Died ~ Please Close

[DragonSpirit009]

“Actually I think we do go to the same school.” Meagan sitting on her scooter tapping her chin. She doesn’t really mingle much with the other grades. To be honest she only have like two friends in school and never really made an effort to get to know others.

“Anyway see you either at school or here later.”

With those words Meagan pulled away and drove past Isabella waving. She’ll most likely be at school before her seeing she had a little bit more horse power.

~

The ten minute drive went rather fast and before Meagan knew it she was at school. She guided her scooter to the bicycle/scooter parking area. Sadly Meagan noticed four boys from her grade standing outside the fenced parking area and for some reason she became really nervous.

Once her scooter was on its stand Meagan climbed off and unclipped her helmet. She kept an eye on the boys outside which was also keeping an eye on her. She hasn’t been back to school in weeks due to her embarrassment and she had a feeling that this wasn’t going to be a good day.

Her stomach turned as she placed her helmet on the scooter and proceeded to leave the parking area.

“Well, well, Rexy decide to show up for school.” One of the boys spoke.

Meagan just ignored him and continued to walk towards school building.

“What no hello? You’re a mean Rexy aren’t.” Another boy continued.

Just ignore them. Just ignore them. Meagan spoke in her own mind.

“Hey why don’t you show what big teeth you have? Bet you can crush someone’s bones easily with them.”

“Haha don’t forget her giant feet. One step from her and you will be thin as a piece of paper.”

The boys were walking close to her now, almost touching her. Meagan felt her chest tighten as fear crept over her. Just get into school then they will leave me alone. Just get into school then they will leave me alone. Meagan spoke to herself mentally.

When she looked up she saw one of her friends at the entrance of the school waving at her. A bit of relieve spread over her but it didn’t last long.

One of the boys sprinted towards her friend and started to pull on her school bag. Meagan raced towards her friend wanting to help her with the other three boys right next to her.

Just before she could reach her friend one of the boys pushed her and she basically fell past her friend right through the entrance hall’s doors. Meagan had bumped her head on the way in and was curling up in a ball of fear. She covered her face with her arms and she could hear the boys scuffling closer. They called her names, poked her and pushed her, they wanted to see what awful thing had become. She couldn’t take it anymore she wanted to run.

With that final thought it happened once again. Her body grew and grew. The rumbling sound of her fear and frustration echoed down the hall. Students and teachers stepped out of their classes to see what was happening. As her body was getting to big for the area and the roof was crumbling. The entrance was half destroyed by a massive tail swinging left to right. They boys who tortured her was gone and her friend was outside dodging the swinging tail. Students and teachers were forced to evacuate. Meagan gave out a loud roar feeling horrible for what was happing. She had trouble controlling her growth. She dare not move due to she wasn’t sure how stable the building was. The entrance was destroyed but the roof inside would either tumble down or stay intact. All she could do was stay in a giant size little ball.

((Just so you know… It’s only the entrance that is basically a bit in rubble… T-Rex Meagan is holding the roof up with her back at the moment. No classes or part of the school is in real danger.))

[Fortune86]

Avery nodded. At least it seemed that August had started to understand the gravity of his situation. Being a Gifted was never easy, and adjusting to the way things would work for him would be difficult. Avery just hoped things wouldn't become more complicated than necessary. 

 

"We'll start with the basics then" he suggested. "Learning to control your temperament. You revealed yourself because you were getting bullied in class right? So you tried to give them a short zap and it literally backfired?"

 

His eyes rested briefly on August's injured eye and the scar that overlaid it. A permanent reminder the boy would have to suffer for quite possibly the rest of his life. It could have been worse, Avery privately mused. If it had hit him in on his forehead he may have been known as Harry Potter until the day he died. At least some girls and boys would find the eye injury interesting. 

 

"Next time someone gets in your face like that" he continued "get away if you can. If not count to ten and clench your fists."

 

Avery held out his own scarred hand, palm up so that August could see.

 

"As a Mancer you'll find that your power discharges from your finger tips or palm. Light shocks from the fingers and stronger blasts from just here."

 

Avery used the fingers of his other hand to trace along the skin of his hand, making a small circle at the base of his palm as he spoke.

