kakorrhaphiophobia - open

[Rebecca Ollymi]

i'm just a loner, baby
and now you've got in my way

[height]The warm sunlight shone on her red hair, making her head sweat rather uncomfortably. Rebecca frowned, glancing up towards the sun. Why couldn't Lucas go to a school in the cold?

[/font] Her cheeks were flushed from just sitting outside, though you couldn't tell because of her darker skin tone. The red-head returned back to the work, leaning over just so to keep the sunlight from hitting it. It hurt her eyes when the sun reflected against her paper too long. She could've gone into a library or a darker area, but she figured she might as well not bother going up the stairs to her dorm. It was too much work, and besides, there was probably some rule about Lucas or Carlin not being allowed in there.

Though, really? Who would try to enforce it with her?

Rebecca smiled at the thought, absently brushing her fingers through her hair. She'd once been called Annie in reference to Anne of Green Gables. But Anne's hair had been orange - or so the author claimed - and then become the most beautiful auburne possible. It wasn't natural, but it was a children's book after all. Or teenager's. Or a mother with no time to read sophisticated, advanced literature. Rebecca smiled. She'd read the first two or so books as a kid, but it'd gotten boring. No action, no highly sophisticated protests. It was no Johnny Got His Gun by Trumbo - though that book had been boring as hell as well.

She returned her focus to her homework, or rather the phone that sat on her homework. She scanned carefully through the random texts she got. She enjoyed getting all those spam mail. Snapple facts, Quotes of the Day, Words to Know, On This Day, and other such things. The small, minor facts were always the ones everyone else missed. Kakorrhaphiophobia. Ergophobia. Brontophobia.[/font] Today's Words to Know from three seperate websites. The losers probably talked to each other. "Hey, I'll be doing the abnormal fear of failure. You should do the fear of work. And Dictionary.Fun should have the absurd fear of thunder." Thinking about it, the article had included "absurd" too. Did that mean they assumed everyone was scared of thunder? Or did brontophobiacs have an even worse fear of thunder than another word? Either way, it was still a fear of thunder, and Rebecca was a representative of that phobia all the way. And kakorrhaphiophobia. And she was pretty sure she knew someone with ergophobia.

It was another of the horrible things about living in such hot weather. Thunderstorms were abundant. Rebecca scribbled a sidenote on her Phsychology textbook. Turning the page, she scanned the first two lines before leaning back. Lucas was such a horrible influence. She would've studied if it weren't for the fact that the boy wasn't there. Now what was she going to do? Sit here waiting for some unwary target to read the body language, dissect the mind, and then scare away. Rebecca Ollympi sat up, a devilish grin on her face. That's exactly what she was going to do.

And not even her severe case of kakorrhaphiophobia wasn't going to bring her down. Today, at least. Tomorrow her obsessive perfectionist skills could take over.
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i've got to hand it to you
you've played by all the same rules
it takes the truth to fool me
and now you've got me angry


lyrics by scissor sisters ; uncountable words

[Lucas Christian Alencar --]

“I—I do not understand. I sorry, I do not speak English good.” Lucas held his hands in front of his chest and waved away the freshman with the desperate face. The minute she had started to walk up to him, he tried to inch away but she had pounced too quickly. He knew writing Smith’s term paper last semester was a bad idea. It had been an easy hundred dollars but Smith had spread the word of Lucas’s services. This was the third person he had to turn down in the last month. It started with him trying to explain it was a one time deal and it quickly dissolved into him speaking poor English and yammering away in Portuguese until they walked away. It wasn’t the most graceful tactic but it was the quickest.

It only took reciting the prologue to Harry Potter: The Sorcerer’s Stone, rather loudly, to get her to turn tail. After she had rounded the corner of the nearest building, Lucas glanced around for witnesses. One student, grinning broadly, he recognized as one of the few other people that spoke Portuguese. When their eyes met, her smile disappeared and she hurried the other direction. It may have been amusing to her but still, many people didn’t want to associate with Lucas. He knew he was a bit—off.

There was one person that voluntarily tolerated him and it didn’t take long for Lucas to find her. It was a five minute walk to the Green, and her bright red hair stood out like a beacon. She was focused on the people in front of her, surely looking for someone to harass. He had taught her so well.

In an attempt to make a silent approach, Lucas moved on tip toe to stand behind Rebecca. And with one swift movement, he lifted Rebecca with one arm under her armpits and the other under her knees. “Did I surprise you?” He asked with a broad smile across his face. He could never be sure. While he loved to believe he had the element of surprise, that didn’t usually apply with Rebecca. He planted a quick kiss on her forehead, only to draw away and made a face as he moved to place her back down.

“How long have you been outside? You are all sweaty.” He complained but smiled. He didn’t really mind it but he knew that if he pointed it out, it might annoy her. That was always a good time.

