Orlain

"Precalc, AP Bio, Anatomy, English," Joey rattled off from memory. It was highly unlikely he would be sharing classes with any of his friends. None of them held the same interest in the upper-level classes that he did. He picked his cereal container up again and down the sugary milk, making a face when he finished.

Zakuro retrieved her schedule and peered over at Jack's. "I have music first thing," she said. "Then English and math, but we'll be in PE together. Not," she added with a mock-stern look, "that it means you get to perv on me."

"That's all it means baby!" Jack laughed, throwing an arm around Zakuro and leaning on her playfully. "That means we can sneak off together all the time." He was joking, PE was the one class Jack tended to enjoy.

"Jeeze mister smarty pants," Damien teased Joey, "oh yeah, you want to go to college too huh?"
She had never felt the need for college. She inherited all her families money so she never had to worry about being taken care of. And she had never aspired to be anything other then a model.

"Well, yes," Joey replied, his brow knitting as he looked over at Damien. It was hard to tell whether she was teasing or not. It was fine that the others had no particular desire to attend college, but he had his own goals. Now that he had the opportunity again, too, he intended to take and keep it.

"I'm not going to sneak off with you during class," Zakuro giggled, leaning into Jack, anyway. "I actually like PE, so there."

Damien smiled at Joey, "kinda weird for our primal focus to not be just surviving anymore." Honestly the idea of Joey heading off to college in a year or so scared her a little. She didn't want to lose him, but she sure wouldn't stop him.
"Kinda wish I had a reason to go to college."

"So do I, so I guess we will just have to sneak off after school or something," Jack laughed, biting his lip, his lip rings clinking against his teeth, to be over dramatic about what they would do if they snuck off.

Joey thought for a moment, then decided to relax. Damien probably didn't intend a slight against him. "You don't have to have a reason," he said. "You're in a position where you could go just to learn, get a degree in something you're interested in."

Zakuro laughed. "Why don't we save the sneaking off for later," she said. "I think we should worry about getting through the day and everything else first."

"Well that's just it, I don't have anything I really want to go for." Damien shrugged, waving her hand lightly, "I have never wanted to do anything with my life besides maybe be a model. I mean, I'm not all that good at anything."

Jack shrugged and kissed Zakuro on the cheek, just as a teacher walked by firmly stating "NO PDA" as he kept walking. This made Jack laugh a bit harder and pull his arm back to himself.
"Rules are rules Zak, you can't be all over me anymore."

Joey frowned, but didn't push the subject. He was certain there was something Damien could do, although if she wasn't eager, he wouldn't push the subject. Not everyone wanted to do eight years of schooling after graduation like he did, after all. They were probably better off for it.

"Oh, yes, it's totally me draping myself all over you," Zakuro giggled, pushing at Jack's chest. "C'mon, don't get us sent to the office."

Damien was silent for a moment and looked at the table, "my dad was a doctor, a pretty good one." She sighed lightly and smiled at Joey again, "you will be good at what ever you do."

"Well I can't blame you, I AM irresistible!" Jack said loudly, pushing some of his mostly red hair out of his eyes. He hadn't redyed it since they had been home. Only small bits of black remained at the tips. "Nah, you are far more irresistible then me."

Joey smiled faintly. "I'll do my best," he said, before being interrupted by the bell ringing overhead. He sighed and picked up his backpack. "Damn. It's like we have to actually attend class instead of messing around out here."

Zakuro groaned and thunked her head against Jack's shoulder. "I don't want to goooo," she whined into his shirt. "Let's just stay here. Nobody will notice if we stay."

Damien stood up and picked up her bag, "back to normal life."

"Yeah, lets skip, no one will notice at all," Jack agreed, draping both of his arms over her and kissing her cheek again. He was almost half hoping Zakuro would actually want to skip. But as Damien stood up she grabbed Jack's ear and pulled him off Zak and out of his seat.
"Come on, go to class love birds."

