The photos are pics I found online of dolls from two different sources. I do not own these images. I put these images side by side only as reference pics for how I imagine my characters’ facial features. The guy sometimes changes in my head but this comes close… except my male character is blond and green-eyed and his hair style is a little different.
[For more images, see artwork:
OC Commission Review 1, and OC Commission Review 2]
Ages for this scene: Syden (16), Cela (16), Sia (12), Kate (17 going on 18)
My Characters: Syden, Sia and Kate are siblings. Cela is
their cousin.
Point-of-view: Cela
Written by: Rainbowamory
These are placeholder names because I don’t want to put my characters’ names here. This is a piece I wrote for practice.
Brief Background:
[My
Note: At this time in their lives, Cela and Syden would mostly see each other at school since
they went to the same highschool since Gr. 10, and during the couple of times a
month Cela stayed at his house… otherwise, she needed to go home after school
and he needed to go to his home or to the Castle (his other home). Syden’s
house was the middle ground for the two of them—the neutral space untouched by
the disagreements of war. While they did see each other more than when they
were kids, they still were not always together as often as they wanted to be.
And they didn’t have all the same classes either, only some. I’m still deciding
on how their setting/world looks but I may go for a mixture of modern and
traditional fantasy elements… If so, there would be two ‘realms’… one where
there is magic and old style fighting, and the other where there is modern
technology. I’m still working on how to properly structure everything.
This
scene takes place at a high-end clothing store, in the more modern part of the
same world OR realm # 2]
[The
prompt for this scene was one I made up specifically for their kind of relationship.
I wanted to show how they express platonic vs romantic love when around other
family members. This scene is told wholly from Cela’s point-of-view.]
Actual Scene:
Cela sat on one side of the circular sofa
chair. The whiteness of the cushions matched her outfit—a pair of white denim
pants and a cream-coloured silk blouse. Her shoes and handbag were more of the
same shades. Only her long dark hair and dark eyes stood out against the
monochrome surroundings.
Syden’s outfit was not too bad looking
either. In his smoothly pressed dress pants and shirt, with blond hair swept
gracefully across his forehead and a thoughtful look on his face, he could’ve
made a pretty persuasive mannequin for the store.
“You look good in black and white,” she said
as an aside, keeping her eyes on the little game she was playing on her
portable console.
She saw him look her way from the corner of
her eye.
“You too,” he said.
He was seated between Cela on one side and
his little sister Sia on the other. Sia’s hair tumbled in golden waves down to
her shoulders, kissing the thin straps of her summer dress, a lovely canary yellow
thing that ended just at her knees. She had on makeup, though she hardly needed
any; like others in her family, Sia had a natural beauty about her. Cela
remembered how excited the girl had been at the idea of accompanying them. But
the three of them knew that this was really Kate’s day.
Kate’s last year in highschool was rapidly
coming to an end, which meant looking for the perfect dress for her prom. Syden
had agreed to accompany her for the sake of keeping an eye on Sia, while Cela
had been invited to help her choose her outfit. If anyone could be counted on
to tell Kate what color went best with her skin tone or whether the dress was
not too slutty—without a hint of competition or self-serving intentions—it was Cela.
They had requested a set of private
dressing rooms on one of the upper floors of the building. The cubicles were
arranged in a semi-circle, their white doors decorated with ornate silver and
gold patterns. The round sofa was placed in front so that those in the waiting
area were facing the cubicles. Underneath one of them, Cela could see the lower
part of Kate’s legs as she tried on different dresses.
They had been there for nearly two and a
half hours, during which Kate had tried on various different styles—ranging
from flattering to plain to impractical. To entertain themselves, Syden and Sia
had gone off to have a tour of the mall. When they returned, Cela and Syden had
passed the remaining time by sharing the gaming console between each other. It
had been Cela’s turn and she was nearly done with her round when one of the
cubical doors swung open.
Cela put down her console to see Kate as
she stepped out in a sparkling orange and gold dress that brought out the glow
in her copper blond hair. It was covered in large disks that looked like
shimmering scales flowing down the length of her slim body. There was a
v-shaped opening on the front that curved around her breasts just right without
being overly revealing.
Syden and Sia went up to her for a closer
look. Cela followed momentarily.
“So sparkly!” Sia chittered, reaching out
and running her hands all over the fabric.
“You look like a goldfish,” Syden stated in
his usual toneless way. Sia giggled in spite of herself.
Cela shot him a reproachful look but the
remark did not seem to faze Kate.
