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Post by NELL DOE DALE on May 20, 2012 0:39:50 GMT -5
Nell tapped her fingernails lightly against the piano, the circular lights refracting off the ring on her finger. A, a, a sharp. The pattern went on monotonously, the instrument before her keeping only one hand busy as the other scratched the back of her head while Mr. Hart complimented her. ”You know your stuff! Tell me, what is your favorite opera?” The interest was flattering, but it still made her stomach twist, and not only because she hated talking about herself and her interests. This was an interest in her family, and she didn’t want to associate herself with him. He liked her for herself, she was sure, but what made him ask these kinds of questions was because it would be coming from the mouth of a Sinclair. ”I don’t choose favorites.” With a lot of things she couldn’t choose, because she couldn’t be sure that she’d experienced it all out there. She couldn’t even be sure with shepherd’s pie, because there is more food out there for her to eat! It would seem unfair to choose favorites with that. ”Can’t choose favorites? Why is that?” It seemed that his very being seemed to jostle with happiness. She looked around the room, the floorboards stripped bare, the windows that made up the wall. Homey, almost. Situated in the back as if a secret, another world. There was so much beauty in this place. ”Every single one is special, right?” she said. ”It isn’t fair to choose favorites.” He laughed at this, and it made her shift a bit. She didn’t like attention, it made her uncomfortable. She had to admire the people who went up on stage and presented themselves to a crowd on a platter. Nell always felt naked enough without a crowd of people watching her—she wouldn’t know who was sitting there, thinking about how she had killed her own murderer, how she should have been in jail.
He leaned against the piano, still looking very kempt and tidy. But not like her father in that intimidating, unapproachable way. His round face just beckoned people toward him. ”How about Madame Butterfly?” She beamed, even the name sending a thrill through her. ”I love Puccini.” She thought of the record her father gave her, the wonderful idea that he understood her in some way. He nodded. ”And Don Giovanni?” For her answer, she played a piece of an aria, her movements slow and gentle on the keys. She would have sung the part if she could, but she was no opera performer. That was not something she was capable of. The man clapped when she ended the song, and this had to be one of the most peaceful days she’d had in a while. No texts from Rafael, no Jane for she had off. All she had to worry about was her father’s health, and that was something she could accomplish without too much worry. ”Why don’t you perform?” Her smile was crooked. ”Oh, I’m not performer, sir. I barely have a grasp on piano. I just like opera.” And classical and music in general, but becoming a performer would be like becoming someone she didn’t want to be, right? Something she didn’t want to be. Mr. Hart wouldn’t understand, and bless his heart. His innocence worried her a lot, though. It made him more susceptible to Jane, and even though the two women were locked in a cold war, her aunt was willing to go places she would not. She could never take advantage of this man in his nice suit with his bright smile and his youthful energy.
Yet you can do it to your father. She brushed her fingers along the wood before closing the lid of the piano, sliding out of the bench and standing with a decisive click of her heels. The light was starting to dim, like it did on these winter nights. She could never say she hated the cold of winter even though her element wasn’t too pleased by it, because she saw the beauty of the snow, of the way the lights reflected off the ground. She turned to Mr. Hart and shook his hand, telling him so easily, ”I feel like I always have to thank you for this opportunity.” No matter how much she secretly hated her job, she needed to thank Mr. Hart for giving it to her, for giving her such a chance. It’s the money, she thought while detesting herself. ”Of course, my dear.” His smile was bright like those sunflowers she put in his office, and it broke her heart over and over. It happened a lot lately. ”I have to go out to the lobby, I invited a friend here today.” He laughed. ”Always with your friends, Nell!” She smiled at him. Now she was careful, though. Now she was making sure that Jane wasn’t around to lay a hand on anyone. She learned her lesson. It was safe today, though, and Nell headed out to the lobby, making sure that her blazer was situated on her body right, that there was no cat hair on her pants. She liked looking professional. Finding Caitlyn in the lobby, she boomed, ”It is I, Nell Shepherd, the one who was able to bring Cait out for a night of fun.” Dropping her hands as she had lifted them for effect, she asked much more softly, ”How are ya? Oh, and Happy holidays! I got you a little present, but you’ll have to wait.” She winked at her friend, laughter chiming from her throat.
