Modern Day

Edur was only slightly comforted by Chris's words but she nodded anyway. Staying in the car didn't exactly make her happier but it would keep her, and more importantly, the others safe. She didn't want any of them to be hurt because someone spotted her. Even the red head woman was important in Edur's eyes.

When Olek and the other came up Edur wanted to run up and hug the man but the serious air about everyone made her freeze. Instead she grabbed Chris's arm and leaned into him.

The others spoke but Edur was too focuses on Kisa. The woman was hurt and very angry. Waves of rage practically rolled off her as she settled far away from the group. She bit her lip. Hunger was something she knew but Kisa seemed to be even more informed. She needed to eat soon that was for sure.

Deciding Kisa was okay for now Edur turned to the woman adressing Hawke. At first she seemed just a meek as Edur felt but her mood changed as quick as her eye color. Her voice sent waves of fear through Edur and a yelp, not quite loud enough to draw strangers attention but enough for their group to hear escaped her lip. She buried her face into Chris's side and hoped for the scary lady to go away.

Olek:

Olek shouldered his rifle as soon as Hawke gave his approval. He was in the process of stepping towards Aileen to tell her of Ara's wounds when he felt Kyra speak in his head once more. This time Olek felt a sharp pain in the back of his head. He winced and doubled his efforts to keep his walls up. The mind was a fragile thing, he had nothing against Kyra, but he didn't want to let anyone in. Olek had a few weak points, his mind was one of them. Letting his walls down would prove to be very dangerous. Do I need to heal anybody? And if he attacks me am I allowed to kill him in self-defense?

She was poised with one hand pinching her other arm. He was starting to understand the nature of her healing capabilities. He made a mental note and calmly shifted his gaze to Hawke and gave him nod. Olek would expect them to react negatively if anyone betrayed the group. Hawke's threats fell on dead ears as Kyra advanced. She moved a little closer to Ara in the process of responding to Hawke. She made her voice sound tiny and shy, feinting for viscous words that soon followed. Olek hadn't realized, but as soon as Kyra advanced towards Ara, his hand had flown to his sidearm. He gripped it tightly, his only remaining eye was glazed over by a haze of emotions that Olek hadn't quite processed. When Olek realized that Kyra was being protective more than anything, Olek released his grip on his side arm. Olek calmly approached and situated himself near Kyra and Hawke. He crossed his arms and glanced at both of them.

Olek rubbed his head, prolonged conversation with Kyra in such a manner scared him strangely enough. Past events in Olek's life left his mind with many stress fractures, he wasn't sure what it could take. He preferred not to put his mental limits to the test. Olek felt as if he could communicate with Kyra mentally if he spoke in his head with the intention of her hearing, but that would involve letting his walls down. He brooded on the thought, if Kyra meddled around in his head, he would know.

He slowly relaxed, that was usually the trick behind Olek's mental fortitude. He was always on edge, never truly comfortable, so naturally it was more difficult to shatter his mental barriers. Within a few moments his mind was exposed. He did his best to use words instead of feelings and memories, whilst hoping that Kyra would be tuning in. Aileen will have Ara covered. As for Hawke, keep your cool. No one will be killing each other on my watch. Olek devoted the majority of his focus on keeping his memories at bay whilst he focused on the words of his message. After he was finished, he raised his mental barriers back up. His rigid posture was once again present and with that he glanced at Hawke and then to Kyra. Olek opened his mouth to defuse the situation, but quickly stopped half way through when he heard Dray's voice. The rare occurrence warranted his immediate attention.

”Come on. Time to go.” Dray said quite matter-of-factly. Olek nodded his head and hoisted himself into the bed of the truck. He winced as he did so due to the partially healed wounds on his torso. He concealed his pain, and calmly reached with one of his hands out, offering to help anyone into the bed of the truck if they wanted it.

He watched the others outside through the car window. He was mostly examining the new arrivals, trying to decide if they could actually be trusted. He wanted to believe that they could but the very real possibility that they could be hunters was at the forefront of his mind. He was pulled away from his thoughts as Edur buried face into his side, she was clearly scared and looking back out the window he could see why. The tiger woman was intimidating for sure and she didn't look much like an escaped mutant to Chris. She didn't seem tired or hurt, and her clothes didn't look prisoner clothes. He didn't think that she could be trusted. He looked back at Edur and spoke gently to her."Don't worry she won't hurt you. I promise." He meant it to, he wouldn't let anything happen to her. The same went for the rest of the group,but Edur especially so. He'd do almost anything to keep his friends safe. Looking at the other mutant however he was much more willing to trust her. She was clearly tired and hurt just like they were. She didn't seem to be much of a threat to him.

