She snuck into the boy's room, knowing he wouldn't be home for a few more hours. She looked around the room that she had been in so many times before. How silly, she thought, he still kept the drawings she drew for him all those years ago. They were taped up around the headboard of his bed, as crinkly and colorful as ever. She grinned as she hid in his closet. As she expected, everything was stacked away neatly as it was in his bedroom. His closet his room, and even his clothes all had the same three boring colors- black, grey, and bright red. She didn't get why he was so boring, but she loved him all the same.
Suddenly, she was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of a door opening. She stood, rigid, in the closet. She could hear him taking off his shoes, whispering to himself.
"...time to make real the promises of democracy.. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children..." He mumbled to himself, looking down at an iPad. "Gosh, what an inspirational man. If only I could've met him."
She rolled his eyes at his words. Of course he was looking up speeches. Boring speeches for boring guys.
She could hear him coming closer to the closet, and she got in place. When he opened up, she pounced on him, causing him to scream out.
"LATULA!" he screamed as the two of them tumbled to the ground, "THIS IS VERY DANGEROUS AND YOU'RE A WRETCHED HUMAN BEING!"
"Chill out, Kanny!" Latula said in between laughter. "You know that was a little funny."
He rolled his eyes and pushed her off of him grabbing his iPad as he got up. "You are banned from my room for the month."
"C'mon now, I'm the best sister you've got! You can't ban me!" she teased.
"It's not like you've got any competition for best sister. And I can do such things, now out!"
She pouted but stood up, and walked towards the door. But before leaving, she stopped and turned around to face her little brother. Kankri didn't seem that little, though. He stood at six feet tall, and was always mistaken as Latula's older brother. He wore his trademark outfit- a fluffy red sweater and tight black pants. Their close friend had made him the sweater for a present last Christmas, and he was always wearing it.
Kankri was at his desk, logging into his laptop. "Oh yea, Kankri, there's gonna be a Halloween party at the youth park next week. Wanna sign up for a booth or something?"
"Hmm.. Maybe. I don't know yet. Debate club has a meeting sometime next week, and that comes first."
"Ugh you're such a nerd. I'll sign us up anyways! And if you can't make it, then I'll get Porrim to come with me."
"Classic Latula Vantas. So quick to invite, yet so quick to replace." he smirked at her, causing her to come close to him and squish his cheeks.
"And classic Kankri Vantas. Always being an asshat." And with that, she left the room. "I'll be at the park if Dad asks. Later, Kanny!"
While riding on her teal and red skateboard, Latula glided down the sidewalk. She loved the feeling of the brisk autumn air flow through her strawberry blonde hair. She wore bright red vans, light blue skinny jeans, and a tight hoodie that had lyrics from one of her favorite songs on it. Her trademark red tinted shades masked over her lovely blue eyes.
She was skating towards the Youth Park, something the city had built a few years ago to get more kids outside and in a happy environment with wifi, no parents, and many other things to keep kids from 12 and up busy. There was a skatepark that Latula spent most of her time at, and a library is where Kankri would stay for hours. A lot of kids went there, but it had grown less crowded as the seasons went from warm to cool. Latula went so she could see one of her best friends.
She went for another five blocks, before making a left, then she saw the park. The gates were open, and she rolled right in. The skatepark was located at the back of the park, so she had a little journey to go on.
In the middle of the park was a fountain and a small bulletin board that had many papers stapled onto it. She hopped off of her board and walked up to see what was gonna be happening. These pages ranged from missing pets, upcoming school plays, and city activities, but the paper Latula was most interested for was the Halloween park bash being held later that month. There was a sign-up sheet where anyone in highschool or older could help with the party. She wanted to do something, but didn't know what. Oh well, when she got to the skatepark, she'd talk to her friend and they'd figure something out. But for now, she signed her and Kankri's name down for volunteering. After that, she got back on her board and skated through the park.
Once she got there, she went towards the picnic tables that sat right outside the fenced in park. Sure enough, her friend of 5 years sat, waiting. Her name was Porrim Maryam, and she was a goddess. The raven haired, green eyed beauty was a senior this year. She was in the debate club with Kankri, and they were quite close. She was in running for Homecoming queen, and if she were to win, she would be the first one to have won and still have noticeable tattoos.
On this particular October afternoon, Porrim wore tight black yoga pants, green and white tennis shoes, and a white mid-sleeve shirt that had green sleeves. Her long hair was held back in a pony tail, it looked like she was planning to go on a jog after talking to her close friend.
