Naughts & Crosses

[Ashley (;]

Gabrielle

I smiled and took off with a run to see what the announcement was all about. Honestly I didn't really care...

[Callie]

Harlow

"Hey!" I called, laughing as I ran after her, easily keeping up.

[Emmy]

Tara
"Maybe we should go to the town square, though....since he said everyone had to go."

[ausper]

Gabrielle

I laughed at him, "You wouldn't have caught up so fast if I didn't have a bullet stuck in my shoulder."

[Callie]

Trey

I shrugged and grabbed her hand, grinning. "Let's go, then!" I exclaimed, dashing out of the room.

Harlow

"Right," I said sarcastically, smirking. "I'm just naturally fast," I told her matter-of-factly.

[Ashley (;]

Gabrielle

"That's what they all say," I returned his smirk.

[Callie]

Harlow

"Yeah, but I don't lie. Usually," I told her seriously.

[Ashley (;]

Gabrielle
I smiled at him, "Good to know. Look, there's the Town Square!"

[Emmy]

Tara
I blushed but ran with him.

[Callie]

Harlow

"That would be it," I agreed, going over and joining the crowd.
"Hey, kid," Izzy said, turning around to see me. She raised an eyebrow at Gabrielle and smirked at me. "New girlfriend?" she teased.
"Right," I said sarcastically.

Trey

When we got there, I said, "Wow." It was appropriate, considering how many people were surrounding Governor Masters and his security, naughts and Crosses alike.

[Emmy]

Tara
"I second that "wow"." I said looking around at all the people, and suddenly becoming aware of my dirty jeans and old T-shirt. I bit my lip and tried not to bring attention to myself.

[Callie]

Harlow

"So... I assume you're all aware of the... wolves..." he started; people immediately started shouting things like, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" "How did they get in here?!!" "What are they, really?!?!"
"This could be fun," Izzy said with a small smile.
"What, you want him to get killed?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow.
"Of course not. If anyone's going to kill him, it'll be me."

[Ashley (;]

Gabrielle

I smiled at the other girl, "He's more of an... acquaintance." Then I turned my attention to the Governor.

[Callie]

Trey

"I wonder what the point of this really is... and if Governor Masters actually knows, himself," I murmured with a grin to Tara.

Izabelle

"And we need to... prepare ourselves. In case there are more," Masters said above the crowd. I whirled around when I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"Izzy, what are you planning?" Ben asked sagely.
"To offer help," I told him, frowning slightly.
He raised an eyebrow. "Since when do you want to help the Crosses?"
"Since there's a chance for equality. I - we won't help them for free," I answered cautiously.
Ben looked doubtful, then he took his hand off my shoulder and shrugged. "As long as you're true to your word."
"I don't break my word, Ben."

[Ashley (;]

Gabrielle

I frowned. More?

[Callie]

Harlow

I exchanged a glance with Gabrielle; I had the feeling we were thinking the same thing. "How?" someone from the crowd called.
"Well... we'll have to fight."
Silence.
"Do we know how to fight?" he sounded almost desperate. It was kind of sad, in a weird way.
There were a few "yes"es, but other than that, no one said a thing.
Izzy stepped onto the little raised part. "Thanks for opening for me, Masters," she said with a dry smile. "We'll help."
"We, as in...?"
"The Liberation Militia, of course. You know who I am," she replied nonchalantly.
There were a few gasps, but Izzy went on. "We can fight. We'll teach you. For a price."
"Oh, great..."
"You treat us as we're equals."
Governor Masters just gaped at her. She grabbed his arm, and the guards started forward, but Izzy ignored them. "Look at this," she said, putting her own arm next to his. "Just these two arms. What's different? Just the color, right? Well, and his is hairier, but that's not what I'm getting at. Naughts have brains, just like dag - Crosses do. We use them, they're just... not as full. Because we can't go to school as long as Crosses can. Because of the color of our skin. All I ask... I just want equality between the races. While we teach you. I don't like being looked down upon, especially when I teach, and apparently I have a nasty temper, so... what do you say? We'll teach, in return to be treated equal." I could almost see Izzy holding her breath now. It actually didn't seem like too bad of a trade.
I started to clap.

[Ashley (;]

Gabrielle

I starting clapping as well, thinking that maybe this might be the Naughts' ticket to freedom.

[Emmy]

Nathan
I walked up just as Izzy said her last sentence. I smiled; she must have made a pretty damn good speech. I clapped too, and Tara was clapping more loudly than most anyone.

[Callie]

Izabelle

I blinked, looking around. Okay, I definitely hadn't expected something like this to happen. Much more, and it might turn into a riot or something. Weird... apparently I'd tapped into a lot of emotions. Something like that.
The governor even looked to be thinking about this. "Fine," he said after a very long pause. "If my people can do it, then I guess I can give it a shot."
"YEAH! WOO!" there were cheers coming from all around, but I knew that that was from Harlow. Even the guy that had saved him - a Cross - was cheering. Lots of Crosses were cheering, I realized. Had Masters been the only one that was holding them back.

