Transcender of Gender
Spring Park, Wooded Area
Hearing a familiar voice, Ciro forcibly steadied his breathing and concentrated back on his surroundings. He was dizzy but he tottered back up to his feet, fighting to keep his nausea down. Something had happened to the foliage around him- it had to have been him who'd caused it, but... he didn't want to think about his lapse of control.
So, when he recognised Zia approaching him, he was more than happy to focus on her instead. "Zi!" The second she was close enough Ciro pulled her into a tight, instinctive hug, his body trembling lightly from his lapse into panic. "Thank goodness, you're alright..."
A few seconds later he pulled himself away- but not entirely, his hands now clasping Zia's shoulders. She'd feel his embarrassment at the sudden display of affection as he scrutinised her face, checking to see if she was really alright. "Ear pieces? I hadn't noticed them, but now that you mention it... ah, Benedict told me too that there's someone with mind powers, and those twins just now spoke into my head, they told me-"
He stuttered to a halt. He could see from her expression that Zia wasn't at the top of her game, and the last thing either of them needed right now was an infodump. "Uh, sorry, we should- we should get our bearings first. I sent Benedict to you, is he alright? And the students, your mom..." For the first time Ciro dragged his attention away from Zia, looking instead in the direction that she came from.
they/them || "Forgive me, regent of queer amphibians" - Lt.BGob
The Fantabulous
Spring Park, Wooded Area
Zia was nearly knocked over by Ciro's sudden hug, taking a moment to reciprocate, "Woah! I was about to say the same to you." She laughed with relief, still a little light-headed from her panic attack, "Might need to breathe, though..." She added, glancing at the destroyed shrubbery and trees behind him with some concern. Of course, as far as she was concerned the debris from his powers were simply impressive but she could feel Ciro was more worried by it.
As Ciro eased his hug, he'd notice Zia was considerably paler than usual and had been sweating. As she felt his embarrassment, and perhaps for her own reasons, her cheeks started to flush, "I'm okay, dude, just... Well, I'll be okay." She gently pushed her friend's hands off her shoulders. "I saw Ben on the stage, but I think he went to yell at Finn. My mum's trying to herd the band away from all this..." She gestured back at the stage and crowds, spotting her mother a little way off. Dana had noticed Zia as well, and (from what Zia could feel) was relieved to see she wasn't stuck in the crowd. Zia waved awkwardly and grimaced, "Wow, this is gonna be a conversation and a half..." She muttered.
Brayne looked back at the stage and frowned deeper, "If I can concentrate, I might be able to check that Ben is okay - get him to make his way here?" She offered, not sounding particularly confident. She could vaguely feel him and a few of the others she knew nearby, but it was still a battle to keep her mind above the crowd.
“Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”
huzzaaaaaaaah
The call happened at precisely 6:05PM. Not a minute earlier and not a minute later. It wasn't a special moment of the day... if anything, the days had become remarkably bland ever since the incident at the school propelled most of Oldport into avoiding the outdoors. But that was the moment Benedict chose to place a simple call to Irene Melissenos.
A call which would begin with a rant.
"Melissenos, let me just say that your personal security is rather poor." Benedict began, propping his feet up on the desk as he twirled a pen, staring at the unsolvable mathematical equations he had scribbled onto his brain to distract it and allow him to function properly during a call. "I didn't have to work hard at all to find your number. I could have just hacked into one of the many systems you rely on for communication- something I can easily do being the smartest man in the universe- but instead all I had to do was call the local yacht shop with a few choice words and the names of some of your family members, and the clerk read your family's phone off a list of signatures. From there it was just a skip and a hop to your personal phone. Almost pathetic, really." Finally, he breathed in and smiled. "Anyway, how are you?"
Irene blinked. Had he really called her just to insult her? Absolutely ridiculous.
She studied the screen of her phone, saying nothing, dragging the moment out. Then she pressed the red cancel call button. Knowing Benedict, he'd call her back, so it was only a temporary reprieve.
It took less than two seconds for another call to come through.
"Look." Benedict began with a sigh. "I have important things to talk about. So let's not do that again."
"I'll be the judge of that, I think. Say whatever it is you have to say, and stop the insults."
"Amongst our little group of, we're the smartest, correct?"
