Second Chance

[Nicolas Constantine]

"We can go to the park or something. The hard part would just be getting out of here. It's like a prison this time of the day..."

Nick knew the layout of the school very well and was thinking where in the place they could attempt to sneak out. The Pillars were the least bit on his mind, yet there was still a chance they could be caught by one. Or yet, worse, by two.

"There should be a smaller fence that we could climb over on the other side of the gym."

He motioned for Sam to follow him as he began briskly towards where he thought there would be an easy opening. Nick's face was void of any slyness, et cetera. Sneaking out of school was risky business, and if they got caught they might be sent back to class.

[Damien Kross, Jester]

My laugh would fill the gym, surely reaching the ears of the two students. I had entered through the door to their backs, investigating strange sounds I had heard while making my rounds. I never got tired of ditching students... They were oh so fun... Even more fun was seeing their attempts to get out of these situations... The excuses, the begging, the pleas- it was funny as all hell.

Now, the spider had caught two more flies.

"Ditching? In my school?" I asked them cockily, waving an authoritive finger. "Tsk tsk, I expect better from my apprentice." I said to Sam with a sly smile. "Mister Constantine though, I expect this from."

I would now begin to step towards the two students, hands in my pockets, eyes locked on the targets. My shoes would clack on the wooden floor, creating eerie echoes.

"So, here's the part where you come up with excuses and beg for mercy. 'Oh please Mister Pillar Sir, don't give me detention.' That's always a good one... Or 'Mister Kross, please spare me!' That's a good one too." I smiled wider. "Start talking you two."

[Sam Ballerino]

Sam spun, eyes wide. Her brain was a ticker tape of curse words. Of course, it would have to be Damien who found them, wouldn't it? Why, why, why?? She didn't know him well enough to know if he was going to go easy on her because she was his apprentice... but somehow she guessed he'd be more likely to go the opposite way. He seemed like a "tough love" sort of guy. She opened her mouth to respond, but for a minute nothing came out. She could feel her face getting red. He obviously wanted to hear them beg, but she wasn't about to give him that luxury. She wasn't scared of him... too much.

She looked up at him confidently, almost daringly, and began talking, hoping that whatever came out of her mouth actually sounded feasible, and was at least partially true. "I finished all my work for my class already, and I could give better lectures than the teacher herself. I'm not about to waste my time sitting in class twiddling my thumbs when I could be doing something useful." Her fingers twitched slightly as she tried to think fast and remain casual. "I was working on dance routines." She glanced at Nick. Damn. That excuse didn't cover him. "Nick... was helping me out. Critiquing me." Her heart was pounding, and she prayed Nick would play along.

[Nicolas Constantine]

The laugh sent chills up Nick's spine. Not because they were caught, but because the echo's vibrations shot through him. Nick was surprised this was the first time he had gotten caught while ditching, seeing as he did it almost daily. Perhaps that's why Damien expected it from him; the Pillars secretly knew, or something ridiculous like that.

Nick sighed. He didn't mind Damien and his rather cocky attitude, but he did mind when he acted like he owned the place. Which he didn't, so Nick thought, even though he was in a seat of power. Nick didn't care what he said to them, but he slumped when Sam started speaking.

He turned around after Sam had begun to explain the situation and come up with an excuse, fact or fiction. Of what he could tell, the story was truthful, but that was for Damien to decide. And then Sam started to cover up for Nick, which he wouldn't be a part of.

"Nick... was helping me out. Critiquing me."

Nick looked over to Sam and raised an eyebrow at her before turning back to Damien.

"What she's saying is the truth, other than me critiquing her. I don't know the first thing about dance. I was just... admiring her form." he smirked.

Something most people didn't know about Nick is that he didn't lie other than white lies and to save his life. This situation called for neither.

[Damien Kross, Jester]

"Admiring her form, eh?" I said, raising an eyebrow to Constantine. "Classy. You know, I was once a lot like you Nick... Back in New York, we were called skirt-chasers... Interesting to see people still carry the torch..." I looked to Sam. "And I might add, if you are playing that card, you picked a fine target. But, she is also my apprentice."

This was fun.

"Sam, regardless of your feelings of the quality of the class, it is against school rules to ditch... What am I supposed to do? Just let you do as you wish because of your personal beliefs? Hardly." I crossed my arms.

