Ryan Brady - Where was he?
Now, there was definitely somebody missing during the whole of the meditation class and the angst-ridden confessions, deep dives, and explorations of consciousness. Ryan Brady would've certainly been involved somehow, some way, during all of this, were it not for the conspicuous absence he had displayed during this class.
Where was he?
Ryan tossed and turned in his bed, letting out a loud yawn as he finally stirred from a long slumber. He'd been awake long into the night having been texting one of his old girlfriends from his last school.
When Ryan saw what time it was, he let out a loud, "HOLY MOTHERFUCKIN' SHIT!!!" The teenage jock leaped out of bed and in a flurry of action pulled on a thin material white sleeveless shirt, workout pants, and stocked his backpack.
From there he was charging off in a full blown panic, holy shit he overslept!
And that was where Ryan Brady was.
Kano Agano - Meditation Class
Kano sat, still trembling and breathing shakily, even as both Lucy and Skye attempted to help him. “You can’t... You can’t just unsee these things, Lucy... What’s... What’s done is done.
In that moment, he felt a lot of things. Fear, anger, panic; Among these emotions was sadness, sorrow. But it wasn’t nearly the most intense. He wasn’t a very sad child, in fact he was fairly content with his life.
The most prominent emotion was... almost pain. A piercing pain, as if the years of physical abuse to his heart were catching up to him.
As Marisa tried to comfort the class, Kano calmed down a good bit, but he was still trembling. Although the positive emotions helped a lot, the good wasn’t quite enough to balance out the bad.
He wasn’t too happy to see Aelrys either, practically glaring at him, even as the fairy revealed his own bad memories.
In the end, it was Lucy herself that actually managed to calm him down. He nearly flinched as the pale girl sent an ink tendril towards him, but ultimately decided to accept it.
He closed his eyes as that simple message was sent out to the class, and a few tears streamed down his face as he heard it. Once again, Kano felt at peace.
For a few moments.
Kano wiped away the tears, and opened his eyes, simply staring at the floor for a good few seconds before standing back up.
“I... I can’t.” He sighed. “I need... I need some air. I need some time to think,” He looked towards Marisa and pursed his lips, before adding. “Clearly...”
He took a deep breath, before walking to the door, and entering the hall. Once outside he began to pace, almost nervously, thinking about... something.
“You see son, in life there are facts and there are opinions. Your opinion is wrong, and that’s a fact”Miguel leaned back for a second. The fae teacher made him look for a second, but he closed his eyes. He took a second to calm down, from both the memories of the others, and his own, but his breathing slowed for a second.
With a wave of his hand, his eyes opened, brighter and more alive than before.
"It'll take a lot more to bring me down" He noted, with a firmer voice "And whatever happens in the future, I will face it head on, even if I have to carry the world with me"
...In the end, life can come down to a leap of faith
Wake me up at your own risk.Ryan Brady
Kano took a step out into the hallway...right into the full on path of one Ryan Brady, who rounded the corner and bowled right on toward him full speed. "W-Woah!?" Ryan only barely managed to stop himself as he came within inches of running right into Kano, and held on to the wall for a moment as he looked Kano over. He could tell the guy looked kinda...shaken a bit. Like something happened.
"Oh fuck man!" Ryan looked at the classroom, "Did somebody attack the classroom or something? You look kinda...like some shit went down, man."
Ryan was as usual profane, but right to the point.
attempt #2: the attemptening
Meditation Class
...Oh.
She wasn't expecting her small gesture to have such an immediate good reception. Lucy promptly blushed a bright red and ducked her head down, fiddling absentmindedly with her hoodie as she let her ink recede back into it again. Now that the urge to act had been fulfilled, she suddenly felt embarrassed for projecting that thought to begin with. But she couldn't take it back. It was true, after all.
-“...K-Kano–?”
She had to stop herself from reaching out after him in worry as he excused himself from the room. Her ink visibly clawed at empty air for a moment before she took in a deep breath and forced herself to focus again, mentally reminding herself not to be too overbearing. She so wished she could just fix it all. But Kano needed to be alone, so she had to accommodate for that...
...I need to talk to David later.
Déjà vu.
I hope he's okay...
