s a v a g e s

Sonho didn’t seem to be all too bothered that Atticus was still being a bit snappy with him. It was quite clear that the elder had wanted to deal with the bully himself, but it had been the perfect opportunity. And besides, the idiot he had left up there a couple of hours ago needed some company. So really he was doing the bully a favour by just dumping him on the roof, at least he wasn’t alone up there. Of course, he’d go and get the two down again later, or some staff would come along and do that for him, and probably get him another detention, but it was not like they could prove anything. Anyone could have left the bullies on the roof. 

“ Should I have gone with the pool? ” He wondered after a moment, frowning just a little. “ But don’t worry about it, he won’t be doing it again. He started wailing, apparently, he’s scared of heights. ” Which just made this all the more amusing and Sonho was going to make sure that if he tried anything again, he was teleporting him somewhere even higher. Maybe the roof a skyscraper. 

who wouldn’t have wanted to deal with a bully themselves? a bully that atticus was completely done with, and had had to deal with near everyday at this point because god, the amount that he loved to try and torment atticus was bullshit. but still, it was nice to know that sonho had his back, even if he was irritated at the fact he’d done his job for him now. either way, next time he saw the asshole, atticus wasn’t even going to let him spit words before he attacked him, because he still needed to teach him his own lesson. 

“if you were going to drown him, sure.“ he muttered, words both bitter, but also there was an unsureness of if he was joking or not about that. even he didn’t know. “put him on a skyscraper next, but he’s gonna be scared of cats next time.“ he growled, words almost unintelligible with the growl.

As much as she tried to be positive, Aiko wasn’t immune to negative emotions. As if being looked down on wasn’t enough, she didn’t seem to be improving with her skills very much at all. She didn’t really know what to expect. Would her powers evolve? Would they become more water based or more air like? Or would she be stuck as a human bubble-machine for the rest of her days? Bubbles weren’t too bad, she supposed, but they definitely weren’t hero-worthy. Thankfully, swimming helped ease her frustrations for a little while, but as the hours passed and it grew time to leave, Aiko made a point to walk slowly back to her dorm. With her head in the clouds and her hair soaked with chlorinated water, she was hardly paying attention enough to notice the person coming her way. Or to avoid a collision.

atticus had a preference to the evening and night time, which was probably a shitty thing given that if anyone needed to sleep enough, it was him. but tonight he’d decided that with no classes tomorrow until late, he could deal with spending some time to himself walking. he just hadn’t counted on colliding with someone, and an involuntary hiss came from his lips as they both fell to the ground. with his cat reflexes though, it wasn’t difficult for him to push himself back up again.. leaving the female on the ground anyway. but it was also then the panther kid realised that the girl had been wet, or her hair had been, and now so was he, which had him growling a little too. he really did hate water.. “watch where the fuck you’re going, christ..” apparently avoiding have to deal with people was becoming harder. either way, his ears flattened defensively against the top of his head, and she was probably lucky he hadn’t scratched her on impact out of his instincts.

His words struck a sort of nerve, her mind finding a not so distant memory of home. She could hear a voice in her head, the one she dreaded most. She’s too tiny and frail, you expect her to be the oh so great superhero you two never could? Preposterous, who would rely on a thing like her? Who would even give her the time of day let alone remember she’s there? You’re wasting your time. Hyori’s smile slowly faded away as she looked down at the books in her lap. A small defeated laugh left her lips, yet she didn’t look up at him. “Yeah..I suppose you’re right.” She fumbled a bit as she made an attempt to get up, her hands phasing through the books in her lapse of focus before she regained control and managed to grab them.

the reaction he got from her, it only made his brow raise in response because well, atticus wan’t a stranger to his words hitting nerves in people. he didn’t care about others emotions after all or how his words were taken. but there was curiosity in her reaction. “if you can’t accept the words that someone says, or the way that someone’ll talk to you. then you’re never going to survive here.” his atticus’ response instead as he watches her hands phase through her books. anyone else might’ve tried comforting her, but why did he even need to think about that when he didn’t want to? “if you’re not important, people’ll won’t care about you. if you don’t have a significant power or ability, people will forget you. even if you do something amazing, people will always forget you, because that’s how life works. everyone forgets everyone, even if you have powers. and even if they once cared.” he shifted again, his gaze not kind, or caring, much like his words. “if you can’t deal with someone saying that they don’t know you, and they don’t care though, then you’re never going to make it anywhere, because letting one person’s words affect you is one of the biggest weaknesses.”

this is awkward. all of this is so awkward. minguk shifts uncomfortably, looking around at anywhere but atticus. he has to make this right, rework that bad impression into a good impression. how he’s going to do that is the question he needs to find the answer to. “ o-okay, ” he stammers. “ we just met so i don’t want to ask what’s your life story and all, but if you wanna talk about it, i’m all— ” he glances at atticus’s ears. cat ears? “ i’m guessing i need to be at like, stage 4 of friendship to get your tragic backstory. ” 

well, that was the question that atticus was expecting in some form anyway. “yes, i do like piper.” was his answer then, because well, atticus was straight forward and it didn’t really mean he had to go further on the topic either. he liked piper, a lot more than he liked other people anyway, and sometimes that thought scared him– much like the feelings in his first relationship had too. because atticus wasn’t made to be loved or fall in love– but here he was.

his head tilted a little at the question, “what do you mean.. what’s going on between us?” he frowned a little bit then, scratching behind his neck with the fact he had a feeling of what was being implied in the question, but.. “she’s one of my closest friends.. i’ll need a more detailed question to know what you’re asking though.”

