A Rose By Any Other Name… [Open]

<sup>“Bitch! Who sent you? It was Gaillard, wasn’t it?” barked her target, hand around her neck and another crushing her wrist to prevent her knife from biting. She had to hand it to him; he was more muscular than she had expected, easily overpowering her as he now had her over a balcony some dozen storeys up. A job gone south, but that was life. “Well, when you see that fucker in hell, tell him I said good riddance!”

What came next was more than anticipated, for the dark-haired damsel now found herself tumbling through the late night air. It was a shame, really. The black dress she currently wore had cost quite a pretty penny; job funds of course, but it was a waste all the same. Gently, she leaned back, streamlining herself to crash land head first into the concrete below. You might’ve expected a scream, but nothing of the sort.

This’ll be the second- no, third- CRACK! -time this has happened. At least I stuck the landing this time; first time wasn’t as quick… Thoughts continued despite the event that had just transpired and the screams of panic and disarray that the sight of a woman’s body crashing into the pavement had created. Nothing seen, everything heard, which made things a little more awkward than she might’ve liked. C’mon, dammit, at least walk away so I can get out…</sup>

 The dusk air was warm with the heat of the city, steam pipes and bodies and noise. Nell moved through the streets, eyes scanning the book he was reading, and very few people noticing the eyes just inside his shirt cuffs that ensured he did not bump into anyone.

Just then, noise from above caught his attention. A woman had just been dropped out of a window above, and a moment later, impacted the ground. 

People around screamed, and seemed rather concerned, before Nell stepped forwards. "Everyone, please! I'm a doctor, I've got a car nearby, I'll take this woman to the emergency room. Give me some space!" 

Picking her up bridal style, he strode purposefully away, as people nodded, glad the situation was handled, and began to slowly filter towards their destinations. 

He headed down a side street, then another, before ending up in an alley. He did not, in fact, have a car. What he did have was a good source of some fresh organs, guilt-free. If that hadn't killed her straight out, and that was hard to imagine, he could heal her up and leave a bill to collect later. 

His power activated, and Nell's brow suddenly furrowed. What the hell....?

He dropped her form and stepped back, as his body tensed. ".... Get up."

<sup>Wow… And I thought my ability was disturbing, Miss Delarose thought, aware of the strange prodding sensation that briefly intruded upon her corpse shell. She had no choice but to oblige him, incapable of any movement and unwilling to try and escape while under watch. She was on a precious timer, however.

I don’t have much of a choice, do I? Patience was a virtue, but Scarlette was well aware that this stranger likely had a lot more than she did. Fortunately, though mostly unbeknownst to her at this second, assistance was on the way. Tiny legs plodded along down the alley, following previous instructions; an eight-inch-tall, porcelain white humanoid with a mop of black petals on its head steadily skipped into view, black eyes gazing upon the corpse. It’s about time…</sup>

 There was no response from the woman's form. Nell frowned, confused. Had he been wrong? There was something off about the supposed corpse, and he had thought that she might be faking it somehow. 

Still, there was no response, and after a moment, he took a step closer once more. Perhaps it was nothing, but in this city, it paid to be careful. Either way, he could store the organs for transplants, and take the rest of the flesh for his own... projects. 

He was just about to kneel down, when a slight noise caught his attention. 

Around the corner came a small figure, skipping towards them. A small shape, almost floral in it's figure. 

"Hello, you.... Now what's going on here?"

Nell said, tilting his head. Beneath his skin, he was already preparing in case of attack. His torso was always reinforced, as was his brain-case, but he had a few bone blades that could be extruded at a moment's notice if need be.

<sup>I could hold a little longer, but… No telling what her ‘captor’ would do to her spawn if she did not act, Scarlette weighed her options carefully. This was the only one still alive; hindsight, as per usual, was twenty-twenty. If it died before she could get to it or, worse still, she was prevented from getting to it promptly, then it was all over. There was also another issue, one which she had generally forgotten to address prior to this whole stint, but she could work around that when it cropped up.

C’est la vie, c’est la mort… Miss Delarose’s body remained motionless, but something else stirred from within its confines. Pallid, deathly skin flushed ruddy, but the redness did not stop at the skin. Oozing through what must have been every feasible pore, the first emergence was that of a claret arm, reaching from the chest beneath the bodice. What followed thereafter; viscous crimson pulled away from the head and neck, followed by more and more. Within a matter of seconds, a vaguely humanoid mass of claret was crawling its way across the ground directly towards the tiny figurine.

