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 Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 9:24 am
Kaatje stretched her arms out over her head and then flopped, without decorum, face down on the food court table. Outside was unbearably hot; inside was unbearably cold, especially in the mall. She knew shopping here was a bad idea--even at her favorite store, Burberry, the items were of just a bit lower quality--but it saved her being a massive dripping puddle by the time she got between stores. Instead she just had to shiver her way through life, expecting a patch of ice to appear underfoot with no warning.
Embarrassment in the public arena would just end her.
Eventually, she straightened up to stare at today's indulgence; Taco Bell wasn't her first choice, because no way could one preserve one's weight with calorie and grease-ridden food like that. But she did like the lime sodas they made; they were fizzy and lime-tastic, delicious as hell. It was nostalgic, too. Back at Shore Country, she'd had one of these while hanging out with her mentor. She took a sip of the lime drink, looking around.
She spotted purple hair in the crowd, in a long and familiar style. ...Could it be?
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Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2010 4:39 am
Could it be, who?
Oblivious to her surroundings, Clarissa barely took any notice of the intent gaze behind her back. Wandering from store to store, she was simply browsing around like most girls did at the mall. Similarly she dressed in a pair of skinny jeans, and a pink tank top with a purse in hand, which at first glance seemed to fit in well with the other girls there. But she stood out in the crowd, a serene quality about her that set her apart from everyone else.
Absentmindedly drifting along with the crowd, she was content to simply gaze at the display windows familiarizing herself with the mall.
There wasn't much to be said for Destiny City's mall with it's limited array of stores, "I supposed it can't be helped." She sighed, after all.. Destiny City was no Beverly Hills. Twirling a lock of hair around her finger, she began to wonder if she would ever get used to this new city.
Sooner or later, she eventually would or so she told herself. There was no point on dwelling in the past after all.
Taking a moment to stop by a small cafe, she ordered a cup of black tea. Cupping the drink with both hands, she took a small sip. Indifferent to her surroundings, she allowed her gaze to drift over the room..
.. To fall on a familiar red head, her gaze hovering over the girl for a few minutes. With a questioning frown, 'Haven't I seen her before?" She asked herself.
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Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2010 5:53 pm
Kaatje watched the figure until it receded, and then she settled in to think. It had been almost an entire year since she'd seen Clarissa; the last thing she knew, she was moving to Destiny City, so it was entirely possible that head of lavender-purple hair was her friend. The question was, did she want to take the risk of personal embarrassment? On the one hand, if she didn't approach the purple-haired girl, all she had to look towards was the hot rain outside and an uncomfortable ride home. On the other hand, if she did, what if it wasn't in fact Clarissa? That would be morbidly embarrassing.
Still, when the girl showed up for the second time, she watched her until she looked up. And their gazes locked, so she stood up with her lime soda and crossed the food court, elbowing her way through a crowd rather impolitely.
"Clarissa," she said, once she was within genteel shouting distance. "So you really did have to move out to the boonies. That sucks."
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Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2010 3:25 am
At the mention of her name, Clarissa turned back toward the crowd behind her.
She regarded the crowd with a quizzical stare, wondering if she had been mistaken for someone else, another Clarissa perhaps? Though she hated to be confused with someone else, it couldn't have been her. There was no one of her acquaintance here, so of course— she had to be imagining the voice. Turning on her heel, she dismissed the matter with a shrug. She had been ready to leave when she heard the same voice once more.
"So you really did have to move out to the boonies. That sucks." Eyes wide with surprise, she began to wonder if she heard the sentence correctly.
Referring to her recent move; her words seemed too much like coincidence for it to be a complete stranger. Twirling around, her gaze locked with another. Her eyes lit up in surprise, than delight. Recognizing an old friend of her's, "Kaatje!" She exclaimed, as she took a step closer to hug her friend close.
With a broad smile, "Oh my, I didn't know you'd be here." She said with a cheerful laugh. "You should have told me!"
