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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Dec 4, 2011 3:02:05 GMT -5
 It was amazing to consider, the fact that she’d made it to college. She hadn’t considered it before, back when she was facing the trial, the mass of uncertainty her life had become. Nell hadn’t wanted to think about all of that. The most earth-shaking conversation she believed she ever had was the one when she and Josh discussed their future relationship together. I can have everything now. And it scared her, because she wasn’t happy. She knew she should be, and overall she was content, but there was always the fatigue lingering on the edges of her consciousness. It wasn’t something sleep could fix, no matter how much she tried to escape her problems through the numb of slumber.
At least college was easier than she thought it would be in some ways. The workload was heavier than normal high school, however she hadn’t had a normal high school experience. She’d needed to take supplementary classes for being a late enroller, but she’d managed to handle the pressure and stress well. Now, she was thankful that she didn’t have that kind of stress anymore. In addition, she enjoyed the freedom of being a college student. There weren’t as many rules as when she attended the Academy as a high school student. Well, for one year.
Shrugged her scarf over her nose, she dropped her half-drunken coffee in the wastebasket next to the entrance of the library. The bitter drink really kept her going when all she wanted to do was go home and curl underneath her covers. Usually, once she get started, she could make it through the day easily enough. At night, though, she’d instantly fall asleep and try not to let her thoughts eat her alive, as they seemed so fond of doing nowadays. But she couldn’t stop it like she used to be able to do, she couldn’t just repress now. Why? Why can’t I just…run away? It seemed like she was seperating from herself from her father in more ways than one. It had bothered her when Jane used to compare her to her father, but she soon grew used to the woman’s attempts at breaking her. Now she was out of the picture, and she was distancing herself from the man.
As she entered the library, she relished in the heat, escape from the frigid temperature outside. She waited to shrug off her jacket, though, until she found somewhere to just sit and relax. Libraries had always been refuges for her, and it seemed to be becoming that way again. Before she could go in search of a table, she saw a familiar face and waved as she approached. Jeremy—a Wind student she was on good terms with—looked up from the book he had in his hands, blue eyes wide behind his glasses. He recovered quickly, and shifted uncomfortably before looking at anywhere excepted her.
”Sup, Jeremy?” she said brightly, shrugging her messenger bag a little more up her shoulder. He cleared his throat a little, look askance before saying, ”Hey, Nell.” She tilted her head—he was someone who had adapted the ‘Nelly’ nickname for her, so this seemed off. Everything seemed off, actually. ”How was winter break?” she asked him, still speaking in the same enthusiastic voice. He blinked, before a strange expression crossed his face, like he just looked at a frog he was supposed to dissect. ”Uh…Nell, listen, I’m sorry, but this is just…weird.” He shook his head and shook his head, pushing up his glasses when they were jostled a little.
She swallowed, not too nervous, but growing suspicious. ”Why?” Nell questioned, and her voice was quiet but probing. He scrunched his eyebrows together, looking like he was struggling. ”I don’t know, it’s just…the whole…murderer thing. I didn’t know.” Her first thought was, Of course you didn’t know. So this was the problem. Was he going to start avoiding her now? Mabe start talking about her behind her back, with him and his friends as they tried to discover the tuth behind the verdict? Maybe she really was just a frog for dissection to him. ”I’m still the same person,” she said, and her voice was quieter, barely disturbing the natural silence of the library. ”Nothing’s changed.” It looked as if it were painful for Jeremy, telling her this. ”Exactly. You were a murderer all along. I just…I can’t.” He walked away then, and passed her, brushing his shoulder against hers. It was almost a bump, but not as malicious. It had as much foul intent as the usual docile boy could muster.
Nell ran her fingers through her already rather messy hair, held up by an alligator clip. How many people was she going to lose to this? How many friends were going to turn around and say that they just couldn’t? She hoped the books would distract her from this development in her life, and she tipped back one to look at the cover of a Dostoevsky. She sat down with it, the messenger bag sliding off her shoulder to the ground as she placed it on the table. After shrugging off her jacket—still feeling comfortable in the long-sleeved shirt she wore—Nell flipped open the pages. Unfortunately, “The Brothers Karamazov” couldn’t hold her attention as her mind whirred, and she closed it, setting it aside in favor of the cards she kept in her bag. Shuffling the deck, she set up a game of solitaire. Cards were another refuge of hers, and she embraced as she tried to fight back the feeling that she might cry.
