HIDE A N D SEEK,, leif

[NELL DOE DALE]

Nell stuffed the tissue up her nose, wincing slightly. Okay, she had to predict this would happen. That not every attack would be elemental. That she would literally have to take a few punches and she did today. Well one specific punch, in her nose. It was a girl, unsurprisingly, since a lot of guys seemed to have qualms about hitting a girl. But burning her with fire? Fair game, she supposed. God, this hurts. It wasn’t broken, luckily, but it still brought reflex tears to her eyes, the closest she ever got to crying in ten years.

She needed to look for a safe place. But what was safe in this Academy? Pretty much nowhere for her. Even in the classrooms, she felt the electric gaze of Thunders on her, and in the hallways when they walked past, she’d be burned or zapped. Or they’d gang up on her. Or they’d punch her in the freaking nose. Nell tapped it lightly, flinching at the pain again. She wanted this war to stop. She didn’t think she wanted anything more than an end to all this fighting. Well, there was her mother’s abuse. She had certainly wanted it to stop.

Entering the library, she believed this may be a good haven. It was like a sacred place, wasn’t it? People didn’t like to fight in libraries, or so she hoped. And Nell didn’t something she knew she shouldn’t but she just couldn’t resist the pull of the computers. The last time she’d checked was when she’d met with Joshua for the first time sober. Pulling up Google, and typing her name in with murder, she looked for the latest news results. But there were none. This shocked her. There had been no update since the last time she checked months ago. Was her family trying to actually keep it under wraps? Why is that they aren’t trying to spread their influence?

She closed the window in shock. Well… Nell looked around the library, and decided to head upstairs, hoping there’d be less people there. Sliding underneath one of the tables, she folded her arms around her legs. And what was she supposed to do now, exactly? Just hide? Well, it seemed that way.

[leif]

Now, to say the least the war was getting on Leif's nerves, he had remained neutral due to a hate of fighting though he leaned to the earth side - it was his element - the side of the girl who had started it all. Her name was Nell, sure he hadn't ever interacted with this girl on a personal level - he had seen her around and she was another earth student in his grade - but she must be very important if a war started over her but still, did this war really have to be so prominent. Knowing the players in this war Leif had to admit it so, but he could dream right? Every now and then Leif - like many other earth students - was harassed as he heard, he really just wanted it to stop, a yet to be achieved dream.

Currently, Leif's only safe haven - other than the dorms but even those were infiltrated at times - was the library, it had the least amount of attempts on him and it was one of his favorite places to be not to mention the librarian and himself were on a mutual level - leading to some extended library times and more books allowed taken from the library - so this was a place he went to escape, and also he needed to return the copious amounts of books he had finished in boredom and return them. Wandering over the the main desk, Leif just dropped his books in rather than bug her to mark them in, it would happen either and she looked busy... Doing whatever she did.

Moving to one of the computer desks - the ones that were for students with laptops and whatever - and sat, pulling his laptop from his bag and beginning to play around with it, really the thing had been stolen from his stepfather when he had gotten ready to come here and he really doubted that his stepfather would be able to get it back anytime soon - not like he would come here or anything - so the thing was really a piece of rebellion, pretty much useless in Leif's hands. Eventually running out of things to do on the electronic, he was about to close it and begin book hunting when an idea struck him, maybe his mother had contacted him over his email? Going to check, he found one and opened it, it was dated a couple of months old but he didn't really care; looking over it, he found the contents upsetting and closed it. Really she had only emailed him to say not to get caught - seeing as he was technically in Canada, no, North America illegally - and that he better pay them back for the stolen laptop, along with some regular harsh things. Not even bothering to turn off the damn thing he slammed it closed and shoved it away in his bag before wandering upstairs.

He needed to get his mind off of the email, so looking through the books seemed a good idea, eventually as he scanned the isles he found one 'Beauty and the Beast' a classic at best but one of Leif's favorite, before his mother had turned she used to read the story to his repeatedly, sighing Leif moved to a table and pulled out the chair before sitting, but as he sat he realized something there was something, nay, someone, under the table. Leaving the book on the table, he pushed his chair back and plopped down, in front of whoever was under the table. It was Nell, the very girl who had caused the war that Leif had been ranting about, she was curled up, arms hugging her legs. In a moment, Leif's upset feelings went to empathy, he felt sorry for her, he understood that it would be horrible to have a war over your head -especially when it was over you to begin with - he smiled weakly at her and tried to not show the empathic looks that crossed his eyes, some people thought it would be pity and that would upset her, and Leif didn't want to do that.

