Oh Elly, would you reply to this? on Labyrinth Gardens

Caedence

April 22, 2008 6:05 PM

Oh Elly, would you reply to this? by Caedence

Caedence let her feet walk her forward. Past the weird beaky statue that Jae had fallen off of, past the clearing used often for Noveling Fury! meetings and parties, past the fountain that she had met Morgaine for a duel, past the spot her and Hikaru had gotten into a fight. Her feet crunched over the sand covering the ground beneath the swing. She kept walking.

She didn’t really have anywhere in particular to go to, she just wanted to walk. She needed the fresh air. It was hard to keep in touch with her surroundings lately. More and more often since last spring she had been slipping into an apathetic stupor. Even Scrap didn’t break her mood.

It wasn’t like summer went swimmingly for her. She wrote Elly a few times, but not much. She wrote once after the funeral, a few times before her dad was sent to court and a few times when she was bouncing around foster care. She didn’t mention her dad’s court case, or the abuse. She didn’t feel the need. She just told Elly that she wasn’t being taken care of by her dad, and that he lost custody.

In a way she didn’t want to come back to Sonora though. It wasn’t like she didn’t like Sonora. This was like her home, really. It’s just that she was so sick of change. She wanted to get back into a rhythm. Even in her old life there was rhythm. Now she had been in four homes just this summer.

She was walking into a part of the labyrinth that she hadn’t explored before. Despite the hot noon sun, she left her robes on. The sleeve caught on a thorny bush. Yanking her arm free, some of the material ripped off, and hung there like a tattered flag as she walked on.

If she had still been a first year, she would have been afraid of getting lost. She was pretty far away from the Pecari suit of armor. But as it was, she wasn’t really all that afraid. The gardens really weren’t too awful big anyways.

A strange looking lizard skittered across the path. She realized the material she was walking on had changed. Instead of the usual pebbles or plain grass paths, this was more like cobblestone made from large flat gray rocks. Grass poked through in intervals. Caedence had never seen this path before, and she followed it.

Spotting a stone bench next to a small frog pond, she decided to take a rest. Laying down, forearm shielding her eyes from the sun, she relaxed. She may have dozed, or just daydreamed for a while, but the sound of someone walking roused her.

She didn’t care, since it was probably someone just out for a walk. But then the footsteps stopped. She was about to see who was there when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

It sent a shock through her body. Smacking the hand away, she jumped off the bench. She stumbled a bit before catching her balance. “Don’t touch me!” She shrieked.

She flinched, but in looking at the person she saw not her father, but Elly. “Oh…Elly…” she said quietly. “Sorry I thought you were d…you just surprised me is all,” She smiled, but soon she scowled, “Don’t sneak up on me like that!” she growled.

Her face lightened again. “So, long time no see huh? What’s up?” She sat down on the bench and patted the spot next to her. She really hadn’t seen Elly in a while. Was it just her or was Elly a bit taller? She hadn’t talked to Echo or Meredith or even Irene all summer. She really needed to catch up with them. \n

0 Caedence Oh Elly, would you reply to this? 94 Caedence 1 5

Elly Eriksson

April 25, 2008 6:01 AM

Happy to oblige by Elly Eriksson

Elly was having what she called a fuzzy head day. It was one of those days where she had far too much to think about, and it was making her head feel full and fuzzy. She’d tried flying it off, but her mind wasn’t on the game, so to speak, and her performance was awful. When she’d pulled out dangerously late of a dive and had fallen off her broom as a result, she decided that she’d give training a miss.

Her second head-clearing attempt had been swinging: a foolproof remedy. Except that when she’d arrived at her swing, it was already being used a by a group of first years. It would be mean to have thrown them off, and, pleased that someone else was enjoying her favourite pastime, Elly left the clearing and continued to amble aimlessly around the gardens.

