We all know that Erin is rebellious, that Luxa is curious, that Howard is cautious and that Gregor is just along for the ride. So when you put all of those together what do you get? I have no idea, BUT, all of those characteristics come into play here. New York Night Out was concieved soon after Erin was brought into being. I mean, come on, teen heiress in New York, hates her guardian, what does she do? Runs around the big apple with all her punk/goth/raver friends of course! This story mainly tells about Erin's friends. There is a tiny bit of fluff if you look hard enough, but not too much.
Remember in the second book where Gregor tells Luxa he wanted to take her for pizza? Well, he finally fulfills his promise! Although Erin is the one that actually takes them. Whatever. Why are you still reading the author's note??!?!! Don't you know that it's time for you to:
Delve into the demented scrawlings of a fourteen year old girl...
New York Night Out - A Short Story
Erin, Gregor, Howard, and Luxa were seated around an ornate stone table. The four friends were in Luxa's chambers each sitting in a comfortable chair, food and drinks were set upon the low table and a fire was flickering in the hearth. Cassora, Erin's cat, was curled up before the fire. The two girls were laughing hysterically, Gregor and Howard sat with bemused expressions on their faces.
"Hopeless." Erin said.
"I very much agree." Luxa replied to the other teenage girl.
"They're ganging up on us, man." Gregor told Howard, who shrugged and shook his head. Howard's sixteenth birthday was a few weeks away and he was spending all of his spare time in Regalia with his friends. When he turned sixteen he would be spending much of his time at the Fount training with his father to learn how to govern the Fount.
Erin quieted, and leaned down. Her elbows rested on her knees and her chin was nestled in her cupped palms. She had barely touched her food, Luxa noticed this and said, "Is your dinner unsatisfactory?"
The Overland girl shook her head pensively, "No, its fine, just a little homesick I suppose." Erin had decided after the quest that she was staying in the Underland, Gregor knew that she wasn't missing her actual home, but the Overland itself.
"You know what?" she said finally, her grey-blue eyes pierced Gregor,
"Hm?" he replied.
"I want a pizza." Erin stated, she sat up in her chair and flipped her long black hair. "Not just any pizza, lets get a New York pizza, I know this neat little pizza shop down the street from Central Park. My treat."
Her offer was tempting and Gregor smiled, New York pizza wasn't something you turned down, "You can go up, I'm sure Ariadne will take you."
"Aria is visiting her friend in the Flier Lands." Erin told him, then her bright eyes roved the room Luxa and Howard were regarding the two Overlanders with the air of someone who knew the words but didn't know their meaning, "We could all go up."
Luxa grinned openly, "I would like that very much!" Howard looked a bit uncomfortable about it however. But Erin was gaining enthusiasm.
"We are not allowed to go up." Howard protested,
"Oh?" Erin replied, "Who told you that? Besides, it'll just be a few hours!" Howard still looked a little bit awkward about it.
"Come now cousin, it will be fun!" Luxa exclaimed, her violet eyes glimmered with a vision of the famed New York City.
Gregor finally got a comment in edgewise, "It sounds good, but…they don't exactly look like everyone else." Erin gave him an ironic look, with her pierced tongue, green streaks, black hoodie and corseted tank top, she didn't really look like everyone else either.
"Gregor, Gregor, Gregor, how naïve, you poor thing. Haven't you ever heard of colored contacts and hair dye?" Erin shook her head in mock exasperation and the
looked to Luxa, "How'd you like to be a brunette?" Luxa grinned deviously.
------
Erin was whipping a tape measurer around Luxa, "You'll fit into my clothes, but the shirt will be a bit tight on you." Then the girl turned to Howard, he shifted uncomfortably under her intense scrutiny, "We'll have to get you something though." Then she began measuring him.
A few moments later she shoved a scrap of parchment into Gregor's hands, "Here, these are his sizes. Get him something good." Erin held out a handful of crumpled bills from a pocket.
"What all do you have in those pants?" he asked her. Erin was wearing black cargo pants with chains connecting the pockets, she had so far pulled a quill, parchment, a map of New York, and a card for a store.
