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 Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 4:04 pm
Where The World Ends[Blue + Red + Yellow + Green + Zodiacs + The Surrounding 59] Wallace yells at a friend, gains a nickname, and fights a magic whale. In space.
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Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 4:07 pm
Another Square of Rainbow[Blue + Yellow + Super Sailor Neso + The Surrounding 59] After getting blown away by the space whale, Blue tries (and fails) to make sense of the situation.
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Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 4:11 pm
WHAT?! NO SPACE MICROWAVES?![Blue + Red + Yellow + Green + Bela + Cathleen + Eternal Sailor Iris] As usual, it's up to Blue to clean up Red's messes. Even when she steals burritos from a terrorist.
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Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 4:13 pm
Talk Like A Pirate[Blue + Red + Yellow + Green] Even in space, September 19th is Talk Like a Pirate Day!
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Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 4:15 pm
Breach[Meta ORP] The Battle for the Surrounding commences.
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Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 4:17 pm
One moment Wallace was looking for Flannery amidst the chaos that had befallen the surrounding Surrounding, and the next moment he was dead. He wasn’t quite sure how it happened, he was just there and then not. This, he thought, or at least thought that he thought, is why I don’t like going along with Red’s plans. No, Flannery had probably not had anything to do with the invasion by even more terrorists in black, just like she probably hadn’t had anything to do with their initial kidnapping by the terrorists in white. It was just that it was impossible to be totally sure when she was involved. She had a knack for making things complicated or troublesome, and especially for making them complicated and troublesome. And am I calling her Red in my head now? Really?
Before he could reflect on that thought, or whatever it was that dead people had instead of thoughts, he had the distinct feeling of being not dead. Or, more specifically, of losing his footing on the ground and falling backwards into the Meadowview High pool, startling the heck out of the members of the swim team practicing there, who had not noticed his arrival. Not that he had noticed either, other than the distinct feeling of being not dead followed by a splash. When they saw who it was who had so rudely interrupted their practice by jumping into the pool (or falling, but if they hadn’t seen that part then he wasn’t going to mention it), they were even more surprised. Most of the members of the Meadowview swim team who weren’t freshman knew Wallace Suite, and they knew that he had been missing since the beginning of the year. Why he chose to make his grand reentrance by dive bombing a random practice some six weeks after he vanished was beyond them, though they knew from years of campaigns for school office that he often tried odd and usually unsuccessful methods of being noticed. Maybe, they figured, this was one of these. Anyway, they were glad that he was alive, but could he get out of the pool now?
Wallace was only too happy to comply. It was colder now, in mid-October, than it had been when he’d been kidnapped at the end of August. Despite the makeshift clothes that he’d been found at the Surrounding, he was back in his swim trunks, though at least he had his glasses. He looked for a spare towel to dry them on, then remembered that his clothes were probably still in his locker. In theory. In practice, his lock had been clipped and his clothes had been taken out and returned to his family a couple of weeks after his disappearance. Of course. Nothing could be easy for Wallace Suite.
Then he thought of his family, and the shivers running up his spine no longer had anything to do with the cold or the wet. He’d thought of them often up in space, wondering what he would tell them when he made it back home. Now that he made it home, all of his carefully crafted responses flew out of his mind. He didn’t even try to come up with new ones. He just started running, trying to ignore the strange looks he was getting for running around in nothing but wet swim trunks in the middle of October, and didn’t stop until he got home.
The kitchen door was unlocked, which was unusual but not unheard of for late afternoons. Maybe one of his younger siblings was off on a playdate. Slowly Wallace turned the doorknob and let himself in, noting that his set of keys was on his hook, next to his sister’s. Not his mother’s, which was about par for the course. He checked the clock on the stove: it was only five-thirty. His mother had probably been home about an hour ago; after school was when she came home to change and grab a bite before rushing out to her other job. He lingered by the door a moment, stroking the series of hooks that held everyone’s keys. At least his stuff had made it home, but he couldn’t imagine what it must have been like to receive it, to know that the school had all but given up hope that he was ever going to make it home. He made a choked sort of noise, then looked for something to wipe his face on.
Before he found anything, someone came in from the bedrooms and, without so much as glancing at the boy in the swim trunks, made a beeline for the fridge. He rummaged around in it for a few seconds before coming out with a box of cake, which he reached into and took a handful of cake, plopping it onto a paper towel.
“You shouldn’t be eating that before dinner, Louie,” Wallace remarked. “And definitely not like that.”
The teenager rolled his eyes and wiped his hands on his jeans. “Oh, lay off Wall- holy crap, Wallace.” His eyes widened and he looked at Wallace for several seconds, not moving. Then he came over and poked him in the shoulder, jumping back about three feet when the body he touched was revealed to be solid, and knocking a dish off of the kitchen table. The dish, being plastic, didn’t break, but it did create a racket as it fell.
