The Aftermath. And Oh shit? What's that place?

Cho did not take long, returning with a button up white shirt that seemed a little bit higher end than what John expected. He figured Cho was going to grab him some cheap graphic tee or something, not a nice shirt that felt more like church clothes than casual wear.

“The Hot Topic and Spencers are on the other side of the mall,” Cho explained as John buttoned the shirt up and rolled up the sleeves. “Now, would you care to do us both a solid and EXPLAIN?!”

“Uhh, what is it that I’m explaining?” John asked with a soft smile.

“Well, for one, how did you get so good at fighting out of nowhere?” Alex asked, her brain seeming to have turned back on after John put on a shirt. “I mean, I know you’ve been going to that teacher for a week now but this seems… inhumanly fast.”

“Yeah. Frank has been an athlete for years now, and has just as long of experience cracking nerd heads. How the hell did you get so strong and capable so fast?” Cho added.

Now, John was in a bit of a precarious situation. On one hand, he could just tell them about the magical world. He could explain to them how his powers gave him extremely fast growth in his skills and how that let him beat Frank. On the other hand, Erik and Moira were both in agreement when he last asked if he should tell his friends about the magical world, in that he shouldn’t. And while he wanted to tell them, they knew better than he the dangers of the Abyss, and so in the dark they had to remain.

So how the hell was he to explain his way out of this one?

“Well, first off all, part of it was because Frank is an overconfident dumbass,” John began. “He figured that on a scale of 1-10, I was a 0 for fighting skills. So any skills I managed to have would look even better because he wasn’t expecting me to use them. Secondly, he has the temperament of a rabid coyote. A couple of insults sent him into a blinding rage, and he made mistakes through that rage.”

“What kind of insults?” Alex asked with a smile, leaning in to hear better.

“Well, I claimed that Vanessa and I had sex because I was better than Frank and that I had a bigger dick than him according to her.”

Cho coughed in surprise. “Fucking WHAT?! You slept with Vanessa Hawthorne!”

“No, I didn’t!” John said defensively. “First off, I have standards. She's a bitch and a liar and the worst person in that school! I wouldn’t fuck her if she was the last person on earth! Secondly, it was clearly just a lie to get under her skin.”

“Good,” Alex said, crossing her arms. “Vanessa is even worse if you try to get to know her. The amount of salacious rumors she likes to spread in the girls locker room alone makes her the head bitch to end all bitches.”

“Yeah, but Frank is clearly devoted. Hence why he got mad as hell when I said that shit,” John reiterated. “That combined with being more agile than him meant I was able to kick his ass pretty soundly.”

“Hold it there, Newman,” Alex said, holding up her hand to stop him. “Now that might have worked any other time, but you also kicked the asses of his two friends AND somehow got to be built like a greek sculpture out of nowhere. That shit doesn’t add up.”

Shit. Okay, John could still handle this. “Ummm, well-”

“AND you managed to beat him with very little damage done to you,” Cho added, walking around John and looking him over. “Sure, you lost your shirt, but no bruises or broken anything?! How did you manage that?”

John let out a sigh, his shoulders sagging a bit. “Okay, do you want the truth?”

“Of course we do,” Alex replied.

“Okay, the truth is… My mom has been teaching me self defense classes over the summer.”

Both Alex and Cho remained silent, so John took that as an opportunity to continue his little fib, “Mom got worried with how badly Frank treated me during senior year, especially with that incident in the old locker room where he left me in a locker for 3 hours. So she taught me some forms of self defense and had me start going to some different smaller classes. None of them really worked out well, but after doing what I did to Frank, Mom wanted me to keep at it as it was clearly helping me. So we tried out Erik and things just clicked perfectly.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Cho asked softly.

“I didn’t want you guys to worry or anything! Plus, Frank has always targeted me more than you two, so I figured if I could fight against him, I would be defending all three of us!”

Alex and Cho looked at each other and then back to John. They were clearly thinking about John’s answer, and while he didn’t like having to lie to his friends, he needed something to just get them off his back until he was sure he could tell them about the magical world. He just needed more time, and this would have to work, right?

Right?

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of waiting, Alex was the first to speak up. “You know, I hope you can at least see that keeping this from us was a really dumb choice.”

John cheered internally. His lie had worked. “Yeah, looking back I should have just told you guys. I don’t really know why I didn’t.”

