(This a non-linear thread for random bits related to life in and around Quad Five)
(This first entry took place a couple days ago)
Erika waited a full minute after hearing the door close before opening her eyes. She knew she was going to be late for class again, but she just didn’t want to deal with Stasis this morning. Not any morning, really, but especially not this one. She didn’t know what arch-devil of bureaucracy was responsible for quad assignments, but it had surely received a promotion for putting her and the icicle in the same room.
Wincing a little at the morning brightness, the young girl shifted to a sitting position on the edge of her bed and reached for a towel. She’d woken up wet again, one of the many pleasant side effects of sharing a room with Stasis Kiss. Fire and ice and the uncontrolled emotional state of adolescence pretty much guaranteed damp bed sheets. Erika didn’t really mind the effect. It saved anyone wondering why her face was always wet in the morning.
Moving mechanically through her morning routine, she tried not to think about the previous night’s events. Tried and failed. It was all too much to deal with. Eshva was missing in the Rogue Isles, possibly captured by Arachnos operatives, or worse. Tony was acting strange, refusing to tell her where he’d been all night. His other-dimensional twin had finally showed his true colours, attempting to blackmail Erika into sharing his bed.
“Oh Christ, what am I going to do about Eshy?” she muttered, struggling to hold back more tears. “It’s totally my fault she was there, and I can’t even bring myself to tell anyone she’s gone. Some friend I am.”
Taking a moment to steady herself, Erika took a final look in the mirror to check her makeup. “There,” she thought, “I look all happy and normal.” She completed her regular morning ritual by sticking her tongue out at her reflection. Able to smile at last, she reached for her uniform jacket, and accidentally knocked the letter off her desk.
The letter.
The unopened letter.
Erika stared at it for what seemed like forever before finally reaching down to pick it up off the floor. Looking at the return address, she shivered momentarily and then tossed the envelope back to the desk.
“Why now?” she thought plaintively.
Slowly she reached out and picked it back up. Turning it over, she poised on the act of opening it for almost a minute, but in the end, she couldn’t. Opening a drawer, she hastily shoved the letter beneath her spare socks, after taking one more look at the return address.
“Oh Willy…”
Quad Five
Moderator: Student Council
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Erika Raeder
- Million Dollar Baby
- Posts: 736
- Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2006 8:58 pm
- Location: Baumton... deal with it!
Quad Five
Once an Outcast, always an outcast...
-
Stasis Kiss
- Supreme Commander of teh Intarwebs
- Posts: 2403
- Joined: Sun Jan 29, 2006 1:24 pm
- Location: just left of center
- Contact:
The Franco-Prussian War (July 19, 1870 – May 10, 1871) was declared by France on Prussia, which was backed by the North German Confederation and the south German states of Baden, Württemberg and Bavaria. The conflict marked the culmination of tension between the two powers following Prussia's rise to dominance in Germany, which before 1866 was still a loose federation of quasi-independent territories.
The war began over the possible ascension of some guy yadda yadda from the Catholic branch of the Hohenzollern royal family because of something about the Spanish throne and a chick named Isabella who did something in 1868. This was strongly opposed by France who issued an ultimatum to King Somebody Or Other...
It might as well have been Greek... or Prussian. Who cared about some silly war a million years ago? She sure didn't. After all, the only war that had really counted, they'd won.
Stasis flipped over on her bed though and stuck the textbook right under her nose, hoping that maybe proximity would make the difference. Her essay wasn't going to write itself.
She started at the top of the page and started reading again for like the fifth time.
The Franco-Prussian War...
I missed yuh somtin fierce.
She took a deep breath as her heart stuttered, a familiar unwelcome feeling.
No.
No, she was not going to think about Jai. She was done with that. She was going to concentrate on her homework and write something that would maybe get her a passing grade on this silly war. Frankfurter Russian whatever, it was totally due and she had to turn in something this time, she did. Sister Constance had been very clear on that. No excuses this time that Bailey had eaten her homework in a fit of doggy depression.
I missed yuh alla de time.
So what if he was back in school. Back after the whole summer gone, when he hadn't even said goodbye, not even a note for her, not even a phone call. Surely there was at least one phone on Trinidad?
She hadn't believed the gossip though, not really. Not even after wandering down to the office and seeing Marchan, Jai registered on this semester's courses. It's not like people didn't play tricks and everybody knew how much she missed him. If Jai'd come back he'd've called her, right? He'd have come to see her first thing, only he hadn't, so it was just somebody's silly idea of a joke and she wasn't going to play along.
She hadn't even stopped by the boys' quad, not even to hang out with Misericorde because she didn't want to see his corner of the room still empty.
She focused her unwilling eyes on the words she was supposed to mezmerise.
...Austria wanted to avenge the defeat of 1866, but would not support France unless Italy was part of the alliance. Victor Emmanuel II and the Italian government wanted to support France, but Italian public opinion was bitterly opposed so long as Napoleon III kept a French garrison in Rome...
So she hadn't been ready, oh no, not ready at all to actually hear his dark voice on the comm, teasing just like he always did. It had hit her like aphasia, tangled all the words in her mouth. It was almost like she hadn't dared to believe until just that instant, maybe hadn't even wanted to believe.
She'd worked so very hard at forgetting. How could he just come back like this and pretend nothing had changed? Not even a phone call!
She stared sightless, fingers curling into the hard cover.
Yuh jus gon give meh static, sometimey?
Nobody called her sometimey anymore. Nobody even called her by her name and she liked it that way, she did. And just what was she supposed to say anyways? Hello? How you doing? With everybody listening in and laughing, probably thinking... well, whatever it was they thought. Was she supposed to ask if he'd brought her a present, like he'd just gone down the street?
She'd wanted to hit him then. There'd been no words at all that weren't suddenly, furiously angry.
She'd managed something though, because she was supposed to. Because something had to be said with the pressure of her friends waiting and then she'd run, and she'd flared into power like a comet and she'd kept moving because to stop was to think and she didn't want to think or even feel. Even when Andrew had faltered finally, had fallen, she'd kept driving forward, the copper taste in her mouth that said that Jai would have understood exactly what she needed even then.
Had kept running until she was back in his arms.
Stupid, stupid.
She rubbed her face on her shoulder, tried to focus again on the homework because she didn't want to think about him, she didn't. The words marched like tidy little ants across the logical sheet, describing things that never made any sense because she never understood why she was supposed to care. What did it matter about some people getting all upset about things a hundred years ago? She could walk down the street and find people getting upset about stuff now, and that at least she could do something about.
She was upset. Upset over a stupid, silly boy from Trinidad who always made her laugh and the only one that could make her cry and who could just walk back into her life like nothing could ever possibly change, like she'd just wait around until he came back, but she had waited, she had, and he'd probably forgive her for being all prickly, even though it was all his fault and it was all just so messed up and stupid!
The text blurred in front of her eyes, the words disappearing. It took a second but she realised it was because ice was beginning to swirl, her breath steaming with cold. Tears pricked her eyes.
Her teeth snapped and she was on her feet in an instant, throwing the stupid book with all her strength because there was nothing else she could do, no other way to explode, nothing there she could even hit.
It struck the doorframe next to Erika's head just as her quadmate walked in the door.
Erika stopped dead in her tracks, blinking. Her startled, wary gaze went from the offending book to Stasis.
"Something wrong? Oh, I get it."
The other girl leaned down then and nonchalantly picked the textbook up, opening it to a random page. She held it out towards the tanker.
"You hold it like this, Snowflake."
She heard the tearing sound as the arctic wind pulled into her body, the dim pleasure of it as rime coated everything around her in a circle. It made her boots sound dull as she stalked out the door, brushing past her stupid quadmate who didn't even known enough to get out of the way. Her shoulders were as tight as her eyes.
Whatever. Erika could clean up the mess.
