'What we're looking for is whether or not the toothpaste turns blue...which is positive.'
Blue was positive. They didn't want blue, because even though blue was positive, the indication and situation that was confirmed would be negative. Highly negative. They had to focus on the negative, because the negative was the positive. If her parents hadn't given her up, then she would never have learned the joy of blowing out candles. If she had not been suddenly moved to Spain, she'd have never met her only friend. If the toothpaste doesn't turn blue, she'd be safe. The positive was the negative and the negative was the positive because she was eighteen years old and she hadn't had a positive yet, so she'd never had to deal with a negative before - having only had negatives, she had only become equipped to deal with the positive resulting from the negative. How would she deal with a negative from a positive?
I can't.
She had looked at the cup, just a couple seconds after Flora mixed the strange contents of it, and she caught sight of the positive. And that was the only thought that ran through her head as she felt all connections to the world sizzle out and her heart became loud and painful and she felt so terrifyingly cold.
I can't.
"No..." she whispered, stumbling back a step with one hand over her mouth and the other over her stomach, beginning to tremble violently. She couldn't breathe. She felt like she was going to puke. She couldn't do this. She just couldn't. "I can't..." She looked desperately at Flora again, certain in that moment that her God had certainly turned His back on her. "I-I never had parenting... I don't know how to t... take care of anything... I-I don't even know how to take care of myself! W-Without Diego, I'd forget to eat, or sleep!" she had begun to ramble, the words spewing from her mouth in place of vomit. She couldn't breathe.
"Oh, God... I don't... I-I mean, I had a goldfish, once... But then I forgot to-to feed it, and it died! I can't..." Her eyes grew wide as saucers as her eyes implored Flora in fear. "What if I forget to feed it?" she asked quietly. "Will I be arrested? I can't do this..." With a whimper, her hands came to cover her face as she fought for air, her panic quickly consuming her. "I can't..."
Britters
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Posted: 2/20/2019 at 7:47 PM
Post #392
Blue was what they hadn't wanted, which of course meant that blue was what they'd received. Flora barely had time to deal with her own reaction of shock before Physic began trembling horribly and ranting about how she just couldn't do this. It broker her heart to watch the teenager stand there having a panic attack, but for a moment she just wasn't sure what actions to take. Of course, in the end her decision was made simper by the fact that she simply couldn't just stand there while the poor girl suffered.
The situation was certainly dire, but the one thing Flora knew she was good at was being compassionate and nurturing, both of which were what Physic needed right now.
"Oh, sweetling, please calm down," she said in her soft, kind voice, stepping forward to wrap her arms around Physic, "No one is going to arrest you, everything is going to work out just fine. If you keep stressing out like this you'll only make you and the baby sick." She stroked the girl's hair, just as she'd done earlier, trying to soothe the panic out of her.
A million differebt thoughts ran through Flora's mind as she stood there embracing Physic. Mostly her thoughts were centered around concern for the girl's safety as well as her unborn child. However, in the middle of all the chaotic thinking, an image of a tanned, good looking boy bubbled to the surface. She chewed at her bottom lip, knowing she needed to ask but bot wanting to panic Physic further. She knew she really needed to not baby the teenager so much, that this situation needed to be faced head on...
The younger girl was just so innocent and afraid...Flora sighed.
"Physic, honey," she said, pulling away so she could look the girl straight in the eye, "I need to ask you something, it's important...is it the boy you came here with? Steel...or Diego I mean?" It was actuay a struggle to remember the boys real name, despite Physic having just said it, which was probably just a sign she had been at the compound a long time.
Edited By Britters on 2/20/2019 at 7:48 PM.
Creativity
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Posted: 2/20/2019 at 8:10 PM
Post #393
It felt like everything that Ziva had ever known was slowly crumbling around her, and she was desperately trying to hold her footing with a floor made of rock and a river stronger than a tsunami washing through it, eroding heavily and ruining the perfect rock she had discovered and created, taking the one steady thing she felt she had had away from her, and there was nothing she could do to stop it because this river was a force that would only grow until it consumed her and trapped her endlessly in its cruel and unforgivable current, eternally cursed for the only sin she had ever actually committed.
