F E L I X A L E X A N D E R B R O O K S / / A U R O R A Z H A N G
M A T H E R M E M O R I A L H I G H
Tuesday, August 21st, 2018 - 02:45 pm | The Loft
In spite of herself, Rory expected a noncommittal shrug and a long, awkward stretch of silence in response, something she had grown accustomed to when speaking, or attempting to, with Felix Brooks. Receiving an actual answer instead was such a change of pace that she couldn't stop herself from blatantly saying so. She smiled up at him, a multitude of questions already at the tip of her tongue, ready to burst out like water out of a broken dam. But another classmate shushed her right as she opened her mouth, as though sensing the ensuing torrent of chatter.
Rory abruptly turned to face the front, properly chastised. It was the first time since arriving in the classroom that she got a proper look at all of the other students. Belatedly, she realized that she'd missed the chance to give Esther a proper greeting before she had excused herself. Esther would understand, though—she'd been privy to the not-so-secret heart-eyes Rory has cast upon the former football player. Even now, as Rory had come to notice their legs barely touching and the dimpled smirk making his face look more handsome than usual, Esther for sure would have spotted the giddiness in her smile.
When she was certain the nosy student wasn't paying attention to her any longer, Rory turned back to Felix.
"Later?" she whispered, hoping that when later came, he would still be willing to talk to her.
Perhaps it was the lack of tormentors in the room, or maybe his own guilt in being so stand-offish, that made Felix come out of his shell enough to actually consider engaging in conversation with the girl who sat next to him. Although he couldn’t figure out what to say, he simply nodded lightly while he took this instance to actually draw in her appearance since he only gave her half-minded glances before. She was small and lithe—like one of those girls that looked so fragile that Felix was afraid he’d snap them in half. It didn’t stir any feelings of distaste, but instead, he found himself to be somewhat allured by her small-frame, somewhat because she made him appear giant in comparison, reminding him of his once-high ego. While girls of her stature would normally not attract him, it was her combined optimism that was contagious and appealing to Felix.
His gaze was broken once Elroy entered the room on his taunting high horse. Felix’s soft smile, drawn by Aurora, vanished into a scowl faster than Elroy was to cut to the chase about the missing girl that Felix apathetically had no interest in. Instead, he zoned out to imagine firing a burst of force energy at Elroy to watch him fall back and crack the wall behind him, only to mock him and his embarrassment. He let the vision mingle within his mind before he shook the fantasized event away. Thoughts such as this seemed to fill Felix’s head lately since his days were full of bottled up emotions and rage—primarily rage. Felix couldn’t help but scoff loudly at the mention of the dance, rolling his eyes before sitting back in the couch, his broad shoulders unintentionally crowding Aurora as he straightened out.
It was nothing more than a gentle and accidental brushing of their arms, but it didn't escape Rory's notice. She cast what she thought was a furtive glance (it wasn't) up at him, sucked into a brief daydream about the upcoming dance where the two of them were chatting and swaying to the music… and surrounded by zombies for some reason. In this reverie, she was somehow magically able to coax Felix into talking to her dad about his abilities and he finally looked happy again.
Tiiiny crush aside, this was all she had wanted from Felix: the chance to help him out through what she could imagine was a trying time for him. Rory has met too many Hyperhumans whose life would've been immensely better had someone only lent an ear or a helping hand earlier; she couldn't possibly let it happen to him.
The ringing bell snapped her back to reality, and Rory was once again faced with the handsome ex-quarterback with the sad eyes.
As the bell echoed, Felix sighed in relief, packing things into his backpack with an urgency to get the hell off of school grounds. In a pointless rush, he stopped to realize that he accidentally took two passcards. He leaned over to Aurora, looking at her in silence for a few seconds before forming the words,
“I almost took this from ya.” Felix flipped the card up and let it fall to his hand to try and impress her before offering the passcard. He lifted his other hand as a confused gesture as he tried to describe its use, speaking with a tone of unimportance,
“It’s to, uh, get in the room or something. I don’t know. Everyone has one, I guess.” "Oh," Rory said, momentarily dazed. For a split second after the bell rang, the sting of rejection began to seep in: since Felix was packing his things in a rush, it seemed like 'later' wouldn't have come after all. Rory never held it against him—he didn't owe it to her to listen to what she had to say when they were practically strangers—but being disregarded always left her feeling like she'd been pinched and it took a moment to rub away the hurt.
