=== rebel Y E L L, tag: zaire~

[Morgan Scott!]

There were certain warning signs that even freshmen picked up on within the first week of being at Nemare Academy. From the boy who lit cigarettes from the flame balancing on his thumb to the one kneeling in the corridor next to some contraption or other he'd built, complete with aesthetic-purposes-only spikes, there were villains all around, and not being able to spot the warning signs... well, that just made the average person a sitting duck. Bullies at this school were more creative - and more powerful - than elsewhere. At normal high schools, no one had to worry about being turned into a small woodland creature if a particular girl was having a bad day. No one had to worry about being bitten by a creature with fangs as long as their hand. Here at Nemare, however... that was all in a day's work for most people.

One person who very rarely worried about stuff like that, for the simple reason that she was someone to fear rather than someone who feared, was Morgan Scott. The spiky-haired senior had made sure to establish herself as someone to watch around here, as high up on the school food chain as she could possibly go. Which, given her talent at scaring the bejeesus out of people, and at making the right alliances at the right time, was pretty damn high. Yes, at this stage, Morgan pretty much ruled the roost as far as she was concerned. Oh, sure, there were some people with magic who might be able to rival the levels of fear she inspired, but they could hardly count. After all, fancy illusions created at the snap of a finger were obviously worth less on the scale of bullying awesome than physically making big boys cry for mummy. The senior was a very direct kind of person.

Right now, she was directing herself at a very unfortunate (obviously freshman) kid, who had dared to try and climb up the stairway she was sitting on after she had explicitly forbidden him from doing so. Why? This was her stairway right now, she had claimed it. Like any lost child from a family overflowing, possession wasn't just nine-tenths of the law; possession was everything. Besides, she had told Banzai and Ed to meet her here later, when the two were finally released from one of many, many detentions. It was only interesting as more than a passing comment because Morgan had, this time, managed to get out of it, so she was not currently suffering (read: drawing on desks, annoying people and nicking other people's extra food) with them. In any event, she'd told this stupid little kid to find another tower to study in, and he'd tried to make a break for it. He was still rolling on the floor from the kick to the stomach he'd taken when he'd tried to jump over her. Idiot.

Slowly, with a wide, unpleasant grin on her face, Morgan got to her feet and strolled over to the freshman, standing over him with her hands on her hips. "Get up, dweeb. Come on." She chuckled, her laugh as dischordant and spine-chilling as any real hyena's whooping giggles. "You started this. And you're going to finish it." Ah, a spark of fire - the kid was clambering to his feet, pale as a ghost. Morgan gave his narrow chest a shove, making him stagger a pace backwards. "Listen up, punk, and listen up good," she said, grinning widely, displaying disconcertingly pointy teeth. Even as a human Morgan could be pretty damn scary, even despite her height and her gender. "It's about time you learned how things work around here..."

[Zaire King]

Zaire wasn't up to much of anything really on this particular day. He'd finished up his workout and various things he'd needed to get done. So he'd decided to swing by the library. Why? Because he did have a summer class and he needed a book for some research. So off he'd gone. It hadn't taken him long to find said book, check it out and be on his way. Really, the librarian was rather nice and Zaire was a good student (most of the time) so no hassle in checking things out. Book successfully checked out, all he needed was his notebook and a place to study.

He figured the tower might be a good place to study but his notebook was in his room so he went there first. It took him a minute to find the blasted thing. He hadn't cleaned his room in a couple of days and well things were strewn everywhere. Being a typical teenage boy he decided to put it off for another day.

So notebook acquired he headed off to the tower to get some studying in. Of course he'd rather have been outside. It was summer, what sane teenager wouldn't want to be outside? Plus he was getting rather restless having been stuck with classes recently and not being able to get in some practice with his karate. He'd been excited to find that one of the students, a sophomore girl by the name of Ah-hin, knew karate and was willing to teach him a few pointers and give him a sparring partner. Needless to say he was excited about that.

Not so much about studying. Oh well it needed to be done and as the saying went 'If you want something done, better do it yourself'. He rounded the corner, reaching the landing of the stairs to the tower in time to see a rather petite senior girl and scared looking freshmen kid at the base of the stairs. Having not been paying attention, he hadn't heard the eerie laughter, reminiscent of a hyena's whooping laugh. But he did hear Morgan's threat.

Oh this could be bad.

"Hey what's going on here?" Zaire demanded brown eyes zeroing in on Morgan. He took an instant dislike to the senior, something about her frightened him as much as it pissed him off. The fact that it felt like it was coming from his reincarnation didn't help either, just made it more confusing. Sometimes it was hard to tell where he ended and his spirit began. But he'd worry about that another day.

[Morgan Scott!]

"Hey what's going on here?"

Slowly, allowing herself the luxury of menace simply because it was one she could well afford, Morgan swivelled in the direction of the newcomer. Her dark eyes flicked over him quickly, checking him out. The colour of his skin was irrelevant to her; she just wanted to know if there were some special reason why she shouldn't completely ignore him. Besides the broad shoulders hinting at future musculature, she didn't see a single thing worth her worrying about. She only recognised him vaguely, so there was no chance he was a senior, or even a junior. That only left the ridiculous but entirely believable scenario of his being a sophomore or freshman too stupid to know better than to interupt her when she was busy. The bright ones caught on quickly... but others had to have more concrete lessons before they got it.

