Log:Runaway Fae

2020/09/21 Linda Olympia Bran

Lizzy

1

It's afternoon at Colonial Heights High School. School has been in session barely a month, but P.E. class has been merciless. Coach Stonewall is putting everyone through their paces, having everyone lines up in rows as he finishes taking roll. All the other students are in CHHS's mandatory P.E. uniforms of blue shirts and gray shorts.

Coach Stonewall barks, "Today, we're timing you on a long run for the whole class. You're going to go along the track, outside the rear gate, around the block, through the park, and back up the hill to end here. Your time will be recorded for your grade." Students start to line up to get ready.

Linda puts her handup, "Coach..?"

The dark haired loner, Morrigan, looks bored. She stretches a little and doesn't seem concerned about this.

"Yes, Miss," Stonewall looks at his tablet, "Petersen?"

Bran stretches before hand like he's been told to do. HE doesn't quite get why. I mean...only old people pull muscles, right?

Linda nods, "Yes, Coach. Linda Petersen. I'm a cape. How are you going to grade me?"

Rhiannon bends forward, reaching to put her hands flat ont he ground in front of her feet, her legs still straight as she bends at the waist -- stretching her hamstrings, it seems. Like others, she's wearing the assigned PE uniform, and she's got on a pair of simple blue running shoes that look 'off-the-rack'. Still, the short sleeves and the shorts show off that she's definitely athletic. Previous PE classes in the year have shown her to be quite a decent runner, at least, and she knows her stuff about stretching before exercise. Like others, she remains silent even as Linda speaks up -- with quite a solid question, all things considered.

"No powers!" Stonewall barks to the whole class in answer, as if this is something he hears all too often.

Morrigan smirks faintly at Stonewalls warning and gets ready to run.

linda grins, "Okay, Coach. No powers it is."

Stonewall nods. He's at the top end of middle aged, grey hair, but brawny, tall, and looks like he never believed in sunscreen. In addition to his coach's uniform, he wears a CHHS baseball hat and sunglasses. He raises his whistle as students get ready.

Lizzy takes her mark.

Linda stands at the starting line relaxed and waiting.

Bran looks...not overly muscular, but wiry, and likely with decent stamina. Running cross country should be easy enough. He heads over to the start as well.

Rhiannon stands back to her full height, then one at a time picks up each foot behind herself, stretching the front of each leg in turn. As the coach raises his whistle, she moves forward to join others on the starting line, but doesn't really make much an effort to push her way to the front... well, not yet anyway. It's not actually a race, after all. (Not yet?)

Linda grins, "I suspect this is going to be educational," she says. "I'm not built for running."

"Well, you can bring up the rear of the pack and catch anyone who falls over or anything?", Rhiannon suggests to Linda.

Many students are lagging and complaining. Stonewall eyes then, brings his whistle to his lips, and blows. Morrigan is off like a shot.

Bran starts to run as well, slowly making his way toward the front of the main pack of kids.

Linda considers Rhiannon's idea to be good. She stays with the rear of the pack giving verbal encouragement to those finfing the going tough.

Lizzy paces herself, staying in the front quarter of the group.

Linda jogs beside tony, the overweight student in the class, "You can do, Tony. Steady and even, that's the secret. Don't try to catch up with the front runners. Get to the finish line in your own time, but get there."

Rhiannon jogs along, more or less keeping pace with the majority of the kids. When she sees someone falling off pace, she urges them to keep going by saying the likes of, "If you're having trouble, just try and stay with whoever's in front of you as best you can. Easier when you aren't working at it alone." She's got some athletic background, in running of all things -- and she's trying to 'coach' some of the other kids along so that they can run as a group better than they might individually.

Linda moves to run just in front of Tony, letting him slipstream in her wake.

The larger kids are lagging behind already after a short sprint.

Bran raises a brow at all of the cheerleaders in the group encouraging people. Definitely not like his old school. He maintains a pretty good pace, despite wearing sneakers that are...probably no ideal for this kind of running.

Linda flashes a golden aura around her as she darts off in flight to catch Samantha brfore she crashes to the stoney ground in a stumble. "I've got you," she assures Sam, supporting her for a couple of seconds as Sam regains her balance. "You okay?" After Sam nods and resumes running, Linda flies - back - to where she was before the flight and starts running again.

