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((Raimi Cafeteria, Hartman University))
After finally getting the secretary to listen to him Peter was able to meet his new friends for lunch. At first he was a bit wary of eating in a school cafeteria due to the nasty food in high school but when he entered the university's dining facilities he realized that the food of college was much different…and better.
He looked around the large facilities for his friends and saw quite a few people eating and chatting quite contentedly, however he didn't see anyone he really knew. He was about to go further into the cafeteria when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Peter turned around to find Gwen standing behind him smiling brightly, "Glad you decided to show up…Valerie and Tucker are already at a table and Sam and Danny are on their way I think."
Gwen led the way to the table while pointing out all the different sections of the cafeteria that served different types of food…everything from Mexican and Chinese cuisine to a deli and even a special section for Vegetarians plus numerous other food sections that Peter couldn't quite identify from a distance but they all smelled delicious. Needless to say the Raimi Cafeteria was very diverse and would be a great place to catch a meal.
They reached the table where Valerie and Tucker were seated and where they were in the midst of a conversation when Gwen and Peter reached them and they both abruptly stopped talking and blushed furiously. This piqued Gwen's interest and she sank into a chair across from Valerie with her baby blue eyes full of curiosity, "So…Val. What were you and Tucker talking about?"
Valerie looked away from her roommate, "None of your business," she said fiercely.
Tucker, looking very embarrassed for some reason, looked to Peter, "Have you seen Danny?"
"He had a class early this morning and I haven't seen him since then," Peter said as he took a seat by Gwen.
"Well I don't know about you guys but I'm hungry and tired of waiting for everyone…I'm getting some food." Tucker stood up and looked to Valerie, "Do you…want anything?"
Valerie smiled but avoided Tucker's eyes, "Uhm…yeah I'll come with you."
The two left and Gwen and Peter sat in silence before Gwen started laughing. Peter looked at her curiously, "What are you laughing about?"
"Isn't it obvious? Those two are SO into each other," she said flipping a strand of blonde hair over her shoulder.
"Who's into whom," a voice asked coming up behind Gwen and Peter.
The two looked up to see Danny and Sam approaching them with trays of food. They had decided to get food first and then look for their friends. Gwen smiled at her roommate and Danny, "Valerie and Tucker of course? How can you not see it?"
Danny dropped his tray full of food but Peter managed to catch it before it hit the floor. Sam raised an eyebrow at Peter's quick reflexes but simply sat her tray down with a grim face, "What makes you say that? Valerie never gives Tuck the time of day."
"Obviously you haven't been watching them closely enough…are you sure they didn't pay attention to each other in high school?"
Sam shook her head, "No. Valerie and Danny have more of a history than Tucker and Valerie."
"SAM!" Danny protested, taking a seat after having retrieved his tray from Peter.
Sam rolled her eyes, "Don't deny it NOW Danny! You were head over heels for Valerie in ninth grade!"
Danny sighed, "Okay fine. But still, after…the incident in junior year you know Valerie and I didn't quite see eye to eye."
"You mean she dumped you," Gwen asked with a smirk.
"NO!" Danny and Sam shouted together. Gwen giggled causing the two to blush. Danny continued, "No…we never went out…officially anyways. Valerie and me…after junior year…we just decided to remain friends…but even that's hard since she doesn't quite trust me anymore."
Sam gave Danny a concerned look but knew she couldn't say anything with Gwen and Peter there. The incident their junior year had changed all of their relationships. However the idea that Tucker could be…falling for their pseudo-friend was very questionable. 'After all…Tucker saw what happened then…how can he possibly think of being with Valerie,' she thought to herself.
The group was silent for a bit before Gwen decided to change the topic, "So how have everyone's classes been?"
The conversation, now safe from any drama, continued until Tucker and Valerie got back and the six friends started discussing their plans for the rest of the week.
((Top of Molina Science Building, Hartman University))
Not many people would think to look a top a science building for someone but this building's roof was being used as a sort of base of operations for two very strange and different people. One of the people a top the roof was a short woman with silky dark chocolate skin and intense pale blue eyes. She had tribal tattoos on her bare arms and two black lines on her face under her right eye. Her hair was pitch black and fell just past her shoulders in cascading waves. She was very beautiful but in an extremely exotic way.
