Greener Grounds and Bluer Skies (OPEN, casual)

[eastsidesunset]

"Now boarding, passengers of JAL Airlines in terminal 26."

Yet another one of the perpetually calm and collected announcements drifted from the speakers of a nearby terminal. I watched from a distance as families with little kids and strollers pushed eagerly to the lineup as fast as their loads of baggage would let them, and kept watching until the last stern-looking businessman disappeared into the doors of the tube leading to the plane.

Then, as the terminal emptied out save for the employees, I turned back to gazing absentmindedly at the giant pane of glass right above the bench in the middle of nowhere I sat on. Glints of sunlight glanced off each person who rushed through the rays, and every time this happened it would be like the world was suddenly put on slow motion. I could see every expression on their faces then, too preoccupied to notice much of anything besides where they were heading, where they were going and going and going and never looking back...

I tore my gaze away, suddenly wishing I had somewhere to go, anywhere. Maybe if I closed my eyes the next time I opened them there'd be a suitcase sitting beside me, flight ticket inside it going anywhere. I could catch a plane and just take a break from the nothingness, take a vacation from trying too hard not to disappoint anyone (DarrySodaMomDadDarryDarryDarry) and trying to find a way out of this hellhole but always seeming to take more steps back than forward, always failing somehow, always disappointing, always...

And my chest ached with the desire, but even as I crossed my arms tightly around myself I knew it was useless. It was the middle of the day and I was sitting around at the airport staring at strangers, wishing I were them, if just for a day. Nobody noticed me looking- the airport was jam-packed every day of the week and since everyone had somewhere to go, why would they notice some kid greaser who had nothing better to do and wasn't causing trouble anyway?

I knew it was pathetic. But knowing just fueled something in me, hot and angry and painful and sad at the same time. So I dug my sketchpad out of my shoulder-bag and started sketching everything I saw, as fast as I could. Sometime in the future, I guess I'd call it a practice, and exersize. That was the tiniest concern right now, though. I just knew I needed to put everything on paper, black and white, all the emotion and none of the useless details. These people I sketched, they were faceless to me anyway, what I yearned for was the concept of their lives of happiness and having a destination to run towards. So I drew it all, in quick, almost violent strokes of dark pencil. Families, laughing kids, parents, air staff, pilots, people in suits, I sketched them all.

And I was glancing up at another subject I was sketching when I realized the person was staring at me back. My eyes grew wide as saucers, and I opened my mouth to try and explain. But no words came, and I could do nothing but avert my eyes towards the ground.

[kuku]

Catherine was feeling very clever indeed. She loved it when she got to go be international party girl and come back. She knew the glittering world of Catherine Earnshaw would be waiting for her the moment she stepped back into her apartment, but for the last week she got to flit around London and be...Vivian. As much as she loved her status and the life she was supposed to live, she also loved to have a whole other world where she could escape to. The fact that she got away with it made everything that much better.

As thrilled as she was that something as simple as the switch of her first name for her middle name, she also constantly waited for the day when someone would make the connection. For the most part, Catherine always made sure she covered her tracks, but every once in awhile she would tease the world. It was as if she was daring someone to put all the pieces together. a part of her wanted to see what would happen when the two worlds she built for herself collided. It was sure to cause a scene that would never really be forgotten. But a larger part of her remembered that her fun would only continue as long as she was smart about it.

Time after time she had seen girls who might have once been considered her peers decide to mix worlds. Needless to say, she no longer considered them her peers. Or course she understood the temptation, but she knew that she was better off the way she was. As attention seeking as she was, Cathering was no media whore. She had never been photographed or recorded in any situation other than the exact ones she wanted to be seen in. That was rare these days, and it gave her a very distinct advantage in her life and the business she chose to conduct.

As she exited her flight, Catherine wondered if she was quite ready to go back to the real world. She could still feel last night in her system-and in her head. The bright sun that suddenly seemed to be everywhere wasn't so welcome right now. Pulling her sunglasses onto her face she figured she may as well find some coffee and wait until the car service got there. That was the downside to spontaneous travel. She couldn't exactly make arrangements for her return. But if nobody knew when she was coming or going she could do so as she pleased. Just as long as she wasn't given an unwanted welcome upon her return. Lucky for her, someone more news worthy must have been around, because she was able to navigate her way around easily enough. The possibility that nobody really cared never quite crossed her mind. In a protective gesture she let her hair down and tried to find an out of the way spot.

