Heather vs. Yoji
The battle raged on.
Heather swung her mana sword right at Rikumo, who blocked with his arm - and as a testament to how incredibly resilient the man was, the result was merely about a papercut. He looked down at the small wound on his arm...and grinned. Looking at Heather, he asked with a rather vicious tone, "Do you know...how long it has been since I was able to get an opponent who can make me bleed?"
Grinning like a monster, Rikumo promptly swung his arm up and seemed to reinforce even further, bringing his clenched fist down right toward Heather - with strength enough to shatter the floor underneath her in the same blow.
Junior League
"It's just that...well..." Xander sighed, evidently having to think for a moment back to something one of the adults said, "My dad told me that even though he knows your dad is an ally, he still doesn't know how much you know, and what you're doing. More or less." He was slightly embarrassed by how much he hinged his arguments and ideas on his dad's info.
But when your father is Kellon Nyczus, you had very limited options as far as independence. He was an overbearing figure - one Xander very obviously both relied on and slightly chafed under.
Carter however seemed to remember something and decided to go ahead and talk to Xander when the two were alone.
Pablo...
As Pablo left the area, if he cast his eyes over toward the woods in the distance, past the safety of the waters, he might see things amidst the trees and bushes. Small shadowy shapes - perhaps just the shadows of the trees and bushes...but did such shadows have small little glittering red eyes?
For now it was just watching.
But for how long?
An Ordinary Oddball
Mina Parker
Mina seemed to quieten down, shocked, before nodding her head in acknowledgement, dumbstruck. "W-Well, in that case I c-can't really b-blame you..." she said, blinking. "I g-guess we have th-that in common, but I d-don't really think our p-parents keeping secrets from us is a g-good thing."
"S-Sorry for all the q-questions," she murmured to Xander as he left. "I'll go and t-turn in now. Good n-night." With that, she turned to enter the house and go to the room that had been given to her. It had been a long day after all, and eavesdropping would only make her look more suspicious. However, she did try to look out for any suspicious-seeming nooks and crannies in the estate as she passed through it. It wouldn't be her fault if she got "lost."
Edited by JumpingFruit on Mar 1st 2021 at 9:52:42 AM
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
Fwomph
Time-Sensitive Battle
"Fecking hell, what does it take to put you down!?" Heather quipped as she strained under blade-blocking this crushing blow. There was only so much longer she could keep up this charade of badassitude and power before her mana gave out and she knew it; she needed to end this quick or burn out trying.
Jumping back from the follow-through of the swing, Heather reached deep into her passion and attempted two last pieces of symbol-based guidance to her abilities...
"Called Shot!"
She posed, one finger outstretched towards Yoji.
"And... Judgement!"
She tucked the finger in, sticking out her thumb to the side before turning it down, like the emperors of old Rome did to those destined to die. With her use of symbols and reference at the very least bolstering her resolve on a purely emotional level, she held her blade aloft and charged in.
"Soul-fueled Blade! Burn!"
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
Surrounded by weirdoes
Pablo could hope to at least see the house at this point, even if he was still trying to hide the fact that he looked spooked and sweaty with an impending panic attack. Good thing he always managed to hide his feelings, or else this might have been hard to avoid eyes on him. Such is his life, but he manages.
Reaching the front door would be his reward by now.
If nothing else attacks him.
Wake me up at your own risk.
Fight - End
Heather might or might not have understood what going for such a move was going to do. She might also have not realized the scope of it. Well, most definitely not in all likelihood. The criminal promptly raised his arms, and tried to defend himself from the impact of her attack. His estimation based on what he saw her do before...
...And Yoji Rikumo was subsequently struck by an overwhelming burst of explosive mana related force that carried him up off his feet soon after Heather's attack hit him. The blast of force sent him careening out through the side of her house and out into the street.
His arms burnt by the impact, he nevertheless stomped forward and stated, "You're...you're something else, girl. But I've withstood...!" He also happened to have done that while reinforced - and stepping so heavily on a manhole in the street.
The heavy disc covering the entrance to the sewer cracked and crumbled under the weight of the unwitting attack, and sent Rikumo falling down into the depths of the Sandfield Sewers.
For now at least, Heather's home was safe.
Battered and devastated, but safe.
Nothing else would go to attack Pablo.
Oh, no.
The woods and their dwellers were purely content simply to watch...
For now.
Fwomph
Strife Complete!
