Chapter Text
“Lynn, no offense when I say this, but… some of these reviews are kind of scary,” Vincent said as he scrolled through the original iPhone. Just turning a year old right about now, if not a little earlier in the year.
Two people walked side by side, one a tall woman in a business suit- which revealed way too much cleavage for where they were going- and heels. Quite frankly, she was gorgeous, hot even. Next and following close behind her was a young man, an oversized hoodie and jeans covering him, and an orange backpack slung over one shoulder, his face buried in the phone.
“What did I say about calling me that here,” Lynn said, glancing back as she halted in her spot as Vincent continued to walk forward.
“Sorry, Miss Lynn, but still… these reviews-”
“The reviews don’t matter right now,” Lynn said as she took the phone from the boy and tossed it in her purse as the clack of heels marched on forward. “This is the only place you can go for miles on end, so I would prefer not to hear the talk back about your only option.”
“Right, sorry,” Vincent said with a shrug. Though how sincere he was pretty obvious with how casually he spoke. “So, just for the record, want me to stay on campus while you do your off school hour stuff and wait for you or…”
“If you can get home on your own, that would be great,” Lynn said as she looked at her appearance over in the window, looking at her reflection as she made sure her makeup was just right. “Get started on dinner or something. Or if you make friends, make plans with them, hang out with them, be a teenager.”
“Alright, but if any of those pedophiles I read about come near me, I will make a scene.”
“Just don’t get in trouble, I do not need you causing a mess today.”
Giving a small grunt in affirmation, the two split their separate ways. Lynn entered the main office building, leaving Vincent to head into the mostly empty school. The only people here were those who either had to get a ride from their parents and that meant being dropped off early as all hell, those who wanted to get up and attend school, or the third type, those in some sort of early morning class, like some sort of gym.
The details did not truly matter as Vincent took the time to wander the school. All the stuff was here. The rows of lockers. The trophy case. He even went to the library! The school library! The smell of books! Oh how he missed it combined with the natural aroma of cleaner from, who he assumed was, the janitor waxing floors!
Damn did he miss school.
“Huh, first time I actually ever thought that,” Vincent stopped his parade around academic halls to process what he just said. Was he really celebrating being back in school? With paperwork, schedule, and bells telling him when he could come and go? Yes. Yes he was.
It felt wrong.
Shrugging, Vincent continued to wander about with a lot less zealousness . “Meh, the feeling will wear off soon. Probably.”
“Let’s see…” Vincent muttered as she looked at his schedule. What room was he in again? Which class was it? It was a science class or something like that. Chemistry? He didn’t know. “Room 210, and that’s… that way?” he muttered as he unfolded a map of the school from under his schedule sheet. Only to immediately turn the other direction to locate his class.
Fuck daylight savings. Who the hell decided it was a good idea to mess with people’s sleep! Don’t get her wrong, when it gave an hour of sleep, it was a wonderful day. That said, it only applied when you knew daylight savings was coming.
Ari thought she’d be fucking late. Her parents didn’t care much if she skipped a class or two every now and again but they’d be on her ass if she missed because of over sleeping. So when her alarm went off, and no one prior had mentioned the clock being sent back, she assumed her normal start would be the same.
But nope! She had rushed off way too soon and had to spend an hour in her car while she waited out the clock. Waiting until it was just early enough to justify being in school early before most everyone. She wasn’t even sure about that weird kid (Jake? Jeramy? Jim?) would be here yet. He struck her as the get here on time, stay till closing type of guy.
Though that might get in the way of his cartoon girls or something.
Ari shivered as she slammed her locker as she got a notebook and pen. Bare essentials for her first class. Nothing drastic was happening today, just doing some review and some boring stuff like that.
Was Nicole going to be there?
The thought crossed her mind. She wouldn’t go saying she was close to the girl. Certainly friendly. They shared the same chem class and even sat relatively close together. The only buffer being the weirdo who sat right between them. Always prattling on about something weird. She was positive she heard him mention something about skeeting on his weird reversed book and stuff.
Sighing, maybe if Nicole was here, she’d be ignored. The guy seemed to have taken a liking to Nicole, so while she felt a little bad about praying that the girl was the subject of his attention, she did not feel sorry.
