It was a Monstermash -open-

[Eric Bower]

Saturday afternoon.

Some people found themselves settling in the library, either reading for fun or for a class. Some were littered about the lawn like the wind blew them there. Some might be out on dates, doing whatever people did on dates.

Eric Bower was doing the Monster Mash. That's right. Bobby 'Boris' Pickett and the Cryptkickers. The ipod was strapped to his arm, by a device that was supposed to be used for working out purposes, and the head phones jiggled along with his clumsy moves.

I was working in the lab late one night, when my eyes beheld an eerie sight, for my monster from his slab began to rise and suddenly to my surprise.

Ladies and gentlemen, for your viewing pleasures, this five feet and six inch, fifteen year old boy had started to do the twist to the intro to this song.

Prior to this song reaching his ears because of the 'shuffle' option, he had been studying up for the tests he would be having to take for his various classes. But when you get the urge to dance, you just have to dance. And who can say no to a song like that? So he placed his pencil down in the center of his book, stood and started dancing.

If he remembered he was in public, he might not actually have stood up, but he zones out sometimes. His head was bobbing back in forth, his eyes squinted a little and lips moving to the words. "He did the mash...He did the monster mash...The monster mash...It was a graveyard smash...He did the mash ." He sung it under his breath, his arms and legs moving alternatively as he leaned from side to side. The era that music came from made it impossible to not do the twist to the song.

Then the strangest thing started to happen. The tree directly behind him...started to shake, its branches moved horizontally left and right, at first it could have just been from a weird breeze, or even one of those people that could control the wind, but after the forth or fifth shake....was the tree dancing?

Eric Bower certainly didn't notice. He was in the zone, twisting and singing along to one of his guilty pleasure songs.

[Jennifer Younge]

Jenni was taking a stroll around the courtyard on this particular Saturday, it was a nice day, and she decided that really didn't want to spend it indoors. And that was how she ended up where she was.

She wasn't particularly paying attention to where she was, or who was around her, so she didn't notice the dancing boy, or the dancing tree. In fact, she didn't notice anything at all. Her mind was other matters, her mother mainly.

She had not long ago ended another conversation with the woman, in a way only she could. By upsetting her. Jenni's relationship with her mother wasn't what you would call healthy. Mrs Younge often guilt tripped her daughter, while Jenni in return, made her mother feel unwanted. Typical mother-teenage relationship? Maybe.

Jenni had seated herself under the dancing tree, blind to its movements, until a few leaves landed in her lap. Jenni wasn't aware it was fall, and looked up in surprise. What she saw made her jaw drop. The tree was dancing, and that was normal.

Scanning the area, Jenni looked for the instigator of the dancing tree, and her eyes landed on a boy who was also dancing. Her mouth still open in disbelieving wonder, Jenni stared at him for a few moments, until she realized what she was seeing. Unable to help herself, Jenni burst into gleeful laughter.

[Evan Brackett]

July was a warm month, even for the northern state of Vermont, and most people preferred to stay inside during the hot summer days. However, there were a few who chose to hang out outside despite this heat, either playing some game on the fields, doing school work, or just relaxing. Evan was one of the few out in the courtyard, facing a tree while sitting in its shade oppose to against it like many other students would have been. The angiosperm was the subject of his drawing, one of the many, many trees in his collection of sketches that resided in the very book he drew in, but when he saw a student in his peripheral vision suddenly stand and start to do the twist, the sixteen-year-old’s concentration was broken. He watched for a moment, thoroughly amused by the sudden breakout, a smirk etched on his face. After that fleeting moment, he simply shook his head and went back to his drawing.

It was the crinkly sound of a tree’s shaking branches that caught his attention the second time. Curiously enough, it was the tree behind the same kid who interrupted his work before, and even stranger was the fact that said tree wasn’t just shaking, but it was dancing in time with the boy. A lot of weird things happened at the school, considering that it was crawling with variously powered adolescents with little training or control, but this was by far one of the weirdest things Evan had seen. It was clear that this dancing kid has something to do with it.

What concerned Evan was the girl that randomly wandered under the tree without a glance at its shaking branches. With one eyebrow raised, he shut his sketchbook and slid his pencil into the spiral spine. He stood up slowly, intimidated by the strange plant, but determined to stop the boy from making it dance. It looked to him like the thing could snap any second and crush one of the bystanders in the vicinity of its base, mainly the oblivious girl that sat beneath it. Evan swallowed his anxieties and cautiously began to inch toward the other boy. He glanced down at the girl once he got closer, and flinched when she suddenly burst out laughing. Jumpy much?

