|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 1:18 pm
::.RP - Hadrian and the Mud
It was just one of those days.
Wing Ting had just joined at the Circus, only to be sorely disappointed. Where was the happy? Where was the sparkly? It was happy and sparkly the first time she saw it - when there was the performing - but now, it was kind of blah. And Wing Ting didn't go well with blah. She much preferred happy and sparkly.
But I digress.
She was out behind the tents that day, scuffing her clean white shoes in the mud. She only had one pair of shoes. And a white, stark dress that she couldn't wear while she was working, so one of the older stage managers had banished her, saying that she could come and work as soon as she got some proper clothing. Wing Ting couldn't work until she got new clothes, and she couldn't perform until she worked. This was not looking good. "I'm going to get wet," Wing Ting said, staring at the puddle. "And this whole scenario is getting more and more whirlpool-of-death-y."
Hadrian had begun the day being fairly social with a few of his superiors, but now simply sat on the ground behind one of the tents, brooding.
Well, no. He wasn't brooding, exactly.
He was thinking.
His thought process was rather abruptly interrupted by a feminine voice and, curiosity piqued, he craned his neck around the corner of the tent to get a better look.
Wing Ting glanced around quickly, and then skipped into the grass, whistling to herself. She stuck a crisp white toe in the mud and pulled at the turf. "Muddy~" Wing Ting sang out, dragging her foot in the mud. "I gots muddy feet!" It probably wasn't the best thing to do with white shoes on, but she nevertheless soon had drawn a smiley face, a bunch of grapes, and what looked like a cow wearing a wig but was really supposed to be a hippo.
Wing Ting backed up a few steps and admired her work, giggling a bit. The hippo looked like he had gas. "I'll need new shoes cause I'm muddy!" She giggled again and danced a bit. Maybe it wasn't so bad that she didn't have to work.
Hadrian couldn't help but smile slightly to himself, watching the girl fool around in the mud. He shook his head at her and then spoke:
"Hey."
Hadrian was a man of few words.
Wing Ting may have levitated on the spot. "Eep!" She squeaked, whirling around to face the man. He was sitting, but he was still taller than her. She couldn't see him very well, because it was kind of dark, but she spoke to him anyway. "Hey mister! My name's Wing Ting! What's your name? D'you want your clothes? Who are you?" Wing Ting was a curious thing by nature, but she remained a good three yards away from the man. After all, he could be a scary monster come to gobble her up! Roar! Scary!
"Want my...?" Hadrian laughed slightly, "The name's Hadrian. I just got here...gotta do odd jobs and whatnot until I'm 'ready to perform'." He added air quotes to accentuate this damning fact.
"How about you?"
He had no passed over Wing Ting's unfortunate height, and it didn't seem that she could be all that helpful around the circus.. Of course, she could just be one of those guys giving out fliers...but even then...
Wing Ting scooted a bit closer to him, squinting as she tried to get a good look at his face. She still couldn't see it all the way, so she scooted a bit more to the side and peered at him again. "I'm serious. I need new clothes. She said when he laughed at her. It wasn't nice to laugh at people, especially when you were five bazillion times taller than them. She gestured down to her dress and shoes. "I'm not allowed to work until I get new clothes. See?" Wing Ting looked at him consideringly, her head cocked to one side. "You aren't doing odd jobs now. She protested when he told her what he was doing. And then she added, out of sheer curiosity: "What are you doing now?"
"I'm sitting," Hadrian said simply, "Just...sitting." He arched an eyebrow at Wing Ting, not quite sure what to make of her.
"I have some extra shirts, if you really want to get to work that desperately. I mean, they'd be huge, but..." He trailed off.
No matter how strange or unfamiliar the person, it was always good to offer your personal effects up to him. It was a test of trust or something. He didn't quite know.
Wing Ting blinked. "I know you're sitting. You're not doing anything else? Like, thinking of something or...I dunno...something?" Like Hadrian, Wing Ting didn't know how to take this strange, peculiarly tall man. He was too quiet and reserved, and he just sat. "I could make a dress?" It was one of those statements that had a curl on the end, like a question, because Wing Ting didn't know if Hadrian would approve of her cutting up his shirts to make dresses. "I mean, I've been pretty useless all day. And then the boss-lady threw me out because I kept worrying about my clothes and dropping expensive stuff." She dug her foot in the mud again.
"Ah...sure. Feel free," Hadrian nodded to the girl and then stood, pushing his sunglasses up with a finger, "D'you need it now, or...?"
He had absolutely no idea why he was giving in to Wing Ting so very easily. Maybe because she was little and pitiful. Maybe because she was female. Who the hell knew?
Wing Ting scuffed her shoe in the dirt yet again. "Uhm...no. It's smelly in there, and I don't want to go back in."
And then, there was silence.
Silence of the awkward sort.
Wing Ting shifted her weight back and forth nervously, before suddenly bolting for the man and sitting - Plop! - down next to him. "Hi!" She laughed, happily noting that the ground was dry here. Wing Ting swung her feet around a bit, humming to herself, and waiting for Hadrian to speak. She would wait for a few minutes, and if he said nothing, she'd start chattering again. Alas, it was his fate to be forced to listen to this little Asian girl whether he wanted to or not.
Hadrian sat down again with a resounding thud. He raised a knee and hugged it, peering down at Wing Ting. He found that he had absolutely nothing to say and so returned to his previously derailed train of thought.
Silence again.
So Wing Ting poked him. "Hey. Are you in the Circus for performing?" He had said that he was, but Wing Ting might have misheard him. She peered up at him. He was tall. "D'you have a talent? D'you tame lions? I've always wanted to see a lion tamer, because they're really cool! They take the whip and go HOO-HAH and the lions go WAAAH NO WHIP." She grinned up at him. "It's fun." She said simply, tilting her head back and forth and whistling again. It wasn't a particular tune she was whistling, but more of a wandering, piercing noise that had no purpose. It was rather annoying, actually.
Oh, god...the NOISE!
"NnnnnnNNNGH--YES!" Hadrian voiced in a frustrated crescendo, "Yes. Yes, I came to perform. No, no lions."
Christ, what had he gotten himself into?
Wing Ting smiled at him brightly and continued speaking, though she had forgotten what she was speaking about and was really only speaking to be friendly. "Oh, no lions? Maybe you should try lions. Lions are cute, sort of like big, man-eating kitties. Where I came from, if you really wanted a lion, you could get one, except, they were made from scratch and very expensive." She jabbered. Wing Ting was completely gone now, lost in words and babblage. "One day, I thought maybe I'd like to have a lion, but I never had enough money and I always spent it on candy and stuff and so I never got one. I'm not really sorry, though, because lions can be a lot of work, and I'm not sure I can handle the responsibility, but it would have been nice to have one, don't you think? Why are you wearing sunglasses?" She asked, coming back to reality in a bang-up crash. "It's not bright out."
Hadrian was crying a little inside.
He only looked back to the rambling girl when he realized that he had been asked a question.
"My eyes are very sensitive to light," he shrugged and turned away once more.
Wing Ting blinked once or twice when Hadrian answered her, as her tangent about lions was suddenly cut off. But then, she had asked him a question. She blinked again, and then uttered the one word that Hadrian would probably grow to loathe. "Why?" She waited for his response, her feet swinging back and forth. She even whistled a bit. However, Wing Ting resisted the urge to say, "Why why why why why?" as the tone in Hadrian's voice had been less than patient.
"I'm albinoid," he stated simply, "See?" He held his arms out and rotated them, showing off his white, near-translucent skin.
Wing Ting blinked again. "You're a whatsit? You do what? Is this something naughty?" She asked, scooting away nervously. "D'you have like, scary stuff you're going to throw at me and drag me off and eat me or something?" Wing Ting was near panic now, waving her hands around. She babbled nonsensically until Hadrian showed her his arms. Wing Ting's eyes widened in understanding. "Oooh. You're glowy? Glowy man? Glow in the dark? Like a glow stick?" She asked, prodding his arms all over.
"No," Hadrian said and pulled Wing Ting's hands off of him, "It means I have no pigm--colour. The stuff that makes your eyes and hair dark. I don't have any."
Wing Ting peered up at him curiously. "Glowy?" She asked stubbornly, giving the albino boy another poke for good measure. Wing Ting frowned a bit when Hadrian continued speaking. He said he was a pig? A pig? Piggy piggy? Oink oink? "You're a piggy?" Wing Ting blinked and stood up and ran back into the muddy turf. "You don't look like a piggy..." And then she began drawing the mud again with her little white shoe, all over the place, until she had drawn a rather fat pig with the name HADREEAN scratched in the dirt above it.