Pulling the door open, the door was unlocked, so the teacher must be here. Ari began to enter the classroom and took note of her surroundings. Nope. No weird anime kid… though something was off.
She wasn’t blind, right? No. No. Someone was in her seat. Someone new? It was a guy. He did not seem to notice her entering, instead absorbed by a notebook. Well, it looked like one of those ones meant for actual drawing rather than the lined paper ment for notes.
Damn, he even had a brush to sweep off those collared pencil shavings after he went hard to get rid of the white spot.
What was he even drawing? It looked weird. Like some old man… with golden ribs or something? She couldn’t tell from this angle.
Oh, wait, his hand stopped. What was he doing?
He was twirling the pencil down? Was he going to pick up a marker next?
No, his hands were just resting. Tapping rhythmically.
“Hello.”
Oh, shit! He spoke. Looking, Ari saw the guy looking at her. He noticed her. Which, on one hand, took him long enough, but on the other, she was still focusing on what the hell she was looking at.
“Um… hey.”
“Can I help you?” He looked at her. Wait, holy shit. He wasn’t white, he was Asian! Which wasn’t bad, it was just weird. When was the last time she saw someone who wasn’t white in this school? Shit. Also she was staring at him, not saying anything. Damn it.
“Sorry, it’s just… are you new?”
Looking around, the guy gave Ari a small nod. “Just moved here, like a few weeks ago. First day. The teacher said I could sit down over here.”
“Hmm, yeah. Well, you’re in my seat.”
“Oh, shit,” the new kid said. He began gathering up his scattered about stuff as he muttered out, “Sorry,” and “Let me just scooch over, are any of these free?”
New kid was either nice or didn’t want to step on toes too early.
“Na, it’s fine, stay there and I can sit over here, you’ll be doing me a favor anyways.” Poor guy, between her and… what was it? J-J… wait, did it even start with a J? The weird kid.
“Oh, thanks,” the new kid said as he seemed to settle down and put his things down. “I’m Vincent by the way, nice to meet you.” He extended his hand, trying to be a little too friendly, but he didn’t seem bad.
“Ari,” she said. Vincent seemed happy as she took his hand and shook it. Wow. Strong grip. Not doing that again without being prepared. “So… you like to draw?”
“More illustrations. I like to write in my spare time and I also enjoy doing art for some of the scenes and characters. Gives me an idea and helps visualize things.”
“Oh, sweet. So is this guy like… the villain?” God, why did she sound so weird there.
“Kind of? His name is Midra, Lord of Frenzied Flame. He’s not really a good guy, considering he holds the power to destroy everything and turn it to ash, but he’s far from the main goal of the story. He’s more of a, I don’t know, side villain doesn’t sound right, but he isn’t someone I consider worthy of going next to the main foes.” He spoke with a smile as he looked at the picture, half finished. It was kind of neat to see the almost invisible lines next to segments of fully shaded art.
Though Ari did pick up on something. The premise kind of sat close to that nerd’s weird cartoon stuff. All edgy and stuff.
Still, effort like that, damn.
“All this for a side character?”
“Meh, no more effort than my others, want a peak?” he offered. Okay… so she could say no. Last time she looked at someone’s art, it was some self insert with busty cat girls. She shivered at that. No more of that! That said, the art was leagues above that and he wasn’t being pushy. Just offering.
Best case, it was pretty art. Worst case, she could just warn people they got a creep 2.0.
Taking the offered book, Ari closed it and began at the beginning.
A knight on his knees, his sword in the ground and inside someone. All while some big circle thing was above it. Like some sort of magician ring of some sort.
Its quality wasn’t nearly as detailed as the first one she saw, but it still had a quality to it that she had to acknowledge.
“Hmm, looks neat,” she said as she skimmed through pages. Somewhere not as grand, simple character profiles, one looked like Santa except not diabetic, another was some weird guy being hanged, though she had to admit the one labeled, “Boc the Semester” was cute. Kind of reminded her of Dobby from Harry Potter in that cute-ugly kind of way. Like a hairless cat.
