Seeking Reprieve - Open

[Haley Shapiro]

Haley was furious. She had once again managed to piss off some bullies. Big, tall, dangerous ones this time. One of them was an ice manipulator. The other two shape-shifted into Alaskan brown bears. Haley was just glad she fit into tiny spaces and ran helter skelter to the only place she had felt safe.

But she was still furious and after so long of not crying, being in Hammel had gotten her two big outbursts for no reason at all. Today was the third as she curled up in the corner of one of the training rooms, her knees drawn tight against her chest, tears streaming down her face, wishing she had invisibility instead of super strength.

This was so undignified, her crying like a loser in a room where someone could just walk in to train and see here there, crying like a loser. But her room was filled with happy girls, girls she didn't quite like. Simply because they were girly.

She was beginning to hate Hammel. Really, really hate it.

[Israel Valencia]

It was shaping up to be a boring day for Israel. Having just gotten out of his training session, he was free for the rest of the day. He was considering lying down- he had gotten a major nosebleed after training. Clamping a tissue over his nose, he pulled it away periodically to see if it had stopped. Feeling light-headed, he frowned and blew his nose, emptying it of the caked blood inside. Once he was satisfied he threw the tissue into the trash and sidled up to a vending machine, depositing a dollar inside to get himself a chocolate bar. Israel liked candy, after all. After a moment of deliberation, he settled for a Twix bar.

Once he had extracted his purchase from the machine, he headed off again, turning a corner before heading away from the training rooms. There were three guys coming up the hallway toward him, he stood aside but one of them stopped him, asking if he had seen a little girl running around. Apparently she really pissed them off. Israel thought of Medina, his little sister, and raised an eyebrow at him, frowning. “You shouldn’t pick on little girls, man. It’s not cool.” After a growl, a shove, and a ‘mind you own business’, that was the end of ice boy and the bear brigade.

With a rude hand gesture toward their backs, Israel went in the opposite direction again, pulling his yoyo out of his back pocket as he began to mess around with it. He was flipping it around when the yoyo suddenly flew off and rolled away into one of the open training rooms. Well crap. He had forgotten that he had picked up one of his yoyos without the attached string; he’d have to start labeling them or something so he wouldn’t forget about that again later. Chasing it into the room, the teen snatched it up before it finished rolling, shoving his candy into his back pocket as he began to roll it up again.

Once he was satisfied with his work, Israel turned to leave only to catch sight of someone in the corner. He froze and stared for a moment before realizing that it was only a kid- probably the same one the ‘Alaska Patrol’ was looking for. “Hey.” He said softly, coming closer, but not too close. He didn’t want to scare the poor kid. “You okay?”

[Haley Shapiro]

Her sleeve was already soggy with her tears and snot when she heard a noise outside. Frozen, she stopped breathing, afraid the three boys had heard her sobbing and was now about to enter the training room.

A small yoyo, much like the ones she used to play with when she was still in the orphanage, rolled into the room and her arms wrapped around her folded knees. She squeezed her eyes shut and her body started to heave silent sobs.

"Please leave me alone, please." She whimpered softly. "I didn't mean to push the locker on you." Her voice barely a whisper, she heard a soft voice ask if she was okay. She didn't even dare open her eyes and continued to stay in her curled up position. "I didn't mean to, I'm sorry." Haley continued whimpering.

[Israel Valencia]

Most guys didn’t know what do to in the face of tears- they had a tendency to either recoil and ignore it or, in the worst cases, find another female and run off. Israel normally was that kind of guy- tears from teenage girls were hard to decipher, and he always hated to be on the receiving end of someone’s redirected anger. But this was a kid, just a little girl. She couldn’t have been any older than his sister. Even when she mentioned something about pushing a locker onto someone he still felt bad about the predicament she was in. She wasn’t just scared, she was terrified. He almost wanted to go and pick a fight with those three guys, but he couldn’t leave her.

The first thing he did was close the door- if those guys did come back he didn’t need them looking in to find her. Once that was done, Israel cautiously stepped over and sat down next to her, pressing his back against the wall. “I’m not going to hurt you.” He muttered, tentatively putting a hand on her shoulder. “Those guys aren’t gonna hurt you either. I won’t let them. Okay?” Remembering that his chocolate was still in his pocket, unopened, he pulled it out and sat it to the side.

Once he was sure that he had made it clear his presence wasn’t a bad thing, he wrapped an arm around the girl’s shoulder. “It’s okay. It’s okay.” He repeated, looking around the room as he realized he had never been in it. It was very... Plain. Whose training room was this, anyway? Either way, they’d probably be back soon. He hoped that it was someone decent. Maybe that Chase guy, he had a kid. But his kid was a boy, not a girl, so he probably didn’t know anything about crying. Damn.

Turning back to the girl, he leaned forward to see her face, giving her a weak smile to show he was a nice guy.

[Haley Shapiro]

When the boy approached her and sat right next to her, Haley bit her lower lip to stop herself from bursting out even more. She leaned away, still not comfortable with letting people too close to her.

