The Seldom Seen
AN:As a reader suggested 'a full-blown chapter story'... I would, but I never finish them. XD So until I somehow manage to write an entire story up to have all the parts done and no excuse not to post it, y'all are stuck with one shots and connected-shots. :P
Though I will be adding more connected snippets. Because they're fun to reference older chapters.
Happy Thursday! XD And Turkey Slaughter Day. Yum yum turkey.
16: Criss Cross Applesauce
Seras shifted uneasily in her sleep, hand clasping at nothing and a frown tugging her pretty lips. Whining low in her throat, she flipped over and kicked her blankets to the foot of her coffin-bed.
Glowing red eyes appeared in the darkness of her four-poster-coffin and white gloved hands slid out of the shadows to tug the blanket up and over her restless form. A hand gently petted her hair before withdrawing and leaving her to her memory-dreams.
It was November 5th, 1990, and Seras' orphanage was on a trip to the local museum. Most of the kids thought it was boring, but Seras considered it rather fascinating. She, of course, snuck off from the others to explore the dinosaur exhibit instead. The almost-ten year old stared up at the models wide eyed, making little noises of glee as she caught sight of the sharp teeth and claws. Feminine laughter answered hers from above and Seras glanced up curiously only to gasp in awe at the sight of the white clad ravenette perched on the T-Rex's head. "Oh wow, how did you get up there?"
"I'll come down." The girl answered, and she slid down the curved spine and did a hand spring off the tip of the tail to land with a flourish of her long coat a few feet from Seras, a rather mad grin on her pale face. "That was amazing!" The blonde orphan squealed, clapping her hands.
"I try." The girl answered, red eyes gleaming with smug pleasure.
"Say, what's your name? Mine's Seras. Can we be friends?" Seras chirped, feeling a strange connection to the other – who could be no older than thirteen surely? – despite never seeing her before.
"Forgotten already have we?" She replied mysteriously before flashing another of those too-wide grins, "You can call me Ally, Seras."
Seras blinked and cocked her head to one side curiously before shrugging it off, "Hey, Ally, how did you get up there? It looked fun." A mischievous grin twitched the blonde's lips as she stared up at the brontosaurus model.
"I climbed of course. It was easy."
Just as Ally set foot beyond the velvet rope to clamber up the enormous herbivore's back, a museum attendant came running over, yelling; "Hey! You rotten kids! Get back with the group and stay off the exhibits!" The adult grabbed Seras' upper arm harshly and she winced. Ally turned in a flash with a rather fearsome expression on her face, "Get your paws off her!" The force of her snarl startled the man into letting go of the blonde who scampered quickly behind her white clad savior, making a rude face at him in the process.. "Just get going." Hr growled gruffly, pointing towards the painting hall.
Seras grabbed Ally's gloved left hand and tugged her off in that direction. "Let's go look at the other stuff, m'kay?" The taller girl shrugged and allowed herself to be led away.
"Hey… Seras… you know what would be really fun?" Ally whispered into her ear, breath oddly cold and sending shivers down the younger girl's spine. "What, Ally?"
The two girls ran from the hallway minutes later, giggling like fiends. They'd tilted every painting they could reach since there were no adults in sight to stop their shenanigans. "I can't wait to see the looks on their faces!" Seras laughed, doubled over to catch her breath while Ally wasn't even breathing hard, not even a single hair out of place.
"There you are, Seras! Where have you been?" A haggard voice called as one of the orphanage workers caught sight of the blonde's tell-tale hairstyle. The blonde sobered instantly and stared solemnly at the nun, straightening up and folding her hands behind her back, "I had to use the loo and I got lost." She answered, lying with a straight face.
Sister Marguerite glared at her suspiciously, then turned her gaze to the blonde's companion and flinched, "Seras, who's your new friend?" She asked with a slightly shaky voice. Seras quirked a brow, and turned to look at Ally, "Oh, this is Ally, I met her on the way back." Ally grinned and the nun took a half step back, crossing herself. "Girl, where are your parents? You shouldn't be wandering alone." The Sister scolded the unsettling child, and Seras frowned. "She wasn't alone, she was with me!"
Marguerite jerked her chin to stare at Seras. That was the most emotion she'd heard from the girl in the half year she'd spent with them. Pursing her lips and flicking her gaze back to Ally, the nun sighed, "Well come along then, the group is waiting. I suppose there's no harm in adding one more to our number until it's time to leave." She shot the ravenette a look that clearly said 'I'll be keeping my eye on you' and bustled off down the hallway towards the sound of many children gathered together. Seras glanced at Ally with a hopeful look on her face and the older girl sighed and nodded.
