[ ━♟ ] Curtain Call [ ♙━ closed]

[cyborgishly]

ｇａｂｒｉｅｌ ♙ ｋｉｎｇ

“he's like a wall made of steel, too cold to touch but not much to feel”
location: ocean >> tagged: tobias (and orrie) >> mentioned: N/a

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while Tobias fawned over the locket, Gabriel simply looked back up st the stars. The intimacy between the locket and Tobias seemed too private for him to view with his public eyes. The significance of the locket seemed way more important than he originally thought. "Group gatherings aren't my thing either," he murmured, casting a glance over and the electric-powered man. Gabriel acknowledged the nod, giving one single, slow nod in return. He was just happy that Tobias hadn't sent a rage attack on him just because he touched the necklace. At least they were somewhat on the same ground now (pun intended). Gabriel was relieved, though he did not show it, that the only injuries he sustained were the ones he had given him earlier. He hadn't seen the bruises on his ribs, but he did see the one on his neck, a trail of thick purple bruises tainting the skin. Another nod, a more casual one, was given, eyes flickering back up to the vast, dark sky.

As if on cue, Gabriel looked down at his wounds as they were mentioned. The wound on his thigh and sides has slowed or either stopped bleeding, however he knew they'd have to be stitched up soon, especially the one on his leg. "Yeah, you both got me good, but I'll be okay." At least, that's what he told himself every day. Completely caught off guard with the next question, Gabriel shot a quick, frightened glance over at the other. He wanted to know why he didn't fight...? Did he want to tell him? He was told he should vent out some of his feelings, how he should get something off his chest. Did Tobias really want to know? Or did he want to know to use it against him? It was at least five minutes of Gabriel thinking, before he actually came to a stopping point; a decision.

A shaky breath slipped out of the earth king, staring at his hands, rather than the stars. "The reason I didn't, you know, kill it, was because I am not immune to its tongue. Usually I attack them before they attack me, but my mind must have been transparent, cause it had no problem reading my mind," he said, shaking his head a little. "Back when I was smaller, I wasn't in control of my power. As a boy, my power has always been strong, maybe too strong, but they had to keep me in a special room because any room that I was in would have plants and vines and rocks all in it. Officials scolded me, yelling for me not to destroy anything I touch, but I couldn't help it. Even when I was young I had super strength and I would end up crushing anything that I held. Sure, the war generals liked that, but I wasn't built for war, I was built for growing.

"So there was one man, an older man, who was nice to me. He took me on walks outside, helped me grow things and didn't ever say anything mean to me. He called me son, I called him papa. He was the closest thing to a parent that I had. He made me laugh when others spewed insults like 'monster' and 'freak' at me. He made me feel safe. At least for most of my life. When I was ten, my power took a growth spurt. I could usually only grow small plants and lift pebbles and move around some dirt. But on my tenth birthday, everything went haywire. Vines shot out, strangling my guards, a few earthquakes happened, one splitting the floor in half the building. Massive, tall and thick trees sprouted from the floor and into the roof. Then, once my guardian heard the news, he tried to get me out, calm me down, furious at what I had done. He yanked me out, hard, basically tossing me into another room. He was yelling at me, telling me how much damage I did, even though I tried to tell him it was an accident. He slapped me, yelling at me not to talk while he was talking. I was angry and uncontrollable, vines with thick spikes spewing from my hands, lurching out and wrapping around his arm and his body, slicing open the skin. I never meant to, I didn't mean to hurt him, but it only made him more mad. Even with the vines, he powered through it. He yelled, hitting me, calling me a monster and thousands of other insults. The vines eventually slipped off him, when I was drained of energy. I pleaded to him but he didn't listen. Instead he put me in training and power weakening cuffs whenever I was around someone. I haven't seen him since"

Gabriel didn't know where the words came from, why he said so many and revealed so much. His gaze was stone cold and twice as hard, looking at the sand beneath him. He withdrew from his thoughts when the mention of the snake came up, watching the interaction between the two. He rolled his eyes at Tobias naming the blasted snake, shaking his head. The leader flipped onto his side, avoiding the eye to eye contact before it happened. "If that thing strangles me in my sleep, I'm going to kill both of you."

[Aᴛᴏᴍɪᴄ.]

⚚ Ｈｕｘｌｅｒ
[age: twenty // nname: hux] - [location: boys bedroom] - [mentions: errybody pretty much] // [tags: none]
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Hux folded his arms behind his head and stared at the ceiling. You know, when life throws you on the ground and kicks you repeatedly while you're down, you can always rely on one thing. Through thick and thin, a bloody ceiling will always be there sooner than later for you to stare at 'til you eyes dry out. It was absolutely fitting that Huxler could be so content with staring at something as boring as a wooden ceiling. His eyes shifted across the surface as he let himself surrender into the relaxing bed. He was going to miss this bed, and as much as he would tease, Hux would let Tobias take the bed out of the kindness of Huxler's heart. Pfft, kindness. No way, man. The thief was properly annoyed that he'd lost this bed because he'd stupidly agreed to giving it up. But it's not like he was going to fight over a bed. Huxler had given up a lot more to avoid fighting or any sort of conflict in his life. Just look at Russell. A lot of good that did him in the end, yeah? However, as entertaining as a ceiling was, the boy still found himself thinking. He was mainly thinking about Celestia though. He knew that she'd hold it against him if he didn't see her, but he didn't do well around blood. Especially the blood belonging to his friends. He'd just be uncomfortable as a male who didn't have a lick of a clue on how to be caring when others were in pain. Pain made him uncomfortable. There was no way he was getting around that other than completely stepping around the problem entirely.

Hux rolled his eyes and audibly groaned his frustrations, pressing the balls of his hands into his tired eyes, "Why do you even care?" It almost sounded like he was whining as he pushed himself to his feet. Huxler was ready to go to sleep. He couldn't care less what anybody else was doing. He needed his beauty sleep. The void prince stepped into the bathroom and took a good long look at himself. His hair was still slightly singed, and he moved his fingers through it resentfully. Damn you, Toby. There was a nasty little cut on the side of his neck where the skimp had latched on earlier, but he just turned on the faucet and splashed some water on it. As if that had done anything of use... No, he was a messy tired wreck. It was a good excuse to use the shower. It would figure that the people that threw them on this island didn't give them a decent water heater. The hot water only allowed for about two showers before you had to wait an hour for it to reheat. He didn't care about the others. He turned the shower on and stripped down, stepping in to wash away any evidence of a fight or struggle. It was amazing, the mess that accumulated from one day on this stupid island. The hot water stung his burns but he ignored it the best he could. Being clean was the most important thing. When he was still a borderline street rat, he'd have been incredibly lucky to have any shower. It was the small things in life, ladies and gentlemen. The smallest male stepped out and threw a towel around his waste as he shuffled around the boy's bedroom. The others' stuff was laying out in the open and Huxler felt an itch that he wanted to scratch. Uh.. first, he looked down, Boxers.

