Is Paragon Food Better?

[Keith Richards]

Keith had gone quiet. After the morning incident when he had given a nice little flesh-fire-works-display for the Hircine students he soon learned that he wouldn't be the most dangerous person to be wandering the shadows of California. Disappointing, especially since if he wasn't the most dangerous he'd be left dealing with the trash that thought they were. Only for very special reasons, but all the same the problem would come up eventually. How to deal with it? Make sure their was a problem to begin with.

How best to find out about a new school than to sit in on a meal? Lunch time, the entire school in the cafeteria, or at least enough of it that he had a damn good idea of what kind of trash wandered around. From what he saw and heard it wasn't enough to impress him, but could prove a problem all the same. Most of it was just posturing, but a few of the fights he caught in the hallways weren't too bad.

But he hadn't seen a single skull with a brain in it so far. Point in case: the girl that casually sat next to him at the table he chose. She began to talk to him, despite the fact there was plenty of other people to annoy. It became obvious that she was trying to flirt with him, but he couldn't guess why, so he ignored her and went back to spearing his fries with a fork. Impatiently he waited for her to get bored with talking to a wall and leave.

But people make dumb choices.

"Hey, you wouldn't mind me borrowing a fry would you?" The girl winked at him as she said it, and reached over to Keith's tray. Half a second, and a scream later, and the table he sat at was staring at him and the girl who clutched a bleeding hand to her chest. Her face paled and tightened with shock as she stood up and stumbled off the bench and fell onto the floor.

Keith looked down on the girl for a moment as he tossed his fork toward her, bitch could have aids he didn't want to use that fork any more. Besides, blood didn't taste all that good. The table was left to deal with it as they wanted, but it gave him an opportunity. If the paragons were anything like the hircine students they'd do nothing. If they were what their reputation suggested, someone would probably laugh hysterically and choke on their food.

'Come on then, show me what you are, Paragon Institute.'

[Tiao Lei Shen]

(OOC: Haven't seen this thread til now.)

"What the fuck!?"

The girl screamed hysterically as Keith threw the fork at her. For those who hadn't seen the attack or the initial scream, it would be hard for them to miss this one as well. She began to scramble away, crawling at first before making a mad dash to the exit. Rounding the corner without a moment's hesitation, she crashed directly into the chest of Tiao Lei Shen.

Catching him by surprise, Tiao stumbled back a single step as he didn't have the mass to completely stand up to such an impact. He looked down as the girl fell to the ground once more, scrambling up and barrelling past Tiao as she continued down the hallway. Raising his brow he watched her over his shoulder before turning and continuing to move towards his desitination of the cafeteria.

For the most part, things didn't seem to out of place. People were laughing a bit hard and more in sync that it suggested something had happened. Chances were, it had to do with the girl with the bloody hand, as she looked both frightened and embarassed.

Paragon Institute... one of the only places where its embarassing to be stabbed.

Tiao Lei Shen shrugged and began to move towards a nearby empty table, boxed lunch in hand. He took a seat, opening his lunch as he removed his chop sticks and began munching on his fish. He looked up, seeing a number of faces looking his way. While it wasn't exactly a rare subject to be talking about Tiao, it was odd that it seemed there was a much larger number looking now. A few seconds later and Tiao came to the realization that they were not looking at him, but through him. Letting curiosity get the better of him, Tiao conformed and became one of the mass onlookers himself.

The minute Tiao's eyes fell upon the subject of interest was the same moment his eyes would narrow on the target. He stood up a beat later, leaving his lunch as he began to approach the man seated. Though he had never seen the man in person until now, he had known enough. After getting more details Tiao had done some more researching on his own. Before the move to Paragon, Tiao's pillar status had given him access to all the documents relating, especially since there was no MacMillan to restrict his access.

"Keith Richards?"

Tiao would ask as he walked up to Keith's back. Shooting out the moment the name was uttered, Tiao's right hand would slam out in a palm strike, aiming for Keith's head, be it the back or his face should he turn around at the name. Regardless, it was a blindsiding attack and Tiao held no qualms about doing so. He never prided himself on being a "fair" fighter. To have your honor all that is required is that you win, and winning Tiao did well. There were few people Tiao cared for, and Keith made the mistake of hurting one of them.