“Well, the important thing is that we know now,” Cho said with an air of confidence. “Plus, it was pretty badass to watch you work. Seriously, you’re like a white Bruce Lee now!”

“Or a not homophobic Chuck Norris,” Alex added. “Who knows? Maybe this is the start of your badass movie star life. Starring in a variety of schlocky action films that get fondly remembered by manchildren 30 years from now.”

“Hey, as long as I end up more like Schwarzenegger rather than Seagal, I’ll be happy.”

“Didn’t he sleep with his maid, or something? You looking to do that? Cheat on your wife with a maid?” Cho asked.

Alex rolled her eyes. “Obviously John wouldn't. He would instead engage in healthy polyamory with his maid and wife. C’mon, man. It’s current year. Get with the times already.”

John chuckled, and the three of them began walking back towards the restaurant they were heading to originally, though notably they took an alternate route that avoided the alleyway of doom. As the three of them continued to laugh and joke and talk, John gave a small silent thanks to Gaia that he had such good friends. And he gave a small prayer to her that he would be able to reveal the magical world to them sooner rather than later.

Because despite it being for their own good, his chest still hurt from the idea of having to lie to them.

---

As dusk began to settle across Springfield, and the light of the afternoon slowly faded away, John and his three friends made their way from the mall back towards their respective houses. Normally the three would split far earlier on their journey to head straight home, but with the incident that occurred in the alleyway, John wanted to make sure his two friends made it home safely. Sure, he would be fine to walk on his own. But Cho and Alex? He wasn’t nearly as sure. And while Frank may have been threatened into non-****, John wasn’t sure if it would stick and he wanted to keep it safe.

Cho was the first to drop off, as he lived closest to the mall. He gave both John and Alex a hug, demanded a rematch with John in the near future, and finally went back into his home. That just left John and Alex to walk a dozen or so blocks to get her home, which thankfully was filled with standard John and Alex banter that John had come to love over the years. That being, of course, some of the dumbest and most random things to make each other laugh.

“Alright, so I guess if I have to choose between the three of them… Kill Wario, fuck Waluigi, and marry Bowser.”

“You have to be joking,” John said with a fake gasp. “You would deny the ideal husband of Waluigi?! Don’t you know about NSFW? Never Safe From Waluigi?”

“Well, it would be nice if my pretend-husband could actually make it into Smash Bros.”

“Fuck, that’s a low blow, Alex.”

Alex chuckled. “Plus, power is sexy. And with Bowser I have an army and at least 8 castles worth of real estate. Sure, I become an enemy of a bunch of Toads, but those guys are even more of a joke than Goombas.”

“You’d be an enemy of the Mario Bros.”

“Better than being an enemy of everyone in Bowser’s forces,” Alex replied.

John shrugged. “Fair enough. Alright, you got one?”

“Sure,” Alex said as they rounded another corner. “Fuck, marry, kill: Raven-”

“DC Raven, right?”

“What other Raven is there?”

John shrugged. “The one from RWBY?”

“Oh yeah, that show existed.” Alex shook her head. “No, no, DC Raven. Raven, Jinx, and… Let's go with Rose Wilson.”

“The daughter of Deathstroke?”

“That’s the one. Got three goth baddies for you to choose from.”

John pondered for a moment. “Shit, um… okay. Marry Raven-”

“Fuckin’ knew it.”

“Fuck… I guess Rose? I dunno, she and Jinx both feel like I could survive one fuck at most before they try to kill me. Honestly, no matter who I say ‘kill’ to, I doubt I actually could kill them. But at least if I kill Jinx, I won’t have Deathstroke coming after me for killing his daughter.”

“You would have Gizmo and Mammoth coming after you though.”

“Eh, Gizmo is puntable. And Mammoth is just stronger Frank but even dumber. I think I could survive,” John said with an air of confidence. “Plus, Jinx is less physically terrifying than Rose. I can at least deal with that. Rose would probably just stab me before I can even blink.”

“Fair enough,” Alex said with a small chuckle. The two of them walked for a few moments in silence before Alex turned around, the two of them having ended up in front of her house. “Well, this is my stop. But before I go, I wanted to tell you something.”

“If this is going to be more judgement for my choices, I am standing strong on them. Asajj Ventress is a way better potential wife than Leia or Padme. You’re just not seeing the big picture.”

