Take Me Out {Open}

[Millicent Bleu]

The day was young when Milli happened to be walking down the street with her twin sister, Mel. Earlier on, when the sun was just barely peeking over the buildings of District 13 and the air was still cold, Milli and Mel had decided to leave. They didn't want to leave just because it sounded cool, they wanted to leave before their mother woke up because, in all honesty, they were scared to death of her. Ava Bleu, their mother, was both mentally disabled and phsycsophrenic, which often meant she would be seeing things that weren't there. Because of just the way their mother was and the way she had treated the girls, they hated her and always spent their time away from her. It wouldn't be that way if their father was every around. The kind-hearted man would've kept them safe, but he was never there. Instead, he worked all the time.

"Let's go out and shop." Milli had suggested, throwing the little money they had onto the table so they could inspect it. It wasn't much, but they were fed off of their father's paycheck and so this money just needed to be a little treat for the girls. Mel had been crying too much lately, anyway. Hesitantly, Mel had agreed and the two girls had left the house in their warm clothes.

Milli's body was covered in soft material that she had traded her mother's old bracelet for. Some lady a while back didn't want the warm, silky, long sleeved top and, knowing the fierce winter of District 13 was coming, Milli had taken it without a second thought. Layered over it was a thick, worn-out black coat, which Milli's father had bought her when she was younger. Her legs were covered with black fuzzy pants that the young girl was grateful to have. Overall, she was pretty warm, and so was Mel.

Now, the two girls walked down the street together, shoulders barely scraping each other's every so often. Milli's bright green eyes scanned the stores they were passing. With the weight of the money in her pocket, each store was almost irrisistable, but they didn't stop until they saw a sweets shop in the distance. Millicent's eyes moved to stare at her twin and, with the best puppy-dog face she could make, she asked finally, "Can we go to the sweets shop?" Convincing enough.

[Melanda Bleu]

Replays of Mel's morning so far kept repeating in her head. It started out early, about 6:30 AM, more or less. That was the usual time that Milli and Mel woke up, though. It was a time before their mother's eyes opened, and any time their mother was asleep or away was a good time. With a mentally disabled and phsycsophrenic mother, Mel had been scarred for life and there was nobody but Ava Bleu to blame. Milli and Mel had discussed their plan for the day. When Milli had thrown down their little bit of money, Mel automatically knew she wanted to go shopping. With a bit of luck, Milli had convinced Mel to go out to the Upper Streets to shop. They'd set out in warm clothes, since the air was still crisp and cool.

Mel wore a thick, silky shirt nearly identical to Milli's. It had been traded at the same time Milli's was, so they both got something warm to wear during the icy days of winter and the cool beginning of spring. Layered on the outside of her shirt was a thick, old black coat. It was identical to Milli's, because their father had bought it at the same time. Every time Mel wore the coat, memories of her father flooded through her, as well as the pain of remembering - remembering those memories that could never be recreated and remembering how he'd left them alone. Mel's legs were covered by a long, thick pair of black pants, making the twins look almost the same, if it weren't for their hair difference.

Now, the twins walked side by side down the Upper Streets of District 13, whose main job was graphite mining. Sometimes, Mel really wished she had been born in another district, like District 1 with all it's luxury items. But it was days like these that kept her loyalty and faith in District 13, where everything and everyone she ever loved lived. Mel's thoughts were interrupted by the voice of her twin sister. Quickly, her bright green eyes darted to examine the face of Milli, which was, of course, a puppy-dog face. Milli knew it never really had any effect on Mel, but Mel did think Milli looked rather goofy when she had the face on. "Can we go to the sweets shop?"

Mel's head tilted to the side a bit. Sweets shop? Where? It'd been so long since she'd had anything good, since she'd had anything other than bread and milk and cheese. Her head automatically turned to look straight and look for what 'sweets shop' Milli was speaking of. Mel saw it nearly immediately, a rather nice looking store quite a ways ahead of them. Inside it was sure to be tons of delicious sweets... The thought had Mel's mouth watering already. "Uhh.. Yea, let's go." Mel said quietly, not entirely sure what they'd find.

[Frederick Holman]

The young merchant boy had not managed to get to sleep at all the night before. As he noticed the sun begining to rise above the trees that surrounded his clan's camp he peeked his head out of the front of his wagon he shared with two other boys. One was his half sibling and one was a cousin about about his own age. The other two boys had desided to go to sleep after the long night of game playing, but Freddy Holman was not yet tiered.

Skipping his way up the short dirt path, pan flute in hand, he watched the many Lower Town housing come into view quickly. Their camp was not far from the Lower Town, but enough room was given to show that there was a definant devide between the two societies.

Stretching his arms outward, he managed to peek his head into the Back Alley, wondering if any of his clan was out pedeling yet. Not too many were up on this day, it was a weekend. Most people do not rise this early on the weekends.

