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Post by grey on Apr 8, 2012 15:49:12 GMT -5
The warm salty air danced with the sea breeze as Ian lay in the wet surf-broken sand. His eyes flickered closed, taking in his surroundings and feeling the cool ocean water tickle his toes as he lay sprawled out with his scratchy teal surfboard only paces next to him. His face broke into a peaceful smile. It’d been ages since he had been able to feel so relaxed, with no distractions around him. Summer’s always been Ian’s favorite season. Mostly because he was born in Australia and the warm breezes remind him of home, but honestly, the boy loves summer for one primary reason: surfing. It is insufferably stifling in the winter time when the young man deals with not being able to engage in his favorite activity. In Australia it’s a quick pace to the sandy surfside in spite of whatever month it was. But summer in Maple Hollow is a glorious time. The boardwalk busy and bustling with vendors, beachgoers batting around volleyballs, and lush sunlight draped around the lakeshore... Ian’s eyes snapped open and he quickly sat up in the turf, brushing back his soaked dark hair with a wet hand. Blinking away a few bits of sand from his eye, he smiled crookedly to himself and hauled his legs up from under him. Jogging back toward the beach with his surfboard tucked under his arm, Ian joined a group of friends further from the shore.
Of course he had already scouted the beach for another favorite of his: the many girls in skimpy beachwear. Although he never quite crudely whistles or engages any random woman on the beach, his interest in all the beautiful ladies packing the boardwalks is unmatched. But because of the natural charisma in his smile and the swagger with which he seems to stride around-- not to mention that raspy deepy Australian drawl-- Ian attracts a pretty formidable entourage of attention himself. And he’s pretty smitten with that. But today the lone joy-seekers seem to be a sporadic clustering of guys and girls, here and there. Nothing shockingly interesting or out of the ordinary, so Ian spent the day surfing instead of flirting, dancing, and wrestling playfully with potential new sex buddies acquaintances. Stepping out of his wetsuit and tossing on a button-up shirt with his beach boxers, Ian scanned the vicinity one last time before leaving with a group of friends. But lo and behold, a very interesting subject appeared on the horizon.
”Go on ahead guys.” Ian proclaimed loudly for his gang to hear. Their gazes drifted to where Ian was staring-- a cluster of girls arriving in beachwear. They chuckled and offered quick tidbits of bye’s and good-luck’s before heading off to let Ian have some fun on his own as he is infamous for doing. Today’s target was Sandra Chang-- a cleverly interesting young girl that Ian had bumped into several times at the Academy. He smiled at the luck of it all. Well maybe today will be interesting after all! As the young man crossed over towards the group with his unruly brown hair fluttering in the breeze, he adjusted a pair of aviators onto his face, completing the cool factor. He liked Sandra. She was sweet, and cute, and completely innocent. She was also a novice when it came to dating, apparently as Ian had heard from others. Though the aspect of “dating” was not what Ian truly cared about-- she was inexperienced in sex. And that was what was really interesting. Although he had introduced himself to her in bravado fashion, she never really appeared greatly amused by his advances. The flirting and vapid pursuit was fun for Ian, though he never succeeded in securing her fancy. He liked a challenge though. It’s never fun for girls to be that easy.
”Ello my sweet!” Ian appeared, propping his chin on Sandra’s shoulder and curling a nimble arm around her waist. Six foot one, he had to bend down to readjust to her smaller frame and when he did, he almost enveloped her. He smelled like tangerine and salt air, his scent almost mixing in with the tangible semblance of his slight Australian accent. ”What are ya doing here girlie? Miss me?” Ian teased playfully, planting a quick peck on her cheek, his chin still resting contently on her right shoulder. ”I understand you wanted to see me, but are we really resorting to stalking me now honey?” He offered a knowing wink.
♔ ♔ ♔ ♔ ♔ ♔ ♔
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[/font][/color] word count: 773 tagged: sandra (an) notes: god he's a lech! sorry it's short. [/blockquote][/blockquote][/size][/justify] |
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Post by SANDRA HARU CHANG on Apr 8, 2012 16:23:54 GMT -5
Sandra, along with a group of friends that kept changing, had been planning a trip to the beach for quite some time now. First it had been just her and two friends, then three others, and so on and so forth -- the Waters' friendliness was a blessing and a curse -- until eventually it had settled down to just the four of them: Sandra and three other girls, all of them Waters, although there had been a number of Earth and Wind elementals earlier if she remembered correctly. Things always came up, though, and it was a Saturday after all -- people always made different plans on those days to get away from the Academy. Sandra and the others, however, all being Waters, had a special sort of affection for the beach, because beaches meant there was a large body of water nearby, and in this case it was the lake. Of course, there was a lake by the Academy, but coming into Maple Hollow meant the benefit of ice cream trucks, normal Hollow citizens, and places they could go out to eat at when they later got hungry.
