DAY 12: FRANK THE TANK
Frank is a fellow of extremes. He's the school's top athlete. But he's one of the lowest ranking scholars. He's tough, irritable, moody, and is firmly in the lawful good category. This combination has landed him great admirers and archnemeses both - Raven and Klew both harbor undying grudges against him, and his recent breakup with Justine has left him on her shitlist as well - though unlike the other two, he currently doesn't harbor any ill will toward Justine. He just couldn't abide being in a relationship with a girl who was sleeping with someone else. Surprisingly enough, he also doesn't particularly hold a grudge against Jay, despite him being the wedge that drove Justine and Frank apart. Half the remainder of the class is disposed favorably toward him. Dei and Dirona in particular go weak-kneed whenever he's around, and if he were a less upright man, could be described as his for the taking (Though to be honest he's barely aware of Dirona). Also, his best bud forever Terrik's new girlfriend Bhamv Three has recently been going out of her way to befriend Frank, though while she compliments with one breath, she plants venom in his ear with the next about people she doesn't like. Frank likes order. Frank likes decorum. Frank likes appropriateness. Frank DOESN'T like tripping over fluid-stained classmates in the hallways and bathrooms at school, and does all he can to discourage that sort of behavior. And Frank isn't shy about backing up his convictions with knuckle sandwiches.
He heads out the door, and as is the way of such things, sees his three biggest supporters along the path to school: Terrik, Dirona and Dei.
Frank's a "Bros before Hoes" kinda guy, and he goes to greet Terrik.
The girls move along while he does, and subsequently, Frank also runs into Tin Whistler, a classmate he's getting to be friends with as well.
Tin Whistler's upset about something. A manly slap on the back and maybe he's back to normal. And if he isn't, oh well.
Continuing on, as they near the school Terrik tells him they have new transfer students in the class starting today and asks if Frank knows anything about them. Frank has no idea.
He let his guard down. With a high pitch squeal, he is tackled by a tiny redheaded missile. If you could bottle what Dei's giving off, it'd be worse than roofies.
Frank extricates himself from Dei, and heads inside. He passes one of the new kids.
Frank makes his morning rounds. He heads to the Library. Nobody is there.
The empty classroom across the hall is likewise devoid of people.
He checks the Kendo Hall, the Gym (and of course the gym storage room). So far so good. Maybe this will be a quiet morning after all.
Coming back from the storage room, he's approached by Little Kagsin and Lana Karron, who also want to know if he knows anything about the new kids.
He tells them the same he told Terrik - no idea. As he moves to leave, he sees Dei heading his way. "Not again," he thinks as...
Sure enough, yet again Dei professes love for Frank and asks him to go out with her. He says "And what about Film Fanatic?" He's not going to play second fiddle to that string bean, he's a one-woman man and insists on his woman being a one-man woman. But he does let Dei know it's not because he doesn't like her.
She seems to accept it. For now.
Leaving the gym, he sees Mind Detective following Film Fanatic. With Dei's confession so fresh in his mind, he tails them to see where they're going.
They head to the library. Just as he thinks maybe he's getting too suspicious these days, their arms go around each other in a hug.
"What are you two up to?" rumbles his basso voice. "Wha... nothing in particular.." "Nothing at all.." they reply.
Frank Hrmpfs and turns away. Dei comes in and has a word with FF. Frank hangs out nearby to make sure they don't get up to their usual tricks right here in the library, but after conversing for a little while, FF leaves, and Dei comes and asks Frank to see his homework. Nobody asks to see Frank's homework because they're actually interested in copying it.
Still it's harmless enough so he indulges her.
And then Kags wants to join. Ok, maybe ONE person is actually interested in what Frank put down as the answers.
They discuss the schoolwork, and also the sports clubs.
When they are finished, Frank makes his rounds one more time, finding nothing scandalous. He makes a pit stop in the boys' room, then it's time for morning class.
The new transfer students, Shawn Acy and Bubble 181 are introduced to the class. They seem the reserved type, like Frank. Good. Last thing we need is MORE horndogs painting the various surfaces with bodily fluids around here.
When the lunch bell rings, it's the same old story. Lord Rendar and Tin Whistler are the pugilists today, and Whistler's a friend of Franks.
But as he moves to intercept, he is in turn intercepted by Klew, who trips him and sends him nearly out of the whole room. Frank jumps back up. The fight is over, and he didn't see who won. He contains his rage - he doesn't like to hit girls, but Klew is making it difficult to not make a "Raven Poe" exception for her.
He goes and talks to TW. TW looks pretty happy with himself, so he must have done alright. Frank is content then to let the matter drop.
Oddly enough, he's next approached by Gusto Reactivo. He and Gusto don't particularly get along. Gusto very politely asks if he wouldn't mind leaving the classroom for a moment. Gusto's trying to hide something. Frank is pretty sure he wants to cozy up to someone without interference. But he's hungry anyway. "Fine, whatever."
In the hallway on the way to the roof, he sees one of the new guys, Shawn. He decides to see what he's about.
He barely gets his first sentence out before Dei's barging in between them.
Wanting to save Dei from making a scene, he heads to the roof.
But Dei follows him. She acts silly. Before he can stop her, she's asking him to go out with her again.
His answer is the same - my woman must be a one-man woman. Won't get played again.
Kags arrives and asks him to meet her in the courtyard later.
And Bhamv comes over to say hi as well.
Frank suggests why don't they all just have lunch, since they're all here. Bhamv, Film Fanatic, Jay Sirius, Dei and Kags all join him.