"Ow ow ow OW OW!!!" Jack laughed as he tried to move with his ear so it would hurt less. "Okay okay I'm going!"

Joey laughed and bent to steal a kiss from Damien before heading across the cafeteria in the other direction. With luck, the day would pass quickly, and with little work for him at the end, so they could all return to more pressing concerns.

"I'll see you later," Zakuro promised, pushing Jack on the shoulder after Damien. Afterward, she shouldered her backpack and guitar in its case and headed off for the music room. If nothing else, she could be glad about returning to music in school.

Damien kissed Joey back quickly before dragging Jack off, letting go of hie ear after they both waved to Zakuro. They went off the their first class, Jack groaning the whole way.

The school day went by quicker then they all expected. Damien told everyone to meet back at her house when they could, and she was a bit shocked when Jack said he would be there soon and skated off on skate board.

She drove home, a little eager to know that the others weren't dead and see how their day went. She pulled into her gravel driveway and jumped out of her jeep to head inside.

Joey headed home, with Zakuro, at the end of the day, speeding his car along the road under a new sense of anxiety. It was highly unlikely that anything had happened, but leaving three new people alone in a house in a world that they didn't quite understand yet seemed, at least to him, to be asking for trouble.

When everyone returned to the house, they found nothing of interest.

Kerian was perched on a chair downstairs, showered and dressed and looking perfectly put together, flipping through a novel she had found on a bookshelf upstairs. Taiju was stretched across the couch, apparently deep in thought as he stared at the ceiling.

Damien came into the house and set her bag down next to the door. "Hey guys, you all alive?"

Rane looked up`from where she sat the floor, attempting to meditate to see if she had any link back to her powers.
"So far alive, glad you are home though," She said happily, relaxing from her meditation stance.

Kerian smiled. "More or less, I believe," she replied, closing the book. "You all seem to have done well in your first day back."

"Well enough," Joey replied, dropping his backpack down on the floor and flopping down into a chair beside it. "Tiring, but that's to be expected. Since nobody's dead, I'm assuming you all made it through."

"Boring," Taiju told the ceiling.

Zakuro giggled. "That can happen."

Damien laughed at Tiaju, "maybe we should find you guys something do to while we are gone. Cause we have to go to school nearly everyday."

"Like what?" Rane asked, standing up and stretching her hands into the air. Popping her back a few times.

"That is a good question, for Joey to think of an answer," Damien waved her hand at the brown haired teen to go into the kitchen to grab a snack.

"Where is Jack?" Rane wondered when she noticed that the last of their group was gone.

Joey stuck his tongue out at Damien before heaving himself to his feet and trudging into the kitchen.

"Jack made his own way out, I think," Zakuro said, stealing Joey's chair in his absence. "He'll probably be here soon enough." She was, however, slightly worried. After a year in Orlain, it was hard not to worry when someone was gone for more than a few minutes.

"If there is anything we could do to help, or begin researching ways back, I would be happy to do it while you are gone," Kerian said, setting the book gently on the floor.

Damien grabbed a snack from the kitchen and headed back into the living room, stopping to stand in the arch way between the two.
"Maybe we can show you how to get to the library and let you do some reading there," Damien suggested, taking a bite of the apple she had gotten to eat.

"Library?" Rane asked, fixing her shirt.

"It's a public place full of books that you can barrow and read."

"Oh, yeah. We'd have to figure out a way to get you guys library cards, or give you ours or something, but that'd be something," Zakuro said thoughtfully.

After raiding the kitchen, Joey came back with a handful of apples, a box of crackers, and a half-dozen sodas balanced on a cookie sheet serving as a tray. He set the sheet down on the coffee table, picked up a soda and an apple, and sat on the arm of the chair Zakuro had stolen. "Do any of us even have cards to the public library?" he asked.

Zakuro tipped her head back. "Apparently not," she said.

