On the sunrise {Hannah Quiggley Flores and Myka Vanderbeau}

Myka had just finished up showering and was doing his best to maintain his five o-clock shadow. He was happy, He loved feeling so clean, after smelling like Xanderphin for so long, he used some cruddy shampoo and soap from the inn. It smelled horrible, but it was all they had. Being an Antique connoisseur, he began humming a very old song from a very old tv show. "Adventure time, come on grab your friends, we're off to very dis.." Myka paused in his delight, for he heard Hannah calling out to him. He stepped out of the bathroom, towel wrapped casually around his waist. His dark hair fell a bit lower than usual, as droplets fell onto his wet body they dripped down the crevices of his muscles all the way down into....
He let out an unusual grunting noise. MMMH, SO SEEEXY! he thought to himself.
Once out, he arched his side up against the wall, a wide grin, staring down Hannah. "What can I do you for, sweet cheeks?"

Has this been any less of a stressful time, Hannah probably would have been aroused or excited or what have you. However, unfortunately, there were things she needed to know. She could tell, even through the darkened windows, that it was indeed darker outside. She worried that they might not have time to make it to the rebellion's meeting.
"How long have we been off the roads?"
She ran her smooth, gently tapered fingers through her hair, stopping to scratch along the way. Her scalp itched like mad. Bringing her fingertips down, she gasped in horror to see dirt beneath her fingernails. She scratched her head again and once more inspected her fingers. Her eyes widened. She must have fallen in a mud puddle or something. Oh, this was terrible! She continued digging at her scalp, waiting for Myka's answer.

Myka pretty much new he wasn't getting lucky tonight. He strutted over and put his boxers on, unfortunately they were the same as the ones he came in. He would just teleport to their room and get clothing and supplies, but then for sure, they'd be discovered. Her room, by now, would be flooded with guards, and if it wasn't, it was by a miracle. He put the old jeans he had on too, he didn't care for a shirt, Hannah had both his on and that jacket. He walked over to the bed, sat beside her, and grabbed her hand. "I got this" he began grooming her nails, getting out the dirt. Being a good boyfriend. his still wet hair fell on her arms as he looked down to clean her nails. "you've been out for awhile. I just took a shower. Please, don't you ever scare me like this again..."

She watched him work, blushing slightly. His hair, cool and wet, laid against her skin as his calloused hands cradled hers. Usually he was hot headed and absolutely the most inconsiderate man alive, but he was so gentle with her. It was almost as if he was a completely different person when they were alone. Snap out of it, Hannah. You're acting like a school girl, she thought to herself. She cleared her throat.
"So, where are we now? Do you think we'll have enough time for me to shower? We need to get to the Impure District before sunset..."

Just as he expected, her skin was as smooth as a baby. When it came to Myka, its like he had two minds, one his douchie side, where he would be with his buds, and then, when he was with Hannah, a good boyfriend, a good lover and a good friend. He articulately moved from nail to nail, clearing out dirt. He felt the warmth of her hands on his. He quickly dispatched with one hand, lifted it to his mouth and blew the remnants that he couldn't get with his utensil. He placed a soft kiss on her hand, as he grabbed the other and placed it in his hand to continue working. This type of work made Myka happy. Yes, he didn't care to baby her, but he was her boyfriend. Her happiness, like stated many times before, was his utmost mission in life. He paused for a brief second as to not seem like he was ignoring her he tilted his head towards her, now his black bangs covering his right eye.
"you have all the time in the world. I can get us there with my teleportation. Ooh and while your in the shower, Im going to look for food, is that okay?"

Almost as if on cue, Hannah's stomach grumbled loudly. Her cheeks turned pinkish and she nodded, lowering her head, slightly, enough so that he (hopefully) wouldn't see her blush. She whispered a barely audible thank you to him. Her thoughts were running a million miles an hour, jumping from Myka to the rebels to the Church to her mother to the kiss in her mother's office. A thought struck her. Well, not so much as struck her, more like the thought reminded her of something she had been meaning to speak to Myka about anyway.
"You know how I can speak with you using my thoughts? I've been toying with the thought of... perhaps.. opening a mental rapport with you? So that no matter what, as long as you're close enough to me, you'll be able to speak to me, and I you? Like those old devices, from before the war...those Cellophane Phones?"