The response from inside the house was a slamming door. Wallace recognized that, and jerked his thumb in that direction. “Sally’s studying at home tonight, huh? How’s college going for her?”
Louis Suite rolled his eyes again, something he got ample practice at when dealing with his siblings. “Yeah, she’s a real nutcase. Ask her yourself how- wait, why are we talking about this? Man, Wall, where have you been? Mom’s been worried sick! We’ve all been worried sick! What the hell have you been doing?”
There it was again, the problem of how to explain his absence. The truth was obviously out. Even if they believed that he was kidnapped by terrorists in sailor suits and forced to do housecleaning until other terrorists in black came to kill them, he didn’t want them knowing. The Surrounding, the Zodiacs, the space whale- all of that was sensitive information. If they knew about it, one of the terrorists might come for them. Wallace, as Blue, had been very careful about his identity. This was the entire reason why. Regardless of what they thought, whether they believed him or not, they were not going to know the truth surrounding his disappearance.
Lies were also out. Wallace just did not lie when he could avoid it, and when he couldn’t, it was extremely obvious that he was lying. He remembered his encounter with Sailor Iris and her box of burritos with a wince. She had figured it out so easily! And his family, who knew him even better, would be able to tell that he was about to lie before he even opened his mouth. Normally Wallace didn’t mind being a terrible liar, since he hated lying in the first place, but it did have its disadvantages. If he tried to lie, his family would want to know why he was lying to them, and he didn’t want to go there. Nor did he want to go against his beliefs. Honesty was an important Suite Family characteristic, and to Wallace that was very important. So lying was out of the question.
He couldn’t tell the truth. He couldn’t lie. Wallace took a shaky breath, but before he could speak, a small face peeked into the kitchen. “Louie, can I play your DS for a while?” Then she noticed Wallace and shrieked at the top of her lungs, barreling into him. Wallace was pinned against the kitchen door and totally winded, but he didn’t mind too much. “Wally Wally Wally I missed you sooooo much! Where did you go? Why didn’t you tell us you were going somewhere? Mom was really scared!”
“Easy, Becky, it’s okay. I’m back now.” Slowly Wallace managed to pry himself out of his younger sister’s deathgrip so that he could kneel in front of her. He took her hand and squeezed it gently, reassuring her that he was real and that he wasn’t going anywhere. “I’m okay, and I’m back, and that’s what’s important. Right?”
Louie let out a snort of disbelief, but Becky nodded rapidly. “Yes, it’s most ‘portant that you’re back!” She took a deep breath, and before Wallace or Louie could stop her, screeched “Sasa Sasa Sasa come here! It’s ‘portant!”
They could all hear the bedroom door open, but nobody came out. “Becky, I’m busy studying!” was the shouted response. “If you need something, ask Louie, okay?”
“Why do I have to be the babysitter?” Louie shouted back grumpily. “You’re the oldest!”
Wallace raised his eyebrows. That wasn’t the point he’d thought that Louie was going for, but then, his brother wasn’t exactly known for staying on task. Clearly the voice agreed, since a loud chuckle came from the bedroom next. “You always thought that I had it easy, huh? Well, now you get to know what it’s like!”
“Just because Wall isn’t here doesn’t mean I have to take his place!” Louie shouted back.
The whole thing reeked of an old argument, and it was one that Wallace was familiar with, though it had a different flavor now. He didn’t like that his absence had created rifts in his family, or changed its dynamic in any way. Granted, his family was far from perfect, but he liked them the way they were. Even more than that, though, what Louie said bothered him for another reason. “Uh, Louie, I’m right here.”
“Oh, right. Sorry man.” Louie shrugged. “It’s just, you haven’t been, you know? And Mom and Sally were after me to do more of what you were doing, and man did that ever suck. How do you deal with all the cleaning and looking after and all that stuff?”
Wallace shrugged, about to say that he never minded doing that sort of thing, and actually kind of enjoyed it, when Sally stomped into the kitchen. “Don’t ignore me, Louis Suite! If we need you to pick up some slack you…” She saw Wallace and gaped. “You pick… pick up…” Trying to figure out what was going on, she glared at Becky and Louie.
“I tried to tell you it was ‘portant, Sasa,” Becky said sullenly, not enjoying being on the receiving end of one of Sally’s death glares.
“That’s true.” Instead, she turned her anger towards Louie and, discomfortingly, to Wallace. “You just said he wasn’t here!”
Louie turned away, feeling embarrassed and uncomfortable. “Oh, lay off, would you? Is that really what’s important right now?”
“And you! You let him say that! Never mind that, what happened? Where were you? How dare you just up and disappear like that? Do you have any idea how worried we’ve all been? How worried Mom’s been?” Sally put her hands on her hips, trying very hard to sound furious, but her voice cracked as she spoke.