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Post by cassandra on Dec 8, 2011 7:33:59 GMT -5
Yet another freezing cold day at the Academy, and here was Cassandra, walking from her dorms and to the library. She knew that some people were confused for she was actually going to study a few weeks before the new test and actually do her homework. Shit, she was confusing herself at the thought really. She let that thought go as she neared the door. She was about to open it when a person left mumbling something about Nell. Her face went from no emotion to completely confused. What was that about? She walked into the library then and looked around for her table, or at least an empty table.
She was about to go over to the far corner table when she saw Nell. She watched as her friend placed down her book and grabbed her cards. Something is bugging her. Cass could tell that by just watching her. She sighs lightly and walks over to Nell. She places her book down on the opposite side of the table and she looks at Nell with full concern in her eyes. Cass could tell that Nell was fighting back tears, she knew by the look on her face and how glazed over her eyes were.
She looked down at the cards and saw that she was playing a game of solitaire and she shakes her head. Hey Nell, are you ok? She figured that the answer would be yes, as in a lie, but then, Nell knew she could talk to Cass about anything that was bothering her, and Cass could tell that something was bothering her already. Her bag held her school stuff, but she also did not need that right now, so to the floor next to her it went. She knew of a lot of things that went around the Academy, for she was quiet and could hear the rumors a lot.
Sadly a good amount were of all the siblings who were in different elements, especially enemy elements. She let that go and she focused on her friend. How was your break Nell? She was going to try and cheer Nell up as best as she could. She hated to see her like this, and it seemed to hurt her as well.
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Dec 8, 2011 17:49:57 GMT -5
Nell lifted her head up when she heard a familiar voice, a grin flitting to her features as she halted in her movements, an ace in her hand. ”Hey Cass,” she greeted, waving her indidividual fingers rather unecessarily. Being they were in the library, she kept her voice low. Not that it was too much effort, she had a naturally soft voice that didn’t cause much of a disturbance in the airspace. It was almost like relief, seeing Cass. Seeing someone come to her instead of walk away. It reassured her that there were still people out there who didn’t think of her as a cold-blooded murderer. But then again, she wasn’t even sure that the Earth girl knew. It wouldn’t be surprising. Jeremy had found out, after all, and sometimes it felt as if friends were dropping like flies. The loneliness frightened her the most—no, it terrified her. She hated being lonely, hated the possibility that she might revert to how it was in her childhood, when she didn’t speak to anyone because of the fear her mother had conditioned into her.
She blinked, tilted her head. ”Yeah, I’m good. Why?” Even though she surely felt the ache, she never showed it. Even if she wasn’t always smiling, her features were always in a state of halcyon. She made sure that she always looked at peace so people like Cass could be reassured that there was nothing wrong. Of course, she didn’t think that Cass had read her because there was nothing to read—she figured that the Earth girl asked out of general interest. ”And how are you this fine day?” Her tone was light and joking, even though she was being completely sincere in her curiosity about the girl’s day. Her life. But not in the probing sense where she needed answers about everything. She just wanted to be kept updated if anything was going on with Cass that she should be aware of. Hypocrite. Nell knew she couldn’t give too much of her personal life away (not that it was very much under her control now). She was a secretive person, mostly because of the secrets she kept. It’s not the same anymore. She wasn’t a fugitive, and the fact that she was a murderer was something broadcasted internationally. It didn’t even matter that she was acquitted or it was in self-defense—all it took was the fact that she’d taken the life of her own mother.
Nell moved her ace to the top right of her own created game board, as she rolled her eyes up to the ceiling and thought, as if recalling her time. ”It was nice,” she said with her lips quirked into a smile. ”Went to New York, saw the sights. It’s an awesome place, but I prefer living in Canada. People are nicer here.” She grinned when she said this. It was a stereotype that held truth. People in the city were always rushing, always going places, and had little concerns for others. There were things about New York she liked, but she had to say she preferred it up north. Maple Hollow was a pretty big city, but it wasn’t like New York, and the Academy was here too. She couldn’t leave that. It was her asylum, her refuge, and it was a beacon of hope for her. ”How’d you spend your vacation?” Nell queried with interest, her eyes darting back to the table and between her friend. She didn’t want the other girl to think that she wasn’t interested in conversation, she was just trying to multi-task. After drawing three cards up from her deck, she questioned, “Wanna play a game?” She loved playing card games, and wondered what kinds that Cass knew for two people, if any? Nell’s own repetoire was expansive, but she would wait to see if the other girl preferred anything.
