Summary:Abyss gets mugged, Sunny makes some mistaken assumptions Log Info:Storyteller: {$storyteller} |
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Nils Styger, the shadowy mutant with the 'work-name' of 'Abyss' is having a bit of a day. Oh, it hasn't been too bad, that delivery-girl he got to work for him came through, got the camera gear with the high MP and FLIR and he got it setup at the little safehouse he'd set up. But other than that, his old network of contacts seemed fragmented. It's not as if he was desperate for work…honestly, he'd noticed recently that he was hungry less often than he used to be, and he wonders if that's due to stress or the changes his body was progressing undergoing once the mutate process was shrugged off. Either way, he had little to do…and that wears on him.
He went out,. folding himself into the void and coming out in the Bowery specifically because he'd 'blend in' and was less likely to be bothered by anyone, especially with hos somewhat sinister his full covering of clothing made him look. Very long and voluminous hoody, wide pants, kinda 'gangsta-y' in a weird, gothic way. And yet…here we are. One of the people who made it a habit to victimize others…drugs? Turf? Maybe mistaken for a rival gang? Nils just can't bring himself to -care- tonight. What the man in the heavy jeans, zipup jacket, and bandanna is…is a -nuisance-.
As he's accosted, (lot of yelling, maybe it -is- drugs), Abyss turns, fixing his shining eyes on the man as he undergoes a nearly indescribable change. There is a bizarre and distinctive noise…*frip, frip-frip, fripfripfrip* as his right arm and upper body…-uncoil-, unraveling like ribbons that just happened to be wrapped around a human shape…but there's nothing beneath, just a soft light that fades from electric blue to lambent yellow as he moves. His fingers unspool towards the man, and he just -knew- it would invite gunfire…he can feel the sudden terror rolling off his attacker accompanying the gunshots…
The dark ribbons wind around the man's arm, gripping the pistol in place as well, more of them slowly lap around his upper body, haphazardly…Nils has half surged out of his clothing, a nightmare mass of ribbons with a head swaying among them…he wonders, as he lifts the now-screaming man off his feet…What to do…what to do?
As far as the Bowrey goes? It could be a pretty rough Neighborhood…but that was kinda why Sunny liked it. Certainly, the blonde woman wrapped in dark jeans, a matching jacket and an obnoxiously bright orange low-cut shirt had plenty of fun visiting the odd 'dive bar', hustling pool and just generally surrounding herself with as close to 'nostalgic' as she could get in these modern times. The problem with living as long as she had and yet away from others like her? She hadn't quite got past the 'missing things' part of this whole immortal part. Still, life was for living, right?
There was no empathic abilities for Sunny, no mystical senses of terror and joy she might pick up on some supernatural wavelength or otherwise might find summoned to her, indeed the woman with the almost 'glowing' bright blonde locks was humming to herself as she made the lazy walk towards the Subway station, clearly unbothered by the time. How was she to know that there was something untoward out in the night? Simple: Gunfire.
There's a certain way people shoot when they're panicking, a rhythm just slightly different…and one Sunny had heard before. With a little muttered 'crap!' her path changed, a blurring streak of 'bombshell' that skids to a stop when the sight comes into view. She'd seen tendriled horrors, killed most of them, often sleeps over at the house of another, but this 'Unraveled man?' That was a new one.
"HEY!" she calls, wave of heat rolling outwards as she began to glow brighter with every second, nearly blinding. "Drop him, Yarn-boy, or else!" Not the most creative of warnings, but what can you do?
The dark mass of ribbons shifts after a moment, in addition to its constant, roiling motion…the shadows make its outline nearly impossible to make out, the brighter undersides of the nest of tendrils overlapping, creating a bizarre, confusing pattern as they move and roll back, then coil forwards again. In addition to its 'victim', there are other strange things, the vivid gleam of shining eyes and the soft blue of Abyss' mouth as it opens, and central? Maybe not exactly, as the 'middle' keeps shifting, a coiled mass of ribbons, a different color than the rest, pale yellow light, easily eclipsed by yours, but that mass seems more tightly bound, as if coiled around something.
Abyss tightens his grip, just a touch, making the man yelp a bit, his ribbons have kept the gun in the man's hand (not as if Nils cares much about that), the man's fear…he drinks it in, just one person, but it's at a nice pitch, just enough to give him a touch more focus, like a strong cup of coffee…he still hadn't really decided what to do with the little bother when…well…-what- exactly is -this-?
