[center][img]https://txt-dynamic.static.1001fonts.net/txt/dHRmLjcyLmMxZGU4Yy5UR1ZoYUNCVGIzSnlaV3hzLjAAAAA,/angelika.regular.png[/img][/center]

[hider=A Fair Trade: Leah, solo]
[center][h3]A Fair Trade[/h3]

Monday, September 9, 2029 - 2am[/center]

It was nighttime, dark out, and Leah had her hood up. A scarf covering most of her face, hands in her pockets, and a voice in her head that kept her walking regardless. The good thing about gymnastics was the help it gave you on sneaking out attempts. Supposed all that training had to go to [i]something[/i] now that actually using it was out of the window.

[color=fff200]'It doesn't have to be, you know.'[/color]

[color=c4df9b]'I mean, it does, though. At least for now - you're the one that said--'[/color]

[color=fff200]'Yes, yes, of course. One thing at a time, then, mortal.'[/color]

[color=c4df9b]'Please stop calling me that.'[/color]

But Leah didn't pursue the point. It wasn't really worth doing with Envy, considering the spirit's borderline addiction to asserting his superiority complex. Or maybe it was just nagging at some crack in Leah's own armor, but that one wasn't worth thinking too hard about right now. After all, she knew she was doing... not the right thing in a general sense, but the right thing for the family. Which she firmly cared about way more than Johnny Random who she just passed on the street.

Ideally they'd end up being, like, bad people, but that one felt ambitious. Not unlikely to be possible, seeing as she was a teenage girl out on her lonesome in the dark, but the best plans were generally the ones with the lowest risk of being stabbed.

Either way, it was better to be in the shadier spots of the town for this, blind alleys and dark corners. Envy resented the secrecy, of course, but only because of its necessity. He liked to be in the shadows, to push and prod and take without being seen, but he didn't want to be confined there by anyone. They weren't exactly big on that side of things, anyway, because right now the whole strength level thingy was "teenager who can do a mean round off" which was apparently not good enough.

Mutuality was the key word, though, and if nothing else Envy had always been honest with her, in a 'slightly evil magic genie' sort of way, but she did have what she wanted out of him, and it only felt right to try and do what was required in return. It wasn't as if she didn't want a lot of things too, so it wasn't like she was doing it because of the requests. Leah wasn't being pushed around, just... guided towards obtaining the things she needed. Or at least it was comfortable to think that, and so think it she did.

Not that it mattered. Back street, cold and dark and unsupervised. Sit down, hands around her knees, and wait, listening for the sound of approaching footsteps. You had to be subtle with this sort of thing, and it paid off eventually. The sound of footsteps walking by, decently heavy, probably a full-grown man if she needed to guess. Not in much of a hurry, and stumbling around. Drunk, then. That made things easier.

She waited for him to pass her, and then... [color=c4df9b]'Envy'[/color].

Channelling wasn't easy, but it was doable. Vines materialising, flowers blooming across her mask and hood, eyes and teeth shifting; and it was simple enough, with one like this. Not like he was moving fast, or on his guard - she just had to walk up behind, a hand on the arm, and [i]drain[/i]. Strength; that was more for her own protection than anything, since even a drunk adult guy was still stronger than she was. Energy, similarly meant to make sure he didn't run off, and maybe because she needed it to get through school and work with all this nighttime stuff.

But neither of them were what she was actually after.

Life force. Vitality. The thing you couldn't really afford to give up. The thing she was taking away. It wasn't like she was evil; this wasn't for her own benefit or anything. But it [i]was[/i] something she needed, and that meant it was something someone else had to lose. Drunks were easy, though. And she wouldn't kill, despite Envy's ravenous baying for blood, wanting everything the man had and more. They may have been partners in this, but in a technical sense she was still in charge. Envy had been more than stubborn in withholding the information, but given enough time stuck in her head...

She'd wormed it out of him, anyway.

[color=fff200]'If you [i]must[/i] know, mortal, we need four minutes. One and a half if you insist on letting them live.'[/color]

He wasn't happy whenever they stopped, though. But stop she did. Leaving the guy deathly pale, dazed, and weakened, but nothing that couldn't be recovered from with a few good nights' sleep and a month's working out. It wasn't as if he'd seen her face, and even if he did, he was too out of it to remember that tomorrow. She was sure he'd find his way home or whatever anyway, and it wasn't as if she could do much to stop him from lying in the street a while.

This was the best way that things could work out for everyone, really - but for now, she needed to head home. She couldn't waste much time in using it, after all.

[hr]
[color=c4df9b]"Hey, sis. Made you breakfast. I'll just sit it here, okay?"[/color]

"Okay."