Heather stood, silent and still holding her blade for a few moments after the danger passed; It was clearly some kind of shock, perhaps even disbelief that she was now for the moment safe. But soon her strength gave out and the sword vanished as the removed the sunglasses from her face... She'd done it; performed magic, went toe to toe with someone much stronger than her, figured out what belief could power her onwards and defending herself and her mom.
Oh crap, mom. She did as much as she could to help on that front, after all this whole thing was fueled out of a drive to protect her. But burning at the back of her mind was a thought that made her emotions a mix of panic for the current situation and excitement for what would come later:
"Note to self, wear a red scrunchie to school."
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
The Next Day
The next day, the Investigation Club would find that there was a surprisingly large commotion at the front of the school. It seemed that there was a large gathering of students there looking into an issue that went on right near the start of class. People were chattering about what exactly was going on, and from that chatter one might be able to put together what happened;
"Did you see that? Marco went insane!"
"I swear it's almost like magic..."
"Everyone knows magic doesn't exist. There has to be an explanation."
"...Damn that was cold..."
"Can't believe they're treating the guy like the second coming now."
Jackson White seemed particularly troubled by something, standing outside with his arms crossed. When he saw Duane and the others approaching the mass of students, he commented, "Kind of surprised you dorks weren't around sooner. You'd have gotten a front row seat to the show of your lives." Jackson sounded particularly bitter today about something.
"Just late? Or actively collaborating with that crazy fuck?"
An Ordinary Oddball
Mina Parker
"I-I'm not quite sure that I like th-that tone of yours, Jackson," Mina said with a steely look in her eyes. "Now is n-not the time to be m-making accusations l-like that. Th-These are some dangerous times that w-we live in, after a-all. I'm sure y-you understand, since you've b-been involved in recent events."
"And n-nobody gave you the right to s-speak to me like that, let a-alone my friends!" she continued, stepping right up to Jackson and staring as if trying to pierce through his skull. Her proclamation was probably loud enough to be heard by all and sundry. "E-Either tell us what happened or s-stand the hell aside and h-hold your tongue. H-Heaven knows you can't afford another b-black mark on your record, you b-braying Jackass."
Edited by JumpingFruit on Mar 1st 2021 at 9:53:11 AM
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
Another Argument
As close as he was to Jackson now, Duane honestly felt rather scared - even though he knew the secret, there was a limit to how much he felt he could use it when a jock was obviously in a seriously pissed off state. And Jackson already was known for his foul temperament...
What ensued when Mina called him out for that was what amounted to him shouting right back, "I don't "hold my tongue" for anybody, let alone you! And honestly, if you're just gonna play dumb, fine. Fine. I was just going to school as normal, when outta nowhere I see this crowd forming! I go and try and see what's going down, and I see my friends Ethan, Tobin and Josh getting beaten bloody by that psycho disaster freak Marco Di Gracia. And wouldn't you know it, he shouted about Tom when he was doing it."
Marco Di Gracia was known for three things around campus - being quite standoffish in an unstable loner kind of way, his obsession with natural disasters to the point of trying to go on trips to chase tornadoes, and having several violent incidents already on his ledger.
Jackson glared down at Mina, and said in a low tone, "...Ever since you and your investigation club showed up, everything's gone wrong."
Duane seemed to suddenly look down at the floor, feeling something seem to start washing over him. He gulped and clenched a fist.
Edited by NickTheSwing on Feb 24th 2021 at 7:47:29 AM
An Ordinary Oddball
Mina Parker
"I s-see, thank you for y-your helpful c-cooperation and th-the information," Mina responded, eerily calm considering how she was also shouting not a moment before. "It r-really is good for me to s-stand up and show some s-spine once in a while. Yes, this is a w-wonderful opportunity."
"I'd be c-careful with any f-further injurious claims you m-make about Marco, Jackson," she went on in a soft tone, staring up at Jackson with the same intensity he was using on her. "You a-also insulted Tom a-after you caused his d-disappearance and death. Now the th-thing with the boy who c-cries wolf too m-many times is that he loses c-credibility. Wh-Why would one person s-suddenly flip out on three people unless they p-provoked him?"
"And y-you should learn to hold your t-tongue," Mina growled. "I'm not s-sure if you kn-know, but my father donates money to y-your precious, precious f-football team. Your father m-may have some p-power and influence, but he hasn't g-got as much money as mine. Y-You've thrown your w-weight around for long enough. Do you th-think my dear old d-daddy will be happy to h-hear about what happened here? Do you th-think your father will be h-happy about h-how your behavior reflects on him?"
