Paradox Chapter One: The More Things Change...

[Toastburner B]

I'm possessed by the old creature
Who had planned all
To take my soul
Too late for me
-Black Chamber by Blind Guardian


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For the first time in over a week, Isaac Knowlton breathed air that didn’t smell of disinfectant and the other things that give hospitals their own, unique smell.

Isaac took a deep breath, forcing himself not to think about the fact that last time he had had a breath of fresh air was before the change.

Pain, the likes of which he had never felt before. Worse than when that mastiff had almost taken his hand off. Worst than when he had been forced to endure having rabies vaccine injected into his abdomen for almost two week as an emergency measure. It was as though every muscle in his body seized into cramps. As he collapsed to the floor, the impossible happened: the pain got worse.

A car honked twice, pulling him from his memories. Ashley Hayes, his old childhood friend, pulled up, and waved for him to get in.

Despite having lived here his entire life, Ashley was one of the few people he knew who still lived in the city. Hampington was unique in this day and age: a city, not a big city, but home to a few hundred thousand none the less, that was relatively isolated. No airport, only one interstate highway, and the nearest city, Voorhesburg, was a good four hours away. That isolation, combined with the closing of several mills and factories that were the lifeblood of the city, had lead most people Isaac knew, including his family, to move away.

Isaac climbed into the car, throwing the small gym bag of clothing that was brought to him in the back seat. “Are you okay?” Ashley asked, a concerned look on her face, “You look like you haven’t eaten in days.”

As bad as the pain was, the way it felt like his bones were rearranging themselves, and that his muscles were growing at an obscene rate, it quickly became overpowered by something else: hunger. Hunger like he hadn’t eaten a day in his life. The sound of the barking and whining dogs filled his ears. His hand…at least, it used to be his hand…gripped the chain-link door of the nearest kennel, and with a tug, he pulled it clean off. Before the dog inside the cage could react, Isaac had grasped the poor things head and snapped the neck. Then he-

“Well, you know hospital food,” Isaac said, trying to force the memory from his mind. For the first few days in the hospital, as his wounds healed and his mind pulled itself together, Isaac was convinced that his memories of the events that happened has just been a dream.

Then the hunger came back.

It wasn’t as overwhelming as it had been the first time he had felt it. It was barely noticeable at first, but now it was always there, like a cut on your finger that you forgot about until you applied pressure to it. The hunger was always there, but Isaac kept it in check most of the time.

Isaac fought the temptation to shake his head to try to clear his thoughts. Ashley was already worried about him, and shaking his head at nothing wouldn’t help anything. “Thanks for giving me a ride home,” he said, hastily changing the subject. “I’m know you’re probably real busy in all, with the new exhibit opening at the museum and such.”

She snorted. “Yeah, the first time in five years someone decided to display something at there.” She said. “You wouldn’t think so many people could resist the prestige of displaying their collection at the Hampington Museum of History.”

Isaac chuckled at the old joke. Ashley was a history major at the local college, and had landed a job at the Hampington History Museum. However, given the isolation of the city, the museum didn’t draw a lot of attention, and as such, when someone decided to show their collection there, it had caused quite a stir in the city.

The animals go crazy as he fed on the dog, and the next one, and the next. At the far end of the kennel, a door opens. “Isaac, what’s going on in here?” Steven Holt, Isaac’s co-worked, called out. The sound draws the attention of the thing, and it leaves its latest meal to investigate. Steven screams, and runs. The creature is on him in seconds, and doesn’t treat the dying man any differently than it did the dogs…

“Isaac? Isaac, you okay?” Ashley asked, her voice full of concern. Isaac takes a deep breath, and pulls himself together. The hunger is beating at his mind, but Isaac pushes it back. “I’m good,” he said, “The doctor said I’d get lightheaded once in a while. Side effect from the shock or something. I’m good.”

Isaac knew he didn’t fool her in the least. They had been friends for far too long to be able to get a lie past one another. Her doubtful gaze lingered on him for a few more seconds but, much to Isaac’s relief, she didn’t call his bluff.

