Welcome to Gaia! ::

Summer
Random journal entry

Man, when was the last time I opened this? Anala had a growth spurt, or something like it about a month ago; we finally finished the clothes shopping and stuff for it yesterday. Lame, I know. She's--a lot more tomboyish than I would have thought, but then again, hey, it kinda makes sense. I think. Dragged us around the boys' section just as much as the girls'. At least Andrae'll stop running out of clothes now.

Speaking of Andrae, he's a surprisingly good teacher. I think he's been trying to show Anala how to read and write--I checked with Marius, and he wasn't aware that Anala couldn't exactly read and write either. Which I guess should have been something obvious, but she just grew up like that, and I think we just kinda assumed that--anyway. I feel stupid.

Dad came home for the weekend. It was nice, except for the part where Anala tried to sneak attack him--I think she was trying to hug him. Like...running tackle hug, anime-style. He fell over. At least there wasn't much of a bruise after.

Oddity
Writing exercise. Possible OOC, possibly incoherent.

Anala sits idly in the kitchen, radio running along in the background. Alek is off to work and Marius is off to summer school and Andrae is just off, sleeping sprawled on the floor with a book on someplace else open over his face. The windows are open to let the breeze in, but even so it’s a little stuffy in the apartment. She can hear cars pass by and the rustle of wind in the trees--she has a vague thought or two about the sounds of the sea, but quickly dismisses it. She’s never been to the sea. How would she know what it sounds like?

She’s bored. Anala hates being bored, and for a moment or two she thinks about waking Andrae up--yanking the book off his head and poking him in the stomach and calling him Rae-Rae-Face and challenging him to a round of King of Fighters or three. Andrae would complain, but it’d be fun. But then again, that would involve getting up, and she--

She needs to move.

It’s a weird impulse and it puzzles her, but she gets up anyway, going out into the open area in the center of the apartment complex. For a moment she stands uncertain and uncomfortable in the bright summer sun, thoughts tumbling around in her head. What is she here for? Couldn’t she just play inside? There was a song on the radio that--something catches hold of her then, warm and insistent, and she acts without thinking. She twirls experimentally, once, twice, thrice. She gets onto the tips of her toes, lifts her arms above her head, moving along to a faint whisper of your memory--do this, do that, step this way and turn. She stumbles once or twice--her toes are not going to thank her for this, later--and her cheeks are burning from more than just the heat, but the longer she moves, the more confident she feels, the more familiar it seems, natural and she can’t help but want to do more, and more, and more--

"What are you doing?"

Andrae’s voice, both fascinated and horrified, cuts her concentration like a knife. Surprised, Anala overbalances and falls, landing with a thump. Andrae is by her side in a heartbeat, looking more concerned than Anala ever thought her lazy brother could be and saying something about her feet bleeding, why on Gaia are her feet bleeding?

Which confuses Anala to the extreme, really, because you’d think she’d have noticed if her feet were...

...bleeding...

They are. Mostly her toes and the balls of her feet, which makes a sort of sense, once the girl thinks about it, though she’d never have thought doing...whatever she was doing would make them that way. Then her eyes get sort of weird, and she gets a warm, abstract sense of being sorry, and before she knows it, tears are leaking out of her eyes of their own accord. She bows her head instinctively, bewildered--her feet hurt, yes, but she didn’t think that really justified tears--hearing Andrae’s dismay and not really registering it. Angling the bottom of her feet to face up, she brings her face close and lets tears fall on the cuts, bracing for the inevitable sting of saltwater-to-open-wound.

Which doesn’t come. Because the wounds heal themselves before her very eyes, sealing up with a faint buzzing sensation.

To say that they are surprised is to say that the sun shines bright. Neither of them can really believe it; there’s blood enough left over for them to not believe it--but when Andrae manages to carry Anala inside and wash her feet down in the tub...there is nothing but unmarked skin. Which doesn’t make sense.

It makes a great story, even though Marius and Alek don’t quite believe them. Anala supposes they shouldn’t have washed the blood off the concrete so they’d have more solid proof, but Andrae’s ‘I don’t want the spot looking like a weird crime scene’ had made a lot of sense at the time. Ah well.

