Approaching Storm?

[Keith Richards]

Keith found himself in the hallways of Hircine High, quietly walking along the right side of the hallway, the line of lockers inches from his shoulder. He walked as though there weren't any students getting their things out of their lockers. Each one he passed his shoulder shoved a locker door shut and his chest bumped a student out of the wall. Although they all happened to be male so far. There was a line of swearing following him but none had been provoked enough yet.

But with intentions to change that the corner of his eye caught an interesting sight. A girl was leaning against her lockers directly across the hall, a boy standing in front of her, and Keith pulled on a sly smile as his eyes sharpened. He had found his prey and he would leave it up to the spectators to decide if the prey was actually the girl or the guy talking to her. Keith stalked across the hallway and continued forward even as he broke the three foot perimeter until he finally had his chest pressed against the wide eyed girls.

"H-hey! What the fuck man?"

Keith could hear this over his right shoulder. But completely ignored it as he shifted his weight forward, his left knee pushing between the girls legs. She was wearing one of down to her ankle skirts, blaring virgin always attracted him the fastest. His head dipped down and forward so his lips hovered above the girls ear and he whispered in a smooth outward breath. He could see her tremble as the warm air hit her. "Your boyfriend isn't even stopping me. Just standing there, staring at us, boiling but unable to protect you."

The girls whispered something that he couldn't make out, her voice had become a hoarse whisper, and he knew from experience that it was because he had intimidated her into inaction and confusion. But the boyfriend finally had enough when he heard his girlfriend whimper fearfully. Although he apparently wasn't all that bright. He had been given the opportunity to land a punch or kick pretty much wherever he wanted. But apparently the anger had fried his brain because all that happened was Keith being shoved away from the girl.

Keith grinned as he shifted his left foot out in the direction he was shoved, to the left, and pulled his right side around, turning himself back toward the pair, and then jabbed his right foot into the ground to keep himself from spinning more than he wanted to. "Oh?" He spoke in a quizzical tone, his eyes following the forward momentum of the boyfriend, and noticed quite readily that the right shoulder was coming toward him. With his left to the locker and his right to the hallway Keith had a pretty simple choice of counter attack.

The punch came toward his chin before he pushed off with his left foot and completed a quarter circle toward the hallway, having pivoted on his right foot. The punch skidded past his nose, close enough that he felt the rush of adrenaline, far enough away that the punch hadn't caused any blood to flow. Keith's left arm hooked up and trapped the punching arm in the crook of his blow, pulling the arm back against his chest, and used the heel of his right palm to slam into the side of the boyfriends head. His right shoulder pushed forward with it and the targets head crashed into the locker.

Keith released both the head and the arm and stepped back as the body dropped to the ground. He wasn't much when it came to strength. But two sharp blows to either temple and even if you weren't knocked unconscious you at least had a ringing headache and degraded balance. But of course Keith wasn't done, no, that would be too simple. Keith crouched down in front of the body and grasped the boys hair, lifted his head two feet off the ground, looking into the unconscious eyes. And then swiftly slammed the boyfriends face into the ground. A silent malicious chuckle shook his chest.

[Sedrix West]

Sedrix had his attention caught, but what seemed to be a new student. Obviously, he could not confirm, but he had never seen this student before in his life, and his style, and attitude, was generally as such. Himself no exception, it seems every student acts the same. Arrogant, loud, and looking for 'business'. It irritated Sedrix, so he tried to stop this evergrowing tradition each time he saw it, which was worryingly often.

Naturally, this student, went for again, a very traditional approach. The casual shoulder-barge. A good way to establish authority, since the immediate, provoked emotion from the victim usually consisted of anger, or maybe just irritance, making actions rash and slow. Straight into the prepared arms of the dealer. He repeated this tactless notion several times, blatantly intentionally from the mischievous smirk he had worn across his darkened face.

Perceptions were important in most situations, if not all. And Sedrix had perceived that if unaware of the situation, and being subdued to equal treatment would leave him as unbalanced as the rest, however, thanks the the cries of the latest shoved student, he was aware. Maybe this student would perceive he would now not be able to topple sedrix, him being fully aware, and a hole lot heavier than him.

Nevertheless, Sedrix had no intention of quarreling, this establishment of authority never lasts, even in the most well thought cases. It usually dies when people realise how much they have underestimated this place, and more importantly, the 'people' in it.

