greetings, roommate! -- kayleigh

[Kaye~Twins~Koby]

.x.Kayleigh Rae Swift.x.
.x.Blind but not without insight.x.

Kaye could hear her roommate moving around the room unpacking things and wished that she hadn’t already unpacked, at least then she would have something to do instead she moved to the bed Kara jumping up easily and laying with her head resting on the girls lap. She stroked the dogs head absently, she had no idea what the time was and knew that she wouldn’t be able to just sit there with nothing to do for long.

It was true Kaye was content in her own company she could sit for hours on end as long as she had something to do with her hands, a book to read, a painting to paint, or a picture to draw but she wasn’t so good at sitting like this. With nothing more to do then stroke the soft fur of one of her best friends, but what was she supposed to do, get up and leave? She wasn’t so sure that this was good roommate etiquette, but then again why not its not like they had to be joined at the hip just because they were roommates right.

She was just considering getting up and going for a wander, classes didn’t start until tomorrow so she had the rest of the day to wander and get accustomed to the campus, when the girl came over and dropped something on the bed next to her offering it to her, she heard the girl say that whatever item it was, it was Chanel.

Curious she picked it up, running the fabric through her fingers she realised it was a scarf and the fabric felt as expensive at the brand was.

“Are you sure you don’t want this? It’s far too good to just give away”

She said, Kaye had never owned a piece of clothing that was this expensive, its not like she went without by any means she always had good clothes and anything she wanted within reason, but Chanel, that was something that had never crossed her mind as something she would one day own. Which is why it shocked her that her new roommate would just want to give it away so easily.

“Gossip, umm no actually I haven’t been here long, I went for a ride yesterday with some guy but that’s about it really.”

She said with a laugh she only arrived yesterday after all and she hadn’t been here to long herself.

Word Count ;; 405

[Luke Peters]

I absently shook off Kaye’s comment about the scarf. I didn’t want it, really, and I wouldn’t have offered it to her if I had. There were plenty of other fish in the sea, so to speak, and to me, that one just happened to be an ugly little minnow. Not to Kaye though, for I could tell she was mystified by how easily I would give something like that away. Good, at least she didn’t see it like I did. To me, that scarf was just a fabric laced with bad memories and rejection. There was nothing there for me, but to Kaye, it was a totally different animal.

From my bed, I reached over into the box, kind of searching around with my fingers until I found something that seemed interesting. This must be what it’s like to be blind! I thought, but then I slapped myself for being so ignorant. Out of the box came a disposable camera, and my heart sank. I don’t really know what I was looking for, but it hadn’t been this. I looked around the room through the tiny view-finder, and clicked the shutter. The last picture had been used long ago, but for some reason, it still flashed and clicked. I jumped with surprise. What an interesting sign. It was a sign, right? I mean, how often does a camera that needs development suddenly regain a picture slot. Maybe it took a picture over a picture, which would be no good. Those pictures, if I do remember correctly, were from two summers ago, when I’d gone to an exclusive horse camp in North Carolina. It had to be the best time of my life, for sure. I reminisced, smiling. I had yet to get these developed, but now that I had the camera, it became a top priority.

When Kaye spoke about having no gossip, I dismissed it at first; but that was before I heard her speak about a boy.
“Kaye,” I replied knowingly, stepping over to her bed. “usually when your stories involve boys, they’re worth talking about.” I giggled, and raised an eyebrow, hoping she would expand. Quickly though, I became bored, and flounced around the room, spinning my arms and twirling like a ballet dancer.
“I wish I had gossip, but alas!” I threw the back of my hand dramatically against my forehead and struck a pose.
“I don’t.”
I giggled to myself, and plopped back on my bed, only to continue searching for something that required finding within the box.

[Kaye~Twins~Koby]

.x.Kayleigh Rae Swift.x.
.x.Blind but not without insight.x.

Kaye smiled as the girl dismissed her comment about the scarf, obviously it wasn’t something she held in too high regard maybe it was a present from an ex boyfriend, or it had some other troubling emotional attachment, Kaye didn’t know and she didn’t feel like it was something she should ask about either.

“Thank you”

She said simply, it really was nicer then anything she owned, though she didn’t feel right about taking it without giving anything in return but what did she really have that would even come close to this?