With one hand, ‘Scarlette’ dragged her now invertebrate self along, whilst the other pulled at the coat her stiff shell had been wearing, using what strength she had to try and prise it away.</sup>

Today had been a great day, the sun was gone and it was warm enough to go out in with out a coat and Cheska was going to relish this chance. The tall blonde had left the penthouse apartment that her younger cousin let her stay in after said cousin had left and was on her way to her favourite coffee shop to get something to drink as she walked around the city. In her white sun dress and wide brim hat to keep in with the summery style of clothing, her Viking blood making her not worry about any sort of cold that isn’t winter. It was one benefit from being more like her father than her mother that the woman loved. “It’s pretty busy out…“she muttered nervously, clearly rattled by the sheer amount of people moving in the downtown area, be them locals or tourist looking at the many sights that this strange international paradise had to offer.'Not really.' “Did he recognise me?” ‘No, he didn’t Ches, keep walking.’ Replied the voices in her head again.

“Are you sure, he looked at me like he knew me…” Cheska spoke quietly, it was noticeable to the point the lady next to her shifted her gaze and looked concerned. ‘Look Ches, if you don’t like it just sing your song. The one that makes you disappear.’ The separate voice uttered, trying to calm the main person down. “Y-yeah okay then… ”

The next time she opened her mouth no words left her lips, but an eerie orchestral like music left her adding another layer of noise to the lively city. The haunting melody shifted and turned in an unnatural way making sounds no human voice should be able to make and everyone who had their eyes on the woman just stopped paying attention to her. ‘There’s my girl, now enjoy your walk.’ The other voice spoke inside of her head.

The walk continued until the woman strode by the scene of what people thought was a suicide, there was blood on the floor and broken the nightlife of the city was just dispersing from the scene as a person carried the body away and down a side alley… ‘I wonder what is going on down there, Ches go and have a look!’ The voice said, urging the cowardly girl to go and check it out under the cover of her melody. It was here where things started to get weird. The being that had carried the broken body dumped it onto the floor and commanded it to get up… only to be surprised when a small thing walked over to it…

The singing blonde saw this and smiled, finding it adorable. This smile quickly vanished as she watched the corpse slowly eject some red thing from the torso as if it were some alien from a movie… with some quick movements Cheska stood back and stumbled over a bin, falling onto her rear and stopping her song. To everyone around the silence grew profound, and then it was shattered by the sound of a metallic bin falling over and a woman’s posterior hitting the floor with a soft thud. “Uh ohh….” She squeaked looking between the three figures and them clawing at the mask that was clipped to her belt. “help help!” she kept chirping not wanting to be here.

‘Fine, I’ll handle this.’

 When the bloody figure began to pull itself out of the body, Nell's eyes went wide. Well, clearly this was another Branded, but an odd one indeed. He was about to try and guess as to the theme of the Brand, when a noise clattered nearby.

He had been looking down, hair shadowing his face, but someone had been watching... Well then.

Nell's face writhed like a pool full of eels, and when they looked up...

The face had been covered by an angular white mask, flat and featureless, split down the center by a straight line. In the middle, sat a singular eye, jet-black. To anyone who looked closely, it would become clear the mask was formed of bone. 

"If everyone could please calm down and stop doing strange things, that would be lovely." Nell said, fully aware of the irony. 

His hair had poofed up like a mane, and his body specifics had altered somewhat. Not much, but just enough to confuse anyone who might try to later recall his features. 

"Now then..." One hand reached down, and pulled the coat off Scarlette's prone figure, letting the smaller shape take it more easily. "I was merely intending to clear up this poor girl's body, or save her if possible, but it seems there's more to this than I expected."

Quietly, he reshaped one of his index fingers as a blade, currently hidden by his sleeve. Better safe than sorry. "As for you, miss... I'm not intending to harm you," He said to Cheska. "So please calm down." 

<sup>Well, that’s just fucking gross, the redness thought, taking stock of the situation. Not only was she now having to deal with another Brand user who could rearrange their body, but they had further company. On the plus side, the now masked monstrosity had offered direct aid. It seemed they were more intrigued that anything, though Scarlette had yet to understand exactly why.

