Participants:
| Scene Title | Cinderblock |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | It looks like Graeme's been hit i nthe face with a cinderblock, but really, he was just doing what he could. |
| Date | July 17, 2011 |
Since the skateboarding lesson with Devon, Graeme's been gone from the safehouse, out of sight and having chosen to part ways with the teenager when the cops left, rather than even risk being tailed. It's past lunchtime and into the afternoon of the next day when he comes up the stairs to the safehouse, the prettier skateboard this time and a sweater and jeans, precluded by announcement called up the stairs when he's halfway there.
The more interesting thing, more interesting than the bags of groceries he carries in one hand, though, is the bruise that's covering a whole side of the teacher's jaw, and much of his cheek as well, quite visible under only a day's growth of beard. Pretty colours, and not just a mild bruise but with some yellows and even a bit of green in there, but if there's any chance that it might be bothering the teacher, he doesn't show it. More likely, Graeme hasn't really noticed except for when he went to shave and got scolded off. A glance around the common room, and Graeme ducks a nod to Jaiden. "Hey there."
Cereal is a good morning breakfast. Full of calories, fiber, and vitamins, it's a bowl full of goodness you can eat with a spoon. "Oh, hey Gr…." Jaiden trails off, his spoon halfway to his mouth, milk dripping into the bowl. "What in the bloody hell happened to you?"
Graeme tilts his head to one side, and then raises his hand to his jaw, running a finger very lightly over his jaw and over the bruise. "This?" There's a pause. "Um, I uh." He pauses, straightens, and shrugs, with a good amount of deliberateness to the motion. "Got in a disagreement?" Then there's a grin, as if he's almost proud of himself. "Is it that bad?"
Jaiden nods, pointing to the corresponding spot on his face. "Well, could be. Depends on how the other guy looks." Getting into a fight with Graeme is not something that Jaiden would want to do. Being on the opposite side of someone who is, quite literally, the energizer bunny, means that the fight would either end quickly or last for hours, and end with Jaiden exhausted.
Yes, he's a guy. Guys think of these things sometime.
"It doesn't look that bad. Maybe like you were smacked in the head with a cinderblock, but other than that, you're fine. Want to talk about it?" He finishes that bite of cereal, his bowl going to sit in the sink where magical water gnomes start to wash it.
There's a chuckle from Graeme. "The other guy hurts a lot more, still," Graeme responds, after a moment of thought. It's obvious that no matter how bad it looks, it doesn't bother him. "He was chasing an invisible girl and calling her an evo-freak," the teacher continues, "while I was trying to teach Devon to skateboard. I stopped him from chasing her down a dead-end alley … then he called me a pretty boy, and well." A bit of a shrug, that Jaiden can guess where it went from there. "He punched me, I had him in an arm lock … and he called me an evo-freak, too."
The little water gnomes work fevereshly, cleaning the bowl, even placing it upside down on the rack to drip-dry when they're done, all thanks to Jaiden's powers, the spoon clinking down alongside. Jaiden, with his cup of coffee, sits quietly, sipping on the rich, brown liquid. "Anyone see you, aside from the kid? Any cops, detectives, or other people we don't want watching you? Did the girl get away?" He chuckles. "Damn, Graeme. You're fitting into this hero thing rather well."
Graeme shrugs. "There were some cops at the edge of the alley, but they didn't see me," he says. "Or Devon. I very politely suggested that the jerks be apologising when the cops showed up, and the cop never got out of his car." A faint grumble. "With a little extra suggestion that if they didn't change their story I'd be explaining to the cops their usage of the words evo-freak and pretty boy." Fingers trail along his jaw again, tracing the edges of the bruise carefully. "I didn't get to shave, and I'm pretty sure they didn't learn their lessons well enough. But the girl got away just fine. Never even saw her."
"Well, you said she was invisible, so is it any wonder that she did?" Jaiden chuckles softly, taking another sip of his coffee. "Things like that burn me up, Graeme, but sometimes, sadly, we just have to let it go or, in this case, stick our necks out and be the bigger person. You done good, kid." He actually puts on an american accent for that.
Graeme grins a bit. "Yeah, I hate bigots," Graeme mutters, with a bitter tone to his voice. "I really, really do. One of the few things that will make me really mad." And considering that Graeme doesn't get mad frequently, that's saying something. The rest of the day was probably spent blowing off steam. "Least he won't be using his arm for a few days or more. Any more, and I would have broken it." He grins. "And I had to reassure poor Aric. He made me promise to try not to get into more 'disagreements'."
"Be careful if this invisible girl comes up to you, Graeme." Jaiden's voice is cautious, soft. "It's just the sort of thing that someone might do to pull us out into the open. Give us a treat and see if we'll follow into the trap."
There's a nod. "Yeah. I know," Graeme says, with a nod. "That's another reason I didn't come back yesterday, besides, you know, Aric." A faint smile accompanies the statement, betraying that the complaint may be in voice only, rather than any real problem. "But if she followed me, it wasn't for long, like she had better things to do. As much as I don't believe in chance, I think it was just you know, chance. I've been teaching Devon to skateboard at what was once a playground, up a ways but still in Queens." There's a pause, and a frown. "But I think we're picking a new location, after this."
"You're kind of lucky in the fact that your power doesn't show up visibly. I mean, you can basically just do things for a while longer than most, and a lot of it can be chalked up to adrenaline, training, or other things. It's when you start passing olympian-height training, then things tart getting odd." Jaiden leans back in his chair, crossing his leg over his knee, giving Graeme a smile about Aric. "I didn't picture you as a skateboarder."
Graeme laughs a bit. "You mean you haven't noticed the ever-present skateboard?" He points to the current longboard in the corner, complete with neon and perhaps fluorescent in the dark decal on the underside and slightly oversized wheels and trucks, more designed for distance and stability than for tricks. "It's something I picked up, in college. And then it's something I kept up, it helps for getting between places." There's another grin. "I'm what happens when skateboarders get old," he adds, when a grin. "And Devon said he wanted to pick it up, for getting to and from buses, and all. But so far, he's eating pavement a lot. Getting better, though."
"I guess I haven't paid that much attention." Jaiden admits with a small smile, draining his coffee cup and setting it on the counter behind him, the water elves going to work on it too. "And if you were wondering, I'm Australian. Just in case you're as oblivious as I am in the case of your skateboarding."
"I for one pay attention," Graeme says, slow southwestern drawl tinging his voice. "Your accent makes it obvious most of the time. Though your Amer'can ain' bad either."
Jaiden was being silly - and he grins to Graeme with a nod. "And I generally do pay attention, but so much has started going on, I just missed it. I get a lot, but sometimes…." He trails off, giving a little shrug. "I'll be more observant."
Graeme grins a bit. He was being silly too, for the most part, and walks over to give the other man a half-hug. "For what it's worth, thanks," he says, quiet. "I still think I should have broken his arm, and maybe collarbone and a few ribs, but." There's a shrug. "We do what we can."
"Oh, there's no argument from me there, but it might have drawn attention, which is something we don't need much of, as you probably know." Jaiden squeezes Graeme back tightly, slapping him on the back a couple of times before letting the hug drop. "We do what we can, we do what we must, but we can't do everything we should."