They were coming from lunch now, actually, at a nearby fast food place where nearly everyone was already in swimwear and other such beach gear, thanks to its close proximity to the lake. It may have been September, and everyone may have already been in school (whether at the Academy or just plain old regular school), but this didn't seem to stop teenagers from going out. Sandra was no real exception (and neither were her friends, really) and so, decked out in short shorts over a two-piece swimsuit, sunglasses, and flip flops, she followed along, happily chatting as they approached and reached the beach in short time. She inhaled deeply as she did so, the warm breeze carrying over the scent of the lake. From an elemental standpoint, there was something beautiful about the feeling of all that water being nearby, and from the standpoint of a teenager, damn that did look like fun. She could tell her friends were thinking the same, and so was about to suggest they headed straight for the water (sand was just a byproduct of the much more inviting lake, after all) when she was interrupted by an all too familiar voice and the sudden presence of someone hanging onto her shoulder and waist.
This presence, of course, of a person who had to be much taller and bigger than her, meant that she couldn't very well turn around and shove him off of her, but her friends' faces told the story, though they said nothing. Her suspicions were confirmed when she turned her head to find herself all too close to one Ian St. Gilles, and she frowned deeply at him. "Ian," she greeted unhappily, not one for trivial things like surnames even when confronting someone like himself. "Well, no, if I knew you were going to be here I probably would have stayed home -- why would I stalk you?!" By "home" she meant in her dorm, or at least at the Academy, but it would be far too familiar to start blabbing about the details now, and she tended to try to use as few words as possible when dealing with him. She placed a hand on his wrist, not removing his arm from around her waist but applying pressure to warn him to remove it himself, but Ian dwarfed her and she was sure that this pressure wouldn't work. The kiss on her cheek made her scowl, though, and she mustered every mean feeling in her body to glare at him. "Stop that. What do you want?" She could feel her face going extremely red, and she couldn't tell if it were from embarrassment or anger, but she was sure both were pretty plausible. Sandra was an extremely affectionate person when it came to friends, but people had no real right to be all over her like so. Especially people like Ian St. Gilles. The very worst type of person, she thought but didn't say aloud, trying to keep things nice.
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Post by grey on Apr 8, 2012 17:22:54 GMT -5
The calm and almost blase way of which Sandra greeted Ian only piqued his interest. She wasn’t easily intimidated or spooked, that was for sure. He knew this from the many advances he had made toward the spunky girl. But as her feathered retort hit his ear, Ian cringed his face in fake hurt. ”Ouch, do you really hate me that much” He pondered in faux exasperation yet sporting a crooked smile on his face. Ian knew Sandra to be generally easy-going and friendly to most crowds of people. Being a Water elemental, it was only natural for her to possess a great presence. She was incredibly personable and affable, and Ian was drawn to that sunny attitude of hers. However she couldn’t be more concerned with his various tactics of flirtation... In fact, most of the time, she was rather annoyed by his growing boldness in pursuing her. He honestly couldn’t figure out why. He too was an outgoing and powerfully magnetic young man with more friends than he could count. It always seemed that her sunny disposition would cloud into a mass of thunderous irritation whenever he touched her, stole her book from her, or shouted her name loudly in a library to annoy her. The scowl that escaped her lips when he planted a quick kiss on her cheek amused him to no end. God, it was so much fun to pick on such innocent girls. The ones that have done it all and seen everything are fun, but that corruptible non-aspect about them is just so boring. He liked a party girl every so often, but new game is even more appetizing.
Her retort was full of impatience. It seemed that she really just wanted to get back to her group of friends and have fun on the beach by themselves. Ian could see this, but that just made the game more fun. He’s got her here now-- and he intended to keep her company all to himself. Not until he exhausts his game completely. ”Why are you so mean to me, Sandy? And why do you keep assuming I want something?” Ian asked her in a playful tone. Although the lad is usually characterized as a lecherous womanizer, he is generally capable of plain and innocent teasing as well. The sprightly nature of which he possesses in fooling around with friends is unmatched. ”I’m just happy to see you, is all.” His voice, like candy, teased her subtly. He swayed her back and forth with his arm still around her waist and smiled at her wittingly. Honestly, if anyone had been observing the two from a distance on the beach, they’d almost assume Ian was some poor playful sap crushing on her. That was how good of an actor he was.
His attention finally diverted itself and Ian brought his blue gray eyes up to observe the small knit group of girls that were with Sandra. One remarkable thing about the Academy at Maple Hollow was that it seemed as though there were always crowds of good-looking ladies everywhere. He couldn’t help but shine a toothy smile at the three others who observed the scene with pensive glances. ”Ho, these your friends?” Ian asked excitedly finally plucking himself away from Sandra, whom he was almost strangling with inappropriate show of affection. Extracting himself from her, he merely glided to another girl and placed an arm around her friend’s shoulder, a cheeky expression plastered on his face. ”Afternoon ladies.” The boy mused charismatically. ”I was planning on today being just a date between me and Sandy over there” he nodded at her knowingly, ”but if the three of you wanna join us, I can’t really complain.” Ian finished, the smirk spreading across his face and lighting a mischievous flicker in his dark soulful eyes.
