Open Discoveries Close to Home

[Francis Ruis]

Open after Jess posts with Sapphire

The Summer holidays always made Brightstone unbearable with all the students and tourists visiting over the break. Frankie usually resolved himself to slouching around the neighborhood instead of venturing into the village proper on days where he wasn't feeling up to dealing with the added crowds. Today, he was mostly walking in circles, running a route around a few blocks mindlessly brushing his hand along fences and hedges. His mum wasn't feeling to well this week and since he did no good hovering around the house, he'd taken to walking around outside if only as an outlet for his restless energy.

Rounding the corner, Frankie paused when he heard a bit of a commotion, seeing what looked like the set up for a big bbq near by that spilled partly into the lane. Intrigued by the noise and what smelled like something particularly delicious, Frankie edged closer for a look. There was a decent number of people about and Frankie figured whoever's party this was wouldn't notice an extra body loitering around. There was even some space cleared for what looked like a band to set up and Frankie had already decided this was a much better way to spend the day as he stealthily tried to locate a plate he could borrow.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire followed her brother onto the stage. She was a little irked at the song he'd talked her into, but what could be done about it? She supposed it could be worse. At least it wasn't a love song. She sighed, swinging her guitar around as the neighboorhood guy in charge of this weird party introduced them to the crowd that wasn't listening. She met Onyx's eye and shrugged. He spun his drumstick and grinned to her. Once the guy whose name she didn't remember walked away, they started to play. As much as she didn't want to admit it to her brother, she was actually enjoying herself, getting a touch theatrical as they went through the song, pounding her fist thrice over her heart as she sang 'cold dead chest', before getting just as back into the music.

The song ended, abruptly and with a flourish. She ran both hands through her hair, eyes still closed and breathing heavy. She barely registered her brother taking off or how the crowd had even reacted to her song. She hopped off the stage and made her way to an empty chair on the fringes of the party, dropping her guitar next to it and flopping into it, leaning back and stretching her legs out. She shut her eyes, steadying her breathing as she waited for her heart rate to return to normal.

 

[Francis Ruis]

Frankie paused his perusal of the food table when what appeared to be a band clattered up onto the make-shift stage. He was double-y surprised to realize he recognized the band as well, even if he hadn't seen Sapphire in awhile, she was unmistakable up there with her guitar. The crowd gathered for the party wasn't particularly thick, but Frankie did his best to try to keep a good eye-line on the twins while staying out of Sapphire's directly view. It mostly involved him sulking by some folding chairs for the duration of their little set, but Frankie wasn't sure if he wanted to be seen just yet. He'd liked hanging out with Sapphire, rather a lot, and the idea of meeting her again and it somehow not living up to their past encounter irked him. Why ruin a good memory with an awkward encounter now. But once Sapphire had finished, Frankie found his feet moving him to the spot she'd slipped off stage, taking the moment of quiet to look her up and down while she caught her breath. "So do you get money for this or do they just pay you in free barbecue?" He asked after a moment, moving his gaze down to his plate to shuffle a corncob around so Sapphire wouldn't catch him staring.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire's eyes popped open. Was that...? She raised her head. It was indeed. She couldn't help the wide grin that spread over his face. "Well, call security. The riff-raff slipped through." She teased lightly. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her frog coin purse, jangling it a little. "They don't. Nyxy does, though." She chuckled, slipping it back into her pocket. She hooked her foot through a nearby chair and pulled it over. "Go ahead and sit down, Frankie boy. I don't bite." She smirked. "Unless you ask." She gave him a small smile. "What're you doing here?" She asked idly.

 

[Francis Ruis]

"Security's got nothing on me," Frankie said, shaking his head with an amused huff. "Oh, so Onyx is the one I should go bother to buy dinner then," He asked mildly, sitting down on the chair Sapphire had pulled over. He raised an eyebrow at Sapphire's biting comment. She'd taken a lot longer to warm up to him last time, but he supposed he remembered it was him doing most of the biting then, so maybe that line was already crossed. "I was in the neighborhood," He said with a shrug, leaning back and fidgeting with the plate still in his hand. "Plus, free food," He added, indicating to the plate in his hand. "I gotta say though, you're full of surprises. Do you an Onyx play a lot of shows?" Frankie was feigning only vague interest right now, but really he was curious. He hadn't been expecting to see Sapphire again anytime soon, though he'd be lying if he said he hadn't totally wanted to. And now seeing her here, up on a stage of all things had thrown him.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire chuckled as he said he'd go see Onyx. "What, one free meal isn't good? Besides, I already have his allowance from this week." She teased, crossing her ankles. She hadn't expected to see Frankie here, but she was glad he was here. She shrugged at his question. "Other than a talent show at school, this is the only time." She stole a chip from his plate. "Good thing you showed up, I suppose. I was just going to sneak back to hide in my room. I'm no good at this social bit. That's Nyxy's thing." She looked around, seeing her brother idly flirting with some neighborhood kids.