[Rebecca Ollymi]

i'm just a loner, baby
and now you've got in my way

[height]The red-head glared cold-heartedly at the words in front of her. They made perfect sense in the most nonsensical way. It wasn't even possible. But it was. That was the worst thing about psychology. Everything was possible and nothing was really proven. It was a beautiful subject, and made way more sense than the equations that she'd seen Civet solving. Like, how the hell do you get a positive number by substracting two negative numbers? How the hell did that make sense? Rebecca rolled her eyes at the page. Oh, look, Rebecca. You're talking to yourself. The girl cracked a small smile at that thought. She'd always been a little on the loony side. Her father said that she got it from her mother. Both she and her mother were the sort that loved taking advantage of idiots, he'd say. That's why his mother had been a tarot-card reader. She hadn't made much money that way, but in her conversations, she'd always press the right button and get a few extra bucks in tips. Her father was right, though. She couldn't have gotten her oddities from him. The man was as straight and normal as they came. The only thing he really approved of was the amount of trouble she got into up until high school.

Then, he'd been infuriating.

Tapping the paper lightly, Rebecca glanced around. A small smirk played on her face as she watched a group of guys with huge backpacks racing toward some class. They had a test or some important project they'd probably forgotten about until recently. This is too easy. Rebecca's eyes slowly started to close, but she continued to watch the world with half-open eyes. She hadn't slept much last night, but she wasn't actually tired. Just about sleepy with the boredom. But it was practically impossible to fall asleep in the brilliant sun, and Rebecca didn't want to do so anyway. Even though she was about half-Italian, her slightly tan skin burned incredibly easily.

Another reason she hated this weather.

Rolling her eyes, Rebecca began looking for some target. Someone not as open as a book as the idiots that'd rushed by, but not hard enough that she'd have to talk to them. She hated her voice. It was always so smooth and deep. It sounded like a guys. Scanning the Green around her, the red-head failed to notice a tall, grinning man stalking up from behind her. She let out a small squeak of indignant surprise as she was lifted up by Lucas. She wasn't far above the ground, but it was enough. She hated heights, like any sensible person of 5'2" should. She scowled at him, knowing that within moments she'd forgive him just like always. Five... four... three... two... one.

"Did I surprise you?"

Rebecca grinned. She was tempted to say 'no' just to see how her friend reacted, but she quickly changed her mind. Lucas was far too delighted with himself to do that. "Of course you did. It's a first, isn't it?" she remarked in that annoying voice. She squirmed uncomfortably as Lucas planted a kiss on the top of her head and made a disgusted face. That probably had to do with the amount of sweat. Rebecca had noticed she sweated excessively. Stupid hot weather. Still, she cracked a smile at Lucas's disgusted face and shrugged absently, glancing up at the sky. She'd left her phone at her room, and she wasn't one of those people that were so obsessed with time, they needed a watch on their wrist.

Besides, she'd probably get a tan from wearing one.

"I don't know exactly. Probably about an hour or so. Why did you have to choose a college that is so freaking hot? I freaking want to make you turn around fast enough that you generate wind and cool me off." Rebecca smiled as she felt her bottom settle once more on the safety of the ground. The red-head tapped the spot beside her on the huge blanket she was sitting in the middle of. Whenever she moved out here, she always brought a blanket big enough for three. That way no matter if Lucas or Carlin or both saw her, they'd always have a spot. Whoever wanted to say something to her could go play with themselves. Alone.

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i've got to hand it to you
you've played by all the same rules
it takes the truth to fool me
and now you've got me angry


lyrics by scissor sisters ; uncountable words

[Lucas Christian Alencar --]

The squeak was enough to make Lucas’s smile widen even farther. It made him even happier when he wasn’t smacked or punch in rather sensitive areas, like he had expected. Rebecca actually broke into a smile and actually didn’t try to antagonize him. And that sent off alarm bells in his head, Rebecca not trying to torture him, it was surprising. Was she alright? Did something happen in her family?

Those concerns were quickly shut down when he put her down and she started into her rant about the weather. While Pennsylvania was warm during the summer, it didn’t have the humidity all year long. Rebecca had nearly suffered a heart attack when Lucas announced that he was going to attend North Highland. It was in freaking North Carolina, she said something along the lines, what the hell are you thinking? Yes, it was hot but Lucas missed the heat of Brazil and this was the closest to home he could find. While he may be a citizen, he still wondered about his mother’s decision to come.

It wasn’t for his father; Lucas had never met the man in his life.

“That isn’t possible, that wouldn’t generate any breeze.” Lucas was about to launch into a thousand reasons why but he knew that Rebecca didn’t want to hear about it. It would probably be extremely boring for her so he just shut his mouth. Instead his waved his hands, which should at least push some air to her face. “This would work much better.”

It didn’t take long for his hands to grow tired but he kept going. “You didn’t have to follow me here. You could’ve gone to Alaska, which would’ve been awesome. You could’ve sent me those pretty postcards.” Those pretty postcards could’ve decorated the wall of his room. Rebecca may have been far away but there was online chat for that. Though, nothing would beat being with her in person.

He really did appreciate her coming with him to college. The only regret he had was the fact that in two years, he will graduate and she will be alone for two years. He considered staying in North Carolina for those two years but he didn’t know if Rebecca would agree. He should be going to Switzerland or some other far off planet to study, not sticking around the South. Also she may want her independence, he didn’t want to be hanging around her entire life. He couldn’t.

