Dawn of a New Age - Oldport Blues

Marko's Shop

Perturbation. Even when told to the face that Harriet attempted to murder his friend, Marko did not lash out. Still silent, a pensive mood carved into her face, the occasional tortured whisper escaping her lips, her inert form belied a storm inside her head. Just punch me, she screamed internally. Punch, kick, claw, do back to me everything I did to Devin, just - just DO SOMETHING!

She did nothing to deserve this kindness from Marko anyway, he can take it away just as easily - and in fact, it would only be right of him to at least throw her out for what she did.

Slowly, however, the growing pain in Marko's words let them worm their way through the singular haze of thought, as if they resonated at such a frequency to pass through the haze. The shape of his anguish formed clearly in Harriet's mind, a few of Dr. Pathik's teachings tenuously pairing with it. Maybe they'd both have some form of release for their misdeeds.

"..maybe you could have, maybe you couldn't. It doesn't...really matter much now since it's in the past, she muttered, scoffing at herself in the process. Here she is, touting stuff everyone probably heard at least ten times before, when she does not even believe in the words in the first place - though her following statement would sound far less rehearsed. "If it helps...you can hit me. Hit me until you feel...better. You need to- need this."

Edited by AtlasStratus on Oct 14th 2019 at 11:50:15 PM

Hospital Waiting Room

Since pretty much the moment he’d woken up that morning, Hyeon had been brought face to face with one inexplicable twist of fate after another: a slimeball searching for a scoop in the school’s parking lot, a literal blood trail leading from his classroom to a bomb threat, and a pile of demonic vengeance and angry teeth that used to be something that passed for a student around these parts. But at that moment, in that hospital waiting room, as he glanced back at what might very well be his second-least favorite person on the whole planet Earth, he saw something that still managed to catch him off-guard. It wasn’t the poorly-disguised, contemptuous loathing of someone trying to save their own skin after endangering dozens, if not more lives; it wasn’t even the usual instinctive bile that surged up around the two of them like the fields of two oppositely-poled magnets. No, it was something else, something that just on this day alone he figured he’d seen enough of for an entire lifetime.

It was fear.

After a moment more of bonding with the seat neighbor he actually liked, Hyeon gradually peeled his stance away to face forwards once again, his leg motion almost mimicking hers in the way it swung over the other and rested gently on his knee. His hand closest to her rose up, stilled in place, then came down—

—in an attempt to rest on her far shoulder, before abruptly breaking out into an earnest laugh as if Jae’d just got done telling a really good joke. He would partially lean in as he rocked in place, the noise cackling out his throat enough to make Kwang’s head peek out and take notice before retreating back inwards, before the Korean teen eventually came to a petering stop in regard to both his chuckling, and his position just a hair too close to his upperclassman opposite. “I’ll make you a deal.” He would say quietly, the flaking steel of his words arriving within the fluffy mask of his residual laughter like a solid tungsten birthday cake. “I won’t tell everyone what your friend told me—” Hyeon would pause, long enough to raise a hand and wave at Kev in a different part of the room, raising his eyebrows to suggest that the boy wave back. “—while loitering on the school’s rooftop with enough chlorine to shock the entire bay, if you do me a favor and go absolutely anywhere fucking else.” Hyeon smacked his free hand against his knee in a fit of fake glee as if to punctuate the request, while his far hand would attempt to tense in place atop Jae’s far shoulder. “It’s nothing personal, it’s just your face. I can’t stand looking at it.” Hyeon would say, in a parting, almost casual murmur, before then finally attempting to pull back entirely and look toward Jem, as he pointed a joyful finger in Jae’s direction as if to say ‘Can you believe her?’ while the closest thing to an earnest smile he could manage was slapped across his face. “This girl, am I right?” He would say, interrupting a laughing bark, before glancing in her direction one more time, his look partially guarded by his sunglasses but unmistakably waiting for a response.

Edited by Uncandescent on Oct 15th 2019 at 3:41:06 PM

"Uh, no duh, Curly." Carly chuckled, pointing at the bed she was currently resting on top of, all nice and snugly. "I ain't got any plans about getting out of here and doing a suplex or anything, so don't worry about that." She laughed, but Ciro might not have heard the intricacies of her boisterous laugh, as the thump thump began to grow slightly louder.

Once his hands wrapped around the bedsheets, the thumping subsided slightly, but in a different way: suddenly, it was as if Ciro could sense where they were coming from. It wasn't the precise room, no, it was more of a vague sensation, like someone following the sounds of a lost phone's ringtone. If he followed it, he could find its origin, and there was something about the thumping, something about the way it came from both his head and the floor of the hospital (somehow), that made it clear the source was not only close by, but it was also moving.

Luna's nose wrinkled, and she did her best to not give away just how much Jacob's words were peeving her off. "Well, uh, you're the only one I'm qualified to deal with at the moment, especially cuz—" She waved over in Zia's general direction. "—I got no idea what's going on with her over there, and I don't really want to figure that out."

She raised an eyebrow at Ivy's attempts at delivering some sort of compliment. "Words, Ivy, c'mon, use your words." Luna grunted, crossing her arms and looking down at her friend, before rolling her eyes and sighing out loud. "I think she wants to say you're not too much of a robot or something like that. Is that it?" She would have said more, but Hyeon's sudden laughter prompted her to turn around and focus on that mess. "See? You want me to do that?" She asked out loud to Jacob, waving at the sunglasses-wearing teen.

Jae, by her part, didn't do much to fight back against Hyeon's disguised rage, just looking at him with a mix of confusion and disgust, wincing a little as he patted (would that even be the right word for this strange situation) her shoulder. "What did he..." She muttered, turning towards Kev. Their eyes met. Silence followed. And then, Jae jumped up on her feet, pointing a finger at him as she began to walk in his direction- a stride that unmistakably said I'm going to kick your ass. "Kev, you little SHIT. What did you do?!"