The war began over the possible ascension of some guy yadda yadda from the Catholic branch of the Hohenzollern royal family because of something about the Spanish throne and a chick named Isabella who did something in 1868. This was strongly opposed by France who issued an ultimatum to King Somebody Or Other...
It might as well have been Greek... or Prussian. Who cared about some silly war a million years ago? She sure didn't. After all, the only war that had really counted, they'd won.
Stasis flipped over on her bed though and stuck the textbook right under her nose, hoping that maybe proximity would make the difference. Her essay wasn't going to write itself.
She started at the top of the page and started reading again for like the fifth time.
The Franco-Prussian War...
I missed yuh somtin fierce.
She took a deep breath as her heart stuttered, a familiar unwelcome feeling.
No.
No, she was not going to think about Jai. She was done with that. She was going to concentrate on her homework and write something that would maybe get her a passing grade on this silly war. Frankfurter Russian whatever, it was totally due and she had to turn in something this time, she did. Sister Constance had been very clear on that. No excuses this time that Bailey had eaten her homework in a fit of doggy depression.
I missed yuh alla de time.
So what if he was back in school. Back after the whole summer gone, when he hadn't even said goodbye, not even a note for her, not even a phone call. Surely there was at least one phone on Trinidad?
She hadn't believed the gossip though, not really. Not even after wandering down to the office and seeing Marchan, Jai registered on this semester's courses. It's not like people didn't play tricks and everybody knew how much she missed him. If Jai'd come back he'd've called her, right? He'd have come to see her first thing, only he hadn't, so it was just somebody's silly idea of a joke and she wasn't going to play along.
She hadn't even stopped by the boys' quad, not even to hang out with Misericorde because she didn't want to see his corner of the room still empty.
She focused her unwilling eyes on the words she was supposed to mezmerise.
...Austria wanted to avenge the defeat of 1866, but would not support France unless Italy was part of the alliance. Victor Emmanuel II and the Italian government wanted to support France, but Italian public opinion was bitterly opposed so long as Napoleon III kept a French garrison in Rome...
So she hadn't been ready, oh no, not ready at all to actually hear his dark voice on the comm, teasing just like he always did. It had hit her like aphasia, tangled all the words in her mouth. It was almost like she hadn't dared to believe until just that instant, maybe hadn't even wanted to believe.
She'd worked so very hard at forgetting. How could he just come back like this and pretend nothing had changed? Not even a phone call!
She stared sightless, fingers curling into the hard cover.
Yuh jus gon give meh static, sometimey?
Nobody called her sometimey anymore. Nobody even called her by her name and she liked it that way, she did. And just what was she supposed to say anyways? Hello? How you doing? With everybody listening in and laughing, probably thinking... well, whatever it was they thought. Was she supposed to ask if he'd brought her a present, like he'd just gone down the street?
She'd wanted to hit him then. There'd been no words at all that weren't suddenly, furiously angry.
She'd managed something though, because she was supposed to. Because something had to be said with the pressure of her friends waiting and then she'd run, and she'd flared into power like a comet and she'd kept moving because to stop was to think and she didn't want to think or even feel. Even when Andrew had faltered finally, had fallen, she'd kept driving forward, the copper taste in her mouth that said that Jai would have understood exactly what she needed even then.
Had kept running until she was back in his arms.
Stupid, stupid.
She rubbed her face on her shoulder, tried to focus again on the homework because she didn't want to think about him, she didn't. The words marched like tidy little ants across the logical sheet, describing things that never made any sense because she never understood why she was supposed to care. What did it matter about some people getting all upset about things a hundred years ago? She could walk down the street and find people getting upset about stuff now, and that at least she could do something about.
She was upset. Upset over a stupid, silly boy from Trinidad who always made her laugh and the only one that could make her cry and who could just walk back into her life like nothing could ever possibly change, like she'd just wait around until he came back, but she had waited, she had, and he'd probably forgive her for being all prickly, even though it was all his fault and it was all just so messed up and stupid!
The text blurred in front of her eyes, the words disappearing. It took a second but she realised it was because ice was beginning to swirl, her breath steaming with cold. Tears pricked her eyes.
Her teeth snapped and she was on her feet in an instant, throwing the stupid book with all her strength because there was nothing else she could do, no other way to explode, nothing there she could even hit.
It struck the doorframe next to Erika's head just as her quadmate walked in the door.
Erika stopped dead in her tracks, blinking. Her startled, wary gaze went from the offending book to Stasis.
"Something wrong? Oh, I get it."
The other girl leaned down then and nonchalantly picked the textbook up, opening it to a random page. She held it out towards the tanker.
"You hold it like this, Snowflake."
She heard the tearing sound as the arctic wind pulled into her body, the dim pleasure of it as rime coated everything around her in a circle. It made her boots sound dull as she stalked out the door, brushing past her stupid quadmate who didn't even known enough to get out of the way. Her shoulders were as tight as her eyes.
Whatever. Erika could clean up the mess.
Last edited by Stasis Kiss on Mon Oct 23, 2006 8:59 am, edited 2 times in total.
"So pay attention to me; I don't talk for my health."
"I want you on my team."
"... So does everybody else."
"I want you on my team."
"... So does everybody else."
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Glowing Vigilance
- Posts: 162
- Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 10:38 pm
- Contact:
Summer sat in her bed with her leg in a cast, looking at the TV. The A/V club were nice enough to wheel a TV in for her to have something occupy her. Summer looked around, her gaze always fell on the book lying on the ground. The one over world history. Summer laid back and draped an arm over her mid section and looked up.
"Christ I'm pathetic. I'm crippled at the moment, I've no where to go and I'm watching re-runs of happy days." Summer thought.
Summer flipped channels to something else. Cellphone ads, no, Bzzt! "You'll have your teeth whited with industray strength sand blasting!" no, Bzzt!
Summer looked over at Matt, "Don't you knock?"
"How'd you know I was here?"
"I know things." She replied.
"I got some movies for you. I'm not sure if you watched them already or not." Matt said looking down.
Summer smiled, "You can set them down at the TV." She replied, "That's really sweet of you by the way."
Matt let out a huff of a laugh and scatched the back of his head, "Well..."
"I'd get up but I might further aggitate this knee." Summer reminded, "And like I said, I hit a stop sign right. Rest is just nothing."
"I'm still sketchy on why." Matt asked.
"Because, this whole thing was no ones fault, the only way to keep from getting a scape goat is to hide the fact that there could possibly be one." Summer said, "You see what I'm saying?"
"No, but I guess I'll just go with it." Matt decided, giving up trying to make heads or tails of her.
Summer smiled, "Good idea, you might give yourself a headache." She answered, "You also might want to head out, the nun is down the hall and she's overdue on checking up on me."
"Oh, uh... right." Matt answered, "Hope you get better soon."
The small pop was the only thing that signified he'd been here in the first place and this wasn't some silly dream she was having thanks to the pain meds. The nun opened the door and looked in on Summer who looked at her innocently.
"I heard a noise and figured I'd check up on you." She smiled.
"Just sifted my leg a bit and turned the TV off. Need some rest." Summer replied.
"Okay, I'll make sure no one distrubs you." She said.
The door shut and Summer looked up at the ceiling, "Now things can only get better."
"Christ I'm pathetic. I'm crippled at the moment, I've no where to go and I'm watching re-runs of happy days." Summer thought.
Summer flipped channels to something else. Cellphone ads, no, Bzzt! "You'll have your teeth whited with industray strength sand blasting!" no, Bzzt!
Summer looked over at Matt, "Don't you knock?"
"How'd you know I was here?"
"I know things." She replied.
"I got some movies for you. I'm not sure if you watched them already or not." Matt said looking down.
Summer smiled, "You can set them down at the TV." She replied, "That's really sweet of you by the way."
Matt let out a huff of a laugh and scatched the back of his head, "Well..."
