The Lion Sleeps Today

by **Leo Eskandari** » Fri May 29, 2020 7:10 pm

Sometime in the afternoon, the rough purring of a sleeping manticore floated across the quad from where Leo was resting peacefully under a tree with an open textbook in his lap.

"... no, stop, that tickles..." he mumbled in his sleep

by **Ainsley Green** » Fri May 29, 2020 7:15 pm

Leo would get a text from Ainsley.

What's up mate? I'm bored, wanna do something?

by **Leo Eskandari** » Fri May 29, 2020 7:28 pm

The chime from his phone roused the slumbering beastman, and it took him a moment to register that fact. When he did, he took out the device and read the message. He groaned. He still didn't know what to say to his friend after the question that wouldn't stop nagging his thoughts.

"... damn it..." he said, chastising himself for his cowardice as he put the phone back to sleep. He didn't want to face Ainsley until he knew what he was going to say. He stuck the tree behind him in silent frustration.

(open)

by **Nailah Weaver** » Sun May 31, 2020 2:15 am

"Spam mail?" a voice from above him asks. "Hate when those wake me up."

Crouched on a branch with both hands and ~~feet~~ paws is Nailah, a couple of leafs sticking in her hair and wings.

by **Leo Eskandari** » Sun May 31, 2020 6:55 pm

Leo jerked his head up in surprise.

"Gah! How long have you been there?"

by **Nailah Weaver** » Sun May 31, 2020 7:07 pm

"Couple moments? Thought I woke you up, but then you just mumbled till your phone rang. Sorry. Hard to see if there's someone sitting under the tree from above." she says with an apologetic smile.

by **Leo Eskandari** » Sun May 31, 2020 7:25 pm

He looked almost alarmed for a split second before settling on defensive and trying not to look embarrassed.

"Mumbling?"

by **Nailah Weaver** » Sun May 31, 2020 8:25 pm

"I dunno, sleep-talking, I guess? Prolly from lieing down against, you know..." she knocks on the tree branch with her knuckles. "Wood."

by **Leo Eskandari** » Sun May 31, 2020 9:16 pm

"Yeah, probably. Readin' about science puts me out like a light. Even more so now that I'm part animal that sleeps most of the time."

by **Nailah Weaver** » Sun May 31, 2020 9:33 pm

"Just gotta find the right thing that gives you that crazy 2 am energy." she chuckles. "And it's not science, that's for sure."

by **Leo Eskandari** » Sun May 31, 2020 9:54 pm

"I can't think of anything. And, God, the night energy is so friggin weird. Makes the curfew suck major ass too."

by **Nailah Weaver** » Sun May 31, 2020 9:59 pm

"Tell me about it... And you just... figure out what you like to do, yeah? For me it's fighting for justice!" she says dramatically and swiftly stands up on the branch, thrusting her finger into the air, although she mostly just ends up with her upper body enveloped by branches and leafs. "Works better when you're on, like, a rock or a building." she admits.

by **Leo Eskandari** » Sun May 31, 2020 10:28 pm

"Justice?" he asked with a raised brow, "Like, with the X-Men?"

by **Nailah Weaver** » Sun May 31, 2020 10:40 pm

"Sure! Like the X-Men. With the X-Men. You know, whatever..." she tries to cover up her blabbering.

by **Leo Eskandari** » Sun May 31, 2020 10:55 pm

"Oookay... Yeah, my buddy Ainsley convinced me to work on joinin'. They told me I gotta reign in my new beastiness some first."

