The Next Generation

[Aurelia Darkhart]

Aurelia Darkhart slipped out the front door of her house and onto the footpath. Her mother had suggested that she go and try to make friends with some of the local kids around, to wander to the park. The brunette knew really that her mother just wanted her out of her hair for a while, which she could understand. Her baby sister Mikki had kept both of them up all night with her screaming and she too felt like she was going to lose it if she stayed in there any longer. Pausing at her letterbox Aurelia looked up and down the street trying to pick a direction to head, she hadn't been in the country all that long a didn't know any of the parks or schools around. It was times like these that she missed Lancaster, sure she was in fights constantly cause she was 'bossy' but at least she knew where to find kids her age. Sighing Aurelia took a $1 coin out of her pocket and readied to flip it. "Heads I go left, tails I go right." she muttered. Flipping it into the sky she tried to catch it but missed. It fell to the ground and rolled to the right, off the footpath and into the storm drain. Stomping her foot Aurelia scowled. "I guess I'm going right" she huffed through clenched teeth.

Turning 90 degrees Aurelia started wandering down the street eyes sweeping for kids to join, but all she could see was houses, peering over her shoulder back the way she came the brunette couldn't help but wonder if she had made the wrong decision and perhaps should've headed left after all. But then she heard it, the chattering and squealing of kids. Smirking she kept going until she saw the park. A soccer field with a swing set and some monkey bars off to the side, it wasn't much but it was something. Approaching it slowly she surveyed the kids present, there was a group of older looking boys running up and down the field chasing after a soccer ball, Aurelia scrunched up her nose, she hated sports. To her right there was a couple of teenage girls hogging the swings having what looked like a deep conversation punctuated with occasion loud laughing and swearing. That left the monkey bars where a few kids her age were running around them playing what looked like tag. Not wanting to join in quite yet and rather find out what kind of kids these were before trying to make friends Aurelia swiftly climbed to the top of the bars, balancing her self on top so she could watch and listen.
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[Rafaelle Kaster-Smith]

Rafaelle Kaster had a fairly average day. His dad's new girlfriend liked to schlep him around to all sorts of stores and malls to look like the picture of a step-mother and though they were not married, Rafaelle was fairly certain that she had eyes on getting married. He didn't care much about their relationship though because she treated him pretty well. He was pretty sure his dad and Uncle Jack had fought over it, though because they didn't seem to talk much like they used to. Raf liked Pascaline though, she was pleasant to him and she made his dad happy, he didn't know what else anyone could possibly want? Maybe that was his ten-year-old brain talking, but his dad had never been the same since him mum died and he was glad that he had found something to smile about at least and anyone who didn't agree, well, Raf just didn't want to have anything to do with them. No one really understood how he and his dad felt, so when Jack was around, he thought he would get it. He only really seemed to upset Raf's dad, though, so Raf was done with the lot of them.

Rafaelle had thought to hang out with his cousin that day, though currently, Ben was off doing something else. Raf didn't mind much, but he would have liked his cousin to be with him as he was looking for something to do. He was sure he would join him soon, though, so he wasn't that worried. Raf looked around and saw a couple of older boys playing soccer and an idea popped into his head. Raf wasn't very good at soccer, but he really would like to play with that ball. He made sure he was visible and grinned at the older boys. "Can I please play too?" He asked before rolling his eyes at their laughter. Annoyed by their taunts, and expecting the reaction, Raf immediately chased the ball and stole it away from them running towards a tree and lifting himself into the branches. Raf was not good at soccer, but he was probably the best climber that he knew.
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[Aurelia Darkhart]

Aurelia watched as the kids chased each other around the monkey bars, they were squealing and pushing each other around. They were babbling nonsense about things from school so it was obvious that they all knew each other. Bossing around a group of kids that knew each other was going to be far too much effort for Aurelia's tired brain. Sighing she contemplated heading home when she saw a boy around her age come into the park. She watched in curiosity as he approached the older boys who seemed to be taking their soccer game very seriously. Aurelia watched the interaction between the boys from her perch on the monkey bars, and she couldn't help but laugh at the younger boy. She almost couldn't believe that he had, had the confidence to approach them at all. They seemed like they were on a soccer team from what the brunette could tell from their dynamics. She had to hand it to him though taking the ball away and running off with it was hilarious. She locked eyes with the boy from his perch in the tree and hers from the monkey bars. She grinned at him and acknowledged his daring with a approving nod. "Throw it over the wall!" she yelled at him pointing to the fence that led to someone's nice suburban house. Aurelia wanted to cause some trouble.​