Thanksgiving

[Macy Deltine]

((I know this is a day late, but whatever, and also, this is from Steve Ritzski's point of view))

Steve ran through the corridor, away from the Hospital Wing where he had just been forced to take his medication. He felt drained, as he always did after them, and his hair felt limp. He knew that it would be his natural light brown, since all the stupid pills that he has to take messed with his system and would go his natural colour for a while. He entered the Dining Hall, just after dinner had started, and looked around. He looked out for Macy or Anke or Rachel, but he didn't see any of them. He started to walk down the long tables, but was called over to one of the tables at the side of the room. The table was lined with American flags, and each plate was full with mashed potatoes, gravy, turkey, sweet potatoes, stuffing and who knows what else.
He grabbed one of the seats, and realised what was going on. "Happy Thanksgiving!" He said to the rest of the table, and he could feel his hair changing green. "I completely forgot about this!" He said, loading his plate with some more sweet potatoes.
He loved Thanksgiving because of the food, but basically hated everything else about it. It was the day that everyone from his dad's side of the family would come over, and all his uncles would shout at him for not being man enough, his aunts would shout at his mom for not being a good enough mother, his cousins would shout at his dad for eating the last slice of turkey, and his grandparents would shout at everyone, but Steve never knew why, as he didn't speak Italian.
He with his mouth half-full with a mix of turkey, potatoes and gravy, he saw Macy's friend, Jude, near him.
"Happy Thanksgiving!" He shouted, pouring some more gravy over the food.

[Jude Dorrian]

Twas' the siren song of Steve that made Jude drop his forkful of potatoes into his lap.
"Oh, you idiot," Tameron said cheerfully to Jude, pushing him out of the way as quick as a lightning bolt to lean over to talk to Steve.
He was somewhat of a legend amongst her friends, because anything that didn't have natural-colored hair was, of course, amazing. Jude rolled his eyes at the smug little smile on his sister's face as she showed off that her brother knew 'Bonkers from Yonkers'.
"Happy Thanksgiving, Steve," Jude mumbled, dabbing at himself with a napkin. "Sorry... this is my sister... Tameron..."
Her hand shot out across the table. "Nice to meet y'all," she said sweetly.
"Again, sorry," Jude said, then smiled.

[Macy Deltine]

Steve laughed at Jude and his little sister. He never had any siblings, and wanted to know what it felt like. "It's okay." He said, taking a drink from his glass, and realised that it was Root Beer, his favorite. "I haven't celebated Thanksgiving properly in years, you know. Since my mom got taken, and my dad was in prison, my uncle never really did it properly. He'd usually give me a frozen TV-dinner, and head out for the bar to watch the game." He said, stabbing his food with the fork, making sure that it was okay to eat. "I suppose you're supporting the Cowboys?" He asked, pouring out some more Root Bear. Of course he was supporting the Dallas Cowboys, he's a stinkin' Texan! "I usually support them too on Thanksgiving, well, I never really liked Football, but I'd have to watch it with my dad and uncles. Food's good,though." He said, cutting up the Turkey with his fork. American's didn't use knives for cutting things up.

[Jude Dorrian]

"That's too bad," Jude replied, taking a sip from his glass of water. "I never really get to see that much football- but I love it when I do! Yeah, I support the Cowboys-"
"Y'all are hardly a fan," interjected Tameron haughtily, digging her fork into her potatoes- the ones which she insisted were never quite mushed up to perfection. "They don't make potatoes like you, Jude..." she said miserably, then returned to the subject of football. "I mean- I know more about football than you do! We never had a TV at home, but come on, you could've made more of an effort at school. And they always played it at the orphanage. And-"
"Y'all shut up," Jude told her thickly, swallowing back a sprout he hadn't quite chewed to the necessary requirement. He cleared his throat, narrowly avoiding a choking fit, and continued. "Anyway, Steve... d'you know if this is all just set out for us Americans, or do any of the others get to come along?"
His first thoughts on this were Lee and Kira, and wondering how much she actually knew about her cousin's nighttime fits. He wanted to make sure she did know- it didn't seem right that she was the last to find out.
He hated their mutual silence.
And his other thought was having Thanksgiving with Ailith... except, he didn't really have a valid reason for that.
He just knew he wanted to.

