Author: EJ

Profile: 1-Z ‘Onez’

~ EJ ~ Leave a comment

Personal Data

Onez in the Monster Girl Maker 2 app.

Name: “Onez”
Gender: Cisgender male
Pronouns: he/him
Age: ?
Birthday: January 1st
Ethnicity: White
Nationality: Canadian
Species: Genetic experiment
Sexuality: Questioning

Family: Onez was created in a research facility and had no family.

Strengths: Friendly, open, honest
Weaknesses: Too much of the above things, annoying, can’t keep secrets, can’t lie, tells people too much, also quite conspicuous

Appearance and Style: His face is that of a handsome, blue eyed white boy with perfect skin, perfect teeth and pretty long lashes. His hair is golden blond, long, fluffy, and a bit wavy with a light feathery quality. But from the neck down Onez looks rather strange. His torso is mostly human shaped but covered in downy feathers of white, gold, and bronze. His arms are like bird legs, ending in bird talons for hands. He has huge wings sprouting from his back that can look either bronze or gold depending on how the light catches his feathers. His lower half is like that of a lion with a lion’s tail and digitigrade feet.

Superhero Data

Supranym: Griffin
Status: Alive. Active

Metahuman Type: Genetic experiment
Abilities: Reads minds. “Melt brains”. Can fly. Is stronger, more durable, and less susceptible to poison and disease than most.

Ravenhold Data

Acceptance to Ravenhold: Parole

Class: 4
Power Category: Psychic
Roommate: Penny

Backstory

Onez was created by a right wing hyper-conservative terrorist organization called The Restoration. He was the 26th attempt for their symbolic new creation and the only one that managed to breathe real air. With his strong psychic powers, The Restoration quickly began to use him to assassinate their enemies and left wing politicians and activists. Knowing nothing else, Onez carried out his orders. Until he met Sniper.

Sniper was a mute Canadian vigilante hypertech with cybernetic enhancements and skill for long ranged fighting. Sniper continually got in Onez’s way and soon they began to battle in closer and closer quarters. Sniper’s cybernetics stopped Onez from delving too deep into their mind but still they projected their surface thoughts to him. Soon the two were talking more than sparring and Sniper realized Onez was a kind soul, unaware of the evil he was being forced to commit. They became friends and Onez began to rebel against his orders. The Restoration argued about whether to euthanize their experiment that refused to comply or find a way to force him to comply.

They found a way to force him.

They created and implanted a device that would force him to blindly act on the orders to get rid of the vigilante once and for all.

Once the orders were complete, Onez woke up with a Sniper who was bleeding from all 7 orifices in their head, unconscious, possibly dead. Onez fled quickly finding a phone to call an ambulance and turn himself into the police.

Misc Information

  • Onez is extremely concerned about Sniper who has been comatose since their battle
  • Onez gives very good hugs
  • Onez can not turn his mind reading off and can’t always tell what is thought versus what was said outloud
  • Onez is very frustrated that, though he can read, his hands cause his handwriting to be illegible
  • Onez can purr like a cat
  • Onez takes very good care of his fur and feathers
  • Onez has a pretty singing voice

Profile: Enozi / Caleb Fletcher

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Personal Data

Enozi / Caleb in Baydew’s Avatar Maker

Name: Enozi / Caleb Fletcher
Gender: Agender (both)
Pronouns: None / ey/em/eir
Age: ? / 15
Birthday: ? / December 20th
Ethnicity: ? / Half black, half white
Nationality: ? /American
Species: God / Human
Sexuality: Asexual / Pansexual

Family: Caleb is an only child, both parents living but neglectful.

Strengths: Near unbeatable in the darkness (both). Observant, quiet (Caleb). Strong, calm (Enozi).
Weaknesses: Weak in bright light/the sun (both). Insecure, self hating (Caleb). Doesn’t fully understand others, arrogant (Enozi).

Appearance and Style: Caleb is a half black kid with vitiligo that usually wears eir hair in long braids. Ey are quite scrawny and tall/long limbed. Ey have black schlera and eir left iris is gold and eir right iris is silver thanks to eir possession by Enozi. Caleb has self harm scars on thighs and forearms. Eir style is typically rather dark clothes and very covered.

