Hey guys! I really have no excuse for this update being super late, and I feel like it would be annoying if I apologized again, so I am just going to breathe easy. As always, if you have any ideas for the story or your character, please let me know! I hate focusing on three or four characters, especially since I have such a large variety of them to choose from, but it's hard for me not to when I have no basis to go off of. If you truly have no ideas for your character, that's okay, but let me know in a pm/review that it is okay to expand them; otherwise, I won't.
That being said, parts that are triggering will be marked with an asterisk before the location. If you need to talk anything out, I am just a pm away and I am here for you.
The Batcave (UNKNOWN COORDINATES)
September 12, 2017
10:44
"I am inclined to believe that the manor's coffee maker is holding you lot hostage," the proper timbre of a British accent echoed out into the cave judgementally, the sound breaking the previously agreed upon silence between the small group. The quip was then quickly followed behind by numerous retorts, most of them siding with a witty tongue rather than apologies.
"I, for one, surrender to my captor," Noah chuckled earnestly as he spoke out from his adopted family, a mischievous glint hidden behind his violet eyes as he spoke out. His smirk, although tired in appearance, was perhaps the most prominent expression in the room, the other occupants either serious or exhausted after an all-nighter focused primarily around death and violent crimes in the disastrous city.
As Alfred reached the bottom of the metallic stairs, his hand left the protective railing slowly, "You know, young Master Noah, I do recall that caffeine is amongst the most brutal of kidnappers. I suggest you escape while you still can."
The banter between the two was shared with caring glances, expressive eyebrows, and utmost sincerity, and for that, the necromancer was eternally grateful. Despite the overwhelming amount of gloom that typically befell the Wayne family, it had been a familiar feeling for the boy. It was comfortable, even when it was miserable; however, Noah felt no need to be sorrowful as he drank his morning coffee and ate leftover cookies from the night before.
"Escape-smape, I am happy in my loving relationship," Noah continued to joke aloud.
Charlotte, who had previously been stationed on the other side of the room, poked her head up from under a mound of paperwork at his words. With a nonchalant tongue, she responded to her boyfriend's statement, "Babe, I hate to tell you that your relationship might be one-sided. I don't think your coffee has feelings."
Before Noah could flirtatiously tease the young empath back, Alfred intervened, "And Miss Rein would know, after all." With an expectant hand out in front of him then, Alfred quickly switched topics, "Your coffee mug, sir."
The loyal butler's eyes were hard as if daring Noah to protest his command, and with a defeated chuckle, Noah passed Alfred his nearly empty mug. With his newly freed hands, Noah rubbed at his eyes in exhaustion. "What are you even doing over there Lotte?" The necromancer questioned, his yawn stifling his words.
After a, for a lack of better words, interesting fiasco back at the mountain base regarding McKenzie and Sam, Noah and Charlotte had decided to return to the Batcave to help with Gotham's more apparent crimes. And after multiple hours worth of work, the two teenagers had transitioned back into the Team's databased files; after all, the true reason why either of the two had been asked to join the team was because of Death himself. Noah, for the better part of the last two hours, had been scrutinizing crime scene photos from his first night's work.
"Pretending I know enough Russian to translate this stupid file," the girl murmured, her eyes traveling back down onto the printed papers in front of her. Her gaze kept shifting from the propped open dictionary to her left and to the stolen medical files to her right; her concentration unmatched by any bat family member in the room. If it wasn't for her sense of pride, the girl might have given up her unassigned mission; after all, she was sure that there were more pressing members of her newly joined team to focus her search on. For example, Sam's file was still alarmingly blank, and Dani's file held multiple discrepancies.
But why is his file the only one not in English? Raja's, Alyn's, and Angel's files are all in English and they are from different countries... she continued her paranoid thinking. So it means Logan is hiding something—something that I demand to know the answer to. Her focus broke once more at the sound of her boyfriend's movement from behind her, his head peering over her shoulder.
