Discovering New Toys

[Nox]

Nox smiled, Lucas was pretty gung-ho about the whole idea, he even wanted to get started right away. Him staying threw a monkey wrench in safety but if he didn't mind Nox would continue with the safer experiments, probably not the flash bang bomb but it was still sitting in front of his head.

But he'd ask first, cause he could do something else if Lucas felt uncomfortable. "You mind if I play around? I'll try not to do anything dangerous. This is my only free alone time for a while."
Nox waved to the former mess on the ground to indicate what he meant.

Lucas laughed. "Just don't set me on fire and I think we'll be good."


Nox grinned. "I won't make any promises."
He didn't think he'd really set Lucas on fire, or blow the building up or anything, not with what he had plans on doing, the flash bang bomb could wait, it would have to, maybe he'd find a nice quite place in the tunnels, or far from civilization so he'd not hurt anyone else. The explosion earlier had been small but it had proven to be dangerous. Which reminded him.

Nox pulled his shirt off and threw it away before getting a clean shirt from the floor of his room. One day he'd put things away into the dresser he'd purchased, but yeah, that was for later.

With a newly donned t-shirt Nox rummaged through the cabinets in the kitchen. He found a few things that would burn like oil, but oil would burn quickly he needed something like pitch or a homemade napalm.

Nox pulled himself up on to the counter and sat down with his wallet and started searching the internet for things that he could make. There were plenty out there, Aurora could probably find some pretty dangerous stuff on the dark web, but Nox had absolutely no clue how to go about that. But he did find a few interesting homemade napalm recipes, and as luck would have it he was pretty sure he saw the ingredients in the cupboards. Who-da-thunk that powdered sugar could be an ingredient in napalm.

The only other thing he needed was citronella oil, he didn't have that but it also said lighter fluid would work, that he had. Nox felt like a little kid mixing the concoction together. He'd have to label the jar so no one tried to eat it. That could be bad.

How to dispense it? He didn't want to carry it in his pocket, and throwing the glass jars might get a bit expensive after a while. For now he'd just throw flaming darts. Nox went back to the kitchen and got Aurora's baking toothpicks out. He coated the toothpick in the mixture except for where he held it.

Nox made several coated toothpicks and picked them back up.

He stood the wooden pallet back up and against the wall. Nox grabbed the source of his power and let it rage through him.. He leaned his neck to both sides cracking his neck before he wove a ball of air and then lit the toothpicks on fire. He threw the flaming toothpicks at the wooden pallet. The force embedded the small wooden stick into the pallet and kept on burning. Nox grinned at his inventiveness. He wondered how long the stuff would burn, so he sat with a water and air weave ready just in case as he sat down to watch the fire show he'd just made.

"Uhhh.....what did I say about setting me on fire?"


Nox laughed. "I got it covered."
Nox moved the weave away from the pallet and let a 'bucket' of water fall to the ground. "I won't let it get out of control, promise."
Nox continued to chuckle to himself.


Edited by Nox, Jan 28 2015, 04:35 PM.

[Nox]

Nox watched the fire burn, it wasn't long lived since the napalm didn't burn long with the amount he had on the toothpick. But it was enough to catch much more of the pallet on fire. He dropped water and wrapped the pallet in air to suffocate the flames. It was kinda funny that air could keep the fire from burning. Suffocation was always an interesting feat with the power. Not that Nox had tried it on a living person before, and he'd not actually had time to try against a monster either since fights were usually a bit more quick paced than that.

But Nox wanted to know how long the sticky homemade napalm would burn by itself. Nox used a weave of air to scoop out a 'handful' of the stuff. He wanted an accurate measurement but he'd have to hit the store since Aurora would highly disprove of using the new cooking instruments. He grinned, he could if he really wanted to piss her off. But he decided not to. For now he'd just watch it burn.

Nox created an open box of air and tied the weave off, the blob of mixture sat in the middle and started to ooze to the corners of the box. Nox watched it's movements almost mesmerized. He wove a quick weave of fire and started the stop watch on his wallet and sat at the edge of the box and watched it burn. He held water and air ready to use at a moments notice.