After lunch, Frank heads to the courtyard to see if Kags is there. There's nobody there yet. He waits for a while.
Film Fanatic happens by, first. Frank tells him he might want to pay a little more attention to Dei.
Tin Whistler also shows up, and it seems to Frank he's got somebody on his mind.
The new guy Bubble also camps out under a tree. Frank goes to have a word with him.
They're both men of few words. Not much is communicated, but measures are taken.
When everyone else has moved on, Frank's starting to wonder if he wasn't invited to meet somewhere specifically for the purpose of getting him to NOT be somewhere else in particular... or perhaps just to have him waste 15 minutes where he's not on "poon patrol."
With a kick of the dirt, he goes off to find Kags. He finds her moping in the Gymnasium, and his irritation subsides when he sees how unhappy she is.
He cheers her up. They have a decent conversation and she opens up a little.
Then out of the corner of his eye, he sees someone, two someones, ducking into the storage room.
But it's just Shakey and Ashburner, and they're not up to anything untoward.
Back in the Gym, he has a brief word with Lana Karron - she seems really happy about something.
In the breezeway, Dirona approaches him, but loses her nerve and says "Er... nothing! It's nothing!" ...Girls.
In the entrance hall, he comes upon Gusto and Mind Detective necking. "RIGHT. Enough of that, you two."
They are not pleased to be interrupted. That's for earlier, Gusto.
He stops in on the roof again. Kags is there. She starts to tell him "I heard a nasty rumor about Justine Me..." but before she can continue Bhamv jumps in "Hey whatcha guys talkin about?!" Kags buttons up.
And then there's suddenly a huge impact against Frank - it's another kamikazi Dei hug attack.
Shrugging out of her arms, he sees Terrik looking through the fence like something's bothering him. Frank goes for a word. Terrik is depressed about something, and Frank can guess what, or who, it is. "There's no telling with chicks, man. It's the way of things. But you'll be fine." It seems to help Terrik.
And then it's back downstairs to interrupt another make-out session between Jay and Justine.
As he makes his midday rounds, he's caught at every turn by someone who wants to talk to him. They want his opinion on this student, they want to warn him about the bad nature of that student, or sometimes they just want to talk sports with the captain of the Kendo club. He's saved from yet ANOTHER confession attempt by Dei when Kags interrupts her. It continues in this manner until the bell rings ending lunch.
Afternoon classes bore Frank.
Heading off to kendo, Kags gets his attention. Frank thinks she's about to try something, maybe hug him, when Terrik calls "HEY FRANK!" And Kags lets forth a string of curses under her breath.
When he arrives at the Kendo hall, he snaps everyone to. "Time to warm up!" Warm ups go pretty well.
But during practice itself, he notices Tin Whistler is distracted. In the changing room afterwards, he tries to renew his focus. He's not much on communicating, but he wonders if any girl is really worth all this heartache.
And in the breezeway he meets Kags again, depressed again. What is with all these people? He feels like he's carrying the entire school's morale on his shoulders!
At the front gate, the customary hug attack from Dei is intercepted by Terrik. "What are you doing?! Crazy!"
Grateful for the interception (who knows how many more times she can squeeze her body against him before his convictions wear away!), he has Terrik accompany him, chatting as Frank makes his last rounds of the day.
Saying goodbye to Terrik, Frank continues to check all the nooks and crannies around campus. He runs into Kags one more time, and she asks him to wait for her on the roof. He thinks he's heard this song before, but he's willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, for now.
Frank waits on the roof.
And waits.
Terrik finds him there, asks him if he wants to walk home. "Not just yet."
And Frank waits.
And just as he's convinced he's been suckered again, there she is.
They chat for a while, pleasantly. As it starts to get dark, he offers to walk her home. He makes sure she arrives safe, and turns to go.
The sky turns red, he makes his way home and begins to feel the satisfaction of another day well spent. He's looking forward to a day off from school, but he knows the reprieve will be all too brief, and his vigil will begin again on Monday.
END OF DAY 12
Epilogue - Frank had a little bit of an off day at Kendo, and Justine was right there to supplant him as number one on the Athletics charts. But the real surprise is Bones - shot up to number 2 on the popularity chart for reasons I can't discern just looking at the numbers. He's making friends with many, and his enemies tend to be the less popular guys, so maybe that helps. The new guys are still largely an unknown quanta, though I notice for some strange reason Shawn Acy has taken an instant dislike to both Dirona and Cheesy that is entirely one sided. I can't even begin to imagine how that came about. Anyway, so ends another day in the life of (chortle) Captain Cockblock, the Mounted Anti-mounter. Frank is actually really difficult to play - his tough physique combined with his incredible athleticism puts Barry Allen to shame. I tell him to go somewhere, there's a blur and we're there. I have to make a conscious effort to have frank stop at every area along the way for a few seconds to give the others a chance to interact with him. Dei and Film Fanatic are still together, though I think FF might be starting to have doubts that he can hold on to her, what with her constant confessions of love to other people and all! But she still considers FF a 14, so there's that... Kags and Frank grew to become close friends today. She's still with Jay (and their relationship is still 13), and I think Jay's starting to lose his lustre to Justine. All in all, however, the day was mostly a quiet one. Only the one fight, relatively few confrontations (though a lot of interruptions), but I get the feeling something is building up.
Another 6 days have passed (AshburnerX assures me that constitutes a Japanese school week), so tomorrow will probably be another "state of the class" briefing rather than a proper episode.