Equations (Open)

[Crisis]

Claude sat across the grass, his eyes were closed and his palms rested face up over his folded legs. He wore a simple white V-neck shirt that shaped itself across his frame quite nicely and some light grey pajama pants, that seemed to fade into white all in itself. The scent of wild flowers filled Claude's nostrils, all of them distinctive, and he supposed pleasant. He opened his eyes slowly, letting the light seep gradually so that his pupils could adjust. The only thing that met his gaze was an odd construct that stretched far to either side.

Claude's mouth, tightened a bit at that. He never did do well with being confined, in every sense of the word. He didn't like it when he was tied down to the life of an academic. He didn't like it when girls called him their boyfriend. He most especially didn't like it when he was literally tied down by the people who had brought him to this place. He let his eyes wander across the barrier before him, he had no idea what it was made off, and for some reason his intuitive sense for an object's mass and density wasn't kicking in, he could have very well been looking at empty space for all the progress he was making.

He squinted his eyes in concentration and an empty blackness flooded over his eyes, as if someone spilled a vat of ink over them. At the same time the world before Claude was reduced to a series of equations and mathematical symbol, this wasn't his power just a by product of an overactive imagination and genius. Claude knew very well the problem the guessing presented with regards to his powers, if his calculations weren't correct, things often resulted in catastrophe.

Claude's powers were labeled as entropy distortion. Entropy was the amount of work absent in a closed system. Claude found that he had the ability to take this value, twist it into a ring and make it whistle, figuratively speaking of course. Unfortunately, there were too many laws and postulates involved. Claude's power wasn't the point and shoot type like he'd seen many others have in this place. Claude's mouth tightened again, he had to be that much more careful, else risk exploding half the world for all he knew.

The barrier stood there before him, mocking him. "I probably shouldn't" Claude thought to himself. Finally the tightness of his lips lessened and curled into a smile. "But since when did that ever stop me?" he chose a random number, and in his head did the highly advanced mathematical formulas, until he arrived at a solid value. As if the number forming itself in his mind were a trigger the air before him began to shimmer. Claude couldn't help but show a little teeth in his smile, but it was short lived.

the shimmering in the air became erratic, and there were flashes of rainbow colors as each individual electron jumped energy levels and emitted random visible light spectrum. Claude attempted to get up but before he was able too, there was a bright flash of light followed by an imploding sound. Before Claude knew it he was sailing through the air. He thought quick, as quick as someone free falling through the sky could. His own weight, plus the air resistance and the gravity constant of the earth, parabolic descent...he needed to survive. He closed his eyes hoping it would work, and cursing the fact his powers required math. The air around him thickened, almost like it turned liquid enough to catch him. Claude let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding before he opened his eyes. His feet touched the ground safely.

The sight before him wasn't pretty, the ground was twisted unnaturally as if a giant hand had clenched it full-fistedly and wrenched it out of anger, the wild flowers splattered over the soil, in a weird jelly-state...Claude didn't even want to think of how that happened. He stood up and brushed the dust of his clothes as best as he could. The entire thing was actually something Claude would have laughed at at a normal day, but right then and there he could only really pay attention to the fact that the barrier still stood there, it wasn't even scratched.

[Mara Ackart]

Nature wasn't really something Mara appreciated. She knew it's place in the world. It was important in it's own right. However she much preferred a nice quiet library full of books. Still, it provided her someplace to run when she needed to blow off steam. Running was what she was doing. She wanted to check out the Northern Barrier and work off some energy.

The world slid past as she ran along the barrier. She was moving about eighty miles an hour or so. Every so often she'd stop abruptly to stare at the barrier and then move on. To her this barrier was a challenge. It was an obstacle in her path toward revenge. The mutants here played the part of the cogs she'd use to get out. Some were more important than others. Still others were problematic and needed to be removed.

Mara cut off her speed quick as a flash when she noticed something happening up ahead. She watched from a distance as the air shimmered and then the ground warped. She watched the mutant she assumed was responsible for the gigantic mess get hurtled through the air. What puzzled her though was that partway through his descent to the earth he seemed to slow. She couldn't help but wonder what sort of power could allow him cause both things. More so than any of the other mutants she'd approached while here caution was warranted.

She needed to find out what that power was. She needed to place him somewhere on her web. Mara likened her knowledge of the other mutants in this place and their allegiances to a web. He was a stray thread. She didn't like stray threads one bit. A stray thread could screw things up and prevent her from getting out. With a burst of speed she made her way over to the mess in a matter of seconds. She peered at it and looked over at the other mutant.

