Just a little ash [Open]

[Rodrigo Santos]

Well, this was nice. Rod let out a breath, smoke coming out from his lips, his cigarette still in his mouth. He was on top of a tree, leaning against it as his legs dangled from the sides. Maybe it was a tad childish of him to hide away like this, but he really didn't want to be around anyone. He knew he should've been in class at the time, but he'd been feeling angry all day, and all he wanted was to be alone and at peace, and maybe smoke without some teacher bitching at him for it.

Hammel hadn't been kind to him, he figured. What with all of the people around him trying to change and control him. Fuck that! He wanted to keep being himself. His dad never took crap from anyone and always had whatever he wanted. Why couldn't Rod be the same? Sure, his dad ended up in jail, but that didn't mean Rod would end up the same. It was a matter of luck and being smart, and Rod pictured himself to be both. 

He pulled in a breath again, sucking in the smoke and smiled in pleasure as he took the cigarette from his lips, already all smoked, and absentmindedly throwing it away, without even turning where it'd landed. Too bad he didn't at least peered down, because if he had, he would've noticed the cigarette landed right on the person passing by...

[Jade Parrish]

Jade was no stranger to ash on her combat boots, but usually it was her own. "You should always stomp out a cigarette," she told the stranger, lifting her boot to knock it off and then grinding it into the ground with her heel. She'd learned her lesson the hard way. Cigarettes were capable of igniting flames. The sooner he realized that, the better off he'd be.

It was weird being back at the place she'd called home for four years. She'd been here off and on when she was dating one of the dorm monitors, smuggling a bottle of wine, but this was different. She was here to help out with the student newspaper. And while her meeting wasn't for another hour, Jade was never late, often early, especially when it came to journalism.

"Let me guess, you're also skipping class."

[Rodrigo Santos]

Rod's eyes opened when he heard some random girl talk to him. Crap, it wasn't a teacher was it? He peered down from his spot up the tree and raised an eyebrow. Maybe one of those trainer guys? Or a senior? Either way, she looked older than himself. "Fuck off." He said with a sharp voice, not really wanting anyone scolding him. He had enough of that from his tutor. Besides, he did whatever he wanted. It was sort of his thing.

He closed his eyes once more, intending to take a nap, but then she spoke again and he opened them, letting out a frustrated breath. "What gave it away, Sherlock?" He said in an annoyed tone, but then reviewed what she'd said. Hold on- Also? "Yer a student?" He wondered, looking down at her with interest. He stared for an extra second and shrugged. "You look too old." He hadn't intended to be offensive, honest! He just sort of... came out that way.

[Jade Parrish]

Jade wanted to laugh at his dismissive way of dealing with her by promptly telling her to 'fuck off.' "Notice I didn't tell you not to smoke," she noted. "Most people would tell you that you're going to get cancer. That you're fucking everything up. That you're being horrible to your body. I'm just telling you to not start a fire." She shrugged her shoulders. She wasn't trying to be all parental and like every other health professional out there. He had the facts about smoking, everyone did now. So it was his own choice to keep on doing it.

"Just a guess. I think it might have been your favoring of the F word." He was the typical rebellious adolescent. Poor guy. So much anger. "I used to go here." She was still a student, of course. Just at the university. "Good to know I look slightly my age. Most give me an age by my height." She'd accepted being short for the most part.

[Rodrigo Santos]

Rod stared at her suspiciously. She was right. Others would just pester him about smoking and how he was ruining his body, particularly when he wanted to pursue a career in athletics, like his princesa had said, but this woman hadn't. He still grunted in response though, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of being right, so he just resumed his glaring, unresponsive to her previous warning.

And why was he skipping? Well, her reasoning made him snort in amusement. "The 'F' word?" He repeated with mirth. "What are ya? A nun?" The 'f' word. Girl looked hot and wild enough to use plenty 'f' words herself, so it was amusing to him to have her be all polite. Who was she anyway?

But then his inquiry and her answer made him raise an eyebrow. So she was older. She mentioned her height and he frowned in confusion. He was used to look down at people, being as tall as he was, so he truly didn't notice whether she was small or not. Though now that she mentioned it... "Yer like a midget. But that ain't it." He said, still, seriously just speaking without thinking. "It might be the wrinkles."

[Jade Parrish]

Jade knew that he knew she was right. Why else wouldn't he reply? She could call him out on it, but that would be childish, and she was much more mature than that.

"A nun?" Jade snorted. It wasn't that she didn't swear. She did often. Just because she didn't use it once didn't make her a nun. This kid was a riot.

"Midget?" She was pretty sure he didn't know what a midget actually was. "Those wrinkles just keep appearing everytime I encounter a whiny teenager. There are just so many." She smirked.

