Open RP Post

[thecrowingtobe]

Open post for any and all PSLs for Claudio Kilgannon of the Amory Wars.

Open to all:
Cast Mates
Cross-canons
OCs

Comments

SP AU: Year 4.5 - Newo Appears

[thecrowingtobe]

Newo had showed up in the ball field, in her PJs with her dog looped around her. She’d been giving scratched and loves to him for the morning, eyes still puffy and red. Her life had been twisted upside down. Not only had she lost Claudio, his entire family, who she really loved too, but a monster crashed into her home and a woman of blue saved her.

In short, everything was a mess.

Only it was more of a mess now that she had just -appeared- out of nowhere in a new location. People had come to help her inside. They told her what was going on, why it was going on, and what she could do about it, and more importantly, what she can’t.

What she can’t do is go home.

What she can do is find people and settle in until she CAN go home.

Sounds pretty shitty actually.

On the network, a device they told her could contact others, she did as they said, letting them prompt her a bit. Hello, my name is Newo and I just arrived’ kind of thing. She asked for her parents, she mentioned locations, her school, creatures and... Claudio.

At first she didn’t think it would help any.

Then a girl, (Jubliee?) had spoken up. And a older man who gave her vast information. The girl offered to meet with her. Offered her a safe space to live and stay, and told her more about the area and the night. Newo was ever so grateful, but...

They each knew Claudio (as did a few others that spoke up), and she had so many questions. Meeting with the girl she walked with her through the streets to the home, but she couldn’t hold in her questions about her love.

Jubilee gave her a bit to go on, and said she knew where he lived but... she might want to brace herself, because it had been years.

It had been a good 9 hours since she arrived. She had a place. She had a bed. Apallo came with them, and Jubliee said she would be in the bar down the street, but she pointed the house out to her.

Climbing the steps she stood there, looking at the time. There was 4 hours before she needed to meet the girl again to get home safe, or say she was staying here. Four and a half hours before going inside to be safe again.

That’s a lot of time, but not.

Her hand raised, knuckles wrapped four time then... cautiously drew back. Years, she told her. It didn’t... sound right. She’d just kissed him a few days ago. He left her a note. One she’d kept with her since she found it.

He should be dead.

She had hoped he was alive, but with everything that had happened, she wasn’t sure at all. A fear of the Onstantine Priest that crashed into her home to try and kill her was new and close to the surface. It was the prominent fear there, though there were others as well, like finding Claudio dead, his note to her, this place, this new place, not knowing where she was, the new information that she was.... that he was... he’d been here for four something years. Slavers. Bad people. Priests. That part was the one that kept popping up in the back of her mind, in her fears.

That and Claudio...

But he was here instead of dead.

Newo seemed to be holding her breath as she waited at the door, her dog... their dog, wagging near her hip, watchful, waiting, good.

There was nothing at all okay with this situation, and at the moment she felt super nervous and a little more than uncomfortable. What if he doesn’t recognize her. What if he’d forgotten her. What if he didn’t want to see her at all. Could he be married? Missing an eye? Sickly and dying or... or happy. Was he happy without her. She’d be a teen ager to him, even if it was just a couple of years. . .

[mademyhell]

Everyone else was gone to work or something similar. Jinx had something at the School, Gabriel was being Gabriel, Claudio had said something about the theater that morning and the hadn't paid much attention, being mostly asleep at the time. And then who knew about Red.

Trauma had been sitting in the kitchen when he heard the door, Owen coming to tug at him to get his attention. Okay, fine. The damn dog was not going to let him ignore whoever, even when he had a paper due. If it was Trish he was going to kill her. She kept coming by to catch a glimpse of Jinx or to copy his notes and every time Claudio laughed at him because apparently this was what counted to other people as having friends.

When he made his way to the door, something felt off. It wasn't Jinx, he knew her in an instant. It wasn't Trish or Anna because there weren't fears of drowning or snakes.

His eyes flickered red and Owen stopped to look up at him, as Trauma read through the door (A horrible, gnarled thing standing outside her window, reaching out to her, willing to hurt her and ready to kill. A body to match a note in handwriting he knew all too well) and he cursed, not able to process it well enough to understand and not really willing to take the time to try.

The world sliding back into color around him as he fought his way back in control, his brain spiraling and he stood on the other side of the door for a long moment. Opening the door. Right.

He didn't want to. This...this was...

He could just turn back around. Ignore this.

But Claudio would probably kill him for it, and Trauma wasn't actually willing to leave someone that freaked out on the doorstep. Despite everything. Despite-...

So, he opened the door.

He recognized her. From sketches, from the one time he'd been able to see into Claudio's head, from her fears and Trauma tried to not be....He tried to not look as confrontational as he felt. The dog at her side was well behaved and Owen took an immediate interest.

Fuck.

"You're..." Trauma started, and failed, and took a breath before continuing. "You're Newo. Right?"

