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 Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2015 5:48 pm
If it hadn't been for work, Brendan Gutierrez would have been down at the coast for the week surfing. But DC Iron Works was presently swamped with projects, so that meant that he was pulling double overtime there tearing down and rebuilding motorcycle engines and doing whatever else was needed to help out. That also meant no surfing expeditions for the foreseeable future. This was why he was at one of Destiny City's outdoor municipal pools, working out his frustrations with the situation by doing a few laps. Strong arms carved through the water as Brendan swam, trying not to think about all that he had on his plate at work and what he was missing at the coast. This was a great time of year to go surfing, too -- the end of hurricane season meant storms stayed well out to sea yet pushed big waves into shore. Sure, it was just about wetsuit weather, but that didn't matter. It was really all about the surf. All this thinking about what he was missing just made Brendan even more frustrated. Executing a kick turn at the end of the pool, he started back across, ignoring the only other person at an outdoor pool on an autumn day. Kapoodles Let me know if you need me to change anything! <3
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Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2015 7:30 pm
It seemed like this was to be the last warm day of the year. What a rare sight, to have such lovely weather so late in the evening.. It was as if the galaxy was apologizing for hurting the poor lad in the recent kidnapping spree that he was caught up in. Not that he was really, physically hurt, but he was so much more nervous than before. Fear was never something he often felt, he was calm and collected and always ready with a smile, but nowadays he kept looking over his shoulder and bolting up his doors extra tight.
The one place he still felt safe at was in the water.. Especially when he was mostly alone, just drifting about in the 'slightly shallow' end of the pool. The sky was so beautiful this evening, and the water lapped at his sides in a gentle embrace, like the universe was begging for forgiveness for all that it did to him.
But just like those Negaversers, the water lied, and as he floated there, something wrapped tightly around his ankle, and pulled him down!
"AHHH----" Was barely managed, and a huge gasp of air was taken before he was submerged. In the fading light of the day, through the ebb and flow of the waters, he saw what was the largest monster he had ever seen. It was there with long, winding tentacles, grasping and dragging him down further. But damn did he fight it! He twisted and turned and reached down to claw at the tentacle that had him. He wasn't going down like this! Not now! Not after he just escaped one death sentence!
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Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 1:58 pm
Through the splashing sounds of his swimming, Brendan thought he heard a shout. He stopped and pushed his dark red hair off his face, treading water as he looked around. Wasn't there some other guy here in the pool too? He noticed some turbulence in the water up toward the other end. Slowly and cautiously he headed up that way, watching the roiling water as he approached it. What could be causing that? He honestly had no idea. Until he felt something brush past his leg. Startled, he bolted for the side of the pool and scrambled out. His heart was pounding. What the hell was that? From up here he was better able to see into the churning pool. It looked like… a giant squid? In a swimming pool? And it looked as though it was fighting with something, or someone. Oh god, he thought, it's that other guy. He watched a tentacle rise out of the water and slap loudly back down. Must have been one hell of a fight going on. He'd never seen anything like that before in his life. Yeah, he'd heard about monsters in Destiny City from the guys at work, but he never really believed it -- until now. His instincts were torn between doing something to help and running for his life. And as a former Marine, the instinct to help was winning out. But what could he do?  A gentle tinkling sound interrupted his thoughts. Looking up, he was startled to see a small wind chime suspended in the air in front of him, its chimes moving on the warm autumn breeze. "What the…" Brendan reached out for the wind chime tentatively, more out of curiosity than anything. As his fingers closed around it, a word seemed to carry faintly on the breeze and echoed in his mind. Alhambra... A change came over him -- suddenly he wasn't wet any longer, and he felt clothing on him, a hood over his head. What the hell was going on? Another tentacle breached the water and slapped back down. That guy! Without a second thought for what was going on with him he dove back into the water. He had to get to that poor guy, help him before he ran out of air!
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Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 5:11 pm
A tremendous portion of Anxo's mind said 'you're alone, you're not going to be helped', yet at the same time, just as large, if not a larger portion of his mind went 'fight! you're ******** life depends on it! FIGHT!'. So, of course he went and listened to the second voice. Pulling away from the tentacles wasn't going to work so instead he opted to try to swim closer to the beast.
It seemed that doing such an action surprised the Octopus Squid thing, to the point that it's grip slightly lessened around the young man's ankle. But now the zeal to fight raged inside of the unarmed civilian, and his first made to collide with the beast's eye. Even through the water a shrill screeching was heard and in it's anger the tentacles came up to wrap around Anxo's waist this time. There was no escape.
The light above him changed, and with the last bit of clarity he had in the water Anxo looked up to see someone swimming towards him. There was only one other person in the water with him.. Could that other guy really be trying to save him?
His mouth came open to shout at him to run and the last bit of air escaped from his lungs as he swallowed back. s**t.. As much as he tried to stay calm, he began to gag, water filling up his throat and lungs far too quickly than what he'd like. There wasn't much time, but he still tried to cling to consciousness. Please, please let this guy be smart enough to flee!