Sedrix however, could not stop himself but chuckle at the latest barge. It was well thought out, and led to an extremely awkward circumstance for the receiver. However childish, and immature, the result was nothing less Than comedy gold. The receivers response was nothing less than expected. Immediate, well nearly immediate rise to action. Sedrix expected a take down from this new student, or at least similar reaction to provoke fear from others.

The reaction was nothing less than barbaric. This game reached a whole new level. At least five strikes, to an unconscious finish, which did not seem to be enough. Surprise was slightly indeed, this was not indeed the worst circumstance he had seen in his years here, but was indeed, rather unexpected, from this rather unmalicious looking person. Sedrix wanted to do something, and of course he knew that he could beat the guy, at least, from what he had already seen, however that was not the point.

He rose from his Lent position anyway, and moved over to the unconscious kid, and the paralyzed-with-fear girlfriend. He did not wish to fight, but if forced to, he would. He simply wished to help the unconscious kid to the nurses. His girlfriend's anatomy did not seem to the task. One thing was for sure however, as he passed the new student, there was no way his shoulder was moving an inch.

[Xenarius]

Xenarius heard a very familiar loud crash and sighed. "Why is there never a day's peace in this place..." He said to himself as he moved toward the sound. Turning the corner he saw a large group of students surrounding something. Pushing his way through he caught glimpses of a girl, terrified, with her back to lockers, and two boys in the middle of the hall.

When he finally worked his way through the crowd he saw something that made his blood run cold as a boy he didn't recognize at all slammed some poor saps head into the ground. "Nothing ever changes" He thought as he stared in shock. "That's enough." He said quietly but with authority, and he knew it was loud enough for the boy to hear him.

Noticing someone else part from the crowd and head to help the now unconscious and bleeding boy lying on the floor, he nodded at him. The boy seemed familiar but Xenarius didn't think he had ever actually met him before.

Turning back to the boy who had started this whole thing he stared him straight in the eye with a look of disgust.
"Why do idiots like you think beating up some poor sap and molesting innocent girls will gain you a reputation of someone to be feared in this school? You show up and think that because you can beat up any random person you deserve the respect of everyone else, and why? You know nothing about us, what it takes to earn respect, what it takes to earn the fear of the general populace. You show up with a demented thought process of being the best when really you don't even know what it takes to survive here." I say as I step out of the crowd and face him completely, hoping to get him to turn his back on the boy laying on the ground, and the other who is trying to help him.

"I just hope I can buy him enough time to actually get them out of here..." I think to myself. "So I will say it one more time, "That is enough!" I say louder this time to make sure he heard me.

[Keith Richards]

OOC: Don't worry about joining the thread at any time.

Keith kept crouched in front of the blond haired boyfriends body, the head still in his palm, hair gripped between his fingers. There was blood dripping onto the floor now. The nose had broken, lifting the skull high enough into the air showed him that, it was pushed in at an odd angle and blood was moving well. But not well enough. Keith slammed the skull face first into the ground again and grinned as he watched the body twitch at the burst of pain that wracked the unconscious body.

He lifted the head into the air again and took a careful look at his work. The lip had been split, likely on a tooth, now that the already smaller than average nose was out of the way. His left hand came up and his thumb jabbed into the boys eye and pushed upward, pulling away the eyelid. Keith's back began to shake rhythmically as he saw little more than the white of the boys eyes. Laughter. Nearly inhuman malicious laughter.

Keith drew his left palm over the boys face with his fingernails leaving trails of red marks on his face and then grasped the front of the boys skull as he straightened his legs. His grip on the face wasn't strong, but he had his fingers in hair still, and the grip was slowly loosening the higher he brought the body. Sighing in disappointment he decided he had moved up enough once the head was just about four feet on the air. Keith proceeded to straight arm the skull into the locker and held pressure there by leaning against it.

"Hm?" From the silence in the hallway he heard footsteps. Someone else was coming to play. Keith leaned away and let the body thump into the floor, the side of the victims face hitting the ground and then his body jerked, straightened, and left a smear of blood on the ground. Keith titled his head to one side, eying a rather gigantic guy walking toward him. He didn't really know what he was planning to do but he didn't care all that much either. He would attack or he wouldn't and the girl would be his to mess with again.

