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Post by Jake Wallace on Jun 24, 2006 18:12:20 GMT -4
I'll post after like...more people do. *nod*
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Liao Zhang
Junior Member
Sometimes the silent ones are the ones you should fear the most
Posts: 59
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Post by Liao Zhang on Jun 26, 2006 18:24:57 GMT -4
for the love of god...someone post
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Post by Xan Rydman on Jun 26, 2006 23:33:08 GMT -4
Xan’s mirror was her best friend. Not only do mirrors show you what you want to see (at least, in her case), they could never lie to you. They try their hardest to emphasize your good features and help you figure out ways to downplay your bad, although Xan didn’t really have any bad features. Mirrors love it when you try something new, and they’re covered in memories, or in her case—pictures. They’re always blunt, and they don’t waste your time. Mirrors are either your best friend or your worst enemy. It all depends on how comfortable you are with yourself and your body. And needless to say, Xan was incredibly comfortable with herself. She had no problem with playing shirts and skins on the soccer or lacrosse field, always insisting to be skins. She often walked around in her underwear when she was doing her laundry, to leave other girls annoyed and envious in her wake. She had just the right amount of confidence, which made her more attractive than the whiny girls who have to be assured they’re not fat every three minutes.
“Xan, you are ridiculously good looking,” she said to herself, laughing.
While she was joking, anyone else who heard it would have agreed whole heartedly. She had just-past-shoulder-length dark brown hair. Her big, dark brown eyes were hidden by stylish sunglasses most of the time, although she somehow managed to keep herself away from the embarrassing sunglass tan. She wore eyeliner and mascara, but that about limited her make up usage—she really didn’t need it. Her lips were naturally light pink, better than any lip gloss you could find. No lie, her skin wasn’t always flawless, but it was consistently okay looking. What teenager didn’t have a pimple every once in a while? And she wasn’t the kind of fake girl who would cover it up with pounds of concealer. If she had a pimple, the whole school would know, and everyone would be envious that their pimple wasn’t as good looking as hers.
Just kidding, though.
And while normal Hawthorne Academy students loved their long, dramatic sob stories, Xan had one, and she just didn’t share it. It wasn’t a really big deal. Why share details? She mostly just limited her story to: my whole family has powers, I got the letter, I came by car. Her family didn’t hate her, she wasn’t thrown out of the house. She didn’t get anonymous threat letters from her father or an old boyfriend. The only letters she got were the ‘Will you go out with me? Check: yes, no, maybe.’ And she never responded, because why would you ever want to be in a relationship when you can have one boy one night, and another the next? Variety is so much more interesting. Xan got bored easily.
Maybe that’s why she had spent her last Free Period in a different place every ten minutes. She’d first gone to the Dining Hall to see if any food was left. She was out of luck at two o’ clock; the lunch ladies (and man) had already cleaned up. Around two ten, she had tried to find some of her friends in all of the different girls’ dorms—two twenty, she checked the guys dorms. At two thirty when she left there, they had begged her to stay. Instead, she watched a Studying the Outdoors class as they went on a little nature hike. How cute. Two forty, she had kicked around her soccer ball up and down the hallways in the dorm rooms, managing to kick a girl in the face. Two fifty, she was back in her room painting her toenails different colors. At three, she was just finishing painting her fingernails, and that’s when she realized she had Combat this period.
So she set off, blowing on her nails and letting the wind whip her hair around. She watched, under sunglasses, other late students running off to Combat or Undercover. Xan, on the other hand, was always late to most of her classes. Sure, she got crap for it at the end of every marking period, but it wasn’t that big of a deal. Lateness only brought your grade down a few notches. And besides, there were many more important things, like painting your fingernails all different colors. Well, maybe not, but it wasn’t like she could stop right in the middle of it. How awkward would that be? Right—really awkward. And Xan wasn’t a fan of awkward. In fact, she didn’t really know what it felt like, but she wasn’t ready to feel it.