Tian
Writing exercise, solo, meeting Tian

Anala walked aimlessly along the street, eyes down and hands in her pockets. Lately, the girl had been trying her level best not to be idle, to do something even if that meant getting up and wandering nowhere. Since the feet-bleeding incident, she had not felt that odd--presence, not really, but whenever she did, she was usually bored out of her skull, for some reason.

Feeling things that did not seem to be there was not high on her list of favorite things ever. So, she would not be bored. She wouldn’t.

“And just where do you think you’re going, hmm?”

Anala froze at the sound of that voice, wings flaring. It was somehow sweet and unpleasant at once, sending a prickle down her spine and setting off a vague sense of familiarity, even as she knew that she’d never heard that particular voice before. Something like it, perhaps, but...

A faint mutter answered the voice, almost impossible to pick out amidst a gale of snickers and sneers. Anala moved quickly as the conversation continued, following the sound of feminine voices until she came upon a side street where a group of uniformed girls were gathered in a loose crowd around a smaller long-haired child.

This girl kept her head down, eyes obscured by black bangs. “I do not wish to trouble any of you,” she repeated, voice loud but steady, betraying no emotion. “I merely wish to return to my home. Please let me pass.”

“I don’t think so.” The leader of the group, a tall, pigtailed brunette lifted her chin, gazing down at her with eyes half-closed. From where she stood, Anala clenched her fists, suddenly irked.

“I have no quarrel with you.”

“Maybe,” Pigtails said dismissively, shrugging. “But I’ve got problems with you. I’ve heard about you, freak.” She reached out and yanked the girl’s chin up to look her straight in the eye. Her expression twisted, in an ugly way that set Anala’s teeth on edge, and the circle of girls around the girl closed in, obscuring her view. There was a quiet, firm murmur, followed by high, harsh laughter. Then the sound of flesh-hitting-flesh rang out, and that was IT. Anala charged, sparing only a fleeting moment to think, I am going to be in so much trouble.

Anala had practically no idea what she was doing, seizing upon half-remembered memories of two kids fighting as she moved, dodging and doling out blows as best she could. Which...admittedly wasn’t much. Still, she hadn’t gone down yet, her opponents were about as skilled as she was (nearly not at all), and while Pigtails and two of her cronies had hold of the girl (for now), they were too distracted by Anala to think about hitting her. Good.

Now, to get them away from her...
-+-

“That is...a very unusual method of healing. Are you sure you are quite well, miss...?”

“Huh?” Anala looked up at the girl kneeling beside her, feeling the slight buzz of her tears at work as her various cuts and bruises mended. Angling the stuff right had been tricky, but then Anala tried wiping her tears off on her fingers, then applying them to the impossible-to-reach places. It worked. “Oh yeah. I’m fine,” Anala said brightly, grinning. The last of her ouches was taken care of, and this girl hadn’t had much worse than a bruise on her cheek from where those girls hit her--easily got rid of. A lot easier than getting rid of those girls, anyway.

It’d been more than Anala had thought she’d be able to handle. She’d definitely been outnumbered, and even if her opponents had been amateurs like she was, they were bigger than her, which had angered her more--they were older girls, they had no business harassing someone smaller and politer than they were!

That anger, thankfully, lent her a ferocity and determination that let her hang on long enough for the girls to decide to leave. A quiet, non-aggressive freak they could handle, but a loud, angry, crazy pipsqueak, it seemed, was more trouble than they thought it was worth. For now.

“Ah...that is good.” The girl smiled uncertainly, looking relieved. She sat back on her feet, tucking her hair behind her ears. She was, as Anala noted now, a pretty girl. Pale and slim, dark hair contrasting with bright yellow eyes...good thing she wasn’t all beat up. It’d be a shame.

Silence stretched awkwardly between them, as Anala wiped up the last of her tears and the girl smoothed wrinkles out of her dress. Glancing up at the sky, then over to her companion, Anala eased a small smile onto her face.

“My name is Anala. Anala Elridge.” She held out her hand for the girl to shake. “What’s yours?”

“Ti--Tian. Tian Anderson.” Tian shook her hand and smiled again, more easily this time. “It is...very nice to meet you. Although I do wish it could have been under more pleasant, civil circumstances.”

