"No, because I know I didn't tear it," Persi snapped. "And that would matter, except that I on purpose didn't tear it." Screw roommates; he'd managed to survive living with Ace. Aiden was being a jerk, and Persi was entitled to be angry about it. Aiden could keep being a jerk if he wanted, Persi had survived worse.

And, as it turned out, Persi was right. Aiden clearly didn't know why he was out there. And, apparently, had forgotten entirely about him trying to think of one, which did not help Persi at all, either in making Aiden admit it wasn't Persi's fault or in getting Brute to show up. Now how to get his attention back... that was the issue. The pinecone was reserved for Brute, and while Persi could pick another one, he didn't want to warn Brute about it. So... probably the only other way he had to possibly get attention. Persi stepped down to a lower branch, turned to face away from Aiden, sat, and tipped over the back of it. The ends of his hair pooled on the branch below, though this time he remembered the stupid shirt and managed to catch it by folding his arms. It still fell over his arms, instead of staying on, but at least it wasn't on his face. "You know you suck at lying, right? You should've at least pretended you were speechless with rage, not confusion."

And if there was a more obvious way to make clear to Brute that Persi wasn't falling for this, he didn't know what it was.

Wait, Persi had been intentionally careful not to tear his books? Little bit of irritation at Cafas for pushing him to this. No, wait, it was still Persi's fault when you got right down to it. So... he was supposed to be angry with Persi for making him get kind of fake angry with him over something that he probably didn't do and had in fact had actively tried to avoid?

It was so much easier to deal with people when writing them, because you could just make everything work and all the complication was intentional and under control. Not this. This was about as out of control as things could get. Everything was going wrong.

Rubbing his forehead with one hand, Aiden cursed the heat rather more vociferously (in his head) than previously. It probably wasn't helping his issues with talking with people, much less trying to be persuasive and subtle. It was also making him sweat, and the moisture he could feel beading on his forehead felt like it wasn't far off rolling down his face. It was already rolling down his back between his shoulder blades and tickling like mad. Come on, there had to be some way to salvage this thing.

Well, there sure wasn't now. Aiden also should have figured out by now not to look at Persi after being distracted and then hearing him speak. This time was about as bad as it had ever been. He was, after all, hanging upside down like a madman again. Slight improvement: most of Persi's chest, at least was still decently covered. Not enough of it, but still an improvement, right?

The heat was not an improvement. While he couldn't tell by feel if his face was as red as it usually got, since it had already felt like it was melting, his head did suddenly start pounding. Ai closed his eyes and swallowed, trying to at least even out the heat and pressure before his head tried to explode. A hot droplet of sweat rolled past his eyebrow and down the side of his nose. Wasn't sweat supposed to cool you off? Why wouldn't it work?

Persi was still upside down, wasn't he. Aiden didn't have to look, but he hadn't answered. Being told he sucked at something wasn't exactly something he enjoyed. At least now he didn't have to convince himself to be angry at Persi for the way things were going. Right now, he had more than enough reason to be actually angry at him. He managed to force back some of the head, get his head a bit clearer, and glare at Persi. "Not everyone is good at talking," he snapped, "so don't expect them to behave the way you expect all the time."

Well this was clearly not working. Cafas shrugged to himself as he stepped out and walked up. He'd tried. "Never mind Aiden, did your best mate. Persi, get down here, because right now you're not just wasting your own time you're also wasting Aiden's." Cafas glared at the disobedient twerp, daring him to try something, and see exactly where it got him.

I know you're going to, and that's a one way trip right there buster.

Cafas really didn't know what the kid's problem was, aside from being a self absorbed middle class brat, as most emos seemed to be. The exact sort of people who truly had very little to complain about in the long run. With the defiance he had to stay at the mansion, Cafas was pretty sure he had no home to go to. Well neither did Cafas, in fact, his parents had tried to kill him, and he wasn't being a sulky brat about it.

Well, you were for a while, but not to this extent. Closer to Aiden really.

Speaking of Aiden, he was really not looking too good. Cafas turned to give him a closer inspection. "See, I told you to wear a T-shirt. When we get back to the mansion, you're changing. No ifs ands or buts, because if you're overheating doing this, you'll die doing the lesson." He looked on the verge of fainting anyway.

There we go. It was about time Brute stopped hiding. He eyed him for a moment, then shrugged, rolled his eyes, and began pulling himself back up. "Tragic."

