dancing shoes, flask of booze OPEN

[cinder]

"Have you ever watched a dancer cut it up?"

Questions bubble up from Cassedy's mouth every day, but this is indeed a bizarre one for her to ask. She's watching a designer with bright eyes, that reflect the golden thread of the deconstructed dancers shoes. Rexa does not look back at her, as though to prove she is above and beyond the childish ways of her seventeen year old daughter, who shyly slinks into her workplace every day. Perhaps she is above these questions, perhaps Rexa has had enough question for a lifetime, because having Cass as a daughter for so long must have counted for something in the cosmic question-asking way of the world.

Or maybe this is all just karma for Rexa being an awful mother to Oedy, and a worse wife to Jameson. Maybe Cassedy is a clever, cruel trick of the world. She is being intentionally smart now, and rubbing her mother the wrong way. The fabric rips under her rough hands as Minka, the secretary, rips more soles out of the shoes.

Cassedy shudders thinking about soles and shoes and how once she heard of a certain Martha Graham who said dance is the hidden language of the soul. And how sole and soul are pronounced exactly the same way.

"Do you think the sole of your foot is equal to the soul in your heart?"

She asks this next before Cassedy can squelch her inner desire to know things, and her need for answers. Her dirty habit does not pay off in the way she had hoped, but it doesn't end in the way she expected - being banned from the studio for the rest of the day. Piteously, Cass casts her eyes toward the wall of models with ugly feet who stretch against a mirrored wall, wearing uncomfortable fashion clothes. Her mothers designs are not her style, but Cassedy had looked forward to watching the dance. Seldom did she indulge her sense of sight, being one to trust word of mouth and touch and most of all feelings above the things her brain registered her eyes "seeing."

She had even stayed sober all throughout the long, dim-lit night, sitting her room with a bottle stolen from her fathers store, she had pressed it to her heart and waited long hours for the morning to arrive, but in the end it had slipped from her loose grasp and rolled away, mysteriously enough, never reappearing from beneath her comforter again.

Cassedy Magela looked down at herself and pondered where exactly her studded, platform ballet slippers would be carrying her swaying, sashaying body today. The night was a long ways from now - it was half past noon and she had canceled an eyebrow appointment for this. Curiosity, it seemed, had once again killed any chance she had of building a fashion-design relationship with dear old Rexa.

Her sigh stretched forward, bouncing off the walls of the silent hallway outside of the House of Rexa Magela. It seemed to ask the question her mind had posed, and by the time the echo rebounded and touched her ears again, Cassedy was plotting an impromptu trip to a friends house.

The only question was, who of her friends would be awake and presentable at this unholy hour of the early midday? Lunch time wasn't for decades and most shop-ladies who worked the 8 AM - 2 PM shift were old and wrinkly, with tight faces that did nothing but betray them the second you brushed up against the paper dry, crinkled skin of their hands. Those ladies never could guess what size Cassedy was, and they all told her she needed to gain a bit of weight, that they could scarcely see her.

Ah, the elderly and their peculiar habits - eating small meals a few times a day, never making room for more food or drink, instead allowing their stomachs to process the filth they crammed down their gluttonous throats! It was both fascinating and hard to watch, like torture for her undependable eyes. When Cass spotted old people eating, she usually wished for one of her illusions or delusions or flickering pictures that accompanied a great amount of potential and a overly-worked imagination. Normal life could be so trite when you let go of all the glamorous drama, gossip, and boys that life brought your way.

That, and old people were hardly nice to look at.

So it was decided - Cassedy thought - no place with old people. Her friends would have to be young and unwrinkled, but old enough that she did not run the risk of an encounter with a matronly woman or scowling old man while on her way to a friends house, or even worse - parents within the houses themselves!

Shivers ran up her spine at the travesty of the situation, and Cass let her wandering mind jump to conclusions.

A friend between eighteen and twentysomething, a friend who was willing to wake up, or was odd enough that they were already out and about at this hour. A friend she could depend on, in case Cass was overwhelmed by a need to vomit up words of hatred for her selfish, all-encompassing mother, that Rexa - that fiend. A friend she did not know too well, in case she did complain of the famous Majela designer, and she had to live with seeing the person every day of her life, knowing they held a burning secret of hers.

