Lost in Maldon

Though many students might prefer going to London, Maldon provides closer amenities for those without a car or unwilling to pay for a cab. Several pubs are available, though the Rose and Crown is notable for having been where Excalibur spent a good deal of their downtime. Also of note is the Plume Library, home to many rare books.

Lost in Maldon

Postby Narrator » Tue Apr 03, 2018 5:35 pm

Gradually they slip into Maldon. Some have misshapen forms or speak in voices like stones grinding against one another. One would think these individuals would stand out like a sore thumb, but the general population seems oblivious to their presence.

The strange lumpy man standing in the center of the roundabout at High, Spital, and Fambridge watching the cars go by and regarding their passengers with intense interest. Accidents at the roundabout increase, all blamed on distracted driving by the at-fault party who only describe a sense of unease as they passed through the roundabout.

The woman with hair dyed an unusual sea green sitting on the docks in the River Chelmer, singing a soft song. That song occasionally makes the workers on the docks pause and look around without them realizing where its coming from. Soon they snap out of it and go about their work, all the more irritable for the experience. Fights along the dockside increase, blamed on the 'cabin fever' of winter and people just rubbing each other the wrong way.

On the outskirts of town, a farmer's chicken coop burns down, the fire blamed on a faulty warming bulb in the coop. No one listens to the farmer's granddaughter, a child all of six years old, who swears she saw three little men made of fire run away from the chicken coop. The information doesn't even make it into the official report.
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Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Shari » Tue Apr 03, 2018 7:04 pm

Shari is sitting at the train station, heavy backpack on the seat next to her and she's waiting. What she's waiting for isn't entirely clear to her. She could catch a ride back to London, she mostly knows her way around there. But really, there's no reason to stop there. She could ride the train all the way to Heathrow, steal someone's passport or sneak her way onto a plane, go somewhere else entirely. Roll the dice on where it'll take her and figure out where to go from there. Start over entirely and just live in the moment. Maybe she'll end up on a beach somewhere or yet another concrete jungle, it doesn't really matter, does it? She'll never really belong anywhere as long as she's not willing to go back to her people. Might as well wander this world as the drifter she is. It has a strange appeal to rely on nobody but her own again and explore the planet...
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High Concept: Shapeshifting Stranger
Aspect: Shaping Yourself
Aspect: Philosophy of Form

Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Narrator » Tue Apr 03, 2018 7:32 pm

Down the platform, a long-limbed woman flies down and lands, looking around with a face almost too long to be human. Her large eyes look around and her stringy hair blows faintly in a breeze that isn't present. She's dressed shabby velvet robes in black and red. She grins, displaying sharp teeth and lets out a pleased but quiet hiss. None of the other inhabitants on the platform seem to have noticed her, but Shari can see her perfectly fine.
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Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Shari » Tue Apr 03, 2018 7:41 pm

Shari looks up when she catches someone landing out of the corner of her eye, assuming it's someone from the school. When it becomes obvious that no one is paying her any mind despite the strange appearance she figures something weird is going on. Humans wouldn't just ignore somebody who looks that different, even in Maldon. She rummages through her backpack and pulls out an energy bar to slowly munch on while she keeps the strange woman in the corner of her eye, not wanting to make it too obvious she's watching her.
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High Concept: Shapeshifting Stranger
Aspect: Shaping Yourself
Aspect: Philosophy of Form

Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Narrator » Tue Apr 03, 2018 7:49 pm

The woman meanders through the crowd, not paying any attention to Shari. She sniffs at some of the humans before stopping to circle a heavy-set business man checking his watch and occasionally rubbing his arm. Her grin widens and she moves face-to-face with the man. He looks right through her. She suddenly begins to suck in her breath and Shari can sort of see wisps of something coming off the man. His skin begins to pale and he puts one hand to his chest.
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Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Shari » Tue Apr 03, 2018 9:11 pm

Some kind of... energy-leeching mutant maybe. Who stayed out of sight somehow. But why could she notice the woman? She slowly, almost carefully chews on her energy bar as she tries to think. Safest thing would be to just ignore this. Not get involved and let it play out. Just some stupid human, right? Being... kind of murdered in broad daylight. Fuck.