Superhero Data

Supranym: ???
Status: Alive. Active

Metahuman Type: Magic
Abilities: Creates dark shadows that consume things, see and sense near perfectly in the dark, become near unseen in the shadows, creates constructs out of shadow, bind your shadow to bind you.

Ravenhold Data

Acceptance to Ravenhold: Application

Class: 1
Power Category: Mystic
Roommate: Avery

Backstory

While Caleb’s parents have never really hurt em, they are strict with Caleb’s presentation towards the outside world (appearance, clothing, grades, etc) and neglectful at home, often leaving Caleb to fend for emself. Caleb is also ostracized at school and has no friends, leaving em with no positive human connection and no one to reach out to. Ey didn’t want to exist anymore and but feared what might lie on the other side of Death. When ey found a relic of Enozi’s from amongst eir deceased grandparents stuff ey decided to attempt to summon “the Devouring Dark” and sacrifice eir soul to this entity that was quite neutral, neither benevolent nor malevolent. Enozi didn’t really take Caleb’s soul, instead just inhabiting eir body alongside em much to Caleb’s dismay.

Misc Information

  • Enozi does not care about pronouns but will insist others refer to the body with Caleb’s chosen pronouns
  • Enozi doesn’t really care that much about being in the mortal world and was fine with fading into the night, Enozi possessed Caleb out of pity
  • Caleb is generally aware of what Enozi is doing but sleeps at night, occasionally has to take over if Enozi spends too much time under direct sunlight
  • Caleb likes cats
  • Enozi gets very absorbed into T.V. shows
  • They both enjoy RPG video games

Origins: Kiyoshi Part 2

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Kiyoshi and the bunny girl, Nana, were transported in cages across the sea, drugged so they couldn’t resist and time passed strangely.

At one point during their journey, they were brought out and shown to a man with slicked-back black hair and a pristine white suit. He lit a cigarette but didn’t bring it to his lips as he stared the two of them down. He beckoned and Kiyoshi felt a tug on his hand as Nana stood up and went towards him, pulling Kiyoshi along behind her. The man regarded them closely, then reached out a hand to pet Nana’s hair. He said something Kiyoshi didn’t understand to the men that were transporting them.

Then the man turned his gaze onto Kiyoshi. He dropped his other hand on top of Kiyoshi’s head, ashes from the cigarette in his hand falling and burning Kiyoshi’s scalp. Kiyoshi winced and tried to  pull away but the man tightened a fist around Kiyoshi’s hair before he could get away.

Even with his harsn, painful grip the man’s voice was gentle when he spoke to Kiyoshi. Though Kiyoshi couldn’t understand the language he still implicitly knew the man had said, “look at me.”

With his fingers entangled in Kiyoshi’s shaggy black hair, he forced his head to tilt up. Kiyoshi suddenly came face to face with the man’s intense, pitch-black eyes. Shaking, Kiyoshi averted his eyes. The man in the white suit said something else to the other men that Kiyoshi didn’t understand and suddenly Kiyoshi’s hand was empty as Nana was pulled away from him. He wanted to cry out, to reach for her, but found himself frozen, unable to do anything.

Then the man let go of Kiyoshi’s hair and picked him up in one fluid movement. Due to the sudden motion, Kiyoshi grabbed the lapels of the man’s suit jacket. The man pet Kiyoshi’s hair gently, this time with the hand not holding the cigarette, soothing the pain in Kiyoshi’s scalp that he had caused, as he started to carry Kiyoshi away from Nana and the cage. Kiyoshi looked up at the man but before he could take in the man’s facial expression the man kissed him. Not the affectionate kiss on the forehead or cheek that Kiyoshi’s mother would sometimes give him but a kiss on the mouth, a tongue forced past his lips…

… Two hours later, Kiyoshi was back in the cage with Nana, his body hurting in ways it never had before. A deep burning pain not even the unraveling and restitching of his DNA matched. Nana wrapped her arms around his shoulders as he buried his face in the soft fur of her stomach and sobbed.

