Warning: language, as usual.
Lyra stared out of the window, her thoughts
far away from the newspaper hanging limply from her fingers. In the distance,
the roar of the waterfall thundering into the lake beside their house echoed
across the mountains, playing the overly familiar tune Lyra had long learned
how to push to the back of her mind. She had never been able to hear the Song
her mother often went on about, but sometimes, when the roar of the waterfall
intruded into her thoughts, she thought she could faintly hear notes.
Magic, her mother had called it.
Bullshit, she called it. It was just her mind playing tricks on her, trying
to convince her of how wonderful the
town is, filled with wonder and magic and stagnant fucking traditions. She scowled fiercely and vehemently
tossed the newspaper across the room, angered by the lack of prospects for a
wholesome future.
She didn’t want to get a job in this godforsaken town. She could already see
how her life was going to turn out should she take one of the openings
advertised in the newspaper, and it was not
good. Get a job, get married, have children? Wake up, change the screaming
toddlers’ diapers, take them to school, go to the same boring job 40 hours a
week, go to sleep, repeat?
She’d go mad if that had to be her life.
The ringtone of her phone suddenly
reverberated through the air, jerking Lyra back to reality. She glanced down at
the caller ID and felt her stomach make a weird little flip at the name.
Edwin.
She still didn’t know how she felt about
him. She hadn’t contacted him yet after that not-entirely-horrible date, but
she had thought about him – a lot.
Her thoughts kept returning to him at inopportune moments. It confused the hell
out of her.
She stared idly at her phone, listening to
it ring. It was with slight hesitation that she finally picked it up, her
stomach giving that same strange little flip it did every time she thought of
him.
“Hi,” she answered nonchalantly. She really
hoped he wasn’t calling about that promised second date. She wasn’t sure if she
was ready to see him just yet.
“Hey,” his voice
came easily across the phone. She could almost hear the smile in his voice,
causing her stomach to give that weird little flip again. “Listen, are you busy today? A couple of my friends invited me to go
windsurfing with them, and I’ve been wondering if you wanted to come along?
It’s just for fun, nothing serious about it.”
She tilted her head, thinking about his
offer. Windsurfing? That actually sounded like fun. She’d never done it before,
but…well, wasn’t it about time she tried new stuff? And sure, she hadn’t
exactly wanted to see him so soon,
but it wasn’t like it was going to be a date, was it? It was just fun, between
friends.
Besides, she was bored.
“Sure, why not?” she agreed in the spur of
the moment, relaxing into the conversation. “It could be fun. How many people
are going?”
“Just a couple,” he
replied. “We’ll probably be…four, or five
people, max. Like I said, it’s just for fun.”
An hour later, Lyra met with Edwin and his
friends at the beach. They were all people she knew vaguely from school. Sure,
she didn’t know them that well, having chosen to ignore pretty much all of her
classmates, but at least she was acquainted with them. She even vaguely remembered
socializing with them at that party Edwin had thrown the last day of school.
Vaguely. The juice had definitely influenced her memories of that night.
“Right-o,”
Lakisha declared, signalling the start of their planned activities. “Let’s do
this. So, Lyla, ya know how this works?” She pointed at the windsurfing board
with a manicured finger, an easy smile on her face.
Lyra blinked, slightly taken aback by the
name the other girl had called her.
“Not really, no,” she answered uncertainly.
“And my name’s Lyra, not Lyla.”
“It’s
a nickname. Deal with it,” Lakisha declared with an unconcerned shrug,
completely unfazed by the correction. “Luckily for ya, Edwin is quite a deft
hand at this, so he’ll be showing ya the ropes. Enjoy.” She bestowed the two of
them with a lazy smile before she grabbed the other two guys by the hand and
dragged them over to the boat trailer, presumably to help her get the boat and jet
skis off the trailer and into the water, leaving Lyra and Edwin to stand
awkwardly beside each other.
“Sorry about that,” Edwin apologized with
an awkward chuckle. “Lakish is…well, she’s quite unique. But she’s a great
friend, nevertheless.” He picked the windsurfing board up and walked towards
the water, looking at Lyra over his shoulder and gesturing at her in clear
invitation to join him.
He spent a couple of minutes to explain to
her the basics of windsurfing. He was standing behind her in the water, lightly
holding her waist to help her keep her balance while he explained it to her.
She was acutely aware of his touch, her skin tingling warmly where his hands
met her skin. The sensation caused her to swallow heavily. She’d be lying if
she said she didn’t like it.
Plumbob, he confused her.