There it was again, the demand for an explanation. Other than ruling out the truth and the nontruth as unviable options, Wallace still hadn’t figured out what to say. So he settled for what he was feeling at that moment. “I’m sorry, Sally. All of you. I’m really sorry. I don’t really know what else to say.”
“Start with the truth,” Sally demanded.
Of course his sister had to ask for the one thing he’d decided she couldn’t have. And she had to ask for it like that, firmly, like it was hers and he was keeping it from her. If that was an older sibling thing, why didn’t he have that knack? Certainly when he asked Louie or Becky for things, they didn’t respond like they thought he should have what he was asking for.
But despite what Sally thought, she was going to be disappointed. “I’m not really sure,” Wallace said slowly. This was shady territory. He wasn’t really sure what had happened- if the whole thing in space was real, or if he was captured and used as a research subject in a test of hallucinogenic drugs- but he had an inkling. An inkling that his family could never ever know about. “When I realized what was happening, what was really happening, I was at the pool again. So I came back here. I didn’t even know how long it had been until the people there told me how much school I missed.” Another half-truth. Wallace knew that he’d been in space for weeks, but the exact date wasn’t something he’d known for sure until they told him. “I wouldn’t have done it, whatever it was, if I had any say in the matter.” That was 100% true, as was “I’m sorry, really.”
They sat in silence for a few moments, trying to digest all of that information, or lack thereof. “Does that mean you were kidnapped?” Louie asked, wondering why someone would want to kidnap a stick in the mud like Wallace. He wasn’t fun, and their family wasn’t anywhere near rich enough to afford a ransom, not that they’d gotten a note or anything. So what was in it for the kidnappers?
Wallace struggled with his thoughts, then nodded. “I think so. I can’t be totally sure, but I think so.”
“Damn.” Everyone, even Becky, gave Louie a sharp glance. “What? Everyone was thinking it, I’m sure. That’s some crazy s**t.”
“Louis Suite, don’t speak that way! You know better! And you’re setting a terrible example.” This might have been an effective scolding had Sally not poked Louie in the ribs as she spoke, which didn’t do much to support the air of maturity that she tried to cling to.
Louie shrugged. “Why do I gotta be an example? Becky can look up to you, or to Wall. Can’t I just be the black sheep of the family? The one who uses bad words sometime and eats cake with his hands and…” Oh wait, Sally didn’t know about the cake thing yet. Oops.
Sally turned bright red. “Is that what you were doing in here? Louie, that’s for dessert! It’s not even dinnertime yet! And what were you going to do when there wasn’t enough for all of us? Pretend that it just magically vanished?”
In response, Louie sulkily shoved the cake box in Sally’s face. “There were five pieces. Mom always makes five servings of everything, even though…” He trailed off, looking at Wallace awkwardly. “Uh, sorry for taking your cake.”
Which just made Wallace feel even guiltier about the whole thing, despite none of it being his fault. At least, not directly. Wallace didn’t know about being descended from the Zodiacs, and even if someone had tried to tell him, he probably would have waved it off as nonsense. Or else gone back to blame the terrorists for everything, even ancient terrorists. This whole thing was so confusing, and he wasn’t sure what he was more aggravated about- the fact that he had been kidnapped and stashed up in space for six weeks, or the fact that he didn’t know why and had no way to deal with it other than trying to block the whole event out.
Sally was taking his silence as an opening and was berating Louie for his behavior, which meant that he was off the hook for a deeper explanation, at least for the moment. Becky was still holding his hand, so he squeezed it tightly. “Has it been this bad the whole time?”
Becky was watching the arguing with undisguised glee, but she was happy enough to talk with Wallace instead. “Uh-uh. I mean, not more than normal. It’s mostly ‘cause Mom needs help, and Sasa’s been working on college stuff, and Louie doesn’t wanna help out. But he does, when he hasta. And Sasa doesn’t yell so much unless she’s tryin’ to study.”
At least his absence hadn’t caused his family to totally fall apart. Which was nice, but a tiny part of Wallace felt a little disappointed. Louie would be terrible at taking his place, he knew, but it seemed like they were getting along just fine without him. What did that mean for all of the hours he put in, all of the work he did at home? All of the cleaning and occasional cooking, helping Becky and Louie with their homework and taking them to school and picking them up, going shopping and making sure everyone was doing what they were supposed to be doing? It was important work, and Wallace did enjoy it, but if they could get along without him doing it, then why did he make all of that effort? Was it all for nothing?
As if she sensed that Wallace’s thoughts were elsewhere, Becky tugged on his hand until he looked at her again. “It was scary though. Everyone was scared, because nobody knew where you went. And I was scared of them being scared.” She gulped, remembering what had frightened her most. “Mom was scared. I didn’t think Mom got scared, ever.”