From near where the man dangles, blue-white splashed on shadow shifts and rises, a mane of wispy hair dragging down from the motion, framing what might charity be called a 'head' in this state. The white-blue eyes seem to narrow, but again, it's hard to fix on them as ribbons ceaselessly wave and coil about. Maybe it's not the best response, but the shadowy mutant is out of patience tonight…maybe spoiling for a fight to blow off some steam?
"-That's- the best you could come up with?" his strange voice resounds…when he's like this, there's no resonance, no lungs pushing air, his voice sounds both distant and expansive at the same time. "New at this, or something?" The strange sound increases in frequency…*fripfripfripfrip*, the whole mass of him shofting and rising on two coiled pillars, like legs that had whisked apart. His eyes narrow further as he reacts to the heat a bit. He's incredibly durable, but this woman? Yes. Woman, he sees now, who knows what she can do? The mugger hangs, almost as an afterthought, still trying to struggle and his cries growing hoarse.
Well, that brought a blink. There were shifting shadows, grasping horrors and some terrified apparent victim…and even with the glow behind them it was the fact the creature had spoken that brought that little flutter of suprise to the 'Goddess' features. "Oh great, a sassing monster…" she mutters under her breath as she steps forward, that halo of burning light surging almost like a hungry, living force barely restrained. She could see the thing now, illuminated by her presence in the shadows of the night nearly transformed to day at this proximity…disturbing about covered it.
"It's a coinflip that half the time all I get back is 'Rawr', 'Blargh' and other demonic noises," she speaks back, lifting her hand outwards with her fingers extended as if she were aiming a gun. It might look a little insane, if it weren't for the whole 'burning light' radiating off her. The light itself however? It seemed to shudder and reshape, a portion of it taking solid form in her hands before 'bursting' to reveal a rather old-fashioned revolver between her delicate-looking fingers. Old-fashioned, but covered in some sort of engraving pulsing with that same light she was emitting.
"You want to discuss one-liners and dramatic entrances, let the man go. Otherwise?" she cocks the hammer back on the weapon, giving a little shrug of her shoulders. "I figure this will work a hell of a lot better than some sewing scissors on you."
That kind of does it, the way she so casually calls him a 'monster'. Some mutants get very sensitive about that rather early on, one born into state-sanctioned slavery-in-all-but-name? Not a good way to defuse a situation. Abyss shifts again, several coils playing out to one side, scraping along a nearby wall. The mass of lighter-colored coils seems to pulse, and a few strands unwrap…another strange sound, like rushing air…not too loud at the moment, and a ghostly light spills out from within, where the ribbons pulled aside.
He noticed the near-absence of emotion from this woman…odd in itself. Fear? Hate? Aggression? Not enough to notice. His narrowed eyes shift again as his head rises further on a piled mass of coils, serpentlike, swaying. Guns don't mean anything to him, glowing guns? No idea what she can do, but he's pretty sure she can't -kill- him easily…little can, it seems, lately. Nonetheless, the more central mass of lightened ribbons shifts again, pushing forward, a few more gentle shift aside, and the noise increases in volume, as does the strange, soft light from within…the mugger is jerked upwards still further, easily 12 feet off the ground, and more ribbons coil about his legs, "Careful…or I'll wring him out like a -sponge-." it's an awful, horrid threat.
Of course, the woman hadn't picked him as a mutant, she'd simply seen some apparent demonic horror that had grabbed some bystander…or at least, she'd expected a bystander, but it's only now that she'd spotted the firearm the man had been attempting to wield. Curious, another factor to consider buuuut…he wasn't exactly pleading his case or offering better explainations yet. The weapon in her hands? It still crackles and pulses with that energy, a focus for otherwise outright dangerous energy. It wasn't quite a hammer, but the concept was very much similar.
The thug was in the air, Sunny's eyes narrowed, judging, calculating, considering for a moment. Her free hand? It rested at her midriff as she stood side-on, almost like it were reaching to draw some unseen weapon or perhaps merely hinting to old muscle memory of a 'proper' shooting position. Threats were being exchanged, Sunny wasn't without some of her own either: "You do that? You get to find out what it feels like to catch a comet between the eyes." Down the length of the archaic weapon, her eyes are fixed on the 'face' of the creature. "Let him go."
