Survival Of The Fittest

Brad had moved off towards the line of people waiting for food. That meant the current occupant of Gray's table were him, Kyran, Rachael and Adonis Alba. Gray wasn't too excited about the last person on that list. But he was going to try and ignore him to the best of his ability.

Gray had got a reply from Rachael but as he looked up from iPod to continue the conversation Adonis managed to again interject himself. This time however he was trying to chat up Rachael. Gray just shook his head. It seemed his initial idea that Adonis spread all the rumours about his ability to chat up girls was correct because just from watching him Gray could tell he believed that he was god's gift to women. It was actually kind of funny when Gray thought about it because in the end it just made Adonis look like such a sad human being.

Gray's attempt at ignoring Adonis wasn't going as well as he thought it would. That may have had something to do with the fact that Adonis was loud, obnoxious and that Gray could practically feel his ego rubbing against him. It wasn't pleasant. As soon as Gray saw Adonis's wink and some sort of attempt at a smile he almost burst out laughing. It was just too ridiculous.

Gray shook his head again and finished his brownie. Kyran managed to save Gray from having to listen to any more of the Adonis "charm" by asking him what he listening to. Gray hadn't actually picked something to listen to because of the way people had been joining the table and distracting him. He'd been stuck between Rise Against and Billy Talent but now he was wondering if he had anything titled Loser because that was what his mind was gravitating too thanks to Adonis. "Nothing yet, I'm just trying to decide on something to listen to." He scrunched up the brownie wrapper. "I just need to find something that fits the mood. Know what I mean?"

Clearly Kyran's plan was to keep some small talk going so that they didn't have to listen to Adonis or to just waste time. Gray didn't know which and he wasn't going to complain about it because it did actually mean he didn't have to listen to Adonis talk. Gray did however want to try and get more of a conversation going with Rachael, if only to save her from putting up with Adonis. From the look of things though she was confused by his attempt to chat her up. Gray thought that it was probably for the best.

"Yeah I'm torn between Rise Against and Billy Talent. If you have a recommendation I'm up for it. I'll need to actually have it on here, but you get the idea."

The lunch line was surprisingly long, given the reputation of the cafeteria's menu. Brad was normally one to just skip lunch, but in this circumstance, he felt like he might as well actually give the food a try. While waiting in line, he heard minor snatches of conversation from the table, though he couldn't actually make much out, given his distance. However, as he eventually reached the front of the line and made his way back, he distinctly heard Gray talking about a couple of bands that sounded very familiar.

"That's punk rock, right?" Brad said, holding a tray laden with a trio of substances similar to, but not precisely, beef portobello, mashed potatoes and gravy. Setting it down at the space he'd reserved, he said to Gray, "I couldn't tell you about Rise Against, but I heard some Billy Talent once, and it was pretty good." Brad wasn't really a dedicated fan of any genre of music, having positive points to say almost every one he'd heard. This was also the stance he took on literary, television, and gaming genres, as he felt that all of them had their merits and their place in the world. Of course, that meant that he also didn't have any strong feelings about anything.

"So you're a big punk rock fan, Gray?" Brad continued while chopping his portobello into edible pieces. "It's not bad. A little loud, sometimes, but that's just the nature of it. What's your favorite band, would you say?" Brad was purposely averting his gaze from Adonis. He'd gotten a bad vibe from the guy when he'd first arrived, and he'd rather sit back and see if the guy was okay before trying to make friends with him. Besides, it didn't take a genius to see that something uncomfortable was going down at the table before he even arrived.

Um, Rachael.  Rachael Langdon."

Rachael, huh?  Nice name...

Rachael went back to her book pretty quickly after answering him.  Obviously she was playing hard-to-get.  It was cool, he had dealt with girls like that before.  He had heard that sometimes the girls you have to work for ended up being more rewarding than the easy girls, after all.  It would just take a little more talking, and bingo, she would be all over him.  It was foolproof.

He vaguely heard what was going on between the other guys at the table.  Apparently they had started talking about punk rock or something like that.  It wasn't a totally stupid thing to talk about, and in any other situation, he might have cared.  However, this wasn't any ordinary situation.  He was working his charms on a lady!  Refocusing his sights toward Rachael, he gave her another suave glance and continued where he left off.

"So Rachael, what brings a pretty girl like you over here?"