She jumps up from the bench and charges at the strange woman to tackle her away from the man.
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High Concept: Shapeshifting Stranger
Aspect: Shaping Yourself
Aspect: Philosophy of Form

Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Narrator » Tue Apr 03, 2018 9:44 pm

The woman obviously wasn't expecting someone to see her and Shari easily tackles her, causing her to lose whatever hold she has on the man. The woman begins wrestling with Shari. She's a lot stronger than she looks and is putting up quite the fight. Every nearby person in the station is now staring at them or more appropriately staring at Shari. None of them move to help her, they all seem to be backing away like you would from a crazy person.
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Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Shari » Wed Apr 04, 2018 4:15 pm

Shari has no interest in actually fighting with whoever this is and scrambles away from the woman, glancing around at the people staring at her.

"What? What's the matter with you people?"
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High Concept: Shapeshifting Stranger
Aspect: Shaping Yourself
Aspect: Philosophy of Form

Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Narrator » Wed Apr 04, 2018 4:28 pm

"What wrong with us? What's wrong with you?" An older man says before his wife tugs on his arm. "Don't engage, Harold."

The woman pulls herself to her feet and laughs, "They can't see me, young one. But you can... how curious..." She slowly stalks towards Shari, tilting her head this way and that as she regards the young woman. Her speech has a hissy, raspy quality to it that grates on the nerves. "You're not from around here. You don't *belong* here. This isn't your home. Why defend them?"
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Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Shari » Wed Apr 04, 2018 6:12 pm

"Because! They don't even know you're there! It's not..." Fair isn't really a concept for Skrulls. They fight dirty, using deception and subterfuge all the time and Shari is struggling to put into words why that bugs her. There's probably not even a word for it. You fight any way you can and the stronger is int he right. That's how her people operate, how they think. It bothers her but she can't really express it.

"It shouldn't be that way!"
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High Concept: Shapeshifting Stranger
Aspect: Shaping Yourself
Aspect: Philosophy of Form

Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Narrator » Wed Apr 04, 2018 6:24 pm

A few people are starting to pull out their phones to take videos of the crazy girl in the train station and down the platform, Shari can see a couple of bobbies starting to take interest in the goings on.

"They're the newcomers, the usurpers here. My people were here long before these... mortals." She spits out that last word. "They don't *deserve* their supremacy. Reducing us to feeding on the fringes, hiding from their sight. It's an insult." There's a certain fire in her eyes. The fire's somewhat similar to the fire Shari's seen in the eyes of someone who failed to assimilate the memory ritual, the fire of insanity.
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Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Shari » Wed Apr 04, 2018 7:19 pm

"I don't know what you are, but I'm not letting you hurt these people. Everyone always fighting about stuff and places! What's the point!?"
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High Concept: Shapeshifting Stranger
Aspect: Shaping Yourself
Aspect: Philosophy of Form

Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Narrator » Wed Apr 04, 2018 7:33 pm

"The hunger is the point. The desire for more. And I'm so very hungry," the woman says, lunging for Shari with outstretched hands. The long nails rake at her, drawing blood which certainly gets a reaction out of the crowd who begin to leave the area at a rapid pace.
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Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Shari » Wed Apr 04, 2018 9:09 pm

"Oww!" Shari exclaims and jumps backwards as thick chitinous plates grow all over her skin, although the gouges in her face remain, if anything they end up deeper as the tissue around them thickens and grows. Her arms stiffen as they turn into flat, dull blades of hardened skin and bone, almost more shields than offensive weapons that she tries to keep between herself and the ravenous woman.

