Child's Play (Angela)

[Locke F. Herald]

The weather had started to calm down from the bright, warm days of summer. The shifting of colors brought with it the sure sign of fall, and the slight chill that came with it. Locke sat on a small wooden park bench, thumbing his way through one of his many books. The wordless singing and laughter that greeted his ears assured him that everything was fine right now. He glanced up from his book to survey the park. In a Gifted area, so nobody was going to freak out about him or Alley. His face curved with annoyance. She may have been more free then he was at that age, but she was still a prisoner...for how long would they have to endure that?

He was snapped out of his thoughts by a tug on his pant leg. He looked down to see the smiling child greeting him. "Lack!" She said, happy she had his attention. Then pointed to a small pile of sand in the sandbox. She'd been playing with her little buckets and shovels and such for a bit, and it seemed now she had finally figured out how to make a sand castle by turning the pail upside down quickly. Of course it was still kind of lopsided and crumbling, but she was happy, so what did it matter?

"That's very good Alley!" He complimented her, ruffling her hair. "Was that hard?"

The child just shook her head vigorously. "Nuh-uh!" She said. "More!" She proclaimed, running back to the sandbox to continue her work.

Locke watched her from the bench, the smile not retreating from his lips. He intended to steal another glance at his book, but another presence in the park caught his attention first.

[✿ngela wingrose]

"I hate you! Goodbye!"
"Kelly, that isn't something you should say to people! It's not nice!"
"But you say it to daddy!"
"...Uhm... it means something different when I say it to daddy. You'll learn when you're older."

Kelly and her mother were at the park together, having a rather public argument. Angela kept trying to be quiet, but Kelly had recently found her voice, and liked nothing more than to use it at its maximum volume. She was extremely articulate for a little girl her age; she had an uncanny ability to imitate Angela and add her own personality to whatever action or speech was made.

"Why don't you play in the sandbox?" Angela gestured to where Alley was playing. "Let's ask if we can share her toys."

Angela took Kelly's hand and lead the way to the undoubtedly germ-infested play area. It was bath night anyway; may as well get the little girl as grimy as possible. It was Kennedy's turn to take care of Kelly, and Angela had her own ways of getting back at her fiance. Or rather, ex-fiance.

They decided to put the wedding on hold, indefinitely, or however long it took for Kennedy to be a good father. Angela was modeling a bit, not enough to pay the bills, but enough to insist that Kennedy pull his weight while she was gone. She had a dinner meeting with a photographer she hadn't worked with yet tonight, which meant Kennedy got to look after their little princess while she was gone. The mother was nervous, as she always was when she left her daughter with Kennedy, but she kept trying to convince herself that nothing bad would happen. Nothing traumatic had happened so far, knock on wood, but she couldn't help but shake the feeling that Kennedy would fail at being a father the same way he failed at being a husband and a lover.

Angela smiled down at the peculiar looking girl with cat ears and brought Kelly to the forefront. Kelly blushed, and hugged onto Angela's leg. "Hello. Can Kelly play with you?" Angela smiled brightly, hoping she looked warm and sweet rather than paranoid and anxious.

[Locke F. Herald]

Locke had such tunnel vision when it came to his sister that he didn't realize the argument Angela was having with her child until she was right next to Alley. He glanced up from his book to spy the two of them, and Alley looked up from her work at the large lady and little girl in front of her.

Now, Alley may not have been mentally like Locke, but she was not terribly used to playing with other children in such direct contact. And so, did what she always did when she was unsure of something.

"Lack!" She called out, still unable to roll her tongue to produce the right sound. Locke looked over at the situation and smiled, closing his book up. He grinned at the situation, especially at the confused look on Alley's face.

"It's ok Alley, you can play with her." He said with a smile. "You can share your toys, right?"

The little girl nodded. "Yup!" She said, beaming. That word, share, it meant to give someone something...but it was hers! Not bothering to think it through too much she reached down and grabbed a red bucket with a yellow plastic shovel, pushing them towards Kelly. "Blue is mine. It's my favorite!" She explained, as she began to fill the blue bucket up with sand again.

And Locke looked up, now actually looking at the mother as a person and not a mother. He couldn't quite piece it, but he knew he'd seen her before somewhere. Not odd really, at her age she was probably in the Academy not too long ago.

"Good day." He greeted her with a smile. "I can't help but feel I know you...did you go to the Academy recently?"

