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Avendale School in Exile
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| Viewing Page 1 of 1 (Total Posts: 5) |
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Diana Parks
 Dec 25, 07 - 4:29 AM |
A Nap at Endeline Towers
Rounding the wide corner and sweeping through the gate, Diana Parks doggedly pedaled her bicycle over the rough road towards the automobile garage alongside Endeline Towers. It had been a longer, bumpier ride than she had expected, and she was glad to have changed into an older skirt and blouse before leaving the station with her bicycle, because she knew without looking down that she must be awfully dusty. When she reached the garage, she slowed and carefully dismounted, which is no easy feat in a frock. Unfortunately, her brunette mother had strictly forbidden her brunette daughter to take any sort of trousers to this new school. Mothers always know best when it comes to ladylike deportment (and the appropriate discipline following a flouting thereof), but they never seem to act in the interest of fun. In fact, her mothers' interests did not lie in fun at all, it seemed. Even at 16, she was rather attached to the rattletrap velo her grandmother had given her for her 13th birthday. Diana only had her bicycle at Endeline Towers because she had paid the stablemaid to ride it to the train station beforehand and secure a spot for it along with her luggage. Naturally she would never have dreamt of doing it any other time, but desperate times called for desperate measures, and that included cycling in a skirt! Diana had scanned the identical letters she and her mothers had received from Avendale upon confirmation of her enrollment. It had mentioned horses (of which she had none), musical instruments (of which she had many), laboratory equipment and scientific gadgetry (all of which she was only too glad to leave behind at home) and many other large luxuries a pette may have, but at no time did it allow or preempt bicycles. Diana had concluded that, by bringing a bicycle to Endeline Towers, she would be safe by its omission from the list. After safely stowing her bicycle in the garage, (noting with satisfaction that there was one other in the far corner,) she walked on stiff legs towards the back door of what appeared to be a low-roofed kitchen. Perhaps the cook would be kind enough to spare her a glass of water and some toast; the ride had been unexpectedly long, and she was rather hungry. The screen door closed with a bang behind her. Diana froze like a deer, waiting with a hammering heart for a cook to pop out scolding like a mother bird. When none appeared, she gazed around the kitchen. Nothing to be had in sight. "I wonder what they expect a pette to live off of here. Not even a baking of bread." Diana had grown up on a farm an hour outside of Milchford, which had featured fresh baking and eggs every day, and even her last school had a tempting array of noshes left out by a careless cook in the evenings. Her appetite was immense, but she had a funny feeling that it would be forcibly curbed before long. Tired, hungry, dirty and a little more than cross, she walked out the kitchen door into a very clean, proper entrance hall. Feeling somewhat out of place, Diana hurriedly made her way up the stairs, noting the small placard on the landing that read, "Brunettes' Dormitory", pointing towards a staircase to her left. Arriving at the top, she heard some chattering and giggling drift from the next hallway over. 'Must be the blondes' hallway,' she thought. 'There are always more blondes than brunettes in these mixed schools, I've heard.' She hoped that she was not the only brunette marooned in a sea of blondes; they were lovely creatures, but they made her rather nervous. She preferred to stick with her fellow brunettes - at least one could get a word in edgewise and did not stammer with shyness when one tried. The brunette hallway was abbreviated, with only three rooms. She looked inside one, but it contained nothing but covered furniture. Another had an assortment of baggage, but the few articles that had been unpacked appeared far too small to be anypette in her age bracket. The third had a properly stacked pile of trunk, valise and two hatboxes at the foot of the far bed. 'This must be it,' Diana thought, removing her filthy gloves and windblown hat. She attempted to push it into some semblance of shape, but gave up shortly, too hungry and cross to care much. Ordinarily she was a very proper, tidy pette, but her stubborn determination to have her bicycle had quite overriden every desire for cleanliness and order she ever had. Satisfied that she would not be found for at least a half hour, she quickly changed her dirty clothes for the clean day frock and stockings she had tucked away in her rucksack, then settled onto the bed closest to the door. As her calf muscles began to twinge painfully, she sighed and closed her eyes. |
