[ti]6[/ti]disparate youth — t + m

dis·pa·rate adjective. essentially different in kind; not allowing comparison.

our hands are tied here if we stay.

CHARACTERS

you can find them in detail: here.

jay garcia, heir to the unlisted. form, aesthetic. 

the wonderful stella prynne

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[/font]there's fourteen knuckles in each hand. twenty eight total. eighteen for grappling, six dedicated to 'the bird', and eight for punching. but for jay, it was sixteen knuckles pounding against his rib cage. you see, about an fifteen minutes ago--jay walked through his front door, tired as can be. at the time, he was prepared to take a shower and flee to his room where he'd lock the door and nap for as long as he possibly could. but the two skeleton-decorated goons that were waiting in his apartment when he got home has other plans.
                            before he could react, fists, feet, and blunt objects were being thrown his way like jay was an animal who had escaped from his cage. he was ready to run, ready to get the hell out of there. he stuck a few hits, even managed to break a vase over one of their heads--but eventually, one of the goons got him into a tight hold with his arms behind his back in the most uncomfortable way possible. fist after fist tenderized his torso while the two smiled deviously.
                            it was easy for an outsider to wonder why or how they got there, but jay knew it had to've been one of two reasons: either they were there to kill him like they did michael, or they were here to send some kind of demented message. after dozens of strategically placed punches, jay figured it was the latter. they were being careful (as ironic as that sounds), like they weren't trying to cause enough damage to kill him. but enough to haunt him.
                            jay stuck to a position where he kept his head down and muscles tightened for quite some time, but it was only now that the brute that knocked into him consistently began to have a problem with it. "pull his head up," he spoke with a bronx accent. looks like the bossman was running low on harlem kids. jay wasn't sure if that was a good or bad sign. he didn't have time to think about it, because the man behind him pulled him by the hair so that he was looking at the man who had bruised a good portion of his abdomen.
                            "he looks like he's about to cry," the bronxite said with a disgusting smile on his face. jay responded by spitting on his face unapologetically. he was asking for trouble at that point, and that's exactly what he got. the bronxite didn't stop himself from punching him directly in the nose. the move didn't make the brute nervous at all, but the one who held him was immediately concerned. but he didn't say anything. why would he? jay wasn't his friend.
                            "if it was up to me, i'd kill your sorry ass," he pulled his now bloody face back to his side, and gave the man behind jay a quick nod. instantly, jay was tossed to the floor. "stay down," the bronxite warned while the man that once held jay gave him a firm kick in the back. the duo moved through the apartment, sweeping their hands along tables and shelves to knock over anything else they hadn't gotten to yet before they turned one last time to say one last thing to jay who passively stayed on the ground. "leo's gonna give you two weeks." the bronxite announced. "we'll be back." and just like that, the two slammed the door behind him, leaving jay alone on the ground to try to get a hold of what had just happened. two weeks for what? the unlisted were too damn cryptic sometimes, and jay just wasn't in the mood to decode their message.
                            blood slithered down from his nose like a snake, and the skin all around his ribs and stomach were red and tender. it was hard for him to breathe, but he was confident in assuming that nothing had been broken--they didn't hit hard enough to break bone. that didn't mean that the areas attacked didn't hurt like hell, but he toughed it out to roll onto his back, giving his side some relief from the broken glass he had been carelessly tossed into.
                            his eyes wandered around the room from the floor to scope the damage. picture frames were broken, coffee cups busted, and the solitary plant that lived in kitchen was unearthed--its pot shattered. jay shook his head in what could've been defeat, and brought his arm up to his face to cover his eyes while he heaved steadily for air.[/ul][/ul][/ul][/ul][/ul]

