i swear that i don't have a gun .•° mark

[mark jackson]

It amused Mark that Lara gave in to the idea of a cat portrait tattoo. He hadn't expected the debate to be drawn out that much, figuring she'd say no and call him a weirdo as soon as the suggestion came up. "Well damn, Doctor Lara, you've got me in a nutshell. I missed snapping at people so much that I'd cry at night, and now I long for company just to snap at them and feed my addiction. Your theorising, by jesus, it's like my heroine." Mark's reply was scornful because it was a lot more fun than just telling Lara her thoughts were ridiculous. Mark didn't enjoy watching peoples reactions, he was just a naturally snappy person. If he enjoyed it as much as Lara seemed to think maybe he would have just gotten into verbal fights instead of physical ones when he was younger and saved himself a lot of hassle.

Mark smirked at Lara's final plan, "How simplistic. Takes away from the fun a little. Maybe we should just do a good old fashioned six pack." It had always been Mark's opinion that a six pack was far better a punishment than simply doing someones knees. Why injure two joints when you can do six? "Now. Onto the next part. Where are you going to dump me when the beating is done? Bear in mind it'll probably have to be a backstreet so you don't get caught kicking me out of the van."

"So profound for one so young," Mark smirked, replying to comments about the mountains being hills. Although he was now suggesting he run off to live in them, Mark had never actually been to the Mourne Mountains. For obvious reasons as a teenager but even as a child he had never went to them. He sometimes wondered if he was missing out on the best thing since sliced bread by not going. He stared at Lara for a second and blinked as she wondered why he had to leave. "Lara. I'm not actually leaving. It was a joke. If it bothered me that much I'd just go to the community centre in the estate to finish my training rather than the Warehouse." He looked down at his coffee cup and swirled what remained of the drink around in his cup, considering adding another sachet of sugar just to see what the taste was like. He then suddenly looked up to Lara, "So!" He began in a sickly sweet voice, "Since you want to get to know each other, what do you do for a living, Lara?" He tried to make his voice as dramatic and over-affectionate as he could.

word count 444
outfit heeerrreeeee

[lara macnabb]

.•° it's fun to lose and to pretend

she's overboard and self-assured

[/b] [/size][/center]

Lara couldn’t help but laugh as soon as he began his scornful reply to her provocative statement. She smirked and then tucked some of her hair behind her ear and leant towards him a little bit, “Are you always this melodramatic?” She asked with a wicked smile. She knew that he was going to get annoyed at her now, and it excited her. She loved this whole exchange they had going on. She loved the fact that he loved to fight back. She took all of her hair over her shoulder and absent-mindedly began to plait it as they chatted – or rather argued. She leant back again when he began to quiz her about her plan for the punishment beating that she was apparently bestowing upon him. She laughed out loud and put her hands up as a sign of surrender, abandoning her plait, “Don’t as me, dude! I’m not the man with the plan!” She laughed a little bit more and then looked over his shoulder at the street before coming back to his face, “My job is to lure you into the van in any way possible.” She smirked slightly and arched an eyebrow which he probably couldn’t see due to her comprehensive side-fringe.

Another moderately loud laugh escaped Lara’s lips when he got angry about the fact that she hadn’t understood that he was only joking about the mountains. “Of course I knew it was a joke.” She scoffed and put her hands around her empty coffee cup and smiled at him, “I just enjoy arguing with you.” She cocked her head to one side to watch his reaction to that. He asked her what she did for a living and Lara couldn’t help but blush – she was an A Level student, she didn’t do anything for her living yet. Maybe he didn’t realise how young she was? That would be flattering... “I’m a student.” She said with a shrug, she wasn’t exactly lying, “What do you do when you’re not foiling people’s poorly laid plans and living in mountains?” She asked him with a smile. He had been exaggerating feigned affection towards her and she liked it, despite the fact he was obviously mocking her, she enjoyed the attention, the artificial interest.


word count three hundred and seventy six

[mark jackson]