Xan liked combat because you got to hurt people. It was a great excuse to do whatever you possibly could to bring another person down. And Xan hardly got beaten. It was hard to beat a person who could just stop time. She didn’t really even need to be in this class; she had had a choice between Combat and Undercover, and the Dean wanted her to do Undercover. But not only did she not like the Dean, she wanted an easy grade, and Combat was her easy grade. Sure, she wasn’t the best fighter and she could probably get easily beaten when caught unaware, but that hardly ever happened.
The one problem with her power was that she wasn’t that strong with it yet. At first she could stop time for things like clocks and moving inanimate objects like a still-swinging swing. Then she progressed onto animals which were much harder. You had to concentrate on all their molecules, all the little cells. Not stopping everything about them could cause an obvious problem: a leg breaking free and still walking on, etc. Then humans, which was a step up, but not all that different from animals. Now, she was working on stopping time for two beings at once, but she still didn’t have it down. Therefore, one could be frozen as the other attacked her. Probably the only way to bring Xan Rydman down.
As she made her way into the arena, she saw people walking around in their new uniforms. Of course, she had forgotten. Uniform day had always been exciting. Some peoples’ turned out hideous, while others were lucky. Normally the Team had the best, since people actually cared about them. Her freshman year, her uniform had been baggy shorts and a baggy shirt. She had gotten some left over uniform. It didn’t even count as a uniform. And whoever had made it to fit “perfectly” had not only gotten Xan’s style wrong, but Xan’s size, since she had to wear a belt to make sure the shorts didn’t slide down to her ankles. She grabbed her package and made her way to the locker room to put it on. Unwrapping the bundle next to an annoyingly chipper freshman, Xan tried to ignore the girl as much as possible. She pulled out a black sports bra and some kind of tight under armor short sleeved top. It was black, bright green, and white. The pattern was inexplicable and she was impressed. She had a simple black cotton skirt and spandex. No shoes. Was she expected to wear sneakers? Whatever. Her favorite part of the whole outfit had to be the big black sunglasses.
Her favorite accessory and now she got to wear them all the time.
Everything fit her body flawlessly, making her athletic upper body seem a little more curvaceous, if you get her drift. The skirt was short on her, but probably she had received spandex shorts as well. She put on sneakers and her uniform was completed. The colors were very in-your-face, very Xan-like. She approved. She walked out into the arena area, noticing how the fight must have started over ten minutes ago. It would be over soon. She shrugged and climbed up into the stands, perching herself next to Jake Wallace, who would not only be a funny distraction, but she’d be fulfilling the plan as well.
She was killing two birds with one stone.
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Post by Jake Wallace on Jun 27, 2006 1:38:16 GMT -4
In front of half the school, the ten chosen students stiffened, preparing for the Ready-Set-Go. There was a buzz about the gym, the babble of conversation and the thunderous sounds of movement from the many students perpetually filing into the gymnasium. Jake’s eyes were trained on the center of the gym, waiting for the whistle. At the same instant that the whistle sounded, Jake and some other students whooped, whistled, and cheered, and someone jumped on Jake’s back. Jake shouted “Holy shit!” The words were lost in the din and the form was off his back and on the ground. He wheeled around, his mind reeling. He couldn’t think of anyone to do scare him like that. Wynne had never scared so much as a fucking pigeon in her whole life, and unless his mother and brother had snuck into Hawthorne to catch a glimpse of Jake/Andrew in his spandexified glory. Not that Jake minded spandex as much as most people. Plenty of athletes wore spandex; runners, cyclists, swimmers, wrestlers. And besides, what could possibly be more annoying than some stupid punk yelling, “Spandex warrior!” like he was the first person to ever think it?
Jake turned–of course. Flick. Flick was at his feet, shamelessly singing to him from his knees. His tight grip was steadily pulling his stretchy pants down, so Jake gripped the sides of his leggings, but made no move to quiet him. When Flick was done, Jake sang back the only song he could think of, which, of course, was not a serious one. “Forgiveness!” he wailed, throwing his head back. “Is more than saying sorry! Forgiveness means accepting peoples fla-aws! To forgive is divine! So let’s have a glass of wine! And have make-up sex till the end o-of time! time! time! time!” He nearly continued, but a distraction in the form of a young, blonde female form caught his eye.
