forum An easygoing Rp (O/O Closed)

Started April 09, 2020 by @Rainy_day_artist_classic group

tune

"This bus ride is taking forever!" The 15-year-old, Alexa McKelly whined as she sunk lower into her seat. "Why couldn't mom and dad just drive us, or send us on a plane? It would have been so much faster than this." Alexa continued to complain, stretching out so her legs were resting on her sister, Moxie's, lap. In reality, they had only been on the bus for forty-five minutes, not very long. So Alexa was exaggerating, just a little bit at least.
Trees whizzed by in flashes, as the bus flew down the highway with it's few passengers. Besides the two sisters, there was only a few other people on board. Such as, and older man, a woman and her two kids, a businessman, and a small group of teenage boys near the back, assumed to be some kind of boy-scouts. The bus was awkwardly quiet, besides Alexa's whining of course. Nobody seemed to be paying any attention to her though, they all had their own lives to worry about.
"I really don't understand why they had to send us up here. I had been making summer plans since the beginning of the year," Alexa vented to Moxie, forcing herself to sit up into a sitting position. "And now we're going to be stuck in a boring cabin, in the middle of literal nowhere. This sucks."

Moxie stared brightly out the glass, her hands excitedly tapping on her knees. She held a resting smile across her face, her youthful sunset eyes latching on to whatever the van passed— but they never stayed put for long. It was typical of the girl; trying to focus on one thing, just to be distracted by another.
“Lighten up,” she said finally, glancing over to Alex. Her voice wasn’t degrading, more of a light, optimistic counter. “It’ll be fun. And hey, if it isn’t, then we can find ways to make it, right?”
She paused for a moment, fixing her flannel over shirt. The light reds and oranges just brought out the color of her eyes— or, at least, that’s what she thought.
“Plus, I had summer plans, too,” she lied, the both of them knowing full-well she hadn’t. She wasn’t the kind to really “plan” something— more like “accidentally get somewhere and rope others into it without warning.”
Still, she was more than excited for this trip. She’d heard all kinds of stories from uncle Reg’s cabin in the deep mysterious woods.
“But we’ll be fine,” she finished with a wave of her hand. “And we’ll get there soon enough.”

Groaning once again at he sister's positivity, she sat up to keep from getting any neck cramps. "I still don't like this. We're going to be stuck there, with no friends, all summer. And Tyler will be there, I might as well should have stayed home to get paid for baby-sitting." She muttered under her breath, pulling a bound notebook from her back pocket.
Alexa slowly began to write out her clouded thoughts, blotting out her frustration. She was being ridiculous, but she was rather bitter because of the 'surprise trip' that her parents decided too late to announce. In her own mind, Alexa assumed it was just to get rid of them over the summer. They always talked about needing a break.
Though she knew she had pushed it when she took her frustration out on Tyler. Sighing softly, she looked up to Moxie. "Did I push it too far?" Alexa asked softly, knowing her fondness of the younger boy.

Moxie nodded slightly, squinting. “Lil bit.”
She paused, looking over and giving a smile. “But Ty’s older now. Maybe he’ll be cool— eh? Sure he’s eight but at least we don’t have to teach him how to walk anymore.”
She shrugged, keeping a sort of peaceful demeanor. “And who knows what’ll happen at the cabin? It’s always been a sort of… odd place. Exploring will be fun.”
Suddenly her eyes shot alight with a mischievous twinkle. She turned, prodding her sister’s side.
“And maybe~,” she cooed, giving a tight mocking smile. “Maybe there’ll be a guy there~.”
She gave a laugh, leaning back abruptly in anticipation of her sister’s reaction.

She had to admit, Moxie was right. Tyler was older, he was probably super cool now. Even if she was wrong, he'd probably be into video games and the two would never see him. So what was there to worry about?
Though Moxie's second comment threw her for a loop, her face turning a vibrant shade of pink.
"Moxie!" Alexa scolded, burying her face in her hands. Of course she knew Moxie was only teasing, but on a subject like that, it made her incredibly flustered.
It was stupid, Alexa knew, but she couldn't help it. That kind of talk made her flustered, for reasons even she didn't know.
"Come on, not funny… you know how flustered I can get." Alexa muttered, looking to her sister with a pout. "This is pay-back for being rude to Tyler, isn't it? Or is it because I embarrassed you in front of that guy?"

Moxie gave a light-hearted laugh. She wasn’t usually one to giggle, but she tried to keep the laughter suppressed for the sake of the other passengers.
She gave another mischievous glance to Alexa, shaking her head with her grin.
“Neither,” she said once her giggling subsided. “I mean— sure, give Tyler a break— and I couldn’t care less about the guy.”
Moxie wasn’t the kind of girl to get embarrassed easily. She could trip and fall in the middle of a gawking crowd, get up and brush off, then proceed to ask why people were staring. Some people saw it as cluelessness, but Moxie thought of it as “emotional maturity.” … But yes, it was mainly cluelessness.
She tapped her finger on her leg once more— just a small unconscious habit— and leaned over.
“I’m sorry,” she started again. “Just thought it was due time for some teasing.”

