Swallow a drop of gravel and blacktop Who: Kristen and Missy Where: Berry Days Festival When: 4:30 p.m.
They were going to the festival! Kristen was delighted and actually acting like a kid this time, prancing around Missy as they got out of the car. She'd gone to the festival with Missy before, every year since they'd moved to Scarlet Oak, and it was a sort of tradition for them. One that the little girl loved dearly and she was always glad when Missy would take the day off to take her. Sure, it'd meant that she'd slept in late but that was okay. Meant that she'd actually slept. Kristen knew her sister still wasn't sleeping enough but she wasn't going to focus on that today because they were at the festival! And it was strawberry day, her favorite berry, and as they entered the fairgrounds she turned her best pleading eyes on Missy, even tugging at her hand. "Can we go get some strawberries and cream?" she asked, fidgeting a little with the purse that she had picked up on the way out. She was ten-years-old now, practically a teenager, and she needed to carry a purse. Sure it was one of Missy's old ones that she had probably thought she threw away when they were still in New York, but Kristen had hidden it for the day when she could use it. Which was clearly today.
Missy recognized the purse that Kristen had slung on the moment she saw it, wondering how her little sister had managed to get a hold of and keep it. But she had not said anything or attempted to take it away even if it looked like something an older girl would wear. Instead she had told Kristen that she looked very nice and driven off to the festival. It was a nice, normal activity that could keep her mind off of everything else. Especially since they were going when it was still day outside so that the vampires would not be there. That still ruffled Missy's feathers to know that the festival had been changed to accommodate and welcome those blood-sucking abominations. Not that she was going to give voice to that opinion with Kristen right there. Her little sister was quite fond of at least one vampire, go figure it had to be the one that Missy could not figure out, and would probably not like hearing that her big sister wanted them all fully and completely dead. Like they should be. Shaking the darker thoughts off - today was a day to be enjoyed with Kristen and nothing else - Missy smiled down at Kristen and nodded. "Sure can, little shiela, would I ever deny your treat?" Stopping at the first stand she saw, Missy purchased two of the treats along with a large Coke, craving the caffeine and ignoring the disapproving look that she knew would be forthcoming. Ten or not, Kristen could still give that look as well as any mother. "Do you maybe want to go play some games?"
Giving the cup of pop a disapproving look Kristen didn't say anything, choosing instead to eat her strawberries in relative peace. "Yes!" she agreed, wiping a bit of cream off her nose. "You'll win me something, right?" Because Kristen wasn't all that good at games. Her skill to throw a dart and pop a balloon was practically non-existent. Though if there were one of those Jacob's Ladders sort of games then she was all over that. She was a gymnast after all. Maybe she could get Missy to race her... Lighting up she popped another strawberry in her mouth, enjoying the taste. For some reason they seemed to taste way better here than anywhere else. Probably all in her head. "I could always use another stuffed animal. Didn't get one for my birthday." Stuffed animals were one of her favorite things and she'd yet to find out that you could have too many.
"You didn't get a stuffed animal because you got other things," Missy reminded Kristen as she nibbled on a strawberry. Not that she had gotten her the typical gift for a Peloe when they turned ten. In the end she had decided that no, her little sister did not need a gun. Especially if she had any inkling of why she was learning how to shoot. With how fond Kristen was of Nikita it was doubtful that she was just going to agree to go along with the family business. Unless Missy told her what had really happened to their family... but she was far, far too young for that. So far as Missy was concerned she would always be too young for that. "Hmmm... tell you what, you try some of the skill games with me and then we'll go find that rope game you like." Kristen was like a little monkey when it came to that, probably the gymnast thing, but what her little sister often forgot was that Missy had gone through a lot of the same training when she was a kid. "Deal?"
Kristen pretended to think about it for a moment before nodding. "Deal!" Finishing off her bowl of strawberries, she'd been hungry!, Kristen tossed it in a nearby garbage can and started towards where the games were supposed to be. The first one that she saw was one of those knock-the-pins over that she could never win. But oh, the prizes! The little girl looked up at Missy and pointed. "Win me the tiger?" she asked in the cutest voice she could manage. Right then she was trying her best to act like a regular kid, ignoring any little feelings that she might have or flashes of this or that. And, most importantly, she was not thinking about what they were going to be doing tomorrow.