[Macy Deltine]

Steve sighed, starting to feel full from the amount of food he had managed to stuff into his stomach. But he could hear his Uncle's voice in his head: "Ritzski's do not get full, they eat, eat and eat some more."
"I don't know if other's can come, I suppose they can." Just as he said this, he felt someone standing behind him. He felt hs fingers tingle, just incase he had to electricute them. He turned round swiftly, and found a black-haired girl, standing behind him. "Anke.." He said, quietly. He couldn't help but feel his heart sink slightly, but he didn't want to think about who he wanted to be there.
"Hi, Ritzski! Happy Thanksgiving!"She said, cheerfully, but even with all this effort, Steve couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed by her. She sat down in the empty seat opposite Jude's sister, and picked up his glass of Root Beer and take a sip. This annoyed him even more.
"Anke, you're not American." He said, feeling slightly defensive. He was trying not to be rude, but he didn't want her there.
"That dosen't matter, silly!" She replied, setting his glass back down. She pushed his shoulder, laughing. He looked around at the table, and didn't want to make a scene of telling her to go away, so he just nodded his head, looked down at his plate, and dug his fork into the mashed potatoes.
"Ritzski, what type of mood are you in?" She asked him, loudly, and he realised that his hair had gone a reddy-black, meaning he was angry-sad. But she didn't know what each colour meant.
"I'm just tired." He replied quickly, still staring at his plate. He then looked up at Jude, and gave him a 'Please, say something..' type of look.

[Jude Dorrian]

"Where did Steve pick up the sheep?" hissed Tameron venomously as Anke babbled happily to Steve.
Previously, Jude assumed that the term 'sheep' referred to people who wore too many scarves, but this simultaneously tacky and Gothic-esque girl hardly fitted into that category. Jude decided it was probably best not to ask...
Steve's lime hair and turned sort of black- may be red in there, but he couldn't quite make it out.
Random fact: guys can't see the color red properly.
Suddenly, Steve's pleading eyes met Jude's and he realised he wasn't doing a very good job of helping get rid of the annoying non-American. When he'd asked if anyone who wasn't American was coming, this wasn't quite what he had in mind...
"Anke, hello, I'm Jude, it's awful nice to meet y'all," he said pointedly, sticking his hand in front of her nose. "Don't worry about Steve. He's just been doing a lot of homework. I haven't. I'm lazy. Are you lazy Anke? I bet you are! We'll get along great-"
"Give over, Jude," Tameron said sharply, then turned on Anke. "Why did you dye your hair that color? It's so depressing."
"It is a bit depressing..." Jude said slowly. "Black's nice though."
"On a corpse."
"Aye... there's that..."
Jude winced. The Dorrians really weren't very tactful, were they?

[Macy Deltine]

Steve stared at Jude and Tameron, and began to think if he should have asked them to help him. He wanted them to drive her away, not insult her. He looked at Anke, but she seemed to be missing all the blows. She just laughed it off, and then while Jude's sister was looking away, she glared at her, as if she was planning to kill her later. Steve rolled his eyes, and pushed his plate away, feeling full.
"So, Ritzski, are we up for training tomorrow?" She asked him, but he didn't reply, instead let off a small grunt. She didn't say anything in return, but raised her eyebrows slightly, looked around the table for anyone who heard what he had said, but no-one seemed to notice. Steve sighed, and set down his napkin, and leaned back on his chair. "Ritzski and I train often." She said, trying to capture the attention of everybody. Steve nodded, leaning back further on his chair, scanning the rest of the room. He had stopped listening to what she was talking about, but picked up on the words 'he's such a weakling', which made him topple off the chair, his hair flaming red.
"Nice one, Ritzski!" Anke shouted at him, laughing her head off. He jumped up, and glared at her, but she continued to laugh. He could feel his hair go slightly pink, with embarrassment.
"Don't call me Ritzski!" He shouted at her. He grabbed his seat, and sat down, picking up the fork and jamming it into the pumpkin pie that was now at his place.
She went silent for a minute, and then tried to laugh it off, again. "I'm sorry, mister, you don't have to scream at me, I was only joking." She said, leaning on her elbows, running her fingers though her hair.
"Nice pumpkin pie, eh?" He asked Jude, ignoring Anke now.

[Jude Dorrian]

"Mmm-hmm," Jude choked, his mouth disgustingly full.
Tameron's eyes were narrow slits now as she surveyed Anke. Apparently, she didn't like her. And apparently, Anke didn't like her, if the look she'd given her had been any indication. Jude was feeling real bad for Steve now- this girl was annoying and embarrassing and Jude didn't like the way she was talking to Steve. Why would she call him 'Ritzski' like that? But even though Steve was being quite obvious about his feelings towards Anke, she didn't seem to notice! Could she really be that stupid- or was she just ignoring it on purpose?
Jude swallowed awkwardly. "I got banned from training- me and Tameron both did. Did y'all hear about that, Steve?"
"I like Madeleine and all, but she can really be a-"
"Cow, Tameron, you say, 'cow'."
"Pssh- no."
Jude ignored her. "It's 'cause we all snuck up to the front line during the battle. Maddox banned us, then. It's really bugging me, actually. I like being a Spy and stuff- but I also liked being able to use a sword."

