Cafas's tryout had been long overdue.

He hadn't been avoiding it. He hadn't been doing anything out of spite. He hardly knew Cafas. All Shin knew was that he was incredibly busy, and had not had the time to organize a tryout. College, Full Circle Work, his Mansion Greeter position, personal training, and walking Thor all took up so much time. It didn't help that a lot of that 'personal training' had been shelved, replaced by quality Kealey-time. So, when he was nudged with a reminder to get Cafas's tryout done and over with, Shin knew he had to think of something, and get to work.

He'd racked his brain. Shin knew Cafas needed a good test of his peace-keeping skills, and not just something to test his ability to take down threats. The Asian trianglemancer was going to need to think outside the box for this. He turned ideas around and around, and brainstormed with Kealey... and eventually... an idea blossomed. A strange, unique, interesting idea.

Shin was going... to have Kealey... team up with Cafas for a danger room session. Shin was going to have Kealey try out for the X-men.

Not with fighting, of course. Cafas could fight. Shin knew for a fact that Kealey could handle herself. There was no need for him to test that (since he never wanted to get in a situation where she got thrown in that sort of situation, anyways).

So, he spoke with her. Shin told her the gist of his crazy plan. She'd try out with Cafas. The session would be a surprise for her. He told her it'd be 'easy', with 'her skills'. He'd help her through it. He wouldn't throw crazy girls with pink aura drills her way.

Kealey had accepted, and so, on July 25th, Shin had arranged to meet with Kealey and Cafas in the Danger Room at 6AM, bright and early. He'd set up the session. His plans had been outlined. He'd arrived early, and waited.

Now, it was a few minutes before 6. It was nearly time.

This would be fun.

6am. Six O’clock in the morning. Goodness that was early. The alarm had gone off and the blond empath had groaned and reached over to shut the thing off, wondering what on earth had gone wrong for it to be ringing at this hour. Her hand reached out towards the snooze button, her fingers pressed firmly…then she remembered. Today was the day she would try out for the X-Men.

Hitting the snooze button was no longer what Kealey was thinking about doing, but she didn’t move from the bed for a few minutes. The offer had been put on the table by Sam ages ago, but Kealey had declined. Fighting crime was not something she was cut out for. Sure she could protect herself, and sometimes others (she’d done a good job in Central Park the day of the gang fight). The emotional strain had been too much though, she’d been exhausted. Definitely not something she wanted to tackle on top of school and every day life. Why was she trying out then? Because Shin had asked her to, and because he’d promised she wouldn’t have to fight.

Out of bed Kealey got, flipping on her light and digging around in her room for the proper clothing to wear during a Danger Room session. Shin had said there would be no fighting, but Kealey wanted to make sure she was ready for anything. Out of her pajamas she went, and into a pair of sweats and a workout t-shirt. Then, it was off to the Danger Room, slightly bleary-eyed but right on time.

Shin was already waiting when she got there, and Kealey nodded to him and smiled slightly, all business as she reached behind her head to pull her hair into a ponytail.

”Good morning.” she said, gauging his emotions and finding herself pleased with what she found. ”We’re definitely making waffles when we’re done.”

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.

"Morning," Shin smiled right back.

Mmm, waffles. He nodded once. "Sounds like a plan."

He looked to his watch. The lawyer-hand counted down to game time. Yeah. Shin had the same type of watch he'd given Aurum. They were too sweet to pass up. "Looks like it's nearly time," He commented. Shin looked back up to Kealey with a mischievous grin. "Prepare for fun."

Like clockwork, the Danger Room door opened, and Cafas stepped in. He was wearing a suit that wouldn't work well, had they been fighting... and he had weapons. Cafas commented on his 'good luck charms', and Shin shook his head with a small smile. "You won't be needing those. I already know you can fight. I've been briefed." He turned a palm to Kealey, and added "This is Kealey. You'll be doing your tryout with her on your team. Kealey, this is Cafas." He dropped his other hand back down to his side.

