GranspearZX

"Y'know... I'm actually not sure." Marcus looked thoughtful. "Never thought to ask, though I wouldn't be surprised, especially after the week I've had. Studying's been kinda wearing me out... Just thinking about exercise of any kind is giving me a little bit of a headache." Marcus looked around the cafeteria. There were still a few people around--some students he even recognized, and he nodded in their direction as the group walked in. "...I'm gonna guess that you've boxed before then?" It really was a silly question but there was no harm in asking.

Arcturus rolled over, shaking snow from his fur as he stood back up, staring over the edge of the gaping hole in the floor. Forced to go around, he began weaving his way towards the beacon, quickly realizing that the terrain had several of those crevasses, varying in length and depth. Most of them weren't snowed over, but it was difficult to see anything in the snowstorm--his ability to see in the dark was useless when it was something other than darkness obscuring his sight. He ended up zigzagging his way across the snowfield, moving at a careful pace. It was still faster than most normal people might have been going, and Marcus wished he'd brought his staff with him. It certainly would've made testing the ground ahead of him easier. After a few more minutes of trekking through the knee-deep snow--and considering how tall Arcturus was, knee deep was pretty significant--he could just barely make out something ahead of him, pulsing in time with the beeping he'd been hearing.

Marcus barely breathed as Etain leaned in on him. He hadn't seen her in a while, so he'd forgotten all about the whole personal space thing. It took him a minute to realize that she wasn't just looking at him, at least not in the traditional sense. All he could do was give a nervous smile in response to her question. "Huh? N-no! I mean..." He cleared his throat, realizing his tone had risen a bit in volume as he answered. "No, nothing like that... I'm fine," he replied, lying through his teeth. He really wasn't 'fine'... not even a little bit. He was certain there were wild rumors flying around around school about what had happened. Still, for someone who could see magic, the effect that the Pennsylvania incident had on both him and the Beast rune had to be pretty obvious. There was an odd synergy between him and it that hadn't been there before. Between that and the journey into his own mindscape, he had quite a bit on his mind. He frowned a little bit at the thought of someone reading his mind to find that out. Damn mind readers. It was like hearing it twice in his own head; both he and the Beast Rune agreed. "...so. Cambridge, huh? That's pretty impressive..."

This was, if nothing else, considerably less stressful. After Pennsylvania, he wasn't sure if he'd ever be allowed to do that sort of thing again. He wasn't sure how he was going to see hazards that he couldn't make out, however, but the beeping was getting steadily louder; he had every confidence he'd get there soon. He put his left foot forward and immediately felt the snow sink well past his knee; there was a brief but very audible string of curses as he fell, lashing out with his left hand to grab onto whatever he could. He felt his claws contact what felt like rock and he gripped the edge. The sound of the rushing snow filled his ears as it fell away from the surface, and he scrambled his way back up onto solid ground, laying on his back as he tried to catch his breath. "...yeah. Wrong way."

I seem to have forgotten to link Arcturus's rep chart, so it may not have been counted.

Arcturus Crow Comes Home To Roost Dreamtime Grin and Bear It Life's a Drag(on) Unreal Estate Vox Witch Hunt Extras: News: Arcturus's Alternate Form Power Stunts Crusader I Have Had It... My Brother's Keeper Extras: GM/NPC: The Radical Dreamer [Note: The 1st post in this thread is a GM post, not an IC post for Arcturus.]

"Uh... sure, I guess so." He really didn't mind; it was like showing off a tattoo. In fact, when Marcus removed the illusory jacket and loosened his shirt to expose his shoulder, the Beast Rune really did look like a tattoo, only closer inspection would reveal that it clearly wasn't ink. Its magic wasn't entirely superficial; it had a subtle effect on his entire body--and that was just in his normal form. "Well... yes and no. It's a little harder to think sometimes. I still feel like myself, just... different. I'll admit, though, that sometimes when I get mad I can feel it goading me into taking a swing at people. It's hard to tell where it ends and where I begin."

"Boston, huh? Bruins. Great team." Marcus smiled and nodded at the very literal inside joke. "Me? Since about... October. I was going to FDR High before that. Still kinda getting used to things around here but it's really not so bad. I've lived in Freedom City since I was like 10, so I might as well say I'm from here..." He looked over at Corbin and Erin. "What about you guys? If you don't mind me asking, that is..."

