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 Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 8:32 pm
Everyone has their own way of spending their Saturday afternoons. Some spend it with friends or family; discussing recent events, participate in group activities or anything of the sort to escape solitude. Though there are some who enjoy being by themselves. They read a book, do a crossword puzzle, or play solitaire on the computer. Everyone needs their own alone time and it ranges from being five minutes to five days isolated from the rest of the world. In the end though, those who were alone due go back into their own group.
Though today, for a certain girl, her Saturday afternoon would be spent within the warm confines of a coffee house and a book for company.
She had arrived no more than thirty minutes ago at the worn green door mat. Drops of water were sprinkled in her bangs, where as her hands were a shade paler from the drop of temperature. The girl had rushed in minutes after the rain fell. Her black cabby hat did its job in protecting the girl’s hair from getting wet but it was moist from the tiny drops of water. The faded red jacket was wet as well along the shoulders and back, indicating how long she was out before coming in. Five, ten minutes tops before coming to her senses and looked for shelter. Black sneakers squeaked against the cobalt flooring while leaving a small trail from door way to a small table near the window.
Clarissa ignored the glances thrown her way the minute she entered. Her faded jacket was open revealing a black and white button down shirt and from a distance it appeared as though she was a man in woman’s clothing. The cuffs of the jeans were a little torn and wet but the girl ignored that in favor of taking off her hat to let her dirty blonde locks cascade down, along with a black hair tie. The hair item fell to the floor, staying there for a moment before the girl bent down to pick it up. It was one of her favorite hair ties and it would be a waste if she just left it there.
Sitting down on the stool, forest eyes caught sight of the coffee menu. Music was softly played in the background. It was something along the lines of jazz and classical but failed to capture the attention of the girl, her ears tuned out the music in favor of the tiny ‘taps’ of rain against the window pane. Her pale hand reached out to bring the menu closer to her eyes. When she reached out to grab the item her chair wobbled a bit but it didn’t bother her. The door of the coffee house continued to open with others who sought shelter from the light storm and like the background music, Clarissa ignored those new comers too.
She had no reason to pay attention to whoever came in. None of her few friends were planning on seeing her today, nor did she expect to see any of them while on her daily walks. The thought of them sitting at home with hot cocoa floated in her mind. The menu had hot cocoa as a selection and the area had such a strong scent of roasted beans mixed with cinnamon and caramel. Then again she was in a coffee house, but each coffee shop had its own unique smell to it as well as its own look. The walls of the place were painted in a rusty red. Brown lounge chairs were about the place along with various tables with wooden chairs and those high tables with stools. The serving station was against the side wall with a painted fireplace to the right of them.
The place had a friendly atmosphere that drew people inside to order a cup of steaming hot coffee, talk or read in Clarissa’s case. Her eyes closed for a moment, a tell-tale sign of going against what she had originally thought. She wouldn’t order anything for now, maybe later when her stomach was ready to receive something hot to keep itself warm. Reaching into the pocket of her coat, the girl brought out a small book entitled Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin. A small smile brushed her lips while green eyes sparkled, but the second the emotion of happiness was shown it vanished.
For a brief moment her ears picked up the sound of orders to the servers before her entire mind was enveloped by the imagery of Jane Austin’s words.
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Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:42 am
"Ouch!", Felicia shouted as she slipped and fell to her side yet again. It was a rainy day in Athens, and it most certainly wasn't Felicianezaramah "Call me Felicia" Guna'Ramaj's day. First she lost her ticket to Crete, where she supposedly was to find traces of an underground voodoo practicer. Then she found out that an upcoming storm had all other boats canceled for the day and maybe the next, also. She was coming out of the docks back to the café she had often occupied, her mind already in turmoil when the storm had hit. She was still almost two kilometres away from the café, and the motel was even farther. She kept slipping and slipping, causing her to hit her sides on the pavement more than once and getting herself soaking wet in the process. She shivered a bit as she was getting cold in her maybe-too-little amount of clothing: only a short tied skirt over her hips and a tied top of the same sort. Both were dark brown from the water. Her whitish-yellow long hair was a clinging down her back.
Now she was only about a block away from the café. Felicia almost broke to a run.
"Hold it right there", came with an accent that hinted a local usually mugging tourists.
