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Post by ARIANNA DEVIN SETLEY on Apr 13, 2013 21:57:13 GMT -5
It was safe to say Arianna was in a funk. She knew the last year of high school was generally the most difficult but she hadn’t thought it would be this hard. Usually she was able to complete school related work with ease, but this year had thrown her for a loop. She felt stressed all the time and there were times were she almost didn’t even have the strength to fight back when provoked. Almost was the key word though, she was still able to pull off a few feisty retorts. But she was losing her edge, and she just wanted to graduate and be done with this high school business.
Arianna still wasn’t too sure about the whole college thing either. She knew her parents wanted her to go, her dad specifically wanting her to go to law school, but she was a little worried she wasn’t cut out for college. She knew she would be a great lawyer, she had too much of her father to not be. It was just the matter of seven more years of schooling that was daunting. Plus if it was anything like this school year she didn’t know if she could actually stay sane for all those years. She knew in the end she would end up going but sometimes she liked to think she actually had a choice.
“Just got to keep it together a little bit longer” She mumbled to herself as she sat in the sand staring out at the lake in front of her. She wasn’t in her bathing suit today, deciding she didn’t really care about tanning and she certainly wasn’t going to enter the water. But she always felt calmed by scenery and the lake was a particularly pretty view. She also loved the feel of sand beneath her toes even though she couldn’t express exactly why it was so pleasing; maybe because it was such a unique texture. It also reminded her of the trips she used to make during the summer with her family. It reminded her of all the happy times she had back when she was younger, before she had been shipped off to Canada.
The blonde sighed and leaned back feeling a little restless. The backpack she had brought with her lay on the ground beside her, untouched since she had first sat down an hour or two ago. She had brought a book and her iPod with her, but had long been forgotten. She wasn’t really in the mood to read and music could only keep her occupied for so long. It was a miracle the view had even lasted this long, but her thoughts had kind of carried her away from her surroundings. Deep down she knew she was stressing out for really no reason. But she couldn’t help it, she always overthought everything. “Why am I such a mess?” She complained running her hand through her hair and letting out a sigh. Not for the first time she wished she could let loose a little, but that would be impossible; that she was certain of.
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Post by SORAYA NIMAT DARZI on Apr 13, 2013 22:38:13 GMT -5
Soraya wandered down to the lake, carrying a notebook in one hand and a pen tucked behind her ear. If she didn’t care so much about school, she would have considered it a good day; her mind was brimming with ideas, and even though most of them probably wouldn’t amount to anything, she knew there was a good one in there somewhere. Whether it was the worn-out starship captain or the plot taking place during the Easter Rising, she didn’t know, but she would try them all out anyway.
The problem was that she did care about school, and her daydreaming had distracted her from her work. It hadn’t been too bad today, but she had felt embarrassed when called on to answer a question she had barely heard. Another student had answered it and class had gone on as usual, but she had sat through the rest of class trying to pretend she wasn’t there.
As she approached the lake, she saw an older student sitting alone. The blonde woman looked rather preoccupied, so Soraya slowed her approach and paused on the edge of the sand. “Excuse me,” she said, “do you mind if I join you? It’s all right if you want to be alone. I was just going to write a little, and I can do that just about anywhere.”[/color]
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Post by ARIANNA DEVIN SETLEY on Apr 14, 2013 14:50:30 GMT -5
She hadn’t heard the girl approach; she had been too wrapped up in her thoughts. I just want to know what to do. But at the sound of a voice Arianna was yanked out of her thoughts, jumping a little in surprise. She certainly hadn’t been expecting anyone to approach her, especially not timid younger girls. Usually the only people that actually interacted with Arianna were people looking for a fight or her friends. But her friends usually weren’t so timid either. She felt a little bad for the girl; she looked young and was probably a freshman because Arianna had never really seen her around.
