Tyler

Crestwood Hollow

@FantasyChic I think you may have wrote Tyler where you mean Aiden.

@Lord Wraith

Probably my fault for relentlessly and brazenly self-inserting into every story.

Crestwood Hollow

Thanks a lot all. I thought this was a group of (relatively) mature people.

@Dusksong

It seems like someone has been spreading vicious rumours. Don't believe everything you read online.

Crestwood Hollow

@Roman

Crestwood Hollow

A I D E N M c K E N N A

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^{Friday evening, Orlaith Valley Trail & Park}

"I could fucking kill you right now."

Aiden smirked at Sebastian's apparent rage. It was amusing to see the infamous troublemaker, whom earlier had been so keen to cause a fuss, now shake with visible fury. He opened his mouth, but had little time to speak before Sebastian surged forward, putting that superspeed of his to good use. Reacting instinctively, Aiden's hands rose to protect his head as the blur that was Sebastian sped towards him from across the meadow. In the seconds between Sebastian's words and action, it had become soberingly clear to Aiden just how much weight his threat had carried. Aiden was preparing himself for the worst; bracing for the inevitable impact of Sebastian's wrath, eyes shut tight.

And yet, it never came. A strange tongue echoed across the clearing, and Aiden slowly opened one eye, lowering his shivering hands in trepidation. There, just centimetres away from his throat, was Sebastian's determined hand, each finger bent into a claw that betrayed the severity of his intent. And yet, Sebastian didn't move at all: he seemed frozen, even his hair locked into a windswept position as he seemed to have been stopped dead in his tracks. Suspended, motionless, by some unseen force.

Jonas Lehrer made himself known, by barking another foreign word and sapping every trace of Aiden's handiwork from the area; only the harsh scent of smoke in each nostril remaining as a testament to the blaze. Aiden didn't speak as Jonas explained his role in the evening's activity, and he remained similarly silent as Winter rose to challenge him. Not the best move, he thought to himself, after seeing the feats Jonas had just performed. He eyed the inanimate form of Sebastian cautiously, before deciding it best to walk over to join Brynn away from his incapacitated attacker.

It was demanded that Mr. Lehrer explain to the class exactly what was going on, and to give the teacher due credit, he did indeed explain. He explained the origin of Hyperhumans, stating their birth from the greed of some sort of wizard many years ago. He explained the role of Crestwood Hollow, and the implications this had on them as modern Hyperhumans. Someone out there was hunting them; someone powerful. And, he explained, in putting together the class, Jonas' goal was to teach each student not only how to protect themselves; but to protect each other, and the ones they love. It was a lot to take in... But every word of it made sense, and it was a relief to finally have a satisfying amount of light shed onto their shared predicament.

He felt similarly relieved as Jonas revealed he'd had the situation under control all evening. It would be hard for his fellow students to hold a grudge, now that they knew Jonas had apparently been pulling the strings. Even Aiden recognised that his actions had been beyond reckless, but he stood by his belief that he had taken the most efficient route into getting them to this point. Without him taking the initiative, they could all well be sat back at the camp, none-the-wiser to what lay in store for them back in Crestwood Hollow.

And yet, he could still feel the disproving looks of his peers; a weary look of caution or an angry glare seemingly passed in between each of Jonas' revelations. It would seem that, as Mr. Lehrer stood there lecturing them on the importance of allies, Aiden found himself surrounded by new enemies. He sighed quietly to himself, slowly moving away from the group to sit on a nearby boulder. Here, he could listen to anything Jonas had to say, but not be quite so enveloped in the tension that whirled around the group.

Gazing out into the night, and doing his best to look callous and disinterested, Aiden wanted nothing more than to return home to Crestwood Hollow. Whoever - or whatever - this 'Draoi' was, it looked like he would have to face it alone. But, he realised, glancing back at his classmates discreetly, that was the way it always had been.

Crestwood Hollow

Honestly slain by all these advancements in such a short space of time. Yaaaaassss, Crestwood Hollow, come through. So much drama, I would love to see more of this type of writing in future posts. Everyone is just delivering the goods and I'm totally gagged.

Crestwood Hollow

A I D E N M c K E N N A, E V A N D E R D A R I O & A B E L L E D ' V O I R E

A collaboration between @Tyler, @Polaris North & @Roman

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^{Friday evening, Orlaith Valley Trail & Park}

Aiden eased his stance as Evander greeted him. A hyperhuman 'too'? he repeated in his head, mulling over the words the boy had uttered. It would seem that Evander was making little effort to conceal his own Hype status... Which, whilst indeed convenient, would force Aiden into taking a different approach. He'd been expecting to have to be a good degree more forceful. But, he reasoned, Evander was one of the most intelligent kids in the class. He was definitely smart enough to realise that Aiden would get what he wanted, one way or another.

"Yeah," he replied, a certain brazen quality to his admission. "Surprise!" he mocked. "But nah, it's not that special. Not in this class, anyway. Seb can move faster than you can blink, and Belle's got this whole bug thing going on. Pretty sure Winter's got mind powers or whatever."

As he spoke, he was slowly pacing around the clearing, keeping his distance from Evander. He really had not even an inkling over what the boy was capable of, and no rush of adrenaline was strong enough to blur Aiden's judgement enough that he would underestimate the others. Resting upon Evander's calm demeanour, Aiden decided that he should keep this exchange peaceful. Looking to the skies, he propelled both arms upwards, sending a pillar of fire surging into the blackness. It stood for a moment, sustained as a single beam of swirling flame, before Aiden's grip faltered: the beacon skewed, collapsed, and dissipated. But it had certainly been enough to make the others aware of their location.

