forum @metaphoricallyella

Started August 21, 2020 by @Calanthe

tune

Graham woke up early in the morning, still feeling the pain from the night before. He moved his hand up towards his side where his ribs were and felt them each carefully, trying to make sure he hadn't injured them more in his sleep, in case he had been tossing and turning, or something of that nature. Relieved that everything was alright, he sat up, using nearly all the strength he had. He wanted to stand up and go home -knowing that his friends had probably messed his home up or burnt it down-, but knew that that would be impossible since he felt nauseous from just sitting up. Perhaps Storm had hurt him worse than what he had thought she had, or maybe he had been lying to himself for too long about other injuries he had had before. He propped up some pillows below him and leaned back against them, trying to estimate how long he might end up staying here. He knew that Asher could get into major trouble for taking him out of the hospital, especially in such a violent way, and also, he didn't exactly want to go back to the hospital. He knew that some of the doctors and nurses were getting a bit suspicious about how often he showed up there. And he definitely knew that they had noticed how severe his injuries had been as well. So perhaps staying below their radar would be good, at least for a while. As soon as he felt well enough to go back to his home, and deal with these two idiot friends, he'd do so, but he also didn't want to be a pain to Asher as well.

After a little while, Graham got an idea, at least as to how he could make Asher look good again in the eyes of the public. He had been in touch with a group of well, he wasn't exactly sure what term would describe them the best, but villains in the making, and he had been mentoring them in way. He knew that the teens, as he referred to them- had extremely strong powers, and terrifically diabolical ideas as well. So perhaps, if he somehow handed them over to Asher, and the hero turned them into authorities to perhaps convert them to heroes, Asher would be in limelight and a hero once more, and Graham wouldn't have to take another beating from him either. It was a win-win plan, at least to him it was. He smiled in satisfaction of the idea and reached over to grab the book on the night stand beginning to read it as he waited for Asher to come in. He was pretty excited to tell the man his plan, and hoped that he would be on board with it.

((Better?))

Asher slowly woke up to the beams of sunlight dancing across his eyelids. The haze in his mind cleared slowly, like a morning mist dissolving in the forest. He gently picked his guitar up and set it on the ground, as it was still draped precariously over him from his late night strum session. Ash sat up and rubbed his eyes, little fireworks of color bursting from the black. Suddenly, like a wave hitting a rocky shore, everything rushed back to him. "Oh god…" he whispered to himself. He looked to the far wall, as if it would give him all the answers in the world. "Oh mystical drywall, what have I done? Am I really a hero?" he asked it, scared of what it might say back.

The drywall didn't say anything back, of course. Instead, the little voice inside Asher's head answered, the one that he didn't let talk too often.

"You're the real villain," it said simply. And Asher just had to agree. Only a monster would do the things that he did. Ash nodded curtly to the far wall.

"Thanks, drywall," he smiled sadly. Ash stood and trudged over to the little kitchen, putting on a pot of coffee. While he was waiting, Ash cracked a few eggs into a bowl and whisked them together with some milk, the tossing them into a pan and turning the stove on. He put some bread into the toaster, then poured a cup of coffee and set it on a tray. He set the cream and sugar next to it, then finished the eggs and tossed them onto a plate. Asher set the plate onto the tray, then took out the toast and buttered it. He placed that next to the eggs, then put a salt and pepper shaker on the tray, as well as silverwear. Ash picked up the tray and carried it into Graham's room. "Morning!" he smiled, his hair a slight mess. He set down the tray in front of Graham. "I made you breakfast. Sorry, I didn't know how you'd like your coffee."

