School was finally over, and Jocelyn made a beeline for the exit the moment she was released from her final class. She didn’t stop to wait for Tony, or take a moment to pause by her locker to relieve herself of some of her books, she went straight out the front doors of the school to wait for the buses to be loaded up and released. Her brother would be waiting amongst the line of cars that would eventually drift down the street in front of the school to pick up awaiting kids, and then she would be free to do what she wanted for the remainder of the day, without having to be bothered by anyone else. The day had been a total nightmare as far as she was concerned, and all that mattered to her was getting off the school grounds without any further incidents occurring that may possibly get her into trouble. Luck, however, was not on her side, and as Jocelyn took up a position on the sidewalk in front of the school, she quickly surrounded by Jenna and her little group of airheads, all of whom looked like they were out for blood. Jocelyn was outnumbered, four to one, but she did not show any signs of being nervous in the slightest.

Wearing her most cynical smirk, she glanced at the four girls around her, giving them her best ‘Are you serious?’ expression. Quirking a brow at the group’s ring leader, she folded her arms across her chest, her spine straightening up to place herself at her full height, which was a good four inches taller than the tiny blonde who was doing her best to look intimidating, but failing miserably. “What’s the matter, Jenna? Get lost on your way to your car? I knew you were stupid, but I didn’t figure you were that stupid.” She taunted, struggling not to laugh when the other girl’s face turned a bright shade of red. Jocelyn didn’t get to enjoy the girl’s speechlessness for long, a shove to her shoulder forcing her forward into the smaller girl, who surprisingly managed to shove Jocelyn back. “You think you’re funny, don’t you bitch?” Jenna snapped, punching her fist into the palm of her other hand. “Let’s see how funny you are now, freak.”

Jocelyn could have easily taken on all four girls if she wanted to, especially since she knew all they could manage was a cat fight with lots of scratching and slapping rather than fist flying and headbutts, but she could not fight, no matter how much she wanted to. Getting kicked out was not an option for her, and if she gave into her urge to kick the four girls’ butts, she would end up being forced out of school, and enduring a punishment that would last well beyond her eighteenth birthday. “Is this about the little shove in the locker room? You must have hit your head against the wall harder than I thought if you think you could take me on. Why don’t you go head off to your car before I use your face to mop up the sidewalk? I’m sure your boyfriend wouldn’t want anything to do with you once I was done, and I’d hate to be responsible for a breakup.” Jocelyn warned the girl, who looked uncertain for a moment, at least until her friends grabbed a hold of the redhead’s arms and held her back from being able to punch Jenna back. Jenna gained a moment of confidence, certain that Jocelyn was restrained enough for her to throw a punch without retaliation, but before the blow could come, a familiar voice cut through the group, one that Jocelyn was both grateful, and irritated to hear. “I know you girls aren’t about to fight. Jenna, I’m certain you don’t want me to talk to Coach Rosco and have you cut from the cheerleading squad. After all, what kind of cheerleader attacks a fellow student? That’s not showing school spirit very well, now is it?”

Jenna balked, but backed away from Jocelyn, her friends releasing their grip on her arms, but giving her small shoves to try and knock her down. She didn’t budge much, but she did manage to cast a glance over her shoulder to take note of who it was that had been holding her, making a point to remember faces and names for future reference. “This isn’t over yet, freak.” Jenna hissed threateningly to Jocelyn in a low whisper, the redhead smirking faintly at the words of intimidation. “I’m so scared. Bring it on you pathetic bitch. Next time one on one, or are you so weak you can’t fight your own battles?” Jocelyn growled back, her words loud enough for the entire group to hear. The three other girls began to close in on her again, and rather than allow them to grab her limbs as they had before, she throw her backpack off her shoulders and turned to face the other three. “You bitches want in on it too? I’ll kick your….”

“Jocelyn, that’s enough.” Snapped the female voice that interrupted what had been the start of a fight before, the owner of said voice stalked toward the group, pushing her way into the center beside Jocelyn. “I suggest you girls go to your vehicle before I change my mind and call the principal out here. You do know a suspension now and you will not be permitted to go to prom.” The group of girls all glared at Jocelyn, but made no further move to go near her, instead they gathered together to make their way to the parking lot, leaving Jocelyn alone with her art teacher, Miss Dominque. “I could have handled them. They’re a bunch of wusses. Jenna would have gone down in one hit.” Jocelyn gripped without the same bite in her voice that she had spoken with to the girls. The older woman chuckled, bending down to grab a hold of the straps of Jocelyn’s backpack and handing it off to the girl. “I know you could have, but you would have been kicked out of school, and they would have gotten a slap on the wrist.” Jocelyn took her bag from her teacher and shoved her arms through the straps, making a quick adjustment as she listened to the woman continue to speak. “Besides, I don’t think you’d want your brother turning up in the middle of a schoolyard brawl.”

Jocelyn sighed heavily, but nodded her head in agreement. All she needed was for her brother to turn up in the middle of her fighting; she’d never hear the end of it. “I’ve got to go finish up bus duty. Do you think you can stay here by yourself without getting into any more trouble before your brother turns up?” The teacher asked, earning herself another reluctant nod from Jocelyn. Without wasting any more time, the woman walked off to finish up her job, leaving Jocelyn alone to fume over the fact she had not been able to kick Jenna’s butt and hopefully earn herself a break from the girl’s taunting for a while. She still had to wait for the buses to leave the school grounds before the cars would be waved through, but she could manage that without attracting any more trouble; at least she hoped she could.

The final bell dismissing students for the day was music to Tora's ears. One day down, goodness knows how many to go, he was beginning to see why his mentor said this could be a daunting task. Probably not the same reason, yet playing nice with the other students was proving to be difficult. Not to mention how terribly boring school was as a whole, he couldn't possibly imagine doing this for that long. Since he truly had no use of the education he supposed he could always drop out and not bother to finish. Would these people just let him walk away from school though? He was by their standards just a child essentially, for whatever reason not quite old enough to make his own decisions. Well it wasn't as though he had any guardians around to do it for him, he was here on his own. His enrollment had been handled by someone back home playing the part of his uncle, and the entire situation then was out of his hands. Regretfully Tora figured he'd have to suck it up and keep attending class, at least until Jocelyn was ready to go with him. It wasn't such a terrible thing, it made watching her easier. But for the single period he could actually watch her and the other five that he had to begrudgingly sit through it didn't really seem all worthwhile.

Tora didn't leave any of his things in a locker, he just didn't trust any of the other students enough to do so. Even if his belongings were not all that important it was just the principle of having his effects stolen by someone. Being a new kid he already figured he would be the target of a fair bit of hazing, and while nothing had happened today he was positive there would be hell coming his way. Especially now that he had pissed off that Brendon kid, he mused with a smirk. That guy looked more than ready to throw down, and undoubtedly he'd be hearing from the other boy soon enough. With any luck he'd get to have a little scuffle tomorrow, just to keep himself limber and not get lazy. Walking down the central hall he hurried right along, eager to be out of the building for the day at last. Outside plenty of students were well on their way home, climbing into one of the few school buses or loading up into cars to go home for the day. Not everyone was well on their way home, a few were still lingering around for various reasons. The students that had his undivided attention were Jocelyn and the little entourage she had made for herself. They didn't seem to be on friendly terms, the Princess and the other girls, and it looked like they might start fighting. While normally it would dictate that he should step in for her sake he found himself hard pressed to become involved. Mainly because it wasn't really a life-threatening situation, so there was no need for his intervention. Also though he really wanted to see a cat fight.

Propping himself up on the railing at the base of the steps Tora grinned enthusiastically, waiting for something to come of this. Jocelyn wasn't backing down at all, he'd give it to her that she had a bigger set than most guys. Not that the girls she was facing were all that intimidating to begin with. The one she really seemed to be getting into it with was shorter than she was, and scrawny. Her little compatriots weren't much bigger, and they all seemed to be pretty uncertain about getting into this. For having the strength in numbers they were being awfully cautious, meaning Jocelyn must be able to fight fairly well. When the girls grabbed the Princess' arms his face lit up, watching expectantly for the first punch to be thrown, and groaning audibly when he saw it would never come. Well before anything could happen one of the teachers came outside, instantly going to the group of girls and breaking up their confrontation. Tora could feel himself slouching in disappointment at his fun being ruined, almost wanting to shout out his displeasure at that fact. The other girls stalked off after being apparently warned, he couldn't hear from where he was, and soon Jocelyn was on her own once more. Damn that teacher, why did she have to spoil things like that? Perhaps he'd get lucky tomorrow and Jocelyn would run her mouth again, she really seemed to have a habit of that.

Whatever had her standing around Tora was grateful for, it gave him a chance to get to her again. She wouldn't have any choice but to speak to him now, unless of course she sulked off and abandoned her ride. Sliding himself off the rail he carefully adjusted his bag over his shoulder, holding the strap as his free hand went into his pocket. Jocelyn was going to go mental with him being there, especially after the nonsense she just went through. Poor girl, today just wasn't her day. Smiling innocently he walked right up to her, stopping just behind her and humming softly as he stood there. Should he be a pain in the ass, or cut her a break? The former was a lot of fun, but he had to bear in mind that she was in effect his boss. If he went and made her life a living hell now he was liable to get the same treatment when she went back with him, perhaps even sooner than that. To save his own skin then he'd reign in his behavior a little, just enough not to bury himself for later.

"Well that sucks, your fight was ruined..." Tora mumbled, flashing Jocelyn an innocent grin from behind. "Just for the record, I'm sure you could have totally kicked all of their asses. Those girls don't have anything on you, just a bunch of stuck up wenches if I ever saw one." Freeing his hand from his pocket he ran it through his hair, moving up to stand beside his classmate, smiling over at her cheerfully. "You look hot when you're ready to knock skulls together, did you know that? I was so ready to start cheering for you too. Maybe there's a chance of getting a repeat show tomorrow?"

Jocelyn was ready for her brother to turn up, wanting to get as far away from school as she possibly could. She had promised not to skip any more, but after the way her day had gone, she was ready to break that promise and start cutting classes regularly. There was the annoying new kid, whose name she could not remember, and now Jenna and her annoying posse of airheads on her back. If anything else could go wrong, she wasn’t planning on sticking around to see it. Going home without any further encounters was her full intent, and she waited patiently for her brother’s little black car to pull up in front of the school so she could slip in and get the hell out of there before anything or anyone else had the chance to heckle her. She thought she could make it, but just before her brother’s car came into view, one of the top people on her list of those to avoid decided to turn up, his words doing little else than annoying her even more.

“Are you seriously starting with me right now?” Jocelyn huffed indignantly, wishing that her brother’s car could magically skip past the line in front of him and move in front of her so that she could escape without having to stand there with Tora. She could already imagine what her brother would be thinking if he saw the two of them standing together, and she was hoping that she could avoid hearing what he might have to say. Tora was standing beside her, and smiling, which from anyone else’s point of view would have made them appear to be friends. No matter how much Jocelyn might argue against it, there was no way her sibling would believe that she couldn’t stand the kid, not when she was making little effort to move away from him. That wasn’t because she wanted to stay close, she just didn’t want to move away from her usual pickup spot. “Can’t you find some other girl to harass? I’m not you’re type, especially if you think calling me hot is going to earn you some kind of points.”

