path of the wind

Fidget

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Nov 12, 2013
1,540
It wasn't difficult to find her way out of her stuffy classrooms, and Annaleise had managed to escape her caretakers once more. In all honesty, they weren't very good caretakers if they kept losing her so much. It was all too easy to create a distraction to disappear under, and they fell for it almost everytime. At least they hadn't chained her down yet, anyway. It was being stuck in a classroom that made her wish she could transform into a dragon most of all, to be able to fly around the room, terrorising everyone and burning everything up into a crisp.

Sliding to a halt, she ruffled her skirt as she prepared to barge into yet another room, searching for her destination. She wasn't completely sure where she was headed, but she definitely knew that she didn't want to go back to her regular classes. Pushing a door open timidly, Annaleise was absolutely amazed to find piles of art supplies. The first thing that caught her eye, however, was a large bin labeled 'clay'. Her entire face lit up in excitement, and she trotted to it, eagerly tossing aside the lid to the container and shoving her fingers deep into the red-brown substance. If it had been several shades lighter, it could almost match the colour of her hair, and for that she loved it even more. Ripping out chunks as big as her fists could hold, Annaleise plopped down on the floor, her back to the door, shaping and twisting the clay into various shapes, her nose crinkling with both glee and horror as it squished through her fingers, adding a fine layer of red dust just up past her forearms.
 

Burlesque

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Apr 15, 2014
75
Travis Ashe

No matter how hard he tried, it seemed as through Travis would never escape the charming allure of Starlight Academy. He lived in town now, and had a business there. He had everything he needed down there, not here. Yet day after day, week after week, he found himself walking the halls. He made excuses to visit friends or teachers, or anything he could. No one really minded, as people had been seeing Travis walk the halls for nearly twenty years, so he never bothered to stop.

Today, Travis has found an excuse to visit the Art Room. An old friend of his had invited him to see a sculpture he had made, so he went. The place was huge, and while Travis had never really taken any art classes, he couldn't help but admire the sheer creativity pouring out of it. Art classes had let out for the day, so Travis pushed open the door, satisfied in knowing that he wouldn't be disrupting a classroom. His faithful pet and friend Coaliander followed him as he flicked on the light and marched in.

He was shocked, to say the least so see a small girl on the floor, covered head to toe in what looked like clay. She seemed to be having a marvelous time making the largest mess possible in the middle of the floor. Travis didn't know too many of the young students, so he figured he'd go say hello. It was the least he could do, since he didn't want to have to go back into town.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked. Coaliander shot him a look and sat in the doorway, refusing to move any closer to the wild creature. Travis merely rolled his eyes and joined her in the middle of the room. "You ever use clay before?"
 

Fidget

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Nov 12, 2013
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Mashing and shoving the clay into different shapes, Annaleise had moved past making random things, and had begun to assemble her entire family. Her father, she made first. She preferred his dragon form, and her childish hands clumsily shaped his body, the wings coming out looking more like oval pancakes than wings. She crafted pointed teeth in the snarling mouth of her father, quickly growing frustrated when they became too fine and broke off at the root. Her mother came next, the clay making a large and very full dress. The expression her mother wore was frightened, and Annaleise stuck the tiny figurine of her mother into the dragon's maw.

Just about to animate her father crunching into the fragile form of her mother, Annaleise jumped as a voice appeared behind her. Her head turning sharply, Annaleise's gaze continued upward to rest on the face of a stranger. Tossing her clay figures down, Annaleise pouted and folded her arms, clay sticking to the fragile lacework that lined the front of her dress. "Maybe! Who are you, anyway? I'm not supposed to talk to strangers." Of course, that had never stopped her from speaking to strangers before, but it didn't hurt to challenge anyone.
 

Burlesque

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Apr 15, 2014
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Travis Ashe

Travis was somehow unsurprised by the young girl's rudeness. He almost chuckled to himself, as her personality matched her image perfectly. She was dressed up, yet covered in clay, playing with it like a toy and making noises to accompany it. He got down on his knees, to better face her.

"Well, yeah, but you're not really a little kid, are you? I mean, you're here by yourself, so you must be in control of yourself, right?"