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:41 am
Powerful strokes carried the newly-minted page through the water toward the monster and its prey. His only thought was save the guy, kill the monster. As soon as he reached the scene of the battle, he grabbed hold of the tentacle around the young man's waist and tugged at it to loosen it. He felt a tentacle wrap around his leg and freeing a hand from the one wrapped around the other guy, he slammed a fist down on it as hard as he could. Apparently it was enough to surprise the creature, for it let go of both him and the young man. That was the opening he was looking for. He swam toward the monster's eye and punched it; the thing's shriek reverberated through the water and it retreated back toward the deep end of the pool. Returning to the surface to take a quick breath of air, he followed it and landed another punch in the eye. Again it screamed and again it tried to lash a tentacle around him, this time succeeding and pulling him down deeper into the pool. He pounded his fist against the tentacle repeatedly and kicked his feet in an attempt to free himself. The thing had a tight grip on him this time. Now he was getting angry. Stupid ******** monster!
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Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2015 3:17 pm
Just as he thought this was going to be the really real end of his life, he was freed! He did not bother to look back into the watery depths! He kicked and punched and flailed back to the surface of the water and gasped for air as if he was just drowning! Well, he WAS, but he never thought that his darling water would treat him so cruel, of all things! Someone had saved him, probably another one of those powered folk.. But at that time when he was here, there was only one other man in the pool.. Could he have been the one who saved him?! Oh no.. Oh no no no, that meant that there was ANOTHER Civilian down there! And he saw no signs of anyone coming back up!
In a panic, Anxo frantically searched about the pool for a weapon, SOMETHING he could use to fight this monster under the water and save the man who had saved him. He didn't want this going in circles over and over again, of one rescuing the other. Off in the corner of the pool there was a wooden pole attached to a pool cleaning net. Grabbing it, he popped the net off then broke it in half over his knee creating two sharp jagged edges before bounding back into the water like a spear fisherman on a mission!
Darkness was fast approaching so it was getting harder and harder to see into the water. The other's bright red hair was his target, and he swam over to him, avoiding the tentacles as best he could. A few managed to grab him, but not before he managed to reach the man, gripping onto his arm and forcing one of his makeshift weapons into his hand.
Now they were both armed! Now they could both fight!
tatterpixie I hope that's okay! let me know if it needs to be changed!
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2015 2:15 pm
Brendan could hold his breath for a pretty long time -- as a surfer, it was a good skill to have. Still he could feel his lungs beginning to ache for air as the monster held him under water. With a good solid kick with his (surprisingly) sandalled heel, he managed to get free of the tentacle that had wrapped around him. No sooner had the tentacle slithered from around his waist than he felt something pressed into his hand. It was the guy he was trying to save! The young guy gripped his arm and pointed at his hand, and he realized he was holding onto a sharply splintered dowel of some sort. A weapon! He saw that the civilian had one too. Together they could take this thing out! He smiled and nodded at the guy in acknowledgment, then shot to the surface for a quick gulp of sweet sweet air before diving back down, brandishing his impromptu weapon. Heading straight for the creature's eye, he jammed the pointy end of the dowel into it as hard as he could. The monster's scream echoed through the pool, and a dark ichor began to seep from the ruined orb. He grinned viciously and stabbed the dowel into the eye again and again, each stab sending another unholy shriek through the water and the thing's tentacles flailing. There was no way they weren't taking this thing down! Kapoodles No worries, it's awesome! ^__^
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2015 2:56 pm
The longer Anxo hovered about in the pool the more he realized just how messed up this whole situation was. If he hadn't been here, this man would have been stuck all alone.. And what if this happened when there were kids swimming here.. So many lives could have been lost.. The very thought filled the young man with determination! By doing this, he was saving lives! If they defeated it, that is.
With more power than before, he swam towards the beast, and put his own sharp spear into the other eye, not wiggling it up, but instead putting his feet on the beast and pulling it upwards with all his might, dragging the broken wood upwards and creating a deep, murky trail of dust particle.
A quick glance was made to the other, before he nodded and pushed off the youma to make for the surface again. Too much energy and not enough air was making his lungs scream. He needed to breathe!
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Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2015 2:27 pm
The creature shrieked again as its other eye was stabbed by the young man Brendan had been trying to rescue and who had given him the tool needed to fight. Blinded and in pain, it thrashed wildly in the deep end of the pool, tentacles lashing and breaking the surface. This was the chance he had been waiting for! Following it into the depths of the pool, he began to punch and kick it as hard as he could (which in truth was a lot harder than he remembered he could). It made no attempt to grab him, flailing as it was over its ruined eyes. He was intending to pound the crap out of it for as long as his breath held out when, unexpectedly, it poofed in a shower of dust! He backpedaled as quickly as he could so the mysterious glittering dust didn't get into his eyes and surfaced, taking a deep breath of the evening air. He'd done it -- they'd done it! They had defeated the monster! He looked around until he spotted the young man. "Woohoo!" he whooped, sticking his fist up in the air. "We did it! It's dust!" Swimming back to the shallow end of the pool, he climbed his way out of the pool and began to wring his clothing dry. Clothing? Oh yeah, right, he'd somehow acquired clothing right after the strange wind chime… that he was still holding… appeared… What the ******** was going on?