Looking up, Vincent seemed eager to hear her feedback, or to at least ask a question or something. Ari couldn’t fault her. First person you meet, you offer them your hard work, it would mean to not say anything.
“They’re… really good,” Ari said as she skimmed, through, till her hand landed on the page labeled, “Dialos”
“T-this. This one is my favorite!”
Okay, she picked it at random, but honestly she honestly wasn’t sure what else to pick. She wasn’t some sort of art buff.
“Really?” Vincent looked a little surprised? “I suppose it’s a good one, sad. But it was a good scene.”
Sad?
Seeing her confusion, Vincent was all but happy to explain, “This depicts Diallos, of House Hoslow, in his final moments. After protecting a small village from poachers, he wasn’t a warrior at heart, but in the end he managed to fight the good fight and did something.”
New kid was skimming on details, but he seemed rather happy to just give her the gist of the subject and not some full on story. Judging by all the pictures, she was surprised that he wasn’t trying to run her ear off about his story.
Ari let out a hum. He wasn’t too bad. A small conversation wasn’t much to go off of, but he wasn’t horrible. Man. Now she was feeling bad about sticking what’s-his-name on Vincent.
Man, she hoped he didn’t think she was bitch.
“Fuck me,” Nicole muttered under her breath as she walked in on Thomas the train giving some kind of lecture, the teacher calling her out as she came in late, same old shit. “Glad for you to join us.” or something fucking version of that cookie cutter saying.
Just giving him some sort of response got him off her back. If she had to give Mr. Burleday something, it would be that he got off her ass the fastest out of most teachers. Having at least the modicum of decency to act like he wasn’t checking out every underaged girl who entered his line of sight.
Damn, she really was hoping she could’ve skipped today. Mom was being a fucking bitch and said if she gets so much as a phone call about her skipping again she’d “Make you and your brother spend family time together.” Ew. Fuck that, she was already contemplating how she was going to turn off the lights, now she didn’t care how it ended if that was the result of skipping.
Bitch did not say anything about being late though.
“I mean, you cannot deny that NaruParty13 has way better uploads than LuPutty430,” ugh, she was not high enough to listen to his whiny voice already. Seemed like he was busy spitting Ari’s ear off today, so…
When did Ari start drawing? Wait no… that wasn’t Ari. She was another seat down, hand on her face as she listened to the droning on to the teacher about something. But the new guy was just taking it all in as he worked on… whatever the fuck that was.
Oh fuck, he had one of those broom things for his shit!
“Look, man. I just said, "I enjoy Trigun, Bleach, and I’ve been trying to get into Hellsing,” I did not need a whole explanation of which YouTuber does the best pirates,” the guy said.
Ah fuck. Another one? Damn, Nicole did not take enough xans to deal with two weird fucks talking about their Chinese cartoons. Man, what was with this place and would be pedos.
“But it’s so important to get good quality anime that is actually subbed!”
“Then go buy from any Asian town, there is bound to be someone selling that stuff. Support local business and what not,” new kid said as he also didn’t pay much attention to the man going over whatever the hell they did yesterday, Instead he just turned to Ari and asked for something, a marker, that rolled over to her side and she handed it to him as he continued to draw something. Probably one of the cartoon girls from one of those shows.
Fuck! She was actually willing to pray to God if the two fucks would keep to themselves and not bother her for… well the rest of her life would be preferable, but if she had to select smaller, then for the rest of the year would be best.
“Yeah, man, see you at lunch. Remember what I said, meet behind the school and we’ll talk more,” Vincent waved goodbye to Jeferry as the nerdy boy began to walk on to his next class.
Ari had been there to see Vincent masterfully keep the guy- Jeffery, she knew it was Jeffrey- engulfed in a conversation for most of class. She had been a little disappointed at first, expecting to have another weirdo talking about masturbating like it was talking about your favorite pizza topping.
Yet, looking at him now. That didn’t seem to be the case.
Looking deflated, almost a husk of what he was, Vincent tried to pull himself together, but man did it look like he was trying and failing.
“Man… I was not expecting that.”
“I’m surprised you understood half of what he said,” Ari had to admit. Vincent did hold his own, actually engaging in the conversation every now and again, but was definitely not the one in charge of the flow of the conversation. “Are you actually going to eat lunch with him?”
