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| Fleur Delune; My first HU character | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 22 2008, 03:27 AM (471 Views) | |
| LuneFleur | Jan 22 2008, 03:27 AM Post #1 |
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Dreamer
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Character Summary Name: Fleur Delune Gender: female Age: 27 Appearance: Tall (5'11), thin, pale skin and light brown hair. Has a pretty but quite cold face. Occupation: The French perfectionist manager of one of the Zara stores in New York Hometown: Born in Aix-en-Provence, lives in New York Powers: Smoke illusion. Can turn her body into smoke and while in smoke-mode, change it into looking like anything (but it will not be tangible). Can't be hurt by solid objects while on smoke-mode, but that won't protect her from mind tricks. Turning to smoke takes a lot of energy. If the illusion has its size and shape similar to her body, than it's easier. To expand and look more complex, it will also make her tired and weaker for a while. Fleur is skilled in her power but still trying to improve it, to get less tired after illusions. Origins Chapter 1 Manhattan, 2007 It was her day off, and it was rainy. Not that it mattered; there wasn’t much to do anyway except catching a movie or a nice cup of coffee at the café on her building’s ground floor. At least there was decent coffee where she lived. Fleur was half-French and half-Brazilian, and the one thing she could say she really hated in the US was the fast-food American coffee. Still dressed in her bathrobes, she looked at the picture over her side table. Dieu, that had been a strange day, strange but oddly happy. Life seemed so promising and full of possibilities ten years ago. São Paulo, 1997 Her mother kept pulling her hair. Fleur had given up trying to find out what the hell she was doing, but it hurt. To make matters worse, it was a very hot November in the tropic of Capricorn, and all the windows were closed because her uptight French mother didn’t want the wind to mess up her hair. “Maman, arrête! I can do this.” Fleur was very excited for the last school dance of her life. She had been accepted in the best university of the country, and that dance would be the perfect way to end a good school year, especially if Daniel finally looked at her as more than a friend. She tried to concentrate on Daniel’s smile, the way his eyes blinked whenever she outsmarted him. Of all the guys in her big group of friends, he was one of the smartest, but unlike the other intelligent friends, he didn’t feel threatened by the fact that she was brighter than all of them. Not even Danny’s lovely face, though, could take her mind away from the agony of all those hair pins, hair brush and blow dryer. Would her mother please just STOP THAT. “Dieu!!!” “What now, maman?” But she didn’t have to ask. The comb couldn’t touch her head. Her hair was there, but also… it wasn’t. She ran her fingers through it, and they moved slightly, but she didn’t touch them. It was as if they had become smoke! They weren’t transparent or anything, but there was a strange flow to them. Just when Fleur was about to scream, she felt the damn pins again, they hadn’t fallen but stayed as if they had been turned to smoke too and just re-solidified. Chapter 2 São Paulo, 1997 School Dance Fleur was locked in the bathroom, hiding from a pompous and dull classmate who had asked her to dance about five times. Except for his constant attempts, she was having fun. She even liked the dress her mother made her wear, a black chiffon one with a nice pale-pink scarf. The light pink nail polish, though, she hated. Even while she was having fun in that cool party, it was hard not to think about what had happened before. Did it actually happen? Did she actually make her hair become smoke and then return to normal? Alone in the bathroom, she stared at her fingernails. Could she do the same to them? She concentrated, but nothing seemed to happen. They looked normal. But come to think of it, her hair had also looked normal. She had to try to touch it to see what had happened to its texture. Smiling, Fleur shook her hands a little. Ten tiny pink clouds seemed to rise from her fingers and the return to them, looking again like normal fingernails. Only they weren’t solid. That was fun. She wondered if she could do something to them, their color seemed to get a bit darker while she was shaking her hands. Concentrating, she stared at her fingertips again. Pale pink. Dark pink. Burgundy. And finally black. That’s the color she wanted, that’s the color mother had said ‘no way’ to. Now it was easy, she just had to solidify them while black. But her fingernails were pink again. Apparently, the color change had only worked while they were vapor. Or smoke-mode, that seemed like an appropriate way to name it. Still amazed, Fleur listened to the music playing outside. If God Will Send His Angels, by U2. Good. It was time to see if something would finally happen between her and Daniel. Manhattan, 2007 The phone rang, but there was no way Fleur would answer that. It was obviously her mother. She let the voice mail get that. “Hi, chérie, c’est moi. Please check your e-mail, I sent you those brochures I mentioned about that Masters Program in Paris. You are such an intelligent woman, you can’t really stay in that store forever. Bien, I need to get going. Au revoir, ma petite.” Fleur had absolutely no intention to leave her job. Not only she was the manager of the biggest Zara store in Manhattan, but she was also starting to design clothes. So what if she had a business degree? She had fallen in love with the fashion industry and didn’t plan to leave it. Plus, she had other – and quite secret - reasons not to leave New York. Chapter 3 Manhattan, 2007 There he was again, the Broadway actor who could put out the nearby lights with his thoughts. He always wore the same ridiculous Dick Tracy-like trench coat, quite easy to spot from her 4th floor apartment window. Fleur hated the fact that he lived in the building across the street. She had tried so hard to hide her own… oddity, and now that idiot walked around her neighborhood parading his. She had spotted him doing his trick during a play, to cover a wrong stage entrance made by a colleague. No one else had noticed anything, but after a decade learning to control her own abilities, Fleur Delune had trained eyes for this sort of thing. She had followed him around and noticed he had mixed feelings about what he could do. Sometimes he seemed scared, sometimes proud, apparently dying to show off. Probably thought he was the only one in the world, the fool. But she knew better. Aix-en-Provence, 2002 “Gérard, I’m serious, I don’t remember playing boules with