There was a mutter, a blubber, an attempt at forming some kind of response, but Kev soon gave that up. Before long, his hands wrapped around the person closest to him, who just happened to be the currently rather shy Ivy, and he shoved her in Jae's direction, hoping the girl would serve as some kind of obstacle or barrier or even a momentary distraction. Either way, Kev's next step would be a shining display of bravery, as he suddenly turned around and tried to run deeper into the hospital, prompting the worker at a nearby desk to look up in confusion.

Rhys' 'kind words'- which earned a wince and a very careful stare from Emmanuel, who was hoping to guide him into saying the right thing (but forgot to actually speak up or voice his discontent)- had an effect on Marko: he lowered his arm, streaking his cheeks with his tears, and there was a visible effort on his part to stop crying as he listened to Rhys. The first part of his words made something flicker behind his eyes- rage, perhaps- but the second part calmed him down considerably, until...

"H-h-hit you?!" Marko parroted, his voice getting higher with outrage. "I would— I would never do that to anyone, especially not a girl, and especially not a girl who clearly wants to be hit, because... that's two different kinds of wrong!" He rubbed his eyes with his arms, focusing on Rhys. "Can your friend take us to the hospital? We gotta go there and do something beforeeee..." He trailed off, the thought of what Devin might do making his face grow pale again, and he chose instead to simply mimic a bite to his own neck.

"...Guess...that makes sense...I just assumed-OW-ack- yep, there's the spot, ow..."

"...Uh...no, I d...um...gimme a sec..." I close my eyes, try relax, try to follow my breath like mum would, try to make it look like I'm adjusting to the pain in my chest. Which I am, totally definitely, but I need to stall for a second or two now. How am I supposed to lie on the spot about this? I just HAD to get hit with an injury that can't get easily explained away by conventional sciences, couldn't I? Need to think of something, need to think my way through this and keep up the masquerade...such as it is at this point. I glance over at whatsisname, he seems tense, gripping the bed like his life depended on it. I just hope I'm making a case for me not being the threat he thinks I am... You know what, sod it, I'm overthinking this lie. Crazy shit is happening everywhere and I'm about as confused as everybody else.

"...Might've...Might've been shocked, I guess...All I know is...I was scared and confused, didn't know what was happening, then someone hit me with something...right in the chest...Thought it was a punch, with how hard it hit...Felt like a buzzing too, though, come to think...Maybe the...g-guy had a taser on him, I dunno...Could've had a whole live cable in his hand, and I'd be too panicked to notice..."

Which reminds me...that day in the nurse's office...that guy who attacked, who was wearing a mask... Was there ever really a guy there? Am I totally sure I wasn't just making that up, like I am right now? Right now, of course, I'm covering for someone. No sense in snitching on Luna directly so "the guv'mint cut her up". But right then, back there...what if I was covering...for me...and I never even knew about it?

...Do they see that shadow on the wall?...

Hospital - Patient's Room, I Skip A Heartbeat

A hand slamming up from the bedside and over his chest confirmed to Ciro that the heartbeat definitely wasn't his own- his was too fast, the nerves in his body acting up again and helping keep his exhaustion at bay. He couldn't stay here. Something like vertigo was making him sick to the stomach, and he knew, somehow, that it wasn't going to go away until he dealt with the beating in his head.

But he couldn't leave- Carlie, Simon, and the nurse were all right there. The other two patients might not cause a ruckus about it, but the orderly certainly would. He was too unfocused to get the proper gist of Simon and the nurse's conversation, the words slipping in and out his head, but he didn't get the sense that the nurse was about to leave. How could he slip by? Maybe by... but no, not where normal people could see him...

"Uh, sorry for interrupting..." He turned to the nurse and Simon, and he was sorry, he didn't want to delay Simon's treatment, but it wasn't like he could do anything to help when he could barely understand what they were talking about. Ciro didn't have to feign meekness as he continued, "...But is there a bathroom in here, or nearby? I was just... writhing on the floor a little while ago, and I kind've feel... I'd really like to clean up a little, please."

Hospital Waiting Room

"Well, that's only your personal opinion on the matter," Jacob retorted. "Personally, I don't think my problems are so severe that I even need help. I'm perfectly capable of dealing with everything alone." He completely ignored what Ivy tried to say, as he had no idea what her broken up statement was meant to be. Luna was more of a noticeable person in this conversation.

Though, assuming that Luna's interpretation of her friend was correct, then there was some merit in responding. "There shouldn't have ever been any doubt. Just because I'm reserved and goal oriented doesn't mean that I have no emotions," he said, scoffing lightly. "But you're definitely right about that mess. I'd think getting them far away from each other is the only way to stop it at this point."

Suddenly, Kevin decided to shove Ivy and use it as an opportunity to run away. Jacob had to stop himself from automatically putting him into a loop to stop his escape, due to the assorted witnesses that could see it if he did. "She really shouldn't be that hard on him..." he remarked, shaking his head lightly. "He might have made a terrible mistake, but at least he realized it once we talked some sense into him. Now he's going to go through that whole nervously guilty wreck song and dance again."

Hospital Waiting Room

Hyeon waited, with held breath and a surefire conviction, for a spark of realization and understanding to skid across Jae’s eyes—but it didn’t really work that way.

Instead, she went and got super-duper pissed.

Kwang’s head peeked out over the lip of Josephine’s purse once more while Hyeon shot to his feet, the surface of the animal’s unbroken black eye reflecting both the tension and the purpose in Hyeon’s form while he surged forward toward the girl stalking away—only to meet an entirely different girl that was shoved in his direction instead, which he then pushed off to the side once more in reflex, as gently as he could under the circumstances. Which was, admittedly, not very. Still, if the maneuver succeeded to any degree of success, Ivy would find herself either in or very near the same seat that Hyeon had vacated seconds prior, with a furry face springing up out of the purse’s cover to attempt to climb onto the bespectacled student’s shoulder and press his nose gently against her ear.

