Late Night

[Nico Martell]

Spic first, then wetback? Did this guy just get all his lines from the racist playbook? There was even the further talk about taking jobs too. yep, very much the standard racist asshole talk. Nico was sorely tempted to attempt to cut one's balls or something. He'd be doing the human race a favor, that was for certain.

But he felt Selina's hand clenching and tugging at him. He heard her words. They sneaked through his emotions to the part of him that thought, the part that had sworn to keep the rest of him out of trouble and make sure that he made good on his promises to his mother. Just get out of there. Just get going.

Walk away.

"You're right," Nico admitted under his breath, though he added a bit of a slight tongue click. "Start walking though. See if we can get away with it."

He nodded, then gave Selina a slight tug, less trying to drag her away, and more giving her a signal. He already started, setting a brisk pace, but not looking like he was in that much of a hurry, moving not too much faster than what they had been before they'd gotten to the bus stop. He still kept his eyes on the group though, and his hand hovered near enough to his pocket.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina breathed a quiet sigh of relief when Nico agreed to head out. Her respect for him went up a few notches when he started walking away at a normal pace, and she prayed to whatever gods she’d never believed in that they would be left alone. But she also knew there a very small chance for such luck to be with them.


    After all, it was a show. All of it was a show put on for the four men who’d accompanied him. A display of power, meant to show others in his group just what he could get away with. He may have been over-the-top but that was part of the point. He could say and do whatever he wanted on his high, and there would be no consequence. Selina knew too, that if he had been alone, he may have harassed them, but he would never have gone so far as to act out his prejudice, particularly not when he was outnumbered. However, because there were others with him to back him up and who were watching his every move, he reached out and grabbed her by the arm when she started to walk away with Nico, “I didn’t say you could leave, did I?”


    After all, any rebellion or refusal to recognize him was not acceptable at this point. Others would see and would judge him accordingly. And this was why groups of them were the most terrifying. She could handle one-on-one with relative ease, no matter who the aggressor. But this was an entirely different animal and she had no desire to stick around and see what happened next. “Boy, you should probably start running,” she advised Nico, not giving his name for the fear that these creeps would remember it as she let go of his waist to focus on the man before her.


    The leader sneered as he heard her, “That’s right, boy. Get out of here while you still have the chance.”


    Selina wasn’t into heroics, nor was she stupid enough to fight these men alone. She just needed to injure enough to get away and breaking the arm that was holding onto her was a good start. She forced her thumb between his middle and ring finger, causing the bones in his hand to start to split and forcing him to let go of her arm. She then deflected his second grab, and let his own momentum work against him to bring him near enough so she could use his shoulder as a brace and bring her other arm up behind his elbow to force him to bend at an unnatural angle. He fell to the ground in pain, and she used her remaining momentum to snap his arm before turning and sprinting the other way. “Vamanos!”

[Nico Martell]

Nico tried not to hide his frustration that the guys acted pretty well to form. Their nominal leader had grabbed and snarled and Nico could feel his fingers tightening around the knife. What were the chances these guys wouldn't remember his face if he pulled a blade on them? Actually, where the hell were those cops that had been doing regular rounds anyway? Apparently they'd finally decided that they'd just wander off and bother someone else instead.

Words drew Nico from his own thoughts and aggression. His eyes flicked to Serina. Had she just said to...? Nico hesitated for a moment, hearing the snarl, knowing that he could probably mess one of these fuckers up pretty easy. A quick flick, a stab, and suddenly things would get ugly. But was Selina sacrificing herself out of a noble gesture to save him, or did she have a plan?

Again, Nico had to go on what he knew from the last few minutes of meeting the girl.

And he started walking away. He did so quickly, not quite scurrying. As he moved, Nico rolled his knife into his palm, closing his hand around it and adjusting his grip so that he could pull it and flick it. He spared a look behind him.

And watched Selina flip a dude. Nico barked a laugh, but nodded and followed suit, proving that his legs worked just fine. He did have to pull his hand, and his knife, out of his pocket, but he handle rested in his fist. So long as nobody went after him...

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina was happy to see Nico had listened to her. That made things so much simpler when she finally got free of the handsy white bastard. Selina couldn’t quite hide the smile that crossed her face when she heard his bone snap and his cry of pain. There was something viciously satisfying about the whole affair that she couldn’t deny. Maybe that made her some type of sadistic, but she’d focus on ethics later, when she wasn’t running for her life.


    Selina was impressed with Nico’s speed and eventually caught up with him. She then ran for a block before she sprinted around a sharp corner, expecting him to follow her lead. It would be easier to lose the group if they split up, but Selina was willing to bet that they wouldn’t be followed too far, if at all. Some of the man’s cronies actually had to care that their leader’s arm was broken right? Besides, maybe they’d decide that following prey who fought back was too much trouble. She could only hope.


