Surprise! (closed)

Sitting on the couch of her dorm room, with her legs lucked under her and a blanket engulfing her in fuzzy warmth, Maria blatantly shuffled through her phone, scrolling through Instagram and occasionally liking something that essentially meant nothing to her. Living the pregnant life definitely hadn’t been a joy ride and since her due date coming up, all she’d been doing was sitting around, usually alone all day since school was in session and such.

Jake was one of the only people who knew about her being pregnant and sometimes Freya would stop by to visit, but seeing that she was blind, Maria hadn’t bothered to tell her the news. There was always Connor who she considered a decent friend, but even so, she didn’t know if she could fully trust him yet and she surprisingly hadn’t heard from him in a while, so he was probably pretty busy with... whatever he did. Of course, she could’ve had anyone she wanted over, but not with her like this. She didn’t need the entire school knowing about her little situation. But even so, with her being a social person who was always busy doing something, doing nothing all day, almost everyday was pure torture and she absolutely hated it.

Speaking of hating things, she usually wasn’t a debby-downer like this, but she had to admit that she was feeling pretty salty towards life right now. Who’s idea was it to even go on that stupid mission? If she’d never gone to find her bastard of a father, none of what had happened to her and Freya would’ve happened. But alas, the two sisters had gone on that cursed mission and came back with more problems than they could carry, physically and mentally…

God, life was so messed up. No, not life, her father. Her own father for Christ's sake! That man had ruined their lives and all for what? Every time she thought about his motives she became so baffled that she couldn’t even think of a genuinely logical reason. Well, maybe that was it. Maybe there was no logic to his true motives and so there wasn’t a good explanation… no, that wasn’t it. Maria knew he had to have some motive against her and her sister, seeing that he didn’t care what was done to them, but figuring it out was turning out to be a chore.

But trying to figure out what her dad really had against them wasn't the only chore she was dealing with. Her soon to be born kids. Oh joy, children. She already hated those little monsters enough as it was and now she was going to have to care for them? What kind of reality was she living in? Kids, her own kids? Maria never thought she’d see the day. Well, she’d imagined it a few times but it usually didn’t end well and she never thought she’d have kids like this. Was she really ready for this? Of course not, but the universe just seemed to hate her guts and so she had no choice but to go through with it.

Becoming overwhelmed by the massive wave of thoughts, the Autumn let out a sigh and set her phone down on the side table. She didn't need this stress right now. Grabbing the T.V. remote that sat on the little table, she clicked the on button and the Roseburry News team was shown on the screen, talking about weather or something that she didn’t really care about. Time to surf through the T.V., her absolute favorite thing to do.[/i][/i]

Connor held onto the wall for dear life as his legs wobbly moved below him. His cousin followed next to him, ready if Connor were to fall. "You didn't have to come with me."

Trey sighed as if they'd already gone over this, "If I didn't come with you, you wouldn't have gone out in the first place." Connor pouted as he felt his leg muscles almost buckling under his weight, it had been so long since he moved them like this and the metal braces only pushed his concentration even more as he had to focus on bending the metal and walking.

"When can we stop?" Connor said through frustrated teeth as they passed the autumn dorms. "We can take a break in my dorm here, it's coming up."

The winter let out a sigh of relief, thinking about just sitting on the couch with a nice refreshment with the computer on his lap. He would love going back to the antisocial world he was in and just disappear from the world he once existed in. Connor vision came back into focus, realizing his daydreaming, his leg shifted forward and his balance was not there to follow. His body fell, the metal leg banging against the dry wall causing a loud thump that rang through his ears.

Trey ran back to Connor grabbing his arm to help him up, but the boy stayed slumped over, his hand against the wall and his teeth clenched. Life sucked and it wouldn't stop sucking.

OOC: ug, sorry for the late reply

Still sitting on the couch doing nothing, Maria jumped when a 'thud' sounded from outside her dorm. 'Those idiots. Are they playing Frisbee inside the hallways again?' if she found those stupid Initiates playing their obnoxious game one more time, she was going to lose it.