"I'd get up but I might further aggitate this knee." Summer reminded, "And like I said, I hit a stop sign right. Rest is just nothing."
"I'm still sketchy on why." Matt asked.
"Because, this whole thing was no ones fault, the only way to keep from getting a scape goat is to hide the fact that there could possibly be one." Summer said, "You see what I'm saying?"
"No, but I guess I'll just go with it." Matt decided, giving up trying to make heads or tails of her.
Summer smiled, "Good idea, you might give yourself a headache." She answered, "You also might want to head out, the nun is down the hall and she's overdue on checking up on me."
"Oh, uh... right." Matt answered, "Hope you get better soon."
The small pop was the only thing that signified he'd been here in the first place and this wasn't some silly dream she was having thanks to the pain meds. The nun opened the door and looked in on Summer who looked at her innocently.
"I heard a noise and figured I'd check up on you." She smiled.
"Just sifted my leg a bit and turned the TV off. Need some rest." Summer replied.
"Okay, I'll make sure no one distrubs you." She said.
The door shut and Summer looked up at the ceiling, "Now things can only get better."
Glowing Vigilance
Tolliver: "Stripes makes me a Cat?"
Vig: "Would you prefer Zebra?"
Tolliver: "Stripes makes me a Cat?"
Vig: "Would you prefer Zebra?"
-
Erika Raeder
- Million Dollar Baby
- Posts: 736
- Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2006 8:58 pm
- Location: Baumton... deal with it!
The hall was clear, so Erika was able to slip back to her quad without being seen. It had been four days since she’d last set foot in the dorms, and she was not exactly returning in triumph. Quickly shutting the door behind her, she took a deep breath and turned to scan the room. Her apprehension lasted only a moment. Stasis was not there.
“Probably off sulking somewhere after the verbal beating Mimi gave her last night,” the young mutant thought waspishly.
Summer was there, of course, still nursing her injured leg, but she appeared to be fast asleep. That was good, as Erika really didn’t want to be seen right now. She didn’t want to see anyone else either.
“Three days,” she muttered to herself, “three wasted days. I knew all along where he had to have gone.”
Dropping into her chair, Erika noticed a neat pile of papers on her desk. Flipping through them, she realized they were her school assignments for the past week. Her completed assignments. Looking over at her sleeping quadmate, she barely suppressed a scream.
“Damn you, Summer! Do you think I’m too stupid to catch up on this shit on my own?” Erika almost threw the papers at the unsuspecting girl, but the moment of anger passed. Carefully returning the assignments to her desk, she counted slowly to ten and forced herself to accept the gesture. “Well,” she thought ruefully, “maybe I’ll finally get an ‘A’ on something…”
“I should have just gone straight to the Hive,” she said suddenly, to no one in particular. “Maybe I could have been in time to help.” A sudden flashback of her trip to Eden caused a momentary shudder. She remembered being surrounded by a virtual army of rock and crystalline creatures, all moving in unison towards some unknown destination. They had completely ignored her, which though fortunate, had made the experience somehow more disturbing and surreal.
So she had left, abandoning her search, abandoning Tony to who knows what fate. Sure, they had needed help in Founder’s Falls. Sure, she had fought off some Devouring Earth, escorting civilians to safety. Sure, she had received a personal thank you from Blue Steel, praising her actions. That was all very well and good.
Then she’d gone back to Sushi’s apartment for a shower and change and grabbed a cab to Atlas Park. Because she needed a break. Because she wanted to see some friendly faces. Because she was tired. Because… because she was weak…
Erika buried her face in her hands and cried.
“Probably off sulking somewhere after the verbal beating Mimi gave her last night,” the young mutant thought waspishly.
Summer was there, of course, still nursing her injured leg, but she appeared to be fast asleep. That was good, as Erika really didn’t want to be seen right now. She didn’t want to see anyone else either.
“Three days,” she muttered to herself, “three wasted days. I knew all along where he had to have gone.”
Dropping into her chair, Erika noticed a neat pile of papers on her desk. Flipping through them, she realized they were her school assignments for the past week. Her completed assignments. Looking over at her sleeping quadmate, she barely suppressed a scream.
“Damn you, Summer! Do you think I’m too stupid to catch up on this shit on my own?” Erika almost threw the papers at the unsuspecting girl, but the moment of anger passed. Carefully returning the assignments to her desk, she counted slowly to ten and forced herself to accept the gesture. “Well,” she thought ruefully, “maybe I’ll finally get an ‘A’ on something…”
“I should have just gone straight to the Hive,” she said suddenly, to no one in particular. “Maybe I could have been in time to help.” A sudden flashback of her trip to Eden caused a momentary shudder. She remembered being surrounded by a virtual army of rock and crystalline creatures, all moving in unison towards some unknown destination. They had completely ignored her, which though fortunate, had made the experience somehow more disturbing and surreal.
So she had left, abandoning her search, abandoning Tony to who knows what fate. Sure, they had needed help in Founder’s Falls. Sure, she had fought off some Devouring Earth, escorting civilians to safety. Sure, she had received a personal thank you from Blue Steel, praising her actions. That was all very well and good.
Then she’d gone back to Sushi’s apartment for a shower and change and grabbed a cab to Atlas Park. Because she needed a break. Because she wanted to see some friendly faces. Because she was tired. Because… because she was weak…
Erika buried her face in her hands and cried.
Once an Outcast, always an outcast...
-
Erika Raeder
- Million Dollar Baby
- Posts: 736
- Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2006 8:58 pm
- Location: Baumton... deal with it!
You can only cry for so long.
It was the pain, finally, that forced Erika to stop weeping. Pain both physical and emotional. Once again she considered flipping her med badge back on. Had to be at least three cracked ribs, she was sure, and that wasn’t the worst of it. Just one flick of the switch, and she could be whisked away to proper care, helpful attendants, and a whole mess of sweet, sweet painkillers.
Of course, then she’d have to fill out a report explaining her injuries. That was not going to happen.
The physical pain would pass, she knew. Her mutant physiology was incredibly resilient. Already she could feel her body mending itself, drawing heat from the air and converting it to healing energy. A few hours rest and she’d be able to fight again. She just had to pick a fight with some punks, and then she could blame them for her injuries. She could blame them for the broken ribs. She could blame them for…
Erika forced herself to look in the mirror above her desk. Forced herself to look at the bruised mess that was her once beautiful face. Forced herself to see the price she had paid for her weakness. For not being faster, or smarter, or wiser. For not knowing how to help the one she loved.
That was just the physical pain. The physical price. It would pass. A few days, three at the most, and there’d be nothing left to show for it. Physically, she’d be right as rain.
“I’m not human, Erika.”
The memory of his voice boomed in her head like thunder. Like the thunderous blows she’d endured. So empty, it had been, full of despair and resignation. A voice without hope.
“No one can help me, Erika.”
She’d argued with him. Pleaded, even. Begged him to fight it, to seek help, to hang on to who he was, regardless of what he was. But he had already made up his mind.
“Will you do something for me?”
How could he have asked such a thing? It was too much. It wasn’t fair!
“I can't live knowing I'm not real...”
He was real! He was more real than anyone she’d ever known.
“I am a danger to everyone around me.”
She had screamed, tried to stop listening. She did not want to hear it.
“Erika, if you won't, someone else will... you... you can spare me the pain.”
The memory flooded back. Tony on his knees, his head bowed to expose the back of his neck. The horror she had felt. The refusal to even consider going through with it. She knew she could never… ever… even consider such an act. No matter how merciful it might seem when faced with such quiet despair. She. Would. Not.
And then something called to him, and everything changed.
You can only cry for so long, but that can be for a very long time indeed.
