the_campus | A Welcome Change to the Menu

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A Welcome Change to the Menu

[Alex squints up into the light filtering down between the leaves of the trees around him, looking for the bird he'd just heard making an unfamiliar call. When he fails to find it after a moment, he gives up and returns to the task at hand.]

...Which happens to be the butchering of a skinned and gutted deer carcass hanging from a tree. His hands have become enormous, wickedly sharp claws, which he uses to cleanly slice off pieces of the animal. He's been hard at work for some time, judging by the pile of fresh, cleanly-sliced venison set on a nearby boulder. Still, there's a lot of work left to do, a lot of meat still left on the carcass. Surely more than one person could reasonably finish before it spoiled, right...?

Something else moves in the forest, snapping a twig or perhaps just rustling some bushes a bit loudly. He pauses again to search for the "visitor."]

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[Nero was already long out of sight by the time Alex looks over, now crouching up in a tree with his human hand grasping the trunk. His Devil Bringer was hidden.]

That's pretty nasty. [He sounds amused, noting the demon-like appendages, but the distinct lack of reaction to it in his devil arm.]

[Alex looks up toward the source of the voice, but sees no one. Damn, they must be fast.]

Yeah? It's better than the gruel they try to serve us.

[He turns away from the carcass, searching the tree tops for whoever decided to pay him a visit.]

Haha, I don't eat that garbage. [He casually sits down on the branch.]

Pyrrha does all the cooking. Uh--I mean, that's not to say I don't help. [He's not THAT bad.]

[Now he spots the man. Huh. Just a guy with...weird hair.]

Stirring things once in a while isn't helping.

[What can he say? This guy doesn't look like the type who cooks. Ever.]

[Well, at least it's the hair and not his arm you're bringing up.]

Tch. I actually gut things, for your information. [He raises his covered Devil Bringer, looking at it thoughtfully.]

Somebody's gotta do the dirty work, after all.

[He mentally backpedals a bit to accommodate the other man's hand. That's...odd. He's never seen one quite like that before; usually such mutated appendages match the rest of the person they're attached to.]

...That's still not cooking.

[Alex raises an inquisitive eyebrow.]

What's with the arm?

Yeah, but you can't cook if your food's not prepared. [He's helpful shut up.]

[He rolls his eyes.] You know what, I'm really sick of answering that question. So I'm going to pass.

[He shrugs.]

I guess I would get annoyed if I couldn't hide it, too.

[He claws briefly shift back into arms. There's no trace of blood on them, no hint that they were ever anything else or that they'd been broken down into writhing tendrils for a moment. Then, just as abruptly, they shift back into claws.]

Mind telling me what you are, though?

[Nero curls a lip up at Alex, obviously finding something real disgusting about his latest question.]

That's pretty rude, coming from a freak like you. At least only one of my arms is worth running away in tears from.

[Alex looks him over, but keeps his face neutral as he does so.]

Huh. You're the first one I've met who's sensitive about the subject. I say embrace it, kid; you've got a clear advantage over your average human.

Sensitive? Watch it. [Although even as he says it, his Devil Bringer tenses, as if he were suddenly nervous about having it out.]

The only thing sensitive here would be your ass after I kick it.

[He didn't want a clear advantage...he stuck out with such a freakish arm! He's just glad nobody from back home is around to see him right now.]

[He puts up a claw, palm out, in an effort to show the kid that he's not trying to be a dick.]

Relax, kid. I don't mean anything by it. You're just the first one I've ever met who doesn't seem to be happy about it.

[He assumes it's just a mutation brought on by either freakish genetics or an experiment. From where he's standing, it looks like one hell of a useful weapon.]

[Nero settles back again, but his irritation is hardly quelled so easily.]

Who the hell would be happy about this? [He mumbles bitterly] It's a curse...

[He shrugs.]

Not around here. There's a guy walking around who looks a hell of a lot worse than you, but I haven't heard anyone raising a fuss about it.

[Judging purely from his own experience, of course. He used to turn average, calm crowds into panicked mobs simply by having the audacity to walk in broad daylight with one of his weapons at the ready. Didn't always hurt them, not if there wasn't any point to the violence, but it had been oddly fascinating and disheartening to watch them instantly reject and fear him because of a single non-human feature.]

Tch. It's easy for you to say; you can hide it. You don't have to walk around with a flashing neon sign of an arm that screams out the fact you're not hu--

[Nero cuts himself off. Sure, he knew somewhere inside that that was the case, but he'd never said it outloud.

And he wasn't about to start now. This guy was just pissing him off, and now the claws of his Devil Bringer were digging so furiously into the tree trunk that it started to crack.]

No, but half the things I do give me away. No one here seems to care too much.

[He says it plainly, trying to calm the man down a bit by stating the facts of this place. He's gotten a few raised eyebrows, but that's about it. No screaming, no accusations, just curiosity and surprise.]

Hmph. [Nero wasn't impressed, and he was far too stubborn to maybe submit to the fact that Alex was right. He still felt like he had to hide himself.]

Am I supposed to be happy for you or something? [He jumps down from the tree.]

You don't have to be. I'm just saying that the attitude might not be needed here.

[He will, however, continue to hide the more controversial parts of his diet from everyone. Strange abilities are one thing, but that absolutely does cross certain lines.]

Yeah, well, I don't need your advice.

[Nero turns, planning to make his exit.]

[ Leo's been exploring the island for a while, taking in the surroundings and tagging landmarks with his artificial eyes. Best to get a map of the entire place while he can as opposed to being stuck in unfamiliar territory when shit happens. And shit inevitably happens here, he's noticed.