Rolling his eyes at himself, he put a nervous smile on his face before going for the boy’s attention. The problem was that the sixteen-year-old couldn’t decide exactly how to get it—did he pull out his earphones, try to talk over the music, or simply shake his shoulder? Choosing to do a mix of the former two, Evan tapped the kid on the shoulder while saying, “Hey, pardon me?” He hoped that would easily get him the lignikinetic’s attention.

[Eric Bower]

"From my laboratory in the castle east, to the master bedroom where the vampires feast. The ghouls all came from their humble abodes to get a jolt from my electrodes." He wasn't really singing, he was speaking the words with some rhythmic base that almost resembled the song. He was just into it.

Growing up, with his older brother and younger sister, he developed the ability to tone everything out completely and just focus on what was in front of him. Playing video games and drowning out his sisters tantrums was the first stepping stone, and then webcam v-logs, and then reading--though he broke concentration on reading more often than not (exhibit A).

The chorus opened up a second time and he continued to dance, even though his joints started to ache, like he had been working out for a long time without warming up. His bones felt extra creaky, which was terribly odd because he wasn't doing anything but moving back and forth. And that fifteen year old was more than healthy enough to dance for a two minute song. "It caught on in a flash...They did the mash....They did the monster mash." Now humming, no longer keeping up with his failure at singing, he bobbed his head a little, sweat clinging to his brow.

The tree behind him took to this new dance move as well, the top of the tree pulled downwards as if something heavy was tied to the absolute top of the tree---or the tree was head banging. Which...it was Hammel, so anything was possible, right?

The sound of laughter was filtering in through his humming and the music in his ears. He started to slow his dance, his brain was slowly returning to full awareness of his surroundings. It wasn't two more seconds when someone touched his shoulder. All at once, he pulled the head phones from his ears, turned around and gasped in shock as reality finally hit. He had been doing the twist in broad daylight in the middle of the courtyard. There was a girl that was laughing at him, no doubt, and the tree she was sitting under was shaking faintly, as if a large wind had just blown through it. Which was weird, because he didn't feel anything.

Then he saw the guy that actually touched him. His mouth opened and closed a few times, his eyes jumping from him to the girl to others around him. His cheeks slowly turned from the usual tan to red. "Uhm. Right. Sorry." He stammered, scratching the back of his ear. He took his ipod off the shoulder strap, turned the power off and started to wrap the cord around it. He looked back up at the boy because he seemed like he had something else to say. "Can I help you?" He asked, still trying to get over his embarrassment.

[Jennifer Younge]

Jenni's laughter stopped abruptly when the tree started to head-bang just as the boy was doing, and, letting out a shriek of pure terror, she crawled from underneath it as quickly as possible. She clambered to her feet, shaking a little, and glared at the boy. He was still totally oblivious to his surroundings.

She took a few deep breaths, watching the two boys. The dancing boy had stopped dancing by now, and was taking his earphones down. Jenni wondered over to the two of them in time to hear the dancer ask what he could do for the other boy. Jenni decided that this would be a good time stick her oar in, and she crossed her arms. "You could not try and kill me in future!" she snapped, though now her heart had slowed down, she could see the funny side of the situation.

"Did you make the tree dance?" she asked curiously, though still sounding moody. She looked at the now, sort of, still tree, and shuddered, though a grin did break out on her face. A dancing tree was seriously cool, and she couldn't wait to tell Benji, Noor, or Fifi about it later. But first, she needed her curiosity satisfying. She glanced at the other boy, who had flinched when she laughed, the boy was much older then her, and really shouldn't be scared of her. She decided that she should make it so he wasn't scared of her.

"Hello, I'm Jenni Younge." she said, extending her hand for him to shake. Jenni didn't normally shake peoples hands, but the boy was older then her, so she figured she should act like an adult, the dancing boy didn't get a handshake for two reasons. One; He tried to kill her, despite how cool his powers were, and two; he had been dancing, so that meant he wasn't much maturer then her.

[Zachary LaRousse]

Ah, Saturday. The much needed break from the busy work week. And it was a wonderful warm sunny day to beat. A nice day to walk along the school grounds or even go for a trip downtown. But Zac, being a bit eccentric as he is, decided that it’s the perfect time to meditate and try to improve his powers. Heading out towards the rooftop of one of the school’s buildings, the one overlooking the courtyard, he laid down his mat and sat down in the lotus position, trying to pace his breathing and thinking.

