Aberrant: Mutant High - Wild Things [Complete]

[z-The Morrigan]

Walking was enough to begin, but Morri soon felt the need to run. What she ended up doing wasn’t quite running; the snow was too deep to build up a good sprint. She managed a kind of shuffling job, her feet going sideways as often as not. It required her concentration to keep momentum at a certain speed, and that turned out to be exactly what she needed.

By the time she had ducked into the pine stand, where the snow was restrained by the ever-green leaves, she felt much better. She didn’t understand that it was endorphins creating a natural high for her; all she knew was that she didn’t feel that gnawing certainty that she’d just upset Eileen. The fact that she had upset Eileen was still true, and still bothered her a little. But it seemed a distant concern right now.

Morri found a good vantage point and peeked out through the branches. This felt a lot like the cave where Eileen had found her. That was both good and bad; it felt like home, but it felt like she was going to be pulled from her old life and forced into another. She couldn’t imagine what she would do if she ended up in a world that was even more confusing than this one.

And the worst part was that she was sure that she shouldn’t be confused by this life. She idly watched a coyote bounce high into the air and land nose-first in the deep snow as she thought about how familiar some things were. So much was strange to the short life she’d known, but there were things here and there, just enough to convince her she should know all of it as well as the other kids.

A small deer appeared in her vision, and all other thoughts were put aside. She was still hungry; her dinner had been interrupted. With a simple exertion of her will, a blood sword appeared in her hands. Quietly, carefully, she began her creep forward.

[Kazuo]

Morri closed with her prey with a stealth that any natural predator would admire, and was almost within striking distance of the deer when she suddenly became aware of a strange noise. The deer also cocked an ear and froze, letting Morri know she wasn't imagining things.

It sound like...

Like...

"aaaaaagghhhh!!!"

*Wham*!!!!

Someone had just come falling out of the sky, through the trees overhead, and had crashed (hard!) into the ground, practically on top of the deer! Or where the deer used to be, anyhow. It was long gone now.

"...ow!", came a rough voice from the hole in the snow where whoever it was had struck. Then, "Chikuso", followed by another second of silence.

Then suddenly the snow began to shift and collapse as the figure hauled himself - stiffly and clumsily - out of his hole in the snow. Once the figure was all the way standing, Morri could tell that it was a boy of around her own age, perhaps a year or two older.

The boy was facing away from her, so all Morri could see at first was his long black hair (which looked like it might have been tied in a ponytail at some point in the recent past, but which was currently in total disarray), the grayish-brown, fur-lined hoodie he was wearing, and the dark blue jeans he had on. All of which was thoroughly coated in with a fine dusting of snow.

He seemed to feeling quite stiff - understandable, considering that he'd just fallen from somewhere up above the treeline, apparently - and his hands went to the small of his back as he began a slow, cautious stretch. "Aiyuh!" he exclaimed in a kind of wordless vocalization of pain. Another stretch, "Aiyah!" *Pop!* "Haaahhh....". There, that seemed to have done it.

Hands still placed gingerly at the small of his back, the boy nonetheless managed to turn around slowly in the manner of a man taking just taking in the sights while out for a nice walk in the woods. As his face came into view, Morri was confronted with the sight of an obviously Asian young man (obvious to most people, anyway) who was just as obviously quite good looking at one point, and perhaps could still be considered to be, if one could get past the very long and jagged scar that ran vertically from his forehead down over his right eye and most of the way down his cheek, and another second scar that was nearly as long that ran horizontally across his forehead.

His expression as he turned was an odd combination of contentment and irritation. But then his good eye came even with Morri's glowing red eyes and through some quirk of coincidence, and in spite of Morri's efforts at stealth, the boy's gaze locked with hers and he saw her seeing him.

Immediately, the boy's expression lost all trace of contentment, to be replaced with a look of angry challenge.

"What the hell are you lookin' at, huh?", demanded Kazuo Kanai.

[z-The Morrigan]

Had Morri been in a better mood herself, or rather, had she not had the semblance of a good mood she'd worked herself into destroyed by Kazuo, she would have simply met his glare. At least to start; had he pushed things - and c'mon, this is Kazuo Kanai, so he would have pushed - it would have gotten to the point she was already.