She definitely could not figure out what his game was, not when he made it a point to get on her nerves every time he opened his mouth. If he was trying to make friends, he had a weird way of doing it, since she was the least friendly person she could think of. Sure, it was fun going back and forth, but after a while it started getting on her nerves. “Seriously, go away before my brother gets here. I don’t need him thinking we’re friends. I’ll never hear the end of it.” She scanned the line of cars again, and to her dismay her brother’s vehicle was now only three cars away, and he was peering curiously over at her and Tora through the windshield. She caught Aidan’s eye for a moment, his gaze traveling back over to Tora with a small smirk forming on his lips. “Crap….now he’s going to think I like you.” She muttered angrily, turning her head to glare heatedly over at the boy. “I hope you’re happy now. Not only is the whole school probably talking, now I have to deal with it at home too.”

To make matters worse, her brother was not interested in letting Jocelyn explain herself all alone, nor was he going to allow her to rush away from Tora in retreat. . He did not step out of his car, but he opened the window and waved her over. “Come on, Joc. Let’s go. Bring your friend too.” Growling, Jocelyn looked back at Tora, her eyes narrowing and head shaking from side to side. “I really hope you’re happy with yourself. He’s not going to take no for an answer.”

Jocelyn stepped up to the passenger side of her brother’s car, popping the door open to peer inside at her older sibling. “He’s not coming with us, so forget about it.” She snapped, ready to reach across the car to slap her brother who looked smugly back at her. “Sure he is. I’ve never seen you stand outside with anyone, and I want to know who my little sister is involved with. Now watch out and let your boyfriend in the car.” Aidan hadn’t realized how poorly his sister was going to take the joke until she unshouldered her backpack to throw it at him. “He’s not my boyfriend!” She growled out, fuming over the sound of her brother’s amused laughter and the way he continued to motion Tora forward. “Hey, you! Get in the car, I’ll give you a lift home, and you can tell me all about how you hooked up with my sister.” Aidan didn’t often get a chance to tease his sister, and now that he had something to hold over her, he was not letting go of it. He doubted that the boy that had been standing beside her was involved with her in anyway, but he looked friendly enough, and Aidan, along with their aunt, were both trying to encourage her to make friends. “Come on, I promise I won’t let her hit you.”

Jocelyn was infuriated, but she had already a big enough fuss to cause a scene, and she did not want to embarrass herself any further. Leaving the car door open, she stepped out of the way and motioned for Tora to get into the car. “Might as well get in. He won’t take no for an answer, and he won’t believe me if I tell him you’re not my boyfriend.”

"I don't know who else I'd be starting with, do you see anyone else around?" Tora retorted, smiling as he gestured idly. "And maybe I don't want to harass any other girl here. You're the only one that's interesting to me, and you're fun, unlike them. The others are all shallow, or airheads, or just plain annoying. But you... Nah, you're different. I like talking to you."

There was the whole having to protect her with his life aspect too, but he let that remain a secret for now. If he started claiming he was there to act as a protector and bring her home to her mother it probably wouldn't sit too well. Especially not when she still considered the lady who had nearly tried to murder her as her mother. Nope, best to leave that can of worms for another day. While he might be bothering Jocelyn to a degree Tora was making a focused attempt to be better about his behavior, even if only to save his own hide down the road. Frankly he had to keep an eye on the Princess too, and it was easier to do that when she was literally within arms reach. So long as he didn't touch her or say anything too off color he should be able to keep this up, long enough anyways to find an opening to fill her in. That was provided too that she didn't go nuts and file a restraining order on him. While ultimately that would have very little impact on his job, as he couldn't give a damn about this place's laws, it would be a bit annoying if the police were called every time he said hello to her. Best to avoid that then, no need to make his mission harder than it had to be.

Things then took a turn from bad to worse, for Jocelyn at least. Her brother, the one she had been waiting on, finally picked her out of the crowd and signaled her over. By the looks of it he was gesturing Tora over as well, assuming they were friends or something. Now that was rich, the guy was definitely clueless in that regard. Fiery as ever the Princess instantly took a strong aversion to this, accusing Tora of being at fault and snapping at him before finally sulking off to the vehicle. He had just been standing there chatting with her, he hadn't said a single thing to make this happen. It was all on her sibling, she could blame him for it all she wanted. Seeing it as ample opportunity to watch over Jocelyn even just a little longer he wholeheartedly went with the offer, following in suit after her to the vehicle. On his way over he was treated to a little exchange between his classmate and her brother, watching in amusement as he seemed to be teasing her quite a bit. Her anger with him seemed more flustered then genuine, and Tora couldn't keep himself from breaking into a grin at the sight. She was scrambling to get her sibling to cut it out and she wasn't making any headway, poor little girl. When he finally got to the vehicle Jocelyn was glaring at him, gesturing promptly for him to climb in.

"Thanks Jocelyn, appreciate it," Tora chimed, smiling smugly at his classmate. Dropping his bag onto the floor of the car he eased himself inside, sighing contently as he sat down in the seat. "Just going to clear the air here so I'm not killed later, by the way. She's not my girlfriend, and I'm not her boyfriend. Though... The idea of it doesn't completely repulse me, if it's all the same." He'd have fun with it regardless, being in Jocelyn's brother's presence didn't inhibit him all that much. Plus not having siblings of his own he was kind of oblivious to how one might react if their little sister was being hit on. Though he'd really not even started teasing her yet. As tempting as it was to go on, and it was terribly tempting, he again had to remind himself to watch his behavior. After a day like today and making an awful first impression his chances of getting on her good side were likely slim to none. If he wanted any degree of cooperation from here though, which he definitely needed for her sake, then he had to start playing nice. Or as nice as he could.

"Thanks for the ride, I appreciate it," Tora added, looking over at the other boy politely. May as well earn some brownie points with him at least, he could use that to his advantage later on. If big brother liked him enough then maybe little sister would follow, and sooner or later Jocelyn would be at least something similar to civil with him. Not that he had room to talk, his own attitude needed some major adjusting too. "My name is Tora, by the way. Now that I think about it not sure I even gave your sister my name yet." Chuckling to himself he turned to face Jocelyn, smiling and giving her a half wave. "Hey there, now that we're actually introduced."

"Don't thank me. If it were my decision, you'd be huffing it." Jocelyn snipped bitterly, still sulking over the fact that her brother had welcomed the boy who was quickly becoming the bane of her existence into the car with them. Her brother was tormenting her, and she knew it, but any complaints she might have thought to make would only be met with a smirk and further teasing by her brother, who no doubt was enjoying the torment he was inflicting on her. Aidan may have thought he was doing her a favor, after all, what teenage girl wouldn’t want the attention of a boy like Tora, would probably would have been considered cute if it weren’t for his attitude. Jocelyn, however, wanted absolutely no parts of it. She didn’t want his attention, and she certainly did not want him anywhere near her. She was out of luck, and as Tora climbed inside the car, Jocelyn could only stare irately at her brother and unwanted guest, hoping that the car ride would be faster than she was imagining it would be.

Climbing into the front seat, Jocelyn slammed the car door shut, snapping her seatbelt with an audible click. The moment Tora opened his mouth, she could feel the lid of her right eye start to twitch, the corners of her lips flickering up and down in annoyance. Aidan glanced over the back seat, peering curiously over at Tora with a wide grin on his face, absorbing every word the boy spoke. “Tora, huh? I thought you were Tony. I didn’t know Joc had another friend…and one that wouldn’t mind dating her at that.” He reached over to pat his sister, who looked on the verge of having a seizure, on the shoulder, chuckling quietly. “See, look at that! Made a friend, now it looks like you might have found yourself a boyfriend. And you said you wouldn’t fit in here. It only took you two years too!” Aidan might have thought that he was encouraging her, but for Jocelyn, all he was doing was adding to the list of reasons that she needed to avoid Tora as if he were the plaque.

“Don’t listen to him, Aidan. He’s only saying that because he knows it’ll set me off. Just take him home so I can get some peace. I’ve dealt with enough today.” She had yet to learn what Tora’s game was, but dating her was certainly not on the list, and she had no clue why he’d try to imply that it was to her brother. Glancing over into the backseat at Tora, she growled quietly at him, her eyes narrowing and brow furrowing into a hateful scowl. “And you! Stop talking like that! He doesn’t need to be encouraged. Just sit there and not talk and we’ll be golden.”

The line of cars began to take off, and Aidan eased into traffic, smirking as he listened in on the two. He was used to his sister’s threats, but he wasn’t used to her putting so much of a fuss. It was easy to set his sister off, but the boy in the backseat didn’t have to put even the smallest amount of effort to get her going, which was both entertaining and confusing to watch. “Joc, chill already. He’s not doing anything but giving you a hard time, and with the way you’re acting I can see why. What’s got you so wound up today?” Jocelyn was often high strung when she got out of school, but the minute that she got away from school she settled down, but today it didn’t seem like she was ready or willing to calm down at all. Based on his knowledge, he could only assume one thing. “Did you get into another fight? You know Aunt Alicia’s going to be pissed if you did.”

“Almost. Stupid twits held me back. If they hadn’t I’d have pounded that little brat dead in her empty head.” Jocelyn proclaimed, turning back in her seat to stare out the windshield. She wasn’t embarrassed about telling her brother she’d almost gotten into a fight, not when the odds had been stacked against her and she hadn’t backed down. She was prone to violence, and had a wicked temper, but she would have thought that by now the girls in her school would have learned their lesson, but they continued to get on her, and Jocelyn continued to fight back. It was a vicious cycle, one that would not end until the idiots she went to school with decided to leave her alone. “Stupid Jenna….I swear I wish someone would superglue her stupid lips together, or I could knock her teeth down her throat to shut her up.” She was fully capable of knocking the girl around like a ragdoll, even with Jenna’s friends there as backup, but the only thing that prevented her from doing so was the fact that she would get into trouble, while the walking Barbie wouldn’t even get a slap on the wrist.

“Well don’t. At least not in school.” Aidan stated, focusing his attention on the road while listening to his sister rant about the girls in her school. To change the subject, Aidan glanced at the boy in the backseat through the rearview mirror, curious about who he was, and why he seemed to have an interest in his sister. “And what’s your story? I haven’t heard Joc talk about you, so you must be new or something. Or did you just happen to cross paths with my sister and end up getting punched in the face? That’s usually how it works with her.”

