2847/The Bonfire of the Vain: Chapter 2

The Bonfire of the Vain: Chapter 2
Date of Scene:	14 October 2017
Location:	Morlock Tunnels
Synopsis:	Continuation of Gambit and X-23's misadventure in the Morlock Tunnels.
Cast of Characters:	Gambit, X-23

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Gambit has posed:
RECAP: The last time we saw our heroes they were stuck in the Morlock Tunnels. Laura was chasing after Caliban, who was acting all manner of creepy. Gambit had been konked on the head and left in The Fridge while the Morlocks prepared a special bonfire in his honor.

A Few Hours Later...

"Ow...."

It's always a bit unpleasant to be woken, even when you haven't been konked on the head by a super-strong Morlock. As Gambit slowly regains consciousness, the first sensation he registers is intense pain in his head, and a dull ache pretty much everywhere else.

The next thing that he's aware of is the cold. Wherever he is, it's cold enough to keep milk from spoiling. Or Gambit, apparently. Unfortunately there are no lights anywhere for him to get a sense of the room, but he can tell that he's laying directly on something hard, concrete most likely. His hands and feet are bounds with what appear to be lengths of scrap wire, which are digging into the tender flesh of his wrists and ankles.

In other words... It must be Saturday.

"Damn. Must be Saturday..."

Elsewhere in the tunnel, the Morlock known as Caliban has led Laura on a merry chase away from the others, who are predominantly concerned with keeping The Hated One (Gambit) nice and secure until they're ready to burn him alive. We probably don't know what they're planning to do to him immediately before and immediately after the actual bonfire.

Although there were Morlocks pursuing the pint-sized predator, Caliban's escape route has taken them through some twisting, turning tunnels, which have effectively lost all of the pursuers. None of the other Morlocks have Caliban's mutant location abilities, so they're stuck using their subterranean senses like a bunch of naked mole rats. It's almost as if he WANTED Laura to get away from the rest of the Morlocks. God only knows why.

He's also led her far enough to get away from the power-cancelling effects of the mutant kid known as Leech. Her superhuman senses and healing factor should be coming back any minute now...

When it seems as if Caliban is going to keep running forever, he finally gets to a section of tunnel that appears to be a dead end. Illuminated only by tiny bit of the bioluminescent slime that the Morlocks use instead of paying power bills, the room is just shy of being completely dark. There's just enough light to tell that Caliban has stopped running, and has turned around to face the girl, huffing, puffing, and panting from his long cross-tunnel run.

In a voice that's low, and punctuated by deep, panting breaths, Caliban calls out to Laura. "Yield!.... Caliban... yields!"

X-23 has posed:
Laura hadn't considered that Caliban might be leading her into a trap, her survival instincts were all about reducing the number of threats she has to deal with, as well as hoping that distance from whatever Morlock negated her healing factor will restart it again. She certainly could use it after the injuries she gathered in her bold escape / chase after Caliban.

"Caliban is not a target," Laura reassures him when he stops running by the dead end and states he's yielding. "Just wanted to ask, why you said 'pretty pretty'? You're not like the rest of them...you will talk. I just asked about the Hated One, they decided to turn it into a fight. I win fights, professionally."

Gambit has posed:
"Target. Not target. None of this matters to Caliban. Caliban knows what the girl's intentions are. Caliban sees the truth behind face. Caliban can always tell."

His dialogue is a bit... stream of consciousness, which is perhaps the last thing that Laura wants from him right now. After all, she's very terse, but more importantly, she's direct.

Standing in the dark, bent forward with his hands on his knees, Caliban continues to spout riddles in the dark, as his voice gradually becomes less strained. It remains high-pitched though. High-pitched and gravelly at the same time.

"The Hated One is our enemy. Much Morlock blood he has on his hands. All his fault was the carnage. He knows this, even though he tells himself he was duped. Never duped, that one... The Others wish his death. Caliban wishes his death. But Caliban does not wish for his blood to be spilled by The Others."