[thecrowingtobe]

She waited a bit longer, wondering if he was at home or out at all. Maybe she should just return to see Jubilee and deal with it tomorrow, or contact him with the device. She hadn't wanted to use it though. Too impersonal. What if he ran away again. WHY did he run away in the first place? It was.... she didn't... just, why?

So as she stepped back a bit, Apollo started to move, tail wagging a bit more. He's not dalmatian. A bit of a mutt really, but still very clean and kind looking. Owen might be based off Apollo but not modeled after him.

When the door opened though Newo looked up to the other, expecting (or hoping) that she would see someone she knew. Her Grover. She knows they said he was older, but he can't have changed this much.

But he knew her name?

"Ah, yes... I am." He sounded confused. Maybe there was a mistake. Maybe he saw the post she made. What ever it was she was unsure about it. Unsure but still to the point about things. "I was told a Claudio lives here. Kilgannon? Do you... know him?"

[mademyhell]

"Yeah." Trauma said, unhelpfully at first before stepping aside and nodding at the door as if to let her in.

He could sense how nervous she was, and it was making his head hurt. She was pretty, and looked nice enough, and Trauma honestly had heard enough about her to know she was a decent person so he would've been a dick to not help her. Okay. Fine.

Claudio cared about her, which meant Trauma would help her out. ...He didn't have to be comfortable about any of this, but he would do it. He would.

"Look, he's...he's at work." Terry said, surprised at his own voice being level. No distortion, no nothing. He was blue eyed and everything. Claudio better be fucking proud of him for this later. "I'll tell him to come home and he'll... He'll be happy to see you. Okay."

He wasn't sure if he should tell her anything else, or who he was or...God. Fuck no. Claudio was getting to deal with that because he was not about to deal with that moment on top of everything else and who the fuck knew what Claudio was going to do with this information and Jesus Christ he had a fucking headache.

He had his boyfriend's Cheerleader ex-girlfriend standing on the front step of his house looking all wide eyed and at him and Trauma was not really prepared to deal with any of it.

[thecrowingtobe]

Claudio would be very impressed if he had known. The Bar work was busy in general, but today was Theater things, and that was more then the bar kind of work. He'd actually been keeping pretty damn busy lately.

Newo looked this fellow over, and though Apollo seemed alright with him, she had no idea who he was. Then again she had no idea who Jubliee was, and the girl had given her some jeans and a red shirt to wear, which was better then PJ pants and a cami shirt.

When tipped to come in she paused a moment, as if she wasn't sure she could, but... she stepped in, and hoped he didn't mind that the dog with her followed. "I see..." She said simply. At work, huh? But would he be happy to see her? After all, he'd just left her, but here he had been gone over four years. For someone around their ages, four years was a hell of a long time. That had to make him over 20 now.

"And you wouldn't mind me waiting here for him?" She asked in a soft voice, before looking at the dog. She'd at last noticed the dalmatian with the blue eyes and smiled. "Oh my gosh, what a cutie." She said with a smile, crouching down on her ties and resting one elbow to her knee, the other hand held out. "Hello." She said to the dog, her own dog moved right behind her, tail wagging and looking up at the dark haired man, the other dog, and back again. Hi, hi, hello, his eyes say, tongue out.

[mademyhell]

"No. He'd-...He'd like you to. I'm sure." Trauma said, feeling like he was basically faking his way through trying to be nice and failing at it. Really badly.

When the VERY happy dog proceeded to try and be happy at him, Trauma rolled his eyes and stared it down. It did not seem bothered and continued being happy in his direction. Well. At least it hadn't run away in terror from him. That happened sometimes. And then there was Owen who seemed to happily be introducing himself to Newo. Practically apoplectic to meet new people. ...Traitor.

"That's Owen." Trauma said, introducing the dog before himself. And then while she was distracted he rolled his eyes again and pulled out his NV, shooting a text to Claudio that amounted to 'come home' and 'now, but don't panic.'

"I'm...Terry." He said, finally thinking through the fact that she was at a complete disadvantage with him knowing about her already. And then he felt sort of vaguely uncomfortable about that too. This was just a not great situation all around. And was making him horrifically uncomfortable with his, and everyone elses, places in the universe.

[thecrowingtobe]

Apollo wiggled, moving closer and trying to sniff at the man, Terry. And then sniff at the dog, because he smelled.... wrong. HUH! How weird.

Newo smiled brightly, both hands reaching out to scrub fingers through the short hair of the dog, Owen (huh... that was a strange little note passing code name she used in school, her name, backwards). Leaning into his face she talked with a much more human talking to animal happy talk. "Oh aren't you the most handsome fellow. Hello Owen." She scratched his head as she drew back to pet her own dog. "This is Apollo." She said, looking up at Terry as he had introduced himself.

