The Forgotten Zodiac

Tyler squealed with delight and nearly fell off the table, catching himself on the side of the table and a chair, then pointing at Sylas. "HE'S A LEMUR! LOOK AT IT!" He grabbed Sylas and hugged him tightly, possibly too tightly. "Just like Zaboomafoo!"

"Zaboomafoo!" Sylas repeated after Tyler, sitting still and letting the boy hug him.

"Jeez, Sylas...you have the patience of a...I honestly don't know what to compare you with. You're extremely patient." Quinn smiled a bit.

"Thank you," Sylas blinked at her.

((I'm trying to read your roleplay with Trin. Sadly, I'm still on chapter nine. I got behind and never caught up. BUT I MAY CATCH UP!))

Tyler eventually loosened the tightness of his hug, petting Sylas' head gently. "LOOK!" Tyler squealed with delight, probably deafening Sylas with his shout. "There's a hippo in Zaboomafoo! They're gunna give him hippo food!" He hugged Sylas and himself happily, overjoyed with a hippo and a lemur at once.

((YEAH! : D You can do eet!))

"Hippo food looks gross. They should make that poor animal a nice souffle." Sylas observed, blinking his round lemur eyes at the television while his fluffy tail curled around Tyler.

"They've been feeding him that since he was born, probably." Werr added in, trying to distract himself from the pain. "He would probably turn his nose up at anything else."

"He does not know what he is missing, then."

((CHAPTER -drums- TEN! That's really sad. I like Nate and Luen. And Welk. Can you steal Welk from Trin and give him to me for my birthday?))

Tyler shook his head. "He likes it, because it has vitamins. Vitamins make them into big, strong hippos who can bite lions in half. I wish that was on this show..." He stopped, gazing off into the distance and imagining what things a hippo could bite in half. "Besides, a souffle might make him sick. Are you sure hippos can eat souffle?"

((You're the first person to say Nate. xD Everyone goes for Luen, Forin, Welk or Cynyr.))

"I can pretend to be a hippo and eat a souffle." Sylas shrugged. "I do not see why they would be unable to..."

"That's not really the same, Sylas," Quinn shook her head. "When you uh...'pretend' to be something, you're not actually that something. It's fake."

Sylas turned his gaze on her, looking a little confused and perhaps a wee bit upset. Quinn shrugged and looked away, not wanting to be targeted as a bad guy. Werr, in the meantime, had fallen asleep.

((I haven't gotten to Forin yet. I dislike Cynyr because he's s jerk. I like Luen. Nate is good. Welk I want to keep forever.))

"Sylas, that's because you're super special. Hippos aren't as good as you at all." Tyler liked Quinn and sensed that Sylas might get upset with her for telling him he wasn't real. After a little more time of watching, he stood up and set Sylas down. "Sylas, can you turn into a dog? We could go play fetch!"

((Good. :3

Forin is also a jerk, but he gets better.))

"Fetch...yes, we can play that game." Sylas nodded, hopping down to the floor, where he switched to his black dog form. He barked once, then chased his tail in a circle for a moment before sitting back on his haunches, watching Tyler and waiting for him to throw something.

Quinn smiled a little. She did rather like dogs. They were cute, and loads of fun to play with.

((I love evil characters. They are fun.))

Tyler ran into the kitchen and started opening drawers until he found one with a tennis ball. He hurled the ball down the hallway and ran after the ball with Sylas. Since it was a modified house, he knew there would probably be a backyard. "Get it, Sylas!"

((Indeeeeed.))

Sylas snatched the ball up in his teeth, waiting until they were outside before giving it back to Tyler.

Quinn looked over at Timothy. "You aren't going to follow them?" She asked quietly with a smile on her face. "We can keep watching Zooboomafoo, if you want..."

Timothy looked at Quinn warily, then moved over to her chair, eyes focused again on the talking lemur. Being without Sylas was scary, but so was going outside. Sylas thought Quinn was nice; she wouldn't hurt him... Werr had a broken leg and was hyped up on pain meds. He probably couldn't reach the boy, let alone keep hold of him to hurt him.

Once outside, Tyler hurled it as far as he could. Admitedly, that wasn't nearly as far as it could've been. Five-year olds don't throw very far.

Quinn smiled at him, then looked back at the television. She half-wanted to turn it back to the news; she was watching that channel to check for mysterious disappearances in the area that would signal Lotus' and James' approach. But she supposed she could hold off for a bit longer before changing it back. Werr, in the meantime, had rolled onto his side, his leg still propped up on the legrest. He was apparently attempting to sleep, for the most part.

Sylas waited a bit and then darted off, returning with the ball in leaping bounds. He didn't seem to be enjoying himself too much, but it was entertaining Tyler, so he was okay with it.

After a fairly short time, Tyler grew bored of throwing the ball as well. Looking around, he picked up a stick and held it out to Sylas. "Do you want to play tug-of-war? I don't care what we do. I like it here." He really did. Neighborhoods were fun; because, by definition, they had neighbors.

