Enigmatic shadows [OPEN]

[howisaraven]

Who: Enigma and OPEN
Where: somewhere on Dai Li, trying to find a replacement staff
When: Sunday afternoon

They had given him some tests. They said he could control fire. He wanted nothing of it. He had enough of magic already with the entire Trinity ordeal. He just wanted to resort to his technology and nothing more. To fix things. To finally be happy with his daughter.

And yet he was here somehow. They were telling him things he didn't believe. He'd been mistaken for other people before, often purposefully, but this time, it just felt weird. And so he did what he did best: slipped into the shadows and fled. He'd lost his shadow form. He didn't have his staff. He needed out.

Enigma stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the population. Long green jacket with white piping, green pants, and a metal plate covering the left side of his face. Totally sticking out. He just wanted to blend into the background, observing the people, seeing what they were like, how they ticked or act. He couldn't observe them when they kept looking at him.

So he walked. It was strange. Before he walked everywhere, but when he gained that other form, he simply whisked himself to where he wanted to go. Not the case, so he walked.

First order of business, before anything else, he needed a staff. It was part of him, an extension. Not having it felt strange and weird. The taller the staff the better. Preferably metal, but he would take what he could get.

Comments

[jokester_not_joker]

"Oh you're one of the fire guys. Apparently I'm a windbag." Another cackling laugh.

"Well we're burning daylight. You should probably pick a branch so we can have a staff cobbled together for you before night time."

[howisaraven]

"Interesting names," Enigma noted. Fitting, yet nothing less than he expected from his accomplice. He returned his attention to the tree, pointing out a lower, reasonably strong-looking branch with a crook in it. "That one looks marginally like a question mark."

[jokester_not_joker]

"You got it." It wasn't hard for Jokester to climb up the small distance it took to get to that tree. He climbed buildings, so this wasn't exactly hard work with no time crunch. Once he got to the branch he looked it over trying to decide how best to go about breaking this branch.

"Look out below!" He grabbed onto the nearest other branch in the case the target branch actually did fall as he started to deliver quick full-bodied kicks to it.

[howisaraven]

Enigma watched the Jokester climb the tree with ease. So strange to see someone so nimble, but perhaps he knew parkour or something similar. Or perhaps it was a good way to just get away from the Syndicate. Enigma knew how to get out of site pretty well. It was entirely possible.

He stepped out of the way in time to see the branch come crashing down. It certainly was a fine specimen of a branch. "This will do nicely."

[jokester_not_joker]

Jokester was able to catch himself on the branch he was holding onto. He laughed a bit looking down. "Well I'm glad that actually worked. My next plan was to see if it was possible for me to create a tornado."

With that he allowed himself to fall down to the next branch where he was able to get a better grip on things and make his way down to the ground.

"So I'm not entirely sure how to make a staff, but I know how to strip the bark off at least."

[howisaraven]

It was a good size, a very smooth break as well. The thought that the locals would get angry did cross his mind, but he hadn't seen anyone come running with torches and pitchforks, so they were probably fine.

He picked up the branch, observing it. The crook in the branch came up around the 5' mark, a perfect height. The offshoots stuck to it were a bit difficult to pry off, however. "Do you have a knife on you?"

[jokester_not_joker]

Jokester assumed they didn't mind since it was a tree and they had only taken one branch. After all it didn't harm the plant.

He shook his head at the question "No, they stripped me of every weapon I had. Even my titanium belt buckle."

[howisaraven]

Enigma frowned sharply, wiggling the branch back and forth until it finally gave way. Enough of this wiggling and he'd probably get all the stray offshoots to break off. He'd find a good way to sand it down later. "They took mine as well. I'm rather fond of that staff."

[jokester_not_joker]

"I figure they took anything that was slightly weird to them since it could be dangerous. Though I'll have to find out which one of them got into my trousers. I have to demand dinner after all." He smiled.

"So what now? Want to start stripping off the bark or get the place ready to sleep for the night?"

[howisaraven]

Enigma wiggled another offshoot off, mindful not to smack himself in the face with the leaves. He did have a faceguard, technically, with that metal plate of his, but he'd rather avoid branches in the face. He discarded the offshoot behind him.

