catch me if you can. [noxx]

[Vanessa Ryder]

Her gaze was held on the city skyline and her arms were relaxed, crossed at her stomach. That was how she always stood; it was her basic posture, at least when nothing was troubling her mind. Though there were a million things swirling around her head, none of them were important. There were recurring memories, unfinished thoughts, buried dreams, and words she’d never had the chance to say – but none of them mattered now.
Her life had practically been ripped from her now – what she would have done just a few miles from where she stood was unimportant. A new life had taken its place, and she had to learn fast – to adapt fast. Thus, it all turned into white noise, and only a few ambitions remained behind.
This new enclosure, still so strange to her, was now a playground. From the soot on the burned area of the park to the scent of fish and rotten water on the docks, it was all she knew now – all that she needed to know. After floating about under the city radar, as spring’s warm, noon sun heated the pavement, she needed to explore.
The park was one place Vanessa hadn’t bothered to roam – she figured it was just like any other part of town, dilapidated and feral, and she was right. However, she’d underestimated that, unlike the rest of the city, which looked unruly and disgustingly dirty, the park looked exactly how it was supposed to be – well, almost.
So maybe there wasn’t a forest specifically in that spot once, but nature made no mistakes. The uncut grass and overgrown trees made perfect habitat.

She wandered through the small park casually, her footsteps mostly silent as she glanced around. The sun was directly overhead, bathing everything in light, and brightening her eyes so that they looked a vibrant shade of amber.
Lifting one of her arms carelessly, she twirled one of the locks of hair around her finger and then slid her hand back down, releasing it as she made her way across an overgrown meadow.
Despite the thoughtless way that she carried herself, her senses were busy indulging themselves in the ambience of the park – the sounds, the sights, and the feel of the grass giving way under her feet.
After a while of walking, she caught a glimpse of a reflection – a shimmer of light reflecting off of something metal. Her eyes instantly swept to it, zooming in across the distance and making out the outline of an old, metal bench that sometime in the past, people had used to sit on and read their paper or relax. She headed towards it without hesitation, speeding up her pace to a jog until she finally got to it. Setting her hand down briefly on the back, she plopped down onto its cold, iron structure, which had started to rust slightly towards the legs. Nevertheless, she disregarded its worn nature, casually leaning back and glancing up at the sky, sweeping a hand through her hair as if to try to tame some of the tangles that had formed from some of the present curls.

“Ugh, I need tangle control..” she murmured, rolling her eyes in a mildly irritated manner before letting her gaze wander down the unkempt trail that led past the bench.

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[Erebus Nyx]

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[atrb=background,http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/tamaspet/nyxtable2.png] He’d never met a single human that he’d liked. Erebus Nyx had been loose in the Menagerie for years now, and none that had met him had lived to tell anyone about it. It may have seemed like a lonesome existance to some, but to Nyx, it was a life of purpose. The keepers had given him life to exterminate the shifters, and he was going to give his creators what they wanted; Not to mention it was a pleasure to infect and destroy them. Whether it was his deadly ebola virus that killed them, his corrosive acids, or deadly claws, they all died in the end. Luckily, it was a quick death, unless they were unlucky enough to escape while only infected. The virus kicked in slowly at first, then quicker and quicker until it’s victim was little more than a leaky human water balloon. Still, Nyx had never had any particular curiosity about his prey, unlike his brother Kincaid. The virus rolled his eyes just thinking about it, as he prowled through the park in search for another human to boost his quota. His brother always babbled to him about some new fact he’d learned about humans and how they worked. Nyx even suspected that Kincaid could be growing… attached to one! He often followed his enormous brother to make sure his curiosity wasn’t interfering with his job, but when he met a particular human… He let her go every single time! It was infuriating, and Nyx had let Kincaid know. It didn’t seem to be enough though, and he knew that he had to put a stop to it. Nyx paused when he spotted a shifter a few yards away, lounging care-free on a park bench. A twisted smile crept across his face, acid-green tongue slipping out of his mouth for a moment as he licked his lips. Why, she looked delectable. But first, maybe he would try to figure out what Kincaid found so intriguing about them… still, she would die like all the rest. “Hello, there,” Nyx finally spoke, scooting onto the bench next to Vanessa as she looked the other way. His long, muscular arm swooped around behind her to rest on the back of the bench, and he leaned in close, looking the shifter woman over. There was nothing particularly interesting about her as far as Nyx could see, but he supposed it wouldn’t hurt to draw this out a little bit. “How you doinnn?”

