He could get in so much trouble for this. But eh, who was going to stop him? The invisible students of Brookridge? Most had already escaped or holed themselves up inside. Step one was to safely enter the Faculty of Student Life, where else would you keep the power room? In a shed, off campus? Probably safer, though inconvient. No the controls were here. Neatly marked and everything. Marcus knew most rooms held cameras for campus security, so his hoody was up and concealing most of his identity, he would have to get rid of it later. Before he even entered the school's power supply room, he of course got rid of the only guard on duty. A fit, young man who took his job too seriously. It was easy to send him clear across campus to 'rescue' a freshman stuck in the Astronomy tower. Marcus grinned as he watched the man flee to her, while he worried not about the cameras catching his form, after all, this building would be shut down in darkness anyway. He ran the facts he knew about snakes in his head, which was the entire basis for this seeminly too elaborate plan. Snakes hate the cold. Shut down power and heat from the Astronomy tower to Ishmael's Coffee, and the snakes will be too lethargic and cold. Thus, they will be attracted to the only warm availabe to them. How would he generate such warmth? Easy. Focus all lights. And he meant ALL lights available to his flip switching fingers, and wala, the majority of heat and light was now coming from the North Gate and North Bridge. The snakes would be forced to bask there instead of the hovels and places they called home now. Hopefully, the cold would be too much for any offspring to survive in. Nervousness flooded his system and gave him speed as one by one the buildings he shut power out of went dark. Just bear with it, sheesh. He could literally imagine the collective grown that would be coming out of his peers. Marcus sighed in relief, the guard had not come back, he'd made sure to keep his face away from the camera, and now he could do no more here, for the power was out in the Student Life building. To be safe though, Marcus stayed in the Power Supply room and decided this would be the best place to wait until his brother arrived. It was many minutes later, almost twenty, when rythmically, the ground began to shake gently. What was that other fact? Oh, right, incase the snakes were not compelled to bask. Then send out ground shaking beats to convince them that a much larger predator was approaching. Therefore, even if they decided to stay, they would have to choose, unsafe home with a ground shaking predator approaching? Or a very large heat source where other snakes seemed to be gathering. Marcus's phone began to ring as the vibrations coming from the ground began to pick up. Desks began to rattle, infact, a cup on the edge of a desk in the room, fell with a crash to the ground. Marcus groaned as he picked up the phone, he hated this song. So stereotypical rappish. He had to raise his voice and tell his brother to let the bass fall back a little, too much and instead of sending them away in fear, it could aggravate the snakes into some kind of super biting frenzy. His brother understood and told him that he was just being sure that he'd brought enough bass, but four out of six trucks was enough. So his brother sent two trucks away. Marcus grinned, someone would turn the lights on eventually, for the school. Right now, he needed to get to the Long Hall and let the administration know the South exit was open, so Marcus did so, letting the Admins know it was all a part of the snake gatherers and local volunteers plan. The PA system blared "Students and faculty waiting out the snakes, or waiting for a vehicle to pick them up should head to the South Gate if you'd like to leave campus safely. We have been told that it has been temporarily cleared of snakes, to allow us to head home for the holiday." The message was repeated twice before he was thanked and Marcus felt it was finally time to take his leave. It was weird, to feel the ground shake beneath him, he prayed people weren't dumb enough to run under trees or the building's awnings, the snow could fall right on them. Luckily the snow was dense enough for him to crunch his way to his brother's headlights. He briefly wondered if he could get a medal from the senator as he climbed into the passenger side of his brothers car. Of course his brother needed to be praised with thank you's but that's all the grief he was given, as he was finally on his way home to have a Merry Christmas. But first, they were agreed to spend thirty minutes to an hour protecting the South Gate with bass heavy enough to repel snakes, instead of intriguing them. +NPC TO PC+ Shirley was not a fool, and she certainly hadn't raised one. She stood up to her full height, and her sky blue eyes narrowed at the same time her brow furrowed, very, very similiar to her deceased son. Where should she start? Shouldn't she offer this girl a drink? Not yet, she didn't look like she was dying or something horrid. She pressed the cloth to an open bottle of the alchohol and had the girl run her hands beneath warm sink water before settling her down upon Shirley's toilet seat. Shirley used one of her own towels on the girl's tiny hands and left the towel on the floor as she sat across from Eleanora, placing her rump on the edge of her bath tub and gazing down at the child's hand to efficiently wipe it clean. She felt like she didn't need to tell her that it would sting, but she told her anyone, fighting to keep back tears and maintain her adult demeanor. Quietly she worked and when the silence felt like it was going to be too much, she finally, and gently dabbed at the remaining superficial cuts on her finger tips while using prepared bandages to bandage Elearnora's fingers. "You know..you know my son. How do you know his name? Are you a friend of Cherno and my son? Please, tell me the truth about what you know...I cannot find Cherno in the city." Her jaw clenched visibly as she spoke. "Is Cherno with you too? Is he okay?"