Giving an angry huff, the Autumn nudged the cozy blanket off and pushed her self into a sitting position. 'Jeez, it's getting harder and harder to move around,' she thought to herself, annoyed at the situation. God, being pregnant sucked.

Making her way over to the door on inflamed legs and feet, she became nervous at the thought of opening it and having someone see her, but decided to just open it enough to be able to stick her head out and yell at them. Cracking open the door, Maria poked her head out expecting to see some younger students running down the halls. "What did I tell y-" stopping mid sentence, she spotted Connor and his brother a couple yards away with Connor slumped against the wall. What the hell happened to him?

"Oh, it's just you," she added in a softer tone, but soon realized that she shouldn't have even talked to him. 'Idiot! Now he's gonna want to chat!' Wanting to punch herself for her stupidity, Maria began to close the door, worried that he might see her in her humiliating state. She never should've opened the door in the first place.

Connor winced even more at the loud yell that came from the room closest. He lifted his head when the voice cut off and his green eyes grew wide staring right back at the eyes he once knew. A smirk covered his face as she pointed out she recognized him. "Ma-maria?" He watched as she slowly began to shut the door and his eyes worriedly shot at Trey as he tried to shuffle back up.

"Is she your friend?" The cousin let go of Connor's arm and stood up straight presenting himself to the girl, finding the door completely closed. He let out a sigh and knocked on the door knowing she was on the other side.

Connor pushed himself into a standing position and used the wall as grip to "walk" over to his fellow metal bender. Maybe if there was one person he wanted to talk to it'd be Maria. Everyone else could go rot for all he cared. Their friendship vanished from his mind - as well as all his others - after the incident with his legs, and he was just now realizing how lonely its been. He glared at Trey for knocking, trying to pretend like he didn't want him to while secretly jumping inside as he waited to see her face once again.

OOC: I found time in school to post for ya today ;u;

Standing on the other side of the door, Maria's breathing became more rapid when someone knocked on the door, most likely Connor or his cousin. Oh God, why the hell did he knock on the door? What could they possibly want from her? From what it looked like, Connor was having a difficult time walking, of all things, so why didn't they just go on their merry way continuing to stumbled down the hall way or something?

Heart racing, she wanted to punch herself. 'Idiot! Why did you open the door?' she internally yelled at herself with a more than a few curse words close to follow. Dammit, she really didn't need this stress right now.

Taking a deep breath, she knew she had to reply at some point, whether she wanted to or not. They'd already seen her, which was a real shame. 'They just can't see the rest of me,' the Autumn reminded herself, wanting nothing more than to go back and curl up on the couch. If anything, the bordem was better than this certain predicament she'd put herself in.

"M-Maria isn't available right now," she stuttered, cringing at her own words and wondering when she'd become so pathetic. Oh, that's right, when her dad screwed up her life. Well, even so, Maria vowed to herself that after this whole pregnancy thing, she was gonna get back to business causing turmoil around the campus, one of her favorite ways to spend her time.

Connor shoved Trey out of the way, his fist clenched as he spoke to the closed door. "The hell?" The winter's nose twitched at the response, he couldn't force her to open the door but he badly wanted to see her. She'd definitely give him a distraction from Trey, the parasite that wouldn't leave him alone. "Aw come on Maria, we haven't seen each other in forever. Open up would ya?" The winter glared at his cousin, a warning not to say anything in case she did open the door. In fact, he'd probably shoo him off to get some alone time. If needed he'd find another way back to the dorm, that is if he was going back tonight.

Listening to Connor was like hearing a puppy cry out to play. It was obvious that he genuinely wanted to hang out with her, which made her warm and fuzzy on the inside, but she couldn't let him see her, not like this. But at the same time, she couldn't just ignore him...

With her back against the door, her mind raced as she thought about what to say. "I-I will, but... that other guy can't come in, alright?" she spoke hesitantly, biting her lip. God, she sounded like such a loser.

Hear pounding, she turned around and moved her hand to the door nob as if touching it was going to burn her. Unknowing if Connor had even replied and not really caring if he had or not, Maria made a split second decision and swung open the door just enough for him to fit through it. Grabbing onto his wrist, she tugged him inside and shut the door, not thinking about the other boy that was left standing in the hall.

