So It's Said (Open)

[Kanika Stryker]

Page 5: Initiation

Are you hardcore? You tough shit? Able to pound anyone's ass into dust at a moment's notice? You're fucked. Public High School number 42 will pwn your face off faster than you can pull your damn pants up. Dumbass gangster wanna-be.

Public High School 42 doesn't know the meaning of the word "defense." Their defense is shoving a fist through your left eye so quickly your right eye will go blind. They'll hospitalize you and all the teachers will say is "that's how they say hello."

These guys make Bruce Lee look like Chuck Norris, and they make Chuck Norris look like a seven year old ballerina. This isn't practice. This is full-out, balls through the wall, brutality. People are permanently maimed here. And that's just the lowest peons in the whole scheme of things.

You've got to deal with the Pillars. Despite the name, these guys aren't just some support system. These guys are the school's aluminum baseball bats, and they're swinging for your kneecaps. The four of them together can take the rest of the school. They are the best of ANYTHING. Your lame ass will be smashed into a pulp just by hearing one's name.

Welcome to PHS 42. Where your dreams, your hopes, and your pretty face all get flushed down the crapper.

Fight like you got a pair.

Because you may not have that pair for long.

Kanika sighed as she tossed the printed packet of information in her assigned locker. So not only has she been moved away from all the people she knew, she'd been stuck in this school of all of them. That packet had been a set downloaded information from a PHS 42 survivor. He'd written an entire fifty something page guide to surviving the high school system through various means based on one's own attributes.

There were plenty of warnings on the first day too. In fact, she'd already hit the first warning dead center. She had her back turned to the crowd because she was at her locker. Lockers were notorious for being perfect ambush spots. But there were few instances of spontaneous face-to-locker meetings without warning. No, the true danger started as soon as she turned away.

And it was right. She closed the locker and turned around, to see some metal-faced short guy with a neon green mohawk. A stupid grin was on his face and both his hands were stuck in his pockets. "Alright, new boy..." His face contorted a little as he realized the mistake. "I was gonna just kick your ass... But tell you what... You put aside your natural preferences and give me a little somethin' and I might just keep your face intact."

She had a few options. If she felt she could take him, kicking an ass would help solidify her status as above the very bottom of the ladder, and she'd receive less threats overall through the year. Running was an option too. She could slip through the halls easier than him most likely. But that would put her at the very bottom and she'd be running a lot through her time at PHS 42. The third was the hardest option, because it relied on luck more than anything else, and that was to have someone come to her rescue. Some of the "good guys" or even the pillars made a habit of taking down the trash that preyed on the new blood.

Her head tilted to the side a slight bit as she glared down at him. "You caught me at the wrong time of the month, bitch boy." She was going for the kicked ass scenario, of course. Kanika felt confident enough that she could hold her own for a little bit at least. "Now if you don't scram like the little twat that you are, I'm going to take all that metal out of your face, shove it all down your gullet, and cut you open with an index card until you look like you're making an appearance on CSI."

Unfortunately, though he seemed taken aback by the comments, he wasn't exactly aiming to run off. Bloody hell... I rolled a four on my intimidate check...

[ChocoRem]

Rem's daily trek through the hallways of PHS#42 were much different than those he'd had whilst at #259. First of all, there were much less people fighting randomly in the corridors. That was all there was to #259 really. Heaven forbid actually aiming for intellectual pursuits. He sighed. Back then, he'd just be trolling the halls for 'adventure' as he'd called it. It usually ended up being tossed out of a classroom that he didn't belong to. Now, though, Rem had no classrooms to go to. He didn't need that many credits to graduate. Why, was he still at the school then? Simple, its relative peacefulness was intoxicating.

"Alright, new boy... I was gonna just kick your ass... But tell you what... You put aside your natural preferences and give me a little somethin' and I might just keep your face intact."

And there was divine retribution out to get him again. Why couldn't he get through one day at #42 without being reminded of #259?

"You caught me at the wrong time of the month, bitch boy. Now if you don't scram like the little twat that you are, I'm going to take all that metal out of your face, shove it all down your gullet, and cut you open with an index card until you look like you're making an appearance on CSI."

This little exchange was between a girl and another of those throw-away, generic thugs that one might find in schools such as these. She'd stood up to him, but it didn't appear as though she had had the desired effect. Rem sighed. Looks like his serenity was being threatened. His eyes glared darkly at the aggressor.

"Please, I know this might be difficult for you to understand, so I'll say it as stupidly as I can. Be quiet and leave."

