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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Jun 23, 2012 23:23:55 GMT -5
  Nell pressed her back against the wall of the bar, breathing in deep. Every curse she learned in the Spanish language flitted through her mind, fleeting and transient like terrified birds flying around in her head. On the outside, she looked entirely composed as she peeled herself from the brick. He was smoking a cigarette. She stared at him. "I'm going to leave now." The girl took one step forward before he waved his hand. A no. "Sorry, still have some questions to ask you." Her heart thundered in her chest. Brown eyes flicked down to the pinkie ring, the watch on his wrist, was he trying to be a stereotype? There was a scar on his neck, she saw it when she looked back up, past the pants, the leather jacket, to his sharp face. His nose was just a sliver, barely existent. She shifted, crossed her arms as if she could be in charge of the situation. "All right, shoot." He looked back at her for a moment, as if surprised she would speak so confidently. That's what she wanted, for him to look at her and take her into consideration. If she was going to be put through this, then she was going down with a scowl.
He lifted one eyebrow, taking the cigarette between his fingers and blowing out a puff of smoke. The chilly night air did not cause her to shake, even though her jacket was rather thin for this kind of weather. A light layer of snow paved the roads, mountains of slush pushed to the sides. The whoosh of cars that drove by is what she focused on, not the commotion in the bar, the music and the argument she could faintly hear as someone opened the door and walked in. They did not see the two at the side of the building, cloaked in the night's shadows. Her chest constricted as he took his time to speak. "You know this one, and I'm going to ask you until you answer me. Where is the money?" She didn't look around, did not look at her feet or try to avoid it. She looked him dead in his dark brown eyes. "And I'll ask you, how would I know that?" She should have been more tactful in this situation. Even if she tried to make it seem that way, all the shaking showed just how out of control she really was. He barely seemed fazed, though, and it was a good thing. He could snap so easily. "I'll answer that with this statement: I don't believe you. No one does." And I know why, she thought with a strange sort of heat, anger, and she had no right to be this time. Absolutely no right. Nell knew this would happen, but the fact that it wasn't Jane in front of her right now meant it had worked out for her. In some small, little way, she had the upper hand.
He sighed, dropped the cigarette to the ground and snuffed it out with the bottom of his shoe. The man stepped forward, and she didn't want to step back against the wall again, so she stood completely still. "Where's Cosmo?" And her stomach constricted again, but even though she panicked, she knew already what she needed to say. "That is none of your business." He had aided her, there was no way she would sell him out. And he was safe, long gone. That's probably why he'd helped her in the first place. Helped these guys get off her case for a little while. But now their attention was back on, magnified ten fold. She could handle it, except for one little thing, the next words to leave his mouth. "If you thought this would help, you're wrong. You can't hide, Nell, and Jane's not going to be so kind as to let you go. And not only you." She clenched her jaw. They had rules. It should be no women and children. But that didn't matter, in the long run. They still could hurt her, and they wouldn't even have to touch her.
Hands in his pockets, the man she still didn't even know the name of nodded his head and walked away. That's all he wanted. Intimidation and a warning. Oh god, she was going to die, wasn't she? And not just her. She pressed against the wall once more, closing her eyes. There was no reassuring herself that she'd be all right. She looked over her shoulder. Was she really in a fit state to drive? It wasn't safe to walk around downtown, she knew that, but she also knew a few people living here. Anna. Would she be home? It was her birthday today, and Nell knew what she wanted to get her, it would just have to be belated since she didn't have the money right now. Either way, it was to her apartment that she started off to, trying not to break into a run. That would only be suspicious. Nell found the apartment quickly enough considering her issues with direction, but cursed when she discovered Anna wasn't home and she couldn't find a spare key under the mat. It didn't matter as she took a bobby pin out of her hair and knelt down, looking around before working it into the handle, eventually hearing the click of it giving. She opened the door and walked into the dark apartment. Nell wanted to fall apart right then and there at the door, but she walked in and crumpled down onto the couch, not taking the time to remove her jacket or her boots before curling up into a ball. At least she had the courtesy to close the door.
