Safety presentation

Mailman folds his arms as he looks her up and down, “I see you out here again and I will be taking you back home where you belong.”

Lochlan snaps back, “THIS IS MY HOME NOW.”

Mailman scoffs, “You know I don’t want that. This isn’t about yo-”

The back of Lochlan’s hand slashes across Mailman’s face. Mailman quickly grabs her hand and pulls while giving a forceful kick to her shin. She drops to one knee as Mailman puts one foot to her back to push her face down on the ground.

She hears her heart beating in her ears as Mailman speaks, “You might not have arms but you still have shoulders and tendons.”

Lochlan pleads, “I- I didn’t mean to please. -”

Mailman twists the arm further behind her back as there’s a loud pop. She yells in pain as Mailman lets go of the arm. The limb slams onto the ground as it stays limp.

He watches for a moment as he sighs, “You will never find anyone who loves you as much as I do.”

He kneels with one foot still holding her down. He whispers as he draws a large knife, “I promise.”

—

Cole appears heavily breathing with a few tears still on his face as he sits on the steps of the front porch, waiting (edited)

He sees Lochlan slowly making her way from the street. In person her walk is even more stiff and off.

Cole sighs as he wipes the tears from his face as he finishes catching his breath, still waiting for her to get closer

Lochlan is almost at the porch and one of the pants legs seems to shift a bit more than its suposed to as she walks. She looks up at Cole and pauses beside the steps. She sounds a bit out of breath and points at Cole, "I'm still not a robot."

Cole raises an eyebrow at her, his voice sounds like he's been sobbing "Are you...okay?" his voice quickly clears up as he talks

Lochlan scoffs and shakes her head as she grips the railing rather tightly to make it up the steps before heading to the door.

Cole quickly gets up as he sighs, "You don't look okay and i'm worried, just talk to me"

Lochlan grumbles as she opens the door and steps inside, "Come see for yourself."

Cole sighs as he rolls his eyes and steps inside

Luna and Hinata are watching tv together. They're watching King of the Hill, it's the one with Boggle tournament.

Luna is focused less on the TV and more on the talking outside. "Hm."

The door opens as Lochlan walks in. Her stride is rather off as she instantly goes to sit on the sofa with a huff.

Cole steps inside as he leans next to the hallway with his eyes locked on Lochlan

Hinata looks to her left. Noticing her stride causes her to worry, "what happened? Do you need first aid?"

Lochlan reaches down to the end of her pants leg, "First aid ain't helping this shift." She pulls up the pants leg to her upper leg. Halfway down the upperleg and all the way down is a standard metal prostetic with no fur. Its thinner than her other real leg and has several wrappings and bandages at the point where her leg stops.

Cole's face drops as he quickly looks away

Hinata's jaw drops, "Wh-- what happened to you??" Then Hinata looks over at Cole with an inquisitive stare.

Luna is unsure what to even say.

Lochlan leans back into the sofa and sighs from the exhaustion, "I may have gotten a little cocky to Mailman and talked back again." She takes a moment to calm her breathing down from walking, "I'm just glad I managed to get back here despite the blood loss."

Cole looks like he's gonna be sick as he keeps looking away

Luna goes wide eyed, "wh- what do you mean? You talked back to Mailman and he... did that? What the fuck."

Hinata clenches her fists silently, knowing she's probably got no way to pay him back for that.

"And what's your story Cole?"

Cole clears his throat as he looks back at them, "Nothing interesting"

Luna shakes her head and notes, "You look like you're gonna throw up. Is there something we can do to help whatever the hell is going on?"

Lochlan leans her head back to stare at the ceiling as she mutters to herself, "Not a robot."

"You're right, you're not a robot. You're capable of eating food, drinking water, and sleeping. You're just as organic as the two of us." Hinata says with a serious tone.

"Not saying Cole isn't too, of course."

Lochlan adds, "Then why not just say three?"

Cole shakes his head as he ignores Luna's comment and looks over at Lochlan, "I'm not exactly as organic as you think"

Hinata nods in agreement, "That's why. His situation is a bit more complicated than an otherwise organic being with some machine parts. No offense of course."

Lochlan snarls, "Can we stop with the robot talk already!?!"

Hinata shrugs, "yeah sure. You're not a robot, end of story."

Luna sighs and opens her laptop to note the current situation.

Cole sighs as he asks with a hint of politeness, "What do you know about MailMan? Any weaknesses?"

Lochlan growls under her breath, "He said if told anyone he would find out and that would be the end of me."

Cole looks down slightly as he clears his throat, "Right"

"He's just a human though right? A gunshot to the head usually works on humans." Luna jokes.

Cole shakes his head as he looks over at Luna, "That's just it, you'd figure that but i put a round right through his gas mask filter and i didn't see any blood"

Luna pauses in her tracks, "then what the hell was that red stuff? The fruit punch gas crap? He stabbed himself in the chest to activate that-- wait, I see what you mean."

"So he's strong, fast, and a undying asshole." Hinata says, trying to piece things together.

Lochlan seems to be thinking to herself and growing more uneasy. She mumbles again, "...I don't know if I should say."

