Tapestries

Kyra smiled at him. "Name's Kyra. And ya don't have to say sorry, I dragged myself in, so no worry." She opened up a backpack that was sitting on the floor beside a bed. "You need money right?" she asked not even looking up from the bag. "I'll give ya some but you owe me...!" She pulled out a couple hundred dollar and handed it to him. "And don't even ask why I'm doing this for ya... I don't know myself!" She streched and walked into her kitchen, looking for something. "Want something to drink? Cause I'm pretty sure the ship off here ain't running this late at night. You can hide at my place until you're ready to leave"

Shiroi sat on top of the table and mewled at Kyra. "Yeah, yeah, I know you're hungry... Give me a second..." She opened some cat food for Shiroi and set it beside her. "Hope Kuro and Kurai make it back..." She thought before sitting at the table.
 
Garet sat down at the table “So Kyra, I was sitting by the pond earlier today and I had this on my mind since you showed up.” Garet stood up and began to pace around a little “So my question is this, what exactly did you mean by ‘just like me.’ Do you mean that you also were trying to do something but ended up altering your DNA or what?”

Sitting back down at the table Garet awaited his answer.
 
Kyra thought about it a bit. "To be honest, I'm not even sure what I meant by that..." She frowned at the her stupidity. Shiroi had left the table, leaving the empty can on there. She had disappeared back into the living room. "Should I tell him about me being an artist? What if he hates me too? No... I'll wait..." she thought, still frowning.

Kyra was so deep in thought she didn't notice the two dogs that limped in until Kuro whined pitifully. She turned to look at them and gasped. "Kuro! Kurai!" She ran and knelt beside them. Kuro's left hind leg was bleeding heavily and Kurai's right shoulder wa in ribbons. "Oh my..." she set to work tending to the wounds on her dogs.
 
“Wow, a questioning no? Really?” Alex shock his head and took a moment to change his nanotech clothing back to his ship suit. His suit want a uniform per say it looked a lot like the combat suits that you saw in the military films from back in the thirty five hundreds that is to say it was a jump suit that confirmed to the body and so how managed to look like casual t-shirt and pants from the late two thousands and stop projectiles traveling at half the speed of light from ripping your limbs off at the same time; or at least that is what happened in the films. In reality even famed nanotech armor couldn’t save you from a projectile traveling at half that speed
After a few seconds lull in the conversation while Alexander’s clothes morphed into his considerably more comfortable ship suit. “Alright look, before this gets into a stupidly annoying game of denial lets be clear, I KNOW you’re an artist holding creations all over the city because I’m an artist myself and can see your threads. Now we’re going to sit in this elevator until you tell me what you’re up to. “ to back up his threat Alex placed the knowledge in his mind that the elevator was stopped between two floors and wasn’t an elevator at all but a steel box with only the over head lights and vents two inches wide and one inch tall space around the top of the small room. This knowledge became the truth in an instant. No flash of light or theatric morphing to mark the change, it simply was. This was his specialty, modifying existing material to his purpose, and he suspected few could do it better.
 
He probed the new surroundings elevator with his cane, smacking it against the wall here and there to make sure it wasn't just an illusion. Upon confirming that this box was his new reality he sighed heavily, at least the camera was gone, "Four cities, four worlds and I never thought I'd be cornered by another artist." He shook his head as he removed his hood to reveal his boyish face, "Really, I thought I'd be shot or something. Never trapped by another artist." Slipping off the cloak he let it fall to the floor so he could slide his backpack off his back and gently onto the floor, "I can't just -tell- you I'll have to show you for you to really understand."


Hralag kneeled on the ground next to his bag and unzipped it slowly, "Four cities and trapped by another artist." He shook his head again in irritation. He reached into the bag and pulled out three different plant pots full of dirt and sent them next to each other on the ground, "You ever heard of a twisting branch?" He said looking up at the man, "Nasty little vine that disable a colony before it even starts." He moved his hand over the middle pot and a sapling of a twisting branch grew to about seven inches, "See, it grows along buildings of any sort and burrows into them. Process takes months, even years sometimes, but eventually the vine finds the structural defects, the slight cracks, the little holes in the building and grows into them. Than, it simply expands slowly. Strong one this plant, it can cause cement to break apart. Hell, it could've even take this little structure apart given enough time." A crooked smile played across his face as he looked at the twisting branch, "But with me it only takes moments."


