InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Or coming and staying?"

i_wantmortality (i_wantmortality) wrote in we_coexist,
@ 2011-09-21 13:34:00

Entry tags:

nick knight, rufio

To Serve and Protect...Or At Least Protect (Rufio)
The total lack of sunshine should have been a blessing for any vampire. Unfortunately for Nick, the raging storm had mostly kept him inside anyway. While the rain wasn't a bother, the high winds were a difficulty even for him. And there was no way he was taking any chances with a tornado. It couldn't harm him, very little could, but that didn't mean he wanted to experience the inside of one any time soon. So he waited it out in his new loft.

When at last things seemed to be calming down, Nick took to the sky. It was still clouded over enough that the sun was nothing to worry about, and night would be upon the City before the clouds were likely to clear. Just in case, Nick kept an eye on the clouds as he flew.

He wanted to see if there was anyone that needed help. From this vantage point, he could see and hear for great distances. The destruction was immense. Far fewer buildings seemed to have avoided the storm's wrath than succumbed, yet it didn't seem anyone was in serious danger or needed aid. Until he heard a boy's voice.

Let. Me. GO!

Turning, he flew in the direction of the shout. He forced himself to go faster, hoping he would be in time to stop whatever it was that was happening to the child. He arrived in time to see a boy, probably in his teens, sporting something of a punk rocker's hair and clothing, turn and run away from a man. Nick flew ahead of him, landing behind a tree and stepping out in time for the youth to run right into him.

"Whoa!" He reached out and gripped the boy's upper arms. "Are you alright?" Nick looked behind the kid to see if the man had followed, but could see no one.

"Don't you think you should be inside somewhere? It's kind of dangerous out here right now."

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i_cancrow
2011-09-22 12:26 am UTC (link)

As soon as the boy was out of the man's sight Rufio had taken off at a sprint to escape. He didn't trust the stranger not to follow, and kept his head down and eyes on the ground in front of him to avoid downed trees and branches. When the new man stepped out from behind the tree Rufio wasn't even looking, too distracted and winded to stop himself. He slammed into the man with a yelp, feeling a cold pair of hands wrap around his arms, and immediately acted on instinct while he tried to catch up mentally which what had just happened.

He spun, well used to worming out of the grasp of pirates, indians, and bigger boys. It really didn't have anything to do with strength, just quickness and a willing to turn and move awkwardly, sudden movements that were easy to pull off no matter how confusing the situation.

Aiming a kick at the man's middle (more as a deterrent to try and follow than an actual attack) as he scrabbled away Rufio stumbled, reaching out and managing to pull his sword free just as he tripped. He hit the ground hard on his butt, but swung the sword up to be between him and this new stranger, scrabbling away and looking back the way he'd come, also intent on seeing if the magical person had followed.

"What the hell!" he yelled, heart pounding so hard it almost hurt. He was still gasping for air from the run, and now the fear that had been invoked by the man he'd just fled had erupted into flat out terror. Were these old men just popping up out of the ground to get him?

"Stay away from me!" he spat, looking around just in case anybody else came out to try to grab him. The sword, normally held as steadily and skillfully as any seasoned veteran, wavered as he trembled violently. He grabbed the handle with both hands to steady the blade, backing himself into a tree and pushing into it. He couldn't stop himself from shaking, but he made an enormous effort to hide the movement by pressing into the trunk, feet digging into the soil from the effort. "All of you, stay away, or I'll run you through!"

It was just too much. The storm, the destruction of his home, then the stranger who could trap him with magic, and now this guy coming out of nowhere and grabbing him. It was overwhelming the young Pan's nerves and reverting him back to a scared child, instead of a warrior-emulating preteen he worked so hard to be.

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i_wantmortality
2011-09-22 06:24 pm UTC (link)

Had Nick wanted to hold him, he would have had no trouble doing so. He didn't feel it was in the youth's best interest to try to physically detain him. So he put up no resistance as the boy spun his way out of his grasp.

The kick to his midsection was unnecessary, but again, Nick tried to sympathize with the boy in his current state. It wasn't a hard enough blow to even make him double over. The threat of the sword was met with little more than amusement, particularly since he looked like he was trying to become a part of the tree's trunk, though his kept the emotion hidden. He needed to calm the boy down, not make matters worse by laughing at him

"It's alright." Nick put his hands up in a display of surrender. "I'm not going to hurt you. I saw you running from that man and just wanted to make sure you were ok."

He slowly reached his hand into his inside jacket pocket, pulling out his wallet and flipping it open. "See, I'm a cop." It didn't matter at the moment that he wasn't technically a member of the City's police force. Although the changes to his badge still had him puzzled. Perhaps, once he settled in a bit, he would have to take a trip to the station. See what was what.

"How about you put that sword away, and just calm down a bit. Then you can tell me what that man did to scare you."

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i_cancrow
2011-09-23 08:28 am UTC (link)

Rufio looked back towards the woods again, but the first stranger hadn't followed. He lifted the point of the sword, holding it towards him as he watched the other. The large piece of metal he pulled out - some kind of coin, maybe? - glinted, but the case it was in and the paper under it made no sense. The Pan's eyes narrowed.

"What do I care what you are? Just stay away from me!" he said, rolling over and picking himself up unsteadily, one hand supporting himself against the tree. He let his sword fall to his side, but he wasn't about to sheath it like this cop person suggested. He was still ready to run him through if he had to. Almost impulsively his hand jerked up, testing to see if the invisible bonds were around him again. They weren't, but he pushed away from the tree anyway, intent on keeping in motion.

