Soothing Spring [Belle]

[Raivis Galante]

It was one of those spring days that felt more like summer. From his room Raivis hung out of the open window, gazing at the scenery before him. It seemed like such a shame to spend to day cooped up in his room, trapped only by his own stubbornness. Breathing in the fresh scents he wondered where he should go. Despite the strong desire to go outside Raivis was still worried about meeting people. Well, maybe worried was the wrong word. He still wanted to be away from the people he knew. He just wanted to be in his own little world. The thing was you had to share the outside world with everyone else.

Was that a risk he really wanted to take?

He was going to go stir crazy soon enough. A little fresh air would do him good and if he could just find his own little corner he’d be happy.

Making his way out of the door in a T-shirt he hadn’t been able to wear this year due to the weather, Raivis took a deep breath of the sweet scent in the spring air. He just took his time, relishing in the warmth of the sun against his skin. By his side was a small messenger bag containing a few books he was currently reading. He didn’t have any interest in doing anything special, even just doing what he always did in his room was enough. It was just a free feeling to be out in the open. In a way it was empowering, he’d left the house of his own free will, it was his choice. The steps he took down the road were brisk and confident.

Before long he had reached the park. It was fairly close by, had his room been on the opposite side of the house he would have been able to see it from there. The majority of the park was taken up by a large field, it was common for people to come here to play sports. In the corner was a children’s play area, the once brightly coloured plastic of the slide and the climbing frame was starting to fade. No flowerbeds were kept but flowers would still sprout naturally out of the ground. Right now bright patches of daffodils adorned the sides of field, any in the middle had already been trampled. Raivis couldn’t recognize anyone and for that he smiled. It meant he was less likely to be bothered. Scouting out a hideaway among the lush greenery he soon settled for a cluster of trees near the far end. The rustling of the leaves was a soothing sound and he watched as the spots of light drifted over him like waves. Taking one of the books from his bag he curled up in the large roots of a sycamore tree, calm and happy.

[Belle Johansson]

As usual Belle was enjoying the beautiful rays of the spring sun. Though it was one of those days were the sun felt so hot that it was almost like summer had come early. The young blonde smiled softly as she layered sun-cream onto her arms even if she did usually tan it was always the best to be safe. She didn’t want to end up burnt it would have looked and felt horrible.
Belle shuddered at the thought of her skin roasting in the sun and matted more sun cream on. Once she was sure she was safe she grabbed her bag and her keys and left for the day.

Since she basically had the morning off Belle had decided it would be a wonderful idea to visit the park. Belle hadn’t visited it in so long she’d almost forgotten what it looked like. Well almost, she’d had so many fond memories here, her mum and dad would always take her to the playground after work, and she chuckled as she remembered herself hanging off of the monkey bars wearing her favourite pink dress with her hair in braids.

Humming lightly she followed a path up to the greener areas of the park. It was really pretty up here, with large oak and sycamore trees that seemed to reach the sky! She chuckled softly as she followed the trail in an almost day dream. It was such a nice day Belle only wished they had more days like this. However following her gaze she spotted a figure near one of her favourite trees, blinking somewhat she inspected the person with a raised eyebrow. How strange, she thought she was the only one that knew about that place. Shrugging her shoulders she made her way over, maybe the person wouldn’t mind sharing?

“Hey,” she smiled, she somewhat recognised the figure, but she could figure out where. “I’m sorry to disturb you, but would you mind if I sat here?” she asked politely.
“I come in peace.” She joked “I promise.”

[Raivis Galante]

The bark was hard against his back but he managed to squirm into a position that was comfortable for him. Lightly turning the pages of his book he couldn't help but blush a little as the story started to get a little more intimate. He'd only thought to bring the books he was currently reading rather than the book it was probably safe to read outside. He was sure no one would be reading over his shoulder but he couldn't help but be paranoid. Raivis was about to put the book away and see if he had anything more appropriate when he head a voice in front of him.

He yelped and dropped the book in shock. Quickly swiping it back up and holding it protectively to his chest he shook a little staring wide-eyed at the girl in front of him.

"I come in peace, I promise," she smiled at him. He looked away, embarrassed but he managed to get a hold of himself quite quickly.

"I-I'm sorry," he blushed, brushing the dirt off the cover and putting it back in his bag. Glancing back at her he saw the soft golden curls of her hair and the bright smile she usually seemed to wear. Suddenly recognizing her he looked away again, wondering if she remembered him.

