[AQ] STORM SQUAD [Nao/Aki/Keiko/Juon]

[Nao]

Stormy Panic
+ Description: A storm has knocked out the power in the school building shortly after classes have ended for the day; it seems to nasty outside to leave, though the building is pretty deserted, save for one or two other people who got stuck.
+ Stay put, wait out the storm: -1 Guardians, +2 Faberge
+ Venture out to try to get the power back on: +1 Guardians, +1 Faberge
+ Sneak into the staff room while no one’s around: -2 Guardians, +1 Roost
+ Look for someone else who may be stuck: +2 Guardians, -1 Roost
+ Requirements: None
+ Submitted by Hatta

---

Nao had always had the uncanny ability to know when rain was coming. He regarded this sense as one of the more redeeming qualities of his narcolepsy, of which there were precious few. The low atmospheric drowsiness settled into his bones long before the sky had a chance to darken. He trusted it. It made his mind feel thick and slow, and he never failed to recognize sleepiness when it gathered up behind his eyes. He slept from midday on, the sounds of class just a fading blur. 

When he next opened his eyes, the room was quiet. He was bent over his desk, resting his temple on his stiff forearms as his sluggish brain attempted to drum up some inkling of what was happening. There was a frightening moment upon waking when he felt as though every piece of information had tumbled right out of his head. He felt an awkward unease with his surroundings, like some clumsy, misfit creature that didn’t belong to its environment. It was dark and quiet. Where was he? What time, day, month, year was it? Who was he, what was this place? Was he supposed to recognize where he was? 

Finally, Nao sat up. Pushing his body from the desk with Herculean effort, he squeezed his hands into the corners until his knuckles went white. The responding sensation of cold pins and needles in his palms pressed his mind back into clarity. It was one of many habits Nao had adopted over the years to help him decipher which world he was in—dreaming or waking. He disagreed that pain didn’t exist in dreams; he’d had plenty of painful dreams. But that oppressive, peculiar pricking feeling was so unique, he’d never once felt it recreated in a dream. Watching the muscles shift in his wrists, Nao exhaled as he remembered. 

Not dreaming. Just fell asleep again. This was real. The storm he’d predicted was coming down hard outside, and it seemed to have knocked out the power. 

Out of habit, Nao leaned down to push aside one flap of his bag, brushing his long fingers against the smooth surface of his pink and white egg. Just checking. Just making sure he was doing okay. 

Satisfied, Nao straightened again and lifted his arms over his head with a loud yawn, trying to regain some mental acuity before he decided what he should do. He was undaunted by waking up to a dark, empty room; he’d done it many times before. 

[Akihiko]

    As if on cue, a crashing thunder and lightning shook the school's windows. It would have seemed to have shaken the entire classroom, except that it was only the cluster of desks around him that moved.

    In the darkness, Aki sat against the back wall in tensed silence. His knees were drawn up to his chest, barely visible under the cover of his school jacket
Whether he was shivering or shaking was hard to tell; however, he was very clearly the source of movement Nao had felt moments ago. Aki's hand had even kept its hold of the leg of Nao's desk.

    Of course it retracted the moment Aki came back to himself. Even in his old school, Akihiko had manage to keep his peculiar relationship with thunderstorms mostly under wraps. Instead of inviting any probing questions, he decided to speak up first.

"It's a flash flood out there," he said nonchalantly. He stood and dusted himself off and continued, "so we're stuck. Which isn't so bad, except the vending machines won't work, and my phone won't charge." 
    He then walked toward the classroom door and turned to consider Nao. "I almost stole your umbrella and left you, you know," he added with a grin.

[Keiko]

The recent surge of stormy weather came to no surprise for most people: it seemed that it had become a regular occurrence for small handfuls of students to become more or less trapped inside the school building at any given time. Keiko, who had been trapped on campus twice before this, had been praying silently for at least just some plaid old cloudy weather. As always she was met with the ultimate disappointment by being given a sudden shower of rainfall in evening, just as she had dreaded, and she couldn’t help but wonder if she has going through a time of horrid luck.