Wallace knew better. Becky hadn’t been born yet when their father left, but he was old enough to remember it. He remembered their mother telling them that their father went on a trip, and that he’d be back sometime, but she didn’t know when. He remembered when he and Sally, unable to sleep, had snuck into their mother’s room and found her crying, unsure of what had happened, of whether her husband had been kidnapped or called away or in an accident, or whether he left of his own accord. He remembered when, several weeks later, the divorce papers arrived in the mail, and how his mother had explained what was going on to him and to Sally, even though she couldn’t comprehend it herself. Back then, his mother had been very frightened, for her husband, for her children, and for herself. His disappearance had probably brought all of those old feelings surging to the surface again. Wallace hated himself for putting his mother through more pain than she had already been through. And because of that, he knew that she could never know where he went, or why, not that he was sure about either of those things himself. Best case scenario, she’d think her son had gone insane, had PTSD or something else from his ordeal, and she’d send him to a shrink or something. Worst case… if the forces responsible for his abduction hadn’t chosen him for a reason, if they wanted his family… well, Wallace wasn’t going to waste more time thinking about that. He hadn’t gone by the name Blue for weeks for no reason. There was no way the people who’d kidnapped him were going to get their hands on his family. Ever.
Sally and Louie were winding down, but Wallace still saw no reason to interrupt. Neither did Becky, who had resumed watching the fight, but still held Wallace’s hand tightly, refusing to let him go again. “I’m glad you’re back,” she whispered.
“I’m glad I’m back too.”
“And you!” Finished with Louie, who was rubbing the back of his head and shooting his sister dirty looks when he thought she wasn’t looking, Sally turned on Wallace. “You have to call Mom. Like, right now.”
Wallace paled. “Wait, what? Why now? Isn’t she at work?” It was a family rule that Eugenia Suite was never to be disturbed at work unless it was an emergency. Which generally meant that as long as the kids and the house were in one piece and nothing was on fire or bleeding, it could wait until she got home. That was one rule that they all took seriously, even Louie. Wallace hardly thought that his return merited an “emergency” classification. Quite the opposite, actually. Sure, she’d want to know that he was back, and he was dying to see her and reassure her that everything was okay, but it wasn’t like it would be that different whether she found out now or in a few hours.
But Sally would not be swayed. “Yes, now. She made us promise to call when you came back.” She put heavy emphasis on the word “when” and looked at Wallace meaningly.
When. Not if, not in the event of, but when. His mother had trusted implicitly that he was coming back. Despite her experience with his father, who had run out on them and hadn’t bothered to let her know until he was thousands of miles away, she believed that he was coming back. True, Wallace had put a great deal of effort into being as unlike his father as he could possibly be. Considering they shared DNA and a Y chromosome, he thought he did a pretty good job of differentiating himself. He was honest, he was reliable, he was hardworking- everything his father wasn’t. But he hadn’t realized that he’d actually succeeded in being the sort of person he had been aiming for- or at least, as far from the person he’d been aiming away from- until all of this happened.
He looked at Louie, who was still looking away, and Becky, who nodded. “I believed you were coming back, Wally.”
“We all did,” Sally replied. “Seriously, it was the most likely outcome. You’re way too stodgy to just run off on a crazy road trip, and if there was an accident…” She paused, and Wallace had to wonder how long they’d thought about the possibility that he was dead. “We would have heard. Mom checked the hospitals like, every day.”
“So it was probably kidnapping, we figured, and hey, we were right!” Louie punched the air, pleased to have gotten that one right, even if it meant that his brother had lived in captivity for a month and a half. “So you were kidnapped, ‘cept whoever took you realized how boring you are-“
“Hey!” No matter how many times Wallace heard that, it still stung a bit. Not that he wanted to be anything like Flannery or Roxanne, the more interesting people in his life, but still.
“- and when they figured out that they couldn’t get any kind of ransom out of us, they let you go, right?” Louie doffed an imaginary hat and took a bow, wincing as Sally smacked him on the back of the head and Becky giggled.
Wallace was about to tell them that the kidnappers didn’t know who his family was, but stopped himself. If he said that, then they’d want more information. “Something like that, I guess.”
“So we all knew you’d be back,” Sally continued, “it was just a matter of when. But still, we had to promise that we’d call Mom when you made it back.”
“Like, every single day, man. As if we didn’t remember after a while.” Louie rolled his eyes again, and ducked as Sally’s hand came up for another smack, wheeling around to the other side of the kitchen table.
Becky bit her lip. “I liked it when she made us promise. It felt more like Wally was coming home soon.” Her eyes lit up and she bounced on her heels a little. “Maybe promising so much brought him back!”
That made about as much sense as anything else that had happened to him, so Wallace didn’t argue. Neither did anyone else. Instead, Sally handed him the cordless phone. “You have to. She’ll be even more upset- with all of us- if you don’t.”
She was right, darn her. Wallace tried to be a good big brother, but as older siblings went, Sally seemed to have inherited all of the panache and know-how. Just because she was oldest. Some things were so unfair. He sighed and took the phone, trying to pull his hand out of Becky’s grip so that he could dial, but she wasn’t letting go. “Becky, I need my hand now.”
