An Insatiable Hunger (Open)

[Aaron Kremzen]

Aaron was hungry. In fact, it seemed that ever since his power had manifested, he was always hungry. No (reasonable) amount of food seemed to satiate the terrible beast that had awakened within him.

I mean, wasn't it enough that he had to look like a damn beast? The world had to curse him with an insatiable hunger as well? That wasn't even counting the thousands of other new urges that heightened senses brought about. Some of these were quite disturbing. His...instincts...kept telling him to hurt others, and that was the last thing that he wanted to do.

These were his thoughts as he strode into the cafeteria. His appearance garnered quite a few looks from the various students that were gathered there, but he tried his best to ignore these. Once again, he caught the smell of meat, but somehow, it was....better. That was the best way he could describe his enhanced sense of smell. Vegetables and other non-meats no longer held any sort of appeal to him, but he could smell meat, and it smelled fantastic!

Aaron grabbed a fair amount of meat and set himself upon devouring it, tearing the meat apart with his teeth and his claws and barely chewing before swallowing.

Man, was he hungry!

[Chase Sato]

Finally, it was lunch time. Today's classes seemed to be dragging on more then usual, was it possible that time was going slower? No, just incredibly boring classes. The teenager let out a yawn as he walked along with the other students filing into the cafeteria. Chase looked over the food selection, not really seeing anything that appetized him. Everything here was different, and the food was no exception. What he wouldn't give for a plate of sashimi. He knew he had to eat something, otherwise training later on would be a bust. He would tire after a few exercises. Reluctantly filling his tray with a sandwich, pudding, and a plate of sliced vegetables. Paying for his sad excuse for a lunch, he turned to try and find somewhere to sit in the sea of students.

This had been an issue for him since arriving, never knowing where to sit. He didn't just want to walk up to a table and sit down, it was just awkward. But every table had at least three people at it, except for one. A boy who looked more reptilian than man sat there eating alone, doing a really good job ignoring the stares from most of those around him. It was stupid that the students would ostracized each other, they were all different, he would think that kind of thing wouldn't happen, but with kids, it's hard to stomp that kind of thing out.

Walking up to the table, Chase sat down opposite the scaly boy, bowing his head down a little in greeting, and began eating.

[Joshua Ortega]

Being held after class for even five minutes just to get yelled at for excessive tardies was pretty much routine for Josh but it was still really annoying, especially when it was lunchtime. After doling out several excuse for why he had been late again Joshua was slapped with a detention slipped and sent on his way. The young delinquent sighed and popped himself over to the cafeteria.

It didn't take the boy long to gather the food he wanted, teleport on over to the table closest to him, and plop down into a seat. "I can sit here right?" He asked the two older boys who occupied the table before him. He wasn't really expecting either of them to say "No." considering as he asked he began stuffing his mouth with french fries.

It wasn't until Josh's mouth was full that he glanced up at the other boys, one of them caught his attention more than the other. Josh stopped mid chew and gawked at the boy for a moment. He then tried to speak forgetting his mouth was full of greasy fries. Not only was he incomprehensible but several pieces of fry scattered across the table. It was not attractive. To impatient to chew his food properly, he was in a hurry to get out what he wanted to say, Josh swallowed it all down, slightly choking in the process, he took a big gasp of air that he needed and asked "What's your power? I never saw anything like this before? Are you stuck in between shape shifting or something? Like are are trying to turn into an alligator?" Josh was excited and thoroughly intrigued by the boys appearance, he needed to know what was going on with him, why he looked like that. He meant no harm, although some might have been caused.

[Rhett Goddard]

Low profile was an understatement. For the last month, Rhett had been nothing but a ghost in Hammel, and he had reasons to. Granted, he was not necessarily enduring the pain all alone, as certain Brazilian student and one other Korean graduate, just to mention two, had been keeping Rhett entertained this time. Then again, entertained was an understatement too, all he was getting out of it was a way to keep his mind busy, or rather, away from one enduring thought, one enduring person.

It was working well.

After getting his food, the blonde started walking with his head rather down. He didn't need to look for an empty spot as his abilities had let him know which spots were available without using his eyes, and he didn't need to give it thought on to which was the best place seat, as, again, his abilities pushed into his brain on which table Rhett's second most unwanted person in Hammel was sitting. Thus, the one and only choice to sit was on the farthest table from him, even if it only had one spot free and the other three were being occupied by what he quickly judged and dismissed as pretty uninteresting kids.

