Disclaimer: I don't own it.
Yay! I'm back! That power loss was a total bummer but now I have a new chap so I'm happy again. I'm going to Montreal tomorrow so there won't be another chap for a while, like three days or something. Anyway I want to thank miss_mags and Alex of the Westlands and Alcapacien/Quiggles for reviewing and helping me out. Here's the chap, there's a bit of fluff along the way, hope you likey. :D Ciao
Karma
~*~ Solutions
The next morning, Alanna woke up totally refreshed. She got out of bed and noticed Jon wasn't on the floor anymore, she was a little puzzled then suddenly a cry of amazement rose from the throats of her four friends guided her to the kitchen. When she smelled the frying bacon, her nose tingled and her stomach grumbled so loudly Ayden heard it from the kitchen. He grinned at her when she walked into the room.
"Hullo sleepyhead, how're ya feelin'?" He asked in fast paced speech.
"Sleepyhead?" Alanna asked, confused. It couldn't be that late could it? "I'm fine, thank you. I slept very well." She continued with a smile.
"Yes, sleepyhead," Jon turned to her, tearing his eyes away from whatever had captured the knights attention, preferring her humiliation to it. "It's the third candlemark after dawn!" Jon scoffed at her, voice riddled with amusement.
"I slept that late? I broke my pattern? Wow! Those-I mean that," she amended quickly as Jon scowled, "healing must have taken more out of me than I thought. Well, no harm done I suppose."
"That's right! Now how about some breakfast? Are you hungry?" Ayden asked with a grin, knowing the answer.
"Ravenous! Starving! Famished! Voracious!"
"I thought so, here you go, there's enough for everyone, I hope." The chestnut haired boy added, glancing in Raoul and Gary's direction.
Alanna looked at all the food on the table, there wasn't as much variety as she was used to in the Mess Hall but she was so hungry she would have eaten anything dropped in front of her anyway. There was bacon on some strange paper in silver like plates, scrambled eggs in ceramic plates placed in front of each person, orange juice in glass glasses not dried clay or ceramic mugs. Everything was so different. She thought, At least the silverware is normal.
Ayden, noticed that Alan wasn't eating but staring around the table, taking in the differences. The green eyed boy grinned and switched spots with Gary who had been sitting beside Alan and felt he wasn't close enough to the toast. Once he sat down comfortably, Alan looking at him with a raised eyebrow. He smiled and winked then pointed out the silver plates, "that's aluminum," he told his friend, Alanna nodded patiently. "It's a kind of metal," he explained. "And on top," he continued, reaching for the dish and dumping its contents into his and her plate, "is what we call a paper napkin, it's biodegradable-disposable-so we don't have to spend our time wasting good fabric on such small things, and you don't have to wash the either, it's a lot easier." He finished, chewing a piece of bacon.
"How come you have so much glass? Are you rich? At the Palace, no one has glass, only the chapels and churches have it, you know, those designs of colored glass they put as windows. It's very beautiful." Alanna blushed at having let the comment slip through her lips.
"Yes, it is," Ayden answered, surprising Alanna. "I'm surprised you noticed, or commented, I thought men from your time kept that stuff to yourselves."
Jon chuckled, looking at Alanna and smiling mockingly, "Not this one! Oh no! Doesn't keep anything to himself!" He laughed a little louder and winked at her before turning back to his plate to devour his scrambled eggs.
Alanna grinned at her knight master and shrugged, "I like to express my opinion." This time both Gary and Raoul laughed with Jon as Alanna glared playfully. Alex remained silent.
"Anyway, no I am absolutely not rich. But I have lots of glass 'cause I prefer it to plastic." He lifted an empty fruit bowl made of a bizarre material and tapped on it gently with his fingernail, then passed it to Alanna for her to inspect to her hearts content. "And I have it in the window because that's how it is here in Canada." When Alanna glanced away from the bowl and at him he explained. "It's the name of my country, you know, like Tortall is yours and I live in the city called Ottawa, it's the capital of Canada like Corus is that of Tortall. The only difference is that my country is divided into provinces, because it's so big and all that other stuff, so the government can keep an eye on everyone. And, I live in Ontario. Only two countries are divided like this, ours and the U.S., U.S.A. really, but it's not divided in provinces, they're states, that's what U.S.A. stands for, United states of America." Ayden explained.
