Ten Steps Ahead

Colton Shepherd-Brightman. Way smarter than you, always way ahead of you. There's no point of arguing so let's save both of us some time.

[laurel-hier]

All she did was nod lightly at Colton’s words. He was right. If a crappy future awaited you no matter what, you did all you could do avoid it. Compared to her brother, Laurel was passive. But not as passive as to await this doomed fate with arms crossed. “This has nothing to do with humans being fragile. Fragile or not, my power eats away everything. And I’d like very much not to become a mass murderer” the girl stated without any enthusiasm. She looked at him in silence as he spoke, working on keeping her emotions under control. When he mentioned he would have to read her thread, whatever the hell that meant, she gave him a quick nod “Do what you must”. This guy could work a little on his tact, not that he seemed in any way concerned to be a little less tacless, since he had a rather blunt and somewhat rude way of talking. Like when he told her to calm down. She was calm. Or well, as calm as she could be knowing she was a fucking time bomb waiting to explode. It didn’t help that she could feel herself charging with null energy already. Not on cataclysmic levels, but she was charged still. “Yeah, lucky me” she said in a low tone. The last thing she felt was ‘lucky’. But she did appreciate that this guy was helping out “Let’s hope you can make this not happen. Or at least on a smaller scale”. She met his eyes, working on relaxing a bit more “Thanks for the help, uh- what’s your name?”.

[lilshitshepherd]

Colton raises a brow at her. He can’t relate to her fear, or whatever it is that agitates her. “You are missing my point.” But he doesn’t add any explanation. His view is quite irrelevant in this. If she wishes to live under the pressure which is unnecessary in his opinion, it’s not his problem. He is just trying to fix this mess he has partially caused. Colton pinches the bridge of his nose as he focuses, activating his ability. His eyes color themselves gray with cold sparkles. He reaches for the red strings around her which appears as he touches them. His finger traces one of them. This way he can read them faster. Information flows into him, calculation begins. At the same time he prevents anyone from walking into the scene by pulling a string with his unoccupied hand. Colton glances at her briefly. Premonition is a powerful gift, one even him can’t trump quite so easily. “Well, I do enjoy good challenges.” He jokes dryly with a smirk, before it dissipates behind his usual glassy look. “You may address me as Shepherd.” He responds distractedly as his mind processes the vast amount of information and estimation. “Don’t mention it. It is partially my fault...”

[laurel-hier]

This whole issue made her very uneasy, but when he said he’d give her the details later, she nodded and didn’t push it further. Laurel was a patient person, she could wait for that. She could only hope he didn’t wait too long to tell her, until it was too late. “I never studied much on Greek tragedies” she stated with a light shrug after he corrected her, explaining the correct version of the story “But we have the same point here same. Trying to avoid something that was foretold can make it happen. By telling me this…” she trailed off, looking away. She was afraid, despite all her efforts not to be. The energy flowing inside her felt stronger, its presence becoming more evident. Her fear was feeding it. She looked down at her hands once they exited the bar, they felt warmer than they had before. It was the terribly familiar sensation of her null energy coursing beneath her skin. It wasn’t reaching a dangerous point where she couldn’t keep a leash on it, but she was getting charged. That was bad enough. Her eyes moved to meet Colton’s. “What do I do?” she asked in a quiet tone. This guy didn’t seem remotely interested in helping out, but so far, it seemed he could hold the answers to keep this doomed fate of hers from happening. “Can you see if there is any way to avoid this? If it happens I could end up killing people… lots of people”.

[lilshitshepherd]

“But one cannot not endeavor to avoid the prophecy.” Colton shrugs, in his callous way. “I am not interested in defeatism, however,” he adds quietly. Had he seen no way out of this, he wouldn’t have interfered in the first place. He doesn’t play a losing game. He can read the signs of panic in her expression. Obviously he is not much use in comforting. He was born with a congenital case of apathy and numbness. Only strong, stinging emotion such as anger is functional. What he devices to survive in this world full of muddled irrationality is a sense of responsibility. “Everyone is potentially a killer. Human is rather idiotically fragile” He states matter-of-factly. “Of course, you should be more careful than others. But not in any way it means you should abuse yourself. The die is not cast just yet.” Colton emits a small snort, amused by his own unintended pun, casting one of the die in the air. It’s 1.  “1, identify the direct cause. That will take some time. I am gonna have to read your thread. And you--” it occurs to him he doesn’t know this girl’s name, so Colton simply points at her, “need to calm the fuck down.” He then throws the next dice, which lands in 2. “2, eliminate the cause. 2′, in case it cannot be removed, plan a damage control.” The third dice is thrown, “3, plan restoration.” It is simple as that. Deep down, everything is a simple cause-and-effect relation. Eliminate the cause to prevent the outcome. “Lucky for you, I am quite brilliant at making things to happen or vice versa.” 

