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 Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2011 9:35 pm
He didn't know him.
He'd never seen this kid before in his life.
But for some reason, he couldn't take his eyes off of him.
From his seat in the very back, which he had scared two big kids out of, and from behind his backpack fortress to discourage anyone else from sitting behind him, he had to crane his neck to spot the little head of black hair that sat a ways in front of him.
There wasn't anything particularly special about him. He had fur, yeah - but he wasn't the only one on the bus. Besides Raize, and this boy, there were about three other furred children on the bus. It wasn't even that they looked to be of the same race; whatever THAT was. Raev called him an Impling, sometimes. Of course, Raev also called him a monster, a b*****d, a beast, and a freak, so there was really no trusting him to be the authority on...well, anything.
No, Raize didn't care that the kid vaguely looked like him. Nothing about him was particularly noticeable, but...
He couldn't stop watching him. He...needed to be close to him. It was weird, so weird, on so many levels, but it wouldn't go away!
He tried slumping down in his seat, tried to close his eyes, but every time he inevitably ended up sitting up, or opening them; anything to keep his eye on the blonde furred boy that sat up ahead of him.
Why? Why?
And when, he found himself wondering, could he get near him?
He wanted to get up now, while the bus was moving, and go and sit with him. Just so nobody else could. To protect him.
To protect him?
Thoughts were swimming around in Raize's head that he didn't understand, and he wanted them to stop. He groaned, slightly, and held his head in both hands. Slowly, the swirling headache that had been growing faded, leaving behind the thought that even still would not go away.
He needed to be near this boy.
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Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2011 10:03 pm
Alexander had been fairly excited for his first day of school.
The young boy had climbed onto the bus with his Hotwheels lunchbox in hand shortly after Infer had seen him off. His guardian's only instructions had been a simple 'behave yourself and don't piss anyone off'. Any other child may have gasped at their parent's bad use of language, but Alex was quite used to it - it didn't really bother him in the least. Aside from his language and crude behavior, Infer was pretty nice, and the impling child was quite happy with his guardian.
Upon getting on the bus, Alex had found a seat next to one of the other boy's his age, and had immediately started up a conversation with him. Soon, another child in the front seat had joined in, and soon, he was talking with the kids in the seats around him. There was one thing that was bothering him, however.
Something, somewhere, was pulling at him, even as he talked away about cars, legos, and games with the other children. Something nearby was trying to grab his attention, and nothing he did would make it go away. Instinct told him to look over his shoulder, but when he did, all he managed to see was a flash as brown hair disappear behind one of the back seats. Strange, he thought, though he returned to his discussion in an attempt to ignore the feeling that was nagging in the back of his mind - doing so was giving him a headache though. Why was that?
The black-haired boy rubbed his head a little, and the throbbing eased up a bit - the pestering didn't, however. What was it that he needed to be close to? He didn't understand. The feeling followed him off the bus when it finally pulled up in front of the school and he followed the other children up the path towards the doorway, where the teacher was to meet them. He only partly listened as the older women began to explain what was to be expected in the school - at this moment, Alex was busy scanning the people around him, trying to figure out what it was that he was supposed to be looking for. It was so strange...
"Hey, you 'kay Alex?" The question from one of the other boys snapped him from his thoughts, but did nothing to help with the nagging in his head - if anything, it made it worse. "C'mon, we gotta head inside."
"Uh-huh." Alex smiled despite his discomfort and scurried inside, following the flow of children as they headed into the hall and were soon brought to the hooks where they were to hang their belongings. The entire time, he still found himself looking around for the source of his discomfort.
He had to find it.
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Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2011 10:21 pm
Raize couldn't stand still as the woman explained what school was going to be like. Raev had told him that they would whip him if he didn't do as he was told, and that he would be pushed into metal boxes called lockers, have his head stuffed down toilets, and his things thrown into the trash, because he was a furry little monster.
Apparently, it was more like constant play time. He decided he was going to like school - it was one of the few thoughts he had, outside of the obsessive ones he seemed to have no control over. These thoughts were all focused on the strange boy from the bus.
