Clio bodies are pretty cool! ;; Aran

She wasn't sure why, but Winter's favorite place to read and study was the little cafe, Casa Nova's. She liked the lattes, coffees, donuts, and bagels, she loved to silently clio watch, but it was also nice to hide away in the corner of the cafe and read her books.

Today, she was reading about the anatomy of the clio body, and she barely had touched her caramel latte. She loved this kind of stuff, and it fascinated her how the body worked together as one big system.

Clio were walking in and out, enjoying the nice weather, and laughing together, but Winter ignored them. She loved this, getting lost into books. Science, romance, mystery, history. She wasn't biased, if it was a book she'd read it. Her favorite were her school books though. Can't do well in school if you don't study!

Aran didn't come to Dahlin very often. The whole place was mostly shops, restaurants and nice apartments, none of which she could even dream of affording. In fact, Stonecraft residents in general didn't go to Dahlin much, unless they were going to beg for money, as there were more well-to-do clio that lived here that might consider giving a few dollars to a mangy kid their good deed for the day.

The only thing that she came for was the city library. Now, Aran had never been to school. Her mom had taught her how to read before she left, and the library had taught her everything else she knew. She couldn't get enough of it. All that knowledge, just there for the taking. For everybody.

She was just heading back from there with a book about the nervous system that didn't really make much sense to her, but still seemed really interesting, when out of absolutely nowhere the blue skies disappeared and a downpour began. Aran didn't mind the rain, but she didn't want the book to get ruined so she ducked into the nearest building, which happened to be some fancy coffee shop.

She felt a little out of place among the clio in the coffee shop, with their drinks that she couldn't even pronounce the names of. Maybe she could ask the cash register guy for a bag or something and leave.

No, let's stay for a bit, it smells really good in here! Gamma said. Eh, it wasn't like Aran had anywhere to be, so she sat down near another girl with a book to wait out the rain.

Winter was oblivious to everything. Her nose was dug in so deep into her book that she didn't even notice the girl who sat near her either. It wasn't until a loud thunderclap that made its way through the atmosphere caused her to jump and look up. She noticed the girl sitting near her, but paid no mind to her. She was just another clio trying to get out of the rain. What she DID noticed were a couple of girls from Red Fern who had just run in, in a fit of giggles and squeals. No girl was really nice to Winter at school, but these girls were a few of the worst, and unfortunately, she made eye contact with one of them. She quickly retreated back into her book, but it was too late. The girls were already making their way toward her.

"Look who it is girls!" said the tall brunette in an annoyingly high pitched voice. "It's that slutty firecrotch!"

The other girls snickered, while Winter tried to ignore them. Maybe they wouldn't cause a scene since they were in public...

"What are you reading there?" asked the blonde one. "A book on how to be more skanky? Or maybe it's a book on how to cure your STDs!"

Winter was trying her best to ignore them, while retreating into herself, trying to make herself look smaller. Maybe if she just didn't say anything, they'd grow bored and leave.

"Hey! We're talking to you!" the brunette shouted, starting to get irritated. "Slimy little whores are suppose to do what they're told!"

The brunette then proceeded to rip the book out of Winter's hands. Automatically she grabbed for it, accidentally touching the brunettes hand in the process.

"Ew!" the brunette shrieked, while smacking Winter's hand away. "She got her whore on me!"

Aran didn't pay much attention to the giggly girls who entered the shop until they approached the girl sitting right next to her and started to tear into her out of nowhere, calling her a slut and a whore. What the actual fuck? The girl didn't even talk back, she just sat there and took it, while the bitches kept going.

Now, there were a lot of things in Amelia that pissed Aran off. One of them was ganging up on someone who couldn't defend themselves, even verbally. Another one was calling people sluts and whores, since she was actually friends with a few actual prostitutes, all of whom were very nice clio. So now Aran was doubly pissed off, and she wasn't the type to just sit by and let these things happen.

