Not How That Works

[Nico Martell]

Nico stood, watching as they attempted to pick a lock. They were doing it wrong: he could tell that much. If you wanted to use a hairpin, you needed to make sure that it could fit into the tumblers and twist just right. They were mostly fiddling around, looking like a bunch of idiots that had seen how to pick a lock on television but never actually tried it out. Nico was sorely tempted to just walk up, grab the pick, and twist until the locks popped free.

Instead he did what he did so often: he stood by and watched, pretending like it wasn’t any of his business. He heard that there was a cat that could spy on them, that it would show up and they’d all be screwed. Nico supposed he’d probably get wrapped in that, but he couldn’t quite leave. There was just something fascinating about watching the idiots. Kind of like watching children attempting to start a fire with flint.

Then one of them turned. Nico didn’t look him in the eyes: that meant you wanted to fight. He averted his gaze, shifted his feet, attempted to make himself look smaller, less threatening. His posture sent the message clear: I don’t want any trouble.

“Hey, you looking for trouble?” the guy asked, thus proving Nico’s suspicion that he’d learned from the television.

Nico shook his head.

“You’d better not, else there’s gonna be hell to—“ the kid trailed off, turning to look. Nico dared look out of the corner of his eye. Someone new. Well, this just got a whole lot more complicated, didn’t it?

[Lucy James]

With her headphones plugged into her ears, Lucy did the best she could at avoiding everyone - well, the few people she actually did know, anyways. Which mostly was just a nice handful of people, because thankfully, most people seemed to get the picture whenever she told them to fuck off, as opposed to a few that seemed to think that it meant 'oh no, I would love for us to be friends and stay together forever'. The thought had the brunette rolling her eyes, because seriously. It was the most stupid thing she'd ever encountered.

Why couldn't people just leave her alone to her own devices, as opposed to following her around like some lost puppy? Hadn't she made it overly clear to each and every one of them that she didn't do friends? That she wanted nothing to do with them? Were they all masochist who enjoyed being hit and verbally abused? They had to be, because Lucy didn't exactly have a personality beyond the obvious anger issues and a filthy mouth. Nothing particularly endearing there.

However, the brunette's trail of thoughts were lead astray by the scene happening before her. Pulling out her headphones, she arched her eyebrow as she looked from one guy to the other. It looked awfully a lot like one of the kids were being bullied, or maybe threatened, or maybe he'd just pissed off the wrong guy. Then looks were tossed in her direction and an annoyed sigh fell from her lips. It didn't exactly help that the boy looked rather uneasy, as if he didn't at all want to be in this situation. "Ah, there you are!" the brunette said as she stepped forward, putting her arm over the kid's shoulders as she turned towards the guy who was clearly hassling him.

"I see you've met my good friend Pablo here--" she pointed at the boy. "--he's a transfer student, and between you and me, he's not exactly right up here--" she pointed at her own head. "--he got into this awful accident as a kid, and well, one thing lead to another." Lucy patted the boy's head. "He was never the same, poor thing." She turned to look at the guy again and cast a glance over his shoulder. "Once when he went home for holidays, he almost killed his drunken stepdad. He has quite the violent power, you see. And no control either." Lucy sighed at that, looking as if she truly felt bad for the boy.

[Nico Martell]

Oh great, a girl coming to his rescue. That was going to do wonders for his rep. Though the girl did smell a bit like booze and cigarettes, so maybe she was some badass chica who made the locals piss their pants. Hell, around here, a twelve year old could probably fry your brain with eye-lasers or some stuff.

All Nico knew for certain was that he had an arm around his shoulders and the girl was talking. Thankfully, he had one major talent: "Si, si," he said, shuffling and lowering his eyes, "mi nombre es Pablo. Mi es Pablo," he shuffled again, adding a few sniffs as the girl continued. He looked up at a few moments, giving the guys a crazy, shifty eyed look. Clearly he didn't want to say anything else: too much would give it away, after all, and Nico still wasn't a fan of talking.

Though there was a part of him that really wanted to just look over and be all like Pablo? seriously? What, was Juan taken or something?.

The guys were shifting. They apparently did know who the girl was, and they also were somewhat put off by Nico's act. They took a few steps back, though the appointed leader still gestured. "Well, get his dumb ass out of here: we're doing stuff and he's staring."

It took all Nico had not to give Lucy an exasperated look, trying to indicate that the idiots had been doing it wrong.

[Lucy James]

Lucy was actually a little surprised that the guy knew Spanish, despite his Hispanic looks. She had picked the name sorely because of that, but hadn't actually expected him to speak the language - which she didn't know jack shit about, ironically. And the fact that he so easily played along was another good sign; at least he wasn't stupid, so there was that.

It also seemed to work perfectly, considering how the guys looked at them, and not only that, they also took a few steps back. Well, at least that part was over. However, the look "Pablo" offered her almost had her groaning. This would have been so much easier had he not looked at her with those doe-eyes you usually just saw on retarded dogs. Wonderful. She was dealing with the Spanish version of a mix of Hodor and Mary freaking Poppins.

