La Catalina

[Naza Sutera]

 

 

Welcome to the Neighborhood

~*~

Mounds of soil in the distance on the other side of the artificial lake resembled mountains. The backhoes and excavators and other construction equiptent looked like monolithic animals as they tilled the land and hauled the lumber of trees that were cut down to make way for the next enclave of new luxury homes. The groundbreaking for a new subdivision had been made and a month ago and it would probably be open a year and a few months later. However, as Amelia stared across the lake from the sliding glass door in the breakfast nook, she pondered how the scene vaguely reminded her of a prehistoric scene from the distant past.

It had been less than six years since the inception of La Catalina. The census currently logged about ten thousand residents in the zip code. And the neighborhood was still growing. Being Corneria City's "Award-Winning Premier Neighborhood", the area was prime real estate, even with the opulent price tag. It already had four subdivisions--five if you count the Town Square--and another three or four more are planned. Amelia and her family had gotten a piece of the pie in the sanctuary of Terraza Primavera for a little over three-fourths of a million dollars.

And the opulence was apparent. If the succulently landscaped and manicured lawns dressed with royal palm trees and trimmed topiaries did not sell you, details like terracotta roofs, stone facades, and various shades of earthtone stucco, all modern and classical elements of Mediterranean design, did do it for most.

 

Edited April 23, 2015 by Naza Sutera

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

Korben, standing atop the balcony on the second floor of his million and a half dollar Mediterranean style mansion, gazed across the opulent neighborhood of Arroyo. The sound of children laughing and playing could be heard, as well as the passing of a luxurious sedan. Automatic sprinklers from across the street in the neighbor's yard were on and watering the grass. His black tie, contrasting against his white shirt with rolled up sleeves, fluttered slightly in the cool breeze. He rubbed his fingers against his mug full of green tea. He breathed in the clean air, and took a sip of his green tea. He let out a satisfied sigh.

"Nice," he commented. Korben then looked across the glistening lake and saw a woman in her window, observing the new construction taking place. She caught his attention, and zoomed in his sunglasses to get a better and closer view of her. It was Amelia, and he was intrigued by her. Now, it was not love at first sight, no. Rather, she piqued his interest. Korben went back inside, his dress shoes making a "clacking" sound as he went.

Finishing his green tea in the living room, he sat down onto a lavish and comfortable couch, and turned on the TV, which took up much of the wall. Korben took off his shoes and sunglasses, loosened his tie, and relaxed as he began to watch his favorite movie, Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem.

Edited April 18, 2015 by Arminius H O Fiddywinks

[Naza Sutera]

Amelia carried out a couple minor domestic duties: she checked the laundry and dumped her son's clean underwear on his bed for when he comes home; she emptied the dishwasher and put away the clean dishes; put a new bag in the trash compactor after taking the full one to the curb; ya know, boring house stuff. Now, she had reclused to the master suite to gussy up. After she finished applying mascara, she started scanning the bathroom counter, which was littered with a cornucopia of cosmetics, creams, soaps, and hair styling tools, and found what she was looking for which was a tube of red Chanel lipstick. Pulling off the cap and twisting it, she looked at her reflection as she applied the deep cherry lipcolor, wiping the corners of her mouth to ensure perfection.

She was already wearing a pair of distressed, slim-fitting darkwashed jeans. Entering the walk-in wardrobe, she pulled a black blazer over her off-white camisole and stepped into a pair of red high heels. Going back into the bathroom, she picked up her designer purse off of the accent chair on her way out of the bathroom.

"Where're my keys...?" she murmured while digging through her purse. Unable to find them, she mentally retraced her steps. "...Where--Oh!" Then it dawned on her. Exiting the master suite, she walked across the greatroom into the kitchen to find the keys to her car on the island counter. "There they are." Grabbing her keys, she immediately went into the garage and climbed into her grey Porsche Cayenne. She started the car and pressed the HomeLink button on the sun visor to open the garage and slowly began backing out onto the street. Shifting into drive, Amelia was about to pull off, but then she remembered something. Pulling her phone out of her purse, she tapped on the screen a bit to navigate to the Idaten Networks Home Security app. With a couple more taps, the deadbolts to the front, back, and garage doors electronically engaged and the home security system was armed. Once that was squared away, she pulled off from the house onto her short trip to the Town Centre.

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

Half-way through the movie, Korben decided to have lunch. He paused the movie and went into the high-tech kitchen, where a display on the refrigerator door advised him that there was no food left. He must have forgotten to buy some at the grocery store. That, or Sandor dropped by while he was out.

