Florence Valentine's Story

September 14, 2010

Florence Valentine

Once the small family had arrived at the terminal, Florence was the most surprised to see such a quantity of people. Families with young children, old children, or no children at all. They parked their car and Florence of course was the first to jump out of the car and stretch his limbs and muscles. "*Sigh* What a wonderful vacation this should be, don't you think dad..." He says as he stretches before looking at the terminal. "Oh! Oh! Did you know the first cruise ship was-" "The Titanic?" A girl who appeared to be in her early thirties spoke up as she exited the car herself. Florence just stood there, not believing that he had not only been rudely interrupted, but given the wrong answer as well. He glared at her for what seemed like a few seconds before she actually noticed. "What?" Florence held up his hand and closed his eyes in a gesture meaning that she didn't do anything totally wrong. "Oh nothing..." He says. His voice nearly dripping in sarcasm. He clears his throat. "Now em...Anyways. The first vessel built exclusively for transporting people was the Prinzessin Victoria Luise. Of course it was quite small and not the most luxurious, but after a while they began adding luxuries making them more bigger and more attractive. The Titanic being the most famous because of its sinking..." he says matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, that's nice Florence, now help us carry our luggage please." His dads voice called behind him. Florence turned around and realized he had forgotten all about the luggage because of his ramblings and had started walking away from his parent. They had tried to follow but the massive bags held them in place. "Oh! Sorry!" He apologizes before quickly scurrying to catch some of the luggage they couldn't manage to carry. "Now. Off to the porters!" He says before hurrying to the people who pack the luggage into bins that get sent onto the ship and delivered to your cabin. Course his dad's girlfriend didn't understand this which resulted in extensive explaining from Florence.

Sade and Akira Naira

Sade watched her little sister, perplexed. For the little girl couldn't hardly stand for seconds before she would burst out into fits of laughter or talking and just run around the place. Sade was left in charge over her sister and was getting quite aggravated by her sisters rambunctious behavior. Thankfully, after a while of this torture, her parents took charge. Sade exhaled loudly. She wasn't going to tell her sister straight in the face she was being annoying. Sade wasn't that kind of person. Instead she would just have to handle things. The oldest of course, didn't like to see her younger counterpart cry or start an argument, especially on such an exciting day as this. Akira held the rolling luggage and to everyone's delight, she found this more entertaining than just any other person standing near her. The rest of the Naira family took heavier loads. After a few moments of standing in line, the family was greeted by the porters as they kindly took their luggage and neatly put them in bins to be sent off to the boat. Sades parents then took out a good tip for the two men.

Akira, now having nothing to do, began to skip(At a very fast pace) towards the terminal building quickly behind her in pursuit was her dad. Sade and her mother stayed behind and watched closely at the two and sighed in relief as the parent was seen through the loads of people with Akira sitting on top of his shoulders waving at the two from above.

Harun and Ryder Smith

A tall boy with bright white hair paced back and forth waiting for his grandmother. A boy with a grey hoodie, torn up jeans and black hair watched him intently. He had the same golden brown eyes as his brother but that was the only thing relatively similar. "Dude. You need to calm down. Geez, you worry about everything." he says nonchalantly. The older looking boy stopped pacing and glared at his brother. "Shut up Ryder." He hisses before calming as he sees his grandmother emerging from the crowd. Ryder ignored his brother and instead spoke up, yet again in an almost cool tone of voice. "So...What we doin now." he says as he looks around at the interior of the terminal building. "I think we go through the metal detectors now." Ryder tensed up. "Whoa man. Wait! metal detectors!?" Harun eyed him suspiciously. "Yeah...Did you bring any knifes or bombs haha!" Harun says chuckling before studying his brothers nervous expression. "Oh come on Ryder! Why?!" Ryder held up his hands in protest. "Its just a little pocket knife and a lighter." Harun face palmed. "Ryder? Why on earth would you need a pocket knife or a lighter in the first place?" He says trying in ever way to keep calm. "Well, you never know what could happen." His brother says with a shrug. "Alright, I guess that excuse works for the pocket knife..." Harun says in disappointment. He wasn't particularly worried about Ryder getting caught with the lighter since everyone has one but he wasn't quite sure about the pocket knife. He wasn't going to argue though and decided to let Ryder get in trouble as both brothers and grandmother headed for the metal detectors.

