Post by Alexandra Roxanna Kozlov on Jul 6, 2013 2:47:27 GMT
"Of the four of us, I'm the oldest, and least bratty, of the 'Ferlov kids' (no Ferlov isn't our last name, it's just what I call us in my head), I wasn't the first born. That honor went to Tylor Jacob Kozlov. I was only three and Jess had been ruining my life for only a year, when he died, shortly after his sixth birthday. Mom and Dad still haven't told me what happened to him, except to say there was an accident.
Whatever happened, the 'rents kept a very watchful eye on me once I turned four and didn't let me out from under their microscopic eyes until I had my power under control." Alexi let out a quiet groan of annoyed disgust at the memory, that ended in a slightly amused chuckle that seemed to both a sneer and smirk at the same time. "It wasn't just me though, we've all gone through it. Jessie doesn't seem to really have minded the scrutiny, but I know that's a lie, she's good at lying. Chaz is glad to be done with it and pass it onto Lizzy. She doesn't really seem to care though, she loved the extra attention, maybe that comes from being the baby of the family.
Besides that, life has been basically 'normal', as normal as a Sorcerer's life can be. Except school. Mom doesn't agree, she says home schooling is completely normal, and it is better to keep ourselves separated from humans. I took me a whole year to convince her to let me go to school, a normal school, with humans. So when I was 12 I went to a private school, good enough I suppose, things went okay for the most part. I made some friends, got into a few 'arguments'. Mom and Dad weren't very happy with me, she wanted to take me out, he said I needed to learn how to deal with them. And when Mom wasn't around, he asked me who won, and of course I did. Have I said I love my Dad? No? Well, I do.
I even kind of, sorta had a maybe boyfriend in 8th grade. It didn't last long...I was way too nervous around him. We had skipped class and hid in the basement just to mess around and have fun, the innocent kind, I swear it. But...we got really close and I got really nervous and...I'm not sure what happened, but I think I lost control for a split second. There was a sound, then motion, then...blood. Well, I flipped out. He didn't remember anything, and he didn't come back to school for a few months.
The 'rents wigged out. They acted like I did it on purpose! Who would screw up their first kiss like that? Huh? No one that's who." Alexi's voice was full of self-pity as she recounted her recent past. "They're the ones that can shut down their emotions like robots...treating me like a defect because I'm not a drone like them.
I was so glad when the year ended, I'd be going to a new school the next year where the other students didn't give me odd looks when they thought I wasn't looking. I remembered wondering what had they heard, what rumors were going around about me. But ya know, I probably should have asked the 'rents if humans can tell there's something off about sorcerers. Of course I thought of that later.
Her voice started to take on a happier tone, rising a little bit, and she sounded less depressed as she spoke, "So summer break was a bust, but when 9th grade came along, I was a Freshman! New school, new experiences, a clean slate." And then with a heavy sigh, it crashed, "A clean slate that I torched good and crispy, like the teacher's clothes."
A slight pause as she looked around a bit thinking of how someone would react if she was actually speaking to them, "...What? Don't look at me like that! I didn't do it on purpose! She just pissed me off, and with everyone picking on the new kids, and giving me crap, and the other girls hating me for whatever reason...I snapped. ...But like I said, it was an accident. I was across the room from her, near the back of the room. I was surprised when someone mentioned smoke. Then we saw the fire on the teacher's skirt, I couldn't help it, I laughed. I should probably feel bad about that, I guess I'm just a terrible person."
Flopping back against the seat, she spoke in a resigned voice, "So now my parents have seen fit to send me to some school across the ocean in England. I mean common, really? What the hell? This is going to suck."
With that she stopped recording with her phone and laid her arms down on the seat of the car limply. Turning her head, she looked out the window briefly before resting her head against it. She watched the streets, cars, and people as she brooded. There was a very quick motion when she saw someone walking their dog. She had her phone in hand again and started recording in a somewhat angry, irritated tone.
"I don't even get to take my damned cat with me! No one else likes him but me, and he hates them all too, but noooooo I can't take him with for whatever BS reason. I don't even know the reason why not. When I tried to talk to them, ask why not, they wouldn't listen, just kept telling me no, like I was three years old." Scoffing, "I hope he claws their face off or something. Not that he could do that, he's too fat." She finished the words in a small, light laugh, "He could crap in their shoes though, haha! ...I'm gonna miss that fat, tubby cat more than anyone else."
