i'm gonna change you like a remix [open]

[hacker]

Who: SKYE and YOU
Where: The main lobby, mostly (available elsewhere).
When: February 16th
What: If you're freezing half to death and can't control your powers, clap your hands.
Notes: Anyone is free to have wandered into range and noticed some WEIRD QUAKING going on. Available in prose or commentspam.

Something is very wrong here.

The tremors come intermittently, usually joined with particularly bad shakes on her part. It's not the first time she's noticed it—the bulb in her room shattered on the first day, the bible fell off the night table. Truthfully, she'd hoped "haunted" was the answer. It'd fit with the rest of the creepy atmosphere.

But this is something else. Blankets bundled around her, Skye departs her room, thinking it'll get her away from whatever the hell is going on with it, but the quaking follows her. She huddles up under the concierge desk in the lobby, tucked away from view. The fireplace doesn't do a lot for heat, but it keeps the main floor at a slightly higher temperature than the rest of the hotel (or maybe that's just the placebo effect of hearing it crackling). That's enough for her.

Or she'd like to think. Showing up in a t-shirt just off of a mission in San Juan was really biting her in the ass now: she hadn't packed for just above freezing temperatures. As her shivers worsen, so too does the way her abilities shake the room around her. Ten feet in any direction, a low-scale earthquake sets in. The pen cup rattles. The table lamp pops a bulb and falls over before vibrating off the edge of the desk, dangling by its cord.

And the fact that it moved with her from her bedroom? Well that just makes it harder for her to calm down.

Her shoulders hunch around her ears, and she raises her hands to pull at her hair, muscles tight to conserve both her body heat and her sanity. Something's wrong. Whatever those crystals in the temple did, it followed her here. So her breath is short with muted panic, afraid of herself and unable to get away from it.

Comments

[mygame]

"It's like being in California again."

The Nogitsune had finally come up from the laundry room. Snuggling the dryer had helped for a time, at least until it felt the need to get up and go feed. After securing all its blankets, the creature fastened on the first bit of misery it could and set about finding where it was coming from. With luck, it might consume enough to retreat back to what little warmth it had found quickly.

Like Skye, the Nogitsune wasn't dressed for the cold. Unlike the wolves, the Nogitsune was simply a spirit in a human body and thus limited by that human body in most respects. Stiles hadn't been built for falling temperatures. Come to think of it, Stiles hadn't been built for much but sarcasm.

"That's different," it said to itself. Most of the earthquakes it had experience had been large area. Having one that only ran ten or twelve feet from its epicenter was enough to draw its curiosity. "Now what could be causing that?"

A few breaths were pulled in as if the thing were tasting the air.

[hacker]

By now, she easily recognizes the voice. Two weeks in this place with him being responsible for every roadblock she's hit with trying to figure out what's actually going on, and it makes committing his voice to memory pretty worthwhile. The Nogitsune. That's what Derek had called it.

Chaos, disorder, strife.

Well, she was feeling all of those pretty acutely right now. And she hasn't forgotten what it admitted, either: it feeds on that stuff. She's not sure if it's literal or figurative, but she's not looking forward to finding out. Rather than reveal herself, Skye closes her eyes tightly and takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. Closing one hand around her opposite wrist, she squeezes it, thumb pressing into her pulse point, tracking her heart rate in place of the monitor she'd worn for much of her training with May.

Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred. And getting faster. Her eyes flash open, increased panic making it even harder to calm herself down. Steeling herself wasn't working, not when the source of the problem was inside of her.

What are you? Bucky asks in her mind, and Skye balks. Searches for an answer. Recalls all of Raina's waxing poetry about her hopes about their change. Their destiny. Well, destiny sucks. The rumbling continues, Skye's pain and doubt a palpable thing.

[mygame]

A tap-tap-tap came from the top of the desk as the Nogitsune strolled in front of it. There was no hurry to the thing, no rush to get anywhere when all it wanted was right here. It could smell it, feel it.

"Let me see. Fear. That's the one that speaks the loudest. The question is fear of what. A few earth-shakers are barely a reason for panic these days among the masses. No, this is about to break free and result in a screaming fit unless I miss my guess. It's wonderful."

The Nogitsune makes a low growling sound under its breath, the same sort a fox might make when worrying meat off a bone. Without warning, it lifts a hand and slams it down on top of the desk as hard as it can. The idea is to startle out whatever it is feeding on, maybe harvest something better such as pain if it exists under that fear.

[hacker]

The slap of his hand causes a short shriek out of Skye, flinching away from the sound out of surprise rather than any genuine fear. Of all the people in this hotel she might injure, she'd probably feel the least guilty about the Nogitsune. Unfortunately, if this gets worse, it's not going to just be the Nogitsune in trouble.

Its words are worse, weaving into the insecure parts of her mind—about to break free and result in a screaming fit. That's her fear: the possibility that whatever's bubbling under the surface, whatever's changed inside of her is going to break free and lash out, hurt someone. Hurt everyone.

"Get away!" She shouts, pulling herself from beneath the desk to glower at him. "You don't know what you're dealing with." Hell, even Skye doesn't know what she's dealing with.

[mygame]

It had thought that was where the scent led. Nice to have confirmation. In the face of her shouting and anger, it leans lazily against the desk. Thin fingers tap on it a few times as the last notes of her voice echo away.

"I'm willing to bet that you don't either if we want to be honest with each other," it says carelessly. "They only know so much about me."

A small shrug, and it slides up onto the desk. There is no fear or worry in its manner, only interest in whatever has her so wound up. It rights the lamp that had fallen over, examining the bulb to see if it can be saved.

"And you, well, you know nothing about me except that I eat negative emotions which you're overflowing with. You can only blame yourself really."

A cheerful smile and it fiddles with the light bulb again.

[hacker]

As it leans in, Skye takes a cautionary step back, prompt and instinctive. Her eyes lock on him, alert and searching for sudden moves, waiting for him to lunge. After all, no one told her how the Nogitsune eats. Fear has the wall at her back shaking with the force of the vibrations her ability creates, even as she reaches out to steady herself on it as the floor rocks beneath them.

Drawing up her blanket as he speaks, she makes a few quick decisions. Self-preservation is strong, but protecting the rest of the hotel from whatever power he'd gain from feeding off of her right now? That's stronger.

It gives her something to focus on, something to hold onto that will carry her forward, so as she bundles up the blanket in her arms, she quickly begins to beeline around the edge of the desk, trying to circle wide around him. She starts out refusing to turn her back to him, but speed is quickly prioritized over watching him, and she turns to break for the stairs.

[mygame]

It doesn't bother to look up to Skye, instead pulling a sliver of glass from where the bulb popped.

"It doesn't matter where you run to, not really. There is only so far you can go. A cage with rooms is still just a big cage."

It draws its legs up, sitting cross-legged on the desk. It has no intention of chasing. Pursuit would gain it little, and while it is insatiable, this hotel is a honeypot of all it needs even if it is freezing.

"The only question I have is if you're doing this shaking or if the hotel is. I ask because I can make someone think a bowl of broken glass is the most delicious candy ever. The hotel has been sure not to give us much in the way of that, and there are some here that would love sweets."

It lifts the piece of glass from the bulb to its eye-level. A turn of the broken shard, and the Nogitsune looks to be holding a bar of chocolate between its fingers instead. It gives her an empty smile.

"So, I have to wonder if it's you or this place."

It lets her flee if she wants. Curiosity will only drive it so far.