"That's pretty complicated stuff," Raoul said.
"Yeah, well it's not even the least of it, we have a lot of work to do, but first, I'd like to know, how come you guys speak English? I would have thought that since you guys are from an alternate dimension or whatever, you'd have a dissimilar language." Ayden wanted to know.
"English? What's that?" Jon asked with raised eyebrows.
"You know, the language we're speaking right now." Ayden told him, making signs for Jon to finish the thought with his hands.
"We are?" Jon asked with a noise of disbelief.
"Hmm." Alanna voiced thoughtfully, they all turned to her. "Well I did want to be able to communicate verbally, but I guess instead of being transported somewhere where Common is the main language, we learned the language of the place we went. Ayden, write something down on paper then pass it over," Alanna demanded. The young man did as he was told and passed the paper to the red head beside him. The foreign symbols before her formed words and then a sentence she could read even though she didn't recognize the lettering. It read, I You're pretty cool, Alan. She took the pen from Ayden and without thinking, wrote Thanks on the paper, to her surprise, it was in the strange lettering. She showed it to Ayden and asked, "Is this right?" He nodded and she took it back, then she thought, Tortall and wrote the word again, this time in Common. She was amazed, she shared her discovery with the others, they all tried it out.
"So what other stuff do we not know that might be vital?" asked Raoul with a grin.
"Ummm." Ayden looked around the room. "Well, electricity, obviously," he showed them everything there was to using it.
These people really have advanced! The fact that they have no magic does not hold them back but propels their minds to greater things. Lack of magic in all increases creativity in all! Alanna thought, amazed.
"I don't know if there's anything else," Ayden said, face adorned with a frown. He glanced around the room quickly, his eyes fell upon the top of his door frame of his room down the hall where he spotted. Christ on a brass cross. Of course! Why didn't I think of that sooner?!? Ayden thought. "Religion."
"Religion? Well I suppose we might have different beliefs but is that really important?" Asked Jon. Alanna rolled her eyes at him, he had no sense of adventure!
"Well, I don't guess it really matters, but tell me what it is anyway, to help choose which school you'll have to attend."
"Well, we worship the god of the sun, Mithros, and the Great Mother Goddess and-" Alanna started, counting off the supreme beings on her fingers.
"Okay, I already know you'll have to go to public school."
"Why? That isn't what you believe?" Alex asked in a slight accusing voice, leaning forward in his chair and speaking for the first time.
"I don't really have any exact beliefs, I don't belong to any single religion. But the most popular religion right now is Christianity." He explained about the God in this particular religion, about the son, Jesus and the Holy Spirit he tried not to let himself get into the details but it was a complicated set of beliefs.
"when you say 'most popular' you mean there are other religions? I mean, I know Scanra and Carthaki must have different beliefs but the way you say it, you'd think there was more than one in the country!" Alex said, falling back into his chair with an air that said 'That would be absurd!'
"Actually, there are, these religions are not spread only in the country but across the world, of course Christianity is the most widely spread, I think. But there is also the Jew, the Druid-though that's very minimal now- the Buddha, and lots of other religions spread throughout the world, but the thing is, all these religions uphold freewill, so everyone is entitled to believe whatever they want to believe, be it an exact religion or a mix of several. There are always misunderstandings but it's not so bad anymore." Ayden took a deep breath while the others stared at him blankly, then Alanna's face cleared.
"Amazing," she said, letting out a long breath. "Absolutely remarkable."
"Okay." Ayden answered, uncertain of what else to say.
"Well, why do we have to attend public school? What other kinds are there? Aren't all schools accessible to anyone?" Asked Jon.
"Public means you don't study religion, the other schools you could attend are Catholic, French but you don't speak French, or Private where it's mostly rich and really smart kids. I don't think you'd fit in there, the classes are much too complicated for you and I don't have that kind of money."
"Alright." Jon said at a loss for words.
"so what kinds of things do you learn at school? Obviously not etiquette!" Alanna chuckled. "And not to be a knight either."
"Well, there's math-mathematics, "scowls turned to nods and smiles, "science, English, art if you want to-"
"You have a choice? What's science?" Asked Alanna, intrigued.
