Post by Kira & Lee Norris on Sept 9, 2007 17:10:58 GMT
Originally, Deron and Kira had planned to meet up by the massive clock in the Village Square. Originally, Deron had told her about a special spot in the village he wanted to bring her to- somewhere that really meant a lot to him. Originally, they were gonna buy ice-cream, go there and discuss the camping trip, and their plans for it. Originally, in their initial idea, it'd been bright, and sunny.
But whenever Kira woke up that Saturday morning, and saw that it was bucketing down from the heavens, she knew that this day wasn't going to go according to plan at all. Aunt Black had always told her that a woman's intuitive never lied. Women were always right and men- well, you just shouldn't talk about them...
Turns out, Aunt Black was always right about this sort of thing.
As she was brushing out her long hair and tackling the many tats that managed to snake their way through, Deron's shadow messenger had come to call. After a bit of dark mumbling about how they weren't her slaves, and how they were sick of this silly teenage love tale, they told her in a perfect reflection of Deron's voice that he had to look after his cousins because his mum was going to have a busy day at work, and he also had to keep an eye on Kerry because his mum still didn't trust her with 'that boy'.
So here she was, rapping on Number 7 Hoodham Cross and freezing her butt off to boot.
Hoodham Cross was a small cul-de-sac just off the road that originally led to No Man's Land before it was barricaded off. It was long, and windy, with a gravelly road and thin, bumpy sidewalks. Each house was a perfect mirror of the other; wide, dark metal domes, designed specifically for protection from bombing by some of the metal workers up at Orchid. Although the houses offered safety, they were in no way like a home should be. They were crude constructions, simplistic and ugly, and a a terrible contrast to the bustling, lively Village Square.
Kira was thankful she had water powers. The rain didn't hit her, but bounced off of the space around her, as though she had some kind of invisible forcefield. However, it didn't stop the bitter wind from chilling her and causing her teeth to chatter. She'd tried to scatter the clouds a couple of times, but it just resulted in causing more rain to fall than before. Giving up, she'd just let nature take its course sullenly.
The little square metal door was swung open suddenly, and a young girl of around 10 or so peered up at her curiously, one eyebrow raised. Her face was small and thin- almost peaky, but her emerald eyes were wide and frightened, her lips thin and bloodless. Her face framed by shoulder-length, eerily straight brown hair, and as her unblinking eyes swept over Kira, she asked in a bold, commandititory voice that shocked Kira, "Who are you?"
"My name's Kira," Kira replied quickly, deciding on the spot to answer promptly and readily.
The girl didn't look any more reassured. Apparently, Deron had not told her she was coming. "Surname?"
"Norris..." Kira said slowly, frowning. "Kira Norris."
"There aren't any Norrises around here," the girl replied swiftly. "So that means..." Her eyes narrowed with a startling resemblance to her cousin; scrutinising the rain as it bounced off Kira's forcefield. "You're dry."
"Yes," Kira said quickly. "I'm from the school and- "
"We don't want anything," the girl sniffed. "Nothing you could sell us- nothing you could offer us. We ain't magic."
"No, I'm here for Deron- "
"Why?" she cried sharply, her grip on the door tightening slightly, her small knuckles whitening. "Come recruiting for another battle? Too many of your Warriors dead? He ain't interested." As the girl made to close the door Kira felt a thrill of panic and pushed her way forward, jamming her foot in the way. Her reward was pain, and the girl pushed her forwards onto the muddy path. Losing control of her forcefield Kira fell backwards and was suddenly spattered with a combination of mud and water.
"No, you don't understand- "
"DERON!!" screamed the girl wildly, banging on the metal door. "DERON!! SCHOOL FOLK- SCHOOL FOLK- GIVE 'EM WHAT FOR, DERON!!!"
There was a clattering sound from within the dome, and hurried footsteps as Deron charged down the hallway, arriving panting at the front door. He gaped at Kira (who realised with a sinking heart she must look completely stupid) and his cousin, who wore a fiercely triumphant expression.
"Didn't expect that one, did ya?" she jeered at Kira. "Go on now- shoo! Back up to your cosy old school, you rotten, filthy little b- "
"That's enough, Armelle," Deron said warningly, stepping out of the house and walking over to Kira, extending his hand. Taking it, Kira let herself be pulled to her feet.
Armelle's jaw dropped. "Schoolboy," she hissed, almost instantaneously overcoming her initial shock. "You got a lot of nerve, you do. 'Specially knowing what you do."
"Shut it, Armelle," he growled, taking Kira's hand and leading her through into the house. Armelle followed behind them, closing the door and muttering darkly under her breath. As soon as the door was shut, the hallway was lit by a dull gloom. A flickering lightbulb hung from the ceiling, but it apparently wasn't doing its job very well. The walls were covered in a somewhat depressing peeling green paper, and the hall floor was bare metal.