“I know they aren’t that good but if there are any of the paintings you wanted feel free, mums always on at me that there are too many anyway”

She offered and it was true there were so many paintings their home was full of them and there were at least 10 that she brought with her and she had a few blank canvases with her also which she planned on filling while she was here. And other then the one of her friend none of the others really mattered as much to her they were just to pass the time.

She had to laugh when Giselle said that stories involving boys were generally worth talking about, in some cases it was true but Kaye didn’t really think that this was the case this time. She laughed even harder at Giselle’s dramatics even though she couldn’t see her she could hear the other girl moving around the room and the giggle, she could also note the over dramatic note to her voice.

“There isn’t a lot to tell, he brought his horse into the stalls yesterday while I was brushing Junior, Blake, I think his name was, we went for a ride his horse hurt his leg we came but nothing too interesting really, I cant even tell you what he looks like.”

She said honestly, he had seemed like a nice enough sort of a guy but she didn’t think that it would really amount to anything.

Word Count ;; 341

[Luke Peters]

Okay, what I had said before about the box being bottomless was definitely true. I had been digging around in the cardboard container for a little over a minute with the sole intention of finding the bottom, and so far, I’d had no luck. It was funny, but also a little frustrating. I didn’t feel like unpacking everything right now, but I felt that unless I came in contact with the box’s base, I’d have to. Although I could be lazy, my determination often times won over, especially in cases such as this. With a little sigh, I reached in and began pulling out items. A few magazines which hadn’t made it into the other box, a floppy disc, an extra cell charger, three boxes of batteries, a folded up pillow case, a motivational plaque that read, ‘ You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore,’ and a couple more scarves. Still though, once these things were removed and messily strewn across my bed, there was still something blocking me from reaching the bottom. I thought I’d removed all the breakables, so carefully I turned the box over, hoping to spill out the blockage and finally empty the space. Ah! Found the problem! From the upside-down crate protruded a saddle pad. It was light green with script-y black lettering in the back right corner, tilted on an angle, reading quite formally, ‘Whiplash.’ I cooed, pulling the pad from the box and hugging it to my chest. I only just remembered how fond I was of the pad, since it had been custom commissioned for myself. I liked giving myself little treats.

Woah, had Kaye really just offered me a selection from her paintings? I’d been so wrapped up – pardon the pun – in finding Romeo’s saddle pad that I’d hardly noticed her voice. Today just kept getting better and better! I smiled in response to her words, and set the pad down on my bed, smoothing out the creases which had formed from being stuffed into the box.
“I’d like that very much.”
I rose from my bed, and tripped around the room, placing the recently disrupted things in various places. As I pulled and pushed, hung and removed, I listened to her speak about this, ‘Blake,’ character. He sounded like a possible relationship, and personally I felt that she was tuning it down a little. I smiled, only imagining what kind of fisherman’s tale I’d come up with if it had been me in her shoes.
‘Well, It was raining,’ (rain ALWAYS made a good story better) ‘and I’d gone out to the barn to see my horse. All of a sudden, the doors closed and a fire started, and this brave, heroic fire-man type came on his white horse and picked me up and rode out. Of course, I was very concerned about my own horse, but out of the flames, he jumped like a phoenix, and without a scratch on him too! Then we had a nice ride, and now we’re dating. The end.’
Alright, I never said my stories were believable!

When Kaye finished her story, I stood in awe. How could she not know what he looked like! With a confused little noise, I opened my mouth.
“But, but, how can you not know what he looks like?! I mean it’s—oh wait, you’re blind, I’d forgotten.”
Jeeze, offensive, much? I thought that I’d cured myself of saying things like that, but apparently not. Still though, I recognized my mistake, and began to profusely apologize.
“Oh Kaye, I’m so sorry… I wasn’t thinking!” With a flourish, I skittered over to her bed and sat next to her.
“That was horrible of me, I’m sorry. But, just one question, how can you tell what people look like anyway?” My curiosity was incessant, but so it seemed, unfortunately, was my insolence.
Would I ever learn?

[Kaye~Twins~Koby]

.x.Kayleigh Rae Swift.x.
.x.Blind but not without insight.x.