"I don't glow. I am not a piggy. I am not even a glowy piggy," Hadrian couldn't help but smile a bit, "I just don't have any co--" He noticed the pig with his name above it.
"...lour." He reached down and scrawled 'Hadrian' below the pig with his finger.
Wing Ting frowned, one toe still pushed in the mud. She cocked her head to one side and sat down, saying, "You don't have any co -- OH MY GOD!" And then she shot up, whacking at her dress with both hands. "My dress is dirty! It's dirty! What'm I gonna do?" And then she smacked herself in the face, several times, muttering darkly to herself. "...ow."
She sat down again.
AND UP!
Wing Ting whacked dismally at her dress, though by this time her hands were muddy, too. She sort of sighed a bit, and then, begrudgingly, walked back to where Hadrian was sitting. She hit the ground hard, sighed, and curled up into a little ball. "Glowy piggy," she said, half-heartedly.
Awww...
"Nothing says you can't wash 'em again," Hadrian tried to be comforting, but he sounded more sarcastic than anything, "And my shirt's still up for grabs."
Wing Ting glared up at the man, angry and hurt that he could be sarcastic and cruel about her poor dress. And he was a glowy piggy! How could he talk!? If some one was a glowing farm animal, they shouldn't make fun of other people! Especially people whose nice white dresses were completely ruined. Wing Ting was glad she was laying down. If they had been standing, she wouldn't have been able to kick anything but his toes, maybe. As it was, she brought her foot back and smacked the albino right in the thigh. She gave him another glare, but then ruined it by sniffing feebly afterwards. "Poo...glowy pig." She muttered, picking at her dress idly.
Wait, what did he say?
His shirt?
Oh dear.
"Oops," She said, looking dismayed. "Uh-oh."
Hadrian was hurt neither mentally nor physically by the kick, but he sure as hell was irritated.
"Have fun playing in the mud," he said tersely and stood, brushing himself off and beginning to walk away with his hands shoved in his pockets.
He'd have to find a new hiding place, then.
Wing Ting was up in a flash. "No! Hadriaaan! Wait for me!" She cried, trying to run after him. She slipped a bit, though, and got her front all muddy. Wing Ting got up again and chased after him. His legs were much longer than hers, and she had to sprint on her little stick legs to keep up. "Hadriaaaan! Please wait!" Squish squish squish went the mud! Wing Ting was gaining ground now, and when she thought she could, Wing Ting jumped up and grabbed hold of one of Hadrian's legs, wrapping her arms and legs around it and clutching it fiercely. Granted, the man could probably still walk, as Wing Ting weighed very little, but he would be severely slowed.
Hadrian had been going against his better judgment and completely ignoring the girl as she ran, but the tackle was kind of hard to dismiss. He stopped abruptly, face twisted into a sneer, and looked down to Wing Ting.
He grabbed the poor girl by the dress and yanked her from his leg, lifting her so his eyes could meet hers.
"You will never touch me," he growled, "Got it?"
Wing Ting was aware of the man stopping, and then of nearly being gagged as he yanked her up. But then these two thoughts were shoved aside as black fear welled up inside her. She was in the air. Her feet were not touching the ground. She was up. Wing Ting started to say something, but all that came out was a sad sort-of gurgle. She tried again, but nothing happened. Wing Ting swallowed then, trying not to think of the fact that her feet were five feet off the ground and said in a teeny voice, "Please put me down. Please...put me...down please. Please. Down. Please. She was vaguely aware of the fact that she was shaking, and that she really, really, really needed to pee. But she figured it wouldn't be a good idea to pee on someone who was holding her aloft at two times her own height.
Hadrian's face contorted further but, with a great display of self-control and a trembling hand, he set Wing Ting carefully on the ground...and proceeded to punch a nearby tree and continue on his way.
Wing Ting very barely overcame the urge to kiss the ground. Very barely. As it was, she stayed very small and didn't move until Hadrian got well away. Very well away. At least out of hearing distance, maybe even out of sight. She wasn't really paying attention. Then she apologized. Granted, she probably should have apologized before the whole being-held-up-by-her-dress-in-the-air incident, but Wing Ting didn't think of that. "Sorry, Hadrian." And then Wing Ting sighed and rolled around in the mud some more. If she wasn't getting new working clothes, she might as well ruin the ones she had so she wouldn't feel guilty about ruining them by working tomorrow.
Hadrian stopped walking (or storming, as it were) a good while away and threw himself back against a tree, sliding to the ground. He picked a few bits of bark from his fist and beat his head against the tree trunk.
Maybe joining the circus wasn't such a great idea.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 8:40 am
::.RP - Will there be murdering? (Lucrezia)
Wing Ting sat on the floor, looking up at her bed with a mixed feeling of depression and dismay. She was tired, but the bed came up all the way to her shoulders, and she couldn't lift herself up into it. On top of that, the bed was so high off the ground, and only supported by four little metal sticks, that Wing Ting was terrified at the very thought of sleeping in the bed. She pondered dragging the mattress underneath the bed frame, but she couldn't reach it, and the mattress was about five times her size. Wing Ting sighed and poked at her dress dejectedly. It was flung on top of her mattress, and drying. She had been able to clean off most of the mud, thankfully, and it was almost white again. There were a few splotches that would never come out, but that was life.
So, Wing Ting sat on the floor of the trailer, gazing at her bed, dressed only in her underthings: a light blue camisole and underwear set, embroidered with little yellow ducks. Her hair was pulled back from her face because she had just washed it - her face and her hair - and hung in limp cords dangling from her head. She sighed again, just because she liked the sound, and then flopped over onto her side, staring underneath the bed frame.
Lucrezia sighed and pushed the door to the trailer open. She'd watched the dusty sunset of this polluted world and couldn't help but miss the rooftops of rome. And now, going into this bizzare, alien trailer. Very unlike the warm outbuildings of the cirque where she'd grown up.
Turning into the main room, she did a double take. Was that a child sitting on the floor?
There definitely hadn't been one of those at home.
"Ah... Hello?"
Wing Ting turned around curiously, her damp hair swinging, and cocked her head to one side as she watched the peculiar, tall, girl. She stood up, nearly tripping over her own feet. She righted herself eventually, though, and met the other girl's eyes. "Hi. Who're you?" Ah, the great communicator strikes again. Wing Ting sort of leaned against the bed, peering at the other girl with considering eyes.
Lucrezia studied the girl curiously, wondering about the same thing.
"Lucrezia Falco," she stated plainly, motioning to the room. "Supposedly I live here."
She chewed her lip for a moment, studying the girl. She was wearing the most particular garments, and she'd never seen anyone quite that short. Was this one of the freaks she'd heard about? Perhaps? Or just a very short person? It had been explained to her that this cirque hired from everywhere, so maybe there was an entire country full of short people like her? Scary thought.
"Ahm.... Same question."
Wing Ting scuffed her toe into the floor a bit, looking around nervously. "Uhm...My name is Wing Ting." She sat back down on the floor, even though she had to strain her neck to see Lucrezia. The other girl was taller, yes, but Wing Ting's feet were tired of standing. "I live here too. Lucrezia's a pretty name. Can I call you Lukie?" She was getting awfully familiar, but Wing Ting couldn't be expected to form her little mouth all around a long name like Lucrezia. 'Lukie,' however, was perfectly pallatable. She twisted back and forth nervously, one foot tapping.
Lucrezia frowned slightly, having never heard that pet form. It sounded much like a boy's name.
However, it might be better than just letting Wing Ting mangle her full name. Which brought her to the realization that Wing Ting was not exactly like any name she'd ever heard. Was it even a name? More like a word and an onomatopeia.
"Sure," she sighed.
It wasn't as if she wasn't used to people mangling her name. After all, outside of the Italian Peninsula back home, no one had known how to pronounce the Z. Visiting Franciscans had always changed it to a C or a T.
"Wing Ting's a mouthfull, too," she added. Two syllables was more than a girl that short deserved. "Can I just call you Wing?"
Wing Ting blinked when Lucrezia suggested her new nickname. All proper nicknames should end with an 'e' sound, but Wing Ting didn't want to offend her new friend, so she nodded and said, "Yup, you can call me Wing. Or Wingy," she couldn't help adding the last bit in a hasty rush. Wing Ting patted the floor beside her, inviting the girl to sit down. It was uncomfortable to look at a person that tall. "Where're you from, Lukie?" She asked curiously. "I never heard a name like Lucrezia before." She pronounced the full name carefully, halting a bit on the 'crez' part, but Wing Ting thought she got it right.