"You're the girl from the bakery, aren't you?" Raivis asked quietly. A few times he'd been asked to pick up orders for his parents, sometimes even dropping in after school so he would have something to snack on on the way home.

[Belle Johansson]

“Don’t apologise.” Belle smiled cocking her head to one side as her emerald green eyes inspected the boy below the tree. He seemed familiar, but she couldn’t quite place where she’d seen him before. He was definitely a lowlander like herself, after all what Highlander would be here by choice, when they had such beautiful gardens of their own. Nevertheless it wasn’t unsual to see a highlander in the lowerland district, her friend Lovino came down sometimes though he always did seem less than happy about it.

“Oh yeah,” she smiled “then you must be one of my wonderful customers.” She said brightly, as she vaguely remembered the boy coming into her shop. Though business had been low recently she could sort of remember him. She felt bad for not.
“So what are you reading?” she asked as her eyes landing on the book curiously. “Is it interesting, I prefer romance novels myself but I’m just a big softy.” She chuckled.
"I'm Belle, by the way." she said finally introducing herself to the younger boy.

[Raivis Galante]

Raivis looked down at the book he was holding in his arms and quickly stuffed it back into his bag.
"It's nothing..." he mumbled, embarrassed by the words of the page still lingering in his mind. It wasn't erotica by any means and as far far as romance sex scenes went it was probably pretty tame but Raivis was fifteen, awkward and had probably only seen a naked women in sex education at school. He was a little sheltered in this respect.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Raivis." He didn't look up at her, still rather shy. She seemed nice though and he didn't want to push her away. Forcing himself to make eye contact he offered a small smile.
"I really like romance novels too, I mean I know they're unrealistic and kind of stupid but there's something nice about them," he mused "Sorry, you must thing I'm a complete wuss," Raivis said with a small giggle as he brushed his hands though his hair, trying to cover up his insecurity.

[Belle Johansson]

She returned his friendly smile, he seemed like good company and Belle was happy to talk to him. Her big sister complex was pushing through and she grinned.
“Well its lovely to meet you Raivis.” Said Belle holding out her arm for him to shake, she’d always been confident when it came to meeting new people, though she didn’t have many friends the ones she did have she gained all on her own.

“I agree though, Romance novels are cool, there just.” She smile broadly, “so lovely, especially when they have happy endings. Though I will admit I’m a sucker for a good sob story.” She cringed as she remembered crying into her pillow because the title character had died or something dreadful had happened in the plot twist which had forced the two characters apart. She was way too sensitive for her own good, it was almost laughable (though she’d soon shout down anyone who did laugh at her)

“Are you kidding, I think it’s lovely that a young man can read one.” She said with a reassuring nod “I don’t think it makes you a wuss at all. I mean it’s much better than acting like a boorish idiot, right?”
She’d come across enough teenage boys to know many of them only had one thing on the mind, they were so immature to. It was probably one of the reasons when she was a teen she’d set her sights on older guys. Not that she’d ever had any luck in the romance department; it was almost as if she sent out a signal that repelled the male gender.

“I’m a big fan of fantasy novels to.” Said Belle thoughtfully, as she sat down “anything with a bit of magic or swords and shields has always sparked my interest.” She said with a soft chuckle.

[Raivis Galante]

He looked at her outstretched arm, a little bewildered at first. He took her hand in hers and gave it a loose shake. While her presence at first had made him feel rather awkward he was slowly becoming more comfortable with the idea of human contact. Raivis nodded along with her as she spoke. He enjoyed the happier ones too, it made him hopeful that maybe things would turn out alright in his own life.

"Yeah, fantasy novels are really interesting. Like how they create their own worlds and stuff," Raivis smiled, eager to converse. "Actually, I just really like books in general. There are so many cool stories and stuff that people write." Giving a content sigh Raivis leaned back against the tree, blinking out the spots of light from between the branches.
"Don't you ever wish your life could be more like a novel?" he absentmindedly mused.

[Belle Johansson]

“Oh, I know.” Smiled Belle “I wish I was half as creative as some of the authors I’ve read, my imagination doesn’t stretch that far though I guess.” She laughed softly as she threaded her hands through the grass with a light smile. She was glad she’d found someone to talk to, usually the park was so quiet. Though she did wonder what he was doing out here alone, where were his friends?

“Heh, if my life was like a novel.” Began Belle “I would imagine it’d definitely be a comedy,” she sighed dramatically “my own clumsy-ness would be humour enough.” She said grinned “what about you? Would you go for some dashing love story or an action packed adventure?” asked Belle with a friendly grin.