"Can I come under?" Leif asked rhetorically, he moved under without a reply and sat in front of her, his arms wrapped around his long legs pulling them into his chest. Now if she said 'no' right this second, Leif would move back from under the table to the open area, he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable so he should comply, not like the were acquaintances or anything. "Are alright?" He questioned tentatively, he didn't want to strike a cord or anything but he felt compelled to wonder how she felt over this.

Words: eight hundred sixty six
Tagged: nell
Comments: from what i've seen this war was over nell, if i'm wrong then fuckkkk.

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[NELL DOE DALE]

All Nell had to do was wait. But for what? Until school was out? Actually, until she had to eat. Then she’d leave campus because the mess hall made her nervous. Anyone could attack her there. And she wasn’t taking her chances. It was bad enough having classes with all the other elements. She didn’t need one of her favorite things—eating—to be ruined for her. So yes, she’d wait. Maybe send a distress call to a friend if she really needed it. But Nell didn’t like asking favors of others, so she would resist unless something bad happen. As Nell considered what that something might be, she rocked back and forth, the pain still very much affecting her. She had a high pain threshold but god, did that hurt! Where do they get off anyway? They think you’re a murderer, Nell. And you are. Bad thoughts reminded her of this, but she knew it was just self-defense. Still, she didn’t like to think about it. Didn’t let herself think about it.

She should have predicted that someone would want to sit at the table. That’s what people do at libraries, after all. Sit and read. So when the chair pulled out, she said, ”Oops, sorry. Table is occupado.” Nell must have sounded like a total idiot. She didn’t even know if the person noticed her before they sat down or if they would freak out or something at the voice. ”But if you want to stay there…that’s all right.” She could live with sharing space. But then, a boy came into view and she almost jumped back, not expecting him to come down and speak with her. ”Oh…hi.” She put up a smile then, feeling ridiculous especially with the tissue stuck up her nose.

Nell studied him. He looked kind of familiar… Ooh, she got it! She believed she’d seen him around the dorms, right? ”You’re an Earth student!” she said cheerily. Never mind that she had a bloody nose or anything, she was still in as good a mood as ever. Shifting so that she was on her knees, she bumped her head on the underneath of the table and rubbed her skull with a small, ”Ouch.” But as she leaned forward, she easily forgot about any pain. ”I’m just nursing a bloody nose and hiding out. Some girl clocked me in the face. She must have had brass knuckles built into her fist or something.” Nell rolled her eyes, showing her exasperation for the whole thing. She wasn’t trying to make the war less serious than it was, just trying to not let it get to her. Plus, there was something she was more worried about… ”So you’re my ally right? Are you okay? They haven’t been hurting you have they?”

Always more worried about others than herself, she started to tug at him gently, checking his arms for wounds and such to see if he was okay. Earth students weren’t really going to the medical wing, so she worried he might have been suffering from something in silence. Which is really what she did, so she was being a hypocrite. Sighing, she said, ”Looking good.” Then, Nell realized that this might have been kind of weird for the boy, and so she grinned. ”Wanna play a card game while you’re under here?”

[leif]

Most people would've found what she said from under the table to be quite... Stupid? But Leif honestly found it kinda adorkable, as he dropped down to her, a half smile evident on his face, looking over her, he saw her nose and a small pout replaced the smile, he wanted to reach out and touch it, check if it was broken or anything, but he bet that would probably hurt more than it was most likely right now. "Hello there, I hope this is ok." Leif mused, sitting opposite from her under the table, he kept his long legs close and watched her intently, trying to see if she had any other injuries other than her swelling nose, damn, it looked like it hurt and from the looks of the tissue shoved up her nostril he assumed she was bleeding.

