Pins and Needles (Kealey, Cafas)

Cafas had already decided that 6 was far too early and too late to actually attempt to get up, and as such had awoken two hours previously. It served him well, as it gave him time to actually eat, and figure out what emotion he was feeling. The mirror said joy and nervousness. Yellow, pink and green eyes. He made his way to the Danger room with half a litre of milo drink in his stomach, some bacon and eggs and some muesli. No way was he going in on an empty stomach, no it would be contentedly full or nothing at all. He had one of his now numerous (read three) suits on, sword on his belt and shield in his hand. His suit, very new and very stolen, just how he liked them. He’d have to stop doing it if he got in, stealing things, but they just made it too easy, especially given the amount of camera blind spots in the shops that sold them. It kinda made him look like a bouncer given his build. Just in case though he had a singlet and tights on underneath. He could fight in his suits, but they weren’t exactly flexible.

Now what?

He stood in front of the steel doors at five to. It was best to be early right? Or was it best to be fashionably late? He was confused. He was nervous. It was his chance to join the most elite mutant group on the planet, or at least the best known, and they had sought HIM out. Deep breath in, out, in, approach. The doors opened for him, which surprised him after previous experiences with the danger room door. He saved his image by pretending to use the ‘force’ to open the doors, his hand moving outward from his body as he walked between the doors. The room had two people in it, who he only knew because of their little briefing. One was an S name, the other he wasn’t certain. He almost didn’t trust them, but one was an X-man, and the other clearly deemed worthy, so he let down his normal small talk shield. ” G’day, I hope you don’t mind I brought these,” He indicated to his armaments ,”They’re like, lucky charms, you know?” He smiled as best he could and stepped into line with the older woman. Instruction would come next, or so he figured. He took his breathing off of auto pilot and took a few more calming seconds to reorganise a frantic mind. Where was a good forge when you needed one?

In and out, in and out.

Waffles were a go…but first, this whole little situation had to be taken care of. Whatever it was. Kealey wondered if she should be nervous, but it was hard to feel that way when Shin had been so sure that what they would do was going to be fun. He was confident too, confident in himself, confident in her, it didn’t really matter. All that confidence was good for the soul. Kealey’s tummy grumbled though, and she hoped that whatever this try-out was, it wasn’t going to take too long.

The doors opened, and her partner for the exercise entered the room. Kealey tilted her head, unable to immediately place a name with the face she saw. It wasn’t the lack of recognition that really held her attention though…nope. He was nervous. Kealey was an empath…so now she was nervous.

Damn. Kealey cursed, surprising herself. It had been quite some time since something had put her off to the point of swearing. This was not going to happen. Confidence in such situations was key. If Shin could hold himself together while being shot at, Kealey was not going to fall apart simply because a nervous teen walked into the room.

Eyes narrowing slightly, Kealey focused on the more confident set of emotions in the room, trying to climb inside the little bubble that contained them as Shin’s. It helped, enough that the sudden butterflies stopped their fluttering.

Shin told the kid, Cafas, that he wouldn’t be needing all the gear he’d brought along and Kealey nodded her head. There would be no fighting, Shin had promised. Not that there wouldn’t ever be fighting if she helped the team out…but that’s not what she was there for. She was there for support. Introductions were made, and Kealey nodded once to Cafas at the appropriate point. They could be friendly later, maybe he could even join them in waffle eating. Who knew. For now, though, Kealey needed to concentrate.

Shin explained what would be happening, that they would be demonstrating their skills at working under pressure. Kealey nodded her head, pressure was something she was used to. With the emotions of an entire mansion full of teens in your head, working was always working under pressure.

Up Shin went, into the god room, and they waited. They were supposed to get to know each other. Shin’s emotions were still there, and she was relieved, because the boy was still nervous.

”I’m an empath.” she said a little tightly, ”So when things get intense, I’ll get intense, please don’t take it personally I‘ll introduce myself more properly and politely when we‘re through here. Also, I can bring your emotions up and down, so if there’s anything you want to feel more of or not feel…please let me know. What should I know about you?”