Well thats settled then, Cassedy thought as she walked on down that cavernous, never-ending hallway from the House of Rexa, toward an elevator. Unbeknown st to her, the elevator was about to shut down when too many leap-frog modeled bounced right over an aging floor board, which collapsed, twisting ankles and sending limbs flying everywhere as a wire was snapped and the elevator system shut itself down.

Whoopsy doopsies.

[/color][/blockquote]

[dannynugent]

"Silent, boring, and not me."

I don't exactly know what's been going on lately; I've been acting like a hermit for the past week. I guess I just needed a break from partying, and family dinners. I was living by myself, I don't even know why I ate dinner with my parents last week. I changed over night, I had the sudden urge to get out of my house, and try to revive some color to my sea-green skin. It looked even duller now that I was feeling quiet. Truthfully, at this point, I didn't care what I was wearing, or the time it was. But, I decided to slip on a decent shirt, jeans, shoes, and of course, a jacket. After picking up a whole-grain granola bar I walked out the door, and went to the more busy part of The Capitol. The vibe outside was priceless.

I could almost feel the excitement and talking about the past Hunger Games. It was a great one to watch, but I still felt ashamed how people in the Capitol didn't have to suffer. But, I passed the thought over, I'm older than eighteen, I can't get reaped anyways. I didn't have an exact plan on where I wanted to go. When I spotted a garbage can I threw the granola bar wrapper out; I wasn't one to litter, even if it wouldn't really affect the environment, or whatever. I had no plan for today, I guess I was just going to wander around until someone randomly came up to me and said something like "Oh hey, you wanna hang out tonight?" which I sort of knew wasn't going to happen.

I didn't have any plans with anyone for a while. I didn't know where to go. I sat down on some bench. I really never went here before, well at least not much. Maybe I could just go home. I was deliberating what I should do as I looked around. There were small buildings, big ones. Plus, I didn't know if they were just homes for people like me or actual businesses, or maybe clubs. I was as dead as a doornail. Not literally, but soon enough, I would die from boredom. All my partying nights finally washed over me, and I had nothing to do but sit. It actually wasn't that bad sitting down, the bench was soft, but I was going to look like an idiot if I sat down too long.

-----------------------------------

After walking for five minutes, trying to find somewhere to go, I was already giving up. "Might as well go home." I mumbled to myself. I walked slowly towards my house, but then realized being home would probably mean dinner with my parents, again, which wasn't anything you'd want to be looking forward to. Trust me. This day was really sucking for me.

[/size][/blockquote][/justify]

[cinder]

theres a song that's playing on the r a d i o and just because I dont know it, doesn't mean I dont u n d e r s t a n d it. but that's how I feel all the time, anyways.



"I like patterns." is the first thought that pops into her head as Cass boards the elevator. And it's those very words that come to haunt her as she spends nearly an hour trapped in the small, contained space staring her eyes full of patterns. They were tribal, but monochromatic. Cassedy sat down and meditated for a few minutes on the meaning of the pattern before tracing her name into the floor of the elevator for a couple more minutes.

She'd been sitting down, sitting still for long enough that the pressure of boredom became a familiar friend. This was the time that Cassedy scorned herself for not getting drunk last night and taking a load of pills. Honest to God, Rexa was ruining her fragile head and all of her life. Really. Count the reasons why, Cassedy, why oh why was Rexa doing this and how on Earth was she accomplishing her goal so quickly?

*Rexa must be jealous of Cass' creativity, that was it
*Or wait - Oedy loved his sister more than his mother
*She was young
*Her mommy dear was stressing
*Maybe she wasn't trying to ruin Cassedys life, but anyways its not the reasons and thoughts behind the situations, its the actions that lead up to them.

*Rexa had told Cassedy about the dancers visit today,
*So therefore Cass had planned to come to the studio and hadn't gotten smashed the previous night
*And she had woken up very early, by teenage standards
*Then been kicked out.

