Cartwheels in the Frost [Alice/Eric]

[Autumn Buckland]

Generally speaking, the signs of spring were cropping up all across Hammel, but every now and then, when the night had been particularly cold, and Autumn had been up particularly early, there was still crusty frost around the place, causing cobwebs to sparkle like jewels, and grass to look like the finest, well loved lace on the ground. Those mornings were tolerable to our young redhead, in that she could appreciate the beauty of the day a lot better, and frost always melted anyway. It was only when the wind was cold and it was minus fifty billion degrees that she scowled and wilted, sticking to heat like a coiled sulking cat.

This was a frosty and brisk morning, when the sun was slowly melting sparkling globs off the trees. It was a mittens and thick woolen tights day, with bobble hats and other wintery garments that saved to keep Autumn warm while she pondered about the grounds. In simple terms, it was a weekend and Autie had firmly decided to invite her two most utterly favourite people in the world to come and watch the sunrise with her. It was early enough for the moon to still be up, and for the sky to be various hues of purples, golds and reds, but this had to be appreciated simply because it HAD to. Anyone with half a brain could see that it was SUNRISE and it was beautiful. Even the plants had woken from bed an hour or two early to mumble fuzzy greetings as the little teen skipped across the training field and up to her favourite vantage point atop a tiny, but significant hill.

"Well." She said to herself, because though the birds were nice to listen to, it felt rather lonely. "Well. This is lovely." A tree nearby let out a soft grunt of agreement and stretched it's pine needles closer to the sky, a clumsy yawn echoing out from it's core.

To pass the time waiting for her two friends to show up, Autumn pulled off her mittens and stood still, before laughing hopelessly to fill the silence, her legs flying through the air as she cartwheeled about, dress coming over her head and giving her stomach a sharp snap of cold. A few trees turned to watch the sight of a redheaded girl cartwheeling back and forth across the cold grass, cheeks rosy and bright. "Don't you..." She began, slightly breathless. "Wish you could do this, Miss Pine Tree?"

The tree turned to look her in the face, before simply snorting.

"The sun is better when it's above my top, not underneath it. You topsy child."

[Eric Bower]

Eric wasn't too huge on waking up early in the morning--or before what he classified as 'morning.' Morning was when he had to get up for school, at seven o clock. Not five thirty, or in time for him to witness the sun rising. But Autie loved doing that sort of thing, for some reason. Eric was fine to go along with it, every now and then, so long as she didn't request it every day or something.

He rubbed his eyes and tried to keep the yawns to a minimum as he showered and got dressed for the temperature outside. He wrapped his coat around his shoulders as he moved quickly through the hallways and across the campus. He'd shrunk a tad since his furious workout schedule started, but it still took some wedging to get between the hedge and the wall to make it into their secret santuary

"Morning!" He moved across the field to where Autumn was seated and he flopped next to her and put his head on her shoulder with his eyes closed. "How long yah been out here?" He rubbed an eye before he sat up and started to look around. "Still frosty. Mm. I thought it was spring time. Booo."

[Alice Perette-Johnston]

Morning was a relative term. Most people defined morning as something that happened after night, which happened after sleeping, which was something that Alice didn’t do. So when the sky was the right shade, Alice plastered her face to the freezing window and tried to peer through the haze of the frost and over the grounds. She couldn’t see the spot of fire that was Autumn’s hair, but she figured the other girl would be outside. Autumn was always outside. Autumn the girl, not Autumn the season. Seasons are obviously always outside.

Though her cheek was very red after its close encounter with a frosty window, Alice only bothered to pull on an over sized sweater and jeans. As an afterthought she slipped her feet into the closest pair of shoes: flipflops resting next to her bed. No layering. No time! She scuttled out of her room as quietly as she could, avoiding waking any of her roommates.

When she did reach Autumn, she giggled slightly. “Your cartwheels are lovely, Autie.” She chirped, waving slightly. The sleeve of her sweater flopped over her hand, waving back and forth like a grey-blue flag.

[Autumn Buckland]

Autumn was still fervently speaking in her defense to the tree that definitely did not believe cartwheels were a correct form of conduct when Alice's little bird-like frame showed itself through the early morning mist. She turned from her argument and waved eagerly at Alice, pulling her over and gesturing at the sky. "It hasn't happened yet." She said eagerly, moving on tiptoes to look for the start of the sun.

"I'm glad you like my cartwheels. Miss Pine Tree says they're unbecoming for a lady, which I think is pish posh and twiddle." Autumn explained, wrinkling her nose up, then gesturing eagerly at the sky toward the east. "I think I see it!" She added eagerly, flopping down on the grass and ignoring the frosty snap and dampness on her back. The sky was still purple and tiny flecks of pink began to gather on the clouds as a dim speck of light flicked on the horizon.

"Oh, that reminds me!" The redheaded girl said, looking over to Alice with a big smile. "I found out that the bluebell colony in our garden are staying. I had a long conversation about what they wanted and they said they were particularly fond of your lovely daffodil colony." She smiled, then gestured at the sky. "I wish the outside could be inside as well, instead of being stuck outside when the inside is all stale and boring."

[Alice Perette-Johnston]

Alice blinked at the sky, tilting her head at the pink sashes of clouds decorating the sky. She had a habit of watching the sun come up, being that she didn’t have much else to do at that time of the day, but she couldn’t think of a time she’d shared it with anyone else. “No. The grass is still crunchy.” She observed regarding the time of day. Usually the frost melted fairly quickly after the sunrise, leaving the glistening lace of spider webs heavy with drops of moisture in the grass.

