Michael G. Haddock's Story

"H-hey wait WAIT! I-......24 hours is not NEARLY enough time for someone to pack!" Michael struggled against the stern grasp of the....well whoever they where. They looked all sorts official but had no marks that Mike could recognize. A scant crowd of fussed neighbors trickled from their houses and peeked through their windows as two of the men, toting guns in their hands dragged the tall and lanky young man across the manicured lawn towards the black SUV parked out front. Another man followed with both arms toting suitcases and a backpack under his left arm. He had a very grumpy expression on his face. "Dad! Dad tell them! I need my.....my... Now hold ON!"

Suddenly with a whoosh and a flurry of feathers both men dragging him where tossed across the lawn, one toppling in the grass the other cascading onto a neatly trimmed bush. The rush of wind caused michael to drift through the air a few feet but he landed, if slightly awkwardly on both feet. His wings hung out from his back, slightly relaxed their awesome great white feathers dragged along the grass easily as he walked calmly to his family, straightening his now torn jacket. His wings had busted right through the back and bits of fabric gently fluttered to the ground. "You said....that I could say goodbye to them....at least."

The men got up, training their guns on him with severely unhappy glares but a jerk of a gun barrel signaled they where willing to wait if he made quick about it. Michael's peircing yellow eyes softened as he walked over to his family, standing on the porch. His older sister, Celena, glared back at him, worry and concern apparent by the line that creased her brow. Her arms where crossed and her silence made it apparent how unhappy and worried she was about it all. Michael beamed at her. "I'll be fine, sis. I can take care of myself."

"You can't even do your hair right without my help, Mikey." She pursed her lips and fussed with his hair. She shook her head. "I don't like this little bro. If anything looks more fucked up than this. You fly the hell out of there. Don't look back."

Michael nodded and hugged her. He turned to his mother, whose eyes where red. She too held the anger and sorrow of his sister. Such strong women. She shook her head repeatedly. "I should never have let you go to that school. This is my fault...."

"Mom....no it's not your fault....Look....It's probably not even going to be that bad....at least....no worse than private school....right?"



Michael stirred, immediately feeling queasy again. He fussed with the window anxiously as his brow beaded with sweat and his heart raced. "We gotta pull over again guys I can't do this."

The man sitting next to him groaned. "Just hang on, will ya? We're almost there!"

"Why couldn't I just fly there then? Why does it have to be this tiny..... little.........Nnngh.." Michael retched and the SUV screeched to a halt as the men rushed to get Michael out of the vehicle. A few minutes of spewing chunks and a heated argument later and Michael was brushing his teeth on the side of the road with lukewarm water from a water bottle. Upon looking up he laid his first eyes on their destination. There was nothing but dry hot desert all around them save for the road they where on and a building surrounded by a barbed wire fence. Michael squinted at it. "You're not seriously telling me that....is the school....right?"

"Get back in the car." Was their only reply.

Michael was lead through the front doors of the "School" with two of the three men that had brought him there carrying his ample suitcases. He let out a breath, softly as he looked around the entrance with great displeasure. Bland. The whole place was bland, hardly any decor and with little to show that people would be living there and learning. Michael did see a few others a dark haired girl was lead back to the rooms. Michael smiled warmly in her direction in hopes of at least establishing an aquaintance.

Restlessness took grip over Michael as the woman behind the desk went on about rules that Michael was sure not to follow. His honey gold eyes roamed anywhere but at her hoping to get a grasp on what the other students where to be like. His only experience at a school with others was at highschool. He assumed it would be similar the only major difference being they'd be dorm mates as well. Michael blushed slightly at the thought. Everyone knew the shenanigans that teens and young adults got into when not under strict supervision. He was reminded though of the reason they where all there as he brushed a small white downy feather from his sleeve. They all had powers there. His curiosity increased as he thought of the possibility of meeting others with very different and maybe even similar abilities as his own.

"Did you hear me, young man? Your room is 115A"

Michael blinked and nodded, then he leaned his elbow on the desk. "Am I going to have roomates? I don't do well with people who snore or have bad body odor. So.....if someone comes in and you think they might maybe have one of those..."

"The bedding arrangements are permanent, Mr. Haddock." The woman said, quite unimpressed.

Michael exhaled. "Right.....ooook. To Room 115A"

The two men looked at each other and put Michael's bags on the floor. "We've got other students to pick up."
With that they turned and walked back out the doors, one of them chuckling audibly and shaking his head.

"Great. Sure. Thanks....I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!" Michael called after them. He huffed, again and took up his backpack, putting it over his shoulders before gathering the two heavy suitcases in both slender arms. He grunted and trembled before heading down the hall muttering about the ridiculousness of it all.

