Derek Thorn's Story

May was very pleased when Derek decided to humor her and offer his arm. With a content grin, she wrapped her own arm lightly around his and followed after his lead. Pippin’s ears swayed just a bit as he watched Kirk disappear ahead of them, and let out a small sigh, it wasn’t worth his time to have negative feelings towards the tiger, plus it would put a damper on all the fun things he could do. He quickly hopped after May and Derek, nose wiggling as they neared the feasting hall.

As they entered through the large doors, May took a moment to pause in her step to take in all of the grandness of it. While she didn’t particularly appreciate the repeating colors, it was still pretty, and bright. Really bright. She felt Derek shift beside her and she turned to look at him as he covered his eyes. She smirked good naturedly before her attention returned to the décor. Draconem lay at the head of the hall along with a few of the teachers. Pippin was somewhat impressed, but having red and gold over and over and over again everywhere was extremely boring. He sat back on his haunches, looking this way and that.

May suddenly tilted her head in Derek’s direction as he spoke, ”Choose where you want to sit, I don't care. As long as I can eat.” With a shrug and a grin, May nodded and looked around the room in quest of a table. Once she had sighted one, she pointed over to it rather than drag Derek unceremoniously across the room. Once confirmed with him, Minx led their little party over to the vacant chairs. They faced away from the nearest window, and instead looked out across the hall at all the chatting souls. As she seated herself, Pippin leapt up into her lap after she had spread a napkin down. Odds were that he’d end up on the table anyway, so Macari wasn’t worried about having to work around his antlers.

“Oh, Borealis, May!” Pip suddenly chirped up from his spot, putting his front paws on the edge of the table as he pointed up towards the lights. Minxy’s eyes widened, and a smile spread across her lips. However a sudden pang ran through her, causing her to freeze momentarily as all joy left her features. It had seemed to go rather unnoticed, and she quickly recovered from whatever it was that had just happened. “Hardly as impressive as it should be!” She announced with a laugh, “The sunlight definitely puts a damper on the visibility, and the colors around us only add to the bright distraction.” Pippin looked up at her with a raised eyebrow and a little half smile, “And when did we become so critical?” His tone was teasing, and May blushed ever so slightly while rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. “My brother lives up in Kelud, which is close to Barrowood where the lights dance at night, he’s told me of them, and sent me pictures as I haven’t seen him in a long, long time.”

Pip let out a laugh before shaking his head, “Fair enough. So when do we get to start eating?”May scratched her temple in thought for a few seconds before shrugging, “Food’s already out, so I guess whenever.” With an enthusiastic yell from Pippin, the two began to pick out the foods they would be feasting on. Pippin had chosen a variety of nuts and berries and vegetables, as was expected, and May had chosen a small portion of two meats, chicken and steak, as well as several different fruits and a few vegetables. Looking over what she had chosen, the pang returned to her consciousness and a lot stronger as well. Once again it forced her to freeze in place and her fingers clenched into her palms as she set her jaw.

She suddenly felt a soft little paw on her arm, poking and shaking it. “May… Maaay…. May??” With every calling of her name, Pip grew more and more unsettled before she suddenly shifted back fractionally and blinked at him a few times. “Hey, you alright?” She nodded, “Ah, I’m perfectly fine, just lost my appetite all of a sudden.” She reassured quickly with a sheepish tone to her voice. Pip frowned lightly, “If you’re sure. You still need to eat something.”

Minx poked around her food with a fork before lightly stabbing into some of the fruit and putting it into her mouth. Satisfied that his Ryder would now be fine, Pippin returned to munching on his greens.

“So, what’ve you been up to lately, Derek? I haven’t really seen you around.”

Not only was the light blinding, but the sounds. The chatter, mutters, murmurs, yelling, fighting..the inflections made his ears rings and voices whisper, 'get out, get out, get out. He ran his hand through his hair, leaving it there. It's not real. It's not real. It's not real. With Mays nudge the ringing and voices stopped temporarily. Everything was clearer. She pointed to the table and when he nodded in response to give the OK she lead the small party over to the vacant seats. They faced away from the nearest window and after sitting down he glanced behind. Noting nothing suspicious outside the windows he turned back to May and fiddled with his wing pin clipped to his shirt.

I'll watch the window, just focus on May. Zone everything out. Kirk reassured in his own way.

I don't understand, why it's so bad today? I took my meds. he replied.

Last night, not this morning. Kirk corrected, a large breath of air exhaled from Dereks lungs in exasperation. Great.

“Oh, Borealis, May!” Pip chirped up from his spot, putting his front paws on the edge of the table as he pointed up towards the lights, snapping Derek out of his trance. May's eyes widened, and a smile spread across her lips. However, her attitude turned abruptly and she froze momentarily as all joy left her features, the strangest sight to Derek by far. She seemed to swiftly recover though, so Derek let it go. Sheesh, half of his moments, thoughts, or actions ever made sense. It gets the best of people.

