An Ordinary Oddball
Mina Parker
Oh, the humanity! Mina put the radio down, shaken, only to spot Alan making a break for it. Everyone was playing right into his hands, dammit! Of course the police wouldn't come, of course someone had to drive a possible ally insane! This was shaping up to be a pretty hectic day so far.
The kids outside were in a trance. That wasn't good. But Mina couldn't let Alan get away, and she was one of the only ones here who had any chance of protecting herself. She had to do it for them. Noblesse oblige and all that. Right now she didn't particularly care about why she was doing this, only that it had to be done.
She chased after Alan with alarming alacrity for someone of her size, short legs pumping furiously as she tried to overtake him and tackle him to the ground. Baseball had done wonders for her stamina when running, even if it hadn't helped much on other fronts.
Edited by JumpingFruit on Mar 3rd 2021 at 1:18:24 AM
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
Surrounded by weirdoes
Pablo tried to walk away, but the noises on the outside kind of compelled him to look out.
Whatever it was, can't be good. It wasn't even the time for what sounded like a storm.
Well, the only way to live is to go forward and deal with the mess you end up in, so...
Running towards the exit.
Man, I am an idiot
Let's see if a different kind of jock at least distracts whoever that guy is.
Wake me up at your own risk.
The Light That Blinds
Jayden
Jayden blinked as unnatural, unreasonable anger started washing over his brain, Alan monologuing all the while. I feel like starting something...should I start something? I want to lash out, I—
A pause. Then his eyes narrowed.
"Alan, I'm going to be nice and give you some advice. When you're trying to provoke someone into starting a fight—" And here, Jayden took his pencil and bopped Alan on the nose with the eraser. "Don't make it obvious that you're using ma—"
Mina then came up to him, shouting to "snap out of it" and that a storm was coming. "Um," Jayden said, "M-Mina, I wasn't in it, I've got— I've got this covered, you don't need to—"
Nope. She was already calling for help through a radio, blowing a whistle to alert everyone, chasing after the running Alan. And...sure, okay. This was fine. Jayden was fine with this. He was totally okay with everyone else doing things while he sat on the sidelines and watched the fireworks. Again.
He ignored the ugly feeling in his chest that said otherwise. It didn't exist.
It didn't.
"H-Hey!" he called out, trying to run after the both of them but he was too slow, always too slow. "Wait for me!" Let me be involved too. "I-I can help!" Let me do something for once. "Mina, hang on!"
I don't want to be left behind.
The Storm is Upon Us Now
Jackson watched Pablo run out there, and then looked down at his own hands. He clenched a fist tight, and then ran off as well.
Outside as Pablo got out, he would see a very peculiar sight.
It looked like a whole bunch of the campus security technicians were laying around on the ground. Badly burnt. Some were still standing and trying to control the situation. The air was thick with wind, and it seemed to switch between raining heavily, and back to no rain constantly. The other students were out here standing around in the rain - watching something. They seemed spacey, their minds were somewhere else.
Some of them were twitching at most - they were idle listeners, a mass of bodies but not a mass of minds.
Standing in the middle of the grass field, framed by a group of students dressed in black was Marco Di Gracia. The Italian student had his black hair in a state that could best be described as "fashionably disorderly". He wore a long sleeve t-shirt and long black coat, the t-shirt having a tornado imprint on it. He wore tight black jeans, and boots suited for heavy weather. He had a long, gnarled and thick walking stick of some kind, which he easily hoisted around. His eyes - icy and wild - were deeply set, giving him an almost prenatural glare.
Marco started shouting to his at best semi-coherent followers, "The time has come for our hour of retribution! The forces of the status quo lie vanquished and defeated before my power! Hear my voice, and hear the revelation. These sons of influence and power..."
He gestured at Jackson's friends, who laid about in the middle of the circle, wide eyed, horrified, but their arms and legs bound.
"They fear us now! Because we are a threat to them! They murder us, assault our women and girls in their parties, and they have the backing of corrupt, moribund adults who consider them role models—-"
"Kid, I dunno what kind of messed up power trip you're on but please! Stop!" One of the last security technicians outright begged Marco. "My friends are all horribly injured! You made your goddamned point!"
Marco glared at the technician, shivering and with his hand on his baton, "If I made my point, why is your hand still on your baton?" Marco sneered and twirled his walking stick once and there was a loud crack of thunder and lightning. Right on cue, a bolt of lightning crashed down and dropped the last security technician.
Marco gloated, "And now, all of the vestiges of adult power here are gone. Their constituencies and budgets and allocations mean nothing to us. We are to be Nature's Great Generation of Avengers!"