He carefully watched the reactions of the others. It looked like they thought it was a good idea to trust these new mutants at least for now.He frowned slightly at this and his ears drooped slightly. He didn't think it was a good idea, he trusted the other's judgment, but something told him in his gut that the tiger woman at least couldn't be trusted. He wasn't sure about the other mutant, but he thought it best if he at least tried to keep an eye on her.. However he wouldn't argue about it, not now while they were out in the open. He thought for a moment and decided it would be best to talk with Olek or Hawke about it once they got to safety.

Ara twinged at Hawke's words. They were harsh enough to make the innocent cringe from hearing him. But his next words softened her ridgidness. [/color=green]"Somewhere safe."[/color] She murmured to herself. She pretended Kyra wasn't there while not doing the best job of it by tilting her head slightly away from the psychotic villainess feining innocence. It didn't take special abilities to sense that this woman did not like her, and clearly was the type to hold a grudge. So she rewarded her fake display of protectiveness with an equally convincing yet far more subtle return of assistance. [/color=green] "You stand out even more than me." [/color] She responds while at the same time pulling out the dusty, earthy scented spare clothes to offer to Kyra. By the way Kyra dressed, it was clear she wouldn't be caught dead in long stored away thrift store clothing. They were becoming fast 'frienemies'.

The clothes were actually supposed to be for Kisa since she looked like she would be the one who actually needed them and possibly Edur. She didn't pursue the big feline when she walked away. A nervous pang in the back of her mind held her in place. It was best not to bother another angry cat. She looked back down at her hand full of old clothes, suddenly feeling a bit idiotic for still holding onto them. They didn't smell bad, but they weren't fresh either. It wouldn't be a surprise if no one wanted them even though they needed them. She looked at Edur with uncertainty. They both looked at eachother with an equal amount of nervousness. A wrinkled up jacket from the pile is seperated and takes a few seconds to offer it to Edur. If the jacket is not taken from her hand after a few moments her hand will drop and simply let the jacket fall to the ground. Either way she starts to open and close her hand while rubbing her wrist with the other. Her joints were bothering her.

She resigned herself to sitting back down. The blood from the cut on her shoulder dried to her shirt acting like glue; which tugged at her wound if she turned a certain way. Which, made her keep still, almost like a statue. A hand drew her gaze up at Dray. The act surprises her enough to make her jump slightly. Beforehand she looked as though she had missed the city bus and already half accepted that she would be left there. Her eyes looked around a little more openly to see what was around her, and who. Olek was climbing into the truck. The truck already looked rather full. Her hand slowly opens and reaches out to take Dray's to help her up. Ara's skin felt unusually warm to the touch but dry. Similar to, but not quite like a fever. A sense of relief ran through her when she was helped into the back of the truck which had more room than inside.

She wasn't on the inside, but she was with the group. She would be thankful for at least that. It was then that the thought of being left behind really scared her. And shortly after settling in, a soft groan escapes her lips and she immediately passes out from exhaustion. Her breathing slowed to a steady pace.

Kyra

'Aileen will have Ara covered. As for Hawke, keep your cool. No one will be killing each other on my watch.' Kyra recoiled instantly, letting out a surprised gasp as she glimpsed some feeling and vulnerability hit her smack in the forehead. Of course, she had been tuned into Olek's thoughts and had not been expecting any reply to her questions, or at least telepathically from his end. It had been unexpected when he replied, and made her realize that while she had been dealing with the red feather head she had let some of her mental barriers fall, causing Olek's feelings to have a bigger impact on her then if she'd been prepared.

”Come on. Time to go.” Angry at the... violation of her mind, Kyra stalked to the back of the truck and with a single flick of her tail launched herself into the back of the vehicle. She noticed the Ara-thing pass out, and that Olek was.. not comfortable? Hah! Serves him right. Kyra stared away from the others, her eyes staring blankly at the world she did not belong in. Her ears pricked forward, while she wrapped her tail around her waist so as not to have anyone step on it. Angrily, Kyra communicated with Olek, Next time you attempt to grab my attention, please do try to keep your being, or self, out of it. This basically meant for him to control his memories and feelings, and not let them sink into his thoughts that he sent her way.

