Nikolai Jones (_intherough_) wrote in oblivionrp, @ 2009-04-08 22:04:00 |
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Entry tags: | gor, gor and nik, nik |
Happy Easter
Who: Gor and Nik
When: 2 AMish (Flashback: Easter, 1999.)
Where: Nik and Ios's room (Flashback: South Padre Island - Church.)
It was Easter time in South Padre Island, Texas and the Jones' were Catholic. Not really habitual about it but Catholic enough that they'd been out at the church Easter Egg Hunt. Nikolai had been about nine and already he felt he was getting too old for these sorts of shenanigans. (He had no idea what the word Shenanigan meant but it sounded appropriate.) Still, he had to smile watching all the other kids run around. When a concerned adult asked him why he wasn't searching for eggs as well, he had simply replied that the younger kids needed to have the fun more than he did. That had gotten him a 'daaww' and a pat on the head. Yes, he was so dang charitable.
The truth was, Bianca would have probably yelled at him if he'd gotten a grass stain on his nice new suit. So he stayed where he was, watching for his brothers. They might be convinced to share anyhow. Well, he hoped. He really did like candy and the licorice jellybeans were his favorite. Since no one else liked them, he always got them.
Gor had been an awkward child even at age five with dark, messy hair and wide, dark eyes. Tiny at best, he had become an immediate target on the school playground, both by older children and by his own peers. His shy nature and passive reactions only encouraged the bullying, especially since the boy never seemed able to bring himself to tattle to the teachers. In short, he was the perfect target...and the boys at school knew it.
Unlike the other children, who were running in circles, screaming and laughing with each other, Gor stood by himself. Three brightly-colored eggs filled his basket, which was shameful compared to the number bouncing in the baskets of the other children. His mother often worried that her youngest had been born with some sort of mental retardation, because he was so anti-social and so slow to do even the most simple tasks. Although Gor didn't understand what that meant, he didn't want to be retarded, because it seemed to give his parents one more reason to shun him. At five, Gor had yet to learn that, no matter what he or his brothers did, their parents would continue to shun all of them. He had an inkling, but there is nothing more precious to a five year old than his mother's attentions.
Today, Gor's apparent lack of progress was due to his desire to obtain the Golden Egg. Bigger than the rest of the eggs, whoever found it would receive a special prize. Gor wanted that prize more than he wanted the handful of small candies the rest of the eggs contained. Besides, it was sure to earn him Bianca's appreciation for the day. To this end, he stood in the middle of the field, turning slowly, thinking about where the best hiding place would be for such a prize.
Nikolai shoved his hands in his pockets, rocking in his tennis shoes as he had refused to wear those patent leather things Bianca had bought for him. What the heck was patent leather anyway? Was it like a pa-tent? Or a pat-ent? In which case, what was an ent and why would he want to pat it? (For that matter what was a pa-tent? Although that was probably when Louis had to sleep on the couch.) Bianca did not like being questioned so he'd never really asked and he hadn't checked the dictionary for it yet. There hadn't been time because she'd sort of sprung the shoes on him.
He should not have been surprised to see Grigory just standing in place and looking around. His littlest brother was strange to say the least. It didn't bother him though because when he looked at the other kids, the Jones boys were all kind of weird in comparison. When ever Nik tried to play football with other kids, they'd all get weird and say he couldn't because he was 'too mean'. Okay, so that one kid got a broken arm on a tackle. That hadn't been Nik's fault! It was the rock, really! He hadn't seen it...
Anyhow, Nik made his way over to the littlest Jones, hands deep in his pockets and smiling at Gor. At the same time, a small knot of riff-raff was watching from a distance. They seemed to have some kind of Bully Radar that let them know exactly what the small boy was doing. They began on the path to convergance as well. Nik made it there first but what was he to a group? "The heck are you doing, Gor?"
Gor looked up at his older brother with a knowing smile. "Finding the Golden Egg," he informed him, as though it were perfectly obvious. Of course, to him, it was perfectly obvious. He seemed to be completely ignorant of the group of larger kids loitering nearby. He was too happy in his own little world.
Although Gor had no idea what logic was, he had already grasped the basic ideas of how to apply it. "See, it can't be up high, 'cause the little kids couldn't reach it." He said it proudly, as though he weren't a little kid. "But it can't be somewhere obvious, otherwise we'd already see it." Given it's golden paint, the sun would have been glistening off of its surface by now. Gor looked across the field thoughtfully, explanation ceasing as completely as though he had never opened his mouth.
The field sat directly beside the church, with the search concentrated in the playground area. Gor's initial attempts to find the egg had resulted in three smaller eggs, each a different color. These failures did little to discourage him and seemed to only prove that his logic was sound, because no one else had found them first.
