Taurus's Story

Bruce snorted slightly, flicking his long and tufted bullvine tail. He shook his massive head causing his long ears to flap one of which was tagged with some sort of code.

7B432: Taurus, it read.

He rose to massive hooves and began to pace on the upper floors, awaiting patiently for the arrival of the new test subjects. Taurus was a key part of the security. The subjects would be turning into creatures of unknown strength and size and unknown abilities. Any creature the regular security couldn't handle he would be deployed to forcefully subdue them with his own strength and size. It wouldn't be difficult for a massive human/fighting bull.

Bruce walked up to the elevator and place and placed a massive dinner plate sized hand on the outer doors. They where a dull metallic set that offered a very blurry distorted reflection of the massive mutated minotaur and the glass doors behind him. Bruce listened for movement and wondered if the scientists would be upset if he went down to greet them. A deep sense of curiosity brewed in his furry form but he could already feel the painful shock he would be handed if he disobeyed. The memory alone was enough to send him into a wave of distress and discomfort. His breathing came in sharp huffs and he paced stress fully away from the elevator, giving off a low mournful moan that sounded disturbingly like an ill cow and a man that had lost someone close to him in chorus.

Varin sighed, keeping his head down as he started to wander about in an effort to get he feeling back in his legs. The feeling of pins an needles was starting to get on his nerves. Through the ocean that was his thoughts, a storm of negativity crossed his mind. It felt like a mental asylum here. And the pain in his arm didn't help the thought of it either. He twitched his head a bit, feeling the crick of stiffness. Though this stiffness made worse by his instictive head jerk upon hearing the sargent's rally.

Oh how he hated the loud ones. People who where loud naturally annoyed him to the core. However, this seemed more like a call to arms if anything else. "I doubt the hospitality is any better than being dragged out of the sea. Besides, it feels closterphobic in here. Like my skin's getting to tight for me." He said as he looked on the other end of the hall. He didn't see anything in particular, but something was telling him that something was there.

He walked slowly down the hall, looking from left to right, looking for anything that look like a door to the outside. It felt like something was on his head, twitching or trying to feel around as if he couldn't see himself. He muttered to himself, something about wondering if anything was even right anymore.

As he turned the corner, he felt a presence...and then a sence of fear that he hadn't felt since he was a child. In there was something there...something that looked like a shaggy man-bull. A minotaur from the greek myths that he read from time to time. His face paled from this and cause him to turn on his heel right back into the more populated hall in a cold sweat. "D-d-don't go down that hall. Just don't." he said as quickly as he walked past everyone in terror.

It was to his surprise that the elevator opened voluntarily; figures that someone was watching and practically handing him an invitation. They wanted him in this elevator with no idea where it lead. On a floor with no escape, this was his only option, for better or worse. Stepping inside with the doors closing behind him, his eyes widened as he looked to the ceiling, focused in on the speaker. “Where the hell do these people think we are? The Hilton?” Clenching his fists, his blood boiled from the subtle insult. “The bastards.”

He gathered they were somewhere underground after the elevator ride, and as it slowed, he prepared himself for whatever waited on the other side of that door. Cracking his neck, he turned around and stepped out only to find his back to the wall. This had to be a dream because what he saw next was beyond even his wildest imagination. If the reception room wasn’t enough, the giant “Minotaur” definitely was.

“So, you’re either a jackoff in a costume, or I had more than a little bit of anesthesia. Which is it going to be?” Fear wasn’t the sum of his emotions; Cadmus was downright confused. Whatever it was, it looked realistic down to the very last detail. How was he to explain or account for this? Some sort of hoax, an experiment maybe? “What are you… ?” Peering into the eyes of the beast, he saw some strange glimmer of humanity buried beneath them.

~~

Sophia froze at the sight of Taurus, and she was dumbfounded as to how this had happened to the poor man. She stood there looking around Cabmus, with all comments or plans she had gone, disappearing like a leaf in a storm. She silently stepped around the Cabmus and took a full look at the creature. What happened to him? She wondered, piecing words and pictures together in her head slowly.

She walked right up to Taurus and looked him over, almost touching him at one point to feel the fur covering part of him, but didn't because she was unsure how the creature would respond. As she continued looking, and wishing she could touch, she remembered Crombie. "Could someone see how Crombie's faring? And maybe help him out?" She asked absently, finely looking up to Taurus's head.

Sophia almost dropped to the floor, seeing the transformation of the face sent her into thinking about the pain and suffering it must have cost. "Oh my," She whispered before collecting herself again. "Bring that head of yours down here, I want to see those horns." She looked up at him her voice stern, daring Taurus to ignore her.

