- - - BORN YESTERDAY

[CLAUDIA ODETTE VALKYRIE]

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hold it like just once it won't slip through

Claudia had yet to determine whether or not she liked this island. It was beautiful, yes, but it wasn’t New Orleans. She missed it there. She missed the old buildings and the people. The Creole culture and most especially Lafayette cemetery. She could spend hours there. Days if she was permitted. The beautiful headstones and crypts and sculptures that littered the cemetery and the spirits that lived there; they were astounding and magical. No wonder Anne Rice wrote it so prominently in her novels, because it really was an astounding place. Fantastical in its special somber way. Like herself. Dark, beaten down and misunderstood. Cemeteries weren’t the disheartening and gloomy places that most people perceived them as. They were places of celebration. Celebrate the lives these people lived. A place where she could make friends with people who were as invisible as she often felt. Claudia missed it. She missed the comforting atmosphere of Lafayette. Grace Island wasn’t as welcoming. It wasn’t warm and it didn’t let her in with open arms.

But she didn’t have much of a choice, so she would make do with what she had. Feeling like such an outcast here and being so out of her element had to come second. School was more important. Learning to turn her power on and off was more important. No, no they weren’t. She felt horrible. Alone. No spirits to talk to. No friends she felt comfortable enough to be honest with. Claudia was learning to be confident, but she still slipped. She needed a distraction. She needed to get away to somewhere where she felt safe. Already dressed, a few added touches were thrown on before she could allow herself to leave. A red bow for her hair, and a butterfly drawn on both wrists. It had been two weeks since she had “killed” her past butterfly. Feeling lonely, but confidently lonely, she shoved her sketchbook and little tin of pencils into her vintage bag and starts strolling off of the grounds.

There were people along the hiking trails, causing Claudia to wander her way to the sheds. Behind one of them she sat herself down and starts sketching, losing herself in her world yet again. Drawing little twisted woodland creatures peeking out from behind the rubble that was behind the sheds. Her style was not was most would consider “good”, her figures distorted to reflect the macabre mind that hid under all of that blond hair. But she didn’t draw for other people. She drew for herself and herself only. And someone who was coming up behind her, probably wanting in the shed and wondering why there was a girl behind it. Her reaction was delayed though, gasping and putting a had to her chest. “Raul! You scared me!”

[/color] Her little sun kissed voice, soft despite her fear.

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tag: ray. words: 471 wearing: this. notes: none.

[/center]

[RAUL-PHILIPPE NIX]

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It was unusual for Raul to make trips to the sheds. He didn’t have any particular reason to go, as the hang out area’s often dragged his mood down with the atmosphere, and the equipment ones never had any use for him. His power wouldn’t work on a dummy or some other miscellanies device, so he had no reason to come out here to get anything. Sports weren’t really his thing, and anything else around here often just freaked him out. While he sometimes sat outside the sheds to attempt to draw a landscape, he could that this island wasn’t really anything that could brighten a mood. He couldn’t capture beauty on this island, because, in truth, he didn’t think it was beautiful. It was a piece of scrap land to him, a prison cell designed for the capture of his own kind. A kind he didn’t even want to belong in. So it was highly rare to see Raul-Philippe on a bench doodling a sketch of the island. He hated this place. He didn’t want to capture it.

Still, trudging up this area, he realized a sort of serenity in it all. He hated the place, sure, but had he had a liking for it? Hell, this might actually make a good sketch. Not a full scale drawing, but an okay sketch. His heart would have to be in to it, which it wasn’t, but maybe if he could learn to enjoy this place, he could place it out on paper. He didn’t have much else to do. It wasn’t as if he was the center of any parties going on around here. He really didn’t have anything better to do…

Making his way up, he found the sheds. Shrugging, he supposed he could sketch something in there. He wasn’t ready to even attempt the island. He had to find the exact right place. But maybe he could practice in there. It wouldn’t hurt anyone…And it wasn’t as if he didn’t have some stuff to unload onto paper.

With no key to unlock anything, he hoped that the sheds wouldn’t be at all blocked. Luckily, they weren’t. However, when he glanced in, he did see something, or more precisely, someone in the area. He almost darted until he realized who it was. He was about to speak up when she suddenly gasped and put a hand to here chest. Biting his lip, he tried not to laugh at the display. “Darling, you’re in a shed. What did you suppose would happen?” he smiled a shy smile. His calm voice was rarely used, it was typically scared or hesitant, but with people he knew, it seemed clear and calm. He supposed that it was unlucky that it couldn’t be the other way but, hey, beggars can’t be choosers, right?

