This is my first fanfic, and most likely will be my only one. It is intended as a silly story, almost a parody, and thus I make no claims as to it's quality - aside from spelling and grammatical accuracy, I hope. I'm doing this mostly for my own amusement, and that of my creative assistant, CMullee. He and I have attempted to craft a story that is, at it's core, fun. These are our interpretations of these characters, all of which belong to Wizards of the Coast/Richard Garfield. I'm sorry if anyone dislikes how I've portrayed the characters. Now enough of my rambling on, read it!
"NACATLS!" shouted almost everyone in the gymnasium, as Razia riled the room full of Planeswalkers and other magically gifted individuals up. She looked back and forth across the two sides of the massive room, motioning for everyone to stand. "Tonight, we will have our first game! The Mirrodin Myr won't know what hit them!" she screamed into her microphone, causing everyone in attendance to shout out again!
Well, almost everyone. In the very back corner of the room, on the very top row of the bleachers bleacher, sat a completely uninterested Liliana Vess. She was utterly bored out of her mind, and would gladly have skipped the event had her girlfriend not dragged her along. Chandra, on the other hand, was cheering wildly.
"Oh, come on!" the fiery girl pouted, "At least clap! This is the first game of the season! We have to show them support!" Her normally bright red mane of hair was currently ablaze, mimicking the excitement she felt as she cheered on the school's lacrosse team. She wasn't especially fond of Gideon, either, but she liked the sport and had a good bit of school spirit. "GO NACATLS!" she screamed out again with burning passion, giving Liliana an annoyed glance. The girl just didn't care, and it bugged her a little.
"As long as Gideon is the captain of the team….I'm not cheering," Liliana spat out, growing increasingly angry at having to be here when she could be doing her homework, something she managed to despise less than sports. Still, she came because she liked Chandra a lot, and didn't want to earn her ire by not attending. It was just easier to be here, and bored, than have to talk Chandra down again. Though….the makeup make outs are pretty amazing… she thinks to herself, looking over to Chandra with a wicked grin.
A few rows down from them sat Jace, also rather uninterested…and actually doing homework. He was hidden in the middle of a large group of Blue-aligned students, and so went on unnoticed as he worked. He didn't care one way or the other for the pep rallies, but the noise of the other students cheering limited his cognitive prowess to simpler mathematics like Calculus. The fact that he was completing homework that was a whole month ahead of where the class was didn't seem weird to him at all. His goals stretched far beyond high school, and he wasn't going to let the boorish curriculum keep him down. He'd already scored almost full points on his test SATs, beating out his rival Tezzeret by a single question. He would do better next time, for sure.
In the center of the room, Gideon Jura was grinning from ear to ear as the whole room cheered for him. Well, his team, but as Captain that made him the most important member, obviously. He looked over to Elspeth, cheering the loudest for her boyfriend. He blew her a kiss before taking the microphone to spout off a practiced speech about how he would lead his team to utter victory, crushing those poor little robots into the ground! His enthusiasm spread throughout the gymnasium like wildfire, causing a wave of roaring cheers and thunderous claps! Perhaps loudest were those of Ruric and Thar, his team's twin meatheads. Gideon threw his balled fists into the air as he bellowed forth a cheer of his own. The stands were ecstatic, and everyone was sure they couldn't lose!
Garruk had not even attended the pep rally. He never did, preferring to stay near the woods to the northwest of the school. His fingers worked diligently to remove sticks, leaves, and other debris from a wolf's fur. This, he thought to himself, is a much better way to spend my time. Nature is far superior to anything manmade. The wolf looked up to him, grateful for his assistance, and licked his cheek. All the animals here could feel Garruk's connection to them. He was the Wildspeaker, after all - relentless in his quest to protect the natural world. The fact that he, himself, was a human didn't seem to bother him at all. He supposed that not all humans were bad…and that a few of the elves were probably ok, too. As for the other races…he could never be sure. Bipedal creatures, he decided, were the issue.
Razia released the students from her pep rally fifteen minutes later, as there were still classes to teach before the end of the day. She looked over her team, and nodded to herself. She had trained them hard, and ensured that they were in tip top shape for the game. Even Ajani, their mascot, seemed in good spirits lately. Probably due to her and the other teachers having get Tolsimir's 'dog' Voja away from him, she surmised. For whatever reason that massive beast had taken a liking to Ajani, much to his dismay.
As the student body filtered out into the school, there was a small bubble around Chandra and Liliana, as the former's hair was still burning brightly. Even the other Red mages didn't want to get too close to her, for fear of getting burned. Liliana, on the other hand, had figured out where to place herself to avoid getting scorched. As soon as they'd managed to leave the gym, Liliana grabbed Chandra's hand to drag her off to the side, into one of the bathrooms. "Quick, c'mere!" she said without much warning. Chandra rolled her eyes as she followed, knowing she'd be late returning to class at this rate.
