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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on May 16, 2017 12:27:40 GMT -5
( you read my mind cx )
Renee was relieved that there was no further questioning. She certainly looked as strong as she was, but strong enough to bring those two mountains down? Without her abilities, that was doubtful. "Hmm," she said, blinking herself out of her thoughts. Once she listened out for it, it was easy to recognise. "That's me," Renee said, patting herself down in search for her phone. She fished it out of her back pocket, glowing at the name that shone up at her.
"Drew!" she greeted brightly. He didn't need more than a few words to make her face fall again. "No... No," she murmured, sounding panicked. "Already? We haven't even been here for a month. No way they got here so quickly." He said something hurriedly. She could practically see the anxiety creasing his forehead. "No, I get it. Get out of there, now." She rambled off the address, not even realising that she was inviting him over to an apartment that wasn't hers. "We'll make a plan as soon as you get here. Dump that phone on the way. Bye. I'll see you soon." She sounded as if she was saying it for herself just as much as for him. She turned the screen off, already pacing and chewing her thumb, Valerie entirely forgotten.
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on May 16, 2017 12:50:37 GMT -5
Renee looked up at the new girl whose name she still didn't know, wide eyed and her lips pressed together. A wave of realisation came over her as she saw that this was not her place but one that belonged to two strangers. She drew a shaky breath then resumed her pacing, her gaze flitting between the two girls.
"That was my brother, Andrew," she said, understanding fully well that she owed them both an answer. "The people that did this to me, well, they did it to him, too. He's..." she trailed off, turning to Val almost expectantly. "You know how I said you weren't too far off with the movie thing? Well, looks like that's something we need to worry about sooner rather than later. I didn't know where else I could tell him to go, so..." She gestured around herself helplessly, as if there had been nothing else she could do.
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on May 16, 2017 13:37:15 GMT -5
"Maybe we won't have to stay," Renee said, the hope in her tone sounding pathetic even to her own ears. She continued pacing and went back to biting her thumb, ignoring the two girls in favour of containing her increasing panic. They'd need answers, she knew that. Glossing over everything with pop culture references wasn't going to cut it if she'd forced herself upon them and their small apartment. She didn't notice the other two move around, she didn't even hear them speak. If only she was there, then she'd be able to do something. She wouldn't feel this way if she could just stand between her brother and the people looking to hurt him.
Not until the doorbell rang did she stop pacing, taking off at a run and yanking the door open with enough force to rattle the hinges. On the other side was exactly the person she needed to see, looking ruffled and afraid but not hurt in any way. "Oh thank god," she let out, pulling him inside and into a hug that forced the air from his lungs. She was barely aware of his arms around her.
"Ren," he said, and she heard in the tone of his voice that this wasn't the first time he'd tried to get her attention. "You have to let go of me so I can fill you in, you need to kno..." He trailed off, eyes finally landing on the two girls. It seemed unobservantness ran in the family in times of distress. "Renee. Who are these people?" He addressed his sister but he was staring at them, suspicion clouding his gaze.
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on May 16, 2017 15:18:04 GMT -5
Andrew turned on Renee in an instant. She knew what was coming. "You told her?" She opened her mouth to explain but he just shook his head. "No, you showed her, right? Or whoever it was that was beating her up? You didn't think that maybe, since they don't owe you anything, they'd go screaming about what they saw? Maybe just telling their friends or whatever, leaving everyone else to overhear?" She paled, the blood draining from her face as she realised what he was implying. She was the reason they'd caught up so fast. Of course she was. It was always her.
Andrew sighed heavily, rubbing a hand across his face. "Sorry," he said, leaving Renee to have her crisis. "I'm Andrew. Nice to meet you, Valerie, Lily. I gather Ren didn't ask if she could invite me? Sorry about that, too. She's.. focused, I guess you could say." He shut the door behind them, shoved Renee inside ahead of him. "And thanks. For not throwing me out, I mean."
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on May 16, 2017 15:57:50 GMT -5
Renee looked up, some of the colour returning to her cheeks as she realised that it hadn't ended too badly. They were fine. "Thanks. I hope so," she said, noting but not commenting on the girl's nervosity. That seemed rude. "And some water would be great, thank you." She was glad that Lily wasn't watching her with the same suspicion as she had before. Maybe Val's word had been enough to win her over.She certainly hoped so. "It's nice to meet you, by the way. I'm sorry it happened like it did."
Andrew nodded gratefully. "Thanks. I'll talk to Ren, see what we come up with. What's she told you already?" He didn't sound so demanding anymore, he'd gotten his shock and anger under control again. He'd have to apologise to Renee once he got the chance. "I figure she was pretty open? She usually is." He sighed in a way that implied he'd tried to figure that part of her out and failed, shook his head then smiled a little.