“I still say you need to eat something,” she said.

Isaac sighed, trying to force the last vestiges of the unwanted memory from his head. “How ‘bout a salad bar?”


((OOC: Alright, here we go. I tried to throw in some city description in there: Hampington has a population of about 300,000, so it’s a city, but not a huge one. It’s relatively isolated, but it has everything a city should have. I won’t go into detail on it, so you guys can make it up as it goes along.

At this point, you should be in control of yourselves, but the hunger is now noticeable at any given point of the day. You are unlikely to transform against your will at this point, but the desire to turn and feed is very much present.

Go ahead and just do as you please for a bit. I’ll start to throw out plot hooks later.))

[Overcast]

Current time.
Riley stared down at the corpse in the alleyway, the view from under his hood stoic as it scanned over the body, cigarette hanging loosely from his lip. He took an absent puff, there was no blood. When he came back there was never much left of the bodily fluids, only the remaining flesh. It was a bit unnerving.

The body was covered in holes around the chest, and some truly bruised marks like a bad entry was on the neck. The whole body was an odd shade of blue. He remembered the first time he'd given in this had upset him, mostly because of who he had taken out more than the fact that he had.

He bent over and began to search the pockets before pulling up the pants. He had stooped to quite a few lows to get his fix, one of which he had just been trying to pull, but he'd never done murder. Not before that day. It had always seemed like you'd make too many enemies that way, stop too many supplies. It was greedy, and while he was desperate he was still smart. It wasn't smart to kill people.

But you could make a buck off it if you found the time to look.

It was something he was getting used to, but for now it just brought him back to the first time.

One Month Ago
The place was a shithole, inhabited by a bastard trying to sell the suckers a smile, and he called himself Kimo but Riley was pretty sure that wasn't his real name. He'd dealt around these parts often enough to feel confident in the chokehold he had on his dependents, and Riley was just another little bastard feening for a fix.

Trouble was Riley hadn't gotten enough this week, he wasn't pretty enough to screw, not pitiful enough to donate to, not human enough to work. He was loitering today, trying to get some small flick from any of the other junkies that dotted the hallways.

Kimo didn't like loitering, if you wanted to stand by you better have brought spending money. He walked up on Ri, and started pushing him around. Get a dollar or two for living expenses. Or some other bullshit excuse, honestly Riley couldn't remember. What he did remember was the withdrawl, the need, and the hunger.

That hunger, it was twisted, he had thought it was just feeling catching up with him again being too long sober. He could have never guessed what it must have meant. And one hard push had his head smacking into the wall, and he started to change.

There were no survivors.

In the aftermath Ri wasn't sure what to believe. Faint visions had dotted his mind, but he couldn't make them out. He'd figured some guy with a chip on his shoulder had run a train through the place. That he had gotten lucky with his head wound and already looked dead enough not to kill. What this wouldn't save him from was blame, so he ran.

Hard with all those drugs still behind.

All he could think was how he had lost his connection, he couldn't understand the severity of what had gone down. Course even when he did it wouldn't hurt him very much.

He wasn't much for sympathy after all.

Current time.
It had taken a few times for him to get what he was, and even with the basic gist he had no idea what the hell that actually meant. What he knew was it was just a new addiction, something else to feed. So people would have to die. That was fine. As long as he got his fix.

That was all that ever mattered.

[Aerozord]

The entire school was in mourning after the assumed death of one of their classmates. Only his isolation kept people from noticing how hard the normally detached Eibon was taking it suprisingly hard. It wasn't from sense of loss, it was because every time he closed his eyes he saw her death. Saw her flee and hide as the figure stalked her. Saw as it melted into the ground and slipped right into the room she was hiding in.

No, it was more then just seeing. He remembers the feel of grasping, not her neck, no it was, silhouette of one and the odd caress as she clawed at the hand that wasn't there. As well as the feel of power and control, the rush of having power and anticipation of satisfying the hunger.