"Seeing dumb, loud boy," Morri growled, her sword rising ever so slightly in a mute suggestion. The suggestion, vocalized by someone without brain damage and subsequent memory loss, could have been something like, "Walk away, little man."

Her red eyes fixed on his, waiting for them to drop or move away, signaling her victory. Also acceptable would be for him to up the challenge and get in her personal space. She could wait on him. She was patient.

It was another lesson from Vyse.

Thinking of him was a mistake. The tip of the sword shook as Morri growled, a deep, inhuman sound. It was clear that she wasn't human, not with those glowing eyes or that liquid sword, but the growl was still unsettling. People with a sense of self-preservation - i.e., not Kazuo - would realize that this was a monumentally bad idea. This sword-weilding mutant chick was pissed off about something, and it might be a good idea to leave her alone.

[Kazuo]

Kazuo arched an eyebrow in an incredulous manner. Was this crazy bitch threatening him? Who the hell did she think she was?

Kazuo'd just been out practicing his powers (he still had next to no control over the more extreme applications of his mutant abilities) and trying to get to the know the school campus. It was hardly his fault that he'd completely overshot his landing, slipped on an icy branch, and fallen from the equivalent of about five stories up and that this bitch just happened to be skulking around in some bushes near where he landed! Speaking of which, it was now Kazuo's firm opinion that when making landings from higher than, say, three stories up, using one's back to break the fall wasn't such a hot idea...

"Seeing dumb, loud boy," Morri growled, her sword rising ever so slightly in a mute suggestion. The tip of the sword shook as Morri growled, a deep, inhuman sound.

Kazuo immediately took offense. "Oy!", he cried, "who you callin' a boy?!" At least it was clear where his priorities were when it came to refuting insults.

His lips twisted in a cocky half-smile, half-sneer, and he said, indicating her blood-sword, "An' stop tryin' to threaten me with that stupid thing! You call that a sword? You come over here, girl, an' I'll show you a real sword!" Kazuo thrust his hips out and gripped his crotch with one hand, tugging once for emphasis, his eye never once leaving hers, and his cocky smile never leaving his face.

[z-The Morrigan]

Morri was confused - again. He'd offered to show her a sword, then grabbed his pants. Clearly, he was stupider than she'd assumed, which was amazing, because she already had a pretty low opinion of his intelligence.

Maybe he had a mutant ability to hide bigger things in his clothing? Maybe that was what he was referring to - something he'd hidden in his pants. That made her a little more wary; what other things besides a sword could be in there? She didn't see any odd bumps or protrusions, but that could be part of his powers, too. There was only one way to know for sure. Additionally, he'd challenged her, and backing down was not an option for her.

She could fear her anger rising, meeting the challenge in his gaze. With a snort, she stomped over the snow, sword at the ready. She shivered with potential violence, ready to attack when he armed himself. Or before he armed himself, if he was sufficiently challenging enough.

Morri stopped in front of him, those red eyes looking up at his and demanded, "Show." Her sword was not between them, but it was still at the ready. Many men would back down from the angry intensity in that crimson gaze, or think better of exposing themselves to a woman holding a blade that close to their junk.

[Kazuo]

After Kazuo had made his lewd display, and as Morri was stomping her way over to him, Kazuo took the opportunity to dust off all the snow he'd accumulated, though he made sure to keep half an eye on the odd girl with glowing eyes and freaky, dangerous looking sword (which is not easy when you only have one eye).

He was kind of impressed that she was just coming right over like that. Most girls ran away, or at least kept their distance, after a guy talked to 'em like Kazuo'd talked to her. On the other hand, she was carrying a fuckin' sword...

As she approached, Kazuo finally got a good look at her and realized that, aside from the creepy glowing red eyes, this girl was kind of hot. Man, if all the girls at this school looked as good as her, this new school might not have been such a bad idea after all. On the other hand, this hot chick looked kinda pissed. And she was carrying a fuckin' sword...

Kazuo was retying his hair into a tail as she came to a stop in front of him and demanded that he "show" her what he'd been talking about. He had to admit, he'd never actually had a woman demand that he make good on that particular promise before. Needless to say, Kazuo felt a bit perplexed and off balance at the moment.

"First put that fuckin' thing away!", he said, giving her weapon a pointed look. Then some his cocky self-assurance reasserted itself and he added, "Mine don't like the competition, if ya know what I mean."