It was good to know that the Giselle was so happy about being offered one of Kaye’s paintings, personally she didn’t think the amount of admiration that was in the girls voice was warranted. True she couldn’t actually see what the paintings looked like to those with seeing eyes but come on they were painted by a blind chick she liked the way the textures felt but seriously how could anyone who could see the product think so highly of them?

Maybe her mother hadn’t been faking her interest, she had just assumed her mother had said they were amazing because she was supposed too. Parents were after all supposed to support their children and their decisions right? Right.

Anyway she was going stir crazy just sitting and gossiping it wasn’t something she was too good at if she had to sit she had to do something while she sat. So shifting her weight so she was laying on the bed rather then sitting she lent over the edge and fished around underneath, pulling out a sketchbook and a pencil case.

Flipping the pages she felt each one, the slight indentations on each picture told her that the first was a dragon, the second was her favourite lake from home, there were 10 in all that filled the front of the book ranging from face sketches to random spirals and eyes from just plain old boredom drawings.

Choosing a pencil from the pencil case her hand flashed across the page, she wasn’t drawing anything in particular just random lines, circles, spirals, triangles, stars and more as a pattern began to take shape on the page. She looked up even though it made no difference where she looked her hand still gliding over the page as her roommate spoke.

A grin broke over her face and laughter escaped her lips as the girl stumbled over her words as she realised what she had said. Usually when people did this it frustrated her to no end, but today she found it highly entertaining.

“Relax, it makes me feel better to know people can forget”

She explained when she stopped laughing long enough too, it felt good to laugh and she wasn’t exactly laughing at the girl jut her reaction.

“I can see people the same way I can sculpt, draw, walk and ride horses, through feel, I can see peoples features by touching their faces, you can tell proportions, texture, and all that through touching something, or someone’s face, you jut have to find people willing to let you.”

She explained easily, she didn’t often bother asking people if she could ‘see’ them, only if they became important to her did she bother.

Word Count ;; 451

[Luke Peters]

Being me, I could not stay stationary for long.
I rose from Kaye’s bed moments after she cleared with me that she was okay with my insolence, and moved my position to the floor. Yeah, the dirty, bland floor. I was thinking about having my dad ship a rug here to cover up the blank carpeting, but I figured I’d try not to involve him as much as possible. He seemed to only make things more complicated, and I really was trying to simplify my life. By coming to Firefly, I’d made a big change. I’d dropped all my previous relations to start anew, and this included separating myself from my father. In fact, the only person I’d remained in contact with was Romeo, but he wasn’t really a person. So yes, I’d managed to drop all my human connections.

Lying on the ground, I drew up my knees and stared up at the ceiling. When I was younger I’d decorated the ceiling of my room with glow-in-the-dark stars, so every night when I’d turn off the lights, I could look up into my make-shift ‘sky.’ My mom had helped me arrange them, so after she died I tore them down. I’m pretty sure that they were under my bed for quite some time, but my dad probably told the maid to remove them. As much as I didn’t like being reminded of my mom, my dad felt about ten times more strongly about it. For the most part he kept the fact that it upset him on the down low, but it really wasn’t that hard to tell; he’d practically rip your head off if you mentioned her name. Yet another reason I hated being home.

I exhaled through my mouth as Kaye spoke, puffing out my cheeks. It was cool feeling the air slip through your lips like that, almost like releasing more than just breath. I was bored, but that wasn’t anything new. Rolling over, I propped myself up on an elbow, and looked over at Kaye. She seemed pretty self-sustained. I sighed again, and concentrated on tracing patterns in the carpeting.
“So,” I said, raising an eyebrow but still not looking away from the carpeting, “without uh, touching my face, what would you guess I look like?” I smiled, briefly looking up. It did kind of weird me out, the fact that Kaye would have to touch me to figure out what I looked like. It was such an alien concept to me. I don’t remember any time that someone had done something similar to that, not even any guys I’d dated. I guess I just wasn’t a physically affectionate person – or at least, I didn’t think I was.

Rolling over on my stomach, I made an upside-down carpet angel until I felt that I couldn’t breathe. Then I flipped over again and laid on my back. Kaye would have to get used to my constant movement, because without it, I don’t think I could function!

[Kaye~Twins~Koby]

.x.Kayleigh Rae Swift.x.
.x.Blind but not without insight.x.