Lucas voice next to him startled him. "What are you doing?"


Nox didn't look up but he grinned. "Sorry. Seeing how long it burns."


Lucas chuckled. "Why?"


Nox looked up, "Because I can. "
He laughed. "I want to see how long it burns by itself, no other material to burn with it. Just a curiosity. It's fire. It burns. It'll save me from having to hold on to a fire weave so I can do something else."


Lucas frowned. "And you use this for your....hunts? That has to be useful."
He frowned. "Why does your group consider you and Aria monsters"


Nox turned back to his box, looking up at Lucas was disquieting, he rarely had to look up at anyone. "I've not tried it yet, trying to figure out ways not to tire out so fast while using the power."


And like it had been burning a whole in his head for days now Lucas asked a question Nox really couldn't answer completely. "I honestly don't know why Sentient's are pretty much kill on sight other than they are different. Aria might know more, or Aurora, but I haven't the foggiest. People like me though I know that answer."


He remembered that answer rather vividly in the death of Father Stone in front of his eyes, the Regus strangling the man. Nox sighed, "Men and women would wield this power and used it to oppress humanity ages ago. Like before histories were kept or were lost in the battles. The Atharim rid the world of them and it has been our calling for millennia to keep the world safe from those like that. We hunt monsters that are left over, and new ones now. But the powers are returning, and the Atharim is called once again to keep humanity safe."


Lucas looked at him puzzled. "When was this? What do you mean oppressed?"


Nox stared at the flames, hating the teachings, knowing the reasons and hating that he was one of them. "It was a long time ago, the times of Zeus and Posiden. You think they are just stories in some book."
Nox shook his head. "The Atharim fought the gods of old. They killed every last one of those mad men. The men who enslaved humanity because they had power, lived long lives."
Nox spoke the words with the venom of the Atharim, he remembered feeling it, remembered believing to his core, until he had that power, and now, now he was one of them, one of these reborn gods meant to rain havoc on the world. Power corrupts the Regus said. Nox laid back on the ground. "It was a long time ago. But the Atharim remember."


Lucas was silent, his blue eyes also lost in the fire. Finally, he spoke. "The gods?...."
His words trailed off. He looked at Nox. "I know you aren't lying to me. But all of that is really hard to believe."
He eyes returned to the fire. In a whisper, he went on. "But what I'm looking at is impossible too."


He looked back at Nox. "How can this be the world that I live in? All this stuff happen and no one know about it? It's all just so hard to believe. But..."
He seemed to come to some sort of resolution. "You and Aria have the same struggle. The potential for great evil. I guess we all do, but for you both it means pain for a lot of people. I don't know you, Nox. But you look out for Aria. And that means something to me. Whatever I can do to help you, I will. For both your sakes."
He stuck out his hand to shake as men.

Nox sat up and took Lucas' hand. "Thanks. Aria and I will do what we can to keep each other from drowning in our potential."
He grinned before continuing, "You just keep Aria's sanity, and I'm sure we'll be fine. She won't tell you because I don't think she knows, but you mean a great deal more than she tells you. You are the reason she comes back from the darkness. I make sure she calls you when we get home from overly long or bad hunts, I see it in her eyes when she's talking to you. The darkness fades with each word."


Lucas smiled faintly. "That's cool"
he said softly, probably thinking of Aria right that second. He looked up. "Alright. I have work to do. And you have to practice for...whatever. I'll let you to it. "
He smiled and walked back to the barstool. Nox couldn't help but laugh.

The sweet odor of burning sugar and the acidic smell of the lighter fluid were the only thing he could smell after a while. The fire was no hotter than the bbq grill he'd used a few days prior to cook up some charboiled burgers. Aurora hadn't been too pleased with the smoke in the warehouse, but it was too damn cold outside!

It was a good thing she wasn't here now or she'd be all over him about things. He sighed as the last ember died down, leaving soot and burnt sugar remains floating in midair. Nox wrapped the box in water and air and insured that it was all under control before he walked away to get the garbage.

As he glanced over at Lucas, he smiled, Nox could see bits and pieces of lines and shadows on his sketch pad. Lucas was enjoying himself.

