Rainy Parks.

[recycle]

<sup>The full moon shone brilliantly through the branches of an old willow. The leaves were starting to fade from a plush green to the pastel colours of orange and red and brown...A small figure sat dangled in the secluded branches high in the said tree, her head turned upward in a long gaze towards the moon. A sharp glance from wide chocolate eyes told the girl the street lights were being turned on. A half smile covered her paled lips as she shifted in her spot, and returned her optics to the sky. Pushing an ignorant, escaped strand of light auburn hair behind her ear, she leaned her head backwards onto the trunk of the tree behind her, and closed her eyes gently, the content smile still plastered across her cheeks...

Now, Arianna Lari, wasn't one to sneak out of the Orphanage this time of night, but the gleaming moon called her out to watch it rise above the little green pond in the park.
Ari knew she should head back..but as the crickets melody and the water lapping against the plush grass sounded through the night, she decided it wouldn't hurt to stay out just a bit longer...

Her petite leg swayed below the branch, to an unheard tune in her mind; Arianna had always been small...already in her sixth year, this sixteen year old girl only scratched five feet and an inch or two...And it was, as usual, she earned a few nicknames during her years. I wont repeat any, for fear of being maimed by the small girl, but, you know what I mean..
She had a sharp tounge and quick mind, which earned her plenty of trouble, and black-eyes; but if you befriend her, she's great to have on your side...
Full eyelashes fluttering open once again, Ari blinked slowly and thingyed her head to one side, twirling the dark ebony scarf draped carelessly around her shoulders. Deep eyes chancing a glance to the ground below, she spotted her shoes and a corner of her mouth lifted, her big toe was already poking through the long socks she wore, from climbing the tree without her grey mary-janes on. Small things amused Ari, and she was just fine with that...

Sighing gently, she twitched her nose and flicked her finger in the air, only moments later, tiny droplets of rain began falling from the strangely cloudless sky...o.O</sup>

[Dejitaru Chi]

<sup>"It's a wonderfully romantic night to be out, at least it was until the rain began," said Mari aloud, annoyance clear in her voice as she thought of what her father would think if she caught a cold, since she forgot her jacket at home.

'It would be even more romantic if I actually had someone to spend it with' thought Mari with a grumble, trudging around the park with no particular destination in mind. Hands stuffed unceremoniously in too small pockets, she hunched over, running towards the welcoming shelter of a tree.

She was a gawky girl, for all her fifteen years, with messy blonde hair and eyes of a pale blue. Her small nose was peeling from the sunburn she obtained a few days before, and freckles dusted across her face, making her look younger than she really was. No matter her youthful appearance, Mari was actually an extremely responsible girl, so responsible in fact that it almost became an annoyance to anyone she knew.

Leaning heavily against the trunk of the tree, she glowered at the rain, as if her stare could make it dissipate. It, of course, did not work and irritated the sunburn on her face. Sighing, Mari kicked at the dirt beneath her with a foot attired in a heavy combat boot. She wore army green pants and a white shirt that had the words: "Join the Navy" in big print. Mari's face grew hard as she thought bitterly, 'A navy brat. That's all I am, even to my friends and my family. They have no idea how hard it is sometimes.'

She lived alone with her father, a strict man set to stricter rules, that Mari had to follow also. Five o' clock sharp every morning, she would get up, do the exercises her father put out for her and then chores. It was as if she were training to be part of the navy also, when all she really wanted to do was become a veterinarian.

Plopping to the ground, she stared out at the surroundings in front of her, although really she was day dreaming. Her mother's kind face wavered in her mind's eye.</sup>