To her question he nodded, her cheerful voice was nice to hear, he was so surprised with all the stuff she had to go through that she could still grin and be happy, it was enlightening, he was amazed by that, if he was in her case he would be unable to be a bright as she was, honestly, this girl amazing. "Yes, name's Leif, at your service, Nell right?" If Leif had been wrong about who she was this whole time, he would probably have to go and jump out a window right now for being stupid, but he doubted he was wrong. Frowning a bit when she hit her head as she shifted, Leif leaned a little closer and touched it gently, "you alright?" He asked, the question was more rhetorical if anything, he had really asked her earlier about her current status and from the looks of it, the bump hadn't hurt too much - thankfully - but asking her was a necessity for Leif.

So that's what happened, Leif mused to himself, some chick came up and punched her in the face? Not very nice, Leif thought, but this was war and being nice wasn't exactly a priority. "Well, I think if she did, your nose would be broken." Leif joked a bit, he wasn't the best at jokes, but these were his failed attempts. "I guess I am." Leif really was technically neutral but when it came down to it, he was for earth and by doing so, with Nell. "No need to worry about me, I'm fine, people have more important people to terrorize in this war." Sure, he had been the target a few times, but it was nothing big, and really, she didn't need to worry about him when she should be worrying about herself.

As he was tugged, he was slightly pulled forward, a small smile reached his lips, and he laughed quietly, looking at her, why would anyone want to hurt her? She seemed so sweet and kind, apparently she killed someone which was the point of this war, but so? They were going to kill her over it? Honestly it was pointless, if they did kill her, people who cared for her would only want revenge as well and this would be endless, anyways, as Ashton had said, it's still pointless to even kill her, which was true, killing her wasn't going to bring the other girl back. When she spoke, Leif smiled and nodded, "told ya, I'm fine!" He snickered and leaned against the table leg, one arm holding his legs to him.

A card game? Sure why not, they'd probably be here for a while if Nell was hiding from people who wanted to help her. "Sure, but.. Shouldn't you get some ice on that?" Leif pointed at her nose, "you don't want it to swell even more do you?" He had a point, but he was being a bit hypocritical, not like he went to the infirmary when he got hurt, or even told anyone at that, but what he did do was take care of it himself, so if Nell was going to avoid getting the teacher's help, she might as well help herself. Because when you let things build, it only gets worse in the end.

Words: eight hundred
Tagged: nell
Comments: woot! sorry it took a bit longer than i thoughy >.>

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[NELL DOE DALE]

The guy seemed to assume a disconsolate expression, and she wondered what it was about. Even more than that, she thought his pouting was just plain cute. But remembering that most people didn’t like their cheeks being pinched, she resisted. Instead, she cheerfully said, ”I don’t mind! I’d love some company!” As long as you didn’t threaten her, it was very easy to get on Nell’s good side. She pretty much only had a good side. And this guy was so cute and polite, it was quite refreshing from some things she’d been experiencing lately! Like being punched in the face. Which definitely had not been polite. But after this, Nell knew that she wouldn’t even remember the faces of her aggressors and wouldn’t want revenge or anything like that. Because that is simply a vicious circle, she realized it more than anyone. It was how her family operated.

She giggled a little, always in an amiable mood around others even when injured and chirped, ”I like that name!” Always cheerful, of course. Especially now that she had interesting company! The prospect of sitting alone under a table all day did not sound too fun. So now that she had Leif, she was glad for it. ”Yep, yep, I’m Nell all right.” Her name had also become synonymous with “murderer” nowadays, which is probably why he recognized her. When he tapped her nose, she wriggled it a bit, her eyes squinted, before opening them back up and smiling. ”Yeah, it’s nothing bad.” She’d been convincing herself over time that her injuries were never too bad. It was how she coped. How she spent so long with her mother.

At his joke, she cracked up laughing. It was all she had nowadays, really. If she couldn’t laugh about it, she’d be dead right now. ”Guess you’re right there,” she replied, her grin bright. ”And you just brightened up my day!” Thing with Nell, she was always honest when she said things like that. Any compliment that came from her lips was sincere and true. She didn’t find the need to lie about those things, since there was a lot of other shit she needed to lie about all the time. Nell nodded at his reply. ”Still, everyone is being terrorized. And it’s so stupid, I just—“ she stopped, putting her smile back on for Leif’s benefit. ”I think everyone hates this war.” Maybe not the enemy alliance, but she was sure everyone is just plain tired. Exhausted. Injured. And wondering why they’re even fighting in the first place.