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Post by lieanna on Jul 5, 2012 22:21:27 GMT -5
 
Spending the day out was never a bad idea. At least Anna didn't think so. Sometimes she needed to just get out of the house. She had taken her dog, Copper, with her, and went and spent a few hours at the park. It wasn't too bad of a day - but not the best either. Weather wise, that is. Anna always tried to have the best attitude as she could when it came to the outcome of her day. Now, she was walking back home, Copper happily prodding along next to her after a long day of playing with other dogs. She was almost jealous by how easy dogs had it. They didn't care. As long as you gave them plenty of food, water, shelter, and pet them every now and then, they where as happy as could be.
As she walked, with one hand in her pocket, and one holding the leash losely, she contemplated that thought. It was something she had always wondered. All animals had it pretty simply. She kind of wished she could just wake up, have somebody feed her, get a drink of water, piss, then sleep all day. But - that was kind of what being in a nursing home was all about wasn't it? She let out a long sigh, and a bit of her breath shown in the air as she continued to walk. Her apartment was only another block or two away, but she enjoyed the walk. Not that she would admit it, but it was actually kind of lonely living on her own. Her friends came over and visited a lot, but that was it. Besides that, the most she had was her dog. Which was all right, but again, all the thing did was sleep most of the time.
She walked up the door, and took Coppers leash off before turning the handle. That was strange, she thought, that the handle turned. She was sure she had locked the door before she left, but she just shrugged. She probably hadn't, as she had done a couple of times before. She sighed as she walked in, and copper quickly scurried over to the couch. She took her jacket off, and hung it up by the door, and flipped a light on. When she turned around, and took a couple steps closer to the couch, she stopped in her tracks and blinked a couple times. "Whoa," She started. Her best friend was curled up in a ball looking distressed. "Nelly, what are you doing here?" She asked, in not a mean voice, but a cautious one. Nell looked terrified. She walked over and sat down on the floor by her friend and gently touched her knee. "What's wrong dear?" She was concerned now. She hadn't ever seen Nell look so scared.
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Jul 13, 2012 3:38:05 GMT -5
Nell stirred when she heard Lienna enter, feeling immediately guilty for breaking in like she had. But this was Anna, she wouldn't mind, would she? It's still an incredibly rude thing to do, you dunce. She chewed at her bottom lip, anxiety wound tight in her gut. She'd need to explain to Anna what happeend, why she was here right now, sweating and breathing shallowly. It had worked. She should be reassured because those were hollow threats the man was making, but she couldn't help but fear this machine. She'd disabled a part of it, but it would still go strong, that was certain. And what was she in the face of that kind of might? Cosmo had assisted her, and he was long gone, which was why she felt comfortable enough for his help in the first place.
When Anna's dog trotted over, she let a soft smile curl at her lips and reached out a hand for him to sniff. She needed to calm down, but she couldn't help the thudding of her heart in her chest, the intense fear filling her up like a glass. She had to keep reminding herself that she wasn't going to die, but that didn't make her feel any better. It wasn't her she worried about. Or even Anna. Anna would be completely okay, the mob didn't mess with women. It was a piece of information that made her feel secure for Lark as well, who'd also landed on Jane's shit list for simply existed. Josh, Ethan, Devin, Matt and Gale...all of her male friends would not be so safe, and she was glad that Jane only knew one of them. Not too glad, though. She could never be glad for that. Nell shifted when she felt Anna's hand on her leg, the nickname strengthening her smile. She pressed her palm against her forehead, laughed lightly. There was no humor in it, as a matter of fact it might have been saddened. ”I'm sorry, I kind of broke in,” she said weakly, dragging her hand down her face until she was covering her mouth. Not the worse of her crimes, never was, never would be.
She pulled herself up, expression strained and still attempting to look normal for Anna's sake. The smile was a lie, it was the first time she ever had to fake anything with the girl. And what she was about to say, it would make her lying painfully apparent. She had never been not okay in her life. No, that was a lie. There were many times she had thought she hit the bottom, but she never actually had. But this...this was different. This was not the law, this was not some force where she knew exactly what she was going to get. This was the opposite of law, an organization that pretended to have laws and morals, an organization that sickened her. And Jane thought she could get Nell on her side. That now offended her.