[Elmira Medina]

From an outsider's perspective, it looked like Elmira was staring into her locker. In actuality, she had hung up a travel-sized mirror on the door of it, which she was gazing into intently as she began to recurl her eyelashes, as they had seemed to be getting a little droopier than she preferred. Any jolt or quick movement would end up being very painful, as the eyelash curler was clamped tight and would probably tug at her eyelid if jerked away.

There was a bit of commotion going on nearby. It wasn't surprising enough to make her mess up, but she had a feeling that if somebody got slammed into a locker or tossed a punch, her next step- coating her lashes with mascara- would end up with black streaks down her face, and then she would be very angry. Of course, each party sounded tough (there were three voices she could differentiate thus far), and she was not about to violently jump in for the sake of her make-up session. Elmira was a pleasure seeker, more notably through alcohol than through sexual experimentation, as one might assume from such a label, and getting beaten to a bloody pulp was far from pleasurable. There was a certain enjoyable adrenaline rush from fighting in general, but this instance did not provide for that to last very long.

"Ugh. Shut up and take it somewhere else," she muttered, assuming the comment would be enough to make them leave yet not enough to drag her into the situation.

[Kanika Stryker]

"Tch... Gonna defend the bitch?" The rather overdone punk spat on the hallway floor. It was rather detestable. It didn't even add anything other than a few points of stupid to the guy's score. But, after his little display of saliva propulsion technique, he turned around and walked off, seemingly calm as day. "I'll just kick your asses later."

Apparently there wasn't much respect for the so called "classic" locker confrontations. With the interfering comments from the other people around. The guide had been written some time ago, at PHS 42's worst days. After the PHS 259 students were transferred in, there was some buzz that there was going to be a lot more confrontation with 259's reputation. Hence why she'd been prepared for the worst, even with an outdated guide.

Still, it seemed to be over. It had been exciting for all of one ten-thousandth of a second. Not even. So she got on with what she needed to do, closing the door on the locker and clamping it shut with a combination lock. She'd never use a key lock. People could jam a wad up gum up there and then she'd be screwed over. Not like she had much in there. Most of her books were kept in her messenger bag, so she went to the locker only a few times a day if at all. There was no mirror, no makeup, no pictures of Justin Timberlake or whoever the current media glory hog was. Just a few books and handouts.

She readjusted her messenger bag on her shoulder, getting it so the strap wasn't weighing down on a fold of her plain black hoodie. With the hoodie and cargo pant combo, she wasn't at all surprised she'd been mistaken for a boy at first. It was something she'd dealt with for quite a while already. Not that she emphasized appearances or anything. With things out of sight and out of her mind now, she tilted her head to look at the guy who'd come to help tell off the rather comically dressed 80's punk. She gave him a quick nod and a mouthed "thanks," not wanting to make any big deal out of the mini-encounter.

[ChocoRem]

"Tch... Gonna defend the bitch? I'll just kick your asses later."

Rem kept his dark gaze on the punk as he walked away and didn't let up until he had gotten lost into the crowd. Then he simply turned back to the girl and gave her a warm smile as she mouthed him thanks.

"Don't mention it. "

He offered a hand.

"This your first day? Don't let jerks like that make you think badly of the school. It's actually a pretty nice place. I'm Rem Aoyama. Nice to meet you."

[Kanika Stryker]

Kanika took the one last step needed to make proper hand contact. Her hand came out in a rather sweeping motion, palm flat. And as the two palms made their contact, a nicely loud smacking sound was brought forth. And as soon as it rang out, her hand was gone, retreating back to her side. It'd been: The Greeting Five. And when her hand got back to her side, she snapped her fingers. She had a one-sided grin, same as she usually had when she was in a decent mood. Hence the Scrubs reference.

"Kanika." Last name? Not necessary. Her name was unique enough that the last wasn't needed. That and, it wasn't her style. "Yeah, I'm a newbie here. Quite frankly, I was expecting waaay worse. I figured I'd have to fight way way through the first day."

[ChocoRem]

"Kanika."

Rem's first instinct was to pull his hand back to avoid it. Coming from such a violent school made you wary of others' movements, especially those that didn't conform to social norms. However, it only took him a second to figure out what she was doing. A greeting. He happily met it.

"Yeah, I'm a newbie here. Quite frankly, I was expecting waaay worse. I figured I'd have to fight way way through the first day."

He chuckled lightly.

"You still just might. Punks like that one are a dime a dozen here. Still... from what you've just said, you can probably take good care of yourself."