Survival Of The Fittest

Kristey had a smile on her face. But not one that showed sadism or hatred... she was impressed with this girl.

"You're some piece of work... you think I care about this kid?"
She slowly but surely started digging the scissor into the kids neck, which pierced the skin and caused bleeding, and he started screaming.

"One quick slash and it's all over for him, is your gang willing to risk a death just to pick on someone weak? Or was it because I pushed your little boyfriend around when he tried to get me to join you guys."

She saw Marvin and spat in his direction.

(Message not meant to be posted yet)

Rowland's screams have definitely attracted more horror-filled reactions from the students, and even some teachers.

Marvin bravely shouts, "I'm not little!" but flinches as Kristey's spit lands on his sweater vest. He gets even more tense at the sight of Rowland's blood. Reneé is definitely feeling tense with one of her cliquemates' very lives now significantly threatened, and she responds...with a snapping of her fingers. With this command the two members restraining Damien drag the poor kid off. Surprisingly, Damien actually begins to struggle, albeit in vain.

"You seem to care a lot about this kid," she begins, thumb-pointing back at Damien. "Let Rowland go and I'll make sure your Damisel-in-distress doesn't suffer a...more painful fate." She, of course, says this in a tone that implies "for the time being" tied onto the end.

She grins and starts walking back and forth in an arc around Kristey and Rowland. "You clearly have no idea what you're about to get into, so let me teach you. Rowland Kelly here is the only son of Democratic State Senator Leland Kelly. When you kill someone of his background," and she also assumes this to all the VIP and VIPs' kids... "there'll be manhunts, lawsuits, total alienation from society, but that obviously doesn't bother you, does it? And that's not even considering what they do to little girls like you in the lock-up." Smiling smoothly, Reneé licks her lips like a starving child presented with a nice, juicy steak, before chuckling.

"And word's going around of a death at a school nearby. Calvin-borough, or whatever it was. Not that you were there at the time, but with your personality?" Reneé enjoys a bit of a laugh, salt on the acid wounds intended by her speech.

Her little sermon also enables Marvin and the remaining cliquemates (about 3 more) to encircle Kristey in a smaller ring than the larger ring of students that are already forming. Neither ring, of course, want to get blood all over their expensive uniforms. Actions speaking louder than words, she was obviously going to risk the very life of one of her "friends" not to pick on someone weak (hell, she could and often did that anytime she laid eyes on him) but to take down some nutjob who thought she was strong (especially when they try to get in the way of her personal punching bag.)

"One more time," she says, her tone turning serious. "Let Rowland go, and you can go wherever you were headed without any cops or teachers on your tail." Truth be told, Reneé is one of those kids that can actually make it happen.

Kristey remembers hearing about the death at one of the schools nearby, and suddenly has a thought...
Wasn't that at Hobbsborough?!

She continued to hold onto Rowland, and despite hearing the girl's logic, that didn't keep her from holding onto him.

"Blah blah blah, this means nothing to me. I only live long enough to get revenge on the bastard who took my life..."

She slowly brought Rowland to his feet.

"You impress me, girl... but once again, you fail to give me any reason to let him go. I could kill him now, and eventually, kill anyone who would exact revenge for him..."

She smiled at the little moron, Marvin.

She started laughing maniacally and had that look on her face.

"I will only let him go on the condition that you leave Damien alone permenantly... you're pathetic if you feel the need to trash on those who are weaker than yourself... and that you help me get to Hobbsborough... "

(OOC: Per the advice of Lien, I have moved these posts one notch up to fill in some blank space. You would do well to do the same with yours, replacing the "error in continuity" we made at the beginning of the thread.
To move the text upwards, edit the previous post - there's an Edit button on the upper right corner of each of your posts - and copy the text from the more recent post into it. Thanks. n_n)

Reneé smiles an exasperated smile, and orders Marvin and her other friends away from Kristey. They have curious looks as to why they weren't ordered to simply pounce her, but Reneé whispers into Marvin's ear, and he grins sheepishly. This grin disperses quickly when he turns to look back at Kristey, who is laughing maniacally.

"I see. There's really no point trying to reason with you." Reneé says, raising her eyebrows and putting her hands on her hips. She looks back, noticing that Damien hasn't been dragged too far away, and gestures to his two captors to drag him back. "If you really must know, I want Rowland back in kind of the same way you want Damien back. I obviously don't regard Rowland as weak, and he's as vital to our group as Damien seems to you." The old cliché of trying to call her bluff would obviously be taken with literal meaning on someone like her.