Once back on the branch, which was slightly more awkward than normal due to one hand being occupied by a pine cone, he made his way down to a branch with no others below it; maybe eight feet off the ground. And no Aiden or Brute below it; amusing as the idea of jumping onto Brute was, that'd probably either end with Persi falling over and breaking something, or him landing on Brute and breaking his back. Hurting Brute was a lovely daydream, killing him was not. So Persi found a branch that wasn't over anybody's head, too a second to throw the pinecone at Brute's head while he was focused on Aiden, and jumped.

He landed fine; shocked shins as usual, but no falling or swaying or balance issues of any kind. A rock under his foot might have given a heel a minor bruise, and Persi kicked it away once he was sure he'd landed fine, but it didn't make any actual impact. So... now he got to deal with Brute and Aiden, who was newly confirmed to hate him just as much as Brute did.

...Well, at least he could make it suck just as much for them, too. Especially Brute. He seemed to have gotten a good start on that, anyway. Persi smiled at Brute while he reacted to the pinecone.

Persi was being a brat, how surprising. Cafas merely smiled at him when the pine cone struck him. It barely hurt, compared to some of the stuff Cafas had been through. "Kid, I'm an X-man, I was on riot duty, you're going to need to do better than that." Bricks hurt, Molotov cocktails REALLY hurt, and pieces of rock golem hurt, pine cones... Well, pine cones thrown by kids with below average athletic ability were nearly funny by comparison.

Yeah he's going to dawdle I'm sure.

Cafas didn't give him a chance to waste any more time, he walked over, fastened a hand around Persi's upper arm and began to drag him out of the forest. "Come on Aiden, let's get back to the mansion." Cafas picked the direction he was sure the Mansion was in and turned that way.

Little s*** forces this stuff on himself.

It took a little while, but eventually they were back out of the forest. Cafas headed for the door. "Remember what I said about the danger room? Well, today you get to find out just how fun the danger room can be."

Wish this kid had any brain at all.

Cafas' voice behind him started out being about as stressful as everything else that was going on right now, but for once things turned out okay. There were worse things than Persi wasting his time, though. Persi getting him dragged into this? Definitely one of them. Ending up (probably wrongly) accusing Persi of damaging one of his books? Also included. Even if that part was still Persi's fault in the end. Ai still felt really bad about it.

No, wait. Scratch that on the stressful part. Come on, he wasn't that hot! He'd survive!

Probably. And now it was a matter of hiding his scars or almost certainly making Cafas angry by refusing to do as he was told.

Persi had better be real sorry about this, and show it real well the first chance he got. And he wasn't making a good start on that part, although in terms of keeping Cafas' anger focused on him he was right on track. Throwing a pinecone? Really? Cafas had a distinct point. Pinecones didn't really hurt anyone, unless you managed to get them in the eye or somehow gash them up. Even Aiden had taken worse - say, a soccer ball to the face - without reacting like Persi was probably hoping for.

Well, it served Persi right. So did getting dragged all the way back to the mansion, for that matter, even if Aiden was just as reluctant to go back. Possibly more reluctant. He really, really didn't want to, but Cafas said so and it was unimprovably clear just what happened to people who disobeyed a direct order from Cafas. Sure, Persi magnified any punishment he got by being, well, Persi, but even a lesser version couldn't possibly be better than letting them see his scars, right? At least it would be just them, and not everyone, but still... he really, really, really didn't want to. But he had to. Was there no way out of this?

Well obviously; like a pinecone would hurt anyone. Hurting Brute wasn't the point, the point was hitting him. Annoying him, mainly, but hitting people tended to annoy them, even, maybe especially, when it didn't hurt. And Persi had hit him--not fairly, but he still had. So Persi was perfectly pleased with the result of that attempt. Being dragged out of the forest was expected, and really not going to bother Persi.

And, less expected, Brute didn't hit Persi first. Apparently that was reserved for "training," then. More proof of strict rules that Brute had to play by. Which would be more convenient if Persi knew what the rules were, but at least he was starting to get some idea. 'No hitting without calling it training' seemed to be one, to start with.

Okay, being dragged for that long was annoying. It wasn't like Persi had been trying to get away at all; Brute could have let go. It would have spared both of them (or at least Persi) the stumbling that resulted when Persi tried to go one way around a tree and Brute went the other. Then again, that was probably why Brute did it....

