Titanomachy Rebirth (IC)

[Spinach]

Cyrus Ferdinand
Location: Zeus High School – 4th Floor (Crooklyn Hideout)
Time: Noon

“I have to back it up? I already have. We have. Or don’t tell me…” Cyrus left an empty pause, staring silently at Ashley. “You don’t get it, do you? What do you think it means, to win when it counts?”

As always, there was no tangible feeling to his words. They rang vacantly from his throat, in a passive voice. Any emotion he felt was kept locked and hidden away, by nature or by habit.

He glanced about the room. How many times must he explain it, when would he meet somebody else who gets it? That was really what made Johnny special, how intuitively he locked in on the meaning of ‘when it counts.’

“When you’re gambling, is it this?” Cyrus planted his wallet and a pair of keys on the center of the table, in the ‘pot.’ “Or is it when you put your pride, your reputation, on the line?”

He glanced over at Johnny, the king of gambling his name itself.

“Money, pride, your reputation… all of those come and go. Money flows like water down the gutter and back through the kitchen faucet. Pride is an emotion, sometimes you feel it, sometimes you don’t, it swings like the weather. Reputation is as limitless as the things you do and the people you meet, and there’s so much to do, so many to meet.”

At this point there were enough pieces lined up for the girl to figure it out, but Cyrus kept going.

“All of those things can be replenished. They’re infinite. And they’re worthless.” Steel eyes turned to June, relaxing at the table. “Yeah, the bet you can’t lose doesn’t count, that’s for sure. So, now that you understand when it doesn’t count.”

Giving into Joaquin’s unrelenting impatience and eagerness to play, Cyrus reached for the deck.

He opened his mouth to keep going, eyes staring without feeling at his outstretched arm. A straight creak of light cut through the dimly lit room, growing larger across his arm as the door to the hideout opened.

“Hey, boys. And girls. What are we playing?”

The voice of the old imp cut him off, and beneath the bill of his cap Cyrus’ eyes slid to stare at the new arrival.

“Yo, Mr. Justice, Mr. Ferdinand, Mr. Woods. Ms. Shane, Ms. Lee, Ms. Blumen.”

The old man took a chair as though it was his chair, as though the room belonged to him. From the eyes on him, the aura of dread leaking out of the other guests in the hideout, the room did belong to him. Chester Garrard’s arrival stole the moment, captured their attention and put down any prior conversation without mercy.

“So, are you dealing or what?”

“I’ll deal once you put up.”

So saying, Cyrus directed the man with his eyes to the wallet and keys in the center of the table. Then the boy began flicking cards around the table.

“Well, Aguila, happy now?”

Cyrus asked, staring at the center of the table, waiting to see what the older man would put forward.

[Tangerang]

Myo
Location: Zeus High School – Dorms (3rd Floor – Myo’s Room)
Time: Noon

“Well, do you want the good or the bad news first?”

Myo turns around and sees to her lack of surprise Shirai. Of course, it couldn't have been anyone else.

She doesn't even bother responding to the pointless question. The order didn't matter anyway, and they both knew it. But this was just one of Shirai's quirks that she had learned to deal with. Without waiting, Shirai continued.

“The bad news is that I’ve lost contact with everyone. Neither our handler or the backup personnel or the contacts in the area… nobody’s answering. They’re all gone.”


“Hell, I can’t even seem to contact the outside world at all since the quake. All I got today was the identity of the target, the order to execute, and then silence. I think we can assume they’re MIA or KIA. We’re alone. And I get the feeling that if we’re going to do it, we have to do it right now. Well, you’re the one that has to do it, I’m just backing you up, you do the chopping, I hide in the shadows. Like always~.”

Her voice had a slight shakiness to it, which was unusual. So whatever caused Myo's instinct to flare up caused Shirai to react the same way. That was a cause for concern... yet it also didn't change anything. Regardless of what that thing was, there was nothing else to it but to execute the mission, same as always.

"Got it. The usual."

“The good news is that I’ve got a good bead on the target and where they are, and our dear principal doesn’t seem like he intends to move from where he’s sitting at, so at least we’re not going to be playing hide and seek. We enter, you destroy, I cheer from the sidelines and take care of the evidence, and then we run away. Simple, isn’t it?"

Myo nodded. That was useful information. She closed her eyes, feeling her grip on the Crimson Scar in one hand, and the Cobalt scar in the other. She took several deep breaths, one after another to center herself. Her heartbeat was slow and steady. Her senses were sharp, honed to the edge. She quickly checked her body's condition, and couldn't feel any issues.

After holding back for so long, she was now in peak condition.

She opened her eyes.

"Acknowledged. We don't have any time to waste, so we're skipping the stealth and heading straight after the target. I'll leave the directing to you, as well as dealing with the witnesses."

Myo didn't even wait for a response.

Flashes of red curved through the air. The next instant, the door to Myo's room collapsed, sliding apart into four separate cuts.

But before the last piece had even hit the floor, the room was completely empty, leaving only black silence.

[Zagrin]

Aster Hunter
Location: Zeus High School – Courtyard (Tree Garden)
Time: Noon

Aster sighed as he watched the latest spate of misfortune to befall Cecily. When he had approached the ongoing commotion in the Tree Garden he had hoped for an entertaining diversion, but watching the scene flip flop from a battle to a circus act and then back again certainly was not what he had in mind. Honestly, if he didn’t know any better he would have thought this girl was doing it all on purpose.

Nonetheless, he still felt no compulsion to join the fray, even with the unfortunate situation that Cecily now found herself in, rather his attention now turned to the fool who was once again rising to his feet. Had he any sense of stratagem, or even self-preservation, he should have simply stayed down. Then again, based on the look in his eyes, it seemed safe to say that the growing rage within him seemed to be overtaking what limited faculties he had.