She crawled the last little distance, hauling the knee-length coat over her body as she came to contact the curious critter. Safety. Though most of the process was concealed beneath the garb, Miss Delarose allowed her disembodied self to force its way into the flower-headed familiar’s body, directly through the flesh much as she had previously emerged. Ivory turned crimson, then faded again as the coat began to lift from the ground. Arms ran through the sleeves, legs elongated; facial features becoming more discernible as black petals split into individual strands of jet hair. Pure black eyes--for the briefest moment a brilliant red--cleared into normal human eyes of dark brown. What was once eight inches had gained five feet within the space of a minute at most, fastening the coat’s buttons as her body filled it.

“Merci beaucoup,” were the first words to emerge from her newly reformed mouth as she stood somewhere betwixt the two strangers, for now focused a little more on the man whose face had freakishly contorted. Much like her own accursed gift, the novelty would soon wear off. “Je m’appelle Scarlette. Et vous?”</sup>

The shifting and changing in the face of the thing that stood over the corpse shocked the trembling woman even more as she ripped a small black cat mask, the area below the eyes seeming blown off as small bits of tough plastic stuck outwards. In a flash Cheska had placed it to her face and pulled the banned over her head to keep it in place and the shaking stopped, the stream of tears stopped and the entire demeanour of its wearer shifted from a submissive scared girl to one of a predator ready to strike. Cheska shifted moving her form to be in an a more advantageous position, rolling backwards onto all fours and then quickly up and onto her feet in a clean fluid bounce.

“Hey, I’ve blown people apart for looking at my Cheska the wrong way. Don’t go looking like some sort of monster just to try and intimidate a poor girl.” The voice sounded very different from the whimpers and soft tones that left the blondes mouth earlier. The eyes that peered through the slits in the mask darted between the being with the monstrous face and the woman who was appearing to grow from the doll that merged with the horror movie blob. “Right… both of you, explain what is going on before I pop both of your heads.” The masked figure warned, subtly shifting her hair so it let the brand on her neck show.

“Yeah, you say you don’t intend to harm creep. But it’s clear you two have a brand just like us, and the last time someone said they didn’t intend to harm my Cheska they went and blew her mama’s brains out.” The thick Japanese accent was far more prevalent in this variation of Cheska than the meeker one who had a more Norse tone to her vocals. 

'A-atleast tell them our names...' The prepared form heard inside her own head making her sigh and let her guard slouch for a moment. "I'm Viz by the way."

Nell watched in fascination as the form under the coat rose, filling out the clothing and standing to face him. Tilting his head, he blinked slightly. 

"How fascinating...."

Stepping to one side, he considered her new body. Her old one was still there... duplication? Reincarnation might be more accurate.... The pieces were there, but details were uncertain. However, if she had one of these 'backups', there was no reason to believe she might not have more. He could probably stop her if needed, but he saw little reason to antagonize the young woman. Especially when she could be extremely useful. 

"Je m'appelle Nell. Désolé pour mes petites fautes de français" He said, shrugging slightly. It was passable enough to understand her words, but a more complex conversation might elude him. 

Turning to the suddenly different voice, Nell tilted his head again. "I was not attempting to scare her. Rather, I was interested in keeping that face protected. I have a lot of them, but I'm rather partial to that one." It wasn't his original look, but rather a variation. Still, someone might recognize him later from the outfit and the similar features. "Still, if it is frightening you..."

The body shivered again, and his frame seemed to change. The bone mask retracted into their flesh, and the hair seemed to shorten a bit. After a moment, their chest both swelled and contracted in places, not much but enough. Stretching her neck slightly, Nell shrugged.

"Is that better?" asked the now female back-alley doctor, her appearance quite a bit different. "As for what's going on... I found this young lady headfirst in the pavement. I intended to treat her if possible, but if she was dead as I assumed, I would take care of the body and move on. Instead, to my surprise, I find she has a trick up her sleeve."

She gestured to the recently risen Scarlette. 

"Incidentally, to avoid any... awkward questions should someone else arrive..."

Nell slid her foot slightly, and it seemed to press into Scarlette's side. The corpse shivered, and then deflated like a balloon, sliding up into Nell's pant-leg which bulged for a moment, before falling once more when the body had vanished. She was now a couple inches taller, and somewhat more muscled and bulky. 

"A pleasure, Viz. I would assume your other cranial occupant is Cheska. Incidentally, do you two prefer being like that, or would you like a body of your own? I do have the extra mass at the moment." 