Anala laughed, getting to her feet. Looking down at Tian, she quirked an eyebrow and offered her a hand up. “You need someone to walk you home? You look like you could use the company, in case those jokers come back.”

Tian stared blankly at her for a moment. Anala brought her hand closer, raising her other eyebrow. Taking her hand, Tian nodded, expression tremulously bright.

“Thank you. That would be lovely.”

September
Alek journal entry

So.

Apparently, Anala's been talking to herself a lot lately? I checked with Marius, who heard from Andrae, who heard through the school grapevine and apparently saw her do it himself; Marius says he saw her do it too, out behind the garage. That was when she was playing with the garage button; apparently she was explaining it to herself. Personally, I haven't seen it myself, yet, but I'm not sure what the big deal is. We all kinda talk to ourselves, you know?

Anala's ballet stuff is going well, I hear. Miss Ellen says she catches on to lessons pretty quickly. I think it's partly 'cause she wants to catch up to Tian, since those two get along pretty well, but she's not going to be ready for pointe work for a while.

We got a new game, Dragon Quest Swords. I suck at it. Anala and Marius are pretty good though. We got Anala her own house key a while back, since I think she'll be alright out and about. Andrae says she's got no sense of direction, but I think he's just a little miffed that she took his maps out without asking him.

We saw Caines last week. And Carello's a little funny, lately. He keeps going reddish and running a temperature--is there a bug going around? I asked Marius and said maybe, it is fall after all. Even if the weather refuses to believe it. He got this funny look on his face after, though.

...

...

Mom's anniversary is coming up again. We're gonna take the kids with us when we go visit her; we...well, we need to introduce them to her.

It's already been about eight years, huh...?

And stuff happens
Anala journal entry

Hello again!

Apparently, I boil water? Or the other boils water? Kazuki (who is still going to get it, watch) pushed me in the pool. One of us really freaked out, and next thing I know--POOF! Steam. And bubbling water. At least Ms. Keller whacked him one.

Tian watches anime, did you know? Fullmetal Alchemist and Princess Tutu. I saw a little bit of both today, and they're really, really different. It's kinda funny, too--I never would've thought Tian liked that kinda stuff, or that her mom would let her...well no. Not that she wouldn't let her, but it's like... Tian. Formal-ish, very polite, quiet Tian. I think I could get where the Tutu came from, ballerina = ballet anime, I get it, but Fullmetal Alchemist I don't get. From what I saw--monster-thing? Raising the dead? We're going to watch more of it later, she seemed pretty surprised (shocked?) that I hadn't watched it--I think, anyway. It's a little hard to tell from her face, but I think she really likes it. She was kinda excited.

Ballet's fun, 'n Tian's mom says I'm doing well. It kinda ouches though. And when we stretch--well. Ouch! I can almost touch my head to my knees, though! Tian'n the upper classes are still fun to watch. Tian especially--she's good. She can do the splits all the way down, too! Me and splits...yeah. More ouch.

...Ouches aside, it is cool. I kinda feel like I'm forgetting something, though.

Some older kids were picking on Tian again. I don't get it. It's really--agh. I don't get it. I mean, it's not like she did anything to them, right? So they should just leave her alone. Me'n Asher helped chase them off--Asher's older than me, even if she isn't that much taller, and she's really strong. So it was actually more of Asher, I guess... Asher's sister was freaking out the entire time.

Speaking of sisters, I wonder how Veive is? It's been a while. I had a weird dream last night--I don't remember what it was about, but I remember it was weird.

Alek says we're gonna go visit someone this weekend. He looked kinda down. I hope this person's not sick, like Mr. Caines was.

Anala

Insert something witty here
Ongoing RP link

[PRP] Insert something witty here (Anala, Mere)

October
Alek journal entry

Anala's been getting into fights at school. Nothing too serious, in terms of injuries, but I don't like it. Anala isn't sorry. Apparently, some older kids bully Tian, and she and a neighbor's kid (Asher?) drive them off. The adults are trying to fix things, but in the meantime...three fights this week. Trying to give Anala the 'there are better ways to do this' talk, and it's kind of like running into a brick wall. Repeatedly.

