Round 1 Prompt:
Becoming a teenager is hard enough without your life suddenly up heaving... amidst the bloody underwear, the cracking voices, the unwanted hair, now they have to move too? Give up their room... their family! Now mom and/or dad probably had a perfectly good reason... but a cesspool of hormones might or might not understand that.
They're packing their things, when a friend calls... This friend may or may not have something important to talk about, however, they have no idea that this move is in progress... Does your kid unload on them? or do they keep it bottled up to themselves... how does the move go anyways? are they even packing?
Quote:
Liang still didn’t understand…no, she didn’t comprehend why. Why she had to leave. Ul had explained it to her, but right after she heard that she had to go, she had stopped listening. Her brain had gone blank, eyes glazed over and she stared ahead, only nodding silently and agreeing with a slight mm.
Even though she had no idea what she was agreeing to.
She was upset about it, although she tried not to show it. She was a pre-teen now, older, wiser, and more mature. She kept the tears back, a hand stroking her dragon’s scales, desperate for comfort. She would not seek that from Mother…no, Ul; Liang knew that if she did, she wouldn’t be able to let go. Crying was horrible.
So when she was told to pack her stuff up, she simply dipped her head in acknowledgment, turning and walking to her room in as calm a demeanor as she could muster. Her dragon didn’t seem to understand all this, and only looked at her in puzzlement before stalking to a corner of the room and making himself comfortable. He might be temperamental, but she loved him. Still, he wouldn’t understand.
He wouldn’t understand how much pain she felt, the ache in her chest was so excruciating. Why? Why did this have to happen?
She closed her eyelids, willing the tears back. No. No crying.
The young girl pulled out one of her bags and began packing. She tried not to look at most of the stuff she was taking out of her drawers; they all had such sentimental value to her. She concentrated on just dumping them all into the bag she was holding.
That was until her fingers grazed the smoothness of silk.
The fenghuang froze and pulled the item out. It was the fan, that purple silk fan. She stared at it for a while, then with a flick of her wrist, it fell open, and she stared at it, at the familiar pattern, at the Chinese word stitched upon it. ‘Meng’, which meant dream. Teagan had given it to her.
Big brother. I’ll miss you so much. She bit her lip sadly and closed it gently, placing it into the bag before zipping it up. Absorbed in her packing, Liang barely heard the phone ring and concentrated on her packing. It was probably for someone else anyway.
“Liang! It’s your call!”
The exclamation made her jump and she walked towards it hesitantly, staring at the phone before taking it out of its cradle. Was it D-Corp? Were they going to take her back? Were they going to take her dragon away?
“He..hello?” She held the phone to her ear and spoke, her voice trembling, fingers crossed. She had enough bad news in one day.
“Liang?” A familiar voice greeted her.
“Lian?” Her mouth fell open in slight shock and her lips curved into a small smile. “Hi.”
They talked for a while, having a normal conversation, with her asking him how he was doing. Then it was his turn to ask the same of her.
“I’m doing…well.” Her voice was still unsure. Well? No, she wasn’t well at all. She was scared, confused, lonely, hurt. Her emotions were conflicting, but she didn’t know what to tell her friend that. She liked him, but Liang wondered if it was appropriate for her to spill everything to him. They had only met once after all.
He asked her if she was learning fan dancing like she wanted to, like what she told him. No, she said. She hadn’t had the time; busy practising her skill. Apparently, Mister Orpheus had said she had a good memory, better than those of others.
As they talked, Liang wondered if she could tell him. It was like her feelings were all bottled, all pent up, and she wanted an outlet to pour them out to. Was it fair to make him listen to her grousing though? She held her tongue, and simply faked a cheery tone.
Perhaps it was just him, or perhaps he had sensed that something was wrong with her. He attempted to make some jokes and laughed, and Liang couldn’t help but laugh along. His humour was simply infectious and she felt a genuine smile blossoming across her face.
“I have to go.” She said finally, softly. “Thank you Lian.”
She thanked him for calling at when she needed cheering up, thanked him for his timely call.
And perhaps, I’ll tell you about all this. When I have everything straightened out. I promise I will, my friend.
Round 2 Prompt:
Liang has a dual nature due to her DNA... is she a fair maiden, full of prose and etiquette... or is she a fiery boyish leader, not afraid to get her hands messy... well. It’s both! This quality is very important to her skill... etiquette and leadership... the fact she can play both King and Queen. I want you to come up with a scenario utilizing a point where she needs to use both these skills, show the transaction between sides.
