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[Alchemy Igelkott]

Aly LOVED food.
She always had and she figured it was her hedgehog self coming through, but she knew even if she wasn't a Shifter, she would still love food.
She was in the Cafeteria, trying to decide what to eat. It was a troublesome process for her, because she loved everything on the menu.
She had narrowed it down to two choices, a bagel with strawberry cream cheese or a cupcake. She was torn between them, but in the end decided to get both.
People in her schools before Shifter Academy always called her a pig, now they called her a hedgehog.
Rightly so, she thought.
Her mom had been the opposite. She hadn't been very picky, and loved all kinds of vegetables. Fossy had been a total carnivore.
Aly wasn't picky either, food was food in her mind.
She was glad that she had a pretty high metabolism and liked working out, otherwise, with all the food Aly ate, she'd be a lot bigger.
She even loved watching food. Food Network, as it was. Aly couldn't cook though. She wished she could, and as she devoured her chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing, she tried to picture herself making some.
Her mind was then filled though with the smell of smoke and pictures of a burnt kitchen, a flashback of HomeEc in middle school.
Aly smiled at the memory, licking her icing covered fingers. She then moved on: bagel time.
Aly wondered how bagels were made.
It can't be too hard, she thought, thinking of all the bread shops in France, a place her grandmother had taken her once.
Then she remembered how all of those bakers had to get up extremely early in the morning to bake the bread and how they constantly had to kneed the dough.
Maybe it's harder than I thought...
For the millionth time in her life, Aly wished she could cook. She'd probably richer, not having to spend lots of money on pre-bought food, just a little money here and there on ingredients she could use again.
Through her daydreams, Aly realized that she hadn't even taken a bite of her bagel yet.
Munch!
Aly moaned. The bagel was toasted perfectly and had just the right about of cream cheese.
She then wondered if they used actual strawberries in it, or just strawberry flavoring. She wasn't exactly sure, but she didn't really care, if it tasted good, there weren't many questions she asked...unless it was a human or hedgehog.
"Yuck!" she exclaimed. " That would be just like Sweeney Todd!"

[Skii Rose Reeve]

~Skii Rose~

Skii picked up a fast granola bar from a rack that displayed all the snacks the cafeteria owned. She ripped it open and took a bite chocolate chip. Hmmm.... It didn't really satisfy her hunger. Skii realized that she probably needed to eat more food than what she did. She placed her hand on her stomach that gave a slight growl.

" Fine, I guess I'll have some meat anything really." Skii gave in to her ocelot inside. She usually tried to not eat meat except for special occasions. She finds it giving in to much to her animal side like she will loose control. The lunch lady slides a sandwich to Skii and she takes it generously. She flips up the bread of her sandwich, roast beef. She would have preferred a smaller animal but whatever. "Thanks."

Skii glanced around the cafeteria it's not like she really knew anyone. She found a blond headed girl sitting alone eating a beagle a decided to join her. "That would be like Sweeney Todd"! Skii caught the girl talking to herself. She put on her smile and sat down from the opposite side of the girl. She was pretty and looked older than Skii herself. Skii hoped she wasn't one of those girls that thought they were to good for a freshman.

"Hey, I'm Skii." Skii sat her sandwich down on the table and took off the bread. She began to pull apart the meat in strips then eat them. "What would be like Sweeney Todd?"

[Alchemy Igelkott]