Hyeon, pretty much at a standstill from dealing with one of his classmates as a projectile, followed the departing bulk of Kev with his eyes while the other boy booked it for greener pastures, less concerned with wherever the boy’s nervous flight might take him than whatever rash thing he might do once he hit the ground. But his gaze eventually, inevitably, circled back to Jae once the other boy turned the corner out of sight, feeling his tongue begin to whip and hiss against his teeth like it had suddenly gotten the form of a snake in addition to its language. “Let’s list the facts, shall we?” He said, his words coming out with the same consistency and velocity as a wad of spit hurled at Jae’s feet, even as he absolutely forgot about the need to keep his voice down. “Either Mr. Tall-Dark-And-Scary gives so little a shit about you, one of the only six assholes who’s ever been able to put up with his bullshit for his entire high school career, that he let you walk into the middle of that shitstorm that we just got done being slapped around in. Or. You knew about it ahead of time, didn’t bother to tell anyone about it, but still felt so guilty that you couldn’t stop from going in and rescuing your overgrown gorilla of a BFF!” Hyeon’s hand surged out into the direction of Jem, knowing that his words were more than just a little unfair, even while he began to understand that Kev definitely wasn’t the only one in danger of doing something rash. “Kev’s spine might’ve fallen out through his ass, but at least he came through when it counted. What’s your excuse?” Hyeon stared Jae down, her reflection and expression duplicated in the lenses of his sunglasses, daring her to either defend herself, or to make a move.

Rhys considered.

Truant Kids Play Hooky In Hospital. Amidst the chaos of another attack against the school, this one of seemingly outrageous proportion, it could be a long shot that anyone realized the four of them had vanished. It was still a risk, though, one Rhys wasn't prepared to make. Although...

Nurses Take Night Shift - Permanently. Right now, Devin, who for all intents and purposes is most likely a vampire, is laying in a hospital bed, surrounded by innocents. If he succumbed to his hunger, his growing thirst for blood, he'd end up killing somebody. Worst case, he'd make more vampires.

He was Patient Zero to an incredibly possible catastrophe.

With a quick glance to Emmanuel, Rhys sighed, having come to a conclusion he wish he hadn't. "No. We shouldn't rely on Emmanuel to get us there. There's bound to be a lot of attention on the hospital right now, we'd be seen running in. And he already got us all out of the school and to here. He needs his strength."

There was a clipboard on a shelf, only filled in halfway, no doubt a task Marko was doing before they all came along. Rhys took the pen lying on top and pocketed it. He'll need it.

"Besides," he continued, speaking to the room, "it's not as if we can get him out. We need to assume the police are going to question students involved with what happened today. Can't loiter or roam easily. So, I suggest..."

He raised his broken hand, now turning a purple color. "...we kill two birds with one stone."

Mirielle || Hospital || Guess who's back?

Miri had never hated hospitals before. But sitting there, with the lines of black criss-crossing in her vision, as strings started to vanish, and others appeared... It made her wish she had never been here. When Jae had suggested taking Jem to the hospital, she had been so desperate to leave so sick of watching strings, watching lives dissolve in front of her, that she had said yes. It was the only thing she could think to say, as a gunshot echoed, and a set of strings disappeared right in front of her, leaving only small wisps of something like wool, small strands of the threads, for her to try and salvage. It was enough, as she had stood there, trying to grabs at the wisps, before they too vanished into nothingness.

But it wasn't enough, and Miri couldn't shake the feeling that she could have, should have, done something. If she just had a handle on her powers, if she just understood what she could do better, maybe she could have helped all of them.

To the others, it looked like she was out of it, like a fugue state, some kind of trance, as it was all she could do to just watch the strings in the hospital change and shift. It was awful. This place was filled with the dead and the dying, and Miri had seen enough death to last her for the rest of her life. Her fingers itched to do something, to change something, but, despite everything she had done in the lead up to finals, she still didn't understand enough.

"Shut up, Ben," she said, finally, surfacing from her trance just in time to hear Benedict insult Zia. Her tone was unusually snappish, unusually annoyed. "This isn't the time for lectures. People are dead. I... " Miri took a breath, forcing a smile to her face. "We shouldn't argue, okay?" Her voice was back to normal, almost, a bit more high-pitched than it would normally be. She had to hope that everything would work out.

Irene - Hospital Waiting Room

"It makes no difference in any case," Irene said. "We can and should judge Brayne for her actions, with or without her powers. But the same holds true for you as well, and right now it is your conduct I find obnoxious."

Evidently Irene was happy to leave it there, because having said that Irene pulled forth her kindle again and resumed reading.

Edited by joergenjetsam on Dec 1st 2019 at 10:35:04 PM

Marko's Shop

"-uh - okay, then," Harriet responded, visibly taken aback by such a vehement refusal. But if that was what he wants, then...disappointment...?

The mention of visiting Devin perked her up a bit, however, especially given Marko's dread of what could happen. Rhys seems fine with it - she didn't want to rely on Emmanuel to get there, anyway - plus, he's talking about some plan to do something. Purple skin, make it look bruised, maybe even gangrenous...

"So...we pretend to be injured or so, get inside without suspicion, and then find Devin?"

The nurse stared down Simon as the teen explained his situation, his face as shapeless and as passive as those two things could be. "Yeah." He muttered, adjusting the glove he was currently wearing before straightening Simon's back. "Breathe in and breathe out, please." He asked, rolling Simon's shirt up a little so he could place his gloved hand against his lungs. Once Simon did as asked, the nurse's facade broke a little, as he raised one eyebrow, then another, perplexed.

