Never Ending Dining Room
The Dining room is large. More like a hall. The walls are dark wood panels. The flooring is the same dark wood, there's a huge red carpet. There are many circular tables that seat 8. At the top of the room is a long table that seats the teachers. Alone the back is a buffet that serves it's self. There's almost anything you could want there.
Kiley entered the Dinning Room. It was all familiar to her so she just went on auto pilot and went to the old table she sat at last year. She smiled to herself. She was so happy she had kissed Matt and he didn't laugh.
The doors swung open and
Akantha walked in, caring not a whim that they smacked against the wall and then shut hastily behind her, filling the hall with a loud echo. With a thumb hooked around a belt loop of her short denims, the punk-clad girl swaggered into the hall, not noticing the girl at the table as she scuffed the heel of her combat boot on the floor. Holding her fag between two fingers, she inhaled deeply and then pulled the cancer-stick away, blowing out the thick fog as she looked around, walking as if she owned the place. Her posture was loose, totally confident in every lazy stride that she took. Her nose finally caught up with Matt's and she took a deep breath, wondering just when the fuck the food was going to be served. Strolling around one table, Akantha finally saw the younger girl and paused, jutting her hip out as she took another leisurely drag on her cigarette. "When's the food get here?" she asked with bored impatience.
Kiley looked up at the girl, crinkling her nose at the cig. "You get it your self. It's a buffet." She pointed a finger in the direction of the buffet. She looked the girl over and after a minute figured out she was a shifter. She grimaced at the girls over confidence and lack of any manners.
Catching the snooty attitude the girl through her way,
Akantha's lip twitched into a smirk. Uptight bitches were her favorite to mess with. "Thanks," she said exaggeratedly, intentionally blowing her smoke at the girl as she walked by, flicking some ashes at the girl's feet. The buffet looked all right, and certainly
smelled appetizing, even if Akantha wasn't the type of girl to make merry with her fellow students around the wholesome atmosphere of the dinner table. Holding the cigarette between her plump lips to free her hands, she grabbed a plate and started piling assorted meats onto it. She hadn't been kidding when she told Matt she was a predator - fruits and vegetables weren't big in her diet. Selecting a turkey leg, chunk of steak, slice of ham, and some pulled pork, the Greek girl grabbed a brownie and set it on top, caring not if the sweet touched her meats. Still puffing as she pleased, she grabbed a fork and then walked back over to the table where Kiley was sitting and took a seat unnecessarily near to the other girl. Without saying a word, Akantha ashed on the table and stabbed a chunk of ham with her fork, bringing it to her mouth to chew.
Matt slipped in and made his way over to the buffet. He filled his plate with everything that he had been eating all summer. Ham, bacon, meatballs from the pasta dish. He didn't eat many vegetables, but he used to. Now they turned his stomach unless he was already feeling sick. Filling his plate, he walked over to his usual table. The one where Kiley and now Akantha was sitting. He took his seat across from Kiley, a smile on his face, which had turned human again while fetching his food.
After Matt sat down,
Tazi came in and got her food. She picked mostly vegetables with high water content. A bowl of melon pieces also went on the plate. With that in hand, she went to her own table, which wasn't the one that Kiley sat at. Last year she had taken meals on her own because most people thought her a little strange at mealtimes. They were mostly right. She much preferred to be alone while eating. Her diet sometimes made people question her health.
Kiley just huffed and turned when the girl blew smoke at her. She had been extremely irritated ever since she became a Goddess, and much more tired. Practicing or using her powers drained her. "I'll see you guys later, I'm going to sleep." She said, mostly to Matt and Tazi, letting her voice carry over to her best friend. The colors around her were a little gray. The gray followed her as she stood from the table. She smiled sleepily and exited the hall to
Never Ending 1st Hall.
Akantha did not bother looking up as Matt and Tazi entered the room, only acknowledging Matt as he came and took a seat and started grinning stupidly at the kill-joy to her left. She looked from Matt to Kiley and could practically taste the overabundance of teenaged hormones on her tongue. Smirking happily to herself, the punk finished her cigarette and put it out on the table, leaving a blackened circle and a crushed butt. "Aww, leaving so soon? Ain't that a fucking shame," she called in a mockingly sing-song voice, leaning her head on her hand and offering the same mischievous grin that she seemed to carry everywhere with her. "What's up with tall, dull, and mousy?" she asked, grabbing her turkey leg and ripping tearing some meat off the bone.