It seemed the rooms where arranged like in a hotel with all the 100 rooms on the first floor of the dorm wing . Michael passed all the rooms that came before 115, struggling with his heavy bags as he went. "This better be good. So far this place seems little more than a glorified....prison..."

Michael stood before his room. He looked either way down the hall at the others just getting situated.

Michael opened the door to his room. It really did look like a cell door to a cell room. There where two rickety cots in that cramped space and the floor was made of concrete. Michael's disappointment grew to new measures. as he slowly turned around to look at the surroundings. They did give them a desk. One desk to share however and one lamp without a shade. There where two rickety cots in that cramped space and the floor was made of concrete. Michael's disappointment grew to new measures. as he slowly turned around to look at the surroundings. They did give them a desk. One desk to share however and one lamp without a shade.Michael opened the door to his room. It really did look like a cell door to a cell room. There where two rickety cots in that cramped space and the floor was made of concrete. Michael's disappointment grew to new measures. as he slowly turned around to look at the surroundings. They did give them a desk. One desk to share however and one lamp without a shade. "oooooh god.....you've gotta be kidding me."

Suddenly a determined expression appeared on his face. "Right.....It's going to need a lot of work....but I think....we can turn this around." he murmured. He left the door wide open to the hall as he dragged his suitcases to the bed on the left. He hesitantly knelt and peered under the beds. Luckily there where no rat nests or holes into the walls but there where quite a few spider webs. Michael straightened up. "A scrub....this place needs a good scrub...but first I need to change."

Michael shed his jacket with the tears in the back from where his wings burst out earlier in the day, he took off the t-shirt underneath that was also torn, shaking his head as he examined the damage. " I need to learn to take my shirt off first next time. These where such good clothes." He folded them neatly on the bed and scrounged for an oversized tank to wear while he's sprucing up the place. He kicked the door shut behind himself afterwards as he went about replacing his pants with old jeans and his shoes with sneakers. With that he left the cell to search for a supply closet with cleaning materials. When he left the room he glanced into rooms that had their door wide open, mostly out of curiosity. He spotted the guy sitting on his bed listening to music but decided not to interrupt him. He didn't think he wanted to help him anyways, it was no big deal. He was kind of cute though. Michael made note of that, as was his roommate. 'Room 119, huh?.' He thought to himself...

Finally Michael found the supply closet, he entered and grabbed a handful of supplies as well as a mop and one of those yellow rolling buckets. He also found a single can of decent smelling aerosol that would help rid the stale musky sent of the old room. It looked comical, Michael trekking back down the hall pushing the bucket along with his foot. He hummed quietly as he went by, this time not paying much mind to 119 as he went back to his room.

He set everything small enough on the desk and started with the floors, tying a purples scarf on his head like a cleaner, sparse white hairs sticking out from underneath. He snapped on yellow rubber gloves so as not to be harmed by cleaning chemicals, or grime and got started. He played music as he scrubbed the floors occasionally singing along to it, the sounds and scents of his cleaning flowing freely out the open door.

Utrien woke to music coming from the halls. Blinking, he tried to make sense of his environment. Where were the usual animals that gave him warmth? He rolled around, then promptly fell off the bed only to be supported by three tentacles that clung to the bed. He fell softly with a flomp.

Feeling too lazy and tired, he used his tentacle to prop himself up and move himself into the hall. The tentacles that sprouted from his hand and the behind him gave him a taller appearance; it also gives him an impressive long step forwards. His hair is swinging, hiding his eyes as he searches for the music. It was weird to hear such a sound in such a depressing place.

He arrived at a door further down the hall, it was open to a guy cleaning the place. Utrien stayed there, observing the unique man he found. Well that's another person that we can say we made friends with. Ramone would be so proud.

Michael was in his room with the mop, dancing and swinging his hips to a random K-pop song. It was only when he turned around that he noticed Utrien in the doorway, in which case he drew the mop close to him so fast that soapy water splashed in Utrien's direction with much speed. Michael yelped in surprise. "AAH! OH! Sorry! I'm so sorry! Um.....h-here..." He brought forth a towel for any he may have got on Utrien, blushing furiously at his idiocy and in the embarrassment of being caught dancing with a mop. It would be only then that Michael noticed the tentacles.

Michael tried not to stare. "Um.....I take it....that's your power, right? Pretty cool." Michael smiled warmly. Michael then face palmed. "Where are my manners. I'm Michael. Mike for short, what's your name?"

