Riding Out Storms and Dealing With Strangers {Arie and Dae}

[Daemon_of_Cybele]

This is the inside of the church- , but with stained-glass windows, and considerably darker.

Edward Braeden

The term for Edward? Clean cut. He's always been a good son- goes to church every Sunday, makes straight 'A's, and has the perfect, goodie-goodie girlfriend who is beginning to get on his last nerve.

Kneeling down and bowing his head, Edward tried vainly to think of something to say. It was becoming more and more obvious that, no, prayer could not be the answer for everything. How many amputees regrew their lost limbs?

But, still, Edward opened his mouth and began to whisper almost meaningless words, begging for help with his nagging girlfriend and "loving" family, oblivious to the raging storm outside. Flailing tree limbs smacked against the stained glass windows, leaves sliding down the face of Jesus. Some other time he might think of it poetic and strange- but right now he was just kind of ticked.

The girlfriend he'd had for three years and disliked for two was making not so subtle comments about marriage and children, and in all honesty he'd rather shoot himself than marry her.

Offering a quick prayer for forgiveness for the suicidal thought, he rose to his feet, finally taking notice of the sound outside the church. Rain and wind were pounding against the small building, and the electricity began to flicker, then fail.

Fortunately, he wasn't plunged into total darkness- before his half-assed attempt at prayer, he had gone around lighting dozens and dozens of candles around the church, now throwing creepy, flickering shadows against everything and shining with weak yellow light.

[Eternity]

Eleanor Jade

Ellie is your picture-perfect bad girl. She skips school, smokes, drinks, parties, and has a terrible attitude. After a long time of trouble, she's lost her faith and given up on life.

The storm was horrifying. She just knew she needed somewhere to go, and half the places she'd passed weren't opening their doors to the likes of her. She could feel the wind slamming icy raindrops against her, stinging at the touch. She was soaked, with only her backpack from staying at over at Runt's house. He didn't mind her, but his parents hated her. Of course, she stole their cigarettes and gave their son weed, so she didn't blame them too much.

Only barely could Ellie see through the thrashing sheets of rain whipping in all directions with the storm. This wasn't going to be easy. She could die out here if she didn't find some place. It was already cold as shit. And Ellie, honestly, wasn't dressed for such weather. A thin black jacket with faint pale designs, and a short-sleeved shirt beneath. Both layers were wet. Her undershirt was warm and the only thing that was.

She knew once she found a place, first priority was dry clothes- which she had one set of in her back-pack.

Her legs were tired, and she fell almost every few minutes from the wind and wet sidewalk. The knees of her dark wet jeans were skint and her legs themselves probably held scattered scrapes on them. But she carried on, looking.

Turning her head, she saw a church. And when she saw it, she noticed the lights flicker out. If there was a God- which she doubted- that was him saying, "Stay the hell out."

But she just couldn't. She had to try.

Running up to the door, she slammed her fist on it and pushed and tugged until the door swung open and hit the inner wall with a loud 'boom!'.

Quickly, Ellie moved to shut the door, and slid down the wall, staring through the pews at the cross on the far wall, and the young man lingering here.

"Fuckin' great." She muttered, her voice beautiful with an Australian accent, only tainted by foul words and a harsh attitude.

Her green eyes settled on him as she brushed her hands up through her wet hair of blond and chocolate-brown.

At least she wasn't still in the rain...

[Daemon_of_Cybele]

There was a moment of silence, awkward and thick, and Edward wondered what he could say to the messy looking girl who had just barged into the House of God. That thought, however, made him laugh slightly, and he plopped down on one of the pews, a slight grin curving his lips. Hey, everyone was supposed to be welcome in a church, right?

Although, now that he looked at her, she looked like one of the people his parents had always warned him away from, and the sound of her voice, coarse and affected with an Australian accent, floated down to him, surprisingly pleasant, even with the harsh words.

And, still....

"You know this is a church, right?" he asked, studying her. "I'm Edward."

Looking at her made him feel.....Normal. In his Abercrombie military-style jacket, his Abercrombie jeans, and his Abercrombie long-sleeved thermal shirt, he felt like he did when one of the drama geek girls had chewed him out about something....He could distinctly remember the words 'unoriginal' and 'fucking prime example of a stereotype', but not much else.

[Eternity]

Ellie stared at the boy with a hard look. Was she supposed to be stupid? Of course she knew where she was.

