01<@Ardweden> [Day: Sunday, September 26. Time: Fifth period lunch.]
 01<@Ardweden> [Okay Tiffany's not at lunch! Instead, she is ditching 
school, and for whatever reason she decided to ditch to the park:]
 01<@Ardweden> [It has a field, a small playground complete with slide 
and swingset (there used to be a tire swing, but that's been taken down 
ages ago), and some benches and tables to sit at. The weather's a bit 
overcast and chilly.]
 01<@Ardweden> [Presently, the park is empty.]
 01<@Ardweden> [Start!]
 06* Tiffany isn't quite letting the park be empty! On account of her 
being here. Her first step is to go to the swingset and grab the chain 
with one, then both hands, tight. There's a rattle before she plunks down 
in the leathery swing seat. Not the best place for mesh leggings but 
whatever.
 01<@Ardweden> [Tiffany sits on the swing, by her own damn self, for a 
solid ten minutes before someone else comes walking towards the park. 
It's Heather Kim, who Tiffany would know as kind of the class slut 
(Christina doesn't speak very highly of her). What's she doing here?]
 01<@Ardweden> [Also, she can describe herself.]
 06* Heather enters the park. She's a short, half-Caucasian half-Asian 
girl. Her hair is black, straight and shoulder-length, her long bangs 
parted to one side and held there with a clip. Her eyes are brown. She's 
wearing leather pants and a red T-shirt under a light jacket.
 06* Tiffany squeaks on the swing. Damned rusty chains. She's looking 
down at her wrists for a moment and tugging tightly back on her 
armwarmers just as *Miss Kim* shows up. She looks up at the undescribed 
person waiting for a description.
 06* Tiffany gets it too! Her eyes look at the girl now, as if reading 
her for a moment, then hesitantly, "...hello?"
 06* Heather is spoken to. She spots Tiffany at the swings and heads 
over. "Hey. Tiffany, right?"
 06* Tiffany pulls her arm back tight against her chest and glances at 
Heather, her eyes just turning more suspicious. "...yeah? You've been 
spying on me? Someone put you up to this, didn't they?"
 06* Heather stops in her tracks, brows raised in confusion. "Excuse me?"
 06* Tiffany pulls back her arm tighter, scooting back on the swing, 
still watching her. "How did you know my name? Are we even in any classes 
together? Nobody talks to me..."
 06* Heather shakes her head. "I.. Just heard your name before in school 
is all." She smiles, "But you're right, I shouldn't have bothered you. 
Sorry." Then she does a 180 and heads for the exit
 06* Tiffany frowns at the exit, clutching her wrist with her other hand. 
About at the time Heather reaches the edge of the sand, she calls out 
"Wait."
 06* Heather waits! She looks back at Tiffany anxiously.
 06* Tiffany clutches her arm tighter and lets out a long deep breath, 
turning her head down. "...could use a friend right now..."
 06* Heather hesitates, glancing at the park exit nervously, then she 
steps back towards Tiffany. "What's wrong?"
 06* Tiffany continues to make herself small as she reaches her fingers 
through her hair, dragging through. "I messed up. I think. I always mess 
up..." Her head lowers slightly. "Uh...why aren't you in school anyway?"
 06* Heather glances down for a bit, then takes a seat on the swing next 
to Tiffany. "Didn't want to."
 06* Tiffany snorts at the response, hands going back to grip the chains. 
She's looking at the ground, not Heather. "Smart." She sighs. "Buncha 
assholes really..." Now she rocks slightly in the swing. Squeeeeaaak.
 06* Heather nods slowly. She starts rocking too, lost in thought.
 06* Tiffany watches the sand move underneath her feet, kicking her mesh-
covered legs to make the swing go faster. Mesh and cutoffs, teen fashion 
at its finest. "So...uh...come here often?"
 06* Heather nods. "Kind of. Whenever I want to clear my head."