Kazuo finished tying off his hair and went back to straightening out his clothes for moment. But when he realized that Morri was still standing there, staring at him with intensity, Kazuo stopped his fussing and pulled himself back up to his full height.

"I'm serious girl, and yer startin' ta get on my nerves. Get that sticker outta my face!"

[z-The Morrigan]

Making this boy nervous was restoring her good mood. All the boys in this place were easy to cow, and that was making her feel like she wouldn't run into someone who would try to abuse her again. She would die before that would happen, but she didn't want to die. She wanted to be left alone, in peace. That was not an option, according to Eileen, who had explained it carefully. It involved people hating her for being different, which she didn't understand, really.

She watched the young man prepare for battle, messing with his hair and clothes. She wondered what strange ritual this was, that made him fuss with his outer garments. She'd seen Eileen do that before leaving the house: she'd called it primping. Morri wondered why this boy needed to primp.

His demand that she put away the sword was also perplexing. Did he honestly hope to gain an advantage by having her disarm? She could rearm in seconds. Still, he seemed scared of her, which was gratifying. She tossed her sword away; as it left her hand, it lost form, collapsing into a splash of blood. One second sword; the next, no sword. Even the splash on the snow faded into nothingness within a few moments.

She wondered if that would satisfy him. And what was compete tension?

"Now show," she ordered, prepared to draw on him again if he attacked her. That would be dirty fighting, but she knew that some would do that. Red eyes pierced his own again, staring at him flatly, as if she could wait on him forever.

[Kazuo]

Wow, this chick was determined!

Now, Kazuo was used to doing okay for himself in the ladies department, but he wasn't under any delusions of being the consummate charmer or ladies man that every girl dreamed of meeting or anything. Especially since the scarring. So he kind of figured that there was something else going on here.

But hey, what the fuck, right? Might as well just go with it.

Because Kazuo had to ask himself, how often does a hot bijin just come right out and ask - no, scratch that, demand - that you show her what you're workin' with? This is not generally an everyday occurrence for the average person, Kazuo included.

And whereas most guys would probably be concerned about the cold and the all-important issue of “shrinkage”, or just that the girl was only egging them on so that she could make fun of whatever they pulled out of their pants, such concerns never even crossed Kazuo’s volatile mind. Mind you, this wasn’t because Kazuo didn’t necessarily have any reason to worry about any of those things. It was simply that he had a huge freaking ego. I mean, it was fucking gigantic.

So after a few seconds wherein he smacked his lips once and ran his tongue over his teeth twice in a distracted fashion – not because he was deep in thought or carefully considering his options, but because he wanted to take another moment to stare at Morri’s ‘assets’ and remind himself why this was/might be worth it – Kazuo shrugged nonchalantly and said, “alright”.

And just like that, he whipped that sucker out. *BAM* Yeah, that’s right! *BAM*, just like that. Cuz that's how Kazuo Kanai fucking rolls, bitches! If you can't handle it, you shouldn't be reading this, motherfucker!

So anyway...

Kazuo gave Morri a wry grin, his manhood still hanging out for all the world to see, and asked her, "So we just gonna play 'you show me, I show you' all day long, or what? Cuz it's cold out here an' I got places I'd rather be if all yer gonna do is talk."

[z-The Morrigan]

She was prepared for something dramatic when he opened his pants. The weirdness of the moment was lost on her; clothing had been optional for her before Eileen. She'd been unmolested by Vyse only because he'd had little interest in having sex with his favorite tool. Additionally, the sedation she'd been under had left her unable to react, something Vyse had no desire to play with in his bed. Eileen had tried to talk to her about the birds and the bees, but had been far too delicate about it. So Morri had no reference for what Kazuo was showing her.

What came out of the pants wasn't a sword or any kind of weapon that Morri understood. She peered down at it critically, then back up at him. "Not sword," she told him.

Quick as a snake, she grabbed the front of his pants and pulled them wider, peering between the cloth and his body. The crown of her head pressed into his sternum as she looked. When she didn't see a sword or anything interesting, she glared up at him angrily.

"What game?" she asked, clearly unamused. Releasing the pants, she scowled up at him. "Joke... not funny." Her fists clenched, her blood pounding near the surface of her skin. "Show sword!"