Damien smiled at Joey. He was a good host even when not at his own house. Damien was just used to her friend helping themselves to anything in her house. It never bothered her. Her house was often a point for everyone to meet.

Rane took a apple from the tray to eat it, happy to see some familiar food.

"I have one. And you could all check out books under my name," Damien shrugged, taking another bite of apple.

Taiju leaned over for a handful of crackers and paused to look at a can of soda. "What is--"

"It's pop," Joey interrupted, snapping open his own can. "Or soda or whatever you want to call it. Sugary carbonated drink. And as for books," he continued, "the rest of us can get cards if we need to, since Damien's will probably only cover so many. We'll figure it out."

"Do you think there would be any research available to get home?" Kerian asked, picking up an apple and looking it over.

"Probably not," Joey conceded. "Doesn't seem likely."

Rane looked over Taiju's shoulder at the can. She wondered what it would taste like. She understand what carbonated meant.

"We had no idea another world existed until we were suddenly taken there," Damien explained, "never heard of anything like it before.."She wondered if anyone had ever expected something like another world to exist. She doubted it, she had never heard of it. Though she didn't care about things like that.

"Well it's still worth a shot," Rane nodded, grabbing a pop can and fiddling with it for a moment until she figured out how to open it. The pop sound it made when it opened made her jump a bit and laugh lightly. She sniffed it, the carbonation tickling her nose.

Kerian reached for a can of soda, popped the top with her fingernail, and tasted the drink, making a slightly surprised face at the bubbly taste.

"In all fairness, we didn't realize it, either," Taiju said mildly, popping a cracker into his mouth. "Not until Zevran told us about the prophecy. Aegon might have known, too, but as common as magic was, the idea of an entirely different world was more or less unheard of until then."

Rane tasted her pop as well, coughing once after the tiny sip and laughing at herself lightly. "This is so weird." She giggled to herself.

Damien watched Rane and smiled, she seemed to be settling in better then the day before. "Maybe there is some unknown prophecy that you guys need to fill now."

"Or what if we don't worry about it?" Rane suddenly asked, not looking up from her colorful pop can.

Taiju frowned and looked over at Rane. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Surely if there was something we could do to go home . . . ?"

"Theoretically, since that's what took us to Orlain in the first place, that could be possible," Joey said with a shrug. "Though I don't know what it would be. Especially since we were gone for most of the time before and nobody's exactly come forward. But who knows?"

"It'd be convenient," Zakuro said mildly.

"I don't know," Rane shurged, sighing lightly. "Just, I don't have family waiting for me in Orlain. Honestly I had no idea what I was going to do after we were done with out little adventure." She glanced between Taiju and Kerian, almost seeming too calm about the subject. "This place is strange, but I am sure we can adapt. I have no reason to want to go back to Orlain where I will always be in danger because of the crazy king and my father possibly tracking me down again.."

Damien was stunned into silence, watching Rane speak.

Rane pushed her blond bangs back out of her eyes and looked at the floor. "What if we are meant to end up here? What if it's fate if we just stay and make the best of it?"

Taiju was silent. Admittedly, he had nothing waiting for him--except his mother, but it was unlikely he would see her with any frequency. He had accepted that years ago. Rane was the only one who truly mattered to him, and she was here with him. There was nothing else left, other than a familiar lifestyle, which would be easy enough to abandon if given time.

Kerian took another sip of her soda, then shrugged lightly. "Perhaps," she agreed. "I am not sure it is fate, but if we do not return, well, we could survive."

Joey fidgeted, rolling his soda can between his palms.

"Well," he eventually said, "if that was what you wanted . . ."

"We can look, I don't think we should give up just yet." Rane agreed with a nod, "but If we don't find something, if it's as hopeless as it sounds..." She shrugged again, crossing her arms.

"Don't give up hope, but it's good to be prepared," Damien finally said at length, taking the last couple bites of her apple.

