Survival Of The Fittest

Blood Boy grunted at Renee's presence, he grasped her hand and smirked a bit, his mouth was still visible as he stared at her. The pieces slowly where coming together. He had been naive. He had overestimated Renee's kindness and the bruised back and fractured ribs where just proof of this, still has he took his left arm and brought his mask down he opened his eyes a bit. He noted the warmness and softness of Renee's hand was quite similar to the warmness of Boxer's blood which now decorated both his shirt and chin. He'd blame it on the light headedness when he wondered briefly if Renee's hand tasted salty.

"Oh, don't you know? Boxer really knows how to show someone a good time...", his snirk was heard even underneath his mask, but even now laughter was painful, "I know this might be asking too much, but do you mind helping me up and taking me to the water fountain behind this whole place? My legs have a hard time moving at the moment."

He sighed a little bit as he once again placed his left arm down and managed to sit up only to hiss with a large amount of pain, walking would be tough for a few days and he would most likely be stuck in his bed waiting for the swelling to go down; being suspended from school had it's perks. He shook his head a little bit, the thought on his mind as he noted how evenly the fight was and how much his body ached.

"You couldn't have gotten someone a bit smaller to fight me, eh?"

"Oh, don't you know? Boxer really knows how to show someone a good time..."
"That's Boxer..." Reneé replied hesitantly, forcing a reassuring smile as BB held her hand. Compared to her own hand, the touch was cold, but perhaps that was to be expected from someone as freakish as the masked kid on the floor. She then proceeded to add, "All he knows is violence. It's just his mindset...he's a good boy, just too black-and-white about things." She looked BB over. The injuries were pretty serious, and who knew if he was actually bleeding internally.

"I know this might be asking too much, but do you mind helping me up and taking me to the water fountain behind this whole place? My legs have a hard time moving at the moment."
"No...you need medical help...I'm calling 911..." she said, pulling out her cellphone. At this range even BB could probably hear the dial tones of the respective buttons as she dialed Emergency Services. But just as the operator answered, BB also decided to spill the beans.

"You couldn't have gotten someone a bit smaller to fight me, eh?"

Those words caused Reneé to freeze, her cellphone slipping out of her hand and clattering to the floor. Blood Boy might as well have mentioned the name of Marvin Hendrick as the scent of blood started to permeate into her nasal cavity. It was a mixture of fresh blood - Boxer's and BB's - as well as what might as well have been blood that was dried for a long time. It was a scent that - combined with BB's touch which had now grown cold as death - had the same effect as chopping onions, namely, bringing tears to Reneé's eyes.
"Oh God...I'm sorry..." she whimpered as she leaned in closer, "I just wanted to make things right, after what you did."

After what BB did...but perhaps not after what Damien did to her psyche. For all she knew, she was probably now indebted to him even more than she was after she was assaulted by the locker rooms. And this was a debt that simply could not be forced away.

His hand was slowly warming up as Renee profusely apologized, he noted now that the entire coffee shop had cleared up quite a bit and that most of the people had followed Boxer out of the place (who was making a big deal about struggling against the security), he almost wanted to laugh a bit as he pealed back his mask and stared at the girl, in recent days his disfigurement had gotten better, it ironically was in one of it's healing phases where it amounted to heavy scarring, but in the next couple days Blood Boy would grow irritated with it and start picking at the light scabs. His teeth while chipped in various places where pearly white and his cool and oddly enough warm brown eyes stared closely at Renee's.

Leaning upwards he took his finger and rubbed out the tears that had formed on Renee's face, his smile was light revealing no teeth.

"Hey. There's no need for that, people have tons of stuff that they don't like being exposed to the rest of the world, consider yourself blessed that people want to see yours.", he smiled a bit as he brought his mask down again and took to rubbing her shoulder gently, ironically the lightheadness and numb pain was settling in and he found trouble trying to remain in this upright position, "Really, it was me being stupid and not wanting every girl in there to freak out. Forgive me I don't come across naked movie stars often, I don't know how to act around them."