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[CLAUDIA ODETTE VALKYRIE]

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hold it like just once it won't slip through

Claudia wasn’t a strong person. She didn’t fight for a lot of things. She had always been the one who stood in the background and allowed herself to be spoken over. Her opinion didn’t matter and her feelings didn’t either. She was a burden on people. Useless. A waste. Well, maybe not that bad in reality but she often felt like she was. She felt like she scared her dorm mate and unintentionally chased people off whenever she tried to make conversation. Though, Claudia really didn’t mind the solitude. She had grown comfortable with being on her own. She got lonely, yes, but everyone got lonely every now and then. Everyone longed for human connection every so often. But more so than some company Claudia wanted to be like every other bubbly teenage girl. That, however, was a hopeless cause for several reasons. The main of them being the fact that most teenage girls didn’t talk to dead people. Nor did they grow up living above a funeral home. She could only hope that eventually some more people would come along who were more intrigued by her than afraid like in middle school.

People like Paul who seemed to have no problem with her. He was kind enough any other time they spoke. He was respectful toward her. Though, the irony of her being scared by something as simple as Raul nearly made her laugh. The corners of her plump lips twitched up to smile ever so slightly at the thought. Here she was, a girl who had seen dozens of dead bodies in her lifetime when most people didn’t even see one. A girl who found horror and gore and blood enticing. Yet a simple boy scared her. How odd that she worked that way. She dropped her hand to her side and relaxed her posture back to it’s usual guarded and small sort of language, one hand gripping her sketchbook close to her chest.

“Not the shed, just…leaning against it,”

[/color] she corrected in her small voice, looking down at the ground for a moment and then back at him. “I thought it would be quiet until the group of people came to return the equipment, which I would have been able to hear coming,”[/color] was her innocent answer. “Were you, uh, here to draw too?”[/color] She fidgeted with the edge of the leather bound book, curling the string around one of her dainty little fingers.

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tag: ray. words: idk wearing: this. notes: crap.

[/center]

[RAUL-PHILIPPE NIX]

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Raul enjoyed being around people like Claudia. Maybe it was something in her that reminded him of his past, or maybe it was simply the fact that he enjoyed company. But he loved being around this very morbid girl. She was friendly, something he wasn’t used to, and allowed him to draw into his own imagination to escape the pains of his past. Most just talked their way through, hoping that if they filled every moment with word, then he wouldn’t be able to think. He’d tried, and he’d failed. The fact was that the only thing that blocked out violent imagery was calm imagery. The only thing that tamed a fire was water. And to put a dog at bay, you had to not only train it but hinder it’s talents.

These were all philosophies, things Raul often doddle out in his sketch books. A fire being soothed, violence combating peace. All things that he supposed could one day heal a sick and ruptured world. He was a philosopher, really, and a doctor. He wanted to heal and not hurt. Heal with images instead of scar with them. Raul-Philippe had seen the damage that imagery could cause. And yet at the same time, he could also see the healing. The healing was more steady, a sort of progression between building a bridge over water. It took time and effort, healing did. It took hold of emotions and picked them up piece by piece. Healing was not quick, not like scaring.

There were some days when he wondered if he could heal Claudia, but then he always wondered if she was at all damaged in the first place or just a little off. He didn’t mind it. He liked her company. He enjoyed it. He felt peace in it. It was just that he sometimes saw a sparkle of sadness. Was that normal? He was sure it was. It just worried him some days.

“Ah, but still. My girl, quite does not exist on this island.” he was calm, smiling. He felt comfort. It was strange. He brought up his sketch pad. “I hate this island. I hate it with all of my heart. But maybe I can learn to love it if I draw it the way that I want it to be,” he said, sighing sadly and scooting next to Claudia. ”You don’t mind having my company, do you?”