"Right," Taiju said idly. He picked up another cracker and started breaking it into pieces, letting the crumbs scatter on the cookie tray. The idea of never returning home scared him, but the others were making so much sense. If it came down to it, if they really could find no answer, would it be so bad to remain here?

"Well, we'll give it time. Magic and prophecies and things like that aren't so commonplace here; we might have to wait awhile to see if anything comes up." Joey ran his free hand through his hair, scratching lightly with his nails. The short length was still unfamiliar. "Hopefully it does, and hopefully it's not 'kill a large freaking dragon' level."

Damien giggled lightly at Joey's dragon remark, "hey I thought we did a pretty good job." She went back into the kitchen to throw away her apple core and glances through her fridge. She could barely remember what she had and she would have to feed at least half of the group. And Jack. He almost always ate at Damiens, she never said much because she knew his family was pretty poor and his dad was a dead beat. After getting an idea of what she had she headed back into the living room.

Rane sighed lightly in thought before speaking. "I have been really curious of Jack's mental state. He seems much more centered since we got here, but I remember him telling me he was unstable before you all came to Orlain..." She looked between the 3 that knew Jack the best. "Has he said anything to you... About Jayce or anything?"

It did concern her a bit, for her friend, for their safety with Jayce, and also out of curiosity. She was always trying to learn knew things about the body and mind to be better at healing... Though that hardly mattered now.

"No, he hasn't . . . " Joey set aside the core of his apple and rested his soda between both hands, running his fingers along the cool metal. "He's always had something going on, for about as long as we've known him, I think. Jayce was--new, in Orlain. He does seem to be doing better, maybe because of a lack of stress or a familiar environment or something like that. Couldn't really say without asking him, though."

"As far as I know, Jayce hasn't shown up since we got home," Zakuro added.

"Perhaps it was limited to Orlain?" Kerian suggested, leaning forward in her chair. "I don't know much about it, but maybe that personality was a result of being there. If he doesn't return soon, perhaps he won't at all?"

Damien was silent, starring at the ground. She had seen the worst of Jack's mental breaks in the past. That was how she met him actually.
"Malik played a huge part in Jayce," she finally stated. "He never told me exactly what Malik did to him. But he did say once that Jayce was almost half Jack and half Malik... With everything reversing and no Malik in the picture I assume we wont be hearing form Jayce..."

"Let's hope so," Rane nodded.

The conversation had stopped at the perfect time when Jack walked in the front door, a little dirty a bruised face and cracked lip and a tiny grey kitten in one hand. He held the kitten close to his body and held it out for his friends to see. "I found a kitten!!" He proclaimed excitedly, his face lit up with happiness despite looking like he was just gang raped. (lol)

Zakuro was immediately on her feet, alarmed. "Jack! What the hell happened to you?" she exclaimed, bustling over and ignoring the kitten entirely. "Jesus, I thought you were just running late!"

"Jesus," Joey breathed, straightening to look at his friend. "What did you do and why do you have a cat?"

Kerian and Taiju looked on in silent alarm, both unable to conceive of how Jack had gotten broken and beaten yet come out smiling with a kitten.

Jack almost looked confused for a second, he had almost forgotten about his beating.
"Oh well I got in a fight with that stupid jock that keeps berating me..." He mumbled, shrugging his shoulder. "He knocked me off my skate board and broke it, so I broke his nose, then as I was walking here I found this kitten in a gutter!" He went back to smiling pretty quickly when talking about the tiny, dirty fluff ball in the palm of his hand.
It mewed the most pathetic and sad little meow and Damien couldn't help but say "awwwwwweeee..."

Rane stood up to see the kitten over their shoulders. It looked like any other kitten you would see in Orlain and she was silently happy for it.

Zakuro rubbed her forehead, more agitated than worried now that she knew the story. It was hard not to jump to conclusions, though, after spending so long in a world where anything like a fight could end in something much worse.

Kerian stood and went to the kitchen, then returned with a few damp towels that she offered to Jack. Joey took one and gestured to the kitten. "Can I see?"