"Why does that not surprise me?" Noah laughed half-heartedly, finally figuring out what his girlfriend was doing. The necromancer had been doing the same activity not even a full month ago, and if his hunch was right, Charlotte was studying her newfound teammate's personal files. With an astute guess, Noah offered, "If you are trying to read Logan's medical file, an English translation is already downloaded onto the Batcomputer."
A petty smirk found refuge on Noah's face, cheekily antagonizing Charlotte and all of her previous efforts to translate the file by hand.
Of course there was already a translated file; why wouldn't there already be a translated file? Charlotte thought to herself sarcastically as she spun around in her chair, her hands thrown up in defeat. "Now you tell me!"
* Mount Justice
September 12, 2017
10:44
Raja watched as Oliver shifted in his sleep with firm eyes; his thoughts rightfully focused on the odd sleeping position of the somewhat larger boy. Oliver's body, which had been contorted almost painfully in means of properly fitting onto the living room's couch, allowed for his long legs to lay upon the side rest, his shins resting against the thinned area uncomfortably. His neck was unusually bent on the sofa's opposite end, and his face was buried into the crook of Oliver's elbow. All in all, it seemed as if painful rigor mortis was settling in on a decomposing body.
With a small sigh, Raja neared the boy. With a smaller blanket in hand, the Muslim man smoothed it out onto his friend's exposed body, the fabric cascading over Oliver's bare chest delicately.
"Oh no," the Muslim man muttered to himself privately under a hushed tone, his face sunken. From his current position standing next to the technician, Raja could clearly see the swelling adorning Oliver's naturally thin face—a clear indication of wept tears, moreso aggressively than casually.
For a split second, irrational anger flooded through Raja's veins. He had never known Oliver to be a crier, so he had automatically assumed that the worst had occurred to his friend, whether that be a justified belief or not. And the more Raja thought about it, the more angry he would become; after all, he had only seen Oliver cry once before, and that was after a relatively bad visit home.
Almost instantly, Raja had debunked the cause of Oliver's sudden sullen mood: family.
He's always like this after an unpleasant visit with his dad... they probably talked about his mom again, Raja thought sadly. Despite Oliver being a relatively reserved person in terms of his private life, Raja was no stranger to it. He knew about his friend's home-life problems, and he often found himself trying to help from afar: Oliver was far too prideful to accept his care any other way.
"You'll be alright Ollie," Raja muttered under his breath lightly, "You'll get through this." Even though Oliver was perpetually unaware of this one-way conversation, it brought peace to Raja's subconscious. He always hated seeing the ones he cared for hurt, but he hated not being able to do anything to help them much more. Almost naively, Raja hoped that his earlier words of comfort would mean something to the sleeping boy, although he did doubt it, especially when they were words devoid from a prayer.
Raja would be lying if he said that he hadn't prayed for Oliver's well-being in the past. At least once every couple of weeks, the Indian native would entreat on Oliver's behalf, mainly when it concerned peace and health in his life. He knew that Allah had been Merciful to Raja himself when his life had gotten relatively difficult, and he had figured Oliver needed the sentiment as well.
For the second time that morning, Raja said, "You'll be alright," towards Oliver, this time more hopeful than the last.
"You'll be alright," a panicked Raja soothed, his hands flying to grab hold onto his collapsing little sister. The younger girl, who was usually incredibly lively, had fallen faint, her eyes rolling to the back of her head as she crumbled towards the floor. When Raja finally managed to get a proper grip on his sister's lithe frame, he could feel the heat radiating off of her unusually pale skin. "You'll be alright, I promise. Wake up, baby."
Her much tinier hand held onto Raja's weakly as she started to gain some sense of consciousness back, tears pricking at the edge of her doe-like eyes. Instantly, Raja sighed out in relief, but he soon took that breath back. Her nose had started to bleed slightly, and her eyes looked weak once more. Before Raja could mutter the reassuring phrase again, she had slipped into the realm of unconsciousness once more, this time far heavier than the last.