Huffing from the adrenaline that pumped through her veins, she looked to the Winter, worry all over her face on how he might react at the sight of her. Well, it was too late to turn back now.

Connors eyes brightened at the response and quickly turned to Trey, his hands reaching out to push him away. "Okay okay! I get it!" The autumn proclaimed, turning around the leave the winter.

Connor was not expecting the forceful tug on his arm and was quickly let off balance, stumbling into the room. His knees hit the ground and he was looking into the room, a blanket cast aside on the couch with a laptop and the rest of the dorm rooms closed. He focused his metal bending into his leg braces to lift him up, his hands gripping to the wall for support. "Uh sorry... Don't mind me I just turned into a cripple since the last time you've seen me." He said, leaning against the wall to prop himself up.

His eyes lingered up to the girl, scanning her body. The bump was a shock to him and his voice cut out of him as if he were a mute. How long had she been like this? She looked almost ready to birth... Connor blinked rapidly as he looked her up and down. He wasn't jealous, was he? Who did this to her anyways? Connors throat felt itchy as he resisted the urge to ask all of his questions, his eyes stopping to meet Maria's. "I-I see I'm not the only one who became a cripple."

Watching as the boy struggled to get up, Maria stood where she was like a statue, scared as to how he would react. Would he be angry or maybe just shocked? Overthinking the ordeal, the Autumn was somewhat taken aback by his slightly sarcastic comment, though the way he'd worded it didn't make her feel any better about herself.

"Well, when you put it that way..." she mumbled, looking down to the ground, her words getting caught in her throat. God, she was so pathetic, like a little school girl trying to talk to her crush.

Regaining her bearings, Maria tried to hold back the tears as she met Connor's gaze. "At least mine is only temporary, unlike you, Mr. Crutches," she replied, trying to hide the edge that lingered in her tone of voice. She would usually be all for hanging out and chatting with the Winter, but seeing the predicament that she was in, she found herself struggling to muster up any humorous sarcasm and while she wasn't one for showing much compassion, she couldn't help but be worried that the way she spoke offended him.

"So... what happened to you?" Maria asked softly after a few moments of silence.

Connor shifted his weight against the wall, watching Maria try to form a sentence. He ducked his head a little to see her face and when she made eye contact with him he could see the hurt in her eyes. Her response stabbed at him. She was right after all, his was to last forever and there was nothing he could do about it other than wear the stupid metal legs he built himself. He stood in silence, looking over the pregnant girl knowing very well he deserved her sass back. He looked back up when she asked him the question he was not expecting.

From what he remembered no one had asked him yet. It doesn't help he hasn't been out of his dorm in months, but he hadn't formed an answer to such a question. What did happen? Was it his fault or did he deserve it? The winter looked down at his legs and opened his mouth as if he were to answer, but closed his lips again. Connor choked at the images that blurred his head and he tried to push away the torture he and his teammates were subjected to. He cleared his throat and looked back up, knowing he owed her some kind of answer. "It's hard to talk about it..." He said letting a couple moments pass by, "It was a mission gone wrong. Needless to say I was taken for a couple months. At least I think it was that long...?" His words trailed off as he tried to remember how long he had actually been there. When was it that they escaped? Or was it guardians of Beata that saved them? His eyes darted at the ground lost in thought.

Connor took a sharp inhale in as he tried to dismiss the gore and he redirected his gaze to Maria. "I'm sorry..." He paused again and a new flood of questions came to him, but this time about Maria. "Why don't you tell me about you?" He asked, genuinely curious as to what happened. He could feel the jealousy building in his chest as she stood their weak and without him. He wasn't there for her when she needed him and it had to be his fault. Him being gone at his mission caused this to happen to her and he couldn't do anything. The winter gritted his teeth, the anger directed to himself rather than the girl he fancied.