“No.” For emphasis, she shook her head so fast her hair was a blur obscuring her face. “I’m making sure you stay. You have to stay. You can’t go anywhere.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he told her, but his words fell on deaf ears. “Okay, fine.” He held the phone out in front of him. “Can someone else call, then?”
Sally shook her head too, and Wallace started to wonder if he was being punished for leaving. “No, you have to tell Mom. It won’t be the same if any of us does it. It has to be from you.”
True, someone could lie and say he was back, but Wallace didn’t think anyone would play a horrible joke like that. At least, he hoped that nobody would. “Nobody tried to prank Mom, did they?”
“Are you freaking kidding? What kind of monsters do you think we are?” Louie made a big show of looking innocent, but Wallace didn’t trust it for a minute. If anyone was likely to pull a mean prank, it was Louie.
But Sally shook her head. “He didn’t, really. None of us would do that. C’mon, Wallace, you know that.”
“He thought about it,” Becky added teasingly, making Louie jump.
“Last time I checked, thinkin’s not a crime. I can’t win with you people.” Louie grabbed the phone from Wallace and dialed in a number before handing the phone back to him. “There, I’ve done my part. Your turn, bro.”
The other end was ringing when Wallace put it to his ear. He held his breath. Nobody else moved. He’d been dreading this moment ever since he arrived at the Surrounding, but he’d also been looking forward to it more than he could remember looking forward to anything in his seventeen years of life.
“Hello?” A familiar voice picked up on the other end. “Destiny Starlight Diner, Eugenia speaking. How may I help you?”
Wallace realized that he wasn’t breathing and took a deep breath. This was it. He only had one chance at this. He was going to do it right.
“Hi… Mom. It’s me. I’m home.” It felt so good to finally be able to say that, so Wallace said it again. “I’m home.”
There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end, and for a moment Wallace was afraid that his mother had a heart attack or fainted or something. Then she spoke again, her voice softer and almost afraid. “Wallace?”
“It’s okay, Mom. I’m home now. I just wanted to let you know-“
“I’m coming home.” Her voice was still soft, but sharper now, more assured. “Stay put, I’ll be there soon.”
Where did she think he was going? If Wallace had his way, he wouldn’t leave the house for at least a month, though he knew that wasn’t an option. “I’m not going anywhere, Mom, I promise, so you don’t have to-“
“Wallace Suite, don’t you dare tell me what to do.” Whatever frailty had crept into Eugenia’s voice earlier had vanished, replaced with the iron will that her children knew was there. “I’m coming home. We’ll speak when I get there. Do you understand me?”
There was only one possible answer to that. “Yes, ma’am.”
Eugenia sighed, and her breath made the connection crackle for a moment. “I keep telling you, Wallace, don’t ever call a woman ‘ma’am.’ Women are always ‘miss’ no matter how old they are.”
Wallace suspected that Louie got his focus problems from their mother, but this wasn’t the time to go into that. This wasn’t the time to go into most things. “Okay, Mom. I’m sorry. For everything.”
“We’ll talk when I get home.” In the background Wallace could make out sounds of drawers slamming, and the dull hum of conversation grew slightly louder. “I’ll be there soon. I… I love you, Wallace.”
“I love you too, Mom.” Wallace managed to choke out before the line went dead. Wordlessly he handed the phone back to Louie and sank into one of the kitchen chairs, suddenly exhausted. “She’s coming home.”
“We have ears, Wall.” Louie stuck his tongue out and was again smacked upside the head by Sally. “Would you quit doing that?” His curly hair stuck up in the back from all the times she’d playfully hit him that afternoon, and he smoothed it out as best he could, making absolutely no difference to the way it looked.
“I probably should,” Sally admitted. “I’d hate to think I made you lose any brain cells, when you have so few to spare.” In response to this, Louie tried to smack her, but she caught his hand and held it away from her head. “If Mom is coming home, you need to finish your homework. C’mon.” Ignoring his protests, Sally dragged Louie into the back, pausing to smile at Wallace. “I’m glad you’re back too, you big lug.”
“Yeah, now you can be the worrywart and I can go back to being the goof-off. Oof!” Louie banged his head on the doorframe as Sally pulled on his arm, his moans and groans audible as they made their way to the living room.
Which left Wallace with Becky. He looked at her, smiled, and wondered “Well, what should I do now?”
Becky sized Wallace up, squinting and holding her thumb out in front of her like a painter. She couldn’t get much distance because she was still clinging tightly to Wallace’s hand, but she looked him over for a few moments, making him feel a bit like a cut of meat in a butcher’s window. “Well, you could put on some clothes.”