After a long moment, swallowing hard, she wrapped her arms around Anna and rested her forehead on the other girl's shoulder. The feeling of closeness, Anna's breathing steady and sure, made her want to curl up and fall asleep and be safe in the one place she knew she could be. ”I might have fucked up bad,” she said shakily. She was trying to convince herself that it wasn't that way, that it would be fine, but there came a point when she admitted to herself that it just was not going to be all right. ”I walked here. I didn't think I should drive, so I walked. I wanted to see you.” She might not have been making much sense, but did she ever really? And this was panic mode, this was when she knew she would have to talk about things like feelings and when she knew that she just couldn't. She lifted her head, eyes trying to hold Anna's even though she felt sort of ashamed when she shouldn't. ”Happy birthday.” A soft smile touched her lips, and she looked for signs that the girl had aged, but shse looked like the same Anna, kind eyes and long brown hair and she wished she'd baked a cake.
She hadn't said what was wrong, had only said that she fucked up, and she bit her lip again, wondering what she could say that wouldn't freak Anna out. People were starting to learn too much about her personal situation, she was being stripped naked over and over and she needed it to stop. Right now. But here was Anna, the person she chose to come to in this moment of panic. She deserved to know things Nell felt she could never speak.
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Post by lieanna on Jul 27, 2012 22:23:45 GMT -5
Anna was not that great at reading people, but she was good at reading Nell. Mostly because the girl was her best friend. Hell, best friends where supposed to know each other like the back of their own hands. For Anna, that was true. She knew stuff about Nell that many people didn't. She figured that she probably knew her almost as well as Josh did. At least, she told herself that, even if it probably wasn't true. She loved Nell like she was family - but stronger. So the forced smile on her features hurt. "Hey hey, don't apologize. You can break into my house when ever you want." Anna said softly, rubbing Nell's back with her hand for a minute. She was worried now about what was bothering her best friend.
When Nell curled up into her, Anna wrapped her arms around her and squeezed her tightly. "You're okay..." Anna cooed again, stroking Nell's hair. She didn't let herself get shaken up at Nell's first comment. She was just supposed to be the comforting friend. She wasn't supposed to pry for information. If Nell wanted to tell her, she would. There would be no harm in asking, just not right now. She would hold off a little bit on that, at least until her friend calmed down. "You could have called and I could have come and picked you up, you know." She said, still stroking Nell's hair. "But you know you can come over any time." She said, before Nell pulled away and looked at her. Anna smiled softly at her, trying to reassure her that everything would be okay. Which she was hoping it was.
"Oh! Thank you.." Anna said, smiling brightly. She had almost forgot it was her birthday. Could she really be eighteen already? She cleared her throat before glancing towards the kitchen. "Do you want some water? I'm getting you some water." Oh yeah, like always, she didn't wait for an answer before taking action. She walked into the kitchen and pulled out two brightly colored plastic cups - even though she couldn't tell they where brightly colored. You know, with the color blindness and all. She then pulled a water jug out of the fridge and filled both cups with water. When she walked back out into the living room, she handed one carefully to Nell before setting hers on the table. "So." She started, before looking back over at Nell. "What's really going on?"
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Jul 29, 2012 12:16:11 GMT -5
Just being an Anna's company calmed her a lot. It took quite a bit to work her up in the first place, so it was pretty easy to calm her. And afterward, she just felt drained and exhausted. This time had something else, too--confusion. She didn't know what to do, she just could only hope that something good would happen. "Thanks, that's so sweet," Nell said with a small laugh as she rubbed her back in a way she imagined a mother would. She hated being so weak, but she felt good at the same time. She usually didn't allow herself this kind of thing, letting her defenses down in front of someone she cared about. The girl had yet to realize it wouldn't paint her as weak, just as human. She had a lot of issues with anyone seeing through her.
The physical comfort did well to take her mind off of it after, however. She continued to grip the Earth girl for deal life, her heartbeat easing up now that she was firmly out of danger's way. "I..." Nell started, but she didn't know how much to say, how much she should tell Anna. She lowered her eyes and told her, "It wouldn't have been the best idea." Not with him around. That would just be putting Anna in danger, and that was the last thing Nell wanted. It's why she was doing all this, to protect her loved ones. When Anna pulled away, Nell tried her best to smile as well, and it turned out pretty good. "Thanks," she said, always astounded by the kindness of her friends. They never let her down. Ever.