Because of her and some bullshit lie. And he assured her he was fine, but she still didn’t know about that. Everyone brushed off their injuries, she thought. No one wanted to feel weak or like an invalid or just sorry for themselves. Too bad Nell didn’t worry about herself, and therefore her excuse for brushing them off was because they weren’t nearly as important as others’. And because she believed she had become desensitized after her mother. He leaned back against the table as he laughed, and she gave him one last critical look before relenting and deciding he was in fact telling the true.

Leif seemed more concerned about her injuries, but she waved him off. ”Tis nothing! Just a flesh wound,” she jested, wondering if he’d get the reference, but being serious at the same time. ”I’m pretty good with handling pain.” Which came in handy during a situation like this, she guessed. ”There’s nothing I can really do about it, anyway. I’m not going to the medical wing for ice.” As she shuffled her cards, she thought about the argument with Josh concerning letting her injuries hang like this. She had laughed it up just to end it because it had gone on too far and they were both stubborn people. ”So what do you like to play? And don’t worry, I know just about every card game out there. As a matter of fact, I can even pull off quite a few parlor tricks if you want to see!”



[don't worry! i always love your posts. <33]

[leif]

"That's good!" Leif practically sang out, this girl's personality was so refreshing and so comforting, it seemed to uplift Leif's spirits, he didn't get how the girl could be so happy it was shocking. Leif twirled his hair around his finger and observed her, brown hair, brown eyes and innocent face, he still couldn't believe she had killed someone, it seemed so unbelievable, almost like a chipmunk killing a lion, not saying that Nell was chipmunk like, she wasn't.. Unless Nell found that a compliment than Leif guessed she was? Leif shook his head a bit and smiled at Nell, he was rambling in his head again, great. Tugging at the necklace on his neck he tried to keep his brain from running in so many different directions, he could swear he had ADD with the way his brain shifted, but he knew he didn't, he was just scrambled.

Leif grinned as she giggled, talking about his name in such a happy sense, usually when people talked about his name it was in a hurtful way either insulting the clicheness of his name to his element or it was just his mother insulting the name over and over in his head, either way it was negativity. "Nell isn't such a bad name itself, it reminds me of a bell or a bird.. I don't know why." Leif resisted the urge to hit himself over the head for being so weird, but he restrained himself and just smiled at her, one of his half smiles no less, he didn't smile fully a lot, but apparently when he did it was quite nice and cute, he didn't really get it but whatever floated their boat, he guessed.

When she wriggled, he recoiled a bit, feeling bad. "Sorry about that... Probably should've not touched it." A stupid move on his part really, he could make some pretty stupid decisions, he knew that but he felt really bad with this one, he didn't mean for Nell to be in pain, mentally he continued to beat himself up as he gave her a small smile.

Beaming at the fact his joke actually made someone laugh, he tilted his head and laughed a bit. "Yay! For that, I actually made someone laugh for once and I brightened their day, I think I owe myself a cookie." He felt a little better now, being able to make her smile and laugh, his little cookie joke more of a thing his mother used to do, when he made his mom or his dad laugh they used to give him cookies as rewards, now he did that for himself in some weird attempt at something, he didn't quite get it himself, maybe it was a yearning for something or whatever. But when she took a more serious tone, he nodded, he for one, was tired of this, he could only assume how tired of this war Nell was. "I think everyone is tired as well, even the opposing side, maybe it will just end with no negative outcome." By that he meant without Nell's death, he hoped that would be the outcome that came out of this all, but he also meant that as no one one the opposing side getting severely hurt either, he didn't want anyone to be hurt, enemies or not.

"Then try the fridge! Still, flesh wound or not, you should get some ice on it." Leif was persistent when it came to helping others, he believed that you had to get some sort of treatment no matter how small, it could really make the difference. He watched as she shuffled the cards, thinking of a game in his head, "I can't think of one! But the parlor tricks would be cool to see." Leif didn't get out much, so a simple trick would amaze him, but a big parlor trick would amaze him, he was like a child, giddy for a show.