Not many people except the store owners. With a reuined smile plastered onto his face Freddy rushed quickly in his normal skipping motions towards the Upper Streets. As soon as he became close he began to play his flute. Letting the sound dance off of the tall buildings around him, he danced through the street making his way towards the candy shop.

Sometimes, in the early morning as the owner was cleaning out the wasted supplies from the days before he would allow the young merchant children gathering around his store front a few peices of candy. The sweet shop onwer was one of the few shop owners that did not quickly shoo away the merchant children as they peered into their windows. And too Freddy's suprise he had manage to be the first and only merchant child waiting at the shop this morning. And hopefully, he would be the only child. Standing and waiting, while playing his flute to pass the time, Freddy pressed his small face up against the glass staring deep into the store at the many wonders that it held inside.

[Millicent Bleu]

Milli saw Mel's head turn to her almost instantly, with a look of confusion on her face. What was there to be confused about? Mel turned away, her straight blonde hair falling behind her shoulders as she did so. Milli watched the sense of confusion in Mel's unusual green eyes turn to desire. It was obvious, Mel wanted to go to the sweets shop, too. Mel's voice sounded in the air, which was quiet except for the buzz of the few people out at this time. "Uhh... Yea, let's go." Milli's lips curved into a smile as she began in a speed-walk, taking Mel's hand and yanking her along.

The sweets shop used to be, and still is, one of the twins' favorite stores, with all the delicious candies and cakes. Over the years, Milli and Mel had discovered the shop owner was a nice man who didn't mind children. Because of this, the shop owner would sometimes hand out candy to the children who waited outside. Even though Milli and Mel didn't really qualify as children anymore, being 16 years old, they still loved to come here whenever they got a day out.

Suddenly, there was a beautiful noise that filled the crisp morning air. Millicent slowed a bit to glance back at Mel, who seemed to have an expression just as confused as her's. The sound seemed to be coming from an instument... a flute. The confusion disappeared from Milli's face and instead was replaced by a smile. Flute, this early in the morning? Oh well, it was rather beautiful. The player was very good. Not taking much time to mess around, the two girls continued on, Mel being dragged by her sister.

The sound of the flute became louder as Milli continued on, and her eyebrows began to crease. Could it be another kid scoping out the sweets shop? Of course it was. In the distance, she caught sight of a skipping child, though he appeared to be around the same age as her and Mel. Milli felt something inside her become a tad bit disappointed at not being the only child at the store on this particular morning, but it was only one other kid (for now). Milli made sure to hurry on, speeding up until they were nearly to the sweets shop. Milli's green gaze landed on the boy. "Good morning." she greeted quietly, deciding to take the polite approach. The young girl came to a stop at the shop window, so she could press her face against the glass.

[Melanda Bleu]

Mel didn't even have time to drool before she felt a hand around her wrist. Though it made Mel jump just a tad bit, she knew almost instantly it was the impatient Millicent preparing to tug her down the street to the sweets shop ahead. Just as she had predicted, only a few seconds passed before the pressure around her wrist tightened and she was being pulled down the street towards the sweets shop. A little grumble escaped the girl, as Milli knew perfectly well that Mel could navigate herself. Mel loved the sweets shop, it wasn't hard to get her to go there, but Mel just let Milli keep tugging her. Besides, Milli always was the bossy one.

Suddenly, a beautiful noise filled the air. Confusion filled Mel's eyes for a second, but only a second. Just as quickly as the expression had crossed her face, it left quickly as she realized the sound was coming from a flute. Mel had always admired the instrument, as the sound it made was wonderfully beautiful, as long as the intrumentalist knew how to play it right, that is. When Mel was younger and still in school, she had always wanted to play the flute. She remembered asking her mother to teach her when she was young, only to be yelled at for asking such a stupid question. Mel lowered her green gaze to her feet at the thought, and simply waited for Milli to keep tugging her along the road.

It was when Milli's pace slowed for a moment that Mel's green eyes were brought up to see what she was interested in. When she saw a young boy, about the age of her and Milli, skipping in the distance towards the sweets shop, Mel instantly knew that Milli was disappointed. Mel didn't find any disappointment in them having to share the sweets shop, it was big enough for more than just them. Milli's pace seemed to increase, however, at the sight of the boy and Mel was dragged faster, grunting as she nearly fell.

"Good morning." she heard Milli greet to the boy, and for a moment she was surprised that Milli was taking the polite approach. Her twin was far too outgoing for her taste, but Milli wasn't typically super-sweet upon first meetings. Should I say something? thought Mel, keeping her eyes locked on her shoes. Quickly, she decided against it, instead waiting for his reply to Millicent's speech, if he even decided to reply. Mel had found that a few of the children that came to the sweets shop were quite rude. Only time would tell if this boy was one of them.