But his words were soft and reassuring and Haley would be damned if she didn't admit that it was calming her down. At least enough to not pull away when he touched her. So the boy was clearly not one of the bears. Or even the cryokinetic. He was way too warm.

And it was all too much when he finally wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a smile. Haley gave out a heaving sob and turned to bury her face into the boy's chest, crying for all she was [just finding out] she was worth. Though her brain was telling her that she was being completely melodramatic, she couldn't help but admit that this was giving her immense relief.

Her hand clutched at the front of the older boy's shirt, forcing herself not to pound her tiny fists against his chest. She realised immediately that she was snivelling all over the poor guy's shirt and her snot was everywhere. "Shit." She sobbed, pushing away from the boy and wiping her face on her oversized long sleeved t-shirt she had had to bunch up around the arms.

"Sorry...I'm not usually like this. I...I'm...thank you." Haley looked away from the boy, still trying to wipe away the excess snot and tears.

[Israel Valencia]

Honestly, the sudden flow of tears and the face getting buried in his chest was unexpected. Israel wondered with a frantic look if he had done something wrong, but he tentatively wrapped his arms around her in a hug before smoothing out her hair. His protective older brother vibes kicked into overdrive and he bit his lip, frowning. He could only imagine what she was going through- he wondered if she had any older siblings to protect her before she was in Hammel. Was this was the first time she had been picked on? Probably not, but that didn’t make it hurt any less, right? He wasn’t good with feelings and shit.

Heck, he didn’t even know the little girl’s name, just that there were three big guys looking for her and she was petrified of them, even though she had probably started the argument. He had to hand it to her, even if she was crying and scared, she was holding up pretty well. He would’ve been too petrified to run at that age. But then again, when he was her age he lived in a place where running was a good way to get a bullet in the back. But still. At her age she should be worried about cooties and dolls, not bullies the size of wrecking balls.

Once she let him go, Israel looked at his shirt and shrugged, signifying that he wasn’t too concerned about it. He did, however, shoo her away from wiping her nose on her sleeve, opting to reach into the side pocket of his pants where he had shoved a wad of tissues in case his nosebleed continued. Handing her the mass of soft paper, he smiled. “No problem, chika.” He smiled at her, before glancing at the chocolate bar on the floor. While she blew her nose and wiped her tears, he busied himself with opening the Twix, noting happily that there were two separate bars in there.

Pulling both pieces out, he put one in his mouth much like a cigar and offered the other to her. “You like chocolate? S’good.” He bit the end off of his and sat the rest on his lap. “I promise it’s not poison.” Realizing he had yet to introduce himself, he contemplated telling her his name, but decided introductions could wait until she was calmer. She still looked a little shaky and whatnot.

[Haley Shapiro]

Being called "chika" was a weird sensation all around but she kept quiet about it. If she retaliated negatively, he'd probably feed her to the bears. And she did not want that. And he seemed like a nice guy. Though he didn't have Henry's stature and he didn't use words like "desist" to clear a room, the fact that he was still there and offering bundles of tissue paper gave him brownie points in her book.

At the offering of chocolate, Haley inched closer to the older boy before wiping her hand clean on her too tight jeans. "Chocolate." Haley reached the clean hand out and took the chocolate, bringing it close to her lips but not eating it just yet. She loved the smell of chocolate. Even if it was bad chocolate, there was a smell to it that she absolutely adored.

The older boy was now okay in her book.

Chocolate was such a rarity at the orphanage that when she did get to eat them, she promised herself to savour it rather than just stuffing it into her mouth and be done with it. So a small nibble at the edge, and then another. "Thank you." She gave the boy a watery smile.

[Israel Valencia]

It was true; Israel was nowhere near as intimidating as his roommate was. For one, he was as thin as a twig and probably would snap just as easily if someone wanted to cause him harm. Not to mention that Henry was six feet tall- Israel was only five foot nine and he was pretty much done with growing. He was going to end up short forever. Then there was the obvious lack of any mean bones in his body- he was a good kid, a nice kid, and, until recently, a very naïve kid. But despite being physically weak, he was still protective, and the girl reminded him of his little sister in a way that made him want to hug her and never let her go.

‘No te sueltes de mi mano.’

Biting his lip, Israel watched the girl look over the chocolate with interest. She certainly wasn’t like any normal kid he had met- most kids devoured chocolate in two bites or less. Sometimes he even did that same thing. The fact that she was taking the time to smell it made him wonder what kind of kid she was. When he was her age he never took the time to smell candy. Even at sixteen he didn’t do that- what happened to a kid her age that made her savor everything like that? Looking to his own chocolate and the bite he took off it he almost felt guilty. He was just munching away while she actually took the time to enjoy hers.

But hunger and dizziness were stronger motivators than guilt, so he polished off his chocolate bar and chalked his weak constitution up to low blood sugar. Her thanks made him smile and he waved it off. “No thanks needed. You look like you could use some candy.” The sudden urge to spend his money on tons of chocolate hit him, and he almost considered getting up when he saw one of the three guys pass by. He didn’t look in the window, but Israel decided they better wait a little longer before venturing outside.