"Someone eats their Wheaties."

Keith was standing in front of the body, his eyes trained up to the large male, and then found himself listening to another male. Only this one was shorter by almost a foot and had a bigger body. As the speech stepped in he brought up his left hand and tapped his forehead with the bloody fingertip. And again, and again, and again. Dots of red littered his forehead as his eyes smoothly switched from one male to the other. Keith released a very loud outward breath and drew his palm over his left forehead and let the blood rest on his brow.

"Why do cowards like you run their mouth?"

[Ryou Jackson]

Ryou stood off to one side, leaning against his locker, his arms folded across his chest. He was staring in the direction of the commotion, a new guy had come to town, and was already creating an uproar, what else was new these days?

" One right after another. It's never peaceful around here." Ryou sighed, as the new guy barged right through one of the couples hanging around the locker. Ryou merely watched, crude as it was, it was still very funny to watch the guy's reaction, which was nothing less than irritated. Obviously that was the way he'd react, having someone move in on his territory, and to boot, his girlfriend. What guy wouldn't react like that?

" Heh." Ryou smirked, as he continued to watch, except the situation started to become less hilarious. Ryou's smirk faded as the new guy grabbed the other guy's face, leaving a trail of blood, and slammed him into the locker. " Ouch." Ryou cringed in his mind. Clearly the guy was unconscious, at least from what Ryou could garner. " Brutal." he thought, he wasn't too far away, he was only a few lockers away from the action. Just then, another guy stepped in, clearly wanting to stop the new kid from going too far, but Ryou wasn't even sure if he'd be able to completely stop the situation from escalating too high. The guy that stepped in was someone Ryou wasn't familiar with. " I hope you know what you're getting into." Ryou thought, a serious expression on his face. He wasn't about to get involved, hell no, he was just here as an observer, and nothing else, unless something provoked him into joining in...

[Sedrix West]

Sedrix had no lust for fighting, unlike many of the unintellegent damage fueling insane patients in this educational ward. He moved over to the blonde haired kid. It seemed his peaceful approach was ignored by the dealer. All the better really, his attention was more turned to Xenarious. Someone who has made quite a name for himself. He spoke authoritively, however, in Sedrix's opinion, slightly mockingly, and therefore foolishly.

He could already see Xenarius making a good 'distraction' putting it insultingly. His actions were nothing elss than nobel, and coragious. Maybe he would buy time to get the couple out of the vicinity, before the kid tried to take the other eye too. Sedrix saw Xenarius as his non-spoken comrade, as he admired his efforts, and shared his views. Worst comes to worst is he gets hurt, in which case Sedrix would step in. He nodded silently at Xenarius, as a sort of token of comoradary.

The new student muttered something as Sedrix passed. It was difficult to percieve it's nature. Optimism lead the reaction to be a slight "Thanks." Towards the kid, hopefully a compliment to his size and strength, rather than a dejection. Yeah, he did just near-death beat someone, but that was not his problem. Sure, he does not condone what he did, but neither much did he care, he hoped that the new kid shared the opinion.

There were various spectators, little of which seemed to be doing little about it, simply sitting on their metaphysical thrones observing, and loosely commenting should the oppertunity arise. It was not his place to mock or ridicule, of course. In fact, he preffered this to the 'Hero' method. The 'Hero' method almost always fails, and almost always leaves you humiliated...or dead, or in some cases both, despite how unfair, and karma horrific it is, it was the truth. However, Sedrix had no intention of letting that happen.

He prepared to help the downed student, just looking at the new student, he said "Don't do anything stupid."

[Xenarius]

"Coward is an interesting word to use... Cowardice is all in the eye of the beholder. I take my action in the interest of the greater good... What do you act in accordance with? Hatred? Fear? A need to prove yourself to some unnamed, most likely stupid, person or cause? Or are you just in it for the blood?" Xenarius posed the questions to the boy knowing it would only aggravate him further, but not wanting him to turn his attention to the boy (Sedrix) leading the girl and her boyfriend away from the area.

"If you are in it just for the blood then really there is nothing I can do to change your opinion of me and my ideals. The other reasons can be dealt with in a much more healthy manner than that which you are using now. It is already obvious that you adhere to no code of letting downed opponents lie, but what is unclear is why you would just up and pick a fight, and the answer to that question is what it all really comes down to." Seeing Sedrix got them safely away from the area I decide it is time to pose my final question.