Matt actually pulled his eyebrows together and watched Kiley as she huffed off in a bad mood. "That's strange." He looked at Akantha and shrugged, taking a bite of his food. "She was so excited about this meal, then nothing." It was the first meal of the year for them all together. And he had been looking forward to meeting the new students. So he stayed put.
Knowing that she was likely a cause for the girl's dramatics,
Akantha just went "huh" and continued eating her turkey leg, smirking on the inside. Despite her hasty consumption, she managed rather well without a napkin. Using her fingers for most of the meats, she licked the tips when they got too greasy, saving her napkin for only the little dabs at the corner of her mouth in a strange dichotomy of savagery and manners. "So are you guys gonna come to my room or what? You can tell everyone about it, even Madame," she said, nodding her head towards the door Kiley had exited from. "I figure this dinner isn't exactly the welcome most of us need."
"There's supposed to be a party afterwards,"
Matt said. "Give us a chance to let loose since the summer." He smiled and winked at Akantha. "If you get my drift." If Kiley was going to act like that, and leave as soon as he arrived, then he would enjoy himself without her. And sometimes that meant spending time with others of the opposite sex.
"Pffft, not
my kinda party, I can assure you,"
Akantha replied, raising both eyebrows sarcastically. She caught his little quip and grinned. "So," she said, setting down the naked bone of her turkey leg and picking up the medallion of steak and biting into it cleanly. Pinching the napkin between two fingers, she chewed until she was able to speak and then continued. "What's the deal with this place? No teachers, no adults of any kind except that frozen prick in the hallway," she said, looking to the doors before returning her attention to the second half of her steak medallion.
Matt snorted with laughter as she mentioned the frozen teacher. "He's actually not...He's a cyborg. Mostly robot. That's why he froze. Must be uploading something. And the other teachers are around. But we typically don't see them until something goes wrong." Looking towards the door, he smiled again. "And who says it can't be your kind of party? Have they stopped you from smoking? They probably won't say anything about drinking. We're not exactly human children, after all."
Akantha looked up, genuinely surprised to hear that the teacher she'd passed was a cyborg. "No shit," she said, shaking her head so that her long black mohawk swayed a bit over her shoulders. "So he's like...not human even at all? No feelings, no emotions, no need to eat or sleep, the dude is a goddamn
robot?" she asked, hoping to clarify. "I didn't even know those existed," she said honestly, stabbing a cube of ham with her fork and biting it off the prongs. "My old school didn't have any of those." Swallowing, she just laughed at Matt's assumption that all she wanted to do was smoke and drink at the party. "Trust me, the other things that I smoke won't go over so well with a cyborg programmed to follow the law."
"I was here when he was brought in,"
Matt said with a shake of his head. "He is here to
learn human emotions and habits. To see if it's possible to program them with those human intuitions." Matt couldn't say much more about it. He didn't fully know himself. "So we could probably tell him it's part of the human experience."
"Hmmmmm,"
Akantha mused as she started cutting the lamb chop up with her fork, leaning on her hand as she looked up, imagining the possibilities. "So does he have like, human organs and shit? Because if we could get the cyborg drunk and high, telling him it's part of 'the human experience,' I might just fall in love with this place. The teacher at the old gulag were
way uptight about any kind of fun," she said, biting off a chunk of lamb.
"As far as I know, yes. He has human parts on the outside."
Matt had seen that one for himself. Aihta had been shipped in without clothing, and Matt had been stuck helping unpack him. "He has blood vessels and everything. So it might be possible."
Ashley walked into the dining hall carefully. He hated making a lot of noise and bringing attention to himself, so he made sure not to slam the doors or anything. He saw a few other students in the dining room, eating of course, but didn't think much of it. He did however make notes of everyone's face so that he wouldn't get mistaken later. Not that he could, but he still liked to know what everyone looked like. One girl caught his attention. She was sitting at a table with a young man, who was apparently a werewolf, and was dressed as if she liked getting into trouble. She would be a handful if he didn't figure out how to handle her. Especially since her mind was wandering towards alcohol and drugs already, and school hasn't even started yet. He meandered his way to the back where the food was and fixed himself a plate full of steak and potatoes. It was commoner food, so to speak even though he himself abhorred such titles, but he enjoyed it every time. Just because his family had money, didn't mean he liked eating like a king. He sat down at a table close by to the werewolf and punk girl. He wanted to hear what they had to say, but didn't want it to be obvious that's what he was doing. He gave a friendly wave to them with his hand as he began to cut into his steak.
