David walked to the same destination as Mark and April. His dark hair was still a scraggly mess since he was too tired to brush it when he got out of bed and had a strange urge to go to the lake.

He opened his jaw wide in a yawn, and stuck his hand in his pockets. A few minutes later, he noticed two figures up ahead. Running now, he caught up with the two.
"Hey!" he called..

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

Jamie finished rolling up her jeans to the knee, and shoved the sleeves of her overlarge hoody to the elbows. Her shoes, which had been rescued from the trash many a time once the eyes of a disapproving mother were elsewhere, sat higher up on the sand in all their scruffy glory with socks balled and stuffed inside.

She looked up, squinting at the horizon. It was pale and overcast, and none too warm - enough so that when she dabbled her toes in the water lapping gently against the beach, it was followed by a sharp intake of breath at the sudden coldness. In any case, she began walking slowly along the shoreline, eyes on the sand and arms out for balance.

It was a delicate balance, finding that spot along the shore where the water didn't quite lap at your bare feet - where soft footprints remained in the sand behind you for just a few moments until they filled with water and faded. It was all-consuming, meaning that Jamie conveniently needed to think about nothing else.

Not that she had much to think about in any case. It was, however, soothing to not absently contemplate the coming english final, or beat herself over the head for accidentally leaving her house key at the library and having to wait outside for two hours in the rain until Dad got home from work. Just foot...after foot...after foot...disappearing in the sand behind her and not yet imprinted in the misty shoreline ahead. Goosebumps prickled on her bare skin and Jamie reached to redo her ponytail, which was already escaping.

The sand ahead broke its smooth continuation into the mist to accommodate an abandoned, rickety dock that ventured out into the shallower water before faltering, boards dangling. Jamie wound her way around it, content to focus on the straight line made by her footprints.

A raised voice echoed out of the mist and she looked up briefly, irrationally a little annoyed. It was Saturday, for goodness' sake, people should be sleeping. She didn't come and make footprints by the shoreline in order to make small talk - quite the opposite. Jamie stopped and turned halfway to glance down the way she'd come. Her footprints were fading and she half-considered turning around in order to avoid whoever it was.

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Samantha sat reading under a tree at the small playground. The fog soothed her. The morning sun gave her light to read. She had stayed up all night under that tree. Soaking up the nature. Her black hair was straight and untangled, and her shoes were damp. She closed her book, 'Heart-Shaped Box' and stood. She looked out and in the distance she saw a small group of people.

She walked up to them book in hand.
"Hello?" she quietly asked as not to startle them

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"Is all that we see or seem in a dream, but a dream?" -Edgar Allen Poe

[: ? # = $ ^ ~ +]


Normal is for Muggles!

[thought I read Everworld but I actually haven't. mind if I take what I know about this character and improvise? right, probably screwed him up entirely. sorry for the long post.]

Fog danced like pale ghosts across the limpid waters of Lake Michigan. Chill and tinted indigo by the first hints of dawn, it hugged the glassy surface, clinging like autumn leaves that fell in flakes of crimson and gold from the trees.

A stone sailed through the air, shattering the glass and plunging into the water with a dull splash. Another stone followed, then another in rapid succession. A few unremarkable birds, roosting in the trees and offended by the disturbance, took to the skies. The stones kept breaking the surface, each one more forcibly than the one before, until the waters were no longer tranquil but exploding in successive splashes.

Christopher Hitchcock launched the last stone and staggered to his feet, balancing on the tip of the rocky outcropping bordering the lake. Water lapped against the front of his sneakers. Not budging a muscle, he watched the ripples spread, then quietly diminish as if they'd never been. Disappear. Wink out of existence. Never been in existence.

"Pathetic excuse of a son. Wish you'd never existed. Swear to God, Christopher, what was I thinking - *beep* around with that woman?"

Panting, breath misting in front of his face, he plunged both hands into the pockets of his jacket and stared out over Lake Michigan, willing it to have never happened. Life was a game, right? When did life stop being a game? Strange. Unreal. Another drink would get him back in the mood... another drink always got him back in the mood... He reached down and picked up a glass bottle off the rock, halfway raising it to his lips before realizing it was empty. That wasn't fair. He hadn't called the party off, not yet... With a strangled shout, he arced back his arm and launched the bottle. It sailed farther than the rest, its dark glass catching the first rays of sun, before it too condemned itself to the lake.