"You call me a coward because I talk, which reveals you feel words have no use. It also reveals you think I have no prowess in the fighting arena. An assumption that could cost even the most skilled of fighters dearly. I have no wish to fight you today it is true, but if forced I will not hold back. There is no reason for this to go any farther unless you wish it too. I suggest you think your choice through well before you do anything rash." I say still staring him straight in the eye.

[Keith Richards]

Keith was eying the tall student as he walked up to him. He wasn't sure what the guy was planning but he didn't seem all that interested in fighting. And didn't seem all that insulted by his comment. Disappointing but there wasn't much helping it. Wait, no, that's not quite right, he knew exactly how to fix that. The only thing left was to find out his patience level and what would snap it like a twig. And since he had approached him like this and was pretty sure the kid had heroic aspirations in mind.

"Someone change the channel on that mouth."

He didn't seem to react all that much when the tall student showed he had the balls to say something. He had just not picked anything that intelligent or threatening to say. Keith never did anything stupid. Why would anyone purposefully do something stupid? Keith merely pursed his lips and huffed. Yes this school had changed. Where were all the happy-do-good-fuckers that used to breed like rabbits? Where were the watchers who liked to beat them with batons? Ah the good old days were gone.

"Let's get something straight."

Keith flicked his eyes behind him, twisted his lips into a malicious sneer, and then looked back toward the Wheaties boy as he was the closest and therefor the most likely threat. He would continue to sneer as he balanced himself on his left leg and swung his right foot behind him to crack the heel of his foot onto the rib cage of his already downed prey. Air escaped the still breathing students lungs and blood sprayed out over the floor in a very painful series of coughs. Keith was pretty sure that would get things moving properly again.

"You get to help one of them for free. The other one stays with me. "

Of course Keith doubted anyone around would settle for that. But after all that was the point.

[Ryou Jackson]

Ryou watched, as the guy who had pummelled the other guy slammed his right foot right into the back of his head, making him spray blood out in a series of coughs. " Brutal." he thought again, no longer leaning on the locker, he made his way over, and grabbed the arm of the paralyzed with fear girl who had collapsed to her knees. She stared at him with fearful eyes, he returned her gaze with calm but gentle eyes.

His expression, on the other hand, was serious, he knew the seriousness of the situation, and frankly, he'd rather avoid confrontation, unless it was absoutely necessary, and the way things were going, he may had to resort to fighting to get the girl out safely.

" Up you get." he muttered softly, pulling her up with all the strength his arms could muster, she was basically like dead-weight, neither helping nor resisting him. He managed to get her up, though she stumbled around, not really able to comprehend what just happened. Ryou looked up, and was staring straight into the face of the assaulter.

" His eyes....hold nothing but fury and anger...what despair one would feel if they met him on a dark night alone." he thought, as the girl held onto his arm tightly, frightened of what might happen to her. Ryou didn't want to turn around, in the chance that the guy may decide to attack him, but it was chance he was willling to take if the girl managed to make it out safely.

Ryou turned, and walked away, the girl holding onto him for dear life, as if he was a life preserver or something along that line. He walked past the guy who had stepped up and taken charge of the situation, and locked gazes with him, for a fleeting moment, as Ryou made his way down the hallway. His guard was up, oh yes, it was up, he prepared himself as best as he could in the likelyhood an attack was initiated on him from behind.

" Violence...must it solve everything?"

[Sedrix West]

The situation was delicate to say the least. Sedrix was certain in half a step, Keith could kill that student, and his foot placed in a position where this could be done without a moments hesitation, even if he and Xenarius did all they could to stop him. However, leaving the situation alone would have probable similar consequences for the boy in question, against this psychotic hercules.

It seemd Xenarius was preping himself to fight, after his heroic admirations. He seemed a genuinely nice person, strength of which was unseen. Sedrix stepped back slightly. He was no attacker, but it seemed Xenarius was. He also seemed the diversion necersary to get those kids out of the clutches of the psycho. Sedrix prepared himself too, but not as noticably.

