RL with Gale | Grab Bag Virus

[bare_my_fangs]

You'd think that as a Gundam Pilot - a person living life on the edge, with their life always at stake - Michael would be an extremely light sleeper. You know, wide awake at the slightest noise and ready to attack. And you'd be right.

For the most part.

If Michael doesn't sense any immediate danger, then you can pretty much count on him to be out of it.

Kinda like right now.

Being transported to someone else's room - into their bed - in the middle of the night didn't do much of anything to Michael, save cause him to be sprawled out on top of Gale rather than just his own bed. He'd even stolen all of the blankets here as well, the duvet wrapped half around him with the other half hanging off the bed, and was content to sleep merrily away until morning.

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[bare-my-fangs.livejournal.com]

"If you say so, man."

As soon as Michael stepped outside, his eyes glowed brighly and wildly as his quantum brainwaves kicked in. He still had no idea why that happened to him on this world, but now really wasn't the time for him to try and work it out.

He shook his head and turned his focus away from what his mind was trying to do and towards the upcoming fight.

[donotcomprehend.livejournal.com]

Gale didn't hesitate, though he noticed the way Michael seemed uncertain and disoriented when they came outside. He didn't understand why Michael's eyes did that, either, but it wasn't unexpected, and Gale had more to worry about.

He led Michael out of the gate, pausing to advise the guards of the reasons for his departure, and they walked out into the rocky wasteland of the Junkyard.

It didn't take long before there was a scrambling sound above them and a demon leaped down from a high rock in leaps and bounds. It was nude, a female's shape, with little black bat wings, and a curling tail with a spade-like shape at the tip. It landed and floated in mid air, giving a seductive giggle as its wings beat, its chin resting in its hand.

Gale didn't pause to watch. The moment the demon attacked, he transformed into Vayu.

[bare-my-fangs.livejournal.com]

Michael stared.

Well. This was new. Michael could honestly say that a naked girl was the last thing he was expecting.

He was so concentrated on the naked-demon-girl thing, that he almost missed Gale's tranformation. He didn't miss her (its?) sudden attack though, and he brought his arm up and fired off a shot automatically in response, momentarily forgetting about letting Gale have this kill.

[donotcomprehend.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately - or fortunately - the demon shrugged off the bullet as if it were little more than a bee sting. Vayu made a gesture with its clawed hand and a blast of wind erupted, slamming into the demon's body.

The demon gave a scream and tumbled out of the air.

[bare-my-fangs.livejournal.com]

No longer in any immediate danger, Michael was quick to remember what Gale had said. He didn't lower his gun - he was far too twitchy for that - but he didn't fire again, for once in his life letting someone else lead the fight.

"Is it done?" he asked, looking up at Vayu. "Can you eat it yet?"

[donotcomprehend.livejournal.com]

Vayu had almost darted forward to devour the creature before it could recover, but Michael's question brought it up short. Vayu turned its eyeless head towards Michael, its jaws parting in a hiss as it began to slaver with eager hunger.

"Eating now," it growled, and started forward on long legs, still possibly yanking Michael off of his feet as it moved towards its kill.

It sank to its knees and bent, tearing into the hot flesh without hesitation and gulping down huge gobbets of entrails with relish.

[bare-my-fangs.livejournal.com]

Michael was yanked along behind as Vayu made its way over to the beast-demon-girl thing. He was pretty sure that if he hadn't have kept up, Vayu would have dragged him along behind it regardless. He scowled to himself, but he really wasn't in any position to pick a fight.

He almost tripped up when Vayu abruptly sank to the ground, but before he could bitch it out, it was...

Well.

Michael tilted his head as he watched Vayu devour the demon, not quite sure as to whether he found it fascinating or disgusting.

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Bones were crunched along with the rest of the meat, and soon there was nothing left but a stain of blood on the ground. The whole thing took only minutes.

Then Vayu ran its long tongue over its huge maw, licking up most of the blood, and transformed. Gale now knelt on the ground, and he got to his feet, wiping more traces of blood from his mouth with the back of his free hand.

"Are you unhurt?" he asked, turning calm grey eyes to Michael, as if he did this kind of thing every day - which he did.

[bare-my-fangs.livejournal.com]

Whatever it was, it was really fucking interesting, to say the least.

"Of course," he said in answer to Gale's question, somewhat surprised that he even thought to ask. Maybe he just didn't want to drag a dead body around with him for however long the virus lasted.

"Are you full yet? Or do we need to find something else for you to snack on?" If Gale was going to be all blasé about it then Michael would follow suit; it wouldn't do for him to make a big deal out of it.

[donotcomprehend.livejournal.com]

Gale wasn't sure of Michael's capabilities, and didn't want him to get hurt. He might have been a man-eating demon, but he considered Michael to be an ally.

He licked the last traces of blood from the back of his hand automatically as he considered.

"Vayu is sated for now," he concluded. "It is too dangerous for us out here to take chances. We should return to the base."

[bare-my-fangs.livejournal.com]

"Works for me." Michael was already walking back towards the Embryon base, pulling Gale along with him. He wasn't too pleased with the whole 'for now' aspect of the situation but he didn't really have much choice anyway.

Besides, being outside was doing funny things to his head. It wasn't even like he was in pain, although he almost wished he was, because then that could be something that he could block out. It was more like an incessant whispering - something he could only vaguely hear, but try as he might it was too quiet to make out properly.

Whatever it was, it was pissing him off.