you. I was only 4 when I moved to Brazil.” “But I was your favorite team mate, je jure!” “I believe you, I just don’t remember.” Those vacation weeks after college graduation had been amazing. She knew Gérard was probably telling the truth, because he was quickly becoming her best friend in the world. And she noticed the same was happening to him. Her friends would say that it was a match made in heaven, if he weren’t her cousin. And so completely gay. “Fleur, dear, there’s something I want to tell you.” “That you are dying to get the waiter’s phone number? I noticed.” “No, it’s something else. I’ll show you later, chez moi.” She should have guessed. If they were so alike, why wouldn’t they be alike in that, too? Fleur couldn’t pretend to be too surprised when he did pretty much the same thing she could do with her body, only he turned to liquid instead of smoke. She had to tell him, and he remained the only person she ever told. Chapter 4 Manhattan, 2007 Fleur missed Gérard, who was now living a crazy life in Barcelona, but she knew she could trust him. They had sworn never to tell anyone, and both had kept their promises. Still, the world was changing fast and she knew it. Somehow, New York seemed to be the center of it all. She kept her eyes and ears opened, and in the last months had picked up strange rumors. Someone was tagging people like her. That Broadway fool playing with the lights would be an easy target if he didn’t take care, but she wasn’t going to be the one to tell him that. He didn’t seem very stable or trustworthy. She had also heard much scarier things, and knew revealing herself would be a very bad idea. One night, weeks ago, while she was walking to the nearby deli to get some microwave junk-food after a horribly long day, she heard a woman mention the word ‘powers’. It was a well dressed woman, and she didn’t look like someone who would discuss comic books or RPG on her cell phone. Quickly, Fleur turned to smoke and made herself dark, so she could disappear in the shadows and hear her talk. She didn’t get much, because apparently the woman was doing a lot more listening than talking, but from what she heard, she had reasons to be worried. People with ‘powers’ – people like her – were dying. How many, she didn’t know. She didn’t know how many like her existed, to begin with. But the woman also mentioned a list belonging to someone with a foreign name she didn’t catch, and that freaked her out. There was a list? But where did this guy with the strange name, whoever he was, get the information about the people he listed? Could someone… sense people like her? That night she decided it would be safer not to be in any list. Since nothing strange happened to her afterwards, Fleur guessed she was still unknown by the ones tracking ‘special’ people. Good. She would never willingly use her abilities again, and she would never talk to anyone about them. If only that dumb Broadway guy didn’t live so damn close, she'd say she was truthly fine. Epilogue Manhattan, 2007 Fleur Delune’s Apartment She read the letter again. How many times since she had first opened it? A couple of months ago her life seemed so fine, she felt almost completely safe. But given the choice, would she rather have remained like that? Isolated in an appearance of calmness? No. She was grateful for having met Chris Wentworth, a handsome English Literature Professor who had gotten himself involved in the troubles of people like her. And his troubles were great indeed, taking him away from his everyday life and throwing him into the unknown with so little experience. She wished she could be there for him, but for both their safeties, it was best if they remained apart. Dear Fleur, I am well, and so is the baby I named him Arthur. He cries a lot, but I have learned how to keep him fed and warm. I have contacted Brown but it’s not a good time to meet, he believes going to him might put me and little Arthur in danger. He sounds very paranoid, but I believe he might have reasons to be so. I’m not even sure if that’s really his name. It is amazing how becoming a father can change a man. Before, I had always seen myself as more of a spectator than an actor in life, but I swear, looking at him now, I’d do anything to keep my son safe. It pains me that I can’t hear from you, but it’s best this way. I trust you completely but I know that as long as you can’t reach me, you are safer. I owe you so much, Fleur. If it weren’t for you, I might have died in that fire in the theater. I’d never had known I had a son; I’d never have been able to be there for him. Please take care of yourself. Your good friend, Chris PS: Burn the envelope. I’m no longer in that address, but we can never be too safe. It was almost possible to hear his low voice while she read it, the softness in the accent with which he pronounced every word. She could almost see his eyes, big and clear, slightly shy behind his dark eyelashes. Fleur would miss him, but that didn’t really matter. As long as he and baby Arthur were safe. She knew she would worry sick, that she would expect letters like this one, telling her he was ok, but she knew it would be very hard for him to send them. That was how life would be from that point on. She had tried to avoid the dangers, the hardships that having been born special meant. But there was no escape, she was who she was, and as long as people like her were rare and still widely unknown, she would have to live with everything that came in the package. But what was the alternative? As scary as her reality was starting to become, she couldn’t help but wonder how much worse it could get if the whole world found out. |
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| LuneFleur | Jan 22 2008, 03:31 AM Post #2 |
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Dreamer