Sighing softly, Alexa found herself relaxing from her flustered state. "Don't be, I'm being a stick in the mud." Alexa nodded softly, tucking her notebook away.
"You wanna play a game or something, until we get there? We've still got some time. Maybe I can try to make it up to you, for being such a Negative Nancy." She asked softly, leaning on her arm. "I've got nothing better to do anyways."
Alexa was doing her best to be sincere, but that just wasn't the way she rolled. Even with her own sister. Though she tried her best, even when she failed almost every time. Practice makes perfect, right?
"We could play hang man, or something like that? I dunno, just an idea. We don't have to play anything, just thought I'd offer." She chattered away, seeming endless.
"It's up to you, I don't care either way. Honestly I-" Pausing, she noticed that her rambling was probably getting rather obnoxious. "I'll stop talking now. Sorry."

Moxie just nodded on to her sister’s speech, not seeming annoyed nor truly engaged. She was used to it now, but would still try to give Alexa some credit.
“Sure,” she began, her eyes lighting up at the subject of games. “I don’t really have a preference either.”
She took her backpack from the floor, resting it on her lap. She unzipped the smallest pocket, drawing out a diminutive sketchbook. The front was decorated in a number of doodles, but none of which were really… good, so to speak. Moxie wasn’t the most artistic person. She normally just wrote down little stories about things she’d find when she was out on the lake, or copy odd prints of animals while she went camping with friends. Always a busy person, she was. Living for the wandering aspects of life.
She nudged Alexa with her arm. “I got an idea. Take out your sketchbook. We can describe animals to each other, but we can’t say their name or anything really remotely related to them. Deal?”

Alexa watched her sister curiously, watching her pull out her sketchbook. Of course, it was the sketchbook she was assuming. The only one she ever saw Moxie bring with her.
At her request, Alexa leaned over to pull her own out. Her backpack was quite a mess, so after a moment of shuffling through the bag, she found a pad of paper she could use. On her way back up, the bus ran over a ditch in the road causing the bus to rattle. Thus causing Alexa to bang her head on the seat in front of them when sitting up.
"Ow!" She whined, pulling back while holding on to the back of her head. 'Stupid karma.' Her thoughts muttered, as she looked over to Moxie with a slight frown.
"Yeah sounds fun…" Pulling a pen from behind her ear, she yanked the cap off trying to ignore the pounding headache she was getting. It would go away in a few minutes anyways. "Who's starting?" Alexa asked in a hum, resting the black inked pen's tip on the white sheet of paper.

Moxie stifled a laugh as she watched Alexa attempt to open the backpack, then proceeded to hit the seat.
“You okay?” she asked under her breath, trying not to smile. Though when Alex posed the question, Moxie let herself.
She flicked up a pencil from her pocket— although seemingly from nowhere, and opened up the book to a blank page. Something she had few of. She’d had that sketchbook for over ten years.. and it was due time for a new one. But she wasn’t the kind of person to buy something new the second she needed it. She’d use something until she physically couldn’t. Until there were holes, tears, or worn out splotches— to Moxie, it’d still be good as new.

“Your choice,” Moxie mumbled, twirling the pencil in her fingers. “You could describe, if you wanna. I’m ready when you are.”

Once the immediate headache faded, she nodded softly to make sure she didn't start a second one. Forcing a smile on her lips, she drowned her bad attitude from before down.
"I'll go first then." Alexa hummed out, twisting the wave in her ponytail around her finger as she choose one to describe. This was a much harder task than she would have thought. How hard could it be to think of something to describe? Apparently, incredibly hard in her case. Letting out a slight huff, she drummed her fingers on the paper pad still trying to rack her brain.
As an idea struck in her mind, she was set on quickly sketching it out before describing it. After a few more seconds, she brought the paper closer to herself with a soft smile.
"Alright, I got something." Alexa informed Moxie, taking a glance at the paper once more. This shouldn't be so hard. Then again, thinking up an animal shouldn't have been hard either.
"The head shape is kind of tear drop shaped, but upside down. Petal shaped." Alexa elaborated further, nodding with a smile at her choice of words.

Moxie watched as Alexa sketched, noting her small changes in expressions. She kept her eyes from the paper, not wanting to spoil the challenge. As was typical of Moxie— playing by the rules because it was a challenge.
“Tear drop?” she repeated to herself. It took her a good while to process the information before trailing her pencil on the paper.

