dangerous places

[coolestscythe]

[Pretend this was posted a few hours ago during school hours >> Also, Boogie's tags will be a little sporadic until she's done with her monstrous work load.]

Soul Eater and Maka are standing just outside the Chicago Public Library, and their way is being blocked by a tall, angry-looking truant officer. Soul and Maka don't look all that happy

Comments

[thatsalieand]

Sarah was in the library, catching up on her reading, checking email - you know, things that you do in a library. And as she's coming out, she sees a couple of kids and a truant officer.

These kids could be ditching. Or they could be runaways. Or they could be those wanderer folks. Or hell, honest-to-goodness tourists. Any way you slice it, though, Sarah Tapper is not about to let some stick-up-his-ass truant officer ruin these kids' day.

"There you are!" she exclaims loudly, and comes stomping down the stairs, scowling like any good big sister would. "You were supposed to be here, like, fifteen minutes ago, mom's been calling and I am this close to throttling you both!"

She turns with a huff to the officer, and then puts on her best 'panicked teen' face. "Did they do something wrong? Please tell me they didn't, our mom will kill me if she finds out I left them alone so they could get hot dogs while I checked my email, they're smart kids, I didn't think anything would happen

[coolestscythe]

Well...that's certainly different. Soul was about ready to grab Maka and run, or perhaps haul off and punch the guy, when the strange girl suddenly appears. He realizes what she's doing almost immediately, though he can't help staring at her for several moments.

Finally, he gives Maka a meaningful glance and then looks back to the newcomer and the officer, putting on a mulish expression.

"It's not like we wandered all that far...anyway, you always end up spending hours on your e-mail, it gets boring just standing around and watching."

[thatsalieand]

"Well I didn't spend hours this time, did I?" she snaps, and while her back is turned to the officer, she winks at the kids. Oh, this is fun.

"Miss, I'm gonna need some ID of some sort, otherwise you're all going back to school," the officer says, still scowling.

"Oh, god, yes! Sorry, officer..." she digs around in her bag and produces her wallet, pulling her driver's license out. "I'm Sarah Tapper, this is my sister Jessica and my brother Caleb. We're from Maine, we're down here on a family trip, I'm really sorry for any inconvenience."

The officer examines her ID, peers at her, peers at the kids, and then hands the ID back. "Alright. Just don't let your siblings wander around on their own during school hours next time."

"Yes!" Sarah's relieved smile is wide and believable. "Thank you so much." She turns and smacks them both (lightly) upside the head as the officer walks away. "Don't you ever keep me waiting again, if I get in trouble, I'm going to make your lives miserable..." A quick peek reveals that the officer

[leosarecynical]

Most of Gray's relatives live in Georgia, but he has at least one co-worker who has always been like a sister to him and, as such, he's pretty close to her kids and given that it's her daughter's birthday and he's got the day off and her mom doesn't, he figured he'd let her skip class and take her out for ice cream.

Or... That was the plan. He hasn't been near the high school in ages, so he's gotten a bit turned around trying to find the damn building with the office and not look like a creeper while and doing it and... Oh, hey, little girl trying to hide and crying. Why is the little girl hiding and crying? And with a dog?

"'Scuse me, hon. Don't mean to intrude. You okay?" Yeah, because she's going to tell some strange guy. Maybe he'll pass for a teacher. Or maybe he can lie and see if anyone totally believes he came to school for a presentation.

...Not sounding any less like a creeper.

[beanshield]

Bean startles a little at the sound of his voice and looks up rather wide-eyed. Oh crap, a teacher! Getting caught skipping class will just make this day even more horrible.

"O-oh, um." Bean wipes her eyes and scrambles to her feet, almost dropping her torn drawings and thinking quickly of an adequate lie. "I-I'm okay, I'm still kind of new so I got lost when I was going to the bathroom...I had the teacher's permission, um, Ms. Roberts, so I'm not skipping or anything..."

She's rambling and not exactly selling her case. Potato is watching Gray a little warily.

[leosarecynical]

Well. Crap. That's what happens when you don't explain yourself properly. Gray makes a face and straightens up, staring down at the dog like he expects it to bite him.

"Oh hey, I'm not a... Jesus, this is gonna make me sound like a creepster, but I'm Janet Lewis's uncle." IN THE EMOTIONAL SENSE. "I came to pick her up and got turned around on the campus and then I saw you and... Wow, this got awkward really fast."

He's a perfectly nice guy... This is just the awkwardest situation that ever awkwarded.

[beanshield]

"O-oh--so--you're not a teacher...?" She gives him a rather wary look, though his explanation does sound solid. In any case, if he really was a creeper, he'd probably be less obvious about it.

"Okay. I believe you. U-um, I might be able to help you if you're lost..." She's hoping she can distract him from asking further about why she's crying. Not that she thinks he's a bad guy, but she's sure the reason would sound stupid to an adult.

[killwithmymind]

Nagi is wandering around the school on a hall pass. He wouldn't normally be able to do this, but he's acing his Trig class, and he finished the test quickly. And if he didn't get away from Candi the Blunder Blonde, he was going to hurt something. As long as Nagi gets back to class before the bell rings, he won't be in trouble.

He's always considered those small hidden alcoves good places to set up an ambush, so Nagi is pretty alert when he goes near them. "What happened? You get a bad grade or something?"