“Hardly as impressive as it should be!” She announced with a laugh, “The sunlight definitely puts a damper on the visibility, and the colors around us only add to the bright distraction.” Derek raised his eyebrows, was this girl actually a real person? She wasn't Miss-Ray-of-Sunshine- all the doo-long-day? Pippin looked up at her with a raised eyebrow and a little half smile.

“And when did we become so critical?” His tone was teasing, and May blushed ever so slightly while rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. Why was she?

I like it. he thought

“My brother lives up in Kelud, which is close to Barrowood where the lights dance at night, he’s told me of them, and sent me pictures as I haven’t seen him in a long, long time.” Pip let out a laugh before shaking his head.

“Fair enough. So when do we get to start eating?” May scratched her temple in thought for a few seconds before shrugging.

“Food’s already out, so I guess whenever.” With an enthusiastic yell from Pippin, the two(Pippin and May) began to pick out the foods they would be feasting on. On cue, Derek and Kirk did the same. Kirk leaned over the table knocking a few plates over and picked up a large fish with his fangs. He laid back down on the floor and dug in, licking his gums. Salmon~ Derek simply grabbed some chicken and apples, facing the voices again about his food and pushing the thoughts that there could possibly be poison in it and ate it anyway. The figures screamed behind him as if they were dying, wailing in pain and clawing at his back. It took every ounce of his sanity to hold on and not turn around with a bloody cry and rip them off of him. They are not there. He self-soothed himself. Ignore them.

Today is so hard, what would the rest of the year be like?

“May… Maaay…. May??” With every calling of her name, Derek kept coming back again and again to hear only their voices and see only their faces. “Hey, you alright?” She nodded.

“Ah, I’m perfectly fine, just lost my appetite all of a sudden.” She reassured quickly with a sheepish tone to her voice.

“If you’re sure. You still need to eat something.” Pip frowned lightly.

”Just eat.” he declared miffed.

Macari poked around her food with a fork before putting some fruit into her mouth. Pippin returned to munching on his greens. Macari was acting strange. Forget it, he's only known her for a day. This could be her usual-self.

“So, what’ve you been up to lately, Derek? I haven’t really seen you around.” she asked. How the hell was he suppose to answer that question?

Well, you could answer it honestly. 'I've been shut up in my room dealing with voices and hallucinations while thinking the world is out to get me. he mocked.

No one is allowed to know about this, Kirk. No response but a bored expression from the tiger looking away.

”Nothing much, how is training?” he decided to go with small talk and with a little more consideration added, ”Still with the two idiots?”

"Ooh, look at that candle. That's a nice candle. Ooh, look at that blue flame. That's a nice flame. Ooh, look at those lights in the sky. That's some nice lights." Jay went on and on about how nice everything was, and Slayer went along just as well, crossing his little arms and nodding his little head with his extremely huge eyeballs. Ash just rolled her eyes at the pair. It was bad enough she had to be at this place with him, but with him just bothering her like always, it was a hell. Not the type of hell Diablo came from with all the flames and the rock and the devils and all, but the type of hell where no matter what you do to get away from someone that annoys the hell out of you, they just wont leave you alone.

Though, it was Jay's idea to come here in the first place, and Ash being the one to tag along. But, that being said, she kind of brought it on herself. Sighing at the thought, Ash put her elbow on the table as she looked around. Everything was so big and elegit and everyone was wearing nice clothes, even herself in a little white dress that stopped an inch or two before her knees. Jay, on the other hand, was underdressed. He wasn't completely underdressed as he usually would be, but he was wearing skinny jeans and a tee-shirt with a navy blue blazer over it and sneakers. Slayer wasn't even wearing a thing while Liath wore a small bowtie around his neck.

Jay went on, saying how nice everything was. "Ooh, look at those people. Those are some lookin' people. Ooh, look at those unicorns....I hate unicorns." Jay said the last part forwarding his eyebrow as he glared at the unicorns that were around. He had a fear of black unicorns, but a hate of normal white ones. A shiver went down his back before he turned to Ash and started telling some random story. As he told this story, Slayer sneak off, ready to set a prank. A large smirk strangely made it's way across the small gargoyles face in a rather creepy way. He flew over and around people, poking their calves with his little claws, pulling their hair, pulling the tails of their companions, and even scratching the bellies of some of the people. All the while laughing in a little demon-child laugh that would scare the ba-jeeb-ious out of people.

He flew on over to where the little elves played and smiled down at them in a way that would tell a person he had an awfully bad plan coming up. Looking around, Slayers eyes narrowed and his smile faded as he thought of the plan at hand. Letting his mind work as he looked around, his brows forwarded and the chaotic smirk returned to his face as he knew what he was going to do. He flew all the way up to the ceiling where the long, long curtains were hanged. The chaotic smile on his face grew ever more larger. He ripped his claw out in a way that resembled that of Freddy Krueger ripping out his bladed hand. Slayer then sliced the curtain and it feel down in big heaps landing onto the elf orchestra, ultimately stopping the music that filled the large room and drawing the eyes of the students.