As he stood back up and leaned against the wall he looked again at the man and in an instant the other two pots exploded with growth. Snapping jaws of a giant venus trap snapped at the man, the plants grew the new roof of the room and had several snapping jaws that gleamed with the threat of toxins, "Wow, boys, calm down." The jaws snapped impatiently, swerving back and forth like angry cobras, "This - well, I haven't named this yet. But they are my new find. A castaway on a colony ship - when they landed I snuck into the jungles to look for more samples and seeds. I found these beautiful creations. It only took seven to destroy the colony and drive the survivors back to their ship." He felt more comfortable now, more in control and less like a trapped rat, "These are what I am connected to all over the city and a few other specific plants."


Reaching into his pocket he pulled out what appeared to be a small patch of moss, "This is a fungi moss, another plague of colonists. It releases spores that grow onto human flesh and if not removed within four to eight weeks they cause paralysis and slowly feed off the body of the victim. Leaving them fully aware of what is happening to them, the searing pain and all, but leaving them alive like a bastardized symbiosis. Supposedly they can keep a person alive beyond their natural life span, but, I've never let it last that long. However - it does leave nothing behind when it is done."


He shook his head, laughing slightly, "Cornered by another artist. Should've left well enough alone sir. Now, you have two options left to you. One, you answer my questions and return this back to normal and have a nice swift death. Two, you don't and I let this moss here have you and my twisting branch gets me out. What say you, sir?"​
 
Alex wasn't phased. when you worked as a Artist mercenary contracted to powerful governments as he and his crew had before he had become the captain and desired to do something else. you gained experience in situations like this. when you made a living sabotaging major supply lines, and ambushing the ships of major politicians whilst making a habit of popping it's military escort reducing it to space junk then you made enemies. and when you did all that while making full use of your Artist abilities then you made enemies who contracted other Artist mercenary parties to kill you.

combat between artists was a tricky thing. you never knew just how your opponent was going to attack. you literally had to be prepared to deal with anything including things that weren't possible under the laws of physics. however. there were a few factors that made it easier to sat as calm as he was. for one there was the fact that the kid before him was young, young enough that he could not of had his powers for more than a few years. for another, from what little of what this kid had just shared about his back story it seems unlikely that he had ever meet another Artist let alone battled one. He probably didn't quite grasp the full extent of his powers and while he was incredibly strong, almost as strong as Alex himself. his power it seemed was limited to manipulating plants. for the time being at least.

Alex leaned back against the wall nonchalantly a small sly smile spreading across his face. "well you didn't answer my question directly but you provided enough information for me to answer it my self. I'm a man of my word so we'wont be sitting in the elevator anymore." with his words the elevator returned to normal and a small jerk showed that it was moving again. "but you see, you really choose the wrong planet to pull you stunt on. I've heard rumors of colonies falling to non-indigenous plant life that seemed to spring up overnight. and I can't let you do that here."

altering or removing another Artist's creation was very difficult. even a weak artist could prevent such a thing if they had even a small amount of training in the area and were aware that is was happening. Luckily he was fairly certain that this boy had had no such training. fixing it in his mind that there was no plants in the elevator Alex gathered his mental power and prepared to make the though a fact. removing another artists creation was a bit different that removing something that wasn't you had to push against the Artist's will and overpower it. the attempt could quickly become a wrestling match if it was not dine quickly and powerfully. there was a sense of crushing something as he removed the plants from existence and their after images persisted for about half a second as they faded. Alex added the boy's back pack and the plant pots to the things he removed form the elevator for good measure. he didn't want more plants springing up when he least expected it.