"I have your present, but you'll have to wait for it," she told the girl with a crooked smile. She didn't have it with her, after all, but she knew Anna was going to love it. She just wouldn't give her any hints. The surprise was always the best part of giving a gift. Maybe not, Nell liked every part. She let Anna get the water, and took a grateful drink of it when the girl handed her the cup. She really was thirsty, as she soon discovered. But Nell bristled with the question, feeling guilty because she wanted to avoid this question so bad. She didn't want to tell her the truth, because the truth was very ugly. But she'd already said some pretty damning things. "It's uhm...some bad people that my aunt's mixed up with. I tried to get them off my case, but she's persistent." Nell scratched her head. "I'm thinking of going to the CSIS." She knew the reputation rats had, they were not respected by anyone, even the people in a family who were actually good and never hurt anyone in their life. Because being a rat put your family in harm's way, but she wanted to make sure that wouldn't happen
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Post by lieanna on Aug 9, 2012 0:03:50 GMT -5
Anna probably cared too much about her friend. Nell was her best friend, though. Wasn't that what best friends where for, though? It was practically her job to take care of Nell. Well, she had Josh for that, but even though they where engaged, Anna still found it her job to protect and comfort her best friend. "Aww. I'm always sweet. Like sugar. I might melt." She said, laughing at her own joke. Yeah, yeah, she knew it was wrong to laugh at your own jokes but she was just trying to cheer Nell up. She knew just about everything about the girl, but everybody had their secrets. Everybody had their fears. It was only human, and nobody could help that. It just wasn't possible.
Hell, Anna wasn't afraid to admit her immense fear of closed spaces. And spiders. Hell, and birds. She hated birds. But her best friend had a room full of them. What was she going to do about that? She was going to suck it up and move on. But she knew a bit about Nell's past and knew that it wasn't as easy to get over as her own was. So she wasn't going to try and force anything out of her. All she could do was sit here and be supportive. "I understand darling. You're okay." She said, and pullled Nell tighter into her for a hug. "You're always safe here. Don't worry." She was good at being the supportive best friend. She always had been.
"Aww, you are too sweet." She said, smiling a little more at Nell. "I'm not worried about it though! You coming to surprise me at my house is just as good - if not better - than any present." She smiled warmly at her as she left to get the water. She figured Nell was probably thirsty as she took a big drink of water. "Next time you break in, if you're thirsty, the cups are in the cupboard on the far right." She said, smiling at her. She really didn't care about Nell breaking in. Hell, anybody else - she would probably care a lot. But she knew Nell wasn't doing it to hurt anybody. As Nell explained what was happening, Anna's smile dropped to a frown and she looked at her friend. " Wow. Well, that's not good." Anna said, glancing down and scratching her head. " That might be a good idea." She said, nodding at her comment of the CSIS. "In the meantime, if you need a safe place, you're more than welcome to stay here." She said, smiling and placing her hand on Nell's leg.
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Aug 10, 2012 0:47:23 GMT -5
As she wasn't quick to frighten, this was certainly noticeable. She didn't get emotional, or worried, she was perfectly unflappable. Always cheerful for no reason, but it was now clear that given a reason, she could be hurt. Even so, she was quick to recover. With Anna's comfort and the reminder that it could be worse, that she'd dealt with worse, she regained composure. It was almost funny to be called darling outside of a 20's black and white film. She'd never been called that before, it was nice but also kind of funny at the same time. She couldn't decide which was more prevelant. Maybe it was the hysteria that made her chuckle lightly.
In a nervous habit of hers, she bit her thumb, something rarely seen anytime. She didn't keep her hands in front of her face, that was usually a sign of shyness and that's not the kind of thing she conveyed through body language. ”So cheesy!” Nell said. ”But you're still getting your present. Everyone likes presents.” She wasn't so good with presents, but she wasn't good with birthdays either. She usually ignored hers and she was really glad that she never had a party. Appreciative as she'd be were it done for her, it still made her really uncomfortable to celebrate an event she really did not want to celebrate.