[color=c4df9b]"That's good. I love you. Get some rest. I have to start school today, but I'll see you once I'm back."[/color]

"Mmmhmm..." 

Eyes closed, breathing steadied, and the girl returned to sleep, oblivious to her sister's changing appearance and the palm placed on her arm.

[color=c4df9b]'You know the drill, Envy. Make sure she gets all of it.'[/color]
[/hider]

[hider=Not Cool: Leah and Sav]
[center][h3]Not Cool[/h3][/center]

[center]Tuesday, September 10 2029 - Lunchtime

[b][color=c4df9b]Leah[@Lasrever][/color] and [color=c8a2c8]Sav[@Bubsy 2][/color][/b][/center]

Okay. School had been interesting so far, she'd been late to like every class, and was generally just kind of rushing around on a constant basis. Which she didn't mind so much with like, the actual classes - they weren't tough, really, she could catch up. But lunch was a different story. Staying behind for a minute to figure some stuff out with the teacher was a mixed-quality idea. Good for the academic stuff, bad because whether she liked it or not... the suddenly loud rumble of her stomach confirmed one fact.

Leah was absolutely starving. Which was her own fault for skipping breakfast, probably, but she didn't want to stress out anyone by bringing it up this morning and... whatever. The point was, she needed food, and had zero idea where it was.

So, what better way than to ask someone? There was some girl a little down the corridor, leaning against the wall. Okay, sure, maybe she didn't look the friendliest, but... [color=c4df9b]"Hey, um - sorry, I'm new this year and I just wanted to know, could you tell me how to get to the lunchroom?"[/color]

Today, Savannah leaned against this wall by herself because she really had no friends to lean against walls with. Her face was blank, her mouth vaguely downturned in a sort of passive scowl. She'd heard the phrase 'resting bitch face' before. It was just how she looked. She had thought that isolation foments the idea that one should at the very least be the type of person that leans against walls looking like they're contemplating something, or looking menacing. Because here was the thing: if she was alone and was just sitting she might have felt sad, but by leaning against this very wall looking exactly like she did she felt like some 80s movie cool-loner-girl archetype which just seemed to be the most preferable way to go about being alone.

It was much better. And she was thinking about something deeply too. Which is why when Leah walked up to her and asked where the lunchroom was, she didn't say anything. She heard the voice, but it must not have been talking to her, because all of the voices and things that were being said around her had bled away into the background. Because none of that conversation was ever for her. It couldn't have been. 

No, the question wasn't for her, she just knew. She didn't look up.

[color=c4df9b]"Eh... excuse me? I appreciate that this is maybe, like. A busy--"[/color] Leah looked around. It was not busy. Great. [color=c4df9b]"Well, some kind of moment for you, but food waits for no one and I don't want all the cheap stuff to be gone."[/color] Okay. Stop that. Wrong sort of info. And it would be nice to... stop talking at some point, but being ignored was annoying.

[color=fff200]'She thinks she's better than us.'[/color]

[color=c4df9b]'Probably true, but can you not?'[/color]

[color=c4df9b]"So, you know, if you can tell me where the food is then I don't have to ask what your problem is and that way's better for everybody really, y'see? Mutual cooperation."[/color]

Savannah, for a brief moment, looked up. Oh no. Oh lord. The words were hers, and she was now being very rude. 

[color=c8a2c8]"I'm [i]sorry[/i]?"[/color] there were, probably, two main ways that one could use the phrase 'I'm sorry'. The first, and most common and kind way, is as a genuine affirmation of the fact that you regret an action or thing or event. The other way is as a snide, sarcastic remark that is crafted to express incredulity or disdain. In this situation, in Savannah's head, this was meant to be the former. Howerver, as the words came out of her mouth they sounded more like a question, and combined with the unusual emphasis that she placed on the word 'sorry', completely accidentally, the words sounded much more like the later. She wasn't sure what to say after that. Her brain stopped working.

[color=c4df9b]"Look, I'm not trying to be trouble or anything, but I haven't like, eaten. I don't get why you're mad about it?[/color]" Leah looked as perplexed as she was frustrated. [color=c4df9b]"You can opt out of twenty questions about what your problem is at any time by telling me where the food's at."[/color]

She tried it again, she tried for [i]the smile[/i]. But like the many times before her face just couldn't do it, and it looked wonky and weird because she didn't really want to do it. If anything she looked even angrier, now snarling. 

[color=c4df9b]"...jeez."[/color] Leah decided this wasn't worth it, a look of slightly annoyed confusion on her face as she took a step back. [color=c4df9b]"I guess I'll go find it myself, then." [/color]She shook her head, stepping back and muttering something under her breath that definitely wasn't positive.