"I would never dream of saying something solely to annoy you," Tora replied, feigning shock before smiling cheekily. "Or maybe I would. I guess you know me pretty well already don't you?" Yeah, no doubt about it, he was on Jocelyn's shit list. Her brother Aidan might have been teasing right along with him but he wasn't being chided nearly as much as the new kid was. Being a sibling had that perk to it, he supposed. Not that he'd know, most of his teasing ended up like it had with the Princess, not exactly making friends with people. Chuckling under his breath Tora glanced back at Jocelyn as she told him to clam up, making a zipping motion on his lips and tossing away the key before flashing a thumbs up. That much he could do, he was getting a little bored with tormenting her anyways. There came a certain point where the person was so bothered near anything you said could get to them, and she was well beyond that point by now. There wasn't a lot of fun then in continuing, may as well call it a day.

Tora didn't even need to say a single word to enjoy himself, Jocelyn was more than taking care of things. Getting into fights, by the sound of it, was practically a hobby of hers. Certainly not one that Aidan appeared to be fond of. Hearing her justification of what had happened definitely put it in an interesting light, and showed just how vindictive she could be. It was certainly true that Jenna girl had started things, and her friends hadn't been the most passive either, helping their midget friend out. The chance of seeing her actually fight was enticing, he did want to know just what she was capable of. Not very princess-like, fighting with other girls, but again she wasn't exactly a princess just yet. All Jocelyn was at the moment was a bratty teenage girl and about as far from royalty as one could get. Tora half expected there to be an actual brawl tomorrow, but Aidan quickly shot that idea down with a stern warning to do no such thing. He couldn't help but give the other boy an accusatory glare, sighing and looking out the window dejected. Some hair pulling would be fun, and maybe someone would lose their shirt in the process. Hm... He wondered what Jocelyn looked like in her undies..,

The conversation was then redirected in Tora's direction, and hearing himself addressed after such a lewd thought made him tense up slightly. With nothing of the sorts being asked he smiled, looking back at Aidan and giving a faint nod of his head. Now he was being questioned, hopefully he could remember everything he had been told.

"Yeah, I'm new to the school. Just moved here from Ellsworth, up in Maine." Hopefully they bought that much, seeing as he had an accent faintly reminiscent of someone from the UK. For good measure he figured to touch on that, seeing as a little more lying couldn't hurt. "Came over here with my parents from Inverness, Scotland. Mom and dad ended up going back though, didn't like it a ton. Since I was 18 though they let me stay with some relatives. They were kind of... Weird, so I moved down here to get away from them." Maine was his cover, but Inverness had been completely pulled out of his butt. Tora thought it was wise to at least touch on his accent a little bit just in case they questioned him later. So long as they didn't ask about specifics, he mused, he ought to be okay.

"Sorta... We were in Chemistry together, and of course she made me do all the work. But I am a gentleman after all, so I did it anyways." Tora fibbed, grinning at the expected snap that would be coming his way. Okay, maybe just one more little tease, he couldn't help himself. "We split the work really, and I thought it was fun anyways. So I sort of... Pestered her throughout the day. I don't know anyone else but her here yet, or her friend Tony, so it's kind of nice having someone to talk to." Seeing a chance to put himself in a better light he turned around in his seat, smiling back at Jocelyn as cutely as he could. "Seriously though, sorry about being a huge pain in the ass today. Just having some fun, getting acquainted with the new school and everything. No hard feelings, yeah?"

Tora was protesting that he hadn’t intended to get on her nerves, but Jocelyn wasn’t buying it; not one little bit. He had spent way too much of his time digging around to find which nerve to hit and in what way for him not to have done it intentionally, whether for kicks or simply because he could. She was easy to rile up, but that tended to happen when someone felt like the world was against them. Jocelyn felt exactly that way, and had from her earliest memory, which unfortunately for her, was of her mother stabbing her with a butcher knife on her fifth birthday. Not exactly the happiest of memories, and the next twelve years weren’t much better. She was an outsider everywhere she went, and it wasn’t just because she refused to conform to her peers. She had been raised to be an individual, but Jocelyn took it to a whole other level. Her short temper made it difficult for her to accept the taunts and teasing of her classmates without fighting back, and her odd little quirks made her stand out in the crowd like a sore thumb. She couldn’t wear jeans, or any type of pants for that matter. Practically every type of material irritated her skin to the point she broke out in hives. Along with her obnoxiously sensitive hearing, she had sensitive taste buds, and could barely tolerate anything other than fruits, vegetables and only very specific types of meats. She wasn’t like everyone else, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t force herself to even try to behave as if she was.

She ignored Tora, but Aidan was not nearly as willing to let silence fill the car. “Scotland, huh? A bit far from home, aren’t you? What the hell made you want to stay here?” He glanced in the mirror back at Tora before turning his eyes back to the road. He knew Jocelyn was sitting in her seat stewing over the teasing, but he didn’t see Tora causing any harm, so he didn’t feel the need to step in to shield her. If she was bothered enough, she’d find a way to silence Tora, and by all appearances she seemed to encourage him. She wasn’t telling him to shut the hell up, and while she was silent now, she hadn’t been silent before. Her silence was confusing, but not entirely abnormal for her, and rather than stirring her into talking, he let her continue on as she was.

What Aidan wasn’t aware of was the fact that Jocelyn’s silence wasn’t one she fell into willingly. Inside her mind there was a voice, not one that she was unfamiliar with; she’d heard it several times in the past. ‘It’s simply not acceptable. He’s nothing more than a trained servant, and a human one at that. You are his superior, now act like it.’ The words made absolutely no sense to Jocelyn at all, nor did the image inside her mind that came along with it. She was standing in a hallway, one that was far too formal to be her home. The floors were covered with red carpet, and hanging from the ceiling were several small chandeliers which looked as if they cost more than her aunt’s house. The woman in front of her, if Jocelyn could call her a woman, stood stiffly, dressed in a silken gown, her golden hair piled up on top of her head in an elaborate bun. Her fingers were adorned with several rings, each one containing stones that practically took up her entire finger, and huge diamond earrings dangled from her ears. She was beautiful by appearance, but her demeanor made her ugly in Jocelyn’s mind. More words were spoken, but Jocelyn couldn’t make them out, her mind distracted by the overwhelming urge to find a pencil and a piece of paper.

Aidan finally took notice of Jocelyn, catching a flicker of movement from the corner of his eye. Her hand was moving in her lap, her fingers tracing lines in the black material of the skirt she wore. “Jocelyn?” He called out quietly, afraid to disturb her if she was having another of her episodes, which she often did. The first one she’d had happened shortly after their mother’s attempt to kill her, and when their aunt had taken her to the doctor’s, they’d blamed it all on the trauma of what had happened to her. The next few times were explained the same way, but after two years had passed, that explanation would no longer fly. They had yet to find a doctor that could explain the trance like state his sister fell into, but they had ruled out seizures, along with any possible mental disorder. From what they could tell nothing really happened other than her drawings, and in the end the doctors advised his aunt to leave her be and let her come out of it all on her own, which is exactly what they did. Now though, he was stuck with Tora in the car, and a need to get his sister back to their house before something could go wrong, and Aidan had absolutely no idea how to warn the boy in the backseat without him thinking Jocelyn was some type of freak, and without him trying to test limits to see if he could snap her out of it and inadvertently do some type of damage.

“Uh…listen. I gotta get Jocelyn home, like right now.” The languid movement of her fingers was not as troubling as it would be if she was fidgeting more, but Aidan did not want to take a chance of something going wrong. “This might sound crazy, but she needs to get to a pen and paper….some weird thing, we’re not quite sure. The doctors said there’s nothing wrong, but they warned us not to snap her out.” He was vague with the description, but for now, that was all that Tora really needed to hear. Turning the car to head to their house, Aidan cast another quick glance back at Tora, sighing in frustration. “You don’t mind sticking around our house for a bit, do you? I hate leaving her like this, and I’m not sure if our aunt’s home from visiting her sister.” He was referring to their mother without giving her title away, having refused to acknowledge the woman as his mother since her attempt on Jocelyn. “You can eat with us if it lasts too long. I’ll order pizza if my aunt isn’t home cooking.”

Damn it all, of course they had to ask about Scotland. Admittedly it was a bit of a flimsy explanation, and hadn't even been originally included in his alibi. Tora figured his accent might have made him stick out otherwise so had added that to his story at the last moment. Rather quickly it was causing more problems than it was solving, and now he had to scramble for some kind of explanation. "You know... Scotland hasn't exactly been all that great lately," he answered lamely, wondering precisely if that was even true or not. Well, not backing out of his lie now. "And my family there... Not the greatest. Father was laid off of work so he was home a lot, kind of an ass to be honest. With mum at work and dad... Indisposed, I had a hell of a time trying to watch after things. It ended up being too much, so I moved over here to Maine to live with some relatives." That would have to be the story he'd stick to, any more specific than that and he'd really be struggling. The truth of the situation couldn't be further from his claims, but he couldn't quite share the truth either. For now this would suffice, at least until it was safe to show otherwise. Even then, only Jocelyn would know who he really was.

Tora was a bit surprised to not hear a quip out of Jocelyn for some time thereafter. Normally every time he had spoken prior she had wholeheartedly questioned, snapped at it or tried to put down whatever came out of his mouth. It was a curious change of pace, and admittedly a nice one. The Princess probably ran all out of fire, tuckered herself out from all of the arguing. That's what he figured anyways, turns out he was pretty far from the truth. Hearing the worry in Aidan's tone he immediately looked in Jocelyn's direction to see what the cause for concern was. The Princess didn't appear to be in any actual danger, but there was something definitely awry with how she was acting. She stared blankly ahead, eyes unblinking even as Tora waved a hand in her face to try and get her to give up the supposed ruse. One of her hands was busily working away on her skirt as well, looking like they were trying to draw something in the fabric of her clothing. It took a second, but quickly enough he realized what she was doing. It was the exact same thing that Eslaria tended to do when in a trance, she was mapping out a vision. Tora hadn't pegged her for picking up her mother's ability, though it made sense. Abilities like that tended to have a lineage, and being the daughter of the Queen it was obvious she'd get it then. Aidan had it right at least, she needed something to write with and some paper. Maybe once she had finished her art he could take a look at it, perhaps make a little sense of what she was drawing.

"No... No I don't mind sticking around..." Tora replied, not taking his eyes off the Princess. What could she possibly be having a vision of? And how often did she have these? This could prove to be a little troublesome, especially if he saw something that might not bode well for his task. He was well aware that changing anything pictured in a vision could be catastrophic, and so anything that he might see would come to pass whether he liked it or not. It was uneasy though, in a way, he could very well see his own death written down on paper. Smirking at the thought he turned back around, shaking his head as he looked forward again. Listen to me... Acting like I give a damn... he mused, gazing out the passenger's window. I know damn well I'll die doing this, just not when. It's not like her vision is going to change that. If he became her personal guard he would damn well die protecting her too, that was how the title went. He lived to die, if that made any sense. In a position like that Tora figured it was helpful to have such a sharp and sarcastic disposition like his, it helped take the edge off of things. It was easy to joke about things too, like dying, especially if they seemed so far off at the time.