Shirley started to say something. But then faltered. What could she say at a time like this? What could she say at a time like this? She took a tentative step towards the girl. She knew her son! A connection to her little Johnny! It was so hard to keep her wits around this stranger with such a situation like this. Shirley could feel the tears building in the corner of her eyes. Young. Cute. Piercing doe like eyes. Too young to be in my boy's grade. But who knows who he was dating before....before he was taken away. "I miss him too." She had said it quietly and then cleared her throat. Double checking the girl's word about being alone as she peered at the snow driven land and saw nothing to turn the child into a liar. Still, it seems like the crazy young stalker bit seems to be the case. As her bloody nails could attest too. She wondered why she was so familiar looking but dismissed it to stand infront of the door. "...I don't know why, but I feel like I should clean you up first. Before calling the cops." She spoke with authority alacrity and whisked the smaller and lighter girl away to the very bathroom she had cried in earlier. This would make the perfect place to interrogate her also. Briskly and with a bit of purpose in her step, she left the stranger in her bathroom for a moment to stand in the hall and shout that she was taking a business call. That would give her plenty time to question and bandage this strung out love fiend. She stepped back into the bathroom and hunted down the peroxide and cotton swabs.
OOC: NPC TEMPORARILY GRANTED PC STATUS. Shirley Quincy. Begin! She gave her parents a tired smile as they filled her in on recent family events. She kept the smile plastered on as she stood up and excused herself. Her heart was singing a sad song and she could not bear to keep it in any longer. Her heeled feet took her across the kitchen into the hall and up the stairs to the nearest bathroom where she locked herself in before plopping with grace onto the toilet seat and opened her mouth to let out quiet wails that matched the small twin streams of tears that ruined her eye shadow. She could not be too loud, her parents had arrived as soon as she called them but the house felt just as cold. The walls just as bleak. Hell financial advising didn't even give a big thrill anymore. Oh yes, she still knew they meant well, but they could not give her what she had lost. And she just truly wanted to be alone but not in this house. Not anymore. The last sniffle was had as she calculated that she spent five minutes in the bathroom and thus it was time to go. She took a deep breath and straightened her hair, redid and cleaned up her botched makeup, and took another steadying breath before walking solemnly through the halls. Her mantra became. I will not look in his room. I will not look in his room. But still her feet stopped at the closed door. Her compulsion to see something that reminded her of her baby boy override the protection of the mantra and she found herself turning the knob of his bedroom door and stepping inside. Still the same, Jesus on one wall, and Adam Young on the other. It actually made her smile, she knew how he was, truly after all. But what the hell was that noise? What in the hell was that shaky figure on her son's carpet. Open window. Red finger tips. Not nails, but finger tips. Break in? Most likely, drug user, perhaps. Then again, that hair color did look familiar. "Why are you here, little girl? Are there more people with you? Let me know now, and I will go easy on you." It was Christmas. The little girl was clearly just a baby, not a kid. But Shirley had lost her kid. She had no fúcks to give today.
I volunteer. Since I think my phone can keep up.