"Herpetophysiology." Rhett said as he sat down, answering the rather hyperactive-looking boy's question. "Lizard-like Appearance, that is." He dug his knife into his chicken while observing said lizard-boy's way of eating. "Hmmm," He looked back at boy who had been questioning the lizard-shifter's abilities, detailing he was not quite bad-looking as his initial judgement had determined. "I'd say more like iguana than alligator." He brought the first piece of chicken to his mouth. "Maybe he should answer that question, if he talks and does it better than he eats."

[Aaron Kremzen]

The asian boy had come in and sat down at his table like Aaron's appearance was nothing to him. He didn't talk to Aaron at all, merely giving him a slight bow before commencing to eat his lunch. Aaron thought that maybe this was a good thing, seeing as most of his conversations at Hammel so far hadn't exactly been the best they could've been.

Aaron shifted in his seat to get a better angle on the chicken that he was currently tearing into. It tasted absolutely wonderful, and it took all of Aaron's concentration not to swallow it whole, as he didn't want to risk choking on bones and having to go to the doctors.

After a little while, another boy came over and sat down at Aaron's table. This one actually talked to Aaron and the other boy that had come over previously. He didn't seem to look at them too closely, until he saw the lizard boy and tried to talk, sending fries from his mouth to the table. Absolutely disgusting. He asked a couple of stupid questions, ones that Aaron fully intended to leave unanswered. No, he was not a shape-shifter, as much as he wished that was true. Aaron thought he might in fact be able to turn back some day, though how he would manage to do so escaped him.

Anyway, almost as soon as the rather excited boy finished asking his questions, a blonde teenager sat down next to him and started talking. He answered the questions correctly, which made Aaron wonder how he knew. Was he a mind reader? Aaron thought that that might not be too far out, considering some of the other amazing powers that he had seen so far at Hammel.

The lizard-boy took an immediate disliking to this blonde person that had just sat down and jumped into someone else's conversation. He felt that it was rather rude, especially the way that he had just insulted him.

"Of course I talk. Just who do you think you are, jumping into someone else's business?

[Chase Sato]

It was nice to be able to eat in silence. Chase figured that if the other boy wanted to talk, he would do so. He just seemed more intent on eating, which was fine with Chase. So was he, but seemingly not as much as this boy. Their peace and quiet didn't last long, though, as another student asked to join them, stuffing his face with french fries. He didn't wait for a response before sitting down, but it was apparent that neither boy cared about the new addition to the table. He as well seemed to only want to eat, and didn't speak until he took a second look at the table's occupants.

Chase continued eating as he excitedly asked the reptilian boy about his appearance. Chase was curious about his looks as well, but it was rude to just outright ask like he had just done. But manners didn't seem to matter over here in the west. It was definitely different conversing with people here.

Another boy joined their table, a blond one, looked about the same age as Chase. He answered the curious boy's questions, even though they were directed at the reptile boy. Chase's eyes narrowed at him when he commented about if the boy spoke better then he ate. It was a fairly rash thing to say, especially since it looked like he didn't know him. A comment like that would be rude even among friends.

Luckily the boy responded to the rude comment, or Chase would have felt the need to say something. He hated seeing people being picked on, but if he was willing to defend himself, there was no reason for Chase to step in.

[Rhett Goddard]

"Oh please do enlighten me, Dr. Connors," Rhett continued eating slowly, "how am I jumping into someone else's business?" He turned his face to look at the boy in front of him, "He asked," He turned to the lizard-boy, "I answered."

Rhett sighed before munching on some of his fries. Apparently he just couldn't get a break on confrontations and people just plainly hating on him. Sure, Rhett was no angel, no innocent pure boy with only good intentions at hand, but did he really deserve having the world against him and him alone? He used to have Odion at his side, even if the ginger understood him, he was there on his side. Heck, he even had Craven too before he moved away, now Rhett was all alone again, just like old times, but he was the old Rhett from back then and he wasn't sure if was going to handle it as good now.

"Let this be anger on the fact you were clearly slow to answer the question directed at you, which I could understand since you're hardly human at this particular moment, and not plain shame on your..." Is ability the right word? No... "meta manifestation. If it's the second, Hammel will be hell, boy."

An advice, it was clear it was that right? Maybe not. Rhett had the tendency to cloud his ideas with words on top of words and making sentences far more complex than they needed to be sometimes. Understandably, it was ignition for confrontation: people don't like what they can't understand. Maybe simpler, shorter...

