Stephie (biting Misty's head off)

[slinkster-ghoul.livejournal.com]

Stephie poked the scar on her arm. It was pretty long, but very shallow and it had stopped bleeding a while ago. She'd done it as she's broken her window, just desperate to get out of her room. The quarterstaff have served to break the glass but she'd used her arms to get the rest of the glass out. She's read somewhere, ages ago, that putting a pillowcase round your arm would sheild if from broken glass. It was a stupid thing to believe, but at least she'd had a pillowcase to stop the bleeding, once she had enough distance between her and her house.

It had been such a stupid thing. The twins had been constantly and deliberatly hassling her and she'd just snapped, badly, and pounced on one of them. The other had jumped in for her sister's sake but Stephie has been in more fights than either of them would in their lifetimes. She shouldn't have done it. They'd got what they wanted, proven to themselves she was little more than an animal.

She'd promised herself she'd be better than this. And she was trying. But it hadn't even been a month and she was acting like her old self again. Fuck.

She'd hit the playground near the skate park and found it deserted, holed up in one of the kids tunnels and bawled. The side of her fist ached where she'd smacked it into the concrete side of the tunnel. She'd felt better afterwards, though. Embarrased and utterly stupid, not to mention dreading how much trouble she'd be in when she finally went back home.

So Stephie went walking, aimlessly. Maybe she'd find some lunch and disappear in some cafe. But she didn't want to be around anyone she knew right now.

( Getting out )

Stephie (biting Misty's head off)

[slinkster-ghoul.livejournal.com]

Stephie poked the scar on her arm. It was pretty long, but very shallow and it had stopped bleeding a while ago. She'd done it as she's broken her window, just desperate to get out of her room. The quarterstaff have served to break the glass but she'd used her arms to get the rest of the glass out. She's read somewhere, ages ago, that putting a pillowcase round your arm would sheild if from broken glass. It was a stupid thing to believe, but at least she'd had a pillowcase to stop the bleeding, once she had enough distance between her and her house.

It had been such a stupid thing. The twins had been constantly and deliberatly hassling her and she'd just snapped, badly, and pounced on one of them. The other had jumped in for her sister's sake but Stephie has been in more fights than either of them would in their lifetimes. She shouldn't have done it. They'd got what they wanted, proven to themselves she was little more than an animal.

She'd promised herself she'd be better than this. And she was trying. But it hadn't even been a month and she was acting like her old self again. Fuck.

She'd hit the playground near the skate park and found it deserted, holed up in one of the kids tunnels and bawled. The side of her fist ached where she'd smacked it into the concrete side of the tunnel. She'd felt better afterwards, though. Embarrased and utterly stupid, not to mention dreading how much trouble she'd be in when she finally went back home.

So Stephie went walking, aimlessly. Maybe she'd find some lunch and disappear in some cafe. But she didn't want to be around anyone she knew right now.

( Getting out )

Renee / Kait / Scarlett - Photography - G

[seminalsemiotic.livejournal.com]