Kaye stopped her hand from skimming over the page, the pencil fell limp in her hand, the sound of her roommate moving around, obviously her new roommate was not one for sitting around and doing nothing, and to be quite honest neither was Kaye she needed something to do with her hands at the very least. Pushing the drawing and pencil away she sat up again looking in the vague direction of the other girl.

“Honestly I have no idea, it’s a bit hard to tell from sound what people look like but I can say that your probably around five six, five seven, but that’s about the extent of what I can guess”

Kaye answered her with a smile as she sat on the bed, it was true she could roughly estimate height by listening for not only the direction the voice was coming from but also paying attention to how far off the ground the voice was coming from. It wasn’t an exact art but it helped her to look at people’s faces rather then their chests or over their heads.

“Do you want to go for a walk? I was actually going to go see my horse before you arrived? There isn’t really a lot to do in here, unless you still need to unpack?”

Kaye spoke, she felt in the mood to stretch her legs and she knew if she didn’t go down and see Junior soon then he would be a snob next time she did. He could get like that if he didn’t get daily attention then it took a whole day to get him to talk to you again, but regardless of this fault in his temperament she wouldn’t trade him for the world.

Word Count ;; 291
OOC ;; Sorry its short Luke my muse is still hiding in Sonya’s suitcase I think, hoping it will get another holiday

[Luke Peters]

The carpet angel was beginning to give me rug burn, and that would be a little hard to explain to my dad during parent’s week. He knew that my reputation with the opposite sex wasn’t exactly stainless, so he’d probably assume the worst. Dear ‘ol dad. Really, just thinking about him made me angry. I’d find myself clenching my jaw or wrinkling my nose whenever he entered my head. There really wasn’t much he’d ever done for me except conceive me, and pay for the occasional thing. I was better off without him, but I still craved a loving father. Kaye had mentioned something earlier about her parents being supportive? I envied her. Without a mother, he was all I had left, and believe me, he was nothing much.

It was pretty wacky that Kaye could guesstimate my height, but I certainly gave her props. Experimentally, I closed my eyes, and although I already knew what she looked like, I tried to picture her from her voice. This was silly of me, since I imagined her looking exactly as she did, but still, not all experiments were perfect, eh? Maybe one day I’d let Kaye ‘see’ me, but for now it still kind of weirded me out. Sighing, I rolled around a little more on the carpeting. Good thing I wasn’t OCD, otherwise I’d probably be in a coma from all the germs. God knows how many things have happened on this carpeting. I shuddered at the thought, but still did not bother to get up from the floor. I’m sure that I’d lain on a lot of things that were worse than this.

Half-heartedly, I glanced towards the mess lying on my bed. Truthfully, I’d rather jab Kaye’s pencil in my eye than clean it all up right now. Plus, what Kaye didn’t see couldn’t hurt her, so I’d just smoothly lie. A walk sounded like a great idea right about now. I brought myself up to a sitting position, crossing my legs and grabbing my feet.
“A walk sounds like a great idea. I’d love to meet your horse, and I’d love for you to meet mine. Maybe we can run into that cute boy too…” I winked at her, and rose to my feet. Of course I was referring to the guy she’d mentioned earlier, hopefully she’d catch that. I stretched a little bit, arching my back. I listened with delight as it gave a satisfying crack. If there was one thing I missed about back home, it was that I had a chiropractor I’d see on Wednesdays. Oh well, gain some things, loose some things. I grabbed my tote devoted to the stable off my messy bed, and slung it around my shoulder. All that was in there was a half-melted lip gloss, a pair of beaten up ray bans, and a broken bit, but I still insisted on carrying it around with me. After all, you never knew what you’d pick up!

[Kaye~Twins~Koby]

.x.Kayleigh Rae Swift.x.
.x.Blind but not without insight.x.

Kaye was glad when the girl agreed to a walk, she had a feeling that she would have since she was bouncing all over the room, but Kaye also felt like getting out of the room for a bit there was nothing better then the feel of fresh air on her skin and in her hair. For the second time since the girl had arrived in the room Kaye searched around for the Kara’s harness. The dog realising they were going for a walk got up off the bed and got to the harness before Kaye could. Taking it in her mouth the dog was soon pushing it into Kayleigh’s hand. With a smile Kaye took the harness and patted the pooches cranium with affection before fixing the harness to the dog.