Rachael continued to scan the pages of her book while finishing her sandwich, wiping a bit of pesto off her lip with her tongue. Catelyn seemed to be mad at how Edwyn rejected Dacey, feeling chain mail under his outfit. It looked like Cat was beginning to realize somethi-

So Rachael, what brings a pretty girl like you over here?

Rachael briefly moved her book down from her face. Adonis was still making lovey-dovey faces at her.

"Uh, lunch," she quietly responded. "Just needed a place to sit down and read my book. No real reason."

She turned her attention back to her book, stabbing a piece of pasta salad with her fork.

Okay, this is getting really weird. This guy seems to be really concerned about my presence here. Just continue to ignore him. Dad said that if someone was bothering you, you just quietly ignore them. Then again, I am responding to his questions. That's not really ignoring, is it?

Rachael found that she wasn't really reading the book. She was just staring at the white space between lines of text at this point. She could hear the other three guys chatting about punk rock. She didn't really recognize the musicians they were discussing. That might have to be something for her to look up later.

Well, at least these guys are respecting my space. I'm also glad this station is playing Jigsaw Falling Into Place. That seems to be an easy Radiohead song to play anywhere. Well, let's get back to the stor-wait, why does Robb have an arrow in his shoulder?

Rachael stopped eating.

Uh-oh. Things are about to get worse, aren't they?

She leaned in closer to the book, continuing to read the text.

((Arthur Wells continued from Gotta Go Fast!))

It took a while for Arthur to notice that the cafeteria seemed more crowded than usual. He walked in with a book under his arm and a sketchbook carefully balanced in front of his face. Most of his attention centered on the doodles crammed in the margins of his actual serious drawings. When he'd finished using up every ounce of negative space in the paper, he actually felt proud of being able to efficiently conserve paper. What the fuck was he thinking? His eyes furrowed as he beheld a badly drawn, goofy face tucked under the arm of an elf girl who he actually put forth effort on. It was a jarring effect that would bug him whenever he looked at the page. How was he going to even solve that?

He tried to think of a solution that wouldn't take much work, but then he stumbled into another student. Almost immediately he put the book down and started running his mouth with apologies, looking over the other kid to make sure he didn't make her drop anything important. No, this little freshman girl wasn't even carrying anything besides her backpack, and she was also apologizing for being in the way. They looked at each other for a second, and then parted ways, never to see each other again. Arthur shut his book, deciding that there were other things to think about for the moment.

Not much thought was required to pick his lunch. There was a bit of meatloaf, mac and cheese, and some godawful overcooked vegetables that he knew he was physically incapable of eating. Why couldn't they serve nice, firm broccoli or at least corn or something? Even when competent chefs steamed the shit out of green beans, slopping on butter and herbs in a misguided attempt to give it flavor, it still sucked. He didn't even bother wasting plate space on those vegetables, opting for those little cinnamon apple slices instead. Now he just needed a place to sit.

Normally he'd just pick an abandoned corner of a table nobody else was interested in, somewhere where he could work in peace, unmolested by conversation. But those were awfully hard to come by today, if not impossible. A lot of people walked around and made it hard for him to see. The one empty spot he did happen to see first was right next to someone he actually recognized! Rachael was someone he knew, who he wouldn't be uncomfortable staying with. Not that uncomfortable, to be technically accurate.

He squeezed past the press of people and inched closer to the table where she sat amidst other unfamiliar figures. Most of them were jock guys, and one of them appeared to be talking right to her. What was he saying? Arthur didn't think that she trucked with people like that, but how well did he really know her, or she him? He just pulled out a chair and scooted in without a word. As he set his lunch down, he took a look at Rachael's book. A Storm of Swords was a sequel to a book he'd read in the same book club as Rachael. Sadly, he'd never gotten around to reading beyond the first one, but they were probably pretty good anyway. His dad despised the series beyond that first book, but he said the same about a lot of things. What did he know? Arthur took a glance at the book he had chosen to read that day instead: The Book of the New Sun: Sword and Citadel. Now that was a horse of a different color.

Before he picked up his plastic fork, he looked Rachael in the eye and gave her a little wave. It was the least he could do, pay her some recognition.

((Skipping with permission from Psychadelic))

During his discussion with Kyran, Brad had wandered back over from the lunch line and asked if they were talking about Punk Rock.