Standing again she rubbed her hands off on her hips then offered a hand to him for a shake. "Nice to meet you Terry. I must admit, you knowing who I am is a bit startling. Are you... a room mate of Clauds?"

It was such a nice house too. A bit surprising, actually.

As for the text he got back? It simply stated 'wtf is wrong? dont tell me not to panic, that jst makes me panik more. im on my way'

[mademyhell]

Apollo. Right. Trauma made something like a mix between a frown and a smirk without actually being able to make a decision on how he felt about that. Apollo the dog also better watch for Apollo the cat. That damn thing was vicious.

Owen was all too happy to get attention, but when Newo's redirected he was also happy to interact with the new dog. So Owen continued on, being all too happy and generally not getting the tenseness of the situation.

'just get back here pls' Trauma texted back, before Newo stood to shake hands and he suddenly was left in the most awkward moment he'd had yet. Right. Okay. He shoved his NV in his pocket and shook her hand. Mostly because it was one of those expected pleasantries. And because he was surprised. He didn't exactly expect for her to do that, and he got a sudden clearer picture of her nerves with the contact. Well. With as on edge as he was, that didn't exactly help and he was pretty sure he'd gone red eye'd at least for a moment.

But he tried to brush it off, and took a step back.. Because he was not getting into all that. Especially with the more....interesting elephant in the
room.

"He talked about you." Trauma said, evenly. "A lot."

Because that was true. Especially that first year, he'd gone on about her like she was some magic thing in the universe and not a person. And....she was a person. That was here. In Terry's space. And he wasn't really wanting to deal with that. He still talked about her sometimes. She was this nebulous marker of before he'd gotten here, and thinking about it too hard made him really uncomfortable in ways he didn't exactly know how to say.

"Yeah. About...four years?" He said, looking out into the rest of the house. That was an easy out. And was even mostly true. "Us and Jinx. She's not home either."

SP AU: Memory problems

[mademyhell]

Trauma had been completely distracted recently, partly because with Jinx and Gabriel's wedding and partly with school, but that hadn't stopped the fact that things had been...They'd been off.

He'd not been quite able to say what it was, but there was some kind of horrific awkwardness since the last time he'd died. It had taken about two weeks for Claudio to start treating him even remotely normally, and it made him kind of want to go hide in the corner of the attic until things stopped being so fucking weird.

But he couldn't. And he'd had to play human.

Then the wedding had come up and if it was possible for Claudio to act more like he wasn't willing to deal with Terry's existence, he wasn't sure how. Trauma might not have been able to sense him but he could tell something was wrong. He knew him that well...or he had. Honestly Trauma was starting to doubt that and he didn't know what to do about it.

Things were so off that Jinx had pulled him aside, and asked if everything would be okay while she and Gabriel were gone.

He'd pretended not to know what she was talking about.

Trauma had gone up to the attic, and was basically hiding in his corner again when he got a text from Jinx. She said something about being blissful and alright and he ran his thumb over the NV, thinking. He went to send something to Claudio about the text when he realized how little they'd talked since his death. It was pathetic how much that really hurt. So, he scrolled up to try and find the last thing that hadn't been a two word response.

And paused.

'Do I have to apologize for dying now'

....What?

Trauma read through the short conversation, once, twice, and a third time still, his eyes flickering as he fell into confusion.

(Iwasn'tavoidingyou-because I was mad .........-ou cause... because I think... -IthinkIloveyou and you scared-)

He could remember, suddenly in fits, and starts, and the color flooded out of the area as Trauma's stomach dropped.

What. What the hell?

He closed his eyes and sat back, tying to catch up with the memory as it tried to get away again.

"Holy shit"

Trauma got up, holding the NV, and still staring at it before wandering into their room to find Claudio going through something in their room. Lucky for once that he was here.

"What the fuck." Trauma said, eyes glowing bright and the area drained of all color.

[thecrowingtobe]

He had been avoiding a bit, yeah. Yeah, he maybe shouldn't. He maybe should say something, but you know how freaked out he gets when he learns of a new power. And fuck, this one freaked him out pretty hard. For a month now.

He'd realized what had happened. He realized what he had done. Not because he had done it to Trauma, but because while in the city he had done it to someone else also. An angry complaint, a fight, and a glow of eyes, telling someone to go jump off a god damn building. Actually, he said to jump off SERO Tower...

To which the next day there was news about a man who had taken his life... by jumping off the SERO tower.

Claudio had felt cold ever since that moment. Cold and a little lost and so very guilty. He hadn't told anyone about THAT, and he had figured out what had happened. He wanted to talk to Trauma about it but...

...but he had realized that the man wasn't the first person he had done that too. Trauma was.

He felt cold over it. Colder then having forced someone to take their life. Colder then the coldest winter, or so he felt. And there was NO way he could tell any of them either. Not with the wedding coming up. Not with how HAPPY and nervous Jinx was. He was there for them, though he couldn't focus on Trauma, because there was guilt there. Awkward guilt.