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[CLAUDIA ODETTE VALKYRIE]

[/STYLE][STYLE=BACKGROUND-IMAGE: url(http://i.imgur.com/IyEuo.png); BORDER-TOP: SOLID #b9b9b9 15PX; BORDER-LEFT: SOLID #b9b9b9 15PX; BORDER-RIGHT: SOLID #b9b9b9 15PX; BORDER-BOTTOM: SOLID #b9b9b9 15PX; WIDTH: 400PX; HEIGHT: 200PX;]

hold it like just once it won't slip through

Having her brother here certainly made things easier on the girl. She honestly didn’t know what she would do without him. She had always been far closer to Edgar than she was Ezekiel, though she always just assumed it was because there was much less of an age difference. Edgar understood her far better than most people would ever take the time to, and without him she most likely would have begged her parents for home schooling by now. Gift or no gift, she wouldn’t have made it this far without her big brother looking out for her. He made talking to strangers so much easier. She was capable of making friends with people like Raul now and that was something to be proud of. She had come a long way with her social skills, though she still had quite a ways to go. She was still quite shy and timid and socially awkward.

But her mind was an odd place, even to herself. It was complex and made up of a highly detailed imaginary world. A world full of morose creatures that she somehow found comfort in. She found comfort in things like manticores and reapers. Spiders were cute and friendly while rabbits were to be avoided unless they were plush toys. Claudia would rather have the broken decrepit toy than the perfectly new one. She would have rather grown up in that old funeral home than in some pretty suburban one with a white picket fence and a constant flow of freshly made lemonade. She always felt guilty for having such a dark place in her head. Knowing that there were people who could read minds made her self conscious enough. What if there were people who could see her special little world outside of her disproportioned macabre doodles? She felt sorry for them. They would probably be scared by what they saw even though they didn’t have a reason to be.

A small smile formed on that doll-like face of hers as she watched him. “Mmm, true,”

[/color] she mused gently. “I don’t mind it. It’s nice to be accepted, but I miss the beauty of New Orleans,”[/color] she expressed in an almost dreamy “Luna Lovegood” tone. “It’s conflicting. New Orleans is absolutely beautiful and I miss Lafayette cemetery but I’ve never really felt this comfortable around people with a pulse. Back home no one really cared for me.”[/color] Well, no one being her peers. Family, of course adored her. “Perhaps you’re just looking too hard,”[/color] she suggested, looking out at the spot in which she had imagined the dancing dark fairies with their tattered wings. “No, no, of course not. Stay as long as you’d like.”[/color] Her smile was slowly becoming more and more genuine.

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tag: ray. words: 460 wearing: this. notes: none

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[RAUL-PHILIPPE NIX]

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Throughout his life Raul had strived to be something well liked. He once remembered going out for the basketball team in fifth grade and falling flat on his face. He’d given a point to the wrong team, actually, and his father had not been all to pleased. They’d exchanged heavy words, but he soon realized through his junior high career that maybe being an artist was much more of a good thing to be. He didn’t have to fit in with art. He didn’t have to make a point or deliver a blow. He only had to paint what was on his mind, draw what the world looked like to him and distort the sick realities that existed within every human.

He could remember his sisters innocence when she asked him how to draw and what he was drawing. He always explained that he was painting a picture of his own solid mind. She had misunderstood this for a long time and actually assumed that he was literally drawing a picture of the brain. When she came home with a report from the teacher asking her mother and father to please explain that this was not the case, his father had been furious. However, it had been worth it seeing his little sister attempting to draw her own form of mind. She didn’t have clutter or darkness. She had a light mind, one that was up in the sky with the ferries. He loved that about her, even if his father hated it. He loved seeing her smile and seeing her laugh. He loved seeing her believe that she could do anything she wanted. He loved seeing her alive, like a human. She was everything he was not. She was honest, loving, cheerful, and above all social. She knew how to talk and she knew how to listen. She would have made one hell of a heartbreaker when she became a woman. And if he could fix her, then she would be.

Raul nodded and smiled. “It sounds like a beautiful place. What was it like?” he asked, genuinely curious. Then, Raul felt a bit of stabbing pity. Bitting his lip, he nodded. He knew the feeling. He always felt more at home with his work. Though, he couldn’t possibly understand what it would feel like to communicate with the dead. And then the words that perhaps he was looking to hard stunned him, and he nodded. Perhaps he was. A critic, and a damn harsh one, he was. Raul grinned and shimmied down to join Claudia.