Utrien didn't flinch when the water hit him, although his tentacles moved to his back, hiding from the water. He blinked at the wet spots.

Feeling a smile emerging from the boys memorable introduction, Utrien let slip a chuckle. "It's alright, i did surprise you so i suppose it's my fault," His voice was still husky from sleep. Moping off the water from his shirt with the towel, he introduced himself. "My name's Utrien, it's great to meet you. I was wondering where the music is coming from and here we are." His voice carry a nice yet awkward vibe.

Michael relaxed some, he seemed like an alright guy, he did admit he wasn't sure what to think of him with all those tentacles waving around like some sort of grotesque Slenderman. "I'm sorry, I didn't wake you did I?"

His attention was diverted by the knock on the wall, Michael looked past Utrien to the girl right outside his doorway. "Yeah?" He wore a refreshingly kind expression in his golden gaze.

Marshall woke from the commotion from the room down the hall. He took his headphones off and listened . He got up and went into the hall where he was blasted with the smell of cleaning detergent and air freshener. He begrudgingly walked toward the source of the odors and music. He came to an open room with a tentacled young man and a girl standing in the doorway, the guy toweling himself off and another guy mopping the floor.

“Eh, hello?” he said cautiously as he stood next to the guy with the tentacles. They all turned to look at him, that was a good sign. “I just heard singing and smelled weird chemicals, figured I should check and see if it was music and cleaning or if I was missing some sort of party.” He chuckled lightly “Looks like I got my hopes up for nothing. While I’m here, I might as well help. Though I don’t like to get my hands dirty.” He grinned. Using his telekinesis, he pulled the mop from the hands of the guy with the silvery white hair and began to mop the room rather quickly and effectively without stepping foot in the room. “I take it you’re a bit of a clean freak?” He rhetorically asked the guy. “My name’s Marshall. I can move things with my mind … and turn invisible.”

Utrien smiled and just let the Michael greet the guest. He noticed the slight disgust in the girls face so he retracted his tentacles. He didn't like judgemental people, but he doesn't like to cause discomfort or conflict normally.

He turned to greet the newcomers.

"Hello Marshall, it's great to meet people that doesn't seem to be afraid or angry at me in here. My name's Utrien, great to meet you," He smiled reassuringly to Marshall.

"Mam, i can't help if i don't know where you want to go."He said with an serene expression. He wanted to help, but he needed directions.

Not wanting them to think of his powers as just tentacles, he decided to give a demonstration of his powers.

"As you can see," he extended his hand; a spaghetti thin tentacle sprouted from his finger and the tentacle quickly slashed at the broom handle. "That's my power," Just as he finished talking, the broom handle fell down in two pieces from the straight, neat cuts delivered by the tentacle. Utriens smile faltered."Oh, it was just supposed to nick it...I guess i went overboard." He admitted with a closed eyed, sheepish smile.

“Whoa, that’s so cool.” He almost shouted at the sight of the broom breaking. Then he saw the look on his face. “I sometimes have a hard time controlling my powers, too. Just today the lifeguard at the pool got mad at me for turning invisible in the water.” He smiled as all kinds of thoughts went running through his head, mostly excitement at the fact that he was making friends or at least coming closer than he ever had before.

"I'm Michael, some call me Mike. You can call me whatever you like."
The statement as well as those honey colored eyes burned right into him. Damn the things went through his head with those words. He shook his head and cleared his mind a bit. He changed his thoughts to wondering what the guy’s powers were, as he hadn’t been around to see them earlier. As his mind came back to the present, he realized he could probably be of some help in opening the door.

“Hey, I can probably help with that.” He said as he followed after the two to the door. He looked at the key hole and focused on the mechanisms inside. In a matter of minutes it clicked and was unlocked. “There you go.” He said with a weird sense of accomplishment that he hadn’t felt very often in the past. He accidentally got himself caught in Mike’s gaze again and tried to turn away before he made an ass of himself. “So, yeah, I guess I’ll go back to my room now, I’ll see you later I guess.”

Michael turned to Marshal as he approached to help with the door. 'So he can unlock doors AND turn invisible. I ought to watch myself with this one.' He thought, though not necessarily with a hint of real caution. He really didn't have anything to hide and if Marshal wanted to look he had no qualms with that. 'Woah! Mike, ease up. You hardly know him CC would tear you a new one if she found out you where fawning over random guys you just met. However, can't deny he is adorbs with that quiet personality.' Michael smiled ever so slightly then fiercely chased the thoughts away.

He clapped his hands together. "Well then. Thank you Marshal, it seems we got your door open....um....miss....." He hesitated, looking to the girl who was to sleep next door to him.