 06* Tiffany gives it a faint nod. Long pauses. She starts digging 
through her pockets idly. "It clear yet?"
 06* Heather shakes her head. "Never is."
 06* Tiffany laughs, actually laughs at that as she pulls out her phone. 
"Know how *that* is..." Then her eyes stare at the phone and she frowns. 
"Crap."
 06* Heather glances up at Tiffany. "Huh?"
 06* Tiffany starts pressing buttons. "Forgot to turn on my phone. Ugh. 
I'm awful when I get like..." She stops as she looks at the screen, 
presses a button again, then frowns some more. *Now* she gets the text.
<Heather> Oh.
 06* Tiffany doesn't oh. She ends up throwing the *phone*. Chucking it 
until it lands plop in the sand hazard far away and burying her face in 
her hands. "Uuuuuugh. My fucking *life*."
 01<@Ardweden> [The phone lands in the sand. Hopefully it's not too 
damaged.]
 06* Heather stares wide eyed at Tiffany as she does that.
 06* Heather offers, "That... was a pretty good throw."
 06* Tiffany mutters something into her hands. It sounds something like 
"This is that fucking crow's fault..." but it's faint. She just sits 
there for a moment, hunched over and chuckles lightly under her breath, 
then sighs. She glances at Heather with a blank look. "No it wasn't. It 
was fucking pathetic, you kidding me?"
 06* Heather glances quickly away. "Sorry. I just thought.... sorry." 
After a sec, she offers, "It's probably not broken at least."
 06* Tiffany gives her a weird look, tilting her head to the side. A 
strand's brushed away from her face and tucked behind her ear. "...you're 
Heather, right?"
 06* Heather nods. "Yeah."
 06* Tiffany gives a crack of a smile at her. Bit forced. "So. Two freaks 
escaped the circus and came out here..." She sighs and looks back at her 
feet, humor lost. "...you probably shouldn't hang around me though. No 
telling what bad luck it'll bring."
 06* Heather chuckles soundlessly at that. "I could say the same."
 06* Tiffany grins slightly at Heather, then turns to look at her again. 
"Why? Cause you fuck every boy that comes along?" She blows out a breath 
and leans back, grabbing the chain. "Not like I can sink any lower..."
 06* Heather glances downward a bit. Then back to Tiffany. "Do you want 
to talk about it?"
 06* Heather smiles, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. "Maybe it 
would help to have someone listen?"
 06* Tiffany sighs at the glance, leaning forward a bit. "Relax. What the 
fuck do I care who's banging who? That's a job for the Bitch Squad, not 
me..." She then pauses as Heather says that, gripping the chain's tighter 
as Heather's words sink in. Her voice hoarse, "...why?"
 06* Heather says quickly. "You don't have to. I just meant... if you 
wanted. I'm ...." she shakes her head. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said 
anything."
 01<@Ardweden> [In Heather's franticness, she accidentally kicks her bag, 
and some of her things go spilling out: a small book, make up, keys, and 
other such things.]
 06* Tiffany pauses her swings as she looks down over her knees. After a 
moment, she responds with "...you remind me of..." Then her eyes focus on 
the book.
 01<@Ardweden> [The book flips open on the ground, revealing Heather's 
own handwriting.]
 06* Heather frowns and gets off the swing, kneeling to scoop them back 
up.
 06* Tiffany slowly gets off the swing and stoops down to help. She's 
such a helper!
 06* Heather shoves them back in the bag in an orderly fashion. "Sorry. 
I'm not usually so clumsy."
 06* Heather makes it a point to grab the book first, though.
 06* Tiffany pulls her hand back as if bitten and gives Heather a strange 
look, but then nods. "It's okay..." She looks down and says, with open 
candor, "It's just because I'm super hot, right?"
 06* Heather blinks a few times. Then she smiles. "You're pretty, yeah. I 
mean, if you want to go out some time, we can. Just let me know."