“So,
are you ready to try?” he asked her when he finished his explanation, smiling
reassuringly at her. She nodded wordlessly, still flustered by the confusing
feelings in her chest.
He gave a step back to provide her with
some space to attempt the activity, his fingers trailing off her waist.
Her skin lamented the loss of his touch.
She swiftly supressed the feeling, trying
to turn her focus wholeheartedly to the board she was standing on. Cautiously,
she turned the sail like he had showed her, allowing it to capture the wind and
drive her forward.
The sail did its job admirably,
effortlessly catching the wind. Her heart leapt into her throat at the
unfamiliar movement and she momentarily lost her balance, causing the board to
wobble slightly, but she automatically corrected her stance and it righted
itself again. The wind parted around her as she propelled forwards, drenching
her with water droplets and causing her hair to stream behind her.
It was the most amazing thing she had ever
experienced.
She couldn’t prevent the delighted laugh
from escaping her lips. All of her worries disappeared like mist before the
sun, leaving her focused only on the now and here. It was incredibly
liberating. For the first time in her life, she felt truly alive.
She was vaguely aware of Edwin pulling
beside her with a jet ski, effortlessly keeping up with her. There were no
words exchanged between them, but none were needed. The only things that
mattered were the wind, the water and the joy they both shared in that moment.
The rest of the day passed in a blur of
excitement. As it turned out, the planned activities for the day included more
than just windsurfing. They also shared turns on the jet skis, challenging each
other with races…
…and when the wind became a little too still
for windsurfing, they finally started the motorboat and went waterskiing.
It was twilight by the time they finally
got out of the water, the first stars already appearing in the vast expanse of
the night sky. Lyra was drenched from head to toes and the slight evening
breeze bit into her skin, but there was a large smile on her face and she was
content in a way she couldn’t ever remember being.
Lakisha and Robby fiddled around with the
firepit, trying to get the fire started. Lyra was too far away from them to
hear anything they said, but she could see the easy banter they engaged in. Shawn
helped carry the firewood to the pit, interjecting every now and then with a
comment of his own. They were completely relaxed around each other.
Lyra suddenly felt like a stranger looking
in onto a scene she didn’t belong in. This was an already established group of
friends. She had no business inserting herself in that group. She didn’t belong
with them.
Warm arms then slid around her, breaking
her out of her melancholic thoughts. She could smell Edwin’s familiar scent
around her, and her skin once again tingled where his skin met hers. Her hands
automatically went up to his arm, holding onto him.
“Plumbob, you’re beautiful,” Edwin
murmured into her ear. It should’ve bothered her that he was so close,
especially after she’d told him to give her space and time, but it didn’t.
Instead, it sent delighted shivers down her spine.
She suddenly felt extremely hot.
She gave him a tight smile and shrugged off
his arms, setting off towards the firepit.
She heard him groan and from the corner of
her eye, she noticed him throw his head backwards, his eyes beseeching the
heavens for help. But he followed behind her, and when they reached the firepit
he sat beside her, close enough that she was acutely aware of his presence, but
not so close that he was intruding in her space.
She had to give him points for tenacity.
She was loath to admit it, but he was slowly getting the upper hand in this
dance they were performing around each other.
“So,
Lyla, ya enjoy the day?” Lakisha drawled, effortlessly drawing Lyra into the
conversation. Lyra pulled her thoughts away from the man confusing her so much,
focusing instead on the conversation and the other people surrounding her.
They socialized until late in the night,
long after the moon had risen, accompanied only by the sound of the waves
breaking on the shore and the crackling of the fire shooting sparks into the
sky. Any unease Lyra might’ve had over fitting in with the group disappeared
easily. They were easy-going people, and Lyra couldn’t help but relax with
them.
At one stage during the night, once the
wood had burned out and the fire had almost been reduced to smouldering embers,
the group had started to segregate into smaller groups. Edwin and Shawn were
discussing a recent football game, completely absorbed in their conversation.
Lakisha and Robby had slipped into a private conversation, stealing little
touches and kisses every now and then, making it more than clear to Lyra that
they were, in fact, dating.
She slipped away from the group, feeling a
bit neglected and slightly self-conscious by the display. Things were starting
to reach the point where she would need to make a decision about Edwin.
She could no longer deny it. She had
completely and utterly lost the game. She wanted more of his touches. She
wanted more of his kisses. She wanted him to embrace her and send more of that
delightful shivers down her spine. She wanted to touch him without feeling guilty about it.