Alexandra stopped recording once more. It lingered in her hand for a few moments as she looked at it, thinking, deciding what to do with it, with the recordings. The only reason she had a cell phone was so that her family, no, her parents, could contact her, if they needed to. Besides her parents' numbers, she only had a few others saved in the thing. A couple 'friends' from Jr. High, and Zack's..no, she didn't have his number anymore. After what happened she was too embarrassed and deleted it. Alexi didn't make any friends in the short time she'd been a freshman.
Thinking about it really made her feel a bit pathetic. Was it the same for others, were they outcasts too? All she had to go on was her family, and being the oldest, doesn't give her anyone to go to for help, like an older sibling. The 'rents were no help either. They're too old to relate to things she's dealing with, things were different for them. And besides, they wouldn't tell her anything helpful if they did go through what she's been through, if she were to ask them. They just didn't really talk about themselves.
As for the recordings, it was just the latest in the string of started journals, she hated calling them diaries, that she eventually (usually rather quickly), forgot about and eventually dropped. She had never done a spoken journal before, so maybe it would work, maybe she'd stick with it for more than a couple days or weeks. So with that thought, she put the phone in her pocket.
Alexi noticed the look the cab driver gave her from the rear-view mirror. Jutting her lower jaw out and to the side a bit, she rolled her eyes and sighed. "You got a problem? Hmm?" She waited a few heartbeats for the man to comment. When he didn't she flicked hand in a dismissive gesture. "That's what I thought, just drive." The driver returned his attention to the road, but not before his attention went to the ornament on Alexi's forearm and hand. Alexi didn't miss it, but she couldn't blame him. It did look odd, even to other sorcerers.
Alexi ran her fingers along the wood of her Quirgarmo, the thing that functioned as a wand for her family. Until her mother had been introduced to her father, Michelle Fertig had never heard of such a thing, and after years of marriage, had still not heard of anything like it. It was solid and sturdy, but light and flexible, it looked polished in some places and rough in others. The Quirgarmo looked to be made of three different types of wood, and that isn't completely wrong, but it isn't correct either.
Since she wasn't getting ready to have her first child, wasn't privy to how the Quirgarmo are crafted, not in full or in detail. She did know it involved three things, two Quirgarmo and a normal wand. The two Quirgarmo come from a grandparent and a parent. Something about the grandparent's Quirgarmo grounding the new Quirgarmo in the past, like it's own bloodline, for that wisdom and stability. The parent's Quirgarmo for protection of the sorcerer, from outside of them and from themselves, and to help guide the sorcerer. While the wand, very green and supple wood, for untapped potential, flexibility, and growth.
At least that's as much as her father would tell her. How true it was she didn't know. She knew her Quirgarmo, while basically similar to her father's, her siblings, and her grandmother's, was quite different. Each one is unique to its owner, and no two are exactly the same. Though there are enough similarities between hers and her immediate family that you could identify them as a family unit from say, a first or second cousin's immediate family, just by looking at their Quirgarmo. At least as long as you knew what to look for.
She knew for a fact that her Quirgarmo could never work for anyone else of her bloodline like it did for her. If one of her siblings had tried to use it, it would be like, using a busted wand. For her father, it would be worse since he is only half of her, and would fizzle without accomplishing much at all, for her grandmother, who is only a quarter of her, it would be as if she were holding a normal, mundane stick. But they are all of the blood, whereas her mother wasn't. Still a sorcerer yes, but not from their bloodline. The Quirgarmo actively work against her and broke when it was forced. Alexi only knew about this because it had been unexpected.
Their family, Kozlov, had married other blood relatives (second, third, fourth cousins, etc.) for so long, that unless you looked into the records, which most had been lost for one reason or another, you wouldn't find an outsider joining the family for generations. Michelle was that outsider, and no one knew the Quirgarmo would reject her. Alexi's grandmother had encountered resistance but her skill was enough to force it to work and got it attached to Michelle's arm. The resistance was thought to be due to different bloodlines and nothing more, like different signatures, it didn't quite match. A few weeks later when the Quirgarmo had had time to twine itself around Michelle's arm firmly, she tried it out under Grandma Donna's watchful eyes. Smoke had begun to rise from the Quirgarmo's tendrils as they began to turn black and glow will a sullen, dull, red light, like coals in a fire. The Quirgarmo had dug into Michelle's arm as it started to burn, as if to punish the thief who dared steal a Quirgarmo. Donna was able to get it off before it did serious damage to Michelle.