[Keith Richards]

As expected laughter came rolling in quickly. Several laughs continued long after he had watched the girl run off, leaving his fork on the floor not too far from him. While he turned back to his meal, sadly fork-less, many of those around him were still staring at him. Sighing as he stared at his food he tried to decide how he would eat without his favored utensil. The answer became obvious when he punched some of his food between his fingers and titled his head back to drop the food into his mouth.

"School food tastes like shit no matter where you go. I'm gonna start mugging these retards for lunch money," Keith thought as the overly amused around him laughed, even as their eyes averted from him. Why they averted them he didn't know. Didn't care.

Until he heard his name spoken.

Keith's first reaction was to tilt his head forward and laugh. He could imagine that someone he beat down in the halls going mentally retarded and get stuck in this cesspit because of uncontrollable outbursts of violence. The image of a lopsided face and awkwardly positioned eyes had him laughing until something solid struck him in the back of the head.

The sudden strike didn't hurt, not as one would traditionally think of pain in any case. The moment the impact was felt anger ignited a series of hormones that had him wishing his fork was still in front of him and not on the floor, well out of reach. With his head pushed forward with the initial blow he had very few options available to him, sitting on a bench, being struck from behind.

So going with the obvious is what he did. Get away from the bench. But moving back would be stupid, the best thing to do was to push his legs under, sliding his upper half through as quickly as he could manage. Once under he would be momentarily protected, but this was Paragon, and he was within the range of two legs under there already. The first thing he did was smack the closest crotch to him and listen in amusement to the agonized scream as he popped up on the other side of the lunch table.

Angry, but in control.

"Now who the fuck," Keith began as he came up, only to catch sight of Tiao. "Ah, well that explains half of it."

[Tiao Lei Shen]

Tiao Lei Shen felt a great satisfaction of striking his target. Keith, however, had been slippery enough to retreat after the initial strike, escaping from the follow up that would be Tiao slamming Keith's head repeatedly onto the edge of the table until his skull split in half. Alas, it was not to be as Keith crawled under the table.

Even as Keith popped up and began speaking, Tiao found his body moving before any other thoughts began to surface. Slamming out with his right foot in a stomp, Tiao would kick the table directly towards Keith. The impact against the table would immediately alert him to the weight of the table and those still sitting on it, and therefore the probability it wouldn't hurt Keith much if it landed. However, the sheer size would also suggest that it still would hit Keith in the hip area. If all circumstances were favorable, the table would still slam cleanly into Keith's waist, knocking him off balance.

Immediately following up his stomp without any more words, Tiao would plant his kicking leg and step forward with his left, leaping off it. Slamming his right palm on the table top, Tiao would swing his legs from left to right, intent on kicking Keith in the side of the head, who would likely be bracing himself for impact one way or another. If not, Tiao would still swing with enough momentum to slam into anything with enough force to hurt it, making it extremely dangerous to be anywhere within reach of the leg.

If landed, Tiao would continue his leg swing all the way to the front, where he would plant them down and stand once again on Keith's side of the table.

[Keith Richards]

Keith, being the arrogant little bastard he was, had made plenty of time for his amusing little comment while Tiao was kicking the table. Which in the end was a rather pointless thing to do, Keith hadn't been the only one sitting at the table. The Keith had given a good smack to the nuts had got a little jarred because he stood up between the bench and the table, but everyone else just got shifted a few inches. The weight of a good half a dozen students wasn't easily pushed around, added to a cafeteria picnic table. But if Keith had time to appreciate half the table flipping back and hitting their heads, and the other half getting jammed in the stomach, it would've been funny enough to watch.

However Tiao wasn't one to rest idly while his aggression had gotten the better of him it seemed. Keith got to experience something new at this point. While he had seen Tiao fight once or twice, and rumors were abundant, he had never previously shown up on the ex-pillars radar.

"I don't remember pissing in your wheaties." Keith said as he took half a step back and ducked. Tiao's kick connected, a dull thud sounded loudly, and Keith grinned. He clipped the head of the already pained student Keith had smacked earlier. Tiao continued forward and landed in front of him, but without an attack coming toward Keith. A smooth push off with his right leg and Keith's right shoulder torqued forward, a sharp punch sent straight at Tiao's chest as he would land.

[Tiao Lei Shen]

As he had deduced from impact, the table would never go very far, hence the follow up attack. The kick would strike the intended target either however, as Keith put forward another body to shield himself from the blow. Tiao's foot crashed into the side of the boy's head, sending him several feet to the side. Not caring about the boy's safety, be it the probability he wasn't just an innocent bystander due to being a paragon student, or the symple one-tracked focus of Tiao. Sociopathic? No. Apathetic? Probably.