"Boy you certainly can make a mess." she stated.

[Crisis]

He couldn't believe that had happened, well actually Claude easily could. Since attaining his abilities and arriving here, he had little trouble believing anything. Perhaps the more accurate way to put Claude's feelings into words, was that he was annoyed with himself, but had too much pride to admit it. That explosion, if it could have been called an explosion would have been able to bore a hole through a 6 inch thick titanium wall, yet this wall before him stared back without so much as a pebble chipped off it's face. Claude was so tempted to try again, but the fact of the matter was he had been lucky that the back fire of the failed entropy distortion had not scarred him in anyway. Claude had been at it for quite some time now, this business with the wall...but every attempt of his failed. Claude didn't take to failing so well.

He couldn't even channel directly into the wall, whenever he tried the quantum strings he was pulling unraveled right before him. The wall was virtually untouchable by his powers at any angle. He was pondering his current predicament so deeply that he didn't even notice the young woman arrive until she spoke.

"Boy you certainly can make a mess.", was all she said, although Claude couldn't help but sense a hint of mocking amusement in her voice. For a moment Claude imagined the wall probably having the exact same tone if it could speak.

Claude inspected her with his onyx gaze, he supposed that she was what some people would call pretty. But Claude was never the type of person who would truly bother about such trivialities. He just slightly tilted his head to the side, as if he was addressing an ignorant child before he languidly crossed his arms over his chest. This girl had the audacity to amuse herself with his failure...if she only knew the things he could do to her with a few numbers and a fairly close guess of her mass. Claude gave himself a mental shake, he was too good for such things, it would have been utterly pointless to lash out with his powers at every ignorant sop who came his way.

"I certainly can, you're quite the observant little twat aren't you?" the entire line was delivered with such an icy coldness Claude could practically see the frost forming as he breathed. He lazily turned his head away from her, returning his attention to the twisted elements before him. He really had no time for airheads who enjoyed to state the obvious.

[Mara Ackart]

The cold anger that rolled off his insult really was amusing. Mara laughed. She could easily conjecture that he had been trying to get through the barrier wall and whatever his power was had failed utterly. Failure made even the most even tempered of men a bit touchy. His lashing out at her verbally was easily proof of the that. Judging by what a misfire had done she knew she was quite lucky he hadn't lashed out with his powers, whatever they were. Mara was not so readily shaken off though. If he thought he could be rid of her with a simple insult then he was the one underestimating her.

"Nothing can scratch that wall though you are welcome to try again if you like. If it was that easy then rest of us would already be gone."

Mara put on a burst of speed that landed her right in his line of sight immediately after having finished speaking. She merely grinned at him. Beneath the grin she was mentally preparing herself for whatever response he might choose. Messing with a powerful mutant that was throwing the equivalent of a temper tantrum was foolish but could produce good results if done correctly.

[Crisis]

The girl spat off another obvious statement and Claude truly began to think it was some kind of compulsive disorder on her part. The next second she was right in front of him, smiling such a condescending smile. Claude let his gaze drift over her again, she was a persistent one wasn't she? Claude couldn't help but give his own condescending smile. She was attempting to push his buttons, admittedley she did manage to press a few at the beginning, but Claude wouldn't let that happen again.

He was a genius, and had always prided himself in the art of psychological warfare. Everybody must have thought the life of an academic was all books and papers, little did they know that it was just as much about politics. The intrigue and subterfuge among the greatest minds of the modern world was no pretty thing. If this girl wanted to play his game she better be aware that it had no rules...Claude hated rules.

Keeping his smile he answered her. "The rest of you, however, can't do what i can." he widened his smile slightly, and shifted his feet so that he would assume a more laxed stance. Just for a second he let his eyes flicker to the distorted flowers behind a girl, just for a second. It had been so fast that she probably wouldn't even be sure if he had in fact shifted his eyes at all. But at the same time, she would be reminded of the destruction he was capable off, if he could reduce flowers into a jelly-like state, who's to say he couldn't do the same to her?

She had displayed her ability to him, or at least an aspect of it. So she was fast, big deal...that just meant she dealt with speed and momentum. Purely quantifiable and therefore readily in his domain. How would she react if he made it so that she couldn't run at all? He pondered on it again, and for the second time decided to stay his hand. Psychologically, all the mutants here would be dying to know what another mutant could do. The sense of the unknown would eat at their subconcious, always making them wary. How could you ever truly trust another person, not knowing the extents of what he could do to you?