The guard looked at the other two a worried expression on his face as his hand hovered over the scanner, “Both of you have dealt with this one before and I have only been here a month, so why do I have to get it out. I heard of some real bad rumors about this experiment.” The older guard shook his head, “Those aren’t rumors.” He paused for a moment to think on his statement, “Let me rephrase that most aren’t rumors and the rest could be truth given time or slightly exaggerated tales.” The third guard chuckled, “You pulled the short straw, so that is why you have to do it. Just don’t show any fear and be courteous. Her mood swings are worse just as she is coming off from the sedation medicine.” The young guard closed his eyes steeling his nerves as he pressed his hand to the scanner. “Whoever heard of an experiment getting special treatment like this? They are more than likely just trying to scare me with those stories since I am the new guard here. If I get any trouble from this thing I will be sure to put it in its place, it shouldn’t take much.” As the door opened and he walked into the cell that was at least five times bigger than normal cells for experiments the cobwebs that he had to pass through made him lose some of his resolve. As soon as he had gone through the door, the older guard had started the timer in his hand, “Let us see who wins the pool.”

---

Dr. Payne rubbed his forehead as he looked at the young woman that was bouncing on her heels with impatient energy. “I am half tempted to send you back to your cell and this time take away all the spiders you have in there. What you did to that guard went too far.” Autumn smiled at him innocently as she continued to bounce even though the form fitting black kimono and the necklace of shrunken heads around her neck gave proof that she was far from an innocent woman. “I didn’t kill him though. He will be working again in a month and besides it wasn’t I at all. My babies thought I was threatened and so acted accordingly, I did what I could to stop them. So since you called me does that mean I am no longer grounded daddy?” The scientist sighed softly, there were times like this one that made him regret picking this girl up from that ward but the majority of the time the results he got out of her were amazing. “Yes you will be sent out again. Seems some guards became too soft and quite a lot of experiments have escaped because of it.” He stood up from his chair and pointed his finger threateningly at her, “There will be no killing of the escapees if it can be helped and making rude comments about you is not a good enough excuse. The guards and any other people who you find helping them can be killed. You understand Autumn?”

“Yes father I understand,” she replied glumly while looking down her bouncing coming to a stop as she came to the realization she had disappointed him. Dr. Payne walked around the desk, placed a hand under her chin, and made her look up at him, “Be good on this assignment and I promise you will get a very good reward for it. Now get thee spiders you will need and your scythe.” Her face brightened again and she turned to go but the voice of the man she had come to regard as her father stopped her with one hand on the doorknob. “One more thing Autumn. To be sure nothing goes wrong like an unnecessary killing you will be sent out with another.” He gave her a stern look withering her refusal that he knew she was about to make, “After what you did to the guard I believe that this measure is quite acceptable. And there will be no trying to romance him.” He sat back down at his desk signifying their meeting was at an end. Therefore, the young woman slowly turned and went out of the room her mood going up as she went to the equipment room formulating ways to try to disobey her daddy without actually disobeying him.

Chris's voice was a big comfort to Edur and she slowly unraveled from his arm. It wasn't like she wanted to distrust this woman but her voice was just so cold and although Edur would normally love the cold this was just different. It was like she had no care for the people around her.

Still the mutant would like to give her the benefit of the doubt. It wasn't like she could control how her voice sounded...right? And she wasn't afraid of Olek when that fear would be completely understandable. Her whole life she was tormented by guard but Olek was so different. So she shouldn't fear this girl. Not yet at least.

Even more confusing to the feline she was offered a jacket. At first she was hesitate but seeing that it would drop if Edur didn't take it she grabbed the fabric. It was very wrinkled but it didn't faze her in the slightest. It was already much better then what she was wearing now. Due to her stunt growth she never grew out of the clothes the guards gave her so they neve felt the need to replace it.

Rather awkwardly Edur slipped the jacket on. It covered the hair on her arms nicely and Edur smiled at Ara. 'Thank you.' She said nodding to the other female. It was a friendly if a bit guarded tone but calm all the same. No use being rude after all.

