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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Mar 17, 2012 1:18:51 GMT -5
 --------pavlov's daughter, & IT WAS FAR AWAY AND HAZY LIKE A DREAM NOT A DREAM, NOT A DREAM Nell rested her against the wall, spine already sore. It couldn't have been good for her eyes, but her eyes scanned a page in the dark, picking up most of the words and her brain piecing together the rest. Rereading Zadig killed only an hour, as she had no distractions. The soft snores of girls in the hallway created a static lullaby, threatening to pull her into slumber. She was thankful for the sounds of the owner's daughter making love with her boyfriend in the room next to her, the breathless moans and hushed laughter keeping her awake. He wasn't supposed to be there, but Nell knew he'd be gone by morning like every night. There were no other sounds save for a misplaced ruffling of fabric, a cricket chirping as if begging for entrance to the house. It was always quiet as if the group home was situated in a vacuum of space.
She took a book of crossword puzzles out from her messenger bag, folding the cover back and using her legs as a table. Suicide watch meant nine hours on her rear end, the only reprieve when escorting girls to the bathroom. One such girl crawled over to her, tapped on her knee, and said in a non-whisper, "Nell, bathroom." The Earth graduate put the book down and stepped over the mounds of blankets, careful not to trample on hair or hands. She had to go in, and always wanted to give the girls' privacy, but she knew if she looked away for one moment, the girl might crack her head against the sink, or take the candle from the tank, break the mirror, and use the glass to slash her wrists.
"Had a girl do it once, too," the owner had said when informing Nell of her duties early in June. She could only have been in her fourties, but it looked as if someone took sharpie and colored under her eyes, used an eraser to make crevices around her mouth. "Died at the hospital. Already lost too much blood. Learned my lesson, didn' I?" Her accent was Irish, and she spoke matter-of-factly, as if reading from a book in her mind.
When the girl finished, she returned to her sleeping bag, and Nell slid back down the wall. She'd taken her sneakers off, but she still wore jeans and a Flaming Lips t-shirt. She heard nothing from the room, and figured the two were finished. The scratch of her pen on paper became the only sound, like claws against wood. She was glad when nights she had suicide watch on turned out uneventful. By eight, she was rolling up the sleeping bags and helping with breakfast. There was only two volunteers now, her and a girl named Leana. She was Puerto Rican, her figure full like a Matisse painting, sarcasm in her skin. Nell felt insignificant next to her, like a stick figure. Unimportant. Minute.
By the time Nell got done, she couldn't wait to get home and crawl into bed, sleep until done. She put her hair back in the bun that had been squished during the night, wrapping the hair around her bump and sticking bobby pins in. It gave her a headache, but she'd take it out soon enough. First, she stopped at Timmies, got a coffee and a sandwhich. Nell sat at a table that wasn't being assaulted by sunlight, scratched the back of her neck. She had entered that stage of exhaustion when her body turned hypersensitive, brain sending interneurons to give her jitters. The coffee didn't help, but she still didn't want to risk driving without some caffeine.
WAITING FOR THE BLADE TO SLIP AND THAT FATAL BLOW BUT NOTHING HAPPENS, IT'S A CRUEL JOKE as ironic as a ticker tape parade over the rainforest
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Post by evie on Mar 25, 2012 3:54:31 GMT -5
The sun was far too bright, and the worst part of it was that Evie wasn't even close to being hungover. Oh, how he wished the pulsating headache he had grown was from a long, but well-spent, night of drinking; a night in which he could have partied, passed out, only to wake up in a forsaken place, like the zoo, with a fresh, new butterfly tramp stamp tattooed to his lower back. Even just waking up in his bed with a hangover would have been sufficient. He would have loved the opportunity. Alas, he did not get even the slightest of a chance, and with a sigh the blonde moped down the sidewalk toward Tim Hortons.
He was after 48 hours literally no sleep, still able to move. The sleep deprivation record broke a week's time. Evie still had at least 120 hours without rest before his body shut down on him completely, but that was a record that the boy didn't feel like breaking quite yet. Then again, he had trouble sleeping anyway, so in all actuality, this was near normal for him. He was still able to function, he just needed a little bit of a boost to keep him going.
The sun shone brightly along the glass windows of the various businesses that lined the sidewalk. The glare cause Evie to squint, but through it, he could see his reflection's ghastly grayed eyes peering back at him. For a second, Evie pondered whether he really was dead. Maybe his body really did collapse. Perhaps, the afterlife was just a continuation of real life in an alternate dimension in which he wasn't dead. "Wouldn't that be hell?" He chuckled out loud, eliciting some odd stares from passerby's.