She sighed and turned her head back to the view in front of her, trying to decide what to say. Sure she could be a bitch, like usual, and scare the girl off. However she would definitely feel a little guilty after. Arianna always seemed to be a little nicer to the younger ones in school because she knew it was hard being away from family for the first year. It took a lot of effort though, especially with the quieter people. She didn’t understand how some people could just be so quiet and timid all the time. Even when she had been a freshman she had been a little spitfire. It didn’t matter who it was she would say what was on her mind. And it had gotten her into lots of trouble with people, but in the end Arianna didn’t really care. Like in this situation, she wouldn’t have asked to sit. She just would have done it without regards to the other person.
“Listen kid,” She began still facing the water “I don’t really think you’ve been here too long. But I don’t think you want to sit anywhere near me. I’m not the nicest person at this school. If you want nice you should probably find and earth or a water. I don’t make for great company.” So it still wasn’t exactly nice, but it was the closest she could get at the moment.
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Post by SORAYA NIMAT DARZI on Apr 14, 2013 15:24:26 GMT -5
She hesitated, not sure if she ought to leave. The older girl didn’t seem exactly eager to have company, but she hadn’t given her a definite rebuff, either. It was more of a warning, so she could hardly be as rough as she seemed on the first impression. At least, so Soraya assumed. For all she knew, the girl was the most difficult person to get along with on campus and was just giving her a fair warning. It was only her first year, but she had already figured out that it could be harder to find people to get along with here than in public school.
“I think I will join you, if you don’t mind,” she said, taking a seat a few feet away from the older girl. It was something of a chance she had taken, but she could always say that she wanted to try to capture the color of the sea in words. It was a lovely color, especially against the sky. For a moment she almost wished she could paint.
She opened her journal, uncapped her pen, and bit her lip. It was a bit brighter than sky blue, and the movement of the waves farther out gave the illusion of wrinkles on fabric… had she used that metaphor already? Deciding she hadn’t, she jotted down a couple of lines, keeping an eye on the older girl all the while.
“Is there something bothering you?” she asked after a moment. “I don’t mean to intrude, but was there a reason you came down here?”
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Post by ARIANNA DEVIN SETLEY on Apr 14, 2013 23:13:21 GMT -5
Of course the kid wouldn’t get the hint. But there was nothing Arianna could do now. Obviously the younger girl didn’t care though. Maybe she wasn’t as timid as Arianna had first thought but she still seemed slightly annoying. And slightly annoying was enough for the older girl to ignore her for the first few moments the girl sat there. She could feel the brunette’s eyes on her and if she had more energy Arianna probably would have lashed out and come up with some kind of comment. But today was not the case which was probably best. Arianna didn’t need another enemy running about at the Academy; she had enough as it was.
She tried to focus back on her dilemma but the girl had to interrupt her thoughts once again. Why couldn’t interrupting me to sit down be enough? Of course she wants to talk. I just have fantastic luck. She sighed wanting nothing more than to get up and just walk away to evade the question without prompting even more questions. But she didn’t want to risk the girl getting up and following her around. She turned her head to look at the younger girl and shrugged a little. Glancing at the girl, Arianna realized she had a journal in her lap. What was the point of the journal if she was just going to bother people?
“Obviously there is. Otherwise I wouldn’t be sitting in the sand staring at nothing.” Arianna sat up straighter and brushed the sand off of her hands a little annoyed. “But I don’t really see how that is any of your business. I don’t really think you can help seeing as you don’t know me and I don’t need help anyway.” She was feeling a little defensive, even though she knew that the girl couldn’t read her thoughts. Arianna didn’t like this feeling of doubting her entire future; it made her feel weak and stupid. She certainly wasn’t about to admit any of this to some girl.
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Post by SORAYA NIMAT DARZI on Apr 14, 2013 23:28:38 GMT -5
As she wrote, Soraya noticed the older girl looking more annoyed, and she capped her pen. Of course she wouldn’t be interested in talking to some ninth-grade kid. Who would unless they were humoring her? She probably should have taken the older girl’s advice and gone looking for someone more pleasant or at least kept her mouth shut. The few minutes hadn’t been a total loss, though; she had a little description down that she could go back to.
