Zoning Out 101;; Open

[Tamika Dombrovski]

Tamika jogged down the steps of Orchid Hill's main entrance as quickly as she could, keeping her head down and one hand on the strap of her satchel bag, stopping it from sliding down her shoulder and tripping her up - a more regular occurance than Tamika would like to admit. Despite the rather ridiculously cold weather today, she was determind not to let the plan she had made during the week. She pulled up the faux-fur collar of her beloved Russian trench coat and carried on hurrying down the path, only looking up to nod and smile at a couple of fellow students walking past. Of course, the pair didn't take notice of or return the gesture, but instead returned on their course to the school building. Tamika couldn't blame them really, it was what any normal person would do.
She turned a corner to walk through some trees and could see the clearing she was heading for just up ahead. Tamika's general plans for the day were to do some sketches of the lake for her art class, which was the only reason she was carting about a bag filled with A4 sketchbooks, pencils, charcoals and other artistic bits and bobs. Well actually, that was a lie. Another reason Tamika was carting those things about was because that was the standard of what her bags contained. She didn't really care for other subjects much and so didn't give them pride of place in her bag. She passed through a few shrubs and stumbled out by the lake side. Turning back around, Tamika scratched her head, a little confused as to why she had a small struggle to get out to the clearing. She then groaned as she noted that the actual opening was a mere five metres away from her. Of course I would pick the wrong place, she thought, for some reason getting a little annoyed.
She shook her b*tch fit off and walked over to a bench which she always thought to have a perfect view of the lake and it's surrounding area. Settling down, Tamika opened her bag and started to lift a couple of things out, namely a sketchpad and tin of pencils. She pulled her legs up so her feet rested on the edge of the bench, and used her knee's as a makeshift rest for the artpad. Absent-mindedly, Tamika began to trace the outline of everything in her frontal vision. As it took shape, she suddenly stopped and just zoned out, staring up at the sky. It was pretty in a odd way today. Like the clouds were swirling quicker to make pictures. Tamika considered turning to a new page and drawing what she was seeing, but it wasn't staying still for long enough. "I seem like a freakin' junkie or something," she muttered to herself, although still not looking away from the sky. She only did finally look down a few minutes later when there was a russling in the bushes. That was whenever her mind started to function properly as well. Govno, I must have drifted off... She thought. The sky was considerably darker than usual. Standing up, Tamika looked round to see the cause of the russling. "Hello?" She asked, looking to see if a person was there.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Thank Christ for open spaces, was all Russ had to say.
Another hellish, draining day was over, and since for once it wasn’t píssing down (even if it was freezing), he could get further away from the school than the gardens.
He needed out. The waiting was killing him – and never mind the fact that he was already going stir-crazy. The silent confined space was going to be the death of him.
There was probably something better for him to be doing right now, he thought, jogging past the charred remains of what had been the forest towards the bit of green left, but he really, really needed a smoke and Christ knew that irritating the staff right now wasn’t the smartest of ideas.
Besides, the current mood of the school was… well, he needed out. Open space would help him get out of his own head. It would be better if he could actually get out of Cardsdale, but he wanted to be here in case anything happened, any news came through, Lynn needed him, or … well.
But he wasn’t about to think about that because, you know what? He’d been fixated on all of this for fúcking weeks so he was dámn well gone to zone out if he wanted to, thank you very much. All of the stress could go screw right now. Everyone needed an escape sometimes.
So Russ jogged down the monumental steps leading to the magically-enforced cast iron gates of Orchid Hill Academy for the Gifted, feeling a rush of disappointment when the burden didn't automatically lift when he left the premises.
But to hell with that. He picked up the pace, gaining speed as he neared the section of the forest that hadn't been completely razed to the ground that day, where the lake was.
The lake was a good place to go to when you couldn't go as far away as you wanted to. It may not have been the biggest thing in the world, but it sure as hell gave the illusion of being a large space. Which, right now, was exactly what Russ needed. He'd ended up here a lot recently, so now he knew exactly what clearing he needed to go to.
So, as he got within metres of it, he slowed down and took his cigarette packet from his jeans pocket... but, no lighter. Balls. He checked the other pockets, mentally cussing himself out for forgetting it. Usually this wouldn't be a problem, he'd just make a small controlled explosion to ignite the cigarette, but right now, he didn't trust his temper and he could well end up blowing another section of the dámn forest.
Russ sighed, deciding that it was a better idea to stay in the open calm for a while than go back to get a lighter, and pushed on through the copse of trees into the clearing... where there was someone sitting. So much for quiet.
Well, the girl seemed to hear him anyway, as she stood up and peered through the trees. "Hello?"
"Hey, sorry," Russ said, side-stepping a tree so he was finally out of the forest. "I didn't think anyone would be here in this cold."
So, that was the own space put paid to, anyway. At least it wasn't someone he knew well. He didn't know this girl with the sketchbook, anyway, but he was pretty sure he recognised her as a Carer from all the time he'd been spending keeping Lynn company in the hospital wing.
But hey, maybe she had matches or something.
"You wouldn't happen to have a lighter, or matches or something on you, would you?"
It was worth a shot, anyway.