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Profile: Angelo Kaneki

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Personal Data

Lolita Angelo

Name: Angelo Kaneki
Gender: Transgender Male
Pronouns: He/him
Age: 16
Birthday: October 1st
Ethnicity: Half-Japanese, Half-White (Italian)
Nationality: Italian
Species: Human
Sexuality: Asexual

Family: Angelo’s father is a Japanese fashion designer and his mother is an Italian model.They are loving if a little bit busy and with high expectations.

and non Lolita Angelo in linked picrews.

Strengths: Distance fighting. Can use powers for ease of motion. Friendly. Chatty.
Weaknesses: Vain. Obsessed with maintaining his appearance. Obsessed with control. 

Appearance and Style: When dressed down, Angelo is a wasian teen that can manage to look androgynous, with short and very straight black hair, a slightly olive skin tone, and a scrawny frame. However, he is rarely dressed down. Most of the time Angelo wears sweet lolita style, effeminate and pastel and usually with blonde wigs curled into ringlets, though he does have a few other wigs. He actually is of decent height, being about 5’8. His skin and teeth are practically flawless. He regularly gets his nails done. He is determined to keep his weight at no more than 110 lbs. 

Superhero Data

Supranym: Venti
Status: Alive. Active

Metahuman Type: Mutant
Abilities: Wind control

Ravenhold Data

Acceptance to Ravenhold: Application

Class: 1
Power Category: Energy Projector
Roommate: Kayla

Backstory

Angelo lived a fairly normal if privileged life. He has spent most of his life in Italy, attending private schools and living in slightly luxurious circumstances. His life got a little less charmed when he came out as trans and started puberty blockers. He faced a lot of bullying which only got worse when he wore dresses despite “insisting he was a boy”. His parents were supportive but still too absent to notice anything wrong. They only noticed when he started to gain a little weight because he became less active. They made some passive aggressive comments which led to his development of an ED. Because his grades and physical skills were always average he placed a lot of self worth on his appearance and his parents’ mindless comments only made it worse.

Angelo developed his powers when some bullies threw his things up in a tall tree and he climbed up to get it. He ended up falling and his powers activated, saving him from getting hurt.

Misc Information

  • Angelo has a pet chinchilla named Cookie
  • Ever since he came out, his mother has referred to him as “her darling boy”
  • Angelo in and out of lolita is so different many cannot recognize him until he speaks
  • Angelo needs to wear glasses but usually wears contacts when in lolita
  • Angelo is a big proscratinator when it comes to school work
  • Angelo has done modeling before
  • Angelo has a really popular Instagram but refuses all brand deals
  • Angelo grew up in Italy but has spent a decent amount of time in Japan as well
  • Can speak Japanese, Italian, and English fluently, his accent in all languages is Italian

Profile: Thor Sørensen

~ EJ ~ Leave a comment

Personal Data

Thor in Baydew’s Avatar Maker

Name: Thor Sørensen
Gender: Cisgender male
Pronouns: He/him
Age: 17
Birthday: February 25th
Ethnicity: Scandinavian
Nationality: American
Species: Human
Sexuality: Bisexual

Family: Thor’s father is a scholar of Norse mythology and Viking history, his mother is a hypertech scientist working on secret projects for the government. Between researching and writing papers, his father homeschools him, his mother is often not home. He is an only child.

Strengths: Open minded, nice, honest
Weaknesses: Lazy, a tad bad with hygiene, not super bright, a little weak willed and easily convinced

Appearance and Style: Thor is a rather typical teenage boy, tall and gangly, with long, slightly greasy, blond hair and bright blue eyes. His skin is a little bad and has some acne on his face. A bit of a sparse beard starting on his chin. His left eye has black sclera and black markings around it.

Superhero Data

Supranym: ???
Status: Alive. Active.

Metahuman Type: Imbued/magic
Abilities: Can use Bastard to create an armor around him. That armor can also spike out to cause damage. Stronger and faster than the average human as well.