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Non Canon Volume One: Not So Ordinary People Chapter 1 Manhattan, an early morning It was a Tuesday morning, and on Tuesday mornings Fleur went to the gym before work. It was a very hip place, full of rich teens, tweens and a handful of blond, permanently tanned socialites, who apparently saw no difference between New York and LA. She didn't care about that, it was close to work. Fleur hated driving in NY, sometimes the traffic was so horrible, it was faster to get to places on foot. She changed quickly and looked at the mirror. All her gym clothes were black, some with small details in white or blue. She felt comfortable in black, she thought maybe it was the French blood in her veins. With her bottle of Evian - an habit she could never let go of - she climbed on the spinning bike and stared at the grey clock by the door. 7:30 AM. There he was. Tall, dark, blue eyes and British. 30-something. Like a less athletic and almost nerdy Clive Owen. Actualy, that was what she called him in her mind, the Clive Owen Professor. COP. She knew he taught literature in Columbia, and she has seen him in heated arguments with Broadway Guy twice. Yes, Fleur was following COP around. Stalking would be a strong word, specially because he was indeed her type, but that was not why she was doing that. No. If that college professor was getting into fights with a guy who could manipulate eletric lights with his mind, he either knew something, or he didn't. And in that case, he had no idea what kind of trouble he was getting himself into. After gym, Fleur would go straight to work, and from there, straight home. Part of her wanted to say hello, ask COP for a cup of coffee. But that wouldn't be very smart, would it? She had promised herself she would observe, not get involved. Plus, it was time to update her files. Chapter 2 - From Older Files in Fleur's Notebook File 001 Printed copy stored in the locker. Combination will be given to cousin Gérard. Before I start my log, I want to leave this message: Gérard, in case something happens to me, take all the information I hope to gather and put it to good use. Log start: Something very strange happened last night. I was walking down the street and heard someone talk about powers and special people. It isn’t the first time I heard something like that, but this time it didn’t seem like some uninformed conversation about odd rumors. It was a woman, older than me and sharply dressed. She was talking to someone on her cell phone in a hushed and low voice, and she seemed to know very well what she was talking about. I did my best to hear everything she was saying, and even risked using my abilities outside so I could disguise myself better, but I didn’t get much. Confirming some of the things I had picked up before, people like me and my cousin are being watched. I don’t believe there are many like us, but there definitely is someone else right here in NY. The woman said something about people like us being killed, and I’m pretty sure she talked about a murder or accident, I don’t know, that happened here in the city. She also mentioned a list belonging to someone with an unusual name, foreign, if I’m not mistaken. This is really scary. Someone has a list with god knows how many names of ‘special people’, and I have no idea how is it possible for them to have this kind of information. Secret service, maybe? I have a bad feeling about this, I don’t want strangers following me around or cataloguing me. Gérard is right, we have no reason to use these abilities. It’s not like they help much in our everyday life, anyway. Still, something is going on and I want to know more. I want to know why I have this, why some people have powers while others don’t. I’ll keep record of everything I discover. File 002 I SAW one! He is a Broadway actor and he can turn the lights on and off with his mind. I don’t know how exactly his power works but I am 100% sure I saw him doing it. I must know more! File 003 Broadway Guy is an idiot. He lives across the street and he keeps using his power for no reason. He kept making the lamp over the bus stop blink, and was clearly amused! When an old man approached, he almost jumped, and then tried saying something lame like “these things need decent maintenance”. I don’t think the old man noticed anything suspicious, though. My guess is that Broadway Guy (or BG for future reference) is dying to show the world just how 'special' he is but doesn’t have the balls to do it. File 004 Except for he occasional bumping on BG, everything is normal. I’m having pretty tough days at work, the new interns don’t learn as fast as I wish they would, and we are getting new clothes from Europe almost every day, so I don’t have enough free time to continue my investigations. Nothing strange happened recently. No weird rumors, no strangers snooping around. I think I can congratulate myself on my discretion, if I had been discovered or listed wherever, I’m pretty sure I would have found out by now. Chapter 3 – An Important New File File 005 BG appears to have an enemy. I saw him argue with a man from my gym a few weeks ago, and last week I spotted them arguing again. This man from the gym doesn’t look like the kind who would pick up a random fight; he doesn’t even seem like the type who goes to the gym, much. He is British and quite handsome, tall and thin, a very intellectual version of Clive Owen. Well, kind of. I heard him tell the receptionist that he teaches Literature at the University of Columbia. Can Clive Owen Professor have a ‘power’, too? Maybe, but that would be strange. For ages I hadn’t known of anyone except me and Gérard! I’ll keep an eye on him and see what he’s up to. * * * Manhattan, a Saturday evening She sat at a window table of the nearest restaurant, a nice little veggie place called Karol’s Karrot. Fleur liked their soups, always creative recipes with interesting spices and exotic ingredients. She had made a habit out of eating dinner there alone. From there she could watch BG’s steps when he was around, and if she acted as if that place was simply her favorite dinning spot, he wouldn’t have any reason t think she was following him. Maybe because Fleur was concentrating on finding out where BG would come from, her heart gave a start when she saw walking from next corner, not Broadway Guy, but COP. He looked at the window by which she was seated, probably recognizing her pale face and high pony tail, and gave a rushed wave, walking faster towards a burger joint. Fleur didn’t have to look twice. The old neon sign was blinking, and BG was standing right under it. The Professor started pointing his finger at him, and Broadway Guy angrily pushed his hand away. Ah, how she wanted to get closer and hear what they were saying. But maybe she was being stupid. Maybe one of them had stolen the other’s girlfriend. Maybe they were arguing about money. They started walking away, side by side. Neither was speaking anymore, but both looked very angry. BG was making the street lamps blink, apparently without noticing, but Fleur could have sworn COP stared at the lamps and then at Broadway Guy. Without thinking twice, she paid for her soup and ran after them. Keeping a distance, Fleur saw the two men enter the back door of the theater where Broadway Guy worked. It closed behind them but she didn’t hear a lock or key, so after a few seconds she opened it, slowly, trying not to make any sound. It was very dark in there, but she noticed three steps right after the entrance and then a corridor with some doors. There was still the possibility of turning back. Going home, forgetting all that. But Fleur paused, sighed and took her boots off, getting in as silently as possible. After