Lucrezia looked briefly at the floor, decided it was clean enough, and sat down. "Rome," she answered. "It's a big city. Not like this place. It's warmer, and cleaner."
She shrugged. "It's not common, even in Rome. Though..."
She smiled mischieviously. "I'e never heard a name like Wing Ting, either. Where are you from?"
Wing Ting scooted over on her bum to give the other girl some more room. She listened as Lucrezia described her home, curiousity painted over her features. Wing Ting blinked when she realized the girl had asked her a question. She rushed to reply, "Well, where I'm from, it's a lot cleaner, but I don't think it's warmer. The technology here has nothing on what I'm used to, though." Inspired, Wing Ting pulled a little wind-up toy from her pocket. "This is just a little something I took with me when I came here." She explained, and began to turn the key. The toy, which resembled a frog, twitched a few times, and then began to ribbit out a short jingle of a song. It was a common one in Wing Ting's world, but not one the girl had ever heard here.
Lucrezia watched the frog with a perplexed look painted on her face. She'd never seen anything quite like it, and it didn't seem to serve any purpose. A fake frog? Frogs were useless to begin with, but a fake one? That was just pushing the bounds of reason.
"What's the point?" she asked, wrinkling her nose in distaste. She'd always hated frogs.
"In Rome, we never had anything quite so..."
Lucrezia wasn't sure of the correct word; nor which one of the several her mind provided she could use without offending the miniature girl.
"In Rome we didn't really have technology. We had pulleys and stuff."
Wing Ting stared at the taller girl, rather hurt. "It's not supposed to have a point. It's supposed to be pretty and make you smile." Wing Ting peered at Lucrezia curiously, and then shrugged. The frog jumped in the air at the end of its song, and Wing Ting caught it with both hands.
She blinked as Lucrezia said that Rome didn't have technology. Everyone had technology! Even cavemen had technology. They had clubs! Clubs were technology! Whawhat? Pulleys? Oh, pulleys. Right! Pulleys was technology! "But pulleys is technology!" Wing Ting insisted, though she had no idea what pulleys were. "If there weren't pulleys and stuff, then the super cool technology like Mr. Frog would never have been invented. All that's inside him is little pulleys and stuff," Granted, Wing Ting still had no idea what pulleys were, but she truly wanted someone to like her, and this was the finding-common-ground technique.
As much as Lucrezia hated to admit it, Wing Ting was right. Well, might as well accept the mistake gracefully.
"Yes, they are, but not like that," she pointed to the frog, "Is technology."
The likes of which she had never seen. How did it work?
"Pulleys can make you smile. Especially if there's an aerial silks ribbon attached!" Lucrezia exclaimed, and that made her miss the cirque back in Rome even more. It seemed like it would be a long time before she'd be able to fly again.
"So, what do you do around here?"
The frog disappeared back into Wing Ting's pocket as she nodded and answered the other girl. "Well, they're almost the same. I mean, practically, anyway. What's an aerial silk?" She asked, bringing her knees up to her chin so she could rest her head. Sure, it sounded like 'silk that flies' but Wing Ting doubted that silk could fly by itself. "Uhm...I'm not really doing anything right now. I was sort of shuffled around from boss to boss all today, and I haven't gotten a chance to practice. I blow bubbles, but today I was scrubbing floors..." And kicking people, though Wing Ting didn't say that. She couldn't say she had kicked Hadrian, who was really nice to her except for that one time when he was actually being reasonable and then she kicked him and he hated her now.
Right.
She couldn't say that.
Scrubbing floors and blowing bubbles? Well, the two seemed kind of related...
"An Aerial Silk is a big, long peice of fabric hooked up to the roof of the performance area. It's on a pulley so it can be raised and lowered and things. Anyways, you use it for climbing and doing tricks. And flying."
Lucrezia sighed contentedly, leaning against the bedframe. She imagined herself far away, suspended high above the crowd on a length of orange silk, tumbling and spinning like some sort of wind-tossed feather.
"But, unfortunately, I think I'll be rigging tents and stuff for the next forever."
Wing Ting's eyes widened in awe. "You fly though the air? Off of the ground? Really!? That's soooooo cool! I could never do that," It all came out in a breathless rush. "Ohmigod, Lukie! You're my hero!" Her eyes riveted on the other girl for a few moments, before she gazed down. "I know what you mean about rigging stuff forever, though." She confided. "I don't want to scrub floors and get muddy forever, and I don't want to kick people, either! I want to blow my bubbles, cause that's what I like, and I'm not doing that now, and I don't like it." Wing Ting sighed, staring down at her duck-covered camisole. She bit her lip and her brow furrowed. "I think I might even go crazy if I don't get to do something fun soon."
Lucrezia smiled and got up. "Try to contain yourself. I have to live here, too," she stated with a laugh. She stretched, looked around, and sighed. "I'm going to find the washroom and get cleaned up," she announced. Supposing I can figure out how to work the plumbing.
After digging through her meager bag of posessions for a moment, she produced a lumpy, yellow bar of home made-looking soap and a large cotton shift.
"Good night, Wing Ting."
Exit stage left.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 9:18 am
::.Dear Diary~
Wing Ting rolled underneath her bed and picked up a flashlight, a pen, and her diary. She uncapped the pen and turned to a blank page, flicking the light on as she went:
Dear Diary,
Today, I met some new people. Unfortunately, Hadrian hates me and I don't know why. Except maybe because I sort of kicked him and that wasn't too cool of me. But anyway, he's really mad at me but I don't want him to be mad at me cause I like him and he's really cool. I dunno what I'm going to do, except maybe apologize or something. That would probably be good.
Wing Ting paused, and then continued.
But I don't want him to attack me or anything. Maybe I'll apologize from far away, or do it really really subtley. Or maybe buy him plushies or something? That's a good plan!
But I met someone else today too! Her name's Lukrcezia Lucrezia and she's really nice! She's not afraid of heights at all, cause she flies around on ribbons! I wonder if she ever worries that the ribbon will rip and she'll fall down and die. Or something.
The girl held the diary out in front of her, peering at it through the flashlight's dim glow.
Anyway, Diary, I have to go to sleep now, cause it's dark and stuff. Bye!
- Wing Ting
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 4:26 pm
::.RP - Lucrezia and Charlot~ Charlot was roaming the circus grounds again. This hour found him wandering around the practice area. He was eager to see what other performers were around and what sorts of acts he had to look forward too. So far he'd met an Fortune Teller, a Fire Dancer, and a Fish.
He paused beside a large gathering of practice mats, glancing around curiously for anyone who might be using them. There were people here and there, and even up IN the air- but none he could reach.
Hands tucked in his pockets, he kept walking along casually- nodding and smiling to those he passed.
Here is Wing Ting, staring at her bubble wand. Here is Wing Ting, picking up her bubble wand. Here is Wing Ting dropping her bubble wand because she's not inspired enough to blow bubbles. Here is Wing Ting sighing. The guilt was coming back. "I hate my life," She muttered. "Except I really don't, but everyone seems to say that a lot, and I wanna know why, but I really don't. Eck." Wing Ting slumped down onto the mat. "I need happy pills or something..." Her voice trailed off as she watched Charlot walking down the row of mats. "Fuzzy face," Wing Ting said without thinking, and then she shook herself out. Not far off from Wing Ting was Lucrezia, frowning at breakfast: round two. It was the same bubbly liquid as before, but now it was purple. She knew she probably had to eat, but that was just disgusting smelling. She sighed and set it down, looking up at the grid of wires and cables above the practice mats.
There seemed to be a trapeze up there...
If she could just figure out how to get to it...
The man with muttonchops seemed to look like he knew what was going on.
"Hey! Do you know how to get up there?" Charlot grinned toward Wing Ting, hearing her 'fuzzy face' comment before Lucrezia called out to him. He turned toward the voice, thankful the brim of his cap sheilded the sunlight out of his eyes. It was out in full force today.
He raised an eyebrow, glancing up to where he assumed she meant- the trapeze ropes. He followed the lines and cables, spotting a few ladders and ropes here and there dangling down. He stepped over some of the mats, walking over to her.
"Mmmm, well oi guess you'd use some of them fancy ropes 'ere-" He lifted a hand, pointing to the ones he'd spotted. "Oi'm not sure they're for gettin up there 'xactly, but it'sa start."
The ropes were a few feet off the ground. "Oi could boost y'up if you need it."
