Fishy discovery (Open)

Michelle awoke from her deep sleep by the sound of her alarm clock going off, she rubbed her head where she hit it on the coffee table.
"That storm was a nightmare." she said out loud. She got up and put on one of her sundresses, not able to get over the feeling something was very wrong. Her legs had been tingling and she felt a voice in the back of her head but wrote it off on the posible concussion. She got ready and decided to go outside to survey the damage the storm inflicted. She put on a sundress and put in her hair bows, ready to face the world.

Michelle walked through the normally busy hallway that now was silent and seemingly foreign. She went down the stairs just incase the lightning that struck the building somehow messed up the electrical system. She exited the building and headed to the park.

She looked around the road and saw some of the pavement was stained black. Trees were still smoldering from where they were struck by the lightning. She started the small walk down the street to the park to clam her nerves. She was still very shook up by the lightning strike and she went to the only place she knew could calm her down: The water.

The Park was deserted. Michelle couldn't believe the damage that was done to the area. She saw trees that were turned into charcoal and bushes still smoking. Branches laid everywhere on the ground. Her nerves stood on end and she walked over the the fountain to look at her reflection in the water. She fixed her hair bows in her hair then admired how seemingly peaceful this chaos was. The fountain had leaves laying all across the surface and debris floating freely as if in suspended animation. Michelle suddenly heard a twig snap and she turned around to see who it was.

Alfred hated getting up early. He was a healthy teenage boy with a need for at least 12 hours of sleep. More, if he could help it. And that stupid storm yesterday cost him almost an entire night of sleep. He was awoken around midnight, he guessed, which meant he had lost about twelve hours of his usual amount of sleep time on weekends.

He rolled out of his bed with a loud groan. There was no point in trying to go back to sleep. His aching muscles wouldn't let him. And he didn't even work out yesterday. So strange. He pulled his jeans and his favorite leather bomber jacket on. A morning walk sounded nice, even though it was probably cold as hell outside. How these people could live with their weather was beyond him.

After a few stumbles and muttered curse words, Alfred finally reached the bottom of the stairs with surprisingly few injuries. He didn't understand why it was that he tried to jump down one stair and ended up falling down twenty. He had never been the clumsy type.

Weird. Maybe the fresh, and cold!, air could help clear his mind. Thus, Alfred decided to make his way to the park, jogging a little to keep himself warm. He was astonished when he arrived. He had never seen a park so damaged before. Was that storm really that horrible?

He walked around, his eyes wide. This was just like some kind of freaky post-apocalyptic zombie movie. Suddenly, he heard a twig a snap, making him jump a few feet in the air. Quite literally actually. Shocked, he forgot to put his legs under himself and managed to land on his butt with a semi-loud exclamation. "Fuck!" This day was just getting better and better.

Michelle is "woken" from her day-dream by a twig snap. She turns around to see a tall, sandy blond headed person she had seen somewhere before. Perhaps from the building. Yes, that was it. He had the strangest cowlick Michelle had ever seen. However, she felt it weird that she didn't know anything else about him besides the fact he lives in the building. Being stuck on a small island most of your life meant you would know almost all the residence on your side of the island. It was strange to Michelle that she knew almost nothing about this person.

But the thing that made her look at him weirdly wasn't the fact that she had seen him but didn't know his name. Actually it was the fact that he was a few feet off the ground. Michelle blinked a few times in surprise and he landed back on the floor in a painful seeming manner.

"Fuck!" he half shouted. Michelle blinked a few times more and blamed the strange happening she witnessed on her possible concussion. She then abandoned her fountain watching to help the young man up. In order to get there she has to stumble over a couple of branches and almost slipped in a puddle or two.

"Are you okay?" she asks him as she tries to help him up. If he really fell from the height she saw him reach, it must have hurt on the landing. Michelle thinks to herself why a person would be in this disaster of a park, Then she corrected herself figuring that this other person must be thinking the same thing of her.

Alfred's butt was broken. Wait, could butts even get broken? Were there bones in there? He thought there were. So it totally was broken! Maybe. It hurt like hell, so it probably was. Or not.

