IC Time: September 11, 2007 evening
Location: Forks - FHS Football Field
Synopsis: Kyler and Ramona break into the football field for different reasons, Nick finds them.
Submitted by: Ramona
The night has just begun in Forks — the sun has set behind the horizon, though it really wasn't visible anyway during the day. A thick roll of clouds covers the sky and the moon, giving the sky a murky look. At the football field and track, however, it's rather bright. Someone's turned on a single set of the lights over the bleachers, shedding just enough light on the field to elongate and distort the shadows. Football practice is over, and for a moment, nobody appears to be on the field, but the loud sound of someone storming down the bleachers can be heard before Ramona easily jumps the fence and lands on the track below, and then leaps onto the open, green expanse. She's breaking and entering, to be sure — the field isn't usually open this late unless there's a game. She stands in the middle of the grass and stretches her arms upward. "Last night, I had a dream. I found myself in a desert called Cyberland." She quotes… Rent? Apparently, Ramona missed out on the memo that the stage is inside the school.
It's the start of the football seasons and that means the new trainers still being broken in. Starting with the school year rather than the first weeks of summer means that those that would rather deal water bottles and drag the equipment out of the storage sheds haven't quite gotten their routines down yet. And unfortunately it's one of those days. One of these managerial giants thinks he forgot to lock the storage area under the bleachers, which could mean thousands of dollars in theft if anyone gets a big idea. What's worse? One of his parents drives up so all he has time for is to give the warning. Great.
Nick is no saint, but it'd piss him off a great deal if the team missed out on weeks of proper practice because of a screw up, so there he is walking out towards the bleachers with a key on a small loop of black rope twisted about his arm. He completely fails to notice that there's something wrong with the field and the lights as he approaches, walking straight to the back of the bleachers and heading for the door. He reaches out, grabs the handle and twists. It turns an eighth of an inch and jams. "Tch. Freshmen." Rolling his eyes to himself he marches back off towards the locker room, only to hear something on the field. He looks over and for the first time realizes that there is, indeed, something strange about lights being on at this hour. "The hell?" He starts walking over, an air of 'what now?' emanating from him.
Some people just like to lurk in the quiet, and there's nothing quieter than a school after hours. Who knows what in the world Kyler thinks he's doing, but whatever his real motives may be, he's here, lurking about the school and skulking silently in the shadows as the last of the students disappear for their homes. It's the unusual light and singing that draws him to the football field. As he approaches, an easy lope turns effortlessly into a scramble through the fence, eventually allowing him to crawl into the space underneath the bleachers. "Hey diddle diddle, the cow jumps over the moon, and falls and breaks her nose," he comments, randomly, head slightly tilted with a curious expression as he continues to watch from the darkness under the bleachers.
It's not much, but the sound of footsteps on pavement, especially to a vampire, is enough to cause Ramona to pause in her dramatic dialogue and stare toward the bleachers. She's not so much paranoid about being caught as she is annoyed, that becomes rather clear quickly as a scowl takes form on her lips. And what does she have to say? The very same thing the human utters from some distance away: "What the hell?" It's pronounced louder, maybe angrier, but the 'what now?' persona seems to have taken up residence with Ramona, as well. "Excuse me. There is a performance going on here, in case you —" she begins icily, approaching Nick with two hands square on her hips.
It's the sound of another song that distracts the blonde, however, causing her to angle her head toward the bleachers, squinting into the steps between. "That is NOT how it goes. I do enjoy a duet as much as the next person, but that's not the song, Sherlock." And hey, doesn't that voice seem familiar? "Not you!" she groans, taking a moment to look rather sulky before re-focusing on the human.
"O-ho. So, are you an athlete?" she inquires, eyeing his tee-shirt, and making an observation based on his apparent age and build.
The key on a rope is spun around counter clockwise, unraveling itself from the teenagers arm enough for him too slip it down to his wrist, his hand stuffing in his pocket and withdrawing empty. His lips turn down in a momentary frown when his words are repeated, and his eyes narrow just a fraction of the inch when he notices the source of the voice walking towards him. His chin lifts a little as he hears what's taken to be a confrontational tone. About to open his mouth in response he's suddenly looking around after hearing a second voice, unable to detect where it's coming from. His posture changes from defensive to confused, especially when he hears words that makes him realize that whoever these two are aren't together.
"That's right," he responds to the question, starting to walk in the direction of the female- 'intruder?' 'trespasser?' He isn't sure. At this point, he decides, it doesn't matter. "Starting linebacker for the team, and that means you're on my field." He speaks this as if it should give him some authority over the situation. "So what's this about a performance? Coach didn't say anything about this; we play on that field tomorrow." He gives a look that demands rather than asks for answers.
