Mary Fulton
Aqua Student - Year 6
I just want everybody to get along
Offline
|
Post by Mary Fulton on Jun 26, 2015 3:04:33 GMT -5
"And, of course, saving the best for last," Mary announced, spreading her arms out to revel in the breeze off the water, "we have the Celestial Lake! Isn't it lovely?" She grinned at Elsie and set about removing her shoes and socks. "The temperature is always fantastic this time of year."
Mary was feeling much more comfortable and relaxed now. She and Elsie had talked for quite some time in the library, and then met up for Elsie's official tour of the school and its grounds. It was simply marvelous to talk with someone who didn't get bored of her, or judge her, or seem to be waiting for something better to come along. Elsie just seemed ... well, genuine. Unconcerned with appearances or Mary's oddness or any form of propriety. This was truly something, and Mary felt like jumping for joy at the thought of a new friend, a confidante.
"What do you think?" Mary asked as she stepped into the lake, enjoying the soothing feel of the water lapping around her ankles. "Not too nonsensical, I hope? I know I got lost all the time when I first arrived. Is anything here similar to your school back in Australia?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Elsie Beren on Jul 7, 2015 0:09:30 GMT -5
"It's amazing! So... well, blue. How does it stay so blue? That's incredible!" Most of the lakes and billabongs that she was used to tended to stick to a dull brown colour, mixed in with all of the dirt and dust that filled the air, along with everything else. "The temperature is never fantastic back home. It's always either way too hot, or way too cold. That's what happens when you don't have nearly enough trees around the place." With much less grace than Mary, Elsie kicked off her shoes and skipped down right to the brink of the water before stopping abruptly. "Is there anything dangerous in there? Like crocodiles, or snakes, or sharks or something?" She knew the lake near her old school had been strictly off limits to students. Australian wildlife living too close to half-baked magic users was not a recipe for success.
The tour had been amazing, all of the different things that Mary had almost breezed over that were totally foreign to her. Her parents had claimed that because America had also been built into its current state by the British, things would be familiar and easy to get used to. Clearly they had never actually been here themselves. It was like a totally different world, where they even spoke differently than people back home.
She let out a breath and shook her head. "Noooo. So many things work completely differently. I mean, the boys are as dumb as they are back home, but I think that's universal. The building, the food, the way everything is lain out. It's so strange. Even your trees look totally different to the ones I know."
|
|
Mary Fulton
Aqua Student - Year 6
I just want everybody to get along
Offline
|
Post by Mary Fulton on Jul 7, 2015 16:42:08 GMT -5
"Hmm ... as to how it stays blue, well ... I've got nothing. I truly do not know." Mary had a tendency not to question things that she enjoyed. What mattered to her was that it did stay blue. Her experiences growing up at home had led her to expect that questions led to tempers flaring, and tempers flaring led to ... well ...
She tugged once more at the sleeves of her too-small shirt. The bruising around her wrists looked stark and purple and terribly obvious out here under the sunlight. It made her feel ashamed. Maybe, somehow, Elsie wouldn't notice?
Well, it would help if she stopped tugging at her sleeves, wouldn't it?
Composing herself with a giggle, Mary shook her head at Elsie's question about dangerous animals in the lake. "Only fish that will tickle your feet. I think it feels kind of nice when they decide to swim around my ankles. Like a little fishy hug, or something." She bent over, then, placing her hands under the water, admiring the way her skin looked all shimmery and wavy through the clear water. "Also, the stones in here are really pretty. Look at this one!" She scooped up a smooth oval, twinkling with bits of some shiny mineral, then walked over to Elsie with the stone in her outstretched hand.
"Well, you know ... um ... I'm here to help you out with unfamiliar things. I'm sure you'll catch on quickly. You can always ask whatever you need to, all right? Only ... I can't explain why the boys are so dumb."
|
|
|
|
Post by Elsie Beren on Jul 7, 2015 20:16:06 GMT -5
"Maybe they puts lots and lots of blue food colouring in, and add the sparkles magically." Though from what she remembered, there wasn't a dye that could possibly make water look that... celestial was really the only word for it. If Mary didn't know, she supposed that the teachers probably didn't either. One of those enchantments that had been in place since the school was built, she supposed. Figuring those out had to be the trickiest part of entering any magical dwelling, and the older it was, the more secrets it held. It was a conscious effort to not comment on the markings that Mary had, especially when she just longed to give Mary and hug and tell her that all the bruises in the world wouldn't make her any less of a person. Not looking at them was even harder, but she kept her gaze on anything and everything else. Especially Mary's face, when she smiled. Elsie wasn't sure, but it seemed like smiling might not be the normal state of things for her new friend.
