|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 12:32 pm
The Liberty Center rose up in front of them, big, utilitarian and imposing. Walking from Nur to wherever this was, a hotspot of dimensional connections or a pocket world or something, had taken less time than Antanasia had anticipated. Or so he guessed, since she was looking around with an expression that was one quarter bemused, half amused, and mostly irritated. "This early, surely only teachers and the aides would be around," she had said on arrival. At this point, Crowley was inclined to agree.
It appeared that they were going in anyway. He followed her into the building and to an office, where she promptly got into an argument with a brunette lady sitting behind a desk. Why did she have to do that? Picking arguments with people just slowed everything down. Well, he didn't have to deal with it; since it didn't seem like they'd be fingerprinting him or anything he wandered out the door, pausing to disentangle the sleeve of his T-shirt from the handle. (It was green, his absolute most favorite color ever.)
He ended up wandering down a particular hallway, and, spotting an open door, he poked his head in. It was just idle curiosity, but after taking in the atmosphere- easels everywhere, sheets of paper, all kinds of neat stuff -he looked up towards the front. "Fish!" Crowley bounded into the room, three steps, before he stopped and looked around. "Hey s'up," said the Australian boy, then he grinned like a fool.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 2:22 pm
Being bigger meant Fish was officially graduated from the pre-school and now expected to do things like learn arithmetic and geography and spelling. All this was perfectly fine with him, except the only person he knew in the elementary school was Orli, and she was in the upper section. All his friends were still in the lower school, or they didn't go to Liberty Center at all.
Still, he was happy to be a big kid! Happy to walk into the center next to his dad and stroll straight past the doors of the pre-k where they made him go to time out and would let him and Darsh draw on the walls. Happy to go into the art room before school like a big kid and help set up for the first class of the day. But that was done now, and he was sitting on a desk like a proper big kid.
Fish heard someone shout his name, and then a familiar dark-skinned boy bounded into the room.
"Crowley!" he shouted happily back, and jumped off the desk. "You go here now?" he asked, just to make sure it wasn't a bait-and-switch or anything like that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 2:30 pm
Crowley stared at Fish critically, observing the weird green streaks in his hair. Had his friend been spending time in a pool without him or something? Still! He was glad that there'd be someone he knew on his first day who wouldn't be affected by whatever hell his mom was making out in the office. "Yeah," he said cheerfully, "Since I grow too fast to go to a school at home, I go here now!"
He looked around, thinking about the things they could talk about. There were the staples, like soccer, and surfing, and food. Then there were the nonessentials: Schools, parents, siblings, tree-climbing, anything that didn't involve sports he supposed. Stuff like that. Obviously a good conversation would depend on finding a good subject, or something, he didn't really bother to remember as he settled on the most obvious conversation topic ever. "How long have you been big," he asked, morbidly curious. Proudly, he stuck his hands in his jeans pockets and informed Fish, "I grew last night! You have green in your hair."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 2:36 pm
"Really?" Asked Fish. "Me too! That's wicked awesome." He and Crowley were, like, of one mind or something. He smiled widely at his friend, thinking about how cool it was that they'd grown at the same time and how lucky they were that if it was going to be their first day of school, at least they'd at least know each other.
He reached up and ruffled his own hair awkwardly. "Yeah," he nodded, "Uh, it kind of grows that way." Always had, in fact, but he didn't really feel like pointing that out.
"My dad works here!" he exclaimed. Prosper was nowhere to be seen, but the office door was open and noises could be heard within.
"Hey, let's go check out the rest of the building," he declared. "I've gone here since Pre-K but they never let us explore much."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 6:23 pm
Crowley nodded. It was awesome, and quite convenient, and awesome. He didn't know if cabbage spawn were supposed to grow this fast or even if Fish came from a cabbage like he did (it had certainly never come up in conversation) but it definitely seemed like the all-mighty Lord of Coincidence was looking out for them. He grinned and flashed a thumbs-up, completely missing the awkward overtone. "Looks cool!"