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Post by CAITLYN AUBREE SOMMERLOT on May 20, 2012 18:05:04 GMT -5
Caitlyn rarely had time to just hang out with friends, honestly. There were only so many hours in a day, and she didn't think most of her friends would appreciate being woken up at some kinds of ungodly hours just because she had just finished with everything she had to do and wanted to hang out. She would have probably raged pretty hard at whoever did that to her... or at least, she'd try to, but she wasn't actually that good at raging hardcore at people. Fights expended too much energy, or... well, that would be her excuse for it. No, Caitlyn preferred things to be much calmer than that, and she honestly had enough to deal with, even without all the extra drama. Some of her friends thought it was kind of stupid, how much she had to do all the time, and that was... well, Cait had everything under control, so there was never any need for other people to worry about her. She was still glad, however, when she did get the opportunity to relax, take a break, and... really sort of just be taken care of by someone else. Having opted for an apartment in town so that she could be closer to work and the rest of her life in general apart from school, she occasionally got lonely on her own. Caitlyn was an independent girl, though -- she took care of herself just fine. It was still nice sometimes to fall against a friend and not have to worry.
She and one of her students, a tiny six-year-old named Marissa, had just finished up their lesson for the day. The girl was pretty terrible at piano, to be honest, though she'd been playing for a few months now, and Caitlyn... rather thought that Marissa might be happier outside running around or something, but this wasn't really her place to judge. Still, she was definitely a cute child, and so Cait sent her off still with a smile and a nod and a, "You'll get it next time!" She waited for the girl's parents to arrive, waved them all off with a bright smile and a few extra words of encouragement, and then gathered up her things, locking the door behind her. Technically, the community centre didn't officially teach piano or anything, but they did have a piano there and had been willing to give her the room for only the tiniest of fees. Cait didn't have a real piano back in her apartment that students could have played (and would have found it pretty weird as well as the apartment was really her own place), so after crunching the numbers a few times to see how much money she'd still be making from teaching the kids, she'd decided to go for it. She was glad of the opportunity to teach kids in an area that she genuinely enjoyed, too. Some of the kids did do very well... Maybe piano wasn't meant for all of them, however. Caitlyn set her things down in the passenger's seat of her car and then started off. She had a friend to meet!
Once there, she made her way into the lobby. There weren't many people around, and she wondered why that might be, but she didn't bother questioning it too much... not that there was anyone to ask about such things anyway. Hey, Cait didn't even know what was in store for the night! She did know that time spent with Nell was basically guaranteed to be great, however, so she just settled for waiting. Thankfully, it wasn't a long wait, because before long she heard a very familiar (and very loud) voice announcing her friend's presence, and she looked over. "Hey Nell," she greeted, but then she shook her head. "You make it sound like I'm a hermit!" Caitlyn was pretty much anything but a hermit... but then again, she could see why some of her friends might think otherwise. She was rarely around just to say hi and make small talk. To really make things work with her, people usually had to make plans, but she could normally take that initiative first, assuming she remembered to. Nell was good about such things, though, pretty understanding of it and willing to make plans. "Happy holidays! I'm okay, just enjoying break," she answered, smiling and nodding. It was definitely nice to have free time. "Hey, I have something for you too! Remind me later to go get it from my car, though... How are you?" Nell's gift wasn't particularly big or anything, but she didn't really like carrying things around for long periods of time.
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on May 21, 2012 19:13:13 GMT -5
Being in such a great mood, Nell waved both of her hands enthusiastically. She'd once been told that she was embarrassing to be around, but that was by her father and so she didn't take it seriously. Maybe she was. She still had her friends, and as long as they didn't voice any complaints she figured she was doing just fine. Nell laughed at Caitlin's claim, holding her hands behind her neck with an easygoing posture. No matter how much she matured, she was still a kid at heart. She brought a hand down and scratched her chin before flicking out her fingers with a soft noise of approval in her throat. ”Being a hermit isn’t all that bad. You get a beard, that’s a plus. Cool waterfall meditating area. Those are just neat." She wouldn't enjoy life as a hermit, though. That meant no talking to anyone! She'd lose her mind, and fearfully, that was quite literal. It was something she didn't want to entertain in her head. "Get working on that beard, my friend." she told her friend, face straight, nodding as she said this.