He continued on. If he were dead, it would be his professor's fault. Who the hell assigns 20 page, single-spaced, research paper? Not only that: Who the hell gives their students but a week to do it? Evie really wanted to write a certain four letter word, combined with a certain three letter pronoun in large red print on everything that came after the title page, but his future career demanded that he didn't.
Upon arrival of Tim's, the aroma of freshly brewed coffee drifted out of the open door. Evie inhaled with a relieved sigh, not because he enjoyed the smell, but rather because it meant that he had arrived and didn't have to be standing much longer. The wait wasn't too bad at all, and within minutes the Earth elemental's order for a caramel latte, with seven pumps of caramel, whipped cream and caramel drizzle was on its way.
A brunette-haired girl sat in one of the few spots where the sun wasn't vomiting light upon everyone, and Evie couldn't help but think, "That bitch." It was mostly the sleep deprivation and headache talking. With his drink in hand, he made his way to the table. Its occupied state wasn't going to keep the blond from getting the little bit of comfort he not-so-desperately needed. With the squeak of the chair, Evie placed himself across from the .
"Ello. You look like shit. No offense." His chipper tone did not reflect the way he felt in the slightest.
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Mar 25, 2012 15:25:25 GMT -5
--------pavlov's daughter, & IT WAS FAR AWAY AND HAZY LIKE A DREAM NOT A DREAM, NOT A DREAM Nell hadn't been expecting company, but she always received it with grace and pleasure. It must be what oracles feel like when people came to them to seek out solutions to their woes, order them how they should keep their house and honor their family. The Earth girl didn't think she'd enjoy that kind of power of people, though. She liked having control over her own life, that didn't mean she yearned to control anyone else's. It was uncomfortable, any sort of oppression like that. She'd lived with it too long to think that anything good could come of it. Pulling herself from the reservoir of her mind, she blinked at the interloper, taking in the blond hair like corn silk, a hollow look in his eyes as if he weren't really looking at the present during this point in time.
She responded to the stranger immediately with a smile, hyper aware. It was almost as if she could feel the conversations of other patrons, feel the coffee pouring into cups and people sucking their straws to get the last of an ice cold drink. "Thank you, I try." Even though her response was sarcastic, it was spoken on an airy tone, as if speaking with an old friend of hers. She always spoke like that, no matter who it was, even if she didn't like you. And it took a lot to get her to dislike someone, so it was a rarity, like finding albino animals in the wild. "You're not looking too hot yourself. Maybe it's just a bad day for everyone, hmm?" She didn't say why her expression was strained, eyes squinted even without sunlight. It felt like a great effort not to slump forward and lean her head against the table. But she would endure, using the caffeine to keep her as mentally competent as possible for as long as her body would allow it. She wondered if it were possible for every system to just give out and shut down should she push it to far.
Either way, it was nice that someone had come over, not realizing that it hadn't been necessarily company that the man wanted as much as shade from the omnipresent sun. Even though she sympathized. Everything about summer was bright, she loved it, love lights. Not much bothered her anyway, even as she was taking shallow breaths because her chest felt constricted, warning her away from staying awake for any longer. "Nell, by the way," she said. Of course, this was merely a lead-in so she could learn her companion's name. Even riding a jittery, sleep-deprived high. Exhaustion couldn't flip her personality around. "You needed company or something? I'm willing to provide." She paused for a moment, wondering if the words that had just come from her mouth were coherent. She decided that they were and took a sip of her coffee.
WAITING FOR THE BLADE TO SLIP AND THAT FATAL BLOW BUT NOTHING HAPPENS, IT'S A CRUEL JOKE as ironic as a ticker tape parade over the rainforest |
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Post by evie on Mar 26, 2012 4:32:52 GMT -5
A soft rumble emanated from the blond boy's abdomen. At that moment he realized that he was so tired, that he wasn't even able to comprehend that he was hungry. Naturally, he would be, considering his last meal was at least twelve or more hours ago. Now that he was aware of the fact, it was even more difficult to ignore, but ignore it he did. A sandwich did not sound in the least bit appetizing anyway. Sushi on the other hand sounded completely and utterly perfect as a breakfast meal. Evie refocused his thoughts on the young lady sitting before him.
Her response was sarcastic, but the Earthen boy felt no bitterness in her voice. Perhaps, it was his mind playing tricks on him, and in reality she was spitting venom at him. He hoped that wasn't the case. "Nope. I think that we're the only ones getting rained on right now." He shrugged . His voice was less sprightly, and more matter-of-fact. "That's quite odd though. I rather like the rain..." He shrugged again, before lifting his cup to his lips. The steaming drink, along with the espresso, gave him the kick he needed to feel even a semblance of whatever he found to be normal in his mind.