"Science is mostly chemistry and stuff, you won't understand most of it but just do what the teach says and you'll be fine," Ayden advised. "Yes, once you start ninth grade, you have a choice for a few of your classes. You can choose between drama, where you act stuff out and, you know, do plays and all that," they all made faces, why would they want to do that? "Or you can paint and draw and stuff, and do sculptures?" They shrugged, it could be alright. "Or you can play music, all sorts of instruments, you mostly probably never heard of them." Most of them shook their heads, it sounded boring. "And finally, you can dance." All the knights made retching noises before he could finish but the squire frowned at them and leaned forward in her chair, taking a sip of juice. It's odd, Alanna thought, usually I'm the one who hates dancing and they love it because of all the attention they get but here they won't get anything but criticism and I feel like trying something different. Ayden smiled at her, "It's not the kind of dance you're used to, it's stuff like hip hop, break dancing, all sorts of dances, I mean you still do a bit of waltzes and stuff but since you guys were born into it, think how much better than the others you'll be."
The others decided to take Plastic arts but Alanna wanted to try the dancing, Jon just shook his head at her. From what she'd come to learn, most of the dances weren't with partners so it didn't matter if you were a boy or a girl, either way, it sounded like a fun, cultural experience.
After an enriching half hour of dish washing and clearing the table, the companions spoke of what to do next.
"Well, you need clothes, a place to stay 'cause you can't stay here forever, and you need to get into school."
"So how are we going to do all that?" Jon wanted to know.
"Well, first we have to get your money changed into current cash," he showed them a dollar he took out of his pocket. "Bu to do that, you need clothes, so you guys can wear some of mine. I hope." He glanced at Raoul's large frame. "I know I have something that would fit Jon or Alex, and some for Alan, it'll be baggy but it'll have to do. And I just might have something for you," he said pointedly, looking at Gary and Raoul.
"Can I stay in this? It's pretty comfy," Alanna asked, having quickly picked up the way Ayden spoke because of both her young age and her longer exposure to the boy.
"Yeah, I guess, it is in style but mostly with girls. Some guys wear it though so if you don't mind that, I don't either."
Alanna grinned, "I don't mind at all." Jon grinned too. Ayden was a little confused but shrugged and grinned too.
An hour later, Jon was very handsome in a tight black T-shirt and baggy jeans and even Alex was good looking in a pair of black knee-length shorts and a baggy white sleeveless shirt. Raoul and Gary both wore very loose pants that weren't all that loose on them and form fitting shirts. Ayden was very attractive in a tight bright green shirt and baggy black jeans.
"Ugh, these 'boxers' are really uncomfortable!" Jon whined in his and Alanna's room while they all got dressed, and she adjusted his waist band. Alanna burst out laughing at him and tried to get away but he caught her arm and pulled her to him, fully intending to punch her playfully or wrestle with her a little. But he hesitated, his face was right in front of hers, he could feel the halting breath of her laughter on the bottom line of his jaw. Feeling the mood change, Alanna fell silent and looked up into his cerulean eyes. The two leaned toward each other, unthinking, but when their lips met, Alanna's senses jolted themselves into action, though not the way she wanted them to. All she could think about was the softness of his lips on hers, the quickening of her heartbeat, the fiery burning of passion wherever her skin touched his: his hand firmly gripping her arm, his other softly caressing her neck. Then she snapped, she pulled away from him gently, slowly, almost mournfully, looked at him, blushing fiercely. She mumbled an apology to his handsome, beautiful, attractive- Stop that! she reprimanded herself mentally-awestruck face and left the room as fast as was humanly possible, still red in the face.
She found Faithful and stuck her face in his fur while he crooned mental soothing noises at her until she calmed down. By then, it was time to leave. She avoided Jon and stayed with Ayden as much as she could, he stayed behind, walking with Alex, both of them silent, Alex looking around him, Jon contemplating his shoes. It was just an accident. It won't happen again. Alanna attempted to reassure herself.
