InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "yikes!"

Sam Ford (sonofahonestman) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2009-08-27 18:47:00

Entry tags:

!open

WHO: Sam Ford & Leah Clearwater
WHAT: Sam's bored and decides to ~~sneak out~~ go exploring. Sorta.
WHEN: Early evening
WHERE: The courtyard in between Housing Buildings A and C.
RATING: TBD
STATUS: In Progress

Dusk was just starting to settle as Sam quite calmly stepped out of the apartment he'd been living in with his father and Sophie, and made his way to the stairs leading out of the building. He wasn't planning on being gone very long - just five, maybe ten minutes - and while he knew that he should have probably told his dad where he was going, part of him was a little excited at the thought of being off on his own. Yes, he was fairly young but it wasn't as though he was going to go clear across the city or anything. He just wanted to get away from the four walls that he'd been forced to call home, and didn't want to wait until 'later' to do it.

He didn't think to bring any toys. While admittedly young, the boy didn't own very many playthings. Mostly puzzles and books, of which he brought one of the latter for his little trip. He had a perfect destination in mind, too, and wasted no time upon exiting the building in seeking out the area he'd been eying from his bedroom window.

The courtyard reminded him of a set off of one of those movies that his mom used to make his dad watch. The flowers seemed to always be in bloom, the grass was a brilliant color of green, and now that the soot and ashes from the fire in the other building had blown away from the constant light breeze that wafted through the trees, the boy figured it was okay enough for him to visit. He spotted a bench the second he stepped outside but instead of heading to it opted for a small bit of grass near a scattering of trees.

With a smile on his face that was born from excitement, he stretched out onto his stomach. Propping his chin up with one hand, feet kicking up in the air absently behind him, he opened his book and began to read - as best as he could manage, at least. All too soon, he was completely lost in the fictional world that the story provided and was wholly unaware a few minutes later when someone else decided to pay the courtyard a visit as well.

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bitterharpy
2009-08-28 12:33 am UTC (link)

Leah had been poking around the other buildings. After the fire, she'd been relocated to the building on the far end of town, which did not suit her, because she worked closer to buildings A and C, so she was looking to switch. She wasn't really sure who she was supposed to complain to about that, though, so mostly she was just hanging around the lobby of building A, waiting for some local to show up and help her or something. She'd begun to wander through the courtyards when a lone child caught her eye.

Leah wasn't a particularly maternal person by nature, or hadn't been until she'd lost her boyfriend and ability to have children. It was funny how not being able to have something you didn't really want made you think you wanted it a lot. In any case, she'd been irked that the small boy was alone, and wondered if he was a local or one of the real people, like her. He was reading, so that was one point towards real person, which lead her to wonder if his parents were around, too. She wandered over to him, wanting to be sure that he was alright without spooking him, because she looked a little ominous at six foot two.

"Hey, kid." She said, tilting her head to one side as she looked at him. "What're you reading?"

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sonofahonestman
2009-08-28 01:45 am UTC (link)

Sam tensed slightly at the voice, slowly peering up from his book at the woman standing there. She was... really tall. That was his first thought as he squinted a bit and stared up at her imposing frame. Then he relaxed ever so slightly and dropped his gaze back to his book. If she'd wanted to hurt him, after all, she would have done that before trying to talk to him. Right?

"The Neverending Story," he finally replied, marking his place carefully and twisting around until he was in a seated position. Craning his neck to stare up at her, he added, "It's one of the best books ever." He hugged the tome to his chest as he said the words, as though somewhat worried she might try to take it from him.

He didn't offer his name, at least not at first. She was a stranger and he wasn't supposed to do that. But after a few seconds his tendency to be honest no matter what won out and Sam announced simply, "You're really tall. I think you might even be taller than my dad."

He wasn't trying to be rude, and his tone wasn't mocking in the slightest. It was simply a statement of fact that he saw no reason to keep solely to himself.

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bitterharpy
2009-08-29 01:53 am UTC (link)

"Oh, I know that book." She said, smiling slightly as he sat up. "It definitely is." She agreed, laughing. He seemed like a bright kid to her, so she figured probably he'd be able to do okay on his own, but her curiosity was whetted so she didn't leave just yet. He did mention his dad, though.

"Yeah, I get that a lot," She laughed, shifting her weight from foot to foot. "Is your dad here with you?" She asked, hoping her meaning of "here in this alternate dimension" would be clear enough. Sometimes people got bent out of shape and went out of their way to not explain things to kids to, you know, protect them or whatever, which Leah was not a proponent of, but she also didn't want to be the one to explain this particular situation.

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sonofahonestman
2009-08-29 04:14 am UTC (link)

Sam hesitated and eyed the woman closely for a minute. He wasn't supposed to be talking to strangers. He knew that. If he did talk to them, though, he definitely wasn't supposed to tell them any sort of personal information. He could practically hear the speech his father would give him if he were to find out that he'd ignored that advice, too.

Still, she seemed nice enough. And Sam didn't want her to think he was all alone and try to call the cops or something. He had a feeling his dad would probably wring his neck if he were arrested or something.

So after a second, he gave a slight nod of his head. "He's inside," he stated. "My mom's not here, though. She's still back home." There was a mild frown to his face as he admitted that part, and his gaze dropped to the ground for a minute before he slowly peered back up at the woman.

"You really know the actual book The Neverending Story" he asked curiously. It was his experience that not too many people knew the story, or only knew the movie version which wasn't half as good as the book itself was, in his opinion.

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