Timothy didn't actually care what they were watching; Quinn could change it whenever she wanted. He shyly smiled back up at her, then immediately switched back to watching TV in case that had been completely the wrong thing to do and she was angry.

"We could go for a walk," Sylas suggested, flicking his tail once or twice in a feeble wag. He nosed Tyler's legs and laid down, suggesting that Tyler should sit on his back so he could walk quickly.

Quinn waited until Zooboomafoo was over before switching it back to the news. Noticing the smile, she gave one in return and ruffled Timothy's hair. "You're alright, kid. Quiet, really quiet, but I don't mind that." She looked up as the weather section came on, and she got comfortable to wait.

Tyler compliantly climbed onto Sylas' back and gripped the fur at the back of the Iyouis' neck, so Sylas could go fast if he wanted to. "Where we going, Sylas? Is there something we're gunna go do?"

The Gifted shrunk back, but he shrunk against the chair, not away from Quinn. After a few minutes of watching the news, he reached up and gently touched Quinn's arm. "H-he's not c-c-coming, is he?" He, clearly, meaning Lotis.

Sylas padded off at a steady speed, careful not to let Tyler slip. "I'm not sure. Somewhere. We won't be gone long, don't worry. I just think it would be best if we were away from the others a bit. Maybe I will pretend to be a human, and we can buy snacks from a store. Do you like snacks, Tyler?"

Quinn smiled at him sympathetically. "I don't think so. Not yet, at least. From what I saw, there are still a few disappearances in the city we left...and I saw a report on an abandoned building that had been burned down. It was Malya's place...Vrach did a good job of 'cleaning up', I guess. I still feel kind of bad...but there isn't anything we can do, really."

"Techinally, we could try to fight back against the institutes, but...you lot would never go for it." Subject said, plopping down onto a chair next to the couch.

"Why would we do that?"

Subject shrugged. "More allies, more people for Lotus and James to go after aside from us, a vast array of medical supplies, which we seem to need fairly regularly...oh, and the institution I was in worked on a serum that sped up the healing of broken bones and blunt force trauma. It's really cool; almost like cement, but it doesn't stick to your bloodstream or anything. Just the bones. Makes 'em hard as rock when they're done fixing, too..."

"I'm going to murder you in your sleep," Werr growled, obviously not liking the temptation. "We're not going near there, Subject. Don't suggest it again."

"Okay. Sorry." He shrugged, then turned back to the TV as the commercials came on.

The boy bounced up and down on Sylas' back deliberately, when the ride wasn't rough enough. "I love snacks. They're my favorite, 'cause a snack can be anything you want." He stopped bouncing long enough to think, then ammended his statement. "It couldn't be dinner, though. It'd hafta be something small, otherwise it a dinner."

Timothy nodded in relief and leaned against the chair, sliding under it slightly. "I-It hurts t-to use. I don't l-like the s-s-stuff." Being one of the Gifted in the Insitute, it hadn't been unusual for them to break his bones to test their ability to fix them. Their ability had, luckily, started out pretty good. Otherwise, it would have led to incredibly weak bones that fractured easily.

"Of course not. We will just get something small." Sylas nodded, then silenced himself as he weaved his way into the bustle of the city. It was odd enough to see a boy riding a huge dog, for that dog to be talking, too, was a little much.

"It's better than having broken bones." Subject shrugged, smiling at Timothy. "They have stuff for torn muscles, too. Organs, blood infusions...they've got a lot of stuff. Here, look," He raised his arm, flexing it. It was easy to see that he was pretty far from unfit. "I don't even have to exersize, and I'm probably as strong as you, Werr."

"I doubt that." Werr snorted.

"Why not an arm-wrestling match, then?"

"No."

"Your leg is broken, not your arm."

"I said no." Werr snapped at him.

"Is it because you're a coward?" Subject retorted. "Not a man enough to beat a little kid like me in an arm wrestling match? Look at this, Timothy. Poor little Werr-bear is scared. You should go give him a hug or something."

Tyler looked around at the people they past, ignoring any strange glances he got from the people they passed. He assumed that, since it didn't bother him, it was completely normal. It went without saying the five-year old boys with scientifally unexplained magical powers were completely normal.

Timothy got more and more on edge as the arguing started. When Subject brought his name into it, Timothy freaked out even more and ducked under the chair, pulling his knees up to keep himself better hidden. Without saying anything, he reached up and grabbed Quinn's hand, shivering.

Sylas headed into the alley next to the store, sliding Tyler off of his back and changing into a larger human. He pulled a wallet out of his pocket and checking to make sure he had some money before taking Tyler's hand and leading the way out and into the store. "Go ahead and pick something you want. We can share it."

Quinn squeezed his hand, and then looked at the others. "Come on, don't fight. Subject, Werr isn't feeling well right now. Ask another time, okay?"

"Fine," Subject shrugged, then looked at the television as a news report came on about the dangers of letting small children play outside unattended.