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Post by Buffy Alice Ayers on Apr 19, 2010 20:26:15 GMT -5
Buffy didn't have any students for the rest of the day, and decided to take advantage of this alone time. So she had packed up her easel, a large canvas, some paintbrushes, and a bag of acrylic paints, and headed up to the roof. It was the most removed she could be from the student body without actually leaving the grounds. She set up her items, throwing a sweater over her shoulders as she realized she was shivering, and took a seat.
And she sat. And she sat. A whole hour passed and her paintbrush never made a stoke upon the canvas. She felt... uninspired. She had been trying to find inspiration for a while now, and had fallen flat. For days. For weeks. It was humiliating. She was an artist, she was supposed to create art. And yet, she was unable to. She sighed, running a slender hand through her hair. She thought briefly about going down to the gym and working out this frustration on a punching bag. But then the bell rang. Students flooded the courtyard as they moved between classes.
She watched them quietly, mildly entranced. They were so involved in their own little lives. She quietly wondered if they realized that once high school was over, almost none of this would matter. Probably not. They were all too worried about who was dating who to be wise about anything. She continued to watch, waiting for everyone to disperse so she could head down to the gym undetected.
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Post by Jude Grant on Apr 21, 2010 19:13:23 GMT -5
Jude went to the high school to talk to the principal. He wanted to be the cop at the school because he knew most schools did that now, and as far as he knew there were no other cops there yet. And who better to do it than a former Marine? Yeah, Jude was sometimes overly-proud about his military life, but he tried to not let it get too out of hand. Sometimes. He usually liked to flaunt his military background, and say "ooh rah" as much as possible.
He decided he'd go walking around the school. The principal left for lunch early, so he'd have to come back later to talk to him. He'd more than likely get it. Who would really turn that down? Especially when it was needed in a school like this?
Jude walked around the school for a little while, and somehow ended up heading to the roof. He turned a corner and saw a figure sitting there. He didn't know what to expect, so he slowly walked up to the figure. "Uhm.. Hello?" He said after clearing his throat a little bit.
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Post by Buffy Alice Ayers on Apr 21, 2010 21:16:13 GMT -5
Buffy was surprised by the male voice that had crept up on her as she sat deep in her own thoughts. The voice was decidedly male and decidedly new. Her hairs stood on up on her arms. She had made enemies in the gangs at the school after breaking one of their guy's noses when he jumped her in an alley. Here, she was isolated. Alone. And as the crowd of students began to disperse, her fear grew.
She slowly turned around to face him, her pocket knife hidden in her hand. The one she had bought that awful day. But she was surprised to see someone in an officer's uniform. She quickly pocketed the knife, the last thing she needed was to be arrested for threatening an officer. But the more she looked at him, the less she minded the idea of being in his handcuffs. The thought made her blush a little.
"Hi there, can I help you?" she inquired. |
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Post by Jude Grant on Apr 22, 2010 2:27:04 GMT -5
Jude stopped in his tracks when she turned around. She obviously looked frightened, and he tried to not come off as creepy or scary to her. "I was walking around and I guess I ended up here.. I have only been in this school once to enroll my little brother," he said with his hands stuck casually in his pockets. Jude wondered what to do next. He had never been so blocked before. He always knew the things to say, but this meeting took him completely by surprise.
Walking a little closer but a bit slower, he stuck out his hand. "I'm Jude Grant, ma'am," He said, hoping that things would soon be less akward for the both of them.
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Post by Buffy Alice Ayers on Apr 22, 2010 16:19:46 GMT -5
Buffy was even more surprised at his rambling. It made her giggle softly, as she stuck out her own hand, her tiny digits curly around his. She gave a firm shake as she opened her mouth to introduce herself, "I'm Buffy. I teach Art and I'm the wrestling coach." She retrieved her hand as she waited for the laughs that usually followed her introducing herself as the wrestling coach. Despite the fact that she was pretty muscular, most people underestimated her because of her petite frame. At five foot three inches, she was hardly intimidating, but she could take down an untrained person twice her size in five seconds. Flat.
She wasn't helpless, far from it. Most people didn't really care for that in a woman, which she found exceeding stupid. Women were just as capable as men, even more so, infact. Stupid social expectations.
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Post by Jude Grant on Apr 22, 2010 23:50:20 GMT -5
Jude was surprised at her handshake. She looked so petite that if he were to give her a handshake extremly firm that he'd break her hand. "Wrestling, huh? That's cool. I never got into much sports when I was in high school," he gave a little chuckle. He heard a racket of some sort over his radio, something about a hold up in a gas station about three miles away. He turned it down a little, but enough for him to still hear it. "It looks nice and peaceful up here," He said looking around.