Ayden took them to a pawn shop where they traded about half of their nobles into currency. They went to find an old friend of Ayden's who made them fake papers that stated that they were enrolled into the nearest public school and that they would start the next day, all they had to do was hand in the sheets at the front desk and they'd be fine. They went to the mall and got lots of clothes for themselves. Finally, they came back to Ayden's place and put their stuff in their packs then went to the house next door to Ayden's. the owners were trying to get someone to rent the house, it was a fairly low price but the neighborhood was known to be home of more than a few crooks. So when Jon made an offer it was accepted instantaneously and was told he and his friends could move in the next day. Alanna didn't go with them, not only because she was still avoiding Jon but because Ayden said they wouldn't get the flat if the owners thought a fourteen-year-old was moving in too.
That night at supper, Gary pointed out, "That was a satisfying day but something's missing, I don't know what it is."
"Oh yeah, one more thing, we're doing tonight, you guys are all getting haircuts," Ayden told them.
"There's something else that was weird at the mall," Jon continued, having also picked up the new lingo during the day. "How come all the girls were wearing pants and shirts? It was quite pleasing to the eye," he glanced at Alanna who was feeding Faithful a sardine, "but it's still strange, why do they dress so?"
Alanna was smiling, she had asked the same thing when they had entered the mall and the answer had lifted her spirits considerably for the rest of the day.
Ayden sighed, "That's something I forgot to tell you guys 'cause I'm so used to it," he looked at each one of them in turn, "men and women are equal now." The men gasped but Jon made a quick recovery and grinned. "Women can go to school, they can become anything they want to be if they work hard enough. If you guys want to keep being my friends, I had better not catch you being condescending, mean, or demanding of any woman. Just because she isn't my mother or my sister or anything like that doesn't mean she doesn't deserve just as much respect, you got it?" Ayden looked at each man, except Alan, he knew Alan well enough to know he would never do something like that. They all nodded. "Good.
"Another thing is, racism is absolutely not tolerated, I'm sure you noticed there are people with darker skin, you have no right to mock them. They are as much part of this community and perhaps more, as you and me." Once again, his guests all nodded.
"Alright, let's get those haircuts." All done the chappy. Plz review, tell me what you think, what do you think is going to happen next? What is it you want to happen next? Just say hi, it'll make me happy! Lol, :D Now I get to go shoppin! Oooooh YES!
Yay! I'm back! That power loss was a total bummer but now I have a new chap so I'm happy again. I'm going to Montreal tomorrow so there won't be another chap for a while, like three days or something. Anyway I want to thank miss_mags and Alex of the Westlands and Alcapacien/Quiggles for reviewing and helping me out. Here's the chap, there's a bit of fluff along the way, hope you likey. :D Ciao
Karma
~*~ Solutions
The next morning, Alanna woke up totally refreshed. She got out of bed and noticed Jon wasn't on the floor anymore, she was a little puzzled then suddenly a cry of amazement rose from the throats of her four friends guided her to the kitchen. When she smelled the frying bacon, her nose tingled and her stomach grumbled so loudly Ayden heard it from the kitchen. He grinned at her when she walked into the room.
"Hullo sleepyhead, how're ya feelin'?" He asked in fast paced speech.
"Sleepyhead?" Alanna asked, confused. It couldn't be that late could it? "I'm fine, thank you. I slept very well." She continued with a smile.
"Yes, sleepyhead," Jon turned to her, tearing his eyes away from whatever had captured the knights attention, preferring her humiliation to it. "It's the third candlemark after dawn!" Jon scoffed at her, voice riddled with amusement.
"I slept that late? I broke my pattern? Wow! Those-I mean that," she amended quickly as Jon scowled, "healing must have taken more out of me than I thought. Well, no harm done I suppose."
"That's right! Now how about some breakfast? Are you hungry?" Ayden asked with a grin, knowing the answer.
"Ravenous! Starving! Famished! Voracious!"
"I thought so, here you go, there's enough for everyone, I hope." The chestnut haired boy added, glancing in Raoul and Gary's direction.
Alanna looked at all the food on the table, there wasn't as much variety as she was used to in the Mess Hall but she was so hungry she would have eaten anything dropped in front of her anyway. There was bacon on some strange paper in silver like plates, scrambled eggs in ceramic plates placed in front of each person, orange juice in glass glasses not dried clay or ceramic mugs. Everything was so different. She thought, At least the silverware is normal.