It was the pain, finally, that forced Erika to stop weeping. Pain both physical and emotional. Once again she considered flipping her med badge back on. Had to be at least three cracked ribs, she was sure, and that wasn’t the worst of it. Just one flick of the switch, and she could be whisked away to proper care, helpful attendants, and a whole mess of sweet, sweet painkillers.
Of course, then she’d have to fill out a report explaining her injuries. That was not going to happen.
The physical pain would pass, she knew. Her mutant physiology was incredibly resilient. Already she could feel her body mending itself, drawing heat from the air and converting it to healing energy. A few hours rest and she’d be able to fight again. She just had to pick a fight with some punks, and then she could blame them for her injuries. She could blame them for the broken ribs. She could blame them for…
Erika forced herself to look in the mirror above her desk. Forced herself to look at the bruised mess that was her once beautiful face. Forced herself to see the price she had paid for her weakness. For not being faster, or smarter, or wiser. For not knowing how to help the one she loved.
That was just the physical pain. The physical price. It would pass. A few days, three at the most, and there’d be nothing left to show for it. Physically, she’d be right as rain.
“I’m not human, Erika.”
The memory of his voice boomed in her head like thunder. Like the thunderous blows she’d endured. So empty, it had been, full of despair and resignation. A voice without hope.
“No one can help me, Erika.”
She’d argued with him. Pleaded, even. Begged him to fight it, to seek help, to hang on to who he was, regardless of what he was. But he had already made up his mind.
“Will you do something for me?”
How could he have asked such a thing? It was too much. It wasn’t fair!
“I can't live knowing I'm not real...”
He was real! He was more real than anyone she’d ever known.
“I am a danger to everyone around me.”
She had screamed, tried to stop listening. She did not want to hear it.
“Erika, if you won't, someone else will... you... you can spare me the pain.”
The memory flooded back. Tony on his knees, his head bowed to expose the back of his neck. The horror she had felt. The refusal to even consider going through with it. She knew she could never… ever… even consider such an act. No matter how merciful it might seem when faced with such quiet despair. She. Would. Not.
And then something called to him, and everything changed.
You can only cry for so long, but that can be for a very long time indeed.
Once an Outcast, always an outcast...
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Glowing Vigilance
- Posts: 162
- Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 10:38 pm
- Contact:
Summer watched Erika for a good minute before barging into the internal monologue she'd guessed Erika was doing. People got weird sometimes, Stasis and Erika were both crazy in their own respective manners, least to her. Between Stasis and her fascination for jumping off a tall building without a parachute to this internal monologue she guessed Erika was doing, it was easy to understand how they both didn't have time to do their homework or for that matter study.
"You do know people other than you sleep here right?" Summer replied to the crying Erika.
She pushed the sheets back and rolled on her side to get a better look at Erika.
"You do know people other than you sleep here right?" Summer replied to the crying Erika.
She pushed the sheets back and rolled on her side to get a better look at Erika.
Glowing Vigilance
Tolliver: "Stripes makes me a Cat?"
Vig: "Would you prefer Zebra?"
Tolliver: "Stripes makes me a Cat?"
Vig: "Would you prefer Zebra?"
-
Stasis Kiss
- Supreme Commander of teh Intarwebs
- Posts: 2403
- Joined: Sun Jan 29, 2006 1:24 pm
- Location: just left of center
- Contact:
There were a lot of things Erika might reasonably expect with a knock on the door. A friend was the usual explanation, either hers or Stasi's. Then again it might be one of the other girls with a petition, agitating for a vending machine on the second floor. Hell, it could even be a teacher's aide, dropping off homework for Summer who was still laid up with her wrecked knee. Right now the third Q5 member was off doing physiotherapy in the pool.
It wasn't any of those things. When Erika opened the door, ready to say either hello, go away or thanks, she found herself staring into the brown chest of a uniform. Looking up yielded a hopeful face under an equally brown cap. The guy smiled at her.
"Is this dorm room five?"
"Uh. Yeah." Idiot, she thought. "This is Q5."
"Thank God. I think I knocked on every door in this wing. Sign here please."
Erika did, scrawling her signature on the tiny screen. "So what'm I signing for?"
"Delivery from WorldTech." The guy took a package from under his arm and handed it over. She glanced at the name on the tag.
"It's for you, snowflake."
She turned and lobbed it underhanded across the room. Sitting crosslegged on her bed, Stasis barely managed to catch it. Erika ignored the sour look.
"Thanks, Miss. We'll have the rest up in a jiffy."
"Rest? What? There's more?" Erika turned back but the guy was down the hallway, digital clipboard under his elbow. She rolled her eyes at the back of his head.
"So... what is it this time?" Erika turned to look at Stasis. "Another box of chocolates from a secret admirer?"
It was a joke and it wasn't. There was always stuff showing up for Stasis, although admittedly this was the first time something had arrived in a brown uniform. Secretly Erika wondered what the other girl was doing to get all this attention. This pot had to be calling the kettle black. The first time they'd met, her platinum haired roommate had all but called her a tramp... but nobody got this many gifts without putting out.
"Not likely. I hate chocolate," Stasis replied with a shrug. She rotated the plainly wrapped rectangle in her fingers, making no attempt to open it. Erika crossed her arms and tapped her fingers. Finally she couldn't take it any more.
"Well, open it already. What are you waiting for, permission? It's addressed to you, dummy."
"Yeah." Still, Stasis just kept turning the thing. Erika couldn't figure out the expression on her face.
"Oh, for pete's sake. Let me then."
"Hey!"
Too late. Erika grabbed the package and easily slid the seams apart by running a hot fingernail along the edges. Stasis made an abortive attempt to grab it back but Erika just stepped back out of reach. The non-descript covering yielded a plastic baggie of neatly coiled cables, various connectors and a bubble wrapped remote control. It was the least romantic gift Erika'd ever seen.
"Your secret admirer got a fetish for the plastic industry?"
"Heyla, shut up already! Look, it's from Jai, all right? Not some silly secret admirer which I don't have, thankyouverymuch." Stasis lunged and grabbed the electronics back, retreating back to the bed.
Erika raised her eyebrows "Okay, I give. Why would your boyfriend give you a bunch of wiring? He got some kinky side we don't know about?"
The look on her roommate's face was worth it. Stasis even started to raise her fist but they were interrupted by a sound at the door. Erika turned back and it was the brown delivery guy again. Only this time she had a great look at his back as he minced in, carrying one end of a large, oddly squashed box. As they got farther in, she could make out the splashylogo for Sonicboom stenciled all over it. What was going on here?
"Where do you want it?"
"Want what? What is it?"
Stasis spoke over her shoulder. "Put it .. uh, you can put it over there." The other girl scrambled to clear a place by the large windows, pushing a couple of chairs out of the way and hipchecking a study desk a measly few inches over. The swing arm lamp wobbled dangerously. "Thanks, hey?"
"Not a problem, miss."
The two delivery guys wrestled the thing into approximate position, carefully placing it on the floor. It was so damned big it didn't really fit so it ended up sitting sort of sideways. The uniforms smiled and nodded, probably happy they'd managed to cart the thing up a flight of stairs without dropping it where anybody could see them. They left, closing the door with a soft click. Neither of the girls paid any attention.
It stood about three feet high or so, maybe five feet long. Other than the company logo everywhere and the packing slip glued on the side, there wasn't a whole lot to give it away. It was too big to be chocolate and too small to be a gold plated elephant. Just what the hell was going on?
The packing slip.
Erika tore it off and flipped open the sheet. Stasis didn't seem to care, staring down at the box like it offended her somehow. Her roommate's expression was still impossible to understand. Erika ran her eyes down the content list.
"Holy shit, Stasi. Did Jai rob a bank or something?"
The tanker mumbled something.
"A 42" HDTV plasma screen? Integrated DVD player? Tangent5 surround speakers?" Erika's voice kept getting higher and higher with surprise. "Paid in full?" Erika looked again just to be sure. "You didn't tell me Jai was rolling in it."