She slammed her book down on the table and stood up, taking a step towards the girls. She had a good six inches on the tallest one, and glared down at them. "How about you pampered cunts leave her alone and get the fuck out of here before I beat your fucking faces in?" she asked in a low, threatening tone. Gamma growled, baring her teeth.

She was probably gonna get kicked out for this, but she didn't care.

Aran wrote:"How about you pampered cunts leave her alone and get the fuck out of here before I beat your fucking faces in?"

Now that certainly shut the girls up. The brunette stood there, gaping at the taller girl, before closing her mouth and scowling. "Who do you think you are?" she snapped. "Nasty piece of trash!"

All the while, Winter couldn't believe her eyes. Nobody ever stood up for her like that. She was almost afraid that this was just a hallucination, and that her savior wasn't even in front of her. Yeah, that had to be it. She had just retreated so deeply into herself that she was imagining things. And yet, there she was, between Winter and the mean girls, insulting them and threatening them. If Winter hadn't been so scared she probably would have found this fascinating.

Aran was kinda surprised that the girls didn't back off immediately. Maybe they thought she wasn't being serious--which was somewhat true, she wouldn't actually beat up somebody so much weaker than herself, but she figured if she put up enough of a show that the girls would lose their nerve and run away.

"I said get out," she said, making a movement towards them as if she were getting ready to start swinging.

The girl flinched and took several steps back, which made Gamma laugh. "Come on guys, let's get out of here," she said, trying to sound like it was her decision and had nothing to do with Aran's threats. Once the pack of bitches were at a safe distance away by the door, she added, "I don't want to share anymore space with a whore and a dyke." And they left. What a bunch of cunts.

Aran rolled her eyes and sat back down. Clio were staring, but no one seemed to be coming to kick her out, so there was that at least. "The fuck was their problem?" she asked the red haired girl offhandedly.

Winter couldn't believe it. Somebody actually stuck up for her! And not only that, but the girls from her school actually left! She smiled despite herself.

Aran wrote:"The fuck was their problem?"

Her smile drooped. "They're just some girls I go to school with," she replied. "I don't get along with them very well..."

Winter looked over at her savior and studied her. Her daemon was kinda creepy, and she in all honesty, Winter thought she looked like a badass. But she couldn't be too bad, she did chase those girls away after all.

"My name is Winter," she finally said, while holding her hand out to shake. "What's yours?"

"Aran," Aran replied, shaking Winter's hand kinda roughly before letting go. "Hope you don't mind me doin' that for you, I just get mad about things like that." Hm, this Winter girl went to school with those other girls. Hopefully they wouldn't take it out on her later when Aran wasn't around. "Hey, if they bother you again, find me and I'll make sure they don't again. Ever."

She had threatened people WAY tougher than those chicks before, she was pretty sure she could get them to leave Winter alone if she needed to.

You're gonna get arrested, Gamma pointed out. There was a difference between threatening the friendly neighborhood drug dealer who obviously couldn't go to the cops, and a bunch of rich teenage girls.

Eh, Aran thought back. She'd cross that bridge when she came to it. For now she was just helping someone out.

Aran wrote: "Hope you don't mind me doin' that for you, I just get mad about things like that."

"Quite the contrary," Winter replied. "Nobody has every done that for me before, I...I really appreciate it."

Maybe this girl could be Winter's new friend. Hopefully she wouldn't mind Winter's reputation...

Look at her, Wesley remarked. She probably has a reputation of her own!

Winter ignored her tiny little daemon. Who cares? Honestly this Aran seemed kind of cool! And she must be smart because she was holding a book about the clio nervous system. Wait, the nervous system??

"Oh my gosh!" Winter said a little too excitedly. "I own that book!"

"Huh?" Aran looked down at the book she had gotten from the library. Geez, she almost forgot about it after what had just happened. "Oh yeah? I just got this one from the library." She hoped Winter didn't want to like, talk about it in depth or anything, considering Aran didn't understand it all that much. "I thought it looked cool, you know?"

"I don't think I know anyone else 'sides me who likes these kindsa books," she added thoughtfully. She didn't know many people who liked any kinds of books.