"Mom!" Raja cried out in fear as he cradled his sister's head close to his chest. "Mom, please, its Noor! Come quick!"
It was barely a moment later when both of Raja's parents had come running into his bedroom, faces of surprise and horror illuminating off of them like a distinct mask. His mother had caught a 'deer in the headlights' expression, her hand reaching up to cover her agape mouth; whereas his father had rushed to pick up Noor from Raja's lap, prying his arms away from his little sister.
As his parents dashed out to the nearest hospital with Noor, Raja stood put on his bedroom's floor, his eyes focusing on his now empty hands. She had been so scarily ill, and all he could do was mutter pathetic lines—pathetic lines in which he would later learn held no truth. Noor was anything but alright
* Amanda's Inside Archery Range
September 12, 2017
12:08
The emptiness seemingly reverberated inside of Victoria, the feeling, or rather lack of one, filling her lungs suffocatingly as she slowly lowered her arms from their previous position out in front of her. Her bow clattered to the ground loudly then as she discarded it, before she walked forward to retrieve her arrow's from their foam, deer-like target; the sharpened ends having pierced holes through to the other side.
Last night had been difficult for her in many ways, and for perhaps an hour she had believed that the McKenzie situation had been behind them, but she was gravely mistaken. The disappointment in Logan's eyes the night before as he realized that McKenzie's trauma had returned and Victoria had not been there to prevent it haunted her. She had felt as if she had gained the ability to read minds then, and all that the medic had thought was that she had been a disappointment to him, and more importantly to McKenzie. The following events had been underserved, especially since the Italian knew that everything bad that had happened was her fault. He had been too kind, and she did not deserve it in the slightest.
Victoria watched as McKenzie slammed the door after Logan, her shouts damn near loud enough for tourists outside of the cave to hear. With a shrill exclaim, McKenzie hollered, "Don't you ever try to talk to me again! You are nothing but a fucking liar!" Her uncharacteristic cursing was a surprise to even Sam, who had been standing behind Victoria alongside everyone else.
The psychologist took a step forward then as if to say something to Victoria, or perhaps even to the solemn medic, but he remained silent. He had anticipated every reaction besides the one that McKenzie was currently expressing. He had expected almost anything else, even as much as her quitting the team momentarily, but this was far worse than he could have imagined. She was inconsolable.
Then, with an almost too emotionless of a voice, Logan broke the silence, "Victoria, is your hand okay?"
The sudden question confused the archer. She had punched Sam; she should not be cared for after that, especially when the man in question had been standing just next to her. With a small glance down, as if suddenly remembering her fist was in agonizing pain, the girl shook her head. She knew better than to lie.
"That's what I thought, come on," he said softly, his eyes shifting focus from McKenzie's door to her. He stood still as Victoria joined his side, and then with a final look back at McKenzie's door, he ushered her towards the medical bay privately. The remainder of the team stood still in shock, Noah slowly inching his way forward in attempts to be of some use. If there was something that Victoria could commend him for, it was for his stubborned care.
Words were exchanged behind them, the only discernable voices being McKenzie's, Noah's and surprisingly Dani's, but Victoria paid them no mind. She hadn't truly been paying attention to anything since Logan's arrival back on base.
When the duo finally made entry into the medical bay, Victoria took a seat on what she could now only describe as her cot. It seemed as if after every mission the team went on lately, Victoria would be found in the same room, on the same cot, and eating the same flavored Jell-O. It was like clock-work, especially as she threw her arm out towards Logan without prompt, her eyes staring off into the distant wall.
It took perhaps thirty seconds before Victoria realized the medic had been communicating with her, his soft squeeze on her wrist bringing her away from her state of dissociation. With glossy and taciturn eyes, she found Logan's gaze—worried and tired. Then, once again with no prompt, she started to cry, a string of, "I am so sorry," following suit. She was at fault for his stress, she was sure of it.
"Hey, hey, hey," Logan shushed her as he pulled her into his chest for a hug, "It's okay. I promise you its okay. You're okay." His whispers were slow and calm, the exact opposite of how Victoria was.
