Battle of the Silent Men (Jesse)

[Lucah Ivaskov]

The only reason he'd ever go to the mall is for the reason of which he was there on this particular day. He was getting presents for two of the most important girls in his life. Both of them were getting surprise presents from him because of the fact that they both helped him so much in everything he did. Lately it had been the whole brighter outlook on things. Jez always was trying to make him brighter and happier, and now he had Callie helping her out. Sure he said thank you often to both of them for being there with him and helping him through everything.

Jezebel had a love for shoes now. She was growing into that typical girly girl stereotype and since their father was all for spoiling her she had a lot of shoes. Luc wasn't surprised though. She was a teenage girl after all, most of those types were obsessed with shoes. The only problem he was probably going to run into would be finding the shoes that she would like. He wasn't a shoe type of guy, not that any guy really was. He would have asked Callie to accompany him, but well that would ruin her surprise.

He had no idea what he was going to get her though. Lucah knew her fairly well now, but he still wasn't exactly sure what sort of thing she liked for a gift. So after getting Jezebel's shoes, he was rushing around the store, his mind focused on finding something for the blonde and he wasn't paying much attention to say the least. Just as he was walking out of a perfume store, he ran right into someone a little smaller than him, but what he thought was a young man. After straightening himself up, Luc looked at the young man, "I apologize, I was not paying attention."

[Jesse Matthis]

Jesse wasn't quite sure what had brought him to the mall today. It was one of his first days free in a while, him having finished all his school work and logged a few hours in the training room before it was too late in the day. He didn't feel like working out, and he really didn't have anyone to hang out with on the campus. He supposed that should depress him, but frankly it didn't. He was fine on his own, always had been really. Still, it would have been nice to have SOMETHING to do. Since he was able to leave the school, at least until dark, he had wandered into town and walked around, and had found his way to the mall.

Today Jesse was wearing a deep gray, short sleeved shirt, a shallow v-neck, deep blue jeans and a pair of charcoal gray and black converses; his hands were in his pockets and as always, earbuds were in his ears. As he walked about the mall, he listened to music on his phone. Today's selection so far had included Rise Against, All Time Low, and a new band he was checking out called A Rocket to the Moon. It was good so far, and he enjoyed the solitude in his own head as he walked about, browsing the products in store windows as he passed by. Besides just walking around, he was taking the opportunity to do a little people-watching. No one pays attention to the kid standing or walking around with earbuds, and it was interesting to see how people acted when they thought no one else was looking.

He saw a kid, a young boy, struggling with his mom as she pulled him away from a toy store. He couldn't hear his crying over the music, but he saw the tears falling down his face. It almost made him laugh; a kid crying over something as small as a toy. Then he realized he'd almost laughed at a child crying, and THAT thought managed to depress him just a little. As he continued to walk about the mall he observed a few more scenes. A couple on a date, walking hand in hand. A family taking a picture together. Somehow from the outside it all seemed a lot more...surreal. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't even notice the guy coming out of the perfume store until he smacked right into him. He pulled his earbuds out, and looked up to see who he had run into.

"I apologize, I was not paying attention." He heard the guy's apology, and shook his head, apologizing himself. "No problem man, I wasn't looking where I was going, my fault." He looked back up at the guy again, and a quizzical look crossed his face. He was pretty sure he'd seen this guy before. It hit him suddenly where he'd seen him before, it was at Hammel! He'd come in to visit a student that was in the same class as him, and the teacher had introduced him to the class as...Lucah that was it. "Hey, I know you! From school, you're..Lucah right?"

[Lucah Ivaskov]

Lucah wasn't usually so apologetic when bumping into most people, especially guys that were younger than him. It was a wonder he'd said sorry at all to the young man, but he had gotten a bit better with the whole unnecessary snapping at people thing. Eventually he realized it just didn't get him anywhere. It was amazing the effect Callie had on him. That being said, he was still a little on the bitter side because had either of them been paying attention it could have been avoided. It seemed like whenever he wasn't paying attention no one else was either.

When the younger boy admitted fault, Luc just shrugged it off. Typically he'd have agreed, but he just wasn't feeling very snarky. Not yet at least. It wasn't until the boy kept staring at him that he started getting uncomfortable and a little weirded out. The way he seemed to be trying to figure something out, Luc just wasn't sure how to react. He looked around a little awkwardly until the boy spoke. But how could this kid know him?

Okay, so a lot of his time was spent at Hammel when he felt like seeing Callie or Lorelei sometimes, but he didn't necessarily talk to other people while he was there. The only time he ever even paid attention to someone else was when his old teacher had insisted on introducing him to the class when he went in to say hello. That had only been once though, and as far as he remembered, he hadn't seen this boy in that class.

Or maybe he had. Lucah nodded slowly, "Yes. Who are you?"