There's a recital coming up. Anala's not going to be in it, but Tian is. She's really excited to see her perform. I guess if worse comes to worse, we can use it to try and get her to behave? Not sure how well that would go over.

Not sure, but I think Tian is making Anala an anime fan. It's kind of cute, in a weird way. With the exception of Princess Tutu, she gravitates toward the action-y stuff, so Marius and Andrae tend to watch it with them. I think Anala wants to be Edward Elric for Halloween. Dad's busy again, but that's nothing new.

I think that's it for now.

Ben
Dream

They’ve found him. He’s tried, tried to be careful, lay low, don’t draw attention to himself while he’s healing, rein in his power and play the human. It doesn’t matter. They’ve found him; he can feel their dank spirits even from here. Screams rend the air, timbers creak as they burn and collapse, and he runs through the streets, slipping on blood and cursing his weakness. If only he were healed, this wouldn’t be happening. These people may be only human, but they were innocents. They had no place in this. This slaughter isn’t necessary; they know it as well as he does. But they do it anyway, for amusement. It irks him, it will draw him out...

Five, six...seven of them. Seven enemies flicker dully in his senses, and what he’s about to do probably falls under the category of bad idea, but he can’t run, not from this trap. He gathers what power he can, prepares to shuck this body and fight--

One of the flickers disappears.

Impossible. He manages not to stumble in shock and presses onward. He’s almost there, he can see one now, standing over a girl in the street

“Oops.”

The--memory?--cut off abruptly, leaving Anala blinking in the dark, bewildered. “Sorry about that,” a voice said distractedly. A rustle of feathers, and a sound of papers shuffling somewhere to her left. “That’s one of mine, kiddo, can’t look at that.”

Anala stared towards the voice, brows scrunching together. “What?”

The shuffling stopped. “Oh, hey,” it said, surprise coloring its tone. “You can hear me? Ah.” A slight thap-ping sound, like a fist hitting a palm. “That’s right. You’ve been getting better at that, haven’t you? Well then,” it--he, she decided--said brightly, “Since you’re with me for the moment...” The space before her shifted, blackness sliding aside for tanned hand, orange flame flickering at the index finger. “Tell me how this feels, okay? I’m going to tinker with it a little.” The hand tapped lightly on her cheek, the flame leaping from the fingertip to race along a line of stitches she swore weren’t there before, running across her face and around her right eye. Anala yelped, jerking back and scrubbing her face frantically--the fire didn’t burn, like she might have expected, but it tickled madly.

“Woah, easy there!” The fire snuffed out under her hands, sinking into her skin. From the darkness, a boy stepped out and back, latching onto her wrists and prying her hands away. “It’s okay. Does anything feel off?”

“Nnnoooo...” Anala said slowly, inspecting this newcomer. Aside from the fact he was male, it was like looking into a mirror: from head to toe, he matched her appearance perfectly--except for his hair, which was braided rather than tied into pigtails. “Who are you?”

He smiled pleasantly. “I’m a friend. You know me.”

It took Anala few moments to understand. She raised her eyebrows. “You--you’re that, um--” She waved her hands, not wanting to say thing, but, well... “--other?”

He nodded. “It’s nice to meet you face to face. Projecting is well and good, but this is much nicer. You can actually hear me now.”

At her blank look, he smiled again, releasing her wrists. “I’m a friend. A...very attached friend. I’m trying to help, since it’s partially my fault things are like this. I guess you can sort of think of me as a doctor.”

“A doctor,” Anala repeated. “You know, this makes no sense.”

“Oh no, it does, really. You’ve been taking notes and studying for a while now, think on it a bit more and it should make sense.”

“Why can’t you just tell me now?”

“Well for one, you could just think it’s all made-up. It’s a pretty weird story, you know? And dreams are usually weird and unreal. Usually. This is a dream, you know, but everything in here is true.” He swept his arms out, pointing out the blackness around them.

“You. Sense. Making none.” Anala crossed her arms, frowning. “Do you have a name, at least? I’m Anala.”

“Yes, I know who you are,” he said absently, tapping his chin. “Well--hm.” He tapped his foot, looking upward. Moments ticked by in silence. Anala began to fidget. “Ben,” he said at last, grinning. He met her eyes, and for a second it was like looking at herself.

“You can call me Ben.”