“Fine,” she said, getting to her feet. [=CCCCFF]“If you’d rather I go, I will. You could have just said so.”[/color] She felt sorry for snapping almost at once, but it also felt a little good. She didn’t always have to be the sweet little Wind girl. “I’m sorry I bothered you. I was just trying to be friendly.” Pausing to brush sand off her leggings, she walked away, holding her notebook to her chest.
Once she was a few feet away, her cheeks turned hot with embarrassment and she ducked her head so no one would see. It would probably be better for her to stick to her own age group from now on. At least they wouldn’t see her as some meddling kid. [/size]
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Post by ARIANNA DEVIN SETLEY on Apr 15, 2013 0:10:51 GMT -5
Arianna groaned watching the girl stood up to walk away. She felt a twinge of regret form in her stomach and tried to suppress it. But she kept picturing how her brother would have reacted in the same situation and the guilt ate at her. The girl was probably not too much older than he was which made Arianna feel even older than she actually was. It wasn’t the kid’s fault she had happened upon the blonde when she was struggling to keep her composure. As her conflicted feelings raged on the girl began to stalk off making the older female feel like even more of a bitch.
“Wait kid” She yelled getting up and walking over to the smaller girl. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you off.” Actually that last part was a lie. But hopefully the other girl would just ignore that part. Arianna didn’t usually lie either, but in this case she felt it was justified. “I just am not very good at being nice. Or making friends. Especially with people I don’t know.” She tried to explain running a hand through her hair a little sheepishly. “Just come sit back down. I promise my bark is worse than my bite.” She forced herself to joke.
She reached out and turned the girl’s shoulders around and tried to steer her back to the beach trying to make things better. Arianna didn’t take well to not getting what she wanted. And right now all she wanted to do was alleviate her conscious. Maybe after talking to the girl for a few minutes she could send her on her way and feeling much better and able to get back to her thoughts.
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Post by SORAYA NIMAT DARZI on Apr 15, 2013 0:23:30 GMT -5
Soraya froze as the older girl called out for her to wait, wondering what she could want. It wasn’t at all likely she would be trying to snap at her again, so she let herself feel a little hopeful. When the girl went on to apologize, she decided to let herself be taken back to the lake.
“It’s all right,” she said, smiling at the older girl’s joke. “I shouldn’t have insisted on sticking around if you didn’t want me to. It’s just… I moved around a lot when I was younger and for some reason never got used to talking to people.” She shrugged. “It’s different, being someplace for a long time. It’s like I have to actually be someone.”
It was different, very much so. She hadn’t known she would be sent off to some other school and had planned on changing her personality with each new move. She had even started setting up her cheerleader phase and looked for a more normal name to call herself, but now all her bright pink clothes were hidden in her closet back home.
“I’m Soraya, by the way,” she said, sticking out her right hand. That was how it worked, she was pretty sure. “I’m a Wind student.”
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Post by ARIANNA DEVIN SETLEY on Apr 15, 2013 22:15:14 GMT -5
Arianna felt a little bad for the girl. She never had to move around herself; in fact she had lived in the same house her entire life until she came to the academy. She couldn’t imagine moving around all the time. Arianna had barely gotten over moving to school fulltime and she could only imagine having to pack all her things away. It would probably take months just to do that alone because the young woman thrived on order and cleanliness. She shuddered a little at the thought, glad she hadn’t had to put up with that.
“I’m not great with people either. My mom tells me I was born without a filter.” She rolled her eyes at the thought of her mother. She had to give the older woman props for attempting to change it though. “But you don’t have to necessarily be anyone. You are you and that should be enough.” Arianna said simply shrugging a little. Even though it was a little rough and to the point, she thought it sounded pretty good. I should be a life coach. The thought made her laugh out loud even though it probably made her sound a little strange.
