Okay, that was it; if he wasn't already officially shook, then the next few introductions
definitely sealed the deal.
First to speak up past him was the one with the mask that freaked him out, though before that was a definitive bash against his pathetic attempt at humor. Landon didn't recoil or anything of that sort, or even start growing again from a spike in tension; it had been expected, but hearing someone bring it up like that caused in to deflate, what energy he had managed to put forth for his introduction violently sucked out from him. Yeah, he probably would've just been better off staying quiet, right? He'd hardly said anything important, anyhow. Still, perhaps it didn't hurt as much simply because somebody was trying to be in his corner; it might not've seemed like much to anyone, maybe even Faith herself, but a smile and a thumbs-up were a vote of confidence that, however unearned it felt for him, went nonetheless appreciated.
He didn't get to dwell on it for long, however, as the masked boy continued forward with his own description of his power, which...Certainly changed things. Wow, that sounded...Just awful. Landon could barely contend with his own shortcomings; trying to grapple with that from everyone else in his vicinity? He couldn't even fathom it. And yet, here someone was who did have to do it, without pause. However, he couldn't help but widen his eyes in fear as he started pointing across the room at one of the Wards, describing their weaknesses. Oh please, please don't....
...But when he
did point at Landon, it was mercifully impersonal. Just about his bone structure, which honestly, he'd already figured. Something as big as him flying definitely would need hollow bones or ungodly powerful wings; of which his form possessed both, admittedly, so perhaps if his power was kinder it wouldn't have given his bones the density of a wooden table, but it was what it was. Internally, he gave an exhalation of relief. He could've imagined a lot worse stuff coming from him.
However, whatever thankfulness Landon possessed from that choice in words was quickly dashed as Keystone abruptly held himself hostage, a knife teetering at the edge of his throat. His already massive eyes somehow widened more, as his fur stood up in shock, watching the situation with mounting terror. Though, it was mercifully brief situation, dropping the tension the moment the bladed instrument did the same. Okay, so he was
way too intense for himself, he could say with confidence. Still...He definitely felt as if he'd judged him far too quickly. Was he a good person? Well, that was far harder to say, but...He didn't act out without reasoning, and he wasn't being overtly malicious. Landon could take a small victory.
...He got a much different vibe from the new voice joining in, however. The one in the catsuit. She'd introduced herself as Ethos, but quickly brushed things off...That is, until people were openly sharing their abilities. Something about that must've set her off, because, well...To put it bluntly, she was acting quite unpleasantly. Her choice of words in how she described her ability brought a twisted knot to Muninn's stomach. If he were to compare how it sounded to the other Masters he knew of, where Claire numbed you, and Faith gave you a push, Ethos, well...She scrambled you entirely. What a horrifying thought, to be something so utterly
not you. Especially to Landon, who was still so uncertain as to who he wanted - or needed - to be. When she had finished her piece, Landon hadn't even noticed, but he'd grown considerably; nearly a foot in size, and had instinctually taken steps away from Ethos. She wasn't the sort of individual he wanted to associate himself with, he could say that much!
Especially because of all that vulgar language, too.
That just made him all the more thankful for who spoke up next, the yellow-and-black armored one who, for one, seemed to share his sentiments on Keystone, though was more verbal about them, and also gave a mercifully short and non-hostile introduction. Hornet was a pretty cool name, he thought, and fit her power quite nicely; to pop up and strike when one least expects it, just like the titular insect. Granted, he imagined it would also be a pretty startling power to have used near you...He'd just have to get used to it, though. There was a lot he was going to have to get used to. Muninn was still noticeably enlarged, but at least this introduction had done nothing to cause it to spiral any further.
The
next one, however...
It was brief; startlingly so. He had walked up, dropped his name, and Landon watched in abject horror as he watched a coin get obliterated from existence. Only to then be followed by the suggestion that they keep a distance from him, since it couldn't be turned off.
What?!
That had to mean...He could do it to...To
people? Just break them apart into nothingness? Or would it be more...His run-off imagination nearly brought him to a gut-hurling experience, and he quickly turned his attention directly away from Richter, as if keeping him out of sight would prevent Landon from considering those implications yet again. Okay, new other person he wanted to avoid! At least it was nothing personal, this time, but he would've been lying if he wasn't absolutely freaked out by the flexing of such a power. He had grown, yet again. Probably close to 14 feet in height now, and trying even more desperately to keep his ever-growing mass as hunched and unnoticeable as possible. It wasn't going very well. And somehow, despite quite literally having grown a few heads taller, Landon himself seemed unaware of the changes beyond his innate instinct to keep himself as small as possible.
