Sketching in Silence {c}

[thejokerlaughsatu]

Nathan paused in his sketching and stared at his pad of paper in wonderment. There was a leaf there. A single leaf, fallen from above, had landed perfectly in the middle of his paper. Slowly, his eyes trailed up through the air, tracing a possible path of nature's intruder. He wasn't normally so easily distracted from his art, but there was something about this forest that left Nathan almost a bit dazed.

It was the peace; it had to be the peace. After the noise and bustle and shock of his first days at the academy, the silence and loneliness of the forest was a welcome relief. Nathan hated to do any art when there were other people around, and the forest had turned out to be the perfect place for him. Nestled between two large roots of a tree, it was like having his own private corner. Nobody could see him from here unless they stood directly in front of him and looked back at the tree, but the day was so cold that he doubted anybody would come out to find him.

He shivered and tugged his thin black jacket closer to his body. It was cold, probably in the 40s, but he was fine with that. The colder it was, the less likely it was that anybody would come out there and find him, even if his cold fingers made his art suffer a bit. Oh, well. It was only the outline.

[Lucas Meadows]

By the time he entered the forest, leaving the red brick buildings and mowed green lawns behind, the atmosphere around him seemed to change. The sounds of the students and teachers who were milling about outside trying to get to their various classes or appointments in time, seemed to fade into the background and become nothing but a muffled whisper. Some might have called it peaceful, but unlike most of his peers Lucas Meadows hadn't wandered into the woods looking for peace of mind or a place to mope about the general unfairness of his life. Instead he was looking for a way out of the school grounds.

He wasn't attempting to run away, regardless of how tempting that thought might seem. Lucas was well aware that he wouldn't have been welcomed home should he turn up on his parents doorsteps without having finished his training at the Academy. They didn't want to risk having a freak in the house, unless they were absolutely sure that his weirdness couldn't be noticed by anyone else. Huffing he pulled his black coat more firmly around himself. It was quite cold outside, despite the fact that the trees offered some degree of shelter from the wind, and there was a sharpness in the air hinting about the coming winter which was steadily approaching.

Stopping for a second he tried to orientate himself. He needed to stay close to the school wall if he wanted to find a good place to cross it, but he preferred moving in a straight line for as far as he could rather than to follow the high wall fencing them in from the outside world. Or perhaps it was the other way around? It really didn't matter. Lucas wasn't planning on breaking out, he was doing something any student with some respect for his or her social life would do in his situation. He was planning on sneaking out. The two might have some fleeting similarities, but as far as he was concerned they were fundamentally different. Quickening his pace Lucas kept in the direction of the school boarder. According to the Academy rules, no student was allowed to leave campus and wander off into St Michael´s, the nearest town. Most of the teachers knew this was a rule some of their charges found hard to uphold, however, and they would therefore keep a close watch on the exits to the school, especially during the weekends.

But no matter how vigilant they were, they couldn´t be everywhere at once. And the students vastly out numbered the teachers. So after some consideration Lucas had decided that the weak point in the school security would have to be the forest. Although the leaves were beginning to change colors and would drop from the dark branches in a month or so, the trees themselves offered some protection from prying eyes.

A second later Lucas found out just how true this statement was. He had been so busy trying to spot the brick wall ending the school property that he almost stepped on the boy sitting nestled between two tree roots before he noticed him. Stumbling back he threw up his hands in surprise, and for a second all the leaves which littered the forest ground flew up into the air.

"Fuck!"[/color] he muttered, and glared angrily at the boy. He had to be a few years younger than him, at least Lucas could never remember seeing him in class before. "What, did you grow out of the ground or something?"[/color] he snapped, angry at himself for letting his control slip. [/size]

[thejokerlaughsatu]

Despite the cold, Nathan was content to huddle between the roots. His sketch was coming along nicely, even if the paper was getting a bit damp from the occasional leaves that fell down and settled delicately on his sketchbook. He merely brushed them away again; they were nothing more than a minor annoyance, and he could handle them easily. As long as he was alone and uninterrupted by any real distraction, he could handle the minor not-quite-bother of brushing away the rare fallen leaf.