Marcus snapped awake because of the shrill ringing of his phone. He glanced at the screen and was relieved to see that it was his ride and hopefully many other's ride out of here. He stretched and picked up the phone. Running through the last minute details of the plan before finally getting out of his bed and grabbing the hangar from the night before, and doing a shaky snake check. Once the coast was clear, he headed to his bathroom to take cre of hiself and when his shoe was tied and his jacket was secured he ventured outside. He needed to get to the school's power supply. He gritted his teeth and clenched his phone, the administrators would never allow him to do this. But it was so obvious that he was surprised that one of the snake catchers didn't just do it themself. The thought of traversing the school still gave him the creepy crawlies all along his back. Instead of worrying about being bit he focused on keeping his eyes and ears opened as he finally left the school's dorm and stepped out in the chill of Christmas Day. At least this would keep the snakes away. He just hoped his brother would do the simple thing he asked of him.
Marcus beat Assassin's Creed and decided to reward himself with sleep. So he ate a snack and slept.
Senator's daughter in helicopter crash, soon found to be missing. What? What? What? Why was the girl he was just worrying about missing? Marcus clutched his dark curls in a frantic grip, dear god, if she was missing, was she even alive? How many of the other game players were in that crash? He searched through his phone, he had to text a few people. Fortunately, his phone only held a few people. Marcus sighed at the thought but still sent a message to Olivia. *To Olivia: --Hey. It's a snake infested town with very low temperatures. I haven't heard from you in a bit, just making sure you're okay, Olivia.-- *Marcus* He sent the same thing to Marina, but switched out the Olivia with a Marina. He hoped she would be found soon. The game players seriously needed to come up with a game plan. His phone was checked for the time as he turned his attention back to the T.V. the snakes were still rampant. But slowly and surely being contained. Unfortunately, for snake fearers such as Marcus, that still meant it was too dangerous to venture outside for anything but the essentials. Marcus sighed again, checking his phone once more, still no call back from his brother, and Christmas was literally coming with the next sunrise. He glanced at his gaming station and stared at his unfinished game of Assassin's Creed. He felt a little bad picking up the controller and killing Templars as the town went through it's troubles. But what could he do, going on a snake genocide? Instead he'd go on a Templar one.
Marcus ended the call with his brother. He said he would be on stand by. Marcus carefully left Altair's room for his own. Looks like his roomy was gone without so much as a Merry Christmas. When had this world become so rude!? Sighing he took a hangar from his closet and a scared snake check before deeming his bed safe enough to sit on. Time to check the news while he waited. Briefly he wondered if Marina was okay.
Marcus's Calender alarm glared and woke him up. He was alone. Weird and...rude? He made sure to glance at the bed. Two girls. The one he had been introduced to and another with pink hair. The small dark haired girl was gone, as was Altair. Marcus shrugged, feeling a bit sad but not down, because they were not obligated to each other any more. Marcus rubbed his shoulders and glanced about the dorm room. He was feeling clusters and invaded. He needed a shower and a game. AndG he wanted the comforts of home. He hoped his roommate was okay. The guy was so unresponsive sometimes. Marcus sat up and shivered again in the chilled interior of the room. He checked his phone and noted the time while sending a yes to Marina's invitation. With that done Marcus caved in and called his elder brother. He left the sleeping girls to quietly talk and discuss an escape plan from the snake infested school. It was seriously time to go.
...What the f*uck? He was settled in the kitchen when suddenly he was on the roof. Snakes were no match for him as he hurried down the stairs to the roof and back to the room he knew to be Altair. Once in the cold safety of the room . He was so relieved that he was exhausted., so he yawned as an excuse to not talk to anyone. He grabbed his blanket and pillow, found a corner that was empty and dropped into a warm sleep.