As soon as Damien is brought back, Marvin quickly moves behind him and wraps his arm around his neck, ready to snap it. Damien gags in reflex, and struggles even more, a tear trickling from one of his eyes. Reneé's expression turns serious once more.

"But I will not have Rowland Kelly's corpse released back to me in exchange for a live Damien. I know you wouldn't like the same thing either with your friend here, as much as you thirst for our blood." Serious as she is, the last thing she wants is blood on her hands or any implication in Damien's death. Rowland's death, however, would be incriminating enough for Kristey anyway, what with a ring of witnesses. The sentence she could receive would most likely bar her from ever living long enough to get whichever "bastard" she was talking about.

"So here's what's gonna happen. On my count of three, you release Rowland, and we give you Damien. I will then call a taxi here to bring you to wherever you need to be right now." She turns back to her cliquemates and orders them to raise their right hands (except for Marvin and the guy restraining Damien from his left, for obvious reasons). "Yes, we will swear never to bother Damien again." she adds, to the visible dismay of her colleagues.

But while her voice gives a good air of sincerity and truth, it's only a hollow promise as there are plenty of kids who pick on Damien apart from Reneé's clique, and just as many other kids - strong or not - for her to bring down.

(OOC: The last part's the collective gang mentality and should probably not be read by Kristey. As for Rowland, I am a bit reluctant to have him slaughtered like meat despite the fact that he's actually an NPC. :blink:)

Kristey never trusted anyone. And considering the fact that this girl associated herself with Marvin didn't give her much reason to trust her.

"No deal."

Kristey had the scissor as close to his neck as possible.
"Damien gets to leave the building first. And then you have to tell me how to get to Hobbs."

Kristey was smiling at the nerve of this girl.

"Haha, you try to corner me and Damien, and threaten us first, and now I'm the one in a good position to harm one of your friends, and you're going to lecture ME in consequence? Pssh, hypocritical worms."

(OOC: Aight! Here goes. Oh, and I think Damien told her how to get to Hobbsborough already. o_O)

"We'll let Damien go, but not out of the building. He does have class in a few minutes, you know," replies Reneé, stating the obvious. "And you know I won't accept a corpse in return."

She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a cellphone. She looks up the number for "Taxi" and shows it to Kristey. The cellphone model is particularly designed to make reading the number easier even at the distance. "This is a reputable company. They'll take you to Hobbsborough. I'll make sure the cops don't tail you there, though you might want to watch out for the ones already there, especially with the murder on campus."

Reneé then notices Damien almost unconscious, and as a sign of goodwill (if you would call it that), barks to Marvin to release his stranglehold on the boy.

"Urk...Kristey...let him go...you really don't want to...urgh...mess with them..." Damien pleads, his speech broken where he tries to gasp for breath. He, of course, is saying this out of experience, though obviously his is most likely different from Kristey's.

Kristey decides that it's okay to let go of Rowland.
She then slowly goes up to Renee, and is up to her face.

"You know... Marvin asked me earlier if I was interested in joining you guys, and I said no. I thought he was too weak... YOU on the other hand are a different story entirely..."

She smiled and started walking away.
"Who knows what could happen should the offer still stand."

She went for damien, who was almost knocked out.
"walk with me."

(OOC: Fixed! )

Rowland is released, and he scrambles back toward Reneé as soon as the scissors are lifted, retreating behind her as if she were his hero.

Renee smiles reassuredly as Kristey faces her, though it retains her trademark smirk. As soon as Kristey finishes complimenting her (at least it appears that way), she flashes the cell-phone number one more time, before pushing the call button.

"Denton Yellow Cab." comes a voice with a recognizable Indian accent.
"Hello, I'd like to have a student picked up from P.J. Gilroy Academy in Smallsville right away." she begins, casually.
"No problem, ma'am. What's your name?"
"Kristey."
"Yes, Kristey, we'll meet you at the front entrance in about 10 minutes."
"Sure. I'll be seeing you."
"Thank you, have a nice day."

The moment after she hangs up she commands the two lackeys restraining Damien to let him go, and he drops to his hands and knees. It takes a few seconds for him to catch his breath and stand up, by which time Kristy is beside her. She invites him to walk with her, to which he hesitates to reply.

This psycho chick just saved his life. But at what cost?

Damien definitely needs time to think this one over. People that had often stood in the way of his oppressors only to abandon him when the pressure built up, and most that wanted to continue protecting him would only do so as long as they got some favors from him (like homework in their weak/Damien's strong subjects) before inevitably dropping him for some other sucker.

As for Kristey, he actually feels somewhat sorry for her. Nobody threatened the life of her clique members and got away with it, not in the immediate aftermath anyway. But he suspected this crazy chick would definitely fit that latter category of manipulator especially with the voracity of which she stood up for him.

