Birds of a Feather (Avery)

[Kate Holden]

Kate had been having a great time exploring Blue Ridge, as she did with all new places, and with it being so big, it seemed as if she could just keep going. This afternoon she'd decided that she was going to go check out the reserve, which she'd been interested in since she'd heard of it. She'd loved the parks back home, and definitely wanted to check it out, and spend some time outside. She'd wanted to take her bicycle there, but that would have to wait because of the snow. So she'd walked, bundling up in her wool coat and winter wear to go exploring.

Having arrived, she immediately noticed the playground, which had no children playing on it. The sight had depressed Kate immensely, and she'd immediately starting climbing on it, running to the top to look out over the reserve. It was pretty, especially with the snowy covering. Kate wondered if it would freeze over when it got colder so she could go ice skating. She'd enjoyed doing just that at a park near her home, and occasionally had dragged Peter out with her. If it did freeze, she'd definitely get him to go with her.

Someone had already slid down the slide since the last snowfall, so it was dry, and Kate slid down, stopping herself before she flew into the snow at the bottom. Standing up and brushing some snow off, she made her way over to the swings and sat down on one, gripping the chains through her gloves. She could feel the cold metal through them, but held on anyways as she pushed off, pumping her legs to go higher and higher with her hair flying and hat threatening to fly off.

clothes

[Avery Jacobs]

Avery was in quite the thoughtful mode as she sit in her last class of the day. She wasn’t at all interested in paying attention and after multiple reminders and comebacks from the teacher; the girl was frustrated as well. Coming back to school from winter break was never an easy thing to do, and while she had missed Peter, Avery had certainly not missed all the studying and having to use her brain too extensively for things she didn’t think made much sense in the first place to even try learning. Yawning slightly, she jumped as the teacher snapped at her for a question.

The girl gave the man a somewhat annoyed look before answering with “What?” Rolling her eyes as the lecture on paying attention came to respond her rather rude answer, Avery tuned out very quickly. She’d received at least five of those things today and had nearly gotten a detention already. She knew she’d had better tone it down, but sometimes she just didn’t want to go to class. The girl looked outside, and then at the clock for what felt like the hundredth time. For the first time that day, Avery felt a grin spread across her face. Thirty more seconds till the bell rang.

She counted them, annoyed to realize it rang exactly two seconds than what she’d assumed. Still, wasting no time, Avery hopped out of the classroom, getting out before the teacher could call her over and lecture her even more. She certainly didn’t need that, as she had a lot of thinking to do. Too many thoughts had been coming into her head and she needed some time to sort them out. Deciding on going to reserve, Avery figured it wouldn’t hurt to take a few swings on the swing perhaps. She enjoyed the feeling of flying, even if it looked a bit childish. Avery wasn’t the type to care what others thought.

Her north face did a pretty nice job of protecting her from the cold as did her Ugg boots as she walked carefully through the pavement that had already been snow cleared. She could’ve taken a car, as she knew to drive, though she hadn’t been able to buy one just yet. Besides, walking seemed like a much more refreshing way to get to the reserve and Avery needed something to clear mind.

Spotting the swings, the girl was a slight bit dismayed to see another girl occupied one of the swings, but decided it wouldn’t hurt. Something about the way she dressed and seemed to just fly on the seat comforted any thoughts of her being an annoying little freshman and Avery took a seat next to her before launching her swing off as well. The metal was cold to her bare fingers, but she honestly couldn’t care less. Feeling a bit curious about this young girl that didn’t seem to have any parents around or anything, Avery finally opened her blunt mouth and turned toward her. “Do you go to BRRA?”

[Kate Holden]

Kate had sort of been watching the reserve around her as she swung up and down. It hadn't been that effective, since the perspective was always changing pretty dramatically, but it was also pretty obvious when another figure came into view. Kate was immediately interested, and didn't try to hide it, watching as the girl grew closer and closer to her and the swings. The other girl appeared to be a couple years older than Kate at least, maybe around Peter's age, but Kate was never really good at telling these things. It didn't really matter to her that much, as Kate would no doubt talk to her anyways if she got near enough.