“It’s very elegant,” said Cela. “I’d rate
it a ten.” Sia echoed her judgment.
Kate beamed, her soft brown eyes brimming
with warmth.
“What about you, Syden?” she asked.
Syden pretended to take his time thinking.
“Eight.” That was the best she could
expect from him.
“Thank you” she said. There was a mirror
placed in the middle of the line of cubicles. Kate lingered in front of it for
a moment, looking at her reflection from different angles, then swiftly disappeared
back into her little room.
A few minutes before, Sia had asked for
some dresses to try on. They arrived just then on a wheeled clothes rack,
delivered to her by a store employee. Sia
grabbed an armful of the most colorful ones and disappeared into the middle
cubicle.
This left Cela and Syden to themselves.
They went back to the couch, and back to their waiting game. Cela picked her
console back up and was about to continue her round when a flash of red caught
her eye. It was a dress that had been left on the rack since it was not the
right size for Sia. When she went up to have a closer look, she saw that the
dress was scarlet, with no shoulder straps. It looked simple enough and seemed
to be about her size.
On a whim, she took it off its hook and
went inside one of the empty dressing rooms on the opposite end from Kate’s. A
few minutes later, she came back outside to look at herself in the mirror,
noticing briefly that Syden had picked up her console while she was gone. She heard tiny shooting sounds coming from it
as she stood in front of the mirror. A few seconds later the sounds stopped and
she heard the crude electronic voice say, “End
of Round 5—You Have 3 Casualties and 2
Kills.”
She turned to look at him just as he looked
up from the game screen.
Cela thought the dress was ok-looking but
one glance at Syden’s face convinced her it was better than that.
He wasn’t typically the most expressive
person. But occasionally, she could tell when he was feeling something by
looking into his eyes, as she did now.
“What do you think?” she asked anyway.
He stared a little longer.
Cela was disappointed.
“Is that all you have to say?” she asked,
tossing her hair so that it fell lustrously around her bare shoulders.
Syden still looked dazed.
Cela’s lips curved into a subtle smile in
spite of herself. Syden didn’t seem amused.
“Tease,” he said sardonically.
She walked up to him to allow for a closer
look, turning slowly in front of him so he could see her from all sides. When
she came around to face him again, he reached up to brush his fingertips
lightly across the curve of her waist. She took his hand in her own and held it
for a second, thinking.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, standing and cupping
her face with his free hand.
“Nothing,” she said. He was so sweet when
he wanted to be. She thought for a moment then started walking towards her
cubicle, leading him along behind her.
“What are you—” he began in a confused
voice, but before he could object, she had pulled him inside the dressing room
and shut the door.
It didn’t take him long to get her meaning,
as if beneath his apparent confusion he was only just waiting for the right
signs. He waited all but two seconds, then walked up close to her, pushed her
gently against the cubicle wall and began kissing her. First on the neck, then on
the lips.
There were three ways Syden communicated
best: art, swordplay and touch. This was probably a good thing. As her mother
liked to say, people who were seldom good with words should use them sparingly.
Cela gently tangled her fingers in his hair
as she kissed him back. They were so involved in the moment that they didn’t
think anyone would be wondering where they had gone.
The awakening came with a knock on the
cubicle door.
Syden pulled back from her with a wide-eyed
look on his face. Cela was less concerned. She recognized the feet on the other
side before she opened the door. Even Syden didn’t seem that shocked once he
saw who it was. He was a bit flustered, but in no hurry to hide anything.
Kate stared at the two of them for a few
seconds. She stood with her orange dress over one arm and her handbag slung
over her shoulder. She was back in her usual clothes—a knee-length navy blue
skirt and long sleeved white top. The look on her face was mild irritation
rather than surprise. This was nothing new to her.
His whole family knew by now the nature of Cela
and Syden’s relationship and had gotten over the shock a long time ago… Not
that it was much of a shock to begin with. Though they had never even kissed
until they were fifteen, and despite not seeing each other for almost eight years, Cela and Syden had been close as children. Some saw their current
relationship as a kind of extension of that early bond.
Kate appeared more bothered by the fact
that they were making out in a public place.
She finally spoke up.
“Do you know where Sia is?” she asked
patiently enough.
Cela
looked at Syden. Syden shook his head.
“She was trying on dresses…” he said.
“Well, she’s not anymore,” said Kate,
somewhat more sternly.
“Oh,” said Syden. “Where did she go?”
Kate shook her head and began walking away,
leaving them no option but to follow.
Syden helped Cela change back into her
clothes, then they both went looking for his older sister.
