cloud talking. {Alleycat}

[Rose Macallis]

Rose wasn't really a "nature girl" by any standards, but that didn't mean she loathed the outdoors. Sure, there were lots of things she didn't like about them [bugs, dirt, and grass stains, just to name a few], but nothing was perfect. So it obviously made sense for her to be out here, in the outdoors, just chillin'. Of course, when Rose went places, people often thought she was just chillin', since she tended not to do much. At least, not much of anything that people could obvserve. She wasn't particularly fond of physical activity, so most of the time, when she was on a Mission, no one knew.

Today, however, unlike the days she decided to climb trees or hide behind walls or sit on benches and observe people for hours, she was actually just chilling. There was nothing better to do on a crisp, sunny day than to lie on the ground and watch cloud shapes [except, perhaps, to lie in bed and watch movies] and so, that was what she was currently doing. Of course, simply lying on the lawn in any old place was out of the question. That would have been way too boring and waaay too passe.

No, it was obviously a far better idea to lie about in the gardens. The fact that she was blocking footpaths was no matter, really. It was better than lying in the actual flowers, after all. The gardeners would probably have been a little bit cranky had she gone with that idea. Really, lying in the path was almost a blessing to everyone. It made people take different paths, which would mean they'd see different things, which was always good. And it meant that she wasn't obscuring anyone's view. Always a plus.

The only problem with lying on the ground was that it was hard to tell if someone saw her or not. It was very possible that someone spacey could just walk by and step on her lungs and then that would be the end of Rose. But really, she was far more optimistic than that and so, those thoughts were staying firmly out of her head. Which was staying firmly on the ground, staring up at the clouds.

[Alin Forrest]

The garden was an odd place for the band teacher, but some days, he decided to meander a little different path than usual in hopes to meet new people and find new and exciting ways to cause insanity among the masses. Or, perhaps, just enjoy the sunlight. The blonde streaks of his hair caught the sun as it passed through the thick, cotton clouds. The garden had caught his attention for reasons really unknown to him; he was moving through the pathways as he observed the garden, but his mind was on... other things.

The past two weeks had been nothing but thoughts of Flick. It was unnatural, really. He suspected it would pass through him eventually, but no man nor woman had attracted so much of his attention to leave him sky-struck and comparing the scents on the flowers to the calming breath of her hair. He'd been unnaturally out of touch, which had effected his classes as well as his outside life. It was worth a good laugh about, really. Alin didn't really believe in monogamy--singular addiction to the sight of one person wasn't his thing.. but he'd forgo that belief for the sake of this euphoria just a little bit longer. It wasn't going to cause him harm to be thinking about her and smiling for a few more weeks, after all.

He almost didn't notice the girl laying out on the ground whilst he was staring at flowers, but lucky for her, he wandered very slowly. His blue eyes, cloaked behind a pair of large sunglasses, dropped down to the mass of hair spread across the path, glad he had stopped short of the free strands and not pulled any of them. The highlights of red, brown and gold reminded him of something a bit far away, but that lovely brow and down over those deep eyes were a bit more than remniscent.

Holy Hell. Rose!

He kept the inane bark to himself, quelling the urge to make a fool out of himself by lack of observation. When had the girl gotten here to Somnium? His first thoughts were that she had come to visit him, but that couldn't really be.. or else why would she be out in the garden and not at his dormitory. He went through three other options of why she might be laying on the stone path in front of them--including one that had an accusation of hallucinating after standing too close to one of his students and smelling their shirt a little too closely for a little too long--but didn't ever come to the conclusion that she might recently be employed. After all, Alin always knew when new teachers were coming onto the staff... especially females.

But you've been preoccupied, haven't you?

"Tch.." He muttered at the realization in his head before he dropped to his haunches, rolling forward onto the balls of his feet after settling himself carefully within his balance.. and his mouth opened with that silly boyish smile and out from behind those lips came the ... most ridiculously cheesy--but so totally Alin--words that could have possibly introduced a man and a woman.

"There's an angel fallen at my feet in the gardens. What might I do to help you reascend unto the Heavens?"

[Rose Macallis]

Rose was not generally one to respond to cheesy pickup lines, but there came a point where she just had to look up and see what sort of cheeseface it was that was talking to her. Besides that, the voice sounded a bit familiar, though she couldn't entirely place who it could possibly have been. She didn't know anyone at Somnium Academy, at least no one that she'd not met in the past day or so. Maybe it was the nurse, though he didn't strike her as particularly fail with the flirting.