Edited by JumpingFruit on Mar 1st 2021 at 9:53:28 AM
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
"I had nothing to do with that fuck up's fate!" Jackson sneered at her, and visibly looked like he was holding himself back from saying worse or doing worse - whichever came to mind first. Jackson didn't seem to take Mina's own statement that seriously about his father, but it was clear by the way his arm shook and how he bit his lip to the point of drawing blood there was a definite effect there.
"You think my dad cares!? He's off on the campaign trail giving Donald Trump the best asskissing in the world. You don't know jackshit about me."
Duane stepped forward, and Jackson glowered at him, "What? You gonna push me next?"
Duane suddenly leaped forward and outright clocked Jackson upside the head, the pretty boy quarterback falling backward soon after...but getting up in short order. Wiping off blood from a slight cut upside his forehead, Jackson saw red and pounced on Duane.
Both of them turned into a flurry of punches at one another, with Jackson throwing in his own touch - at one point he outright football tackled Duane into the mass of students still there.
Neither seemed to hear the crowd. Both were subsumed in their rage.
The crowd outright cheered and joyously proclaimed at the top of their lungs, "Oooh yeah! GO GO GO! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" The screaming seemed to sound like one voice speaking in the voice of almost fifty past a certain point, "FIIIIGHT! FIIIIIGHT! FIIIIIIIGHT!"
Edited by NickTheSwing on Jul 12th 2023 at 10:45:26 AM
This was not good, James wasn't sure who was going to win the fight, but neither party was coming out of it in good condition. Duane's behavior as of late had been very worrying, he had been acting kind of strangely. Reluctantly he decided he would have to intervene lest Duane either get seriously injured or in a not-insignificant amount of trouble for beating Jackson unconscious. It would be particularly bad if he decided to use magic. He walked up to the two, trying to keep a safe distance between himself and Jackson. "Duane, what the hell are you doing? Just back off, Jackson might not be able to respond to adversity with anything other than violence, but you're better than that. Surely you see how much of a fool you're making of yourself, you can't stoop to his level."
The Light That Blinds
Jayden
"Did someone say magic?"
Jayden appeared out of nowhere, journal and pencil in hand, weaving through the crowd and throwing out questions.
"What happened with Marco?"
"Why'd he attack Jackson's friends?"
"What do you mean 'magic'?"
"And who's he the second coming of?"
After quite a bit of Q&A, Jayden finally emerged from the crowd to see Duane and Jackson engaged in a fistfight, with the rest of the club not too far behind.
"Hey guys!" he said chipperly, waving at the others. "Did you hear? Apparently, Marco used magic on the other guys! Like, actual bonafide magic!"
He grinned. "I have got to find him and ask him about the magic. Anyone have any clue where he went?"
"Kept me waiting, haven’t you? Tch. No matter. Dawdle all you’d like. In the end, your defeat remains inevitable."
Surrounded by weirdoes
Pablo had managed to get home and get something to eat. Hiding the upset part of himself was easy. He has done so for a good while, anyway. Even if he couldn't get a good night's sleep, he will work with what he has now.
And avoiding having attention when his cousins, his siblings and everyone is running around in the morning is pretty easy.
And then, rumors of magic and attacks. Curse his luck and curiosity.
And a fistfight, of course
His legs started carrying him faster than he wanted to, but he had to act. Attempting to hook Jackson's arm and make him fall.
"What the hell, you meathead?!"
Wake me up at your own risk.
Fwomph
Front of School
Heather had opted for a new look day after her battle last night; however really the only major change was that she had turned her pair of puffy pigtails into one voluminous ponytail secured by a single red scrunchie. Despite the relatively minor change, she was absolutely exuding confidence to almost the level of a palpable aura. However tucked into the pocket of her shirt was that pair of triangular shades, just in case a desperate battle broke out.
She regarded the brawl between Jackson and Duance with a kind of smug disdain; Heather was actually quite curious who would come out on top of this boy-fight and whether Duane would bring out the magic mojo just to win... However, at the edge of her masque of popular energy she did notice how odd everything had gotten and quickly composed a text to the rest of the investigation club.
Also, good morning!
How was everyone's evenings? I fought off a home invader and awakened to a power held within my very blood and as far as I know something utterly unique!
The Brawl At School
Jackson was successfully pulled out of the fight by Pablo, and he immediately shouted at the fellow athlete, "...These people and their accusations...and I just know they're in with Marco. And I didn't start the fight! He swung the first punch and ANYBODY could tell you that!"