[lilshitshepherd]

lucy-wolfe:

Well you’re not one of the guys I’m trying to flirt with Colt. No offense but you’re not my type, more like my brother. A brother I already have and don’t need another of. [Rolling her eyes at him, Lucy takes a step away from him, though stays at a distance that she can watch what he’s doing still] Yo, you’d be paranoid too, this guy kinda gives me the creeps. I’m a concerned citizen. [As much as Colton’s sarcasm amused Lucy, it also got on her nerves. Now she knew what mom meant when she said that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree in Colton’s case. Cal was at least decent and had manors, Colt was more like his parents than he would like to think] Blah blah blah, we both know you’re gonna do it because I’ll yell so get on with it Coltie. [Well the hand in her face did make her want to twist it backwards so hard it snapped but she knew he’d catch her movement before she even had the chance. Instead she presses her lips together and nods, tossing her hair behind her shoulders while letting out a small breath of air] Good I’ll keep in touch for it. And yeah, Don’t tell Terry. He’ll just flip his shit over nothing and get all jealous. You know what a big crush he has on me. 

“...none taken.” Colton squints at her giving her a weird look. “I am not quite sure if I trust your intuition enough to take your words for it. No offense, but your intuition can be drastically inaccurate” He shoots her a sharp glare, “Mind you, I can disappear and leave you alone with your crazy if you irritate me enough. I recommend you do not push your luck.” He gives her a warning, being on guard for her possible attempt to attack him. “I thought you believed this was not nothing?” He points out with a raise of his brow. But he has no intention of telling Terry about this guy. His calculation says that it would lead to the worse future. “You owe me a big one, Wolfe.” He blurts out with a chuckle, already planning where to pull this card on her. “I will use it wisely.”

[lilshitshepherd]

laurel-hier:

His curt reply annoyed her a bit, though her expression remained more or less the same, she just looked away for a moment. Here he was, throwing enigmatic omens like that to her and didn’t even have the decency to explain himself. “You and that kid… you can’t just come into my life and say things like that without explaining to me why”. His next words bring an ounce of hope, though. That imminent fateful future of hers was a possible outcome among others. She had to find out how to change it, to make the other options her most plausible future. That brief glimmer of hope lasted but a couple of seconds though, until he brought up Oedipus “The tragic hero who accidentally fulfilled the very prophecy he was trying to avoid” she answered with a bitter tone. Laurel got up, leaving enough bills on the table to pay for her drink and approached him “This isn’t the place to talk about this” was all she said before heading out, turning to beckon him to come along “Follow me. Please”.

Colton merely raises his brow at her accusing words. Out of his last ounce of courtesy and patience, he doesn’t sneer as he explains shortly. “I will get to the details.” Sometimes, a future event has too big of a ripple effect, it also affects the present. Colton, and the kid with premonition, can sense it. But to understand why it happens, he needs to trace the ripple, which takes time. “Actually, it was his father, King Laios who enabled the prophecy to be fulfilled, by casting out Oedipus. Prophecy tends to fixate the future it tells.” Colton corrects her, crossing his arms as she goes over to pay for her drinks. He is aware that his action is also fixating her future, by telling her that it is going to happen, or just by reading her future. But to fix it, he needs to interfere. That is the paradox of being able to predict future, he supposes. He follows her out of the bar. He keeps throwing the dice in the air and catches it. With his eyes fixed on the dice, he walks without bumping into anything.

[lilshitshepherd]

aoife-ormond:

Aoife grins as she stands beside Colt, laughing before leaning in towards the guy he was speaking to. “Either that, or he has some sort of genetic mutation which gave him a crazy super power that he decides to use on stupid bar tricks.” The blonde shrugs a shoulder, bringing the straw of her drink to her mouth with a look of mischief. “Both liable options. But, who knows?” She says, before turning her attention back to Colton. “Hi, Grumpster.”

Colton minds his own business, doesn’t need a visual to recognize that annoying voice. “More plausible explanation would be that I am using tempered dices.” He points out dryly, conveying no intention to convince the man. He retrieves the dices and rolls them in his palm. Is she old enough to drink? He does the math in a second, sighs as he remembers the age limit of alcohol consumption is 18. “I’m calling your brother if you bother me.” warns him.

[lilshitshepherd]

lucy-wolfe:

Uhuh. [There’s a smile present on Lucy’s face mostly because she knew how Colton’s humor worked. It was funny, everyone thought that she wasn’t very much fond of Colt but really she actually did find him amusing. She liked his dry humor and sarcastic tendencies. Patting him on the back, Lucy shrugs her shoulders and twists a piece of her hair around her finger] Never said I was good at being charming. At least not to you, annoying germ. [Lucy sighs lightly and nods] I know, Colt but I feel like if I get into it you’ll think I’m nuts. I’m just not sure about this guy and he seems to like me which means I’ll probably see more of him at one point you know? I don’t know. His name is Huntley, he wouldn’t give me his first name. Can you go off of that at all? 