He couldn't help but wiggle around in the group as the woman lead them on a 'tour' of the little classroom, trying to get near the boy. He didn't want to. He didn't want any stupid friends. But it seemed as if his feet were moving on their own, dancing around the other children to find a way through the impenetrable wall of friends that this boy seemed to have accumulated.
Was he magic, like Raev used to be? Was he doing something, to make everyone want to be near him?
Raize didn't like everyone else being near him, though. It...bothered him. Not that Raize had ever caught on to the entire 'sharing' thing.
He almost got close, almost got through - but they were quickly shepherded out into the hall, and to a small room lined with hooks, and a row of cubbies. Each one had a boring sign on it, with a bunch of black letters. They were told that they were name tags, and they were going to decorate them today, and learn how to write their names. For now, however, the teacher called out all of their names, and directed them to their cubbies.
This was how he found out the dark haired boy's name.
Alex. Alexander Kobal.
Raize nearly walked out after him as his name was called and he was sent to a cubby in the corner of the room, but managed to stop himself before he did. He didn't stop fidgeting, though, his tail twisting and flicking around his ankles, looking from the teacher to Alex again and again.
He didn't have to wait long for his name to be called. In fact, he didn't have to wait at all.
"Raize Morrin?" He looked up, and tentatively raised his hand.
"U-um. Me." He wasn't used to speaking, and so his voice was quiet, and almost shy. The woman smiled, and pointed at the corner.
"Your cubby is right becide Alex's. Why don't you go hang up your things?"
He looked back at the other boy with wide eyes, before fumbling with his expensive backpack and lunch bag, hurrying over as fast as his legs could carry him. The confusion, the worry, and the not-nice knot that had been forming in his chest all lifted as he came closer to the boy, watching him with sharp green eyes, and his heart hammering in his chest.
He wanted to speak. Wanted to say something. Wanted to...hug him?
The thought stopped Raize, and he recoiled from the boy, staring for a few moments before he shoved his things quickly in the cubby. He didn't even hug his dad, Raev. Hugs were...weird. Raev sometimes did it, but not very often... they were special.
He didn't want to hug this boy, he scoffed - and somehow, he managed to convince himself of it.
Not wanting to hug him, however, didn't mean that he didn't want to be around him. He couldn't help but look back over, fiddling with his fingers as he tried to say hello - but he just ended up staring at him. It was probably pretty creepy.
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Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2011 10:52 pm
Alex's headache didn't let up as the teacher led the new students around their classroom. At one point, it had felt as though the pain would start to go away, but it had come back almost as soon as it had begun disappearing. The impling boy had still been rubbing at his head when the teacher had sent him over to where his cubby was to put his things away.
Shortly after being sent there, however, the uncomfortable sensation began to ease up. It left with the appearance of the shy boy, whose cubby was right next to his - Raize, he'd heard the teacher say a moment ago. His discomfort seemed to evaporate in an instant, and suddenly, he was very...happy. Even happier than he'd been upon first coming to school. It was almost as though his already good mood had skyrocketed. Raize, on the other hand, look far from happy - he seemed timid and uncertain. Violet eyes locked with green ones, and Alex cocked his head to the side slightly. He suddenly wanted to make this boy feel at ease - there was no particular reason why. He just did. He HAD to - it almost felt as thought something in him would break if he didn't.
"Hullo." Alex gave the other impling boy his friendliest smile. "'M Alex." The little boy didn't seem to care about the fact that the teacher had already called out his name - that didn't matter. He was introducing HIMSELF right now, which was much better than the teacher telling everyone who he was. "Yer name's Raize, righ'?" He wanted to be much, much closer to Raize, but...something told him that it might be best to not do that. He didn't want to frighten this other boy away - he'd be so sad if he did. "D'you wanna play wif me?" Surely he would, right? Alex dearly hoped so! "We're s'pposed t' wri'e our name's firs', but we c'n play af'er tha'!" It was almost as though the conversations with the other children had never happened - all that matter right now was that he was talking to Raize.