[color=c8a2c8]"Wait,"[/color] Savannah said. She pointed off, down a hall, towards the cafateria. [color=c8a2c8]"That way,"[/color] she said, still not sounding partiuclarly friendly. 

[color=c4df9b]"Wonderful. I'd say it's been cool, but..."[/color] yeah. Leah turned in the given direction and started to walk away.

[color=c8a2c8]"I'm sorry."[/color] Savannah tried to say, but the girl was already gone. Why did this just keep happening?[/hider]

[hider=Hypothesis: Leah and Roxy]
[center][h3]Hypothesis[/h3][/center]
[center][b][color=c4df9b]Leah[@Lasrever][/color] and [color=F91890]Roxy[@Chasers115][/color][/b]

Wednesday, September 11, 2029 - Third Period[/center]
At least Leah was getting better at finding her way around the school. Not exactly, um, good, but better. On the plus side, Envy was quiet. Probably because he knew the value of, um, sneakiness.

Yep. Anyway. Only like, three minutes late. She pushed the door open to see a teacher that didn't seem to be paying much attention, stammering out a [color=c4df9b]"sorry, I got lost,"[/color] to a slight 'mmhm' from the man. Well, it was better than being yelled at. Still left her to stand, awkward, in front of the whole class while he finished drawing his diagram on the board. Looking for a seat... somewhere.

Roxanne Tretter was being the good little student that everyone knew she was the moment they saw her. She'd been taking notes the whole day; making sure that she knew exactly where her classes were, and even took the time to give all of her teachers a quick hello the first week. Further surprising nobody; she was just excited to be back at the highschool. All her friends were here, and there was just something about walking along with a crowd of people that made her happy. Even if they were only walking along, she was happy just being around people; all of them had great stories to tell, and every time she tuned into a stranger's conversation, it was something interesting!

Which is why today's lesson was making her a little bit glum. It was the first hands-on chemistry experiment of the class, and Roxy had somehow ended up being the odd-one-out. Everybody else had a partner, and it was looking like she would just have to do the experiment herself. She was alone, anxious about messing up the very first assignment, and some of her black highlights had been caught between her goggles and her eyes and were really annoying her.

When the door opened and another student entered, Roxy's excitement practically radiated off her in waves.

It would've been hard to miss the slightly terrifying amount of energy that was coming off of the girl. Leah couldn't help worrying that she'd spontaneously combust if it built up for long enough, so... well, what did she have to lose anyway?

[color=c4df9b]"Hey, do you not have a partner yet?"[/color] Leah smiled, relaxed but friendly enough. [color=c4df9b]"I'm new, so I figure I'll just jump in here if it's okay with you."[/color]

[color=F91890]"Nope!"[/color] Roxy said, her face quickly turning to dismay as she realized her possible mispeech. [color=F91890]"I mean...'nope' as in 'nope I don't have a partner. Not like, 'nope you can't sit here'. That would be super mean. Hop in!"[/color]

Roxy scooted her stool slightly to the side, offering up an invitation to the new girl.

This was going to be a little tiring, huh? Leah supposed there were worse things to deal with, though. Grabbing a pair of goggles and dragging over a stool of her own, she finally sat down.

Not that she knew what the lesson was about, but it was whatever. They wouldn't do anything super important on day one. [color=c4df9b]"So, um. My name's Leah, and I..."[/color] she winced, [color=c4df9b]"am new and have no idea what I'm doing. So hi."[/color]

[color=F91890]"Hiya!"[/color] Roxy said, giving a great big smile and sliding her notebook over so Leah could see. [color=F91890]"You can borrow my notes if you need! My name's Roxanne, but everybody just calls me Roxy. You can call me whichever you prefer!"[/color]

[color=F91890]"Are you new to Lakewood High, or new to the whole town?"[/color] Roxy asked, dropping the level of her voice so the teacher wouldn't yell at them.

"Um." So, tiring was right, but at least she'd anticipated it a little.[color=c4df9b] "Both, I moved a little while ago. Family stuff, you know how it is!"[/color] A small chuckle, keeping it light as she glanced over the notebook, [color=c4df9b]"so anyway, science, am I right?"[/color]

[color=F91890]"Oh yeah, I get it completely!"[/color] Roxy said, chuckling also. She looked down at her own notebook, making sure that she'd copied everything down perfectly.

