Rainy Day Blues

[Kiri Nicholson]

The first rains of the year were actually one of Kiri's favorite things. A good thunderstorm, with the sound of rain falling on the roof and the mist floating in through open windows...it was a certain kind of peace she couldn't find any other time. But that was when she was expecting it, and indoors.

The clouds had rolled in while she was out running errands, and she had been trying to outpace the downpour while still getting everything done. She should have known better than to try and race with mother nature!

She'd been on her last task--visiting the bookstore for something new to read--when she heard the thunder crack, low and close, outside. She could feel the bass sound vibrate through her ribcage. Hurriedly she chose at random between the books she'd been considering and checked out. Soon she was stepping into the street--the ground was a bit muddy from the first stirrings of rain, but it wasn't falling at the moment. Thank goodness.

She hurried down the street with her arms full of parcels, hoping to get home before it started to pour again. Of course, she had no such luck--just as she made it to the edge of the main square, another crash of thunder rattled her bones and the rain came down in a wet slap as if someone had dropped a soaked blanket on her. And it didn't stop falling. She was drenched in seconds.

She squeaked and held her parcels tighter, tucking her head down to partially protect them as she nearly ran toward home. With the rain and her wet hair in her eyes, and the rush she was in, she wasn't careful with her path. All it took was one wrong step on a slick stone, and the next thing she knew she was flat on her back in a massive mud puddle with her packages strewn around her. Her head had cracked sharply against the cobblestone street, and she groaned as she reached to rub her forehead as she began to regain her senses. She literally didn't remember the fall; she remembered the feeling of her foot sliding, then crack. That was it.

She knew she ought to get up, logically, but her body was arguing that she'd better not move. Against that better instinct, she rolled to the side so she could push herself up on her hands, and immediately regretted it. The world spun nauseatingly and she was forced to lower her head to the stone again as she tried to recover.

[Octavia Marston]

"Shit, Shit, Shit!" Octavia Marston swore. Having forgotten the time, (Did she really forget it though?) she hurried to adjust her dress skirts. Doing a little wiggle to get the skirts to fall into their appropriate places, when she felt a hand lazily wrap around her ankle.

"What's the hurry Tav? It's going to start raining again soon anyway." Came Carson Phillips easy drawl. A blonde eyebrow twitched and she began to regret her decision to seduce the shoemakers in the back of a tool shed. She really needed to work on her locations, but Carson hadn't seemed to really care. "It is precisely that reason Mr. Phillips that I must depart with you." She mused stepping back and feeling his fingers slip from her ankle. She arched an eyebrow down at him from where he was lazily spread out. Leaning his head against a sack of grain. His shirt was wide open and he smirked at her once she had the buttons of her dress buttoned. "C'moooooon Tav, staaay." he whined. She rolled her eyes, and sighed at him. "Carson, Darling dearest, honey woney, I'm. Leaving." She told him more sternly as she quickly fixed her hair. She heard him harumph as he began to sat up.

"Do I get to at least see you again?" He asked. Octavia placed her hands on her hips and looked down at him as if he'd just said pigs could fly. She gave him a quick glance over. He wasn't bad looking, but he certainly wasn't her type. She'd just been bored. Like she normally got when she skipped out on chores. Surely he knew how she worked though? Her face softened and for a moment she pitied him. "Carson, this was fun, it really was, but this can't continue." She told him. There was the crack of thunder that had her looked up at the ceiling and then glancing out the small window. "Letting me go already?" He sighed. She smirked at him, watching him bring his hands up behind his head. "You know how It works." She smirked, throwing him a wink before she moved towards the door. She opened it, already seeing the first drops of rain starting to come down. She threw a glance over her shoulder at Carson and gave him a last smirk before she left. Closing the door behind her before she began to hurry up an alley as the rain began to come down.

She was soaked within seconds. Her pale blonde hair already plastered to her face, and her dress clinging to her figure. She wrapped her arms around herself and turned right out of the alley. She spotted a woman on the ground then, parcels scattered about and it looked like she'd just hit her head. She glanced around, seeing people had run for cover. Poor thing...Her back was covered in mud. Sighing and knowing her father and Atlas would probably kill her for skipping out on chores, and how much Perci would surely worry with the thunderstorm, she said to hell with it, and hurried towards the woman, making sure she didn't slip too much in the mud and cobblestones. "Are you alright?" She called over the rain and thunder.

Octavia crouched beside her, reaching out to rest a hand gently on her head. "You hit your head pretty hard there." She said, quickly looking her over for further injuries.