Nell blinked over to the kitchen and nodded. ”All right, no reservations about snooping through your things. Watch out.” She was a little better than that. Even though she treated the Chang residence like her own. At least she had finally come to accept the Dale mansion as her home, even if it took her a long time to acclimate. No matter how uncomfortable she was with anything, she'd definitely get used to it.
One thing Nell really loved about Anna was that she didn't ask questions. She was good with that. And Nell couldn't wait to get the woman out of the picture so that her friends wouldn't have to worry about that anymore. ”Thanks. I'm at Matty and Sandy's a lot.” Other than her own home, it was a good place to look for her if she ever went missing. It was strange to think of that and she knew why she felt the need to say this. Just in case the worse did happen. ”Did you have fun at prom with him?” she asked about Matt. Nell knew there wasn't anything going on between them, but she was going to tease anyway.
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Post by lieanna on Aug 12, 2012 1:20:36 GMT -5
Anna rolled her eyes a little at Nell and smiled. She was just trying to be a good friend. "Well if you insist." She said, looking over at Nell. Who didn't like presents? She did, of course, everybody did, but she had to at least pretend like she was being modest. To her a good present would literally just be sitting around doing absolutly nothing and talking about life and eating vegetable pizza. Vegetables, of course, because she was a vegeterian. She knew Nell wasn't - but her fiancee was, so Anna could share her vegetable pizza with Josh. He enjoyed it. It was always nice knowing other vegeterians so that she could share her creations with them.
Anna laughed at Nell and patted her shoulder. "Go ahead. I promise you won't find anything exciting." She laughed and shook her head. She really wouldn't. In fact, after saying that she sort of hoped that she did have something intersting. "We should go shopping soon... get some stuff to brighten this place up a bit." She said, motioning her hand around. She really had just about pretty close to nothing. That's what happened when you just moved into a place, though. She liked living on her own, but it was sort of suckish when she had to use most of the money she had on rent and groceries instead of decorating.
Anna always tried to hold herself up high with the fact that she took care of her friends. If Nell didn't want to tell her the whole story, she certainly was not going to pry. That wasn't what she was here for. She was just there to be a shoulder to cry on and beat up the bastards that messed with her best friend. "Well, that's a good place to be." Anna said, with a smile. She liked the Changs, and thought Sandy and Matt where both pretty awesome people. "Yeah, it was fun." She said, smiling back at Nell. Prom was a while ago, but they hadn't really talked about. Her and Matt had went as friends, and it was worth it. "Did you have fun at prom?" Anna raised an eyebrow, smirking at her a little. She had been snuck in, of course.
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Aug 13, 2012 2:09:58 GMT -5
Nell laughed, her voice mockingly maniacal. "You underestimate my sleuthing prowess!" she said, hands on her hips and chest puffed out. She actually did have pretty good detective abilities, or rather finding out things she shouldn't know about. The prospect of shopping made her grin. "We should go to IKEA!" she said. "Because you're a baller on a budget and everything. And it's awesome there." You didn't even need a reason to go to IKEA, it was fun just to hang out there. And it was cheap, but Nell had never gotten the chance to shop there when first moving to Canada. It was a pretty long drive, being that it was out of the Hollow. But it would be a great trip to make, especially with Anna.
Nell's friends were good people in general. Okay, maybe she didn't hang around some of the best influences, but she liked to believe that as an individual, she was very difficult to influence. In certain ways. She was definitely a people pleaser, though, and she would not deny that. She saw nothing wrong with it. "So you and Matt...nothing going on with that?" She grinned mischievously. She knew about Shakespeare girl, but he was playing coy with that whole deal and she wasn't even sure what was going on with that. The guy could be so difficult, especially when Nell was curious as she was. "No action after prom?" She winked, giggling as she did so.
Nell swirled the water around in her glass, seeming to think about the question. "Oh yeah, free food and everything. Always gotta love that. Especially the whole Ocean's Eleven deal I pulled. Though I didn't get a heist in." No, her goal hadn't been to steal something. She just wanted to go back to prom during a time when she wasn't feeling like...well, how she felt last year. No one had known about the depression, only her "therapist" and her fiance, who'd found out against her will. Speaking of... "Would have been better with Josh, but..." That wasn't possible, and she still enjoyed herself a lot. All she needed was her friends, ella familia. It worked out well in the end.
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