Nell nodded, her eyes bright with interest as the Earth girl talked, leaning forward a bit. She didn't like getting up into people's faces, but she tended to get close to people when they spoke. "Tell me about it," she agreed. It was always nice to keep busy--if anyone understood, it would be Cait--but breaks were just as nice. Especially when you're running on fumes, which Nell felt like right now. She tried not to acknowledge the exhaustion and strain, lest that make her stop in productivity. She gave up once. She wouldn't do it again. "The holidays are like a breather. No school or anything. You got any work over the break?" She always did. Oddly enough, her senior year of high school had been the worst. It was her first year of high school. And her last. It was odd thinking of that, so she tried not to pay too much mind. If she thought too much, she was just dragged to unsafe places in her mind. It wasn't necessarily healthy to have all these blocks and potholes in her psyche, like her mind was a street undergoing construction, but that's really what it was--living felt like a campaign in erasing the trauma of her past.
Nell's eyes lit up when Cait said she got a present. Now, Nell didn't like getting presents because she didn't like receiving anyone thanks to her ever-present issues, but she did love the sentiment behind them. "Ooh, I'm excited," she said in a sing-songy tone. She found she liked the overall spirit of the holidays, something previously alien to her. Christmas used to be aluminum trees and a good meal. She grew up in a place where she couldn't have the greatest things, but that went unnoticed by her. She was just a kid being a kid. "I'm doing really great. Don't have work tomorrow, so I can get other stuff done." As usual when she spoke of herself, she shrugged her shoulders. It was an unnoticed tic of hers, something she was never aware of, like she brushed off anything she said. "I hope you're ready for some opera. Tonight it's Christmas Eve. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Don't know too much of his stuff, but I've heard this one before." If she knew anything, it was opera. Mr. Hart had just learned this, clearly, as he was well-aware of the fact that her aunt wasn't too big a fan of opera. Nell knew why, and in a small way, she could sympathize with the woman. Still, it wasn't something that kept Nell from enjoying the arts. She and Jane just had leagues of differences, is all.
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Post by CAITLYN AUBREE SOMMERLOT on Jun 5, 2012 15:37:24 GMT -5
Being a real hermit, rather than this metaphorical title that people seemed to use for Caitlyn so often, would probably be horrible. Well...actually, when she thought about it, it wasn't such a bad deal, in fact. Nell was right about that much. "No... the beard sounds kind of itchy," she commented and frowned, imagining having beard lice or something terrible like that. She'd never had lice as a child, but she remembered a few vague instances in younger grades when, about once a year or so, her school had sent home letters informing the parents of a recent spread of head lice. She wasn't sure where beard lice would come from for hermits, as after all they didn't see anybody, but anything was possible in this crazy world. The waterfall meditating area didn't sound bad at all, however. She could probably use some time to relax. But being a hermit was such a stretch for someone like Cait, who spent so much time out and about and doing things. "I'll grow one if you manage to do so first." That probably wouldn't happen. Neither of them were well-equipped to grow much facial hair.
The holidays really were like a breather, and for Caitlyn, such breaks were very well appreciated. There was always something to do when there was school. Admittedly she still had a number of things to do during breaks, but these were always the best times to try and catch her, when she had the kind of flexibility that came with the absences of classes. She nodded when Nell asked if she had work, however. Of course there was. "Piano lessons... and I have a volleyball game coming up." The beautiful thing about playing on a more or less unofficial team was that she had actual say in what they did, and things could normally be moved around. She generally tried not to be too pushy, however, especially when it was because of a conflict in time. These were things Caitlyn should organize for herself. "Though I guess the volleyball's not actually work, so much. What about you, what are you doing this break?" She wondered if maybe Nell was lucky enough to go on a trip anywhere. Cait wouldn't have minded, but there was always something for her to do in Maple Hollow. Taking a few days off to go back to her parents' for Christmas was fine, but she wouldn't have been able to go for the entire month or anything.
Presents were definitely always something worth getting excited over, and Caitlyn smiled when she saw the light go on in Nell's eyes. She enjoyed giving people presents, and she enjoyed receiving them too, so she was kind of excited as well to see what this was. She hoped that Nell liked her present. "Stay excited," she advised, nodding and beaming. It would honestly be a little tragic if it turned out that her friend didn't like it, but now wasn't the time to worry about that. "Other stuff?" she asked curiously, wondering what this might include. Caitlyn herself always had things to do besides work, as well, though she had picked up a few extra lessons with her students for the month. She liked the little bit of extra money, money that could go to things she wanted to buy rather than just all the necessities, like rent. "Opera sounds great! I've never heard this one in full, only pieces," she said. She smiled in anticipation of the show, however. Nothing could go wrong with some good music and the company of a friend. "Rimsky-Korsakov, huh? This should be good!" It was a genuine sentiment, too. She knew a number of the Russian's pieces, but not many, and it was always nice to broaden horizons.