"Apologies for mocking your eating manners, ok? But you could probably find a way do it less... you know." The blonde returned his eyes to his plate as he continued eating. "I thought lizards ate bugs, anyway, not at that point yet?"

[Joshua Ortega]

Josh was expecting an answer, he just didn’t expect it to come from where it did. A third boy had joined the table and Josh turned to look at him as he answered all of Josh’s questions. He said some word that the young teleporter couldn’t possibly pronounce, but then proceeded to elaborate. Turning back to the bot with the most scales at the table Josh spoke again. “So you're like part lizard!? That’s awesome.” Josh did appreciate abilities he hadn’t seen before, they were always interesting. His first few months at Hammel he practically stayed astonished twenty four seven.

The latest member to the table, was pretty helpful, he was direct, and he seemed to know what he was talking about. Josh liked him, but obviously everyone at the table didn’t feel that way. As the tension between the blonde boy and the scaly one rose Josh was pretty much frozen in mid chew after he bit into his chicken leg. His eyes jumped back and forth to the blonde and the scales. He wondered if he had missed something. The lizard kid did not like that the blonde had answered for him and the blonde started using a lot of big word and they didn’t sound like they would help the scaly kid like him any better.

Looking over to the only other kid at the table, the silent one, Josh resumed with his chewing and then asked him, “Uh, do they know each other?” That made sense right, if they knew each other then maybe they were just continuing some past argument or dislike for each other. Whatever the case, Josh bit into his chicken again and thought, “At least nobody's mad at me.”

[Aaron Kremzen]

Aaron really didn't like the way the blonde was speaking to him. He was, Aaron felt, condescending. As if he thought he knew everything. Aaron hated people that did that and acted that way.

Even worse, he had implied that Aaron was no longer human, which in a way was true, he supposed. Still, Aaron still felt emotions and thought rationally like a human being, so saying that he wasn't really made him mad. He had even called Aaron a boy as if he were some small child to be chastised for saying something wrong. The other boy had chosen this point to talk about how awesome he thought Aaron's power was, which he chose to ignore as if he hadn't heard it at all.

The blonde boy had apologized, sure, but something about the way he spoke made Aaron feel as if he weren't being completely sincere, as if to avoid receiving a claw in the face, which Aaron was beginning to think was not a bad idea. He had just wanted to eat in peace, but of course, someone had to come bother him at a point where he didn't feel like being bothered.

So, in as calm a voice as he could muster, he replied to the boy.

"Please leave. Now."

[Chase Sato]

He couldn't believe the way this kid was talking to him. Did he mean to be a self righteous asshole, or is it just no one has taken the time to tell him how pompous he comes off? He had a feeling that this wasn't going to be a peaceful lunch, and he wasn't even halfway done eating. Finishing his vegetables, he started on his sandwich, while the other boy, the happy one, directed a question at him.

Taking a bite of his sandwich, he looked over at the other two boys, the retillian one asking the other to leave. "No, I don't think so." he responded after swallowing his bite. "But I think it would be best if someone left, to avoid conflict." he said calmly, looking to the blond boy.

[Rhett Goddard]

The chicken was unsatisfactorily lacking of salt, something Rhett realized far too many bites after. Now, Rhett was not the kind of guy to like too many condiments in his food, he says they rob the food of their taste, but the chicken was plain and there was no doubt about it: plain things are boring things, and it has nothing to do with the fact that Rhett is easily bored. Well, maybe it does have something to do with it, but still. It probably had been the hunger which didn't let him realize the chicken was not delicious at the start of the eating process. Maybe it was the fact that the tense air he had awoken on the table was now so interesting that everything else was boring.

"Sure, I mean, you said please, that's enough reason to get up and leave." He hoped he didn't need to add a sarcastic tone to his words for it to be obvious. "I apologized, if you are really bothered by me, and I can't blame you for that, it's a popular opinion, then you should leave."

The Asian boy said his first words and although didn't sided out loud, he clearly intervened in behalf of the lizard boy. Again, it was the world against Rhett. He started to wonder once again when did everybody decided to meet and ally against him. Am I filling Zac's space now? The thought made him shiver. What did he do wrong? It was like every time he used his mouth, his words were more evidence towards his witch-hunt.