[color=F91890]"Yep; some fun chemistry stuff for the first day! I was worried I'd have to do it myself, too!"[/color]

"The first day's usually alright. They don't want to drop too much, so..." Leah looked around, eyes landing on something. [color=c4df9b]"I wonder how long it'll take before they let us use the burners. That's fun. Like, real science stuff. So we could figure things out ourselves instead of book learning it all."[/color]

[color=F91890]"I think we're actually allowed to use it today!"[/color] Roxy said, looking down at her notes and then back up to the board to confirm. [color=F91890]"It's like, a tutorial experiment to make sure we know how all the equipment works and stuff!"[/color]

[color=c4df9b]"Oh, that's cool. Do we get to set things on fire?"[/color] Leah looked at the board, nodding casually. So, she was right and this was very far from a hard lesson, but that worked out okay. [color=c4df9b]"I remember the one where it turned the flame green, that was cool, but like, when I was little I thought there'd be way more explosions; like fireworks, but more science-y."[/color]

[color=F91890]"Green fire sounds super cool!"[/color] Roxy said, looking up at the board with anticipation. She turned her eyes back towards the materials provided for them with a slight hint of disappointment, though. [color=F91890]"I think we're just supposed to, like, boil some water and pour some salt into it or something. Not as cool."[/color]

With the actual lesson being fairly uninteresting, Roxy's mind wandered slightly in line with Leah's thoughts. [color=F91890]"Yeah; or things would like, turn all sorts of cool colors and stuff. Or like on those Youtube videos where they freeze stuff with liquid nitrogen and then shatter them! Those are super neat!"[/color]

[color=c4df9b]"Do you think..."[/color] Leah paused for a moment, before a wicked glint appeared in her eye. Now that was an idea. [color=c4df9b]"We could try putting, like, super cold water in the beaker once it's hot. And see what happens. That's, like, a real science experiment! I mean, we already know salt water exists."[/color]

[color=F91890]"Wouldn't it just...get warm?"[/color] Roxy asked, somewhat puzzled by the suggestion. 

[color=c4df9b]"No, it's like... it's just like the nitrogen. When you take something like glass and make it way hotter, then colder really quick, it shatters. It's to do with stuff expanding and contracting or whatever, at least I think. I don't know. That's why it's science."[/color]

[color=F91890]"Really?"[/color] Roxy said. Her expression quickly flashed from excitement, to concern, to looking over where the teacher was helping out another pair of students, over to Leah. [color=F91890]"Should we really be breaking things, though? We might get into trouble for that."[/color]

[color=c4df9b]"Not if it's an 'accident'." [/color]Leah chuckled, adding some quick air quotes for effect. [color=c4df9b]"You know. Just trying to wash it for the teacher. We can't get in trouble for that, right?" Her eyes brightened a little. "[i]Explosions[/i], Roxy."[/color]

Slowly, the trepedation in Roxy's eyes gave way to enthusiasm, culminating in a small nod. [color=F91890]"It [i]would[/i] be really cool..."[/color]

[color=c4df9b]"Cool! We should actually do the experiment first, though, keep up with the work and everything."[/color] Leah nodded slightly, getting the burner set up. [color=c4df9b]"Could you get the, uh, beaker filled up and stuff?"[/color]

[color=F91890]"Oh yeah! Good idea!"[/color] Roxy said, quickly pulling everything together. She quickly filled up the beaker with plain water from the sink they had at their station, and passed it over to Leah, reaching for the box that every pair of students had been given as part of the lesson. 

[color=F91890]"Twenty Mule Team Borax."[/color] Roxy said plainly, flipping the carton over in her hands and investigating it further. [color=F91890]"Not salt; so don't like...taste it or anything."[/color] she added as an offhand warning.

[color=c4df9b]"There go my plans,"[/color] Leah laughed, rolling her eyes jokingly as she started to, [color=c4df9b]"this shouldn't take too long. Plus, it's not too complicated, so I can pay like... half attention. Unless the school has super dodgy equipment."[/color]

[color=F91890]"It's a public school in Maryland; we should probably just be happy that the burner hasn't set us on fire yet!"[/color] Roxy said, giving her own little chuckle. She passed the box over to Leah, picking up the two pipe cleaners they'd been giving and holding them out in front of her.

[color=F91890]"Which do you want? Red or blue?"[/color]

[color=c4df9b]"Hmmm."[/color] Leah didn't hesitate more than a moment before picking with a smile, [color=c4df9b]"I'll take the red."[/color]

[color=F91890]"Blue for me, then!"[/color] Roxy said, taking the pipe cleaner and bending it into a small loop on the bottom.

[color=F91890]"Alrighty; so you've just gotta heat up the water and mix in as much Borax as you can before it won't mix anymore. I've gotta find two beakers and wash them out!"[/color] Roxy said, half reading from her notebook and half looking through the various drawers along the lab table.