Whatever was going on, even as the two jocks had their minor shouting between them, Jackson turned his head just in time to see Duane held back - just barely - from landing another blow on him. There was a strange light in Duane's eyes Jackson could see, and the quarterback seemed to tilt his head, "You...you got something...something fucky goin' on in your eyes, shitstain."
Duane barely registered anything James was saying. It was like that dark chorus of "fight" was echoing inside of his brain. "I-I..." He finally managed to pause and registered what Jackson just said. He suddenly felt the pain from the blows that had rained down on him, realizing he felt like he could vomit. Duane almost fell backward, "Y-Yeah...something weird's going on here..."
Matthew actually answered the text pretty soon.
I'm looking into something currently. There's a HUGE magical signature coming from your school. The weather's supposed to get a little stormy soon.
But not this soon. Somebody's working Natural Disaster Magic. Really nasty forbidden stuff.
Had to guess? Two magicians.
Is anything weird going down on the ground floor?
Meanwhile, mixing in with the crowd would let Jayden see something. It looked like a student was hanging near the very back of the crowd. And he could see some odd details. He seemed to say "fight" just a few seconds before everyone else in the crowd said so. This young man had windswept light ginger hair, well coiffed like some TV personality. He wore a pair of glasses, which seemed to reflect the light exceedingly well. This young man wore a white button-up shirt, dress pants, and a light jacket.
When the fighting stopped, he seemed to start whispering - not noticing Jayden would've seen him - the crowd getting visibly anxious for the brawl to continue, peppering Duane and Jackson with verbal attacks;
"What, are you a sissy boy Jackson?"
"Afraid to get your knuckles wet, nerd?"
Those were just the most easily heard ones.
Edited by NickTheSwing on Feb 26th 2021 at 11:28:28 AM
Well that was a relief, he was happy to see that the violence hadn't developed into something far more serious. He tentatively put his hand on Duane's shoulder. "Come on man, we should get you to the nurse's office, it looked like Jackson hit you pretty hard."
James began to lead him away from the scene and into the school building. He wasn't sure if Duane had been using enhancement, but even if he had it would still be best to go the office just as a pretense. People would start talking if they saw some random nerd walk off several blows from somebody as robust as Jackson White.
Hello? Hello, hello?
Merry Winston
...well darn. There was a fight? That's.. concerning, to say the least.
Merry looks at Duane's general direction in a concerned way.
"...is he gonna be alright?" she uttered as she follows Duane and James into the building. "Do you guys mind if I follow as well?"
artsy geek | any pronouns | "well, if you're hearing this, then chances are you've made a very poor career choice."
James looked at Merry. He didn't want to cause her more concern, but he wasn't sure how much magic Duane had used so it was rather difficult to say how hurt exactly he was. "He'll probably be fine. I would be worried about a concussion, but he isn't exhibiting any loss of clarity that I can perceive. I don't think we have too much cause for alarm. We should get him to the nurse though, and sure, you can come if you want."
Duane and James
Duane went along with James, feeling sick in the everywhere from all those punches and...something else. It was like he was only now feeling the slipping of some kind of influence over his mind. Duane stumbled a bit along the way and looked at James and Merry, "T-Thanks, James...Merry, I-I dunno what came over me like that. I'm so sorry."
Duane looked around and noted it seemed as he looked back the crowd was starting to disperse on its own. Though something still seemed off about the whole thing. "Where...where did the campus security technicians run off to during all of that?"
At that there was a crack of lightning and corresponding crash of thunder in the distance.
Surrounded by weirdoes
Pablo looked at the retreating Jackson, shaking his head. He'll have to fix that one later, but for now...
"You really are pretty pathetic bunch, you know that?" He told the crowd. "Want to continue the stupid fights? Why not take it to me? Since you are so cowardly to fight by yourselves, instead just trying to project how ridiculous you are"
He turned, and said "Thought so"
If anyone tried anything, he'll just give them a lesson.
Wake me up at your own risk.
The Light That Blinds
Jayden
"Eh?"
Near the very back of the crowd was a guy. It was always a guy. Come to think of it, Jayden couldn't remember the last time it was a girl. It felt like everyone in Sandfield—or at least, everyone important—was male. What was with the male-to-female ratio in this town? Ages-old curse? Did the patron god of men secretly run this place? ...nah, probably the former. The latter would just be silly.
Filing that away for a future investigation, Jayden eagerly headed up to the guy, the concept of personal space lost on him as he got up right into the ginger's face.
"Hi! Are you Marco? I have some questions I need to ask and I promise not to take too long."