Wing Ting gave a shy smile back. He was soooooo tall. Everyone was so tall. Wing Ting was about to go up to him and start talking, regardless of height, except that Lucrezia beat her to it. And now Lukie and Fuzzy face were talking. This was certainly an interesting development. Wing Ting cocked her head to one side, a slight frown on her face. "Mmmmmmm," Wing Ting said, consideringly. Then she snatched up her bubble wand and skipped over to the man, appearing some where near his thigh and Lucrezia's elbow. Maybe if she stayed really still, they wouldn't notice her and she could eavesdrop. Lucrezia looked over at the ropes and nodded. "If you could get my to them, I can climb them up to the grid," she replied. She wondered what the ropes were made of. If they were smooth enough, she could practice some basic Silks with them. Or maybe there was a Silks cloth up on the grid but not rigged yet.
She moved to adjust the wraps on her arms and accidentally bumped... something. Looking down, she realized "something" had been Wing Ting's forehead.
"Ah! I'm sorry, Wing! You Ok?" "Sure, not'a problem." Charlot replied. He noticed when Wing Ting stepped up beside them and glanced down to her.
... she was TINY?!
"Allo there," He smiled again at Wing Ting, spotting the bubble wand with a new bout of curiousity. What the devil was that for? Was she practicing blowing bubbles?
Aaaah! The pain! The agony! Agony! Agony pain! Painful agony! Wing Ting clutched her head with one hand, and waved to Fuzzy Face with the other. "I'm...okay, kind of." She muttered. She hooked her bubble wand around her arm and let it hang there. It was almost as tall as she was, that way. Wing Ting blinked a bit, clearing the tears from her eyes. "Or, I'll be okay in a few seconds."It seemed that her plans to eavesdrop had been foiled. Lucrezia laughed and glanced down at Wing Ting. "You'll be fine," she giggled, and started to pace towards the ropes and ladders.
Yes, five feet off the ground was too high for her to even pull herself up to.
"A little help here?" she asked, pointing to the rope. Charlot reached into his pocket, taking out a handkerchief and offering it out to Wing Ting before heading over to where Lucrezia was waiting.
"Certainly," He stepped up behind her, taking his hat off and tucking it into his back pocket. "D'you want to use me as a step stool or 'ave me lift you to the ladder?"
Wing Ting accepted the handkerchief, though she didn't know what she was going to do with it, and scampered along behind Charlot to watch Lucrezia do...whatever it was she was going to do. Wing Ting assumed it was going to be pretty aerial silk tricks, but she hadn't seen any of her pretty aerial silk tricks, so Wing Ting couldn't judge. What was that? A step stool? "What if she steps on your face?" Wing Ting asked Fuzzy Face, very quietly. Granted, Lucrezia looked lithe enough - and muscular enough, certainly - to be able to control her body, but if she slipped... "I wouldn't dare," Lucrezia assured them both, sizing up the gap between the floor and the grid.
Nodding to Charlot, she informed him, "I think I'm gonna need a lift." "I dun' think she'll step on me face... even if sh'does, it'll be okay. She doesn' look that 'eavy." He turned back to Luc, stepping up behind her.
"Alright, oi'll be liftin' y'from y'waist. Don't go an' freak out on me, okay?" He waited a few moments for that to sink in before placing his hands on Lucrezia's waist and hefting her up and over his head. "If y'need t', stand on me shoulders."
She was LIGHT. He could stand there supporting her for hours compared to some of the crates he'd moved the other day.
Wing Ting visibly winced as Fuzzy Face lifted Lukie up into the air. Gosh, Lukie was so brave. Wing Ting caught herself staring up at the other girl in awe. She was so poised, not screaming at all. Wing Ting would certainly be screaming. If she was up there, she'd be punching and screaming at Fuzzy Face to let her go, but Lukie was cool and collected... "Wow," Wing Ting breathed. She was amazing! And what about that Fuzzy Face? He was super strong! Why was everyone at this Circus cooler than her? Wing Ting sighed as she watched Lucrezia. Aerial silks and uber-cool facial hair? What was a plain old short girl like Wing Ting to do!? "Thank you!" Lucrezia called down to him, pulling one of the rope ladders towards herself. Getting her hands a few rungs up, she stepped onto it and off of his shoulders.
Steadying her grip, she glanced down at Wing Ting and the man.
"Gee. I just climbed all over you and I don't know your name," she sighed, climbing higher up. The grid was much closer and more easily visable now, and she thought she could see a rather old length of Silk folded up on one of the cross platforms. Lucrezia climbed onto the bars and carefully made her way over to it.
Yes, it seemed to be in suitable condition, and all the rigging was there. She clipped the carabiners to the grid and fed the fabric through. Once it was secured, she slid back down to the practice mats on it.
"Now I can get back up. So, to who do I owe many thanks?"
"No problem-" Charlot called out to her as she climbed. He took a step back, turning to Wing Ting.
"She's pretty good a'that, eh?" He tilted his head, looking at the bubble wand. "So.. what is'it y'do?"
He heard the clicks from above, then the swish as the silk was dropped down and Lu soon followed. His eyes flicked to her, grinning a little at her question. He offered his hand out to her.
"Charlot M'Queen, and n'thanks necessary."
Wing Ting nodded exuberantly. "She's really good," She said, gazing up at Lucrezia. The girl didn't even register that Charlot had asked her a question until she saw that he was looking at her. "Hmm? Oh, my name's Wing Ting! I blow bubbles! See?" She held up her bubble wand for his examination. "They're pretty bubbles and stuff," Wing Ting said, hopping up and down. "Lucrezia Falco," she replied, smiling for a moment before returning her attentions to the aerial silk she had finally rigged. She conducted a few wraps around her hands and feet and then pulled herself up into the air, pivotting around to look down at the two of them.
"I'd love to see some of your bubbles, Wing." Charlot had to agree with Wing on that one. Lucrezia was good at the aerial thing. She climbed around so effortlessly, she made it look easy- not that he was in line to go up there anytime soon.
"Pretteh bubbles, eh? I'd like t'see em sometime... Oi've never seen bubbles that big b'fore." He smiled down at Wing Ting, then turned back to Lu as she climbed up the silks and moved to look down at them.
"Nice t'meet you, Miz Falco-" He glanced back at Wing Ting. "And y'too, Miz Ting.."
Wing Ting looked dubiously at her wand. "I dunno, sometimes it gets really spazztic. If you really want to see, I guess I maybe could..." Wing Ting paused, but she didn't need anymore persuasion. She scampered off a good distance away and clenched the hand holds, feeling the wand begin to vibrate. She smiled a bit, and watched the film form inside the wand's center. "Uhm..." She sort of waved it around a bit, and two very large pink bubbles broke off and floated into the air. Wing Ting watched them pop up on the ceiling with a feeling of pride. They were big. "Bravo!" cheered Lucrezia, who was by now hanging upside down from her legs. twin lengths of colorful ribbon secured around her thighs. "Those were awesome, Wing! Do another, please!"
she tumbled further down the ribbon, catching herself a few feet above the mats and laughing. "It feels so good to fly again!" Charlot stepped back to clap, watching as Wing Ting produced a large set of bubbles. He was impressed, since he'd never seen such a feat.
"Wow... " He grinned, noticing the flying like movements Luc took as she swung around the ribbons and swept back down toward the mat. "So.. you're the aerialist, then? And.. you're magic is bubbles-" Charlot smirked, thinking they had quite the talent and show for themselves. "Not bad."
Wing Ting blushed as Lucrezia cheered, looking at her feet shyly. "You're so much awesomer than my bubbles, Lukie," She said, her voice filled with admiration. It was hard not to be admiring of a girl who could lie suspended in air by only two itty bitty bits of ribbon. Wing Ting shuddered at the thoughts. "Well, I'm not really magical or anything, it's just science and stuff, not really impressive," Wing Ting insisted whenn Charlot had complimented her. "Mr. Charlot, what do you do?" She asked, as the thought struck her. She was curious to know, partly, and partly because she wanted to take attention away from her bubbles. She did blow another one, though. A blue one. It was sort of lima-bean shaped. "Yep," replied Lucrezia, smiling at Charlot. She was begining to spin slowly in the air, still suspended by her legs. She then watched another one of Wing Ting's bubbles foat up towards the ceiling.
"When you come from a place without science," she intoned, following the bubble's path with her eyes, "Everything is extraordinary. Stop downplaying yourself, Wing. Amazing is in the eye of the beholder." Charlot nodded at Lu, agreeing with her completely. "T's true, amazing is in th'eye of the beholder. Oi, for one, c'never blow bubbles like that." He shrugged a little, flashing Wing a smile.
"What do oi do? Well, right now oi play with whips. Gradually oi hope to throw knives and the lot, popping balloons and all that." He blinked, tilting his head. "We should practice sometime Wing Ting- you blow the bubbles and oi try t'pop em."