s t e l l a [attr="class","stella"] stella prynne took life for granted; she was aware of the fact ever since her days in elementary school. where life had always been present to her on a shining silver platter, it was characteristic of the girl to refuse the stainless offer for a more harsh and indefinite option. while she has never experienced a need for remorse, there are certain, startling moments in which she finds herself reflective of past twists and turns in the course of the roller coaster known as her life. in that very second, she could have been in an expensive dorm room, decorated in girlish, pink ornamentation, with a snotty blonde roommate and above-average grades. however instead, the nineteen year old found herself walking towards a run-down apartment in the middle of new york city, holding a massive brown paper bag containing various items of food and common necessities. the structure itself appeared slightly above-par when it comes to an outright wreckage─the ancient brick exterior, once vivid red, now only remain as faded shades of orange and brown, littered with multiple broken windows that adored differing rooms. it easily gave off an vibe of utter dilapidation, as elements seemingly broke down every other day within the interior and exterior. however the alerted perception was effortlessly ignored by the sharp brunette, who quickly worked her way through the ramshackled front entrance and made her way up the creaking metal staircase towards her assigned compartment─all while clenching the overflowing bag of commodities closely to her slender body with one arms. on the way, she was stopped by one of the neighbors on the third floor: an unhealthily skinny gentlemen by the name of curtis, who inquired her about a mysterious woman named isabella. evidently accustomed to the man's deranged antics, she merely offered him an annoyed eye-roll, mannerly went along with the act for a couple more minutes before making her exit and continuing onto the third floor. stella paused beside the first room, in front of a black door with an obscene room number that was evidently eradicated through violent indentations onto the plate. "hey, it's me, stella. open up!" she requested after exerting a series of loud knocks on the door. her efforts were rewarded with an awkward interval of silence afterwards, in which the girl huffed in irritation before seizing the door handle as a means of checking whether or not the suite was even locked. she knew fully that her roommate hadn't left the complex within the time span of her errand, a notable fact that aided in her escalated levels of annoyance. nonetheless, with her arm already stiffened from the heavy load within the sack, she gently dropped it on a space beside the door, propped up by the connected wall, and dug her hands into her pocket for the required key. she immediately shoved it into crooked handle and unlocking before shoving the item into her pocket once again, pushing the door open in the process. "holy shit," she murmured at the sight of the demolish apartment. suddenly feeling an immense sensation of shock, stella paused, unable to minister another move due to the abrupt emptiness of her thoughts. the damage the living quarters was immense─from the abundance of broken glassware that littered the carpeted floor to the overthrown furniture laying in shambles along the beaten wall. she almost felt the encroachment of a full-out panic attack at the sight. however as her mint-green eyes spotted an injured man, laying bloodied in the middle of the living room, stella immediately sprang into action, sprinting into an adjacent bathroom without uttering another word. from one of the perforated cabinets above the sink, she grabbed a large-sized first-aid kit before headed to the living room in a hurried pace, half-heeding the damaged shards below her feet. dropping the box beside her, the brunette kneeled down beside jay, nearly wrenching at the amount of blood surrounding him as well as coating his frame. "what the hell happened here?" she whispered, hesitating on touching him as a risk of making things worse. nevertheless, after a second, she gingerly began examining the damage done. obviously she was able to conclude that their building had been broken into, however the exact details of the incident were inconclusive as for distinguishing an exact reasoning, especially when it seemed like very little was stolen─only vandalized to the most inordinate extent.