“You were supposed to watch her,” Kate said
to Syden as the two of them caught up with her. Cela could tell that Syden wasn’t
exactly proud of his negligence. It wasn’t like him to take his little sister’s
safety lightly. Neither of them blamed Cela.
They left the private dressing area by taking
some stairs down to the 1st floor and there began meandering in the
maze of stalls that covered much of the space. Kate stressed the importance of
sticking together, so that no one else would get lost.
As they walked past rows of many colors and
styles of clothing, Cela scanned the room for a sign of a little blond head
among the lanes. Twice she thought she found her little cousin but both times
it turned out to be some other girl with sun-streaked hair.
“How are we supposed to find her in a place
this big? She could be anywhere,” Syden complained.
“Well, we’re not going home without her, so
try a little harder,” Kate replied.
The three of them continued winding down
the aisles, with Kate leading the way, peaking over the stalls every now and
then to see if they could catch a sign of Sia.
The building was one large white tower made
up of three levels, each with a domed ceiling. There were windows high up on
the walls, with sunlight streaming through them. All around them were other
fashionable people moving about on their business, picking out dresses or suits
for special occasions. Some of them worked for the store. Beautiful people helping
beautiful people. Cela felt somewhat out of place among all the glamor.
There were several stores, each leading
into another through connecting arches. They passed from store to store,
following the curve of the walls. They even asked a few people if they’d seen
the girl, all with no luck. Once they arrived back where they started, Syden
and Kate were both starting to get moody.
They got into an argument over whether to
check the 2nd floor children’s playground or the adult-only stores
on the 3rd floor. Syden seemed to think Sia’s curiosity would take
her places she shouldn’t go… Kate insisted the girl was too young to attempt
that kind of behaviour.
Cela vaguely recalled Sia saying something
about how she was tired of trying on “kiddy clothes” and wanted something
different.
The debate ended with the two of them
deciding to go separate ways. Cela, not wanting to offend either of them,
decided not to choose sides. She told them she would wait by the lounge area
near the entrance, and would keep a look out for anyone who resembled Sia
leaving the store.
When she reached the spot, she found
herself a couch chair and put her feet up, pulled out her console and began
playing. From where she was sitting, she had a clear view of the inside of the
first store as well as the outside lobby. If she failed to catch Sia pass by,
she was still in a position where Sia could see her clearly.
In the meantime, Cela chose to continue
with the game she had been playing, picking up on Round 6. It was called “Witch-Hunter”. One side consisted of an
army made up of angels and guardians of the world while the other was made up
of ghouls, demons and witches. You had to set up your army with the right
equipment and roles at the end of every round. If you failed to do this
properly, the other player would have an advantage. Each player was represented
by one lead commander. In this round, one
of her main targets was the ghost of the previous player, who tried hard yet
ineffectively to evade the shots she sent his way, all the while throwing unearthly
curses at her army. When at last she managed to take him down, and heard his
angry little howls echo off the screen, she giggled with intense self-satisfaction.
She played on until the army of darkness
was in tatters, then ordered herself a hotdog. Glancing at the time on a nearby
clock, she realized that 20 minutes had passed since she first sat down. The
meal had made her somewhat sleepy, so she lay back into the cushions and closed
her eyes.
Her thoughts went to home—not his home,
hers—and what awaited her there. Her family had been busily preparing for a
major upcoming event. There was to be a council of sorts, with others from her
father’s line of work: skilled fighters and investigators and sorcerers. There
would be some people her own age as well, the children of her father’s peers. Some
of them would no doubt be curious about her fighting abilities.
She’d discuss with them the importance of
their cause; to be a deterrent to dark magic users around the world. She’d talk
about some of their main targets, including Sorcerers like the one Syden was
working for… She wasn’t sure if anyone would mention Syden himself, since he
wasn’t their main focus, but he was still one of the best soldiers the enemy
had, and the Sorcerer’s personal Shield. If his name was brought up, she would
need to talk of him with contempt, like everyone else at the meeting.
This would’ve been easy enough to do once
upon a time before they had started dating. She was still getting used to how
much he’s changed since they were kids. Sometimes she thought she caught a glimmer
of the boy he used to be in a gesture or a word. But other times she wondered
if that sweet boy ever existed in the first place…
She reflected on how detached he had been
when she visited his house again after years of being away. He seemed keen on
avoiding her, like he couldn’t stand being around her. It took her months to
realize he had actually been watching her closely all along, trying hard to
reconcile the mental image he had of her in childhood with the young woman she
was becoming.