"This way," he informed his older brother, happy to share in the discovery of the Golden Egg with Nik. His target was a clump of large grass beside the wall of the church, which none of the other kids had noticed yet. Unfortunately, it would also take both boys out of the supervisor's watchful gaze. That, of course, was the least of Gor's concerns.
"Oh right," he replied like he had known that all alone. Of course Gor was going for the biggest prize. He was a smart kid. Still, Nik had an undeniable urge to reach out and ruffle the Littlest's hair. So he did, glad that it was nice out for this sort of thing. He wanted Gor to win and prove that weird meant being awesome.
He nodded along listening to Grigory's reasoning. Up high really was right out. But obvious would be bad too. Kind of like looking for the Golden Snitch actually (though he would never admit that he'd read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone out loud). Nik arched an eyebrow when Gor suddenly cut off and ran his fingers through his hair which just about touched the middle of his ears. No one really thought about giving the kids haircuts. Except Louis but even then, he just trimmed it saying 'long hair was fashionable'.
When Gor decided he knew exactly where to look next, Nikolai followed along, hoping Gor was right. Then this whole Golden Egg thing could be done and maybe there'd be the healthy fixation of candy next. He was tempted to snatch one of the Failure Eggs (because he knew that's what they were) and eat the candy out of it but they were Gor's and he wasn't going to steal candy from a little kid.
Glancing over his shoulder as they disappeared from the view of the adults, he relaxed noticeably. Adults were not trustworthy. The bigger kids were hovering just out of notice, waiting to see if the little boy really had found the big prize.
At the patch of long, over-grown grass, Gor knelt down onto the ground. Unlike Nik, who knew better than to get his nice suit dirty, little Gor had forgotten Bianca's orders entirely. He ignored the feeling of the moist dirt as it clung to his pants, instead focusing on reaching into the grass nest with his right hand. He swished his hand around once, frowning in immediate disappointment. Just as he was about to give up, his hand brushed against something that felt like plastic, and, eagerly, he brought the egg out.
It was green.
Gor looked at it confusion, as though he weren't sure what it was. Then, with a focused expression (tongue peeking out, nose a little wrinkled), Gor drove back in. The green egg was distractedly placed in his pocket as he rummaged. Deep, deep in the grass, suddenly, his small hand wrapped around another egg. "I found it!" Gor informed Nik, buzzing with excitement. He could tell -- this egg was much bigger and much heavier than the other egg had been. Just to keep from dropping it, he had to thrust his other hand into the grass as well. When he withdrew them, sure enough, the golden egg shone in his cupped hands.
Nikolai winced a little bit as Gor dirtied up his suit. He was only five but Bianca was going to have a fit. Maybe Bianca was really five and just lying about her age. One of his friends at school repeatedly said his mom lied about her age to pick up guys. Of course, he really wasn't sure how that worked but it was totally possible, right?
Anyhow, he watched as the littlest fished out a green egg and winced a little. Poor Gor. So sure but met with failure. Just as he was about to say 'It was a good try', Gor started fishing around again. Sure enough, he picked up the Golden Egg. Nik cheered just a little, not wanting to bring too much attention to them. He really really liked being out of sight of the adults. It just made him feel a whole lot safer though he didn't quite understand why.
Of course, that was when the bullies swooped in. The Golden Egg would be theirs but first they had to take it. One grabbed at the egg while the fattest of them shoved Nik and a third shoved Gor. It was a team effort that ended with Nik on his ass in the wet dirt and something inside him burning with anger. "Ours now," declared the bully with the egg!
Gor landed harded and flat on his back, the air going right out of him from the strength of the shove. With a bit of a struggle, partly due to the lack of oxygen, Gor sat up and stared up at the trio with wide eyes. He knew what this was. He knew what was coming. And perhaps he wasn't so bright after all... "That's ours," Gor told the bully with the egg, somehow managing to regain his feet. "We found it."
He included Nik in this statement, not just because he was nice but because, on some level, he figured Nik had helped. After all, Gor hadn't had any luck until Nik came over to ask him what he was doing, right? "You have your own eggs."
The trio did, actually, have quite a pile of eggs...and all of them were probably stolen. Still, Gor wanted that egg back... It was more important than his lunch money had ever been.
As Gor got to his feet, so did Nikolai, looking positively furious. Villainous even if a nine-year old could look villainous. He'd not really been allowed to watch horror movies so he couldn't exactly judge whether kids could look evil. But if he looked in a mirror at that moment? Definitely. He looked at the pile of other stolen eggs (as he had reached the same conclusion as Grigory), snarling, "Give the egg back. Now."
The trio of bullies seemed to press together to form a wall, successfully cutting off the younger boy from his older brother. The weasle-faced boy in the middle sniffed and glared with beady eyes down his nose, "No. It's ours now. Deal with it."