'Holy mother of...', was all Felicia's scared mind could think of: 'This is JUST what I needed'
However, when she turned, she saw no assailant. Only a police, whose voice the young lady had only mistaken for that of a thief.
"Are you okay?", the man asked.
"Yeah... I'm...", Felicia said, shrugging the voice she heard to exhaustion: "I'm okay. But if you would be so kind as to escort me to the 'Seaside Star Café', please? I think I'm a bit lost." The last was a slight lie, but she didn't feel like being alone in this turmoil of a rainstorm for a moment longer.
"Sure, madam. Let me show the way," he said, then raised an umbrella from somewhere: "Here, let me shield you from the rain."
For the first time that day, Felicia smiled. Maybe this evening could turn into something nice after all.
When she entered the café few minutes later, it was getting very crowded there due to people seeking shelter from the rain. No table was free, so Felicia went to a quiet table in the corner where a girl was reading a book, after getting a refreshing coffee to drown her current turmoil of a mind.
"Excuse me? Can I sit down here?", she then said to the girl who was obviously pretty attached to the book and took practically no notice of the world around her.
[[An imaginary situation, so I suppose they could be in Athens as well as anywhere else. Aye?]]
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Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:31 pm
According to Clarissa’s mother, its all ways best to know the seasons of each place you want to travel too. That way anything like rain, snow or even hurricanes wouldn’t catch you off guard. Even with that knowledge tucked away in her mind, the girl didn’t bother to pack an umbrella. Nor did she purchase one once she got to Athens in for her trip around Europe. The drops of water didn’t mind her, as long as she found shelter everything would be fine. Still, she would never give her mother worry by saying her forgot to buy an umbrella in times of rain.
A small part of her brain decided to remind Clarissa of such things after reading twenty pages of Jane Austin’s book. Why did that small part of her recalled such information was a mystery. It could be a sign from someone above warning her to purchase such an item, or that her mind wasn’t entirely focused on her book. Though she had arrived in Athens about four days ago her mind continued to wonder about the places she could visit before leaving to see another part of Greece. It wasn’t enough that her camera was almost full of pictures from just one area, her mind wanted to excite her of other historical places she had to visit.
Forest eyes began to skim some of the words of the book, she had read it previous on the plane and knew what would happen next. The thought of purchasing a new book came across her mind. Maybe she should purchase one of those Greek books that had some old fairy tales in English or something along those lines. As she continued to ponder in silence with her eyes remaining on the printed text of her book, Clarissa couldn’t help but see out of the corner of her eye a figure near her table. Her initial thought had been the person wanted to take the chair away to sit with other friends at another table. However when the question of sitting at the table came about, the girl continued to think maybe the person was mistaken.
Clarissa liked sitting alone, she liked having an area all to herself. Now there was a person who wanted to intrude on her space. The patter sound of rain falling outside told the girl how bad it was starting to get. ‘Maybe she’s waiting out the rain too.’ Her mind whispered, causing the girl to sigh inwardly. She tore her eyes away from her book to look at the other person. A girl--one with a cup of coffee in hand--wanted a seat.
“Go ahead.” The words came out as a whisper before she titled her head back down to continue on reading.
[Lol, doesn’t matter to me. I randomly made that scene up.]
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Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:40 pm
"Go ahead", came the answer. Feliacianezaramah gladly sat down, still totally soaked in the cold water. The coffee cup warmed her fingers very nicely, though.
Felicia tried to think what to say; she hated the proverbial silence in any conversation she might come across. The fact that there really hadn't been any conversation at all this instance didn't bother her thoughts one bit. But because she couldn't think of anything, she just concentrated on getting herself warm with thoughts to that direction. Her grandmother always told her: "Thought is much more important and powerful than you think, my dear granddayghter. The power of thinking becomes very important when you're cold or hot, for instance; simply thinking cold things on a warm day will keep you cool so you can concentrate better. Same goes the other way..."
Knowing this, Felicia warmed herself and nearly felt herself getting dryer. Or at least she was very well imagining it. After few minutes, her thoughts wandered to the book of her own. She reached for her leather bag that she had hung on the back of the chair. It was a small, stylish, red-black book which read: "The Complete Book of Traditional Bone-Reading." It was an old book that had been written by one of her grandmother's colleagues some seventy or eighty years ago.
