Solo Mine Now

[Tierra]

8th of Spring 518AV Tierra was sitting on her cot, it was awfully quiet in the dorm room and she actually didn’t mind it. She couldn’t recall anything significant that happened to her during the Winter season and her bruising from the Fall have gone away and she only occasionally felt a twinge of pain in her hand if she flexed it close too tightly. Glancing up at the window she could see herself faintly in the pane at the angle the orphan girl was at. Curious what I would look like if I wore a boy’s uniform. Wonder if I could get away with not being noticed for a bit of time? It was worth a shot and Tierra knew where one of the taller boy’s stored his stuff, surely he had a spare uniform in there. Tossing the sparse piece of fabric off her legs that the orphanage constitutes as a blanket she stood, glad that there was no one other than her and another sleeping orphan in the room. The others were either out in the playground playing with the balls or the chalk, others were cleaning. With little effort she went to the row of chests that denoted the storage for orphans. With a quick glance over at the sleeping orphan Tierra felt safe to flip the first chest open, littered in it were bits of notebook paper, the small nub of a pencil -- this Tierra reached in and pulled out, absentmindedly tucking it behind her ear as she quietly shut it and moved to the next one. This one was empty, nothing but a bit of dust lingering in the corners. A frown Tierra wondered if they would all be empty or littered with trash. She skipped over the next few and tossed the lid open of another one, this one had a pair of trousers in them. Holding them up she frowned and tossed them aside, they were much too small to fit, If I was just a bit smaller possibly. Maybe as shorts? Tierra shook her head and tossed them back into the trunk. A frown appeared on her face as she went to the next trunk. Placing her hands on the corner she could hear the sleeping orphan’s cot creaking and the groggy question, “Wot ya doin’?” Tierra flinched as she turned to look over her shoulder. It was a boy, about her age maybe he looked to be a bit taller than her and she smiled, “I forgot which one was my trunk. I took a pretty good whuppin’ a couple of seasons back and I think it messed with my memory. Could you show me which one is yours? I think mine isn’t far from yours.” With a rubbing of his eyes the boy mumbled and pointed to the right of Tierra, “Down that way. Close to the corner.” And with that he slipped back off to a snoring slumber, his body adjusting and shifting to a mediocre stillness on the flimsy cot. Tie smiled to herself though, now she knew where his belongings were located. With any hope he might have a spare uniform. Once Tierra felt he was fast asleep she slipped down the line of trunks to his, it was a sparse looking box, well worn edges and small bits of stuff sticking out of the right side towards the back corner keeping the top from shutting all the way. Her fingers wiggled with anticipation as she pulled up on the top using the worn edges as grips hoping that their worn look would hide the sweaty sheen on her fingers that left behind a dampness. WC: 611

[Tierra]

As the lid lifted up the hinges groaned in protest, at first Tierra stopped, holding the lid open so that it didn’t slam shut, when she was sure that the owner was still fast asleep -- his snores a good indication to go off of -- Tierra went back to lifting the lid. It creaked and groaned again until she finally got it open and the contents were fully visible. Tucked into the right rear corner was the folded over cuff of either a pair of pants or shirt, she couldn’t tell right away as the ball of pretty basic colored uniform clothing were wadded up in a mess with cuffs and hems visible in all directions. The thin fabric socks stuck out between the wrinkles. This was going to be a cake walk to just grab the garbs slam the lid down without care and walk off without stopping with the boy’s clothes. This though Tie decided not to do, she did grab hold of the wad and placed it down on her lap before slowly and carefully shutting the creaking trunk lid. Once it was fully shut, this time with nothing to stop the rear hinge from shutting all the way the lid did indeed close completely. Once the trunk was closed Tierra shrugged off her jacket and using it she wrapped the wadded uniform up and stood, turning she looked at the sleeping orphan and exhaled, realizing that she had been holding her breathe. Not outta the clear yet there Tie. Yet the girl couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear as she walked right past her fellow orphan and out of the dorms and into the hallway. A pause as she listened to the sounds of children playing outside and the groaned and complaints of cleaning. Turning in the direction of least noise she strolled down the hall, realizing rather quickly that she was heading in the direction of the infirmary. “Okay girl. Got to hide the uniform, quickly now find a place.” She said, her eyes darting back and forth. There! One of the wall grates was loose and rattled some from some unknown breezeway, probably some kind of heating source somewhere. The orphan didn’t care, the opening that she noticed from the corner of her eye was just big enough to squeeze the wad of clothing and her jacket into it without much difficulty, getting both her hands out though was tough. The one underneath the wad came out easily enough, sliding smoothly on the floor of the vent and over the lip with little effort, the one that was keeping it from unravelling on top though was trapped between the one hand and the grate edge. As her hand went to clear the grate the sharp edge snagged at her hand and tore at the flesh, a fresh wound came easily. Hissing loudly she pulled her hand back and looked down, it was a good three inch long gash, bleeding enough to warrant a trip to the infirmary for a cleaning and bandaging. A reason to be there. Holding her hand up the girl cradled it, not wanting to be reprimanded for dripping blood down the hallway, Or traced back to my stash… Tierra thought, as she made her way into the infirmary. It didn’t take long to get there and the smell was unnerving to say the least. It smelled sour like stale vomit and sickness masked by a thick attempt to cover it with heavy cleaning soaps and alcohols. She grimaced at the smell and when the staffer asked the issue the orphan girl held up the bleeding dirty hand. When asked how she did it Tierra said she was during off one of the wall grates in one of the halls and she accidently smacked a sharp edge. A simple nod and the staffer sat Tierra down on a cot and went in search of the materials to clean and bandage the orphan’s hand. Tierra only had a few ticks to look around, there wasn’t much in her direct line of sight that would work. Kids leave things in here all the time. They are too sick to remember to grab all their belongings... Nothing. Damn it. Wasted trip. She grimaced as the staffer returned with a bottle of spirits and a roll of bandages. Without a word to Tierra the medical staffer took Tie’s hand and dumped a healthy amount of the spirits right onto her wound. It didn’t take long for the stinging to reach Tierra’s threshold and beyond and the girl screamed out, it hurt like Hai. Soon enough though it was fading and Tierra sucked in deep breathes as the nurse wrapped the hand with the gauze. It didn’t take long, clearly the adult was quite skilled in doing this. With her wrapped hand completed Tierra lifted it and flexed her fingers, they were restricted slightly due to wrappings, but otherwise functional. “Do you know where I might be able to find some thick soled boots? I have trouble reaching the upper shelves in some of the rooms upstairs when I am dusting and I hate having to drag over a chair and climb up it in order to complete my dusting duties. Then I gotta push the chair back and make sure it is clean of debris from my shoes.” WC:904