the immediate dangers removed and with the premise that the boy was at least a little shocked at having been over powered, Alex moved. military combat training coming to the front of him mind Alex got behind the boy in a flash. grabbing his left hand and positioning his arm so the elbow formed a right angle with he shoulder and twisting the inside edge of the hand out he locked the boys arm. and grabbed the right shoulder to stop him form turning out of it. the boy had little choose but to follow where he pushed now. "and another thing, I don't take kindly to threats"

the elevator doors opened onto the seventh floor. where Alex had rented his room. and He pushed the boy out into the hall. the Baymore hotel was a tower like structure, the center shaft held four elevators and a staircase and was ringed by a hall way with all the rooms on the outside edge. Alex pushed the boy down the hall the the right towards the room he had rented. it was a corner room and Alex liked it because the two glass walls allowed him a nice view of the expansive city of Celleri. pinning the boy against the door Alex used his right hand to open the door which unlocked with the close proximity of the room key in his pocket.

Alex pushed the boy into the room, let him go, and closed the door. "Now, were going to have a little chat. see I can;t have you bringing this particular colony to the ground because I happen to like this city. did you know that it is the headquarters of the second biggest underground organization or Artists? in fact that origination owes 60% of the import and export rights of the colony so they effectively run the place here. makes it a lot easier for someone like me to get his ship refueled and buy supplies. so tell me, why exactly are you hitchhiking around the galaxy destroying cities with thous rather nasty plants of yours?"
 
I hear the sound of the two dogs walking by and up to Kyra, my eyes narrow and my whole body is petrified. “Oh god… if the dah-dog’s didn’t kill him th-then…” I look down at Kyra “Listen Kyra we’ve got to get out of here now. I brought you into this so you’re going to be targeted as well, please you have to come with me on the next ship out of here” I stand up and just then the sound of a door slammed open, my heart must have skipped a beat when it did “Garet and little girl I know you’re in here!” I act instantaneously looking for a body of water and the only thing I could find was the pool of blood.

“Good I can use the iron to my advantage” I lift my and point it at the blood. I begin to form a stream going from the pool of blood to the door forming a protective wall just a bit larger than the door. I harden it but I can only do so for so long then it either evaporates or drops back to the floor. Without thinking that Kyra had seen everything “I-I will explain everything later, for now you and I have to catch the next ship out of here. Since you helped me out he will stop at nothing to hunt you down.”

I hear another door slam open “Garet, little girl there’s no point in hiding. Once I find you you’re both dead.” I turn then look back at Kyra “Please hurry up I will grab one dog and you carry the other, hurry now we’ve got no time to lose. The blood wall can only last for so long and it gives.” I pick up Kurai and wait for Kyra to pick up Kuro “Come on please, I don’t want you to die!”
 
He wasn't prepared at all the man remaining as calm as he had. Usually when someone was confronted with a carnivorous plant of any sort panic would cause them to submit to his demands. But for someone to remain calm when faced with his newest carnivore friend was a complete shock that took him a second to adjust too. The thought of something wasn't right nagged at the back of his mind.


As soon as the elevator returned to normal his first instinct was to grab his hood and cover his face again from any cameras that might be in the elevator. It was an habit that he had ground into himself very early on into his crusade. Thought slightly taken aback by the mans calmness and the sudden reforming of the elevator he snapped at the man, "You can't st-" he stopped short as his precious plants faded from existence. Adrenaline kicked into the max as the decision to fight or flee kicked in. Trapped in an elevator removed the option of fleeing. He pulled for the growth of a several different plants to burst from his bag and got nothing.


Now the slightest state of panic begun to sink in. Just a few moments ago he had felt completely in control of the situation despite the elevator changing into a steel prison. Now his plants were gone and so was his bag. Panic mixed with sadness at the loss of his precious seeds and plants. Most of all the disappearance of his precious Lilly, one second there and the next second gone. He closed his eyes for a fraction of a moment, muttering to himself, "This isn't possible." As his eyes shot back open he yelled, "This isn't fair!" But he was yelling at the wall, the second his eyes were shut were all the man needed to slide behind and twist his arm up against his back causing him to yelp in pain.