Landing on his kicking foot, Tiao would have just enough time to set his right foot back agaisnt the table. Shifting his weight to his back leg, Tiao's left palm went to Keith's right forearm, guiding the punch slightly down and to the inside. Smoothly leading the arm to his right hand, which would meet it half way, it would take the lefts place on the forearm as his left hand would push of the limb, bouncing back up in a sharp open backhand to the nose. With Tiao's hands moving so fast, the only alert that he had deflected the punch at all would be the three slapping sounds of his hands in the moment it took to perform the move.

"Do you remember Valencia Donahue?" Tiao stated more than he asked, sounding like he was yelling though there was no actual rise in the volume of his voice.

[Keith Richards]

Gritting his teeth in annoyance Keith replaced the speed he assumed Tiao possessed to a higher level. The ex-pillar was faster on the rebound than he had expected. To be able to land and preform the block and still have an attack coming in was impressive after just landing. But punches to the head invoked stronger reflexes in everyone, and while Keith's eyes could barely make out exactly what happened to his punch he was quite aware of an attacking flying toward his face.

Keith's head didn't move as most would expect, but instead he drove forward still. There was an opening to be exploited. With both of Tiao's hands occupied Keith had continued to step in, but the full forward torque of his right shoulder stopped and abruptly changed direction. As his nose took the impact of the fast backhand, Keith's left shoulder torqued around instead, his left hand pulling in toward his stomach as his elbow was aimed to crash into the side of Tiao.

Keith didn't give himself much time for small-talk in this little offensive, and didn't yet have the chance for a smart ass reply. But it would come, given time.

[Tiao Lei Shen]

The sense of touch reacted far quicker than any other. The moment Keith shifted his weight Tiao would be alerted by the contact of their right arms. Without moving his hand from Keith arm, Tiao's right elbow would pull in towards his hip, causing a slight lean to Tiao's right side. Years of practice on the Wing Chun dummy guiding him more than anything, Tiao's body moved for self-preservation, blocking the incoming elbow to his side on his forearm and bicep. The impact would resound a dull thud both students would feel, but would fade away in a matter of seconds.

Tiao Lei Shen's hand connected with Keith's nose. While the hand was relaxed, giving it its speed and grace, it would probably keep the cartilage in tact which would likely have otherwise been smashed by a fist. However, the contact would still sting and draw tears to Keith's eyes. As Tiao absorbed the impact from Keith's elbow, his left foot would slide outwards, widening his stance.

As he did so, his left hand would rebound itself back to Keith's right elbow, continuing to push the arm down and to the inside to keep it in check for the moment. Just as the arms switched before, Tiao's right arm would release Keith's and begin towards a new destination. Swinging in a wide arc over both Keith's right arm and the newly thrown elbow, Tiao's fingers would extend as he tucked his thumb in. Assuming the attack on the nose would cause Keith's head to shoot back, Tiao would strike the tender throat with the inside of his hand. If for some reason Keith's head didn't tip back, Tiao's hand would continue to slice through the air, striking the nose once again.

[Arlen]

"FIGHT!!!"

Arlen closed his locker with a soft thud, after securley fastening the lock he took a step backward and glanced to his left. The student who had screamed about a fight was now bolting back to the direction of the caféteria. Arlen raised his left eyebrow and gave a soft shrug of his massive shoulders. A fight was a fight, not something you made a song and dance about. Especially not in this school where fights were a common occurence. Hell Arlen had passed two brawls on his way to his locker.

"I fucking hate this place."

Arlen muttered under his breath as he turned towards the caféteria. He was heading that way anyway and he sure as hell wasn't going to let some fight stop him going in there to get his food. As he reached the doors he passed two students who were leaving the caféteria talking excitedly about the conflict taking place behind the closed doors.

"What do you think crawled up Tiao's ass?

"Don't know, don't care-"

At this point the second speaker walked into Arlen. They stumbled a few steps back while Arlen remained motionless staring at the student who just walked into him. His eyes narrowed slightly giving him a menacing aura. This aura was picked up on instantly by the person he just walked into and their eyes immediately looked toward the floor. Arlen realised this person wasn't one of the usual paragonians, so he softened his features and spoke to them in his neutral irish tones.