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[/span]                        the apartment, aside from the sound of cars and chatter, was considerably quiet. quieter than jay was used to. it seemed like enough to soothe anyone to sleep--but, ironically, it was exactly what kept jay awake while he stayed on the ground. the absence of sounds forced him to improvise in some weird habitual way. he began to think of his friends that were now in deep danger, his family that would never care to investigate, and then whoever the hell was responsible for this. and then familiar sounds began to fill the space. his lungs found it within themselves to huff out a surprisingly steady sigh.
                            thud, thud, thud. the first were loud, demanding, and against the door. the next that followed, after a pause accompanied by the jingling of keys that initiated the creaking of the entry door, were fast and urgent--and scattered up and down the hallway floor. her distress was expressed in two simple words, and nothing else. she was quiet, completely quiet, in her marching until she knelt down next to jay with a first aid kit he never knew about.
                            his irritated brows were covered by the arm that masked most of his face, so the girl wouldn't immediately know of his frustration directed towards her helpfulness (of all things); but he'd move his arm quickly in retaliation to shoot her a quick look. "i'm fine," he snapped, but the intensity of it was immensely reduced by slight wheeze that laced his words. he clearly wasn't okay, at least not when compared to a typical everyday jay, but this was a matter of pride. it shook him to his very core to even consider that maybe those assholes broke him. he didn't expect stella to understand, so he didn't bother to explain.
                            instead he pushed himself to sit up, fighting through the symphony of silent winces that followed this ill-advised decision. jay left stella without an answer for an extended amount of time while he took in the damage with a distressed gaze that moved from wall to wall. he was responsible for some of the damage, he was aware of that, but he could see every spot where the unlisted stopped to go out of their way to destroy. the furniture, at least most of it, looked salvageable--but there was no redemption for the items that had been completely smashed against the walls and floor. how they were going to recover from this, jay wasn't sure yet. but for now, he knew that they'd have to recover fast if they wanted to keep a solid stance against leo and his followers.
                            "couple of guys broke in," jay finally answered, but at this point it was already obvious enough. his analysis really wasn't necessary. the only kind of clarity his words provided was that there had been two men at fault here. "right after you left," he lifted one of his hands to rub his forehead, to rub away the aches. "they just started smashing shit," the scene replayed in his head. they used keys to get in, which is what kept jay in bed rather than springing up to investigate. they had time to move through the apartment before they started throwing things, smashing things, and flipping over things. they did all of it while laughing and calling for jay in a way that was down-right personal (as if breaking into someone's home wasn't personal enough).
                            jay pulled his hand from his forehead and opened his eyes to look at her with a questioning stare. "did you see anyone? leaving?" he didn't expect a helpful answer. plenty of people could have been leaving the building, or walking away from it. she hadn't lived here long enough to decipher between residents and non- residents. but he felt so helpless, he didn't know what else to say. and then it came to him.
"are you okay?" she hadn't been here. and he figured that since she didn't look shaken or bruised, she didn't have a run in with the duo, but it was in his nature, as annoying as it was, to take the attention off of himself and place it elsewhere as quickly as he possibly could.[/ul][/ul][/ul][/ul][/ul]

s t e l l a [attr="class","stella"] despite her efforts, the tenacious bullheadedness, characteristic of the mutilated man, made its appearance almost straightaway. she'd only touched his arm, the one shoved angrily in front of his face as a means of either protection or guard, which swelled red from the bleeding and any other possible abrasions to the limb. however the contact was immediately met with a narrow rebuttal paired with a nasally wheeze, a rejection to her offered assistance that stung the slightest touch more than she will ever reveal outwardly. regardless, the reaction came as no surprise, knowing the actual character of the man in question, but within the traumatic realms of their current situation, stella expected a different outlook, possibly something less impersonal and more sympathetic. after all, she lived in the ruined apartment building too, and while the two haven't spoken more than a few word to one another during the course of her vacancy nor was she the victim in experiencing the forsake event, they were still roommates. and in addition, the possibility that she could have found his lifeless body upon her return was a petrifying revelation. stella slowly sank back on her heels, heaving a small sign, but feeling the majority of the stored energy within her body being dispelled in an instant. she was unable to muster the ebullience to engage with him in the matter of his own health, especially when he evidently seemed unwilling to budge from his current stance on the matter. soundlessly, the nineteen year old watched jay with a sullen gaze, suddenly feeling miniature prickles of discomfort from the minuscule shards of broken glass on the floor below her legs but foolhardily choosing to ignore the sensation nonetheless. when jay finally decided to lower his defenses enough to answer her question, the replies were blunt, peripheral repetitions of the already-perceptible. it did not precisely help in stella's desire of piecing together the exact cause of the break-in, but the young lady already had suspicions from past occurrences and her own mental list of the usual suspects. "i'm fine, especially compared to you." she replied, appreciative of his gesture of courtesy but still presented him a pointed gaze anyway. "i didn't really notice anyone shady while coming in. just curtis, but we both know how he is usually..." she continued, trailing off as her green eyes widened suddenly. as if from having an immense epiphany, she sat up straighter, hands coming to rest on her lap and viridescent eyes seemingly boring into the side of his face now as if challenging him to be dishonest. "was it the unlisted?" stella finally dared to ask after a couple moments, her voice at the lowest volume. truthfully she could not tell whether or not he even heard her inquiry nor could she decide whether or not she even wanted to know the answer. the brunette had little experience in dealing with the gang in question, but she knew enough about them, through her association with jay, to be attentively weary of their actions. even beforehand, she had knowledge of their dangerousness. furthermore their possible connection to the incident was chilling, rocking stella even more when she paired their notoriety with her roommate's previous affiliation with them. it was enough to cause a prevalent reaction, even before she could confirm the assumption. immediately after her question, she felt vigorous sensation of dread, causing her to quickly change the subject to something else, something lighter in the face of disaster. "never mind, it doesn't matter," she began, finally deciding to push herself with her hands and legs from the messy floor with a level of hast as a means to stand up. "i left the things in the hallway. why don't i heat something up for us on the stove and dress your wounds, and we can come try and clean everything up later?" she suggested quickly, evidently wanting to escape the daunting situation for the moment-being. this time stella did not give the man any opportunity to decline, as she was already making her move back towards the front door without even looking back for an answer. thankfully the big grocery bag was still in its previous position when she returned, as the brunette wholly expected the contents to be stolen by any of the complex's residents who decided to pass by that day. she grabbed it gently, careful not to rip the brimming container, and settled it securely on her hip before headed back inside, closing the door with a neat click.