"Yeah it's Punk."

Brad hadn't heard Rise Against before and Gray couldn't help but think that he was missing out. Sure they were extremely political with a lot of their songs, but if you good look past that their songs were all very enjoyable and Gray could appreciate the skill of their playing. He had actually seen them live the year before at the WaMu Theater. Coincidence had led to his birthday being on the one day they played in Seattle during the whole of the Endgame Tour. It had been a damn good birthday.

"I'd say it's probably my favourite genre." Gray thought for a minute before answering the question of what his favourite bad was. "Rise Against is my favourite band. But I did see them live on my birthday."

"So Rachael, what brings a pretty girl like you over here?"

Gray couldn't help but shake his head and laugh. He'd turned to see Adonis pulling this face that was meant to be cool and sexy but all Gray saw was stupidity. It was becoming surreal watching Adonis try to flirt with Rachael who clearly didn't care about or want his attention. Gray did have to respect how much Adonis believed in his ability to get a girl. But Gray knew when something was going to just become uncomfortable for everyone on the table. He decided he'd have to take the plunged and tell Adonis that his plan was failing. Another person had just joined their table, which was getting pretty full and gave Rachael and small wave. Gray thought his name might have been Arthur but he couldn't be sure. Either way he had just walked into an awkward situation.

"C'mon dude, she just wants to eat her lunch and read her book. Leave her in peace."

"C'mon dude, she just wants to eat her lunch and read her book.  Leave her in peace."

Adonis jerked his head to look in the direction of the voice that spoke to him.  It was Gray, that shrimpy little punk.  Who was he to interrupt Adonis?  Adonis was a full head taller than this guy!  Was he just looking for an ass-kicking, messing with people bigger than him?  Dude must have a death wish if he thinks he can go around doing that.

Man, I had it all planned out, too.  I'd slide a little closer to her, tell her she smells nice, then slip her my number.  It's foolproof!  But no, this dumbass had to open his big, stupid mouth!

Adonis stood up and glared at Gray, attempting to intimidate the skater with his size.  He spoke with an undertone of anger clearly present in his voice.

"Look, freak.  Why don't you mind your own damn business?"

It was surprising and kind of interesting to see the normally somewhat quiet Gray talking about something he enjoyed. Brad would have inquired more about what made Rise Against such a great band, but he was busy with eating his beef. Instead, he simply nodded cheerfully and made a mental note to check out the group in question. Suddenly, Gray stopped talking about punk rock and turned to Adonis. The fellow had apparently been attempting to hit on the girl at the table, named Rachael, and Gray felt like the guy was putting it on a little too thickly.

Now, had Brad been in this situation, he probably would have either shrugged and backed off from attempting to hit on Rachael, or he would have shrugged and kept on trying. Either way, he wouldn't have sprung up from his seat and attempted to shout down a smaller man. That sort of thing was not only jerkish, it was also dishonorable. And so it was that, without much hesitation, Brad was standing up from his own seat, picking up the tray with the remainder of his lunch, and readying it beside his body, as if priming the mashed potatoes and gravy for a giant caber toss, aimed right at Adonis' shirt.

"What was that, Alba?" he said, his gaze narrowed. It was kind of a weak gesture, really. Sure, the gravy and mashed potatoes would make a mess of the clothes, but it'd come out easily enough if treated quickly. Still, it wasn't as if Brad was going to resort to fisticuffs over mere words, especially ones not even directed at him, not unless he had to. All he could hope was that he didn't have to fire these mashed potatoes. He was planning on eating them, after all.

Rachael couldn't focus. Robb had arrows in him, the wedding was falling apart, and yet she was focused more on the craziness at the table. After she responded to Adonis' comment, Gray had to interject to ask him to leave her alone.

Okay, well now everyone is becoming uncomfortable. Great. This is going to escalate, isn't it. Oh, hey, it's Arthur!

Rachael welcomed Arthur from Book Club as he sat down at the table. Of course, this was right as Adonis responded to Gray.

She watched as Adonis stood up from the table, telling Gray to back off. Brad also stood up, holding his lunch tray.

Oh God, a fight's going to start. Just like the issue with the Freys and the Starks.

"Hey, wait, calm down," Rachael said, putting a bookmark in her novel and setting it down. "Please don't do anything crazy."