Michael stepped back towards his room. "Tell you guys what. You seem pretty interesting all of you. Once I'm done here and you lot are done unpacking and so on how about we explore this place some. See what nonsense we got ourselves into maybe check out some of these blocked off areas just for curiosity's sake." Michael grinned, a playful and mischievous grin that nevertheless made him look like a sinless angel. "If we can find a way outdoors I'll show you lot my power. It's pretty neat if I do say so myself."

She cheerfully waved goodbye as Cindy headed towards the door. Maya was still a little hungry and sat at the table alone for a little while. With only a few spoonfuls left the girl began to wonder how the food actually tasted. She shattered the illusion and put the fork in her mouth. She honestly imagined it to be a lot worse but it wasn’t a taste she wanted to try again. Suddenly overcome with boredom Maya decided to head back to her room.

The halls were even more lively than before and it seemed friendships were being formed all around. Upon reaching her room Maya was positively surprised. Not only was her roommate finally here, she was in the presence of three pleasant looking boys. One which Maya could swear she saw sleeping on the table with Cindy. The girl which Maya would have the joy of sharing a room with was incredibly beautiful. She had incredible brown hair Maya could only hope for. The boys also had pretty captivating looks. Everyone at the academy seemed so cute to her.

“Hello!,” she said to everyone in the doorway as she walked through, “Nice to meet you all, especially you,” she motioned at the girl. “I’m Maya, I hope we can be good friends.”

Smiling she made her way to the bed to clean it up a little, she left in such a hurry it wasn’t looking the greatest. The people seemed a little busy planning something she wasn’t sure it’d be ok to disturb them. Then again hearing about seeing another power made her pretty excited.

“You guys wouldn’t mind if I tagged along, it gets pretty quiet here all alone?”

Utrien shakes his head good naturedly. 'This boy is going to get into a lot of trouble with that kind personality'he mused. He can't figure out whether it's personal trouble or just plain safety trouble.

As he waves goodbye and heads for his room he said out loud,"I guess i'll see you there."

Chuckling to himself he thought 'Well i sure did meet a lot of interesting people today.'

Marshall was beginning to think he was in over his head. It was as though fate had turned the tables on him. For once he was the one being noticed, not that he didn’t do any noticing of his own. He wasn’t exactly sure how to react in a social situation such as this. Sure, he’d observed others at his old school and what they did in social situations, but never had he been the one who had to do any sort of interacting. Something was compelling him to go against every instinct he had ever developed while going to public school for most of his life, and he was going to make the first move. His heart started racing like a humming bird. He looked back to Mike’s face and brushed his bangs out of his face revealing his own emerald green eyes and he once again was caught in his gaze, but he managed to focus enough to speak.

“So, I’m already unpacked and my roommate doesn’t seem to be in a very talkative mood right now, I could help you unpack if you’d like some help.” He almost choked on the words as he was saying them, his throat got so dry. He really was incredibly socially awkward.

As he had been unpacking his things in his dorm, he heard someone enter. Must be his room mate. At first he continued unpacking his things, sorting them out, thought it would be best to wait a bit before making conversation over something quite drastic that had seemed to happen to them all. Until a male voice spoke up first. That surprised him. So his name was Marshall, that suited him. He stood up straight and turned to see the guy, who seemed to be younger than him seeing as how Jurou was taller.Or perhaps he was just naturally short and was the same age as him, didn't matter. When he turned to get a good look at the male, he noticed Marshall seemed quite, hypnotised by something on Jurou? What was it? Why are you staring? These thoughts ran through his mind until the male broke eye contact, said he was going to the pools? And offered him to join. "Nnnno thanks." Definitely not. No way. He didn't want to look too awkward seeing as how deep water was a big fear of his, and that included big swimming pools full of water. Then the guy left. Jurou became deep in thought as he finished unpacking his things, he placed a picture of his mum, dad and himself as a little kid on his bedside table. It was the only family photo he had that included his mum. Now that she was no longer alive he cherished this photo. Wait a second, how did Marshall know his name? It completely slipped his mind then. Oh well, he would ask him later.

Leaving the dorm, he thought about exploring, he wanted to shift, use his ability but it could become a bit of a pain, because once he shifted back to human well, he would be naked. Of course he couldn't have clothes on when shifting, because if he did, then his clothes would just either lay there on the ground, or on the rare occasion shift with him and well, cats looked a bit funny with clothes on. He wasn't sure where he should go, perhaps follow that guy and see if he ends up going to the pool or not. Jurou could still smell him, his scent left a trail for him to follow, at least it was a pleasant smell unlike other teenage guys who smelled of body odour and sweaty gym socks. Those smells were most unpleasant. Waiting wasn't this stalking? Perhaps he should shift... No no no don't do it. You can't just rock up to the guy as a cat and be like 'hey there'. Because he would have to shift back to human eventually.