Marcus was flinging very angry birds as he rested against the counter in the kitchen. He was getting used to Altair's body but he longed for his. To be this tall at fourteen felt old. He was glad he was as tall as he was was. Their voices drifted into the room he was in as he flung more birds and knocked down more buildings and structures with his bird army. He almost grinned, if this were not the time for it. Sighing he perked up immediately when his phone vibrated in his hand to let him know a messaged had come in. He shut the app down and poked open his messages inbox. Ah, one from Marina. He was glad he had someone to text. Otherwise, this phone would be so useless. :To Marina: --Just say the when and where. The sooner the better, I think. Also the safer too. I'm thinking the police station. Or whoever has the safest house. Where are you? *Marcus*-- Another text? Who was it from? Olivia! He scrolled through the text's history, how could he miss a helicopter ride invitation?! Ugh, well at least it was a bust apparently, he wondered what happened there. He flipped his phone horizontally then his thumbs began to tap out a text to the girl he still thought was sporting flowing white hair. :To Olivia: --You have to tell me if you're okay! I'm good, but the snake situation is still the same, if not worse. I'll have to work up the courage to check out a window soon. I think it's so bad that they're still roaming the halls, I just heard one get shot. I hope it's dead. Someone has to know about these snakes. On how they can be stopped, or something. Let me know if you find anything, I'll be looking too. *Marcus*--
Oh. Why didn't you say so. You may stay, want some dip, soooon?
Get out Plaumes. >:L You're grounded for crashing our party.
Marcus had woken up earlier in the day. upon hearing noises and noticing that his vision was slightly blurred. Hearing the sounds of his own voice through another's ears was weird. Kind of like when he could hear his voice coming out of the speakers of his T.V. becuase of the microphone he was using to strategize with friends. Thinking of playing games in his dorm made him think of Theodore, and if he was still awake. He groaned and drifted back to sleep, this couch seemed much less cushiony then it had been when he first drifted off upon it. And he felt colder, as if his blanket had fallen off. Weird, but sleep seemed more important, he just seemed so tired, despite not doing anything rigorous yesterday. Also weirdly, his bruises felt like they'd been used more then he originally had intended. Whatever, sleep first, ask questions later, thought the fourteen year old as he let the darkness of Slumberland cloud his mind and eventually his consciousness. He was out again and then he was back up. He groaned and checked the time with his phone. Ugh. It was nearly the afternoon. He shivered and pulled his jacket on tighter. Judging by the fact that these hands are not his own, he was still in Altair's body. He pushed himself off the...carpet?! Why the hell was he on the floor? He jolted himself awake. Why was he so far from the couch? Okay. This is freaky, too freaky. He didn't remember even going to sleep on the couch like he was previously thinking he did. Marcus's mind made Altair's body intake and exhale air at a much faster rate then normal. He gritted his teeth and nodded at the two conversing before heading to the bathroom and wincing a bit with each step, yep definitely felt like he'd rolled across the floor towards the door in his sleep. Which was...odd. To say the least. Okay Marc. No time for that bull. Check your phone, and resume with the normalacy. You can analyze freaky crap with Altair and the others later. He nodded at the foreign face in the mirror as he splashed himself once more in the face before toweling his face dry and trying to smile. He then whipped out his phone and stepped into the kitchen, his stomach rumbling as he texted Marina back. He was glad he could talk to her, and she was at least polite to him, unlike older people who were very ignorant or ignored the younger kids as if they were ranks. Marcus shook his head and began to type. -Hey Marina. Glad you're alive enough to text. ...I didn't think that email was real, but these Bellhurst people seem to KNOW it's real. The body swap confirmed it for me..I guess. Anyway, we should meet up! It would be nice to see a familiar face. Be safe! I heard a snake get shot a few minutes ago! *Marcus*-
*brings dip*
Well bad @ss to the fabulous maxxu. Altair had a gun stashed away. And he knew how to use it, judging from the bang that rang throughout the building. He hoped no one or no thing would come lurking to the room. Two new people were dragged into the chilled atmosphere. These two shorter then the other girl who was here. He was about to introduce himself when Altair spoke first and it seemed as if he knew them. The girl shorter girl acted kind of familiar, he couldn't place who she seemed similiar too so he let it go. A pink haired girl? Maybe she like those Japanese cartoon's or something. His head tilted as he pondered the thought, then his brain shifted back to the present. Snakes. And two probably cold people. They would speak up if they needed extra warmth though, they were dressed appropriately for the weather outside so he gave them kudos. They paused in their speech and Marcus was about to introduce himself, but then he thought better of it. They seemed to be good friends of his, and apparently hadn't seen him in some time. So he let them catch up with lost times. After all, if they were his friends, then they would notice that someone who had Altair's knowledge was speaking from a completely different mouth. And that's when he'd make his introduction.