"You shittin' me mate? So that's why the cross is there..." She muttered, crawling up, she slid off her jacket, and tossed it into the corner with a plop. She then stared down at her shirt, a black 'Fox' shirt, with a red spray-paint style fox symbol on it. Her arms were availed, slightly tanned and with her left arm tattooed from the elbow up. Her wrists held small simple bracelets and her arms were slightly scarred on the insides. Her fingers were limber and long, with her nails grown out and painted a deep coal-gray. She disheveled her hair until it was a bit messier, looking better though with a little fluff to it. Her ears were pierced three times on the left side, and five times on the right. Her nose beheld a small diamond piercing as well. She had a soft face, beautiful and elegant. If you took away the dark clothes, punk haircut, and piercings, she could be a beautiful little church-goer. But that is just what Ellie turned out not to be.

She had rich green eyes, dazzled by long black lashes. Her brows were thin and well kept. Her nose was small with a soft rounded tip that had a cutesy effect. And her lips were smooth and supple, glossed by the rain.


"'Ello Edward." Ellie said in a mocking tone that was a sarcastic 'nice to meet you'. With a long drawn sigh, Ellie pulled her shirt over her head, leaving underneath the burgundy tank top that was spotted wet along her waist and shoulders, but otherwise mostly dry.

"Ah." She said to herself, her left arm tattoo more visible now. It was a slight combination of black and maroon/pink, swirling up her arm in wave-like fashions, with cherry blossoms following up a branch. On the branch were words;

No place like Home

Her body was lean and in-shape. Slender with feminine curves in all the right places. Ellie was beautiful, but she was a smartass and her attitude usually turned most people away.


Tossing her shirt over with her jacket, she moved over towards a pew and sat down, sprawling out with her legs then hanging over the pew in front of her. She turned her head and stared over and forward to see Edward.

"Why're you here?" Eleanor retorted.

[Daemon_of_Cybele]

[[Sorry it took so long!! I was doing dishes!]]

"I'm here to pray," said Edward warily, eying her tattoos. She looked like a tough biker chick out of a movie, and he was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. "Why are you here?"

Mentally, he pointed out the stupidity of the question. There was a raging storm outside, tossing around trees like they were toothpicks. One could only imagine being a slender girl caught in the middle of that mess, and yet she didn't give off the impression that she would be easily taken down by a mere storm.

Averting his eyes as she stripped off her shirt and not really sure why, because he'd seen his girlfriend in much less than that in her bikini at the beach, but this girl seemed to hold....something.

Shutting off whatever part of his brain was marveling at her figure and telling himself, a bit arrogantly, that she should be ogling at his muscular form, displayed quite well in the form fitting thermal shirt.

The lights flickered on for a few seconds and then went off again, and Edward grumbled under his breath unhappily, digging in his pocket for his cell phone.

"I'd love to stay here and keep you from stealing the silver, but.....," he trailed off, looking with dismay at the 'No service' message on the tiny screen. "Damn."

[Eternity]

Ellie glared at him as he watched her for a moment, a dark glare. She almost wanted to tell him that if he kept staring, she might do a trick. But then he'd have his eyes glued to her all night.
Eh, she hoped she didn't have to rot in this religious litter-box all night.

Sighing again, she stared up at the lights. Of course, they were not on, but it was better than looking at him. Yeah, he was a cute kid, but she was done with men. And usually when she said that, people thought she meant that as in she was a lesbian. No, she was just through with love. It was a tough game, and it was useless to play when you always lose. And she has always lost...

Her eyes seemed to narrow as for a second she felt sad. Then the lights flickered on, and then off again. She rolled her eyes, letting them settle next on Edward. She watched him withdraw his phone, and start to say something as if he were leaving. When he accused her of stealing, Ellie let out a growl, moving her lean legs from the pew and standing up. Storming over to Edward, she looked down at him with a hand on her hip, thumb slid underneath her studded belt.

"What do you think I am, shit-head? A theif?" She reached out quickly and smacked him upside his head and scoffed at how she should've hit him harder.
"Be grateful I don't murder you." She threatened, moving away from him again, resting back into the pew with a long drawn sigh in the dark church.

"Fuckin' prick." She muttered, thinking then only of how she should perhaps limit her cursing. But now was not the time for obedience training.

"And I came here because there's no silver to steal out in the storm." Ellie spat.

[Daemon_of_Cybele]

"So you're a murderer instead of a thief?" shot back Edward, a voice in his head telling him that it might not be so prudent to start arguing with a girl who had just threatened to end his life.

It almost made him glad he was supposed to be in love with teenage Barbie- she would never hit him. Or call him a fucking prick, for that matter.

