Running From Bad News

[Will Spencer]

Only a matter of time, that's what he kept telling himself. He'd been expecting this outcome for eleven years, it was what had caused him to be put on antidepressants. It was what made him so ready to give up on what his life was. It was what made him push everyone away. The news he'd received had been the cause for every problem he'd ever created for himself and now it was going to be what killed him. AML an adult, human version of leukemia. They'd told him it was common for shapeshifters to get a human form of an animal disease. In this case they'd expected feline leukemia virus, but he'd gotten acute myeloid leukemia instead. His myeloid cells were interfering with the production of normal white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. If he didn't get treatment soon, it would only get worse faster.

So what was he doing? He was running. It was still in the beginning stages. In theory they said it could still be treated. They caught it early, they were prepping him for drug therapy because he had declined chemo. Something about chemo made him feel like it was more serious than what it he wanted to believe. Besides, the more normal he could act, the less Gabe would catch on. Mono. Ha, it was a good thing he was the pre-med student rather than Gabe. Otherwise he never would have been able to lie his way out of that one.

The doctor had told him to be careful. He'd experience shortness of breath, random nose-bleeds, easy bruising among other things, yet William couldn't bother himself with being sick. He would pretend that all as well and normal and good. He would pretend that he was on the mend and he'd get this damned illness taken care of before anyone caught onto it. The fact that he could die had always loomed over his head, so he wasn't about to go changing anything now that it had just been confirmed.

He made his third round on the track and was still going steady, the inner animal was still restless, angered and feral. Will was fighting back that sickening violence that he had felt when he first came to BA and running was the only way he could tame it. Running and silence.

And yet....he was not so lucky. A girl appeared on the side of the track, about to start just as he was passing by her.

[Emily Graves]

Emily had been having a rough week to say the least, adjusting to Bellefonte was still not the easiest thing to do in the world, she sometime still felt that dull ache. The feeling of displacement that came with being in another country, where a lot of people just automatically judged you the second they heard your voice. Emily was by no means a sensitive girl, she was pretty damn strong and independent, still though at times home sickness did kick in a bit.

She liked to do something physical when she felt home sick, take her mind off of things, and also it was sort of healthy. She wasn't the type of person to sit in with a friend and a girly movie and eat through a tub of ice cream, that just sounded pathetic to her. She'd rather do something on her own, something fun. She still needed to join some of the sports teams or at least get into something similar, but she could at least run on her own.

There was plenty of space around the academy for morning runs and the such. A definite bonus of her power is that she could be in shorts and a vest, and not even really notice the cold on her skin very much.

She began stretching out her muscles lightly, as another morning runner passed her, seeming focused. That was fine, the less she had to put up with the idiots around the academy the better. Once she felt relatively limber, she began to run along the track, the morning mist and frosty air feeling quite mild against her skin.

[Will Spencer]

William had been in this hell hole of a school for nearly ten years, despite living in the States for as long as he had, his accent lingered. It was more prominent than it should have been after all this time, but the idea of losing it didn't sit well with him. Yes, he'd been made fun of plenty during classes, he'd been called a priss, a nancy boy, and everyone and their mother questioned his damn sexuality for some reason simply based on his accent. Even so, it did not phase him. With his aggressive nature, he found that he all he had to do was threaten to maul someone if they didn't shut their mangy little traps. He'd done a fair amount of ass-kicking and raging back then, but he'd mellowed since. Only resorting to verbal abuse rather than physical.

Even so, he was not a people person. He didn't like the very presence of them. Naturally uncomfortable in social predicaments as it was, all he did was lash out when forced near people. It was one of the reasons he'd stayed far away from contact sports, and team sports. The only sport he'd been able to bear was track and even that hadn't lasted long, as he didn't get on well with the coach. Working out, running and fighting were his ways of exerting all of his frustration and anger. It made him less irritable around people and a little less unpleasant.

Frustrated as he was to see the girl out on the track, he tried to remind himself that it was in fact a 'free country' and they could do as they pleased, where they pleased. Fucking Americans. Couldn't he be left alone on one of the worst days of his very short life? As she began running behind him, he pushed faster to put more distance between them, and yet he knew it was probably one of the worst ideas he had. The more force he exerted on himself, the more winded he became and eventually he found that he couldn't breathe at all.

William gasped for air and slowed down, coughing and gagging. He couldn't catch his breath and he felt like he was suffocating. Doubling over, he gripped his stomach and squeezed his eyes shut. If he calmed down he could breathe. All he had to do was take in a slow breath, but he was too busy gasping that he could hardly think of how to slow it down.