"You wanna know what he did? Go back and see for yourself." he snarled, angry that he wasn't fully in control of himself. He pushed up from the ground, heels lifting off the leafy earth, but his weight fell back again almost immediately. Nope. His happy thought was lost, and until he could creep away and reorient himself he wasn't likely to get a good enough hold of it to fly again.

The sword point flicked around Rufio's knees and waist as he circled the man, jerking his hand in empty space again. He couldn't get rid of the feeling of the invisible ties that had pulled him into the air against his will. It was like they were still there, just not pulled tight. Like spiderwebs he couldn't shake off. "Go on, cop. Maybe your stupid coin will impress him. Or maybe he'll rip your head off. Who cares?"

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i_wantmortality
2011-09-25 01:47 pm UTC (link)

So the kid had trust issues. That was hardly surprising, and to Nick's mind was probably a good thing. Parents taught their children not to talk to strangers for a reason. He watched curiously as the boy began to jump, wondering what had possessed him to do that. Maybe it was a distraction technique, as the boy didn't seem to by shorted in his mental faculties.

As the youth began to circle him, Nick stayed still, turning only his head to watch him. He had no fear of the sword, and even less of the wielder. It was more to ensure the kid didn't just run off and get himself into more trouble.

"The storm had made it even more dangerous to be out here in the dark and the sun will set soon." Nick might not be able to view the sun through the cloud cover, but he could feel it, and had already noticed the light beginning to dim. "Where are your parents? Where do you live?"

"I'm really not going to hurt you. I just want to get you home safe. You can't stay out here."

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i_cancrow
2011-09-25 09:52 pm UTC (link)

Rufio huffed at the idea of it being dangerous out. Despite the pair he'd run into he only thought he should stay away from the woods right now, since obviously all of the dangerous nutjobs were running around the woods after the storm.

"I'm not afraid of the dark," he scoffed, the idea making him wonder why he should be. The dark was something that some Lost Boys feared at first, until they learned the right games to play that made it not as scary. "And parents are stupid. Don't have any, don't want any." Except maybe a mother, but he wasn't about to tell this old man that.

He also wasn't about to bring up his home. The warehouse was too damaged to be a decent shelter at the moment, but he'd fix it. He wasn't about to let the man know where it was.

He lowered his sword as he completed his circle around the man. He hadn't moved and wasn't scared. That meant he just didn't want to fight, and while normally Rufio would antagonize him and try to start something, he just wasn't in any condition to be fighting at the moment. He sheathed his sword, then crossed his arms over his chest defensively.

"I can stay where I want to. Why don't you go home if you're so scared?"

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i_wantmortality
2011-10-03 07:18 pm UTC (link)

"There is nothing about the night that frightens me. Quite the opposite, in fact. And I don't think that's a good idea. Not tonight."

The boy didn't quite seem to get it. He'd just been chased off by someone, and now stood before the vampire thinking that he could act all tough and he'd be alright. He wanted to give him credit for his bravery, only the line between that and stupidity was far too thin in this case.

"You need a place to lay low for a bit. Let this get cleaned up. What if a gang of looters came by? You might be okay on your own with one person, but a whole group?"

Nick felt bad about the boy not having any parents, and it did explain a thing or two. There was no knowing how long the kid had been on his own. He'd developed a sense of self-protection, but he still hadn't seemed to develop much in the way of street smarts.

"Look, I'm Nick. Nick Knight. Let me take you somewhere to wait out this mess. Get you a warm meal and a warm bed for a night or two. Trust me, there are things in this night you don't want to face."

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i_cancrow
2011-10-04 02:04 am UTC (link)

Get cleaned up? Why on earth would he want to clean up? Half the fun of any adventure was getting messy and then not caring. It was one of the many benefits of not having parents.

The first hint of hint of the man taking him anywhere had his hand back on the hilt of his weapon, and he glared.

"Touch me an it will be your last move, pirate," he snarled.

A warm meal sounded great, he hadn't really had one since he'd gotten here, and it was true his home was wrecked, but he'd sooner sign up to have himself skinned alive than go anywhere with a man who was trying to lure him in with such stupid promises.

"I'm Rufio the Pan. I don't need any stupid adult telling me where to go or not to go. I kill gangs of pirates all the time, they don't scare me."

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i_wantmortality
2011-10-07 05:56 pm UTC (link)

"I'm not a pirate." To himself, Nick mused that Rufio wouldn't be able to possibly guess what he was, but he was not about to enlighten the youth. "And there are worse things in this City than pirates."

He considered picking the kid up and flying away with him to somewhere safe, but that would only alienate him from the boy even more. he would rather be able to slowly gain the boy's trust, and keep an eye on him in the meantime. He hadn't missed the sudden, but short, interest when he mentioned a hot meal. Nick wondered when the last time was that Rufio had eaten something of real substance.

"Look, will you at least wait here for me if I go get you something to eat? It's on me. No strings attached."

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i_cancrow
2011-10-09 12:30 pm UTC (link)

"No? You're old and skulking about. Seems like a pirate to me," Rufio snorted. There was definitely something odd about him. Something Rufio wasn't familiar with, but not in quite as deep away as the other man. It was more.... something off about this one's physical self.

Rufio nearly pulled his sword again. "Why would you want to get me anything?" he demanded. "What do you want from me?" There were always strings, especially when the adult said there were none.

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