The barbaric brutality treatment never ended, it seemed. As the new kid pressed down on his chest, blood coughed out from his mouth. Sedrix was begining to get aggitated. "How tactless." He muttered. "Your motives need work, new kid." His fists clenched tight. The random beating of the weak and innocent... it pissed him off something awful. beneath his closed mouth were clenched teeth, beneath his long hair were tensed eyes.

"A real sophies choice eh?" Sedrix said sarcasticaly in reply to the new kid's proposal. "If i were sophie, i'd beat the living shit out of the Nazi."

Before he could however, there was another competator. One who Sedrix recognised, Ryou Jackson. He pulled the girl out of there. It was a wise move, of course. but not a complete conculsion. There was still the matter of the near-dead. It was not really relevant at this point anyway. Either way, they were both getting out of there.

Sedrix walked with Xenarius, he was ready to fight if he had too.

[Keith Richards]

OOC: Jackson I'm going to ignore your second post because it was out of turn and therefor messed with my plans and sense of the time. Nothing personal. You were playing the hero-victim role pretty well.

Keith set about to ignoring the giants words. As many who tried to label him the giant had failed and failed well. Motives. When did he ever speak of his motives? He was speaking of his intentions and provoking the desired response by doing so. But his mindset hadn't changed. He merely let the giant talk as his voice aimed itself at the very frightened virgin girl who was clinging to one of those 'hero' types that wanted to cop a feel. And they thought his way was cruel.

"Hey. You do realize your abandoning your boyfriend, right?"

Although that probably was because he was cruel. But that was hardly the point. The girl's body tensed to the point that her whole body was too rigid to be moved without dragging her like a plank of wood. Keith had twisted his lips into a malicious grin as he caught sight of her out of the corner of his eye, looking at him, and to the form of a male with blood dotted and smeared on the floor in front of and around his head.

"Can't say I blame you, I would sacrifice him to save myself too."

The girl's mind snapped like a twig under the guilt. With strength a sane human couldn't muster she began to violently jerk herself away from the male who had helped her, her body turned toward her boyfriend and his attacker, her free arm moving up to claw inhumanly at the hand that held her back. Once broken free she would run forward and slip on the blood, falling forward, landing at Keith's feet, sobbing loudly. There we are. Keith crouched down and quickly grabbed the back of the girls neck and hauled her up rapidly.

Keith pulled her against his chest like he was embracing the broken girl, but his eyes, the malicious predatory eyes showed a different story. No this was no comforting embrace. The girl was roughly spun about and his arm wrapped itself around her neck, holding her up as her body twitched and shook with sobs. "Of course I'd sacrifice you too." Keith's eyes danced with sinister amusement. "So then. Who do you save?"

[Ryou Jackson]

Ryou turned his gaze, and found himself looking at a face he knew well. " Sedrix..." he thought, as he caught Sedrix's eye, and nodded his head slightly to show Sedrix he acknowledged him. The girl continued to clutch tightly onto his arm, completely and utterly unmovable. " Dammit, she's like deadweight, crap, you could at least help me a little." he cursed in his mind, his arms only had so much strength to left someone up.

What happened next was something Ryou was not expecting. The guy began to smile, yes smile, not happily, but maliciously. Just looking at him smiling gave Ryou chills. He then spoke to her, sending a blow that would begin to break her, and break her he would.

"Hey. You do realize your abandoning your boyfriend, right?"

" How cruel." Ryou thought, his gaze very serious. Her body was shaking, with every blow and word he landed on her. The next thing he said would break her in half.

"Can't say I blame you, I would sacrifice him to save myself too."

She immediately released Ryou's arm, and flew straight at the guy. Ryou was too surprised and shocked to comprehend what had happened, let alone stop her. He did however, manage to grab her arm, but she clawed at him with her free arm, the look on her face was deranged, almost to the point of insane. "Shit, I can't hold on!" Ryou shouted in his mind, as she broke free of his grasp and slipped on the blood, crashing right at the guy's feet, playing right into his hand.

" No!!" Ryou thought alarmingly, but there was nothing he could do, as he picked her up and held her against his chest, but there was no comfort in his face, only malicious intent, the intention to hurt her beyond repair, which struck Ryou deeply. he moved forward, standing beside Sedrix and the guy who he didn't recognize, but knew he'd find out soon enough.

" No! I have to do something...but what?"