Ever since Zac arrived at Hammel, he was bent on making the most of his gifts. Living in a meta-human household, Zac grew up wanting to be the very best meta there was; to become unique and oh-so-powerful. And he somehow got his wish – his gift was indeed very unique, the first one in his clan. But powerful? Far from it. Sure, he can channel any animal’s ability, but he was somehow limited to mammals. Upon discovery of his limitation, he tried his hardest to overcome it. And until now, he still has no luck.

‘Breathe in, breathe out’. Zac kept repeating the words to himself, trying to pace himself and relax. According to him, he somehow found a very faint link with a bird of prey last night. Pithecophaga jeffreyi, or the Philippine Eagle, as he would’ve described it. While most of his power trainers simply shrug it off as a product of his imagination combined with his intense will to find the link, he still believes that he really connected with the animal the other night. He knows he’ll find that link again and when he does, he’ll be laughing his face off, telling his beloved professors “I told you so!”.

‘Slowly. Slowly. Relax. You’re getting there, you’re getting there.’ Despite working on improving his gifts a whole lot, filtering through the myriad of animals to find the right one still bothers him, especially if he doesn’t use that particular species that much. For example, he can easily find the cheetah as he uses speed quite often but it’ll take him quite some time to find a mole as digging through dirt isn’t really his thing.

“Finally! Found you!” he shouted, finally reaching his goal. Keeping his mind on the eagle, he slowly stood up and walked towards the ledge. “Don’t fail me now dear eagle,” he mumbled.

/Eagle./

He then jumped, hoping the animal would then kick in. He hasn’t tried birds yet – he doesn’t know if a transformation would happen to him, if he’d suddenly sprout wings or simply levitate – so he wore a thin wifebeater just in case. But nothing happened. He could feel the wind brushing through his face as he jumped down, the increasing loudness of the voices below him, but no eagle.

/Eagle./

He tried once more, his feeling more urgent that ever. Thank goodness the building was high else he would’ve hit the ground right now.

/Eagle!/

He’d normally feel some kind of change within, signaling the success of channeling the animal. But now, he hasn’t felt a thing. No, not even a tingle in his spine.

/Pithecophaga jeffreyi!/

Feeling the ground even closer than before, he felt even more scared. He even tried flapping his arms but to no avail. Seeing no hope, he hurriedly tried to look for a mammal with increased healing ability or near immortality, as his fall would seem to be a hard one.

“RHINOOO!!!” Despite his ability not needing verbal commands to activate, he shouted out of desperation and fear. He couldn’t find a mammal with newt-like regeneration abilities, so he settled for invulnerability. Sure, it’ll be painful, but at least he won’t die.

BAM. Just when he thought he’d hit ground zero already, he felt himself suddenly being thrown sideways, flying straight towards a building wall. “Ouch,” he said, rubbing his back as he stood. Sure, the rhino’s thick skin helped cushion the fall, but it didn’t take away the pain. He brushed the debris off him and took a quick glance at the crack he’d made. “Oops. Dad will not take this lightly,” he added.

He then turned towards the tree and saw the boy, happily dancing like there’s no tomorrow. And, to his surprise, the tree danced with him. “Oh joy,” he mumbled, “Hurray for happiness.” He rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed. “I think I should have a word with him. Grarr.”

Zac slowly advanced towards the boy to reprimand him, not for his reckless use of his gifts, but for throwing Zac towards the wall. Sure, the boy had nothing to do with it and it was Zac’s fault for trying something so reckless, but he was so irritated at himself and blaming others for your misfortune helps alleviate the frustration.

“Hey you, iPod kid,” making his way to the young man, thankful Evan tapped him so he removed his earphones already, “What was that for? Can’t you be at least a bit conscious about your surroundings?” Seeing that a young girl is growling at the boy, venting his anger at him too made Zac chuckle. ‘Wow, guess he’s some kind of a celebrity now, kudos to him.’

[Evan Brackett]

He eyed the tree with caution as it began to head bang, bending in ways even more dangerous looking than before. Then the laughing girl seemed to finally notice just how scary things were getting as she shrieked. Evan looked at her and frowned as she moved away from the bottom of the tree before turning his gaze on the dancing boy again. He seemed to be rightfully embarrassed about the whole situation, which just made Van feel bad for him in turn.