[just wanted to add that Nell didn't look like she was about to cry, she just felt like it. xD she looks happy all the time.]
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Post by cassandra on Dec 8, 2011 19:55:14 GMT -5
She looked at Nell and she smiles back. How cam she ever be mean with anyone who is like her no matter what element. Case loved Nell like a sister, and she also worried about her as well. When Nell told her that nothing was wrong, she raised an eyebrow before letting it go. If Nell wanted to tell her, then she would in due time.
She looked at the deck of cards and she chuckles lightly. "My day has been fine. Just getting over a few things that went wrong with my project for class, but it is nothing to big." She chuckles then and looks at Nell. Her eyes went around the library as she saw people avoid walking by them and she shrugged it off.
If it was about the stuff that has been going around about Nell being a murderer, Cass did not care. Her friendship was something she did not want to lose, and she could tell that Nell could use all of the support that she could get, and Cass would not let her down with that.
She heard what Nell had done over the break and she nods. " That sounds like a lot of fun. I'm glad that your break was good. Mine mainly consisted of me staying in a hotel while Caleb was running around with his fire buddies." She shrugged and looked at the cards.
"I dot really know of any good games. I don't really play card games, I'm more of a hands on adventure girl. Anything to do with running with the nature is where I am." She smiles then and looks at the cards again and she looks back at Nell then and she chuckles.
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Dec 8, 2011 21:18:59 GMT -5
Listening intently, Nell nodded when she heard the girl speak about something that had gone wrong with a project. ”Did you figure it out yet? Maybe I could help.” Not only was she older, but she loved to help people. And luckily for those people, she wasn’t overbearing or pretentious. She herself didn’t like that, since she was rather independent. It was one of the reasons she liked Cass—the girl didn’t ask questions that Nell wouldn’t be able to respond to. It saved her from falling back on the standard “it’s complicated” response. She was sure some people were turned off by that. Not as turned off as they are by finding out you’re a murderer. She brushed the thought aside. No need for that right now, not when she was talking to her friend.
Sometimes Nell wished she could confide in friends like Cass, but knew it was for the best that she kept to herself. Enough of her life was on public display—she didn’t want to give anymore of herself away. New York had not been fun, she wished she could say. It had destroyed her, the trial had taken something from her. Privacy, decency, integrity. Maybe that’s how the universe viewed quid pro quo, because she got freedom in return for it. ”A hotel?” Nell asked, but didn’t press further. You and I both. ”Well, I’ll make sure you have a lot of fun the rest of winter.” She stated this with a broad grin. Even if she couldn’t be happy, she made sure everyone else around her was. That in turn gave her happiness, actually, so she guessed that was a good thing.
The two were alike, in that they both like the outdoors, but Nell believed that one could like adventures and card games at the same time. She did, after all. Her love of card games had come from a childhood without freedom. Now that she had freedom, she enjoyed it as much as she could, drank in every experience. In the past year, she’d had a lot of firsts with this freedom, and it was exhilerated. Now she was truly liberated, and starting on becoming a Canadian citizen—nothing more natural than naturalization. ”Oh believe me, I’d love to be running around now. But card games, well…there’s something about them.” She smiled languidly. Nell nodded as she thought, and said, ”Don’t worry, Cassie. I, Nell Shepherd, cardshark extroidinaire, shall teach you my ways.” She waved her hand with a flourish in a sort of mock bow. She gathered up the cards, packed them against the table while still trying to keep them quiet, before shuffling them, creating a bridge and absent-mindedly pulling off some of the tricks she’d taught herself. ”Now, there’s spit, rummy, trash, crazy eights, and war… Actually, there’s more, but those are my favorites for two people. Which sounds the most appealing to you?”
