[Reg] Chalk it up to Summer (Millicnet/Ainsley)

[Orangeish Sherbert]

The day was warm, and Millicent was laying on the ground, scribbling away.

This was the absolute best day of the year to go to the park, the annual end of summer sidewalk chalk day.

It was a fun contest that got children out of the house for a few hours before they started back to school, and gave out little prizes of free ice cream and other treats to the winners.

Millie was so proud of her drawing this year. It was a life sized drawing of her as a jedi, with her two pet pigs fighting beside her.

...Okay, so it wasn't amazing yet, but it was getting there! Hopefully, it wouldn't start raining today!

She continued coloring the pigs, trying so hard to get all of the spots in the right places. When the piece of chalk she was holding broke, she gave a little pout, and looked in her bucket for another piece, grabbing it, and beginning to color.  

[Appeal]

Ainsley had been told about the chalk event in the park nearby and after getting a bucket of chalk, she'd been on her way. It wasn't far, and easy to spot the groups of adults sitting on the benches and picnic tables around the children scribbling away on the ground. It seemed like it was pretty busy and Ainsley was worried she wouldn't be able to find a place to draw. Her worries were backed up by her inability to find a free spot until she seen a large empty spot near a girl with raspberry red hair.

Eager, Ainsley skipped over toward her, the heels of her shoes clicking against the pavement as she ran across it.

"Can I draw here?" Ainsley's voice called from the right of Millicent.

 

[Orangeish Sherbert]

The child was so focused on coloring the green of the lightsaber blade, that when she heard Ainsley speak, she let out a startled little yelp and jumped.

When the child looked up, and saw that it wasn't some scary sith lady, she broke into a smile.

"Yeah! Yeah you can draw here! What are you going to draw?"

Yay! Someone for Millie to play with! The girl was clearly completely excited by this.  

[Appeal]

With the approval of the other girl, Ainsley carefully knelt down to the pavement. Beside her was a small selection of chalk that she was able to scavenge up for the afternoon. There weren't many colours but there was a white, yellow, blue, green and red. It was enough to draw some grass with a blue sky, burning yellow sun shining brightly down on some white rabbits in the grass.

"Some rabbits first," she said, trying some loopy ears first, casually looking at the chalk pictures that the other girl had drawn. "What have you drawn?"

 

[Orangeish Sherbert]

Millicent laughed, still scribbling. She pushed her chalk bucket closer to Ainsley, in an offer of sharing.

"I'm drawing myself as a Jedi, with my two pigs as Jedi's too! We're saving the world. I can't wait until I can actually save the world. What about you? What are you drawing?"

She glanced over, and smiled. "Is that a bunny? I think bunnies are really cute! I like how you drew the ears!"

She seemed so much happier now that she wasn't drawing alone, though she had seemed happy then too!  

[Appeal]

Ainsley was stunned and in disbelief that the other child had used a word that she was unfamiliar with. What was a jedi? What did it mean? Her eyes quickly shot over the chalk drawings again, looking at the image of Millicent as well as the pigs. They were both jedi, but the child couldn't determine any sort of familiarity between both images. She frowned, pouting immensely at this, her face twisting as she became determined to find out what it meant.

"What does jedi mean?" She finally asked.

There was a pause, the child's eyes looking down at her own drawing.

"Yes, it's a rabbit. Thank you."

 

[Orangeish Sherbert]

Millicent just stared at Ainsley for a long moment.

"You...You've never seen Star Wars...?"

How could this be? Hadn't everyone seen Star Wars? Hadn't her daddy said that it was a law for everyone to see Star Wars? Woah. This was a complete and total shock for the girl and she just blinked a few times, shaking her head.

"Um..A Jedi is a hero! They fly around space in their space ships and save people and keep the peace and stuff! They're the coolest people ever, and I'm gonna be one someday. My dad said so. Mommy too. They told me that If I'm real good and help people that I'll get to be a Jedi someday!"

She seemed so excited, her brown eyes shining with the thought.

"Oh! I never told you my name!" She extended a chalk covered hand. "Hi! I'm Millicent! It's really nice to meet you! Sorry I forgot to tell you my name earlier!"  

