|
Post by JDGreat on Jul 3, 2012 4:23:22 GMT -8
He couldn't take it. He couldn't have stayed in there. Not with the looks he was getting. The vague whispers. The small but noticeable glares. Not even his own mind would let him stay in there. It would have been suicide.
Rusty Kekise had gone into a class, face bandaged up to cover up the ugly cut from the knife blade and upon hindsight, this was a bad idea. Clearly, more people knew Secernia than him and gossip must have spread about what he did. Girls shied away from him slightly and guys just refused to even give him time of day. He'd washed his jacket ten times over but there was still a nasty brownish stain on the one side where Secernia's knife had barely missed him. His shoulder still gave off stabs of pain, the thin cut there reminding him of what he did.
He'd hit a woman out of anger.
Eventually, something snapped and as soon as the lecturer called for a break, Rust had taken off, skipping the last half of the class and just running straight for the forests. At least there he wouldn't be judged right?
The mechanic hadn't summoned the Astral Arm for over three days now. It felt dirty, polluted somehow by what he'd done. Guilt was a horrible mental block and Rust had plenty to feel guilty about. His head was just a mess.
THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTNING! VERY VERY FRIGHTNING! ME!
He checked his phone. Another message from his Mom. Like the 14 before it, he ignored it. It didn't feel right to talk with her right now.
Why did I do it? I could have just calmed down and talked to her, but no, I just had to fly off the handle like that. I'm such a goddamned child!
Frustration hitting him hard, he felt the urge to punch something rising. However, he realised in time what it was and became horrified with himself again.
"God damn it...I'm not like him...I'm not like him..." he said to himself, leaning against a tree and holding his eyes shut. "I didn't mean it..."
|
|
|
Post by 'Ace' Julia Dale on Jul 3, 2012 5:24:00 GMT -8
Ace had finally gotten her pack of cigarettes. Damn it was about time, she thought to herself. What better place to smoke as well than right there at the edge of the forest. Logic would dictate there is no better location. Smokey the bear surely watched her from the heavens with shame.
His message tone is what drew Ace in his direction. She put the cigarette to her lips and inhaled the glorious fumes, thankful that the wait was over. She rounded a tree to see him there, leaning against a tree with his eyes closed.
She paused her walk, to look at him for a moment, and took another drag, letting the smoke out slowly, "Well what crawled up your ass and died, you look like shit." She said to him casually, drawing up to sit on the ground beside a tree near his. She obviously hadn't been around enough to hear the rumours.
|
|
|
Post by JDGreat on Jul 3, 2012 5:46:54 GMT -8
The scent of smoke was what first alerted him. Then Ace's voice rang through his head and Rust jerked his head round to find the girl sitting at a nearby tree. He gave a sardonic melancholic chuckle.
"I'm surprised you're even sticking around." he eventually replied, pushing off of his tree and walking over to one further away from Ace. "What with all that I've done recently."
God damn it...can't have her here. What if the AA goes nuts again? What if I go nuts again? I can't risk this shit.
Absent mindedly, he rubbed at the bandaged slash on his face, before leaning against another tree and pointedly not looking at the smoking girl. Why was she even here with him?
"Ace, not in the mood for talking, to be honest." the mechanic spoke once more. "I'd rather just be left alone, if that's alright with you."
|
|
|
Post by 'Ace' Julia Dale on Jul 3, 2012 5:57:40 GMT -8
Ace blinked over to him, as he paused, looked concerned, and then told her to go away. She shrugged and stood up. "I don't know what you've done recently, haven't heard a word... But you don't have to tell me. I'm not interested in finding out." She meant it that she wouldn't be asking around. She planned on just accepting him however he was at the moment. Hell who would she be to judge anyway, if he knew what she'd done in the past, she'd be considered bad company and that's that.
"It's alright with me, I get the need to be alone. Anyway, I won't push." She gave a half-grin to him as her way of showing support, and took another drag of her cigarette. She turned and started walking, "Good luck out here in the woods alone." She said seriously, "If you need anything or change your mind, I'm not that hard to find." She looked out to him over her shoulder before continuing on.
|
|
|
Post by JDGreat on Jul 3, 2012 6:09:39 GMT -8
......god damn it...
"Ace, hold up." The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. Burying his face in one hand, he let out a massive sigh which gave way to a growl of frustration as he tugged at his hair a little. Then, he looked up at the girl and faced her dead in the eye.
"I messed up. Big time."
He began the explanation. He started with Alora, then how Kikime had gotten involved and he'd acted like a child. He told her about being thrown out, how angry he was and how he'd beaten on a tree. Another student had come up and in his rage, the AA had slammed her across the face and in a panic, he'd threatened her if she told anybody else.