Sitting down next to the podium or pulpit or whatever it was called (his brain really couldn't focus just then) he watched her warily, half suspecting her to pull a knife on him.

"What's your name, then?" he finally asked, relenting slightly.

Not sure if it was true curiousity that made him ask or the painful throb of boredom setting in, he let his head fall against the podium thing, still on guard. This girl was starting to scare him.

[Eternity]

"Oh yeah." She hissed, glaring again as Edward moved to sit beside the podium. Taking a long exasperated breath, she continued.
"I get about a killing a day, so business is pretty good."

She stared at her shoes, wet brown and pink converses with a dusty worn look to them. She finally kicked them off, to show her smooth limber feet and her toes- painted to match her nails. She sighed, staring at them. Tonight was going to be long and boring. Outside, the sound of tree limbs smacking against the church was almost louder than the thunder itself.

But the most annoying and intrusive sound of all was Edward's voice. Oh, how she'd rather be alone right now.

Wiggling her toes, she rolled her eyes again, brushing her fingers through her hair and noticing how quickly the mess of blond and brown was drying. It looked a bit better once smooth and settled along her head, framing her cheeks and falling jaggedly against her ears and neck.

"Like I'd tell you my name." She muttered again, staring at him. He was the only thing to look at. And he was handsome, but she didn't let that thought show at all. Her expression was annoyance. He was the thorn in her side.
The pain in her ass.

"So tell me about yourself, before I beat you with a candlestick, or something sadistic like that..."

[Daemon_of_Cybele]

"A candlestick?" repeated Edward skeptically. "Fine. But if I tell you about myself, you have to tell me your name."

"I'm eighteen, your basic goodie-goodie choir boy, and I might have to get engaged to a girl I don't love, because my parents would murder me if I broke her heart. Happy?"

He certainly wasn't. Spilling his guts to the psychotic girl who had just barged into the church and threatened his life and limb had definently not been on his to do list when he had woken up that morning.

Of course, neither had lurking in a church, praying to find a way out of proposing to a girl.

Flopping backwards and lying on the ground, he stared up at the shadowy ceiling, lit only slightly by the candles, which were flickering and dancing like they would go out any second.

[Eternity]

Listening to him quickly spit out the edited version of his life was comical. She shook her head and withheld a laugh, turning her head up for a moment to see him flop back.

She sighed, sitting up and moving away from the pew again. She couldn't stay still to save her life. There was just something so simple about staying still she didn't like. Plus Ellie always felt uncomfortable. Be it the place, or just Edward, or maybe just herself.

"My name is Ellie." She said, staring down at him as she passed him, walking in smooth gorgeous strides to the cross. Her fingers raised and she traced the symbol, with a sigh.

"I'm seventeen... Eh, I'm basically a good girl gone all wrong, runaway from Australia. I like cigarettes, but mine are all wet. I like weed, but I've smoked up all my supply. I like drinking, but unless you have some ceremonial wine, I'm shit out of luck there too..."

Ellie took a moment to laugh at herself, settling down across the front expansion, so she could better watch the stranger.

"At least you got family, and a sheila to call you hers. I wouldn't complain if I was you." Ellie chuckled, taking a breath and laying back to stare at the ceiling as well.

[Daemon_of_Cybele]

"Families aren't worth shit when they're more interested in controlling you than loving you," he said vehemently, the words spewing out of his mouth, coming from seemingly nowhere. "When they watch over your shoulder, and you have to do everything perfectly, otherwise you're a disgrace? When you have to date the girl they want you to? When everything in your life has to go according to their plan, or you're not part of them anymore? That's not a family. That's a group of people tied by blood and pretending to love each other."

A little taken back by what had just come from his own mouth, he felt compelled to add, "So I came here to pray. For something. For a way out, or a helping hand, or whatever God's willing to give."

Propping himself up on his elbows, he glanced at her, wondering what he could add to that. She had asked him to tell her about himself, but he doubted that was what she had meant, and here he was, having word vomit in front of a girl that he'd met about three minutes ago, when he couldn't even tell any of this to the girl he'd been with for three years.

Because, quite simply, she wouldn't understand. So why on earth would a tattooed girl who had barged into the church looking for not spiritual guidance, but refuge from a fierce storm understand any better?

[Eternity]

Ellie looked up at him, as one word became two, and two became two hundred, almost. She wanted to chuckle, but it wasn't the right time. Eleanor knew how to behave, she just chose not to, most of the time. Taking a moment, she merely smiled, watching him as he soon propped himself up to stare over at her. She merely mimicked his action, her lean body bending easily to slope upwards. Her green eyes settled on him, and she smiled a bit more.