"Finding this boarding house before nightfall would be a wise idea," Enigma nodded. "Perhaps they have a knife to make this process easier." He wasn't the type to turn in quite yet, being the nightowl he was, but finding the place before nightfall would make it easier to find again.

[jokester_not_joker]

"Well it's barely a boarding house from what I was told." He frowned "It seems they're suggesting we stay in an abandoned school building or something like that." Jokester wasn't the type to sleep a lot at night either, but today was a rather full one and they didn't really have any villains to deal with here.

Even Jokester wouldn't of tried fighting a bending villain while unequipped anyway. Unless he saw the crime going on.

"Off we go then." Jokester headed in the direction he was told it was at.

[howisaraven]

"How hospitable," Enigma frowned. "Seems they really want to make us feel welcome." It was somewhat like staying in Castle Braenek actually. A large, uninviting, abandoned, Medieval castle. Very homely. Enigma had managed to set up his own nest in the castle, setting up his technology within one of the castle rooms. The company wasn't entirely great.

He picked another offshoot off the branch-staff. "Lead the way." He was silently considering the idea of exploring the island during the night, seeing what this place had to offer. He didn't expect to get any sort of sleep.

[jokester_not_joker]

"So have you put much thought into meeting up with the Firebenders on their island?" he said off-handedly.

"I know we're not the guys who usually get handed superpowers, but if its the local fighting style we should at least give it a shot. If nothing else it will give us some perspective on what to expect from the local muggers."

[howisaraven]

He had a point. Enigma mulled over the idea for a moment, silently pulling the stray leaves off the branch with a strange meticulousness as they walked.

"I've never been one to dabble in the magic sort of arts," Enigma mused aloud, plucking another leaf off the branch. "Though there is a saying: When in Rome, do as the Romans do."

He wasn't particularly fond of the idea, and it showed with the rather displeased frown spanning his half-covered features. He'd seen what sort of destruction Morgaine had done with magic. She flattened Europe. Granted, it was when they all had their god powers, but magic was still magic. He wasn't fond of it before the Trinity ordeal, and he certainly wasn't fond of it afterward.

"However," he added, "I cannot deny the uses controlling fire would have, scientifically at least." His mind was rolling with a few ideas, even the possibility of smelting his own metal. Yet there was one point his painted friend made. Muggers. Enigma was accustomed to seeing it all around him, but he'd made a stand against them. And this time, he didn't have to worry about the Syndicate burning off the other half of his face or attempting to murder his daughter.

"And you have a very valid point," Enigma agreed. "Why not continue our work here? Even if it involves magic."

[jokester_not_joker]

"Is it really magic when everybody else can do it too?" Magic didn't bother Jokester, it never really mattered to him either since he couldn't do it.

"Seems to me it wouldn't hurt continuing what we were doing here. We might even be able to make a new team. I have this sneaking suspicion that everyone that showed up today won't be the last."

"Their story about mass amnesia is going to start losing credibility very quickly."

[howisaraven]

"Elemental control seems magic enough for me," he frowned. It wasn't that he was afraid of it. He just didn't like it. He preferred technology over all else, and he wasn't fond of how Morgaine abused magic either.

"A new team." The idea sure was tantalizing and incredibly feasible, especially if more people showed up. A slight smirk crossed his lips. "I rather like this idea." The idea was pretty grand. And without the Syndicate, the team would be safe for now.

"The lie about amnesia is pretty obvious. I've heard children tell better lies."

[jokester_not_joker]

"I figured you might be more worried about the abuse of it, and it's hard to abuse something everyone else has."

"For us it is a bad lie, but it is easy for those who don't know to believe. I mean what's more believable to these village people? That we came from another world or that we took a few too many smacks to the head in a foreign land?"

"We should probably do our best to figure out who our new housemates are. Maybe after I get some work I'll make bacon for everyone and we can get to know everybody over breakfast."

[howisaraven]

"I've seen the destructive power it has," Enigma frowned. Then again, the majority of magic users he knew abused the power. Morgaine was particularly bad with abusing her power.

"You do have a point. Everything is relative." For these people, who seemed to be set back a millennium or two, it only made sense. "Though I can't say I'm fond of rooming with someone I don't know. This isn't college." Then again, a college roommate on his world probably would stab the roommate in their sleep. "Breakfast sounds good, however."