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 Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2013 8:54 pm
Lark hadn't been back for long, but in the short time she'd been back at school she'd accomplished a great many things.
Except not really.
She'd walked into her dorm and promptly walked right back out. It felt too stifling, too strangulating. Standing outside in the hallway was only marginally better - and from there, it just went downhill. She had half a mind to knock on Kettil's door, but decided against it. The last thing he wanted to deal with was a nearly hysterical ghoul whose entire life had gone topsy-turvy. They could catch up later, once she had everything back in place.
No, the only thing that would make her feel better was beyond the walls of the Reaper dorms. She stumbled a few feet forward before scurrying through the entrance of the building - and Lark promptly summoned her familiar.
Ben gave his bonded a worried look, but remained silent, following after Lark as she sought refuge beneath a nearby tree.
"I jest needa minute, Ben."
The roo merely nodded, hovering protectively over his ghoul.
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Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2013 9:02 pm
Since meeting a handful of other students, Steffani realized that she did really enjoy not being in the dorms. They were nice and all for quiet time but she was having a hard time meeting undeads in the dormitory. Assuming it would be a good day to meet people (and hopefully not lose a limb), the Patchwork checked her stitches, snatched a bag and book to doodle in, and headed on out into the big blue world.
… Well.
The big, dark campus. Whatever.
still sort of getting a lay of the land, Steffani found herself wandering near the reaper dorms, drawn in by the Gothic architecture. It was inspiring to look at the spires and dreadful twisting towers. She glanced around for a place to sit and sketch new designs for bags, and saw a kangaroo.
What.
She lingered closer, frowning a little, until she saw someone sitting beside the roo. Oh. She pondered just leaving for a moment, but the ghoul seemed…distressed.
Hmmm.
"Are you alright?" She said, from a respectable distance. The kangaroo looked like it could kick pretty hard, and she wasn't 100% sold on the solidity of her stitches, thanks.
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Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2013 9:11 pm
Lark wasn't crying, okay? She just had something in her eye. Something really burny and itchy that made her eyes water pretty hardcore, okay?!
The reaper ghoul didn't bother turning around. She'd gotten pretty good at sounding happy when she really wasn't. It wasn't a skill that Lark was particularly proud of, but if she showed any outward signs of distress while back at home it had always upset her mother. And so, for the good of her own sanity (and, to a lesser extent, that of her mother) she'd perfected schooling her features into a mask of exuberance.
Sure, there were teartracks running down her cheeks, but when she finally turned to peer over her shoulder at the ghoul that had called out to her, there was a bright, beaming fake-a** smile spread across her face.
"Aye, m'fine."
Ben snorted, loudly. The forceful exhalation was enough to cause Lark's hair to shift slightly.
Lark's smile faltered.
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Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2013 9:13 pm
Steffani wasn't psychic. She didn't immediately know that the ghoul wasn't lying until Lark looked at her. That was sort of a good giveaway.
And Ben's snort certainly helped.
"I think your… pet?" She looked at the kangaroo, sheepishly shrugging. "Disagrees with you." She frowned, but changed gears, smiling brightly and holding out a hand. "I'm Steffani." She offered, eying her quietly. "Carron. Y'know, like roadkill." It was clever! Or something.
…She really needed to teach her Creator how to make good puns when she went home.
"Is this your dorm?" She asked, looking to the Reaper dorms to their left.
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Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2013 9:19 pm
"Th'name's Ben."
"His name's Ben."
The two scowled at each other briefly before Lark lifted her brows in the boomer's direction as if to ask permission to continue speaking. Ben grumbled softly under his breath and rocked back on his tail, clawed fingers resting comfortably against his belly.
"M'familiar," Lark continued, shifting from her crouched position on the ground to stand next to Ben's reclined form. "I'm Lark." The reaper ghoul blinked slowly at Steffani's outstretched hand before grasping the undead's hand with her own.
Very carefully.
"Aye, s'my dorms. Ain't new here or nothin' - just.. back. From a personal break, yeah?"
Lark cleared her throat.
"Jest felt too tight in there. Small. Like it better outside, too right."
Ben let out a soft whuff of approval. It was obvious that he, too, much preferred the outdoors.
"Y'ever feel that way?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2013 9:25 pm
"Ben." She was a little surprised it spoke back. The only proper animals she'd seen on campus were, well, mini pets. Or students. And she didn't imagine Ben was a student. H-uh. "Sorry." She said, sheepish.