[Mara Ackart]

Mara rolled her eyes. With a power with as broad a scale as his he had justifiable reason to be proud but Mara hated dealing with ego. His comment and previous ones showed that there was some intelligence there. That combined with this undefined power of his put him as one of the more powerful mutants in this place in her mind. Strength was one thing but how you used it played a key role too. He definitely knew how to play this game. Probably better than she did if she were to be truthful.

"Yes yes, judging by the destruction you caused here and the trick you pulled to stop yourself from being splattered on the ground you are powerful. I won't feign that you aren't. But you still got caught. For all your strength and intelligence you ended up here."

Mara turned and scooped up one of the flowers. Whatever he'd done had turned it into a flower like jelly of sorts. She pondered it for a moment and let it drop to the ground. Mara thought carefully about her next words. Inviting him to the rebellion would definitely cause a stir. Sulley had an ego too. The inevitable clash of wills was something she feared. Sulley would brook no dissent in his rebellion but this guy was probably strong enough to take control. She made her choice and turned back to the newcomer.

"You could of course waste those talents of yours in futile solo attempts to escape. I dare say I don't need to remind you of the hindrances that have been placed in your way. If you're willing though I could introduce you to the leader of the resistance in this place. Even powerful mutants rarely prosper on their own."

Mara quirked a brow at him. She a took a moment to think about her offer. From his view point it would probably be nothing more than a weak fool attempting to take advantage of him and his power. Of course he would be right. Mara knew she was weak. She also knew that he could be incredibly useful. Her only concern in the matter was the fallout that would ensue when his ego met Sulley's.

[Crisis]

"Yes yes, judging by the destruction you caused here and the trick you pulled to stop yourself from being splattered on the ground you are powerful. I won't feign that you aren't. But you still got caught. For all your strength and intelligence you ended up here."

Claude gave a light chuckle, before he ran his fingers through his hair. The jet black streaks fell back lightly across his eyes ever so perfectly, his attractiveness was always another tool he found that he could use, with a complete lack of moderation. It was a simple biological reaction of people, and Claude knew quite well how people more often made decisions in response to their bodies rather than their minds. He looked to her again, smoothing his features into something more pleasant, the kind of way he knew would make most women sigh in spite of themselves.

He took one step closer to her, in that minuscule movement he already seemed as if he were about to sweep around a grand ballroom. Subtle actions, they were always the most powerful ones in psychological warfare, a seemingly escaped word, a subtle twitch at just the right moment, could send people spiraling into paranoia.

"Is that so?" he replied coyly, his eyes took a knowing glint into them. As if to say this wall was merely an obstruction that would soon enough be dealt with, but then again it could have meant anything at all.

He watched as she moved away form him to scoop up the flowers, if they could still be called flowers from the ground. A few more moments passed before she spoke to him.

"Youcould of course waste those talents of yours in futile solo attempts to escape. I dare say I don't need to remind you of the hindrances that have been placed in your way. If you're willing though I could introduce you to the leader of the resistance in this place. Even powerful mutants rarely prosper on their own." He didn't quite expect that to happen, and so quickly. This resistance she was talking about probably wasn't all that organized if its members were ready to recruit anyone and everyone they saw making an attempt to go through the wall.

Claude was new here, he didn't know all the machinations of the factions. He was aware however of the existence of these protectors, those self-righteous keepers of the peace as they liked to think of themselves. The thoughts mulled around Claude's mind, who's to say this wasn't a trap. This girl could very well have been a protector, trying to find a weakness in the resistance.

"Do you always wave you resistance flag for everyone to see? How do you know I'm not the enemy? I could have easily been a trap...could i not?" He took her hand before she could answer, nothing forceful, if anything it was gentle. He inspected it, nothing seemed wrong but Claude was also aware some failures of his entropic distortions sometimes resulted in turning objects radioactive. He could already see the irritation forming across the webbing of her fingers. Perhaps it was the resistance that lacked caution, maybe it was just this girl.

