Recent Posts

They'd fought. It wasn't much of a fight but Kevin and Lillian didn't understand. They thought he could just go to college nearby. The risk was too great. The people here wouldn't understand if they found out. So he left. 700 miles to New York City and counting. Goodbye home.

The end of the fight came far far too soon for Drew's taste. This had been the only time he'd been able to fight in such a way. The only time people had been afraid of him for what he could do instead of what he had done. It was a heady feeling to a man that still considered himself far too weak. If only this wasn't just a temporary thing. Drew found himself fighting the urge to find a way to stay in contact with this woman on the off chance that she might allow him that power again. There was no question in his mind now why she'd been targeted. Anyone that didn't want what she could do was a fool. So why was he trying not to get attached?

Because it wasn't his own power. It didn't come from him alone and therefore he couldn't rely on it. He hadn't worked as hard as he had and come this far to give in to the easy way out. If that was the case he could have continued to rely on pushing people away and hiding what he was. So even though that feeling of strength gave Drew a rush that he wouldn't soon forget he wouldn't be trying to charm the lady into letting him stick around. It wasn't easy but what about his life had been since he came to this darn city? As Aedus thanked the lady Drew took a deep breath to settle himself.

"What he said. Not sure we'd have made it through that otherwise."

The couple of mutants were safe, the aggressors had been severely punished, and he and Aedus were still alive. It was a good evening, no matter how bittersweet it felt to have to rely on and let go of the power that he'd held for a short time.

Handling the larger group went better than Drew expected. Which is to say he was still pretty messed up by the time Aedus limped over to help but he wasn't dead and that was a plus. Drew had caught glimpses of the woman in action. She seemed ferocious. What she had been doing though Drew didn't really know or care because at the time his head had been seconds away from being used as a soccer ball. He'd avoided that but his kidney had paid the price in the form of a vicious sucker punch. That Drew was still standing was mostly a testament to how much he'd been put through before. The thought that Martin could do and had done worse to him was strangely comforting.

Aedus had pulled the lady out of the fight. While Drew was glad she was out of harm's way another part of him mourned the loss of another combatant. At least until she started up with the chanting and his injuries started to heal up. He felt better, loads better in fact. The adrenaline rush that normally got Drew through these situations seemed stronger now. He felt stronger. He felt faster. Was this what normal mutants felt like when fighting? Suddenly some of the disbelief that he'd endured at his willingness to fight despite not having something useful in a fight made sense. Fighting like this was easy. He barely felt the opponent's blows. A grin blossomed across Drew's face.

This wouldn't last. He knew it all to well. But if this was to be his only taste of what having a real mutation was like then he was going to enjoy it. No matter how far he'd come or how accepting of his own mutation he was now Drew would always be painfully aware of his limits. Of the fact that he was less that most of the other mutants he knew. Even if they refused to see it. Swinging another punch into another thugs face Drew laughed loudly. The fear on the men's faces was sweet to him and he savored it even as he contemplated breaking a few limbs as a lesson.

Sipping at his water Drew watched the little ID drama unfold before him with little interest. It was the only thing in here worth paying attention to since his marks hadn't deigned to show up. That it was the only thing worth paying attention to didn't negate the fact that it was fairly dull anyway. Just another underage kid trying to get booze on a fact ID. Yawn.

At least until the bouncers got involved.

Drew wasn't inclined to get in the way even though they were being rougher than he thought was necessary. Frankly the fact that the barkeep was throwing her out was a little odd to him. She could still by non-alcoholic drinks after all. Not a money minded barkeep. Maybe he just didn't want the trouble having someone underage in a bar full of drunk or nearly drunk men was bound to cause. His policy of non-interference went out the window when the guy getting rough with the girl hit the floor.

Mutant.

It was the first conclusion Drew jumped to when something unexplained happened anymore. Mostly because it was usually right. Well it wasn't the fight he was looking for but it'd do. Drew drained his water and slapped a few bills on the counter quick like before walking over to the situation that had become the bar's focal point. He arrived as the girl landed a punch on the big one's face. Spying the other one starting forward Drew lashed out with a kick to the back of the guy's knee that sent him tumbling to the floor. Not feeling particularly quippish Drew refrained from making a smart comment and settled for nodding to the girl and focusing his attention back to the guy he'd sent staggering. She'd picked out the big one for herself so he was going to trust her to handle him. Not because he thought she could but because she'd decided it for herself.