 

[Francis Ruis]

Frankie made to hide his plate as Sapphire teased him, giving up and shrugging after a few moments. "I forgot you were the master thief," He said loftily. Sapphire really was a strange mix of things, he'd noticed, she was hard to pin down. "Could have fooled me," He said quietly, frowning with Sapphire proceeded to pilfer some of his chips. Her and Onyx seemed confident on stage, it was a bit surprising they didn't play much.

It was easy to put on the smug persona when she mentioned being glad to see him, leaning back in the chair as much as it would allow and slinging an arm around it. But it was complicated. They'd both agreed there wasn't anything serious going on between them, which was fine, but Frankie wasn't good with maintaining things for a long time. Relationships, friendships, whatever, everyone seemed to get tired of him after awhile and Frankie hated getting too invested. It was better to keep them at a distance. "Glad I'm good for something at least," He said wanly, grinning at Sapphire, though he wasn't sure his heart was in it. "I live in the area, first time I've seen anything exciting around here like this before." He commented, moving to pick at his own chips before Sapphire could make any more moves on them.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire studied frankly. She hadn't seen him in a long time. Their last encounter seemed like a one time deal. She blinked as he said he lived in the area. "Well... I live here, too." She told him. "I'm surprised I haven't seen you around before." She cocked her head to the side, looking at him. "You are, as ever, a complete mystery, Frankie boy." She startled as a little boy came running up with a plate and a drink. She blinked. "Hi, Jordie- thanks, what-?" She took the things from him, but he ran away quickly. "Uh, alright then, that was-" But before she could finish, he had come running back with another drink, offering it to Frankie with a big smile on his face. Sapphire chuckled. "Look at you, we got a waiter today." She teased the two of them lightly.

 

[Francis Ruis]

Frankie wasn't sure he liked the look Sapphire was giving him and he shifted in his chair, still trying to look unaffected. Her blue eyes were striking and Frankie inadvertently found himself holding her gaze, blinking and looking away after a moment to laugh at her description. "Well, I'm nothing special, princess," He said, pausing when Sapphire mentioned also living around here. Well. That might change things. Though Frankie honestly couldn't parse if the idea made him want to run away or not. "So you mean we could have been.. hanging out together this whole time. Shame," He said easily, considering shifting closer to her before they were interrupted by the arrival of a younger kid. Frankie watched curiously as the kid passed Sapphire a plate before disappearing. "One of your fans-" He asked, stopped when the kid reappeared again. "Uh, thanks.." Frankie took the drink from the kid, raising an eyebrow at Sapphire. "Do you usually employ child labour because I think that's generally frowned upon. Not that I'm judging. Much." He said, cracking open the drink and taking a sip.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire chuckled. "You're interesting," She told him, "And seeing as how most people are absolutely boring, it's a nice change." She popped open her soda and took a drink. She blinked as he offered to spend more time together, considering it as he was preoccupied with Jordie. As the little boy grinned and ran off, she shot Frankie a smile. "I wish, but Jordie is my little brother." She cast an affectionate smile after the boy before turning to look at Frankie. "If you're ever bored of wandering Brightstone, my house is right over there," She gestured to the one on the end of the street. "I have a good collection of horror movies I need to catch up on. Action, too, but mainly horror." She gave him a sly grin, taking a drink of her soda. "And my uncle is a pretty decent chef. There's pretty much always something in the fridge." She wondered idly if giving the guy an open invitation to her house was something she shouldn't do, but she hardly stopped to give it a second thought. If there was one thing that had never changed about Sapphire it was that she didn't think and she didn't give a damn what (mostly) everyone else thought of her.

 

[Francis Ruis]

Frankie took a sip of his drink, smiling into the can when Sapphire called him interesting. He could certainly count their last encounter as pretty interesting. "I aim to please," He said smugly. "Oh, another brother," Frankie said, trying to piece that together with what Onyx had told him about Sapphire and deciding he was better off not prying. "I think I like him more than Onyx," He said lightly.
The revelation that Sapphire lived so close by was a little unsettling. The idea that he could just drop by whenever, or run into her brought up a lot of mixed feelings. He'd be lying if he'd said he hadn't thought about seeing her again, but usually that was all the more reason to stay away. They'd agreed last time that there wasn't anything serious between them, but now Sapphire was just inviting him over whenever. Was she just taking pity on him then, Frankie wondered. "I'll think about it." He said evasively, stretching back in his chair in an attempt to appear more casual.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire sipped her drink, eyeing Frankie casually. "Alright, living with Nyx may have softened me up, but I can still read people." She flipped her hair and turned to face Frankie, a serious look on her face. "I have no expectations, Frankie boy. Maybe in part because I don't really know what to expect from you. But," she gave him a sly grin. "That means there is pretty much nothing you can do to tick me off. You wanna make out? Sure, no problem. You just wanna hang out, sure, I have loads to do. Stop worrying,"

She nudged his foot. "Why don't we just play things by ear and not worry about later, yeah?" She turned in her chair again and ate one of her own chips. It occurred to her then that maybe she'd been to blunt. Ah well. She had never been one to think before she did anything. Why start now?