"So, what shall it be? Detention? School campus service? A beating and a spanking? Do tell. I'm all ears for suggestions." I grinned, awaiting my soon-to-be command.

Jester, this is cruel.

Hehe, I'm about to resolve Cruel Ultimatum on these kid's asses.

[Sam Ballerino]

Sam could feel her face getting even redder, but not out of shame or embarrassment this time. Watching the two of them have a good laugh at her expense was rubbing her entirely the wrong way... She recognized Damien's remark as a hidden compliment, but she was still peeved. Nick knew damn well they were nothing but friends, but that obviously didn't stop him from being attracted to her still. Man, she'd have to watch herself around him... he was the kind it was easy to naturally flirt with. And she definitely didn't want to give him any ideas... not with James in the picture.

She ignored Nick completely and copied Damien, crossing her arms and staring back at him. She wasn't willing to play his game. Not today. "I'm not the one in charge here," she said, defiance playing lightly around the edges of her voice. "You're the one who gets to decide the punishments, Your Pillarship. Not a lowly apprentice." After living with her father all her life, Sam almost NEVER defied authority, but she was getting annoyed now. Something in the back of her mind told her she might regret this later, but she didn't appreciate being ogled, by her trainer OR her friend, and at the moment she didn't really care about sucking up to authority. Detention wasn't too big a big deal, was it?

[Nicolas Constantine]

Nick furrowed his brow at Damien. A skirt-chaser? Hardly; Nick just had a knack for flirting, not necessarily to get in their pants. Okay, maybe he was, but he didn't like Damien pointing that out, especially in front of Sam, who would most likely think he just wanted to sleep with her.

Sam was now frustrated as he could see. She didn't like the way Damien was acting now, either it seemed, and she was talking back to him as he would when she was done.

"Excuse me, sir, but I don't appreciate you speaking about me in that manner. That's not what I'm about." he mocked.

It wasn't the best way to speak to a Pillar, but Nick had a little problem with his superiority complex.

[Damien Kross, Jester]

"OoOoOo, you still have some bite to you I see... That, and you also still don't know when to shut your God damned mouth." I squinted. "Here's how it's gonna go down you two, since both of you aren't much help in the ideas department."

I pulled a whistle out from my pocket.

"Each of you must do exactly as I say, or you will feel a very unpleasent feeling go through you." I offered a wicked grin. "Afterall, disobedient students and bad girls alike must be punished."

I spun the whistle around and around by it's neckstrap. "The game is Jester Says. Kinda like Simon Says, except not fucking lame. If you win, you get off free. If not, well... I'll let you find out."

I held the whistle up to them.

"This, is to make sure we understand each other. I'm sure both of you know of my... abilities... In my hands, this whistle is as deadly as a blade or a bullet... If of course, I let it be... So, shall we play?" I giggled.

"Jester says, stand on your left foot."

[Sam Ballerino]

Sam raised a skeptical eyebrow at the Pillar, leaning back on her hip. "What 'abilities'?" She scoffed. Sam couldn't think of a possible way that a freakin' whistle could be used as a deadly weapon. Of course, she'd heard rumors of stranger things that some of the students here could do...

She really, really wanted to wait for an answer from him. But she wasn't sure if it would be worth it to call his bluff. That giggle of his creeped her out a bit. She could take quite a bit of pain, probably whatever he could throw at her, but she didn't want to make her next training session with him too brutal, either. So she compromised with herself.

She tilted her body slightly to the left, so all of her weight was on her left side, and flexed her right foot slightly, lifting her toes mere inches above the ground.

She'd play. But not willingly.

[Nicolas Constantine]

Ability? Damien was most likely talking about his Qi, which Nick knew nothing about. He also didn't want to find out what it was if he could perform it from ten feet away.

Nick smirked. Oh, he would play Damien's little game, but he would be as cocky as he was. He looked over to Sam and saw that she was tilted on her left foot. Nick didn't move.

"Stand on our left foot, correct? Alright."

Nick stood as he was, and if Damien was as clever enough to figure out that he comprehended the question correctly, no matter what he actually had meant by it, then he would continue to play because Damien would be smart enough to be worth his time.

[Damien Kross, Jester]

Sam did as I commanded very cockily, barely lifting her foot into the air. Typical... Bitch needed to be taught a lesson... Sigh... Makes me miss the ol' Lust days, hm Damien?