"It's not okay! I caused this!" Victoria shouted, her words muffled into the crook of his shoulder, her tears staining his uniform. The two remained like this for perhaps another three minutes, the only sound being Victoria's sobbing, before the archer suddenly pulled away from the man—her face full of shame. Once more, she apologized, this time moreso for crying than anything else. She didn't deserve to cry, especially not on top of him.
"Please don't apologize for crying," Logan reassured, "It's okay to cry."
She almost wished aloud that he would stop using that word; the word 'okay' did not describe any part of how she currently felt. It's not okay... none of this was okay. She had failed to be there for McKenzie, allowed Sam to go against Logan's instructions, and then she promoted further damage as she reacted with violence towards the situation. She had done everything wrong.
She continued to cry, this time ranting. "I mess everything up! Why the fuck was I ever allowed to be the leader in the first place?! I screwed up the case with Death, I constantly get everyone and myself hurt, and for fucking what? Just to prove my parents wrong? To prove the assholes at school wrong?" She had grown nearly hysterical by this point, her words jumbled and hurt. "To prove myself fucking wrong?"
"Vic," Logan interrupted as a sigh escaped his downturned lips, "You were allowed to be the leader because you were the strongest amongst us. You were meant to be the leader."
"Bullshit!" Victoria argued, "I got to be the leader because you didn't feel like being it anymore!" Her words were harsher than she had meant them to be.
"It had nothing to do with what I wanted," Logan revealed, a crack to his voice, "You may not believe it, but it was because you were stronger. Ask anyone out there if you need the extra reassurance." By the time he had finished his sentence, Victoria's hand had been properly cleaned and bandaged, Motrin resting in her palm for her inflammation. For the duration of their conversation in which she had been yelling at him, he had quietly taken care of her. It was a good distraction, Victoria had supposed.
With a much calmer tone than before, Victoria thanked the medic. "Thanks for letting me scream at you and ruin your jacket, although you didn't deserve it," the Italian sheepishly said, her attempts at humor made to try to get the medic to forget about their horrible conversation.
Noticing Victoria's still reddened eyes and tears edging her water line, Logan retorted, "You don't get to thank me until after you've finished screaming at me and you don't have any more tears left to cry." Then, with a reassuring grip, Logan said, "Let's go on a walk."
"What are you up to beautiful?" A voice interrupted Victoria from her thoughts, her concentration broken. Her arrow, which had gone slack from the surprise, returned once more to the button mount as she turned to aim at the intruder. Once again, her arrow became slack as it pointed towards Oliver's knee.
She couldn't help but admit that she was starting to grow fond of the boy; his persisting positivity a much-needed relief, especially after the aggressive negativity plaguing her mind. With a pleasant smirk, Victoria cheekily said, "Oliver, if you don't stop flirting with me I might just shoot you." There were other comments the Italian had considered saying, such as "Why are you here?", "How did you find me?", and the most likely response of "Leave me alone!" but the girl couldn't fathom saying any of that to Oliver's puppy-eyed look.
With an excited and equally cheeky smirk from her response, Oliver flirted back with a wink, "You might want to aim a bit higher then, Cupid." He walked even closer to the archer then, as if testing her and her abilities, or rather, the likelihood of her actually shooting him. "But you never answered my question," the technician reminded her, his flirty tone gone.
"Well," Victoria paused as she notched her arrow once more onto her bow, before releasing it onto her deer target, "I'm not throwing eggs and flour onto the kitchen's ceiling, that's for sure."
"Oh ha, ha," Oliver responded from the girl's tease, his laughs bitter but filled with humor. Then, with the humor gone from his voice, Oliver spoke, "Speaking of home though, you're wanted back. Mr. Crow assigned us another homework packet and its due in an hour," his code brought Victoria out of her playful mood, her expression now turning serious. There was a new mission, and the code meant it was major.
Hoisting up all of her equipment, Victoria nodded in understanding: Crow was the team's name for Death's case.
