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</div><span style="font-size: 18px"><span class="fixed-color" style="color:green">NAME: Chris Warner</span></span><br/><b>Alias: </b>Cabal Green<br/><b>Current Persona:</b>Chris<br/><b>Age: </b>35<br/><b>Location: </b>Outside the Manor<br/><b>Wearing: </b>See Picture<br/><b>Mood Music:</b><a class="link link--external" data-proxy-href="/proxy.php?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D4YSYDYiKmGA&amp;hash=c7fce17dc05808eff95c4b8243b7c86c" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YSYDYiKmGA" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" target="_blank">In The End</a><br/><b>Tagging: </b>Addy (<a class="username" data-user-id="6055" data-username="Dragongoddess" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" href="https://blackdahliaroleplaying.com/members/6055/">Dragongoddess</a>), Kenji (<a class="username" data-user-id="6997" data-username="Traveler" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" href="https://blackdahliaroleplaying.com/members/6997/">Traveler</a>), Tristan (<a class="username" data-user-id="11190" data-username="Teddy Naj" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" href="https://blackdahliaroleplaying.com/members/11190/">Teddy Naj</a>)<br/><b>Mentioning: </b>None directly<br/><hr class="bbc-hr"/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:darkred">"You're gonna corrode your lungs with those things, plantboy."</span>Chris smirked at the teasing words. It really was just like old times. Like the two had never stepped past the gate dividing the manor from the rest of reality. "Ya do know this is made from plants, right? Smokes saved my life a few times in Iraq." He teased back with his little chuckle. He would have kept going if not for Kenji making an appearance.<br/><br/>"What am I now? Chopped liver?" He joked as Addy launched at Kenji, then tried to pretend like she hadn't just turned into a brother-seeking hug missile. Chris just pocketed his cigarettes in the meantime, watching the exchange until Addy suddenly decided to bail on the boys and rush into the mansion.<i>'Something she had to do...'</i>Chris mused in his mind. If it was inside the mansion, that could only mean one of their siblings or something involving a bathroom. The older boy shrugged and turned his attention to Kenji once more.<br/><br/>Chris reached out to grab Kenji's hand firmly, pulling the younger man into a firm, caring hug. "You're not getting away with just a shake after this long." Chris let out, pouring on his annoying older brother energy as usual. "Seems like everyone's just the same as ever..." He said as the boys watched Tristan bolt past them and Chris slackened his hold on Kenji to the let the younger man pull away if he wanted. "Whether that's good or not..." He added with another soft chuckle, this one more dry and worried.<br/><br/>"S'pose we should get downstairs though. The faster Emmy tells us what's going on, the faster I can get a shower and make everybody some hot food." Chris said, swinging the topic back to the matter at hand; whatever was happening to the Matrix.<br/><br/>Chris' connection with the Matrix was never strong, barely feeling anything from it even when he got as close as Mother would allow him. The ground, though, was a force he recognized stronger than ever after the Matrix appeared. Sometimes he'd feel writhing beneath his feet, like thousands of snakes tracing invisible paths across a part of his body he could feel, but never see. It was always strongest in gardens, lawns, and forests. And eventually, Chris learned to listen to the movements. Incorporate them into himself. His fighting style even. His body had always been on the muscular side; the sports he preferred enhanced that draw to physical strength and a heavier build, and the military pushed his fitness even further. But the movements beneath the ground taught him to dodge and weave; to bend his body in ways normal people couldn't in combat. Plant fibers in his clothes responded to the motions, catching him and resetting his momentum, working like external muscles to aid the ones beneath his skin.<br/><br/>Chris returned to the real world from his reminiscence, taking a heavy drag from his cigarette to center himself once more. Addy and Kenji were one thing; despite the strong bonds they had formed, they were also independent people. Emmy and Iris waited inside, and Chris had flat out betrayed their bonds when he started taking on mercenary work. He couldn't even begin to forgive himself for it; for Mother's death, for abandoning the youngest siblings, for pretending like he was okay... Security had been his only duty besides cooking. After so many tours getting bombed and mortared, being paranoid that the next day would never come, he had forced Mother to let him handle keeping the manor safe. Keeping his siblings protected...<br/><br/>And he failed.<br/><br/>And now, standing at the entrance, he steeled himself. Whatever happened inside, whatever was said, whatever punches or powers were thrown at him... This was his penance. This was the price of failing his siblings.<br/><br/>This was the reward for failing himself.