Really? This was all getting very self-congratulatory. "You did just praise your own intelligence to the high heavens, so evidently that would be your opinion, yes." Irene said. "But sure, let us assume, for the sake of the point you're leading to, that we are the 'smartest'."
"No need to assume, it is correct." Benedict added quickly, before Irene could hang up on him again. "Not only that, but our families are similar, at least in one regard. We two have more in common than I have with, say, Jung or Rynhill or anyone else."
"You're referring purely to our familial situations. Our individual characteristics do not appear to factor into this assessment, I note."
"Individual characteristics don't matter here. When it comes down to it, would you turn to me for advice on dealing with your family, or to someone like Gardner?"
It would be a tougher question than you seem to think, Irene thought. Did she want to make an argument of this? Part of her, she found, did. There was a certain failure of empathy here she wanted to criticize. Emotional intelligence was clearly not Benedict's forte, for all his boasting. Not that she had much room to throw stones there, but it was failing she was cognizant of, at least sometimes.
The greater part of her just wanted to get this over and done with. That could be done either via Benedict wrapping up whatever his point was or by Irene snapping the phone in twain. She could always get a new one.
"You," she said. It was probably only half a lie.
"Exactly. Which is why we need to talk about what are we going to do when it happens."
He sighed. "When the truth about our powers comes out to the world at large."
"Alright? I imagine you've made some predictions as to when and how that'll occur."
"Sooner rather than later. And my predictions aren't exactly optimistic about what will happen to us." He fidgeted with his phone a little, rummaging through his desk. "For example, I presume we can expect a summary loss of all of our individual rights. Imprisonment. Worse."
Irene hummed. She could see that happening, yes. Not a rosy picture.
"A bleak future indeed," she commented. "So what did you want to do about it?"
"When our powers become public- and they will become public- our enemies will label us threats to national securities, and because nobody outside of Oldport knows who any of us are, they'll make us disappear without a problem. But we have a secret advantage, Melissenos. We have rich families, whose names are well known by the movers and shakers of this country. My father alone has money in several national and state races that have nothing to do with Oldport. If we take the first step, if we present ourselves to the world, then we'll no longer be anonymous. We'll still be in danger, but at least we'll protect ourselves from being thrown into black vans in the middle of the night."
Secret advantage? What? That was a weird way to refer to one's economic standing, but sure. Benedict's point was coming across, for all that he was presenting it awkwardly.
Still, Irene thought with some satisfaction, he remained consistently susceptible to his own ego. His situation was not identical to hers, in a few ways. But there was no reason to clear up that misunderstanding just yet.
"I see. Controlled exposure, on our terms, hmm?" she replied.
"Not just that, but it allows us to frame the narrative." He answered, twirling the pen faster and faster. "Because let's be honest, knowing our fellow empowereds... chances are something bad is going to happen that blows the lid right off this thing. If we can get a handle on it before they do, however they are, we may have a fighting chance. As opposed to accepting a life of being lab rats in some unmarked prison at the far edge of the world."
Well, he was right that it was important to be proactive, at least. She should probably just commit and buy some plane tickets for herself back to Denmark or Germany and lie low for a month or two.
"I'll give the matter some thought," she said. "I'll call you back when I've decided."
Without another word she hung up on him, and turned the phone off for good measure. That was enough from Benedict for a good while.
4:45, May 24th, Classroom — "Across the Street"
Tom was sitting alone in a classroom. He wasn't a friendless loner, mind you; he was social enough that almost the entire school knew him (granted, few people knew him better than "that tall funny kid"). He was alone in this room because it was the math team room. The math team had ten members, but most of those members only cared about the competitions (both of which had already happened by this point), so all of them stopped going to the meetings. This left the people who actually did math as a pastime, which was him and one other guy who just went to the bathroom.
Tom was doing a practice test for no reason other than he could. The test had 100 questions; last week he did 35, so (keeping in mind there probably wouldn't be a meeting next week because of exams) he was pretty sure he could finish the test by the end of the year. Right in middle of writing down the answer to number fifty three, the light bulb turned off. Oh, a blackout. Mild inconvenience. As he lit up the test with his phone, he thought about how lucky he was that no one else was there to distract him with a blackout-induced freakout.