That is how they rediscovered that others not directly related to the Kozlov bloodline were unable to use the Quirgarmo. Grandma Donna had made sure to spread the information to the rest of the family, and father told the story to each child when they received their Quirgarmo.
Thinking about the Quirgarmo, and the history of it and her immediate family gave her another thought. Quickly she pulled her phone out again before she lost the thread. "I think we're going to have cousins in the Fertig family. 'Cuz that's where mom's from, and dad's sister went to marry someone from that line. So what does that mean for the Quirgarmo? Can dad's sister know how to make them? Will grandma teach and help her make them later? What about the kids, they'll be able to use them right? What about their kids, and their kids....Why would grandma, the family do it, what did everyone get out of the deal?" Alexi had thought she had stumbled upon something important, but the more she spoke her thoughts aloud, the less certain she became. So she paused in her dictation, "Why am I even...Blah, nevermi-" She stopped before she finished her sentence.
Looking up she saw the cab was pulling into the airport drop-off area. Seeing that reminded her that she was definitely in a cab, and it galled her. She would have felt stupid and embarrassed in a limo, but a driving service of some distinction would have been nice. But no, she was put in a cab, that and the plane ticket, which was not first class, told her that she was definitely being punished.
When they pulled up, she immediately grabbed the bag she had with her, which was more a satchel than a purse, and hopped out. "Hey!" Called the driver. When she got to the trunk, she slammed her fist into it. "Open the trunk." Alexi said in a 'don't piss me off' tone. "Not until you pay-" She cut him off, "My parents already paid you, now you're trying to wheedle more money because they aren't here. Not to mention you specifically took the worst route here to try and rack up more money." He had tried to cut in twice, but she continued to speak as if he had stayed quiet, "Too bad for you I know your service was contracted for a specific amount, and that you'd get a tip if I felt like it. Now open this trunk before I call my parents and make sure you don't get paid at all."
She glowered at the man while he glared back at her. Just before she was about to grab her phone, the trunk popped open. Alexi could feel the heat in her chest and face. It was good that he opened the trunk, because she was so close to losing her temper again. Taking a few deep breaths, she grabbed her bags and headed into the airport without looking back. Which was probably a good thing. That smoke was probably just someone's cigarette.
Airport security was annoying and stupid and intrusive and irritating. If she had been with her parents, she wouldn't even have to deal with it, not really. No lines or waiting or anything like that. Of course they had to be checked, but it was a private room. Alexi wasn't quite sure what they did to get that treatment. At first she thought it was their name, so she spoke to someone who looked like they could speed things up for her. It didn't work with them, or any of the other people she talked to. In the end she just had to suffer through the line.
Once through she went the food court since she had time to kill before her flight. A toasted sub and some coffee. Not a bad lunch. She couldn't help but check the time and the time of her flight, every few minutes. Her leg developed a twitch as she waited. Alexi couldn't help but worry about this Academy she was being sent to. She didn't know a whole lot about it, but she knew it was a place where everyone was welcome, it was important and it's where she'd meet, encounter, and have to deal with people she had never seen before and only knew about by words spoken to her or from words in books.
Not to mention she'd have to learn how to control herself better, because if she screwed up... Who knows what would happen, she could cause an incident, piss people off, start problems.... Yeah, she really didn't want to think of that, but she wanted to imagine what her parents would do to her least of all.
Alexi tried to think of the bright side of it all. She be able to meet other sorcerers, learn things she might not otherwise get to learn, not just from her own kind but from others. Like how much of what she knew about vampires and werewolves was 'true' and what is actually true. What did the Borea actually look like? Do Faeries and Borea look different depending on what type they are? If so, is it cosmetic or is it a fundamental difference in their biology? What about those poor bastards, the half-breeds?
There were good things about this, she had to keep telling herself that, keep reminding herself, or else she'd get all mopey and that's not cute at all. She'd never have a first kiss if she was mopey all the time. Alexi froze and blushed when she realized where her thoughts had wondered. She wasn't boy or girl crazy, but it had been embarrassing, and this would be an absolutely clean slate, a complete new beginning.