“Wel—“ He began to answer the kid’s question, but then the girl cut him off with her protests and her own question. “Uh…yeah. The dancing tree thing was kinda freaking me out.”

The sixteen-year-old bit his lip, worried his words were a little rude. He wasn’t mad about the whole situation as the girl seemed to be, just concerned. “I mean, I don’t think you noticed, and I wasn’t really sure it was you making it happen, but it sure seemed like it. So I just wanted to tell you, and ask you to stop.” Then he tried to give the kid a reassuring smile and added, “You don’t have to feel sorry about it, though.” He was referring more to breaking out into a dance than making the tree shake, because there was nothing wrong with being yourself.

Evan took the girl’s hand when it was offered to him and shook it briskly. “Hi, Jenni, I’m Van.” His introduction didn’t get any farther as someone else interrupted.

It wasn’t he who was beckoned, but Evan turned his attention to the incoming mimic anyway. He figured it was just another bystander coming to investigate the dancing tree. When the guy started to vent on Eric, for no rational reason Evan could see, the young artist scowled. That was rather uncalled for; the kid was just having some fun. At least Jenni had a right to be angry—she was under the tree after all—but this guy just seemed to come from out of nowhere and his irrational lashing out irritated Evan.

"You don't have to yell at him," he stated in defense of the dancing boy.

[Eric Bower]

He glanced back at the girl, his eyes widening in surprise as she started to scream and crawl away from the tree. Which seemed odd to Eric, because it was just a tree. Maybe she saw a...snake? Or something? But then she stormed over to him and accused him of trying to kill her.

His mouth opened and closed a few times, though only a rush of air escaped. "Excuse me? What?" He was terribly confused, because all he had been doing was dancing. Unless...she meant his dance had distracted her, allowing for a snake to sneak up on her, and instead of taking responsibility for not noticing it, she blamed him for it? He was about to ask, when she asked him if he made the tree dance.

His expression clearly showed he had no idea what she was talking about. "Me? And the dancing--I have no idea what your....your talking about." His tone was a little hurried, as it did when he was in a situation that he wasn't comfortable with. His speed, however, was broken when his elbow and shoulder joints started to throb with pain. He looked alarmed down at his arms, because they were hurting for no reason.

He slid his ipod into his pocket and rubbed his joints with his thumbs, hoping that would alleviate some pain. He glanced around, maybe hoping for a way out of this girl's misplaced wrath when he witness, over both the male and the female's shoulders, a boy fall...from nowhere. He got swiped out of the air from the still-moving tree and smacked into the side of the wall.

Eric's brown eyes were the size of headlights at what he witnessed, mostly because he didn't even know what he saw. Both the girl and the boy were talking again, and he frantically looked between them, hoping they had just seen what he saw so he didn't feel insane. But he could tell they both missed it. “Uh…yeah. The dancing tree thing was kinda freaking me out.”

The guy said, which caused Eric to run his fingers through his hair. If he saw it too...then.....was that possible? Did Eric really make the tree move? "Uhm...sorry. I...I had no idea." He looked down at his feet for a moment but then the guy introduced himself, as well as greeted the girl (probably from hearing her name, but Eric couldn't remember her saying anything about a name...)

"Oh, and I'm Eric. Hello Jenni, Van." He did say her name was Jenni, right? He saw that the two of them had shook hands and he wondered if he had missed his chance to shake her hand while he was looking at the falling boy. "Uhm. I really didn't mean to. Honest...I didn't even know I could do--"

"Hey you, iPod kid!" Eric's head snapped up and swiveled around, because he was pretty sure he was the one being addressed and his eyes focused on the guy currently stalking towards him. He shoved his hands into his pockets, and looked a bit alarmed at his voice and at what he had said. And even though Eric knew he should probably have been paying more attention (and not dancing) this guy shouldn't be falling out of the air! It didn't even make sense.

"I really have no idea what you're talking about. I mean," Eric pointed at the tree that had now fallen completely still like every other tree, "You shouldn't be falling out of the sky! And I didn't even know I was--ow--" His shoulder started hurting again, since he hadn't dropped the arm that was pointing to the tree. It flopped to his side and he started to massage it again. "--doing that. So don't yell at me, dude!" Eric replied with all his underclassmen dignity. He glanced at Van, glad that the guy stood up for him--well backed him up, anyway. He appreciated it.