"Huh." He whispered under his breath, before pulling Simon's shirt back down. "You seem to be— well, I wouldn't say perfect condition, but your body seems to be healing... that is strange." He removed his gloves and glanced at Ciro. "Yeah, down the corridor, to your right. Should be the second door." Back to Simon. "As for you... we should call your family. For now, you just have to sit there and relax. Don't stress out. We'll contact your doctor too."

Stepping ahead of Ciro, the nurse took a right and then sprinted lightly down the corridor, past the bathroom door, taking a left right before a set of imposing double doors... which were currently the only thing between Ciro and the source of the thumping, which now seemed to be moving towards him, specifically.

Kev's luck didn't last for long. Before he could burst through the double doors into the hospital, the tall receptionist held him back with just one hand, getting into a rather angry conversation with him that was inaudible from the distance between them and the group. But then again, he wasn't the focus of everyone's attention in the room.

"Oh God will you SHUT UP!" Jae roared, clutching the sides of her face as she spun around to face Hyeon, all pretense of innocence gone in the drop of a hat. She raised her hand, jabbing not a finger but a full palm at the other teen's chest, trying to push him back as she laid onto him with the kind of overblown anger he had avoided displaying before. "Who the fuck are you to tell me what to do, asshole?! Why don't you go back to crying about how much you wanna leave town, bitch, instead of bothering me?"

Jae prepared to push Hyeon back again, but this time, she stopped, clenching her fists, seething with rage. "Yeah, I fucking knew about it. But look around you, fuckhead. This whole place has gone insane in the past few weeks. I'm not going to pretend that I'm a hero or whatever bullshit you're trying to be. I thought he wasn't gonna do it, but then he did it, and I was only going to do one thing: get my friend out of this mess." She waved her hand at Jem. "And I would do it again. Fuck this town, fuck you, and fuck everyone else. Besides, all that happened is that some things blew up in the school and some people got a little hurt. Why the fuck are you crawling up my ass?! This doesn't change anything!"

Silence followed Jae's remarks, especially from the side of the room that had congregated around Zia. A very telling silence. Luna crossed her arms, trying to somehow shrink into her shirt, as if she was afraid of Jae's hawk-like stare, which was now moving from person to person... until it landed on Benedict.

The haughtier boy sighed, placed his hands on his hips and raised an eyebrow. "Except something did change. Or someone, that is." He said, adjusting his vest. "I'm right, aren't I? The contextual clues are too hard to miss." Satisfied to have something else to focus on, he turned towards Ivy and Luna. "There's a key person missing. Why, the past seven times I've seen Engel, she had a particular presence close to her. There's, of course, the possibility that this girl is simply late, or busy. But, again, considering her relationship to Engel, Black, Brayne, Jung and even Havilland- plus, we all saw her early today- there's a reason why Bauer is not here, isn't there? Why, I'd even go as far as to say she was arrested. Perhaps, considering her proclivities, maybe even blamed for today's events."

With a self-righteous smile, Benedict swooped his phone from his pocket and typed too fast for anyone else to register. "Why, yes, look at this. The local news has confirmed exactly what I said!" A smug grin spread across his lips as he read. "The suspect Nadine Bauer was known for her anti-social attitude and for vandalism, as well as..." The smile began to melt away. "Was?... She died after threatening police officers who were responding to the events at the school..."

And as Benedict retreated into the news, Jae's eyes snapped back towards Hyeon, except this time she took one, two, three steps away from him before raising her fingers, ready to snap them. "Back off, back the fuck off." She warned, though now her voice was much more muted, controlled, frightened. "I snap my fingers, something's bad gonna happen to you. I know it, I tested it. Don't make me use it on you, asshole. Back. Off."

"Well," Emmanuel began, gritting his teeth and wincing a little. "I think I'm too fast for people to see me, plus I feel like I could definitely run you all inside— I'd just need to eat something real quick, maybe... maybe a couple of burgers, yeah, that'd give me the energy, and I could definitely take all of you inside, and it wouldn't be that much of a problem..."

As Emmanuel trailed off, talking about several other subjects under his breath, Marko gasped at the sight of the broken hand. "That's... eugh... we need..." He looked around, not paying attention to Rhys' stealing of the pen, and instead going for a fridge that seemed to contain the employees' lunches. Grabbing an old slightly dirty towel, Marko threw a couple cubes of ice inside, wrapped it up and held it out for Rhys to use. "It'll reduce... swelling."

"Look, I can appreciate you being careful. Trust me, I can see why being careful would help us here." Marko said, staring down Rhys in the most calm and fatherly way possible. "But if Devin is what I think he is, then we don't have time. We're gonna have to be quick... we're gonna have to be..." He sighed, reluctantly muttering the last word. "... careless." And then, he added towards Harriet (without actually looking at her). "And don't ask people to hurt you. That's not nice— wanting to be hurt, that is."

Edited by Stratofarius on Dec 5th 2019 at 11:08:51 AM

Oops! Ivy managed to find herself pushed onto the nearest bench. It was probably Kevin's fault, but knowing her there was a chance that she had just fallen forward solely to cement her place as the lowest being in the universe with more comic pratfalls. At least it wasn't...

Ahhh...who...

Ivy was stopped from her usual embarrassment routine, distracted by trying to identify the face of the person she fell by. Jay...no, that was a boy's name, so Ja...Jack...Joy. Yeah, Joy, that was it. The other end of her pausing was the fact that some evil thing had latched onto her face, tickling her ear with nefarious intent, wet nose, scratching claws...

Between that and Joy's outburst, she was very content with not moving and pretending she didn't exist, which isn't much of a change in routine, to be honest. Hyeon was shouting at her (when did Hyeon get this mad? When did Hyeon ever get mad? He kinda just laughs at everything, right?) and she was shouting back about some stuff that she wasn't privy to. This all culminated in Benedict Benedicting all over the place, smugging in her direction (while she was still bench-bound mind you; there's no way she'd get back up with a squirrel-creature on her) and...