Jocelyn’s mind was stuck in a loop, and no matter how hard she tried to break herself out of it, she could do little more than watch the scene play over and over. She wanted to speak out and tell Aidan that everything was fine, that he could take Tora home and then drive her back to their house, but she could not speak. She could hear perfectly fine. She listened as Tora and Aidan spoke about her as if she was not even there, which annoyed her to no end, but from their perspective, she might as well have not been seated in the car. Her mind was a thousand miles away, and unbeknownst to her, some period of time in the future. Tora would easily recognize the woman in the vision, but to Jocelyn she could not possibly be real. The pointed ears, the perfect complexion, and the tall, graceful form was one she had seen in movies, but was impossible to view in the real world. It was a daydream, or so Jocelyn had convinced herself, but it was one that she could not wake herself up from.

The scene would not change until she finally sketched it onto paper, and even then she would only receive a glimpse of a few moments past what she was witnessing now. She wasn’t sure exactly why she was daydreaming about mythical beings, but it wasn’t uncommon for her to do so. She had quite a few drawings stashed away with things other than elves. There was some warped looking creature, with long ears and strange curved noses that walked around carrying pots, pans, and dynamite on black leather belts that held up their tidy linen pants. They carried pickaxes and shovels in their hands, and spoke in weird squeaking gibberish that took her some time to translate. Along with the mysterious creatures, there were tiny little people, who she assumed was a clan of midgets. They were as strange as the creatures, but they at least looked to be human. She believed that she had an overactive imagination, that translated stories of roleplaying games her classmates played into visions of what the world would be like if such creatures existed. The woman in her vision this time around was a familiar face, but that did not make her presence any less peculiar.

Aidan sped off for their home, unaware that his sister was mentally yelling at him. He would have ignored her even if she could get her message across. He felt the need to get her home and away from any risk of possibly interrupting her trance and causing irreversible damage to her fragile state of mind. Tora would have to be clued into Jocelyn’s background despite how his sister might feel about it, and Aidan could only hope the boy would understand the tragic life Jocelyn had lived, and how it had affected her. She was fragile, no matter how much she tried to deny it. No one could live with the fact that their mother believed they were a demon and attempted to kill them and remain untouched by it in some small way. She could not form connections to people, and Aidan believed it was because of their mother’s attack, and the fact that even before that, their mother had made Jocelyn feel completely unwanted. He was nearly eight years older than his sister, and had watched as their mother treated her like a monster, always yelling and screaming at even the smallest things that Jocelyn did. She would slap his sister’s hands even when she was little more than a baby, and while he hadn’t witnessed it first hand, Aidan suspected that Jocelyn had suffered quite a bit of abuse at their mother’s hands when he was not around.

Pulling into the driveway of their house, Aidan parked the car but made no move to rush Jocelyn out. Glancing into the backseat at Tora, he flashed a friendly smile that did not reach his eyes. “Sorry about this. It happens every once in a while, and we never know when it’s going to occur. So far it’s only happened while we’re at home, but there’s been a few times we’ve had to rush her back to the house.” Aidan didn’t give Tora a chance to respond, instantly exiting the car after giving a quick explanation. He circled around to the passenger’s seat, gently pulling his sister out from the vehicle and guiding her by the hand to the house. “Do you mind closing the car up for me? I’m going to get her inside. You can just walk right in. My aunt’s not home so you don’t have to worry about anyone snapping at you.” He wasted no more time getting Jocelyn inside, ushering her straight to her room and to her desk. He did not leave until his sister had a pencil in her hand, and a piece of paper resting in front of her. Once he heard the soft scratching of the lead against the page, he left her room but kept the door wide open in case she snapped out of her daze early. He stood in the hallway for several long moments, waiting to see if Tora would decide to check up on Jocelyn or if he was content to linger downstairs and give his sister some space to do her thing.

If only he had some idea just precisely what Jocelyn was drawing. With only faint patterns on her skirt to draw conclusions from Tora couldn't even venture a guess, left as much in the dark as Aidan was. If he could just see something, anything, he could most likely point out what it was. Frustratingly he was left utterly in the dark, only able to watch her blank expression for some clue. Before he knew it though they were pulling into the driveway of the house, much too early for his liking. He needed time to see what she was doing, he couldn't be bothered with coming to their home now. Still trying to get some insight onto what was being drawn he let out a silent groan when Aidan moved out of the car, removing Jocelyn as well.

"Yeah, you got it. Just get her inside," Tora urged, barely suppressing his annoyance. This guy had no idea what was going on or just how important it could be. Damn it all, this could be something serious and it was being completely missed. Watching as Aidan and Jocelyn slipped inside the house he moved himself over into the driver's seat, minding the shift on the console as he plopped down in the seat. Putting the vehicle back in drive he eased it forward, bringing it just barely up to the house before throwing it back and park and pulling the keys out of the ignition. He had to find a way to get close to Jocelyn while she was like that, he needed to see this. Pocketing the keys he climbed out of the vehicle, and with a good slam of the door he rushed right on inside. Oh great, now where in the hell did they go? It didn't help that he was utterly unfamiliar with the place, and Aidan hadn't the forethought to let him know where her room was. Looking about the first floor then he carefully checked every single room, annoyed when she wasn't anywhere to be seen. Nice place, he mused as he shut the door to the downstairs bathroom. He had a one room place back home, two if you counted the bathroom, but far from his own home. It would be quite some time yet until he had his own place, and ideally it would be something like this. Small, with the simple commodities that he'd need, and out of the way. Throw in a pretty girl to cook him his meals and have some fun with and it'd be a paradise on Earth.

Realizing he was getting way off track he gave his head a flustered shake, heading to the stairwell by the front door and near running up them, heavy footfalls signaling his approach. Right at the top he spotted Aidan standing outside, confused as to why he was just standing there. Rather unfortunate that he was too, it made Tora's getting to the Princess all the more difficult. Considering the delicate nature of things he doubted he'd be allowed to just waltz into the room and do as he pleased. Well, the least he could do anyways was try and get her vision down on paper, then he could decipher it at a later date. Immediately swinging his messenger bag around front he opened up the top, pulling out a notebook and pencil and bringing them to Aidan, dropping them in his hands.

"She needs these to draw, yeah? Hurry up and give them to her." Tora stated, pausing and smiling sheepishly at his pushiness. "Might as well... Y'know? Maybe there's something in her drawings that can help her?" Or him, more likely than not. The nature of those visions were unpredictable, it was nigh impossible to guess just what they were seeing until it was finished, and even then sometimes the person couldn't recall what it had been. That's why the drawings were so important, it was the only record.

Stepping past Aidan and just barely into the room Tora leaned up against the wall, keeping silent as Jocelyn went about her business. Such a strange thing, zoning out like that. He'd hate to have that happen to him, everything about it cried exposed. For someone in his line of work being mindless and incapable of action was just about the worst possible thing that could happen to him. Jocelyn still traced absentmindedly, her exact vision being an utter mystery to him. If it wasn't a potentially critical moment he might find her thousand yard stare and blank expression to be sort of funny. His eyes slowly moved down from her face, and inadvertently he found himself looking over the girl. If she ever knew he was doing this she'd kill him, and any of his superiors would have him neutered probably. With no one to reign him in and the Princess none the wiser he might as well enjoy himself while he could. She really was a nice looking girl, not a supermodel but by no means a plain Jane either. Tora found his eyes lingering on her legs, smirking now that he began to enjoy the fact she was wearing a skirt. She looked pretty darn good in that thing, what a pain she had her legs tucked under her though. Remembering rather quickly that Aidan was present he finally made himself tear his gaze away, passing it off as looking around the room to not arouse suspicion.

Aidan watched curiously as Tora walked into Jocelyn’s room, wondering why he felt the need to make an excuse for it. Tora was Jocelyn’s….friend, at least that’s what he assumed; naturally he would feel more comfortable hanging out with her in her room, even if she was in a trance. Before he could call out to stop Tora though and tell him he didn’t have to put on an act, he was already in Jocelyn’s room. A part of Aidan urged him to go into the room and check on the two of them, to at least make sure that the boy he didn’t really know wasn’t taking advantage of his sister’s current state, but doing so felt odd. His sister was old enough to have a boy inside her room without being watched over, but he didn’t know Tora that well, and the fact that the boy had proven to annoy Jocelyn when she was lucid, he wasn’t sure how she would react if she learned she had been in the room alone with him. Shaking his head, Aidan moved away from his sister’s door, calling into the room as he passed. “I’m going to go call my aunt, then order a pizza. Hope you don’t mind plain cheese. Joc won’t eat anything else.”

Jocelyn’s hand went to work the second that the pencil was in her hand, sketching a rough outline of the woman in her vision. She could never get over the size of the female’s ears, and while they were graceful, and framed her face perfectly, they were still freakishly long. Her platinum blonde hair was so light that it might have been white, not the white hair of the elderly, but lacking any discernable coloring at all. Of course Jocelyn believed that was just her imagination at play, which was why she told herself that it was blonde. In reality her hair truly was white, without even a hint of color. Her skin was flawless and pale, not a freckle or blemish marring her features. What amazed her the most was the color of the woman’s eyes, which were a strange shade of purple, not the shades of purple that people often got through contacts, but a darker shade. She was beautiful, but in a cold way that put Jocelyn on edge.

She was aware of Tora in the room, but paid absolutely no mind at all to him, at least not at first. Her focus remained on her drawing, slowly beginning to add in the finer details to the general outline she had been working. Her eyes weren’t on the paper, but remained closed, her hands working without any real control from her brain. It wasn’t like the times when she drew in art class, or the few sketches that she messed around with whenever she got in the mood to draw. She was working on automatic, and while her mind wasn’t exactly involved in the actions of her hands, she could not break out of the trance she had fallen into. She could think to herself, but she could not communicate. She heard everything that went on around her, and could sense when others were nearby, but she was helpless to do much else.

She could sense Tora, and while she was blind to the way he was looking at her, she was aware that he was, in fact, looking at her. Why he was looking at her, she didn’t know, and if she’d known what was going through his head, she probably would have smacked him silly. ‘What the hell is he doing in here?’ She mused, unaware that her thoughts were being translated directly into Tora’s mind as clearly as they were inside her own head. Of course, if she had known that she could communicate with the annoying boy that way, she would have given him a piece of her mind, but for now, Tora was safe from a mental cussing out. ‘Seriously, is he going to stand there and stare at me all night? Take a picture, freak, it’ll last longer.’ She continued ranting inside her head, wishing that she could shift in her seat, or do anything for that matter. She was stuck as she was, only her hand moving over the page, and her chest rising and falling in slow, steady breaths. Her mind was divided, half of it focused playing out in her head, and the other half distracted by Tora’s presence in her bedroom.