[Vanessa Ryder]

Her eyes remained on the overgrown grass, a quiet, bored sigh floating from her chest into the noon air. She could have spent the rest of her life there, relaxing - but it couldn't be that way. She, like the rest, needed more than that. As much as she would have loved it if that's all she had to do, survival was made up of more than that - should she want to live, there were daily tasks she couldn't overlook. Life was tiring, specially when you walked as lonesome a path as she did. After being placed in the confines of the dome city, she hadn't bothered making friends. Enemies, of course, had come her way freely - but they never lasted, as she wasn't much of a threat to anyone. Just another person living out the rest of their life there.

She narrowed her eyes briefly as the thoughts whirled through her head, almost as if they wanted to create some sort of depressive storm. Then, in the middle of her separate reality of confusion, came something to pull her senses back to Earth. A voice - but it wasn't just a voice coming from some person in the distance. Somewhere in her daze, the person had sat next to her. But as she turned her piercing, amber eyes to glance next to her, it was like someone shot off a bullet and sent it whirling millimeters from her face.
The colors registered in her mind first - neon green, purple, red, orange, and a few more, then came the dreads.. but horns?
She could have confused him for some very creative person with a lot of hair-dye and paint, but the horns and the eyes were certainly not fake.
He - it - was not a shifter, or a retro or some kind of mutant. It was blatantly a virus. She hadn't had the 'pleasure' of meeting one in her short, two months in the enclosure, but the tables had turned, apparently.
While her heart started racing, going at the same pace her shift's heart would beat at, she remained calm. Her eyes had widened briefly, sure, but she regained her composure, even as her instincts screamed at her to fly. He'd greeted her and taken the time to sit down rather than outright infecting her - surely there was something else he wanted, other than ruining her life further. Either that, or he was one of the sadistic ones - but she'd take her chances.

"Hey," she responded, her tone soft at first. It took nearly every bone in her body to summon up the courage she usually carried with her - but it all became easier when she started thinking. Sometimes, the brightest animals in the wild were just skilled cons - they tricked you into believing they were poisonous. Maybe he was something simple, like the cold virus. At that realization, her personality seemed to come seeping back out of the shell she'd instantly jumped into.

"Pretty good, other than being stuck in a giant, dry fishbowl. And you?" she asked, letting an unfazed smile take hold of her expressions.

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[Erebus Nyx]

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[atrb=background,http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/tamaspet/nyxtable2.png] Nyx watched his prey carefully as she finally recognized his presence. He could see her muscles tense beneath her smooth, tanned skin, his wolf-like white eyes taking in every delicious movement. He could her hear heartbeat race out of control, and his mouth watered with corrosive green acid. But something essential was missing; he could feel the waves of fear rolling off of her and crashing into him… but she was acting as if nothing was wrong! As if she didn’t see his mutated appearance ( though he did think himself quite the looker, for a monster at least). Maybe she was blind, then? But one look into her amber eyes told him that she saw him perfectly clear. He could see the fear there too, and a hint of something like defiance. She wanted to be brave then, did she? Well, Nyx had no intention of letting that happen. He enjoyed the chase, the fear, the screams that came before the silence. “Oh, I’m fine,” He purred smoothly, his eyes never leaving hers for a moment. “Better now that I’m here with you,” Nyx added, raising a hand and extending a long, black catlike claw that tapered to a dangerously sharp point. He grinned a fanged smile, and reached over to gently stroke Vanessa’s cheek, before dragging his clawed finger down her face, leaving a small red line and only a droplet of blood. It was enough, he hoped, to at least increase her discomfort. He was a virus, after all, and though he hadn’t made any moves to infect her yet, Nyx wanted to make sure she knew how easy it would be for him to change that. He was beginning to think that these humans were perhaps a little more interesting than he’d previously given them credit for. Not all of them were; his usual victims bored him at this point. They always begged for him to allow them to live, even trying to bargain with him for their lives. Didn’t they all know by now that there was no bargaining with something that wanted nothing else to destroy them? There was no making deals with the viruses. This particular shifter girl, though, was different. She was scared, he knew, but somehow she was refusing to give him the satisfaction he so craved. Nyx was so frustrated… yet intrigued. Still, this would be going nowhere if he didn’t up the ante a little bit. He wanted to see how she would respond to true fear, the fear that Nyx could inflict when he shifted into his monstrous shift form. He quickly stood up and took a couple steps away from her, a sickly grin still plastered on his face. “Our time together has been short, my dear, but enjoyable nonetheless,” He began, and then shifted into a creature of the keepers’ creation. He was as tall as a horse, and the vibrant colors of his hair in human form, with dripping fangs and his same wolfish eyes, still trained on Vanessa. “But unfortunately, I think it’s time we finish this.” And with that, Nyx swatted a massive paw at the bench, the fragile old leg giving out from under it. This was about to get gooood.