Aster casually walked towards the student that had arisen, wholly unconcerned that his foe could strike at him again at any moment. Indeed, by the look on his face all could see that he seemed to find the whole affair quite boring, the effort he had currently expended already more than this whole situation was worth.

Certainly, Aster often sought to instill anger within his quarry, it served as a great way to coax his prey to confront him or a motivator towards those with the potential to become worthy of his attention. Unfortunately, it was wasted on someone like him, a weakling who had squandered what miniscule potential he might have had.

“You are not worthy.”

As Aster uttered those words, he had already grabbed the club member’s collar and in the next moment, almost effortlessly, had spun around towards the group, dragging and lifting the poor fool up in the process before launching him straight towards the ongoing skirmish. His target? Nobody in particular. Whether it hit the rest of the club members, Cecily or even that Jane girl, it didn't quite matter to him. After all, the imbecile had no right to stand on the same ground as Aster, better to return him to an arena that was more befitting his incompetence.

[RacingeR]

Masaki Tomomi
Location: Zeus High School – Floor 2 (Hallways)
Time: Noon

Rachel looked somewhat contrite under your sharp stare, but not really repentant. Now that you had mentioned it, although she was sure Shelia was fine, the girl couldn’t help but to want and go make sure of it. Something you had experienced personally was that the prickly girl was excessively hard to get close to, but once you did, she would become the living avatar of a mother hen.

Meanwhile, Genna’s face had warped into a magnificent pout at your last words. “B-but he said there was no homework. And, and that we’d continue the exercises next week…” The girl’s mutters faded, as she knew well that you had made up your mind, and she wouldn’t change it no matter what. Ultimately, you knew she needed the help. It wasn’t that Maths were a particularly weak point of hers, but rather that the academic level of Zeus was exceedingly high. It wasn’t unusual for students to have trouble keeping up with certain subjects even if they weren’t bad at them.

As you started making your way through the hallways, you had to weave past a massive wave of students surging from their classrooms. Here and there, you could see confused and alarmed teachers endeavoring to quickly restore order, mostly with success. You saw members of Zhong’s gang out and about, but you paid no attention to them except to give them a wide berth, merely because you had more important things to do than to get dragged into whatever mess they were about to make.

However, despite the scene of order being restored, something felt odd. The air had a heavy, suffocating quality to it, an almost imperceptible yet somewhat troubling change.

When you reached the portion where the stairs were at, however, you found a lot less people around, which was nice. The noise elsewhere didn’t let you hear your own thoughts. And then…

“Nya!” You heard the noise before you saw the black blur appear and jump at your friend’s arms. Rachel let out a startled sound, but she caught it nonetheless.

It was a black cat, a particularly cute and fluffy one. Its fur was luscious and silky, and its reddish-pink eyes shone brightly on its face. However, it was currently all spiky and frazzled, curling between Rachel’s arms, hissing at nothing in particular.

You could recognize it, (well, a she, rather) as one of the many cats that often crowded around Rachel and that the girl so ‘recalcitrantly’ took care of. The girl’s favorite, although she was so committed to not admitting it that she hadn’t given her a name as far as you knew.

It was evident that the quake had caused her to become extremely afraid, and then she had searched for the closest comforting presence she could find.

Rachel immediately started to calm her pet down, but then…

“Ms. Raeburn. What have we talked about taking pets to the school building?” You heard the voice of a male teacher. One that your trio always associated with bad scores and your only blotches in the academic records.

It wasn’t that Robert Karl Dawson was a particularly harsh teacher. The Athletics Director of Zeus High was actually fairly encouraging, and had quite the charismatic presence. But his standards were high, and none of you three were what could be called a physical powerhouse.

“Ah, sorry, Mr. Dawson.” Rachel apologized as she petted her cat to soothe her down. “I think she got scared because of the quake, so she came in looking for me…”

“I see, that’s completely understandable.” Dawson smiled slightly at her answer. “Well, as a fellow pet owner I can’t complain about it. If I hadn’t my duties over here…” He shrugged slightly. His bald eagle was the school’s mascot, after all, but a bird was perhaps a lot more suited to dealing with an earthquake that mere earthbound lifeforms.

“Anyway, if I recall it right, you girls had Mathematics with Mr. Hunt today. Do you know where he went?” He asked, abandoning the topic of Rachel’s cat, much to the girl’s relief.

[RacingeR]

Aster Hunter & Rika Griffin
Location: Zeus High School – Courtyard (Tree Garden)
Time: Noon

Rika:

The quake is left quickly forgotten and thrown to the back of your minds.

“That girl again!” Elora said angrily, running out just after you, eyes intent. Neither of you could stand Zhong’s squad of bullies even at the best times, but Elora was acquainted with Jane through you. That alone was enough to make the girl’s sense of justice flare up, and Jane’s overall defenselessness was an even further aggravant.

“Marie, wait here.” Lara ordered, her expression a mix of anger, exasperation and resignation. Your captain and Bryanna also followed after you.

“Hey! Wait a moment!” Marie shouted, but neither of you four seemed like you were about to stop, so she hesitated a moment, before disobeying her sister and following from a distance.

Aster:

Cecily didn’t take that long to be able to make herself some space and jump back up. Four opponents that had already taken some licks are much easier to manage than six mostly intact ones.

And yet, the moment she rose-

“Let me go, you motherfu- oh shit!” You launched your projectile to the battlefield, and of course, like a metal rod attracts lightning, so did she attract misfortune. And received it straight on the face.

And yet, she somehow managed to parry the guy you had thrown aside. Of course, the weight of your projectile had diminished the air time and the momentum it had arrived with, but she had taken aside something thrown with all your considerable strength and with that much weight.

Of course, not without a price. Blood burst from her nose as the blood vessels in there had been ruptured by the impact.

Cecily’s eyes widened… and then, her looks changed as her iris sharpened and her face morphed with savage fury.