Cole looks over at Luna and Hinata to make the choice

Luna and Hinata both take a deep breath at the same time. Then Luna turns to Lochlan, "do you want Mailman to stop bothering you? To stop harming you? We need to defeat him. As a team."

"And we can't do that without knowing how."

"So do you want to know or no?"

"To defeat the Mailman, to deliver the pain. And to save our friend. We want to know how to beat him. Yes."

Luna is taking deep breaths and preparing for anything.

Lochlan nervously looks to the side as if making sure he isn't about to storm into the room. She speaks quietly with hidden fear, "Unless I'm mistaken he's still a nonferal. His ankles and feet still are. But anywhere else he's alot more dense. Like trying to stab a knife into a stack of paper. You just have to keep digging to get to the blood."

Luna nods silently in understanding.

Hinata cracks her knuckles, "heh. Sounds fun."

Cole nods, "So just use something extremely sharp or something that targets his feet, got it"

"Caltrops, ankle bites, all of that fun stuff."

"Achilles heels too. That's fun." Hinata grins.

"And mentally I guess messing with how he looks. Not with words. Words don't affect him in the slightest."

Cole shudders as he speaks, "Mirrors?"

"Wait does Mailman have loonism??" Luna looks confused.

"But he's physically human... well nonfer-- wait hang on, how does that work? He's nonferal at his ankles/feet but not anywhere else?" Hinata is struggling to comprehend Mailman's situation, tilting her head side to side just trying to understand. 

"Mirrors if he doesnt look normal. He has alot of pride in how he looks."

"You would have to really mess up his face first"

"But that would require a lot of digging into, he's 'dense' as you put it. A dense motherfucker in the most literal sense." Luna giggles at her own joke.

Hinata shrugs, "Hm. Two weaknesses that are still difficult to hit, but they're a lot better than nothing at all."

"At least we know he can bleed. And if they can bleed, they can be fucked up. By our swords and knives." Luna grins to Hinata.

Cole goes quiet as he stares at the floor while thinking as he mutters, "I could cook something up...."

Lochlan continues, "I've seen just how much it takes to literally get under his skin. You're better off trying to get him trapped first." (edited)

Luna closes her eyes and mutters, "Trapped? I mean the man is definitely hard to fight hand to hand. Need to find a way to bind him."

Hinata goes quiet in thought. "Hey Cole, any ideas on how to trap him?"

Cole shrugs as he sighs, "I'd have to think but i don't have much to go off of, might take me a while"

Lochlan huffs, "Good luck."

"Thank you." Luna nods. "We're not gonna let this dude hurt you further."

Hinata also nods, though her eyes are closed and brainstorming ideas

"I mean we could pin him down to the ground? I mean let's be real. He may have thick skin, literally, but he's still a nonferal. And from there, we can bind him up. With rope or something." Hinata says while still deep in thought.

"Or cuffs. Like police grade handcuffs. Remove his ability to move his arms."

Cole sighs, "Or we could just break his bones, it's more likely that he could over power us why not use some kinda spear to at least slow him down?"

Lochlan looks a bit uncomfortable, "That seems a bit harsh..."

"Yes because the state of your leg is any less harsh." Luna groans. "Besides, he just about kicked all of our asses the last time. This is payback."

Cole's eyes seem to flicker pink slightly then back to hazel as he sighs, "Forced my visor open...."

Lochlan seems to be a bit embarassed as she looks away, "I know it sounds stupid but... I don't want to see him get hurt?"

Hinata turns to Lochlan, "I don't blame you Lochlan. For the longest time you two were boyfriend and girlfriend right? Of course you wouldn't want that, even if he's being a creep."

Cole sighs as he shakes his head and goes quiet

Lochlan grumbles, "Sure it makes sense but I dont WANT to be like this."

Luna sighs dismissively, "Nobody WANTS bad shit happening. But unfortunately that's the reality of the situation. If he attacks us, we have to protect the house. And that includes all who live here."

Cole nods as he looks over at Lochlan, "No matter how strong they are they have to fall at some point"

Hinata nods in agreement, "That's how it is."

Lochlan huffs, "That's not what im talking about. I get that already. It's that I want to hate him but don't know how."

Cole sighs as he mumbles under his breath, "I know how that feels..."

Luna goes silent, but she mutters, "right. I uh.. get that."

Lochlan holds her hands out a moment, "I take it there's no advice there?"

Cole shakes his head slightly

"I mean something our creators told us before a long time ago before any jobs we had to do was to think about everything the person did that wronged you. All the times they hurt you, or when they destroyed something of yours. And to channel anger for that. It may not be hate, hate is a lot harder to do unfortunately, but it may help dismiss any positive feelings you had for them. I'm sorry I'm not a lot of help." Hinata attempts to explain before exhaling.

Lochlan nods, "That sounds like the complete definition of hate."

Cole goes quiet as he stares at the floor

Hinata looks confused.

Lochlan explains,"Anger and hate in this case is the same thing different word."

"Ah. Okay. Well uh glad to be of help." Hinata smiles towards Lochlan.

Cole quickly looks up and clears his throat, "It's uh good distinction to make"

Lochlan looks to Cole, "Hows it different?"