Just like that, Hux was in pair of boxers and was shuffling through Gabriel's luggage. He passed over a few things that meant nothing to him, placing them where he'd picked them up from. He kept doing this until he found a watch buried in the bottom. "Aye, thank you very much Rocky," he smirked and opened a hole in the void like he was opening a coin purse. Alright, let's put you right next to the goat statue. Actually, let's put you on the goat statue. Just like that, the watch was carefully discarded from this plane, and Hux was putting back everything the way he'd found like any respectable thief would. And from the watch, he moved onto Tobias' things - snatching a couple dollars and other pointless things. Robert had another book that Huxler was too lazy to try to figure out the title of. He threw all these things in his void and felt much more at ease about everything that happened. You know you're messed up when stealing people's things is therapeutic. But it was. It's the only thing that Huxler knew he would always be able to count on. The one thing about himself that would never change. He was a kleptomaniac. He didn't deny that fact, and even his friends weren't safe from his sticky fingers. They were probably the least safe out of all of people since he was constantly around their things. However, Huxler would never take something that seemed to hold some sentimental value on purpose. He shuddered when he remembered Tobias' distraught expression about the locker. Yeah... no thank you. He didn't bother throwing on pants or a shirt as he moved his bedding from Tobias' prize and tore Toby's bedding off Huxler's settlement. And after he settled into the cot, Hux fell asleep instantly having a multitude of fascinating dreams that woke him up in a mess of sweat on plenty of occasions throughout the night.

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It had been two days since the night Celestia got ripped into by, Hux had discovered later, a vinguard. Coincidentally, it had been exactly two days since he'd seen Celestia. That was a stunning feat seeing as the Lighthouse wasn't very big. He'd been keeping to himself for the most part. He was growing too close to these guys and that was bad for him. He found himself missing Tobias' company more often than not which only made him angry when he saw the lad and walked away after a decent conversation. There was like this little hope that they were mending their friendship spoiled by the fact that Huxler was never able to tell if Tobias even cared at all. It was infuriating. And exhausting. His back was also killing him because of that stupid cot he was sleeping on. Nothing hurt Huxler's ego more than Tobias' smug little grin. Well, maybe the smug grin was a figment of Huxler's vivid imagination but it didn't frustrate him any less. What was he doing right now? Running. He was going all out around the island, burning a path along the coast as he ran at cosmic speeds. At one point, he had to force himself to slow down as he was causing the air around the island to circulate and do funky crap. The waves crashed against the shore and Hux was able to keep up his moment for a solid three minutes. By the time those three minutes had passed him by, the admittedly gasping thief fell onto his knees and rolled over on his back. He must have made over a thousand laps today which was decent for the man guy who could run around the world in sixty seconds if he really wanted to. He pulled the watch out of the void and checked the time as if it would have changed. But he merely grinned with heavy breaths as he was delighted to find the watch hand struggling to start moving in the right direction. Time didn't work in the void. That was just another thing he had to worry about when going inside for any longer than a couple seconds. Take too long and you might find yourself coming back out and into a world moving at half the speed. It was an easy fix, though. Go back inside and calculate in your head how what had happened and adjust your exi- you know what.. he was done explaining the complexities of his void.

Along with running his limits into the ground, Hux was also working on his void. He'd begun to try out risky moves, and one had shown promise. It had to do with taking in more void then he was used to as Tobias had suggested. It often left Huxler out of breath but he found that he was slowly being allowed longer duration in which he could stay in his void. Though, yesterday he'd accidentally misjudged where he was opening the void to get back on the island and ended up opening it eleven feet off the ground. That had been a nasty surprise. There were a lot of reasons Huxler had been avoiding the Lighthouse during the day. He had things to do. Limits to push. Electric snakes to avoid. Yeah, ever since Tobias befriended one of the locals, Huxler had been slowly losing his mind. Snakes. Nope. Nooooope. Honestly, it was times like these when you had to sit down and wonder what Huxler wasn't afraid of. A commotion to his right caught the exhausted void user's attention, and he forced himself to sit up. He could see the Act V vessel off the shore and he let out a sigh. "Well, that's fantastic. Guess my vacation's over." The boy stood up and hesitantly opened a void to cut corners and step into the Lighthouse living room. It was really just a couple couches and a TV that only worked for DVD's. Luckily, when he was on the streets - he'd only had access to a TV like this so he'd taken to stealing movies and had an overabundant collection of them. Huxler passed through the living room, into the kitchen, and froze when he saw Celestia. A thousand lights went off in his head, and he opened his mouth, closed it again, and walked straight back out of the kitchen. Nope. That was almost as bad as coming across Tobias and his stupid snake. He knew he couldn't avoid everybody forever, so he stayed in the living room. If somebody approached him, whatever. If not, all the better. Either way, he was splayed out across the best couch. Nobody was taking the couch. It was his. Go choke on a sock if you thought otherwise.

[rogue,]

xix
( ⚡⚡i//iＴＯＢＩＡＳ ＲＥＥＶＥＳ！
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[ gender || male ]xi[ age || twenty-two ]xi[ role || combat ]xi[ power || electrokinesis ]xi[ speciality || violence induc. & intuitive apt. ]
[ location || lighthouse ]xi[ tags || gabriel & huxler ]xi[ mentions || --- ]


As Gabriel looked towards his neck, Toby popped his collar and ducked his head in an effort to conceal the bruises -- which was not a luxury Gabe had been afforded with his singed skin. Unless he decided a bin-bag liner was new in fashion, he would probably be stuck with this new look until his body healed. Electric burns versus fire burns, which one was the lesser evil? Not worth the thought, really. No, he was far too preoccupied with his pendant, even if it now lay safely tucked away within his clothes. He gave a soft laugh, hand curling into the fabric that now housed his prized possession. Still here, still here. Tobias briefly hummed a quiet tune when he acknowledged his disinterest in group gatherings. What a thing for the two to have in common; a mutual dislike of social events. His lip curled back to further the conversation, but upon further reflection, he decided against it.

Blood still oozed from the deep scrapes Gabriel had received, while others had crusted with a thick layer of blood. Never a pretty sight, but one the combat expert was used to, so it didn't bother him in the same fashion as it did Huxler. Poor Huxler, how ever did he cope in life? Aside from that, Tobias' gaze floated to the laceration almost splitting Gabe's leg in two. He had offered Hux the opportunity for his missing digit to be cauterised with hot electric, and surely it would be wrong of him not to extend the same offer to Gabriel, right? Right. Unfortunately, "morals" weren't things that guided him, but well, amends had to be brought about somehow. That was, supposing Gabe had yet to drink his fill of electricity, of course. "That one," he gestured to the worst of the earth king's grazes. "I could cauterise it for you, can't guarantee that it won't hurt though," he let the question hang in the cool air around them, mostly dismissing the fearful gaze Gabriel had just shot his way thanks to his last set of words. Why did they all assume the electrical conduit held less than honourable intentions with his curiosity? There were strong cases for either side of that argument; the good intentions, the bad; and lately, it was the latter than seemed to gain ground within the minds and hearts of his so-called friends. Could he really blame them, though? No, of course not. Even Toby, given half the chance, wouldn't trust himself with information concerning their weakness. But, what could you do?