The bustling of the barista's in background was faint. For a second, he was thankful that the thoughts in his head were louder. It would be difficult to think otherwise. Before he could continue appreciating the voice in his head, the girl had interrupted with her name. "Evie." He nodded back in response. The next word out of the brunette girl, Nell's, mouth were a little garbled, but Evie understood it clearly. After spending time with his own baby sister in her younger years, even the most unintelligible speech became decipherable.
"That sounds like something a hooker would say. You're not a hooker are you?" He deadpanned. "I really hope not, cause well...that'd just be awkward don't you think?" The blond arched a questioning eyebrow. Not only would have been awkward, it would have been upsetting. "You're far too pretty to be in that line of work." Evie gave her a small sincere smile, before taking another sip of his drink. He hoped she didn't take that the wrong way.
"I don't think I need company. Maybe we're both zombies..." He started to say, in attempt to answer her question. "Strength in numbers, ya know?" For the third time in less than five minutes, he shrugged.
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Mar 26, 2012 17:43:24 GMT -5
--------pavlov's daughter, & IT WAS FAR AWAY AND HAZY LIKE A DREAM NOT A DREAM, NOT A DREAM Her head felt too heavy for her body, and she rolled it around as the stranger spoke. Mr. Blond, James Blond. The thought made her chuckle out loud, soft and amused. "Oh!" she chirped when she realized the stranger dubbed Mr. Blond spoke. She looked around at the other people around, getting whatever they needed for the day. Timmies was a popular place. She couldn't even be an American purist since she'd rarely ever been to a Dunkin Donuts, only when she was pulling her cross-country stunt, which she guessed she should be proud of now that she'd pretty much gotten away with it. "Tis nice," she agreed, nodding slowly. She liked the rain, she liked to drink Lapsang souchong and sit on the curb during thunder storms.
She nodded her head again, sagely this time, finishing off her sandwich. She needed another. One portion certainly wasn't enough for her. "I knew a girl named Evie," she commented. "I like it." The girl she spoke of was the one to sell her out and get her fired when she was working underage at Blackjack, but she held no hard feelings over that matter. It was hard to when it was the right thing to do. Even though people usually didn't tattle tall because they didn't want to be called a snitch. She wondered what the girl was up to now, if she was still working at the bar. Nell had never gone back to that place, even now that she was legal.
Nell rolled her eyes up, reviewed the words in her head, wondering what she'd said to give that idea to him. Her naivete didn't allow her to see some things that others might. And then she snorted. "What hookers are awkward?" she asked, her lips quirking up into a smile. "Thank you for thinking I'm too pretty for such an occupation, but rest assured, I'm not a lady of the night." Tilting her head back in the seat, she said to the air in a dreamy tone, "Roxanne, you don't have to put on the red light. Those days are over..." She blinked, realizing what she was doing. I shouldn't be allowed in society on this little sleep.
She held up her cup, looking around before leaning forward conspiratorially, chest against the edge of the table. "Are you expecting more zombies to come so we can form a mob and overrun the Hollow?" In this state, it seemed like a reasonable thing to happen. At this point in time, anything could happen. The sky could rip open and a thousand stuffed animals fall from it, the patrons could all strip out of their skins and turn into alien creatures. Close encounters, since they were talking about zombies anyway. "I'm up for it. Even though I haven't acquired the taste for brains yet." Though she had to admit she was an extreme omnivore except for one food that she wasn't allowed to eat.
WAITING FOR THE BLADE TO SLIP AND THAT FATAL BLOW BUT NOTHING HAPPENS, IT'S A CRUEL JOKE as ironic as a ticker tape parade over the rainforest |
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Post by evie on Mar 27, 2012 15:58:04 GMT -5
He looked down at his chest to verify that he didn't have the normal female anatomy protruding from it. "A girl, I am not. Or at least I don't think I am? I do like boys though." He grinned a devilish little smile. "Though, I guess that wouldn't automatically make me a girl. Assuming we were conforming to society's definition of gender and sexuality...Anyway, I'll shut up now. " He was pretty sure he was just rambling. It was best he stopped talking lest he get on another tangent, and somehow lead the conversation to proving the existence of unicorns.
"It's not my real name. It's short for my middle name, Everett." There were only a few people in the known world that were allowed to call him by his first name, or any variation of it. One of them, however, would get punched in the face if Evie caught sight of them. It was a more than lucky that person wasn't here, because the blond wasn't even sure he had enough energy to deal a deserving enough amount of damage.