Words: seven hundred sixty
Tagged: nell
Comments: wootness for cuteness!

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[NELL DOE DALE]

Tilting her head as Leif watched her, Nell wondered what he must have thought. Did he think murderer? Was that what his mind instantly went to? But she reminded herself that he probably had secrets as well, and that he may have done some terrible things in his past that she couldn't see on his face. That did to reassure her somewhat. It was nice to think that she could be able to hide things from people even when she suspected it was apparent that she'd killed someone before. Especially now during the war, her guilt shredded at her gut and she couldn't stand the idea of someone like Leif thinking her a killer. Which is why she needed to hide it so well. But so many other people think you're a murderer. And by that, she meant Cynthia's murderer. She was already a matricide.

Nell grinned to match his own. ”Oh, I like the idea of my name sounding like a bird.” It sounded really nice, actually. Birds reminded her of liberation and freedom, and she was all for that. He flashed her an endearing mile, and she regarded him fondly. Nell didn't think him at all weird. Well, quirky perhaps, but that was a good thing. ”It means ‘light’ in Greek.” Her voice was soft as if narrating something magnificent and grand. The image her name always created for her was a star burning out over ancient ruins and she liked that. Had her father had any say in naming her and Tilly, they would have gotten Spanish names. But it was Mia who named them, choosing to make them match in certain ways. Tilly meant ‘mighty in battle’, which was ironic thinking about it. ”What does yours mean?” It was one of the many things she was interested in with other people, the origins of their names. She simply took great interest in human beings.

Jeez, she wished she was better at masking pain so she didn't have to freak out the poor guy. Well, she was actually pretty decent at it. If she weren't, she'd have probably gasped and cried because of the pain triggering her tear ducts. Luckily she'd endured worse. No, that wasn't lucky. That was terrible. She waved him off with her hand. ”Oh please, it’s nothing.” Okay, it was something but not so bad that she’d freak out and get pissed at him for touching. Even if the injury was worse, she still wouldn’t have been mad at him. And she'd keep reassuring him as such until he understood that there was nothing wrong. If she tried hard enough, she believed she could make him think the injury was just something like a papercut. And it really didn't bother her too much, it wasn't broken, so therefore she believed it didn't need medical attention. Whether she was right or not, she'd find out at a later date. She didn't know what she'd do if it ended swelling up like Leif suggested.

She chuckled. "I think you do too," she agreed. "If only I had some on me. I usually am carrying around some form of food..." Food was very much serious business to Nell, and it wasn't rare to see her walking around with a bag of something in her hands. One of her friends once said if there was ever time when she didn't have food on her, and Nell smartly replied a shower. And yes, even during a time like this she could laugh. That's all she had to do, she kept reminding herself. All she needed to do was laugh to keep herself sane. She sighed. ”I certainly hope so. Right now it doesn't seem like too much of a possibility, but eventually when this just turns into a war of attrition maybe. Actually, it already is." Just a bunch of attacks from both sides to wear down the other. And it was succeeding for both of the alliances. It was simply a matter of who gave in first. And if it was the Earth and Water students, that would also mean Nell's death. And the thought was a painful stab to her gut. She didn't want to die, she really didn't.

"The fridge is for food, kind sir," she said as if chastising him, but she was of course joking around, as per usual. "It's all right, Leif, really!" Nell kept insisting that she was fine so he wouldn't worry about her. She didn't like people worrying about her. In all honesty--though she didn't even admit it to herself--she didn't think she was worth it. that sounded like such a cry for attention, but it was part of the truth. Living with a woman like her mother could make anyone feel like they weren't worth crap. To add to that, she hated seeing any other emotion but happy in people. Leif seemed like he would actually enjoy one of her card tricks and so she tugged at her sleeves with her fingers saying, "Nothing up my sleeve," in true magician fashion. Then, she fanned out the deck to show him the cards. "A normal deck, count the cards if you would like to make sure." Of course she was doing this simply for the fun of it, and it wasn't necessary. "Now pick a card, any card! Look at it, then return it to the deck."



[cuttteeeenesss 8DD]