"Excuse me?" she said, her voice low, and cocked her head to one side. It wasn't that she hadn't heard him. Quite the contrary. However, it was commonly known that asking someone to repeat something that one has heard perfectly well is the modern equivalent of slapping them with a glove or asking them none-too-politely to step outside. It always came before a fight, and one that wouldn't be going in the other person's favour either. A soft chuckle welled up and escaped from her parted lips, increasing in volume. Morgan kind of liked the fact that she had a laugh that was at times genuinely disturbing. It was like she was perfectly kitted out to become a horror movie villain - and wasn't that a thread worth hanging above people's heads? Everyone from her parents to her teachers were creeped out by her laugh when she wanted them to be. In fact, probably the only people she couldn't freak out on a whim were her best friends, but then why the hell would she want to? They were idiots, true, but they were her boys! The three of them freaked other people out, not the other way around.

She glanced back at the quivering freshman and flashed him a grin containing far too many teeth for comfort. "This a friend of yours?" She smiled widely when the kid, panicked, looked between her and the new guy, trying to determine whether yes or no would be the right answer. "Five out of five doctors recommend not lying to Morgan," she added, conversationally. It didn't matter if he knew her name; in fact, it was better that way. After all, she had a not inconsiderable reputation backing her up here. She wasn't just some idiot making trouble - she could back up every threat she made (and gleefully would). The kid trembled so much it was hard to tell the difference, but eventually she made out a shake of the head. Her gaze swung back onto the new guy. There was something about him... something more familiar than a face glimpsed in a corridor. She arched an eyebrow at him. It would become clear soon. It generally did.

[Zaire King]

As the girl turned to him, Zaire had the inexplicable urge to cower under her sharp scrutiny. He hid it, but that bothered him. He wasn't afraid of some no good bully who thought she was all that and a bag of chips to boot! And that was all this senior girl was to him. His eyes narrowed and his expression went flat as she obviously found him not worth her attention. Her question had him raising an eyebrow, though he didn't rise to her bait. Her laugh sent a chill running down his spine. That laugh was eerie and reminded him of a hyena's cackle for some reason he couldn't explain. It only served to make him more irritated under the facade of calm he was keeping in place.

"Don't give me that bull. I know you heard me." Zaire snapped back, temper getting the better of him briefly. If this girl wanted a fight, she'd get it despite Zaire's normal motto 'I don't hit girls'. Morgan might be the exception to that rule. He was fast beginning to loathe her and that just wasn't like him. He could normally give people the benefit of the doubt but Morgan was making that extremely hard to do. He sighed and rolled his eyes as Morgan continued to torment the freshmen kid. Honestly this was getting old fast. Was this all that bullies could come up with? Really it was so stereotypical that it made him want to gag.

"Well good we got that out of the way. I don't know him, he doesn't know me. Now why don't you leave him be." Zaire commented folding his arms across his chest as he met Morgan's gaze with a level one of his own. He would hold his own if only to get the kid away from Morgan. He also wanted to find out why the hell she made him so nervous. There was something about her that was familiar somehow, like a half-remembered melody. It was going to bug him until he figured it out so why not ask the source directly?

It made sense in his mind anyway.

"Besides, I don't think he'd taste too good." he added a bit of a cheeky grin flickering across his lips. He was trying to figure out how this girl worked and stall a bit for time until he actually worked out a plan. Bad thing about happening on a situation like this. Not a lot of time to form a plan.

[Morgan Scott!]

"Don't give me that bull. I know you heard me."

The instinctive bravado of his words made Morgan chuckle again, an unpleasant smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Could it be that Mister Hero actually thought that sticking his oar in here would go well - for him or for her original target? This was exactly the kind of attitude that made her quite glad to be part of the 'villain' subcategory of the student body. Being a called hero seemed to put stupid ideas in people's heads, and make them think of themselves as invincible even when all the evidence begged to differ. This was the real world. No do-gooder was going to triumph over Morgan on the strength of their 'goodness' alone. Far from it. Morgan was a pragmatic girl; she didn't put much faith in stories. This attitude had been rewarded time and time again by that look of sudden realisation on the face of some hero or heroine that perhaps they may have blundered in too deep. This was the real world, and only the fit could survive.

"Well good we got that out of the way. I don't know him, he doesn't know me. Now why don't you leave him be."

How precious. Morgan's grin widened. "Leave him be?" she repeated, grabbing the hapless freshman's collar, in case he had any ideas about escaping while she was distracted. "But we were just talking." She feigned innocence with too much implicit sarcasm for anyone to be taken in by it. "I was giving him some friendly advice." Well, in a way, this was true. After all, instead of throwing him out of the tower window, giving him a wedgie he'd never forget, or setting his pants alight, she had been informing him of the lie of the land around here. The other stuff might (actually, it was more of a certainty than 'might' implied) have followed, but all this idiot had seen her do was offer guidance to a sweet little freshman. From that perspective, she was simply doing her duty as a senior - as if anyone could say that phrase with a straight face. As far as Morgan was concerned, her duty as a senior was to put the fear of Morgan into every freshman by the end of the year, and ensure it stayed there throughout the rest of their schooling.