♔ ♔ ♔ ♔ ♔ ♔ ♔
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[/font][/color] word count: 677 tagged: sandra (an) notes: god he's a lech! sorry it's short. [/blockquote][/blockquote][/size][/justify] |
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Post by SANDRA HARU CHANG on Apr 8, 2012 18:34:53 GMT -5
The answer was sort of yes, but Sandra didn't say this out loud, just continued forwning at him. She wasn't as mean as that, not really, but it was true that more often than not, Ian would bring out the nastiest feelings she really had in her. He was exactly the type of person she couldn't stand -- the bully who picked on those he deemed weak or nerds, and that in particular was something that hit close to home for Sandra, who'd been picked on as a kid. Bullies were awful, and there was really no other word for Ian than that. While the fact that he was completely all over Sandra was bewildering in the sense that she was completely inexperienced in any way when it came to dating and sex, it was also really quite troubling, because Ian was basically the most despicable type of person as far as she was concerned. The problem was that there were jerks, people who were rude and obnoxious to nearly everyone, and then there was Ian, who actually got along with a good deal of people, including a few of her own friends, she was sure. Did she hate him? No, Sandra probably didn't really have what it took to hate a person, but people like Ian were probably as close as she was coming to it.
"If you didn't want something, you wouldn't be here right now," she told him logically, now practically with a vice grip on his wrist so long as his arm remained on her waist. She was naive, in a way, when it came to friends -- the one who would drop everything at a moment's notice to rush to the aid of someone she cared about. She wasn't, however, stupid -- perhaps the fact that she was already so predisposed to dislike Ian disillusioned her -- and she heard gossip and, sometimes, passed it on, and she was smart enough to realize exactly what he wanted from most girls he associated with. The other option, of course, was that he was just a jerk who liked to bother people for fun, but this seemed a little out there, even for him. "Flattered," she said, without the usual air of sing-songing that would usually accompany a comment like this. She tried to stop the swaying, make herself (and him, as he still hadn't moved) stand still, but it didn't work out too well -- he had to be much stronger than she was, after all. "But you probably shouldn't be that happy." The feeling wasn't reciprocated, after all, even if he were being honest.
"Well --" Sandra was about to answer, but stopped when he got off of her in favour of one of her friends. She couldn't pretend that she wasn't relieved that he'd finally left, to be honest -- he was definitely unwelcome anywhere close to touching her -- but she frowned as he just attached himself to her friend. Her face had to be practically glowing red now, as she observed the look on her friend's face, mostly uncomfortable. Sandra supposed that, actually, though she herself was quite unversed when it came to boys, it was lucky for her that she wasn't easily intimidated. "Stop harassing my friends," she said irritably, crossing her arms over her chest. "And this is not a date!" She hadn't even known that he was going to be here, and in fact this was all kinds of surprising (among other things). She took a long, deep breath, observing the four of them -- Ian and her friends -- skeptically. He was a jerk, but there was no real need for her friends to have to deal with him too, not since he'd made it clear that he was here to bother her. She walked over and, albeit with a bit of difficulty considering their vast difference in height, dragged his arm off of her friend's shoulder (much to the other girl's relief as well, it seemed), then dropped it immediately. "You guys can go... I can probably handle him." They were probably itching for the water, too, much like she was. They would probably already be there if it weren't for Ian. She watched as they walked off before turning back to fix her unwelcome companion with a stern look.
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Post by grey on Apr 8, 2012 20:59:44 GMT -5
Each one of Ian’s advances were blasted away with concise retorts on Sandra’s part. He was amused by the confident nature of which she handled his very forward comments. And even more so by the collective quiet glances of her clearly spooked friends. Who was this guy? He waltzed in here without so much as an introduction and wrapped himself all over Sandra like a snake. Ian never gives up easily however so these rebuffs only fueled his desire to win over the immovable girl. He flashed his magnetic smile once more, taking her disguised insults in stride. But as he managed to latch himself onto her group of friends, he saw her apathetic temper evaporate into a more proactive stance against Ian’s forwardness. ”Who’s harassing anyone? You guys enjoy my company don’t you?” He tightened his grip on one of the girl’s shoulder, giving her a playful squeeze while smiling at her with a friendly look on his face. The way of which Sandra exclaimed against his declaration of a date almost amused him greatly. Snarky girl... would be pretty difficult to win over. But his blood boiled, wanting more than ever to conquer the seemingly impossible task.
She did something selfless in the next moment. By sending her friends off, and in turn saving them from Ian’s predictable flirtations, the young man was slightly impressed with her resolve to spare her friends from his insipid pestering. As they marched off sneaking glimpses back at Ian and Sandra, fearing rightfully that this whole day was going to be disastrous, Ian only offered a teasing wink before diverting his attention back toward the subject of his fancy. ”Don’t look so glum, girlie. I’ll make sure this day won’t disappoint.” Ian smirked and patted a hand on her shoulder with a twinkle in his eye. An idea popped into his mind in that moment. Smiling, he strode over to the boardwalk where he propped up his surfboard. He retrieved two boards-- one lying haphazardly in the sand belonging to a friend, and his own. Returning, Ian chuckled and bent down facing Sandra, noses almost touching. ”We’re about to have some fun. You’ve ever surfed?” He asked, his voice filled with genuine enjoyment. Shoving the board towards her, he began to jog toward the surf. ”You comin’, girlie?” He whipped his head around to ask.