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Shin-cheri
Dec 27th, 2007 - 4:51 PM |
Re: A Nap at Endeline Towers
Shin-cheri arranged with the friendly maidservant to have her and her sister's baggage brought up to their room by one of the garden-brunettes. Attracted by a pleasant aroma from the kitchen, she found herself outside the kitchen window. The window was open and the kitchen staff appeared to be engaged with two girls. It was therefore the simplest of matters to slip in. The kindly cook had already given a goodly amount of warm pastries to the "starving travellers" and was happy to include the winning estrenne brunette even though she remarked to one of the kitchen maids that "half the Orient seemed to be invading the house". The other girls were invited in for tea and pastries also. The cook greeted Shen-cheri with surprise. "I thought you were already here," she said. "I?" asked Shen-cheri. "Well yes you didn't come in - and then you seemed to be in. You was sitting with that little Estrenne blonde there..." But neither Shin-cheri nor Mengxia-cheri were to be seen. "Oh well, I must have been mistaken," said the cook, shaking her head and thinking "Something ***** about them there Estrennes.". "But my tea..." said Mengxia-cheri. "Tea later," said Shin-cheri. "Finish that pie and then I shall give you your first lesson in drainpipery." "But won't that brunette object?" "I have found a different pipe leading to a different window and a room that is definitely empty. I checked five minutes ago." And that is how it came about that an Estrenne brunette and a small Estrenne blonde exploded unannounced into the room where Diana Parks was sleeping. |
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Shin-cheri
Dec 27th, 2007 - 5:00 PM |
Re: A Nap at Endeline Towers
Oops - it seems the auto-censor objects to the word the cook used for "peculiar". A perfectly respectable word, I assure you. Tellurians have funny minds! Make it "Something passing strange about them Estrennes." |
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Diana Parks
Dec 28th, 2007 - 3:08 AM |
Re: A Nap at Endeline Towers
The two little Estrennes shrank back from the dishevelled figure before them. Sleepy-eyed and flushed, her light brown head slightly touselled, Diana Parks stared unblinkingly at her tiny visitors. "What d'you know? I thought this was a different room, but here we are again!" Shin-cheri started forward, and shrank back as she noticed the older girl glaring owlishly their way. "I thought you said the brunette was gone!" Mengxia-cheri panicked, ducking behind her bolder companion. "No no, Mengxia-cheri, it's a different brunette this time," Shin-cheri reassured her. Diana fixed a frown on them. "So you've been popping in on other pettes already?" When she got no further response than a squeak from Mengxia-cheri, she softened her gaze. "Who let you in here anyhow?" she asked more kindly, smoothing her hair. It won't do to scare them before you can even get out of bed, she chided herself. "Nobody. I mean, we climbed a drainpipe and I didn't think there would be anypette sleeping..." Shin-cheri ended lamely. The older girl did not respond, but threw her legs over the side of her bed and stood to face them; she was easily almost a foot taller than the smaller of the pair. "Mengxia-cheri, is it?" The little blonde nodded mutely as she and the older girl made reverences, and Diana continued, "My name is Diana Parks. It is a pleasure to meet you, young Miss." Turning to Shin-cheri, she gazed at the young brunette until the latter quickly said, "Please accept my apologies, Miss. My name is Sayamari Shin, and this pette is Mengxia Yu." Shin-cheri turned to her blonde friend and asked, "Did Jinjin-chei make it up the pipe, Mengxia-cheri? You could introduce her to Miss Diana." Mengxia-cheri paled, suddenly aware that both her hands and pocket were empty. Whirling around and seeing no evidence of her plush fish in the room, she promptly burst into tears. Aghast, Shin-cheri tried to pat her arm, but the tiny pette only cried harder. Diana carefully lifted her onto the foot of her bed and said, for Shin-cheri's benefit as much as the blonde's, "There now, Mengxia-cheri. I am certain that your older, more responsible brunette companion would be only too glad to help you search the grounds for... whatever it is you lost." "Jinjin," Shin-cheri supplied helpfully as Mengxia-cheri dried her eyes on the older brunette's slightly dusty handkerchief. "She was a toy fish." Hearing of her beloved