“Security…” This had to be some sort of joke, and when Cadmus heard the word “subjects” after seeing this thing, he really knew he was in trouble. “I bet not even Old Macdonald saw this coming.” For some reason, everything about this situation amused him. It was one giant parody gone wrong. “Suppose I can’t expect a big dumb animal like you to talk now can I?” Cadmus knew he probably shouldn’t provoke him, but being dead at this point wasn’t a bad idea. Then again, if he was a part of some damn elaborate experiment, he might be too valuable to simply just toss aside. “Alright, I figured it out. Your wanted to open up your very own petting zoo but sheep just didn’t’ quite cut it.”

With his military credentials, there had to be a way for him to get in on the inside and find out who was really running this freak show. Looking directly into one of the cameras that overlooked the elevator, he smiled, giving it the finger. “How the hell am I to hurt any of you when you cowards won’t even show your face? I always knew this was going to be how I died; transforming into a cow before being put out to pasture.”

“Even your ‘masters’ call you a beast, Taurus. And you’re just okay with that?” Eying the monstrosity, he shook his head, spitting on the ground in disgust before noticing the front doors. “Escape… nigh time I figure out where the hell it is exactly that I am.” Keeping a close eye on Sophia, he narrowed his gazes. “Sure you’ll have your own pair of horns to match in no time. As for ‘Crombie,’ I’ve never left a soldier behind, but he’s going to need some definite looking after…”

OOC: Considering Crombie’s disability, I figure the possibility of crafting some sort of cane from the trees outside would be in order to help him out a bit.

Bruce's brows furrowed somewhat in confusion. He didn't expect this, the woman went boldly up to him causing him to step back cautiously and kick the bench that was behind him. The wood cracked loudly and he grunted. He lowered his head automatically for a moment expecting a shock to jolt through the collar at his neck if he refused. Then he remembered what his job was in that place. He was the security it was his job to keep order and keep them in line and he didn't need them studying his physiology. It was enough that the scientists had done so and turned him into what he was. And then Cadmus made the unfortunate decision to speak up and make several jokes on his form.

"Maaauuuuuuuuuufff" He bellowed, the closest thing to a protest and he pushed Sophia to the side forcefully, but not enough to significantly harm her. His eyes flashed in Cadmus' direction but he simply stared back waiting for him to do something other than run his mouth. He didn't even fully understand what the man was saying. He could sense the tone, mocking and distasteful, the way he'd said Security. Bruce's jaw tightened and he took a few steps up to face Cadmus directly. His large angry eyes stared into Cadmus', his breath expelled in loud huffs the powerful stench of bull emanating from his thick fur. He curled his enormous fist and delivered but a single punch to Cadmus' torso, breaking one rib and fracturing another, not a fatal wound but painful. Immediately a strong current raced through Bruce's collar and into his body causing him to cry out in pain. He fell to one knee and yanked and grasped at the collar helplessly, bellowing and writhing before the current was cut off.

The walkie pinned to Bruce's waist crackled to life.
"Next time I would be a little more careful about what you say, Brucie is a very sensitive guy." The security guard said. "Plus his transformation was completely voluntary, he doesn't care what we call him. He IS one of us."

OOC: Thanks, Maestro, that's the plan. Originally he was supposed to have his cane but something happened with Sophia and it wasn't obvious.

Since Crombie was totally in that elevator, he had stepped out nervously, listening to the reactions of the others around him. He was clearly confused. "What's going on?" He asked softly, they were all speaking of a bull -- a beast. That couldn't possibly be true, but even he heard the sound of an animal nearby. An intercom came on with static and a voice explained the arrangement. This had to be some sort of cruel joke.

Wait?...Formerly Bruce Fryler?

Everyone was panicking, screaming and shouting at the nothingness, but he was just in denial. "Could someone please explain to me what's happening!" Said Crombie, finally speaking up. "What is it? Is it an animal?" There was a whine in his voice. He wanted to know what it was -- what was happening, but absolutely no one was making any sense! He was just hearing bits and pieces, half a picture.

As if that wasn't enough, the panic and emotion of everyone around him was really starting to drive him insane. He could feel the tension and alpha instinct of the colonel, which got to him the most. He furrowed his eyebrows. "Would you stop referring to us as soldiers! I can't speak for the others, but I am not a soldier," he said coldly, staring oddly of to the side of where he assumed Cadmus was. "Sure I have a disability, but I've been able to take care of myself for the last decade of my life, even without my cane, don't speak to me as though I'm a child." He was really on edge and he need to sit down, but for now, he frowned and held his tongue.