“I don’t know,” Vincent said with the look of a soldier from World War Two. “I don’t think I can handle another conversation like that today. By the way, I think he thinks I’m Japanese.”
“You’re not?” He wasn’t?
“No, I’m Korean!” Vincent said offended. “Well, Korean/Filipino, but that’s not the point,” taking in another long breath to collect himself. “Fahhh, I don’t think I can do that again today.”
“Yeah, should’ve warned you, that’s on me. Kinda wanted a buffer though,” the look Vincent shot down at her. She knew and didn’t give him any sort of heads up. Yeah, she’d be pissed too. “Um, let me make it up to you, how about that?” Patting her pockets, Ari felt around, seeing if there might be anything… ah!
“Addy?”
A small white pill, nothing grand. She got it from Emily. Fucking 10 bucks for one. Here she was, offering it for free.
“I’m good,” he said as she looked away. Not into drugs or just not adderall? Hard to tell.
“Well how about you sit with me for lunch, meet more people other than me and Jeff.”
Humming, Vincent shrugged. “Fine, can’t be worse than that. God, I better not have a class with him again…”
“Finger’s crossed man. Oh, also since you’re new here, I should probably warn you about some other things here.”
“Oh god, what the hell else is there?”
“Well, it’s about the PE teacher, Couch Colby. He’s like a notorious pedo.”
“Oh, that?” Vincent let out a small huff. “I was scared it would be something fucking new.”
“You knew about the couch?”
“Reviews online. I think it said something like, “Fuck sake, close the damn school. Won’t do jack shit about that fucking pedo pe teacher,” then went on about a tangent about the chicken nuggets before saying, “God I wish I never came here. Why? Why? Why? Fuck, I must have fucked up somewhere down the line.” End quote.”
“Oh, yeah. I remember reading that. I knew the girl who wrote that when I was a Freshman.”
“Jesus Christ, that is so much worse than I thought, that’s three years!” Vincent threw his hands up in the air, giving up as he thought about what the hell he had just heard.
“No fucking way.”
“Told you, this school just attracts idiots and pedos like flies to shit,” Nicole said as she poked at the crust of the pizza they served.
“Well did he do anything weird or creepy, because if I find out I have classes with him, I need to know how far apart I should keep from him.”
“Not like it’ll matter, he’ll probably go to you just to try his luck,” Nicole said as she took a bite. “He just spent all of class drawing something while talking about those cartoons.”
“Ugh, lame.”
“Yeah, he at least kept to himself mostly though, so maybe it isn’t too bad, Ari was sitting next to him and she didn’t look like she wanted to blow her brains out.”
“Well, that’s good, I suppose,” Jecka said as she tapped as she looked around the room. Her eyes wandered till they landed on the ketchup red hair of the girl in question they were talking about. Ari sitting at a table with Megan and… a guy in a hoodie? “That him?” she asked, pointing over to the table.
“Shit, she’s actually hanging out with him? Think she’s going after the new thing before he becomes known as the guy hunched over and jacking off onto his drawings?”
“Don’t know, Ari never seemed the type,” Jecka said.
“Hmm,” Nicole looked at him. He seemed to be holding a conversation well enough, but his conversation was split between the two girls trying to get to know him and whatever was in that sketchbook of his. “Think he draws like big tittied school girls or little kids that are like 500 years old or some bullshit like that?”
“Ew, don’t put ideas into my head, I’ll vomit,” Jecka groaned as she continued to look. “But definitely the school girls with tits.”
“Don’t know,” Nicole said as she eyed him up. “I’m getting child fucker vibes from him. Probably wearing a hoodie to stop others from noticing his boner.”
“You wouldn’t think he would be doing that right in front of those two?”
“Fuck if I know, he was halfway through the thing when I saw him, probably somewhere in there if I were to bet,” Nicole said.
…
…
“Wanna bet?”
“Jesus… you actually are going to harass the new kid to find out if he has kid drawings.”
“So? I’ve been quite clear about my stance on guys, that they’re all rapist and pedophiles. How can I make it more clear than that?” It was true. Neither knew how many times Nicole had uttered that very phrase time and time again, definitely more than 20, but neither really kept count. “So are we betting or not?”