"No dangerous animals at all? Well then." Elsie grinned broadly, before taking a running dive into the water. Her belly just scraped the bottom of the still shallow water before she floated back to the surface. She rolled over onto her back to hear Mary talking about the fish in the water. "Fishy hugs don't sound like the most appealing thing ever." She quickly swam back and stood up properly on the bottom of the lake. She realised that it might not be entirely normal to go swimming in your uniform, but she and her mates back home had done it at every opportunity. Despite the animals, that was.
Elsie picked the stone from Mary's hand, and held it up to the sunlight. "Yeah. Wow, what kind of a lake has rocks like this at the bottom." She looked back down at Mary and raised an eyebrow. "Very posh schools, I think." Sneakily, in her mind at least, she pocketed the stone and splashed Mary at the same time, sending water everywhere.
"Thanks Mary. I don't think anyone could explain the boys though. That'd be like taming the moon!"
|
|
Mary Fulton
Aqua Student - Year 6
I just want everybody to get along
Offline
|
Post by Mary Fulton on Jul 8, 2015 23:11:49 GMT -5
Mary pondered silently until Elsie went splashing right into the water. Surprised, Mary found herself laughing a huge belly laugh. "Well, I guess we'll find out if it's food coloring based on how your clothes look after that!" No, there was no sense of propriety in this one. Maybe that was how she ended up having so much fun? Maybe there was something to this whole "being wild" concept.
"Oh, fishy hugs are wonderful!" she called out, amazed at her own ... well ... brashness in being so very loud. It felt surprisingly freeing and comfortable. Mary had always been expected to be quiet, to fade away into the corner until she was needed for some unpleasant task or another. But now here she was, being loud and ridiculous, and the world didn't come crashing down around her ears. It felt almost unreal.
She felt pleased with herself when she saw Elsie's reaction to the pretty rock. These little things that she found so special ... somebody else liked them, too. There was that warm feeling in her chest again, the feeling of being validated, seen, understood. "The poshest," she began, jokingly, and then she shrieked and covered her face when the water came flying in her direction. "Hey!" Mary exclaimed, before leaning down to splash Elsie back. She didn't usually wade very far into the lake, but at this moment, she actually wanted to. Because Elsie was there, and Elsie was exciting and kind and having fun and Mary wanted to have fun, too.
"Exactly," she said in response to Elsie's comment about taming the moon. The water was creeping up, and now it was wetting the hem of her skirt, and there was a tiny moment of worry - what if the water did strange things to her only uniform? - but, at the same time, it was so refreshing. "I've never gone swimming in my uniform," she found herself confessing in a whisper. "I'm not sure I've seen anyone do that before!"
|
|
|
|
Post by Elsie Beren on Jul 8, 2015 23:52:56 GMT -5
"I could start a new trend, Blue Uniform by Elsie Beren!" She was fairly sure she knew the right charm to remove wet dye from fabric, it being one of the things her mother had made sure that she knew after a couple of choice incidents at her old school. She'd got her own back after that particular loss though. She would never accept defeat, and that was practically her greatest strength and biggest weakness.
Elsie just laughed at Mary's earnestness, a clear, sweet sound. It was so lovely to hear her voice at a higher volume, ringing across the lake instead of being a whispered secret. She liked that Mary was quiet, that everything she said seemed like it was just for her to hear. That didn't mean for a moment though that she wasn't a little bit proud that Mary had let herslef be loud. "I'll take your word for it. You can have all of the fishy hugs instead of me."