He rubbed his fingers through Renee's hair and the cool smile remained on his face, the sun glaring in between the bodies of people crowded around the windows looking at Boxer focused upon Blood Boy's lenses. The tint lightened and underneath it was the cool brown eyes, visible and still staring at Renee with the utmost resignation in them.

Reneé continued to stare as Blood Boy took off his mask for her, something she suspected was done only for a select few, and she gasped as she took in the full extent of his disfigurement. The one solace Reneé had to keep her from vomiting or running away was that being a movie girl herself, she had seen worse (i.e. Darkman.) Still, it was the face of a kid she'd noticed whining and moaning in the back of some of her subjects almost like a serial killer. Whether he was pulling the Hannibal Lechter routine on her now was beside the point though.

Reneé honestly didn't know whether to believe what BB was saying or not...but at least she could give him the fact that he wasn't saying it out loud. As he tried to rub the tears from her eyes though, she simply brushed his hand away with the hand that once held a cellphone. As well-intentioned as that gesture was, it was a bit too personal for the moment. She was also lacking for words to reply with as she moved to pick up the cellphone and talk with EMS with tearful sobs.

"Hello?"
"Yes...we almost lost you there."
"Yeah...there's been a big fight...someone got punched in the face...real bad..."

((Continued from Of Ice and Men))

He'd barely left the mall's hockey arena when he'd felt his cellphone vibrating madly in his pocket. Will grumbled and pulled the small device from his pocket. He was expecting Christian, maybe his sister, but when he answered the phone, a deep, unfamiliar voice commanded him - "Mall Starbucks, meet me there. Now-ish would be nice, thanks." With that, the man (he hoped it was a man) hung up. Will looked around him. Nobody was there. Must've been just a coincidence he was at the mall at that moment. He shrugged, and walked on down the sprawling complex.

When he arrived at the Starbucks, he was greeted by the sight of the now-famous Blood Boy and the once-famous Renee Valenti. Suprising they held a civil discussion after what had happened. Christian had sent him the pictures as he was working at the hockey arena. The icy, rubbery stench of the arena was now replaced by the warm aroma of coffee. Somehow I prefer the coffee... He thought. Will sat down near where Blood Boy and Renee were sitting.

Almost habitually, Will pulled the notebook from his back pocket, and began scribbling notes on his nearly empty pen. Every word they spoke and every thought Will had, he copied down. To an outsider, the artfully written Icelandic would mean nothing. He'd decided to continue writing in that after his frightening encounter at he Beach some time ago with one of his subjects. This fear returned when he looked up to hear another voice join the chorus of half-hearted apologies and half-assed answers. Boxer Carvahallo, someone he'd personally promised to avoid, was even larger than Gabriel Theobaldt, and was arguably more violent. He's larger and is quite a bit more agressive. He's more violent than Gabriel.... From all that I know of... Will added this grimly before quickly closing the notebook, wary of what this titan would do had he seen him jotting down notes every time they uttered a word.

Luckily, Boxer wasn't interested in Will, he seemed to have been called to lay a beating on Blood Boy. Knew it... Insane, the lot of them. Will had a front-row seat to the whole thing, but he sat up once the melee had started to get nastier. Eventually, Renee called off Boxer. Like she had some control over that leviathan anyways... and the mall security guards dragged him out of there. Many of the people within the Starbucks left, and Will only stayed there to gather his things. "Fuck whoever sent me that message, i've had enough..."

He had no sooner taken a step outside the shop when he ran into something. Somebody. Will adjusted his glasses, and slowly looked up. He stared directly into the eyes of Gabriel Theobaldt. "Leaving already?" He asked, basking in the vicegrip of intimidation he held over Will. Politely, he gestured to a table inside, though Will had already walked back in. "Sit down, please. I need to talk to you."