Tom considered himself lucky for several reasons. He considered himself lucky for befriending most of the school. He considered himself lucky for being smart enough that classes weren't much trouble for him. He considered himself lucky for not having any large traumatic events looming over his life. He considered himself lucky for living directly across the street from the school, allowing him to just walk there every day and not worry about commute.
And Tom was lucky, for several reasons. He was lucky enough that he was too enveloped in the test to notice the smoke snake attacking him, and just passed the pain off as some kind of ache. He was lucky enough that he had a place he could go as soon as the doors unlocked, therefore having no reason to stick around at the school while everyone else discovered they had powers. He was lucky enough that he could do the same thing that fateful Monday, not seeing the Dark Dragon or any of the other myriad of suspicious events. He was lucky enough that he didn't watch TV often, only seeing enough of the news to know that there was a shooter and none of the details.
Tom was not lucky enough to walk out of the blackout unscathed and lead a normal, non-power-related life.
June 13, Spring Park, Shortly After All Those People Died — "Killing Floor"
Tom was late. Since it was the summer, he had stopped caring about those pesky things called schedules (or really anything that wasn't personal leisure). Well, maybe Shooter rambled on for long enough that he could catch some of that jazz tu—are those corpses?
...wow, now he was glad he was late. It seemed like the shooter was back, and they did a lot more damage this time around. Tom was lucky that the danger had seemingly passed; some people were mingling around, most people were mingling away, and everyone looked less like they were scared and more like they were relieved that it was over (or sad that their mom died). He definitely didn't need to be here. He decided to just turn around and go home, not calling any attention to himself.
At least, that's what he would have done if he didn't notice the magic hoverspear, and the small group of people that seemed to not care that there was a magic hoverspear. He walked over to the small group—Josephine, Harriet, and Marconote , he recognized now—and said the first thing that came to him.
"Hey, uh, how is that spear just floating there? Strings? Magnets? Also what the heck happened here like half the park is dead but spear first please."
Suggested wine pairing: pinot noir.
Schrodinger's Human
Spring Park - Suddenly, a wild intruder appears:
Josephine was about to speak, but she saw a person approaching her group from a distance.
"Shit!" the girl almost let out audibly. Even before assessing the endless possibilities about the identity of this intruder, Josephine suddenly crouched and unfroze the helmet so that it would not be perceived. Or, at the very least, that was the intent. And surely the intent has no problem being materialized. No, absolutely not at all.
Whether he saw the process of it or not (notwithstanding the reaction of Harriet and Marco), he would definitely see a girl who is soaked with water. And Josephine was perfectly aware of it. Josephine was on the verge of hyperventilating, the fear of exposure slowly taking over her heart and squeezing it. Still, panic squashed the speculation of this person. In fact, Josephine was not really seeing him at all because, if she did, she would vaguely recognize this face.
'Please don't tell me you saw it, please don't tell me you saw it...'
But then, the question of his woke Josephine's frenzied sleepless nightmare... And it segued into another fever dream.
The spear.
Careless.
'Come up with something, come up with something...'
Panic infected her head and it all led to this:
"Hey, hey, listen..." Contrary to the the absolute chaos of the inside, the outside of Josephine Engel took on absolute serenity. "Maybe... maybe you're not seeing this spear thing... Maybe, everything in this world is an illusion. Do you know what they put in those waters you drink? Exactly, hallucinogenic substances so that you're blind to the truth. Now, you can go on a merry way and pretend nothing ever happened... because it never happened."
It took a bit long for Josephine to realize what kind of word salad she just spewed out. And when she did, she said to herself, her cheeks blushing:
"I hate you, Josephine."
Everything that lives is designed to end.
Spring Park, Group of the Spear Conspiracy — "High Pressure"
So Josephine (who's covered in water for some reason, which is low on the priority list of questions but still odd) might as well have said "I don't want to tell you the truth but couldn't come up with a lie in time." (Well, it could be what's happening, but you know, falsifiability and all that...) Without thinking about how Josephine might react, Tom launched into his response.
"Ah yes, those hallucinogenic drugs which result in complete normalcy other than a floating spear. Unless it's also making me see all these corpses, or the fact that you're drenched in water." He turned to look at the girl next to her. "It seems to be floating close to you. Can you tell me how it's doing that? Or at least come up with a better lie?" The two of them locked eyes. "Harriet, right?"
Suggested wine pairing: pinot noir.
