{ THE DARK COVE } UPDATED SEE PAGE 1

[Bittiface]

Dylon's grin somehow got even wider, his eyes slitting in delight. Seemed she liked what she saw, and it made his flirtatious nature bubble in triumph.

"West. Dylon West." He answered happily, "Ah, sorry. Didn't have enough forethought to bring the mask. Although I do have some killer shutter shades." He supposed he'd have to get her acquainted now. He led her, arm in arm, out of the bright lights of the pod room, to the bright lights of the hallways.

"I remember when I first woke up. It's very disorienting. Do you have any questions?"  

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Whoa, I guess I expected somethin' nicer." The pod room was utilitarian, sterile. It felt alien and concrete-cold in the worst of ways - like walking in a room with a hundred sleeping creatures that might kill you if they awoke. It was damn eerie and Horace was suddenly glad they kept a man on duty to grab the wakers. The sleep has awoken. Wasn't that phrase from some book he'd read in elementary school? He shook his head just a bit and eyes the other man. Finally, he stood up straight and offered the him a tentative smile and an outstretched hand.

"Yep, I'm Horace Nokoni. And I couldn't stay in that pod another moment. What's your name?' The man's slight drawl put Horace at ease, the 'pardner' a little silly, but hey, the man hadn't been anything but nice. His own accent was light, but there was still some Oklahoman lilt in his voice. With a nervous motion he dragged the fingers of his left hand through his hair, pulling the straight length of it all to one side so that the shaved part of his head was exposed. It was weird, he thought, that he didn't have more growth on that side. As he stood, he slowly tense and relaxed his muscles one by one - just to make sure everything was in working order.  

[Enoh Love]

West. Well, okay. The information was stored away for later, but she found she quite liked the name: simple, easy to remember.

"Whoa, really? Pass them my way!" She held out a free hand expectantly, only mildly concerned over her lack of care in her current appearance. Baggy shirt, sweatpants, no make up, her hair was probably everywhere - augh. Well, he didn't seem to hold that against her, which was a bonus as far as she was concerned.

But then he asked her a very important question, one that put her current predicament into very sharp focus. Did she have any questions? Yes, yes she did:

"...Where's the bathroom?"

bittiface

 

[Baneful]

"Oh this is one of the nicest places on this shithole pardner." He laughed, but it wasn't mean or derisive. "If they had you thinking it was going to be a life of luxury they were lying. But you can't leave either, so there's that too."

He took the offered hand and shook it with a handshake that was much less crushing and more businesslike than the broad shoulders and body seemed to suggest. "Nice to meet you Horace, though would that it were in a better place with happier trails. I'm Jan. Suppose I'm going to have to be the one who introduces you to this place."

He looked the man over carefully, likewise checking him over to make sure he was functional with nothing major missing from his time in the pod. "Be glad you didn't stay in there longer, from what I've heard they well. " he made the universal gesture for death with a finger across his throat. "If you don't wake up for too long."

"Any way" he said. "This is Deus. What did they tell you about what you are expected to do here?"

 

[Bittiface]

Enoh Love

"Hahaha! Well, I usually give them out to ladies I've spent the night with. But, since it's your first day out of the pod? I can make an exception." He did have a couple pairs hanging off his belt, after all. Always neon and obnoxious.

Her question made him chuckle. "Well we can stop there on the way. Gosh, I hope you haven't been holding it during all that beauty sleep~." He gave her a wink.  

[Enoh Love]

"I woke up to you, doesn't that count?" It implied a night's stay! Sort of! In the sense that they were both on the island together, just in...very different...rooms... Shut up she just wanted the shutter shades, because why not. She waggled her fingers, still waiting.

Well, until the bathroom was brought up, anyway.