Myka's eyes widened to the growling of her stomach. He heard her whisper thank you too. It was kind of cute. Here you have this heir to the church of Dactin, trying to survive in a place, Myka was practically thrown into to survive, but he didn't mind.
he let out a small childish giggle.
"yes its settled I'll get food." he finished her other hand and leaned forward giving her a peck on the lips. He stud up, hearing the interesting commendation she had to offer.
"yes sweetie, they are called cell phones, I have two or three in my cellar in the antique shop. If your right then I should just be able to speak to you with my thoughts, that would be perfect." He walked over and gragged a towel and placed it in her lap. Much to her suprise he pulled out a pocket knife and placed that on the towel.
"its not much, but when Im gone lock the door, and use this if anything happens, I highly doubt it, seeing as we were carefull in escaping the city, and plus I can just teleport back in the room."

Well wait a second ,she thought to him, in exasperation. I need to be sure we can do this. Think back to me. She placed the towel and knife next to her on the bed and stood. She gazed up into his eyes, fighting to ignore the background noise of the thoughts of those around her and waited for a response from him. She wanted to establish a working connection with him before he ventured out, so they could be sure the other was okay.

He had turned and approached the door, that is, until he sensed her, in his mind. When Hannah was in Myka's mind, it was like a specific style of signature. He liked to believe everyone had their own signatures. Since they were connected through love, it didn't take him long to hear her say

I need to be sure we can do this. Think back to me.

He turned and glared at her and smiled with confirmation.
Loud and clear baby he grabbed his silky hair and twirled it and placed it a pony tail, a few bangs stuck out, but he had to get it "people ready". The only person to ever see it down was Hannah.
He wanted to make sure she could hear his thoughts though too.
Do you hear me?

I do indeed. She was so excited, having such an intimate connection to him. It was as if they were closer now than ever before, their consciousnesses brushing against one another, connecting.
She smiled as she watched him tie his hair up. It was a nice change, seeing his face. She rarely got to, since his face was usually almost completely concealed by hair. She took a step towards him, bringing them close enough so that her ample, soft breasts were pressed against his rock hard chest and brought her hand up to his face, brushing a stray strand away from his eyes. Before he'd had a second to react, she reached up on her tiptoes and threw her arms around him, burying her face into his neck, inhaling his clean, xanderphin free scent.

Myka could feel Hannah deeper in his mind than usual. It was a good feeling, he thought. To him it brought their bond even closer than ever, he hoped the same for her. He felt her soft breast up against his cold shirtless chest, it gave him a slight erection, he hoped she wouldn't feel it, but she was pressed up against his muscular body. . He felt her warm hands on his face. The distinct inhaling from her nose to his neck, he was happy she could smell no Xanderphin.

He took a deep breathe and exhaled slowly. It was a sigh of content. For the first time in his life, he was truly happy. Right now, in this moment he didn't care about anything, except for one girl. He took his hands, the tips of his fingers rather, and gently glided them down the curves of Hannah's body, as to send tingling feelings down her. He stopped at the arch of her back near her butt, and laid them there. He leaned his neck down and rested his chin on her bright red hair. He didn't mind the smell of mud. He didn't care to make a move, or try to kiss her. He just wanted to stay like this for a few minutes, because in this moment, it was perfection, just like Hannah.

I love you. My worst fear is seeing something bad happen to you. Don't ever leave me, I'll always be here for you.

His thoughts echoed around in her head, almost as if it were a vast cavern and his voice boomed in her head. She winced a little, deafened by the power and emotion of that particular thought.
Nothing bad will happen, I promise. As long as we're together, I'm sure everything will be just fine, no matter the circumstances. However, if we're going to communicate like this, I'll need you to control your emotions better. The more you feel, the louder your thoughts are, okay? She pulled away from him, slightly, and looked up into his crystalline blue eyes. As she stared up at him, she felt something slightly hard pressing against her stomach and she blushed.
"Myka, really?" she giggled.