Sitting down she tried to kill the time by flipping through fashion magazines and catching up on emails, but she found that even the half hour wait was far more than she was prepared for. After fifteen minutes she was beginning to get restless. With a frustrated sigh she shoved her magazine shut and looked around for a clock to tell her that she had in fact been sitting here far too long. It was then she noticed a kid sitting across from her staring rather intently. Catherine pushed her sunglasses on top of her head and gave him a glare.

"Can I help you with something?" Her frustration was evident, but she couldn't pretend that being stared at wasn't something she rather enjoyed. Even when it was odd.

[eastsidesunset]

"I-I'm sorry," I stuttered for lack of anything better to say, then remembered the sketchpad still open on my knee. Heart pounding frantically at the thought of being caught not only staring, but drawing, I slammed it shut and shoved it quickly into my backpack along with the pencil. The brittle lead snapped at the rough treatment, but for the first time in my life I barely winced. Pencil leads breaking was always a pain and made me feel horrible- I could hardly ask Darry for money to buy pencils, of all things, when there were mountains of electric bills and water bills and who knows what other bills to pay- but that wasn't my top priority at the moment.

The moment I finally mustered up the courage to glance up at the person who'd caught me, alarm bells tore through my head. The way she was dressed, the disdainful, annoyed expression, the posture... everything, to the last detail, screamed SOC. It was hard to resist the instinct to just run, get outta there, but I managed to convince myself she wasn't from Windrixville, wouldn't recognise me, wouldn't yell "greaser!" at the top of her lungs for the whole airport to hear, attracting attention from security and getting me kicked out. And besides, she was a bit old to be a Soc. Just another high-classer. No big deal...

Oh, who the hell was I kidding? When were rich people ever anything less than a big deal? Stuck-up snobs who thought themselves better than the world, they all were. Well, maybe not Cherry Valance, I thought vaguely at the back of my head. She was okay.

I took a deep breath, willed my heart to stop racing, and said, trying hard to be as polite as a greaser could get but just sounding real stiff in the process (funny how you're always politest to the people you can't stand), "I didn't mean to stare, I'm sorry. D'you want me to go sit somewhere else? Doesn't matter to me. Plenty of people in this place to d- I mean, there's plenty of people here today."

[kuku]

She watched as the kid shoved whatever he was doing out of sight. She couldn't really bring herself to care too much. He couldn't have anything important scribbled down. She wasn't sure why he had been staring so intently as he wrote. Clearly it wasn't something meant for her to notice, which meant it wasn't something good. But what importance would it have to her. She almost laughed that he thought he could have something so worth her time there. A small spark of curiosity slowly grew as she thought about it. Maybe she should know what it was.

Catherine figured she should pull herself together a little bit just in case. She knew for a fact that a week of hard partying hadn't gone without leaving those impermanent marks on her body. Careful as she was there was no getting rid of the little side effects that might threaten her lifestyle. It was all part of the game of getting away with it. What it came down to was Catherine's need to be noticed. Her need for drama. The life she had chosen for herself was exactly what she wanted, but she needed a constant variable to keep her interest sparked. It was very easy for her to forget how lucky she was and even easier for her to take it for granted.

She could see him try to pull together an act. A respectful, very contained act. A feat she had done often enough herself to realize that he was on edge and needed to be very careful about something. He couldn't have been older than sixteen she figured. What was so important that this kid was going to try and appease her in some way. He was eager to get away, but Catherine was bored and right now, this little interaction was appealing to her slightly more than anything else she had to do while she waited.

She figured that small spark of interest was enough to keep her occupied for as long as he would have it. There was no telling just how long that would be, but she had a good feeling he wouldn't try to get out while he still thought she posed some sort of threat or held authority over him.

"I don't think anybody stares without meaning to. Something caught your eye." She wasn't angry, but spoke with a slow and deliberate evenness. She would figure out just how she felt about this later and go from there. For the moment there was no need to chase the kid off. It was the only way to keep herself from dying of boredom for now and if he left she would be back on her own.

She paused for a moment, considering his offer to move. "Did you come here just to look at strangers? She couldn't help but notice that he had offered to move, but made no mention of actually getting on a plane. Nothing to get too caught up on, but she kept it in the back of her mind, just in case she needed to bring it up later.