Mount Justice
September 12, 2017
14:15
Dani sneered, her face pointed down towards the ground as she did so. Her fingers, which had previously been working steadily at lacing her costumed combat boots, fell idle to their sides. "So, we had a mission, but the only people who get to go on said mission is you and Noah?" Dani's question had been filled with distrust, something that was uncommon towards Sam.
Sam's eyes bore down at the ex-assassin, the sharp blue matching Dani's own. His expression almost begged her to challenge his decisions, and on any other given day she might've, but over the course of the last few days, her trust in the psychologist had faltered. McKenzie had always been nothing but an absolute sweetheart to her, and despite the fact that the two girls weren't that close, Dani had cared for the older girl's well-being. Additionally, she found it a bit curious as to how a renowed psychologist, one who on a daily works with criminal masterminds, misread a seventeen year old girl.
"Alright, so why did you call all of us here then?" Dani pressed. He had called for an emergency gathering on a deadly case, but failed to mention that no one was actually aiding in it. And the more Dani thought about the situation, the weirder it became.
"When did you begin questioning me, Azure?" Sam's usage of the teen's hero-persona muddled Dani significantly, especially as he narrowed his eyes at the girl's aggressive demeanor. "Did you stop trusting me after one mistake?"
He's playing Devil's Advocate now... Dani's gaze grew hard. Then, with the most nonchalant tone the girl could muster, she retorted, "No. I'm just curious as to what I'm supposed to be doing now." It hadn't entirely been a lie; she did intend on formulating a plan that would benefit her and her team, but she now knew that her trust in the man was now completely askew. It was easy to lose her trust, she would admit, but until he gave her reason to let her guard down again she wouldn't. Dani refused to be blindsided again.
Sam smiled lowly, his grin barely stretching his shallow cheeks out. "Just trying to read you is all," he revealed, his gaze returning back to a normal standpoint. He glanced towards the changing area, where he knew everyone else had been getting into uniform. "I figured Noah and I could go out and investigate a new lead on Death, and you and the others could be on standby," he reasoned.
I'm on standby? The girl thought quizzically. Nobody ever puts me on standby; I'm the big guns. With another sneer, the girl removed her steel gauntlets from her wrist; in her opinion, she is either present on a mission, or she doesn't go on one. There was no in between. In betweens get hurt...
By the time Dani had made a move towards the living room, others had begun pouring out into the area, everyone dressed in their respective uniformed clothing. She knew that in no time they would trickle back out into the base, disappointed or rather confused groans escaping them either verbally or by expressions. It was times like this that Dani had figured she would make an above-average psychologist herself; she knew her teammates rather well by this point.
Angel watched in disdain as Sam explained the situation to Noah. The feeling had been uncomfortable, a smidge of jealousy swirling from inside the Mexican boy as he stared off at them; after all, Sam would typically do these sorts of things with him, their bond almost too close for words. The two had shared a mentor-mentee relationship, his friendship being shared moreso with Dani than anybody else, but it was still a close bond nonetheless.
The water-powered boy watched on in interest as Noah grew just as uncomfortable, the necromancer now rocking to and fro on the heels of his feet as if to distract himself. Angel had figured that the necromancer had wanted to spend this time with his girlfriend, whether that be on the field or not, but the discomfort levels only seemed to rise. Before Angel could intervene however, Logan had joined the two males instead, Raja soon following suit.
"You got room in your party for two more?" Raja asked the duo, his eyes shifting from Logan onto Sam expertly.
With a chilling tone, Sam responded flatly, "No thanks. There's no need to add any more DNA evidence onto a crime scene than absolutely necessary." Then, as if just noticing Angel, Sam added, "And besides, if I needed anybody else, I would just ask Angel to come. You guys would be best suited here as backup just in case anything bad happens. Right, Noah?" At the mention of the diviner, Sam had wrapped an arm around Noah's smaller frame, pulling him in close.