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Jun 5, 2012 19:46:28 GMT -5
Nell considered it. Would a beard be itchy? She couldn't say she ever felt one before. Her great grandfather had one, but she had never gone up to him and groped it. Though she was certain he wouldn't mind, as cavalier as he was. Mr. Hart had one too, but it did sound really odd to request to feel it. And unless Josh decided to grow one, she didn't think she'd be feeling beards anytime soon. "Nix the beard then. But still gotta have the robes and the staff." Hermits had those right? She wasn't just making that up? They sat up in their mountain shrines meditating on life. It sounded like a peaceful existence, one that she would actually appreciate. Especially this time in her life, when she needed some peace. She might just have to go up into the mountains around here. It could be similar to being a hermit, as secluded as Maple Hollow was. "I'll see what I can do about that. Maybe get some hormones." Testosterone, right? That's what she needed for this beard business they had going on.
Nell loved hearing about other people's lives, what they were doing. She had that 'ooh, ahh' expression on her face like she was watching fireworks instead of listening to Caitlyn talk about her routine over the holidays. "You're great at piano! You don't need any lessons." She waved her hand, even though she understood. Wunderkinds would practice until the day they died. She was sure her aunt did. She? Well, she tried to get her old jazz friend to assist her with that. He was good, but his vision was starting to go. "And volleyball sounds fun!" She loved sports, got way too intense about them sometimes actually. All in good spirit, of course. She was too nice a person to serious trash talk someone or anything like that. What about herself? If she told the details, she'd be here for hours corrupting her poor friend. "For sports, I have basketball. But mostly working and volunteering." They took up a lot of time. She didn't add in that she was caring for her convalescing father, dealing with her asshole brother. "And I have to try and find free time to get stuff for the holidays." Fun, fun. At least school wasn't in the way to bug her, even though she didn't hate it as much as some other people. It was still a priority to her.
Nell chuckled, her shoulders hitching up. "I'll hold my breath." Then for effect, she did just that, but she wasn't going to keep it in for long. She had an impressive lung capacity, but she was not going to show it off and turn purple and then have the hospital get called. Just too much going on right there. Cait questioned the other stuff, and Nell spared some time to think about it. "Yeah, I'm working on restoring a Pontiac and I'm trying to do as much as possible tomorrow." She knew she couldn't cram everything with that in, but she as going to try and do as much as possible on it. She grinned when Cait said that she'd never actually seen it. "Then you'll love it!" It had been a part of her childhood, one of the good parts, and she was excited for Cait to have a hand in it. Nell leaned in closer, "And don't worry, I'm packing food so we can sneak it in." She was just so badass, wasn't she? Then Nell placed a finger against her lips before asking, "So you ready to head in? Think they're setting up right now." She had nothing else she needed to do herself.
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Post by CAITLYN AUBREE SOMMERLOT on Jun 6, 2012 22:46:56 GMT -5
Well...if it had to be done, Caitlyn could let Nell haggle her up to a robe and staff. Personally, she'd rather not be a hermit at all, considering how insane she would probably drive herself with nothing to do all day. She was never free for long periods of time, weeks or months or anything. She had occasional days off, sometimes in a row, but there was never anything that actually allowed her to get used to the free time. "Well, if I had to be a hermit, I guess I could let you talk me into the robe and staff," she said, giving Nell a look of deep exasperation, as if these were the two things she wanted least in the world. There were probably far worse things. Beards, for instance. "I'll even wear a fake beard for you. Every second Tuesday of the month. But only if you promise it isn't itchy." She smiled as she said it, and she was pretty sure she was only speaking nonsense and gibberish at this point. Her smile only widened when Nell showed interest in her life, though Caitlyn found it pretty average. It was one of the things she loved about Nell, her enthusiasm for everything. "No, no... I got my piano certificate a few years ago after I did all the grades!" Come to think of it, that had been a number of years now. "I meant teaching. I do practice a lot by myself now, though." If she wanted, she supposed that she could find someone to help her along with that too, but she had such little time as it was. There was no way she could somehow fit in lesson space that worked for any teacher or helper. "It is! You should come see a game sometime, they're always fun." Her team had lost their last two games, but she was sure they would be able to get back on their feet. Things always got better eventually, after all.