Renee awoke to find Deirdre's place in the bed empty beside her. "Urgh..." she grumbled. This happened fairly regularly on days when Renee didn't have to work, and it didn't bother her too much, but it was still nice to snuggle up to Deirdre before facing the morning.
She rolled over and glared at the clock, knowing that it would indeed be time - or past time - to get up from the sunshine filtering in through the curtains. Sure enough, it was a mere forty-five minutes before she was supposed to meet Kait in the park.
Still grumbling incoherently at the nasty numbers, she scrounged around for her discarded clothes on Deirdre's floor, eventually finding her black jeans and David Bowie T-shirt. Randomly, there was also a black PVC skirt on the floor... Shrugging to herself inwardly, she pulled the skirt on over her jeans and made her way downstairs.
"Hey babe," she purred to Deirdre as she found the girl re-arranging the fridge. Evidently, the shopping was not yet organised to her liking.
Deirdre looked up from her work and kissed Renee, blushing a little at being caught, as if cleaning the fridge were a bad habit. Renee simply smiled, stroked Deirdre's hair, and headed for the cupboard to get herself some Cocoa Pops.
"What are you doing after you finish with the fridge today, baby?" Renee enquired.
"I'll be seeing Jude later," Deirdre said, her head inside the fridge as she rummaged about. "Do you have plans?"
"I forgot to pick up my pay slips from the bookshop, so I'm going to go down there in a moment. Then I will probably go for a walk someplace. Nothing special." She felt a pang of guilt as the lie came out so easily, but it wasn't malicious... it just kept things from being so... messy, muddled, confused, if Deirdre and Kait stayed separate parts of her life. It wasn't as if she was going to cheat on Deirdre, or do anything bad...
Pushing such thoughts aside, Renee watched in amusement as Deirdre busied herself. When she was finished with her cereal of chocolatey goodness, she rinsed out her bowl, then wrapped her arms around Deirdre's waist from behind, burying her face in her hair. "I love you, sweetheart," she whispered. She kissed slowly down Deirdre's neck, running her fingers up and down her side, playfully stroking her breast. "I'll see you later."
She grinned, kissed Deirdre, then grabbed her fake fur coat and camera and headed out.
She had worn open shoes instead of her boots today. The crisp air felt good every now and again when you were used to knee-high leather.
The sun was shining, but as predicted, it wasn't warm enough yet for the ice to have melted. Icicles swept over dead trees, unprepared cars were frozen in place, and street signs had grown three times thicker than they actually were.
At five minutes to eleven, Renee arrived at the frozen, mirror-like pond, her meeting place with Kait. Camera in hand, she waited.

The idea of getting their cameras to greet this day with had appealed to Kait on more levels than just seeing Renee. Of course, seeing Renee was... wonderful. The idea that they could do this 'friends' thing... It was a chance that Kait had never seen herself able to have with Renee. It meant everything.

And yet, not everything at the same time. As she loosely plaited her dark hair over her shoulder, she glanced back at where Scarlett was sprawled across the bed. They had ended up meeting last night. As they did many nights. And it had been nice. They hadn't actually had sex; stopping at everything but, when Scar had given her a vaguely significant look, then taken her into her arms, kissed her hair, and then fallen asleep with her.

Kait wondered if she would stir as she got ready to leave.

"nnmmorrning," Scarlett mmuttered when she realised Kait was awake. (Scarlett was awake. Completely awake. It meant nothing that for some reason her eyes wouldn't stay open!) She forced her eyes open to look at her new girlfriend and smiled. She was so pretty, even in the morning. "Hey, honey."

Smiling a little, Kait looked towards those eyes that would not open. She didn't expect them to. Instead, getting up, Kait slipped both of her shoes on and walked over to the side of the bed where she leaned down to kiss Scar's temple and smiled at her cute little moan.

"You still going to be here when I get back, sweetie?" she asked softly, shrugging on a jacket.

She nodded sleepily and then rolled over, snuggling into her pillow and falling back to sleep.

Smiling to herself, Kait managed to glance up at the time and realised she was late. When had it gotten to be 11.12am already? Renee would already be there and waiting for her by now. Crap.

Already basically ready, Kait scrambled to pick up her camera which was to be the whole basis of this meeting, before running out into the cold and imminent morning.

At ten past eleven, Renee began pacing with boredom and more than a little nervousness. It would have been fine if Kait had shown up on time, but the slightest deviation from plan today was rattling her nerves. So many thoughts vied for attention within her... Had she been stood up? Had Kait gotten hurt on the way here? Had she simply slept in? Was her watch wrong, was it still not eleven? She was driving herself mad. Was this what it was like in Deirdre's head all the time? So many scenarios, none of them particularly pleasant.

Perhaps it was simply that she had lied about being here, so already it felt as though she were doing something wrong. Or maybe it was just the thought off seeing Kait's face again, the image that made her heartbeat quicken so...

