Manus Luna

As the best fell to electrocution, Alexi fairing little better from the injuries he’d taken from the Hunter himself . . . Nicoletta found herself not doing quite so well herself. Her shoulder was aching, and her body was throbbing with the need for her inner fire to release itself from the previous battle. It desired to incinerate something. . . . But, there was nothing left o burn up without revealing herself, her status as a Gifted. Death no longer loomed over her head, her life was no longer threatened . . . so why was it that her powers still desired destruction? In this state, what would happen to her? Could she keep control over herself, and resist the urge to burn?

She heard well what was going on around her, and she remembered why it was she’d come to Dominion Hecate in the first place, who’d she come with. The textiles, Momchil, Amalia . . . here for her mother. Her family was still there, and she still had something to do on that hot day, she had been sent to do something simple and had wound up getting caught in a battle with a monster like her sister fought. Mom. . . . I said I’d get your bolts of cloth. Nicoletta reminded herself, her eyes shutting as her small body began to shake from the sense of her powers beginning to overwhelm her. The blonde stood where she had stopped after the battle had abruptly ended, her head cast down toward the ground, her arms hanging limp at her sides, the gun still in her hand. While her shoulder ached in pain, Nicoletta herself had begun trying to stave off the heat that was coming from her bones.

At this rate, she was going to be consumed.

"Well, your textiles are waiting for you and your siblings on the counter of the shop. I advise you to get them quickly before the cops fill the streets, armed with their papers and pens." she heard the shopkeeper speaking to her, but . . . it sounded muffled, completely so. The sounds of Portum Animas were dull in her ears. So, though it seemed rude indeed, the teenager gave no response to the man’s words, simply she stood there as before.

I’m losing the battle . . . the fire is going to win, isn’t it? she questioned herself, body beginning to quiver as her heart sped up in her chest. A nervous gulp came from the girl as in her moment of panic, she found the grip upon her revolver loosening to the point that she let it go, the thing clattering to the pavement below. If I let go now, I’ll end up following in Aylin’s footsteps, I’ll be detained, and forced away from everyone.

Nicoletta didn’t want to have to let go of herself, she wanted to keep a hold on this, of herself and her power, she didn’t want to be shown as a Gifted. But, she wasn’t even sure if she could keep on going as this felt, her body was beginning to ache so much from it. . . . The heat was beginning to consume her from the inside out, her bones felt as if they were on fire, her skin and muscles felt as if they were melting. Tears began to run down the girl’s face as she continued her inner struggle to keep her grip. But, without meaning to, words slipped from her lips as she found for control over her own body, “C-Can’t . . . I can’t keep this up. . . .”

Without warning, she dropped to her knees and her body lolled to the side hitting the hot pavement with a thud. No, Nicoletta was not yet unconscious, but she couldn’t keep standing and holding it at bay. “Go-going to lose it.” She mumbled, voice wavering as her form suddenly tensed up, and her eyes clenched shut. And . . . just as it felt as if she were going to go up in flames and consume everything around her with her fire, incinerate and burn so much, something broke her of those terrible feelings and thoughts.

A voice called from nearby, a voice she knew so well, “Nicoletta!!” Even if she did at times pretend to be annoyed by the owner of that voice, at that moment, the blonde girl could not have been happier to hear it.

Her body felt like it had gone numb for a moment, as she struggled to move her head to look in the direction of the voice who’d called for her. Tears still came from her eyes while the throbbing resumed, yet a weak smile worked over her face as a name came from her lips, “V-Vincente. . . .”

Into view, a sword-toting young blonde man came into view, sharing the same grey eyes as Nicoletta, a look of worry etched upon his face. Nicoletta looked at him, happy to see her brother then. “Nicoletta, what happened to you?!” he cried out, running over to her collapsed form, kneeling down.

“Al-almost lost it,” she told him, her voice soft. “But, I-I think I have control over it now.”

A look of concern overtook Vincente’s face, “You don’t much look like you have control over it sis. . . .”

Nicoletta shook her head, “I think I’ll be all right, it was just an aftereffect of fighting . . . the battle’s over now, and there are more important things to worry about than me,” the girl weakly moved herself up and pointed over to where she’d last seen Alexi with his injuries, “Al-Alexi’s gotten a nasty wound from all this, he needs medical attention. . . . Then, there’s Momchil and Amalia too, they’re still in the shop, waiting to gather the textiles for mom.”

“Nicoletta, the textile bolts don’t matter right now, mom might not thrilled if she doesn’t get them today, but she’ll understand that your health, as well as Alexi’s, comes first. Same for the twins.” Without giving his sister a chance to respond, Vincente looked around and spotted the shopkeeper who looked a bit like himself, of course, while Vincente had much the same thought about that as his sister, unlike her, he didn’t suddenly go and spout it out. “I’m going to assume you’re the one in charge of the shop our mother’s shipping order got sent to by mistake; I apologize for this, but we’re going to have to leave those with you for the time being, Nicoletta’s not doing so well and her friend is injured.”

Syd Lastern

After Syd had made his comment about Xibalba, he nearly made it back into his store until the breeze hit his wound. While he had an intolerance to pain, he was thankful that it wasn't to temperature, so his eyes quickly scanned his bloodied left arm. As he had noticed before, one of his better shirts was now cut and the sleeve was barely clinging to his arm while the blood slowly fell to the ground off of his fingertips. His head than swiveled around, for he realized that he had forgotten to get his jacket. When he found it - it wasn't that far from the Hunter - and sighed as he turned his entire body to face his jacket. However, when he strove for his beloved piece of clothing, he noticed the girl Nicoletta out of the corner of his eye: she seemed to be struggling with something, and he nearly dismissed her when Syd heard the solemn clang of an all too familiar sound.

