A girl vaults a fence with easy grace, short hair trailing out behind her, and one hand up to keep her glasses from falling off. She's got a curious sort of half-smile on her face, and a curious sort of legend emblazoned across her t-shirt: abracadabra! ...nope, you're still here.
Seemingly oblivious to the sniffy and haughty looks she's attracting from her elderly neighbor, who's moving her lawn and not doing a very good job of it, she takes off at an easy pace down the sidewalk, hopping over cracks and casting her eyes downwards to check her slightly battered watch.
She's running late.
"Hey, kiddo," says a man who's walking in the opposite direction to her- back towards her house- and toting several large plastic bags full of flavored milk and various meats. She smiles and waves at him, and they both slow down to meet each other.
"Hiya, Hitch," she greets. "Anything secret or dangerous that you need me investigating? Only, I have a top secret mission of my own that I need to get onto." She pauses to brush her hair back away from her face. "Like, pronto."
"Keep it zipped," he reminds her lightly. "And don't start any apocalypses while I'm busy packing away the groceries."
"Aw, now, would I really do that?"
"Knowing you," he replies, continuing onwards. "Yes."
She rolls her eyes, grins, and takes off at a brisk jog in the direction of a high, twisting tree in the distance. It takes her only a few minutes to get there, and even less time to grab a low hanging branch so she can swing herself upwards into the leafy boughs and to the centre hollow. She digs around in it for a few seconds, and her hand touches something.
She tugs out a small but well-folded origami rhino, and unfolds it to read what's scribbled on it.
Pm fvb'yl ylhkpun aopz, fvb'yl wyvihisf shal av tf whyaf hsylhkf.
She shakes her head with a small smile, then outright laughs, which would make anyone passing by look up in curiosity. But no-one's passing by, and no-one looks up. She pulls out a pencil from her pocket, and scribbles on a loose scrap of paper.
Pm fvb'yl ylhkpun AOPZ, P't hsylhkf aolyl.
She reads it over, nods approvingly, and folds that into the shape of a seal, stashing it where the rhino had been only minutes earlier. With that accomplished, she slips down from her place in the tree and lands lightly on the ground. She looks both ways, crosses the road, and proceeds to leap over a small wall in order to get to the street on the other side of said brick barrier.
"Hey, look who it is!" comes a not particularly fetching call from across the street. "Little Red Ridingfort, all on her own. Lost your way to your grandma's house again?"
"If you'd've done your homework, you'd know that my dear old gran is dead and buried, six feet under," she replies lightly. "Buzz off, Bugwart."
And with that, she swings around a nearby lamp, and ascends upwards, as quick and as graceful as a gymnast, not even bothering to look back and enjoy the probably stunned expression on the other girl's face.
She dashes along the rooftops, bouncing back and forth off the shingles and bricks with her arms spread out wide as if she's flying, making them clink and clatter in a percussive manner. She jumps up to stand on a chimney, and places a hand above her brow, making it look as if she's some kind of princess, surveying her kingdom. The sky's blue and beautiful, and it's perfect weather for a game of catch or to fly a kite.
No time for that now, though.
She leaps off the chimney, and keeps on running, enjoying the feeling of the breeze running its fingers over her face and through her hair. Life's good on the rooftops, with nobody to remind you about your homework or the fact that an escaped psychopath has your name on the top of his 'to kill' list. All those sort of things come rushing back as soon as you plant your feet back on solid ground. It's nice to let go sometimes, though.
No time for that now, though.
She jumps, regretfully, and lands next to the street sign marked 'Amster Green', executing a perfect parkour roll. She glances around, and her eyes alight on another tree, in the perfect position.
Less than a minute later, she's scrambling up, fingers digging into bark and grasping for strong branches. She pulls herself up, hand over hand, and pauses near the top. She pats her pocket, reaches into it, digs out a paper airplane, and smiles.
...
A paper airplane sails serenely into the room, caught by the perfect gust of breeze from outside.
The boy inside the room picks up the airplane, and unfolds it, scanning what's written there.
P't vbazpkl fvby dpukvd.
He smiles.
"Abracadabra- I'm here!" A face pokes in through the window. "Am I late?"
"Just on time," he says, still smiling. "Like always."
"Great, 'cause I brought a present." She scrambles through the window, and sits on the sill, digging in her pocket once more. "It's a bit squashed, but I hope you like it."
He catches the badly-wrapped gift that she throws to him, and tears it open, sitting on his bed as the last remnants of paper fall out from around the item inside. It's a beautifully made watch, almost identical to the one that she's wearing on her own wrist. He looks up, stunned. "Where on earth did you get this?"
She winks. "I'm not saying I stole it, but..."
"Don't worry, I won't tell," he promises solemnly. And he won't. They both know it.
"Happy birthday, Clance."
"Thanks, Rube."
"Come on, let's go downstairs," she says. "All your other party guests will be wondering why the birthday boy is holed up in his room."
"All my other party guests will wonder why the birthday boy's best friend was in his room instead of downstairs, like a normal person," he retorts.
"Ah, well. Who wants to be normal, anyway?"
"Good point," he admits, and leads the way downstairs and into the party.
Abracadabra indeed.
the end
The cypher is N=7 if you're wondering and there's no codeword involved because I'm lazy. I've probably got a million and one details wrong here. Please ignore them and maybe review if you actually read this because I kind of doubt that anyone's actually in this fandom? And I want to get to know you if you are?
I, uh, may kind of lowkey ship Clancy and Ruby a bit, but only in a moirail sort of way, maybe? sorry if that bled through into the writing. Yup. Sure. Um.
Review?
-Kitty