( mixed. ) pasa mi corazón del frío al fuego

[ashaya]

Who: Spock, Jim, Gwen, Peter, and various.
Where: Various locations (see prompts for details).
What: Gnosia-related shenanigans.
Warnings: Uh. Probably more than a few? Most likely: references to genocide, references to starvation/famine, references/overt descriptions of being targeted by racially motivated crimes, general violence, and gore. Maybe some vaguely racy commentary here and there (linked).

Comments

[ashaya]

[ Here's the thing:

There's no immediate footfalls that follow the cry for assistance. As Jim takes up his position, there's an echoing thrum that he'll receive - a score plucked up from the thousand tongued voices, a suggestion and a mark. What the presumed hunter might perceive is piecemeal for the moment, but it doesn't matter much. It'll get clearer in a moment.

There's a shadow that drops toward the mouth of another alley, the shaking out of heavy fabrics. There dusk wind is lit with the scent of copper and sun-warmed sands. It crackles as it spreads.

And then, it stops.

For a long beat, there's nothing else that shifts. There's nothing else that moves. But, Spock is certainly there. He's just waiting for the other "shoe" as it were to drop.

Does she move toward where the shadow was? Or does she scan elsewhere? ]

[finalfrontiersman]

[ They're in sync, like this, and it's a dangerous combination. Jim puts on his best frazzled look - he doesn't have to try very hard, playing up shaky panic by utilizing the very real tremors of a body wracked with Gnosia illness, whirling to Vi as she enters the mouth of the alley. ]

Oh thank God! Please, you have to help me - he's not himself!

[ Play dumb, damsel in distress? Easy as pie. If Vi buys it, it will allow Jim to get behind her - and then she'll be boxed in, with no way out but through. And good luck getting through Spock. ]

Spock, please, I know you're in there. [ Boy does he, the way the bond sings between them, craving blood.

At this point, they're just having demented fun. ]

[grappler]

[she's so wary. she watches him dart behind her, and she keeps an eye on where he came from, but--]

Nuh uh. Get back from behind me.

[she's not dumb, from living on the streets. so she presses her back against the wall so that it's not facing Jim, and hefts her gauntlets again.]

Tell me where that son of a bitch is... and you stay beside me.

[finalfrontiersman]

[ Jim hovers obediently to the side, eyeing her gauntlets with a glint of speculation in his eyes - easily covered, as Vi scans the surroundings. Or so Jim thinks, perhaps, couching his reactions in faux-devastation. The next best thing is to align himself at her elbow, pressing his own back against the wall too, as if following her lead. ]

I don't know, he just disappeared - he's been, I don't even know, stalking me?

[ Her gauntlets won't cause you lasting damage, will they? Jim's mind hums in thought; perhaps Spock will have a better assessment. ]

There, I think - [ Jim points towards a shadowed angle of the alleyway, taking what would presumably be an inadvisable step forward. Coax her out more? ] Spock, please -

[ashaya]

[ Speculation, sir?

It is a tease, plucking about the boundaries of the bond. A rounded note, humor just as sharp as it was before and after the inception of infection. Still, he takes into consideration the vague image that might be drawn upon. Without seeing it himself or surveying the potential capabilities of such gear -

There is not enough data upon which to draw a conclusion.

Even so, he takes to question as though it were command. Settled up against the adjacent wall, out of eyeline, he moves just enough to kite. To draw her out, as it were. As though one who torments Terran bovines, their horns curved and fierce, he licks out with the curl of a makeshift whip.

The aim isn't to capture, but it's convincing just enough to strike an upended barrel about the curve of the corner nearest her feet.

And certainly, convincing enough that he might time himself at his usual run toward their veritable "nest" as it were, should the situation permit. ]

[grappler]

[she's still keeping an eye on her peripheral on Jim, but she loses it the moment the barrel skids around the corner. she jumps back for a moment, but then goes to rush in and around the corner to where it'd come from.]

Stop fucking with me!!

[well, any sort of caution or plan she had went right out the window... as it usually does when her temper flares.]

[finalfrontiersman]

[ There are parts of them that are still them, despite the infection. The bond is one such part, twisted and ill though it may be in comparison to what it could be. Spock baits Vi admirably, just as Jim knew he would, sick satisfaction curling deep in his mind. Ah, yes - all according to plan. ]

Spock - !

[ Jim lets Vi get ahead of him, following her as though to assist. Spock's leading them deeper in the twisting alleyways - blocked off here or there with sheets of metal that may look incidental, but upon closer inspection - they were soldered there, on purpose. ] Don't hurt him -