She began to look around the table. She hoped that someone could break the tension and get everyone to go back to eating their lunch.

[[OOC: Permission to GM granted by Aura Master Fox]]

[[For reference our new post order is now: Solitair, Deamon, Aura Master Fox, Blastinus, Laurels, Psychadelic.]]

Tension escalated seemingly from thin air as the formerly calm lunch table became a budding conflict.

Gray had taken offense to Adonis bothering Rachael, Adonis took offense to Gray bothering him and Brad took offense to Adonis bothering Gray. To Kyran's amazement, Brad actually visibly threatened to fling some of his mash potatoes onto Adonis. That took some big time courage, but it was also a big time mistake.

From football, Kyran knew that Adonis was known for getting physical and aggressive with other people. In fact that was partially the reason why Adonis was kicked off the team and from the weight room in the first place. Brad on the other hand was a skinny guy from the chess club. Common sense would say that Brad was in trouble, but then again knowing his own history with bullies, Kyran knew the possibility to be surprised was there. Still, he couldn't risk Brad, or friends like Gray getting hurt if Adonis became angry.

Adonis's face turned from annoyed about Gray's interference to the visible definition of pissed off when Brad threatened to throw lunch food at him. He began staring down the two boys and started to round the table toward them. In the background Kyran could hear Rachael's voice getting worried.

He stood up right away. Rachael was right. Kyran didn't like bullies at all, but there was no need for things to get crazy here. He had some experience with Adonis as a team mate and dealing with bullies in middle school so he felt reasonably sure he could diffuse the situation. He began walking in front of Adonis, blocking the way and holding the former football player back from getting physically confrontational with the other two boys.

"Calm down man. Listen to Rachael. You wanna impress her right? Then do what she says and relax."

((Just gonna skip Solitair at this point since it's been 9 days.))

"Freak, that's original." Gray muttered.

Everything seemed to break down as soon a Gray had spoken. Adonis had reacted aggressively to his comment and had squared up to him. This had lead to Brad jumping to his defence which in turn lead to Kyran trying to restrain Adonis. Rachael on the other hand tried to talk everyone out of whatever they were planning to do.

What Gray thought was going to be a quiet lunch with a buddy had somehow ended up at the beginnings of a fight. It was kind of insane. But considering Adonis had sat down with them some drama was bound to happen eventually. Adonis had attempted to intimidate Gray by standing up to his full height of 6 foot, which compared to Gray's own height of 5'6" with Adonis's extra mass was somewhat intimidating. However Gray had met car going at full speed before and only broke his left leg so unless Adonis was made of pure steel than Gray wasn't going to be easily intimidated.

Instead he held a steady gaze with Alba to tell him that his regular tactic wasn't going to work. Sure Alba would probably be better off than him in a fight; he was more athletic than Gray, stronger and had a height and weight advantage. So if a fight did break out Gray would have to hope that his high pain tolerance would see him through. Of course Gray didn't want it to end up as a fight. He just had to defeat Alba with words...which looked to be just as difficult.

Gray made sure to keep his voice calm and steady as he spoke, he didn't want to turn Adonis into a madman. Not that he was far away from that stage.

"I was minding my own business, but it was getting hard to talk over you. Plus she just wants to read not have someone flirt with her." He leaned further back into his chair to emphasise that he wasn't bothered by Adonis's posturing. "Just relax okay."

Well now either Adonis was going to break free from Kyran and then break Gray's face or he was going to calm down. Gray hoped it was option two. He'd damaged his nose once before and it wasn't pleasant.

Arthur couldn't help but pay attention to everything going on at the table, and soon he couldn't concentrate on eating or drawing. It only figured that his decision to mingle would end up badly. Whoever this guy hitting on Rachel was, he was bad news. No way would he settle on being turned down. Arthur knew his type. It was only fortunate that there were no roofies in high school or else… Arthur didn't want to think about it. He tried blocking the image out of his head.

Thankfully, he didn't have to do anything on his own. These other two guys were talking to the pig for him. They were the ones who would get the shit beaten out of them if things decided to go wrong. Would the faculty look the other way on this? He honestly didn't know. Hopefully he wouldn't have to find out. He'd just sit there, minding his own business, not getting involved in all of this ugly bullshit.