"Then get some curry like the rest of us!" she shouts at the woman, taking a step forwards and making kind of a shoving motion towards the woman to try and drive her back.
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High Concept: Shapeshifting Stranger
Aspect: Shaping Yourself
Aspect: Philosophy of Form

Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Narrator » Wed Apr 04, 2018 10:09 pm

She knocks the woman aside, but the woman just hovers in mid-air, licking the blood off her fingernails. "Not as sweet as what I want, but still so tasty," she giggles. She swoops back down at Shari, weaving as she tries to get around Shari's guard.
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Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Shari » Thu Apr 05, 2018 3:47 pm

"Go away! I don't want to fight!" she shouts, swiping one plated arm at the woman, more hoping to make her back off than really trying to swat her out of the air.
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High Concept: Shapeshifting Stranger
Aspect: Shaping Yourself
Aspect: Philosophy of Form

Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Narrator » Thu Apr 05, 2018 4:37 pm

The warding gesture forces her to back off a bit and she circles Shari. "But you still fight. You could just give in. A soul like yours I could feed off of for *months*."
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Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Shari » Thu Apr 05, 2018 5:13 pm

She has no idea what this thing is, but it clearly feeds off of the life-force of living things in some manner. And worse, humans don't even seem to notice. She really doesn't want to fight. Sure, she got into a drunken brawl and she stabbed zombies in Conduit's simulation but those were just... scuffles. But this thing isn't going to back off. She can see it in it's eyes, that kind of unhinged hunger. If she wants to keep this thing from hurting anybody she's going to have to fight.

She keeps a wary eye on the thing as she pulls off her jacket and her whole frame begins to change. Muscles and claws, instincts and reflexes, those are the obvious things, but when it comes down to it they're just surface details. There's countless planet filled with strange creatures out there and her people have turned it into an art-form to hone themselves into the most dangerous ones. She can feel her cells crackling with energy as she turns into a quadruped shape, fin-like growth sprouting from her back as her head and claws are encased in thick protective skin. A predator from Chomia 5 that feeds on ephemeral energy beings in the planet's atmosphere. The fins on her back flare out as they feel out electromagnetic currents int he atmosphere and the organs in her head and feet respond. In the blink of an eye she surges forward along those currents, faster than muscles alone could push her, mouth snapping at the woman with jaws that evolved to tear into things that only barely exist int he physical plane.
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High Concept: Shapeshifting Stranger
Aspect: Shaping Yourself
Aspect: Philosophy of Form

Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Narrator » Thu Apr 05, 2018 5:56 pm

Her jaws clamp down around the woman's leg and she lets out an unearthly wail as the creature's unusual physiology starts draining her. She slams her fists down on the creature's head, trying to dislodge the thing causing her pain.
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Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Shari » Thu Apr 05, 2018 7:30 pm

Shari stubbornly holds on to the woman's leg, literally gritting her teeth (or beak) at being punched and jerking away. As she does she pulls backwards and like a dog or crocodile yanks and twists her head back and forth to either pull the woman along to to tear the leg straight off where her beak is crunching down on it.
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High Concept: Shapeshifting Stranger
Aspect: Shaping Yourself
Aspect: Philosophy of Form

Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Narrator » Thu Apr 05, 2018 7:49 pm

As she tugs and rips, the leg tears free without any blood. The woman screams and flies upward, scrambling away from Shari as she abandons this hunting ground to the better predator.
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Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Shari » Fri Apr 06, 2018 4:28 pm

Shari growls in a strange gurgle before letting out a series of shrill yipping sounds. She should feel bad about what just happened, even if this was just some horrible person seeking to hurt people, but leaning this hard into a shape is a two way street and a lot of her thoughts circle around the fact that she drove off another hunter. Her head darts back and forth at the retreating humans and she gurgles again to make sure they stay back before looking down at the severed leg and tearing into it. Food's food.
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High Concept: Shapeshifting Stranger
Aspect: Shaping Yourself
Aspect: Philosophy of Form

Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Narrator » Fri Apr 06, 2018 4:52 pm

The meat is leathery and tough and not all that tasty, but in this form she really doesn't care too much. A couple of police officers are making a slow approach on her, trying to figure out what she's up to. As she glances at them, she can see they're surrounded by a close halo of energy. The halos flare with a mixture of colors as the officers try and figure out what they're dealing with.