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[CLAUDIA ODETTE VALKYRIE]

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hold it like just once it won't slip through

“New Orleans? It’s absolutely beautiful. Fantastical,”

[/color] she voiced, her tony dreamy and distant as she drifted into a far away place within her mind. She was in her place now. A place that she didn’t even share with her brothers. She wouldn’t even know where to begin to explain it to them to share it in the first place. It was far too deep and complex, having developed on its own throughout her years of neglect from her peers. Without any friends to play with she had created her own place of wonder. She was there now, looking up at the trees and picturing her dark fairies with their tattered wings and skeletal limbs. Dancing in a manner that completely mocked her. “It’s so cultured and filled with so much history. Each little stone has its own amazing story. It’s different since Katrina, not just the buildings but the atmosphere as well, but working hard as rebuilding itself. The Jazz Festival and Mardi Gras following Katrina had so much energy. I really miss it.”[/color]

It was rare to get Claudia to speak this much in an entire conversation, let alone in one breath. She was passionate about her home though. She absolutely adored every single bit of it. Even the voodoo stereotypes. New Orleans was her home. It always would be. Though, her lack of a Creole accent or even the Louisiana drawl was disappointing. She blamed that on the fact that both of her parents had grown up in California. Any chance Claudia got to share with someone the wonders of her home she would jump on. Evacuating for the hurricane had been devastating, and they had very low hopes for the state of their home upon returning. They had been on the more lucky end of the spectrum, with only some flood damage to the funeral home that was the lower half and damage to the roof. Walking through the wrecked parts of the city. Seeing all of the recently dead wandering so confused and lost and alone. That had hurt more than what had been lost. But it was recovering and every day it got more and more difficult to tell that anything had even happened.

A breeze played with her hair, ripping her out of her daze and bringing her back to the world she had to share with seven billion people. “I would offer to ask my parents if you could stay during spring break but I don’t think my brothers would approve.”[/color] It was a nice thought, bringing a friend home. But Ezekiel got snippy when it came to the youngest Valkyrie and the male variety. “But if you’re ever in the area you should come visit,”[/color] she offered instead.
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tag: ray. words: 460 wearing: this. notes: none

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[RAUL-PHILIPPE NIX]

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Raul listened to her speak passionately and strongly of her home, and he felt a slight disappointment that he didn’t have that kind of connection with where he had lived. He considered it a shame that he couldn’t keep a sort of reassurance, because he was unsure if it was normal to speak so strongly of any home, but he hoped that he didn’t look at all dazed. All of this was hitting him like a rock, a strong stone that had cut him off course. He didn’t know that people could love their home like that. He didn’t know what it was like to enjoy being around your hometown. He’d always hated it. He’d known a few good spots, spots around town where he could just chill, but he didn’t know one place that called to him and told him that he was home. Now that he thought about it, he had never really considered Castle a home. He had only considered it…Vital. A necessary part of his life to keep him sheltered. It had not been a thing of wonder or love to him. He had never felt a connection to it or it’s people. Castle had been vague and foreign, really. Nothing more then…A spot where his house had been. Not even his house. His parents house. His moms house. His dads house. It had been more his sisters house then his own house.

However, Raul did not dwell on the past. He prided himself on that much. The hurt wasn’t hurt as long as he didn’t show that it hurt. Funny, but he had always lived like that. The idea of not just going on was also a strange idea for him. He’d never really dwelled. He’d have gone insane. And more to the point, he’d never have gotten half as far as he did if he hadn’t put on a face and walk.

Raul smiled at her offer, nodded his head and leaned back. “Don’t worry about it. If I ever make it down there, maybe I can sketch some of the landscape. Then I’ll come visit, eh?” he said, tilting his head. New Orleans didn’t seem like a half bad place, in fact, to start his now growing journey. It was in the US, it had history, and it would ring a bell with anyone he tried to sell his art to. It wouldn’t be a vague place in the middle of no where. It would be a landmark of strength. A landmark of culture. A landmark of picking yourself up by your belt buckles and going on.

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[CLAUDIA ODETTE VALKYRIE]

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hold it like just once it won't slip through

There wasn’t a single thing about her life that Claudia would change, not even the teasing that she once faced in primary school and middle school. Selfishly, she was glad that that had been the worst that she had ever faced. Her parents had always been good to her. The family was well off and well taken care of. Rather tragedy free honestly. She had lost a grandparent but it had been rather expected, as she was growing more and more sick with each day that passed. There had also been a breast cancer scare with her aunt but it had been just that, a scare. Nothing all that bad. No neglect or abuse. No tragic events that helped build extraordinary character. She was thankful she had lived a quiet and rather serene life though, because she probably wouldn’t have been mentally strong enough to get very far if she hadn’t. Even with the protective brothers that she had, she wasn’t a very strong girl. But that just meant that she got to self improve, and that was a comforting thought.