Letting out a groan, Jecka caved in, leaning in and placing her chin on her hand. “Fine, I’m guessing big tittied girls or some form of animal person.”
“Bitch, that’s two things!” Nicole’s face twisted. “I’m betting it’s kids or hmm… oh! Giant women! He looks like he has a fetish for that shit.”
“Damnit, should’ve picked that. It was hilarious with Jeffery!” Jecka began to laugh at the fond, for her, memory of when the news of Jeffery’s little interests became the hot topic for the school.
“Funny for you maybe, I’m pretty sure he was going to shoot up the school at one point,” Nicole grimaced at the day he came in wearing that skull shirt from some comic. “I’m not joking, I’m positive he had a gun.”
“It’s fine, so stop complaining. Come on, I want you to buy my cigarettes for a month.”
“Bitch, I agreed to nothing.”
“You said we were betting.”
“So, Vincent, where did you say you were from again?” Megan asked as she poked around at her packed lunch. New students were not common, and Ari insisted she owed him at least a place to sit after something in their first class.
“I’m originally from the bay area in California, but I moved around a lot till I eventually got in the care of my current guardian,” Vincent shrugged. “Gotta say, never been on the East coast before. Was not expecting to end up here any time soon.”
“Well, it’s nice to have you here,” Megan gave a proud smile.
Despite his attention being divided, Megan did not feel too bad. Sure, it was rude of him to not put his things away when she was being nice and greeting him, but he seemed very focused on his craft. It was creepy, sure, but intentionally so. Something to do with “Frenzied Flame” or whatever it was. He didn’t really elaborate, which wasn’t bad.
Actually it was nice. He seemed nerdy, but not to the same extent as Jeffery. Not pouncing to go on a tangent about his interests, only providing a short summary when asked. He didn’t seem shy about it either, spoke more that came from a genuine care rather than fanboying about something.
Maybe he was autistic or something? Was that rude to ask? It did sound rude to ask the new kid that.
“Oh, by the way, did you hear about what happened at Kelly’s party?” Ari asked as she decided to take the reins of the conversation. “Someone apparently pissed all over her parents bed. You won’t believe who it was-”
“It was Kylar, I know, I heard him going, “Hehe, yeah. Take that,”” Megan replied as she mimicked Kylar’s voice and did a little hand expressions as well. “I don’t know if he was drunk or high off the perc he was trying to sell. Only that he was trying to draw a dick.”
“Aw, the fuck. That’s nasty,” Ari cringed.
“Gross,” Vincent said as he put his marker down. “Don’t tell me that’s normal.”
“The peeing, yes,” Ari confirmed.
“So the drug trade is normal, got it. Good to know.”
“What, do you not partake?” Ari asked. She had suspected it, just getting confirmation would be good to know.
Shrugging, “Not my thing. I mean, I had a phase where I did some things, but personally I just don’t feel the appeal,” Vincent smiled as he entered the conversation. Twirling a pencil between his fingers. “Not that I mind if you guys do or not, I have my own things that I do and so do you.”
“Well, that’s great to hear. Unfortunately, not many students here are sober,” Megan said, giving her thumb of approval to Vincent.
“You say that like you haven’t bummed some perc and xan off me multiple times. Which, by the way, you still gotta pay me back for the last one.”
“Bitch, shut the fuck up! I don’t want to make any bad impressions here. I’m sure Vincent thinks this school is already shit. Besides, staying on the honor roll is stressful! Plus the percocet helps me focus!”
“Whatever you say,” Ari grinned at the response.
Ignoring the part about the school being shit, the subject of Megan’s outburst did pick something else up. “You know, if you have some trouble staying awake or focusing, I have something that could help,” Vincent offered up. “A little at home remedy that helps when I’m tired or need a sudden pop of energy.”
“I thought you didn’t do drugs?”
“It’s not, just an at home recipe for a little something-something to get you by. It’s kind of like a shot of espresso condensed in for about 30-ish minutes before the ware off. Short, but the only thing you’ll feel afterward is just, meh,” he added a little shrug gesture to punctuate his point. “I'll make you some if you’d like.”