Melissenos Residence
At that moment, Irene was sitting at home, idly picking at some spaghetti carbonara. Theo's latest obsession. Her little sister had decided to master the culinary arts, and that more or less decided what Irene would be eating in the near future.
It could be worse. She could be outside, engaging with the madness of Benedict and Oldport. In comparison, overcooked spaghetti wasn't so bad.
She considered phoning someone. That rally was on today, wasn't it? She had decided to stay home, for safety's sake. Perhaps she should call someone and ask how it's going?
She pulled forth her phone and dialed Ciro's number.
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable
Knight Cheesebeam
Spring Park
Harriet's fixation was interrupted by the comment. Right, Severance. Even a floaty spear constantly around can become normal after a while. She turned to see that tall guy. Tim...or Tom, was it?
All Harriet had in response to his curiosity was a tired shrug. She certainly knows nothing about how Severance works, or the snakes, or in fact whatever happened in the park; following up the shrug with a glare that hopefully said "stop asking". Severance too seemed to react, tilting in Tom's direction and gradually inching toward him.
As it moved, Harriet would feel some kind of strangeness between her and Severance. Slight, like something grazing her hair, but enough to notice.
Timers to measure time, thermometers to measure thermomets, mometers to measure mom, and measuring containers to measure measurements.
Transcender of Gender
Spring Park, Wooded Area
When mother and daughter shared glances, Ciro offered his own polite (if a little awkward) wave to Ms. Brayne. "Well, I think you can tell her honestly that we don't know much more about what happened than she does..."
He chuckled humourlessly. Though his interest was peaked by her offer to call Benedict over- it'd be a lot easier to work things out with him at their side, and naturally Ciro was worried about everyone who left his eyesight in this chaos- he was reluctant to encourage Zia into using her power when he could see the sweat dotting her brow. "Maybe we can find a place to sit down first, catch our breath-"
It was then that he was interrupted by the immediately recognisable, default ringtone of a Nokia. He stared at Zia blankly for a second until he recognised the phone as his own, and hastily patted himself down until he felt the bulge in his pocket. He pulled out the old mobile, raised a brow at the caller ID, showed Zia the name 'Irene' on the screen, and then hit the answer button.
"Hello, Irene?" Ciro said, racking his brain for any sighting of Irene at the event. The more that he couldn't remember her being there, the more worried he became. "Is everything okay? Are you hurt at all?"
they/them || "Forgive me, regent of queer amphibians" - Lt.BGob
Spring Park, Spear of the Unknown — "Possessive"
"You don't know? So you're trying to tell me that you three gathered in the park, and noticed but did not care about a floating spear slowly...moving...towards you..."
The spear was moving towards him. The spear was moving towards him. And none of them (he didn't ask Marko but he was pretty sure he would have spoken up by now) seemed to know or care what the spear was doing there. Okay, don't panic, uhh...
Tom thought about maybe grabbing the spear and pushing it back. It was the obvious thing to do, but he didn't wan—oh, it's moving that way on its own...?
He turned back to Josephine. "That...that was a lie, right? I'm not hallucinating this thing?"
Suggested wine pairing: pinot noir.
Melissenos Residence
Hurt? Why would she be hurt? She cracked her neck and rolled her shoulders, feeling for the place where Devin had bit her. It had healed up without so much as a scar. She had more or less gotten the hang of weaving her own flesh and blood now. A handy skill to have.
Still, something had probably happened at the rally, for Ciro to be worried about her. Or perhaps, because it was Ciro, worrying was simply the default state? Irene did not know him well enough to be sure. It seemed safer to assume that something had indeed gone wrong at the rally.
"I'm fine," she said. "More importantly, am I correct in assuming all is not well over there? You are, or were, at the rally, yes? Has something happened?"
Edited by joergenjetsam on Nov 28th 2020 at 9:35:57 PM
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable
Surrounded by weirdoes
Kyle considered himself to be a normal boy. Maybe he wasn't able to speak as much as one should, or make as many friends, but at least people knew of him. At least there are a few that really knew him, even if it's just as a pair of icy blue eyes every time he looks their way. But one could do a lot by themselves, running free, enjoy food and just a calm melody.
But a Blackout changed all that. His body changed, his mind felt like it escapes him sometimes. A black flash surrounds him and jumps around the place. It's like he needs to learn how to run again.