It was a great time to try introductions, in any case. She looked much calmer, and he was much less light-headed and could think straight without having to concentrate too hard. “So. I’m Israel. You can call me Izzy if you would like.” Not many people did- before Hammel it was all over, but now he didn’t use it as much. It reminded him of home. “What’s your name?” He probably would never use it anyway- he would probably end up calling her ‘chicka’ instead.

[Haley Shapiro]

Unaware that she was being watched, Haley continued to nibble on the chocolate, tempted to save it for later. But a sticky chocolate gooey pantspocket she did not want to have.

Eventually, the boy spoke up again and Haley shook her head. "I hate candy. Chocolate. Chocolate trumps candy any day." She said determinedly, her head bopping in defense of her beloved dessert.

"Israel," Haley tried out the name before deciding that it was a unique enough name for her not to get used to nicknames. And it was easy too. "Haley. Haley Shapiro." She answered with another nibble on her chocolate. "This is really good. What chocolate is this?"

[Israel Valencia]

Once Israel realized that he was still staring, he looked away from the girl and looked around the training room again, trying to figure out if it belonged to anyone specific. It wasn’t that crazy trainer’s (Jackaloe, maybe? he didn’t even know.), it was too plain and not full of useless junk. He was starting to think it was the room that the British trainer used. It was very practical looking and sparsely decorated. There wasn’t even a potted plant for him to mess around with. There wasn’t even a fake potted plant for him to mess with. That was rather irksome.

Opening his mouth to correct her and point out that chocolate was candy, he paused and decided that it wasn’t worth the effort. As a kid he loved chocolate bars a bit too much- he was one of those rather pudgy children throughout elementary school. He wasn’t just a little pudgy either, he was the kid that left the nurse’s office with his head down and sniffling after they checked weight, the one who didn’t say anything when people asked him how much he weighed. He had stopped buying so much candy around fourth grade- that was when he was spending money on yoyos and markers and string. Now, that seemed to be all he spent his money on. Nowadays he only bought candy when he needed to get sugar in his system. It seemed to help stop his lightheadedness.

Bobbing his head when she repeated his name, he smiled. “Israel Julian Valencia.” The name rolled off his tongue and it sounded exotic and foreign, in a way. The way that the ‘j’ transformed into an ‘h’ when he said it made all of the difference. It caused problems just as much though- having to correct English speaking people on the pronunciation tended to initiate an argument he hated having, all the while getting a stare from them that made their opinions of ‘his kind’ clear. He had to wonder if his meta-human status would make his predicament worse or better. Public opinion of metas in the U.S. seemed to be rather neutral. But then again, Americans tended to be overwhelmingly neutral on a lot of things most people found important.

“Haley?” He repeated, nodding as he pretended to think hard about it. “Sounds cute; just perfect for a squirt like you.” He grinned and ruffled her hair a bit, already settling into the big brother roll as he licked his fingers to get the excess chocolate off of them. Her question came as he was licking his thumb, so he waited a moment before answering, wiping his saliva-coated digit on the leg of his pants. “It’s a Twix bar. Cookie, chocolate, and caramel. Totally bad for you, but fantastic anyway.”

[Haley Shapiro]

Haley didn't do well with stares that she wished she had the power to tattoo her forehead saying: "Stare and I'll be the last thing you see." But fortunately for Israel, he had the decency to look away from her to survey the room, which coincidentally she was doing too. Although it wasn't the identity of the owner of the room on her mind, she did wonder if it actually was somebody's office.

She looked to the older boy with curiosity when he showed sign of wanting to say something but refrained himself from it. She was close to challenging him but again realised there was much at stake, namely the fact that this boy could just very well walk out to call the bear brigade and Mr. Ice Ice Baby to get her.

Biting her lip from laughing at how he pronounced his name [she was still not willing to do anything negative right then], Haley did smile at the name. Israel Valencia. How foreign and nice sounding it was. Didn't matter that his middle name sounded like 'hooligan' to her juvenile ears, he was by far the nicest person she'd met in Hammel that gave her chocolate. She kept repeating his name to let it flow easier on her tongue and smiled when she finally accomplished not sounding like a total loser.

A small giggle emanated from her lips when she caught the hard concentration on his face before her own face hardened when called cute. "Tsk, I'm not a squirt dude." But the hair ruffle made her do things she didn't want. Like lean into it. She couldn't help but admit those were one of the things she didn't know she needed from an older person. Even if the older person was only four years older than her.

Thankfully, his answer distracted her need to close her eyes and let Israel just pet her all day long. "Oh. Twix. I'm gonna remember that. Is that from the vending machine? I always pass it to get to Math." She rambled as she took an insanely tiny bite from her snack. She suddenly realised she was having somewhat a reasonable conversation with another human being without it ending with either her shoving his face in the toilet or him plucking her off the ground and flicking her away like she was a rag doll.

It was nice.

Pulling the tattered gray hoodie that was two sizes too big for her around her tiny 'squirt'-like body, she looked up to Israel and gave him a little smile. "So don't you have class? Or training? Wait...huh what do you do?"