"They're cargo pants, Gregor. They have infinite pockets." Erin flipped her hair again. Since she was in the Underland her hair and been getting curlier, a result of not being straightened daily, and now it had soft waves that framed her face. She was also getting paler by the day. "The address on the parchment is were you can pick up some contacts."
"Ok." Gregor said obediently and left the room.
"This is going to be fun." Erin predicted with a smile on her face, Luxa nodded fervently.
-----
Erin slowly worked the dye through Luxa's long hair, her red painted nails drove the brown hair dye deep to the roots and then dragged it to the ends. "Don't worry," she was telling Luxa, "This will wash out after two or three rinses." Then she took a large cup and began rinsing the dark brown from Luxa's hair. It rinsed mostly, but some of it stuck to the hair and it was now a lovely soft auburn.
Luxa flipped her hair over and tied it up into a towel. She avoided looking in the mirror, she didn't want to see until it was all finished. There came a sharp tap at the door, "What?" Erin grunted as she dug through her closet trying to find some clothes for Luxa. Luxa, as queen, was allowed to have a door on her room, as it was judged she needed privacy. The two girls had barricaded themselves into Luxa's room, which had an attached bathroom, they had cordoned the living area and separate bathroom for the boys to use.
"Um…" came Gregor's hesitant voice from the other side of the door, "Howard's hair is died, but um, I can't put his contacts in." Erin rolled her eyes and huffed,
"How do you live, Gregor?"
"I don't use contacts!" he protested defensively.
"Neither do I!" Erin called back, and flung some clothes at Luxa who immediately started putting them on. "Now, go…do…something, I'll be out in a sec, and I'll help."
"Erin?" Luxa said curiously holding something up, "Must I wear this?" Erin laughed,
"Yes, Luxa, girls wear those in the Overland."
"Oh." The young queen said eyeing the garment dubiously, "Um…"
Erin sighed, "I'll help." The Overlander got Luxa fixed up and then took her hair down, it had dried into a very pretty color. Her contacts were inserted, and Luxa slipped on some shoes and the two exited the room. Nearly as soon as they got out of the room Erin seized Howard and put his contacts in, his hands reached up to rub his eyes.
"No!" Erin cried, her hand grasped his, and she flushed hurriedly dropping his hands. "Don't rub your eyes, I know it itches, but you'll get used to it." She stepped back to examine Howard, his eyes were now a deep chocolate brown and his silvery hair had been dyed a ginger color, Erin resisted the urge to run her hands through it. The Underland boy was in a pair of black and red Vans, a black Ramones t-shirt and a pair of dark wash jeans.
Gregor was scrutinizing Luxa in much the same way, her hair was now an auburn color and her eyes were a muted jade green with flecks of blue. The boy had thought Erin would put Luxa in cargo pants, he swore she had about seven different pairs, but no. Luxa was dressed in black, low rise, skinny jeans, and had on a black pixel tank top with the Invader Zim character Gir, it bore the legend 'Doom.' To finish off the look Luxa was wearing a necklace with a key on it, a black arm warmer that had two purple chains criss-crossing the wrist, and olive green shoes with a dragon in bright blue and yellow stitching laced up with purple satin ribbons.
Erin was in her black chained cargo pants, a grey shirt that said, in bloody letters 'Note to Self: Must stop eating children.' She also had on her classic black hoodie, leather combat boots, studded belt, and a plaid hat with a black ribbon at the base.
"I don't recognize either of you." Erin stated proudly, "Time for pizza!" She announced excitedly, "Ready?"
Luxa grinned ear to ear and nodded happily, she was uncomfortable in her Overland clothes, but it did look kind of nice, if different. Gregor gestured toward the door,
"Ready if you are."
-----
"It is so bright!" Luxa hissed, part in pain, part ecstatic astonishment. They stood in Central Park, just past the entrance to the Waterway. It was ten at night and things were just getting started in New York,
"C'mon, pizza time." Erin declared, and grasped Howard's hand leading him out of the park. Gregor did the same with Luxa. Both Underlanders gawked more than normal tourists, there was too much to see, in too short a time, "Unfortunately we can't do any of the touristy stuff, but I'm taking you guys to a club, if it's the last thing I do." Erin swore.