The pair trailed behind the Sister, holding hands once more and whispering conspiratorially together. Some of the other children stared at them, and still others edged away deeper into the group, but the girls ignored them.
"Ally, your gloves are really neat! I wish I had a pair like them."
"Do you now?" Another of those too-wide grins, and she changed the subject, "Hey, Seras, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
"A police officer, like my dad." The blonde replied without hesitation, a steely determined look in her sky blue eyes.
"It'll take a lot of work." Ally commented, and Seras turned on her with a fierce expression of her own. "I don't care! I want to be a cop like my dad, and protect the weak from bullies!"
"Glorious…" Ally breathed with a strange light in her ruby eyes, "I'm sure you'll achieve your dream, Seras." The serious conversation diverted to simple things, like what their favorite animals were, and the strange… almost tension between them relaxed back into nothingness.
"Ally," Seras started, "I love your hair, it's so long. Didn't it take forever to grow?" She itched to run her fingers through it, she always loved long hair. But her Mother had adored her short hair… so she kept it like that in honor of her. "Mm, a few years I guess." Ally replied with a shrug. "Can I braid your hair?" Seras asked, a gleam in her eyes. One of those strange looks passed over Ally's face before she shrugged a second time and laughed softly, "Sure, Seras."
The almost-ten year old (she'd be turning ten in nine days) beamed and shifted to walk behind her new friend, carefully grabbing up handfuls of hair to section it out evenly. Humming quietly as she worked, recalling how her Mother always did this when brushing her own short locks, Seras worked really hard on keeping the braid even and not tugging too hard. At last, she reached the end… and realized she had nothing to tie it off with. Pursing her lips, Seras reached up and yanked out her own hair band to tie Ally's hair style off to keep it that way.
Beaming at how pretty the braid looked, Seras' hair floofed out rather ridiculously and sprawled across her shoulders and even into her face. Ally turned with a soft look on her face and gently pushed a stray strand of hair behind Seras' ear.
"Come on children! Time for lunch! Everyone grab a seat." The Sisters called as the group filed into a picnic table laden area on the museum's back porch. Ally and Seras drifted over to the table farthest from the group and sat down together. Ally sat with her legs crossed and her feet touching her knees, and Seras nearly fell off the bench trying to copy her. Sister Marguerite gave the pair a dirty look as she placed a tray of food in front of Seras, "I'm not hungry." Ally commented and the nun shivered from hearing her voice before bustling off without comment. Seras poked at her applesauce, and then her peanut butter sandwich with a scrunched up face. They'd at least given her a milk to choke that dry sandwich down. Deciding to start with the applesauce, Seras wobbled again and dripped some of it on her pants. "Oops…" Laughing, she flicked the sugary goo to the floor, "Hey Ally, criss cross applesauce." Ally shook her head and laughed with her.
Just as Seras finished her bland sandwich and chugged the last of her milk, a 'boom' sounded. "Oh! The fireworks!" Swiveling in her seat, the blonde orphan stared up at the sky to watch the play of lights in the heavens. Seras 'ooh'd and 'ahh'd. and beamed up at the pretty explosions of color and sparkles.
Halfway through the show, a tall skinny figure came bustling out of nowhere and loomed over their table with a glint of light playing off a monocle over the figure's left eye. "I've been looking everywhere for you. You know you're not allowed to wander off." The stern male voice jarred Seras out of her enthrallment and she turned to look at Ally and the man with a pout. "You have to leave already? But the fireworks aren't done yet…"
"That's right, the fireworks aren't done yet, and I've made a new friend. Don't you want me to have friends?" Ally cooed, reaching out to tug Seras closer along the bench.
The adult stiffened and Seras could swear she saw him glaring at Ally, but she must be mistaken, the light from the fireworks was flickery and made weird shadows. "After they finish, we leave." He uttered with a steely determination. Ally sighed in Seras' ear and rested her chin on the younger girl's shoulder to watch the fireworks with her at a more intimate closeness. "Fine W-…"
Seras jerked awake, and stared into the darkness of her coffin-bed wide eyed. "Could it be? But surely they'd have said something..!"
She remembered Ally, the scattered meetings with the girl were some of most treasured moments. Those red eyes… looked so familiar. "It's impossible, right?" Clenching her hands in her blanket covered lap, the blonde frowned. "I have to ask Walter, surely he'd know."
Sleep tugged at her mind and she nearly collapsed back into the mattress, suddenly so tired. "I'll… ask… la~ater." She yawned mid word and her eyelids fluttered shut.
Red eyes peered out of the lid of her four-poster-coffin and looked down at her with an odd expression in their glowing depths before they vanished.
'Ask Master later…' The thought followed her into her dreamless sleep, and she rolled her head across the pillow in a boneless nod.