Graham looked up from the book he had been reading and closed it slightly, then reopened it, trying to memorize what page number he was on. Once he engraved that number into his memory he closed the book and placed it down onto the nightstand beside him. "Good morning." He said back, trying to match the cheeriness of Ash's voice, "You made me breakfast?" He said, sort of echoing back Asher's words as a questions, "You made me breakfast." He repeated to himself, as if he didn't really believe it, "Wow, I uhm, that's very nice of you." He mumbled, pretty surprised that the man had done that for him, "You didn't have to you know, but, I still appreciate it." He said, trying to smile at the other man, "I hope you made some for yourself though, I wouldn't want you to go hungry to feed me. I'd feel absolutely terrible if you did." Hhm, he must be having had some affect on me, I'm actually feeling empathy for someone. He frowned at the thought, trying to remove it from his mind, No, you don't have empathy or good feelings for anyone, you're a villain, villains don't do or try to do good things for others, this is just a fluke. It's probably because I'm inured that I'm wanting to be nice to him. "Well, uhm." No, I'm not going to say that to him, that'd be cruel, and that's something I simply am not. I may be considered a psychopath by most , hence the name Saiko, (he preferred the Japanese spelling of the term-. But I am not a monster, at least in my eyes. "Thank you." He eventually mumbled after debating on what to say or do. "I do hope you made something for yourself though, I mean, I'd prefer to not eat alone, and if you didn't I don't mind sharing, I don't eat too much to begin." Well, that was a lie. Must mean I haven't changed too much.

"Now, Asher, I have an idea that could help you become a hero in the eyes of the people." He said as he took a sip of his coffee, "By the way, black is perfect, so thank you." he said, taking another sip, he couldn't help himself, "But if you have apple juice, that'd be great too. But getting back on track. I know of a small group of villains well, teenage villain wannabes. Their powers are terrific, and they aren't all brawn or power, but have great minds to them. I was thinking, perhaps I could lure them out in hopes of them working in league with me or something of that nature, but having them, and maybe even myself caught by you. From there, I could probably escape from the authorities, and the teens could be possibly converted to heroes, and you would be the city's hero again. Getting all the praise, and keys to the city or whatever they do for you heroes." He said with a shrug, "It's just an idea, and I have other's but, if you still feel the need to turn me in. Which any sane person would, and I do think that you are sane, and it is the right thing to do. Even I realize that." He picked up a piece of toast and began to munch on it a little bit, "You don't have to though if you don't want to, and if you have an idea that would work better, I'm willing to listen. I don't want to see you suffer due to me. That's sort of my job, you do the winning, I do the hospital trips with a broken rib or something of that nature. You get the praise, and I go home plotting, scheming, and chugging apple juice." He tried to shrug a little bit, but winced as he felt a sharp pain in shoulder, "Get it?"

Asher smiled back at Graham and sat down in the chair opposite the bed again. He crossed his legs, propping his ankle up on his other knee. "Yep! I did make you breakfast, don't worry about it," he smiled. Asher had just thought that it was the least he could do, and common courtesy. After all, he did kidnap the guy. Why not make him some breakfast, at least brighten up his day a bit? He listened to Graham for a moment, then paused. "Oh! My breakfast. Don't worry about that. I'll probably have a bowl of Lucky Charms in a while. I just don't get hungry for a while after I've woken up." While Graham was thinking on what to say, Ash nodded to the book Graham had been reading. "I see you discovered one of my dirty little pleasures," he teased. "Writing from the Renaissance era. That one, that you were reading, is especially my favorite. The Prince by Machiavelli. It discusses etiquitte for a prince at the time, but that's not really what I find so thought provoking about it. Machiavelli discusses whether a ruler should be feared, or loved. He believes a ruler should be feared, then loved, but if not both then just feared. For, if your subjects love you, they will never love you more than they love themselves. And if it comes down to it? They'll choose themselves over you everytime. However, if they fear you, they fear for their lives, and will help you to help themselves," he finished. "It's an interesting concept; I hope you're enjoying it so far."

"Oh," Asher breathed, after Graham said he didn't want to eat alone. "Well, then I guess those Lucky Charms are calling my name. I'll be right back," he smiled, standing quickly. Asher jogged out of the room and soon enough came back with a bowl of Lucky Charms. He munched on them happily and sat down in the chair again, not bothering to cross his legs this time. Asher's eyes widened as he listened to Graham, letting him finish completely before saying anything, "I, um…" he trailed off, slightly lost in thought. He began again. "Listen, last night was the first time I really questioned my own actions. I had to ask myself if I was actually being a hero, or if I was helping myself. That's the difference between a hero and a villain, I think. It's whether they'll help themselves more or if they'll help others more." He paused, his face darkening. "And last night? I kidnapped you to help myself. Making me the villain. So as much as I'd love to lure those boys in and capture them? That wouldn't be fair. They trust you, and I can't have you break that trust over me. That would be selfish. Turning them in to help myself? That's selfish. Now, I understand they might turn into villains in the future, but I'd rather catch them before that on my own time, not because they were lured in by you. Now, if I could just get out there and catch Storm…." he trailed off. His face darkened. "I despise her. What kind of villain hurts another villain? That's just monsterous…" he muttered, standing up with his now-empty bowl. Asher left the room and soon came back with two tall glasses of apple juice, one for himself. He handed the second to Graham, sat back down, and sipped his own.