“I’m sure Miss Pine Tree just doesn’t quite understand what an impressive feat they are.” Alice mused. “I wish I could be curly-swirly like that, but not so much.” Alice wiggled her toes in her flip-flops, as they were tingling with cold. “I think my limbs are too stretched out.” She murmured, stretching out her arms as far as they would go, one extending behind Autie’s back. It flew back languidly when Autie flopped back, accidentally hitting it on her way to the ground.

Alice looked down at her friend in the grass, towering over her with a smile. Today was one of her more lucid days, and she found herself quite enjoying a regular morning with her friend. “Oh, how flattering. I like daffodils. They’re so buttery and trumpet-y.” She mused, crouching and hugging her knees, peering curiously up at the sky. “I think if the inside were outside and the outside were inside it would be the same, just outside-inside would be out of doors and inside-outside would be inside of doors.” Alice hugged herself tighter and laid her head on her knees, her tousled blonde hair covering most of her face. “So I suppose simply being out of doors a lot is just as good."

[Autumn Buckland]

Autumn snorted softly. "Not under me it's not! I'm getting wet." She laughed, watching the light building up in the sky. Running her hands through the stiffening grass, she smiled and let the smell of sunrise hit her nostrils. Birds began to sing louder as the sky gradually became a soft shade of dark blue, and the redhead's senses gobbled it all up greedily.

"I think you're wonderful. You can cartwheel easily." Autumn protested, leaping up to her feet to cartwheel around and around, till she felt dizzy and had to stop. "It's just a case of flailing in the correct order, which is sometimes a bother." She laughed, shaking the dizziness from her face and wringing out the bottom her dress - which was now sopping wet. "I think I see an owl!" She suddenly shouted eagerly, pointing over at a soaring silhouette across the lightening sky. "Sleep well Mr. Owl!" She called, cupping her hands around her mouth so the owl could hear her.

Upon hearing Alice's admittance that daffodils were wonderful, the redhead nodded frantically, flumping back down beside her best friend and leaning her head on her shoulder. "I do sort of wish I could go home though, Alice. Ireland is lovely you know? Sometimes around this time of year we go to a horse sale, and they have the most beaaaautiful ponies. Pa tried to breed horses for us, but we found that our shires weren't as popular. Horse breath is lovely. It's all sweet and musty and smells JUST like it does right now." She rambled, gesticulating around her. "Alice, we should run away together! We can get on a ferry to Ireland and you can come and live with me, and we'll dance for strangers, make beaded necklaces and sing songs around the fire at night. You can stay in my caravan and meet Danjadan."

[Alice Perette-Johnston]

“Later we’ll put you under the hair dryer.” Alice suggested, reaching out to gently tap the dew from a long-vacant cobweb in the grass. She assumed that the best way to dry out her friend was using her preferred method for drying her feet when she walked too close to the pond; when the drying was done, her toes were always toasty-toasty.

Simply laughing at Autumn’s stubborn antics, Alice opened her arms to receive the dizzy red-head when she collapsed into the grass. Open-mouthed, Alice tilted her head straight back to see the owl at Autumn was trying to point out. The undulating lilac and magenta clouds that wriggled across the candy blue sky hid any of the shadows that Autumn was seeing. Alice cleared her throat and huffed in disappointment. “I think I missed him. Shame. Owl’s are lovely, too. They can turn their heads all the way round.”

When Autumn laid down her head, Alice laid her hollow cheek upon it. Dwelling on what Autumn explained, Alice tried to think if she ever wanted to go home. Come to think of it…

“I don’t remember much of what home is like. Only the ocean. But I think I should like to go back someday.” She mused, digging her fingers into the freezing grass as if petting a cat. “Perhaps Ireland instead?” Alice beamed over Autumn. “Though I quite like it here at Hammel, you see. I’m not sure I’d want to run away forever.”

[Autumn Buckland]

"Hair driers are odd things. They make so much noise and look a little like Snoopy, from the newspaper cartoons." Autumn mused thoughtfully, wondering whoever came up with the idea of a special device to dry hair. In her time in the caravans, she'd made do with towels and fresh air. Sure, it left her hair super frizzy, but her hair was always some degree of frizzy anyway, and she'd rather it was frizzy to the best of it's ability than pretending to be well behaved and masking it's poofiness.

Pouting a little in disappointment that her best friend didn't see the retreating owl, she huffed. Cuddling up to the girl for warmth, she nodded in responce to her remark. "I should like to turn my head round that much." Autumn admitted, trying to swivel her head as much as she could. "I'd be able to see if people were staring at me oddly... is it really so strange to take offense to shoes?" She added as an aside, tutting quietly. Indeed, the girl was only wearing boots now because it wasn't appropriate shoeless time until at least mid May.

"You can come and stay with me then!" The red head said, enthused. "But... as much as I love you more than hot buttered toast and cups of tea, I don't think I'd come back here." She looked a little sad. "It's just not me." She threw her arms open and out into the air around her, just as the first rays of sunlight darted across the field. "I need to roam and be wild, and this is just terrible. You could visit me as much as you liked though, and... oh rats and damnation." Autie yelped, hitting the ground with a fist.

"What shall I do about Eric? Do you think he'd be happy in a caravan? Because as much as I would dearly love to marry him on a beautiful spring day, I don't think I could bear living in just one place all the time."

Her nose wrinkled in displeasure.