He shook himself out of his weird musings when a girl's voice reached his ears. He looked up to see a young girl around his age. A nice young girl, actually. Alfred beamed at her. "I'm fine! Heroes don't get hurt!" He got up by himself without even realizing that the girl was trying to help him. Now that his attention was captured by the long-haired girl, the pain in his butt was all but, excuse the pun, forgotten. He stuck a hand out for her. "Name's Alfred F. Jones, by the way! And yours, pretty lady?" He wasn't trying to flirt, really. It was only polite to call a girl lady, right? And Alfred had manners, rusty as they might have been from being used so rarely.

"Name's Alfred F. Jones, by the way! And yours, pretty lady?" the young man said. She blushed a little at this but soon got over it. She took and shook his hand happily. Now that she was closer Michelle guessed he was about her age if not a little older.
"I'm Michelle. Michelle Veronique." she happily introduced herself to Alfred. She could tell from his happy demeanor that they could be good friends if they saw each other often enought. Her train of thought reminded Michelle that she couldn't get over the feeling he was from the building. It might be that she had just moved in but she knew him from somewhere. "I'm sorry to ask but do you live at the Gracefield house down the street?" She didn't want to seem weird like a stalker or anything but she was 99% sure she has seen him in the building. Gracefield house had 8 floors and 5 rooms per floor. That could be over 40 people in the building she hadn't met yet not including the chance that there could be more than one person in each room. Alfred could easily be one of those 40+ people and she would have no clue.

He blinked at the girl. "Wow, how did you know? Yeah, I totally live there! Do you live there too?" Now that he thought about it, she seemed a bit familiar. It was more like the 'I saw you in a shop months ago' familiar then anything else though.

And she looked like she was his age too. Shouldn't they have gone to the same school? "I'm 17, how old are you? Do you go to school? Which classes do you take? What's your favorite? Do you like sports?" He didn't intend to ask so many question, but now that they were out... He was curious. He loved talking about people and about himself, especially when it came to awesome things like sports. Or video games. Or MMORPGs. Or Star Wars. But he usually only started talking about those when he was sure his partner was a nerd as well. He didn't want to be labeled a geek and a loser again. Not that this girl looked like a bully.

Michelle is wide eyed at the swarm of questions. She was happy to find that there was someone she could talk to in the building. Having just moved in she found it quite lonely not knowing anyone. Every time she tried to say hi everyone was too busy for introductions. Finding a friend was quite a mood brightener for her. "I just moved into the 3rd floor." she told him. "I'm 16 and I go to the school that's close to here. I take all the normal classes but my favorite is Marine biology." She giggled. She didn't know why but answering Alfred's questions gave her a little enjoyment. "I don't play any sports but I'm good at beach volleyball or so I've been told."

Michelle found herself wishing to know more about this person. "Which floor do you live on?" In her daze she forgot about the total destruction around her. "What did you think of this storm? It was pretty strange…" she asked while rubbing her temple where she hit it on the coffee table.

He beamed at her. "I live all the way at the top! I moved to the eighth floor because I love heights! Do you like living on the third floor? Oh, do you like heights? Have you ever been on an airplane?" If it wasn't obvious already, Alfred truly loved talking. He couldn't help it; he loved the sound of his own voice, that was true, but he loved making friends even more!

"I go to that school too! That means you're in the class under me!" His smile widened even more. "Marine biology sounds cool. I take normal Biology. And I love volleyball! Not as much as football or basketball, but it's nice!" And the volleyball team always wore short, tight shorts, which his friends loved to look at. Alfred wasn't a pervert, but even he had to appreciate volleyball practices. Although he tended to follow the ball instead of drooling over the girls, but he would never tell his friends that.

"The storm? I guess it was..." He shuddered at the reminder, his muscles throbbing painfully in response. "That was one huge lightning, huh?"

She enjoyed Alfred's enthusiasm and continued to answer his questions. "I'm used to living at sea level so I'm not used to heights. And I had to get on a plane to fly here from my home country." Michelle noticed his way of speaking and deduced that he was also not from England. "You're also not from around here, are you?" She asked him.

