The Young Tiger and the Fox
"Almost a month has passed since Herc and Landon moved in, now my house is never quiet. Herc is always doing random exercises, yelling, and always breaking things. And Landon? He's becoming quite the arsonist, his control over his abilities is terrible and something gets burned daily. Herc is still worse though… That damned Dr. Saltzman just let two walking natural disasters loose on my sanctuary. Just because I have money doesn't mean I want to rebuild my house every other day! It's not fair Sis-Sis." Gil's remote-control car zoomed around the common room of the human house as he vented to Lizzie. A team of workers was in one room repairing a wall that was recently destroyed.
"You have been redecorating a lot lately huh? If it makes you feel better, you aren't the only one who's enjoying their debut at the school. The werewolf house is almost completely scared of Herc altogether since he always challenges them to fights in search of the school's strongest and none of them can stop him either. I think they've even tried to kill him a few times already. Jed, Kelly, and Hope had to personally intervene so since then they've been avoiding him. He's beaten up a few vampires too. Oh, and get this! The Blair bitch has been trying to prank Herc while Josie is getting him updated on modern society, but she always ends up failing and making him look smooth. Herc would probably crash and burn with Josie if she just let him be but seeing them together just drives her crazy. I love it! The funniest part is that Herc doesn't realize any of this is going on. Landon actually isn't that bad. He just… well like you said he burns things a lot. I think he'll get the hang of it eventually. Raphael has been helping him practice controlling his powers. Speaking of Raf…" Lizzie bit her lip and smiled. "I-
"Don't ever make that face around me again."
"Wha- can you see through that mask or something?"
"It doesn't matter, just don't."
"Gil! Lizzie!" Landon burst in out of breath "You guys gotta come check this out!"
A black limousine with a tiger's head on its hood was parked in front of the school. Students crowded around from everywhere to get a look. You see that Limo? Who is that? Look dumbass there's a tiger on it! It has to be that action movie star who blew up just a few years ago, Noraa(Pronounced Nore-A) Black! Everyone in Hollywood calls him the 'Young tiger'. His movies are sick man if you haven't seen them do yourself a favor and go watch all of them! He's mastered countless martial arts and does all his own stunts too! Doesn't the tiger look kind of like the one on that jacket in Dr. Saltzman's office? Maybe he's a fan.
"(Oh no…why is he here?)" Gil groaned to himself as Landon excitedly pointed out the limousine.
"You don't have to make such a sour face." Lizzie said "It's not like you see him often."
"I know but he's always so extra…" Gil sighed.
"Huh? Gil was making a face…" Landon looked confused, Gil's face is fully covered. "Wait do you guys know Noraa Black?"
"Yup!"
"Unfortunately…I have to go change for this." Gil vanished and reappeared a few seconds later. He looked like he was wearing the exact same outfit. "Now I'm ready."
"What'd he change?" Landon asked, but when Gil walked away they all saw the same tiger on the back of his hoodie.
"Alright, I think they've waited long enough…" After what seemed like an eternity the door finally opened, and a custom pair of Jordan combat boots touched the ground. Noraa Black was a dark-skinned young man in his early twenties with a lean but athletic build, and thin dreadlocks tied into a shoulder-length ponytail. His outfit consisted of camo pants tucked into his custom boots and a sleeveless black flak jacket, bearing the same tiger head of Taejin's tigers. His arms and chest were covered in tattoos. A flair for the expensive was clear to see from his designer shades, several rings with large colorful gemstones, a couple of jewel-encrusted chains, and a gold grill with sharpened canines. He stood there looking at the school while his fans basked in his glory.
"Why are you here Noraa?" The seemingly permanent arrogant smirk faded when the headmaster spoke to him. "You know you can't just show up unannounced like this. You draw a lot of attention."
"Aww chill out Salty, I came discreetly."
"Firstly, I already told you to stop calling me salty. Second, a limo with a tiger's head on the hood is not what I'd call discreet. I'd appreciate it if you didn't rile my students up like this. And third WHY ARE YOU HERE?" It wasn't hard to see how annoyed Dr. Saltzman looked, some students started to speculate how the two knew each other for them to argue so casually.