“why would i ever want to thank my father for turning me into a beast because he wasn’t patient enough to wait and see if my power developed?“ the fact someone had the nerve to even ask him that made him angry honestly. “i’d sooner kill him than even think about thanking him. so it’s probably a good fucking thing he’s fucked off to god knows where.“

“sad?“ his face was impassive still at the question and thought about it. “no. i’m angry. i’m angry this even happened in the first place, and i’m angry with everyone that even as the nerve to try and attack me for it.“ he growled out instead, because the thought of his power was enough to set him off. “it’s not even a power. it’s a mutation from my genetics. so no i’m not sad, and i don’t care if no one can relate. and i’d only be lonely if i actually wanted to be around anyone– and i’m fine being alone. then i don’t need to deal with people.“

“I…there was no where else to sit….I really didn’t mean to,” she apologized once more. Despite his growl she took note of how he didn’t dwell on her blunder and accepted her apology. Which made her think that this person possibly wasn’t as vicious as he had initially made himself out to be, grumpy yes, but not vicious like others she knew. Hearing his warning to be careful she gave him a nod and made an x symbol on her chest over the area where her heart was. “I promise I will….uhm…Atticus right? I’ve seen you around campus last year.”

maybe if he’d been more tired on in a lighter stage of sleep upon just falling asleep, he’d have been angered more by it to the point of snapping a little more. but right now, he was at least in the zone of being civil despite his still simmering annoyance upon being woken up when it could’ve been avoiding. “well.. be careful next time when he sit down.“ he muttered, because he didn’t really care if there was nowhere else to sit. he just cared about his sleep. “atticus. yea.“ he nodded a little, deciding not to dwell on the ‘seen him around part’ because really, who hadn’t? it wasn’t exactly easy to not know the kid with animal features after all. “i don’t know who you are though, and honestly i don’t really care either. i’ll probably forget your name in an hour anyway.“

If there was one thing he didn’t like, it was bullies. While sure, he was all for messing with people and having a laugh, but he didn’t go out of his way to purposefully pick on people. He might be classed as a bit of an asshole who didn’t care about other people, Sunho still had standards and he was not going to stand there and let other people take the piss of someone just because they happened to be different and didn’t fit in. Atticus fit that description perfectly, what with the ears and tail and the whole ‘feline’ thing going for him. Sunho didn’t think it was weird, it was actually pretty cool, but some people clearly thought it was the prefect material to laugh about. 

He had been leaning up against one of the lockers watching everything. While he hadn’t thought he was going to step in, the comment about caging the boy up finally caused him to snap. “ Ya! ” He snapped, quickly teleporting behind the other student, as it was faster than walking, grabbed him by the arm and the next second, they both vanished from the hallway. It only took a couple of seconds before Sunho reappeared again by himself, offering Atticus a rather lazy grin as he smugly shoved his hands into his pockets. 

“ Oh, sorry. Did you want to deal with him yourself? He’s currently… enjoying the view. ” 

when sonho reappeared in front of him.. atticus could only stare at him with the same anger that had been burning him up before, but only because the younger had disappeared and reappeared as fast as he’d come really. so it took him a few moments for his anger to start settling back into his place, to stop himself from jumping at his friends instead, because it wasn’t sonho that had done that. it wasn’t the younger that had pissed him off-- though atticus was still decently annoyed at the fact that well, he couldn’t fight his own battle this time because of the other, and his cheeky words kind of confirmed that. 

“i’ll assume roof since you came right back,“ there was still a bite of anger, slight hissing, to his words then as he replied. and as much as atticus liked that the other had done that, he still liked the idea of clawing at the bullies skin to give him a taste of his medicine in taunting someone that definitely shouldn’t be taunted. “as much as i appreciate it, i’d rather you brought him down so i can show him why he shouldn’t do shit like this.“

—                “ I was thinking of you— Because it would be really embarrassing if you had to be put down by a… what did you call me? No brain girl? Was that it? ” She was well aware people who never liked her would talk about her, but it was STUPID of them to think she wouldn’t K N O W. It was clear, most times, and she was even more PISSED OFF when there were arguments going on for nothing, stupid or fake rumours and complaints about how she was STUPID. She wasn’t, truly, but she couldn’t quite get her head in school either. There were many other things she enjoyed. “ Looking at MY FACE is sure something many people would like, YOU though… Mmm…. ”

oh… that’s not the reaction he was expecting. minguk stares at kit– atticus with wide eyes and raised brows. “ shit, man, i’m sorry, ” he says, holding his hands up in surrender. guilt starts to settle in, and now he just feels shitty. “ i thought it’d be cute, that’s all. if i touched a nerve, i didn’t mean to hurt you intentionally. ” then he puts down his hands and puts a distance between the other male. “ my name’s minguk and i’m sorry. ”

my darkest days have come, and pulled me under--

                                                                     want my moments in the sun.

atticus xie - moodboard 1/? {piper} ft. @piperimp