He noticed Lu spinning above them and looked up. "Oy, you ev'r get dizzy up there?"
Wing Ting blushed and mumbled something incoheret, idily blowing another bubble. Any other time, she would have let Lucrezia and Charlot use her bubble wand. They could see how easy it was, then. But she couldn't do that now, because if they broke it, Wing Ting would be out of a talent, and that wouldn't be a good thing. Wait, what was that? Practice together? Wing Ting nodded. "That would be soooo cool," She agreed seriously. "I need to practice, anyway." Wing Ting glanced up at Lucrezia and swallowed, forcing down bile. She wasn't up there. She was fine. She just needed to breathe."Dizzy?" Lucrezia repeated, trying to remember such a time. Yes, back when she had been very small she used to feel sick. But not in a long time.
"Not recently," she replied, ungracefully dropping to the floor and waving at Wing Ting and Charlot. "No need to let me keep you two from practicing your acts! Don't mind me! Go on!" "Er, oi meant later... not right now." Charlot waved his hands, shaking his head. He wasn't THAT good with the knives to trust himself throwing them toward the little girl.
"Oi still 'ave a ways t'go practicin with the blades before oi trust meself to work with others... " He smiled, shrugging a little. "Pe'haps in a couple weeks, hmm?"
Wing Ting looked up at the man, all her eagerness popping like one of her delicate bubbles. "Oh. Alright. That's okay. I guess." Then she bit her lip. "But maybe, I could blow bubbles and you could pretend to throw knives at them? Or even imagine that you were doing it! That's pratically the same thing, isn't it, Lukie?" She turned to the older girl for support, though she was dizzying at her antics. Lucrezia paused for a moment to look at Wing Ting.. upside down. Her face was blank for a moment until she realized what the question was.
"No, it isn't really," she replied with as much of a shrug as she could manage.
She thought silently for a moment, feeling blood rush to her head.
"What if you let them float far enough away from you that he couldn't possibly hit you? Like, some special long-lasting bubbles or something?" "Oi'm all f'giving it a try," Charlot replied- not wanting to see Wing Ting dissapointed. He shrugged a little, reaching at his belt to make sure he'd brought at least one of his whips with him. He smiled, finding that he'd remembered them after all.
"Oi got a better idea-" He stepped back, unhooking the whip and letting it uncoil with a light flick of his wrist. "We c'n practice this way- you blow th'bubbles.. and oi'll snap em." He gestured for Wing Ting to start at her leisure, taking a moment to look up at Lu to see if she was still hanging there like a bat.
Wing Ting nodded enthusiastically, and took on the 'ready' position, with her hands at the three o'clock and nine o'clock hand holds. She braced herself firmly, holding the wand at arm's length. She took a deep breath to steady herself: she was strangely nervous. This was alright. It was just bubbles. Wing Ting had blown bubbles hundreds of times. Just because they were going to be popped by a whip after they were blown didn't change the concept at all. She brought the wand up to her shoulder and began to swing -- "Wait." She said as a though occurred to her. "How big?"Lucrezia looked over at Charlot and Wing Ting, who were a little uncomfortably close, and climbed back up to the grid for a safe view.
"I'm no expert," she called, "But I'd say start big and get smaller."
It seemed logical enough. Charlot took a few steps back, just to be on the safe side. He glanced at Wing Ting, offering her a smile.
"Go ahead an make th'biggest y'can- then, like Lu said.. make em smaller as we go." He gestured for her to start when she was ready, noting that Lu had moved a little higher out of thier way.
Wing Ting nodded, "Alright," She said, idly waving her her wand around over her head. Then she brought it down quickly and watched as three large bubbles were produced. She quickly scurried out of the way to watch: she didn't want to get hurt on accident. From her vantage point sitting on the grid, Lucrezia watched the bubbles climb into the air towards Charlot. She peered down anxiously, eager to see how well he hit them. Once Wing Ting had scurried away, Charlot took a step forward toward the bubbles. His fingers slid down the whip handle, gripping it tighter as his eyes scanned the bubbles for the best way to hit them all. It was more like a desired pattern, since it would take three successive snaps.
He smiled idly as he found it. Charlot took a quick glance around, making sure no one was close enough to get clipped before his wrist snapped out. The whip snapped upwards, letting out a loud SNAP! as the first of the bubbles popped. Quickly after, Charlot brought the whip downwards, snapping the bubble beneath it. Finally, bringing the whip to the left, he snapped the final one- all in all making it look like a triangle pattern of bubble pops.
He glanced back at Wing Ting, eyebrow raised a little as he smiled. "Tiny ones'll be pretty easy f'us."
Wing Ting watched, wide-eyed, as Charlot popped all three of her bubbles with that...uber cool bubble popping rope thing. "Wow..." She murmured breathlessly, her eyes shining. "OHMIGOSH THAT WAS SO COOL DO IT AGAIN RIGHT NOW." Wing Ting rapidly brought the wand over her head and waved it up and down in a quick chopping pattern, dancing on the spot. A flurry of blue-green bubbles blew out, quickly rising up into the air. Lucrezia cheered and watched the second set of bubbles rise into the air. "Oui! Another demonstration is in order!" Wing Ting's enthusiasm was enough to encourage him on. Charlot laughed, stepped aside again to avoid the little girl who was waving the bubble wand madly in the air. Once the bubbles settled into the air, he worked out a pattern in his mind and began popping them with the whip. He missed a few, but it always seemed to be 'part of the plan'.
Charlot managed to get the majority, leaving the rest to float up into the air and pop on their own. He recoiled the whip, holding it out so Wing Ting could see it. She seemed a little to crazy to hold it herself, since he wasn't sure if she would want to use it- they were still dangerous.
"It's me whip. Just a'bit of leather wrapped around, some 'ave metal tips." He pointed to the end, which was just some frayed leather. "This one doesn't."
He glanced up at Lucrezia. "So, now it's your turn- show me somethin' you c'n do up there."
Wing Ting blushed as Charlot showed her his whip, wondering vaguely if he would let her play with it a bit - and then he mentioned Lukie! "Yes, please, Lukie! Show me some cool tricks, please, please?" She begged eagerly, jumping up and down on the spot in some sort of bizarre dance. Lucrezia smiled and sat down on the catwalk to fashion a harness of sorts with the ribbon. After testing to see that it was secure, she dropped down off the platform and set up for a drop, gathering some fabric into a loop around her legs. Loosing her handhold, she plummeted some five feet and caught herself before spreading the silks behind her to look like some sort of odd wing.
Her muscles protested. It was a good ache.
"How's that?" she asked them.Charlot smirked, turning his eyes from Wing Ting and up to Lu's performance. He stepped back a bit, hands sticking into his pockets. Heights didn't bother him too much, but on the extreme it made him a little nervous. He'd fallen from high places before, but nothing too bad had happened. He was pretty sure Lu could take care of herself up there- not to mention the mats that were below to cushion the fall if she did manage to get loose of her safety equipment. As she finished up her little demo, he lifted his hands to clap. It was impressive, and he was still curious about what her complete show would be like. "Not bad, Lu- Oi can't wait t'see what you've got planned f'your performance." Wing Ting giggled nervously as Lukie rigged up her ribbons - and then dropped. Wing Ting's stomach dropped with her. She forced herself to swallow, and then applaud. "That's so pretty, Lukie!" She exclaimed, gripping her bubble wand firmly. "What else d'you do up there? Flips?" Wing Ting didn't know if she could watch flips. Lucrezia dropped the rest of the way to the ground and stretched. "I'll show vous some other time," she promised. "And flips? More often that's the trapeze. Some other time. I promise."
She smiled and started to leave, but turned back to wave. "Nice meeting you, Charlot! Good luck on your acts!" Charlot's eyebrows rose as she dropped down, spry little thing. He nodded to her comments, waving back as she began to leave.
"Likewise-" He glanced toward Wing Ting with a smile. "Oi guess 'll see y'round. Oi got a bit of practice t'do meself." He tipped his hat to her, and began to head back across the grounds to where he usually haunted.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 4:27 pm
::.RP - Ankita and Sarava~
It was amazing, Wing Ting thought, how much a night of sleep could amplify guilt by a million billion times. Granted, while she was talking with Lucrezia, Wing Ting was able to forget her little social embarassment the other day, involving a certain tall albino man and some mud, but once she had fallen a sleep and woken up the next morning, Wing Ting was even more depressed than she had been laying in the mud with her dress ruined. Wing Ting didn't eat breakfast that morning, she was so depressed. Wing Ting didn't even smile that morning, she was so depressed.
