Life is confusing for Arthur Kirkland.
Well, I guess life is confusing for everyone. With all it's ups and downs, flips and spins, it makes it hard to blink with out missing something extremely important and having to fight to figure it all out. The simplest turn can throw you so far of course with little to no chance of going back to who you were before.
Things, certain things, nonspecific things, little things and mundane things alike impact us every day and the effects are irreversible.
So life is confusing for everyone.
But life is straight perplexing insanity for Arthur Kirkland.
It wasn't a month ago that his family up and decided it would be the best idea to move from their quaint little house in the country side to the busy streets of London. In reasons, he decided not to take their crap any more, and finally run away line he had been threatening to do at last twice a week for the last ten years of his life.
So, no more than thirty dollars in the pocket of his ripped jeans, he packed a bag and walked out his house. He went all the way to the street corner, farther than he'd ever ran away before, then he promptly stopped. Dropping his bag, on the damp ground with an undignified thump, he pushed his messy hair back, scratching the back of his head.
Where the bloody hell was he going to go?
Extracting his fingers from the tangles, he noticed their slightly blue tint. That's right, he had washed the green out his naturally blond hair and replaced it with a vivid blue last night; send the dye has yet to dry properly...
With a sigh, he fell back against the metal street lamp behind him and crossed his arms. He could go back home. Everyone was at work, shopping, a friend's house or to stick in their own realities to pay him any kind of attention. There was only a slight chance that anyone even realized he was gone yet. If he hurried, he could sneak back to his room and be miserable in London for the rest of his life...
Or, he could run away to America!
America was far away from home, but not the other side of the world. There was no chance of his family finding him and he wouldn't have to learn a new language. Plus America is a land of opportunity! He would have freedom and not get so many strange looks for his "out of place" and "less than proper" punk style. He would finally have the chance to live how he wanted!
Besides, his family had visited America once before, ten years ago. And during his visit, her left something there there that he was dying to get back.
He felt around in his pocket, he had exactly thirty dollars that he would use to live off of. So, leaving his suitcase where it was, he ran back to his house, silently crept into his big brother's room and stealthy as a ninja, ran for his life with the money he had... borrowed.
No way he was eating a dime on cab fair, he grabbed his single suitcase and began his seven hour march to the down town airport.
~(/°¬°/)~
Practically toppling over and passing out in his seat, Arthur head an exasperated sigh and closes his eyes for a moment of peace.
The mostly up hill seven hour walk to the airport was absolute hell! His feet ached and he shivered uncontrollably. Like many days in London, it decided to rain, HARD. So the last twenty minutes, he was running like hell so to protect the previous music player and band CD's that took up most the room in his single bag.
Nearly to the door, he fell due to one especially slippery puddle of mud, successfully staining himself in grass and dirt. Undeterred by the unfortunate events, he picked himself up and walked up to the receptionist desk with all the nobility he could muster.
The girl behind the desk looked at him first with disgust at his rumpled appearance, then she sighed in a bored way, looking back at her magazine as she spoke to him, "Go home, kid. Your folks are probably looking for you."
Arthur tensed for a second; had she recognized him? It was possible, but with the look he had adapted off camera, plus the fact that he was covered in filth, highly likely. "One ticket to America, please."
The girl paused, with a growl she closed her magazine then scowled. "Look, kid, I know a runaway when I see one and you fit the bill. Listen carefully, there's no way you can make it it in America, trust me! I'm only going to say this one more time before I call security, go home!"
Arthur did not walk for seven hours just to turn around cause some random rude woman didn't agree with him! He was ready to throw a fit when someone else walked on to the scene from behind a black curtain.
"Okay, Coin, we get they you're pissed at the world, but you have to let other people make their own decisions." She spoke in soothing tones and laughed lightly, placing a delicate hand on the other woman's shoulder.
Arthur calmed down a bit and gave her a once over. She had really pretty curly blue hair and fair skin. Her shirt was neatly pressed, nails manicured and a name tag that stated that her name was 'Laey.' She wasn't British, that was obvious from her flashy style and warm smile, maybe French by her slight accent.
Her deep emerald eyes locked with Arthur's own green irises, and she smiled gently. He rather liked this woman.
"A solo ticket to America will be one hundred twenty-five dollars. Do you have enough?" Arthur grinned excitedly, pulling out the balled up bills he had looted from his brother and counting out the cost from the two hundred in his hand.
The other girl huffed, flipping her blond hair dramatically before throwing one more warning look at Arthur and storming off behind the black curtain Laey had emerged from just before.
