The Forgotten Zodiac

Werr watched the exchange quietly, allowing himself to pulled away. "What was that about?" He asked, not knowing Daain personally. "Not that you have to tell. I'm just curious, I suppose." He said, looking over his shoulder at the kid. "Yeah, I usually sit by myself...I've caught people copying off of my work, after all. Even though I miss half the classes, I still get higher marks, and they know it. Shameful on their part, really."

"Eh, nothing important." Welk said, still with a firm grip on Werr's wrist. "He stuck some gum on my tail two days ago, and I was just letting him know what would happen if he did that again. Look at what I had to have done to my tail to get it off."

He stopped in the hallway and held his tail around in front, turning it over so Werr could see that a decent sized patch of the Half-cat's fluffy blonde fur was missing. "Cynyr had to cut it out of my fur." Welk said unhappily. "You can't see it unless I point it out specifically, but it still looks ridiculous."

He frowned, then let go of his tail and resumed walking.

"Oh. That's terrible, why would anyone do such a thing?" Werr frowned. How rude and inconsiderate. It was odd to see someone with cat ears and a tail, but that didn't mean you went around sticking gum in their fur. "So what are you going to do if he does it again?" He asked curiously as they arrived at the door to class.

"Well, I won't go into the details, but it involves several dead fish, a wheelbarrow, and the loss of one of his ears." Welk said, his face completely straight as he spoke. "But that's only if I can't find any frogs. If I can find a couple of really big frogs, I can-OOF!" The Half-cat was cut off as he slammed into someone who had just been coming out of the class room. "Oh, sorry!" Welk said, scrambling backwards. "I wasn't-"

"Looking where you were going?" Cynyr finished, dusting himself off disdainfully where Welk had walked into him. "What else is new?" he said grumpily, bending down to pick up his scattered school books.

Werr blinked in surprise. He stooped down and picked up a couple books for Cynyr, holding them out to him. "You dropped these." He said quietly, wondering if he should just ignore what Welk had said before and just apologize. "You didn't catch a cold from walking home in the rain, did you?" He asked.

Cynyr glared at Werr, debating whether or not he wanted to take the books, then reached out and cautiously took them. "No, I most certainly did not catch a cold." he said curtly, turning on his heel and walking back into the room without another word.

Welk fumed at him, then motioning towards the room with his head and said "Come on." to Werr. He led the older boy in, casting Cynyr suspicious glances.

"That's good, I suppose." Werr said. Getting sick was awful to him, as it happened a lot. He followed Welk in, making his way to his seat in the back. Might as well just leave Cynyr and Welk to it, he supposed. It wasn't really his business.

Welk sat down in his normal seat next to Cynyr's chair, but neither boy looked at each other or spoke. The tension between them was nearly palpable. The day passed as such. They hardly spoke more than a few words to each other until lunch time, and then it was only if they absolutely had to speak.

During lunch, Welk sought Werr out again. Most of the kids had journeyed outside to eat lunch, or had come outside once they were done eating. Welk didn't see Werr at first, but he was nearly bursting with pent-up energy at this point, and he didn't have the patience to look for him anymore.

He raced over to a tree on the outskirts of the school yard and leaped up into the branches, quickly climbing up into the leaves. He worked his way all the way up to the top, then back down. Once he was down, he made his way back up again, expending his energy as best as he could.

Werr finally made his way outside. He had been finishing up a few questions on the homework before getting up to leave. He immediately spotted Welk running up and down the tree. He couldn't help but laugh a bit at the sight, and moved over to see him at once. "Welk, you're going to hurt yourself," He smiled a bit. "Are you always so full of energy?"

"Huh?" Welk said, hearing Werr's voice. "Werr? Is that-WOAH!" His question was cut off as he lost his concentration on where he was putting his limbs, and his foot slipped off of the branch it was on. He let out a piercing shriek, then fell out of the tree. A few seconds before he was about to hit the ground, however, he quickly flipped his whole body around and landed neatly on his feet. "Jeez, that was a close one." he said, standing up and panting. He turned his attention over to the other boy and grinned. "Hey Werr!" he said, trotting over to him.

Werr looked a little shocked. He thought Welk was going to be seriously hurt, but apparently not. It would have been his fault too. Werr shook his head. "Good grief, don't scare me like that. I thought you had really fell!" He sighed. "But I suppose it makes sense, you are a cat. Half-cat. Did you talk to Cynyr about coming to see my father's collection room yet?" He asked, quickly recovering from that shock.

Welk stopped next to him and glanced around nervously. "No." he finally said. "I haven't spoken to him about it. In fact, I've barely spoken to him at all. We usually always talk and chat when we see each other, even if it's just me talking to him. This is...different." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't like being mad at him, but he was totally wrong yesterday. I know I didn't exactly help, telling him he would never be my real brother and all that, but he didn't have to get so mad just because I was in your house. He was a jerk." He glanced across the yard, only to spot Cynyr right off.

The black-haired Half-cat was sitting under a tree on the far side of the school yard, diligently reading through his school books. He was already working on the homework he had received for his earlier classes, getting them done quickly and effectively.

((Bullies are about to come in and start ruining things.))

