Skeleton Keys

[Ricia]

(1x1 with

@Ixidor92 and myself!)
​

Highschool. The last play zone for most teenagers before they can no longer get away with petty pranks and heart breaking. After graduating came college. Somthing Sage never saw herself participating in. College was for those who thought alcohol was the coolest next life stage or had the money to pay for worse teachers who carried less. Though sleeping with them seemed far less illegal.


It was summer and school was finally starting. Sage was not quite the senior yet, so she still had a couple more years of play left. Of course her life was not all play... Not since the beginning of high school. Why was she even still around? She was sure it was only because of the occasional public interactions. Often she even skipped classes for fun or to get to work early and collect a few more hours.


She wondered if there were other things this school year that perhaps would pose greater entertainment than her usual shenanigans?

 

[Ixidor92]

"Who is that guy?"


"Did he go to school here before?"


"He's really big . . ."


"That's some flamboyant hair."


"He looks scary though . . ."


Annoying. All the whispering as he walked through the school was starting to get really annoying. Nobody had tried to talk to him yet, just as well, it was what he had intended. That didn't stop them from talking about him though. Sanz let out a sigh and continued through the school towards his classroom. He hadn't even been in town for two weeks yet, and the hollow ring of his father yelling at him still rung in his ears. A "disgrace to the family" as he had been told, and had been moved away as a direct result. He hadn't been to this city in what . . . five years now? A lot had changed since then. Well, here was as good a there, it didn't change anything

 

[Ricia]

Sage heard a few whispers among the crowd before slipping among the gossiping horde. He looked familiar. More than familiar... she knew him. He had saved her. She was being picked on as a kid, by thugs. He just... came out of no where and beat the crap out of them then walked away like nothing happened.


"Who is he?" Sage asked one of the gossiping girls.

 

[Ixidor92]

The girl Sage had asked turned to face her


"Ah, Sage! Well . . . we don't really know. I think he moved here recently, but he doesn't seem that friendly."


Sanz had walked in the doors by this point, heading to his class and sitting down in the back without a word. His school bag was set down with a rather unsettling *clunk*. Something metal was in there, not just books.

 

[Ricia]

"Thanks..." Sage said almost absent mindedly before following the male to the classroom. He just happen to be in her class too. She looked around at the other people in the room. A few of them were staring at the new kid with a mixture of fear and wounder. Anyone who was short of next to him seemed to scatter to different seats. Sage took the initiative and sat down next to the angry boy, the desk across from her. She debated sitting in front of them, but then she couldn't stare dreamily at him if she so pleased to do so.


She did stare at him with a small smile. It almost looked smug in some ways. She didn't speak to him though, only just stare wondering how he'd react to her presence and stares.

 

[Ixidor92]

Sanz could feel the gazes around him. Some fearful, but many curious. That needed to change. His eyes met with those of a girl standing across the room, and he gave his best death glare. She immediately turned away, and most others followed suit. It was hardly even an act at this point. Appear big, intimidating, angry. Make it so no one will want to associate with you. When he had last moved, he had made the mistake of allowing some people to get close to him at first, he wasn't hard enough. That would not be the case this time. Sanz's train of thought was suddenly stopped as he heard the scraping of a chair beside him. That couldn't be right. Who in their right mind would sit next to him? Ignore them. They'll move when someone else lets them know. But they didn't. He could practically feel a pair of eyes boring into his side. The man let out an annoyed sigh and finally turned his head. What greeted his eyes was a young man, complete with blue hair.


"What?"


Sanz made an effort to put agitation in his voice, maybe a slight bit of intimidation.

 

[Ricia]

The reaction gave Sage tingles of satisfaction. She annoyed him. Even better the fact he had to interact with her at all was causing him to become so irritated. Why was he so irritated though? Was he an angsty teen? Sage's interest immediately was perked and suddenly she wanted to know this guy. Know him for all his weakness and hatred.


"What?" Sage answered back, blinking like he just interrupted a day dream.

 

[Ixidor92]

Sanz blinked once at the blue-haired man before turning back to look out the window. If he didn't have anything pertinent to say, then he could remain silent. If he was too persistent, Sanz could always give him a scare later. The red-haired youth waited for their teacher to enter the classroom and start the lesson

 

[Ricia]

"What's in the bag." Sage asked him after he turned away from her. She was trying to get the conversation in quick before the teacher actually got in. She just wanted to know his name, "Better yet, what is your name? I'm Sage." She said happily. She was hoping with the information of her own name, he would be more willing to tell her in return.

