He's Gotten Good (Nic)

[Marshal Bishop]

The forest was thick, the trees grew close. Branch, vine, underbrush, and all intertwined and ensnared each other in a brutal death grip over what sustaining nutrients remained in the sandy soil. The canopy was thicker here, perfect for a small boy in black to go hiding.

"Damnit." Marsha cursed under his breath, "Kid's gotten good." Marshal looked at his shoes, the shine dulled and stained by the dirt and weeds after trumping and trudging through the overgrown vegetation.

"Nic!" Marshal called out for what was probably the hundredth time, "Nic!" Make that one-hundred and first. He turned around, checking his full range of view, turning himself in a full circle for any signs of the boy.

The treetops were an interwoven web of half starved branches and leaves. Every limb uniformly random and unyielding to Marshal as the one beside it. Not even a snapped branch to give him clue to his position.

Marshal was truly bested at this point. There was no hint that the boy was anywhere in this part of the forest anyway. He'd checked the rest of it, coming back empty handed. Marshal smiled in sheer spite of his frustrations, it was then that he knew just what to say.

"Olly Olly Oxford come in free!"

[Nicholas]

The green canopy provided the strange mixture of shade and light in every little nook and cranny this was the place he came this day to take a nap. And it went wonderfully peaceful unlike most of his time in this school well it was till he heard Marshal calling his name though in his drowsy state he did not realize it was him. ' Come on who would of come all this way just to wake me up shesh. Well I won't see who it is I just want a day without the craziness of some girl or a mental case with powers.' he thought to  pulling his hood up to block even more sunlight than his sunglasses.
 
Then he heard it "Olly Olly Oxford come in free!". 'What been a very long time he heard that phrase probably missed it being Marshals voice because I am still asleep. Guess I should answer him though I have a feeling my peaceful naps not going to happen today anymore' he thought to himself quietly climbing down a tree directly behind Marshal. " So what do you want Marshal  I was trying to get some peace and quite something that avoids this school" he stated to no precise direction and rubbing his eyes.

[Marshal Bishop]

Marshal joked at the notion that the childish phrase would actually draw Nic. He continued to laugh at the thought. Not a second later, the boy had climbed down the tree's trunk, not quite proficient but it was clear he knew his way down. The boy jumped, taking the final six feet down with a thud and a small stumble.

Marshal smiled, impressed a) that his childish call worked and b) that Nic had actually found an effective hiding place. He was truly proud of the boy, "well done, well done," he clapped. "Knew you'd find a place eventually." They'd played hide-n-seek way back at Southside, it was a small poke at worn sentimentalism.

Nic replied, straight to business and irritated, sleeping sand bunches in the corner of his eye. Marshal put his arm on his shoulder. "I'm taking ya back to the world." Marshal put his arm around Nic, "you've been out here too long." He started to walk with him, practically dragging Nic along. "Don't see ya at school anymore."

Marshal tightened his grip around Nic, so his arm hung down from Nic's neck. "Have you been taking your classes?" He raised a brotherly eyebrow, ignoring the fact that he was ditching class to find him.

[Nicholas]

" Oh of course you bring up those games  if I remember correctly you found me napping more often than you found me awake" he retorted with a smile and chuckle. ' Not like I took those games serious it was more fun to try and see how others felt was best to hide. He had been hiding all his life and it was interesting to see how those who hadn't chose to do it'

" Yeah so what if you don't see me not like you care about it either pretty sure you are skipping too if I am correct. Also not my style the whole school thing of course I come for the power training but other than that I don't really show. Finally I don't want to leave this place just randomly it is alot safer here or near the forest than in there." He gestured toward the school grounds then placed his feet firmly on the ground only to fail at stop the dragging.

[Marshal Bishop]

Nic had slowed his pace back to the school. "That's different, I'm skipping to bring you to civilization." But still Marshal could tell the boy was undeterred.Once realizing that Nic wouldn't merely be taken from the forest; he had to be convinced.

"Why would you stay in this place?" He waved his hand around at the, frankly, hideously overgrown plant life, gnarled and mangled with each other. "You smell that? That's the smell of death." Marshal pointed his finger at Nic, jabbing the air between them. "There's no way this place is safe, no way in hell!" He raised his voice almost infuriated at the thought that this place would be considered a haven.

He brushed the hair from his eyes, licking his lip in an attempt to calm himself, "you may be a f----ing runt, but damn it to hell if I still don't look after you!" His warm, light hearted, brotherly approach was now long gone, replaced with a worrisome tone and a pointed finger.

[Nicholas]

He looked around as Marshal waved around at their surrounding and he did admit that spending so much time here had its disadvantages bit frankly to him they were much like the buildings of a city. Sure it wasn't exactly a thing of beauty not in the slightest, but just like in a city he found no problem with it. Then Marshal began to speak about it as a ground of danger and he looked at him with a annoyed look. " Yeah I guess this place isn't that safe and matter of fact it is quite dangerous, but there is a reason that I feel safer here than in the school. I can hide from the other gifted here. The reason for that is every time I have ever been in danger is because of another gifted that seemed to be crazy." As he said that he remembered each of the fights that he has seen from other gifted and the damage that was left on the participants normally. Well other participants when he participated he surprisingly was able stay mostly unharmed for the standard of that fight but that is not the reason for his thoughts so he ignored that fact.

Then Marshal did his little try at calming himself and Nicholas almost thought he would actually calm down and they wouldn't have to deal with conversation, but to his disappointment that was not the case. In fact it he chose to use some choice words and called him a runt along with it. He had actually become quite sensitive about his build but truth be told even with that he still realized then that it was about Marshal being worried about him and he couldn't help but smile. ' Welp guess no matter where we are I can always count on him to protect me even though I don't like how he wants to do that' he thought to himself before adding another thing to the conversation. " Hey I am not that small but it is very nice of you to look out for me. In this place I will need it"

[Marshal Bishop]

"Damn straight" he said determined to get him out of there. "I'll always be there to be an older brother." he tried to throw his arm around his head to gruffly knuckle his head, he didn't account for Nic's swiftness though. If he wanted he could slip out before Marshal could latch onto him properly.

Marshal truly cared for Nic just as much as he hated him previous back at Southside. It was odd what an island full of jacked up, super human, adolescence could do to a relationship. The kind of danger at Southside was nothing compared to Ashford, in fact he always felt Southside was safe. Though it was anything but. Threats of illness, fights, shootings, robbery, starvation, all existed at Southside.

Perhaps Marshal didn't have a good grasp on danger yet. And perhaps getting out of the forest was a healthy step in the right direction.

"You hungry?" he asked, quickly switching back to a loving manner, "let's say we get out of here, get something to eat." he looked around at the still forest, the place was depressing as anything.

[Nicholas]

He allowed Marshal's arm and in doing so hand to him giving him a tiny glare over his eyes at the motion but smiling all the same at just the familiarity of it all and in truth enjoyed Marshal's presence. " Well if you stop calling me a runt I would love you all the more"he said that kinda chuckling himself at something he noticed about all this. It almost seemed as if him and Marshal were closer now with more danger around them.

He closed his eyes to remember how their lives were before all this and all he could think was they were happier. They all knew it was dangerous but they all knew the danger and were used to dealing with there and he couldn't help but smile at that very nice feeling he missed. Now each new person brought up a new question and possibly a new danger. Even through this he still wanted to meet people and help most of them. He got out of his reverie when he was asked if he was hungry and truth be told he was so he nodded " Yeah I am starving that nap was really long."