[Emily Graves]

Emily wasn't the best at dealing with people to begin with, she was less socially awkward once she already knew somebody, she could just throw banter at them and if they were her friend, they'd probably return it. A very British method of showing affection to others. But new people, especially new people that happened to be American were another matter entirely. She suspected it was a bit better at Bellefonte because of the natural variety than other places anyway, but it was still a pain.

She couldn't count the number of times she'd heard people snicker when she started speaking in the background, or the looks, or the questions or requests which were entirely based within stereotypes.

She began her run, moving at a fairly steady pace. She wasn't exactly A grade track team material, but she was definitely above average in terms of her cardio fitness. She passed the other student on the track as he started to cough, and then began to double over, she tried to ignore it at first, and carry on moving.

But she could see him getting worse in her periferal vision. She hated talking to new students at BA. She cursed herself and turned around, moving over to him, the air around her cooling a bit in accordance with her mood. She frowned with something akin to concern. "Excuse me, are you going to be alright?" She attempted to be polite, even if it wasn't her forte. The Brit's soft, Buckinghamshire accent carried the words into a gentle tone.

[Will Spencer]

The coughing attack and the lack of air to fill his lungs wasn't something he had planned for. In fact, this whole being sicker with more than just a bug was something entirely new to him. He hadn't been taught how to cope with cancer and what would happen if he over exerted himself. The doctor had merely told him to take it easy which wasn't in William's vocabulary. He didn't just sit in bed all day and watch Netflix. The easiest he took it was when he was reading, but the way the beast was clawing at him, he couldn't even sit and do that.

The last thing he'd wanted was for whoever this student was to come over to him. Whether she would convey concern or not was the least of his worries, she could trigger a reaction from him that neither were prepared for and William would have no control. The air cooled around them and he couldn't tell if it was his mind playing tricks on him because he wasn't getting enough oxygen to the brain or if it had actually gotten colder, but he didn't care. He just wanted her to get away from him before he ate her or something. It wasn't that he felt the change occurring, because he most definitely didn't. But with the impending feeling of suffocation, he was worried his instincts would take over.

The question was met with an incredulous look, his face red from coughing and his eyes watering. However, he'd noted her accent and a look of confusion swept over him. Will knew of the diversity that came with the schools he had attended, but it was still strange to hear something so far from home. "What d'you think?" He forced out between gasps of breath. Will couldn't exactly rouse up a polite tone as he was trying to get his breathing back to normal. His chest heaved and he coughed again, his whole body racked with the motion.

[Emily Graves]

Emily observed the boy's coughing fit from close up. He looked awful. She'd seen kids have full on Asthma attack, and even by those standards this didn't really look like much fun. She wasn't sure what he needed. She might be able to slow his breathing with a lowered temperature to help with it, but even then she wasn't sure what was wrong with him and was far from a Doctor.

She made a conscious effort to try and maintain the temperature to not make him worse at the very least. It was cold enough outside already, if he wasn't already feeling the effects of the cold she would certainly make the whole thing worse. She saw the instant confusion sprout after she spoke, probably not used to her accent.

She raised an eyebrow at both his familiar accent, and the rude manor in which he responded. "I don't know, or I wouldn't have asked the bloody question would I?" She retorted, not actually touching him because she didn't want a hostile person to swing out at her. A little frost gathered around her feet as her mood shifted from his response.

[Will Spencer]

Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and stood straighter. He was taller than her by at least half a foot and used his height to appear a bit more intimidating. If anything was going to come from this encounter, he was going to make sure it ended with her leaving him alone for as long as he lived, which luckily wouldn't be much longer. Will was breathing hard, exhausted from the attack he'd just had which was karma coming back to get him. Her attitude reminded him much of his own, except coming from her it was hardly as hostile because she was so...tiny.

"Lets take a second to point out the obvious, darling. I was bent over, coughing up a lung and struggling to breathe. Does that sound like alright to you? If so, I do believe you're a bit dense," He said once he had caught his breath. This whole illness was going to become a bit of a nuisance if he couldn't run or work off any of his pent up frustration without lunging at people in his shift. This little thing was lucky that he wasn't as angry as he could have been. And that he wasn't at all affected by her snarky attitude problem, if anything it was a tad entertaining.

William folded his arms across his chest and arched an eyebrow, "Why'd you even bother comin' over 'ere? You don't know me. Didn't anyone ever tell you to mind your own business?" There was a slight possibility that he was testing her now to see how irritable he could get her and how long it would take for her to just forget about him and walk away.