Ravenhold Data

Acceptance to Ravenhold: Application/Special Circumstance

Class: 4
Power Category: Brick
Roommate: Charles

Backstory

Thor’s childhood was happy if a tad lonely. His family was quite well off due to his mother’s work. So well off that his father retired as a professor only a few short years after he achieved his professor ship, which happened to be a few short years after Thor was born. Thor’s parents had him slightly later in life. His father is already past middle age now. His father was never strict growing up, as a father or as a teacher. Thor was home schooled in the middle of nowhere in the wilderness of the Northeastern states and grew up rather far from other kids, most of his outside interaction being online. His mother wasn’t around much and felt much more like a distant relative that popped in once in a while.

One day, Thor’s mother and some of her coworkers went to her personal lab, the place she spent all her time when she was home, bringing with them one of the subjects they were studying. The subject was thought to have died in its containment and she wanted to use new equipment she was experimenting with at home to understand what happened. Thor had, as usual, snuck into her lab to watch her work.

The subject was only playing dead.

It took the chance to slip out of its containment once it was a decent distance from the government facility. Unfortunately for the subject, it had been too altered and destabilized from the frequent experiments conducted on it that it could not exist outside of a body or its specialized containment. It needed to possess someone. It consistently failed to penetrate the minds of the scientists, but the normal teenage boy snooping around in the shadows was easy pickings. It managed to possess him easily but was unable to fully take him over. And so Thor and Bastard’s unwilling partnership began.

Misc Information

  • Bastard is a demon that has been altered heavily by scientists both hypertech and not, whether he can truly still be called a demon is unknown
  • Bastard refers to himself as Ragnarak but no one else will call him that
  • Thor likes to drink and his parents don’t mind him doing so
  • Thor worships his namesake god but in a sorta … lazy way
  • Thor likes online video games like battle royales and mmorpgs
  • Thor wears contact lenses, glassses at night

Profile: Mitch Garcia

~ EJ ~ Leave a comment

Personal Data

Mitch in Kaz’s Softboi Maker

Name: Mitch Garcia
Gender: Cisgender Male
Pronouns: He/him
Age: 17
Birthday: May 30th
Ethnicity: Mexican
Nationality: American
Species: Human
Sexuality: Gay

Family: A cape kid with two hero parents and a hero older sister. His father died to the villain Origin and his mother and sister died in the Tzari invasion.

Strengths: Friendly, confident, resilient, charming smile, good at cooking, good at close/ hand to hand combat
Weaknesses: Cocky, masochistic, doesn’t like thinking for himself

Appearance and Style: Mitch is tall and leanly muscular with tan skin, light brown eyes, and curly, slightly shaggy, brown hair. He always wears a black leather choker around his neck. Wears a lot of ripped jeans with worn t-shirts and cool jackets. Has dimples when he smiles and smiles a lot. Quite a few scars from brawls and testing the limits of his powers.

Superhero Data

Supranym: Cache
Status: Alive. Active.

Metahuman Type: Mutant
Abilities: Can absorb the force of blows and redirect it.

Ravenhold Data

Acceptance to Ravenhold: Application

Class: 4
Power Category: Scrapper
Roommate: Deryn

Backstory

Mitch had a fairly happy childhood and was a popular leader amongst the cape kids. He could be a naughty prankster at times but was ultimately a good kid. When his father died, he withdrew into himself a little bit, stopped leading the cape kids around and started following instead. And when his mother and sister died, he nearly disappeared from the cape kid circle entirely.

It was then that he met Credence.

Credence was a friend of his older sister and a Ravenhold dropout who had fought in the Tzari war. Credence also lost his hero uncle and civilian parents during Origin’s reign of terror, almost losing his life to the villain himself. Credence watched many friends die in the Tzari war as well. The two comforted each other in their grief, rage, and loneliness, eventually getting together romantically. As they became more deeply entwined in each other’s life Credence’s deeper rage began to infect Mitch.