 

[Ixidor92]

Okay. Insistent blue boy had a name. Sage. Reminder to avoid him in the future.


"Sanz."


The man didn't even turn around in recognition when he spoke his own name. At the very least, his name would get out somehow, might as well be open with it.

 

[Ricia]

"Sanz... Saaannnz.." Sage said in a thoughtful fashion. "S.a.n.z." She said again, almost as if she was annoyingly testing the name out. "That is so uncute! Too scary!" Sage put her fist in her hand, as if she just had the best thought in the world, "You need a nickname to help make you not as scary! Maybe even a paper bag to help with that glare...."

 

[Ixidor92]

"You try and you'll be the one who needs a paper bag over your face when I'm done rearranging it."


Ignoring the young man was apparently not enough. Time for a bit of a scare. It would either cause them to recoil and pull away from him, or take it as a challenge and try to fight him. Either way got him out of Sanz's hair for the time being.

 

[Ricia]

"Whoa... scary. So not cute!" Sage said softly, though she stared at him a moment of silence. Long enough to let him think he won. The silence dragged on... only the other student's talking among themselves about summer break could be heard. "What about a kitten hat?" She asked him after almost a full 2 minutes later. "Or maybe a dog, with two different ear colors. Floppy ears or straight?"


(Lol...)

 

[Ixidor92]

Finally, silence. Hopefully he wouldn't have to deal with this young man anymo--


What about a kitten hat?


. . .


Was he fucking serious?


Sanz focused very hard on one of the trees outside, tuning out everything else until the teacher arrived. This was going to be more trouble than it was worth


(She's getting better at this with every iteration xD )

 

[Ricia]

(I'm sorry, I laughed more than I should have haha...)


Sanz was spared when the teacher did finally walk in. Sage let out a low sigh of disappointment as she was interrupted by her. "Everyone take a seat!" She called as she walked into the classroom. Sage sadly only had half her classes with Sanz, so she didn't exactly see him all day. Lunch she was busy playing games. She decided for the next week... she would watch Sanz. To really see if he would bully others, or to see if he was as scary as he really seemed.

 

[Ixidor92]

Sanz didn't pay too much attention in class, and found a quiet place in the courtyard to eat lunch by himself. After class . . . he had a very particular route to take home. It was time to paint a target. The last bell for classes rang early that day, being the first day and all, and Sanz left fairly quickly. He heard more whispers on his way out, but did nothing about them.

 

[Ricia]

Sage planned to stalk Sanz for a bit, just to gage a bit where he lived from her. They started off in the same direction.


"Sage! Come play with us today! We are going bowling." A girl from their class ran up to her with a large smiled before clinging to her giggling.


Sage smirked a bit but slowly detached herself, "I would love to hang out with you.... but I can't today. Perhaps some other time?" Sage asked her with a smile.


"Aww why?" She asked with a whine.


"Oh... I'll tell you later, lets exchange phone numbers later too.. I got to go.." Sage said noticing that Sanz was slowly but surely getting out of her eye site. "We'll talk later." Sage promised before walking a bit quickly to at least catch up a bit to the red haired man.

 

[Ixidor92]

Sanz took a route that seemed to go through several . . . less than stellar portions of town. Back alleys, underpasses, lots of areas where it would be easy to avoid being seen by others. Sure enough, he found what he was looking for. Five guys in a back alley. One with a chain, two with baseball bats


"Hey, you're the red-haired bastard that put Holmes in the hospital last week aren't you?"


Sanz let out an annoyed sigh and glared at the man who spoke to him


"Look, are we going to do this or just talk each other into submission?"


The man grit his teeth and clenched his fist


"Fine. Have it your way."

 

[Ricia]

Sage went into the alleyway just following Sanz but as soon as she saw the men she back tracked right out before peaking around the corner to just watch the men. They had been walking around what felt like hours... she was not sure if he was even going home... or just sight seeing. Through back alleys were pretty awful things to see around town.

 

[Ixidor92]

"I'll be putting you in the hospital!"