‘I hope he doesn’t think he can snoop through my drawers. So help me, if he raids my panty drawer, I’m going to slap him senseless.’ Again her thoughts would find themselves inside Tora’s head, and again she would remain completely oblivious to it. It was the first sign that the seal on her abilities that her mother had placed on her shortly after her birth was beginning to fade, and would continue to do so the closer it came to her eighteenth birthday. She had no control of it, and would not until after her birthday and quite a bit of training. For the time being, it would be tiny slips, glimpses of thoughts and emotions that went through her mind. When she finally discovered it happened, she might become embarrassed, but for now, Tora would be gifted to tidbits of her thoughts. The last thing she thought before her mind finally went silent and focused on her task, was. ‘Wait, if he does go in my drawers, is it because he wants to wear a pair of my underwear, or he’s secretly got a crush on me?’

"You want me to watch her...? Well... Er... Okay then." Aidan left not a second afterwards, leaving Tora alone with Jocelyn in her little trance. Well he supposed that was ideal, he could get a better look at precisely what she was doing now. After making certain that her brother had gone downstairs he walked over to the bed, peering down at the paper that she was scrawling on to get a peek. It took a few moments for any coherent figure to take shape, but once discernible features were drawn it instantly dawned on him just who she was drawing. There was absolutely no way that she could possibly know who that was, that confirmed this was a vision. How interesting though that she'd be drawing Eslaria of all people. With a faintly impressed smirk he continued to watch her draw, amazed at how detailed and exact the illustration was turning out to be. Definitely the Queen, no doubt about it. Why exactly she was drawing that woman in particular he couldn't say, the nature of this ability was lost to him. There had to be more of these drawings somewhere in her room, he could potentially piece them together and get some idea of what her visions could mean. Of course without exact knowledge of this ability he'd only be able to make a guess at best.

Tora glanced around the room, trying to decide just where on Earth the Princess might keep a bunch of sketches. There was a desk, that seemed to be a probable place. Since Jocelyn was still in her trance he doubted she'd mind terribly if he went and took a peek. Before he could even get his hand on the knob to the topmost drawer he heard the Princess' voice, but not in the way he'd expect. It sounded like she was inside his mind, echoing like a thought would. Interesting... So she had telepathy too? That he sincerely doubted she was aware of, probably not even knowing she was speaking to him right now. Shutting the drawer again he turned back to Jocelyn, smiling at her amused.

"Believe me... I'd take a picture if I could," Tora mumbled, chuckling faintly before shaking his head. She couldn't possibly know he was staring, or what had been going through his mind for that matter. If she did she'd be screaming at him telepathically, that was a certain. Among the things he could spend his evening doing staring at Jocelyn all night was... Definitely not among the worst.

One final thought would come from Jocelyn before she went silent, and it was a curious one. Is that what she thought, that he might have a crush on her? Really? Going back to the bed he carefully took a seat in front of her, folding one leg over the other as he simply watched her draw for a moment. A crush on the Princess, huh? She was a beautiful girl, that much he wouldn't deny. She was fun too in her own right, the arguing and snappy comments proved rightfully entertaining. In the entire day at school she had been the only girl he wasn't utterly repulsed by, and admittedly looked forward to seeing her again. Jocelyn had somehow made what would otherwise be a painfully boring task fun, and now he was fairly content to continue. Not that he would ever act like he was excited to see her each time, it'd ruin this little bout that they had going on and ruin the fun of it all.

"Stupid girl... Even if I did have a crush it wouldn't matter..." Tora whispered, lifting a hand and gently stroking Jocelyn's hair back. With a bitter smile he then brushed the back of his fingers down along her face, tracing along her cheeks to her chin where he finally cupped it. "We can't be together, it's as simple as that. All the love and other gooey crap in the world would never change that fact..." That was the way things worked back home. There were distinct social classes and ranks, and certain groups did not mingle with others. Even being part of Oracion and essentially being the royal guard he wasn't allowed to be anything more than friends with royalty, and even that might be a stretch. Friendly terms was usually as far as things went, even between children of the same age group. So really it didn't matter that he thought Jocelyn was beautiful, or even if he did hypothetically have a crush on her. At the end of the day it was a moot point.

"I'll keep you safe, that's all. But all I'll ever be to you is just another guy," Tora added bitterly, getting up off the bed and taking his hand from Jocelyn's face. Shaking his head he scowled, getting annoyed at himself for even getting into this mindset. Where in the hell did he get off even musing over a relationship with the Princess? He was trained better than that, even his insubordinate self knew it was strictly prohibited. He had to pull his head out of his ass and focus, not daydream over the impossible. Since the Princess was still well in her trance he opted to remain in her room, not comfortable with leaving her alone while so vulnerable. Going back to her desk then he grabbed the chair, moving it to the far wall and dropping down into it, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest. Tora would wait as long as he had to for her to get through it, and take whatever flak came his way afterwards. And so would begin his illustrious career as Jocelyn's chaperone.

Jocelyn wondered if Tora understood that she had not lost her ability to hear or feel for that matter. She could hear his voice clearly, and everything he said only added to her confusion. ‘How the hell did he know that’s what I was thinking? Or was he thinking about taking a picture all along? And what exactly is he….oh shit, he’s staring at my legs. Damn pervert. That has to be what he’s staring at. There’s not much else for him to take a picture of!’ If there had ever been a time that Jocelyn wished she could actually wear jeans, that moment was it. Her skirt wasn’t short by any means, but the fact that her legs were exposed, and Tora was taking full advantage of the view left the redhead in a huffy state of annoyance. ‘The nerve of that boy! Who does he think he is staring at me like I’m a piece of meat. Just wait till I’m finished what I’m doing, I swear he won’t be able to walk right for a month after I’m done shoving my foot up his rear!’

The rest of his words made even little sense to Jocelyn, who tried, unsuccessfully to understand why he suddenly felt the urge to play with her hair. The experience wasn’t as unpleasant as she would like it to be, and she was glad that he had no way of knowing that she had actually enjoyed the brief contact. Did he not understand anything? The hand on her face told her that no, Tora had no idea she was trapped inside her mind, but not without awareness at all. But still, how had he figured out what she was thinking? Could he read her mind or something? That was impossible, and Jocelyn knew it for a fact, yet he spoke as if he had a clear idea what was going on inside her head. Things were getting weirder and weirder by the minute. ‘Did I become a magnet for freak occurrences or something?’

The details gradually blended together to form the complete scene that was frozen inside her mind. After a while Jocelyn didn’t even need her mind to repeat the woman’s callous words, the replayed over and over as if she had a recording on repeat inside her skull. Why was the woman talking about humans as if they were something bad? The way her voice sounded, the condescending tone of her voice, made it sound as if she despised humans and considered them beneath….well, whatever she was. Was she an alien? Jocelyn had never given too much thought to what the woman could be, but now that there was a reference that implied she was not human herself, the girl could only question what the being in her visions was. It didn’t really matter, because Jocelyn knew she’d never come across the female in her life, and there was no way that she ever would. ‘If my mother saw me in these trances, and drawing this crap, she’d be convinced I really was a demon. Good thing she’s locked up in the nuthouse with the rest of the fruitcakes.’ She could only laugh silently inside her mind at the idea of how her mother would react to her trances, especially since she believed Jocelyn had been cursed from the moment she was born. The woman probably would have murdered her in her sleep after the first episode, and explained it as an act of self-defense.

The image was finally done, minus the color that never needed to be complete, all that seemed to matter was that she drew what was in her head. For several long moments she sat there, motionless, eyes closed and her head bowed, no longer in her trance, but not wanting Tora to believe otherwise. She was infuriated that he’d been eyeballing her the entire time, and wanted to teach him a lesson for staring at her. ‘Take a picture huh? Let’s see how well you can take a picture with a black eye, you big jerk!’ In an instant Jocelyn was on her feet, grabbing a pillow from the top of her bed which she quickly brought down on Tora’s head. “What the hell is wrong with you, ogling me like I’m some sort of object? Have you no manners?” The pillow was slammed down over his head repeatedly, Jocelyn quickly gasping for her as she exerted the remainder of her energy trying to decapitate Tora with her pillow. It wouldn’t work and she knew it, but it felt pretty damn good to get out of her system. “Are you some kind of pervert? What you are, some young looking, thirty year old man trying molest helpless girls? I should report you to the cops! I bet you use your cellphone to take pictures up girl’s skirts too!”

“Jocelyn? Everything okay up there?” Aidan called up from the bottom of the steps, his voice freezing Jocelyn mid-swing. “Everything’s perfect, Aid. Be down in a minute!” She called out sweetly, tossing her pillow at Tora one final time before shooting a glare in his direction. “I don’t know how they do things where you come from, but here it’s rude to stare at a girl when she can’t move.” Turning her nose up in the air, she walked out of the room, leaving Tora alone without a second thought. She was dying of thirst, and actually rather famished, and from her spot on the stairs she could already smell the scent of food. “Ugh….pizza? Gross.” She grumbled, although she had no other option but to eat it or go hungry. Their aunt obviously wasn’t home, and neither she nor Aidan could cook without starting a fire. She could understand why she couldn’t cook, but her brother was twenty five! Shaking her head, she sighed, pausing in the center of the staircase. “Are you coming down to eat, pervert, or are you fantasizing about me serving you on my hands and knees dressed in little else than scraps of cloth?” She smirked behind her hand, enjoying the fact that she now had something to hold over Tora’s head. He’d made her day hell, now it was time for her to get a bit of payback.

The trance was taking quite a long while to run its course, giving Tora more than enough time to think things over. Now that he had Jocelyn's identity he could begin watching over her, as much as he could during class anyways. Worst case scenario he would skip a class or two here and there, just to make certain she was safe. Already he was considering coming back here, armed with his weapon and find somewhere to sit outside the house for the evening. After all, playing bodyguard to a royal member was a full time job. The rooms of a high standing individual and their protection detail were always fairly close, often in the same wing. If he was to be a proper guard then he had to do his duty, and that meant keeping an eye on the Princess almost 24/7. Realistically it would be much less than that. After all he was only human, and would tire out or grow hungry eventually. Regardless of how much time he would devote to his post Tora knew he definitely had to start getting serious. If someone saw him and recognized him then it would inadvertently put Jocelyn in danger as well, he needed to be ready for that, and any contingency. An awful hell lot to plan for and worry about for a single person, he definitely had his work cut out for him now.

As time dragged on Tora allowed himself to drift off a little, falling into a light sleep for the time being. If he was going to be playing watchdog all night he needed to get as much rest as he could now, however meager it might be. Even with his eyes closed he was well aware of what was going on in the room, listening intently for anything that might be happening. So when Jocelyn suddenly shifted in her bed he most certainly was aware of it, opening his eyes and turning his head to look over at her. Before he could so much as get a word in edgewise he was knocked over the head with a pillow, getting an annoyed sound out of him. Recovering and looking at her confused he was slapped yet again, this time cursing as his glasses were knocked off of his head. A couple more subsequent hits followed, and if he wasn't so confused as to why she was doing it he'd probably be laughing. Jocelyn then snapped at him, giving him a much better idea of what she was miffed about. Despite being the outlet of a nasty pillow thrashing he couldn't help but chuckle, finally raising a hand to block the strikes. So she'd figured that much out, huh? Well shit, that was going to come back to haunt him, he knew that already.