It sounded like Nell kept a fairly busy schedule as well, but Caitlyn of course had no issues with this whatsoever. She was determined to make friendships work when she was close with people... Admittedly, she was a little bit flighty otherwise, willing to put the other things she had to do ahead, but it was different when it came to friends as nice as Nell. "Basketball, that's cool! How's the volunteering going?" she asked, curious. It was pretty fascinating, and part of Cait wished that she had the time to do it too. Well...maybe if she really tried she could, but she rather thought she had enough to stress over as it was. Not that she was a particularly stressed person, that said. "Oh, what stuff do you have to get still?" She wasn't sure if Nell meant presents, or if she had some ideas in mind for other things. Caitlyn gave her friend a worried look. "Please don't faint from lack of oxygen. That would be a hard one to explain." The body didn't actually work like that, she knew (she did know her science) but it was pretty amusing nonetheless. "Wow, that's awesome!" She didn't know much about cars, but she based her reaction off of Nell's tone. "When did you get a Pontiac?" She did know enough to know that they didn't just come rolling down the street at any old time. Nell's enthusiasm for the show they were about to see made her antsy to watch it as well, more than she had been before even, and she grinned happily. "Probably! And ooooh...breaking rules, you should be fired!" She made a "tsk" sound, but this was all done with a smile. "Let's go, then! Lead the way, Miss Shepherd." Nell was the one who worked here, after all, and while Caitlyn certainly knew her way around, she doubted that she did as well as an employee.
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Jun 7, 2012 15:26:04 GMT -5
It was not uncommon for conversations of strangeness such as fake beards to crop up for her, and it was wonderful all the same. Nell furrowed her eyebrows together as if thinking, and then nodded. "Okay, fine, I'll get you the beard and everything." She wondered if Caitlyn realized that she was serious about this part. She wouldn't force the girl to wear it, of course. That bordered on cruelty. Nell's eyes brightened. That made more sense, and she was so proud of the girl! "You did?" she crooned. "That is so awesome! Who do you teach?" She wondered how many people and what age groups they were in, all those details. Teachers were admirable people, and for one thing--patience. She tutored sometimes, but she'd never had experience in the area. Even when working at a daycare. She had to keep the kids busy, not ask them to find the square root of sixty. "Voleyball is so fun," she said. Well, depending on the people who played. She liked it when they actually took it seriously but weren't too hardcore about it. "Oh, I will. I'll be the one with blue face paint holding up a sign." She'd have to remember to make a sign for the girl, and cataloged it in her memory for the future. Even though she joked most of the time, she had some serious sentiments. Anything to support a friend.
The girl got a lot of slack when it came to playing basketball thanks to her height. But she liked to prove that it was not needed to be good at the sport. "It's pretty good. I've been there for a while, so the girls are starting to warm up to me." It was a halfway home for foster girls, which meant they were of the distrustful lot. They still didn't like her much, but she was fine with that. "I've gotta get a few presents for my friends, mostly. You know the ones who are the hardest to shop for." She mostly meant Angela, who she had no idea on. Probably because she wanted it to be something really special. The girl had been through a lot, thanks to Rafael. "If I died from that, there is someone out there who hates me." One couldn't die from holding their breath, so it'd be very sad if she did. And quite the story for Cait to tell. She scrunched her lips together as she thought of the time around when she had gotten the junker. "Early in the summer," Nell informed her. Then she squinted and moved her hand. "Well, it's not a Pontiac yet. She still has a lot of fixing up to do." Nell was betting on a few years. There were a lot of parts that went into it, a lot of work to be done. And the girl took it day by day, and when she was home she could most often be found under the hood of the car.
Nell laughed, waving her arms frantically and holding a finger against her lips to quiet Cait. She looked like an animated character, how much she moved around. "Don't snitch on me, man!" Even if Mr. Hart found out, she was sure he'd have mercy. Unless Jane got herself involved. She led the way into the house, walking around the stadium seating to take the stairs to the box. They were VIP, the two of them got the best seats. The lights dimmed soon after, and it was almost surreal when she realized that she was in charge of all this every seat and every row, all the lights. There were a few benefits to the job that she was willing to admit. And everything on stage as the curtains pulled back. She made sure the props were in the right place, that they would be stored properly. But not over the prop themselves. Nell didn't think about this as she watched the performance. When the lights came back up, she rose from her seat and turned to face Cait, "So how'd you like it?" she questioned the girl. She didn't say how she thought about it, because she never did think about her opinion on something. It always shocked her if someone even wanted to know.