The days when you were a psychotic rapist? Yeah, real peachy days there Jester...

Meh, you're a downer Damien...

Nick didn't move... Was he stupid? Did he wa- Oh, I get it... Technically, by standing up, he WAS standing on his left foot... Clever, but not my kind of comedy. Time to give BOTH of them a lesson.

"Sam, as your master, I don't appreciate your cockiness. Nick, playing off my words is witty, but you know very well what I meant." I brought the whistle up. "Behold, my Orchestra."

As my lips forced air into the whistle, the sound rang out as it always would. I let it linger a moment to give them a false impression- then, my Qi.

I would bend the sound waves, all those in the room within my possible radius, into their area. I pushed every bit of the whistle's piercing sound towards their bodies, allowing them the full blast of my Orchestra. It would cause no permanent damage, and since I would cut if off early, it would cause no hearing loss or bleeding- just mind shattering pain.

"LET'S TRY AGAIN, WITH MORE ENTHUSIASM!! STAND ON YOUR LEFT GOD DAMNED FOOT!!"

[Sam Ballerino]

Nick's interpretation of Damien's instructions amused her. Very witty. She wished she'd thought of it herself. Damien didn't seem to amused, though.

The edge of Sam's lip curled up into the smallest hint of a smile as Damien reprimanded her. She was getting to him. Awesome. The term master was a little bit unnerving for her, though. She felt... chained. But she needed him, and until she didn't anymore, she'd just have to get used to it.

Sam was brought back to reality by the sound of the whistle. Ooook... so he blew a whistle at her. What the hell was the point of -

Sam's head exploded. Somehow, the volume of the whistle had multiplied exponentially in an instant, it blew through her in a solid blast of severe pain that forced a scream out of her mouth; anything to block out the sound. When the pain faded, she found herself curled up on the floor, hands over her ears. Shakily, she stood up again. She glared at Damien, lips pursed angrily, but she gritted her teeth and lifted her right foot off the floor, pointing her foot into a perfect passé, foot pointed at her left knee and leg turned out. If she was going to be forced into his games, she might as well at least look pretty.

[Nicolas Constantine]

Nick gave a toothy smile when Damien reprimanded him for being witty.

Why thank you, Damien, thank you for the compliment.

"Behold, my Orchestra."

What? He was going to serenade them with orchestral music now? How charming of--

Chills ran through Nick's body a hundred times. He didn't scream or fall to the floor at the unsightly sound, but he was greatly disturbed by it. Nick wasn't as affected by it as Sam had been, as she had ended up writhing in pain, because he was used to sounds as loud as these. What really made him cringe was how high a register the noise went to. The loudness didn't effect Nick, but the pitch was nerve wrenching. Playing loud music directly into his ears and playing a plethora of instruments including the drums did allow him to hear sound above the normal range.

Right as the sound faded, Nick's leg shot up immediately.

[Damien Kross, Jester]

Good... Now they understood where they were in the food chain... Sam fell immediatly, but Nick seemed to have some resistance... Either Qi, or he is accustomed to loud sounds... Hehe, I might have to push his buttons soon.

"I have the ability to bend sound waves. A whistle is an extremely noisey little device, and just recieving some of the waves can be annoying. But when every sound wave coming from the device goes to you... Ouch, huh?" I smiled. "Now, it gets worse... I just pushed the waves towards you. I have the ability to move the waves directly into your ears... Damage to your hearing, bleeding, so many fun things... Things that I can promise will send you down Nick." I squinted at him.

"Jester says act like a noisy chicken." I smiled, beginning to issue more fun commands. "And make this one good." I put the whistle in my mouth, ready to blow it in case one of them tried anything tricky.

[Sam Ballerino]

Sam listened to Damien's explanation of his ability, comprehension dawning. In the gym, the sound waves in here would be multiplied, creating more ammo for Damien to use against them.

And then Damien made his next request. Sam put her foot down and stared at him. Is he serious...? A chicken?? She glanced at Nick, giving him a lok of "Can you believe this guy!?" But that whistle hurt. Really hurt. And if what he was saying was true, that was just the least he could do to her. She didn't want to know what else he was capable of.

So slowly, slowly, she gave in. She stuck out her elbows, imitating wings, and bent her knees like chicken legs. She just hoped and prayed that nobody would ever hear of this. Ever. And quietly... "Bawk, bawk..."