Ryder and Harun Smith

Harun watched intensely as Ryder removed his belt and other things that would set off the machine in front of him. Both he and his grandmother had passed through the detector without any problems. Harun wasn't so sure his brother would be so lucky though. Harun tensed as Ryder suddenly walked through the machine...but nothing happened. Haruns eyes widened and his mouth gaped. His brother smirked at him as he put his stuff back on. "B-but...the pocket...knife...i-it-" He was cut off by his Ryder which pointed a finger in his face. "Tsk tsk. I can't believe you thought I would get caught!" Ryder laughs before walking off towards the pier.

20 minutes later

Both boys and grandmother made it too their room by escort. They opened the door and peered inside. "Well boys start unpacking your things." Their grandmother says as she sets her purse down on one of the beds. "Okay, so we paid all of that money so we could sleep in a box...?" Ryder questions as he looks around the rom. It indeed looked like a box. "You'll get used to it." Harun sighs before he starts unpacking the clothes. "Dude you do realize there are like...two beds. So either your sleeping with me or grandma." Ryder says smirking. "Harun stops what he is doing and immediately looks up. His brother was right... unfortunately. "But I dont-" Harun stopped when he realized Ryder was nowhere to be seen. "UGH! I have to unpack all of this all by myself!" Harun complains.

Florence Valentine

Florence breathed the sweet aroma of salt water and the cool breeze. "What. A. Day it has certainly been." He says tiredly. His parents were busy unpacking and they said he could go ahead and 'explore' around the pool area. He turns around and the first thing that catches his eye is a girl...of course. He watches the girl from a distance talk with other hotter girls. "This has just become the best cruise ever..." He says to himself as some of the girls catch him staring and wave at him in which he kindly returns.

This would've all went perfectly until one of the girls boyfriend appears out of nowhere and finds Florence staring at his girl. "Hey!" Florence jumped and looked beside him too see a huge burly man in front of him. "Uh uh Hi there!" He grins and waves at the teenager. "Were you staring at mah girl!?' he asks angrily while spitting in the boys face a little. Florence wipes the spit off in disgust. "Hmm maybe. Oh and a word of advice. Say it! Don't spray it!" Florence growls before realizing what he'd just done. "Whoops." he says as he looks at the very steamed boyfriend. "Well...I'm gonna go. Bye!" he says before dashing off into the crowd of people, the other guy quickly in pursuit.

Sade and Akira Naira

Akira immediately wanted to go to the pool just as they arrived but since the family hadn't eaten yet, Akira had to wait. She still got prepared though and dressed in her purple bathing suit with a loose dress as a cover up. Sade put on her bathing suit as well and had a regular T-shirt and shorts. Both girls were starving so they got to go down to the buffet first instead of waiting for their parents to unpack. Once they had made it at the breakfast buffet, they heard a faint...yelping noise. Both girls looked behind them to see a boy with blue hair had accidentally tripped over one of the chair legs in the dining room and shot right up before running off again. Soon after that, another guy was following right behind and he looked steamed. When that scene wa over both girls just shrugged and disregarded the whole thing before getting some breakfast.

Reason turned another corner with a sigh. It was just her luck to get lost as soon as she got on board. Despite the fact that she and her parents had even had an escort.... She was just spacey enough to stop paying attention and make a wrong turn.
She hummed a song quietly to herself while sucking on her cherry lollipop and trying to remember the room number they had been told. Not having a clue to what it might be, Reason just laughed it off, admiring the well decorated hallway. She must have stumbled up to the first class rooms.
After a bit more wondering, Reason decided she would find the front desk and inquire. Well... If she could find the front desk. Then she giggled again. It'd be like a maze, how fun!