Travis had much more patience than Coaliander. While the flare demon sat in the doorway of the room, sending him terrible looks, Travis much liked young kids. He tried to treat them with respect, like he did all his animals. Yet, at the same time, he short of knew how to deal with him. Once thing he knew young kids loved to hear was that they weren't young kids. Besides, someone probably should be watching her.

Not to mention, this particular little kid was different. He wasn't sure if Coaliander could tell, but her felt a faint glimmer from her. Like, if he pushed power into her, she might not be a human anymore. At this school, who could tell? She was probably half horse or something. What she was didn't matter, Travis liked all animals, even if they happened to be hidden deep insider a crazy little girl who seemed to be killing people made out of clay.

"Besides, don't you like making friends?"
 

Fidget

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Nov 12, 2013
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Puffing herself up a bit, Annaleise did agree that she wasn't a little kid. She was practically an adult, but people didn't seem to believe her when she said so. At least one person knew sense when they could see it. "Yes! I'm a big person, too. I'm very 'sponsible." Her temper mollified, Annaleise grabbed her clay toys once more, her fists clutching them, squishing the shape out of them. Watching the clay squeeze out between her fingers, Anna shrugged, a little unconcerned with making friends. "I guess. There aren't many people who want to talk to me, though. They call me a baby. But I'm not a baby, I'm grown."

Her tongue poking out of the side of her mouth, Annaleise focused on her clay once more, trying to recreate the dragon she had destroyed. "Are you good at clay?" She had seen figurines on display in the hallways of the elder students work, and she envied them greatly. She wanted to make a dragon figure just like her father, so it wouldn't feel so empty in her room. "I wanna make a dragon. Have you ever seen dragons? My father is a big one. I wanna be just like him when I'm grown."
 

Burlesque

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Apr 15, 2014
75
Travis Ashe

Travis smiled at the young girl. A dragon, eh? That was a bit more than he had expected, but the loud aura of a dragon would definitely be faintly detectable beneath her human form. He watched as she tried to squish the clay into a large dragon, presumably one that looked like her father. He tried to make out what kind of dragon he was. Travis had never really met a human-dragon before, but he assumed they were rare, considering their near extinction.

"If you're a dragon like your father, than surely you're no little kid."

As for art, he wasn't very good at it. He had taken some basic required art classes in his younger grades, but it had been years since he had attempted such a thing. Clay, however, was something that he had never particularly tried. The young girl would probably make better sculptures than him. Coaliander, however, could probably bake them, when she was done.

He turned to Coaliander and motioned for him to come into the room. The flare demon shot him a look and shot out a puff of smoke from his nostrils. Travis was hoping that the silent battle between him and his best friend was going unnoticed by the young girl. After a few more glances and hand movements, Travis gave up on the cause and let him be stubborn. His clay-baking plan quickly abandoned, he turned back to face the girl.

"So, have you got a name? Mine is Travis. I'm sure you've got a lovely name, I hear most dragons get amazing ones."

He was trying to stay on the girl's good side, as he knew from experience that getting on any young kid's bad side was never a good time. At the same time, a small voice in the back of his head was trying to remind him that he was actually an adult now, and he should probably put some effort into not looking like a pedophile. If her mother or teacher or whomever were to walk in on a random adult boy like himself with this young girl, it could look terrible for him.
 

Fidget

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Nov 12, 2013
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The clay had well gotten into her clothes by now, and she could feel the gritty dust rolling beneath the folds of her clothes. She didn't particularly like the feeling, but it was certainly much better than being cooped up with a couple old grumpy teachers. Completely engrossed in working her lump of clay, Annaleise rolled it between her two little palms, wishing that she had more room to roll it before it lengthened past her handspan. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the strange man fidget around for a moment before returing to face her. "I'm Annaleise. I like your name, though."

As her fingers molded and shaped her clay, she hummed a random little tune picked from the foggiest recesses of her memory. Her feet bobbed happily as she worked, shaping the slender serpentine neck and the broad chest of her dragon. To her, it looked like the best thing she had ever done. To someone else, it might look like just another lump of clay, but with perhaps a couple strange additions.
Suddenly extremely suspicious of his sudden appearance, Anna swung towards the stranger. He hadn't introduced himself as a teacher, but he could very well be one, here to take her back to her prison.