Kate couldn't say that she wasn't a bit surprised when the girl took a seat on the swing next to her, though she did like the stranger quite a lot more because of it. She obviously appreciated how great swinging was. It was second best to flying on the back of a horse. Whenever she'd been asked those stupid questions like "What superpower would you choose if you could have any one?" Kate had always answered with flying. It was, in fact, one of the only questions of the type that she would actually answer nicely, the way the teachers had wanted her to. They'd just seemed ridiculous to her, but flying had been a legitimate wish. So she'd found different ways, first swinging, and soon leaping in ballet shoes, and then finding her way onto the back of a horse.

Looking over at the girl when she sat down, Kate smiled brightly in greeting, still keeping up her swinging. The question made her smile, since she was very excited to say the answer, since she was now, in fact, a student at BRRA. "Yeah," she answered, smiling nonchalantly, "I just started this week." Craning her neck to see the girl she grimaced when she saw her bare hands. Peering down at her own gloves, she inquired, "Do you want one of my gloves?" Kate fully realized how ridiculous the question was, but it was still completely legitimate. Had the girl not been swinging next to her in a playground at Blue Ridge Riding Academy, Kate probably wouldn't have offered anything at all, but she was. And she certainly wasn't gong to give up both her gloves! Maybe if it was a friend she would, but she didn't know this girl, so the offer was one, which was fair in Kate's logic.

[Avery Jacobs]

Avery was feeling rather open minded at the moment despite her annoyance with the teacher. It was a rare moment for her, though she had been feeling weird things or more specifically old things when Peter came into the picture. She couldn’t help but think about the boy a lot throughout her day, and while she felt as if she was sometimes a girl in grade school crushing on someone, Avery was not ashamed. The brunette did not give two craps whether anyone would judge her for what she thought, because mind readers didn’t exist. Well, at least to her they didn’t.

She even didn’t mind if people saw her swinging on a playground either. Avery really wasn’t the one to mind these little things anyhow, though she certainly got a bit self-conscious when it came to things about her past. Pushing back onto her tip toes, Avery couldn’t deny how good the feeling was when she let her swing go off. Reveling in it for a moment, she appeared a bit dreamy for perhaps the first time in her life before the younger girl’s reply stopped her already descending thoughts. The brunette raised a brow, knowing she probably had seen pretty much everyone that went to the school by now.

Though she didn’t want to admit it, she’d been at BRRA for a good enough time, and though it wasn’t much, she knew her way through most of the nooks and crannies around the school by now. Avery made a little ‘o’ face as the girl went onto tell her that she had just started. Despite her nonchalant face, the brunette could bet five bucks the girl was quite excited. Unlike others, Avery had really not been due to the fact her brother was going here. Still, it hadn’t been too bad or awkward so far.

Avery couldn’t help but feel a bit surprised at the girl’s offer to share her gloves. Only one other person had shared their stuff so quickly and gently before, and that person had ended up being someone quite important and perhaps one of the biggest reasons why Avery actually perhaps liked the school. Despite the girl’s sweet offer, Avery couldn’t help but chuckle at the one-glove thing. She shook her head gently, “That’s alright, but thanks.” The brunette took a closer look at the girl again, narrowing her eyes slightly. Was it just her, or did the girl looked like someone that didn’t seem to want to leave her mind? Avery tilted her head before going off in her blunt tone “You look like someone I know.” The brunette said it quite casually, in more of a comment than a questionable tone.

[Kate Holden]

Kate pointed her toes straight out as she swung, which gave her an odd feeling when she swung all the way back, as if she were going to fall. She cared enough about what people thought, but in her opinion, swinging was not something that should be considered weird. Swinging was fun! She liked this girl next to her, who was swinging too. Too many people gave up fun things as they got older, in Kate's opinion. She was glad to see that at least some people didn't. She didn't want to turn that way.

Kate wasn't particularly surprised that the girl had refused her offer of the glove, and just shrugged. She'd certainly be more comfortable with both, so she didn't push the issue. If the girl had wanted them, she would have accepted them. The older girl's chuckle didn't really surprise her either, and it didn't seem very condescending, so Kate didn't prickle as she might have with someone else.