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[/font]jay pulled his palms from the cool floors as soon as he decided that he had the strength to keep himself sitting up without additional support. the sensation of knuckle continued to feel prevalent, like dozens of ghostly punches were drilling into him endlessly. he wanted to say he'd had worse, but he couldn't think of a time where anyone ever had the opportunity to get this many punches in. between school fights, and scattered acts of heroism--nothing was coming up. whether or not he was certain memories were clouded by the emotions he was feeling (and expressing, but subtly in comparison to what his brain was feeling), those bastards were probably walking around like they were ten feet tall because of what they had done. and it made jay's heart thump in frustration.
                            rage gave him the energy he needed to stay up and away from the ground, but his breath was unusually steady. and his face was so... so... underwhelming. the only trace of anger was his furrowed brows, and lips that rested in small frown. the expression wasn't that far off from his usual resting face, really. those that knew him well enough would recognize the expression as a negative one--but those that didn't could rely on his mannerisms. in this case, he moved quickly and diligently to remove every single last one of the glass shards that pierced him enough to stick. each piece was removed with the same two fingers with a white-knuckled grip and a haphazard toss like he was trying to get back at someone, something in his movements.
                            then jay picked up what she had muttered in a very, very low volume. he moved a little slower after that. with tense shoulders and eyebrows that furrowed even, dangerously, more. jay stayed in his head after she asked, deciding whether or not he'd say anything. she already seemed scared. once she cleared the air with a quick 'never mind', jay realized the decision wasn't his to make. it wasn't her head they were after, after all. so, the two could hope that she wasn't in any immediate danger with at least some clarity. when she was ready, she'd ask. and she wouldn't pull back on her request, at least not as quickly as she did tonight. all jay could do was hope that she'd ask before anything happened to her. his conscience could be somewhat clear if that were to be the case.
                            stella didn't waste any time with pointless pauses after she had suggested an alternative of what could happen next--but it was more like she was telling jay. so he didn't argue, it didn't seem like that would do much, seeing as she was already getting up to collect the things she spoke of.
                            seeing her move around with such effortless freedom (that came as a result of not being pummeled in one's own apartment) made him feel more than a little useless. so, naturally, the black hair man did everything in his power to get himself back on his feet again.
                            aside from bloodied knuckles, and scattered bruises, his limbs were in perfect working conditions. the only thing that gave jay any real problems was his core that protested painfully against any bending and flexing that usually came with pushing one's self into standing position. jay relied heavily on a nearby object to hoist himself back up--a feat he discovered was best done as quickly as possible to avoid any dramatic grunts and or grimaces.
                            "i don't need you to play doctor," he managed to spurt out once he had achieved a slouched posture. jay spoke matter-of-factly, like his stance was proving some kind of point to his roommate. "it's not bad." he decided to spare her of the 'that', that typically lived between 'not' and 'bad'. this was his way of maintaining a positive attitude, even though he spoke with an unsavory scowl the entire time. it was easy for him to say, seeing as he hadn't gotten a good look at his face yet. not like stella had. "but," jay began, his glare loosening up as he dragged the single word out for no more than three seconds. "if you want to feel me up, all you have to do is ask." soon enough the glare transformed into a smile. a small one, yes, but a smile nonetheless.[/ul][/ul][/ul][/ul][/ul]