Ayden, noticed that Alan wasn't eating but staring around the table, taking in the differences. The green eyed boy grinned and switched spots with Gary who had been sitting beside Alan and felt he wasn't close enough to the toast. Once he sat down comfortably, Alan looking at him with a raised eyebrow. He smiled and winked then pointed out the silver plates, "that's aluminum," he told his friend, Alanna nodded patiently. "It's a kind of metal," he explained. "And on top," he continued, reaching for the dish and dumping its contents into his and her plate, "is what we call a paper napkin, it's biodegradable-disposable-so we don't have to spend our time wasting good fabric on such small things, and you don't have to wash the either, it's a lot easier." He finished, chewing a piece of bacon.
"How come you have so much glass? Are you rich? At the Palace, no one has glass, only the chapels and churches have it, you know, those designs of colored glass they put as windows. It's very beautiful." Alanna blushed at having let the comment slip through her lips.
"Yes, it is," Ayden answered, surprising Alanna. "I'm surprised you noticed, or commented, I thought men from your time kept that stuff to yourselves."
Jon chuckled, looking at Alanna and smiling mockingly, "Not this one! Oh no! Doesn't keep anything to himself!" He laughed a little louder and winked at her before turning back to his plate to devour his scrambled eggs.
Alanna grinned at her knight master and shrugged, "I like to express my opinion." This time both Gary and Raoul laughed with Jon as Alanna glared playfully. Alex remained silent.
"Anyway, no I am absolutely not rich. But I have lots of glass 'cause I prefer it to plastic." He lifted an empty fruit bowl made of a bizarre material and tapped on it gently with his fingernail, then passed it to Alanna for her to inspect to her hearts content. "And I have it in the window because that's how it is here in Canada." When Alanna glanced away from the bowl and at him he explained. "It's the name of my country, you know, like Tortall is yours and I live in the city called Ottawa, it's the capital of Canada like Corus is that of Tortall. The only difference is that my country is divided into provinces, because it's so big and all that other stuff, so the government can keep an eye on everyone. And, I live in Ontario. Only two countries are divided like this, ours and the U.S., U.S.A. really, but it's not divided in provinces, they're states, that's what U.S.A. stands for, United states of America." Ayden explained.
"That's pretty complicated stuff," Raoul said.
"Yeah, well it's not even the least of it, we have a lot of work to do, but first, I'd like to know, how come you guys speak English? I would have thought that since you guys are from an alternate dimension or whatever, you'd have a dissimilar language." Ayden wanted to know.
"English? What's that?" Jon asked with raised eyebrows.
"You know, the language we're speaking right now." Ayden told him, making signs for Jon to finish the thought with his hands.
"We are?" Jon asked with a noise of disbelief.
"Hmm." Alanna voiced thoughtfully, they all turned to her. "Well I did want to be able to communicate verbally, but I guess instead of being transported somewhere where Common is the main language, we learned the language of the place we went. Ayden, write something down on paper then pass it over," Alanna demanded. The young man did as he was told and passed the paper to the red head beside him. The foreign symbols before her formed words and then a sentence she could read even though she didn't recognize the lettering. It read, I You're pretty cool, Alan. She took the pen from Ayden and without thinking, wrote Thanks on the paper, to her surprise, it was in the strange lettering. She showed it to Ayden and asked, "Is this right?" He nodded and she took it back, then she thought, Tortall and wrote the word again, this time in Common. She was amazed, she shared her discovery with the others, they all tried it out.
"So what other stuff do we not know that might be vital?" asked Raoul with a grin.
"Ummm." Ayden looked around the room. "Well, electricity, obviously," he showed them everything there was to using it.
These people really have advanced! The fact that they have no magic does not hold them back but propels their minds to greater things. Lack of magic in all increases creativity in all! Alanna thought, amazed.
"I don't know if there's anything else," Ayden said, face adorned with a frown. He glanced around the room quickly, his eyes fell upon the top of his door frame of his room down the hall where he spotted. Christ on a brass cross. Of course! Why didn't I think of that sooner?!? Ayden thought. "Religion."
"Religion? Well I suppose we might have different beliefs but is that really important?" Asked Jon. Alanna rolled her eyes at him, he had no sense of adventure!