Dark ribbons continue to slowly, almost listlessly coil up along the mugger's neck and head, dragging at one side of his mouth, "So self-righteous." Abyss' strange voice intones, coils are even now creeping in shadows thrown by the woman's light, slowly making their way towards her, not lashing out…not yet. "Awfully confident too." he adds. The brighter ribbons uncoil more, and the rush of air is unmistakable now, dust and small bits of debris swirl about and skitter across the ground as he allows the portal to another place within him to actually open, just a bit. The pale, sickly light shines forth from within the spreading ribbons.
"No one'll miss him, I guarantee you that." but…if he'd meant that, maybe he'd have -done- it already. The air around the man with the gun starts whistling past him, drawn into the mutant's namesake abyss. The coiled shape surges up, drawing toether a bit into a terrible parody of a humanoid shape, coils outline, vaguely…'arms' and 'legs', and long grasping 'fingers'. One of the coiled masses, a 'leg', takes a sinuous, rolling 'step' forward. There's a bizarre lightness to his movements, and an unsteady jounce as they coils compress like springs for a moment. The effect is indescribably weird. He -has- to ask, though, "Why's this -your- business? What the hell d'you know?"
The problem with Sunny's power? It was destructive, and without the 'focus' of her weapon? It was indescriminant. If the Sun itself were suddenly to manifest in the middle of New York's streets? Collateral damage would be damn-near redefined…and dialling in with precision was easier said than done. Perhaps then he'd notice it, that slight tickle of concern. More a 'scent' rather than something he could truely latch onto and feed from. She had noticed the ribbons in the shadows, she'd definately noticed the void sucking inwards, but…she was at an impasse. To act now when it was dangerous, or risk getting snared and being forced to make them a -lot- more dangerous. She had no idea how strong those ribbons were after all.
Confidence is left unanswered, but she exhales a breath. If he wasn't truely finishing off his victim and attacking her, than either there wasn't a real desire to do harm…or at least he himself wasn't completely certain of his ability to survive her.
The second question? It was a little easier to answer, and strangely…the weirdness of the coiled humanoid barely seemed to have made her blink compared to her suprise at apparent intelligence. "Generally eating people is a bad thing," she speaks, shrugging her shoulders. "And me? I'm the 'Good girl' I suppose, the one that tries to stop that sort of 'bad thing' when I can."
There are two sounds then, that accompany the rustling coils and whistling air - a rough, rasping laughter, and an unpleasant wrenching noise as Abyss puts pressure and torque on his 'victim's' arm, causing the pistol to clatter to the ground, it makes a soft, metallic grinding sound as the otherwordly force drags it a bit closer to his coiled mass, but he hasn't let it become very strong yet. His head dips down, sinuous, his hair dragging in the rushing air, his gleaming eyes drifting over the man's face, those eyes squeezed shut in terror…for a moment he hovers…it's always just a bit intoxicating, he thinks…even as grimy and tattered a fear as this - then there is a an outward surge of motion as Abyss throws the man vaguely in the bright woman's direction like discarding a soda can…not really an attempt to hit her, and fortunately, nowhere near high enough or fast enough to kill him.
It'll hurt, though, he wasn't gentle. The mutant's face is split by a glowing, blue grin, "'Good girl'." he rasps, clearly mocking her, and laughs again. One coil has wound around the pistol and idly flips it her way as well, it clatters across the pavement and the sickly light goes dim as the brighter ribbons coil back inwards slowly…the air grows still again… Very quietly, his voice a touch less deliberately nasty, "Shows what -you- know…" there's the tinest edge of something else there, wearyness, and not physical.
The hand that held the gun? It's suddenly empty, a rush of movement intended to catch the man before he impacts -too- hard with the ground. The weapon might have vanished…or perhaps it had simply 'jumped', given that the hand previously resting at her midriff held its apparent twin aloft.
Of course, with the man having been hurled at her, that heat and light dips a little. It wouldn't do to burn alive the person she'd been trying to rescue after all! Instead, the man is uncerimoniously deposited on the ground a little more gently than his first velocity had offered before she jerks her head in clear unspoken message: Run.
The weapon in her hand? It remains, but the glow surrounding Sunny continues to ebb down until it was less 'blinding light' and more 'large fireplace'. "What am I missing then? You got a reason to be threatening to swallow some random guy in the middle of the night?"