"Dammit," he said to himself as he put on his shoes and sunglasses. He straightened his tie, equipped his shoulder holster with his blaster-pistol, grabbed his keys, wallet, and phone, and hopped into his Mercedes-Benz Silver Lightning. As he went out of his driveway, Korben locked the door remotely and initiated the security system. It was a short drive to the Publix supermarket in Town Square, and Korben's imported super car barely made a sound as it quietly rolled down the street. He parked at the curb a block away from the store. Korben emerged from the Benz and initiated the car alarm, locking it. He got his black blazer from the trunk and put it on, so as to hide his weapon from public view.

Korben strolled down the sidewalk at a brisk pace, admiring the bright buildings of Town Square, the buzzing found in the restaurants, the calm pitter-patter of the fountains, flowing with water. He soon found himself in front of Publix, and entered it, taking a carrying basket.

Edited April 19, 2015 by Arminius H O Fiddywinks

[Naza Sutera]

After the short drive, Amelia pulled into the parking lot of the neighborhood Publix supermarket. She drove down a couple aisles before settling for a space that wasn't very close, but not that far either. Parking the vehicle, she got out of the vehicle, engaged the alarm and started walking towards the grocery store. Along the way, there was a woman and her son who was just finishing loading groceries into the trunk of their Mercedes. Just as they took the final two bags from the cart, Amelia said, "'Scuse me, you finished with that cart?"
The woman looked up at Amelia, almost surprised that a stranger spoke to her. "...Oh, um, yeah we're finished."
"Thanks," Amelia said, taking the shopping cart.
Once she entered the store, she took out her phone to check the time: almost twelve. She wondered if she should get lunch while she's out.

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

Korben was walking down the frozen foods aisle, scanning the refrigerators for his next few meals. He got frozen meats and TV dinners, as well as breakfast sandwiches and mircrowavable waffles. He also stockpiled on chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, as it was Sandor's favorite. As he exited the aisle, Korben noticed Amelia in the store, browsing.

"Her," he said. However, Amelia looked in his direction. Nervous, he quickly turned to a shelf of cereal beside him. His heart began beating faster, and did his best not to look in her direction. A nervous sweat drop fell slowly from his head. He tried to act normally, but continued to try and steal quick glances at Amelia.

[Naza Sutera]

While browsing the wine section for a bottle of Pinot Noir, she casually and mindlessly looked in a random direction, which was towards the cereal aisle. She just happened to lock eyes with some guy, who immediately broke his gaze when she looked at him, focusing on a kiosk of Honey Nut Cheereos, which was currently on a buy-one-get-one promotion. She though that a bit strange but didn't stress herself over it. Placing the bottle of wine in the cart, she made her way to the meat section for some ground turkey. Tonight, she planned to do spaghetti with meat sauce, a simple enough meal or her and her kids.

Her phone began vibrating inside her purse which was sitting in the cart. Pulling out the iPhone, she read the caller ID to see that it was her friend Amber. Child, please. What is it this time? Accepting the call, she placed the phone the ear. "Girrrrrrrl!" she greeted her best friend she's known since middle school. "What did he do this time?!" Amelia asked, knowing exactly why Amber was calling and expecting a juicy story.

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

Korben noticed Amelia answering her phone. He sighed, and stared at the Honey Nut Cheereos.

"Don't you hate nuts?" a voice from behind him asked. Korben turned around, and saw a shorter tykeriel staring disapprovingly into his eyes. He had a raised eyebrow. It was Sandor.

"Yes, I do," Korben answered. Sandor noticed the cookie dough ice cream, tilting his head curiously.

"Aww..." Sandor began. "That's so sweet of you. Here, take this." Sandor then dumped a substantial amount of condoms and chips into Korben's basket.

"Sandor!" Korben yelled.

"What? It's called 'delegation'. You get my stuff, and you get more of my stuff."

"Ugh, fine." Korben grudgingly went to the checkout line, where he received many head-turns. He embarassingly left the Publix as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, Sandor continued his shopping, grabbing rows upon rows of cereal, chips, and canned foods off of the shelves and dumped it into his cart. He was gleefully humming as he rolled down aisle after aisle.  Then, he suddenly and unexpectedly crashed into a woman's cart. All she had was a bottle of wine.