Latula jumped off her board and grabbed it before sitting in front of Porrim. "Hey Maryam," she said, panting slightly, "what's up?"
"Hello Latula, and nothing as of yet. How is your brother?"
"Oh, he's fine. As big of a dweeb as ever!" Latula said happily. "I told him that I'd be signing us up for the Halloween Bash, dunno if he's down for it yet. Are you gonna be there?"
"Of course, Kanaya is begging me to. You wouldn't think it if you heard her talking about it, but I know her too well." Porrim smirked. "What kind of booth will you be doing?"
"Well.. There's where I have a problem. I'm clueless and Kankri is too self-absorbed to help with ideas. I was hoping you could help me?"
Porrim laughed softly, nodding. "Certainly, why wouldn't I help the only girl who has put up with me and my antics the longest?"
And so, the two girls brainstormed for the next hour. Trying to think of a Halloween themed idea that both Latula and Kankri would enjoy proved to be most difficult. Latula liked to have fun and expressing one's self. While Kankri, on the other hand, liked to have fun through educational activities. It was difficult, but they finally thought of something.
"How about this," Porrim said suddenly, causing Latula to look up from her iPhone. "Kanny can read horror stories to the kids, and you can pop out and scare the kids?"
Latula thought about it. That was a good idea, actually. Reading would keep the blabbermouth content, and scaring young children wouldn't be too hard to do. "That's perfect, Por! I gotta go tell Kankles that," she exclaimed.
Porrim smiled, stood up, and stretched. "Glad I could be of help with your problem, dear. I've got to go now though, Kanaya is waiting for me at home. We've got to think of Halloween jewelry ideas."
"That sounds so like you Porrim, good luck!" Latula said.
The friends hugged each other before heading off in their own directions, Porrim jogging towards the east exit and Latula skating towards the south exit. As the night grew darker, the temperature grew colder. Latula shivered, pulling up the hood of her jacket over her hair. She pushed herself along until she was at a reasonable speed, going through the many neighborhoods that were from the park and to her home.
Once she arrived back to her home, her father was in the living room, watching Jeopardy with Kankri. She closed the door, calling out that she was home.
"I know," Kankri said from the other room, "I messaged Porrim and she told me you were with her. I would've come with you if I knew she was going to be there." He turned to glare at his older sister.
"I don't gotta tell ya anything to make ya come with me! But I do need to talk to you, come on!" She ran up to her room, Kankri reluctantly followed after.
She sat upon her bed, kicking off her shoes while her brother came in and sat in the teal bean bag across from her. "So what did you need to talk to me about, Latula?" He asked as he crossed his legs, looking up at Latula like they were at an interview.
"Porrim helped me think of what you and me could do for the Halloween bash at the park-"
"You and I," Kankri corrected her, which won him a scowl.
"ANYWAYS, she thought that what we could do is have you read scary stories and I could dress up and scare the kids."
Kankri stared at her. "Do you seriously find joy in the thought of frightening small children? If so, then I think we need to have a long and serious talk-"
"Shut up, bro. We've got no time for you lame lectures! How d'you think of the idea?"
He thought for a moment, rubbing his chin and looking up at the ceiling. "Well, it's the best one we've got. I do like reading, and I'm sure Dad will like the idea of both of us out of the house for once."
She laughed. Their dad did like having his two precious babies around the house, but he liked having peace and quiet when Latula and Kankri were both out. Side note: that was a very rare thing. "Yea that's true. Well, I'll leave you to choose the story! Make sure it's hella scary, dude. And when you choose it, tell me so I can work on my mad scary moves!" She jumped from her bed and landed on her brother, causing him to get annoyed and try to push her off.
"Ok, ok, OK! Just get off of me, this is indecent!" He spouted as she giggled and rolled off of him.
Afterwards, Kankri went to his room to work on homework and look for the perfect scary story. Latula watched whatever she could find on TV for awhile until she got exhausted. She stripped down and put on her pajamas, and crawled into bed. These next few weeks were gonna be a blast! She couldn't wait to work on the skit with Kankri. But that was for the next day, not now. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, smiling dreamily as she lost consciousness.
The next few weeks consisted of Porrim, Latula, and Kankri staying hours at the park, along with other volunteers, working on their ideas. Halloween was tomorrow night, and you could feel the excitement in the air. The director of the park, Ms. Paint, was giving everyone maps of where they should be situated in the park. Ms. Paint was a very sweet woman, she loved and cared for any of the regular kids who came to the park. Rumours around the park said that Ms. Paint's husband was in jail for stabbing a lot of people around the town, but Latula didn't buy it. Ms. Paint was too sweet to be married to a madman.