Thus, the normal bubbly young girl was sitting off in the (dry) grass behind the Circus tents, sulking, an abysmal look on her face. "Life's a poopie," She muttered, plucking grass out of the ground with one hand and tossing it into the air.
Ankita was out that day on a walk with Sarava, who was off a short distance in front of her, weaving in and out of a straight line, smelling things here and there to see if they were good for eating, until stumbling upon the little girl sitting in the grash. She slowly crouched down into the grass, stalking her quietly, making her way around here, until finally popping out, and staring at her, trying to figure out who exactly she was.
AAAAAAAAH! MONKEY! A MONKEY POPPED OUT OF THE GRASS!
...Lemur?
Lemur monkey?
Monkey lemur?
Who cares! It was big! It was scary! It smelled bad! Wing Ting wheeled her arms in the air, shrieking at the top of her lungs. "OH MY GOD IT'S A SCARY LEMUR MONKEY THING OH MY GOD AAAAAAAH!"
Hey.
It was kinda cute.
Wing Ting blinked. "Hey, you're cute."
Sarava looked to her Familiar then back at the little girl. What the...
Ankita quickly started calling Sarava over. Why did it seem as though everyone they came across, Sarava had to harass. The critter quickly scampered over and leaped into her arms, looking back at the small child.
"Sorry." Ankita said quickly. "And... she's not a monkey...or a lemur.."
She wondered when exactly anyone would get it quite right before Sarava would end up going on a blood thirsty rampage, stamping the word "Aye-Aye" on each victim's forehead.
Wing Ting blinked. "What's she, then? A...large squirrel?" The girl looked curiously at Ankita, who was also, Wing Ting was dismayed to see, very tall. Wing Ting had never seen anything like Sarava before, and was genuinely curious to find out what she was, though seeing this tall, dark, and rather lovely, apparition of a woman was quite intimidating. Wing Ting found that though her tongue pressed up against the roof of her mouth, she didn't make any move to ask more questions about the nature of this woman's pet.
Ankita shook her head.
"No.. she's an Aye-aye" she could tell by the voice that this was likely a younger person she was speaking to, and softened her tone a bit. "Do you want to pet her?" She said leaning forward a little and holding out Sarava infront of her.
Sarava wasn't too sure how she felt about this. Little fingers. She fixated on the small hands and twitched a little. Little fingers meant big tugs, or at least that's what history had proven itself to mean.
Wing Ting's eyes widened as the woman offered the opportunity to pet the...Aye-Aye? Wing Ting hesitantly raised a small hand (a very small and venerable hand that could easily be crushed by giant squirrel - Aye-Aye - teeth) and stroked the creature between the ears. "She's so soft," Wing Ting whispered, in awe. There weren't fluffy creatures like this where she was from. The only reason she knew about squirrels and such was from children's books. The girl stroked Sarava for a few more moments, and then withdrew her hands. "She's very soft, what's her name?" Wing Ting asked. And then she blinked. "What's your name?"
Sarava was on edge. Of all the young people she had met in her life, all of them seemed to have a facination with tugging on her ears or tail, something that she'd only really accept from Ankita. But after shutting her eyes tight and being delighed with the gentle touch, she finally relaxed.
Ankita smiled and laughed a little. "Yeah, she's very soft." Her fingers rubbing her between her ears. "Her name's Sarava, and I'm Ankita, what's your name?"
Wing Ting locked her hands behind her back, shifting her weight from foot to foot. "My name is Wing Ting. D'you work in the Circus? She asked Ankita, though she was watching Sarava with fascination. "Cause, I'm kind of working in the Circus, too, but not really, not yet, I'm just scrubbing floors and cleaning pens and stuff." She said. Wing Ting started scuffing her shoes again.
Ankita nodded in empathy. "Been there." She gave a friendly smile.
"I work here, I do fortune telling. And my little baby helps me." She began rubbing her face against the back of Sarava, causing her to coo and almost pur. "What do you want to do, eventually?"
Wing Ting gazed up at the tall woman. "You read fortunes? D'you do that with magic or something?" She asked curiously, bouncing on the balls of his feet. She watched Sarava purr with a stab of envy. Sarava hadn't purred at her! "Uhm. I want to blow bubbles. But they're really cool bubbles, and they're different colors and shapes and stuff, so they're not boring bubbles." Wing Ting explained. Fortune telling sounded so much more interesting than blowing bubbles.
"Well,..." Ankita didn't really like sharing the fact that she had periodic preminitions, and usually wanted to keep it hush hush. But she shrugged, figuring it was a young child she was speaking to, who'd be more amazed at the idea than freaked out.
"If you keep it between just the two of us..." Her voice came to a whisper, "Some of my fortunes do use a little bit of magic. But it's only when I do certain things, everything else just comes to me."
Sarava became lank in Ankita's arms, eyeing the little figure every now and then between the coos that escaped from Ankita's perfect petting.
"Blowing bubbles sounds very fun. I've never really been one to be good at it." Even when she did have vision, she never really got the real grasp of blowing good bubbles, it was either too much blowing or not enogh. And now that she'd lost it, she didn't really care for trying.
Wing Ting's eyes widened. Magic! Ha! She was right! That meant that Ankita was obviously some kind of super-cool magical person sorceress thing. "Oooh." Wing Ting whispered, all eagerness and awe. "That sounds so cool,"
"Well, bubbles are fun, but they're hard to do, and it takes so much practice to get it just right." Wing Ting confided. "And plus, my bubble wand isn't something that's exactly common here, cause I'm not from here, you know? So, I dunno what I'm going to do if it breaks or something. It's in a safe place now," She assured the woman.
Ankita nodded. "It's got it's coolness, I suppose."
She could only imagine what kind of wand it was that was so special that it couldn't be found elsewhere, or repaired. A few images of some fairly obnoxious looking objects came to mind, but she shrugged them off. She then began to realize that this was a youngling out on her own and raised an eyebrow.
"Shouldn't you have someone watching you..?" She hoped Wing Ting hadn't run away from her parents, since the responsibility of finding them would be a bit hard to take on.
Wing Ting blinked at Ankita, wondering why on earth she would need some one to be watching her. "Well, I just got out of the trailer a few minutes ago, and Lucrezia was in there, but why should I have someone watching me?" She asked curiously. "I'm not a baby or anything," She added, in case Ankita didn't understand that. She wasn't a baby! She was sixteen! She was just a bit shorter than most people who were sixteen. That's all. Really!
Ankita raised an eyebrow. She sounded like a child, and the general area of which she felt her petting Sarava gave indication to her being a child. So she assumed she was one of those children who was really fixated with acting like an adult.
"Well hon, a sweety like you shouldn't be walking around all alone, just in case something happens."
She could only imagine the things that could happen to a small kid wandering around alone here.
Wing Ting saw the eyebrow, heard the patronizing tone, and felt that she should probably explain. "I'm sixteen," She said, trying to make it sound matter-of-fact, except it sort of sounded whiny. "Really, I am. But I'm short and stuff, see?" Wing Ting hopped up and down for good measure, indicating that she really was very, very small. "And don't worry, if anything attacks me or anything I'll just scream a lot and they'll run away or something. I've got it all planned out!"
Ankita was confused.
Small person, small fingers, small hands, little voice. Sixteen year old? Something didn't quite add up. Of course the jumping around that she heard wans't helping much in constructing the image of a child.
"Sixteen?" Ankita shook her heads. "Are you sure you don't mean six?" Sarava had to agree, there was no way this kid could be over 10.
Wing Ting sighed. "No, sixteen. People where I come from are naturally this tall, cause there's not enough food, and you can be super tall without food. So people are short," Wing Ting cocked her head to one side, before a horrifying thought over took her. "You don't think...other people think I'm this short because I'm a little kid, do you?" Oh God, that would be awful.
Ankita couldn't quite grasp onto the idea but decided to let her have her moment.
"Well... to be honest, I'd imagine so..."
She had to think for a good while. It sounded logical. But it just didn't seem to click very well with her.
Wing Ting blinked up at the older woman, and then decided to explain further. "Cause, your body's made up of little building blocks, right, called cells, and they eat food to get bigger and then duplicate so you can grow big and strong, but if you don't eat, they can't grow big and duplicate, so you can't grow." Wing Ting shifted her weight around nervously. "But there's a lot of really tall people here, I guess cause there's more food or something," Wing Ting said, smiling up at Ankita. She was really tall.
Ankita was slightly offended. She wasn't done, and really wasn't particularly fond of a child treating her as such.
"Hon, I.. know how people grow. Just because I can't particularly see, doesn't really mean that I can't understand that." Her voice was slightly monotone.
Wing Ting blinked.
