[LOG] Have you used up all the love in your heart?
Lunch time is usually Alec's favorite time of the day when it comes to school. On this afternoon, however, he looks like he's suffering from the worst hangover known to man. He's sitting outside at one of the tables near a tree, sipping from a can of energy drink and trying not to look so out of it. Sugar crashes suck. He looks like he got dressed in the dark to boot; his hair's disheveled, his t-shirt's wrinkled to hell and back, and he forgot a belt for his jeans. Oh, don't mind the two different colored socks either.
Lately, Clara hasn't been out of the house much. Her ability, something she's learned how to mostly control, has been freaking out on her, and as a result, things have been shattering, falling off shelves, catapulting off desks-- she manages to keep it down during class, but her room's been a complete mess, and her house is not fairing too well either. Poor Ethan has had to deal with a lot of it.Today, she's been hearing some very interesting rumors and gossip, and all of it, from various sources, have not been all that great. So on top of her being pissed off because she can't manage to keep a pencil on her desk to save her life, she's pissed off about hearing this stuff. And she doesn't want to talk to Alec, because she'd rather sulk furiously. So that's what she's doing, walking across the tables and pointedly ignoring Alec as she does.
Alec squints, bleary eyed and looking like he's about five seconds away from crawling under his table for a nap. He chugs the rest of his drink and goes to set the can down, but instead he somehow crushes it flat under his palm. Looks like Clara's not the only one having power issues. Though, this is pretty new to him. He's never been the strong sort after all.Once he can lift his head without feeling like he wants to die he spots Clara, frowns, and gets up. Time to go chat with the girl and hope she doesn't play hacky sack with his junk. "...Siren?" Cue Clara stiffening and pausing mid-stomp. She turns around, adjusting her backpack and staring at Alec as he gets up. Somewhere she feels a little bit of sympathy for him, judging by the way he stands up like his head is going to explode, but then she remembers why she's angry and she has to concentrate so that his head won't /actually/ explode. She shoves her hands in her pockets and watches him, expression cold. "What?"
Alec takes a step back. If he was a dog his tail would be so far tucked between his legs that it would be inside of him. "I, uh..." He rubs at the back of his neck as he tries to kick his brain into gear. Work, you stupid pink blob. "I fucked up." That's one way to put it. He focuses his eyes on the ground in front of Clara instead of looking directly at her.
"Did you?" Clara asks, raising her eyebrows. There is nothing happy at all about her, from her expression to her body language. And really, it's not even so much that she's pissed at Alec doing all that crap-- it's more than she was finally, finally letting herself be close to someone, and of course, /of course/, it ends up like this. Everything else has, why would she expect anything different? "So people haven't been spreading nasty untrue rumors. Glad /that's/ cleared up." It's a miracle she hasn't started cussing. There are leaves starting to whip out and start a mini whirlwind around her feet, though.
He knows when he's defeated and in a boat load of trouble, so Alec keeps impossibly quiet while Clara talks. Her not swearing is the scariest part, at least then he knows he has a chance of crawling out of his self dug grave. "I don't know what to say other than I was a complete and utter fuckup." His voice is soft, a little empty around the edges, and he still won't look directly at her. "I really, really screwed up this time, and I don't know what to do to make it better." He doesn't even puppy face. He's quite blank, actually, like he's been drained of any emotion negative or otherwise. "Maybe I don't deserve to make it better."
"You know," Clara starts, and /now/ she sounds angry. Upset, even. "You know, I thought maybe this time I'd get to have something good. But I'm a fucking moron, apparently, I don't learn from the shit that's gone down." Her hands come out of her pockets, balling into fists. "This /always/ happens when I put my trust in people. Always." The leaves around her feet actually... explode, almost, shredding themselves up into tiny pieces. "Why the hell should you be any different? I figured that-- I figured if I wasn't good enough you'd at least have the balls to tell me to my face, but I guess I was fucking wrong, right?"
There's not even a flinch when those leaves go poof, even though it could've just as easily been his skull or something. Alec keeps on staring at the ground, unsure of what to say or if saying anything would even help at this point. This isn't a situation he's been in before and he's way over his head in 'oh god'. Is saying nothing better than blabbering like an idiot? He's not sure. But what he is sure of is that he's feeling pretty damn frustrated, not at Clara but at himself, so when he suddenly turns it's not to walk away from her but to punch a nearby tree which...well, that's unexpected. There's now a fist sized hole going through the trunk and Alec's hand is covered in splinters. That's a new trick.
Oh yeah, definitely drawing in a crowd now. Clara has a mini hurricane going on and Alec's just punched a hole in a tree, and Clara is by no means done with her angry rant. She stares at the hole for a second, and then, things from the crowd are going to go flying-- books are pushed out of hands, bags open and things shoot out up into the air, things like that. She's working herself up into a sort of frenzy, like a ticking bomb-- really, there's only two ways she's going to calm down: big brother intervention or the tree Alec's just punched through becoming splinters. "That's all? That's all you fucking have? You're not gonna say-- admitting you're a fuck up is not a fucking apology, you asshole!" Clara shouts, and she's causing a scene but who cares? "I don't want a fucking apology anyway. It's my fault for letting you--" And here she stops because they're in public, and she's not about to go spilling everything in front of a crowd. Instead, a crack appears in the trunk of the tree with a sharp noise. Oh yay.