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on May 16, 2017 16:27:57 GMT -5
Renee nodded, glancing at Andrew for help. Unfortunately, he was deep in discussion with Valerie so the call was all hers. "I don't know what happened before, but I found her cornered by two giants. I punched one of the guys that were beating her up and they got scared, so they ran off." She chewed on her lip and took a long sip, trying desperately to put off what she knew would come. She'd have to come clean eventually, and the way things were going it would be sooner rather than later.
Andrew shook his head with a small smile. "No. Thank god. That sounds pretty terrifying, to be honest. Here, watch." He held his hand out, palm cupped. Water filled it, entirely still in his hand. Now came the difficult part. Unlike Renee's ability, Andrew's didn't have an on and off switch. Once he'd pulled water from the air he couldn't just make it disappear. He had to take his time and place it back into the dehydrated air bit by bit. It took a while but required very little focus, so he looked up and at Valerie. "So that's what I do," he said, watching for her reaction.
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on May 16, 2017 17:08:12 GMT -5
Andrew grinned. "Now that," he said, "would be fun." He couldn't really be violent with his abilities, not like Renee or even any of the other test subjects. Maybe if he tried, he'd be able to inflict some damage, but he never really used them. He was curious to know why she'd say that, but he had no time to ask before the subject was changed. He'd have to ask later.
Renee frowned at Valerie, glad that the subject had been changed. If she was pressed, she'd answer, but with what Andrew had just said the idea wasn't tempting. "You shouldn't sleep on the floor, Val," she said. "Not with the way you're walking right now. I'll take the floor, I'm the one who's intruding." She turned to Lily, questioning. "Where do the two of you usually sleep?" she asked. "You should stay there, Andrew and I will slot in somewhere." She shot him a look as if daring him to argue, but he seemed to agree because he simply nodded.
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on May 18, 2017 12:39:28 GMT -5
Renee looked uncertain, but figured she had no right to press further. "Just... Let your chest rest, yeah?" She frowned still but realised that it had been settled. With that out of the way, there was one thing left for her to do. "Andrew, I need you to fill me in on what happened today," she said, turning to her brother. "I need to know everything. You probably have a few questions for me. And I think there's something else we need to discuss, too." She flicked her gaze to Lily for a meaningful moment and he nodded.
"Yeah, you're right," he said. "Valerie, is there somewhere we can go to talk in private for a minute?" This wasn't the type of conversation you had in front of an audience. It would be full of secrets, secrets they had to decide to either keep to themselves or share in the coming hours.
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on May 18, 2017 12:40:04 GMT -5
( feel free to just skim over their absence, by the way. the exact words they use aren't improtant or anything. )
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on May 18, 2017 13:43:36 GMT -5
Catching up didn't take long. Andrew didn't have a lot of information to share, he didn't know much more than Renee did. He knew that it was the same three men and one woman as usual and that he'd lost them by diving into the sea and walking along the bottom for a few blocks, but that was about it. He did, however, have an interrogation in store for Renee, one she cooperated with fully, albeit a little tiredly. This wasn't the first time her brother thought he could have handled the situation much better than she and it wasn't the first time he'd made that abundantly clear. She loved him dearly, but it got a little exhausting after a while.
It only got interesting when they got to the topic of Lily. As expected, Andrew was opposed to her getting any kind of information. "We need to skip town anyway," he argued. "There's no reason for her to know." Renee, meanwhile, though it rude to keep it from a woman who was so graciously giving up part of her home for them. "She'll find out eventually," was her less emotional argument, one Andrew was more likely to respond to. "You know they'll be watching transport in and out of the city for a while now. We have nowhere else to stay. And how long do you think we can stay here before she finds out? She already knows something's up."
The debate went back and forth, getting heated only on the expected side while staying cool and rational on the other. In the end, Renee won out. If it was because she'd convinced Andrew or just because he knew she wouldn't drop it, she didn't know, but that didn't matter. She'd gotten her way.
"Yeah, we've got it," Andrew said when they reappeared, giving a small smile. "Renee wants to tell you what's going on, she thinks that it'll get out eventually anyway and that we might as well let the cat out of the bag now, before something actually happens. I just have one question for you first." He turned to Valerie, narrowing his eyes a little. "Renee trusts you, so I'm asking you. Can we trust her to know?"
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on May 18, 2017 14:26:39 GMT -5
Renee looked to Andrew, who nodded. Good. She took a deep breath then clicked her fingers, a flame coming to life in her palm. She didn't let it spread across her skin this time out of fear that she'd set something else on fire, just let it dance for a few moments before she closed her hand into a fist, suffocating it. "So that's the secret," she said, her hand falling to her side again. "Not the answers, I know, but those take time." She looked to her brother, noting that he hadn't moved yet. "Drew," she hissed. "Show her your thing."
