not to underestimate a target. Unfortunately, Danthomir did. He had gotten a tip from a reliable source that this esteemed Shadow was going to be passing by a large industrial district in the city, lots of noise, few people to get in the way, a virtual heaven for a sniper to set up shop. The tip was solid, as the Shadow did come that way, but unfortunately for Dan, he had happened to come from behind Dan. So, with a flash of metal and the sound of a sword sliding back into a sheath, Dan's career as an assassin came to a close. It was then that the Shadow, who's identity was obvious from the start, turned out to be none other then Leon Deltova.
In the six months, Leon had fallen into a mindset of an exile. He cursed his curiosity, he cursed his scientific fascination. He had become a notorious smoker now, as well as an even harder drinker, but it wouldn't satisfy him. The long sleepless nights became a blur to him, as he hardly needed sleep now that he had the symbiote inside him. It was another rainy day when Leon had happened to be sitting in a bar, some low brow shack in the slums area of the city, when a familiar face walked in. Jimmy, Leon's old contact had strolled in, looking to get a simple drink before heading home. Pulling up a chair at the bar, Jimmy ordered a draft beer, something cheep and none too tasty. As he waited for the drink, he looked about the bar, keeping his eyes low to avoid any threatening looks. That's when he saw Leon. Leon had let his beard grow out some, not a whole lot, but something that helped hide his identity. He wasn't wearing his trade mark hat, or his sunglasses, but Jimmy nearly jumped out of his skin when he realized he was looking at Leon. Leon had watched Jimmy enter with a slight scowl on his face. Leaving his nearly empty beer on the counter, Leon quickly got up and moved toward the door. But, unfortunately, Leon was stopped with a hand on his shoulder and a large wide eyed look on Jimmy's face. "What the hell happened to you?" Jimmy asked. Leon turned away and moved for the door again, but Jimmy persisted. Not a smart move. Leon simply grabbed Jimmy by the throat and held him up into the air. "You want to know what happened to me?" Leon said in a growl. His voice was much harder now, dangerous. "You couldn't possibly imagine what I've been through. I took a break, plain and simple. Now I'm back, so congratulations. You're the first to know. Go and prattle to your bosses that Leon Deltova is back." Leon said, before throwing Jimmy across the room and into a table. The table, which held the drinks of several patrons, fell over onto the bar comers and tempers rose. Acting simply, Leon whipped out his pistol and pointed it at one of the two. They got the message and sat back down quickly.
With a snort, Leon holstered his pistol and walked out the door. Taking a quick gague of the time, Leon leaped up to the top of the bar, and from there to the top of the building next to it. It was time to go home. He had been away for a while, but still checked up on it without letting HARVY or the others know. Mirror was going to impressed, probably, with the level of skill Leon had attained in his time away. [/center][/size]
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Post by Felypsa on Oct 19, 2010 15:15:42 GMT -6
Six months was a long time, ripe for many changes to happen. Obviously Leon was going through his own changes; but his home, which he left behind, could hardly be counted as the same. Even though he may have checked up often, it was the subtle transformations that he might have missed, unless he were living in the house with all of this going on. He had left behind the alien, Mirror, whose versatility, it would be shown, extended beyond its seemingly unlimited physical abilities. For the most part, to be simple, she moved around in her taken form, with dark hair and golden eyes, caramel exotic skin. She attracted even attention even as that, and, to get different perspectives, would sometimes become a male, who would appear as the twin of her female form. Switching between them, though, she found she preferred the female version. She was so often underestimated that way, could hide her intrigue and mystery far better, which amused her.
Like liquid, she slipped through the fingers of her hosts, to the point where Somni and Starshadow ceased to know (or really care) if Mirror would be in the house or not. She came and went as she pleased, something that had really bothered Star at first. As for Somni, she found that Mirror often avoided her, and one time, accidentally found out way. Physical contact was made between them, if ever so briefly, but, astonished, Somni watched the omnipotent alien close up to a sleeping state. In fact, Mirror even lost her form, becoming the shimmering sphere that they had first encountered—as if, with a single touch, Somni could render her to her “true” nature. As would be expected, Mirror—uneasy about this one weakness—tended to stay away from her.