[Jennifer Younge]

Jenni was still waiting for some kind of answer from the boy, but she was soon distracted by the appearance of someone else, who also had a go at the dancing boy. By this point, Jenni was feeling sorry for him, and she turned to glare at the boy, in time to hear his passing thought. Se turned her anger on him instead. "Hey!" she said, or rather snapped, "Can you be less of a meanie?!" OK, meanie wasn't exactly the worst insult ever made, but Jenni was only young, and had yet to master the ability to make others feel bad.

"And having friends doesn't make him a celebrity, it makes him popular." she added, not caring that she had just called herself and Van, Eric's friends. She tilted her head to once side, and regarded the older boy curiously "What does Kudos mean?" The fact that her words would most likely be confusing to to everyone but her, and possibly the boy she spoke to, hadn't entered the telepath's mind. She simply replied to what the boy had (thought) said. She didn't know, yet, that he had thought the words.

Jenni didn't reply to either boy's introductions, she had been side-tracked by the new comer. She did fix her eyes on Eric however, and spoke to him. "That tree nearly crushed me." she said with a shudder. "It was doing everything you were doing." She had realized by now that he really had no idea what had been happening, and so her tone was no longer accusing, and she smiled at him, already having forgotten the whole the incident.

Jenni laughed as Eric stood up for himself, and pointed at the boy. "You got told!" she taunted, and then she stuck her tongue out at him in a very childish manner. She giggled though, which was her was of saying 'No grudges held'.

[OOC: I'm thinking maybe we should keep the post short Nanners? I'm already getting confused lol -- up to you though, your thread <3]

[Zachary LaRousse]

"You don't have to yell at him," he stated in defense of the dancing boy.

“And now you’re siding with him Evan?!” Zac replied, his voice slowly getting louder, “Did you see just what he did? His dancing threw me to the wall!” He pointed towards the building he crashed into, the crack evident even from afar. Fortunately, Hammel is prepared for such occurrences and made all buildings reinforced. Still, he’s sure his dad, and the nitpicky clan leaders, would get hold of such information and would scold him to no end again. Well, the clan leaders would; his dad would simply laugh the incident off but, pressured by the clan leaders, would give him a short sermon. ‘Gah. Screw them,’ he thought, ‘Why must I always be at my best behavior? Clan reputation sucks. Sucks big time.’

"Uhm...sorry. I...I had no idea."

“Oh great,” he mumbled, complete with a facepalm, “Another newbie student. And apparently one who doesn’t know his abilities fully. Gosh.” The last thing Zac needs right now is a new student. Zac, with all his weird irks and antics, has a huge dislike for new students, from their lack of understanding regarding their newfound abilities to their usual sob stories. Coming from a meta-human household, he grew up expecting some kind of ability. He simply can’t relate to people going through dozens of misfortunes due to their abilities sprouting out all of a sudden. Despite his four years in Hammel, his empathy with those adapting still with their gifts is all but underdeveloped.

“Look kid, you’re in Hammel now, you’re supposed to be training on how to understand how your abilities work,” he said, in a know-it-all tone. He put his arms around his waist and gave Eric a scowl. “I don’t know how long you’ve been here or how long you’ve been struggling with control of your tree bending. Frankly, I could really care less. But I hate it how you simply aren’t aware on what you’re doing. With such little knowledge on the mechanism of your ability, shouldn’t you be more conscious of what you’re doing?!” Sure, his speech was pretty harsh, but he’s day’s been a mess anyway, he might as well spread the bad vide.

“And if you should know Eric, I am Zachary LaRousse. I’m not your ordinary upperclassman. So stop talking to me like such,” glaring at the confused boy.

"Hey!" she said, or rather snapped, "Can you be less of a meanie?!"

“Can you be less of a meanie,” copied Zac in a condescending, irritating manner. He was actually surprised at the girl’s sudden change of heart. ‘Oh my,’ he thought, ‘What attention span she has. Gosh.’ But after further observation, Zac deduced that she was probably still in her early teens, and despite being a big jerk that he is, decided that it’s just best to let her go. She didn’t do anything to him really, and her insult was all but futile.

Zac told himself to simply ignore the girl, but was shocked by her next statements. ‘WHAT?! How in the world did she hear that?’ he asked himself, trying to process the information a little better. ‘No way, another telepath?! Sheesh. I should really go to that psychic blocking training thing. The last thing I want to happen in this day is to have this telepath scan through my mind for anything and everything.’