That’s not what was happening right now, though, she realized.
"Thank you!" she said, quickly regaining her cheer. Before accepting the pass card, Rory fished for a different type of card in the side pocket of her backpack. She traded the glossy business card for the passcard and closed his hand in it.
"Here, I'll trade you this. My dads operate a hotline for 3HA. They're really good listeners, so y’know, just in case... " Rory trailed off awkwardly, afraid to push too hard, and rushed to think of the best way to switch topics.
Felix remained expressionless despite the burst of emotions from this small, trivial interaction. The mention of 3HA were words that beat at him: his brain, his heart, his self-esteem—it was an opportunity to open a door that would unfold many possible outcomes—outcomes that could give him light again. Felix glanced at his closed hand, feeling the sharp corners of the card press against his palm with an unwavering enigma, but he dismissed the thought of it quickly—like he always does. He shoved it into his pocket and moved to zip up his bag, turning to face Aurora,
“So—are you gonna go?—I mean, to the rescue thing to find whats-her-face?”"Mhmm!" Rory responded quickly and certainly. She would have gone by herself if the school hadn't created a volunteer group; what better way was there to make use of a human flashlight than to brighten up the dark woods, right? Her dads didn't let her tagalong the first night they went searching, but now they won't have an excuse to stop her.
"I really hope we can find Kaitlyn soon. She must be so scared all alone. Do you think you'll go?"Felix was still unsure of what decision he should make—to go, or to not go. He couldn’t give her a straight answer, so he averted his attention to the kindness that was spilling out of her since she stepped into the room. Her compassion couldn’t be unnoticed, but Felix refused to comment on that either, so he ignored the statements entirely,
“What are you doing after school? There’s a really cool spot I found at the docks that has an amazing view—would you wanna, maybe, see it?”"Really? Yeah, I wanna see!" The disbelief-turned-excitement that emanated from her was almost palpable, and in that instant, she had forgotten about a certain promise to return home immediately after school to rest. Her dads will understand once she goes and tells them this was Felix Brooks, and uh, how could she say no? They wouldn't be too upset with her… probably. If anything, Rory thought she could use her newly broken arm as leverage, at least for the remainder of the day.
C R E S T W O O D P O R T
Tuesday, August 21st, 2018 - 05:30 pm | The docks
“Amazing right?” Felix whispered to Rory as they faced the beautiful landscape.
They sat upon a hill with a colorful forestry surrounding them, and a prepossessing horizon of Crestwood’s Port to their front, casting a tender tranquility. The ambiance was full of pleasant sounds of nature—rustling trees, the crashing of delicate waves against the docks, boats rocking back and forth along the water as their bells knock at each other, echoing into the fall air. It was peaceful. The setting sun cascaded its last bit of warming rays, creating beautiful hues along the skyline to match the colors of the changing leaves.
Rory had no words to express just how amazing she thought it. Her eyes were unable to pull away from horizon, now set afire with colors. She inhaled deeply, soaking up the last vestiges of the late afternoon's warm glow. Unlike the sunrise, which felt vigorous and frenetic and infinite upon her skin and deep in her soul, the disappearing sun left her wistful and somber. She thought about her light, how she is only able to experience these strange but wonderful sensations because of it and how grateful she was for it. If only she could share this feeling with Felix. What would it take for him to see his abilities as something precious given to him? As a blessing that can help him do even more wondrous things.
As the cold of night approached shyly, Felix was unaffected by its chilling tenor, his attention drawn to the serenity of the moment. He kept his gaze fixated onto the view as he spoke,
“Aurora,” he stated,
“That’s a pretty fitting name for someone that brings so much light into the room.” Felix referred to her enticing personality that seemed to have a steady charm on him—one that pulled him in like nature’s calm—softly, effortlessly.
Rory's heart has been beating so irregularly during her time with Felix that another effortless display of charisma should have no longer affected her. Yet it had, and all at once her legs became jelly and her cheeks reddened. She wanted to make a joke about literally being able to light up a room, if only to release the sudden nervousness and bashfulness that overcame her, but she didn't want him to close up again. One thing she learned over the couple hours they'd chatted was that he was pretty darn good at skirting around topics that get too close to Hyperhumans or their abilities.
"Right back at ya," she said after a moment, when she was sure more than giddy gibberish would spill out of her lips. Felix meant fortunate and successful, and she thought nothing could be more apropos.