 

"Clenching your hands so that your fingers curl over and cover your palm" Avery demonstrated "will usually block the 'system', as it were. And if you are still feeling upset after you've reached ten and they are still giving you grief, then you have two handy fists to punch them in the nose with."

 

Avery turned to the side and punched at the air with a straight, sharp strike. 

 

"And that's the point where you run" he explained looking back to August. "Find an authority figure, a teacher or a police officer and explain the situation. You tell them, and remember these words, 'I was trapped in a situation where I feared for the safety of both myself and my aggressor. I took minimal action in order to remove myself and now wish to report the incident'."

 

At that moment Avery's cell phone began to ring. He gave a small sigh and pulled it out of his pocket, moving a few steps away from August.

 

"One moment. I have to answer."

 

Accepting the call he lifted the device to his ear.

 

"Avery...Where?...Just now?...I understand...I'll get there as soon as possible."

 

Finishing the call Avery placed his cell back in the pocket of his red hoodie. He shook his head and sighed again.

 

"I'm going to have to go. There's been an incident at the school."

[Avialae]

Isabella raised her eyebrows as Meagan told her that she thought that they went to the same school. Had the other girl seriously not gotten that she had been joking before? It wasn't like she had been trying to hide that fact. Was this just a side effect of the nervousness of having to introduce oneself to a bunch of new people in a new place, or was Meagan just not that bright? Shrugging to herself, Isabella decided it probably wasn't really important enough to matter. It wasn't like she had to make friends with the girl if she didn't really want to. She didn't necessarily even have to take classes with her if they didn't end up getting along. "Yeah. See you," she told Meagan's departing form, a slight edge to her tone, as the other girl rode off in her scooter. She gave no reply, nor did Isabella wait for one as she started pedaling her bicycle, and was soon out of sight.

 

Although she took the shortest route to school that she could, the fact that Isabella was stuck on a bicycle meant that it was still a while before she arrived at school. It was at times like this that Isabella wished she knew how to handle her own ability better - the species of dinosaur she'd gained the ability to shapeshift into was fast, she wasn't sure how fast exactly, but definitely faster than her top speed even on a bicycle. If Isabella had made the journey here in that form she'd probably have cut a significant portion of time off her journey. It wasn't worth having to be naked once she got there though, so here she was.

 

Isabella was able to piece together a rough idea of what had happened as soon as she came in sight of the school. The familiar long tail emerging from the back end of the wrecked entrance, swinging back and forth with visible agitation, was really all the information she needed. She knew very well from her own prior transformation that your own mental state remained intact while a Were was in their alternate form, so Isabella went to park her bike before she went to check the situation out more closely, and hoped very hard that Meagan wouldn't panic and do anything stupid. People were already evacuating around the edges of the building, but they seemed too scared to get close to the big T. rex. Isabella had spent her first transformation entirely indoors, so her status as a Gifted wasn't known to anybody but her family yet, and she hoped that she wouldn't be exposed by the fact that she couldn't help but be more afraid of the unsteady state of the school entrance than the transformed Meagan.

 

Noticing a dazed-looking girl sitting on the pavement among the rubble in front of the school entrance, Isabella hurried up to her and shook her shoulder, the shadow of Meagan's tail next to them, dimly hearing low grunts and rumbles from the inside of the school. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked the unfamiliar girl. "It might be best if you backed up a little. I can help you if you'd like." Isabella tried to keep her voice calm and steady, hoping it would calm the girl down as well. She couldn't really help Meagan - Isabella had enough trouble changing back into human form on her own. Someone would have already called Avery if people were evacuating already, right?

[Fortune86]

((Just an FYI guys, I'm still active but busy with work stuff (boo). Will post as soon as possible.))

[Fortune86]

((Marcus has decided to leave the RP. I will be removing Raine.))

 

Hearing that there had been an incident at the school Raine went rushing out. Avery briefly glanced at her as she ran out the door before looking back at August. With the older woman gone the boy would be left on his own.

 

"I shouldn't be too long" he explained. "There's a vending machine upstairs if you want to get a drink or a snack or something. Sit tight."

 

With that Avery turned and follow Raine outside. He figured that she must be worried about her daughter, who would be around school age according to the reports. Climbing into his own truck Avery started up the engine and started to drive into town.