"One twenty five!" He stated with conviction, "I can go to America now, right?"
Laey smiled turning and walking to a pair of sliding doors, "right this way sir! We don't have many passengers this time of day, especially for a flight to America! But that just means more complimentary snacks for you and less people to attend for me, right?"
Arthur nodded happily following her to a boarding square, "my name's Arthur by the way, you're Laey? It's nice to meet you!"
The flight attendant looked back at him with a predatory grin, "believe me, the pleasures all mine!"
Despite being slightly creeped out by that, Arthur didn't complain as Laey let him skip all the boring waiting and took him directly on to the plain where he promptly fell out into the welcomed seat.
He was wet cold and annoyed at that blond girl, but all at once those feelings were replaced with excitement! He was actually doing this, finally running away from home for real! He had always dreamed of getting away from his oppressive household and masking it on his own. Sure he was just a punk chasing a dream, but isn't everyone who goes to make it in America?
There was a slight screeching sound and then a voice sounded over the loud speaker, "H-Hello, um, passengers... This is your, your c-captain speaking! And, uh, please... please buckle up cause w-we're taking off!"
The voice on the other end hung up with an exasperated sigh. It left Arthur with two weekends.
Buckling his own sea tbelt, he watched as an old grandma in the back corner paused from her knitting to do the same. There was also a young mother strapping her baby into the child care seat next to her and a man in formal attire looking impatiently at his watch, seat belt already in place.
With him, there was four of them, five if you included the this really it? The only people on the flight? Yes, the nervous captain and Laey were around, but when the blue haired girl said they weren't busy, she was serious!
Regardless, Arthur settled in, enjoying the rush as the air plane drove down the runway before lifting off the ground entirely.
Minutes ticked by and his ears popped. Looking out the window, he saw they were already up pretty high in the air but not to the point of 'Everything looks like ants.' He could clearly see wailing school for higher learning that he was meant to attend, the shopping center his mum was probably in right now, his own house he wouldn't miss, that old religious building on Hanover street that he was never sure if it was Catholic or Protestant. The higher they got the more he could see but with less detail.
He would have continued to stair out the window for a while if a head didn't pop up from the chair in front of him.
Long blond hair, olive colored eyes, the superior air about her, it was the girl futon before! What the devil was her name? Oh, right. Coin was what Laey called her!
"It's not to late you know. Where pretty high up but I'm sure if you asked Jean nicely he'd let you off. Better talk to captain before we reach the ocean!" She didn't smile as she spoke, her face unreadable.
Arthur tisked, "as if I'd do something like that! I bought my ticket, I'm on the plane it's in the air and headed to America. There's nothing you can that will discourage me now!
The stoic mask cracked slightly, "Really?" She asked, teasing this time, not mocking.
"Really!" Arthur said with determination to spare.
Coin couldn't hold it in any longer. Laughing hardly, she bent over the top of her chair to grab Arthur and give him a rough noogie, "you're a stubborn little bastard, aren't you kid?"
Arthur tried to push the hazardous girl away but she was outstandingly strong to his surprise!
"Don't call me kid, my name's Arthur!" The comment did nothing but provoke more laughter Laey emerged from where ever.
"Coin!" She said placing both hands on her hips, "what have I told you about sneaking onto flights for one and also abusing our guest!?"
Coin stopped, placing a hand to her chin, supposedly in thought. She didn't look at all put off by the others presence and continued slowly messing up Arthur's hair, ignoring his protest "Don't sneak on to flights if I'm going to leave the port unattended and only harass passengers that look like they won't call the police and aren't your type."
"Exactly!" Laey stated, scolding the girl in some strange way.
Arthur finally managed to swat Coin's hand away and looked at Laey hoping she would be his savior. She continued justly, "That's exactly right. And I'm not sure if called someone to watch the place, but Arthur is most definitely my type so back off!" That said she jumped into the seat next to said Britt and wrapped her arms around him.
"What the bloody hell are you-"
"Hey! That's not fair! If you're molesting him for the next couple hours who do you expect me to talk to!?" Coin stomped indignantly.
Laey shrugged, hands traveling suggestively across a very confused Arthur. When he first met Laey she seemed like a very nice, well to do young lady with good manners, now here she was, practically on his lap and groping all over.
"Hey! Where do you think you're touch-!"
"Go find Jean or something. I don't know," Laey ignored him.
Coin went slightly pale.
Looking around quickly, she leaned in as if the three of them were part of some big conspiracy, "Jean doesn't know I'm here," she whispered urgently.