As the elevator doors opened and the man marched him to his room the boy attempted to twist and pull away to no avail. He even made a few attempts to stomp on the mans feet in an attempt to break loose to no avail. As he was pushed into the room he flexed his left his arm and wrist to loosen it up. He thought about growing one of the plants from outside the hotel, having it smash through the window and crush the life out of this man but figured it probably wouldn't work, "Because I can! They took from me my life and everywhere I tried to go they chased me away! I'm done running and hiding. I'm going to topple the whole damn universe!" Delusions of grandeur from a teenager who didn't know any better, "Now give me back my back pack this instance or else!" He slammed his foot for emphasis and in a slight tantrum.​
 
"Everything? is that all?!" Alex half laughed as he spoke the words. "Don't make the arrogant mistake of thinking your the only one boy." Alex grabbed the chair form the desk and pulled it around to sit across it arms crossed on the back. "Let me guess, you were happy using you powers for the benefit of others when one day government solders of some sort come crashing through your front door. in the process killing someone dear to you in order to capture you for some purpose unknown to you." Alex didn't wait for an answer. "well I've heard similar stories from dam near every Artist I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Your the first one I've meet who was stupid enough to embark on a fruitless quest for revenge."

Alex's emotions were starting to show, he eyes practically blazed with his annoyance at the arrogant kid on a power trip who stood before him. "I'm sure there were some who did, thats how we got a bad rap after all. people like you going on rampages through society destroying left and right. No, it;s not right what they did to us. capturing us and conducting unethical experiments because the universe decided to give us the edge on a whim. but their wrongs don't excuse ours. The rest of us still have to live in this world, and I'm not going to be hunted down because you decided your revenge took precedence. The Artist community in general hates people like you. In fact, we tend to find and kill you long before the government you've enraged do."

Alexander stood up and walked to corner of the glass walls the looked out over the city. and looked up towards the sky, there are a couple quadrillion Humans spread out over the galaxy I believe the last galactic census placed it at 5.7 quadrillion giver or take a few trillion. about 0.002% of those humans have the Artist mutation. thats 114 billion people who are more or less exactly like you. and you and you condemn every last one of them to be hunted as dangerous criminals when you pull arrogant stunts like this."

Alex turned, his eyes softening a little. "I was like you once. full of hatred for the world. fifteen years ago I likely would of joined you on this ridicules quest. But now I have a different goal than revenge, a place we Artists could call our own. start out own society where we could live with out hiding. peace between us and the rest of the galaxy. You've probably heard the stories about what I'm taking about, a solar system isolated near the edge of the galaxy; they're true, or most of them are. I've even got a good clue to it's location. now I'll give you bag back, as well as the plant pots. but first you'll have to convince me you won't be destroying any more cities. I'm fairly sure the only way you'll do that is joining me. who knows you'll probably like living of a cruiser class ship crewed mostly by Artists." Alex smiled and slumped down on a couch that had it's back the the windows."What say you?" Alex liked that line, it was used fairly often in books and he was fairly sure it was quoted from something old. probably a famous speech of some sort.
 
He stood there quietly while the man scolded him for his actions the past couple of years. Hralag had never stopped to consider the consequences his actions might have on other artists in the galaxy. His hatred and anger had consumed him to a point that he didn't care. But as the man spoke of a place, a place where they, he, could just exist. A place free from observations and judgment of those who didn't understand his eyes widened in surprise, "There's a place where we can be... Free?" He'd never heard any of the stories mostly because he had isolated himself from society when he had started his crusade. The majority of his interactions had been transactions for food, transport and lodging. As he thought about it this was probably the most he had conversed with another person in years, "I didn't know there was somewhere I could go."


Flashes of memories swam through his mind as he thought about the decision in front of him. The moment his life was snatched away just for trying to help his agricultural based planet. The confrontation with soldiers afterwards, those soldiers being the first lives he had ever ended. The feeling of righteousness when he washed away the sins of the first city he toppled and changed into a rain forest with ruins of a city trapped within. The long voyages between planet, sneaking into control rooms and changing coordinates or when that didn't work hostile take overs of ships. Leaving just enough of the crew to assist him in piloted various cruisers. Or worse, when he didn't leave any of the crew to assist him and his 'landings' on planets where the crashing of a vessel that would leave him marooned till someone came along.