And here she was in the elevator counting the patterns and rhythms of her mothers mind, watching the walls as though the black, jagged stripes across the white wall directly in front of her were about to start slipping about and moving towards her. From a certain point of view, an angle, Miss Majela could imagine the jagged lines forming teeth of an enormous animal.

Finally, she was free. An alarm sounded as Cassedy was jilted around for a moment, she closed her eyes in fear. The elevators familiar ping sound greeted her, and Cass cautiously opened two eyes to the world, finding that the wall in front of her had disappeared. No product of her imagination, two men rushed into her small room and helped her up from the floor, offering a blanket and bottle of water. Cass stumbled as the full power of her "enormous" weight was pushed back down onto her weak ankles.

Why didn't I take my shoes off? she thought, or possibly told one of the men who offered her a sweet smile and a pat on the back. Another ringing noise sounded from the front desk of the buildings lobby, and her two saviors muttered something about glitchy systems before leaving her alone with a cheery 'have a nice afternoon.'

Feeling the need to be outside in the fresh air, Cassedy strutted across the marble lobby like a rockstar. A rockstar wrapped in a purple, building-crest emblazoned wrap - but really what did it matter if she was wearing a ridiculous get-up? All sorts of singers and guitarists did that all the time. She could start a revolution amongst the bass players, tell them all to wear blankets on stage and they'd all be the second coming of Pete Wentz a popular bass player.

She burst out the door as a gust of wind blew magazine pages down the relatively silent street. A boy who looked to be interesting walked toward the building. Cass was struck by her own ideas, previous to the great experience of being stuck in a patterned elevator forever. Not too young, not too old. Not too hot, not too cold.

He was just perfect for her.

Cassedy ran the risk of tripping down the stairs that led up to Rexa's workplace, and skipped down the steps with a friendly bounce to her. Hips swished, hair flew and her eyes and mouth opened to form a smiling, glistening combination of a nice to meet you face. Absolutely adorable, if you were into the hipster look. Even the pink hair dye in her blonde seemed cute when compared to the young mans bright skin.

Pausing for just a moment, Cassedy let her brain catch up with her plotting and a suitable excuse for interrupting the walking victim bubbled up to her tongue, pressed against the roof of her mouth in an effort to stop herself from word-vomiting anything rude or too forward.

"Hey, hey it's me - Cass! Do you remember from when we met awhile ago, I'm ah um, Oedy's sister. That is his little one."

So the phrasing was a bit... off. No big deal, Cassedy was proud of herself for thinking on her feet and preventing her own self from saying the wrong thing, which would have been something along the lines of I'm bored, let's play. Entertain me, will you? And that was all.

ooc- I was planning on the whole elevator plot I described in the last few paragraphs of my first post - but I can work with a walking acquaintance.

[dannynugent]

After examining this one building for a long time, I noticed no one was walking in or out, well there might have been one or two people in the past hour. I wasn't exactly stalking this place, just privately investigating. The truth is, it was the most interesting one, because a while ago, every single building was flooded with people coming in or out, but this one wasn't as busy. In fact, it looked like the building was dead. After five minutes more, I saw a rush if people come out of the front doors. Some were just old people, and others were people like me. I wondered what happened in there, was there a shooting? But, I realized some peacekeeper or whatever would have went inside the building. The only other reason was a poison gas, at least as far as I can think. i didn't really care.

It seemed in my sight that in was going in slow motion, I was feeling dizzy, but then instantly felt better. It was the strangest thing that ever happened to me, and when I felt better, I saw a girl who was around my age, looked like she could use someone to hang out with for a while, and she sort of just looked fun. I might as well talk to her, but i didn't get the chance, because she came up to me first, "Hey, hey it's me - Cass! Do you remember from when we met awhile ago, I'm ah um, Oedy's sister. That is his little one."