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Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 4:54 pm
Definitely Clarissa, she decided at the hug; the lime drink barely made it out of the way before the redheaded girl was enfolded into her old mentor's loving embrace. "Technically I didn't," she pointed out; "I've been here longer than you and my BlackBerry's gotten stomped like, thirteen thousand times. People here are so uncouth."
Eventually they drew apart a few steps, though Kaatje's hand remained on her friend's wrist; not a strangling grip, but a light one, a barely traced circle around Clarissa's wrist. "You graduated high school, right? This past summer? Are you going to college here at DCU? Or are you going to Sovereign Heights, or-- or what's up?"
She was beaming, her blue eyes crinkled at the corners. "I haven't seen you in so long. I missed you, Clarissa."
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Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 2:01 pm
Oh, how glad she was to see Kaatje again. Never had she expected to run into an old friend here!
"Oh, the poor blackberry." She murmured, sympathetic to her plight. Uncouth, she most certainly agreed. But she was coming to find that she liked them- or rather, a certain few. As for the rest, she would reserve judgment on them for later. After all, who knew what would happen? She mused. Through experience, she had learned that human beings, people never failed to surprise one another.
Eventually, they drew apart but Kaatje's hands lingered upon her wrist.
It was a comfort to have her friend by her side, she noted reflectively to herself, especially in light of her foreign surroundings.
Gently, she led her friend to an empty table where they could talk in comfort. Taking a sip of the her tea, she took Kaatje's words in patient stride. Setting her cup down on the table, "I've missed you as well, Kaatje." She replied, her smile warm and her words sincere.
At the mention of high school, Clarissa's smile dimmed.
"I'm sorry, that I couldn't be there when you needed me most." There was a distant expression in her indigo colored eyes, that told of the past. "I was so busy with the preparations for graduation at the time, that I barely had any time to think for myself much less others." She murmured, with a regretful frown. "I wanted to wish you a farewell, but by the time I heard, it was far too late."
.. Unspoken words and emotions lingered in the air, but Clarissa could not bring herself to say anymore.
Instead, she directed her attention toward the question at hand. ".. I'm not certain. The school arrangements here have been difficult to say the least."
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Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 11:50 pm
She knew Clarissa would understand. The girls at school were being such bitches about it, but the violet-haired girl had always understood her fascination with the internet and her phone. It was for fashion, the ultimate goal of most girls their age! For her future career! There were umpteen reasons to take excellently good care of her phone, and those were just two of them. Now that she was a mature adult and everything, she definitely needed to be available in case she was needed. That was also something Clarissa could understand, she hoped. They'd always been good at understanding each other.
"It's all right," she decided, finally letting go of the first familiar person she'd seen in months to wrap both hands around her clear plastic cup. And it really was alright; she'd made it through her first semester at Crystal just fine, with high grades because she hadn't had friends to goof off with. Well, whatever. That was in the past, and they had never made a habit of having uncomfortable conversations when they were unnecessary. "What, a problem registering for Shlip? That's... that's weird. Is Shore Country being weird about the transcripts or something?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 2:46 am
"No, not at all." Clarissa waved a dismissive hand.
Her father had seen to the transcripts, but it was Destiny City's University that was the problem. Two months after she arrived, she had been puzzled by the lack of admission papers. Not even a single letter in the mail. When she had called, they informed her that her paperwork was still under review.
Review, what nonsense! She had scoffed. Because of her father's connections, her admission should have been of no concern. Or so, she had thought. Their tardiness was absolutely inexcusable. She had demanded an explanation why, but the clerk had been helpless to answer her questions other than to say University was tightening their security measures.
What incompetence, but she had refrained from saying so. Instead, she politely thanked the clerk and hung up the phone.
"Destiny City's University's registration has proven to be the problem. Reinforcing their security, or so they say— " She began, "Which has resulted, unfortunately, in the delay of my paperwork." She could have elaborated over the issue further, but she barely understood the situation herself.
"I swear, it's nearly impossible!" She complained, "You'd think this was the White House, with terrorists all over to infiltrate the place."
