Jax Donovan
November 15, 2015 7:03 PM
Werewolf? There wolf. (NANO CHALLENGE#2) by Jax Donovan
”Wake up, Buddy, you wake up!” He was being shaken awake and his dad’s hushed voice came in from somewhere in the dark.“What’s wrong?” He asked, opening his eyes and blinking away the sleep. He couldn’t see anything, which meant that it was still in the middle of the night. He could hear his dad moving around in the dark, “What’s going on?” He asked again, his voice still groggy from being woken up.
“We have to go Bud. Get your things.” His father whispered, there was a sense of urgency in his voice. Jax knew better than to talk back, so he quickly stood in the tent and began to pack his bag in the dark beside his father. In the distance, he heard a howl and froze. Fear ran his blood dry, “Daddy?” He whispered. These woods were supposed to be safe from dangerous creatures. Where there wolves here?
“I know, I heard it too. It’s getting closer. Just grab what you can and we’ll come back for the rest in the morning.” Jax did what he was told and moved as quickly as his five year old body would let him. They left the tent where it was and his father took his hand to lead him back through the forest but they didn’t make it further than the zipper of the tent. The growl was low, but it cut through the air and startled Jax. His dad froze and Jax clutched to him. “Jax, when I tell you to run, you run.”
“No Daddy!”
“Do as you are told!” His dad hissed at him. The growl came again; it was near the edge of the trees, no more than a couple of feet away. Jax knew that it was watching them. “You know how much I love you and your sister…” His father whispered, his eyes on the trees and his wand out. “Take care of your mother.”
Jax didn’t understand. Why was he dad talking like that? He was coming home too, right? Jax couldn’t get home without him! Jax needed him. Hot tears fell from his eyes. Jax didn’t want him to go away. He just wanted to go back to sleep and pretend this was all a bad dream.
His father pointed his wand at a rock not too far from them and whispered a spell. “Touch the rock and it’ll take you home to Mama.” Jax’s father squeezed his hand and Jax knew it was his way of telling him to be brave and that he loved him. Jax sniffled.
“Daddy…” Jax cried. The werewolf burst from the trees of the forest with a howl. Jax screamed as his father pushed him away, shouting for Jax to run. Jax let go of his father and ran, his back bag dropping to the ground in an effort to allow him to run faster. He heard his dad shouting spells behind him, the werewolf howl in pain but quickly snarl in anger.
But it was the scream that had him stop dead in his tracks. His dad scream. Jax turned and saw the wolf on top of him, his dad struggling to get his wand. “No!” Jax shouted. “No! DADDY!” Jax started to run back towards his dad, but his father screamed for him to stop, to run to the rock. There was blood. Jax saw blood.
“RUN JAX!” He dad screamed, choking and coughing on a red substance that Jax’s five year old mind didn’t want to think about. “Please…” His father begged. The wolf turned from his father to Jax. It was a slow calculating turn. It was almost as if he sensed his father’s need for his own son’s safety. Jax’s blue eyes widened in fear and took a step back. The growl was throaty and low, but Jax felt it in his bones. Jax turned and started running again towards the rock. It wasn’t far, but it felt like it was miles away. He was crying, the tears blurring his vision slightly. He heard his father yell and Jax turned to see the wolf was jump. Jax wasn’t fast enough.
He hit the ground hard on his side; the powerful paws of the wolf, pinning him. Someone was screaming. He saw the jaws on the wolf come down on him and the searing pain erupted through him. The screaming grew louder; it was him. He was screaming in agony. The wolf bit down again. Jax saw the world darken as he fought to stay awake. The wolf howled in pain and the heaviness left his chest as the wolf disappeared. Jax looked around in confusion. The wolf was thrown several feet away and his dad was turned toward him with his wand laying in his hands. “Run… son… love…” Jax could see the pain in his father’s eyes and he knew that he couldn’t save him. Sobbing and crying for his father, Jax twisted from the ground and reached for the stone. His hand grasped it just as the wolf regained his stance.
Jax saw his father for the last time as the portkey took him home.
The memory was his nightmare. Jax stood in Room Two of MARS, breathing heavily as he stood in the ring with his gloves on. He had a rough night last night. Sometimes the memory would surface unexpectantly and Jax would become overwhelmed by emotions that he tried so hard every day to push down and hide away. But today had been difficult. All day through his lessons, Jax could only think about his father and about that night. He didn’t want to be around anyone, including his sister. He had failed. His dad was dead and it was Jax’s fault. Jax had spent his dinner working on his boxing and avoiding people. If he could avoid his roommates, that would be even better.
He heard the door to the room open and Jax turned to see who was bothering him.