He was so absorbed in his work that he didn't notice the soft footsteps crunching over twigs and brittle leaves until a violent expletive split the air, immediately in front of him. He jumped, slammed a shoulder against one of the roots, and dropped his sketchbook and pencil in his hurry to stumble to his feet. There was a large brown smudge of dirt on the shoulder of his jacket at the site of the collision, but the pain was worse than the visual damage. "No, I didn't," he said defensively, and rubbed his hurt shoulder with his now-free hand. Glaring defiantly at the older-looking boy, he stooped and gathered his art supplies into his arms, then straightened back up. "I actually came out here to work, away from loud interruptions."

[Lucas Meadows]

The boy in front of him seemed very bit as affronted at being caught by surprise as he was, something which only elevated Lucas´mood slightly. Brushing a fallen leaf off his jacket he studied the stranger a little more closely. Now that he came to think of it he might vaguely remember seeing the boy around campus, but he certainly hadn´t made much of an impression. The defensive tone in the boy´s voice as he answered Lucas´question didn´t make him a bit more endearing, and Lucas rolled his eyes as he complained about having been interrupted.

"Well, obviously I snuck out here with the sole purpose of interrupting your... work," he said in a venomous tone. His sudden foul mood wasn´t really the boy´s fault, he was mostly angry at himself for having been caught off guard. Over the passing few months Lucas had felt that he was actually beginning to get some level of control over his abilities, and then all it took for him to start levitating things off the ground was being surprised by this idiot. He would never be allowed home again at this rate. Glaring at his fellow student, he noticed that he was holding a sketching book in his hand, along with some pencils and other art supplies.

"Of course you´re an artist... Out seeking inspiration in the woods I suppose," he commented sarcastically. In his family the creative subjects had never held much value. They had a fair amount of expensive paintings hanging on the wall of course, but the idea of one of the family members wasting their time with drawing or painting had always been considered down right laughable. Lucas couldn´t remember having painted anything since the age of five. By then his mother had stopped hanging his stick men sketches up on the refrigerator in any case.

"Well then, let me see if you´re any good,"[/b] he said in a suddenly cheerful voice. Raising his right hand he made a tugging movement at the paper the boy was clutching in his hand and made it float towards him. A small voice inside him told him that he was acting childishly and that he should leave the kid alone and get on with what he had been planning to do, but he ignored it and instead spun the drawing around so that he could see the thin lines stretched across the white paper surface. [/size]

[thejokerlaughsatu]

"No, I'm not," snapped Nathan. This boy was already getting on his nerves, and they'd barely spoken five sentences to each other. An artist in the woods didn't necessarily mean he was trying to be "artsy" and "alone" and "suffering for his art". All he wanted was a little quiet time to work on his projects, not people like this coming out of the woodwork to accuse him. "I came out here so I could work, actually. I'm not looking for some damn flower to draw."

Then he felt the pad of paper leave his fingers. He looked down at his empty hands in disbelief. Of course, there were other people here with powers... why hadn't he thought of that sooner? "Give it back. Now. I have powers, too, you know." He wasn't really sure why he added the last sentence; maybe as a sort of threat, something to let the older boy know that he was skating on very thin ice. But he didn't know if this boy had any abilities beyond what he'd just done, or even if there was somebody else around. Maybe he had a friend a few yards away, somewhere Nathan couldn't see.

[Lucas Meadows]

Apparently his action of tearing the drawing out of the other boy´s hand wasn´t a welcome one. Somewhere at the back of his mind he had the nagging feeling that he might have gone too far this time. After all, the boy´s mention of having powers was a valid one, and he had no clue as to what they might be. On the other hand, the younger student didn´t look all that comfortable in the current situation, and although his voice was most definitely angry Lucas thought he could hear a hint of hesitation as well. For a moment conflicting feelings fought inside him. He had been raised to see any retreat as a failure, something not to be tolerated. But when push came to shove he wasn´t that interested in ending up in an unpredictable fight because of a drawing he had no interest in.