Ten minutes later, It didn't seem all that fun anymore, but Reason, ever the optimist, just kept walking, walking, walking, spacing out in thoughts of wondering into a room completely filled with candy-
She was jerked back to reality as a blue haired boy dashed past, nearly knocking the redhead over. Just as she had steadied herself, a muscled older teen shoved her to the side, where she hit the hallway wall and dropped her lollipop.
"Hey!" She squealed immediately. "What's your problem!" She slipped in front of the burly boy, crossing her arms and blocking his path. "That was my only candy on me!" She complained, on the verge of tears. "And because of you I dropped it!"
She starred him down with huge wet eyes, bottom lip pouting. He glared at her, obviously not wanting to roughly shove past.
"I'm trying to chase someone, move it girly."
Reason tilted her head back and upside down, looking at the blue haired boy, who was farther down the hallway. "Who, him?"
"You see anyone else? Move!" He bellowed voice echoing, and the girl twitched back slightly, but didn't move. Reason had a bit of a motto about helping people, and regardless that she didn't know the boy being chased, she decided she would help him make a getaway. She figured this other boy wouldn't deliberately push through her, so, tears drying, she stood firmly, starring him down with a disapproving look. Finally he turned away with a scowl.

"I see you again, you're dead!" He yelled down the hall towards the blue haired boy and Reason stuck her tongue out at his back.

With that, the red head dashed down the hall towards the blue haired boy before he could get to far.
"Hi hi hello!" She chirped brightly. "Why was that boy chasing you?"

Florence Valentine

Florence was just on the brink of giving up and accepting a pummel when a miracle happened. He turns around when the heavy heaving of someone following him ceases and instead is replaced with a girl. He couldn't really make out what they were saying until the guy shouted at him and walked on. Florence gleefully nods. "Oh trust me. You won't see me again." he mutters under his breath.

Just then the girl comes up to him. "Hi hi hello! Why was that boy chasing you?" Florence looks at her a bit longer and realizes how petite the girl looked. "Y-you...He..." Florence pointed at the guy who had just disappeared down the maze like hallways. "Uh...N-never mind." He says accepting the fact that a small girl saved him from getting a beat down. "Uh, I was caught staring at his girl. I mean it wasn't like I was looking at her wrongly. No no no no, I would never disrespect a lady like that. Not in any way."

He says with a simple nod of his head. Florence studies the girl from head to toe. "Oh! My apologies. My name is Florence Valentine. Might I ask what is yours?" He asks after he gives a slight bow as he says his name.

The teen couldn't help but giggle at the boys surprise as he stumbled over the unformed question, of how she had deterred the guy. He let it drop after a moment with a never mind, and explained he had looked at the mean boys girlfriend in a way apparently deemed unacceptable.
Reason didn't flinch as the boy looked her over, and did the same to him. He was nearly a head taller than her. Everyone seemed to be,even though she wasn't THAT short....
"Oh! My apologies. My name is Florence Valentine. Might I ask what is yours?"
Reason raised an eyebrow as he bowed.
"You're really formal," She said bluntly with a smile. Then she curtsied in return, though her skinny jeans kind of ruined the gesture. "I'm Reason Eisner. Do you know where the front desk is? I'm kind of lost."
She laughed quietly at herself, then realized there was a sign on the wall behind Florence. She leaned to the side to get a better look and saw it was labeled with room numbers and two arrows pointing either way. No arrow to the front desk.
Pursing her lips, Reason jumped her eyes back and forth the two arrows, reciting under her breath, 'Eenie meenie minee moe, catch a pony by it's toe, if it's not happy let it go, eenie meenie minee moe."
She landed on the arrow pointing the way she had come from. Hm, she hadn't recalled seeing the front desk that way, just first class rooms, but 'eenie meenie' never failed!
Little known to Reason, this was one of those times she lacked enough common sense to continue on the way she'd been going.... *facepalm*

Florence Valentine

Florence smiles after she says something about his formality. "It's a pleasure to meet your Reason Eisner." He says kindly. Another question slipped from the girls mouth causing the boy to think for a little bit. "Uh heh, I don't know myself. I...wasn't really paying attention as i was being chased by a guy three times my size." He says with a small chuckle afterwords.