Jack nodded and handed the kitten to Joey very carefully. The tiny thing was weak and skinny, but would live with some food and a bath. He grabbed the other cloth from Kerian and wiped off his face, wincing in pain at he rubbed the dirt and blood off.

"Why did this guy keep harassing you?" Damien dared to ask Jack, watching Joey with the kitten.
Their friend shrugged again, "I think my dad owes his dad money or something. Nothing knew." Normally Jack would be more concerned and would try to take care of his fathers problems, but the kitten was a great distraction.

"For what now?"

"I don't know Damien... Probably borrowed money for booze..." He gave Damien a very short but very firm look, stating very well that he didn't want to talk about it. "Do you have any tuna? Buttercup is hungry..."
Damien rolled her eyes playfully and went into the kitchen.

"Buttercup?" Taiju couldn't help asking, the name coming out as a laugh. "You named a kitten Buttercup?"

Joey tucked the tiny kitten close to his chest, gently rubbing the damp cloth over its head and clearing the dirt from its fur. "He doesn't know how to name animals," he remarked, his attention almost fully on the furball.

Zakuro looked concerned at the discussion of Jack's father, but decided to let it go when Jack did. There wouldn't be getting anything out of him if he didn't want to talk. Besides, there was a kitten in the house.

Jack laughed a little, "well you think of a better name, but it has to be cute." He looked down at the now dirt and blood stained cloth in his hand. He didn't want to think about what trouble his dad was getting into. It was usually better if he didn't know.

Damien cam back was a plate of squishy tuna and set it on the side table for Joey to put the kitten in front of when he was done cleaning it.

"What are you going to do with it Jack?" She asked, knowing he couldn't take it home.

"Someone will have to take it home or it can stay here... Right??" He gave her the biggest and dorkiest looking pouty face he could muster with out laughing. His silver haired friend responded with a slow shake of her head.
"I don't want to take car of it."

Zakuro shook her head, watching Joey with the kitten. He was crooning "kitty, kitty, kitty" as he swiped the dirt from its ears and paws. "My parents aren't big on pets, so I can't," she said. "I mean, it's super cute, but they don't really care how cute it is."

"Perhaps we could take care of it in your stead?" Kerian suggested, leaning on the table as Joey set the kitten down and drew the plate of tuna near. "At least for while we are here. I don't know that we'll be able to leave for awhile; that should at least be long enough to nurse the creature back to health."

"I might be able to," Joey added, picking apart little pieces of tuna. "Dad might let me. I'd have to see."

Damien looked between everyone with a stern sort of look before smiling a little.
"It can stay as long as I don't have to take care of it," she waved her hand a little and moved to go sit back down.

Jack reached out and pet the kitten on it's head as it ate the tuna. It paused and growled at Jack a little, "she's feisty." The kitten was so tiny that it wasn't much of a threat.

Rane resigned her self from the kitten commotion and sat down next to Taiju. It was nice to watch the group all focus on something to innocent.

"Ah yes. Big, feisty, terrifying little ball of fur. Named Buttercup." Joey wiped his hands on the rag and sat back in a chair, letting the kitten eat uninterrupted.

"I hardly think taking care of a kitten will be unbearably difficult," Kerian said, smiling over at the cat.

"Might give us something to do, at any rate," Taiju said idly, sipping at his soda.

"She would make a good hobby for you while we are at school. I am just not fond of cats. I don't like how they lick themselves all over," Damien made a grossed out face.

"Well I should go home, my dad will be awake soon..." Jack trailed off, pulling up his backpack. "If I get back before he wakes up maybe I can convince him he gave me the black eye and keep him from drinking for a little while." He was smiling, but it wasn't really a joke.

"Don't get into anymore fights on your way... Actually do you want me to drive you?" Damien asked, not wanting to have to make Jack walking the 10 miles or so back to his house.