And then he looked around for Fish's dad, but didn't spot him; the office door, though, caught his attention and he glanced over to it with the depth of attention that you'd give a particularly uninteresting game show on TV until he realized the sounds from inside were probably Fish's dad. Hokay, that was neat, and he looked towards the door. "That's a long time," he observed, and then he went over to the door and leaned out of it. "Exploring sounds like fun, we can figure out where class is, do you know when school starts? Mom does but she won't tell me."
There was probably a good reason for that, actually.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 6:54 pm
"Um," said Fish, who had never really paid attention to when school started before, just when it ended. "In a little while, I think. There'll be a bell."
"Dad!" he called into the office, "Me an' Crowley are gonna go look around the building! See yah later!"
Prosper did not dignify this with a response. Fish giggled. "That means we can go," he explained, and motioned for his friend to follow him. "Come on."
He paused in the doorway and deliberated about which way to turn in the hallway. He then went right. "I'm not sure what's down here," he admitted.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 8:09 pm
Another nod, and Crowley said, "Cool." At least he wouldn't be able to miss it! He had great, maybe phenomenal (for a human), hearing. Maybe he'd even be able to tell when other students got to the school, if he tried. But that would take too much concentration, and there was exploration to be done! Crowley was fairly excited about wandering the school when it was deserted.
"Bye, Mr. Fish's dad!" Then he followed Fish to the door, touching a few things- an easel, a desk, and the phone by the door of unknown purpose -as he did. It was entirely weird to be somewhere that wasn't Amagi's house or home, but really exciting all at the same time!
Distracted by something inane that he forgot just a moment later, he had to jog to catch up with Fish. His feet made really weird squeaky noises in the new sneakers. He guessed that would go away once he'd broken them in. He slowed down to walk alongside Fish, looking around. It was the same bright hallway he'd come by, with posters and things hanging on the wall and declaring things he regarded as common sense, like Don't leave your bag unattended, and Don't push.
"I walked down this way I think," he said.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 06, 2009 6:19 pm
"Cool," nodded Fish, looking around. The hallway's bright and colorful posters looked pretty promising. "Yeah, let's go this way," he said, and took off ahead of his friend like he owned the place.
"I bet we're gonna have all our classes together," he continued happily. "All my other friends are still in the pre-school. Except for Orli - she's cool! Maybe you'll meet her today!"
He doubted that Orli was in their class, though, and besides that day in the library he didn't ever see her except in passing. Really, he didn't know what classes Orli was in at all... He'd have to look around for her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 06, 2009 6:53 pm
He followed, jogging at a decent pace to keep up. Really, Crowley would rather lead, but Fish knew the school better than he did, or something like that. "S'long as we don't go to the office, Mom's there and she's arguing with someone," he said amiably. The idea of having all his classes with his best friend was pretty cool.
Crowley said, "Bet we are! Can't be that many classes for kids our age, right?" And since they were starting on the same day they practically had to be in the exact same class, all the time! As for the whole pre-school thing, he pretty much knew Sadi, who did not attend school, and Fish. He had the vague idea that this would be a bad thing to say. It kind of bothered him that he didn't know anyone except Fish, now that he thought about it, but that was okay! He should be happy he had any friends here at all.
"Where is the pre-school," he asked, somewhat curious but not really. "Are we still in the school?" It had started to look a little bit different than previous, and he vaguely (very vaguely) remembered that there was like a hospital or a lab or whatever in the building too.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 06, 2009 7:29 pm
Fish paused and looked around. "Uh, kinda," he said. "Nurse's office is that way," he explained, pointing down the hall. He turned to go back in the direction they had come from.
"We could go look at the pre-school?" he suggested, taking off back down the hall. "It's cool. They have lotsa toys and crayons and stuff, 'cept I'm not allowed to play with the crayons anymore. Me an' Darsh kept drawing on the walls!"
He laughed triumphantly. "I should go say hi!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 7:15 pm
He didn't pay attention to the nurse's office. It wasn't like he would need it, anyway, he was too awesome to actually ever get hurt and also, Crowley had never been sick a day in his life. So it wasn't likely, he figured, that he'd actually ever have to go there. He appreciated Fish pointing it out, anyway.