The pizza was good, cheese literally dripped off of it in chunks, the crust was deep dish and fluffy and it was piled a mile high with pepperonis, sausages, and bits of bacon. Howard and Luxa enjoyed it immensely and even Gregor couldn't recall the last time he had had pizza like that. Erin was just happy seeing everyone enjoy themselves and paid for their drinks and pizza.
Later on they left and she said, "Follow me." They did so but after fifteen minutes Gregor was getting a bit uncomfortable,
"Erin, this isn't exactly the best part of town." Erin grunted, "Do you know where we are?" The teenage girl stopped and turned around,
"Gregor, I've walked the streets of New York since I was six, I know what I'm doing." With that she flipped her hair and continued walking, Gregor was getting more anxious by the second, Luxa was picking up on it and clasped his hand. Finally they took a sharp turn down a dark alley way, Gregor was just about to say something when his echolocation picked something up. Three somethings.
Three teenagers came into the light, one boy about sixteen years old and two girls. The boy was a skinhead wearing a leather jacket, heavy boots, and he carried himself with an air of natural roughness. One of the girls had a knife around her neck, the other one glared suspiciously. All in all, these three were not the kind of people he wanted to confront in a dark alley. And then, a very unexpected thing happened.
"Erin?" the guy said his wide ice blue eyes stared at her for a moment,
"Hey Laiken." she smirked. The boy grinned, and his threatening manner dropped, he picked her up by the waist and spun her around once before holding her close. And then, he gave Erin a swift kiss on the lips.
"The news reports said you were missing." Laiken said,
"Yeah, about that…I kind of ran away." Erin laughed and then was set upon by one of the girls. The two squealed happily and hugged each other sporadically, in a way that could only be described as 'spazzing out.' Gregor turned his gaze to the only one who had made no reaction to Erin, the gothic girl. Her hair was long, straight and completely jet black, she wore heavy eye makeup and was dressed in a lace backed satin and chiffon dress, the bottom of it looked like it had been shredded, little strips of dark purple went from her shoulder straps to leather bracelets that adorned her wrists. She was the one with the knife on her necklace.
Laiken picked up Erin's hat, it had fallen off after she was assaulted by the other girl, he handed it to her, "So, what are you doing here?" he asked curiously.
Erin replaced the hat on her had and shrugged, "Underground railroad, destination, New Jersey." she told him gesturing at Gregor and the Underlanders. Laiken laughed,
"You haven't changed a bit."
Erin smiled at him and then turned back to Luxa, Howard, and Gregor, "Ok," she said, "Introductions are needed I think." She began gesturing at people, "This is Laiken, Lidia," the gothic girl's green eyes flicked in a way of greeting, "and this is Maisha." Howard was regarding Laiken with a look of distrust(probably because he had kissed Erin), but Luxa was openly smiling.
Maisha was the hyper looking girl, she was definitely something to look at. She had Laiken's big blue eyes so Gregor assumed they were siblings, her hair was bright blonde, almost white, with streaks of pink, black, and purple, it was cut in a piecy way and was spiked up. She had about ten bracelets over her arm warmers and sweat bands on each arm, and tons of necklaces, a bunch of them were just cheap beads. She also had two belts on, they each went around a separate hip. She was wearing a plaid miniskirt with black lace peaking out underneath and bright striped leggings, her shirt looked like it was sown together out of scrap material. Gregor recognized her from Erin's Ipod pictures, she was the girl with a ton of extravagant eye makeup.
"Guys, this is Gaige, Larissa, and Hunter," Gregor wasn't sure if she had those names prepared already or not, but they were good, and it was a clever idea not to use their real names.
"So where were you guys goin?" Maisha asked brightly, she was impossibly hyper and her fake eyelashes glittered blue.
"I was thinking of taking them over to Velocity." Erin replied,
"What a coincidence," Laiken said grinning, "So were we."
"Lets go, Lai!" Maisha exclaimed excitedly, at this point Gregor was wondering if she had had a Red Bull or if she was just naturally manic.
