Not dead! on Teppenpaw Commons

Darla Park

January 28, 2007 11:02 PM

Not dead! by Darla Park

Darla curled up into the chair by the fire and watched as students talked and socialized. Others did homework and read and such. Darla was having an interesting time watching them too. She was too tired to do much else, really. Her hand was outstreched to the ground, fingers touching an old cookbook. She was also laying on her Algebra book, not knowing whether to do her father's homework or to look for new reciepies... or to just go up to her room and sleep.

Darla's longish black hair fell over her tanned face, concealing her Asian features. She could still see through it, but knew others wouldn't be able to see much of her through it. Which was okay, Darla didn't like people being able to see her when she was tired. Her face was normally dead and zombie-like, eyes bloodshot. Darla looked pretty awful when she was tired, and didn't like people to see.

Darla switched position and sat the wrong way on the sofa. Her legs ran up the back of it, and her head hung off the end. She was still stretching, touching the cookbook. A thud sounded as the Algebra book hit the floor. Darla's hair obeyed gravity and drifted from her face to the floor as she yawned. Darla did look as tired as she felt. And her eyes burned.

She felt someone push the sofa from behind, tipping Darla ontp the floor with her books. She landed with a grunt, rubbing her head bitterly. "That hurt," she murmured, and looked to the person who tipped her down.\n\n

0 Darla Park Not dead! 0 Darla Park 1 5

Amber Carey

January 30, 2007 10:20 PM

That's a good thing. by Amber Carey

Giving a sigh of defeat, Amber closed her Transfiguration textbook and dropped it unceremoniously into the pile of books on top of her trunk, along with all the other books she didn't need to put straight back into her bookbag. The sight of them all in a mess made her feel guilty and think about her mother. Lisa had always made her keep her room spotless, but the combination of living with her father (no rules other than 'avoid Meredith') and the freedom of Sonora had turned her into a bit of a slob. She kept things clean, but they were usually a long way from in order.

Sighing again, she reached out and pushed the pile straight, then flopped backwards onto her bed.

In the midst of the sheer madness of getting used to all she'd had to get used to during it, Amber's first year was a surreal blur in her memory. Two things stuck out, though: the necessity of avoiding Morgaine at any and all costs, and that the coursework had seemed a lot easier back then than it did in second year. The mind-blown feeling that had always worn off after a week or two in normal school was sticking with her, for some reason, and it was beginning to get annoying. Her parents wouldn't be happy campers if she came home for Christmas or the summer with bad grades.

She took a deep breath and shook her head like an Etch-a-Sketch she could remove thoughts she didn't want to have from. The results weren't as complete as she might have liked, but the inside of her skull didn't feel quite as full of fog as it had. It was time to regroup. She would work on her Charms homework for a while, then take another stab at Transfiguration. She was good at Charms, so it wouldn't stress her out more than she already was, and might even help. It was a good, solid plan...or would have been, anyway, if the search of her bookbag and the trunk had turned up her book. Some of the discarded stress came back. If it wasn't in the common room, then she was up the creek.

Her sneakers were more appropriate, both for the outfit and the weather, but Amber didn't feel like taking the time to get them on and slid into her flip-flops instead. Forgive me, Gwen, she thought as she did, imagining her cousin drawling her disapproval of wearing shoes that failed to cover all of the foot with pants that covered the ankles. The older Carey insisted that, in what she called her "former life", she had been as fashionable as they came. Amber had never been able to decide if she believed it or not. Pulling open her dorm door, she headed down the stairs into the common room.

Since looking like a big idiot wasn't really the point of the mission, Amber decided to keep her search for her book under the radar. Straining as tall as she could without going on tiptoe, she peered around the area where she last remembered working. Smiling quickly at anyone who looked at her, Amber allowed her eyes to trail over the floors and tables and chairs, looking for anything that resembled her book, and finally spotted what she thought was it on one of the tables. Grinning with relief over not having to write home to ask for another and face McKindy's wrath until it arrived, she headed for the table.

Just shy of it, she took too long a step. One cheap flip-flop, a relic of the two weeks she'd spent with her mother at the beach over the summer, didn't move in time with her foot and tripped her up, nearly making her fall. Scrambling to stay upright without much of a thought for dignity or anything like it, she grabbed the back of the nearest seat, accidentally pushing it forward as she steadied herself. The thud, followed by a humanoid sound of discomfort, made her wince. She'd knocked someone out of their chair. How. Lovely.

Turning redder by the second, she hurried around to see the girl who she'd dumped in the floor. "I am so sorry," she said, mortified; she thought she recognized the dark-haired girl as one of the first years. "I lost my balance - are you okay? Let me help you up..." She offered a hand. "I'm really, really sorry." \n\n

0 Amber Carey That's a good thing. 84 Amber Carey 0 5

Darla

February 16, 2007 8:38 PM

Very good, though I just came back again by Darla

Darla looked up at the girl without a wince. She was much too tired to do anything about it. She just took the girl's hand and pulled up, pushing her hair back to a straighter position, and dusted herself off. Shaking her head lightly.

