#Rockland “I'm barely a kid” like Dude yes You are Very Much a Child

[rocklandjbrin]

"Alright, cool." Rock mused. He snorted, movie star? "Nah, man, I'd rather be like, in a band. I dunno if I could keep from laughing, reading lines and stuff." He nodded, as Wade spoke of shying away from attention, "Yeah, I get that." He tried to keep his head low a lotta the time, too. Least around adults. Didn't exactly want CPS called. He had a handle on things. The teen pulled at a chicken wing with his teeth and was none the wiser as barbecue sauce somehow managed to dot the tip of his nose.

A smirk tugged at his lips, with the man's agreement when it came to the movie. "Not very entertaining, for sure. What would the conflict even be?" Rocky! The sound of shattering porcelain and glass. "Trying not to uh, to fail a test?" He released a shaky laugh and took another bite of his food. Maybe some lemonade? Setting the mostly eaten wing down, he cracked open the bottle and took a sip. Sweet and sour and refreshing.

If he saw him around? "Sure. Yeah, I mean, it's got its faults but so does everything. It's a pretty cool place all things considered, but I grew up here so maybe I'm biased." He didn't need his truck washed. Okay... The boy pursed his lips, in thought, but the dude insisted he didn't need to pay him back, "I like workin' for things." He shrugged, eyes lighting up in amusement as Wade went on about giving him a call, "Even at 3am? Wow. But uh, nah. I don't have a cell phone. You uh, you have an email?"

Did he like to read? That was like asking a dog if they liked to play fetch. "Uh yeah." Sci-Fi, huh? "You read any Star Wars?" He resisted the urge to shrug off the question about his old man, eager to get back to geeking out. "He's uh, he's alright, sometimes." Felt kinda few and far between these days, but it wasn't an all out lie. It was complicated.

"I wasn't a fan of mine either." Rockland frowned, tossed a glance Wade's way.

"That's-that's rough... what about-was uh, was your Mom around, growin' up?"

At least his job was another cool topic. "No problem!" Sometimes not so much? "Guess that's probably like most jobs, right? So you just get to pick someone and go for it? You're basically like a dude from the Wild West, checkin' out a Wanted poster and tracking people down? That's so badass." He paused a moment, "What about like, mutants? They ever make a chase trickier?" He could imagine his own fields would probably be quite the surprise in that kind of situation, if he could use them reliably. "You got any cool stories?"

He couldn't get involved. "Aww, man. I dunno, 'm barely a kid. I'm nearly sixteen. But-okay, I'm not twenty-five. Why twenty-five? Why not like, eighteen or twenty-one?" He shrugged off the apology. "'s alright, figured as much. Is there no one in all of New York you could like, partner up with?"

Well that caught their attention alright. A middle finger had shot into the air, directed at a group of teens across the street who were hovering by a Duncan Donuts long closed for the night. The boy beneath the hoodie, propelling said finger, sneered. Just like that, the group of five moved towards him, the tallest, Shacks, sauntering forward with an irritating air of confidence. And to think, there'd been a time when Rockland had thought he was cool.

"You can't seriously blame us, Rocky." He looked to the others with cruel amusement, "It was a prank, get a sense of hum-" Too busy searching for the favour of his crew, he'd missed the draw of the younger teen's fist before it met his cheek.

"Prank my ass, I could've been arres-oof." Rockland was tackled by Archie, the smallest of the bunch, who was about a head shorter than he was, but kinda stalky for his age, and with the element of surprise on his side. Cane clattering out of hand, and across the sidewalk, the lanky teen scraped across the pavement, electric pain radiating up from his tailbone. He caught the breath that had been knocked out of him just in time to catch the thump of a fist to the nose in return. - For Wade

Wade didn't know what to make of this city yet. He'd only been here a couple days and was still trying to get his bearings. It wasn't a bad city, he thought, just cold. Just... really cold when you're alone, like all cities are. Nevertheless, Wade did some hunting and stocked up on other supplies, always wanting to stay on the move. That's how he got jobs, and that's how he kept sane.

Tonight had been quiet enough so far... that is until he heard sounds of a fight. But a fight... between kids? Was he hearing this right? Wade made his way toward the sounds, and sure enough, some kids whose parents were absent and whose bedtimes must be fast-approaching were going at it. Or rather, several kids were beating up on one unfortunate one.

"Hey! Come on, cut it out, what the hell're you guys doin'?!" Wade yelled, hoping to scatter the bullies. "You know better than this, get off him! Don't make me call the cops!" he said, watching as they all scattered... save for one. Wade knelt down beside the boy lying on the ground. "Hey, buddy, you okay?" he asked gently.