Only then did Wallace realize that he was still in his damp swim trunks. He blushed; though his siblings had all seen him in trunks before, he felt weird to turn up again wearing them. And there was no way he’d meet his mother again wearing nothing but a pair of trunks that hadn’t been properly washed in six weeks. “Good idea. Can I have my hand back? I promise I won’t leave the house.”
Becky was not convinced. At all. But she slowly managed to pry her hand open, and quickly embraced Wallace before pulling away. “Don’t leave us again,” she whispered, and he could feel her eyelashes flutter against his chest.
“I won’t.” Wallace stood up and started making his way to his bedroom, relieved that Louie and Sally were working in the living room. “Why don’t you see what they’re up to? Maybe they could use your help.”
That wasn’t too likely, but Becky nodded deviously and ran into the living room. “Sasa, Louie, Wally says that you guys need my help!”
“Becky, give that back! I need it to-“
“Hey, don’t hit your sister!”
“Stop yelling!”
“You stop yelling!”
As the living room erupted into chaos, Wallace closed his bedroom door behind it and, after a moment of thought, locked it. The shouts and squeals still made it in through the thin walls, but he didn’t mind that. Chaos aside, there truly was no place like home.
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Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 4:23 pm
Wallace pulled at the bottom of his shirt, still not quite used to his new uniform. When he’d found out that he, along with all of the school-aged people who had been abducted to space, had been kicked out of school, it was like a kick in the gut. Expelled! Him, Wallace Suite! How would he ever explain that on college applications? Unless he managed to land himself a scholarship, there was no way he’d be able to go to any kind of college, decent or otherwise. The Suite family just didn’t have that kind of money. Sally had gotten a very nice scholarship to Destiny City University, and was now a business major with a promising future.
Everyone, Wallace included, had been very proud of her for getting in and doing well. He’d also been hoping that he would be able to repeat her achievement, if not surpass it. Now he’d be lucky to be able to get into Sovereign Heights, and there was no guarantee that he’d ever get anything higher than associate’s degree, which was appalling. He wouldn’t be able to be a businessman or a lawyer or a politician or a doctor or anything like that with just an associate’s degree. And he didn’t have the sort of innovative mind that would lend itself well to coming up with fantastic ideas and making his fortune that way. So unless he started playing the lotto (unlikely, since he loathed the idea of gambling) or decided to rob a bank (despite his friend Flannery’s piratical tendencies, he didn’t feel comfortable taking things from other people), he would be stuck where he was for the rest of his life. And all because the terrorists felt like using him as a pawn in their little games. The whole situation was just totally unacceptable.
“Maybe if I managed to capture one, there would be a big reward.” Wallace tried to force a smile, but it looked more like a grimace. As if he'd ever be able to do something like that. Even if it was physically possible for a guy like him to be able to stand up to some sort of magic alien or dark wizard, he didn't think he had the nerve for it. Sure, he put on a brave face when he could, but he knew that beneath it, he was terrified. He'd been terrified for most of the six weeks he'd spent in space, when he wasn't busy being bored or frustrated. And what was his reward for surviving all of that? Getting booted to another school. Just what he wanted- not.
Wallace took the yellow uniform tie from his tie box and began expertly tying it. If there was any upside to his new school, the uniform was it. He had always hated Meadowview’s uniform. The orange clashed with his hair, the shorts were freezing in the autumn months before they were allowed to switch to pants (not to mention totally embarrassing), and the whole thing just looked dopey. At least with this school he got to wear a proper button-down shirt, long pants, and- best of all- an actual tie. Wallace loved ties and didn’t feel fully dressed unless he was wearing one. The Meadowview kerchief was close enough to make him not feel naked, but he still never felt complete when wearing it. Now, as he slipped the long end of the tie through the final loop and adjusted the knot, he looked polished and professional. The shoes were a bit much, though. They were certainly more polished than the tennis shoes he’d worn for Meadowview, but he didn’t think people still wore saddle shoes. If something was old-fashioned even by his standards, it was positively ancient.
“Shirt, check. Pants, check.” Having wandered around with either of these items for a few months, it made Wallace feel better to make sure he had them on. If the terrorists were going to grab him again, he was going to be fully clothed this time. It also added to his sense of ritual and rhythm, both of which had been seriously disturbed up in space. It was really hard to set a schedule when there was no discernible day or night, and most people didn’t really have watches. Which reminded him to check his own, a rare new purchase after he’d gotten back. It was a cheap sports watch, gotten at a discount store, but it still had almost all the features that he’d been looking for. It told the date as well as the time, and featured a stopwatch function and an alarm. Not that he was entirely sure how to use any of these functions, since the directions that came with the watch had been in Chinese or Korean or some other Asian language. He’d managed to set the date and time by using the pictures that came with the directions and, when that failed, pushing a lot of buttons. But whenever he tried to use the stopwatch, the thing let out an awful beeping sound that it always took him a while to stop. He decided to stop experimenting before he broke something, and found some comfort in the fact that since he’d never figured out how to set the alarm, at least it wouldn’t go off at any inappropriate times. He hoped. For a long time, Wallace had used his cell phone to stay on task and on schedule, but his phone didn’t exactly get great reception in space, and without it, the clock didn’t work. He also figured that if he was ever kidnapped by people who actually had their act together, they’d probably take his phone, but it wasn’t so likely that they’d take a simple wristwatch. The watch was water resistant rather than waterproof, and its face was glow in the dark but not luminescent, so it wasn’t perfect. Still, for $4.99 plus tax, including the battery, it was the best he could really justify getting himself. It was mostly for emergency purposes anyway, since his phone was still his primary mode of telling time.