Olek

Olek calmly rested, waiting for the truck to start moving. He kept his good eye trained behind him, almost waiting for the smallest hint of someone tailing them. Olek gave another rattling cough, and proceeded to wipe away something from the corner of his mouth with the back of one of his hands. He stayed active when it came to the protection of everyone else, but his body was beaten, and his mind was tired. The amount of blood that he had lost was an ever present danger. Olek still felt chilled to the bones, but was doing great at concealing his current condition. The chill of the air around him only worsened the matter. He balled up his hands and gritted his teeth to refrain from shivering. He refused to show any form of weakness.

Sharp pain filled his head for a moment causing Olek to wince again. After Olek's 'accident,' he tried to keep interactions with the psychics at a minimum. Prolonged exposure to a foreign mind would have unknown consequences. Next time you attempt to grab my attention, please do try to keep your being, or self, out of it. Kyra's voice once again rang in his head. Olek turned his head to Kyra and lifted an eyebrow in her direction. Instead of responding mentally, Olek kept his walls up. He simply nodded once as a sign of acknowledgement. With that, his exchange with the woman was at an end for the moment. He found the nature of request slightly perplexing. He had dealings with two other telepaths before Kyra. The more familiar of the two didn't usually have issues with Olek's methods; however, The second one could've knocked a few of Olek's screws loose during his last encounter, so that was another possibility. He calmly came to the conclusion that Kyra's communication with him would have to be one way. He was unable to fix the issue on his end.

Olek remained still for what seemed like ages to himself. His mind drifted, sifting through memories to keep himself occupied as he looked at the nearby rooftops for figures. His eye eventually lingered on Ara as she slept. He blinked a few times before looking away quickly. Olek rubbed his remaining eye, shivering ever so slightly. His gaunt expression gave nothing away; his eye took in his surroundings whilst trying to ignore the black spots dancing around his vision. Lots of buildings, Olek's blind spot hindered his ability to take in everything without occasionally rotating his head. It wasn't exactly practical, but he did it anyways. Olek rubbed his eyepatch, readjusting it in the process. His ride on the back of Kyra's tiger form had jostled it out of position ever so slightly.

His eyelid grew heavy as moments began to spin onward. Olek rubbed his good eye, and pressed down on his own chest. The pressure caused dull pain signals to fire towards his brain. Olek embraced the momentary pain to keep himself awake. Afterwards, Olek calmly hooked one of his fingers in the collar of his vest. He glanced down, checking up on Aileen's bandaging. Swaths of blood soaked the bandages ever so slightly. The bleeding was still gone for the most part. Olek breathed a sigh of relief, and resigned to himself for the moment as he gazed up at the night sky, his expression concealing anything that might give away his thoughts and concerns.

Aileen shivered as Hawke spoke. The words were frightening, almost cruel.She couldn't help but wonder exactly what they'd all been through that would make him so protective he'd be as willing to kill as allow someone to join the group. Almost as soon as he spoke, however, the tension lifted. Not disappeared, but it lessened. As the others all piled in, she got the car going again, Hawke moving to take a place in the bed, quite possible to keep guard. She drove as quickly as the groaning, clanking truck would allow with its extra weight, her eyes focused only on the road. She didn't relax until she reached the thick wooden gate that marked the property. She slowed a little, listening to the birds as she coaxed the car up the drive. The large building was all one floor, sprawled out into four "wings" with courtyards between. It wasn't the largest building in the area, but there was more room than Aileen knew what to do with. Having these others around would help greatly...


As they finally pulled up to a house, Hawke seemed in a better mood. The animals greeted them, although they'd never met before. He whistled and hooted back, a kind of call-and-response forming in the woods. He closed his eyes, trying hard not to relax enough to sleep. it wasn't safe for him to rest yet. When the vehicle sputtered to a stop, he leapt out, his eyes scanning the area. Although well hidden, there were cameras all over the outside. Metal glinted here or there, some of it junk, but others he wasn't sure about. The woman had said her grandparents were from the lab; if they were smart they'd have security measures in place.....