Felicia had long wanted to master the art of reading from bones and other remains of animals, but just as in any other aspect of traditional voodoo, she had thus far failed. Nevertheless, she kept trying.
After reading a few pages of the old and worn book, she gulped down the rest of her coffee and decided to try if she could see what was in store for her.
As she had no bones from which to read from, she reached down to her knee, where she had the only piece of "jewellery" besides the heart-shaped amulet she had hanging gently on her chest. She untied the knot from the thin, black string and ever-so gently removed the small bones from it. The bones were quite probably older than the book was, and Felicia had no idea from which animal they were. Not pondering about that, she silently shook the small bones in her hands, muttered the single word "destiny" and dropped them to the table. They clattered a bit, enough to raise a few looks from nearby tables, but not enough to attract that much attention. Curious, Felicia began studying the bones, her gaze switching between them and the book every few seconds. She had decided that she could decipher their meaning, even if took her the rest of the evening. Besides, she had nothing better to do anyway.
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:10 pm
When Clarissa had allowed the girl to sit at her table…she thought she would be quiet. Keyword in that sentence, thought. She tried going back to her reading but the girl couldn’t help but watch from the corner of her eye just what the new girl was doing. For starters, the other person was apparently soaked to the bone. For a split second the thought of helping the girl out formed in her mind. However that thought bubble instantly popped, she didn’t know the person so…why should she help her?
Second…she had apparently brought a book with her. A worn, torn and ancient book by the looks of things. now this was something Clarissa tried hard not to stare at. It wasn’t because she thought the book was old, but she thought it was intriguing. Such books were rare these days…that is, torn, worn and broken in to where it has lasted for God knows how long. Though she didn’t catch the title of the book, the last thing that made her want to make the girl to leave…were those bones she pulled out.
To say the least, the bones did creep Clarissa out just a tiny bit.
Who knew where or what those dried up pieces of a body came from. Clarissa’s right eyebrow rose a little when the girl shook the pieces to throw down on the table. ‘I guess…she’s reading her fortune?’ She thought to herself before trying to go back into her book. She didn’t want to seem obvious that she was staring…nor did she want to look uncomfortable. She sighed inwardly, she just had to say yes to let the person--one who could be crazy--sit at her table.
[Eeep! Pardon the post...writer's block..]
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Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 4:57 am
[No problem... besides, you gave me just enough to work with *grin*]
Felicia knew from the glances the girl gave her that she would have liked her to leave this instant, that she was very well giving the girl creeps. Instead of leaving, Felicia decided that she would read the bones.
"I'm sorry if I'm freaking you out," she glanced up from the book in her hands: "I'm Felicia, a voodoo-mage-in-training, on my way to find the big voodoo magics of the world."
After that she focused back to the bones and the book. This time she seemed to catch in the slightest what the old pieces of an animal had to tell. It involved the usual touch of destiny, meaning herself. Even the age-old bones seemed to "think" that Felicianezaramah Guna'Ramaj would entail to be part of something big, something beyond normal human proportions. She most certainly didn't like this notion. She sighed loud and continued to see what the remains had to say other than the obvious.
"A hint of... the future...", she mumbled half-aloud: "And... of the nature?"
'What would this mean?', she thought as she flipped through the pages of Traditional Bone-Reading: 'Oh. So I am to be inclined in something related to nature... in a way I won't understand? - And I'm supposed to...' Felicia continued to read: she would glimpse at the bones, then back to the book, flip a few pages, read a few seconds, flip back and look at the bones again with a desperate expression on her face. This happened a few times.
"WHAT!?", she then suddenly shouted aloud, causing faces to turn at her around the café yet again.
At the looks to her, Felicia flinched a bit: "Eh, uh, don't mind me. I just read an exciting part of my book, yesh...", she babbled, blushing. This caused most, if not all, looks to turn from her in disdain. She knew that one more loud noise would probably get her out of the café, back to the rain.
In turn, she turned to the book and bones again: 'This has got to be wrong. This just can't be right... Okay, okay, calm yourself, Felicia...', she thought, then took a deep breath and decided to start from the beginning.
'The touch of destiny, of future and of nature - no, of the animal kingdom, actually... and of someone named Clarissa? I don't know anyone by that name! Damnit!'
