Somber Reverie

"Letting go of your anger is ok, in fact, it helps dissapate the rage that builds inside. You know what I mean, Nate?"

Nate stopped twiddling his thumbs and looked up.

"Yeah but," he searched for a moment, then groaned, "This is stupid...why the heck are we using metaphors?"

The doctor smiled and leaned back in his enormous plush chair, allowing the few beams of sunlight that managed to slice through his thick velvet curtains rest on him. His thin face peered through an enormous pair of glasses, and said "Beacuse Nate, it helps us...break into your inner psychy. Let us see who you really are."

"I've already told you who I really am, and if you can't remember that, I might as well stop coming."

"No, no, no thats not what I meant! I meant...well, I'm not entirely sure how to explain it to you."

"try."

He adjusted his sleeves, and took off his glasses. "Well, your like a bull in a china cabinet. You've heard that saying before, yes?" He perched them back on his crooked nose.

He continued, "This school is the cabinet, and you the bull. Well, more like the time bomb. You could go off at any moment, and seriously damage several students in this school."

Nate crossed his arms and glowered, "That's not what my drive does."

The doctor rolled his eyes and matched his patient with an icy stare. "I'm not saying that's what your drive is, I'm saying that's what your personality entails. You are a dangerous young man, Nate, especially considering your less than savory past."

He looked away and glaced at the clock, hoping for a sign that this interagation was ending. Usually their sessions were alot more therapeutic, and not so intimidating.

The old doctor's office was like how old movies show college dean's, dusty and filled with last millenia's antiques. Strange insturments and delicate glass sat on shelfs, beside thick books the size of cynder blocks. These shelfs covered the walls all around the room, except where the window was, that was reserved for an enormous mahogany desk. It's sides were carved with intricate designs, and resting on it were mountains of unexplored papers.

After a few restless moments, he shrugged, "What do you want me to say about that?"

"I'm just stating, you are a dangerous young man. Your a hazard to yourself and the world around you, and thats why you come to see me. To let out all of that aggression."

Nate nodded slowly, "right, sort of the point."

Once more, an awkward silence embedded the room. Today wasn't going to a good start.

"So...I heard your father called recently-," Nate waited for the inevitable, "-how do you feel about that?"

He snorted in contempt, "well I'm irritated, if that's what your wondering. He won't leave me alone. As soon as I got in here it's like...he suddenly realized he's my sperm donor again! It's a joke. In fact, I think this entire place is a joke! It's his idea of a prison, except its more socially exceptable."

Off in the distance, a bell rang off, accompanied by the muffled and indistinguishable voice of a young woman.

The doctor smiled and stood up, then sauntered over to his desk. "Ah, I completely forgot about the memo! There's a mandatory UDC this morning, some idiot did something last night." He shook his head, "honestly, I've noticed nothing out of the ordinary, but this place does pay for the best. We'll continue this session after your classes today?"

Nate picked up his bag and reached for the door, "Whatever you say Dr.Sherman." 

The Acacia Ruse

The secretary looked up at the professor with a quizzical brow, “You want to see the student files…now? Can’t you wait till the morning?“

            A tall lopsided man sighed and pushed his glasses back over the bridge of his nose, “No I must have her files now. It is of extreme importance Miss Pankerston."
 The boisterous lady seemed quite surprised at the sound of her name. “I don’t even have a name tag yet. You are a very observant man, Mr. Harold.”

Smiling she walked over to the filing cabinet and pulled out a folder overflowing with papers. “You said you wanted Tabitha K. Stanley right? Jeeze…this girl has a huge record…” Miss Pankerston hands the professor the folder then collapses into her swivel chair. “So are you doing anything tonight?” she leans over the counter.

Mr. Harold, unfazed by her obvious act of flirtation, shook his head before walking away down the hall. The secretary shocked and somewhat offended, glared at the professor’s retreating figure, “It seems I make all the good men run…”

            The halls were quiet except for the clapping of leather shoes on the polished marble floor. All the students would be in their private dorms at this hour at least that’s where they should be. Mr. Harold strolled down the empty corridors as if he knew every inch and cranny of the school.

            Exiting the main building, he walked off toward the west side of the campus where the girl’s dorms resided. He opened the janitors closet in the main hall of the girl’s dorm building, and with only a backwards glance he went in, locking the door behind him. After a couple minutes the door opens again revealing a cloaked figure that was much shorter than the professor. She left the closet and headed toward the stairs. When the hooded girl reached the third floor she quickly shuffled down the hallway to room 389, and slipped inside.