So serious was the moment, even the pun was lost on the gunslinger!
The coiled mass draws inward further still, oh, Nils caught her statement, and it -is- funny, "Not exactly a 'half and half' gone wrong, no." he says, snidely. He seems unconcerned with the gun she holds as he advances. As he does so, the coils move inward further with each step with that same, strange noise, *frip-frip-frip-frip* It seems almost impossible, but the ribbons wind about each other snugly until, maybe 10 feet from her, the figure is far different than the nightmare, winding horrorshow it started as. Still shadowy, but shaped like a man - a very tall man, wolfishly lean. It seemed in no way to be a transformation, he literally seemed to wind himself down into this shape…arms, legs, fingers, neck and head, the details are the same…same eyes, same hair, same bright slash of a mouth, and his chest…that's the brighter ribbons, now looking like a criss-cross pattern there.
"You tell me." Abyss says dryly. His voice is still somewhat odd, but more 'human' in scale and location, like it resonates within the tightly wound ribbons. He even shows muscle definition in the way they lay over each other, but there was -nothing- inside as he did it. He glances at the man's gun and tilts his head a bit to the side, "Sooooome people gotta not play with guns, or point them at the wrong people." His brows lower at the woman as he says this, clearly including her in the statement.
The withdrawal, recoiling and rearranging into that humanoid shape? It was watched in quiet fascination. Quiet, but still armed fascination. Still, it seemed that posturing and threats had passed for the moment and so her weapon was finally lowered to her side.
It was quite the juxtaposition really, the blonde with glowing lights and 'bombshell' looks next to the man made of shadows and nightmares, but at least there wasn't an air of imminent violence anymore. Small blessings really.
"Y'gotta admit," she speaks, casting her eyes over Abyss even as that blazing continues to wane to more of a 'glow', "That someone running across that and seeing someone dangling and…'" she pauses, gesturing to the man's own appearance. "They're going to make some face judgements. Most probably wouldn't have stopped to talk."
Most, including her in the past, but last year had been a learning experience!
The man's tone is the sort of annoyed that you only get from a literal lifetime of hearing or experiencing some variation of that sort of statement. Not that, inwardly, he isn't fully aware of the inherent horror he generates, obviously, he can all but -taste- it when it comes, after all. What he says next…well, sometimes he doesn't -mean- to be a cruel as he sometimes gets, but this is how he reacts, aiming to cut deep if he can - "That's reeeeal funny coming from some stacked blonde, lady. -Really- is." His voice, up close…despite the strangeness he sounds a bit young. Not a child or teen by any means, but still…he goes on, crossing his arms over his lean but defined chest and the oddly shifting lighter patch there.
One hand reaches up from the crossed position and he sort of wipes the air in front of his face, "This? This is as 'wound down' as it gets. You wanna tell me the situation where -this- doesn't get the worst assumed about it cause I -never- get tired of hearing that from folks who can WALK DOWN THE STREET WITHOUT SCARING PEOPLE."
This is very deliberate. She has powers, yet as far as he can tell, they're not an impediment to normal life…and he is also -quite- aware of how things looked to someone coming upon the scene. But he's angry and he's deliberately lashing out at her, trying to make her feel bad.
Well, to some degree he'd get that small victory; a sting of guilt beneath the surface from the blonde woman. Crossing her arms over her chest perhaps a little defensive even if she didn't really wish to admit it. After all, plenty of judgements get made about her based on her appearance, but they were vastly different to what he had experienced.
Guilt enough to have her ignoring the equal pun of 'wound down' in favor of clearing her throat.
"Y'know…you're not the only one who has to deal with this sort of thing." A beat, she unfolds her arms and lets them fall to her hips. "Sure, I might get off 'lightly', but there are those who I work with, who you could reach out to, who have the same sort of problems."
Defensive had shifted a bit to anger, but then who really expected a Sun goddess to be even tempered?
The reply to that is a bit more soft laughter, not entirely unpleasant, but still…he comes off as sinister pretty much without trying much or really meaning to. The fact that he -did- bother you actually seems to placate him, somewhat. He walks a bit to the side, his eyes, bright and shining, on you as he does so. His tread is very soft, almost soundless. Even like this, shadows seem to cling to his 'skin', "So a 'super hero', I'm guessing?" you can hear the quotes around the term, "Not the best judgment, I'm seeing here." he says, still trying to work his way under your skin a bit, "Dunno you. Never seen or heard a'you." he says flatly.