But Somni herself was too busy wondering about Leon to really care about what it was Mirror did. The alien seemed perfectly harmless (other than scaring the daylights out of Somni when she just popped up in the room out of nowhere). Alice, of course, had started her own search for Leon in the beginning. She was gone for about two months. Then, one rainy night, Somni saw the shadowy form of the former soldier appear. Without saying a word to Somni, the soaking wet Starshadow moved past her to her room. Since then, she rarely came out of it, and sometimes, Somni forgot that she even lived there with them.
They were hardly a household, but rather, a building where some mostly disconnected people went to lay their heads down or to eat.
Today, as the rain came down, Somni was nursing a cup of hot cider as she stared out the window absently. She soon became aware of a semi-steady drip and looked up. At first she thought the ceiling was leaking, but then she realized it had already formed a pool with a silver sheen. Oh. Out of the pool came the tall, exotic figure of Mirror’s female form. Somni stared at her blankly. She always did love an entrance, didn’t she? Mirror glanced at her and then started to walk away, saying, “He’s finally come back. I think this time for good.”
Somni blinked and stared, before these words sunk in. She put her mug down and sat up, following Mirror. “Do you mean Leon?” she started to ask, but Mirror just walked through a wall. Dammit. She and Alice both did that and it could get really annoying.
But the information that was given filled Somni with hope. Could it be? Grabbing an umbrella, she opened the door and stepped out, standing right on the porch. She looked around, not sure what to expect: a car to come up, Leon to drop down from a helicopter. Who knew. She wasn’t even sure why she was believing Mirror. It could just be the alien’s way of pranking her…but that wasn’t really her sense of humor. Somni bit her lip and waited. No more than a few minutes, she told herself, not wanting to look like a complete fool standing out there alone in the rain.
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Post by Dark Strider on Oct 19, 2010 18:10:49 GMT -6
The rain had begun to drum the earth. Drops hung from Leon's hair as he appeared at the front gate of his home. Not even bothering to open it, Leon jumped clear over the twelve foot high fence and landed with a slash onto the cobblestone and asphalt drive. Keeping his head low, Leon walked silently up the driveway, past the darkened trees that stood sentinel beside the driveway. The sounds around him told him of life, of times long since gone by, of old friends whom he had probably shoved away. Right now, Leon didn't care. He wanted to get back into his home, back into a shower and clean clothes, and to get back into his training regiment. He also wanted desperately to see Somni. The only thing that kept him coming back and looking in on things was her.
Slowly, the house came into view, and the light from the open door to the porch. A figure, blurred by the falling rain and the mist that hung close to the ground, stood under an umbrella. Leon's eye fixed on that person, knowing who it was without even needing to see her... Somni. Leon suddenly forgot his troubles, forgot it was raining. He began moving forward with definite cause, towards the person who had kept him going during his exile. He quickly closed the gap between himself and the porch, walking slowly up the rock stairs. He wore a tattered trench-coat, not his favorite one, the one with the hundreds of secret pockets where he kept his things. He didn't bother with a hat, his hair much longer now, hanging down to the bottoms of his shoulders. He looked down at the girl, a face of uncertanty and of mixed feelings greeting her. He didn't know what to say...
"Your going to catch your death of cold out here, you know..." Leon said, nodding towards the umbrella as a slight gust of wind came through. Leon wasn't sure how she would react, his voice harder then it had been only six months prior. His visage was harder as well, several new scars had populated his face, one down his right eye, another on his jawline. These would be easy to fix, a bit of his technology down in the medical studio would clear those right up, but the hardness that stood in his eyes now, the light had long since faded from his eyes, the light of endurance, of determination. It was replaced with that of a troubled mind, of a haunted person.
