Difference between revisions of "Logs:A Good Turnday"

Raw. That's what Iolene's eyes look like, rimmed in red and somewhat watery. But her dark blue eyes would be hard to see as she's tucked herself into the corner of a couch by the hearth with a massive yellow blanket thrown over her shoulders. In her hands is an open book, two fingers holding it apart, and it appears she might be reading, or doing a great pretense of it.

Elgin wanders in, his own reading for the day tucked under arm. Perhaps it is just too loud in the Candidates Quarters now, with both candidates and islanders sharing the space. Elgin approaches the other islanders territory tentatively. He approaches the hearth, perching over an open couch, cornering the one taken by Iolene, he debates occupying the same area, a quiet, "'Morning," Is offered, testing the waters.

A big snotty sniff follows Elgin's greeting and Iolene hurriedly rubs at her eyes and looks up. There's a wan version of her smile flickered up to the other islander, her hand waving him off. "Not too close. I think I caught one of those miserable colds again. And on my turnday too." Oh woe. Woe, says those woebegone eyes. "Maybe the other end of the couch if you want to sit?" Another sniffle. "How are you doing? Still blaming our elders?"

Elgin slips on to the couch- the empy couch, but still not way on the other end. The male lets a sympathetic but guarded grin sweep his face, "Woah there." He says clearly in mock offense, and simply ignores the last comment other than that, "Sick on your turnday? That is awful, instead of cake how about I get you some turnday soup?" A loose pillow is drawn up into his lap to be toyed with, "Have you seen the healers?"

"No. I don't go in /there/ anymore." The creeped-out emphasis on /there/ makes the infirmary sound like death's door; which it likely has been for many many exiles. Iolene instead curls up deeper into her couch, pretending that her hours of crying was really a cold and sniffs again for good measure. "I'm fine. Just, trying to... I don't know. Make sense of everything. Are you doing ok? Still dreaming up ideas and schemes to make our lives better?" The last carries in it a tease that's punctuated with another of her tiny smiles.

"I don't..." Elgin grins and shakes his head, "You're always trying to draw me in. Well if it is a punching bag you need I am up for the task." The male shows his sincerity by moving to the unoccupied corner of Iolene's couch. "We're all trying to make sense of it all." He tilts his head and smiles softly at the female, "No, I'll never stop dreaming of ways to make it better for us...and someday I'll know enough about this place to try some out. But for now I could settle for just making your turnday better." He turns so he's facing the curled up islander, pulling one leg underneath himself, "Come-on, take a swing. It might help." Teasing grin.

Iolene looks at Elgin, perturbed at what he's insinuating she do; an act, that ultimately, the good-natured girl shakes her head, declining. "I'll just be happy when this day is over. Grams was planning something special for me this year, she said. I thought she'd have a match ready for me and maybe something nice to eat, but-," shrugging; clearly /that/ did not work out. "Can you tell me a story instead? Something real or not real? Some memory that you cherish? Tell me about someone you love or remember fondly? I'd like a story for my turnday, Elgin." The thought of a tale told specifically to her lights up her eyes a little, tempering the red rims that discolor her normally genial expression.

Elgin frowns slightly at the perturbed expression but says nothing. Instead letting the girl's request for a story take his thoughts far away for a moment, his eyes focusing on some distant thought before he nods with a surprisingly innocent smile, "Would you like to hear the story of the first girl I was sweet on, or one about the antics my little sister and I use to do back on the island?" The requests seems to have taken years off the male who is glowing more like a 10 turn old getting an unexpected present than the old for turns man that he normally behaves like.

Iolene's little bunny nose twitches at the mention of a first love, but it's only the briefest untoward reaction as the curiosity in her dark blue eyes wins out in the end. "I didn't know you were sweet on anyone." The fuzzy woolen yellow blanket tightens about her and the skinny islander burrows further into its depths, getting comfy for story time.

"Well it was a long time ago, well I guess 4 turns ago.." Elgin's face turns wistful and his tone is one of sadness that a person gets when remembering a time long ago, "I suppose it seems long for us.." He winks softly and settles in as he decides where to begin, "When I was a boy of 13 I had my first crush." He chuckles at Iolene with a smile, "Who has never been sweet on someone? It was Ahuda, remember her?" Clearly an a child from the island who didn't make it. "Now granted we had been friends for a while but one day, I decided that she was prettier and far more interesting than the mud, boys and games that had previously taken up most of my free time."

With her chin rested on the tops of her knees and her arms wrapped around those legs beneath her blanket, Iolene listens intently, her ruddy tear-stained cheeks relaxing so that her overal demeanor softens. "I remember her," and instantly, Io's expression gains a note of sorrow, particularly as she remembers the circumstances in which the girl passed on. There's sympathy there too, for Elgin, as the revelation that his first love, crush, what not, no longer exists in this world.

