<strong>Valentine Marlar -- Sometimes You Eat the B'ar...</strong><br/><br/>"Yeowch!"<br/><br/>Pain burst in Val's knuckles almost before he realized he'd been struck. He jerked his hand backward like he'd been snakebit, and was about to let fly a stream of cursewords to express his sudden and severe displeasure when Stevie Wonder turned and pulled down his shades. Val's own eyes widened as he met the man's gaze, and his arms began to feel like they were encased in cement. Every muscle in his body went tight, as if he'd just had an electric cable shoved up his ass. Valentine stared straight ahead, his thoughts racing at lightspeed.<br/><br/><em>'What the--hey! I can't move! What the hell is going on, what did this freak do to me?! I'm not...oh fuck, I am! I'm paralyzed! How the <strong>fuck</strong>...! OK Val, alright, calm down! Calm...down...ok, he's not doing anything, yet, it's cool, I can get outta this, just gotta focus, breathe, stay calm, I can break out of this oh holy fuck not working I can't breathe can't move aw fuck I'm gonna die gonnadiecan'tbreathefuckfuckfuckFuckFucKFuCKFUCKFUUU--'</em><br/><br/>"UUUUUCCCKKKK!!" Valentine blinked rapidly as the man's blood trickled down into his eyes, and immediately felt his lungs and muscles snap back to life. His arms, still slightly numb, flailed in what could have easily been described as a comically useless manner as he fell backward and sat down hard on the gritty sidewalk, and he accidentally smacked himself in the face with his wrist as he attempted to rub the, er, 'foreign substance' from his eyes.<br/><br/>"Nyyeeaagghhh!! Aw, just -- what the fuck?! What the<em>fuck</em>, man?! What the hell did you<strong>do</strong>, you asshole! Did you just freakin'<span class="bbc_u">bleed</span>on me?! Did you just pour your<em>blood</em>into my fucking<strong>eyes</strong>?! Jesus, man! What the...<em>who</em>the...WHO FREAKIN' DOES THAT SHIT?! Holy Mary-fuckin'-Judas, what in the<em>shit</em>is wrong with you, you psycho?! I was just gonna lift your wallet for a few bucks, it's not like I was gonna mug you for fuck's sakes! I mean yeah, ok, this is New York and you get all kinds of freaks on the streets, but<strong>Holy Fucking Hell</strong>you just poured<strong>blood</strong>in my eyes! After<em>paralyzing</em>me! With a...damn...glance..."<br/><br/>Valentine's panicked writhing on the ground slowed to a more manageable level and his hysteric shouting fell silent as his adrenaline-soaked brain finally started processing the<em>really</em>weird part of the encounter, and he shifted upward to a more casual sitting position. His initial sense of revulsion was fading fast, giving way to his usual clinical thought processes, and he looked up curiously at the man through a slightly reddish tinge. The Ray Charles impersonator had re-donned his shades, and Val risked another look into his face. The gorgeous woman beside him, he would later be ashamed to say, went largely ignored for the moment. Priorities, after all.<br/><br/>"You just shut down my motor control with a glance. How the<em>hell</em>did you do that?"<br/>