The brief fight was mentioned and by the end of the explanation, Rust was sitting on the floor, completely emotionally drained.
"...and that's what happened." he muttered, not looking up and instead fiddling with a random stick on the floor. "Haven't summoned my Arm in three days. If you were after the reason I look like crap, that's why."
His head THUNK'd off of the tree behind him.
"What the hell happened to me, Ace?" Rust tried not to stammer. "It was all going well... and then this happens.. I don't WANT to be my Dad but every time I think about it, there's no reason for me to have hit her. She wasn't attacking me, all she was doing was asking to help and I ended up punching her lights out."
A hand was raised to cover his eyes.
"She was right...I am becoming my Dad, like it or not..."
|
|
|
Post by 'Ace' Julia Dale on Jul 3, 2012 6:17:10 GMT -8
Ace turned when he called her, figuring he had changed his mind. Turned out she was right. She listened to the full story as he thought it happened and just nodded. She took a seat again.
"Dude, it's alright. You aren't your dad, it's not a big deal, you panicked. That's all. Worse things have happened. Hey, you didn't fucking kill her or anything did you?" She gave a half grin, "Don't worry about it."
Ace didn't seem to find anything really to get so upset about in the story. She'd heard far worse things from people who had no qualms about what they had done. "What are you going to do if you don't use your AA eh? What happens when you need it?" She asked him with a raised eyebrow.
|
|
|
Post by JDGreat on Jul 3, 2012 6:26:03 GMT -8
Rust gave a little 'Ha.' at the way she so easily shrugged it off.
"Ace, no offence? You aren't exactly a model of society just yet. Despite what you think, I did something that's normally classed as a Bad Thing. And unlike you, I'm kinda worrying about it."
The back of his head thunk'd off the tree again.
"14 years of trying my best to treat women right and show not all guys are selfish jerks, and then I go off and pop one in the face for no other reason than she wanted to see if I was alright. I kinda don't trust myself at the moment to summon the Arm. What if it spazzes out again and knocks out another student? Or hell, what if it does even more nasty crap? Could you imagine getting groped by that thing without me meaning to?"
He just shook his head.
"And when exactly am I going to need it? The sharguanas haven't come back, nobody talks to me and if I do summon it again if I need it, that'll just prove everyone right!"
|
|
|
Post by 'Ace' Julia Dale on Jul 3, 2012 6:34:04 GMT -8
Ace gave him a look, "What do you mean I'm not a model of society? Shit, I don't know what kind of pansy society you grew up in, but where I came from, you didn't dance on your toes to show people- men or women- respect. They either deserved it or they didn't get it." She explained easily.
She watched him beat his head off a tree, thinking that there were easier ways to relieve stress. "What ifs are stupid." She said eventually, "And you never know when the fuckers will show their beady eyes again. I wouldn't risk, on an island with a reputation such as this, not having a power to use."
"Nah dude. If you summon it when you need it, it'll let people make their own decisions about it all. They can think what they want. That... Hernia bitch? She can think what she wants too. But it was an accident, and you can take that all the way to court... Hell, if you want to miss court, I can keep you covered there as well, I'm sure Jack won't mind you crashing till it blows over." She added easily, her methods of comforting him perhaps not what would have been expected.
|
|
|
Post by JDGreat on Jul 3, 2012 7:03:47 GMT -8
"You clearly have had a more rebellious life than mine then," Rust shot back, grinning slightly. This talk was making him feel miles better than he did before. Ace just had that kind of personality. "Remember, raised by my mom and her friends, practically. It was like I had about four mothers. That kinda crap wears on ya after a while, especially after..."
He trailed off a bit before shaking his head and carrying on like nothing had happened, despite the fact that Ace must have obviously guessed by now what he was on about.
"As for the risks, well, turn tail and flee? Live to fight another day? Yadda yadda yadda. Besides, the things were attracted by the glow of the Arm anyway. Not summoning it might be the best idea."
He looked around.
"...he says, coming back to the forest where he first encountered said sharguana." Rust muttered, thunk'ing his head again for that remark.
Still, Ace's offer of sanctuary was cool of her though he wasn't sure if he knew a Jack yet. He knew a Jacob, but no Jacks. Still, his main problem was still the frustration deep down inside himself, raging away.
"I just want to be different from those guys who raped Alora. Different from my dad... and yet the first thing I want to do when I'm upset is punch something as hard as I possibly can. And that's what got me into this mess."
|
|
|
Post by 'Ace' Julia Dale on Jul 3, 2012 9:08:39 GMT -8
Ace raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean more 'rebellious'? " She had always done what she had been told. She had been told outright that she had a choice between cops and robbers, and she had made her choice and stuck with it. To her that wasn't a rebellion against one system, it was simply establishment into an alternative one... that had just happened to leech and scam off the first.