His lips, all but unseen, part again, his teeth are very white, slightly pointed, the entire inside of his mouth, now that you can see it, is a soft, electric blue, bright among the darkness of his features. His pale hair wisps about a bit as he turns his head to regard you more fully again, "You think I don't know other mutants?" -There's- an answer for you, anyway, just -what- he is. Even for Homo superior, he is shockingly strange and so very far removed from baseline humanity, "Even among them, I'm kiiiiiind of an outlier." He seems genuinely amused at himself there, "Still not sure you coulda actually done anything to me, though. You don't know what I'm capable of, after all…" he hasn't asked your name, or offered his.
Violet eyes follow along, following the movement of Abyss as he circles her like that. They were back to their 'normal' rather than glowing as they had been, but they still watched closely. Comment about 'Super Hero' however? That earns a little snerk and shake of her head. "I'm not running around in spandex, latex or a cape right now, am I?" she muses before gesturing to herself. "I think 'occasional vigilante' is probably closer….what does that make you?" Oh she'd picked the mutant comment, but there was far more out there than mutants in the world.
Could she have hurt him? The woman shrugs her shoulders lightly and smirks. "Back at'cha. After all, you're not entirely sure I -couldn't- either, are you?"
"I take my chances." the young-ish mutant notes smoothly, still smiling that eerie smile, "I can do a liiiiiitle bit more than you just saw - and isn't that something?" he adds, considering what you -did- see. "And costumes? I don't think they matter much compared to what people -do-, dontcha agree?" As he speaks more, you can pick up a hint of an accent, not a native, likely, if you know it, it's not unlike Afrikaans or Dutch, "You wanna keep that? Since you brought your own, I kinda doubt it." he notes, pointing one long finger, devoid of nail, just ending in a point, at the gun lying on the ground.
"I'm sure we've all got sleeves with Aces," Sunny shrugs, nodding her head at the comment of 'do' over what you can see. A little raise of her hands in a shrug, it was only now that it'd be noticable her own guns were missing. They certainly weren't obviously holstered anywhere on her form either.
"Between the screaming, the shooting and the lightshow I'm amazed police haven't already arrived. Better they pick it up, probably ties to a robbery somewhere or other."
"They know better." is Abyss' reply to why the police likely haven't come, "Doesn't much matter to me if they do. I can just not be here when they arrive." He seems really, terribly unconcerned with a lot, "So, what's your deal, mm? Got a case of hero worship? Lose somebody? Flunk out of paramedic training?" Teasing? Odd.
What's her deal? That brings a little blink, but the teasing? It has a roll of her eyes. "I'm a secret magical princess from an alien world full of gorgeous people," she offers, letting the suggestion linger for a moment before she gives a little dismissive wave of her hand. "Hell, you wouldn't believe me if I told you and I'm still figuring half of it out."
He laughs again, "Wouldn't believe…ha! I should tell you about my father, sometime…but nah, -you- probably wouldn't believe it." It's funny, he thinks, how close you got with your joke…alien world, well, alien dimension, the one he has a gate to accessible at every moment, "I notice," he goes on, "…you didn't actually answer. Looking, I can't imagine 'secret identity' is high on your priority list there, Sundance."
"Sunny," she corrects, gesturing to herself and giving a second to smirk. "Yes. My name is actually Sunny. An no, I don't have the mask and secret alter ego thing. Like you said, most people haven't heard of me and…" she shrugs her shoulders. "They tend to remember a pretty vague description if they do."
"To be fair, you are kind of 'generic pretty white-girl #5' aren't you?" is the snarky and almost immediate reply. Those come easy to him, considering… "Well, I'll admit, I've got 2 names, myself, but really, I often wonder what's the point?" he's actually thoughtful for a moment, stroking his pointed chin, "So many of us do, though. Kind of an 'in thing', isn't it? Though really, when anyone uses the term 'slave-name' - they have -no- idea."
"I mean…that's not the worst way I've heard it said." A little tilt of her head, the blonde woman slips her hands down to her pockets. From a standoff to casual chatter, how strange life could be. Of course, she hadn't missed the fact he hadn't really given her his own name. "Well, you have one you prefer to use? That's kinda the important bit."