A gun - nay, a revolver, clanging off of the tired, beaten ground.

His head instantly turned to her, and even though he was just a few steps from his jacket, Syd stopped in his tracks to examine the young girl. He hated the sound - not only did it remind him of a past that he didn't want to remember, but it was a constant throughout his lifestyle. So many times had he heard somebody's gun fall to the ground, it was almost aggravating. Besides, it wasn't good for the shiny revolver that she owned. Syd's deep, dull blue eyes shifted from the golden gun to Nicoletta once more, noticing that she seemed to be having a massive breakdown of her nervous system, even her motor functions. As tears began to fall to her face, something that gave Syd a little startle, he barely made out some of the words she mumbled:

"Can't... I can't" That was all Syd could make out until she fell to the ground. Syd's eyes widened slightly, but he made no move to help her, nor call for help. He simply watched her in a dull trance: as if he was in shock. It felt all too familiar to him, but his flashbacks were put on hold by just the oddness of the situation: Nicoletta, a girl that was strong enough to challenge a Hunter, had mysteriously fallen to the ground in some form of comatose. Syd's brain couldn't comprehend what was going on with her, she just seemed to be burning up suddenly. It wasn't until a young man came running and yelling that he seemed to snap out of his little trance. Syd's face instantly changed, almost like a two - faced demon did, from his actually emotional expression to his originally dull and monotone face. While the man - Syd assumed him to be the brother Vincente that resembled him, for it was quite shocking how similar they looked - attended to his sister, Syd walked over to his jacket and put it on slowly, only to stop at his left arm. He sighed, not wanting to get it bloody, when he felt somebody tap his shoulder. To his shock he saw Azi and Teddy, with Teddy holding a first aid kit. Syd nodded his thanks and bandaged himself up quickly. When he was sure the blood had stopped, he placed his left hand inside his jacket.

When Syd finally was about to walk away, the brother called Vincente's voice ran over to him, to which all three of the Deck turned to the man. “I’m going to assume you’re the one in charge of the shop our mother’s shipping order got sent to by mistake; I apologize for this, but we’re going to have to leave those with you for the time being, Nicoletta’s not doing so well and her friend is injured.” Syd nodded, understanding the idea that the man had tried to instill, but not really agreeing with the idea. He didn't like the idea of somebody else's goods simply relaxing in his store and taking up space. No that wouldn't do. Instead, Syd thought of an idea, and as much as he hated to do so, it looked like he was going to do something for free.

"While I understand your reasoning, I have a counter proposal. For assisting in the take down of the Hunter," Syd nearly grinded his teeth when Azi started snickering. "My employees and myself will carry your textiles for you. I do not need them sitting in my shop and taking up space, so getting them out of my shop is a benefit to myself as well." Syd said in his normal tenor voice, foregoing the monotone that he used around strangers and unlikables. This Vincente and his family were quite intriguing to say the least. He nodded his head, and Teddy walked back into the shop, while Azi turned to Syd and muttered a quick.

"I know you love to show off your stuff kid, but I thought you kept your bullets private..." Azi winked at him and then over at Vincente and his sister before lighting up a cigarette and walking over to the store. Syd looked down and swore quietly: His necklace of bullet casings must have slipped out during the fight, for they were now dangling from his neck in plain sight for anybody looking at him to see. Not really caring by this point, he grabbed it slowly and nonchalantly put the necklace behind his shirt once more. By then, Ted had come out with all of the textiles in his hands, with one for Syd to carry as well. He wasn't much of a lifter, but he needed to at least look like he was going for a purpose.

Alex had fallen into a state of sleep momentarily after passing out. At first, he could see a face. A strange face. But he couldn't quite make it out. Also, his head hurt a lot. His mind also seemed a bit...blurry...or clouded.

Heal. Health. Blood. Wind. Nicole. Blurry. Family. Blurry. Street. Blurry. Blurry. Textiles. Explosion.

Alexi woke back up. Alex tried to get up, but at this point, the adrenaline was gone, the pain was kicking in, and he had a good amount of pain. Alex then noted "May I suggest we get to someplace with proper healing supplies......just a thought....". Alexi then coughed up a hacked cough, and Tammy tried to help him up. Thats when Alex added "I think....there is a place close by..."

Alexi then started to get a headache. Tammy took off his sweatshirt and let Alexi use it as a sort of bandage kind of. Alexi then started to fall over, but Tammy caught him. Alexi noted "Ill be fine, im alright", which was blatenly obvious that it was a lie. Although, he was actually much better then everyone thought and then how he looked.

Just then, Alexi became aware of what everyone else was saying and doing, including the necklace of bullet casings, although he didn't really register that as strange or anything important. Thats when Alexi also was about to say something, but then decided against it, instead saying "Tammy, I think Nicole needs your help more....". Alexi was fairly clueless about how bad his own injuries were, so he really had no idea if she was more wounded then him or not.

(Beta, this place would be where your characters long lost sister is? Or you want that to be later)
(Meh, my head was foggy during this post, so It might not be as good as my others >.>)