“ASTER!”

An explosion of rage.

-----It was over in an instant.

Had she been holding back before? Or had she only released her full strength with her anger? No, her compatibility against her enemies had been too bad, given their sizes relative to hers, so it was understandable that their numbers had bogged her down.

But there was a difference between six and four. And there was a difference between her state of mind then and now.

The first had gone down after receiving an elbow strike to the side of the chin, followed by a knee strike to the gut.

Then, a jump-kick to the face had taken care of the one who so much shit had talked, and who had tried to protect Jane as a means to bed her. His nose was reduced to a bloody mess, and he fell screaming and crying, a truly pathetic sight.

Only two were left standing after the storm, covered in cuts and bruises. The upperclassman you had thrown, surprisingly enough, and one of the underclassmen. However, the first was limping badly, and the second was holding his ribcage with a very pained expression, and were pretty much spent.

It was at that time that Jane’s white knight squad arrived on scene.


For the five girls, the scene they arrived to was shocking and borderline ridiculous. There was Jane, sitting against a tree and trembling like a rabbit being hunted. Cecily was over there, covered in bruises, bleeding, panting and looking at her teammate as if she was about to murder him. Another member of the gang, at some distance away and looking fresh and unhurt. There were six boys, rather infamous members of the male Tennis Team, some with outstandingly bad reputations, on the ground moaning in various stages of pain or unconscious. Two more from the same team looking like they could barely keep standing.

“What the fuck?” Bryanna succinctly expressed the new arrivals’ thoughts.

[Airen]

Rika Griffin
Location: Zeus High School – Courtyard (Tree Garden)
Time: Noon

"What the fuck indeed."

Rika agrees with Bryanna's assessment of the situation, her voice dry in the face of absurdity.

Of course, seeing members of the gang bloody and bruised wasn't exactly uncommon, they were the sort that went looking for fights a lot of the time, but the Tennis Team...

"..."

Well, actually, now that she was really looking at some of them...

These were the sorts that might have had whatever had happened to them coming, of course, neither the unconscious Tennis Team members or the two members of the gang were top priority, top priority was retrieving Jane from her spot trembling against the tree...

Then, and only then, would she really devote major thought towards figuring out exactly what had happened here...

So...

"Jane, come here, it's alright."

She calls out to her friend in a gentle voice, walking towards her as she does...

Towards her friend all actions are gentle, but to those on the outside, to the Tennis Team and the Gang Members, those people that existed as possible threats towards her friends...

---Getting in her way only seemed to promise a quick beat-down to whoever was stupid enough to try it.

[Bloble]

Jordan J. Jones
Location: Zeus High School – Courtyard (Football Field)
Time: Noon

"A distraction play..."

Jordan rubbed his chin, still not sure where his feet were taking him.

"Beats running all over the school trying to find Rhodes when she doesn't wanna be found. We're not gonna find her so might as well cause some trouble and make a smokescreen to let her get away." He glanced at Lavrenti and a cheeky grin spread across his face. "How 'bout we break into the drama room and dress you up as her, Lav? She's pretty tall and pale, and you're just missing a pair of volleyballs - haha, oh man, I know, I know, not the time."

As he was busy laughing at the image of his head, Jordan's path carried them towards the offices. Why, he wasn't sure.

"Seriously though, how the hell are we gonna distract the whole gang when Zhong's ordered 'em to track her down... they've gotta be all over the school right now. We'd need some way to grab a bunch of attention at once... and even then, how are we gonna pull 'em away from their search?"

[Eru Erufu]

“No, wait, that’s right… a play, a distraction tactic. That’s a good idea, Jordan.” Lavrenti said all of a sudden, his stare intensifying as his thoughts raced. It was one of the rare occasions you got to see the thought process of your captain in full. “If we do something that can distract the gang, hold their whole attention, we could at least buy some time. But what could we do?”

A distraction. Sweeter words had never been spoken to the theatrical young man, whom perks up at Lavrenti's words with a growing smile; the smile of a man either utterly confident in his abilities or so far up his own ass that he thinks he is. "Oh, my dear Paladin of the 10 Yard Line: distractions happen to be my specialty. Never has there been a man or woman not utterly captivated by mine words, for such is the attention I command through the force of personality alone." Bowing deeply to both of the footballers, a plan is already formulating within the nocturnal superhero's mind. "All I ask is that you follow me."

With his piece said and plan coming together in his mind, Aaron bolts off in the direction of the main office like a bat out of hell, beckoning for Lavrenti and Jordan to follow him and making sure to work up enough of a sweat to convince the staff within that he'd bolted the entire way there.

Step 1: Get the staff out of the office.

With an entirely legitimate (I assure you) pant, Aaron slams the door to the main office open, pointing down in the direction of the Newspaper Club... or the direction he believes it to be in at least. "Teachers... they need to... you need to all go to the Newspaper Club! Zhong and her cronies have bats!"

[RacingeR]

Eleanor Lansing
Location: Zeus High School – 4th Floor (Hallways)
Time: Noon

The air in the hallways felt heavy, and not only due to the buzz the quake had caused on the bored students or the noise of teachers trying to restore order. There was something unpleasant in the air, strange and suffocating. It just felt odd.

“My, but I happen to be feeling quite adventurous today.” Kaitlin replied with ladylike elegance, unaffected by the heaviness of the air. “My record happens to be sparkly clean, so I doubt I’ll get into much trouble for a scrap or two.”

She smiled impishly at your glare, and you realized that this girl was coming along to serve as a stopper. She knew she couldn’t keep you out of trouble, but she was going to try her best to stop you from sinking even further.

“But… either way, if the gang is up to something, I’m all for doing something about it, if the faculty won’t act.” She said, with a more serious expression.

