Lost and Confused (Open)

[VEE :: THE CONQUERER]

I sit down in a large, padded chair. It feels good to get off my feet, even though I haven't been walking very long. I hadn't realised how much the previous month had actually taken out of me. I sigh, and look around what I hope is the lobby, and not some out-of-bounds room. How would I know if it was? I haven't gotten a rulebook yet. I rub my fingers along the leather of the chair. Why is it that lobbies worldwide look exactly the same? I give a bitter, self-mocking laugh. Again, how would I know? I haven't travelled much. I never travelled out of England. Okay, that's not true. I did. Once. When I was three and mom had an international contract. But, that doesn't count.

It's been quite a journey to get here from good ol' Oxford. First the plane, which I almost missed because the security guard wouldn't believe that I actually played the violin and wasn't smuggling anything, then the long, long bus-drive. I don't like buses at the best of times. The thrumming engine strikes a chord in me. It makes me feel dizzy. And, recently, my stomach hasn't been in top form... In some ways, though, I'm glad it took so long. Got to say goodbye to Mom before the Vidscreen lost signal. She can still page me, but it's not the same. Some people may find it creepy how attached I am to my mom. Most mistake her for my girlfriend when they first see her, and think dodgy thoughts. Nonsense. She may look twenty, but she's still my mom, who sent me to my room when I was naughty. I'll miss her sunny outlook on things.

I shift, trying to get away from my homesickness, and open my violin case. Poor thing got quite jostled up on the bus. I don't know what happened to the rest of my luggage. Some porter took it. I wonder if I'll ever find it again? Doesn't matter. I have my pager, and my violin. I'll be fine. I delicately lever the wooden instrument from its velvet bed, and twang experimentally on the strings. Yep. Out of tune. No normal person would notice. Not even the most talented conductor would. I quickly tighten some knobs, loosen others. I don't need my bow any more. When I'm done, I put it away. No need to get teased on the first day.

How did I get here, anyway? I remember disembarking, staring in awed horror at the huge door... From there, there's the warm Admin office, or so I was told. They were as confused as I was over where I needed to be, and the computers were getting on my nerves. I've always had an instinctive need to tune their dull hum. So, I wandered in here. Now I have no idea what's happening. I'm tired. All I want to do is find a room to myself, preferably accompanied by my bags, have a shower and sleep. I look around hopefully. Nope. No one to guide me. "Hello?" I call hopefully, listening to the timbre of my voice as is bounces off the walls subtly. I close my eyes. This is a bad idea, but I'm doing it anyway. Softly, softly, I send out a call. No one would detect it, but they'd come help me out. And right now, I'm really in need of a saviour.

I put my head in my hands, and wait. Can't do anything else, now can I?

[anari]

Watching, stalking, listening. It was actually pretty quiet here in the lobby and she didn't like it much. She prefered a place with loud music and moving bodies. Yes, a party. A place to dance and have a good time. Alcohol, drugs...not that she did drugs or anything. She didn't need things like that to make her crazy, she could pull that off without it. People acted stupid when they did drugs and she wasn't too interested in destroying her mind. Still, this place was quiet and she was wanting to bring a bit of happiness and noise to the place. Perhaps not too much noise, but at least something that would chase away the eerie silence around here. Of course, it wasn't really that quiet. There were normal sounds of a lobby. The soft hum of a computer, sometimes a fax machine, unknown noises you couldn't quite place. The soft breathing of people and a chirp of a cricket that must have gotten in and hadn't found it's way out yet. Erica, surprisingly, was just as quiet as everything else around there. Silent, watchful. It was almost rare to not hear one sound from the little girl. You could usually hear her squealing in excitement and jumping around with one of her friends or something, but today...today she was content with sitting and watching. Waiting, almost. Waiting for amusement, it seemed.

Of course, what she was watching was the boy sitting there in the lobby. Where was she? Sitting behind a desk. Well, underneath it really. Her pretty amber eyes were peering out from under it like a cat that was about to pounce. Curious she was and hell-bent on satisfying that urge to explore this new person. He had a case nearby that held an instrument. He had picked it up, played with it for moment (oh, the "it" had been a violin, it seemed), then put it back down. Strange. Such a pretty instrument he carried with him. She figured it was something he could play. She could never really get into things such as musical instruments. Her mother had tried to get her to learn to play the piano and a flute and after learning that her daughter didn't have the patience, gave up. Erica did learn how to properly dance at a ball or something but she found it quite boring. She had a tutor that tried teaching her french, though she didn't really know much of it. Erica had been several places since she was born and found them all to be better than Dallas, Texas. Such a nasty city it was, full of cars that blocked the streets and psycho drivers. She hoped she never had to go back. Her mother was still there, though, and asked her to come visit sometime later.