She felt a little bit bad that she'd stolen the rock from Mary, when her friend didn't seem to have all that much to herself, but she would give it back to her later. She would pretty it up even more, so that it made a fantastic little gift. There was a spell that would make the colours shift and change and spiral around, and light up whatever space it was in. That would be a marvellous thing to give Mary, a bright and beautiful light for the dark places.
"I've heard a good cure for the poshness that schools like this infect you with is a good dousing with water! I'm doing you a favour!" Elsie joked, sending around spray of water up and at Mary. "People always talk about staying down to earth, but staying down to water is just as good in my book." She grinned, and beckoned to Mary, urging her to come further in, and just splash around. There were no scary critters about, no silly boys to ruin their fun. Just the two of them, and the lake, and all the time in the world.
Hesitation showed on Mary's face, and Elsie knew that there would always be things that Mary noticed, or worried about that she didn't even think to, but her job was to make those things seem unimportant. "That just goes to show you, all those other people here are silly. Imagine having a lake like this, and not wanting to dive right in!"
|
|
Mary Fulton
Aqua Student - Year 6
I just want everybody to get along
Offline
|
Post by Mary Fulton on Jul 9, 2015 3:34:43 GMT -5
"I can see it now," Mary giggled, spreading her arms out as though she were looking up at a massive advertisement. "True Blue, by Elsie Beren. Uniform dull? All boring and black? Well, once you go blue, you'll never go back! You be the creative genius, and I'll write your jingles. Deal?" Mary could easily see the outgoing Elsie as a trendsetter. It simply made sense. How could anybody resist following someone so vibrant?
Moving ever further into the water, she raised one delicate eyebrow at Elsie's refusal of fishy hugs. "Oh, mark my words, Miss Beren ... you should be very jealous of my fishy hugs. Someday you'll realize what you missed." Still feeling nervous about getting all the way in and completely soaking her uniform, she took a moment simply to watch Elsie enjoy herself. "Oh, watch out!" she teased, "I think I see a little fishy coming for you!"
Another splash in her direction, and Mary's shirt was essentially doused already. "Oooh, you just wait," she threatened. "After all, I'm an Aqua. This lake is mine." Throwing caution to the wind, Mary took a deep breath, stepped forward to where the bottom of the lake dipped sharply into deeper regions, and jumped, pulling her knees up toward her chest and hoping to create a truly thunderous splash.
"GEEEEEERONIMOOOOOO!"
She surfaced, laughed, and lifted her legs to float on her back. Her wet uniform felt strange and unwieldy, but it was still incredibly pleasant to be floating in the crystal-clear, vibrantly blue water. "I've often wanted to," she replied. "It's just that, well ... I don't know. I guess it always seemed ... unladylike, or something. Seems silly now. It feels so nice in here."
|
|
|
|
Post by Elsie Beren on Jul 9, 2015 21:03:34 GMT -5
"You came up with a jingle in like five seconds flat. Deal. That was really impressive!" How had Mary managed that? Elsie's conviction that Mary was fearsomely smart was more than solidified by that display of blindingly quick thinking. "It doesn't seem to actually be going blue though. I'm almost disappointed now, we were that close to being millionaires!"
"We will see about that, Miss Fulton!" Elsie had to resist the urge to flail around looking for the fish, but she managed. She was almost managing graceful, even in a sopping wet uniform. That was definitely something to be proud of. As Mary leapt into the lake proper, Elsie laughed, clapped and spluttered in turn, as the water reached her. "Oh, brilliant. Well done. What does 'Geronimo' mean though? I've never heard that before."
"It's funny, that. There are lots of things people just don't do, for no real reason. And you always feel silly afterwards. Someone should really try to figure out why that is. I'll bet it's someone's job to do that." Elsie let herself drift back out into the deeper parts, floating closer to Mary. "I mean, if we couldn't use magic, drying our clothes would be a nightmare. But we don't, so it's nice."
|
|
Mary Fulton
Aqua Student - Year 6
I just want everybody to get along
Offline
|
Post by Mary Fulton on Jul 13, 2015 0:47:05 GMT -5
Mary blushed, pleased that Elsie admired her quick thinking. At least she wasn't completely talentless. Mary could write, she could invent, she could turn blank sheets of parchment into art using her words. The only thing that was truly impossible for her to describe was how very important her little bit of talent was to her. "Ah, well," she replied with a shrug. "I'm sure we'll find another way to team up and become millionaires."