Gor's eyes widened into impossibly wide O's, and his mouth formed a similar letter when he could no longer see his brother. That frightened him. It frightened him because it left him alone for one thing and, for another, because it meant that Nik might get hurt too. And he wouldn't wish anyone, especially not Nik, a day in his shoes.
As much as he wanted that egg, he didn't want to see Nik hurt. He'd been on the recipient end of shoves and worse before -- so much so that his teacher had called Bianca once to report that Gor was fighting on the playground. Gor could handle it, and, although he was sure Nik could handle it better -- Gor often thought of his older brother as Superman (Ios was Batman and Slav was Aquaman) -- he didn't deserve it, and that was the entire point.
Sounding frail, disappointed, and sad, Gor's little voice came from behind the bully line-up: "They can have it, Nik. Let's go."
And as much as Gor wanted that egg, Nik was going to make sure he got it. So when he grabbed the arm of the bully holding the egg and swung him face first into the church wall which had surprised the beady-eyed pig anyhow, the egg flew out of the kid's hand just as his face hit the bricks. Now, being nine years old, it wasn't that hard but there was still a little blood. Facial cuts bled way more than necessary...
Nik picked up the egg and glared at the other two and arched an eyebrow, daring the other two to step forward and take the egg. Their leader was crying.
The two remaining boys looked at each other, looked at their bawling leader, and decided the wise thing to do would be to book it. After all, they probably weren't going to get the prize from the Golden Egg anyway -- that just wasn't how groups of bullying boys worked.
Gor looked after them with his wide eyes, and then he stared at Nik as though Nik truly were Superman. As far as Gor was concerned, Nik really was just that awesome. And he got brownie points for being his brother instead of a boring newspaper guy! "Wow..." That summed it up nicely.
And they might have gotten away with it too, had not a supervisor noticed (finally) that something strange might be going on around the corner. With her skirt weaving between her ankles, she turned the corner and instantly went into Adult Mode. "Nikolai and Grigory Jones!" she gasped out, hurrying over to the crying boy. "Just what is going on here???"
The question, of course, was directed to the older of the two, mostly because Gor was staring at the ground and avoiding eye contact at all costs.
Nikolai watched the other two run away, feeling kind of satisfied. It was a strange feeling and he wasn't entirely sure he liked feeling that way. Maybe there was something wrong with him... He stared up in surprise when suddenly there was an adult screeching at them (well not really screeching but it felt that way). He gaped fishmouthed trying to figure out how to explain it.
Then he pointed in the direction the other two had fled, "Him and his friends were trying to steal the gold egg from Grigory. They pushed is both in the dirt. It was self-defense!" Someone was clearly watching too much Law & Order. But it was the truth. Would the adult believe their word against the beady-eyed kid? Probably not. That was just how adults worked.
"I swear it's the truth," he wanted to go over and put his arm around Gor's shoulders to make him feel better but if they went united, that would be suspicious like he was trying to prompt his little brother to defend him. Grigory would have to do it on his own.
The adult was gently guiding the crying boy to his feet. The boy seemed to be crying twice as hard now, really putting on a show for the supervisor. "I don't care what they did or didn't do, there is no reason to hit someone. The Christian thing is to turn the other cheek, boys." And, for some unknown reason, she included Gor in that stern gaze. Perhaps it was because he was standing so silent, looking so guilty...
"Now, give me that egg," she said, extending a hand to collect it from Nik. "And your other eggs too, Grigory. I think you're both done with the Easter Egg Hunt." And her other hand was extended towards Gor, who reluctantly complied in handing over his Easter basket, still stubbornly refusing to make eye contact.
"I thought the Christian thing was 'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth'," he said snarkily. They didn't expect kids his age to pay attention. He had. He didn't know why she was including Grigory in all of this. He hadn't done anything besides find the best egg in all the hunt. He was so ticked off. If a nine year old could shake with rage, it was happening at that very moment.
"Gor... Go find V and F..." He stepped backwards away from the woman. Then he turned and bolted as fast as he could. And that was pretty fast. He knew exactly where to hide and hide the egg. No one was going to see this Golden Egg for a long, long time. And Nikolai knew he was going to be in so much trouble when all was said and done.
"Nikolai Jones!" the woman gasped, even as the "poor boy" she was escorting abruptly ceased crying and stared after Nik as well, just as surprised as the supervisor.
Even Gor looked surprised. But he wasted no time in following Nik's command. With a fearful look in the supervisor's direction, he hurried off to collect his brothers. Of course, he could not know what it was that Nik had planned, but he knew it had something to do with the Golden Egg that he refused to give up. ...And that really was stupid on his part.
The woman wasn't about to run after either boy in her sandals. She knew just what would put a stop to this: Bianca Jones. Bianca would round up her children, the supervisor trusted.