<sup>So, they can change what their body looks like? That would probably be more useful for some jobs than my Brand, Miss Delarose considered as she watched her ‘saviour’ shift from masculine to feminine. As for the blonde, she wasn’t sure what to make of them. Identifying themselves as Branded was one thing--three in the same alleyway--but Scarlette wasn’t too concerned about their threats. She might’ve had a gun, but being so brazen about being Branded suggested something else.

“Very well,” she said, extending her left arm, fingers curled. She focused for a moment. Black petals blossomed from her palm as she steadily opened her hand again and, as the petals bloomed outwards, something almost the same colour as her skin extended out from between them. Her hand tipped, palm towards the ground, and the whiteness revealed itself to be an exact replica of the creature that she had transfused into. The floral head fell away, at first still tethered to her hand by a red cord, but soon that broke and allowed the creature to fall to the floor.

She did not once take her eyes off the masked woman, only doing so once her diminutive replica had been severed. Nell, a stranger thing if ever she had seen one, made her previous body vanish.

“Stand clear,” she muttered in French as Nell spoke, and her little copy obeyed by skipping to the alley’s side. Then, she turned back to this ‘Viz’ and, reverting to English, did say: “If you want to kill me, go ahead. I’m not really bothered if you do, but it’ll probably make more of a scene, non?”</sup>

Viz stared more at Nel and her offer of two separate bodies… it was something normally impossible for a mind that was as fragmented as her own. The sheer idea of at least the pair being split was something that could cause many an issue. She was so lost in the thought of the bodies being split that she entirely missed Scarlette creating a new clone and pretty much asked to be killed.

‘So cute…’ Cheska said, mesmerised by the small clone and how it stood there ready. This kicked Viz out of her individual thoughts and back to reality where she shook her head. “No… While it is appealing, we work better together. I do the killing, she does the sneaking…” The harsher of the pair stated as she relaxed entirely, standing to her dizzying height and looking around the alleyway. “But… You two seem nice. So I’ll just go away…” She muttered, rattled by the offer.

In another moment the woman removed the mask and her tall and strong stature slumped, she got more fluid and the bright eyes of a more innocent woman looked back at the pair. “C-can I hug the little one?” Cheska asked clearly more interested in the clone than the prospect of a separate body.

 Watching carefully as the two faced off, Nell inched backwards. If necessary, she could run, but getting into a fight with two Brand users wasn't on her to-do list today. 

Thankfully, the young woman across from Scarlette didn't seem to want to fight. 

Exhaling slightly, Nell nodded. 

"Well, not to be rude, but I do need to get going. This was rather more excitement than I was expecting." 

Bowing slightly, she side-stepped the smaller clone made by Scarlette, and moved for the alley's entrance.

"If you ever require some... discrete medical assistance, call me." Sticking a pair of business cards inbetween the bricks of the wall, she sauntered away. 

<sup>She wants to… hug it? What’s with this woman…? Miss Delarose had seen some oddities in her time, but this one woman, tall and masquerading, was an entirely new experience. Nordic of descent, most probably, her threatening attitude had been exchanged for a tamer, less aggressive persona. And, just as quickly, Nell made their departure, but not before providing contact details.

“Au revoir,” Scarlette replied, taking the business cards before turning back to the blonde. Even in her more lively state, she towered above The Red Ghost’s more modest height. “Cheska, was it? That’s a… weird request, but I don’t see why not? Here.” Rather than scoop up her previous creation, the Branded opted to produce another duplicate. The same process repeated; a clenched fist opening to reveal blackened petals from betwixt which something fleshy spawned. Only this time, Scarlette outstretched her arm to the stranger, prepared to drop the creature into her hands.</sup>

Cheska accepted the card and stared at it, the gut feeling that this may come in handy someday ‘Some doctor that can fix you up in a snap? Cheska keep that card.’ Vizzie mentioned inside the head space of the woman who was now watching Scarlette with innocent wonder. What was she doing, she could make more than one of the cute little doll people at a time? So much to learn.

“Mhm…” She grunted at the confirmation of her name, watching the black-haired beauty as she formed a clone in front of her and placed it into Cheska’s arms. It felt… fleshy, warm… alive. Everything Cheska imagined it would be and more. It was alive and some screwed up maternal instincts kicked in as the blonde shifted her hold to hug the clone. “This is amazing!” She squealed out in joy.

The nut case immediately began cooing and swaying with the clone as if it were a real child and looked over to Scarlette again after a moment. “What’s it’s name? Is it a he or a she… it has to be a she you made it. She is adorable!” The dress wearing singer rattled off, the excitement overtaking her as a smile grew wide on her face.