Of course, that meant the two of you would tail the nearby members of the gang, but that proved to be more difficult than expected. The two of you stood out, after all, and you were already fairly well known by the redheads, particularly, so they were way enough of you.

Or so you thought, but…

“Hey! Do you know what Zhong’s people are up to?”

Kaitlin immediately starts socializing with the passersby, asking around with a smile, and it is not too long until someone has an answer.

“They’re going after Chamellia Rhodes.” A nearby boy replies after making sure he won’t be heard by the gang. “Apparently Zhongli decided it was time to settle the score with her.”

Well, they never had been known for their operational security, that’s for sure. Seems like the rumor mill’s been working extra fast today.

Chamellia Rhodes. For you, who’d been around the school since so long ago, it was a familiar name. You’d been there when she’d been in charge of the school’s newspaper.

If Bryanna was obsessed with the truth, Chamellia thought that no secrets should exist. He would ruthlessly expose people’s pasts no matter what. She had written pieces on a lot of people and about what they’d kept hidden. In some cases it had been a good thing: she’d exposed many things the gang had done and had even generated enough noise to go through Stacy Tirrel’s cover-ups and generate some expelling.

But she had also exposed other kinds of secrets. She had broken through many people’s closets regardless of their opinion, exposing their sexualities. She had exposed the troubled pasts that others wished to be buried, she had exposed sins others had committed and had left behind, or if they had been abused as kids or had been victims of something people usually didn’t talk about. She had even run a piece on your childhood incident, although most of what she had found had been matter of public record if someone wanted to investigate you.

Finally, she had tried to run a piece on the past of two members of the gang. Whatever she had found, it was apparently bad enough that orders had come to the top, and Chamellia had been ejected from the Newspaper. Of course, with how big Zeus was, scandals were often absorbed and quickly lost in the rumor morass of the school, so most probably only knew bits and pieces of this.

The relevant portion of your knowledge, however, was the members that had been expelled.

The founder of the gang had been Hitachi Aoi. You had known her as sort of your polar opposite. Aoi was chaos incarnate. That free-wheeling girl would provoke any kind of incident just because she wanted to see the world burn, and she hadn’t cared enough to hide evidence or use intimidation to silence witnesses.

That was the real beef Zhong’s gang held with Chamellia.

Kaitlin looked troubled, probably considering the same things you were. The people watching the gang members go by looked indifferent and almost cold. Most people wouldn’t want to get involved in the violence anyway, but it was clear just how much Chamellia was disliked by the average student. Not many would do anything for her.

But, what would you do?


Lorelei Weber
Location: Zeus High School – 5th Floor (Student Council Room)
Time: Noon

Your sound advice issued, you left the Student Council’s room first along with Jozefa. Hopefully the others would put the room and the stacks in order before going out to help.

Not that help seemed like it’d be needed. There were a lot of students in the hallways, and a chaotic buzz of noise surrounded you as you walked, but teachers were already working to reestablish order, and nobody seemed hurt, at least around you.

Yet, the air in hallways felt odd, almost suffocating. Strange, heavy and slightly harder to breathe in that it had been minutes before.

You two went around asking about Henry. A few students said he’d been in the school building moments before the quake, but nobody could quite point you to where he was at exactly.

Zeus High was a massive place. Even restricting yourself to the school building meant a lot of terrain to cover for two persons. And of course, not every student knew every student, so hunting him down was going to be a pain, at least until you randomly ran into someone who could help.

Which you did soon enough.

You saw one of the teachers with the better reputations in Zeus High near the stairs. If anyone could be counted to keep pretty much all of the students straight and recognize them at a glance, it was Sally Harland. And her position near the stairs meant she had high chances of having seen if at least Henry had gone up or down through this floor recently. Better than nothing.

However, as the two of you approached, you stopped at the same time, now hesitant.

Sally had an expression of fed-up patience as she listened to the tantrum a student was pitching. The girl with the blond twintails was probably the only one that could cause the normally kind teacher to put up that kind of face.

Tammara Ackerman was one year younger than you, but you had heard of her and seen her around a few times. She was the richest student in a school that counted many rich students, and she had perhaps the poorest reputation of them all.

Tammara was the queen bee of the school. She was surrounded by a girl posse of immense proportions, and was an utterly spoiled brat that overwhelmed anyone she deemed unworthy with raw mean-girliness and bullying. And you could bet she wouldn’t react well to you interrupting her bitching session to ask a quick question.

Even Jozefa looked hesitant at approaching, something she would have normally done without a second thought. She directed her eyes at you, looking like an abandoned puppy and evidently at a loss.

A dilemma. Sally probably was your best bet to find what you were looking for, but asking her would mean attracting the attention of someone who didn’t need much of an excuse to make things excessively unpleasant for the both of you.

[Alliceron]

Xavier Augustus
Location: Zeus High School – 5th Floor (Music Club)
Time: Noon

And now we’re back on track, he thought as Adelyn began to go over the next steps. But then…

“Hello! Sorry that I’m late, I had a call from my manager that couldn’t wait till later.”

With just her mere presence and a single sentence, Shelia had captivated everyone in the room. He knew he should be thinking about how to keep Cynthia from freaking out or at least saying hello to Shelia, but instead, he found himself admiring the sheer charisma she had. It was genuinely impressive. Xavier couldn’t deny that he was a little envious. It would be so much easier if he had Shelia’s magnetism. There would be no need to rely on his hollow songs or his uncooperative talent. He could just play and people would love it.

Then the ground began to shake and he snapped back to reality.

The suddenness of the event nearly caused him to lose his balance, but a quick adjustment saved him from falling to the ground. He then looked around at all the others to see if anyone seemed like they were going to trip. He wasn’t sure what he would do, but he’d try and stabilize them if they needed it.

Soon the quaking came to a stop, and Xavier let out a relieved sigh.

“Well, that was unexpected.”