Ash and Jay were two of the many that looked over. Jay stood up on the chair he sat in and looked over the heads of the students. He could see Slayer hovering slightly above the incident laughing his gargoyle ass off. "Damnit, Slayer!" Jay muttered before jumping off the chair and running over to the incident, pushing people out of his way as he ran. Ultimately tripping over peoples feet who try to be 'cool' and trip him, though that doesn't work as he simply just jumps up and around everyone. Once making it over to where Slayer was and seeing the curtain dropped onto the elves, who were beginning to crawl out from under it. "Damnit, Slayer!" Jay repeated, a bit louder, as he jumped up and grabbed Slayer out of the air, holding him tightly as the little gargoyle complained as he tried to scrum out of Jay's grip. Ash had walked up and was standing by him with her arms crossed and shaking her head slightly. "You're such an idiot." She said, and Jay nodded at her in agreement.

At Derek’s added input about her appetite, though probably only based for his own benefit, she figured she might as well get a bit more sustenance than what she had chosen by then. She quietly picked out a piece of warm bread and slathered it with butter, and also nibbled a bit on the beef she had picked out.

”Nothing much, how is training?” At his response May smirked gently, “What, you mean to tell me you haven’t been out at the weights, or jogging your legs off, or cramming your brain with mumbo jumbo spells and whatnot? Just laying around all day instead being a potato?” She tapped her fork lightly against the plate she had before her as she looked at him, a playful, almost challenging look on her face. “Anywaay, training is good, but it is a little hard, I have to admit. I’m having trouble with magic, even though my companion is like made out of it.” She nudged Pip with her elbow, and he grinned brightly with no shame. ”Still with the two idiots?” She blinked a few times, in all honesty she had no idea where those two had disappeared. “Nope, haven’t seen them since the archery platform, to be honest. I’m sure I’ll see them around, especially since Loki seems to split crowds.” She grinned with a hint of humor to her eyes before her attention was suddenly snapped away to the front of the hall as a loud screech emanated from one of the violins as the music came to a scraping halt.

Her eyes widened with worry, hoping that the orchestra wasn’t injured, and searching for the cause of such an interruption. Her eyes fell upon the demonic little form of a stone creature laughing at everyone’s expense. An irritated look fell upon her features, she hated things that were like that, bullies, hardly pranksters. The little gargoyle obviously only had intent for evil, and it irked May. As the guy whom she assumed was the little monster’s companion, she eased back into her seat, happy that the stone would have some supervision again, as it was obvious from the guy’s staggering up towards him and yelling curses out at him he had not known that his companion would do that. Another relief was that the band was coming out from beneath the fallen curtain unscathed.

“What, you mean to tell me you haven’t been out at the weights, or jogging your legs off, or cramming your brain with mumbo jumbo spells and whatnot? Just laying around all day instead being a potato?” Dereks apathetic face cracked under the gentle pressure and tipped a smirk. May tapped her fork lightly against the plate she had before her as she looked at him, a playful, almost challenging look on her face. He simply raised an eyebrow in challenge. “Anywaay, training is good, but it is a little hard, I have to admit. I’m having trouble with magic, even though my companion is like made out of it.” She nudged Pip with her elbow, and he grinned brightly with no shame.

“It's not that hard, just numbers and imagination.” two things other than physical activity that he was good at. Numbers distracted him from reality and imagination was something that came to him as natural as breathing. He didn't do it on purpose, it was just him. It was just schizophrenia. She blinked a few times at his next question.

“Nope, haven’t seen them since the archery platform, to be honest. I’m sure I’ll see them around, especially since Loki seems to split crowds.” She grinned, he half-heartedly smirked. Loki was a big guy and probably, no, is more useful than Drew would ever be. Mays and everyone elses attention was suddenly snapped away to the front of the hall as a loud screech emanated from one of the violins as the music came to a scraping halt. While everyone else saw reality, the prank Slayer had done, Derek saw illusion. Flies crawled from behind his eyelids and his hand retracted to his face, palm digging deep into the lids. Screeching and aggregates of flies buzzing resounded, temples pumping. He could feel them crawling around in his brain. He gripped his hair and reached for the fork-

Kirk laid his massive paw on Dereks hand, his nails digging into his hand. Derek sucked in a breath and revoked his hand back, hiding it under the table. Kirk licked his paw, blood trickling down his nails. His Ryder snagged a couple of napkins while Macari wasn't looking and dabbed his hand under the table. When Macari had eased her way back into her seat, Derek looked like his usual self.

Thanks Kirk..

A one eyed Ryder is to cliché. Kirk bit into his nail with a light-hearted grin.