Footsteps crunched on the sand behind her,
and a familiar scent drifted to her nose. She looked over her shoulder at him,
unsurprised by his presence.
“Edwin,”
she acknowledged him and turned her eyes away, unwilling to make eye contact
with him. She knew her eyes were like an open book at the moment, displaying
her thoughts for all to see. She’d never been very good at hiding her emotions.
He strolled up next to her in silence, his thumbs
tucked into the waistband of his trousers as he stared up at the stars
twinkling above them. For some time the only noise between them was the sound
of the waves breaking right in front of them, the water occasionally lapping at
Lyra’s toes. Again, she was hyper-aware of his presence.
“You
were kinda quiet back there,” Edwin stated, his voice breaking the silence
between them. “Something bothering you?” He voice held a hint of concern.
Something in her resolve broke.
She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t stand
there and act like nothing had changed between them. She was falling head over
heels for him and she couldn’t understand
why. She couldn’t understand his
motivations at all.
“What is it you want from me, Edwin?” she
asked vulnerably. “What is it that you wish to accomplish by…asking me out on
dates, or…” She shook her head, unable to complete the sentence. She finally
looked at him, her heart in her eyes. “What do you want from me?”
He didn’t reply. He kept staring at the
stars, deep in thought. When he did finally reply, several minutes later, the
response wasn’t something Lyra had expected to hear.
“Why is it so hard for you to understand
that I like you, Lyra?” he asked her. “I like the person you are. I enjoy spending
time with you. And you’re so incredibly beautiful that I can’t help but want to touch you.”
“You still didn’t answer my question,” she
pointed out in return. “What is it that you want from me?”
He groaned with frustration, letting his
head drop to his chest before he finally turned to her.
“Fine,”
he caved with a surrendering sigh. “I want to touch you. I want to kiss you. I
want to take you into my arms and feel your skin against mine. I want you to
look at me with that fire burning in your eyes. I want to be able to show you
to the world and tell everyone that you’re mine.
Simply put, I want you to be my girl.”
She couldn’t help it. She threw her head
backwards and her laughter rang through the skies. How freakin’ ironic, that he
was able to echo her thoughts so much. All those things he wanted to do…she wanted him to do it. How freakin,
utterly ironic.
Her fingers itched. She wanted to touch
him; feel that tingle in her fingertips. She wanted him to look at her with
those mesmerizing, fun-loving green eyes of his. She wanted him to look at her
and know that she was the reason for
the expression in his eyes.
She gave in to the impulse. Her hands went
to his face in a soft caress, her fingers gently touching his cheeks. His
breath hitched at her touch, and he reflexively slipped his hands around her
waist, sending her nerves tingling again.
“You win, Edwin,” she breathed softly,
staring into his eyes with a carefree smile. “You win. I’ll be your girlfriend,
if that’s what you want from me.”
His eyes lit up with joy and a broad smile
appeared on his face. “Are you sure?” he breathed just as softly, his eyes
hopeful.
Lyra nodded, a wry smile on her face. It
was way too late to turn back now. Her hands slipped from his face, one going
to his chest and the other to his nestle in his hair. She closed her eyes, and
they met each other halfway.
When she opened her eyes again, the stars
seemed so much brighter, and her future suddenly didn’t seem quite so bleak any
more.
_~…~_
She both hated and loved Sunset Valley.
It was a stagnant hell to live in, filled
with stereotypes and ‘traditions’ and expectations that she could honestly not
see herself fulfilling. She hated the way everyone in the town seemed to live
the same kind of life, the way nothing new ever happened, and the way the
entire community had been happy to
settle into such a boring, everyday life. From the day a person was born,
everybody already knew how that person would turn out, and what kind of life he
or she would lead.
That wasn’t the kind of life Lyra wanted to
have.
She idly played with the camera in her
hands, absently making changes to the shutter speed and the aperture, her mind
automatically searching for the optimal settings to capture the image in front
of her. The camera had been a gift from her dad, back when she had first
started with high school and expressed an interest in photography. It had been
a short-lived hobby and for a long time she had ignored the camera, leaving it
to gather dust in her closet. After her dad had died, she had come across it
again, and suddenly it became one of her most precious belongings.
Because it had been a gift from her dad.
And that
was the reason a part of her still loved Sunset Valley. For all of its
faults, it was still the town she had grown up in. It was still the town she
had created memories in; memories of happier times when her dad was still alive
and her siblings still on speaking terms.
She hated Sunset Valley, and she wanted
nothing more than to leave, but for some reason she always felt like she would
be betraying those memories if she did leave.