[Vanessa Ryder]

Vanessa watched him casually, relaxing her posture and leaning against the back of the bench. His comments were entertaining – apparently, he was one of the sly, sadistic ones that could lure you in with their malicious charm. Still, he was a virus, and so she treated him like any other hazard – with calmness.
Well, as much calmness as she could gather up as he inflicted a small scratch on her face. What was that? Rather than fear, fury trickled into her eyes – aimed at both of them. Why hadn’t she pulled away? She was too caught up in her own web of ‘calmness’ to let adrenaline and instincts tug her away – she was being too brave to flinch away from his touch.
Stupid move, she thought to herself. Her heartbeat was starting to get weird – it slowed down as she tried to calm herself, then sped up after the scratch and then slowed down again after the initial shock wore off. She almost wanted to make it stop altogether just to see what would happen – but she knew better than that. Rather than being frustrated at herself, another thought slowly seeped into her mind, and she raised a hand to wipe her cheek – blood, her blood. Her expressions twitched slightly, almost as if they wanted to snarl. Had he infected her? What the hell .. was he? She could only hope that she’d been right on her first guess, and that he was nothing more than a cold virus.
“So, Mr. Charming, what kind of virus are you?” she questioned, arching an eyebrow before wiping the drop of blood off on her jeans. She honestly didn’t know what she was doing just sitting there, when her instincts screamed at her to run away. The time she’d spent in high school and the months training for the air force seemed to whisper from the back of her mind, echoing out forgotten lessons. To show fear was to show weakness. Still, she would happily show annoyance.
“Did you just infect me?” she asked, unable to shroud the ardent glare in her eyes.
However, as much as she would have loved to sit there and act both angry and unfazed by him and his bright, deadly colors, he seemed to have quickly gotten over the allure of first impressions and interactions. Apparently, even viruses fit into the gender roles – men, always so quick to jump through the bases! She couldn’t help but smirk at the brief little mental insult, but she couldn’t sit there for long.
His shift form was huge – about the size of a horse. She was no match for whatever ‘little’ experiment the Keepers had created his shift to be – and her shift form could probably only scare his fleas, if he had any.
But that wasn’t going to stop her. As his paw lashed out and struck out one of the bench’s legs, she let herself fall with it, shifting before she hit the ground. And then she was off. She gained altitude quickly, the sun reflecting off of her bright colors as she spiraled up and away. After gaining a decent distance between her and the ground, she flipped around daringly, gliding over him at a safe enough distance. Sure, he could jump and try to swat her out of the air – but she could fly. She almost thanked the fact that he, unlike some of the viruses some others whispered about, didn’t have wings. Huge beast – no wings. Scary as hell with a small disability, at least when up against someone like her. Her eyes sparkled with mischief as she swooped down towards him, coming back up quickly before she got close enough for him to rip her down.
“Darling, some girls aren’t so easy,” she taunted, giving a few soft chirps as she circled him overhead, partially admiring his colors. The fear she’d had before had been thoroughly replaced – she felt almost like a kid again, teasing somebody when they couldn’t do a thing. Now, had she been on the ground at the moment, she would have been scared half to death – but she wasn’t, and she wasn’t one to linger on the ‘what if’s.