A shutter came over him, one of ecstasy and terror as he remembered the sensation. Perhaps a shred of mercy was still in the creature as its form stretched, no it flowed into a set of large jaws that clamped down on her shadows head. The sound was the worst part, as bone and flesh and grey matter were pulped. For a second out of the corner of his eye he could see it just before the shadows engulfed it, and with a gulp flowed into nothing. The body went limp, dead.

He wished that was the end of the memory, though it was made worse as he got a better view of the carnage. The creature... he, continued feeding on the shadow, its physical analog being torn and cut as if forced to allow the visible shadow to exist. Eibon's memory filled with gruesome detail, the gore unobstructed by tangible claws and teeth.

What remained was only a puddle of blood that escaped his notice. The only proof the girl was dead, the only proof he wasn't insane, worst of all the only proof he was her killer.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

It was dark in the apartment. Dark and quiet, except for the vague sounds of traffic and human life emanating from the street outside. The curtains were drawn, James hadn't thought it necessary, or even safe, to open them in the last few days. If it happened again, if he... changed, the last thing he needed was somebody across from him seeing... it. And now he was thinking about it again, same as he had since he'd confined himself to this room three days ago, the thoughts of that night running back through his head as he sat in this chair, unmoving, for days on end. The memories were mercifully fragmented, but what glimpses of that night that did come to him were horrifying in the extreme. The uncontrolled actions of his own body, transformed into some hungry beast, hunting through the dead of night... the scent of blood and flesh on the air...

Worse yet were the emotions he remembered feeling, or rather, the one emotion that had overidden all of his others; rage. Uncontrollable, unending, primal rage, beyond mere words. It made him feel sick. How could such a being have so much anger, hatred, how could that creature be inside him?! He raised a hand to his forehead, rubbing at the twin marks on his skin where massive bony protrusions had erupted, forcing their way out of his head to form horns. Of all of his memories, the transformation still remained the most clear. Agony unlike anything he could have imagined, his bones breaking and restructuring. He remembered the sounds of them snapping, of his flesh tearing open, a slurping, popping sound as his muscles bulged and grew.

He removed his hand from his head and stared at it, clenching and unclenching his fist as he tried to work the feeling back in, it still felt like he only had three fingers, the other two having melted away that night, the remainders forming into huge claws. He shifted a little in his seat, leaning forwards to take the pressure off his back, which was still red, the skin now beggining to flake away as if he'd been seriously sunburnt. He could still feel the fire that had erupted there at the end of his transformation, hot, raging and unending like the monsters anger.

The idea that that thing was still inside him was terrifying. The thought of what it might do if it escaped again. The horror of going through that pain once more...

James put his head into his hands and let out a deep sigh, as he tried to push the memories from his head, but mo matter how long he sat there, the memories remained with him...

[Girasol of Chaos]

Beatrice awoke to another sharp pain. Sleep was difficult now, when she had to choose between rest and finding fresh meat, and rest often resulted in her stomach protesting. With a shiver, she curled tighter into a ball, not yet wanting to leave the warm pocket she created in this torn place.

She had taken up to squatting in a small house near the edge of the city. The place was long abandoned and was in shambles; the roof leaking in various areas when the weather was less than favorable. Most windows were boarded up to hide the damage everywhere from neglect, and the place provided poor shelter save for the basement.

In short, it was perfect.

Her 'bed' was a collection of pillows she had been stealing, topped with blankets from the same source. As she lay on this pile, her stomach rumbled again. Ah, she would need to transform again, wouldn't she? The hunger was persistent and seemingly impossible to fight. She would need to face the pain again and feed. With time, hunger would come again, renewing the cycle. When had her existence turned so animalistic?

Beatrice would have enjoyed the hunger, the hunt, had her transformation not been so utterly painful each time. She could feel her muscles ripping apart and reforming, the grind of her moving skeletal structure drowned out by her screams of agony. The pain was blinding, enough for her vision to warp and never quite return until she was sated. Or...was that simply a side effect, she wondered.