Finally, she appeared near the park gates, heading her way. She took a deep breath before smiling and waving, slowly moving towards the girl. Her legs seemed reluctant to carry her any more quickly, as if torn between stopping, frozen in fear, and breaking into a run and leaping into her arms...

Hurrying her step the whole way, Kait had searched for the first glimpse of Renee, insistent unto herself that she would not be thought of standing Renee up this morning. Every time she glanced down at her watch was another half minute passed, and she begun to fear that Renee would have given up on her and just left back to Deirdre before she even got there.

It was to her surprise and relief, then, when Kait reached the park gates and caught sight of Renee's familiar figure. She lifted her hand and at the same time realised that Renee had seen her too. Then she had not left without her.

"Hi," she murmured rather shyly as they embraced in greeting.

Renee melted into Kait's embrace, so relieved to be in her arms once more. So things hadn't turned weird since last they'd met, Kait hadn't distanced herself now that she was with Scarlett. That was good... She couldn't bear the thought of Kait pulling back now. She held the other girl tightly, drinking in the scent of her hair once more. She wasn't particularly paying attention to her fingers, and she accidentally set the camera off, taking an almost-arty shot of Kait's shoulder and the back of her head. She chuckled and stepped back a little, returning the shy "Hi."
Her face broke into a grin as Kait's eyes wandered to the results of last night's ice storm.
"Beautiful, oui?" Renee smiled. She stepped back a little and quickly took a shot of Kait standing by the side of the frozen pond, her eyes looking far off past the camera. It would be a beautiful shot, the girl framed by ice-swept trees in the background. Renee looked down shyly as Kait's attention returned to her.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't resist."

Rolling her eyes, Kait glanced indulgently back at Renee. It was just like old times. It also made her consider some things.

"Renee, when do the entry dates on colleges around here close?" she asked curiously. "I mean, I don't suppose they would happen to teach stuff like photography... only photography, would they?"

She linked arms with Renee and the two of them wandered deeper into the park, glancing around for further photos to be made into art by one or the other of them. Oui, it was exactly like it had been in France. For just that moment, neither Deirdre or Scarlett even existed. For them, it could have been that they were on their way to meeting Pierre and hot drinks, just like old times.

It took a moment for Kait's words to sink in. Renee was just so lost in the moment, the ever so precious feeling of Kait's arm linked through hers. She felt so... at peace. Moreso than she had in a very long time. Every time they shared some sort of intimacy, a little more of the wound in her heart closed. She felt a little more whole again. Pierre had even noticed the difference over the phone. After the moodiness and worry that followed immediately after her first encounter with Kait, her demeanour had improved considerably. Most people thought it was to do with her getting her friendship back on track with Pierre. And while that was part of it, she probably wouldn't have progressed so far with him in this last week if she hadn't been so happy to have Kait back in her life. Even the thought of Scarlett was gradually paining her less. And while it would no doubt be a different story once she had to see them together, for now, things just felt... right.

"I'm not really sure," she replied after a moment. "I think places are still open, though you might have to pay a little bit more at this stage. It wouldn't be a lot, though. What's a fifty pound late fee on top of the price of a college course, oui? Besides, your father would still be paying for it, wouldn't he?"

She paused to take a picture of an ice-covered fountain, the wings of the dancing cherubs within lengthened and made more beautiful by the sweeping, glassy film over them. She looked up and smiled at Kait, letting her know it was okay to talk about her father.

"Paying a little more won't be a problem," Kait murmured, waving it away as though it were nothing. "Yes, he would still be paying. Well, not that I have talked to him on this yet..." At this, she slid Renee a cute little naughty look, then faced straight ahead again as she flicked hair back. "But if it makes me happy..."

Kait relaxed her arm, allowing Renee to slip free from her in order to take the photo that she wanted. This was new and possibly the only time that Renee had ever began a conversation with her father in it of her own free will.