[Macy Deltine]

Steve sighed, thinking about the battle. He hated fighting, and he wasn't too fond on thinking about the last time he had to do it.
"Yeah, I never used my sword, it's easier to do everything by hand.." He said, making a few sparks with his fingers.
"I loved fighting, it's so amazing, the rush of energy, as if you are on fire. It's brilliant, some times I wish I could have been the head of Warriors, but Madeleine's still good." Anke said quickly, chipping her black-painted finger nails.
Steve pushed a spoonful of the cold dessert into his mouth while she spoke. He swallowed, and set his spoon down, looking across the table. Everyone had seemed to stop talking, and were eating their pumpkin pie, now. He began to concentrate on one of the salt-shakers, and without warning, it exploded, sending salt crystals over the table. Some people turned their faces in disgust, as their pie became salty.
"Sorry.." He said, feeling his hair going black. Anke began to laugh again, but he glared at her, making her stop. "I didn't get any in your pie?" He asked Jude and Tameron, feeling annoyed with himself now.
Atleast this thanksgiving wasn't any out of the normal; him shouting at someone, exploding something, and feeling pathetic.

[Jude Dorrian]

Wow. Salty cream. That was... different.
"You're fine," Jude said quickly, flicking spooning some of his pie and cream onto a nearby plate. "I don't even like pumpkin pie that much anyway..."
"Gee, Anke," Tameron said sourly, watching Steve's darkening hair. "You make everything go black."
Jude coughed slightly. His sister really was going out of her way to insult this girl, wasn't she?!

[Macy Deltine]

Steve stared at Tameron, attacking Anke with words again. Anke gave her a dirty look into return, and then looked at Steve. He looked at her, but not in the eyes, just at her black hair. It went below her shoulder, and had a couple of clips in it. She seemed to roll her eyes when he would look in them. He gazed at his plate, feeling completely stuffed. He then noticed Tameron staring at Anke, and Steve looked at Jude, with worry. He hated being around girls when they were about to fight. He imagined Anke hissing at Jude's sister, who in return was arching her back.
He looked back at Jude, who seemed slightly worried too.

[Jude Dorrian]

"What was that look for?"
"What look?" cut in Jude quickly, panicking slightly.
He didn't think Steve would be very well-equipped for this kind of fight. Steve got stressed really easily- actually, he didn't think Tameron and Anke were being fair towards him at all. Couldn't they have some respect?!
Oh, that's right. They were girls.
"You saw her, Jude," Tameron said darkly. "What's the dirty look for then, Anke? You got a problem?"
Jude shrank back from his sister now. She may be small... but she packed one hell of a punch.

[Macy Deltine]

"Oh, yeah, and the 'black hair looks good on a corpse' actually means 'I want to be your best friend'. You don't know who you are messing with, Dorrian." Anke replied, her words dripping with vemon. Well, atleast to Steve. He hadn't seen a girl-fight since living in Yonkers, but that was between Lisa Jordan and Deena Rubinellie, and that was because Lisa had worn Deena's jacket to some dance, and it got puked on. And that fight ended when Deena's false nails got stuck in Lisa's weave, and they both had to spend the rest of the day in Lisa's mother's beauty shop, sulking.
But this, this was actually a fight that seemed to get nasty. The girls glared at each other for a while, and finally, after what seemed hours, Anke said, "You better watch it." To steve, this didn't seem to tough, but the way she delivered it, her eyes could cut glass, and he voice was now dripping with so much vemon, Steve was worried he may get poisioned. He looked back over at Jude, and used the international guy code for 'We better get out of here'. But they couldn't leave, the girls may start attacking each other while they were away.

[Jude Dorrian]

Steve was radiating, 'I want to go' and Jude had to agree with him... but he also knew he wouldn't be able to get anywhere. Not whilst Tameron was like this!
"Are you threatening me?" Tameron asked coldly, her tone as sharp and cold as jagged glass.
It literally sent a chill down Jude's spine.
"Tameron..." he mumbled, knowing it was useless.
She just ignored him. "It's not my fault you're getting Steve all worked up. And that you can't take a hint from either of us to go away. Oh well, at least you've worked it out now. Now- are you gonna run along like a good little girl, or is Jude going to have to see you off personally?"
Jude groaned loudly, wishing Steve would just blow both guys to smithereens and spare them.

[Macy Deltine]

Steve felt like cramming his head in his folded arms, instead of having to listen to the face-off between Anke and Tameron.
Anke let out a laugh at Tameron's comments, and looked over at Jude.
"Oh, is big cowboy gonna stand on me with a horse?" She said sarcastically. She laughed again, throwing her head back. "Anyway, what are you, like, five? Getting your big brother to fight your fights. Nice."
Steve began to get worried incase she said 'well, Steve can take him out in one second.' Luckily, she didn't. She stared at all three of them for some time, but Steve didn't dare look at her. Instead, his concentratiom was focused on the painting behind Jude's head. "Steve? Well, what are you going to say?" Anke asked his, snapping his concentration.
"I..eh..." Being put under pressure, Steve exploded the teapot near by them. "I think Jude and I should go..." He said, looknig at Jude, desperatly.