Something happened the bull-thing was upset, and Crombie was, once more, utterly confused and flustered.

OOC: Well sorry... when reading I got the impression that the only items left for each of the characters was the cloths on their bods. But we'll get something figured out ^^

Sophia was about to fire back a reply to Cabmus, but instead let out a low pitched squeal as she was shoved aside by Taurus and smacked the wall. "You big lug, watch what your doing." She grumbled checking herself over before standing and seeing the aftermath. When she saw that Taurus had punched Cabmus, she worried about what might have been broken, but then she saw Taurus fall and writhe in pain. "Sorry Cabmus, you kinda deserved that one, considering I was even tempted to punch you for your comment." Sophia didn't go near Taurus again though, self preservation over ruled how much she wanted to help him.

Skirting around Taurus, Sophia went over Cabmus. "Well Crombie, um, ya, I guess it is some sort of animal, though I'm not sure how a full human changed to what ever this creature is. And I think Cabmus here is just reverting to old habits." She said still inching her way along the wall and fear lacing her voice. Now she was scared, and she wasn't sure what to do, but she called on her nursing skills as she made it to Cabmus. "Well, Sir, um, ah." Sophia froze, her mind totally blank as for what to do.

With an enraged bellow of his own, Kyle exploded out of the elevator with his makeshift weapon raised high. He took in the situation at a glance and stopped in his tracks. The expression on his face faded from rage to shock to dumb confusion in the span of a second. The meaty thud of Cadmus's body hitting the floor snapped him back to reality. A sudden onslaught of fear left him frozen to the spot.

The creature's sheer mass was awe-inspiring. It easily towered over him, dwarfing him by a good meter. It's shaggy flanks heaved with a powerful snort that left him weak in the knees.

"Get back!" he cried as a young woman made an entirely inadvisable advance on the creature. He hefted his weapon once again, a foolhardy prospect in light of Cadmus's plight, but by good fortune or providence, some invisible force seemed to constrict around the creature's neck. It fell to its knees, bellowing piteously.

He took his chance. Siezing Cadmus by the shirt collar, he dragged him back into the relative safety of the elevator. The aluminum rod dropped with a clang as he frantically searched for the door controls. There weren't any. He looked up in abject terror.

"What the hell are you?"

The sheer force of the beast alone was enough to put him on his ass, and almost instantly pain surged through his chest and into his abdomen. He could virtually feel the bones cracking in his chest, but Cadmus had nothing more than a chuckle as a retort. “You won the fight, but I won the war.” Watching as the beast wriggled on the floor nearby, he was taken unawares meanwhile, disoriented from the hard blow. Realizing he was now slumped in the elevator after Kyle’s intervention, Sophia’s abrupt involvement also caught him a bit off guard.

“As much as I appreciate your candor, I’ve had more than a few broken ribs in my life. Being punched by a woman however, that is a different story entirely.” Cadmus knew that assimilating with the sort of people he was surrounded by would be tough. He had grown up in an entirely different generation. Having been brought up on the streets of Boston, he was lucky enough to make it home from school without a black eye or so much as a few missing teeth. “Forgive me, but I don’t take kindly to being held against my will as some college rejects science fair experiment.”

Not yet ready to take his chances of standing up, he sighed and leaned his head back, closing his eyes while his fingers returned to the pendant secured around his neck. It would seem that every time things got tough Cadmus found himself doing just that – out of habit more than anything now. Pushing forty was a little too early to be spending the remainder of his years alone. “Suppose I’ve always been a bit of a bother…” He mumbled unconsciously, absorbing some of Crombie’s words.

“You’re not going to be too much use without your cane, so I figure it be best we find you a suitable replacement.” Peeking at Taurus, he wasn’t still sure what to make of the creature. Was this really his future; a part of some DNA splicing experiment. Who would pay for this, and why? “I’m getting too old for this…”

After shouting at the colonel, there were several more odd sounds that Crombie didn't know what to make of. He stayed out of the way of the noise, and just prayed someone would pull him in the right direction. Hearing Sophia's comment he stepped back in surprise.

"You mean it's part human?" Crombie felt for something to lean against so he wouldn't fall over, but he was at a loss for where the walls were and where the exit even was. He wanted to apologize to Cadmus, but he meant what he said before and it seemed too soon anyway.

OOC: Sorry! I detest using ooc so often but I'm extremely lost, perchance someone (who generally knows what's happening) could message me and explain what has been going on and where everyone's at. I think I'm the one screwing this up. Playing a blind character -- I bit off a bit more than I could chew, though, I'm sure this will all level out soon.