Her head was still very busy. She was thinking about how she wasn’t taking divinations anymore, and she would miss the subject, but at least she’d have some more free time. She was thinking about charms club – she really wanted Josiah to hold it again this year, and she had some great ideas for spells they could do. She was thinking about her house in London, and how it was going to be empty so much of the time now that her Mum had moved away. She wouldn’t be surprised if her parents gave it up altogether, and then where would she live? There were a thousand and one other thoughts, too, and Elly couldn’t focus on any one of them long enough to make any sort of coherent sense from them.

She’d been walking the gardens without looking where she was going for a far while before she came across another person. It looked like they were asleep, and as she got closer, Elly realised it was actually Caedence. Would she always find her roommates asleep, from now on? Elly hadn’t spoken to Caedence yet since the summer. Gently placing a hand on her friend’s arm, Elly jumped back when Caedence all but exploded – she’d forgotten quite how volatile she could be.

“Hey, Caedence,” she said, with a slightly amused smile. “What’s up with me? Oh you know, this and that,” Elly perched on the edge of the stone bench and watched as a frog leapt from a lily pad into the cool, murky pond water. She didn’t want to talk about her own troubles with Caedence – that girl had enough troubles of her own. Elly hadn’t even told her about her Mum moving away – in the few letters she’d sent over the summer she’d mostly commented on positive things, like hockey and barbecues, to try and support Caedence in what must have been a horrible summer. Elly hated that she hadn’t been able to be there for her friend when she was obviously needed, but from what Caedence had told her about moving around a lot, she’d probably have been in the way.

“What’s up with you? And you know I’m not gonna let you be ’til you tell me,” she grinned.

0 Elly Eriksson Happy to oblige 92 Elly Eriksson 0 5

Caedence

April 26, 2008 7:03 PM

Why thank you much :) by Caedence

Caedence looked at Elly curiously. It wasn’t like her to give up a chance to babble on and on about anything. She smirked as she watched the water settle back into place from the frog. Elly then asked about Caedence.

“Well you know, this and that,” she mocked. Rolling her eyes, she gave her friend a playful shove.

“Just happy to be here instead of… at my house,” She stopped herself from saying home. “The new parents are really annoying. Typical postcard family. Mom and Dad are all lovey-dovey to eachother. My foster brother, Clayton, is in college and my foster sister, Caitlin, is over in Beauxbatons. So it was pretty much me and the two of them. Charles and Mary,” For once, she decided to make an effort to say their names right. “I think they’re thinking of keeping me around. They said something like ‘see you at Christmas’ so I don’t think they’re getting rid of me any time soon.” She shrugged.

“Other than that, life’s normal. Thank god there isn’t a cheerleader named Candy anymore,” She smirked, making ‘gag me’ motions with her finger.

She found a loose pebble on the ground and chucked it into the water. It made a little splash, landing with a small plop. Caedence frowned. She was hoping it would splash more.

“So, fair Elly, since I have answered your questions, you should answer mine. What’s up? And no this and that crap either!” She scowled at her friend, but in a joking way.

“Your letters weren’t too awful informative you know.” She chided.
\n

0 Caedence Why thank you much :) 94 Caedence 0 5

Elly

April 27, 2008 6:36 AM

You're so very welcome! by Elly

After a quick jibe, Caedence did start telling Elly what she wanted to know. It sounded that although Cadence had indeed had a rough summer, things might start to settle down again through the rest of the year. “Well that’s got to be good,” Elly replied to the foster family wanting Caedence back at midterm. “Means they want you around, right?”

She wasn’t really sure what else to say. She knew about foster families – there was a girl in her last school who was only there for two years while she lived with a foster family – but she couldn’t imagine what it would be like to try and live with someone else’s family. She would miss her Dad for a start, and Elly was sure that Caedence was missing her Mum. She was reluctant to bring the subject up though – she was sure that Caede would talk about it when she was good and ready.

Caedence finally broke the silence by asking Elly again about her summer. The redhead lazily stretched her legs out in front of her and offered her friend a laid-back smile. “Wasn’t much to say,” she replied, cheekily. “It rained a lot, I coached hockey, and Vicky’s brother tried to hose my t-shirt wet whenever he saw me,” she said dryly.