Was it possible that they were growing away from the pain she had inadvertantly caused with him in her mind? She believed that she was past that time. Certainly being with Scarlett was cementing things in her mind. Was she not able to walk through a park with the odd glances from old people passing by not bothering her now? That, at the very least, was progress of a sort.

Renee smiled at Kait. There was something strange behind Renee's eyes... not pain, not quite regret... nostalgia, perhaps? A kind of sadness that was almost pleasant to feel...

"I'm glad you can think that way," she said. "About what will make you happy. You didn't... it's not something I would have expected to hear from you before. You've grown. It's... good to see."

She turned away, and hastily snapped a relatively bland picture of an ice-covered tree. For some reason, in that moment, she hadn't been able to look at Kait. These feelings within her were still so confused... but she had meant what she said. She turned back now and smiled. She wouldn't want Kait to think otherwise.

Kait glanced idly at Renee as she stepped away to take her photo. She didn't realise she had been staring until Renee turned back to her and bestowed that smile. The girl was beautiful. So filled with life and a kind of... spirit that just made everybody else want to join her.

So filled with words suddenly, Kait could think of not one she clearly wished to say. What did you ever see in me, would clearly not work. It was not the time, nor place. Likewise for the simplicity of, you're beautiful. It could only be taken as more than she meant it and for now, it was merely a statement of truth.

Instead of saying anything at all, Kait just smiled at Renee, then her eye caught a certain way she wished to capture the same ice-covered tree the other girl had already photographed. She had to have some recent work if she was going to make it into a photography course after all.

Renee / Kait / Scarlett - Photography - G

[seminalsemiotic.livejournal.com]

Renee awoke to find Deirdre's place in the bed empty beside her. "Urgh..." she grumbled. This happened fairly regularly on days when Renee didn't have to work, and it didn't bother her too much, but it was still nice to snuggle up to Deirdre before facing the morning.
She rolled over and glared at the clock, knowing that it would indeed be time - or past time - to get up from the sunshine filtering in through the curtains. Sure enough, it was a mere forty-five minutes before she was supposed to meet Kait in the park.
Still grumbling incoherently at the nasty numbers, she scrounged around for her discarded clothes on Deirdre's floor, eventually finding her black jeans and David Bowie T-shirt. Randomly, there was also a black PVC skirt on the floor... Shrugging to herself inwardly, she pulled the skirt on over her jeans and made her way downstairs.
"Hey babe," she purred to Deirdre as she found the girl re-arranging the fridge. Evidently, the shopping was not yet organised to her liking.
Deirdre looked up from her work and kissed Renee, blushing a little at being caught, as if cleaning the fridge were a bad habit. Renee simply smiled, stroked Deirdre's hair, and headed for the cupboard to get herself some Cocoa Pops.
"What are you doing after you finish with the fridge today, baby?" Renee enquired.
"I'll be seeing Jude later," Deirdre said, her head inside the fridge as she rummaged about. "Do you have plans?"
"I forgot to pick up my pay slips from the bookshop, so I'm going to go down there in a moment. Then I will probably go for a walk someplace. Nothing special." She felt a pang of guilt as the lie came out so easily, but it wasn't malicious... it just kept things from being so... messy, muddled, confused, if Deirdre and Kait stayed separate parts of her life. It wasn't as if she was going to cheat on Deirdre, or do anything bad...
Pushing such thoughts aside, Renee watched in amusement as Deirdre busied herself. When she was finished with her cereal of chocolatey goodness, she rinsed out her bowl, then wrapped her arms around Deirdre's waist from behind, burying her face in her hair. "I love you, sweetheart," she whispered. She kissed slowly down Deirdre's neck, running her fingers up and down her side, playfully stroking her breast. "I'll see you later."
She grinned, kissed Deirdre, then grabbed her fake fur coat and camera and headed out.
She had worn open shoes instead of her boots today. The crisp air felt good every now and again when you were used to knee-high leather.
The sun was shining, but as predicted, it wasn't warm enough yet for the ice to have melted. Icicles swept over dead trees, unprepared cars were frozen in place, and street signs had grown three times thicker than they actually were.
At five minutes to eleven, Renee arrived at the frozen, mirror-like pond, her meeting place with Kait. Camera in hand, she waited.