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[/font][/color] word count: lazy tagged: sandra (an) notes: i'm really tired and wanted to finish the post. sorry it's SUPER SHORT. 0_0 next post will be longer promise. [/blockquote][/blockquote][/size][/justify] |
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Post by SANDRA HARU CHANG on Apr 8, 2012 23:41:07 GMT -5
She had to admit that Ian had a few things going for him. She could see, in the end, what made him popular, not only his looks (which, while nice, were really not enough to win Sandra over at least) but also the charm and open friendliness that he possessed. But not for everyone, she thought to remind herself, always keeping in mind how mean he could be some of the time, when he was just as "clever" but insane amounts less charming. "You," she accused a little angrily this time, all the while trying to keep her head cool despite the discomfort she felt at the entire situation. She had been holding her own so far, Sandra thought, but Ian was grating on her nerves extremely quickly, and his being there was very unappreciated. Nobody came over with his supposed charm and smoothness and proclaimed himself on a date with her. No, no way. Not when it was Ian. Not when it was a jerk. Not when it was with the intentions that she just knew he had, inside his mind, whether or not he was as forthright about it as she knew that he must be with other girls. Or maybe not... She supposed that she would never know, and she decided that she didn't really want or need to, either.
"Glum" wasn't the word that she would have used to describe the way she felt (or looked, probably), but she said nothing to this, just kept her face just as stern and possibly a little annoyed as she looked at him. She could see her friends, walking off, out of the corner of her eye, and she thought she could see some movement that looked suspiciously like they were still eyeing back here, but she didn't turn to look back at them in turn. Now that she'd sent off her friends, she intended to do exactly as she'd said she would -- handle him -- but how she was going to do that, she didn't know. It took her a few moments to think of a comeback, so he was already halfway to the boardwalk before she called after him, "I think I'd rather be disappointed!" He came back with two surfboards regardless of this comment, though, and she stared at him with wide eyes, like he had gone crazy. She wished suddenly that she'd gone with her friends, but then he might have followed them... That might have been worse. "...No," she answered at last, after deciding that simply ignoring him and walking away probably wasn't an option considering he was within an inch or so of her face. God, she hated people like Ian. This was an invasion of personal space even for Sandra, who had very little concept of such a thing.
As it was more or less shoved right in her face, she reached out and took the board out of instinct, but she didn't follow after him as he immediately took off jogging for the water. It was surprising, a little, that people could actually surf on the lake, but she supposed that it was a fairly big one, as far as lakes went... Nothing compared to the beach closer to the coast, of course. There was no place like home. She bristled again when he called her "girlie", but didn't answer, instead trudged after him with the board that had been thrust into her hands. "Why am I following you?" she asked in a rather displeased tone, once she'd more or less caught up. It was mostly a rhetorical question, but one that she felt he would probably answer anyway, considering who it was. She didn't look at him, though, just obediently followed with the borrowed surfboard, staring longingly off at the water so that she even forgot to scowl at Ian.
(no problem at all~ ^^)
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Post by grey on Apr 9, 2012 15:20:35 GMT -5
It is usually astonishingly hard to win over girls like this. Girls who have integrity and have dealt with people like Ian, people who were overly affectionate and overly confident in their abilities. Girls who knew exactly what these sorts of guys are after and who will turn their nose away even when given the opportunity to interact with them. They were a completely different breed from women that throw themselves at Ian and paint themselves up with makeup and perfume, and who are willing to take any occasion to flirt mercilessly. He loved his ladies equally, but there was something more satisfying about the elusive catch. Ian chuckled to himself, giving a slight wag of the head, shaking the thoughts from his mind. On some subconscious level, perhaps this need to alter the innocence of people came from a drive after seeing his own mother submit to the illusion that Rowan St. Gilles-- Ian’s father-- was still present in the family’s lives. Soft-spoken and pure, his mother would latch onto anything anyone told her despite any mounting evidence that she had been betrayed. This willingness to trust others brought so much malice and tension in Ian’s life that he had some twisted need to alter people... change their psyches... make them readjust and reevaluate their attitudes and see truly how dirty the world was. Because innocence is the easily most corruptible thing in the world.
He snapped away from his little daydream, the disjointed reasons for his actions fluttering away into the wind. Placing a hand on his hip and swinging around to see if the girl had even followed him, he squinted in the sunlight to inspect his surroundings. Stretching a smile across his face, he impatiently shouted out towards her. ”Stop muttering to yourself and hurry up!” The boy chuckled, clutching his sandy surfboard to his frame. Ever since he was a little child, one of the only things he loved about Australia was the ocean. Despite having an askew family life, the stability brought on by jogging along the white sands, or hanging out with friends by the pop shop, or cruising along the waves on a body-board were some of the best times of his life. He loved sharing this passion and sharing the feelings of freedom that came with gliding through choppy waters. Although the lake isn’t nearly as magnificent as the broad blue sean, he liked the fact that he could get a little taste of home here as well. When the girl finally caught up to him, Ian smiled at her with uncharacteristically open and fresh eyes. Taking the lead again, he walked towards the calm surf which had quieted down. Normally the currents were rougher in the morning and at night. By midday, things usually tended to die down, so the only thing to do was bodyboarding. It was equally as enjoyable, but it never gave the same rush that surfing did. He gazed off toward the lake, propping the board against his arm by his left side so that Sandra could join him on his right. ”It’s a little harder to find the right current midday,” Ian said, ”this lake definitely isn’t the grand ‘ol blue. Now there’s no comparison there.” He laughed, musing at fond old memories. His pale blue orbs flickered in the sunlight.