[Kazuo]

Ooookay, thought Kazuo, she's a retard...

Then he thought, That's awkward.

But immediately after that he changed his mind and thought, No it isn't! What am I talkin' about, this is fuckin hilarious! I'll be gettin' free drinks off this story fer years.

But then as soon as he'd thought that, he changed his mind again, and thought, Hey, waidaminnut! What if this chick's not retarded? What if she's a fuckin' psychopath? Aww, man! And I still got my dick hangin' out an' everything! Okay man, keep it cool! Keep it together. Just back away slow and put yer boys back in yer pants!

That was what Kazuo thought internally. But what he did outwardly was scowl right back at the retarded and/or psychopathic girl in front of him and swipe her hands away from his 'personal space' forcefully. Having done that, Kazuo took the opportunity to get those pants of his zipped back up again.

"Get yer hands offa me, girl! No one gets ta touch me there, less she knows what she's doin', and its' obvious you don't have a fuckin' clue!"

Kazuo stopped himself for a second while he considered his options, and then decided to go for the intimidation approach. Crazy or not, maybe this girl just wasn't used to people gettin' right back up in her face when she acted like this.

He took a step towards Morri (whose name he still didn't actually know), so that their chests were practically touching, forcing her to crane her neck even further to continue looking into his eyes.

"I aint playin' with you no more, bijin", Kazuo said quietly but fiercely, "and aint showin you nothin' else, either! Now get the hell outta my face!" And he prodded her once in the shoulder with an index finger to emphasize his words.

[z-The Morrigan]

Now this wasn't confusing at all. Rather than getting upset or afraid, she took the aggression he was giving her and reacted in kind. She was actually relieved that it was turning into something she could understand. Though she wasn't sure why he thought she was in his face; she was definitely outside of it, though she could put something in it if he wished. She had several ideas for things that would go in there. And truth be told, she was happy to show him what being in his face actually meant.

"Liar," she snapped at him. He'd said he had a sword, but it was clear he was just fooling her. He'd just said he wasn't playing anymore, which meant that he had been playing with her! He was a Jerk, like Eileen had told her about. Morri was very pleased to have figured this out. It made her feel like she was learning to so shell lies. She hadn't lied yet, so maybe she was doing it wrong. But he certainly was lying. He thought he could fool her and mess with her because she didn't know how things were. He was a bully, just a different kind than she had dealt with before. "You lie! Jerk! Have no sword!"

Reaching up, she planted her open hand against his face and shoved him backwards, hoping to make him stumble. "Now in face!" she declared proudly just before she released him. A gust of cold wind blew her hair across her face, but she ignored it, waiting for his retaliation.

He might not attack, and if he didn't, Morri would be happy. She didn't like to fight; it was a waste of energy and effort, usually. She really wanted to be left alone, but she wasn't going to allow herself to be abused anymore. If she got pushed, she was pushing back.

[Kazuo]

Kazuo swiped his hands about blindly as Morri shoved her hand into his face, and stumbled backwards a few steps. But he caught himself quickly and came to a stop, shouting something that sounded to Morri like, "Kon-oyah-ROHuh!!" *

And then he leapt at her with a speed that was absolutely shocking, even to Morri, and was right back in her face in less time than it took most people to blink. He popped both of his hands into both of her shoulders and shoved her once, not hard (not by his standards anyway), but definitely not gently either, and fairly roared at her, "NAN-daiyoh o-OhMay-wah, eh?!"*

*-- "Kono Yarou" (translated: You little brat!), "Nan-dayo omae-wa?!" (translated: who the fuck do you think you are?)

[z-The Morrigan]

Her reply to him was much less coherent and much more bloody.

His shove pushed her backwards; she would have remained on her feet save that the snow was deep enough to catch her heels. She planted ass in the snow, which was deep enough that it was like sitting in a short chair. She only sunk in a couple of inches before she bounced back up, her hands already running red. By the time she was standing again, she was armed. They were way too close by the time he realized she was twisting her body around for an attack.

With her own roar, she planted the blade in Kazuo's gut, her sharp little 'knife' angling up under his ribs. She was too close to succeed in doing more than slicing Kazuo and his clothing nicely.

He caught her arm with his hand, cursing at her. Morri's other hand came around, her blood drawing itself into a blade. She slashed at him as quickly as she'd grabbed his pants, her left hand making two quick, shallow cuts across his chest.