[Keith Richards]

OOC: I waited more than long enough. This will either provoke Jackson or it will be the close of the thread.

Keith's arm was still tightly wrapped around the girls neck, holding her up as her body twitched and shook with sobs, not able to do anything beyond bringing her trembling arms up and resting her hands on his forearm. There was only desperation left in her, everything else was being craved away, leaving only the desire to remain what she was and to escape left. But how to escape a monster when not even giants and well intentioned boys wouldn't? Appease it.

The girl started to squirm, her fingers gripping his arm, using the pads of her fingers and not the nails she saw only as a vague fear as they could make the beast angrier. Keith's predatory eyes cast down toward her for a moment, his vision enough to see if a pair of feet came toward him, and watched as the virgin girl started to push herself back against him. Her sobs stayed but she was trying none the less. "I'm so-sorrry ju..ust leave." She spoke in her weeping and trembling voice.

Keith was grinning widely enough to show both rows of teeth, his chest shaking, and a malicious laugh echoes through the hallway. They were all shocked into silence. Not only by the monster, the beast, but by the girls reaction to him. What other choice did she have though? He had beaten and tortured someone larger and stronger than her with what seemed like no effort at all. And everyone around her just stared on in silent horror.

"I like your choice! Clean up the blood, she won't want to slip again next time she comes to her locker." Keith grinned, turned to his left, his arm draped over the trembling girls shoulder. She was to his right, facing the hallway, still his shoulder, while his shoulder was to the left. Keith had the upper hand even in this moment and his derisive laughter still sounded through the hallway as he walked away with his virgin sacrifice.

[Ryou Jackson]

OOC: Well, didn't exactly provoke Ryou right away, but there are more events to come.

Ryou looked on in slienced shock, there had to be something he could do. He tried to force his mind into thinking up something, but his mind was coming up with nothing, a total blank. He watched as the girl squirmed, grabbing onto his arm and using her fingers, not her nails, to try to escape. " She's afraid." Ryou thought, " She's too scared to use her nails, she probably doesn't want to provoke him. Dammit, is there anything I can do?" Ryou thought angrily, at the moment, he felt helpless. The girl sobbed, but what she said shocked Ryou into a blank silence.

"I'm so-sorrry ju..ust leave."

" Wh....what the?" Ryou thought surprised. The attacker, all he did at this statement, was smile. He then laughed, maniacally, maliciously, it was all the same to Ryou, either way, he got what he wanted. His laughter echoed through the hallway, the same look on everyone's face who came, shock and horrified. The attacker then turned with the girl, and walked down the hallway, all the while laughing, he had beaten them, and they hadn't even laid a single hand on him. Ryou snapped out of his shock, and began to move forward angrily after him, but a hand on his left shoulder stopped him from advancing forward. " What the?" he thought, as he turned to see who tried to stop him, and came face to face with Sedrix. " Sedrix..." he thought, as he turned forward, and locked eyes with the girl, who had turned her head slightly to look back, fear in her eyes.

" Dammit...this isn't over, not by a long shot!"

[Xenarius]

ooc: You are correct you waited more than long enough, and I'm sorry it took me so long, on top of writers block, real life stuff came up, and I'm sorry I made you wait so long. I am also glad you decided just to pass it up.

IC:
As one of the other boys (Ryou) who had come to the aid of the girl and her boyfriend yelled at the retreating boy and his hostage, Xenarius decided it was time to act. "As much as I don't want to, this is the only choice I have left...", he thought to himself as he took another step.

'Wait..." He said. There was a power behind his words that he himself could not feel right now, but knew he needed to keep the illusion of, if his idea was to work. "This man has no guilt, and I will need to appeal to that nature, while keeping my own self respect intact." "Wait..." He said again squaring himself off to the boy.

"If you are unwilling to leave without a hostage, take me instead." He said thoughtfully. Hoping that the boy would release the girl and agree to his terms. If he refused Xenarius would be forced to take action, and if that couldn't be avoided he knew that the girl getting hurt, at least a little bit would be unavoidable. This was something he couldn't forgive, letting this situation develop into what it was now. But what was done was done, and now he would have to deal with the consequences of his inaction. "I'll be damned if he gets away from here with her, or him..." Xenarius thought as he visualized the bloodied unconscious boy who had been left behind.