Marcus blinked a few times at Professor Quill as he sat down, smiling politely. He didn't seem to be bothered by being addressed in Latin; he knew a phrase or two, but nothing that would actually allow him to understand what Etain had said, let alone respond. If nothing else, he was surprised that she was still thinking about him enough that she'd recruited someone to help him. Once upon a time, he might've tried to salvage his pride by pretending to be offended, but he'd learned not to reject a helping hand. "Nice to meet you, Professor." He smiled as he sat down, slipping off his jacket and gloves.

1d20+10=29 And Arc attacks while Push's back is turned. It's ironic that he would've done this willingly just a few scenes prior. XD

Outwardly, Marcus didn't react. He stared impassively at Vigourie, even as his magic faded and rendered him visible. Inwardly, however, was an entirely different story; he was stricken with a cold, frenzied panic like he'd never felt before. Was he really going to make him shoot someone? Inwardly he struggled and fought against the fear of what he might do, powerless to do anything--even control his own body. In that moment, he wasn't a raging black bear or even a young magic-user... He was a powerless teenager. A year ago, that would have been fine, but right now, there was nothing more terrifying... He wanted to scream or cry out or something... but he couldn't even do that. It was the longest, most agonizing 15 seconds of his life--until something burst through the wall. He couldn't see it at first, but he was genuinely relieved--who knew that he'd actually be glad to see Agent Stone show up? Still... it wasn't over; he could feel his entire form tense, and he knew his own body enough to know exactly what that meant. He tried to fight it, but to little avail; he found himself lunging at Agent Stone from behind, staff raised to nail Push in the back.

Marcus always thought that using magic for mundane things was... well, cheating. It wasn't that he didn't think about it, of course, but lately he'd had a lot on his mind--too much to consider screwing around with rune compositions and spell matrices. Six months ago, he didn't even know what those were, but, slowly but surely, he was getting to a point where he could talk about his ability without sounding like a complete moron. Today, he had a library date. Not really a date in the traditional sense, but Etain had asked him to meet with her there. Traveling in the rather unforgiving February cold was bad enough, but he was bundled up pretty well--it was either that, or get there in his bear form, which just wasn't going to happen. He shook himself out a bit as he stepped into the library, pulling off his gloves as he walked inside. He spotted her instantly, heading over to the booth she'd chosen. "Hey. Sorry I'm late... I'd have been here sooner but... ah, never mind." He kept his voice down--this was a library, after all...

Marcus was pretty well dressed for the cold; he was wearing his Freedom Heroes jacket and a pair of gloves. "Eh, don't worry about it, Corbin... It's been kinda busy for me too, and I wish it was just school... but hey. That's life, I guess." He stuffed his pockets, blowing a cloud of his own breath into the air before looking back at Crow. "So, where're you from?"

"I always thought it was just a really cool looking birthmark, but..." Marcus turned slightly, thumbing at the back of his right shoulder. "There's a mark there... One of my mother's research books called it the 'Beast Rune'." Marcus thought for a moment, then looked at Rene. "My dad... he had it before I did. There was an accident, and my mother nullified it somehow... or at least that's what she thought. They probably panicked a little bit when I was born and they figured out that she'd just repressed it. I don't know why I have so much more of a handle on it. Maybe it's 'cause I've never really considered it to be anything but a part of me already? Who knows..." He kicked a rock out of his path and into the grass, shaking his head. "Most of the time I don't even think about it."

'Kay. Gonna take 10 on the Survival check. :)

Navigation, huh? Arcturus trudged forward, his heavy breaths clouding in front of his face as he walked. The snow didn't seem to slow him down too much either, leaving his enormous, heavy footprints behind before the artificial snowstorm covered them up. He could hear the beeping ahead of him, though he fully recognized that any number of things could be between him and it. He slowed down, his steps careful as he tried to make out the terrain ahead of him. If anything, he fully recognized that he might actually find some pitfall generated by the room.