[✿ngela wingrose]

Kelly jumped when Alley gave her the sandbox tools, letting go of her mother's leg to take hold of them. She looked dumbfounded for a moment before she decided this was something she wanted to do.

"OKAY." And with that, the two girls were off, with Kelly eying the blue bucket surreptitiously.

Angela smiled at Locke, noticing that he had the same strange cat ears too. He and Alley were obviously related, but Locke looked much too young to have a daughter. Though Angela was young too, she also looked more like a mother nowadays; everything about her protective, harried behaviour screamed 'mommy'.

"Not recently... Oh wow, that feels like forever ago. I've been gone now for... two... three years," Angela waved it off - there were too many memories associated with school, good and bad, neither of which she wanted to think of right now. It was more likely he recognized her from one of the publications she might've landed in, but she didn't know how to bring that up without sounding full of herself. So she didn't.

"She's beautiful," Angela remarked, gesturing to the blue-haired girl playing next to Kelly. More than talking about herself, Angela loved to talk about Kelly. She hoped this topic might segway into some proud mother-boasting time.

[Locke F. Herald]

Locke watched the two go off and play, a new sort of feeling rising in his chest. He'd never had friends like that when he was young. Was it jealousy? No, he wasn't jealous of his little sister. More pleased that she had a better time of it then he did.

"Yeah, she'll be a real charmer when she grows up." Locke agreed. "Kelly was it? She takes after you a lot." He remarked, observing the two children. He then realized that he still didn't know who this girl was. "Oh, rude of me. I'm Locke, Locke Herald. Pleased to meet you." He said with a smile.

Meanwhile, Alley was demonstrating the proper way to make a sand castle, by lifting the bucket quickly. "Like this! Gotta pull it fast!" She exclaimed, pulling the bucket off as the sand pile slumped slightly, but remained in a fairly constant shape. Quite pleased with herself she watched to see if Kelly could emulate her.

[✿ngela wingrose]

Angela grinned when he mentioned Kelly taking after her. A small surge of pride welled within her and she looked upon the two girls with an indescribably fondness.

"It's nice to meet you, Locke Herald. I'm Angela Wingrose," She wasn't sure why his name rung a bell, but if they'd gone to school together that might be it. The two of them never ran in the same circle of friends, but they shared enough acquaintances that they ought to know of one another. But alas, Angela wasn't known for her wonderful memory, so she just smiled blankly at the young man.

Meanwhile, Kelly observed Alley as she demonstrated, and tried the same. Her results were less than satisfactory, and she groaned loudly, "Noooo!" And she smacked her failed sand castle with her borrowed yellow shovel. Angela hid her smile by turning back to Locke.

"Are you at the Academy?"

[Locke F. Herald]

Locke laughed at the collapse of the unworthy sand castle, and Alley found humor in it as well, smashing her own mountain into dust with a quick swing of her plastic shovel. Now she went back to her work, to remake the castle even bigger and better then before! Packing down the sand in her bucket with her shovel, she flipped it and left it there. She waited for Kelly to do the same. "Pack it in!" She instructed. "No cracks or it falls apart." Was her perfect explanation.

"Angela Wingrose...I know I've heard that name before..." He mused, thinking over it. Whomever she was, he may have seen her, but he'd never actually spoken to her. The name did seem to ring a bell in his...wait a minute! "Ah! I remember now! Have you ever been to a town named Cairo?"

THAT was where he remembered her from, she was Kennedy's girl. And much to Angela's soon-to-be distress, he had no idea of the awkward world that was their relationship.

[✿ngela wingrose]

Kelly blinked, disbelieving that Alley would so quickly ruin something she'd made, but soon squealed with laughter as she too demolished her own creation. She imitated Alley's packing motion, swatting the sand forcefully with the shovel, and flipped the bucket over. She was rewarded with a much sturdier cylinder, and she clapped her shovel against the bucket for maximum applause. "YAYYY! It works!!"

Locke pondered over her name, and Angela learned he had a much better memory than her. She still didn't recognize him, but he knew her from... Cairo?

"Uhm... yes... but very briefly," She tried her very best to skirt that topic, seeing as how it would lead to even more unpleasant memories, "I'm living here in New York now though. It's a lot nicer here, I think... are you from around here?" She wondered where his blue hair and cat ears were from - perhaps some other mystical land like the fae queendom? She didn't know much about anything outside what she was already familiar with, so Locke could very well be a completely new species to her.