And the Danger Room again. It might have been intimidating before, but it wasn't by now; Persi was too used to rolling his eyes at the ominous, threatened, and yet never described danger to react to it anymore. Also, the absurdity of naming anywhere a Danger Room. "I'm more interested in finding out just what it is, actually, but that works too."

Cafas continued to drag Persi inside, all the way back to his room. He let go, then turned to look at the boys. "I want you out here, short sleeves and shorts in 5 minutes. If you have a water bottle, grab that." Cafas stepped aside to let them into their room.

Like herding cats, honestly...

Cafas spent the time waiting by plotting what sort of program he'd be running. Well, he'd have to show Aiden the punches, but the kid seemed bright enough that he might actually be able to learn them with minimal moaning, and in less time than Persi took. Annoying brat.

Something that encourages them to do what I tell them to.

When four minutes had passed Cafas banged on the door. "Sixty seconds." He leaned against the wall and waited, nodding to the people he knew as they walked past. He wished he could just be teaching Calley. At least Calley wasn't a completely insufferable brat. Or just Aiden. But he'd gotten himself into this.

Twice a week with Perci might just drive me nuts.

And there was the mansion. How foreboding it looked now.

Aiden's gait was quickly approaching something rather similar to a terrified slink the closer they came to the building, and he was full-on creeping once they were actually inside. Behind Cafas, of course. He had enough paranoia and presence of mind to not look freaked out in front of the guy he was trying to keep from getting angry. Barely, in the case of the latter, but enough.

And then he had to walk into his room. With Persi. To get changed.

Wait, since when did he have to get changed with Persi there? Just inside the doorway, he balked. Terror and horror at getting changed in front of Persi? Doom and pain at getting Cafas angry with him? Maybe he should take the d--- no, what was he thinking? He couldn't take doom and pain!

He could get angry at Persi now, though, so as soon as the door closed he rounded on his roommate. Anger beat fear. Yes, that would work for now. "This is all your fault," he hissed, keeping his voice low so as to not be heard by Cafas. Hopefully. "Why'd you have to get me dragged into this? And.. er... sorry about saying you tore the page." Awkwardness quickly replaced his anger and he edged towards his side of the room. "It was all I could think of to try to get you down. I don't want him mad at me too."

Change. Out of Brute's sight, even. There had to be a way to use that to annoy Brute more. Maybe--

Persi stared as Aiden started yelling at him, and then... apologized? While yelling? Persi had no idea what was going on. He wasn't extremely inclined to care, though, considering how annoyed he still was. "What's my fault? Just because you decided to help him beat me up--" Persi at least had enough sense not to use his chosen nickname for Brute out loud, "--or he decided you would is not my fault. Besides, he'll probably only keep you around long enough to let you help humiliate me, and why are you mad anyway?"

Persi wasn't trying to let Brute hear, but he wasn't putting any effort into stopping him, either. Instead he stalked over to his side of the room, pulled out shorts and a tee shirt, stripped off the clothes he was wearing, and pulled the new ones on. "Why would he be mad at you? You're helping him make me miserable, you're probably his best friend for the day." Maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but Persi hoped Brute didn't have many friends. He also suspected that he did; bullies normally did. But it would be nice if this one didn't.

Persi didn't get it. Aiden would have slunk into the corner, except he was already kind of there and it wouldn't have helped anyway. "Cafas dragged me into this because of you, so it's your fault," he said darkly. "You really think I want to be included in your stupid punishment? Why do you have to make teachers mad at you, anyway? And can you please be quiet?"

And why in the world was he stripping down without so much as a muttered warning? Aiden spun around so fast he both nearly gave himself whiplash and just missed slamming his kneecap into the corner of his desk. Maybe he should have. It might have gotten him out of this.

He stared steadfastly at the wall for as long as he could manage. "You idiot, I'm just trying to do what you should have done and not get on his bad side," he hissed once he felt he could trust his voice not to do anything weird. Speaking of getting on Cafas' bad side, though. Aiden glanced towards the drawer that held his now long-unworn t-shirts. He had to... but...

He didn't have a choice, but he couldn't just walk over there, grab a t-shirt and change like Persi was doing. He swallowed. Well, he could walk over. Aiden paused, and then jerked into motion, just missing cracking his knee again. No, actually hitting it would look too much like an intentional attempt to escape. It might be more effective than Persi's attempts, but still. Okay, he was by the drawer. Opening it wasn't hard, was it? No, although it squeaked a bit much for his comfort. There. He could see the t-shirts. He glanced nervously at his arm. There was no getting around it, was there?