Smirking Lucas raised an eyebrow. "Is that supposed to be a threat?" he asked, not even bothering to hide the fact that he had a hard time taking the other boy seriously. Waiting a few more seconds Lucas finally raised his hands in a mock sign of defeat. "Fine, if you´re going to be touchy about it you can have your drawing back. I didn´t realize you had so little confidence in your work." The sketch book dropped from the air the moment he moved his hands, landing on the slightly damp and muddy forest ground with the drawing facing down. He hadn´t actually planned for that to happen, but now that it had, there was no way he would apologize.

Looking up at the boy again, Lucas wondered how he might react. A small hint of bad conscience tried to fight its way to the surface of his mind, but he ignored the feeling and kept his face impassive and expressionless.

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OOC: I just realized that the way Lucas used his power in the last post was actually godmodding. I´m really sorry if you felt that I was controlling your character, I should have asked if it was alright before doing it.

[thejokerlaughsatu]

Nathan clenched his fists. He'd never fought before, and he wasn't about to start now, but it wasn't out of some moral obligation. On the contrary, Nathan was physically incapable of fighting. Fighting meant physical contact, meant willingly taking his hand and driving it into some other person's stomach, and that sort of contact was more than he could handle. It was hard enough to gingerly shake somebody's hand; to willingly hit them with all of his strength was beyond him. As much as he longed to take some action to get his sketchbook back, anything he could do would likely involve violence. It wasn't worth using his powers unless circumstances suddenly became dire. Until then, he had the advantage by keeping them a secret. He already knew what this boy could do, but his powers were an unnamed threat.

He took a shaking step forward, knelt down, and gathered his sketchbook into his arms, carefully wiping mud from the open page. The piece he'd been working on was definitely ruined, but he wasn't about to let this jerk have the satisfaction of knowing that. "Great. Fine. Now leave." His tone was cold and even. "If you can't respect me enough to leave my work alone, then get out of here. I'm not going to wait. Either you leave, or I'll make you leave, but you have ten seconds." His knuckles were white on the edge of the sketchbook. Nathan hated to take shit like this from anybody, but he could generally tolerate it. Not now. His art had been compromised.

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OOC: It's fine with me. I'm usually pretty lax. xD I do prefer that people ask, but I don't stop them unless they do so much that it's ridiculous. That bit was perfectly fine with me~
And also, the white font is so much more legible on this layout, so would you prefer that I do it too, or is it your thing?

[Lucas Meadows]

A mixture of conflicting emotions could be read from the other boy´s body language, something Lucas found somewhat entertaining to watch, especially seeing as neither seemed to be particularly threatening at the moment. Over the years he had been in enough fights, both the physical and the mental kind, to have a certain sense for when an opponent was backing down and when he was not. In this case he wasn´t expecting a sudden punch.

The uncomfortable notion that he had just acted unnecessarily mean and immature was still very much present at the back of his mind though, but at the moment it took him little effort to continue to ignore it. What actually did bother him somewhat was the fact that he had never actually gotten to see the drawing the younger student had worked on. It wasn´t that he was particularly interested in the sketch itself; it was more the fact that he didn´t like being told no.

It couldn´t be said to matter much at the moment, however, since the moist ground was sure to have ruined most of it in either case. Leaning forward a little Lucas tried to see whether he was right in this assumption or not. The other boy had moved forward quietly and held the sketchbook in his hands, carefully brushing the mud and filth off the paper. Much to his annoyance it was impossible to get a good look at the page for his current angle, however.

Almost as if he sensed his curiosity the boy got back on his feet and made what Lucas considered to be another empty threat to leave or suffer the consequences. A part of him wanted to stand his ground out of sheer spite, but the kid´s whining was beginning to get on his nerves. Well, that and the fact that he really hadn´t gotten the hang of forcefields yet, and there was also the odd chance that whatever power the boy possessed could not be stopped by it anyway.

Shrugging carelessly he put his hands in the pocked of his jacket and looked over at the boy coolly. "Relax, would you girlie? As I said, I really didn´t come here to invade your personal space or, for that sake, act as an arts critic. Some of us do have more important things to do." By now his trademark smirk was back in place and his look suggested that the kid in front of him was just that. Insignificant, stupid and unimportant. It was a look Lucas had been subjected to enough times to know how small it could make the recipient feel. He had to admit that his father still did it better than he could accomplish, but he was certainly getting there little by little. "So don´t worry; I´m more than happy to leave you to your drawing," he continued.