Those thoughts made her feel better. To keep herself in a decent mood, she began to people watch, picking out the boys and girls she thought were cute. When a girl, around her age, maybe a little older, smiled back at her, Alexi grabbed her coffee with her Quirgarmo covered arm, and used it to hide behind while smiling herself. Sure the girl was probably just being friendly and didn't mean anything by more by it, but Alexi got a good, warm feeling thinking that it did mean something.
Whatever happened, the 'rents kept a very watchful eye on me once I turned four and didn't let me out from under their microscopic eyes until I had my power under control." Alexi let out a quiet groan of annoyed disgust at the memory, that ended in a slightly amused chuckle that seemed to both a sneer and smirk at the same time. "It wasn't just me though, we've all gone through it. Jessie doesn't seem to really have minded the scrutiny, but I know that's a lie, she's good at lying. Chaz is glad to be done with it and pass it onto Lizzy. She doesn't really seem to care though, she loved the extra attention, maybe that comes from being the baby of the family.
Besides that, life has been basically 'normal', as normal as a Sorcerer's life can be. Except school. Mom doesn't agree, she says home schooling is completely normal, and it is better to keep ourselves separated from humans. I took me a whole year to convince her to let me go to school, a normal school, with humans. So when I was 12 I went to a private school, good enough I suppose, things went okay for the most part. I made some friends, got into a few 'arguments'. Mom and Dad weren't very happy with me, she wanted to take me out, he said I needed to learn how to deal with them. And when Mom wasn't around, he asked me who won, and of course I did. Have I said I love my Dad? No? Well, I do.
I even kind of, sorta had a maybe boyfriend in 8th grade. It didn't last long...I was way too nervous around him. We had skipped class and hid in the basement just to mess around and have fun, the innocent kind, I swear it. But...we got really close and I got really nervous and...I'm not sure what happened, but I think I lost control for a split second. There was a sound, then motion, then...blood. Well, I flipped out. He didn't remember anything, and he didn't come back to school for a few months.
The 'rents wigged out. They acted like I did it on purpose! Who would screw up their first kiss like that? Huh? No one that's who." Alexi's voice was full of self-pity as she recounted her recent past. "They're the ones that can shut down their emotions like robots...treating me like a defect because I'm not a drone like them.
I was so glad when the year ended, I'd be going to a new school the next year where the other students didn't give me odd looks when they thought I wasn't looking. I remembered wondering what had they heard, what rumors were going around about me. But ya know, I probably should have asked the 'rents if humans can tell there's something off about sorcerers. Of course I thought of that later.
Her voice started to take on a happier tone, rising a little bit, and she sounded less depressed as she spoke, "So summer break was a bust, but when 9th grade came along, I was a Freshman! New school, new experiences, a clean slate." And then with a heavy sigh, it crashed, "A clean slate that I torched good and crispy, like the teacher's clothes."
A slight pause as she looked around a bit thinking of how someone would react if she was actually speaking to them, "...What? Don't look at me like that! I didn't do it on purpose! She just pissed me off, and with everyone picking on the new kids, and giving me crap, and the other girls hating me for whatever reason...I snapped. ...But like I said, it was an accident. I was across the room from her, near the back of the room. I was surprised when someone mentioned smoke. Then we saw the fire on the teacher's skirt, I couldn't help it, I laughed. I should probably feel bad about that, I guess I'm just a terrible person."
Flopping back against the seat, she spoke in a resigned voice, "So now my parents have seen fit to send me to some school across the ocean in England. I mean common, really? What the hell? This is going to suck."
With that she stopped recording with her phone and laid her arms down on the seat of the car limply. Turning her head, she looked out the window briefly before resting her head against it. She watched the streets, cars, and people as she brooded. There was a very quick motion when she saw someone walking their dog. She had her phone in hand again and started recording in a somewhat angry, irritated tone.
"I don't even get to take my damned cat with me! No one else likes him but me, and he hates them all too, but noooooo I can't take him with for whatever BS reason. I don't even know the reason why not. When I tried to talk to them, ask why not, they wouldn't listen, just kept telling me no, like I was three years old." Scoffing, "I hope he claws their face off or something. Not that he could do that, he's too fat." She finished the words in a small, light laugh, "He could crap in their shoes though, haha! ...I'm gonna miss that fat, tubby cat more than anyone else."