Akantha furrowed her brows. "Soooooo," she said, looking skyward as she worked out the logistics "the dude could physically get high and drunk but might not even change that much. I mean, if he doesn't have a human brain then I think it's probably a waste of my goods," she said, shrugging a shoulder and finishing off her plate, leaving only mixed juices. Looking up with a grin, the Greek girl pushed her plate over to Matt. "Wanna lick it up?" she asked teasingly, pleased with her little quip. She looked up when the new kid entered, watching him as he entered and made his plate and then sat down nearby, all without saying a word. Leaning back in her chair so that it stood on only two legs, she looked at Ashley and said, "hey, come on over here. We could use some fresh meat," she replied, grinning her cat-ate-the-ca
nary grin.
While the others talked, Tazi listened. She consumed the watery foods on her plate quickly, staring at the table. When the new student came in, she still refused to look up. Things were just getting interesting.
Matt shrugged at Akantha's comment on Aihta. "He's hard to understand, I suppose." Giving her a look when she pushed her plate towards him, he feigned insult. "I am not your pet," he said, appearing appalled at the thought. A new smell assaulted his senses, and he looked up at Ashley as he waved. Giving the new kid a friendly wave, he went back to his food.
A rose flickered before Matt for a moment before disappearing.
Hearing the punk girl's invitation to join them, Ashley smiled to himself. And so it starts, he thought. He picked up his plate and walked over to the table, pulled out the chair, and sat down. "Thank you very much miss, for your invitation. Was worried this school didn't have anyone that wanted to be friendly with that girl by the elevator almost refusing to talk to me." He cut another piece of his steak and began to chew it. He absolutely loved having a meal with other people. He actually liked people, for the most part. The ones that grew closer to him for their own gains proved boring and deceitful and he tired of them quickly. He looked at the girl for a few moments, delving deep enough to know her name and what kinds of abilities she had. He wasn't quite sure what to think about a shapeshifter, but he would worry about that later. He looked around the room quickly and saw another girl at a table some distance away, not saying a word. He finished chewing his bit of steak and swallowed. "So then, what kind of school is this? And who might that lovely young lady over there be?" He said all of this with as charming a smile as he could whilst taking another bite of his steak.
As Matt played along with her joke, showing more personality as he warmed up, Akantha stuck her tongue out playfully, flashing him the anarchist "A" that her tongue-piercing boasted. As the new kid complied with her request and sat down, all while acting terribly polite, the punk leaned back in her chair with her arm draped over the back and blurted out with incredulous laughter. "Get a load of Mr. Rogers," she said, looking the kid up and down as he sat and then began eating with more manners and grace than was altogether necessary. Obviously upper crust, probably a bit snooty; perfect target to fuck with. "It's a totally normal high school where you're likely to be the only one with special powers," she replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "What do you think, it's a place to keep teenage freaks isolated from the normal folks out there," she replied, patting the pockets of her cropped military jacket in search of another cigarette. After meal fags were always the best. Well, second only to post-coitus. She found one tucked into her breast pocket and pulled it out and, with a lightning quick flash of a silver zippo, she had lit the smoke and was reclining in her seat again, one boot pressed against the table's edge. Puffing out her smoke, she looked over at Tazi. "That there is a Caribbean witch. Quiet, but seems ok," she answered, shrugging. "Wait a minute, I never got any names. You, Slim, start," she said, pointing towards him with the two fingers that held her cigarette to indicate he begin the circle of name-sharing.
As the rose flickered in front of him, Matt smiled to himself, knowing who had sent it. Kiley probably just wanted to apologize. He would go up and talk to her later. In the meantime, he glanced at Tazi. "Her name is Tazi. And she is a witch. Sort of." Matt turned back to Akantha. "I'm Matthew. Though most just call me Matt. Werewolf, if that wasn't obvious enough." He looked to Ashley, taking a bite of his food as he waited for the introductions to make full circle.