She pressed the trigger and the shutter
snapped close, immortalising the scene in front of her exactly as she had
envisioned it.
“Oh!
Is that a Hikon QX40di Gladiator?” a voice asked from beside her. She looked up
startledly, making eye contact with the woman looking eagerly at her. She had
been so absorbed in her thoughts she hadn’t even noticed being approached.
She scowled slightly, somewhat irritated by
getting her thoughts interrupted by this stranger.
“What of it?” she asked tersely. She had
come here for some peace and quiet, not to strike up conversations with
strangers.
Unfortunately, her rude behaviour did
nothing to deter the woman.
“I have the model that was released just
before that one,” she announced and took a stance beside Lyra. “I’ve never been
terribly great at it, but photography is such an interesting art, isn’t it?”
She seemed to remember something and lightly tapped herself on her head. “Oh,
how rude of me. My name is Bianca, Bianca Schuler.”
She looked expectantly at Lyra, clearly
waiting for her to introduce herself.
Lyra begrudgingly obeyed the unspoken
request. “Lyra Marquel,” she introduced herself. Before she could enquire what Bianca
wanted, the other woman plunged headlong into conversation, chattering about
photography and different techniques and flashes and the influence of light on
photos and tripods and polarized lenses, and despite herself, Lyra couldn’t
help but get pulled into the conversation. It was the first time she had ever
met someone who shared her hobby.
She even showed Bianca some of the photos
she had captured. The other woman stared at the photos with awe, apparently
amazed by them.
“Oh wow,” she breathed and gave Lyra a wry
grin. “I could never hope to capture anything of this quality. These are
amazing.” She paused on a candid shot Lyra had taken of Edwin, her eyes
drinking in the details. She seemed to hesitate for a moment, but when she
turned her eyes back to Lyra she looked quite determined.
“I’m getting married next weekend,” she
announced, nervously playing with her hands. “I know this is wrong of me to
ask, since I’ve only met you and all that, but please, will you be my
photographer? I couldn’t find one I liked before and your work is really amazing.”
Lyra reeled back in surprise, caught
completely off-guard by the request. Her,
a photographer? Photography was
something she did for fun. She
definitely wasn’t a professional at it. Heck, she didn’t even have half the equipment professionals did.
Bianca seemed to read the hesitation in
Lyra’s eyes because she suddenly grabbed Lyra’s hands, staring pleadingly into
her eyes.
“Please,” she pleaded earnestly. “Please.
You’re really talented. I’ll pay you
and everything.”
“I’m
not so sure that’s a good idea,” Lyra tried to protest. “I’m not a
professional. It’s just something I do for fun.”
Again, her protests did nothing to deter
Bianca.
“With your skill and talent you can easily
go professional,” Bianca declared enthusiastically. “Please? All it’ll take is
an afternoon of your time, and I’ll pay you generously.”
There was that word again. Pay. Which meant, money. She didn’t
exactly need money, as her dad had
left her a massive inheritance, but…
…but she’d be able to register as a photographer and hopefully then her mother will stop
hounding her to get a job.
Maybe this wasn’t such a terrible idea.
“Fine,” she agreed, “but I won’t be held
liable if the photos turn out to be horrible.”
“Oh, I’m sure they won’t,” Bianca declared
with conviction, happy that she’d finally been able to convince Lyra.
_~…~_
Like Bianca had predicted, the photos
turned out to be beautiful. Several of her friends had expressed interest in
Lyra’s work as well, and before long Lyra had started to make name for herself
as a professional photographer by word of mouth. To be honest, she kind of
enjoyed it. She enjoyed the fact that her workhours were random, and far
between. It left her with more than enough time to pursue her own life. Best of
all though, it finally got her mother off her back about getting a job. Her
lack of a job had caused more than one argument between her and her mother.
She often found herself back at the sea,
perfecting the new hobby Edwin had introduced her to.
There was just something freeing about
spending the day amongst the waves and the wind. Edwin occasionally joined her,
especially on weekends, but most of the time Lyra was on her own. Edwin had
managed to land a job at the Landgraab Science Facility, so the time he had
available to spend on his own hobbies had been drastically reduced.
To be honest, Lyra didn’t mind all that
much. She enjoyed spending time with him, but she actually preferred going
windsurfing on her own. She normally used the time to clear her mind and sort
out her thoughts.
She still hated Sunset Valley, but she no
longer detested it so completely.
