Estrella
Estrella Alvarez was walking the streets with her sister and two brothers. It was the middle of the night, which is when they always travelled. Their mother had been a metamorph often mistaken for another mutant named Mystique. Her skin was blue and scaly, and though they all had different fathers, they each had a touch of her blue skin. In this worl, looking different was not an asset, so they hid. They never stayed anywhere very long, and now they were in Oklahoma. Enrique, their little brother had a vision that there would be people here who might be able to help them. It was the Brakken in him that gave him his visions, and they had an empathic trait. So the closer he got to where they needed to be, the more he could sense it. Finally, they arrived at the house that Enrique had visualized. Holding his siblings close, Miguel, the eldest, walked up and knocked on the front door.
Mouse
Mouse was awake, and lying in bed thinking about Mi and Oli and their odd uncle. Then Fafnir jumped to his feet and started growling. What?
People at the door. C'mon. Mouse shrugged and did as her wolf told her to, walking down the stairs and opening the door. Blue people. Um. OK then. Mouse's eyes went wide, and when she felt the confusion/worry/hope that radiated from them, she recoiled a little bit. Fafnir was snarling beside her, and she put a hand on his head, feeling the fear jump up quite a few notches.
"Don't mind him. Really. Shut up, Fafnir. Nice people...I think. No getting major bad vibes." Mpuse blinked tiredly. "Shut up, wolf packmate mine, before I havta kick you outta the house. Um. Hi. I'm Mouse, and I'm guessing you nice folks need a hand." Mouse yawned. "Seriously this alien thing just gets weirder and weirder."
"Jane, what's going on?" She heard Diana's voice and turned around. "Oh, my."
"People. Nice people. Fafnir, shut up and calm down."
Fafnir whined uneasily. Not quite human, not quite alien, something very wrong with the little one. The wolf thrust his nose at Enrique, then retreated, whines growing louder. Something not right. Mouse kicked him lightly in the side.
"Stop it! I'm sure they're normal, except for the blue skin, and minor oddness."
Estrella
"Por favor," Estrella said, "Por favor, are you the Hansons? My little brother had a vision, he said we'd be safe here. We've been running since madre died. Please, may we come in?" When the girl looked at her with her sad violet eyes, Diana quickly invited them in.
"Tell me, child, what brings you four here?" Diana asked, as the rest of her sleepy family came down the stairs to see what the commotion was.
"Please, kind lady, my brother is ill, we have all been ill, and we've been running, and we do not know what to do anymore. Than Enrique, he had a vision, as his father's people often do, and the Powers that Be told him we'd be safe here. PLease, will we be safe?"
Zac and Diana
"Well, of course you'll be safe here," Diana assured them, showing them in. "Please, tell me what's happened?"
"And you can tell us at the same time," Zac said. "Man, these midnight meetings are getting a but much. Twice in a week!"
"Zac," Diana frowened, then she sighed. "I suppose everyone else is up now?"
"No, Avie, Mackie and Zoe are in bed still. And so's Ike. I dunno about Jess and Tay though," Zac walked over to the new arrivals. "Hi, I'm Zac, your friendly welcomer from the twenty-four hour club. The midnight shift has jumping lately. And you are?"
Jess and Alvarez's
Jess wandered downstairs to see her parents and brother talking to four blue people. Not blue as in depressed, but actually blue. She tried to stay her shock, and just sat down. She was about to ask what was up when on of the girls started to speak.
"My name is Estrella Alvarez, and this is my twin sister Claudia. The tall one is Miguell, our older brother, and this is Enrique, our little brother. We're. . . hybrids. Well, Miguel isn't, his father was also a mutant. Our mother was a mutant, a metamorph, I believe you say, shapeshifter? That is why we are blue, I suppose. Claudia & I, our father was an alien, a, what is the name, hermana?"
"Romulan, I believe," Claudia answered, her white eyes staring at something only she could see.
"Yes, that's it. And Enrique's father was a Brakken. They have visions. WE've been running for so long, from mutant haters, and alien hunters, and everyone it seems, then the Powers told us we'd be safe here." Estrella seemed to say this all in one breath, save for the pauses when she was unsure of a word.