Jinx had asked if things were alright at one point, but he gave her his best smile and a kiss to the forehead, 'Of course, Princess. Everything is going to be fine. You just worry about you and enjoy.' He'd told her, and he tried to chill out more.

Chilling out might have helped, a bit, if he still didn't feel guilty. If he could figure out how to talk to the other with out flat out fear of what to do or say to Trauma. He had someone kill themselves. That was bothersome on it's own. Actually THAT should upset him more then anything else, but it was fucking with Trauma's head and not even realizing it until late like this that was killing him.

And he knows he's just making it worse by waiting. He knew it was stupid. A simple conversation and apology and a soft plea for help might have been good. Instead he got... more elusive.

Smart.

In their room he was digging around for some art supplies, on his knees and pawing through his art drawer. When the door opened with a What The Fuck he blinked, looking up... seeing the red eyes and angry look. The voided out gray of the room that was... actually pretty strong and wide out there.

He stood swiftly, looking worried a moment, moving a few steps closer to the other, eyes wide. "Fuck, Trauma, what the hell?" He asked more worried that something happened then he was mad. There was no reason to be mad, right? Clearly something was wrong and Trauma was upset. Upset and angry and there was something up. Claudio wanted to help...

[mademyhell]

"Was it one of those stupid core breaks?" Trauma said, starting into the conversation like they were on the same page. They weren't and he knew it. And that's why he was angry. The room had gone cold around Trauma as he didn't even try to reign back in. He couldn't do anything to Claudio, anyway. What was the point of worrying. But something was clearly wrong here and Claudio had just continued on as if...

He was practically radiating energy for once and his eyes were lit up out of the dark.

He was....Angry didn't cut it. He didn't get angry much anymore, not outside of himself, not in any kind of way that actually effected another person, but here he was, making things worse.

"Did it do something to me? Is that why things have been-..." Trauma paused. "Whatever this was, you knew. Didn't you? That's why you've been-....And you didn't tell me. Why the hell would you let me keep thinking-"

The backlight faded out suddenly and at least it was easier to tell where he was looking when his eyes weren't outright glowing.

Trauma stood there a moment practically snarling in a horrific mix of hurt and anger that rankled, and finally in lieu of having to explain what the fuck was wrong, Trauma threw the NV at him.

"Tell me why I didn't remember this." Trauma said, evenly through the distortion in his anger. "Short sentences. Make me understand."

[thecrowingtobe]

Okay, that was a bit freaky. He had to admit that to himself. The eyes and the dark and the gray and the COLD that hit him. That was.... weird. Not new, but a bit new. It actually made him shiver a bit as it hit him. Holy crap.

"Trauma?" He had said a bit confused, eyes a little wide at first. Did it do what? Did what do what? What didn't he tel--right. He's not that stupid. He knows where this is coming from, and oh god, he's in so much trouble isn't he?

He stood there, deer in the headlights look and unable to process words. Then he jumped as the NV hit him, in the head. His hand catching it as it started to fall, the other hand reaching up to cup over his forehead and temple. "FucK! It's not what you... it's... It's not that I---fuck." He rubbed at his face and backed up a few steps in the room. There was panic running through him now, eyes wide.

Oh god, oh god, he either knew about the guy and the tower, or he knew about the... about his... thing, with... oh crap. Fuck. Shit. He didn't know what to say. He'd been hiding this for a bit now and... shit.

"It's not what you think, man. I swear. I don't think it's a ... ah, the Core or, or I don't know, maybe it is a Core break, or ... or something." So much for short sentences that help others understand, huh.

And it's not like he's scared OF Trauma, but god damn he could be freaky. For Claudio it wasn't the fear of the man or what he could do, but the fear that he knows now. That he knows and he hates him. That he wants to kill him doesn't actually scare him, because maybe he should. Or at least leave. Or make HIM leave. Maybe that would be all that happens. He'd be told to leave. He'd go to Michael and Jubes. He's go somewhere else and let Trauma breath and.... maybe... maybe he'd take him back.

But at the moment he was sure he wouldn't get off that easy, ever. "I swear. I didn't know what happened. I didn't know man. It just happened and then it happened again and I swear, I don't know if it did something but oh god, how do you know about it?"

Nope, that might not have been the best rambling sentence to have said.

[mademyhell]

Trauma just stood there, watching through his ramble half snarling and glaring at him through his bangs, red eyes narrowed and just tilting his head as things began to dawn on him.

"I read it. And then I started-" Trauma paused again. "You did this? How. You made-"

Trauma just stopped and stared at him, actually looking worried and upset more than angry all of a sudden. His eyes wide and red and horrified.

"You made me forget." Trauma said, lowly, and quiet. Like it was dawning on him and leaving him more torn apart than enraged. "You made me-...And then you just let me go on like..."

