Log:The Conduit Made Whole

2015/04/04 Grimm Porter 1

The last classes for the night let out probably about thirty minutes to an hour ago. The different lecture halls and class buildings are mostly empty except for late night stragglers using the labs in the science building. But life goes on on campus. Most people this time of night congregate around the dorms, the library, or the Underground if they aren't milling about in the student square.

Well, maybe there'll be more people milling about in the square? That's where Porter starts. Since he doesn't have an idea or anything to get into the closed buildings or dorms. Ok, make that PorterS, technically.

Porter is beside himself. Literally. Again! The Porter with the typos in his shirt and the matching coffee cup is looking around curiously. There's the suspicious look of realization gradually dawning on his face. What that realization is, even it doesn't know just yet.

There's a couple of laughing female students walking along. "Hey look, twins! They even dress the same!"

"Do you guys try swapping classes to take each other's tests and cover for each other?" another asks with interest.

Porter has never been a twin (something his parents, and the universe are grateful for), so it takes a bit for him to realize the girls are talking to him. Them. That and they're girls. He's not used to those talking to him, either. Well, not until way more recently. "Huh? Oh! Right." He chuckles and offers a friendly smile. "Nah. Nothing like that. That'd be cheating."

"Yeah, so?" laughs the one who asked about cheating.

"That'd be cheating," Shadow Porter repeats.

The girl giggles. "Okay, so you're both super honest. You're so cute."

Porter tries not to blush. And mostly succeeds. Hopefully his 'twin' will have an easier time. "Thanks." He takes a look around, hoping to spot a familiar face. Since that's why he/they are here.

One of the girls, the not as pretty as her pretty friends, makes eyes at the two Porters. "So...are either of you going to the party at the Underground tonight? And if not, would you like to go with me?"

"No! Stay away! She said!" says the Shadow Porter, who seems to suddenly recognize the lecture hall and come to an understanding of where he is.

The girl who asked looks disappointed. "Oh, I see. Got a girlfriend already. She the jealous type?"

Ok, so he's smarter than he gives himself credit for. Er, the shadow him is. Figures. "Um. Sort of? Sorry. One second..." He turns to try and calm his semi-twin. "Hey. It's Ok. Really. Do you know if she's here anywhere? We.. er.. I do need to talk to her. She's been worried about you."

Shadow Porter shakes his head in refusal. "She said stay away," he says as he steps back from Porter. "Not safe to go back."

"Wow, he's totally wigging. Let's go." The girls begin to depart and continue to the Underground.

Porter sighs. Well, at least the girls didn't scream or anything. So he can focus on his Shadow. "She wanted you to be safe when she was in trouble. But we found her. Brought her back. She's safe, now. But she's really weak. Because she needs you. She needs to know where you are, right?"

"She's not safe. She's never safe," Shadow Porter warns the real Porter of this fact. He turns his head and stares off in some random direction between buildings on the other side of the student square. "Gabrielle...really weak?"

"Yeah." POrter nods. "I mean, she's Ok. She's not hurt. But she misses you. Can't do her... stuff very well without you. But that doesn't stop her from trying."

Shadow Porter squints off in the distance still as Porter talks. "Can't...?" His eyes widen at something only he can see. He claps a hand on Porter's shoulder. "Gabrielle's not safe!" he says urgently. A shadowy aura begins to surround him and extend to Porter...

Porter blinks. Then frowns. "Well, can we go to her NOW, then?!" He's concerned about her. Which is why he hunted for her and her shadow in the first place.

Shadow Porter mimics Porter's frowning concerned look. "NOW!" And then the lights go out. Just for a second.

When they come back on, the pair are suddenly standing by a woman sprawled unconscious on the ground in a deadend alley. Who looks exactly like Gabrielle with one of those telltale nosebleeds. Blocking the exit from the alley are two men with wands and red leather coats and demonic resin half-masks. There are two others laying unconscious in heaps several meters behind their line.