Once the watch was on, he took the ID card that the new school had issued to him and clipped it to his belt loop. He’d gone in to get his picture taken for the ID the day before, and as usual, had come out looking rather silly. This hadn’t bothered him too much at first, since at Meadowview he’d kept his ID card in his wallet except when he needed it to enter the school or take out a library book, but apparently this new place expected the students to have their identification visible at all times. Something to do with it being a state of the art campus or something. At least if he had it clipped to his pants, his coat would cover it up most of the time.
And then, the coat. If the tie was Wallace’s favorite part of his new uniform, the coat was probably his least favorite. Wait, no, the shoes were his least favorite, so the coat would have to be second-least. It was in a non-offensive neutral oatmeal color and had a decent lapel, but it was long and heavy and had incredibly deep pockets. Wallace just knew that he was going to lose whatever he put into those pockets. Also, since his own coat was short, he couldn’t wear it over his school jacket without looking like an idiot. This was fine in mid-October when the weather was still mild, but he’d really be upset in December or January, when the wind would blow through the oatmeal-colored coat like it wasn’t there and freeze his bones solid. And in the spring and summer it would be a pain in the butt to wear a heavy draping thing like that to school. He’d roast alive in his own juices, with the coat acting as a wrapper to keep the steam inside. It was not something Wallace was looking forward to. But maybe the school had a winter variety of coat. The Meadowview dress code at least allowed them to wear pants in the winter so that nobody would get frostbite. And maybe they wouldn’t have to wear the coats in the summer. Wallace wasn’t sure. He’d gotten a school handbook when he went to pick up his uniform and get his ID picture taken, but so much had happened so quickly that he hadn’t had time to do much more than skim it quickly. This wasn’t the way he wanted to do things, not at all. When he started at Meadowview, he’d borrowed Sally’s handbook and read it cover to cover over summer vacation, so that he knew what he was in for going into the school year. He had no such luxury this time. He’d only been back from space for a couple of days, and now he was off to a brand new school, where a brand new life was awaiting him.
“You’ll be fine,” he tried to tell his reflection. The reflection didn’t look convinced, and Wallace made a face at it. “Your academic record is still good, and you have plenty of extracurricular activities.” And he’d maintain as many of them as possible in this new place. Not that he really thought he had a chance of being elected Class President when he was a brand new transfer student, but that wasn’t going to stop him from trying. The school didn’t have any sports clubs either, which was a bit surprising but not the end of the world for Wallace. He could continue swimming and diving on his own, and his archery classes took place outside of the school anyway, so that wouldn’t change. He’d been by the archery club the day before, when he was running around taking care of everything, and after their initial shock to see him unharmed and back all of a sudden, they assured him that his spot was still open, as was Flannery’s, so they could come back anytime.
And what was he going to do about Flannery? Wallace sat on the lower bunk of the bed he shared with Louie, feeling morose. Since Flannery and Roxanne had been kidnapped to space along with him, they’d also been subsequently expelled and accepted into this new place. Wallace’s brief elation at having some space from his childhood friends evaporated into nothing when he was informed that all of the abductees were going there. It wasn’t that he disliked Flannery, exactly. They’d been together all of their lives, and at this point he pretty much accepted her as a matter of course. The only constants in life were death, taxes, and Flannery. She just had a tendency to make things… complicated. It would probably bother him a lot less if she didn’t know exactly how to get to him, know the spots she needed to push in order to get what she wanted. Wallace wasn’t entirely sure which he disliked more: the trouble that Flannery invariably stirred up, or the knowledge that most of it could be avoided if he wasn’t so easily manipulated by her.
“If this is a new life, he told his reflection, “I’m going to things my way. I’m not going to keep letting Flannery make my decisions. I’m not going to be Roxanne’s dummy. I’m going to take charge of things, once and for all.”
The reflection’s expression didn’t change, and Wallace, tired and disgusted, left the room and that the new day and the new school would be easier to face. He didn’t believe himself either, so was it any wonder that his boasts and pleas alike fell on deaf ears?
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Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 4:26 pm
The Debate - 2013[Wallace + Candidates + Voters] Wallace participates in a real election. First step: showing what he can do during the debate!