”I was raised in Australia, you know?” A genuine smile. ”One day you should ride the real surf. There’s nothing like that at all. I used to go out everyday in the afternoon after-school to surf with some old buddies. Oh it was one hell of a good time. You know that’s gotta be the thing you miss most when you leave home. You might not realize it, but it’s the small things.” He nodded knowingly at her, a confident smile etched onto his face. ”Like the sand there-- you can never find that same sand anywhere, you know? Even the air smells different.”
He touched his toes to the water, letting the coolness nip at his feet. ”You’re lucky you’re a Water, Sandy.” Ian said finally, scratching his hair. ”What I wouldn’t give to feel more at home in my element...”
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[/font][/color] word count: 740 tagged: sandra (an) notes: lol this whole post was like an expose xD. i kinda waited ian to be a little more likable after this post. [/blockquote][/blockquote][/size][/justify] |
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Post by SANDRA HARU CHANG on Apr 9, 2012 16:44:59 GMT -5
She didn't bother to quicken her pace when told to, instead stubbornly continued at the same pace. It wasn't out of laziness for once (although with Sandra, that was usually a pretty plausible explanation for everything), but rather because she didn't like the idea of doing whatever someone like Ian St. Gilles told her to do. Still, she eventually made it there, at her own pace, looking up at him a little bit defiantly, only to find that he was smiling at her. It wasn't his usual smile, either, the one that she always interpreted to mean that he believed himself a winner and that he could get whatever he wanted from people because that was what winners got. No. This seemed much less like a pretense and much more free, and for a second she almost smiled back, happiness such a part of her nature, but she turned her head back to the lake first, and it was easier to smile out at the water, now that it was so much closer. This time she followed him without complaint down the water, the immediate presence of the lake now making her forget that she harboured quite a bit of ill will for the boy she was now following. She was near the water, though. It might have been misguided, but as far as Sandra was convinced, even Ian, with a year over her, had nothing on her so long as she was... in her element, literally and figuratively. He didn't seem to want to start anything, but it was always best to be prepared, her mother would say. Just in case.
Ian stopped where the water started, but disregarding him for a few moments, she took the few steps further into the lake so that it came up to her ankles. She kicked a bit of water back onto the sand just for fun, not exactly aiming for Ian, but a few stray drops hit his leg anyway. Sandra didn't take much mind of this, just grinned, turning around toward him again but facing down into the water. There was always something special about the water. When she noticed finally that he was talking, she looked up to face him again, not even exactly what he was talking about but trying to focus in anyway. "Not the ocean," she agreed with a shake of the head. "Not even close." She cocked her head to one side now, listening as he recounted his childhood. Australia... She had never been to Australia. She'd obviously been to Canada, as it was where she lived, and the United States, and to Japan and China only once each, to visit the family she still had there with her parents. She supposed that was the closest she had come to Australia, though, but culturally and geographically, they were still nowhere even close.
Ian's accent had tipped her off before, that he was from Australia, but it hadn't ever really occurred to her that he must have had a life there at one point. He retold it and, suddenly, there was a smile -- not like his characteristic stupid smile, not even like the one from before. Genuine. She was no longer glaring, but if she had been, it would have been pretty difficult to do so when he looked like that. "I live in Vancouver," she told him after a moment, suddenly feeling as if it were pertinent to tell him this after he had just told her about his own life. It had seemed vividly real when he'd told it, too. "You don't need to tell me what the real ocean is like." She was sure, to an Australian, their silly Canadian beaches here up North were nothing similar, but Sandy knew the exact feeling of the difference between this lake, nice as it was, and the ocean -- in her case, the Pacific. "But... you know. Make a new home." She shrugged a little bit, stirring the water up a bit with her foot, looking away again. She wasn't trying to be insensitive to his homesickness (if her interpretation of his mood was correct), but really, it was what had to be done. Making a new home never meant leaving the old one, either, she thought as she reflected on all the memories of Vancouver.
She watched him dipping his toes into the water, almost gingerly it seemed to her, and didn't say anything for a few moments. It didn't occur to her, this one time, to instruct him not to call her Sandy, when usually she would have frowned at how familiar that seemed, as if they were friends. "What's wrong with being a Wind?" she asked at last, not knowing how else to respond to this, but at least her voice no longer had the rebellious edge that it had only minutes ago when he'd first made his presence known to her. The ability to easily trust in others was sometimes a curse.