The idea of getting their cameras to greet this day with had appealed to Kait on more levels than just seeing Renee. Of course, seeing Renee was... wonderful. The idea that they could do this 'friends' thing... It was a chance that Kait had never seen herself able to have with Renee. It meant everything.

And yet, not everything at the same time. As she loosely plaited her dark hair over her shoulder, she glanced back at where Scarlett was sprawled across the bed. They had ended up meeting last night. As they did many nights. And it had been nice. They hadn't actually had sex; stopping at everything but, when Scar had given her a vaguely significant look, then taken her into her arms, kissed her hair, and then fallen asleep with her.

Kait wondered if she would stir as she got ready to leave.

"nnmmorrning," Scarlett mmuttered when she realised Kait was awake. (Scarlett was awake. Completely awake. It meant nothing that for some reason her eyes wouldn't stay open!) She forced her eyes open to look at her new girlfriend and smiled. She was so pretty, even in the morning. "Hey, honey."

Smiling a little, Kait looked towards those eyes that would not open. She didn't expect them to. Instead, getting up, Kait slipped both of her shoes on and walked over to the side of the bed where she leaned down to kiss Scar's temple and smiled at her cute little moan.

"You still going to be here when I get back, sweetie?" she asked softly, shrugging on a jacket.

She nodded sleepily and then rolled over, snuggling into her pillow and falling back to sleep.

Smiling to herself, Kait managed to glance up at the time and realised she was late. When had it gotten to be 11.12am already? Renee would already be there and waiting for her by now. Crap.

Already basically ready, Kait scrambled to pick up her camera which was to be the whole basis of this meeting, before running out into the cold and imminent morning.

At ten past eleven, Renee began pacing with boredom and more than a little nervousness. It would have been fine if Kait had shown up on time, but the slightest deviation from plan today was rattling her nerves. So many thoughts vied for attention within her... Had she been stood up? Had Kait gotten hurt on the way here? Had she simply slept in? Was her watch wrong, was it still not eleven? She was driving herself mad. Was this what it was like in Deirdre's head all the time? So many scenarios, none of them particularly pleasant.

Perhaps it was simply that she had lied about being here, so already it felt as though she were doing something wrong. Or maybe it was just the thought off seeing Kait's face again, the image that made her heartbeat quicken so...

Finally, she appeared near the park gates, heading her way. She took a deep breath before smiling and waving, slowly moving towards the girl. Her legs seemed reluctant to carry her any more quickly, as if torn between stopping, frozen in fear, and breaking into a run and leaping into her arms...

Hurrying her step the whole way, Kait had searched for the first glimpse of Renee, insistent unto herself that she would not be thought of standing Renee up this morning. Every time she glanced down at her watch was another half minute passed, and she begun to fear that Renee would have given up on her and just left back to Deirdre before she even got there.

It was to her surprise and relief, then, when Kait reached the park gates and caught sight of Renee's familiar figure. She lifted her hand and at the same time realised that Renee had seen her too. Then she had not left without her.

"Hi," she murmured rather shyly as they embraced in greeting.

Renee melted into Kait's embrace, so relieved to be in her arms once more. So things hadn't turned weird since last they'd met, Kait hadn't distanced herself now that she was with Scarlett. That was good... She couldn't bear the thought of Kait pulling back now. She held the other girl tightly, drinking in the scent of her hair once more. She wasn't particularly paying attention to her fingers, and she accidentally set the camera off, taking an almost-arty shot of Kait's shoulder and the back of her head. She chuckled and stepped back a little, returning the shy "Hi."
Her face broke into a grin as Kait's eyes wandered to the results of last night's ice storm.
"Beautiful, oui?" Renee smiled. She stepped back a little and quickly took a shot of Kait standing by the side of the frozen pond, her eyes looking far off past the camera. It would be a beautiful shot, the girl framed by ice-swept trees in the background. Renee looked down shyly as Kait's attention returned to her.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't resist."