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Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 4:28 pm
Cupcakes for a Cause[Wallace + Ian + Sophie + Zia] This campaign runs on cupcakes, just like Wallace himself!
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Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 4:29 pm
City Council candidate Wallace Suite did not watch the election results at campaign headquarters. Not for lack of wanting to. He’d had it planned all week: the suit he would wear, the speeches he would give, thanking his volunteers and family for all of their help and support, the voters for giving him their trust, the other candidates for being an inspiration to him. After that, his speech diverged, with different words depending on the outcome. His victory speech was brief and to the point, while his concession speech was somewhat longer. If he didn’t win, he wanted to stay in the public eye as long as possible, to give the voters more of a chance to remember him for next time. Because there would be a next time. He would make sure of that.
Throwing his hat in for this particular race had happened very quickly, almost on a whim. Not that he treated politics with anything other than the utmost respect, but he hadn’t expected to step into that arena so soon. It was only a year ago that the highest offer he aspired to was Student Body President. He’d never made it there, but now that he was officially an adult, he could enter the the real elections with real stakes beyond a bit of popularity. He could have an impact in the world beyond his high school. That was enough to make him declare his candidacy, even if he was underprepared.
The debate had been amazing. He had really held his own amongst his peers, and had made an impression despite the field being so large and diverse. There had been flubs and areas that he felt he wasn’t strong enough in, but he’d really done quite well. Well enough to advance past the primary. From there, he had thrown himself wholeheartedly into campaigning, not sparing a moment for anything else.
Which turned out to be his downfall. Two days before the election, Wallace collapsed from heat exhaustion, caused by being out in the sun for hours, in a thick, dark suit, without proper hydration. Despite care from his family, his recovery was slow- partly because he kept trying to get up and work on the campaign- and so he wasn’t strong enough to attend the party at election headquarters. Instead he was stuck on the couch in the living room, drinking what felt like his fiftieth Gatorade and keeping his eyes glued to the television. Despite the fact that he wasn’t in the lead, despite the fact that he hadn’t been out at all for the last days of the campaign, he still had a chance. It was slim, but it was a chance-
And then, all of a sudden, it was over. The race was called for Penelope Seneca. In an odd announcement, Avery Hollister was also given a seat on the council, leaving Wallace out in the cold. He watched with a grim expression until the results began to loop, and then he pulled his blanket over his head and turned over.
Yet again, he wasn’t good enough. But he’d come closer than he ever had to being in a position of power and respect. Next time, he would not fail.
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Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 4:31 pm
Roller Rink Party[Wallace + Becky + Istas + Kids] Wallace takes his sister to a skating party. Ah, normalcy.
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Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 10:55 pm
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Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 10:56 pm
April meant spring. It meant rain and flowers and midterm exams. For Wallace, it meant birthdays. He was finally turning twenty-one. More harrowingly, it also meant that Flannery was also turning twenty-one.
That there would be some sort of party went without saying. Never mind the fact that they were officially too old for birthday parties, Flannery would be sure to have one, or something like it. Partly because she enjoyed the spectacle, but mostly, as far as Wallace was concerned, to rub their three-day age gap in his face yet again. What was worse, he let it get to him every single time. He knew that there was no reason to get upset when she goaded him, but that knowledge never stopped him from taking the bait.
A big part of it was how long they had known each other. They'd been together literally since before they were born, so getting any kind of distance from the problem was next to impossible. They lived in the same neighborhood, went to the same schools, and even got kidnapped into space by the same terrorists. No matter what he did or where he went, there was no escape from Flannery and her crazy capers. Until now.
The envelope from Destiny City University came before either of their birthdays, but was definitely an early present. As soon as he graduated from HITS, with some sort of science degree that he never wanted and barely understood, his life was going to change. Finally, he would be on his way towards making his dreams come true. And the best part was, this time, he would be making his way on his own, with no one getting in his way.
He wasn't there yet, though. Graduation was still months away, and until then, he had to deal with Flannery and her escapades. Including whatever she was planning for her birthday. Showing up without a present wan't an option, and even if it was, it would be unspeakably rude. Besides, Wallace didn't hate Flannery. They knew each other too well for him to hate her. And there was a part of him that liked the spice she added to life. The problem was that she added enough to cause a five alarm fire, and he needed to keep his life bland if he was going to have any chance of success.
Getting space from "Red" and her shenanigans was going to be his present, but he still needed to get her one. So he kept his eyes peeled on his way to and from school. It had to be just right. Anything too dull, too boring, too un-Flannery, and he'd have yet another thing that he'd never hear the end of. But nothing he found was right, and the date crept closer, and he began to panic. What if he couldn't find anything? What if he never got out from under her thumb?
"No," he reassured himself. "This year is going to be different. She'll see, eventually."
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Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2015 11:38 pm
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Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2015 11:39 pm
[carnival of rust aftermath]
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