"It's nice to meet you both." She said, smiling a little at the care Lark took in shaking her hand. She wasn't sure of its origin, but she wouldn't remark on it. Maybe the girl's own demons, or maybe Steff just reading too much into it. "Yeah." She nodded a bit.
"I know the feeling. Especially lately." She scratched again at the back of her neck, swallowing. "My dorm's begun feeling ver, uh… tight. Space-wise. I've been coming out more and more." Which was a good thing, all things considered. A full couple months and she'd only met a handful of people.
Honestly, Steffani. Get on yo' s**t.
"Are you a first year, or what?" She asked, curious, then pausing to consider the question. "Sorry." She said again, rubbing her eye. "I, uh, have a problem with filtering my questions appropriately."
Not that she saw anything wrong with the question! …but that was usually the problem, her not seeing anything wrong with it. Eheh.
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Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2013 9:32 pm
"Aye," Lark nodded her head in response to Steffani's question. "Still. Been enrolled long enough that .. well." The reaper grunted softly. "Jest say that I been here too long and I ain't showed much progress. Y'know. Problems at home with m'family. Parents fightin'."
A blush lit her cheeks. She wasn't usually one to open up like she was, but it felt nice to be able to talk to a stranger about it. She couldn't talk with Ben. Well, she could, but he knew of all the issues she had, anyway. It wasn't like he could escape her - and vice versa.
"Nothin' t'be sorry about, treat," Lark offered a smile, this one genuine. "What about you, then? Y'been here long?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2013 9:40 am
She nodded a little, snorting quietly. "I know the feelin'." She hadn't been there long, but the stagnant process of advancing in her classes was…tiresome. At least they weren't family problems, though. "Right." She nodded, frowning a bit. "At least you can kind of escape here, right?" She honestly didn't know how to react to that situation. Her Creator very rarely raised his voice.
Sure, he could make her feel bad. But it usually wasn't with fighting.
Steff smiled again when she returned the question, nodding a bit. "Sort of. Couple months." More than a couple. Shhh. "Just sort of been taking classes and trying to blend in." She'd spent the first couple months bitterly ignoring everyone and everything in the hopes that Creator'd feel bad and bring her home, but…
No luck.
"First year, too." She added as a by-the-way sort of statement. "In the undead dorms, obviously." Whether she thought she was a zombie or a Patchwork, undead is undead.
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Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2013 2:24 pm
"Never use't feel that way. Like I could escape here. I never wanted t'come here, even back in th'beginnin'. Thought that I could learn w'ever I needed t'learn back at home." Lark lifted her hand and used her thumb to push back the brim of her hat. "But.. seems t'me that y'got a right way of lookin' at stuff, too right." She gave a sheepish laugh and shook her head. "Should join a right few clubs. You a member of any clubs? ....ain't got many friends here - would be nice to make a few new ones," she smiled, "y'self included." Ben let loose a low, odd-sounding purr before mumbling a content, "She'll be right, Lark." The words were full of encouragement. "Any rate, how'd y'end up here, then?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2013 8:37 pm
She smirked a little. "It's a lot easier than holding out for some miracle. Besides, if things aren't right at home… That's just as stressful as not wanting to be here." She snorted, shifting her purse on her shoulder. She'd gone back, briefly, for a visit with her Creator, and it'd just been a shouting match. She was almost glad to be back.
"I was thinking about the fashion club?" She said, scratching her chin sheepishly. "Seems to be the only thing I'm half decent at, stitching myself and my stuff up." Sure, she enjoyed it, too. "I've met a couple people too, but not many." She shrugged, grinning a little at the remark. "Most of the students are super nice with newbies." She said, by way of encouragement.
She looked to Ben, smirking a little, and then back to Lark, blinking at the question. Her mouth worked for a minute, then she sucked in a breath, closed her eyes… And said it in one word:
"IdisobeyedmyCreatorandmakehimupsetwithmylackoftrainingsohesentmeheresoIcanlearntobeabetterassistant."
And breathe.