Her mind was a truly odd place when she had time to actually sit and ponder. Perched on the little shed steps, she was losing herself in her thoughts while simultaneously being able to hold the conversation. It was something she had gotten good at over the years. She gave a nod at Raul’s words, smile growing ever so slightly. “That would be lovely,”

[/color] she voiced.[ “There’s some really good landscapes for you, I could show you some of the best ones.”[/color] And by best and of course meant the ones that she had found to be the most secluded, thus making them more serene. Less interruption from nosey people. “It’s so pretty back home.”[/color] And then she realized that she had done a lot of speaking about where she was from, but had no idea if Raul was even American let alone what city he lived in when he wasn’t at school. “I’m sorry, I haven’t given you a lot of opportunity to speak about your own home.”[/color] She felt a little guilty about that.

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tag: ray. words: 356 wearing: this. notes: none

[/center]

[RAUL-PHILIPPE NIX]

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Claudia made Raul feel somewhat safe with her words. “Yeah. I’d like that,” he said, talking about seeing the sights. Ah, that would be nice! New Orleans, city of pain, misfortune, but with so much history. He loved the idea.

Raul’s smile faltered when Claudia asked about his own home. A house is not a home would very well describe his feelings for his dwelling. He hated his house, and he had never really had a place to call home…Call it weird, but he had never once even stopped to think about it, really. It was all just the same. A house is not a home when your father hits you any time you screw up. It’s not a home when you have to whisper to your young sister, take care of her even when it should have been his fathers job. It wasn’t a home when he had to project images into his mothers mind to calm her, and more so, it wasn’t a home when he spent more time on stage then on his home turf.

He didn’t have a good way to describe “home”, so he just shrugged. ”I’ve lived in Castle most of my life. It’s an okay place growing up in, you don’t really see much, but hey, what can I say? I don’t have the love for it that you have for your hometown…It’s pretty boring, pretty vague, and a lot of baggage is stored there.” he said, shrugging again. “I spent a lot of time on stage or drawing. Not a lot of time at home. Castle, really, was a boring town. When you aren’t social or anything, it kind of gets awkward,” he said, laughing slightly.

It seemed strange to him, now that he thought about it, that anyone could actually enjoy their place of birth. Castle was boring without mutants, and big cities seemed dangerous. Most, it seemed to him, grew bored, annoyed, or afraid of their town. He wasn’t exactly an optimist, but that’s how he saw it. Yet, Claudia seemed genuinely happy about where she’d lived. Was she one of the few? Or were their more of her out there, existing and living just as they were?

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[CLAUDIA ODETTE VALKYRIE]

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hold it like just once it won't slip through

There was a lot of bad history surrounding her hometown. A lot of spirits and not all of them people she wanted to see or talk to. Living in the LaLaurie home had had her knowing her power from a very young age. Growing up in a home that was a murder scene for tortured slaves had done a bit to her. She’d seen them and spoken to them at a young age, so it was no wonder she was into some rather macabre thing. Her fascination with blood and gore no doubt stemmed from the naked slave who wandered her home. Sometimes Claudia wondered if her mother still would have moved into that home if she had known that her daughter would be born with the ability to see and speak to the dead. Would she have made the same choice to turn the LaLaurie house into a funeral home? Most likely. “There’s a lot of history around where I live. I would be more than happy to tell you about it.”

[/color] Claudia, of course, had first hand knowledge of some of the histories. She got to talk to the people who witnessed it first hand.

Despite the lack of enthusiasm Raul seemed to have for his hometown she listened intently, her giant blue eyes fixated on him as she repeated every word in her head. Weighing what it must have been like to live in Castles. She didn’t much like the place herself. It just wasn’t for her. She liked places with history. Places where each speck of dust had a great tale. Castles didn’t feel like that to her. “Well, I’m sure you can make up for that when you graduate,”[/color] she spoke with uncertain optimism. Claudia really didn’t stray very far from her pessimistic viewpoint very often but in Raul’s case she figured how mundane Castles was would fuel a need for travel. “See all sorts of wondrous places, to accommodate for how mundane Castles was for you,”[/color] she added with a more confident smile.

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tag: ray. words: 340 wearing: this. notes: none

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