Quote:
Everything still seemed so awkward to Liang, even though she had moved in with her new family. To be honest, she was growing to like everyone, from sweet Alora to the brash Mereneth and even her new ‘mother’, or as Yourie constantly told her, ‘guardian’. It still seemed like she was out of place, even though how hard they tried to include her in the family’s daily activities. The younger dove girl was especially rather enthusiastic about it.
Still, it didn’t feel like she belonged here.
Her heart was still in her old home, her real home that she grew up in, where Mothe...Ul was, where Teagan was, in her room, her bed, her everything. It was ripped away from her just like that, so fast that she hardly had to blink. The facts still hadn’t sunk in, and she still felt as though her stay in the mansion was temporary. And that one day... she would be brought home.
Her dragon, Huang Di, was, on the other hand, quite pleased with the new arrangements. He probably liked it that he had more space to roam about and there was a huge library in one of the rooms. He had been quite taken with it when they were on the house tour, she could tell.
Frankly, there wasn’t a bone to pick with the place and she knew it. It was nice, she had a pretty room, she was even offered to be taught how to speak and write Chinese. Liang had immediately accepted the offer gratefully.
It was just different. She was now the oldest of the siblings, and that meant she had new responsibilities that hadn’t quite sunk in yet. She knew it meant she had to take leadership, stop fights if any occurred. These few days seemed to be quite peaceful however, though she suspected they were trying their best to be good hosts to be the reason. Alora, who had taken an instant shine to her, confided to her that the pyro and their guardian were prone to have disagreements over the most silliest of things every now and then.
This all the more made her feel like she was living in a hotel.
And then, it happened.
“Why do you want to watch the Discovery Channel suddenly, for heaven’s sake? Everyone’s watching the Rejected Olympics!”
Alora tugged on Liang’s sweater gently, looking worried. “They’re at it again.” She mouthed. Liang stood there for a moment, almost wishing her dragon was with her; but he was currently busying himself in the library. Should she do something?
“Since when do girls watch sports? This is MY house too; can’t I watch what I want for once? Sheesh!” The pyro retorted angrily, folding his arms. One could almost see the flames forming at his fists.
“Look here kid,” The woman began, stepping closer and glaring down at Mereneth. If looks could kill, Liang was very sure there would be a massacre. “We’re watching the Olympics. You can always watch some other channel later; they’ll probably show re-runs anyway.”
The two stood there, both glaring at each other. The boy raised his fist slightly and Liang was horrified to see that it was glowing. It was, right? She looked down at the dove girl for assurance and confirmed her fears; Alora was wide-eyed and starting forward to intercede. “Stay here.” She said firmly, placing a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.
“Stop it.”
The voice was different this time; usually Alora had to be the peacemaker, and both turned, a surprised expression on their faces. Mereneth was flabbergasted as he was pulled backwards roughly by the petite girl and slammed to the nearby wall. “No matter what, you shouldn’t use violence to solve things.” She growled, her gaze cold and intense, making him squirm slightly.
“What the hell’s gotten into you?” He mumbled.
She let him go, and gestured to the couch. “Sit. Both of you.” She eyed the boy. “And if you try to escape, I won’t hesitate cuff you two together.” They opened their mouths to protest, but with a glare, both plopped down in unison, looking sulky, as though they were little kids that were caught stealing cookies.
She sat down across them, crossing her legs demurely. “Arguments over petty little things may make a household seem livelier, but if you carry on doing this; it’s not going to be pretty. I’m not against your disagreement, but you should learn to come to an understanding.” Her voice was now lighter, yet it had a serious tone to it. “And no violence or any use of powers should be involved. House rules should be set to keep harmony, and well, the furniture, intact.”
She paused, eyeing both of them sharply. “Do we have an agreement, ladies and gentlemen?”
“Yes.” Alora piped up softly, smiling at her.
“Alright.” Yourie nodded, though somewhat unwillingly.
That left Mereneth. She turned to stare at the Illusionary, raising an eyebrow.
“Fine.” He grumbled, folding his arms.
“Good.” She rose up from her seat with a smile. “Glad that’s settled.”
From then on, the silly petty arguments continued, but under the watchful eye of the Feng Huang.
