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WHO: Duo, Claire, and Mr. Muggles
WHEN: backdated to the afternoon before the blizzard happens as well as during the worst of the blizzard
WHERE: Underground Mall
WHAT: Claire was planning on helping Duo find out what his power was for one night, and then all of a sudden the weather took a turn for the worst. Uhh-- Also, killer cyborgs will show up at some point for a bit.
WARNINGS: nothing??? will update if needed

She'd told Duo to meet her at the Mall for some 'power discovery'. She still hadn't managed to think of a good word for it, but it would work for now. She sat on a nearby bench, holding Mr. Muggles in her hands and trying to feed him a treat. He really was spoiled- any of the 'bargain brand' treats she tried to feed him, he wouldn't take unless he was nearly dying of hunger.

Franz had no doubt kept up the tradition of her mother spoiling him to death. Not that she minded, really; she wouldn't break her bank to make sure he had the best treats. It was his own fault if he didn't want to eat it at first.

The thought of Mr. Muggles having an ability of his own crossed her mind as she sat there waiting for Duo. The idea hadn't even occurred to her until Helen and Haruhi had mentioned it, and now it wouldn't go away. Though, really, how likely was it that she would be the owner of a super-powered dog?

... On second thought, maybe she didn't want to think something like that in a city like this.

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"Candle shop." She liked the smell; it reminded her of her trips to the mall with Sandra in California. There were always weird tropical smells in the stores there, even the non-candle ones. She made her way to the back, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Duo was following and no employees were watching them.

"Have you heard of pyrokinesis?" She stood in front of a cabinet of lit candles, glancing over at him.

"Uh... that crap where people throw fire or whatever?" Duo ventured a guess, canting his head to the side.

Claire scowled at him. "Yeah, something like that. Some people can make it or just control it."

She gently picked up one of the lit candles, holding it out for Duo. "Here, take it. Just concentrate on moving the flame and see what happens."

Duo was... less than convinced this was a good idea, but he had agreed to go along with this and complaining now would have just upset her.

He took the candle and stared at the flame intensely, but... nothing happened. it just flickered.

"Try it again. Think of a strong memory and see if it does anything." That was the only advice she could give, really. She glanced off to the left, checking to make sure the employees were still busy. They were, thankfully.

There was only one memory that was really strong as of late - the one that had been in his globe at new years. Watching Sister Helen die again had dredged up a lot of painful things he just wanted to ignore again, but his dreams hadn't been so kind lately.

Focusing on it, on the smell of charred, hollowed out buildings and burned skin and that coppery tang of blood in the air just made him feel queasy, and nothing happened with the damn candle. He handed it back to Claire after a time, shaking his head slowly.

"Sorry..."

Claire simply shrugged, putting the candle back. "It was worth a try."

She moved to leave the store, keeping her back turned away from the door and her jacket unzipped to cover up Mr. Muggles. She'd been yelled at before for having him in a store and didn't intend on it happening again.

"Let's try electricity?" A small grin directed his way. All they'd need is an outlet, really.

Oh boy...

"... sure."

Duo swallowed hard and forced whatever memories had risen to the surface back again, following her out of the store with hopes that he didn't look as pale and shaken as he suddenly did.

"Are you okay?" It wasn't hard to notice a sudden drop in color in Duo's face. She wondered if it had to do with the memories she had asked him to tap into, or the thought of dealing with electricity.

"Don't worry, we'll just be dealing with an outlet. I'm not going to let you hurt yourself."

Duo shook his head, looking away and clearing his throat awkwardly.

"It's fine. I'm not worried 'bout it..." was all he said, not really wanting to go in to it any more than that.

Claire stopped outside of the store, hesitating and looking at Duo with a slight look of concern in her eyes. It wasn't any of her business, and she knew that, but... She crouched down to let Mr. Muggles walk on his own.

"There should be one around here. Help me look for one." Another glance at Duo, then she walked along the wall, looking for an outlet to try out. Mr. Muggles was interested in everybody walking by Claire, and somehow managed to keep from barking at everyone he saw.

Edited 2012-02-12 07:23 (UTC)

He wanted to force a smile, to do something that would convince her he was alright, but nothing came out. But she didn't push the issue either which he was grateful for.

"Uh... I think there might be some in the food court..." he ventured, though hesitantly since there was a lot of people there.

"Do you really want to hang around an outlet in the food court?" A grin flashed on Claire's face. "Weird things happen here a lot but I'm sure that would raise some eyebrows." It's harmless teasing, mostly to help him get out of whatever funk she had accidentally put him into by asking him to access a strong memory.

"Ah- here!" She glanced around, trying to be casual as she pulled a potted plant in front of where they would be around the outlet. It was in an alcove between two stores, currently unused. "Okay, so this one might be a little tricky."

She looked over at him. Mr. Muggles seemed content to just sniff the corner a few feet off to the right, and Claire was fine with leaving him there.

"Yeaaaah that's what I was thinking." Duo said, scratching his cheek. He followed her gaze around the area before she landed on the potted plant and headed over to it. As before, he followed quietly, still having his doubts that any of this was going to work.

"... okay. What you got in mind for this one?"

"Put your finger right up to the socket without actually sticking it in. Can you manage that?" A grin flashed on her face and looked up at him.

"If you concentrate on it, I think something should happen."

It... sounded ridiculous. More so than anything else she had suggested thus far. But... she was sticking this out until the end, which meant he owed her the same courtesy since she was doing this for him after all.