The brainwashed group out there, eyes a'glow, responded in kind, "All hail Marco! All hail Marco!"
Catching Alan
Alan was caught just before he could make it outdoors to the chaotic scene ensuing. Tackled to the ground and cornered by Mina and Jayden, he seemed to bite his lip and try to get out of this, "A-Alright, alright, I have no stomach for violence perpetrated on my person. You win. I am guessing you wish to know what's going on."
Edited by NickTheSwing on Mar 2nd 2021 at 7:43:32 AM
An Ordinary Oddball
Mina Parker
"J-Jayden, grab a bat in c-case this fellow tries a-anything shady," Mina said, offering one of the bats in her backpack to the only other person who bothered to join her chase. "Y-You—Alan, I think—sh-should just start t-talking already."
She took the other bat in her backpack and held it loosely, at the ready. Alan had cut and run at the first sign of trouble, but cornered animals could lash out suddenly, and she couldn't bear the thought of Jayden getting hurt.
Edited by JumpingFruit on Mar 3rd 2021 at 1:18:45 AM
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
The Explanation
"Well," Alan started, flipping a bang of his hair back, "It started with Marco coming to contact me. I'd always known about my amazing gifts. I've had them since I was ten years old. Certainly does make life a lot more comfortable when a few cozy words make anyone march to your tune. Not like you'd need that, would you, Mina Parker."
After that slightly sarcastic word turn, he smiled, "Well, Marco it turns out discovered rather recently he had his own gifts. A talent with the natural disasters and events he found so fascinating - and apparently now is a really good time to make his move. Look out there now. You can see it."
Alan's smile was by now remarkably sinister, cold and long across his face, "I wonder if those jocks are still gonna be stars of the school when they're fried to a crisp by Marco's lightning. Let's find out!"
Edited by NickTheSwing on Mar 2nd 2021 at 10:35:52 AM
Fwomph
Heart(less) of the Storm
"Oh I like this. Taking control? Shouting down the shadowy forces in control of the town? I love it! Not so hot on mind controlling your classmates though, Marky. Can we work on that? The optics aren't exactly favorable."
Yeah surprise, Heather has decided to wander to the heart of the matter. She takes a moment to flick her ponytail back and channel mana through the scrunchie and from there back into herself. Under her breath she muttered a little mantra to guide her magic as she steps into prominence.
"In a school of plastics, they were solid Teflon; never bothered, never harassed. It's like the dangers of the world bounced off..."
She smiles; an obvious fake but she hoped her magic knew what charisma looked like.
"That said I wanna know where you're getting this power from; because there's some bad hombres out there handing out magic like it's candy and expecting dirty deeds done in kind..."
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
Surrounded by weirdoes
"YO, WANNABE GOD!" Pablo yelled, at Marco and his chanting friends, picking up a weapon, from some of the guards.
"Nice to see magic doesn't change you so much" He continued, glaring at the guys "You just look as pathetic as you might always be. They really didn't wedgie you hard enough, or what, your daddy didn't beat you enough"
"Good to know school shooters are always such pathetic babies" Just like that, he tossed whatever heavy thing was on hand to the group. Might as well break some heads and shit talk the bastard.
Hopefully someone will have a better plan.
Wake me up at your own risk.
Before entering the school, James noticed the spectacle that Marco was creating. A bunch of the others had run over to the scene. He wouldn't want them to get hurt because of his inaction. "Duane, do you think you can make your way to the nurse's office. The others look like they need all the help they can get with, well, it's fairly obvious." He gestured to the ensuing chaos.
With that he rushed over to join Heather and Pablo. "Marco, stop this absurd edgelord power-fantasy. Guilty of murder or not, you can't go around frying people just because they're jackasses. At the very least think pragmatically, if you go through with this everybody will remember Jackson and his ilk as heroic star athletes who tragically lost their lives, and they'll remember you as just some loner freak who was bound to go off sooner or later. Tragedy colors people's perspectives like that. This is a meaningless and destructive act which will ultimately have the exact opposite effect as intended."
Edited by bobbitwormhobbitwyrm on Mar 3rd 2021 at 9:40:46 AM
The Light That Blinds
Jayden
"Got it!" Jayden quickly nodded as he grabbed one of the bats from Mina's backpack, pointing it at Alan's neck like it was a sword. "Alright! Tell us everything we need to know."
And he did. He told them that yes, he did have magic word powers, and had tried to use them earlier. That Marco apparently had natural disaster powers, and was making a move with them. That outside, the jocks were about to be fried...by...light...