"I don't think you see it yet, but anybody would be lucky to be you."Felix denied it. He couldn’t seem to find any bit of validity in her statement, holding tight to his self-hatred that rooted itself like the trees that dress the horizon. He stared down towards his bracelet that subdued his abilities, rubbing the shiny silver band that confined him of his true self that Rory must’ve been referring to. Still, he acted as though he wasn’t listening even though his mind became stuck on the thought. Lucky—a term he could only hope would apply to himself one day.
Rory’s phone beeped right then, setting off the alarm she had put as reminder for the night's activity. The search party for Kaitlyn would be starting soon. Rory pouted as her hand begrudgingly tapped on the off button, a bit infuriated that the alarm ruined the lovely atmosphere. Even now, she was still worried that the past couple of hours was just a hallucination brought on by the painkillers she took earlier that day. Rory wanted to milk this rare time with Felix for as long as she could, but the logical part of her brain, however little it seemed to be, berated her about the importance of finding her missing schoolmate.
"Hey, so the search party's gonna start soon," Rory said, puppy dog eyes already in effect before she had even asked the favor.
"Wanna come?"Felix paused,
“What do you think happened to her?” he asked, coldly.
"I… I don't know," Rory had been too afraid to think of what could have happened to her, of what dangers could be lurking in the woods. She wanted to believe Kaitlyn was just waiting to be found, with just the most minor of injuries preventing her from going home herself.
"But I do know I want to help find her as soon as possible. Do you think we will?"Felix was a pessimist at heart, so he would only answer with some sort of morbid and dark response. He could just say no, but he also believed that she’s probably dead somewhere, rotting. Felix looked to Rory, feeling guilty for opposing her optimistic personality, so he saved her the lie he would’ve said if he were to say yes.
“Do you ever wish you had different powers? I mean, if I had a third-seeing eye or something like that, maybe she’d be found already.” Rory stared up at him with quiet wonder for a moment, beyond pleased that he'd brought up the topic when she knew he was very sensitive about it. Baby steps!
"I've thought about how cool it would be to teleport so I can go anywhere I want for free. And sometimes I think it'd be nice if I had powers like a genie. Then I can grant everyone's wishes!" She pursed her lips in thought as she seriously considered trading her current abilities for either, but she already knew her answer.
"But, no. My powers are a part of me and I don't think I can give it up for anything else." Rory raised her non-broken hand and moved it toward Felix as a small ball of light began forming on her palm. She closed her fingers around it, causing the orb to shatter into smaller pieces that floated around them like fireflies before fading.
"My dad told me before that it’s not what powers I have that matters, it’s what I choose to do with them. I'll light up the whole forest all night if that can help find Kaitlyn."Felix chuckled as her mind creatively stirred up other powers, watching her imagination take over. Teleportation would agreeably be useful, but granting wishes could be a heavy burden. The display of her powers amazed him, his blue eyes gleaming with the explosion of light, watching as the light scattered around them gracefully. Felix was mesmerized by the beauty of it,
“I guess that’s a fitting power for a girl like you,” he spoke with a wink. He listened to her, though—to her passion, to her kindness, to her selflessness. It was pleasant and relieving to find a girl that practiced such core values, but it triggered a sense of abiding chivalry, feeling it necessary to protect someone that made themself so vulnerable. It worried him. The way that she held her arms open so wide. He questioned her, bluntly, but without any means of offense,
“Why do you care so much about people? I feel like you’re too nice for your own good.” Rory laughed.
"Because all we have is each other, and hey, I'm just the right amount of nice, thank you very much." If she mulled it over longer, perhaps she'd have a better explanation for him, instead of just a treacly response that very well dismissed his own experiences. Or perhaps it was something he could experience for himself?
"Let's go find Kaitlyn. You'll see, there are people worth caring about."The invitation to come along invited all sorts of mixed feelings. There were many things to consider when making the choice, but his heart was pulled by her innocence. He ignored the foreseen lecture he'd get from his parents, and the possible remarks he could get from the jocks and cheerleaders who are attending. Instead he paid his attention to the opportunity to come back out of his shell, and attempt at friendships again. It was something about Rory that gave him a sliver of hope again; even though it was fragile, it was there regardless. He stood up.
“Sure,” he spoke simply with his signature smirk,
“Let’s go.” 
Benzaiten
Cubix