 

It didn't take long to get there, and a crowd had already formed. Avery parked in the first available space and started to walk towards the section that had very obviously collapsed. Several stared at him as he passed, or more accurately, the scars that adorned his skin. Avery ignored them and honed in on what looked like a teacher trying to direct students away from the wreckage. 

 

"I'm Avery Sims from the LGEC" he explained stepping into the man's field of view. "What happened here?"

 

The teacher quickly gave Avery the low down on the situation, how some girl had shifted and caused the entrance hall to collapse. Avery could see the tip of a tail from where he stood, poking through the rubble. He also spotted Isabella sitting next to another girl, but since neither of them looked in intimidate danger he could leave them be for now. A disturbance behind them caused Avery to look back at the ground. Some men in GMC uniforms were heading over towards them. The pristine white suit of the man in front told Avery he was an Esper, so he stepped over to meet with them. Together they formulated a plan to unearth the trapped dinosaur that had caused this mess and then moved to put it into action.

 

The man in white approached the school and held out his hands in front of him, elbows slight bowed. The top layer of rubble began to float upwards and was followed by other bits of metal and brick as the Esper gently began to clear the way. Within a few minutes the T-Rex lay safely exposed, no longer in danger of being crushed, though covered in dust and small bits of debris.

 

Avery hopped over the remains of a wall and carefully approached, circling round so that he could be seen.

 

"Meagan?"

[DragonSpirit009]

Meagan lay curled up trying to hide her face in her huge body. She felt awful for not being able to control her emotions. She felt even worse cause she had done damage to the building. Slightly sobbing to herself she could hear people talking.

It wasn’t long when she heard people talking about the GMC that had arrived and the calls on which rubble to move first. She waited patiently the GMC people to do their work, trying her best to keep the large tail still. For some reason the thing had a mind of its own.

Meagan felt exhausted from the stress and not to mention what the new LGEC instructor would say. He would have been there by now. The old instructor was nice but she didn’t know how this man would be.

After a few minutes Meagan felt that her scaly body was free from the rubble. She just lay there, afraid to move. Her eyes were sad and wet from crying.

 

Suddenly a familiar voice called her name. Her eye caught the instructor moving closer very carefully.

She wanted to say yes but the only sound that came out was a low rumbling growl.

[Fortune86]

Avery hadn't come across many dinosaur weres in his career, but the one curled up in front of him certainly looked one of the most pathetic. Ironic for such an otherwise powerful animal. He sighed and shook his head before catching sight of the scraps of material littering the floor around Meagan. The remains of her clothes he guessed. Being a were was certainly a double edged sword.

 

Thankfully the GMC were prepared. One of them carefully entered the room with a blanket, handed it to Avery, glanced at the weeping tyrannosaurus rex and left again. It was Avery's job to handle his students, unless they were deemed a threat to public safety. It looked like the agents had decided to cut Meagan a little slack.

 

"Ok Meagan" said Avery as he unfolded the blanket. It was not large enough to cover a whole t-rex, but it was big enough to provide any were in human form with dignity. "I'm going to throw this over you and when you are ready, you can change back. There's no rush, just take your time."

 

As Avery did his best to place the blanket over Meagan so that she would be covered all over on shifting back to human, he became aware of an argument building up beyond the destroyed wall. Looking over his shoulder he spotted the white suited Esper scowling at a policeman and the teacher from earlier. Standing back Avery looked up at the rubble still floating overhead. If the other Esper lost concentration...

 

"Though if you could shift sooner rather than later that would be great."   

[DragonSpirit009]

Meagan watched Avery as he tried to cover her with a blanket. Lucky for her she actually wore tights under her clothes, just like the old instructor told her to do. She didn’t want to be embarrassed again like last time so she made it a point to from now on always wear tights under her clothes.

She gave small growling sounds trying to explain to Avery that she didn’t mean to transform or cause this damage. Knowing he won’t understand her it made Meagan feel a bit better.

Meagan slowly felt more at ease after trying to growl explain what happened to Avery. Eventually the dinosaur lifter her head only to meet the gaze of the crowd and the culprits of her transformation.

