Tensions [.open.]

"You're from the school, aren't you?"

Jeremy nodded absentmindedly before looking away from the menu tacked haphazardly onto the side of a concession stand. Standing uncomfortably close was a mountain of gentleman whose face conveyed everything but amiable intentions. Dark hair swept away from the man's face, lightened at the temples by a wash of gray. Cold gray eyes met Jeremy's vivid blue ones and the boy fought an instinct to flinch backwards at the hate he found there.

Even with his height of 5'11", Jeremy felt small compared to the guy. He swallowed and said, "I'm still pretty new-"

"Why don't you and all of those other freaks get out of town?"

Jeremy's hunger died in the face of the hostility. He ran a hand through his ash-brown hair and swallowed. "It's school. We can't just-"

The man interrupted him again, this time bumping things up a notch by grabbing Jeremy's Dark Side of the Moon t-shirt and yanking him around so fast that it was hard to stay on his feet. "Get the fuck out of town, you freaks. We have had enough of you- between the thefts, the disappearances, and the murders, you're only making our homes unsafe. Five years ago, people could walk around at night without being fucking assaulted by carnival sideshows!"

Jeremy felt the strain on his shirt and saw the movement in the man's well-developed biceps before he was flung backwards over the cobblestones. The boy knew how to take a fall, thankfully, and he managed to catch himself before anything could get hurt.

"Look, man," he tried to reason as he picked himself up, only to get shoved again. This time, he did land rather awkwardly on the ground, which was still wet from a storm that had hit the night before. The man loomed over him against a background of ashy-gray cloud and unfeeling brick buildings.

Ansleigh and Robbert had been on a stroll through the marketplace, speaking about a few nondescript things as they wandered about, the weather, some of the classes they had been attending together, especially the turn the weather had been taking in the recent days, the fall chills that would sweep across the area now and again. They were on their way to go and get some food when they saw the spectacle of what looked to be an actual bully picking on someone from the school. Robbert's eyebrows narrowed downwards as his usual scowl formed on his face and he walked in the direction of the conflict. Robbert spoke with an extremely heavy dutch accent, he had a growl rumbling in his throat even as he spoke to the attacker.

"Hey, what the fuck do you think you're doing? You don't go after somebody for no reason you sadistic son of a bitch. And if you're going to do it, at least don't do it like a fucking moron."

Robbert's advance on the man had been quickening this entire while, both hands clenched into fists as his words quickly flew out of his mouth, the tone maybe almost sounding slurred with the dutch accent being input into the words. Ansleigh herself seemed quite appalled at the stupidity of the men, both the bully and also Robbert. Ansleigh was much quicker in her approach, and even she found herself feeling increasingly hostile towards the towering man.

"You can't just attack somebody, and besides, what are you even going after him about? There's no reason for it, no matter what you think he did wrong, you can't just do that."

Below each and every one of Ansleigh's steps sparks popped up beneath her heels, the heat even beginning to mold the back of her vans into a slightly different shape.

Jeremy's assailant looked up with a sneer. "Looks like your fellow freaks are coming to your rescue." Even though he was outnumbered (and out-firepowered, apparently), the man dug in his heels and balled his hands into fists.

Jeremy could feel the hostility in the area increase exponentially. The other students were not the only ones there, and he didn't want things getting worse than they already were. "It's alright," he said, trying to work up an amiable smile. He picked himself up and wiped off his clothes. "No need to get worked up over this." People were emerging from the shops around the edge of the marketplace and nearby vendors were sending them looks of mixed anger and confusion.

He tried to shoot an expression at the other two students that might alert them to the inherent danger in trying to engage the man in fighting of any kind. "We'll leave, sir," he said as respectfully as possible, moving to stand between him and the other students.

"That's right. Run home to the den of vipers you call a school. Foresta's days are numbered, kiddies. Nobody wants a place that harbors murderers so close to their homes."

Jeremy knew what baiting was, and this was just that. He also knew that they'd most certainly get into trouble with the school if they used their powers on normies (not that he could use his power right now, or that it would be of any use if he could).

Robbert, at the sight of the man stepping in front of them, came to a halt, right eyebrow raising slowly, both arms crossing over his chest. But his eyes soon shifted away from the boy who was standing there, lighting on Ansleigh whom had continued forward to stand only a yard away from the man who had walled the passage from her to the other man. Ansleigh’s right eyebrow lifted up high on her forehead, both hands making their ways to her hips. She looked at the boy from her school, then shifted her attention around the boy onto the assailant. Her right eyebrow lowered a bit, forcing a somewhat sassy look onto her face.

