VIVA LA PLUTO [open]

Zell · May 14, 2015

"What?" He said, moving his shifted hand with such deliberate slowness it had to be mocking. As it moved its shape changed from straight and flat to tube-like and thin, to bulbous and round and to a shape that vaguely resembled... what was that, lips? They kinda looked like lips, to something that could only be the same kind of device they use to spray bugs that have invested a place. "Am I not allowed to use my powers now? I don't remember one of the conditions of our parlay being that I can't shift."

"Respect for the rules of the Academy, and respect for the people in the Academy, both student and faculty. The world is much larger than just you. Whether you like it or not, you have to share it with other people and you can't simply treat those other people like chaff just because you see them as such."

Micah laughed so hard his hand lost its shift. It didn't even turn back into a hand, but his arm became a stump with a thick black mist on the end of it as his legs lost strength and he fell to the floor, bringing the chair down onto the floor with him.

It was just so funny to him that they would request this from him! That they would ask that he give respect to the people who had never shown him any reason to respect them. But he'd humor that. Maybe he'd had his attentions misaligned. Jaws was only encroaching on his space like he was some kind of foreman looking for a reason to write him up. But Mr. Teacher over there was telling jokes! And if there was anything Micah could appreciate, it was a good joke.

"Okay, okay!" He panted from the floor, one arm covering his eyes as his other hand finally reformed and re-attached to his body. Ahh, he hated when he forgot to do that. "Hehe. Haha... Alright, I'm okay. I'm cool. Ahem."

Micah rolled over so he was laying on the ground with his feet towards Jaws. "Tell me, then. Teacher. Why should I respect the Academy? Why should I respect the teachers?"

Critical · May 14, 2015

"Of course, you can't use your powers, boy! Read the scene! You think you'll get in less trouble is you start making moves?!"

Jacob was pleased to see that Lelei was restraining himself to simply yelling and words. Without physicality, it was easier for the two of them to establish a well-worn situation between the two of them. Jacob would be the calm voice of reason and diplomacy, and Lelei would be the big stick that kept Micah in line long enough for Jacob's words to be heard.

The interplay was not a perfect one, but it did its job. Micah was still in the room was responding to everything that both of them were saying, and that's what mattered. His mocking laughter was annoying and frustrating, a symptom of a juvenile mind, but it was nothing that they could not handle or take in stride.

"Are you quite done?"

Jacob took the opportunity to stand up as well, so Micah had both men standing over him, looking down at him. His free hand went to pull a small pad of paper out of his pocket, which he looked at momentarily before looking back at Micah.

"You should respect them, us, because we have been trying to show you simple respect and care this whole time. And respect is what allows us to function as more than a collection of individuals. Again, because the world is much larger than just you. Perhaps Mr. Lelei is not showing any, but you have yet to show him any as well.

Young man, I bet you demand respect from everyone, don't you? Yet you obviously show none in return. And you wonder why we talk to you like this.

So please, stand up and dust yourself off. You'll be receiving an appropriate punishment as per the Academy rules. We're here to make sure you don't exacerbate the trouble you've already caused."

Zell · May 14, 2015

"Oh, I see." He said, righting his chair and hopping into it--barely avoiding hitting the sharkman, but that's what he gets for standing over him like that--and sitting back down all prim and proper like the school seemed to want. "You demand respect from me because you gave me something I never asked for. I never wanted any o' the shits in this school to respect me, faculty or otherwise. I don't care about being all respectable with fake eyes and glassy smiles to the mewlin' shitstains of this academy or anyone.

"Looking out for me and mine is the modus operandi Mr. Teacher. Everything and everyone else is just stuff. And you can replace stuff. Hell, people replace people all the time it ain't even difficult--just grunt and jiggle for a few minutes and there! A new gormless life to breath all the air and eat all the food."

An image of Lust popped into his head. He shooed it away. Not now.

"Here's the rub, Mr. Teacher. I'm sure plenty of students bow their heads and thought about the gravity of what they've done in the middle of a fit. I'm sure your words have endeared you to many students. Hell, can even say that I think you're genuinely funny. But I don't respect you. I don't respect Jaws here, I don't respect the Academy, and I don't respect any of the people in it. And since I don't respect it, I see no reason to smile, wave, and act like I do."

With a sigh, he leaned back in the chair. His arms crossed and unperturbed by the thought of punishment. The Academy wouldn't kill him--and if they tried to he'd be more impressed than frightened--the school would be a lot more hardcore than he originally imagined. Maybe he'd be expelled to the disciplinary island? That might be fun. Micah couldn't help but smile at the thought. "So. What's my punishment Teacher?"