“Yeah definitely. I’m glad no one got hurt and nothing in here got damaged. Who knows about the other parts of the school though?” He mused out loud, playing off Willow to further lower the tension.

“Oh and hello Shelia. How’s your day been?” he said with a smile. “I was a little distracted when you came in and then,” he broadly gestured towards the ground, “all that happened.”

“Hey! We’re working on helping Cynthia with her next performance. It’s looking to be really good. I can feel the passion she has for this, and I’d bet you’ll love it!”

Well, it looks like Willow's trying to get Shelia to join. On one hand, he knew that her experience and talents would give the performance the extra bit of polish it needed to truly shine. But on the other hand, he recalled Cynthia’s massive pout just seconds earlier. He wasn’t a stranger to Cynthia’s obsessive rivalry and knew how heated she could get. It might even be worse than usual, he thought. Cynthia’s done a good amount of the work on this performance by herself. If Shelia joins in now, she’ll probably feel like her work is being co-opted by her rival.

It was a catch-22 that could only end with Cynthia exploding and hurting both their feelings. But he could see a solution to the problem. He was going to solve this the only way he knew how. Through sheer honesty.

Shooting a glance at Adelyn and Willow that seemed to say, Give me a minute with Cynthia. He walked over to Cynthia and pulled her off to the side with a quick “Let me talk to you for a second,” just outside the other's earshot. Then, staring directly at her to convey his seriousness, he started to talk.

“Alright, listen to me for just a minute. I saw how you looked earlier when Shelia was offering to help out. We both know that you want to beat her, but...” He took a deep breath. Here comes the hard part: “If we want the best chance of amazing the students so much that they admit you're a better idol than Shelia, then it would be good if we had her help,” he said, as he braced for the guaranteed backlash. Once she was done, he would continue, "She has years of experience with the kind of choreography you’re aiming for. I'm not saying that her help is required. I know you're a fantastic idol regardless of who's helping you. The fact that you wrote this music proves it. But if Shelia chipped in, we wouldn’t have to rely solely on Willow and could push this performance to the next level. Just give it some thought, okay?”

Then his face settled into an expression that showed resignation and cold determination, “If you still don’t want her involved, I’ll figure something out that will keep her from helping us.”

Ultimately, this decision would come down to whether Cynthia valued the reaction of the student body more than she minded Shelia’s help.

Then his appearance softened, “I’m not going to judge you no matter what you choose. You're the performer here. Don't let anyone, even me, pressure you into doing something you don't want.”

No matter what, he would not become like those audiences that had browbeaten him. He saw a spark of beauty in her shows. He would try and cultivate it to help it reach its full potential. To do that, he had to leave the choice to her. He’d do what she asked, even if it meant being the bad guy.

[Erlkonig]

Masaki Tomomi
Location: Zeus High School – Floor 2 (Class 208)
Time: Noon

Seeing the cuddly kitten jump into Rachel's arms, Tomomi couldn't help but smirk. She knew Rachel would get her back for this, but it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

"You know, cats normally vanish when they're frightened. That behavior can only mean she likes you very much." Tomomi cooed, placing her hands on her knees as she leaned down to gaze at the cat. "Rachel's such a good mama, isn't she? Just look at how luxurious she keeps your fur. I think a certain cutie gets the brush every day~"

If there was one regret she had, it was that she'd never gone through the pains of raising a pet in her life. Between making up for lost ground in her studies during the 'incident' and her subsequent transformation, it just hadn't seemed to her that she had the time to give the love such a creature deserved. A part of her ached, admitting Rachel was braver than she could ever have been.

Love and devotion. Tomomi saw herself reflected in a ruby cat's eye, and for a brief moment her heart squeezed tight. Yearning, hungering.

Then a man's voice rang through the hall, and the moment passed.

"Mr. Dawson," Tomomi straightened herself at the Teacher's approach, though as her knees stood rigid it was her trim waist that subsequently bent in a reflexive bow. "We were indeed in Mr. Hunt's class, but he dismissed us when the earthquake happened. We don't know where he went afterwards, only that he stormed out of the class." She'd bent back and relaxed her shoulders whilst she explained, until the question sank in. She furrowed her brows then, her head tingling as she refreshed the memory of the event.

"Had the two of you arranged something? He was in a slight rush when he left, mumbling under his breath. I never thought I'd see the day Mr. Hunt mumbled." She chuckled, in as much disbelief as it was in amusement. "Though it was strange... If he was in a hurry, why would he complain about being 'early', rather than late?"

Then again, Mr. Hunt was ever the punctual man. The slave driver was an ass when it came to arithmetic and the domains of vectoral space, so there was little reason to believe he wouldn't be an ass about time as well.

[RacingeR]

Jordan J. Jones & Aaron Arturio
Location: Zeus High School – 1^st Floor (Staff Office)
Time: Noon

There were two ways to go about getting the attention of the teachers. Or rather, two locations. The first was a small detached building to the side of the school where the principal’s and the various faculty offices were at. The other was the Staff Office within the school building proper, that was more of a rest spot of the teachers during the workday than anything else.

The second spot was the most convenient one. Most teachers would be there, and either way the detached building had three floors itself and the staff would be too spread out over there to be able to quickly get their attention. So the office within the school building was your best bet.

Well, a lot of teachers were already out in the hallways, for what you saw. Something about a small quake, for what you heard as you passed through the crowded halls and ran through the stuffy space within.

No time to care about that. You saw a lot of red heads moving through the crowd even still. Most students weren’t giving the quake much importance, either way.

Thankfully, there were still a bunch of teachers within the office still when you entered. Marlowe Johnson and Perry Hunt interrupted a hushed discussion on the corner of the room, and all other teachers here, busy as they were discussing the quake, went silent.