[Appeal]

Ainsley shook her head when she was asked about Star Wars, replying promptly.

"I've never seen it before."

What was a jedi? The girl beside her was explaining it to her and it seemed that they were a hero? Ainsley listened carefully to the explanation the other child gave her while she drew a little fluffy tail on the rabbit. They were heros who could fly into space? They save people? They keep peace? This all sounded a lot like senshi and Ainsley couldn't help but grin at the thought of there being other people out there who would help others.

"Helping people is wonderful," Ainsley said, holding her hands to her chest. "You should do it even if you don't become a jedi though! You should do it because it's right!"

There was a bit of a silence after and then Millicent introduced herself to Ainsley. She was extending her hand to her, and like an olive branch, Ainsley held out her own to the red head. She smiled softly at her, "It's nice to meet you Millicent. My name is Ainsley."

 

[Orangeish Sherbert]

The child smiled. "Ainsley! What a cool name! I've never heard that before!" She seemed so happy as she shook the other child's hand, then let go after a moment.

"Yeah, I do like helping people just to help people. Like my Mommy. I love to help her. I like to make sure she's not sad."

She went back to her picture, coloring for another few seconds.

"Hey! Someday you should come over and we could watch Star Wars together...that way you can see what a real Jedi is!" Millicent just seemed so thrilled with the idea, her chocolate brown eyes just shining with delight. "I bet my mom would order pizza, and maybe we could even make cookies!"

Oh. Yeah! Best idea EVER.  

[Appeal]

"T-thank you," she smiled at her.

At this point Ainsley had moved on from the bunnies on the field of grass to drawing what seemed to be a stone tower in the distance of them. It looked a lot like the tower from the movie Tangled, her inspiration and references clearly coming to the light by the time Ainsley had sectioned the tower's shape into more shapes, defining bricks.

"I'd like that," she replied to Millicent.

 

[Orangeish Sherbert]

The child smiled, then drawing a big smile on the faces of both the Jedi and the pigs. How awesome! Her fun filled day at the park had gained her a friend, someone who wanted to come over and watch Star Wars! Maybe Ainsley would play Jedi with her and they could go off and save the galaxy together!

The child giggled.

"I'll ask my mom, I'm sure she'll say yes...This is going to be the coolest ever, Ainsley!"

 

[Appeal]

There was certainly something to be said about the two children going off to save the galaxy but that certainly wasn't drawing on the sidewalk conversation. She was always pleased to meet a new friend though, even if her bunnies didn't look all that happy. They looked a bit off-putting compared to the smiling pigs and Jedi that were beside them. Perhaps they weren't happy because they didn't have bow-ties like Octavian Oswald.

"If she says I can I'll ask my sister," she said softly.

 

[Orangeish Sherbert]

Millie nodded. "Okay! I'll give you my phone number, so you can call me when you find out!"

She couldn't stop smiling, and looked over once more at Ainsley's picture.

"You're really, really good at drawing."

The redhead sat up and stretched. "Well, I'm gonna have to go soon, but..."

She reached into her bag, writing her number on a piece of paper she pulled out of her pig shaped notebook, handing it to Ainsley.

"Here you are!"  

[Appeal]

"Okay," she said with a nod, blushing a little when Millicent complimented her on her drawing skills. She used the time while Millicent went off to get her bag to look over her drawing on the payment and while Millicent reached into her bag and wrote out her phone number for her she added some final touches onto her masterpiece to pass the time waiting patiently until the information to be given to her.

"Thank you," she said when she accepted the piece of paper. "I'll call you soon!"

 

[Orangeish Sherbert]

The child nodded. “That sounds great! I’ll be waiting! It’s always fun to meet new friends! I hope we get to hang out again soon, Ainsley!” Millie stood now, brushing her pants free of the chalk dust that was clinging to them. “Thanks for hanging out and talking with me!”

She picked up her bag then waved, smiling brightly. “See you later!” The redhead laughed, then ran off. She had did a really good drawing, met someone new. Today was the best day ever! She would have to tell her mommy all about it when she got home!