Critical · May 14, 2015

Knowing his actions should follow his words and examples, Jacob remained calm and attentive as Micah presented his counter statements against Jacob's own declarative speech. He even stepped back enough to give Micah the room to get back into his chair. Even Lelei gave the kid some room, but only just barely. By the time Micah was seated, Lelei stood immediately behind him while Jacob stood right in front.

Micah's words did not land on deaf ears, and Jacob did his best to internalize everything Micah was trying to say. Stubbornness and ego were difficult obstacles to overcome, both for the people who encountered them and the people who possessed them. Self-righteousness only compounded Micah's displeasurable attitude, and Jacob had the feeling that there was nothing that was really going to change that. It was a sad situation but not every student, and not every person, could be saved or convinced to better themselves.

"Well, we're not hear to decide your punishment, Mr. Lopez. That's for the administration to decide. But between then and now, we will be seeing to your cooperation and safety, starting with your powers."

Jacob looked at the pad of paper again, squinting slightly, as he pronounced some incomprehensible words. These words, when finished, caused a glowing grid of hexagons to appear all across the walls, floors, and ceiling of the room. The door closed on its own, and Micah would find all of his powers sapped. For all intents and purposes, Micah was a regular boy.

Lelei stepped out from behind Micah to stand near Jacob, looking a degree less severe.

"Don't worry. No one will hurt you. I just hope whatever punishment you receive is both fair and enlightening to you."

Zell · May 14, 2015

Wrath wasn't worried. No matter what punishment they gave him he would--

Wait, his powers?

Oh no, those assholes, they had no idea what they were doing! Wasn't this against some kind of rule? Wasn't this the kind of shit they taught teachers not to do against students?

"No, don't--!!"

At once he felt his hold his body loosen, and the boy's body dropped like a puppet with its strings cut. The red color of his hair faded into a boring shade of light brown.

Micah was truly, truly a normal boy.

After a few seconds, he groaned, pushing himself slowly off the floor. His head hurt so much.. and it was so, so bright... He blinked at Jacob and--

Holy shit was that a shark?! He scrambled back away from them both, only for his back to hit the chair he'd been sitting in before, staring at them with wide eyes that were not coal black, but a simple shade of brown. What was going on? He looked around. Where was he?

"Wh...ere..." His voice seemed smaller and thinner than Wrath's. "Where... am I?"

He'd never been here before. His head hurt. Was he dreaming or something? But... why would he be dreaming of... a destroyed classroom and... a bipedal shark?

"Ex...cuse me... who are... you people?"

Critical · May 14, 2015

Both Lelei and Jacob were curious about the reaction the warding spell had gotten out of Micah. The moment of genuine panic he showed, followed by the limpness of his body, was difficult to place on the scale of "Expected vs. Worrying". The two men looked at each other, perplexed, as the young man fell to the ground and his hair faded into a more natural color. Jacob himself looked again at the pad of paper containing all the spell activation words, wondering if there was something he had misread.

When Micah got back up, only to scurry away with genuine fear and a much different tone, they both looked up and started at him. Something was definitely wrong and they both sensed it, yet could not place the reason. Even Jacob had to admit that a mood swing that severe was not ordinary.

Then he asked where he was and the two staffers' worries were instantly validated. After a moment of stunned silence, they turned their backs to Micah(?) and leaned their heads close together as they whispered.

"Is this what's supposed to happen?"

"I don't think... so...?"

"Did you say it right?"

"I don't know..."

They glanced back at Micah, then back to their huddle.

"Go get someone from administration. This is definitely out of the ordinary. I'll handle things in here."

Lelei nodded and quickly exited the room. The warding spell recognized him as a staffer and let him leave. Jacob had turned back to face the young man and took a few steps toward him before kneeling on the ground. His eyes were gentle, but questioning.

"Mr. Lopez... Micah. It's me, Mr. Cunningham. You're in the Academy. Does any of this sound familiar?"

Zell · May 14, 2015

Micah watched from the floor as the man and the shark person huddled together and whispered something he couldn't quite hear. Seeing that he had a moment to himself, he decided to take stock of his surroundings. It was a normal looking classroom. Or, normal enough--it was a bit classier than any classroom he remembered being in on top of being totally destroyed--and there seemed to be a spell placed on everything.

Looking at his hands and feet and clothes... his clothes were not familiar, but the body definitely belonged to him, no if ands or buts about it. Yet... somehow... he was... larger than he last remembered himself being. In all of his dreams he was smaller than this.

So... was this a dream?

He pinched the back of his hand.

"Ouch..." he whispered to himself. And he looked at his hands. He wasn't dreaming. This was real life.

He... wasn't dead?

Micah jumped at the sound of the unfamiliar voice who introduced himself as Mr. Cunningham. He said something about an Academy...