So Jurou followed the scent, Marshall seemed quite a bit ahead of him, he couldn't see him at all but he could still smell him, it was difficult to keep track of one smell when so many different smells intertwined and overlapped each other, like obstacles trying to stop him from following the same path. It would be awkward if he lost track of the scent, followed the wrong path and called out Marshall to someone who most certainly was not Marshall. Wow he was such a weirdo. He continued following, avoiding being seen by any people, and hopefully being unnoticed until he finally found Marshall. He was about to call out to him until he saw he had company. Well, he seemed to make friends quite quickly. Although he was a fair distance away, he could hear clearly what they were discussing, any normal human would only see their lips moving and hear probably nothing at all, maybe muffled voices, but he could hear them clearly. "my roommate doesn’t seem to be in a very talkative mood right now" well then, he felt a little more awkward now. He hadn't seemed to make the best first impression. "I guess i'll see you there." See them where? Jurou was most curious now, what were they up to? Oh wait, that guy by the sounds of it was leaving. Which way was he going, what if he passed Jurou and caught him looking like a stalker. Well technically he was being a BIT of a stalker. He needed to do something to avoid the situation, and so quickly, like an idiot, he shifted into an average sized black cat. And well, there goes his clothes. Okay so this wasn't the smartest thing to do. Especially now that he had to somehow carry all the clothes. With much difficulty he managed to throw clothes onto his back by grabbing them with his mouth. He did look fairly large for a domestic looking cat of sorts. His clothes felt more heavy in this form. Now he just need to push his shoes along... How embarrassing.

Jurou managed to make his way over to Marshall and quite confidently he pushed against his leg to get his attention. "Uh hey Marshall can you hold my clothes for me?" He felt so stupid at this point. His same copper red eyes looked up at Marshall hoping he would just casually hold his clothes. Of course no one in their right mind would take a talking cat as natural. And all this just to avoid looking like a stalker.

Before he could receive an answer from Mike about helping him, he received an odd little nudge against his leg. He looked down and saw the most adorable black cat he had ever seen in his life pushing a pair of shoes across the floor. “Uh hey Marshall, can you hold my clothes for me?” Came a voice he didn’t recognize. He looked down at the rather large cat that seemed to know him, then he saw the copper red eyes. He turned and looked back to Mike. “Can you excuse us for a second, I think this is my roommate.” He picked up the shoes and took the pile of clothes off the cat’s back. He walked back to their room and the cat was following close behind. When they were both in the room he put the clothes on the counter in the bathroom and the cat went in without a word. Marshall shut the door to give him some privacy. The door opened a few minutes later and there stood Jurou.

“So, do I even want to ask why you would change into a cat and walk down the halls when you can’t carry your own clothes? Or was it something you couldn’t control? If so, I’m sorry, it’s just that your timing was …off.”

Utrien paused and froze. He couldn't believe it, he turned back astounded. Was that and honest to goodness cat?

His eyes wide and his mouth in an O shape; Utrien shot down the hallway back to where he was. He took a leap, scooped up the cat and slid on his back; the cat now lifted in the air.

"OH MY GOODNESS YOU'RE A CAT. There are animals here," He proceeded to cuddle the cat, not knowing that it can speak or that it was a human. "That makes me so happy, i might actually squeal," He finished with a smile and a delighted laugh.

Anyone who have met Utrien prior to this might have been shocked. The shy, reserved Utrien is currently on the floor cuddling a cat with an elated and beaming expression.

Michael stared at Utrien, bewildered. Not only was Marshal's roommate a cat but now this? Michael opened his mouth to speak, hesitantly. "U-utrien....um....if that's really Marshall's roommate...I-I don't think he'd want to be picked up like that...."

He put his hands out in front of himself, and bit his lip. He glanced back in Ghost's direction unsure what to do about all this. Michael didn't know a ton about cats but what he did know was that most, that weren't also human didn't like to be lifted and cuddled so abrubtly. In fact most would scratch a stranger if they approached too abruptly.

Utrien arm hovers in the air as Marshall's apparent roommate follows him and changes. A feeling of disappointment welled up, yet not enough to dampen his mood. He sat up Indian style. Looks like he could afford to be more involved with everyone. Utrien did an adorable child like hip swivel to show his happiness.