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Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2013 12:43 pm
Lark listened to Steffani intently, smiling ruefully when the topic of Fashion club came up. She'd never had a lick of fashion, not one little speck, and it'd become something of a tenuous topic between Lark and her mother. Her eyes widened when Steff blurted out the part about being a better assistant. "Ah, yeah. M'best friend goes to this academy, but we ain't talked in a good spot. He don't know I'm back yet." A skinny shoulder lifted in a shrug, and her mouth drooped slightly. "We.. got a lotta catchin' up t'do, me n' him." Lark cleared her throat. "Well, I'd, ah. I'd join up w'ya in that fashion club, if.. well. I ain't got a handle on it, but I reckon I can learn in a snip if I need to." What the heck. "And.. yer creator? D'ya ... I mean. I ain't got much knowledge 'bout undead, too right - y'belong t'im, then? How's 'at all work?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2013 6:17 pm
"You should find him." She pointed out, smirking a bit. "You're not gonna catch up sitting under a tree and waiting for him to fall out of the sky." She paused at that, tilting her head. "… Unless he's a climber, then maybe." Ahem.
She grinned at the idea of Lark joining the fashion club with her. "I'm pretty sure the point of clubs is to do what you like." She pointed out, a little sarcastic. Just enough to be teasing! "What do you like to do?"
The Creator question through her a bit. Steff blinked, considering the question for a minute. "… Yeah, basically. He made me to be an assistant. Sometimes assistant means different things with different creators, but in my case, basically it was someone to help him around the lab, cleaning up and keeping the place tidy, running errands for him…" She got a little exasperated look.
"Basically I'm his excuse to not leave the house ever so he can play in the lab while I go out and buy food and junk to make sure he doesn't die." Grumblesnort. "And I did that! But…"
In her own time. She rubbed her neck. "He didn't used to give me all this stuff to do, y'know? When I first woke up, he just kind of let me do whatever, he gave me a lot of freedom. Then something happened and he suddenly had like, four page lists of stuff he needed me to do." It was a dramatic, sudden change, and she hadn't liked it.
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Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 12:01 pm
"I ain't been too good a friend t'him. I really ain't. Things got kinna... complicated, y'could say? M'not... well. M'not scared - don't get me wrong, now, I ain't scared t'talk t'him, I just dunno what he's been up't n' I'd rather not make 'im feel obligated t' hang out w'me jest cuz we grew up as besties." Her shoulders lifted in a shrug and she fussed with the hem of her vest. Was she being too open and forward? Lark chewed her lip before offering the other ghoul a smile. "I like t'go on walkabouts in the scarefari, most of all. Love bein' outside. Feels nicer, more open, I guess." Lark shrugged again briefly. "Well, least yer here now, yeah? Me too. Free from what ails us, guess y'could say. Mostly, I guess. D'ya ever think about not goin' back t'him? Yer creator, I mean."
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Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 1:27 pm
Steffani nodded a bit as Lark explained the situation she found herself in. "Still, if you grew up together, it might be kind of nice to catch up, if nothin' else." She offered, smiling a bit. "No pressure, just a nice chitchat with an old friend." Steff had tried talking to her old ghoul friends on her brief visit back, but it hadn't ended well.
Still! There was hope for Lark!
"Why not do like, a nature thing?" She said, perking a bit. "It'd be cool to have a club that goes out into the scarefari and stuff." She couldn't promise she'd do it, not with all that potential for murkiness, but she was sure other students -- especially monsters like the hounds -- would like it.
Steff frowned a little at that idea, scratching her chin. "No, never." She said plainly, smiling a bit. "We fight, but… He's my Master. He created me, I owe him for that. And I do like him." She loved him, really, as all Patchworks should. "We just… butt heads." She smirked a bit, shrugging.
"One day I want to go back and be the assistant he wants me to be. But not now." There was too much anger every time they met for it to be the right time to go home. Maybe after graduation…
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Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 10:32 am
"I will. No pressure, yeah. Y'got a good point. Ain't like. Well. I ain't never give him a ...reason t'hate me, I guess. Jest wasn't around for 'im. And.. we kinna had a thing 'tween us - I think I jest make a better friend than I do a ghoulfriend, y'know? Not cut out fer it, I guess." Lark chuckled, the sound soft. "I ain't even got a clue what to do when I'm done w'school. M' mum n' da only sent me b'cuz they ain't got a clue what else t'do w'me. They all grim reapers, the lot o'them. W'weapons? N'me, well." She tilted her head towards her familiar. "I got a Ben." The boomer smiled and offered a nod before glancing fondly towards Lark.
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