Tony puffs on his inhaler as they go. He's struggling. Some of the punk teens aren't even running. They're walking and chatting in the rear, not caring about their grade. Some are smirking at the cheer squad helping those struggling.

Somewhere, some may swear they could hear Stonewall barking "No Powers!" again. How would he even know!?

Seeing Tony having to use his inhaler, Rhiannon trots up next to him. "If you start having a serious attack, stop and try and let us know. GG's right back there and she can get you back to school in a jiffy, okay?", she says to him, to try and calm him from being afraid of his own medical issues. She ignores the smirks, and those who don't want to run at all... and seems focused on 'cheering' on those who are actually trying. It's also crystal clear that she could just go all-out and leave the group behind, easily... and she's choosing to hang back with them and help them along.

Linda gives Rhiannon an approving smile, "That's right, Tony. I'm right here." The smile fades as she considers what Coach Stonewall is inflicting on teens like Tony.

Bran keeps going, wanting a decent grade in the class. AFter all, he barely passed last year, since he wasnt' given a lot of slack on the finals.

Tony's feeling pretty awkward having a lot of cute girls cheering him on. And very self conscious. "Th-thanks?" he wheezes.

As the run reaches about the halfway point for the school period, most of the students are at various stretches of the neighborhood park. It's not Buckingham Gardens big, but it's blissfully shaded for those who were feeling the heat. It's hard to keep track of the students ahead or behind on the winding dirt jogging paths and shaded trees. But at the group of secretly meta teens end up near a stretch all together and make a turn, the woods seem think as a forest, and dark as twilight.

"In through the nose, out through the mouth, Tony. Steady and even... try and keep it under control, so your lungs aren't working so hard", Rhiannon says to the boy, keeping pace with him for a little bit longer before heading away to cheer others along, as well. When the woods are suddenly so thick, she calls out, "Dayum...! I didn't know the park had -this- kinda running trail in it! At least it makes for good running, right?"

Linda nods, "The shade is good too. The sun is fierce today."

Lizzy says, "It wasn't like this on my morning run. Something weird's going on."

It's definitely much cooler here. Looking up at the tree canopy, it's dark above. And there's stars out. The sounds of the street traffic have become muffled, and there's no sounds of birds or wildlife now, either. Just the sounds of students jogging and panting.

Linda calls out. "Everybody, stop. Gather together. Something is badly wrong."

Rhiannon frowns, but stops running when Linda calls out.. and starts encouraging, best she can, other kids to gather up like the known superheroine is saying to do.

Tony is all too glad to stop and catch his breath, wheezing noisily. He bends over and braces his hands on his knees as he gulps in air.

Bran sighs. He doesn't sense anything amiss. He just keeps going. AFter all, they're ending on that hill heading back up. Stopping now won't help him manage that, so he keeps going.

Linda shouts, "BRAN. STOP! We're not in Kansas any longer. Look up. Night sky and stars."

Lizzy says, "This reminds me of the time a chunk of Fey forest appeared Downtown..."

Those instincts may not be wrong. The air in front of Bran starts to ripple like a rock thrown in a placid lake. Then suddenly reality tears at the point of a spear as a young woman bursts through, about to charge into Bran. There's a lack of control after using all her might and then suddenly breaking through the barrier of reality.

Linda looks over at Lizzy, "This reminds me of nothing I've ever experienced. All I can think of is keeping everyone together and trying to backtrack and hope we can get back." She raises her voice a little. "If anyone has a good idea this is the time to speak up."

Bran had started to slow down after his name was specifically called out. His eyes go wide as the ripples form in front of him, and he manages to dodge to the side just in time.

A beautiful (+6 striking appearance) young fae teenaged girl with long white hair braid back looks at Bran in surprise as he suddenly appears in her path. She leads with an elegant spear of pure white. As he dodges out of the way, she tucks and tumbles, landing past him and into a crouch. She's dressed in form fitting cloth with leather armor, and is willowy and spry. She exclaims something excitedly as she stands up. She lacks the poise one would expect of the Fae.