He really meant it when she said that she was pretty. They weren't words that he threw around regularly, if at all. Evie wasn't shy at all when it came to that kind of thing. Of course, beauty is also in the eye of the beholder. It was a good thing that the boy wasn't shallow. Rather than a small glance, Evie studied the girl a little closer this time. His tired gray eyes tried to get a observation of her appearance. She was a small girl, much smaller than himself in height for the most part. Or at least she looked to be. It was difficult to get an accurate reading while sitting down. She didn't look too high class at all judging by her clothes: jeans and a t-shirt. He, himself, wasn't wearing all too expensive apparel either: cargo pants, and a white tee.
She really did look like she was about to have a narcoleptic fit at any moment now. She looked especially ready to collapse when she started reciting lyrics. He didn't exactly know the song, but he'd heard it before. He was sure of that. Her tone was a bit spectral, the sense that she didn't seem to be completely here. She blinked and came back to the physical plane.
Before he knew it, she was leaning forward as if she had a secret to tell. He wasn't very good at keeping secrets. Terrance had always been able to tell when Evie was lying. The gray-eyed boy shifted uncomfortably at the memories.
The thought of zombies taking over Maple Hollow was an interesting picture in his mind. Although, he couldn't imagine they'd be much of a threat to a certain percentage of the town. Much to his dismay, the event was highly unlikely. "Stranger things have happened." He whispered back in reply. "I've heard there are people that can manipulate the Earth as we know it." His voice grew lower, and there was a twinkle in his eye.
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Mar 28, 2012 18:04:57 GMT -5
--------pavlov's daughter, & IT WAS FAR AWAY AND HAZY LIKE A DREAM NOT A DREAM, NOT A DREAM Nell thought about his words as he said them, eyes wide. Her philosophy classes were possibly unhealthy for her, considering that she liked to think too much about things like this. And right now her words were cycling around in her head, kicking up dirt and dust and trying to form coherent phrases. "I'll stick by biological standards," she said in affirmation. "Boobs and a vagina make a chick. Therefore, you're a dude. A dude who likes dudes." And that was very much all right. Everyone just wanted to be loved, who cared if it was someone with the same chromosomes to give that love?
Nodding her head, she needlessly said, "Yeah, that's a guy's name." Brain activity seemed to plummet quite a bit, only spiking whenever she took a sip of her black coffee that was quickly getting low. She hadn't realized that until she started having to tip it back more. Observance levels were actually on the rocks. "But a girl could be named Everett, I guess. Maybe there's a girl out there with your same exact name, and you don't know it." She lifted her hands and slowly moved them around as if stating something that came from a horror flick. It was possible. Perhaps there was a guy out there named Nell. Not everyone adhered to society's norms.
She honestly did not think of herself as pretty, even though she never said it. She was Nell, and Nell wasn't anything like that. But she could accept a compliment with grace for the simple fact that she'd never argue against it. The Earth girl nodded in response. Talk of zombie apocalypses was particularly engaging. She didn't have to think too hard about it. Anything was possible. "Every Twilight Zone episode is rooted in truth, dontcha know. Pig faces and time machines and all that." She liked old shows and movies like that, ever since she had been a kid playing rummy with large-print cards. Did she actually believe in it? She believed in everything and then nothing at all.
She lifted her eyebrow at the statement. Is he just messing with me, or is he...? "Me too," she said, looking around cagily. "But you shouldn't say things like that. People may get suspicious and go out looking for them. Like Big Foot. Or Nessie." Maybe if she weren't an elemental, she would have just thought that he was crazy. But there was always danger associated with words like those he was saying. Should she tell him that she was one of those people, or was it possible that he was just some random guy too tired to even realize what he was saying. Nell didn't want to take chances. "Whatcha drinking?" she decided to steer the conversation toward.
WAITING FOR THE BLADE TO SLIP AND THAT FATAL BLOW BUT NOTHING HAPPENS, IT'S A CRUEL JOKE as ironic as a ticker tape parade over the rainforest |
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Post by evie on Mar 30, 2012 3:38:34 GMT -5
Indeed, Evie was a dude who liked dudes. It wasn't a discovery that came very easily, but it was one he could easily live with. Like the hopeless romantic that he is; he always wanted to fall in love. He always felt it was possible for him to fall in love with a girl, but he wanted a knight in shining armor. He wanted to be rescued by a handsome prince. For a while, he had one. He never knew how to tell his best friend that he was in love with him though. Now, the boy was no longer a teenager, confused about the right way to let him know. He didn't have to worry about that at all actually, because Terrance was gone. He was gone, and it didn't seem like he was ever coming back.