It took some effort to stir Ara awake. The pain that would have registered from having her foot shaken normally would cause enough of a jolt to send her reeling. She was dead still enough to appear as though she wasn't breathing at first glance. The very short rest from the ride made her look like she was fairing worse for wear. She was slow to sit up with a growing sense of listlessness about her. A familiar voice squelched inside her head from the transmitter, and her only reaction was with a blink and a twitch. Her clothes stuck to her skin from sweating in her sleep. Taking a sleeve, she wiped what she thought was drool from her mouth but the metallic taste told her otherwise. She felt around her mouth but she couldn't find any cuts or any place she could have bitten her cheek in her sleep.

Seeing that the truck stopped, she could only assume that they had arrived at what she hoped was their original destination before the others became concerned with trusting her. And the other, woman. She would certainly be the last one off the flat bed. Normally this would be around the time that Holmes or one of the guards would come in to help feed her. It was a wonder why he would put so much effort into keeping her alive. Only then did it occur to her that it would prove to be a challenge to live outside the Lab without quite a bit of help. Of all of the other mutants she looked the least relieved to be there.

Stepping onto the ground hurt her feet. Just about everything hurt, yet she somehow found away to forget just long enough to recoil slightly in surprise. Her ears perked and her eyes started to dart about from the noises around her, suddenly becoming overly aware of her surroundings. All of it was making her wince and draw her shoulders up so that she looked hunched and perturbed about the new location.

Chris looked at the the female mutant with a cautious eye as she offered Edur the jacket. She seemed nice enough and she looked very weak and tired, more so than the rest of them, he hoped that she would get the rest she needed once they reached Aileen's home. Once everyone was back in the car and they started to drive to Aileen's home Chris went back to watching through the window, glancing back every so often to keep an eye on the two new mutants. He looked at the woman in rags with a small amount of concern for her condition but looked at the tiger woman with a cautious glint to his eye.

Once they reached their destination he quickly got out of the car and viewed his surroundings. He was glad to be in such a wide and open area. In fact he was glad that they were finally some place they could rest, he tried not to show just how tired he was but he honestly felt rather exhausted after escaping from the lab. He watched the others and noticed that the woman in rags was slow to get out of the bed of the truck. After looking her again he had a hard time believing she was really a hunter. He didn't think that a hunter would be in such bad shape, but he was glad that she was finally somewhere safe. Well somewhat safe at least, he was glad to be here but he was sure that the lab would still be hunting them. Not to mention he was decently sure that the tiger woman was a hunter as well, he wasn't sure just how safe it would be as long as she was here with them.

Olek

Olek rolled his shoulders once the truck ground to a halt. He briefly glanced down at the radio clipped to his chest and thoughts of Bast quickly crossed his mind. He rubbed his temples and clenched his jaw as he argued with himself. He didn't want to leave her behind, she was likely out of radio range, so it was unclear if Bast was even alive. They wouldn't kill her, she was experimented on, she could have important data. Olek reasoned with himself. If she was captured, her trail would rapidly grow cold. Olek glanced at the others approaching Aileen's large home. He rubbed his good eye, clearly exhausted, sleep deprived even. If he could find Bast's location, Olek was in no shape to help. Tomorrow then. Olek concluded to himself.

He quickly stepped down after noting the exchange between Dray and Ara. Olek's eyes drifted over them both, he halted for a few moments, but proceeded to walk towards Aileen's home. Just for tonight. Olek shifted his stance as he swayed back and forth. Black dots danced around his vision once more. Olek shook his head again, the thoughts of a bed quickly overtook his desire to eat. Olek's brain was essentially trained to be constantly rigid and alert. It proved taxing to say the least. Olek focused on putting one foot in front of the other. He focused on nothing else. Everything sounded muffled, it was almost as if someone was covering Olek's ears as he progressed. The only thing he could hear was the grass crunching underneath his feet, and his shallow breaths.

After a few moments, Olek arrived at the door. He blinked slowly a few times before stepping aside for the others. It wasn't his home, he didn't want to impose more than he already had, so he simply waited for the others to enter first.

When they pulled up to the house Edur's mouth dropped open. Being born away from normal lives she really had no idea what a home would look like. Sure she made pictures in her mind from the rare chance some guards would speak of their home, but other then that Edur was clueless.

In the corner of her eyes something glitiered and Edur stepped from the truck in awe. It was different from the Lab but still Edur felt slightly hesitant as she got a closer look. She had no idea what was on the inside.