Kyler tilts his head the other direction, a faint frown tugging at his lips as she calls him Sherlock. He looks mostly puzzled by the reference. "Who's Sherlock?" Before he gets a chance to be too offended, she recognizes him, and the puzzled look quickly grows into a Cheshire grin. "Not you!" he echoes, followed by a happy little giggle. "Not you, Not you, you not, not too you too two toward the moon, but the stars are better!" he sing-songs, losing track of Ramona fairly quickly in his joy at playing with the sounds she had inspired. With another peal of laughter he scampers under the bleachers, causing them to creak and clatter just a bit as he swings from supporting poles, and slithers between smaller spaces, bringing himself as close as possible to Ramona and Nick without actually coming out of his hiding place. When he arrives, he crouches beneath the bleachers, eyes sparkling mischievously as he stifles another giggle behind his hand. "Silly bunny thinks he's the sun and the moon and the stars. Silly, silly bunny…"
"Oh. Oh my," Ramona responds to Nick after a moment, her lips curving into a smirk. She crosses the track and leans against the wire fence, her eyes skimming over the boy's figure once before meeting his eyes. "Well now, I wouldn't want to upset the /linebacker/." There's a touch of mocking in her tone, but not enough to override the sweetness that's suddenly woven its way in as well.
She shifts her gaze away from the human and over toward Kyler as he makes his way through the structure of the bleachers. "Sherlock. The detective… guy." She can't offer anything more intelligent than that before she rolls her eyes at his 'song.' "Well, I'm glad the feeling is mutual, then. So long as you don't throw anything at me. Jasper said no, right?" It's almost worried the way she asks Kyler, as if she's simultaneously reminding him of Jasper's supposed instructions.
"Ahem." Ramona turns back toward Nick. "Sorry. He and I have a habit of meeting up at weirdest times." She flutters her lashes a bit. "Anyway, you're probably right; I shouldn't be on the field. I just — the drama teacher suggested it to help me get into character. How'd I do? Did you like how I had my arms up for the first part? It really added more drama, huh?" She leans in toward Nick. "You want to act it out with me?"
Nope. They're definitely not together. Not with that kind of mocking- Nick can definitely recognize teasing when he hears it, especially when it's as blatant as that. The giggle has him raising confused more, and the singsong listing of words has him looking turning and tilting his head towards the direction of the noise as if there is a quite literal crazy person there. He turns his attention back to Ramona when she speaks, once more continuing to advance towards her. It's hard to see in the near darkness of the late summer dusk, but as he approaches he's better able to make out her features. His eyes widen, just a touch, and he meets her gaze when she looks to his eyes, caught quite off guard by the sudden sweetness of her voice, enough that he misses the mocking undertones completely. "That's, uh- No, you wouldn't." A noise breaks the spell, something in the bleachers- under the bleachers? Oh no, that's not good at all.
"Hey!" he suddenly tears his eyes away from her and starts towards the location of Kyler, "Get out of there," he shouts in a voice more annoyed than truly angry, "We've got equipment in there. How the hell did you get through the locked door anyway?" Did the trainer lock the door but not close it? He heaves a sigh of exasperation, focusing again towards the source of the noise, and then stops dead in his tracks. "Woah." Glints of red from under the bleachers. "What the hell." It's stated rather than a question this time, and he leans forward, looking closer. "Jesus that's creepy." Some sort of instinct kicks in and he takes a step backwards rather than forwards, and he catches the conversation between the two, now obviously separate, intruders. He looks back towards the 'sweeter', suddenly far less threatening of the two. "You know that joker, right? Could you ask him to get the fuck out of there before he breaks something and it's suddenly on me?"
He starts back towards her, seeming much more interested in dealing with this other situation than the one that is probably the more dire of the two, based on his position. He's just close enough to her to catch the flutter in her lashes as she speaks to him again, and the two could likely hear the brief abnormality in the rhythm of his heart. "The drama teacher said that?" he asks. Something in his mind tells him that she's too old to be a student. Another part tells that one to shut the hell up. "Fine, great I guess." He doesn't so much respond to the next few questions as he does stare, eyes roaming a bit as she leans towards him. "Act? Me?" A short pause. "Yeah, sure. Why not? What should I do?" Hook, line, and sinker.