Like all of this was his fault. Like he'd been the one to break things. Claudio had let him believe he'd fucked up another good thing in his life for weeks It was enough to make Trauma feel sick. And it fucking hurt. The shadows stopped flickering but they just existed as a deadspace around him. Weeks, he'd thought this was all because he'd fucked up again. He'd died, he'd left, and then thing had gone wrong. And he'd thought it was finally too much. He'd finally been too much to deal with. He'd expected it. He'd practically predicted it and had been giving him space because of it and-

Trauma's eyes flickered back into orange light and he took two steps forward before punching Claudio right in the face.

[thecrowingtobe]

Oh god, oh god, oh god. He doesn't know what is going on now. Trauma knows but he doesn't know how he knows, and it's not about the guy, or maybe it is but maybe it's not and he doesn't know when things went wrong, and he was so sure that if he didn't say anything that it would be alright so long as he figured out how to forget about it himself but that was part of the issue wasn't it? That was what the problem was. He made the other forget, or change or, or, or god he didn't know what he did.

He was having an internal freak out. That was for sure.

He opened his mouth to speak, choked back on it as he heard the tone of the others voice and felt like his heart was breaking. Oh god, oh god, oh god, he's so mad and he has every right to, because he didn't tell him what he did, and he had done it, and he's horrible.

"Trauma... I..." He started, only to be hit, right in the face. He stumbled back, foot caught on the bed edge and falling backwards into it, half his back hitting the wall at the head of it with a hard thud. His hands came up to hold his face, trying not to howl but choking on a groan. "Ffffffffffuck!" He hissed, hands both over his face and growled out words.

"Fuck! I didn't DO it on purpose! Ow, fuck, shit... you had ta hit me in the damn face didn't you!?" He protested, curling up to a knee unless the other advanced on him. He's not even sure where to start now.

[mademyhell]

Trauma just stood there rubbing at his knuckles and thinking about how little that had helped even with everything else.

"Yes. I did" he said. Almost monotone, and watching Claudio down his nose. He couldn't remember feeling this hurt in a long time. The last time it had felt anything like this he'd shifted into having a knife in his chest and Jerry staring at him in horror.

"Tell me it was an accident." Trauma said finally after watching him for a long moment. He sounded tired and horrible in the middle of all of this. His voice was a mess of distortion and his eyes remained red even as the orange light dimmed. "Powers accidents I get- but if you-"

If he'd changed things in Trauma's head just because? He wasn't sure how he was going to deal with that.

[thecrowingtobe]

Had that happened at all before this? Honestly he couldn't recall a time that Trauma was the one to throw a punch, and that was a damn hard punch. Sometimes he forgot that Trauma had gone through some shitty boot camp at one point.

His hand held his nose, and because nothing in life can ever be easy, and because he had broken his nose so many times before, this time was no different in the fact that his nose was bleeding. Thankfully it wasn't broken! Just... bleeding and god damn sore. Fuuuuck.

He tried to take in a sharp breath, sitting there with his back half in the bed and in the wall, hands over his nose and mouth, and eyes staring up at the other. "It was an accident!" He barked out under his hand. Oh god that hurt.

He scrambled to sit up more against the wall, leaning forward on his knees, hand over his bloody face still. Fuck, fuck, fuck. "It was an accident, I swear." He said with a slurred tone. "I didn't even realize it till later, i swear."

He tucked his head into his knees and closed his eyes harder. Trauma should hit him. A few more times. He's a horrible person. These powers just keep popping up and its driving him insane, and he could have killed Trauma with his own temper no less.

"I can't swear on anythin' more then just... I swear. I had no idea till after, and... and I didn't say nothin' because I was scared you'd... react badly." Like this. Because he had all the right in the world to be mad, and Claudio couldn't even deny that.

SP AU Body Swap

[thecrowingtobe]

Claudio pushed Trauma over and settled over top of him, knees on either side and hands sliding over the others upper arms, holding him down in a very light grip (easy to pull away from). He grinned like a devil then leaned down to kiss him again, nudging his chin down to deepen the kiss.

It was all innocent, for now, and he just wanted a moment alone with Trauma.

A moment alone that turned into a moment as. As Trauma.

He’s not sure what happened. Later they would learn that a powerful being had a malfunction and powers backfired. ANyone who was touching a single other person swapped bodies, mentally moving to a new body is all. the mutant would be taken down, and news would say that because of her death they don’t know how to put people back. But for now? Trauma and Claudio switched.

Which was strange because one moment he was kissing the other, and the next he felt a weight on him and being kissed. He blinked his eyes, hands coming up to grip Terry’s sides, as if to stop him and take over again, but he paused he looked up to himself. Talk about out of body experiences.

For the first second he let out such a startled sound that he didn’t hear anything going on around them. Nothing at all. He just stared up at himself in wide eyed shock.

