Down's the only way up.

"John!" Lea shouts, hearing the advancing threat.

the shifters move towards the center of the room, back facing backs. One by one the porters phased in, with eyes of pure hatred and weapons not meant to put-down, but to kill. 


"Shit!" he said in agony. They barely have space to move, much less run. Down?

"Down!" he howled.

in an instant the shifters transformed. Some into their battle forms, others into the heaviest animals they had. Blood sprayed from all directions, some from the lions and wolves tearing at the limbs of their enemies while the rest from the daggers and guns their enemies employed. In the center of the room an elephant and two rhinoceros stomped while defending themselves from those who made past their protectors.


Now up! John tried desperately to *push while taking on two porters. 


They got his plan - the floor crumbled, the porters with it while the shifters safe in mid-air, wings fluttering frantically to gain balance. 


They were safe, for now.


-Rae.


Push = telepathy.

Death doesn't make it a pitstop.

"Stop it! Just... just stop it Lea. Just because you're still grieving doesn't mean the world stops for you. Well, guess what, the world will leave you behind if you don't catch up."

"Catch up? Catch WHAT up? Jesse's dead. He's dead. And if there's one thing I learnt from his death. One thing, it's that we can't win. We're losing. Or perhaps we've been fighting a losing battle all this while."

"Fuck it. You're not the only one grieving. You think everyday I don't want to give up fighting? Fighting for this... this 'war' we're unlikely to win? The fact that there are more out there. That there are more - waiting to die, more Jesse's. They keep me going. They're faith in me, in all of us, keeps me going."

"John..."

"And it's them I'm fighting the war for. I'm not fighting for the dead. I'm fighting for those, who are alive. So don't tell me to quit. Don't ever tell me to stop fighting. Because I stop, I stop when the war ends, win or lose -- Hell, I'd probably be dead anyway if we lose. We're having a meeting in 5, same place. Be there alright? We all need a little hope that everyone's still in this."

He leaves the room, the door left open. Lea is left sitting on the bed, still crying as when John entered. The impact of John's words has seeped into her and she realizes the state she is in. Her tears stop. She hastily crams her stuff into her duffel and scrambles for 5. Now 2.


-Rae

it's fucking everyone.

Jake: "You have to move on with your life. It's not just you that's suffering. It's everyone. It's fucking everyone. You have to forget him. He's gone. Dead. And he'll never come back. Jus-"

Charlie: "I know! You think I don't know that? You think tha- that as each horrible day passes, that I don't want to move on? It's not easy. It's not as simple as going to sleep and waking up where everything's fine. Where everything is normal. I'm... I'm scared and lost and I don't know what to do."

"Scared? Why are you scared? There's nothing to be afrai-"

"Because I'm scared that moving on with my life. That... that letting go of this anger inside me would mean I'm letting go of him in his entirety. That I would be forgetting him. And I don't want that. I don't want to ever forget him. Dead or not."

-Rae