The mutant gestures broadly with his right hand, and as he does so, it unravels, each finger and his thumb becoming a long, twisting ribbon, the hand itself doing the same, even coiled, the distance they stretch is alarming, easily over 9 feet in the air as open, coiling tubes. The soft, strange sound accompanies it, the sound of the layers slipping over each other. You can see again, the 'inside' of the ribbons are brighter than the shadowy outside, a strange color that seems to go from pale yellow to electric blue as the light on it shifts. As he does so, you can see straight down his wrist for a moment, there seems to be literally -nothing- inside to create structure at all, "'Abyss' - when I'm being dramatic." he says, you get the impression he enjoys being so a lot.
Certainly she could appreciate the flair for the dramatic but…wow, that was something else. An obvious question comes, slipping from her mouth before she can really think about it. Never mind the glow, the mystery of the shadows and the strange light tricks, the first thing to slip from the blonde's lips: "Doesn't that feel really weird?" A blink, a bite of her lip, there was the immediate realization that could have been offensive in at least one light. Or, it could be perfectly normal to the mutant, hard to know really…
"Anyway, nearly shooting you aside, nice to meet you?"
Abyss is quiet for a moment at the question, not one he's actually been asked often. Few people ask 'How are you?' or 'How does that feel?' when you are what he is. "This is what I'm supposed to be." he says, and he's thoughtfully quiet before adding, "My mutation was…altered when I was born, to stunt it, keep me from just leaving. I had someone help me, and I've grown into what I'm meant to be. I…" he's thoughtful again, "…can't really answer that, I guess." It's very clear it's definitely not something he's been asked much at all.
He adds, "I'm surprised you weren't afraid of me." it's very matter-of-fact. "Not common."
His answer? It gets a nod, her arms unconsciously moving back to cross under her bust as she listens and tilts her head. Perhaps it was a blessing for the mutant to have changed so early, but she doubted it made for an easy childhood. Of course, her own abilities? She'd been unaware of them for pretty much the entire time she'd been a child. With no one to immediately point out you're different, one doesn't tend to know until something proves it to them.
His comment? That actually gets a laugh from the blonde. "I'm pretty 'Not common'," she offers lightly, "And I have a close friend who…kinda does something similar. Different, but still sort of…" she trails off, waving her fingers in some poor mime of the tendrils.
Abyss' hand spirals back into hand-shape, the sound rapid and sharp, *fripfripfrip!* it seems so quick and easy, like it took no real thought at all. The shape is perfect, no gaps or odd bulges, "Thaaaaat explains some of it." he surmises.
"That and well…" she pauses, considering for a moment her phrasing. "Some of the things that are out in the dark grabbing people are a little less…conversational." At least Sunny hadn't called him a monster again by mistake! With a tilt of her head and a glance down the street, finally the blonde looks back to the face of Abyss. "I should get back home but…" a pause, she digs into her jacket pockets and manages to retrieve, a battered pen from one pocket and (after some more scrounging) a gum wrapper from the other. "If you're looking for more 'different' people? Give us a call and…" she pauses, finishing writing out her number. "Try not to eat anyone. Seriously."
Again, Abyss' fingertips unravel, snaring the card neatly and drawing it back to him. After glancing at it he says, "Well…isn't that generous." It's very hard to tell if that's sarcastic or not. He takes a few steps back from you, deliberately and adds, almost as if he's being polite, "I meant what I said before, about it nooooot being too likely you coulda hurt me. But I appreciate the concerned thought." and then…as if she hadn't seen enough 'tricks' tonight, a final one.
The differently-colored ribbons that compose his chest unfurl slowly, almost gracefully, within is that same, pale ghost-light from before, and a rush of air…but now, it's accompanied by a deliberate turning inward of his coiled ribbons, and as they do so…it's like watching someone unravel a knitted doll, except the ribbons simply vanish within…it takes a few moments…legs, arms…the strands that seemed to contain the strange portal…all curl into it and vanish. The mutant's eyes stay on the woman of light as this happens, his head, held aloft by an uncoiled strand ducks down, also vanishing….it's like watching it being pulled shut from the other side…the rush of air becomes a hiss, then a whisper….then silence…and he's simply gone.