"As I said earlier, today's goal isn't to prove your combat prowess. Today, you're both proving you have an important trait for any X-man (or X-woman)." A small nod to Kealey. "The ability to work under pressure. Now, if you'll excuse me..." He slipped past them, into the God Room above the Danger Room, leaving them for a few minutes to talk amongst themselves.

In the God Room, Shin pressed buttons, twisted dials, and prepared the Danger Room simulation. The time between his departure and the start of the tryout was meant to try them, and make them guess. They still didn't know exactly how they'd be tested to 'work under pressure'. That was important. This was meant to be a surprise.

Finally, after two minutes, Shin leaned forward and spoke into the microphone. His voice resonated in the room below. "Okay. If you're both ready, we can start." He hit a button, and the room rippled like waves, flowing into a city street set piece. It was an empty New York street. The sidewalks were abandoned, yet the streets were filled with cars. Not a soul could be seen. It looked like the area had been without occupants for a long, long time.

Along the sidewalks, various clothing stores dotted the way. A neon sign flickered the name for a tailor shop. The store's name was 'Eye of the Needle'. From where they were standing on the street, they could hear faint music playing from the speakers over the door. It'd be louder inside. The song was 'Eye of the Tiger'.

"Check out that flashy tailor shop," Shin said. A big red arrow-hand hovered over it for two seconds, jabbing the neon sign with a prodding finger. "That's where your goal will make itself clear."

He gave them a few moments to move inside, then cut back in. "There are all the supplies you'll ever need for a costume, Kealey. Stuff on a table in there, and a cabinet by the register. Cafas, I want you to get measured for your costume. Kealey, I want you to make him something dashing." Shin smirked. "But there's a twist."

The skies visible through the shop windows darkened as he said this. Shifting shapes staggered by as silhouettes. There weren't any notable emotions coming from the shapes, yet for some reason, there was still a sense of foreboding in the air.

A car alarm went off down the street. The shop bell rang. Something with glaring yellow eyes and a horrible pompadour banged on the door, pressign a cheek against the glass. Yellow eyes glared in at them.

Shin poured all the sugar-sweet singsong in the world he could into his next line. "You're making Cafas a costume during an angry zombie outbreak~"

Yay~ "And you can start any time you'd like! Cafas, make sure the costume gets made. But... you aren't allowed to use force. They aren't real zombies, just angry people~"

As he said it, a few pinpricks of emotion kicked in. One or two more angry zombies entered the area. That made three. Shin smiled. "They'll listen to reason, if it's reasonable, but they aren't thinking 100% straight! They're angry! Good luck~"

He sat back in his chair, watching them on the God Room's screen.


((OOC: Feel free to skip me, from here on out. I'll post from time to time, but this tryout is up to you!))

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.”

As Shin left Cafas began to get less nervous. He was still nervous, just not on the verge of hyperventilation. He nodded back to Kealey and listened to her explanation. So she would get snappy as pressure mounted? That was understandable; he wasn’t exactly the nicest person when something was bugging him. ”Nope, I’m fine, the nerves will go when the action starts, there isn’t any time for it then. I’m a metal manipulator. I can mess with the chemical properties of metals, make ‘em melt at super low temperatures, that sorta thing. Just, if I start getting frustrated, can you pull that down for me? Whoa!” The sudden formation of a city street around him was disorienting. Once he figured out where he stood and Shin had stopped echoing he realised there were no people. He followed into the shop suspiciously. This was not promising. The news that he wouldn’t be needing his stuff was welcome. He dropped the shield next to the door and unbelted his sheath, dropping it next to the metal shield.

So now what?'