“Wait!” Jake shouted to Flick, squinting and throwing a finger out towards Allison Carmichael. He couldn’t remember her perfectly, having been high during their one brief encounter, but he could certainly recognize her for something. “Wait, dude, didn’t you like fuck that girl at my party a couple nights ago?” Jake shouted, taking a certain pride in saying “my party.” He knew it wasn’t his party in the slightest, but he lived at the scene of the crime, so in a way, it was. He didn’t know what Flick had done after he left to tackle Jade, but he had been alone in Blair Banks’s bedroom with her–what else did you do in Blair’s bedroom? Knit?
“And you’re pulling my spandex down. Hey! Hey! Blonde girl!” Jake cried, waving his arms at Allison. “I don’t know your name but I know you’re not a virgin! Get over here! Look, you hooked up with-him!” Jake grabbed the back of Flick’s shirt and pulled him up, offering him to Allison. At that point, he remembered that this girl believed he was some Freddie Mercury wannabe, and assumed his San Francisco accent. “And you know me! It’s Freddie!” he waved and pointed to himself.
Jake turned. Someone had appeared beside him, a brown-haired girl with big bug-eye sunglasses. He wondered if her sunglasses were a part of her costume, or if she was blind, or if she was just one of those divas or whatever who could never sacrifice an ounce of their fashionista act. She was one of those people who might have looked like everyone else without a certain flare of uniqueness that she carried, which set her miles apart from others, and that was the way she liked it.. And then her name appeared in Jake’s mind: Zan, or Xan or something. Rydman, was the last name. Come to think of it, Jake had never seen her without the glasses. So maybe she was blind. Jake nodded to her, but she seemed pretty focused.
He looked around, back at the action going on in the middle of the room. Speed was edging around the outside, adjusting his own sunglasses. Speed was the only other person Jake knew that wore sunglasses twenty-four/seven, and that was because he was hiding his bloodshot eyes. Jake normally used eye drops if his eyes itched or turned red, but to each their own, right? It wasn’t like Speed was being really sneaky or something, but he was obviously doing something right, as he had never been caught with so much as a dime-sized bag of cocaine or speed (which was quite a feat, seeing as Speed had about as much cocaine as Boy George on any given day).
Jake turned back to Flick. Flick’s uniform didn’t have that much spandex–a shirt, but that was about it. He noticed the shirt had an F for Flick on it, rather than a J for Jeremy.
“Nice costume, dude,” he said, faking a hurt voice. “But why does your shirt have an F on it? You don’t want to like have matching letters or something so that we can put them together? Dude!”
[Shhh...it's poo...don't tell anyone *shiftyeyes*]
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Post by Alison Carmichael on Jun 27, 2006 4:31:49 GMT -4
[[Lol. So in Jake's opinion Alison got with Flick. Hahaha. -Snorts- -Pokes- On the topic of the letters on the clothes; I can see Jake with a line of girls behind him and on their shortshorts letters to spell his name. Rawr. Will post after JamJam does for Lainey aaaand I suppose Flick. -Nod-]]
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Post by Jake Wallace on Jun 27, 2006 12:02:09 GMT -4
Well you know who's got the A... *winkwink*
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Post by Lainey Carson on Jun 27, 2006 13:22:22 GMT -4
Lainey watched idly as a pretty brown haired girl took a seat. Her uniform resembled a track outfit, and she sort of remembered seeing her running during field hockey practice. Meanwhile, Jake had come in, grabbed a seat of his own and started catcalling with his friends, especially to Speed who had already made his way down to the arena and started fighting. Speed was a good looking kid, there was no denying that, but the fact that he did drugs all the time kind of took away from it. Jake’s uniform looked a lot like hers color-wise and fit him well. An Asian boy she’d never seen before walked by in his mostly black ensemble. The boy looked like he was annoyed or angry at something or someone.