She didn't like to fight, but she was more than capable when she had to do it.

[Kazuo]

In general, Kazuo did like to fight! But not with crazy-ass little bitches with knives coming out of their fuckin' arteries!!

*Holy shit, she's completely freakin' psycho!* Kazuo thought, though only after he'd taken time to bellow in pain at the slashes Morri'd just inflicted on him.

The glowy-eyed little devil came in low for another slash, which Kazuo just barely managed to turn aside. Quickly, before she could get in another one, Kazuo kicked. His foot slipped right down the middle of Morri's defenses and impacted just below her sternum. The force of the impact was enough to send the slight girl sailing backwards through the air until she hit the nearest tree, smacking into it hard enough to shake lose a healthy portion of the snow in its branches in the process.

Any normal person would've just had a lot more than the wind knocked out of them by Kazuo's kick - not to mention the impact with the tree - but Morri acted as though she barely felt it. Rebounding off the tree trunk almost as soon as she hit it, Morri leapt at Kazuo with a roar, slashing at Kazuo wildy with her blades, her red eyes blazing.

Kazuo braced himself for the impact as she leapt, and moved to intercept her knives before they did any more damage - to his clothes or his flesh!

*What kinda shit karma have I got dumping on me today?!*, thought Kazuo in the instant just before Morri reached him.

[z-The Morrigan]

He caught her forearms easily, snatched her clean off the ground and head-butted her. It was kinda sad to do that to a hot chick's face, but since the hot chick was trying to shred him into tiny bits, Kazuo wasn't too uncomfortable with the concept. Again, it didn't seem to phase her much - this psycho was tough!

It did hurt Morri; she saw spots and her face hurt. Her nose should be broken, but she failed to realize that. Morri didn't worry about what should be; she tended to focus on what is.

For a second it was a face-off; she couldn't knife him, and if he let go, she would knife him. That's when she kicked forward, heel first, right between his legs.

Morri didn't know what balls were. She had no idea what they were for - while she had seen some in her time, she didn't understand why they were more special than say any other body part. What she did know was that when you kicked a man there - sometimes worked on women, too - he often collapsed, weeping and screaming.

Her foot planted itself in his crotch, and as Kazuo struggled to deal with this, she used it as a step to snap her knee into his chin. It left her in a bad position; she was held up by one foot and his grip on her. But it would be worth it if it made that strange, squinty look he had right now into tears. If he cried, she won. If she won, she was dominant. If she was dominant, he wouldn't be able to abuse her.

[Kazuo]

Kazuo didn't cry, as much as that might have pleased Morri, but unfortunately for her he did drop her immediately. "Unfortunately", because as had already been mentioned, Morri was only really supported by her foot still planted in Kazuo's crotch and his strong hands supporting most of her weight.

As soon as he let go she collapsed backwards into the snow, leaving her wide open to all sorts of attack for a good second and a half, which left the feral girl scrambling to recover her defenses. It turned out that she needn't have worried though, as Kazuo had merely dropped to one knee and had been busy making wordless, high-pitched sounds and breathing really fast during that second and a half.

For a moment, seeing "the liar" down on one knee, Morri felt extreme pride in herself, because in her world Kazuo was submitting, which made her dominant, which meant that he wouldn't abuse her. But this moment turned out to be extremely fleeting, because unbeknownst to her, Kazuo had been have an internal battle of wills - it was the same battle of wills that all men have after being kicked in the plums, namely, whether to curl up and beg for death or whether to continue the fight. In Kazuo's case, in this particular instance, he had definitely just chosen to continue fighting. Maybe it was the smug look of triumph on the girl's face?

In any case, he suddenly stopped whimpering and lunged at her with that incredible speed of his. Morri tried to slash his face as he closed on her, going for his one good eye in particular, but Kazuo seemed to have found a new plateau of anger and adrenaline because he batted away both of her attacks without even slowing down. His left arm came up in a fierce open-handed blow that connected with her stomach just below her rib cage, and was followed almost quicker than Morri's eye could follow by a powerful overhand blow to her face from Kazuo's right hand. No sooner had that blow landed than Kazuo landed another blow with his right hand, this one connecting on the ridge of her cheekbone just below her left eye.

