leona turner's love life is up in flames (tigers_andbears) wrote in invol_rpg, @ 2013-01-07 17:09:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! log, leona turner, vanessa upton |
WHO: Vanessa Upton and Leona Turner
WHAT: Two kidnappees attempt to tune out over a chick flick, talk hypothetical desert islands, avoid dealing with deeper issues.
WHEN: Sunday 6 January - first day back at IVI
WHERE: Leona/Jade's room? Vanessa does not brave Devon's lair.
WARNINGS: None
STATUS: Complete!
“So they’re apparently letting our families come and visit us.” Leona’s grimace wasn’t directed at her newly painted toenails, which were a pretty shade of coral, but at the idea in general. “It will be nice to see my brothers again, but my parents can be insufferable. Maybe we should arrange a family dinner between the two of ours and see if we can sneak out before they notice,” she suggested. She was trying to make light of things, but there was a slight knot of anxiety in her stomach at the thought of seeing her parents again, both of whom had been so harshly disapproving of how their daugher had launched herself at the European rescue mission only a hair’s breadth after escaping her own captivity. Vanessa was somewhat looking forward to seeing her family again, feeling guilty for ignoring them in favor of Facebook when she was home (and in part because she wanted to make them feel guilty for wanting to spend time without her phone when she had gone so long without it in her cell). It was going to be weird having them here though, her life at IVI feeling so removed from home. It was likely that she would be sick of them moments after they arrived, making Leona's plan sound like a good one. "Yes!" She agreed. "Otherwise they'll like want a tour of campus and to see everything." Vanessa made a face at this idea. Walking around the school for hours was not her idea of fun, especially in this heat. “This way, the red desert.” Leona stretched out an arm. “Over here, more red desert. Across the horizon, still more red desert. Yes, this place really is a scenic marvel, ladies and gentlemen. Did it have to be the Australian outback, really? I mean, there are plenty of isolated places in the north of Europe, and those get cold but they at least have greenery sometimes and well - snow!” Vanessa grinned in amusement at Leona's description of the outback. She didn't think where she came from was particularly interesting but at least it was only a short trip to Philadelphia and even in Erie they had waterparks and a huge mall. The outback had nothing but sand. "The only good thing about here is I can wear my cute summer clothes all the time." Winter clothes just weren't as cute in her opinion, preferring midriff bearing shirts and tiny shorts, not really caring about modesty. Still, some more wintery clothes were fun, like boots. Her feet got way too hot in boots in Australia. "Like, why would they even think to put us here unless they hate us and want us to be unhappy." Maybe a little harsh considering they'd both just been kidnapped by actual Vol haters but Vanessa had a tendency for melodrama. They don’t really hate us like some others. They did come to help us. She considered Sara’s tale when they had woken up in their cell together, that three IVI soldiers who probably hadn’t even spoken to her fellow prisoner before, had still paid the ultimate price for her. But thinking through those thoughts would have meant that she was dealing with her own issues about their captivity, and this was something that Leona was trying to avoid doing. “Even Canada would have been better,” she agreed, shooting a look over to her American friend. “At least the flight home would be shorter from Canada,” Vanessa mused. For her at least, it would be much further for Leona. The time difference would not be as noticeable in Canada either, parts of Canada even being in the same timezone as Pennsylvania. It would make keeping in contact with her friends on Facebook so much easier! “Where would you put school if you could choose anywhere in the world?” she asked. “Finland,” said Leona after some thought. “It’s meant to be really pretty. They considered using it for the location of the Lord of the Rings films before they decided upon New Zealand. Or even a tropical island somewhere. There’s enough of those around, and it would still be hot, but we’d get a lot more wind and rain and all that lovely coastline.” Not Sumatra though, she added with a mental shudder. There was nothing about Sumatra, no distinguishing features between it and the rest of Indonesia, save that it had been the place where she had languished for three days. No, definitely not Sumatra. “You?” she asked. “A tropical island,” Vanessa agreed. That wounded perfect, she could lie in the sun (or the shade, thanks pale skin) all day and do nothing. Beaches were the perfect places to be lazy. They seemed so calm and relaxing too and the type of place people went to forget all their troubles, such as memories of kidnapping. Not that any island was likely to remain peaceful once the population of IVI was released on it. “They could totally buy a private island. Or, like, even and island for each team and then a big island where everyone can go.” “I don’t know if I’d want to be stuck on an