Angel originally felt validated that he was his old squad leader's primary choice; however, he couldn't help but feel as if he was 'chosen' simply based on the fact that he had been within view of Sam at the time. In his opinion, he couldn't see why Sam would ask for him instead of Alyn in this scenario. He had usually preferred her expertise on law and regulations on scenes such as this. He generally just preferred Alyn on his side.
"Good thing we were gloves then, right?" Logan pressured, his arms crossing over his chest as he spoke, stepping forward as if to block Sam away from the others. Raja had joined him by his side then, the duo planting themselves between Noah and Sam.
"Right. Like Mr. Destructive over here can be trusted in a fragile crime scene if something were to happen," Sam rationed, his stance now matching the other two's, "Look, I was asked by Batman to solve this case, and I would like to obtain the intact evidence to do so."
Raja smiled then politely, his head tilting ever so slightly to the right, before commenting, "You're absolutely right. I could definitely mess up a crime scene, but I think a secret operative trained by the Russian army is more than perfect for your expedition, wouldn't you say?" The Muslim man's words could have cut steel, but dripped with the sweetness that could rival honey; it was completely unsettling for Angel to watch. Logan only grinned. Another beat passed on by, before Raja added, "Logan, you and Noah should go pack your go-bag, I'll stay and help Sam with any other preparations."
From the other side of the room, slightly hidden behind by the doorway, Angel watched as Logan and Noah made their way towards the armory, the older boy making idle conversation about the necromancer's girlfriend as they went on. Then, when Raja had been certain that the two boys were alone, his body language shifted, his voice going low. Angel could barely hear as Raja sternly whispered, "Make sure they get back from this mission safely. Death is nothing to be treated lightly, and if this decision of yours goes sour and something happens to them, I will rip your windpipe out of your throat."
The threat caused Angel's eyes to widen in surprise; he has maybe heard Raja say a total of four sentences since his introduction to the team, none of them even a fraction as violent. For a moment, he contemplated revealing himself to the two. He was upset that the entirety of the team was treating Sam poorly on the basis of one mistake but the more the water-powered boy thought about it, the more he understood.
Sam was the leader of the squad during the mission that McKenzie had lost her memory and Noah and Alyn had been hurt. Alyn even warned us to bring other teammates along because of how dangerous Killer Frost is, but Sam didn't listen. Eventually Angel's thinking became more paranoid, behind every bad decision so far, Sam was there.
With that final realization, Angel ducked away from the briefing area. Just like Raja and Logan had tried protecting Noah from further harm, Angel was going to do the same.
Charlotte played with the hem of her shirt's long, black sleeve, a bubble popping lazily in her mouth. Of course I got benched from my 'first' mission with the team, she mused, but by the looks of it, everyone got benched.
Her mind quickly danced from the mission to her earlier activity, the thought of the team members' histories rambling on through her mind as her eyes jumped from person to person. For a moment, her eyes stood still on Alyn's figure, the Turkish woman texting away on her phone with her noninjured hand. Two years of therapy for problems relating to self-harm and depression after a sexual assault, mother of one, straight A student from a law school... currently feels like longing.
The empath smiled weakly at the woman when she had looked up from her phone, Alyn's past sorrows flowing through Charlotte's brain even then. She often did not mean to invade the privacy of others, especially when it came to what emotions they would be experiencing, but Charlotte could not help what her powers naturally did. When Alyn had returned Charlotte's smile, the younger of the two pulled her focus away and towards someone else in the room.
So far, Charlotte had been neutral towards Yessenia, the young princess being of no worry to her. Daughter to Wonder Woman and adopted niece of Black Canary, raised as a warrior with no outstanding problems pertaining to the man-walking world, and an honor roll student at the local high school... currently feels like—
"So, what's the game plan? I know we aren't going to sit in here and do nothing while there are criminals to look for," Angel called out into the kitchen as he entered, a bounce to his step as he hoisted himself up on a counter near the Amazonian princess. The sudden loudness and exertion of confidence caused a slight headache to breach Charlotte's cloudy mind, interrupting her from her readings. "Oh, and hey new Barbie," Angel greeted, before he instantly returned his focus back towards some of the boys.
