A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Open)

[Alex Vasilyevich]

Alex yawned and stretched. Sunlight gushed through his window. The clock by his bed proclaimed the glorious news 9:30. Alex loved Sundays because they were his day off. Alex followed a strict schedule of chess training. Monday through Friday he got up at 5:00 am, and studied for two hours, then three more hours after school. Saturdays were even worse. He studied 6:00 am to 1:00 pm. No breaks, not for meals, and definitely not "because I don't want to." Alex planned on being a world class player one day. And that meant No Excuses.

But that wasn’t today. Today he was free. So what would Alex do with all that free time on this gloriously beautiful day? Only one thought came into Alex’s head. So after a quick breakfast, Alex packed a sack lunch, a blanket, and his chess set and went out to find a nice place to study chess.

It was cold out, but Alex didn’t care. He had his thick sweater, a scarf, a hat and two pairs of socks on. Besides, he was from Russia; he knew how to handle the cold. There was no snow on the ground, and that was good enough for Alex.

Alex meandered down to the training field, but it was too noisy for chess. Plus he didn’t want his board to be attacked by soccer balls. Alex tried the courtyard, but it was too noisy too. Finally he found the perfect spot, the pond. Alex unfurled his blanket, flopped down onto it, and set up his pieces. Alex checked his watch, 10:30, not too soon to start munching on his lunch. Alex poked around in his sack lunch till he found some carrot skewers. This was shaping up to be a perfect day.

[Romeo Buckland]

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“Oh fuck!” yelped the Irish teen as he fell, without any grace whatsoever, a few feet down from the top of Institute’s walls down to the nearby bushes. And he almost fell face first, if it wasn’t for some quick thinking and hard-pressed aerial maneuvering. Seemed like he really needed to work on improving his ‘sneaking in’ skills.

Unlike Alex, Romeo was (and probably never will be) a fan of schedule. Or routine in general. Growing up in a caravan with his family, constraints of any sorts were never part of his childhood. Sure they had a few rules here and there, but they were never that intense to restrict the boy’s natural curiosity. No four walls and a chair he should stay seated on for the rest of the period. No 10pm curfew. No ‘wake up by 6am ‘cause you need to be on time for your 8am class’. No ‘workout in the gym for two hours at least to keep in shape’.

He was, like his cousin Autumn (who he missed dearly as she already graduated last fall), a free-spirit and the whole rigidity of Hammel was just too much. He missed his freedom and did everything he could to, well, ‘reclaim’ it. This need to be free coupled with him being stubborn to a fault and love of everything ‘fun’ meant he broke so many rules.

For example, right now he’s sneaking in from a night of wild partying with his best friend. A frat had a ‘back to term’ party after all, and heaven knows there’s no way he’s missing it.

After a few seconds, he slowly stood up and walked out of the bushes, brushing the leaves that got caught on his jacket off. He pretty much had the appearance of a drenched rat, as there was an indoor pool involved and he inevitably got pushed in without warning. (He blamed Chris). “Ugh. No. Not now,” he groaned as his hangover started. To make matters worse, his stomach began grumbling. Fuck, he knew he should’ve just stayed with Chris. (Sure Chris’s father would see him and, being an institute official, lead to him getting detention again, but right now a good sleep, warm bed and decent meal seemed a whole lot better than this).

Lucky for him someone was already awake at this hour and had snacks in him. It was just an extra bonus that he looked like he could never really do anything to Romeo if the Irish teen did something that wasn’t exactly pleasing.

“Food! Thanks bro!” said Romeo as he dove in and helped himself with a couple of Alex’s skewers, “You’re a lifesaver. Have any dip with you?” Whoever said beggars can’t be choosers clearly hasn’t met the boy yet. He was in the middle of downing his second skewer when he saw the chess piece beside him, “What the fuck? You playing chess on your own?”

Did he just get himself mixed up with a crazy?

ooc:
Eeep. it's a little iffy, so hopefully you can just look past mah o.o-ish reply? OHOHO. Thanks Nic. It'll get better, I promise. (Hopefully). :B.
- Jam[/justify]

[Alex Vasilyevich]

Alex was lying on his back, enjoying the bite of cold air on his face, when, in the corner of his eye, he saw a figure moving. Alex rolled over to get a better look, and saw what could only be described as a human sized sewer rat undexterously attempting to crawl along the Institute’s walls.; and then, unsurprisingly, falling into the bushes. The boy only narrowly escaped a face plant.

As the boy stood up Alex noticed the telltale signs of a hangover. The belief that all Russians are drunks is stupid, bigoted, and true of nearly all of Alex’s acquaintances back home. Alex had seen so many people who had their lives destroyed by alcohol. Practically everyone at his chess club had the same story, “I once was great; I was on my way to the top; then I started drinking, and here I am. A nobody.” From the age of six he was surrounded by people who warned him never to touch the stuff. And now here was this boy, only a few years older than Alex, who was already spiraling down. It was sad.

Alex’s stomach retched as the boy neared him. Alex never had the stomach for the smell of alcohol. But that didn’t stop him from feeling pity for the boy. He looked like an abandoned puppy. Then he took Alex’s skewers.

MY GOD this boy is RUDE thought Alex. He is a Rude, Drunk, Sewer Rat, Puppy.

Alex’s shoulder angel and shoulder demon appeared. The angel said “stay here, talk to him, he needs a friend.” The demon said, “Just walk away. Pick up your chess set and walk away.” Alex really didn’t want to deal with this disgusting boy, but he looked so pitiful that he had to stay.

Alex smiled, “No, sorry. No dip. But I do have half a sandwich for you.” Alex handed half of his sandwich to the other boy, and started eating the other half. Alex ignored the rude question, and tried to start a more pleasant conversation “So, it seems you had a late night.”