I am a heart[Odin]

[Sage]

Finally, spring was here in district six. About time I thought happily, breathing in the fresh scents of my second favorite season. My first being Summer, followed by Spring, then Autumn, and my least favorite Winter. I disliked winter because it was the time when all the tiny creatures that lived around the district started to disappear until the spring. I looked around the district, trying to decide where to go and suddenly remembered that I was supposed to meet Elias at two for something. It was around noon so I had a few hours to kill. I decided to head to the square and see what I could find to bring home for my siblings.

As I approached the square, I window shopped, looking at the interesting displays in each of the little shops. One that caught my eye was a display of cakes at the bakery, they were ornately decorated and were probably very sweet. I loved sweet things, a small weakness of mine. My stomach growled, reminding me that it was lunch time. I could go for a pastry right about now I thought, entering the bakery. A bell chimed as I opened the door and the baker greeted me warmly. "Well, hello, Ashes. What can I do for you today?" he asked. "do you have anything sweet but not super sweet, my sweet tooth is acting up again" I said with a smile. "I think I have just the thing. Apple strudel, baked fresh this morning" He said, pulling out said strudel. It smelled delicious. "Yum, I'll take two" I said, handing him the money. He bagged them up and handed them to me. "Have a nice day" He called as I left the store. "You too" I called.

The strudel was still warm when I bit into it, the sweet flavor coming to life inside my mouth. "mmm" I sighed, chewing it. I finished the strudel and wrapped up the second one for Elias later. I hope he likes strudel I thought, smiling. He was cute, definitely and we'd hit it off right away when we'd met. I knew that Pheonix was jealous of him, of course. I knew Pheonix liked me but we were just friends, those was the only feelings I had for him. I smiled as I walked, checking my watch. It was 1:30, half an hour left to kill. I wandered the square, checking the screen every once in a while to see who was winning the games. I didn't really pay attention to them though, I was more focused on my own thoughts.

At two, I hurried to the spot I told Elias I'd meet him and saw him standing there. I smiled and waved, running up to the spot. "Hey" I called. I felt a slight flutter in my chest as I looked at him.

[/blockquote]

[odin]

Spring is a good month I guess. It is hopeful. We’ve made it through the winter and I have nine months to work and save up enough money to get us through next one. Yesterday was my first day building again, so as far as I am concerned, the dark, cold, hungry nights of last winter are behind me. Many people do not know this about us, but the District Six construction crew doesn't just build things. Sometimes, we take them down too. That is what I did yesterday. I was helping a woman get her stuff out of her condemned house so that we could tear it down and construct something that might actually last a little. I could tell that it had once been a nice home. It had several rooms that people don’t actually need like a dining room and an office. I got to talk to the woman some as I carried out her stuff. She was an elderly woman who was moving in with her daughter. Her husband was a scientist who took care of the house, but after his death, she could not keep up with maintenance. Four years after he died, the house fell into complete disrepair and was condemned.

I like to do demolition work because I get to see all the things that people keep in their homes. When I was cleaning out the office, I noticed the woman’s impressive collection of letter openers lying out on her desk. She had all kinds of the things—some were carved out of wood or inlaid with jewels, or made with what looked like valuable metals. I may have been looking at the letter openers for a minute or so when I heard her voice behind me. The woman startled me at first, but she wasn’t angry. She just chuckled to herself and even told me I could have one. She muttered something about me being a

[/size]“poor, hardworking young man.” I was thrilled as I thanked her profusely and grabbed a fancy looking blue one with green swirls on the handle. It was cold in my hand and heavy in my pocket. If I was lucky, I had selected a desk ornament that I could pawn for something when money gets tight come January.

I hate to keep secrets from the kids, but I know that if Charlie ever caught wind of this, she’d sell it for drug money in a heartbeat. I definitely didn’t want my coworkers to know because technically, we are not supposed to accept tips. This letter opener looked to me like the kind of thing people would like to steal, so I had to keep it secret from just about everyone. But this was just too cool to keep to myself. I couldn’t help it—I had to tell somebody. So I decided to meet with Ashes today to show her the letter opener. I know her from school and she seems pretty nice. I guess we are friendly acquaintances, which is about as close a relationship I have with anybody I don’t live with.