Alexandra stopped recording once more. It lingered in her hand for a few moments as she looked at it, thinking, deciding what to do with it, with the recordings. The only reason she had a cell phone was so that her family, no, her parents, could contact her, if they needed to. Besides her parents' numbers, she only had a few others saved in the thing. A couple 'friends' from Jr. High, and Zack's..no, she didn't have his number anymore. After what happened she was too embarrassed and deleted it. Alexi didn't make any friends in the short time she'd been a freshman.
Thinking about it really made her feel a bit pathetic. Was it the same for others, were they outcasts too? All she had to go on was her family, and being the oldest, doesn't give her anyone to go to for help, like an older sibling. The 'rents were no help either. They're too old to relate to things she's dealing with, things were different for them. And besides, they wouldn't tell her anything helpful if they did go through what she's been through, if she were to ask them. They just didn't really talk about themselves.
As for the recordings, it was just the latest in the string of started journals, she hated calling them diaries, that she eventually (usually rather quickly), forgot about and eventually dropped. She had never done a spoken journal before, so maybe it would work, maybe she'd stick with it for more than a couple days or weeks. So with that thought, she put the phone in her pocket.
Alexi noticed the look the cab driver gave her from the rear-view mirror. Jutting her lower jaw out and to the side a bit, she rolled her eyes and sighed. "You got a problem? Hmm?" She waited a few heartbeats for the man to comment. When he didn't she flicked hand in a dismissive gesture. "That's what I thought, just drive." The driver returned his attention to the road, but not before his attention went to the ornament on Alexi's forearm and hand. Alexi didn't miss it, but she couldn't blame him. It did look odd, even to other sorcerers.
Alexi ran her fingers along the wood of her Quirgarmo, the thing that functioned as a wand for her family. Until her mother had been introduced to her father, Michelle Fertig had never heard of such a thing, and after years of marriage, had still not heard of anything like it. It was solid and sturdy, but light and flexible, it looked polished in some places and rough in others. The Quirgarmo looked to be made of three different types of wood, and that isn't completely wrong, but it isn't correct either.
Since she wasn't getting ready to have her first child, wasn't privy to how the Quirgarmo are crafted, not in full or in detail. She did know it involved three things, two Quirgarmo and a normal wand. The two Quirgarmo come from a grandparent and a parent. Something about the grandparent's Quirgarmo grounding the new Quirgarmo in the past, like it's own bloodline, for that wisdom and stability. The parent's Quirgarmo for protection of the sorcerer, from outside of them and from themselves, and to help guide the sorcerer. While the wand, very green and supple wood, for untapped potential, flexibility, and growth.
At least that's as much as her father would tell her. How true it was she didn't know. She knew her Quirgarmo, while basically similar to her father's, her siblings, and her grandmother's, was quite different. Each one is unique to its owner, and no two are exactly the same. Though there are enough similarities between hers and her immediate family that you could identify them as a family unit from say, a first or second cousin's immediate family, just by looking at their Quirgarmo. At least as long as you knew what to look for.
She knew for a fact that her Quirgarmo could never work for anyone else of her bloodline like it did for her. If one of her siblings had tried to use it, it would be like, using a busted wand. For her father, it would be worse since he is only half of her, and would fizzle without accomplishing much at all, for her grandmother, who is only a quarter of her, it would be as if she were holding a normal, mundane stick. But they are all of the blood, whereas her mother wasn't. Still a sorcerer yes, but not from their bloodline. The Quirgarmo actively work against her and broke when it was forced. Alexi only knew about this because it had been unexpected.
Their family, Kozlov, had married other blood relatives (second, third, fourth cousins, etc.) for so long, that unless you looked into the records, which most had been lost for one reason or another, you wouldn't find an outsider joining the family for generations. Michelle was that outsider, and no one knew the Quirgarmo would reject her. Alexi's grandmother had encountered resistance but her skill was enough to force it to work and got it attached to Michelle's arm. The resistance was thought to be due to different bloodlines and nothing more, like different signatures, it didn't quite match. A few weeks later when the Quirgarmo had had time to twine itself around Michelle's arm firmly, she tried it out under Grandma Donna's watchful eyes. Smoke had begun to rise from the Quirgarmo's tendrils as they began to turn black and glow will a sullen, dull, red light, like coals in a fire. The Quirgarmo had dug into Michelle's arm as it started to burn, as if to punish the thief who dared steal a Quirgarmo. Donna was able to get it off before it did serious damage to Michelle.
That is how they rediscovered that others not directly related to the Kozlov bloodline were unable to use the Quirgarmo. Grandma Donna had made sure to spread the information to the rest of the family, and father told the story to each child when they received their Quirgarmo.