"Ouch hurtful. I had some time to kill so I thought I'd come check on my little Liz, Jojo and Gilliflo-"
"Don't call me that…" Gil approached the Limo.
"Little Gil! Long time no see! Look at you so big and strong now! You haven't been slacking, have you?" Noraa asked more seriously while messing up his hair.
"Touch my hair again and you'll find out." Gil pushed him away.
"Oh really? Maybe I should test that." His smirk shifted to a sadistic smile as he reached for Gil's head. Ever so slightly Gil's right leg started to raise.
"Alright I got you" Noraa suddenly stopped, apparently that slightest of movements was enough for him. His reflexes were still sharp "I see you still wear the stripes, they look good on you!"
"I had to bring them out for this occasion." They were talking about the tiger jacket Gil wore.
"Where's yours Alaric?" Noraa asked.
"He doesn't wear that anymore, it's a relic of the past now." Gil answered. He was long over the fact Alaric didn't wear his stripes anymore as he moved his focus to the students of Salvatore.
"…Wow that hurt a bit."
"We all grieve in different ways Noraa, I see you're still not over it either. You reek of blood" Alaric said sharply. "At some point we have to start working towards the future. You know Taejin would've wanted us to."
"Don't tell me what Taejin would've-"
"Alright guys you've had your five minutes alone. Drama hour is officially over." Lizzie joked as she and Josie walked up hugging him. She couldn't let him blow up in front of everyone. despite it being a long time since they saw him, she remembered Noraa's explosive temper all to well.
"Lizzie! Jo! The twin beauty queens of Salvatore! It's so good to see you!"
"It's good to see you too." Josie replied. "So what brings you to Salvatore? It's been so long since we last saw you."
"You squirts of course, plus I'm dropping off another student."
"Another student?" The Saltzman family asked in unison.
"Hey! Quit sulking and come be social!" From the limousine someone else stepped out. A boy their age with dark shoulder length hair and big bright eyes met the crew. He was shorter and slightly stockier than Gil, and already dressed in a Salvatore uniform. He walked slowly with his head down like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
"Ilpyo?" Gil raised his mask to be sure he recognized him.
"Gil?" The boy looked up surprised to see a familiar face.
"See told you we'd go somewhere interesting!" Noraa said.
"Who is this Gil?" Josie asked.
"You know how you two usually go abroad to do witch stuff over the summers? I spent a few of those hanging out with him, this is my good friend Ilpyo. His grandpa was on my grandpa's team with these two idiots" Gil said pointing at Alaric and Noraa.
"If we weren't in front of the entire student body I'd punch you."
"I don't give a damn though" Noraa punched Gil three times.
"Ow! What was the third one for?"
"Trying to act cool," Lizzie said.
"Glad to see you two still get along so well" Josie laughed.
"Anyways who are they?" Noraa's attention went to the two young men who were standing a short distance away. Landon and Raphael waited for them to finish the family gathering, hoping to get introduced to the movie star much to their classmate's jealousy. "Your boyfriends?"
"What! Noooo, nothing like that." Lizzie giggled as she motioned for them to come over. "This is Landon and Raphael, a couple of our friends who recently started here. They really wanted to meet you, so I said I'd pull a few strings. (I think Landon has a crush on you)" She whispered the last part.
"(Don't worry, I'll let him down easy)" Noraa jokingly whispered back.
"Oh shit! This is really happening! Be cool bro, be cool." Landon said in a panic as they walked over. "Wait where's my copy of 'K.O. King'?! I was gonna get it autographed!"
"Be cool man, you dropped it running around." Raphael said handing him the DVD case. "You can do this."
"Yeah. I can do this." Landon breathed deep to calm himself down.
"Landon, Raf, I want you to meet the 'young tiger' Noraa Black. He's a close friend of the Saltzman family and well you know, a badass-."
"Ahem." Noraa fake cleared his throat.
Lizzie scoffed and rolled her eyes "Sorry, the most badass movie star."