As Nox finished up his wallet beeped, he reached in to his pocket and turned the alarm of without paying attention to what it said. He knew from memory the order his alarms went off. It was after all the only way he could adhere to Aurora's ridiculous standards. On time, always. He sighed, but it had become a way of life for him. Though she seemed less rigid now that they weren't hunting and training together, as a matter of fact he hadn't seen Aurora train since they'd moved back in together here.

Nox threw the last of his experiment in the dumpster behind the warehouse and went back into the kitchen and fixed lunch. He didn't bother asking Lucas. It was sandwiches or not and he didn't care if he didn't eat, wasn't his hunger. Nox fixed two left burgers in the oven. He hated the microwave, it was a horrible invention, and those left in American hotel rooms were even worse than the models you could buy today. Archaic things usually.

It didn't take long, he wasn't the greatest cook in the world but he'd learned to fend for himself long ago. Aurora was a great cook, he was glad to live with her, even if it meant he had to eat some disgusting foods like zucchini or squash. He shivered at the thought. But he did and he would as long as he didn't have to cook it.

Nox dressed the burgers with lettuce and tomatoes but omitted the onions, another of those things he avoided when he could. Aurora liked them though. Ketchup and mustard he didn't add to Lucas', he slid Lucas a plate and the dropped the bottles within arms reach. And he slide another bottle of water next to the plate, "If you are hungry."



Nox took his plate out into the middle of the dojo again and set the plate down on the ground at his feet with his bottle of water and wove a weave of air. He pushed it and pulled it around the room as he ate. The weave followed his hand as he moved through the basic warm up's he and Aria almost always started with. Usually he wasn't eating while working, but he was hungry.

(( with Lucas ))

[Lucas]

Lucas' thoughts were everywhere. There was so much here that was so alien. And yet, at its heart were people like him. Oh, not exactly. Not by any means like him. The things he saw Nox do...it was like a miracle. It raised so many questions. What about Jesus? Was it possible that he too was one of these gods?

Instinctively his mind rebelled against that thought. His heart hurt. No, God was more than a man who had power. He had to believe that. God had saved him, had pulled him out of the gutter.

And yet the world was so much more complicated. He had to stop and just focus on what he could do, what he could understand. And at the moment, his goal was to help Aria. He was surprised that the jealousy he'd felt about Nox had transformed into a partnership of sorts. For her. He would not let her fall, could not. He had to save her, even from herself.

Nox's words filled his mind. You mean a great deal more than she tells you. He seized on that. It was his anchor, what he would hold on to. As he learned to do over the years, he focused on what he could do and left the rest in God's hands. And Aria needed a home.

He continued to work, after having browsed Taoist paintings for the feelings and serenity he wanted to evoke. His sketch was rough but it would be what it needed to be. He took a small break to eat, chit chatting with Nox. The guy was just a guy, really. Human, like him. He could handle that. People needed each other, to ground them. That was his role, what he would do. Help keep them human.

When finished he went back to work and soon had something he was sure would work. "I'm going to get some supplies. I'd like to start sketching in the outline."


After a few more words, he was out the door. Having something concrete to do gave him a sense of purpose, the feeling that he was doing something. And underlying it was the hope to see the look on Aria's face when he showed it to her.

[Nox]

Nox nodded when Lucas took his leave. It had been an interesting morning to say the least. He had garnered help in fixing up Aria's room. And he'd blown a few things up. All in all it was very productive morning.

Nox continued with his playing with the power. He never did actually go back to the flash bang bomb weave. But he'd played with the napalm, did some research on pitch, and knew he wanted to start collecting metal and glass shards.

With the number of beer bottles in the garbage he was sure that he had at least a start there. Now his only problem was trying to figure out how to carry the crap around, otherwise it was pretty much useless. But that was a problem for another day. He had other things to do. Discoveries could wait until he had the place to himself again. If Aria moved in that might not be ever, he laughed to himself, but she could take care of herself, and he didn't think she'd say much other than give him that look of hers that said, Dumbass! But he'd survive that.