Welcome to Gaia! ::

Jane was…well. She was looking for rocks. But the teacher had noticed her going off the trail to look for a larger batch of the pieces of land and had escorted her, or rather, pulled her back to the rest of the group. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. Her feet dragged on the ground and well in the back of the rest of the class as she pouted. Collecting souvenirs was what you were supposed to do on field trips. A hiking trip was no exception. It wasn’t like she was going to get lost. She was only going to be a few feet away!

But the teacher would have none of that. Maybe if she trailed in the back long enough the teacher would forget and she could wander. All she had to do was slow her step. The teach was stupid enough to go back to the front anyway. There was still a chance. They still had a few hours on this hike.
WC: 166

Zeke…wasn’t too fond of hiking. There were fleas, ticks, roots to trip on, and obstacles to climb. It was far too much work, especially on a field trip. He had wished that there was a parental slip that “parents” had to sign in order to go because he had no parents. Not even a “guardian”. He had been orphaned, left at a church that he hadn’t been at since…well, since he came to live at the academy. No one ruled over him. Except…the school. When they could catch him. Apparently they found it important enough to snag him for this “field” trip. Lame.
The junior had been forced to walk in front of the rest of the pack of students, to stay with the teacher. After the first time he pushed a student to trip over a root, it was apparent that he couldn’t be trusted. Typical Ezekiel. His name was well known by the faculty at being a pure menace that was always up to no good. However; another student going off the trail for something gave him the opportunity to move. So move he did…gradually to the back. To where there weren’t any pesky adults telling him to do this or that.
Where he could unleash his own terror on others. He side eyed the elf that was told to stay on the course and gave her a grin. She seemed not to notice. Huh. Weird. That wouldn’t do. His eyes wandered down…and to her pockets. ”What’s that?” he asked as he was reaching over quickly, stuffing a hand in and deftly taking out..rocks? The boy raised a brow. ”Who has rocks in their pocket?!”
WC: 277

Jane had been quite fine by herself and looking at the scenery—or rather, looking at the ground and trying to find more rocks for her collection. She didn’t need to be a buddy for company.

Still, he came. Ezekiel. An involuntary shudder ran down her spine and one of her hands curled around her other arm’s elbow, suddenly uncomfortable. She knew of him. Fortunately, never had the “joy” of talking to him..well, until now. Possibly.

Ignore them; they’ll go away and get bored. Ignore them and they’ll go away. They’ll go away. She turned her head just to peek to see if the student that was bothering her was still there.
He was. Dang. What was she going to do now?

Well, she didn’t exactly have a choice in what to do now. He wasn’t going to leave her alone. Or rather, she wasn’t going to leave him alone. ”Give those back!” her fingers balled up into fists as she took a step towards him. ”They’re mine! And special.” She didn’t want to hurt him. But if she had to…she would.

No one takes her friends from her without a fight.
WC: 192

The hybrid smirked at her reaction and lifted the rock up. ”Oh this?” he gave her a toothy grin. It was just a piece of gravel, nothing more. Why…it wasn’t even a pretty color. Grey. Slightly jagged. Boring. Why did she have such an obsession with rocks? What was she, a freshling? They weren’t anything special. More of a nuisance than anything when they got underneath a nightmare’s feet. He tsked, before his narrowed gaze went to the elf. ”You’re such a freak.” Not like that was the first time that she heard that. Probably.

Yeah, she didn’t seem fazed in the slightest. ”What’s so special about these rocks anyway huh?” he took a step back, fully prepared to throw the rock. Maybe a game of fetch was in her favor.
WC: 131

Oh, did she want to hit him. She wanted her knuckles to slam into his face and make his nose nice and bloody so bad. She wouldn’t have even cared if she broke his nose or better yet, made him blind. She wouldn’t feel a bit of guilt even if he started bawling like a little infant. Jane was close to seeing red; the sides of her vision blurred. Should she hit him?

The sight of Lilly’s face crossed her mind, making her fingers untense. No, she shouldn’t. Lilly wouldn’t be happy with her getting into a fight. Lilly might even get after her….Or take care of her after she got hit. That would be…cute. She wouldn’t mind that. Jane shook her head. No! She had to do what was right.

”Please, give them back,” the rock that Zeke was holding was actually one of her top favorites. Lilly had given it to her during one Christmas. She couldn’t lose it, especially not now. It’s what kept her grounded. Made her feel safe. She didn’t respond when he called her a freak. That was normal. A lot of kids called her weird, strange, gossiped behind her back ever since she was a freshling. That didn’t matter to her . All she needed was her dad, her rocks and…Lilly.

He had a hold of what she considered a part of Lilly. Brown eyes went wide as he lifted his arm up. The threat was clear—he was going to throw them. He couldn’t! ”No, stop!” The elf junior moved forward, now fearful. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that he would throw it. He was so---so----evil! Worse than any nightmare or daydream in any of her books or in any fairytale.
”It’s important, my friend gave me that rock.” Not like he deserved that answer. Jane gulped, realization hitting. If anything it gave him more power. He was going to throw it wasn’t he? She could feel her heart racing. ”Please, give it back.” Did he have a heart? Would he listen to her begging?

She hoped so.
WC: 350

Heh. A sadistic grin unfurled on his lips at the sight of the terror in her eyes. So she was going to talk. So she wasn’t as invincible as she tried to seem. A low hallow laugh left his lips and gradually got louder. It was always the ones who were quiet who were the most weak, the most vulnerable. The easiest prey to snag. He had noticed it with Jossiah, and then with Ecco. Gullible, easy to manipulate, easy to use for his own mind games. Including this girl. He loved it, thrived on it. Jane was no exception. It was easy to tell that she was obsessed with rocks. It was what the teachers got after her for; the rocks were the only things that she interacted with in class most of the time. ”Your friend gave it to you, huh?” What a weird friend.

Zeke’s calculating attention turned to the other junior. What should he do in this situation? Most of the time, he would throw it to get an immediate reaction. Right now….well. It was like he could gather more from this, couldn’t he? There had to be more in it for him. It was like he could hold it…hostage. And then throw it, of course. After all, it was just a rock.

”Hm, you know what, I’m feeling nice today.” he gave her a toothy, open mouthed grin before tucking the rock in his jean’s pocket. ”Well, for now. What would you do to get this back?” he patted his pocket for emphasis. ”Nothin’ comes for free, y’know.”
WC:263

Jane tensed at the mention of her friend and nodded tersely. Did he not believe her? It seemed like he did. But she was surprised. He didn’t seem the type to really…care about people. At all. Why would he wonder. Why didn’t he throw it? She was grateful, had fully expected to spring and try to catch the rock but…he didn’t.

Instead, he put it in his pocket. She didn’t know whether to be afraid or relieved. All she knew was that she was extremely uncomfortable.

And her suspicions were right. She would have much rather him throw it. At least then she would have had a chance to find it. Right now? If he didn’t give it or throw it, she’d have to fight for it. She swallowed the lump that was at the base of her throat. What could she give him? ”I…” The frown that was on her lips deepened in thought.”I’ll do your homework for you.” she gritted her teeth. That was a slight lie. She didn’t even do her own homework usually. She detested doing homework.
What else could she do though? It wasn’t like she had any cash to her name to give. She didn’t have any assets besides her rocks, and those were something that she refused to get rid of. Jane really was in a…rock and a hard place. She hoped that doing his homework would be enough.
WC: 236