There was nothing in the world that Missy would not do for her little sister. After all, she had given up hopes of having some semblance of a normal life in order to raise the girl after what happened to their family and had never even thought about giving her away to some other family member. So when Kristen turned those huge eyes up at her and pleaded for the tiger Missy just grinned and turned to hand some money over to the pimply teenager on the other side, listening to the rules before hefting one of the balls. "You know these things are rigged," she informed Kristen as she took aim. At least that way if she missed then her pride would not have to be too damaged by her little sister's giggles. The teenager attempted a half-hearted protest that Missy cut off with a look. She had been to enough fairs to know that it was probably true and she did not approve of it. Just because they did not want people to win did not mean that they could cheat them out of their money. Taking aim, Missy let the first ball fly, muttering when it only knocked three of the five bottles down. The boy set them back up quickly and nodded for her to go ahead. Two more times Missy tried and failed and just when she was about ready to stop she heard someone snickering. Gritting her teeth she paid five more dollars and held out her hand. One more throw, adjusting off what she had seen the last three times, and the bottles went flying. Smiling smugly, Missy waited for the guy to get the tiger down. It was nearly as big as Kristen so Missy held it for her. "Look at that, I won my game. Doesn't that mean it's your turn, little shiela?"
Clapping loudly when Missy finally knocked all the bottles over, she'd known her sister could do it from the start, Kristen pouted when Missy kept the tiger. "I thought you were going to win that for me," she stated before turning to survey the other games. Oh no way, she wasn't trying the darts thing, she was just as likely to put her own eye out as hit any of the targets and then Missy'd take her to the hospital and they wouldn't get to come back and it'd be a huge mess so no. It'd keep tomorrow from happening. Quickly dismissing that thought, Kristen zeroed in on the racing game where you shot water at the hole and it filled up. Whoever went fastest won. "Race me here!" Kristen chirped as she hopped up on one of the stools and waited for Missy to join her. The prize was a basketball which she'd never use but it was a skill game, technically, and if she played then Missy would take her to the ladder so that she could actually win something.
Sighing, Missy set the tiger down and took the seat next to Kristen's, shelling out a few more bucks so that they could play this game. It was too easy for her, aiming the stream of water at the hole but she tried to hold back so that Kristen could win. Her little sister never liked being let to win but she also did not like losing and Missy was not all that fond of beating a kid... but once it became apparent that Kristen was not going to beat her unless she deliberately avoided the hole, Missy's little ball shot to the top of the canon and the red light went off. "You know, that wasn't fair," Missy pointed out as she took the basketball and offered it to Kristen. No reason she needed it after all. Were the Celtics even a real team? They sounded pretty made up to her.
Kristen hadn't expected to win this one, she'd just picked it because it was quick and she knew that Missy would keep to her promise about taking her to play the game she wanted to. One-track mind? Yes, Kristen could have one of those from time to time and now was definitely one of those times. Taking the basketball and wondering how soon she could "lose" it, Kristen peered around for the game she wanted. "Now I've done a skills and you have to play the ladder game with me," she reminded Missy. It'd be fun to see if her big sister could keep up to her on that one. She highly doubted it. Setting the basketball down in a pretense to fix her hair, and fully intending to leave it there for someone else, Kristen looked around. "There!" Some man had just gone tumbling off to land on the inflated platform, laughing as he went. Practically bouncing her way over Kristen looked up at the man in charge and smiled her best smile. "My sister and I are going to race on this thing." She hadn't even look at the prize yet because she didn't care what it was. All she cared about was getting to play.
Have to admit that I wouldn't have as much fun without her. Even if Missy was seriously craving more caffeine and possibly a nap. It was still day so she could have gotten one in... but she was not about to say that, instead following Kristen and pretending not to notice that her sister had set the basketball aside. "Yes we are," Missy agreed, taking hold of Kristen's arm to pull her out of the way so that the person who was next could go. "But we're going to wait our turn. Don't worry, it's not like it's going to go anywhere while we're waiting." She used the time to watch how everyone else was doing it, trying to remember the trick that she swore existed to win this one. If she could not remember it then hopefully Kristen would not either, that would just make the whole thing totally unfair. Though either way the prize - another giant stuffed animal, this one a puppy of some sorts, would end up in the smaller Peloe's room.