Sp AU- AGI riots are a riot.

[mademyhell]

It had been a long day for the city of Siren's port. The rioting in the streets had gotten particularly bad in the AGI sector and normally that was enough for most people to stay out of the way, but Terry had been in school at the time, and honestly he hadn't been sure what was going on when they first put the school into lockdown, tech blocking went on, and magic shields went up, leaving them with their in house communications, and leaving those attacking without any way to communicate either.

He and Casey had been trying to wrangle who had shown up when their professor called in saying he was stuck, and then when the intercom had told them all to lock down, turn out the lights and hide. Their building was one made of small red brick, and it was housed near the edge of campus, making it one of the first targets for the anti-AGI crowd. The fear in the class had been far too easy to latch onto and so Trauma had stayed silent while Casey tried to calm everyone, she was in general a nicer person and her eyes were backlit as she counted everyone over to make sure who they had and who wasn't there, the clip board floating along next to her as she looked it over.

Trauma himself stayed by the door, tracking other people in the area, grey and red eyed. When they finally got signal to try and escape, he was the first out, testing the water.

This turned out to be a horrific idea, and his stomach dropped as something burned across his arm, his vision whiting out for a moment, The shooter was only a bit off, a plastic mask over his face and advancing, two others behind him, ice flowing up the wall from the woman trailing along behind.

-Bats, embedded from some B- movie when he was six, hiding in his older sister's shoulder, always lurking in the back of his mind-

Trauma's mind rattled through the mess he received, hearing Casey shout for him and feeling the sweep of panic from those above, below, and in the classroom. Trauma hated swarms, but he wasn't beyond using them, and he wasn't sure what he was saying as he spoke, the disconnected stream of fear spouting as he shifted over. The shooter screamed as the swarm descended on him, tearing at the edges of his clothing and skin. It didn't take long for the masked man to run and when Terry came back, reassembling in parts, he was red eyed. The second man burning alive seemed to be trying to drag off the woman who was loss of powers, control, flying, heights, anything she couldn't see or touch.. She almost instantly tried to freeze him in place, spikes shooting past him before ice wrapped around his foot and holding him in place, closing in around it so hard it felt like the bones were creaking. With the shooter gone, Trauma's ability to swarm left with him unless he wanted to search for another, so improvising. He could do that. Trauma let them come together in something similar, flames licking up the walls suddenly in a sweep of power that Trauma hadn't totally intended to call, and the ice began to melt, letting him free and the nearby doors openable once again. They both began to back up, and Trauma tried to focus on keeping things controlled as he pushed back against them, making them retreat. When they were gone, he was left, cold and in pain, dripping blood on the floor.

Casey shouted for him again, and he felt an invisible force tugging on the back of his collar. Casey. Right. Trauma backed into the room, locking the door behind him.

He and Casey sat with their backs to the door for almost a half hour after that, her trying to brace the door with telekinesis and him trying to keep an eye on what was happening even though his arm hurt like hell. Casey had used a scarf to wrap his arm that she'd stolen from one of the students. No one got through, but they tried. At one point Casey threw someone back through the door and another the howl of a wolf from Trauma's transformed mouth was enough to make them run. Altogether, it was enough to make Terry half sick, feeling it when they moved forward, or ignored them.

They students mostly stayed calm, though it was mostly through a freshman with the ability to control large crowds through her emotions, reaching out at taking charge, sending out a calming field wide enough to hold most of them. If Terry had any say, after this she was somehow getting recognized and Casey agreed. It took another hour for the school to send them another message in the form of a staff member they knew knocking on the door, with a cut above her eye and a huge smile, telling them that AGI had things under control and thank god they were okay.

Trauma thought, for the record, that Chuck had very little to do with it, thanks.

The count for how long they'd been there was somewhere around six hours, and everywhere there were emergency services. It was enough to send Trauma over the edge, so even with the pain in his arm and the probable need for a statement, Terry left, sliding out the moment everyone began paying attention to the communications class that hadn't had any defensive abilities and had six injured. He didn't want to be in the hospital, he wanted to be home, and away from people who were terrified and hurting and he just needed quiet before something imploded and he ended up hurting someone. He told Casey, though, who was bright eyed and clinging to Trish who'd been in the math's building two over and Ellis who seemed to be punch drunk from a fight with another student who had tried to drag the people in his class into the hall to fight the rioters. They hadn't gone thanks to Ellis taking charge, but honestly they both looked easily as beaten up as he was. When Anna finally got there, with Mike in tow from the dorms they offered him a ride home. Casey had spent the whole time trying to convince all of them to go to a clinic or something but with things as they were, Trish and Terry both veto'd the idea. (Though really, the only one aware of how bad off Terry was, was casey and he was sure if she'd explained further, Trish would've dragged him by the ear. Casey's face meant he'd be hearing about it later but fuck this, he was going home.)