A pretty blonde girl sat next to her and Lainey offered a smile and a wave. “I’m Lainey.” She liked the girl’s uniform, how it was so simple but complimented her body anyway. This girl looked familiar. Her thoughts were interrupted by Flick grabbing onto Jake’s…pants? and singing some song about love. She raised an eyebrow watching as Flick finished and Jake joined right back in with a different song. She was about to laugh when Jake addressed the girl next to her. And Lainey felt embarrassed for her, but she just looked at the girl. She tilted her head and said quietly, referring to Flick, “You didn’t did you?”
Lainey’s chocolate eyes turned back toward the fight that was going on below them. Speed hadn’t been doing much, adjusting his sunglasses around the edge, before taking off in a blur, circling the arena twice in three seconds. His third time around he rammed into Tom Rewter, a boy who possessed super strength, and Rewter slammed back into the wall. Meanwhile, Georgia McRedner’s eye lasers were firing every which way at Hanako Li who was dodging them easily. Gee’s frustration was obvious, and the normally shy Hanako looked like she was having a good time annoying the girl. Finally, Hanako let her powers loose, the building shook for a second, as vines came from under the ground and grabbed Gee’s legs, making her fall with an audible thump. Gee winced in pain and let out one last eye laser which missed everything completely and hit one of the hanging lights from the ceiling, causing it to plummet to the ground. Several girls closer to the action screamed.
Luke Rice was flying and all of a sudden the whole room was filled with a bright white-yellow light. Everyone, whether they were watching or not, squinted. Nyx Bishop who had done nothing the whole time had fallen to the ground. Lainey watched Luke interestedly. What exactly had he done?
The coach was back on the microphone telling them all that the next two teams would be picked once the arena was cleaned. Janitors came out of nowhere and started pushing the huge light out of the way and vacuuming the glass up. Personally, Lainey thought it was a waste of time and she decided when she got out there she’d knock yet another lamp down to waste more time. The kids who had been out in the arena returned to their seats. Some were sweaty, while others laughed bragging that they had done nothing and had gotten away with it. Gee stormed up looking angry that she’d gotten beaten brutally in front of everyone else. Someone complained about the time length—it was too short to see exactly how much they could do. Someone else countered them with the argument that it was around twenty minutes long. Had it been that long?
Lainey wanted to fight. She was ready, she wanted to move. She wanted to see how it would feel in her new uniform. And lately, she’d been improving even more. Her shields were stronger, and all of a sudden she could throw them. They were like energy blasts of some sort, energy that could create holes and dents in things, and if they hit a person throw them back or cause severe pain. This new advancement lead her to believe that she had a lot more in store. And she was excited to find out what else she could do—to see how powerful her powers really were.
And she got her wish.
Ten more names: “Wallace, Hunt, Rydman, Carson, and Delanvers. Against them, Flick, Carmichael, Zhang, Hudson, and McCoy.”
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Post by Jade Delanvers on Jun 27, 2006 16:20:23 GMT -4
Jammy JAm you set me up perfectly. I'm POSTING!
*goes to write quickly*
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Post by Jade Delanvers on Jun 27, 2006 17:02:04 GMT -4
Schooling, it was always necessary, but always a hassle. Classes took time and effort. You always had to be on your toes if you wanted to get through perfectly. Jade wasn't exactly a perfect student, but she put a great deal into her work and she knew that much. She wouldn't ever allow herself to fail; she had to do what was expected of her, though there wasn't that much! Classes were easy for Jade a lot of the time and she was okay with that. She could make it through many of them easily. With her cold and hateful demeanor Jade would make it through whatever she needed to quite easily. She wasn't about to change for anyone. Her teachers understood it for the most part. She was a bit more of a polite person to adults, but her coldness didn't change. She was fine with it, but she wasn't about to suck up or any of that! Jade Delanvers was who she was, and that wouldn't change. The girl was far too set upon her ways and she'd never be able to change after all of this time...