So he waited. Gave Gabriel time to collect his thoughts while he brushed off the sand that still clung to this clothes. It was a bloody persistent itch, that sand. Regardless of how comfortable he felt (or didn't, in this case), he stole a glance at the man alongside him, pushing his palms into the ground and shuffling to the side to give them both some space. Whether such an action was for his own benefit or Gabriel's, he wouldn't deign to mention. Besides, it was story time. He patted Orrie's side, and listened to what Gabriel had to say about the shatterknox. His opening statement didn't surprise him, because that's what the other half of those creatures were built for -- manipulation of the mind. Chatterknox. Never seen one, never killed one. Didn't mean that Tobias didn't want to, because he certainly did want to electrocute the living daylights out the things; feed their skins to Orrie, you know. Things of the like. But, back to the story. Tobias tilted his head to the side, dark eyes on the male as he spoke on his caged confinement. His lips twitched at the idea of him filling his previous prison cells with nothing but plants and rocks, enveloped and tangled in nothing but vines. That was a picture, and Tobias gave an approving chuckle. Quietened down, though, as he spoke on of the punishments, the way they used him as a vessel for war. For violence. He grit his teeth, touched at where his necklace lay and pulled up the dial in his mind. Not to provoke either party, but just to think. Or to judge, rather, at what points Gabriel's anger flared. And rather drastically, did it take a dive from a cliff.

Monster. He stifled his wince and pushed his mouth to the side. Toby had called him that, hadn't he? In a fit of rage -- to get the puppy to bite. And it had worked, just... just not in the way he intended. Hadn't meant to dredge up the awful memories connected and associated with that word, but what did he know? I didn't know, was the worst form of apology for torture of a mental form. At least with physically pain it was clear as day for the eye to see, but emotional trauma? That was for you, and you alone. Of course, you could tell another, but when were these two conduits' in touch with their petty feelings? In Tobias' case, never. Gabriel? Well, he was pouring his heart out to the electric plug socket better known as Tobias, so that was something. A nice, kind, genuine fellow for a young Gabriel to follow around. Someone to act as a father figure -- a parental figure is what everyone needed, hell, what everyone deserved. And for Gabriel to have that taken away from him? For the one person he trusted to turn into what he hated? Tobias frowned. "So, you had someone," didn't elaborate on whatever point he was trying to make, unfortunately. But Gabriel's powers were lethal, and they punished him because of it. That's what the chatterknox latched onto -- his love for the man known as "Papa" and the self-loathing, the guilt and heartache he felt in hurting him. "You hurt the one you trusted," he said instead, "and for that, he turned on you." Begged the question whether than man he called "Papa" was ever on his side to begin with. A member of Act V? Highly unlikely. But, still. He'd been the one there for Gabriel -- the only one -- and he betrayed him the moment Gabriel needed him. "Typical," his head lolled to the side, and he held one of the damn grins again. "Only like us when it's beneficial to them, right? Any other time it doesn't suit them, they just throw us aside. Out of sight, out of mind." And you know what Tobias saw from his story? Of Gabriel's resentment, his fears and all? He saw that they were the same.



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Ouroboros had proved her worth to Tobias, and was a rather reliable skimp hunter. Plus, she hadn't yet killed anyone, so that was a bonus. Only a matter of time, naturally, but they could all cross that particular bridge when they got to it. It was rather funny to watch her propel herself into the air using electric, and to hear her proud little fizzles when she'd captured one of the bloody creatures. Damn cute, that was. Rather enamoured with his new snake-friend, was Toby. Same couldn't be said for the others, of course, but he didn't concern himself with the affairs of the others unless they needed him. Which, as it turned out, they didn't. At least him and Gabriel hadn't blown up the lighthouse or killed anymore trees. In fact, Tobias was beginning to think he wasn't that bad. Maybe Ouroboros' electric had fried his mind after all. But, speaking of the resident coil, right now, she lounged up high in the rafters under Tobias' ever-watchful eye. He wasn't up in the rafters of course, and had taken to watching from the stairwell in the lounge. Hadn't spotted Huxler until the last second, his form flopping on the sofa (the best sofa, may he add), and he had to stifle a laugh. Ouroboros had spotted him, and had begun lowering herself down with grace usually reserved for a feline, her tail hooked around the beams to act as an anchor. Toby watched on as she dropped the rest of the way onto the unsuspecting void prince's stomach, and he laughed when stuck her tongue out in Huxler's face with a sizzle of electric; which was definitely Orrie for: "Good morning!", or so Tobias liked to think.

[cyborgishly]

ｇａｂｒｉｅｌ ♙ ｋｉｎｇ

“he's like a wall made of steel, too cold to touch but not much to feel”
location: ocean/lighthouse >> tagged: nobody >> mentioned: tobias, orrie

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despite his better judgement Gabriel stayed quiet when Tobias spoke, keeping his back to him, essentially ending the conversation. Indeed, the one person he trusted completely turned on him, leaving the ten year old alone. Nobody held back their anger and frustrations on the boy now, letting him know all of that they thought about him. It didn't boost his confidence that he constantly berated himself, calling himself names. Some days he was okay, but most, he was at war; he was at war with himself. He also declined tobias' offer of the electric to patch him up. He hardly ever accepted to be healed, unless it was against his will or it irritated him to no end. He's had his fill of static for the day, he didn't want more electricity pulsing through his veins. That was something he was more than positive about.

That night, surprisingly, Gabriel slept like a rock. Even with the threat of danger on the sand, Gabriel stayed, laying on his side at an awkward angle, trying not to disturb any of his wounds. The sand was cool and soft under his fingertips, much softer than any bed he's been on, much more comfortable. He fell asleep soon after that, his sleep undisturbed until the next morning, rather afternoon, when he woke. His leg throbbed with pain, feeling less singed and less tired, but the feelings so ever present. It was an effort to make it up the stairs to the lighthouse, especially since his leg was split open. As soon as he made it up to the boys' room, he grabbed a fresh pair of clothes, hobbling down the stairs. Finding sewing needles in the bathroom, along with some thread, rocky balboa sat down on the toilet, stuffing a sock in his mouth, threading the needle.

It took an entire hour for Gabriel to sew up his leg, stopping every so often because the pain was too much to bear. He wrapped the wound in gauze, replacing the other gauze bandages on his body. The burns were healing, though not as fast as he liked for it to. Gabriel slept on his cot most of the day, tired from having to drag the cot back up the stairs. Man, stairs were definitely not his favorite. He checked on Celestia too, making sure she was doing okay, though trying not to stay too long, seeing Robert was still there. Throughout the rest of the day, the earth king did was the earth did best; lay still.

Two days from the time of the monsters, Gabriel was feeling a smidge better than he was, which was better than feeling the way he did. Sleep was truly a wonder. He went over to the window, seeing a large vessel in the ocean. act v. It was them. A small blossom bloomed in his belly, hoping he could leave this island and go home. He didn't care if it was a cell or a lush apartment, he just wanted to be back in civilization. Hell, he wanted, no needed, a drink. Faster than light, Gabriel sped down the stairs, ignoring the pain. He found a rock and placed himself upon it, watching the ship as it pulled closer and closer to shore. His heart pounded in a childish way, like seeing your crush smile. Butterflies fluttered in his belly, a small smile on his face. Even if he was treated poorly by most of these individuals, some of them weren't horrible. They'd give him sweets as a child and they would let him color or do other activities. He hoped his best friend, Sophie, was aboard that ship. They were as tight as shoestrings, and she was basically a sister to him. He hadn't seen her since before they had saved the world, and he missed her deeply, missed the way they would talk about stupid things that held no meaning and talk about what actors, or actresses, they thought were cute. It was the trivial stuff he missed most, needing that familiar comfort she brought. He waited patiently on the rock, just waiting for that ship to dock and news to come fluttering out, wanting to feel comfort after feeling uncomfortable for so long.

[lykos brethren]

✶ CELESTIA MAE WINTERS !