He didn't turn his NV back on immediately, falling asleep in the car against the window, not thinking of it until he was almost at the door home. Terry cracked open the door and sliding in, sensing no one and so knowing, at least, Jinx and Gabriel (And Red, but who knew about him) weren't there. Owen didn't immediately tackle him, so he almost thought things were well enough, and that maybe he could hope to get himself taken care of before anyone saw him. He was already light headed and didn't want to try and focus on what had happened now that the adrenaline was officially dead and he could only focus on himself, and that meant pain.

And came almost immediately to the conclusion that the hospital might've been a good idea.

And so there Terry was, just inside the garage door, arm wrapped in a scarf to keep it close to his chest and from bleeding everywhere, pale, with a sweep of blood over his eye and across his nose from an ice spike he'd missed. He looked easily as bad as he felt, and he felt terrible.

[thecrowingtobe]

While the other was at school, Claudio had been at work. But not his bartender job, or his work on paintings or anything as simple as all that. Instead he had his head under a hood of a 1975 Pontiac LeMans GTO that had seen better days. Not for himself, but for a person who requested some modifications, internal darkness proofing, a new lighting system, work on a hover ability and so on. It had taken some of his morning, with Owen sitting inside the car while he worked. There was a small yip and the dogs mouth opened, a person he follows on the NV. Jubilee had mentioned riots. AGI. A lock down of some places, and after talking to her he realized it was the exact location that Trauma would be.

Dropping everything he moved to his computer to double check things, locations and so forth. Checking out what she said. Tried to contact Trauma. There would be several messages left for him. The thing was? Everything that happened had happened hours and hours ago. And there were still hours to go.

He had to make a choice. Head out down there and go against their little pact that he wouldn't run head first into danger? Or wait here a bit longer and keep trying to get hold of him. Hell he was tempted to send Owen to track him down. Watch it on a monitor, or something. See if the do could find him. Staying home was not something he wanted to do though, but they made a pact. Be smart about it. Don't be a hero.

So he kept trying.

The others were at the bar/night club, and he couldn't get them to answer either. Damn it Jinx never answered of course, not when he needed to hear his sisters voice tell him it'd be okay, dummy. Or even Gabe telling him to chill out and he's go take a look into it. Even Red would have been helpful to talk to.

Hours ago though. Thanks Jubes, for not saying anything until now. Six hours. Jesus. He had gone thorough the house a few times, pacing. Then when he decided to fuck it and go, he dropped through the floor and into the panic room, one last look around for Red. Then through the wall to his work space. Keys in hand he went for his car, only to stop as he saw Owen standing there, pointing at the garage door. Three barks as a sign of Family. He slammed the door to his car shut and moved for the door, seeing the figure there just inside it.

He stared a moment, then let out a deep, deep Trauma trade mark sigh. "Amory be, is this how it feels when I don't answer the god damn NV?" He said at first, coming over only to pause to see all the blood, the bandage, the mess that he was. Claudio felt like he paled just by the sight of him. He rushed to the others side almost instantly.

"Fuck, are you kidding? What the hell happened?" That was a 'oh my god' statement if you ever heard one. Owen was moving around them, being silent, tail down and looking upset. Claudio looked like he wasn't sure if he should reach out and touch the other or not. "Fuck..." because this wasn't going to be alright was it. That was too much blood.

[mademyhell]

Terry's eyes opened again when he heard the sound of Owen barking and he tried his hardest to not flinch when he saw Claudio go around the corner. Holy shit. He was in trouble and he knew it, Trauma frowned at his from through his hair and tried to find a way to get around the fact that Claudio looked half freaked and entirely panicked and that wasn't what he wanted to do. He'd wanted to clean up or...something. He'd spent the past couple hours worrying about everything and everyone else, because he knew there was no way he was stuck, everyone else was done, game over. Trauma wasn't. If he died, he'd be back in a few days and he'd have to apologize like crazy but...he couldn't just let one of the others die. It wasn't in his nature.

"Nothing. It was-" Trauma started and then actually got a better look at Claudio and stopped, letting out a sigh and trying to shrug only to end up wincing as a shot of pain went through him, making itself known and making it hard to breathe for all of a moment, vision going out of alignment and blinking until he got his focus back. The area around him wasn't grey which was possibly worrying mostly because he was red eyed but not actually putting off enough energy to effect the area around him. He realized after a moment he'd used his good arm to balance himself against Claudio's shoulder and he looked up with an expression that was something fairly sheepish for him, all things considered.

"I think I need to sit down." Terry said, finally, lightheaded and somewhat nauseous after the moment had passed.

[thecrowingtobe]

First things first, trauma's not one to look weak, and he looked like he was about to pass out. When the other started to lean into him his arm wrapped around him, supporting him. He did look really concerned. "Terry?" He said softly, clearly worried as he looped his other arm around him to hold him up as he realized he was sagging more.