"No, no it's okay," Darla muttered lightly, yawning. "It didn't hurt, I'm fine..." Though it may be prolonged her. She was so freaking tired she felt as if she could barely feel a thing. "Don't apologize... it's..." she yawned, cutting herself off.

Darla looked around at the people in the room. Were they looking at the two girls? Darla figured her falling was pretty audible. Since the Tepp common room wasn't exactly wild and crazy. Yeah, there was a few older students sniggering. A few people had glanced at them. And some were looking to them back and forth. Others ignored completely.

Darla knew she could never be that kind of person. When something happened she always had to know. Always had to see. She could never just ignore people or things. Looking back to the girl who was still flushed over pushing her, Darla offered a warm smile. As warm as it could get for her being so tired.

"Sorry I worried you," she muttered. "So how'd you knock me down anyway." Conversation was always one to start Darla up again. "My name's Darla Park by the way, first year. You?"\n\n

0 Darla Very good, though I just came back again 0 Darla 0 5

Amber

February 17, 2007 9:34 PM

Well, that's all right. by Amber

Amber was sophisticated enough to know that most people would say they were 'fine' in a hospital bed with an IV hookup, but the other girl didn't look hurt. She felt a surge of relief. Hurting someone, even by accident, had been off the schedule for the day, and every other day. Thanks to her cousins, she was able to ignore any looks that the scene had caused and keep focused on the person she was talking to. Stares, rude, curious, or both, were the order of the day whenever she was around a group of other Careys.

"Oh, no problem," she said automatically. It was weird, hearing someone apologize for worrying her. It didn't seem like the right thing to say, but she'd already said it, which left room for nothing but going on. "I - " she giggled, embarrassed. "My foot and my shoe kind of had a falling out and didn't want to stick together anymore. I fell over and hit your seat instead of the floor." Amber offered the younger girl a lopsided smile.

"Amber Carey," she said easily when Darla introduced herself. She extended her hand again, but this time to shake rather than to help. "Second year. Nice to meet you." A piece of dark gold hair fell into her eyes, and she shoved it back with her free hand, noticing the book lying near where Darla had been. "You working on homework, too? I came down here to try and find my Charms book." \n\n

0 Amber Well, that's all right. 0 Amber 0 5

Darla

February 24, 2007 3:50 PM

Hah by Darla

Darla nodded dumbly at the girl's explanation. Looking down, she noticed that she was wearing flip-flops. Yes, that was sure to do some damage. Weakly, Darla twisted a strand of her black hair around her finger as she nodded a little more. "Those shoes would do some damage," she stated aloud, a little late.

Amber was already on her introductions, and Darla guessed she sounded like a rambling first year to the older girl. "Uh... nice to meet you too Amber," Darla said, posing a weak smile. "Sorry again, I'm a little out of it. Tired. That's why it took me a second to respond to the falling." Another weak laugh, and Darla looked down at the cook book of hers as well as the textbook.

"No, hah, more like pretending to do homework while I actually looked for bigger, better recipies," Darla giggled. "I cook, I'm pretty much an idiot though. Not at cooking... at homework. My dad wants me to go to Yale though..." she trailed off. Geesh, she was tired. "I mean... ugh sorry, do you know what Yale is? I mean... pureblood?" \n\n

0 Darla Hah 0 Darla 0 5

Amber

March 03, 2007 3:03 PM

My turn to return by Amber

Darla's comment about her shoes surprised her a little, but she took it in stride. "Yeah," she said, laughing a little as she looked at them. "I just stuck them on because it was easier than putting on my tennis shoes. I've gotta stop being so lazy." Gwen, who'd never seen any before, had been under the impression she was trying to get out of a test by getting spider-bit the first time she saw Amber in them. It had been funny, in a way. Gwen lived on an island, spent her time off of it in coastal cities like Charleston and Savannah, and she'd never heard of flip-flops. There was something ridiculous about it.

"That's okay," she said when Darla apologized. "Believe me, I know the feeling. I couldn't string a sentence together after finals last year, I was so tired. Everyone has those days." The younger girl really did look tired. Amber thought she might have been pretty, if not for that. She herself had never aspired to that particular trait. Her mother insisted she made up for any deficiency she had in any other department with her sense of humor and her never-failing ability to talk anyone or thing to death - both traits she was determined not to inflict on Darla, who looked like she was more in the mood to take a nap that chat.

It took a minute to string together everything the first year said about cooking and homework. "Half-blood," she said. "Dad's a pureblood, Mom's a Muggle. She always wanted me to go to college, too, but that was because she thought I wasn't a witch." She shrugged. "Guess you never can tell what's going to happen. Do you want to go to Yale?" Not two minutes since she'd told herself she wasn't going to start running her mouth, and here she was, running her mouth. "I'm sorry. You probably want to take a nap or finish your work. I run on like a freight train sometimes." \n\n

0 Amber My turn to return 0 Amber 0 5