“I am disheartened that I don’t get to see your charm, Wolfe.” He retorts dryly, crooking the edge of his lips at the end of his sentence. It turns into a discontent expression as she pats him in the back. He takes a step away from her, crossing his arms. “You worry you are being paranoid, which you are.” He sums up her rambling with a sigh. “And of course you don’t even have his full name.” He can already see that this is going to be irritating. Making a disgruntled sound, Colton pinches the bridge of his nose, closes his eyes. “Sure. I live and breath to do your bidding. I can spare my time to sooth your crazy.” He shuts her up with a hand gesture while he does his work. With concentration, he traces back Lucy’s strings to find the man’s face. He rubs his eyes tiredly, a tint of gray fading as he opens his eyes. He got the face, last name. That will be enough for him track down this guy. “Give me few days, and I will dig up what I can.” He gives her his typical impassive look before asking, “You don’t want me to spill this to Walker, do you?”

[lilshitshepherd]

laurel-hier:

The guy looked at her and Laurel held his gaze for a moment before turning back to her drink. She’d ordered it a while ago and it hits her that she should probably drink it. It was the only thing she could occupy herself with at present. She was about to take a sip when the dice rolled to her table, her gaze going back to him. For someone who guarded her emotions, and therefore her expressions, Laurel couldn’t help but momentarily display a bit of shock at his words. There was something terribly ominous about having two people on the same day tell her something would go wrong “What…?” she began, speaking in a low tone. “How would you know I’m fretting over anything?”.

He can give her few evidences of her anxiety-- sitting alone but not waiting for someone, the drink that has been barely touched and most of all, her shock at his intentionally vague words prove it. But rather than wasting his breath in explaining his deduction, Colton rolls his eyes. He hates wasting time. “That is quite irrelevant.” He keeps his hand in the pocket, toying with the dices. The cubes rattle against his palm. “The point is that I know that you are, and you have every reason to be.” He stares at her with a slight tilt of head, observing, reading. “The kid you’ve met earlier, he is correct. The future is often precarious. But some possibility is more probable than alternatives.” He falls silence. As he narrows them, his eyes flicker in gray light. But as he blinks, it changes back to the usual icy blue. “That kid...” sighs him. “Are you familiar with the story of Oedipus?” asks him seemingly out of context.

[lilshitshepherd]

lucy-wolfe:

Not brilliant, more like…short of the most annoying germ living on the planet. [Lucy smiles in a slightly sarcastic demeanor, narrowing her eyes and going to stand beside him. Her hair falls over her shoulders as she leans in to get closer to him, batting her eyelashes at Colt] Colt…I know I just insulted you but can you do me the hugest favor ever? Because I know how much you love me. [She teases, chuckling a little as she gets serious again] I’d like you to help me find out some information on this dude I met. No questions asked. I figured you’d be good at that considering your mom and dad are basically badass. Crazy, psychotic badasses but they are. 

“Those two terms are not necessarily mutually exclusive.” Colt replies as he grabs the dices and shoves them into the pocket. He turns to her with a look that indicates that he is not amused. “That is a poorly orchestrated way to gain a favor from the most annoying germ living on the planet.” He jokes, of course, in his own monotonous way. Considering the possible noises Wolfe would make if he says no, Colton reluctantly inclines to listen. “You do know it’s hard to investigate without asking questions, right” He rolls his eyes at her mentioning of his parents. “Crazy and psychotic is a surprisingly mild term.” 

[lilshitshepherd]

laurel-hier:

Laurel was sitting all by herself, her table merely a couple of feet from where Colton was. The girl wasn’t paying attention to anything in particular that was going on around her, she was just there with an untouched drink before her. What that kid said to her early in the day had left her feeling a little uneasy, but so far she’d done everything in her power to keep those emotions in check. She glanced to the side, hearing a man speak with some bewilderment in his tone and the curt reply that followed it. The younger one of the two seemed familiar to her.

Colton gathers the dices from the table, observes them in in his glassy stare. This is the form of training he has been doing lately. He has been seeing the red strings even when he is not concentrating... It bothers him, in several ways, primarily that he doesn’t have the control over his own ability, and that he can see how fast the world is moving-- like right now, he can see the web of red strings tied to a woman. Colton remembers her-- he met her at a cafe, last year November. He didn’t notice it then, but the possible futures surrounding her aren’t exactly optimistic. He tosses a dice at her table to draw her attention. The dice spins on the table for few seconds. “It’s highly probable, what you’re fretting over.”

