Skeletons of Steel • •

[brechan clarissa braswell]

Brechan was homesick. It felt like an age since she had been in the comfort of the Botswana savanna. Her childhood had been unlike many others, and it made it harder to adjust when that all changed and wasn’t the norm for her anymore. Instead of her helping out in the clinic with her parents, it was her brother Troy who was out in the jeep with her dad, checking the reserve was safe from poachers, and that the animals living there were all healthy and safe. She was stuck in a long line of students all wanting their lunch while the rain beat heavily on the windows, painting a dreary picture across the campus. Rain back in the Kgalagadi District was to be played out in, danced in, adored. Not in New York City. It happened far too often and it was too cold and miserable to offer any solace to anyone who lived there. Everything was grey, everyone was in some kind of rush, and Brechan had been dumped there rather unceremoniously for college. She had known very few people, still didn’t really have a group she could spend her weekends with, and generally found herself falling out of love with a city people would sell an organ just to see once in their lives.

She moved down the line and sighed, pulling her phone from her pocket. Brechan had done as much as she could to remind herself of the place she was from. Her bedroom at her New York residence was plastered in pictures and trinkets of the region, and her phone’s wallpaper was a family photo of them all in the back of the jeep with one of the lion cubs that had been born a little while before. They kept an eye on all the animals that roamed the safari reserve and while the creatures were mostly self-sufficient, her father was their veterinarian should anything happen to them. She ran her finger over the photo, but her phone had nothing else to offer her. Her social life, once thriving in Botswana, had dwindled to nothing more than required study groups and the occasional check in from her grandparents. Technically, she was staying with them, but it had become more like she was house sitting for them. They’d been travelling since about a month after she had arrived. As such, Brechan had seen only the basics of the city and had been forced to figure the rest out as and when she needed it.

Brechan had yet to find the magic of the city. Enough people went on and on about it, but she hadn’t seen even a glimmer of it since she landed. Winter had come, and that was horrific. She wasn’t used to the cold and she had hated every moment of it. Ice skating, snow, the lot of it had been unbearable. She was only just beginning to thaw out of her sour mood now that spring was taking over. Finally, though, she was able to order her lunch in the line that was taking forever. Brechan ordered a chicken sub with all the salad options and a ton of chilli sauce, along with a large Coke and then paid for it, tapping her bitten down nails on the counter while the guy sorted out her change. When she turned around though, her problems were far from over. Lunchtime on campus was hellish, and that meant that all the tables in the place were full. She just wanted to sit down for a bit while she ate her damned lunch!

• • •

TAGGED! Addison Bailey Thomas-Donahue
WORDS! 598!
OUTFIT! Disillusioned Dear!
LYRICS! Silver and Gold - - - City And Colour
NOTES! <3

[Addison Bailey Thomas-Donahue]

Much like many of the more exotic transplants, Addison hated winter in New York. There was just something about how grey the city turned, how the people were even more angry in the powdery months that turned Addy against the city he really did like. Then again Monte Carlo wasn’t known for their blistering and angry winters. And even since moving to the city, Addy had only spent two Christmases in the city; and both of those times he had been eight and then again at twelve. The rest were either spent in the tropics, the Swiss Alps, Vail or Whistler. He had to spend most of winter thanks to his full course load, which is the only reason he knew he wasn’t a fan of the big apple through those particular months. He downright hated how there were actual days he couldn’t leave his apartment because the snow was that bad. He had nothing against snow of course, he loved it but in the city, he was glad it was spring already. He could deal with spring. It meant that the school year was almost over and that he could go back home for a visit, hang out on the beaches and enjoy the warmth and sunshine that he was used to and flit about with his old friends and the young tourists milling about.