"YES I have soooo less chatty more bathroom!" Suddenly, now that she was aware of her bladder's distress, Dylon's looks meant nothing. Flirting later. Her hands, which had been both around him and waiting for shades, were now put to better use; namely, pushing him forward, as if that would help him lead her there faster.

bittiface

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Horace looked around at the bare walls and the bright lights and seemed to come to some sort of decision. Not that he actually had a decision, not now, when he was already here. The boy had effectively signed his life away to some organization that operated out of the shadows and yet wore white coats. The irony was small, but enough to make him chuckle. "Well, it's a sight bit better than the shithole Oklahoma is. You from the south?" Even more than being better than his home state, it was a new opportunity - a chance to reinvent himself just a bit. Or, at very least, learn to stop being a coward. Jan's next words caused him to blink owlishly at the other man.

"Holy s**t, they kill them while asleep? But why?" He touched his own neck briefly. Still attached, still alive. "Forced or not, I'd appreciate you showing me 'round, though. I owe you. If it were only me, I'd likely wander for hours on these unsteady legs and fall dramatically down some stairs. Shortest-lived hunter." He hooked his thumbs in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. His legs were much steadier now, although Horace still bobbled a little with the movement.

"I figured Deus was all 'saving people, hunting things. The family business'?" He glanced at Jan and shrugged. "Not much of a Supernatural fan, eh?'

"So what next? Ugh, sorry, I prob'bly smell..." Horace was suddenly acutely aware that he hadn't had a shower in who knows how long. He tried to discreetly sniff himself.

banefull

 

[Bittiface]

"It does indeed." He slipped off a pair of flashy shutter shades off of his belt, dangling them in front of the lady's eyes. "Merry November."

He stopped walking as she pushed, leaning his back int her hands. "Oh nooooo the weight of the world just fell down on meeee...." Thankfully for Harley, the young man's antics were played out outside of the door to the women's washroom.

Enoh Love

 

[Baneful]

"Florida." Jan offered helpfully. "Couple hours out of Orlando." Whether this information was as dubious as his accent was anyone's guess. "Only passed through Oklahoma one time on trails to somewhere else."

"They kill them cause they'll never find their partner and are eating resources. Weapons. Your pardners. Yours woke you up though you don't know it yet. It's waiting for you. It'll live in here." he tapped his head with a finger. "But you'll be able to call it any time you want. Superhuman powers. Makes ya a dangerous and powerful type. I'll see ya right though."

Ha laughed aloud at the mention of saving people, his laugh slightly off-kilter and hollow. "We hunt things yeah. Saving people, not always so much. Depends on who it is. Maybe you'll be the saving people kind of hunter, lotta outlaws on this island." he winked. "Watch your back around most of them."

Lawrence didn't need to move to sniff Horace, his sense of smell only got better and better over time, at this point he could tell that the other man wasn't as bad as someone who had been in a pod for months, possibly years should by all rights be.

"You are fine. But there are showers in the dorms. Communal ones." he sighed. "Which is the worst, if I do say so myself."

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"No reason to stay in Oklahoma anyway," he muttered. "Well, I'm glad I made it then. Though I'm not sure how I feel about having someone in my head all the time. Sounds tiring." Horace rolled his shoulders, taking in Jan's own broad. He wondered if everyone here got so... dorito-y. Not that he was complaining - it boded well for him, at least. Horace's aim was to get stronger and just... be better. "Though I aint' have anyone in my head right now. Where do I get a partner, partner?" Jan's assertion that he didn't smell too awful was reassuring, just a bit.

"I dunno, I think there're advantages to communal showers." Advantages like peeping, among other things. While Horace rarely judged people on physicality alone, he still liked pretty people (like Darren. Darren had been pretty, but Horace had liked they way he shivered even better). He was a little apprehensive about dorm life - after, what if it was like high school, replete with bullies - but also excited. He drummed his thumb along one thigh. "Anybody I should avoid - or, y'know, be careful around, Jan?"

Baneful

 

[Baneful]

"You get used to it after a while." the man said. "Just hope you get a quiet one, some people get pardners who don't know how to stop talkin'. Mine is like that." And it wasn't a lie, the entire time that he had been conversing with the man he had been tuning out the internal conversation Butch always had with himself on encountering other people, advising him of soft and tender places to bite, reminding and pleading that he was a good boy really and generally saying nothing of any consequence at all. "You pick them up down at the weapon's cave, should be yer first stop after here. I'll show you the way when you feel ready to go."