"Well..." Lucy began, her free hand coming up to tap her chin. "Unless you're doing something wrong, I don't see us being here as a problem, and if you are doing something wrong, I'd stop. I saw that freaky cat lurking the halls on my way here." She tossed a glance over her shoulder. "He was a few steps behind me, walking this way. Maybe something's holding him up..." She turned back at the boys with a shrug. "But a fine group of boys like you wouldn't risk being that stupid with that knowledge. No, you're too smart for that, I'm sure." She offered them a sugar sweet smile with that.

"Come, Pablo. We should get moving before the cat calls the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and sends you over the border again." She gave the boy's shoulder a nudge forward.

[Nico Martell]

Cat? Her brilliant followup was to mention a cat? Nico nearly groaned, figuring that he was so very, very screwed at this point. He could only hope that they didn't kick you out of the school for first offenses, or that someone wouldn't look at his record and automatically decide that since he'd acted up they should...

...wait, the perpetrators seemed to be shifting nervously. one even stepped to the side to look around Lucy. Was... was there... surely there wasn't a cat that actually reported on students or something? That sounded insane, even for a school where people could walk through walls or throw fireballs or something like that. Nico was almost tempted to turn and look himself.

Except that his "savior" was apparently asking him to go with her. Swallowing worse comments, Nico nodded. "Si, mi es Pablo," he intoned obediently again. Immigration and... did he look like a fucking wetback? And, wait, again? Nico just started shuffling, willing to go along with the girl if it got him out of trouble.

The guys were already moving along too, though some of them were mumbling about what they'd do to the cat if they found it...

[Lucy James]

For once, Lucy was actually sort of glad she at least knew enough about the school and the various people (or animals) within it to use it to her own advantage - or in this case, "Pablo's" advantage. It seemed to work too as the guys started shifting and moving about. Well, at least they had been easy enough to dissuade from the poor Mexican boy. Not that Lucy felt all that bad for him, to be honest. In fact, she wasn't even sure why she'd bothered to help him to begin with. Ah well.

The second the two of them had gotten far enough from the boys for them to be out of sight, Lucy's hand dropped and she turned to look at where they'd come from, walking backwards. "I can't believe that actually worked." She had almost expected there to be a fight, or some more verbal abuse thrown in between them. Kind of ruined all the excitement.

Casting a side way glance towards the boy, Lucy propped her arms up behind her neck and grinned. "Next time you get in trouble, you should just spout madness in Spanish and do that crazy eye thing." She wondered what the boy had even done there to begin with, but figured the real reason probably wasn't nearly as cool as she'd imagine.

[Nico Martell]

Nico had figured that the boys were fairly cowardly on the whole, so he was decidedly less surprised that they just scurried away at Lucy's comments. He'd definitely keep an eye out for this cat though. Though Nico had a feeling that the girl probably helped add to their discomfort. Something in the way she spoke and carried herself reminded Nico of the badass chicas from back home.

Even down to her words. Nico shrugged at the comment. He was tempted to assert what he'd just been thinking: that the boys were fairly cowardly. Though he didn't see a reason to expand, so the mouth remained shut. The eyes moved as Lucy looked to him.

"Yeah, nothing like being known as the mad Mexican," he said dryly, unable to keep his tongue fully stilled. He didn't think that he put too much sarcasm into it. He shoved his hands into his pockets anyway, just to be careful. His knife was in there, thankfully, but he was hoping that she wouldn't quite react so strongly that he'd have to even consider using it.

[Lucy James]

The boy's words had Lucy's grin widening ever so slightly and she nodded. "Oh look, he speaks English and has a sense of humor. Where have you been all my life?" Turning again, Lucy's hands dropped to her side. Someone with such a quick-witted tongue should have been more than capable of handling himself back there, so why hadn't he?

Well, it probably didn't matter either way. It didn't change the fact that he hadn't, and instead, relied on her saving his ass - which she still didn't understand why she'd done to begin with, but hey, too late to regret it now, and besides, who knew. Maybe it could turn out to be quite practical in the future. You never knew when you needed to cash in a favor.

Like ask him if any of his Mexican friends would be interested in killing off a group of incredibly annoying stalkers... Now that would have been quite the handy card to have up her sleeve. Something told her the boy wouldn't be up for that though. Such a charm. "So, what did you do to get those guys on your neck anyways?"

[Nico Martell]

Oh, how tempting it was to respond to her sarcastic question with "In Mexico". Nico wasn't quite sure he wanted to get on her bad side though. She still had that sort of badass, don't fuck with me vibe that he knew you generally wanted to keep your head down around. He could puff himself up if needed, but, well, what was the point here?

Just like he'd tried to avoid the earlier conflict by shuffling his feet and looking away. though now that Lucy was bringing it up, he had to let out a dry, almost heavy laugh, looking over to her and smirking. "Stared," he offered. He waited a moment to let that sink in, then looked away.

"They were messing up a simple lock pick. Couldn't help myself." There, full explanation, and it took three whole sentences too.