"You're not a teacher, are you?" Her nose flared, and Anna wished she could turn into a dragon at will. She would be much scarier to teachers if she could scare them off with their pants on fire. Eyeing the man up and down, she flopped over onto Travis, clutching his arm and unintentionally rubbing her clay dirt on him. "Please don't take me back to the classrooms. I don't wanna go." Staring fiercely up at the man, her tactics quickly change. "I can make fire, too! I'll ... I'll set your pants on fire if you take me! I won't go, I won't" Despite the fact that she probably wouldn't be able to produce enough fire to commit such an act, Anna didn't bother to try to correct herself.
 

Burlesque

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Apr 15, 2014
75
Travis Ashe

Travis held his hands up in defense. Her mood swings were quick, but Travis managed to keep up. Obviously she was trying to escape from the ever watchful eye of the academy. Once you reach a certain age, the place goes fairly slack, but as a young child? Well, Travis knew firsthand how suffocating it could be.

"I am not a teacher. Don't worry. I actually graduated from this school. A few years ago, actually."

Once again, he found himself remembering all the years he'd spent at the academy. From a young child to an adult, he'd never really known anything different? And why should he? The outside world was cruel. In time, he was sure the young girl would learn to love it here. At the same time, she talked so fondly of her father that perhaps she never would. It made him wonder if there were places that gifted people lived outside of the school.

He focused back on the clay. Annaleise was working slowly now, and diligently. He could tell that her motives had probably changed from messing around and having fun to some sort of bigger focus. Assuming they might be there a while, Travis scraped some clay off the floor and began working on his own project. Though it wouldn't be a masterpiece, as least it gave him something to do. And he really ought to watch after the little tyke until her teachers did find her.

"Anyway, I work down at a pet shop in town. You ought to come see it if you get the chance. I have all sorts of creatures there."

He reconsidered his choice of words.

"Not anything like dragons, per se. I mean animals that enjoy living with humans. They like our company, you know."
 

Fidget

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Nov 12, 2013
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Settling, Anna was satisfied that he didn't profess to be a teacher. Though she couldn't exactly understand why anyone would actually want to come back to school after they've graduated. If anything, she would want to fly as far away as she could manage.
Squishing the clay into shapes, Anna flopped backwards, landing with a dull thump. Adjusting her head, she wriggled her shoulders into a more comfortable position before continuing with her clay.

Anna worked peacefully for a while, happy to play with someone for a change. The students here were often too busy with their own lives to sit and play with her for a while, or they simply thought themselves too adult to stoop to such things. Perhaps she would be able to ask Travis if he knew anyone like her.

Sitting back up with a start, Annaleise rocked onto her knees, her legs folding neatly under her as her clay lay forgotten beside her. He worked at a pet shop! "A pet shop! I want to go see the pet shop. Do you have puppies? I love the puppies the best, especially the soft ones. Take me there this instant! I want to see it!" Putting on her best demanding face, Anna placed her hands on her hips and tossed her head, her dark red curls swishing satisfactorily. She mostly wanted to go see the puppies, and maybe even convince this stranger man to let her take one. Thinking about it, she decided that perhaps she would be allowed to have a pet if she was demanding enough to her caretakers.
 

Burlesque

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Apr 15, 2014
75
Travis Ashe

Travis blinked. Right now? She wanted to go right now? The fact that it was a command and not a question zoomed over his head. He had never really had anyone express such interest in his shop before. It was successful, but people never rushed down to it as soon as Travis had told them. Taking the young girl was so tempting, but he had to keep a level head.

"I have a few puppies. They're quite popular, actually. One of them can breathe fire, actually. Like you, right?" He offered her a soft smile. He couldn't just scoop up this random girl and whisk her away to his shop- that was wrong on a zillion levels. However, the more he spoke to her, the more he began to see her as a fellow person and not just a dumb kid. Maybe it was just in his nature, but he didn't mind.

"Anyway, we have lots of other animals too. However, I don't think like right now is an ideal time to just run off."

An idea dawned on him. He bent over and reached into the back pocket of his jeans, producing his wallet. He knew that being treated like a person instead of a kid felt awesome, and he happened to like the boundless energy of this girl, instead of his lazy partner, who was still glaring at the girl from the doorway. He rolled his eyes and pulled a small, white card out of his wallet and offered it to Annaleise.

"Here's my business card. It's got the address of my business and my cell phone number so you can come visit whenever you like!"
 
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