Beautiful Day...Or, Rather, It Was...(Open)

[Deleted]

How was Zach supposed to get any of his work done when he was being bothered about finding spiders every three seconds? It wasn't long before he packed up his laptop and bolted out of the house he had no business being in anymore. They were all big boys and girls. They could take care of themselves, right?

And this is how he ended up in the park at the edge of the neighborhood with about 1 hour of power left on his laptop and him furiously typing out an assignment before it died on him.

Zachary sighed. The park wasn't much better. It was a nice day, which actually worked against him and his battery life, and there were a bunch of children about. Not that he didn't like children, just that they were sometimes distracting. At least he didn't look like a total creeper today, with there being a few couples and students around just doing their own thing, he didn't seem completely out of place. Or did he? Who could tell?

Zach was just about to hit "save" on his draft when, out of nowhere, his head was struck with what felt distinctly like a soccer ball, which, of course, made him hit the wrong key. With a blank look, Zach blinked twice at the equally blank screen.

"SHIT!!" he hollered out most uncharacteristically.

[Ashelia Volkov]

Whenever Ashe was having a bad day, or just needed some fresh air, she would always go buy coffee at the same cafe, get it in a paper cup and walk the same route. She didn't pay much attention to the people around her or even the sounds filling the fresh, autumn air. Ashe had learned from being a high school student, that if you ever wanted to get your work done during class, then you needed to learn the ability of blocking noise out. Well, almost all kinds of noises anyways.

She walked down the pathway leading further into the park. She enjoyed autumn. The smell of the fresh air and the chill wind, and all the pretty colors. The way the leaves turned from green into all shades of yellow, orange and red. It was beautiful, and it was by far her favorite season. It wasn't as hot and humid as summer and it wasn't as cold and freezing as winter. It was perfect.

Ashelia's trail of thoughts were interrupted by the sudden loud noise of a boy, a man calling out. She stopped in her step, almost dropping her now empty paper cup and turned her head into the direction the sound seemed to have come from. Tossing the cup into a nearby trash can, she walked over with a friendly smile.

''You all right there, Sir?'', she asked, a little cautiously at first. Hey, for all she knew he could be some crazy druggie on a really, really bad trip.

[Deleted]

Zachary got a few disapproving glares from a few of the parents watching their children at the park. He was usually so good about his language...actually, it was more like when he swore, he sounded like a unpopular dork trying to sound "cool" or a father trying to be "hip". Swearing and Zach just didn't mix, so he didn't do it. Much.

He ran his hand through his bangs, blowing out his cheeks in an extended sigh. Well, that sucked, he just lost about an hour's worth of work. Good thing it wasn't due tomorrow, though it did mean he would have to crunch on his other work to make time for it.

Zach leaned his head back and closed his eyes for a second. It was only a second because he was interrupted from his reflections by the inquiry of what seemed to be a young lady. He popped his eyes open and rolled them over to look at the girl with a "Hmmm?".

"Yeah, I just uhmmm..." Zach lifted his head and pointed at the computer still in his lap. "I just deleted an assignment. Didn't mean to cause a, uh, disturbance." Cue the awkward half-smile, there we go.

[Ashelia Volkov]

People could stare and judge for all Ashe cared. People really had to stop worrying so much about what everyone else did and start working on themselves. Really, it was rather sad how people seemed to meddle into the affairs of others - much like those stern looking mothers who kept eyeing the guy. Didn't they have anything better to do? Besides, if their children were ever going to swear, she really doubted this guy was the first one to slip in front of them. And considering everything, it wasn't like he had meant to. Or so it seemed anyways, by the sound of the surprise in his voice when it was said.

Ashe nodded slowly at what he said, her smile growing wider by the second. ''Well, that sucks.'' Oh yes, she had encountered that problem more than once, so she could easily relate. ''Adventure without risk is just Disney land.'', she said, trying to lighten the mood. And then she turned to look at the people around over her shoulder. ''Oh, I doubt you have much to worry about. The park is free for everyone to use after all.''

[Deleted]

Zach didn't really care what people thought as much as one might think. If he did, then he wouldn't have started engaging in his stalker-in-the-corner behavior like he had. Well, he certainly cared when they called him out on that creeper behavior, so maybe he did care more than he thought. And it was just polite and expected to apologize for a disturbing outburst such as that, or at least that how Zachary had come to understand it.

"Yeah…" Zach looked back down at the blank screen. "It's not so bad. I mean, I still have half of it, but…" He chuckled at his foolishness. "It still sucks."

He laughed at her comparison. "Disneyland, huh? Don't…you should't get me started. I wrote a conspiracy theory paper last year about how they're trying to take over the world." Twenty pages worth. He still couldn't believe he got a B on that.

"Yeah." Though if kids were going to learn those kind of curse words, then Zach would rather they not learn them from him. "I'm just a old faddy, I guess." He shook his head with a small smile, closing his laptop and setting it to the side. "I've been coming to this park for years, but…not much has really changed, I guess."

[Ashelia Volkov]

Power cuts were a normal problem in today's society. She had been there in that position so many times she had completely stopped using her computer for homework. She'd rather write it all down for hand and type it into the computer when she was home. She never had to worry about losing her work that way, which suited her just perfectly. ''Yeah, I bet.'', she said with a nod. ''But hey, it could have been a lot worse.'' His computer could have like... Caught on fire and toasted him.

His next comment had her laughing. Oh man, wouldn't she have loved reading that. She'd probably agree too, that was the worst part of it all. ''Yeah, I can see it now-'', she said with a dramatic voice. ''-News all over telling everyone how Disney brainwashed everyone below the age of sixteen and made them into soldiers. Disney has taken over America. Europa is next.'' Actually, that could have been kind of cool. ''And you could just sit there, knowing you were right all along.'' She smirked and brushed her hair over her shoulder.

Ashe folded her hands behind her back and rocked on her heels. ''Things rarely change around here.'', she said silently and bit the inside of her lip. ''At least not those kind of things.''

[Deleted]

"I've…had that happen too. Worse…things, I mean," Zach said with a smile reflecting back on those days long past. Back when somebody, he wasn't sure who, thought it was a good idea to cut the power to the entire house.

It was a mystery to this day.

Zachary was sure he hadn't seen this girl around before. He would have remembered such a character as amusing as her. She was very…visually entertaining. Zach held up a hand. "Not quite," he said with a laugh in his voice. "It was a liiittle more complicated than that. It had a lot less to do with brainwashing children and more to do with becoming a corporate empire….then brainwashing your kids through media and propaganda…" It was actually very interesting research. It was a shame it wasn't his thesis.

"Nope," he agreed simply. Those kinds of things never changed.

Zachary turned to look up at the girl for a moment, then twisted his frame to face her properly, bringing up a knee to rest on the bench. "I'm Zach, by the way." He held out a hand hesitantly, not sure if she would take it.