As if to underline his confidence in the current situation, Lucas began walking again, heading straight toward Nathan with quick and secure steps. The school wall had to be somewhere behind the other boy, and he was damned if he would step to the side just because an emotional would-be painter got in his ways. It wasn´t as if he was planning on running him down; he just wanted the younger boy to know that he was far from impressed and not nearly intimidated.

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OOC: Sorry for taking so long to reply, but here we are! You can use the white if you want to, that´s up to you. I just changed since it made it easier to see =) [/color]

[thejokerlaughsatu]

Nathan stood his ground, but considered his options. He hated physical violence. If there was one thing he couldn't do, it was fight. Even a childhood of being constantly bullied and singled out hadn't done anything for his fighting skills; if anything, a meager attempt at fighting back had always done nothing but provoke his attackers more. He hated groups, and therefore hadn't joined any sports, so he also saw no reason to work out. If he had any advantage at all in a fight, it was that nobody here yet knew his power. Not much of an advantage when he would be pulverized.

Still, he also hated to back down. Losing an argument was almost unforgivable, in the sense that he could never forgive himself. The one thing he relied on was his words. Well, no, it wasn't entirely true: his art, too, was an outlet, but art and writing were his best forms of expression. To have words not only used against him, but used to best him, was unthinkable. It meant he'd lost control of one of his only sanctuaries. If words could hurt him, he was confined to a world of only images, of his art and the illusions he created.

But even if he prided himself on not letting people get to him, that look the other boy gave him, that smirk... there was something about it that hurt. It said that he was small, merely an inconvenience. He didn't matter. To that smirk, Nathan was only a bug to crush under his shoe, a worthless plague on society that would be better off dead. It was the smirk that he'd seen from his mother's countless boyfriends, and finally from his mother herself. None of them wanted him. He was nothing.

As Lucas started for him, it took Nathan only a second of hesitation. His entire period of silence had been spent searching for some sort of reply, a comeback to knock that terrible, smug look from his face, but his mind had gone blank. He meekly stepped back, his back against the tree to ensure that he was out of the way, and averted his eyes. He wasn't going to win this fight; as much as it hurt to admit it, this older boy had bested him. Still, he couldn't let it go so easily. "Don't you dare come back. This is my work area."

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OOC: I think I'll stick to default... xD I'm getting used to this new layout, so it's not so bad now~

[Lucas Meadows]

A small smile danced across his lips as the younger student backed down, meekly stepping out of the way so that he could pass. He loved having his feeling of superiority confirmed, even when it was from someone he already considered to be far beneath him. He hadn´t actually been looking for a fight in this case, so he was very satisfied with the way the whole conflict had been resolved. It still irked him that he didn´t know what the kid´s ability was, seeing as leaving his back unguarded was not a favorite activity of his, but he still felt fairly certain that the other student wouldn´t risk a sneak attack.

Before he could disappear in between the tall trunks of the trees surrounding them, however, the boy seemed to find his courage and spoke again. Lucas stopped in his tracks but didn´t turn back around. For a moment he considered the many possible quick remarks to the boy´s demand that he didn´t return to this part of the woods again. In the end he discarded all of them, suddenly feeling uncharacteristically somber. He had won, after all. No need to rub salt into the wounds.

"I´ll keep that in mind," he said calmly, figuring that the boy could read what he wanted into the phrasing.

Then he began walking once more. The forest thinned out somewhere ahead of him, and he was fairly certain he could spot the red bricks of the school wall in between the branches and leaves. If he hurried he could be back to the Academy before lunch was over.

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OOC: Sorry for constantly changing the fonts and colors around, I´ve been experimenting with how I like it. Should we consider this thread ended right about now? Then maybe we could start them up again somewhere on campus as dorm mates?

[thejokerlaughsatu]

OOC: It's fine, I don't mind at all. Experimenting is good. ^^ And yeah, I really can't think of another reply that's more than just Nathan sitting down to draw. A new thread would be good~