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Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2011 11:28 pm
Raize didn't manage to get a greeting in edgewise as the boy began to chatter at him, almost painfully cheerful in his introduction of himself. The antisocial side of Raize wanted to inch away, and go play with his transformers - but the rest of him, all of him, somehow even the antisocial side...
They wanted to say yes.
However, it wasn't going to happen. Instead of yes, he said -
"Hi."
Color rose, furiously red beneath his fur, and he shoved his lunch box onto the shelf, fleeing from the other boy despite how much he wanted to play with him. Hi? Hi?? Who said HI in response to a question! Raev would have slapped him for that! It was so...dumb!
But as he reached the door to the classroom, he couldn't help but look back at the other boy and wonder if he should have stayed to try again. He was surprised to see that he had followed him. Wide eyed, he tried not to stumble backwards, and looked down at him shyly. Raize was fairly tall for his age; it helped him hold his own against bigger kids, and helped him intimidate other kids his age away from him. But he didn't want Alex to be intimidated. He swallowed, licked his lips, and managed to stammer.
"I...I have transformers, in my bag." It sounded a bit like bragging, though he didn't mean it like that. He quickly hurried to fix it - he certainly didn't want to sound like Raev. "Do you want to play...?"
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Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2011 11:48 pm
Rather than an answer to his question, Alex got a simple 'hi' from the timid boy. Something seemed to happen suddenly though, for Raize suddenly took off. A voice screamed in the back of his mind to go after the taller boy, and Alex did just that without the slightest bit of hesitation - he hadn't meant to scare him off! He was relieved when Raize stopped, but realized that he must have startled the other child, for he seemed to be surprised to him. Despite that, Alex gave him another smile, hoping that Raize wouldn't run off this time.
Strangely enough, Alex didn't seem to be the least bit bothered by Raize's height - perhaps it was because he was naturally friendly, or maybe it was because he just REALLY wanted to be near the taller boy, but either way, he was far from intimidated by Raize. At the mention of the transformers, Alex immediately nodded, tail flicking from side-to-side excitedly. "Transf'rm'rs? Okay!" So Raize would play with him - great! For a moment, he wondered if he should call some of the other children over to play with them.
But no, a voice chided him, that wouldn't be a good idea - Raize wouldn't like that, and Alex knew that - how did he know though? Who, or what, had planted that fact into his head? He tried not to think about it as he beamed up at Raize. "Where shoul' we play?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 4:46 am
So he wanted to play with this boy. It wasn't that big of a deal. In fact, it wasn't a 'deal' at all. He would just do as the strange voices in his head said to, and not tell anyone about them. It seemed like a pretty good idea to Raize, and he very slowly began to come out of his shell and gain his composure as he was given control of a couple things in this strange situation.
"We hafta write our names firs'." He pointed out, scanning the room with soft green eyes. "But after...There." He pointed to the section of the room with the building blocks and tinker toys - it was a station, with enough room for two people to play at it. Which was perfect, because if they took up both spaces at the station, nobody else could come in. And, even if two other people took it, Raize was confident in his ability to bully them out of it.
"Everybody take a seat! There is a piece of paper at each spot on the tables. I will hand you out a piece of paper that has your name on it, and you can copy it down onto the paper you already have, and then decorate it!"
Raize looked down at Alex again, before reaching out to hold the other boy's wrist. "Sit with me." He said, towing Alex over to the corner of the table, and sitting down in a chair, pointing expectantly at the chair beside his for Alex. There were chairs on their other sides, but Raize reached out one leg and shoved them far enough away that he felt comfortable.
There were bins with markers and glue and glitter on the table, but Raize wasn't very interested in decorating his name tag. He sort of frowned at the craft supplies, and then down at the paper. What was wrong with the name tag the way it was? He shrugged, however, and took the piece of paper with his name on it from his teacher, looking over at Alex to see what he was doing. His tail had curled itself around his ankle, a nervous habit of his, it seemed.
He wanted Alex to like him...and...it was weird.
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Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 8:58 am
Alex looked over towards the area that Raize pointed to and nodded, not seeming to even notice the fact that it was only big enough for two people to sit in - that, or he didn't care. He'd be happy, so long as he got to stay near this boy. It felt right. "'Kay!" The black-haired impling was glad to see that Raize seemed to be calming down as well - he didn't want his new friend to feel NERVOUS around him!