Jude walked closer to the edge and looked over, then backing up a bit slowly. He hated heights. He found a big square thing, he assumed it was something that had to do with the air conditioning or the heat, and leaned against it.
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Post by Buffy Alice Ayers on May 2, 2010 20:16:16 GMT -5
Buffy smiled softly as she noticed his reaction as he took a peek at the world two stories below them. "I'm scared of heights too," she confided. "But it's so beautiful up here, I can't help myself."
She looked at her empty canvas, feeling a bit embarrassed, "I hoped it would inspire me. But, no." She reached a hand to her mouth and bit on a nail, nervously, "Since I was mugged, it's hard to find inspiration. And my hand shakes when I paint. Or try to do anything, really." She rubbed on one of her wrists wistfully, "Sorry. Personal baggage not attractive, I know."
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Post by Jude Grant on May 2, 2010 23:16:47 GMT -5
Jude gave a smug shrug. Trying to be manly, he puffed out his chest. "I'm only trying to be afraid of heights for you, you know, so you don't feel weird." He grinned hoping she'd get that he was only joking. He felt weird that a big bad military man/cop would be afraid of heights.. but everyone has their secrets.. right?
He walked over closer to her, which was only a few feet but still. He leaned on a railing and looked at her with a serious but understanding look. "Baggage is something everyone has, and something that every person can and should overcome.." He looked down.. knowing he still hasn't over come his yet.
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Post by Buffy Alice Ayers on May 3, 2010 0:14:30 GMT -5
Buffy giggled softly and smirked as he tried to act completely manly. It was interesting, to say the least. His giggle made the joke obvious, but it was still interesting that he seemed to care what she thought. She obviously hadn't lost her touch.
But when he mentioned his piece on baggage, it kind of hit her like bricks. She wasn't big on the pity party, but it bothered her that he seemed to think he was the expert on leaving baggage at the door. From the look in his eyes, it was obvious to her that he wasn't, but yet she confided in him, "It's hard to overcome your baggage when you still have scars from a couple knife stabs and rape by a gang-banger that has everyone so scared, there are no witnesses willing to come forward." She sighed, she hadn't meant to be so open with the handsome man she had just met. However, the lack of a confidant lately had left her lonely and full of unexpressed feelings.
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Post by Jude Grant on May 3, 2010 18:15:50 GMT -5
Jude kept his gaze on the young woman before him as she told him what had happened to her. He felt a sting of something... It wasn't exactly pity, but he felt horrible she had to go through such awful things like that. He thought he had heard something about the gangs around here.. Jude was still new to the area, he had only been here a couple of months and prolly knew of who she was talking about.
"Yeah.. The reminders are there always.." He gave a small sigh. He really wished he knew what to say to help her, but he didn't. They didn't teach that in the military or police academy. "I really dunno what to say, ma'am.. I've never been through any of that. The worst I went through was watching my buddy die in my arms in the middle of a mortar attack." As soon as he said that, he wondered why he said it. Only his brother Gary knew about his best friend.
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Post by Buffy Alice Ayers on May 3, 2010 22:15:40 GMT -5
Buffy looked at him for a while, her eyes pensive as he explained a piece of his story. She instantly felt bad for forcing her problems on him, when it was obvious he had his own demons to deal with. After watching him carefully for a second, her eyes narrowing as she seemed to be searching the depths of his eyes for more puzzle pieces, without warning, she left out a laugh. It was loud. Almost bordering on obnoxious.
She held her sides as she continued to laugh, and then realized how insensitive she must have seemed. She stopped, leaning against the same railing he was. "Sorry. It just sucks, you know? It all fucking sucks beyond belief. And it's never getting any better. It never goes away. You never get to leave that baggage at the door and go home unscathed. It just... sucks." She sighed softly, running a hand through her hair as she reached in her shirt pocket for a cigarette. She placed the cigarette in her mouth before pulling out a lighter and quickly lighting the cigarette. She took one slow puff, releasing it in a slow manner as though to savor the cancer she was putting inside her body.
"You know what I mean?"
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Post by Jude Grant on May 7, 2010 16:29:35 GMT -5
Jude chuckled a little when Buffy started laughing. He was glad that she was the type of person that could laugh through the dark times. Giving a nod, he sighed. "Yeah, it does suck a lot. Sometimes you've got to do something to get through the day, though.. Like laughing. And you have a very nice laugh, by the way."
He saw her light up her cigarette and a puff. He smirked. "You know smoking is bad for you right?"
[ooc: I'm sorry it sucks! weird day today] |
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