"Well?" Erin turned her eyebrow raised to regard her friends, "You guys wanna go dancing?" Gregor shrugged, and Howard probably had no idea what she was talking about, but Luxa looked ready for anything.
"Yes, let us go." The young queen said, she flipped her now-brown hair out of her eyes and tugged her am warmer back up to her elbow, Erin smiled back at her,
"Then we'll go." Laiken nodded and put his hand around Erin's waist as they began to walk out of the alley, she twisted out of his grip and rolled her eyes. Maisha assaulted Howard almost immediately,
"So, Hunter," she said sweetly, "you look like you rave."
"I…do?" Howard asked bemused, he didn't even know what raving was.
"No." Maisha replied and giggled madly. Lidia rolled her eyes at the hyperactive teenage girl,
"Leave him alone Mae, I don't think he wants to catch the insanity disease." she said scathingly.
-----
The seven of them went downtown to a club called Velocity, the music was loud and heavy or loud and fast paced, but always loud, and always something to dance to. It was a very fun evening, even Howard loosened up enough to dance. But that may have had something to do with the fact that Erin begged him for about half an hour. Luxa was in her element, she and Maisha made quite a pair, although Gregor had had to rescue the Underland girl from a guy trying to get her number.
After they left the club and said goodbye to Erin's friends they headed back to Central Park. It took a while because Luxa refused point blank to get into a taxi. They didn't go immediately down however, as Erin spotted a playground and immediately bolted for it like a little kid. Within seconds she was upside down on the monkey bars, "Come on guys." She called gesturing, her hat lay forgotten at the base of the bars. Howard sat on a swing next to Gregor and Luxa grinned as she attempted a slide.
Erin flipped off of the monkey bars, well she kind of fell, but managed to pull it off as a graceful spin. Luxa sat down on a tire swing, and Erin followed suit, twisting up the chain the two girls spun in rapidly dizzying circles. "This has been a very enjoyable night." Luxa said with a contented sigh, Howard nodded,
"Thank you for bringing us, Erin, Gregor."
"We haven't finished." Erin stated cryptically, Gregor raised an eyebrow at her,
"Oh?" He said. Erin stared up at the sky expectantly,
"Not yet."
"Oooh!" Luxa exclaimed gleefully, she spread her arms and tilted her head back. Her now auburn hair streamed out behind her as she spun. Gregor stared at her confused for a moment but then he felt it. A light cool drizzle. "Oh!" Luxa cried again.
Erin laughed and grabbed Howard's hands, "Come! Feel the rain." she told him. For a few minutes the four friends merely stood in the park feeling the light rain on their faces, Luxa couldn't get enough of it.
"This is very pleasurable." She proclaimed, Howard agreed with her, he was struck speechless by the phenomenon of liquid falling from the sky.
"We need to go though," Erin said, Luxa wailed in protest, "The rain is getting harder, soon we'll be soaked." And so, with some regret they descended back to the Underland.
-----
At about two AM, the four teenagers were attempting to sneak into the Palace, they got in through the old nursery and had almost made it to Luxa's dwelling but just as they rounded the final corner they came face to face with Naomi, the head of the Regalian Council. She glared at them ominously, they were in so much trouble.
In the end, Gregor's mom was told, and Luxa was grounded for about a month. Yes, even though she was queen, although she had put up quite a fight about it. Howard was scolded thoroughly by his parents and it was generally assumed proven that Erin was a very bad influence on all of them.
Later, they were all in their beds, in the Overland, Gregor was reflecting on the events of the day with a kind of contentment, even though he had been disciplined severely. Luxa had screamed herself hoarse but was staring at her ceiling remembering the taste of the pizza and the feeling of Gregor's arms around her as they danced. Down the hall from Luxa, Erin hummed Pretty Rave Girl under her breath and thought of her three friends fondly. And at the Fount next door to his sister-who had gloated insufferably when he had been punished-Howard was lying in his bed staring at the wall; he had had an excellent time, but he couldn't shake the image of Erin and Laiken.
Up in New York, people were still partying, still dancing, and flirting, and would be for many more hours. Slowly the four friends drifted to sleep, after their exhausting, New York Night Out.