"What's the fuss about? People don't usually get their knickers in a twist about a scrap in this place."

"That's cus the people scrapping ain't usually Tiao and Keith Richards...

Arlen rubbed the stubble of his chin with his left hand and smiled. Tiao Lei Shen, he knew the name. Keith Richards...he didn't know, but he was about to find out what the man was made of. Despite keeping a low profile in Hircine, Arlen had made sure he kept his eyes and his ears open to the word around the school, as a result he knew the 'big' names and Tiao popped up more than once. Arlen nodded to the students and then pushed open the doors to the canteen. His eyes immediately being drawn to the two fighters, he didn't usually pay any midn to the fights in this school. This one however he was sure would be one to watch.

[Keith Richards]

Keith's right elbow crashed into solid bone instead of the unprotected area under the ribs. Cursing the fact he was unprepared to fight Tiao, arguably one of the most seasoned fighter that Paragon and Hircine had seen in recent years, a strategic run the fuck away was in order. Before Tiao could form a grasp on his right arm Keith was already going to reset the fight, but with Tiao's speed it was a narrow miss. Shoving off his front foot Keith was moving backward fast, the constant pain in the bridge of his nose a healthy reminder of the danger Tiao represented, he moved his head back further than the rest of his upper body to avoid the wide punch that would have caught him if he weren't so high strung.

Once out of initial range Keith was hardly foolish enough to think Tiao wouldn't follow. Keith was reaching behind him quickly, trying to find an advantage to create some distance. A student that was sitting just behind had the good sense to dodge out of the way, depriving Keith of a meat shield, but gave him the impression that he could continue to move backwards.

Keith barely had his feet planted before he jumped backwards and up onto the bench, only to jump a second time to have him on the table. "The fuck you talking about Val' for?" By this point Tiao would easily be trying to catch up with him, but Keith was now standing on the lunch table, and if Tiao came forward he would likely catch a kicked food tray in the face and give Keith more than enough time to drop back down to the floor on the other side of Tiao.

"Do you like small talk when you fight now, or do you actually have a point?"

[Tiao Lei Shen]

Had Tiao's mind at the moment not been so one tracked, he may have marvelled at Keith's asessment abilities. Had the rapist's mind moved any slower he would not have been able to retreat in time, especially just coming out of his own attack. Tiao's attack would brush the air in front of Keith's face. The same momentum that would make this a devastating attack also meant Tiao would not be able to immediately follow up without leaving himself wildly open.

As Tiao's hand whipped in front of his body, his eyes peered over his arm, watching as Keith hopped up onto the bench. Standing up, Tiao began to briskly walk his way towards Keith, his casual forward motion matching the pace Keith worked harder to get by moving backwards. Keith seemed to say something when he jumped on the table, though Tiao missed all comprehension as his body moved without thought. A moment later, Keith kicked a food tray with impressive aim directly at Tiao, who palmed out with his left, knocking the object to the outside as he continued to approach.

"I'm going to rip out your heart with my bare hands. Does that give you a good enough of an idea, you sick son of a bitch?"

[Keith Richards]

A lazy kick and a tray of food had been sent over to Tiao, who easily had it moved out of the way before it could do much of anything. Keith made a small frown, he had hoped to get some mashed potatoes in his face or something. So much for that thought, but it kept Tiao out of a striking distance that would put Keith at a disadvantage. Simply put, Keith could have just started a quick run and disappear through the crowd. He didn't give a shit what the Paragon's thought of him, Tiao wasn't someone he had the patience to fight.

"Annoying, I was hoping for a motive," Keith said with a thoughtful frown, head tilting back slightly, making a point to have Tiao feel like he was being looked down upon. "Honestly I don't have the time or patience to understand how that malfunctioning brain of yours works Tiao, so just remember something," While Keith talked he was quite ready to run away, and Tiao was likely quite ready to advance, this left him perfectly aware that his speech could end at any moment. "If you've given me hints to your motive, in any of this, you'll regret it."

Keith shrugged lazily. "But if this is random, I'll probably just find something more interesting to do."

[Tiao Lei Shen]

With the deflection of the food tray, Tiao Lei Shen continued his advancing pace towards the Hircine psychopath. It seemed Keith was intent on moving out of range of Tiao's onslaught. Sensible, but still all the more agitating for the former pillar. Keith began to literally talk down his nose at Tiao, an action that may have subliminally made another man feel inferior, unless that man found all worth in combat. As far as the fight was going, there was no question in who was inferior to the Tiger of Hircine.