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Post by CAITLYN AUBREE SOMMERLOT on Jun 12, 2012 21:14:58 GMT -5
Caitlyn still rather thought that the beard sounded itchy and uncomfortable, but now that she had already told Nell that she'd be okay with it, there was no taking it back anymore. Hopefully she wouldn't be expected to actually wear it, at least. She didn't think Nell would be quite so forceful, not unless it was some kind of joke. She did like joking around with Nell, though. "I did!" She didn't miss the look of pride on her friend's face, and it made her grin broadly. "Little kids, mostly, but there are a few older ones too. I teach just at the community center! They have a piano in one of those party rooms they have... It's fun!" She didn't have many of the more experienced, older, higher level students, as generally they stuck with the same piano teacher they'd always had, but there were a few exceptions, particularly now that the actual teaching had started taking off a little more. Still, she kept her students to a manageable amount, considering that most of the year she still had classes to worry about. She did enjoy teaching, though, but certainly not enough to actually consider it as any type of longtime career. No... Caitlyn's dreams were a little bigger than that, not that she didn't think that teachers (her ones at the Academy, for instance) weren't pretty awesome. "Oh, perfect! Blue's even our team colour." It really was, actually (well, blue and black) and Nell's correctness amused her for some reason.
She had no idea that the place Nell played basketball was actually a halfway home, but she nodded in understanding nonetheless. It was always nice to be accepted by the team or group or whatever it was in question. "That's good! How long have you been there?" she asked out of curiosity, referring to the actual team itself and not the home, but of course Caitlyn didn't really know. "Aw, it's not so bad!" She didn't really buy gifts all at once, though, not so much as in she had an actual list. Generally Caitlyn tended to buy things over the few months before Christmas, whenever things popped out at her or reminded her of people... By the beginning of December, though, she started legitimately looking. Nell's gift she'd bought a few weeks ago when she'd noticed it in a store. "Still, that must be nice! That's awesome. Where'd you get it from?" She smiled. Caitlyn really was pretty lost when it came to cars, except she knew that her own car ran (and was fairly new, actually, come to think of it) and that was good enough for her. Nell seemed excited, however. Cait pressed a finger to her lips as well, as reassurance that she wasn't going to tell, of course not, and followed her friend into the actual house. She was always blown away by how many seats there were, how many people would be watching... It was sort of a dream of hers to play somewhere like this, professionally, but that wasn't on the agenda for today. No, today was for watching, and she kept close behind Nell as they ascended the many stairs to the box up top.
She watched the show in silence, enthralled by the entire thing. She had always hated when people talked during shows like this, and so she was glad that she was with Nell and they were far enough up that people down in the stadium seats wouldn't be really audible. It was beautiful. Once it ended, Caitlyn turned her attention back to Nell, her head still kind of spinning, but she tried to refocus. This tended to happen once she'd been watching something for a long period of time, not that she was complaining. The classical music fan in her had very much liked it. "I liked it a lot!" she enthused, getting to her feet as well and giving Nell a tight hug for no reason whatsoever. "Seriously, thanks for getting us in here... This was really awesome. Opera's not even my thing, usually, but... Wow." She glanced back at the stage, still sort of in awe. "I'm so jealous of your job." She liked her own job, however, as well.
[ sorry there isn't much dialogue. :c apparently, caitlyn really wanted to ramble on in her mind. ]
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Jun 13, 2012 16:40:34 GMT -5
Nell was happy for Cait. Living vicariously through the girl, as a matter of fact. She couldn't help it, there was just so much energy in her! "I've never really been to the community center much. Not since my friend's little brother had this play for his school." The school didn't have enough money for an auditorium or anything like that, so they just used that place. Her friend had said that she didn't really need to come, but she knew the girl would have been bored and Nell didn't want her to have to suffer alone. Everything was better when you were with a friend. "Perfect! Now just to find the blue paint. Packed it away after football season ended." It was spoken matter-of-factly because it was true. She was big on football, not something that a lot of people even realized. But there was a lot people did not realize about her, a lot of little pieces that made up who she was.