"Well, I don't guess it really matters, but tell me what it is anyway, to help choose which school you'll have to attend."
"Well, we worship the god of the sun, Mithros, and the Great Mother Goddess and-" Alanna started, counting off the supreme beings on her fingers.
"Okay, I already know you'll have to go to public school."
"Why? That isn't what you believe?" Alex asked in a slight accusing voice, leaning forward in his chair and speaking for the first time.
"I don't really have any exact beliefs, I don't belong to any single religion. But the most popular religion right now is Christianity." He explained about the God in this particular religion, about the son, Jesus and the Holy Spirit he tried not to let himself get into the details but it was a complicated set of beliefs.
"when you say 'most popular' you mean there are other religions? I mean, I know Scanra and Carthaki must have different beliefs but the way you say it, you'd think there was more than one in the country!" Alex said, falling back into his chair with an air that said 'That would be absurd!'
"Actually, there are, these religions are not spread only in the country but across the world, of course Christianity is the most widely spread, I think. But there is also the Jew, the Druid-though that's very minimal now- the Buddha, and lots of other religions spread throughout the world, but the thing is, all these religions uphold freewill, so everyone is entitled to believe whatever they want to believe, be it an exact religion or a mix of several. There are always misunderstandings but it's not so bad anymore." Ayden took a deep breath while the others stared at him blankly, then Alanna's face cleared.
"Amazing," she said, letting out a long breath. "Absolutely remarkable."
"Okay." Ayden answered, uncertain of what else to say.
"Well, why do we have to attend public school? What other kinds are there? Aren't all schools accessible to anyone?" Asked Jon.
"Public means you don't study religion, the other schools you could attend are Catholic, French but you don't speak French, or Private where it's mostly rich and really smart kids. I don't think you'd fit in there, the classes are much too complicated for you and I don't have that kind of money."
"Alright." Jon said at a loss for words.
"so what kinds of things do you learn at school? Obviously not etiquette!" Alanna chuckled. "And not to be a knight either."
"Well, there's math-mathematics, "scowls turned to nods and smiles, "science, English, art if you want to-"
"You have a choice? What's science?" Asked Alanna, intrigued.
"Science is mostly chemistry and stuff, you won't understand most of it but just do what the teach says and you'll be fine," Ayden advised. "Yes, once you start ninth grade, you have a choice for a few of your classes. You can choose between drama, where you act stuff out and, you know, do plays and all that," they all made faces, why would they want to do that? "Or you can paint and draw and stuff, and do sculptures?" They shrugged, it could be alright. "Or you can play music, all sorts of instruments, you mostly probably never heard of them." Most of them shook their heads, it sounded boring. "And finally, you can dance." All the knights made retching noises before he could finish but the squire frowned at them and leaned forward in her chair, taking a sip of juice. It's odd, Alanna thought, usually I'm the one who hates dancing and they love it because of all the attention they get but here they won't get anything but criticism and I feel like trying something different. Ayden smiled at her, "It's not the kind of dance you're used to, it's stuff like hip hop, break dancing, all sorts of dances, I mean you still do a bit of waltzes and stuff but since you guys were born into it, think how much better than the others you'll be."
The others decided to take Plastic arts but Alanna wanted to try the dancing, Jon just shook his head at her. From what she'd come to learn, most of the dances weren't with partners so it didn't matter if you were a boy or a girl, either way, it sounded like a fun, cultural experience.
After an enriching half hour of dish washing and clearing the table, the companions spoke of what to do next.
"Well, you need clothes, a place to stay 'cause you can't stay here forever, and you need to get into school."
"So how are we going to do all that?" Jon wanted to know.
"Well, first we have to get your money changed into current cash," he showed them a dollar he took out of his pocket. "Bu to do that, you need clothes, so you guys can wear some of mine. I hope." He glanced at Raoul's large frame. "I know I have something that would fit Jon or Alex, and some for Alan, it'll be baggy but it'll have to do. And I just might have something for you," he said pointedly, looking at Gary and Raoul.
"Can I stay in this? It's pretty comfy," Alanna asked, having quickly picked up the way Ayden spoke because of both her young age and her longer exposure to the boy.
"Yeah, I guess, it is in style but mostly with girls. Some guys wear it though so if you don't mind that, I don't either."