A word from the boy in the lobby brought her out of her thoughts. She giggled softly. Was he talking to himself? No, he had been asking for someone to come forth. Well then. Why not Erica? So, the young woman popped up from behind the desk and climbed on top of it beside the computer. "Hi, hi!" she exclaimed, jumping down towards him and going to sit in a chair beside him. She would have jumped into his lap but he had been sitting with his head in his hands when she popped out. Today she didn't have her cat shadowing her. Jezzy had been sleeping when Erica came out to play so she left her in the room. Why wake the cat up? She just got grumpy when you woke her up from her nap. Erica didn't mind being alone anyway, she could find people to amuse her. She leaned over the edge of the chair towards the boy she was now interested in talking to. "Are you new here? I'm Erica, who are you?" she asked, amber eyes bright with excitement. She brushed her redish brown hair back behind her ears as she looked at him, smiling big. It seemed the hyper girl never stopped being outgoing to people. She could be scaring him away for all she knew, but she didn't mind. She wasn't being rude or anything so she figured he was ok.

[VEE :: THE CONQUERER]

It hasn't been very long since I called out, but it already feels like ages. Why is it always me? All my friends can find their way around, or find people to help them out if they can't. I'm moody, tired, sweaty, and I don't have my bags. If anyone were to enter now, I'd jump up and hug them, be it the intimidating, tall principal who creeps me and Mom out, or some gorgeous girl. No need to get my hopes up. With the way my luck's been going recently, it's gonna be a security guard, telling me to get out. I kind of wish it were, too. At least it would be somebody. To make it worse, I have the horrible feeling that something's watching me.

Turns out, there is someone watching me! She leaps out from under the desk, why she was under there I'll probably never know, and bounds up to me. I only have time to look up as she reaches me, grinning somewhat insanely as she gives her greeting. American. Couldn't mistake the accent. And from the South. I find myself smiling in return. Mine is a lot smaller, but it's there. She must think I'm such a freak, next to her liveliness and spunk. I stand up, half in shock, half in relief. I have half a mind to hug her, but I'm sort of scared that she'll like it.

"Erm, hello," I say, blushing. I hate that. And I always do it, too. I also can't stand how formal my accent sounds next to hers. Sometimes, I wish I wasn't from Snob Capital. I'm not one. No. But, I sound like one, which puts people off. Or they find me cute. Not, 'Oh, look how hot that guy is, let's date him,' cute, but 'Aww! Have you lost your Mummy, little guy?' cute. I smile again, wryly. "Thank you for rescuing me. Yeah, I'm new. Is it that obvious?" Danny, you're sitting in a lobby, looking lost. It's kind of obvious, don't you think? "Nice to meet you, Erica. I'm Danny." I stand awkwardly. Shake hands, or hug? Eventually I opt for shaking hands.

"Look," I say, sounding desperate. "Could you help me find my things? Or, where I'm supposed to go? Or something? It seems like everyone's been abducted." Where was everyone? Could it be possible for such a prestigious school to be so deserted? I haven't seen one student, except for her, and only now, since I arrived. Have I come in exam time? Or summer holidays? Now that would be bad.

[anari]

If he were to ask her why she had been hiding under the desk she would have giggled and told him it was a secret. She loves secret missions and had a very vivid imagination. She had once been hiding under her mothers bed and popped out from under it when her mother came in the room. When asked what she was doing, Erica told the woman that she was on a secret mission to find the bunnies made of dust. She said she was going to kill them with the help of sir Vac from Uum. She then ran around screaming "Fear me!" underneath peices of random furniture. Was it a mental thing that made Erica act so childish? No, she had the mind of any average girl her age. She just acted younger. Perhaps she wasn't entirely ready to grow up yet. Erica was a high spirited girl and there wasn't much that could bring her down. People could try but she thought that letting people's words get to her was a silly thing to do. So what, she was childish. Short, sometimes stubborn, loud, a party girl. Who cared? That's who she was. She wasn't going to change for anyone. She thought she was perfect, and not in that self-centered way, just that she wasn't going to change anything about her. Her flaws were what made her who she was and to her, being flawed was perfection. Perhaps someone else wouldn't understand that, though.