"Chill... I didn't look up your skirt," Tora said, smiling innocently as he leaned down and snatched up his glasses. Thankfully the frame wasn't bent at all, and the lenses were fine in spite of falling against the carpet. Giving the lenses a careful wiping on his shirt he blinked as a pillow was thrown in his face, looking up at the Princess amused again. "What? I figured you'd be happy a guy was interested in you! Take it as a compliment Jocelyn!"

Jeez, what a pain this was going to be. He'd never hear the end of this, certainly not if they were going to be together for some time. Sure enough before he could even leave the bedroom Jocelyn was calling back to him, bringing up his behavior in a pretty vivid suggestion. Stepping out into the landing he looked down at the Princess sheepishly, his face a deep red despite trying to play it off.

"Doesn't sound too bad honestly," Tora retorted, giving her a cheeky smirk. "Though I never thought of pizza as a 'romance' food. Maybe we can do that for dessert though?" Ah, to hell with it. His goose was cooked and he knew it, may as well go down in a blaze of glory. Or infamy, depending on whose viewpoint you were looking at. Hopefully Aidan wasn't hearing all of this, he really didn't need that guy getting on his case while he was trying to work. Convincing Jocelyn to let him come over was going to be difficult enough as it was without her brother hating him too. Albeit if he was banned from the house he could always sit outside, or nearby anyways just to keep an eye on things. They'd cross that bridge if it came to pass, he couldn't really be bothered to worry about it right now. At the moment all he could smell was pizza, and there were a few slices with his name on it. Following Jocelyn down the stairs, and perhaps looking at her rear now and again, he hurried right along into the dining room to get himself some food. Plain cheese was a bit boring but he'd gladly take it. There were pizza shops in his home town even, sure, but they were so rare and expensive that he rarely ever went to them. Pizza as it turned out here was pretty much inexpensive, as were a lot of foods. Maybe it was just where he lived that made it that way. Everything was cooked with the finest ingredients, nothing less. Being part of a noble society had that kind of drawback; simple things cost an arm and a leg.

“You. Didn’t. Look. Up. My. Skirt….” Jocelyn replied, her stated punctuated with a sharp intake of breath to steady her quick rising temper. “Is that supposed to earn you points or something? You’re only half a pervert?” She was making a bigger deal about it than was necessary, especially considering that girls in her school wore clothing that was far more revealing that what she tended to wear. She certainly wasn’t used to having someone staring at her, which begged to question why she was so frustrated by it. He wasn’t suggesting anything that she should be offended by, and he hadn’t made any move to touch her, other than the touch to her face and hair, which was curiously innocent in comparison to his words. She managed to calm herself, and finally after a moment, she could walk away without the urge to inflict any more harm. “I hardly see how being leered at could be considered a compliment. I’m not an object, I’m a person. I don’t dress up to have people staring at me.”

By the time she walked out of the room, Jocelyn was ready to forget what happened, but she could not let Tora live down his words. There was something there and he was keeping it hidden from her, which only piqued her curiosity to its fullest. She’d made her comment hoping to knock him off guard, but he had his own response in retort almost seconds after the words had left her lips. Her eyes widened at his comment, her lips parting in a sharp gasp of surprise. “You need to bleach out your brain!” She snapped, her hands settling on her hips as he stepped onto the stairs with her. “If you think for one second I’m going to be crawling on my knees, or that you’ll catch me in anyway other than fully dressed, you’re going to be crying yourself to sleep tonight.” Their bickering had changed forms, and for some reason Jocelyn wasn’t as flustered about it as she appeared, but then again, Tora didn’t really bother her in the same way that others did. She actually felt comfortable interacting with him, even if it was with a sharp tongue rather friendly banter.

Leading the way into the downstairs hallway, Jocelyn paused, whirling around to face her guest. “I know what it is!” She blurted out as if she’d made some miraculous discovery that would forever change how they interacted. “You’re gay! You’re trying too hard to make it look like you’re interested in me, which, let’s face it, is impossible.” Jocelyn knew how brash her personality was, she didn’t kid herself that she was the epitome of charm and grace. She was rash, loud, and often times capable of cruelty when pushed too far. She could blame it on the fact that her mother had attempted to kill her. She could even blame it on the fact that she felt out of place no matter where she went. No one would ever be interested in her, unless they liked being verbally abused and kept at an emotional distance. She couldn’t offer a shoulder to cry on, because she could not relate to anyone that tried to get close to her, and she didn’t want to. Tora would obviously see the signs and know that she was not the type of girl he could bring home to mommy and daddy without first warning them in advance. He knew he didn’t stand a chance with her, but he was using her to try and keep up appearance because she wasn’t the type who could so easily fall for someone.

“Admit it. It’s okay if you like boys. I don’t care. I don’t care if you like toasters, just keep your hands off mine.” Jocelyn proclaimed, her hands falling from her hips to drop her down on her sides. “I won’t tell anyone, but for goodness sakes will you stop hitting on me before someone really thinks that we’re…..something!”

“Jocelyn, will you stop running your mouth and get in here and eat already? Leave that boy alone. He thinks you’re cute, it’s not a crime.” Aidan called out from the dining room, having already situated himself at the table with a slice of pizza and a Coke. He could only hear snippets of his sister’s conversation with Tora, and couldn’t stop himself from laughing quietly to himself. If Tora thought he was in for smooth sailing with his sister, the boy was sadly mistaken, but from the way they were back and forth, the two were perfect for each other. Tora was capable of dealing with Jocelyn’s insults, and Jocelyn gave him back everything he threw at her. In a way, it was almost too cute to see, but he’d keep that to himself; if Jocelyn knew he thought they were cute, she’d probably kill Tora.

Huffing indignantly, Jocelyn threw her arms up in the air, shaking her head in dismay. “Fine…we’re coming.” Throwing one last glare in Tora’s direction, her voice dropped into a whisper. “Behave yourself, Tora. The pizza is to eat, not to hump.” Storming off into the dining room, she didn’t bother telling him to follow along. If he couldn’t find his way to the food, she sure as hell wasn’t going to wait on him. Entering the dining room, Jocelyn dropped down into her usual seat and threw a slice of pizza onto the plate her brother had set out. For good measure, she shot her brother a glare, growling softly in annoyance. “One word and you’ll be wearing your soda.” Aidan said nothing, but grinned broadly at the threat sent his way. He wouldn’t say anything at all. He was far too interested in watching the show he knew Tora and Jocelyn would put on for him throughout the meal, and secretly hoping she didn’t get the idea of slamming the food down over the poor boy’s head. If this was a foreshadowing of how the evening was going to play out, Aidan had the idea he was going to be entertained for the next few hours, or until Jocelyn chased Tora out of the house; whichever came first.

"Does it earn me points? I'm not sure how this whole thing works," Tora replied, smirking as he shrugged his shoulders. Man, Jocelyn was really getting worked up over all of this. Even if he had peeked up her skirt, which he hadn't, shouldn't that be a compliment? All he'd done is look at her legs, that was innocent enough in of itself. Christ, she wore a skirt that exposed them, it was her fault for that then. She could just well have taken the looks in stride and left it be, but instead it was devolving into yet more bickering between them. As if reading his very thoughts she then shot down the idea of it being a compliment, getting an earnestly surprised look out of him. Aw crap, could she hear his thoughts now? He'd heard hers earlier, but Tora had figured that was unintentional and she wouldn't know for the life of her how to do it. Maybe he ought to censor his thoughts from now on too. Or... Then again, if she could hear them then he'd make them even worse, give her reason enough to not want to read them. That seemed much more enjoyable, and frankly a hell of a lot easier.

Hardly making it to the stairs before Jocelyn snapped at him again Tora couldn't well keep himself from laughing. "That adamant about it huh? Well shucks, and here I was thinking I'd get lucky on our first date," he teased, grinning as he cocked his head to the side. "Oh yeah, this is pretty much a date. I'm here, at your house, we're having dinner together. Sounds like a date to me!" Again, he was really just blowing smoke at this point. Dating, yet another thing he had utterly no experience with. All of his time had been devoted to practicing and training, and now that he was finally done with that he was too busy working to even consider a girlfriend. It was a shame, sure, but he'd get around to getting one eventually. It wasn't forbidden for an Oracion member to have a lover, there were just restrictions as to what classes you could date. Jocelyn was well out of his league, though that certainly didn't keep him from fantasizing. Knowing full well that it was against the rules of conduct he looked back down at her legs, rather enamored with them already. It was bound to piss off Jocelyn, but then again everything he did already accomplished that.

Jocelyn fired off a big one then, coming right out and accusing something of Tora that he very clearly was not. Even so, it got him to blush a furious red, looking at the Princess surprised and abashed. He was definitely not gay, the very thought of being with another man nearly making him hurl where he stood. Gay? Most certainly not! That quip only served to catch him off guard, but the second half of it hit a little harder. So was that the deal, she thought no one could possibly be attracted to her? She had a sharp mouth on her and bigger balls than some guys, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. She was fun once you figured her out, and her looks were definitely a big plus. Yet she still seemed to believe no one could, or would like her. A feeling that Tora understood all too well growing up. He was loud, rude, sarcastic and quick to make a remark, but a lot of it was a sort of buffer. In a lot of ways he recognized that he and Jocelyn were eerily similar. Not a lot of friends, if any, without their parents and awfully mistrustful of the world around them. More than he had realized initially they had quite a bit in common, and he was willing to bet if he dug a little deeper he'd find even more. Adopting a look of sympathy then he gazed down at the Princess, very nearly coming to the point of apologizing to her.

"Not a fan of boys, or toasters, sorry to disappoint," Tora replied, his tone surprisingly gentle as he smiled at Jocelyn. Quickly recovering from his momentary lapse he shook his head, grinning and gesturing to Jocelyn nonchalantly. "Bossy girls with cute skirts though? Sign me up!" Aidan joined in the conversation just then, shouting over both of them and demanding Jocelyn get downstairs to eat. Just as well, he was getting hungry at this point anyways. Smiling innocently when Jocelyn gave him a last warning he crossed himself jokingly, following down behind her and into the family room. The smell of pizza greeted him as soon as he stepped into the room, inhaling the smell greedily before eying the pie, eager to eat the entire thing himself if he could. Unfortunately for him there were two others here as well, and taking all the food in someone's house wasn't exactly going to get him welcomed back. Grabbing a paper plate he snatched up the biggest slice he could find, grabbing a can of orange soda as well before plopping his backside down on the couch. Hardly skipping a beat he started to nibble away at his food, doing his best not to down it in three bites and come across a total pig. Boy did it taste yummy though. Glancing over sideways at Jocelyn he gave the Princess a little wink, not at all content to stop their game just because they were eating.