[Rebecca Ollymi]

i will never let you fall
i'll stand up with you forever

[height]It wouldn't work?

The hell with that rejection. It would. Besides, it would be funny seeing Lucas tripping over himself turning around. Her amusement would distract her from the stifling heat. In fact, Rebecca would have told him to try and defy whatever silly scientific logic he was applying to the situation if he hadn't started fanning her with his hand. Lucas had gigantic hands, really. It all came with the height, she supposed. The small blasts of air that hit her face were like little puffs of heavenly coolness. She grinned happily at Lucas. She knew her friend probably didn't feel anything close to the discomfort she felt.

He had lived in Brazil, after all.

Brazil was way hotter and more humid than North Carolina. The increased rainfall plus the trees keeping the water from evaporating, and the big cities stopped a lot of the air control. Rebecca, though, was a born Chicago girl. It did have its hot days, but they weren't exactly as common. And Chicago had winters that were actually cold and snowy. As far as she knew, North Carolina didn't get snow. A huge disappointment to her. Snowy Christmases were always the best in Chicago. "That works, too," she remarked, amused. Lucas's hand had started to slow down, but he didn't stop. Seeing as he didn't exactly mind it, Rebecca continued to let him do so. It wasn't like she didn't like the temporary relief from the sun. An hour was enough time in the sun. She shifted comfortably on her blanket and smirked up at Lucas.

Leave him alone, he said? Not only was Lucas here, but so was Carlin. They were practically the only friends she had. She used them as psychology experiments and studies. Lucas used her as an assistant in his more explosive labs. She'd always loved controlled explosions. Not that heavy-duty bombs were cool. But stink and smoke bombs definitely were, and her dad hadn't really minded buying some of the ingredients. Anything to get her to do normal things. And Carlin? Carlin was realistic, and pretty much her conscience. He didn't let her punch anyone in the face - no matter how much they deserved it. How could she leave them behind?

Not to mention that while she hated hot weather, she couldn't help but keep an eye on her two ducklings. She'd have to - eventually. But not yet. Bsides, she would drive herself crazy without anyone to look over. She'd probably drive everyone else around her crazy. And really? Alaska? She wasn't exactly the sort to move across the country just for cooler temperatures. Laughing, she reached over to elbow Lucas. "Alaska? I don't need to live in sub-zero temperatures. 'M not ice. And the postcards really aren't that nice looking. Besides, who would keep an eye on you?" She rolled her eyes.

"Nah. I'm fine."

Narrowing her eyes at the sky, she frowned and glanced at her stomach before it could rumble. "Eaten yet?" she asked. She was pretty sure she had chips and cookies and sandwhiches in her bag. It was past noon, but Rebecca had always had an off eating schedule to accommodate her trouble-making - or detention if she got allowed herself to be caught - schedule. She could eat a lot at one time, but she didn't exactly get hungry at the same time every day. Just when she felt like it.

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i'll be there for you through it all
even if saving you sends me to heaven
use me as you will


lyrics by red jumpsuit apparatus ; uncountable words

[Lucas Christian Alencar --]

[height]

When Rebecca smiled, Lucas couldn’t help his own as it cracked across his face. Rebecca was not an easy person to please, Lucas had learned early in their relationship, so whenever he earned a smile, he always returned the gesture. His wrists were starting to cramp up from fanning Rebecca but as long as she kept smiling, his hands would keep moving. Again and again, Lucas wondered why Rebecca stayed in North Carolina; all she did was complain about the heat.

It made sense to Lucas that if you hated something, you got rid of it as soon as possible. He had a girl ask him to be his boyfriend in eighth grade, he said yes and they were together for two hours during the longest party of his life. Then she started to touch him all over and he didn’t like it, so he got rid of her. If Rebecca didn’t like the heat, why didn’t she leave?

Lucas knew the answer was him. Rebecca followed him to NHU and Carlin followed her. She did it so they could be a trio once again, even if it was just for two more years. Except, Lucas didn’t want to think about it that way. As much as he loved having Rebecca around, he just wished she had another reason to be in North Carolina.

His thinking had distracted him, per usual. Rebecca had changed subjects and launched into a response to his Alaska comment. She turned around and complained about the freezing temperatures; honestly she was impossible to please. “Well, you’re from the Midwest; you should be used to sub-zero temperatures.” He taunted with a broad smile.

They were from opposite sides of the scale. Brazil was hot and humid most of the year while he knew Rebecca had suffered many winters where the temperature was unbearably cold every single day, something he hoped to never experience. When he finally chose a place to live and work, it was going to be tropical and summer all year round. “Nope you’re stuck here where it is humid all the time.”

[/color] He made sure to exaggerate the last three words for effect with a smirk.

Then Rebecca glanced down at her stomach, Lucas knew what was coming next. She was starving and Lucas just smiled at her question. “Not recently.” He answered; the last meal he had eaten was an early lunch before his double chemistry and he was a bit hungry. “How about we try that new fast food place in town? I’ll pay.” Lucas dug his wallet out of his pocket to check that he had enough. A couple fives and a ten, that should be enough.
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