Time had passed since the party, and since Jade had lost that control that she held over herself. That cold control had left her and she hadn't been able to believe it. She was still reeling about the loss of her control! There was no way she should have done that. She had lost it all and she was now setting herself up to be even colder than before. Though, some things had to be put on pause for the priorities that every student had to deal with. She had classes and couldn't miss them. She had far much more expected from her. She knew that and she couldn't let anyone down. That was positive. Ancient languages, fencing, etc. She took them and did her best, which was quite good most of the time.
The day had dwindled and it was time for the last class. Combat. Jade knew well enough what this class was supposed to do. She would be just fine with it and everything but she had to watch her control even more now! With combat she could easily loose her cool quickly and she had to watch that. She didn't want to blow someone up. She had already been quite mortified for blowing up half of the appliances in the kitchen. She wasn't proud of it at all and she was rather bad at dealing with it. She had been practically hiding from everyone since then. Her ability to keep from being seen was getting a bit better! She was able to dart around people and keep blank, and that's what she needed. She needed to keep calm so she wouldn't kill anyone! She didn't want to be the cause of blowing somone into small chunks.
Well, that was something she was always worried about. she never stopped really and with her power that was actually a normal thing to worry for. She didn't want to feel that again. She had felt it once and never again would she allow herself to do it. She had done it two too many times. The only two times she had done it had made her plan never to do it again! She just couldn't do it! She was able to keep up this mantra as she hightaled her way towards the arena where the combat lessons would take place.
She didn't like the crowd. She hated the crowd and she always would. She hated people pretty much! That couldn't be helped, though. She wasn't sure about it! She couldn't help but siddle around people to keep out of the way. she didn't want to risk the emotions. She couldn't go through that. She hated it. She hated being so restricted! She could barely allow herself to feel and that wasn't easy. She had to hold everything in and when she was being bumped by people and trying to keep from unleashing herself and breaking people she had a job! Her elbows were tucked into her body as she weaved her way around the tables before finding the one that would hold her uniform. She wasn't really excited about this. She would hate colors and she knew it. She would probably hate whatever damned uniform that they provided; last year she had been given something with some colors and little cloth. JAde liked to be covered!
Her hands found the package that held her uniform easily and she was able to dart towards the locker room easily. She had been in her regular clothing. Black pants and a black shirt, which was actually three quarter sleeves instead of full. She had forgone smudging on her usual eyeliner, but it didn't matter. Either way the scowl and whatnot marred her face and made people leave her alone. She could do it easily, but she had felt too lazy. There were things bugging her a bit too much as of lately. She found that her episode had been taking a toll on her. She was barely speaking to anyone, not that she had done more speaking before...
Taking out the uniform, Jade actually admired it. She was so surprised that it was a color and everything that she would be comfortable with. It was black! The more material the better, and Jade was actually pleased with it. It wasn't really spandex either, which was another great thing. IT was a flexible material, but Jade wasn't really sure what it was, she didn't even want to speculate; she was just pleased with it and her face, usually marred by a scowl or frown, actually upturned into a small smirk. The material was very nice and flexible. It was breathable, she could easily knock someone's head off in it! She had to be careful, though. Her eyes traveled over the outfit and she finally decided to change. She was quick about it and she was staying away frome everyone else. She was in it quickly and noticed that it framed her nicely and the arms went futher to a point and her middle fingers were slid through a hole.(Think sort of X menesque) She hated it in that aspect. She actually looked nice and her curves and everything were nicely shapped and showing out there easily. Her normal clothes weren't like this. Very seldom did she actually wear anything form fitting! Swallowing her hatred of the form, Jade fixed her pony tail and found that there was something else down there. She had to slip on the shoes too. They were much like combat boots and everything, but quite fitting. That was good enough. She found it making it a little better for her! Though, she didn't like this much. Her uniform had no facial mask, which was a great thing! She was quite glad because she would have thrown it away.