For a moment, Mary wondered whether Elsie's family actually were millionaires ... well, it didn't matter. Elsie wasn't one of those people who equated wealth with being a valuable person. That was something she had made quite clear over the course of the day.
Mary giggled at Elsie's response to the imaginary fishy threat, then took her massive cannonball plunge into the lake. It was a little funny that Elsie hadn't heard 'Geronimo' before, but of course, it was a very American thing to say. "Geronimo was an Indian leader out west. He led his tribe in battles against the Mexicans, but then he was captured and made into a sort of circus act, which I think is very sad. I don't really know why people yell it when they jump, though ... hmm. I wonder if he made some sort of ... surprise jumping attack? In battle? Or maybe that's silly ... that's probably silly."
As she floated on her back, fluttering her hands through the water to move herself closer to Elsie, the other girl went off on a bit of a philosophical musing. Things that people just don't do ... like jumping into the lake wearing their uniforms, or speaking up against mean boys, or jinxing their horrible fathers ...
"I suppose it's because there are so many things that older people say we should or shouldn't do. And we don't always ask why, just because ... well, because they're older and they're supposed to know more. Or ... or fear. Just ... fear. It's hard to change things, isn't it? Scary?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Elsie Beren on Jul 13, 2015 1:42:56 GMT -5
"A fashion line isn't the way we should become famous anyway, we could come up with something heaps better than that. Though your jingle would be pretty hard to beat." Elsie had all kinds of ideas, most of which were absolutely terrible. She knew this, and she revelled in it; so much better to have heaps of bad ideas than none at all. Though apparently at the moment all the was capable of thinking about was the lake and Mary, and what a great day had come out of making an absolute fool of herself in the library. She resolved to do it more often, if people even a fifth as great as Mary would appear when she did.
Elsie agreed vehemently that making someone who had been a great leader into a circus performer was very sad, but her attempt to nod just made her sink underwater for a moment. She spluttered, before she could reply with "That's terrible. Was he a good ambusher, maybe? Someone yelling that at you while they attacked could be pretty scary."
"Older people don't know half as much as they pretend to. I think the only reason they want so badly to be in charge is because they had to listen to old people when they were young. Hypocrites." She realised that what she had said was actually almost precisely what Mary had said, that they were afraid of change. This time she didn't nod, for obvious reasons, and made a noise of assent instead. "Yeah."
|
|
Mary Fulton
Aqua Student - Year 6
I just want everybody to get along
Offline
|
Post by Mary Fulton on Jul 15, 2015 3:21:27 GMT -5
"I'd rather be a famous novelist than jingle-writer, anyway. But I suppose all writers have to start somewhere." Oh, how glorious it would be just to write and write and write! She could live someplace in the middle of nowhere, some sort of cabin in the woods, surrounded by papers and ink and manuscripts. She could be like Emily Dickinson, and Elsie would be Kate Scott Turner! Would that be even better than being Emma Woodhouse and Harriet Smith? Maybe ...
She found herself sinking as her mind wandered, and suddenly there was water flooding up her nose. Mary gave an embarrassing, unladylike snort as she dropped her feet to the bottom of the lake and stood up, pushing her wet hair out of her eyes. "Oh ... oh, my ... well, if he did, I hope he didn't yell his own name. It would spoil any sort of incognito efforts, wouldn't it?"
Oh ... speaking of failure to be incognito ... Mary realized that her shirt had gone mostly see-through, so she quickly bent her knees to dip back below the surface of the water. That was an awkward problem that could be dealt with later.
"Of course we'll never become old and crotchety," she offered with a giggle. "Because we're young and invincible. ... Yes, we should defy more expectations. Then perhaps we can break the cycle of grumpy adults thinking they know everything."
|
|
|
|
Post by Elsie Beren on Jul 15, 2015 22:47:24 GMT -5
"I guess your start would be here then! I'm sure you've already got more than enough life experience stuff to channel into writing." That was a good way to put it, wasn't it? Elsie hoped that she hadn't brought Mary's pain back into the equation, because the last thing she wanted to do would be to cause her pain. "Imagine it; ten, twenty years from now and every little girl who has just learned to read is staying up late at night reading your latest novel to themselves, even though her parents told her it was too old for her." Elsie looked abashed for a moment before she admitted, "That may or may not be based on personal experience."