[Naza Sutera]

Amber chewed Amelia's ear off while she decided whether to get the pre-seasoned ground turkey or get the regular and add her own seasoning. "...--Girl, no!" Amelia exclaimed, tossing the meat into the cart as Amber got to the crux of her story. As her friend began to go into greater detail, a rainbow of humored looks flashed across her face. She was so deep into the story that it took the startling sound of two carts clattering into each other to bring her back to reality. Turning to see what the hell and why, she saw that someone had crashed their cart into hers. It was a younger tykeriel gentleman who... for some odd and murky reason, made Amelia uncomfortable. But she didn't want to be rude. "...Oh, um... I'm sorry, is my cart in your way?"

[Kurt]

it had taken Sven a day or so to make it to this town on foot. "Looks nice." he said to himself as he walked into the town. "Might as well stay here for awhile." He started looking for a paper with some adds for houses on the market. Sven decided his best bet was to look in the Publix and grab somehing to eat as well. 

He set his bag down at the entrance of the store and went in. The first thing he saw was a man rushing out with bags of chips and condoms. "Well then...."

Sven finally found a paper as well as a pre made lunch when he noticed someone stareing at him from.across the aisle. looking directly af his blaster on his hip. "You affraid of someone boy?" the man asked still stareing. "No," Sven began "just a rough past" with that he went  checked out and grabed his bag. now to find a house.

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

"No, no, it's my fault," Sandor politely replied. "I was being reckless in a public space. I apologize." Sandor looked down and saw the solitary wine bottle languishing in loneliness in the cart. Determined to resolve this problem, Sandor carefully placed another wine bottle next to the single one, and lightly patted it. "There!" he triumphantly remarked. He then looked back at Amelia. "I'm more of a vodka fan, myself. You can mix quite the menagerie of flavors with vodka, but in fact, it is actually a strong beverage, with a 40% alcohol content." Sandor then backed up, and positioned his cart to leave, but not without some parting words.

"Oh, and that man in the black suit who looked nervous? He's my friend. Such a sad guy, especially after he nearly died in the War. He realized that life isn't worth living without the company of others, even after his whole family abandoned him." He shook his head in a sort of pity. "All he wants is to love and be loved... Perhaps, that is why he was admiring you? Eh, I am no expert in this field. Goodbye." Sandor left Amelia with her meats and two wine bottles, and headed to the checkout line. However, it was quite a lengthy line, so Sandor decided to yell "LOOK, A SALE ON DELI PRODUCTS!". Instantly, nearly every single person in-line dashed with their carts to the deli section of the supermarket. He chuckled, commenting on the crowd's foolishness as a confused cashier began ringing up Sandor's items.

[Naza Sutera]

Amelia stared at Sandor's retreating form, rather flabbergasted at what just happened... She wasn't sure what happened.
"Hello?" Amber said on the other end of the line. "Hello? Amelia, are you there?"
"--Uh, yeah," Amelia said after some delay. "Amber can I call you back?"

[BlackWolf]

Standing in line behind Amelia is a black-furred wolf with a red stripe down one side of his face. In his grocery bag is a bag of jerky and a container of supplement. He says, "Hey, how are you?"

[Naza Sutera]

Amelia turned around and stared at the new stranger, still confused about what just happened. She stared at the man for a moment before shaking herself free of the fog.

"...I--uh... I'm fine," she said, being amiable. "Just doing a bit of grocery shopping."

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

As the cashier continued to ring up his items, Sandor noticed a raggedy man with a hip holster that contained a blaster. Sandor took an aggressive stance, ready for a fight, reaching around for his automatic blaster-pistol concealed at his back. However, the man left almost as soon as he arrived, and Sandor calmed down. He turned back to see Amelia converse with a wolf. Sandor assumed that it was a friend of hers, and thought nothing of it. He then looked to the shelf beside him and grabbed a pack of gum, throwing it onto the conveyor belt with the rest of his things. Finally, after a few lengthy minutes, the cashier finished ringing up the items.

"281 dollars and 45 cents," he said monotonously. Sandor was surprised.

"Just a minute, please," Sandor requested. He then dashed outside to find Korben almost at his car. He ran at an unnerving speed and tackled Korben to the ground, swiping his wallet from his back pocket.

"Sandor!!!" he yelled. Sandor then rushed back to the Publix supermarket to pay every single cent.

"Someone call the cops, that guy just got robbed!" a bystander said.

"No, it's fine!" Korben assured. "I know him." Moments later, Sandor exited the store with several bags in his cart. He went towards his McLaren P1, its brightly orange color contrasting with the grays, blues, whites, and blacks of the sedans and minivans. He was humming "Pourriture 2" by Mr. Oizo. Sandor loaded the bags into the passenger seat of the sports car, and got in. He turned it on with the push of an option on the interface, and the car roared to life. He revved the engine as he backed out, and sped away.