He stood up and she looked up at him with big, round, amber eyes. If she was a dog her tail would be wagging like crazy. She seemed so excited to be having a conversation with someone else. She saw him blush and she giggled once more. It took a lot to make little Erica blush and she found it rather cute that this boy was all red like he was shy or something. A little upsetting, seeing as she didn't want him to be shy around her. She wanted some fun. What a nice voice he had. She blinked up at him, listening to his words. Rescuing?! 'He must be a prince!' she thought, bouncing up and down where she sat. "I'm good at rescuing princes!" she said with the same excitement as before. Of course, she didn't really think he was a prince but she did like to pretend. It wouldn't be surprising if she started calling him Prince from now on. She did like giving nicknames to her friends after all. "Nice to meet you too, Danny," she said, a little calmer this time. Screw shaking hands. The little girl bounced forward and out of her chair with the intention of hugging him, not caring if she was invading his personal bubble or not.

"By aliens?" she said in a spooky voice, eyes suddenly darker. "Kidding!" she said, laughing a bit and letting the light return to her eyes. "Do you have a room? You can share one with me! Oh wait...don't think they let boys and girls room together," she said, pouting a bit. Not that Danny would want to room with her anyway. He seemed the shy type and Erica just wanted to dance and party. He would probably fear her by the end of the day, though she wasn't intending to do that. Her eyes moved over him for a moment before returning to his face. "I can show you where your room is supposed to be," she said softly, eyes holding a bit of wonder. "How did you lose your stuff?" she asked curiously, seeming to have calmed down quite a bit now from before. She turned her head to the side, running her fingers through her hair and watched him carefully. "Wanna be friends?" she said, grinning widely. Poor boy. She really hoped she wasn't scaring him. She couldn't help but be happy and hyper around people. She quite enjoyed company, especially since she basically grew up amusing herself without anyone else around to play with. This was a whole new world to her. She wanted friends.

[VEE :: THE CONQUERER]

She's terrifying. So... Bubbly, so hyperactive, with a complete lack of boundaries and rules. In short, she kind of reminds me of Mom. Mom's the polar opposite of me. Pretty, vivacious, pig-headed, although I can share that quality at times... She can make herself pass as a sixteen year-old girl or an eighty year-old woman. It helps that she doesn't age. Ever. The way this girl acts sort of makes me imagine how my mom might have acted at the many parties she was on site at. 'On site' is the word she uses for 'examining someone to find the best way to kill them horribly'. Of course, I wouldn't know how she acted. I was never allowed at those sort of parties. It was Mom's big rule. She said it was because they were full of people like her, who didn't have my best interests at heart. Didn't stop me going anyway. Maybe it's this similarity, or maybe I'm looking hard for something familiar, but I find myself wanting to open up to this lively lass.

Her stream of words baffles me, but I'm trying hard to keep up. "Prince? No!" I laugh, kind of shocked and kind of flattered. "I'm no price. Not a chance. Try harder. You're not thinking exotically enough," I joke, coming out of my comfort zone a little. If she has no holds barred, then neither will I. This seems to be my chance not to stand in the shadows, to actually have a group of friends who aren't told to keep away from me because of my mom. They never guessed her real job. With her high boots and good looks, they always supposed along the lines of... Well, you know. That's when she bounces across the space to hug me. She's small enough that I can cross my forearms when she hugs me. I let her, then release, blushing again. Stupid English complexion...

She goes off on her own tangent again. There's a moment of horror for me when she suggests rooming together. A boy and a girl? In a moment, all the horrible outcomes of that flash through my head. God, no! But then she continues that they don't allow it. I can't help breathing a little sigh of relief. Then, fortunately, she seems to calm down. Directions? Great! "Please do. Please," I say, almost beg, picking up my violin case from where it has landed on the chair. "I could probably track down my belongings from there." Does she really want to know how I lost my things? Okay then. She does seem interested. So, it wouldn't hurt to explain, even though it makes me look kind of a fool.

"Well," I begin, "I got off of the bus. There weren't many people on it, and they all seemed to know where they were going. So I tried to follow them when, to my surprise, a dour-looking man with a cap grabbed hold of my case. I tried to get it back, but he pulled away. Clutching onto my precious violin, I set off in pursuit, but, due to a recent.. Physical indisposition, I lost him. Some kind-looking woman pointed me to the Administration offices, but computers annoy me a little, so I came here." When you have no good friends, you need to learn how to tell stories. How else do you keep from going mad on the playground? Then, of course, she asks if I want to be friends. I look at her, not sure if she's serious or not. You know that game really mean kids play, where a popular kid asks some poor loner if they want to accept. The loner says yes, and then gets laughed at? Yeah. Meet the loner. "Yes, I guess so," I say warily. I need all the friends I can get.

I gesture towards nowhere in particular. "Should we set off?" I suggest. I really want a shower. Then, to keep conversation flowing, since this lass seems to like talk, I ask her, "So, how and why did you end up here?" I hope that's not considered a rude sort of question. Besides, I genuinely want to know what she can do.