"All right, come on. Jesus, you're bleeding, aren't you?" He moved him to go inside the garage more, towards the old couch he had in there. He sat him down carefully and unlooped his arms, moving to run fingers over the others forehead, pushing back blood smeared hair to try and get a look at the cut there.

"Fuck, man, I saw Jube post about that shit on her NV. I haven't been able to get hold of you at all." He crouched to a knee before the couch to try and survey the damage. To figure out what was hurt and try to clean him up, but honestly, he's still worried looking, scared for the other. Trauma never asks for help, and leaning into him was basically asking just that. Saying he needed a seat was almost as bad. He was worried.

[mademyhell]

Terry let Claudio pull him along, leaning heavily on him as they went and when he was sat down Terry sat back, his shoulder ached and his entire body felt like he'd been stretched too far for too long. He let Claudio fuss and fidget, eyes closing as he felt fingers trail over his face. For the first time since they'd gone into lockdown he felt like he could breathe even with the pain.

Everything was quiet, so that was something, and Claudio was there so honestly he was better off than he had been. It felt less like he was going to have his head implode, and he was calmer than he'd been despite everything.

"I-" Trauma winced again as he sat forward enough to stop his hand and take ahold of it instead, wrapping his hand around Claudio's wrist and focusing for a moment, and closing his eyes. There were several types of focus points, and his ability to breathe in time was significantly screwed up, and Claudio was easy to focus on, even with they both being as unsettled as they were.

When he opened them they were blue again for the first time in hours.

"We had a lockdown. Tech and Magic. We only just got out." He said, sounding less distorted, though as tired as before, if it weren't for the pain, he might've fallen asleep.

[thecrowingtobe]

Fuss and fidget he did, too. It wasn't often that his boyfriend came home a bleeding mes after hours of trouble. That was Claudio's gig. Honestly, that was his gig and shouldn't be anyone elses. "What happened?" He asked again, but not meaning the situation. "I mean... with... the blood and the bleeding and all."

He let his fingers stroke his cheek again softly, frowning deeply as he watched the other. His eyes landing to the arm that was wrapped, before letting his hand drop to that, though barely touching it.

"How bad is this?" He wanted to start unwrapping it, but first he stood, fast, and went over to the trunk of his car in the garage, pulling out a first aid kit he kept there. Coming back he dropped to the hard floor again, knee and foot and opening it up. "You should have gone to the hospital, huh. That.... that's still bleeding."

Stupid. So stupid. He wanted to call him stupid for worrying him, for not getting hold of him. But that would be hypocritical of him, which at least he knows. or all he knows the other got ambushed. It was more AGI he was really upset about.

[mademyhell]

Trauma watched him from his place and let him go when he went to find the kit. It was surprisingly used frequently in this house with everything. What was it with them and getting into all kinds of horrific trouble. This shouldn't be that common. But then that was the way of the city.

He frowned awkwardly, like he wasn't sure how best to answer and what exactly was going to go over best. (Trauma was well aware of his own hypocrisy. And he could live with it, but he was pretty sure breaking their deal to stay out of trouble with the city falling into unrest was something he shouldn't have done, if he wanted to keep the deal in place. Or get through his life without an argument about the fact that Claudio didn't have a certain resurrection, and Trauma did. The rules should be different. And he was positive he'd hear about this later, when he wasn't bleeding out on the couch.) He began to awkwardly pick at the knot Casey had tied to keep the makeshift bandage over his shoulder, to help, but quickly found he wasn't able to between the strange angle and the way it jostled his arm. He'd have to let Claudio do it.

Finally he sat forward enough that Claudio had access to the mess of his arm and...everything else. He wasn't even sure what all was wrong right now, only that his whole arm felt like it was throbbing all the way up into his neck and his head hurt like crazy.

"....I got shot." He said, finally. He'd have matched what he said with something noncommittal but shrugging was currently out of the question.

[thecrowingtobe]

"You got WHAT? Is what I want to yell right now, but it's pretty clear you got hurt. Shot... not helping. But Look at me, calm. Calm as a cucumber. Super chill. I can't believe you. Oh my god you got shot and came home." he wanted to hit him with a bandage roll, but he was good.

Instead he sat things down beside on the couch and moved to unwrap the mans arm, fingers careful as he worked. When the bandage came off, slick with blood and making a slick sound as he pulled it away, he frowned, looking it over, then stared at Trauma a moment longer.

"You should have gone to the hospital!" there was no exit wound.

No exit wound at all.

He frowned deeply and leaned there between the others knees on the couch, looking him in the face. "Terry... the hell you do to get shot? I heard about a lock down, not a riot." He hissed, scowl set, but worry still winning out here, and started to carefully wipe away blood, to try to get a better look. was it still bleeding? Jesus.