Bruce got to his hooves slowly. He'd recovered quite quickly from the shock thanks to the conditioning his body went through soon after his change. Back then he had even less of his cognitive function and it took very little to send him on a destructive rage. Many scientists ended up with broken bones and a few died from being gored to death with his horns. People where much less inclined to insult him to his face at least. Bruce completely dismissed Cadmus from then on. If he provoked him again he would be facing a literal raging bull but for now Bruce felt his message was sent. He returned to his previous spot in front of the bench in the spot between the two sets of glass doors to the outside and crossed his massive arms across his hairy chest.

Just outside the facility a creature twice as strange as Bruce circled the stairway that lead both down to the beach and down into the jungle. He was miles up and out of sight from the other side of the glass doors, even from the outside he looked vaguely like a bird albeit a bird with an irregular flight pattern and a very long trailing tail. Such oddities could be explained away by sun glare and poor eyesight but the truth of the matter was he wasn't your average tropical bird. Tex's wide golden eyes flashed as he watched the outer doors. He'd been monitoring the conversations flitting from walkie to walkie on the several channels that went across the island from his secret cliff home stocked with various trinkets and stolen equipment. He was very interested to meet the newcomers. Not right away of course, he was too cautious and too much of a coward to face them all head on, but one on one he could benefit from their individual needs and desires. Not to mention the emotional stress and turmoil induced by long term captivity was far more entertaining to him than any soap opera. It wouldn't be long until Tex had them all eating from his talons.

--

The sightless man had taken no offense from the comments made by the voice at all, though he wasn't exactly paying enough attention in the first place to allow them to register. He left the questions with no reply.

It had occurred to Crombie that he had not yet removed himself from the elevator and back he went. The nameless man had apparently joined him. He was unsure of where the colonel had ended up. The doors were closing as the voice introduced itself. Kyle was his name. That was a name he hadn't heard of in a long while. There may have been a boy he'd known in high school with that name, but now the word was all but foreign with faint familiarity.

There was a loud bang and a muffled sound of something brushing against the elevator doors. He pressed himself against the wall of the small space again, the cold metal of the handle and the actual wall itself causing the hair on the back of his neck to stand straight. He had not wanted to ask what it was in fear of falling deeper into the elaborate abyss of confusion. He refrained from asking many questions to maintain his simple need of sanity, for that was all he had left, along with the clothes on his back.

He stuttered. "Call me Crombie," the dark haired man replied to Kyle Ruck, the newly titled voice which was still nearby him. He listened to the rhythmic breaths Kyle took, Crombie himself had learned to keep his own breathing almost completely silent so he could listen better, but in times like this, practically being unable to hear yourself was even more startling than the actual conflict itself.

The one thing Crombie had hated about elevators now, of course excluding their brilliant convenience (he had to travel carefully down the stairs in his own apartment complex all too often), was how he was unable to disern which way they traveled. Up or down? He wouldn't ask, because of the same reasons as before; there were more important things to focus on. He rubbed his eyes more out of stress than anything else. The corners of his lips pulled back in a frustrated frown, showing his teeth, almost in an effort to contain himself by letting out small amounts of steam at a time. His face was warm and cold all at the same time, he must have looked flushed.

There is nothing quite like the threat of an early, violent death to make you wake up and take notice. The impact of the hulking creature's fists against the elevator door were enough to snap the panicked mechanic out of his reverie. He managed to pull himself together, hefting his makeshift weapon in anticipation of arrival on the other floor. If there were more lab experiments waiting for them downstairs, he'd try to give a good accounting of himself.

"Okay, Crombie," he hissed. "There might be more of these things, or even a back stairwell we don't know about, so be on your guard. There's no telling what we might run into down here."

The blind man's expression made it clear that there was some sort of communicational breakdown, but Kyle was not in a particularly observant mood. The elevator ground to a stop, and the doors hissed open with a soft 'ding'.

Leaving Crombie in place like so much baggage, Ruck surged forward, aluminum rod raised, nearly colliding with another man, wandering the hall half in a daze.

"Shit! Sorry," he grunted, fumbling to put the newcomer at arm's length. "Easy now." He lowered his weapon, but kept it at the ready, just in case. "Are you with them?" he asked cautiously, alluding, perhaps obtusely, to their unseen captors. "Where'd you come from?"