...announcing...Nadine's...death...?

"Oh, okay," Ivy said right as Benedict trailed off into silence, somehow more clearly than almost any other sentence she had uttered beforehand. Unusually so. She looked up at Benedict and asked "...is that...uhhh...the r-real news, you know?"

Miri || Hospital || Mad Oracle, much?

Miri looked down at her hands. The room was a mess to her, criss-crossing lines of black and white and yellow, and she wished that she had a better idea of how they worked. "It's true, Ivy." she said, not loud, but it seemed to echo. "My power... I see people's relationships, past and future, in the form of strings. Benedict, you hate Hyeon, but you still have a crush on him. And I saw Nadine's strings vanish, right in front of my eyes. I should've been able to do something, to save her, but I didn't. I couldn't. I... I have to live with that."

"Jae, I know you were close to Nadine, but...hurting Hyeon isn't going to bring her back."

Hospital Waiting Room

...Well, everything was going crazy in a hurry. Jacob vastly regretted not getting out while he could. There were many other things he could be doing right now to distract... to more productively use his valuable time. Yes, that was what he should be doing. Not dealing with this mess.

Not facing the fact that apparently someone had died.

He didn't care about Nadine Bauer. Not even a tiny bit. There wasn't a single part of him that felt upset that someone he had gone to the same school as died. If there was, it was just because it would mean that the repercussions of this awful day were going to be a lot more drastic than previously expected. After all, he didn't have any positive impressions of that girl. There was no reason to be even the slightest bit shaken up about it. Certainly there was no reason to feel disturbed just because someone died. That would be ridiculous.

The dust around Jacob began to flicker around nearly imperceptibly, being shifted mere moments back in time.

Everyone was getting worked up. Even he could feel the tension. The teen stood up from his seat, shaking slightly. "No... No, we don't know that she died," he said quietly, trying to only talk to himself. "Not even if I saw her body... There'd be no way to know. How can death be sure after Barbra?" Yes, that's right. Nothing was certain. He needed to keep thinking like that. Something so impacting couldn't just happen so simply.

"Right..." he told himself, before turning to face Mirielle, the one corroborating this impossible story. "How can you be so sure of this? Have you seen Barbra Dixon recently? She... died, but it didn't stick. We can't just... trust your claims. How do we know you're being honest, or really understand what you can do? It sounds very cryptic to me! None of us got an instruction manual!"

Jacob turned towards Jae for a moment. Why were they all talking about these things so openly? This was a public space, for crying out loud! Anyone could listen, remember, report things back. "And you! You stop making such vague threats!" the now irate individual exclaimed. "Something bad happens? That's way too open-ended! What if he dies? Why do you need to risk adding even more to the pile of things that went wrong today?!" Everyone was dangerous. Nothing was safe. How could they all even suggest they might use their abilities after everything that had happened today?

...

Oh. He had gotten worked up. Jacob wasn't sure why, but he had. Fresh air, that was what he needed. "I should go..." he stated quietly, to no one in particular, and moved to where he had been sitting so he could grab his bag.

Patient's Room -> To A Very Safe And Harmless Place Probably

"Thank you." Ciro said to the nurse as the latter bustled out the room, leaving the three students to their own devices. Before leaving himself, he turned to Simon, the confusion he felt clear on his face. It seemed obvious now that the Simon before him wasn't the same Simon that he'd faced earlier- unless he was a really good actor, but that wasn't a possibility that crossed Ciro's mind. Maybe his newfound power was having a drastic effect on him? That'd just be another reminder that none of them could really comprehend what they were dealing with.

He couldn't just forget the danger that Simon had put them all into, but... "Hey, can we..." Ciro cleared his throat, half to clean his voice and half out of awkwardness. "Can I talk to you later? About what happened. If there's some sort of problem, then... I'd like to help, if I could."

"But, uh, get some rest for now, okay?" Having already said the same to Carlie, Ciro offered a nod to them both and then pushed off his bed, having to take a second to adjust to the dizziness in his head.

Thump thump

He all but shambled to the door of the room, taking a second there to catch his breath and right his posture. He'd be sent back in here if it was obvious that he was in pain. Scrubbing at his face until he felt just a little more rejuvenated, Ciro pushed open the door and then made his way down the corridor, trying his best to act like it was perfectly fine for him to be there.

The bathroom was where the nurse had said it would be. Ciro hesitated outside the door, wondering if he should at least nip in to splash some water on his face. But then the heart beat again, and like a fishing line it reeled him closer to the set of double doors. His headache had only gotten worse the closer that he got, until it felt like his skull was trying to split in two. Maybe confronting this mystery would put an end to its effect on him. It wasn't likely, but he could hope.

With a deep intake of breath, Ciro made sure no-one was paying particular attention to him before he shouldered the door open and slipped inside.

Thump thump

This stung. The hand, sure, but that was something Rhys was getting used to, like a sore under the tongue. No, what stung was how swiftly his idea, his sweeping monologue and (as far as he was aware) cool way of going about it, was shut down. So it was with a bitter frown that Rhys took the ice-pack and held it to his broken hand.

"Well," he snapped, already starting to withdraw into the shelves' corner and into his mind, "you obviously know better, don't you. Big guy responsible for a liquor store affords you tons of authority, doesn't it." Retreating from the conversation and settling his eyes on the rows of dusty alcohol bottles, Rhys was just about to check out of this socializing when his errant gaze flicked to the tables where Harriet lay.

