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[b][code]Grand Ridge - Outside.[/code][/b]

[sup][@Prosaic][@Atrophy][@Surtr Inc][@Zombiedude101][/sup][hr]


Lynette dropped the marker out of sheer shock.


Aliana had started to become a bit overwhelmed, the amount of things that were happening were pressing down on her a bit. Of course, she had [i]completely[/i] understood why Penny would be a bit wary of this, she'd been wary of it from the start. It was just odd, a bunch of college students suddenly developing super powers was something out of a bad movie. It didn't happen in real life. 


She was about to respond when a bit of a commotion shook her into turning around. She recognized the boy immediately, it was the very same boy who had greeted her and Lynette at the docks. The only issue was that his arm had been completely swallowed in the earth. This was irrational, it was crazy, it was [i]weird[/i].


She couldn't help it though, his comment was funny. "[color=8882be]At least take it out to dinner first.[/color]"


"Do you think the kind of ground that wants to be wined and dined would take a fisting?" Nate retorted, slowly tugging at his arm. It still had him halfway past the wrist but he at least had elbow room for now. Somehow, part of him felt a certain disdain for the near-death experience that Lynn's graffiti had caused him, "Just let me pull this out before you take another shot at me again."


Penny was still too riled up to find the boy amusing, but his appearance did save Lynette from a verbal onslaught. With a huff she lit another cigarette and glared at the boy, recognizing him as none other than ol' bumblebutt. Maybe Aliana and Lynette were happy to see him, but Penny was more suspicious than anything. "While you're down there, why don't you tell us why you're creeping on a buncha girls? Then maybe we can decide when we take another shot at you."


There was so much guilt coursing through her body as she stood there, and realized what she done. "I'm-I'm sorry!" She stammered out with both hands on the side of her head. She recognized him as Nathan, the guy she met at the docks the night of the... incident. Though, like Penny, she found it weird that he was creeping up on them like that - but that was sematics for a later date - his arm was stuck in the ground and Lynnettecould see his... aura. "Let me help you!" She said as she ran over to Nathan and grabbed him by his other arm. ."Okay, one, two..." Lynette counted down mostly to pump herself up, "... three!" She said as she triumphantly yanked Nathan as hard as she could.


To the surprise of perhaps no-one, it didn't work, outside of pulling his jacket upwards. "Yeah, that's not working."


Aliana was more than a little confused on [i]how[/i] a guy could end up arm-deep in the earth, but then again, [i]nothing[/i] was making perfect sense anymore. "[color=8882be]I can't help but agree with Penny, that's pretty damn weird but it's no reason to let you keep getting fresh with the ground.[/color]"


She sighed, heading over to Lynette and Nathan to observe the scene from up close. "[color=8882be]We might have to be careful about trying to yank him up like a weed, you could accidentally break his wrist if it's buried well enough. How well do you think you're in there, kid?[/color]"


"So much for letting any conflict play its course," said Penny under her breath. As much as she was put off by Nathan spying on them, she didn't feel right about leaving him stuck in the ground. However, she didn't rush over to his side either, feeling as if crowding the boy would only make things more difficult. She racked her brain. He had only ended up in the ground in the first place because he was avoiding Lynette's accidental catapult; maybe they could get him out if they tried something along the same vein. 


"I gotta idea. Y'all might wanna move unless you wanna end up like that wall over there," she said, and then reached into her pocket and pretended to grab something. Pulling the imaginary item out, she reeled back and then motioned to pitch the nothingness at Nate, hoping he'd think she was actually blasting something at him, as she shouted, "Think fast!" Lynette immediately took a step back, as she even had anticipated her launching something.


"What-" Nate recoiled instinctively, assuming she was about to toss another chunk of brickwork at him - but the hand he pulled out ultimately found nothing. Once he realised it was just a ploy, he flexed his released fingers, then gave her a bird of his own, "Eat a dick." It was meant in good humour, though - anamused snort from himgave that way - then he stood up and gestured at Penny, "And you can eat a bag of dicks too, for trying to pin the blame on me." That line was still good humoured, but not entiely without malice - if only just a little. "I followed you because I figured it was worth finding out what you blamed 'bumblebutt' for."


Penny had been shocked that her little trick worked—it hardly worked on her family's dog anymore, and here it was working on a grown-ass human. She had spat out her cigarette with a bark of laughter, and was still doubled over as Nate gave the girls a one-finger salute. She felt her anger subside, if only for a moment. She straightened herself up and gave an exaggerated shrug, as if to feign ignorance and brush off the accusation.