All too soon they were leaving the bar and looking for a table to call their own. Drew was all too happy to let Sam lead the way. It wasn't as though Drew had done this too particularly often. Sure he'd been out a couple of times since his 21st earlier this year but after Martin he'd all but ceased drinking unless he had someone he knew and trusted with him. Those people were relatively few in number. They found a table quickly enough for how crowded the place Sam had chosen was. It was a large booth, far too large for just the two of them. Drew had no illusion that the empty spaces would stay empty for long if Sam had anything to say about it.

Sitting down after Sam, Drew drained the shot that had been ordered for him. He followed it up with a swallow of his beer. Drew let his attention wander for a minute until a question from Sam snapped it back. How was he? What was Drew supposed to say to that? There were plenty of things he should tell Sam. But should and would were, as always, two different things. Another swallow of beer put off his answer for another moment.

"Ok I suppose." Nicely vague that answer was, "We've both been busy I guess."

The answer was truthful enough but vague. Since Sam suffered the same affliction to his answers regularly Drew didn't think it would matter much. The way he saw it his boss would either know what had been going on or he wouldn't. Though which was preferable Drew couldn't say.

A smirk played across his face.

"You have no idea. Why, I met my boss while trying to hold up a coffee shop. It's a long story."

Drew held himself back a moment longer than his companion. He'd said he was less naive about his activities and he meant it. No matter how his partner for the evening dismissed the group they worried Drew. His hesitation saw him rewarded with the view of the group turning to join the muggers. Muttering unpleasant physical impossibilities, Drew sped up and put himself between the group and Aedus.

"Finish up quick buddy! We've got company!" he shouted to Aedus before assuming a fighting posture in front of the group. Drew had no delusions about being to take them all but if he could keep most of them occupied long enough for Aedus to finish up Drew figured he'd stand a better chance of not ending up a bloody smear.

Any fight you could walk away from was a good one in his humble opinion.

Heck, maybe with luck the other mutants would help them out. That would be fortuitous. Not likely to Drew's mind but lucky.

Gina actually face palmed because of all of this. Her voice told Drew all he needed to know about what she thought. Namely that he'd been a grade A idiot in how he'd handled telling Nate about his mutation since it'd resulted in this. How she didn't know one of the little details about it. Drew kept the fact that he could be release from promises secret from just about everyone. Frankly he was just so used to withholding information about it that it was quite natural for him to do so. After Martin, well it made even more sense. If he had two masters then his loyalties would be divided wouldn't they?

Nate was taking it surprisingly well. He just rolled with it and wanted to know the details. Drew found himself respecting the other man for that and he nodded, mostly to himself, before answering. Oh he'd still let the guy out of the promise but might as well let him know the full brunt of it.

"Essentially yeah. You break that promise you'll get hurt. Might be just a headache. Could kill you. Depends on the circumstances really. If you killed an X-Man well...you'd probably die. If you just punched one? Probably just a headache, maybe a bruise."

Drew rolled forward on his feet until he was no longer leaning on the wall.

"That promise will last until the first time you hurt an X-Man. Then it'll go away and you'll be free and clear. As for the tattoo, you're stuck with it until the promise goes away. You think I have these for show?"

He raised his left arm to show off the five bands around it. Three were plain black. Then there was the one from when he'd taken his first promise with this new facet of his mutation and last but not least Nate's green thorny one.

"It's there to mark that you made a promise. You get no say in what it looks like."

He paused. He was going to be far too dramatic with this but Drew couldn't find it in him to care. In a twisted way he was having fun.

"Oh, and by the way. There's a bit of a compulsion involved. Just to make sure you don't break the promise too easily. It'll get stronger the longer the promise is in effect. Why after a while I bet an X-Man could attack you and you wouldn't even want to defend yourself."

Yup, too dramatic.