If there was something Edwin had taught
her, it was that Sunset Valley had a hidden sense of life she had never noticed before. Yes, the town was stuck in their
ways, always following the same old pattern, but at the same time the town
was…exciting. It was only now that she had started to socialise with people –
made friends – that she realised that
the secret to…well, she wouldn’t exactly call it happiness, but tolerance maybe worked just as well, lied in the
people living in the town.
They were the ones who made things
exciting. It was something she had never realised before.
Night had already fallen by the time she
finally returned home, the stars twinkling far above her in the warm spring
air. The lights were on, but unlike in her childhood, they were no longer that
same warm, comforting invitation. If she had to liken it to something, she’d
have to choose the stars: distant, and oh so far away.
When, exactly, had it become such a chore
to return home?
The door was locked when she tried to
handle. It meant her mother was out working. It meant that she’d be alone in
the silent house, with only ghosts to keep her company – both the ghosts of her
past, as well as the one remaining literal ghost named Charlotte.
It was too much. She simply wasn’t up to
spending who knew how long in a house that shouldn’t
be silent. Her hand dropped to her side, keys dangling limply in her
fingers.
She didn’t want to be alone tonight.
She stared at the house in front of her,
uncertain whether she should ring the bell or not. It wasn’t the first time
she’d been to Edwin’s house, the one he moved into when he moved out of his
parents’ house, but it was the first
time she kind of invited herself. She wasn’t entirely sure whether she’d be
welcome or not. Heck, she hadn’t even called to let him know she was coming.
But her need to not be alone drove her to action. She pressed the button and the
shrill scream of the bell rang through the air and more importantly, through
the house, loudly announcing her presence.
“Just come in, the door’s open,” Edwin’s voice responded from inside the house. Lyra only hesitated a
second before she opened the door and walked in. The scene that greeted her was
a far cry from the one in her own house, but for some reason she found it
infinitely better. Probably because this
house wasn’t empty.
Edwin laid on his couch, his eyes fixed on
the football game playing on the TV. A bottle of beer was held loosely in his
hand. He lifted his hand in greeting, his eyes still fixed on the game.
“Money’s on the counter, tip included,” he
announced, causing Lyra to blink in confusion. “Just leave the pizza there.”
“Uhm, I’m not the pizza guy,” Lyra replied.
The effect her words had on Edwin was instantaneous. He jumped off the couch,
moving faster than Lyra had ever seen him move before. It was almost admirable
how he didn’t allow even a single drop to spill out of the bottle he was
holding.
“Lyra. I hadn’t expected to see you,” he
addressed her nervously, the tips of his ears tinged with red. She couldn’t
help the slight smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
“I’m not bothering, am I?” she asked
hesitantly. He immediately waved her question away.
“No, no, of course not,” he immediately
denied. “I just hadn’t expected you, that’s all. You’re always welcome here.”
He placed his beer on the coffee table and
moved towards her, drawing her into a hug. She gladly reciprocated, warmed by
his presence. In the background, the guy on the TV announced a goal scored in
the game Edwin had been watching before Lyra had interrupted him.
The scene was such a far cry from the one
that had greeted Lyra at her own house, but she could confidently say that she
preferred this one. She hated returning
to an empty home.
“Is
something wrong?” Edwin asked her concernedly when she didn’t break from the
hug for several seconds. She drew away with a slight smile on her face, her
mood already drastically improved.
“Nothing is wrong,” she assured him. “I
just…don’t want to be alone tonight. My mom’s out working and…and the house is
a bit silent.” There was no way she could explain the emptiness that somehow filled her house, and the weakness that had
driven her to seek solace somewhere else. That explanation would have to do.
“Well, you’re more than welcome to stay,”
Edwin assured her. “I know this place doesn’t look at its best, and I’m afraid
dinner is only pizza, but please, stay. I don’t mind at all. We can…uhm, watch
a movie, or…”
Lyra smiled and gave him a kiss, comforted
by his words.
“Pizza
and a movie sound wonderful,” she agreed, warmed to the bottom of her heart.
_~…~_
A/N: I’ve discovered the wonders of IP’s
water sports, so I apologize for the windsurfing spam. It’s just so pretty to
look at!
So, several roll reveals: Primary Career is
Freelance Photographer and Generation Goal is Idle Career. The Misc. Fun is
Runs In The Family, but because there is still some confusion regarding which
generation that roll actually applies to, I decided to just let it apply to
both generations. Lyra and her siblings all shared the Virtuoso trait with
Chantia, and one of Lyra’s traits will be passed on to the next generation. I
still haven’t decided which one though.