I saw Ashes in the square at about ten ‘till two eating something and holding a box from the bakery. Call me a moocher if you will, but I hoped whatever was in the box was for me. It was almost two and I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast yesterday. As she approached, my stomach gurgled and the metallic desk ornament in my pocket grew heavier. She waved and greeted me, and in my excitement at the prospect of sharing my secret, skipped all niceties and hastily whispered, “I have the most awesome thing ever in my pocket. Get inside, so I can show you without anybody seeing.” I realized three seconds later that the absolute creepiest words that could have spewed from my mouth just had. My lack of social prowess launched Ashes and myself into an awkward silence in which I chewed on my tongue and probably blushed a lot. I hoped that by some miracle, I did not weird her out too much and I could share my amazing secret with someone.


(OOC: first IC post ever hope it is not too awful.
Poem by: The greatest poet of all time: The fabulous Miss Emily Dickinson!) [/blockquote][/size][/color][/justify]

[Sage]

Ashes Davis

I am a heart that's hard to pin
You are an arrow sticking in
I pull you out and put you down
With all the others scattered round

I felt a flutter in my stomach as I ran towards Elias, holding on to the box that held the strudel and called a greeting to him. He seemed eager to share something and as soon as I was within earshot, he said "I have the most awesome thing ever in my pocket. Get inside, so I can show you without anybody seeing" He blushed a few seconds after the words left his mouth and we lapsed into an awkward silence. We stood there silently for a few moments before I tried to break the tension. "Awkward" I said, making a gesture that was an awkward turtle. Basically, put both hands together, right on top of the left and made swimming motions with my thumbs. I smiled but felt a blush color my cheeks. "before this gets really awkward, I uh... brought you a strudel from the baker." I said, feeling awkward as I handed him the box. We stood there for a few more moments before I couldn't take it any more. "So, what is this awesome thing you have in your pocket that you can't let anyone else see?" I asked, attempting to lighten the mood a little bit.

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ooc: Sorry, crappy post, don't know what on earth I was thinking. Your post was pretty good.
Lyrics: I am a heart by hey ocean.

[odin]

I weirded her out. In response to my ridiculous lack of intrapersonal skills, Ashes actually made an awkward turtle with her hands. I was feeling really bad about being such a dismal conversationalist when miraculously, Ashes matched my abruptness by pretty much thrusting a strudel in my face. YESsssssss! I take it out of the package and take a bite, letting the sweet oozy apple filling coat my tongue. Then I think about my brothers and sisters and wrap up the rest of the strudel to share with them. They haven’t had anything sweet in God knows how long. I swallowed so that I could thank my friend and I guess new confidant for her generosity. “Thank you so much. This is delicious.”

I was done being distracted though. The letter opener was still safe in my pocket, but I was dying to show someone. For some reason, the word “Cobalt” popped into my head when I curled my fingers around my azure treasure. I motioned toward a quiet looking pub not far away and said “follow me. There probably are not a lot of prying eyes there in the middle of the afternoon.” The waitress put us in a little booth in the back of the establishment and I started telling the story of the old lady in the condemned house in a hushed tone. When I finally got to the part about the letter opener, I slipped it out of my jacket and placed it on the table. It kind of sparkled a little in the dim light above the table. I tried to read Ashes’s face to see if she was impressed with the small object as I was, but I couldn’t really figure out what look she was giving me. True to awkward turtle form, I paused for several seconds before rapidly shooting off questions. ‘So what do you think? Could this little thing be worth any money? Should I pawn it off or just keep it because it looks cool?

