[COLOR=darkgray][i] It was a clear black evening as Darwin was wont to have. With next-to-no light pollution from the smallest capital leaving the stars in the black night's sky spread wide like a celestial carpet. Banjo heard scuffling behind him. Deliberate. Trying to get his attention. Wants him to know they're there. He turned around, only to see the young boy from his class. A serious child. He'd never seen a smile on his face for as long as he'd been here. He'd shot him with hard looks numerous times through classes. But if there was anger in those looks, Banjo hadn't picked up on it. Which was worth mentioning, because he didn't seem to be someone without some anger very thinly below the surface. But those was something else. Probably whatever this was about. Mamili Motlop. Smart kid. Thinks a bit different though. Although in a place like Haileybury Rendall maybe it was Banjo who thought different. Wouldn't be the only thing that made him different... [color=maroon]"You don't belong."[/color] [color=darkgoldenrod]"Cheers for that. Nice bloody welcome wagon."[/color] Banjo said, turning back around to look at the stars. [color=maroon]"No. I mean your story. It's bullshit. You're not from Townsville. And I don't buy that that's your Dad either."[/color] [color=darkgoldenrod]"I believe he said Cairns..."[/color] [color=maroon]"Whatever. Just as much bullshit."[/color] Banjo wondered what it was that had given them away, and instead kept his mouth shut and kept his eye on the sky. Better just to let him have his suspicions without doing anything that might outright confirm them. [color=maroon]"You're too 'Townie'. City-boy. That bullshit you were talkin' before in class. City liberal, overactive conscience which never actually tries to make any real difference. They don't breed that out in the sticks and beyond. Round the traps, they might treat the person right but they don't give a shit for you in their politics... might even be more honest."[/color] [color=darkgoldenrod]"Maybe my Dad just wanted me to have a proper sense of our place in the history of this Big, Brown Land..."[/color] [color=maroon]"HA!"[/color] Mamili erupted with a stark reaction to his response, before sitting down right next to Banjo. [color=maroon]"That's the biggest lie yet. Now [b]THAT[/b] bloke actually did grow up country his accent's more baked in than yours. Nah. If he knew this was Larrakia land, I'd be stunned."[/color] Banjo took a sip from a water bottle, before confiriming his suspicions. [color=darkgoldenrod]"He was stunned that I knew the tribal lands of the capitals."[/color] Mamili formed his approximation of a smile for the first time since Banjo met the boy. The corners of his mouth upturning to form a tightened wry grin, in confirmation of what he already knew. [color=maroon]"Well, alright then. Truth-telling. About bloody time."[/color] He had a bottle of Coke in his own hand and took a sip. [color=darkgoldenrod]"Truth-telling. So you're sayin' we're on our own path to [url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6S8AoLX1vjvScELjPMrrJ3?si=yqYugUQEQjeg-plQPN8eJw]Treaty[/url], eh?"[/color] Banjo cracked a wry joke, referring to the 'Uluru Statement of the Heart'. Mamili let out a hollow chuckle, and just as fast the thin grin was gone. [color=darkgoldenrod]"Well, it sure as Hell ain't gonna be their generation..."[/color] [color=maroon]"Oh piss off."[/color] Mamili spat, replacing it with more Coke. [color=darkgoldenrod]"What? What've I done now? I haven't even done anythin' to your school, you keep glarin' at me, givin' me shit. What's up your arse?"[/color] It was true. So far. Banjo had kept his worst inclinations under wraps for the first few days at the new school. [color=maroon]"'Cos you're just another Liberal bloody townie. You're not gonna do nothin' either. You're all about sayin' the right thing to make yourselves feel less guilty about what your ancestors did. You don't actually want to do anything. You just want to make a point of difference between a bunch of colonials who sliced up country for selections, hunted, killed, enslaved and stole people from their families and the white people you are now who just benefit from the generations of how it was. You don't want anything to actually [b]CHANGE[/b] because you profit from it. You just want to make sure you can feel better about yourself. At least the murdering pricks were upfront about it."[/color] [color=darkgoldenrod]"...and I'm certain that attitude will help you win people over to your side. Maybe you can fit it on a board come voting time."[/color] More water. Air sucked back into the bottle once he was done. [color=maroon]"And [b]THAT'S[/b] the point, isn't it. [b]THAT RIGHT THERE[/b] is how you can tell you're full of shit, because it shouldn't matter if you feel bad about it. If you were actually interested in doin' the right thing, you'd do it because it's the right thing. Not just because it doesn't make you feel bad about things."[/color] [color=darkgoldenrod]"Who says I don't? I'm just sayin' you can't truly expect to win more people over to hearing you out, let alone goin' along with you, when that's how you approach things."