Myka couldn't help but grin at her noticing his piece rising slightly, bulging from his jeans. He arched his back just a tad bit and giggled in nervousness. "what? I can help it, the thing has a mind of its own. Hey, maybe you should read its mind instead" He let go of her, so she could partake in the joy that was a hot shower. He opened the door and stuck one half of his body out. "I will work on controlling my thoughts just for you, but for now, you hop your little sexy ass in the shower, and I'm going to get us food. Its late, and we have a lot of ground to cover." He blew her a kiss and was off, walking down the hall and into the main lobby. There he saw a small shop, he didn't recognize it this morning when they were beat.

He walked over to it and found some really nice things, women's clothing and mens clothing, coffee mugs, artillery, key chains, books or different assortments, and much more.

He pulled out his wallet and saw how much currency he had in it. He had a stack load of bills, his job paid good. He pondered on spending money, but cash never left a paper trail. So he picked up a few shirts for the two lovers, and bought a hand gun. He had his lightning sword in their bedroom. It was too big to haul around, plus he couldn't just go get it. Hannah had his pocket knife, so he walked up to the counter, gun and clothing in hand and placed them on the counter for purchase.

did you sleep well? This is all? That will be $50.
Myka smiled as he waved a few stray bangs from his face.
"Yes that will be all. Ill take that shirt and gun now though. If you don't mind where is there food?"
The girl handed him his gun and shirt. The cold draft in the room subsided once it was placed over his muscular shoulders. He handed her the cash and awaited her answer.
sure, next door. here's your change she spoke.

Myka wasn't wasting any precious time away from Hannah. He wanted to get back to her as soon as he could. He cocked the loaded gun and placed it in the opening of his jeans, then went out side. It was obviously dark out.

He was wondering if Hannah could still hear his thoughts. He wanted to see if she could, so, this time, he focused on clearing his mind, so as too lesson the jumbled thoughts. Once he thought he had his thoughts under control he spoke.

Baby, I don't know if you can hear me or not, but i bought you a warm long sleeve shirt, got a gun, but sadly no food. I will continue my search for food.

The moment Myka left Hannah shod all traces of clothing, relieved to be free of the mud-stiffened cloth. Now that's more like it , she thought to herself, arching her back and reaching her arms up to the low ceiling of the hotel room. Bringing her arms back down slowly, she made her way to the bathroom for the first time that day and headed straight for the tiny, somehow greasy, shower. Shuddering a little and the disgusting state of the stall, she turned the hot water faucet on. Relieved, she saw the water was perfectly clear. She slid one of her slender hands under the stream of water, testing the temperature. She gasped, withdrawing her hand quickly and bringing it closer to her face to examine the reddened skin. The water was far to hot, so she turned cold water up. After waiting a few more moments in the brisk air of the bathroom, she stepped into the shower and began scrubbing using the gritty brown soap Myka had used barely an hour ago.
Baby, I don't know if you can hear me or not, but i bought you a warm long sleeve shirt, got a gun, but sadly no food. I will continue my search for food.
Startled, Hannah dropped the soap. Groaning, she bent over to pick it up.
Alright, so long as you're safe, she responded, continuing her scrubbing. For a moment, she was ridiculously excited, for soon she would be mud free.

Trust Me, I'm always safe he thought to her. He walked over to the dimly lite bar type restaurant and strolled in. It had a whole bunch of shady people in there. He soon came to the realization he was in a nest full of miscreants and rebels. "great, hope everything goes smoothly." He sighed as strolled up to the ordering counter.

The guy asked for his order and handed him a menu. He scanned through it. There was some dishes that reminded him of life with his uncle, then there were some dishes that he himself wouldn't even touch, for he might regurgitate at the thought of eating them.

As he scanned through the menu, some thugs strolled into the bar, weapons ablaze. They fired off a few rounds to scare everyone. He prayed the shots couldn't be heard from the inn. He didn't want Hannah to be worried. They weren't much to look at, one was fat with a scar on his face, they other two were skinny looking 'yes men'. He came to the conclusion he wouldn't even have to draw his gun for this.