[beanshield]

Bean looks up, a little startled that someone found her. "Oh, N-Nagi. Um...it's nothing. I'm okay."

She gathers up the torn drawings and gets to her feet, trying to surreptitiously wipe her face. She puts on an entirely unconvincing smile.

[killwithmymind]

Nagi just looks at her. "You really suck at lying, don't you? What happened?"

Sure Nagi thinks Bean is a little crazy, but most people worth talking to are. Also, he's bored, so he might as well try to get the story out of her. It's better than staring at the walls of his math class.

[beanshield]

She blushes, smiling a little sheepishly. "Yeah...I know. I have all my life, really."

She looks down at the drawings in her hands, her bottom lip starting to tremble again. "I guess, you know. I mean, it happens in every school I go to, but I guess, just, there's this boy and his friends, and they don't really like me all that much. I didn't do anything to him, but, um..."

It's a little unusual. People don't usually starting hating her or making fun of her until they find out about the epilepsy, and she has done a relatively good job so far of keeping a lid on it. The boy in question hasn't liked her since she first showed up with Potato--it seems he's allergic to dogs.

"Well, he just, uh, he ripped up some of my drawings. It's okay, I mean, I can probably recreate them, maybe. But he also said things like he was going to hurt Potato and report me to the CLF since I must be a freak or something...j-just, you know, things like that..."

A few tears leak out, but she wipes them away furiously.

[pplrunincircles]

((OOC: Bean gets all the tags. :) ))

Elizabeth is skipping her class, too. It's luck that she happens upon Bean at all, because when she skips class she doesn't tend to stick around school. She's walking out that way and happens to happen upon her friend.

She approaches without bothering to keep at a distance. There is no such thing as personal space.

"Hey, Green Bean." Elizabeth tilts her head to the side and reaches her hand across to touch the other girl's shoulder. "Why the long face?"

[beanshield]

Bean looks up, sniffing, thinking initially that it's a teacher or someone who's going to tell on her.

"Oh, Cheeto. H-hi. Um, I'm okay, mostly."

Potato snuffles at Bean's knee, then at Elizabeth, his tail wagging just a little. He likes Elizabeth.

[pplrunincircles]

Elizabeth places her free hand on Potato's head and pets him. She keeps her focus on Bean though. Her hand remains on the girls shoulder.

"What happened, G.B.? Whose keester do I have to beat on your behalf? I'll be more than happy to-" Elizabeth's gaze drifts to the ripped up drawings in her hands. "Oh heck. I really am gonna have to go kicking keesters."

[beanshield]

"Oh, no, it's...well...it was just, this guy, um, Jake Reynolds, he hasn't liked me since I started coming here because he's allergic to dogs and I have Potato, and he's been bothering me for awhile, but then today I left my notebook somewhere and he ripped up some of the drawings and was threatening, or, I dunno, he might have been joking, but he said he was going to report me to the CLF because he said I must be one of the freaks because I'm so weird..."

Bean realizes she's rambling and shuts up abruptly, taking a few deep breaths. A few tears are leaking out. She's more shaken than anything.

[ohperilousplace]

Though it's technically fifth period, Zoe's on her way back from the counsellor's office, and if she's a little late back... it's not like any of the teachers will notice. Oh, sure, they've been watching her like hawks since... Well, for the past month, but just now, she's got a good reason to be out and...

And however quietly Bean's crying, Zoe notices. Maybe she's just slightly more inclined to notice misery these days.

She pauses a few steps back from the alcove, frowning a little, and finally asks softly, "Are you okay?" She recognizes this girl. Not well, but she's sure she's seen her before, around school. She's kind of... noticable, with the hair and the dog and all.

[beanshield]

Bean startles a little, not expecting anyone to have found her. She wipes her eyes, looking over the girl. She recognizes her from around school--one of the underclassmen, she thinks. Is she one of the popular ones? People have been...

Oh.

"Oh, you're..." Bean trails off, wiping her eyes again and getting to her feet, tucking the ripped drawings into her messenger bag.

"Um, I'm. I'm okay. I just, um..."

How does she explain Jake Reynolds and his CLF threat to the girl who just lost her sister to them?

[ohperilousplace]

Zoe frowns a little, eying Bean. She doesn't look okay. But Zoe doesn't know her, and the way people have been looking at her lately, she figures it's probably safest for other people if she doesn't get to know them very well.

She still doesn't want to just walk away.

"It's just... I thought I heard... If you want me to leave you alone, I can just go back to class, I just thought..." Maybe she should stop talking now.

[beanshield]

"Oh! N-no, it's not, I mean..." Bean blushes furiously. She hadn't meant to confuse Zoe and make this all awkward. And this must be how a lot of people are treating her--that strange, annoying mix of awkward and sympathetic, those looks of "oh the poor girl." People always start treating you so delicately when horrible things happen. Bean should understand that--she does understand it.

"It's just...it's kind of dumb. I mean, it wasn't really...it was really mean and a little scary and he really shouldn't have said that, I mean, considering how things are these days, and...I-I'm sorry, I'm rambling. But, it's like..."

Bean shakes her head. "Like, people expect you to cry, so you want to challenge it by not crying, or something, but then you cry anyway and you feel dumb about it. I don't know."

She's probably not making any sense, but she does feel a little better now. She smiles just a little.