[Raivis Galante]

Raivis couldn't help but let out a quiet chuckle at her suggestions. It would have been nice but he didn't think he would ever get to take part in those kinds of stories.

"Heh, I don't think my life is interesting enough to be a novel," he said with a vaguely solemn tone. Breathing in the warm air he closed his eyes. "But some of my dreams could be written into stories maybe."

He trailed off, trying to recount the dreams he'd had lately. They were strange to him. Not only did he actually remember them far better than most dreams he had, they were far more coherent and reasonable.
"I remember one, it's like it was set a really long time ago or something but I'm there and there's this other guy too. I don't know, I don't remember. He's like a friend or a neighbor or something," Latvia explained, trying to remember what the character looked like and drawing a blank.

"Anyway, it's like all these other guys are forcing us to get married or live together or something. I mean, I don't remember the dream exactly and I probably don't explain it well but it really did feel like something out of a historical drama or something," he concluded as he opened his eyes again. "If I was good at writing I'd probably make a story out of it."

[[OOC: S-sorry, I wasn't sure how to go about recollection memories but this seemed like a fair enough opportunity since I missed writing about the earliest one. My recollection on Latvian history is sketchy, especially considering Latvia as a character seemed to exist before Latvia as a nation so I went with the creation of Livonia since Riga was founded shortly before.]]

[Belle Johansson]

“How weird,” said Belle softly as she to recalled her own dreams, they had been odd things and some of the people she encountered in her dream seemed so familiar it was almost uncanny. Nevertheless she pushed it to the back of her mind as she listened to Raivis recount his dream.
“Wow, that’s pretty odd.” Said Belle thoughtfully as she considered the dream.
“Has it been recurring?” she asked totally interested on the matter “it’s just my grandmother used to say that recurring Dreams meant something.”

She paused to think as a smile lit her features.
“I know I’ve had my fair share recently.” She said softly as her eyes met the ground, such terrible nightmares. She bit her lip softly but forced a smile, there was no need to bother Raivis with her troubles.
“But seriously though dreams can be kind of freaky.” She laughed melodiously.

[Raivis Galante]

He thought about her words for a moment, his hand pulling at the grass nearby.

"I don't know," he finally concluded. "I don't know if they're recurring or not but there's something familiar about them. Sometimes I get lots of different scenes but it all feels like it's part of the same story, you know? I don't know if it's different dreams or if I'm remembering different parts of the same dream."

Sitting back up he loosely hugged his knees to his chest. Needless to say his curiosity was piqued.

"Really? What kinds of dreams have you been having?" he asked with an air of innocence. He remembered a while back skimming through a book on dreams, the subject hadn't been enough on its own to really take a strong hold on his interests but now he had someone to discuss it with the subject suddenly became a lot more interesting.

[Belle Johansson]

As the vivid nightmares flooded slowly back she subconsciously bit her lip and nibbled on the pale pink flesh. The dreams were stupid awfully stupid and she was sure that it was simply because she’d eaten to much cake before bed time. She sighed inwardly but turned to Raivis’ curious gaze.

“Well,” she said her voice trailing off lightly “I guess there more nightmare then dream.” Said Belle sincerely.
“But there so odd,” she said as she considered them “It’s like I’m running from somebody, and then there’s just fire everywhere.” She said sadly.
“I hate fire and I hate fighting. So the dreams are kind of strange I don’t even understand why I’m having them. They keep changing too which is even weirder...”

Brushing the thoughts from her mind she forced herself to forget about them. It would be stupid to worry so much about something that meant absolutely nothing.
“Dreams are weird.” She said with a soft chuckle.

[Raivis Galante]

"Yeah, they are aren't they," Raivis smiled softly as he picked at the grass by his feet. Resting his chin on his knees he cast a gaze up to Belle, wondering what to say next.

"It must be scary having nightmares all the time. Sometimes I get them and I find it hard to go back to sleep," he mused. Recalling the nights he spent just staring at his ceiling or trying to finish off the books he was reading while ignoring the exhaustion creeping up on him. Maybe sometimes was an understatement. Raivis was used to losing sleep, if you looked closely you could have noticed the faint dark circles forming under his eyes. It was something that he'd learned to deal with though. None the less, a good nights sleep was always well received.

"So what do you think they mean then? Your Grandma said that dreams meant something, right?"

[[OOC: I'm sorry for the late reply. There were things going on at the weekend and on top of that I haven't been feeling well lately.]]