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Post by marci on Jul 15, 2011 16:20:13 GMT -5
Elaine nodded seriously and knitted her brow. ”They should be shot.” It was said with such deadly seriousness that the girl was actually a little proud of herself. She broke out into a grin a couple seconds later, though, hoping that Nell would get that sort of a joke. Nell was sort of gullible sometimes. And naïve. But that was ok, because Elaine loved her. She was quiet though, when Nell fell silent. She sensed a bit of pensiveness, and guessed it had something to do with either the war or the possibility of a romantic relationship. Either one would make sense, just now.
She smiled though, when Nell said that her explanation made perfect sense. Well, at least Nell understood the basic reason for the gap in communication. She laughed a little, pulling her hands up to make a few intricate gestures, as if she was already braiding something, very fast. ”My aunt tells me all the time that she 'talks with her hands', and she would keep forgetting and trying to show me the movement required for a certain task. The first few tries took a very, very long time, but eventually she figured out how to explain things to me the right way.”
Elaine laughed again, lowering her hands and touching Nell's hair lightly. ”Yes, I guess we could try. But I think we might want to start with your eyes open. People with eyes have no sense of touch.” She smiled as she said this, adding in a bit of tone that would make it a playful tease. Vision was a very, very important sense, she was sure, but sometimes it seemed unfair that because she'd lost it she had much better senses of smell, hearing, and touch. Maybe taste, too, but that was harder to test. Then she got into moods where she would gladly be deaf and mute just to see a sunrise. Smiling wider, she jested, ”I could also teach you how to give a good massage and play piano, if you want.”
She wasn't afraid to brag about it—Elaine had a touch. She could be gentle, firm, strong, and precise with her fingers and hands with little effort. It was something she'd trained herself to do, and it helped that she'd had to learn how to do things such as read and 'see' people's faces with her fingers. But then Nell mentioned something that she was not very good with. Elaine shuddered a bit when the earth girl spoke of learning how to swim. It was involuntary, but shudder she did. ”Well, I'm afraid that's something you'll have to learn without me. Water turns my reality inside out.” There was a bit of distaste in her tone as she said this, connoting even more problems with water.
”I can get one side done in fifteen minutes, at least.” She mused, ”Two if I don't make any mistakes.” Now that she had her hands full actually braiding, she didn't much feel like moving or thinking of things that needn't be considered just then. Her hands worked fast, tightening a few bits and then one hand held the strands separate while the other lightly ran along the progress already made. Every time she did that, she nodded to herself with a small smile. No mistakes so far. She laughed at Nell's antics. ”Sure! I've never had a pedicure before. People don't trust me with tools like that very often.”
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Jul 15, 2011 20:56:56 GMT -5
Nell snorted the instant Elaine said they needed to be shot in a grave tone, face deathly serious, and then broke out into full-blown laughter. That managed to get her thoughts away from anything other than her comment, that Nell found way too funny. Using her fists to wipe tears out of her eyes, she couldn’t help but chuckle when she nodded and agreed, ”On sight.” God, she loved Elaine. Nope, there was no war in her apartment tonight, just girl talk about the woes of boys and their enigmatic ways. With Elaine, she didn’t feel like such a naïve child, or a fugitive matricide, or a target—she felt like any other teenage girl having a good time.
When Elaine gestured around with her hands in a speedy imitation of braiding, Nell giggled. ”Your aunt sounds like an interesting woman,” she said, trying not to think of her own horrible aunt. ”She must love you a lot since she tries so hard.” True, the communication gap could be difficult at times, but Nell didn’t let that get in the way. She liked Elaine too much to have something like that ruin a friendship. The Earth girl always tried her best to make sure that Elaine was comfortable around her, as she did with everyone. But Elaine was different than everyone else, in more ways than one.
Nell gave a clicking sound with her tongue and said to Elaine’s light teasing, ”Very good point, chica.” Of course her senses were heavily based on her sight, and she couldn’t really comprehend how Elaine could be so dexterous with her hands because that was not how Nell went about things. ”You can massage? And play the piano? That’s…wow!” Those were some things Nell didn’t know about her, and it was intriguing. Those are two things that relied on touch, and she must have had pretty good depth perception to play piano. Nell herself wondered if she had any talents like that, but all she could think of was her card and board games and folding paper cranes. She was also learning more about cars, but that could hardly be considered a talent. ”Hey Elaine, what do you want to be when you grow up?” Nell laughed at how she phrased that and amended it with, ”Well, when you graduate from the Academy and everything?” The Earth student liked talking to others about their interests and hobbies and especially their futures. She loved futures, now that she knew she could have one.
It seemed that what Nell said about the ocean really affected Elaine, even shuddered about it which was a bit strange for the girl. ”That bad, huh,” Nell acknowledged softly. She wondered why Elaine disliked water so much, but chalked it up to her being blind so she wouldn’t ask a possibly uncomfortable question. Even though she had a feeling it might not have been. But she wouldn’t ask unless the Wind girl told her first. There were so many things Nell still needed to learn, and swimming was one of them. She’d never been to the ocean, or learned how to ride a bike, or anything that was commonplace in others’ childhoods. Nell was almost tempted to ask Elaine if she knew how to ride a bike, but that would sound incredibly stupid, even for her.