Shin’s voice echoed a few moments later, and Kealey almost laughed at the way it echoed around the empty room. That is until the room wasn’t nearly so empty anymore. Suddenly they weren’t in the Danger Room, they were in the middle of an empty New York street. That sight in and of itself was enough to make Kealey shudder a little, the quiet was absolutely surreal. Shin was excited about this and that made all the difference in the world to the blond…he’d never have been excited about something that would hurt her. Everything was going to be fine. She turned to Cafas and smiled, ”Good luck.” she said.

As per Shin’s instructions, Kealey and Cafas made their way into the shop…it was a tailoring shop. Puzzle pieces started to fall into place, just the straight edges and corners, but Kealey would have put money down on what at least part of the try-out would involve.

Shin explained where the materials were, and what Kealey was to do with them. Around she looked, noting where everything was kept. Surely he didn’t expect her to make the whole costume. That sort of thing took hours. It didn’t matter though, if that’s’ what Shin asked, that’s what Kealey would do.

Suddenly, a car alarm sounded, and Kealey had to fight down the shudder that crept up her spine and the goosebumps that rose on her arms. ”I don’t like….THIS!” she finished, hopping back a step and squealing the last word slightly as a figure bumped up against the window of the shop. Alarm…alarm was bad, so was fear…and Kealey went back to focusing on Shin’s familiar, comfortable emotions. Zombies…she was going to make a costume during a zombie attack. Leave it to Shin.


For a moment, Kealey thought she was going to luck out and not have to feel the zombie emotions. Then, one by one, they started to kick in, almost as new faces appeared at the window. Angry…they were angry. And they could start.

Over Kealey looked at her partner for the tryout, and onto her hips her fists plopped. ”They’re real angry.” she said, glad to have something to focus on besides her own fear and Cafas’ nerves. ”So you’d better get over here and stand still so I can get your mesurements.”

More and more of them were arriving now, and Kealey avoided the immediate and obvious solution. There was no way she could hold down all the zombies that would surely appear, Shin wouldn’t make it that easy. She’d wear out too quickly.

”I’m going to get angrier as more and more show up…so please try to do exactly what I say.” she moved as she spoke, gathering her tape measure and a small notepad and pencil from the table in the shop. Fabric and sewing could wait. ”Once we’re done here, you do whatever you can to calm them down. The faster I can work, the faster we’ll be done.” If it had been any other time, Kealey would have been shocked at her crisp tone and curt orders…but she couldn’t help it.

”Now, hold your arms out and hold still until I‘m done.”

Cafas’ request that Kealey calm him down if he started to get frustrated was more reasonable than she’d expected from someone who’d been as nervous as the younger man had been a few moments before. She nodded her head, trying to place that on the mental list of things she needed to remember that was rapidly growing in her brain along with his powers, and what they could do.

They were inside now, and true to his word, Cafas started getting excited. It made Kealey want to bounce just about as much as the anger from the “zombies” made her want to shout. It was a strange mix that had adrenaline pumping through the blond at a rate that made it hard to stand still. So as soon as Cafas returned from locking the door, (Good call on his part) she got to work on measurements. Small talk followed and Kealey let out a half-irritated sigh before catching herself and answering the question.

”I don’t have to be in contact with a person to feel their emotions. I just have to be somewhere near them. I’m not sure how far though…as a person gets further away, they start blending in with the others around them. In general though, I feel everything all the time.” Humans were usually fascinated by this information, and a slew of questions followed, some mutants were the same way. Hopefully Cafas would take it in stride, he seemed to be doing a good job following directions somehow, and even though Kealey was getting angry with him for no reason, he seemed a fairly even-keeled guy.

Something cracked and Kealey looked up from her work to see the glass storefront almost completely obscured by zombies of the same sort as the first. Hadn’t she told Cafas to do something about them?

”Done.” she said, jotting down the last number on the notepad she’d procured and making her way back into the shop to look for fabric. ”I said to do something…” she snapped, far less peevishly than she felt. Why did there have to be so many?