But he couldn't just sit back like this, he realized. Rachel was his friend, and she deserved better than to get drooled after by Neanderthal rapists like what's-his-name. After a quick check to make sure that nobody was looking, he leaned over to Rachel and whispered, "Maybe we should go…"

Adonis felt pretty confident in his chances.  Gray was a lot smaller and weaker than he was, so Adonis could beat him down without breaking a sweat.  Everything was in his control until the skinny kid stood up with his tray and...wait, was he going to throw his lunch?  This guy was seriously trying to threaten Adonis with mashed potatoes!  If Adonis hadn't been unbelievably pissed off at the moment, he would have laughed.  If Gray had no chance in a fight against Adonis, then this guy had less than no chance!  Adonis' mind began to ponder the current situation.

Man, this could actually be good.  I could take down two dudes, looking like some friggin' hero, then Rachael would totally be all over me because of how brave and strong I am!  It's perfect!

Fortunately, before Adonis could put his new plan into action, Kyran got between him and the people he wanted to fight.  Kyran tried to tell him to calm down, because that would somehow impress Rachael.  Adonis knew that that was a load of crap.  Girls wanted tough guys, not spineless chumps!  With a shout of "Get offa me!", Adonis threw Kyran off of him.  Kyran fell onto the table, directly into his own lunch, sending heavy vibrations all across the table.  A couple of meatballs fell off of Adonis' tray and rolled across the table like tumbleweeds in the background of an old west standoff.  Adonis turned his attention back to the boy wielding the mashed potatoes.

"You throw that tray, and I'm gonna make you regret it, dork."

As the moments passed by in swift fashion, a number of different scenarios whistled their way through Brad's ears. Despite the efforts of Kyran, Adonis wasn't backing down. If anything, his anger was intensified, and nothing short of adult intervention was going to stop this behemoth. Brad had hoped that threatening to mess up his shirt would have an effect, but the big guy just laughed that off as well. As for Gray, he was being his normal self, taking the whole thing with a degree of calm and cool that the nerd could only aspire to. Brad couldn't hope to get any help from him if he ended up getting himself killed.

In the end, Brad decided to bluff. "Adonis, look what you did to your friend!" he shouted, loudly enough for other people to hear. "And now you're threatening to beat me and Gray up? Don't you care about being suspended?"

Having no shame was a weapon, sometimes. When one was not afraid of making oneself look silly in front of one's peers, one could do a number of things that one would normally be too leery of doing, such as making a big spectacle of oneself in the middle of a semi-crowded cafeteria. If Adonis was going to flagrantly break school rules by beating up people, Brad wanted to have a sizable audience for when it went down, just so there wasn't any sort of ambiguity as to whether or not it occurred.

"So what'll it be, Adonis?" Brad said in a quieter voice. "I bet I could get some teachers in on this if you really want to push this."

Despite his bluster, Brad couldn't help but eye the nearest exit. He figured that Adonis wouldn't actually care about missing school, and that a sacrifice of a week or two was satisfactory compared to the joy of beating up a whiny little nerd. If the situation went south, he would have to evacuate.

Rachael was mortified. Things were getting even more heated. It seemed like everyone at the table was now getting involved in this issue. Kyran had agreed with Rachael's proposal of calming down. Adonis retaliated by shoving him into the table. She let out a quick yelp when it happened.

Gray and Brad were trying to stand behind Kyran, Gray being a little confrontational, while Brad tried to bring up the punishment of suspension into the situation. Rachael hoped that would calm Adonis down.

Just then, Arthur leaned over to Rachael's ear.

Maybe we should go…

"Uh, yeah," she whispered back, her eyes still focused on the other boys.

"Hey, guys, please, don't go nuts," she said, standing up. "Please, this doesn't have to happen. I'm sorry I sat down here, so I'll just go on my way. Then you can all go back to your lunches."

She began to pack up her lunch, putting her sandwich in its Ziploc and placing it in her lunchbox. She began to wipe her fork on a napkin.

"I'm sorry this had to happen. I seem to be a magnet for conflict. I'll leave you guys alone from now on."

Rachael put the fork in her lunchbox and moved to put her pasta salad away.

Okay, I'm removing myself from this situation. That ought to calm them down, right? Or wait, what if they're still mad at each other? What if I leave, and Adonis punches Gray in the face? Oh, this situation sucks. A real Catch-22.