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Post by cassandra on Dec 9, 2011 21:57:35 GMT -5
Cass looked at Nell and she chuckles. She shook her head though and she shrugs. We have a plant that we have to try and get to live in cold weather, mine died pretty fast. I have not tried to revive it yet, but I think i might try that a bit later. She puts a smile back on her face though and she looks at Nell. She had the plant on her, but she did not feel like carrying it around like she would have it were to have been alive still. One thing Cass knew was, that she really needed to buckle down to get past this year. Once she passed this year, she would be in college and she would be away from this war, unless it will follow her. if it was to follow her, she would be miserable probably.
She looked at Nell once more after she got out of her thoughts, for she had not realized that she turned her gaze around the library then onto her bag. She smiles when she hears Nell and she chuckles. Well then, we both shall have a very adventurous winter shall we not. She chuckles lightly and pulls out the plant so Nell could see it. See, dead, and I do not really do well at reviving for it seems to back fire on me completely. She shakes her head at herself before smiling again.
I might go and ask the professor for a new one, get the lecture and be over with it. All I would really have to do is find a way to keep it warm enough to live around this winter place. She heard her comment and the list of games and she shudders. She shakes her head then and thinks on the games. She did not really do well at cards, hell, she hated playing games with cards, but then, if Nell could get her into one of the games, then so be it.
She smiled then and looked at her. Surprise me with a game, and I shall try my best to learn it. I can not guarantee that I will be any good at learning it. She smiles again and she waits for the game to be chosen. Hell, if Nell could love both adventures and card games then she will try it out as well. It might even be fun to have something to do in doors when it is rainy or as cold as it is now.
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Dec 11, 2011 2:17:56 GMT -5
Nell couldn’t help but keep her good humor on her face, as though she had not just been rejected by a friends. She guessed that’s just what Cass’s company did for her. She made things better. ”Hmmm…sounds difficult. And exhausting. But I’m sure you’ll be able to do it. Maybe if you grow a smaller plant, it won’t require as much energy?” The best she could really do for Cass was making suggestions. She may have liked helping friends, but she wasn’t going to go around doing their projects for them. Not unless they asked, of course. In her willingness to please others, she was pretty easy to manipulate. However, if she was steadfast against something, there was no chance she could be swayed. Even if an enemy asked for help, she may have been persuaded to assist them, depending on what they wanted.
Her lips were steady in a smile, glad to see Cass was in a good mood. Well, she appeared to be. It was never easy to tell. But then again, she may have just gotten used to Josh, who hid his feelings so well. Even with growing accustomed to his behavior and his expressions, he was far from an open book. Most people were like that. Everyone had their defenses. ”I s’pose,” she murmured. She had to wonder what winter would hold for her. Maybe she’d finally get over this hump. Maybe she’d come out okay. Maybe she could be happy again and stop lying to her friends. But her prospects appeared dim. She watched as the girl took out the plant, and dropped her cards, thumbing the withered leaves. ”Oh Canada,” she said, half-joking. ”Yeah, I’d definitely go for a small plant. If you wear yourself out by trying to care for a big one, its gonna conk out. And keep doing everything you normally do for plants.” Nell often cared for plants in the wintertime, and now that she was in college and her powers were slowly maturing, it came easier for her. ”Hopefully that’ll all work. But I’m positive you can do it. Everything always works out in the end.” She had the utmost faith in her friends, especially Cass. The girl wasn’t dumb after all.
Nell picked her cards back up and rolled her head around her neck as she thought. “Surprise you,” she said almost contemplatively as she shuffled the cards. ”Well, one of my favorites is spit, and it’s pretty easy to learn. You just need to be quick.” She mostly played these kinds of games in her childhood thanks to only having Tilly to play with. Spit was one of Nell’s favorites because it was always fun, and she loved seeing the usually solemn girl smile at her. ”You set it up kind of like solitaire,” Nell explained after dealing out half a deck to each of them. She organized the piles, finishing when she had seven face up cards. ”And you put the remainder of the deck like so,” she said with a grin when she placed the rest of the cards to the upper left of the table. ”From each of our decks, we flip up our cards, and then it’s a race to get rid of them all. You can only place matching numbers or faces and a number higher or lower. For instance, a six on a seven.” She tapped her fingers against the table as she thought about anything else she may have had to tell Cass. ”When you’re done them all, you have to slap the smallest pile. Then rinse and repeat. You like that?” Nell wouldn’t play if Cass didn’t like it, of course. That would be a dick move.
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