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( nname ) blaze, winters & snow xxx ( role ) co-leader
xxx ( element ) pyrokinesis xxx ( speciality ) telekinesis and sensory deprivation

[ TAGGED ] TOBIAS, HUXLER [ MENTIONS ] ORRIE, HUXLER
the young woman soon grew bored as she flickered flames overnight her hands, before they slowly went out. She hopped off the counter and looked out the window seeing the large vessel that seemed to be the only thing that was able to ever came here. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't escape the island, especially with void prince. either that he hadn't tried to. she didn't know, and didn't really care. But soon she would have to get off this island, and she would fight to get out of here. For her and the others, she wanted to be back in society, not stuck on this damn island. Celestia rolled her eyes a little, she definitely would question whoever would be coming to talk to them. Or at least get the information she needed or something out of them. It was her mission now, to get he ever and the others off this island. If that meant killing a few people from act v, then she wouldn't hestiate to do so. After all, this is what they had trained to do while in act v, let's put some of it i to practice. As well as see how they feel to have their strategies and techniques turned against them.

Turning on her heel, she walked out of the kitchen and towards the lounge room. That was when she heard sparks and froze when her eyes landed on the coil. It landed on hux, and flickered it electric tongue about. Her eyes widened before she frowned, "okay, clearly I have missed out a lot. Can someone please explain why we have a coil in the lighthouse? And why it hasn't killed us yet?" she spoke her voice thick and weary. Her silver gaze flickered around before looking at tobias and had a sneaky suspicion he had something to do with the coil being here. ah hem, Tobias? Do you know this beautiful creature?" she gestured to the coil and heard it spark and jumped a little. She moved a little bit away, her eyes narrowed at it wearily. It wasn't like she was afraid of snakes or anything reptile like. In fact she loved reptiles, but this coil was from any snake she knew. It was made of metal, didn't have flesh (even though it would love to get some of hers or the others flesh no doubt), leaked black oilly crap from its mouth and most importantly. It sparked! Now what type of snake sparks? certainly not any she knew of that's for sure.

Looking back at tobias her arms folded over her chest childishly before she sighed. "I don't know about you, buuuuut I want to be able to live to see the next day or me with gray locks and grandchildren by my side. Actually, grandchildren make me feel old, I don't think I would, too big of a hassle to look after them anyways." she smirked a little bit but it slipped away as she looked at hux. She frowned s little at him before her gaze looked away, she didn't practicularly feel like speaking to him right now. Her gaze looking at tobias, her body turned away from hux and her attention on tobias. "come on! confess sparky!" she teased as she smirked at him again, her hands on her hips. Her expression all fun, but still she did want him to at least answer why the coil was here? Then it clicked, "nawww, did sparky get lonely and make a friend with a cutesy coil?" she chuckled lightly at herself, it was ridiculous how mocking she could be. However, all her jokes were harmless fun and didn't actually provoke any harm in anyone. Blame huxler. He was the influence on her. again with huxler? she sighed at herself, she mentally rolled her eyes. forget about it, blaze. He doesn't care, he never has. You should have known that, just because your his best friend, doesn't mean he cares for you more. her inner voice spoke and she sighed, feeling her mood slip down from its overly happy self. Maybe she should have just stayed in bed or just not woken up.

Celestia shook her head at herself and walked out of the room and back to the kitchen once again. She slumped down in the chair at the dinning table. It was old and worn and looked like it was on its last few pairs of legs. Her head in her hands as she stared down at the wood. It had intricate patterns from the natural wood, and where the knots were. Her hand delicately traced over it before she sighed and put her head on the cool surface. Celestia breathed in heavily as she close doors her eyes, tying to calm herself down. Why was she even upset about huxler caring? It shouldn't matter to her. But yet it did. A lot. It almost hurt her that he didn't even seem to care, nor want to see her at least. At a time like the way she was, she needed her bestie to distract her mind with sarcastic comments and mocking tones. But he never was theremin for her. Now she felt like crap believing that he did. She would do anything for him, but would he do the same for her? No. that was no friendship to be in. She wouldn't be in one that would be so one sided. But yet, she didn't want to lose hux as her best friend, partly because he knew too much. but mainly because he wasn't that bad of a guy to be around. Yes, she said it, he wasn't that bad to be around. In fact, she found him to be a lot of fun to be around, and he never failed at making her smile. she definitely didn't want to lose that. What it leaves her in a confusing state? She didn't know what to do. Groaning in annoyance, she hit her head a little on the table and sighed. "why is everything so confusing?"

[Bushranger]

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Name: Robert Alexander Floodxxx

Nickname - Rob
Gender - Male
Role - The Brains
Crush - Celestia
Tagged - Celestia

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***

Robert awoke with a start, as his body was just about to fall from the seat where he sat. He had been resting by Celestia's bed each day while she rested. He would come while she slept, clean up her bed, her sheets, wipe her face clean from the beads of sweat that formed in her unconsciousness. He didnt think of it as much, but it ended up being pretty tiring. Looking up in his groggy state, he saw Celestias bed was empty. The sheets were tossed to one side. Placing his hand on the bed where she layed, he felt it was still warm. He guessed she had only gotten up recently. Robert stood up, and placed the chair by a small dining table/desk in the room. His back ached from the awkward position he had been sleeping in, so he almost waddled out of the room like a penguin or a zombie. Either one. He wasnt quite sure. He sure felt like a zombie at the moment, but he probably looked like a penguin to the others.

Robert washed his ace in the small handbasin in the bathroom, before walking down to the kitchen/dining area of the lighthouse accommodation. His body felt more awake now, the ice cold water shocking his body into overdrive. That always happened when he washed his face with cold water when he was tired, he felt that his body just jumped awake, ready for anything. Sadly his mind often felt the opposite. No matter, he doubted they would be doing much today that would require him to devote all his focus.

Now, Where is Celestia? He thought to himself as he entered the dining room. His vision searched it from end to end, untill he caught view of her siting on a wooden table, her head in her arms. Robert felt concerned, it seemed to him like something was up. Infact, he could sense her emotions from here. He thought for a moment, that it might be a good idea to read her thoughts, but he decided against it. Thought were private, he had no right to read them like they were his own. Instead, Robert walked up to her, deciding to try and ask her what was wrong face to face. He took up a seat next her, pulling back his chair. It made a shrill noise as it was pulled back against the wooden floor, but he payed little attention to it. Looking at Celestia, he could tell something was definitely up. He couldnt tell if it was because she was still tired, or if it was something else. After restraining himself for a moment in an effore not to bother her, he finaly spoke up, placing a hand on her back softly. "Is everthing alright Celestia?" he asked, lowering his head to hers. He cared about celestia deeply, as she was someone who seemed to really care. He wasnt saying the others didn't care either, but he felt their intentions were different to Celestias. He could realy explain it, but he felt like she had feeling for him. Hell, it was only a small inkling he had gotten from their conversations and interactions, but he felt something between them none the less. He hoped that the relationship that they did share at the moment would allow her to open up to him. All he wanted to do was help her, that was the least he could do.

[Aᴛᴏᴍɪᴄ.]