"Hmmm," Ashley said as he held his hand up while trying to finish the bite he had just eaten. However, this also gave him enough time to process the information he had just gotten. Just from her speech, this girl Akantha was extremely sarcastic and liked to pick on people. She was not the first one to reference Mr. Rogers in comparison to him. It didn't matter to him one way or another. He also picked up some surface thoughts and realized that she considered him snooty and now was a target. He couldn't help but smile at this. I am not going to be as easy a target for you to mess around with as you may think woman he thought to himself. The werewolf on the other hand briefly thought of that girl he saw by the elevator and then gave his own introduction. At least he is polite enough he thought. Finishing his bite of steak and swallowing he looked back to Akantha. "My apologies, you asked my name as I was chewing. Now then my name is Ashley Clarke, and if this school is for "freaks" as you call them, what kind of things can I expect to run into? Except of charming young women like yourself." The last bit he said with a wink and a smile. He didn't think it would work to charm her in the slightest. Just her general demeanor told him she went for the stereotypical bad boy, of which he was not. However, it may allow her to open up a bit and make delving into her mind a tad easier. He did however focus on her for a moment trying to figure out what her powers were, if she would not give them.
Akantha looked at the rose, arching a brow as it flickered before Matt and then rolling her eyes as it disappeared, exhaling a gale of fog that she did not bother to try and keep from anyone. "Matt, got it. You'll always be Slim to me, though," she said, flashing the werewolf a toothy grin. When the new kid gave his name, she did a double take. "Ashley? What are you, British or something?" she wondered, looking at the boy as he, apparently, flipped through her thoughts. Pushing against the table with her boot sent her chair back onto it's back two legs, balancing easily as she rested her head back and looked at the ceiling, blowing thick white smoke straight up. It was the first considerate way of smoking she'd employed since being there, though sadly it was more for her own entertainment as she watched the smoke furl and dance until it met equilibrium. "You know, freaks, like angels n' werewolves n' vampires n' warlocks n' shit." Here, she took her boot off the table so that her chair fell back to all four legs, looking at him directly. "And of course, charming birds like myself," she answered, blowing her last bit of smoke at him.
Matt preferred to ignore the way she referred to them as 'freaks'. He instead continued eating as she and Ashley talked. It wasn't as if he had anything to add to the conversation. He was more concerned about keeping his shape long enough to finish eating than making interesting conversation.
"Actually miss," Ashley began as he pushed his glasses further up on his nose. "I was born across the pond in England and came here at the age of three." He waved the cigarette smoke away from his face a bit. He didn't particularly approve of the habit, but he wasn't about to tell her that straight away. She'll figure it out, she was intelligent enough. He was able to make out both a name and her abilities however during their conversation. Her name was Akantha and she was a shapeshifter. What shapes she could shift into was still a mystery as he wasn't that interested in finding out just yet. "And what category of "freak" might you fit into seeing as Matthew here is a werewolf? Or you sticking with being a 'charming bird' as you put it?" He continued to hold his smile as he took another bite of his steak. He really was trying to be nice still, however rude she may be.
Akantha looked on with minimal interest as he fiddled with his glasses and corrected her initial assessment. "Close enough," she said, tapping the ash off her fag with a single tap with her index. The ash fell to the carpet in a slow grey drop, followed by a gale of pure white smoke, the hallmark of quality tobacco. Balancing on the back two legs of her chair again, the Greek girl purposely ignored his question a moment. She looked him square in the eyes as he read her mind, oblivious to the information that he was picking up so quickly though her lack of smirk told enough that she didn't think much of the guy. "That's not information I just throw around," she answered, stabbing out her cigarette on the nearest plate. "Don't worry, mate. I'm sure we'll all figure out each other's dirty little secrets sooner or later."
Matt could only roll his eyes as the conversation turned to semantics. He spared Tazi a look. The girl seemed to be lost in her own little world. But that happened more often than not for her. Matt wondered if he looked as intriguing as the dark skinned girl did when he was daydreaming. Probably not, as she could actually access other things during her daydreaming. Matt was limited to what was in his own head.
"Perhaps some of us have no dirty little secrets, then what?" Ashley said with a grin as he cut another bite of his steak. He peered into her thoughts a bit deeper, and discovered that her forms were predatory. No forms in specific came to mind, just a predatory instinct in her that showed in her powers. Some of us will learn secrets sooner than others my dear, he thought. He chewed his steak slowly, hoping for an answer to his question without having to delve for it. Matt's thoughts seemed to be centered on himself and daydreaming. Nothing really interesting for now, and Tazi seemed to not even be thinking of anything. Akantha was all that was interesting for now.