s t e l l a [attr="class","stella"] by no ounce of surprise, the setting of the adjacent kitchen of two young adult's apartment was another unbearable scene of disarray. the tiny dining table with previously uneven legs was smashed into multiple large pieces, seemingly straight through the middle of the surface, and even the fluorescent bulbs overhead were void of their outerwear─all of which were scattered haphazardly around the enclosed area. the image force another sign out of the nineteen year old girl, as she paused momentarily once again as a means to get accustomed to the devastating wreckage that had once been her homey place of dining. after the fleeting second, stella continued to proceed toward the metal stove, which, aside from a thin coating of filth and dust, was one of the few instrument that remained fairly unscathed after the violent ordeal due to its intangible position connected to the wall. the same could not be expressed about the cabinets that hung along the wall, which were all emptied with their broken components amongst the ruined remains on the tile below. giving a messy sweep of one the cheap counter tops, the brunette finally situated the crumpled paper bag and unloaded its content along the smooth surface, making an effort in deciding on exactly what she actually desired to tear into at that moment. "whatever we're eating today, it's gonna be super bland," she announced to her companion candidly, referring to their immediate lack of intermediate ingredients for even the most basic of supper choices. although she had only raised her voice two meager notches from the previous volume in order for the spoken words to reach jay, the sound held a certain level of reverb within the apartment that echoed back loudly in her own ears, causing the girl to bite her lip in retaliation. surprisingly, it took her longer than anticipated to make a decision due to the hindrance of their insufficiency in supplies as well as the difficulties of her disheveled mind. although, ultimately, she chose the easiest option of merely heating up a can of pre-made vegetable soup; nothing will be burnt but that didn't mean it was gonna taste any better. stella was in the process of washing off one of the large pots, which was firstly fished from a remote crevice of the building, when she noticed that her room mate had finally mustered the strength to get himself off the scattered floor through the perception of various sounds in the otherwise-muffled background. peering over her shoulder at the fractured man, she gave him a full once-over, from his ruffled head and scratched-up face down to the bloodied holes in his pants, before she visibly scuffed at the quick appearance of his ostentatious charisma. his diction was more for her than another else, a show of his own effort in lightening up their situation paired by an actual smile on the unrefined man's cracked lips. the gesture was noted, even highly appreciated by the young lady, and it was return with a characteristic eye-roll and a twitch in the corner of her lips as she turned her focus back onto the task at hand. "if i actually wanted to feel you up, i would have done it months ago already," she responded, which was only partially a lie in her own books. upon finally pouring the can's contents into a heating pot, she was conclusively able to restore her attention onto the dark-haired man standing in the other room. she approached him once again with quiet, careful strides and slowed to a stop once she was positioned directly in front of him. despite his effort to hide the matter, it was already incredibly prevalent in his stature that even the upright stance was a impediment for him. "you may say that i don't have to 'play doctor'," she began, stressing her words by increasingly drawing them out in order to make a point, "but i wasn't the one whose bloody knuckles got infected the last time they got into a fight." immediately, she gave him another pointed look, narrowed green gaze speaking volumes in expressing her own disregard in anymore of his excuses. suddenly, before he could argue or even react, stella reached up towards his face, both hands as caresses on either side of his face before gently pulling it down, leveled with her own for a better examination. "you broke your nose again─among other things," she observed with pursed lips, inspecting the severity of the cuts on his ragged countenance. thankfully they only appeared worse than they actually ensured. releasing him without another fleeting moment, she gestured toward the couch, which sat cushion-less along a nearby wall. it was still suitable, just not comfortable due to the missing plush. "you don't always have to be a tough guy," she said, alluding to the fact that they wholly had the option of sitting down for the process. although it wasn't like standing had anything to do with the symbolic value of being "tough".

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