A change of pace

John's mother still hadn't gotten up by the time that morning came around, and when John finally got up to leave for school, she was still sleeping off the fun that they had had the previous night. When he left his mother was still laying naked on the bed, John didn't go to find the spot where his bus picked him up normally. He didn't set off to get his mother's car or even just bike to school.

He already had an existing appointment with someone.

Specifically, he had plans with Grace. The agreement he had pulled out of her the previous night to go jogging with him in the mornings wasn't forgotten. Hell, he was actually looking forward to it for two reasons. The first was so he could spend more time with Grace but the second... it gave him a chance to run into the asshole who had been hitting her.

Thankfully, by the time John got to her house, he wasn't as tired as he thought he would be. It wasn't just about how he barely slept the previous night or how much running he had already done to get there. His Gamer's Body was working for the most part. He was working normally for the most part on what must have been no more than three hours of sleep. Exhausted wasn't even the right word; he just felt like sitting down.

In a way, it was weaker than the real need for sleep he had grown used to. It was still there in a way, reminding him that it was still very much a thing he had to fulfill, but barely. It was like it was just a mere inconvenience now. It made him wonder if Gamer's Body itself could have been leveled up. If so then... would he have ever needed to sleep...or to eat? Just how far did this power go?

Grace wasn't outside her house when he got there. She wasn't ready or waiting for him... In fact, as he knocked on the door, he found out firsthand that it wasn't going to be Grace he talked to at the start of his morning.

The first thing that John noticed from him were his scars. It was difficult to miss them after all: the dozens of scars he had trailed up his arms as he stood until they eventually disappeared behind the veil of a light grey, thin shirt. His sleeves, for what little bit of cloth could be called that, were taut around the man's shoulders and biceps as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. At first glance, he looked to be built like some kind of wall. Like a man made of muscle and stone who had spent years getting to that point.

He dressed a little... specifically for John's tastes. Everything he wore, including his jeans and old fashioned belt, was pulled as tight as possible to his form. Every muscle, every limb was defined, thanks to his tight clothing. In a way, it felt like he was showing off, and as John moved to look past the metallic glint of a tattooed snake crawling up his neck, that feeling was confirmed.

He was grinning at him, John realized when he finally saw the man's chiseled, squarish face staring back at him. He had a crooked smile on his face so wide and determined that it was almost like John could hear his teeth grinding together as he lifted a hand to greet him. His head was shaved nearly bald, for the first time that John saw him, with traces of a jet black hair color tinting his scalp to a darker color.

"You must be John." A deep, short chortle crept out behind his words as he spoke and firmly held his hand in place for John to shake it. He didn't, of course, but he did notice the blackish signs of bruising dominating the man's knuckles when he held it out for him. He didn't even bother to cover up the bruising with any bandages or anything like that; it was all just in plain sight. "I'm afraid that Grace..." John caught a glimpse of movement on the other side of the door at the mention of her name. "won't be able to join you for jogging... She forgot about the other engagements she had."

John only saw her for a second. She appeared and disappeared like a shadow in a flickering light, still dressed in the same style of conservative clothing that she had been wearing the previous day. Her hair was loose and hung down over her face for the most part, except this time, despite how she tried to cover it up, her attempts at hiding did nothing to cover the large fist-sized bruise over Grace's left eye.

A part of John would have been proud for using Observe so instinctively after that... if he had been thinking clearly. For the most part, he just wanted to know how well he would have lasted against this guy if he chose to fight him.

Chad 'Lizard' Ricken
Level 5 Dealer
<Lizard>
75/75 HP
RP: -134

"Yeah, she told me about you and the talk you guys had before I reminded her of everything else she had to do, but don't worry..." There was a short pause as 'Chad' finally pulled his hand back when John didn't shake it. "I'm sure you'll manage to find someone to go jogging with you."

He didn't even have a lot of health. His level was higher, for sure, but... from what John could see, his stats were still lower than John's, especially if John had all his gear on. One level didn't typically make much of a difference; as far as John was concerned, he could have taken him, but suddenly, the quest he got earlier made so much more sense to him. His powers were trying to help to keep him from committing ****...

"I admit, it's kinda nice to meet and talk to someone else from Grace's job. Normally, I don't ever get the chance to even introduce myself to any of her coworkers. I'm Eric Le-" John interrupted him. He really couldn't take listening to this guy just talk anymore, and certainly not if he was going to lie to him. He didn't understand why this guy had felt the need to give him some fake alias, but there it was. After a couple seconds, he supposed it might have had something to do with the part of his description that said 'Dealer'. At least, there were ways of dealing with him that didn't involve killing him...right?

"We should talk outside... Chad." John said, and the other man froze. His grin vanished as the two of them stood there, his features slowly contorting into that of both surprise and barely restrained rage and anger as he slowly turned to look back into the house... but Grace seemed just as confused as he was that John knew Chad's name.

"Now."