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 Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 7:30 pm
Theodora had been in Destiny City for a little while now, and things had calmed down a bit since her arrival. She wasn't exactly pleased about her assignment to a General Sassolite and she was certain the feeling was mutual but at least she was still alive. To put it simply, Theodora thought school in Destiny City was just as drab as it was in Greece, and other than the fact this wasn't her dear home country of Greece and was always going to be the s**t hole that was otherwise called America then her day to day life would have been quite similiar if it weren't for one detail: all the clothing she had packed was gone! No longer was her wardrobe filled with her favourite worn and torn pants, her comfortable checkered hoodie or her doodled on sneakers but instead it was filled with dresses, skirts, accessories she'd never seen before and ridiculously uncomfortable heels that would never be as great as her climbers. Thank goodness she had been wearing those on the flight over and that they hadn't been packed away.
It wasn't horrible at first. No, instead it had been kind of hilarious. She didn't know what was going on but the first thing she imagined had happened was that she had gotten her luggage mixed up with someone else at the airport. It may have not been the most funny thing in the world but in Theodora's world it sure was. In fact, she had a large laugh at it, imagining that rich b***h opening her luggage to find all of Theodora's clothes there instead of her own. Their styles were so different you could easily have said they weren't even the same species, let alone sex. However, all those good humoured emotions were washed away when Theodora finished throwing all of the contents of the luggage onto the floor to find an envelope stuck to the bottom of the suitcase.
Well, it wasn't so much the envelope that set her off but the action that had happened promptly after she ripped open what she assumed was a letter addressed to someone else. It wasn't addressed to someone else, and shockingly enough, it was addressed to her. Theodora didn't quite understand, not right away. It wasn't until she unfolded the letter and read the first line, clearly in Greek, that things clicked in. She knew her mother was quite often off her rocker from old age and raising her sisters but this took the cake! As her hands tightened around the letter, she read on:
Dearest Daughter,
Yes, this is your suitcase. No, this letter didn't happen to get stuck in another person's luggage. I am sure you have certainly thrown all these clothes on the floor but please release this letter from your death grip and pick them up before they wrinkle and crease. They cost quite a bit of money so please make sure you properly store them away, certainly America has hangers for clothes.
Okay, put the letter down already! Stop reading and go do it!
'Thank you for picking up all those beautiful dresses off the floor,' is what I would say if you had actually done it. As you can see I have taken the liberty of giving your wardrobe a make over. I do believe that you have been wearing those boy clothes long enough and I think now is the best time to make a change! You may not like this but I am not sending you your old clothes, in fact, I have thrown them out.
Get that scowl off your face. Remember back when you were little, you looked so precious in a dress! It'll be just like that!
Much love,
P.S. If you refuse to wear these clothes then the bank may forget to transfer you money. (:
P.S.S. Bring home a boyfriend for summer break. With all those dresses, you should have them lined up!
There was the distinct sound of paper tearing. It was a miracle that Theodora had actually bothered to finish the letter and in the end it might have actually been better if she hadn't read the closing lines but she had and now she was kicking some of the clothes she had thrown on the floor around her bedroom as she stomped about much like an angry hippopotamus.
The room felt really stuffy all of a sudden, and she just wanted to get out of here. She had nothing to wear now though, quite literally. She had tons of clean clothes she could wear but did she have the guts? Her eyes fell on them, gagging as she caught sight of ruffles and fluff. Oh, this was a nightmare. Surely she was just dreaming and she'd wake up any moment to find out that none of this was real. She was definitely in Greece still, and this whole Negaverse thing never happened. It made sense to think that it was a dream... it wasn't though. Theodora knew that.
How could her mother be so cruel? Not only was she trapped in a foreign country but she had nothing to wear but this s**t. Even worse, all her clothes had been thrown out? She picked up one of the dresses from the floor as if it was going to bite her, the cloth loosely hanging from between her forefinger and her thumb, her wrist tilted up so that it wasn't touching her. This was just hideous, just... argh. She went through the actions, tossing each dress onto the bed as quickly as she could as she went through them all. Surely her mother had packed something else, anything else.
She hadn't.
"
The teenager practically pulled all her balls out in frustration, stomping around her room, pacing around in thought as her hair flowed behind her much like a wavy cape. It was sudden, but Theodora finally stopped, her eyes darting to all the clothes. Quickly Theodora made a choice, grabbing the most appealing thing she could find. It was a dress that had a floral pattern on it, and that was the only good thing about it. This dress, like all the others, had labels on it and they corresponded with other accessories and shoes. Theodora was just so aggravated that at this point she didn't even care. She followed the labels and threw on the matching headpiece and the stupid shoes before she stomped out of the room, slamming the door and leaving before anyone could pop around the corner to scold her.