“That wasn’t what I- Well, yes, you're still wrong, but that wasn’t what I wanted to talk about.” Alex took in a deep breath before continuing, “Look, I just wanted to… to thank you for what you did to Frank.”

“Beat him up?”

“More than that,” Alex explained. “Cho was kinda focused on how badass you were, and you were certainly badass, but that alleyway echoed a lot. So I heard what you told Frank about not bullying anyone else and leaving us alone. How you only got so harsh BECAUSE he messed with us. And… And that was really something.”

John rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks heating up as his crush complimented him. “Well, I mean, I couldn’t just let him walk away without a lesson or anything…”

“Sure, but I don’t think I know anyone out there who would risk themselves the way you did. You fought three football players just to keep me and Cho safe! You did that not only to protect us, but to also get Frank to stop bullying people. You were basically a real life superhero. And… And I just wanted to say thank you.”

“Well, I guess… um-” John was about to continue downplaying what he did, but he didn’t have a chance. Because at that moment, Alex leaned closer to him and softly planted a kiss on his cheek. It wasn’t long, it wasn’t that passionate, hell, it wasn’t even that much of a kiss. But John could feel the lipstick staining his cheek as she pulled away, mixing well with the blush that was covering his face. “Thanks, John,” Alex said softly before turning away and going into her house.

John didn’t move for a few moments. He just stood there, the last few minutes of his life playing on repeat in his mind like a scratched DVD. But once his brain finally caught up with the rest of him, a stupid smile broke out on his face as he skipped his way down the street. The music of a swing band played in his head as he walked down the street, and he couldn’t help it as he kept touching the spot that Alex kissed him.

Alex kissed him!

Alex actually kissed him! Him! Loser John Newman got kissed by the hottest girl in school! Sure, others would argue people like Vanessa were hotter, but they didn’t know Alex like John did. And he could say for certain that Alex blew them all out of the water! With maybe the exception of Moira, but they were on, like, equal footing. But Alex kissed him!

John found himself singing to himself as he turned another corner. He probably looked like a fool, but he didn’t care. His crush kissed him and liked him and he beat his bully today and had fun with his friends and his life was going great and he was WALKING ON SUNSHINE! WHOAAAHOHO! AND HE FELT GOOD!

John slowed his walk and looked around, his head finally coming down from cloud 9 of being kissed by Alex. Unfortunately his little celebration and lack of awareness had brought him to… honestly, he wasn’t quite sure. None of the buildings near him looked familiar, and the street name wasn’t ringing any bells either.

John pulled out his phone and did a quick search with maps. After a moment or two to check, he realized he had just missed a turn a bit ago and then took that turn much later than he was supposed to. He was a few blocks away from what was his normal route, and wasn’t really all that lost. Hell, the bar was only a few blocks north of him, so if he really wanted to, he could just go there instead. But he needed to get home. John stashed the phone back in his inventory and began to turn around when he noticed something. Or rather, someone.

Across the street, nearby a random abandoned building, was some random guy just leaning against the wall and smoking. Now that on its own wouldn’t be that odd. However, this guy was weirdly well dressed for being in this section of Springfield. The area around John was clearly a poorer rundown neighborhood, yet this guy was dressed like he was ready to walk the red carpet for a movie premiere. Not to mention that looking at this guy gave John a weird feeling, like something was just off. It was kinda like looking at someone you know is an undercover cop, and just getting that off vibe of “this guy isn’t where he belongs” sort of thing.

The man didn’t seem to notice John as he finished up his cigarette, threw it on the ground before stamping the embers out, and then walked into the abandoned building behind him. Only as he crossed through the open doorway, rather than slinking further into the shadows of the ruins, he just vanished. Into thin air.

Now, the John of a couple weeks ago would have freaked out. He probably would have assumed the man just went into a darker section of the building or that he blinked at a weird moment or some other mundane excuse. But this was a John who spent most of his time outside of school in an illusion barrier. This was a John who knew that magic was real and utilized it daily. This John figured there must be an illusion barrier hiding in that building, and John could not help but get excited to see what the barrier could be. Maybe another bar or magical business? Maybe a training area? Hell, maybe he found a secret magical society and could rise through their ranks through mastery of his powers! The possibilities were endless, and John’s optimism was just as infinite.