a while, she heard voices again, and followed them until she reached a heavy black door, with a small round window. It had to be the entrance to the cafeteria kitchen. “I want to see her” that was COP, his accent was unmistakeable “I want to know what you did to her. She would never disappear like this on her own accord!” “You keep saying that. I told you I don’t know where she is. It’s your fault, you left her!” “You don’t know what you are talking about.” “Oh, I don’t? You should have seen her. She was not herself” BG’s voice was getting louder “I told her to stay away from you. But no, she wouldn’t listen. She would never listen.” “She needs help!” Now it was COP who was screaming, or trying to. His voice came out as if he wasn’t used to using it like that. “Why?” replied BG, almost instantly “Because she is a freak? That’s what you think, isn’t it? That’s why you left her!” The lights in the kitchen were getting brighter; Fleur could see them through the little window. Too bright, actually. Unnaturally bright. She was starting to have a very bad feeling about that. “You say nothing? You say nothing?” BG sounded insane “Good, bro, because you are history. The likes of you are history. We are the future!” “Listen, calm down.” COP’s voice trembled “Look at what you are doing.” “What, afraid, are you? Good. You should be. You will never, ever touch her again, hear me? Never!” It happened too fast. The lights got so bright they exploded, not only the ceiling lamps, Fleur suspected, but also the microwave and electric oven ones. Smoke came out from under the door and, shocked, Fleur looked through the round window and saw flames, growing higher and higher. Chapter 4 Manhattan, same day There was a scream, a noise, and then silence. Fleur pushed the door with all her strength – not that it was much – but it wouldn’t move. She tried calling, but either they couldn’t hear her, or they weren’t able to answer. There was only one thing left to do, and she wasted no time. Diable, it was hot! She had turned to smoke-mode and entered through the narrow space between the door and the floor. The room was getting hotter, and there were flames all around, but they couldn’t burn her while she stayed that way. Still, Fleur could feel the heat. In her first glance, she saw COP semi-unconscious on the floor, trapped behind a table on fire. Quickly, she ran – or rather floated – to the sink, passing through flames. She saw that the Professor had opened his eyes and was looking at her, but she couldn’t worry about that now. There was a used pan, still unwashed, full of water inside the sink. She turned solid again to get it, and threw the water on the table that was trapping COP. That was not enough. Fleur touched the tap to open it, and screamed. So hot! Biting her lips, she tried again and then refilled the pan twice, throwing the water around her and controlling the flames for a while. COP had managed to get up and was standing in front of her, a puzzled look on his face. “Can you walk?” She asked. “Yes. The door..?” “I don’t know, I think we must unlock it.” Quickly, they ran to the door and opened it. Fleur’s hands hurt badly, and she noticed her feet were slightly burnt, too. She was about to leave when she noticed COP getting in again. “Where are you going?” “You go. I have to get Drew” the Professor answered, looking worried, “he didn’t do it on purpose.” “You’ve got to be kidding.” But instead of leaving, Fleur followed him. They found BG – or Drew – unconscious on the floor, under a broken lamp, with terrible burns. He had removed almost all his clothes; they had probably been in flames. Together, Fleur and COP pulled him out, but the fire was growing again, everything was too hot, and the last thing she remembered was stepping out of the burning room. Chapter 5 Manhattan, the following day She was lying over some comfortable surface, and felt a familiar antiseptic smell. Fleur opened her eyes and faced the white ceiling. Everything was white. Sitting on an armchair in front of her bed was COP, smiling softly, with gauze over his wounds and clean clothes. “Hello.” “Hello. I’m in a hospital?” “Yes” he replied “but don’t worry, everything is fine.” “They examined me?” “They had to, Fleur, you fainted. Your blood pressure was alarmingly high at first, but after they gave you some medicine, it dropped really fast and you fell asleep.” “Well, the acceleration of molecules, including blood pressure, must have something to do with my… abnormality. It would go back to normal anyway, ordinary medicine only complicates things. How do you know my name?” “You left your purse outside before you went in there and saved me.” He nodded his head while he added a clumsy ‘thank you’. “My name is Christian Wentworth, but my friends call me Chris.” “Hi, Chris.” She looked at him and he was so handsome. Afraid she would smile too much, she didn’t smile at all. He must have thought she wasn’t pleased with something, because his expression changed and he looked more distant. “Listen, Fleur, I saw what you can do, but your secret is safe with me. You’re not the first person I see with these, well, abilities. I told the doctors the three of us were in the room, and some problem with the wires caused the fire. They don’t suspect anything.” “What about the actor, your friend?” “Drew is not my friend. He is in a very bad shape, still unconscious, I don’t think he saw enough to understand what was going on. I don’t believe he noticed you.” “How do you know about… about people like me?” “That is a conversation we must have some other time. I am late for work; I just had to make sure you would be fine. I have your number, copied from your address book. I will call, I promise.” Fleur watched him leave, wondering whether she should trust him or not. Chris. He seemed like a nice guy. Now that he knew about her, it wouldn’t do harm to hear what he had to say, would it? Chapter 6 File 006 Christian Wentworth was here today. That’s COP’s name. He knows about me because I rescued him from a room on fire, but that’s not what I want to write about. Chris told me an interesting story. His ex-girlfriend is BG’s sister (by the way, BG’s name is Drew), and is ‘special’, too. He said she was having emotional problems, and he believed it had something to do with dealing with her powers. One day she told him she had heard from a young woman she just met of a man who claimed he could help people like us. Chris encouraged her to look for him, but she never did, because her brother advised her against it. Well, I hate to admit it, but I agree with BG on this. It’s that list story all over again. After that, Chris’s relationship with her started to go downhill. She became more and more unstable and he brought the ‘get help’ subject back, only this