The man threw a punch at Sanz's face . . . which he sidestepped with a bored look on his face. One leg went out, tripping the man, and his foot went into the small of his back, with all his weight on it. He didn't say anything more, just made a taunting gesture with one hand at the other four. The brawl was on. First was a bat swing. Sanz ducked underneath and punched the man's gut quickly. Not enough to cause any serious damage, but enough to cause him to stumble over. The bat was grabbed in his free hand, and he immediately smashed it against the nearest offender. This was the other one who had come with a bat, and as the wooden bat splintered against the impact over his chest, Sanz was fairly certain he heard bones cracking. He had only a few more seconds to deal with the last two before the one he had stood on got up, maybe a minute for the gut-punch one. His train of thought was stopped as a chain was thrown directly at his face. He brought his book-bag up--and the clang of metal striking metal rang through the alley. The man holding the chain was stunned for just a second. Just long enough for Sanz to dash up and kick him in his gut. The one he had stood on before now was charging from behind. Sanz tried to dash out of the way, but was blocked by the other one still standing.


"Gotcha!"


Sanz found his arms held in a nelson as the other one readied a punch. The man grit his teeth and took one hit to the abdomen. When he didn't flinch, the other one backed off and readied something harder. Sanz head butted the man holding him, and proceeded to throw him over his shoulder at the other. The two crumpled, and Sanz dashed up, kicking both of them in the side repeatedly until he felt something crack beneath his shoe.


"Y--you . . ."


Sanz turned around to face the last one. The one he had gut-punched earlier was now upright, but visibly shaking. The red-haired individual calmly walked up to him, blocked a punch with his book-bag, resulting in a painful *crunch*, before repeatedly kneeing him in the torso while he held his shoulder. By the time he was finished. Blood stains were all over the floor of the alley, and five people were groaning in pain. Sanz let out a sigh and started to walk out the way he had come, dialing 9-1-1 on his phone


"Yes . . . I'm calling for an ambulance. There's five of them."


He hung up after only a few minutes and continued walking, rubbing his torso slightly.


"He actually knew how to punch. Shit."

 

[Ricia]

(I'm still laughing about earlier. I was in class giggling like a lunatic. xD )


Sage saw Sanz headed back out the way he came, causing her to almost violently fling herself back around the corner. She stuck to the side of the wall as Sanz emerged from the alleyway. She held her breath as he rubbed himself, speaking under his breath. He seriously just walked right past her, without even knowing. She mentally giggled before starting to follow him. She wondered what gang those guys were from.

 

[Ixidor92]

(Fun times . . . I've contracted the plague x_x)


After a couple more back alleys, and one more brawl with only two people, Sanz finally seemed to be heading down a normal road. He was heading through the suburbs, his home, so kindly chosen by his parents, was present there. All the while, Sanz couldn't help but feel that someone was watching him. He decided to turn a corner and wait to see who would come by quickly going into one of the bushes.

 

[Ricia]

(Awww get better soon!)


It was starting to get late and Sage debated going home and leaving Sanz to his thug hunting. The thought quickly left when he seemed to finally start trailing residential area. Sage lived a bit more down town from Sanz, but not too far away from him. Unless he was just going to break into a poor sods house and beat them into submission as well.


Sanz darted behind a corner, making Sage walk a bit quicker to follow him. It took her a few moments to get there because she had been stalking him from the distance. She peeked around the corner and.....


He was gone.


"Where the hell... did he go?" Sage asked softly, but out loud none the less. She fully turned the corner and walked forward in hopes of seeing him again.

 

[Ixidor92]

Where the hell . . . did he go?


Bingo. Someone had indeed been following him. For how long? How much had they seen? Why were they doing it in the first place? Sanz prepared to get answers as he saw the figure move in front of the bushes where he was hiding. Immediately one of his hands reached out and grabbed the person by their collar, yanking them back and shoving them against the ground. One of Sanz's hand hit the grass right next to their head--hard. It was meant to intimidate and shake up whomever had been following him.


"All right you bastard! What the hell . . . are you doing?"


He had to stop in the middle of his exclamation as his eyes were greeted with blue hair. It was the same young man who hadn't left him alone during class. Regardless, his question still stood.

 

[Ricia]

"Ah....." Sage choked out after his fist landed next to her head. The push was rough and she landed rather hard on the ground. Sanz was practically on top of Sage when he pushed him down. He looked... surprised with who was followed. Just that retarded guy from the classroom. Now doubt that was what he was thinking. Sage blinked at him a moment and then took a deep breath. Sanz did indeed scare her for a moment, as she perhaps almost actually got punched.


"This is a bit embarrassing... us romantically and a bit roughly laying in the grass like this... I didn't bring protection!" Sage said, "But if you are ok with that... my body is ready for you!" She told, she then put a hand on her cheek and looked a bit bashful, "Just... try not to be too rough.." she actually was expecting to get punch for that.... there were the occasional males with homophobic tendency... and getting punched was the correct answer for this response she just gave.