Looking back to himself, there was something staring back. The eyes of a beast.
—-
Now, Park
Kyle felt like walking. Sure, things haven't been not chaotic in a while, but he needed to move or else he'd go mad. He looked at his hand for a minute, his hand shifted for a second, as a strange spark came out.
He sighed.
He could only imagine what would he find.
Wake me up at your own risk.
Schrodinger's Human
Spring Park - It's working...?
Josephine Engel submerged in her thoughts and speculations, having observed the spear and the intruding person. The fact that it moved threw an even bigger wrench to this. Still, the girl managed to tame her paranoia and fear. 'I... think I can work this out. I can work this out...'
"No worries, everything... is going to be fine. You're just seeing things, that is all. Hallucinogenics are... tricky bunch. The ones they're using right now are very subtle. So, you just need to go home and relax. Because everything is actually fine."
'I can't believe I'm actually saying these things right now...'
Josephine realized what she spoke was the usual repertoire of the conspiracies that wish to uphold the status quo. Bitter taste lingered around her tongue, yet she couldn't help but chuckled a little.
Everything that lives is designed to end.
Surrounded by weirdoes
Kyle raised an eyebrow to the blonde speaking. Hallucinations? Eh, I can believe nearly everything Turning his back to her, his nose changed, resembling something dog-like, and took a couple of sniffs. He tried to hide it with his hand.
And there was a slowly moving strange spear on sight.
"Lately I am having a hard time being skeptical, in any sense" He said. "What's with that spear?"
If I could punch it, maybe...
Wake me up at your own risk.
Spring Park, Spear Group — "Observer Effect"
Alright then. Sure. Tom decided, for the sake of his sanity, to just take Josephine's statement at face value. He was leaving. He obviously didn't need to be here, anyway.
As he was beginning to leave, he noticed someone else approaching. What was their name? Keith? Kyle? Kevin? It definitely started with a K...did he just mention the spear? Could he see...was it a shared hallucination or...
...no. No, he wasn't dealing with this. He was just going to leave, and pretend this never happened. He was going to go home and relax and not think about hoverspears. He was leaving. Goodbye.
Tom didn't notice the spear beginning to bob back and forth between him and Harriet, but someone else probably would.
Suggested wine pairing: pinot noir.
Transcender of Gender
Spring Park, Wooded Area
Ciro was admittedly surprised that Irene wasn't at the event- even moreso that he had ended up going when she had not. But now wasn't the time to ponder. "Yeah, a- a lot's happened. The mayor... the, the other kids came and..."
Irene would hear him stutter to a stop, and for a few seconds his halting breath was all that passed through the line. "I'm sorry, it's still... really hectic. The mayor, um... the mayor's dead. These kids with-" with powers like us, he nearly said, and was fortunate enough to have Ms. Brayne and the band in eyesight to remind him to be a little more subtle, "-well, this girl came flying in and attacked the mayor with these, uh, these beams of light. And there were others like her too; Benedict found out most of their- most of what they could do, they tried to keep everyone in the park but now they're running away? I don't really know what's going on, to be honest..."
Ciro ran a hand through his fringe, peeling it away from his sweaty forehead. "I'm with Zia right now. There's more of us- uh, more people that we know that saw what happened. I think we'll have to meet up, try and figure this all out. Uh, are you near a television? Can you see if there's anything being reported yet?"
Edited by whizzerd on Nov 30th 2020 at 10:50:55 AM
they/them || "Forgive me, regent of queer amphibians" - Lt.BGob
The Fantabulous
Spring Park, Wooded Area
Zia nearly laughed aloud as she heard, second hand, Irene's initial response and covered her mouth to stifle herself. At least some of their little superpower 'community' were managing to steer clear of this latest in the parade of disasters. Seeing as Ciro was too preoccupied with the phone call, she figured she could attempt to contact Ben without worrying her friend further. Her mum was currently more preoccupied with the band, now that Dana knew her daughter was relatively safe. Brayne took a deep breath, crossed her arms and closed her eyes, carefully feeling her way through the chorus of voices to find something more familiar. She slowly tapped a rhythm into her arm, struggling to keep her breathing even as she focused on Ben's mind amongst the cacophony.