Florence son caught her staring at a sign behind him and noticed that she was reciting the familiar 'Eenie Meenie minee moe' phrase that he to used to say when he was a kid. Before he knew it, the girl had begun to wonder off the same way she had come. Florence tilted his head slightly before following her. "Uh, I don't want to sound rude or anything but why are you heading back the way you had come. Didn't you say you didn't see the front desk back down this way?" he asks. As much as he wanted to go the other way, he still followed the girl just in case they ran into that guy again

"Uh, I don't want to sound rude or anything but why are you heading back the way you had come?"

Reason stopped abruptly, mulling that over in her head before her cheeks colored slightly. "Er, right! See, I was testing you too see if, uh, you would notice!"
She spun around and hooked her arm through Florence's, skipping in the right direction, dragging the boy along until he decided to pick up a pace to match her skipping.
"My mom tells me I need to get a brain. She said it'll be my death one day, from not paying attention to anything," She said absently, pausing to peer down a hall to her left. She wondered if they should continue straight or turn. She was about to launch into a mantra of 'hinkey pinky ponkey, my daddy bought a donkey' before she saw another form down the left hall way.
"aha! Maybe he knooows." Reason sang to Florence in an innocent 'anyone would help us out' sort of way. "Do you know what room your in? I don't. Maybe they'll be close! Then we can be friends!"
Despite the fact that Reason didn't even know Florence, well, she acted this way with everybody, immediately treating them like a childhood playmate. Most want to punch her in the face and buy her a candy bar and stuffed animal, at the same time, due to her child-like personality. She could be serious if the time called for it, but not really having an important care in the world, plus the excitement of being on a cruise, left her mind as one tracked as a child. Still she was able to recognize her behavior probably wasn't appropriate with a stranger, and quickly detached her arm.
"Sorry..." She said, calming down a bit, another embarrassed flush raising in her cheeks. "I'm probably scarring you, arn't I?"

Florence Valentine

Florence yelped as the girl hooked her arm around his and started to drag him through the maze of hallways. He raised and eye brow as the girl talked to him about...well just about anything on her mind. It completely baffled the boy that a girl would trust someone so quickly. It kinda scared Florence a bit, but he kept his mouth shut. He didn't want to hurt the girls feelings. After a little bit more time of studying the girls odd behaviors, Florence noticed her child like personality. A sorta charm she had about herself.

This, plus the awkwardness, balanced out perfectly causing him to have some sort of a mutual attitude towards the girl. Her innocence was something not to detest. Yet her extreme trust towards others and carefree attitude was something she could do without. Florence of course didn't say a word and instead followed the girl with the greatest of interest towards her he had to offer. After about a couple more minutes, the subjects of their room numbers came into mind. "Oh erm...I think I'm room 57..." He says. Before he could ask what was hers the girl had detached her arm from his.

"Sorry... I'm probably scarring you, arn't I?" The boy wanted to say yes...and no. Oh which possible thing could he choose. Florence looked at the girl a little bit longer. "Er...No. In no way are you scarring me." He says simply with a slight smirk. Strange...that was the first time he's said something that didn't hurt someones feelings. Maybe this trip was actually getting to him.

Now at this time, Florence was changing the subject. He runs his fingers through his hair. "I will certainly be surprised if we make it through this maze of hallways." He chuckles. "But really. It's like a labyrinth down here." He says getting a bit more serious. He looks around the halls a bit longer and sees a boy who looked to be about their age. Florence smirks and grabs Reasons arm pulling her towards the figure.

Ryder Smith

Ryder had mindlessly wandered the hallways for who knows how long. He was whistling now and propped up against a wall before a sudden voice broke the silence. Ryder looked beside him to see a boy with blue hair and a girl with red hair beside him. "Uh hi?" he says nonchalantly.

"Hello. I was wondering if you could help me and my friend here find the front desk...or maybe the way out?" The boy with blue hair says. "Ryder raises an eyebrow and chuckles. "Heh, I might know the way out. Come on." he says before pushing himself off the wall and retracing his steps.