"You'll bleed."

Tiao stated coolly, intending to attack immediately after. However, as much as he hated Keith, he brought up a good point. One way or another, Tiao hadn't been all to clear on his motives. While Tiao typically destroyed the opposition as quickly as he could, a situation like this required different methods. After all, if Keith didn't know why he was going to suffer, a good portion of the punishment would be for nil.

"Tell me Richards, do you always run away from your battles? I guess it must be something completely new for you to be in a situation where you don't have the power. Flip the roles and that's how you get off isn't it? You get yourself up by taking away the other person's power. You're going to pay for what you did to Val, Richards. I'm going to tear out your throat and bleed you dry."

[Keith Richards]

'You've said something to that affect already,' Keith thought with a sigh. His nose stung, but it wasn't bleeding, and with his position he didn't see Tiao being able to catch him. His hand speed was impressive, but it was a crowded cafeteria and Keith had no problems with using people as shields. At this point he was sticking around to have some fun with Tiao, which was actually fairly satisfying despite the single mindedness of the old pillar.

"No, actually, I don't run from my battles. But you see, this is not my "battle," it's yours. You've chosen it, and I chose not to participate." Keith raised his hand, moving it so his thumb could flick a bit of moisture off his nose, still keeping a close eye on Tiao who stood bellow him.

"But, there's the motive. Thank you," Keith mockingly inclined his head, "saved me the time, and I'm sure you'll hear from me again, but there is something you forgot something you shouldn't have." Keith's grin grew wide in an instant, likely about the same time Tiao would hear the yell or feel the heavy plastic tray smashing into the back of his skull. While Keith had enraged the student he punched in the crotch, Tiao was the reason behind all of it, and the one most unguarded.

An uproar of laughter would cut out most sound as Keith jumped backwards, and began to run the moment his feet hit the floor, reaching out and snatching a fork up off the table to his left as he did so. A student stood at the end of the small gap between lunch tables, a tall but overweight boy that looked like he forgot he was in the way.

Keith reminded him by jumping up enough that he could plant a knee in his chest to shove him out of the way before taking a sharp left and moving through the crowd, which gradually began to part after people realized he was stunning people with blows to the face or ear before throwing them down behind him on his way past. 'If Tiao can't catch up I'm going to pay Valencia a pleasant visit. I wonder what present I should bring?' He thought with an oddly pleasant smile on his face as he stabbed a particularly short student in the neck before propelling him back into Tiao's likely path.

[Tiao Lei Shen]

"Whether you choose to try and defend yourself or not doesn't matter to me. In the end it will all end the same."

With every motion, every word from Keith, Tiao Lei Shen grew ever more angry and all the more determined to take him down. Despite his better judgement, Tiao allowed Keith the time to talk. The last words spoken from the Hircine student's mouth were ones that would have caused a raise in Tiao's brow, had he not been interrupted.

There was an impact, causing Tiao's head to nod forward dramatically. Tiao's narrow minded focus would prove to be a disadvantage at this point, the rage fueling his cause blinding his awareness. Thankfully, when used as a club the lunch tray would have very little effectiveness due to its light plastic form that would catch a good deal of wind resistance. Though it didn't hurt, it would push Tiao's head forward regardless, shifting his focus to another point.

A second after the intial impact and shock wore off, Tiao grit his teeth, pivoting on his left foot and turning counter clockwise. Tiao's right hand snapped up to the boy's throat, striking and instantly clamping down on the tender area. Thrusting out and up, Tiao lunged a step as he moved the kid up and back before slamming his back and head on the flat surface of the table he had originally been attacked by, courtesy of Keith.

Effectively dealing with the current aggression, Tiao whipped his head and body back around. Baring his teeth, Tiao's eyes flashed around the room. Keith was nowhere in sight, the only sign of his recent departure being the reforming gap of students. Letting out a deep growl of rage, Tiao's hand went to the tray that now sat on the ground, picking it up. Spinning in a 360 degree turn he threw the tray like a discus at the nearby vending machine against the wall, adding yet another crack to the broken down item of Paragon Institute. Breathing deeply through his teeth, Tiao slowly stood up straight, bringing his hands at his side as he closed his eyes and took one final deep breath before regaining his center.

Fine. The hunt is on.