⚚ Ｈｕｘｌｅｒ
[age: twenty // nname: hux] - [location: stairwell] - [mentions: cel] // [tags: toby]
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All Huxler had to do was hear the sparking sound of electricity and he was frozen. His muscles locked up and even if he wanted to to run, he wouldn't be able to. The thief's heart began to speed up, but it was nothing in comparison to when the creature actually fell onto his stomach. The boy let out a startled, and frankly - pathetic, noise as his body went rigid. All the color fled out of his voice and while he wanted to shout at Tobias for being the worst thing that could ever exist on the surface of this planet, he was petrified. Never. Never had he touched a damn snake or allowed a damn snake to touch him. That was on his list of things he would never do. He would never climb a mountain. He would never fly on a plane. He would never swim in open water. He would never sleep without a source of light in his room (honestly, you'd think that the last thing a void user would be afraid of was 'the dark'). He would never eat an insect. He would never kill his own spiders. He would never die for somebody. He would never touch a stupid snake. It was there. In the list. And this... this wasn't even a real snake. This was literally a freaking monster. His heart was painful against his chest and he rarely heard Cel out of the white haze. He just wanted to be anywhere but here. The blood rushed to his head and he had to do everything in his power not to kill the stupid coil. He could get rid of it without even touching it. Just a waggle of his four fingers and that coil would be sucked into the void and discarded so easily. Why wasn't he doing this? Well, Tobias - obviously.

Ironic, right? It was Tobias who was so flippant and unconcerned about Huxler's petrifying fear of snakes, and it was Huxler who'd end up feeling awful for getting rid of the problem. Tobias obviously liked something about the creepy thing. Therefore, Huxler wouldn't be able to steal the creature into the void because it had sentimental value. So what was he left with? Fear. Unadulterated fear. The boy opened his mouth to say something along the lines of 'help me'. But no words came out. Finally, Huxler opened his eyes and they stopped to train themselves upon the coil's empty expression. Like a hummingbird, his heart began to vibrate in his chest and the initial shock was enough to send Huxler cosmically bursting off of the couch like a bullet shooting from a gun. But here's the thing that happened next. And this only happened on very, very rare occasions. It was slow motion to Huxler, but to anybody looking on from outside his perspective would just see a poor Irish bloke being launched through the air and into the wall. What sort of luck did you have to have if your shoelaces had been untied just in time for you to frightfully bolt out of a couch and trip over them? At his velocity, no, it wasn't a fall. It was a catapult. And he could only curl up into a ball as he slammed into the opposite wall and fall into a pathetic heap on the ground. "Ow..." the thief just stayed there. A very calculated frown played his face like a temper tantrum.

At some point, Huxler rolled over and onto his side, curling into fetal position. No. No, he hated Tobias. He really hated that awful man. No. He hated everything. Everything just sucked so hard. The void prince opened his eyes once again, finding that his vision was a little blurred. He could see the snake slither under the couch in its own lazy and terrifying crawl. It must not have been expecting to be dropped onto the floor in such a manner. Oh, you poor thing. His mind was sarcasm. His temperament was cold. And Hux was distraught. All that hopelessness for his own cause halted the second he saw Toby's lurking form on the stairwell. How......long....? From Huxler's perspective on the floor, it was a sight. He'd seen that the other had been watching the entire ordeal. Naturally, Huxler's face dropped at least three shades darker and whether it was out of anger or embarrassment - he had absolutely no clue. And he had no desire to find out, either. His eyes narrowed and he muttered a single word, "....You." Finally, the void prince stirred from the ground. It took a while, but his vision was crystal clear after he stopped seeing stars, and he risked flitting from where he'd been so he could pop up in front of Tobias less than a millisecond later. Like he'd teleported. "You....." the void prince repeated. His eye twitched and his face was still red. "You... owe me, big time." He raised both his brows, and wrapped his hands around Tobias' neck, but didn't apply any pressure. "Hope you know that."

Oh my God. It felt like he was on top of the word all of a sudden as he siphoned off Toby's luck. He was like a junkie. Only a very defeated and broken Huxler would trip on his own shoelaces. Let's take a look, shall we? He woke up that morning. Ran at cosmic speeds around the island over 1000 times. It must have been just enough laps for his laces to come undone. Act V was coming to the island which he'd still neglected in sharing. He'd walked into Cel after carefully avoiding her for days. After thinking he would just be relaxing on the couch, he'd chosen the sofa that one of his greatest irrational fears was hanging over. Then, you know, the snake dropped on him of all things. He'd decided to run, and the first time using his powers after he stopped doing laps - he tripped. He tripped on a shoelace. A. Shoelace. Huxler Brandon Washington did not trip on his own laces. Not unless his powers were depleted enough so that they'd started working against him. Yeah. 'Hey, Huxler. What. Remember, yesterday? When I told you that you were playing a fool's game by not stealing your mates' luck? The conversation is familiar. Yes. And remember when you told me you didn't feel that stealing luck from your friends after such a difficult night spawn battle was the morally sound thing to do? I'm also aware. Anything you want to say? Yeah, how 'bout you go f--- off?!' If his mental state had the capabilities of smirking, the bad cricket would have been smirking from the moon and back. But Huxler couldn't find himself caring. Toby's luck was his for the day. It was good luck, too. His void worked with him to keep the other's electricity from affecting him as he kept solid eye contact with the man on the stairs. "Mmm. yup. That'll do pig, that'll do. Relax, I just negated your luck. You wont be losing anything or walking into walls. We're equally as luckless right now. But neither are we unlucky. How's it feel to be the most average Joe on the planet right now, next to me, obviously? How's about we keep that snake away from me, yeah?" He finally removed his hands from Toby's neck to plop down next to the man on the stairwell. His brows furrowed in slight frustration as he began to tie his shoes, muttering something about snakes. "Speaking of snakes," he finally did speak up, glancing over briefly, "Act V's coming to pay us a visit today. And Tobes, don't go all Rambo. Please? I could have taken more luck than I had to. It was hard not to, anyways."

❝ Ｓｏｐｈｉｅ Ｊｅｎｎｅｒ
[age: twenty-six // nname: soph, phi] - [location: outside] - [tags: gabriel]
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As the ship pulled into the dock, Sophie was the first person to run off and onto the the ground. It had been months since she'd been on this island, and nothing was sweeter to her than the crisp ocean smell. A wide smile danced on her lips and she ran her fingers through her hair. Marcus stood next to her, carrying a wagon that was absolutely full of fresh food and supplies for the current guests. She grinned at the man. "You sure this'll hold them over? I would hate for them to starve on this island." He laughed and shook his head. "Of course they won't starve. Besides, you know as well as I do that they could find stuff to eat on this island if they were hungry enough." Her face screwed up in distaste and she shuddered, her lips growing rather calculated at his tasteless joke. There was nothing funny about the night spawn on this island, and he should know that. Her stare put him in check and he chuckled a bit, dipping his head and retreating back to the ship. When he left, she was back to being cheerful as always as she pulled the wagon of food behind her. However, naturally, her eyes and goals weren't on reaching the light house. No, they were scanning the area around her - looking for that...

The wagon handle fell out of her grip, and she basically squealed in delight when she saw the figure on the rock. There was nothing in this world that she would have rather saw - nobody. And man, had it been a long time since she'd seen him. Gabriel was perched on his rock. The same rock that he usually waited for the ship on. There was an enthusiasm that she hadn't felt in weeks that flooded her senses. Oh man. She missed him. She'd missed him so damn much, it was almost painful. Like seeing your brother come home from a war. He basically was her brother, and she would go as far as to say that she loved him just as equally as her biological brother. However, after recent developments - she was on rather difficult terms with her family. But she wouldn't be able to talk about any of that with Gabriel. No. Even if she wanted to spill her guts on everything that had been happening to her - and believe me, she would try - Soph was still here on Act V's behalf. She was to be their figurative olive branch of friendship, reaching out to the actors that had been so eloquently tossed aside until further use of them arose. Yes. She was no stranger to the truths behind Act V's intentions. So seeing Gabriel hurt her just as much as it revived her.