"Er...No. In no way are you scarring me."
Reason gave him a satisfied smile, glad he was still in the potential to be her friend. Though she wasn't sure what his smirk symbolized. She followed his hand as he ran it through his hair, liking the blue color. She had never had a friend with blue hair!
"I will certainly be surprised if we make it through this maze of hallways." Florence chuckled then sobered a bit. "But really. It's like a labyrinth down here."

Before Reason could agree, it was her turn to be dragged down the hall a ways by Florence towards the figure they had seen.
"uh, hi?" The new boy said easily.
"Hi!" Reason sang back with a smile, but was slightly cut off as Florence explained their situation.
"Hello. I was wondering if you could help me and my friend here find the front desk...or maybe the way out?"
Yay, we're friends! Reason mentally cheered, suppressing a childish giggle.

The boy laughed a bit and shoved off the wall, beginning to walk. "Heh, I might know the way out. Come on."
"Good! We could have died down here! Unless we found the kitchen I suppose. Or someone else who's help us..." She trailed off and reversed Florence's hold on her arm, tugging him forward so she was walking between the two boys, just behind enough to follow the new one.

"I'm Reason, and this is Florence, and I helped him get rid of a guy who wanted to kill him, so now we're friends." She summarized with a little smile. "What's your name!"

"Hello Reason and Florence. The name's Ryder."

Reason blindly followed Ryder as he led them confidently through the halls. Reason hoped she would be able to navigate the halls this effortlessly before the end of the cruise. It wouldn't due to get lost every time she set foot outside her room! Speaking of room, Reason really needed to figure that out... but no worries!She would get back to her parents eventually! They did always say she needed to widen her friend base.
The red head looked over as Ryder moved over to Florence, smirking with a glint in his eye.

"So, your little friend here saved you from a guy who was going to kill you?
"Uh, uh... He was a bit bigger than me. Scratch that, a lot bigger."
"That's why I emphasized little in friend."

"Hey, I'm not that little!" Reason protested playfully, though she was rather short compared to the two.

"Oh would you look at that. We made it out."

Reason starred up at the sky and grinned, jumping up and down in a little circle. "Yay, we're alive!" She cheered, then turned to see Ryder tousling Florence's hair. She giggled at them and hopped over, slinging her arms up around their shoulders, taking turns to give them side hugs.
"Thank you both! I don't suppose you could point me in the right direction to the front desk? I don't know what room I'm in!" She laughed a little at her own dilemma, before spotting a pool a little ways down the deck. She removed her arms to clap in delight.

"Ooh! Never mind, my parents can wait, I wanna swim! Wanna come? Do you think they have a candy bar...?" Her voice trailed off as she was already heading over towards the water, tugging off her shirt as she went. She had been sitting in her red bikini the entire car trip, and was happy to finally get to put it to use.
There were people in the pool but it wasn't to crowded, so Reason shed her skinny jeans and jumped in without a thought, hoping the few teens around might be enough to start a game of Marco-Polo or something.

Florence

Florence watched the girl leave, all while trailing questions behind her. He chuckles and turns toward Ryder to ask if he would know where the front desk is except Ryder has seemingly disappeared. Florence just shrugged his shoulders and walked toward the pool. Like Reason, he could care less about his parent and his parent's stupid girlfriend. Florence watched as the girl immediately dived in, no questions asked.

The boy looked around some at all of the other people in the pool. A lovey-dovey couple making out in the corner of the pool, a guy flirting with another girl who seemed as if she wasn't interested, a couple of younger kids playing tag or something...Nothing seemed interesting to Florence. Instead the boy just sat down near the pool, taking off his shoes, and dipping his feet in and relaxing.

Florence's eyes scanned the glittering water and different people. He saw Reason looking around for more people to play a game of some sort. Maybe the two were friends now...Florence mentally shrugged. He didn't really know what they were to each other. It looked as if they were friends, but inside he guessed that they were just very well acquainted. He had know idea if Reason felt the same way. All he knew was after she had saved him from that big scary guy, she had become the high light of his day. Florence slumped a little as he watched the girl swim around.

((Sorry if I hadn't been posting. Cross Country has started and it's certainly wearing me out :))