Arcturus stood there, panting by the time the entire thing was over. He wasn't exhausted--not completely--but he'd used a lot of energy just on that. Despite his somewhat altered state of mind, he was still himself; he relaxed a little bit and the glow from his eyes faded. "Geez," he huffed, bending over with his hands on his knees, catching his breath. His own senses were better than most humans', but he admittedly hadn't used them much. Still, he had a minute or so of downtime before the blizzard hit, but when it did, he showed surprisingly little reaction. His fur adapted him to the rapid change in temperature without him so much as thinking about it, though he still hardly wanted to be stuck in something like this forever. He moved forward a few steps; in seconds there was snow up to his ankles, and he STILL couldn't see--somehow, snow was a lot less irritating than sand. Still, water was water and he inwardly shuddered at the possibilities.

In hindsight, Marcus really should have known better than to ignore the Beast Rune's animal instincts. A predator always knows when the prey has a heads-up, and he'd ignored it. The way the motel room door had closed was entirely too convenient; he'd been baited, and like an idiot he'd fallen for it... hook, line, and sinker. He bit back a yelp of pain as Vigourie's stare tore into his mind, nearly forcing him off balance. He could feel the Beast Rune pushing back, trying to force the intruding presence out, but by then, it was too late. The last thing he could remember when his will was still his own was Vigourie's gun...

1d20+9=20 This is going to be unpleasant. D:

"...did you say 1777?" Marcus blinked. Surely he meant 1977. Surely. That was... unusual. It was actually pretty fascinating, really. And a war veteran at that... possibly more than one war. "That's... a long time to practice. And yeah, I saw a couple of things. The lightning bolts, the suit... Best I can manage right now is the transformation and I'm not even sure how I'm doing it yet. Not really anyway." He paused in thought about that one, frowning a bit as he recalled what his father had told him about the entire thing. "Six months ago, the biggest worry I had was passing an algebra exam."

Fighting without the benefit of sight was one thing. Without the benefit of his sense of smell either... well that was just crazy. It was clear that he did have some fighting ability, but the environmental distraction was clearly starting to frustrate him. The very idea of using magic went out the window as he kept getting zapped in response to near misses; through his fur, the Beast Rune reflected his irritation by showing in a clearly visible outline on his right shoulder blade. Inwardly, Marcus was having other problems; his normal thought process was favoring strategy while the Beast Rune wanted him to smash things. The back and forth between the two seemed to be slowing his reaction time, only serving to get him buzzed time after time... Suddenly his eyes went a flat, dull red, and he immediately stopped moving. For a moment there wasn't much sound except for the whirling sandstorm and a deep, throaty growl. Even his stance had changed into one significantly more suited for hand-to-hand combat than the haphazard wrestling stance he was using prior to that. One of the spheres slipped behind him and nearly moved in again before Arcturus suddenly whirled around, tearing a deep gouge into it with his claws.

"Sub-optimal is an understatm-GAH!!" Arcturus yelped and spun around as one of the spheres zapped him in the shoulder. It didn't really hurt, but it surprised him, moving before he could take a counter swipe at it. The fact that Supercape was going over the training manual didn't inspire confidence, but this was nothing compared to the stuff he'd already been through. If anything, he wished he'd done something like this sooner. He had to start moving; sitting in one place was just going to get him zapped from behind. The spheres were hard to see as it was, but that didn't stop him from trying to take one out anyway. Seeing it was going to be tough, and the raging winds made catching a scent of anything rather challenging... Still, there was no way he was going to let a simulator get the best of him.

"I've only been here a few months... transferred from FDR." He shook Corbin's hand, then Morgan's; Corbin seemed vaguely familiar, but he wasn't sure why. He'd probably seen him somewhere on campus. Marcus even offered an introductory handshake to the one Corbin referred to as Erin. "I was headed that way eventually; I guess I wouldn't mind."

Actually, Arc has immunity from those environments while in bear form. :)

Marcus didn't often have reason to be in the upperclassmen's dorms. By now he was garnering something of a reputation as a kid who didn't actively seek out attention, but he was still approachable by most standards. Once or twice he'd been seen on campus in bear form--an odd sight considering he was usually meditating, and even then he hadn't bitten anyone's head off. Literally or figuratively. Today, he was just roaming, looking for a quiet place to do just that, eventually finding himself in the mostly empty common room, save two others besides himself. "...huh. Didn't think anybody'd be here... Hi." Marcus smiled and waved. He didn't know either of the two, but he was terrible with first meetings and remembering peoples' faces. Morgan's was... rather distinct; Marcus was certain he'd remember if he'd seen him before.