The girl's following statement though, did catch Kate a little by surprise, and she tilted her head to the side a bit, pursing her lips in thought. "Really?" she started, considering how to reply, "Well, my brother goes to BRRA, so maybe you've seen him." She and Peter didn't look too much alike, but they had some similarities. Though, she girl had said that she knew this person, and Kate quite doubted that she knew Peter. Maybe she'd seen him, but it was unlikely that they were anything more than acquaintances. She knew Peter well, and he wasn't one to get close to many people. In fact, the only person at Blue Ridge she'd heard him speak of was a girl named Avery that she had yet to meet.

OOC: I just realized that Kate has an accent, so it may be easier for Avery to guess than her.

[Avery Jacobs]

Loving the whoosh of the wind whistling through her hair out as she swung up and down, Avery was semi lost in her thoughts as focused on the smaller girl beside her. It hadn’t occurred to her that the girl had an accent, or the fact she looked exactly like the girl in the photos Peter had shown her far earlier in their relationship; to be exact- the very first day she’d met him. Thinking seemed to be the one thing Avery had been swinging on the swing for, and despite her usual way of looking so cool and collected, Peter had certainly been softening her a bit.

Besides, swinging ever so freely kept her from thinking about things that reached too deep into her past. Till the moment she’d gotten distracted with other things, everything from the change to her father’s alcoholic problems had been mercilessly circulating around her head. Avery was rather sick of it, and was happy to not see the events that passed when she closed her eyes. Softly letting her back bend a bit as the swing went up again, Avery shifted herself like a grass strand in the wind. Slowly, the thoughts on the little girl came back to her.

Avery opened her eyes with a start as the brunette went to reply back to earlier blunt statement. Slowly, it began to fall into place for Avery. She was quite confused a moment. It was no secret this girl had an accent, and Avery quickly figured out what had given her a little memory jolt as the girl had said her brother went to the school. The brunette raised a brow – Peter had showed her a picture of his little sister! The very first day they had met and she had nearly crept right under his nose to look at his intriguing photography.

The brunette felt a silly grin coming over her lips as she looked at the girl from head to toe. Had Peter mentioned her to the girl? Avery thought back hard, trying to remember her name. “Her name is Kate; she just turned fourteen…” Peter had said. The brunette felt her grin grow as she whipped her head around to look at Kate with her full attention. “You’re Peter’s sister.” she clarified slightly in a comment more than a question as always. She chuckled hopefully as she commented quietly “I’m Avery.” Despite her usual dislike of such silly introductions, Avery couldn’t help but feel as if this one was one that was particularly necessary.

[Kate Holden]

Kate hadn't been putting a huge amount of thought into who this girl next to her was. She was just yet another stranger in the sea of them that she'd found at this school. She was becoming a bit bored of them, if that made sense, and longed to begin recognizing some people. She was tired of the introductions and everything that came with them. This girl had caught her attention more than most people had though, mostly because of her swinging in the middle of winter, or swinging at all for that matter.

She supposed that she was becoming homesick. She missed the familiarity of things, and it kind of made her nervous. She'd been so ready to leave her home, but now realizing how far away she really was, it as a different story. She had known that the homesickness would come, but not this hard and this fast. Peter had warned her too, but she'd just figured that she'd be fine, and since Peter was there, it wouldn't be too bad. It was becoming pretty bad, in that way that she even missed the things that she used to be annoyed with.

When Kate looked up to the girl again, she found that she seemed to be looking Kate over, and rather than looking away uncomfortable, Kate just watched her. The only thing that made her uneasy about the situation was the grin on the girl's face that almost appeared to be goofy. She girl appeared to be deep in though, and Kate was just about to say something when the girl whipped back to face her. Her swing was only swinging a bit now, as she hadn't been working to keep in swinging, and she jerked a bit from the sudden movement the girl made towards her.

“You’re Peter’s sister.” The words took a moment to register in Kate's mind and she narrowed her eyes, wondering how this girl knew who she was. Sure, she had the accent, but Kate had already learned that there were quite a few students at the school with accents. The chuckle brought her back, and when the girl introduced herself, a mischievous smile settling on her lips. "So you're this Avery, she spoke, her eyes gleaming. She'd let the girl wonder what Peter had said about her, and what exactly "this" Avery meant.