That last blow had been powerful enough that it probably would have sent Morri sailing had Kazuo not grabbed a hold of her jacket with his left hand after his blow to her stomach. So she didn't go anywhere, and instead she found herself being picked up effortlessly by her coat. Kazuo roared in her face, without bothering to use words, as he walked a short distance with her dangling in the air before him, and then slammed her back into a tree, causing snow to shower down on both of them. Still bellowing at her, Kazuo simply pulled Morri away from the tree, only to just as quickly slam her right back into it again.

Whatever amount of anger and adrenaline Kazuo was operating on that had allowed him to shrug off the effects of a kickinthejunk, it seemed it had hampered his ability to come up with creative fighting techniques as well, because he just pulled her away from the tree's trunk and then slammed her right back into a third time.

[z-The Morrigan]

His lack of defensive finesse gave her an opening, and Morri managed to pull her scrambled wits together enough to use it. She put one of her knives on his wrist and slice downward savagely. The cut went deep, and would have been fatal for a human. For Kazuo, it was a mere annoyance, mostly because his hand stopped working as his tendons were temporarily severed. Still, real blood stained the snow at their feet.

He managed to spin her around with his other hand, get another hold on her jacket, and ram her face-first into the tree. Still shouting rude noise, he got three more good strikes against the tree using Morri as a blunt force instrument. That lasted until she kicked back and up at the same time, nailing him in the junk again. Once more, Kazuo's world became an awful, awful place, though not as long as last time. It was just long enough for Morri to pull her jacket out of his slackened fingers.

The fight was far from over, though. Again Kazuo faced off against the red-eyed psychotic, while she was determined to make the liar pay. Trees fell victim to their tirades, while the animals fled the area. Snow was moved, melted or tossed across the wide area of their battle.

But in the end, they were evenly matched. The end of an hour found them both exhausted, struggling to even glare at one another. Morri lay slumped under a tree where she landed after thrown. Kazuo was on his side in a furrow he'd made with the left side of his body. Neither could do lasting damage to the other, not for long.

[Kazuo]

Kazuo tried to glare at the psycho-bitch across from him, but he just didn't have the energy for that kind of hate anymore. Instead, he rolled over on his back and stared at nothing for a while while he focused on slowing his hear rate down before it did something completely uncalled for - like explode inside his chest, or something.

"Fuck this shit", he said after a some time had passed, still looking straight up into the sky, but somehow making it very clear that he was speaking to Morri, "I am done."

After another bout of silence Kazuo suddenly seemed to think of something and rolled over on his side again so he could look his opponent in the eye. "Hey", said, "what's yer name, anyway?"

[z-The Morrigan]

Morri was confused. She'd never met anyone who she couldn't beat or be beaten by. She rested against the tree, her exhaustion pulling her into apathy. She hadn't hurt this much in a long time. Longer than she can remember. But she knows that she was hurt badly once.

It would be easy to just sit here forever. The hurt is already starting to fade, but she remained wary. What if he was playing dead? He could hop up and hurt her if she dropped her guard. He seemed tired, but she couldn't be sure of that.

She jumped a little when he spoke, but she listened. At his question, she answered, "The Morrigan. Say Morri." There was a beat and she asked, "You name?"

Still dirty liar.

[Kazuo]

Kazuo pulled himself up and out of the snow stiffly, with many grunts and groans as each new bruise and pulled muscle and bone fracture was discovered. It'd probably take him a bit longer than usual to recover from this fight.

Dusting himself off again, now that he was standing up and out of the snow, Kazuo glanced in Morri's direction as she spoke, and then said, "Morri, huh? My name's Kazuo."

Having finished dusting himself off, Kazuo strolled with stiff but surprisingly amiable ease over to where Morri was resting against her tree. Seeing her begin to tense up again as he approached, Kazuo held up his hands and said, "Aww, cut it out, girl! I'm just comin' ta offer ya a hand gettin' up. Che! You need to learn how ta relax, chica..."

"I'd say it's been a pleasure meetin' you Morri", Kazuo said as he reached her location and bent at the waist, slipping a hand underneath one shoulder and hauling her to her feet, ignoring her apathetic attempts to push him away or kick him - or whatever. "But it really hasn't been. Know what I mean?"