[color=c4df9b]"Sure, sure, no problem."[/color] Add the thingy to the other thingy, and wait for them to become one thingy. Leah would start paying more attention once things weren't, like, easy enough to be boring. But unless she had it wrong, that'd take at least a few weeks of class to happen if it ever did.

[color=c4df9b]"I think I spotted a couple of spares on the counter over there, if you wanna grab those."[/color]

Roxy hummed quizically, looking over to where Leah was pointing. "Oh! Yeah!" she exclaimed, hopping off her stool to snag them off the counter and returning. Between Leah's mixing and Roxy's moral support, it only took a few minutes for the water to be heated up, the borax mixed in, and the solution poured into the two beakers.

[color=F91890]"How do you spell your name?"[/color] Roxy asked, having stencilled her own out in marker on a notecard.

[color=c4df9b]"L-E-A-H. Now c'mon."[/color] She smiled, looking at the successful experiment. Yeah, that was about as easy as she'd expected, so. Explosions. Because really, things were kind of dull on the science front right now, so... yeah. It was easy enough to disguise it as over enthusiastic cleaning as she moved the beaker to the sink without giving it time to cool down.

Aaaaand, just needed some cold water there...

Well, she was right. Although it wasn't quite as dramatic as she'd hoped. Probably the whole beaker wasn't hot enough for that, but the portion where the burner's flame had been directly on gave way, leaving them with a small, smooth-edged hole. [color=c4df9b]"Huh. I mean, it's not like, an explosion, but that looks kind of cool right?"[/color]

Roxy was still in the middle of spelling Leah's name when she saw Leah moving the beaker over, and she leaned back just a bit; enough that she wouldn't get hit by any shrapnel, at least. The sound of shattering glass made her jump slightly, despite it being nothing more than a small hole. The anticipation of an explosion was the biggest factor to her surprise, and she regained her composure almost immediately, leaning in to look.

[color=F91890]"I mean...it's cool, yeah."[/color] Roxy said, the slightest hint of disappointment in her voice. [color=F91890]"Not really what I was expecting though."[/color]

[color=c4df9b]"Yeah, I guess 'cause it all heated the most in one spot. I think they'd notice if we tried to heat up the whole thing the same, though, or got some liquid nitrogen."[/color] Leah sighed, looking pretty disappointed herself. [color=c4df9b]"Which I don't think I know how to do anyway, so I guess we're gonna have to wait for explosions. Unless something unexpected happens, but that'd be bad 'cause explosions suck if you're not the one making them."[/color]

[color=F91890]"What about, like, fireworks?"[/color] Roxy asked, missing the point completely.

[color=c4df9b]"I mean, sudden fireworks right now would also be bad."[/color]

[color=F91890]"Would they?"[/color] Roxy asked with such a conviction that it might have caught a lesser person off guard. [color=F91890]"What if they were like, 'welcome back to school' pep rally fireworks? That'd be pretty neat."[/color]

[color=c4df9b]"I... guess? That just seems like a way to make fireworks sadder."[/color]

[color=F91890]"Nonono."[/color] Roxy said, shaking her head. [color=F91890]"Fireworks at any event makes it way better. Like...a funeral or something! If there were fireworks, it'd be a pretty sweet funeral!"[/color]

As she spoke, her eyebrow raised as if she remembered something, and she finished Leah's notecard quickly and handed it to her; the penmanship was nothing spectacular, but it was the little heart in the corner that really brought it up to eleven.

Despite herself, Leah smiled a little at the notecard, seeming a little distracted, [color=c4df9b]"thanks. And I'll keep the funeral suggestions in mind,"[/color] something seemed to catch her attention and she laughed, eyes bright, [color=c4df9b]"not that they'll be needed anytime soon!"[/color]

[color=F91890]"Good!"[/color] Roxy said as she smiled widely, allowing herself to be infected by Leah's apparent happiness. Her good mood didn't dim as she twisted her piper cleaner into loops, and then tied it around a pencil, holding it up for Leah to see so she could follow.

[color=F91890]"And that's that! We've got cool crystal-thingies in the making, we blew up a beaker with science...I think that's a pretty good first experiment!"[/color]

[color=c4df9b]"It sure is, partner!"[/color] Leah nodded in agreement, raising her hand to offer for a fist bump.

Roxy returned the fist bump with barely contained excitement. [color=F91890]"And we'll make the next one even better!"[/color]
[/hider]

[hider=Loaded: Leah and Mackenzie]
[url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5050356]Linky[/url][/hider]