It all sort of blurred from there.
She had made her way to the public gardens, kicked her shoes off and then definitely frolicked in the grass. Grass was grass it still felt really nice between her toes. It didn't matter that she was in a dress, or that her mother screwed her over. It didn't matter that she'd never have friends now that she was dressed like this, nor did it matter that she spun around until she finally settled down in front of the flowers. Bright colours and different shapes, Theodora smiled softly for a moment as her eyes fell on a partial bloom. She was surprised to see that they grew here too. Flowers were everywhere and Theodora was grateful for that.
"Getting enough rain?" She pondered in Greek, her finger tips tenderly checking the flowers out.
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Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 8:19 pm
With a school as barren as Hillworth, it wasn't surprising that one lad had managed to spend his time off campus in a place that was more aesthetically pleasing to him. He had managed to get himself a cup of tea to go, and by the time he had managed to walk himself to a local garden, it was almost cool enough for him to drink comfortably.
It was a reasonably sunny day, so he had worn his sunglasses on his head in case it got too bright for his eyes for some reason. Otherwise, he was dressed quite nicely for a boy in the city, unable to make himself dress so casually or indecently.
As he neared a section in the gardens that had been specifically designed for the younger children to enjoy themselves, he found a couple of white shoes that had been carelessly kicked off and laying at the edges of the grass. Perhaps if it had been a child he would have been more understanding. However, based upon size alone, it had to be someone a bit more mature than a child. Shape led him to believe the shoes belonged to a young lady. Not being the sort to leave something so disorganized, he quickly leaned forward and moved the shoes to sitting next to each other as if he was lining them up for storage in a closet.
"Goodness... who would leave such a nice pair of shoes out here like this?"
The easiest way to find the answer to this question would be to simply look up and keep an eye out for a lady without any foot covering. The teal haired lad glanced up as he straightened himself up, and soon enough saw a silvery haired young lady who was fitting of such a description.
He wandered up close to the young lady, but kept a respectful distance before he dared to address her with a simple "Miss?" Even with one word, his voice did not seem to hold an American accent, but something slightly more European.
However, English was still English, regardless of the accent.
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Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 8:37 pm
Theodora had completely forgotten about the shoes at this point in time and was more than happy about it. In fact, her mood in general was a bit more pleasing than it had been when she stomped out of her dorm room, promptly fleeing from any students or nuns who otherwise desired her attention or time. Goodness, who knows what trouble she would be punished for should she had stayed around to fume her frustrations out in her bedroom. The sun was out, the flowers were in bloom and the park was just heavenly. It was no wonder she'd forgotten all about the shoes she kicked off, possibly into the next city where she'd never have to see them again and could tell her mother some American stole them.
She was immersed in the flowers when a voice popped her bubble quite rudely. However it wasn't rude, and it was perhaps even a little too polite. It didn't sound quite like most of the voices around here, or even American. It was refreshing, and sounded a little bit European. Theodora couldn't place it, but it certainly sounded like it was closer to an accent from her continent than this one.
"Huh?" She said as her head tilted to the side to find the source of the person speaking to her, her hair spilling over her shoulders as she did so. It was clearly not in English, and probably sounded a lot like Gibberish to anyone with little culture. She didn't realize it right away and it took her a few seconds, most of it spent staring at her shoes (neatly lined up) behind the teal haired fellow, until something clicked in her head. Other than her wondering why they were so organized, she realized she wasn't speaking in English.
It really was a shame that her shoes hadn't made it to the next city, although probably for the best. It was highly likely that her mother would have just sent her more shoes to make sure an accident like that didn't happen again. A girl's dream, or that's at least how her mother would have put it. Castles of shoes and unicorns to carry them around! At least half that dream was true, except she'd prefer the unicorns be carrying her around barefooted.
She tossed her hand through her hair, sliding it through each wave carefully so that it didn't tangle.
"Yes? Can I please you?" She said to him, her nose enjoying the fresh scent of blossoming flowers. Her accent was quite heavy and her English definitely needed some work before she gave every man in Destiny City a very wrong impression.
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Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 10:00 pm
The girl let out a sound which seemed to be filled with confusion, though he could not distinguish the words themselves. In all honesty, his own mother would probably be more familiar with this sort of scenario. She frequently did shows in Europe and had learned several of the European languages as a result. The silvery haired girl's expression was easier to read, and it definitely seemed to betray her lack of understanding.