"What do you think?" He turned to the hyperactive boy whose question sparked the whole thing. "Also support the global motion of banishing the blonde?" Like his words were going to change anything, and it wasn't like Rhett needed help from him anyway, but he was curious to learn of the whole table agreed on Rhett being the monster of the story. "Let me make this up to you," He again turned to the lizard, "you can have my chicken, I don't like it anyway and you seem hungry." He wanted to add "by the way you're eating" to the end of his sentence, but it was that same comment that started it all, so he decided against it. "Since you can eat red meat, and clearly like it, I'm going to guess that you can eat chicken too." That was nice, wasn't it? I'm a nice guy. "It lacks salt, though, but I once saw an alligator eat a chicken on Animal Planet, he liked it and I'm pretty sure it didn't have any salt either."

Didn't that sound jerk-ish, though? Nah, I'm still a nice guy.

[Joshua Ortega]

Josh had sat at the wrong table. Things had gotten pretty tense pretty fast and Josh wasn’t even entirely sure why, especially since apparently everyone had just met. People were being ignored, no one was calling names or anything but Josh was pretty sure someone had been insulted, and now people were being asked to leave. Could you do that, could someone kick someone else away from their table? Josh didn’t think so.

Josh ate silently, a rare occurrence for him, while watching, listening, and trying to keep up with who was mad at who for what reason. He didn’t really see why everyone had got so riled up, but he did realize that the lizard guy seemed to be the source of all the tension, Josh just didn’t know why. He wondered if maybe the lizard human hybrid didn’t like his ability, and if that was the case why didn’t he just turn it off? Retract his scales or something, he could do that right? Josh was going to ask him, hoping to squash all of the negativity at the table, but before he could get his question out he was asked on himself, by the blonde.

Josh locked eyes with him, thinking his question over and finishing the food n his mouth at the same time. The hyperactive teleported wasn’t sure why he was being asked but didn’t mind giving his input at all. “Why should you?” Josh answered innocently. “I don’t think you did anything wrong.” Josh looked at the other two boys who wanted Rhett ejected from the table. “Why do you guys want him to leave?” He asked “He’s even giving you the rest of his food.” He added addressing the lizard like student.

[Aaron Kremzen]

Aaron was fuming.

Not only had the blonde kid insulted him, now he was being sarcastic. Aaron didn't like sarcasm, and in this situation, he liked it even less.

It was made even worse when Rhett had told him that he should be the one to leave. Why? Aaron had been here first, minding his own business. He wanted to eat, and so he ate. He didn't want people to start asking him questions and he certainly didn't want people to bother him like blondie here was.

The comparison to yet another animal was the last straw. Aaron shot straight up from his seat at the table and grabbed the blondes food. With as much force as he could muster, he threw the food at the blondes face with anger apparent on his face.

"God! I just wanted to eat without anyone bothering me, and then you people come along and tell ME to leave?!!"

"Fine, I'll leave, if that's what you want!"

With that, Aaron stormed out of the cafeteria.

[Chase Sato]

It was clear that the blond boy wasn't going anywhere, Chase decided to just leave it. He didn't want to get involved in any fights. He had a reputation at his previous school for that, and hoped to leave it behind when he moved here. He just continued eating, staring at his tray of half completed food. If there was somewhere else to sit, he would gladly occupy that spot, but as it stood, there were still no empty seats from what he could see. He planned to just finish as soon as possible and leave.

It was a pretty big surprise when the reptile boy threw the chicken in the other's face. He almost wanted to laugh, the situation had looked fairly humorous, but he held it back as Aaron stormed out, leaving the three remaining people at the table in shock. "Didn't see that coming." he wasn't talking to either of the other two, just making a general comment.

[Rhett Goddard]

Good. Hyper-boy agreed with Rhett that the whole discussion was pointless and quite very exaggerated and very totally way too dramatic. Mental note, lizards are very sensitive animals. Rhett thought as he went instead to his rice, giving the younger boy a slight smile and nod in thanks for agreeing with him.

The rice tasted as good as it could: it was white rice after all. But he did liked it, it was certainly better than the chicken, which it was being retired off his plate by a certainly big green claw. If the lizard had taken the food, his peace offer had been agreed and the four boys could certainly go back to eating peacefully, but the sudden smell of food made Rhett realize said chicken had landed in his face with much more punch than he thought a piece of chicken could carry. Immediately, he saw several heads turning his way, but Rhett's own head couldn't help but turn to the lizard boy who was performing a very dramatic exit.

"Oh, drama iguana..." Rhett cleaned his face with a napkin and picked the chicken off the table and into his plate. "Show's over..." He said slightly loudly to the next table, which made them and all the others look away. "I guess he won't inviting me to his next birthday party, bummer."