Deron led her off into a side-room, which was very sparingly decorated. It was quite empty, but for a small, flickering black and white television, which sat out a bit from the curving wall, and a little sofa facing it. In this room, a lamp in the corner lit it, for there were no windows, and although the walls were bare metal, the floor was covered in a surprisingly soft carpet. Taking Kira's jacket and shoes, he sat her down on the sofa and left abruptly, closing the door behind him.
Armelle stood grimly before her, her arms folded and eyes narrowed accusingly. Kira felt incredibly uncomfortable in this little girl's presence, as though she was being interrogated for some sort of crime- whatever that was. Shifting awkwardly, Kira's eyes trailed the room around her... searching for something, anything to talk about...
"Your house is very nice," she said lamely. "Um... really, really nice. I love the..." The what? There wasn't exactly anything to love. "I love the simplicity of it. Not too crowded- very nice."
Armelle snorted. "Yeah, right. Bet you feel sorry for us. Bet you think we're dead poor."
"No!" Kira cried, stricken. "No, why would I- ?"
"We do alright too," Armelle growled. "For what my aunt earns, and what living costs these days, we do pretty alright. We're not the worst off in Hoodham Cross. What do you think of them?"
Kira had the feeling she just wasn't going to win with this girl. "I don't know," she said softly. "I haven't met them..."
"No," Armelle said just as softly- even thoughtfully. "No... I don't suppose you school folk fraternise with scum like us."
"That's not fair, Armelle," Deron growled, coming back into the room with a thin towel and some jeans and a T-shirt. "Leave Kira alone."
"Why?" Armelle challenged him, then stopped and stared. "Those are Kerry's."
"Yeah, I know," replied Deron, passing Kira the clothes. "But she's not wearing them. And Kira- thanks to you- is soaked."
"Schoolboy," Armelle repeated icily.
Deron ignored her, leading Kira out of the sitting room, and back into the hall, where they crossed through into the room opposite. One single bed and a double lay side-by-side, jam-packed into a small room. At the foot of one of the beds, a cupboards was forced in between it and the wall. On top of it, and underneath each of the beds, Kira could see piles of clothes.
"This is Armelle, Kerry and Zara's room," Deron said simply, "you can get changed in here."
"Deron," said Kira suddenly, her throat hurting her slightly as she spoke. "You don't have to do this. I'll go. Armelle's not happy, and your other cousins sure as heck won't be either."
"No," Deron replied, a strange fierceness in his tone, and a challenge in his eyes as he turned on her. "No. You stay."
"You don't have to do this," Kira repeated, feeling about as small as a germ feeding off a fly.
"Yes," Deron said grimly, leaving the room. "I do."
But whenever Kira woke up that Saturday morning, and saw that it was bucketing down from the heavens, she knew that this day wasn't going to go according to plan at all. Aunt Black had always told her that a woman's intuitive never lied. Women were always right and men- well, you just shouldn't talk about them...
Turns out, Aunt Black was always right about this sort of thing.
As she was brushing out her long hair and tackling the many tats that managed to snake their way through, Deron's shadow messenger had come to call. After a bit of dark mumbling about how they weren't her slaves, and how they were sick of this silly teenage love tale, they told her in a perfect reflection of Deron's voice that he had to look after his cousins because his mum was going to have a busy day at work, and he also had to keep an eye on Kerry because his mum still didn't trust her with 'that boy'.
So here she was, rapping on Number 7 Hoodham Cross and freezing her butt off to boot.
Hoodham Cross was a small cul-de-sac just off the road that originally led to No Man's Land before it was barricaded off. It was long, and windy, with a gravelly road and thin, bumpy sidewalks. Each house was a perfect mirror of the other; wide, dark metal domes, designed specifically for protection from bombing by some of the metal workers up at Orchid. Although the houses offered safety, they were in no way like a home should be. They were crude constructions, simplistic and ugly, and a a terrible contrast to the bustling, lively Village Square.
Kira was thankful she had water powers. The rain didn't hit her, but bounced off of the space around her, as though she had some kind of invisible forcefield. However, it didn't stop the bitter wind from chilling her and causing her teeth to chatter. She'd tried to scatter the clouds a couple of times, but it just resulted in causing more rain to fall than before. Giving up, she'd just let nature take its course sullenly.
The little square metal door was swung open suddenly, and a young girl of around 10 or so peered up at her curiously, one eyebrow raised. Her face was small and thin- almost peaky, but her emerald eyes were wide and frightened, her lips thin and bloodless. Her face framed by shoulder-length, eerily straight brown hair, and as her unblinking eyes swept over Kira, she asked in a bold, commandititory voice that shocked Kira, "Who are you?"
"My name's Kira," Kira replied quickly, deciding on the spot to answer promptly and readily.
The girl didn't look any more reassured. Apparently, Deron had not told her she was coming. "Surname?"