He maintained a rather neutral expression on his face as she then awkwardly fumbled to speak to him in his native tongue. It was better than what some other boys at his school would have done in regards to such a question.
"Yes... you can help me, Miss..." he said slowly, but not slow enough to taunt her inability to speak the language perfectly. He gestured towards the shoes he had arranged. "Do the shoes belong to you?" The answer was pretty evident in his opinion, but at this point, he did not see any harm in asking such a redundant question. He did have other questions about the various flower accents he had noticed, but for now, that question would have to wait.
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Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 10:49 pm
Theodora could barely understand half the things people said and saying them slowly really didn't help her. Greek was a far superior language, and instead of her trying to understand them, they should try and understand her. She was quite comfy on her throne, and saw no reason to give his slowly queued words any second thought. She would please him, and he would like it because she wasn't accepting any other word that he was trying to teach her. School was not in session and she had no intention of learning anything of scholarly value.
Thankfully his gesture was something she didn't need words for. Gestures, and emotional movements of any kind was something she could understand easily, her eyes watching around her carefully. She grinned at him in a manner that could only be described as sheepishly, although it definitely wasn't how she felt. The smile slowly shifted into something more neutral, a small smile as her toes wigged in the grass contently. She looked at him, and then behind him at her shoes before she lifted her leg up into the air and then crossed it over the other leg so that her obviously bare feet were even more apparent to him.
"Yes," was as simple as she could make it so that the underling could understand. They were hers now, even if that was sort of unfortunate.
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Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 11:00 am
It was an odd little display the girl went through just to show off her bare feet a bit better, but he made certain not to let his own amusement show upon his features. Speaking in that carefully slowed down manner that wasn't too slow, he mentioned "I saw the roses on them..." his fingers pinched together slightly as he seemed to trace the outline of the edging of the shoes "...and they are quite pretty."
He had also noticed by this time the girl was wearing floral print. Floral print and rose adorned shoes seemed like a bit much unless someone truly enjoyed flora. Finishing with the pantomime for the shoe adornments, he then made a wider gesture towards the flowers which the girl had been admiring before.
"Do you like flowers?" It was a simplified question for him, since he probably would have selected a slightly more educated manner of phrasing such. However, she'd probably lose the meaning too quickly if he chose larger words.
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Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 11:31 am
The sentence about seeing the roses caught Theodora's attention quicker than any sort of pace he spoke in. At first it caught her off guard because she hadn't noticed any roses in this garden, at least not in this particular section. She looked around for a quick double check and then she looked toward him again to see if she could get a better idea of what he meant that way. ********, she hated all this crap. Why couldn't everyone just speak Greek? Theodora was fortunate and she managed to look in time to catch sight of his gesture toward the shoes.
Of course a boy wouldn't have meant real flowers! How foolish of her to think such things. It left to question why a boy would like shoes as much as he did though. Shoe fetish? He didn't seem to have any sort of foot fetish, but he did seem to really like those shoes. Theodora didn't think this was the sort of guy's attention her mother had expected her to receive when she repacked all her things without telling her.
"I recently transferred from Greece to this piece of s**t city and if that wasn't bad enough my mother thought it would be ******** hilarious to repack my entire wardrobe behind my back from what I enjoyed wearing to what she thought a little b***h should wear. I hopped on the plane without a second thought and ended up here with just this to wear. I can't believe she'd ******** let me leave the country without anything I could wear without being laughed at in." She absolutely raved in her native tongue, finding it easier than attempting to translate all that bull s**t in her head. Perhaps she should have tried to say it in English, or maybe he should just know Greek. Clearly this wasn't her fault or her problem.
She took a deep breath, her attention turning between the flowers he had gestured to prior and him for a moment before completely giving her attention to the garden at hand. She smiled at them, verifying that there were in fact no roses bushes in this area. It was a shame, and she gave a small frown to the young man.
"Yes," she said to him. She didn't just like them though, she really liked them. She loved them a lot, more than a simple yes could say. She didn't know the English word for it so instead she spread her arms out as far as she could in a simple gesture. "Much."
"No roses here," she said with a small pause before she continued, "dream there were." Perhaps she meant wish, but wishes were made of dreams. Either way, her expression seemed to say what she meant, a soft expression foreign to her pale skin painted over her lips. A rare sight caged mostly to the inner gardens of her soul.
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Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 7:55 pm
Where as the girl made it glaringly obvious (in his humble opinion) that she didn't understand English, he managed to maintain a level of cool as she went into what seemed like an emotional explosion in her native tongue. It was almost like he was listening sympathetically even if he did not understand a single word of the whole rant.