[/color] [color=maroon]"Mate, please... You've got no stakes. You can't relate. You lay it on thick, but that's all it is, bullshit townie liberalism that tells yourself you can relate."[/color] Banjo sighed from the repeated verbal onslaught. [color=darkgoldenrod]"Lemme try... You found yourself born into a world where your country was already taken, your kind marginalised beyond any kind of reasonable hope for representation, a history of atrocities and fucked up shit happening to your people. You're pushed away from mainstream general society, and then questions are raised about your contribution to a society you had thrust upon you, with poisons and disease sent after you, striking down the ones the people with guns didn't get. With the justice system disproportionately targeting your kind moreso than anyone else on the planet."[/color] Mamili turned and looked at him with one raised eyebrow. [color=darkgoldenrod]"...and the most frutrating thing is that because you were [b]BORN[/b] into that society, you suspect it would've been something far better, but you can't form any kind of salient argument, because all of that shit happened [b]EVERYWHERE[/b] to all of your people, and you can't point and show that you'd have been just fine if they fucked off and left you in peace."[/color] [right][i]You're not really gonna do this, Banjo, are you?[/i][/right] [color=maroon]"That's-- alright-- that's a bit closer than most. But you still haven't experienced--"[/color] [right][i]Nah, fuck it. You've bounced around enough schools for reasons that weren't your fault, what's one more where you actually were responsible?[/i][/right] Banjo stood up and took two steps away from the boy, and sighed. Yup, he was gonna do it. The pull was far lighter at night, with no sun in the sky. Like faint pins and needles on gooseflesh, as the light of myriad stars had stretched out for countless years just for this moment. With a sudden burst he drank deep from the stars. A bitter cool bite to the breeze came from his direction. His breath quickened and then halted, his body turned black. Muscles and sinew re-knitted and his synapses flared, providing a quick hit of ecstasy. He held it and worked to restore his breathing whilst he juiced. A smaller than usual corona from the diminished light started to swirl around his person. His teeth shon bright through his broadened smile in the night. It took work to hold his breathing steady, as if it weren't a natural thing, in his current state. He turned and faced Mamili. Then just as fast, he stopped 'juicing' and let his body revert back to its usual appearance. [color=maroon]"What the bloody Hell do you call this?!"[/color] He cried out. Banjo looked around in case he'd missed seeing anyone, or the other boy's loud voice attracted further attention. [color=darkgoldenrod]"[url=https://open.spotify.com/track/0IWxEzigTcb3cSJroNUOc0?si=SJlbYdvRQdC8tczcNm_X2Q]Blackfella/Whitefella[/url]..?"[/color] [color=maroon]"..."[/color] [color=maroon]"You know that joke was fucked up, right mat--?"[/color] [color=darkgoldenrod]"Yeah, no-- I heard that as I was sayin' it too, that wasn't-- I wish I had more ti-- yeah, that wasn't my best moment."[/color] [color=maroon]"You still didn't have to have your family see 'em coming down the coast. White sails, white faces, white guns."[/color] [color=darkgoldenrod]"What sails, mate? Your family's from bloody Darwin. Thought this was all about truth-telling. Or are you saying your family saw 'em on the horizon and went on some epic Burke and Wills styled trek across the entire country to get away from them?"[/color] [color=maroon]"... ...well could you blame 'em if they did?"[/color] [/i][/color] [center][color=darkgoldenrod][sup]________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________[/sup][/COLOR][img]https://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/27900000/Alex-alex-pettyfer-27913840-500-238.gif[/img][/CENTER][indent][sub][COLOR=darkgoldenrod][B]Location:[/B][/COLOR] [I]Haileybury Rendall School, Darwin - Past, Strigidae/Ursus Dormitory Block, P.R.C.U - Present[/I] [I][/I][/sub][sup][right][COLOR=darkgoldenrod][b]Welcome Home #1.056:[/b][/COLOR] [I]Invasion Day[/I][/right][/sup][/indent][COLOR=darkgoldenrod][SUP][sub]____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________[/sub][/SUP][/COLOR][indent][sub][color=darkgoldenrod][B]Interaction(s):[/B][/COLOR] [I]Calliope - [@PatientBean][/I][/sub][SUP][RIGHT][COLOR=darkgoldenrod][b]Previously:[/b][/COLOR] [color=white][url=https://open.spotify.com/track/1yeCajimfmJA0yAjwUScQf?si=YJG-P2rtT06nbx09va0m6A][I]Solid Rock[/I][/url][/color][/right][/SUP][/indent] [color=darkgray]Banjo and Calliope walked back to their dormitory block together in silence. Calliope's silence radiated aggression, and did not suggest it was willing to be trifled with. In their wake, teammates were consoling each other, checking they were alright, and more. He held the external door for her, and paused in his own thoughts, before moving on to his own dormitory. He needed time to think. It'd hit him. But indirectly. And was fucking with his emotions as a result. People take a poke at him and it doesn't hit the same way. He'd laugh and fire back. This