After she finished dressing and everything, Jade slipped from the locker room and out into the mass of people. She didn't care much. She was able to hide. She hid from everyone, that was fine! She didn't want to see anyone or be seen. She didn't want to talk to anyone. She was still m ortified from the happenings at the party. She was here, though. She was calm. Though, upon slipping around she saw the JD carved nicely into the right shoulder of her uniform and it seemed there was a larger one that could be seen on her back. They weren't colorful, but they did seem to creat a new dimension to the outfit, they popped out and Jade admired it. She didn't do that for long either. She heard her name and scowled a bit at the teaming. Oh, great. She had so been enjoying listening to the idiots around her!
Slipping from her hiding spot Jade stepped forward and crossed her arms as she did so. She could see the others. She had known they were there, but she had a few harder feelings towards Jake. She really wanted to blow his head off, butg she knew that she wouldn't. She respected him for doing what he had done for her. She would be fine enough with it, but she knew that she would harbor a few bad feelings too. She respected him more now, though. the foremost question in Jade's mind was how was she going to work with these people? She wasn't going to loose at all, but she was rather upset and knew that she would hate this. Jade eyed the other set of people and would almost rather be on that team, but she had to learn to work with people... Though she felt she was walking into hell!
The beginning of the end!
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Post by Jake Wallace on Jun 27, 2006 17:14:48 GMT -4
Okay I'll post after Em and Dylan
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Post by Jade Delanvers on Jun 27, 2006 17:18:48 GMT -4
Kewlness... I hope that didn't suck too badly...
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Post by Molly Hunt on Jun 27, 2006 22:53:15 GMT -4
Hunt? Did he seriously just say Hunt? Molly looked up from the spot on the floorboards which she had been so adamantly staring at. Why was she signed up for Combat? Why? Because the Dean had told her she’d fit in there. But what could she possibly do? Truly? She needed emotions to make things work. And she needed a serious set of hormones to start channeling things. She shook her head, hoping that she had misheard the coach. What did you expect, Molly? That you’d just be a spectator here? Honestly, she didn’t know what to expect when she was told she’d be in this class. But certainly not actual combat, at least not on the first day.
It wasn’t that she was scared. She was nervous. There was a fine line between nervous and scared. She looked around, not knowing half of her teammates. There was Jake Wallace, who she’d only heard of through rumors, but didn’t actual know his powers. Then there was Lainey Carson. What could she do again? Molly racked her brain, but in all honesty had no clue. She knew Jade could make things explode, and she was fortunate enough to be on the same team as her. Maybe she could get a power boost from Jade. If she went on a rampage, Molly might be able to feed off her emotions. It was a stretch. Who else had the coach called? Rydman? Maybe there was a god after all. Molly allowed herself to smile for a moment. Xan Rydman. That girl emitted more emotions than anyone else in the room. She couldn’t tell you why, or where they came from, but it would be helpful. How could a girl like Xan be so dark? She seemed so peppy and self assured. No time to contemplate.
“Hunt! Get your butt down here!” The coach called out to Molly, who hadn’t moved from her perch on the bleachers.
Sighing, she stood, making her way down to the arena. “Strategy, Miss Hunt. It’s all about strategy.” the dean had told her when she questioned his decision to stick her in combat. Ok, so she had an advantage. No one really knew her power. Strategy. She could hang in the back until she built enough power to attack. Since they wouldn’t be expecting it, maybe she’d have an upper hand on the situation. She should trust him, the dean, that is. He was a second father to her. But maybe, just maybe, he was a little off his rocker. Or a lot. She looked up when she reached the floor, surveying her opponents. Flick. Well there goes plan A. He would know what to expect from Molly. Great. Now what?
She put her head in her hand, letting her hair fall in front of her face. Relax. Just relax. She looked up again. A plan…I plan…my kingdom for a plan. Of course, the coach had put her up against some of the most powerful students at Hawthorne. Wait…wasn’t that? Yes, it was. The blonde girl from the party. The one who could duplicate herself. Molly smiled. With Jade’s fury, and this girl’s ability to duplicate herself, (her emotions would be ten fold depending how many copies she made) Molly would have more than enough emotion to channel something…anything. But in the back of her mind, she knew easier said than done. Sure, she could get the emotions easy enough. But channeling things just didn’t happen on command. She had only channeled someone else’s power once, and it hadn’t been very strong. Her was a power that would normally take years to master, and she had a matter of minutes before the whistle blew to start. Besides, could she really deal with the pressure and problems that her power caused during a battle? She was going to have to.
