Only The Young [Layne/Chloe]

[Coulson Pike]

13 Years Ago

Finally! Freedom!

Cole rushed out into the quiet Nabradian countryside, completely ignoring whatever it was his mother was saying about the maids having the dinner ready before sundown. Well, he heard it, it just didn't make any difference, and his mother knew it too. He'd either show up early, eat and make a break back out into the open air or he'd be there half an hour a late. She didn't actually mind, either. Free time wasn't something Cole actually had that much of lately between his studies and- well, mostly with his studies. Studies in the Pike family were basically like holding a full-time job, between having a mother who was a noble and a father who was a noted military officer and instructor. Cole had been behind a book or a sword all day and frankly, he needed a break. Breaks for Cole weren't exactly breaks, though. They were "let me go out and wear myself out to a point where I'm going to collapse." But he couldn't go out and do that alone, right? Nope. He needed to drag others along with him, and he had the perfect idea for who to drag.

Cole kept on in his run until he'd gotten closer to the edge of the city, at which point he finally slowed down to catch his breath with his hands on his knees. Once he'd gotten to the point he could breath like normal, he stood up and looked at the short row of houses before him. Dang, he always forgot which house it was. Forming a complaint on his lips but not speaking it, Cole trudged forth, peering past fence gates and down walkways to try and figure out the right house. Was it the fourth? No, no...it didn't have the right door. Fifth? Wait...yeah...no...the garden looked right. Cole inspected the house more closely, wondering who in their right mind had locked the gate. Oh well, that never stopped him. Planting a hand onto the fence and hopping over it, Cole stumbled sideways, landing on a decorative stone. "Ah crap," he said under his breath to himself once he'd recovered. He trotted up the little path all stealthy-like (in his own mind), still trying to make sure he had the right house. Yeah, it had that...weird thing going on with one of the windows. This was it!

Grinning mischievously, Cole stepped around to the proper side of the house and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Laaaayne Rileeeeey!", Cole started, pausing to listen in for a response for only a couple of short seconds before he started up his yelling again. "Okaaay! Guess you don't want to go finding that well that some crazy old guy hid all his money in! I'll just go home now!" Very pleased with himself, Cole stepped back a bit and found himself tripping over another decorative rock. Again, he muddled some complaints to himself and straightened up immediately, trying to remain cool. No one had seen that, right? Everyone was in their houses or out on the street or- oh. Crap. Cole stopped short when he noticed a black-headed figure on the opposite side of the fence. He couldn't tell immediately if she was looking at him, but he knew that once he'd seen her she'd probably seen him. He was only standing there completely obvious, too. And...it looked like a girl. Probably his age, too... Ah, yeah, he'd really done a great job this time.

Oh! Wait, it was that girl from the Rozarrian family that had moved down here not too long ago. Cole's whole family had bugged them for a little while to greet them, but he hadn't actually gotten the name since he'd been distracted with something or another at the time. Fre-...Freez-....uh... It was something with an F. And the girl here before him was...Ceelee? Ch-... Why was he bad with names like this? Well, it didn't matter if he couldn't think of the name. He had to...stop standing here like an idiot and get over there to talk to her. Because..actually, she was kind of pretty, and Cole had to touch base with all the pretty girls around his age in Nabudis at least once. It was...custom or something. Yeah.

Well, he needed to say something anyway, especially while he was waiting for Layne. Scratching at his head slightly, Cole casually made his way over to the fence, leaning his elbows on it once he got there. "Hey, uh- you're new into town, right? From Rozarria?" Just avoid the fact that he'd forgotten her name despite the fact that he now thought she'd even introduced herself to him in passing...yep...keep the conversation simple...

Tagged - Kid!Layne and kid!Chloe!
Words - 870
Muse - Excellent!
Place - Residential area of Nabudis
Outfit - Boop
Notes - Fabulous. This will be that.[/size]

[chloe]

Well, things were starting to become less hectic. It’d only been a few days since the move from Rozarria, but Chloe wanted nothing more than her old bed, her old home and the friends she’d grown to know and play with outside on a good warm day. This place was not home, she had no friends, didn’t know the location well, and always seemed to get lost because of that. With her father on business all day there was nothing to do aside from wander the streets and try to get a feel for this place. Of course eyes turned her way, the dark hair and skin pretty much labeled her as a Rozarrian, it was as if they’d never seen someone from Rozarria before! How silly were people these days? Then again, Rozarria would’ve probably been the same way had the tables been turned. Oh well, with the idea of going out and learning the city a bit more, Chloe had her hands crossed behind her back as she wandered around the more residential area of Nabradia. What she was going to find? Probably nothing.

With a small skip in her step, the young Rozarrian let her eyes wander, taking in some of the buildings and trying to give herself new landmarks to go off of when it was time to go home. Her father wouldn’t be home for awhile, and he had told her to try and open up to people, to make new friends while they were here, so I guess you could call this her best effort, wandering around like a deer in headlights looking at buildings and not finding anything really all that interesting worth stopping and staring at. With a heavy sigh, Chloe took one stomp, not frustrated all that much with the city, but the fact that she wasn’t even familiar with anyone or anything, was she really going to be that one kid who became the outcast, had no friends and nothing to do? Goodness she couldn’t wait until she turned eighteen, only six more years to go and then she could go off on her own and be that treasure hunter she’d always wanted to be. Anything that involved discoveries and adventures, she wanted a full life, and that was her long term goal, easily achievable, right?