"You were the one who *beep* married her."

An explosion of pottery, missing his head by a hairbreadth. "Out of my house! Now!"

Christopher swore under his breath and started back down the dirt path bordering the lake. He was shivering, though not only from the predawn chill. He had barely taken ten steps when his head swam, blurring vision and thought. What was that...? The big scary dog that randomly popped up on pamphlets and told you not to drink and drive. Booze is bad for you, little boys and girls.... Right. Swearing some more just because it made him feel better, he lurched past an abandoned dock where a brown-haired girl was sitting - weird to see someone else out here alone - and went right on walking...

Voices ahead. Perfect. Just what he needed. He thought he even recognized a few from school. Maybe he could crack a joke or two, all under the tent of completely appropriate and strictly necessary. They'd call him jerk and tell him to bug off, of course. He was used to it.

What was the point? He didn't want to talk to anyone, not today. Because talking today meant a fake grin, a fake laugh, a fake reply along the lines of "What do you mean, out this early?" He could tell them he was throwing a pool party. A pool party down by the lake. Yeah, that sounded great. Smirking to himself, he turned and started back the way he'd come.

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Jamie glanced up once, instantly perceiving that whover it was stalking past behind her didn't want to make small talk either, and looked back out onto the lake. A few more minutes of peace and then -

Voices again. Gosh, couldn't they find someplace else to go goof off this early in the morning? Jamie pointedly refused to acknowledge to herself that she was being a blatant hypocrite.

Expression rapidly changing from thoughtful contemplation to dismissive annoyance, she got up and half-ran along the dock back to the sand, arms spread for balance along the one segment where only a single board held firm. Her shoes weren't far away, and the house was only a couple blocks. Maybe Brady wouldn't be up yet and she could use the computer.

Her first step onto the sand came with a sudden stab of pain in her toe. Stumbling a little, Jamie balanced on one foot and twisted the other one up to look, realizing with increasing irritation that she'd acquired a splinter.

A sudden gust of cold wind made her shiver. It was enough to land her in wet sand squarely on the seat of her jeans.

"Stupid kids...why do they have to be down here..." she muttered fiercely with much heated inflection, trying all at once to hop around on one foot, extract the splinter, and dust off the seat of her jeans. It gave the impression of a stork with something stuck in its tailfeathers.

Eventually giving up - and wincing with every step, toes curled into a ball -she stalked up the beach, ignoring the wisps of brown-red hair hanging into her face from the rapidly disintegrating ponytail. The wind gusted again, colder, and suddenly Jamie's vision swam.

Jamie stared down the shoreline. Someone else at the lake? What was this, a rendezvous for morning people? And who managed to be that flawlessly made up this early, too...even her eyeliner looked precisely applied, jeans pristine and free of sand. No grungy hoody here, oh no...

Jamie's disgusted thoughts were interrupted by a muffled splash and ripples spreading outward. The girl was gone, water lapping the shore indicating that the splash was her diving into the choppy lake. She caught the barest glimpse of black hair rippling in the waves, smooth even in the water, and then her vision blurred again and -

A burst of pastel colors settled itself into grey clouds interrupted by vibrant autumn leaves stabbing up into the overcast sky. A bird winged across the sky. What was that? Not a bluebird or a sparrow...a magpie? No bluntly curved beak like a seagull...

Abruptly Jamie realized there was sand in her hair - sand up her shirt - sand in her face. She blinked, disoriented, and pushed herself upright with a start. She'd been lying in the sand, feet away from the lapping waves, and a trail up the steep incline of sand indicated that she'd fallen and rolled. Her head pounded suddenly, violently, and Jamie pushed herself upright. She felt suddenly and irrationally alarmed - was she sick? Her stomach roiled and the tall girl half-ran down the rest of the beach. Had to get home - get home -

Again her vision spun. This time she only fell partway, onto her hands and knees into the sand, panting.

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((just to let you all know, we all know each other from school, and...yeah...but you guys have really, really started off great! And LDM, I love how you are playing Chris! *gives LDM thumbs up smiley*))

April looked up at the voice, which she knew very well to be David. She had known him from school, seen him a couple times in the hallways, maybe even talked to him a couple times, but she knew him better because of one thing;

He was going out with her step-sister, Senna.

April really, in all honesty, felt bad for him. Pity. Senna was beautiful as a woman figure and her features were like a Barbie or a model, perfect and complete. But she was different. She wasn't normal. April had always known that, and she always hated her step-sister.