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[Erebus Nyx]

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[atrb=background,http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/tamaspet/nyxtable2.png] The beast let out a deep, mangled chuckle, a niose distorted by the unnatural shape and size of his shift form. So, he’d scared her at least a small bit. Even if he couldn’t see it, Nyx was beginning to sense it. Though still, he was baffled as to why she wasn’t running. They all ran! This one was very different indeed, and Nyx promised himself that he would take his time with her, taking in every little emotion that flashed across her face before she died. A twisted, toothy grin spread across his muzzle as he watched her try to nonchalantly wipe the blood from her face. ’So, Mr. Charming, what kind of virus are you?’ Nyx let out a small growl, as if to say ‘How dare you not know who I am!’ “Oh, sugar, haven’t you heard of me?” He questioned, also making a mental note to let a couple of victims escape infected but alive in the future. Those shifters would never recognize him if he continued killing them straight off like this, and he wanted to see the fear in their eyes when he approached them. “I’m ebola, baby,” He purred, flexing his deadly claws so that they dug into the earth. “And no, I haven’t infected you. Not yet, anyways!” The bench leg, having crumbled under the strength of his strike, made the bench lurch forward, and the girl along with it. He watched excitedly as his prey tumbled towards him, jaws parting and fangs dripping with acidic saliva. And then suddenly, she disappeared! Nyx jumped back, eyes wide, frantically looking for his missing victim. A flurry of bright colors in the corner of his vision caught his attention, and he turned to see Vanessa as a tiny bird, flapping her little wings to fly out of his reach. He let out an enraged snarl, his former amusement with her daring nature completely vanishing. Yes, she was different, and now he knew that he didn’t like it. “Get down here!” He roared, and right on cue, the little bird mockingly swooped down at him. Nyx swatted at the air, but she was out of his reach again before he knew it. Damn, she was fast! Nyx paced back and forth below her, pondering what he should do. His face was creased with lines of rage, and the longer he paced, the more his anger faded into something like… fear? She was the unknown, and he’d heard that people were scared of the unknown. But he was a virus! He wasn’t allowed to be afraid, was he? ….But why wasn’t she running? How dare she mock him!? The truth was, that Nyx had no idea what to do! He’d never faced an opponent like this before. “Why…Why don’t you run from me, girl?! Are you already diseased?!” He roared, shifting back into his humanoid form. This shifter woman would be the death of him!

[Vanessa Ryder]

She smirked slightly at his obvious anger – it must have been quite a blow to the ego for a virus like him to realize he was unheard of. However, as smug as she wanted to seem, when that word slipped through his lips, she felt her heart give out if only momentarily. The usually speedy heartbeat of her shift stood absolutely still, almost frozen in time.
Ebola.
She was no stranger to that term – it was a fatal disease, was it not? Known for making blood seep out from every possible orifice, it wasn’t for the faint of heart. Did it even have a cure? That didn’t matter – they were in the Menagerie, no such thing as a scientific ‘cure’ existed underneath the dome’s glass walls. And so, with a distant flicker in her eyes as the little light turned back on, her devilish antics returned with a vengeance.
She had absolutely no room for error. There could be no mistake; he could not touch her.. That previous incident with the claws on her cheek could have been more deadly than the simple, teasing event it’d turned out to be.
“Well, aren’t you quite a catch,” she chimed, tilting her head as she circled above him. “Just when I’m getting used to the weak little viruses here, out comes Ebola to blow them out of the water.” The sarcasm in her voice was like venom, but still, her words rang true. She hadn’t really seen the power of some of the other viruses, but this one was no joke, and she wouldn’t treat him like one .. well she would, as she did to all things – but her mind would play it safe, for the most part.

“Make me!” she chirped, her cheeky comments being accompanied by another daring swoop and rapid increase in altitude. She didn’t want to risk getting caught in the hands of this creep. Even in his normal form rather than his large, monstrous shift, she watched him with the eyes of a hunter. Remnants of her ignorant, almost fearless adolescence shimmered through in her comments, but it was easy to see that she was going to be on her guard from now on. She didn’t run, but she wasn’t going to make it easy for him to swipe her out of the sky and into her deathbed.

“No, I’m quite healthy, I believe.” she answered, swooping down to the nearest object – an old street light that still stood next to the bench. Even though it’d probably been without electricity for a few years, its metal structure survived the weather, proving itself sturdy enough for her to try landing on. Her talons clasped the decorative rim on the top of the light bulb’s casing and she turned around, looking at him almost expectantly.
“I’m just, eh, how do you say..” she said, bringing out a bit of her Spanish accent as she turned to look at him, “not amused?”

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