Work Text:
**‘The "Quadritail" is a “fictional”mammal that combines characteristics of a lemur and a fox. It features four colorful, large tails that enhance its tree-balancing abilities and facilitate communication through expressive movements. The Quadritail is curious and uses its tails for climbing and leaping, as well as displaying vibrant patterns during fights’ to distract their appointment.**
a line that you would find in 15 year old William Raven’s notebook.
“Ms.Raven?” William looks up from her notebook as her teacher Mr.Cekone speaks to her, and suddenly she is back in her classroom. that felt like the walls would reach out and choke her whenever she couldn’t remember an answer but it’s not like she could just leave or skip, for the sake of her little brother .
“Ms.Raven” repeated Mr.Cekone “oh um yeah?’ she answers her leg bouncing under her desk
“How is your missing work coming along?”
“It’s going … good?” Willian starts to scratch her neck like she always did when she was lying. William hates lying. At every lie that escapes her throat, she scratches her neck. If she hurts herself then the hurt that she’s giving to other people by lying, then the lying doesn’t count. Her head is an echo chamber, each and every lie filling it repeating them over and over again. Her nails dig into her neck. The nails feel as if they were covered in steel and not the chipped rainbow. But it still felt like she was doing it every second of every minute, every minute of every hour, every hour of every day, every day of every week.
“Okay…. Please remember to come and see me to show me that work when you are done”
“Of course” William went back to her notebook, and Mr. Cekone went to his cluttered desk, most of the little objects from Ms. Raven herself.
**A dragon is often depicted as a large, serpentine creature with scales, powerful limbs, and the ability to fly, typically characterized by a pair of bat-like wings. They are legendary beings found in various mythologies, often symbolizing strength, wisdom, or chaos. Dragons can have different traits depending on cultural interpretations; for instance, Western dragons are usually portrayed as fire-breathing and greedy, while Eastern dragons are often seen as benevolent, associated with water and fire. Their appearances often include long claws, sharp teeth, and an array of vibrant colors, making them both fearsome and awe-inspiring.**
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Sarah rolls his eyes as he hears William getting yelled at. He didn’t know why she didn’t just do her work, and why she was always writing in her notebook. ”Mr.Cabble? Sarah looks up from his algebra as his teacher speaks
“Yes? May I help you Mr.Cekone?” Sarah straightens his posture
“What are you working on?”
“Algebra sir, is that allowed?”
“Of course, i know how much you love math, go ahead”
Sarah nods and he goes back to his math. Answering the questions like they were the ABCs. Mr.Ceknoe walks back up to Sarah ”Hey Mr.Cabble?” Sarah looks up to his teacher as he speaks again “Would you be interested in helping Ms.Raven with her math?” Sarah's eyes widen, why would he want to do that?! “Do I have to?” Sarah would never talk to an adult but it wasn’t his fault. Why did he out of all people have to help William?
“Yes you are the only seventh grader who does algebra for fun.”
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It was 4:58 when Sarah checked his watch for the fifth time in the past 20 minutes. Suddenly William busts through the library door, her eyes scanning the room before landing on Sarah. Sarah rolls his eyes as she walks over and sits down painting from her run. “Hey soooo” William says
“So what?” Sarah says rolling his eyes, why did he out of all people have to help William?
“So what do we have to do?” William says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world
“Math, we are here to do math! I’m missing my Math club for this!”
“God you are so annoying! We're doing math right now aren’t we?”
Sarah scoffed at this “NO! WE’RE DOING MATH THAT I LEARNED WHEN I WAS 8!” a 12th grader walks over and as a 7th grader you don’t want a 12th grader walking over to you while you’re yelling in a place where you’re supposed to be whispering. Especially when he’s glaring at you.
While the three of them were having a staring contest, William points at Sarah. “Hey!” Sarah says while hitting William on the back of her head
“Hey what?! You were the one yelling!” William said with a cross of her arms.
“It was YOUR fault I was yelling!”
“Nope it wasn’t, i didn’t use some powers to make you do that! You did that yourself!” Sarah scoffs at this, after the 12th grader rolls his eyes and walking away.
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It was like that for the next hour and a half before William finally leaves. Sarah puts his hands in his brown hair pulling on it ever so slightly, but his head perks up as he hears the ever so familiar ringtone that his little sister put on for him on his 11th birthday and on her 6th birthday. Sarah always thought that it was weird that he and his sister had the same birthday just because he was born 6 years earlier. Sarah picks his phone up, answering it, it was his Mom
“Hello?” He says he never liked answering the phone especially if it was his mom. “When are you coming home” His Mom said it more when asked it, she was like that most of the time.