He frowned, clearly uncomfortable with letting it spread, but he did as told, pulling water from the air in much the same way as he had before. He watched it rest in his cupped hand, then held his hand out to Renee. She lit the flame again and he smiled gratefully, pouring the water onto it. It evaporated with a sharp hiss, and then the flame, too, was gone. "And that's his."
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on May 18, 2017 15:07:03 GMT -5
"How? Well, isn't that something we'd all like to know?" Renee said, finding her way to the sofa and sitting down. The way this was going, they'd be answering questions for a while. "And no, the people tracking us down don't have powers. Not that we've seen, anyway. I'm pretty sure they're just normal bounty hunters. Determined bounty hunters working illegally, but still. And you've got nothing to worry about. They're expecting us to leave town now, so we have a few days while they focus on that to figure out what we need to do next and how to stay safe here."
Andrew didn't sit down, opting to lean against one of the walls instead. "Yeah, it is a bit of a shock," he agreed. He spoke from experience, having been through not only seeing it but doing it for the first time. It was quite the bombshell to drop. "That's one of many reasons," he continued, shooting a look at Renee which she made a point of ignoring. "That we never tell anyone."
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brambleflight
Holiday craze. Replies wont be coming for a while sorry!
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Post by brambleflight on May 18, 2017 18:28:56 GMT -5
Lily inhaled deeply as Renee began to answer a few of the questions she had asked. As the others seemed rather relaxed, Lily felt a fresh wave of embarrassment begin to wash over her. She felt as if she had overreacted but it was simply amazing that there were people, in her home, that had powers. Lily cleared her throat and gave a small nod in acknowledgement to Renee as she sat down on the couch with her. “I see..” she mumbled, returning back to her quiet nature now that she had a moment to take in everything.
Valerie looked over at Andrew and gave a small shrug. “Makes sense. Well,” she said with a smile as she laid her head back against the chair to look up at the ceiling, “I think it’s cool. Sucks that you got some morons tracking you down constantly but the powers themselves are pretty great. I mean, get yourself a fancy costume, granted a flame resistant one, and you’d be like the human torch!” Val smirked and looked over at Andrew. “You could be like... umm.... eh, Aquaman?”
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on May 18, 2017 18:45:56 GMT -5
Andrew raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah," he said, sounding unimpressed and a little amused. "Aquaman, the most powerful of the superheroes."
Renee rolled her eyes at him. "Stop whining, Andrew," she said. "We all know you'd be a rubbish superhero anyway, your greatest trick would be running away from the bad guys and hiding at the bottom of the sea." That they'd argued about how to deal with this threat before was clear, but what was also clear was that it happened often enough that they joked about it often, because her tone was teasing and Andrew's response was a roll of the eyes of his own.
"Oh yeah? And what would yours be? Setting entire cities on fire?"
"Hey!" Renee protested. "It's been over two years since I started a fire!"
Andrew ignored her, turning to the other girls instead. "All I'm saying is if I were a superhero I'd be the first of my kind because if there's one superhero nobody wants to be its Aquaman."
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on May 21, 2017 17:48:40 GMT -5
( sorry to keep you waiting! )
Andrew pointed at Valerie as if she were making a great point. "Well then, I'm perfect for the role," he decided, earning him a slap on the arm from Renee, who apparently did not find his confidence endearing. "Batgirl?" he asked, surprised, as he brushed his sister off him. He didn't know Lily well, but that didn't seem like the obvious choice for her. "Why not?" he decided finally, of the mindset that it didn't matter anyway.
"Okay," Renee said. "This is all good and fine, but what if I want my own superhero name? If I'm going to go out there with some kind of cheesy name, it had better be the best cheesy name." Competitive until the end, as always. "There has to be something better than Human Torch, that just makes it sound like I'm being burned at the stake or something. We need something with some more... force to it."
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on May 23, 2017 11:08:35 GMT -5
Andrew nodded at each of Lily's suggestion, but his mind was elsewhere. He didn't like where this was headed. Renee sounded a little too certain for this to be just a joke. Of course, he could be wrong. Renee was unpredictable that even he, the brother who'd been with her every day of her life, was blindsided at times. But he knew that look all too well, and he didn't like the consequences it would bring.
"Firestorm. I like that," she commented. "Or Pyre, that has some punch to it as well." Beside her, Andrew's frown was only deepening, as if he was nearing a conclusion he didn't like. "Ren," he said cautiously. She just brushed him off. "You've got some good ideas, Lily," she said, turning to her and, by extension, away from Andrew. Unable to make any kind of contact with his sister, he turned to Valerie instead, hoping that she, too, would see what he saw.
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