It took her all of two seconds to be glad that she had looked to see who the cheeseface was, since it was particularly exciting to see this specific cheeseface looming over her. With a little squeak of surprise and a touch of excitement, she scrambled to stand up. It was a little difficult, considering she didn't particularly want her hands to get dirty [which was sort of a difficult feat when lying in a garden], but she eventually managed to tug herself up with the help of Alin's knees.

It didn't matter that Alin was, quite possibly, the skeeziest person she'd ever met or that, in all likelihood, what she was about to do next would earn her a whole slew of new cheesy pickup lines. All that mattered was that Alin was a familiar face and, despite his skeeze, he was the perfect kind of guy to welcome a girl into her new home. So, with this half in mind, she gave a delighted squeal and threw her arms around his neck. With this feat, her feet no longer touched the ground, but that was trivial since she was certain that Alin would be able to cope.

"Alin!" she squealed, unable to get her voice down to a normal octave. She was, after all, excited. And being excited took precedence over being courteous to people's eardrums. "Hi!" She gave his neck a squeeze. Or at least, as best she could without being stabilized in the legs. "What are you doing here?!" How on earth had they both ended up at the same, arbitrary boarding school in Butt Fucking Nowhere, England?

[Alin Forrest]

Alin stuck his tongue out and made a goofy face just as she started to get up using his knees as a table. Preemptively, he began to stand straight up with her to be sure they weren't going to end up on the rosebush with her atop him and him yelping in pain. Her voice was the stuff only animals could hear, so it was a good thing Alin was nothing but a dog. He winced a bit, but he smiled the same, even as the weight suddenly shifted on his body and he had to lean back a bit to support both her dainty weight and his own.

"What am I doing here?" He chuckled, the bright light glancing off the buildings and he was happy for his hair being lost in his face to shield his eyes at this angle, "I apologize I haven't given you a proper welcome, but I've been here for a few years now, Rosie." He finally wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight, squeezing the air out of her a bit as he did so. When he finally let go, he grasped her hips and hoisted her up in the air, relieving his neck from the pressure of her hanging off his neck.

Like a big brother and little sister scene, Alin buried his nose against the smaller girls stomach and hummed out a noise of amusement before abruptly dropping her to an inch above the ground and stopping her fall to set her gently upon the cement again. "How did you come to be in my neck of the woods, Macallis?"

[Rose Macallis]

Rose shrieked as she was lifted, but it was broken by her delighted laughter. She hated heights, but that fact did not seem able to break through her excitement at seeing Alin again. She did, however, find it in her to whack at his back, though her whacks were so not-forceful, they probably had no impact whatsoever. Despite the blanket of elation, she still managed to be quite glad to be put on the ground. After another bonecrushing squeeze to mirror his own, she stepped back and looked at him, grinning.

"I don't know how I missed you being in England," she said, shaking her head slightly in astonishment. "It's not like I've never spoken to your sister." She laughed again, surging forward to give him another hug/squeeze. Many a female [and male] might have been wary to hug Alin, but Rose had never been. Even when male attention made her squirm, she’d never felt uncomfortable in the arms of this brother-that-wasn’t-a-brother. Which was a good thing, since she had a feeling that she’d need something comfortable like the easy affection she gave Alin whilst she transitioned into life at Somnium.

“I needed something to do,” she said with a shrug. While she was almost never spontaneous, she figured that Alin would take it as her just branching out and not ask questions. Besides, plenty of people up and went on vacation when they felt like it. So it made sense that she could up and get a job. At least now she could definitely pay for her stay in England. “And my mom said that I needed to stop going to college.” She gave a little giggle, pulling away from him again to wiggle her eyebrows.

[Alin Forrest]

Alin was pleased to see her. It showed in that big, stupid grin that just wouldn't leave his face until he forced it into a half-assedly convincing frown of consternation. He rubbed his chin as if he didn't understand something she had said and spoke in the most erious voice he could muster, "I was sure that the idea for you and Trix was to stay in college forever, wasn't it? No paying back loans then; wasn't that the plan?" He snickered and laid his hands back on her shoulders, rubbing them a bit with some intangible need to give and receive affection.

"I can tell you anything about the ladies in this school to ease your awkward new phase!" He wiggled his eyebrows, knowing she knew that even as he boasted it, "And I know most the men, too... very few of them interesting." There was a certain amount of euphoria that was still lingering from his thoughts previous to seeing her, but seeing Rose was a lot like seeing Trixie, and his little "sister"s claimed a special area in his thoughts. Much like running into a best friend might do for some men, Alin's "best friend" as pathetic as it might be, was this girl.. and his sister. They were almost interchangeable, since most of his young life he saw them together.. inseperable, even.

Alin sighed out a bit of that ecstatic feeling as he finally let his hands fall to his sides, sticking them loosely into his pockets to keep himself from gesturing madly in every direction with his excitement.