“You know I don't... hold stuff against any of you guys, right?” she mumbled after a fashion, eyes lingering on the floor before she finally levelled her gaze at the group again. Marisa and Aelrys included. “So if... there's anything. Even if it's... horrible. Even if it's something you... couldn't show here, I don't mind... if it needs to come out, then... I'll be there for you, okay?”
Liar.
I have to be nice.
She wouldn't allow anything else.
borkKano Agano - Meditation Class
As he left the room and entered the hall, Kano could feel himself exiting the safety of Marisa’s comfort. It was like passing through an invisible border.
Almost immediately he began to start trembling, the sensation of peace having left. He took a moment to gain his composure. It was rough, but Kano felt it was important to have a clear mind, before planning out his next move.
He looked at his hands, his arms; the latter of which still scarred from the dorm attacks. He had managed to stop most of the tremors, but he couldn’t get his left arm to stop shaking. It even seemed to be... sparking, almost.
Before he could even think however, he noticed out of the corner of his eyes the nuclear linebacker barreling towards him. Kano flinched, and jumped back a couple feet as Ryan came at him.
“R-Ryan...” He breathed. He was still terrified of the walking atom bomb, he always had been, a fact that definitely didn’t help a couple seconds ago, but he at least knew he shouldn’t be.
“How are you-Oh...” he was shocked by the other boys inference. “Oh no, it’s nothing like that!” Kano reassured him, “It’s just... some less than optimistic memories. It was meditation class today, Or rather, confront your inner demons day. It’s a bit difficult to explain, but I’m sure Doctor Marisa can show you.”
Slowly, Kano came to a realization, his arm shaking even more than before. Ryan hadn’t seen Kano’s memory. In fact, there were a couple people who hadn’t. He let out a quiet sigh. He would... He would have to tell them then. It was much better they hear it from him then from somewhere else.
“You see son, in life there are facts and there are opinions. Your opinion is wrong, and that’s a fact”Ryan Brady
The nuclear jock did detect that there was fear in Kano, and he felt more than a little apologetic about what he took to be the reason for that. He'd scarred Kano during the course of that fight in the dorms, and that was not easy to get over, especially with how his powers were. He did feel something odd coming from Kano. That sparking noise from him was...new.
Then Kano went ahead and mentioned that this was some kinda meditation day for confronting your inner demons or something like that. Ryan had never really been good at meditation or those kinds of "at peace with one's inner self" things. Maybe it was something to do with the nuclear furnace burning inside of him, maybe it was just Ryan...being Ryan...
"Alright class, I want you to practice your relaxed breathing. Envision your inner peace—-"
13 year old Ryan interrupted with a loud snore. In the midst of everyone else trying to meditate and ease their tensions, Ryan's tensions had been eased a little too much. The thirteen year old junior jock was flat on his back asleep.
"...For fucks sakes Ryan..." The teacher whispered and then tried to continue the meditation.
"Never really been very good at meditation." Ryan said with a rather uneasy smile. Well, at least what that weirdo from Junior High Gym Class taught me made it a little easier to fall asleep.
Ozvald
Ozvald was snapped out of his little funk when he felt a new being beside him, which was quickly changed to that of a hug. He looked at the corner of his eye and saw...well, he guessed they were calling her Sara now, so Sara it was. He saw Sara clinging onto him and offered to show him HER own memories.
What he saw angered him.
It was tragic how similar the two of them were, but she had it rougher. People actually capable of helping her and doing nothing to do so. He had his excuse, surrounded by pixels and codes that just looked like people. She didn't have that, so she got the saddle of how much humans really could suck.
Once she dissolved into sobbing against him he looked at her again and reached up, as he wrapped his arms around her tightly, trying to give off this protective feel behind it.
Well if nothing else this little therapy session sure did give him a new incentive to this whole "hero" thing.
"I'm so sorry." he whispered to her softly, letting her get it ALL out. "I'm so sorry you went through that. But it's okay. You're not alone anymore. You have the class, you have the teachers and you have me...us...I will make sure you never feel alone again."
No one deserved to go through that, not that young, not ever.
"I promise."
Saturday, September 1
It had been exactly two weeks since the attack on the academy. The group therapy session seemed to have helped, but more importantly the students had helped each other.