“Bats, you say?” Rebecca Matthews, PE teacher and one of the teachers most concerned with her students within the school, frowned and walked up to you. “In the Newspaper Club? Did I hear correctly, Lavrenti?”

“Uh, yes.” The quarterback answered succinctly, somewhat stiffly and still wondering what Aaron had in mind. Still, he knew to play his part.

Rebecca’s frown intensified, and then she sighed. “Is Zhong finally crossing the line? Whatever. I don’t know what the top’s thinking by looking the other way all the time, but everything has a limit. Let’s go, everyone.”

“Huh? You mean, everyone?” Marlowe asked somewhat absent-mindedly. Both he and Perry looked like they thought their conversation was a lot more important compared to a mere episode of gang violence within school premises.

“Yes! Everyone!” Rebecca said energetically, and she walked out of the room before breaking out into a trot, the other teachers grumbling as they filed behind her. Thankfully, once you had issued your warning, they mostly forgot about you three, like pieces already removed from the chess board.

But if you were going to do something, you wouldn’t have a big window of time. Rebecca was fast. Olympic runner levels of fast. She would notice the lie once she arrived to the Newspaper Club, which was on the sixth floor so at least she’d have to run up through the whole building and back. Sadly, less time than you’d have with anyone else, but such was the luck of the draw.

Adding the teachers to the mix was going to make things difficult for the gang, regardless, but it was probably not enough. Time for the next step of the plan.

[Bloble]

Jordan J. Jones & Aaron Arturio
Location: Zeus High School – 1^st Floor (Staff Office)
Time: Noon

"Lav, we might get in trouble for this. Just a little bit. Like, they could call our parents. Or suspend us for a day." Jordan glanced at Aaron and considered the boy's motor mouth. "Okay, maybe a week."

He hadn't had much time to consider their actions. Things were moving too fast. Jordan J. Jones, if given enough time, might get cold feet about a plan this risky. Fortunately, he didn't have the time to think twice.

"But-," he said, giving his captain a thumbs-up. "It's the right thing to do. Besides, getting in trouble for a girl ain't that bad. I'd do the same if it were your sister or even Liz in danger."

He marched over to the door to a certain room and yanked it open. Before him lay a mess of desks with printouts stacked on them, a few buttons, a control panel, and... their goal. The end zone.

He tapped it. A response issued.

Jordan cackled. He beheld the prize in all its majesty.

"Bingo! No way they'd remember to lock it in the hustle."

Jordan J. Jones had no idea how things had gotten so interesting all of a sudden. One second he was getting lectured, and in the next moment he was about to do something extremely stupid because some crazy guy had said a girl was in trouble. But who was truly crazy: the guy selling nonsense, or the ones buying it?

Jordan did, at least, know that getting suspended for a week was basically the same as free vacation. He wouldn't be practicing football or writing tests or getting tackled for a long time. So he slammed the door to the offices shut and grunted as he began to pull a desk in front of it. To buy Aaron Arturio time to do what he did best.

"You got an open field, Aaron. Go for it!"

[Tobias]

Neru Sune
Location: Zeus High School – Rooftop
Time: Noon

There was a lot to unpack in what had just happened. For starters, was he “cursed”? Actually Neru had occasionally thought of himself like that, but hadn’t really meant it. It was like when someone was embarrassed and thought “oh good, kill me now” or something. And to be fair, this girl didn’t really seem…reliable.

But the necklace was no joke. If only to be obliging and not cause a scene, he went around and looped it around his neck, having to give a short, awkward tug when it got caught on his glasses, but he had absolutely no faith it was more then an ornamental charm.

If you want to change your mind, try biochemistry, as the saying goes.

…But he immediately had to update his priors. As soon as the chain touched his skin it was almost like he could feel something deep inside, roused from a somnolent semi slumber, rise up and react to this new sensation.

And then laugh derisively.

If there was a curse…well, Neru had an idea it had just kicked this blessing ass.

Well, whatever, it didn’t hurt to wear.

While he was lost in thought, one of the girls, carrying a faint scent of shampoo, demonstrated a willingness to cut right to the meat of the matter. Oh her asking about his “habits” wasn’t completely unexpected. High schoolers often eschewed social boundaries, so being straight up asked about his notoriety was unusual but not unheard of.

Neru didn’t like talking about it. Most of the time when he did people just felt pity.

Or scorn, depending.

But he also didn’t really bother lying much, it’s not like any excuse would do much to change the reaction, and anyway even he felt guilty sometimes for disturbing class or lunch or the football game or whatever he had just rocked this time.

”No. well, not precisely. Actually there isn’t anything wrong with my sleep patterns or brainwaves, at least so I have been told. I have spent a lot of time in therapy and doing sleep studies. Even before I came here. Actually that’s why I came here, the medical program offered to take me on, and my parents had been spending a lot of money…”

Neru shook his head. Best not to take that line of thought any further. That was really depressing. “Anyway. According to the docs, I sleep just fine. But I never make it past my first point of REM asleep. I have a night terror and end up waking up. Stay awake for a bit, let adrenaline fade, go back to sleep, wake up. Since I don’t get real sleep I end up nodding off in the day. I have tried trazadone, benzos, even some pretty hard core anti-psychotics. I thing touches it.”

Neru held a hand up in a likely vein attempt to prevent the conversation from derailing into an awkward silence.

“B-but, don’t worry! It’s not so bad these days though. The people here have been trying a different type of therapy. It’s a lot better these days then it used to be! And they say if the nightmares stop, since I don’t actually have a clinical problem I will be able to sleep just fine!”

[Eru Erufu]

Jordan J. Jones & Aaron Arturio
Location: Zeus High School – 1^st Floor (Staff Office)
Time: Noon


Still panting and nodding along with everything the teachers were saying, Aaron only lets up once they've all bolted out of the room. He recovers instantly, back to his old self. In fact, one could reasonably assume that Aaron was never tired at all. The rascal!