Aly was surprised when she saw someone sit at the table with her. The girl had introduced herself as Skii, and Aly was struck by how young she looked.
She's probably a freshman, Aly thought. Still, she's more unique than the freshmen at my old school. She doesn't seem like a conformist, at least. Aly looked over Skii's attire. Very professional, no Hollister tee-shirt.
Thank God. I hate Hollister.
Aly wasn't very popular. She never had been, even before she had shifted. She had always been seen as a nerd, and nobody ever talked to a nerd. She wasn't really a nerd, though, she just liked things that seemed nerdy to most people. And she was smart. Smart people always seemed intimidating.
She smiled though, happy to have someone to talk to. "I'm Aly. Law enforcement major, before you can ask," she said to Skii. "And I was thinking about food. I love to eat, I'm a hedgehog, and I don't really question anything if it tastes good. But then I was thinking, what if I ate human? What if I ate hedgehog? Would I question it if those tasted good? And that's what made me think of Sweeney Todd, you know, the human meat pies. I love that musical, plus, there's like, no dancing it it at all." Aly smiled. She loved musicals without dancing; she couldn't dance.
She hummed: By the sea, Mr. Todd, that's the life I covet.
Aly was rambling, something she rarely did. She hated rambling, it mad her feel so vulnerable. She realized that she only rambled if she was nervous, and she guessed she was, because she didn't have very many friends here, yet.
Aly was a junior, and this girl was a freshman, an extraordinary one, at that.
Skii didn't seem afraid to talk to a junior, she didn't seem afraid that there was the possibility that Aly would treat her like freshman puke. She hated upperclassmen that did that, it just seemed so...trashy. Aly admired Skii's confidence, plus she seemed like someone cool to be friends with, if she knew about Sweeney Todd; not many people seemed to know about it, surprisingly, for such a good musical.
Aly loved musicals. She hadn't seem very many, but she loved moviecals, as well. She hoped Skii did, too.
Aly took a bite of her bagel (Mmmm, it's so good!), waiting for Skii's response.

[Skii Rose Reeve]

~Skii Rose~

"I'm Aly. Law enforcement major, before you can ask.And I was thinking about food. I love to eat, I'm a hedgehog, and I don't really question anything if it tastes good. But then I was thinking, what if I ate human? What if I ate hedgehog? Would I question it if those tasted good? And that's what made me think of Sweeney Todd, you know, the human meat pies. I love that musical, plus, there's like, no dancing it it at all."

Skii listened as Aly the Law enforcement hedgehog rambled on. She just kept tearing her roast beef and shoving it in her mouth. Aly seemed a little geek-ish to her. Especially since she was rambling. Aly seemed like a nice enough girl though. Skii decided to cut her some slack for the rambling.

" Aly. Being a hedge hog is cool and you don't have to be nervous. Really I'm a freshman. I should be the nervous one your a jr.! But really a crime fighting hedgehog sounds pretty cool. I am a theater major. So I know about musicals." Skii smiled at Aly trying to make her a little more comfortable. She had almost finished her roast beef and her stomach was full. She placed the other half of bread on the plate and then looked at Aly.

"Do you want this? I can't eat any more." Skii pushed the plate over to Aly. Skii knew she would probably take one look at Skii's physique and she would say she needed more to eat eat but Skii preferred to stay slim. It was part of her industry and she had never really eaten much anyways.

"Wicked is my favorite musical. I'm auditioning for it. It's kinda my dream to be green." Skii laughed at her horrible pun. She dug in her bag to find a pencil and a notebook. She crossed her legs and smoothed the short black skirt she had on. When she couldn't easily find a pencil she extracted one that she had placed in her hair. IT was up in a bun and had four sharp pencils strategically placed in it. She smiled and opened her notebook and began to write hopefully Aly didn't mind not that she cared Skii had just had a wonderful idea for a musical. She scribbled on her paper marking out a lot as she went.

[Alchemy Igelkott]

Aly relaxed a little more. It was easy to see that Skii was trying to make her feel more comfortable, and she appreciated the effort.

Aly knew that Skii was totally right: she shouldn't be nervous. But Aly was. She'd always been a geek and a nerd, and Skii seemed really cool and collected, especially for a freshman. Not that Aly was the type to treat freshmen like dirt, she just expected them to be more nervous than the upperclassmen, like herself. Except, that of course, wasn't entirely true.

Take me, for example.

She liked having the advantage, though, of being older. People treated her with more respect, something she didn't often get once she told them she was a hedgehog.

Aly finished her bagel, wishing that she had bought another. She was still listening to Skii; she was pretty good at multi-tasking, though she had been only absentmindedly eating her bagel.

Theatre major? Awesome! she thought, impressed. I wonder if she's any good...She's probably amazing. You never know though. I need to stop making assumptions.

Aly definitely didn't want a repeat of Selah Belle Madison.