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Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 7:59 am
In the split second it took for him to surface, breathe and dive down again, Anxo witness the other person send the Octopus monster into a watery, dusty grave. But there wasn't any relaxation that came with seeing the other person rise up again and climb out of the pool. He had never seen the man before.. Where the hell did he come from? And where was the other man who had been swimming before?!
His gaze quickly went to the other side of the pool, where the belongings of the one guy still remained. He couldn't have left, the gate was still closed like before.. And everything was still there, his towel, his water bottle, he couldn't have left them behind, right? And there were no watery footprints leading back into the changing room. The panic was beginning to set in way too rapidly.
"Did you see the other guy down there?! I-I was swimming, but I wasn't alone! He wasn't with me but he was here, doing laps! He had bright red hair, but that's all I know, and he's gone now?! You didn't see him down there, did you?! He.. Oh god.. he isn't.." Anxo's eyes quickly scanned the waters below, where the night time lights finally auto-illuminated.. But there was nothing there.. Nothing left..
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 12:56 pm
Brendan stared at the guy he'd rescued from the monster. Didn't he recognize him? Maybe it was the funny outfit Brendan was suddenly wearing. The headgear was mostly hiding his hair, after all, so maybe he couldn't see the bright red color. It was still really weird that the other man didn't know he was the same guy who had been swimming there before. "I, um… I think he's okay," he reassured, playing along with the other guy. "I don't think the monster got him." He started around the pool towards him. "At least that thing is dead, right? Thanks for your help! I don't think I could have done it alone." Hopefully redirecting the conversation to the battle that had just happened would distract the guy enough that he wouldn't fret too much about the 'missing' other swimmer. "I'm, uh, Al." He couldn't use his real name, he didn't think, and he still had that Alhambra word hanging in his mind, so he figured a short version of that would do.
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Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2015 8:08 pm
The other man was okay? Well.. If he was sure...
Anxo allowed himself to calm down, tossing his make shift weapon on the tile below his feet and using his hands to wring out the water that still resided in his hair. What was wrong with the world that even his most stress-relieving hobby had his life still in danger. It was as if no where was safe anymore. Still, he wouldn't give up trying to enjoy it. After another moment he grabbed his towel and put it over his shoulders as the air was beginning to get cold as the sun disappeared nearly completely behind the horizon.
"Ah.. yeah, it's not a problem. Believe it or not, I've fought them before. Of course, never alone, but I've fought them. And believe me, it's definitely you who obliterated that thing. No matter how much I fight, I won't ever be strong like you." Up and down Anxo examined Al and smiled. He recognized that garb. Well, in the sense that he had seen a theme like that before.
"You're One of those powered people who are here to save the city, right? I'm Anxo. "
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Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2015 9:23 am
"You've fought monsters like that?" Brendan's eyes widened as he regarded the other man. He couldn't even imagine Anxo going up against something like that on his own. But he said he wasn't alone, that he'd always had someone else with him who were the ones who ultimately defeated the monster. Was it other people like Brendan? At Anxo's question he had to stop and think. Was he one of those powered people? He'd seen the news reports on tv. Destiny City was not only crawling with monsters, it was crawling with people in funny outfits who had seemingly super powers. Is that was he was? Sure seemed like it. "Nice to meet you, Anxo." He laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess I am. I'm not sure, I've never done this before."
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Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2015 9:11 am
Anxo flushed a little at the awe in the other man's eyes and grew a little sheepish. His hand came up to fiddle more with wringing out his hair grinning proudly but not looking at Al.
"Yeah.. I'm one of those dumb people who don't follow rules and end up out late at night pretty often. So.. With all those attacks on people by monsters roaming around, I was bound to get attack one of these days.. Granted I seem to have really good luck with there being someone amazing like you around. geesh, you just.. Like.. Oh wow, you just found your power right here..? That's amazing! What timing, right? " Once he had calmed down all the thoughts about how close to death he had just been again started to fill his head, and he once bright grin fell. He wasn't going to be safe, he never was going to be safe, was he? Not at night.. But he couldn't just stop doing what he did.. Maybe he could ask this man for help.
"Uh.. I'm a little nervous about going home after that.. After we change, do you think you could maybe.. Uh.. Damn this sounds stupid.. Would you mind walking home with me? I'm sure if we could take out something that big under water, we could take something just as big out on land!"
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