She smiles. "I'm thinking of joining the team but I need someone to practice with." she hinted. She could see from Alfred's muscles that he was a jock of sorts and he might know how to play a little volleyball. She did need help on her serve and the building wasn't exactly crawling with people her age to help her.

"This' the worst storm I've seen since… Well, It's the worst storm I've ever seen." she said while massaging her head. She was glad that she had stopped hearing the small voice but she wasn't going to tell Alfred she was hearing things. She wasn't going to ruin a good friendship before starts. "By the way, did you feel anything strange after the storm? Like a… change of some sort?" She hated to be so direct but she really wanted to know it wasn't just her. For some reason her legs had been tingling all day and she had a primordial urge to go to some sort of water and dive right in.

"Nope, I'm all the way from the US of A! New York City, to be specific. Where do you come from? Somewhere warm, right?" That was his best guess; she did have pretty dark skin after all. Not that there weren't dark skinned people in England, but she did say she came from another country. Maybe she came from a tropical island? She was wearing a sundress after all.

He tilted his head. "Really? Try-outs are in a few weeks though. Two? Maybe three?" Well, if she was good, then she was probably going to get in anyway. "Want me to help you? I played volleyball on the beach all the time and I'm pretty good at it. Any ball game, really." He puffed his chest out with pride. It wasn't even his ego speaking. Not completely. He really was very good at ball games. And every other sport.

He nodded. "Yeah, it was kind of freaky. And the park..." He looked around. "Looks like something out of a horror movie. Or some post-apocalyptic movie."

"Strange?" His muscles did ache. And his brain felt like it wanted to burst. "...I guess. A bit. You felt somethin'?"

"America you say…" she looked at him again. He really looked like the stereotypical American. "I'm from the island of Mahé, in the country Seychelles." She said. Michelle didn't expect him to know of a small island country almost halfway across the globe from his world known one. "It's very warm! It's 29 degrees almost every day!" she missed the warmness of her island. But she came to England for a new beginning and she wont have a little cold get her down.

She smiled. "I would love that!" try-outs were in two weeks and practice makes perfect. She could sense the pride radiating off him. Her main obstical was getting some place to practice because there weren't exactly many beach volleyball courts in the middle of London.

"This is quite a disaster…" she wondered if the storm really killed everyone. The only people she's seen all morning is Alfred. Michelle knew she was being dramatic but this park looked like a typhoon went through. It's like one of the island back home that no one lived on, like a ghost village.

"I still feel it. My legs are killing me." she said " And I've had the strangest migrain all morning."

Alfred sucked at Geography and he sucked badly. Seychelles, Seychelles...he was sure he had heard of it. He opened his mouth to tell her that he had no idea where it was, but instead "Isn't it that island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some 932 miles east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar?" came out.

Holy shit, what was that? He couldn't remember paying attention in Geography class, like, ever. And he sure as hell didn't study the textbook. What was going on? Maybe he was high without knowing? What if he said something very stupid and offended Michelle? He shook it off and plastered a smile on his face.

"Sure thing! We could probably use the Gym at school if we asked very nicely!" At least he had an activity that didn't include sweaty men. Not that he minded, he was usually one of them.

He nodded. "That sucks. My muscles are aching like I've run a marathon and my brain kind of feels like electricity is running though it. Weird headache, huh?" And it really was. And he was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to know anything about Seychelles and yet, he did.

She blinked a few times. "Yeah… That's the one." Michelle laughed nervously. She was weirded out by the sudden flow of numbers. She looked at Alfred again. No offense to him but he didn't look like the 'Numbers and statistics spouting' kind of guy. But appearances are deceiving. "Not to pry but how'd you know that off the top of your head?" She knew 99% of people went through their life without knowing of Seychelles but this guy not only knew of it but knew exact numbers and everything.

Michelle smiled. Alfred might be 17 but he looked like the person who could pull of a Puppy-dog face. With both of them the cuteness factor would be doubled!

"Electricity huh?" she said to herself. That's exactly how she would describe it. "This whole storm thing seems very… supernatural." Michelle wasn't very superstitious but legends were very popular past time. She couldn't help but come to that conclusion.