Myka just rolled his eyes at what he believed was about to take place. Really you prick? Guns? He thought. He swirled around in his seat to take a look at the thugs. Three. he thought.

He was amazed that everyone was down on the ground with just the sound of guns, if these were rebels, they were the 'wannabe' kind, no one saw Myka backing down by intimidation.

One thug noticed that Myka wasn't down on the ground, so he walked up to Myka and knocked him off his chair, by hitting his head with his shotgun. Myka fell to the ground.

Fat Thug:
Hey punk, didn't you get the hint from the gun blast? It means get on the ground!

The other two thugs just laughed at the sight.

The man behind the ordering counter did nothing, no one did anything.

Myka tried to rise to his feet, but the portly thug put his foot on Myka's back, and shotgun to his head. He honestly didn't see this coming. He tried to refrain from using his mutant powers to hide the fact that he was one. Unfortunately, this seems to be unavoidable at this point in time. Myka's head started pounding, and throbbing.

Goddamn that hurt like a bitch. I didn't see this coming he thought still laying on the ground.

The fat thug cocked his shotgun, still aiming it at Myka's head. He looked at his 'yes men' and ordered them to steal all the food. Myka had gravely underestimated a lot of things out here. He forgot that food was scarce. This was wrong, over food. He really didn't want to use his powers, with them, these thugs would be trash. He should of done something when they first shot of the first round, but his stubbornness got to him.
He decided to let it play through. He would do anything not to be spotted as a church member.

The 'yes men' began taking all the cash, and taking canned food and vegetables..

Myka's patience was growing expeditiously thin.
your gonna regret this he thought, as he was grunting and groaning on the ground. It then just hit him, He prayed Hannah still didn't have the mental link between them open. Shit.

In the midst of what may have been one of the worlds most relaxing showers ever, Hannah was startled by a muffled bang. Her ears pricked at the familiar sound. It was a gunshot, and it couldn't have been far off, either.

Really you prick? Guns?
Three.
Goddamn that hurt like a bitch. I didn't see this coming
You're gonna regret this.

In a rapid fire assault of thoughts that weren't hers, Hannah lost focus, lost her balance and fell out of the shower onto the dusty wooden flooring of the bathroom. Dripping wet, and now freezing, she was confused. What the hell was that?
She picked herself off of the floor and rinsed of the dust and dirt in the shower, quickly. Just as swiftly, she dried and clothed herself, her dripping red hair hanging in a tangled mess down her back.
[/i]Myka?! Are you okay? Where are you?[i]
Before he'd even had a chance to answer, she was out of the room and headed for the streets.

Myka was growing Impatient. He could feel the laceration pound on his head. Thank God it was a small one. He just waited there, as the goons took their bounty of money and food. He really really really was trying to find a way to resolve this without giving away his powers.

come on you fools! you take forever! hissed the fat thug.
This was his chance. The thug took his eyes off of Myka, a mistake he would regret. With swift precision he grabbed the shotgun and thrust it upwards at the thugs teeth, effectively breaking them, unfortunately the gun went off, causing Myka's ears to pop.
"fuck!" he shouted as he scattered away from the gun blast. He quickly made his way to his feet and planted his fist right across the dudes lip.Those who fought Myka would tell you, getting hit by him was like getting kissed by a freight train.
Myka began hearing a high pitched ringing noise. In the midst he was able to faintly hear Hannah.

Myka?! Are you okay? Where are you?

He tried shaking it off, as the the other two goons rushed at him.
One thug got a lucky punch straight into Myka's rib cage.
that hurt! he shouted in his mind.
The other one took aim at his face, but Myka dodged with ease, even with the jab to the ribs.
The ringing faded.
I'm at the bar, getting food, just be a minute, just stay in the hotel he thought. He knew that was a lie, to ease her mind, it was dumb of him really, he knew she would come looking.
Myka lucked out when he was able to send a roundhouse kick to both men, knocking them down. He pulled out his gun and aimed it at the men, this gave him the opportunity to catch his breath.