Ben? I'm with Ciro behind the stage. Are you alright? Zia managed, a little unsure how 'specific she was making the message and feeling lightheaded. Still, she pressed her advantage and tried to maintain focus. 3 of the... the kids that attacked ran off this way.
“Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”
huzzaaaaaaaah
Throughout all of Wilmarina's explanations, all Benedict could do was sneer at one of her eyes- the one that was explicitly clicking its teeth at him, to be precise- until Finn gave him something to listen to. Having already gone through this with Hyeon, Benedict popped one earbud in, and the shaking/vibrating slowly subsided, now restricted only to his two fingers rubbing against his thigh, mimicking the violin strings. He did make a point of looking away from Mina's eyes when they slid back into her... eye sockets.
"Hold on a second," Benedict began, following Finn. "Gardner and Brayne are up there by the stage. Let's collect them and then head out. And I'm not saying this out of some sense of bleeding heart, I'm saying this because the people who attacked us were not from the school. I hate to give in to tribalism, but this situation calls for it."
The call for an ambulance attracted Benedict's attention towards David. "Well, and that too." He muttered, narrowing his eyes. "Oh my God." He tugged at Finn's sleeves. "He's got one. That boy- I think it's Bertholoson- he's got one!" He exclaimed, pointing at the tree boy, still unconscious on the floor. "We've got an actual prisoner of waaaa— I mean, a hostaaaa— you know what, there's no good way to phrase this." His joy at the discovery would trigger a blip of emotion in Zia's mind, making his elated response clearer: I'm with Flannagan somewhere in front of the stage- we've got one of them with us!
Marko watched the situation incredulously. "I'm sorry-" He spoke up, pointing at Josephine. "-if what you said is true, then these people were just attacked by superpowered people, right? Whatever it is, they must have witnessed something pretty terrifying. So why the hell are we trying to lie to them?"
He cleared his throat, looked at Tom and Kyle in the eyes, and finally said it: "we all have superpowers, and unless you have them too, you need to go to safety."
Nadine didn't even let Simon finish: he could tell the mere thought of stealing money was going to make him faint. "Just go!" He ordered, jumping over the balcony and slamming his fist on the register. "I'll do it, just go outside!" He repeated, hissing at the mostly empty register, grabbing half of what was in there. Once the money was in his hands, he vaulted over the balcony again and ran out, some bills dropping behind him.
Outside, Nadine at first walked calmly through the parking lot- "don't run don't run don't run," he hissed at Simon- until they exited the strip mall's area, at which point he finally broke into a sprint, which was underscored by the consistent chanting of one noise: "fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!"
He only stopped once they were far enough away from the strip mall, heading into the woods that surrounded the streets leading out of Oldport and immediately dropping to the ground, gasping for air. "Not used to... running..." He muttered, dropping the money, the socks, the underwear, everything he had stolen onto the ground. "... not used... to these lungs... actually." He wheezed, lying down. "Just need... to take a breath..."
Edited by Stratofarius on Dec 4th 2020 at 9:29:11 AM
An Ordinary Oddball
Wilmarina Printer, Spring Park
"That's not...v-very nice..." Mina trailed off, looking at the scene with the tree boy. "I-I don't want t-to be like the p-people who caused this a-attack, so I j-just want to say that I'm against torture and h-holding people hostage. P-Please...listen to me—oh, d-dear!"
She quickly ran over to David, helping him prop up the unconscious tree boy. "D-David, right? I-I'm Mina! You s-signed my p-petition earlier! I would deeply appreciate it if I didn't have to start another one to argue your innocence in these matters. C-Can you cup h-his head? Is he b-bleeding? I-I know basic f-first aid. I'll also...s-scan him for injuries, if that's a-alright."
</toggle vision ON>
</specify entity 'tree boy'>
</add modifier 'injuries'>
Mina's eyes glowed with concern—both literally and figuratively—as she looked the tree boy over for any serious injuries that he might have sustained in his fight with David.
Edited by JumpingFruit on Dec 31st 2020 at 2:45:30 AM
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
Tom, Group of Probable Liars — "Thought for the Day"
...okay, there's no way that's true.