He was confused. Not the usual I'm-confused-'cause-I-sure-as-Hell-wasn't-paying-attention-to-what-you-were-saying confused, but the I-really-have-no-idea confused. "I dunno. It just...slipped out?" Okay, that sounded ridiculous, even to him, but it was true. It just came out of his mouth without warning or his consent. He was pretty sure he had never learned anything about Seychelles, particularly because he really didn't give a damn about Geography.

Alfred nodded. "It was weird." But not supernatural. He didn't believe in magic and all that crap. He only believed in cold, hard science. And he was sure meteorologists had a perfectly good explanation for the freak storm. Or maybe... "Maybe aliens did it? Maybe they're invading Earth?" He beamed. "That would be sooooo cool!"

Michelle raised an eyebrow. "Are you some kind of child genius or something?" Physically fit and intelligence don't usually go together. Alfred did seem like an honestly nice guy but she had only known him for a little under 10 minutes and she couldn't tell if he was a jock of a brain or both. She smiled, though, because Alfred was, so far, a fun person to be with.

"Aliens?" She blinked a few times. Alien stories were not very popular on Mahé and she wasn't really knowlagble in that subject. She wanted to know more about it though. "What do you mean?" Michelle was always the first to learn about other's culture. Even though America was a world renowned country she didn't know much about it besides the stereotypes, which seemed to fit Alfred perfectly.

He couldn't help but laugh at that. Child genius? Oh, if only his father heard that. He would enthusiastically tell Michelle how useless and idiotic his son was. "Nah, not even near. I'm not as stupid as everyone thinks I am, but I don't think I'm a genius." He was pretty good with Math and stuff though. Not that it meant that he was a genius. He actually didn't mind studying as much as he told everyone he did; he just wanted to spite his old man.

"Well, maybe some sort of advanced alien technology caused the storm! Maybe they are giving us a warning or maybe this was their first attack!" He frowned, puzzled. "But why would they attack England first? It's always the US in the movies. And we always stop them with our kick-ass guns and stuff."

She giggles "I don't think you're stupid, you're just eccentric s'all." Michelle really meant it. Alfred, though she had just met him, seemed to be a truly nice guy. His energetic energy filled the park. He didn't say things that were stupid. They were just seemingly childish. Just like how people thought Michelle was an air-head because she was a free spirit.

She listened to his thories. "It always seems to be Amérique, doesn't it?" Michelle hadn't seen many alien movies but the US always seemed to ward of the aliens. She did pause a little 'maybe thats where this strange feeling of power is coming from' she thought, 'aliens could give this ability.'

Wow, that was surprising. "Thanks!" He beamed at her. People always thought he was a stupid jock or something like that, none of them thought that he would have brains behind his cheerful and loud personality. Michelle really was a nice girl.

He laughed. "Yepp, they always find us for some reason! Maybe they're masochists and want to have their asses kicked before they could take over the world? We ARE the world's leading superpower, it would only make sense if they left us for last!" It never occurred to him that the movies were American so maybe that was why they always had Americans be the Heroes. "I hope they go there first again! I could go back home and save the world from them and be a Hero!" He could be a Hero here in England too, but being a Hero back at home would be much cooler. And really, why would the aliens come here? America was so much more exciting.

Michelle smiled. "You're welcome~" She knew what it felt like to be underestimated. But she made it all the way here from the other side of the world and got her wish. She didn't know how people could think he was stupid when he just said a whole bunch of facts about a country 99% of the population was unaware of. If he was stupid she didn't want to outwit the smart kid in class. Maybe she had been underestimating her new schools education system. Unless he wasn't always like this…

"Maybe," Michelle giggled. Was it her or was his thesis getting more entertaining by the minute? Not that she was judging, of corse, but she could guess Alfred has read a comic book or two in his time. "You'll find your chance to be a Hero, Alfred, I'm sure of it." She was certainly sure of this statement. "One day you'll meet a girl who you'll get to rescue in the most over-the-top of fashions"Alfred seemed like the kind of guy to recuse the damsel in distress and then laugh it off as if it were nothing.