It seemed to be that Kankri and Latula were placed with a bouncy slide to their left and Porrim's booth. That made Kankri happy, he could talk to Porrim in between stories. Latula liked their location, because she could see the south entrance, and see who all was coming to the park.
Kankri was bordering out their section for story time, and Latula was talking to Porrim. Porrim's younger sister, Kanaya, was sitting at the little booth the girls had set up, quietly sketching a picture of a vampire. Latula had always been impressed with how well behaved Kanaya was, for she was only 6 or 7 years old.
"Sorry you didn't get Homecoming Queen though," said Latula. "Are you gonna try for Prom Queen?"
She flipped her hair and smirked. "Of course, I came in second for Homecoming, I'm bound to win the prom. Besides, prom is a way bigger deal than petty Homecoming. I'm sure to win!"
Latula smiled and continued talking with her close friend. Kankri, bored and uninterested with their conversation, stood from the ground. "Latula, Porrim, I hope I'm not interrupting your VERY fascinating conversation about methods on how to, ah...alleviate cramping pain from your, um...menstruation cycles... But I'm going to the library to print out the stories I've accumulated. Latula, come for me before you leave the park. Bye, Porrim, see you in Debate Club tomorrow."
The girls waved Kankri off as he left, and went straight back to their conversation. Kankri folded his arms as he walked. It was nearing 7 PM and people were still scattered about the park, talking or putting the finishing touches on their booths. He liked the park, it had its perks. The library was the best thing about the whole place, in his opinion. He had spent many hours there as a younger child, reading anything he could get his hands on. The librarian, Miss Leijon, and he had become good friends. He had found out that the lady had a daughter who was in the same grade as he was, but she went to the high school across town. Whenever he did see the librarian's daughter, the two of them would read the same books together, and talk about the book when they reached the end. It was great fun, and Kankri enjoyed that part the most.
However, the building didn't have his lovable friend today. He didn't mind, though. She had a boyfriend to be with and a whole life to live. He did hope to meet all of her friends that she talked so fondly over, maybe they'd be at the park tomorrow...
Kankri went to the kids section of the library, and looked for scary stories. He had planned to go print out the stories he had found online, but a little bit more of browsing couldn't hurt.
He found a particularly interesting novel about a little girl who had drowned and her body was never recovered, so she was depending on two children to help her get to the other side. Kankri walked to the table, staring down at the pages as he went. Suddenly, he felt something solid hit him. He stumbled backwards and looked up from his book, only to realize that he had run into someone.
"Oh my," he said, embarrassed of his careless mistake, "I'm so sorry for running into you, sir. It won't happen again."
The man, or he looked old enough to be a man, looked down at him. His hair was pitch black and seemed to be permanently greased down. He was 4 or so inches taller than Kankri, and looked like he came from the wrong side of town. His white t-shirt stretched over his muscles, making him look even more intimidating. His eyes shone a lavender color, but what stood out most to Kankri were the two lightning shaped scars on the right side of his forehead. It looked like a Harry Potter fanatic went bad. The strange man smirked at Kankri, showing two rows of glistening white teeth.
"Don't sweat it, chief. Name's Cronus," he said smoothly. "And what might I have the pleasure of callin' you?"
"Kankri Vantas." Kankri said as he stepped past Cronus and took a seat at the table. He opened his book once more, only to be disturbed by the man he had bumped into.
Kankri glared up at him. "May I help you?"
He shrugged. "Not yet, no. How come you're here in the kiddy section?"
"I could ask you just the same."
That response made Cronus grin at Kankri, which only caused Kankri to dislike the man even more. "Anyways, I'm here for some studying. I have to be here tomorrow night to read scary stories to children. I don't know why my idiot sis- hey, why do you care anyways?"
Cronus just continued to grin at the boy in the red sweater. "Never said I did care, chief. You just never shut up."
Kankri was offended by the man's words, but decided to change the subject. "How old are you anyways? Maybe your child is wandering around here somewhere?"
"Hey now, I'm not THAT old," he laughed, "I'm 17, turning 18 this comin' February."
"Hmm. How come I've never seen you around school then?"
Cronus smirked and leaned back in his chair. "School fuckin' blows, Vantas. I called it quits two years ago."