The woman wore a long sarong wrapped around her waist and fell to her ankles; which were covered in a good twenty silver anklets and her feet were bare. The sarong was dark green with black swirls painted onto the fabric. She wore a halter top that was orange with black tiger stripes over it and it was cut to where it showed her abundant cleavage and well toned mid-drift. The tribal tattoos on her arm went from her shoulder down to her wrists and were about as intricate as the swirls on her sarong but partially covered by the numerous silver bracelets she wore.
To compliment her exotic, wild appearance the woman wore a necklace of animal teeth around her neck and her grin matched the necklace in that it, too, was very feral, "So how is the prey shaping up Kraven," she asked in a bored tone, her voice was light and held a strange accent behind it that was hard to identify.
The other person on the roof drew his attention away from the buildings he was looking at and back to the woman. He was extremely tall and had pitch black hair and pale white skin. His face was gruff and he had a goatee and mustache combo and piercing black eyes. His muscles were huge and bulging and were revealed quite nicely beneath his open vest made from an actual lion's pelt; the collar of which was the mane of the lion. Around his wrists were strips of zebra hide and his pants had leopard print on them (quite possibly from an actual leopard). Although his hair was slicked back he was much wilder looking than his companion.
He stood up with a feral grin on his face, "I think the hunt is about ready to begin Calypso. My prey is feasting at the moment and now would be the perfect time to observe him in his natural habitat," he said in a thick, Russian accent.
Calypso nodded, "Should I send someone so that you can see more of their abilities? We still don't know which student is Spiderman either."
Kraven scratched his bearded chin for a moment, pondering his tactics, then nodded, "Yes…I would like to see how they handle themselves before fully giving myself over to this…plus it will be a good way to draw them out into the open so they are easily accessible."
The woman smiled that feral grin of hers again, "Then you might want to step back a bit Kraven dear. I have work to do." She pulled a few vials of unknown substances from her sarong and then calmly jumped off the side of the building, disappearing with out a trace. Kraven knew what that meant…it meant she was off to perform one of her rituals and for a moment he wondered what she had planned. Then he shrugged it off and went back to observing his prey.
((Raimi Cafeteria, Hartman University))
Danny groaned. He couldn't believe the conversation had turned to THIS.
"IT'S JUST SICK! THE WAY THE FARMERS TREAT THE ANIMALS IS INHUMANE AND THEN THEY JUST EAT THEM AND YOU DON'T EVEN USE ALL OF THE PARTS," Sam shouted in outrage.
To be honest it had been Peter's fault for brining up the topic of Sam's choice of food. Tucker, being a strict carnivore, had then brought up several points against vegetarianism and the argument had progressed from there. Needless to say the entire cafeteria was watching them now, 'How come I feel like I'm back at high school,' Danny thought bitterly.
"WELL THE ANIMALS SHOULD BE GLAD WE EAT THEM! WE'RE PUTTING THEM OUT OF THEIR MISERY FROM THE INHUMANE TREATMENT OF THE FARMERS," Tucker quipped.
Peter held his head in his hands, obviously regretting having brought this topic up. Gwen was laughing hysterically at her friends antics and Valerie was trying to tune them out by watching one of the main TVs mounted on the walls around the cafeteria…she wasn't having much luck.
"TUCKER HOW CAN YOU SAY SUCH THINGS! NO WONDER YOU'VE NEVER HAD A GIRL FRIEND!"
Instantly everyone fell silent and Tucker's jaw dropped. He opened and shut it a few times before finally clenching his jaw shut and standing up. He glared at Sam, "Oh yeah," he then whipped around to Valerie, "Valerie meet me tonight at seven in the Kaufman Lobby." With that said Tucker picked up his tray full of animal bones (chicken legs mostly) and left. Everyone at the table stared at his retreating form and then slowly all eyes drifted back to Valerie who was dumbstruck.
Danny blinked and was the first to come back to reality (surprisingly), "What…the hell just happened?"
"Wow, Val I can't believe you got a date," Gwen squealed, being the second to recover from Tucker's outburst.
Valerie blinked repeatedly then stood up shakily, "I'll—I'll see you guys later."
She walked off and Gwen chased after her, shouting something about helping Valerie pick out an outfit. This left Sam, Peter, and Danny at the table to ponder what had happened. Sam sighed, "Wow. I've never seen Tuck act like that before…he's never been so spontaneous about asking girls out."
"I don't know if it was that spontaneous. Before Gwen and me sat with them they seemed to be having a pretty serious conversation," Peter said.
Sam and Danny looked to him and he merely shrugged, "That's just what I saw."
