arca9

The Hidden People

@TheIrishJJ

As Julian followed Séamus towards the bathroom, Julian got the idea that they were about to take some illegal drugs or steroids. Séamus started to tell Julian about the chemicals in a vampire's body, and how Séamus would have to bite him, which sounded to Julian like something similar to injecting drugs. Being the party-lover that Julian was, he did have some experience with drugs although he didn't know which ones, but he had never bothered with steroids because he thought his werewolf genes allowed him to get strong enough. He was a little nervous about what Séamus was about to do. He wondered if anything permanently damaging could happen, since Séamus said the chemical would stay in his body forever.

In the bathroom, Séamus grabbed Julian's shoulders, and Julian was surprised at how tense they were. Suddenly, there was a sharp stabbing pain in Julian's neck. Julian gritted his teeth as stars appeared in his eyes, his body rigid despite Séamus' advice for him to relax. He felt the blood being sucked out of his body and realized Séamus was letting his vampire side take over. Was Séamus trying to kill him? Julian tried to struggle against Séamus' jaws but found himself too weak to move. He felt a sensation of falling, but the world went dark before he hit the ground.

The Hidden People

@TheIrishJJ

All the complimenting Séamus was doing of Julian's lifting convinced Julian that Séamus admired him and therefore was a good person to be around. This, along with the endorphins from the workout, put Julian in a good mood. He thought about starting school, and instead of feeling dread of the workload, felt excitement about learning new things. He thought for the first time that summer that he was ready to go back to school. After Julian asked Séamus how he got so big, Séamus' answer sparked Julian's curiosity, and he greedily pressed Séamus for more. "What is it? Could you do it now?" Séamus' statement that it was risky didn't slip past Julian's attention, and he wondered for a second whether he could really trust Séamus. Séamus was a vampire after all, and he had heard rumours about vampires during his time at the school. He decided that Séamus was so muscular, so he must know what he was doing, and complied with what Séamus told him to do next.

Hyder Zoo [arca9 & sirena]

Enkoodabaoo

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[Day]

Kooda picked one familiar voice out from the crowd. "They're not really fighting, they're just trying to see who's stronger." He turned to see the friendly zoo owner and frequenter, Bass, telling the little boy about the fighting bears.

Bass had been at the zoo more than a few times since Kooda had started coming. He had recently recognized Kooda as a regular visitor, but not before Kooda noticed him. It was an hour before closing when Bass' voice popped up right behind Kooda. "You come here a lot." Kooda looked over his shoulder at the man in the cap. "I'm Bass, the zoo owner. You are?" "Kooda." Kooda shook his outstretched hand. "Are you also an animal enthusiast?" "Uh, a little. It's a nice de-stressor after school." Bass looked happy. "Are you studying biology at school?" Kooda's gaze faltered for fear his answer would displease him. "I'm taking biology, yeah, but I'm studying to be an actor." Kooda needn't have worried. "An actor! You want to be a movie star?" Kooda smiled bashfully. "Well, no, not star, anything's fine I guess." "You'll still make more money than me." With a playful smile, Bass turned around and walked away, leaving Kooda to stare into the crowd.

Kooda didn't feel like talking to anyone at the moment. He slipped away before Bass could see him. It was almost closing time, so he walked with the mass of people towards the zoo's exit. Once he was out, he went around the perimeter of the zoo, walking through the grassy hills and woody forests surrounding the zoo. It took 20 minutes and some bushwhacking to get to the desk-sized rock that marked the back of the bear cage. He tried moving the rock from the side. He still wasn't strong enough. He took one of the stones on the ground and knocked a rhythm against the large rock.

The Hidden People

@TheIrishJJ

Julian flexed his arms in response, trying to make them as big as Séamus' arms. He worked hard to gain muscle on his naturally lean body, and took pride that Séamus had noticed. "Let's do some weight training. We can spot each other." As they operated the machinery and lifted weights, Julian saw that Séamus could lift a lot more than him, but comforted himself by reminding himself that Séamus was naturally much bigger and taller. He couldn't stop his jealousy. "Did you do anything special to get so big? Any special exercises or routines or anything?" He listened greedily for a response, imagining his head on top of a bodybuilder's physique. As he followed Séamus' workout, he tried and failed to hide his exhaustion behind excuses and snarky comments.

Schism: Blood of Heroes

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!" Red Jack's outburst pulled Mina from her dreamless nap. Half awake, she opened her eyes and found herself on the leather couch she had taken a seat on when she first arrived. She looked up to remember where she was, on the Cochran family jet, and then gave into her grogginess when she saw that everyone else was going about their own business. She listened in on Red Jack's phone conversation, hardly following what he was talking about. He mentioned a broadcast, which Mina could only assume was the sickening portrayal of the Champions that had shown up on the plane's TV. The confusing mixture of fear, anger, and shame she felt in response to the incident resurfaced; it was a milder version that wouldn't put her in a week-long stupor, but one that would keep her from napping again nonetheless. She didn't want to think about explosions anymore. It sounded like Red Jack was going to take care of whatever was going on in Nagoya, or at least try.

