Serenity, Sweet Serenity (OPEN)

"I'm not like that, Blondie." Ren said in rebuttal to her cheek about picking up girls, "I live on a farm, and we were looking to buy a Gypsy Vanner before we had to put a new roof on our barn, which used up all the money."
Ren looked at Duncan, who didn't look to pleased about Ren's presence.
"And I wish I knew where you got THAT. Must've cost a pretty penny." He said, gesturing to the ukulele.

Duncan's lips turned up into a sort of smile at Sienna's words. He couldn't help but laugh. And he could relate to her with the whole "image" thing. His friends were a bunch of jerks in the making in the first place.
But his smiled dropped at the name blondie.
Duncan looked forward and stopped playing immediately. He put the instrument back in his bag and shook his head. "Didn't cost a thing. My dad used to make them and sell them. It's mine to keep."
He put his hands behind his head and walked a bit slower. Whatever horse they're talking about, I don't understand it at all. he laughed to himself. Even if he had a horse, he would just use his ukulele more.

"Mmm." Sienna said, twisting a peice of her lengthy hair around her finger. It felt too coarse for her liking, so she let it unravel itself from her finger and fall back with the rest of her hair. She hmphed once more as he called her Blondie.

He seems to be interesting enough... She thought to herself, glancing at Ren one more time. A rustle in the leaves to her right made her hunting instincts turn on. Her vision seemed to become clearer, her hearing more acute. Her eyes searched the surrounding area for what had caused the noise, and they locked on a fluffy little squirrel. Its nose twitched as it stepped out into the light. She froze. The bow in Ren's hand called her name. Her fingers itched to wrap around its smooth wooden surface, to send an arrow sailing through the air with a quick draw. She smirked and lunged for the bow, plucking an arrow out of his hand as well. Before he could protest, she held up a hand to silence him.

The squirrel still hadn't noticed her. Perfect. She purred to herself, her fingers tightening around the bow's handle. She pulled hard on the string, aiming barely below the squirrel's heart, and let the string slip out of her two fingers. It snapped forward and the arrow shot out, striking home in its chest. Easy Shot.

Retrieving the dead carcass as well as the beautifully crafted arrow, Sienna had a small smile tugging at her lips. "Sorry, couldn't help myself." She said, the grin finally breaking out and spreading across her face. She tossed Ren the arrow and the bow, careful to not let the arrowhead jab into his hand, for she knew how painful that was. Phantom trotted close to her, and she loaded the squirrel into a sack tied to the saddle horn. She always kept an extra prey sack, just in case. "And that," she boasted, "is how you use a bow."

"You could've just asked; I would've let you use it..." Ren said as he re-quivered the arrow the girl handed back to him.
He would have to remember that maneuver for next time he had to hunt.
"So, where are you two headed? You're a bit far from civilization."

Duncan's body shook at the scene of the animal. He touched his finger tips to his forehead and shook his head, turning around to look away.
"That poor thing," he muttered.
He didn't get why people ever used weapons to kill. He hadn't seen anything stop moving since his parent death.
"I think we're going into town, actually," he replied, "just to grab something to eat at the moment."

The mere mention of food caused Ren's stomach to growl. He realized that while he may have been smart in bringing his bow and arrows with him, he forgot any form of currency.
"Sounds delicious, but I don't have any money. I think I'll head outside of the District for a bit. Try to do some hunting in between 7 and 10. Maybe I'll run into you two again. Don't tell anyone now."
Ren nodded to Duncan, and then flashed a charming smile and winked at Sienna before running off in the direction he came.

Duncan shook his head violently. "He annoyed me in too many ways to name that it's not funny." he groaned. Kicking a stone in front of him, he laughed a bit. "And what was with that dumb personality of his? I mean really, he was trying a bit too hard."
he looked back at the way he had gone and tilted his head. "That's to District 7. I used to go there a lot to play music. But that's a different story..."

Sienna's respect for Duncan dropped a little. Learning to hunt was the one thing that bound her to her father. He taught her to hunt. You know, before he became abusive. "I know hunting's a choice for me," she said to Duncan, "but for some people, it isn't. They hunt to live. The animals were put on this Earth for us to kill, so don't feel sorry for this little squirrel." she snapped, tugging on the rope that attached the bag to the saddle horn to make sure it was secure.

