Thread: The Wombat (jjfanrb and Wingshadow)

April's body froze as she slowly turned to her left. Her fist was clearly implanted into the side of the school, the cracks from the impact spread out in a radial fashion and crept outward forming a distinct mark from where her hand pressed into the bricks. Her eyes were wide and her left leg slightly fidgeted as she struggled to collect her thoughts. It had been an automatic reaction, a combination of her own long hours of training and the instinctive desire for self-preservation in the face of danger... Yet that wasn't something that could explain how she could shatter bricks with her bare knuckles and suffer little to no adverse side effects afterward. What would his young man do with this knowledge? Would he spread it across the campus and gather all the thugs and foul-spirited persons from the neighborhood and pit themselves against her? Would they threaten her with knives, pistols, torches and pitchforks? She did not fear that they would actually harm her, as none of those things posed much of a threat to her own existence, rather she was afraid that she would not be able to hold herself back, just as she had not been able to just a few moments ago when she pulverized the wall. They would doubtless meet a painful and sudden end at her own hands, which would make her father proud but would make her feel awful. She blinked and pulled her hand from the side of the wall, small pieces of brick crumbling and falling from the impact point. She began to wonder what had lead up to his her undoing, and what she might have done to prevent it... -------- a bit earlier -------- Alice waved to her classmates as they parted ways after the last class for the day, her hand feeling somewhat heavy as it brushed against the air. She watched them gather in small groups and begin to chat together, deciding where to go to hang out or shop, or perhaps even see a movie over the weekend. They were not particularly unusual things for girls her age to be interested in, but they were joys that she envied. She had to hurry home every day to undergo another strenuous training exercise with her father and his underlings. Yes, her father was a gang lord who secretly ruled this entire area with an iron fist. On the surface, however, things seemed perfectly normal as most of his influence was spent controlling the operations of rival gang lords rather than spreading his influence elsewhere. To this end, however, he was training his only daughter to take his place on the front lines and lead the charge... As soon as she finished high-school, that is. Even her father saw the value in education. It made counting and managing funds so much easier, and made your uneducated underlings respect you ever so much more. She let out a sigh as she turned the corner of the school toward the back fence, the direction where her large and prestigious house was, but as she walked a baseball flew toward her from the sports field, flying over the fence and the hedge which concealed her from the view of the players, and went straight toward her face. Alice glanced up and to her right and grasped the ball, palming it into her right hand and trusting it toward the school wall with force. The ball spun for a few seconds, grinding into the brickwork then fell from her hand. She let out another sigh and looked around to see if anyone had seen what she had just done. To her horror there stood a young man, around her age, with an astounded look on his face. She had not seen this boy before, most likely a recent transfer student, but even so she had NO idea what she should do.... ----- So, she decided to run, heading off for the front gate as fast as her legs could carry her.