"Pfff," Akantha snorted at the very notion that everyone there wasn't filled to overflowing with dirty little secrets, her deep brown eyes rolling at the sheer idiocy. She draped her arm casually over the back of her chair and shook her head. "Take that horseshit somewhere else, no one here is bitin'" she said as one side of her mouth quirked into a smirk. "I say you've got the most to hide," she mused, watching him with dark eyes for any sign of weakness or fear, all the while smirking as if she were, perhaps, enjoying herself. She shrugged a single shoulder. "It's like I said, we'll all get to see each other's dirty laundry eventually," she said, leaning to the side to dig into her pocket. When she brought her hand back up from her short denims she tossed something small and black towards Ashley's glasses - the lacy black panties that the strange younger boy had given her earlier. "Consider that your formal invitation to a party in my dorm. Fourth hall, room with the loud music coming out of it. Can't miss it."
"Then I will have to make sure to wash my knickers where you can't see them," Ashley said with a smile after he swallowed his bit of steak. She is enjoying all of this witty banter, he thought. And he didn't even have to read her mind to come to that conclusion. "And as a matter of fact, I have very little to hide from anyone. Very little." He was still smiling at her, and wondering to himself what kind of person she was. She certainly was proving more interesting than anyone else he's met here so far. More interesting than the majority of people he's come across actually. Everyone else came to him for his money, but no one here knew about that, yet. Lost in thought, he realized that something lacy and black was coming at his face too late and the panties hit him in the face. He slowly grabbed them and pulled them off of his face with a look of complete and utter disdain. He held them at arm's length with his fingertips. "I will consider your invitation, however I do not believe these are your knickers at all miss. They don't look to be the proper size, I could be wrong though," he said as he released the panties and watched Akantha as they fell to the floor. "Also, I don't believe I would like to attend a party without knowing the host's name at least Miss?" He looked at her for awhile with a slightly puzzled look on his face. He wanted to get her to tell him her name so he didn't accidentally use it without prior knowledge. Sometimes, this was difficult to do however.
Akantha lifted her brows. "Knickers? A 'little light in the loafers,' are we?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest and tilting her head a bit to the side as her smug grin prevailed. "Tch, give it up already" she replied immediately in response to his assurance that he had little to hide. "Haven't you seen any movies? Read any comic books?" Her chair dropped and she leaned forward on her elbows, the thick strands of her mohawk-ponytail falling over the shoulder of her cropped military jacket. "It's always the ones you don't suspect that have the skeletons in their closet. Quiet, geeky types, like you. Besides, the more you insist the more we'll know you're full of it," she explained simply, waving her hand airily as if that were simply the way the world worked. Releasing an amused chuckle at the almost-Brit's reaction to the panties, Akantha watched his discomfort with pleasure. She lived for faces like that; pushing people out of their comfort zone to see how far they could stretch and bend before they broke. Instead of becoming riled at his insinuation that her ass would not fit in those panties, the Greek punk pounded her fist on the table, causing a few plates to rattle. "You're damn right. My ass is too bodacious for those scrawny things," she answered proudly, tossing a bit of her ponytail back over her shoulder. When he asked her her name she was looking at her nails, painted black and chipping slightly around the edges, running her thumb along the underside to check for unwanted filth. "Akantha," she answered, the first time she could remember giving her name since she'd arrived.
Ashley raised an eyebrow at the insinuation that he would have the most to hide in the school. He did have his secrets, and he did have plenty to hide but that didn't mean anyone here was going to know about it, nor was he going to let on that he did. Better just play at perfect until they believe it, he thought to himself. He looked down to his plate and realized, as he had been eating this whole time, that it was empty. Thus he pushed his plate away from him and leaned back in his chair. He reached into his pocket for his watch. He snapped it shut and replaced it with a smile on his face. She didn't know him, but she thought she did. She would be fun, aside from some of her rudeness he kind of liked her. "Well then Miss Akantha, which is a beautiful name I might add, I would like to address a few things that you have said. First and foremost, movies are based on real life but seldom represent it truthfully. Just because I'm a polite gentleman doesn't mean I have skeletons in my closet. Second, I would not know whether your rear is bodacious or not. I merely commented on the fact that they didn't appear to be your size." He watched her with a smile, waiting for her reaction.