"Anyway," she turned to Ren, "We're going to grab a bite to eat. You can come, as long as you have money." She offered, giving him a little smile. Looking to the sky, she noticed it was late. The sun was beginning to set, a light sunset already painted across the sky. She suddenly began to be very hasty. "Come on, boys, we're burning day light." Without even watching to make sure they were following, Sienna clicked her tongue as a signal for Phantom to follow her, then took off ahead at a faster walk than before.

He looked at her sternly. "I'm poorer then you. You think I would have a choice?" he grunted and started walking forward. He didn't exactly know what to think.
A mockingjay fluttered by his year and weakly smiled at it. It whistled his old tune, telling him to start a new one. He thought about his choce for a minute then nodded to himself.
"Merrily we fall out of line, out of line. I'll fall anywhere with you I'm by your side." it repeated it quickly and flew away to spread the "word."

((Duncan and Ren, ya'll are slacking in the number of words department.... not trying to be mean or anything, just enforcing the rules. Sorry! But pretty please abide by them!))

"Alright then, bye." Sienna said awkwardly as Ren winked at her, then blushed. Man he's cute. she thought to herself, but he was long gone. She sighed and looked over at Duncan. He was singing to a little Mockingjay. "Merrily we fall out of line, out of line. I'll fall anywhere with you I'm by your side." His voice was truly beautiful. She watched as the bird took flight, happily chirping his new tune.

"Well, I'm starving," She grunted, almost like an animal. " And we have to go to my house first. So I suggest we get going."

He nodded to her and looked at his feet as he walked. He knew he was acting as awkward as her felt.
Duncan sighed at the thought of going back toward district 10. If they were anywhere near his aunts, he knew she would flip. But the other part was being caught with Sienna.
Well, he thought, doesn't matter where you've been. Matters where you're going. he knew he was just thinking that to keep positive.
Without moving his head, he let his eyes travel up to Sienna. He liked how her eyes stood out the most, blueish-green. Better then his of course. His heterochromic eyes had always been made fun of. One grey, one blue. But eyes always seemed to interest him. It was the one thing he focused on.
But had never noticed how proudly she walked. While he slumped his back awkward and held onto his bag strap, she was up straight with head forward.
He gripped his bag tighter and rolled his eyes at himself.

Sienna was walking along, humming to herself, when out of the corner of her eye she noticed Duncan roll his eyes at something. Awww great. What did I do now? she thought, but pushed it to the back of her mind. Maybe it wasn't her... Who am I kidding? We're the only two people out here. She stretched her sore arms, not exactly sure what to say. Thankfully, they arrived at her house in a matter of minutes, so she was spared the awkwardness.

She tugged on Phantom's lead in the direction she wanted him to go, and he followed close behind. His monstrous hooves clopped against the dirt, bringing up a cloud of dust everywhere they walked. Duncan and Sienna strolled up the long pathway leading to her house.

Sienna's house was rather small, but very large compared to other homes in District 10. It had a kitchen, four bedrooms, a working bathroom with indoor plumbing, and a living room. The house itself was an off-white color with a large stone archway in front of the door, connected to the wall. The door was dark, brown, polished wood.

Her father stepped outside of the door, sporting a rough five o'clock shadow. His usually bright hazel eyes were dull, large bags underneath them. He was in a baggy whit t-shirt with stains all over it and a pair of faded jean pants. He wore his light brown cowboy boots, but he wore those all the time. He practically lived in them. He looked like he was in pain of some sort. He's been drinking again. She thought.

"Where you going?" Her father asked Sienna, leaning against the stone archway. He eyed duncan lazily. "Just to grab a bite to eat with Duncan. I'll be back in time to help you and Edward milk the cows." She replied, turning to lead Phantom into their barn. Her father shrugged, not really caring too much about what she did. She laughed and leaned over to Duncan, whispering, "It's not my father that you'll have to be afraid of... it's my brother. He's way overprotective." With that, they walked closer to the barn.

The barn was a pretty old building. Sienna's father had built it with his father when he was barely ten years old. The age certainly didn't show. It was still really sturdy, the colors as bright as the day they were painted due to several re-paints. In fact, a re-paint was occurring at that very moment. Sienna's brother Edward was painting the barn a bright red color. He wore a faded blue muscle shirt and long, holy jean pants. He was splattered with paint from his head to his toes. Edward's light brown hair even had streaks of red in it. "Edward!" She called out. His face brightened as he saw his little sister. Edward ran for her and picked her up, swinging her around. He was a tall, muscly man, so he did this with ease. He set her down gently, retrieving Phantom's lead for her. His eyes fell on Duncan. "Who's your friend?" He asked, his lips a thin line. Sienna elbowed Duncan, encouraging him to introduce himself.