One of the DEMON cultists stares at the two Porters. "It's the Anomaly!" he spouts in shock.

Porter blinnks again. More. Then realizes they're somewhere else. Then he spots the DEMON folks. Then Gabrielle on the gound. Nosebleeding. "Crap! Leave her alone you freaks!"

Porter is first concerned with Grimm. Then her Shadow. He's a distant third (and he knows Third would be annoyed by that). So he runs for the downed dame of the dark.

Shadow Porter stares at the two Demon Agents. "Don't get caught." And now he has a new imitation to copy. "Leave her alone you freaks!" The Porter echo leaves the agents looking completely confounded at first. The confusion doesn't last long as it becomes more obvious that this Porter isn't the Anamoly they spoke of. Shadow Porter is now wearing the scowl Porter had when he thought it was Despair. And then a shadowy aura surrounds him and a very familiar looking large clawed hand stretches out of the aura and slashes at one of the agents visciously.

Shadow claws tear through the enchanted field maintained by an amulate warn by the agent. He gets knocked back, bleeding and injured, but the shock of the injuries leaves him still able to act.

The fallen agent begins to craw backwards in fear, but he manages to get to his feet and flick his wand Shadow Porter. The second falls back to his comrade to maintain ranks and flicks as well as the pair try to send eldritch bolts in unison.

Shadow Porter gets blasted in the chest solidly by one bolt. The other whizzes over his shoulder and smashes into a wall. He maintains his footing at least.

Porter guesses they're not going to leave her, or her shadow, alone. So he grabs for the nearest thing. A bottle. And chucks it at the unclawed one.


 * BONK* Nothing like a beer bottle to the nogging to ruin your day. And he didn't get the drink beforehand. Or maybe he'd already had too many? Either way, the Porter-flung brown glass konks him, knocks him back, and knocks him out.

The grieviously wounded demon agent drops his wand and surrenders, but...clutching his bleeding chest and laying down on the ground.

Now there are three unconscious Demon agents and a very injured fourth. And an unconscious Grimm. Shadow Porter turns to look over at Gabrielle, who is still unconscious. She doesn't look like she was blasted with magic.

Porter is glad when the last one surrendered., Now he focuses on Grimm again. "Gabrielle? Are you Ok? What happened?" He's not a doctor, didn't even play one on TV, but he'll try and see what he can do.

The attempts of checking Gabrielle's pulse and checking for injuries comes up with nothing for Porter. He can't find injuries, or a pulse, and it's hard to tell if she's even breathing because of the jacket she's wearing.

"Is she safe?" Shadow Porter asks.

Porter checks. Then checks again. Frowns. Then checks a third time. And THEN he panics. "Gabrielle? Grimm? Gabby?" Hey, even if she smacked him, it'd be a response. Did she overdo herself so much something blew up inside? He can't even tell if she's breathing. And since he's pretty sure she's not undead, she's SUPPOSED to be breathing. So he doesn't have to worry about making that mistake again. He shakes her shoulders. Looks closer. Then goes into CPR. Or at least what he remembers from the poster on the ER wall.

Shadow Porter watches. Curiously. Then suspiciously. Then he remembers what this is. "Pervert?" he comments to Porter.

A few breaths on the unconscious but still living Gabrielle results in Gabrielle's eyes fluttering open. And then squirming and a muffled, "Mffmff!?"

Porter sits up abruptly when she moves and makes noise. Which means she's breathing again. "You're alive! Take it easy. Are you hurt? What happened?" The comment from his shadow twin was missed in the frantic resuscitation.

Gabrielle sputters and wipes at her mouth as she comes to, trying to gain her bearing. "What...happened?" she repeats Porter.

"Pervert," Shady Porter announces with certainty to Gabrielle as he motions to Porter.

Gabrielle just stares with a dropped jaw at two Porters. Or maybe the pervert comment?