Crowd? Alec doesn't even care. He's angry at himself, at what he did, and he's going to be having words with Gram later. Oh yes. He turns his back to the tree and finally looks at Clara, his eyes dark and full of hurt. "All I fucking have is you, Clara!" he yells back, throwing his hands into the air. "And now I don't even think I have that! A sorry isn't going to cut it for me this time, we both know that!"
The crowd forming is hard to miss, and Ethan sure isn't an exception. First he thinks there's a fight, so he lingers around the edges, but then he gets that /feeling/ -- there's energy in the air, and it's the energy he only feels around Clara. And, well, after a moment of listening, that voice is definitely familiar. Oh, shit. Ethan pushes through the crowd as the energy builds, shoving people aside, barely muttering any 'excuse me's, just determined to get t sister and calm her down. "Clara!"
Clara can't find it in her to feel sorry for Alec at all-- later she will, when she's curled up in bed, but right now she's so /angry/. "How would you even /know/? You didn't even try!" She can't control it, and she wants to scream some more but she can't really think of what to say, and a branch from the tree makes this sickening snapping noise, falling loose-- and then she hears Ethan's voice. She can't stop her emotions from flaring up even worse, but she does turn, looking for her brother, waiting for him to break free of the crowd.
Ethan's not the only one who caught wind of something going down. Del's certainly not on lunch duty, but she is taking a leisurely walk around school grounds during her lunch hour. With a sprint, she quickly approaches the squabble...between Clara and Alec? Also, what happened to that tree? Oh, goodness. "Hey, both of you!" She shouts at the two teenagers, "What the hell's going on?" Considering her coworkers, the kids have probably heard worse.
Alec doesn't have explosion powers but what he does have is a freakishly amped up everything going on right now. "Fine, Clara! I'm sorry! I'm sorry I fucked up in what is the worst way possible! I'm sorry I'm a complete fucking idiot!" That tree gets more abuse, another punch from him as he turns, and then it just snaps in half. Well. Now there's a broken tree. And an incoming teacher! And angry big brother!
Ethan breaks free of the crowd and heads straight for Clara and Alec, taking Clara by the shoulders and leading her a few steps backwards before turning back to Alec, who has totally busted the tree by this point. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"
The second Ethan grabs her, the whirlwind of leaves and the startling cracking noises from the tree stop; Clara turns and clings to her brother, shoulders shaking-- she won't let herself sob, but she can't help but hold on as tightly as possible. This only lasts for a second, and then she pulls away and runs off, trying to get as far away as possible from the school; needless to say she's probably going to skip the rest of school. She doesn't care about getting in trouble for it right now.
Oh, god. That poor tree. But Del isn't exactly your run of the mill teacher and she frowns at all three of them. "The rest of you, scatter. Nothing more to see here." Grudgingly, most of the crowd starts to disperse, a few lingering around to see the aftermath. When Clara bolts, she sighs, looking to the boys. "Now, anyone want to explain what's going on here, or do I have to direct you to Principal Blake's office?" It's not a fist fight, so she's not going to send them packing if they're willing to cooperate. She has a pretty good idea of what it's about, but she's not going to make assumptions.
"What the fuck is wrong with me?! Have you /met/ me?!" Alec yells at Ethan. It's probably the most words he's ever said to the other guy. "I. Have. Fucked. Up!" He says each word slowly and gestures to Clara as she runs off. "I have single handedly ruined the only good thing in my life and I fucking punched a tree in half!" Yeah, Alec has many things all clusterfucking at once. He's not really himself. He glares at the approaching teacher with far more temper than he usually shows towards, well, anyone really. "Nothing's going on, okay?!" So much yelling. "Everything's /fine/!"
"Great. Great fucking job. Fucking --" Ethan is about to run after his sister, but the teacher addresses the both of them, so he kind of shifts his weight. He can't help it - he looks irritated when he speaks to her. "I just came to break it up. So /excuse me/, but I have to go find my sister." He turns, trying to see if she's completely disappeared by now.
Del crosses her arms. She does not like the tone either boys have, but the worst she can do in the case is frown disapprovingly. At least, at Ethan. "Go on, make sure she's alright." Then, Alec. Alone. Most of the students have realized nothing is happening here now and have wandered off back to class or into the building. "Calm down, Alec. Take a breath. We should get you to the nurse." Because, well, punching trees isn't exactly easy on the flesh.
So. Angry. Alec balls his hands into fists and stares at Del like it's some sort of unspoken challenge. "Fuck the nurse, I'm fine," he growls out. "I don't need to see the nurse." He turns to walk away, not even looking in Ethan's direction.