Slowly, Jayden turned his head to look outside, eyes wide to the point of looking bloodshot. He could see the others, see Marco, see the mass of students...oh god, what was happening out there?
"Kyle?" he whispered. A pause.
Then, Jayden tossed the bat aside and ran, flinging open the doors and running across the field as fast as his legs could carry him. Ohgodohgodohgodpleasedon'tbedead!
"Kept me waiting, haven’t you? Tch. No matter. Dawdle all you’d like. In the end, your defeat remains inevitable."
Duane looked around and, knowing he was not exactly as up to speed as the others in magic, nodded to James and ran along to the nurse's office.
Marco halted as he saw Pablo, Heather and James emerge from the building to give him their summations. The surprise from the heavy object being thrown by Pablo seemed to jar some of the people standing by around Marco into a crouching, cowering state - it partially broke whatever spell that Alan Godfrey had made manifest on them. He cupped his chin and glanced around as he heard both Pablo and James' cases.
The jock's making Marco tighten his grip on his staff, Heather's request would be answered soon enough - and her "obsession" with optics was regarded by him as quaint, and the more rational case made by James outright made Marco break into laughter. The kind of laughter that hinted at a severely damaged mind. He raised his staff and pointed it at them again, stating, "Such is the logic of the old world - where Gaea the blessed mother was raided and pillaged. I very much can go around frying people guilty of murder now! I have power gifted to me by the great mother to exact vengeance on those generations who have abused Her. You speak to me, James, as if I have no other tricks! But my power is the power of nature's wrath. And should I pour my power into it, I could unleash an earthquake that would break all the scales—-"
Then Jayden came running out, desperate to save his brother from an uncertain doom.
And indeed, even as Marco made his grand pronunciation, right then and there some of the brainwashed toadies seemed to be having a deal of struggle in the back. It looked like a few of them had been trying to press gang Kyle out there for Marco's "court". And by all appearances he was not having it.
Marco - seeing Jayden charging out - twirled his staff around and tapped the ground with it. The air got suddenly very hot right around Jayden, and then a lightning bolt descended right then and there toward him. "Perhaps the Earth Mother will accept your sacrifice, Jayden Gardner, and leave your dear brother only mostly burnt."
And all the while, on the road to Monroe High, a lone motorcycle driver went through rain and chill around the cars on a course toward the high school.
A glistening golden badge attached to a necklace around the driver's neck.
Edited by NickTheSwing on Mar 5th 2021 at 9:43:33 AM
He had to admit, he hadn't realized Marco was quite this unhinged. If he was really as powerful as he claimed to be, James and the others would probably be made short work of. Nevertheless, they appeared to be the only thing between Marco and the rest of the student population, who would stand even less of a chance against him. They would have to give this their best shot. Since it was really the only trick he had at the moment, James willed a blade into being, trying to repeat the ranged maneuver that he had learnt the day before.
"This is probably falling on deaf ears, but what makes you so confident that you're acting as an instrument of the earth's will. It isn't as if your magical prowess is any indicator of Gaia's favor. If anything, you're far more guilty of subverting nature than most people here. I bet there's a whole bunch of ecological damage that your temper tantrums are responsible for."
An Ordinary Oddball
Mina Parker—Eye of the Storm
"M-Marco...! Mina called out, voice nearly lost in the whipping wind. "S-Snap out of it! Y-You're a good p-person! Don't y-you realize that th-these guards were j-just doing their jobs? All these o-other kids too...some of th-them are innocent! Please! S-Stop!"
And then he flung lightning at Jayden. Something within Mina roared with fury, but she couldn't just rush in without preparing, could she? If she did that, she could very well end up like the jocks and the guards.
Mina shucked off her shoes and socks, throwing them to the side. Antaeus draw his strength from the ground, and so would she. If she stayed on the ground, then maybe she could withstand the lightning better...!
"Earth-strength, stone-strength, Gaia, mother of us all, lend me your favor," she intoned, breathing deeply and feeling the soil beneath her feet. "As a dragon defends its hoard, let me defend my friends!" Mina wanted earthen scales to cover her, but she had a feeling that it wouldn't work if she moved her feet too quickly, so she stayed put. However much the lightning struck the earth, it would not budge. She wanted the same stalwart defense.
Edited by JumpingFruit on Mar 6th 2021 at 10:44:36 AM
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
Fwomph
Marco's Doing Himself A Boss Fight
Heather let out an (intentionally) exasperated sigh as Marco committed himself to being a crazy nature-themed supervillain.