Starting up again, Chloe let her eyes move to the different houses, though some of them looked the same in ways, others different. She gave a small frown at the lack of people, but the silence was quickly cut by the sound of a voice shouting at someone or something. Whipping her head around to catch sight of a boy roughly her age yelling at a house for some…Layne Riley – sounded too much like ‘lame’ to be sure – and that’s when she rose an eyebrow, placing her hands on her hips and wondering who was just crazy enough to shout at a house. Moving her hands from her hips to become folded across her chest, her eyes then widened a bit as she met gaze with the boy, whoever he was. She was just standing here staring at him? How creepy. Then again, wouldn’t the normal person look when someone was shouting at nothing? That would be her excuse. Watching him go towards the fence, Chloe simply kept her stance before being spoken to about being new. Of course she was knew, did the whole ‘I’ve got that Rozarrian look’ not give that away?

Oh well, this was opening up and making friends! Being social, which Chloe was very social…back in Rozarria. “Yeah, I’m new around here. I guess word travels fast…or I just stick out.” She shrugged a bit before relaxing somewhat, having actually started to talk to someone made her feel only slightly better. Her eyes traveled from the new face to the house he’d been yelling at, then back to him.”I’m Chloe, by the way. From Rozarria as you had guessed.” She said adding a grin to her face, being nice and pleasant was always the way to go when meeting new people. Rocking back on her heels and letting her dark eyes move to the house again, she pointed towards the home, tilting her head slightly. “Is it normal to shout at houses? I didn’t think people were that crazy in Nabradia.” That was a joke of course…sort of, unless he really was crazy. Then again, the crazier the better, right!? Normal was so overrated.

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Words:[/color] 852
Muse:[/color] Great!
Tagged:[/color] Cole, Layne
Wearing:[/color] >>Because of Reasons<<
Listening To:[/color] Stuffs!
Notes:[/color] Nada!

[Layne Riley]

What a drag. Here it was, a beautiful day out, and her mom had told her that she couldn't go outside until she had her room clean. With a frustrated huff, Layne folded yet another pair of pants and placed it inside the drawers. It was taking her so long because Layne would pause and stare longingly out the window at every opportunity that she could. If she would finish this, then she could go out there! "Stupid cleaning," she muttered out, throwing a shirt in the next drawer down. Next thing she did was dust off her side table, moving around and humming to herself, still shooting longing looks toward her window. She just wanted to be outside! Of aaall days to remind her to clean, it had to be today?! The day before had been rainy...but of course no mention of it then.

A moment later though, a familiar voice shouted her name. Instantly Layne rolled her eyes. Didn't Cole know that she had better things to do then-...

The next instant she had ran to her window. Quickly she snapped it open and put her hands down flat on the sill to lean out. "Coulson Pike!" Scanning the area quickly, hazely eyes found him instantly, tripping over the stone pieces. "You're totally lying!", she shouted back at him. But what made her so sure? Besides that, why had that little bit of information perked her up so much? Except...well goodness, that old guy was crazy! It was entirely possible that Cole could have figured it out. "Hey," she asked when he started to trot away. ...Well crap!

"Layne? Is that you?" ...her mom. Running over toward the door, Layne shouted down at her mother. "Yeah mom, I'm still up here! Just cleaning, I'm alright." Dang it, she was going to be cooped up in here while Cole ran off and got that old guys money! That was so unfai-...or... Layne hated to lie, but some situations called for you to sneak out. She classified these as one of those. Hopefully her mom wouldn't come up here while she was out. She could always blame it on-...something. but she couldn't let Cole get all of that himself!

Running toward the window, Layne crawled out of the window, balancing there for a second before she jumped for the arbor that her moms vine crawled up. She used this to get in and out of her window. Not that she ever snuck out. Nope, never. Getting her balance, Layne proceeded to start crawling down. "Just you hold your horses Cole," she muttered out, finally reaching the bottom and crouching so her mom wouldn't see her. And then she took off after where Cole had gone, seeing him talking to...well she should remember her name. They had moved in somewhat recently, right? She had heard her name and met her once or twice, but it wasn't like this girl was as well known to her as Cole was. Jogging up to the two children, Layne turned first to the girl about her age, being polite. "Hello, you're new here, right? I'm Layne!" But there was more important stuff to ask about. Tugging on Cole's short sleeve, she narrowed at her eyes at him slightly. "You weren't pulling my leg, were you Cole? You know about some place we can loot?" Layne had always thought that the 'treasure hunter' life seemed appealing. Of course, that was just a fancy term for thief, but hey, whatever worked! Cole could be a pain in the royal rear end sometimes, as all boys could be, but Layne had to admit, he was the best person to hang around if you wanted adventure. And she, unfortunately, was a sucker for adventure.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Words:; 785
Muse:; Great!
Location:; Nabudis
Outfit:;Click!
Tagged:; Cole and Chloe!
Notes:; --
Listening To;: --