Stepping forward, dragging the freshman with her, she offered Mister Hero Complex a wide grin. "What were you going to suggest?" she asked, her movements intimidating despite the height difference between them. Her dark eyes sparkled with malicious mischief as they flicked up and down, and then met Zaire's eyes challengingly, daring him to cross her just so she could enjoy dishing out retribution. "That I should replace his company with... yours?" Her eyebrow quirked upwards on the last word, not so much a suggestion as a prediction of the due 'reward' for interrupting her fun. Laughing unkindly, she jerked the freshman forward, patting him condescendingly on the head. "If not... get in line. Queue-barging is so rude." Again, she laughed, and then turned back to the freshman, as though Mister Hero Complex were not even interesting or important enough to warrant any further attention from her. When antagonising idiots, Morgan knew exactly which buttons to push. "Where was I...?"

[Zaire King]

That laugh could get annoying... Zaire mused as Morgan brushed him off as unimportant again. And really he wasn't sticking his oar anywhere. He was sticking up for the underdog thank you. She probably wouldn't realize the difference but oh well too bad for her. He actually didn't consider himself a hero he just couldn't stand bullies at all. He scowled darkly as Morgan opened her mouth again, dragging the poor freshman along with her. Great just great. He rolled his eyes at her words, clearly not believing her one bit. Oh sure he knew she could back up her threats, that was a given. He wasn't going to let her get away with this.

"Friendly advice my ass." he replied sarcastically. "I really doubt threatening him is going to be taken as 'talking'." he added raising an eyebrow slightly. He snorted as Morgan continued. Now, he wasn't an idiot, but he did not like people ignoring him as if he were nothing. That didn't sit well with him one little bit. Yeah Morgan knew how to push buttons alright, and he was getting more and more irritated. He really didn't want to deal with a bully, he wanted to study but he was here and this needed to be done really. He'd also finally figured out why Morgan made him nervous.

Stupid hyenas.

He stepped forward, gripping Morgan's arm with a firm grip just short of possibly being bruising. "I said, leave him be. I won't say it again." he spoke his voice dangerous as he glared at the hyena reincarnate. Great just fucking great he was dealing with Shenzi and he had no back up. He didn't count the freshman who would be of no use to him right now being as scared as he was. This was just brilliant wasn't it?

Where was Nala when he needed her?

---

Fail reply is fail but up ;n;

[Morgan Scott!]

"Friendly advice my ass. I really doubt threatening him is going to be taken as 'talking'."

A look of concern flickered across Morgan's face for a moment: that was as long as she could sustain it. "You might need to get your ears checked, kid," she drawled, her New York accent pooling around the base of every word. "I wasn't threatening him." She turned to look at the kid in question, who had gone very pale by now, looking between the two older students worriedly. Obviously it mattered to him which one of them won their argument - although from the way he flinched when addressed it was clear that he didn't think very much of Zaire's chances. Mind you, any freshman would flinch when the focus of Morgan's attention fell on them; it invariably meant that they were about to get hurt. "We were just talking, right?" She arched an eyebrow, leaning her body a little towards him, and got a soft 'r-right' in response. It was amazing how intimidating a girl as petit as she was could be with just a stance or a look. (It was a talent she had been working on for some time.)

She flicked her gaze back to the younger boy, tipping her head slightly to the side to gage his reaction to this. Obviously, a leap-before-looking heroic type like him would accuse her of extortion and discount the kid's words, but was that her fault? She was the one trying to show willing. It was very hard not to grin at that thought. The only willing she was trying to show was a willingness to do whatever the hell it took to get him to go away and stop interfering. Hero types could be so annoying like that. Morgan had her own perfectly reasonable motivations for everything that she did - even if that motivation was simply 'because it's fun' - so she didn't see why Mister Hero Complex and his friends always felt the need to interfere. It never served any purpose, anyway. The only way that anyone could get Morgan to pay attention to anything other than her own plans was by appearing powerful enough to make her plans for them change. It didn't seem likely that any sophmore was going to be able to achieve that without pulling something seriously impressive out of his hat.

"I said, leave him be. I won't say it again."

Morgan went very still as the sophmore moved forward, daring to lay a hand on her. She sniffed, her inner hyena finally roused enough to identify that distinct tang of lion. Ahh. That explained quite a lot. People were always so stupidly serious about canon around here. Tilting her head back, she smiled up at Zaire - probably not the reaction he was expecting. "Get your hand off me," she said, sweetly, "before I break it off." Already several jokes about him not being able to handle her and so on were floating around in her mind, but she kept a lid on it for now. There would be plenty of time to amuse herself with puns later. Once she'd put this catastrophe in his place. Her smile broadened.


[[ sorry for the delay, darl <3 ]]