The girl ran over from where she'd been standing and practically threw her arms around the man. "Gabriel! I missed you so much! You... you won! You did it! I'm so freaking proud of you. Ohmygosh, we have so much to talk about! How are you? Oh my God, you look awful. What? Have you been fighting.... Oh." She placed a hand on his cheek and brushed his hair out of his face, adopting that stern elderly sister look. Sometimes she forgot that she wasn't related to him. She worried all the time, and today would be absolutely no different. You could possibly go back to any older sibling's thoughts when they think about how their younger half is coping on the first day of school. Are the other's playing nice with him? Do they like him? Is he making friends? Oh man, what if he's the bully? He wouldn't be the bully, right? No. Either way. Anybody who's picking on him'll have to go through me. Then, of course, those were also added alongside the very viable concerns she felt when she saw him up close. "Are those burns? Celestia didn't... no. Those aren't from flames. Tobias? It was, wasn't it?" She let him have no say in the matter, and if he tried to argue, she would put a stop to it right then and there. He couldn't and would never be able to get her to cave to his slightly darker side. No way. She let her hand hover over Gabriel's body, and she was beside herself with concern. Her eyes were closed, but she was visually in tune with all the physical damage he'd sustained since the past couple days.

"Ugh! Gabriel! What have you been doing on this island!?" she finally opened her eyes, and despite the fact that she was visibly distressed, the corner's of her mouth tilted up into a mischievous smile. She would make sure everything on him was in tip top condition by the time she left. Of course, she'd be doing the same for everybody else if they let her, but she had a strong feeling that her welcome wouldn't be as warm as it once could have been. And why should it be? These poor people had risked their lives to save a world that they didn't even get to live in. And Act V was behind that. Sophia represented Act V more than anybody on this island. More than even Gabriel. She hadn't fought. She'd known what Curtain Call was from the very beginning, and she'd said nothing. But she'd never lied to them when she had spoken about it. She'd merely, twisted her words to make it sound like a reward, and not a slightly more accurate way of saying 'a sentence to solitary confinement until further notice'. She was part of the system, and she hated it. She hated every second of it. Her family. God, the things that had happened on this island made her skin crawl. And to think that this had been her home while the Actors fought in the war against UTRA. "Never mind that, you can tell me later. I'm only here for today and tomorrow, unfortunately. Looks like you're stuck with me. I missed you. Really. It's been pretty awful without you around making me feel absurd amounts better about myself."

[rogue,]

xix
( ⚡⚡i//iＴＯＢＩＡＳ ＲＥＥＶＥＳ！
───────────────────────────────────────
[ gender || male ]xi[ age || twenty-two ]xi[ role || combat ]xi[ power || electrokinesis ]xi[ speciality || violence induc. & intuitive apt. ]
[ location || lighthouse ]xi[ tags || huxler & celestia ]xi[ mentions || gabriel ]


Huxler's panic was a wonderful thing. To see him rush into the wall at hyper-speed? It was the very highlight of Tobias' day! The man laughed, an arm slung across his stomach and doubled over at the sight. He had to keep replaying that event in his mind, oh, that was too bloody funny, that was. Huxler was a blur, lurching from the sofa and into the wall all within the time frame it would take someone to blink. Cosmic speed, hyper-speed, whatever -- still held the same effect; one that had Tobias on the verge of tears. Hux wouldn't be living this incident down anytime soon, if Toby held a say it in. Poor Orrie, though, the sweet little killer coil hadn't a clue, she was just thrown onto the ground and left to sizzle away. His eyes cut to his new snake friend just as she slithered from sight, and he gave a little pout for her. "I don't owe you anything, she's her own snake, she does what she likes. I don't have a say," he grinned up at the form of his friend, who clearly held other ideas on how the situation should be handled.

Instead of focusing on the threatening hands around his neck, Tobias decided to address Celestia. "She's a friend, Celestia. Saved us from a skimp or two during the long, cold nights." He went to shrug his shoulders, but found himself unable to do so thanks to Huxler doing whatever it was Huxler did best. His mouth pushed to the side, and a bolt of electric ate away at the space between them. Nothing. Great, he was shielding himself with his almighty void -- he could almost feel it pulling apart his energy. With a shiver, his darkened eyes floated back to Celestia, craning his neck to see over Hux's shoulder. The look on her face was amusement enough. "Of course I know this sweetheart," he said, pushing out static in order to communicate with his coil. His coil. Well, at least, that's what Tobias believed he was doing, that little snake always responded to an accumulation of electric potential. Toby had become the crowned king of the coils; he was one of them now. He would be a kind overlord to his coil subjects. Tobias whistled, paired with sparks of energy, and waited as the red-eyed metal snake creature made her way to him. "Might want to move, Hux, she's behind you," he chuckled, watching her wind her way around the bannister to get to him. With another soft noise and an exchange of electric, he bundled his friend into his lap. Holding her little face, he turned her towards his friends. "Meet Celestia. Celestia, this is Orrie and I love her," the snake flickered out her tongue in what he liked to think was a greeting, while Tobias patted her head.

Couldn't help but to shoot another grin at Huxler, followed by a wink to Celestia. "Please, give Orrie a chance, she's a lovely little thing when you get to know her." The snake eyed the newcomer before leaning in her direction. Another tongue-flick later, and Ouroboros darted back to Tobias, curling upwards so she could rest her fizzling head atop his hair. Her favourite resting spot, and Tobias had figured that was he had become her new nest. "I made a new friend, I mean, we're practically the same. Look, we both spark and you can't trust us in showers or around Gabriel, so in essence, you've now got the joy of two Toby's around." Ah, there was a strange chill to the atmosphere when her eyes landed on Huxler, and Tobias clenched his jaw, averting his gaze from the both of them, only to spin back to Celestia. Sparky. That damn name again, and not only coming from Huxler, but Celestia as well! Oh, the humanity of it all. He did give a saddened blink when she turned and left, though, leaving him with just Huxler, happily throttling him. "Stolen what you came for, yet?" he then asked, touching his wrist with some benign, energy-seeking electric. His friend looked as though someone had plied him with drinks, and he narrowed his eyes slightly at Huxler. See, Tobias never really knew what a gift luck was, and boy, did he begin to appreciate more when it was gone. Like most things, really. But, Huxler could have some luck, why not? After that show mere moments ago, it was his due. "Think you can steal an animal's luck? I'd like to see you try," he chuckled, tapping Orrie's nose with a fingertip. "Is this what it's like to be average? Can't say I like it to any degree, I'm feeling like you, gods, is this how you feel day in, day out? I feel for you, Hux, I really do," the comment was all kind-hearted jests, though. Hopefully, he wouldn't be taking any offence.