Alex's ears flicked as the teacher gave out the instruction, and his eyes lit up. Decorating their names sounded like fun! The little boy blinked as Raize asked - or rather demanded - for him to sit with him. Alex happily complied, trotting along behind the taller boy towards the table that he'd chosen to sit at. He plopped down next to Raize and quickly took up his name tag, clearly eager to get started.
"Wha're you g'nna pu' on yours???" he asked as he took up a pencil to write his name with. "You g'nna use the markers? Or the s'arkles? I'm g'nna use all of it! I be' you coul' make yours really cool!" When he looked up from his work, Alex saw that Raize was watching him again. He gave the taller boy his biggest grin, seeming to be quite calm in comparison to Raize's anxiety.
Despite their very opposing personalities, Alex found that he didn't WANT to leave Raize, even if it meant that he'd get to go play with the other kids. That was alright with him, so long as he wasn't completely alone - he hated being alone. He always had. It just...bothered him.
"You shoul' use gr'n! 'Cause yer eyes're green too!" But he was with Raize, so he wasn't alone. Not anymore.
The last thought confused him slightly - when had he ever really BEEN alone? He'd always had Infer, after all, and now there was a classroom full of children...so where had the thought come from? The little boy shook the thoughts off as he went back to babbling to Raize. "I'll use lotsa purple, 'cause my eyes're purple!" He giggled, grinning at Raize from ear-to-ear. Perhaps Raize was quiet, but Alex seemed to more than make up for the fact.
"What else are you doin' with yours, Alex?" One of the other boys, Tom, asked; other children had come to sit at their table, though they were a little distance away, since Raize had pushed their chairs away. The children hadn't really noticed that fact, but they HAD noticed that Raize wasn't the friendliest kid in the class - perhaps that was why they were happy to keep their distance. "We're all drawin' cars!" He leaned over to look at the doodles that Alex had done already. "C'n I see yours?"
"Uh-huh!" Alex smiled and shifted his name tag so as to show Tom, not thinking much of it. He liked showing his work, after all. "C'n I see yours?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 5:53 pm
"Jus'...Markers." Raize decided, looking at the supplies. When Alex mentioned purple, however, Raize frowned. Purple...
He shook his head.
"You should use red. Like fire." He didn't know why he thought of fire when he thought of Alex, but it seemed to fit.
His frown creased deeper as the other boy, Tom, took Alex's attention away from him. He thought about it, for a moment, before he snatched the green marker away from a nearby kid, and made three sharp slashes across the name he'd scrawled in big black letters. Then, he thrust it in Alex's face, hoping to distract him from the other boy.
"Is that enough green?" His voice was a low growl, and he wasn't looking at Alex - he was glowering at Tom over his name tag, snarling slightly to scare him away. Alex was his! Nobody had wanted to play with him before! Why should they start now?! People were liars, and hypocrites, and they would only...
Only...what? And, what was a hypocrite? He shook his head, confused, and looked over at Alex.
What made him his...? And...why?
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Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 7:09 pm
The little boy blinked as the name tag was thrust into his face, distracting him from what Tom had been about to say about the doodles that he'd done on his. Slashes - those fit Raize, he thought. Why was that though? Why did they fit him? He barely knew anything about the taller boy! "I like 'em!" he finally said after a moment of wondering. "They make 'em look really cool!"
"Fire..." Somehow, that made sense - Alex wasn't really sure WHY it made sense, but it did. "Okay!" The little boy smiled and reached around Raize, grabbing for the red marker before he began doodling little flames around his name. When he finished, he lifted the name tag and showed it to the taller boy.
"Like that? Issat good?" Alex beamed at his new friend, tail flicking excitedly. It seemed that, somehow, he'd missed Raize growling at the other boy. Tom, however, had quickly retreated back to his spot, apparently not wanting to tangle with Raize. The brown impling was, admittedly, quite intimidating to the other children - Alex just seemed to be an exception at this point in time. It was strange, how it seemed as though he wasn't at all bothered by someone that the other children were certainly nervous around.