Zac and Diana
"Oh you poor dears. It's wrong that people so young should be on the run," Diana sighed. "Sometimes I really wonder about these humans. So xenophobic. Well, I suppose that's really only a minority, but it's enough to cause trouble."
"They should be caught and shot, the lot of them!" Zac declared.
"Zac -"
"I'm sorry. I'm tired."
Alvarez's
"Yes," Enrique spoke up in his shy, little-boy voice, "But don't they say the same about us?" His question touched them all, because he was wise beyond his few years.
"So," Jess spoke up, voicing the question that Zac usually asked, "WHy powers do y'all have?"
"Well," Miguel said, "I'm impervious to any physical harm, I've never even been sick. The others all have two powers, since they're hybrid. Enrique gets visions, as well as invisibility. Estrella can alter her body, and she sees the past. Claudia sees the future, and she can fly."
"But I can't always control it," Claudia stated, "And even if I could, I can't see where I'm going," she said, bitterly. She could see when she was born, but one day, her vision just began to fade, as her eyes grew whiter. One day they were pure white, and she couldn't see anything.
Mouse
"Tired. Yes. Mucho tired. Sorry. Um. Empath yes?" Mouse shook her head hard. "Sorry, much too much. I'm the other midnight visitor. Running I can identify with. I do much running."
Sidhe jumped into the room, whirled around, and then started to strop against herself to Enrique's legs, purring loudly. Funness! New peoples to play with! Pat me!
"Sidhe, be nice."
I'm always nice. Sidhe put her paws up on Enrique's legs and regarded him thoughtfully.
"That's Sidhe. She's very pushy, problems, please tell me." Mouse had retreated back to her clipped sentences as the events pressed in on her. "Any of the Folk bother you, I'll sort them out. Fafnir!" The wolf had crept forward. "Quit." She dropped to her knees beside the wolf and wrapped her hands into his ruff. Shh, shh, we be good. Calm, my wolf.
Wrong. Wrong scent, wrong, just plain wrong.
Well, different type of alien, packmate mine.
Fafnir regarded her suspiciously. You sure?
That's what they said. I believe them. You be nice. Mouse looked up again. "He'll be good. Your brother's scent doesn't click with him, that's all. Wolves tend to go for the eat first, ask questions later approach. Sorry. He's nice, really. Just hyper protective."
Enrique
"My father was a Brakken. They are sometimes called Brakken demons, they're humanoid creatures," and as if to prove his point, a bit of Sidhe's dander caught in his nose and he sneezed, his Brakken face coming out for a moment. His skin turned black and red, with green spikes covering all of his face. Shaking his head, the Brakken vissage slipped away, and there sat the normal, blue-skinned boy.
Mouse
"Wow, coolio muchness! Can you do it again?" Mouse asked, eyes wide. "Cos, that's just, wow. Explains much too. Cos then some of the things I've seen in the nights don't seem quite so odd. Like this guy with yellow eyes and grr ridgey face that flipped in and out. Wolf told me run, and man, my sneakers were smoking, I'm telling you. Thay guy was *weird* muchness."
Alvarez's and Jessica
"That sounds like a vampire," Miguel said. "Our mother knew several, though they can't father children." Jess looked puzzled at this, her innocence showing.
"What do you mean by that?" she asked innocently, "And why do you all have different fathers?" The Alvarez's blushed, which was an odd sight to see, for their skin turns purple when they blush.
"Pues, our mother was, I believe you say prostitute," Claudia said.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Jess said, wishing she could erase her blunder.
"Do not worry about it," Estrella reassurred her. "We have had many years to get used to the idea, and you have npt. I think it is also different here, in Colombia, she had no choice. And she made good money, porque she could look like anybody."
Mouse
"I never went down that road, but I've known those who did. When you're hungry, anything you can do to get food, you do it. I was lucky. I could walk through walls, and I could tell gaurd dogs to stand down." Mouse shook her head. "I can see why she'd make good money though. And vampire? Weirded much. Explains the fangs though." Mouse put her index fingers to her mouth, much like Tim the Enchanter in Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail. "Where death awaits you with sharp pointy teeth!" She put her hands down again. "Literally, en I'm guessing. Nasty."
Alvarez's
"Vampires are generally bad," Estrella agreed, "Although, when we were hiding among the demon underground, we heard tales of vampire warriors with souls. Two of them. Probably just stories, though. There is no way on earth that a Slayer would fight alongside vampires." Jess giggled at that.