Matt chose to ignore the strange banter. They were both putting off a lot of conflicting hormones, and his nose wrinkled. "Okay, then. I'm going to make a town run." He stood and pushed his plate aside. Taking off his shirt, he began rolling it to tie around his arm. "You want me to pick either of you up anything while I'm there? Food, candy, liquor?"
Akantha rolled her eyes as Ashley continued to split hairs and struggle to make himself as correct and succinct as possible. "You're boring me," she interrupted, not allowing him to say much more than "just because I'm a polite..." before she'd already had enough of his prattle. He continued to speak but she ignored him, done with his attempt at word play for the time being as she inspected her nails some more, clearing her index of some type of black grit before sucking the tip and then wiping it off on her exposed thigh. She looked up as Matt stood, stealing the attention from the one-sided conversation as he stripped rather abruptly. Letting out a wolf-whistle, Akantha looked him up and down, thinking him far too slim for her tastes, but lean and muscled nevertheless. "Ooh, right on, Slim," she said, digging into the inside pocket of her jacket to extract a small wad of bills. She made no attempt to hide her cash, nor offered any explanation as to why she was wandering around with that many large bills - something generally seen from criminals, not teenage girls. Pulling off a 100 dollar bill, Akantha then tucked the rest into her pocket again, thinking briefly of her ex to whom the bills had once belonged. Extending the money to Matt between the two fingers she usually reserved for smoking, she looked up at him and said "two handles of vodka, three large pizzas, and two cartons of Lucky Strikes," she said. "Anything else you think we need, grab it."
Ashley was slightly annoyed when he realized she was ignoring him. However, he let it go and continued the rest of his little monologue regardless. He was boring her, but at least she was honest about it. When Matt stood up, he wondered why the boy was stripping, but then saw the reason. The boy was going to shift in order to reach town quickly. Interesting. However, his attention quickly returned to Akantha, who seemed to only half heartedly enjoy Matt's lean physique. He kept silent as to her money issues, but he saw something in her thoughts that surprised him. Sid. Now he knew where the money had come from, and hoped he didn't come looking for it. He pushed his glasses back onto his nose, a habit he had started doing long ago, and looked at her with a smile. "Where does a girl like yourself come across so much cash?" he asked inquisitively. He had an idea what kind of answer he would get, but he asked anyway.
Since Ashley chose to ignore Matt's offer, he simply took Akantha's cash and nodded. He would wait until he was outside to strip the rest of the way, not wanting to cause any more of a scene. When Ashley asked his question, Matt rolled is eyes and turned to the door, dropping his plate off as he went out to Never Ending 1st Hall.
"Later, Slim," Akantha bid as the werewolf left, looking down at the inside of her jacket to tuck the bills back inside and smooth them down so that there was not an obvious lump near her bust. She took a sigh and looked around, realizing that it was just her and the boring Brit left, unless you counted the silent Tazi, which she did not. A single brow twitched up as he asked his impertinent question, plump lips pursed in clear disapproval of his unwarranted curiosity. "None of your fucking business," she growled lowly, a clear indication that the subject was not up for discussion. He didn't need to know to whom it belonged and why she'd taken it. That was privileged information between her and Sid. True, he'd probably start hitting her up for it once he noticed it was gone, but since she'd taken it that morning he might not realized until her scent had long since worn off her trail. That was a phone call she'd ignore. As if struck by lightning, an idea struck her and she hastily dug into her jacket pocket for her phone and fiddled with the buttons a moment, making a note to change her number so that he couldn't use his darker influences to help track her down. "So," she said, leaning back in her chair and letting her head drop back in a long stretch that aimed her chin at the ceiling. "Why all the questions? You a reporter or just nosy?"