Credence couldn’t stand what superhero society and Ravenhold did to the two of them. Misleading people with the pageantry of heroes vs villains, leaving them utterly unprepared for threats like Origin or the Tzari invaders. And when Ravenhold turned around only a few years after the Tzari slaughtered their students and graduates and accepted one into the academy, Credence convinced Mitch to apply to Ravenhold and prepare to take it down from the inside. Mitch’s anger with Ravenhold and hero society had caused him to withdraw completely from his group of cape kid friends, but now he will reconnect at Ravenhold.

Misc Information

  • Credence is 23
  • Mitch and Credence have a doberman named Diablo
  • Mitch “claims big brother rights” with many cape kids, this seems to just be the right to nag them or bully them a little
  • Mitch is a physically affectionate guy and touches people a lot
  • Mitch cannot sing, AT ALL, do not let him try
  • Mitch calls Credence corazón, Credence calls Mitch puppy
  • Mitch is good at cooking but terrible at baking cause he believes in ‘measuring with your heart’ which usually steers him wrong in baking
  • Mitch is a big romantic

Profile: Sirius Burns

~ EJ ~ Leave a comment

Personal Data

Sirius in Kaz’s Softboi Maker

Name: Sirius Burns
Gender: Male (Intersex)
Pronouns: He/him
Age: 16
Birthday: July 5th
Ethnicity: White
Nationality: American
Species: Human
Sexuality: Pansexual

Family: Abusive single mother(deceased). Currently lives with his father, stepmother, and two younger half sisters, Isabella and Dorothy. Isabella is 11 and Dorothy is 7. His father really wants to make it up to Sirius and take care of him from now on. His wife wants to help Sirius too but is more wary of him and doesn’t want him alone with the girls. Or alone in the house…. Or alone outside where he can cause problems…

Strengths: Good brawler. Open-minded. Believes strongly in fairness.
Weaknesses: Masochist. Doesn’t trust others. Reckless. Feels guilty inside.

Appearance and Style: Short, scrawny white boy with shoulder length, wavy black hair and dark brown, almost black, eyes. Two beauty marks under his left eye. He has a lot of piercings. His clothes tend to be tight, black or red, and full of holes. He has a lot of cigarette burns on his abdomen and arms. His teeth are yellowed from smoking. He is intersex, leading to some breast tissue development, he wears a binder most days but is too lazy to once and a while.   

Superhero Data

Supranym: Torch
Status: Alive. Active.

Metahuman Type: Mutant
Abilities: Create and control fire

Ravenhold Data

Acceptance to Ravenhold: Parole

Class: 1
Power Category: Energy projector
Roommate: Mari

Backstory

For most of Sirius’s childhood he was raised by an abusive single mother. She would beat him and even put out her cigarettes on his body. One day, when he was 12 she was preparing to put out a cigarette in his eye and as he watched the glowing red come closer to his eyeball he suddenly awakened to his powers. Everything around him burned to ashes, the cigarette, the dirty one room apartment covered in trash, and his mother. Following that he was put into foster care and quickly became known as a problem child. He would get into fights, even using his powers against other teenagers. He would sleep around with almost anyone. And he would set fire after fire after fire just to see the world burn. He bounced between foster homes, mental health institutions, and juvenile correction facilities for years. A few months prior to the beginning of the story his biological father was found and learned of his existence. He took him into his middle class suburban home with his wife and two young daughters. Sirius’s issues were far from solved and he continued his behaviors of starting fights, sleeping around, and setting fires, though he did take being a big brother seriously and started looking after his little sisters.

One day, like any other day, he set fire to an empty abandoned building. It was not the first building Sirius burned. But unfortunately it wasn’t truly empty. A pair of little kids were playing inside. Sirius didn’t know at all, only learning later when he was watching the news at home that a little girl had perished in the fire and that her brother was severely burned and in danger of losing his life as well. 

Without a word to his family, Sirius left immediately and turned himself in. He went back to juvie but this time he was offered the chance to attend Ravenhold and make something of himself. At first he planned to refuse, but when he thought of the girl and of his sisters he decided that maybe it would be the only way to repent by saving lives in the future.