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Post by grey on Apr 10, 2012 16:36:41 GMT -5
The whole day’s attitude seemed to ease up a bit. The aggravation he must’ve caused Sandy was slowly beginning to dissipate. Although Ian was an undeniable douchebag of epic proportions, he had a very unique skill of attracting people to him without much effort. And people’s qualms, when they are around him, seem to vanish as well. The adrenaline rush of this afternoon with his surfing session and the excitement he felt when he spotted Sandra died down a little too, settling into a more calm and pleasant mood. The naturally perky girl appeared to have settled into it as well as she kicked around her feet in the cool water, sending several drops at his legs. Ian smiled contently. Even what he began to tell her seemed to be getting absorbed as well, becoming less of a chore and more of a natural conversation. Many people hated it admit it, but when Ian has no real ulterior motives or wasn’t outwardly flashy with his attempts to bed a girl, he had a natural draw about him. This magnetism was one characteristic about him that brought girls to him nonetheless. So it’s with a little exaggeration that he used solely his lechery and boldness to convince someone to hook up with him. Ian could be quite an able gentlemen when he wanted to be although this did not seem to happen that often. As they splashed around for a bit and he listened to Sandra’s submissive replies to his own musings, he smiled. But when she very nonchalantly suggested an easy solution to his homesickness, Ian’s ears perked. He swiveled his head to look at her, blinking once with a nearly unreadable expression on his face. It was an interesting suggestion and he almost chuckled. ”A new home? Well that’s a pretty weighty suggestion. You don’t know anything about my situation at all!~” Ian said in a loud but very teasing voice, faking melodrama. Although he wasn’t really faking it-- his life was a pretty complicated and dramatic one. All of his issues at home compounded the longing he felt for mother Australia. When times were still simple and people were still oh-so good in his youthful eyes.
He laughed however. ”Nawh I guess I’m not complaining. Life’s pretty good here.” Ian continued, splashing his feet. The waves were beginning to die down unfortunately as he observed with a concerned grimace. No more time for surfing it seemed. But when she asked why it was so bad being a wind, Ian laughed. He also noted the disappearance of an edge in her voice, as if she was earnestly pondering his words. ”No no, I didn’t mean it like that..” Ian said, ruffling his hair back as the breeze shifted a few strands in front of his face. ”Just that... I’m jealous of you. A water elemental and all. I love the ocean. It’s my baby and my solace, I don’t see why I couldn’t have been the one born a Water.” He explained himself although he left out more adages about his adventures in the shores of Australia. There was no rational way to defend his partialness to water. It was a cleansing thing and had bought him so much stability in his life. Whenever he was down or had been in a fight with dad, the rocky shores would always call out to him. He could spend hours in it, feeling nothing but soothing sensations rock him into a distant world. Wind, on the other hand, was so fickle. It could be a harmonious breeze one moment but a gale of force the next. Nothing about it was predictable. Ian furrowed his brow at the seemingly conspicuous metaphors of his life.
”Although I guess it’d be a little weird for me to be a water.” He said finally, scratching his head. ”I’ve been told that my irascible temper wouldn’t fit the mold well of one.” he finished smiling at her with a shrug. He would be better suited as a Fire or Thunder with his mercurial moods and flaring outbursts. But fate having placed him in Wind seemed to be another facet of his life he couldn’t understand. What was his purpose here? The many different thoughts confused him greatly.
”Come on.” He said suddenly snapping from his thoughts, flashing a grin at her. ”There’s a whole world waiting for us.” Ian proclaimed, referring to the grand lake before them untouched as of yet. The happy-go-lucky tone creeped back into his tone as he held out a hand to Sandy with exuberant eyes. The water awaits.
♔ ♔ ♔ ♔ ♔ ♔ ♔
"- - - - - - - - - - - - - C U T M E H E R E
[/font][/color] word count: 809 tagged: sandra (an) notes: he went in without a surfboard btw (the part at the end where he offers her his hand. [/blockquote][/blockquote][/size][/justify] |
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Post by SANDRA HARU CHANG on Apr 11, 2012 18:09:18 GMT -5
He was right when he said she didn't know anything about his situation, whatever that was, but she didn't really want to, either. Sandra was the type to care about people and wonder and want to make sure that everything was okay for everyone, but Ian seemed to fall outside of this. He was one of few exceptions but probably a major one, one of the closest things Sandra had to an enemy. That was a pretty hilarious word, enemy, pretty unlike life because in reality she was likely to turn and walk (or run, depending) away. There was a special kind of hatred -- well, dislike -- for people like Ian, though, and she had no desire to get to know said people. She could get positively mean, even, at least mean in her own standards for herself... but at least she tried to keep things civil. Sometimes it was difficult -- sometimes it was much easier. Right now was one of the easier times, listening as Ian talked about where he'd grown up and what his life had been like and so on. A tiny part of her felt that this wasn't so bad, but most of her wanted to return to her friends -- they would probably be there all day, so there was no real rush, but she'd sort of been hoping that he would get bored and leave. This was, apparently, not the case, so she resigned herself to her temporary fate, considering other ways to leave the situation, but all of them were sort of mean. "Yeah, I don't," she agreed instead of enacting any of the plans being formulated in her head. "Don't need to."