"Alright I'm hearing boss music so I guess it's time I stop playing around. Totem Shift! Heather-bracket-S-bracket Smythe off!"
She dramatically as she could pulled off her red scrunchie and deposited it in her front pocket from which she retrieved her cool sunglasses.
"Heth on! Let's get a lotta anime up in here, shall we!?"
She gave a laugh as her sword manifested and charged in. She was pretty sure what her target was in this battle: That staff totally needed to be cut in half, it was clearly the source of Marco's power or at least his way of controlling it.
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
Surrounded by weirdoes
"Good to know you just made a case for getting yourself smited" Pablo said with some sarcasm.
"Sorry, but there is only one person I pray for forgiveness, and she is much scarier than you" He said.
With that, as if it was a whistle blow, he shot forward. He might not have magical powers, but he could always count on his speed and reach, making sure to make the first blow count.
If nothing else, he could draw the eyes to him so that the others are safe.
Take as much of his field of vision, at least to keep him from attacking anyone else
Edited by Blueace on Mar 8th 2021 at 11:35:56 AM
Wake me up at your own risk.
The Light That Blinds
Jayden
Oh god oh god OH GOD—
Time seemed to stop. In that moment, all Jayden could hear was the pounding of his own heartbeat. He stared, almost transfixed, at the frozen lightning bolt. A train of thought slowly wound through his brain—or was it at lightspeed, all of this occurring in an instant only the people around him were aware of?
I'm going to die here.
I'm going to be struck by lightning.
There was so much I wanted to do.
So much I won't be able to do.
And...
...so much everyone else will do.
The thought came out of seemingly nowhere, a spike of ugly envy piercing through his brain. But with death looming, there wasn't much Jayden could do but keep thinking.
I'll die here. Because I'm the only one who hasn't done anything of note.
He felt envy curl up in his chest again.
I'll be forgotten. They won't be.
He bit his lip to keep himself from scowling.
I'll be left on the sidelines again.
Red started to tinge the corners of his vision.
I...
...I want everything they have.
The clock started turning again, and the ugly feeling that he'd tried so hard to suppress, so hard to stifle, exploded into a raging inferno of jealousy, bitterness, resentment, all from the candle that had been smoldering inside him since they started training.
And Jayden welcomed it.
The lightning bolt completely missed its target as he charged towards Marco, faster than should've been humanly possible, entire body blazing with the red and black aura of envy. And the look on his face, the glare on his face, was something else—lips pulled back in a snarl, eyes as wide as they could be and burning with pure, raw resentment.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" With a primal shriek, Jayden slammed into Marco, the attack surprisingly forceful for his small frame.
"Kept me waiting, haven’t you? Tch. No matter. Dawdle all you’d like. In the end, your defeat remains inevitable."
Hello? Hello, hello?
Merry Winston - Oh Damn.
Merry curiously walks outside to find the others, before stopping right by the field.
"W.. What the..?" she says as she quietly observes the fight.
She was concerned about her friends. On one hand, she's not much of a fighter, so really, her help won't be much. On the other, she's worried that their efforts won't be as effective without everyone helping out.
"...alright, Merry. Let's make an attempt."
She searches through her backpack, before finding her pencil case. Throwing something like this won't do much damage, but it's worth the shot.
And so she does. She makes an attempt to help by.. Throwing a pencil case at Marco's general direction.
However, that's just the start of her - hopefully quick - plan.
artsy geek | any pronouns | "well, if you're hearing this, then chances are you've made a very poor career choice."
Battle in the Lightning
Jayden hit first - the sheer power of his negativity, internal roiling resentfulness, and hate all empowering him to move faster than even his friends were capable of. He crashed right into Marco right as he was getting ready to engage with the rest of the Investigation Club, the Italian being thrown backward with a loud grunt - distracted just enough by Merry's attempted toss of her container at him.
Marco glanced up to see Jayden standing there with a dusky black aura wafting off of him. He seemed to take this a certain way and sneered at Jayden, "You claim to want to help Tom, but you throw in with a depraved slave of the Dark Powers."
He waved his staff in front of him and started bringing down the lightning.
Bolt after bolt. All raining down at once, charring the grass when they impacted a deep, ugly color and staining the air. A bolt came down toward Pablo, another larger blast came down at Jayden, and then several more coming down at Mina and James.
Seeing Heather charging right at him, Marco got back up fully and this time one of his bolts seemed to fall right beside him. The lightning was gathered this time on to his staff, forming what looked like a sheath of flashing electric force around it.
He met Heather head on, clashing his lightning enhanced staff against her sword, renegade sparks of force raining off of the staff.