Spring meant there were usually more chances to sit outside with his guitar and fiddle around with it. He had outdoor space at his apartment but it wasn't always possible to get out there; especially since he had a full day of classes. When he woke up that morning he had known the day wouldn't see his guitar outside and that really sucked. He worked so much better outdoors, in the sunshine but he could work with indoors, too. He wouldn't ever become anything in the music industry if he was stuck in one area and he had tons of musical potential. He wanted more than anything to prove that he was meant to be part of the music scene. He didn't want his parents help in any way. He'd already gotten so much from them already that he felt it was time to spread his wings a little bit. They knew people and if he had wanted them to, they would have happily talked to those contacts and gotten Addison set for life. But then he would have felt like it was all a lie, like his daddies did it for him and he was just sailing through life on their names and not his own worth.

What was four years, really? He could do without the full sub shop whenever he wanted to grab a sandwich before his next class. At least he'd managed to grab a table before the crazy rush hit. Next time he would just have to find somewhere else to stop for a quick bite. It wasn't like the sub shop was the only place on campus or within walking distance from the campus. He could figure something out. He was taking up an entire table and he knew it but he had part of an assignment that needed to be finished and he only had so much time to get it done. "I've got a seat free." He said, closing his laptop up and sliding it back into his bag. There was no point in taking up more space than he really needed when the place was so packed. He could always finish up the assignment in his next class anyway.

♦ ♦ ♦

Tag || brechan clarissa braswell
Words || 594
Clothes || Sweet Musician
Music || U Turn --Chase Rice
Notes || <3

[brechan clarissa braswell]

Brechan didn’t know if she’d be going home for the summer. She hoped so; she desperately hoped so. She needed to be back in her own bedroom, to see the familiar view of the sun rising into her window each morning. She wanted to smell that earthy scent mixed in with her mother’s cooking. She needed to be near her family and the wildlife again. She never wanted to move away in the first place, and no matter how many times her dad tried to soothe her sulking by telling her college in New York would be an experience to cherish, she couldn’t believe him. Her freshman year was drawing to a close and there was very little she had come to enjoy. She was an outcast even in a city full of people who didn’t belong. If she spoke of where she was from, people looked as though she had an egg growing from her head. If she told stories of her life then they laughed as though she was making it all up. She knew she had a unique upbringing – it was one she wouldn’t change for the world – but why was it so impossible for people to believe it?

The city made her feel like a caged bird. She had no chance to spread her bright, colourful wings and be the real Brechan. There was little opportunity to show off all the things that made her who she was. She had retreated into herself rather uncharacteristically, and instead was focused on going through the motions of a student. She went to her classes, answered questions when they were asked of her, and turned in assignments on time and to a high enough standard. Other than that she faded away into the crowd like so many others. It was unfortunate because Brechan wasn’t that type. She was cheeky, playful, and the type to run wild and lose herself in the moment. It was how she had ended up in the trouble that saw her worried parents encourage the move to New York, and to the absent grandparents that resided there. Still, even with the retired couple on cruises and living the dreams of their golden years they still thought their daughter safer than she could be back home. Their daughter, who had spent her life around terrifying beasts and befriended them, was safer in a concrete jungle of strangers on her own. Brechan couldn’t understand their logic, but she hoped they’d let her move back home soon.

Hearing a voice, Brechan blinked dumbly at the stranger before snapping out of her daze. She wasn’t used to people actually being nice in whatever circle of hell New York was supposed to represent. His words had caught her off guard for a moment. “Thanks.” Brechan said with a ghostly hint of a smile. She dropped her bag to the floor carelessly, and fell into the now vacant seat before unwrapping her overloaded sub. “I’ll be gone before you know it. My dad always said I inhale my food no sooner than I looked at it.” She said, not knowing why she was really talking. Brechan picked up her sub and took a large bite, feeling the extra chilli sauce coat her lips messily, as lettuce dropped to the wrapper beneath. Maybe she should have held back on the salad a little, but she was so damn hungry.

• • •

TAGGED! Addison Bailey Thomas-Donahue
WORDS! 571!
OUTFIT! Disillusioned Dear!
LYRICS! Silver and Gold - - - City And Colour
NOTES! <3