Leon looked down at her, remembering the grand balls that he would put on, just to show off to everyone that he cared deeply for Somni. This was like a stab in the back to that. Building up to something great, then taking it and smashing it into a million pieces. Leon only hoped with all his heart that she forgave him. Alice as well... but Leon had never been close with her to begin with. He cared the world for her, that was true, but Leon knew that she trusted him and didn't trust him. The Marines was a hard thing, setting people up for general distrust. If she forgave him, however long it took, Leon would thank whoever it was who guided her. If not, Leon could only blame himself. [/center][/size]
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Post by Felypsa on Oct 19, 2010 18:56:59 GMT -6
When she saw the figure scale the gate, a smile burst over Somni’s face. It was him, of course it was. She stood still, not moving until he approached her, though her heart was pounding. For a moment they just stood staring at each other, Somni taking in his greatly changed appearance. Her smile faltered a bit. He was so…scarred. The scars on his face were obvious but somehow she knew that there was pain deep inside his eyes too. Pain that had been healed over but still left its mark.
Leon broke the silence and Somni almost wanted to cry. She stuffed her gloved mouth into her mouth and gave a nod, looking down to collect herself. “I’ve only been out for a few minutes…whereas you, you look…” She gave a short laugh. “You look terrible. Come on. Let’s get you in for a hot shower and a hot meal.” Taking a deep breath, she looked up at him again. “Welcome home. I knew you’d come back eventually…never doubted for a second.” She believed because she had to. Smiling again, she turned to go into the house, still partly in shock. He was back.
She folded up the umbrella and dropped it in the corner, turning back to him. Unable to help herself, she reached up to push a strand of his long wet hair back. “You have no idea how good it is to see you again.” She could yell at him later, demand an answer as to why he left and what he was doing. But for now, she just wanted to take in the moment. Her covered hand moved over his mouth and Somni kissed the back of her hand. It was as close as she could get. Then, blushing, she moved over to the kitchen.
“My cooking has improved…it had to, because we were all spoiled by you before. So I’ll make something nice and…worthy of this homecoming, while you clean up. If I’d had more time, I could have really gone all out but…well, I’ll make do. I’m not complaining,” she babbled as she gathered kitchen supplies and ingredients. This had really caught her off guard. In a good way. But still.
“You’re back,” came an ethereal voice, and Mirror walked by. She looked him up and down, then gave a single nod. “Well done, I see.” Somni fell silent, watching them from the counter, but Mirror just casually walked on by. As if this weren’t a great moment at all.
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Post by Dark Strider on Oct 20, 2010 18:53:30 GMT -6
She looked him over, looking at the changes that had befallen him. He had a good idea what was going on inside her head, but then again, Leon was sure of one thing, she was definitely glad he was back. He was too... Alice, on the other hand, probably would try to stick a knife in his side for leaving like that. Oh well... Before Leon could follow her in, however, her hand on his mouth stopped him. The brief contact between her and him, even though through her gloves, made Leon more then glad to be back. But, she did something more then just a touch. She "Kissed" him. It was as close a thing as ever, but still.
As Somni walked back into the house, Leon reached up and scarcely touched his lips. It was shocking. Feelings flooded into Leon's mind as he walked into the house. He hardly noticed when Mirror came in from seemingly nowhere, something that Leon had picked up in his time away. He shrugged and walked farther into his house. Not a whole lot had change. There wasn't a spec of dust sitting anywhere. HARVY had been keeping the place darn near spotless in his absence... either him or Somni. Nodding his head in response to Somni, Leon walked up the grand staircase to the second floor. His door slid open when he came in, and he found the room a bit different then he had had it before he left. Mion, apparently, had decided to do a bit of redecorating. Leon's smirk vanished as Mion's ears perked as he heard the door open. He turned in time to fully catch Leon's boot in his face. "Mind telling me what you did to my room?" he asked, his boot pressing down on Mions head.