OOC: Title credit to Arnold Manger's author
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Jax Donovan
Werewolf? There wolf. (NANO CHALLENGE#2)
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Barnaby Pye
November 15, 2015 10:27 PM
<strike>Don't</strike> Poke the beast! by Barnaby Pye
Barnaby had noticed his roommate was missing at dinner. The absence of Jax when it wasn’t the full moon intrigued Barnaby. He had long ago decided that keeping quiet about the secret would be beneficial to him in the long run, but something inside him had mysteriously prevented him from telling Tarquin about it. His best friend with whom he shared everything remained ignorant about this one part of Barnaby’s life and the reasoning behind it was completely inexplicable to Barnaby who had’t done anything just for the sake of being kind in a long, long time.He excused himself from the table and went back to the dorm rooms. Not there. He wasn’t in the library either nor the Hospital Wing. Not being a complete idiot, Barnaby didn’t go wandering in the Labyrinth Gardens alone to find Jax—he didn’t care for his roomate that much and besides the only person he trusted enough to enter a labyrinth in the dark with was miles away at Hogwarts where he had been sorted into Slytherin. Barnaby had been sure his friend would have gone into Ravenclaw, after all that was almost the equivalent to Aladren, but knowing that he was in Slytherin hadn’t surprised him either.
As he made his way to the MARS rooms, he wondered what he would say if he found Jax there. They didn’t necessarily have a good relationship and it wasn’t like he was worried about how his roommate was doing, he didn’t want to ask after Jax’s health or anything. In fact, Barnaby didn’t really know why he was going after the werewolf. It wasn’t like they had much to say to each other, but something in him was compelling him to open the door to the sports room where he heard some noises escaping.
He opened the door and there was Jax. Barnaby leaned against the door frame confidently, his perfectly pressed slacks clean from any speck of dirt, his carefully buttoned collared shirt rolled up slightly to expose his thin wrists, his wire-frame spectacles sitting obnoxiously on the tip of his slightly upturned nose. “Well look at this,” he said. His voice had not yet completely dropped but it had started to and as a result certain tones came out deeper than most. He was lucky to have found a potion that masked cracking. Tarquin had actually looked up the ingredients for him, explaining that he wouldn’t have someone who sounded like an idiot as his best friend.
“Having fun sulking?”
Antagonizing his clearly upset roommate probably wasn’t the best idea Barnaby’d ever had but for some reason when it came to the Donovans he couldn’t help himself. Saying things to them that would likely upset them was just something he couldn’t help himself but to do, even when he was trying to be nice as was evident when he’d tried to get Gia to stop acting so ridiculous the last year in the hallway the day Jax’s secret had come out. And clearly he’d been right since he hadn’t heard a single word about the contagious disease circulating Cascade Hall during the Opening Feast which, in Barnaby’s limited experience, was usually gossip central. Granted he’d been rather ill that night with a migraine, but had he heard the word “disease” or “werewolf” he would have perked up immediately. He made a mental note to himself to let Gia know just how right he’d been in class the next day.
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Barnaby Pye
<strike>Don't</strike> Poke the beast!
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Barnaby Pye
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Jax
November 16, 2015 9:36 PM
Foaming at the Mouth by Jax
The corners of Jax’s mouth turned downward at the sight of his roommate. Not even the nice one either. If it had been Jack, Jax could have shrugged it off and continued on with what he was doing and let Jack to whatever he came here to do. But it was Barnaby. Barnaby didn’t do anything athletic as far as Jax was aware of so he really served no purpose in being in the Sports Room except to bother him.“How exactly does practicing my Boxing technique equate to sulking?” Jax asked. He had gone to his classes, ate his meals (minus dinner) and been all around present (albeit more solitary than maybe would be even normal for him), so he couldn’t exactly say what Barnaby saw about it. It wasn’t like Jax was avoiding her any more than he usually did, which is as much as he possibly could in regards to his roommate. He also made sure that Gia stayed away from him too (and, if he were being honest, he watched out for Peizhi and Laila to see if they ended up paired with him and therefore, if he needed to step in for any reason). The last thing he needed was Barnaby feeling like he had any right over Jax’s sister or his friends.
“What are you, stalking me?” Jax asked, his voice had long since lost the boyish sound to it but had not yet reached the depth of a man’s. Jax would be turning fourteen in a couple of days and along with it, the anniversary of his father’s death. This was most likely what spurred the memory in the first place. His birthday was something he never thought was a cause for celebration, but his mother and sister always insisted on doing so in the hopes of making him feel better. But all Jax saw on this day was the blood and the look in his father’s eyes before he portkeyed away. He didn’t know if his birthday would be anymore more than the worst day of his life.