[Coulson Pike]

Was Layne yelling something to him? Yep, probably was, but it didn't matter, since he was going to completely ignore her until she got down here and looked like she was going to head off with him. Yep! Silent treatment 'til she got her butt down here...which gave Cole the time to talk to the pretty new Rozarrian girl, which was the nice thing to do. His mom was a noble, anyway, so he'd learned everything about how to be an ambassador and greet new, possibly strange people. Or he would have learned everything about it, if he could have actually remembered anything about those times when she'd done some ambassador-like duties. Actually...he'd been pretty bored at all those kinds of events, unless there was someone either funny-looking or interesting-looking that could keep him occupied. So..he hadn't learned anything. He was still going to talk to this girl. The more people his age around here that he knew, the better, even if he could now see that this one was very...yellow.

And she talked and he could understand her! See, he totally made a great ambassador. He listened to her talking for a few seconds, deciding Rozarrians probably had the best voices ever, before he spoke back. "I'm Cole, from....here," he told her, adding his own grin, before he pointed to the top of her head, "where we don't have black hair." Nope, all Nabradians were blond like Layne or brown-haired like him and they all had kind of even-toned, so when a dark Rozarrian or a pasty Dalmascan showed up out of nowhere and started walking around, they pretty much stuck out completely. He wasn't going to go telling the new person that, but it was true. It didn't mean no one liked the foreign people that showed up, it's just that they were there, and you could notice. Yes, he was thinking in circles so he could try to figure out what else to say.

...Shouting at a house? What? Well, chalk one up for the first strange thing she'd said so far. Did she really think he was shouting at the house? Was this some kind of secret Rozarrian code he didn't know about? "Well...", Cole began, before pointing a hand at the house and turning just in time to see...Layne shuffling out the window all awkward-like, telling him to hold his horses or something. Okay, so she had good timing, and there was his proof that Nabradians didn't shout at houses. They just shouted at strange, short girls who clambered out of windows sometimes, and that was a whole lot better. After watching Layne in confusion for a few seconds, Cole looked back to Chloe, nodding his head and pointing back at the descending blond again, as awkwardly as he had before. ...her. The thing I was shouting at." Not a thing, but...still, he got his point across and now no one would think he was shouting at a house. Why would anyone think he was shouting at a house anyway?

Pfft, who cared? Cole tried to look disgustedly at Layne as she came over, doing some kind of sneaking act, and introduced herself to Chloe. Yaaay, now that they all knew each other. Cole looked between them, scratching at his scrunched up nose, before certain girls started getting in his personal space. He put a hand on his hip, putting on a show of rolling his eyes. "The only person pulling on anything here is you," he said, trying to sound as bored with her as he possibly could. Kind of a tough thing to do when you were really, really excited to drag said girl off to dig around in some grumpy old man's well. "Of course I know some place to loot. I always do." He folded his arms proudly at that statement. And it was true, he did. He had his ways of learning about said places. They weren't always good ways and they'd probably let someone catch him eventually, but if they hadn't yet, there wasn't much point in worrying about it, was there?

He poked Layne roughly in the side. "But, if you're too busy to go, I can probably find the stuff just fine by myself. Or I'll get stuck in the well because I'm too big and no one will ever find me and I'll starve....no big deal." Yep, that would get her riled up, wouldn't it? In fact, he'd add on to make sure she believed him and came along! "Or...I could take Chloe with me. She's small too, you know..."

Oh yeah. Cole had this in the bag.

Words - 850
Muse - Excellente!
Notes - I love this thread too much already. XD[/size]

[chloe]

There was one thing about being a Rozzarian native that Chloe had to keep in mind when talking to other people. Talk slower, the accent could kind of smush words together or even slipping into a Spanish language could throw people off completely. She spoke in a slower tone, relatively normal though, and did her best to pronounce her words more like the people she’d heard here in this town rather than her own. The first person she got to meet here was…Cole. A nice name, a nice kid too by the looks and sounds of it. Not many people had approached her or even said one word to her since moving here, not that she made it clear that she was up for conversation, besides, who wanted to talk to a twelve year old anyways? Adults liked to talk to other adults and Chloe was not going to start hanging out with anyone less than her age by a long shot. She was no babysitter, so finding someone her age was rare, but it seemed that a stroke of good luck had come her way finally.

“I see that, and…it’s nice to meet you Cole.” She said in a polite tone, being pretty friendly as well as she smiled slightly, nice to have met someone who didn’t give her odd looks for being Rozzarian or not accustomed to the way things were around here. In fact she was pretty sure people stared at her for walking around town with one of those so called ‘deer in headlights’ look on her face the entire time, trying to remember where she was going so that she could get back home. Anyways, moving on. Shouting at houses wasn’t normal, and Chloe wasn’t stupid enough to think that’d he’d try striking up a conversation with an inanimate object – unless he really was that weird – but it just added for something to say didn’t it? Moving her eyes from her newest acquaintance towards the home he’d been yelling at, a girl pulling herself out a window and scaling down the wall in the process. People here really were weird! Didn’t they know of these things called doors?! Without saying anything regarding what was going on, Chloe simply nodded at the blond girl whom Cole had been shouting at. “Oh.”