Lifting her head, Molly faced the scene. Shaking out her hands, she rolled her neck, loosening up. Relax…. Letting her guard down would be easy enough. She just had to wait for the emotions to build and see what happened next. It shouldn’t take to long. Jade and Lainey looked fidgety, ready to go. In fact, she was picking up some definite feelings from Jade. She was certainly ready to blow someone’s head off. Molly could feel the pressure building already. No need to be worried. Emotions flooded at her at a rapid speed. Anxiousness. Anger. Power. It was almost to much to handle. It all sounded like a tea pot going off in her head. Her hands automatically flew to her temples in frustration. Forget a plan. Things were going to start flying.Focus. Blow the damn whistle already!
-crap...total crap. sorry-
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Post by Jade Delanvers on Jun 28, 2006 0:22:12 GMT -4
*cackles*
Lovely... Jade is tgrying to push her emotions away and get rid of them and Molly is channeling them!
*snickers*
Loverly post.
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Post by Alison Carmichael on Jun 28, 2006 4:37:23 GMT -4
[[Oooh this is so exciting! -Bounces- Except my team is going to DIE. Because half the other team is the bloody Team. -Meeps- I suddenly realise how snazzy Molly's powers are. Like Jade is hell anti-emotion and then there's Liao who is a ball of emotion and Ally who is like...rawr. She's going to kick ass....and we're going to die.]]
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Post by Alison Carmichael on Jun 28, 2006 8:05:10 GMT -4
It didn’t matter what you called it, fright, dread, terror, horror, panic, alarm, dismay, consternation, trepidation. It all meant the same and it all reflected the same raw emotion that pierced your body, screamed in a shrill tone in your ear and ran blue through your veins like a forgotten poison. Fear.
Fear n. a. A feeling of agitation and anxiety caused by the presence or imminence of danger. b. A state or condition marked by this feeling: living in fear. 1. A feeling of disquiet or apprehension: a fear of looking foolish. 2. Extreme reverence or awe, as toward a supreme power. 3. A reason for dread or apprehension: Being alone is my greatest fear.
For some it was the concept of standing on a ladder and looking down, the distance of a meter and a half between them and the ground seemed enough to send shivers down their spine and make their legs turn to jelly. For others it was insects or sharks, things with teeth and a malicious glint in their eye. For some it was loneliness or the thought of dying. And among the logic and the common were the kooky fears. The kind that when someone reluctantly bowed their head to an invisible king, shame written across their face and told you, you found yourself having to suppress the need to laugh. Fear of step fathers, fear of the colour yellow, fear of clothing. They seemed ridiculous, driven by madness and kept secret by the idea white walls and straightjackets. Fears were weaknesses magnified. Everyone had one, even superheros her dad had said while tucking her into bed. Her dad would know. He had an insatiable addiction to comic books and had collected hundreds over the years, storing them in plastic sleeves in boxes in his shed and bunkroom at the station. It was soothing to know that even the most powerful and brave individuals still found themselves petrified by something. It made Alison feel not so guilty.
Alison’s fears fell into four mains. The first dealt with her height issue. It wasn’t so much the height that freaked her out but more the idea behind flying. When you flew you could fall and if you fell you were as good as dead. Being dead didn’t appeal to Alison. Her second fear factored in small spaces. Yes, she was claustrophobic. Trapped in a small space or a crowded room she panicked, her mind started to race and her breathing pace quickened and soared. Too fast, too fast. the third was closely linked and the result of frighteningly real dreams. In Alison’s opinion the worst way to die was to loose air, to slowly count the seconds, the minutes and watch them trickle past knowing that you would soon be dead. That was the reason why choking and drowning scared her beyond being stabbed or shot. Those were quick deaths; in a way they were borderline peaceful. There was no knowing just doing. But the fear that clung to the outline of her every thought and shadowed her every action was forgetting. Forgetting or being forgotten, Athazagoraphobia. It was that one word that stole her sleep and turned her white dreams black, tainting the perfection with such a torment that age brought. She didn’t want to be forgotten, because you were only truly dead when no one could remember your name. And what if that time came before your heart stopped?