John quickly crossed the street, looked around to see if there was anyone else nearby just to be on the safe side, and then raised a hand, pushing it forward to find the barrier’s limit. After a few steps, his hand slipped into the barrier, causing a ripple in the fabric of reality. It was like touching the surface of a lake and watching the reflection distort and warp from the water ripples. The connection point, which was up to his wrist now, tingled with a familiar feeling that he got whenever he walked into the bar to train. John took in a breath, steeled his nerves and excitement, and walked straight into the unknown.

“Bout time you walked in.”

A large man stood off to the side of the room John had walked into, his arms crossed and a scowl that seemed to be permanently etched onto his face. What John had walked into looked like a lounge right out of the 1920s, with dark wooden walls and red velvet and golden bronze accents to bring the whole room together. Soft lighting mixed with soft jazz to bring a relaxed atmosphere to the room, only offset by the strong band standing next to an open doorway.

“You new?” the man asked, pulling out a tablet and scrolling through it for a moment. “Don’t recognize you from my list. You got an invite?”

John froze for a moment. He hadn’t thought that this place would be private in some regards. But he was just WAY too curious at this point. He just had to know what was up. Plus, he had a few tricks, and could be quite the bullshit artist if he needed it.

Observe

-

Stanley “Big Dog” Orskando

Class: Bouncer

Level: 10

RP: -10

-

He could work with that. But what if he were to Observe the tablet?

-

Member’s Tablet

A tablet with a variety of names that are members of the club known as “The Silver Collar.” Some of the currently visible names include Greggory Manchez, Sarah Miles, and Obadiah Moore.

-

Oh that was perfect~

“Yeah, my cousin invited me. Told me to talk to Stan “The Big Dog” and I would be able to be let in. Honestly got a bit lost on my way here. Turns out my cousin is shit with directions!” John gave a short fake laugh, hoping it would sell the bit a bit more. “You Big Dog?”

Stan narrowed his eyes, but nodded slowly. “Who’s your cousin?” he asked, crossing his arms once more. John smiled “Greg Manchez. He and I go way back.”

Stan looked back down at his tablet, scrolling a bit and tapping on it a few times. “He didn’t leave a note with me.”

“And did you really expect Greg to remember that?”

Stan gave a small snort of laughter. “Nah. Swear he can’t remember to tie his shoes half the time. Gotta take your name though.”

“John.”

“John what?”

“... John Maddox.” John didn’t want to trust this place with his full real name, but he figured that using one of his now former bullies’ last names would work well. Stan typed away for a few moments before stepping off to the side and gesturing to the door. “Go on in. If you want to join fully, you’ll have to talk to one of the staff members.”

“Thanks, Big Dog,” John said, giving the guy finger guns as he walked past. The hallway continued the aesthetic of that waiting room, with the soft jazz growing louder as he walked in deeper and deeper. John took a moment to run a hand over his hair and try to look a bit more classy, though he was helped by the button up that Cho got for him making him look less like a student and more like a proper member of this club. He kept going in, eventually finding a set of ornate double doors with beautiful stained glass depicting several different people of various inhuman forms. John could easily make out lamias, goblins, minotaurs, harpies, even a dragon on each side. All these creatures were framed around a single man in the center of the doors, with all the creatures reaching up towards him.

John took in a deep breath and pushed open the doors. Instantly the smell of soft smoke filled John’s nose, and the sound of Jazz made it obvious that this music was coming from a live band somewhere in the room. But John didn’t notice any of that. Because when he walked in, his eyes were instantly drawn to the center of the very large room.

The room was about the size of a high school gym in width and length, with a second floor that was visible due to the center of the room being open. Various people mingled throughout the room, some sitting at tables or couches while others looked to the center ring of the room. Speaking of, the center ring was a large caged dome with several people cheering and booing as they watched the display inside. From his position, John could see a gorgon in the ring fighting tooth and nail against a cyclops, each of them with a big iron collar around their necks. These nonhumans were mirrored on the outside of the ring, as John could see several dozen nonhumans with collars around their necks all in a variety of serving roles. Some were carrying drinks, others were clearly acting as arm candy for some of the humans, and one particular harpy not too far from John was being inspected by a human like one would inspect something they wished to buy.

John didn’t find a club. Or, at least, not any normal club.