Just then the first alarm went off, and Cafas realised quite son what was outside. Even with all the mutants around it was a strange sight. Zombies were hardly what he would call normal. Apparently he was not to hurt the zombies; he was to reason with them. He also learned their train of thought was on a curved line. That meant his had to be. Nerves gave way to excitement. It was finally beginning. The horde outside was congregating outside their door. Cafas looked for a latch and found an old style slide lock. Plastic, typical of the modern age. Pushing it in he went where directed and held his arms at right angles from his body straight out to the side. It was how they did it in movies; it was how he would do it now. Small talk to break tension, plus it let him gather his thoughts. "So how do your powers work? I gotta be in contact with whatever I'm manipulating, and it takes energy from my boy to use it, just like doing exercise." He smiled and kept his breathing as deep and rhythmic as possible, he figured it had to help the measuring process.

Right so... why are they angry? Is that too obvious? Can they tell me that? Maybe I should start by introducing myself? What if they can't talk, how am I gonna figure it out then? Do they want me or her more? Could I go look for something that may make them mad? He said they listen to reason, but what equates to reason in this situation?

Cafas was fairly sure he'd just heard something crack. Was it the glass? Was it something outside? He couldn't see any flaw in the door window but you never knew, it could be hidden by the frame. The zombie was pushing pretty hard. The generic figure was wearing jeans, was that significant? A hint? No that was silly; hatred of a race was an irrational hatred in most cases, so reason wouldn't have worked there. He wasn't really paying attention to movement around him, he was keeping eye contact with the zombie, making sure the glass didn't shatter; she'd tell him when she was done, right? He could somewhat tell that there still was movement. He was doing all he could at the time. How was he going to handle the coming pressure? He had dealt with the pressure of survival before but not on the scale they were dealing with in the present. He'd never really had an ever swelling force attempting to kill him before, well, except perhaps that one time with the ants, but that hardly counted, they were, after all, ants.

Should I barricade? That seems an aggressive sort of action to me, maybe it’s best not to. But then they'll break through faster, what if I don't even know what's bothering them at that stage? It'd be all over. HEYOH that’s a hand. Oh grow up, she’ just taking your measurements.

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.

Angry Kealey, Shin noted rather quickly, was angry. This was good.

His hope had been that maybe, she'd be able to figure out why the zombies were angry. They hadn't reached that point yet, though. Hopefully, Cafas could talk to the mad men, and Kealey could glean from them the thing that most made them mad. It'd be the most intense reaction, he expected... though, he wasn't sure if she'd be able to notice a small spike in an already upward-spiking chart of emotional activity.

Their emotional distress had a reason. Shin had programmed that reason in, knowing someone would find it. He wasn't worried about that yet. They were off to a great start.

Angry Kealey was bossy Kealey, in addition to being angry. The anger seemed to be helping her concentrate on the situation. That was interesting. Kind of like the danger of a situation caused Shin to retreat inwards, focusing on how to solve the problem, rather than worry about himself. If they could defeat the problem, that intense feeling would end. Kealey seemed to realize that.

Under fire, she was displaying fine leadership... also, excellent costume-making skills. A small smirk crossed Shin's lips as Kealey ordered Cafas to make a quick judgement call.

Reminder to self: Don't let her get angry. Actually... maybe, do. It was kind of cute.

The music welled louder as Shin cranked up the volume in the shop. The zombies thrashed against the windows, banging their hands to the beat.

And the last known survivor sews some pants in the night... And she's watchin' us all in the eye... of the needle.

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!?!”

The more Cafas asked the Zombies questions, the more angry Kealey got. She didn’t even want to look up from her work to see how many there were, because it had to be a lot. A whole lot. She could hear them bumping up against the glass, not responding in any way, shape, or form to the questions that the younger man was asking. Why couldn’t he simply figure out what the problem was? That wasn’t Kealey’s job…all she was supposed to be doing was making the costume. Did she have to do everything?

Kealey’s jaw ached and she realized she was clenching her teeth, and down she looked at her hand to see that she’d snapped her pencil in two. This wasn’t helping anything and from the sound of things the situation was only going to get worse as time went on.