was different, and he needed to make sure his head was right for it. He walked in his room and closed the door, stripping down to get in his PT gear, which he pulled from his foot locker. He had a hundred stupid little plans to mess with the school and make their institutions look stupid in some way or another, but nothing for this. Any way he acted out in response to this, could be interpreted as a failure in the school's ability to maximise it's student body and aptly teach or raise them for the world beyond. Which he normally wouldn't care about, but on this occasion conflicted with his own primary desire. To not give these fucking invading pricks what they want. So, back to the drawing board. Back to basics. Raw concept. What did he want? What should he do? What did he want? Well that was simple. He wanted to find out what they wanted, and burn it to the fucking ground and laugh in their faces whilst it turned to ash. And find a way for Calliope to not be hurt whilst doing it. Well, not just Calliope. He supposed, begrudgingly admitting to himself. Haven and Katja too. And Rory. And 'Raw and Lorcán. Pallyx and Mei. Zimmerman and Big Steve. He s'posed the others as well. And if they touched his pony, guts f'r garters. Fuck. He thought back to home. This is the thing with invasion. Every loss is felt. Every loss hits big. And the thought of running devastates. He thought of his team. Taking flight had probably occurred to Haven. Not because she was cold blooded or didn't care. It was time. Time binds you to a place. He was starting to feel it, and he hated it in himself. He'd always prepped himself for the inevitable day he'd have to jump. But now he was tied. Tied in a dozen directions to things he couldn't deny. There's no way in Hell 'Raw could. She'd been attached to this place too long. It'd be like severing a limb. Katja had family killed and her home stolen from her. He wondered if she saw this the same way to any degree. She showed concern for them before, so maybe this was a bigger point of difference, or maybe it was putting on a brave face. No. This was different. More subtle than what she'd endured. Her emotions were generally kept close to the surface. That was genuine, he told himself. She recognizes it as bad, but it's a whole other thing. After all, they didn't come out and run Jim O'Neil through with cold steel. No... they'd taken him from surprise and bent him over a podium. So how much had they known before the Assembly then? He thought. They were here under the auspices of an audit. So that was already granted. And Jim copped to the accreditation. Then it all went to Hell in a hand basket. So, there's your pivot point. Come in dropping bad news, which the new 'friends', who happened to be here for other reasons, could somehow bail them out of. 'The problems you never knew you had, we have the answers!' So simple. That wouldn't have been the end of it though. More would have happened behind closed doors. There's no way Jim would have left it at that. He'd have had words. And there's no way they drag all of the kids back into another assembly after that one... with the Homecoming Trials already disrupted more than they like. Which means the situation could be in the midst of negotiations. Which just further means he can't act out without hurting the bargaining position and giving these pricks what they want. Everything led back to the same damn thing. A snake eating its tail. The thought rushed back through his head. [i]"Should get back to Calli'[/i] But she generally took longer to get ready than he did. Prepared herself more, and if he was honest with himself, she was probably trying to level herself out in the bathroom. She'd withdrawn, but this hit hard. He left his room and opened up the fridge. There wasn't much in there. Alex Zimmerman's orange juice. Big Steve's Multi-vitamin breakfast juice. Replacement milk for the coffee machine. He got a cup out of the cupboard, and put it on the bench, to crack open some of the milk when Zimmerman and Big Steve walked in, talking between themselves. They saw him in the kitchen and froze. [color=dodgerblue]"I-- uh-- ahh..."[/color] Banjo froze him with a single look. He forgot the milk and pulled the carton of orange juice out of the fridge. [color=dodgerblue]"I mean... I'm sorry dude. How was-- I mean, we didn't know."[/color] Banjo started pouring orange juice down his throat. [color=dodgerblue]"Are you-- I mean, are you okay? Are we cool?"[/color] He kept pouring. Holding the carton higher at the end so they could both see the last few drops go into his mouth. He closed up the carton and put the empty right back in the fridge in front of him. Never taking his eyes off the pair. He closed the refrigerator and walked past the pair and out the front door. [color=darkgoldenrod]"I'm not mad."[/color] He said flatly as he walked past them, out the door and got in the lift. [color=dodgerblue]"I-- OK. Good."[/color] Offering a feeble wave, even though he was already gone. Zimmerman turned to Big Steve. [color=dodgerblue]"Well, that could've gone worse..."[/color] Big Steve looked down at his diminutive friend [color=dodgerblue]"Well, at least he's not mad."[/color] [/color]