She couldn't see?
Wait, what?
OH MY GOD SHE WAS BLIND!?
"Uh...oh...ddddddkkkkkk." Wing Ting said, staring up at Ankita with a look of complete and utter horror on her face. True, she was being completely nonsensical, but she hoped that something along the lines of, "I apologize for my extreme affront, and I hope you will forgive me." "I didn't...know...uh...blegh. Sorry?" She finally managed to squeak out.
This didn't help her case at all for being a sixteen-year-old, it really didn't.
Ankita relaxed quickly, and felt the strong need to roll her eyes. She wondered if she should just create a sign that stated 'Blind =/= Stupidity' and plaster it onto her forehead so that people would firstly, know she was blind, and secondly, not create some idea that she was stupid due to it.
"It's fine.." She said quietly under a sigh.
Sarava at this point was wondering why Ankita hadn't exactly laid down a nice cup of whoop a** on the kid yet, and figured that how much she acts up must have caused Ankita to be so patient with others.
Wing Ting shook her head. "No no, it's not okay, I'm really really really sorry. I guess I wasn't thinking. Don't be mad," She said. It came out in a big rush like her lungs were deflating. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, I just thought that you...or...well, I don't know what I was thinking, probably not a lot." She could have smacked herself between the eyes. What an idiot. Idiot. IDIOT.
It was just as bad that, well, she kept insulting people, but she had no idea of what she was doing before she actually got people staring at her with hurt expressions or angry expressions or shaking her around or punching trees! Wing Ting shook her head dismally.
Ankita started to feel bad. She really hated making people feel bad, especially people she didn't really know, disregarding whether or not they should feel as such.
She put out her hand to pat her on her head and smiled softly.
"Really, it's okay. You didn't know."
Wing Ting felt awful. Awful with a capital 'aw.' She was tired, too, suddenly, and she didn't feel like speaking much anymore. "Mm, kay." She muttered between sniffs: her nose was running. "So, you're not going to be mad at me and hate me, are you?" She asked, her hands locked behind her back. She was shifting her weight back and forth again, the picture of insecure childhood.
Ankita laughed, ruffling up Wing Ting's hair, then pinching her cheek. Yes, she had heard she was 16, but that wouldn't erase the image of a child that existed in her mind.
"No, of course not."
Wing Ting gave her a watery smile. "That's good, I was worried. Maybe I should go...do something now. If I'm bothering you, I mean. I guess, maybe." Wing Ting said quietly. "Not even, because I'm bothering you, but I kind of want to be alone now. Which is weird, for me." Suddenly, a thought occurred to Wing Ting. "Ankita, how should I apologize for kicking someone?" Wing TIng asked, blushing furiously. "I mean, should I do it at a distance, or bring presents?" She really had no idea, but surely Ankita would know.
Ankita raised an eyebrow.
"Kicking someone..?" She thought for a moment and instantly her mind went to Hadrian. She wondered if it was possible that this was the one who kicked him, but quickly shook it off. Too much of a coincidence.
"Well, I think bringing a present would be a good idea. Maybe something you made yourself to really show you mean it. Doing it from a distance makes it less intimate..."
Yeah, go the kick a** route, it worked for me. Sarava laid with a pleased expression in Ankita's arms. Ha, piss on someone and you get a fruit. How wonderful.
Wing Ting smiled. "Thanks, Ankita!" She cried, impulsively throwing her arms around the woman's knees. Then Wing Ting turned on a dime and scampered down the hill, stopping once when she remembered that she should probably excuse herself. "Bye! Thank you! G'bye! Oh! Bye Sarava!" And then Wing Ting dashed towards the Circus, looking back once or twice to wave furiously and jump up and down.
Ankita stood there for a moment, frozen.
"What just happened?" She raised her eyebrow and turned her head to Sarava.
Honestly... I don't really know.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 4:29 pm
::.RP - Hadrian and the Plushies~
Wing Ting was trying very, very hard not to breathe, because she was being sneaky. She knew for a fact that the minute you started to breathe when you were being sneaky, they caught you. It was one of those facts of life. Wing Ting didn't know if those facts of life and not breathing while sneaking actually applied to walking through a dark circus ground at night time, carrying five plushies, but that wasn't the point. The point was that she was sneaking, and she was sneaking very sneakily indeed. Or at least she was trying to.
She was sneaking after Hadrian.
Wing Ting had been secretly stalking the older man since the Kicking Incident, and she now knew, thankfully, his hiding place, so she didn't have to sneak into his trailer (eep!) or anything to apologize. Wing Ting tucked the plushies into her pocket and ducked underneath this particular trailer here, which didn't smell bad at all, no sirree bob, and waited. And waited.
Her dress was getting muddy again.
Contrary to popular belief, Hadrian had no singular hiding place. He sometimes went here, sometimes there, but almost never to the same place in the same day.
This just so happened to be Wing Ting's lucky day. Hadrian wandered slowly, approaching the trailer.
He had the feeling that someone was there...
...oh, well, Hell. It was a trailer.
Wing Ting stiffened when she heard someone approach. Was it Hadrian? Probably, since it was his hiding spot. Wing Ting stiffened even more as he got closer, each footstep resonating doom in her heart. She swallowed hard and began to loose one of the plushies from her pocket, taking care not to make any noise. She would wait for him to sit down. Yes, that was a good plan. No doubt he'd just be staring off into the distance, and she could be very sneaky in leaving it next to him.
Yes, that was the plan.
Hadrian did, in fact, sit...or more so fell gracefully...upon the ground. He heaved a sigh and crossed one knee over the other, burying his head in his hands.
It had been a loooong day.
Wing Ting held her breath. She scooted up towards him until she was in grabbing distance, a plushie in her hand. Then, quick as a flash, she shot her hand out and placed it next to him, and then scooted like mad back into the relative safety of the darkness beneath the trailer. She scooted sideways now, loosing another plushie from her pocket, and watching Hadrian, her heart hammering in her chest like a drum.
Hadrian had seen something out of the corner of his eye. He hadn't the slightest idea as to what it was, but it had moved, and that was enough to instill the fear of God in him. His eyes slowly traveled to the ground, trembling slightly...
...and he picked the plushie up.
"...what the...?"
He looked to either side, as if expecting to see more.
Wing Ting had to suppress a giggle. She was sure that he probably heard it, which made her feel a curious mixture of terror and delight. She scooted up close to him again and paused. And then Wing Ting's hand shot out again, leaving a plushie behind. And she once again scooted back into the darkness, loosing another plushie from her dress pocket and biting her lip to keep from giggling.
Oh, Hell...
Hadrian had heard the giggle, and picked up this new plushie to examine carefully. He then dropped to his stomach and peered beneath the trailer.
"It's not like I don't know you're there," he said, squinting against the blackness. Being legally blind was no treat.
Being legally blind in pitch blackness was even worse.
Wing Ting bit her lip even harder to keep from cracking up. She untangled the next plushie from her pocket and held it out into the light, waving it back and forth as though it were a puppet perfoming some demented dance. "Nobody's here but us plushies, Mr. Hadrian!" She said, nearly choking for giggles. Then she put the plushie down, planning to disappear back into the darkness for a bit longer, just in case Hadrian was still mad.
Hadrian pulled back at the waving shape before picking it up, studying it, and tossing it out from beneath the trailer.
"Wiiiing Tiiiiing~" he called, "I can't see you, but I know you're heeeere~" He began to army-crawl beneath the vehicle. He wasn't so much angry as completely and utterly confused.
Wing Ting screamed.
It wasn't because Hadrian was creeping in under the trailer, but because there was a spider.
RIGHT ON HER HEAD.
"AAAAAAH SPIDER SPIDER SPIDER SPIDER SPIDER GET IT OFF ME GET IT OFF ME!" She shrieked, flailing her arms around a bit. Wing Ting felt her hand smack something and quieted, horrified that she had hit Hadrian, again, and scuttled back even further away. SHe laughed nervously. "Haha, I dunno what you're talking about, no sirree bob, there's definately no Wing Ting here. Just plushies, yup. Lotsa talking plushies, that's definately all that there is."
Hadrian jumped slightly at Wing Ting's shriek, hitting his head against the bottom of the trailer. He felt a small hand whack him, but took no offense.
"C'mon," he said, holding a hand out to the flurry of movement, "You're gonna keep goin' and come out the other side. You and your plushie buddies."
"...and your spider."
Wing Ting blinked, trembling quite a bit. "You're not going to yell at me, are you?" She asked him warily, feeling a hand brush her cheek. She shied away from it slightly. "Cause, if you're gonna yell at me, I'm not going to go out." She said stubbornly, taking out another plushie and stuffing it towards what she thought was Hadrian's hand. It was certainly dark in there.