Pausing to think for a second, Elly decided she might as well tell Caedence about her parents. She would find out at some point anyway, and it might even distract her from her own family issues for a moment or two. “Oh yeah, and my Mum’s moving back to Austria,” Elly said, glancing sideways to gauge her friend’s reaction. “So I guess it’s just me and my Dad from now on.”

0 Elly You're so very welcome! 0 Elly 0 5

Caedence

May 07, 2008 8:07 PM

Sorry this took awhile to get up by Caedence

Caedence stared at Elly as the sentence registered. “Your mom moved back to Austria? Then…” She left the rest of her sentence hanging. It wasn’t like the woman ever tried socializing much, but did her parents really split up? Even after all of her dad’s crap her mom never left him. Caedence’s gut did a weird somersault.

Suddenly, she felt really angry. So what if her parents were split up? She had them didn’t she? She had her mom, she had her dad! Her dad wasn’t in jail. Her mom wasn’t… dead. What was wrong with her being upset about this?

Just as quick as her anger came, it went to be replaced with guilt. Why was she thinking like that? It must be bad enough, her parents living in London, now her mom’s even farther away. It’s almost as bad as if she had died. And hadn’t they been getting along better lately?

Mentally cringing, Caedence threw an arm around Elly’s shoulder. This was really weird, but not unbearable. This was the closest she ever came to hugging someone. Even though last year, Elly held her close, she never hugged Elly back. She didn’t ever hug her mom. She wished she had.

“Don’t worry Elly,” She said, “After all, things could be worse.” Oh crap that came out wrong, “I didn’t mean… sorry. I just meant that at least you can see her still right? You can visit right? And your dad, he’s really cool. I liked him. He acted like…” She broke off, looking away, “Like I was just one of the kids.” She finished.

She smiled at Elly, “Besides, now that I’m with the Grafties, you can come over to my house in the summer. It’d be cool. We could tour my house and neighborhood.”

Was she going to be in the Grafton’s house this summer? She hoped so. She didn’t want to change families again. She just wanted to stay at Sonora all the time. Maybe Bulla could let her stay during the summer?

She slipped her arm off of Elly’s shoulders, realizing she had left it there for a while. Caedence looked around the gardens for something to do. Boy she failed at the pep talk there, didn’t she?

“Hey, Elly, I know what we could do!” She burst out, “Why don’t we have some fun? Like playing something totally stupid!” She thought for a moment, “What about…tag? What do you think? We should just do something totally kiddy!”

She jumped off of the bench, motioning for Elly to get up. She didn’t know why, she just wanted to have some fun. If Elly refused… well there was a pond she could so send her flying into!

\n

0 Caedence Sorry this took awhile to get up 94 Caedence 0 5

Elly

May 16, 2008 4:55 AM

Likewise by Elly

Elly laughed when Caedence hugged her. She knew he shouldn't, but she couldn't help it - it was surreal! She was supposed to be comforting Caedence, not the other way round. "You're right, things could be worse," she said, still grinning. "We've got to take our lot and make the most of it, right?"

"Im glad you like my Dad," she told Caede. "He likes you too, you know. He always did like a challenge," she laughed again. Elly knew Caedence well enough to guess that she wouldn't be offended by her light ribbing. "So yeah, I'll come visit you and your new place, meet your new lot, and you can come stay with me and my Dad." It sounded rather nice, actually, to make sure Caedence was comfortable with this Grafton family. She didn't have anyone to look out for her anymore and, although Caede would deny she needed anybody, Elly thought it might be nice for her to have someone watching out for her.

Suddenly Caedence burst out with the idea of having some stupid fun - she even jumped off the bench in her enthusiasm. Laughing loudly, Elly followed suit and jumped off the bench, too. "Yeah okay. Tag - you're it!" Elly shouted as she touched Caede's arm and then ran back through the labyrinth as fast as her long legs could carry her.

0 Elly Likewise 0 Elly 0 5