Her words are lost on those around her. She turns around towards the oval hole in reality that reveals a darkened glen. Her joy turns to worry and she utters something urgently.

Something moves in those dark fae wylds beyond. Animals once, but no more. The forest claimed them and they are but bone, wood, brush, and thorn. Four felbeasts emerge and gallop, resembling a wolf, a stag, a great cat, and a bear based on their bleached skulls. Vegetation has replaced their muscles, but bone shows through in places, such as ribs and claws. Green orbs light from within their eye sockets.

Tony proves he still has some energy left. He runs like heck back the way everyone came, away from the monsters.

Bran shakes his head, "I'm afraid I have no idea what you just said." Though he does also start to backpedal back toward the group.

Rhiannon moves over and pats Tony on one shoulder. "Stand up straight, and fold your arms across the top of your head -- expands your chest cavity, makes it easier for your lungs to do their thing", she says to him, but doesn't try to force him upright.

Then the elf-girl shows up and nearly runs Bran through, though it seems almost accidental. Then the ... animals(?)... show up. "Okay... ain't so nice a place for a run anymore! What's with the zom-plant-beasties?!", she calls out. "Everyone! Run!", she calls out, pointing back the way Tony's going... putting her at the back of whatever group of students is, she hopes, following suit.

"English! I lave English!" the fae girl exclaims with a heavy accent. If she loves it, she must not have spoken it much. "This is the time where you run!" Maybe it's a trick from Stonewall to motivate them and she's in on it.

Heather enters from Colonial Heights.

Lizzy starts running back down the path, but ducks into the trees at the first opportunity and becomes Union.

The few other normal students scatter and run from the felbeasts. No need to tell them to run twice.

Linda ,turns and heat beams shoot out from her eyes, lopping branches off a dry dead tree, making a half dozen flaming torches, "Grab the torches. You should be able to fend off plant monsters with fire."

Okay, so Heather was flirting and such when class started. She runs fast. She runs far. She runs fast and far. Out of combat, she runs closer to 40 then 30 miles per hour. Also, she's got a public ID, and she actually likes to run. So it was that she decided to challenge herself... and waited for most of the class to have a heck of a head start. So here she was... sprinting along and approaching the fight zone. ..

Coach Stonewall yells at Heather as she finally gets going, "No powers!"

Union steps out of the bushes as Heather comes around the bend. "Knockout! Trouble ahead! We need to save the kids!" She starts running back toward the others.

Linda shows relief on her face as Union and Heather arrive. "Stay together. Use the torches to keep the beasts at bay. Cape to the front. Let's go."

Unfortunately, Ryosei was late. So very late. He explained as important phone call, with a very annoyed look that said he was about to put strict guidelines on when to call him with his parents' company on this side of the world. Sure they wanted him to take more control, but seriously! High school student! Let him finish school, get diploma, and possibly do University!

That is what lead him to running behind the group by a very large distance now in his PE clothes as he looked a bit annoyed. Until his senses come up with something magical. His eyes flash brigther in color for a moment as he slows down. And ducks between an alleyway, looking around to be safe. "... I just can't catch a break these days."

Pulling off a necklace, he shifts it into his sword before raising it overhead and swinging the weapon. "By the power of the Dragon! I am Tenrai!" The halo overhead and engulfing of magical light turns him into Riptide before he takes off at super-human speeds, leaping and running as he heads for the source of the magic. He does slow down a bit when he sees Union and Heather, "Hi, Union! Lots of magic that way!" He says before continuing to run.

Rhiannon flees with the other kids, making sure to fall behind some... and eventually duck into the woods. She might be unseen, yet, but soon she's back in the 'danger zone' area as Olympia.

On her way out, when she heard the coach call for no powers, she called back over her shoulder, "I mean I won't get any benefit out of the run if I don't push myself. It's not like I can turn my powers -off-!" And she keeps going. But then she skids to a stop when she sees Lizzy. Then she lifts her brows and asks, "Which direction?!" And when indicates.. she'll -charge- that way. Because.. defense? She thinks nothing of defense... for herself.

Following Golden Girl's instructions, Union grabs a flaming branch - one of a size to make a good club.