time he didn’t mean help about her powers, but psychological help. They had a fight, she said her brother had warned her that Chris would always see her like a freak and also said she’d never trust anyone but Drew again. After that she disappeared. It seems pretty natural to me that she doesn’t want to be found. I’m scared, too. Before him, only my mother and Gérard knew about me. Gérard is like a brother, and my mother never touches the subject, I think she found a way to simply forget it. But Chris says his ex is not like that, she always yells at him and then changes her mind. He believes she’d never spend months away without even a phone call. I don’t know, but I’m afraid he’s still pretty much in love with her - which is kind of sad, because sometimes I think I could really like him. He talks about finding her, claiming he just wants to make sure she is alright. It’s funny, because that’s what he said to me when he visited me in the hospital after the fire. He visits BG, too, who is still unconscious. It was BG – I really need to start calling him by his name, but I got so used to ‘Broadway Guy’ – who caused the fire I mentioned, but Chris blames himself, for some stupid reason. He says he made Drew that angry and that’s why he made the lights shine so bright they combusted. I know I’ll keep in touch with Christian. My instincts tell me he is a good man. It’s good to have someone to talk to; Gérard is just so far away. But I’ll try to keep my guard up; after all, I don’t know him that well yet. Well, that’s all for now. Chapter 7 Manhattan, a busy evening at the store Her cell phone was ringing. She was busy walking around the store and giving instructions. There were boxes to open, sweaters to fold properly, new skirts and dresses to put on racks. “Miss Delune, ain’t you gonna answer that?” The girls wanted a break, so they all looked at her, hopeful. Pitying them because they had indeed worked very hard the whole day, she took the call. “Yes?” “Fleur, I need to talk to you as soon as possible.” “Chris!” She hoped her voice didn’t sound too relieved. She had been worried sick since Christian had called her to say that Drew had finally woken up. After that, she hadn’t heard from him for days. The girls from the store started giggling around her, speculating about who this never heard of Chris could be. Fleur knew about the usual gossip, they were the kind of interns who relished in laughing at their boss behind her back because she had no personal life. “I am sorry to bother you. Are you at work?” He always had to ask the obvious, probably because of his polite English ways. “What do you think?” “It is over 8PM. Is there a chance you will have dinner anytime soon?” “I already had, here at the store.” “Well, can we meet later, then?” “Maybe, wait a minute…” Fleur put her hand over the cell phone and turned to the hippie blue-haired intern that was pretending to drink water from an empty bottle and obviously trying to listen to her conversation “Lucy, those pants are all folded backwards. Would you please fix that?” The girl left, visibly annoyed. “…sorry ‘bout that. Alright, I’ll leave in an hour. My place?” “It’s a date. I mean, not a date…” “I know, Chris, I know.” Later that night She stared at him, hardly believing what she was hearing. “A vacation? Now? Impossible.” “Why is that? If I can leave the University in the middle of the term…” “That’s the thing, you can’t. Or at least you shouldn’t. But you’re obsessed, aren’t you?” Fleur knew she sounded bitter, but what could she do? Sometimes she felt an incontrollable urge to just slap Christian in the face. “And why you aren’t? Fleur, this can be useful, you can learn more about yourself.” “While looking for your girlfriend? I doubt it.” “Don’t you want to meet other people like you? See how they deal with their abilities?” “I already met your friend Drew, and I must say I wasn’t very pleased with what I saw. How is he, by the way?” “Badly scarred. He is calmer, quite civil to me, but I can sense the hostility. It makes sense, doesn’t it? What happened to him is partly my fault.” He was trying to get her sympathy, she knew that. The guilty look had worked on her before, but not this time. So she just stared again, cold and impassive. “He is telling the truth, Fleur, he doesn’t know the whereabouts of his sister. I owe him.” “You maybe. I don’t.” “True, you don’t. You saved our lives and I will always be in your debt, but I wouldn’t ask you to come with me if I didn’t think it would be good for you. Think about what we can discover!” It was an interesting idea, she couldn’t deny that. But take some time off the store just like that, out of the blue? To travel with a beautiful man who was in love with someone else? “Why did you follow us that day, Fleur? You felt compelled to. You knew Drew was like you and you wanted to learn more about him. I know you are curious, I know deep down there’s something that drives you. Why get cold feet now?” He stared at her deeply, with those clear eyes that shined so brightly in contrast with his slightly dark skin, the 'Clive Owen Eyes', and she knew she had lost. It was scary, the way he could manipulate her, talk her into doing what he wanted, but he wasn’t lying. Something was indeed driving her, that’s why she had started her files, her private investigations. She wanted to understand more about why there were people like her, and having Chris as her partner in that probably wouldn’t be a bad thing. |
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| LuneFleur | Jan 22 2008, 03:36 AM Post #3 |
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Dreamer
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Volume Two: On The Road Prologue (where everything seems sweet and peaceful) Somewhere between NY and Michigan From Fleur’s Cell Phone Voice Mail: Chérie, c’est moi! Why are you avoiding me, your own mother? Mon amour, we must have a serious conversation. I called you at work and they said you took a vacation? Without even telling me? The girl there told me she thought you were going to travel with your boyfriend. Boyfriend! What is she talking about? I know you don’t have any. I mean, you would tell ta maman, right? And how can you take time off work and not come to see me? What is going on? Call me back, d’accord??? “Your mother?” “You guessed by my bored expression?” “No, I could hear her. Quite high-pitched, her voice.” “Only when I drive her crazy.” Fleur smiled. She and Chris were in his dark blue Prius – how ecologically correct of him – heading for Ann Arbor. It was somehow liberating to get away from her usual routine, she had to give him that. He took the first driving shift, so she could just sit back and relax, watching the landscape out the window. “Listen, Fleur, I’m thinking that