In her musings, she had fallen into a light
slumber. She saw a vision of herself standing at the edge of a cliff, in
bloodstained battle clothes, with dead men strewn over the ground for a mile
behind her. Syden stared back at her, expressionless, from the other side—against
a similar background of carnage. There was a chasm between them.
Someone was touching her shoulder. She
awoke to find that she was staring into a pair of green eyes, the same ones
from her vision. Syden was leaning over her with little amused smile on his
face.
“What were you dreaming of, I wonder…?” he
said.
Cela sat up, rubbing her temple.
“None of your business,” she replied,
stretching and looking up at him. She tried her best to appear clear-headed. “So,
did you find her?”
He stepped away from the chair and made a
sweeping motion with his arm towards Sia, who had been standing behind him with
Kate the whole time.
Cela was relieved to see her.
“Which one of you found her?” she asked out
of curiosity.
Kate glanced down at the floor.
“Me of course,” said Syden. “I know my sister
better than anyone else…”
Cela looked at Sia and saw her blush.
“What were you looking at on the 3rd
floor?” she asked the girl.
“Lingerie,” Syden answered for her.
Cela felt discomfited. A 12-year-old girl
should not be looking at such things.
“But she learned her lesson. Didn’t you, Sia?”
Syden asked her.
The blush on Sia’s face seemed to deepen.
“Y-yes.”
“It’s no fun being followed by creeps that
are twice your age,” he added candidly.
Kate grimaced and took Sia by the hand.
“It’s ok now,” she said to the girl. “We’re
going home.” She looked at Syden.
“Can I trust you to look after her while I go
pay for my dress?” she asked. Syden nodded, and Kate left them.
Syden found a seat for Sia and sat in a
chair beside her. Cela could tell that the girl was still shaken.
“Sia,” she heard Syden say. “Someday you’ll
get to do whatever you want, wear what you like… date a guy close to your own
age maybe. But growing up isn’t as fun as you think. Highshool drama, heart
break, teachers that just don’t get you, bullies… and more shit I’d rather not
talk about. You should make the most of being
a kid, and don’t rush it. You’ll regret it if you do.”
How cute, thought Cela. He left out the
part about being trained since the age of 7 to be a killing machine.
Sia stared at him longingly.
“I promise I won’t tell mom,” he said. “And
Kate won’t either.”
At those words, the girl’s anxiety seemed
to lift a little. She smiled an angelic smile, then threw her arms around him,
hugging him tight.
Syden returned the embrace.
…
When they pulled apart, he stood up and
walked over to Cela. He asked her if she wanted to buy the dress she had been
looking at. She said she’d call the store and reserve it for later.
He showed her a necklace that he had bought
for Kate, shortly after he found Sia. It was a simple gold chain with a blazing
sun pendant at the centre, to go with her ‘goldfish’ outfit. He asked Cela to
keep it a secret until closer to Kate’s graduation.
By the time Kate returned to them, Sia was
her carefree self again and they were set to go. Sia and Syden walked on ahead,
arm-in-arm, while Kate and Cela walked behind, side by side.
Kate seemed pleased with how the day had
gone, but Cela could tell she was nervous about something. As they left the
building and were walking to the spot where the chauffeur was waiting for them,
Kate finally spoke up.
“I have everything I need for my prom,” she
said. “All except a date.”
Kate never talked about guys nearly as much
as she did about her studies, but there was one she often brought up in
conversation: a classmate whose work she admired. He enjoyed the Sciences as
much as she did, and, according to Syden, the boy was as much a “hopeless nerd”
as his sister was—a boy who “ate books for breakfast, lunch and dinner”.
“Have you tried asking someone?” said Cela.
Kate shook her head.
“You should try. Sometimes you have to take
a chance to know what is possible.”
As she watched Syden and Sia walking before
them, talking and laughing together, she took comfort in the knowledge that,
whoever he had in his life, he would always be hers first.
…
ADDITIONAL
NOTES for SELF:
[Syden
doesn’t bother offering to buy Cela her dress because they have an
understanding that she can take care of her own material needs with her own
money. She is not with him for his money and he knows that. She would take it
as an insult if he were to buy a lot of pointless stuff for her, so he doesn’t.
He only buys her stuff for her birthday or holidays and occasionally for
spontaneous reasons.]
[Though
Syden and Cela have been trained to fight since they were very young, neither
of them entered the actual battle field until they were 14. But by then they had
developed many skills already]
rainbowamory 