no strings on me

It wasn't long before his annoyance returned, this time with a vengeance; naturally, Vincent was the source. Try as he might to keep his attention on Mar (at least she wasn't completely infuriating to socialize with), he was only capable of ignoring the pompous inkling for so long, and not even Iggy's exasperated warning or Mar's flustered reassurance was enough to deter him from responding. Whatever amusement had previously been upon his face drained immediately at the sound of Vin's voice and, just barely stifling the urge to roll his eyes, Casper reluctantly looked back at xim. His patience - whatever was left of it, at least - was wearing painfully thin, and that stupid smirk on Vincent's face was nearly enough to diminish it entirely. Fortunately, he could handle being called an amateur - too bad he wasn't done being insulted yet.

At first, Casper little more than pressed his lips to a thin line, expression hardening, and stared at Vincent. The stoicism upon his face didn't last long. Some unholy combination of anger and disgust was manifesting within his chest, and he didn't care enough to conceal the emotion. Posture lined with tension, he took a deliberate step away from the table, glaring vehemently forward. He barely allowed the inkling to finish before he snapped, wanting very much to wipe that cocky grin off of xis face, "That rank won't stop you from getting your ass kicked if you keep on talking -- so just try it, asshole! We'll see who's really the idiot around here!"

Vincent felt as though xe'd stepped a bit out of line by drawing the girl into their antics, though luckily, Cas and Iggy seemed too focused on xim to bring her into it anymore. That was good. Xe finally set xis skateboard against the table as Casper began to tense, spouting out fighting words from that big mouth of his. Vin's grin only increased, then, xe chuckled, shaking xis head at the boy. "Please. You couldn't see well enough to hit the broad side of a barn, with how far your head's up your ass." Feigning a welcoming face, xe beckoned the other closer with a single finger. "I invite you to try, though."

Real fighting wasn't something Vincent had that much knowledge about, at least when it came to being on the offensive. Xe couldn't really throw a punch very well. But dodge a punch? That xe could definitely do, and, had a bit of experience with. These were not the only two that didn't like Carcers. At Iggy's interference, xe raised a brow, almost bewildered, but then, fake shock crossed xis face. Xe put a hand on xis chest. "Wow! That's funny. I don't remember asking for your opinion either, Captain Skinny-Dick. " The tall ones were always the boring ones.

Looking back to Cas after that quick remark, xis grin returned. Some adrenaline started to course through xis veins, and xe found xe liked it. It was much more enjoyable than being on autopilot day to day, in and out, all the time, following the schedule Father set for xim. Making enemies wasn't usually enjoyable for xim, but, xe doubted xe'd ever see these two again after today, so why not...?

There was little capable of distracting Casper from his anger, it seemed, but when Iggy stepped to his side and addressed him with a surprisingly composed warning, it was enough to at least temporarily divert his attention from Vincent. Surprise was his initial response to the inkling's intervention, particularly at the sharp nature of his words, but the emotion was overcome merely a moment later with something akin to pride. He surely would have smiled if his state of mind allowed it. Granted, he'd no intentions of heeding his companion's advice, though he certainly appreciated the effort. He'd relax, alright - whenever Vincent was done being such a pain in the ass. Too bad the chances of that happening anytime soon didn't seem exactly favorable.

Cas had to swallow the urge to argue with Iggy. He wasn't 'reacting badly', after all - he was reasonably upset, thank you very much.

Whatever relief his teammate's assistance had offered was easily thwarted with little more than a grin on Vincent's part, however; the mere sight of it made his blood boil. Instinctively, he took another step forward, pushing up the right sleeve of his jacket. Oh, he was gonna get it, alright. Cas bristled at Vin's invitation, some mingled surprise and indignation taking hold of him. He certainly hadn't expected for the inkling to actually want to fight - then again, it was becoming transparently clear that he knew very little about Vincent.

Enough to know what a complete asshole he was, though.

Sensible thinking wasn't a part of the equation. Cas didn't bother to stop and take into account the consequences of his actions, and the comment Vin directed at Iggy was enough to do away with the last of his patience. Burning with anger, he started forward and began, voice low, "That's it, you cocky son of--!"