Tom (who had already walked a few feet away from the group by this point) spun on his heels and (as he does) immediately launched into a long response rant. "Alright, I'll admit that trick with addressing the others was pretty clever, but there is absolutely no way what you just said was true. Either the three of you are playing a prank on passersby with a drone-controlled spear that floats...in between me and you guys?...or I really am hallucinating and you're just being mean. Either way, cut it out. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go find a more trustworthy source of information." Tom walked away, then thought of something to add and turned back around. "And if by some...cosmic miracle, what you just said was the actual truth, then 1. I'm sorry for flipping out on you like that, and 2. you should consider yourself lucky that I don't believe you, because the only things I saw were a bunch of corpses and a spear, and you almost revealed yourself. Don't give the game away." He then walked away, for real this time.
He scanned the park for people. His eyes were immediately drawn to a group of two out in the edge of the park, for two reasons: one of them had purple hair that stood out, and they were standing in a semicircle of destroyed trees. He ran over to them, passing by a second group of studentsnote , which he acknowledge with a simple "hey" and wave. Enough to make his presence known. Again, he didn't notice the spear following him.
As Tom arrived at his destination, he began to recognize these people. Xianote and Ciro. For the third time today he spoke without thinking about what he was going to say.
"So I got here really late, and I didn't see what happened, and there's this floating spear, and I don't know if I'm hallucinating it or if that group of three back there is playing a prank on me, and one of them said something about superpowers which was obviously a lie, and no one's giving me any straight answers, so I want you to tell me, and tell it to me straight: what the FUCK is going on?!"
Suggested wine pairing: pinot noir.
Surrounded by weirdoes
Kyle just gave a shrug.
"Just needed to find a place to think, and I ran into something crazy, apparently" He admitted. "I might not know what I got myself into, but if it's about power, I am covered" He commented, raising a hand. The bones changed, making the hand bigger, and the fingers become longer. Pith fur started covering it to the wrist. Nails turning into sharp claws, more resembling daggers.
A black spark came out, he changed his hand back as quickly as he could. Hopefully, it didn't hit anyone.
Wake me up at your own risk.
huzzaaaaaaaah
Getting away from the park had been a daunting task. Within minutes, the streets were swarming with people running like crazy, cars either attempting to drive through the madness or taking unsavory paths on the sidewalk. It became a kill-or-be-killed situation, to the point where Luna had to use her powers to keep people away, or to divert their attention by setting off traffic lights- and at one point even stopping a car that was about to drive into a restaurant. The only one who saw her using these powers was Ivy, who was too frantic to even comment upon them. Or at least, that's what she thought. Someone else who had been close to them had seen the whole thing, and it was up to them to decide what to do with it.
Regardless of that boy's particular decision, Luna made her way through the crowded streets, clearing the way towards Ivy's apartment. She dropped her off soon after- but not before coordinating what their excuses were going to be, and confirming that she indeed hadn't found anything incriminating in Principal Shooter's house- and began making her way back to her own place, the second-floor apartment atop a Chinese restaurant that had just closed its doors for the day (one could guess why).
Again, she didn't pay much attention as to whether anyone had followed her. But right before reaching for the door handle that separated her and the stairway up into her apartment, Luna took a moment to look back and check. Just to be safe.
God of Fire
Holy shit. Chaos had reigned fairly quickly in the aftermath of... well, whatever had just happened. But that whole incident was currently secondary (considering that people just died, maybe it shouldn't be, but here we were). No, Ryan recognised the girl who scooped Ivy up like some pretend knight - naturally. But when she shorted out machines with lightning? Well.
That was a new one.
Ryan only knew one person with bizarre 'powers', and that was himself. That others had it maybe shouldn't have been a surprise. Still, this just got a lot more interesting - and his distaste for Luna aside, he didn't know anyone else who was part of this nonsense. Well, he could've stood to be slightly less distressing about how he wanted to know more, though; this was on the level of a stalker.
All it took was switching his hair color a bit - ginger hair, and using the very power he adored, no less - and he thought he was slick enough to avoid identification. Still, if Luna looked at the end of the hall, near the stairs... maybe she'd miss it, but something was on the ground that looked vaguely like a stethoscope, if it was the color of ruddy-orange hair. Ryan was hiding just out of sight, but failed to keep the long strands of hair he was using to create this construct wholly hidden.