Cole glances over at Lochlan as he thinks for a second, "You can have anger without hate and hate without anger, so it's either you hate someone or your angry at them and under...." Cole seems to stare off for a second "special circumstances you can feel both"

Lochlan looks confused but genuinely trying to listen, "But how is hating someone different from being angry at them?"

"Basically anger is temporary. It's something you can channel on or off using what Hinata said. Hatred is a lot more deep seated and visceral, it's something you feel deep inside of you and it doesn't change. You can have anger without that. And you can have hatred without that temporary anger. Two wildly different sets of emotions."

Cole nods in agreement

Lochlan seems to be noticably listening more than she ever has while staying here. She stays quiet as she thinks.

Cole sighs as he prompts Lochlan, "Are you actually gonna stay this time? No running away?"

Lochlan pauses before noding. She sounds certain, "I'm staying for good."

Luna nods and smiles, "glad to have ya Lochlan."

Cole sighs in relief as he offers, "Since your gonna be staying here, there's a few things you should know" Cole moves to leaning next to the couch

Luna and Hinata look over to Cole, unsure what exactly he's getting at.

Lochlan watches as she puts one hand on her leg

Cole's eyes click as an image of stereotypical cult robes is projected onto a blank wall, "Avoid anyone wearing these no matter the cost, no one good wears cult robes"

Luna raises an eyebrow.

Hinata nods in agreement.

Lochlan furrows her brow as she raises her hand

Cole looks over at Lochlan, "Yes?"

Lochlan lowers her hand and squints as his eyes are projecting the image at her, "Is that even if they have cookies?"

Cole quickly looks back at the wall, "Even if they have cookies" Cole's eyes click again as an image of a police car as he explains, "Avoid the police because they do not know what you are and you will probably be arrested"

Lochlan nods

Cole's eyes click as the image switches to an aerial view of the house, "Try to stay within 50 feet of the house, as that is as far as the surveillance goes plus outside of that is a city with humans"

Lochlan studies the image

"I didn't know it was a 50 ft radius. Good to know." Luna smiles and nods.

Lochlan comments, "I must have wandered past that this time."

Cole's eyes click as an image of him appears, "If i am severely injured don't worry about me, i am immortal and givin enough time to calm down i can heal myself, focus on what's doing damage"

Lochlan raises her hand

Cole sighs as he asks, "Yes?"

Lochlan asks, "Even if you are begging for us to help?"

Cole nods, "Yes"

Luna nods as well, "I agree. Cole's got his own stuff handled. We need to focus on the actual enemy if they come up."

Hinata looks unsure of herself but she doesn't speak up.

Cole's eyes click as the image changes to a 6',0" man wearing a lab coat with black clothing underneath as the projection starts flickering before shutting off as stands there

Lochlan looks confused and raises her hand

Luna raises an eyebrow from the last image.

Cole is too busy staring forward to acknowledge the hand being raised

Lochlan lowers her hand and tilts her head while watching, "Is he good?"

"Considering the projector is off and... uhhh, no I don't think he's good." Hinata shakes her head.

Lochlan gets up with a bit of unbalance at first, "I don't like this." She walk infront of cole and snaps her fingers infront of him

Cole shakes his head and looks down at Lochlan, "What's up? Sorry i got distracted"

Lochlan looks concerned, "What were you thinking about?"

Cole stares at Lochlan for several seconds, "Moving on, how are ya doin?"

Luna looks at Cole concerned, "Cole? You know you can talk with us right? You don't have to deal with whatever you have alone."

Lochlan folds her arms

Cole glances between the two of them, "It's really not that important, anyways that was the safety brief" Cole starts walking away

Luna shakes her head, "Hang on Cole, you didn't explain the final image. Like yea high dude with the labcoat?" Her hands are stretched up as high as they can go, but it's nowhere near the right height.

"Ironically, I was going to suggest adding lab coat people to the list of people to watch out for, but I don't have a projector." Hinata adds.

Lochlan goes to stand in his way with a stern expersion

Cole pauses as he looks down at Lochlan, "He's not important, i don't know how that image got there"

Lochlan stands her ground, "Its important for our safety to know what things make you dissociate."

"Because you are literally our strongest fighter and honestly, we depend on you to be on top of your game. So if there's someone out there who can fuck you up just by him existing, we need to know so we can take care of them." Luna adds with a serious tone. She's looking at Cole, unflinching.

"And besides, it was part of your safety briefing. Meaning he's someone we need to watch out for."

Hinata continues.

Cole seems to panic slightly as he raises his finger, "Welp looks like it's getting late, better head on to bed" Cole slowly pivots on his heel to start walking towards the hallway as his eyes change to purple, "Maybe we can discuss this....never"

Lochlan glares, "If this happens again I'll be bugging you about it forever."

Luna groans and slumps into the couch, "oh for fucks sake."

Cole waves as he disappears in a puff of black smoke

Hinata sighs from exasperation. She joins Luna on the couch and leans into her.

Lochlan heads to her room with a sigh

"purple eyes. Conflict." Luna mutters before falling asleep.