Lynette had raised a finger as she sighed.


"... It was my fault to begin with," Lynette said. "For all of this." She put a hand on her chest as she said, "I was the one who caused the big stir in the first place... all because I wanted to get to the bottom of these damn symbols...."


"[color=8882be]Well, we certainly figured them out.[/color]" Aliana responded, "[color=8882be]I think it's good that you wanted to look into it because I was trying to ignore it, and it seems that Penny has been practicing it. Nathan was bound to accidentally experience it and maybe it's best that we were there for that because Penny kind of did him a solid by scaring him out of the ground.[/color]"


Lynette's intrigue in the markings was understandable, it was some kind of phenomenon that had occurred. A weird blip in the universe that had left them with powers. Lynette had some kind of elemental control, Penny had some kind of telekinesis, Nathan was phasing through things like a ghost and she was going invisible. It was weird but it [i]did[/i] have its interesting factor. "[color=8882be]I mean, I'm gonna be honest here, this shit kind of scares me but I think it's good that you blew up the mirror, in a way.[/color]"


"Oh yeah, that's, like, totally awesome," said Penny, flipping her hair.  Already the smile on her face was slipping once again. "I'm definitely not going to get hunted down by Norris and nailed to a fucking cross for it or anything, so, yay, way to go, Lynette."


"At least you can uh, y'know - shoot your pens and used tampons at him if he chases you." Nate offered, with a shrug.


"Reassuring as always, Penny," Lynette said sarcastically, finding it hard to fight back that smile of hers. "... I think we're more than capable of handling him."


Though, that was when she got a text message on her phone (from the ). Lynette reached into her purse and looked inside at her phone.


[quote][center][b]From:[/b] [color=wheat]Britney[/color]

[code]Hey... I've just got the go-ahead from the school counsellors and we're going to form a support group for the survivors of that massacre. We're meeting tomorrow at four. Spread the word.[/code][/center][/quote]


Lynette looked up from her phone at her group - she wondered if it was more than just a concidence that this happened to them... the survivors of the massacare. Maybe she was being a bit overimaginative, but she knew it had to be more than just a concidence. She needed to find more people that were like them - just out of curiousity. Her grandmother's notes mentioned something about this town, and, well, this seemed to be it. She ought to keep this group close, though. Penny had a point - there were a lot of people out there that would kill to have this kind of power, and would gleefully abuse it. If they stick together, maybe they can weather it.


"... Hey, guys," Lynette said, "One of the counsellors, Ms. Faust-" Lynette knew that Penny had a bad opinion of Ms. Williams. While she was fine with her, she had enough tact to know that now would be a great time [i]not[/i] to mention her, "-just sent me a text saying that there's going to be a meeting for survivors of the incident... a support group. I'm not sure, but something feels a bit concidental about what happened that night?"


"[color=8882be]I can't help but agree,[/color]" Aliana responded grimly, "[color=8882be]We were all there, and some of the craziness of that night was just. . . [i]too odd[/i]. I don't like to believe in paranormal stuff too readily but it was kind of too abstract to be simplified into something normal.[/color]"


She almost wished that she [i]could[/i] simplify it somehow, that she could take it and crush it down into scientific terms or maybe psychological terms. It wasn't that easy.


"[color=8882be]I'll go if you and Penny go. Maybe we can keep an eye out for markings or try to talk to some of the other survivors.[/color]"


"Riiight. Or, [i]maybe[/i], this is just a convenient way to round up the Farmer Hill freaks, stamp a bar code on them, and ship them off to an internment camp for their own safety," said Penny with a grumble, pinching the bridge of her nose. Perhaps she was in need of a support group. "But, if it helps us figure out what the hell is going on here, I guess I'm in. I'll just make sure I bring plenty of used tampons as ammo because us women totally just carry those around, like, are you serious man?" She snapped at Nate. "Do you really want to bring up the subject of periods, because I will tell you shit that you will never be able to forget. I swear, you will fucking lose sleep."


"... Let's not go into that," Lynette shrugged her shoulders as she awkwardly looked off to the side. Even though Penny was skeptical (Lynette knew that well, it was just in Penny's nature), she knew that they wouldn't get anywhere by being paranoid. There was something off about all of this, but Lynette knew she could trust Britney... even if Penny didn't. 


"I'll let them know we're coming."