"I didn't know." The snowcone's voice was barely audible.
Erika shook her head and crumpled the packing slip in one hand. "Don’t you think that'd be something you mighta noticed before this? You know, maybe in passing?" Her tone left little doubt about her opinion on that. "You really do have ice for brains, don't you? I bet this stuff cost a couple grand, easy."
Stasis opened her mouth and then closed it again. High points of color stood out like flags on her cheeks. "Yeah. Something like that."
"Well, holy shit, snowflake." She enunciated each word, staring at the box with her hands on her hips. "What the hell did Jai buy you a home theatre for?"
"He said I needed a hobby."
Of all the answers Stasis could have possibly given, that wasn't anywhere near the list. Erika just gaped at her. "You needed .. a hobby?"
The blonde shrugged. "Ayuh. I didn't feel like taking up archery."
She couldn't help it. Erika started to laugh. Stasis just looked pained, shifting from foot to foot. Erika eventually hiccuped to a halt though and then they both stood looking at the thing that was now taking up a reasonable chunk of quad.
She was the one to break the tableau.
"Well. Guess we'd better get started."
Stasis glanced at her. "Started with what?"
Erika grinned, thinking this could really work out in a number of ways. After all, nobody else on this floor had anything like this, that’s for damned sure. "Getting it set up. C'mon, iceberg. Let's get it unpeeled and we'll stick it on the wall."
"We don't have any room on the wall."
Erika reached out and tugged experimentally on a corner. "Trust me. We'll make room."
It wasn't any of those things. When Erika opened the door, ready to say either hello, go away or thanks, she found herself staring into the brown chest of a uniform. Looking up yielded a hopeful face under an equally brown cap. The guy smiled at her.
"Is this dorm room five?"
"Uh. Yeah." Idiot, she thought. "This is Q5."
"Thank God. I think I knocked on every door in this wing. Sign here please."
Erika did, scrawling her signature on the tiny screen. "So what'm I signing for?"
"Delivery from WorldTech." The guy took a package from under his arm and handed it over. She glanced at the name on the tag.
"It's for you, snowflake."
She turned and lobbed it underhanded across the room. Sitting crosslegged on her bed, Stasis barely managed to catch it. Erika ignored the sour look.
"Thanks, Miss. We'll have the rest up in a jiffy."
"Rest? What? There's more?" Erika turned back but the guy was down the hallway, digital clipboard under his elbow. She rolled her eyes at the back of his head.
"So... what is it this time?" Erika turned to look at Stasis. "Another box of chocolates from a secret admirer?"
It was a joke and it wasn't. There was always stuff showing up for Stasis, although admittedly this was the first time something had arrived in a brown uniform. Secretly Erika wondered what the other girl was doing to get all this attention. This pot had to be calling the kettle black. The first time they'd met, her platinum haired roommate had all but called her a tramp... but nobody got this many gifts without putting out.
"Not likely. I hate chocolate," Stasis replied with a shrug. She rotated the plainly wrapped rectangle in her fingers, making no attempt to open it. Erika crossed her arms and tapped her fingers. Finally she couldn't take it any more.
"Well, open it already. What are you waiting for, permission? It's addressed to you, dummy."
"Yeah." Still, Stasis just kept turning the thing. Erika couldn't figure out the expression on her face.
"Oh, for pete's sake. Let me then."
"Hey!"
Too late. Erika grabbed the package and easily slid the seams apart by running a hot fingernail along the edges. Stasis made an abortive attempt to grab it back but Erika just stepped back out of reach. The non-descript covering yielded a plastic baggie of neatly coiled cables, various connectors and a bubble wrapped remote control. It was the least romantic gift Erika'd ever seen.
"Your secret admirer got a fetish for the plastic industry?"
"Heyla, shut up already! Look, it's from Jai, all right? Not some silly secret admirer which I don't have, thankyouverymuch." Stasis lunged and grabbed the electronics back, retreating back to the bed.
Erika raised her eyebrows "Okay, I give. Why would your boyfriend give you a bunch of wiring? He got some kinky side we don't know about?"
The look on her roommate's face was worth it. Stasis even started to raise her fist but they were interrupted by a sound at the door. Erika turned back and it was the brown delivery guy again. Only this time she had a great look at his back as he minced in, carrying one end of a large, oddly squashed box. As they got farther in, she could make out the splashylogo for Sonicboom stenciled all over it. What was going on here?
"Where do you want it?"
"Want what? What is it?"
Stasis spoke over her shoulder. "Put it .. uh, you can put it over there." The other girl scrambled to clear a place by the large windows, pushing a couple of chairs out of the way and hipchecking a study desk a measly few inches over. The swing arm lamp wobbled dangerously. "Thanks, hey?"
"Not a problem, miss."
The two delivery guys wrestled the thing into approximate position, carefully placing it on the floor. It was so damned big it didn't really fit so it ended up sitting sort of sideways. The uniforms smiled and nodded, probably happy they'd managed to cart the thing up a flight of stairs without dropping it where anybody could see them. They left, closing the door with a soft click. Neither of the girls paid any attention.
It stood about three feet high or so, maybe five feet long. Other than the company logo everywhere and the packing slip glued on the side, there wasn't a whole lot to give it away. It was too big to be chocolate and too small to be a gold plated elephant. Just what the hell was going on?
The packing slip.
Erika tore it off and flipped open the sheet. Stasis didn't seem to care, staring down at the box like it offended her somehow. Her roommate's expression was still impossible to understand. Erika ran her eyes down the content list.
"Holy shit, Stasi. Did Jai rob a bank or something?"
The tanker mumbled something.
"A 42" HDTV plasma screen? Integrated DVD player? Tangent5 surround speakers?" Erika's voice kept getting higher and higher with surprise. "Paid in full?" Erika looked again just to be sure. "You didn't tell me Jai was rolling in it."
"I didn't know." The snowcone's voice was barely audible.
Erika shook her head and crumpled the packing slip in one hand. "Don’t you think that'd be something you mighta noticed before this? You know, maybe in passing?" Her tone left little doubt about her opinion on that. "You really do have ice for brains, don't you? I bet this stuff cost a couple grand, easy."
Stasis opened her mouth and then closed it again. High points of color stood out like flags on her cheeks. "Yeah. Something like that."
"Well, holy shit, snowflake." She enunciated each word, staring at the box with her hands on her hips. "What the hell did Jai buy you a home theatre for?"
"He said I needed a hobby."
Of all the answers Stasis could have possibly given, that wasn't anywhere near the list. Erika just gaped at her. "You needed .. a hobby?"
The blonde shrugged. "Ayuh. I didn't feel like taking up archery."
She couldn't help it. Erika started to laugh. Stasis just looked pained, shifting from foot to foot. Erika eventually hiccuped to a halt though and then they both stood looking at the thing that was now taking up a reasonable chunk of quad.
She was the one to break the tableau.
"Well. Guess we'd better get started."
Stasis glanced at her. "Started with what?"
Erika grinned, thinking this could really work out in a number of ways. After all, nobody else on this floor had anything like this, that’s for damned sure. "Getting it set up. C'mon, iceberg. Let's get it unpeeled and we'll stick it on the wall."
"We don't have any room on the wall."
Erika reached out and tugged experimentally on a corner. "Trust me. We'll make room."
"So pay attention to me; I don't talk for my health."
"I want you on my team."
"... So does everybody else."
"I want you on my team."
"... So does everybody else."
-
Glowing Vigilance
- Posts: 162
- Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 10:38 pm
- Contact:
It'd been a whole couple months since this giant Plasma Television had been hooked into their Dorm. For Summer, her back was turned to it like a neglecting parent tacking away on her dusty and bolted down computer. She couldn't turn it on without running a brown out in the room, especially with her computer. Summer hit the print button, dust shot out of the crappy printer and printed off another Vigilant which would more than anything find the trashcan before finding the note board. She thought about smoking, not that it would help her in this matter but the thought popped into his mind. She sat back in her chair waiting for the printer to produce the document. She grabbed it, glanced through it and crumpled it up and through it across the room into the small trash bin labeled recycle and deleted the paper she'd just finished writing and started on another one.