(You're leaving? Why are you going?)

((I was leaving. But now I'm back! ))

((So does that mean we should continue?)

((yep, if you would like to!))

((Sure, so where we left off then?))

((That sounds good to me!))

((Righty then!))

Duncan stared at them both and clutched his hands. His eyes went wide as he tried to figure what to say.
"I'm Duncan," he stammered and tipped his head a bit, "Duncan Fretra. I'm not that popular around here, so you probably don't know me. Only known as yellow head around here..." he murmured the last bit.
He watched his face to see if anything changed and felt like smacking himself. It was difficult enough to make Sienna smile, but now her older brother? Making a fool of himself was one thing, but this?
He shifted his eight to his right side like he always did when he was nervous and let his eyes flicker from Sienna to her brother. How dearly he wanted to get up and go and wait for her outside.

Stand your ground, but be a gentleman. Sienna wanted to scream the advice in Duncan's face as her brother took Duncan in. "You seem like a nice enough boy. Don't do anything stupid." Edward growled. Sienna let out the breath she had been holding in. Duncan had her brother's approval. "I'll just be putting Phantom in his pen, and we'll be heading for town. Need anything?" She asked, leading her sleek black horse towards his pen. "Pick up some bird feed from Sue." Edward said, "And I'll take Phantom to his pen for ya. That way you have no excuse if your not back in exactly two hours." He shot a glare at Duncan before taking over Phantom's lead and taking off all of the large horse's equipment.

Sienna shut the barn door with a loud thud behind her. "I was afraid he'd give you worse." She laughed, high-fiving Duncan. "He never lets me leave with a boy anywhere without his approval. If I don't bother to show him to my brother, Edward always has a way of finding out, but don't ask me how. Once, I went horseback riding with this seemingly nice boy who had a bad reputation for being a bit forward with girls, but I didn't know about it. Well, when we let our horses take a break, he kissed me against my own will. Biggest mistake he ever made, let me tell ya. When I came home, I didn't tell Edward where I had been, let alone what happened."

"Only two days after the incident, Edward found out. He was as mad as an asylum patient. He stormed over to the boy's house. The boy was home alone that day, unfortunately for him. Edward beat the shards out of that sorry kid. Spent a week and a half recovering in a hospital unit." Sienna smiled at the story. Gosh I love my brother. She thought.

Duncan nodded and pursed his lips. "I guess you could say that." he muttered as he turned to leave with Sienna.

He shrugged at her and laughed. "Given me worse?" he high-fived her back. "I'm so charming, aren't I? Just kiddin'." he smirked with a smug tone. He listened as she told him about the boy that kissed her. Well, obviously he wasn't going to do that. He was far too innocent to do something of that sort. He never even thought of girls in the first place.

"If anyone sees, I did nothing." he stared at her with wide eyes. "I'm not getting beat up by your brother. As you can see, I'm a weakling."
He blinked a bit and blurted, "I like your eyes by the way."

((Please remember the 150 word minimum ^^))

Sienna was taken back with his sudden outburst. He likes my eyes? She thought. She scrunched up her nose, thinking about it for a second. It probably means nothing... but then again, it could mean something... She decided just to ignore the compliment, as if it had never happened. She folded her arms across her chest as they walked to the main little area of town. Her eyes strayed from building to building, observing everything around her. The brown shingles covering one house, the small fracture in a window, even a little butterfly fluttering past, its gossamer wings glinting as it flitted past.

She stopped in her tracks, scuffing the sidewalk with the toe of her sneaker. "Well, where do we eat?" She asked casually, letting her eyes wander once again. To their immediate left there was a small cafe with soups, sandwiches, and an assortment of drinks. Down the block to the left there was a fairly large bakery. That was about all the variety District 10 had for food. Personally, she felt like a nice, hot bowl of soup, but she awaited Duncan's decision.

"Not that it's like strange or anything." he rubbed the back of his head. "They are just better then my different colored ones."

He walked beside her awkwardly and stared forward to forget what he said. He shouldn't have said anything. Duncan watched her facial expressions to see change but it didn't. "That's gotta help..." he mumbled and shuffled his feet.

Duncan stopped in his tracks and looked over at Sienna. "Soup sounds good at the moment. I would have it everyday but I can't afford it at times." he laughed and then slowly stopped. "I have a few coins now so I can pay for mine."