With a large effort, Mion slid his head out from under Leon's boot. "Oh... I, um... that is to say... uhh... well you see its like..." Mion stammered, scrambling for words. "Uhh... sorry?" He said with a sheepish grin and a shrug. Leon simply blinked a few times, before sending Mion bouncing out of his room. Mion landed in a jumble out in the hall. He began to stand up, when a chair that he had put into the room flew and knocked him back to the floor. He decided to lay there for a while, letting Leon re-acquaint himself to his room. With a nod, Leon's things returned to their normal places and everything of Mion's moved to another room. Sitting in a heap in the center of the floor. Sighing, Leon walked over to the wardrobe and opened it. Freshly washed and pressed clothes sat, ready for wearing. Leon picked out a black thermal, dark jeans and a fresh pair of socks. Walking to the bathroom, Leon took off the old ratty trench-coat and threw it into a disposal chute. Underneath, Leon wore his combat harness, his combat knife, several grenades, and two pistols, over a gray cotton tee shirt. He wore black cargo jeans and battle stained boots. Pulling off the harness, Leon tossed it and his shirt into a chair that sat in the bathroom. He quickly stripped down and climbed into the shower.
Leon took a fairly long shower, enjoying the feeling of actually warm water. Leon normally showered in freezeing cold water whenever he stayed in a hotel or room he rented. He soon got out and pulled on his clean clothes, pulling on a new pair of boots. He even went and picked up a pair of sunglasses and pulled them over his eyes. Different, but comfortable. Drying his hair, Leon decided then and there he would have to trim his beard. It was almost the same color silver that his hair was. Once his hair was done, Leon pulled out his trimmer and clicked it on. Making short work of it, Leon trimmed his beard until it was neat and clean. A goatee that wrapped up to his hairline. Satisfied, Leon put away the trimmer and walked out of his room and down the stairs to the kitchen.
He walked in and sighed. Lots of memories had been floating up, memories of good and bad times. He shrugged them off and went over to his liquor cabinet. Taking his key for it, Leon opened it and took out a bottle of vodka. He popped the cap off and took a long pull from it, setting it down on the table and sitting down in a reclining chair. His back ached and it was comfortable sitting back in his home. He looked up at Somni and smiled, something he hadn't done in a long time. "You know... the entire time I was gone... The only reason why I kept going, was because I wanted to see you. I wanted to be here with ya, you and everyone." Leon said, looking carefully at the girl. He didn't know how she would take that, but he wanted her to know that he was being truthful with her. [/center][/size]
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Post by Felypsa on Oct 20, 2010 22:45:01 GMT -6
The two powerful beings barely acknowledged each other before Leon want to clean up. Somni let out a little sigh as she worked on the meal: barley risotto, along with chicken and parmesan. A little salad tossed on the side. The smells of the chicken were filling the air when Leon came back and sat down, already going for the liquor. Somni smiled and shook her head. He was still the same as ever in some ways. She was setting the table when he spoke to her, his voice hesitant but confident. She turned to face him directly when he admitted that he had been thinking of her, and that those thoughts alone were enough to help him through his…expedition. Somni’s heart gave a small thud and she smiled, moving over to sit by him.
“It’s good to hear…I wish I could have actually physically been by your side, for your sake.” Her hands linked together in her lap. “But since I couldn’t…for whatever reason…at least my virtual presence was enough.” Of course, the burning question in her mind was: why? Why couldn’t he be here? And why did he come back now? Somni took a deep breath. “Will I get to hear the truth?” she asked, a little tentatively. She had to be careful with this. If he was not in the right mood to divulge his secrets, she didn’t want to upset him.
The chicken finished and she stood up to cut it up and bring it out to the table. Her eyes were on the table but every now and then they would slide over to Leon. There was so much she wanted to ask him: but at the same time, she was so happy that he was back that she didn’t want to seem ungrateful. Count your blessings. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Somni gestured to Leon that he should take a seat and begin eating. If he wanted to, he could speak to her about his experiences; if not, she would still be there, listening patiently to anything he wanted to talk to her about. They did, after all, have so much to catch up on.
