B-E-N-D (ON HOLD)

Rhys

Rhys couldn't put his finger on it, but something about the new kid - Roman - rubbed him entirely the wrong way. It was difficult to place, the feeling more of an instinctual​ niggling in the back of his mind than anything else, a moment not at all unlike looking at a photograph taken slightly out of focus. Rhys, though, was a person of instinct. It was the basis of his Bending. A raw burst of passion and adrenaline that ignited his powers whenever he needed them most. If not for that, there was little doubt in his mind that he'd already have been back in the subterranean levels of the city, working in the Lumen quarries for any hint of the glowing rock that powered every vaguely mechanical object in Requiem.

But those... Those were thoughts for another time. Right now he had to figure out just what about Roman was rubbing him quite so raw.

With a deep breath, Rhys cocked his head to the side. His eyes narrowed at the point where the other boy was sitting, laughing, surrounded by his enamored followers, like he was mocking Rhys' thoughts. His dirty blond head was thrown back in a way that was entirely too... too... pretty to be natural.

The frown on Rhys' face etched itself deeper. One thing he could say about Roman was that he hadn't wasted any time securing his spot in the social hierarchy of the school. Rhys' hand began tapping a nonsensical rhythm against the table, the deep black and blue bruises that painted his knuckles standing out on them like a warning, his head tilted in thought. He could see how Roman had managed to do it though, what with the smile and the cheekbones and the whole 'genuine-nice-guy' shtick he had going for him. It was effective if not a little gag worthy.

Still, he couldn't help but think it was decidedly... odd...to see someone who'd never set foot within ClearRoss' megalithic walls looking quite so comfortable. Even the most elite of students had to take a moment to just breathe when they entered. It was practically law. A law that Rhys still hadn't seen him partake in.

Beside him, Vanessa Sigebert, a person he'd grudgingly accepted as an...acquaintance? Friend? Person he didn't want to punch in the face two seconds after she opened her mouth? - sighed blowing smoke from between her pursed lips.

"By the lights of Lauren," she said, stubbing her cigarette out against the leg of the table. She dropped it onto the ground. The black of their school uniform looked good on her, natural and flattering against the deep bronzed tone of her skin, "you need to get laid." She brushed her wavy hair over her shoulder and Rhys curled his fist against the tabletop, huffing noisily out his nose.

"So classy," she drawled with the air of one unaffected, "why do I put up with you again?"

"'Cause everyone else pisses you off, Vee." And everyone else pisses me off.

Vanessa hummed in agreement."You still piss me off."

"But I'm not an idiot," Rhys scoffed and there was a pause; a moment where he curled his lip before he continued. "Unlike ninety percent of the student body."

"Uh-huh," he could hear the eye-roll in her voice, "you keep telling yourself that." She flicked her wrist and out of the corner of his eye he saw her finished cigarette shiver and spark as she flexed a fixed portion of her Bending against it. Their was a small structure made of burned filters by her feet and it began to bend, curving at it's highest point like a rainbow towards the floor. The cigarette rolled to rest at the top of her miniature cigarette ClearRoss replica, the newest addition taking residence as the cap on the tallest spire on the Pinnacle of Lauren, Elder of Illumination. She'd been adding to it off on and on for the past few weeks with the help of Rhys.