    She cast a quick glance behind her and dodged into a simple dark alleyway when she didn’t see them coming. She glanced to check if Nico had followed her before she leaned up against the wall to catch her breath. “Hate those bastards,” she murmured to herself before asking, “You alright?”

[Nico Martell]

To Nico's credit, once he'd gotten a fair distance away and it was apparent that they weren't being chased by people who would have been comfortable wearing white hoods, he stopped. It wasn't just because he wanted to catch his breath either: if on the off chance that he'd misread Selina, he did feel somewhat obligated to head back. Or maybe he should try and find a phone, see if the cops would actually do something.

To their luck, Selina caught up with him. Nico had already caught most of his breath, so he just stepped forward, watching Selina's back while she did some heavy breathing of her own. He nodded at her assessment of the Great White Hate, before looking over at her. "Fine," he said. He then raised his hand up, realizing that his knuckles had gone white over his knife. Grunting, he prized his own fingers apart with the other hand, working them, letting the knife sit there.

"You?" he asked, looking over at her, his eyes scanning and again trying not to get distracted by hips or other tantalizing bits.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina noticed his grip on the knife and was so very grateful he hadn’t used it. That fight would have turned very nasty indeed and she had no idea whether or not they would have survived. She grinned at him in answer and nodded, “Yeah, I’m fine.” She responded before running her hand through her hair and glancing over at him, “Thanks for your help,” she added quietly. She wasn’t used to thanking strangers, but she certainly wasn’t an ingrate either. He could have easily left her to them.


    Her eyes lingered on him, as her adrenaline was still high, and he didn’t look half-bad that was for damn sure. She glanced away when she realized she was staring and placed her hands in her pockets, almost a gesture of restraint at this point. “So, there’s a bus stop a few blocks away if you’re willing to walk,” she began. Distractions were good. Besides, he probably had a girlfriend or something and he was young. Damn her libido for acting up at the wrong time.

[Nico Martell]

The admission of fine had Nico nodding. That was good, and something of a relief. He had to shrug as she continued though, offering her thanks. "Didn't do much. Besides," he looked over his shoulder to where they'd left the idiots, "they might not have bothered you if I hadn't been around."

Though Nico wasn't certain that he believed it. Those guys had been looking to mess with someone, and they'd just happened to run into them. If Nico hadn't been around, Selina probably would have been by herself. She probably still would have handled things just fine, if she'd acted the same. Though for all Nico knew, it was the fact that they were dealing with two "beaners" that had them back there.

He turned back as Selina commented. His hand went back to his pocket, sliding the knife back into its usual home. Then he nodded. "Yeah, sounds good," he said, taking a few steps, pausing only if she didn't follow suit.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina let out a harsh laugh, "I doubt it. Those fucks were ready to start something." It wasn't the first time she'd had to deal with predatory men and it certainly wouldn't be the last, but there was different edge to the violence here in the U.S. In Chile, she'd never had to worry about being in a so-called minority. Selina then stood up to her full height, "So accept my gratitude, alright? You won't get it often," she threatened somewhat playfully.

    Selina then nodded and followed him, "We'll still have to wait for about an hour though, as we missed that one. It's usually ten minutes earlier in its scheduled routine than the one we just ran from," she admitted before stepping out onto the street and cautiously looking both ways to make sure she saw no one she recognized. "Or we could start walking back to the school. It's a few miles, but," she shrugged, "It's not that bad."

[Nico Martell]

Yeah, Selina totally figured what Nico had. He just nodded, more than willing to go along with her suggestion. They both clearly knew what it was like, who they'd run into. He was just glad that it hadn't been worse than that, though it definitely could have been. gah, he could have ended up breaking terms of his parole. He wasn't sure what the school would do, but he would bet that it wouldn't work to his favor.

For now, he just nodded, even allowing himself a slight smile at Selina's little comment. Yeah, he'd take the thanks he supposed, if she was so insistent. As for the bus stop, he actually paused to think. Would an hour really be so bad? He'd been wandering around for a while. Though it did sound like Selina wanted to walk, and she wasn't bad company, as far as things went.

Nico knew just what to do. he shrugged and looked to her. "Whatever you want to do is cool with me."

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina glanced up at him and tried to gauge his response, "Well, I'll probably walk since I need some way to cool down after all of that," she admitted. "But I can walk you to the bus stop first if you prefer to wait," she offered. She really needed a good run, something to beat the shit out of, or a hard fuck, but she was willing to go with a walk. That would probably be one of the safest ways to let her body relax and help her sort out her emotions at the same time. A large part of her was still in survival mode, and she knew that when she finally allowed herself to process what had just happened, it wouldn't be pretty.