"Coin, I'm going to give you ten seconds to explain why you're on this plane before I push you overboard, okay?" a smooth voice said from behind her.
Coin went absolutely blue in the face, and a shocked Arthur tried to peak over her to see who it was that made such a threat.
There were footsteps slowly descending toward us, "and Laey, do I need to go over the sexual harassment rules for this plane with you again? Unless you'd like to join coin in being pushed out the window without a parachute this time, I would suggest you get back to work, okay?"
Laey almost immediately let go of Arthur and stood up straight, stiff as a statue, "I'm so sorry captain! It won't happen again; I'm getting to work!" She pleaded shakily.
The person chuckled as they came into view, they were short, shorter than Arthur even, with smooth doll like skin, long shiny red hair braided into one neat braid, and bright green eyes like sparklers. Squinting in amusement, the laugh lines around there eyes deepened slightly.
'She's very pretty,' Arthur thought.
The captain turned to Coin with a light smile, "Ten, nine, eight, seven..."
"Oh! Non! Please Jean, don't! I'm really sorry, but I um, well you see... what happened was I, I just happened to..." in fear Coin desperately scrambled for words but couldn't think of any.
Arthur sighed. This girl was an annoying hazard to his safety, the other a huge pervert. How did he manage to get himself acquainted with people like this?
"She happened to notice how nervous I was and agreed to fly with me and attempt to rest me from my fears. Don't punish her, really it was my fault."
The captain turned those glimmering green eyes on Arthur, narrowing them for a moment before turning fully to him with a smile, "oh, so it was just her being a good hostess? Why didn't she just say that, what a silly misunderstanding!"
When Jean laughed, all the fear and tension in the air melted into relief. Coin settled back into the seat in front of Arthur and Laey went to the back to get her flight attendant cart to service the few other passengers.
"I-I'm Jean... F-Froy-Carrie, the c-captain of this, um, plane. It's n-nice to meet you!"
Arthur grabbed the extended hand, giving it a firm shake. It seemed the horrendous stutter Jean had over the intercom system had returned full force, "Arthur Kirkland, the pleasure is mine!" He said, rather chipper.
"If y-you don't mind me a-asking, w-what are your, um, plans f-for America, Mr.K-Kirkland?" Jean asked Arthur, timidly taking the seat beside him.
Arthur was rather taken with the other, quite amusing. Actually, he was rather found of all of them despite their quirks; they greatly boosted his confidence and encouraged his journey.
"Oh, no need for such formality, Captain," the British punk chuckled disarmingly, "manners and what not... Call me Arthur! And well, it was sort of a last minute decision to go to America. I just needed to take a trip is all. I didn't think up any actual plans. To be perfectly honest, I'm a little excited to figure out where I'll be sleeping my first night there," Arthur grinned.
He had a bad habit of not thinking things all the way through. But, really, Arthur was excited. Nervous and a little afraid but above all, very excited to finally be doing what he suggests said he would do.
"Basically he means he ran away from home on a whim and doesn't know what he'll do cause he's a stupid punk with no way to make it on his own! He hasn't thought about food, shelter, transportation, how he'll survive and just runs away from responsibilities!" Coin stated disapproving from in front of them.
"Much like you ran away from your responsibilities at the port?" Jean countered, effectively cowering Coin. Jean seemed very kind and timid , yet there was an underlying threat to some of the things the captain said. The stutter was instantly gone when someone was misbehaving. Not the kind of person you wanted to mess with, captain was kind but intimidating "D-don't don't l-listen to her, A-Arthur! I'm s-sure you'll do j-just fine on your own. Y-you just, um, need s-someone to b-believe in you!" Jean picked up Arthur's hand and gave it a light squeeze. Arthur blushed at his close proximity to such a cute girl, "My s-sister is just an id-idiot and outstandingly pessimistic."
Coin snorted, "Don't you listen to my brother! He's optimistic to a fault, really. He'll get you in trouble!"
Arthur went over her words, "Well, given how you have behaved through out the time I've know you I- Wait! Brother? Did you just call her your brother?"
The other two stopped and starred at Arthur like he had asked what one plus one equaled, the answer is obvious, "Um, yeah. Jean's my brother and Laey is my sister... Is it that weird that we're siblings?"
"What d-do you mean, 'her'?"
Arthur narrowed his eyes at Jean, "Excuse me for a second..." he said before surprising the two by groping for the captain's breast that did not exist, "Bloody hell, you are a guy!"