”I can’t take down, or hold down, that many emotions for any period of time. I’d be exhausted in minutes. You’re going to have to talk to them. I have to make the costume, I don’t have the patience or the time to do both. You could always start by asking them what their problem is…” she suggested, already pulling bolts of fabric down from the shelves by the wall.

Pants and a jacket would have to do. That would count as a costume, wouldn’t it? The pants were going to be stretchy, close fitting, and probably slightly less comfortable than the ones Cafas was used to wearing. The jacket would be long though and made out of one of the heavier materials Kealey had pulled down, ”Got a color preference for a jacket? You‘re getting black stretchy pants.” she called out, ”I’ve got Red, white, black, and blue…and you’ve got Ten seconds to decide.” she added, already pulling out pattern material and sketching out pieces….working without a concept sketch was hard, but there were some things a designer simply didn’t have time to do in the middle of a zombie invasion.

Alright, she was done, and it was time for him to actually take action. He moved to the front, looked around, and found an intercom button. Kealey couldn't hold back all the zombies, so he had to rely on his own judgement to calm them down. He didn't like thinking that they may not talk, it would make it just that much more difficult, but that was what try outs were all about he figured, making sure only the best get through. He went with the obvious first question in a circumstance such as the one he was in. "Do you speak English?" He released the intercom button for a second, but all it achieved was one of the zombies pushing at the speaker with its finger with a few groans. No dice. He rolled his eyes and continued. Suddenly, decisions, one of them! It wasn't much of a choice. "Black, blue on white details if it's an option" Two seconds, the best choices, they say, are your first instinct. "Hey, these guys can't talk, I'm gonna have to twenty questions it, judge off reactions."

Okay, what do people riot about?

He made a mental list. Sport, government, economy, cancelled concerts, companies doing stuff they don't like, people doing stuff they don't like. Things not going their way. He concluded that his list was done for now, if he didn't hit it in the first few tries, he'd work on expanding it, but he had to be on the fly for now. He pushed the intercom button and prayed they at least understood English. ”Sport?” Nothing visual. ”Government?” again nothing visual. ”Business?” He was getting nothing, and those had been his three big ones. He didn’t know if they would even react if he got it right. They had to have a way to find out what it was. Perhaps there was a reason they were specifically being targeted. As far as similarities, they were both mutants, both white skinned, and both young adults. That about covered it. The zombies were fairly ambiguous of race, so he discounted that. They seemed to be of a mixed age demographic; that was stricken too. So far no display of powers so that had to remain as plausible. But nothing else had been simple, why would this.

Display window is barred, that’s good, they look like metal bars but with no use of force I can’t see how that will come in very handy.

”Mutants?” His list was increasingly growing less likely to cause such chaos, and he was growing slightly impatient with himself as he started to catch up to the end of his list. ”Concert? Law? Criminal? Economy? Tax?” He put the list out, one reason for two seconds of observation, and spotted nothing. Perhaps it wasn’t within his power to. He hated to do it to someone who had already told him they’d bite his head off, but he turned around. ”Did you catch anything that made them mad? Does your power work like that? Is it that exact?” Another cracking sound made him spin back around as he noticed a tiny crack crawling out from the middle of the glass. It wasn’t going to give way yet, but he didn’t trust it to hold much longer. How long had it been anyway? A couple of minutes? He knew it took him over twenty minutes to sew a split seam by hand; did they have a working machine? If not it was going to be a very long day.

I’m out of anything non specific enough for this type of reaction fishing, what if it’s none of the above?

He pressed the button and exasperatedly spoke into the mic, ”What, do you all want new tailored skinny jeans or something!?!”

Cafas felt himself calming. Calming. And then he was fine. Back to being completely un-frustrated. He could hear the swearing and took it in stride, he had to do something fast. Her final snap about the music made him think. When he noticed the song he had to admit, the original was far better. Had it been playing the whole time? Well, she needed it gone. He'd have to look for a source. Preliminary eyesight scans didn't work for him however. In fact, even listening for a source wasn't working. Why had it just gotten louder? The level of sound around them was giving him a headache. He pressed the button for the intercom and looked back at the zombies. They really were getting out of hand. Were they allowed to hurt themselves? Would the problem solve itself? He somehow doubted it, and they were getting even more aggressive toward each other. "Ladies and gentlemen, please remain patient, we're working to help you with every ounce of our collective being." He let the button go as a head came crashing into the glass and the first chip left it.