But the reward, if she lasted through the pain, was a fantastic experience. Broken glass and metallic reflections had revealed this...beast that she became to her mind. It was a much more lithe form, a more perfect creature. Never had she moved so quickly, had she sliced through the air with such perfection. Predatory instincts had taken over, felt sharp and better than any rush of adrenaline. Nothing else could compare. She was utterly surrounded by food. Food that she could play with before devouring.

The screams of her lab mates became a melody, their blood a more exquisite meal than anything she could imagine. A few had attempted to escape, and she was upon them in seconds. One managed to smack her with a bar of sorts, and her newfound reflexes responded with a plume of smoke-no, poison, from her sides. Never had she felt so invincible. Only after she had eviscerated everyone in the room and feasted on their remains did the pain fully catch up to her. Overwhelmed, she passed out.

Initially when she woke, she repressed the memories and fled. It was impossible, that wasn't her. She had some sort of nightmare, and the comfort of a shower and her own bed at the dorms would return everything to normal. How wrong had she been.

The burning tears, the crushing force upon her body returned when she woke, and she ripped into the bedsheets, the pillows, whimpering. Her roommate had woken up, but before the girl could comprehend what was happening, the monster attacked. The pain could only be drowned out by the delicious flesh she had provided. Crazed with the metallic taste, the monster-no, Beatrice, continued to the connecting rooms, slaughtering the entire section in the dead of night. She fled the scene again, this time to prowl the outer reaches of the city, far away from her beloved campus and peers.

Memories were interrupted, she could not wait much longer. Beatrice had hoped she could wait until dusk and hunt at night. That's when monsters were supposed to hunt right? When in fantastical worlds, the dragons and demons would descend upon the hapless townsfolk. Dread and excitement filled her, she hadn't fed in a couple of days on more than raw meat from the store. It was not enough to sate her, and she knew she would need to submit soon. Her body would scream, and her predatory instincts would soon emerge.

Still covered in a filthy labcoat, the young woman crawled out of the basement, carefully dodging the spiderwebs she shared a home with. While she was still able, she would find somewhere more populated and transform in hiding-perhaps an alley?

The creature she would become would be more than able to find it's way back here-home. The trick was to not get caught. She slipped from a few loose boards covering a window and made her way down the street towards downtown.

[Astral Harmony]

Kaitlyn Wales' vision swam. Her ears detected the faint crunch of fallen leaves and the peaceful whispers of the wind. But no animals.

I must have scared them all away. If only I had the option of running away like they could.

It wasn't until she found her minivan and extended her right, naked human arm to the back door that she realized that she was truely human again. Then, a suddenly revulsion overcame her. Lurching forward, Kaitlyn vomited onto the ground, though all of it didn't make it there. With eyes darting out of control, Kaitlyn brought her left arm into view. Some of her puke had splashed into her left hand.

The blood wasn't so startling. She wasn't that squeemish. Instead, it was something else that caused Kaitlyn to cry out in a pitiful wail and shake her arm violently.

My god, it's one of his eyeballs...

Unlike her boyfriend Jeffery Woods, this time she attacked and devoured a complete stranger. She couldn't recall much. His clothing suggested that he was out hunting for deer or something. But then he must have seen her and decided to hunt for an entirely different kind of prey.

He was going to rape me. He was going to rape me and I killed him...

Threatening her with his rifle, the hunter demanded that she remove all of her clothes. Kaitlyn complied, and then seeing that his victim had no means of resisting him, the hunter ditched his rifle and pounced on her. Kaitlyn struggled, and despite the fact that she kept physically fit, he was just too heavy and powerful for her.

Everything was a blur when she felt that she was about to be deflowered. First off, the agony. A surge of power allowed her to throw him off of her body as she quickly stood up, then fell to her knees as her body surrendered to its most basest urge.

Consume...

The greatest pain came from when her jaw was literally torn away from her skull and her mouth grew larger...and larger...and larger. Compared to that pain followed by the sharp cutting jolts as the massive swordlike teeth violently protruded outward, her arms and legs exploding into mounds of thick muscle and bone weren't nearly as bad. Kaitlyn wanted to scream, but her mutating body turned her cry for help into a deep, guttural moan.