Watching the blond come up towards the group, Chloe let her eyes just read the expressions of this new face. She was nice, introduced herself quickly and all Chloe had time for was a nod in response, not getting her own name out there but that was okay, she could get it later. Layne had better things on her mind like…looting or whatever, and that idea grabbed the attention of this aspiring treasure hunter. Her gaze flickered back and forth between Cole and Layne, wondering what it was they were talking about. Looting, it sounded fun, but when the sound of her own name being thrown into the conversation was spoke, she tuned back in. She was going to go looting instead of Layne? Oh Cole was probably just ruffling Layne’s feathers that’s what!

Smiling slightly with a bit of a nervous laugh in her voice, she rubbed a hand at the back of her neck, moving her black hair out of the way she did so. “So you guys are going looting, hm? It sounds like fun, what kind of things do you guys usually find around here? I mean…you must’ve found something good once upon a time, right?” she almost felt an excited tone work its way into her voice, but there was NO WAY she was going to invite herself along. If Layne and Cole wanted her to tag along, they’d invite her, if they didn’t, then cool she’d still met some people who could be potential friends, there was always the rest of the town to explore…as dull as that sounded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Words:[/color] 746
Muse:[/color] Good!
Tagged:[/color] Cole, Layne
Wearing:[/color] Already linked!
Listening To:[/color] Nothing!
Notes:[/color] Nada!

[Layne Riley]

Giving some attention to the other girl about her age so as to be friendly, Layne smiled at her and introduced herself before she turned back toward Cole. Laying a hand on his arm, she quietly demanded if he was just pulling her leg or if he was actually being serious. The hand on the hip and the eye roll was so like him! Boys. You couldn’t live with them, and you couldn’t live without them. At least, that was what her father told her every time she went to him about her ‘boy problems’. Usually those problems included asking him why they did the things they did. And usually the things ‘they’ did, was just one boy. There wasn’t a ton of kids around, at least any she liked to hang out with. Jake was fun, but he was also two years older, and apparently fourteen year olds didn’t hang out with twelve year olds. Besides, he was usually too busy with her father and being all strict and by the book to have fun like they could. And the girls around the block were way too concerned about ‘cute’ boys, makeup, fingernail polish and shoes for her. What was so appealing about makeup anyway? And what exactly was a cute boy? They were all just…boys. So that left Cole to hang out with, at least when she wanted some adventure. In the meantime, he frustrated her.

And she hated that he could rile her up. Like now. “I’m not pulling anything Coulson. I was sitting inside my room, completely self-entertained, and then you had to go and yell at my house.” And if her mom yelled at her or caught her ‘missing’, then Layne was definitely blaming it on Cole. Because it had been his fault. Had he not yelled at her window, then she would be perfectly content with just being cooped up inside and cleaning her room! Okay, maybe not, but still. Why did she have to be such a sucker for adventure anyway?

And he was right. He did always have someplace fun to loot. Crossing her own arms to mirror his, she raised her eyebrow and tapped a foot. “Yeah, okay, touché Cole.”, she said with a sigh. Dang it, this was another thing she needed to talk to her dad about. The fact that he could always seem to twist everything and make himself seem right. Was it every boy that had that ability? And then he had to go and say that if she was too busy she didn’t have to go, and then being all dramatic. “Oh cut the drama Cole, you’re acting like a little girl,” she said teasingly (or maybe not), not caring at all that she had just dissed her own gender. Truth was truth. “And there’s no way you’re going to get the loot yourself,” she shot out, swatting at the hand that jabbed at her ribs. Boys! Ugh.

And of course, the last thing he said just riled her up completely. Bristling, Layne scowled at him, placing her hands on her hips in a ‘oh no you don’t Coulson Pike’ sort of gesture that she did somewhat often. “Oh no, Coulson Pike. There’s no way you’re not taking me along!” It was only right after that Chloe started talking that Layne remembered that the other girl was still there. Shooting Cole a look and ‘sneakily’ jabbing him back in the ribs for making her forget her manners, she sent a sincere smile over toward the girl. “Yeah, Cole usually figures out where stuff is, but I usually help him get it. What did the jeweler say we found that one time, Cole? In the caves south of town? The gems of some crown or something? I can’t remember now.” Of course, it had been blind luck that they had actually found it, what with Layne falling down that hole she hadn’t seen and landing right on top of them, something she wasn’t very proud of really. Her butt had been sore for two weeks.

But she remembered then her manners. Clearing her throat, she glanced over at Chloe, looking a little bit sheepish. So she had to be polite to the younger girl. Keeping that in mind, she offered a, “If you want, you can come with too?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Words:; 881
Muse:; Great!
Location:; Nabudis
Outfit:;Click!
Tagged:; Cole and Chloe!
Notes:; XD They're such epic children
Listening To;: Crazy - Simple plan

[Coulson Pike]

"You can't entertain yourself. I'm the only entertaining person around here, and you know it. You told me yourself before," Cole informed the blond, proudly. Oh yeah, he knew he was popular with her and with a bunch of other girls in town (the boring ones) because he was all kinds of awesome and adventury...unlike most guys here, who only talked about becoming merchants or politicians or something else boring. So yeah, he had the monopoly on convincing people to do stuff with him because he was the only one who really did anything interesting. And what better way to use that monopoly than to drag the girls along with him? There was no better way. Who else was he going to take along? A guy? His sister? Heck no. Hence why he let Layne tag along whenever he found something, and he did so out of the goodness of his heart, no doubt about it. He was always the one that found out about the loot, so if he didn't tell anyone he could have easily just gone off and gotten all of the loot for himself.