Regaining his composure, and slightly out of breath, Aiden turned back to Evander. "So then," he said, expectantly. "Fair is fair. I've shown you mine, now you show me yours." The look in Aiden's eye warned Evander that, whilst Aiden was willing to play show-and-tell for now, he knew exactly what he wanted, and was dead set on getting it.

Evander simply stared at the male, finding little interest in his behavior. However, it would seem that Aiden did have more information about the class. He couldn't help but let out a small chuckle upon finding it out. "Is that so? So this Social Conscience class is just an excuse to get a bunch of hyperhumans together?" He said with a small shake of his head. If that was the case, then Brynn must have a power as well. But the question was why they were collected. Did they want to create some sort of superhero team? Ha, that would be funny.

In the meantime, he was following Aiden's movement. Last thing he wanted was him being surprised by the male. Again, fire really is practically his weakness and this man had control over that particular element. Just his luck huh? The one who could easily beat him was the one who wanted to fight... or well, is his 'enemy' for now.

He watched as the male released a pillar of fire towards the sky which illuminated the dark sky and the surrounding area. The orange pillar was enough to make him extremely nervous. So he had that much power in him? Though when it disappeared, it seemed it was because of his lack for stamina to keep it going. Evander listened to him as he urged for him to also show his power. The look the male was giving him told him that this wouldn't exactly end on the same peaceful note from when it started.

"Fine. Though I don't have something as spectacular as yours." He then finally showed his hands, which he had been hiding behind him unintentionally, and ice had been forming on it. Though, after a few seconds, the frost climbed up to the sleeves of his jacket. He took a deep breath and ice spikes started to form around him, a total of five. They were small, barely reaching an inch in size, but one end was pointed. He then thrust his arm forward, sending the spikes towards a tree near Aiden. He then let out a breath as he lowered his arm, the frost not disappearing from his sleeves but has nearly disappeared from his hands. "That's it." He said, giving the male a small shrug. It was a good thing it was night and it was cool - it made it easy to freeze the water vapor around him.

Aiden watched intently as Evander conjured forth the cold, producing shards of ice that were sent hurtling through the air and passed uncomfortably close to Aiden before embedding themselves in a nearby tree. So, Evander had powers over ice, it would seem... The juxtaposition between them both was not lost on Aiden. The pair really were opposites, from their Hyperhuman powers down to their contrasting fiery and cool temperaments.

Before Aiden could air his observation, or make any sort of comment on Evander's display, he was caught off-guard by movement in the forest, just behind the tree that Evander had targeted. Aiden shot him a concerned glance. Readying himself, he summoned balls of flame to each hand, ready to be thrown should anyone make an ill-advised decision. As he waited for the figure to present themselves from the shadows, Aiden could only hope that Evander was similarly prepared.

"Who's there?" he called out, an air of authority to his voice. "Come on out. We won't bite."

"I don't think I'm the one to be worrying about being bitten, Aiden." Belle replied coolly, emerging from behind a large, decrepit oak tree, Winter slightly behind her. She looked at the fire coating his hands, and furrowed her brow, concerned. "Put the fire away, Aiden. Half the damn woods are aflame. You're being reckless."

Aiden lowered his arms as Belle emerged, the fire in them dying out almost as quickly as it had burst forth. He had no interest in fighting Belle, and he assumed she had a similar stance. Of course, Aiden had faith in himself that he could react quickly enough should the situation require it, but deep down he just knew it wasn't necessary.

"You say reckless," he cooed. "I say resourceful. The secret is well and truly, 'out'." he said, gesturing towards the frozen barbs that protruded from the tree beside Belle. "Sometimes, all it takes is a little pressure to turn coal into diamonds." He smiled with a mix of smugness and sincerity; Aiden was decidedly pleased with himself.

"All we needed was for Winter to make everyone remember and Jonas would have explained everything, but you are putting us all at risk with this behaviour! You can't control yourself or your fire," she said, throwing an arm out behind her where the pale orange glow from deeper in the woods drew her outline against the blaze, "and you are destroying this forest. Half of us are probably dealing with smoke inhaliation and there are more than a few nasty burns going around."

She stepped forward, unsure how Aiden would react - he was acting like he was on a high, enveloped in his own show of power and an unnecessary desire to 'out' what were barely half-secrets to begin with. "Now come on, both of you. We need to get back to camp, control this blaze, and then get some real answers from our erstwhile 'teacher'."

Aiden rolled his eyes, but knew there was little sense in arguing with Belle. Besides, he'd nothing to gain from it: he'd already gotten what he wanted from the evening's activities, and now the suggestion of confronting Jonas was an enticing one. Mr. Lehrer sure did have some explaining to do.

He shot Evander a glance that he hoped would communicate his newfound respect for the icy student, but said nothing. Turning back to the girls, Aiden found himself distracted: there, sat comfortably but a few feet behind them, was a familiar creature, it's red fur glistening in the moonlight and shimmering in the orange warmth of the blaze. He could have sworn that the fox gave him coy wink before darting off into the undergrowth and vanishing. Snapping back to reality, Aiden decided that Belle was, as usual, speaking from a place of common sense. Finally relinquishing his mission, though not without victory, he followed the pair back through the burning woodland in search of answers.

In search of Jonas Lehrer.

Crestwood Hollow

I know Tyler is working on a collab with Polaris.

@Lord Wraith

We are. I've been a little busy.

Crestwood Hollow

@Tyler

Alright. Shoot me a PM anytime. Between school and assignments, though, forgive me for the late replies.

@Polaris North

No worries. I will be similarly busy. I finish work at 3pm tomorrow, so I'll work on something and throw it your way.

Crestwood Hollow

@FantasyChic collab to round this out?

@Roman

Likewise, perhaps we should collab after all @Polaris North. Add to this a collab from Wraith and Dusksong, and we can have this arc wrapped up within three posts IC. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm ready to move forward.

Crestwood Hollow

@Roman no