Her responses in English, though minimal, gave him plenty to work with. When he first came to this city, he had made it part of his mission to learn about the various gardens in the city. It would eventually become one of his few escapes he could frequently use to get away from the oppression of Hillworth. So when she mentioned that there were no roses here, he smiled kindly as he spotted the inaccuracy in her assessment.
"This garden... was designed for children... for play." Slowly he pointed to the pathway towards the northern end of the property. "The roses have their own gardens. So no children can play with the thorns."
There was a pause as he used the hand which had been pointing towards the pathway to himself. "My name is Howl." There was a pause before he gestured with an open palm to the girl. "What is your name?"
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Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 11:28 am
Theodora looked at the boy for a moment as if she was expecting something to happy but when nothing did she simply shrugged her shoulders and then stared at him again for a moment as if she was ready for any sort of surprise that he might throw at her. She had to focus more than usual on him than she would if he spoke Greek and that sort of stuck a thorn in her foot, displeasing her on what was an otherwise pleasant time. Well, it wasn't like they were going to have any sort of painstakingly lengthy conversation about their feelings and life, and he did seem to have things he could offer her in terms of this city and in particular this garden.
"Children?" She said in Greek first, holding her arm up to about her navel. "Children? Right?"
Those annoying little things that stomped all over flowers and had no sense of direction and often fell into her foot? Yeah, that sounded about right. It seemed to click perfectly in her head. She related children properly, or she thought she had. She didn't care for the English name very much though and she cleverly thought of a more appropriate name for them that fit the very situation about this separate garden. Thorns? No way, they simply didn't want children eating the roses.
"Flower stompers."
She seemed pleased overall though, and she looked around for a moment so so to see if she could find this rose garden he was pointing toward. She couldn't see it, but she got the message: follow that path, or something. She turned back to the boy, looked at her shoes, and then back to him. He said something, and she tried to make sense of it. She couldn't, she could have sworn he just said he was a Dog. Clearly he wasn't, but with a bit of thought, she decided maybe that's exactly what he was.
"Howl," she said with a misleading smile as she said his name but perhaps closer to a curious suggestion than reiteration.
"Theodora," she said, pointing to herself.
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Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 6:01 pm
Even with a language barrier, it still seemed as if this girl was rather bold in her choice of words. Many children really did lack the ability to appreciate plant life for what it was worth, stepping on the flowers carelessly, or "stomping" as the girl suggested.
The lad had a bit more tact to not call out children as such a distasteful label. When the girl did at least gesture the approximate height, he nodded his head, but made certain that he only nodded for that and not the "flower stompers" label.
She repeated his name, but the manner in which she had repeated it did not exactly make him feel as if she understood the intent of such a word. However, she did reveal a female name while pointing to herself. It made sense for a foreigner to perhaps understand such a question, since it was probably one that got drilled into the foreigner's head from the get go of entering this country.
He extended a hand to the girl's hand and replied "It is nice to meet you, Miss Theodora." It felt extremely primitive for him to say such in such a simplistic manner, but if he went too complex on his phrasing, it would probably set this girl ranting in her native tongue again.
Keeping such in mind, he made a simplistic offer for the girl. "I can show you the roses, if you would like."
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Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 6:21 pm
Theodora's words weren't just bold, she herself was bold. If Howl stuck around long enough, he might find himself learning just how bold she was but for now her bold vocabulary would be as much as he would know and asking any further would probably lead back to the question and thus become pointless. She seemed pleased with herself when all her hard work paid off and he addressed her properly as Theodora. Sure, he'd been quite polite with it and that certainly suited his meager position as a dog. However, the polite answer had remained lost to the foreign girl and thus she had no need to become upset at being called a miss.
Heck, with the mention of roses following it, it is quite possible even if she did realize the meaning of it that she wouldn't have cared because he offered to be a good guide dog and show her them! What a valuable asset she had stumbled upon! It pleased her and no longer than it took her mind to translate the words "show you" on addition to the very familiar term rose, the girl had grabbed her shoes off the grass and quickly found herself to Howl's side.
Clearly wherever Theodora came from, there didn't seem to be a "No shirt, no shoes, no service" rule. If there was, then she certainly didn't care. However, it was just as likely that Theodora simply liked the feel of the grass between her toes and this proved evident as carelessly her toes curled and dug into the grass while a pleasant expression laid on her face. It would remain there so long as the shoes remained her in hands and not on her feet.