Elgin greets the looks of sorry with a soft shake of his head and smile, "No saddness today, only happy memories, well happy now." He laughs gently and continues, "Star crossed lovers you see she was a year older than me, so I knew it would take some grand gesture to win her over." He sits up, lifting a finger in emphasis of the next point, "But that wasn't even my first problem. The first problem was how to break it to the other boys. It's hard to be the first boy to think girls aren't yucky but instead to /want/ to spend time with them. So the first thing I had to do was come up with an excuse to miss the game of thiefs and guards."

Iolene's sympathy abruptly freezes at Elgin's admonishment, and slowly, as she regains life, she attempts to rework her expression into one of, muted, happiness. It's only middlingly successful, which only means her face is a comical mix of happy and sad. Not that she notices, she's certainly not looking at herself. "I remember that game." In fact, Io probably tagged along in her diaper shorts, while bigger, older boys tried not to trample over her up until this time when Elgin was thirteen and she was twelve. "That was a fun game... wait, you stopped coming?!" It's as if it all makes sense now.

Elgin winks softly, "For a time, see things don't work out so well for me at the end of this story, but we'll come to that in a minute." He shifts his weight and pulls his other leg up underneath him as well, so he is sitting cross-legged on the couch facing Iolene, "So I had my younger sister go out and tell you guys that I had a cold, or I was sick or something, and I snuck out and around to where I knew the older kids hung out." He takes a finger and points over and back with it, "In the meantime I had asked my mother what kinds of things to do in order to a girl to like you. She said things like, flowers and songs and poetry were the keys to a girls heart..." He laughs as he remembers something that he will soon have to share.

The last has Iolene back to a mixed look; though this time dubious but interested. 'Really?!' says that expression of hers, almost as if she's trying on those things a girl should like. Flowers, songs, poetry? But the confusion is dismissed with a sharp shake of her head. Io leans forward into her knees, chin lifting a little to study Elgin. "And then?"

"Yep, that's what my mom said." Elgin shrugs helplessly, "Anyway, so I snuck down to that little place where the older kids hung out, where the water was secluded by all the brush." He rolls his eyes slightly, "When I got older, I'd sneak down there too, but I was young to be running around there. She was sitting at the edge of the water, alone, and topless..." Elgin laughs and shakes his head, "I was mortified, I liked girls, but I didn't understand that part yet, I wasn't sure what to do. So I did what any normal clueless and in love boy would do, I threw the flowers at her and screamed my song at the top of my lungs." Elgin blushes as he begins to recite his poem, "You are as pretty as the sun, you and I could have lots of fun, I love you a tun." The male buries his face in his hands in embarrasment and a fit of laughter. "I'm sure you are as confused as I was when I tell you she didn't fall for it...but that's not the end."

It starts with a slight widening of her eyes, which then just grows bigger and bigger until they're round owl eyes staring at Elgin, and then her hands clamp over her mouth as he gets towards the end. Iolene is struggling not to laugh, not to even giggle, but what she doesn't /voice/ still emanates in the ruddiness that suddenly stains the tops of her cheeks, just visible over her hands. Not trusting herself to open her mouth to speak (who knows what manner of howls might come out then), she urges with successive head bobbles. Go on, go on!

Elgin eyes the girl hand to mouth move and gives her a reassuring smile, "Laugh..." He shakes his head, "It's hilarious. So, there I was, the poem over, and there was dead silence. I mean nothing. Me standing there humilated, heart on the chopping board, and her just staring out me, so uninterested she didn't even care she was half naked. But the worst part is that a boy had been obscured by the nearby bushes." Elgin sighs softly but smiles again, "Seems it was her boyfriend, and he seemed none too happy that a little 13 year old was making the moves on his unclad girlfriend. Let's just say the bloody nose I got that day didn't hurt nearly as badly as the broken heart." There is that wistful face again, a soft smile at the other girl, "Still, a fond memory now..." Is comment with a nod. "Fond memory."

Instead of laughing, Iolene squeaks. It's this tiny little sound that is muffled by her covered mouth. The squeak turns into a sympathetic 'awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.' Bloody noses, confessions gone wrong, and poor little thirteen year old male psyches aside, Io seems heartwarmed by this story. "At least it's funny now, and I guess you learned then. I bet, Ahuda would laugh at it now too if she were around." Forgetting to pretend to be sick, Iolene eases back into her couch corner. "Thanks, Elg. That makes my day a lot better. A lot. It was a good turnday present." Her mouth curves into a small smile. "I think I'm going to go get some tea now. I hope the rest of your day goes as nice as this story was. See you later?"

"I bet she would, and yes I did. I have never recited poetry again." Elgin nods, "I bet she would." He smile widens and he puts his legs down as Iolene goes to leave, "I'm glad I could help Io. I hope the rest of your turnday is really nice, yah, I'll see you around."