When Flora's arms surrounded her, Ziva tensed again, still unused to the feeling of a hug from any arms except strong, agile tan ones. At what Flora said, in trying to calm her down, Ziva's mood only responded by swinging violently. "Screw the baby!" she cried, hands still over her face. "I'll make the wretched thing sick! I don't give a damn about it! Why should I?"
In spite of her anger, she felt thick, hot tears clogging the back of her throat, so overwhelming that she was surprised she didn't choke on them. They pricked at her eyes, and as she removed her hands from her face, she had no defenses against their falling.
Somehow, Flora knew. She just knew. It was as if she looked into the Israeli and immediately saw her soul, bare and tormented and scarred. Ziva couldn't breathe. How could someone unravel her, so quickly and efficiently and accurately? And how did she not hate this warm, kind woman for knowing her so much more intimately than she was sure she knew herself.
Diego... Oh, God... How would she tell Diego...? She couldn't. He'd turn his back on her. He'd be disgusted - revolted. He'd kick her to the curb for being so completely stupid and imbecilic? She couldn't tell him. She couldn't lose the one thing that had ever made sense to her.
"W-we didn't mean to..." she revealed to Flora. "It was just... Just the one night..."
Britters
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Posted: 2/20/2019 at 9:13 PM
Post #394
The plan of not panicking Physic further...did not go well. If Flora had been any other person she might have reacted unfavorably to the young girl's attitude, but she simply stood there and let Physic rave. This whole thing had become a festering wound on the teenager's soul, especially with all the time she had probably spent fretting about it beforehand, and it needed to be drained. She wished like crazy. there was more she could do...
"You do care," she said, her voice so low she was practically speaking to herself, then louder, "You know exactly why you should care." She took a step closer to Ziva, her face solemn.
There was no telling exactly how this situation was going to play. Flora couldn't think of any way it wouldn't end horribly, but for now she was mostly concerned with the present. Right now, she needed to get Physic calmed down long enough to deal with this problem. She could understand how terrified and confused the young girl must be feeling, but there was no time to sugarcoat things too much. As soon as Physic reacted to here mention of Steel, she sighed again.
"Honey," she said, her voice thick with sincere caring for the teenager, but a firm look in her hazel eyes, "I can't tell you what you should or shouldn't do...but he deserves to know." It was all she would say, Physic could take it or leave it, but she hoped the girl would be able to see the light of reason through her cloud of anxiety and panic.
Creativity
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Posted: 2/20/2019 at 9:29 PM
Post #395
His whole life, Ryder had wanted to be something a bit more than his father had wanted him to be. He loved his dad, and respected him more than anyone else for raising them four kids on his own after his momma died, but Ryder didn't want to live his life out on the farm, marry on the farm, raise his own kids on the farm. Billybob did, and Jimmy did, and Della did, and that was just fine. But Ryder? No, he had wanted more.
He decided when he was twelve that he wanted to get out of their rural home and into the real world. He wanted to really make a difference where a difference could stand to be made by a country bumpkin like him. Somehow, someway, he had found that calling in San Francisco, a glorious city with a bunch of people who thought that they were so much smarter than everyone else.
Working for the San Francisco police, he mostly dealt with the rioters. Some of them, he even knew by name - like her. Paisley Sunshine Baxter.
Another vicious protest had arisen, with crowd of people standing around and screaming about some form of equality or another. Ryder was fine with equality. Hell, he supported it. But he supported it legally, not radically, like some people.
"Let's head out, Curtis," said Ryder's partner, and over the connected call, they signaled the rest of the officers sitting in their cars just a couple streets away, ready to move, that they were gonna strike now..