toy in the past tense, Mengxia-cheri started her sobbing anew. Diana faced the younger brunette with a meaningful look and said, "Since the damage of your friend's drainpipe antics is your responsibility, Shin-cheri, I wonder if you wouldn't take her to find her fish straightaway?" "Oh, I shall," Shin-cheri said stoutly. "Mengxia-cheri, please come with me." The two younger girls (one suddenly square of shoulder, the other quite soggy,) reverenced the older girl, who offered a polite reverence back. "Rayati, Miss Diana!" they chorused, and bolted down the hallways before she could respond. If they wanted to "Miss" her as though she were a prefect, they were welcome to, as it seemed that she would not have them sitting still long enough to correct them for awhile. Diana sighed and closed her window, using a door wedge to fasten it firmly inside its pane. Let them shimmy up, down or sideways, she decided, as long as they never make it in here again. She saw a small truck zip up the drive with piles of student luggage tied into its bed. Good. She would have clean gloves before long. Looking down, she noticed that one of her stockings was twisted nearly all the way around with the seam and heel clearly visible on the side of her ankle. "Bother these stupid stockings," she muttered as she put her foot up on the bed to fix it, not noticing the pretty Arcadian brunette standing in the doorway. |
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Shin-cheri
Jan 2nd, 2008 - 4:48 PM |
Re: A Nap at Endeline Towers
Shin-cheri and Mengxia-cheri made their way back down the pipe. "I think we should tru retracing our steps back to the kitchen window," said Shi-cheri. "I imagine you must have dropped Jin-Jin along the way." "No, really, miss," said Mengxia-cheri, "I know\I had her when we started climbing. It was quite awkward to manage her and hang onto the pipe as well." "Hmm. Well, you didn't drop her while you were climbing or she would be on the ground here." "There she is!" Cried Mengxia-cheri pointing upwards. I remember now, I put her on the top of the lower sash-window as we were getting into the room. I needed my hands free, you see, and then I was so surprised by that big brunette it went right out of my head..." "That is all right," said Shin-cheri reassuringly. I'll just pop up and fetch her." Wit the speed of a small monkey, Shin-cheri was up the pipe again almost before the words were out of her mouth. Mengxia-cheri climbed more slowly behind her. "I say," called back Shin-cheri. "She seems to have a fin stuck in the window. I can't move her. Oh there you are. You didn't need to come back up too." "Well, she is my fish, miss. I thought..." "The window is stuck. I think that brunette has wedged it. I'll have to get her attention." Shin-cheri knocked at the window several times before the wedge was pulled out and the sash thrown violently up. "What do you want now, you young lunatic?" demanded Diana angrily. "You wedged the window, miss..." began Shin-cheri. "I did it for a good reason. To keep you out." "Yes, miss. Very understandable. But Jin-Jin got trapped in the window." "Jin-Jin? That little blonde Estrenne?" "No, miss. Jin-Jin the stuffed fish." "Merciful Dea..." "But it is all right, miss. She is free now. We shall be on our way. Rayati, miss." "Rayati," said Diana, closing the window firmly and re-wedging it. "Downy-ho!" cried Shin-cheri ro her fellow drainpipeer. "Do you think we should, miss?" "I think we'd better." "There are a mistress and two very big girls down there, miss." Shin-cheri looked down. "I say, so there are. This is an emergency. We shall have to appeal to the better nature of that rather irascible brunette." She knocked on the window again. It was flung up even more forcibly. "Now listen to me child," said Diana. "You may be unfamiliar with the ways of Westrenne schools and that is the only reason I am not putting you in House Detention right now. But let me tell you something and be assured that I shall not say it twice. "We Westrennes may not have all the strict protocols that you people have, but there are certain unwritten rules. And one of those rules is that chinnies of your age treat their elders and betters with respect. They do not come visiting at windows. They do not even come visiting at doors unless they have an extremely good reason. They do not treat their elders and betters as equals. They know their place in the Golden Chain of Harmony. Surely that makes some kind of sense to you." "Yes, miss..." began Shin-cheri. "Good." said Diana and closed the window with a bang. "What shall we do now, miss?" Asked a tremulous voice from below. "I would appear," said Shin-cheri, "that the only way is up." |
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