He stopped short, however, when Mar cleared her throat. Momentarily taken aback, he hesitated and glanced to the side, looking caught between annoyance and curiosity. At the sound of her words, Casper's anger ebbed a bit - at least to the point where he wasn't nearly as eager to punch Vin in the face as he'd been a few seconds ago. For a moment, he merely stared at her, visibly torn between protest and compliance. He willed himself to calm down, though without much luck, and glanced between her and Vincent, trying to ignore the rush of anger threatening to rise up again at the sight of the inkling's face alone.

It took a few seconds for him to even breathe again before, finally, with palpable reluctance, he scoffed and turned his face away, crossing his arms. "... Whatever. It wouldn't have been a fair fight, anyway." It was all he could do not to pout.

Pleased to see that xis rusty tactics at getting under people's skin was working, Vin's posture strangely relaxed as Cas started to come towards xim. One might take xim for either a sadistic or masochist, and Vin didn't like either of those words -- though to be fair, with how xe was raised by his Father, at least one of those probably held some small truth. But xe didn't have to prepare for a fist flying at xis face, because the girl that had stepped into their conversation before intervened. Ah...that was a problem. It only took one look at Casper to know that now, he likely wouldn't be up to fighting, and Vin didn't have any wittier insults than what xe'd already said. Anything else would just fall flat, not getting xim the desired reaction.

Xis shoulders drooped, and xe resigned ximself to this outcome. Great, just great. Couldn't get positive attention, couldn't get negative attention either unless it was from the press. It annoyed the hell out of xim, and xe crossed his arms, now set into a foul mood but knowing that it'd be just as pointless to act on it. "Sorry," Vincent said, but it seemed more directed at Mar than Casper. "I don't think he's up to talking."

Groaning, xe stepped forward, snatching up xis skateboard and sending a halfhearted glare Cas's way, though xis eyes were tired instead of irritated. "How boring..." Xe commented, more to ximself than those around. As he started to leave the scene, of course xe couldn't help but bump into Cas on purpose, jostling him out of the way, one last pathetic attempt to get the attention xe'd tried to seek out. "I'd say I'd see you two on the Turfs sometime...but who am I kidding, you won't make it that far..."  Vin began to walk off, stuffing a hand in xis pocket. What xe didn't necessarily realize, however, was how bad xis hands had began trembling with pent up emotion. Xe wouldn't admit how his breath came out shakier than normal at the end of xis last words.

His phone rang and vibrated in xis pocket. Xe knew it was father, wanting him back home for training. What a day.

Given that Casper was far from committed to containing his anger, little more than a shred of compassion (more for Iggy and Mar than Vin, if he was honest with himself) was all that was keeping him from another outburst. It was for their sake alone that he focused his energy on remaining calm, although he was beginning to realize that fighting likely would have been a mistake for more reasons than just the fact that it would cause a disturbance. He'd absolutely no experience with fighting, himself; that is, unless being repeatedly beaten senseless counted. Sure, he'd gotten into his fair share of fights - that being said, though, it wasn't often he actually won.

Huffing, he made a point to avoid looking at Vincent. Surely just a glimpse of his face would be all it took to shatter his resolve. Gaze fixed resolutely off in the distance, his lips twitched at the sound of the inkling's apology to Mar, but he forced himself to remain silent, fuming. At least she and Iggy were halfway sane, he thought to himself. His bitterness was multiplying by the second. Tightening the grip he held upon either of his arms, he crossed them more snugly over his chest and leaned slightly forward, eyes narrowed. The sooner Vincent left, the better.

It seemed he was on his way to do just that, however, when he passed by, already too close for comfort, and bumped roughly into Cas, who was immediately startled out of his pout, a look of disbelieving anger abruptly gripping his features. He righted himself and, for a moment, little more than stared after Vin. The inkling's parting words were like gasoline on an open flame, and this time, not even Mar's efforts to diffuse the situation were enough to calm him.

Careless to the fact that Vincent had already turned his back and begun to leave, Casper pursued him a mere moment later, rage boiling over, and gave him a forceful shove from behind. While more jarring than it was actually hurtful, he hoped it would be enough to get the point across - or, more accurately, to put Vin in his place. 

Seeing as the orange one wanted to see xim leave more than anything, Vin hadn't suspected he would be followed, though in hindsight xe should have considered there would be some kind of consequence for xis actions. Had xe prepared for that, it wouldn't have given xim such an explosion reaction. Unfortunately, for both xim, and everyone around, this was not the case. The shove had came unexpectedly, and nearly sent xim to the ground before he caught himself, unsteadily straightening his posture back up. Suddenly, the once semi-playful adrenaline turned into hot rage at the flip of a coin.