“If you don’t mind, I’m busy and you’re just getting in the way.” Barnaby physically seemed fragile and weak. The opposite of his older brother, Professor Pye, who seemed confident and trained. Jax did not understand how the two of them were from the same parents, so he wondered (not enough to ever ask) if perhaps Barnaby was from a different marriage or something. Jax really didn’t have the energy or patience for his roommate at the moment. All he wanted to do was keep at his boxing and forget the world around him.
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Jax
Foaming at the Mouth
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Barnaby
November 19, 2015 3:47 PM
That doesn't sound healthy. by Barnaby
The frustrated look that appeared on Jax’s face as he realized who it was had walked in on him satisfied the desire in Barnaby and just with that he felt as though he had finished what he’d set out to accomplish. That being said, Jax was talking now so Barnaby didn’t want to just leave. That could be considered rude…“I don’t know,” Barnaby said with a shrug in response to Jax’s question. “You tell me. You don’t look particular happy one can only assume this is a sulk. Do you need to talk?” The offer was said in such a mocking way there was no way Jax could misconstrue Barnaby’s words as genuine concern even if there was a part of him that, against his better judgment, called for concern about Jax’s well-being. If the school’s lone werewolf was unhappy that didn’t bode well for anyone.
“But stalking is a bit of a harsh word, don’t you think?” Barnaby continued, his voice smooth and pretty even-toned. His roommate was older than him and as a result had a deeper voice, but Barnaby had never let his emotion sneak into his speech and as a result he had always presented as an adult even when he was younger. “Can’t I just be a concerned citizen?”
Okay, so that last sentence had a bit of a scornful tone to it that matched his earlier question of wondering if Jax needed to talk to someone, but he was entitled to a bit of derision now and then, especially when the person he was talking to could be so morose at times. There was just something about Jax and Gia that compelled Barnaby to be the biggest ass he could possibly be. However, when things got too hot in the kitchen, Barnaby was out. He might like to provoke Jax but he wasn’t an idiot, he knew the other boy was stronger and that he himself had not inherited the same genes as Alfie—Barnaby wasn’t a fighter, he was the guy who sat in the back in the suit and played with people.
“By all means, go ahead, I’m not even here,” and as quickly as he appeared, Barnaby ducked out of the room.
Whether Jax followed him or not was up to his roommate. Part of Barnaby wanted Jax to leave the sports room, to give him some twisted sign that he cared. But he would have to wait and see. And if Jax stayed in the sports room then Barnaby would simply go down to Cascade Hall and let his sister know that he had so magnanimously found her missing brother and that she was welcome because he had kept his word to her and continued to protect them. After all, if he hadn’t gone to check on Jax who knew what could have happened to him? Kidnappers, perhaps.
OOC: Thanks Arnold haha
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Barnaby
That doesn't sound healthy.
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Jax
November 23, 2015 10:08 PM
It's an allergic reaction to your presence. by Jax
Jax did not refrain from rolling his eyes in Barnaby’s direction when the other Aladren made mention of Jax’s natural looking facial structure. Honestly, he really felt that Barnaby took too much of an interest in Jax and his feeling or health. “Gee, I didn’t realize you were so concerned for my well-being.” Jax commented blandly. “Next time, in order to avoid your feelings of concern and possible heartache, I’ll be sure to notify you of when I plan to come to the MARS Sports Room. Would that make you really happy?” His voice naturally went to talking to Barnaby like he was a small child that needed to be reassured or a puppy that needed coddling.“A concerned citizen who knows an awful lot of what my business is.” Jax replied, his voice low with boredom. “You seem to always appear wherever I am, even when I tell no one where I am going to be. So, unless you are a mind reader, and I highly doubt that you are, you would have to be following me around.” Jax stated. Following someone around was just the polite way of saying someone was a stalker. He didn’t feel like going around in circles though, so he left that part out of his statement. Still, he didn’t feel he was wrong in believing that his roommate had a weird thing when it came to Jax and his sister.
Jax was surprised to find his roommate leave upon his request. He would have expected some sort of fight from his roommate. Some snarky response or defiant ‘no’ at being told to get lost. But that didn’t happen. Of course, Jax didn’t know what that left them. Did Jax do something that was a satisfactory response to Barnaby’s weird games? Or was he going to go off and bother someone else just for kicks? Jax really didn’t understand any of this, but he didn’t have the thought process to really work it out.
In a couple of days, Gia will give Jax a small birthday cake and they will sit together in the gardens to remember their father. Their mother would be alone during this time and Jax will feel immensely guilty for that. But Gia will insist that once their moment of remembrance is over, they will have to celebrate the remaining day for his birthday. This is what they did every year and would continue to do so each coming year.
Maybe, someday, Jax would actually enjoy the celebration.
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Jax
It's an allergic reaction to your presence.
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Jax
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