when we get there, we should introduce ourselves simply as Dana’s friends.” “Sure. So, recapitulating… we are going to Theresa Keller’s house, mother of Drew ‘the lamp blinking boy’ Keller and Dana ‘your girlfriend’ Keller. We are Dana’s friends and we want to know her whereabouts because..?” “Well, because she disappeared.” “We’ll tell her mother we want to find her because she disappeared? Just like that?” “Have a better idea?” “No, you’re the boss.” Let him deal with that, she thought. His quest, his choice. Fleur had suggested they called the woman first, but he said that if Dana had warned her that she didn’t want to be found, it would give Mrs. Keller time to come up with good lies. Plus, he wanted to go there, see his ex’s old room, look for clues about where she could have gone. He wanted to play detective, in Fleur’s opinion. “You want to take the wheel, now?” “Sure. Let’s stop over there” Fleur pointed a gas station with a 7-Eleven “and then I’ll drive. Chips? Or you’re more a dried sunflower seeds guy?” “Chips, please. And a coke. Nothing diet.” “Good for you.” Chapter 1 Ann Arbor, Michigan The blue Prius stopped in front of a nice modern house, with a big front yard, full of different cypress tress. Chris looked at it and checked the address he had written on a bright yellow post-it. Fleur was surprised, too. “This is it?” She asked. “Apparently so.” “I couldn’t imagine Broadway Guy had a rich mother.” “Who? Oh, Drew. Well, Dana never told me they had money, either.” They walked towards the rectangular loft-like steel door and rang the doorbell. Everything was quiet, too quiet, almost as if the house was empty and had been for a while. After about a minute, Fleur heard heavy and hurried footsteps. The door opened. “Where the hell is my sister, you…” It was BG, who had finished with a profanity and had a 9mm pointed at Chris’s face. “Come on! What have you done with her? I know she is here with you. Tell me! Tell me or I swear I’ll finish you off right now. You and your new friend!” Fleur noticed he was past anger. There was deep hate in his face, scarred with burns that would distort his expression forever. Another set of footsteps came from the house. A tall and pretty woman with black sunglasses and long red fingernails held BG’s shoulder. “Calm down, Drew.” Then she turned to Fleur, pointed slowly and said “Her”. “What are you talking about Terry?” “I was wrong. The one I sensed, it was not Dana. It was her. The woman standing in front of you. She is one of us.” “What?” BG looked confused, but slowly he put his gun down. Fleur felt a cold shiver run through her spine, and she instinctively seized Chris’s hand, who held hers tight in his. The woman called Terry had to be Theresa Keller, and like her children, she was special. She had sensed that someone with powers was at her front yard, she had pointed at Fleur. But what really scared her was how the woman could know precisely where she stood. Because Fleur had been sure of one thing since she saw the black sunglasses. Theresa Keller was completely blind. Chapter 2 Somewhere on the road File 007 I decided to help Christian look for his missing (ex?) girlfriend, so I’m updating these files in my laptop, from an actually quite decent road motel. We went to her mother’s house first and – just guess – I was discovered. The woman, Theresa Keller, who used to be playboy playmate Terry Lee before she married bigshot Hollywood lawyer Donald Keller, can sense people with powers so well she can point the person’s exact location, even though she is blind. Broadway Guy Drew was there, Chris was silly enough to promise him he would look for Dana, so Drew flew to Ann Arbor to wait for him and force his presence on us, basically. Yes, he is sharing the adjacent room with Christian. After he almost killed him – twice! I’m not too sure it was a good idea for me to come along, but now I can’t turn back. Fleur looked at the parking lot outside her window. Completely deserted, except for the tall man walking back and forth. She wandered if that meant Chris was having second thoughts, too. She understood he didn’t want to stay for too long in the same room as Drew, but she wished that instead of isolating himself, he would knock her door. Oddly, the door knocked at that moment, and it certainly couldn’t be him. “What do you want?” Staring at BG, Fleur kept her coldest face, but she realized that with all those horrible burns on his face, he looked much less the jerk he looked before. “Just talk. You’re like me.” He looked at her intently. “Wentworth said you helped both of us out of the fire, but he didn’t tell me how.” “That’s because he doesn’t trust you, and neither do I. I am sorry, but I don’t feel like telling you much.” “Fine, I’ll do all the talking then. I need to get it out. You have seen my powers, haven’t you? They are strong and kinda cool, but nothing compared to my sister’s. She also works with lights, but while I can only make primary lights brighter or weaker, put them on or off, Dana can do almost anything. She can also work with reflected lights, , she can change their color and their places, even. I saw her ‘steal’ from a light bulb and light up her own hand.” “Impressive.” “Yes. She is seven years younger than me, but far more powerful. We found out about her way before I discovered I could do some stuff, too. She was about eight when she accidentally left Terry blind. We always had nannies and stuff, Terry was never really much of a mother, but she stood by us when my father left ‘the little freak’.” “Oh, so that’s why you keep trying to kill Chris? Unresolved dad issues you project on him?” “Cut the cheap psychology. ‘Chris’? Don’t get your hopes up. Wentworth will leave you just like he left my sister.” “You’re mistaken” Fleur remained impassive “I don’t have anything with him.” “But you want to. He looks so well-mannered, so English, intellectual and naïve. So handsome and helpless. I took his classes at Columbia, I know how women feel about him. Watch it, girl. He’s not like us. And eventually, he’ll break your heart.” And with that warning, Drew left, closing the door behind him. Chapter 3 Frisco, Colorado In the past few days, Fleur, Drew and Christian had exhausted most of their ideas. Family members, friends, even old school teachers. They had traveled around the country looking for clues, but no one seemed to have heard from Dana Keller. It seemed amazing that an outspoken, careless and pretty 25 year-old could have disappeared without letting any of her friends know of her whereabouts. Until BG had a sudden inspiration. “Charity Rainbow” “Who?” Fleur almost added that it sounded like a stripper name, but remembering that Drew’s mother used to be a playboy playmate, she held her tongue. “Charity Rainbow. She used to