Fumbling around a little she soon slipped her bare feet into a pair of flip flops and stood up, she was ready to go, all her horse things were already down in the stables, walking toward the door she picked up her dorm key from her desk and pulled the door open.

“Shall we?”

She said walking through holding the door open with one hand as the other clutched the harness, which allowed her dog to lead her. It wasn’t until she was positive that the other girl had walked out of the room that she let the door fall back into place, taking her key she found the lock and turned he key, hearing the click, she checked that it was defiantly locked before pulling the key out and pocketing it.

It wasn’t long before she was strolling off down the corridor being led by Kara.

“You know there is one other way I can ‘see’ you”

She said with a smile on her face as they walked.

“You could always just describe yourself to me”

She added humour laced in her voice as she spoke.

Word Count ;; 319
OOC ;; Sorry its short Luke my muse is still hiding

[Luke Peters]

I watched with interest as Kaye prepped her canine companion, silently thanking anyone who would listen for my sight. I couldn’t imagine not being able to see where I was going – that would be horrible! I mostly experienced the world through my sight anyway, and to really actually see (no pun intended) how much of a chore it was just to go for a walk… it put it in perspective for me. Uneasily, I shifted my weight back and forth, feeling quite ashamed of how shallow I was being by just standing there, watching her. That was more than she would ever be able to do. I think that the worst thing about her situation was that she had once been able to see. It was almost like a calf born for the slaughterhouse; being able to taste freedom before its ultimate demise. It made me sad deep inside, but I concealed my feelings. At least she did not act like an invalid. Actually, just sitting there in that room minutes ago, I couldn’t have told you that there was anything wrong with her. Her personality was as shiny as a well-polished trophy, and for that, I admired her. It kind of made me feel proud of myself for getting over my silly little ‘fear’ of her. Kaye was an awesome person, and now I could not imagine having a different roommate.

Like a lost puppy, I followed her out of the room, eventually catching up to her and walking astride the dog. When she suggested I describe myself however, I faltered a little bit, slowing my pace. I hated talking about myself, it made me feel so conceited. Still. I glanced over at Kaye, focusing on her face. Did I really feel comfortable with her feeling me out? Truthfully, not really. There seemed to be no other option. Sighing almost inaudibly, I pulled my hair back into a ponytail before letting it cascade over my shoulders again. I was almost tempted to say, ‘you first,’ but that would make no sense. I laughed bitterly to myself before answering.
“What do I look like… well, I’m five seven, like you predicted… I’m obviously female,” here I stopped to let out a peal of laughter before continuing, “brown eyes, uhh,” extending an arm in front of me, I examined the color of my skin. I’d say it was a light bronze, but that was just me. “I guess I’m a little tan… my hair is…” again, I had to stop and examine myself. It was funny how I didn’t even know what I looked like. I guess sight was a privilege I abused. “dirty blonde; my ears are pierced too… erhm… I’m pretty skinny… make that extremely skinny… and I like dressing in hand-me-downs.” I looked down to see if there was anything I’d missed. When I was satisfied I had covered all the bases, I nodded matter-of-factly and hiked my bag up on my shoulder.
“That seems to be it!” I smiled, throwing up my arms only to collapse them against my sides again. Not a very interesting description, but I had covered all the bases…. Right?
Right?

[Kaye~Twins~Koby]

.x.Kayleigh Rae Swift.x.
.x.Blind but not without insight.x.

As they walked along Kaye was amused about the way the girl seemed to have to really think about how she looked in order to explain it. From her vague explanation Kaye managed to draw what she thought would be a pretty accurate image of the girl in her mind. Smile was on her face, she could almost imagine the girl examining herself every time she stopped her speech to check what she actually looked like, and Kaye vaguely thought about how she would answer the question.

‘5’5”, slender, longish dark brown hair and dark hazel eyes to match, slightest of tans though it was barely noticeable, piercing’s in her ears, tongue and belly, no tattoos, no scars that she knew of, unless you call her complete lack of sight a scar.’

“Funny how those who can see have to check…”

She mused slightly more to herself really after she ticked them off in her head, most of that was what she remembers of herself before the accident for all she knew her skin could be translucent and pasty. Her eyes could have gone that cloudy colour you ‘see’ in the elderly who have gone blind, and she could have scars from here to Timbuktu. Though she doubted it, no one ever mentioned or asked about any scars so that was unlikely and she liked being outside too much for her skin to have gone pasty.