Elsie couldn't help but giggle at Mary's momentary mishap. "Are you alright?" she asked cautiously, making sure that Mary hadn't breathed in any water or anything like that. "Depends. If he did it a lot, it might strike fear into the hearts of his enemies at this crazy brilliant general charging at them. And then other people could use it to pretend to be him."
Delicately, Elsie ignored the fact that Mary had suddenly begun to show off more than she had intended. As for her own honour, she looked around to see if there were any boys around at all, and when she had confirmed that they were alone, decided to continue floating. Unless it freaked Mary out, she didn't think it mattered all that much.
"The only downside there is that we'll have to become grumpy adults who know they don't know everything. I guess that's a fairly small price to pay." The thought of Mary becoming old and crotchety was frankly bizarre, and Elsie couldn't picture it at all. It was just too strange.
|
|
Mary Fulton
Aqua Student - Year 6
I just want everybody to get along
Offline
|
Post by Mary Fulton on Jul 30, 2015 19:24:54 GMT -5
Life experience stuff? Not much of it, unless Elsie meant ... well, it didn't matter. She was at school now and she wouldn't have to go back home for months, and the bruises would be gone soon and no one would have to pity her. Instead of focusing on that part of what Elsie said, Mary giggled at the second bit. "That sounds charming! There aren't a lot of books at my house, though. Only prayer books and cookbooks. When I got to school and saw the library for the first time ... well, I suppose I looked the way you did earlier today. Enraptured."
Then, of course, there was the embarrassment of inhaling water and realizing the downside to swimming in her uniform. Cheeks burning, Mary focused instead on her memories of the pictures she'd seen of Geronimo. "Well, he had a very unique look. Other people could only pretend to be him in the pitch dark, I would think. Although then it would likely add to the sheer terror of being attacked at midnight, wouldn't it?"
Looking down through the crystal-clear water, Mary let her toes slip and slide over the smooth stones at the bottom. She nearly kicked a tiny fish, and giggled as it caromed off the side of her ankle. "Fishy kiss! Are you jealous yet?" She was starting to get chilly, but it was so much fun just to spend time talking that she didn't want to get out of the lake yet.
She shrugged, gazing pensively at her feet, which looked strange through so much water. "Perhaps those adults are the least grumpy ones? If they know that they don't know everything, then they can't exactly complain when it's brought to their attention, can they? Maybe they're the smartest ones."
|
|
|
|
Post by Elsie Beren on Aug 1, 2015 7:43:23 GMT -5
"They say printing is getting cheaper all the time though. Maybe everyone will be able to afford books by the time you are famous the world around." Elsie blushed when Mary mentioned her country bumpkin moment from earlier, and tried to hide it by facing away for a moment. Just forget about it, Mary doesn't care. She just admitted to feeling exactly the same way when she first got here. Yeah, when she was eleven. Elsie swore at her thoughts silently as her face lost its red hue.
"If you're being attacked at midnight, I think you'd be scared enough without someone yelling at you. Though I'm not a soldier. Thank goodness." The cold of the lake was gradually seeping into her bones, and she knew that they couldn't stay in for much longer. They'd get colds, and be all snotty for weeks. Not a nice thought in the slightest. Mary got all excited about a fish kissing her foot, and Elsie cackled. You couldn't get much better than Mary's innocent enthusiasm for such things.
"Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. Anyway! Time for us to get out of this freezing ice-pool before some boys find us and start leering. I am not up for that this afternoon." Elsie made her way out of the water, her top entirely transparent. She summoned a pair of towels, not knowing or particularly fussed about whose, the house elves would divvy them up properly again later. Elsie made no attempt to hide her now-visible cleavage, she'd never thought anything of it when around another girl. Girls weren't supposed to go mad with desire at the sight of other girls' chests, so it ought to be fine, if a little bit risque. "You coming?"
|
|