Misc Information

  • Sirius had his dad give all the money stowed away in his room to the family of the little boy and girl
  • Sirius plans to give a lot of his money from being a hero to the boy he survived
  • Sirius’s sisters have attempted increasingly elaborate pranks to steal his cigarettes so he stops smoking
  • The death of his mother didn’t use to haunt Sirius, but he has begun to have nightmares about her along with the little girl
  • Sirius doesn’t have a lot of close relationships with people
  • Sirius is a bottom no matter who he is sleeping with
  • Sirius can do parkour
  • Sirius knows every lyric to every Disney princess song and will start singing them for his sisters at the drop of a hat
  • No one else really gets to hear him sing

Arrival: Chapter 1.17 (Kiyoshi)

~ EJ ~ 2 Comments

Kiyoshi rode in the back of the most unheroic looking hatchback Audi driven by the Raven himself, Ian Coleman. On the backseat beside him was the Raven’s adopted daughter Charlie, glaring daggers into the back of Kiyoshi’s head. Kiyoshi kept his eyes firmly pointed out the window for the 15 minute car ride from the Raven’s home to Ravenhold Academy, the school for heroes. Kiyoshi could almost hear Aaron’s excited voice in his head… and the desolate sadness in his voice that always followed. 

The Raven pulled through a gate into an empty parking lot and turned off the car, “Here we are kids, Ravenhold!”

“I’ve been here many, many times dad.” Charlie said, bored.

Kiyoshi froze, his black cat’s tail in his hands as he wringed it nervously. He stared out the front windshield of the car, straight up at the dozen or so large red brick buildings that made up the Ravenhold Academy campus, larger and more grand than anything Kiyoshi had a right to be a part of. He wanted to flee, he itched to turn invisible to teleport away but the more he desired to do so the more his brain filled with the static of the power suppressing collar.

Raven and Charlie both got out of the car, going for the trunk to get their bags. With the car doors left open, the Raven’s voice traveled to Kiyoshi,  “Now, Kiyoshi, I got you the basics of what you’d need; a few uniforms shirts and pants, a few casual outfits, underwear, pajamas, toothbrush, et cetera,” Ian said, “Also what you were taken into custody with.”

Woodenly, Kiyoshi stepped out of the car and took the bag offered to him. “Sorry.” He mutters. The bag is heavy in his arms, way too much to give him for free, he’s done nothing to earn it, he needs to do something to earn it.

“No need to apologize,” The Raven gave him a warm smile, Ian wasn’t what one expected of a hero, he wasn’t buff but had a slender and fit build like an acrobat, he was quite tall, but he had a soft face with short hair and a patchy attempt at a beard. Worse, he wore a sweater and jeans, hiding his physique. 

“I haven’t had the chance to see the class breakup, but maybe you two will be in the same class.”

Kiyoshi hugged the duffle bag in his arms tighter, looking utterly terrified of that possibility. He cast another glance up at the closest Ravenhold Academy building and then immediately looked back down at his bare, cat-like feet. He could still feel Charlie’s glare on him.

The Raven paused, “Try to get along?”

“He’s the one who was stealing from us,” Charlie shot back, annoyed.

“Just things, we have plenty of things, we don’t need them.”

Kiyoshi felt his ears flatten a bit and his shoulders raise, “sorry.” He really didn’t earn this bag in his arms.

“It’s fine,” the Raven took a step closer, “Can you raise your head so I can take that collar off?”

As he waits for Kiyoshi to raise his chin, he asks his daughter, “Do you remember how I became the first Magpie?”

“I’ve heard the story a hundred times.” Though Kiyoshi wasn’t looking at her, he could hear her rolling her eyes. He raised his chin up to give Raven access to his collar. 

“Well, here it is again; I stole from the Raven, lifted his wallet in fact, and he took me under his wing. Stealing doesn’t make someone a bad person.” He explained, reaching for the collar and unlocking it.

“You weren’t his guest.” Charlie answered and Kiyoshi could still feel her heavy, heavy glare. 

Once the collar was off and Kiyoshi’s head cleared of the white noise, he took the opportunity to flee from that glare, turning invisible and almost teleporting away. This wasn’t where he belonged, he really shouldn’t be here. 

