Shawn keeps a poker face, even as he squints at Bradford's head. Was his face still scarred? He knew he'd been tattooed to hide it, but this was the first time he'd met him in the 'real' world.

Bradford waved his hand to single that he saw that the gaggle of kids were waiting on the side of the road. He started to walk over. Shawn noticed that there didn't seem to be any adults exiting the large U-haul moving van. Instead, there was just a bunch of workers, pulling out dressers, sofas and other materials to move into the house.

As Bradford came closer, Shawn could see that all traces of the scarred face were gone. Closer still, Shawn saw that Bradford appeared both peppy and happy. It reminded Shawn of how the boy appeared in the cabin so long ago with Ron - ever optimistic, tight up to the point when Shawn had written all of those names down in the Book.

"Hi guys!" Bradford said with joyousness that was on the verge of falseness. He nodded at Shawn, as if to say 'you know me, but you don't know me.'

"I'm Bradford! Bradford Stork."

Shawn kept any glint of recognition from his face. "Hi Bradford, I'm Shawn! It's nice to meet you!"

Everyone greeted Bradford except Ralph, who watched the exchange between Shawn and Bradford with a mix of curiosity and disbelief on his face.

"I'm from the Mid-west. Out in Kansas. We don't have any beaches. So, what do you guys do around here?" he said, looking at Shawn.

"You're from the mid-west too? I'm from Wisconsin!" Shawn just grinned and acted like nothing unusual was going on. "We just, I dunno, do stuff? Do you know any good games?"

"Games?" Bradford repeated in a question. "Oh yeah. We used to play all sorts of games where I'm from. But something terrible happened that ruined my whole life. So we moved out here." Bradford said with joyful voice and smiling face that didn't seem to match the words that came out.

"O......kaaaaaay" Anthony said, skeptical of Bradford's response, treating the newcomer and his answer perhaps like an odd duck that had wandered into an already familiar social situation. An outsider.

Tiffany chewed up her apple and threw the remaining core behind one shoulder where it landed in the grass. "So, what happened to your old life?" Tiffany asked.

"Clowns." Ralph barked, harsh, angry gravel in his voice.

Bradford gave Ralph an angry glare. The creases on his forehead were lined for a moment, nose wrinkling upward in a disgusted scowl. Then his facial features softened. "No, nothing like that." He chuckled, in a fake laugh. "I was just, just joking. Ha-ha. Get it? It was just a joke." Then he looked back over his shoulder at the moving van.

"Well, I gotta help my Dad unload the stuff. His name is Clayton if you see him. We'll probably have a house warming party at some point. I'll catch you guys later."

And with that, Bradford trotted back to the moving van.

Tiffany pulled a jolly rancher out of her left shorts pocket. "That was weird." She said, popping it into her mouth.

"mmm." Anthony said, looking off at Bradford with a face that was devoid of all emotion, but was clearly observing the newcomer with some kind of interest.

"Whatever. I don't like him." Anthony said. "He's got glasses. That's one thing. You can't trust a guy with glasses that big. And, he's weird. What the heck kind of an answer was that? A real downer that's what he is."

"I bet he was just nervous, 'cause he's new. You remember being new, right?" Shawn didn't like the sound of Clayton being Bradford's dad, but among the other kids on his block, he was the nice, sympathetic kid who had a nice word for everyone. He couldn't really badmouth anyone.

Tiffany popped another Jolly Rancher in her mouth, this time a green one. "I dunno. Maybe." She said, on the fence.

"Mmmm..." Michael said, giving nothing away about his feelings.

"I don't think so. That kid is a weirdo, no matter how new he is. I mean, gimme a break." Anthony said.

OOC: To Convince the others, Shawn may rolls Wits + Socialize. Each success represents one kid convinced. Ralph may not be convinced.

OOC: Not sure if Striking Looks counts here, so rolled it separately!

07:50, Today: Shawn Cramer failed (no successes) using 3d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 2,4,4. Wits + Socialize.

07:51, Today: Shawn Cramer rolled 1 success using 2d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 8,3.  Striking Looks?

OOC: Striking looks definitely counts. Thanks for remembering, we'll count that as 1 success.

"Ehh. What do I care." Anthony said, shrugging his shoulders. "Everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt, ay, Ralphy-poo?" Anthony slapped Ralph on the shoulder with a loud thud, that was a bit too hard.

Thwack!!

Should could hear the sound of Ralph's torso vibrate from the blow. And Shawn could see Ralph's eyes water up a bit. He was on the verge of crying, but Anthony seemed completely oblivious to this and just kept right on talking.

"You've got a point there Shawn. Maybe we go over his house and see what's what? Huh? I mean, he can't be that bad. And he probably needs some friends since he's new. It would be like when Rick Flair fought Sting, you know? But eventually they became big time allies and then they were part of the Four Horseman. WHOOOO!"

Tiffany reached into her other pocket and pulled out a Butterfinger candy bar. "I don't know" she sighed as she opened the yellow wrapper while leaning against a tree. "I'm a pretty good at seeing people the first time. I mean, him saying that something ruined his life. That was the first thing he said! That's inexplicable."

"That's not a word."

"What? Inexplicable? Yes it is." She took a bite of the Butterfinger bar. "It's a word. I've taken enough spelling bee tests to know that."

"But that' not what this is about. Stop trying to subtract from what we're talking about Anthony. What we're all saying is that he's a weirdo. That's a fact. Whether he's a bad weirdo or a weirdo that isn't bad...I guess we'll see."

"I still don't like him though."

"Not right now. I'm in a stay and see."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:06, Wed 03 Jan 2018.

"It's wait-and-see. Wait-and-see mode." Anthony corrected. "He seemed nervous is all. That's probably all it was."

This message was last edited by the player at 02:06, Wed 03 Jan 2018.

"hmmmm." Michael said, observing the conversation.

Shawn was glad he'd managed to convince at least one of them. "I mean, he's moved in right here, so it's better if we're friends with him, 'cause we're gonna see him every day."