Ashley was steady reading her surface thoughts as he had asked his question. He wasn't sure at first how she knew Sid, but it was a near impossibility that the two of them were connected by him. However, he started sweating when he realized that she stole the money, and that Sid may come after her for it. He was a man that Ashley would rather never have to deal with again. His thoughts had nearly put Ashley in a panic during their first and only meeting. Briggs had taught him to hide his emotions well, but Sid had smelled his fear and told him as such. Ashley turned his chair a bit, so that he could lean back and still prop his elbow up on the table and rest his chin in his hand. What ifs were flickering in and out of existence in his mind. The idea of her being tracked down to the school, and him being inside the school, wasn't a very pleasant one. Ashley didn't like to fight, he preferred to talk his way out of it. He was shaken out of his imaginings, at Akantha's questions. "I am just naturally curious is all," was all he could say in response. His mind was still reeling with all this new information. What else could he learn from her?
Oblivious to the depth of Ashley's onslaught of panic, Akantha, with her head leaned back and her slouching posture, patted the pockets of her jacket to feel around for one last cigarette. When she did not immediately feel one she fished a hand inside one pocket, opening the jacket up to reveal a strip of bronzed flesh that her short black tank couldn't hide. A glittering barbell shone from her upper and lower belly button and, upon closer inspection, the ends were seen to be skulls instead of jewels. "Shit," she groused as she immediately forced her hand into the other pocket, rummaging impatiently for the sweet, sweet nicotine she so craved. She was sitting forward now, the scoop of her neckline giving the smallest of glimpses at her full, round cleavage. When her search came up empty, Akantha immediately stood up, stretching her arms over her head and letting out a satisfied "ahhh" as she felt the pull in her low back. "C'mon," she beckoned with a jerk of her head towards the door. "I gotta scrounge up some glasses if people are gonna be drinking."
Ashley watched Akantha closely as she started looking for a cigarette within her jacket. She was rather attractive and it that was at least one obvious reason why Sid had wanted to be with her. He noticed her bronzed midrift as well as the piercing in her bellybutton. Skulls, cute he thought to himself when he noticed the exacts of the jewelry. He smiled to himself and looked back to her face when she sat forward. He had meant to look at her face, but his eyes drifted downward a little bit and saw the tiniest glimpse of cleavage. He immediately looked away, the image still fresh in his mind, and tried to focus on something else. All he could think about was the thoughts he could hear from her about needing a cigarette and not being able to find one. She was apparently out. When she stood up and invited him to accompany her, he was visibly shocked. "Do you mean me? When I so clearly bored you just minutes ago? I'm surprised you would want me around. Unless you want me to accompany you so you have someone to abuse." He stood up and gave her a wink and a smile.
"Looks like rain," said a quiet voice behind them. Tazi was staring at a wall, not really seeing it, and frowning as she spoke. "And so far away from de oceans, too. Rain, rain, go away." The last bit was said in a sing song voice. She blinked, then looked up at the other two. "Were you saying someding?" she asked, then seemed to notice that Matt was gone. "Oh, everyone is leaving. I had better..." She left her plate at the table and absentmindedly walked to the Never Ending 1st Hall.
"It's either that or wander around here on my own, all bored n' shit. Besides, you're a pretty good sport about all the abuse," Akantha replied with a shrug, screwing up one side of her mouth in a plump smirk. "And..." she had been about to say something else when suddenly, the formerly silent Tazi started speaking to nothing in particular, her husky, Caribbean voice carrying softly through the air like a gentle wooden flute. "Uhh...ok there, Spooky," she said as the witch stood up and started to float towards the door. "Don't forget my party. Tell everyone you see!" she shouted after her as the doors began to close on the dark-haired Island girl. Looking back to Ashley, she cocked her head towards the door and began walking, the swing of her ass smooth and sharp. "Kitchen ought to have some glasses," she mused, opening the door to Never Ending 1st Hall and disappearing through it.
Ashley was a little creeped out when Tazi started to make her remarks, which threw him off from being able to read what Akantha's next few words would have been after she said 'and.' He was exceptionally irritated that he allowed such a distraction, especially when he knew this other girl was in the room. However, the irritation quickly grew to amusement when his newest acquaintance started to shout about her coming party. He smiled as she started to walk away, and then he was distracted again. However, this time the view was quite pleasant as his eyes had drifted down to her "bodacious" ass. He was slightly startled when she told him that the kitchen should have some glasses. "Um, right then," was all he said as he followed her out to Never Ending 1st Hall, feeling a bit pervish.
Leads to --> Never Ending 1st Hall
Back to --> Start Never Ending Nightmare, Never Ending Nightmare
Stumble!