He thought about it and the answer was simple. He reached out to all the different plants he had placed throughout the cities, the ones he had already grown in the surrounded woodlands, he touched all the invasive plant species and willed them to wilt and die. All the lines that connected him to those various points throughout the city shattered like glass, "I guess going without you would be better than traveling alone. Besides, a cruiser full of people is better than trying to fly a cruiser alone." He shrugged, like he was indifferent to the decision when in fact he was happy, almost hopeful, about this new path. He slid into one of the chairs in the room, "And I never 'rampaged'. To rampage means you just spread wanton destruction without thought. My targets were picked carefully. My first city was made up mostly of plants and forges. It alone had polluted its world nearly beyond repair and caused the death of all life around for years. So, I undid the damage it had done. This city - well, it has the only star port on this planet. So it was an obvious target. I mean, just cause we're traveling together doesn't mean we can't undo -some- of the damage done to a few planets, right?"

He was still quite eager to take the fight back to those who condemned him. It was a part of him and he'd push for it every angle, "Can I have my bag back? I'd like to show you someone."​
 
as the threads connecting the young artist to his multitude of creations snapped Alex felt a sense of accomplishment. disaster averted Alex allowed himself to smile.

"defend your actions if you want thats your prerogative just know that I and many other don't agree with them. now you can have your bag back in the elevator, an Artist's powers can suppress existence but I can't place the backpack here without knowing exactly what was in it, so when I let the bag exist again it will still be in the elevator." Alex walked to the door of the room. and turned the handle. "Name's Alexander Corbal by the way friends call me Alex, if your going to be on my ship you can call me Capitan or Capitan Alex. Now I still have to find a deep space pilot that was the entire point of stopping on this planet. Come on I think I it high time you were properly introduced to Artist society, besides the Artist underworld is the best place to pick up a new lead." Alex walked out the door and into the hall and over the the elevator bank expecting the young Artist to follow. pushing the down button for the elevator they came up in he was pleasantly surprised to find that it was still at this floor. Boarding the elevator Alex let the boy's backpack and the plant posts exist again.
 
He followed Alex out of the room and back towards the elevator, "Do I have to call you Captain? That seems a little silly." When the entered the elevator he stooped over his back pack and started to remove several different plants and pots searching for one particular, "What kind of ship do you have? I can fly in deep space. Learned it in a unique way. I can learn a lot of things in a unique way. This one plant can rip memories and ideas from your mind and it can also plant memories and ideas in your mind. So I used it for a while to learn things so it was easier to survive, y'know?" His search through his bag had knocked over several different pots and a small layer of dirt was being smeared across the elevator floor, "Oh - before we leave this planet we're going to have to make a stop in the small forest about twenty miles from town. My seed collections there."

Slowly and with great care Hralag pulled what appeared to be a glass case with a small planter in it. Tapping on the top three times caused it open with a snap, the lid splitting into four and the glass sliding down to create a small base. The case effectively became a miniature table. Cooing under his breath to the pot a small sapling slowly appeared. It exploded in growth, blooming into a flower that was a myriad of colors and stood two feet tall. The colors constantly shifted into different patterns and intensity of colors. The flowers colors gave off a light glow that illuminated the walls of the elevator in rainbow patterns. Still cooing to the flower Hralag began to weave back and forth and the flower followed. The flower closed slightly, than re-opened, the petals shaking sporadically. This allowed it to create a whistling like tune that changed in pitch and volume, "This is Lilly. She's the last of her kind, I think, I don't know. I've never found another one. But she's amazing. She can communicate without me even."

The whistling sounds that Lilly made were a form of the plant communicating. It was originally used to lure in different insects like a snake charmer hypnotizes a snake. Lilly communicated regularly in this way. But more often than not, in Hralags mind, Lilly actually spoke to him. Full conversations in fact. These conversations where the start of his mind slipping into insanity.