“Look, err, umm,” he hesitated for a moment, trying to remember a name to fit with the familiar girl’s face, “Missie, I prefer my thoughts to be personal. Stop trying to peer into my mind. If you still continue, I promise you, I’ll try to make the experience so excruciating and traumatic that you won’t even try using your abilities ever again.” Of course that was a bluff, seeing that he has no psychic defense training whatsoever, but he figures the girl was young and naïve enough to believe him. If only those threats worked on Cedric.

“And if you should know, ‘kudos’ means I’m praising him. Like, kudos to you for suddenly barging inside my head to read all the personal stuff I try to hide from everybody else. Happy now?”

"You shouldn't be falling out of the sky! And I didn't even know I was--ow--"

Eric’s mention of his failed attempt to connect with the birds only made Zac even more irritated. In frustration, he approached and pinned him against the tree. “Look, Eric,” he whispered on his ear, his voice soft but firm, “I wouldn’t want this to escalate any further. After all, it isn’t really proper for a senior like me to beat a freshie like you, but if you ever mention my fall again, I assure you, I won’t hold back. You forget my descend from heaven, and I’ll let your throwing slide today, got it?” He was pretty much sensitive about the whole failure incident, as he prides himself for being successful at everything he does and the whole limitation thing has been bugging him for some time already.

He then let go of Eric and slowly backed away, smirking at the young kid. He could just imagine the turmoil that’s going on the kid’s mind now.

[Evan Brackett]

“Wh-what?” Evan stuttered, surprised by the accusation. When did that happen? He hadn’t seen the upperclassman falling from sky, or his ricochet into the building wall, but as Van looked over the other teen’s shoulder, the crack was clearly visible. “Oh…No, I didn’t see.” His brows knitted in confusion. The dancing tree had his attention; how could he not notice it throwing a kid into a wall? It made him feel guilty for taking sides.

“Are you alright, then?” He asked with genuine concern. Zac seemed to be fine, albeit rightfully angry, but being thrown into a building wasn’t something everyone could just up and walk away from. Granted, it wasn’t unheard of at a place like Hammel.

However, it didn’t take long for his pity to evaporate once Zac went off on training and being aware of one’s abilities. Evan was so sick of hearing that. He had been at Hammel for two years, and had a relatively simple power, yet he still wasn’t very confident or good at phasing. There were numerous times he tried to use his ability and failed, resulting in him walking into walls, doors, tables, counters, and various other objects. Not to mention the times he accidently used his powers, and smacked his head on a door or desk while trying to grasp the doorknob or prop up his head on his hand. He hated it, and he hated people knowing about it.

No, Evan wasn’t fond of his ability and he sympathized with people who lacked control. He certainly lacked it, and even though he wouldn’t admit his own failures out loud, he was still going to defend Eric. “Oh, come on, Zac,” He said while rolling his eyes, “How could he have known that his dancing would make the tree dance too? Besides, not everyone grows up with day to day training.

“In fact,” he continued with contempt, “Just because you have some kind of social status, doesn’t mean you get treated like royalty. You’re no better than anyone else.” Evan didn’t care what kind of elite family this kid came from, and it bugged him that the teenager thought he was better than the rest of them.

Evan’s eyes narrowed as he glared at the senior for talking down to Jenni. He did agree with Zac that she shouldn’t be prying into his thoughts, but he still protectively shifted himself in between the two when Zac started yelling at her. The threats were extreme, and the girl looked young—possibly not even old enough to be a freshman yet. “Calm down. They’re only kids,” he said in a surprisingly level tone despite his irritation, trying to keep Zac from blowing up. Technically, they were all still kids, but that was beside the point.

He looked at Eric with concern as he rounded up his own defensive speech. “Is your shoulder okay?” The words barely escaped his mouth before Zac had the younger boy pinned. Useless as ever, Evan stared at them with his mouth gaping until the senior backed off.

“What was that?!” he asked aghast.


((I’m so so so sorry about the delay. I’m a horrible person, I know. )=

I also apologize for missing/skipping certain things…so much is going on. I tried to cover most of it.

And, Muscles, I grant you full liberty in deciding what Zac does and doesn’t know about Van. They’ve been in school together for at least two years, I’m sure they’ve met. Please send me a message or grab me in the chat box if you want to discuss it further.

Once again, sorry for the delay!))

[Eric Bower]

Eric's eyes moved from the three people around him, Van, Jenni and....that guy that fell out of the sky. He didn't know his name or anything, but he could definitely tell he was older, and could probably punch him into the dirt. Especially if he just sprang to his feet after body slamming a wall. Eric knew he definitely couldn't, but still. It's not like Eric was a master of his powers and just made it dance out of spite, for crying out loud!