            Faint footsteps echo from outside the building. The automatic doors open and a middle aged blue-hired woman strode into the main hall pulling her mopping supplies behind her on a little cart.

            “Kids these days…even the gifted ones are a bunch of morons…ketchup and milk? Really? Gross…” The woman mumbled. She trudged toward the janitor’s closet, and opened the door, then shoved the cart inside. She paused and knelt down, picking up a tie, "What in the hell is this doing here?” Turning on the light she rummaged through the cleaning supplies in the small closet looking for anything, or even anyone, but instead she found nothing. “Hm I hope these girls are smart enough not to go foolin’ around…this is a prestigious school not a host club.” The janitor locked the closet door before leaving through the front doors, “Better take this to the office.”

            Dawn breaks over the New World campus, and a fresh day brings opportunities, excitement, and more restrictions. The students heading off to their first period core classes when the intercom breaks the pleasant morning buzz, “Good morning students,” says a cheery voice, “Due to suspicious evidence of misconduct, I am going to conduct a UDC today! Yeah!”

            Complaints and moans of annoyance spread throughout the campus. UDC otherwise known as Universal Doctoral Check-ups happens only a few times a year when something “unruly” occurs. The check-ups usually involve interrogating students for information.

            “During your normal doctoral check-ups you will be asked some important questions. These questions will not just benefit the school, but you as well so let’s just all answer them truthfully? Thank you all very much and have a happy, happy day. Ta ta!”

            The cloaked girl from the previous night before emerged from the girl’s main building dorm her eyes narrowed in suspicion. Wrapping a silk scarf around her face she goes to her first period class, AP English. Her day was normal as always, same teachers, and assignments. The only thing that was different was that there was a new student, who has been recently transferred to the New World, and her name is Tabitha K. Stanley.

            The hooded girl observed Tabitha, writing down notes about her actions— from speech patterns to common movements—and sketching her appearance down in great detail in her notebook. She continued her observations throughout the day until all her core classes were over and everyone went to see their personal doctors.

            The cloaked girl shyly walked into her doctor’s office, knocking on the door to signify that she had arrived.

            “Oh, hello dear please-please sit down.”

She sat down upon the farthest seat from the desk, her eyes transfixed on the floor. “Do want to attempt t answer the UDC questions? You are not obligated because of your well...um conditions, but…” he paused, “Alright we don’t have to. Ok, let’s get started shall we? Can you give me your left arm please?”

            Without making eye contact with the doctor she slid the glove off her left hand and stared at her palm.

            “Now try to make you hand a different shade maybe, something easy, shouldn’t be too hard.”

            She swallowed and then tensed, her eyes burning into the center of her palm unblinking. A cloudy pale pigment began to build up in the center of her palm, the pigmented change slowly started to spread across her hand like moss to a rock. Her head jerked backwards and she fell to her knees shaking violently. Dr. Kingsley ran to her side and grabbed her shoulders repeating poetry he believed that calmed the mind. After a few silent moments the girl retreated back to her chair wrapping her cloth tight around her left hand.

            “I am so sorry dear…I thought you were ready. We will start from the beginning tomorrow with some new methods of mental unity…”The doctor stopped and looked toward the door. Soft chuckling could be heard from behind the door. Dr. Kingsley stood up and strode toward the door but he was taken off guard when the door suddenly opened and almost smacked him in the face.

            “Wha-tha my mother’s a monkey’s uncle! Huh you! What are you doing here? This is a private doctor check-up and it is rude to laugh at someone else’s troubles young man.”

            “Oh, no you got it all wrong my friend. I’m wasn’t laughing at your predicament, I was amused at the…irony of the situation.” A boys voice said calmly.

            “Irony…”

            “Its quite interesting really. The facade is brilliant.”

            “Façade? What are you talking about boy?”

            “I wouldn’t expect you to know Dr. Kingsley, no offense.”
            “Excuse me but what are you trying to say?”

The hooded girl leaned in her chair trying to get a clear view of the boy but the Doctors large frame blocked her view. The sound of the boy’s voice made her feel unsettled, a wave of curiosity wafted thru her.

            The boy chuckled, “Why don’t you tell him the truth, Alida.”

Average....and that's it.

When I wake up in the morning, I feel myself smile.