Kyler flicks his crimson gaze between the two of them, with a vacant grin. "Jasssssper," he draws out the name, glancing up as if trying to remember. "Hmmmmmm… Jasper says no throwing mud bombs. Or sticks. Or water balloons. Or poppers." He brightens for moment, then his grin dies a little. "Also no throwing sparklies…" He trails off, and it seems that Ramona's clothing is safe for the moment, because he doesn't follow it up with any randomly lobbed objects. If anything, he wrinkles his nose and makes a retching noise. "Ew, /gross/. Don't let her touch you, she's got cooties and she'll steal your soul!" he warns, but can't help following it up with another half-stifled giggle. Nick might be on to something with the literal crazy person comment.
Unfortunately, acting creeped out around Kyler is a bit like bleeding around a shark. With a bit of a sniff, his grin grows, and he ducks to peer out at the young athlete. He creeps a bit closer to the space underneath one of the benches, and eyes bright and cheerful. "Jasper never said nothing about teasing the bunnies!" he announces, suddenly. With sudden insincere sweetness, he sticks one hand through the gap to beckon Nick closer. "Wanna present bunny?" he asks, all childish innocence. "Wanna sparkly present?"
Nick looks over out of the corner of his eyes when the list of things that may not be thrown are gone over. He flinches slightly when he sees the red orbs, practically willing himself to believe that it's a trick of the light. No one has eyes like that. No one has eyes that reflect light like that, that seem to glow in the dying light of day. Maybe cats? He snorts then, eyes rolling at the mention of cooties, "That so? Don't worry about me, I'll take my chances with cooties. Like I said, just get out of there, will you?"
He makes another exasperated noise, "Or did you manage to get stuck under there when the door closed?" He mutters quietly to himself, "It'd serve the dipshit right if I left him in there." He looks over in the direction of, specifically avoiding eye contact, the strange person as he speaks up after slinking closer, getting another one of those 'what the hell is with this lunatic' looks on his face. "I don't want anything from you, freak show. Now shoo, go home to whoever let you out of your cage." He smirks, "If you can get out of the new one you're in."
There's a moment of startled silence during which Kyler jerks his hand back as quickly as if it had been burned. He continues to stare from the shadows; the slightly reproachful look masked by the shadows and glint of creepy crimson reflected from his eyes. "There's no cage anymore," he sing-songs, this time with a cheeriness that is a bit strained. "No cage for Kyler KyKy Kyler koo…" Slowly, he grins again, "It's not nice to call a person a freak, Bunny," he says, in a childish voice. "You're going to get in trouble for that." And with that, he scrambles away again, disappearing into the darkness under the bleachers.
Blissful silence descends for all of two seconds before there comes an ominous rattling and rumbling from somewhere under the bleachers. A moment later, there's a starling *crack*. When Kyler appears again, this time he's hopping and climbing as nimble as a monkey up the metal poles that make up the back of the bleachers. Maybe he's escaped from a circus sideshow…? Either way, he gives a fierce giggle as he somersaults over the back of the bleachers, then runs down the aisle. Nick probably won't even have time to see Kyler digging in his pockets as he runs, before he finds himself being pelted by some small objects, each of which gives a startling *pop* when it hits either Nick or the surrounding ground. They're just harmless snappers, but they certainly make an annoying noise.
Ramona has a moment of bliss — the fact that she's gotten some random teen victim to agree to act with her is really quite delightful — but it's quickly dismantled by Kyler's antics. "He's kind of… acrobatic. Always around when you least expect him," she explains lowly to the human, keeping her eyes trained on Kyler, or at least trying to. It's likely a bit easier for her to watch him switch from the bleachers, eventually going through his pockets and throwing random items. "Shit! /Always/ something!" she exclaims as the tiny objects are thrown. She leaps easily over the fence and stands in front of the human. It's not exactly instinct, no. Ramona doesn't have a protective bone in her body. It's strategic, somehow, no doubt. So, if one could protect someone from something as harmless as a snapper, she tries to do so. It probably looks humorous, really — a thin blonde shielding a tall and robust linebacker. Between pops, she manages to yell at the male vampire. "Kyler! That's your name, right? Well, I'll have you know I'm telling Jasper. You're going to give away all their secrets, and then they'll be angry!" she warns, dodging a snapper with an annoyed wince. It's ten times louder to her, after all.
Between pops, Ramona turns back to the human, summoning up a wry smile. "I don't think we'll accomplish anything here. How about you call me if you're ever up for a scene?" She poses rather arrogantly, pressing back her shoulders. "I'm Ramona; but you probably knew that. Everyone knows me." Or so she thinks. "Here. My agent's card, if you need to get a hold of me." Ramona looks amused for a moment as she fishes for the card in her wallet, which she pulls out of her jeans pocket. She rather likes the idea of possibly having prey call /her/. "I'm getting out of here. Later, linebacker." There's a wink before she turns back to face Kyler, wherever he may be: "I was serious; you're in deep trouble this time. And what the hell is it with you and bunnies?" A shake of the head follows her words before Ramona stalks off the field, unlocking the door to a sleek black Mustang parked in the student lot.
