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 Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 11:22 am
Eden was breathless and she hurried down the crowded streets Barton Town to the tiny dinner. How in the world had she forgotten her lunch date with Alexis? It was a weekly tradition she’d managed to keep almost every week for the past three years, come hell or high water.
As she entered the crowded dinner, the scent of frying ham and potatoes assaulted her senses. Her stomach churned as she lunged toward the back of the building and the bathrooms. . . Dammed morning sickness.
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Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 11:58 am
Alexis strode casually down the streets of Barton Town, amusing herself but alighting small fires on bushes, flowers, and the occasional skirt or T-shirt of some hapless, overly-preppy bystander that might have happened to slight her in some way. Being a Fire Warden had some advantages, the punky goth thought with a grin. It suited the rest of her style. This week, her hair, naturally a deep auburn color, was striped in black highlights, resembling tiger fur that hung down just past her shoulders. She changed her hair almost as often as she changed her clothes. Alexis went "casual" for her weekly lunch date with her best friend- which meant a dark black shirt with a picture of Captain Jack Sparrow (in honor of her favorite pirate), long red fishnet gloves that went up to her elbow, a red-and-black plaid skirt that barely saved her dignity, and knee-length stiletto boots. And, of course, no self-respecting goth can leave the house without a generous helping of eyeliner and mascara.
"A diner..." she thought aloud she a shake of her head. A vegetarian's nightmare, Alexis mused to herself. But that didn't particularly matter- she'd only been a vegetarian for two and a half days now. She was already considering forgetting about it; vegetarianism was such an Earth Warden thing.
Alexis poked her head through the door, trying to catch a glimpse of Eden and be able to meander all goth-like to her without the embarrassment of wandering around like an idiot. But she was nowhere to be seen. Alexis was usually late for things, as a habit- but not Eden. With a shrug, and a thought considering she might have gotten the wrong diner, she seated herself in the back, in a corner, so as to more effectively glare at any overly perky waitress that might think of taking her order.
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Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 12:10 pm
Washing up in the bathroom, Eden took a moment to take inventory of herself. Her long hair was neatly brushed and pulled back with an ivory ribbon. Her blouse, which had just barely survived her near miss into the toilet, was clean and wrinkle-free. She didn't look stressed. She didn't look fat. And most importantly of all she didn't look pregnant.
She looked like her normal self.
Hopefully, that would be enough to fool Alexis; who had a weird way of telling when something was wrong. She sighed, tugged the edge of her blouse once more in a nervous twitch and exited the restrooms to find her friend.
((OMG. . . May it be noted I'm wearing my Jack Sparrow shirt today~! XD))
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Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 12:22 pm
Alexis had been amusing herself by juggling small flames on her fingertips (making sure no one was looking, of course), while every now and then scanning the tiny, cramped diner for her absent friend. Finally, after one glance, she saw Eden emerge from the back in what she assumed must have been an oh-so-sanitary bathroom. Upon seeing Eden, one of her closest (and understandably few) friends, all her gothic, antisocial pretenses were shattered by her real personality.
"Eeeeedeeeennn!!!" she squealed, running up and embracing her friend (which, with the kind of boots she was wearing, took considerable skill to not fall over). "I was wondering when you'd show. These pink-skirted little Barbie dolls were grating on my nerves," she said with a very un-goth giggle, not even bothering to lower her voice, much to the irritation of the many waitresses flitting around. Taking Eden by the arm, she lead her to her claimed table, now not bothering to ward off the "pink-skirted Barbies" with her evil glare as she focused on her friend. "So, whatcha been up to, E?"
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Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 12:35 pm
Noticing the waitresses’ glares as Alexis drug her back to the table, Eden stifled a giggle. God, people used to call her hyper . . . but Alexis could match her for energy any day of the week.
“I’m fine!” She told her friend more brightly than she felt, as they took their seats on the less-than-comfortable vinyl chairs. “Enjoying ‘retirement’,” Inserting little finger quotation marks on the word. “and trying to find ways to keep myself out of trouble.” She made her attempt to sound neutral and upbeat, but found it was more difficult than she realized.
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Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 12:48 pm
Alexis raised an eyebrow, noticing a tiny strain in her friend's cheery demeanor. She was good about picking up stuff like that. But, for the moment, she let it slide. She lit a finger on fire and casually rolled the flame around on her palm, careful about the fishnets covering her arm. It was almost a requirement for Fire Wardens to be severe pyromaniacs. "That all? Why, I expected mass chaos, cities burning in your wake, people cowering at the sound of your name! So what if the Wardens are so iffy about 'retirees' not using their powers? I'd go crazy if I couldn't." She accentuated this point by letting the fire in her palm grow, snuffing it out just as a waitress with a painfully forced smile and a demeanor that said she lost a bet to wait on the pair pranced over. "So, what can I get ya'll?" She said a little too sweetly for Alexis' likely.
A Southern accent... she thought ruefully. How much more stereotypical do you get? "Nothing for me. It seems this place only has fried, well, everything, and it looks like no vegetable is left untouched. No thanks." She smiled sweetly in an attempt to take the sting out of her words, but she was sure it came out looking condescending. In fact, the main reason she didn't order anything was she couldn’t be sure the cooks wouldn't spit in or otherwise defile her meal. "You, E?"