Every day, Ellie had encouraged them to be kind to and support one another. They slowly got back into physical training, as well as the study of different kinds of magic with Aelrys. Even an aquatic class with Lahamu.
Saturday came, a reminder of what had happened. While the dorms had been repaired within 12 hours, and looked as pristine as ever, the memory couldn't so easily vanish. Still, the morning came and went, the sun rising without any indication of villainy. A peaceful day, all things considered.
That was why Ellie had insisted the whole class join her on a 'field trip'. It was actually just a daytrip to the mall. An excuse to buy her kids nice clothes. Because they were her kids now, whether they liked it or not.
Mall
"Alright, everyone!" Ellie clapped her hands. "Welcome to Super City Supermall!"
For most of them, it would probably be the first time they'd been here. The shopping center was huge, big enough to have its own central square, easily two miles long and dotted with countless shops. It had somehow been spared the issues that plagued other malls, and was still bustling with activity.
In the distance, to one side, was an indoor ice rink. To the other was rock-climbing and bungee-jumping. A double-sided moving walkway spanned the length of the mall, with occasional gaps to get on and off.
Above the main square, where they'd entered, was the logo of NobleTech. They'd apparently helped with renovations, as well as some of the mall's fancier tech. Dexter didn't trust them, but Dexter didn't trust any tech that he didn't make himself, so that wasn't saying much. Ellie just assumed Dexter was jealous.
"Don't worry about money." Ellie said, smiling as she pulled a stack of bills out of her purse. She handed two fifty-dollar bills to each student. "My hubby's daddy is a demon lord, so we're loaded. Thank Mikael when you see him. Now go have fun, kids!"
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?Skye was...well, he wasn't quite as anxious as he had been. He'd managed to get at least some sleep over the course of the last two weeks, and as such, he felt a lot better. But his worries were still gnawing at him, moreso now that two weeks has gone by without anything noteworthy happening.
It feels like a supervillain will attack at any moment... Skye gulped, looking around the mall. He considered checking his visions to see if anything would happen, but he'd been trying to cut down on that recently. His anxiety made him see far too many bad futures.
Well...sticking by one of the only people he really knew knew would do him a lot of good, wouldn't it? Skye accepted both dollars with a nod, then walked over to Lucy.
"So...what do you want to do?"
...okay, maybe Lucy was the wrong person to ask that. Honestly, Skye just wanted to spend some time with her. Preferably without supervillains attacking.
"Look inside yourself and to the stars; there, you will find your answers."Supermall
Over the past two weeks, Lucy had seemed to have grown a little quieter. Which was saying something; likely the therapy session and the revelations therein had drained her somewhat. But she'd shyly deposited her finished project at Iona's door merely days earlier, and scurried off from anxiety before she could even hear her opinion. She felt awful, looking back on it. Cowardly.
She really hoped Iona would like it. But after that pathetic display, she doubted she'd have that much to say to her.
“U-Um–!”
Lucy couldn't help but stare at the two dollar bills in her hand, before she silently swallowed and forced herself to shove her hands (and the money by extension) back into her hoodie pockets and mutely nod to Ellie in thanks. For a moment the girl had looked almost on the brink of tears. Truth be told, she didn't know what to do with that much money. She'd never seen it before.
But she couldn't refuse it for the sake of gratitude, and she was grateful. Extremely so. To the point where she wanted to hug Ellie tight and never let go simply because of that simple gesture. But they were in public, and it shouldn't have been that big of a deal. They were just... out to have fun.
Lucy had never just ‘gone out to have fun’ before. Or at least, not in a long time. Money was too much of an issue now. That and she didn't deserve it. But this was an offer made to them. Suddenly she had a hundred dollars on her person and was encouraged to do what she liked. Skye outright coming up to her and asking her what she wanted to do only made her stutter and flush harder.
“I-I don't–” she blurted, before cutting herself off and securely tugging her hood further over her face. A deep breath, and she managed to maintain eye contact with her precognitive classmate. “U-Um... I-I guess a... c-clothing place, if you want? Unless you wanna um... d-do something fun instead? I really don't mind...”