“I've been here like a month! Excuse me for not getting the absolute hang of it!” He defended himself, although Van did a pretty good job of backing him up (again). 'Zachary LaRousse' seemed to be pretty high up on his horse for being an upperclassmen, but for someone to preach about powers and such, Eric didn't think he had enough power training to do it. He didn't say that, however, because those were fighting words. “Whatever dude.” He said looking away from him. If this guy was going to be obstinate about something like that, something that Eric had no real power to change, then the two of them were just going to be at odd permanently and Eric would do his best to stay away from this guy.

He turned and looked at Jenni as she snapped at Zac. He appreciated her attempt and thought it was kinda sweet of her to do so, because she herself had been mad at him for 'almost killing her.' He sort of scuffed his foot in the dirt when she said something about being a celebrity...? He didn't get where that came from, and the fact she asked what 'Kudos' meant. He opened his mouth to tell her what it meant when the new guy jumped down her throat about it. Whoa! She read his thoughts? How awesome. He was distracted by Zac's own attack towards her and his opinion of Mr. LaRousse decreased a little more as he threatened her. She probably couldn't control what she heard and what she didn't! This guy was acting as if she picked his mind and spat that out on purpose, which definitely wasn't the case (he thought).

He turned to look at Van as the guy asked him if his shoulder was ok, he shook the shoulder in question a little and shrugged. "I don't know, it just started hurting really bad. Like all my joints did at the same time." He explained looking down at himself. Maybe that was his side effect for tree bending?

His eyes rounded to the size of door knobs as Zac pushed him back against a tree, which totally popped his personal bubble, and then made his skin crawl with invisible spiders as he whispered in his ear. He struggled and pushed the older boy away, his cheeks red with frustration and some more embarrassment. He wanted to lash out at the boy again, just to mention his failure because it was a mark on the chalkboard for Zac, but he didn't because he really didn't want it to escalate further. “Whatever,” he said again to him, really not liking all the threats this guy was handing out. “Just leave us alone.” and by 'us' he meant Jenni, Van, and himself all in a tight little anti-Zac and threats club exclusively for the three of them. She had already tasted a threat by him, and Eric wouldn't be surprised if Zac lashed out at Van, the other upperclassmen in the group for some reason or another.

Eric just couldn't help but think that Zac was some sort of spoiled brat.

(No problemo, James, and to address what Hezzi mention, yeah I do think we should keep the posts just a tad bit shorter because there is a lot going on at the moment.)

[Jennifer Younge]

Jenni glowered at the older boy, but couldn't think of a reply to his mimicry, so she, perhaps wisely, kept silent. but that silence didn't last however, because as soon as he began to lecture her about reading his mind, Jenni got quite angry to say the least. She had a tough couple of week's and people need to stop yelling at her when they sent their thoughts into her head. It wasn't her fault!

"Yeah? I prefer people to stop thinking loudly! I'd prefer people to butt out of my head too, but when people come along and think loudly, I can hear them, and it hurts, and I get really bad headaches and get sick. So don't blame me If you can't learn to think quietly, do you talk loudly all the time? No, so don't think loudly! Its not my fault I can hear you! So just shut up!" Her last command was echoed in her thoughts, as she also 'thought shout'. It was the first time she had tried to send a thought purposely, and she had no idea if it worked, but she payed it did.

She sent a smile in Van's way when he stood up for her. She could even ignore the 'they're just kids' comment, because not many people stood up for her, thats why she always tried to stand up for herself.

Jenni's eyes nearly popped out when the older boy pinned Eric, and she was seriously considering going to a teacher, but before she could take a step, the older boy had released Eric. She didn't know what had caused it, she was still silently fuming, and so stopped paying attention for a moment, and she wished she hadn't. She pushed past the older boy to reach Eric. "Oh no! Are you OK?" she asked, ignoring everyone one else.

[Hope I got Everyone >.<]

[Zachary LaRousse]

Zac was wrong. That much he knew. (Well, he had the realization three seconds earlier, when Evan stood up and defended the two twerps, but still, it happened in the past so it counts as being a knew, not a know). Despite his arrogant image, Zac still had a sense of right and wrong (no matter how crude and distorted it is), and lashing out on Eric and his gang most definitely falls on the ’wrong side’. Sure Eric threw him to the wall and Jenni read his mind without permission, but both were unintentional. And Evan was right, they were still kids, new to the school probably, and no one could really blame them. Not everyone grew in a meta-human household.