"Pretty much. I've always had a flare for the dramatics. Who knows, if it wasn't for my insistence on being a tearaway youth I could be a badass actor right now." It was amusing to Mark to think about what he would be like as an actor. He was no Jim Nesbitt by any means, but he had his wee moments. He had got a quare telling off from his superiors one night after being far too dramatic about giving one of their 'victims' a warning of what was to come in he didn't repay a debt. Although in saying that he wasn't quite sure if he could be an actor for his entire life. He would get far too bored for that type of thing after a while. Mark looked at Lara suspiciously for a moment when she said all she had to do was lure Mark to the beating, "If I didn't know better, that would sound half like you were trying to seduce me rather than get me beaten," he looked at her again briefly for a moment, wondering if he was perhaps reading into things to deeply with that remark. "Regardless, you need to be knowledgable of the plans or everything's going down the shitter. I'm sorry, Lara, you fail. Off to-" Mark paused, he wasn't sure how old Lara was so didn't know where she'd go if she got sentenced. "How old are you? I don't know if you'd go to young offenders or prison."

Mark gave out an 'awww!' noise and put both of his hands over his heart. "You like arguing with me? I'm so touched," he added in a sniff to pretend he was about to cry, "Lets be best friends forever, Lara!" After Mark went to leaning his arms on the table and took a final drink of his coffee, he shook his head at himself and remarked, "I really am too melodramatic. I need to meditate or something to stop that shit." It had pissed him off enough that kids would act mad or like hard lads in young offenders, he would be damned if he was going to spend the next few years acting dramatic like them. "Student?" He asked, deciding to be polite and show some form of interest in her, whether it was sincere or not. "Uni, tech, school?" For the first time in their conversation, Mark couldn't help but let out a genuine laugh when she asked 'What do you do when you’re not foiling people’s poorly laid plans and living in mountains?' He quite liked the idea of having that lifestyle, even though it made him sound like a really weird superhero. Or villian. "I paint and decorate peoples homes for a small wage and train to be a youth worker. Oh, and I go to probation meetings." The meetings happened so often that they really had become as big a part of his everyday life as his job or training.

word count 495
outfit heeerrreeeee

[lara macnabb]

.•° it's fun to lose and to pretend

she's overboard and self-assured

[/b] [/size][/center]

Lara scoffed slightly at his declaration that he could have been an actor and arched her eyebrow, “Maybe a terrible theatre actor.” She agreed, “Or a character from Hollyoaks… same difference, really.” She laughed and leant back in her chair, looking at him with a smirk in her eyes and playing on her lips. He was so ridiculous sometimes. Her heart started to beat a little faster than usual when he declared that he didn’t know whether she was seducing him or trying to get him beaten, “Don’t the two go hand in hand?” She demanded with another smirk. She scratched her chin and tried to wipe the smile off her face, it disappeared naturally when he asked her what age she was – should she lie? Oh God, that would be ridiculous. “I’m eighteen.” She told him, “Just missed the boat for young offenders then, didn’t I?”

A loud laugh escaped Lara’s lips whenever Mark started sarcastically mocking her about the fact she liked to argue with him. She cocked her head to one side and then smiled at him, “For ever and ever!” She joined in hyperbolically. She laughed when he declared that he was too melodramatic and nodded her head slightly without saying anything, only suggesting her agreement with his plan of action. “School, still.” She admitted begrudgingly, she hoped that this wouldn’t put him off her at all because she was falling for him even more now that she was spending quality time with him. He laughed out loud and Lara’s entire soul seemed to sing with joy – he was enjoying spending time with her, genuinely enjoying it. “Sounds like a fun schedule.” She told him with a smile that she couldn’t suppress because of how excited she was that he seemed to be enjoying himself.


word count two hundred and ninety nine

[mark jackson]

Mark gave Lara a look of horror when she suggested that he could be a character in Hollyoaks. "Hollyoaks? Hollyoaks?! How very dare you. I will have you know my acting talents are far better than those who star in Hollyoaks. If it was going to be any soap it'd be Emmerdale at least." Mark hated Emmerdale, he was only aware of its existence because of his grandmothers obsession with the show, but somehow he could see himself quite happily on the show, being a farmer or something. "I could have some cattle and a nice little cottage. And a tractor, so I can troll drivers." He was quite pleased with the simple country life he had built up for himself in his head. Mark pondered Lara's question, and then let a childish smile take over his features. "If you wanna seduce me to beat me then work away; it's been a while since I pulled," he replied, giving her an over-dramatic wink. He was a little surprised that she was eighteen; although he hadn't been sure he had assumed she was a little bit younger. "Yeah, off to Maghaberry with you. It might be nice though; they have bunnies hanging around outside."