 

It took a few minutes and after several heavy breathing before Meagan began to turn back to a human.

“I’m sorry.” She spoke in a soft tone hugging the blanket for comfort. “They pushed me in a corner and I couldn’t hold it back.”    

[Fortune86]

Avery nodded but didn't speak. He simply put on hand on Meagan's shoulder and gently guided her out of the remains of the entrance hall, keeping one eye on the rubble still floating above. He helped Meagan climb over the same wall he had come in over but kept his focus on the adults arguing nearby. While he couldn't hear every word said, he heard several phrases he didn't care for. He moved away from the school, making sure Meagan kept beside him, and caught the policeman's eye. The look the officer gave him was one of pure venom. It was something Avery had seen many times before.

 

So at least one local authority figure was prejudiced against Gifted. It wasn't unknown and usually not a big deal, but for kids like Meagan who had difficulty adjusting, it was one more problem they'd have to endure. 

 

Eventually the policeman and the white suited Esper finished the conversation and parted, the policeman walking off as the Esper returned to the task at hand and moved the rubble to a safe location to put it down, piece by piece. The teacher spotted Avery and Meagan and hurried over, rubbing the back of his hands as he approached.

 

"We will have to close the school for a few days while we check for further damages and secure the site. It may be best if all Gifted students remain off site until further notice."

 

Avery raised an eyebrow. "You're suspending all of them?"

 

"Not suspending, not suspending" said the teacher quickly, waving his hands in what he probably hoped was a calming manner. "We're just taking some precautions. Nothing will appear on their permanent records, I assure you. It's just for now, for safety...."

 

He trailed off as Avery stared at him. As he grew uncomfortable with the judgmental silence, the teacher muttered something about checking on the other students and quickly left, glancing over his shoulder at the heavily scarred man and young girl wrapped in a blanket.

 

"We better leave" said Avery once the teacher was out of sight. "Come on, I'll take you home."

[Avialae]

Isabella was not happy just sitting there in the grass next to the girl who she'd managed to guide away from the ruined entrance of the high school. The other girl was not really handling having been so close to the epicenter of the disaster well, and right now was sitting with her hand between her knees, sobbing. Before she'd completely broken down, she'd managed to give Isabella a somewhat more detailed account of what had happened to cause all this - she was a friend of Meagan's and had been waiting for her at the school entrance, when a group of boys had showed up and began to taunt Meagan about her powers, daring her to shapeshift. The amount of stress she had been under had apparently triggered all of this. When she had heard that part, Isabella had become so angry she had to concentrate for a long moment to avoid transforming herself - fortunately the other girl was too distraught to notice it. Those idiots! Did they want to die, provoking someone who could change into a fifteen-foot-tall superpredator at will? If anything, they were lucky Meagan was such a reserved example of a Were - things could have ended up much worse for them.

 

Something then occurred to Isabella. When she'd arrived at school, she'd seen Meagan's friend, but no sign of the group of boys who'd been teasing her. They could have made their escape . . . or they could have gotten trapped under the rubble that was still laying around the remains of the school entrance. The friend had no idea what had happened to them, and Isabella honestly couldn't blame her for being more concerned with her own welfare. As far as Isabella was concerned, they deserved whatever had happened to them, but reasoned that someone should at least confirm whether they were alive or dead. She'd been keeping an eye on Meagan and Avery as the LGEC instructor talked the shifted T-rex down, and, seeing that the young girl had finally regained human form, Isabella started walking towards the two of them.

 

As she neared their location, Isabella overheard a bit of conversation between Avery and one of the teachers at the school, but she would concentrate on that later. Reaching Avery's side as he turned to leave with Meagan, Isabella raised her voice slightly and said, "Excuse me, but I was talking to a girl who I believe is her - " she pointed to Meagan - "friend, and was right next to her when she transformed. According to her there was also a group of three or four boys there and she hasn't seen them since. I was wondering if anyone else has seen them, so we know if they're safe?"

Edited April 19, 2018 by Avialae

[Fortune86]

As Avery tried to steer Meagan towards his truck and away from the gawkers, Isabella came hurrying over. When she mentioned that the lads who had been tormenting Meagan hadn't been seen since she shifted, he frowned and looked back over at the remains of the entrance hall.