Happy Box Hater
A Good Distance from Spring Park
Jacob had no desire to stick around after successfully creating the opportunity of escape for himself and his mother, as well as the many other bystanders that had joined them. Even if they started attacking indiscriminately to find the one that had messed with them, it wasn't worth it to get involved at this point. Trying to stay behind now would undoubtedly cause his mother to stay with him and demand an explanation, and that would put her in danger.
Though he felt bad, he had to prioritize himself and his family.
And so the mother and son ran away, in the direction of their home. After a few minutes, though, when it felt pretty clear that no one was giving chase, the two stopped and began to catch their breath on a convenient bench. Or, at least, so Jacob could catch his breath. Mrs. Miller was fine, being far more fit than her child.
As the teen was recuperating, his mom began to speak to him. "You're alright, aren't you?" she asked, as she slid out the item she had hid in her sleeves earlier. It was now clear that it was a small ceramic knife. "I'm glad I didn't have to use this. Don't know if it would have done anything on those... people, but I would have tried if you were in danger." She put the knife away into her bag.
"Why... Do you always carry that with you, Mother?" he inquired after a moment of hesitation.
She looked surprised, like the question was unexpected... or perhaps what was unexpected was a question coming from Jacob. Her expression straightened out only a moment later, though, as she replied "In case of emergencies, yes. Though normally not this one. They had metal detectors at security, so I brought a ceramic blade." She gave him a brief conspiratorial smile and added "Sometimes rules should be bent a little, for one's piece of mind."
He didn't know how to respond to that. It was such a strange comment, coming from someone that acted so consistently rigid and strict towards him.
"Let's continue this conversation at home, sweetie. Come on, you've been resting for long enough."
Miller Residence
Once they were inside, Jacob was ushered to a seat at the kitchen table directly opposite his mother. With a serious look about her, she simply stated "You are hiding a lot of things about what just happened," with a bluntness that made it clear she wasn't just guessing. "Care to explain what you know?"
Why is a yam attacking me?
Spring Park, Stage - Fright
After the stage attacks, Zia found herself lying on the stage at the base of the piano. She had the vague sensation of fading pain from her chest and head, remembering the flashes of light as Mayor Goodman was murdered. She managed a pained groan as her vision began to resolve, her ears ringing as she struggled to breathe. The faint smell of cauterized flesh filled her nostrils. Her head was filled with screams and bursts of gunfire. All too frequently she felt voices go silent. After a moment she realised the blurry face above her belonged to her mother, currently terrified but trying to stay composed as she shook Zia's arm.
She tried to move, her arms heavy and far too numb. Brayne gasped for breath, heart thundering, "M-mum I..." She tried, hyperventilating as panic continued to swell in the crowd. Zia could faintly hear Ciro's voice, and Ben's constant flurry of notions, somewhere amongst them. She started to force herself to sit up, immediately feeling lightheaded but forcing herself to focus on her surroundings. The rest of the band, save Ethan, were huddled behind Dana Brayne and surrounded by a flurry of frightened thoughts. There were no thoughts from Ethan or his new friends, however. "The ear pieces..." She muttered between gasps, her mother pulling her carefully closer to the rest of the band and glancing to their captors.
"Ethan, why are you doing this?" Dana pleaded to her student, trying to keep herself between him and the band while keeping Zia from collapsing, "Hell, how are you doing this..."
Zia was gripping the side of her head, trying to regain enough focus to push down the alien panic in her mind, "Those... Ear pieces..." She fixed her eyes on Ethan though he was distracted, "Where.. did you... get them?" Her mother glanced at her quizzically, but in an instant a new wave of excitement came from the band as Ethan fled. Dana did her best to shepherd the students as Zia pushed herself to stand up. Ciro? Ben? I'm so sorry, I... I blacked out. The panic... Those weird ear pieces. She managed to send, sensing them at the edge of stage.
"Mum, go with them... I'll catch up." Dana shot her daughter a look that seemed to scream 'over my dead body'. Zia sighed, "Okay..." She stumbled backstage alongside the band, sensing Ciro wasn't far away. It only took a few moments for the terrified band to distract Dana enough for Zia to slip away and after Ciro's presence. Brayne was much steadier now, helped by a point to focus on. Ciro, I can't look into their minds when they have those earpieces on. She wiped some sweat from her brow and made her way off the stage, spotting Ciro by a semi-circle of destroyed trees.
"Ciro!" She sprinted towards him, stumbling here and there.
“Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”