Home Sweet Home? [Oriel]

[Georgina Speer]

Georgina sat on a bench, on the top of it, swinging her short legs over the edge, bag in hand, pastry on lap. Despite the colder conditions and the small daps of snow here and there, she still wanted to be outside. The cold didn't bother her that much anyway - and no, she wasn't making a Frozen reference. She'd liked that franchise for the first couple months, but her opinion of it was slowly being driven into the dust. Apparently there was going to be another. Another? Why? Why was this necessary? People and their money desperations, ugh... well, stuff those twollop-nozzles, they weren't her problem. What was her problem was her near-ish future.

The fedora-wearing lady person placed that bag beside her, picking up the flaky pastry on her lap and taking a bite into it, letting the flakes fluttering about and litter her shirt and the floor. She had texted Oriel to meet her because she was really having a hard time deciding things about... stuff. She was eighteen, and she was going to graduate this year. She knew that. And what her plan had been was to go home once she graduated, go to university in England and continue her life back there, but... she enjoyed living in America. And she had a lot of really cool friends who she knew she would miss... she didn't know what to do. So she needed someone brutally honest... even if he may have been a little bias. 

Oh well. George waited, nomming away at her sweet treat, looking out for her friend. They hadn't really spoken recently, so she wasn't really sure if he had anything serious going on right now... aaand he would probably notice her severe lack of hair (which was giving her a bit of a cold neck, but oh well, she liked the shorter hair) but whatever. She waited.

[Deleted]

It’d been a while since Oriel last saw George. Well, they’d seen each other, obviously, they went to the same school and lived in the same building and had a tendency to wander around those places, but one-on-one hanging out? That was probably mostly Oriel’s fault anyway. He’d been spending more and more time doing other things, and less and less hanging out with his few friends, settling for the passing interactions they had on campus. What with a job now(he couldn’t believe he hadn’t been fired yet!) and him spending his weekends with Phoenix at his dad’s house, there just wasn’t a lot of extra time for him to socialize. Oriel wasn’t much of a socializer anyway, but he did have friends that he liked being around and felt guilty for having ‘abandoned’ them over the past couple months.

George was obviously one of them, but unfortunately, he hadn’t kept up with her doings terribly much. So when she texted Oriel, of course he had to come out to greet her! Lucky for her, he was free at the moment with nothing else to do(save for a bit of homework that he had plans on doing some other time anyway). As he walked across the courtyard towards the place she’d specified to meet him, George might notice his own hair lacking, cropped to his shoulders once again, making it curl just a bit more than usual with the severe lack of weight under it. He’d kept his scruff though, trimmed nice and clean off his chin and upper lip. Oriel thought it an improvement from the super-long hippie-hobo look he’d been sporting for the past several months.

When he reached the bench, Oriel pressed his eyebrows forward in confusion, looking down at the short-haired person. He turned his head left, and then right, as if he were searching for something. Or rather, someone. “Hmph,” he finally grumped before addressing his friend. “Sorry to bug you kid, but you haven’t seen a girl around here or nothing, have you? She was s’pposed to meet me, but I ain’t seeing her nowhere ‘round here.” He ‘looked’ for George again, shielding his eyes with one hand and panning his gaze across the whole of the courtyard.

[Georgina Speer]

From the occasional sightings and fleeting greetings, Oriel had seemed fine, which was... good. George just didn't have any detail behind why. And she didn't mind too much that they hadn't exactly spoken properly in a while - it wasn't like the behatted lady had done anything to chase Oriel up about it. Besides, she had to... blegh, study, and she had other friends. And video games. She was fine about the absence.

She spotted the younger (how was he younger than her?) boy approaching and smirked - so she wasn't the only one who had had a haircut. Well, he needed it. He was beginning to look ridiculous before, now he looked like less of a delinquent and now he was just a mild hippie. George on the other hand, her decision was to do with comfort and with her own style. She felt something suspicious about how Oriel was acting and realised what it was when he opened his big mouth. She was mildly unimpressed.

"You're in the optimal position right now for me to kick you in the nuts." She warned, eyebrows raised as she took another, loud bite of her sweet treat, "Don't tempt me by being a huge dick and making my target more obvious." She rolled her head and clucked her tongue, raising her foot threateningly and 'innocently', "You know, I have food for you, dork-twizzle, if you cut the crap." Ahh, good old banter. She raised an eyebrow, waiting for a response.

[Deleted]

‘Fine’ was relative, though Oriel would be pleased to know that he seemed so to other people. Though if asked, he might actually agree to a point. It’d been nearly 9 months since his last ‘incident’ revolving around the damn cascade that was drinking, cheating, beating, breaking his hand, running away, and then finally giving in to whatever help the adults were trying to give him. Just a few more months, he kept telling himself. He wouldn’t be graduating, of course, but he would at least be eighteen, technically an adult, and wouldn’t have to live under these guys’ rules anymore if he didn’t want to. Phoenix and he would find a place of their own to live and it would be perfect.

At least, that’s what would happen in a perfect world. The closer and closer he got to the end of it all, the more anxious he became on just how he was going to do all that. Because he didn’t know. Nothing. About nothing.

Sigh…

At least he had someone like George to pester while he figured these things out. Good ol’ Georgina Sufiya Masterson. When George called him out on his ridiculous, Oriel looked down on her, then took a step back in “surprise”(out of kicking range, thank goodness!). “Whoa! George! I totally didn’t recognize you! What happened to your head?” He smirked, eyeballing the sweet she was munching on. “You break up with someone?” Oh, Oriel was so clever!