[donotcomprehend.livejournal.com]

Gale followed without forcing Michael to drag him, walking quickly with his gun held in both hands and his eyes scanning their surroundings alertly.

He noted Michael's irritation and frowned, glancing at him at intervals as he attempted to figure out what was annoying him. Was he just irritated at being bound to Gale, or was there some other reason?

As the gate came back into view through the rain, he finally spoke. "Are you certain you are well, Michael? You seem...upset."

[bare-my-fangs.livejournal.com]

"Huh?" Gale's voice snapped him out of his weird funk, and he turned multicoloured eyes on him, as though he's just realised that he was there. It took him a couple of seconds before he actually registered that Gale had asked him a question.

"Your world's really fucked up." he said by way of explanation, gesturing to his eyes.

[donotcomprehend.livejournal.com]

Gale blinked at him slowly. He knew from talking to people on the community and watching what was going on there that his own world was so strange that nearly everything he saw was incomprehensible to him, so this was no surprise.

"Do you have any idea why your eyes do that outside here?" he asked curiously. "They did that when you tried to hack the Karma Terminal, also," he added in a thoughtful tone. Could there be some connection between those two situations?

[bare-my-fangs.livejournal.com]

Michael smirked at that - there was no trying about it - as they passed under the gate into Embryon territory. "True, but I did that on purpose." He didn't think he'd be doing that again in a hurry though. Seeing someone else's memories was kinda cool, but wanting to eat human flesh for a bit afterwards really wasn't.

"This, on the other hand, is totally not me."

[donotcomprehend.livejournal.com]

Gale considered that. "Does it only happen when you hack things?" He frowned in utter confusion. "It is as if your mind is trying to hack the Junkyard without your intention."

The statement didn't make sense. How did you hack the Junkyard? "Or perhaps there is some network operating in the Junkyard that you are detecting."

He hit the button for the elevator and it slid open.

[bare-my-fangs.livejournal.com]

Michael frowned at what Gale had just said. "That... sounds about right actually." He stepped into the elevator behind Gale and, leaning against the wall, deliberately focused on that faint whispering - for lack of a better term - that his quantum brain waves were picking up, this time actively using them.

He got a flash of a pretty, dark-haired woman, before searing pain lanced white-hot through his mind, and he collapsed to his knees, panting.

[donotcomprehend.livejournal.com]

Gale was shocked when Michael went from apparently thinking to collapsing. He knelt beside him - partly pulled down by the short chain.

"Michael? What is wrong?" There was a note of worry in his normally calm voice.

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Michael grimaced, his unbound hand clutching his head. If he were in his right mind, he would have noticed the concern in Gale's typically flat voice. "Won't be trying that again any time soon."

He got to his feet - under his own power, thank you very much; he may have been in pain, but he wasn't about to ask for help - finally knowing how Nena felt after she tried hacking the community.

"Well. There's definitely... something. And it's fucking powerful."

[donotcomprehend.livejournal.com]

Gale held Michael's elbow, though it was awkward to try to help him up that way, and the boy did seem to be able to get to his feet under his own power. Albeit with difficulty.

"What did you do?" Gale asked, his eyebrows still aloft and that note of concern still present in his voice. "What powerful thing do you mean?"

The elevator doors opened and Gale began to guide Michael out into the hall.

[bare-my-fangs.livejournal.com]

Michael stumbled walked down the hall with Gale. He didn't want - nor need, he insisted to himelf - Gale's help, but he didn't shake off that hand.

"I tried to hack whatever it is that keeps fucking with my head." He shook his head slightly and scowled. "and I just got completely mindraped. That's what I mean by powerful. There's definitely a server or something somewhere..." Michael trailed off as they reached Gale's room, actually thinking that through for a second.

If it was somewhere on this world, then it wouldn't make sense for it to only affect him when he was outside. So what the hell was so different about being outside?

[donotcomprehend.livejournal.com]

Gale frowned. He didn't exactly know what it meant to be 'mindraped', but he could see the effects of it readily enough. He palmed into his room without letting go of Michael and helped him over the threshold, then to the bed where he encouraged him to sit.

"I do not know what you encountered. Could it have been the Karma Terminal network? That would be a large server that stores our data, and it is throughout the Junkyard," he suggested. But his mind was twinging him with the same thought as Michael. He hadn't had difficulty hacking the Karma Terminal when he'd tried, and why would it only affect him outside?

"The only thing outside is the sky, the rain. Why would it only affect you when you are outside?" Gale mused softly. "I do not comprehend."

[bare-my-fangs.livejournal.com]

Michael started to shake his head as he sat down on the bed at the Karma Terminal suggestion, but found himself staring incredulously at Gale as he continued speaking.

"What rain?" he asked, looking at Gale as though he'd lost his mind. Michael was pretty sure that that had never happened while he was on this world, and he would have thought that he would have noticed something as fucking annoying as rain.

[donotcomprehend.livejournal.com]

Gale stared at him for a moment. "The...rain. Outside," he said, completely nonplussed.

Maybe Michael just didn't know the term for the water falling from the sky. Maybe it didn't happen on his world. Gale had certainly encountered enough things he'd never heard of, so he elaborated.

"Rain is droplets of water that fall from the sky," he explained.

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Michael rolled his eyes. "No, I know what rain is, idiot. I'm not fucking retarded."

His expression turned serious (with a healthy dose of confusion too). "But it has never rained here while I've been on your world, man." And Gale would have only mentioned the rain if it had been raining while they was outside.