be an old friend of my mother’s. Yes, former stripper, if that’s what you’re both thinking. Never did too well in life, so she baby-set me and Dana for a while.” “That’s interesting” At that point, Fleur would settle for any idea “Chris?” “Honestly, Fleur, I think it will be yet another waste of time.” “Come on! It’s the only lead we have.” Chris frowned, but they headed to Frisco, high on the Rocky Mountains, where BG believed Charity was living. It wasn’t the first time Christian was outvoted, and it was clear that he resented Drew’s presence even more than Fleur. But there they were, in Frisco, and the good thing about such a small town was that they didn’t have any difficulty in finding Charity, working as the cashier at a local diner. Past the shock of seeing the burns on his face, she recognized Drew almost immediately and something in her not too surprised expression made Fleur realize she had indeed seen Dana recently. “I shouldn’t be telling you this, but you already knew, didn’t you? I’m not a good liar.” “It’s alright Charity, you can trust me” BG held his old nanny’s hand, and the woman’s eyes filled with tears. She was older than Theresa, more weather-beaten and lined. Her face showed she hadn’t had an easy life. “Oh, I know, dear, but she made me promise. She is so scared, my little Dana.” Chris made a sign with his hand, and they both left for a while. He thought they should let Drew get all the information from Charity, but Fleur wasn’t too sure he’d share what he discovered with them. So she made a sign for Chris to be silent and turned to smoke, making her smoky body look exactly like her surroundings, and returned undetected to where BG was talking to Charity. Ms. Rainbow’s directions took them to a cabin at the mountains, a few miles from the town. She hadn’t explained anything, simply stated that ‘they would see for themselves’. Fleur stayed a few steps behind with Chris while Drew walked towards the door, and looking around she noticed all of the windows were closed and barred with large pieces of wood. Chapter 4 Rocky Mountains, Colorado “Dana, it’s me, your brother.” The cabin was completely dark at first, but when Chris opened to door to get in, it seemed lit by a dozen powerful spotlights. “Close the door! Now” the girl inside screamed; a really desperate scream “just close it!” They entered and shut the door at once, blinded by the sudden overwhelming illumination. Then, slowly, it got dark again. But the oddities were just starting. From the moment Fleur got in the cabin, she noticed her body’s extremities were turning to smoke against her will. “Dana, what happened to you?” “Don’t come close, Drew. Chris is with you, isn’t he? Come forth, Christian. Yes, don’t be scared. Give me your hand.” Fleur’s eyes were starting to get used to the darkness, so she saw him walk towards Dana’s voice. After some silence, Dana spoke. “Feel it kick? It gets agitated around people with powers. It’s almost due time. Meet your child, Christian Wentworth. I hope it’s a boy.” So that was what all the mystery was about. She was expecting. Fleur couldn’t be sure as to why Dana thought she should hide her pregnancy, but she suspected it had something to do with the strange feeling taking over her. It was almost unbearable to remain in there; Fleur had never found so hard to control her ability. Her hair and fingertips had turned to smoke completely, and she was trying with huge effort to keep the smoke identical to her regular body. “Who is the woman with you?” Dana suddenly asked. “She is a friend of mine from New York” It was Drew who answered, and Fleur was grateful. She suspected it wouldn’t be a good idea to tell the woman she had come because of Chris. “I see. And by the stress I feel deep inside me, I get that you are like us. It’s the baby, you noticed? It makes my powers go funny, and I believe it does that to everyone who is close enough. Dr. Brown told me it is immensely powerful, so that’s why I must hide. Oh, I wish Dr. Brown could be here, but he is always so busy.” “Dana” Chris finally spoke, with a strangely calm voice “slow down and tell us what is going on.” Chapter 5 Frisco, Colorado Fleur lay on her bed at the Frisco Holiday Inn. Drew was sitting by her side and Chris was walking around the room. She had held on long enough in the cabin to hear Dana’s explanation, but the increase Dana’s baby produced in her powers was so great she felt she was about to collapse, so the only alternative was to escape through the almost inexistent space between the door and the floor and get as far from there as possible. One of the guys had found her unconscious, already solid again, almost a mile away. She was lying over her bed at the hotel when she finally woke up. “Are you feeling better?” It was strange that she was now the object of Drew’s attention, after she had been so keen on disliking him before. Chris, on the other hand, seemed completely distant. Well, he did have other far more important things in mind. They started discussing what the girl had told them. Dana had found out she was pregnant, and after her fight with Christian, she ended up taking his first advice and looking for help. She contacted this man, who introduced himself as Dr. Brown, and he seemed genuinely interested in her case – he even gave her a book, something about evolution by a guy named Chandra Suresh, a surname Fleur remembered hearing once before. But Dr. Brown wasn’t the only one interested in Dana and her baby. After a while, things started to get out of control. The baby increased her power so much it wasn’t safe for her to be in the city. Too many odd things happened around her, and she was discovered by someone else. Brown saw that she went in hiding, with the aid of Dana’s old nanny. He said that the other people would lock her up and take the baby away from her. That made sense to Fleur, it sort of matched what she had heard a woman say on a dark night weeks ago. Someone’s cell phone rang. It was Christian’s. He heard without saying a word, frowning and getting increasingly pale. Finally, he simply spoke ‘I’m on my way’ and hang up. “It was Charity; Dana has gone into labor. Charity believes someone was following her this morning and might have followed her to the cabin. I must go.” “We’re going, too. She’s my sister” Drew answered, and took his 9mm “besides, you might need this.” “No, I’ll go alone” Chris sounded almost angry “Fleur must stay; it’s not safe. You saw what the baby’s power did to her. I don’t think it’s too safe for you, either, I don’t believe Charity will be able to deliver Dana’s child in complete darkness.” “Your child, too. And I don’t care. It’s my sister, I’m going.” They left, Drew taking the gun with him, neither of them looking back to give Fleur a chance to protest