Marcus considered Altair's words. And disected and explored as many possiblities as his mind could think about. They were in a snake infested town. Sounds like a bunch of them were literally roaming the campus, if you could judge by the screams coming from outside. Sure, some sounded a bit dramatic, but a sighting is a sighting. He rubbed his chin in thought. Hmm. Snakes are dumber then humans, they aren't going to go about stalking and hunting prey. They will feel that this room is cold, too cold to be of any use for them. So they will nose in, and nose the hell out. Right? All Altair, Heidi and he had to do was hold out. But would that be better then trying to escape and heading towards some kind of safety shelter made by the government. He was still a bit paranoid, though he had more faith in making the room freezing idea then anything else. All they had to do was watch and wait. Marcus swallowed hard as he nodded to reassure himself. Yep, nearly full proof. Hahahahaha. He hated snakes. He would need something warmer then this shirt, he'd not dressed for the weather since he thought he could slip on one of Altair's jackets, and because dressing was still a bit of a pain what with the bruises still marking his burrowed body. He sighed enviously at his own. Soon, my precious bod. Soon. Right now it was survival time! He searched about Altair's closet without asking, afterall his idea was to make the room too cold. So how was he, a warm blooded human going to keep warm other wise. Still, Marcus was freaked out and watchfull as he didn't even bother fully entering the closet, he simply grabbed at a few shirts, snagged three and huddled them to his chest before leaping onto one of the beds. "Second shirt, anyone?"
Marcus headed into the room that held his couch after finishing off his glass of water. His fingers slipped into his pocket and he removed his cellphone that Altair had thankfully brought along. He sighed in relief, this thing could identify him, he actually smiled at the scratches that had formed over the screen since the time he'd first gotten it. The litte lines on the cover weren't bad, they were really seeable to a very observering person or himself. He cleared his head of all thoughts and settled into the cushions, tapping away quietly at the screen. It was basically a little shout out to his mother and father. There was no way he could deceive them with this obviously deeper voice. His face flushed lightly at the thought of even trying. His first smile since this whole thing happened, it etched on his face as he thought of what his father would say. If the man would even pick up. With that done, Marcus began to let his mind wander, keeping it on a tight leash though, and tying it to a cord that was connected to his central thoughts. Which was the hottest topic his mind would even be aloud to think of. This person named C. These Bellhurst kids. And just what the hell was going on. Even he was surprised at the weird going ons with Brookridge's bigger neighbour, Coy City, but he simply assumed that it was just a series of bad luck. Cities and towns get hit by nature, some survive, some don't. Keep on trucking. But if C was powerful enough to switch the living SOULS! out of people, then hell, that could have been her controlling the wether. Marcus glanced at the sleeping forms of the two people he'd met just yesterday. The crap that might have gone through must have been bananas. He wouldn't feel right just playing video games while his life ticked away and these guys, and possibly others, were suffering at the hands of some supernatural being. Marcus felt Altair's brows drop in a frown. But what could he do!? He was barely out of middle school. Had done nothing with his life except dedicate it to his country. But he was too young to do anything but join clubs and programs for kids with his intention. His breath escaped in a sigh. His eyes looked but didn't see anything but what his mind allowed, he had to think of something. After, it was just a game. And Life was compared to a game all the time.
heyo saximo. I am requesting that you remove the black background surrounding the image in this picture. So I can replace it with the fugly picture in my signature. Ugly Black Background Surrounded Picture.
Marcus was going to sleep in a new room again. This had to be some kind of record. Well for him at least the room was very toasty so he had no trouble getting to sleep. He settled into his couch spot and let sleep envelope him. Morning rose up and he rubbed his eyes blearily, the others were still asleep. Being thirsty he quietly got up and got a quick glass of water. He shut the faucet off as soon as he could, it sounded so loud in the dead silence of morning. When he finally set the glass down he deduced that Heidi and Altair were friends who had gone through something that made them set up some kind of makeshift sibling bond. Marcus was a little envious. But aside from that emotion he felt something else for their situation. He wanted to help them. And not because he was some bored kid. But because he felt moved, inspired even. They sounded like they were still in trouble, he would talk to them later about joining them if they wanted an extra set of hands.