Then, his brow tightened. "Both of you," he added. "One of you let their friends go about their schemes and endangered an entire school, the other mutilated a kid and endangered an entire hospital. Surely, one of you knows much better than I, the only reason any of us got out at my own detriment." His tone grew harder, nastier, until his eyes shone with renewed energy, only this time with clear anger as they went between the two targets of his rant. He quickly turned and exited the storeroom without another word, not even a passing look to Emmanuel or Chris.

Who needed them? He could deal with Devin himself.

Finally, my parents get to know what's happening. Not looking forward to the hurricane coming my way when Mum wants to know...well, maybe I can mitigate that. "Tell 'em...Tell them some friends got me here, out of danger. Tell them I'm okay...more than anything, tell them I'm okay..." Sit...relax...no stressing...like that's easier done than said. When in history has anyone ever stopped stressing out just because someone told them not to?

I look up at the boy. I feel like there's shame in my eyes, even if I've got no real earthly idea what I have to be shameful of. "...Don't...know if I'll have any answers...Love to know what the f-hell is going on myself...Guess I'd....be okay with...someone helping me out with that..."

Then off he goes, to lord knows where. He seemed to be swaying, like maybe his head was messed up somehow. Should I be worried? Should I have asked him what's wrong. I should've asked him what's wrong. Dumb. Idiot. Too late now. Well, he's gone now. No one but me and...crazy girl I don't know the name of.

Hospital Waiting Room

Some people, somewhere in the room, were saying things. But they weren’t important—they couldn’t be, or else they wouldn’t all be blurring together into an unintelligible whine, that grew in volume and intensity as he stood there just watching Jae’s lips move while she mouthed something about hurting him that he just couldn’t hear because it was all so goddamn loud—

That high-pitched wail suddenly seemed to burst, fully-formed, into the real world, as a precursor to Hyeon bending over once more into a series of hysteric chuckles. “Pffffffffffthahahahahahahahahaha, hahahahahahahahahahhaaaaaa…” Hyeon reached down to brace his hands on his knee as he doubled over, jerking a hand up agreeably in Ivy’s direction, scrunching up his face like the incredulous victim of an MTV show prank. “She’s not dead." Hyeon would say as he came back up to standing, somehow making those three words sound like the most obvious conclusion tenable by the English language. “Don’t be ridiculous.” He marched determinedly back over to his former seat, reaching down to where he’d left his phone on the space between his chair and the next—allowing both Ivy and Josephine to see his hand wavering faintly as it scrabbled across the screen, clumsily searching for an edge.

His thumb sharply swept to the side, cutting off the remnants of the melody that had still been playing in Josephine’s ears, before yanking at the device just a bit too roughly and letting the headphone jack cord jerk free to drape across Ivy’s lap, ironically returning it to its original owner in the process. He held up the phone, screen facing out, displaying the chat conversation that he and Nadine had been having that morning, showcasing it around the room like some kind of definitive proof even though the vast majority of those present were almost definitely too far away to actually see anything. “See, here,” he insisted, jamming a finger insistently at the direction of the lines of text, “we agreed we’d meet after class today. And then I was going to ask her, how—” He swallowed, tried again. “—ask her to tell her mom, about everything that we’ve been going through, because—" He lowered his head as he spoke until he gradually began to shake it, the small visible space of his eyes behind his sunglasses beginning shimmering with a sudden wetness. "—because I spent, alllllll of Sunday, I was looking for Amy, the entire fucking day, and she’s gone, she wasn’t anywhere in the goddamn woods or anywhere else we—” He brought his hands up and ran them through his hair, before he curled his arms up and out into an overemphasized shrug. “—her parents don’t know. Her parents might never know, about any of this, because whatever—whenever—it happened after that night," he said, gesturing with short, stabbing motions at everyone in the room who would know what he was talking about, "on that night, because of that night, and if something happened to Nadine, I wasn’t just going to let Nalia—!”

At some point, he wasn’t sure when, his finger had slipped to the Call button, and he’d lifted the phone up to his ear, staring ahead while his vision landed blankly on a section of wall, every repeat of the phone’s ringer sounding identical to the distant sound of thunder he’d heard on the school’s rooftop. Once he broke through to her voicemail, the moment he heard her past self say anything at all, he’d hurl his phone at the ground with everything he had, the back casing snapping cleanly off before disappearing under the nearest chair, along with the skittering battery and the rest of the phone’s components.

“FUCK!”

The word reverberated, just as loud as he could manage, but not nearly as loud as he’d hoped. His knees suddenly sagged underneath him, before bending towards one another and simply giving way, leaving him to land heavily backward into the nearest seat. The heels of his hands pushed past his sunglasses and up into his eyes, his fingers digging into his scalp before his body was wracked with a series of full-body shudders, tears finally flowing out from behind his hands to collect on the lenses of his glasses one anguished droplet at a time.

Edited by Uncandescent on Dec 18th 2019 at 2:12:23 PM

Hospital Waiting Room:

It all started with the bomb.

While Hyeon did not outright say that word, Josephine Engel still managed to realize what the boy meant. ‘A bomb… Yes, the reason all of this happened in the first place. And the name of the enemy is Daigo… Hiraga.’ It was another name that Josephine had heard for the first time and, as one of the very few cases, Josephine felt relieved that she had not met him at all.

“Daigo...Daigo...Daigo…”

She whispered inaudibly and barely moved her lips to the point very few could notice her mutterings. In Josephine's mind, this was one of the beings that caused one additional discord in an already chaotic life to birth a nightmare. 'Daigo Hiraga, Sarah Travers and the snakes… Are they all connected? Working together for some purpose…'

Josephine covered her face, as she thought tears would fall from her eyes. They did not. For all she thought about was not Nadine's death. Rather, beings that paved the way for her death. Her hands shook a little, as Josephine wished to get the thoughts of them out of her head forever. However, she knew that it would be an impossibility.