The electrical conduit moved when Huxler sat down, to give him room from the snake wrapped around his own body. A form of apology, almost. Instead, he moved to the couch, hovering as the prince of void spoke. Act V. Here. On the island. A representative. Be nice to send a message overseas, wouldn't it? Oh, yes, it would. His body shuddered as sparks curved along his form, and it was an effort to keep them at bay considering the anger rising in his blood. Tobes, at least that beat Sparky. "What? Don't you trust me as a greeting party?" Toby hummed, setting his snake friend down on the newly-acquired couch. She'd done all the work, so the electrical conduit was happy enough to let the coil bask in her spoils of war. The same probably couldn't be said for Huxler, but well. What could you do, really? Orrie seemed happy about it, with her sparking body and the way she juddered. Either that or she was in pain. Tobias didn't exactly know. Well, he assumed it was the former, and went about his day as the coil stretched herself out to encompass as much of the couch as her little body could. "But, as a hypothetical, do I have enough luck, say, to win a fight? Ah, who am I kidding, I don't need luck to win," he inhaled, paused, and then exhaled. "Speaking of, where's Gabriel? Has he gone to meet the guests?"

[cyborgishly]

ｇａｂｒｉｅｌ ♙ ｋｉｎｇ

“he's like a wall made of steel, too cold to touch but not much to feel”
location: ocean >> tagged: sophie >> mentioned: tobias, celestia

x
x
x
x

first there was a squeak, then the thud of the handle dropping against the earth, and finally, there was a smile. This time, Gabriel's plush, pink lips curled into a smile, his eyes lighting up like a light show. Sophie! He would have met her halfway, but she ran towards him, deciding to only spread open his arms. It felt good when she hugged him, the familiarity flooding his body. He missed her a lot. She was the only piece of home he had left. She was his sister, blood or not. He loved her to pieces, tickled pink that she was here. She smelled nice, had soap and shampoo, and her praises swelled in his belly, a small blush coming to his face. "Ah, thanks for the compliment soph. I always love looking awful." He leaned into her touch, closing his eyes while she swept back his hair. Trivial gestures like these always made him warm, feeling as if he was cared for. He craved them ever since he and Celestia broke up.

"I feel awful," the leader said in response, shrugging his shoulders. "Only yesterday. Then those stupid creatures came out a few days ago, made some cuts on me, but celestia got most of it. It was horrible. I had to kill a vinguard," he murmured, frowning. He never wanted to kill the tree creatures, growing his own memorial consisting of a seedling and a few plants, murmuring whispers to the plants to forgive him. "And yeah, Tobias and I had a...falling out. But I think it's calmed down by now. Hopefully he won't attack me to the degree he did. But look! You wanna see my leg? I stitched it up myself," he said, pulling up his sweatpants to his thigh, revealing the wound. He wasn't a healer, but he was proud of how he took care of himself, and wanted to show the greatest healer he knew.

He watched Soph hover her had over his body, frowning lightly at her next comment. "It wasn't all my fault," he murmured with a shrug. "Only today and tomorrow?" He asked, frowning deeper. It wasn't a lot of time, and he missed her deeply. Though, it was better than not seeing her at all. The leader stood, stretching out his limbs lighyly. "I'm glad you missed me. That way, you'll come back and see me," he said with a toothy grin, gently putting an arm around her shoulders, ruffling up her hair as best he could with his bandaged hand. "Do you need help with that?" He asked, jerking his thumb to the wagon. "I'm assuming with this much food, we can't go home yet..?" He knew that they wouldn't go home. He wanted to go back, explore the world he saw so little of. He was locked inside most of his life, the training before the war was one of the only times he had been outside. He loved the outside world. The air smelled different, felt different, was different. He was both disappointed and relieved. Sophie was here, relieving some stress from his body. She was here, she was okay. If he wasn't happy about going home, then he could be happy about her wellbeing. He saw another figure move in the distance and Gabriel tilted his head to see who it was. "That your boyfriend?" His grin turned into more of a smirk, wiggling his eyebrows at her. "If there's anything I can do, let me know, okay?" Over extertion was his specialty. "I mean anything. Is there anybody back home that has a message for me?" He asked, hoping at least the man whom he used to call papa would ask about his wellbeing or if he survived. A small part of him, the more child-like side hoped he did. "Did you bring bags? I can carry them for you."

[Aᴛᴏᴍɪᴄ.]

⚚ Ｈｕｘｌｅｒ
[age: twenty // nname: hux] - [location: stairwell] - [mentions: gabriel, briefly rob] // [tags: toby]
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With his shoe tied, he turned length wise across the steps after Tobias moved to steal his couch. He was welcomed to take the snake to the other side of the living room. Huxler was rather relieved, in all honesty. He didn't feel very lucky right now, and when Hux didn't feel lucky, it was sort of like moving around on less than an hour of sleep. He just felt average, which was okay, he supposed. But it wasn't like he was jumping up and down for being just as passive as the next guy. In fact, the next guy would be better off than Huxler. Imagine it like a number line with a midpoint, the midpoint being zero. It goes out to ten from both sides of the zero. The normal bloke was sitting at about a range between zero and positive five. Huxler, on any normal day off this damned island would be comfortably sitting on a static ten. When he stole people's luck, they fell to zero or below zero and that's when they started to just fail in the whole luck department completely. If Huxler doesn't continually get his fill up, he'd constantly be at a fall, passing zero unlike normal people. And he'd just keep building up that bad luck until he accidentally stabbed himself in the heart due to a knife slip up. Luck was a dangerous game, one that Huxler loved to play and test. Right now, Toby and Hux were both sitting on zero and the thief wanted to be back at ten. Now that Celestia was up and moving, he figured that now would be as good a time as ever to start taking his fair share little by little once again.

"Well," he spoke with a gruff and grumpy voice when Toby asked if Hux could steal an animals luck, "I stole yours, didn't I? Guess that answers your question." No. He was definitely still rather upset by everything, but his frown did break when the other threw a jest at him. Reluctantly, the void prince let out a small sigh, his teeth flashing what might have been a smaller smile. Huxler didn't know if he felt average on a daily basis. He didn't think he would know how to feel average when he was most often than not, not average. But for the sake of the joke, the boy dipped his head and shrugged, "Ah, come on. Being average isn't so bad. Just think about it. If we were in any way, average normal arse human beings, we wouldn't even be on this island right now. I mean, sure, I might not be voted the best thief in the world if I didn't have my void powers, but at least I would just be back home still. Doing... street stuff." He tossed his arms behind his head as he thought about what he would be doing right now if he weren't a master of the void. Well, he'd still be in the streets as he hadn't even been aware of his void powers when his brother kicked him to the curb. Or.. maybe he really would still be with all his siblings. The void was a nasty piece of work, and Huxler had come to blame his kleptomania on the element. He always felt like he needed more. More of everything, because no matter how much he stole from this world, he'd always feel empty. It was like an uncomfortable itch he couldn't figure out where and how to scratch.

He looked up and sighed at his morbid thought. You'd still have Evie. We all would. But enough of that! Huxler shook his troublesome thoughts away from his head and stood up. With his hands shoved gracelessly into his pocket, he moved over to the window and looked out with his back facing Tobias. "I wouldn't trust you even if you were wearing a bark collar, muzzle, and a straight jacket Tobias," his voice was dismissive but light, his turn to prod the other like he was cattle to be prodded. The sky had been blue and bright this morning, but as the day moved slowly onwards, clouds began to blanket the island. It was almost routine for this to happen and Huxler was used to it, back home. Again, it wasn't fair how much this island reminded him of Ireland. In the distance, he could make out too ant-like forms by the ocean. Beyond them, Huxler could see the ship. He wondered if he could stow away on that vessel. He probably could. He could probably void himself in there with nobody knowing, and the void in his blood would make him as overlooked as atmosphere. 'You could even run today, Huxler....' "Gabriel?" Hux lifted a brow and flicked his head to motion out the window, "Looks like he's with Act V, right now. Don't know who he's with though. Looks like a girl. Could be wrong. Might just be Robert." He grinned at his own joke, before turning around to lean back against the window, posture about as clean as a toilet as his back hunched lazily.