The whole ordeal was disheartening; the only reason she was caught from the weather for a third time was for her terribly problematic swim club. The general problem started a little while earlier with the three that were awake- the ever-adorable Akihiko seemed to be insistent upon staying with Nao, who had passed out some point during the school day. Normally Keiko wouldn’t bat an eyelash at this sort of thing, seeing as Nao managed to survive to some extent for seventeen years, but with the storm rushing in yet again Keiko found herself feeling responsible for the pair.

Not responsible enough to try and “handle” the two of them on her own, however. She had her lackey to help her with that responsibility- Juon that is, who was her go-to for nagging about Nao in general anyway. It was for that reason she had one pale hand wrapped around Juon’s wrist in an uncomfortable vice-grip fashion, leading him towards their homeroom to pick her problematic children up from daycare. “Like I said, Mister Corea, he’s your friend! You should be more open to helping him out some more.”

[Juon]

"Come on, can't we just--" Juon had insisted, despite the fact that he was being dragged along anyway. "I don't mind the rain, I can go on ahea--"

But all of his complaints fell on deaf ears. Mori Keiko was one always-insistent individual, and her word was generally law, with no going back once she'd made up her mind. While this perhaps wasn't the ultimate law of the world, it certainly was for his dealings with her, as he currently served as one of her favorite "lackeys"--a title he did not particularly relish.

Juon didn't mind the rain; it didn't bother him, and he had no issues with going along ahead of her, but she was very much on him about bringing the others along. Nao, his roommate, and Akihiko, who he kind-of-knew from their mutual status of being on the team. "Yes, I'm aware, but he isn't helple--"

He gave up halfway through as they approached their homeroom, moving ahead to open the door to greet the others. "Anyone awake in here?" he prompted with a sigh. "It's raining."

[Nao]

Eyes closed again, Nao had rested his face cheek-down on his desk with his arms splayed out around him. It always took him awhile to return to a functioning level of consciousness upon waking, something he was sure Juon knew after countless mornings together. Nao never failed to drench himself with their strange shower when he attempted to brush his teeth. 

Aki's voice made him open his eyes again. "Acchi...I didn't bring any umbrella." Lucky that Aki was there to talk to him, though, or he was sure he would've fallen asleep again. Slipping one hand back down to the side of his desk, Nao dug around in his bag with a glazed-over look in his eyes. He searched for a good few minutes before he found a little plastic bottle which he fished out with a quiet clatter. Bringing it around to his other hand, Nao tried in vain to open the bottle by himself until he heard Juon's voice. Turning his head, Nao waved his medicine bottle in the air over his head as he fixed Juon with a weak look. 

"Saaave meee," he whined. "I can't do it...Jupyon..." Often, Nao's muscles were weak after he'd freshly woken up. As usual, Nao turned to Juon for help with everything. And then Nao stayed in the classroom and went back to sleep goodbye everyone!

[Akihiko]

Aki looked between Juon and Nao, then to the third party. Keiko always seemed to give off this impression of superiority and prestige. This was, of course, only aincreased with the addition of a height advantage via heels.

Aki was glad neither her nor Juon had been present to see him only a short time before. There was a blatant refusal to entertain the possibility of what might have happened were his teammates to have discovered him. Juon in particular. He may have trusted and called a friend, but there was always a mystery behind those glasses (coincidentally, this was one reason friendship with Juon was appealing).

Losing his dignity with Nao was far less of a concern, of course. It was a source of comfort to know that even if he had even be cognizant for the tiny jumps and curses, Nao was hardly in a place to judge others.

Instead of helping Nao himself, he glanced at Juon and raised his brows. After all, Juon was much of the time Nao's keeper. Then stepping away from the door, he raised an arm in greeting. "Hey guys. Glad it's not just me and him," he said, with a motion of his head to Nao.