"So", he asked, once he had her on her feet again, "which room they gotcha in? I'll walk ya there, if ya like." And with that, Kazuo started off in the direction of the dorms, without actually turning to see if Morri would follow.

[z-The Morrigan]

She didn't know what he meant, specifically, but she slowly pierced the words together. Slowly, she nodded. "No fun," she agreed, though fighting had never been fun for her. It seemed something safe to say.

When he touched her, she tensed, but he only lifted her to her feet and put her down again in the snow. She caught her balance as the snow compacted under her feet with soft crunching noises. Morri was confused; he'd fought her to a standstill, then he didn't slink away or try to lecture her. What was his game?

"Room on upper level in cav- building," she answered him, shoving her frozen hands into her pockets and following.

"What number?" Kazuo asked, muttering when she shrugged. She really didn't know.

"Know where," she told him, feeling the odd urge to defend herself. She didn't feel the urge to do it with her fists, which was a kind of progress. Instead, Morri quickened her pace until she was guiding him, winding back through the woods toward the dorm.

[Kazuo]

As they walked back to the dorms and Kazuo's stiffness began to fade, along with his cuts and bruises (sometimes - this being one of those times - being a mutant rocked, especially when being a mutant included having a bona fide healing factor), Kazuo began to focus less on the rapidly-diminishing pain and more on how much he enjoyed a really good brawl. It was good for the reflexes, muscle tone, for building your strategic and tactical thinking skills - it was great cardio. Seriously, aside from the broken bones, the bleeding, and the excruciating pain, what wasn't there to love about a good knock-down, drag-out brawl?

As neared the end of the woods and the school's buildings were just beginning to be visible between tree trunks, Kazuo cleared his throat and asked his newly-made nemesis, "So, uh... when'd you start comin' here?"

Morri's red eyes turned to gaze at him unblinkingly for a second, while she seemingly considered her answer, but all she said was. "Start today."

"Oh yeah?", he asked, a little surprised to hear that was the case. "Me too", he added, to which Morri said exactly nothing. Kazuo arched an eyebrow at this, but only asked, "So where'd ya come here from?"

This question, at least, seemed to provoke an emotional response from the strange girl, as she gave him the kind of look that seemed to ask, what kind of dumb question is that?

"Came from car", she said, and lapsed into a very satisfied-looking silence. Kazuo tried to kill her with a look. *Smartass...*

Morri continued to lead the way to her dorm room with a calm but determined look on her face. Behind her, Kazuo made a face at her back and shook his upturned fists about in the air while his middle fingers danced atop them, like a startled flock consisting of two very angry little birds.

[z-The Morrigan]

"You from?" Morri suddenly asked, turning back as Kazuo's face snapped to normalcy and his hands became fists. He pretended to stretch, shifting his arms up high, while he considered the question.

Dropping his arms, he said, "Originally I started in Tokyo, but I've been lots of places." Morri nodded, not really understanding. She'd ask Eileen what Toky Eyo was later. Or did he walk here? "Long walk?" she tried, not sure if that was right.

She mounted the stairs as her companion tried to figure out what the wacked-out girl was talking about. It still eluded him as she reached a door and pushed it open. After peering inside, she nodded with satisfaction and said, "Home." It wasn't really. She didn't have a home. But Eileen had wanted her to make this her home, so she'd try.

There was other stuff in there. Frowning, she walked up to it and gave one of the bags a push with her foot. Had Eileen gotten her more things and left them while she wasn't looking? Bending down, she started to open them, her eyes curious.

"Oi! What are you doing?!" Kazuo's barked question brought her up short. She blinked at him as he crossed the room and snatched the bag from her. "Those are mine!"

Morri's eyes widened as she realized that he was her roommate. Eileen had explained this very carefully to her; she'd have a nice girl named Sarah as her roommate, and Morri had to try extra-hard to be nice to her. She would have to live with her like she'd lived with Eileen. But this wasn't Sarah.

Kazuo wondered what he'd done to offend the gods so as he dropped his bag on his bed and scowled at his roommate. She was a girl, and more importantly a hot girl, but she was also crazy. "I ain't movin'," he informed her.

"My room," she said, then hesitated and said softly, "Our room now." She moved to her side of the room and started to unpack her clothescase, leaving Kazuo to take care of his things. Their truce still held - for now.