I don't really remember 'Cass', nor did I ever hear of 'Odey'. She was probably pulling a prank on me. Plus, she said that sentence so weird. I didn't know what exactly to do, I thought of just saying I know Odey, they're cool. But, I didn't exactly see the point of lying, because if you ever saw one of those sitcoms, you know lying never works, so instead, I went along with

"Uh- I'm sorry, I don't know a Cass, or an Odey... But, i mean, if you wanna get a random bite to eat, I'm up for it, if you don't mind..." It wasn't going to be anything serious, but if I was stuck in the same place for a hour, I'd want something to eat. And as of me, a granola doesn't hold you over for long. I forgot to say one thing to her, "What was going on in there?" I guess like a lot of people, I'm really curious. Even if the topic isn't that important.

[/size][/color]

---

if you want we can rewind and stuff...

[cinder]

In the Capitol, if you want to stay relevant you always talk about the most interesting thing that pops into your head. If somebody asks you how your days been, and all you've done is walk your dog - tell them something colorful. Spice up your life and add in that your dog ran through a busy shopping store, broke several display cases and has now become a local legend on some obscure street across town that your friend has never heard of, but pretends to because it seems awfully cool.

Capitolites really were a bunch of snots who non-chalantly walked down the boulevard, acting as though they had seen and experienced all the city had to offer. But they hadn't. None of them understood what it was to dance under neon lights, your body died white and the colors bouncing off your friends as the whites of their eyes roll up and color conquers another frontier. At heart, most of the people of the Capitol had no idea what it was to live.

But Cass was not one of those people, she didn't brag about her enlightenment, she never claimed to be of an elevated status but deep within she knew she was special. Life just happened around her, elevators got stuck in between floors of buildings. Dogs did run through crowded malls, dragging diamond leads and tripping up civilian after civilian. Cassedy has never quite figured out why she was different, but she did not care so much. She knew how to work it to her advantage, and really that's all that counts. As long as you're winning, why analyze the game?

Her bright eyes cleared and her mouth moved in a hushed voice that was meant to imitate the suspenseful scene of her walk to the elevator, and finally her entrapment. How she had knocked back calming pills, and was about ready to claw at the doors with her perfectly manicured nails when a ding woke her brain from its animal-instinct slumber. And she was free! Hooray, hoorah!

This was what Cass told, exaggerating certain points and talking about how the whole building must have run out of power or something. As she walked with the used-to-be-not-anymore stranger, her fingers pulled an electric cigarette from her black leather bag, and she brought it to her lips, puffing lavender colored and flavored air from between her plump lips. She eyed the guy next to her, "So... anyways, lunch. You know any place we could go? I was going to suggest Ariva's because I was just so sure I'd met you there before, but if you know any place..." she chattered on then abruptly stopped. "Want a puff?" Cass told him, smiling nicely. Social graces ran in her blood thanks to dear old Oedy and his peculiar talents but she was suddenly drained by talking to this stranger-was.

Cass took another drag, a feeble attempt to regain some of her previous social energy. The introvert in her was pulling her into a dark corner of Cassedy Magella's mind, whispering that it was time to retire. Time to nap and forget about people, let alone strangers she owed nothing to - no need to be so bubbly and god damned annoying. To illustrate the point of her own annoyingness, a strand of her hair whipped in front of her eyes and Cass stumbled a bit. She slipped her hands up and shoved it back behind her ears violently. The perfectly disorderly hair stubbornly refused to stay put, although the gusts of wind that had plagued the Capitol for days seemed to be receding into a less prominent position - the sunny sky had become a much more relevant and fascinating topic of discussion (weather always was "in") Style can be a b*tch her mind groaned. The battle against her hair was futile - it had taken her hairstylist a few hours to create the chaotic masterpiece, and it would take double the time to make it orderly and neat, like her mothers. To hell with fashion. Knowing it was socially a no-no and would most likely be a thing Cass was made fun of for years to come, she risked the fashionable consequences and tucked her lavender "cigarette" behind her ear to keep her wild mane back.

And she smiled smugly at the girl across the street who did a double take when she saw the heir to the House of Magella with a cigarette in her hair. So four years ago.

ooc- this is a confusing post, so go ahead and carry this plotline in whatever direction you'd like. I'm suddenly tired, but decided that no matter how proud I am of long, nice posts I should just give you a little something-something to work with (; expect a better reply next time around.