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 Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 12:40 pm
Coming home a child put a lot more responsibility on Austin's shoulders than he had expected. Most importantly, not only Kae was being forced to go to school with Polly now. He hated it. And then he found out that he was supposed to give things to a girl he didn't even know for some stupid celebration that he had never heard of.
It was retarded, he thought irritably, and he was going to get out of it now. His kohl rimmed eyes came up and he snarled a bit, looking over the kids on the playground before heading to one at random. "You wouldn't, by chance, be... Madeleine, would you?"
"I'm a boy," the kid said.
"And?" Austin asked.
"It's a girl's name."
"Oh... right," Austin said before turning and heading for the swings. He had made an attempt, after all. No one could blame him for giving up now!
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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 8:03 am
Luckily, or unluckily depending on your viewpoint, the actual Madeleine had decided to play on the playground today, and was close enough to hear the exchange between Austin and the random kid.
Which had left her with a bit of a predicament. Obviously, the scary looking kid was looking for her.. but on the other hand, the scary looking kid was looking for her.
Nevertheless, her mother had made it a point that she should always be polite, and damnit, it was polite to help out people looking for you.
So it was with great trepidation that the butterfly girl drew nearer to the pirate on the swings.
"Hi there." Maddy gave a lackluster little wave, desperately avoiding Austin's eyes, "Uhh.. I'mMadeleinepleasedon'thurtme!"
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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 9:54 am
Kohl rimmed eyes (he was teased about that by Polly all the time, not that he was thinking of that at the moment) blinked at the little butterfly girl as his mind went back in time.
Further... no... further...
"Oh, right," he said. "They're tellin' me I gotta give you stuff for some day or something," he told her, completely blowing the secret part of the secret santa out of the water without a second of hesitation. "So--" And at this he started patting his many hidden pockets, then reached into his hair and plucked out two of his favorite feathers. "Here," he said, handing them to her.
The looked as if they'd been plucked from a very exotic bird.
They had been. Two exotic birds, to be precise. He still had the peck marks to prove it.
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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:17 am
Maddy, having been braced for a hit or something of the sort, blinked at the two feathers for a few moments before catching herself.
"You..?" Why on earth would anyone te- Oh. Right, the Secret Santa thing they had going on at school. "Er, thank you, they're very pretty." They were, too, but this certainly wasn't how she'd imagined the whole thing to go.
"But weren't you supposed to put them in my locker and keep it a secret?" And sound a bit more enthusiastic, for that matter? But she kept that last part to herself, more baffled by the situation than anything else.
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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:42 am
He blinked. Then an expression of realization crossed his face. "Ohhh, so that's why it's called secret," he said, as if it was the biggest surprise in the world. "Guess that's too late, then," he added, rocking slightly in his swing. "Polly said somethn' bout not tellin' the other person, but Polly's a bit strange."
It was astounding how he, of all people, could call someone else strange with a straight face. "Name's Austin," he said, thrusting his hand out abruptly. "I'm a pirate."
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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 11:00 am
"Guess it is," she agreed, "but I think Polly had the right idea, even if she's strange." Not that she could comment on that, not knowing anyone of the name. She only had Austin's word for that.
"I'm Maddy - or Madeleine, and I'm a butterfly." She shook his hand, belatedly adding: "Nice to meet you."
She took a seat on the swings next to his, carefully situating her wings so they wouldn't get caught in the links keeping the old tyre up.
"So," insert awkward silence, "Are these for putting in your hair or what? I've never had feathers before." She held them out, purposely handling them gently so they wouldn't get ruined.
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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 11:04 am
"It's what we usually do," Austin said. "Ya j'st tie it in with a string of sumthin' and make sure no one steals it. My hair holds it all by isself," he added proudly. "Polly 'as her feathers built in, thought." And he was jealous of that fact, it was quite obvious.
"Have you ever thought about bein' a pirate?" he asked, turning to look at her suddenly. "It's a great life."
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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 11:17 am
She shuddered lightly - all by itself?! That sounded.. greasy. Ew! "I'll, er, try the string bit.
"Still, your hair's gotta be as good as Polly's to be able to hold feathers by itself, right? Even better, because Polly's hair does it automatically but your's has to, er, work for it." This was an obvious placatement, but Maddy really didn't want this still-scary looking Austin person to go off on the deep end because of someone's hair. She was probably exaggerating, but this guy was seriously scary.
Nearly jumping out of her skin at his sudden turn, she couldn't help but let out a high-pitched, nervous giggle.
"I, I," she babbled on for a few seconds before gathering her wits, "I really don't think I'd be a good pirate. At all. Really. My wings are very fragile and er.. Yeah."
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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 12:27 pm
He looked at her with a hint of shock. This was... well... Leaning forward he peered at her as if she was an entirely different species. To him, she was. He leaned back, still examining her, a frown between his eyebrows.
"You're a girl, right?" he finally asked.
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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 12:34 pm
"Er, yes?" Straightening, she did her best to look brave in the face of this new enquiry, "I mean yes. Yes, I'm a girl."
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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 12:46 pm
"I know--" And at this he had to count on his fingers. "Two girls best," he told her, holding up two (and a pinky trying to come up) fingers. "An' one of them is tougher than spit, an' the other's--" He looked around, then pointed at the redheaded girl standing on top of the monkeybars, laughing down at the other kids evilly. "Her."
He looked back at the butterfly girl. "You," he stated a bit dramatically, "don't act like a girl."
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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 12:58 pm
Slowly tearing her eyes away from the redheaded - insane - girl to stare at him in horrified silence, Maddy considered her hitherto unquestioned femininity.
"I.. think I do?" Furrowed brows gave off the impression of deep thought as she continued, "Y-you already said Polly was strange, and Polly's a girl's name so she's probably one of the two girls, right? So if she's strange, you can't use her as comparison. Really."
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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 1:09 pm
He thought about that, looking over at Polly once again, then at her. "You might have a point," he said reluctantly. "By the way," he added. "What does 'fragile' mean?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 1:26 pm
She considered not telling him for about two seconds on the panicky grounds that he might want to try out the word in action, or rather, try to break her wings just to see if she was telling the truth.
On the other hand she was nearly completely sure by now that he was, in fact, completely and utterly bonkers and might take her NOT telling him as some sort of offense which would, probably, be worse than him pulling her wings. She'd at least have some sort of ground when the police came for them on the first one, whereas the second could be misconstrued as her own fault.
"It means something that breaks easily. You know, like fine china or glass." A bright light came on, "Or like feathers - they break easily too if you're not careful."
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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 1:43 pm
He looked at her wings, cocking his head slightly. "Oh," he said finally. "So you broke 'em before?" he asked curiously.
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