"Or I could," Joey added, although he was obviously reluctant to leave the kitten alone. "Not that I have to get home right away. Either way."

Zakuro bit her lip, tempted to tell Jack to stay away from home longer. Knowing his father, though, there was a good chance that would make it worse. There wasn't much she could do in the situation except hope that nothing went too wrong.

"Uh, I don't want to make you go home early, I can walk, I like the work out," Jack shrugged, "you all hang out, I am giving myself enough time to get home. Plus if I walk I might find more kittens."

"Oh please no," Damien joked lightly.

Jack just smiled at her and turned to leave, "I'll see you all tomorrow. Sorry I can't hang out more, just got this feeling I need to be home before he wakes up."

Rane watched Jack, a bit concerned. She didn't understand why Jack went back to his father. In Orlian they didn't have laws about kids leaving the house before they were 18 though.

Joey bit the inside of his lip as he watched Jack leave. There was nothing he could do, and he knew that, but he hated to watch his friend go back to a terrible household. But if he called the police, Jack would never forgive him . . .

In some ways, home really was more complicated than Orlain. Joey picked at a couple of oversized chunks of tuna on the plate and pushed the thought from his mind.

Taiju was silent as Jack left. Although he didn't fully understand what was happening, he was familiar with the story of an abusive father.

Rane let out a soft sigh as she watched the kitten eat. It was good to see something so simple and so normal in this strange place. It also made her miss her brother, since he had spent much of his life in a wolf-state.

TIMEY SKIPY

The next morning rolled around with out much else exciting happening. Rein was up early to take care of the tiny kitten and say good bye to Damien as she headed off to school.

As they arrived to school at the normal time Damien was a bit surprised to see Jack already sitting at the table they chose every day. He was usually one of the last of the group to get there. He was slumped over the table, resting his head in his arms and was still. She assumed he was tired. Maybe he had been fighting with his father and came early to get away? Yeah that was probably it.

She plopped her bag down next to a chair before plopping herself into it. "You are here early.." She pointed out. When Jack didn't respond she became a bit concerned. Damien reached out and touched his shoulder softly, "you okay?"
She was displeased when he only responded with a slow groan.

Zakuro and Joey arrived simultaneously, having chosen this particularly morning to carpool. Joey dropped his bag with a frown at Jack, but said nothing and wandered off to get his pitiful school-provided breakfast. It was a mediocre meal, but it was free for him. Hooray, poverty.

Zakuro sat down across from Jack and rested her hands on his arms. "Jack, are you okay?" she asked.

Jack sort of lifted his head to look at Zakuro tiredly. He was pale all over, slightly sweaty and had bags under his eyes like he hadn't been able to sleep all night.
"I think I have the flue.." He said quietly, too tired to speak loudly.
Damien frowned, he looked horrible, but seemed fine yesterday. But when it wasn't uncommon for Jack to get sick and seem like death. It was rare that he got sick but when he did it hit him hard. And he would never stay home from school to rest because his father would be home.

"Aw, I'm sorry, hon," Zakuro crooned, rubbing her hand soothingly along Jack's arm. "I know you can't go home, but maybe you should go back to Damien's if you feel so bad?" She hated that she had to bite back the instinct to tell him to go home, but even though she didn't know all the details of Jack's home life, she knew it was trouble. Just thinking of his father made her feel slightly ill.

"It's just weird because I felt fine this morning until I came here... I felt like I was going to pass out and had to sit down," Jack explained tiredly, "I can't leave though... If they call my dad to tell him I wasn't at school..." He trailed off lightly and rested his head again.
Damien reached over to him and tucked her hand under his red and black bangs to touch his forehead. "You don't have a fever at any rate, eat something and maybe it will pass." She suggested as she pulled her hand back.

"I already ate." Jack didn't like eating in the morning as is but he had snagged a snack from home before leaving for school.

Slowly the school was filling with teenagers as it came closer and closer to school starting.