The door creaked open, Summer didn't look up, "Hey Stasis."
She didn't bother to raise a hand and flopped onto the bed, "Long day?"
Stasis didn't reply and buried her head in the pillow. Summer blew her nose and went back to typing.
---
The sun was setting, Summer had gone through four more papers, none of them seemed to work and were quickly shot as free throws into the garbage can. Stasis was asleep, Summer knew she was drooling into the pillow this time, she didn't have any film for her camera unfortunately.
The door squeaked open, the heat gave it away, Erika walked into the room, sat down and grabbed the remote. Summer saved her work, shut the screen off and shut the computer down right as the TV fired up. The room flickered a minute as the monstrous screen turned on. The sound as good a theater boomed and woke Stasis up. Summer grabbed her her uniform jacket, through it on, pulled her hair back in a scrunchie and wandered out of the room shutting the door.
She wanted new roommates sometimes. This wasn't very big but every time one of their lives was going south, there was hostile air and name calling and all the things Summer didn't need to deal with at night. She especially loathed the time they went so far at to divide the room up into seperate area with a white chalk line. It bugged her sometimes that she was in this mess with these two who obviously didn't get along. She wondered sometimes if she'd run into someone she generally had a disdain for.
Crono popped into her head but that wasn't general disdain, she just liked giving him a hard time. Joni popped up, pitiful, sad, always blue little Joni. Summer didn't like her very much either, always hopeless and helpless, never taking an initiative and whenever someone's nice to her she always makes them feel worse than she does. Mana wormed in there too, but he didn't get on her nerves and she didn't generally loathe him. Hell, he was more afraid of her than he should've been but that might be because she told him she'd take him apart. Summer wandered through the twilight halls of the girls dorms walking quietly towards the lunchroom, all the while, thinking of people whom she didn't like.
---
She thumbed the top of the apple juice container off and took a drink of it. Summer's eyes weren't focusing on anything as her mind wandered farther into its knowledge basis of people whom she'd met and in that category whom she didn't like. She tended to avoid the people she didn't like, unless they were unavoidable. Course, everyone had become higher in the security levels than her thanks to the double up weekend a few weeks back but she didn't care about the leveling. Then again, maybe she did. Maybe the reason she was beginning to feel like a 5th wheel was the lack of productive ability she'd shown. She didn't level, she didn't make herself known thus not earning prestige. So far as she could tell, she was more than a bit jealous that the others were higher level than her when just before she'd been higher than them by a good gap.
Why'd she coast? She was a sophomore but now people whom were just starting to attend were upperclassmen. She'd worked hard, least she thought she did and now these people whom were later were higher and why was that? How come she was left in the dust when before she was the pace setter. It boggled her so much she took another swig of the apple juice. With a sigh she sat back running through the thoughts of being older than some of them. At 17 years old, she was a year or so older than them and too make it even more apparent she was smarter than them too. The thought that maybe she wasn't achieving and daring to be great as it were was because of one thing, she didn't care. Did she really care if everyone else was rising while she had stalled out? Did she give up what might've been something special? That was something she didn't know. Questions to which she could never know the answers to. It burned her deeply though. She had regrets now, like every other person here at school.
Summer sat quietly in her own despair. For once, she didn't get it, she didn't see why she was so jealous and the conflicting feeling of not caring. What made her not care? That would be answered with, what made her jealous? She bit her bottom lip and looked down at the table with pure sorrow. The apple juice, she wanted it to be something more. She took another drink, this time deeply and set it down empty. She was none the wiser. The silence in the cafeteria at this hour was something she didn't notice. The darkness closed around her but she was still emitting a soft glow that kept it from swallowing her.
Summer looked at the bottle the entire time, the silence was deafening.
The door creaked open, Summer didn't look up, "Hey Stasis."
She didn't bother to raise a hand and flopped onto the bed, "Long day?"
Stasis didn't reply and buried her head in the pillow. Summer blew her nose and went back to typing.
---
The sun was setting, Summer had gone through four more papers, none of them seemed to work and were quickly shot as free throws into the garbage can. Stasis was asleep, Summer knew she was drooling into the pillow this time, she didn't have any film for her camera unfortunately.
The door squeaked open, the heat gave it away, Erika walked into the room, sat down and grabbed the remote. Summer saved her work, shut the screen off and shut the computer down right as the TV fired up. The room flickered a minute as the monstrous screen turned on. The sound as good a theater boomed and woke Stasis up. Summer grabbed her her uniform jacket, through it on, pulled her hair back in a scrunchie and wandered out of the room shutting the door.
She wanted new roommates sometimes. This wasn't very big but every time one of their lives was going south, there was hostile air and name calling and all the things Summer didn't need to deal with at night. She especially loathed the time they went so far at to divide the room up into seperate area with a white chalk line. It bugged her sometimes that she was in this mess with these two who obviously didn't get along. She wondered sometimes if she'd run into someone she generally had a disdain for.
Crono popped into her head but that wasn't general disdain, she just liked giving him a hard time. Joni popped up, pitiful, sad, always blue little Joni. Summer didn't like her very much either, always hopeless and helpless, never taking an initiative and whenever someone's nice to her she always makes them feel worse than she does. Mana wormed in there too, but he didn't get on her nerves and she didn't generally loathe him. Hell, he was more afraid of her than he should've been but that might be because she told him she'd take him apart. Summer wandered through the twilight halls of the girls dorms walking quietly towards the lunchroom, all the while, thinking of people whom she didn't like.
---
She thumbed the top of the apple juice container off and took a drink of it. Summer's eyes weren't focusing on anything as her mind wandered farther into its knowledge basis of people whom she'd met and in that category whom she didn't like. She tended to avoid the people she didn't like, unless they were unavoidable. Course, everyone had become higher in the security levels than her thanks to the double up weekend a few weeks back but she didn't care about the leveling. Then again, maybe she did. Maybe the reason she was beginning to feel like a 5th wheel was the lack of productive ability she'd shown. She didn't level, she didn't make herself known thus not earning prestige. So far as she could tell, she was more than a bit jealous that the others were higher level than her when just before she'd been higher than them by a good gap.
Why'd she coast? She was a sophomore but now people whom were just starting to attend were upperclassmen. She'd worked hard, least she thought she did and now these people whom were later were higher and why was that? How come she was left in the dust when before she was the pace setter. It boggled her so much she took another swig of the apple juice. With a sigh she sat back running through the thoughts of being older than some of them. At 17 years old, she was a year or so older than them and too make it even more apparent she was smarter than them too. The thought that maybe she wasn't achieving and daring to be great as it were was because of one thing, she didn't care. Did she really care if everyone else was rising while she had stalled out? Did she give up what might've been something special? That was something she didn't know. Questions to which she could never know the answers to. It burned her deeply though. She had regrets now, like every other person here at school.
Summer sat quietly in her own despair. For once, she didn't get it, she didn't see why she was so jealous and the conflicting feeling of not caring. What made her not care? That would be answered with, what made her jealous? She bit her bottom lip and looked down at the table with pure sorrow. The apple juice, she wanted it to be something more. She took another drink, this time deeply and set it down empty. She was none the wiser. The silence in the cafeteria at this hour was something she didn't notice. The darkness closed around her but she was still emitting a soft glow that kept it from swallowing her.
Summer looked at the bottle the entire time, the silence was deafening.
Glowing Vigilance
Tolliver: "Stripes makes me a Cat?"
Vig: "Would you prefer Zebra?"
Tolliver: "Stripes makes me a Cat?"