Nell thought back on the time she'd spent in the place. At first it had been really stressful, and she knew exactly why. She'd been unprepared for how much she'd actually empathize with the girls there, how clear it was that she could have been one of them if fate didn't work out different for her. "It's gotta be eight months, now," she said, rolling her eyes up as if adding the months in her head. It seemed like longer for how much stress it was in the beginning. Even now. These were damaged people she was dealing with, people that no one wanted. It was a sad sort of place. "I don't plan on stopping any time soon. I kind of like it there." Because she got to help people, and Leana certainly helped with that, even though she was a sourpuss most of the time. Nell smiled back at the girl when they spoke of her car. It was certainly a very good topic for her. "My friend found it, actually. It was a junker, completely stripped down. Been working on getting parts together and everything. It's gonna take a while, though." And she was not exaggerating when she was thinking it would be a few years. There was a lot still to be done.
Nell chuckled when the girl hugged her, big on physical affection. She couldn't be what you called clingy, but her personality certainly came through in her physicality. "Awesome," she said with that laugh lacing her voice. "It really is the experience. And may the opera gods strike you down for saying such a thing." Even though she was a big fan, she was only joking. She knew quite a few people who did not like opera. Well...pretty much the general populous. She could understand that. A lot of people considered it boring, but she appreciated the arts and respected all the performers. "Aw, don't be. I basically make sure that everyone in here is doing what they're supposed to. If you want to stick around, you can see me yelling at the ushers." Still joking, of course. Even though she was in a manager position, she'd never yell. She couldn't remember the last time she actually did yell at someone. It was probably Rafael.
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Post by CAITLYN AUBREE SOMMERLOT on Jun 24, 2012 23:34:40 GMT -5
A play sounded cute, especially one with little kids in it, though she wasn't sure how "little" this little brother actually was. A little brother could have been in middle school or even high school, maybe, and that really wasn't quite as adorable. "Oh, how old are the kids?" she asked, fairly enthusiastic about the whole thing. She just liked children, honestly. Back at home, she had two younger siblings, a twin boy and girl who were only eight, which made her over a year older than the both of them. Caitlyn was the adopted one, however, but if it weren't for the fact that she looked nothing like the rest of the family, this would honestly be pretty difficult to remember. They were very much "real" siblings to her, and it seemed to be the same in return, which made sense considering the fact that they hadn't ever really known much else, either. "You paint your face for football?" This news somehow surprised her, but she didn't really understand why. It was somehow very much like Nell. "For every game or just sometimes?" The idea of Nell painting her face literally every time a game was on amused Caitlyn too much to be normal.
Eight months was a pretty long time to get to know a basketball team, Caitlyn thought, but then again it was a little bit different depending on how the team really operated in general, she supposed. She and the girls played casually as well as competitively, when they could find other teams, but they also made time to just... hang out, sometimes. Cait tried to make this a priority, along with seeing the rest of her friends. Nell, for instance. Despite this, if Nell and the girls on her team did things differently, it was probably a bit of a departure. "That's good! You should only do things you like." Caitlyn was sort of practical in that sense, but maybe she was also just lucky that her passion wasn't something particularly obscure. "A long while," she agree with a low whistle to emphasize the point, not that she really knew anything about that. She had never seen this car after all. Even if she had, it was unlikely that she would be able to give much input. This certainly wasn't Cait's area of expertise. "Pretty expensive too, isn't it, to get all the parts and everything...? Or did you already collect it all?"
She knew that Nell was only kidding, but still felt the need to defend herself. "Oh, but I never said that I don't like it!" she said, but the small smile on her face indicated that she wasn't really being as defensive as it might appear. Nell could probably figure that out, however. She sort of hoped the two of them were close enough for that at this point. "It really is kind of lovely when you actually give it a chance, though." She knew that most people didn't, but then again, most people these days didn't care much for classical or jazz either, and this was what Caitlyn knew best in terms of the arts. Of course, to be fair, she had pop and the like floating around in her collection of music as well. She was no snob about that kind of thing. "Hopefully the opera gods will spare me..." She laughed. "But you get all these fun perks and stuff! And yelling at people is fun!" Caitlyn said so, but the perfect truth was that she would be no good at yelling at anybody, and as far as she knew, Nell was the same. It might have been the Earth pacifism showing.
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