As her gaze fell from shyness, she wondered why he'd even approached her of all people. But she felt... nice that he even had. She suspected he didn't know why either, unless he had an agenda she wasn't detecting. She really hoped that wasn't the case. She wanted it to just be one of those things.
Because maybe then... maybe she'd know for sure if she was okay enough for people to want to be around her.
borkSue
Sue couldn't help but be astounded. She'd glimpsed the odd mall or two. Seen some in the movies. But this was the first time she really laid eyes on one in person. It was like an enormous temple. Filled with countless patrons, all going to and fro from alter to alter and worshiping their respective deities with their little slips of paper and special talismans.
But it was somehow more grand and majestic than any temple she'd ever seen.
She stared at the dollar bills Ellie gave her. She vaguely understood the concept of money, though it was still something she was wrapping her head around.
"Uh, wow. Thanks, momma! Though I'm kinda not sure what I'm supposed to do with this. Like, I just shove this in everyone's face and I get something, right? That's how it works in the movies!"
Well, it was natural that Lucy didn't know what to do. So Skye thought for a few moments. On one hand, a clothing store would be simple enough, and neither of them would go into it with any expectations. On the other hand...
He looked out towards the rink. "Maybe...maybe we could try skating?"
He knew he'd look like an idiot on the rink. He'd never done it before, and he wasn't very agile. But it looked like it might be fun, even if (when) he slipped and fell several times.
Besides, it seemed like the sort of thing Lucy would be good at.
"Look inside yourself and to the stars; there, you will find your answers."Ryan Brady
Ryan actually beamed when he saw the Noble Tech corporate logo right up there. He knew Isaac as his sponsor, the one providing him all his gear and stuff, and all around a cool guy. And hey, maybe Ryan would be lucky enough to see Isaac or Kris out here today...then again, they were probably really busy. After all, huge massive multi-national corporation.
The mall was thriving, and Ellie indicated money would be no object today, so Ryan immediately started heading to Hollister for something nice to wear - picking out a hooded denim jacket. "This one looks pretty sweet! And it's just my size!"
After buying it up and getting it on, Ryan started looking around.
And it didn't take long for him to get on with some local young women. They seemed pretty impressed with his outfit and build - chattering when he was walking around about the "hot new jock" and daring one another to talk to him. They were a trendy bunch, well dressed cheerleaders if Ryan had to guess.
Shortly after getting on with them, they started showing him around the mall...while also getting a little handsy with him.
Noble Tech - Building a Better Tomorrow!
The Noble Tech building was just another gloriously tall skyscraper gleaming in platinum and blue colors. There was always a personal office for Isaac Noble, which contained among other things a desk with computers and communications systems, a bed, workout equipment, and a shower chamber. Such were the luxuries of the young industrialist.
Charity entered just in time to see a shirtless Isaac practicing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu movements. The secretary was 5'9'', and wore a tight, showy black shirt and dark red pants, covering her hands and forearms with long gloves. Her light brown hair tied back in a ponytail and eyes covered by sunglasses, she gave the impression of an all business agent more than a secretary...and was that some sort of high tech handgun at her hip?
The blond CEO was easily 6 foot 4 inches tall, and rippling with tight, toned musculature. Smooth shaven and handsome, Isaac was an easy face for the company. His golden blond hair and light blue, icy eyes really drew the eye during his press meetings.
Charity gave no indication she found the sight odd in the least, and said, "I've finished every task I was assigned to the letter. There was some issue in the data transfer, but nothing I couldn't...handle."
"Good, good, Charity," Isaac said as he pulled a towel off of a stand nearby, "Then my investments are secure, and everything's proceeding apace. I'll send you and Prudence to take care of what comes next."
"Yes, sir. Everything will be done to your specification." And with that Charity excused herself.
Ozvald
Ozvald stares at the two bills in his hand for a moment as if trying to wrack his brain on his goal for the day. A hundred bucks was a lot to a teen his age but in his current predicament he didn’t...need anything?
He had clothes and a fair amount of belongings in his inventory. He didn’t need a bed or possessions or anything like that. So at the moment the only thing would have been-
Oh he was stupid.
“Anyone wanna hit the arcade with me?” He asked the others.