Felicia decided that she had had enough, that she had read something decidedly wrong, that no real reading could come out of this. She took to bones and reattached them back to the string which she then tied back to over her right knee. Then she took one last look on the book and closed it, putting it back to her leather bag. She sighed and went to order another coffee. Black. Though she had discarded the idea of that last reading being any good, thoughts of "what if" kept nagging at her.
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 12:58 pm
As if things couldn’t get even weirder…they just did in a series of unfortunate--unfortunate for Clarissa--events. First it was the girl’s name. It seemed fine on its own, till she added her occupation. The girl shifted a little in her seat, Felicia had to be crazy. Magic, voodoo it was all just gibberish. ‘Perhaps she got hit on the head too much as a child.’ Thought Clarissa, her eyes glancing over to the window. Another thought formed in her mind, the thought of getting away from such a crazy person. One she just HAD to let sit at her table.
‘Maybe my imagination is just getting the better of me.’ She thought once more, turning the page of her book. She tried to focus on the printed text, tried conjuring up in her mind’s eye how the scene would go. Clarissa was almost there until Felicia’s voice broke through her concentration with an exclaimed, “WHAT?!” Now, if Clarissa were a normal person she would’ve gotten out of there in the blink of an eye. However, since she wasn’t into being normal…she stayed put. Even though she didn’t feel quite comfortable and had the suspicion the other girl just went up a few knots on the crazy meter.
Thankfully the bones and old book were put away and the girl left to get a coffee. The second the weird girl was out of sight Clarissa began to ponder. ‘I could either leave…or stay.’ She glanced back to the weather outside, the rain didn’t look to bad. Until she heard the sound of thunder booming outside. The dirty blonde girl gave a small wince. Any chances of going outside dimmed greatly. For if there was thunder then there had to be lightening. A flash of dull yellow came down from the sky just twenty seconds after the sound of thunder. The storm was only twenty miles away…and God knows how long till it would be over, or safe enough for her to get to her hotel room.
‘I’m so scr--’ Her thought were again interrupted. This time by the vibration of her cell phone. Rolling her eyes her hand dug into the confines of her left pant pocket to bring out her cell phone. The sleek razor phone shone a little under the light of the café before Clarissa flipped it open to talk to whoever was calling her.
“Its Clarissa, Hi Edwin…” She said softly, trying hard not to let her voice contain a hint of anger. ‘He’s only doing the brotherly thing…checking up.’ She thought listening to what her brother was talking about. Three minutes passed by before Clarissa told her older brother she would call him later at the hotel. He asked in a joking manner if she was on a date. Even though Edwin wouldn’t be able to see it Clarissa frowned slightly.
“Aw, come on hun. You know you need to date. If my boyfriend’s brother wasn’t gay, you could’ve totally gone out with him.” Edwin said in a sweet tone of voice before adding a dramatic sigh. “But alas, you weren’t born a boy! Oh well, ciao!” Clarissa heard a little ‘click’ on the other end and knew the conversation was over. A faint blush came across her face, Lord did her brother have to embarrass her even hen she was twenty thousand or more miles away from home?
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 3:27 pm
Felicia, meanwhile, came back with her coffee in hand and thoughts as troubled and puzzled as ever. As she walked back, she decided to peek around a corner if the other girl still was there or if she had gone. She was just answering her cell at the moment. Felicia decided to stay and overhear. If the girl thought her crazy, she had the right to know.
"It's Clarissa..."
'No...' Those words stopped Felicia like a brick wall would stop a motorbiker. She stood there stunned for a few seconds, then hastily gulped down her coffee in one big gulp. 'This cannot be! It's impossible! My readings have never been correct, ever! Not this time! No!'
Despite her fear, she decided to sit down and tell Clarissa, even after her previous exit from the table. To Clarissa she must have looked suddenly very stricken, as she was visibly shaking in fear. This was something her grandmother had never told to her: how to tell another person that you have accidentally read her fortune, and it's definitely not a good one?
"Uh-oh," she started: "I - I..."
'Come on, Felicia! You can do it! Swallow that fear!', she told herself.
"I think I need to tell you something. I - I might have - how should I put this - read both of our fortune in those old bones a moment ago. You did say your name was Clarissa?"