“Soon, why? is Brianna okay?” Sarah was always worried about his sister even though he would never say it out loud.
“Why are you always thinking about that sister of yours? She’s 6 she can take care of herself,” His mom says with a sign, “Um that’s the thing about 6 year old they can’t really take care of themselves”
She hung up. Great, just great. Sarah stood up grabbing his backpack and he left the library. Walking home was always his favorite part of the day. The coldness of the lake, seeing all the people from 5 to 18 years old leaving school, the buses full of kids and the cranky bus drivers who probably shouldn’t be driving. Sarah heard about a bus that flipped over just last year. The bus driver got fired the same day. Now he didn’t think that that was fair because it had snowed the night before, and the roads were icey. With all of the 12 years that Sarah has been on this earth, he found out life was like that most of the time, unfair and mean. It was annoying and stupid. He just wished life was fair. But that would happen when pigs fly. When bus 9 drove by some 10th grader thrown a bottle full of god knows what at him hitting him straight in the back of the head. Sometimes Sarah wonders why being smart is such a bad thing. But he doesn’t dwell on it, he knows that those kids will be working for him someday cleaning his clothes and making him food. He dragged his feet on the cold concrete of the sidewalk as he walked. He missed his sister even though he saw her 7 hours ago and he’s about to see her in 8 minutes.
The cold air hits him in the face as he turns the corner, his house was finally in sight. He picked up the pace hoping to get home quicker then he normally would. As he reached his front door, which was painted a dark almost black. it opened for him, his little sister was waiting there for him. Sarah chuckled as he saw paint of all colors covering her dress that she got the day before.
“What happened?” Sarah asks, trying his best to stop the laughter threatening to escape his throat.
“Hi!” Brianna said and she reached to grab Sarah’s arm but he moved out of the way just in time. He isn't going to let Brianna touch him with the paint filled hands, the last time she did that she ruined his favorite sweatshirt and she didn’t stop apologizing for a week! It got so annoying but then she got sent to the hospital and forgot all about it. “Mom made brownies!” She yelled and she ran back into the house. Sarah rolls his eyes with a fond smile on his face as he steps in.
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William felt her face turn into a sour scowl as she watched two boys around her age throwing rocks up in the air. She walked but to them holding her head up. One of the boys glances at her before going back to throwing the rocks, “Hey! What are you doing?” She said as she put her hand on her hip. The boys laughed, “We’re throwing rocks at the birds, wanna join?” The boy handed her a rock. William stared at the rock in her hand, before holding her hand up and throwing it at the boy who handed her the rock. So obviously she chucked the rock at his head, causing him to stubble back holding his nose, blood threading out of the gaps between his fingers.
The two boys were just staring at William as she seethed with anger “That doesn’t feel nice now does it?” The boys looked at each other then back at William. The boy with the bleeding nose looked like he just saw a ghost, and the other was looking at her like she grew a second head.
“What are you looking at?!” William declared, the anger that she can’t ever seem to control, still seeping from her pores. She picked up another rock and the boys ran. William huffed, why did people hate the world that basically gave them the expensive designer clothes that they’re wearing everyday? Whatever, she couldn’t be bothered to be thinking about those boys when she could be thinking about the next page for her notebook.
She spent the last part of her walk thinking about the newest way to sneak out of her science class. It’s not that she hated her science teacher, they just…… didn’t get along. And she was okay with that, why should she respect someone who didn’t even respect her? It didn’t make sense to her when her parents said that she should respect her “Elders”, just because they were older and “smarter”. Last week she had to help her grandma turn the brightness up on her phone. But nooooo she was just a dumb girl who was just trying to start fights.
She kicked a rock off of the dirt road that she was walking on, she didn’t like fights or fighting, but she was just so mad all the time! Of course she’s tried doing what every single teacher said and just take a deep breath and count to ten, it doesn’t work. So now because she decided to punch some 6th grader instead of studying, she got grounded and had to get taught by the kid who was doing long division during recess in the 2nd grade. It was a mistake. But she only rejected it like……. 98%, the other 2%, we don’t talk about that.
She wanted to know why she was mad. Just thinking about how she was mad all the time, made her even more mad. Being who she is, was a bittersweet combo, people would leave her alone, but at the same time people left her alone so no friends at lunch and having to be panthers with the teacher during group activities.