[IC] Forgotten History

[Rose]

Cupping her hands together she rushed her arms forward, sending a large splash his way. "I might be drunk but at least I can swim!" she teased him. Gracefully she swam backwards.

[Thorned Hammer]

Marcus managed to stay on his feet although he did have to flail to keep his balance. Scowling he sunk down again to the point where just his nose was above water, hugging himself with his sanddollar.

[Rose]

Noticing something in her peripheral, Rin turned her head. "Hey there sweetie. " slurred the same pilot from before. " why don't you come with me? No sense and sticking around with this loser. " he said then grabbed her arm and started pulling her in. " Get your fucking hands off me! " Rin growled and jerked away.

[Thorned Hammer]

Marcus shifted a bit before standing up again, spitting salt water from his mouth. "Hey, whats your name?" He asked seemingly disarmingly as he floated closer towards them,

[Rose]

Just as he was about to grab Rin again he looked to Marcus. "My name is Joe. What's it to you? " the tall man asked. Rin sunk lower in the water, calculating attack moves in her head.

[Thorned Hammer]

"Dude that is such a lame name..." Marcus said sympathetically. Joe was a few inches taller then Marcus, who hated the fact that he was a fair amount shorter then most of the other guys at his grade, but he didn't turn down fights with bigger guys. He welcomed them really. "Just let go and piss of k? Im sure there's some girl willing to drool over you somewhere else but we," he gestured at Rin with the Sanddollar "are having conversations so go away."

[Rose]

Joe turned his full attention to Marcus, nearly forgetting Rin completely. Quietly Rin sunk around to a safe distance behind him, just in case she needed to take him from this side if a fight broke out. No sooner had she moved into position then Joe threw a sloppy and drunken punch.

[Thorned Hammer]

Despite his inebriated state Marcus managed to dodge it, grabbing Joe's outstretched arm and wrenching it about to spin him wide and throw him into the water. It had clearly been an attempt at an over the shoulder throw, but Marcus had quickly realized that wouldn't be a good idea in this situation.

[Rose]

Rin shot up out of the water and clapped. "Take that you loser! " she yelled. At this point all eyes were on the three. Slowly Rin resubmerged her body. " you kicked his ass. " she told Marcus.

[Thorned Hammer]

Marcus, trying not to laugh, slicked back his hair and folded his arms. "Yes, yes I did. I kick the asses of all who bug my friends!"

[Rose]

Rin giggled and watched as a few of the guys drug Joe out of the water. After another moment she started to the shore. "We should really get back on the academy grounds. If we get in trouble they're gonna throw the book at us. " she said to Marcus.

[Thorned Hammer]

"I hate books" He mumbled, fishing the sand dollar from where he had dropped it in the water and trudging after her. "And we're off tomorrow, we got nothing to worry about for awhile"

[Rose]

Skipping ahead several weeks. Rin and Marcus continued to work on the essay and were rewarded by his highest grade in history yet. Once the assignment was over they still continued to hang out and are becoming closer friends all the time.

It was mid morning and Rin was walking to her Tactics class. Her uniform was well kept and clean, like a model cadet. Her long pink hair was braided then wrapped around in a tight bun. Casually she looked about in hopes of spotting Marcus.

[Thorned Hammer]

Marcus had appeared in the doorway a second before the bell rang, ignoring the chiding remarks of the teacher and sinking into a chair. He looked a bit pale and dishelved, his eyes red rimmed and his uniform crinkled and creased. Setting his bags down on the table in front of him he folded his elbows on the table and rested his chin atop them.

The past few weeks had been fun in his opinion, it being nice to have a friend to mess around with in the majority of his classes. He still had the sand dollar as well, it having dried out awhile ago and currently was occupying space on his work desk. But right now there was none of his usual cheer or snarky manner. Just a sullen scowl.

[Rose]

Rin looked over at Marcus as he took the desk next to her. She hadn't known Marcus to be the ideal cadet, howeve, his appearance today was far worse than usual. "Hey, are you okay? " she asked quietly. She hoped the teacher would continue to be running late so that they could talk for a moment.

[Thorned Hammer]

"Im fine." He muttered into his arm, not looking her way. A muscle in his cheek clenched rhythmically, showing he was grinding his teeth and clenching his jaw. In addition to this, his knuckles were white and looked to be shaking.

[Rose]

Taking a note of his overall disposition caused Rin's concern to increase. Turning her head she checked to make sure no one was watching, satisfied that they were being ignored she returned her attention to Marcus. "Hey, you can talk to me. What's wrong?" she asked gently and reached out a hand, placing it softly on his arm.

[Thorned Hammer]

"I said I'm fine." He practically snarled this into his arm, still not really looking anywhere and remaining hunched over. Eventually though his eyes did dart towards the door as if considering bolting.

[Rose]

The former look of concern faded from Rin's face and was replaced with a deaden expression. That was the first time Marcus had ever acted truly negatively towards her, and the emotional rejection caused her to shut down. Moving back into her seat she sat properly and looked ahead as the Commodore walked in. He carried a high rank but at this point the only true authority he held was over his students. Out of respect, however, the students stood beside their desks and saluted while standing at attention.

[Thorned Hammer]

Marcus stood up with the others slowly, refraining from saluting though and then sinking back into the chair. Again he looked to the door, leaning back in his chair now as he again considered just leaving. In his right hand it was clear now there was a balled up piece of paper.