"When does the training start?" he asked as the crowds started to disperse.
I shrugged. "Whenever everyone's ready to accept it all. I think this was all pretty much like some sort of dream for them. Naughts especially," I said dryly. He didn't reply.
Harlow ran up and hugged me just then. "That was great, Izzy," he exclaimed, a glint in his eye.
I just nodded. Damn it, of course my thoughts went right back to Ryan.
"It was great," a voice piped up from behind me.
I whirled around. "V, what are you doing here?" I hissed. "I told you to stay... where you were," I muttered, glancing back to Masters. Just because we currently had an alliance didn't mean I trusted him not to drop it later when his people had been taught how to defend themselves, and they could strike at us when we thought we were all a union or whatever.
"Yeah, well, I heard the festivities from... where I was," she said, giving me a wry smile, "and I didn't want to miss out."
I rolled my eyes; same old V.

[Emmy]

Nathan
I wasn't exactly sure what to say, since she was talking to V, anyway.
Paisley
I looked up into the windshield and saw a huge wolf thing bounding across the road. "MILA!" I screamed. She was going to run into it, if she didn't hit the brakes.

[Callie]

OOC: I totally read MILA! as MLIA! and freaked out, thinking Paisley was talking about My Life Is Average. Then I read it more thoroughly and got sad.
And I keep imagining Harlow and Nathan being friends. xP

Izabelle

"Touche," I muttered, looking over to Nathan as his dad walked off, back to his big-ass mansion. "Are you sticking around with us, then? Or going home?"

[Emmy]

Nathan
"Is there even a choice? Sticking around with you guys, duh." I smiled at this answer. "I'd rather not get yelled at, thanks."

[Callie]

Izabelle

"I think he's too busy beating his own head into the wall for agreeing with his people to yell at you," I said with a wry smile.

[Emmy]

Nathan
"He always finds some time to yell," I said with a half-hearted smile.

[Callie]

Izabelle

I smirked slightly. "I'm heading back, then," I murmured, walking back to the base. Once I was out of sight, I ran. But not to the base like I'd said. I ran to the graveyard, where Ryan's grave was. I sat down next to it and sighed, staring at the ground. I hadn't been here to talk to him in months. I hadn't thought about him since... well, I thought about him every day. I couldn't help it. "I keep thinking about you, y'know. A lot of things today have happened to make that happen. V showed up. And I think that my little truce thing would've made you proud. You would've been cheering the loudest." I swallowed slightly. "You know I'm not going to cry, right? Or say that I'm sorry. If you've been watching, you know that I don't do either anymore. Shows weakness. Coming here probably does, too, though. But I... never mind. I just wanted to let you know - in case you didn't already - I'm not the same girl you used to love. Ever since dad died... I haven't been. I think you saw that, and maybe that's why you changed a bit, too. Maybe we finally grew up a little, and realized what the world was actually like. I think you knew after that that we couldn't be together. You would never admit it, though. You're just... you're stubborn."


OOC: Nathan can have followed, if you want. Though he might get a pretty intense glare if he shows himself quite yet.

[Emmy]

Nathan
Where was she going, I wondered. I followed her, but slowly, so she wouldn't hear or see me.

[Callie]

Izabelle

"You know that, though," I continued, still looking down at the ground. "And you'd tell me the same if you were here. If I hadn't.... you know. It's just... my fault. Yeah. I don't know why I did it, really. They didn't trust me." I could almost feel him here, next to me, at this point. "But you don't care, do you? You think it was for a good cause. How the hell can you think we're not terrorists? We might say we freedom fighters, but no one believes us. You would, though, wouldn't you? No matter that I killed you for this, we're fighting for a good cause." I shook my head. For some reason, I was starting to get angry now. I wanted him alive, damn it! And it was all my fault that he wasn't. "You always had to see the best in everyone, Ryan. And that's what killed you, in the end. It just came back to bite you in the ass." Then I sighed, looking at the gravestone. Deathly silent. Killer irony. I should really stop thinking about "deathly" and "killer" in a cemetery. I mean, jesus. The irony was killer. Oh, God, shut up. Your thoughts are looping, Izzy!

[Ashley (;]

Gabrielle

I stared up at the sky in thought. I could wander off to the forest to find Josh and get eaten by wolves or go back to school and get shot at again? Somehow guns sounded better than getting eaten alive, so I headed off for Heathcroft.

[Callie]

Harlow

I noticed Gabrielle was walking off, and I thought about going after her, but I didn't want to annoy her, so I stayed.

[Ashley (;]

Ooc: I don't know if the Heathcroft school has dorms or not, so I'll edit if I'm off.
Gabrielle

I kept walking along the sidewalk until I got close to my dorm. There were a two shadows near the corner. "You guys think just because I'm a Naught I can't hear your sad attempt at hiding?" I knew who they were; the same guys who decided every Naught at school was someone to torture.
"Well, look who we have here, Luke," one of them snickered and came out from the shadows. The other grabbed my hair and pulled me towards his face. "You want to have some more fun, gorgeous?"
"Your idea of fun isn't mine, Mitchell," I shot back calmly. In a normal situation I would've screamed for help or something, but I'd tried that in the beginning. Nobody around here even cared. If I stayed quiet they usually got bored of me anyways.