Tora denied her accusation, and she wasn’t quite surprised by it. She certainly got a rise out of him, which was exactly what she was aiming for. Pressing her lips into a thin line to hide her smirk, Jocelyn chuckled under her breath, finding no end to her amusement in the way that Tora reacted. He wasn’t gay, or so he said, and he seemed to generally hold some fascination with her legs. Maybe he wasn’t ready to come out of the closet? She might have come up with a clever retort, actually had one forming on the tip of her tongue about how if he found some skeletons lingering where he was hiding he should let them be, but she was silenced by the comment about him being at her house viewed as a date. A date! She’d shave her head and paint it pink with blue polka dots before anyone ever got the idea she and Tora were dating. And why the hell did he keep staring at her legs? ‘Men! How completely, and utterly annoying they are. No wonder there’s so many lesbians out in the world.’ She thought to herself, still unaware that Tora could hear her thoughts from time to time.

Jocelyn was overwhelmed with confusion, all of it stemming from the boy who was now seated in the same room with her. Why had he suddenly transferred to her school, which was pretty much out in the middle of scenic nowhere? Her town wasn’t big enough to be more than a blip on the map, and there was nothing noteworthy about it that would have made anyone eager to move there. Her aunt had moved them there specifically for that reason, believing that urban life would lead Jocelyn into temptations that would ultimately end up with her in jail, or dead. Jocelyn really wasn’t stupid enough for any of that, but her aunt wasn’t willing to take the risk. She had too many reasons to skip school, and there were too many dropout outcasts for her to associate with in the city, which was why her family had been moved to the middle of suburbia nowhere. And why exactly did he seem to attach himself to her? There were plenty of girls in school that would be happy, no ecstatic, to hang out with him. Why couldn’t he go bother them?

“Anything interesting happen in school today, Joc?” Aidan asked, stirring the girl from her thoughts. She glanced over at her brother, shaking her head slowly. “Not really. Same ole, same ole. Bitchy little girls wanting to start crap. Boring classes. Same crap, different day.” Aidan looked from her over to their guest, lifting a brow in question. Turning her head, she stared at Tora for a moment. “Oh yeah, and someone let him in the school. Animal Services must be on vacation or something.” Aidan snickered, opting to keep his mouth shut rather than to encourage his sister to go on.

For several minutes the two ate in silence, Jocelyn’s thoughts going back to the same line of thinking. There was something off about Tora, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. It wasn’t just his strange appearance in her hometown, or even the fact that he was playing the part of her shadow. He didn’t act, talk, or look like the other boys at school, who either dressed as preppy as the girls, or looked like they’d rolled out of bed and walked to school. She hadn’t heard him talking a bunch of slang, and completely degrading her. He was tame, even when they were going back and forth with each other, which was uncharacteristic for any of the boys in her school. Add to the fact that he hadn’t made her feel like a complete outsider in any way because of her attitude, he was more like an alien sitting in her dining room rather than some random teenage boy that had showed up at her school that morning. ‘Maybe he is an alien. That would explain a lot.’ She mulled the thought over, coming up with more evidence that supported that idea than she could that he was a normal, teenage boy who’s parents had left him alone in the U.S while they returned to their home country. ‘What kind of parents would leave a seventeen year old boy alone in a different country all by themselves? Aren’t they worried that he’ll end up getting trouble?’

The house phone rang, springing Jocelyn and Aidan out of their seats to answer it, the latter reaching it first to pluck it off of its charger. “Hello Aunt Alicia. Are you on your way home? We’ve already eaten so you might want to pick something up for yourself.” Jocelyn froze in terror with her brother’s greeting, realizing what that meant for her in the short term. If her aunt came home and found Tora in their house, she would automatically assume that Jocelyn had some type of crush on him, or worse, that they were dating. That could not happen! If her aunt got that idea in her mind, Jocelyn would never hear the end of it, and she would be asking Jocelyn about Tora every chance that she got. Panicking, Jocelyn began to motion to her brother, trying to get him to give her an idea of how long she had to wait until their aunt returned. She had to get Tora out of the house, or at least out of sight before then, and with the way he was making himself comfortable, she had a feeling that was going to be more difficult that she imagined. Aidan shrugged, keeping her clueless to the amount of time she was working with, and before she could reach to grab the phone from him to ask herself, he ended the call. “She’s about an hour away, relax. Let Tora eat and I’ll take him home.” Aidan assured her, the redhead dropping down into her seat with a heavy sigh of relief. “Fine. But he has to go before she gets here! All I need is for her to meet him, she’ll be chasing me around the house for hours asking about him.”

Oh boy did this pizza smell delicious! His diet had gone to hell since coming to this place, but Tora was loving every minute of it. The food here was about as nutritious as a boot, but it tasted absolutely superb. Greasy, covered in cheese and sauce, and a garlic bread crust. He'd have to learn how to make pizza like this, his was always so bland. While he could most certainly cook for himself he typically opted not to, it was time consuming and he was impatient, he'd rather put something in the microwave for five minutes than bake something for fifty. After politely scarfing down his first slice he washed it down with a gulp of his soda, smiling contently as he reached for his second slice. Ah, to hell with acting like he was at home, this wasn't the castle. He wasn't in Elawein, and the Queen wasn't going to berate him for getting a crumb of food out of place. He was among 'normal' people, civilians, he could act as he pleased so long as he was moderately polite. So no belching, passing gas, and no obscenely large bites of food. In the midst of eating his meal he couldn't help but overhear Jocelyn once more, or rather, her thoughts. She was musing about his fascination with her, still utterly confused as to what his draw was. Besides the obvious physical attraction it was his job, not that she could know that. It was fun, watching her toss over trying to solve the mystery.

"Ouch...? Animal control? I'll have you know I'm not a wild animal. I'm potty trained, I don't bark, and I'm great around kids," Tora joked, playing off the insult with a grin. "Won't you keep me then Jocelyn? I make an awesome guard dog." Ah, if only she new the irony of the last bit. Chuckling at his private pun he resumed munching on his pizza, still rather hungry. Three slices ought to hold him over until breakfast, and he could always cook something up when he got home too. Still working through his second he once more was treated to a 'behind the scenes' look at Jocelyn. Jeez, that girl needed to learn to control her telepathy, it was going to land her in some serious trouble one of these days. Of course he couldn't resist listening in, wanting to know exactly what was passing through her mind. He was definitely on the chopping block now, she was beginning to pick apart and scrutinize every bit of his story. Sure, it was definitely suspicious, he wasn't going to deny that. What reason could he possibly have for lying though? Just stick to his guns and you'll be fine, he told himself. When the bit about aliens came up he nearly lost it, snorting as he stopped drinking from his soda quickly and covering his mouth in case he ended up spitting. Seriously, an alien, THAT was her grand deduction? The holes in his story could be explained later, if need be, he'd think up of more information as required. At the present he couldn't be bothered to plot though, nearly losing his supper over Jocelyn's absurd line of thinking.

Hearing the phone go off Tora made no move to try and answer it, excitedly working on his third slice of pizza now. He almost wanted to abscond with a fourth, but Jocelyn had her attention back on him near instantly. Having her aunt on the phone seemed to fluster the Princess something terribly, and the look she gave him hinted that she wanted him gone. Well, she already had wanted him gone, now it was a more pressing matter. At first he didn't understand why until Jocelyn graciously shed some light on the situation for him. So she was worried her aunt was going to think they were an item? He couldn't well figure why she might be worried about that, wasn't it a good thing to be in a relationship? Even someone like him wanted to find partner, even if he'd never outright admit it. Again he drew a similarity between himself and the Princess, even if it might be a shot in the dark. In a way it was a good thing she hadn't found anyone here to her liking. Once she was filled in on the situation she'd be taken home, and coming back here would happen rarely if ever. Maintaining a relationship was hard work, so he heard, let alone a relationship that literally crossed worlds. Once she was back home then she could worry about finding somebody. Then again, figuring how Eslaria operated Jocelyn most likely had some guy waiting for her. That was even more miserable than not having somebody, having to be with someone you couldn't care for. Definitely not a ton of envy in that regard.

After having his fill and exchanging a brief goodbye with Jocelyn Tora was shown out, courtesy of Aidan. He'd opted to walk himself home but the guy would hear none of it, and so he ended up getting a ride home. It wasn't favorable, having someone know where he lived, he'd prefer to stay off the radar. He supposed Aidan was trustworthy though, being Jocelyn's brother and all, at least he could be crossed off the list as a potential threat. Unlike the rest of the day where Tora had been talking near incessantly the ride to his apartment was comparatively silent, only small conversation being had between the boys. Simple questions here and there, with the bits about Jocelyn being more or less innocent in their nature. He still needed to be in good graces in order to come over again, it was the best way to watch over the Princess, so he made a conscious effort to hold off on any crude remarks. Since it was a small town it took hardly ten minutes to get to his home, it would have been even shorter a ride if not for traffic. With farewell pleasantries out of the way Tora went into the apartment complex, a moderately nice place just a few blocks from the local part. His room in particular was down in the basement, tucked off in the back right corner of the structure. About a simple as can be, the main room was both the family room and the bedroom, his queen sized mattress tucked up against the far wall on a hand-me-down condition bedframe. There was a dresser for his clothes, a television and tablebox on top of a low end table, and a sofa to relax in. Aside from that the room was fairly empty. Hanging on the white plastered walls was some painting that he'd gotten upon arriving, a housewarming gift that he hung up for the hell of it. Off through a side door was the kitchen, and beyond that the laundry room and restroom. Slumming it was pretty accurate, though it could definitely be worse.

Taking a look at the clock and reading 7:00 PM he sighed, a little disappointed it wasn't quite time to retire just yet. Tora was tired at this point, having had a busy day getting acquainted with both the school and the Princess. He couldn't sleep yet, not for a few hours more anyways. Jocelyn had to be watched over as often as humanly possible, and until his eyelids began to droop he was capable of protecting her. Time to work, and time to get out of this dorky little getup he had. Taking off his mock glasses he dropped them on the bed, opening up the closet and taking out a duffel bag with his belongings inside. In a few minutes he had changed into a pair of black denim jeans, held up by a brown leather belt, a gray wool shirt, a black button up jacket with a high collar and gray trim and a pair of black fingerless gloves. Tora also slipped a thin corded string over his head, hanging his charm on his neck as he always did. It was a small pendant, two blue and two red gems imbedded in it in a checkered pattern. He didn't know what it was for, or why his mentor had always told him to keep it, but he assumed it was a good luck charm or something. Trading in his sneakers for a pair of boots he was just about ready to go, though he still needed his weapon. At the bottom of the duffel bag, hidden by the clothes was a red cloth container, some three and a half feet in length, barely contained by the bag. A black strap was sewn to the side of the bag, which he readily slung over his right shoulder. Hopefully he didn't need this tonight, but better safe than sorry. Leaving his clothes laid out on the floor he snatched his keyring off the end table, stepping out of the room and locking up. He'd not be back any time soon, probably best to make sure no one could get inside. Slipping the keys into his pocket he hurried to the stairwell and out of the building, taking the side entrance before stepping out onto the sidewalk again. Making sure Aidan was well gone he sighed, inhaling then before starting to jog briskly back in the direction of Jocelyn's house. He'd find a decent place to set up and relax at for a few hours, just until he was positive that she was fine and could be left on her own. Hopefully that didn't take too long.