"This is the part when we should skip off happily singing some song about friendship, isn't it?" If they were going to have this much cheese in their conversation, they may as well have the cliche, American ending for some nice imagery. "School, huh? What subjects are you doing?" Mark had wanted to do his A Levels, but for some reason they didn't offer him anything other than NVQ's after his GCSE's at young offenders. God forbid he might show an iota of intelligence by doing A Levels. "Of course it's a fun schedule; fun is my middle name! Actually it's Alexander, but no one needs to know that." Mark didn't actually mind his middle name, even though it was a world tradition to hate it. He was just disappointed that it wasn't something like fun so he could turn round and say legitimately that his middle name was fun. "Wait, should you not be at school or doing homework or something, smartass?" Mark had designated Lara this nickname in his head because she was doing A Levels, and it added the subtle hint of abuse that he was so fond of giving people.

word count 396
outfit heeerrreeeee

[lara macnabb]

.•° it's fun to lose and to pretend

she's overboard and self-assured

[/b] [/size][/center]

Lara rolled her eyes when Mark seemed affronted by the idea that he was going to be part of Hollyoaks at some point in his terrible acting career. She felt a little uncomfortable when he got invested in the idea of Emmerdale. “Do you actually watch that programme?” She demanded, and then laughed slightly, “I can imagine you in a tractor.” She conceded and then smiled at him. She arched an eyebrow when he suggested that she should work away at seducing him. How could she do that? She was so nervous about it all of a sudden! This was a serious burden to lay on her. She had to do it well! “Oh, come with me for a good time then, big boy.” She smirked, deciding to make it into a joke instead of taking the opportunity he had presented her with.

Lara laughed loudly when Mark suggested that they should skip away and sing together and shook her head slowly. She rolled her eyes again and muttered, “That’d be good.” Under her breath and then scratched the side of her face. Mark began interrogating her about her school life. She hated that she had admitted that she attended school, still! “English, art and history.” She told him with a slight shrug, dismissing her subjects as quickly as she had admitted to them. She laughed slightly at his demand that she should be in school or doing homework, “Today is Saturday, and I am also on study leave, airhead.” She laughed at him and rolled her eyes, brushing her hair over her shoulder once more and trying desperately to suppress the smile that was constantly on her face when she was talking to Mark.


word count two hundred and eighty five

[mark jackson]

"Of course I do! It's the only source of happiness I get from this cruel, cruel world!" Mark dramatically swept his hand over his forehead and considered faking a small sob, but decided that would be too much flare to his sarcasm. "Nah, I watch it if my gran has it on when I go to her house. Not a big fan of soap opera's in my own house though. Although I am fond of a bit of Eastenders every now and again..." Although he hadn't watched it for a few months, the baby switch plot had been dragged out such a tedious length of time that he had gotten bored of the show. Mark let out a bark of laughter when Lara replied to his suggestion that he tried to pull her. "Oh Christ, I don't think I've ever heard anything sound more cliche porn. Well done, grasshopper!"

Mark nodded at Lara's agreement with his plan. "Wouldn't it? I think we should get t-shirts for it as well, with each others faces on them. If we're going to be best friends forever then we need to let the world know through the power of clothes!" Although Mark had to admit, that was going a bit far even by his piss-taking standards. Mark pulled a face when Lara told him her subjects. "Seriously? And you don't get horribly bored? Although if you're doing art, we could have a painting and decorating business together, since we're BFF." After he said it Mark caught on that being a painter/decorator wasn't going to be his job in a few of years when he finished his youth worker training. "Is it?" Mark thought for a moment, trying to remember when it had suddenly become Saturday. He really needed to get himself a calendar. "Study leave? Beezer. Should you not be lying somewhere off your trolley then?"

word count 311
outfit heeerrreeeee