"Sounds good," he said, following at a lope that ate up ground like it was pizza. "Never went to a nursery, Mom thought they were too pro- prote- she didn't like them." He shrugged, and then brightened at the thought of meeting another one of Fish's friends- even if it was only a little kid. Better nate than lever, as some said, although he wasn't sure exactly who said it or what it meant, it just felt appropriate for the situation.
Along with Fish, he laughed, though it was for an entirely different reason. Finally, he was big enough to go places and actually meet people! It felt pretty great, like jumping out of the tree outside the house on Nur.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu May 07, 2009 7:32 pm
Laughter was entirely too contagious. Fish let out a few more guffaws, spurred by Crowley's joining in on the hilarity. It was strange to walk through the same old hallways on longer legs, looking at all the bulletin boards from a more proper perspective. It was like seeing the world brand-new.
He paused outside the door of the nursery, suddenly uneasy. "Eh, maybe we'd better not," he said, suddenly indecisive. "The teacher doesn't like me much."
That, and he thought it might be weird to see all his old friends now that he was bigger than them.
"Let's go find our classroom!" he said, a bit more enthusiastic than one might expect, and happily began to march off in the other direction.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 7:03 pm
"Sounds good," said Crowley, once he'd finished laughing so hard it felt like his sides were gonna split. He put one fist over his mouth, thumb in, to muffle the last remnants of a giggle, and regarded the door solemnly. He wondered if any kids were in there at this hour, and was actually kind of curious as to what kind of place would take kids off the hands of their parents for hours on end. His mother said he was too much of a pain to sic on anyone else, even for ten minutes. Amagi apparently didn't count as anyone else, though.
Hands in his pockets, he followed Fish. The story-hound in him sensed something behind the teacher not liking his friend, so he asked: "Why wouldn't the teacher like you?" The poor, deluded boy was under the impression that children were duty-bound to like their students. His models for that were his neighbor and the neighbor's home-schooled daughter, so admittedly he was pretty inexperienced.
Least he knew how to deal with cafeteria lines. "You can tell me on the way there," he said, clearly not going to let go of the teacher thing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 7:14 pm
Fish grinned at Crowley like this story was one of the best things in the history of ever. "Well, a bunch of reasons, really," he said, walking backwards for best view of his friend's expression while he recounted the misadventures he'd had in pre-school.
"So, it all starts with me and Darsh - You'll meet him eventually - drawing on the walls. I think if you ever go in there you'll see, like, a school of fish and some weird octopus thing and the entire savannah on the walls in crayon and magic marker and stuff. That was us. We got in so much trouble. It was so worth it. We kept on adding to it whenever the teacher wasn't looking. It drove her absolutely crazy."
He paused to let Crowley absorb all that.
"So then she finally sent me too the office, and when I got there I met this girl named Mari, and she told me about these things called Dutchmen, and how they live in mud puddles, and you have to splash in them to wake them up?" he continued. "So we snuck out onto the playground to go see if we could find any, and, um."
He shrugged.
"We got in a lot of trouble."
"It was so worth it, though," he assured Crowley.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 7:45 pm
His first instinct was to giggle unkindly. He knew that Fish's dad was the art teacher, or he thought so, the easels and the paints were kind of giveaways, but he personally thought that drawing was kind of silly. Why would you bother to sketch and draw if you could just take a photo and remember it as it was forever? At the thought of drawing on the walls, though, he couldn't help it- he snorted, a definite grin coming over his face at the thought. "That sounds awesome." Realizing he might sound like a bit of an idiot, he added, "You know, for little kids." Okay, maybe he wouldn't have minded the whole deal if it was more of a rebellion thing than an art thing, or something. Whatever.
Perhaps he should draw on the walls at home...
He listened attentively to Fish, a totally confused look replacing the grin. "Dutchmen," he said doubtfully, the lilt at the end of his voice making it a question. Sounded fishy to him, or something. Then he laughed again.
"Sounds like being in the preschool here was fun," he said, just a little bit envious. Seemed like all the fun happened over here on Gaia. Maybe he could convince his mom to move everything over here, something like that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