Maybe.

"Hey, you're the only professional on being a little girl here. I can't get it myself, huh? You think I tell you about all the loot out there, Layne?", he taunted and grabbed at her swatting hand, in response to her whole "I'm the girl here I have to be the mature one" spiel. He actually did tell her about all of it, but she didn't need to know that, did she? Nope, not at all. In fact, he made a point to look smug and keep his lips sealed any further on the subject. If she wanted more information, she'd just have to beg for it. Yep. Or just punch him or something...that usually worked too.

Actually, he was kind of shocked she didn't punch him after he said he was going to take the pretty brunette probably watching them in confusion along for the looting instead of her. Instead, he just got the hands on the hip treatment. "Maybe Chloe will appreciate my, uh...entertainment, unlike a blond girl I know." Speaking of Chloe, she was saying something again. Cole turned to her, only to get a poke in the side that had him jabbing Layne in the shoulder a few times, before Layne actually explained what it was they were talking about. Yeah, he probably should have done that before, but who had time to stand around and explain things!? Girls, apparently. This was why he was really, really glad he wasn't a girl. That, and the fact that girls looked so much better and it would probably not be the same if he was a girl too.. "Usually? I was pretty much thinking 'always'. I just know where to look for this kind of stuff," he blurted, almost talking over Layne in the process.

"Oh yeah, that was the gems to some cheap crown this fake, kind of dumb regent everyone hated used. It was back about two hundred years ago, when the king was too lazy to actually govern everything himself. Apparently, the regent around here tried to take over before the king showed up, beat him in a duel and took and stuck him back in that cave until he died. People were nice back then." Yep, Cole loved his history, and also loved sounding smart. When he could whip out both, it was just a bonus. He digressed, though, and turned to Layne, flashing a grin. Good memories. "Doesn't your butt hurt every time you bring that up?"

And then, Layne did exactly what Cole had kind of planned to do. Asked Chloe to come along with them. Hey, a guy heading out for an adventure with a girl on each arm? And pretty ones at that, and ones with accents too? Yep, he was all kinds of game for that. "Yeah, you should come," he added in. "But you gotta keep up! Even Layne has trouble with that sometimes." He had to add that. Just had to. "But daylight's wasting. Can we get going?"

Words - 742
Muse - Excellente!
Notes - Gah I love this.[/size]

[chloe]

This was really making Chloe feel like the odd one out, and really…she was. She was a Rozarrian, looked totally different, spoke differently and knew nobody here. She almost felt like sinking into silence before taking her leave to continue her own personal tour of this neighborhood area, but something made her feet nearly stick to the ground, maybe it was the actual opportunity to meet new people and develop friends? It just didn’t come easily to her, sure she was pretty talkative once she got out of her shy shell, but not many people warmed up to her around here, not that they didn’t like Rozarrians…but…sometimes people didn’t handle change very well. Shifting her weight around, gripping her hand around her opposite arm as she stood on the other side of the fence from both of the local kids, she simply let her eyes wander, still wondering if she should speak up or take her leave, either would work…but what did she really want to do?

It got so boring being alone all the time! That’s what was keeping her here, even if she was simply watching Coulson and Layne bicker back and forth, in a seemingly childish and very friendly manner of course, but Chloe wasn’t going to judge, she was just going to sit back and see what became of this, after all, Cole had brought her into the topic trying to get a rise out of Layne anyways, best see where this all went, right? Moving around again, becoming almost impatient, but not letting anything else cross her face in terms of emotion, the dark haired foreigner crossed her arms and simply waited to see what else would be heard, aside from friendly bantering. With somewhat of a mental push, Chloe spoke up, asking about what they would find around here in terms of treasure, especially when they went looting. It sounded very interesting, especially to someone who wanted to become somewhat of an archeologist, a treasure hunter of sorts, this was definitely right down her alley, but…she wasn’t going to intrude whatsoever. Chloe had manners, even now.

Listening to both kids talk, Chloe nodded her head slightly before shrugging some, it sounded alright…a nice adventure every now and then…but still, she had higher goals for the future. Looking towards the blonde one, Layne, Chloe blinked at her words of Chloe tagging along with them. Was that just…because she’d asked about the treasure hunting thing sort of? She hoped not, a pity party was not what the Rozarrian wanted, but when Cole backed Layne up, saying she should come, it made Chloe truly believe Layne’s words, a small smile even appeared on her face. Her entire expression seemed to lighten up at the idea of friends, getting to hang out and do something fun every now and then…how long had she waited to actually meet someone worth talking to? “Really? Okay!” she said with a more upbeat and cheery tone as she shifted herself again, ready to get going to wherever it was that Cole had planned for them. With somewhat of a scoff, the confident young lady shook her hand around, dismissing Cole’s words. “Don’t you worry about me, I can keep up with anyone and anything.” She said before shooting her eyes to Layne, giving her a small smile. “Maybe we’ll find something worthwhile, hm?” Oh the possibilities! It was no secret now that Chloe was fully enthusiastic about this, and she was ready to get going just as much as anyone else.