Moxie had always had an interesting habit of making different expressions when she doodled, drew, or wrote. Others may have found it odd, but Moxie found it charming. Well, slightly.
Her lines were scratchy and small, but light. She didn’t have a steady hand— at all— so she had always drawn sketchier than necessary. It gave the upside-down tear shape a sort of fuzzy feel, but with the mixing of slightly darker lines, the fuzz was overshadowed.
And— with the drawing just as instructed— she tilted the paper so Alexa could see.

Leaning forward to watch her sister sketch, she smiled as the shape was formed on the page in front of her.
"Yup, just like that." Alexa nodded lightly, taking a second glance at her cartoonish drawing. Of course she was overthinking this, that was just her. Work harder not smarter, those four words described her pretty well after all.
Biting on her lip, she nodded softly pressing her finger to the top of the tear drop shape with a soft smile.
"About there, put a loose squiggly line until about here." Alexa directed, dragging her finger upwards to a half way point on the page. "Did that make sense? It does to me, but I'm bad at explaining things." She mumbled, pulling her hand back so Moxie could draw.

Alexa pictured the item in her head, nodding with satisfaction at her way of describing the item. Of course, there were better ways to do so. But she wasn't going to bother changing it now. Unless Moxie needed her to.

“You sure you picked a real animal?” Moxie asked with a sort of laugh. “What the heck are you describing?”
Despite her suspicions, she did as asked. Awaiting the next detail, she flicked the pencil between her fingers and tapped her foot. Always a busy person— always moving, she was. Not even with ADHD, just normally excitement or impatience.

Though this time it was anticipation. Her actions stemming from her curiosity, she cocked her head, awaiting the next instruction. Besides her fake sarcastic remarks, Alex wasn’t too bad at explaining things. A few more lines and the creature might come along. But with an iffy dictator and an inadequate artist, this game was a little difficult. But, fun to Moxie nonetheless.

Giving Moxie a slight eye roll and a smirk, Alexa tried to keep from giving it away too quickly.
"Of course it's a real animal. You think I'd cheat, while you're playing?" Alexa asked her, trying to make it obvious she clearly wasn't cheating. Though whether that worked or not, Alexa didn't have a clue.
Watching Moxie sketch out the next step to her instructions, Alexa approved of her drawing with a nod.

"Just like that," Pressing her finger back on the page, she tapped down near the bottom of the shape. "On the inside, down at the bottom, draw a small triangle shape." She directed her sister, tapping a few more times before pulling back.
"Or a circle. As long as it's smallish shaped." Alexa informed further, glancing back at the paper pad in her hand.

Of course Moxie didn’t believe her. But what was she gonna do? It was just a better challenge.
As she began describing the second part, the bus took another bump quite harshly, having Moxie’s pencil wander off the paper, leaving a dark mark. She simply smiled, turning the little line into a smiley-face. Always the bright-side one. She could find a silver lining with anything.

As described, she drew the smal triangle, but made it more of a cone. She had no clue what Alexa was describing— not even the faintest idea— so she just combined the two shapes. It looked somewhat odd, but Moxie wasn’t trying to be fancy. If anything, she was trying to be at least vaguely accurate.

Alexa took a look at the sketch, and tried to keep from laughing at how odd it looked. Of course, she knew that was mostly her fault. Considering she wasn't the best at description and directing.
"Right about here-" She hummed, pointing to two spots on the creature. "Draw two larger circles, that do not touch."

So maybe she was a little worse than she claimed. But no one liked putting themselves down, including Alexa. She never liked admitting her weaknesses out loud, though she accepted her faults silently. If someone asked her, her own opinion, she would be honest. But since no one was asking, she didn't bother to say anything about it.

Moxie let out a small challenged laugh, doing as she was told.
“Honestly, ‘lex, I got no clue what this is,” she repeated sincerely.
Still, she did as instructed, giving the figure two small and separated circles.

Moxie awaited the next instruction, but glanced past her sister’s face to the window. Towering pine trees leaned over the road, knocking back and forth, swaying with the day’s breeze. They had to be close. Or… just below an hour out. Moxie had always loved the woods, and had a deep burning excitement about this summer. She didn’t know how long she’d even be out— the first thing she’d heard was “Uncle Reg and aunt Lila’s cabin” and she’d been all for it.

(I'm sorry about not responding… I had a strange day yesterday.)

"Well, I just suck at explaining." Alexa laughed weakly, seeming to have perked up.
Though she was still frustrated at her lack of describing skills. It was painful how bad she was.
"Shall I just tell you, or would you like me to attempt to continue?"

That was one thing Alexa always disagreed with Moxie on. The woods. Personally, Alexa never liked going to her aunt and uncle's cabin, because the woods creeped her out. They sent shivers down her spine whenever she saw them. Whether in pictures or in person. So being stuck with them all summer, wasn't her idea of 'fun' like her parents had said. Though she never told anybody her dislike for the forest. Maybe if she had, she wouldn't be stuck on the bus right now on the way to those woods.