Nick smirks quietly to himself. No cage any more. "So there was one. Why am I not surprised?" He doesn't seem worried when it's pronounced that he's in trouble, glad to see the strange guy disappear. Then there's the loud noise that sounds like something breaking, and that is suddenly not very possible. Rather than cursing again he just looks in the direction of the noise and puts on an ugly face. Then he stares at he sees his figure scrambling around. "Yeah, acrobatic," he deadpans. His attention quickly shifts back to Ramona as she leaps the fence and stands in front of him, seeming confused, and then even more so as the snaps shoot in and begin popping around him, and on the woman in front of him. He questions the action internally, but after a moment decides he doesn't mind, even if it's strange. Don't blame the feeble human- it's a nice view.
He returns her smile, though it's a normal one rather than wry when she suggests calling her, deducting that it means he'll be getting her number soon. "Sure, I'll call you." He reaches up and takes the card from her between his index and middle finger, grinning when she winks and slipping the card into his back pocket. "See you around, Ramona. And the name's Nicholas- you can call me nick. Everyone does." He stands watching her walk away, again enjoying the view, before tapping his foot and walking at a brisk pace towards the bleachers, fishing the key out of his pocket and heading around the side towards the door.
Kyler is having quite a fun time of it, all in all, and has thrown the last snapper before he realizes what Ramona said. He stares at her with a kind of vacant look, his hand still lifted halfway toward reaching for more snappers. Instead, he eventually just shoves his hands in his pockets and gives a faint hiss. "Who cares if you tell Jasper?" he retorts, with false bravado. "Jasper likes me." He watches suspiciously, and gives a last hiss at Ramona's last warning. He watches her all the way to her car, climbing to the top of the bleachers to make sure she really goes away.
When Ramona is finally pulling out of the parking lot, he turns back toward the field, "Now little bunny…" He pauses, however, when he turns back to find only an empty field. A frown and a short search follows, involved much sniffing and listening, until moments later his search brings him to the side of the bleachers, just above the door that now sports a broken lock. Or hinges. Whichever proved to be weaker. "Where you goin', little bunny?" he asks, with a combination of curiosity and lingering annoyance. He doesn't throw any more snappers, at least.
There's a slight flinch from Nick when he hears the hisses, though he questions why that is. It's more strange than it is frightening- who hisses at people? But there's -something- that tells him that should be scary, even if his world experience says that's not the case. When he gets to the door he stares at it and shakes his head. "Damn. Maybe he was serious when he said bombs. So much for needing this," he mutters to himself, sliding the key back in his pocket.
He turns quickly to look at Kyler when he hears him again, head turning up in a fast reflex. "Me? I'm going home. Thanks for breaking the door," he says, voice heavy with sarcasm, "But hey, at least Tim won't have to worry, no one will care if he left it unlocked since you broke the fucking thing anyway." He grits his teeth and then frowns when he meets those red eyes with his, angry at himself for feeling so uncomfortable. "Hey. Fuck off, or don't. Either way people who care a hell of a lot more than me are going to be here soon to find out how much that's going to cost." He turns his back and starts to walk away, "I just hope Coach doesn't want me to stick around for that mess. Last thing I need."
Kyler half-hangs over the railing, leaning out just far enough to get a good look at the door below. He seems unworried about the possibility of falling, but after his earlier acrobatics, it hardly seems likely that he would be. "I didn't break it," he says, matter-of-factly. "Henry did. But lots of people get us confused, so it's okay." He grins, suddenly, peering down at the boy below, who doesn't even seem to realize that he was in much more danger from Ramona than he ever was from Kyler. "Oh, cost cost, tossed… I don't believe in money, so it's no loss!" A pause, then he adds, "Neither does Henry." He gives a grin, eyes slightly narrowed. He adds, in a decidedly creepier tone, "Get home safely, Bunny…" Without further ado, he turns and scampers off across the bleachers, no doubt to find some other sort of mischief to get up to.
"You, Henry, Sasquatch. It doesn't matter to me," Nick states with his back turned, still walking away. He's fairly self-absorbed, not seeming to care anymore other than that he might be stuck at school for questioning. God help him if they decide to get the police involved tonight- he'll be here until midnight retelling this ridiculous story. After Kyler is long gone and he's halfway back to the locker rooms he turns back and looks to the bleachers. "…bouncy little freak," he mutters. "Though…" He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the card, just to make sure it's still there, looking at it with a grin before replacing it. "I guess it's not all bad, is it?"