Hadrian grasped the plushie.
"No, I'm not going to yell at you. Come on out," he said and tapped what he believed to be Wing Ting's head lightly before wriggling out backward to collect the plushies he'd been...ah...presented.
Wing Ting winced as he rapped her between the eyes and shook herself out (ew spider) before following Hadrian out from under the trailer. She rolled out and onto the grass, sitting down pretzel-style. She frowned for a second, and then pulled out another plushie from her pocket. "One more," She said quietly, looking up at him. Even at this distance, he was uber tall.
Hadrian leaned forward and rested his head in his hands, effectively bending in half as he took the plushie.
"What are these...for?"
Wing Ting looked up at Hadrian curiously. Didn't he remember? She bit her lip and frowned. "You were mad at me. So I was going to apologize. I sold a bunch of my stuff at a...pawn?...shop and then I bought lotsa tickets at that place where you throw rings at those milk jugs. And I won five times. See?" She gestured to the plushies. Wing Ting shifted on the ground slightly. "Do you like them?" She asked quietly. If he didn't like them, she'd have to go out and get some more plushies. And she'd keep buying plushies until she found something that he liked.
Something inside Hadrian short-circuited. He wasn't sure what it was, or why it suddenly seized, but it did. His lips quirked up into a smile as he looked down at the plushies.
Sold her stuff? To play a game? To win plushies for a guy she'd met once and kicked?
It took him quite a while to force the next sentence to form.
"I love them."
Wing Ting's stomach sort of dropped out of her body and flopped on the ground for a bit. She didn't know if it was because she was uber relieved, or uber uber anxious. And then her stomach jumped back into her body and flew up her throat, weighed down by nothing, but propelled by happy, happy air. He said he loved them! He loved them! That was a very, very good thing. Wing Ting felt her stomach deflate. "YAY! I'm so happy!" Wing Ting jumped up to hug the man, but she caught herself in mid-jump and froze. "Eck, sorry forgot. No touching." And she scuttled a bit further away, her hands held high above her head in a comical surrender.
Hadrian laughed and scratched the back of his neck. The gentlemanly bit of him told him to hug the girl...but that was a rather small part.
"Thanks," he smiled to her and gathered the plushies, shoving them into various bits of clothing such as pockets and shirt neck. He could only imagine how ridiculous he looked, but he didn't quite care.
"That's good," Wing Ting said, and then lowered her voice to a whisper. "I didn't want to buy more plushies." She glanced at him and squirmed.
...and squirmed again.
Oh, the awkward silence.
"Well, I should probably be going," Hadrian spoke finally, "I'm vaguely hungry. You can come with me, if you'd like."
He generally didn't invite people with him for meals unless it was owed...and this...may or may not have been owed. He wasn't quite sure.
Wing Ting blinked up at him, thinking idly for a moment that he resembled some kind of very confused kangaroo, before plopping back down onto the ground and staring up at Hadrian with hopeful eyes. "So...you're not mad at me anymore, are you?" She asked quietly, pulling on a strand of her hair. "Are we friends again?" Wing Ting swallowed and fidgeted a bit on the ground. Nervous, nervous, nervous.
Again? Had they ever been friends?
Ah, well. Hadrian was never one to hold a grudge.
"Sure," he nodded, "Yeah. We can be friends now."
Wing Ting squirmed some more, watching her toes wriggle in her shoes. She was blushing faintly.
"Um. I don't think so, I'm not hungry," She said, still watching her toes wriggle. "But I'll talk to you later, right?" There was a hint of desperation in the last question. It was as if, for whatever reason, Wing Ting's very existence relied on Hadrian replying with a 'yes.'
What a weird kid.
"Alright," Hadrian nodded and stood, brushing himself off, "Hm?"
Ah, how much he wanted to just avoid the hyperactive little freak for the rest of his days...but that didn't seem all that likely now, did it?
"Yeah. Sure," he nodded, "Probably." He gave a half-wave and began off then, not turning back.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 12:00 pm
::.Hadrian and the Fireball~
All throughout history, mermaids have been seen as beautiful women of the sea with naked chests and whatnot. Mermen didn't have it so easy. They had to be buff and trim.
And that was hard when there was no weight room.
Hadrian was simply on the ground beneath his "fancy tree", doing crunches and counting off in his head. Christ, his abdomen hurt.
Wing Ting was practicing in the field behind the circus, blowing bubbles that were supposed to make sparkles when the popped. So far, she hadn't had much success. Most of her bubbles gave a sort of feeble, dying shudder before disappearing into oblivion. This was not making sparkles. She blew another bubble, sort of jiggling her wand back and forth a bit to see if that had any effect. She watched, holding her breath, as the bubble circled above her head -
And exploded.
Wing Ting yelped.
The ball of red-gold sparklies jumped out of the air and whizzed down the field, heading towards a rather fancy looking tree in the distance.
Wing Ting hoped no one was there to be accidentally singed by it.
Hadrian simply watched the bubble whizz by, grunting in frustration and exertion. He shook his head, and then rolled over to his stomach, beginning to do push-ups.
Ah, that Wing Ting...if she didn't kill someone one of these days, he'd be very surp--
"Wingy, dearest?!" he called off in the general direction the bubble had come from, "Could you come here for a second?!"
"Can't now, busy chasing fireball!" Wing Ting cried, dashing down past the tree after the sparkle-ball of death and doom. "Wait a second, ple -- AAAAAH!" She tripped...and fell flat on her face, watching as the sparkle ball grew brighter for a moment, and then zip up into the sky without so much as a good-bye.
Wing Ting blinked, breathed slowly, and scooted around on the ground to face Hadrian. She frowned. "What're you doing?" She asked, immitating this...bizarre tribal dance of his. Push up on the ground? Pushy-push? Pushy-push-push?
"Exercising," Hadrian said simply, continuing his push-ups, "Would you help me with something?"
Wing Ting wobbled and collapsed on the ground, eyeing the sky warily. "I hope it doesn't crash into a plane or something. Maybe I should have brought an umbrell..."
Wait, did he ask her something?
Wing Ting perked up significantly, suddenly shooting up into a standing position (if Hadrian was pushy-up, he could look her in the eyes) with one fist punched in the air enthusiastically. "Of course Hadrian! What's it? What do I do?" She asked, nearly dancing on the spot.
Hadrian was growing accostumed to ignoring Wing Ting's random tirades.
"Could you sit on my back?" he asked, as if this were a completely normal thing to ask, "Or lay on it...something. I need a few extra pounds to push..."
Wing Ting blinked. "...what?" She asked blankly. A few extra pounds? Wing Ting wasn't a few extra pounds! She was eighty-five extra pounds of Wing Ting! "Are you sure, Hadrian?" She asked, him, standing up and gingerly walking over. "I mean, I'm not...really...err." She finished lamely, waiting for him to lie a bit lower so she could hop on his back. Sure, she wasn't sure whether or not this was a good idea, but it was his back, not hers.
Hadrian lowered himself to the ground (or nearly), and twitched his head to the side.
"I'm sure. I've done it with bigger people than you."
Wing Ting clambored onto his back and sat pretzel-style, squirming a bit to get comfortable. "If you're sure, then I can," She replied, wondering idly for a moment if she should lie down. But then she got distracted by a speck of floating dust, and forgot all about lying down.
She probably should have layed down.
"Hold on," Hadrian instructed, knowing well of Wing Ting's fear of heights, "Tight."
And so he began his push-ups again.
Wing Ting sort of flailed around once he got up in the air.
Because.
HE WAS IN THE AIR.
"Okay, holding on," She squeaked, throwing her arms around his neck and burying her face in his hair, squeezing and squeezing and squeezing to make sure she didn't fall off. If she kept her eyes shut and concentrated on holding on, Wing Ting almost didn't notice that they were rising off the ground.
Almost.
Hadrian had thought ahead. He had taken a rather deep breath before beginning, and now here he was, holding his breath to avoid being strangled. On a pass down he gave Wing Ting a comforting pat on the arm.
He wouldn't drop her, after all. Not for the twenty minutes or so he could keep this up.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 12:14 pm
::.Dear Diary~
Dear Diary,
HE DOESN'T HATE ME ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!
I also met Ankita, she has an aye-aye monkey thing named Sarava. She's really cute! Snuggle! Love!
I guess the plushies worked.
YAY! YAY! YAY!
I also also met Fuzzy Face. His real name is Charlot, though. We practiced together!
I'll write more later,
Wing Ting
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 12:19 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 4:48 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 4:53 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