His thoughts were interrupted once again as he felt his leg give out, his arm reached for the wall as a grip and a slouched support keeping him from completely falling. "How about we talk on the couch? I'm not exactly the strongest cripple right now." He chucked, his other arm reaching out for hers as a sort of balance.

OOC: so sorry for the wait ;n;

IC: Listening to Connor in-between a few occasional moments of silence, in which she assumed he was thinking about what to say, she found her breathing starting to become more unsteady as he explained. What had happened to him was what had happened to her as well, and remembering what she'd gone through almost a year ago, she closed her eyes, trying to hold back her tears. Oh how she absolutely hated crying, but as hard as she tried, she was never able to help herself.

How the hell did things even come to this? Had karma been the reason she was like this now or was her dad just a horrible monster? Everyday she seemed to ask herself that question, and usually, she concluded that the answer was both.

Lost in thought, she looked up from the ground when he asked her a question and seeing him wobble towards her caught her by surprise, and she quickly lifted her hand to meet his, not wanting to risk him falling down. "It's... it's a long story," the Autumn spoke softly as she lead him over to the couch, trying as hard as possible to not choke on her words.

Guiding his hand towards the edge of the couch for support, she moved the mound of blankets and pillows that occupied the seat and pushed them to the ground so the two of them had room to sit. Sitting down slowly, Maria winced at a pinching pain that shot up her back. 'Damn this stomach,' she silently cursed, situating herself on the comfy seat.

"Let's just say, it was a mission gone wrong. Needless to say I was taken for a couple months," she finally spoke, trying to crack a smile as she echoed his words from just moments ago. "But really, my dad's a dick and didn't even care that he was fucking up his own k-kids," she added, her attempt at a smile disappearing as the words barely came out and tears started swelling up in her eyes again.

"God, I'm s-so pathet-tic," Maria half choked, half chuckled as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

Connor took Maria's hand and did his best to get to the couch without being too unbalanced. He plopped down after she moved the blankets and left enough room for her to sit next to him. It had been a long time since he had real human interaction, the closest was his cousin and now he was dealing with an old friend that was crying. Not knowing what to do Connor placed his hand on Marias cheek and used his thumb to wipe away her tears, "It's okay to be pathetic around me. I won't tell." He said with a sympathetic smile. He waited a few moments to let her catch her breath before his curiosity got the better of him.

Connor felt his body wince as his mouth opened to ask the next question, "What did your dad do that lead to all this?" He hated that he had to ask because it made her hurt, but without the answer he couldn't help her and that was the most important thing to him.

OOC: oof, sorry for the wait, again ;;

IC: Listening to his soft words as they sat down, Maria felt herself relax, which she hadn't done in a while. She assumed that Connor must be curious as to what had happened and his curiosity was soon confirmed when he asked what her father had done. Geez, where should she start?

"My dad's always been a real dick," Maria started, internally reminding herself not to tear up as she kept her gaze at her lap. "Well... I wasn't always the best kid, believe it or not," she chuckled, a smile replacing her frown, though it didn't last very long. "But my dad just took things too far. I mean, knew he still held a grudge against me, but Freya... Jesus Christ, poor Freya," she continued, the sadness that once had a hold on her slowly turning into anger just thinking about it all. "She's fucking blind because of him and I have these damn kids cause he's too much of an ass to stop his goons," she snapped, motioning towards her big belly. Freya shouldn't have been a part of any of it, but apparently the universe had had other plans for her sister, plans that permanently crippled her, physically and mentally. Stupid universe. "It's all just so fucked up," the Autumn huffed through gritted teeth and pursed lips.

Looking up to Connor, she let out a sigh as her once saddened expression returned, replacing the anger. Embarrassed that she lost her composure so easily, she looked back down to her lap. "Sorry," she added in barely a whisper. "I just don't understand why he did the things he did. Yeah, I'll admit, we had beef way back when, but why now? Does he still hate me that much to ruin my life? Not to mention Freya; she was innocent," Maria spoke softly. She'd never been one to care for her sister, seeing that they weren't the best of siblings, but now that both of them had been traumatized in ways that would haunt them for the rest of their lives, she couldn't help be feel a bit of sympathy for the younger girl.