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Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 8:35 pm
Huh. She had never really thought of DCU as all that discerning, or of Clarissa as all that bad a student. In fact, she was pretty sure her old mentor pulled down good grades routinely. So why in the world would it be ******** things up?...
A thought occurred. "Well... we have been having serious terrorist issues." Out came the Blackberry, and with a few taps of the stylus she had pulled up an article--one of the ones about her, but luckily no one had secured pictures of Sailor Gunn yet that had any degree of clarity, so there was no chance of Clarissa recognizing her just from "redheaded, about 5'7"-5'9"."
None. Right?
"They shut down the downtown district for four whole months," she complained, throwing her hands in the air. "That's the entire summer. Can you imagine going that long without a visit to an atelier?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 7:47 pm
"Terrorists?" Clarissa echoed with a skeptical raise of the brow.
It was obvious that she found the news difficult to believe. A mere college city, Destiny City had no political influence to speak of. With a handful of politicians, and a meager military force, there was absolutely no reason for terrorists to target such a place. There was no advantage to such a situation!
But, allowing the possibility of the "terrorists", the government's forces should have been able to apprehend them. Unless, they couldnt. "Hmm." Lips curved into a thoughtful frown, she began to wonder if that was why her father had been sent here. When asked about the move, he simply said it was a matter of business refusing to elaborate on it further. And to make it worse, her father frequently left the house to attend to other business matters. Left alone to speculate over the issue, it was a perplexing- and frustrating experience to say the least.
Then again, what use was it to simply sit there and wonder? Brushing the thoughts away, she re-focused her attention back on Kaatje.
There was an article centered on a red-haired girl, labeled to be approximately 5'7"-5'9" feet. Her eyes fell on the blurred image with a startling silence. Her eyes raised to meet Kaatje's with an unconvinced smile. "Is that a sailor suit, I see?" She laughed.
"Kaatje darling, I don't think a girl is going to prove to be much of a threat."
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Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 6:06 pm
Her laugh was relieved. "Hey, yeah, but they're kind of freaky. There's others in military uniforms and they're insane." Nothing to worry about from Clarissa--except that she might get a little bit, or a lot, foolhardy in disbelieving other sailor soldiers or the Negaverse were threats. But certainly she wouldn't be looking for Kaatje in any sailor soldiers' faces, and that was the important thing.
"Anyway, yeah. They're trying to keep the sailor-suited girls out of school, so."
The redheaded girl tossed her hair over one shoulder. "Well, anyway. What are you doing around here? Do you want to go... do something? I can't stay long, I have an appointment--" with a doctor, to look over her burns "--but I'm so glad you're here, Clarissa."
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Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 11:46 am
"I see." She said, though she didn't quite. It was almost impossible to believe; Sailor suited girls aligned with the military in a fight for terrorism. She wouldn't have been surprised, if it was some new cult that people had joined or other.
Another difference, that she had yet to understand.
But as a newcomer , there was much to learn. Eventually-- she hoped --she would come to understand the current affairs of this city, if one disregarded the notion of "terrorists". She would have dismissed the matter if Kaatje had not, but she was puzzled by the abrupt change of subject.
Following suit, "Nothing particularly important, I was just shopping." Her explanation clarified by the variety of shopping bags by her feet.
Not wishing for her to be late, "Don't let me keep you." She said with a warm smile, placing her hand lightly on Kaatje's with a friendly squeeze. Her words were touching-- and encouraging to hear, enough to lift Clarissa's spirits about the move. Kaatje didn't know how much that meant to her.
"Thank you, Kaatje." She said, with a smile. Then she let go of her hand, to lightly push her away. "Stay any longer, and I daresay that you'll be late."
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Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 6:46 am
She laughed a little. "Sorry, sorry," and she threw her arms around Clarissa. Shopping was fun, and she was glad her mentor was having fun; but she did have to run. She brushed her hair over one shoulder. "I probably will be. See you, Clarissa." And she straightened up to rush off, yelling back: "I'll call you! Okay?"
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