[Rodrigo Santos]

Whiny? Rod's eyebrows furrowed. Was she talking about him? "I ain't whiny!" He whined out and then flushed as he realised what he was doing and added in his most nonchalant voice, "I just don't like being interrupted." He was oh so busy and important after all, what with his... nap to have and his cigarettes to be smoked.

"So," He started even though he'd just said he didn't want to be interrupted. Hey! He was bored. "Whatcha doin' back here? I can't wait to get out of this prison and ya just come back here as if ye miss it." He shook his head, wondering why someone who managed to graduate would find their way back to Hammel, the best answer to it, he found, was that they had to be either nerds or stupid. Maybe both. "Or are ya one of those who still need trainin'?" Which reminded, "What's yer curse then? Be perpetually short?" He snorted at his own joke and smirked down at her, waiting for some shots to be fired back.

[Jade Parrish]

Jade smirked as he whined about not whining, which was quite amusing in her opinion. "Yeah, well, most people don't like to be interrupted when they're skipping class to smoke a cigarette. But it happens." It wasn't like she hadn't had the similar experience over and over again when she was at Hammel, before she stopped smoking that is.

"I'm here to help out with the student newspaper here," she told him, wondering why he even cared. He probably just needed someone to talk to fill the empty air with something besides smoke. "I don't miss it. College is miles better than this place. But you do have to work hard to get out." A lot of students just became so angry that they were a meta, or so angry that they had rules, that they made their stay longer and much more miserable. Jade never understood that. "No, I don't need training." Telling people her power was always the interesting part. She got to see their reactions, which was often surprised that such a petite girl had such a power. Not unlike most his age, he viewed his power as a curse and while Jade viewed hers that way sometimes as well, she didn't always look at it that way. "Paralysis inducement." She grinned.

[Rodrigo Santos]

Student newspaper? "So, you're like a nerd?" He said with a smirk. She so didn't look like a nerd. Pretty blue eyes, pale skin, dark hair. He was more into dark eyes himself, but he could make an exception. He moved on the branch to let his legs hang from the same side, his nails clinging to the tree bark to keep himself from falling.

"Yeah, I don't care." He responded with a shrug, rolling his eyes. "I ain't going to College." And then, proudly, he added with a smirk, "Imma be a boxer! I'm pretty good already." He snorted, looking back at the building behind them. Stupid Hammel. He couldn't wait to get out of there and out of sight, just so he could do whatever he wanted. "Ya, I wanna leave already. People here don't know how to have fun. So many rules, man! It's stupid. We're metas! We're supposed to have fun with that. Who cares if the normales can't keep up?"

No training? Then what- His eyes widened. "Neat." He said with a smirk. "So, how does that work?" Maybe it wasn't a good idea to ask her to show it when he was up in a tree, but Rod wasn't the brightest light bulb in the hall. "Show me!"

[Jade Parrish]

Jade laughed. A nerd? What was his definiton of a nerd? Anybody who was interested in something? "Whatever is easiest for you to remember me as," she told him with a shrug. She really didn't care. She was whole heartedly passionate about journalism.

She looked at him in disbelief when he revealed his plans for the future. "Good luck with that," she managed. She didn't want to tell him to stay in school, because most teenage boys found that to be a load of shit, but she also hated when people spent so much time hating school that they didn't discover what they enjoyed about it. "So pretty much you're proposing complete and total anarchy." Because that sounded feasible.

"It's very much a mental power." Did the kid seriously just ask her to show him her power? Did he realize what that involved? She knew what happened when she paralyzed someone, how vulnerable it made them feel and nobody liked to feel that way. "You'll fall out of the tree and crack your head open and I can't be liable for that."

[Rodrigo Santos]

He smirked down at her. "A name would be easier ta remember." He said smugly. "Mine's Rod. Remember it." He added a wink for effect. That was how it worked, right? A guy had to flirt with a pretty girl, even if this girl wasn't his type at all. She seemed to have spunk, no doubt, but she also lacked that proper and prim attitude he so longed to break on others. She just was chill, so that was cool enough to catch his attention.

"Anarchy?" He repeated in confusion. Why would he want that? Though, on second thought: no rules. "Well, ain't that best? We metas would take over. Kick some normal ass and be on top of everything and everyone. We so could too." He could if his powers weren't so lame at least.

She warned about showing him while he was on the tree and he rolled his eyes. "Fiiiiine." He said, dragging the word as if it was such a tiring task. He easily moved over the bench, using his arms to drop himself back to the ground. He straightened his back and looked down at her with a smirk. Now that he was standing next to her, the difference in height was much more noticeable. He laughed mockingly, placing a hand on her head teasingly.

"Look at that!" He said, finding it funny, "Ain't cha cute!" She truly was! All small, with those big blue eyes. She reminded him of some small toy he had as a kid. It was a duck or something similar, with big blue eyes. "How's the sight from down there?"