Taurus watched the interaction between Violet and the small man his big doe eyes following them with a wet and passive gaze. His expressions where always difficult to read but his cross armed slightly hunched over stance suggested simple observation. Cud had worked it's way back into his mouth from his rumen. He chewed on that quietly, not even completely aware that he was doing it. He recognized the small man, even knew why he was really there but he neither wanted to nor was able to tell any of the others about it. On a good day he was only able to articulate simple words and form simple sentences in his head. It wasn't worth the effort, plus the man wasn't entirely bad. He was like any other man who thought he was on top of things.

Connor had done everything he could. He needed to get back to work. He was beginning to worry about what would happen if he stayed there. The other scientists weren't likely to understand the kindness he'd spared for these people. There was a chance that they would start to worry about his actions. That they weren't for the good of the experiment. He realized that they could easily get rid of him. Simply toss him into the sea and watch the sharks swarm over his body, stick him with a lethal solution while he slept....even include him with the rest of the test subjects. "I have to go." He stated quietly

Connor collected the rest of his things putting them in the elevator before he took out his key.

Taurus licked his snout and stared at the elevators. Most of the subjects had left the facility to explore the outdoors, however his concern was for the subjects still inside. He took a few heavy steps to the elevator. His tail flicked from side to side as he peered down at the buttons he pressed the button with the downward arrow, where the subjects ate and slept. The elevator slid open and the bell rung its single high pitched ding! He trudged inside. Again he took his time and peered at the numbers before jabbing the number 1. His thick fingers accidentally pressed the ground level button and the doors swung open again dinging for the second time. He grunted in frustration and pressed the door close button, hurrying it up. The elevator creaked suspiciously as the cables where put under his weight but he was well under the weight limit. The elevator whirred peacefully as elevator music played. One of Taurus' ears flicked and the doors opened.

Taurus took up the entire frame of the doorway his size daunting under the comparison of the doorway. He ducked to make room for his horns and stepped into the hallway. Right away he took the appearance of a guard making rounds taking even, heavy steps down the hall, pausing only to take a good look into each cell and access who was still down there. He regarded the subjects calmly as if they had always been there huffing in what seemed to be casual greeting. He paused at Crombie. His big brown eyes went to his cane then back to his face. He sniffed the air once and licked his muzzle, his expression difficult to fathom. He grunted slightly and put a giant hand on Crombie's shoulder patting it twice before turning away. He scratched his hunched and swollen neck and continued on towards the rest rooms.

Crombie heard the loud clopping of Taurus' hooves on the solid floor. Oh no, it was that thing. A large hand fell heavily on his shoulder and Francis flinched, it patted him, like a normal person. This was surprising. It seemed so overly animalistic, the idea that it was also part human didn't seem to fit with Crombie's original image and expectation of the creature.

Should he smile? Taurus left the blind man with an odd look, you could say, not a smile, nor a total look of fear, but once the thing passed, Crombie thought it was best start at the elevator.

"I think I'm going to head out now," Francis stated to Kyle, swallowing down the lump that had developed in his throat. Time to make sense of his new reality. He rotated his wrist again, then took off steadily towards the elevator, where he remembered the sound. Fortunately, he found it immediately and entered.

The metal doors closed him in, the outside sounds faded. Round two, Crombie narrated in his head. He placed his palm fully on the panel feeling for buttons. Soon he brushed the bumps of the braille and frowned, biting his lip. His thumb pad pressed over the first one he felt. Was that a three? Three...Two... C - C? No, G. Gr...Grou...Ground! When he was certain he pressed the button and the elevator began whirring. Crombie pressed himself against the cold wall, the elevator took only a few moments and he'd arrived down at the new floor. Pacing out slowly, he felt accomplished, walking with a little more confidence than he could ever really claim before.

Sophia blinked in shock, then recoiled at the sight of Taurus. Oh no, not this creature again. She thought while ducking behind her door. Taking a moment to compose herself, reaching for that rock everyone back at school loved to work with, she stepped out into the hall, almost running over Crombie in the process. "Eaks," She squeaked out, and was about to follow him, but he was definitely moving about with familiarity, and was already in the elevator and gone before she could say another thing. "Well I'm out of here as well, then." She muttered to herself, attempting to stride to the elevator, but was shaking slightly.

She got to that blasted door, and waited what seemed like forever, before it finally opened, allowing her entrance, and she raced inside, her nerves about shot for the time being. Sophia knew she needed some out door space, and was quickly becoming antsy to run, so she paced inside the elevator waiting for it reach ground level. But after what seemed like forever, she realized, it hadn't moved. Looking around, she noticed the floor buttons. "Oh hell, how'd I forget that?" She said, close to hysteria, but her body seemed to calm as she reached for the "Ground Level" button, though mentally she was still buzzing.