Like that right there, the guy gutting a deer with one hell of a massive hand. It's been a while since he's seen a mutation. Oinkie could control his at will through his 'juice' but it still made him look like the scaled beasts that roam Altambra. This particular strain, it's nothing like what he's seen. ]

Nice claws.

[Alex looks up from his kill and looks the guy over. Seems harmless enough. Seems more level-headed than the last guy, too.]

Thanks. Most people would disagree with you.

[Still, he keeps his guard up, ready to defend himself at any hint that this guy might be hostile. Alex makes sure to keep a little distance between them, and turns to face him straight-on. You just can't be too careful in this place, after all.]

[ When the man turns to face him, Leo's eyes light up and he's quick to run his face through his data to see if maybe he has a file on him back home. Unlikely, of course, but there is that slim chance - better safe than sorry. ]

I doubt they're used to seeing someone sporting obvious mutations.

[ The blue glow dies down when the search result comes back empty and Leo takes his time to approach. Wariness is a given but this man still seems like he has control over himself. For now, at least.

His head drops from the other to the venison resting neatly in a pile. ]

Tired of Edna's cooking, I take it?

[Alex raises an eyebrow. That glow...he's never seen anything like that before. And this guy is saying that his claws are a mutation?]

Mutation? This isn't a mutation; it's an adaptation.

[His arms seems to break down into a mess of writhing black and red tendrils for a moment, then reconstitute themselves as just normal human arms in black leather sleeves. Alex chuckles a little at the mention of Edna.]

We...have very different opinions on how food should be cooked. She thought it should be boiled until it's pretty much all the same color, and I thought it should have some actual flavor.

That's what they said about the scales and claws back home. They thought it was humanity's way of adapting to the environment before they realized their DNA was actually breaking down from all the chemicals. I'm guessing you've been tested for that possibility?

[ It may seem a little rude to take that approach almost as soon as they meet but he's seen just how far people fall once their mind starts to decay. Sometimes it's good to take precaution. ]

Tested? Trust me, that's not what happened to me. I'm an experiment that escaped from them. They'd hired me to engineer a new super-virus for them, I got infected, and they tried to put me down.

[He smiles a grim smile.]

They would have succeeded if I hadn't been one of the lucky ones who didn't die or lose their mind from the infection. So, yes, my DNA is perfectly fine.

[ Super virus, huh? Sounds like this guy could possibly be from Leo's world before the war. Statistics aren't in favor of it but that doesn't mean it isn't possible. ]

By 'they', I assume you mean one of the world governments. They did the something like that where I'm from except they didn't focus on a virus for warfare; they manufactured biological weapons - we call them mutants or berserkers - and the chemical run-off tainted the environment. That's when people's bodies started breaking down and all hell broke loose.

[ Leo pauses for a moment, letting that thought drop. ]

Didn't mean to offend you but I had to make sure.

Edited 2013-08-28 12:46 (UTC)

The US government. But not officially, of course; they used a branch of the military that doesn't officially exist to finance the whole thing.

[His face hardens at hearing that. It would...make a lot of sense for that to happen. You try to incinerate everything, but accidents happen.]

...Was GENTEK connected to it at all?

Hard to say - information on things that happened before the war's pretty scarce. Tends to happen when governments collapse.

[ There's a pause before he changes the topic entirely, gesturing to the meat the other man's already stripped from the carcass. ]

You gonna need any help carrying that back?

[He glances at the meat, momentarily shaken out of wondering just what the hell is supposed to happen in the future.]

No, I- you know what? Why not? It'd save me some work.

[Besides, he still has some questions for the man. World history/the possible future aside, the armor the man is wearing is...odd. Nothing at all like anything he's ever seen before.]

[ The cybrid nods and veers towards the venison. He's hoping the guy has some idea as to how one salts meat for keeping. That and where he'd find paper to wrap it in bulk. Edna may be keeping some in the back of the kitchen but he doesn't know for certain. Can't be that hard to look though. ]

I'm Leo, by the way. I'd offer to shake your hand but considering you just had them inside an animal's corpse, now might not be the best time.

[ A joke, albeit a small one. ]

Alex.

[He turns back to the carcass for a moment. Clearly, he isn't going to get the time to finish butchering it completely; he could always come back, of course, but odds are something else will have claimed the kill. Well, no sense it letting it all go to waste. Alex changes one arm into a giant blade, picks his targets, and severs each limb with swift, clean strikes. The carcass collapses with a wet heap, splashing him droplets of cool blood.

He ties the limbs together with the rope that had been supporting the carcass and hoists them over his shoulder.]

I'm heading for the kitchen, by the way.

[If their dear old lunch lady has a problem with that, she can just bite him.]

[ Leo watches Alex make the precise strikes with interest. He's never seen something like that; mutations were always permanent. This man clearly has control over it and has had practice. No other explanation as to how he can seemingly change his form at will and slice straight through bone and cartilage.

When Alex begins to haul his kill off, Leo gathers the meat set aside on one of the stones and follows after him. He's holding them away from his body seeing as how it's still raw. Blood may easily be washed away from his limbs but wet-white leather? That's an entirely different story. ]

Alex then. I take it this GENTEK was the organization you were creating the virus for?

Not them, exactly. I worked for them, but we were hired to make it for the US military.

[He lets out an annoyed sigh.]

They thought they could use it as a bioweapon. Unfortunately, viruses have no sense of loyalty to any government or nation, so once it got out...

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A Welcome Change to the Menu

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