Vig: "Would you prefer Zebra?"
-
Stasis Kiss
- Supreme Commander of teh Intarwebs
- Posts: 2403
- Joined: Sun Jan 29, 2006 1:24 pm
- Location: just left of center
- Contact:
There was no reason to wake up.
Which was good because she didn't want to be awake. The angle of brightness said it was much too early, no need to open her eyes, no need to go anywhere or be anything. Her limbs were distorted with gravity and heavy.
She just wanted to sleep some more. Sleep. Covering weight shifted and warm breath ghosted along her jaw.
Sleep.
She opened her eyes.
The ceiling looked just like always. The smooth paint was darker to the left and uneven with the spidercracks that ran almost to the window. Her quad in St. Joseph's. Familiarity in everything she saw, looking up. No unknown angles, no surprising curves. She was on her back, sprawled out akimbo on her own bed. Nothing wrong with that, nothing frightening.
The weight moved again, made a small sound, settled. Something uncomfortable dug into her hip.
Stasis stared at the ceiling as if willing it to change. The dream heaviness of her body resolved itself into a dark head on her shoulder. There was a leg tangled between hers. Her left arm was pinned and dead numb, fingers spread and lax. It might be what had woken her up. She was warmer than she could ever remember being.
One breath, two; blown out in a tremble. She looked down.
They were on top of the bed, still wearing the clothes from last night. Her tank top had rucked itself up to nearly under her breasts, exposing the cool gleam of flesh. No shoes, thankfully. The nagging discomfort seemed to be Erika's buckle belt pressing into protruding bone.
What the hell?
Stasis didn't move. Didn't even dare to blink. Carefully, as if even thinking too hard might tilt them both off the world, she tried to remember.
Motion and fighting, the endless run through steel corridors. Eric and Alex. Erika. Her quadmate had been juiced, strung so tight from the stress of the security interview that even Stasis could see it, nearly smell it. She'd applied the only bandaid she'd known how. Run and keep running until the fury outside balanced the stillness within.
Afterwards the party had been great, more so because Jai had been there, unexpected still for all that she knew every line of his face. Listening to everyone talk, listening to Kali sing under the jukebox. She'd known something was wrong then because the song had been sad for all the laughter in the air. She'd left then, hadn't she? Yes, she and Kali. Friends did things for friends so she'd left, left Jai, left the party girl.
She tensed one slow muscle at a time in a cascading question.
What then?
Faultline. She remembered taking the train to Faultline, following the dim command of the private channel that was never dead. She'd found them already in the hot tub. Jai had looked so fine in his bright shorts, so relaxed in the water under the halogens. Erika had been quiet but something had eased somewhere; something that the running and the fighting maybe hadn't been able to do. Kali's voice had still been a thickness on her skin like an overlay of acceptance, so she hadn't questioned, sitting down at the edge of the tile. Jai had been talking of the Carnival, the enthusiasm in his voice like a deep bell against Erika's murmured curiosity.
She'd been so tired. She hadn't meant to drift off but she must have. She remembered only stretching out, pillowing her cheek on her arm, listening.
Jai's voice and the sound of water. Memory of then and now. Erika. Soft laughter like a dark hand on her cheek.
None of which explained how'd they'd gotten back to the quad. Why Erika wasn't in her own bed. Why her left arm had that ugly non-feeling that meant serious pain eventually.
The ceiling still wasn't providing any answers. Worse, Erika's breathing had evened out again, her weight spread and relaxed.
What did they call it? A coyote date? Where you'd chew off your arm at the elbow in order to get away before your partner woke up.
Did she really, really want to move right now? Wake Erika? Did she really want to know the answers to whatever she'd missed last night?
No.
No, she didn't.
Stasis closed her eyes.
It was too early to be awake anyways.
Sleep.
Which was good because she didn't want to be awake. The angle of brightness said it was much too early, no need to open her eyes, no need to go anywhere or be anything. Her limbs were distorted with gravity and heavy.
She just wanted to sleep some more. Sleep. Covering weight shifted and warm breath ghosted along her jaw.
Sleep.
She opened her eyes.
The ceiling looked just like always. The smooth paint was darker to the left and uneven with the spidercracks that ran almost to the window. Her quad in St. Joseph's. Familiarity in everything she saw, looking up. No unknown angles, no surprising curves. She was on her back, sprawled out akimbo on her own bed. Nothing wrong with that, nothing frightening.
The weight moved again, made a small sound, settled. Something uncomfortable dug into her hip.
Stasis stared at the ceiling as if willing it to change. The dream heaviness of her body resolved itself into a dark head on her shoulder. There was a leg tangled between hers. Her left arm was pinned and dead numb, fingers spread and lax. It might be what had woken her up. She was warmer than she could ever remember being.
One breath, two; blown out in a tremble. She looked down.
They were on top of the bed, still wearing the clothes from last night. Her tank top had rucked itself up to nearly under her breasts, exposing the cool gleam of flesh. No shoes, thankfully. The nagging discomfort seemed to be Erika's buckle belt pressing into protruding bone.
What the hell?
Stasis didn't move. Didn't even dare to blink. Carefully, as if even thinking too hard might tilt them both off the world, she tried to remember.
Motion and fighting, the endless run through steel corridors. Eric and Alex. Erika. Her quadmate had been juiced, strung so tight from the stress of the security interview that even Stasis could see it, nearly smell it. She'd applied the only bandaid she'd known how. Run and keep running until the fury outside balanced the stillness within.
Afterwards the party had been great, more so because Jai had been there, unexpected still for all that she knew every line of his face. Listening to everyone talk, listening to Kali sing under the jukebox. She'd known something was wrong then because the song had been sad for all the laughter in the air. She'd left then, hadn't she? Yes, she and Kali. Friends did things for friends so she'd left, left Jai, left the party girl.
She tensed one slow muscle at a time in a cascading question.
What then?
Faultline. She remembered taking the train to Faultline, following the dim command of the private channel that was never dead. She'd found them already in the hot tub. Jai had looked so fine in his bright shorts, so relaxed in the water under the halogens. Erika had been quiet but something had eased somewhere; something that the running and the fighting maybe hadn't been able to do. Kali's voice had still been a thickness on her skin like an overlay of acceptance, so she hadn't questioned, sitting down at the edge of the tile. Jai had been talking of the Carnival, the enthusiasm in his voice like a deep bell against Erika's murmured curiosity.
She'd been so tired. She hadn't meant to drift off but she must have. She remembered only stretching out, pillowing her cheek on her arm, listening.
Jai's voice and the sound of water. Memory of then and now. Erika. Soft laughter like a dark hand on her cheek.
None of which explained how'd they'd gotten back to the quad. Why Erika wasn't in her own bed. Why her left arm had that ugly non-feeling that meant serious pain eventually.
The ceiling still wasn't providing any answers. Worse, Erika's breathing had evened out again, her weight spread and relaxed.
What did they call it? A coyote date? Where you'd chew off your arm at the elbow in order to get away before your partner woke up.
Did she really, really want to move right now? Wake Erika? Did she really want to know the answers to whatever she'd missed last night?
No.
No, she didn't.
Stasis closed her eyes.
It was too early to be awake anyways.
Sleep.
"So pay attention to me; I don't talk for my health."
"I want you on my team."
"... So does everybody else."
"I want you on my team."
"... So does everybody else."
-
Stasis Kiss
- Supreme Commander of teh Intarwebs
- Posts: 2403
- Joined: Sun Jan 29, 2006 1:24 pm
- Location: just left of center
- Contact:
Re: Quad Five
Will you fight for your friend?
Stasis eyed the recently acquired painting which was hanging like a crucifix between the two beds. Elvis Presley, King of Rock and Roll, sang soulfully into his velvet microphone, his slicked back hair blending into the dark fabric with a definite flair. She felt like he was watching her out of the corner of his eye, staring at her, somehow aware of his impending fate. She told herself not to be silly. It was a painting, not a person. There was no reason to feel guilty.