The dogs and wolves inside him were already whimpering, bowing their heads apologetically. But no, Zac still had an image to protect and it would be wrong to simply say sorry and leave. Urged by the cat’s pride, Zac began to think of ways on how to exit from the situation smoothly and gracefully, keeping his dignity intact. Good thing he had the fox’s slyness and cunning by his side.

-XXX-

“W-what?! Evan?! How could- Grarr!” Zac couldn’t even finish his sentence in frustration. He started off with a tone of shock, then of annoyance, then it simply degenerated into a series of grunts and growls coupled by with hand and facial expressions*. While Zac usually viewed most people with contempt and extreme prejudice, Evan actually belongs to a (small) group of people whom he sees in a positive light. Zac doesn’t consider him a friend, but he’s not exactly a drone (or nuisance) either. (Thanks to his untimely save a few years back when Zac was almost squished by a geokinetic’s attack during a training session gone bad).

But as Evan went on to defend Eric and Jenni further, telling Zac that despite his lineage, he’s just like the rest of them, Zac began to question his ‘initial assessment’ of Evan, of whether he ‘deserves his place’ in Zac’s twisted hierarchy. Only the ‘lowlies’ would use such an argument against him, and he was all but surprised to see it coming from (from his perspective) the mild-mannered Evan.

He was just about to open his mouth to defend himself when an idea suddenly hit him. The excuse he’s been waiting for has finally arrived. He just needs to manipulate the situation further to make it seem like he was just as hurt as them. He was already rejoicing inside when he suddenly remembered he’s beside an uncontrollable telepath, who may peer into his thoughts any minute, blowing his cover. ‘Dang it. I should really have taken Dr. Neville’s psychic defense sessions.’

“Ugh. I so did not expect that from you Evan,” he said, trying to sound offended and hurt (he was offended and hurt, but he’s more concerned about his exit to let that rule over him right now), “I actually thought you were different. Seems I was wrong.” Eric’s agreement to Zac’s departure only made things easier. “Fine. You know what, I’ve wasted too much time in here,” he said, giving each person a glare, “I’ll let you pass this time, especially you Evan. Next time we meet- AAAA!”.

Zac rubbed his temples and knelt to the ground, trying to soothe the pain that came from Jenni’s mental shout. Zac’s mind was already in disarray, the animals inside him torn about his decision not to apologize to the kids, and Jenni’s shout simply worsened things. Like a zoo riot, the shout made the animals act awry, grunting and growling inside Zac’s mind. He almost lost control, barely managing to calm the animals down.

“What was that for?” he growled.



ooc:
I'm so sorry for the length. I tried to compress it, I really did. >.<.

And yeah, I know that Jenni's mental shout happens before Evan and Eric voiced their opinions of Zac but I sorta thought it would create more drama if it happened in the end or something. Like, it didn't pierce Zac's mind the first time but Jenni hates Zac too much that it finally got through, if not a bit too late. Oho. Just so Zac's train of thought about finding a way to exit gracefully wouldn't be broken all of a sudden. I do hope you won't mind. 8)

- Jam

[Evan Brackett]

It made Van happy to see Jenni and Eric stand up for themselves as boldly as they did. In his opinion, Zac was getting way out of hand, and the senior needed to know that there were boundaries that he couldn’t cross. Van nodded in agreement when Eric told Zac off. There was no need for him to exchange more words. Enough damage had been done already--both physically and emotionally--and it was about time both sides left each other alone.

It did bother Evan to see Zac so dramatically effected by what he had said, but he stood by his defense of the younger students. He had a vague understanding of the way the other teen’s friendships worked, and knew that he risked getting on the bad side of the thin line between “scum” and “decent person“. That wasn’t going to make him back down, though, especially if Zac was going to continue to act as violent as he was.

Even so, Van listened patiently as the mimic prepared to leave, but jumped when LaRousse suddenly screamed mid-sentence and fell to his knees. It seemed like some kind of cruel joke, and Evan expected him to start laughing and mock the three underclassman any second. It wasn’t until a few moments passed and Zac didn’t move that the Junior began to think that something might be wrong.

Finally the boy snarled at the trio, but Van (having not heard the mental shout) had no idea what he was talking about. “Uh…?” He looked at Eric and Jenni with a shrug, hoping that they knew what was going on.