“Cool name. I’m Arianna and I am a Thunder.” She said shaking Soraya’s hand. At least she was a Wind. If she was an Earth or Water Arianna probably would have walked away without a trace of guilt. She walked back over to her stuff and ungracefully sat down on the ground. “You’re lucky you’re a wind Kid.” She said leaning back on her hands glancing over at Soraya with a slight smile.
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Post by SORAYA NIMAT DARZI on Apr 16, 2013 18:50:43 GMT -5
Soraya was confused about why the older girl would laugh about just being herself. Perhaps it was some kind of inside joke. Whatever it was, she was glad the girl was looking more cheerful. Maybe she had helped just by being a distraction.
“I haven’t really figured out who I am, though,” she said, shrugging. “Aside from a writer, I guess.” As she said it, she wondered if perhaps it could be enough to just be a writer. It was something solitary, but it also meant she didn’t have any stock enemies – aside from book-burners.
She joined Arianna in sitting and set aside her notebook and pen. During her months she had met a few Thunders, and now she understood why Arianna had been on her own. Soraya had tended to end up around the friendlier elements, and even the Fires stuck together fairly well.
“Mom and Dad always said that,” she replied with a little smile. “They never talked much about their powers when I was younger, but I knew there was something they would argue about.” Thinking back, she realized that she had always gotten the sense that she would someday be expected to choose between the two of them and that she was the only thing holding them together. “I do sometimes wonder what it’s like to have a group of people who are a lot like me, though.”
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Post by ARIANNA DEVIN SETLEY on Apr 16, 2013 22:25:59 GMT -5
Arianna still couldn’t believe she was sitting her giving advice to some freshman girl. It was kind of helpful though, for once she wasn’t focusing on her own problems. Then again she probably was giving the girl horrible advice that would end up with her being completely alone because no one would talk to her. Or even worse Soraya would latch on to her and follow her around. Out of the two worst case scenarios she would rather the first happen.
“Honestly you don’t need to figure out who you are. Just know what you like and what you don’t like and the rest will come easily. Labels are dumb anyway.” Arianna said drawing patterns in the sand next to her. For some reason she never could keep her hands still.
Her comment about her parents was certainly a surprise though. Her own parents had pretty much told her she would have powers and her mother had always liked to talk to her about them. But her father had always known she was going to be a Thunder. He and Arianna were so much alike it was near impossible to be anything but a Thunder. But he certainly was proud when her powers finally surfaced. It was all they talked about at home for weeks until she left for the Academy. Arianna forced herself out of her thoughts and looked back at Soraya trying to catch up with what she was saying.
“Oh. Yea having a group of people that are similar isn’t that great. It certainly is frustrating when they tend to end up just as stubborn as I am.” She said rolling her eyes at the thought of some of her classmates. Even some of the people in her own element could rub her the wrong way sometimes.
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Post by SORAYA NIMAT DARZI on Apr 16, 2013 22:46:28 GMT -5
Soraya’s gaze moved between Arianna’s face and the designs on the sand. She wondered idly if the older girl was any sort of artist or if it was just a random doodle for lack of something better to do. It felt a bit strange to get advice from someone who had recently tried to send her off, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to repeat the experience.
“I guess I can understand that,” she said. “I’m just used to seeing groups of nearly every element, and I usually either get left out because I’m not one of them or let in temporarily because a Wind is close enough.”
She glanced away and toyed with her pen, feeling a bit embarrassed again. It wasn’t nearly as bad as she made it sound; somehow she always managed to mention the worst of everything and not realize it until after she had finished talking. It was a terrible habit to get into if she ever wanted to be taken seriously.
“I didn’t mean to make this all about me, though,” she said, looking back up. “If you think I’m prying, you don’t have to answer, but is there something wrong? You seemed a bit bothered by something earlier.” She bit the inside of her lower lip, hoping she hadn’t annoyed Arianna by bringing it up again.
