Survival (Open)

[Echo]

Ace jerked awake from his nightmare, he hated it when he dreamed of his family. It always ended with him being jerked awake, sweaty and shaking. Tonight, he had dreamed of Jake, his brother. He had seen his brother strapped down to a metal table like the ones they had at the school. There had been White coats all around him and they were injecting Jake with things. Ace had wanted so badly to call out to his brother but could not and could only watch as Jake was sedated and dragged out of the room. Then he woke up.

Ace dreamed of his family almost every night, yet the memories had never faded in the 10 years he had been at that god forsaken place called the institute. He reached up and ran his hand over the scars marring his right eye and silently cursed the Erasers for doing this to him. Ace silently rose up on all fours and began sniffing around to find something to eat for breakfast.

He caught the scent of a rabbit and followed the trail to a small hole in the ground. He hunkered down downwind of the hole and waited. After several minutes a small brown rabbit poked its head out of the hole and began to sniff around. As soon as it did this, Ace rushed forward and caught the rabbit in his jaws. He walked back to his camp and devoured the rabbit in under a minute. He sat back and closed his eyes contentedly. Then suddenly jerked his head back up when he heard approaching footsteps.

[rett]

Garrett jogged through the trees, making no real effort at being quiet. He was, as usual, going nowhere in particular. It wasn't as though he had someplace to be. Like many experiments escaped from Itex, Rett was a wanderer, without any place to live. Many, however, for whatever reason, were hanging around this place. He wasn't sure why, but he wasn't about to question it. It was true that many of the others would not trust him for the resmeblence to an Eraser he had in his second form, but there was also the chance that they might understand.

Slowing to a walk, he could hear his stomach grow, demanding food. He reached into the pockets of his jeans, and then into the pockets of the leather jacket he constantly wore, and managed to pull out a quarter. Not enough for something in a fast food restaurant. Not really in the mood to dig what little cash he had, he considered his other option-hunting. His nostrils flared, taking in the scents of the forest-even in his human form, he had the senses of a dog. He smelled a faint scent of rabbit's boo, and an odd scent, a mix of human and...bear? Now that was a new one. He followed the scent, spotting a white, humanoid bear-an experiment, he was sure. He stood his ground, watching him carefully through the trees.

[Echo]

Ace quickly crouched on all fours, he looked around and sniffed the air. He smelt something that was a mix of human and... dog. An Eraser. Ace started growling and backing away as he spotted the brown haired boy. he was alone, well that made this easier. "Idiot," Ace said in his rough gravelly voice, "You people should know I'm never going back to that place. And they only sent one? Friggin' insulting."

But as Ace examined the boy closer, he noticed that he didn't quite look like an Eraser. He didn't have the male model look to him, and he didn't really smell like wolf, it was more of a domesticated dog smell. Maybe this boy wasn't an Eraser? Another escapee maybe? Ace hadn't considered the idea, but now that he had he sincerely hoped it was true. It would be a pleasant change to not have to be alone all the time.

[rett]

’Must’ve smelled me,’ Rett thought as he heard the other experiment call out, seemingly aggravated by his presence, ’Or else he wouldn’t have know I was canine hybrid.’ He slowly stepped out from the behind trees, trying to look as non-threatening as possible. ”Calm down, man,” He said to bear hybrid, ”I’m not one of them. I’m not like them. My name’s Garrett. Garrett Stepford.”

He extended his hand slowly for the other boy to shake. Out of habit, however, his sized up the possible threat he posed. He was tall then him, in his human form at least, and much more powerfully built. If he shifted to a dog, however, he’d probably match his height, and close the gap for muscle. Hopefully, it wouldn’t come down to fighting. He wasn’t really in the mode for a fight today.

[Echo]

Ace never let his guard down as he watched the boy come out of the foliage. He examined this boy, this 'Garrett Stepford', Ace most definately outweighed him, even if the boy could morph. The boy didn't look like he was from Itex or whatever the new company after him was, but Ace wouldn't take his chances and could probably deal with the boy if he had to. He growled at the boy again, "How the hell do i know you're not from them? I know they're not all gone, plus there's this new company that's been goin' after me. Now tell me what you want before i rip your throat out." He still didn't reach up to shake the boy's hand.

Ace carefully watched the boys reaction. He didn't really want to scare Garrett but he also wasn't taking any chances. If this guy was from Itex, Ace was going to kill him. But he hoped he wouldn't have to, he had always wanted someone else to talk to. Someone who he could be friends with, who wouldn't exclude him because of what he was, maybe this was his chance. But Ace kept up his strong and angry front, he really didn't want to go back to the lab.

[rett]

This, it seemed, was going take more than a few simple words. He lowered his hand when the boy did not shake it. "If I was from Itex, or whatever new company you're talking about, I wouldn't be standing here talking to you, would I?" Rett replied. He knew how Erasers went about their business-attack, then kill or capture, whatever your instructions were. Ask any questions later. He thought about throwing the question back at him-for all he knew, he could be the one from one of the companies. But that wasn't the best idea. A eraser he could deal with, no problem. But an ursine hybrid-who knew?

"There's nothing that I want, really," He said in reply to his demand, "Just happened to run into a fellow freak and thought you might like to chat, I guess." He watched the other experiment as closely as he was watching him. If this guy planned to kill him, he wouldn't be going done without a fight. He wanted to trust him, wanted to gain his trust, but he was always prepared for the possible bad side of a situation.

[Echo]

Ace stayed in his crouched position, but the boy was right, if he was an Eraser he would have attacked already. He gradually began to loosen his stance, but he didn't let his guard down. He continued to watch the boy, no longer examining him as a threat but as a person. Garrett seemed nice, he hadn't run away from him screaming at least. And now he just wanted to chat with Ace, experiment to experiment. In truth, Ace envied him, he could blend in with the human population while Ace couldn't. Still, the offer just to chat was appealing.

Ace finally relaxed his crouch completely and tried to smile at the boy, which probably looked slightly weird. How often does someone see a polar bear trying to smile at them anyway? "Names Ace," He said, "And yea, it'd be nice to just chat with someone. Haven't done that in a long time." Ace was glad to have finally met someone else like him, someone he could talk to and maybe, just maybe, consider his friend.

[rett]

Rett watched as his stance loosened, relaxing his crouch into a much more comfortable posistion. He was relieved to see it; at least he believed that he wasn't an eraser now. The boy's attempt at a smile was unusual, to say the least, but at least he was trying to be friendly. It was much better than being looked at like a threat, like so many other experiments who he'd come across on his travels saw him as, if they had a heightened sense of smell. Usually, they'd run off before he had a chance to explain himself.

"Glad to hear it," Garrett said to Ace after he'd agreed to a conversation. He leaned casually against the trunk of the nearest tree, trying to think of something to start the conversation going. "So, where'd you come from? What branch, I mean." He couldn't think of anything better, but it was a start, at least.