island with some of my team, actually. The feeling is probably mutual,” added Leona fairly, considering first Laurel, then Omar. Most of the rest though were people who she wouldn’t mind being stuck on the proverbial deserted island with, in another set of circumstances. “But yes. If they can afford this forcefield, they can afford to send us somewhere nicer.” Do you think they’ll let us out again? she wanted to ask. Do you think we’ll even want to leave, after what happened last time? “Anyway.” She tucked a strand of strawberry blonde hair behind one ear, eyes sparkling somewhat as she thought of a surefire way to distract Vanessa from less savoury thoughts. “Top five boys here you’d want to be stranded on an island with.” Most of her team likely wouldn’t love being stuck on an island with her but they were generally nice to her so she wasn’t aware that they might not like the idea. “They can totes afford to buy us each an island,” she replied. Vanessa fell quiet, Leona’s next question requiring a lot of thought, the mostly forgotten movie playing in the background the only sound as she went through all the boys she could remember off the top of her head. Obviously not Jesse was her first decision, the easiest of the lot. “Raphael,” she started. He was always so nice to her! None of the other Bros. “omg,” she spelt out the letters as she had what she thought was a brilliant idea, “Sol because Devon would be pissed and also he thinks I can be a model. Karim because then he could give me advice for all the other boys and check them out with me and we’d have fun. Ted because he said I was a nymph of the cyberspace,” a phrase she had memorised, thinking it was a great compliment, “And Vic because he’s on my team and I’ve seen how hot he is,” she finished, quickly counting them again in her head to make sure she had five. “You?” Anyone who Devon approved of could surely not be a nice person, but Leona chuckled at the suggestion. Other than Vic, the entirety of Vanessa’s Top Five were five of the last people who Leona would want to be stuck on a desert island with - which perhaps marked the difference in the two girls’ personalities. If Leona had been more familiar with the comic strip, she might have philosophized that Vanessa was perhaps the Veronica to her Betty. Only, when it came to potential Archies, she was a bit stuck. This was not a problem she would have had prior to the break. She was eighteen years old, and there were no shortage of good looking boys around IVI - even when you ruled out the likes of Mason and Donovan. Surely that couldn’t be normal. “Well, Vic seems like a pretty nice guy,” she mused. “He did volunteer for the rescue ops, and I think Hunter was really against the chip, so Vic probably was too. I’d be happy with any of the decent ones on my team, actually. Liam, Davi, Edwin-” Edwin of course defeated the purpose of this exercise, as had Karim for Vanessa, but that was not what Leona was considering right now “-Anthony, Taki, Marty, Javier, Santiago, Ari, Jace, Nate - anyone who volunteered for the Asia or Europe rescue ops at all, really. They’re all good people.” “Actually,” she concluded with a laugh, “that was way more than five. I did pass Maths and Statistics at school, I swear.” The people who rescued her or worked alongside her in rescues, Vanessa realised as Leona decided that anyone who volunteered for Asia or Europe ops would be good to be stuck with. She didn’t want to mention that though, pointedly avoiding talking about kidnappings as much as possible, save for conversations with those she had been kidnapped with. “Five hottest?” Vanessa prompted before the conversation could take a turn towards unwanted territory. “Hot.” Leona likewise latched onto the new topic. “I have trouble with hot sometimes. How do you distinguish hot from cute? Like, where do you draw the line? I guess that cute is more for boys-next-door types, and hot is for someone who you’d want to, well-” She trailed off with a grin and a blush. “But you can think that someone is more cute than hot and still find them attractive, right?” "Totes," Vanessa replied, glad Leona hadn't dwelled on her rescuers. Though maybe Leona was attracted to them now, seeing even the ones that weren't traditionally hot as heroic and therefore sexy. "Cute can be attractive. 5 you are most attracted to, cute or hot or sexy or whatever." Likewise Leona’s mind was still a blank. Dating (or wondering when she was ever going to date, as the case may be), weighing up what might make someone a good boyfriend - all of these now seemed part of another life. “Well, I think I’ll have to watch Heath Ledger again before I can make a full assessment,” she joked. “Aren’t we like two minutes away from the scene where he sings to Julia Stiles in the stadium?” "Omg!" Vanessa exclaimed, turning her attention back to the movie, Leona's inability to create a list forgotten. "That is like totes the best scene." Though comparing the guys at IVI to Heath Ledger would probably make it even harder to choose. "If there were more people like him here Australia would like not be so bad." “And once upon a time I thought that all Australian boys looked like Heath Ledger,” Leona said with a smile. They settled back to watch the familiar distraction of a movie. |