Whipping out his journal again, Jayden started eagerly scribbling, rapid-firing questions as he wrote. "Did you use magic on Jackson's friends? What kind of magic did you use? Why were you talking about Tom? Do you know something about where he went? And why did you fight Jackson's friends in the first place?"
"Kept me waiting, haven’t you? Tch. No matter. Dawdle all you’d like. In the end, your defeat remains inevitable."
The redhead seemed to take Jayden's line of questioning bizarrely personally. It was one thing to have a case of mistaken identity - easy cleared up by simply clarifying who one was, and what the truth was. Less so when the seemingly serene, tv ready face distorted into a disdainful sneer at Jayden's presumption. His left hand visibly clenching tight, lip bitten briefly.
"I'll have you know," the young man started, barely keeping his rampantly obvious emotions in check, "My name is Alan Godfrey. And I am profusely offended you would dare to mistake ME for someone who so obviously started this brawl on their own terms. And...magic? Magic? You're...you're obviously disturbed..."
He seemed to fade off for a moment as he contemplated, looking away, then a slight smile came to his face. The momentary chaotic emotion abated. He seemed like he was before - and even went into a speech, "If I had to guess why Marco mentioned Tom, it is because OBVIOUSLY a grave injustice was done here. An injustice that even a disturbed man like you should recognize. It is that manifestly obvious."
He seemed to clean off his scuff, "Now, I was simply...observing the fight as it went on. Marco is something of an acquaintance of mine. I had no idea he was capable of such disturbing violence. Why, it makes me fear where this school is going, that the jocks who incited the incident with Tom could go free, and provoke such a peaceful, good natured man as my dear friend Marco to violence..."
Alan leaned forward slightly, "I mean, how do you feel? I assume you're a friend of Tom. Having those jocks around must make you sooo... angry..."
As Alan waxed on in his improvised little speech, Jayden would feel a sensation washing over him. It was like a heady drunken feeling. And unnatural induced sensations of being on edge, fearful and angry. As if there was a stronger effect at work beneath Alan's words. Trying to push something upward, grab some sort of reaction and push Jayden into doing something through innate response.
As Jackson stood back up and dusted off his letterman, he looked over at the situation playing out. And made a curious remark, "...Weird. Right before the fight broke out, ginger Abercrombie over there was making a pretty similar speech."
Edited by NickTheSwing on Feb 28th 2021 at 9:43:20 AM
An Ordinary Oddball
Mina Parker
"J-Jayden, snap out of it!" Mina said, laying a hand on Jayden's shoulder just as Alan finished his speech. "W-We don't have time f-for this! A storm is c-coming just outside! If people keep s-standing in this entryway th-then..." The mere thought of people getting blown away or caught in this freak weather incident made Mina shudder.
Looking at her texts, however, Mina couldn't help but think that this was what the unknown magic user(s) wanted. But at the same time, the safety of her fellow students was at risk here. If she didn't act quickly...
Fear washed over Mina, but she steeled herself against it. She had to be like a rock in a stream. Let emotions wash over her. Now was not the time for panicking. Before, she had the time to trade barbs with Jackson, but now, this was a disaster. Everything else had to go out the window until everyone was safe.
She grabbed a radio that had been left behind by a campus security guard and tried to call them to see what was going on. They had been lured away on purpose, Mina knew. Someone wanted a fight to break out. For revenge? Or for something else?
"Th-There's a fight going on in the m-main entrance," she said shakily. "I don't know if y-you have anyone to s-spare, but please hurry!" And then, spotting a whistle that had been lying near the radio, she knew it was an opportunity.
Picking the whistle up, she blew, and blew, and blew, and blew on it, producing a shrill note that lasted over ten seconds. Once she'd gotten everyone's attention, she shouted (as best as she could while out of breath) "Storm's coming out there! Everyone get to the nearest classrooms and shelter in place!"
Edited by JumpingFruit on Mar 1st 2021 at 12:39:35 PM
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
Heatherstrife
A flicker of red appeared as the doorknob made contact, a vague attempt to reinforce herself but clearly it wasn't enough to entirely stop the impact. Heather staggered back, looking like the wind was knocked out of her but it seems no lasting damage was done.
"C-construct nothing. This is a momther hecking manifestation of my weeb-ass fighting spirit mana. So you better respect the fact that this is a badass energy sword or it's not gonna respect you. By which I mean I'm gonna cut you now."
Trying to shake off the stagger from the doorknob trick, Heather rushed in with her sword raised up for an overhead chop.
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.