The blonde man laughed again at the comment on showers. "Most of the people who wake up tend to disagree. I guess there are two kinds of people in the world eh? The prudes and the not prudes. Well there's plenty of eye candy on this island. Weapons shape people into downright weapons themselves I tell ya. You'll see the sights in those showers." He gave a wink. "As for who to avoid, no one in particular, who to be careful around? Everybody. It takes a certain kind of person to leave their life and family behind and go out a-monster hunting, you get me? There's more mental illness around than any madhouse you could think of and people are dangerous. But you keep yet wits about you, you'll be fine, you look smart enough."

He gave him an approving nod.

"Right, you ready to go? Don't want to hang around here with these not-dead folks, eh? Best to get with the living."

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"I dunno, I kind of like the idea of not bein' alone. Though it might be similar to tinnitus." He shrugged. Weapon's cave sounded like something out of a fantasy novel, but then again, so did the rest of Deus. The idea of eye candy was nice, but Horace reminded himself to be wary. Still, he couldn't hold back a smile at Jan's 'seeing the sights' comment.

"You're a good man, Jan. I guess I've never been more ready. Lead the way. Although, after the, uh, weapons bit, do I get a room or? Whereabouts do you room?"

Baneful

 

[Baneful]

"It's pretty decent, they can't ever leave you and out there they chose you so you end up they saved your life and will keep doin it." Butch was thrilled to hear this, getting very excited until Lawrence told him to be still and shut up, that those things did not apply to him.

"I try, but its darn hard on this here island to stay a good person. Its something I try not to let go of." He looked extremely pleased at this compliment. "You stay in the dorms, thing is, most of the decent rooms are full, ya might find yourself down in the dungeons. And ah ain't kidding when I say dungeons either, torture racks and all sorts. Some might call it rustic, I call it downright inhumane."

He beamed, leading the way out of the pod room, getting a strange look from a life hunter who hadn't seen him before. "If it gets too much though, yer always welcome to swing by and crash at my room up on the first floor sometime. Number 110." They made their way through the HQ and down towards the weapon cove. "I'm pretty amenable, ain't got too many people on my side here, there's a gang of nasties always out for my blood, makes it tough. I get by though, won't lay more burdens on you than you need right now."

They halted at the top of the stairs. "Just down there. I'll let you go it alone. Good luck man."

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Damn, dungeons..." Horace appeared to think it over for a moment and then shrugged. A room was a room; he just hoped there wasn't many bloodstains or anything. Gross. At the mention of people out for Jan's blood, he shot the man a startled look before nervously pushing up on the bridge of his glasses. He'd been there, done that, hoped not to encounter it again.

"Ugh, I know that feeling. Let me know if there's anything I can do for you, okay? I know I'm new, but still. Anyway," He looked down the stairs and gulped. "I'll give it a go and look you up later, alright. Thanks again." And with a smile, Horace started down the stairs.

Baneful

bye bye~

 

[Enoh Love]

The poor shutter shades hit the ground as her playful shove turned into a legitimate effort to stay standing.

"I hate yoooou~!" She declared, and loudly, as she stretched herself out in an attempt to create more leverage for herself. Sadly, she was too freshly woken and therefore too weak to do any serious push back to the man, and instead she opted to let him go. Her shakey arms released their hold and she ducked to the side as fast as she could - which resulted in a sudden slip, a flail, and a small thud as she hit the ground anyway.

Getting to her feet and crawling over - or perhaps around - him was nothing more than an undignified scramble, but soon the bathroom door was slamming shut.

--

When she returned only a couple minutes later, between the bathroom and a moment to fix herself up in the mirror, she had both hands on her stomach and a look of bliss.

"Much better~" She heaved a heavy sigh of relief, and then looked around to see if she had been abandoned yet.

bittiface