Just Big Kids

[Kevin P. Radcliffe]

(The 1st. Open to everyone. This takes place around 9pm.)

All the little ones had gone to bed so they didn't see the youth sneak out of his room and slip quietly onto the playground. The wood chips crunched beneath his feet as he moved straight towards his favorite spot. His guitar trailed behind him being held in one hand as he found his way there. It was dark but he could see the glint of silver metal and black leather hanging from a metal bar. He placed himself onto the leather and kicked off the ground and started to slowly swing there.

It was relaxing to swing; just hanging there like you were floating. There were a set of four swings on the swing set and Kevin had taken the one in the middle. He lifted his guitar and started to strum a tune, nothing too crazy, just a few twinkling melodies. He sighed.

Today had been busy. So many students had arrived. So many children were now here. He shook his head and smiled. It'd be an interesting year, wouldn't it?

[Norma "Blackpaw" Dodger]

Late arrival was late, in all honesty. Norma - or 'Blackpaw', as she'd taken to calling herself now, a reference to the dark birthmark on her hand and the fact that both her parents were apparently dogs - had spent her day putting off appraoching the school for as long as possible. The street-raised girl would never admit it, but she was very. very nervous. Attending a school was totally different from anything she was used to, and Blackpaw had been posponing actually showing up, hoping to get one more night sleeping outside, the way she'd loved to on the streets, before having to actually move in. Now that she assumed everyone was more or less in bed, the white-haired girl decided to scout out the grounds in advance of officially signing in tomorrow, so that she'd know where everything was, while no-one was about.

Or almost no-one. The sound of a guitar being strummed softly floated to her sensitive ears, perking the girl's curiosity. She followed the sound until she could see its source; another student, she gathered, even though she couldn't make much out in the darkness. Her first instinct was to avoid him, but she quickly decided otherwise. It might serve her well to learn a bit more about the place by talking to someone closer to her own age. Clinching her tie tighter and hefting the bag that contained all her worldly posessions (and a few more she'd scrounged up when learning she'd be attending school), she carefully walked around the swings until she stood just at the edge of the boys' line of sight.

"Nice night," she stated, the words sounding a bit out of place, but Blackpaw was determined to keep things casual to start with, even if it wasn't really her way. If the male could see anything of her in the darkness, he'd probably think that she looked odd, with her mostly-white hair and unusual attire choice, but looking normal wasn't high - or indeed, anywhere - on Blackpaw's list of priorities.

[Kevin P. Radcliffe]

Kevin's delicate notes took no real form. Just a few strums of some unknown tune on the strings of his instrument. His eyes flicked upwards at the sound of a girl's voice, hands ceasing their assault on the strings. He tilted his head slightly, peering at the girl out of the corner of his eye. He was shocked, though not visibly so, by her hair. Her attire made the girl look like she'd been attending the academy as long as he had. His lifted his guitar so it sat straight up and down and swung on the swings lightly as he opened his mouth to speak to the girl.

"Yep." Easy going youth was easy going. Despite being bewildered by the girl's sudden appearance, he maintained a chill attitude. "They're all like this," he said, "Especially when I decide to be a giant creeper and swing out here." He turned his head fully. "My name's Kevin," he said, "What's yours?"

[Norma "Blackpaw" Dodger]

"I'm Blackpaw." Norma sounded like 'normal', and that was something the girl had always hated, so she was never going to use that name again now, not if she could help it. "It's a nickname," she added, in case Kevin was starting to wonder just what sort of parents would name their daughter that. "Because they, uh..." if he was attending here, he must have heard many more crazier things than that, so after a moment she just pressed on anyway. "They say my parents were dogs."

She scratched at a strand of white hair behind her ear with two fingers, then folded her arms across her chest, watching the boy. If he laughed at that fact, then she'd pretend to shrug it off and make sure he paid for that later, but somehow, she didn't think he would. Something about him just said that he wasn't the type. Assuming he didn't mock her for her supposed parents, Blackpaw spoke again.

"What's it like, attending here? Is it as crazy as shit as it sounds like it's going to be?"