“Now, Kiyoshi,” Raven’s voice cuts through Kiyoshi’s thoughts, “If you run off you know this chance will pass by, just wait here with Charlie until the other students arrive, give Ravenhold a chance, give us a chance..”

“Does he deserve it?” Charlie asked, sulking a bit.

“Everyone deserves a second chance, sweetheart.”

Kiyoshi took a deep, steadying breath, thought of the way Aaron looked when he said he would join Ravenhold Academy, and let himself become visible. He hadn’t yet moved an inch.

Like the broken voice box of a toy that has only one line he repeated, “sorry.”

Raven smiled, “Good boy, I need to get in costume for the welcoming speech. It is technically my academy, but I’ll be back soon.”

Charlie walked slowly over to a bench overlooking the gates and sat down. 

Kiyoshi felt his chest and cheeks warm and his lips curl up into a smile at being called, ‘good boy’

After standing for a bit, watching the Raven leave, he jolted out of it, realizing Charlie had walked away. He teleported to her side when he spotted her at the bench.

Charlie wasn’t all that much physically, slightly under five feet tall, a young latina girl with tanned skin, she wore masculine clothing and her dark brown hair was only two inches long or so, but Kiyoshi had seen she packed a lot of fury and strength in such a small body… 

Charlie had taken out some cookies from her backpack, and was eating them absently. When Kiyoshi teleported to her side, her arm moved towards him and he flinched, expecting a hit. When he saw she was just holding out the pack of cookies to him, he gingerly took one. “Sor- thank you.”

Charlie sighed, “Stop apologizing,”

Kiyoshi lowered the cookie he was about to bring to his mouth, “sorry.”

Charlie facepalmed with an audible sound.

“I’m sorry!” Kiyoshi panicked, his hands hovering near Charlie’s face wanting to see if she had hurt herself but scared to touch her with his dirty hands.

“Relax,” She sighed again, “and don’t say sorry.”

Kiyoshi nodded uncertainly and carefully said, “okay.”

“Relax your shoulders, unclench your jaw,” She said, her tone less harsh than usual.

Forcing himself to physically relax was something Kiyoshi was used to, it made things… easier.

“Alright, now breathe in through the nose, but using your belly not your shoulder to draw air in,” Charlie said, “slow and deep, hold it three seconds, then let it out.”

Kiyoshi followed her instructions, breathing along with her. Instructions were easy, there was a clear right and wrong way to do things.

Charlie smiled at him for the first time, “There you go,” she pulled two cans of Dr. Pepper out of her backpack, opening one and handing Kiyoshi the other. 

Kiyoshi took it but didn’t open it, just holding the lukewarm soda in his hands

“You remind me of when I was young,” Charlie mumbled, “Afraid of everything.” 

“There are a lot of things to be afraid of.” Kiyoshi muttered his first full sentence of the day, as he rubbed his thumb along the edge of the can. 

“Then you have to become stronger,” Charlie stated, “So you don’t have to fear them.” 

I want to be a hero but I can do nothing but hurt people. Kiyoshi thought of Aaron’s words, of what he had to prove to him and nodded resolutely.

A few buses started to pull in through the gates, “About time,” Charlie chugged the rest of her drink and tossed it in a garbage bin.

Kiyoshi tucked the unopened can into his bag and zipped it back up.

“Alright, just join the group like we’re meant to be there,” Charlie said, “Dad will do his little speech and then they’ll call classes, so don’t panic.” 

As people poured out of the buses, Charlie melded into the crowd and Kiyoshi followed along behind her, holding on tightly to his resolution.

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Arrival: Chapter 1.16 (Gabriel)

~ EJ ~ 2 Comments

Gabriel hated cars. He had to sit too far forward with his tail bent at an awkward angle because the base was too thick. And the person who was always driving the cars Gabriel was in didn’t help.

Hatred was a feeling that was very new to Gabriel. Papa never gave him the option of hating anything. But now he was separated from Papa and it was all the fault of that woman and her friends.

That woman opened her mouth and spoke up, “We’re almost there, Gabriel.” Gabriel looked up from staring down at his tail that was laying across his pale pink thighs and his white floral skirt. He glanced at Dana behind the wheel, who quickly turned her head back to the road when Gabriel looked up. Then he looked out the window at the huge and wide open gates and the dozens of red brick buildings beyond them.