Supermall
Lucy blinked at Skye's suggestion, before looking up at him quizzically. She then followed his gaze out towards the ice rink, and seemed to grow deeply contemplative for a moment as she considered this.
“...Ice... skating...?”
It wasn't very long until her internally cynical brain had put together a rapid montage of both her and Skye clumsily falling over on the ice rink set to the finale of the 1812 Overture. But she shook it off and bit her lip a moment anxiously, before nodding to Skye and managing to give him a nervous smile of approval.
“...O-Okay. Yeah! We can... w-we can give it a shot...”
...or die trying.
At the very least she'd danced before. So she retained the flexibility at the end of the day. Surely it couldn't be any more difficult? It was only the marginal difference of it being a frozen pond of water with the only footwear to utilize being what effectively amounted to miniaturized helicopter landing gear. Just like riding a bike, except the ground was freezing and there wasn't any f$&%ing bikes–
“H-Have you ever skated before, Skye...?” Lucy stammered out inquisitively, effectively smashing this prior train of thought back into her brain with a very large hammer. “I mean I've... I-I did a little dancing when I was younger... I don't think I've ever skated before, though...”
Edited by Enirboreh on Aug 3rd 2020 at 3:45:38 PM
borkAt Lucy's agreement, Skye's lips pulled into a small smile. "Alright then. Let's go." He took her hand and started walking towards the rink.
"Actually, no," he replied, when Lucy asked if he'd ever skated before. "But, I mean...it's always looked like fun. I just never had the opportunity to try it before." He couldn't help but smile again. "Until now."
By now, they'd reached the rink, and Skye let go of Lucy's hand. "So...where do we go from here?"
"Look inside yourself and to the stars; there, you will find your answers."Supermall
Lucy immediately seemed to fall limp as Skye took her hand, and she only remembered to follow him about a half-second before she would've involuntarily pulled him over. But she stumbled after him before that could even happen, barely managing a nod as he replied to her question and hoping that the near-purple blush on her cheeks wasn't that obvious. Knowing her luck, it was probably luminous.
“I-I... I-I'm sure we'll do fine...” she managed in somewhat of a smaller voice, before it died out as he then asked her what they should do next once they reached the rink itself. Blankly staring for a second or two, she had the sudden urge to scream a panicked I DON'T KNOW into his face before she shook herself back into sensibility and bit her lip a little awkwardly. Glancing out over the rink, she lightly shrugged her shoulders before swallowing hard and finally bringing herself to speak again.
“Um... I-I'm not sure... u-uh, maybe there's someone we can talk to... to get skates? Should be... somewhere close...” she frowned slightly, scanning the area for anything or anyone that looked connected to the rink. Whether she was supposed to look out for a particular uniform or not she wasn't too sure. Unless they all conveniently wore snowman costumes.
Or polar bear costumes.
Or were actually polar bears. Their teachers included sharks, faeries, and demons. Honestly she half-expected it at this point. She just hoped she wouldn't end up embarrassing Skye too much with this whole thing to the point where he gave up on it.
borkIsobel (Mall)
"Holy..." Isobel would have continued that phrase, given how stunned she was at the sight of this gigantic market, but she managed to stop herself just in time. Still, she'd never seen anything like this before, not even when Adrian had taken her out on the occasional excursion outside.
Taking the money she was handed, Isobel looked around...and shuffled her feet awkwardly. All she'd really had to shop for before was work related; weapons, potions, food, the like. But just spending money on things was a bit of a new thing for her. For lack of anything else to do, she gravitated towards one of her classmates when he mentioned an 'arcade'. Isobel wasn't really sure what that was, but she didn't want to look stupid in front of S...the others.
"Sure, I'll go with." She said to Ozvald, wondering what she was getting herself into.
Edited by Bored_Man on Aug 4th 2020 at 2:37:24 PM
Proud member of the AGOG community.Miguel looked at the money with a blank face. He had had his own money before, but he either worked for it or had hustled someone who annoyed him. Being handed so much was something he didn't see coming.
"Thank you" He said, almost a whisper. With that, he walked off, having an idea on what to use some of it.
—-
Miguel came out of a music store looking at a few picks he bought and a new guitar on his back. He wanted one for a while, and decided to take the chance.