[Lucy James]

"Ah, well I 'spose that explains the aggression," she said, rolling her eyes. She had to admit though, that the guys sounded more and more stupid the more she learned about them. Who the hell picked a lock in full view anyways? Like, did they really not think that anyone would stop by? To be fair, Lucy would have stopped to stare as well; just because it was so freaking stupid. How could anyone resist?

"The level of intelligence at this school sometimes scares me," she added dryly as she huffed. Though, maybe that was exactly what happened when you picked up random kids with super powers and forced them to stay at the school. It would drive anyone to the edge of insanity - she would know.

She tossed the boy a quick glance as she stopped. Crossing her arms and feet, she leaned back against the wall, eyeing the boy for a moment before drawing her breath. "So, what's your deal anyways, Pablo?" It fit and she hardly cared enough to actually ask for his real name, as happened with most people. It seemed to become her trademark of sorts.

[Nico Martell]

Explained the idiocy. Nico was tempted to actually say that, but instead he just opted for a nod. A chuckle joined it as she continued. Yeah, the people here weren't exactly impressing him. They weren't much better at the other school, but, well, Nico figured that had less to do with school and more people in general. People sucked. They sucked and they were almost all idiots when it came down to it.

The girl leaned against a wall. Nico watched her, his expression steady. His deal? Nico shrugged. Not like he really had one, not that he could think of. Though he definitely felt like he should be saying something about that name. Girl needed to at least realize that not all Latinos had the same name, after all.

"It's Nico," he said, letting just a bit of edge into his voice. not much: he still didn't want to quite pick a fight, but he definitely wanted to make it clear that he didn't appreciate the other name. It was out of concern for the whole not fighting that he felt he should at least add a bit more: "And thanks," he jerked his head, "for that. Back there."

Gratitude: one of the greatest of salves.

[Lucy James]

"Nico," she repeated as she presented him her shit-eating grin. She then nodded as she pursed her lips. His thanks had her brows furrowing a little, but she simply shrugged. "Nah," she began. "It was nothing." Besides, it wasn't like she'd really done it for him, and instead, she had done it more so to fuck with the other guys, because apparently that was the only amusement she could get out of this god forsaken place.

Besides, if it would have turned out better - by like, the guy roasting them, she figured he wouldn't have just stood there and taken the shit. It made her wonder, if only for a moment what exactly it was the boy could do, but then again, she doubted she'd ever see him again after today, so it probably didn't matter. She did however take notice of his ability and the way it "felt". Just in case. You never knew when it could come in handy - whatever it was.

"You're new here, then? You look like a lost lamb in the midst of a gang of wolves." Then again, the boy still had that kind of aura around him, that he wasn't quite as weak as he'd first let on. It was curious. Curious indeed.

[Nico Martell]

Nothing. Nico shrugged. The girl was pretty much right: it wasn't like Nico couldn't have handled them himself. Chances were that the moment he hit one they'd all go running away scurrying. Hell, if he had better control of his power, it even wouldn't be much of a---

Oh, right, powers. For all Nico knew one of the guys could benchpress a bus. Probably best that he hadn't gotten in a fight. Still, he probably could have handled them. Even if he did apparently look like a "little lamb."

"That was an act," Nico said, his head turning slightly to where they'd been. He jerked his chin that direction. "Those idiots were buying it," he finished by looking at her, locking eyes. Surely she wasn't an idiot, those eyes and that face stated. Surely she had to know better, had to know that Nico could handle himself.

Though Nico didn't suppose he much cared if she did. In fact, maybe it would have been better to fake the lamb a little more. Oh well: too late now. He'd already cast that die.

[Lucy James]

Raising her hands in mock defense, Lucy shrugged. "Whatever you say, though it looked more to me like they were about to kick your ass, but hey, that's just me." Even if the boy had been able to handle himself, the fact was that they had been more people than him, and that was even without thinking about what kind of powers they had. Lowering her hands then, Lucy shrugged. She wasn't about to get into a verbal disagreement about what could have happened when it wouldn't.

Though, in a way, she supposed it would have been amusing to find out. Sure, she claimed she didn't care, but one guy versus so many of them hardly seemed fair. And Lucy never missed an opportunity to tell someone just how much of an idiot they were - or show them, anyways.

Her arms settled back over her chest as she let her gaze wander down the hallway. Well, at least this one wasn't as talkative as the rest of the people she usually had to encounter, so she had that going for her.

[Nico Martell]

Again Nico had the temptation to rally, to say how very unlikely that was. He'd have had some difficulty against four of them, to be sure, but he probably could have handled himself. Or at least made enough noise that someone would have come along to stop it. Except, again, he didn't know for sure. And he didn't see any reason to piss off someone who'd volunteered to help.

So instead he just shrugged. "Look like it worked then," he said before looking away. Yeah, it was mostly an act, he guessed. Though he also just didn't want to get into more trouble, not here. He looked back at the girl, wondering again about her story. All those rough edges, that sort of demeanor.. yeah, they'd definitely had something similar happen. Still, Nico also knew that you didn't force these things.

Though he did figure he'd need at least one thing, if he was ever going to find the girl again: "Didn't catch your name." Yes, phrased like that, so that she could just keep denying if she wanted. Again: you don't force these sort of things, especially not with girls like this.