Not good.

Cafas couldn't see what to do about the compromised window, and it wasn't the only glassware breaking, the entire front display area had just flooded with shattered glass, the metal bars the only thing now holding the horde back. He looked for something to drown out the sound but there were no ear plugs anywhere. The glass on the door broke again, now a large crack all the way along it. Things were about to get much worse. On the up side the intercom was no longer necessary. "Look, you're just going to hurt yourselves, whatever it is you want we're going to NEED your co-operation." He thought he noticed a slight lessening in the level of franticness of their advance, but it was only a lull between two storms. Cafas closed his eyes for a second as the glass in the door finally shattered. The zombies lulled back again and he grabbed his shield, welding it to the door frame, melting and solidifying the square on the window frame into the metal.

Why do they keep doing that?

The metal made a louder sound than the glass when hit, but Cafas noticed with satisfaction that the increased volume was countered by increased strength. "You noticing anything weird about the pattern they're attacking in?" He had finally noticed the correlation between music and beating. Was that the problem? They didn't like the song? That was surely too obscure, but maybe if he could get the speakers he could turn it down. Even if that wasn't the problem with them, it was sure bugging Kealey. "I'm gonna try and get whatever is playing the song for ya. Anything else you need lemme know."

If this is it, I'm going to kick myself.

"Thanks for that!" Cafas yelled over the music. it was starting to hurt his brain more and more. Cafas felt a lot like just screaming, but he couldn't. While he wasn't always completely rational, he was sometimes logical. Those times tended to be in situations f high risk, like Cthulhu. So what if the situations were 7 months apart, it totally counted. He looked for a register. Through the clutter of fabric and mannequins it was a little difficult to spot. He checked on the wall adjacent to the display window, and under something purple coloured and incomplete, clearly from before the apocalypse began. There he found the register. He dropped to his knees behind it and began clearing things left a right to find the P.A. system.

Up the very back, yup, no surprises there...

"Ow! Sonofa! Crikey that hurt. Who puts a knife there anyway?" He melted the blade just to make sure it understood his anger at it then pulled the wired up box from the rear of the small under counter shelf. He checked it once. Twice. A third time, just to be sure; there was no power button. Clearly it was not that simple. All he could find was a digital display with 'Ten disk changer' written in bold next to it. He had to pick a number between one and ten, how original. He chose seven, it was his lucky number. He pushed the corresponding button and waited as the music cut out then back in. The display read Bullet for my valentine. Cafas thought for a minute where he'd heard that before when waking the demon cut in and he realised. Not his taste, especially not when it was so omnipresently loud.

Maybe its not as bad as it sounds up there.

He raised his head above the counter and the first thing he noticed was zombies head banging. Unfortunately they also seemed to be boosted in strength from the new music; bars were bending not two metres from where he was. He ducked back down and tried to push three. No dice 'Please wait 60 seconds between swaps' Read the display. "Not sure we have sixty seconds here!" He yelled at the technology, standing back up. "Come on, don't break the shop! At least thing about the destruction of property laws you're breaking! That ain't a pretty fine, guys!" He held his arms out and slightly up, trying to show they posed no threat. The song only got faster, and they only pulled harder. The bars bent just enough for one to start climbing through. Cafas ducked down again.

SIXTY!'

He pushed as hard as he could on the three and the music cut out. The display now read 'The hamster dance' a puzzled Cafas stuck his head back over the counter. He had never seen so many zombies doing a high energy line dance before. They didn't seem interested in him any more, just in line dancing. He wasn't sure what effect it was having on their mood, but it made him laugh. It was the world’s most embarrassing line dance, overly flamboyant ad full of moans that could be considered yee haws.

Best song in the world.