Sighing, he crouched down and held his finger out, half expecting a sudden arc of electricity to come out and shock him in to a bad white guy afro or something equally cartoony. But nothing of the sort happened.

Instead... the lights in the entire mall flickered. All without anything coming out of the socket. He blinked and looked up, just as the entire place was plunged in to darkness and people yelled in surprise.

"... that was NOT me..."

"Are you sure?" She stood immediately, calling for Mr. Muggles, who had begun to bark once the lights switched off. There were shouts and the sounds of something crashing. It was pretty obvious that something was happening.

"I wonder what's going on." She felt around in the darkness for Duo's shoulder. She felt vaguely responsible for him in case something happened.

"Uhhh... lights goin' off like that... usually doesn't mean anything good, Claire..." Duo said slowly, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck raising and a sense of dread settling in his stomach. This wasn't good. This was 'some one is going to grab you from behind and shank you and/or potentially kidnap you' bad.

He stood up, feeling Claire's hand looking for his shoulder. He reached up and grabbed her wrist gently, pulling her closer to him.

"We should leave. We should leave now."

"Follow me. Come, Mr. Muggles." She gripped his leash tightly. Claire made sure she was in front of Duo, just in case something happened. The lights flickered back on, dimmer than before. She froze when she saw a large ... robot, or something, walking through the walls of a store.

"What-" She watched as a few people - powers in full force, ready to attack it - charged at it. Mr. Muggles barked, snapping Claire back to reality.

"Come on-" She turned to the left sharply, away from the robot, following the crowd of people running in the same direction.

"The hell is that?!" Duo yelped as the strange robot came bursting through the walls. He wasn't going to get an answer, but that was okay because as far as he was concerned he was still pretty much powerless against just about everything that damn city had to throw at him.

He followed Claire at her heels behind the people trying to run away, only to have another one come crashing through a wall of the food court only a few feet from them. A few people hit the ground hard, and a poor woman that was within arm's reach of it was grabbed by her face and tossed aside like a ragdoll.

"Whoa whoa!" he yelled, snagging Claire's arm and yanking her back the other way, hoping he could find another exit some where close by. It was turning in to utter chaos fast, and the terrified and pained screams of people were only getting louder by the second.

Edited 2012-02-20 00:50 (UTC)

The moment Claire saw it, she knew she couldn't just run away. She was done being that girl- she would save people. She had decided on that back home, and she wouldn't go back on it just because there were ... huge robots attacking everyone.

"Wait!" She bent down to grab a hold of Mr. Muggles, shoving him into Duo's arms. "Keep him safe." She took off at a run, picking up a chair and throwing it at the back of one that was going for a young boy. She was swept across the room in one powerful move, not that she would stay down for more than few seconds.

She didn't flinch as she fixed the broken bone in her arm, glaring it down. Distracting it - instead of taking it down - would probably be her best option. This one, at least; there were other people that she could see taking care of others throughout the mall with their powers.

Duo grunted as the squirming dog was thrust in to his arms, barking loudly and frantically.

"Claire! What the hell are you doing?! GET BACK HERE! CLARIE!" he screamed after her, his pleas obviously falling on deaf ears. She was going to get herself! She was--

... getting back up with a broken arm like she didn't feel a thing.

"Wha--..."

He just stood there staring, the noises around him momentarily drowned out in his ears as he tried to piece together what he had just seen. He couldn't make heads or tails of it, mostly because it had all happened too damn fast for him to really see what had actually happened.

Unfortunately his shock left him vulnerable as he stood there, and he felt something swinging very close to his head. He tried to duck, but the hand of the robot connected with the side of his head sent him rolling, his head spinning even as he managed to skid to a stop on one knee.

"F... fuck..." he groaned, holding the area were skin had split open and blood was coming down over his eye. The dog kept barking and squirmed more, eventually breaking free from Duo and darting in to a near by store, probably to hide.

"Damnit, dog, get back he... re... aw shit," he looked up as a shadow descended over him, the same robot that backhanded him looming.

"Duo!" Adrenaline pumped through her veins as she sprinted over to him, trying to formulate a plan quickly. It wasn't very good, but as long as it kept Duo (because Mr. Muggles had run off to god knows where) from getting crushed to death, it could work. She rushed at the robot looming over Duo in an attempt to knock it down.

"Run!" She didn't suceed in knocking it over, but at least it had turned around and focused its attention on her. "Go!"

"Damnit, Claire!" Duo yelled frantically, not wanting to leave her behind even if that was what she had told him to do. But he was already injured, without a weapon and already running out of ideas. He couldn't help her even if he wanted to!

And that pissed him off.

He felt something welling up inside, stronger and more violent than anything he'd ever felt before. Dark wisps of energy started to crawl up from his clenched fists, enveloping his hands and going up to his forearms. He lifted his hands to stare at them for a second, but shock passed quickly back in to anger and he curled them in to fists again, charging at the robot with a near-feral sounding cry. One, two punches to the metal face of the thing and it was down, leaving Duo standing above it, panting heavily and growling in anger.

"... I'm not leavin' you, Claire..."

"What-" Claire kept her eyes on Duo, shock evident on her face. That wasn't a power she had.seen before. She stood, holding her arm and popping her shoulder back into place. It was a common move for her. She looked down at the defeated robot then back up at Duo.

"How did you do that?" She didn't expect a real or detailed answer, but there was nothing else to say to that.