Speaking of outside it was then that she realised they had exited the building, as she felt the wind hit her features and could hear that the gentle slap of her flip flops hitting laminate had changed to the slight crunching of them on slightly loose bitumen. It wouldn’t be long now before they reached the stables, sometimes it seemed the stabled were closer to the dorms then the classrooms, but she knew that wasn’t the case, it was just the fact that she tended to walk much slower when it came to classes then when she wanted to visit the stables and her Junior.

It was spooky sometimes how Kara always seemed to know where Kayleigh wanted to go, without many words of directions from Kaye she was already leading her off toward the stables, it was almost like the dog knew her timetable better then Kaye did at times.

Word Count ;; 387

[Luke Peters]

I hated when my freckles moved. Well, technically of course, they didn’t move, because freckles usually don’t sprout legs and go walkabout. No, if my freckles started moving, I knew I had bugs. Having bugs crawling about on you is never a pleasant thing, especially when you’re unaware of their stealthy behavior. I noticed the first bug upon glancing down at my feet. I didn’t really think very much about flicking a single ant from my arm, but after the third or fourth one, I began to worry. Was I infested? Worse – was my room infested?! I could not have that if I was going to be sleeping there each night. What if I woke up every morning to find my skin crawling with insects? It was very nerve-wracking.
After uprooting the fifth any from my arm, my vision started to blur, and all my freckles began to dash around my arm. Whenever I’d chase one with my eyes, it would dodge out of sight faster than you can say, ‘you little anthole!’My logical brain said that I was just hallucinating, but my current state of mind kept tracking the ‘bugs’ around my arm, fantasizing that they were trying to escape me only to run away to cause general havoc.
Naturally, I would not tolerate this, so I frantically began swatting at my arm, wrinkling my nose to show my general distaste for the pests. If she could assess what I was doing, Kaye would probably think I was crazy, and as of right now, I kind of was. She was lucky she couldn’t see, for right now, my sight was driving me nuts.

“Funny how those who can see have to check…”
Truthfully, I hadn’t really been listening to Kaye up until this point because of my ant dilemma, but I assumed that this was the first thing she’d said. Well, I hoped rather, for that would leave me in an awkward situation if I was expected to reply to something prior to this comment.
“I guess people who can see just abuse the privledge. I don’t think anyone expects it to happen to them.” I shrugged, and managed to tear my eyes from my arm to look over at Kaye, nearly tripping over the doorstep as I did. We were already outside? Since when? Had I been that engrossed by my ant menagerie that I hadn’t noticed I was walking? There you go, almost a perfect example to Kaye’s earlier sentence. I felt embarrassed, so I pretended that I’d meant to trip, and went along fake-tripping until another group of students neared us. Then I stopped, in order not to look like a fool. Slowly, I meandered along behind Kaye, allowing her to lead the way to the barn, as not to seem like a see-it-all. I did not allow myself to look down in case my freckles began to run away again, so instead I focused my attention on the nearing building.

Like visiting Disney World, or passing a really hard test, the feeling I got upon walking into the barn was nothing short of euphoric. I had to potentially stop myself from shaking with excitement as the smell of horses filled my nostrils. Immediately I singled out Romeo’s stall, and quickened my pace.
“I’m just gonna go say hi to him, and then I’ll come back and find you and meet your horse, sound good?” I didn’t really wait for a response from her, for I was itching to go say hello to my darling.
Walking down the aisle, I counted the number of stalls until I reached Romeo’s. I had just unloaded him this morning, but I noticed now how apprehensive I’d been about his wellbeing. Nearing his stall however, I noticed how calm he was. He seemed to be adapting just fine, currently munching on some hay in the front corner. When I leaned against his stall and called his name softly, his ears perked up and he raised his head, bringing his nose incredibly close to my face. He exhaled softly, causing the loose strands of hair on the front of my face to flutter around my cheeks. After his greeting, he dropped his head and went back to eating. I clucked maternally, and walked to open his stall, whispering under my breath, “Silly glutton.”
After hooking up his stall chain and coaxing his head out for a few moments of unrestrained pets and kisses, I looked back to see what Kaye was doing. I realized then that I was very curious to see her horse, as well as show off my own.