"Wait, that actually worked?" Aaron remarks with a look of amazement. "Er, I mean Bahaha! Of course it worked! I'm a Hero and Genius, after all!" Marching right over to where Jordan is standing, he gives the footballer a thumbs up as he hops up onto the table where his goal is situated.

"You got an open field, Aaron. Go for it!"

"Good work, my paladins!" Aaron cries out with a wave of his hand to Jordan and Lavrenti both; as though the captain of some sort of guard. "We have taken the Teacher's Castle, and with it: our treasure!"

Step 2: ...

Without further ado, Aaron Arturio mashes his finger down on the "Speak" button, bringing the School's PA System to life.

"Attention students of Zeus: I have an announcement to make." Aaron begins, before clearing his throat and grinning like a madman at Lav and Jordan both. "Zhongli Liu is a wickedly lecherous ruffian and a revolting chromosome deficient mental midget with the natural grace of an intoxicated beluga whale. During the warm summer months I rejoice at her presence, for her freezing point IQ chills my soda pop to perfection! How she became the leader of an entire gang, and much less one with such political capitol, is anyone's guess given she possesses all the cunning of a wet towel falling from the tip of the Seattle Space Needle."

There's a pregnant pause as Aaron stops for air, before firing out another salvo of telecommunicated verbal abuse. "Zhongli has name recognition, but that is all she has. Nothing else. In my humble opinion, Zhongli ought to have at least the basic humility needed to admit that, yet she maintains I should apologize for calling her out as the thuggish ruffian that she is. Really, it’s Zhongli who should be apologizing for turning dumbbells loose against us good citizens. She should preferably issue this apology from inside a prison cell. Whether or not this ever happens, teenagers who want to shock their parents sometimes maintain—with a straight face—that the average Zeus student can’t see through Zhongli’s chicanery. Fortunately, most parents don’t fall for this fraud because they know that if we don’t do something soon, Zhongli’s dangerous agendas will rise like a golem with a million hands on a million throats to choke the honor out of decent, hardworking students.

Unfortunately, there is no shortage of individuals and organizations, many of whom may seem innocent at first glance, who secretly want to outrage the very sensibilities of those who value honor and justice. Yes, children are taught their ABCs in school. Why aren’t they also taught that Zhongli’s shrewish ballyhoos are an embarrassment of cataclysmic, historic proportions? I insist it would be absolutely appropriate for kids to learn that I receive a great deal of correspondence from people all over the world. One of the things that impresses me about all of it is the massive number of people who realize that Zhongli always wraps herself in the cloak of patriotism or religion or both to deceive and overawe people. Let me rephrase that: I’m not a psychiatrist. Sometimes, though, I wish I were, so that I could better understand what makes people like Zhongli want to run rampant through the halls of Zeus. I, for one, challenge you to ponder this subject with the broadest vision possible."

After a volley rivaling that if a WWII era battleship, it's little wonder that Aaron sees a need to stop, take another deep breath, and continue with. "And now a word from our sponsor." He turns the microphone in the direction of Jordan and Lavrenti, taking his finger off of the "Speak" button for but a moment so he can ask them "Pray tell, do you fine knights of justice wish to add anything?

[Vorbis]

Lorelei Weber
Location: Zeus High School – 5th Floor (Student Council Room)
Time: Noon

The chaos in the hallways was something that Lorelei expected. While something like this didn't bother her, it did mean that things were going to be difficult.

Henry could be anywhere, and amid the throng of students who were roaming the hallways, he could be missed if he was moving around.

Lorelei kept close to Jozefa, partly to make sure she didn't wander off, and partly because it was best to have a partner in a crowded hallway.

As they approached what appeared to be one of the more trustworthy teachers, Lorelei couldn't help but notice Tammara throwing a fit right in front of her, distracting the teacher's attention - and probably thinking herself more important than tracking down a lost student in a crisis. Such was life, and such was the average rich American girl. Spoiled, self important, and popular.

If Lorelei could afford limos and expensive lunches she could be popular too, and Lorelei had the charisma of a dead fish.

Even so, she couldn't help but wonder how exactly she should extricate the teacher from the rabid net that was Tammara's tantrum. From the look of it, Ms. Harland didn't look too thrilled to be in the position she was. And Lorelei was nothing if not courteous to those who were similarly mannered.

What to do...

She looked to Jozefa, gestured for her to wait a moment, and... approached confidently, if still rather blankly.

Lorelei was well aware of the hellfire Tammara could rain down upon her with her gaggle of sycophants, but what did that matter to the girl who never tried to have friends anyway? It was akin to threatening a penguin with flightlessness.

Alone, she walked up to the pair, and cut in to interrupt Tammara. "Pardon me, Ms. Harland? I'm looking for a missing student, have you seen Henry Cornell around? Maybe you could show me where he is?" As Lorelei positions herself to give Sally Harland a good escape from having to listen to Tammara's whining, she tries to make sure their exit is expedient - mostly because she didn't want Jozefa wandering off while Lorelei took the brunt of the blame from Tammara for this percieved slight.

[Bloble]

Jordan J. Jones
Location: Zeus High School – 1st Floor (Staff Office)
Time: Noon

Jordan nodded. He took the microphone, tapped it twice, and then turned up the distortion dial just a bit.

"Ahem." He cleared his throat. "I'd just like to say..."

Then he winked at Aaron and Lavrenti.

"Zhongli Liu. Has no ass."

The dam broke.

"Got no style. No grace. No mans.
What she does have is an OnlyFans.
A zoo of dropout simps and stans.
Hoping for a whiff of them stanky clams."

Jordan J. Jones may or may not have been working on this one for a while.

"But y'all don't know what she did,
Come weekend she's home, stuck in bed,
Rubbing herself raw red,
Knowing she's only in Zeus
'Cus she gave the janitor head."