Laey arrived back to see her brother blushing like crazy as he run back to the cockpit and her little sister laughing hysterically as she "patted" a half dead Arthur on the back in amusement repeatedly. That girl really didn't know her own strength.
"I've got snacks!" Laey sung merrily approaching them.
"Bon! I'll put on a movie!" Coin cheered.
And thus Arthur's flight to America continued on...
~(/°¬°/)~
The last thing he remembered was coin reciting the movie Pretty Woman with Julia Roberts (their 8th movie) scene by scene through memory as it played on the little screen above them. Next thing he knew, it was the next morning and a cry from the baby down the aisle was waking him up.
He could hear Jean's voice from the loud speaker: "Again, t-thank thank you... f-for flying with Froy-Carrie a-air lines! W-we have arrived a-at our... destination and p-please f-fly with us again!"
He had made it to America!
He grabbed his minimum belongings out the over head carrier and happily exited the plane with the other passengers.
He noticed the lack of restroom at the tiny American port obviously made for fast interactions, and made a mental note to find a mirror so he could reapply his eyeliner and but more appropriately punk less jumbled tangled into his messy behead. He was in America now, and though the punk didn't exactly care about looking "sophisticated" he would make an effort to at least appear tamed. His unsightly blue dyed hair and pierce appearance was a choice, a way to express himself, it wasn't from lack of effort.
The three siblings from before caught him on his way to the cash converter. Laey squeezing a little low on his back while Coin cooed, holding his arm.
"H-here," Jean stuttered, thrusting an object into Arthur's chest that he hesitantly accepted, "j-just something to get you st-started, from, um, all of us!"
Arthur was surprised to say the least at the green painted metal in his hand.
It was a car key with a locker combination and license plate number on it.
"What's this?" Arthur asked, although he knew the answer. I was clearly the siblings offering him a car. A van no less. He could get around easily, and if worse came to worse and he couldn't find a place to stay, he could sleep in it. He hadn't know the trio longer than a day, but he was in such dept to them, this meant the world to him and he felt a tear prick at his eye, "You guys...thanks."
Jean was a little surprised when Arthur stepped forward and wrapped his arms around him in a hug, blushing lightly and stuttering how it was nothing. He wasn't sure why, but he liked the Brit very much. Actually, all three of the Froy-Carrie siblings did.
Coin laughed loudly, throwing her arm around Arthur in a friendly yet rough manner. She really doesn't know her own strength, "You're going to go far Artie, we totally believe in you! But you know," she tightened her hold so that it squeezed his neck slightly, almost like a choke hold, but not quite since he was still positioned around Jean, "If you were a proper and humble gentleman, you'd refuse the car, saying it's too much and you couldn't possibly."
"Well," Arthur growled, "I'm a punk, not a gentleman! I know being on my own will be tough and I'll need all th help I can get in America. I can't just look a gift horse in the mouth, can I?" Coin was speachless for a moment, then erupted into fits of laughter.
Laey took the opportunity to slide her arms as best she could around Arthur's waist and press her own frame against him, joining into what now must look to outsiders a group hug. The blue haired smiled playfully, on hand snaking a little further down as she spoke, "And remember, my little Arthur, if you ever get lonely, you can just call and we'll pick you up right away~" Her hand slipped into his back pocket and Arthur blushed, despite feeling the card she had put in.
They all stood there a bit longer, content in the group hug. They only separated when Jean's phone began ringing and he went to shut off the alarm, "Okay, time to get back to work you two. Arthur, the garage is just around the corner from here, you can't miss it... Good luck with everything!" He blushed then scurried off.
"See you latter, bushy brows!"
"Au revoir, little Arthur. I'm sure fate will bring us together once again!"
The English teen smiled after them, thankful to have encountered such nice people. Albeit they were all a bit strange... a lot strange, he owed them a lot, and definitely call sooner or latter to let them know how things were going.
He lifted his bag and pocketed the green painted keys. Turning around he noticed the large window a few feet away and walked over to it. There was traffic, lots of traffic, less the further away he looked from the airport. there were trees for miles in some directions and nothing but cement monuments in others. There were so many people, all different in looks and life. They went along, some fast, some slow, all wrapped up in their own lives, staking their claim and doing what made them happy or whatever else they wanted to do. Could he be one of those people? He strained his eyes to a billboard. It said in big block letters 'Hero Corp,' and had a picture of a person he couldn't make out.
A butterfly flew past the glass and he backed up slightly, smiling at the blue skies and sunlight of America.