His squadron advanced on the group, seizing those that were leading, ranting to the rest of the crowd. Ryder's arm forcefully grabbed Paisley's and yanked her away from the growing fray. "Y'all're out here agayn now, preachin' yer nonsense. When're y'all gonna learn, Paisley?" he lectured her with a cocky grin before hauling her, against her will, towards the nearest police car to toss her into.
Edited By Creativity on 2/20/2019 at 9:35 PM.
Britters
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Posted: 2/21/2019 at 7:50 PM
Post #396
Just another day fighting for the rights of ever man, woman, child and beast in the nation. It was a thankless job, but somebody had to do it, and the most enthusiastic somebody in all of the great city of San Francisco was on duty today. Her name was Paisley Sunshine Baxter, and she was a soldier for justice. Today's protest had started off as a peaceful rally about the shortage of well-equipped homeless shelters, but she and her crew tended to get a little...carried away and could inspire madness in even the best of crowds.
Besides, who didn't always love a good protest?
"We won't stand for this oppression!" she shouted as loudly as she could, her sapphire eyes alight with pure hatred as she watched the approaching law enforcement, "You can't silence us!" All around her people were starting to get nervous and she knew this was it for the day.
Every protest hit a certain point where it's energy began to die. It was one of the things that made Paisley so mad at the brainwashing methods employed by the media, which plagued their society so violently. People wanted to be saved from the oppression they knew they were being forced to endure, but they were all too afraid to fight back. That's why people like her were so vitally important. She was the last line of defense between humanity and total corruption.
When Paisley felt the hand on her arm, she thrashed instinctively, spewing more hate for the cops and encouragement to the crowd. Once she's been dragged far enough away that the others couldn't here her, she glanced at the officer pulling her along.
"Good 'ol Officer Cowpoke Curtis!" she greeted him mockingly, an overly bright smile on her face, "I guess I just didn't have the privilege of the fine teachings you got down there in the South, sir." The last word was practically dripping with sarcasm as she leveled one last glare in the officer's direction before allowing herself to be loaded into the back of the police cruiser.
Britters
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Posted: 2/21/2019 at 7:50 PM
Post #397
(Double Post)
Edited By Britters on 2/21/2019 at 7:52 PM.
Creativity
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Posted: 2/21/2019 at 11:40 PM
Post #398
This wasn't the first time Ryder had arrested this girl, Paisley, and he was certain that it wouldn't be the last. She was nothing short of a master troublemaker to the highest degree. If there was a protest taking place, depending on what it was about, there was a high chance she'd be present. Ryder sometimes wondered if she really had a life outside of protests, or if she merely drifted to and from rallies, trying to spread any word in the least lawful ways she could imagine.
"Yer real funny, ya know that, Paisley?" he scoffed at her mockery. She was always spewing her venom at anyone she could get close to; tough luck, Ryder though, for vicious mockery had no effect, really on him. After all, he had grown up the youngest (and, admittedly, weakest for a while - he was not naturally athletically built, so his athletic body came from work and exercise) of four siblings.
Ryder knew how to mind his own business, as much as a cop could. He liked meeting people and making friends, and he liked being helpful, but he did it with respect. The Southern teachings that Paisley mocked him for were, ironically, where he learned the same manners she didn't ever seem to possess.
"You can spew yer nonsense now, but it ain't never gonna make a difference. You caint change the world," he pointed out to the spunky, eccentric girl as he secured her into the back seat and got into the driver's seat of the cruiser.
She didn't know how to mind her own business. She didn't know how to be polite, reserving your own power for when you could really use it and actually do something with it. Growing up here in the city, she didn't know what he knew. And Ryder simply thought it was sad.
But, still. That didn't give her any more rights than any other citizen - city urchin or country bumpkin or everything in between.