 06* Tiffany blinks back and then turns to stare at Heather. Then she 
looks back on the ground, embarrassed. "Th-that's okay...I mean...ah...I 
hardly know you and all...but...uh...I'm kinda already..."
 06* Tiffany chokes down awkwardness to dive for her phone. *There*. 
Phoneget.
 06* Heather nods. "Alright. It's probably for the best anyhow.
 06* Tiffany is all sand-covered. Her outfit's gonna suffer for it later. 
Uuugh. She spits out a mouthful of sand then looks over her shoulder 
curiously at Heather. "...huh?"
<Heather> Going out with me wouldn't do much for your reputation.
 06* Tiffany sighs and brushes the sand out of her hair. Why did she do 
that? Must still be tired and loopy. "...I'm already the freak. The 
outcast. The weirdo. The backstabber. I'd say "The slut" would be a step 
up really..."
 06* Tiffany winces and turns away, adding "...sorry."
 06* Heather shrugs. "It is what it is."
 06* Tiffany looks at Heather oddly, squinting. "...you're weird. You 
know that?"
 06* Heather grins. "So are you."
 06* Tiffany draws herself up and huffs as her mesh leggings scrape 
against the sand. "Well. *Yeah*. But my weird is cooler." Then she 
giggles to herself, drawing her legs up and sitting.
 06* Heather stands back up, dusting her pants off. Sand on leather. Hm. 
"Is your phone okay?"
 06* Tiffany remembers she has a phone. Hey look! She has a phone! It's 
all phone-like and everything. She immediately shifts around to check the 
buttons now.
 06* Tiffany lets out a breath of relief and brushes off her phone. Her 
phone is okay folks. It's even doing that whole boop boop thing that 
buttons do.
 06* Tiffany keeps brushing off her phone and then pauses, glancing at 
Heather. "...so what was that book?"
<Heather> Nothing... It's private.
 06* Tiffany sighs and brushes her hair back and to the side, glancing 
away. "...yeah. Right. Sorry. Um..." She chews on her lip around her 
lipring. "You're...you knew who I was. Why'd you come to talk to me...?"
 06* Heather blinks. "You said 'hi'."
 06* Tiffany blinks. Well that's a thing. "...and that's all it takes?"
 06* Heather shrugs. "It's not like you're a total stranger. I've seen 
you at school."
 06* Tiffany clutches her arm and looks down, muttering "Nobody sees me 
at school. You'd know that...if you really looked..."
 06* Heather shrugs.
 06* Tiffany nods. "Right..." She glances up from her spot on the ground. 
"You should probably get going. It's getting late. Unless you were just 
gonna hang out all day..."
<Heather> And go where?
 06* Heather shrugs again. "I don't really have anywhere to go."
 06* Tiffany blinks slightly. "...Home? Mall? I don't know. Do you just 
hang around parks all day when you're not at school?"
 06* Heather shrugs. "I do come here a lot."
 06* Tiffany squints. "The park?" She looks back at the park. It's not 
the *greatest* of parks...
<Heather> Yeah. It's usually empty in the afternoon
 06* Tiffany gets herself up and brushes herself off slightly. 
"Uh...yeah...so...uh...I guess we could hang out...or something. I dunno. 
Sometime. Christina doesn't like you though."
 06* Tiffany has a marvelous filter.
 06* Heather frowns for a bit, then smiles, "That's okay. We can talk 
when she's not around."
<Heather> It doesn't even have to be a real date.
 06* Tiffany smiles. "That's because it won't be!" She blinks, then waves 
her hand. "Uh...noooooot...not that you...uh...I don't even know what a 
date with you would be like! I mean...uh..." Her head dips. "I'm gonna 
just shut up now."
 06* Heather snickers.
 06* Tiffany nods her head then rubs it. "Gonna go now. 
Uh...thanks...ah...Heather." Then she waves and grabs her stuff before 
taking off.
 01<@Ardweden> [End!]