~

((Gabriel continued from Killing Time))

Earilier,

What do I know about Diamonds?

The line from Snatch repeated itself as Gabriel strode out of the Mall parking lot. Not long ago had he been drilled into by police about the massive list of 'crimes' he'd commited under suspicion by the community. Cats had gone missing, people blamed Gabriel. Something was on fire, people blamed him. Of course, the kid's a psycho, he ruins everything, put him away... Utter bewilderment struck him, as well as the urge to scream various profanities. Not that he hadn't thought of crushing the life out of the irritating cats that poked in through his window, or burning down a few places, but he was smart enough to know that kind of thing gets one arrested. His reputation, evidently, preceeded him. It seemed like both insult and flattery, to him. The look of disgust overshadowed his glee and the reaction he gave was more than enough to convince them to leave well enough alone.

This gave him a little more time to persue his other venture, the girl he had met earlier in the Libarary, and had threatened profusely. There was something odd about her, something he saw in her that could both make him grin with delight and cower in fear. She somehow knew him too well, he thought. Now he needed someone who, as well, knew Gabriel too well.

Will Sigurbjornsson was easy enough to locate. Somehow he'd aquired a great deal of friends despite his arrogant and cynical nature. The rather pleasent Christian Rydell provided him with enough information. He could only hope Will was still in the mall. "Mall Starbucks, meet me there. Now-ish would be nice, thanks." He muttered into his cellphone before closing it and closing in on the coffee shop.

Ironically, Will's all-seeing eye missed him as Gabriel watched him enter the Starbucks. From the corner, Gabriel watched the events unfold before him. Watching Blood Boy attack Boxer Carvahallo was nothing short of amusing. Were anyone looking at him, they'd see one of the few times Gabriel cracked a genuine smile. As Boxer was 'escorted' from the starbucks, Gabriel happily waved at him, before catching Will trying to escape from the Coffee shop. Mockingly, he stood right in front of him. Sit your ass down. "Sit down, please. I need to talk to you."

Before he began a sure to be interesting verbal exchange with what he hoped was a mortified Will, Gabriel walked over to Renee and Blood Boy. Something to bring up my nasty reputation so I don't get accused of burning cats again... "Are you both okay here? That was pretty messed up there, do you need some help Blood-" Getting a small glance of Blood Boy's real face, he paused a bit to consider just walking back over to Will instead.

"-Boy? You look hurt pretty badly... Boxer's not one of my favorite people in the world. I know what it's like to fight that guy. He gets into fights every damn day."

"Gabriel?"

"One sec, Will."

Gabriel stared back at Boxer. He could hear the chanting again.

[font=Courier]An obstacle, it would seem.[/font][font=Courier][/font]

Blood Boy, simply sighed as he got up reluctantly and began to walk out of the coffee shop, he looked at Renee and smirked underneath his mask, Renee...wasn't like he had expected. He was kind enough to her, sure, hell you could say he had been too kind. He had been willing to do all sorts of stuff, take her out to dinner, not press charges for the obvious "hit" she had just arranged on him, nice things. Yet, Renee still felt abused, raped, whatever the fuck. Over some superficial reason such as "people saw my tits, oh no the world is going to end"

It was kind've pathetic.

Yet he stood wobbly and managed to shake his head as he shrugged off the glare and smirk the new arrival had given him, Blood Boy may have had trouble standing up, but he certainly wasn't here to get any pity from a girl who he had apologized time and time again too. Blood Boy didn't need pity, he didn't want it. Pity was something for his childhood, no, what Blood Boy wanted was respect and friendship: this comparison to a person long dead and childish belief Renee was conveying had nothing to do with it.

In a way he was trying to be kind to her. Showing her the kind gesture and being refused after he was understanding to her entire situation (partly due to the personal responsibility he felt for it) and then even allowing her to attempt to beat him up AND send the biggest guy in school to beat him up? He showed her kindness after that and got refused, so understand that he was a bit pissed.