But, keeping her pity inside her, she smiled at David and said, "Hey David. What brings you out here so early in the morning?" She smiled down at Mark and said, "Hey Kid! My same question goes to you!" She said. April didn't noticed Samantha behind her, nor did she notice Chris.

((I will wait for Jalil to come in, and then I will bring Senna in. It will make more sense a little bit later, but for now, the charactors just mingle and wonder what brought them all out here this morning. ))

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Just became a college freshman; be on sparingly

David grimaced. He had forgotten until now that April was his girlfrien's step-sister. Oh well. Smiling, he walked up closer, finnaly caught up.
"I'm not sure what brough me here. It was a sudden strange urge," he replied...

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

April noticed David grimance, but shrugged it off. "Oh. I thought you were a heavy sleeper." April shrugged, her red hair flipping up off her shoulders as she did so. She looked back and asked David, "Have you seen Senna? She wasn't in her bed this morning..." April asked David.

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Just became a college freshman; be on sparingly

((OHHHHHHHH....... I'm BEHIND. Umm.. Could someone do a quick sum-up for me?))

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You may (or may not) know me elsewhere as Elfpen

((we are simply all gathering towards the lake early in the morning but we don't know why...))

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Just became a college freshman; be on sparingly

"I haven't seen Senna since yesterday afternoon," David replied to April...

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

"Really?" April said, raising her eyebrows. "I wonder were see has gone off too, then."

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Just became a college freshman; be on sparingly

Christopher increased his pace. Where to now? Home was an insane option - the nice good-bye his dad had given him was living proof. He could go back to his cousin's house, in which he'd been spending the last few nights. There was the slight problem of sneaking back through the window. He didn't think he'd get lucky twice. "Oh hey, Aunt Ruthie. Just thought I'd go out for a walk. You know, 6:30 a.m. Yeah, I had this weird dream about a girl at the lake. No, I'm not crazy. I thought maybe I could have a swim with her."

Hah.

He kicked at a rock, stubbed his toe, and let loose another string of naughty words. Thus it was that he practically tripped over the girl in the middle of the dirt path before he even realized her existence. He glimpsed a mass of brown-auburn hair. It was the same girl he'd spotted earlier by the dock. And she was eating sand.

"Uh. You know that's really not edible, right?" He paused, trying to refocus his blurred vision. Another drink might clear things up... but he was out of those... Nonetheless, it didn't take half a brain - true blessing, as only half his brain worked currently, and maybe not even that - to realize she wasn't in the mood for conversation. So Christopher sprang conversation on her anyway. "So. Did you dream about freaky girls and lakes last night too?" he asked dryly, offering her a hand.

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Jamie eyed the offered hand from her vantage point down at about one of his jeans-clad knees, more than half of a mind to tell whoever this one was that she'd rather not make small talk, thank you very much, and she should get home because fainting spells were not a sign of good health. She didn't. Cutting comments invented themselves in her head but very rarely left her lips. This one changed into a slightly disgruntled "Thanks."

"I know sand's not edible," she was already muttering almost legibly, through a surprising amount of it in her mouth, even as she cautiously stood upright. No more dizziness, at least not now. Sand decidedly was not edible - it was, in fact, slightly disgusting. Jamie spat the remnants of it out and grimaced, glancing once at the possessor of the hand she'd used to haul herself to her feet. Boy - tall-ish - she recognized him vaguely from school. Carson - Cole - Caleb - Christopher? That sounded right.

"Christopher?" she tried it out cautiously, wondering if this was going to make her look more like a complete idiot than she already did. Her ponytail was gone completely, incidentally, and sand had worked itself into every orifice available. Not to mention she was still barefoot and that sliver still seemed to be firmly lodged in her big toe. "Er. No. Freaky girls?"

Right, that had been a girl. Wondering if she'd hit her head and that was the reason every train of thought was about as speedy as her brother's pathetic motor scooter - it had a top speed of seven miles per hour - Jamie hastily collected herself. "Oh. Yeah, just now, saw a weird girl...sorta like a dream, I guess. I kinda, uh, was daydreaming. I think." She made a vague motion relating to falling down on the path, in order to explain it.

Realizing rapidly that this was Christopher, who was in a foul mood half the time and often as not smelled of something alcoholic, Jamie stuck her hands in her pockets and half-shrugged. "I should probably get home."

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