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Words:[/color] 698
Muse:[/color] Good for nearly 4 a.m.
Tagged:[/color] Cole, Layne
Wearing:[/color] Already linked
Listening To:[/color] Nothing
Notes:[/color] dunno where my brain is...here, enjoy a post!

[Layne Riley]

A very unlady like sigh of frustration left her lips when he proudly proclaimed that he was the only entertainment. Woah, she hadn’t told him that! Had he overhead her telling that to her brother? Blinking, Layne finally placed her hands on her hips, but decided that it was best to let him have this one and not argue. It wasn’t exactly true anyway. She had simply told Jake that he was the most fun, not that he was the only fun. She’d always been engrossed in history classes, so needless to say, Layne found herself attracted to actually going and finding a little bit of history. It was more the fun of thinking you might have found something from ancient times that was the most fun, and whether or not Cole wanted to admit it, she was a valuable person to take along. She was smaller than him, which meant she could fit into places easier, and, she openly boasted, she could do everything that the boys could do. Which wasn’t true, but she knew she could at least do most of everything the boys could do. And that was good enough for her.

Professional-…well of all the nerve! “I am a girl Cole, remember?” Her voice was somewhat exasperated by the time she got to that. Sometimes she liked to admit it, especially since most girls could do nothing but gawk at boys and talk about who they liked and what color they were going to paint their nails. That drove her crazy, and as far as she was concerned, boys were good for nothing but going on adventures with. Another reason why she usually hang out with those of the same sex, especially when she could be target practicing with her brother or off finding some treasure with Cole. Even if she didn’t like him in the least! And she told herself she didn’t! He was a…a boy. Eww. Unfortunately, it was a boy that was the most fun to hang out with, and so she usually ended up going with him whenever he went on these little adventures. An-…”You’re not going to tell me?”, she said in surprise, eyes widening, before she narrowed them again slightly. Of course he was going to tell her, he always ended up doing so. And he wasn’t just taking the new girl either!

Swatting at his hand that insisted on trying to poke her shoulder and continuing to send him ‘stop it’ glares as she explained to Chloe, Layne finally thought she won when he didn’t poke her anymore. Instead he seemed to want to talk, which was alright, considering he was talking about their feat of the crown they had found. Sure, it hadn’t been the most expensive bit of jewelry they could find, but it certainly hadn’t been the worst either, right? Not bad for two young teenagers! They were on their way to-…oh of course he would have to mention her backside. “No! Of course it doesn’t. Besides, my butt led us right to the treasure, so you should be thankful for-…for-…well you know,” she ended a bit lamely, glancing from Cole to Chloe. She didn’t much care if Cole knew, since she was used to him teasing her about the pain she’d had in her butt for weeks after that, but she didn’t want to give off a terrible impression around the new girl. Girls were usually horrified if you mentioned things like this, but thankfully she didn’t say anything about it.

She instantly shook her head to deny what Cole had said. “I do not have a hard time keeping up with you,” she looked disgruntled while she said it, lightly trying to kick him in the shin without Chloe noticing. She didn't make it very far before she gave up, not wanting to be noticed. But then they were supposed to be off. Shaking her head, Layne smiled at Chloe and then looked over at Cole. “Alright smarty pants. Where are we going today?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Words:; 832
Muse:; Great!
Location:; That place!
Outfit:; You know :3
Tagged:; Cole and Chloe!
Notes:;
Listening To;: Fade Away - Breaking Benjamin

[Coulson Pike]

"I was the one reminding you of that," Cole told Layne matter-of-factly, crossing his arms over his chest and nodding a little. He didn't wonder if she was a girl or anything, but if she ever did he'd be right there to remind her that she was one. After all, she didn't really spend much time with girls like...other girls did and...do their...whatever. It was probably some ritual he didn't want to know about that involved too much makeup, sleepovers and giggling about things that weren't funny. That kind of girl would run screaming away from anything involving dirt or dust. So..they could keep doing their weird rituals, and the real girls could keep doing what Layne did. Cole would never let her hear him giving her so much credit, but he could definitely think it without her finding out...or maybe not. Maybe she'd figured out mind-reading by now.

Or not, because he still had all the information about the good loot in his head and she was having to ask nicely for it. Cole rolled his head to the side, trying to sound disgusted with her. "I already told you about this one...but how do you know I don't find out about other things and go out to get them myself?", he chimed to her, mouth tearing into a grin. "It's all the more reason for you to be nice to me!" When she wasn't hitting him or looking angry at him, she usually was pretty nice about things. Didn't mean she couldn't improve! Everyone had room to improve...Cole's father and mother both had told him that plenty of times. Funny that he hadn't actually acted like he was listening at the time...