It didn't help when it was back to the loud, abrasive girl. Shattercrash was her name, right? His body tensed up when her voice raised against Ethos, brutally telling her off for her own shitty attitude. Perhaps some people could've taken solace in the face of watching Ethos getting put down, but for Muninn, he was just getting more concerned that they were all so riled up about all of this. Weren't they supposed to be teammates? Sure, they'd just all met properly for the first time, but...It didn't feel very team-like right now. Especially when Muninn was scared about approaching nearly half the group so far.
His feelings weren't assuaged when Shattercrash (perhaps predictably, if he'd thought more about it), gave a more direct display of what she was capable of, abruptly firing off a bright pink blast of concussive force at the wall, causing a shudder to pass through the room as it dispersed. The abrupt shot was more than enough to set Landon off again, though he did his best to keep it non-verbal...But couldn't surprise a quiet, bird-like squawk of surprise when the attack was launched. Welp, that at least told him that they either totally missed his nonverbal request from prior, or more concerningly, that they might have understood it and willfully startled him anyhow.
This really wasn't his day.
Still, the demonstration was made, and her capabilities made apparent. She could shoot blasts of energy and perform physical feats so absurd he couldn't even imagine it. He knew for sure he couldn't jump high enough to reach a helicopter, much less kick a steel vault door open. It was equally impressive as it was intimidating. He had shot up again. 15- or, no - more like 16 foot now. Things were getting a mite bit out of control, though he was still just as clueless.
Out of nowhere, it seemed Mr. Grandmaster had received a call and departed from the scene, leaving them under the watch of Ms. Axiom. That, honestly, was an improvement for him. Even the room simply lacking the intimidating presence of the Protectorate leader managed to chill him out just a smidge, bringing him back closer in line to 14 feet. Speaking of Ms. Axiom, she asked if there were any other questions, and also took the time to outline what the rest of the day, and tomorrow, would look like. So they weren't doing anything today? Whew! Honestly, that alone took another weight off his shoulders; he was almost able to forget all the other mortifying things that had happened in recent succession, pushing his size back down again; 12 foot. He could handle looking at a schedule. And patrols shouldn't be too bad, right? They'd be supervised, and they'd have each other, and heck, even the nature of a patrol meant that some days you might not run into anything. Landon felt as if the winds were reaching his sails again. Everything felt so much more manageable now!
Pleased with the turn of events, his eyes briefly shifted into those happy little crescents again before dropping back into their full-moon neutral expression. He didn't have any special questions; not off the top of his head, at least. So...He was off the hook, for now! Landon was partway through approaching that all-too-comfortable couch once more, but was cut off by the very sudden arrival of a familiar face.
"AH!" Embarrassingly enough, this made the second time Muninn nearly jumped out of his skin; and this time around, he felt even worse about it, given that he had gotten startled by someone so diminutive. Er, not that that was a bad thing, or something, just...Especially given his own size in this state, it struck him just how small she was, even in comparison to the other, normal-sized Wards. However, when he picked up that Hornet had gotten startled by the same experience, it helped him feel a little less bashful over the experience. Still, the shocking nature of it had caused one of his shifts, getting a little closer to 13 feet once again as his fur and feathers puffed out.
"Um, what is it they...?" Lost in his own thoughts for a moment, Muninn was speaking more to himself and Tandem before he came to his conclusion with a start.
"Right! Um, ditto. To her point." He bashfully pointed a claw towards Hornet; a little warning next time would go a long way. He took the moment after this to consider her point. His...Size change? What? Was-was that a thing he did?! Evidently coming to that conclusion for the first time, Tandem could watch his huge eyes widen once more, and hastily give his form a twice-over.
...She
was right! He was bigger! But...But how?! This never happened before? Granted, well, he hadn't tested much with this form, and Claire was always around to make sure he didn't start freaking out too much. Maybe that had something to do with it? Still, suddenly realizing he was still under the scrutiny of his fellow Ward, he finally spoke on the matter.
"Oh, uh...I...I honestly didn't know that happened. Until you, you know, pointed it out. Hehe...Heh..." He laughed a dry, nervous laugh, awkwardly scratching at one of his arms. Look at him; he'd rattled off all that crap about his power, and then he just got sucker-punched by a new part of it. Now he
really must've looked stupid...