Dana drove in through the gates just as various buses pulled out. She parked in one empty spot amongst many and glanced at her watch, “Shit. We’re a bit late.” She opened the car door and looked back at Gabriel, one foot out of the door, “Wait here for a second, okay?”

Gabriel didn’t respond. He stopped responding to her at all when he learned she was keeping him away from Papa. Dana got out of the car and walked off. Once she was gone, Gabriel opened the door and climbed out, moving his tail to work out the stiffness. He thought of walking off at that moment but he had no idea how far this “Ravenhold Academy” was from his home. 

Dana returned a few minutes later, her long, wavy brown hair now pulled up in a bun and some papers in her hands. “We missed the opening speech but I got your information, I can help you get to your dorm.” She popped open the trunk, setting Gabriel’s suitcase down on the ground and slinging his other bag over her shoulder. “Follow me.” She started for one of the buildings past the main one, occasionally looking down at the paper or glancing back to make sure Gabriel was still there.

And Gabriel followed her, his pink axolotl tail dragging along the grass as the two of them cut through campus. Dana finally stopped. She pointed at a building that a few teens were filtering into. It was two stories tall with five numbered doors, there were clear seams in the walls between the large numbered section, each section looked as big as his home with Papa. “Those are the 1st year dorms. You’re in class 4 so go in door 4, okay?”  She set his bags down in front of him.

She took a step towards him and Gabriel backed away. She sighed, her eyebrows knitting together. “I just want to take your collar off.”

With a stubborn pout to his lip, Gabriel stepped forward and lifted his chin to let her remove his power suppressing collar. The second it left his skin the annoying buzzing in his head ceased and he unconsciously untensed.

“Also, here,” Dana reached into her pocket and pulled out a cellphone, “my number is in there if you ever need me. But you don’t need to call if you don’t want to,” she said, pressing it into his hand.

“I won’t need you,” Gabriel declared, turning on his heel towards the dorm building. Dana didn’t stop him as he took his bags and marched into the dorm. With her out of his sight completely, his anger started to melt away. Papa would come get him soon so he would just do his best to stay happy until then. 

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Arrival: Chapter 1.15 (Angelo)

~ EJ ~ 2 Comments

Angelo sat in the backseat of a rented Lamborghini, his back straight and his head held away from the seat to avoid messing up the perfect curls in his blond wig. The skirt of his baby pink and lacy lolita dress was arranged in a slightly inelegant way in order to fit in the car without warping the hoop skirt. In a small travel cage on the seat next to him was his pet chinchilla, Cookie.

The small clutch purse in Angelo’s lap vibrated. Angelo unzipped it and took out one of the very few things that fit in the bag, his phone. He played the voice message from his mother, “Hello my darling boy!” Angelo’s mother’s voice spoke in Italian, “I know you must be on your way to school now! Your father and I wanted to let you know we are very proud of you! Love you so much!” Angelo listened a second time, took a deep breath and put his phone away.

He looked up and out the window in time to watch the wide open Ravenhold Academy gates as the car went through them, amidst the parade of buses and other vehicles entering the gates. The car slowed to a stop.

Angelo took a steadying breath in and got out of the car. He patted and shook his skirt until it fell properly and then ducked his head back into the car to grab his parasol. Once he was sure he looked presentable, he looked up. All around the car were people flooding out of the buses, some of them strange-looking paramorphs, some of them all too normal looking. There were a few people staring at Angelo as well. Angelo raised his hand in a small wave.

The driver came up to Angelo’s side, “What would you like me to do with your bags, sir?”

“Just wait here with them for now. I’ll come back and find you when I know where my room is.”

Angelo started walking, following the stream of students. He paused briefly when he saw a single file line of students exiting a bus and getting power inhibitor collars removed. Angelo forced his expression to remain neutral when looking at those criminals he may have to share not only classroom space, but living space with. He forced his gaze away, pointed his nose in the air, and continued on his way. 

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