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Tweak says, "BOOYAKA!"

Marcus (marcus_cole) wrote in mirage_rpg,
@ 2008-08-10 18:43:00

Entry tags:

complete, day 10, marcus cole, nymphadora tonks

WHO: Marcus & Tonks
WHAT: Another attempt to escape?
WHEN: Morning, Day 10
WHERE: Starts in the dining room, goes outside
STATUS: Complete

Thinking the storm would blow over quickly on Day 9, he had decided to focus on some things he had been neglecting. His morning had been taken up primarily with meditation, and with reading of Minbari scriptures. It wasn't so much that he was religious, it was mostly just that he had gotten so used to it during Ranger training, it felt almost wrong not to keep it up. After braving the storm to get to the diner for lunch, he had headed to the gym to practice with his fighting pike. He still, deep down, didn't trust in Mirage's benevolence, and wanted to keep himself ready for whatever might come up. Like this hurricane, for example. If the Planet was so eager to have everyone get along and have a pleasant time, why would it throw a life-threatening storm at them?

Today, on Day 10, when Marcus woke up and saw that the storm was still raging, he felt more sure that the Planet was messing with its captives. With that fire at his heels, he found himself more motivated than he had in days to find a way out. Recently, he had been getting soft, practicing in the gym, swimming with Legolas. Today it was time to get back with the program. After a quick breakfast of cereal, he headed over to the large dining room windows to make a plan of attack. The storm certainly still looked fierce. Was he really going to head out in that?

As he turned away from the window, having resolved to just head out into the storm and see what he could find, he noticed a familiar face sitting at a nearby nook. Perhaps she would like to join his foolhardy trek. He strode over to where she was sitting.

"Well, Good Morning!"

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tonks_please
2008-08-15 09:42 am UTC (link)

As they struggled along, time after time, one or the other of them was constantly being nearly pulled into the air. The wind was picking up, she thought, which shouldn't have been possible. Her face was starting to feel numb from the constant sand pelting it.

There was no point to this, she realized. Even if she and Marcus did come close to anything, unless they tripped over it, they were not going to see it. With a soft sigh that she knew the Ranger couldn't hear, she stopped and turned to face him. He was doing even worse than she was, because he hadn't been able to change the length of his hair.

She leaned forward, still holding his arm, and pressed herself against him as she spoke directly into his ear, so the wind couldn't steal her words.

"There's no point to this... I'm going back. We can't see anything out here, you know."

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marcus_cole
2008-08-17 10:39 am UTC (link)

Marcus struggled futilely against the wind and rain and blowing sand. Every step he took was like lifting huge weights tied to his feet, and he wouldn't have been able to open his eyes if it hadn't been for Tonks's protective magic.

When the young witch stopped and turned toward him, he wondered what was going on. When she put her lips close to his ear, he wondered why she didn't just use magic to convey her words to him, but he was glad she hadn't. This method was more intimate, as close friends should be, he told himself.

Marcus knew her decision was the right one, though it made him feel defeated. Giving a sigh of frustration, he nodded his head vigorously, so she wouldn't miss it, and turned to head back the way they had come. Still holding her arm, he started to trudge back. Looking around, he wondered how far they had come, but couldn't see more than two metres in the storm.

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tonks_please
2008-08-17 10:46 am UTC (link)

If he had pointed that fact out, she would have wondered herself why she hadn't just used a spell to amplify her voice to get to him. But it had just seemed like the thing to do, and she didn't think about it all that much. She was relieved when he thought about it, sighed, and then nodded his agreement.

Arm in arm, they made their way back to the building, and since the wind seemed to be coming from all angles at once, it wasn't any easier than it had been to get this far. She supposed that they'd only made it a short distance, but it had taken a long time and she was sore and tired.

When they finally neared the building, she was relieved. This sort of adventure hadn't been as fun as she'd been hoping. She grabbed for the door handle and practically flung herself inside, pulling her friend along with her. When the door was safely shut, she turned to face him.

"Merlin, that was something else! And I thought the weather in London was bad."

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marcus_cole
2008-08-18 01:21 am UTC (link)

Marcus stepped inside the central resort building with a sense of relief, relief from constant battering from all sides and relief from having to strive to prove that he was somehow stronger than a hurricane. Deep inside him, his conviction that he had a stronger will than the Planet was what drove him to keep trying to escape, but clearly he was not going to best Mirage in simple strength. He bent over and shook the sand out of his hair, which was somewhat matted and lank.