"Actually, one of my online friends, Dawn, is the Slayer's younger sister, and she told me that there actually are two vampires with souls, and that her sister has slept with both of them." Jess's revelation had the desired effect, as four blue jaws dropped.
"You mean it's true?" Claudia said, "And all this time we thought it must be legend. Then, my little brother, the story of your true father sacrificing himself to save the world must be true as well." Enrique beamed at that. Suddenly he screamed, and his hands went to his head as he doubled over in pain. The Hansons looked quite alarmed.
"Don't worry," Miguel said, "It's just a vision." As the vision ended, Estrella hed her little brother to her chest, whispering soothing words in Spanish and stroaking his hair.
"Estoy bien, mi hermano, estoy bien. Can you tell us what you saw?" Taking a deep breath, Enrique nodded.
"The alien hunter, and the mutant hunter, the two men we've been running from, the two who are working together? They're coming. Not here, but to a big place, with lots and lots of aliens. ANd games, and contests, I think, and we were all there."
Mouse
Mouse recoiled as his pain hit her, then her jaw set. Right. She put her hands on his skin, and concentrated. No little kid was gonna feel bad around her. Her eyes shut in concentration as she delicately started to boost his spirits.
Love/protectiveness/hope/joy/contentment...she made him feel the love of the pack for a moment, the belonging. She was guessing he didn't feel much of that. Then her blackness had little sparkles at the edge of it. "Oh, crap." She ripped her hands away, then sat breathing heavily, head between her knees. Wow. Headspins much.
"Jane, are you alright?" Mouse heard Diana say in concern.
"'M fine. Be good in a tic. Made him part of the Pack, for just a sec. Very tired now. But worth it." She smiled hesitantly at the blue people through her overhanging fringe. "I don't like to see people hurt. Not good people like you." Mouse put her head back down and concentrated on breathing. Not feeling quite so good. Drained, that was the word.
Estrella
Estrella could feel her little brother relax in her arms. Whatever that girl had done to him, it had relieved some of the pain that came with the visions. Migraines with pictures, is basically what they were, but they had an empathic trait.
"So," Estrella began, "does this gathering he saw mean anything to you? Lots of aliens in one place, competing?"
Mouse
"The Tournament. No one'd be looking for an attack, but how on earth they're thinking to get up close with telepaths and empaths wandering around..." Mouse sat up and shook her head gingerly, then slid off the couch to curl up with Fafnir. "S'not a very good plan they'd be having."
Always approach from downwind when you're hunting. Fafnir commentated. Make sure your prey doesn't know you're coming.
"But they don't know that we know. Makes a big diff." Mouse listened to the lazy beat of Fafnir's heart while she thought. "Sides, we ain't so helpless as they'd probably like to think. They'd havta have a way to take care of that. Makes them very stupid if they don't." Mouse frowned. "See any of them with guns? Or maybe they're planning to take one of the kids hostage. Or something like that."
Claudia
Suddenly, Claudia perked up. "Or maybe it's just a distraction! Mrs. Hanson, will you please take my hand?" She asked, as he held it out. As Diana's hand slipped into hers, Claudia had a vision of the future. Mrs. Hanson was crying, because One of her children was missing. It was going to happen soon.
"Seņora, please, sometime soon, your heart will be broken, one of your children will be missing. It is not positive to happen, especially once you know of it, but it is possible."
Mouse
"Easy fixed. Fafnir, gaurd duty. Sparra and Nevyn on patrol. S'help anyway." Mouse looked down as the eyes in the room swung her way. "S'an idea, just saying."
Zac
"Well, now that that's all settled," Zac said, stifling a yawn. "I'm going to bed. To dream of dancing sugarplums. No wait, that's Christmas. Oh whatever. This is how tired I am, you see."
And on that, he turned and returned to his room.
Jessica
"Zac," Jessi decided, "You're a great big dork. ANd how do you know you won't dream of horrible things tonight?" She asked with an evil smile.
Alvarezes
After a little more talking, Diana made up a some beds for the Alvarezes. They asked if there was a basement, b ecause they felt safest in the dark, and they curled up on the hide-a-way beds that the Hansons had.