“Oh, you should definitely do it,” Ari said grinning, nudging Vincent slightly. “See. I told you he was a nice guy. You seemed all mopy when I sugg-hmm.”
“Bitch!” Megan growled, covering Ari’s mouth before taking a seat back down. Recomposing herself, Megan turned to Vincent, putting on a smile. “Thank you, Vincent. That is quite generous of you.”
“Oh, generous of who?” a preppy, almost fake, sounding voice came up to the table, someone even taking a small seat at the front of the table.
“Ugh, Jecka. Get fat ass off the table.”
“What, Megan? I’m just saying hi. I heard from Nicole there was a new kid and wanted to see what’s up. So this the guy?” Jecka asked as she looked Vincent up and down. The infamous sketchbook in front of him along with a variety of art supplies. Oh shit, he was one of those art kids. He even used a brush!
Who uses a brush for coloring?
Well… actually, taking a quick look.
“Oh, shit, that is not a child,” Jecka muttered as she looked at the image. Some old dude with some golden or yellow spikes sticking out of him, clearly an image of someone in pain, maybe even dead.
“I’m sorry, what?” Vincent asked, not sure if he heard right.
“Oh, she thought you were a pedo, though judging by these drawings, that might not be the main subject of concern now,” another voice called from behind and looked at the still in progress image of Midra.
“Ah- Jesus! Fuck!” Vincent jumped as someone else seemed to appear out of nowhere. Quickly turning around to see the late girl from his first period. What was it? Nicole?
“Oh, fuck no. You’re the one who made that bet,” Jecka glared, not going to be thrown under the bus immediately.
“Bet? Pedo?”
“They’re try to fuck with you,” Ari said rather boredly. “What the hell do you two sluts want?”
“Nicole told me the new kid was talking up a storm with Jeffery, so I was curious if he was as creepy or something,” Jecka casually said, talking as if the subject of her curiosity and, by extension, bet wasn’t right there.
“Talking up a storm? The hell? I talk to one person and I’m suddenly labeled a creep and pedo.” The hell?! How does being friendly to someone constitute being called a pedophile?! His mouth was left open in shock as he looked at the blonde. Trying to process what he had just heard.
“That’s fucked up,” Ari muttered as she looked to see Nicole just shrugging as if it was nothing. “Also, Vincent here has been almost nothing but nice.”
“Yeah, till he decides you’ve known him long enough and asks if you want to come to his room and flashes his d-”
“Okay! I’m out,” Pushing himself up, grabbing his things, and tossing his belongings into his bag, Vincent raised his hands and began to walk away. “Ari, it’s been nice. Megan I’ll get you your stuff… but Jesus fucking Christ, I am not dealing with this shit today. I’m going to go and meet Jeffery. He may talk my ear off, but I am not going to sit and be called a pedophile. Fuck…”
Watching the new kid walk away, two thoughts went through the minds of the two sets of friends. Well, between two of the four individuals. One, felt like this was just affirmation to the belief that men were all pedophiles and rapists, and if they weren’t they would eventually be.
As for the other.
“Oh shit, you just fucked with the new kid into hanging out with the cartoon kid?!” Ari said in disbelief as she alternated between the sight of the empty seat and Jecka and Nicole.
“Wow, you two. I did not know someone could be such a bitch.”
“Meh, probably walked off because we were onto him,” Nicole said as she began fiddling with her nails.
Sitting down at her desk in her office, Lynn Hadley was twirling her finger as she tried to keep herself busy. No paperwork needed to be done at the moment. None of the students or staff needed her. Not even a call from annoyed parents because one of their children wasn’t the precious little angel they knew at home.
And to make all her worries better, she was soon to clock off.
Or, she might have been if the door didn’t burst open and someone came charging into her office and slammed something onto her desk.
40 bucks.
“You could have told me, that this school has some fucked up people.”
“Huh?”
“Lynn… you could have warned me,” a very annoyed voice came from the boy she had taken in. Vincent. Pulling up a seat he sat there. Defeated. “You knew I haven’t set foot in a school in ages. Yet you did not warn me…”
“Vincent, what are you on about?”