With the deepest breath he could take without being super-obvious, Aiden plucked a t-shirt at random off the top of the drawer. It wasn't anything special, just an old faded thing that used to have some city name on it, from a trip with his family however many years back. Might as well. He turned his head slightly, but not enough to actually see Persi. Could he actually do it?

"What could I have done that would get you involved?" Persi still felt entirely justified snapping at Aiden, even if he was only snapping at Persi now, instead of yelling. "And I didn't do anything to him, he just showed up and started lecturing me on how I'm just like him only with everything wrong." Persi might still be a bit sore about that. "I'm not like him."

And... Aiden was staring at the tee shirt, like he'd forgotten what it was and suspected it might be carnivorous. Persi stared at him. "If you're that paranoid about making him mad, it might help if you actually did what he told you to." Well, and Persi wasn't going to leave before Aiden did. Between the two of them, he'd rather deal with Aiden than be trapped alone with Brute more.

"How should I know? Up until now, I was quite happily out of this." Considering that he had been subjected, so to speak, to Cafas' abridged life story, Aiden found the idea that Cafas considered Persi to be like him quite odd and extremely curious. Curious enough, in fact that he actually thought about asking Persi which part of the story Aiden had heard fit with his own life.

Unfortunately for his curiosity and fortunate for, well, almost everything else, Persi inserted a well-timed reminder that Cafas was waiting for them just outside the door. And Aiden had to go out there in a t-shirt. An unspoken 'or else,' tinged with heavy miasmas of 'what Persi was getting,' settled back onto his shoulders.

If only that miasma were opaque and visible to everyone else. Then wearing a t-shirt wouldn't be any trouble at all.

He dug his fingers into the cloth. Nothing for it but to suck it up and do it.

...

Of course, the end result wasn't always what was originally intended, and after setting a personal record for hauling off one shirt and putting on the other - all while facing just enough off square away from Persi that his right arm was more hidden, and with his eyes scrunched tight for the few brief seconds he had to pull his sunglasses off for - Aiden found himself still unwilling to turn around, with his arms folded just awkwardly enough that his left forearm covered the part of the scar running along his right forearm while his left hand blocked out the higher portion. He swallowed and hesitantly turned (left side first) towards Persi. He wasn't going out there first. If he had a choice, he wasn't going out there at all. That was the thing, though... he had no choice.

"Well I don't read minds, so ask someone who can." And quit making up things to accuse Persi of; that would be appreciated. Well... sort of, it wouldn't make up for the accusations Aiden had already made up, but at least it wouldn't keep offending Persi more. Actually redeeming himself in Persi's mind would require doing something to make up for what he'd done, not just not continuing to be a jerk. For some strange reason, Persi didn't expect that to happen. Or for Aiden to stop being a jerk either, for that matter, at least not for long.

At least... well, no, Persi didn't really care if Aiden changed or not. He stopped harassing Persi, but he also was doing what Brute wanted, so it was something like an even trade. Close enough Persi wasn't going to bother trying to figure out which outweighed the other; it wasn't like he could control it anyway.

Hm... perhaps there could be other ways to annoy Brute, though. Persi moved toward the door, and carefully leaned against the edge that opened, half on the door and half on the frame. Sure, Aiden could push him out of the way--or Brute could just slam the door into him--but it would still annoy them both. Persi's expression was distinctly pleased with him as he looked at Aiden.

Please don't suggest that. Definitely don't suggest actual people. Aiden never, ever, ever wanted to ever come across someone who could read minds.

Ever.

Ever.

When Aiden finally turned around, his heart twitching like it couldn't decide to make a break for safety through his esophagus or to just fall over dead right where it was, it was to find Persi leaning against the door. He frowned nervously. "What are you doing?" he asked, some of the stress currently attempting to tear every individual fibre of every single muscle free of its neighbours leaking into his voice. Delay from Cafas seeing him, good. Delay from doing as Cafas had said, bad. Being stuck with Persi staring at him in a room with no cover, very bad.

On the other hand, he had to admit that he was already a tiny bit cooler. Of course, with the way his heart was pounding and half of his muscles were twitching, he was sweating as much if not more than before. Man, even with a t-shirt it was kind of hot in here. He dug his fingers into his arm to fight the desire to lift the collar of his shirt away from his skin long enough to get a bit of airflow going. Yes, it was hot, but he'd be fine. "Are you going to stand there forever?"