"Should we call animal control, Wiggins?" One officer says, slowly taking out his baton.

"I don't know, Wicks, looking like its tearing at something. I don't see anything though. Maybe it's rabid?" The other officer also starts to ease his baton out.

In the back of her head, she can hear a soft singing. Like a mother singing to a child, though there's a ghostly distance to the sound.
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Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Shari » Fri Apr 06, 2018 4:59 pm

None of this is good. She looks down at the piece of leg she's eating, then back at the cops. She let's out a high-pitched bark and backs away a little, towards her jacket and backpack. Those things are more important than food, somehow although she can't quite put together why right now. All she knows is that she has to protect her stuff from these strangely colored people. She lets out another growling yip and flares the fins on her back threateningly.
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High Concept: Shapeshifting Stranger
Aspect: Shaping Yourself
Aspect: Philosophy of Form

Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Narrator » Fri Apr 06, 2018 5:14 pm

The threatening gesture keeps the cops at bay for the moment, though Wiggins reaches for a radio on his shoulder. "This is Wiggins down at the train station. We've got a strange animal down here, possibly rabid. Get animal control down here on the double. ... No, I don't know what it is. Just get them down here."

The singing continues and she gets the mental image of a young woman cradling a baby and singing a lullaby to it. She begins to catch other flashes of the young woman: looking at herself in a mirror while trying on some clothes, smiling through tears at a decent-looking man going down on one knee and holding out a ring to her, and being in a hospital while cradling a squalling baby obviously the baby from the initial mental image.
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Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Shari » Sun Apr 08, 2018 11:12 pm

Shari shakes her head, trying to clear the memories. She ends up having to let her attention slip from the cops as she focuses on her shape, holding on to it to remind herself whatever glimpses she's getting aren't hers. Escaping into somebody else's memories would almost be welcome, but the circumstances are more than suspect and in the end she'd rather put her body in danger of the cops than risk her mind to whatever this is.
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High Concept: Shapeshifting Stranger
Aspect: Shaping Yourself
Aspect: Philosophy of Form

Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Narrator » Sun Apr 08, 2018 11:24 pm

It's hard to keep the memories from taking over, but by focusing, she manages it. She still gets flashes and snippets of a somber conversation with a doctor and time spent in what looks like a hospital, though those memories are fuzzier. The cops continue to keep a wary distance, obviously not sure what they're dealing with. The halos around them pulse and flicker, looking somehow inviting. One of their radios crackles to life, "Wiggins, animal control is on its way. ETA is two minutes."
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Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Ainsley Green » Tue Apr 10, 2018 12:31 am

On the hurried rush to get to Shari and the train station, Ainsley had formed something of a plan to deal with the authorities. He didn't have a snazzy X-Men suit, just a stolen business card from the administrative desk and a rather official looking ride.

While the driver headed to their destination as fast as he was legally allowed to, Ainsley used hair ties to pull back all his dreads into a bun and threw off his hoodie on the bench seat, revealing the dress shirt underneath. Tucking it quickly into his pants and rolling up his sleeves to his elbows to cover up some of their crumpled nature, he dug through his bag for a pair of sunglasses he once stole, as well as a clip on tie he kept in there for when he sold art on the street and wanted to look fancy.

Hopefully they bought his worn around the edges skinny jeans he refused to throw out and his chucks as some sort of personal style choice.

He slipped the business card he swiped off the administrative desk as he walked out to the van in his breast pocket, and opened another pouch on his backpack to take out a toothpick, placing it in his cheek between his teeth to chew on.

His cellphone in his jeans pocket and ready to flash his 'credentials', Ainsley practically glided out of the van towards the officers in question, arriving just in the nick of time.

That is to say, before Animal Control shows up with tranq darts.
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Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Narrator » Tue Apr 10, 2018 4:04 am

"S'about time you got here," the officer whose tag labeled him as 'Wiggins' said. "Any idea what this thing is?" He gestures at the strange animal on the platform.
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Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Ainsley Green » Tue Apr 10, 2018 3:13 pm

Ainsley genuinely couldn't tell if Wiggins was expecting them or someone else but in an instant he decided he didn't really give a shit. If the CHIMP thought he was someone else and was too daft to check him, that worked to Ainsley's advantage.