She laughed at Elaine’s comment, feeling so much better now than she had earlier when she said, ”You are a French braiding beast! It’s a race against the clock then.” Nell liked the feeling of the girl’s hands in her hair, how expertly she worked with it like she was a pro hairdresser. Jeez, she could be so easily impressed. Tell her you could walk on stilts, and she’d think you were god. But truly, Elaine’s skills were something impressive. On the topic of pedicures, Nell acquired one of those urban, beauty salon tones. ”Girl, you’ve been missing out!” Chuckling at Elaine’s statement, Nell asked, ”Are your feet very sensitive? Because I’ll be very gentle with my tools…of torture.” She finished the last part with a solemn undertone. And couldn’t help but laugh again.
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Post by marci on Jul 19, 2011 9:16:42 GMT -5
A slightly surprised blush entered the blind girl's cheeks. ”Um, yes, I can. I've been able to play violin, guitar, and piano for most of my life.” She said, a little amused. It seemed there were some things she took for granted. Music was such a big part of her life that she just assumed it was normal to be so musically gifted. Or at least she assumed there was some sort of air about her that told other people she was a musician.
The next question caught her off guard, and she hesitated. She'd never really thought about that part. After a couple seconds of silence, she said, ”There's not very much a blind person can do in this world, is there? I've only really thought as far as that I'll probably go to college here, since I'm so dependent on my power.”
She shrugged, ”I'll probably be a musician, or something to that effect. Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and married someone incredibly rich.” Though she laughed at her jest, she was internally cynical. It didn't seem likely to her that a crazy rich guy would settle for a blind girl who didn't even know if she was pretty or not. Nell mentioned the problem Elaine had with water, and she nodded. It was easier to admit this to Nell, because Nell was perhaps the sweetest thing in the world. So she said, ”I'm hydrophobic.”
The blind girl laughed at the torture joke, obviously not fazed at all. She didn't answer though, entering into one of her quietly contented moods as her hands worked quickly, gently and skillfully. Finally, she was relaxing again. This had been exactly what both girls had needed—an escape from the reality that was the academy of the elements.
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Jul 19, 2011 14:37:02 GMT -5
Nell giggled at Elaine’s reply and her shy expression. ”You could be your own orchestra!” she commended playfully. Music seemed to be something Elaine took great interest in—maybe more than a hobby. Hobbies, Nell, do you have any? She was developing them, she realized, now that she could. Running around outside was definitely a hobby, as well as card games and folding paper cranes. But those latter things were always something she held close. Now she had a whole lot of other hobbies to create for herself. Maybe music could be one of them.
It seemed as though the blind girl never thought about it before. That was pretty interesting. She liked seeing how others thought, what usually occupied them. And Elaine seemed to put in some serious consideration before answering. ”Let me be a total cliché and tell you that you can be anything you want!” Even though she was actually being serious, she laughed afterward. ”Okay, you can punch me for the corniness.” But she truly believed that Elaine was capable of anything. She already proved herself at so many other things. What else out there could stop her? Nell thought for a second maybe a brick wall, but then she remembered Elaine would knock that down. The admiration there was strong, yes it was. ”That sounds like a good path,” Nell said, nodding as she ran it through her head. ”I was thinking of doing the same thing. This being my first year here, it feels like there’s still a lot I need to learn.” And there was. Though with her friends, it felt like she’d been living here for years and knew them just as long, especially with Elaine.
”Like your aunt, huh?” Nell chirped, eyes glittering. She couldn’t see the cynicism inside Elaine, so she was naively enthusiastic for the other girl. Her own aunt performed in jazz clubs throughout New York City, including the House of Blues. And she deceived the audience with painted lips and a sultry voice and Nell realized how much people covered up. There were many layers to a person. Which is why—despite Elaine’s inner doubts, Nell laughed and said, ”Then you won’t have to do anything and can have fun every day! Or if working makes you happy, you can rake in some extra dough.” Hey, some people enjoyed the daily grind. She herself liked making her own way, even though her job was crappy.
She was slightly surprised when Elaine actually told her of her phobia. Nell was actually able to recognize it with the prefix, and she understood phobias were serious business. ”So swimming is definitely out of the question.” Usually phobias stick with people. Nell believed she had one of her own, she didn’t know whether it was claustrophobia or what because not only did small spaces bother her, but so did being locked inside. She knew exactly where that stemmed from.
After Elaine was done with braiding and Nell was admiring her hair and gushing over Elaine, there was a knock on the door. ”Yay, pizza!” She cried as she took out her wallet and told Elaine the complete amount because of their compromise. Food being brought just made the night even better. And now she could show off her new hair-do to the pizza guy.
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