"Please!" She said eagerly. It was as simple as it got to showing her desire, but perhaps a bit nicer than she'd intended.
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 9:21 am
It seemed as if he had come across a free spirit if anything. The silver-haired girl promptly went to retrieve her shoes, but did not even bother to put them on her feet to continue on. He discreetly had manage to take a look to her feet as they seemed to plant themselves amidst the green blades of grass. In all honesty, for having such a negative perception of children, she certainly acted much like a child.
Howl nodded carefully in the girl's direction as she looked to him expectantly. "Let us go..." It might have been old fashioned of him, but he offered her the crook of his arm. He only waited a short while before starting to lead the way, sticking to the pathway he had pointed to earlier. Theodora seemed too content with remaining on the grass, so he imagined taking her onto the concrete would probably not appeal to her. At least he had done his due diligence to offer her the proper escort.
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 5:12 pm
Free spirited was probably the nicest way to describe Theodora while still remaining accurate. She did what she wanted to do when she wanted to do it and she didn't care what others thought about her doing so. If that meant appearing like a child to the eyes of some Americans then so be it! She would be the nicest child in the world, never stomping on flowers carelessly or plucking them out selfishly just to throw back on the ground. Unlike a child though, she didn't really need her hand held to walk through the park.
She simply stared at Howl for a moment, contemplating the arm that had been extended to her for a second before she looped her free arm into it. Somewhere in Greek her mother was grinning like a fool at the thought of this. WAS THIS LOVE? Surely this is how it started. Her mother would have been certain! They met in the beautiful garden, the girl in a beautiful dress while her long hair flowed in the soft breeze and her feet caressed the grass free from shoes. There would be a gentleman and he would tolerate the foreign girl's doe eyes and lost looks and then offer his arm to her... Okay, Theordora's thoughts were no where near like that and instead her line of thought had been completely the opposite. She momentarily considered Howl like a dog and then slowly a dog in a suit. Language barriers or not, Theodora noticed his behaviour was very similiar how her grandfather treated her as a child: gently and kind. Well, there went the whole dog idea.
Reminiscing, Theodora smiled as they walked. She dearly missed her grandfather, the only man she planned on loving all her life, and she hoped she would be able to go back to Greece and see him soon. She had so much to tell him, and she knew he would simply smile and then laugh when she told him all about Americans and then take her for a stroll in his garden.
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 5:30 pm
It was a pleasant surprise that the girl had indeed taken his arm and allow him to guide the way to the other gardens. In all honesty, he would have felt quite awkward if she had not taken his arm. Howl was rather accustomed to acting as an escort to his mother at many formal events, linking arms with her in a polite manner. Alas, his arm was not naked now, so there was no need to dwell upon the potential awkwardness that could have arisen.
The language barrier did create a slight obstacle when it came to having polite conversation. Yet, he did manage to use the silence effectively. He allow his eyes to wander discreetly, managing to catch a better look at the odd hairstyle the young lady wore. Towards the top, he couldn't help but notice that the bunches of silvery hair seemed to form a sort of flower. It must have taken a lot of hair to form such a structure to the one side, and seeing as the girl's hair hung down to her thigh already, he could only imagine the hair reached down to her shins when it was down.
With his free arm, he gestured to approximately the same location on his own head before prompting as simply as he was able.
"You like flowers, Miss Theodora? Your hair is the shape of a flower." He had already been smiling in his usual polite manner, but it seemed to relax ever so slightly to form something ever so faintly more genuine. "I like it."
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 8:03 pm
It was definitely a good thing Theodora was looking at the garden and not even slightly capable of reading Howl's mind otherwise she might have been quick to withdraw her arm from his and quick to go off in a rather strange rant about how he is utterly strange. Well, it was possible she would do that but it wasn't happening anytime soon.
The whole situation was awkward for her because Theodora wasn't usually so shy and quiet seeming, and although she loved gardens and flowers, she wasn't the kind of girl who spent all her time alone with just the flowers to keep her company. However, it was so hard to say things when no one understood a lick of what you were saying and that was on top of the fact that you could barely make sense of what they said without thinking too hard on it to try and translate it.
Her eyes looked at Howl with interest when she noticed he was looking at her head but she remained quiet until he spoke. She caught several words she recognized including flowers, her own name, hair and shape. The fact that he was looking at her head and not the flowers around her brought her to the conclusion he had caught a detail that was definitely intentional, although not too many people observed her hair enough or cared for flowers to notice such a connection.
"Do you?" She asked very seriously, leaning in closer to Howl to inspect his reaction.
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