[lilshitshepherd]

He throws five dices in the air, one by one. As he focuses on the strings of causality, the dices land, all of them showing six spots. He repeats. The number of spots change-- 5, 4, 3, 2... 1. “How?” a person next to him asks, and Colton doesn’t bother to turn. “I’ll indulge you with a short answer,” he replies in a monotone, “I’m brilliant like that.” 

[calibershepherd-blog]

Their loft was filled with the smell of blueberries and melted chocolate at an early hour in the morning. Homemade waffles were being served at this unbelievable time of the day, but what else was expected from a boy who suffered from insomnia time to time + a terrible love for  waffles. There are worse things to do. “Colt !” The boy greeted cheerfully as his older brother walked in. He paused by the little dining table that they had, a tower of waffles on a plate still in his hands. He might have gone overboard with extra chocolate chips and a mountain of whip cream – all drowning in a heavy pour of syrup.  “Check it out ! I made breakfast !” Caliber raised his plate in gesture before shrugging sheepishly, “– I know it’s not exactly healthy … But it’s in a stack. So, I guess you could say it’s a … Balanced breakfast.” Aced it.

[lilshitshepherd]

Colt wakes up at the exact hour he has planned to without help from an alarm. Getting up from the bed, he checks the schedule of the day. He puts on the shirts he chose yesterday, takes a tie on his hand and leaves the room. From the immediate smell of fruit and sweets, it is obvious that Caliber is having a waffle morning. With a small smirk, Colt enters the kitchen. “That’s a lot of waffles, Cal.” He comments in mild surprise, not sure if they could eat all of them. A soft laugh escapes him at the pun. It is a rare sight of Colt laughing at all. But it’s Caliber. He lets himself unwind a bit around his brother. “Healthy can wait. Sometimes eating something awful is required, such as waffle.” He pats Cal in the head as he goes for the coffee. “Did you even sleep?”

[quicksiluers]

[lilshitshepherd]

Send a symbol to hear my muse talk about their

◌ Mother/Father

⌘ Guardian

▶ Sibling(s)

▣ Relatives

🔲 Best Friend

❥ Crush

◉ Dream(s)

◖ Ideal Partner

¡ Pet Peeves

☰ Occupation

✯ Perfect day

☂ Preferred weather

☢ Personality Flaw(s)

☑ A Favorite (book/movie/song/etc.)

[cittamemes]

HC Prompts;

[lilshitshepherd]

☠ : Are there any recent/daily thoughts they have about death or dying? ☯ : Do they believe for every darkness there is a lightness? If not, why? ♥ : Name one thing about the way their emotions work that they despise. ☆ : Would they ever wish upon a falling star? If so, what would they wish? ☁ : Describe how they would spend a stormy, overcast/rainy day. ☂ : Storms or clear skies? εжз : What about nature do they find calming? What about nature do they find disagreeable? ☎ : List three or more people they would call out for during an emergency. ☛ : What is their typical response to being given orders? ☢ : Describe a thought or dream that would cause them to have a mental meltdown. ❤ : Describe a physical action that shows complete trust. ❥ : Describe a verbal way they would express complete trust. ✗ : Explain how they portray feelings of hostility or dislike. ⊗ : What is something that causes them to question themself? ☾ : On a sleepless night, what would they be found doing? ☤ : Is there anything about their health they are continuously on edge about? Something they disregard? ✓ : Name at least two people who can trust them with their life. ❣: Describe a way that will earn affection (whether platonic or romantic) from them. ✖ : Describe a way to make them uneasy or apprehensive. ♆ : Are they prone to violent outbursts or thoughts? ✏ : What are their creative outlets? ✉ : Do they tend to rely on words or actions more? ♡ : Is there a certain scent that brings about nostalgia? If so, describe a memory this scent brings back. ۞: Are there any inner demons they can never seem to get rid of? What are they?

[terwalker-blog]

“I hope you’re calling that asshat an amateur.” He replied during sips. “Because these fists woundn’t mind punching another face.”

[lilshitshepherd]

“Of course. Who else?” He crooks the end of his lips. “You are free to try, Walker, but you won’t, and can’t.”

[terwalker-blog]

“I know. I look terrible. Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. Actually, you should have seen the other guy.”

“Here’s a toast. Lets hope he makes it out of the hospital.”

[lilshitshepherd]

“Amateur.” Colt says as he sips his beer, seems pretty intact compares to Terrance even though he was at the brawl.

[illvanus]

Visit Original Link

[lilshitshepherd]

'cause these eyes can see right through you Don’t be surprised when I read your mind And don’t you bother lockin’ up them doors ‘cause I’m already here inside