Forcing a deep breath through teeth that simply wouldn’t unclench, Kealey went back to work, finishing with the pattern designs and grabbing a pair of scissors to start cutting them out. This part didn’t take long, and the concentration required to work with the thin tracing paper actually helped the blond get her mind off the seething anger that continued to assault her from the other side of the glass.

Soon the pieces were cut out and Kealey had almost figured out how to get a hold on the emotions…unfortunately at that very moment…things got worse. Up the anger ratcheted and Kealey gasped at the way her heart jumped into her throat. Everything was so much more intense.

A voice broke through the feelings, and Kealey’s head snapped around, eyes narrowed and glaring on Cafas as he did his best to work through the situation. ”I told you.” she said, the boy’s exasperation seeping in now as well. ”I just feel them…don’t you think I would have stopped all of this by now if I could?” Hands went to the side of Kealey’s head and she snapped her teeth together to keep herself from saying anything else.

Cafas was starting to get frustrated now, and in spite of all the anger, Kealey remembered what he’d asked her in the beginning of the try-out. Focus was so hard, but somehow she managed to find that single thick thread of exasperation and whittle it down to nothing. At least one of them needed to be able to think clearly.

Back to her work, Kealey went, hand shaking slightly in rage as she silently glared at the paper she was pinning to material. She wanted to rip it all up, throw it on the ground, stomp on it, and maybe even yell. She didn’t though, she simply seethed in silence, stabbing each pin into the fabric with more force than was really necessary. Eventually, the inevitable happened.

The pin entered the tip of Kealey’s finger with what felt like the speed of a bullet train and the blond yelped in painful rage, then stomped her foot in frustration as a stream of Gaelic that would have made any Dublin sailor proud streamed from her lips. This was too much, and it was still getting worse, Kealey could hear the zombies pounding on the glass now. Pounding rhythmically along to the sound of the music blaring through the speakers in the shop. Music? Speakers, Kealey noted the music for the first time and glared at the source, taking another deep breath and going back to her pinning.

”Why is that song so irritating? ” she asked to nobody in particular, starting to really empathize with the angry zombies. All that would be enough to get on anyone’s last nerve.

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.

Anger did things, besides make a person swear. Kealey thought as she furiously worked on the costume she’d been told to make. The panels for the pants were cut out now, and as she loaded up the sewing machine to start working on the actual sewing part, Kealey hoped she’d have better luck than she’d had pinning the paper to the fabric. The pieces were pinned together now, and she hoped they’d come out alright. The costume was supposed to be snazzy, after all. The sewing machine began to hum, Cafas kept on trying to ask the zombies why they were angry, and none of these things softened the pounding of the music through the speakers. Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud… It was the Eye of the Tiger, over and over again…what kind of radio station was this?

Cafas asked if she’d picked up any patter to the way they were attacking and Kealey realized she’d been bobbing her head in time with the rhythmic pounding on the glass of the storefront.

”It’s in time with the music…” she observed, not even wasting time to look up from the sewing machine. One leg was finished….Kealey flipped the unfinished garment over, not bothering to take time with cuffs or pretty seams for the moment and starting on the other. Shin had said snazzy, not completely finished.

”In most places…intercom systems are behind the counter…” she said, trying not to snap or sound too condescending while she was lining up then sewing a quick seam down the outside of the pants. That’s how it had been a the library, and the fish and chips shops Kealey remembered from her childhood.

The seam complete, Kealey snipped the thread and went to work on the inside. The machine jammed. For a moment, the blond considered using the grip she suddenly had on the piece of equipment to throw it through the window and see how the zombies enjoyed that compared to the music. That’s not what she did, though, she took a deep, shaky breath and went about taking the pieces apart to find the snag.

”If you don’t figure it out soon though…the angry zombies outside might be the least of your worries.” she said, meaning it not as a threat, but simple fact. At least her work on his anxiety had worked, maybe now he’d be able to work things out.

"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.