She laughed, "Look, I have my gun in my bag if any more of those fuckers wanna mess with us, though your help would be appreciated in taking them down, I get that you aren't in the mood.." She shrugged, giving him a look.
"And besides, you aren't those guys OR your dad. And wanting to punch things? Look, we all want to punch things sometimes. Hell, I do it quite frequently myself. If it gets you into too much trouble, all ya gotta do is count back from ten and calm the fuck down." She took another drag, "Here look, we'll practice."
She turned to look at him for a moment, "You're a complete dipshit, a pussy and a total momma's boy, who lashes out at women despite all your supposed self-restraint to do the exact opposite. I don't care what you have to say because you're a loser, and no one ever will." She paused with her eyebrow raised, looking somewhat smug, "Now take your anger and count backwards. Let it fuck off. Imagine beating the shit out of your anger until it crawl back down the hole it came from. Let it go."
"Don't you feel better?"
|
|
|
Post by JDGreat on Jul 3, 2012 9:37:07 GMT -8
It was true, Ace's words DIDN'T help his mood in the slightest. In fact, her little tirade, just made Rust feel worse and worse until he wanted nothing more than to wipe that smile off her face and crush her head like a gra-
10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5.
Rust took a breath, unclenching a fist he didn't know that he'd been clenching.
4. 3. 2.
He closed his eyes for a moment.
1. 0.
Then opened them again.
"Well, you're a total bitch who thinks the best way to greet people is to try and threaten them with a gun and your luck powers. Despite them, you still fuck it up about half the time and land us in more trouble than it's worth and those death sticks you keep swallowing are going to be the death of you someday. Seriously, your breath smells like something died in your mouth. Or spontaneously combusted at any rate."
The words were said with a grin, Rust still not moving from his tree.
"And you SUCK at making people feel better."
|
|
|
Post by 'Ace' Julia Dale on Jul 3, 2012 13:07:51 GMT -8
Ace laughed and took another drag, "See? You're grinning. Made you feel better, ya liar." She said with half of one herself. She crossed her arms, continuing to look pretty smug with her words of wisdom.
"Besides, all those things may be true, but guess the fuck what? I don't give a shit." She smirked. "I know but admit it..." She said leaning towards his tree and blowing some of the smoke from the cigarette's tip towards him, "You're prickling with fuckin' envy right now? 'Quit', my ass." She said, her smirk growing.
She waved the box in his direction, almost within his reach, then pulled it back, laughing. "Take a joke dude, lighten up." She added, relaxing against the tree.
"So besides beating bitches, what else have you been up to these days?"
|
|
|
Post by JDGreat on Jul 3, 2012 13:22:12 GMT -8
Ace was right. Rust had lied when he said she was crap at making people feel better. And the fact she accepted him despite the blatant compromise of his own set morals really made it feel as if he wasn't taking this on all on his lonesome. His grin turned into a look of "Are You Frigging Kidding Me?" as she flashed the cigarette packet out in front of her.
"Ace, you're a massively good mate, but you can be a right bitch sometimes, you know that?" the mechanic cursed, stomach pangs acting up again. "Please, can that just be the one thing we don't joke about here? I am honestly trying my best to keep off them now."
At her pre-emptive take a joke, he growled again, but this was more playful than actual anger.
"Woman, you are going to be the death of my lungs one of these days," he muttered. However, he still winced at her blunt admission of what he'd done. Rust decided to ignore it.
"Met up with Gabrielle again. Her sister said I was hot. Met a couple of guys called Noel and Jacob. Noel's cool and Jacob is...odd, but manageable. Already told you about Alora."
He relaxed back.
"And how've you been? Getting hammered, I imagine?"
|
|
|
Post by 'Ace' Julia Dale on Jul 3, 2012 13:41:31 GMT -8
Ace just grinned at him, "So you keep saying!" She said in reaction to her being a bitch. She laughed and pocketed her pack, "Alright, whatever, I'll keep them to myself then, eh?" She finished off her own and threw it on the ground, stepping on it with the back of her heel as she sat on the earth.
"Hahah, so you might get lucky eh? Wish you the best, dude." She said about Gabrielle's sister, eyebrow raised and a smug, almost proud expression. She didn't know noel so just nodded whenever he was mentioned but Jacob did ring a bell.