The hunter, needless to say, freaked. But unlike her boyfriend, he wasn't paralyzed with fear. He quickly retrieved his rifle and fired, but was too panicked with terror to aim properly. He fired off two shots, one a near miss and the other deflecting off of one of Mawface's immense teeth before she had him.

The hunter had a split second to scream before Mawface's teeth came down on him. One fang split his head down the middle. Two sliced into his shoulders and cut clean through his clavicles. Two more teeth entered above the hips and butchered his intestines, liver, and other-

Tasty...

Entrails. And the sixth tooth came up from underneath and shattered his pelvis. And she sucked his convulsing body into her maw with a greedy inhalation.

Kaitlyn's memories were hazy after that. She just started walking, barely sparing enough time to gather her clothes without even bothering to put them back on as she stumbled back to her minivan, unsure of how she managed to walk in the right direction.

Head clearing, she looked around and found that she dropped her clothing about ten feet away. She got dressed without trying to rub the blood on her left arm onto her clothes (blood made people curious) and fished into her pockets for her keys. Back inside the van, she took a water bottle and cleaned her arm off, then prepared to be on her way.

But...

Kaitlyn turned around and found the eyeball she just regurgitated. It stared back at her exactly as it had during the instant before she killed the one it belonged to. Kaitlyn wasn't sure what to feel. The man had tried to rape her, but no human deserves to die like that, as a feast to a horrible nightmare.

"I gotta get the fuck out of here," Kaitlyn said finally, and meant it. She pulled herself up into the driver's seat and keyed on the ignition. This only served to further steel her resolve to find out just the hell was going on with her own body. If she didn't have answers, there would only be more victims.

Kaitlyn's minivan cruised down the road, its soul occupant barely noticing the sign that simply read "Hamington 15". To her, this city was simply another stopping point on the way to the truth.

[lazy man]

Eight Days Ago

The scene was a strange one. Power had gone out in several large buildings on multiple blocks, in what could only be deduced to have been a massive power surge large enough to fry all of the internal components of the local transformers. Strange considering the day had been bright and sunny at the time and an electrical technician from Hampington Power had been called in to work on a small issue.

That technician, one Ryan Sorenson, was also a mystery. He was found several blocks away, naked and covered in blood and strange wounds. And nearby him were the remains of what could only be assumed to have been a human. Whatever the coroners could get their hands on had suffered severe electrical burns and showed signs of having been devoured by some sort of huge beast.

Just what had eaten that poor soul? And how had Sorenson survived this run-in with something that huge?

The Present

Ryan stared blankly at his computer monitor, cursor blinking aimlessly as he zoned out for what felt like the millionth time that day. He had gotten out of the hospital two days ago and had just gotten back to work today.

But he couldn't work. His mind kept drifting back to what had happened...

Pain ripping right into his stomach, starting off as a small bubbling hunger and suddenly exploding into full on numbing pain. And then he felt electricity surge through him unlike anything he'd ever felt. A surge powerful enough to bring him to his knees.

Trying to scream only made things worse as his body began to elongate, muscles growing and limbs bending and popping as his body went into a dog-like position. And along with that, he could feel his face stretch, his skull erupting outward. Two large horns coming from the top of his skull as his lower jaw went even further than his upper jaw, forming a huge, dragon-like maw.

At the same time as all of this, a tail stretched out of his spine as his body painfully segmented itself into scales and spikes, and his back gaining fur and long, wiry spines along with that.

Electricity pulsed and glowed, arcing between the new spines and scales along the back of Ryan's new form... and he let out a loud, distorted roar.

And then, screaming... a chase, no, a HUNT... an electrocuted gurgle... the tearing of flesh, the crunch of bone...

"--an. RYAN!!" Ryan snapped out of his funk and looked up at the face of his boss. "Are you sure you're ready to work so soon?"

"...yeah. Yeah, I'll be fine. I just..."

"Just what? You look like shit and like you haven't slept in weeks. I'd prefer you to be at your best in case something comes up. C'mon, you can't even send out an email saying you're back!"