Life was grand, indeed, she thought, then almost laughed out loud at how old and weird that sounded. She didn't, though. "Friends and the Academy and a lake," she said, nodding. "Couldn't be much better." No, that was a lie -- she was sure that she could think of plenty of things that were much better. Maple Hollow had plenty of things and was a home away from home in more ways than one, but there was just something missing in it that larger cities had, or coastlines had, or any number of other places had. No, no... but Maple Hollow was lovely. She wasn't going to complain about it. She did regard Ian with a look that probably told him bluntly that she was a little weirded out by this sudden revelation, but she didn't otherwise know what to say. Her element was her element. It wasn't something she'd chosen upon arrival at the Academy, or even before that. In fact, she thought, if she hadn't known anything and someone had shown up and asked her, she might have chosen Earth. No... elementals didn't exactly operate like that. It was pre-determined, something they were born with because of a number of science- and genetics-related gibberish she didn't exactly understand. She did know that there was no picking and choosing. "Being a Wind doesn't mean you can't love the ocean more than a Water," she pointed out. Maybe it wasn't true, maybe she'd just made that up on the fly -- she didn't really know, either. "It's all genes anyway, you know. Can't pick this stuff." Clearly, someone in Ian's family was a Wind, or had been a Wind, or something.
She noticed the way his eyebrows furrowed in the middle of his head, but didn't say anything about it, whether to ask him what he was thinking about or to make fun of what looked like confusion. Neither of those would have been in Sandra's nature. Well, that was a lie -- she was definitely the type to ask questions, but with Ian, she wasn't ever sure she wanted to hear his thoughts. Maybe it would do her some good not to judge him so much... Nah. He'd deserved it. "Yeah... Tempers are more like Fires," she said, even though it was a generalization -- there were Waters who had tempers, after all. Thunders who were quick to anger. Earths who had just as much confidence, even if they didn't go around shoving it in other people's faces. There were Winds of all kinds, too. She could see Ian being a Fire, but in truth she didn't know how well he even got along with most of them. Winds sort of did whatever the hell they wanted. "Least when you're a Wind you're not expected to do anything, though." There was rarely a need to choose sides, though it wasn't strictly true -- it had happened before, just last year even. The return of his grin told her that the time for thinking was over, though, which was kind of a shame -- he was much more pleasant when he was doing more thinking than talking, something that she thought maybe he should do more often -- but she now took the time to consider this, frowning back at his smile.
Sandra made her way back to the shore easily, feeling the sand becoming hot again as it shifted back to being dry. She laid whoever's surfboard this was next to where he'd left his, dropped her bag, and turned back to face Ian and his outstretched hand. Did she hate him? No, she didn't hate people. Did she like him? No. He hadn't earned that either. He probably never would. She considered his hand for a few brief moments, then walked past him and back into the water. "Let's go," she said rather than taking the offered hand, though she sounded nice enough. She would go with him, sure -- this was water now, and the water kind of changed everything -- and while she wasn't nearly conniving enough to be planning something, she might just have the upper hand in the water. He was being friendly, but friendliness didn't automatically rule out several years of douchebaggery, after all.
(orz she still doesn't trust him at all 8|;;; i also don't know why she drops pronouns a lot when she's talking in this lol, but. 8D)
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Post by grey on Apr 14, 2012 12:09:52 GMT -5
Being a Wind doesn’t mean you can’t love the ocean more than a Water? The words uttered settled in Ian’s thoughts for a second, registering in weight. He immediately broke out into a smile, eyes twinkling from the newfound revelation. He had never heard that before from anyone. But then again, Ian never really told anyone his thoughts on being an elemental. Honestly, for the young man, he never thought too much about being one. His father and mother were both Winds, but they led a relatively concealed life in Australia, never emphasizing that part of his life. Ian suspected that being Winds must’ve been what brought the two together despite their bitterly opposite personalities. Whether it was some sort of an arranged affair between both families or a genuine relationship, their son was never sure anymore. Following their bitter split, he often questioned the veracity of their love for each other. Rather, he was doubtful of his father’s feelings. His mother showed an intense dedication over the years to her husband, unfazed by any irascible temper outburst on Rowan’s part. Somehow, due to the general apathy on both parent’s part, Ian never discovered the roots of his powers. But because he developed more and more of a mean streak over his adolescence and became more and more uncontrollable, it was fitting that he may transferred to Maple Hollow to keep his powers in check. This event became the trigger for his father’s warningless departure for their lives; an event that became linked to his being an elemental. So his general attitude of being a wind had never been one of enthusiasm. It was fitting really, because winds were known to be wanderers-- having no real allegiance for their particular element. Not like the others, at least.
He laughed at her statement of winds not having to do anything. It was true and that was what Ian was just thinking about. His ability to go out and have fun, with all different breeds of people was something that was liberating. He wasn’t bound to simply one element group being a Wind. There were certainly the appropriate perks for him as a rampant partier, boozer, and womanizer. But he did tend to delve introspectively, wondering if all of these personas were precincts of something deeper. Possibly a resentment of his family or a general misunderstanding of his powers. Staring into the sea, he felt warmth envelope his body and a smile creep onto his face. Oh well. What’s important is the present. As he glanced over at Sandra, an apathetic feeling took over his thoughts. ”Guess when you put it like that I can settle for being a Wind after all.”