The boy's eyes moved to the floor. This was extremely bitter territory, and this was not the time, nor the place to be thinking about it. But everything led back to Terrance. Everything that he is, the person that he became, is who Terrance made him, and he hated it. Unconsciously, his hands moved to the necklaces around his throat. He fiddled with them, as his mind tried to refocus on Nell's presence.
"Nell's a bit of an odd name." His voice sounded strained, but he wasn't sure if it actually was or, if he was just imagining it as a side-effect of his bout of angst. "Quite unique, really. I don't think I've ever met another Nell ever. It sounds pretty unisex to me." He spoke, attempting to make his voice feel normal in his own head. His tone had lost a certain peppy quality to, but he tried to sound just as upbeat as before. "Not to say, that there's not another one out there."
Television was never something that Evie took much pleasure in, old or new. He was far too active of a boy to be able to sit in front of a TV and watch shows all day. That said, movies were the absolute worst. He couldn't fathom being able to sit in front of a screen for two or more hours without moving about. If he was going to sit in front of a screen, he needed it to be interactive. "Erm...I don't quite understand the reference." The gray-eyed boy revealed apologetically.
He was taking a risk in divulging that he knew about the existence of elementals. The conversation was already covering some far-fetched ideas, adding some unknown truths couldn't do much harm. He already sounded mental due to his current state. As far as he was concerned, there was no harm. He could always blame it on lack of sleep. Though, it was a bit of a stretch to put them on the same level as Big Foot and Nessie. That would be ridiculous.
"Caramel latte, seven pumps of caramel, whipped cream, and caramel drizzle." He repeated the order monotonously, raising his cup. "Is it wise to deny their possible existence?" The Earth boy pondered aloud, steering the conversation back. "It's logically possible for Big Foot and the Loch Ness monster to exist." He could go into a whole debate about conspiracy theories if he really wanted to. "Maybe we don't have to go out looking for them. Maybe they're in this very room hiding among us. Maybe one of us has that ability." He tried his best to sound like a lunatic, but he was definitely playing a risky game.
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Mar 31, 2012 17:38:19 GMT -5
--------pavlov's daughter, & IT WAS FAR AWAY AND HAZY LIKE A DREAM NOT A DREAM, NOT A DREAM Nell didn't think about her name all too much, really. It was a part of her like anything else, which meant as little contemplation as possible. Especially because without Till, it meant very little. She could change her identity like it was nothing, she'd done it once to avoid the American law system. But she couldn't stand to change her first and middle name, the only connection she had left to her twin sister. "Pretty sure it's a girl name, but you never know." She didn't say what she'd told Josh once when he'd asked, that it meant 'light' in Greek. It had confused her that he'd even care to ask about her name. And this boy here seemed so excited about this odd, sleep-deprived conversation. "Kind of weird to think of that. Because, you know, what if they use your identity to do bad things?"
Then she reminded herself that such was not possible. She'd already sullied her name, had it planted on headlines so it now became synonymous with words like 'murderer' and 'matricide'. Even though she got off for the crime, there was no taking back what she did, all the scandal. Murdering one's parents was something incredibly taboo, something talked about behind hands for the sheer excitement of an event so horrible occurring in their time. She was an image of the underbelly of society, things that people living in ghettos and with broken parents could understand, but those living in middle-class houses with stable environments couldn't picture.
Nell tapped her hand palm-down on the table when Evie said he didn't get the reference. "The Twilight Zone is a classic, my friend," she said. But she understood. Not everyone liked watching television. She just liked to experience everything she could through every media she could find. Television, books, art, movies, there were many ways to experience the world. "One episode was about how everyone had weird pig faces and they were considered beautiful in society. So a woman had to get surgery because she was born beautiful by our standards." A lot of people didn't realize it, but there was some thought provoking stories on the show. "A lot of the episodes are based off of short stories. Like An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." That was the title, wasn't it? Her mind wouldn't allow her to think deep enough to figure it out.
Nell thought she could steer the conversation to a safer place, but Evie just took the wheel and turned the ship back around. "Everything is possible," she agreed, hoping that elementals wouldn't come back up, because she was almost certain that's what he'd spoke of. "But a lot of people like to use the argument of evidence of absence." If there's no proof, then it doesn't exist. She didn't adhere to that kind of logic. She leaned back, away from him, as if in thought. "Maybe. How would you prove that, though? How would you be able to figure it out?" She lifted her eyebrow, wondering if what she said made sense. Her fingers danced along the lid of her coffee, brown eyes blinking away floaters.
WAITING FOR THE BLADE TO SLIP AND THAT FATAL BLOW BUT NOTHING HAPPENS, IT'S A CRUEL JOKE as ironic as a ticker tape parade over the rainforest |
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