The infinite blackness flooded into his eyes once again, as he channeled his powers around this girls hand. Radio-active substances always had a half-life, meaning the amount of time before it's energy signatures completely disappeared, the energy needed in this was often quite large, precisely the reason why radio-activity took so long to disappear. Claude did the calculations in his mind again, all he needed was to distort the absent amount of energy into being virtually non-existent and the radio-activity would disappear within the span of a second. He lightly blew across her hands, not at all necessary just a bit of theatrics on his part. But once again it would throw her off.

little sparkling lights of green moved away from her hand, like glowing dust. Light was always projected whenever substances jumped energy levels abruptly. But perhaps this girl would feel the sudden relief of the radioactivity disappearing. Claude brought his eyes up towards her. "Rest assured I'm not a protector...you could consider yourself fortunate. If i had been, I would have let that radiation kill you instead of taking it away. You shouldn't be so quick to touch unknown substances either" He let off his most dashing smile. More seeds of confusion had been planted, he did mention radiation, maybe this would make the girl think that his powers revolved around radiation. How much did she even known about the occurrence? Who's to tell her that radiation could not cause him to create the destruction he just did?

[Mara Ackart]

Mara recognized the instant he switched tactics. He became smoother and more easily dealt with. It wasn't the first time since she'd started down her path but regret began to well up in her. Regardless of her logical mind she couldn't stop herself from being affected by this turn of personality. The sensation of being swept up in a tide larger and more powerful than herself flooded her being and caused her to scowl.

She kept her silence while he made his moves. Mara watched him as he turned on the charm and did his best to ply her with doubt. The doubts regarding the protectors had already been there. She knew she could be making trouble for the rebellion in the future with her movements. These thoughts were shoved back in her mind for later examination.

What interested her most was the blackness that flooded his eyes when he activated his power. It had many uses as near as she could tell. She avoided categorizing it yet. It was strong and had many uses. Anything further than that she wouldn't commit to without strong evidence. It would be folly.

"No, the only ones I reveal my allegiance to this quickly are the ones that I feel mincing words with would be wasted."

Mara kept her ground. He was a slippery one to deal with. Mara reminded herself that she'd made an oath to Sulley. Any pretty words or gestures from anyone else meant nothing. He owned her life while she was in this place. There would be only death if she sold it to another.

[Crisis]

(OCC: Sorry i lost the url to the site, and i was only lucky enough to find it again...so sorry)

The infinite blackness that spilled across Claude's eyes receded away to the corners of his eyes, letting him stare back at her with his faded blue gaze. He let go of her hand, slowly letting his own fall to his side. She was unnaturally amusing to him, like an unknown box sitting quietly in the middle of an otherwise empty room. Curiosity was a fault of many men, often leading to their demise. Claude always prided himself in having a rather iron hold upon his will, he could easily resist if he wanted to. But he assessed the situation and thought that it could do no harm, and perhaps it would even be the means for him to understand more about this place. If things were ever to go beyond his control...what was Claude saying, things would never go beyond his control.

"Your words weren't wasted." said Claude, "But you put your life, and the life of everyone you're connected to on the line." the last one he kept to himself, he dissected Mara's every expression looking for any sign if she had known what he had added in the private confines of his mind. Nothing changed, so she wasn't a mind reader, that was good as it was. He placed his hands behind his back in a pose that would have been suited for any gentleman, then he held his head in such a manner that he seemed to turn his plain white clothes into something regal.

"My name is Claude von Neumann...reality bender" to Claude it was a lie as plain as the sun across his face. But it was always better to sow as many seeds of doubt as he possibly could. He had refined his skill in prevarication to the point of it possibly being called art. And once again the infinite blackness flooded into his eyes as he worked his "magic" utilizing the temperature and the velocity of the air, coupled with the attraction that the water particles in the clouds had together. Claude called for a heavy rainfall that came within the span of a few seconds. The sheet of ice cold water cascaded down on both of them as if to drive his point.

Claude lifted a finger into the air then with another thought. This time around to be a tad more creative. He concentrated on the point of his finger, running through a series of equations involving radial geometry, and thermodynamics...he recreated the natural process of creating snowflakes, albeit at his finger tips. The delicate crystalline construct formed slowly. It was irregular at some places, and caused Claude to mentally curse himself. But it wouldn't matter to the girl, the very feat he was creating would hopefully entrance her enough.

Claude let out a breath and was surprised to see some frost cloud his vision for a moment. He had been abusing his powers rather haphazardly today, so many equations had already gone through his head, and math just as any other skill caused him to tire. He didn't intend to lower the temperature of the rain, but somehow it happened. He had to be more careful, who knows if he could have inflicted the second ice age, all for the sake of creating a snow flake.

The infinite blackness welled, before it disappeared with a sputter. Claude fought hard to remain as he was, not hinting at any weakness. He won that battle, but didn't know how many times he could do the same. He turned back to the girl and extended the finger bearing the snowflake towards her. "Of this resistance of yours, when shall i meet them?"