"What's good?" Noraa held out a hand.
"(No way! Is this really happening? Am I really about to fist bump THE Noraa Black?!)" Landon was stunned to silence.
"(Fist bump the man and introduce yourself.)" Raphael tried to bring Landon back to earth, but he just fainted. "(Really?) Sorry about that. I'm Raf and that's my brother Landon. We've been fans of yours since your first movie came out. Personally, I really liked 'Winged Tiger' and 'Beast' was pretty lit too. Oh and also could you sign this for him? It'd mean a lot" taking the movie from the fainted Landon.
"Sure…Anything for a fan."
Gil had offered to personally give Ilpyo a tour of the school. Most of the student body was trying to get a picture of Noraa, so Gil was free to roam the halls with very little interaction. He was a little vague about most of the facilities since he didn't really use most of them. This class is boring. That teacher is a twit. You would be bored shitless so just skip this. I don't know what that room is for… Gil's words were half heard because his friend was still in a depressed slump. "Alright Ilpyo you're never this quiet what's going in with you?"
"They got him… I never thought it would happen but they caught up to grandpa too."
"I'm sorry to hear that. How long has it been?"
"Six months."
"Six months?"
"Yeah…" Gil suddenly punched Ilpyo in the back of the head.
"How much of an impulsive idiot can you be? You went after them, didn't you? Did you stop to think if your grandfather wasn't able to defeat them that you wouldn't be able to? You should have come here sooner."
"I know but I just had to catch the bastards who hunted my grandfather down."
"Did you?"
"Yeah."
"And?"
"Noraa saved me…I needed to be stronger."
"Why do you think you're here? The whole point of Salvatore is-" BOOM! A large shock rocked the building. Several more followed immediately after.
"What's going on are we under attack!?"
"No, I think they're playing dodgeball again."
"What kind of dodgeball sounds like that?"
"A very brutish game. (Wait I sense Hope, she's playing?) Hope's in there!"
"Hope?"
"My girlfriend! She's great, you'll love her. But if you try anything I'll skin you alive, she's mine." Gil went into the gym first.
"Wow. Can you say possessive?"
In the gym, several small craters had been smashed into the floor and walls. In the bleacher's several students lay injured because the ball hit too hard. On the court, a furious game was coming to a close. It was team Herc versus team Hope, with both Herc and Hope having one plus player besides themselves. Herc threw a ball that sent Hope's teammate flying into a wall effectively eliminating him. Hope evened the score almost simultaneously as a red ball knocked Herc's teammate off his feet. Being the last two left they both locked eyes for a moment and ran for the nearest ball, which they threw them at the same time. The balls met midflight before ricocheting around like bullets in a box and then planting into a wall. Hope used another ball to deflect Hercules's next throw, then she threw hers back full force and hit Hercules in the face. He slid back several feet, and let out a hearty laugh.
"HAHAHAHA! Looks like I lose. I was starting to think I shouldn't play sports here anymore, lest it be unfair. But you have proven yourself a worthy adversary Hope Mikaelson! You are indeed a true warrior!"
"Y-yeah…thanks…" Hope was completely out of breath.
"One more game?" Hercules held up a ball.
"I'm good…"
"I knew you'd win Hope!" Gil threw himself at Hope and kissed her.
"Duh, who do you think I am?" Hope kissed him back. "What made you come to the gym when you usually avoid it like the plague?"
"I want to introduce you to someone. This is my good friend Ilpyo the fox."
"Nice to meet you" Hope shook his hand. She was startled when she sensed some sort of familiarity to him. "I'm sorry I feel like I should know you? Have we met before?"
"I don't think so…pretty sure this is the first time." Ilpyo said racking his brain, he felt the same.
"A new friend? Tell me, do you play dodgeball?" Hercules interrupted.
"Next time Herc" Hope cut him off before the challenges got started. "(Gil I think one of your gifts are reacting to Ilpyo.)
"Don't worry about it, he's like your twin," Gil said nonchalantly
"Huh how, I don't-"
"Don't worry about it" Gil cut her off. "Want to meet a celebrity?"