"D'you wanna play now?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 7:24 pm
Raize smiled as Alex said his name tag looked cool, setting it down gently on the table now that Tom wasn't trying to steal Alex's attention away. He watched, interested, as Alex began to draw flames across his name, looking over and grabbing a glue stick, and the red sparkles. He, personally, had never been a fan of sparkles - they were far too girly. However, Alex seemed to need the extra flair, just to...complete him.
"You could add sparkles. That'd be cool." He was a great deal more comfortable, and less awkward, now. His tail was flicking lazily around the legs of his chair, and he had stopped growling. In fact, he smiled at Alex.
"Yeah. I'd like to play. How 'bout you sign us up, and I'll go get the transformers...?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 9:19 pm
Raize was smiling at him. Alex didn't know why, but that simple fact made him very happy. The little boy nodded and took his new friend's advice, smearing the glue over his name tag before sprinkling the red sparkles over it. Once he was done, he looked over his work and turned it so as to show it to Raize. "How's that?"
"Okay! I'll go do i'!" Alex hopped up from his chair and scurried off to sign himself and Raize up for playtime. It didn't take more than a few minutes, - mostly because he needed to remember how to spell his and Raize's names - and soon, the little boy had slid into the corner that the taller boy had pointed out before, his tail flicking excitedly. He didn't really understand why he was so hyped up about this, but it didn't really matter, so long as the two of them got to play.
"I go' Bumblebee a' home; coul' we play with 'im too if I bring 'im in t'morrow???" he asked as Raize came over with the Transformers.
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Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 10:05 am
Raize hurried back to where Alex was, kneeling down on the floor and depositing his toys there too. He smiled up at Alex, and nodded as he mentioned Bumblebee.
"Yeah! You should bring him. I don' got that one. Jus' Starscream, Jazz, an Sideswipe. Oh!" He beamed as he dug around in the bag, and pulled out one last, and very recognizable Transformer.
"An' Optimus, o' course."
He looked around, and pointed at the blocks. "We can make them a city outta those." He said, reaching over to grab some. Nimble fingers quickly set up a rather nice tower, and a few buildings around it. Soon enough, there was a small city being built at Raize's hands. He stopped after a moment, and moved Optimus through to make sure the toys would fit.
"It works! Okay, this'll be their city. An' Starscream wants to destroy it!" He was certainly enthusiastic, now that nobody but Alex was around.
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Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 2:43 pm
"Woooow...you go' so many..." Alex stared in awe at the small collection of Transformers that Raize produced from his backpack. How had Raize gotten all of them? His family must've been rich! He supposed that it didn't really matter, because it was really cool either way! "Yeah, I'll bring 'im t'morrow!" The little boy grinned, his tail flicking back and forth excitedly.
Alex nodded and began constructing the city with Raize, though his buildings were nowhere near as neat as the taller boy's - Alex didn't really mind though. He was quite happy with his crude little block-buildings, and beamed once they'd finished constructing the city. "Okay! Which ones d' you wanna play with???" He figured that it would only be fair if Raize got to pick first, since they WERE his toys. "We should have people in th' city too!" He leaned over a box of legos and grabbed a few of the little yellow figures, placing them at the bases of the buildings. "There! Now th' Autobots gotta save th' people too!"
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Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 3:35 pm
"My d...Raev doesn't like it when I bug him. He bought me these toys so I wouldn't." Raize answered, as if it were normal for parents to bribe their children away from them, and as if it were normal for children to call said parents by their first names.
"I'll use Sideswipe. An' Starscream." He pulled them from the pile, and stood Sideswipe up at the edge of the city. Starscream stayed in his hand, and he made wooshing noises as he flew the Decepticon through the air.
"Bwahaha! I will destroy yo-"
"Cool! Transformers! Can we pl-"
Raize turned and looked at the boy who the interrupting voice belonged to with eyes like death. Josh, said boy, took a tentative step backward, holding up his hands in front of him as if it would stop the eye daggers that Raize was glowering at him.
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