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Post by Dark Strider on Oct 21, 2010 18:50:23 GMT -6
Leon watched her, carefully noting the expressions on her face. She seemed happy, but Leon couldn't tell what she was thinking. She smiled at him, telling him that she was glad he was back. He nodded his head, going along, for the most part with being happy to be back. Then, she asked him the question he had both been waiting for an dreading. Leon turned away for a moment, trying to think of a way to approach the topic. "You're definitely going to get the truth... but I don't really know if your going to either believe me, or if you're not going to be able to understand it all... I don't think you aren't intelligent, its just that its so complicated..." Leon sighed. Somni had brought food to the table and sat down close to him. It was a familiar feeling, but one altogether different. Leon and Somni often ate together, alone or with Randal, Star and occasionally Mion. But this... it was different. Leon hadn't yet set himself into the mindset that he was home... He was still expecting a knife to come flipping towards him during the night.
Leon looked back up at Somni. "Its something that I want to tell you about. I do... Its just I don't know how to say it other then just saying it bold faced. If I can... I'll say it in a why that will make more sense." Leon began, looking her directly in the eyes. "Six months ago... It was two nights after Mirror had popped in on us. I was doing a bit of late night research into the genetic build up of Mirror's biological chemistry. I wanted to see what her DNA looked like, and how it was both similar and different then ours. Normally, we have a double helix build up of DNA. Four amino acids that make up the building blocks of out entire being. When I finally got down to it, she had several hundred different branches that formed a rough kind of double helix model of our DNA. It had the same amino acids... but some of the ones in there weren't the same as ours... well the vast majority of them weren't like ours. They were ones found in different animals... Wolves, birds, things like that. So... I went about trying to reconstruct a sample of her "build up." Unfortunately, I didn't compensate for the possibility of the sample to be intelligent." Leon said, placing his elbow on the table and resting his head in his hand.
"So... next thing I know... when I go over to retrieve the sample, it comes to life and... hmm... how can I put this... Well... I guess the only word would have to be fuse. It entered my skin and fused with me. It's strange, I know... So... after I went to bed," Leon said, not wanting her to know that the pain had driven almost all the strength out of him, sending him nearly blindly to bed. "In the morning, I went in and talked to Mirror, who explained to me that she had no real part in what happened, and she didn't... it was my curiosity that did it to me. So... after getting what I could out of her... I decided then and there that I would go out and find out what exactly had happened to me. In some respects, I'm glad that I did. In others.... not so much. For obvious reasons, you know." Leon explained, summing up everything that he had experienced, without giving Somni the entire blood filled story. Leon didn't want her to know the things he had to do to survive, even some things that he couldn't believe he had to do himself.
"So... all I can really say... is I'm sorry. Sorry for everything I must have put you through. Sorry for making you worry, for probably throwing distrust into our friendship. I just hope you can forgive me." Leon said, looking at her carefully. [/center][/size]
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Post by Felypsa on Oct 22, 2010 12:17:45 GMT -6
After a warning preface, during which Somni dished out the food for both of them, Leon began to tell his story. She was silent and made not a peep, quietly forking food into her mouth as he explained that this all started shortly after Mirror arrived. The tale he spun was incredible and he was right when he said that it would be hard to believe. The piece of alien Mirror had become a symbiote in his body, forcing him to leave and figure things out for himself. Somni wondered why he didn’t leave a note. But asking that would be moot. He was clearly sorry for his actions, at least sorry for the fact that they caused her worry. Somni swallowed and set down her fork.
“I can’t stay mad at you, you know,” she said with a little smile. “And I knew…well, hoped I knew…that you would come back someday. And here you are. I was right. Just…just if you have to do that again, at least give me an idea of what you’re doing before you disappear for so many months. I’m not sure why you kept it a secret for this long but…just so you know, I don’t judge you. Ever.” He was who he was and she would always admire him for it. It would take a lot to shake up her confidence in him. “So if it has to happen again…please trust me enough to give me a clue of what’s happening…or at least an indication of how long you might be away.” In the beginning, she woke up every morning hoping that it would be the day he would come back. Then that hope faded and she just had to accept the fact that—when he did come back—she wouldn’t be expecting it.
Somni reached over and placed her hand on top of his. “I hope you’re all right now. I…I’ve seen a lot of what that alien can do and it’s truly terrifying. Fascinating and wonderful in some aspects, but also frightening. So if that’s affected you—I hope that, at least, you’ve come to terms with it.” Probably he had to some extent, or he wouldn’t be back, would he?
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