The temptation too pull the trigger was too great, but he couldn't. He didn't want to draw anymore attention.
He glared back at the fat bastard on the floor, the one with missing teeth.
"first off!" he declared. gun waving about. Myka with an evil grin on his face.
"How vagabonds like you could take me so easily escapes, even, my mind. You got lucky, but now, you've pissed me off. By hurting these sweet people, you've pissed me off. I'm sure my women is on her way and I know for a fact, that she was taking a nice shower! So you three got 10 seconds to get out of here before I personally put a bullet in your skulls!" His voice turned a little bit demonic. His adrenaline was up, his testosterone was pumping. He really wanted to shut them. All of this would had been avoided if he just used his powers, but he couldn't of had risked being given away. Plus they were in the Moyen region. So I guess it was unavoidable.

The three beat up thugs staggered out of the bar, all bloodied up. Everyone Else rose to their feet and praised Myka.

"NO!" he shouted. This caused everyone to become abruptly silent.
you could hear a pin drop.
Myka walked up to the ordering counter where Hannah's shirt was.

"Let me have two soups and two grilled chicken panini, please." he spoke, trying to slow his heart rate, as he took his seat, once again.

The man at the counter was astonished at all that just happened. Mister after what you just did, you can have whatever you want free. Two soups and two chicken panini's coming up. I'll throw in water too, you must be thirsty. I'd fix you up, but we don't have medical supplies here. I'm sorry

Myka was tired of talking, it would probably only make things worse.. So he just smiled with acceptance, and awaited his food.

It wasn't necessarily hard for Hannah to find the bar in question because three bloodied men burst out of the door just as she approached it. Her temper flared and she rushed at the largest man, telekineticly knocking him over and pinning him to the ground. She didn't utter a word as she broke into his mind, scanning it for any information she could get her mental hands on about what had just transpired. The poor sap didn't have any sort of mental training to ward against abrasive scans like this, but he did his best to push her off of him physically. Obviously, he failed. Her mental strength was far stronger than his brute muscle power.
"Get the fuck off of me, bitch!"
She leaned in close, her lips almost touching his ear.
"I'm inside your mind, Jacob Miller. I know how afraid you are right now. I know you can feel how unafraid I am, as well. Does it hurt your pride, to have been so easily taken down by me? Don't bother answering, I can feel it," she crooned, ending with a chuckle.
She rose, keeping one foot on the man's chest and turned to the other two. She stared both of them down and then made her way into the tavern.
One quick glance around the room told her the thugs had lost, even without the information she'd ripped from their minds. At the front bar, she saw Myka and approached him, silently taking the spot next to him.

Myka was rubbing his face up and down with his hands. He felt a presence beside him he cut his eyes towards the person, and saw that it was indeed Hannah.

"so I'm guessing now that the link between our minds is open, it will stay open?" he asked. He was a dervish to the fact that she had came down here, all because his thoughts projected themselves to her.

"well anyways I hope you were able to get a good shower in." He leaned over his pony tail, thank god still in tact, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. As he pulled away he could smell her, it was that soap and shampoo he had used, but at least the mud smell was gone.

Here you go folks, soup, sandwich and two waters spoke the man at the counter. He placed the very hot looking soup and sandwich in front of them. The man behind the counter just wistfully smiled at Hannah, not really talking to her. He figure she was with Myka.

Hannah smiled at the bar keep. Good, hard working people, pure or not, made her proud to be part of the ruling family. These would someday be her people. She turned in her stool to face Myka, ignoring the food that was so obviously still to hot to eat.
"I suppose I might've warned you of that..." she smiled at him. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

He swirled in his seat, but unlike Hannah, he grabbed the sandwich and stuffed his face. Myka had a bottomless pit for a stomach, so when he saw hot food, he wasted no time in scarfing it down. He didn't really speak, just munched on his food, cocked his head to the side and showed her the small laceration to the back of his head, then lifted up his shirt, and showed her the bruised rib cage.