"I guess you're right mate. My family was pretty nice, but they sound like yours. They wanted me to go into art, because it's what I'm good at. They wanted me to do whatever it took. Pressure, pressure, and more pressure." Ellie shook her head looking back to the ceiling.

"So I dated a boy. And yes, this is how all good stories start... He was amazing, and sweet, and I thought it was finally my way out. He said we were going to run away. Bought me a passport to this shit-box. Told me to meet him on the plane. I get on the plane, and he's smiling at me- from the runway. I tried to get off, but I couldn't. I instantly called him, again and again. And..."

Ellie took a breath, tapping her fingers on the soggy box of Camels in her pocket.

"So why don't you break up with this chick? You're family can kiss your ass. It's your life, it should be your happiness too."

[Daemon_of_Cybele]

"You've obviously never met my mother," he said with a bitter laugh. "One of those scary Junior League types- good Christian, friends with all the right people, wears nothing but designer clothes......She wants me to grow up to be just like my father, and if I don't, I'll wind up like my brother. Poor as dirt and living in an apartment in Queens.....'Course, my brother got tossed because he was gay."

Shrugging slightly, he lay back down, ignoring the slightly dusty smell of the carpet. This wasn't, of course, his church- his mother went to the large church a few streets away, gaudy and large. It was the kind of mega-church that attracted most people in a small town, and his mother was no exception.

But this church- small and tucked away near the edge of the last patch of forest (Edward's mother was actually pushing for that to get mowed down, too)- was where his childhood friend, Abby, had dragged him, full of people that had seemed frightening to him, with their open minds and loose interpretations of religion.

It had scared the hell out of the first time he'd come, with the gay pastor and the knowledge that the Buddhists met there after the Christians had gone home.

Abby had, to his mother's relief, moved away before they'd ever hit middle school, but he'd always used this place as a sanctuary, a refuge from his mother's reach, but even here, tonight, where he'd felt more like there was, if not God, something, there was nothing but emptiness.

[Eternity]

"Of course." Ellie said, in a mock correction. Taking a long breath, she began to relax into her space on the floor again, watching the lightning flash fill the church before the loudest boom of thunder yet erupted through the place.

Eleanor seemed to curl into the floor, her eyes falling shut as she crossed her arms to keep in the heat. She was very cold now, and her pants were still wet. She needed to change, but there was no privacy in this sanctuary. Instead, she would see how much longer she could take it, the cold.
But the storm was only getting worse, getting closer and more vicious. Of course.

She wouldn't be given the easy way out this time.

"Sometimes you have to not care what others think of you, and think about yourself. Otherwise, you'll lead a life of lies and unhappiness."

[Daemon_of_Cybele]

"You don't get it!" he protested, lifting up then flopping down again. He felt kind of like a fish, doing that over and over again, but he was a bit confused. No one had ever made him question his logic before- he'd always figured the way of the world was just accept how things were and not to bother changing it. "Well, maybe you do get it. But I don't."


He paused before adding, "And it sucks about your boyfriend. I don't get why anybody would do that to anybody else."

[Eternity]

"Ha." Ellie spat. "He was an asshole... Do you know why he put me on the plane? Because he sold me to an American man. Meaning I was a basic mail-order bride, against my will. Except, well, I was being sold as a fresh prostitute, not a bride. But I didn't stick around, when I got off the plane, the man tried to take me into his custody, but I run way too fast to be caught. So yeah. Life, right?"

Ellie took a moment, and leaned up, staring over at him.

"Someone seems to have their panties in a knot. What's with you? Why do you care what they think? If you put so much forward for the mates you love, you'll only be let down. I've been let down. Everyone gets let down. You just need to worry about yourself. If there's anyone who's always gonna' be there for yourself, it's you."

Eleanor took a minute and stood up, moving over towards one of the candles and putting her hands an inch or so over the flame trying to warm herself.

When it failed to work, she sighed, moving to the back of the church, picking up her bag in the process. When she got there, she stood behind a pillar and stripped away her clingy damp pants, and immediately slipped into a pair of red plaid pajama pants. They were loose-flowing over her legs, and made her figure seem to slope, adding more to her hips than before.

She dropped the bag and stepped forward, a hand on her hip.

"Sometimes you have to forget where you stand, and only look forward. Sometimes you have to just live life your way, because if you live the way everyone else wants you to, you're going to regret it when you're old and gray."