"Hypothetically," watching Tobias cautiously, he began, "I'd like to see you try to fight if I took all your luck, mate. Never actually been that cruel to somebody. You'd probably fair the best in a fight after losing most of your luck, just on muscle memory alone. But it's pretty uncontrollable when things get unstable. Your bad luck could be presented any way it wants. You could one: miss your attack and leave an opening for your opponent to land a fatal blow. Or, just as likely, you could have a heart attack in the middle of the battle. That's luck for you." Before you ask, no, Huxler never did try playing the lottery with his luck. It didn't do a thief very well to have your name announced on television after robbing a bank. It would just be poor planning on his part. He did, however, see his luck when he robbed banks. Guards would be called off to other locations. Doors would accidentally be cracked open for him. Cameras would be down. Police would go to the wrong bank. It made all his operations quite flawless. Now, the same could be said when Hux did impulsive jobs when his luck was running low. Russell could offer quiet the testament to this simple fact. Hux figured that if he ever did want to take up fighting, he might be able to beat out Tobias on luck alone. But he didn't want to chance that, and he'd rather just test out this theory on people he genuinely didn't like. Like Act V. Boy, he hated Act V. "Why do you think that coil doesn't attack you or any of us? I could see it not attacking you. But why not me? It's unnatural, mate. I don't think Act V is going to like that you're befriending the wildlife and bringing them into the light house. They might smack your nose with a rolled up newspaper. Bad Toby. Very bad Toby!"

❝ Ｓｏｐｈｉｅ Ｊｅｎｎｅｒ
[age: twenty-six // nname: soph, phi] - [location: outside] - [tags: gabriel]
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Sophie was thrilled to see his reaction when she approached him. A small part of her thought that he might end up resenting her for never contacting him. God, she'd wanted to talk to him every day for a long time. As the sun rose and fell, so did her spirits back home. It wasn't until last week that she'd been riding an emotional high upon hearing the news that she would be visiting the actors. Things had definitely been challenging for her back home, but that hardly mattered right now. Man, she loved this grump's face more than he could even know. She'd been terrified out of her mind when he went off to that battle. To be honest, she sometimes suspected that he'd actually been killed in the final fight against UTRA. Her superiors gave her very little information besides "he'd been moved to Curtain Call along with the others". Seeing him now was surreal. "Oh you're very welcome," her eyes were alive with mischief, "I always love complimenting you." She noticed how Gabriel leaned into her touch, and her heart started to hurt for him a bit. A man like Gabriel really shouldn't be left alone on some island. She was really afraid that he'd go and do something stupid, being one of the few people that knew how fragile the man was beneath his exterior.

"Well, I'll make you feel better soon enough," Soph smiled kindly, leaning back a bit while Gabriel showed her the wound on his leg. So, this had been the big one that her hand had detected when she'd been checking over his physical state just before. Her mouth opened and closed again, conflicted at the moment. "I don't know whether to be proud of that excellent stitch job or more upset that you even got hurt this bad in the first place, Gabe." Well she knew who she'd be focusing on when she got back to the light house. That leg looked like a leg that was very close to getting infected. She didn't even want to know what an infection could turn into on this island. She also thought about Tobias and Gabriel, wanting to make sure that she spoke to the war hound before she left the island. She had some business with him, and she wasn't looking forward to it at all. In fact, she was wondering if she could get Marcus to do that part instead. Tobias scared her in a way that none of the other Actors could. Perhaps she was so scared because of how close she and Evie had been. Act V was set on making Tobias into a weapon with no feelings and... Her thoughts trailed off and she stared at the ground with a troubled gaze.

When Gabriel spoke again, she looked up and smiled at him warmly and apologetically. "Today and tomorrow," the girl confirmed, "I might be able to throw on a third day if you guys give me extra trouble. But by no means is that me telling you to make problems so I'm forced to stay. I wish I could, though. I miss this island despite the..." Sophia trailed off, stopping herself from saying things she wasn't supposed to. Sometimes she really had to work on that filter of hers. Together they stood and started towards the wagon, and Soph wrapped her arm around Gabriel's waist, pressing close to his side like they used to do all the time on the mainland. It felt so perfect being close to him again and they could go back to being just as close as if no time had passed between them. Even her older brother by blood wasn't like that. He was often distant, always muttering about something that he could be doing when she bothered him. However, Brian was constantly busy with his work, and a recent event had made his life quite difficult. Act V was beginning to doubt his usefulness, and when Act V started to doubt usefulness... Again, she forced herself not to think about it, for the sake of Gabriel. He didn't need to know what went on behind closed doors, and his loyalty to Act V was his greatest safety net. She nodded and let Gabriel take the wagon of food. She had to wait for Marcus to come with some things for an overnight stay at the light house. He'd tried to convince her to sleep in the ship but she wouldn't have any of it. "Unfortunately, no. As of now, there's no telling how long Act V's going to keep you kids on the island. But just hang in there, yeah?" she grabbed his hand and wrapped her pointer finger briefly around Gabriel's like they used to do when making promises, "But I swear, I'll do everything I can to get you home to us as soon as possible. Okay?"

She then pulled her hand back and lightly punched him in the arm as he made the mistake of talking. Marcus was struggling with a few bags, cursing and grunting off a little ways away. Her eyes brightened, and she met Gabriel's smirk by sticking her tongue out playfully, "He is not my boyfriend. Besides, Mark has cooties." The healer brought a hand up to fix her hair with a pout after Gabriel was so kind as to mess it up. "And anyways, you hush. This whole island is supposed to be a break for you guys. You don't have to do anything. You can relax for a couple of days. Brian's still in the ship but I think he's come up with something that'll help you all get better sleep at night." Sophie bit her lip a bit when Gabriel asked about the man who had practically raised him. All she'd received from him had been careful instructions and little anything else. It was like he'd been done with the actors and Gabriel when he spoke about him. Sophie didn't say this, obviously. She didn't say anything about him at all. Instead, the girl grinned, "My dad told me to make sure you weren't going soft on this island. He was joking, of course. He misses you even though he has a hard time showing it. OH! Oh! I almost forgot!" Sophie then disappeared in the wagon, looking for something in particular. When she resurfaced, she was holding a small ornate little box about the size of a toaster and shoved it in Gabriel's arms, "Mom baked you cookies! The ones you commented on a couple summers back. I swear, you made her day a billion times better. Just keep those away from Hux." At that moment, Marcus had finally stopped by the two of them with a bead of sweat slipping down the side of his face. He was good looking and Sophie smiled fondly when he smiled kindly at Gabriel. "You must be Gabriel. I'm new to Act V. But I've been sent here to get a few samples from the island. Things have been going cra-" Sophie kicked him, not so subtly, and smiled sheepishly at Gabe, "Sorry, we're not supposed to talk about the island. Confidential stuff. Anyways! Shall we go?"