I'm done with that bucket of crap. No more fake smiles, no more worthless assignments--

Oh, you know. High school.

My sister peeks into my room, and I close my eyes, pretending to sleep.

"Nova, are you up?"

"..."

She sighs and closes the door. I roll on my side and sigh contentedly. Nothing to do today--

The door is thrown open, shaking the trophies displayed on shelves as the door bangs into the wall. I jump and glare at the figure in the doorway, holding a stack of envelopes.

"College stuff," Dad says sternly. He tosses them at me and they scatter across my bed, some fluttering to the floor. "Figure it out." He walks out.

My sister peeks in, frowns. "You ARE awake!!"

I throw the covers over my head, but my sister leaps up on the bed and yanks them off. "Nova, you said you'd take me to see that movie today!!"

Great. "Yeah, sure, but I have to look through all this first..." I gesture at the massive amount of recruiting letters as an excuse, but she just shakes her head.

"I'll help! Here you open those--" she waves her arm around the bed, "And I'll get the ones on the floor." Without stepping off the bed, she reaches down and picks up a small pile.

I let my head fall into my hands and groan. "Maggie, get out--"

"You should really wear a shirt when you sleep. You don't even look that great--"

"MAGGIE--"

"Hey, this isn't a college!"

I peek at her through my fingers.

She frowns. "Must be junk."

NO. ANYTHING not college related is lovely. I snatch it from her before she can trash it.

When I open it, the letter is crisp, printed on yellowy paper, and smelling of.....roses? Something floral.

"'Nova Vance,'" I read aloud, "'You have been selected as a candidate as trainer for the New World Institute, located in'--"

"What's that?"

"I think....I think it's that new school for defunt drives." I murmur as I continue to read for myself.

She sighs. "Whatever. You should just trash it."

"I don't think I will....listen. 'Out of all applicants, you passed with the highest scores and are shown as most apt to work with our students'."

"You applied?"

I put down the letter and meet her questioning gaze, shrugging. "No idea. I applied for tons of things months ago."

She jumps off my bed and sits at my creaky desk, opening my laptop and letting it power up. By now, I note the clock's time. Four thirty?! No wonder I'm hungry.

When I glance back at Maggie, she's logged on.

"How do you know my pass?!"

"Found it! 'New World Institute for Disabled Drives'. It's pretty prestigious." She narrows her eyes at the screen. "Why would they want you?" 

"Thanks."

Dad appears in the doorway. "What's going on in here?"

Dad's built huge--broad shoulders, manly beard, narrow eyes that always seem to be disappointed in my lack of sports skills. But I, shirtless, glare right back at him. "I'm looking at a school."

Dad sees the open envelope on my bed and thuds over, picking it up in his meaty hands and quickly scanning it over. His eyes flash up at me.

"New World?"

"Yes, it's for--"

"I don't like this. You should be going to college, not some school for special needs kids."

I clench my fists. "I'm 18, Dad."

Cue raised eyebrow. "So?"

"I think it'd be a great opportunity. It's for defunt drives, and that's a field widely explored and creating more careers by the minute--"

"No. College first."

Maggie turns in her chair. "Dad, come look at the site--"

"Maggie, get out."

Without another word, she stands and leaves, shutting the door behind her.

Dad turns back to me--

And something explodes through the window, crashing into my dad and throwing his massive body back against the wall. I have only a millisecond to look and see the explosive that crashed into him before it explodes, throwing everything into a mass of chaos.

BEGIN

NOW WE START.

For the first five posts, i would like it in THIS ORDER:

Artan.
Nova.
Maybrie
Alida
Nate.

Then you can post whenever you want. 

GOGOGOGOGO

MAIN CHARACTER (3)

Name: Nova Vance

Age: 18

Description: Average height (BUT TALLER THAN MAYBRIE), light brown hair past his ears, glasses. Goody two shoes character, so I'm thinking he likes polos (woot woot Tyler). Not shy, thinks he's always right, sees faults in everyone. Still a naturally good guy.

Background: Extraordinarily average. Went to normal kid school, not a lot of drives there, lives with his dad and little sister. Seems like he would be ambitious, but he's a lazy turd. Until he got a letter describing his eligibility to work at the New World school and become a trainer there. We can figure out how someone discovered him later in the story. When he gets to the school, no one really wants to talk to him, since at first he's a prig, but Artan is willing to talk to him.

