Spring Rains

Greetings, reader of this nonsensical cyber-text page that is hopefully of some weekly amusement!

Lithica Winski, armed with a scythe and stuffed rabbit. 

So before spring break, I was talking with a friend about what would happen if they accidentally left their apartment door unlocked over the entire break. I was teasing him that if someone did come, they'd probably just clean it for them, but it sparked a short scene in my head.

It also sparked a drawing, which I promptly scanned in and colored. It wasn't as time consuming as I anticipated, but it certainly took more time than I usually would have. So this will be the last--and only--time in a while I'll be posting original art.

Notes on the drawing:  It was just a little pen doodle on paper, but I was thought it was cute enough to scan. I didn't like the jacket though, so I edited it from a long sweater/ coat to a short jacket . I'm quite pleased actually. The hand also had to be adjusted, as it was clunky before.

The gradient on the dress is random, due to my indecisiveness on which shade of pink to make it.

The feet! :D I'm so proud of myself for drawing bare feet.  And.....I again decided not to draw actual eyes :P

Notes on the story: Since Harper had her own adventure last time, this short features Lithica Winski, the little insane girl in the group. Ion again is mentioned in passing. This is set before J.U.L.I.E.T. meets, when Lithica and Ion first encounter each other.

Hopefully everything is self-explanatory by the story itself. If not, I have a small paragraph afterwards to summarize. (Also, I'll start posting word count (WC) before each story-related post-part. I think this might help if people want a length gauge. Tell me if it's a good addition! :))

WC: 904

“Well, that’s the end of spring break,” Japhdel Alder told his brother as they climbed the stairs to their apartment. Ion Winds nodded, shifting the bags of snacks to his other hand. He had the keys to their apartment ready, but one of their roommates, Xeranthenum Teasel, should have already returned earlier that day. He had. The door pushed open easily with a little twist of the handle.  

“Hey Xen, we’re ba—?!”  

Two steps in, Ion briefly wondered if he was in the right apartment. It took him a moment to recognize that everything was exactly as it had been when they’d left a week ago, and another moment to realize what threw him off: although nothing had been moved their apartment had been scrubbed clean. Under the socks he’d left lying around, the dirt and soda-spotted carpet was light tan, cleaner than the day they’d moved in. The walls were dusted and all the plates in the kitchen were stored neatly away or sparkling on the drying rack. Oh, and the girl.  

There was a girl sleeping on the couch—14, maybe younger, with pale skin, pointed ears, and purple hair. On the green beanbag in their living area was seated a worn burlap rabbit with button eyes and long floppy ears and limbs, holding a neon-purple scythe made apparently of metal and some precious rock.  

“Ion? Why’d you stop? This is heavy, y’know.” 

Ion moved, dropping the foodstuffs in his hand on the newly-wiped down table, and let his brother by to unload their stuff in their room. The girl rolled over and told something, in a light squeak he assumed was her voice, to “shut up”. She didn’t wake up though, and the command wasn’t even directed in his direction. 

When Japhdel returned to the common area, he noticed their new guest. 

“Xen?—Xen! Who is this?” Japhdel called to their other roommate. A boy with disheveled—and unevenly dyed—black and pale green hair with maniacal green eyes appeared from the other room. He was skinnier and stranger-looking than white-haired Ion, but possessed none of Ion’s ethereal, almost feminine, beauty.  

Xen ran one hand through his hair and adujusted his broken black glasses. He yawned and scratched his stomach. He stared at the girl that—aside from the purple tint—was as pale as he was. He shrugged. “I don’t give a fuck.” He disappeared back in his room.
Ion and Japhdel exchanged glances—not at Xen’s reaction, because he was an erratic person to begin with—but at the girl still sleeping on their couch.  

Xen returned with the cooking knife in his hand. He shuffled across the carpet and pointed the knife at her head. Luckily, it was just an inquiry. Japhdel shook his head and Xen’s face fell.  

“Do we wake her?” Ion whispered.  

Japhdel leaned over and prodded the girls’ shoulder a little. “Hey. Hey. Who are you?” 

She rolled over again, and her eyelids fluttered. She yawned, revealing white teeth, with  two slightly pointed ones at each side. She sat up, blinking at her three onlookers. “Oh!” Dark amethysts lit up with understanding. “You must be the human males who usually occupy this residence. I am Lithica, of Winski. Thank you for lending out your residence to stray travelers over your spring vacation.” She stood up, twirled her pink skirt, and curtseyed in introduction.  

The boys stared, slightly dumbfounded.  

“Can we kill her?” Xen asked, shifting the knife so it was again pointing in her direction. 

Everyone ignored him. “Oh, and this is Atli,” she motioned to the rabbit. “Forgive him. He has no manners.” 

“Are you high?” Japhdel demanded. His eyes danced, uncertain if he should be concerned or amused. 

At the same time, Ion asked, “Can you help pay rent?” 

Lithica of Winski, or whatever she had introduced herself as, shook her head at Japhdel’s inquiry. She squinted at Ion. “Indeed—how many of the green papers do I owe you?” She reached for the scythe and the rabbit.  

Ion chuckled at her response. “Make it rain,” he told her jokingly.  

She lifted the scythe seriously. The edge glinted as she raised it, and her eye glimmered with madness akin to Xen’s. “Rain,” she repeated, and swiped the scythe forward. As she did, at black-purple crevasse formed through the air. The rift followed the point of her scythe as she guided it through the air; where the rift opened, bills and coins rained over them.  

Lithica skipped and spun once before dropping the spell. Her face was sanguine and unbothered—as though normal people everyday made money rain from mysterious rifts.  

Japhdel laughed, clearly concerned for the girl’s mental health. “Cool! Free money!” 

“Can we kill her now?!” Xen shrieked, slashing at the coins hailing over him.  

“Killing is not polite,” Lithica reprimanded, pausing by the shoes. At the twirl of her fingers, a gentle breeze whisked past them and rubbed off a spot of dirt one of the brothers had tracked in. As she danced out the door, she called in her eerie high-pitch, “For your information, there are ghosts haunting the water-flusher!" 

Ion noted the mildly amused and irritated expression on his brother’s face and laughed. He put enthusiasm into his voice as he picked up a hundred-dollar bill from next to his ankle. “Yay, the bathroom trips won’t be lonely anymore.”

Summary:  Lithica, a little foreign to earthling ways, finds an unlocked door while it is pouring outside. Surprised to find that the residents are not there, she makes the only "logical" conclusion: the usual residents decided to leave their door open so that anyone that got caught out in the rain would be able to take shelter XD. In exchange, she puts her wind magic to work and cleans the entire apartment without reorganizing a thing. A week later, three of the four residents have returned. Xeranthenum, "Xen" Teasel is apathetic to her existence, seeking only to kill her. Brother Japhdel and Ion are concerned for her mental health, but overall chill with the presence of the alien girl.

Comments: Believe it or not, all of the lines the guys say to Lithica are actual reactions I got from asking three guys for their reaction to the situation. (That is, all the boys' lines after "When Japhdel returned to the common area, he noticed their new guest." was actually told to me in chat or person.) Although, to be entirely honest, Xen's repeated "Can we kill her?" was inspired by a description of him actually sinking a knife through her skull.

This wasn't as good as Trains, but I did have a lot more to base Trains off of, and a lot more time to gather and reflect on emotions and observations. I will also be revising Trains after some feedback from fellow writers. That may or may not constitute next week's post, depending on how week one goes.

Thanks for following!  Good luck with classes, everyone! :)
~Minerva