[Dr. Orange]

The Doctor was on the move. A long drive was nearing the end. New job, new living, new beginning. Twas the definition of the Adventure. Sipping some coffee in hand, along with like, pounds and a section of storage in the back seats. This was the Cornelian Dream. The dream of virtue and advancement that each countryman on this great planet strives to aim. To reach higher and higher. That point oh so high that not even the Krazoas would be of aid to cushion that fall. With that right of systematic risk, may we weed out the one's who aim to accomplish and strive to be greater than himself. In this great planet of ours, to whom may not take these opportunities is but a fool. Cornelia, the planet where the grass grows keen but the business runs green. This society was bountiful and ready for another risk taker walking her streets. To each his own king, his own ruler, that may he sought out success and hardship to do nothing less then benefit from that challenge. 

And with all this greatness and possibility ... he stops ... to get a drink ... with like ... sugar because coffee ... after taste. 

Edited April 19, 2015 by Dr. Orange

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

As Sandor began to speed away, he noticed he was still in possession of Korben's wallet. Surprisingly considerate, he put his McLaren in reverse and found Korben dusting himself off. Sandor rolled down the window and threw the disheveled beaver his wallet.

"Talk to that woman!" Sandor advised. "You might even hit it off with her! But if you don't, I will have to be your mouth!" Sandor stuck his tongue out at Korben while rolling up his window. He slammed his foot on the pedal, and away he went. Korben shook his head, and put his bags in the trunk of his Mercedes. But a nagging thought still stuck to his mind. Did Sandor talk to Amelia? What did he say? Korben turned back to the Publix supermarket, and headed back in. He walked back inside, and saw Amelia talking to a wolf. Korben remembered Sandor's words, and he didn't want an 18-year-old psycho to talk for him. But Korben decided to wait until the wolf left her. He grabbed a basket, and walked towards a shelf containing chips. He positioned himself so that the shelf was in-between his field of view and Amelia.

[Kurt]

Sven had begun to walk down the road past a cafe when he began to look at the listings.

 

Edited April 19, 2015 by Kurt
i goofed

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

Bohdan enjoyed having lunch at Martyn's, a Ruthenian cafe owned by a close friend, Martyn Pushkarenko. Bohdan especially enjoyed the rare steak so deliciously seasoned and so lightly cooked. Ruthenians love their raw meats: they are fire-breathing dragons, after all. The meat would get cooked as they digested it. He managed to compact his substantial frame onto the modest little chair, and folded his wings so as not to disturb other patrons. Bohdan began eating his food temperately, taking in the warm, midday scene of Town Square. The ambient sound of daily conversation and laughter was only broken by a speeding sports car and yelling. Bohdan noticed this, and glanced in the direction of the noise. He noticed that the driver of the car was none other than Sandor Kalocsai, and he was yelling at Korben Dallas.

"Those two," he simply said to himself. A few moments later, he saw Sandor speed off and Korben head into the Publix supermarket. Bohdan continued eating his meal. When he finished, he asked for the check, and took a sip of water. Admiring the now tranquil scene, Bohdan noticed a raggedy man who looked down on his luck. The man was looking at listings for homes. "Excuse me sir," Bohdan began. "Are you... Looking for a home?"

[Kurt]

yes. i am. Sven replied

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

"You are? Well, I have a free bedroom in my condominium. It is right there, Vista Lago Suites." Bohdan pointed to a brightly-colored condo down the street, its windows crystal clear and clean. "I live on the fifth floor, room 515." The waitress brought Bohdan the receipt for his meal. He nodded and said "Thank you". "Tell me, what is your name?"

[Kurt]

"Thank you.." Sven stammered, "my name is Sven. And you are?"

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

"My name is Bohdan Zenobi Chmielnicki. You may call me Bohdan." Bohdan outstretched his arm to shake Sven's. His smile was warm, inviting, and sincere, even if he was a hooded figure. The sun seemed to just shine on this dragon, as if some supernatural deity proclaimed him to be Sven's savior.

[Kurt]

Sven shook his hand thinking to himself "Well at least some one here is friendly enough to talk to a stranger."

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

"Good, good." Bohdan stood up from his seat, dwarfing Sven. Bohdan stood at a monstrous seven feet tall, a trait shared by most Sclavic dragons. Physically, he was intimidating. However, Bohdan was a rather gentle giant. He stretched out his arms, and in turn, his wings, and then folded them back in on his body. "Come Sven," he said. "I shall show you my-- and your-- home in La Catalina."

Edited April 19, 2015 by Arminius H O Fiddywinks