[Mara Ackart]

For an all too brief moment Mara felt like a particularly interesting lab experiment. The way his gaze swept her both reassured and alarmed her at the same time. It was a difficult sensation. Mara assumed it was something akin to standing at a cliff's edge with a cord tied around her waist.

"Mara Ackart."

Perhaps it was rude but this all too perfect being made her jumpy. As such she refused to tell him the title of her powers. That would be giving him a key that she didn't trust him with. Mara had already showed him one facet of her power. She had to keep some of her hand a secret. Regardless of her distrust of him she was willing to believe his statement about his power. That was one of the powers that would do what he had done. The skepticism was still there though. Mara had decided to treat anything he said with a grain of salt.

She could still appreciate his show of power. The cold downpour was a nice call back to reality and somewhat exhilarating. Mara looked closely at the snowflake he'd created from the rain and then up at him. She pressed her lips together and then opened them with a slight popping sound.

"The only one you'll be meeting is our leader. And that only after I find him and appraise him of you. If he agrees to meet you then I'll come get you and bring you to him. You'll meet the others if you are accepted."

Mara turned and began to walk off. She'd had enough of this guy. Confusion reigned supreme within her most of the time as it was. She didn't need him adding to it anymore. He could of course stop her if he wanted to.

[Crisis]

As Mara began walking away, Claude couldn't help but begin laughing. It was a low chuckle at first but then it began to raise into a raucous laughter. His voice reverberated in the air, bell-like and beautiful like the rest of him, but Mara wouldn't be able to shake the feeling of dread that the same voice carried. If the ambience of the area and the situation could be used to paint a picture, perhaps what would appear would be one of a fallen angel, albeit not in the usual sense. This angel in the painting was not pushed nor throne down from paradise, this angel deliberately jumped off, and the sinister smile on his face seemed to hint that the world would burn. But of course, Claude had no attempts at becoming theological at the moment.

His laughter began to fade away, but the smile never lifted from his face and never once did he turn to face her. Claude brought the snowflake close to him, until it touched the tip of his rose-colored lips. [white]"If i get accepted?"[/white] he seemed to stress the if part of that sentence. [white]"Ms. Ackhart, today you have tied me as close to you and your rebellion as you possibly could. There is no denying me...you will need to let me join, else you will need to kill me."[/white] with a gentle blow, his breath destroyed the delicate lace-work of frozen water. No powers were included in that trivial action, but Claude wanted to get his message across. That message simply being. "You can try"

The pouring rain had matted his thin white clothes against his bare flesh. His skin was only slightly different from the snow-white fabric, his had a slight touch of the pink of life, supple like a baby's, but sculpted over his muscles. He did seem perfect, as Mara's own thoughts betrayed. But Claude of all people knew that he wasn't and whatever was there was only an illusion. Lately, his entire world seemed to be constructed of illusions, some made by him most not.

[white]"Goodbye Ms. Ackhart, we will be seeing each other soon. This i am sure off"[/white] with his last words, he slowly descended back to the ground, crossing his legs and closing his eyes. Too much power had been used that day, Claude didn't even bother to correct the weather, once the clouds had rained themselves dry, then it would settle. But Claude didn't want to influence them anymore...even he grew tired. Perhaps if he grew in his powers, he'd find a way around that. But for the moment, he enjoyed himself sitting across the damp grass.

[Mara Ackart]

Walking away to that laughter was a tough thing. It definitely shook her. Dangerous. That was the word that kept creeping into her thoughts. No matter what else this guy was or wasn't he was dangerous. She took the time to turn and respond to his parting words.

"Ah but it is not my decision Mr. Neumann. I'm just a pawn. Nothing more and nothing less." she took a breath, "Farewell. Perhaps we will see each other again. Perhaps not."

With that Mara sped off at her top speeds. With the world passing by at around two hundred miles an hour Mara was able to eat up quite a distance before she stopped. She couldn't even see the spot where she'd left him anymore. All she could see as she turned around was the rain clouds he'd created.

Mara collapsed to the ground shaking. She hadn't been that nervous since she'd first met Sulley. Even he hadn't rattled her like this guy. Mara was severely tempted to tell Sulley to reject this guy. He was too dangerous. It had felt like he could have swallowed her whole just meeting him the first time. After several minutes of shaking Mara collected herself and stood up. Now wasn't the time for a breakdown. Right now she needed to find Sulley. She'd found them a powerful ally. If only he didn't destroy them first.

[Crisis]

-DONE-