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Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 1:25 pm
"Uh-um. . .Water, and a salad." She said; naming off the only thing the dinner was likely to have that wasn't deep fried. She was trying to avoid massive amounts of fat, and her insides went funny when she drank caffeine these days.
After misses perky disappeared, no doubt to tell the cook to burn the salad somehow, Eden turned back to her friend.
“Quitting is hard. . . especially if you’re at the level of you and I. . . and I get so frustrated when I want to use my powers and remember I can’t.” She looked annoyed for a brief moment, then grimaced. “Then again I don’t want to get neutered, and I’m amazed they let me out without doing it anyway.”
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Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 1:40 pm
((I'm gonna assume Alexis already know about the half-Djinn thing... hope that's okay ^.^; ))
"Yeah... true. But with your kind of powers, neutering is pretty much equal to death, don't you think? Besides, with you being part Djinn and all, could they really take away all your fire powers?" She inspecting her black-painted fingernails with tiny intricate patterns of skulls painted on top in red. "Anyway! Off the nasty topic of the Wardens, eh? Any new conquests to share?" Alexis asked, her cat-eye contacts gleaming with interest and leaving no question to what she meant by "conquest". "You can't say there's no new men in your life, E! I mean, other than that Trent guy... whatever happened to him? You used to talk about him all the time, and now, poof! C'mon, my Warden life is a literal hell of firebombs and paperwork. I need some new gossip! You wouldn't believe how straight-laced the busybodies I work with are. Haha, some even still openly flinch when they see how I dress. It's all rather amusing." She added with grin.
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Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 1:45 pm
"Alexis, I sometimes flinch when I see how you dress. . . Need I remind you of last Halloween?” Eden mocked, attempting to direct the conversation away from the dreaded topics of Trent, the Wardens, and djinn in general.
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Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 1:57 pm
"Ohh, come on, you can't deny it was funny! Pirate wenches were totally in that year!" Realizing she sounded a lot peppier than she intended, she added, "Just because those two ladies who run the district office fainted upon seeing me doesn't mean it was a bad costume. And hey, stop trying to distract me!" She added, realizing her friend was dodging the question. "My attention span may be as short as a hamster's, but I know a question avoidance when I see one! Or hear one, for that matter." She raised an eyebrow. "What, did you really find some hot guy and just don't wanna tell me about it! C'mon, spill! It can't be that embarrassing!" Alexis prodded with a grin, oblivious to her friend's discomfort.
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Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 2:05 pm
“Ohhhh yes.” Eden said, discomfort now turning to annoince. “I’ve lost the only job I’ve ever been trained in life to do outside of flipping burgers. Switched races to an all-powerful mystical creature. Managed to get the only man I’ve ever loved killed before I knew it. And yet, somehow, have found the time to hook up with some hot young thing.” Her voice was laced with a deep, bitter sarcasm, as here eyes flashed with pent-up anger.
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Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 2:11 pm
Alexis suddenly busied herself studying the patterns on the rickety plastic table. She didn't realize what had been going on with her friend... just last week, everything seemed fine and dandy... how could she know her friend was going through all this? "Oh Eden... I'm sorry. I... didn't realize..." She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself under Eden's heated glare. "Hey... you wanna talk about it? I mean, I understand if you don't, but... well..." Realizing she was babbling, she gave up with a shake of her head.
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Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 2:23 pm
Eden sighed, it was no use. Alexis was one of the few friends she had left in the world, not now she had snapped at her and been a royal b***h; she felt like crap.
“I’m sorry Al. . .” She said, staring at her hands. “I’m a mess right now. I can’t control this whole half-djinn thing, and it doesn’t exactly come with a manual, on top of that I’m alone, afraid, and bitchy. And on top of that. . .” She took a deep breath. “I’m pregnant. Trent managed to knock me up, somehow, before he died.”
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Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 2:35 pm
Alexis' eyes grew wide. "Oh, E..." she leaned across the table and hugged Eden the best she could. "I don't know what to say, dear..." She sat back in her seat, noticing the waitress was back with Eden's salad and water, and giving Alexis an odd look, which she returned with a scowl that didn't disappear until the woman put down the order and hurried away. Her look returned to sympathetic. "You know I'm here for you, if there's anything I could do to help. I mean, are you happy about this? Or is it too stressful, or what?" She asked cautiously, trying to gauge her friend's reaction to her pregnancy so she could know what kind of mood she should respond with in kind.
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Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 2:42 pm
"I'm. . . Scared as hell." Eden responded, not even noticing the interaction between Alexis and the waitress. “And worried. . . I mean, I can’t be a mother. I know nothing about kids. And my parents were very not there growing up because of my powers. I was too weird for their world; what if I screw up the way they did?” She sighed deeply and frowned into her plate of limp lettuce and scanty dressing.
“I shouldn’t be putting this on you. . . Mystical pregnancies of half-god people so fall outside the realm of best friend burdens.”
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