"I..." Ryan couldn't find the words. He was determined to work, but his boss was right. He hadn't slept in days. And the hunger... Putting on a fake smile, he looked back up at the rather imposing man. "Alright, you got me, I'll go home. I'll just get some food and sleep. The hospital felt like crap anyway."

"Good. Just make sure you get some sleep kid," his boss ordered with a clap on the shoulder.

An hour later, Ryan was pulling back into the garage for his apartment building. He had never felt worse in his life. And he was so hungry.

[batgirl]

Amanda winced as the sun hit her face for the first time in days. She walked slowly out of the hospital, a patient and not a savior, her arm in a sling and her stomach rumbling.

No...I'm not...I help people!

14 Days Ago

"Damnit Ron! I said lights and sirens, not hugs and kisses! Drive the damn truck, she's crapping out!

Amanda screamed at her new partner as she clenched an unopened needle in her teeth and tying off the tourniquet on the elderly woman's arm. The truck wailed in response to her yell, zooming down the road as Amanda thanked whoever was up there that at least Ron wasn't entirely useless. He had been grating her nerves all day, and she was done with him. They had been running around the city on calls, no time for lunch, and Ron was bitching. "You're in the wrong line of work if you think we get a nice sit down lunch," she said, half sympathetic. She had forgotten her lunch this morning and her stomach had been rumbling all day. When the 63 signal came for a cardiac call, she mentally cursed Ron as he began a tirade of how it seemed like they were the only truck on the road.

She found a vein and spat the cover of the needle out. Before she could wipe the arm and jab it in, her vision blurred for a moment. Blinking, she forced the rumbling of her stomach out of her mind and let the needle sink home. "I got a line! Keep going, I'm giving Vaso and Epi!" She began the task of drawing up the drugs while the EMTs who were in back with her continued their dutiful task of hard and fast CPR. Glancing at the cardiac monitor, Amanda smiled ruefully at the flat line. "We'll get you back..." Her hands began to shake as she tried to insert the needle into the iv tubing. Her arms and legs began to tingle, and she could swear her back itched. Ron screamed something at her from the front, but she just turned her face the the front, seeing her eyes turn red in the rear view mirror.

Pain wracked her body and she screamed as she felt herself grow taller. Something painfully erupted from her back as a newfound power surged through her. Along with the power was an insatiable hunger. She looked down at the dead woman, the helpless EMTs, and then at the front of the ambulance. Shut...up...Ron! She lunged.

As the new crew of EMTs pulled her tattered, bloody and broken body from the flaming crashed ambulance, she could only cry as she realized that she had cost 4 people their lives, but silently breathed a sigh of relief as the ambulance went up in scorching flames, the evidence buried with it.

[Overcast]

Step, step, step...

Riley could say he was a hedonist, that he didn't resist his desires to have what he wanted at any given time, but there was a time and place for everything. A part of him wanted to shoot up every waking moment of the day, but you couldn't. You needed money and privacy or at the very least complacency. You needed to pick your times and places so that when you did what you had to do you didn't wake up in a cell.

Fiend did not understand this.

Step, step, step...

Riley let the word repeat in his head to throw off the feelings of need. An old habit, to concentrate on the most mundane of details to overcome the distractions of everything. In the back of his head Fiend was gnawing at his skin, telling him to feed. Hunger, even after his last meal, was itching his nerves like bugs crawling through his veins. He grit his teeth and tried to keep thinking.

Step, step, step...

He pulled a drag from his cigarette, he called Fiend a separate entity. But he wasn't so. He was him, but another facet. Just like the part of him that wanted to fuck, to dope, to live. Primal thoughts that he couldn't control with his higher brain. Only this part wanted to kill, to consume. Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't, but even if you do sometimes folks won't let you have it. Now was not the time. The town wasn't big, but any downtown of any city usually had enough people to call the police on you when they saw you puking up what was left of your life in the gutter.

They'd certainly do the same if he started impaling people with syringes.

Step, step, step...