Flushing a little, she hadn't seen the others waiting at all, Kristen fell in at Missy's side. She was still practically bouncing as she waited and giggled as one after one fell off the ladder to collapse on the blue thing that softened their landing. "They put their hands all wrong," the girl informed Missy in a stage whisper as yet another went tumbling. She bounced up on the balls of her feet and pointed. "See, right there she had her balance off! If she just-" her voice faltered when the girl glared at her, rubbing at her elbow as she stumbled off. Kristen forgot the glare quickly though because it was finally their turn. Removing her flip-flops the ten-year-old got ready and glanced over at Missy. "I'll beat you to the top," she promised with a bright grin. Sure Missy was bigger but Kristen was quicker.
Grinning, Missy undid her sandals and stretched out a little before taking her place at the opposite ladder. Somewhere behind her she heard someone remark on how nice it was to see one of the local reporters out enjoying the day without a camcorder. Now that would have made an interesting little news segment - see how the games really work at the fair and how you can beat them - but no, Missy shoved the work-related thoughts out of her head as she got ready and shook her head at her sister. "Sure you will, little shiela, sure you will." And if Kristen actually did win? Then Missy was going to be completely okay with that. When the guy signaled for them to go, the reporter started off, ladder shaking more than she had expected as she tried to get her bearings right, frowning as it tried to tip over. This was not as easy as she had thought that it would be.
Okay, so Kristen had an unfair advantage, she knew that she was going to win thanks to one of those gut feelings that she'd get from time to time. And after they'd started she even took time to glance over at Missy and see why. Sure her big sister was making process but she was shaky. Kristen, on the other hand, moved her hands and feet in perfect coordination and shimmied right up along the ladder to ring the bell before a minute had gone by. "I win!" she declared, happily letting go to fall onto the blue thing, laughing as she glanced up at Missy's surprised face. "See? Told you that I'd be faster than you!" she even went so far as to stick her tongue out with a little 'nana' thrown in before prancing off to reclaim her flip-flops and the giant puppy dog with the huge eyes and floppy ears that happened to be roughly two-thirds her size and a little awkward to hold. But she looked damn adorable standing there, eyes peeking over the top and glittering as she waited for Missy to join her back on the steady ground.
Muttering and pretending to be upset for a moment did not last long when Missy took in the sight of Kristen standing with that huge dog and burst out laughing. "Maybe we should have brought a wagon," she teased as she redid her sandals and picked up the stuffed tiger. "Come on, Kris, let's take these back to the car so that we don't have to deal with them for the rest of the night. You can hardly walk with that thing and I can just imagine how many old people will have a heart attack when they see you walking, thinking that the toys are coming to life or something." Like a giant version of Toy Story. Or the more horrific Child's Play. Not that Missy had allowed Kristen to see that one yet. She had to at least be in her mid-teens first and away from any childish nightmares. Though the world could be counted as one of those since the stuff of most nightmares stalk the streets now. And Kristen had made friends with one of them.
"Fine," Kristen agreed, her voice a little muffled against the dog. She followed Missy's lead and hoped that she wasn't about to run into anybody that she definitely couldn't see. And that was when she decided, mostly because Missy couldn't see her, to ask the question that had been bothering her ever since her big sister had come and taken her away from Nikita's. "That woman you mentioned at Nikita's, Jadyn, you like her, don't you?" Hopefully Missy wouldn't be able to hear the fragile note that had crept into Kristen's voice. Sure she wanted Missy to be happy with someone but she'd thought that Nikita was such a good idea and they looked good together and she liked the vampire. What if she didn't like this Jadyn person? What if she didn't like her? Kristen hadn't really competed with anyone for Missy's attention before and she wasn't sure if she could handle it just yet. Or if she'd even win.
Blinking down at the top of Kristen's head, Missy thought of how best to go about answering that question. Partially because she was not one hundred percent certain of the answer and partially because she did not want to say something that would upset Kristen. It was sadly obvious that the girl had pinned her hopes on Missy falling for Nikita - the girl having no idea that Missy could never be with a vampire, or that the two had been together before and that it had ended worse than terribly - but there was nothing that Missy could really do about that anymore. Sure she still felts pangs when she looked at the Russian vampire and she wondered what might have happened if she had not freaked out that morning and tried to kill her and she seemed to have issues killing her now, but the Australian had no doubts that Nikita did not harbor those same thoughts. Why linger on that? It only caused her undue anxiety, made her sleep and eat less and overall, she was much less happy with Nikita around because the woman wanted her dead. Kristen just did not need to know that about her friend. Or her sister. "Well, yeah, I do," Missy decided at last, unlocking the car when they reached it and setting the tiger inside before reaching back for the puppy. "I think you will too."