Still, there was another thing she'd rattled off. Something about a...Mothman? Oh! That actually got a laugh out of Landon; brief and quiet, but an honest laugh all the same.
"Oh. That! Well, when I fly around at night, it's really hard to make out anything except the eyes. Cause I'm all dark." He shuffled in a circle, as if to show off himself and prove the statement correct; he wasn't wrong. His feathers and fur were pitch-black, and even the greens of his arms were dull and muted. It'd be hard looking at any of this in the darkness.
"So, uh, my eyes were the only thing people saw, and, well...Bright-eyed spooky thing flying around at night? It would be fair to call it a mothman, I suppose..." He...Wasn't all too sure about that. Honestly, he hadn't even known about mothman until he heard people calling him that in the past. What an awkward question to Claire that had been...Especially since she hadn't known anything either.
The last bit of her questioning brought a new rising anxiety in him. Flying around in the daytime? Heh...Well, it'd be inevitable now, but that didn't change how terrified he was of the idea. What would people think when they honestly saw him like this, Ward or no? Some freakish bird monster that silently flew in the skies, watching over them like a hawk. Heck, thinking of that to himself was enough to raise his own paranoia a notch, and he was talking about himself!
"W-well....I, uh, I imagine I'll have to be doing that soon anyhow. So...I think the problem will solve itself? Hopefully..." He didn't sound very hopeful.
The conversation they were holding, and, indeed, any conversation being held at all, was cut abruptly short by the arrival of a crisply dressed man, though otherwise plain in appearance, beyond the fact that, well...Putting it nicely, his expression was dire. Landon's attention turned to the newcomer, equally confused and concerned. Something told him things were about to get bad...
The Vice Director | PRT Headquarters, Meeting Room |
June 19, 2021, 9:10 AM
Talk about a load of shit. Even as he unceremoniously barged his way into the meeting room, the Vice-Director couldn't even be bothered to mask the exhaustion and disappointment across his otherwise measured expression. It was one thing getting late to this all-important shindig because of completely shit traffic. It was
another thing to be told about a crime in-progress the moment you walked through the damn doors. And it was another thing entirely to...
He just sighed. His eyes scanned the room, because that was all he needed to judge the situation. Looks like they'd handled the chit-chat section of things, but he was about to throw them a meteoric curve-ball, and he wasn't pleased in the slightest. First, though, he could at least introduce himself.
"The name's Vice Director Fukuda, if you aren't familiar with me. Which, in an ideal world, you won't be. The actual Director uses me to handle all the dirty work." He gave a grin, but it lacked any mirth to speak of, with it drawn tight and getting closer to a grimace by the second. Luckily, it was broken by an undeniable frown. Or, maybe that wasn't lucky? Well, it was better than looking at that depressing-ass grin, at least. He looked past the teenage angst to lock eyes with Axiom and Nightstalker, giving what could best be described as an apologetic shrug before he pushed forward.
"I don't know what Axiom's been telling everyone, but a change of plans hit. Grandmaster seems to think you're all ready to swing for the fences," he said coolly, yet again glancing across the mass of the Wards. The look didn't offer that he had any confidence in that sentiment, but he pressed on nonetheless.
"so you're all slated to handle a commotion we've got; the robbery of a local bank. By a trained, powered mercenary group. Not exactly a typical starter mission..." He almost growled that last bit to himself, but didn't quiet it enough to prevent the kids from picking it up. Not that he cared; he'd made it very clear he was against this idea on a hundred different levels, but...Well, the Director had the final say, and she seemed to be convinced.
Somehow.
After briefly glancing away from the crowd with his thinly-veiled animosity towards the situation, he looked back upon the Wards.
"Axiom and Nightstalker can get you all prepped; you're shipping out in ten." He'd done his part, damn him to hell. With that, he casually made his way over to the nearest chair, plopped his ass in, and took out a cigarette and lighter in one smooth motion, lighting it up. You know, there was one thing he was thankful for; being here meant he was away from the one person he knew would actively try to nag him out of this awful habit. That, at least, brought the smallest of smiles to his face.
For Muninn's part, as far as the two people nearest to him, Decree and Tandem, were concerned, he seemed to have become completely statue-like. And just about doubled in size as all that escaped him was a monstrous wheeze of exertion, whether from trying not to let out a full-on screech over the new development or over the general shock of shooting up to nearly 24 feet in what had almost looked like a single second of activity, it was impossible to say.
Well, his hunch had been right!
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