He bit the cigarette harshly. The desire was getting worse. The feeling wouldn't shut the hell up. He started just seeing everyone around him not as the liability that he'd made before, but meat. Big masses of nutrients for him to take. And all he needed to do was give in, just give in...

sssssssssssssssssssssssss...

His eyes cringed at the feeling as he pushed the cigarette into his hand the skin burning from the heat. One or two people gave him an odd look but they couldn't call the police for him being a little weird, he'd have to be extremely so for that to happen. Just like they couldn't call for him looking like a junkie, just if he did something junkieish.

Being Fiend felt good, but there was a time and place, and it would learn this in time. Riley wasn't weak, he'd had to fight withdraws without killing anybody, the monster wasn't coming out until he was damn well ready. But you could rest assured.

Somebody was going to die tonight.

[Teal Mage]

Black hair flowed around Asher's pale face, as he stepped to the side and brought his right hand up, blocking the strike from the dirty-blond haired woman across from him. Flecks of pale cherry light seemed to spill into the air, as the dark haired man spun around the woman's arm, evading a left handed blow. His own arm lashed out toward the blond's neck.

The woman danced away, brown-gold hair flowing in her wake. Asher did the same, loose black exercise clothes swirling around his body. Spaced widely around the duo, several other pairs traded blows, standing on top of bright blue padded mats. They were in one of city's comparatively few community gyms - as the brightly colored geometric lines on the polished hardwood floor might have suggested.

Clad in a loose white muscle shirt and black pair of wind-proof track pants, Asher fell into a defensive stance, green eyes settling on his opponent. Cherry colored flecks of light passed unnoticed by his face. His partner, a woman with muted brown-blond hair tied back in a pony tail, was dressed in a black tee-shirt and dark blue track pants. She fell into a similar stance, green eyes narrowing.

Without warning, the woman sprang forward. She led with an elbow strike - which Asher caught in his palm - followed by a blisteringly quick spin kick, which caught the dark haired man in the side. Letting out a grunt of pain, Asher was knocked to the side, landing heavily on the mat and sliding a few inches away. He lay still a moment, waiting for the room to stop spinning.

"Ow." He finally breathed, before propping himself up on his elbows.

The woman was in front of him, she had a funny look on her face. Eventually, when neither spoke, she sighed. "Kay," She crouched in a smooth motion, before offering him her hand, "what's the matter kid?"

Asher took it silently, his pale skin contrasting sharply with the woman's suntanned one sharply. She hauled him up, the muscles in her arm defining themselves sharply by the motion. Asher dusted himself off, before offering a bright smile. "Nothing." Bright flecks of cherry-red light floated in front of him.

"Yeah-huh." The woman crossed her arms, clearly unamused, "And you zoned out just now why...?" Her eyes were flat.

"Well, uh," Asher rubbed the back of his neck, looking sheepish. "I was kinda hungry, that's all."

His partner breathed a sigh, planting her hands on her hips. "Well that's a relief, I was getting worried about your eating lately." She nodded, reaching out to pat his shoulder companionably, "We'll pick up some pizza on the way home, you alright with that?"

"Sure." Asher shrugged, "Beats -"

At the woman's waist, a beeper went off. She muttered a curse, before picking the small device up and examining it. Another, more vicious, oath escaped her lips. She sighed again, "Work, sorry Ash, we'll need to raincheck that dinner." She gestured over to their bags - which were against one of the gym's walls.

"Another murder you think?" Asher asked, tone conversational.

She snorted a laugh. "Probably. Nothing but bad news lately." The woman knelt at the bags, rummaging around inside her own. She withdrew her wallet, fished out a a twenty, then a ten and finally, offered them to Asher. "Get something for yourself, you haven't been eating right lately, and if mom and dad find out I let you faint at home alone, I'll be the next corpse that turns up." She paused, then added another ten from her wallet, "Pick something up for me too, actually. A small...I dunno, Hawaiian?"

Asher nodded, "Kay." A slim black phone was already by his ear. "I'll see you at home." He paused, "Hello? Yeah, I'd like to place an order..."