(( I hope this is okay guys! Sorry for the late reply >< ))

"I’m not Thanos you dumb mother—"

Name: Axel Kaiser Farrell

Alias: Axe, Kai

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Bisexual

DOB: 11th November

"The world is filled with flawed, imperfect people. It needs goddamn cleansing. Don’t you get it?”

Looks:

Personality: Axel is someone who is brimming with the burning passion for justice, and to take the law in his own hands. When he was young, he always stood up for people, a strong personality contributing to his intimidating demeanor. He cannot tolerate bullshit, and will call you out for it. As he grew older, after experiencing several traumatic experiences, he was convinced that people were shit, and he wanted to make things right. Axel took on a façade of being temperamental, unkind and insensitive, when in actuality, all he ever wanted was to protect people from the evils of the world. On a regular basis, he is moody, dark, and constantly thinking of greater plans for the world to rid them of the evil and sins. These quirks, or moods, can be deeply attributed to his loyalty, and his fierce personality. When one gets to know him better, you will understand that he has a skewed-up mentality, has a weird way of understanding the world, but is someone with a fragile heart.

"Sometimes… No. Never mind. I have to keep in control. Don’t be ridiculous Axel.”

Powers: The control of the element of fire; to be able to manipulate, create and cause destruction using the fiery powers.

Villain name: Blaze

Villain suit: His long, extensive robe has a hood that covers most of his face; following the colour scheme of black and deep orange. The orange is in a fiery pattern, spanning the edges of his robe, making it seem like he is constantly on fire. Underneath the robe is a simple, but meaningful leather jacket, coupled with his leather gloves and boots.

"Shut the fuck up.”

History: Axel grew up with parents who were mostly absent, and was raised by his grandmother. His grandmother enjoyed singing, and often sang him songs related to the element of fire, claiming that he was special and he needed to use it wisely. Once, when he was playing by the fireplace, he got too close- the fire was scorching hot, the colours almost blinding- when a hand reached out from the orange flames, burning his face, leaving a red scar that he was famous for. As he cried out, his grandmother tended to him quickly, but it was too late, and from then on, they realised that he was more attuned to fire and was a natural at handling fire.. As he continued growing up, his parents distanced themselves away from him, and eventually it was just his grandmother and him. Axel was out with his grandmother one day, getting groceries, when they were mugged and the robbers had their knives out. He felt a surge of anger rise within him, a wave he could not contain, and with one flick of his hand, the fire released from within, burning and injuring most of them. Unfortunately, one of them had stabbed the grandmother in the process, and blinded by rage, he killed them man when he realised that his grandmother could not be revived. Ever since then, he was never the same, and his heart just wants to avenge his kin, and protect everyone from who he envisioned as bad or horrible; when in actuality, he was the one who was causing the most damage

"I swear I’ll burn each and every one of you down.”

Likes: coffee, fire, winter, sleep, reading; destroying imperfections, smoking
Dislikes: heroes who always get in his way, waking up to face the horrible world, water

Favorite color: Navy
Favorite food and drink: Green Tea and wraps
Favorite instrument: -

Hobbies: thinking of how to destroy the people who are bad, plotting, sleeping, having alone time to just think. Just… think

"This cigarette better be fuckin’ good.”

Other: Another thing that Axel hated about the world was their judgmental mentality. He didn’t like the fact that those who had “special” sexualities, those who were “different” had to be treated differently. Weren’t they all humans? Why is everyone so insane?

“Crime is my way of escape. You wouldn't get it for shit.”