"Well, next time we're going to need a little more protection. Perhaps an enclosed vehicle would have been more appropriate. Didn't the plaque say we'd have what we want? Do you hear me, Planet? I want an armoured car with four-wheel drive!"

Marcus was only half-serious, not really expecting Mirage to give him the tools with which he hoped to engineer his own escape. He looked over at Tonks, checking to see if she was unharmed by their excursion. He found he wasn't angry at her for cutting their trip short. After all, it had really been the right call. If anything, he was impressed by her judgement. For all her clumsiness and fun-loving ways, she was really a remarkable woman, wasn't she?

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tonks_please
2008-08-18 01:28 am UTC (link)

Fairly exhausted from their shared adventure, she leaned against the wall, aching and sore, to catch her breath. She looked at him as he tried to clean his hair with his fingers, and idly wondered how he seemed to be able to manage, and quite well, without magic. Almost lazily, she drew out her wand and pointed it at him.

"Scourgify. There, that's better now, isn't it?"

She watched in satisfaction as all the sand and grit disappeared from his hair, leaving it just as clean as ever. Soft, or at least it looked that way... and why exactly was she sitting here thinking about touching this man's hair, anyway?

"I don't know about Muggle things, really. Would an armored car withstand that, do you think? I think I'd rather just wait until the storm dies down, if it does. If not, well, I guess I'll have to start thinking of more spells to protect us."

They were both assuming there would be a next time, and in her mind, there was no doubt about it. They'd been repelled this time, but she was determined that next time, or the time after, or the time after that... sometime soon, she was going to find a way off this planet, and back home.

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marcus_cole
2008-08-18 01:37 am UTC (link)

Marcus felt like he had cleaned his hair well enough that he could get back to his room and have a shower, and was not in any way expecting Tonks to clean it with a spell. In fact, despite spending much time with her since arriving on Mirage, he still didn't expect most of the magical things she did. Perhaps it would have been easier for his mind to accept if she had been using unfamiliar technologies. Part of his mind still truly believed that magic didn't exist. He wanted to keep that part. He figured it would still be useful when he got back home.

"You just cleaned my hair! That was amazing!" He shook his newly-coifed head. "Actually, the best thing would probably be an armoured car that you protect or enhance with magic. Either way, I know a lot about... muggle technology and you know a lot about magic. I bet if we pooled our expertise we could come up with something the Planet will never be expecting!"

Marcus, too, was speaking as if there was no question that the two of them would be making another attempt. He hardly thought about it now, but they were both so comfortable with their partnership that they almost took it for granted. He would have realized it was a very nice feeling, if he'd been thinking about it.

"Well, that's for another day. Right now, I think I need to head back to my room. Will I see you at the party later?"

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tonks_please
2008-08-18 01:42 am UTC (link)

Large parts of what the ranger said still passed right over her head, but she was getting used to it. So she just nodded and decided that she would deal with it later. His reaction to her charm to clean his hair amused her, though. Apparently, she was a bit of a mystery to him as well.

"Yeah, I cleaned your hair, I can do that. And I'll take your word for it, and start thinking of ways to protect a weird muggle car thing."

She pushed herself away from the wall, still fairly tired, and concentrated briefly so her hair lengthened again. It was just as purple as ever, but now, there was no need to keep it short to avoid getting it dirty and having it fly around in her face because of the wind.

"Um, right, Marcus. I think I'm off to the pool area for a turn in the hot tub. Yeah, I think I'll be going there, so I'll see you there."

With that, and one more friendly smile and a wave, the purple-haired woman turned and walked away, already thinking about spells that would be best to use against a hurricane.

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marcus_cole
2008-08-18 01:53 am UTC (link)

Marcus ran his fingers through his remarkably clean hair as he watched the purple-haired young witch walk away. The hot tub! Why hadn't he thought of that? If he'd only brought his suit, he could be joining her right now! Maybe he had one in his room. Would that be suspicious, if he joined her in the hot tub after visiting his room? No, of course not. He would just say he'd thought she'd had a great idea. Yeah... but would she still be there?

Walking off in the opposite direction of the pool, Marcus's mind spun as it hadn't spun since he was seventeen. He completely forgot, in his anxiety about bathing etiquette, that there would be spare bathing suits in the changeroom, if he wanted one.

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