The group made their way to the door and Edur followed with a hand gripping Chris. She felt a little bad for hanging on him all the time but fear outweighed guilt in this situation.

Olek, she noticed, stopped at the door. She wondered why he didn't open it. But then again it was the Healer Ladies home. Maybe he wished to not be rude or he couldn't get in without her help. Either way Edur wished they would hurry. Being in the open wasn't the best feeling at the moment.

Kyra

Kyra had briefly fallen asleep, as communicating through thoughts had been tiring but awoke when the truck stopped. She lifted herself over the side and landed lightly on the balls of her feet. Then she blinked in surprise; this wasn't at all what she was expecting. A house-den? She'd been expecting something... well, more grand and not so... well, just more then this. I guess I'm not sleeping inside. She huffed before shifting into her tiger form without speaking to the others and trudged after Olek, her ears moving independently of each other as her tail move lazily from side to side.

Instead of shifting and opening the door or sitting down to wait, she moved to the side of the door and lied down. Lying on her side, she looked a bit like an over-sized house cat sleeping on the porch or doormat. Her eye color also changed to that of forest green. She didn't growl or purr, or even whine, but she yawned exposing her large and scary canines that glittered ivory when exposed. I don't care if they're gonna kill me, as long as I get some sleep... In seconds, she was out cold.

Aileen moved quickly to the door, slipping a card through a panel before jamming her key in the lock and giving it a turn. The door flung open without the faintest squeak. Stepping inside, she typed a few characters rapidly into a pad on the inner knob before she waved everyone in. "Home sweet home. Ignore the mess, due to hiding my gift I don't entertain much..." She picked at some of the clutter--the oddly organized chaos she thrived in but drove her grandfather insane-- to hide her nervousness. She winced and looked at Olek."How bad are they still? Are they bleeding? How badly do they hurt?." When she caught him swaying, then Hawke doing much the same, she cursed, a mix of Gaelic and English leaping thickly from her tongue. "You two take the first rooms on the left, okay...? I'm going to take her--" she looked at Aramay worriedly"--across the hall, help her get cleaned up. I..if that's okay...." She added the last part fretfully, worried she might be offending or frightening the others. They were tired and several hurt, sure, but they'd been pushed about most of their lives... She kept getting these pinpricks, these twinges that told her who was hurting and where the worst ones were. She wanted to heal them all, but that would take time and energy she didn't currently have. Now that the danger was gone, at least for now, adrenaline faded. She was exhausted, her hands shook. First thing's first. get everyone settled...

Kisa

Kisa had been in the truck, but then the ball of knotted tension in her gut dispersed telling her the vehicle was done moving. She got out and... immediately wrinkling her nose at the smells and felt her limbs turn into gelatin causing her to stumble forward a little. A gruff bark of annoyance whistled through her teeth as she got back onto her paws the right way and began trotting toward the wooden box den like thing... It's just another cage... The realization made her recoil and snarl angrily at the obstruction in all this green tree stuff thing. Yeah, not I know I'm sleepy... Really... She yawned baring yellowed fangs as she began trotting away from the house. Sleepy enough to follow orders, but not sleepy enough to sleep in there. She leaned up against the-Aaaghhh!

The sound of rope moving at top speeds and the feel of something giving way under her caused her to attempt to dodge the trap but due to exhaustion, she moved sluggishly. The rope tightened around her back paw and due to her being such a large animal, it only managed to pull her behind up into the air whereas her front paws were digging into the ground. A snarl of anger that nearly sounded like humans curse words filled the air as she tried flipping to cut the rope. She only managed after several attempts that had caused her to look like some possessed and very ungraceful cat trying to become a ballerina. The sight would send anyone into loud guffaws of laughter.

I hate this place already. After her entire body was back on solid ground, she went back to the house and curled up on the opposite side of Kyra, her eyes shut tightly as if readying for nightmare as soon as her head hit her paws.

The voices through the transmitter would intermittently come through. They rang through as incoherent droning to her much like the voices of the others speaking around her. The causes could have been pain, stress, exhaustion, both mental and physical, weakness from hunger, the treatments. Any one of those answers would be true to an extent. A good number of the others were sharing similar difficulties. Her reaction to seeing the door to the house open was almost humorously slow if the air around them wasn't so thickly coated with a layer of malaise. It was actually Kisa's snarl that jolted her to attention just enough to get her to go inside once she saw that the feline had freed herself. But not before her eyes blankly stare at the sleeping Kyra for a few moments first.