The Mexican boy shook his head. "I... no, I... Nothing about that sounds familiar except..." He brought his hand to his forehead. He was getting a migraine from all the sensory activity. It was making it hard to think straight. "I remember... Dad saying something about an island with a school..."

Dad. The thought brought memories of sweetness and fun before intense, agonizing pain and a long stretch of nothing but darkness.

"I'm sorry... uh... Mr. Cunningham..." Was that his name? "What... grade am I in?"

Critical · May 16, 2015

"The school your father mentioned. That's here. That's the Academy."

The moment Micah answered Jacob's question in the negative, and followed it up with something he DID remember, Jacob started zeroing-in on what was going on and what seemed "wrong" Micah. Normal schools might not have ever had the problem of amnesiac students, but the Academy had enough for Jacob to accrue some experience in that particular field. Micah's changed appearance and attitude compounded the memory loss issue, further complicating the matter but also narrowing down the possible explanations floating around in Jacob's head.

Micah seemed to be far less threatening than he had been moments before, and Jacob felt confident that getting closer to him would be safe. Still kneeling, he leaned forward toward Micah, hand extended in offering.

"You're just starting in the high school section, so that would make you a Freshman, grade nine typically in America."

Jacob only grew more concerned by the moment. While his worries about his activation of the spell had been put to rest, they were quickly replaced with worry for Micah.

"I need you to stay calm, just like you are right now, Micah. It seems you have some memory loss. What was the last thing you remember before right now?"

He hoped Lelei was hurrying back with administration soon.

Zell · May 16, 2015

"The school your father mentioned. That's here. That's the Academy."

So this was the school dad was talking about. He said they would only move once they found the other Sins, so he supposed that they'd all been located now. As his brain started to catch up with his current situation, his migrane started to recede and he could try to think it out. Why was he here? What had happened to get him to this point? All he could remember was darkness and very vivid dreams.

It was frightening, waking up with no recollection of how you could have possibly gotten there.

"What?!" He exclaimed in surprise, threading his fingers into his hair. Grade Nine? How the hell...? "But... I..."

Just like that what he was starting to understand was fizzling away. "I... I was in... I was in Grade 5, I..."

Was he crazy? Had he lost his mind? Had his connection to reality become tenuous at the very best of times? No, he couldn't believe that. He wasn't crazy, Micah couldn't possibly be crazy. No, this was just not adding up correctly, that was all.

"I need you to stay calm, just like you are right now, Micah. It seems you have some memory loss. What was the last thing you remember before right now?"

Memory loss... No, somehow that didn't seem right. Micah didn't feel like he'd forgotten something...

"I... I remember..." Micah thought. "I remember going to Disneyland with my family, m-my dad, my mom... my big brother and... and my big sister... and then... I remember we... we went back home..." Yes, he remembered that. They got to spend time together as a family and went on all kinds of rides. His dad had been a lot more accommodating than usual, not that his dad was ever particularly stingy about small things like family vacations, but he usually preferred to work than spend time with him and Dulce. Esmerelda was different. "We went back home and... it was cold... and then I remember... being in a lot of pain... like... my insides were being run through a blender and then... just... a lot of darkness?"

His skin prickled at the thought. "I... also remember... laughing... I think I might have been laughing, but... I remember hurting too much to laugh..."

Critical · May 17, 2015

For once, Jacob was only listening half-intently to Micah's recollection. Part of him was focused on taking-in and processing every detail that Micah could, in hopes to piecing together a coherent narrative that explained his current behavior/change of behavior. The other part of him was keeping an ear out for Lelei returning with administration, whom he hoped would have more insight and knowledge into the situation than he did.

Still, he nodded and brought his hand back, It seemed this version of Micah was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to want to get back to his own feet, and Jacob could hardly blame him. From the sound of it, his last memories had not been what he exactly remembered. The ominousness of Micah's words were not missed by Jacob.

"It, uh, it sounds like something had gotten to you before you lost your memories. But everything will be okay, Micah. You're safe here."

Jacob did not know that for certain. All he could offer was what he thought Micah would want to hear, and give himself some time before someone showed up.

His stalling was quick to pay off. The door to the room was pushed open by Lelei, who held the door while a pair of nurses in scrubs hurried in to Micah's side. A little confused, Jacob went to Lelei.

"What's going on?"

"Administration sent these two to look after Micah and take over from here. We should head on out and let them work."

Jacob looked at Micah, and went back to him.

"Alright, Micah. These two people will help you from here, okay? I promise everything will be okay. They just know more than I do. Just stay calm, okay?"

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VIVA LA PLUTO [open]

Zell

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Critical

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Zell

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Critical

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Zell

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Critical

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Zell

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Critical

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Zell

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Critical

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