Britters
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Joined: 8/25/2014
Threads: 167
Posts: 2,036
Posted: 2/22/2019 at 6:46 PM
Post #399
Work had ran long again, and Aura had missed her bus. Her job paid enough for her to get a car, but she considered it an unnecessary expense and put the extra money towards her charity donations. Besides, it was one of the only jobs she had been able to find where she didn't have to interact with people directly. Working in the call center of a major security company wasn't glamorous, but she didn't need glamour and she was able to bring her baby to work.
"Hush now, Jude," she said soothingly, smiling at the round-faced infant in the carrier strapped to her chest, "We'll be home soon, my love. God has blessed us with nice weather." She ran her hand over his fine, pale hair as she kept walking.
The weather was very good today, and normally Aura would be taking more time to enjoy such a beautiful day. However, she was planning to make a large pot of beans to take down to the local homeless shelter tomorrow and she really needed to get home to start them. She was so focused on getting back to her apartment that when she passed a dark-skinned fellow on the sidewalk who was playing a beat up guitar for tips, she didn't spare him any change or even a passing glance.
Not too far down the street from the guy playing the guitar and around the corner, Aura found herself in a quiet, usually deserted section of town which she normally avoided when walking because it gave her a bad feeling, but it was the shortest way home. She did her best to hurry through, but it was not fast enough. Soon she found her path being blocked by a man in dark clothing. She turned around to double back only to find another man behind her. Panicked, she darted left down an alley, only to find herself staring at a dead end.
They had set a trap for her, and Aura had walked right into it.
"Please," she said in a meek and pleading force, her blue-green eyes wide and both arms covering Jude in front of her, "Take whatever you want, just don't hurt my baby."
Creativity
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Posted: 2/22/2019 at 7:10 PM
Post #400
You can't control what you did in the past.
If anything, that's what Mosi had come to understand since he was stolen/rescued from that terrorist group. He had done a lot of bad things, but what his adoptive parents had taught him was that those things didn't define who he was now. He was able to plot his own course and live his own life without having to live in constant pain over those sixty-three souls whose lives were remembered on his hands. He wasn't proud of everything he had done, but there was really nothing he could do about it now, so he just had to make his own life.
Unfortunately, others did care about his past, and he found himself unable to find a job. That was all very well; he could adjust until someone saw past his childhood and actually took the time to learn about him. He had lost eight years of his life, and now he wasn't going to lose any more; he was going to enjoy every little good thing he could. If that happened to be confined to the streets of Ireland, well, he'd make the most of it.
His guitar was his most treasured possession - it was a gift from his parents when he had moved out to find a job and make a name for himself. That was the goal. He had lost just about everything due to unemployment, but he still had his guitar and the clothes on his back, and he still had his spirit. That's what was important.
A woman walked past with a baby against her chest, and Mosi smiled and sang a bit louder in hopes to please the child. It didn't have a ton of effect, but he wasn't the type of person to get offended, really.
He was going to just continue his tune and let the hours sail past him with the people when he noticed the woman, now a few streets down, suddenly find herself confronted with a man and escape down some alley. Judging by the way that the man followed her slowly and confidently, it wasn't an escape. It was a trap.
Mosi understood a lot of things, and although he understood that his advantage could be bad, he knew that it could also be something good. Standing up and brushing off his torn old pants, he tucked his guitar under a blanket and began walking in the direction the woman had left.
The streets here weren't heavily trafficked, but he made enough in tips. Enough. Right now, he had a clear line down to where the woman had disappeared, and he picked up his pace, building acceleration. If this had been ten or so years ago, he'd be in shape, but now, he needed to build it back up. Within seconds, he'd reached a speed of what was probably no less than forty-five miles per hour. He could go faster if he wanted, but she really wasn't that far away.
He ducked down into the alley just quick enough to catch the woman, pleading with two men that her her surrounded. She didn't deserve this, and that baby sure as hell didn't deserve it. Childhood shouldn't hurt.
"Look, bud, you can leave her alone," Mosi spoke up as he placed a hand on the shoulder of the man in front of her.
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