She swallowed dryly while trying to avoid letting the blood in her mouth go down her throat. The lingering taste of it was making her nauseous. It wasn't like there was anything that she could throw up. Though the act of it would sap the last trickle of energy she still clung to right out of her if she did. Her face felt hot and tight as though her skin was being stretched. Ara's sleeve would go up to her face again, sniffling as Aileen spoke to the others. A warm trickling feeling from her nostrils. And as she brought her sleeve down, red would run from her nose and down her upper lip as if someone just punched her. Her other hand; which still held the bag of clothes comes up to stop herself from dripping blood on the floor. "Ahm srry hmm srry." She mumbled not wanting attention drawn on her. Not any more than she already had. Instead she tried to have Olek tended to. "Hm fine, help Olek it's just a bloody nos-...I...fine..." Ara went quiet once the room started to spin. She steadied herself against a piece of furniture to keep from toppling over. She didn't speak another word after that. Only a breathy murmur, then audible breathing. Not to be confused with hyperventilating. All her thoughts suddenly focused on staying upright.

She looked completely zoned out. Laying down sounded like a great idea. But her body was so locked up for fear that she wouldn't be able to lower herself to the floor. No, she felt that if she tried to move just an inch, that all of her muscles would give out on her at once. Poor thing was shaking and sweating while propped up against the furniture. No passing out again. She had to stay awake.

Olek

With one tired eye, Olek looked down at Kyra. If he wasn't so dazed, he would've found it amusing that there was a giant Tiger sleeping on the porch of Mansion/farmhouse. Olek didn't really know what to categorize Aileen's home as. He was too tired to maintain his analytic nature. Olek shambled inside after Aileen, noting at the amount of security measures that she had put into place. Careful is good. He continued to move past her, his eye darting around for any semblance of a bed. His eye scanned the hall, but there were only closed doors. The house was large, cozy even. Walls never made Olek feel safe, but for once in a very long time he felt the slightest bit of security. There was security in numbers, not enough to become complacent, but it made him feel slightly less on edge.

His eye was glazed over, and unfocused. He took once step forward only to realize that Aileen was speaking to him. "How bad are they still? Are they bleeding? How badly do they hurt?." Olek stifled a rough chuckle, laughing usually made things better, even if it was fake laughter. It made Olek seem more human. Aileen quickly looked to Hawke, for he too had lost a large amount of blood prior to any healing.

"You two take the first rooms on the left, okay...? I'm going to take her--" she looked at Aramay worriedly "--across the hall, help her get cleaned up. I..if that's okay...." Aileen spoke in a worried tone. Olek glanced down at Aileen's shaking hands, he glanced at her worried expression with sympathy.

Olek was startled when Ara spoke, her voice bringing back memories that Olek wanted to bury. His head turned slowly, giving Ara his full and undivided attention. "Hm fine, help Olek it's just a bloody nos-...I...fine..." She murmured. Olek noted her sickly complexion, and he unsteadiness. She was shaking and sweating, so Olek made a snap decision. He usually wasn't good at comforting people, but he was willing to make an exception if it mean getting some shut eye quicker.

He slowly approached Ara, and placed his hands on her shoulders to stop her from shaking, and to keep her from falling over. Olek spoke in a gentle tone, "Hey..... It's okay, you're safe. No one's going to hurt you." Olek paused, letting his words sink in.

"Let Aileen take a look at you, okay? She can help. I'll be fine, you and I both know that I've walked away from worse." Olek spoke in the most comforting voice that he could muster. He looked into Ara's eyes with his own, looking for recognition, emotional responses, anything. Olek cocked his head to the side to look at Aileen.

"I'll be fine, I'd like to get everyone settled in before I go to bed." Olek stopped and glanced at everyone else. "I think everyone deserves a rest."

As they walked up to the house Chris was rather glad that he would soon have a chance to rest. Edur was once again clinging to him. Not that he minded and he gave her a small smile to show that it didn't bother him. She's never been outside before and everything she was seeing was completely new to her, so he understood if she felt frightened. He was glad he could comfort her somewhat just by being near.