"Small damage if you ask me, I'm not shook up about it, so it should be okay." he told her. He almost forgot her shirt. He put down the sandwich and pulled out the warm long sleeve garment. "here you go baby, this is yours. Want me to put it on your sexy sexy body?" he asked, raising and lowering his eyebrows in a quick manner. As to say, "hey sexy.."

Arching her groomed brows, Hannah shook her head.
"Not in public, no. So, I don't suppose there's a healer that you know?" she questioned, eyeing the injuries. They didn't appear to be urgent, but in areas like this, infection ran rampant. Moving her attention temporarily from him to the food, she picked up the panini and bit into it, taking a small portion into her mouth. A delighted moan escaped her lips. It was delicious! She closed her eyes in food-ecstasy and continued eating, barely managing to mind her manners. She was starving and cold and this food was delicious and warm.

Myka looked at Hannah dumbfounded. "I hope that was a rhetorical question, love. No I don't, but the laceration isn't more than nickle siz.." he stopped speaking when he saw that Hannah was stuffing her face. Its been a day and a half since they left, with no food or water, so he knew she had to be hungry and thirsty. So he did the same, he scarfed down the rest of his panini and began slurping his soup. It was delicious.

He cut his eyes at Hannah, "hey babe, we need to leave If we intend to make it to Impurete, sunset has already past!"

The man at the counter overheard Myka.

Did you say Impurete? he question with hesitant. He wasn't sure if they were spies, rebels or church members, but he figured they weren't church members, seeing as Myka saved them from those thugs.

"Yea, We have business there? why do you ask" he pondered.

The guy began fidgeting with things below the countertop and pulled out a picture of a Tavern.
There was a grin so devilish on the mans face. Like he was about to drop a bombshell on the two love birds.

This Tavern, is where many of our Rebel meetings are held. I heard one of their leaders, Za'azuu, is holding one there tonight!, but that's just rumor.

Myka was intrigued. Why would this man tell him such vital information. He didn't know Myka or Hannah from atoms. They were church members. But Myka wasn't about to tell him that. He just smiled as he took a mental picture of the tavern. Now that he has seen the tavern he could teleport there no problem.

Wow, So this is where you taking me he thought, he figured, this reason right here was the reason Hannah drug Myka all the way out here. She wanted to spy for her mother.

Myka had his hands tied. He couldn't just risk going there and being spotted. He knew it had been two years since his last meeting, but still, someone might recognize him, also he couldn't just tell Hannah to go back, for she would get suspicious. Its not like he cared for the rebellion, he joined to get closer to Alexandria, but for his own reasons. One's that personally link Alexandria to Myka. However of the years, Myka gave up on it becuase he fell in love with Hannah, but that didn't make him any less of a rebel, at the same time any less of a church member. So he went against his better judgement and decided to go.

Almost immediately after the man showed them the picture, she noticed a slight change in Myka's demeanor. She ignored it, deciding to address it later and looked up from her food at their server.
"Thank you so much, sir. We've been absolutely terrified that we might not find the place," she said, smiling angelically at him. It was rather odd that this man had not recognized her yet, being that her face was a well known symbol of the Church. She returned her attention to Myka as the man hurriedly bustled of to care for his other patrons. "Myka, since you've now seen it, do you think you might be able to teleport us there? It doesn't take a fool to know that we won't make it in time by foot..." she grinned, her eyes questioning.

Myka smiled at the good patron, thanking him for his services. He stood up from his seat, and stretched. While stretching he glanced at the photo, then at Hannah. He began pondering. All his hard work, to get to where he is now, would be thrown away if discovered, but its been so long, maybe no one would recognize him. Hannah could just mask her appearance as anything she wants. The brisk of the wind blew across the room, blowing Myka's stray strands of his bangs. He pulled Hannah out of her chair and hugged her, tightly.
He tried to stay cryptic as possible, when he spoke. "No matter what happens in that tavern, promise me you'll love me no matter what." he whipsered in her ear. The sent of her shower, basking up to his nose. She smelled wonderful, like always.

"If you can promise me this, then I will guarantee our safety." Of coarse he wasn't just talking about his physical safety. He was talking about the safety of their relationship. If he lost that, then, he has lost everything.