It was more news to her that the Champions were also going to Australia to find Tinhead Ned, although she should have guessed the moment Red Jack contacted the group that the remaining Champions would also get their sorry butts involved. Patrick would stay behind to help the Champions, and Mina decided she would too, just to see if the Champions were any more put-together after the incident. She didn't bother telling anyone of her plans, figuring if she were to camouflage, no one would notice or really even care. Mina went to the plane's tiny laundry room and quickly spotted her clean green uniform, putting it on right then and there. No one questioned her change of outfit, probably assuming she wanted to be ready to hunt down the Skull or Tinhead Ned. She sat back down on the couch for the jet's landing, her completely green getup standing out against the black leather. She bounced slightly when the plane touched down, and hung back while the rest of the team left while she activated her camouflage.

Leaving her dufflebag on the plane, she headed out and looked for Patrick, barely seeing him run away from the town in the moonlight. She turned to run after him, but he was nowhere to be seen. She kept going anyways, assuming this direction was where the Champions would be. A few minutes later, she nearly ran right into a man on a motorcycle and swerved to the side. Standing behind a bush, she saw that there were maybe 40 large armed men on motorcycles, surrounding a few uniquely-shaped people. She picked out the fit, curvy figure and blonde hair of Cypress, and realized these were the remaining Champions. Threatening talk was interrupted by unpleasant clunking of metal as a clumsy-looking body of armor appeared. Blue flames propelled him into the sky. She winced at the bangs and shut her eyes against the flashes of light that happened in the brawl, knowing she wouldn't stand much of a chance if she went in to help.

The World's Prison

Dawn Cohen

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@Shadow Daedalus

A man's voice came from the alleyway, stating everything there was to know about Dawn. She was shocked and scared. How did someone know so much about her? Was it one of the invisible prison staff that supposedly managed the prison from the outside? As the man came out three buildings away from her, a few men appeared from the walls around her. The man knew where all her weapons were and told her to put them down. She complied, putting down her backpack, dropping the three knives in her belt and the one in her right boot onto the ground. She reached into her shirt and pulled the short knife from her bra, dropping it in plain sight. The men were closing in, looking like they were going to corner her. She had to escape before they completely surrounded her. She turned around and started to sprint away from the man who knew everything. She turned a corner onto a small street and crashed into a body wearing the same uniform as the people closing in on her, feeling strong muscles grab her arm and a hand clamping over her mouth.

The Hidden People

@TheIrishJJ Sorry, I've been busier than I thought I would be with travelling.

The Hidden People

@TheIrishJJ

Julian stood up and puffed his chest out at Séamus, who still towered over him. "I've got nothing better to do. Sure I'll come." He followed Séamus down and out of the building, seeing that they were headed towards Nirvana Fitness to work out in the well-equipped gym he was so familiar with. He wondered if he and Séamus shared any classes this year. It wasn't likely since they were in different years, but it was possible since some classes were for anyone to take regardless of year level. He decided this would be a good time to show off his knowledge of the academy. "You're new here, so I'm going to give you some advice. It's easy to get lost here, so before you know the place inside out, you're going to want to have a map on your phone or something. Today you're with me, so if you don't have a map it's fine. Sometimes at the academy a newbie loses control of their powers. I never did, but some people have. Don't be that newbie. You might damage someone or something, and they're going to blame you. At least the students will blame you. The teachers are pretty understanding. The teachers are pretty nice and cool, but a lot of them are weird and superstitious. Some are better to students who have the same powers as them, which is not fair at all. All the teachers have their own powers, by the way. I haven't seen them use it much except for demonstrations. But yeah, there's pretty much a teacher for every power and ability." Julian talked all the way to Nirvana Fitness, failing to realize Séamus was hardly talking his share because Julian wasn't letting him. He walked in and flashed his membership card at the front desk before going towards the gym entrance. He stopped and turned towards Séamus. "Do you have a membership card? If you don't, it's 2 dollars to drop in or you can buy a year's membership for 50 dollars."

The Hidden People

@TheIrishJJ Awesome, Julian could totally see him as a rival-like friend. Julian would be reluctantly in awe of him and jealous at the same time, so probably trying to one-up him a lot.

@Alina13 I was going for the narcissistic type that everyone hates :)

@Nightfury Kat Thanks for telling me, I forgot classes hadn't started yet. Julian would love a party! I can see how Jack could use Julian while making Julian think Jack is serving him.

The Hidden People

@TheIrishJJ

Much to Julian's selfish pleasure, Séamus noticed how strong his handshake was. His calling Julian a big guy was more food for his ravenous ego. They had just met, but already Julian had managed to show Séamus that he was more special than everyone else. Séamus said it was his first day and that he wasn't scared, which upset Julian somewhat. Julian refused to accept that anyone could be braver than him, no matter how large or how weird a creature. But Julian could let this slide, as Séamus had already remarked on Julian's greatness.

The assembly ended, and Julian and Séamus still sat waiting. "I have a couple hours until Intermediate Theory of Transformation. It's so boring, I'm thinking of skipping it. I hate theory. I don't care about how things work, just let me actually do it." Julian wasn't interested in Séamus' schedule unless it involved him, but he was in a good mood and figured he could make small talk while they waited to leave. "What lesson do you have?"