When they entered Aileen's house Chris couldn't help but bring a smile to his face. He hasn't set foot in an actual house in years and he was rather surprised and pleased to see it was so large. He didn't even mind the mess very much,it was better than his cell, anything was. He already liked it here, it made him feel safe, something he hadn't felt in a very long time. He looked around at the others Kisa was already sleeping and Hawke and Olek both looked to be struggling to stand, the woman in rags however seemed to be in even worse shape. He looked at Aileen when she said she was going to take the injured mutant and try and clean her wounds, she spoke worridly and he gave her a slight enthusiastic nod to show that he agreed.

Kyra

Kyra didn't sleep a lot, mostly due to nightmares and the cold metal under her being... huh? She blinked open her eyes, and received a bunch of a blurry images. What...? Where are the steel walls? It took her awhile to remember where and why she was where she was. She yawned before shifting into her human form. She shivered from the cold as she whipped on her black coat and... She decided not to put on her mask.

Her eyes changed color yet again, this time to gold, as golden as gold doubloons. She stumbled into the room, using the wall to keep herself steady. She noticed Olek, and slowly but progressively made her way toward him. Along the way, she noticed another... body, his name wouldn't come to her, but he was a red head... He was also swaying and... Suddenly it was like the world was rushing into Kyra and the ground also, was rushing up to her... and... "Oh!" She caught herself by also catching Hawke's shoulder and holding him to keep herself from falling over although it appeared to be as if she was just keeping him from falling over...

"I can help with the injured, Cyclops, and..." Kyra blinked, startled by something.. That smell... She glanced at the red head she was using as support... Wait, okay, remember... and... "Feather-head?" She both asked this verbally and telepathically, more out of shock. She snarled, and pulled away from him, suddenly focusing very hard on using the wall to keep herself steady and not lunge at the jerk that threatened her... Distrust and dislike appeared on her face, as she scowled, forgetting that she didn't have her mask on and that everyone would see the scar on her face... Oh, what the hell, who cares? I mean it'll just make them even distrust me even more...

The puckered scar, was currently on her left side, so Olek and... the feather-head wouldn't have seen it until she had turned and snarled at him. Until then, they would have only noticed her good side which if Kyra been in great health and eating well, would have been worthy of a very descriptive comment about her beauty... Yes, she was a bit vain for a mutant experiment, but real free humans would say she was being... not all that concerned about her looks, or herself.

Hawke chuckled softly at Aileen's worry. She shook with exhaustion but ordered them around with no cruelty in her voice. Only worry. A healer at heart-- he felt no reason to argue with her or talk back. "Rest sounds like a good idea..." He headed the open doors, and couldn't help but stare. A bed...! It had been years... so long since he'd seen a real bed. A few fluffy pillows, the blan,ets thick and soft... they almost looked like fur. Didn't smell like it, but he bet they were just as warm. The room was easily twice the size of the Lab's cells, maybe even three times. Made it smaller by normal standards, but huge to anyone from the facility. He glanced back toward the others, leaning casually against the doorframe as his vision fuzzed out once more. Aileen smiled, trying to coax the oddly shaped mutant toward a tiled room. The ceramic walls were a pale, gentle blue, everything accented in green....
"Featherhead?" he looked at the new shifter automatically. "That's between you and the healer. Right now, I think sleep is best for us all."


Aileen nodded to Olek, trying to hide her worry. " Just don't push yourself too hard. And get some sleep, the moment everyone's settled." She brushed the girl's arm gently. "I know he's hurt bad still, but he's healed up enough for now. He's going to be fine. Right now, I'm more worried about you."

Inside the house Edur felt a bit off. She had never experienced anything like this before. It was strange enough guards decided to help them but now a full on human who had lived a life outside the Lab was offering them a place to stay? Such kindness was still very new to Edur.

Then again there was something about the woman. She held herself like their world full of tests and murder was always right on the edge of her mind. Maybe she knew something about it?

Edur didn't have time to think harder about it as their rooms were pointed out. Dray who had never been outside the Lab like herself went forward. He opened the door to the room he'd be sleeping in. His face morphed into one of awe and Edur wondered how diffrent the rooms would be from the Lab. Would she have her own again? She looked up at Chris and squeezed his arm. 'Can we share a room? I don't wanna be alone.'