[Kevin P. Radcliffe]

"Dogs? Awesome, man." Kevin was a lover of all things canine. He'd had so many dogs in his life it was hard to count. Rescues, purebreeds, anything you name it. His smile widened as he turned to face Blackpaw further. He gripped his guitar's neck letting it swing in the sand as the swing gently rocked him back and forth. "Which ones? I love Disney dog movies."

He laughed a little. "My parents were the original animal hoarders," he purred, "Roger and Anita Radcliffe. Y'know? From 101 Dalmatians?" He picked up his guitar again and placed it on his lap. He strummed a familiar tune.

"She's Like a Spider waiting for the kill! Look out for Cruella DeVil!" His words were soft and he lowered the guitar again letting out a small laugh.

"Come sit," he said brightly, "The swings aren't gonna bite, I promise. They're actually kind of fun." As a kid he'd had fun swinging high into the air and jumping onto the ground. Sometimes he'd scrape his knee, cry a little but then get back up and do it again. A determined little lad he'd been. Now he was determined to get Blackpaw to speak.

"It's cool actually," he said, replying to her question, "It's not exactly crazy as shit, more...fun as shit." He peered at the school. "S'interesting actually. Lots of cool people and not so cool ones but everyone's pretty chill."

[Norma "Blackpaw" Dodger]

Well, it was always nice to be proved right. Blackpaw hadn't expected the boy to laugh, and was glad to see she had been correct in that assumption. "Apparently, Dodger and Two-Tone. I'm sure there must have been some kind of story there," she replied, giving a noncommital shrug. It did seem an odd combination, and just what had brought those two together had never exactly been explained to the girl, even by Disney himself. She gave a brief not to acknowledge that she recognised Kevin's parents, although she was more familiar with their series representation than the one from the movie, since she'd watched that to try and see more of her own mother.

"It could be worse. My dad could have been Lucky," she stated in a tone that was impossible to tell if she was joking or not. Having watched a fair bit of the series, Blackpaw could safely say that she thought her uncle was a complete jerkass, while in contrast, Dodger was actually pretty cool, all things considered.

"I prefer standing." Nonetheless, Blackpaw did cross to the swing next to Kevin and sit, folding one leg beneath her while the other kicked idly at the ground below. Unlike the other student, she'd never been on swings as a kid - being raised on the streets, even by a gang of older kids, didn't exactly allow much in the way of 'playtimes' - so in a way, this was new to her.

"I'll take your word for it," she replied, as the guy answered her question. "I've never been to school, so I guess I'll just find out as I go. I was raised on the streets, like... like in my dad's movie."

[Lavinia Facilier]

Black haired girl blinked from out of her spot in the trees and watched the two. She had been reading a great book that she had found at the library. It was really good, but hearing the boy's singing caused her to look up from her pages and glance at them. She didn't mean to say it but damn, that boy was fine!

She bit back that thought and lowered herself from the tree. "Hi guys..."

[Kevin P. Radcliffe]

"You've never been to school before?" That was a new one of Kevin. Everyone he'd interacted with had been to school of some sort, whether it was private, public or even at home. He blinked towards the girl. She didn't seem dirty, not like a street kid, at least from what he assumed a street kid would look like. He thought a street kid would be dirty, disheveled, hair unwashed, face smudged, like something out of Oliver Twist. He looked at her and was about to say something else when he caught sight of a girl out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head and gave a nod.

"Hi," he said, "Wanna come join us?"

[Norma "Blackpaw" Dodger]

"That's right," Blackpaw folded her arms across her chest, trying to guage whether she was being judged for that fact or not. "I was raised by a gang of teens who taught me most of what I needed to know about the important things; like reading, writing, getting what I wanted... and personal hygene," she added, taking a guess at where Kevin's thoughts were right now. She still didn't know much of the background of the gang who'd raised her, but they clearly hadn't been brought up there themselves since they had seemed intelligent enough; evidently having had some schooling before they'd chosen street life.

Blackpaw glanced up as she became aware of the other newcomer, but didn't comment, simply observing until the point where she wpuld feel the need to make her thoughts known.

[Lavinia Facilier]

The blue eyed girl's eyes lit up with delight. "Oh yes, I would love to join you." she said giving a smile at both the girl and boy. "I'm Lavinia. Lavinia Facilier, its nice to meet you." she gave a tiny polite curtsy before holding out her hand to Kevin