Intense hatred of Hyeon and Jae was apparent to her, like a fire near a gunpowder. While she reckoned that Hyeon's contempt towards the girl was due to her involvement with the enemy, but she soon conjectured that it may have been more than that.

Hatred…

For reasons Josephine could not know outright, she felt that sensation was familiar. In fact, even the words and actions both took were familiar. As if she herself had said and done such things. Because of this, even though she did not have a full picture, she could not help herself but side with Hyeon. Even though there was a possibility in her mind that Hyeon was the unreasonable one.

Why did this hatred drew her curiosity, enough to suppress the melancholy that permeated her mind before? That was a question Josephine herself did not have answers to. Kwang's movements, and her attempts to soothe the animal barely managed to distract her from this uncomfrotable question… Until Benedict.

Benedict's spear of a truth quelled this fiery curiosity, replacing it with a cold splash of truth. For a moment, she stared at Benedict with dislike, but soon forfeited. For he was right. In addition, she was both delighted at and contemptuous towards Benedict for emphasizing Nadine's closeness to her. The empty space near her was all the more noticeable because of this.

If only it was all a dream. Her death, bomb, Travers, superpowers… All of it, nothing more than fiction. But, it would also mean salvation named Nadine would not be there for her.

An ice formed around her left hand, which she quickly covered. To Hyeon's despair, Josephine wished to express sympathy and empathy towards him. She wished to hug him. No words were needed, just a reassurance she also wanted.

Then, her eyes set upon Jae. Something that this girl had said itched her mind, like a particularly nasty kind of worm that ate flesh… until she remembered the source of this. Her fear at the news of Nadine's death. That girl was perfectly aware this would happen, for she did not deny her involvement with it.

Josephine muttered with a voice as cold as the ice which covered her hand.

"Don't you move a finger, or you won't be able to move anything."

Carly, the crazy girl whose name Simon didn't know, had a grin so big and bright it might have burned a hole in Simon's back. "So, like, did you really get a shock to your system? And..." She tried to lean in, which went against the whole idea of the bandages and the hospital bed, and so she gave up and decided to just wiggle her eyebrows and nod for Simon to come closer. "And that healing up fast thing... what's your secret?" She winked, winced, and then winked again. "C'mon, c'mon, tell me!"

Ciro didn't open the door, because right before he could do that, the door opened for him, revealing the source of his headache: Devin. Except the boy didn't look right, or anything resembling his usual self. He was hunched over, his already unruly black hair even more messy, his skin now having dulled to a sickening grey, as if color had been drained from every possible spot in his body... every spot but his eyes, which were pulsing with an unnatural red, drowning out the black of his irises. His lips hung open- as if holding a cigarette that wasn't there- letting loose oodles of drool that splashed down on the floor.

His eyes vaguely wandered into Ciro's direction, his breath heaving in sync with the thumping in the other teen's head. "You feel it too, right?" He mumbled, his voice raspy and drawled out, as if half of his body was dealing with a heavy cold whilst the other half struggled to catch up. "It's 'im... telling us to come..." He muttered, before lurching forward and letting out a sickly cough into his mouth, drops of blood adding some color to his skin.

Devin stared at his palm, up at Ciro, and then at the hallway behind him. "I'm hungry, man. I gotta eat. I can't eat you. You're tainted." He whispered in quick succession, before trying to amble his way past Ciro, towards the waiting room.

"Yes, Havilland, the smartest man in the world has fallen for fake news." Benedict grumpily hissed at Ivy, shoving the phone in her direction- indeed, the open website was the Oldport Sentinel, with official confirmation of the death being given by the police, though there was still a big red 'DEVELOPING NEWS' banner on the open web page (not that it stopped the actual article from claiming that the Oldport Sentinel was already after 'more information on the perpetrator').

"No, no, that makes no sense. She's not dead— I was... she was right behind us!" Luna announced, not even bothering to look at the phone in Ivy's hand. "I saw it! Everyone saw it! She was going to come after us, and she was going to... she can't be..." And then Mirielle confirmed the news. There was a moment, a brief moment, where it seemed as if the teen was going to process these news. But the few seconds of grief flashing across her eyes were quickly overpowered by nothing but simmering rage. "What the FUCK?!" She roared, turning towards Jae.

It seemed as if every eye in the room had turned towards her (even Lenore had gotten off her seat and clenched her fists, her usually chilled out persona getting a little bit angrier), and except for Benedict (who was currently going on a hushed-out tirade about why Mirielle was wrong about her 'assertion on his proclivities'), everyone seemed hellbent on taking one step closer to Jae. The girl herself kept her head high and her hand even higher. "I'm telling you! I snap these fingers and—"

A threat came from Josephine, and Jae let out an instinctive chortle, one she quickly tried to cover up by hiding her mouth with her other hand. "No. You don't get to tell me what to do." She hissed, and let her thumb slide against her finger, letting out a loud SNAP. The noise reverberated across the room (attracting the attention of even Kev and the nurse he was currently getting an earful from), and Jae got to work on running away, towards the door...

... but her escape wasn't for long. Almost immediately, she keeled over and hit the ground like a sack of potatoes, a sharp pain taking over her chest. Her body slid down the floor, her hand clutching her shirt as she grimaced in pain, no voice coming out of her throat. The room got colder. Much colder. Eerily colder. Josephine might feel a strange sensation coursing over her as Jae struggled to get off the icy floor: like the breeze of winter, giving her extra strength to do whatever it is she wanted to do.

All the while, the nurse hurried towards the phone, aiming to call for help.

"It's not the liquor store— why you gotta be such a... a... douche?!" Marko yelled, the last word taking a while to come out, as if he was searching for the age-appropriate equivalent to a much harsher word. "You can't just rush into these things. You got a broken hand and she-" He waved at Harriet, but then put down his hand, worried the motion might offend her "She's clearly not thinking well. We gotta deal with this right, we gotta come up with a plan, we gotta be responsible."

