OTA; various locations and times

[mensrea]

A) One’s An Incident

“—listen to me!”

Somewhere near you, whether it’s at the park or on the sidewalk or in the café or riding the tube, there is a young man engaged in a heated conversation. The identity of the person he’s arguing with may not be readily obvious to those without supernatural hearing; the discussion is taking place over the phone. Should you attempt to tune Stiles out, it’ll quickly prove fruitless. His voice rises in volume the longer he’s on the call.

“I’m telling you, it’s fine. …No! I’m not sending you a picture of it. There’s nothing to see! …No. …No. It was just an accident, okay!?”

Distractedly, Stiles turns in your direction. There is an ugly, swollen bruise taking up half his face, clearly the work of someone’s fist. You may be able to infer that this is what the fight is about.

“—oh my god, don’t. You were the one who shipped me off here. You don’t get to pull that card on me, not now. …Dad. …Dad. Would you— …Would you just TRUST me for once!?”

Whatever his father responds with, it elicits an immediate reaction from Stiles. Expression twisting miserably, he seems to lose all energy for continuing the exchange. His voice is wooden, weary.

“Fine. I gotta go. …Yeah, I will. …Alright. Love you too.”

The call ends. Maybe you make eye contact with Stiles awkwardly. Maybe you decide to talk to him. Maybe you try to pretend you hadn’t overheard.

“Sorry about that,” he says to you, light and cheery. His smile is tight. “You know how it is. My old man always has to get his say in.”

B) Two’s A Coincidence

If you venture to the library, you’ll likely find Stiles buried nose-deep in an oversized tome. He’s piled high a wall of literature around him, to the point where it might be difficult to see him from the front. The titles of the books? All on mythology and mythical creatures. On occasion, a particularly interesting passage has him muttering under his breath and jotting down a few notes in his journal. Feel free to pull up a chair and harass him; he could use a break.

C) Three’s A Pattern

Guess who just drove his shitty used bicycle into you or your vehicle? This guy. Eyes wide, he hastily stammers out an apology, then loses his balance. Both bike and boy crash to the ground in a mess of whizzing gears and muffled groans. Maybe he took you down with him.

D) Four’s A Warrant

Night in London isn’t kind to humans—not that that’s ever stopped Stiles from exploring the city at inappropriate hours. However, there’s something different about the young man tonight as he wanders the streets aimlessly. For one, he’s clad only in a pair of loose-fitting sweatpants and a long-sleeve shirt with no shoes in sight. He doesn’t even have his trusty lacrosse stick on him! If you get close, you’ll see the unfocused, glassy fog to his eyes. Hopefully your intentions are well-meaning. Or maybe you’re looking for an easy snack. Either way, Stiles doesn’t seem to be in a position to argue.

( If you prefer brackets over prose, I’ll follow suit! PM me if you’d like to plot out a specific starter for your character! c: )

Comments

[eyeforaneye]

"Kids do stupid things when they're irritated with one another and I didn't just develop this personality overnight." No, this has been his self-inflicted burden for many, many years.

"It made them want to act against me, so considering how many years I was around a lot of them six times isn't all that many." What a strange fate it should be that today hasn't felt half so unpleasant to him, injured and sore and the new victim of a hit-and-indentured-servitude but somehow in the back of his mind he's aware that it's not gone as badly as it could've.

"What you follow it up with is up to you. You could follow my format; state hobbies and your living situation, your age, that kind of thing. Do you really expect me of all people to teach you how to hold a conversation?"

[mensrea]

Figurative mental brakes have put a firm halt to any and all thought processes. With a frantic, violent flap of his hand, he dismisses the other boy’s request for corresponding personal information. He’s not done talking about this. So not done.

“Okay, did you attend some school designed to specifically train the next generation of serial killers? Because if the answer is no—actually, hold up. If the answer isn’t no, do me a favor. Pretend you never met me, refuse to ever take up a hit targeting me. You can keep my bike in exchange. We’ll call it even.”

Said bike rolls over a sharp bump. Stiles thinks the bike seat may have just performed a prostate exam on him. Cringing, he continues.

“When a child poisons someone else, the adults don’t laugh it off like, ‘oh, kids will be kids!’ No. Instead, they ship that little psychotic freak off for some serious therapy and pray they haven’t been raising the next Ted Bundy under their roof. So stop treating this so lightly! That’s screwed up! Really, really, really screwed up!”

[eyeforaneye]

"If I complained about what people did to me without changing my attitude then I'd just be a hypocrite, wouldn't I? It's annoying but I'm still alive; I haven't been seriously injured." Is it annoying that he was poisoned or annoying that he's still alive? Probably a fair mix of both.

"But that's the first time you've tried to be humorous and succeeded." BRAVO. "I'm not a serial killer and none of the incidents happened at the school anyway -- the orphanage wasn't connected to it. Ah, take a right this time. You can drop me off just past the corner.

But firstly, who is Ted Bundy?"

[mensrea]

Of course. Of course the first time that the other boy appreciates Stiles’ sense of humor, Stiles isn’t actually trying to be funny. How is this happening. How can Sasuke even be a real person. What kind of world do they live in. What kind of world does Sasuke live in. Maybe the last rhetorical question is answered for him at the mention of an orphanage, and Stiles shifts on the bike uncomfortably.

“No, see, you’re missing the point. Even your awful attitude doesn’t merit attempted murder. And you can google Ted Bundy later.”

The bike is directed around the corner, and Stiles wonders if he will ever recover from this weird experience of riding dutch with Sasuke.