Rolling her eyes, Kait glanced indulgently back at Renee. It was just like old times. It also made her consider some things.

"Renee, when do the entry dates on colleges around here close?" she asked curiously. "I mean, I don't suppose they would happen to teach stuff like photography... only photography, would they?"

She linked arms with Renee and the two of them wandered deeper into the park, glancing around for further photos to be made into art by one or the other of them. Oui, it was exactly like it had been in France. For just that moment, neither Deirdre or Scarlett even existed. For them, it could have been that they were on their way to meeting Pierre and hot drinks, just like old times.

It took a moment for Kait's words to sink in. Renee was just so lost in the moment, the ever so precious feeling of Kait's arm linked through hers. She felt so... at peace. Moreso than she had in a very long time. Every time they shared some sort of intimacy, a little more of the wound in her heart closed. She felt a little more whole again. Pierre had even noticed the difference over the phone. After the moodiness and worry that followed immediately after her first encounter with Kait, her demeanour had improved considerably. Most people thought it was to do with her getting her friendship back on track with Pierre. And while that was part of it, she probably wouldn't have progressed so far with him in this last week if she hadn't been so happy to have Kait back in her life. Even the thought of Scarlett was gradually paining her less. And while it would no doubt be a different story once she had to see them together, for now, things just felt... right.

"I'm not really sure," she replied after a moment. "I think places are still open, though you might have to pay a little bit more at this stage. It wouldn't be a lot, though. What's a fifty pound late fee on top of the price of a college course, oui? Besides, your father would still be paying for it, wouldn't he?"

She paused to take a picture of an ice-covered fountain, the wings of the dancing cherubs within lengthened and made more beautiful by the sweeping, glassy film over them. She looked up and smiled at Kait, letting her know it was okay to talk about her father.

"Paying a little more won't be a problem," Kait murmured, waving it away as though it were nothing. "Yes, he would still be paying. Well, not that I have talked to him on this yet..." At this, she slid Renee a cute little naughty look, then faced straight ahead again as she flicked hair back. "But if it makes me happy..."

Kait relaxed her arm, allowing Renee to slip free from her in order to take the photo that she wanted. This was new and possibly the only time that Renee had ever began a conversation with her father in it of her own free will.

Was it possible that they were growing away from the pain she had inadvertantly caused with him in her mind? She believed that she was past that time. Certainly being with Scarlett was cementing things in her mind. Was she not able to walk through a park with the odd glances from old people passing by not bothering her now? That, at the very least, was progress of a sort.

Renee smiled at Kait. There was something strange behind Renee's eyes... not pain, not quite regret... nostalgia, perhaps? A kind of sadness that was almost pleasant to feel...

"I'm glad you can think that way," she said. "About what will make you happy. You didn't... it's not something I would have expected to hear from you before. You've grown. It's... good to see."

She turned away, and hastily snapped a relatively bland picture of an ice-covered tree. For some reason, in that moment, she hadn't been able to look at Kait. These feelings within her were still so confused... but she had meant what she said. She turned back now and smiled. She wouldn't want Kait to think otherwise.

Kait glanced idly at Renee as she stepped away to take her photo. She didn't realise she had been staring until Renee turned back to her and bestowed that smile. The girl was beautiful. So filled with life and a kind of... spirit that just made everybody else want to join her.

So filled with words suddenly, Kait could think of not one she clearly wished to say. What did you ever see in me, would clearly not work. It was not the time, nor place. Likewise for the simplicity of, you're beautiful. It could only be taken as more than she meant it and for now, it was merely a statement of truth.

Instead of saying anything at all, Kait just smiled at Renee, then her eye caught a certain way she wished to capture the same ice-covered tree the other girl had already photographed. She had to have some recent work if she was going to make it into a photography course after all.