Still, she couldn't meet his gaze and found herself instead looking at her quadmate. "Do you think this'll actually work?" she asked.
"Like I know," was the prompt reply. "This was your idea, remember?"
"Heyla, it was ... okay, you're right. It was my idea." The blonde chewed her lip and finally shrugged. "C'mon, it'll be fun. It's an experiment in the name of science! Besides, I still think we could make money off this."
Erika made a noise somewhere between a snort and a laugh, her hands busy tightening the leather thong around her ponytail. "Sure thing, Snowflake. Right after disco and roller skates stage a comeback. Still, it's not like there's anything else exciting going on this afternoon. You ready to give this a try?"
Stasis glanced around the quad. They'd draped things over the damageables; blankets over desks, a sheet over Angel's big mirror, the bathroom door shut tight. She'd already eaten all the left over cookies so they wouldn't, you know, get mold on them after this.
"Ayuh, ready on. I guess I go first, huh?"
Erika waved an airy hand, as if granting permission from the throne. "Anytime this century."
Stasis grinned at the tone. They'd done this by accident only about a thousand times now, rampant teenage hormones and arguments turning their quad into an early morning sauna. Thing was, could they do it on purpose? Stasis stepped a little closer to Erika, trying not to feel weird about it. Some of her dreams had been a little strange lately.
It wasn't so much a matter of willing the ice to be, as simply letting go of the involuntary control that kept it from forming. A cool mist began to play over her skin, the water in the air starting to freeze as her body took away the energy lattice that held it suspended. She watched fascinated as Erika called fire, heat beginning to rise in subtle waves. Sure enough, in about three minutes they had a respectable fogbank going on. Stasis grinned.
"Maybe we both shoulda been water dryads, yeh?"
As soon as she said it, she felt stupid. Why did her mouth always do that? Just ramble on without checking in with her brain first? The last thing she wanted to do was remind Erika of Carnival, which led to places she really didn't want to think about.
"Get real Stasis, neither of us look good in blue." The brunette looked up at the painting, her crossed arms shimmering with vague distortion. "I'm not seeing anything happening. Maybe we should stand closer."
"Sure thing, boss." Stasis shuffled forward, still trying not to meet the poor guy's eyes. She let the cold ramp up a little, felt Erika raise her own efforts to match. It was kind of neat, trying to be a tandem event. Moisture finally started to bead on the black velvet, beginning to pool in the corners of the frame. They both watched, Erika possibly interested despite herself. Still, after about ten minutes of waiting, nothing seemed to be happening. Stasis sighed.
"It's not working," she grumbled. She reached out and ran a finger down the wet paint. "No-thing. It's not smearing at all." She held up her fingertip to the other girl, as if to prove the point.
Erika shrugged. "Maybe the stuff isn't water soluble." She frowned at the painting as if it had utterly failed to meet expectations which, perhaps, it had.
"Maybe. But man, I was sure this would work! Elvis Presley meets Dali, just how cool would that be?"
"Very cool. But as an experiment, this is a bust. We should knock it off before the walls start to peel."
Stasis sighed and stepped back, locking everything down automatically. The dampness of the air stuck to her lips and she licked them. "Well, shoot. Another awesome idea, dead before it's time. I'm telling you, somebody woulda paid money for a melted Elvis."
Erika flipped her ponytail over her shoulder. "Sorry, Snowflake. Just wasn't meant to be." The brunette looked around the quad and her eyes got a little wide. "But... we should probably get the windows open now."
Stasis twisted on one heel and blanched. "Holy... yeah. Before Aeon gets back and kills us."
Will you fight for your friend?
Yes.
Stasis eyed the recently acquired painting which was hanging like a crucifix between the two beds. Elvis Presley, King of Rock and Roll, sang soulfully into his velvet microphone, his slicked back hair blending into the dark fabric with a definite flair. She felt like he was watching her out of the corner of his eye, staring at her, somehow aware of his impending fate. She told herself not to be silly. It was a painting, not a person. There was no reason to feel guilty.
Still, she couldn't meet his gaze and found herself instead looking at her quadmate. "Do you think this'll actually work?" she asked.
"Like I know," was the prompt reply. "This was your idea, remember?"
"Heyla, it was ... okay, you're right. It was my idea." The blonde chewed her lip and finally shrugged. "C'mon, it'll be fun. It's an experiment in the name of science! Besides, I still think we could make money off this."
Erika made a noise somewhere between a snort and a laugh, her hands busy tightening the leather thong around her ponytail. "Sure thing, Snowflake. Right after disco and roller skates stage a comeback. Still, it's not like there's anything else exciting going on this afternoon. You ready to give this a try?"
Stasis glanced around the quad. They'd draped things over the damageables; blankets over desks, a sheet over Angel's big mirror, the bathroom door shut tight. She'd already eaten all the left over cookies so they wouldn't, you know, get mold on them after this.
"Ayuh, ready on. I guess I go first, huh?"
Erika waved an airy hand, as if granting permission from the throne. "Anytime this century."
Stasis grinned at the tone. They'd done this by accident only about a thousand times now, rampant teenage hormones and arguments turning their quad into an early morning sauna. Thing was, could they do it on purpose? Stasis stepped a little closer to Erika, trying not to feel weird about it. Some of her dreams had been a little strange lately.
It wasn't so much a matter of willing the ice to be, as simply letting go of the involuntary control that kept it from forming. A cool mist began to play over her skin, the water in the air starting to freeze as her body took away the energy lattice that held it suspended. She watched fascinated as Erika called fire, heat beginning to rise in subtle waves. Sure enough, in about three minutes they had a respectable fogbank going on. Stasis grinned.
"Maybe we both shoulda been water dryads, yeh?"
As soon as she said it, she felt stupid. Why did her mouth always do that? Just ramble on without checking in with her brain first? The last thing she wanted to do was remind Erika of Carnival, which led to places she really didn't want to think about.
"Get real Stasis, neither of us look good in blue." The brunette looked up at the painting, her crossed arms shimmering with vague distortion. "I'm not seeing anything happening. Maybe we should stand closer."
"Sure thing, boss." Stasis shuffled forward, still trying not to meet the poor guy's eyes. She let the cold ramp up a little, felt Erika raise her own efforts to match. It was kind of neat, trying to be a tandem event. Moisture finally started to bead on the black velvet, beginning to pool in the corners of the frame. They both watched, Erika possibly interested despite herself. Still, after about ten minutes of waiting, nothing seemed to be happening. Stasis sighed.
"It's not working," she grumbled. She reached out and ran a finger down the wet paint. "No-thing. It's not smearing at all." She held up her fingertip to the other girl, as if to prove the point.
Erika shrugged. "Maybe the stuff isn't water soluble." She frowned at the painting as if it had utterly failed to meet expectations which, perhaps, it had.
"Maybe. But man, I was sure this would work! Elvis Presley meets Dali, just how cool would that be?"
"Very cool. But as an experiment, this is a bust. We should knock it off before the walls start to peel."
Stasis sighed and stepped back, locking everything down automatically. The dampness of the air stuck to her lips and she licked them. "Well, shoot. Another awesome idea, dead before it's time. I'm telling you, somebody woulda paid money for a melted Elvis."
Erika flipped her ponytail over her shoulder. "Sorry, Snowflake. Just wasn't meant to be." The brunette looked around the quad and her eyes got a little wide. "But... we should probably get the windows open now."
Stasis twisted on one heel and blanched. "Holy... yeah. Before Aeon gets back and kills us."
Will you fight for your friend?
Yes.
"So pay attention to me; I don't talk for my health."
"I want you on my team."
"... So does everybody else."
"I want you on my team."
"... So does everybody else."