He was almost worried that his smile would split his face in half. He decided he liked Michelle very, very much. "I hope so! I've always wanted to be a Hero! Well, I wanted to be a cowboy when I was little, but they're sort of Heroes too, so yeah!" Maybe he could still be a cowboy and a superhero at the same time? He imagined Superman riding a horse between the clouds with a lasso in his hand. He couldn't decide if it was too awesome to comprehend or simply funny as hell.

"A damsel in distress?" He laughed. Alfred had never dreamed of saving a girl, actually. His goal was to save the world and puppies and kitties, etc, not girls. It might be fun though. Saving a girl was definitely a heroic thing to do. And that was how Superman met Lois Lane, his one true love, didn't he? "I dunno where I can find a girl in trouble here, but I'll try!" Maybe he could save a girl from overdosing on tea. And he wouldn't protest if he found a damsel in distress like Peggy; she was a tough chick. But that would be copying Captain America. "Once I saw a girl getting pulled out of a car's way by a guy. She slapped the guy and told him that she was a strong, independent woman and she didn't need anyone saving her. It was weird, I tell you. Some girls are just so odd."

'What the heck is a cowboy?' she thought to herself. Michelle wasn't used to other countries' myths. She could only imagine a 'cowboy' being a boy who could turn into a cow. Why anyone wanted to be part-boy, part-cow was beyond her realm of understanding. Part-fish or dolphin, however, she could understand.

"This place does seem pretty safe… except for this storm debris." she half-heatedly kicks a fallen tree branch next to her foot and winced in pain. Michelle had completely forgotten that she was only wearing sandals, "See, completely safe…"

"Why didn't she at least thank him? She'd've been dead otherwise!" Some people are just so strange!

Alfred blinked. Why was she whispering? And more importantly, what did she just say? "You don't know what a cowboy is? They are the ones in Texas! You know, lassos, revolvers, Texan accent, cowboy hat, cowboy boots with spurs, breaking in horses, Yeha!" How could she not know what cowboys were? Everyone knew cowboys!

He nodded. "Yeah, but freak storms can happen anywhere." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Maybe I should go outside in storms and look for girls in trouble?" That sounded weird and a bit crazy, even to him.

"I don't think debris can be dangerous." And then she winced when she kicked it, probably hurting her bare toes. Alfred laughed. "I stand corrected~"

Michelle nodded in understanding. "So that's what those're called…" she confirmed. She's seen one cowboy movie and mentally smacked herself for thinking it was some half-cow child. 'Wait… I didn't say that out loud.' She was certain she thought that to herself… Hmmm…

She giggles "If anyone's silly enough to go outside during a storm like this maybe." Michelle doubted anyone would wander around in that lightning. She looked around and saw the black patches in the ground 'Someone would need some saving from that.'

She clutched her foot, 'why did I do that?' she thought. Michelle wasn't stupid but what she did just then was not the smartest thing she's ever done. Kicking stuff in sandals inevitably lead to pain and this isn't her first time doing this.

"Yeah. They're awesome! They are kind of both villains and heroes, but there are ones that are purely heroes!" He beamed then blinked in confusion. "Umm, yes, you did. I heard you loud and clear." Not that clear, actually, but that must have been the wind messing with his ears.

He laughed. "I'm sure there are people like that!" He refrained from telling her that he was one of them. Summer rains were ones he actually liked. They were wet and warm, what was there not to like about them? He didn't mind getting soaked either. "It wouldn't have been nice to be out in this one." A branch or something could have hit him and he didn't want to get a concussion again. Those two he got in his childhood was more than enough to last him for a lifetime.

"Yeah, if someone had wandered out, they would have probably needed saving." And Alfred wouldn't have been around. Maybe he should start walking around in storms and saving people. Walking in ice-cold rain all night...wouldn't be a dream come true? And yes, he did know how to be sarcastic, thankyouverymuch.

She didn't say that out loud, she knew it. Those thoughts were in her head and no one but her should have been able to hear them. unless...Michelle widened her eyes as her brain skipped to the nearest conclusion. 'He's reading my mind!'

"From the lightning strikes to the fallin' stuff someone would need to be able to practically fly or super strength to save anyone who wandered off in this." It was like that one storm that almost wiped one of the outer islands of the map. Someone could be seriously injured in this storm.