Kankri's jaw dropped. He stared at Cronus as if his head had just exploded. "You dropped out of school? That is the most irresponsible thing you can ever do to yourself!"
"Relax, chief," laughed Cronus, "school's just ain't for me. I take it that it's somethin' for you?"
"School is the most important thing to me, even more than my family and even my health." Kankri stated, folding his arms and glaring at the greaser wannabe. "In fact, I was pushed up a grade in 1st grade because I was so advanced."
"So what," Cronus questioned, "you graduated already? Or are you a senior this year?"
"I'm a junior, the youngest one in the class, too. But that's to be expected. I turn 16 in June."
"God, you're so young. So much younger than the kind of of cats and kittens I usually hang around with." His smirk grew more at Kankri, before looking out the window. "Say, it's getting pretty dark. How 'bout I take you home?"
"Thanks, but no thanks. I rode my bicycle here with my sister." Kankri took out his phone and pretended to have a new message. "Ah, speak of the 'radical' devil, she's ready to go right now. It was lovely meeting you, Cronus. See you again some other time." He stood up, leaving his novel on the table.
Cronus stood up too. "At least lemme walk ya back to your sister."
"Absolutely not!"
"Aw, how come, chief?"
"Well first of all, I certainly don't want your grimy hands all over her. And second of all, I wouldn't ever want her to think I was friends with a drop out, no offense."
"Heh, none taken. I'm proud of not bein' at school no more."
Kankri cringed at the double negative. "Like I said, lovely meeting you. Good evening." He turned and walked as quickly as he could manage.
Cronus sighed and smiled as the boy left the building. "God, what a doll," he said to himself, "I'd sure like to see what's underneath that hideous sweater.."
Suddenly, Cronus felt two little hands tug on his shirt. He turned his head to see a little boy who couldn't be any older than four looking up at him. The boy wore a black long sleeved shirt and dark blue sweatpants. His glasses had a thick rim, and his sparkling blue eyes looked like they were on the verge of tears. "Cwonus," he mumbled.
Cronus turned around and picked him up. "Hey champ, what's the matter?"
"W-well.. You said I could only have one book," at this point, tears were rolling down his face, "b-but, I found two books I liked! And I can't choose..."
"Ah Eridan, you can have both books. Just make sure you remember where they are! Your big brother can't always be lookin' out for ya. You're gonna be four soon, gotta be a big man now, just like me." He smiled and wiped the boy's face with the blue striped scarf around the boy's neck. "Now let's go home to see Mom and Pop, it's getting pretty late."
Eridan nodded while clutching the two books filled with colorful pictures. Cronus checked the books out and carried the small child to his car. Eridan crawled into his car seat and Cronus fastened him in. "Cwonus," Eridan piped up as Cronus tightened the safety buckle, "who was that guy you were talkin' to?"
Cronus smiled. "One of my new friends, I hope. Listen, he told me that he'll be reading scary stories at the park tomorrow for Halloween."
Eridan's eyes lit up. "I, I wanna go! Cwonus, I wanna go! Take me! I wanna go!"
"Nah, I can't take ya. I've got a party to go to. Maybe Mom can, if you ask her sweetly enough." Cronus closed the door and got into the driver's seat.
"But.. I like it when you take me! And..and...your fwiend might be there! So you can play!"
Cronus laughed. "You make a good argument, don't ya squirt? Hmm.. Maybe I will take ya, I dunno."
Eridan hoped with all of his tiny heart that the greaser could take him. He clutched his books tightly as the two of them drove out of the park parking lot and into the city lights.
Kankri rushed back to the place he saw his sister and female friend last. Sure enough, they were still there, chatting about plans to make the upcoming weekend. When they saw Kankri, Latula and Porrim waved at him. "Hey, bro!" Latula said, waving at him. "I didn't think you'd be back here this soon."
"I would've stayed longer, but some hooligan at the library refused to leave me alone. Anyways, Latula, can we leave yet? Porrim can come over if you two must continue your never ending conversations. I for one would love to go home, yet you know I hate being out by myself."
"Yea ok, we'll go. Porrim, wanna drop off your Kanny off at your house and come over for a few?"
"I sadly have to say no, my Kanny still needs to have her dinner and your Kanny has to work on his speech for tomorrow." she smirked at him.
He gave her a confident grin. "Oh trust me, Porrim. I am more than ready for speech off. I just worry for you, Miss Stutterer."