Seeing Rhys head for the exit, Marko tried to move forward and stop him, but another figure suddenly appeared between him and the newsboy: Emmanuel, puffing up his chest and pushing (more like gently nudging) Marko back. With a worried look in his eyes, Emmanuel reached for Rhys' arm, following up behind him. "Where are we going, Rhys? Where do you want me to take you? You shouldn't use that arm but also you shouldn't use the whole body because I heard thatifyouuseyourwholebodywhileyourarmwellyourhandisbrokenthenyourbodyis—" He trailed off, going into another sped-up, impossible to follow rant.

Irene - Waiting Room

Irene put down her phone, surveying the scene. She had been half-listening to the conversation until then. Some worrying things had been voiced, it was true, and she was as yet uncertain on how to handle it.

Jae falling however, that was something different. The sudden and very perceptible dip in temperature seemed linked. She glanced at Josephine. Was this her doing? It matched her stated threat, but Irene hadn't actually seen any action on Josephine's part. Yet another potential source for concern.

She got up to kneel beside the struggling Jae, laying a hand on her shoulder as she looked to see what was wrong with them.

"Is this Jae's own doing? She did just snap her fingers, which she had threatened to do just now. Perhaps she herself is not exempt from its effects? A troublesome ability, if that be the case."

Tempers were running hot right now. To Irene, it seemed the best course of action would be to separate the various parties for the time being, and bring them back together later in a more controlled setting. And a more private one. Getting into this in public, in a waiting room of all places?

She turned Jae over, noting how she was clutching herself in pain. She considered for a moment. Perhaps there was something she could do.

She reached under Jae's clothes, careful to keep her operations out of view, her fingers parting skin like butter as she reached for what lay beneath. She became aware of the muscle and fat, the gristle and blood. More importantly, the nerves running this way and that, firing electrical signals with wild abandon. Her hand twitched as she gently passed over these, forcing the nerves to cease their operations and the muscles to relax. If this worked they way she hoped it would, Jae would lose all feeling in her chest soon, yet be in no particular danger.

When satisfied she withdrew her hand, putting Jae's skin back together as she pulled out of her body.

Edited by joergenjetsam on Jan 12th 2020 at 4:52:18 AM

Hopsital Waiting Room

Jacob was a few seconds away from breaking down. Despite it being the exact opposite of how he had hoped this would go, everyone was just using their powers out in the open like complete buffoons! It was maddening! Sure, Jae brought this upon herself. Jacob felt no pity for her, as the sudden ice she had slipped on was no doubt her own fault, but the idiot had attracted attention in the process!

And then Irene had to go about fixing her of injuries that were her own fault! That wasn't fair, that was not how things should go! Just more evidence for anyone who gave even a casual look at what happened here that this wasn't natural. She should have simply let Jae lie there in pain, rather than do anything.

But that wasn't his problem anymore. No, all Jacob needed to do was leave. Clearly everybody here was complete opposed to acting subtle, and he wanted no part of their farce. Slinging his bag over his back, the teen began to make his way towards the exit.

From there, perhaps he'd head home. He wasn't sure yet. Time to mull things over was needed, now that any plans he once had were thrown into disarray.

"W-Well, you he—know that it...happens sometimes," Ivy responded to Benedict. The immediate feeling of callous spite was gone when she realized that Nadine's death meant...you know, an actual death. Someone at her school was dead, that she knew. This had ballooned from a worry for their own privacy and lives into something that was going to be on the news for a month straight, on every channel, 24/7. Every single one of them was going to be hounded to death about everything they knew.

That deep feeling of never-to-be-admitted schadenfreude had departed. There wasn't much she could share regarding Luna's feelings, but that it was horrible she could sympathize with. The fact that it was bad for them was one thing; the fact that somebody died felt just as bad within her gut. She was alive, yes, but it suddenly seemed as if the world had shifted. They were now in a completely different place that was no longer safe, even if they hadn't graduated yet.

Ivy started to retreat into her own thoughts, ready to shut down and act like nothing was happening...when the nurse walked by her.

Her own privacy was in danger.

No one was doing anything about it.

It took her some effort, but she got up on her own two feet, and walked over to the nurse at the phone with wide eyes and a quivering smile before she could dial 911.

"E-E-E-Excuse m-me-e...we're...it's...d-d—please don't c-call anyone, please..."

Edited by wikkit on Jan 19th 2020 at 5:58:32 AM

Hospital Corridor - Auditioning For Horror Movie Victim #3

Having run into Melissa just an hour or so earlier, and having nearly died because of it, Ciro wasn't prepared to deal with another of Daigo's lackeys. That said, when he tried to will himself away from the scene, he found that his feet were stuck in place. More than that, it was as if an invisible tether was keeping him within proximity of Devin, the same one that had dragged him here in the first place.

He didn't notice Devin's haggard appearance at first. He didn't even realise that the other boy was speaking, so loud were the alarm bells that were ringing in Ciro's head. Images of scaly skin and razor-sharp claws threatened to overwhelm him, and it was only by focusing on his own breath and the rhythmic pounding in his head that Ciro's mind could remain in the hospital.

"'Him'? Who..?" It was a pointless question, as Ciro already knew the answer. Who else could it be? But he didn't want to accept it, and in that sense could be grateful that Devin's worrying state provided a distraction. When Devin tried to dodge around Ciro, Ciro simply followed his movement, continuing to block his path with his arms tentatively raised.

"Wait, you- you need a doctor." He had no idea what Devin meant by 'eating' him, and didn't want to think too hard about Devin thinking him 'tainted'- a non-offensive explanation for that didn't immediately come to mind. "I'll, uh, I'll see if I can get you something to eat, but you need help. A-and rest."