The weather was beginning to let up. Whilst being dragged through the muddy streets by the lovely energetic bundle he called sister, Paul cast the occasional glance upwards to the few rays of sunshine now briefly finding their way through the thick clouds. It was obvious the change was merely temporary, and so Paul made the best of the warm feeling on his face while the familiar feeling of Jenny pulling him at his sleeve brought him closer towards Hyde Park.

In contrast to the busy murmuring of the market place, parks were clearly more tranquil in nature. Her majesty’s swans were idly bobbing up and down on the milky surface of Tyburn brook and the few pedestrians strolling on the gravel paths completely ignored the two young people scampering by them, like they were used to. A hushed atmosphere of silence, that was only disturbed by one thing. As the two of them were approaching Speakers Corner, Paul noticed the small crowd of teenagers laughing loudly even before the person holding their speech in the actual corner. Paying only brief attention to the old man standing on a pedestal and proclaiming something or other in a hoarse voice while furiously waving a bunch of papers, it was the flashy red of a girls hair swiftly moving towards them that quickly drew his gaze. Unconsciously passing his sister and taking the lead, they were greeted warmly by their mutual friend, Nina. Letting the mandatory wave of giddy monologue gush over him like a steadfast boulder braving the oncoming tide, he did not have to endure for long until the lanky girl soon moved on to introducing him and his sister to the rest of the group that had until now been outshined by the freckled girl and that Paul had obviously failed to take clear notice of so far. It was then that he noticed a familiar face. 

The boy, not much older than Paul himself, towered a good head taller before him. Wearing a worker’s clothes, grey and worn in tone, he had a drab leather jacket slung over his shoulder, and his hands were adorned with woolen fingerless gloves, not unlike Paul’s. His stance spoke of self-confidence, yet he had a certain tenseness to him, like a spring that had been wound up too strongly and was ready to pop any second as he was glaring at the comparably small boy in front of him. Messy black hair was hanging over a face with rough edges and a glaring red cut on his cheek that Paul remembered all too well. 

When their eyes met, the tension quickly building up between them was unmistakably felt by everyone in the near vicinity. Paul met the angry look he was faced with, with his usual calm, almost expressionless face. Knowing that his sister was sensitive to his moods, Paul felt a quick pang of guilt for intensely locking eyes with the boy in front of him and indirectly drawing Jenny into the silent conflict, but he couldn’t help it. Flashbacks flared up in his mind. His familiar evening stroll in the quiet streets. A figure following him. A quick but fierce brawl that left him with bruised knuckles and a swollen eye. That guy had been sniffing around. When Jenny had patched him up later that evening, he couldn’t bring himself to tell her there had been a human snooping through their territory. By contrast, Nina was one of the very few humans they had begun to put their trust in. She was honest. Kind. She would not babble to the wrong people about the strange little people living beneath the streets of London. Humans like her were rare. But guys like him, they were exactly the reasons their kind couldn’t feel safe in this city. Sniffing around, poking their noses where they didn’t belong. Paul immediately recognized the cut on the guy’s face - he was the one that had left him with it that night - and these piercing blue eye now peering at him were hard to forget. 
It was the other boy, apparently going by the name of Will, who spoke up first, breaking the angry silence that had only lasted a few seconds, yet had felt like minutes to Paul.

[b]„What are ya lookin‘ at, cunt?“. [/b]

The broad, unmistakably Scottish accent felt like warm butter being spread on a crispy piece of toast. Unfittingly pleasing to the ear, Paul quickly had to shake the odd notion that he could listen to this accent forever, as he reminded himself why he disliked the tall guy in front of him. As it was his nature he did not react to the words directed at him. Yet he could not help his expression getting a tad cooler, adding to the tense atmosphere and prompting Nina to jump in. 
[b]“So, I see the two of you have you have already met, great! Hey how about we go over to that river and feed ducks! Who’s got bread?”. [/b]Nonchalantly breaking the spell without so much as batting an eyelash at the testosterone flying back and forth, Paul and Will were then almost dragged along by their respective parties until they found themselves sitting on opposite ends of the group at the riverside, feeding ducks with soft bread one of the teens had brought along. A vein was pulsing on his forehead he didn’t even know he had, as Paul let out his quiet aggravation at the unexpected encounter by throwing their lunch at the quacking birds in the water a little harder than was necessary to deliver. While casting irritated glances over towards a certain someone a few feet away, oftentimes swiftly met by the appropriate response, Nina meanwhile turned towards Jenny who was quietly sitting next to her brother. 

[b]“Sho Shenny”[/b], mouthful of bread she clearly did not intend to the waste on feathered freeloaders, the redhead audibly gulped down as she finished her sentence. [b]“Wha’ about that big meetin’ of your folks? That was around the corner sometime wasn’it?”[/b]