Robbert began to walk forward, but then hesitated. His eyebrows furrowed downwards and he sighed softly, his hands dipped into his jeans pockets. His thick accented voice soon rang out.

“Ansleigh, just stop. Getting angry isn’t going to help anybody, especially not mister jackass over there. Besides, it’s not as though he’d be brave enough to pick on us in a group, nor would he attack someone who had a dangerous power of any sort. Besides, you could probably get in a lot of trouble for using your powers on somebody.”

Ansleigh paused her glare and exhaled heavily.

“Fine, you’re right. But either way….He still shouldn’t be an asshole.”

"Right. It's not worth bringing the headmistress down on us. Or worse." Jeremy nodded at the blonde boy's comment, opening his arms wide to hopefully try to guide his classmates away from the scene. He shook his head in response to the statement made by the girl, saying, "He thinks he's protecting his home. I unde-" He was stopped short when a spaghetti squash hit him in the side of the head.

Uncooked spaghetti squashes hurt. The impact threw his balance and he lurched into Ansleigh.

Behind him, the rotund man who threw the squash joined the man who'd done the original shoving, tossing another vegetable to himself with a smug look of satisfaction on his face. A woman with dark circles under her eyes shouted at them from the entrance of a shop, "FREAKS! You have no right to be here! That was my friend you murdered!" Somebody else shouted encouragement for those who had accosted the three students.

A growl resounded in Ansleigh throat, she was basically landed upon by the boy, forcing her to be basically incapacitated for at least a few moments. Ansleigh buckled slightly under the sudden weight, her eyes shifted around frantically, head turning from left to right. She suddenly didn't look so confident as she had before. A low flying squash smacked her in the side of the knee, forcing her to go down to her knees, she grunted softly from the pain. She whimpered out loud and her voice rang out loudly.

"Robbert! Robbert help!"

Robbert himself had already begun to advance, a snarl forcing itself onto his face. His fists clentched at his sides for a few moments as his long, stalking steps progressed, the hair that was dangling over his face had begun to fly around wildly. A squash flew towards his face and both of his hands opened up and the squash rocketed to the ground, exploding a few feet in front of him. He grabbed both of the incapacitated peoples collars, lifting upwards so as to force them onto their own feet.

"Go!"

He staggered back as yet another squash hit him in the chest. He growled, picking it up. He flung it way off to the side, and it smacked against a nearby wall.

"Enough!"

"We'll show you enough, freak!"

"He's using his power!"

Several screams.

Jeremy felt himself picked up from the ground and he apologized to the girl under his breath. "Sorry."

The use of power only made the growing crowd start swarming about like a hive of bees prodded into action. Jeremy felt a softer fruit hit the back of his head as he found his footing. It didn't hurt, but peach juice dripped stickily down the back of his shirt. People were circling around them and they were beginning to crowd too close for his own comfort.

In the next moment, a van careened into the marketplace. Masses of the normal people dove out of the way in order to avoid getting hit. Jeremy had just enough time to see what looked like the school's crest emblazoned on the side of the door that slid back. A guy with whitish-blue hair and Mediterranean-ocean-bluegreen eyes shouted at them, "Get in! We'll take you back to the school!"

Jeremy wasn't going to argue with this plan- anywhere was better than this place. The school seemed like the perfect haven in light of all of this antagonism.

He looked at the girl and nodded, a question mixed with an invitation in his eyes. Jeremy was taught well- girls first.

Robbert quickly noted how fast things were getting more and more out of control and his steps wavered, instead of advancing, he began to fall back. He heard several yells of freak and things exactly like it, then a rather peculiar sound caught his ear, the sound of an engine. He whipped around just in time to watch the van speed into the marketplace, he took it as a signal to get out and turned, feet drumming against the ground to get to the van.

Ansleigh felt, more than saw the crowd getting out of control, when she finally lifted her head to check out what was happening, the look of fear was plain in her face. As the van entered the marketplace, she didn't even hesitate, bailing into the van with haste. She clambered in as fast as possible, getting clipped by a peach to the aide of her face just as she entered the vehicle. Robbert himself wasn't so lucky, just before he entered the van yet another spaghetti squash smacked in the back of the knee, sending him sprawling into the van, face smacking against the seat. He dragged himself all the way in and groaned, flipping over to look out of the door.

The heavy, Dutch voice rumbled out through a chuckle.

"Thank you very much!"

As Jeremy climbed in, the door slid shut and the van started to peal away.

A woman sitting in the passenger seat up front answered Robbert just as things went wrong again.

A jab of pain in his upper arm and he fell into a daze on the floor of the van.

"Oh, no. Thank you."



|| END THREAD. ||