"Hang up the phone," he spoke clearly, "I'm fine, just a little banged up, really it's none of your concern." he sighed a bit as he faced Gabriel, "I'd appreciate it if you get out of my way...I've got things to do...", it was lie, but Blood Boy wasn't in the mood to get called out on it as he looked back towards Renee.

If his mask hadn't been on she would've seen a look of disgust.

Reneé had already assumed an expression of disgust underneath the mask as BB got up and walked past the two classmates who had just entered the vicinity. She hung up her phone, but only because she'd just finished her call to EMS, and stood up to face the limping little freak. She took a deep breath before she started to walk after him, dodging the two other students.

Perhaps for BB, having accidentally (and very literally) exposed a movie star to the whole school was superficial, given the antics that other movie and music stars were going through to make the news on a very nearly daily basis now. For Reneé, this went deeper than just the pages of the latest glossy tabloid. This was a kid that now seemed to represent her past the way he simply shrugged off his beating like that. For a girl who was recovering from her past, it was something she realized was no longer accessible. And perhaps her getting up was partially out of some suppressed inner fear that it was the way he shrugged it off that insinuated he would somehow, someway, make it come back to her even worse than the incident a few days prior.

If it was respect and friendship BB wanted, it was respect and friendship he was going to get. Even it was from someone with a rather disturbed past like hers.

"I meant it," she said, holding back her tears more confidently as she walked up to BB and put her hand on his shoulder. "I really want to make up for all of this. Think what you want to think but I'm sincere this time. No more masks." Even if BB would probably see the kind of confident expression that was normally seen on an action movie star, it was at least an expression that Reneé meant.

((Meanwhile, Boxer Continued Elsewhere.))

They stared into the other's eyes. Will's bright blue eyes contrasted with Gabriel's intense green eyes. Finally, Gabriel spoke.
"After that little... altercation, I can't blame you for wanting to leave, nor for being frightened at the sight of what you see as a clearly disturbed individual stalking you." He chuckled. "Now, I may be one of the few people who knows very well how advanced your... analytical... skills can be, and you've proven to be a very observant little prick." Will winced at that last comment, but didn't turn his head away from Gabriel, who paused to take a bite out of a cookie he'd bought. The biscuit looked tiny in his massive hands. Already Gabriel's unusual tone greatly disturbed Will.

"As much as I probably don't seem like it, i'm a very busy person, and I don't have time to explain everything to you. All I can really say at the moment is that I need you to watch someone for me. Find out what they are doing, analyze them. Get inside their head. You've proven that you can do that." Gabriel had no doubts that he could. After all, he had entire notebooks filled with observations of almost everyone he had came across in years, from what he saw. Now, Gabriel wondered who he'd been observing recently. After happily finishing off his cookie, he held out his hand across the table.

"Give me your Journal. I want to read it."

Will smirked at Gabriel. Ever since he'd threatened him on the Beach, Will had started writing his journals in German and Icelandic, alternating in between the two every word or so, using Icelandic grammatical structure. It was hell to translate for anyone who didn't know the languages as well as Will did. He handed over the white, generic notebook. Gabriel opened hit, smirked, and handed it back to Will. "I see. Smart thing to do, writing it in two different languages. At the same time even! I'm impressed. Listen... i've got a thumb-drive with everything you need to know on it, here it... fuck." Gabriel felt around in his pocket for the small thumb-drive, but couldn't find it. Now he remembered. He left it in the Library, after remembering he'd left his cellphone on one of the tables, he removed to from his pocket to fit the cellphone in. It must be still there.

"Okay, we've got to go back to the school's library to get it. Any questions, Silent Bob?"

"No."

"Great."

Without a moment's hesitation, Gabriel sat up and left the Starbucks for the Library, Will following close behind.

((Continued Elsewhere))