"Odd but manageable. Yeah that sounds like Jack." She said simply, then paused for a second. "Yeah I think, if it's the same Jack, he's roommates with me." She didn't say anything more on the topic.
She gave him a look about her getting hammered. "Hah, very funny. We're ordering more, almost out. Only 2 cans left... " She paused, "Well, I mean, I'm ordering more..." She gave a half-grin then and added, "Hey whenever the ship comes over, you're welcome to have some. We could make a night of it, invite over Gab's sis and get her wasted, am I right?" She laughed.
|
|
|
Post by JDGreat on Jul 3, 2012 14:01:30 GMT -8
Rust just coughed awkwardly.
"Well, her sister's only seen a picture of me. She ain't on the island, so that's a ship sunk before it's even started." He joked, "Besides, me going out with someone in this climate? I might not care right now, but yeah...not high on good ideas that. And I know, I shouldn't care what other people think, but c'mon, even you have gotta see that's somewhat of a bad idea."
He blinked at her next statement.
"Oh crap, really? That's cool. Small world after all, huh?" he muttered to himself, honestly surprised. "And yeah, I'll come over one time. Maybe I'll bring Cal for the music, Gabrielle for her cookies and Noel, just cause the man needs some cheering up sometimes." He then realised. "Oh yeah, Cal's my roommate. She's awesome and a DJ. So music is a non issue." the mechanic grinned.
"And hey! I'm not THAT desperate! Getting a girl drunk ain't the best way to start things off. It's funny as hell, granted, but it gets creepy if you plan other stuff afterwards." He shuddered slightly. "No thank you."
|
|
|
Post by 'Ace' Julia Dale on Jul 3, 2012 14:25:08 GMT -8
Ace raised an eyebrow at his awkward cough, "Ah but you never know. What do you mean climate? It's just warm-- " She paused, "Ooh," She realized, "You mean about the... yeah alright, sure." With a shrug, Ace let it go, finally realizing that was about the social climate.
She laughed a little, "Yeah small world... So your room-mate is a DJ? That's cool, very convenient, nah?" She grinned. "Hey awesome though, I'll let you know when the stuff comes in." She promised.
At his not being that desperate, Ace gave him a look which described exactly how much she believed that statement, "Anyway, I see you got your standards and morals or whatever up in a tree somewhere, but I don't get it. Fine, if they can't remember, weird. I guess I can get that.." She said, still not fully grasping the morality of the situation. She even looked slightly confused.
|
|
|
Post by JDGreat on Jul 3, 2012 14:33:04 GMT -8
Rust saw her confused expression and just laughed.
"Oh Ace. Mate. Don't change ever, yeah? You're exactly what I needed after the last few days. Seriously, I'd been locking myself in my room every night in case someone decided to pay me a midnight visit."
He shot Ace a Look before she could comment.
"Yes, I know, I'm a gigantic puss. Leave it." Looking to the sky, he carried on. "Seriously, you're one hell of a mate. I'd come over there and hug you, but you'd probably just gut punch me for going all weird on ya, so I'll just give you a nod of thanks."
He nodded.
"Didja see it? You better have done, I'm not straining my neck for ya, despite you getting me out of my funk."
|
|
|
Post by 'Ace' Julia Dale on Jul 3, 2012 14:45:32 GMT -8
Ace shrugged, "No problem, bro. Dude, that's pretty serious though, you should listen when I tell you to relax." She smiled when he gave her the look, "I didn't say a word, that was all you." She said with a grin.
"Yeah hugs too much, but I see your nod, and raise you one in response." She paused to make sure he saw, then nodded solemnly. "No need to strain your neck, man. I got it." She said easily with a laugh.
"So are we gonna chill out here outside a forest or are we gonna head back and grab some slurpies at the Café and play poker? Choice is yours." She offered.
|
|
|
Post by JDGreat on Jul 3, 2012 14:49:11 GMT -8
"We're gonna play poker. And you're not gonna cheat or I'll charge you double for when you inevitably break that fridge when you overload it with alcohol and...whatever Jacob drinks." Rust chuckled as he stood up, pushing himself off the floor with his hands.
Resting both behind the back of his head, he offered Ace a quick grin.
"After you, Little Miss Badass."
|
|
|
Post by 'Ace' Julia Dale on Jul 3, 2012 15:04:39 GMT -8
Ace rolled her eyes, "Alright fine. And he drinks teas and lemonade." She scoffed, "Like I leave room for that shit." She joked. Honestly their fridge was mainly full of leftovers. Regardless, Ace wouldn't cheat. At least, not much..
She stood up from the forest floor and brushed herself off, "To an evening of throwing money around and fruity beverages!" She called like a battle cry towards the distant campus.
|
|