---


He's extremely unoriginal. I'ma gonna build him through the story. Backstory IN the story.

Character FIVE!!!!!!

Name: Maybrie (I'm too lazy to make up a last name...maybe later)

Background: Maybrie was born in 1776 in France.  She grew up in a family that was fairly rich and powerful, close to the crown.  When the Reign of Terror erupted in 1793, dignitaries (and their families) were being slaughtered left and right just because they had money or power or were important to the king.  It soon became apparent that Maybrie's family was next to be killed by the guillotine.  Yet when it was Maybrie's turn to die, what should have been a death blow could not kill her.  She was locked in jail and tortured for information relating to her apparent immortality.  When they finally gave up trying to get information out of her, she was locked in an insane asylum where she spent some 50 years (without aging).  She finally escaped to England.  She immigrated to America in 1899.  Recently she has been "losing" pieces of herself: her humanity, her human emotions, and eventually, her memory.  She finally stumbled upon the front steps of New World, with no memory and barely any humanity left.

Appearance: Same as Maybrie in Chain Mail...Blond curly hair, small build, really short, pretty :)

Behavior: Same as Maybrie in Chain Mail...very sarcastic and slightly aggressive at times :) Does not care much about the other characters at New World (at first) because of her loss of emotions and humanity. 

Nathaniel Clemmings (number uno)

Nathaniel 'Nate' Clemmings

Age: 17

Drive: (lol simply reinstating) flight drive, granting him the ability to levitate and fly without help

Physical appearence: short black hair, thick eyebrows; dark brown eyes; a greek nose; pale olive skin; average build, sort of muscular; large feet and hands; slightly above average height

Personality: Delinquent, usually in a nasty mood, doesn't get well with others or show much emotion besides anger

Background: his father was a brilliant businessman, with little time for his family. Unfortuanatly, this is not the worst of his past, as he underwent many painful events and situations. When he was 5 his fathers company's CEO molested him, and he didn't say a thing to anyone until he was 7. When he finally confessed to his mother and father, it was revealed his father knew about it the entire time but did nothing to stop it. Enraged, his mother left with Nate to a modest home in the city, never to see his father again.In their new home, Nate discovered he possessed the fabulous ability to fly, which was later confirmed by a proffesional. It was his escape from his past, and a freedom he cherished more than any possession his father could have given him. As time went on, the families funds began to dwindle until she was forced to get a job, then another job. Seeing his tiny family failing to make ends meet, he got a part time job to support them. Nate is naturally hard headed and has little patience, so this kind of dedication drove him nuts. Soon after he began getting into and starting fights in school, leading up to a mass brawl in the grimy fast food place he worked at when a costumer complained about his service. As the fight finished, Nate went to fly off to blow off steam, but was horrified to discover he could no longer do so. His world suddenly went crashing down.
Ashamed, he began avoiding his mother and completely dropping out of school, disappearing at long intervals during the day. He was going to an underground fight club in an abondoned storehouse, duking it out for sums of money to give to his mother. Things were starting to look up for Nate, until he defeated the undisputed champion of the ring, Stone Henge, who decided revenge was in order. Stone Henge just so happened to be the leader of an enormous gang, and a short temper that usually swelled into an unstoppable rage. He ordered his men to kill Nate's mother, and then murder him. When Nate arrived home from the grocery store, they had already shot her, and were waiting 4 him. He took them down, but was stopped from doing any actual damage as the police arrived on the scene. They took him in, questioned him, then sent him 2 a foster house, where his father was signing the papers to take him back into his life. Angry and confused, Nate didn't respond well to the sudden rich lifestyle, and began stalking the streets for Stone Henge's gang. When his father discovered his past time, he had had enough of his son's behavior. As the main benifactor for New World, he sent his broken (in more ways than one) son to their 'care' and teachings. An entire year later, thats where he remains.

Story: He often throws things at teachers when he doesn't understand (he's rather intelligent, but he never gets things right away), and fights other students over miniscule things. He has no friends except for the counsler, who is...more than he appears. He is the only person Nate ever confides in, and only does so in the absolutest of secrecy. Recently, a member of the Stone Henge gang was spotted nearby, and a string of petty crimes have been occuring nearby by a mysterious criminal. Is Nate the criminal? And what will he do once he hears about the gang member?

questions, suggestions, and comments below or on facebook!

i feel horrible 4 Nate...:(