He had, after all, hated Zhong ever since seeing the result of her gang's rampages reflected in the face of his classmates the next morning. And in the empty desks.

"Then Monday she's in school, thinkin' she's cool.
Playin' Crips and Bloods, lookin' like a fuckin' rug.
Givin' Freeman's balls a tug, trying to chug,
Down her own BULLSHIT."

He paused, breathing heavily.

"'Cus this bitch believes it!
She got lost in the sauce,
This wannabe girlboss.
Who won't ever get no hoss
To give her salad a toss."

"Oh but daddy's girl knows,
She's 'bout to get exposed.
And get booted out of schoo',
All her loser gang too.
'Cus we ain't ever respected Zhongli Liu."

Jordan handed the microphone back to Aaron and momentarily muted the PA system.

"Phew!" he said. "Been wanting to do that for years."

[Plue]

Eilian Aubrey
Location: Zeus High School – 5th Floor (Crafts Club)
Time: Noon

Eilian answers Astor after a moments consideration as she slots the necessary work into her planned schedule, "Twenty seven days for complete restoration." Tone rather distracted as she contemplates the item the earthquake had shaken loose. The slight clutter at her work station annoying, yet just the work of a few moments to straighten back up.

"Six, perhaps? Quite high for the area, though lower magnitude earth quakes are quite common."

The hard tips of her gloved fingers skitter across the material with nary a mark left behind. A raised brow and a repeat test with more force again fail to mar the surface. Far harder than the alloy it appears to be would suggest.

Eilian can feel the silent heartbeat of the clockwork mechanism. A flick of her fingers to open the cover and further investigate.

[Eru Erufu]

Super hot fire, he spits that

Aaron just looks on in awe, his justice-minded mind absolutely floored by the footballers absolutely righteous rhymes. "I thought myself the master, but in my hubris, I see I was but the student all along." he mutters aloud. "It seems I still have 10,000 years more of training before I can catch up with you!"

Aaron has little more to say, but he feels he must end the show with a bang! "Thank you for tuning in today folks! This has been J-Dog and the Cape, signing off!"

And with that, he takes his finger off of the Speaker button for a final time, looking at both the football paladins with the widest grin on his face. "Well, I think that went pretty decently. Knight Lavrenti, thoughts?"

[Vritra]

Ishmael Freeman
Location: Zeus High School – Floor 6 (Infirmary)
Time: Noon

“If you call Ms. Lovell ‘dragon maiden’ to her face, you’d get yet another redhead sending you straight to the hospital.” The nurse commented, amused.

Eh? Why would she get mad about it? It’s got a feeling of power, its got that cute feel which also reaffirms her girly side. Its great and truly a culmination of thought. Girls love cutesy nicknames, it’ll be a unmistakable hit. Trust me. I am pretty good at this you know. Wagging my finger in reprimand I flick my bangs back and burn her doubts away with a smile of pure beaming (smug) confidence. “Really when have I gotten it wrong, just ask Myr! Even Zhong loves my nicknames you know just last time I ran one past her she loved it so much she couldn’t stop laughing and giving me a pat on the back, ...and chest.”

“Yeah, I saw what you compiled, you got most of it ready but we’re still missing the current club member data.” Myrthe said. “Which we were supposed to be dealing with during the time you were getting your ass handed to you by that shithead.”

“Damn. I mean, you are right.” Myrthe sighed and settled down. “I was hoping I could argue it out with her and get a bit more out of it, some of our swimsuits are in need of replacements, especially because a certain someone’s bust won’t stop growing.” She sent an annoyed stare towards Maeve, who was busy hugging the sickly girl on the bed for some reason.

…

How strange? Why is myr focusing on breasts? Is she worried? She’s pretty well endowed but, I suppose even the pretty girls get insecure. Don’t worry Myr I’ll always be there to get your back …well when I can, effort is hard to come by.

“Nah don’t worry Myr its no big deal. Everything will sort itself out and you’ll have her beat in no t-“

The tremor was small, but strong enough to be perceptible, strong enough to shake the infirmary up. It was over in an instant, but in that instant, quite a few things happened.

Huh?

That’s weird, I could have sworn I was sitting on a chair and yet… Now I’m on the floor? Aaaaaaand now my head hurts again, great. Wincing and clenching as I took stock on my surroundings and replayed the last few moments in my head. Hope that breaking sound wasn’t my head, then again, I don’t think my skull had glass in it? Idly letting my mind wander and debating the pro’s and cons of glass augmented skeletons and their likelihood I glance over at the other side of the room.

Man.

Being a cute girl really is like a cheat code. Yeaaah don’t mind me, just laying here helplessly, no need to worry, no need to help, yup toootally fine don’t mind me I’ll just continue to lay here. Truly the fate of not being a cute girl is harsh and unforgiving. Life on hell mode indeed.

Letting my thoughts flow, here, there and anywhere I reach up and pat Myr on the head as I wish I had the interest in disputing the nurse’s advice only to realize something. I’m doing it again; I’m babbling to avoid it. A ha ha heh, like a jolt of electricity, like pure manic energy, like letting out a long held breath I CAN feel IT. Ssssh shshshshshshsh there’s nothing, there’s no reason, breath in, breath out, the world isn’t ending. Restless purpose tugging at my strings and the feeling of absence, the outline of a memory crawling up my spine to climb inside my skull.

Great.

Lovely.

Hatred.

Even now you still haunt me you worthless piece of trash.

Shit… To try to drive it away and be forced to endure that feeling of absence, of something that should be there but isn’t or, to try to remember and enjoy that puke inducing trip down memory lane (if I can even manage to remember anything).

.
..
…

Fine I’ll let you have this one you sack of shit pretending to be a human, let’s see what remains of the worthless things you tried to carve into my skull.