"Yes, Lili?" she growled playfully as the door shut behind her. "Something wrong?"
"Not really, I just hate crowds, you know that. Plus having to hear Gideon babbling on for ten minutes makes my ears want to bleed." Her runes were glowing softly – evidence of her displeasure. She leaned against one of the stall doors as she looked to her girlfriend. "Why do you cheer so hard? In a couple years we'll be out of this dump, and it won't matter at all!"
"Chandra's hair flared up while her gaze focused on Liliana. "Don't be like that. You know I enjoy the game, and so what if Gideon is a jerk? He's good at lacrosse. Please don't do this again. I'm in too good of a mood to argue with you. Sometimes I wonder why we're still together."
Liliana sauntered over, licking her lips, before she pushed herself against Chandra. "This is why," she cooed as they kissed. Steam escaped their lips as they parted half a minute later, and Chandra looked to the side.
"You…conniving, tricky little wench…how do you do that? Just one kiss and I forget why I'm angry at you! Must be the demonic powers at work," she assumed, and was right on the money.
Back in the science wing, Jace found himself able to think clearly once again. He pulled out his physics homework to finish up the last few questions. Others around him were stuck on problems he had finished weeks ago, and even using calculators they just couldn't figure it out. He scoffed at them, unable to do such simple calculations in their heads. It was only gravity and wind, after all. He quickly wrote out the solution to the problem he was working on as Tezzeret walked in and sat down. Jace wanted so badly to wipe his rival's mind of all knowledge. The rivalry had its fun moments, but Tezzeret annoyed him. The man was so caught up in artifice, when he could be focusing on much more important things! Maybe I could make him forget artifacts and machinery. Force him to see the glory of spellcrafting! He mused to himself. Tezzeret looked back, as if aware he was being watched, and the two locked gazes. The other students in the room could almost feel the anger that passed between the planeswalkers as they held their glares. Until Venser walked in and called the class to order, that is. Suddenly the rivals acted as if each other didn't exist at all, and went about their advanced work.
Gideon was riding high as he walked to his classroom, Elspeth in his arms. He looked down at her with his winning smile, and kissed her lips. She blushed, as she always did, and their entourage all said 'awww' in practiced unison. He was the king of the world, he felt, and Elspeth was his queen. Or something like that. He didn't read books, much less wimpy fairytales. He was too manly for that, and instead spent his time either practicing or working out. Sometimes both at once, if he could manage it. He stepped into his history classroom, where Razia beamed at him from the front. He would make her proud that night, he knew. Probably score the winning goal…or all of the goals, if he could manage. Then he and Elspeth would meet up after the game for his post-victory lay, somewhere under the bleachers. He ignored everything that anyone said to him for the next twenty minutes as his mind drifted between Elspeth and Lacrosse, even as Razia barked at him to answer a question in class. Finally he blinked a couple times, snapping out of it his daydreams.
"Gideon!" she shouted at him, "What can you tell me about the rise of New Phyrexia on the plane of Mirrodin?"
He looked at her, dumbfounded, and simply shrugged. "Uh…Karn screwed up again, and made all those robots and stuff go crazy?"
Razia furrowed her brows, glaring at him. "That is…vaguely correct. However, you need much more detail on the test!" Even if he was her favourite student…she disliked how little studying he did, and how much time he spent ignoring her in class.
With a loud sigh, Garuk stepped into his classroom. He was late, of course, and didn't feel the slightest bit of remorse. Just as he sat down, he heard his name called out in a disparaging tone. Looking towards the front of the classroom, his gaze settled upon his teachers, the Ghost Council. He sighed, knowing just how obsessed they were with the rules.
"We know you like your plants, but you will return to class on time, or face penalties. For being three minutes and seven seconds late, it has been decided that you shall write a one page paper on the differences between Pre-and Post-Schism Orhovian Doctrine, due at the beginning of next class."
Gideon let forth a low, bestial growl as he wrote down the assignment. He would do it, most likely…but not very well, and only the bare minimum of effort would be put into it. He tuned out the Ghost Council as they began to drone on about the various Eldrazi, and how they were worshiped by some or the crazier inhabitants of their plane. His attention turned to much more important matters – the foremost being how he could protect the woods nearby without being in them. He had felt the foul miasma of Liliana's presence earlier, and seen where she had no doubt walked the forest. There were signs of charred grasses, as well. Chandra, perhaps, had left those. He could hardly imagine what those two could be doing in HIS forest. He had even found what appeared to be signs of a struggle –two bodies rolling around quite a bit, hand and foot prints left in the soft topsoil, and even a scorch mark! They must have found a secluded place to argue…and in their wretched anger it came to blows! he concluded as the bell announced the end of school. With much haste, the room emptied out, and soon Garuk was back in his forest.