Porter blinks. He caught the comment this time. And looks up at the other Porter. "No, I'm not! It's not like that! She wasn't breathing! I was helping her!" Great. His head swivels back to Grimm. Now worried. "Really. You weren't breathing. Guesing those guys tried to get you again?" He points at the unconscious DEMON dudes down the alley.

Grimm is more shocked at two Porters than the pervert comment or the mouth to mouth. "...what, did your girlfriend wish really hard?" she gets glib as she rubs her brow as if she has a terrible headache. That must be a sign she's doing better already, right? Then her head snaps up suddenly as she looks at Porter with wide eyes. "I wasn't breathing...? I was dead...?" she murmurs with a wavering voice. It takes some time for that to settle in. And then suddenly she throws her arms around Porter in a big, clinging hug. "You...saved me. Again. Thank you, Porter," she sounds weepy, but grateful.

Porter wasn't sure what to expect and startles a little. Then relaxes when it turns out not a pucnh to the jaw. And the comment makes him chuckle. "No. And two of me... isn't really a good thing." A brief frown that rebounds to a grin. "But this isn't me. Way more you. Someone I know you've been missing. And helped save you, too." His grin widens more to a smile and turns to his 'twin.'

"I'm sorry," Shadow Porter says in a very Porterish way. "Said to stay away. But...helped save you."

Gabrielle looks up at Shadow Porter as she releases the real Porter. "What do you mean, it's way more me?" Her eyebrows raise slightly as she recognizes the statements. "Shadow!? Where've you been!"

"Away," Shadow Porter replies. "You said," he looks sad, then turns away to start drawing a familiar circle in the air to create a shadow gate.

"No! Don't go!" Porter acks! He's seen the gate thing before. "Quick! Grimm, tell her she should stay!" Her? Well, Grimm's shadow would b a she, right?

Grimm stands up shakily. "I didn't mean forever! Come back! Stay!" she says with feeling.

The shadow Porter halts drawing the circle half way and looks back at Gabrielle. The power and magic it was channeling fades. "Stay...?"

Gabrielle nods rapidly in response. "Yeah, I...I missed you," she says shyly. She didn't realize she'd miss her semi-sentient and troublesome shadow until it was gone.

The shadow Porter turns back to her, offers a smile, and gives her a hug. "Stay." The shadow begins to darken and lose features until it's a mere flat, black shape with no depth, and the outline of its shape starts to look more like Gabrielle. Then suddenly, it sinks down into the ground like someone just poured a bucket of water, and it lays flat on the ground at Gabrielle's feet. There's a pulse of dark energy, and suddenly Gabrielle starts to power up again with a dark aura as she floats a few inches off the ground. This time, no nose bleeds.

Porter doesn't realize he's holding his breath until it comes out. In a long sigh. And a happier one than usual. Gabrielle's floating. And has her shadow back. And there's not two of him anymore. So everything's back to normal. Well... normal in the context of he's here.

Grimm feels invigorated. All-Powerful! So...much...Power! Her eyes go completely black as her powers channel through her in waves of dark energy without destroying her mortal body piece by piece. It's almost intoxicating as the power of Elder Gods courses through her. She is The Conduit of the Dark once more!

Porter blinks, now. Ok. Her floating again, he gets. Eyes completely back... Ok. As long as giant black tentacles don't start flailing around, or she starts cackling maniacally or something..

Tentacles do start to extend from her field, but there's at least no cackling. They wind and writhe upwards two stories high, as though stretching after being stuck in a cramped cage. Gabrielle's expression looks overwhelmed. "No...no...keep it in..." her voice is strained. The tentacles at least stop expanding. And then, they slowly start to draw back into her. Once they're completely absorbed again, her dark aura fades and she floats back onto her feet. "Whew...that...was a rush..." she says. With a few blinks, the inky blackness in her eyes swirls and draws away, revealing her normal blue eyes.