"Norris..." Kira said slowly, frowning. "Kira Norris."
"There aren't any Norrises around here," the girl replied swiftly. "So that means..." Her eyes narrowed with a startling resemblance to her cousin; scrutinising the rain as it bounced off Kira's forcefield. "You're dry."
"Yes," Kira said quickly. "I'm from the school and- "
"We don't want anything," the girl sniffed. "Nothing you could sell us- nothing you could offer us. We ain't magic."
"No, I'm here for Deron- "
"Why?" she cried sharply, her grip on the door tightening slightly, her small knuckles whitening. "Come recruiting for another battle? Too many of your Warriors dead? He ain't interested." As the girl made to close the door Kira felt a thrill of panic and pushed her way forward, jamming her foot in the way. Her reward was pain, and the girl pushed her forwards onto the muddy path. Losing control of her forcefield Kira fell backwards and was suddenly spattered with a combination of mud and water.
"No, you don't understand- "
"DERON!!" screamed the girl wildly, banging on the metal door. "DERON!! SCHOOL FOLK- SCHOOL FOLK- GIVE 'EM WHAT FOR, DERON!!!"
There was a clattering sound from within the dome, and hurried footsteps as Deron charged down the hallway, arriving panting at the front door. He gaped at Kira (who realised with a sinking heart she must look completely stupid) and his cousin, who wore a fiercely triumphant expression.
"Didn't expect that one, did ya?" she jeered at Kira. "Go on now- shoo! Back up to your cosy old school, you rotten, filthy little b- "
"That's enough, Armelle," Deron said warningly, stepping out of the house and walking over to Kira, extending his hand. Taking it, Kira let herself be pulled to her feet.
Armelle's jaw dropped. "Schoolboy," she hissed, almost instantaneously overcoming her initial shock. "You got a lot of nerve, you do. 'Specially knowing what you do."
"Shut it, Armelle," he growled, taking Kira's hand and leading her through into the house. Armelle followed behind them, closing the door and muttering darkly under her breath. As soon as the door was shut, the hallway was lit by a dull gloom. A flickering lightbulb hung from the ceiling, but it apparently wasn't doing its job very well. The walls were covered in a somewhat depressing peeling green paper, and the hall floor was bare metal.
Deron led her off into a side-room, which was very sparingly decorated. It was quite empty, but for a small, flickering black and white television, which sat out a bit from the curving wall, and a little sofa facing it. In this room, a lamp in the corner lit it, for there were no windows, and although the walls were bare metal, the floor was covered in a surprisingly soft carpet. Taking Kira's jacket and shoes, he sat her down on the sofa and left abruptly, closing the door behind him.
Armelle stood grimly before her, her arms folded and eyes narrowed accusingly. Kira felt incredibly uncomfortable in this little girl's presence, as though she was being interrogated for some sort of crime- whatever that was. Shifting awkwardly, Kira's eyes trailed the room around her... searching for something, anything to talk about...
"Your house is very nice," she said lamely. "Um... really, really nice. I love the..." The what? There wasn't exactly anything to love. "I love the simplicity of it. Not too crowded- very nice."
Armelle snorted. "Yeah, right. Bet you feel sorry for us. Bet you think we're dead poor."
"No!" Kira cried, stricken. "No, why would I- ?"
"We do alright too," Armelle growled. "For what my aunt earns, and what living costs these days, we do pretty alright. We're not the worst off in Hoodham Cross. What do you think of them?"
Kira had the feeling she just wasn't going to win with this girl. "I don't know," she said softly. "I haven't met them..."
"No," Armelle said just as softly- even thoughtfully. "No... I don't suppose you school folk fraternise with scum like us."
"That's not fair, Armelle," Deron growled, coming back into the room with a thin towel and some jeans and a T-shirt. "Leave Kira alone."
"Why?" Armelle challenged him, then stopped and stared. "Those are Kerry's."
"Yeah, I know," replied Deron, passing Kira the clothes. "But she's not wearing them. And Kira- thanks to you- is soaked."
"Schoolboy," Armelle repeated icily.
Deron ignored her, leading Kira out of the sitting room, and back into the hall, where they crossed through into the room opposite. One single bed and a double lay side-by-side, jam-packed into a small room. At the foot of one of the beds, a cupboards was forced in between it and the wall. On top of it, and underneath each of the beds, Kira could see piles of clothes.
"This is Armelle, Kerry and Zara's room," Deron said simply, "you can get changed in here."
"Deron," said Kira suddenly, her throat hurting her slightly as she spoke. "You don't have to do this. I'll go. Armelle's not happy, and your other cousins sure as heck won't be either."
"No," Deron replied, a strange fierceness in his tone, and a challenge in his eyes as he turned on her. "No. You stay."
"You don't have to do this," Kira repeated, feeling about as small as a germ feeding off a fly.
"Yes," Deron said grimly, leaving the room. "I do."