And then Layne had to go break the...uh, clear seriousness of the situation by saying something strange about her butt. Cole raised an eyebrow at her before shooting Chloe a look. "Even if I am thankful for your butt, I'm not sure Chloe wants to hear about it." Was Chloe going to be scarred if she stood there with them for much longer or if she went so far as to go out looking for the loot with them? Yep, if she wasn't already. And it wasn't going to be Cole that did the scarring. Sure, he gave Layne a few too many opportunities to go off on one of her rants, but she didn't have to go telling people about what her butt had and hadn't found and how thankful people should be for her butt, or anything like that. She just did, and while Cole thought it was hilarious...Chloe might end up running for her life back to her house before the day was over. And if she didn't...Cole would have even more of a reason to think she should tag along with them.

He shrugged at the dark-headed girl good-naturedly when she said she could keep up, pointing at Layne's face as he did so. "She says she can all the time like she did right then. I hold back out of courtesy," he said, before taking both of their cues as an excuse for him to escape Layne's wrath and get going on the trip. Grinning all the while, he pointed in the direction of the part of the fence he'd jumped and started that way. "Company march," he said, drolly, hopping over the fence and landing the jump much more smoothly this time as he started out onto the street to lead them out to where the well was supposed to be. Oh yeah, this was going to be a good afternoon.

Words - 672
Muse - Excellente!
Notes - Nothing. [/size]

[chloe]

This was like…something Chloe hadn’t expected. These two were simply talking back and forth, and she could definitely tell they were friends. All the Rozarrian could do was stand by, let her eyes flash back and forth from one to the other, and try not to look as amused as she was from beyond the fence where she stood. The urge to smile at their…friendly bantering had risen in the girl, but she didn’t want to come across as rude or anything, you only got one first impression to make, and that was the one that really counted, she’d always believed that…thus, she was on her A-game right here, not wanting to make any mess-ups, anything that could get these two kids to dislike her. After all, she really was the new kid on the block, there was no need to start making enemies, or rather, just not make friends in general…she wanted to have friends, and upon meeting these two…she’d been completely alone aside from her dad. This was a good thing…she could see it already.

Looking between the two as they were discussing…this, that, and the other thing…the other thing being Layne’s butt, Chloe let a small sigh escape her lips. Friendly friends, how nice was that? It was almost exciting since she hadn’t gotten to really meet anyone thus far. They seemed like two very nice people, especially since Cole had spoken to her first, she didn’t have to reach out to people first. It was nice…in a weird sort of lonely kid way. Which was another reason that she kept quiet for now, she was new, kind of shy around this lot, not really knowing where to go with anything in terms of what to say. It wasn’t like she had anything to really offer to them in terms of a topic, they had no history…and nothing she had to say would be all that interesting, Chloe herself could vouch for that. With glances towards the two, Chloe shifted her weight around before she spoke up about being able to keep up with them.

A smile broke across her face, taking a small glance at Layne then. “Oh I don’t know…Layne looks like she’d be the type to keep up.” She said with a small shrug before it was pretty much time to march off, as stated by Cole. Waiting until the two who actually knew what they were doing were across the fence, letting Cole lead the way like he wanted to. A small glance was thrown Layne’s way, along with a shrug before Chloe trudged off into the street as they practically played follow the leader. Whatever it was they were going to find, IF it was even there. This was going to be quite the adventure, and hopefully with all this moving around…Chloe wouldn’t be too turned around to get back home, and hopefully not too late. Sure they were an odd bunch…but wasn’t it odd people that made the best friends? Or…at least she’d heard that once upon a time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Words:[/color] 626
Muse:[/color] Good
Tagged:[/color] Cole, Layne
Wearing:[/color] Already linked
Listening To:[/color] The Hunger Games (My sister is forcing me to watch it u.u)
Notes:[/color] Sorry for the lack of...goodnessin this post.

[Layne Riley]

Find something and not tell her?! What sacrilege was this talk?! Pressing her hands onto her hips, Layne gave him a ‘oh you’d better be lying’, look, before realizing that he was probably just teasing her. “Oh right, Cole. You’ve never gone to get something without telling me about it first. You make a terrible liar.”, she commented at the end. Of course…she wasn’t positive that he didn’t do this, but…well, anyway, he was probably just lying to her anyway. Yeah! How could he want to go out by himself when he could have her along? He might find out the information, but she was the brains of the operation. He’d probably get sidetracked by every shiny thing that happened to show up without her. “Besides, I’m plenty nice to you! You just ask for a lot of slaps,” she said in her defense. It was true! Boys asked for so much slapping with all the stupid comments they made. Not that the alternate of hanging out with girls was any better. Actually…it was a whole lot worse to her.

