Shawn couldn't believe it.

It all happened so fast. One moment, he was outside at recess. He had just turned the corner, just out of sight from the teachers and hall monitors in charge of keeping the kids in line. Then he was slammed in the side, the world spinning as he fell to the floor, face hitting the dusty ground, mouth tasting of dirt and grass.

Shawn's arms flailed about, and he could see a figure sitting down on his chest, pushing his hand away.

"Shut up! Shut up! Dweeb!" Erik shouted, sitting on Shawn's chest. "You're a stupid dweeb!" he shouted again, beginning to slap Shawn in the face over and and over again.

"Aah!" Shawn threw up his arms and tried to protect his face with them as he was pummelled repeatedly.

It lasted for a good minute. Hands flailing in the air above his face. The sting and pain--not so much from getting hit--from the embarrassment of losing, or perhaps being attacked on the playground. Because that's what it felt like.

An assault.

A cruel, targeted assault. It was a crime is what it was. A absolute criminal act.

Erik got up from Shawn's chest after that long minute and said. "I got my eye on  you dweeb. You're on my list. Because you're a dweeb. And that makes you less than nothing." he said.

"And you can expect more of this because you have no friends. And you aren't popular."

Shawn, face burning from both embarrassment and being hit, didn't say anything, lest it set the bully off again. He glanced around the playground, trying to see if there were any witnesses.

And just like that it was over.

Eric had walked away, leaving Shawn with adrenaline still rushing, breathe coming quick. No one had seen the assault. Two girls continued to jump rope no more than twenty strides away. Further on still, the sounds of kids cheering, a pick-up game of kick ball being played on the corner baseball field.

Shawn gathered his things and shakily made his way back into the line of sight of the teachers. He wasn't sure why Erik had come after him like that, but he didn't want it to happen to him again.

OOC: Shawn Rolls Presence + Composure -1 with the following results

0 Successes: "Whoa! What happened to you? It looks like a train ran you over."

1-2 Successes: "You OK Shawn? You don't look so good."

3+ Successes: "Hey Shawn, long time no see. What's going on?"

This message was lightly edited by the GM at 23:29, Fri 10 Mar 2017.

Shawn looked over at whoever was talking to him. "I'm fine, just a little under the weather."

OOC: 18:40, Today: Shawn Cramer rolled 2 successes using 3d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 8,2,10(+3).  Presence + Composure -1.

"Really?" Eddy said. He was coming up along Shawn now, backpack in hand.

"You don't look so good. It looks like you're all, I dunno dirty and stuff. Like you rolled around or something, but like not in a good way. You been playing kickball or somethin'?"

Shawn was shaken, but now he had his actor-face on. He laughed self-deprecatingly at Eddy's comment. "Heh, nah, I wasn't looking where I was going and tripped. Did a face-plant right into the grass. It was kinda embarrassing...""

"Oh. That's cool." Eddy said, understandingly. "It's probably a good thing that you weren't playing kick ball. Kick ball is kind of gay."


Gay.

What did that mean? Shawn...

OOC: Shawn rolls Study + Socialize with the following results

0 Successes: Shawn doesn't know what gay means, or what Eddy meant by the word

1 Success: Shawn's pretty sure that he knows what Eddy is talking about

2 Successes: Shawn has heard the term before.

Shawn shrugged. He was pretty good at kick ball, but it wasn't something he'd do unless someone invited him along. He wasn't sure what 'gay' meant, but he could guess by the context it wasn't very good.

OOC: 21:30, 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 5,8.  Study + Socialize.

"Yeah." Eddy said, seeing that Shawn could tell that 'gay' was term that meant 'stupid' or 'dumb.'

"Kick ball is really gay. You know what else is gay?" 

"What's that?" Shawn was happy to play along, since it took things off the subject of why he looked roughed up.

"Homework." Eddy said. "Homework is gay." he affirmed, waiting for Shawn's reaction. It was clear that any thought of Shawn's appearance had been long forgotten by Eddy, the kid already warming to his new task of pointing out the many thinks in their lives that were 'gay.'

"Ugh, I hate homework." Shawn was happy to just commiserate with Eddy. Maybe it meant he wasn't just a friendless dweeb!