Alone

[Firecracker]

Firecracker walked through the girls' bunkroom, her eyes quickly darting around just to make sure that the room was empty -- not that it really mattered in the long run, anyway. She was going to go up to the roof if there was someone in the room anyway. Hell, she'd go even if there were five other people in the room. It wasn't the people she minded; it was the conversations. The questions. The "where are you going?" and "Got something on your mind?" As innocent and casual as those questions may seem, she only saw them as tools to make her feel more awkward and uncomfortable than she already did.

Upon seeing that the room was, indeed, completely empty, she walked across the floor in silence. She pushed the window up until it was open just enough for her to climb out onto the fire escape. From the fire escape, she continued the climb up to the roof. Hoisting herself up over the edge, she landed less-than-gracefully on her back on the rooftop, her eyes fixed on the clouds above her head.

"Finally," she said softly to herself, confident that she was alone, "Alone."

[Wraith]

Curled up at the very edge of the roof, concealed in the shadows like always, Wraith was enjoying her own solitude until a strange voice interrupted it. Then she yelped, jumped like a startled rabbit, and very nearly tumbled off the edge of the roof before she managed to grab onto the chimney. "Um..." She caught her breath and eyed the girl apprehensively. "H-hi."

[Firecracker]

Fire blinked, startled by the unexpected sound of another voice. She carefully picked herself back up, propping herself up on her elbows, and cautiously looked out across the rooftop. "Hello?" she asked, not immediately seeing the other girl clinging to the side of the chimney.

[Wraith]

Realizing that her ghost-like qualities tended to unnerve people, Wraith crept around the chimney and into plain view. Which also gave her a good look at the other girl. Beautiful redhead. Damn it.

Not allowing her mind to go to wistful places, she offered a tentative smile. "I'm Wraith," she said softly. "I, uh, c-can go if you want. Since you wanted to be alone."

[Firecracker]

Fire's forehead wrinkled slightly with confusion when the other girl finally came into full view. How could she have missed seeing her right there? Did everyone around here possess such good hiding skills? She was going to have to be more careful from then on, she decided.

"No, you don't have to go. You were here first... I think," she replied after a brief pause, her head slowly shaking. She bit down lightly on the corner of her lip, her eyes averting so they were now fixed on the dirty surface of the rooftop. Looks like she was going to have to engage in awkward pleasantries, after all. She took in a long, deep breath before finally looking back up at the other girl. "I-I'm Firecracker."

[Wraith]

"Hi." She'd definitely said that already. She pulled her knees up to her chest and looked down at the hustle and bustle of Duane Street. "So, um...have you, uh...lived here long?"

[Firecracker]

"Me?" she asked, still chewing on her lower lip. Yeah, as if there was anyone else on this rooftop. She shook her head gently. "No, just maybe a week or so. Maybe a little less." In truth, she had been at the lodging house for a little longer than that, but she spent so much time avoiding others that she didn't think that the other girl would protest the length of her stay.

She exhaled slowly, questioning whether or not her answer would satisfy Wraith's curiosity. "I was in Midtown for a time before this," she added unceremoniously. She slowly lifted her eyes, briefly exchanging glaces with the other girl. "Have you been here long?"

[Wraith]

"A few months," Wraith admitted. It felt like even longer. She was surprised to see that Firecracker seemed kind of shy--not as shy as Wraith, of course, but she was definitely at the extreme end of the spectrum. "I, um, came here with my brother." She fiddled with her shoelace. Meeting new people was always hard for her. At least she wasn't sobbing and blurting out her secrets, like she had with Script.

[Firecracker]

"I came with somebody, too," she admitted, her shoulders instinctively shrugging as if she didn't really care all that much. Which, truthfully, she didn't. In fact, she had wished that he had stayed behind and let her go on alone to figure everything out -- whatever 'everything' was.

"His name is Jonathan," she quickly added, a hint of displeasure in her voice.

[Wraith]

Wraith glanced at her, curious in spite of herself. Unlike Goblin, she wasn't much for reading people, but it was hard to mistake that tone of voice. "Someone you don't like?" she asked just audibly.

[Firecracker]

"You could say that, I suppose," she answered as diplomatically as possible. "It's... honestly, it's a long story."

She cleared her throat before standing up. Quickly deciding to change the subject before it got too personal, she wandered over to where Wraith was perched and looked casually over the side. "The view is incredible up here, isn't it?"

[Wraith]

She nodded. You could even see uptown from here--her old neighborhood--though the mansions were tiny specks way in the distance. "Even better when the stars are out. When it's clear, I mean. Usually there's too much smoke." Her shoelace had now become completely unraveled, and she set about tying it again.

[Firecracker]

"Really?" she asked, her face lighting up for the first time in who knows how long. She sat carefully on the ledge, her hands firmly gripping the bricks. "It's been a long time since I've seen the stars. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss it."

She looked down at the other girl, her head carefully tipping to the side. "Need a little help down there?" she asked jokingly, a small laugh escaping from her mouth.

[Wraith]

"Uh...n-no, I'm fine," she stuttered, blushing and dropping her shoelaces. "I, uh. Stars. Yeah. It's not bad. So, uh, have you...met a lot of other people yet?"

[Firecracker]

"Me? No, not really. I haven't had the chance to," she replied with a shake of her head. "Can't say I'm much of a social butterfly though, so maybe it's for the better." She laughed softly at that and reached her hand up, pushing a stray piece of hair from her eyes. "How many others live here, anyway?"