Charlotte raised an eyebrow. "I beg your pardon?" She questioned, causing a pause to occur in the conversation he was currently embarking in with Oliver. The boy barely had time to turn to formulate a response before Alyn began to spoke.
"Really Angel? We talked about this," Alyn reprimanded whilst glancing up, her voice full of disappointment as she pocketed her device. "Sometimes I don't blame Yessenia or Victoria for snapping at you."
Yessenia smirked at the woman's remark, her fist balled up at her side as if to remind Angel that the option was always there. Nevertheless, the princess knew that he was right about something needing to be done. If the group couldn't go after Death himself, then they could very well go on and look for Killer Frost. The group as a whole needed the win; if the moral didn't increase soon, Yessenia feared it would be the end of not only her best friends, but for the team as a whole.
With a soft and timid hiccup, McKenzie slowly rose to a sitting position on her bed, her comforter falling pathetically behind her onto the mattress. "This is stupid," the girl murmured aloud as she brought a sleeved arm up towards her eyes in means to wipe the area. "This is pathetic. I'm pathetic," she continued her personal attack, her voice flattening out defeatedly with every word she spoke.
Her typically bright green eyes appeared dull then, bloodily agitated due to her hours-long consistent sobbing, but McKenzie did not care. In the serpent girl's opinion, she had shed enough tears for herself today. With another hiccup, she stood on her legs and made a move towards her locked bedroom's door.
As she neared her destination however, McKenzie could feel her chest tightening uncomfortably with panic, the thought of her friends suddenly blossoming to mind. For a hesitant moment, she debated whether or not she could actually face both Yessenia and Victoria's worry; disappointedly, her conclusion was uncertain.
Everyone went through the same simulation I went through though, and they all made it out okay... for the most part, that is. McKenzie initially snapped at herself, before thinking back upon the others. She would be lying to herself if she said that Victoria, or Noah, or even Logan recovered completely from the simulation's events; after all, the demigod just knew that if she had relived a torturous memory or a fabrication of one with added fears, she would be in a way worse off condition. And that's just it, I am weak and pathetic. I can't handle just Yessenia's death.
The words 'weak' and 'pathetic' repeated themselves rapidly in the serpent's already cluttered mind, but they did no additional damage. What harm could the 166th 'pathetic' really do in comparison to the 165th? With a final insult to carry her on, she wrapped diligent fingers around the doorknob presenting itself in front of her, and, with a final inhale, she opened her door.
Surprise instantly filled the girl's veins, allowing her to momentarily forget her previous anguish. The lack of greeting, or even warmth, in the hallway before her had stunned her completely. It seemed completely out of character for the videogame playing duo to not be sitting outside of her door with horror-stricken faces, and McKenzie was not sure if she was allowed to feel offended by their absence. In their defense, she had been nonverbal for hours and did not provide them with any hope that she might be soon. Their absence still hurt her though.
Maybe I should find them, McKenzie thought to herself as she glanced about the hallway gingerly, the want to not be alone anymore suffocating her already drowned brain. Or maybe... maybe it would be a good idea to talk to Sam. Where would he be at this time? Her thoughts even surprised her. She had never before wanted to communicate with the cold man, but after everything that's happened, she thinks that he might be the only one at the Cave that she trusts.
With a final look around the narrowed and twisted hallway, McKenzie ventured out further into the cave.
I cut the update in half again. It was, once again, incredibly long, and I didn't want reading these updates to become a chore to you all. As always, please tell me what you guys are thinking! It's more helpful then you'd think (and don't be afraid to ask for something! You guys won the tiger simply by asking for it!) My parting questions for you all in this update are:
1. How have your initial reactions towards these characters changed? Who has surprised you the most?
2. For next update, do you want it more backstory based or more relationship based?
3. Are there any new friendships you guys see occuring/want to occur? Any friendships you think won't be as strong?