"Ruin the pretty lights. Pretty pretty lights, like yours."

X-23 has posed:
"Caliban knows truth...?" Laura retracts her claws with a *snikt* as she stands there infront of him, looking at him curiously, "what is my truth?" She asks, perhaps unaccustomed to people who speak in Caliban's manner, and she got curious. The differences in their speech mannerism is a bit jarring, blunt directness from Laura versus the metaphorical rambling of Caliban.

"Enemy? What did Hated One do?" Laura inquires, quite attentive to Caliban, and for bonus points, she hasn't hurt him yet. "I have pretty lights? How? I am not luminiscent."

Gambit has posed:
"We are ALL luminescent..."

The tone in Caliban's voice when he says this matches pretty closely with the one that might be expected from a person who was telling something very obvious to a very small child. He doesn't seem particularly afraid of her, even though he spent a really long time running away from her. It's as if he knows that she won't hurt him, whether she knows it herself or not.

"On the inside. Luminescent ones. All of the chosen. Others see what is on the outside, but Caliban can see the lights that hide beneath the skin. Caliban knows the girl, young one. Caliban can see the girl's light, and it is pure. Purer than the girl knows. She thinks she's a monster, but Caliban knows better."

The admiration in Caliban's voice starts to fade away. Whether or not she can see his creepy face in the very dim light, she can probalby 'hear' the frown that's forming upon it.

"Even The Hated One has light, but Caliban does not like the color. If The Hated One is slain in our home... The Hated One's light will infect every single Morlock."

Caliban moves closer in the dark, the smell of his damp, moldy skin filling the air around him and invading the nostrils of anyone cursed with a hypersensitive nose.

"This, the girl must stop."

X-23 has posed:
"We are...?" Laura sounds quite confused by Caliban, she can prove with a glance that she's not luminescent, and yet he insists. She doesn't understand people who refute what's verifiable with such simple means.

"Not monster, weapon," Laura corrects him, even though Caliban did strike true when assessing Laura and how she sees herself. That's why she habitually cuts herself after all.

Laura takes a step away from Caliban as he draws nearer, simply because the scent is so unpleasant, but she does look at him intently. "So...Hated One must be saved? For the light?" Laura has a hard time following the logic, but Caliban was nice where all of the other Morlocks wouldn't even talk to her, so she's willing to entertain his desire, "Laura can help," she offers her name, "where do they keep Hated One?"

Gambit has posed:
"She doesn't understand... but she understands enough. This is good."

Fumbling around in the dark, Caliban finds something metallic in his pocket. Producing this, he reaches out to hand the object to Laura. It's large and heavy, but narrow. An old... skeleton key?

"The Morlocks have one leader. Sometimes, the leader needs to punish a Morlock. When she does this, to The Fridge, always. The Fridge was here before the Morlocks. Old, very. Buried deep, surrounded by water, so always colder than the tunnels. This is where The Hated One is."

"Already Callisto will have..." He sounds a bit nervous suddenly, as if trying to think of a way to phrase something that's appropriate for the intended audience. "She will have hurt him. She has her fun in strange ways. Almost for certain he is back in The Fridge, while the Morlocks drink brew and become stupid, angry. When my brothers and sisters have had enough brew, they will demand The Hated One for themselves. To burn. Much merriment around the Bonfire, drinking, dancing, and pleasure. A long time since the last Bonfire."

"With this key, you can take The Hated One away. Swift. Quiet. Very quiet. The Morlocks will continue to hate, but their light will not be tainted. You must go now."

X-23 has posed:
Laura takes the key from Caliban, listening to his explanation. So she needs to get to a cold spot called the Fridge, probably use this key, and then get Hated One out. That would somehow save the light, the Morlocks, or Caliban. She's not sure which is which and why, but she understands it will appease the Morlock she has taken some liking to. As in, he's willing to see her as more than just a threat, a weapon, etc'. "Point direction to Fridge," Laura asks for a tip, as she starts working the straps about her legs to latch the skeleton key against herself.