[Georgina Speer]

The world was mad. It didn't take a lot for George to learn that, and that was one of the main reasons she was so insane. She was just going with the flow, man.

Her expression turned into something vaguely entertained at Oriel's behaviour, rolling her eyes, "I'm allowed to cut my hair. And since when was I with anyone in the first place? No one could handle all of this." She gestured to herself majestically, a few pastry flakes tumbling down as she did. She had noticed how he was looking at the sweet thing and acted upon this, opening the flap of the bag resting against her, pulling out a small bag and holding it forward for the delinquent to take. Oriel was totally a delinquent. Always would be. The bag contained a similar treat of a different flavour - because why not be nice?

Okay, no bullshit. "So, I'm leaving." She said bluntly. Well... possibly. But if she just skipped between her two possible decisions without clearly coming out with something, this would take forever. "Bonnie old England might not be able to manage without me much longer." Couldn't forget to tag on some humour.

[Deleted]

Oriel looked her up and down, ponderously. “You jest. I see nothing there to ‘handle’, just a skinny kid with no chest or butt to speak of.” Oriel was certain that was going to get a rock thrown at him. Or the remains of a pastry, which he was just fine with, actually. But apparently….insults yielded vast rewards, specifically in the flavorful pastry department. Oriel stood warily, suspecting a trap, and slowly reached out his hand towards the bag. He snatched it and stepped away again. Yes, definitely a trap, just look at that wild, crazy look in her eye. Oriel hugged the bag of pastry to his chest, petting it consolingly. “There there….you’re in safe hands now~” he cooed into the bag.

His coddling was cut short by the brit’s sudden announcement. “Huh?” he said with honest surprise, listening to the rest of her revelation. Oriel knit his eyebrows in slight confusion. “What? The whole fucking country’s gonna implode if you never set foot on it again?” He reached into the bag, pulled out the treat, and mercilessly sunk his teeth into it.

Mmmm…yummy….

But aside from that….George. “Why?” he asked stupidly, and then caught himself. “I mean….going back to Queens and Croutons is nice and all, but what about my needs?” He batted his eyes adorably. “Aren’t I important too?” Cue the pouty lip. Oh, he was just amazing, wasn’t he?

[Georgina Speer]

"Who's the kid here, fluffy?" George teased, raising an eyebrow, "I'm the adult in this conversation." Legally. Mentally, she may have basically been a seven-year old still. "And it's not my fault that I can't seem to get obese no matter how much I overeat." She definitely had an overactive metabolism, or something. That was a thing, right? Well, because of that, she wouldn't waste her pastry, but she did flail a leg somewhat violently in his direction. Just because she wasn't all boobs-and-butt supermodel perfect... hmph. She watched the love affair with Oriel and his beloved pastry evolve with slight disinterest.

She gave him an expression of almost nonchalance at Oriel's surprise, shrugging her shoulders, "You heard me." And to reiterate, she wasn't certain. She just hadn't said that she wasn't sure yet. "Definitely." She confirmed, with a sigh. She really didn't know what she was doing at the moment. George regarded him at the question and sighed again, laughing a little and looking away a bit. She gave off an air that was slightly more serious than Oriel was reciprocating, "Sure you are, poofy." She teased, before glancing at him again, "I dunno what I'm doing."

"I mean, I feel like I should move back, y'know... permenantly, to England, because my family's there, most of them at least..." She took her last munch of pastry and wiped the residue flakes off of her fingers, chewing and swallowing before she continued, "But I like everyone here. America isn't like England." People acted a lot different here to there. And whilst George felt she could fit in in both countries, she was really comfortable with the US. Was it better to return to her place of origin, or stay here? She let out an exasperated sound and put her head in her hands, "I don't know what I'm doiiiing..." She whined. "Help meee..."

[Deleted]

Ouch, cheap shot. “Not for long,” he protested, just like a kid. “That blessed day of freedom is just waiting on the beautiful horizon~” Oriel looked off, faraway and longingly. Oh, how he couldn’t wait to reach his 18th. The world will sing hymns of wonder in his name, the moment he became a legal adult.

But…being an adult wasn’t going to be much fun if all his favorite people were gone, primarily Princess Georgina Masterson here. Oriel blinked as what started out as a silly conversation seemed to take a more serious(though still silly) tone.

George…was asking Oriel….for advice? On what to do? Why…? Why did anyone think he had the answers? He was just an asshole! AJ had done the same thing, now that he thought about it, back when she was talking about the swim team and all. And then there was that thing with Salem. While yes, Oriel held a great deal of concern for his friends, and would offer what advice he could….having them specifically come to him for help….it was weird. Not really in a bad way. Though Oriel was still off-put a bit, so it was a small moment before he spoke again. He munched the pastry first though. “Well….fuck, if you did, I’d miss you, you know?” That much was obvious, right? America wasn’t like England? “Well….why do you want to stay here? I mean, aside from the people(like me) being oh, so fabulous. I mean…” Fuck, what was he trying to ask, it seemed like she’d already answered the question, but…. “Is there…a reason you don’t want to…be there…or something?” Did that make sense? “I mean, your family’s there, but…if that ain’t enough then….arg, I don’t know what I’m trying to say.” This is why Oriel shouldn’t try and be sympathetic. It made him sound ridiculous.