Aly reached for the bread, saying thanks. She was always hungry, even after finishing a cupcake and a bagel. She didn't comment on Skii's size or how she looked like she needed to eat more; she felt like Skii probably expected it, (Plus, you need to be skinny to be in theatre, she thought.) just like Aly expected weird looks whenever she said she was majoring in law enforcement.

Aly was a little surprised when Skii pulled a pencil out of her hair. Not something she had expected, but cool. She wondered if it was painful, but then hypothesized that it probably wasn't any different than having spikes.

That's so cool how she can just write like that! Aly mused to herself.

Aly always admired writers. They were able to do so much with their imaginations! Aly herself tried to write when she could, and she definitely wasn't the best. She wasn't very good at elaborating or little details, she just got straight to the point. She figured she might be OK at short stories, but she really wanted to write novels, or even a play.

Aly sneaked a look at Skii's paper. It looked like a script of some kind. Maybe a musical.

"Wonder if she composes," she said outloud, not thinking.

[Skii Rose Reeve]

Skii kept scribbling down the words that came to her. She flicked her eyes and saw that Ally was watching her write. Ski placed an arm over her writing like she was an elementary schooler.
Ski chewed on the end of her pencil. Then started writing once an idea hit her.

"Father," she said. "You can't want me to do this. Everyone else tells me to not not steal and to not lie." She tried to suck the words back into her mouth knowing as soon as she had said them they were wrong. Her older brother turned his head away knowing something bad was going to happen.The girl was ready as her father's hand made it's way across her face. Then it was gone but the ghost of pain lingered she gritted her teeth not wanting her father to hear hear pain.

"Of course. Those other people are wrong they don't know your potential like I do." The girl's Father's mouth contorted to a grin as she looked back at him. He placed his hand on his chin feeling the stubble that was growing there. She knew he was waiting for her to respond. She knew what he had programed her to say.

Instead she looked into his eye's and sighed letting the tension and pain melt from her body. She licked her lips and closed her eyes giving her one last moment to turn back and say the programmed response...

Skii felt Ally lean in closer and broke her concentration. She blinked away the words that had been coming to her a little frustrated.

Skii sucked her lips in and clicked her pencil on the lunch room table and concentrated on the way the eraser bounced up and down. She played with a strand of hair that had fallen from it's place. She cursed it under her breath, then tried to start to write again.

"No," She spit out the words not knowing what else to say. She was treading into new territory. She looked at her father's astounded face then to her brother. He had gotten up and moved as far away from her as possible. He looked as though he was going to die. He was Ashen faced and.

She crossed out the last part knowing it sounded bad.

"Wonder if she composes," Ally said out loud. Ski looked at her and at her paper.

"Sometimes"

[Alchemy Igelkott]

"Sometimes," Skii said, and Aly was pretty sure she was annoyed.

The walls seemed like they were closing in, and Aly felt really hot, though that was probably because she was blushing, not only because she had spoken her thoughts outloud, and Skii had caught her, but also because she was caught at looking at whatever she was writing.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Aly gushed, embarrassed as could be. "I didn't mean to break your concentration, or anything, really," she added, trying to calm herself down.

Tearing apart the bread with her fingers and absentmindedly putting it into her mouth and eating (without chewing, for Aly often swallowed her food whole if she was in an awkward situation), she suddenly became more quiet. Maybe she shouldn't have come to the cafeteria today. If she hadn't she wouldn't have had to be this embarrassed.

The only time she had been this embarrased was probably when she had gone to see "Toy Story" as a kid, and had tripped in the theatre, causing some other movie goer to spill all of their popcorn. As a kid, Aly had been mortified, but the person had let it slide, being nice to a clumsy little kid.

Brushing her hair out of her face, Aly focused on forgetting that memory, and stopping the feeling of the walls closing in.

She was becoming dizzy, and the cafeteria felt like it was on fire. That, or Aly had a really really bad sunburn. Hoping it was the second, she didn't really know what to do, so she said a quick apology to Skii, then ran to buy a water bottle.

As soon as she bought the water bottle, Aly immediately started chugging it. Regretfully though, when she reached the table, for by that time, it was already empty.

What is wrong with me?[/color][/i] she thought, becoming dizzy, as if she had been swept around by a tornado, only to be spit back out.

Something felt like it was coming up her throat, and Aly tried to swallow it down, and cool herself, applying the still cold water bottle to her forehead, but to no avail.