[/color] He said wryly, a smug look on his face. Sandra was good at being who she was. She seemed content, bubbly almost, and comfortable in her skin. Her identity as a Waters wasn’t a perplexing situation for her. She was earnest, and with all her heart. Ian admired and envied these qualities. Even now, as she stood in the water, putting up with him augustly and not giving into his charms, he liked her strength and certainty with where she stood. This attracted the young Wind to her deeply. But then again, Ian tended to find qualities he liked about every woman he met-- a side effect of being a notorious manwhore, after all. But as they stood here, making petty conversation, he really felt a desire to be friends with her. She was so interesting in every respect, almost catching Ian off guard. A complete departure from what he knew about her when he approached her early today. He walked her walk off without even a sneaking possibility of taking his extended hand. A simple affirmation was given instead and he smiled, bringing his arm down to his side. Well, that was all the reaction he was going to get from her anyways, Ian realized. Fixing his attention toward the crystalline water, he dipped his legs in, then walked further and further into the coastline. As he immersed his entire body, the warm blue waves curled around his entire being and brought him into another world. A smile flickered on his face. ♔ ♔ ♔ ♔ ♔ ♔ ♔ "- - - - - - - - - - - - - C U T M E H E R E[/font][/color] word count: 708 tagged: sandra (an) notes: lol sorry its so short! wasn't sure where i was going. you can end the thread in your next post if you want with like a "skip forward into the day after a few activities" or if you had anything else in mind, go ahead xD sorry.. i'm out of ideas. [/blockquote][/blockquote][/size][/justify] |
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Post by SANDRA HARU CHANG on Apr 16, 2012 22:41:34 GMT -5
There was something about the water today, or maybe it was every day, or maybe it was just because Sandra herself was a Water elemental, that was empowering somehow. She'd been able to swim for years; it was something that had come pretty naturally to her as a kid when her parents had enrolled her in lessons. Water aerobics, they'd said something about once when she was nine or so, saying she could be great and it was fun, but in the end laziness won out. The same thing would follow a few years later with a competitive swim team. It was probably at that point that she had realized that she'd never been into it for the sakes of others or for the competition -- it was just a thing. This, though, was nice, something she was doing for herself even if she was doing it with some guy she didn't even really like. She didn't even really think about him, despite his constant presence by her side during this time -- she came up for air and not much else besides. The water didn't bother her eyes -- she was used to it and also pretty sure that it had something to do with her element, as if it couldn't bother her in this way or something the way it would others -- and, even pretty far out, there was no fear of drowning or getting lost or anything. Maybe it really was the water and a false sense of confidence just happened to come along with it. No... she would be just fine, she thought, when her toes could only just barely touch the ground while keeping her head above.
Some time later, perhaps several hours or maybe just a few minutes, she couldn't tell, found them back at shore, or at least close to it. Sandy sat with her legs spread out into the shallowest of water, but it didn't quite reach the rest of her body. Luckily her bag had been waiting where she'd left it -- she quickly wrapped a towel around herself and just sat, staring out at the lake still. She was acutely aware of Ian's presence, somewhere nearby, but she didn't pay him much attention. In the distance she could see her friends still, vaguely, which was good. She was still planning on heading back up to the Academy with them, after all, and as it was still early she'd have been pretty disappointed if they'd just gotten up and left without her. She should really be getting back to them, too -- just because Ian was being tolerable for the time being didn't mean that she had any particular desire to spend the day with him. She wouldn't forget every stupid, sometimes downright mean, thing he'd done just because of some mutual love of the ocean or what-not. Finally, curiosity getting the better of her, she looked around to see where he was and spotted him, actually, not too far away, as expected. "Today was weird," she pointed out, not afraid of ruining the moment, if this really constituted as any semblance of a nice moment. She was just being honest, after all.
"I don't get you," she added after that, but she stood up without much sign of complaint besides this, stretching her arms over her head -- almost but not quite dropping her towel as she did so -- and then waving a hand at him. She was almost being friendly as per usual, but not quite. It was definitely a departure from herself otherwise. "Well..." She frowned in the direction of her friends. "I think they'd worry, so. See you around or something." It occurred to her that she could, of course, ask Ian to join the group of them for the day, but it was an idea that somehow made her uncomfortable, and so she didn't. She shouldn't forget that he wasn't always this nice, anyway. She collected her things, really just her flip flops and the bag she'd left on the ground next to her, and then walked off, still in the water just a few inches deep. There hadn't been much of a good-bye, but then again, she and Ian weren't friends. Not really. Not even close, as far as Sandra was still concerned.
(urgh this is kind of a fail, i'm sorry.  if you want to keep going with something then you can have ian do whatever, especially since her ~exit~ was so quiet and uncharacteristic, lol. but if not, then i think this is a good place to end this!  )
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if you want to keep going with something then you can have ian do whatever, especially since her ~exit~ was so quiet and uncharacteristic, lol. but if not, then i think this is a good place to end this! 
)