The way he said Ainsley almost sounded like he had a crush, or at the very least a bromance going.

by **Nailah Weaver** » Sun May 31, 2020 11:22 pm

"What's that even supposed to mean?"

by **Leo Eskandari** » Sun May 31, 2020 11:36 pm

"I got a little... wild in power training. Killed a few sim-goons and they had to use a freaky calmin' ray on me."

by **Nailah Weaver** » Sun May 31, 2020 11:53 pm

"Ooph, okay that's probably not something you wanna do out in th-- wait, hold on! Calming Ray? Like a... weird beam of light? Kinda... fuzzy feeling?"

by **Leo Eskandari** » Mon Jun 01, 2020 12:04 am

"Yeah. Pretty damn supervillain thing to have if you ask me. But it did help."

by **Nailah Weaver** » Mon Jun 01, 2020 5:10 pm

"If it helped... We do have a couple people who are... prone to that kinda thing, yeah? More thoughtful than super-villain if you ask me. Now that b...rat Zandra used it to win a bet. That's just cheap."

by **Leo Eskandari** » Mon Jun 01, 2020 7:00 pm

"Sounds like the rumors of the narc squad bein' on a power trip are true."

by **Nailah Weaver** » Mon Jun 01, 2020 7:19 pm

"I felt bad about cracking her nose but now maybe not so much. Frikkin' Calm Ray? Hecking heck!"

by **Leo Eskandari** » Mon Jun 01, 2020 8:19 pm

Leo barked a laugh before adjusting his position and saying, "I would've liked to see that."

by **Nailah Weaver** » Mon Jun 01, 2020 8:53 pm

"Wouldn't mind giving a repeat performance, if I got the chance..." she admits.

by **Leo Eskandari** » Mon Jun 01, 2020 9:18 pm

"You should sell tickets," he smirked.

"So was the throwdown before or after the bet?"

by **Nailah Weaver** » Mon Jun 01, 2020 11:10 pm

"Oh. That was the bet." she chuckles. "I basically won, what witht he sucker-punch and all? But I felt bad for her and offered to get her help. That's when she hit me with that beam and I just... forfeited so she'd let me help her. At the time it didn't really feel like the terrible idea it turned out to be..."

by **Leo Eskandari** » Mon Jun 01, 2020 11:23 pm

"What a damn bully. Usin' tech to compel obedience like that is no different than that psycho doctor pumpin' me full of drugs and makin' me his attack dog."

After a moment, he added, "On second thought, fuck Lippincott too. Even if it helped me calm down, that shit is not okay."

by **Nailah Weaver** » Mon Jun 01, 2020 11:48 pm

"It's... not a bad thing on it's own but I dunno if I feel great about it being int he hands of people who are fine with abusing it..."

by **Leo Eskandari** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 12:05 am

"You can't trust people like that. I certainly don't," he said bitterly. But then look what the last person to expect obedience did to him. He'd be crazy not to doubt them.

by **Nailah Weaver** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 12:17 am

"Well, at least not all of them are terrible. Quinn's pretty alright. He even helped me out with the laundry."

by **Leo Eskandari** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 12:42 am

"I'll believe it when I see it," he said, stubbornly pessimistic about the whole thing.

by **Nailah Weaver** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 12:47 am

"I mean, come on, they can't all be terrible, conspiring villains." she chuckles. "Sure, Lippincott has a stick up his bum, Zandra's a... bum and Ghost is a creep but... okay saying it out loud makes it seem pretty bad."

by **Leo Eskandari** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 12:50 am

"Clearly our headmaster is a fantastic judge of character."

by **Nailah Weaver** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 2:49 am

"Or he intentionally picked the mean ones. And then also Quinn." she says, missing the sarcasm.

by **Leo Eskandari** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 2:50 pm

"Or Quinn's just playing 'Good Cop'," he said distractedly, seeming to be thinking of something else.

by **Nailah Weaver** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 7:32 pm

"Nooo. I mean he wouldn't, he's too... nice for... that. Dangit!"

by **Leo Eskandari** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 7:40 pm

He put his palms forward in surrender. "Alright, alright, maybe he's the exception. Don't let me stop you from believing in people."

by **Nailah Weaver** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 8:19 pm

"Dang right! Not everyone can be scummy, right? Yeah." she nods.

by **Leo Eskandari** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 8:27 pm

"No, not everyone," he agreed with a thoughtful smile, failing not to think about Ainsley again.

Shit. Am I crushing on him?

by **Nailah Weaver** » Tue Jun 02, 2020 8:28 pm

"That sounds like you got some in particular in mind..." Nailah grins mischievously.

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