When Missy reached for the puppy Kristen tightened her grip and refused to let go because she could feel tears welling up. She didn't want to like whoever Jadyn was, she already liked Nikita and Missy should've too! She'd seen the way she looked at her the other day and when they'd kissed and... and... and it was supposed to work that way! While Kristen tried her best to act like an adult most of the time it was things like this, ones that threatened the relative stability of her world, that made it obvious she was really just a little girl who didn't want to lose her big sister to anyone. Unless she liked them. And she didn't know whether or not she liked Jadyn so how could she be anywhere near okay with this? The fact that nothing was really going on, that Jadyn was just coming over, didn't matter. Right then Kristen was seeing things in the extreme and she didn't like it. "I like Nikita," she muttered, tears staining the stuffed animal that she was clinging to so tightly. "I don't like Jadyn. Why can't you like Nikita too? She's perfect! She has a nice house and assistant and a mermaid and a library and... and... I like her!"
The fact that Kristen had just mentioned Nikita having a mermaid got filed away to be brought back up later, when the little girl was not in such a fragile state of being. Sighing and rubbing a hand at her forehead, Missy set about unclenching Kristen's fingers from the dog so that she could kneel down and take Kristen's face in her hands, rubbing the tears away with the pads of her fingers. "Kristen, sweetheart, look at me," her voice was gentle but firm and she did not continue until Kristen's tear-filled eyes - a heart wrenching sight that made Missy want to just hug her and change the subject to fluffy kittens or something - looked up. "Just because I don't like Nikita like you want me to doesn't mean you have to stop being her friend." Though that would be the best thing ever. If I could make that happen I would with the snap of my fingers before something happens to you because of her. If that day ever came then Missy would kill Nikita, she would find a way and her reluctance be damned. "But Kristen... it was nice of you to try, but you can't make people like each other. Okay?"
That just wasn't fair and Kristen said as much, her lip firming up as her face took on a stubborn cast. "You try to make me like other kids all of the time," she pointed out with a childish fierceness. "And you said that I have to love aunt Terry even though she smells funny and insists on making me jumpers that are way too hot. How come you get to decide who I like but I can't pick someone for you? She'd make you happy!"
"It's different when it's friends or family," Missy pointed out, holding in another sigh. "And no, she wouldn't." But she could, a tiny voice in the back of Missy's head insisted on pointing out. If you weren't so hung up on - if my family wouldn't turn over in their graves at the idea! Shut up! Arguing with herself again. Now was definitely not the time for that. "I'd never try to pick out someone for you to be with Kristen... and besides, you can't say you don't like Jadyn, you've never even met her. Got to give the woman a chance before you hate her just because I'm not with the vampire that you like." So there was a little venom in her voice when she mentioned vampire, so what? It was hard to keep it bottled all up when a vampire was, yet again, messing with her life. All they were supposed to do around her was die, was that really so much to expect? Okay, die or stay the fuck away from her and Kristen. There, two options.
Kristen didn't want to listen to any of this. Because she was being exceptionally childish at the moment, ignoring even the tugging feeling that told her that Missy was probably right. She didn't want to like Jadyn and she wasn't going to no matter what Missy told her. "You're wrong," Kristen told Missy simply before she climbed into the car and buckled her seatbelt, arms crossed across her chest. She didn't want to stay at the festival anymore. She wanted to go home and draw or sculpt something. Maybe something that wasn't as happy as what she normally did. Or something for Nikita, that'd show Missy. Exactly how or why it would she didn't know but it seemed like the thing to do. "I want to go home."
This is why I need mom, Missy thought as Kristen climbed into the car, refusing to even look at her. They had been having so much fun too. Isn't she too young to be going through this sort of thing? Missy, of course, did not even realize what was really bothering her kid sister. She thought it all had to do with Kristen wanting her to like Nikita and not at all with the fact that Kristen was afraid of her liking someone more than her. Had she thought of that possibility then she would have informed Kristen just how untrue that was. But that would have to wait until Missy figured it out, which would probably take awhile with how little sleep and caffeine she was running on. So the reporter just sighed, ran a hand through her hair and closed the door before going around to her side. Looked like their happy day at the festival had come to an abrupt end that she had never even expected. And, in her mind, it was all because of Nikita.