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Post by ARIANNA DEVIN SETLEY on Apr 18, 2013 20:41:52 GMT -5
Arianna shrugged a little and wiped away the patterns suddenly. Why am I talking to this girl again? She thought and turned to look at the Wind girl. Oh yeah. She did have a heart, under all the cold she put off. She felt a little bad for the girl, who clearly just wanted to belong. She couldn’t empathize, but she definitely felt bad. Arianna had never felt the need to belong to a group so she didn’t really understand why someone else would. Whatever it’s not my life.
“But that’s the best part. You get to be on whatever side you want. I mean I’m not complaining about the side I’m on. I definitely wouldn’t get along with the others, but you clearly would. At least you won’t be stuck somewhere you won’t be happy.” She said in a slightly bored sounding tone.
She was starting to feel a little pleased with herself for actually being nice to the young girl, but of course Soraya had to ruin it with her prying. She felt her hand clench a handful of sand as all her stress seemed to reenter her main thoughts. “I am always bothered by something.” She finally said after a few moments. She let her gaze sweep back over the water with a sigh, briefly wondering how far this girl would try to push her. “I just overthink things. It’s a real problem.” She added a few moments later, hoping to deter any questions. She really was not in the mood to talk about her own feelings. Plus she knew it was her own fault, she knew what she was going to do she just wasn’t looking forward to it.
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Post by SORAYA NIMAT DARZI on Apr 18, 2013 21:15:02 GMT -5
Soraya winced as Arianna’s hand tensed, regretting her question at once. “I’m sorry,” she said quickly before remembering that it would only make her seem more like some scared kid. “I mean, I’m… yeah. I am sorry.” She wondered if it was possible to sound both firm and apologetic or if she just came off as a jerk. “I shouldn’t have bothered you in the first place, and I shouldn’t have brought it up again. Yeah, I’ve got excuses, but if I’m going to be myself, then I think I ought to be a myself that can take care of her own problems.”
She paused, not sure if what she had said made any sense. It had felt like the right thing to say, but then so had approaching Arianna in the first place and trying to help. Even if it had made sense, it probably sounded like something stolen from a book.
“So…” She froze, realizing she had just lost her train of thought. Part of her wished she could remember what she had been about to say, part wanted to become invisible, and part wondered how she had managed to be around older students for so long and not picked up any swear words that would feel appropriate for her to think at herself. “I could just go, if you’d like. I won’t bother you again unless you seem less… bothered.” She worked her sandal into the sand, wondering if her embarrassment was showing.
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Post by ARIANNA DEVIN SETLEY on Apr 24, 2013 14:55:56 GMT -5
Arianna sighed at the girl’s response feeling herself getting more annoyed. “Just stop apologizing. It’s no big deal. If I were someone else I probably would have thought it was a nice gesture. I just don’t like people in my business.” She was getting a little annoyed again with the girl’s presence and was seriously struggling to keep it out of her voice. She knew the freshman didn’t really deserve it, but Arianna wasn’t a fan of people that couldn’t hold their own. Soraya just seemed too insecure? She couldn’t think of the right word but insecure seemed close enough.
When Soraya continued with saying she shouldn’t have even bother her in the first place, she couldn’t help but agree more. The rest of what she said didn’t make sense though so she chose to ignore it and instead of replying she looked out over the lake, trying to keep herself from bursting out. This whole nice thing was becoming harder than it was worth and now she realized why she never tried.
“I don’t care what you do kid. Stay or leave, it doesn’t matter to me.” She said indifferently, not looking over at the other girl. Deep down she wished Soraya would just leave but she wasn’t about to come out and just say it. She still thought it was a little odd that the wind girl had come and sat with her. Freshmen were so ignorant of things sometimes. “I’m probably done talking though.” She finished after a pause.
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