[Locke F. Herald]

Locke took his attention from the pair of girls playing in the sand to observe Angela for a moment. She sure skirted away from that topic quickly. His time with Kiri had taught him when someone was hiding something, and he had no desire to delve into something that was uncomfortable for someone.

"Hmm. No, not pet say. My family follows the Academy around as they move about. But for now I suppose we live around here." He said, not intending to be as elusive as he was. "I mean, every Gifted is kind of linked to the Academy, one way or the other." He said, waving his hand in an odd fashion. "Not like I could just walk out into New York City and get an apartment."

Locke looked over to the girls for a moment, and noticed something odd. Alley had an odd expression on her face as she sat there with the her shovel digging in the sand, frozen. Her eyes were unfocused, almost like mirrors. Locke looked serious for a moment.

"Alley?" He called to her, moving to get up. But before he could she shook her head quickly and blinked. "Lack!" She called to him, looking over. "You left your book!" She exclaimed. Locke blinked in confusion, and looked next to him. Nope, there it was, just as he left it.

"It's right here." He said, picking it up so she could see it.

She looked confused by the presence of the book as her face scrunched. A shout of joy from next to her stole her attention back to the construction in the sandbox.

Locke looked back to Angela, still a little residual confusion on his face. "So, you went to the Academy too, eh? Let's see, two or three years ago...that was..." he thought for a moment. "It was before my time, was Raelena St. John still attending when you were there? I heard she was in the Academy for a year or two." He suggested. If there was anyone well known in the Academy over the past years, she would be it.

[✿ngela wingrose]

"Ahh, I see," Angela replied vaguely, nodding. She knew a lot of people followed the Academy. Angela did too, but that decision wasn't so much conscious as it was necessary. Before she could think too much about it, Locke was concerned with something in the sandbox, and Angela jumped. She didn't see any immediate danger though, and couldn't understand where his confusion came from.

But Locke seemed to get over this temporary peculiarity and turn back to the subject of the Academy. "Oh yes, Raelena. She was certainly something," Angela laughed, thinking back to a more eventful St. Patrick's Day party where Raelena was... incredibly entertaining. At least, what parts of that night Angela could remember. She'd never been buddy-buddy with the rockstar, but she'd been acquainted well enough to comment. "And look where she is now," the model smiled, a little wistfully. Raelena St. John was now one of the most overplayed artists on the radio.

Angela turned back to Kelly, who was now trying her hand at being a fashion stylist. The sandcastle she'd been building was now forgotten in favour of a very trendy bucket-hat. She also managed to stuff the small end of the shovel down her sock, and discovered that when she wiggled her shoe around, the shovel moved too. Her giggles soon left the sandbox and fluttered their way into Angela's heart. Her mother bit back a laugh.

"Did you know Jamie Matthews at all?" Jamie was younger than Angela, but after being through quite a traumatic experience with him, she always found herself so protective of him. She wasn't sure what became of him after she left the Academy, and felt a bit guilty for not following up on that ice cream date she owed him. She wondered if Locke was the same age as Jamie, although this blue-haired young man seemed infinitely more mature than the Matthews boy.

[Locke F. Herald]

OOC: I have no idea if anyone wants to continue, but I just felt like writing, so I will.

IC: Locke laughed slightly at remembering Rae. "Yeah, I only met her once myself. And apparently she tried to set up me and my g-girlfriend." The stutter was slight, but it was still there after all this time. "Completely by accident, I wound up doing the same for her without even meeting her." He watched the girls moving about in the sand box. Alley, never one to be out done, had taken to slipping her hand through the handle of her plastic shovel, wearing it as some oddly shaped bracelet. When she found that she could spin the shovel by moving her arm, she'd found something new to amuse herself. At least until she found out that her arm was not quite small enough, and the spinning shovel was scraping her arm. But fashion required sacrifice, and so she left it there and donned her own bucket hat, giggling as she and Kelly wound up butting bucket-helmets by accident. She fell back in the sand, and laughed. A warm, heart melting laugh, even for the scholar.

"Jamie...Matthews?" He said, unsure if he knew the person. He'd heard the name, but that wasn't hard. He digged through his memories and found himself coming up empty, the file was far too big. "Hmm, the name sounds familiar. I might have. You remember what he looked like? If I could put a face to the name..."