Thinking about the Quirgarmo, and the history of it and her immediate family gave her another thought. Quickly she pulled her phone out again before she lost the thread. "I think we're going to have cousins in the Fertig family. 'Cuz that's where mom's from, and dad's sister went to marry someone from that line. So what does that mean for the Quirgarmo? Can dad's sister know how to make them? Will grandma teach and help her make them later? What about the kids, they'll be able to use them right? What about their kids, and their kids....Why would grandma, the family do it, what did everyone get out of the deal?" Alexi had thought she had stumbled upon something important, but the more she spoke her thoughts aloud, the less certain she became. So she paused in her dictation, "Why am I even...Blah, nevermi-" She stopped before she finished her sentence.
Looking up she saw the cab was pulling into the airport drop-off area. Seeing that reminded her that she was definitely in a cab, and it galled her. She would have felt stupid and embarrassed in a limo, but a driving service of some distinction would have been nice. But no, she was put in a cab, that and the plane ticket, which was not first class, told her that she was definitely being punished.
When they pulled up, she immediately grabbed the bag she had with her, which was more a satchel than a purse, and hopped out. "Hey!" Called the driver. When she got to the trunk, she slammed her fist into it. "Open the trunk." Alexi said in a 'don't piss me off' tone. "Not until you pay-" She cut him off, "My parents already paid you, now you're trying to wheedle more money because they aren't here. Not to mention you specifically took the worst route here to try and rack up more money." He had tried to cut in twice, but she continued to speak as if he had stayed quiet, "Too bad for you I know your service was contracted for a specific amount, and that you'd get a tip if I felt like it. Now open this trunk before I call my parents and make sure you don't get paid at all."
She glowered at the man while he glared back at her. Just before she was about to grab her phone, the trunk popped open. Alexi could feel the heat in her chest and face. It was good that he opened the trunk, because she was so close to losing her temper again. Taking a few deep breaths, she grabbed her bags and headed into the airport without looking back. Which was probably a good thing. That smoke was probably just someone's cigarette.
Airport security was annoying and stupid and intrusive and irritating. If she had been with her parents, she wouldn't even have to deal with it, not really. No lines or waiting or anything like that. Of course they had to be checked, but it was a private room. Alexi wasn't quite sure what they did to get that treatment. At first she thought it was their name, so she spoke to someone who looked like they could speed things up for her. It didn't work with them, or any of the other people she talked to. In the end she just had to suffer through the line.
Once through she went the food court since she had time to kill before her flight. A toasted sub and some coffee. Not a bad lunch. She couldn't help but check the time and the time of her flight, every few minutes. Her leg developed a twitch as she waited. Alexi couldn't help but worry about this Academy she was being sent to. She didn't know a whole lot about it, but she knew it was a place where everyone was welcome, it was important and it's where she'd meet, encounter, and have to deal with people she had never seen before and only knew about by words spoken to her or from words in books.
Not to mention she'd have to learn how to control herself better, because if she screwed up... Who knows what would happen, she could cause an incident, piss people off, start problems.... Yeah, she really didn't want to think of that, but she wanted to imagine what her parents would do to her least of all.
Alexi tried to think of the bright side of it all. She be able to meet other sorcerers, learn things she might not otherwise get to learn, not just from her own kind but from others. Like how much of what she knew about vampires and werewolves was 'true' and what is actually true. What did the Borea actually look like? Do Faeries and Borea look different depending on what type they are? If so, is it cosmetic or is it a fundamental difference in their biology? What about those poor bastards, the half-breeds?
There were good things about this, she had to keep telling herself that, keep reminding herself, or else she'd get all mopey and that's not cute at all. She'd never have a first kiss if she was mopey all the time. Alexi froze and blushed when she realized where her thoughts had wondered. She wasn't boy or girl crazy, but it had been embarrassing, and this would be an absolutely clean slate, a complete new beginning.
Those thoughts made her feel better. To keep herself in a decent mood, she began to people watch, picking out the boys and girls she thought were cute. When a girl, around her age, maybe a little older, smiled back at her, Alexi grabbed her coffee with her Quirgarmo covered arm, and used it to hide behind while smiling herself. Sure the girl was probably just being friendly and didn't mean anything by more by it, but Alexi got a good, warm feeling thinking that it did mean something.