[/size][/color][/justify]

[Sage]

Name curtesy of Kaplan

I smiled at him as he ate the strudel. He seemed to be very desperate to show me something. "Follow me. There probably are not a lot of prying eyes there in the middle of the afternoon" He said, indicating a pub not far from where we stood. I knew my dad may kill me for following him but I did anyways as we headed into the pub, The waitress put us in a little booth in the back of the pub and he started telling me an interesting story about an old lady in a condemned house in a quiet voice. When he got to a certain part, he pulled out what looked like a letter opener and placed it onto the table. It looked kind of cool, it shone in the light and looked actually quite pretty. He was silent for a few moments before shooting off questions. "So what do you think? Could this little thing be worth any money? Should I pawn it off or just keep it because it looks cool?" He asked. I met his eyes for a moment, trying to think but I found I had an issue concentrating while I was looking at him. Get it together Ashes I told myself sternly before blushing and looking away. "I don't know, Elias, it's really pretty but I don't know how much something like that would be worth" I replied, trying to push away the blush that was still coloring my cheeks. Jeez, since when did Elias make me blush. The waitress came back and asked if we wanted anything. "I'll just take a glass of cranberry juice" I said, smiling at the waitress. She smiled back before leaving us alone again. We sat in silence once more and I started really noticing things about him. His hair looked really nice in the dim light of the booth and shadows played tricks on my eyes. I blushed and looked down, unable to help it. I wasn't normally like this, normally I was a lot more shy than this.

The Waitress came back with my cranberry juice and I sipped it as we sat it silence. "The letter opener is really pretty, I love the Azure color of it, it really shines." I said, trying to make conversation. "So, what shall we do this afternoon?" I asked, looking into his eyes.

[odin]

Ashes didn’t know if the letter opener was worth anything which I admit was just a little disappointing, so I put the metallic trinket back into my pocket. Maybe I should see what I can get for it at a pawn shop. My was still thinking about the letter opener and fantasizing about it being worth enough to get my brother some new shoes. His are getting almost as bad as mine with a little hole where you can see his big toe. He would really like a new pair of sneakers. Red ones because that’s his favorite color.

I guess I kind of spaced out there. I should really pay more attention to the here and now. After all, that letter opener may not be worth anything at all. I noticed that since Ashes said the letter opener was pretty, the table was kind of quiet. I looked at Ashes and she blushed and looked down at the table. She seems to blush quite a bit. I wonder why Ashes is always so nervous.

Finally, the girl shattered the silence with another comment about the letter opener and an abrupt “So, what shall we do this afternoon?” I hadn’t really thought about that much because I was so excited to share my secret that I never even considered what we would do next. I wracked my brain for an idea of something to do with my new confidant, but came up with nothing. It was somewhat strange how intently she looked at me in the pub. It was almost as if she thought we were on a date. BOOM! It hit me like a ton of bricks. We are on a date. All of a sudden my palms started to sweat and I tried to think a little faster of something to do. Blank. This date had been pretty much a gag reel of me being socially inept so far, so I decided to defer back to Ashes to dodge the conversational screwball she had just thrown. “I was thinking I would let you pick what we do. I am cool with whatever you want.” Not exactly the smoothest response, but it beat saying nothing.

I got a good look at Ashes. She was pretty. She had neat little curls in her hair that she played with a lot and her glasses made her emerald eyes look just a little bigger than they should be. It was a rather cute effect. Suddenly, I felt even more pressure to make this date a good one. I flashed a smile at Ashes as I waited for her proposed afternoon agenda.

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[Sage]

Name curtesy of Kaplan

I watched as he put the letter opener back in his pocket and we sat in silence for a few moments, my earlier question hanging in the air between us. That was when I realized that we were kind of on a date. The question I'd just asked was probably very rude of me. His response surprised me. "I was thinking I would let you pick what we do. I am cool with whatever you want" He said. I thought about that for a few moments, not really sure about what we could do.

While I decided what to do, I noticed him looking me over. I pretended not to notice until he flashed a smile at me and I smiled back shyly. damn it, shyness why now? I cursed myself silently. I hated the fact that I was so shy around people, especially around guys. The only way I'd ever been able to talk to Elias was because a friend had introduced us and we'd hit it off right away. I thought for a few more moments until I knew exactly what we could do. "Hmmm... I would say we could just sit here and talk but I don't think the waitress would appreciate it. Why don't we walk and talk?" I said. I usually found that when I walked I talked, I opened up a lot more than if I was sitting still. Walking and talking would be the best way, I thought, for us to get to know each other better.