“Placing in a class with a kid who is obsessed with anime and manga. Every. Class. I am with Jeffery. I had sat and listened to what I hope is every opinion about the sub vs dub argument. I-I don’t think I can deal with this man,” Vincent groaned. “You could’ve told me who was in my classes!”
Ah, he was upset.
“Before you get upset, just understand that I only did that so you could-”
“It was intentional!” Vincent shouted. “The fuck!”
“Language!”
“No! Don’t “Language” me! I’ve had a day! I think I made a friend, two even! And you know what happened?” he paused for dramatic effect. “I found out, the school has a drug problem. I hear from the students that the pedo coach is real. I even got called a fucking pedophile today! Why the fuck does talking to Jeffery make me a pedophile?!”
Oh. Shit.
This wasn’t good. Not at all. Lynn knew about the first two. Both were problems that she unfortunately could do little about without any proper evidence or manpower, and with the fucking teachers here? What could she do? But the last one? Oh, this was bad.
“You were called a pedophile? By who?”
“I don’t know, some blonde and this girl I have chem with? Nicky or something, I don’t fucking know!”
Nicky? Did she know any Nic-
Fuck bitch.
“Nicole. I think you mean Nicole, and does the name Jecka happen to ring any bells?”
“Fuck, yeah. That was the blonde’s name,” Vincent said as he let out a long breath. “Fuck. Okay, I am not going to make dinner today, sorry. I just need to vent in the only way I truly feel good about. I’mma head out for a bit, I’ll be home by tomorrow,” Vincent said as he walked out of Lynn’s office. Not giving her a moment to really process what he had really said as he left.
Walking past the door, and out the other side.
“Ah! So you returned, my Tarnished kinsman,” a jovial tone of a man in red, a knock off Santa outfit keeping him warm alongside a bonfire.
Walking up to the fire, blue sparkles began to materialize and come together. Once a hood turned into a white hoodie and mask, a long sleeved and thick coat with a fur cape for warmth, and to finish it all off, shaggy gray trousers and well worn boots.
Grinning, the Tarnished smiled. “Kale! You know, for a nomad, I always find you here. Every step of the journey.”
“And for one of us, you travel without wares. We are oddities, no?” Kale grinned as he gestured for the Tarnished to sit. “Come, I’m sure you have runes to spare?”
“Business first? Not even offering food? So cruel, aren’t you?” the Tarnished chuckled. “I bet you don’t even have what I asked for!”
“‘Fraid not, but you can always buy my throwing daggers.”
“Thanks, but I prefer something with a bit more umph! Ya know?” the Tarnished groaned as took a small breath. “Fuck. Do you have anyone who isn’t out for your or a Tarnished head? Because right now, I could seriously go for a game of poker and I need to blow off some steam. I would greatly prefer that over immediately going over to stabbing people.”
“Hmm, trouble?”
“Understatement. I’d tell you, Kale. I really would, but I can assure you that it would mostly be gibberish to you,”
“Ah, if you do wish to unburden yourself, simply say the word,” Kale gave a nod. “We kinsmen of the Great Caravan, can always lend an ear to one another.”
Smiling, the Tarnished rolled his eyes. “Well, until you get me kukri knives, my lips are sealed. Now come on, I know you regularly get meat from that half-wolf. Come on, I spend my runes on you all the time!”
“Right, right,” Kale said as he pushed himself up slowly to get the still fresh meat from his last trade with the half-wolf. “I expect something good to come of this.”
“Kale, I have never let you down, you have my word as Vincent the Preservationist. Provider of the best meals in the lands between!” Vincent grinned under his mask, though the jovial look in his eyes was quite visible.
“Quite the claim, though that is still yet to be seen by anyone other than me.”
“Oh, you know you love me~!” Vincent sang, acting as if his stress was all but forgotten. “So, I’m thinking fried, wait! No! Deep fried! You have the oil and bread at least, right?!”
“Of course, your last time demanding it made me scared you might turn into a savage if I threw them out. Though the bread has gotten quite stale.”
“It’s fine! Don’t worry about the little details, let me work my magic!”