Taking deep breaths, Aly turned her attention back to Skii, wondering, to herself this time, what Skii had been writing.

"I can't do this," Aly said, feeling horrible, like she had been punched repeatedly in the gut, and like someone was pulling a live snake up her throat, and resisting the urge to moan and groan.

And with that, Aly ran. She ran towards the trash can, and only then did she hurl.[/size]

[Skii Rose Reeve]

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to break your concentration, or anything, really."

Ally gushed. Skii put down her pencil and closed her note book. She messed with the bracelet on her wrist. She let a breath out and shoved her her things in her bag.

"No Al, it's fine I just..." Skii bit her lip not knowing what to say. Yes she was a little mad that Ally was watching her write. Not that she cared but she didn't ask to see her works and such.

"I just lost my muse that's all."

Skii noticed Ally was freaking out. It almost seemed as though she was in pain.

"Umm Al... You okay??" Skii asked leaning in closer to Ally.
"You don't look to good.."

Ally abruptly stood and mumbled under her breath. Skii watched as ally rushed to get a water bottle. Something had to be up. Ally chugged the water she had just bought. She reached the table she looked at the water and saw that she chugged it all.

"Al... are you okay? You look really bad and... Al don't puke on me."

"I can't do this."

Skii shoved her bag off the table just in case. She saw ally take off towards the trash can and... ya she blew chunks. It was gross! Skii looked at the plates be fore her and pulled the remaining pencils from her hair and let it fall down past her shoulders.

She threw the pencils in her bag then ran over to Ally.

"Al you got to get out of here. " Skii grimaced.

"Al it's okay. here are you done I.."

Skii was at a loss of words. Her stomach was churning now and she felt like puking her self. Skii didn't know what else to do. She didn't know Ally to well, Well. Skii went and bought Ally a bottle of water. She handed Ally the water then made her way back to their table.

She took out her notebook and began to write again. This time she wrote half heartily feeling bad for not doing more.

[Alchemy Igelkott]

Aly had finally stopped throwing up, and she felt horrible.

She had that insanely gross taste in her mouth, the taste of bile, and she was desperate to get rid of it.

Reaching for the water bottle that Skii had nicely bought for her, she took a few deep breaths and then took some tentative sips.

Although she should have probably gone back to her dorm, she decided to go back to the table where Skii was writing.

She sat down, for she was feeling a little shaky on her feet, and placed the water bottle on the table.

"Thanks," she said to Skii, and reached into her bag, pulling out a five dollar bill. "And this is me paying you back," she added with a slight smile.

Reaching into her bag, again, she gathered a hair tie, and pulled her hair back, out of habit more than anything else.

Her eyes were flitting around, for she was in an awkward situation, considering she had just hurled, and her eyes caught something interesting in the window.

She stood up, glad when she didn't become dizzy, and sort of rushed over to the window. Not as close as she would have liked for her curiousity, but close enough for safety reasons.

Outside the window was something Aly thought she'd never have to see: a hurricane. She had lived in Utah for most of her life, and definitely wasn't close enough to the ocean for them, but Shifter Academy? That was a different story. Stupid island school.

"Um, Skii?" Aly ventured. "You better come see this."

Cursing herself internally for not wearing running shoes, she adjusted the bag on her should, and slowly took steps away from the window, scared of the sheer might the storm already had.

Aly was surprised at the emotion she felt: fear. She wasn't the type to be afraid, far from it. One of her mottos was no pain, no gain, but this seemed different. It wasn't exactly a fear she felt, more like an intense panic, with a lot of fear fright mixed in.

Come on, Aly, she told herself. Stop being a scaredy cat. You're a spikey hedgehog. You've killed a snake.

But the little animal inside of her, despite it's fiery personality, said, Oh, ya? Well, let me tell you something, missy, that is definitely not a snake.

"Stay back from the window, though, Skii," Aly added, her protective nature coming in. "I think I know why I puked. This. I must have smelled all of the ocean water, as weird as that sounds, but I'm a hedgehog, and hedgehogs have a sensitive sense of smell."[/color]

{Clothes.
Word count: 442.
Notes: Storm!!!!}