Oh wait, here came one of those stupid comments. Rolling her eyes heavenward when he mentioned that he appreciated her butt, she considered just why she ever hung out with him again…except that he had a valid point. Chloe probably didn’t want to hear much about the butt of some girl she didn’t even know. “You’re just weird.”, she finally said lightly to Cole. Yeah, that would be an answer to that, though she did turn around and smile sheepishly at Chloe. “I’m sorry though, Cole’s right, you probably didn’t-…well yeah, anyway. Nice sky today, isn’t it?”, she finished with a grin. And why did men…or boys, rather, like butts so much? Layne had been thinking about that for a while now, trying to figure out just why it was that boys seemed to like looking at butts. It was a…butt…how and why did they think that was any sort of attractive? Well…maybe she should pass it off as just another oddity of the male sex and leave it there. She sure wasn’t going to ask Cole about it, that was for sure. Maybe she would ask Jake or her dad once she got ho-…yeah, probably not.

And what was this about him holding himself back? “What a liar!”, she burst out, poking him again in the rib cage. “You slow up because you are slow, not because you hold back for my sake.” When Chloe mentioned she looked fast, Layne grinned. “HA! Take that Coulson Pike! Two to one, girls rule.” Smiling at Chloe, she leaned in to whisper a loud, “Don’t believe anything he says, he likes to stretch the truth a lot.”

And they were off. Following Cole, Layne got over the fence gracefully – Thank the heavens, or Cole would let her hear about her failure for the rest of her life- and waited until Chloe got over before hurrying up and catching Cole. “Company march? You’ve been spending way too much time in Mr. Beekman’s History class. It’s frying your brain.”, she commented, stretching her legs to really stay caught up with him. It wasn’t that she was short. Oh no, it was just that he was tall. Oh yes…that was exactly it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Words:; 736
Muse:; Great!
Location:; Nabudis
Outfit:; That one I linked!
Tagged:; Cole and Chloe
Notes:; :3
Listening To;: I like it, I love it - Tim McGraw

[Coulson Pike]

"Since when do I lie?", Cole asked evenly, putting suspicious eyes on the blond at his side as he did so. Cole exaggerated, sure, but lie? No, of course not. And on this occasion, he hadn't lied either. He'd only said there was a chance that he could have found out about some rare sorts of things they could have found and hadn't told Layne about them, and obviously, that was the truth. What would Layne be aware of without Cole around? A few more minor things, yeah, but Cole's parents and, uh, "information network" were the ones with all of the good leads. Cole always found out about the locations of things or the goings-on in this part of Nabradia before anyone else. It was a simple fact. So what Cole was trying to say was that if Layne was mean to him, she wouldn't find out about those locations or goings-on. He thought that was a perfectly fair way to go about things! And now she was saying that he went around asking for slaps.

Layne's nonsense was getting even more nonsensical as the conversation went along. Now she was saying he asked for slaps. Poor Chloe shouldn't have had to be exposed to said nonsense so soon after meeting them. Who knew, it might be contagious... "See, now you're the one lying! I've never asked for you to slap me ever before. You decided to do it yourself." Of course, Cole well-knew saying things like he'd just said were what she meant by asking for slaps, but was he going to admit to that? Maybe someday, when he needed a favor from her or something, but definitely not today, and not in front of someone who might have thought he was actually going to lower himself to Layne's nonsense.

And he felt just a touch of childish pride at being right about Chloe not wanting to hear about anyone's butt in a normal, everyday conversation. Cole might have had no problem with it, but what if, in Rozarria, it was some kind of horrible crime to speak of butts and could get a person thrown in jail? Of course, Cole had been to Rozarria several times and had probably said something about a butt (because they did have little raven-haired daughters, after all) and he'd never been arrested. Okay, so he was taking the analogy too far in his own mind. A smug smile lingered on his face when Layne's one defense on the subject consisted of Cole's being "weird" and glanced between the blond and the newcomer for a few seconds as Layne oh-so-masterfully changed the subject. Cole just looked at her funny for a few seconds before deciding not to pursue her strangeness...this time.

She was really like a broken record today! The whole lying deal was coming up again, and Cole could only roll his head towards her as she tried to explain that he was the slow one. Yeah, he really was. That was totally why she'd fallen on her butt in the first place - he was too slow to keep up with her. Yep. And then the other one had to chime in with agreement. What had he done to deserve this!? "She looks fast, yeah, but so does a bowlegged chocobo," Cole commented, having to get a retort in before they started up on their whole girl thing about uniting and stuff. He'd always found that to be odd, because at all other times girls seemed to outright hate each other. So confusing. He was thankful he was a guy sometimes, for more than one reason.

But let them have their little girl power thing going on. Cole knew who was really in charge of this little looting run, and it wasn't anyone of the other sex. "Beekman doesn't know anything! I get all this stuff from my dad and from my own ability to study...that thing you don't do!" As he led the way off to the edge of town, occasionally checking back to see if they were following. Once their trip had taken them out of the cluster of houses and out into the fields that would lead them where they needed to be, Cole decided he could brag about how much he knew about the well. "Apparently the well's so old the ground grew into it...and the old guy who lives there's always been too lazy to clean it out, even though it belonged to some really rich relative of his who was some kind of army officer. He wasn't too crazy to kill his wife, though." He didn't consider that bringing up an old, murderous rumor wasn't the best thing to do around a newcomer into town, but...oh well.

Words - 856
Muse - Excellent!
Notes - Whoever of you two wants to can time skip to an old broken down huge house sort of place, I was thinking. [/size]