At her nod, Felicia continued:
"O-okay. First I have to tell you a bit about myself in order for this to make any sense. I am indeed a voodoo-mage in-training... of sorts. I am granddaughter of a great voodoo matriarch, and wish to continue in her footsteps. I - ", she swallowed: " - however, have never managed to do single 'trick' of this trade successfully. That lead to my tension just moments ago."
She swallowed again, then continued in a lower tone, almost a whisper: "If - If my reading was right, we are both going to end up entangled in something we don't like, or understand, that's related to nature, somehow. I didn't get anything specific but the two things that were absolute: the future, and that it was specifically the names 'Clarissa' and 'Felicianezaramah'(that's my actual name) who the reading called for."
Felicia swallowed hard. There was no telling how Clarissa might react.
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 10:22 pm
Well….that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. At first Clarissa thought the girl, Felicia was kidding. First, there was no such thing as voodoo. Such ‘magic’ only worked in movies and folk lore’s--something that would never happen in the real world. Second, the girl could be a scam artist or mentally ill! She was acting strange and to say her ‘fortune’ would be entangled in nature. The girl probably threw in Clarissa’s name to make it sound more believable. After all, the dirty blonde hair girl had just said on her cell her name.
‘Its probably some Greek tv show they have me on.’ She thought, turning her head around to see if there were any hidden cameras. Instead she found looks of ‘what’, ‘everything okay over there’ and ‘crazy tourists’ from the people who over heard everything. Turning her head back to face Felicia, she shook her head and started to get up. ‘She’s a con artist, trying to get me a product or something to make sure my future changes…or something along those lines.’ She thought, grabbing her book before casting a look to the window.
The weather was lightening up a little but the heart of the storm was still coming. There were two options, either stay inside and deal with the crazy voodoo in-training girl or…take her chances with mother nature and walk back to her hotel. The girl convinced herself she liked walking in the rain. It would be like walking through a field watered by the tears of angels who grieve over those they left behind…Okay maybe not something like that but it would require her to think such things if she was going to face the power of rain combined with thunder and lightening.
“Look, I don’t know what kind of a person you take me for but that’s all jibberish. Thanks for your concern but now I’m going to head out. I don’t believe in such things as voodoo or fortune reading. Now if you’ll excuse me.” Her words were rushed towards the end when she pulled her hair back underneath her hat. She took on the guise of a feminine boy once more. “I’m going to head back to my hotel. Good day to you.” With a final nod the girl left Felicia at the coffee house--with her book underneath her jacket--to brave the power of wind, rain, thunder and God knows what else. Some people cast worried glances at the teen but she didn’t pay any attention. ‘Its only, water…only water…and wind…I can do this…and if not then I’ll go on a date with Edwin’s wannabe straight guy friends.’ Placing both hands in her pockets, Clarissa bravely--or maybe foolishly--embarked on her little journey back to her hotel room.
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 10:46 pm
Felicia saw from Clarissa's expression that she most certainly hadn't hit home with what she had said. This girl obviously didn't believe in voodoo. Felicia first thought if she could do anything to remedy the situation, but didn't come up with a thing; she knew from past experiences that repeating what she had said would have no effect. Neither would raising her tone to voice a few threaths.
Then a thought hit her; what if her bone-reading had been wrong after all? What if she was just goddamn imagining it all, that all the incoherent and half-witted inane babbling a minute ago was all in vain to begin with? But then again, it had seemed so accurate, more so than ever before. What should she do? If Clarissa indeed was in danger, and Felicia would know later that something had happened to the girl, she probably could not ever forgive herself. Nevertheless, something kept her from dashing after her...
...at least, for the whole of fifteen seconds. After that she took a mad dash after the girl, not caring about the rain. She had revealed a future, however vague, and she did not want to take the consequenses alone!
But it was too late. Whichever way Clarissa had gone, Felicia didn't sight her anymore. Defeated, she sighed then decided to head to her own motel room not two blocks away.
"I hope I was wrong. For both of our sakes, Clarissa," she whispered to no one in particular in the storm. When she would find the ticked the next day, all of this would be mostly forgotten. But maybe not forever...
[[I think this would be a good part to stop at. Fox bows, says 'thank you' and skitters back left. This was wonderful snippet of an rp!
PS. I want Clarissa and Felicia meet on the island again, remembering this. If not for any other reason than 'Told you so' blaugh ]]
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