[Tamika Dombrovski]

((Two apologies about this. 1- sorry for how long it took. 2- sorry for it's shortness, I always sucked at the first reply back...))

Tamika felt a little less edgy as she saw a somewhat familiar guy walk through the tree's. She didn't know what exactly there was to be scared of, it must have been something about the forest that just made her a little edgy. She exhaled a breath that she hadn't even realised was being held in and tried to recall where she recognised him from. Obviously the hallways, probably the hospital wing. She'd seen pretty much every student in the wing at one point or another.
She listened to his next question and then thought for a moment. Tamika felt at her pockets and then tried to remember if she had any form of a light in her bag, but nothing was coming to mind. Then it occured to her, she could have fire at any time she wished. Pretty odd that such important things like that could be forgotten in a school like this. She shot some small flames from the palm of her hand and held it out. "I have this, if that's any use?" She asked, smiling in amusement at offering her hand to someone. She kind of wondered for a minute if someone would consider it a little weird lighting a cigarette off her hand, but if it was all she had, then she guessed it was better than nothing.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

The girl's hand suddenly lit alight, and Russ automatically went to take a step back, before inwardly laughing at himself.
Jesus, this school.
He did allow himself to smirk as she grinned and said, "I have this, if that's any use?"
Okay, he was going to have to light his cigarette from a random strangers hand. That was ... normal. He considered turning it down, but...
No, he needed nicotene.
"Normally this'd be weird," Russ laughed, probably the first time he'd had proper reason to laugh in a few days. "But, I really need a cigarette. You don't mind, do you?"
Well, obviously she didn't, seeing how she'd already lit her hand.
Russ took the cigarette and quickly put it to the flame, setting it alight, before bringing it to his mouth and taking a much-needed drag. They were starting to get annoyed about him smoking in the hospital wing garden - a couple of Carers had caught him and because they didn't want to tattle-tale to a nurse who was already stressed out to hell, just got more and more irritated each time he didn't listen to their crap about early death and lung cancer. They had more pressing concerns than that, from Russ' point of view.
God, he was really starting to hate that place.
He felt better now, though, out in the (sort of) open. Outside of four stone walls, thank Christ. And now he was getting his nicotene fix, it was all almost good.
"Thanks," he grinned at the girl. "You've no idea how much I need this."
Then, he realised. He'd just lit his cigarette from the hand of a complete stranger, even if he did recognise her from somewhere, so he added, "I'm Russ, by the way. You don't mind me smoking here, do you?"

[Tamika Dombrovski]

Tamika held back a laugh when the guy noted that in a normal situation, her hand lighter could be considered weird. "Ah well, variety is the spice of life," she joked. She shook her head when he double checked he didn't mind, but kind of figured he already realised she didn't. Or maybe he didn't, and thought she just liked showing off her mad fire skillz.
She considered joining him in a cigarette; she had been working so hard trying to get things back to normal that it was completely at the back of her mind. And the last time she had tried to have a smoke in the gardens, she got caught on by the school matron. That was one afternoon of her life that was never going to be returned. If Tamika had her way, it would be. Unfortunately, most people didn't agree with revenge killings in this day and age. Rather unfair she usually thought, before realising how psychotic that made her seem.
Tamika was still weighing up whether or not to have a smoke when she heard the guy talk again. "Oh, it's no problem, happy to help," she smiled, sounding like a cheesy supermarket advert. She shook her head when he asked about his smoking and said, "No, no, work away. I may join you in that one actually. And I'm Tamika - pleased to meet you." After finishing her sentence she reached into her satchel and pulled out a packet of Camel Golds. Placing one between her lips, she lit it and took a draw. "So what brings you outside today in this weather?" She asked, although it was a pretty crappy conversation topic.