As soon as he catches his breath he replies, "Thanks...just to the stairs, please. I can make it." This despite the fact he's still wearing his larger-than-normal backpack. (OOC: It's not trail-hiker/mountain-climber exaggerated, large, just one of the larger sizes available for school. Its thickness helped Marvin get some extra leverage on his stranglehold.)

"Who said anything about us dropping the offer?" Reneé says as the two begin to walk away. "I'll be waiting."

Reneé Valenti has seen the potential in this girl, and although she and her clique retreat for now, they anxiously await the opportunity to capitalize on it. Right now, they'll have to deal with anybody who might have gotten 'inspired' by this hostage situation.

Reneé helps Rowland to his feet, and leads him and a reluctant Marvin and the rest of her troupe in the opposite direction, sinking back into the crowd. Marvin flashes an angry "we're gonna getcha" glance back at Kristey. She stops by a couple of concerned teachers and appears to tell them something, causing them to head back to their to set up for class. She'd make sure they'd look the other way from this fight. Reneé also has a class to be at in a few minutes.

But for now, it's definitely over between her and Damien (at least for the time being), and it will hopefully not be the last she encounters Kristey Burrowell.

Kristey walked with damien to the end of the stairs.
"Are you alright?"
She didn't really give him too much time to respond as she quickly scurried to the main entrance.

"Sorry I can't stick around... there's someone I need to see."

((Continued in: Skipping School))

Damien scratches the back of his head as they reach the end of the stairs. He's still at a loss for words, still juggling any prospects for his immediate future in his mind. He blushes a bit, and stammers: "Th...thank you...," to which Kristey replies before scurrying to the main entrances. He watches her as she exits, alternating between worrying for her safety and about any return she might make. She'd be waiting outside for a few minutes before the taxi arrives...

His thoughts are quickly scattered by the class bell, to which he reacts with a mad dash up the stairs. SHIT! There goes my perfect attendance...

Meanwhile, Reneé and Marvin have long since retreated in the opposite direction back to the nearby Teachers' Lounge and shut the door behind them, while the rest of their troupe have escorted Rowland to the Clinic. Both are now clearly out of earshot of Damien and Kristey, and the now-dispersing student crowd. The relatively soundproofed Lounge currently works to their leaders' advantage, especially given the magnitude of Marvin's voice.

"What the HELL were you thinking, letting that psycho bitch go like that!?" he storms, steam almost literally coming out of his ears. "Don't you know what she's capable of!? Oh, you shoulda seen what she did to Francis Mulder earlier. She MAULED his sorry ass."

"Relax, will you? I know what she can do." replies Reneé, who is obviously having none of this, and certainly none of Marvin.
"What if she actually kills someone!? We'll look like idiots!"
"Don't worry. I'll take care of her."
"What if she comes back for us! Or ME?! God...I'll have wasted my life and my sports..." Marvin's so frenzied he's almost crying as he blurts this out.
"CAN IT. Everything'll be fine." she retorts in frustration, pulling out her cellphone.
"Oh, great, make another phone call?!" Marvin scowls.
"Yep, gonna kill two little lovebirds with one big stone." she says with a comfortable smile. As soon as she finishes, the bell for the next class rings, causing Marvin to put a palm to his face.
"You know what? FUCK THIS. I'll take care of them myself. And I'll start with Dame Carter." he snaps, before promptly storming out of the Lounge, most likely for his next class. Reneé has a free block, but she looks down on those who use it for 'independent study.' Smiling, she dials another seven-digit number on her cell.

"Your funeral," she mutters as the dialtone rings. When someone answers with an Officer's name, she puts on a calm, concerned tone of voice.

"Hello, police? I want to report something on the Hobbsborough murder...yeah...saw a suspicious person shuttling in and out of the area recently. Think it might be connected...uh...Blond, blue-eyed, real bombshell figure....yes...(EDIT:)saw her in a taxi on the way there...oh, my name?"

Reneé flashes a Cheshire grin to match her sneering smile.

"Damien Madison."

She talks for a little more to wrap up a few formalities, and hangs up. The instant she presses the hang-up button she slowly slips into evil laughter.

((Damien Carter-Madison continued in: Skipping School))
((Marvin Hendrick continued in: Skipping School))
((Reneé Valenti continued in: Quiet))


((And thanks for the fun. Really. ))

(OOC: Oh, Renee's gonna get it...)

(OOC: I think I might know where Kristey can take her payback. It should be somewhere in the new expansion areas.  :D)