There, the stupid pants were finished, Kealey huffed as she completed the last stitch with the machine. Just like all the other seams, the edges were a little rough, and the blond found herself irritated by the fact that she didn’t have time to make them look right. Shin had said the costume needed to look snappy, and here she was, only able to provide mostly finished work. The zombie attack shouldn’t have been an excuse, but Kealey honestly didn’t think she could summon the patience to work on the pants anymore. The slick fabric was hard to hold on the machine, and the machine itself kept doing everything in its power to be more difficult. She huffed again. This was incorrigible…and why was the music still playing?

Kealey chanced a glance behind the counter as she moved to get the jacket pieces that needed to be sewn together, all the while trying to ignore the zombies that pounded progressively harder on the windows of the shop. Cafas was bent down, maybe he’d had some luck.

Then the music changed.

Then, the emotions changed.

”Uh…” Kealey said, blinking her eyes and trying to figure out exactly what it was washing over her. The music was loud, very loud, very intense. The feelings from the zombies were loud, very loud, very intense. It was almost too much, and she stood there for a few moments, costume pieces clasped to the sides of her head with her hands. The zombies were coming through. She looked out of the corner of her eyes at Cafas, he was speaking but she couldn’t hear him. She was going to have to try to bring all their emotions down. It was going to be too much.

Kealey looked at the crowd outside the shop, and started to focus.

60 seconds had passed. The music changed.

The emotions changed.

Kealey’s eyes widened, ”Cafas! It’s the music! Keep changing it.!” she said, bouncing excitedly from one foot to the other, because it simply seemed the right thing to do with all the emotions that were rolling around in her head. ”I’m gonna sew this jacket!”

It was hard, hard to deal with all the switching. The old emotions were still there: the simmering anger, the intensity from just a few moments before, and now the seemingly boundless bouncing energy. Kealey couldn’t sit at the machine to sew, she stayed standing, but went to work on the first seam. Hopefully they weren’t being graded on perfection.

It was good that she was so upbeat, but he was under orders from her to keep swapping. So what button hadn't he pushed yet? He had all the time in the world to decide given the current song right? Given that Kealey couldn't sit down though, that might be an issue. He turned back to his task and tried that thinking thing, but had to scream to make his mind heard to himself. It was exhausting, thinking on his feet when he could almost feel his eardrums bursting from the sound. He'd done three and seven; he assumed they had started at one, so that left... two, four, five, six, eight, nine and ten. Narrow range of choices, he loved them. He pushed five, it seemed like a prime suspect to do something good. No dice, 'Green day, having a Blast'. He looked at the screen and felt the music change. It was getting louder with every song and he literally began crying from the pain in his ears. He could only imagine what Kealey was going through. Standing, with his hands clasped over his ears, he saw perhaps the scariest thing yet. A zombie fully inside, and another three quarters of the way through following it.

W...at...a...I...go...a...do?

It was official, he could no longer mentally yell over the music. Every bass note shuddered him to his bones, and he wasn't the ne needing fine motor skills. He looked for anything that could help him as the zombies advanced. Not as a weapon, he wasn't allowed, but possibly a barricade. A metal bench caught his eye. He looked to the empath, then back to the table. Hopefully she could at least help herself while he tried to prevent an even bigger problem. He tried to plead for the zombies to exit the store, others being stuck in a large mob trying to force their way in at once. He tried to yell over the noise but couldn't, so he did the next best thing, grabbed an eraser and chucked it at her. Just hard enough to feel. Hopefully she would respond. He hoped she could handle the two in the store. C.J. gabbed the table and began to drag it over to the window. It was heavy, but luckily devoid of items after he pushed them onto the floor. He hoped Kealey hadn't been using it. He hadn't seen her do it. He got it to the where the display area had once existed, turned it on its side and began manipulating. Ductility. He stretched it upward and outward until it covered the entire back of the display area, where upon he melted the solidified it in place. He turned around to check on the two inside.

Di...e..get..em?