That was what hammered her head as she watched perched on the end of her seat as the fight below progressed.
I’m Lainey.
Alison blinked, turned her head and smiled wide.
“Alison.”
It could have been the only thing she could ever say that didn’t connect to Kate. Alison was her name, it was hers.
Raising an eyebrow as a boy she recognised from the other night started to bound around, waving at her with a sudden fit of enthusiasm. Alison raised a tentative hand and waved back and then just as quickly lowered it, her eyebrows knitting together with what was to be a mixture of amusement and sheer puzzlement. Fuck Flick? Hahahahah-NO. But of course this boy wouldn’t know that, sweet as he was what she mainly remembered of his, aside from his Killer Queen act, was the look in his eye that screamed I am stoned, I am pissed, right before pouring perfume down his pants. Yeah. Simply he wasn’t in the right frame of mind to recall events and Alison was pretty sure she hadn’t slept with that Flick guy. Pretty sure.
“Ha-no.” Short and sharp, with a hint of amusement hidden in her smile Alison shook her head vigorously. “Don’t judge me though, I was tempted.” A laugh escaped her lips and she tossed a look at Flick followed by a wink.
Settling back into her chair as the janitors set to work on clearing the arena Alison tugged at the sleeves of her jacket. Truthfully, she shouldn’t have been there. It was against the rules her parents had set down. She was not just putting her body on the line but Kate’s chance. It seemed impossible for both the sisters to live at the same time. Kate needed Alison to stay fit and healthy, not sick in the infirmary because she was hit by a laser beam or crashed from a height. For Alison to live she needed to Kate to get well or to just leave her alone, she was so restricted, bandaged and held in bonds. There was no need to make decisions by herself. It was always done for her.
And then there was the final strike, her name was called.
Getting to her feet and noticing Lainey do the same Alison shrugged off her jacket leaving it on her seat. Turning towards the steps she cast a look over her shoulder at Lainey, she was half excited, half petrified.
“See you on the other side.”
As Alison took to the steps, every stair triggered a memory, a thought, a risk. She saw Kate; she saw her sick and pale and washed out in her bed, looking at her through guilty eyes. A hand instinctively went to the bruises. I’ve already done so much for you, I’m going to do something for me. she tried to convince herself it wasn’t selfish but with s further step the face of Brian entered her mind. Brian, her dad, the man who had chosen no side to the battle without a face or up front attack. He sat by Alison’s bed; he sat by Kate’s. He held both their hands and shed tears for both his losses. But it was to Alison he had given the silver necklace with the heart hanging from the chain. Jesse would have cheered for her until his throat was sore. He would have sat in the back row trying to look cool, leaning back in his chair but the happy look in his eye and the continuous shouts would have given him away. He cared and no matter how many times he grabbed her and ruffled her hair, she knew that. And still, half way down the steps Alison couldn’t help feeling she was betraying Kate. Their bond was strong, beyond sisters and donors and patients, beyond the blood and cells that joint them in more ways than one. Was she letting Kate down by risking a slip up? Alison had seen the strength of her chosen opponents. She had seen the damage Jade had done to the kitchen, had seen the wreckage and had heard it being created. And what could Alison do? She could duplicate herself and dodge things, she could do gymnastics, flips and the sort, and lately under extremely stressful conditions, she could hold time. But that was beyond her control.
Suddenly she was on the arena floor and there was no time to think about it. It was time to prove it, to prove that she could survive, that she deserved to be here.
Walking towards Flick she crossed the arena to the opposite side.
“Okay, give me the lowdown. What exactly can they all do, powers wise?”
She needed to know what she was up against and tossing a glance over her shoulder she couldn’t help but notice it happened to be several members of the infamous Team the Dean had raved so enthusiastically about.
Oooooooh shit. They were going down. And not in a sexual way.
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