Poking at her dinner, mashed potatoes, peas, and meatloaf. Ari’s fork gilded and absentmindedly tossed food into her mouth. Her family all around her was almost doing the exact same thing, the only difference between her and them was the banter between her little brother and her parents, all happily talking about their day and things that had been going on in their lives.
And here she was. Just poking her food. Going through the motions… damn.
“Arianna!” Oh shit! Full name. Need to stop zoning out.
“Huh?”
“Jeez, thought you died there for a second,” her mom said as she placed her hand on Ari’s shoulder. “You okay, hun?”
“U-uh, yeah. Sorry. Just zoned out is all…” Maybe still feeling the xanax Kelly offered her, but that wasn’t what she would tell them. “Um, sorry, you asked me something?”
“No need to be sorry, sweetheart,” her mom said in that loving tone. “I just asked how your day was, did anything interesting happen in school?”
“Hmm, no nothing really interesting,” Ari began to give the cookie cutter response before something crossed her mind. There was something worth mentioning. “Oh, wait. There’s a new kid in school. I ate lunch with him. He seems pretty cool.”
“Oh, you made a new friend! That’s great! Tell us more!” Dad grinned. Oh god, what was he expecting? A summary of his life? What the hell?
“Um… not much to say. I just met him. He’s really good at art I guess,” good being an understatement. How the hell did he make pencils and markers look like a digital image!? “Oh… and I think he’s in the system? He mentioned something about a guardian.”
“Oh, that poor boy,” her mom cooed. “Oh! Ari! You should invite him over! I’m sure he needs friends and you seem to like the boy!”
“I-I don’t know…”
“Ohhh, Ari’s bringing a boy home, I bet they’re going to-”
“Logan, shut the f-” Ari was about to say something she should not yet at her brother. Least of all with her parents around her. “Shut up,” she corrected herself.
Her parents were looking at her, they obviously knew she caught herself. Shit. Don’t say anything about that outburst.
“Well, if you do decide to bring him over, just let us know. I was young once too and I know how you value your privacy, so I might suggest doing it when we’ll be out due to your brother’s dental appointment. Just text us.”
“Aw man,” her little brother grumbled.
“Hush you, when you become a teenager you’ll get your share of embarrassing moments, but that also means you get moments where we will give you total privacy. Till then, as long as Ari doesn’t do anything dangerous, she can do whatever she pleases inside the house,” her mom said as she lectured her brother.
“Whatever…”
Glancing at his son and wife, Ari’s father looked back at his daughter and gave her a little wink. “Also, just in case you do. If you go for my stash, just go easy on it.”
Rolling her eyes, Ari couldn’t hide the chuckle escaping her. Dad’s attempt at being the “cool dad” with her.
“Dad, I don’t think it counts as a stash if it’s in an easy to access minifridge in a finished basement,” Ari said as she continued to chuckle. “But, I’ll ask. No guarantees or anything though.”
“Alright, well if you do bring him over, don’t throw any wild parties.”
“Old maid.”
A Tarnished, a war surgeon, a half-wolf, and a nomadic merchant gather around a site of grace. Sounds like a start to a bad joke, yet this was party amongst parties typically not seen.
“Bah! This is an unfair game! You cheat!” Blaidd shouted, pointing at the smug war surgeon who was the last one left besides Kale who had any cards.
“Not my fault you fail to hide your tell,” Varre snickered under his white mask. It had just been cleaned due to some very heavy insistence from the Tarnished of the group that he wash the blood stained mask.
“What tell! I have no tell!”
“The fact you don’t know, makes it so much more funny,” Vincent snickered as he threw his bone into the fire, finishing off the once large platter of fried food that had been scarfed down by Vincent, Kale, and two unexpected guests.
That limp tail of his. Blaidd wasn’t enjoying the teasing, and his tail hung limp because of it. Oh the humor. How did he not know after all this time?
“Maybe ask your mistress to say!” Kale laughed, quickly joined by that of the two other, more humanoid, companions for the night.
A rare moment of respite for those who dwelled in the Lands Between.
Located somewhere between and across the fog. A land bathed in gold that called for warriors to mend a broken ring. And while some worried about their next meal. Some about if this next fight will be their last. There was this moment of peace and laughter. All brought on because fried chicken was on the menu.