against staying behind. But it didn’t matter; she gave them a head start knowing she would go after them. She had her power. They didn’t *really* need to see her, did they? Chapter 6 Rocky Mountains, Colorado Fleur didn’t have to get too close to the cabin to hear Dana. Those weren’t screams of labor-induced pain, but of almost demented despair. She kept a distance, fearing her presence might make the baby even more agitated, and afraid of what that could do to the mother. But her resolution was made only to be broken, because coming in that road she saw a black SUV, with completely dark windows. Whoever was in there was heading that way for a reason, but gladly they would have to pull over soon and continue the path on foot, since the cabin was a little away from the road. Quickly, she turned to smoke and floated, hoping that with her warning Chris and Drew would have time to prepare themselves. She doubted there was much they would be able to do, but it was better than being surprised. Quickly, she entered through below the door and put all her energy into becoming solid. “It’s me. There was a car coming this way, it doesn’t look good. They’ll be here soon.” She spoke as fast as she could, feeling the effect of the baby’s power over her. She looked around and saw they weren’t in complete darkness, there was a small cigarette lighter lit but the flame was invisible. Instead, its light was shining from the tips of Drew’s fingers, and he looked half-amazed, half-scared. Dana’s eyes also shone with the same kind of light, almost as if the brothers’ powers were balancing each other. Christian had an almost maniac look on his face, too, and he immediately pointed Drew’s gun towards the door, without a word. There was a knock. “Open up! It’s for your own good!” Dana screamed again. Charity told her to push. Chris didn’t know if he looked at the door or at the mother of his child. “One more push now, dear, one more push” Charity was entirely focused on Dana, which made Fleur really admire her. There was a moan, then a loud cry. The door burst open, but there was no time to see how many were there. The sudden illumination was too much for Dana and her newborn. The baby yelled, and the mother pulled the light to herself, shining as brightly as a small sun. Drew tried to share it with her, but it seemed like the light could be drawn to nothing but Dana. They all tried to look away from the blinding glow, until they heard a shot, and everything went dark. The cabin door was closed again, and other footsteps could be heard. The baby’s cry became weaker, but Fleur still felt its power affecting each of her cells, taking her a horrible effort not to dissolve in the air. “No! You won’t take him!” Charity cried to a dark shadow, but her voice was overcome by Drew’s scream. “You killed my sister!” With that, he lit the cigarette lighter again and charged with his shining hands towards the man who had just knocked Charity unconscious. Fleur watched them struggle for a few seconds, until she realized there was another guy, who was facing Chris, both pointing their guns at each other’s chest. The increasingly powerful light produced by Drew was more than enough to see that the man facing Christian was a pro, and his sarcastic smile showed that he knew Chris had never fired a gun in his life. She had to act fast, and there was only one chance. She was barely hanging on to keep herself solid, the poor newborn baby, still wet, unattended and cold, weeping in Charity’s arms, increased her power so much. Without really thinking, she turned to smoke and floated to the guy pointing his gun at Chris. With her practically invisible smoky hands, she held the pistol and concentrated. She would never have done it if it wasn’t for the baby, but it worked. The gun turned to smoke and the man was unable to hold it. Chris tried to shoot the guy in the leg, but missed. The man walked menacingly towards him, so he fired again and again. He hit the unknown man’s right knee, and tried to point his gun at the other, who was struggling with Drew, but he obviously couldn’t get a clear shot. Fleur also tried to do something, but she was having trouble becoming solid again, the recent effort combined to the increase on her ability had been too much. In the meantime, Charity had woken up, and she held the baby by the door, probably thinking about running away but without the courage to open it and let too much light in. Drew saw her and nodded his head. “Do it.” Charity opened the door and ran. A blinding light took over the cabin. There was a gunshot and a scream, but Fleur couldn’t see anything, she kept her eyes closed. Slowly, the light vanished, meaning they were out of the baby’s power reach. Fleur turned solid and opened her eyes. There was blood all over Drew, and his opponent was dead. In the struggle, he had been able to temporarily blind him, take away his gun and shoot him in the chest. Chris had the 9mm pointing at the other man’s head, but the pain on the guy’s knee was probably too strong for him to try anything, he seemed about to faint. Without a word, Fleur, Chris and Drew ran outside. “What now?” Fleur asked. “Now we find Charity, she can’t be far. I must take my nephew.” “No” Chris looked at him resolutely “he is my son; I will take care of him. You can’t keep him around you, Drew, you saw what he does to people with abilities.” “They will be looking for him, Chris.” Fleur knew he was right, but she also knew what that meant. “And they were able to have a good look at you. At both you and Drew. You’ll have to be on the run all the time, you won’t be able to go back to your job.” “I don’t care, Fleur. He is my son. I will be fine, I’m sure of it. But you must return to your life, I don’t believe they saw you too well. I owe you my life again, I can never repay you. Just please be safe. I must have your word that you will take good care of yourself.” “I will. So I guess this is goodbye.” “For now, at least, it has to be.” She held his hand briefly and then both walked to opposite directions. Drew decided to go another way, too. He had too much grief to deal with, and he didn’t think it would be a good idea to be around people. In the plane to New York, Fleur had time to think about everything that happened. She could have avoided getting involved with it all if she hadn’t interfered with that fire at Broadway. Or if she had decided not to hit the road with Christian, looking for his missing girlfriend. But she couldn’t find it in her heart to regret her choices. She felt a tiny drop of pride, the knowledge that she had made a difference. In a way, it almost felt like being a hero. End of Volume Two And that's all. I must say I miss these characters. |
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5:35 PM Jul 10