Vin knew why. Xe could remember, as plain as day, every single -- every single training. "You have to be prepared for them to fight dirty," Xis Father's voice rang in his ear. "Top teams will try anything, ANYTHING to get the crown away from you, you hear me, Vincent?" How many times had xe landed on the floor, how many times did xis tutors scold xim for not keeping on xis toes? "When you get older, it could be an Octoling for all you know. And they won't be so merciful." 

Trembling all over, Vin took xis skateboard in both hands on reflex, yelling as he swung it back around -- but stopped right before xe came into contact with Cas's head. For that moment, time seemed to stop. Xis teal eyes were furious, and it was very crystal clear now that the gesture had sent the disagreement into personal territory. "You fucking idiot!" Vin burst out, throwing xis skateboard down and grabbing at Cas's shirt with both hands. "Don't you fucking dare touch me like that, ever again! Do you fucking hear me, you stupid fucker?!" Madly, Vin started to shake the blue haired boy, jostling him back and forth, the movements so wild for a second Vin could have almost accidentally butted their heads together.

If xe hadn't remembered, deep within the back of xis mind, that they had an audience, xe might have just proceeded to lose it even further. But the fact that it might tarnish Carcer reputation to scream like this, in the middle of the skate park, was enough to keep xim from pushing Casper to the ground and beginning to punch at xim. That, and the fact that Iggy intervened, a stern voice and a glare in his eye. Vin glared right back, appearing like that of a cornered beast. Taking a deep breath and running a hand through xis hair, Vincent tried desperately to get it under control. "Fuck off." Forcibly lowering xis voice so xe wouldn't cause even more of a scene, Vin backed up, collecting his skateboard again. Xis phone has started ringing again. Damn it. Xe needed to get the hell out of here.

Unsurprisingly, shoving Vin hadn't made him any less angry, and it certainly hadn't helped in repairing his injured pride. It was all he could do not to follow up the act of aggression with an even more severe attempt in order to get payback. Even if he'd decided to try, however, his efforts would have been cut short; the harsh scolding and backwards tug he received from Iggy were enough to pull him from his stupor. He gave a noise of startled protest in response, instinctively gripping the collar of his hoodie. "Hey!" Casper retorted, thoroughly disgruntled. Before he could speak up in his own defense, though, Iggy continued to address Vin, a warning tone in his voice.

A warning Vincent apparently had no intentions of heeding.

At the sound of his shouting, Cas' attention locked on the inkling, a look of surprise taking hold of his features - surprise that rapidly became shock, however, when Vin whirled around with the skateboard in xis hands, stopping just short of his face. He flinched, merely staring forward for a second before glancing at the other's face; he little more than glimpsed the unbridled rage there before Vin took hold of his shirt and began to shake him, quite effectively freeing him from his dazed state.

Casper didn't much care for the furious shouting, given that he was too busy being continuously jostled to pay much of any mind to it - in an effort to make Vincent stop (not to mention to keep himself upright), he took sudden hold of either of xis wrists and tried, with little success, to pry xis hands away. Feeling as dizzy as he did agitated, he managed through clenched teeth, "Get off!" Now, Casper realized, would be a good time to take advantage of the fact that Vincent was directly in front of him - perhaps a punch in the face would be enough to make xim let go - but xe released Cas as quickly as xe'd taken hold of him. 

Stumbling a bit, he managed to right himself, head spinning, and stared in disbelief at Vin for a solid few seconds. It would have been best not to provoke xim again, he knew; after a display like that, it had become perfectly clear just how unstable the inkling was. Regardless, Casper couldn't seem to stop himself - thinking things through had never been a gift of his, as it were - and he snapped, breathing heavily, "What are you, insane? What's wrong with you?!" This time, though, he made no efforts to approach again. Even if he'd spoken when it would have been best not to, Vin's outburst had at least been enough to make him hesitate - that, and it would have been difficult to pursue xim without having to go through Iggy first.

Teeming with hostility, he forced himself to remain quiet after that; particularly when Mar spoke up, whose presence he'd almost entirely forgotten during his... spat with Vincent. He hesitated, then drew a steadying breath and tore his gaze away. "It wasn't your fault," Cas finally said, the words harsher than he'd have liked. He crossed his arms and then clarified more calmly after a moment on an outtake of breath, "We're fine. Thanks for trying to help."