 

The white suited Esper had done a neat job. All the 'loose' rubble had been removed and placed to one side, leaving nothing more than the broken shell of the room and a lot of dust. If the boys had been caught up in the collapse they wouldn't have been seen by now.

 

"They must have run off" he said to Isabella. "No one in their right mind sticks around when a Were shifts."

 

Though in his opinion anybody stupid enough to antagonize a Were in the first place probably wasn't going to win any awards for intelligence. 

[DragonSpirit009]

Meagan lifted her head when she heard Isabella’s voice. She was kinda thankful when she mentioned she looked after her friend. Meagan was a bit worried about her but luckily she was outside and not inside.

 

“Well those boys aren’t in their right minds.” Meagan spoke. When she looked at Isabella she notice that in the distance those boys who tormented her was standing at the far back end of the crowd.

“They are pretty stupid for still hanging around.” She spoke pointing in their direction.

[Avialae]

Following Avery's gaze, Isabella could now see that the other agents from the LGEC had done a better job than she'd thought. From where she'd been sitting on the grass behind the school, she'd thought that they'd only cleared the minimum debris necessary to let Meagan out, but now that she had a better view she could see that apparently they'd gotten just about everything. "All right then," she said, giving a brief shrug.

 

When Meagan noticed the boys she'd seen earlier in the crowd of students Isabella couldn't help but follow her gaze, staring at where she pointed in disbelief. Isabella didn't know what the boys looked like so she had no way of telling if the boys Meagan was pointing out were the real deal or not, but she'd take her word for it. She couldn't believe that they were still here after all this time. Maybe they thought that the best thing for them to do was to blend in with the huge crowd gathering outside the school. Or they weren't thinking at all, probably. Isabella shook her head in disgust. "Unbelievable." She then turned her attention back to Avery and Meagan. "You said you were leaving? Maybe I should ride with you, since we probably won't be having school today." Or possibly for quite some time afterwards, if what she'd overheard was correct. Her being Gifted wasn't public knowledge, but someone in the school board had likely been notified, or would be in the near future at the very least.

[Fortune86]

Avery looked over in the direction Meagan was pointing and at the teenage boys she was singling out. While they were probably too far away to hear what Avery and the two girls were saying, they noticed the three of them glaring at them and finally took some initiative, disappearing deeper into the crowd.

 

"Ignore them" said Avery turning his attention back to the task at hand. "They're not a problem right now."

 

He nodded at Isabella when she asked if she should accompany them. Avery didn't know if there were any other Gifted students on site, but word would get around about their suspension quickly. He couldn't fit that many in his truck anyway. 

 

Leading the two girls over to his truck Avery held the door open so they could climb in.

 

"You had better give me directions, Meagan. I don't know the town well enough to find your address."

[DragonSpirit009]

Meagan followed Avery’s lead to the truck. Inside her she was struggling on how stupid she was. She could have taught those boys a less. If only they were outside when she transformed. But then again she might have some mighty people kicking her own butt as well if they came to the boys rescue.

 

Eventually Meagan got into the truck, sliding in a bit deeper so that Isabella could sit next to her.

“What will happen now she asked?” as she waited for everyone to get in.

[Fortune86]

When both girls were in the truck and seated Avery climbed in after them and started up the truck. The crowd of students and faculty members were watching them, many in deep conversation with one another. Avery could only hope that the  GMS gifted would be able to handle the situation.

 

He ignored Megan's question until they hit the main road, using the time to think. It had been a while since he had been in a proper civilian location and his old methods of handling the situation wouldn't fly well here. 

 

"Since there have been two incidents in such a short period of time the standard procedure is that you'll be barred from the school until you can get a proper grip on your shifting" he explained. "However, it seems that all the Gifted students are going to be tarred with the same brush, so will also be barred until they can be considered safe to interact with. That'll probably be on a case by case basis."

 

He looked over at Isabella, whom as far as he knew hadn't caused any trouble, but wouldn't be allowed to return to school until allowed either.

 

"I'll explain the situation to your folks" he added. "But for the next couple of weeks it'd probably be best if you were both seen knuckling down at the LGEC."