Nodding to the officer to indicate he did know what kind of an animal it was, he made a high pitched whistle to get it's attention, then began making all the excited body language of a dog owner attempting to get his pup to come to him, including slapping his thighs enthusiastically.

Ainsley didn't see super well without his glasses, but he made an educated guess the quadrupedal blue blotch had to be Shari. What else could it be?
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Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Shari » Tue Apr 10, 2018 3:58 pm

Shari's head snaps around at the whistle and let's out a strange growling yip. He doesn't quite get the meaning in the way he usually would, but he does get the vague impression of being told to stay back. Danger. Confusion. A hint of loss? Then the creature seems to lean it's head down and pick something up with it's beak. Or at least move like that's what it's doing, seeming to pick up an invisible stick.
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High Concept: Shapeshifting Stranger
Aspect: Shaping Yourself
Aspect: Philosophy of Form

Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Narrator » Tue Apr 10, 2018 4:44 pm

"I think it's sick or something," Wiggins says, "Have to be to look like that." At the moment, the officers seem content to stay back and let Ainsley do his 'animal control' thing. At least since Shari hasn't gotten any more aggressive yet.
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Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Ainsley Green » Tue Apr 10, 2018 5:07 pm

Ainsley approached Shari with some level of caution, but in receiving signals, Ainsley realized he must he able to send back to her as well. He didn't want to pyscho-analyze how this was working at the moment, and merely took advantage of it.

"Come on you! Follow me into the van!" He thought out loud, hoping Shari would pick up the important words, 'come' and 'follow'. He continued to make the universal hand gesture for "get in the goddamn car', a sweeping motion towards the open door. His face remained calm the entire time however.

He was getting closer, and would force her if he had to.
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Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Narrator » Tue Apr 10, 2018 5:58 pm

The officers begin to look strangely at Ainsley, obviously now starting to question his credentials as an animal control specialist.
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Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Shari » Tue Apr 10, 2018 7:16 pm

On some level she recognizes Ainsley and he reminds her of what she's running towards. The freedom and self-sufficiency, the struggle and the feeling of fitting in, even if it's just through being outcast. She takes a tentative step towards him, still holding the invisible limb in her beak. "Ainsley?" she asks, sending a vague impression of familiarity as she tries to keep herself focused on herself and not the intrusive memories.
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High Concept: Shapeshifting Stranger
Aspect: Shaping Yourself
Aspect: Philosophy of Form

Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Ainsley Green » Tue Apr 10, 2018 8:09 pm

"Yes!" He replies, close enough to put his hand out for a sniff. He would follow by putting the other one out to pat her on the right 'shoulder' in hopes of getting her to cooperate.

"Come. Follow Ainsley." He repeated in more simple words, desperate to get both of them out before the real authorities arrived.
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Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Narrator » Wed Apr 11, 2018 4:34 am

The cops seemed content to let him do his thing for the moment if it meant they didn't have to deal with the strange creature. They kept their distance and watched.
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Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Shari » Wed Apr 11, 2018 3:31 pm

Shari flares her fins at the touch, but does cautiously follow Ainsley. He's alright, he understands. And if no one else can see the thing she just bit then she should at least let somebody know before leaving... Still carrying the invisible leg she hops into the waiting car.
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High Concept: Shapeshifting Stranger
Aspect: Shaping Yourself
Aspect: Philosophy of Form

Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Ainsley Green » Wed Apr 11, 2018 10:25 pm

Ainsley waves his arms dramatically as if to say 'tada' with the sternest of looks considering the showmanship, them slammed the slide door shut and tapped the driver on the shoulder in a panic to get them the fuck out of there.
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Re: Lost in Maldon

Postby Narrator » Wed Apr 11, 2018 11:12 pm

The driver pulls away, leaving a pair of cops to discuss how weird that was and then be utterly confused when animal control actually does show up.
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