“That was harsh, Joc. Even for you.” Aidan commented the moment that Tora walked out the door, leaving the two siblings alone inside their dining room. She didn’t respond at first, having already been dealing with her own guilt over how she had treated him. He wasn’t all that bad, and if she allowed herself to be perfectly honest, she was starting to like having him around. It wasn’t often she could say whatever was on her mind and not have to worry about the other person getting offended by it. Tora took everything she gave him with a smirk, not even bothering to whine when she got nasty. Hell, he hadn’t even snapped at her when she called him gay, which she thought certainly would have called for more than a smart remark. Scowling at her brother who continued to stare at her, Jocelyn threw her arms up in the air. “Alright, alright! I’ll apologize to him tomorrow, alright? It’s not like I was going to force him to leave you know. I was going to ask you to drop him off at his house.” The way Tora had left made her feel like she’d just kicked a puppy in the face; she didn’t like it at all. She’d never felt guilty for pushing someone away before, and now that she had experienced it, she didn’t want to ever feel that way again.

“But if you think this is going to force me into hanging around with him all the time, you’ve got another thing coming!” Arms folded across her chest, the redhead shot a glare across the table, trying her best to look perturbed at the idea of spending time with Tora. Aidan didn’t look convinced though, and she was lacking the energy to make the expression look more authentic. Sighing, she shoved her plate across the table top. “Look, I’ll apologize because I didn’t really mean for him to go running out like that. But an apology does not make us friends.” Again Jocelyn felt as if she was forcing herself to feel the way that she knew she should. Tora should be another name added to the extremely long list of people who annoyed her, but he didn’t, no matter how hard he tried to. Having lost her appetite, and wanting to be left alone, she gathered up her mess and rose from her seat, scooting it back beneath the table once she was standing. “I’m going to take a shower and watch a movie or something.” She grumbled, leaving the room to deposit her dishes into the sink before slinking up the stairs to prepare for an evening of lounging around and doing absolutely nothing at all to avoid the mess of homework she should be doing.

Inside her room, she went straight to her closet to kick her shoes off, deciding that she would go through her clothes to select her outfit for the next day so that she could stay in bed a few extra minutes. Once her task was finished she moved to her dresser to grab a pair of pajama pants and a tee-shirt and headed into the shower to wash up and prepare for the evening. While she stood in the shower, she thought about how she would approach Tora the next day, genuinely intending to apologize, but unsure exactly how to go about it. She honestly hadn’t meant to send him off like he was some sort of pest. All she had wanted to do was avoid having her aunt meet him and begin to assume that the two of them had some sort of relationship forming. Her aunt would not stop bugging her if she got the idea that the two of them were a couple, and Jocelyn didn’t need the woman chasing her around hounding her. By the time she was finished washing up, drying off and getting dressed, Jocelyn had figured that the best way to go about apologizing was to simply spit it out. With a course of action in place, she exited the bathroom and headed back into her bedroom to relax for the rest of the night.

The first thing she noticed was that her bedroom window was wide open, the light blue curtains covering them fluttering in the breeze that drifted in through the screen. The next thing that caught her attention was her bed, which had been made, not exactly neatly, but it had been made all the same. Not only was the quilt that covered her bed draping down to the floor, but the sheets had been ripped free of her mattress and the pillow case covering her pillow was lying in a crumpled heap on the floor. Pictures on her wall had been switched, most of them which had been perfectly straight now hung skewed. Clothes had been ripped from their hangers, her drawers were all opened up with her clothing half tossed from them. The entire room was a mess, and it had not been that way when she went off to the bathroom.

“AIDAN!” She screamed at the top of her lungs, her nerves shot at the mess that she now had to clean up. Had her brother decided to come in and trash her room because of how she had treated Tora? It was possible, but she couldn’t believe he would go to that extreme over something that honestly didn’t concern him.

Aidan can running up the stairs, leaning against the doorframe to catch his breath. His eyes scanned the room before finally landing on Jocelyn. “Why did you trash your room?” Jocelyn whirled around on him, glaring angrily at him. “I didn’t do this! Are you crazy? Why did you do it?” Stunned that she was accusing him, Aidan shook his head quickly. “I didn’t do this! I just came from downstairs.” Looking skeptically at him, Jocelyn folded her arms across her chest, her foot tapping on the ground. “Seriously Jocelyn, I had nothing to do with it!”

“So I suppose the mess just made itself, right?” Jocelyn asked, rolling her eyes at her brother’s adamant insistence that he hadn’t come in and trashed her room. It had to be him. The room had been mess when she left sure, but it had been a tidy type of messy with things slightly out of place, not everything thrown all over the place. Aidan was the only person in the house besides her, and she certainly wouldn’t have made such a mess; she was the one that had to clean it up. “Look, I don’t care if you’re going to admit if you did it or not, but you’re helping me clean it up, because you are the only person who could have done it. I was in the shower.” Sighing, Aidan reluctantly stepped into the room, not wanting to argue with his sister. In his mind he was wondering exactly what she was trying to do. Making a mess to accuse him of it for no reason didn’t make any sense at all, but there were quite a few times when Jocelyn didn’t make sense. “Fine. Come on and let’s get this cleaned up before Aunt Alicia gets home and sees it.” The two siblings began to clean up the mess, each one assuming the other had made it, and wondering exactly why the other would destroy the room. It didn’t take long before everything was straightened back up again Aidan left Jocelyn alone to watch TV, but after the mess in her room she wasn’t really in the mood to actually do so. Instead she stretched out on her bed on her back and stared up at the ceiling, trying to figure out what was going on. Had Tora snuck back into her house and trashed her room? Was Aidan covering for him? She’d have to ask the next day at school, but for now all she wanted to do was shut her mind off and get the whole thing out of her mind.

The entire night had more or less been completely uneventful. It was a good thing there was no reason for his presence, but Tora couldn't help but feel dreadfully bored over the lack of action. For a few hours he simply sat by, watching Jocelyn's house for any signs of disturbances that required his intervention. Should he be spotted by anyone doing this he'd be pinned as a stalker, and certainly for good reason. More or less he was stalking her, albeit the purpose was to protect her, not because he held some fanatical adoration of the princess. Nah, she was pretty to look at but that was about where it ended. Even if she was fun too when it came to conversations he couldn't fathom them being anything more than acquaintances, especially with their social statuses considered. Ah well, that was probably for the best anyways. Goodness knows the headaches that would ensue if he had to deal with Jocelyn both as a protectee and a partner. Chuckling beneath his breath Tora shook his head, leaning back against the bark of the trunk and closing his eyes. Definitely would not be an enjoyable undertaking, he couldn't imagine what dating her must be like. Orders galore most likely, and such violence that only a true sadist would enjoy it. Yeah, probably best to steer clear of that bombshell. Minutes continued to tick on by, and finally his watch's alarm went off, signaling it was one in the morning. With class in just six hours he really should get home to sleep, and seeing as Jocelyn was safe there was no longer a need for him to be there. First stretching his tired frame out Tora then slid off the branch, landing easily some eight feet below and dusting himself off. Hopefully he could get enough rest before he had to be up again, otherwise tomorrow was going to suck.

And suck it did. Sleep had taken a little while to come, mainly because he'd chosen idiotically to eat before going to sleep. Having the energy from the food meant he didn't fall asleep until around three, and he awoke promptly at six, only three hours later, to be ready for class. A cold shower did little to alleviate his grogginess, and so he shuffled into the school with utterly no enthusiasm. The only thing he might look forward to today was seeing Jocelyn in chemistry, albeit he didn't know if he even had the energy to harass her today. What a drag that would be, having her around and being unable to push her buttons. Whether he was up to the task or not was going to take some time to be seen, he had other classes to get through first. In spite of fearing the worst today Tora actually managed to catch some breaks here and there. In English for example they were watching a movie, an adaptation of a Shakespearean play. He knew it well enough to bull the assignment, and so as soon as the lights went off his head hit the desk, and didn't rise until well after the movie had concluded. Next was mathematics, and were it not for the teacher's insistence on him contributing to the lesson he'd definitely have had gone to sleep here as well. It was all he could do not to nod off, the lesson itself contributing his drowsiness. It came to the point that he left the classroom for a second, and went to the boy's room to splash himself with cold water. It did the trick a little, and he was further helped along with a bit of a cheeky peek into the girl's locker room on the way back, that certainly got the blood flowing. Rejuvenated to a degree and with a smirk on his face he returned to the class, riding out the final ten minutes with ease.

The last period before the lunch break, delightfully enough, was chemistry. Now a bit more awake than he had been Tora was more than ready to confront Jocelyn, prepared for another period of teasing. She had gotten off easy last night as he had tried to refrain around Aidan, but now there was no relative to watch over him. Nope, the princess was fair game, just how he liked it. There were other reasons that he was excited to see her too, of course. It meant he could do his job, which so far this morning he'd been incapable of doing. Having the chance to keep an eye on her helped settle his nerves a bit, as whether he showed it or not this task was stressful. In a small way he was eager just to see Jocelyn again too. However unusual a way it might be she was really his only 'friend' in this place, and he could use it. Not that he would ever openly admit to thinking this way, he'd never hear the end of it. But every time he saw Jocelyn he got excited, knowing there was fun heading his way. The back and forth they did had a special bit of delight within itself, he couldn't get that kind of enjoyment anywhere else here. Tora wondered if Tony might be able to do the same kind of thing, he was the princess' friend after all. Then again the kid seemed kind of an air head, and not exactly the type to throw insults around willy nilly. Nope, it was just going to be him and Jocelyn. Mutual teasing aside he did enjoy the eye candy that the girl brought with herself. "Those legs..." he mumbled, smirking to himself cheerfully. That was one image he was going to keep for a while.

Entering the chemistry room once the other class had cleared out Tora went immediately to his table. Being one of the first inside he figured he had a moment before Jocelyn showed up, so he got comfortable with his bag on the table and his arms laid across, his head down upon them. No doubt he'd be rudely woken from his attempted nap once others came in, but for now he'd enjoy the relative quiet. Finding it rather difficult to keep his eyes shut for long however he quickly abandoned the idea of a nap, sitting up with a slight slouch, keeping his arms across his bag. Mercy be that there wasn't going to be a movie played today in this class too, otherwise he'd be out in a manner of seconds. That was provided of course that the bickering with Jocelyn wasn't enough to keep him going throughout the period. Speak of the devil and she shall appear, Tora mused with a grin. Sure enough the redhead was stood at the doorway now, making her way into the classroom. Instantly he felt the urge to make a scene, hoping to star the class off by embarrassing her. Then remembering his vow to try and behave a little he backed off that plan, instead just giving her a small wave and wink. "Hey there Jocelyn!"