((Oh boy! Pick on Werr, he's non-magical-explody and easy to pick on, 'cuz it goes against his rules to fight back unless his life is really in danger. xDD))

"It's alright. Do what you feel you need to, I suppose." Werr nodded, smiling a bit. "I don't really have much of a say in it, but from my perspective, you were both in the wrong. You didn't have to say such things, Welk, and yes, Cynyr could have been a little nicer about you staying overnight. That's just my perspective on things. You both owe each other an apology, simple as that. I read somewhere that the best of friends fight a lot, but their friendship is only reinforced by those things, because they can make it up to each other."

Welk gave Werr a flat look and said "You read too many books." He glanced back over at Cynyr, then suddenly flattened his ears back against his head and muttered "Oh great..." A group of older teenage boys were making their way over towards Welk and Werr, sneers on their faces.

"Well, look what the Half-cat dragged in!" one of them named Dru laughed, leaning on another one's shoulder. Another one named Elo chuckled, then poked Werr hard in the chest, saying "Looks like he dragged in a scrawny little mouse." Welk's tail bristled angrily. "Back off you big, ugly jerks!" he snarled.

"Shut up, cat." Elo said, pushing Welk brutally out of the way. "I'm talkin' to the mouse."

"Maybe," Werr said before the two boys came over. He recognized them; they were a couple of the meanest kids around here, and apparently he had been chosen for their daily 'attack'. Werr winced when he was poked, but didn't react much to that. "I think I'm a bit bigger than a mouse, much less a scrawny one." He said calmly, looking away, not sure if he should try and defend himself or not. No, he decided. It clearly violated rule 12. Fighting back usually caused trouble for him, so it was best to just stick it out unless his life was being threatened.

"True." Elo said, stalking around Werr. "But I say you got the spirit of a mouse. A weak, wimpy, sickly little mouse." "You leave him alone you ugly sucker!" Welk shouted, glaring ferociously at Elo. "Keep quiet you non-human." Dru said, pushing Welk down. He planted a thick book down on Welk's chest, pressing it into him.

"Gah-!" Welk gasped as pain started to slowly form in his chest, warning him of the pressing being applied to him. "G-get...off me...you...idiot!" he snarled, trying to push Dru's boot off of him. No such chance.

Elo paused next to Werr, glaring at him. "Nerds like you make me sick." he said, poking Werr again, much harder than the first time. "Always thinking you're better than us, always getting better grades. I'm sick of it. People like you need to be taught a lesson." He grabbed Werr by his shirt and held him up off the ground, chuckling.

"Get off of hi--" Werr started before he was picked up by Elo. "Tch..." He didn't have rules against talking, did he? Although, he would probably make some, after this. "A-and what about you? Picking on others to prove your superiority? Using your brawn to teach others 'lessons'? I hate to say it, but I think that means that you think that you're better than the rest of us. Contradictions are a fatal flaw in any argument." He said, calm as ever. He wasn't trying to make Elo mad, he was just stating fact. Not that it helped in this situation.

Elo immediately flared up angrily. "You little punk!" he shouted, then threw Werr backwards. The boy collided with a tree nearby, his body slamming against the hard surface. Elo stomped over and kicked him hard in his side. "You're gonna pay for that!" he shouted, kicking the boy again.

"Stop it! Stop hurting him!" Welk shouted, quickly sinking his claws into Dru's leg. Dru yelped, but all that did was make him angrier. He threw his weight down into his leg, crushing Welk's chest beneath his boot. Welk let out a strangle gasp, his eyes going wide, as pain blossomed in his chest. "Augh!" he screamed, his tail twitching erratically under him.

Werr let out a cry of pain that was cut short when he was kicked in the stomach. He coughed and sat up shakily, wheezing a bit. "S-sorry, Elo...I don't have any money to pa-pay you with." He choked out, then realized the irony of what he just said and smirked at his own joke. A bad idea, not that he realized it.

Yep, Werr thought in the back of his mind. I seriously need some rules against talking to attackers.

"You...little...punk!" Elo shouted, kicking Werr with every word. He threw his arm back to punch him in the face, then slammed his arm forward.

Crack!

His fist landed neatly in Cynyr's hand.

Cynyr grunted as he was pushed backwards a bit from the force of the hit, then sunk his claws into Elo's hand. "Picking on the weak? How predictable." he said, his eyes hard. "I think you need a lesson of your own." He suddenly twisted the boy's hand so sharply to the side that everyone there heard it crack.

Elo didn't even have time to shout in pain. Cynyr dodged forward and twisted the teenager's arm around behind his back, wrenching his arm far up behind him. Elo screamed as he felt his arm dislocated from the socket in his shoulder, then fell to the ground, panting. Cynyr turned to Dru and stalked over to him, glaring.

"Get your boot off of my friend." he snarled, then raised his leg and kicked Dru's leg as hard as he could. Dru yelped as he was knocked over backwards from the force of the blow, clutching his broken leg tightly. Cynyr nodded satisfactorily, then walked back over to Werr and helped him up, as he was the more seriously injured of the two. Welk got to his own feet and just stood there, his shocked gaze going from the two downed boys, to Cynyr, and back.