Porrim laughed and flipped him off. The three teens said their goodbyes before Porrim took her younger sister towards their house. Kankri picked up his bike from the ground, and Latula kicked her skateboard onto the sidewalk. The siblings made their way home, talking about their days.
"Hey Kankri?" Latula piped up, "who was that 'hooligan' you met at the library?"
He groaned as they stopped at a crosswalk. "Some idiot greaser wannabe. I accidentally bumped into him, and he wouldn't leave me be after that."
"He didn't hurt you or anything, right?"
"No, but he looked like the type of person to. But besides his gruesome looking appearance, the most insane thing about him was that he had dropped out of school! Can you believe that?" He sighed. "All hope for human race I had is slowly depleting the longer I exist."
Latula laughed, and started skating across the street. "Well, was he at least a nice guy?"
"He seemed alright, for what he was. But I definitely cannot see a friendship budding between the two of us."
"Hmm.. Maybe something else then?" She waggled her eyebrows at him, causing him to making choking noises.
"Latula, please! Ever since I told you about my...recent self-realizations...you've been making assumptions whenever I'm within 5 feet of another male!"
She had to hop off her board because she was laughing so hard. Kankri stopped and glared at her. When she regained her composure, she spoke to him between hiccups. "Well I only assume stuff like that cause there's only a rare few who can even stand you for two minutes, so him talking to you until you were annoyed is something that happens once in a million years! Plus, that didn't answer my question, Kanny! Do you see a hot and steamy future with mystery dropout greaser boy?"
He was quiet, his face growing red. Latula couldn't tell if his tomato-like appearance was from being flustered or frustrated, but she had a good guess.
"No, Latula. I have no thoughts of a romantic future with that delinquent. In fact, I'll go as far to say that I hope to never have to be disgraced with his presence for the rest of my time in this town."
She smiled, shrugged, and took off once again on her board. "Ya never know, bro. Maybe he'll be at the bash tomorrow. That is, if you told him you'd be thereee!"
Kankri cursed his tendency to be a motor mouth. But it was too late, the talk of where he'd be was too late. Now it was only a point of locating Kankri, which wouldn't be hard. He just hoped that Cronus wouldn't try anything on him, and especially on his older sister.
The two of them pulled into their garage, and Kankri got off of his bike. Before he could get inside, however, Latula stopped him. "All jokes aside, Kankri, if this mystery man tries to get into your polyester pants, tell me or Porrim. We'll pummel the guy to the ground, no matter how big he is, you know that and Porrim can pack a punch!" She flexed her arms for extra effect.
Kankri couldn't help but chuckle. He loved his strawberry blonde sister, and couldn't ask for a better one. "Yes, I promise I'll contact one or both of you in unwanted advances are made towards me tomorrow. In fact, I might wear my whistle tomorrow."
"Oh my god, you still have that?" She grinned. "Yea, bring it. That'll scare the pants offa him!"
Kankri nodded, and the two of them went inside. Each of them greeted their father, who was on the computer, writing a novel. Then the two went to their respective rooms to get ready for the next day.
Tomorrow was Friday night, Halloween night! They had school to attend to, an hour to get ready for the bash, and then they were booked until 9, when a party would be thrown for volunteers 14 and up could participate in. As much as Kankri hated to admit it, he wouldn't have minded if he saw Cronus the next day. He did seem vaguely interested in what Kankri had to say, maybe they could become acquaintances, even though Cronus was the living image of what Kankri did not want to become.
Kankri laid in bed, wearing red and black boxers and a white t-shirt. Right next door, Latula laid in bed, wearing Pokemon themed short shorts and a teal tank top. Both of them tried to sleep, but the excitement for the next day's activities kept their minds alive.
((A/N))
Yiss hello, and welcome to another installment of a fanfiction I hope to be enjoyed. The main ship will be Mitula, but the budding of Cronkri dominated this chapter. But no worries! There's always chapter two. As for the time being, this fanfic will be rated T. Rating may change if smut is wanted by the lovely followers, favoriters, and reviewers.
So how do you guys think of the first chapter? I'm trying to characterize Latula, Kankri, Porrim, and Cronus as best I can, but if it seems I'm making them a bit OOC, please tell me! As for baby Eridan, he's gonna be a lil cry baby who loves being read to. That's how I imagine him to be (ノ◕ヮ◕)ノ*:・゚✧ Next chapter, we're to meet Mituna, Sollux, Kurloz, Meulin, and some others if I feel to bring them!
So please read n review, ilu all!
-Skyler Free