"Come on...I gotta get in there." The motorcycle driver finally arrived, and brought his vehicle to a quick stop at the front. Leaping off of it, still clad in the full body motorcycle gear, he ran off into the area...
An Ordinary Oddball
Mina Parker
Lightning struck Mina several times, yet she merely jolted in her tracks each time that she was hit, earthen scales sprouting all across her body and working to channel the electricity harmlessly into the ground. She kept walking forward with some difficulty, as she now weighed significantly more, and surged towards where the fight was happening.
Suddenly, with a huge effort, she suddenly lunged at Marco's staff, aiming to use her earth magic to absorb the lightning enhancement so that Heather could cut it properly with her sword. "H-Heather! Your ch-chance!" she yelled, barely audible above the howling winds. "E-Everyone, all t-together now! All f-for one and one f-for all!"
Edited by JumpingFruit on Mar 11th 2021 at 7:36:03 AM
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
Fwomph
Strifing With The Static Electricity
Heather's already kinda manic battle-smile got broader as she spotted some of her allies jumping into the fray with their own really awesome magic powers. Sure, she kinda thought her way of doing magic was the best but evil auras and earthen scales were really dang cool too. And with the protective lightning being sapped away it was pretty clear what Heather's next step should be.
"The sword of my soul cuts through any challenge! The strength of my heart is insurmountable! All for one! One for all!"
Heather stepped back, raising the sword above her head.
"This is what it means to go even further beyond! Full-Power Heth Breaker!"
She brought the blade down towards the stave.
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
Surrounded by weirdoes
Pablo felt the air heat up just before the bolt hit, so he had to at least try to do something to not die. Moving out, he tossed his keys away, hoping it at least will keep him from dying.
Physics, don't fail me now He could flash a thought before seeing if he is a charred piece of meat.
Wake me up at your own risk.
The Light That Blinds
Jayden
What did that mean? What was he talking about? For once, Jayden didn't care. All that mattered was the envy burning in his body, the raging inferno that threatened to consume him, that drove him off the sidelines, into the limelight, pushed him to outdo the others—
...
Mina and Heather were doing something.
They were breaking the staff, something he wasn't apart of, something he wanted to be apart of, something he deserved to be apart of—
Jayden let out another primal screech and charged towards Marco again, narrowly avoiding the lightning coming down towards him, aiming to tackle him, knock the staff out of his hands, do anything that might satiate the jealousy scorching his bones.
Edited by LilyTheLitten on Mar 16th 2021 at 5:15:28 AM
"Kept me waiting, haven’t you? Tch. No matter. Dawdle all you’d like. In the end, your defeat remains inevitable."
James rushed out of the way of the lightening. Doing so spared him from most of the damage he would have incurred, but the heat from the blast still seared some of the skin on his leg. James grimaced, it hurt like hell, but he was still functional, wounds could always be tended to later.Seeing Mina's success in improvised spellcasting, James decided to try something. It would probably have struck him as rather silly had he took the time to reflect upon the impulse, it would really much more expeditious to simply take another swing at Marco with his sword, but careful deliberation was somewhat impeded by the fact that there was a lightning-flinging psychopath in close proximity. James attempted an impromptu invocation. "Leaden and mournful Saturn, let this transgressor share in your condition. Sunder the vitality from his flesh!"
Hello? Hello, hello?
Merry Winston
...huh. That distraction... actually works, to an extent. Something she didn't expect at all.
"Let's go, then," she thought to herself. "Let's give it everything we've got!"
She rushes towards Marco, before leaping and making an attempt at kicking the hell outta the guy. Hopefully, her attack won't be nullified by Jayden's body slam at Marco.
Hopefully.
artsy geek | any pronouns | "well, if you're hearing this, then chances are you've made a very poor career choice."
Mina - Radio
Mina would immediately get quite a response over the radio...
"Hello!? Hello! Who is this? Whoever you are, we need some help out here? Is this reinforcements? We tried to get through to the police but they're not answering! That kid Marco Di Gracia went fucking insane! He started babbling about him being the "world avenger"! And then lightning bolts! Fucking lightning crashed down! I think Tracey and Clark were hit. And—-And the kids out here...they're in a trance! They're all kinds'a fucked u—-"
Crackling all of a sudden, and the other radio went dead silent.
By now, Alan Godfrey looked around once he was able to take a step away from Jayden, smirked a little bit, and then suddenly broke into a run out toward the outside near the back of the half circle form of the school - where people commonly ate lunch and fooled around outside in better weather.