"This could be bad though…Valerie IS still hunting me after all for ruining her life with my ghost powers," Danny muttered.
"Danny," Sam elbowed him in the ribs. She couldn't believe he was blatantly talking about his ghost half in front of Peter like this.
"Ow," Danny exclaimed, rubbing his side. "Chill Sam…he knows about that."
Sam blinked, "He…he does." She looked to Peter, "He told you? He told you about his ghost powers?"
Peter rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "Uhm…kind of…it's more like I saw him use them," Peter said. It wasn't exactly a lie after all…the first time he had met 'Danny Phantom' had been at the Nasty Burger and then later that night Danny had fought the buzzard ghosts things.
"Danny…can I talk to you for a minute," Sam asked. Not waiting for a reply she grabbed Danny by his sleeve and dragged him away from Peter.
Once they were out of ear shot Sam glared at Danny, "How do you know if you can trust him Danny? You just met him yesterday and you've already told him your part ghost," she hissed.
Danny sighed and gave Sam an equally fierce look, "I can't tell you why Sam but I trust Peter. He's a good guy, I promise. He can be trusted with this I know."
Sam's glare softened into that of a worried frown, "I—I just don't want you to get hurt."
He blinked, it wasn't often Sam showed her softer side. He ran a hand through his hair and avoided Sam's eyes. His face reddened to a blush, "L—look Sam. I understand your concern but Peter can be trusted. I promise."
Sam looked deeply into Danny's eyes and then finally resigned, "I trust your judgment Danny," she finally said and grabbed his hand to walk him back to the table.
Danny and Sam made it back to Peter and he stood up, "Well I have another class soon so I better go. I'll see you two later okay," he said.
"Hey Peter," Sam said causing Peter to look at the Goth girl. She smiled and it sent a shiver down Peter's spine, "You better not tell anyone okay."
Peter chuckled at the irony of the situation. He wondered if Sam knew he was Spiderman if she would still be as worried. He couldn't tell her though…he didn't know her like Danny did and he didn't want her getting hurt, "I promise."
((Hartman University Nature Sanctuary))
Hartman University prided itself in its large 'park' at the edge of campus. It was a great place for the science students interested in botany and wild life to earn some credits and for artists and photographers to obtain subjects for their art. It was really secluded and quiet most of the time due to the animals that inhabited it. In the depths of these secluded woods however a sinister force was at work.
Calypso finished spreading the black powder in her hand and pulled out a drum from a large canvas bag she carried. The drum was small and a significant part of her rituals. Calypso began to circle the sprinkled black powder that she had spread around the clearing in an intricate, circular symbol. As she got to the halfway point of the circle the ground below her began to rumble and at this point she began to chat and start swaying to the beat of her drum.
Anutka tamaneyko malacala ishiyo mooka anutka anutka zootakumalo.
The animals fell silent.
Anutka, Anutka zootakumalo. Anutka, Anutka risanbool gotango.
The drum echoed through the forest and the rumbling grew louder and fiercer.
Keigo, Keigo mishika ishiyo mooka. Calarei, Calarei anutka zootakumalo.
Calypso ceased moving but the drum beats seemed to echo around her. She pulled out a knife and plunged it into a rabbit that had been tied up and placed at this part of the circle. Its crimson blood stained its white fur and soaked into the ground.
Anutka. Anutka. ANUTKA SANU RA!
Silence fell once more. Calypso stood up and licked the rabbit's blood off of the knife. Suddenly the ground began to shake even worse than before and from inside the circle she had made with the powder numerous deformed and decaying pale white and blue hands shot up into the air. This caused Calypso to smile and quite a few birds in the woods to launch from their trees; cawing in protest at the disturbance she had unleashed. Calypso merely laughed and watched as her voodoo took affect, 'Excellent,' she thought, 'Excellent.'
To Be Continued…
AN: Just so you know…the language Calypso is chanting in is…TOTALLY MADE UP! XD
Also for those who DON'T know a sarong is a type of skirt that wraps around the waist. They're really cool and I wish I had one.
On another note I included more references to Spiderman things this chapter...the cafeteria is named after the director of the Spiderman movies Sam Raimi. The science building, strangely enough, is named after the man who played Doc Oct in the second moive Alfred Molina!
Anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the next chapter (for you action freaks) should hold some fun stuff…including the effects of Calypso's voodoo spell and possibly Kraven's attack.Stay tuned…but first REVIEW!