Now, he went to a jewelry shop. Avoiding any odd looks due to his appearance, he simply pointed to a blue rose necklace.
"Might I have it gift wrapped?" He asked, a bit awkward. He owed a gift, anyway. He placed the money with a shrug, and any questions, he simply waved it off.
I hope mom likes it
Beyond that, he decided to try and see what the others were doing.
Edited by Blueace on Aug 5th 2020 at 3:40:52 PM
Wake me up at your own risk.Alright...shouldn't be too hard. Skye scanned the rink, searching for...something. Maybe some kind of booth? He wasn't sure what he was supposed to be looking for.
Finally, he spotted a small booth near the rink entrance. "Found it," he said. "Let me just..."
Skye headed over to the booth, noticing the skates hanging from the back wall. Inside was a bored-looking woman reading a newspaper, who barely looked at him when he approached. "Hi," he said, waving. "My name is Skye. I'm here with a friend to get some skates—"
"Alright, sure," the woman said. "That'd be ten dollars. Just tell me what size you wear."
Skye blinked. "Um...I'm a size seven. I don't know what her—"
"Then bring her over her so she can tell me."
Skye blinked again. "Okay?" He turned his head, calling out to Lucy. "Hey, Luce? Can you come here? This woman needs to know your...um...shoe size."
Why did he fell rather embarrassed?
"Look inside yourself and to the stars; there, you will find your answers."Kano Agano - The Mall
Slowly but surely, Kano opened his eyes, gradually becoming aware of his situation. He had fallen asleep in the mall, right smack dab in the middle of the floor.
He got up and sighed. The situation wasn’t surprising, but he definitely wasn’t happy about it. It hadn’t seemed to bother too many other people, most hadn’t seemed to notice him, but he still got a few stares from others.
Kano was in rough shape. The past few weeks had been rough on him. He had been isolating himself quite a bit, the only time his classmates saw him was at the various classes they shared, and even then he sometimes didn’t show up to those. The only reason he had shown up here was because his teachers and classmates had convinced him, but even then he was reluctant.
The bags under his eyes had always been pretty bad, but they had managed to reach a completely different level. And on top of that, his arm was still trembling, just as badly as it had a week ago. He clung the quivering arm to his side, in an attempt to hide it, but even that didn’t work. He looked tired. Even more tired than usually, which was saying a lot.
He looked around for his classmates. Money wasn’t a problem, especially with the cash Ellie gave him, but he didn’t really have any desire to go shopping.
His focus shifted to the ice rink. He thought he spotted... Lucy and Skye in there? Maybe he would visit them. He needed to interact with someone or the recent lack of social contact would catch up to him. Kano walked up to the ice rink, and looked inside.
“You see son, in life there are facts and there are opinions. Your opinion is wrong, and that’s a fact”Ozvald
"Alright, cool! Trust me, you're gonna love it. It helps stimulate the mind and lets you get pent up frustrations out on things that actually can take a beating!"
Hm. Bring that up to the counselor next time you see them.
The arcade was empty (A sad reality some arcades faced now a days) but the games were alive, chiming and flashing with tempting, dazzling lights! This is where Oz could handle it, this was HIS domain.
He looked over at Isobel and gestured. "So, you know what to do?" He asked with a tilt ofg his head. "We go, we play the games, we try to get our names on the screen!"

And now Aelrys had shown up. Apparently, everyone had gotten so miserable that it was basically a beacon for him. That...probably wasn't a good sign.
I feel like I should be crying, Skye mused. Partake in the misery. But...he didn't really want to. Rather selfish, aren't I?
He supposed that Aelrys then shared his worst memory, which didn't serve to lighten the mood. Which the teacher himself noted ("See? That didn't help at all.")
"Which can be said of this entire class, really."
...oh, crap, did I just say that out loud?
And then Lucy's ink extended towards his hand. He stared at it for a moment, then took it. For a moment, nothing.
Then came the psychic message.
I love all you guys so much.
...
For the first time since class started, Skye started to tear up.
"Thanks, Lucy," he said, smiling at her. "I...we needed that."
"Look inside yourself and to the stars; there, you will find your answers."