    Her adrenaline was almost solely responsible for saving her from falling apart in front of him, and for that, she was intensely grateful. Selina started walking at a quick pace towards the bus stop, which was on the way to the school. Her footsteps were harsh and quick, allowing some of her tense energy to leave her body, and before she knew it, she was lost in her own thoughts and not cognizant of Nico or anything else except for the next step ahead. 
    

[Nico Martell]

Nico nodded, the motion slow. She needed the walk? Hadn't she just beat up some rednecks and then sprinted for her life? Why would she need... was she tense? She seemed to walk like, well, she actually reminded Nico of the way his brothers walked when they spent time with their girls and said girls happened to decide that they weren't interested. He supposed that the same thing could sort of happen to girls too, though he hadn't really thought about that.

To his credit, he wasn't overly insulted that Selina wasn't suggesting they go to an alley and celebrate being alive or anything. For starters, Nico was a few years younger than her, which he realized more or less. Not enough to matter overmuch, but probably enough that she wasn't going to be interested. There was also the whole "just met thing."

So he just followed along, moving quickly, his own rest making it easy enough to follow through. He didn't feel any reason to comment on her movement, but he did figure he could offer up at least something: "I'm cool with walking with you," he said, even speeding up to fall in step with her. "Just in case some more fuckers show up or something. Then you can protect me again."

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina knew her own mind relatively well, and her flashbacks, shaking and other symptoms wouldn't occur until after she'd gotten somewhere safe enough to just be. After going through something like that, she wasn't relishing the idea of being alone, but she'd never done it any other way. Her mental shit was her own to deal with, she merely figured she probably had a bit more than normal folks did considering her history. For right now, she was keeping her pace steady and harsh enough to ground her in reality. 

    She barely heard Nico's offer and it took her a few seconds longer than normal for her to process what he'd said. Selina jerked herself out of her thoughts and forced herself to face him and smile, "Right, thanks. I could use the company," she admitted. She probably sounded a bit terse, but she couldn't quite force herself to be much better. Normally she'd laugh and tease him in response, but right now, her feet hitting the ground were the only thing she could really focus on.    
        

[Nico Martell]

Yeah, the girl was definitely wrapped up in something. There was a momentarily dark moment there which, well, it actually reminded Nico a bit of himself. Which actually made him want to stick around a bit more. Like drawn to like and all that crap. He didn't even take her semi-terse response all that poorly: it clearly wasn't him that she was pissed or worked up about.

He didn't want to pry or anything, instead falling into step beside her, letting their feet carry them. They were nearing the bus stop, and Nico only spared Selina a slight look before simply walking on by. He figured he might as well. Though he also figured that there was one little bit he should cop to:

"Can't remember where the school is from here," he looked around, trying to see if he could see the big building in the distance. He gave Selina a slight smile, adding a bit of a shrug. Hey, she was walking there: She'd know, right? He certainly hoped so, because at the rate they were going, the only other option was to try and bum a ride...

[Selina Taylor]

Selina glanced up at him when she heard him speaking again and paused, "Huh?" she asked before what he'd said registered more fully and she let out a laugh, "Yes, I know where the school is. I promise," she added with a smile. Since they'd been walking for a while, some of her tense energy had worn off and she was bit more amenable to talking.

Selina realized she'd probably been acting a bit strange, but he'd seemed to have taken it in stride. She absently wondered if he knew others or if he knew from his own personal experience, but decided not to ask. It might seem like too personal of a question, "So, how do like our lovely town of Kalispell so far?" she asked wryly. Part of her was trying to focus her thoughts down a different path and part of her was curious about him.   

[Nico Martell]

Nico noticed her momentary confusion, then the laugh, which had him smirking a little. At least she seemed to know where they were going, so he didn't have to worry about that. Still had some of that tense energy, but it wasn't exactly difficult to figure out where she'd picked that up. Nico just kept moving along, glad that his legs were fairly long and he was fit enough to keep up.

More walking, and then a question that had him letting out another dark laugh. He ran his hand through his hair, letting the strands fall around it while he smiled ruefully. "Seems nice. I just have to work on changing my skin color," he said, adding a little dry twist to it. At least they didn't seem to be followed, and as they moved, the amount of people seemed to be thinning out. Nico supposed that it would thicken when they got closer to the school... wherever that was.

He looked over at Selina, figuring that he should probably try to make small talk or something. Though he could already hear himself arguing the why. He didn't feel uncomfortable, and she seemed to need to work through whatever. Best to just keep walking for now, the silence growing between them.