Alanna grinned, "I don't mind at all." Jon grinned too. Ayden was a little confused but shrugged and grinned too.
An hour later, Jon was very handsome in a tight black T-shirt and baggy jeans and even Alex was good looking in a pair of black knee-length shorts and a baggy white sleeveless shirt. Raoul and Gary both wore very loose pants that weren't all that loose on them and form fitting shirts. Ayden was very attractive in a tight bright green shirt and baggy black jeans.
"Ugh, these 'boxers' are really uncomfortable!" Jon whined in his and Alanna's room while they all got dressed, and she adjusted his waist band. Alanna burst out laughing at him and tried to get away but he caught her arm and pulled her to him, fully intending to punch her playfully or wrestle with her a little. But he hesitated, his face was right in front of hers, he could feel the halting breath of her laughter on the bottom line of his jaw. Feeling the mood change, Alanna fell silent and looked up into his cerulean eyes. The two leaned toward each other, unthinking, but when their lips met, Alanna's senses jolted themselves into action, though not the way she wanted them to. All she could think about was the softness of his lips on hers, the quickening of her heartbeat, the fiery burning of passion wherever her skin touched his: his hand firmly gripping her arm, his other softly caressing her neck. Then she snapped, she pulled away from him gently, slowly, almost mournfully, looked at him, blushing fiercely. She mumbled an apology to his handsome, beautiful, attractive- Stop that! she reprimanded herself mentally-awestruck face and left the room as fast as was humanly possible, still red in the face.
She found Faithful and stuck her face in his fur while he crooned mental soothing noises at her until she calmed down. By then, it was time to leave. She avoided Jon and stayed with Ayden as much as she could, he stayed behind, walking with Alex, both of them silent, Alex looking around him, Jon contemplating his shoes. It was just an accident. It won't happen again. Alanna attempted to reassure herself.
Ayden took them to a pawn shop where they traded about half of their nobles into currency. They went to find an old friend of Ayden's who made them fake papers that stated that they were enrolled into the nearest public school and that they would start the next day, all they had to do was hand in the sheets at the front desk and they'd be fine. They went to the mall and got lots of clothes for themselves. Finally, they came back to Ayden's place and put their stuff in their packs then went to the house next door to Ayden's. the owners were trying to get someone to rent the house, it was a fairly low price but the neighborhood was known to be home of more than a few crooks. So when Jon made an offer it was accepted instantaneously and was told he and his friends could move in the next day. Alanna didn't go with them, not only because she was still avoiding Jon but because Ayden said they wouldn't get the flat if the owners thought a fourteen-year-old was moving in too.
That night at supper, Gary pointed out, "That was a satisfying day but something's missing, I don't know what it is."
"Oh yeah, one more thing, we're doing tonight, you guys are all getting haircuts," Ayden told them.
"There's something else that was weird at the mall," Jon continued, having also picked up the new lingo during the day. "How come all the girls were wearing pants and shirts? It was quite pleasing to the eye," he glanced at Alanna who was feeding Faithful a sardine, "but it's still strange, why do they dress so?"
Alanna was smiling, she had asked the same thing when they had entered the mall and the answer had lifted her spirits considerably for the rest of the day.
Ayden sighed, "That's something I forgot to tell you guys 'cause I'm so used to it," he looked at each one of them in turn, "men and women are equal now." The men gasped but Jon made a quick recovery and grinned. "Women can go to school, they can become anything they want to be if they work hard enough. If you guys want to keep being my friends, I had better not catch you being condescending, mean, or demanding of any woman. Just because she isn't my mother or my sister or anything like that doesn't mean she doesn't deserve just as much respect, you got it?" Ayden looked at each man, except Alan, he knew Alan well enough to know he would never do something like that. They all nodded. "Good.
"Another thing is, racism is absolutely not tolerated, I'm sure you noticed there are people with darker skin, you have no right to mock them. They are as much part of this community and perhaps more, as you and me." Once again, his guests all nodded.
"Alright, let's get those haircuts." All done the chappy. Plz review, tell me what you think, what do you think is going to happen next? What is it you want to happen next? Just say hi, it'll make me happy! Lol, :D Now I get to go shoppin! Oooooh YES!