Idle Hands (tags Si)

[Thad Cotton]

Thad sighed and flung one decorative pillow to the other end of the couch, flipping open and closed his DS lite and listlessly staring at the television, where some silicone blonde was yapping on about tragic incidents.

"I'm bored." He whined, pushing himself to what was almost a sitting position and staring down at the living room floor, where Sidra was sprawled out to work on her newest corset order. "C'mon, Si, least ways lemme help, Imma go stir crazy cooped up in here!" He begged; he didn't count the Church service that morning as getting out. He didn't particularly dislike Church, or the More Light society his mothers were involved in, but it involved far too much sitting still and being quiet.

His mothers had, unsurprisingly, reacted to news from the school that he'd skipped (and encouraged others to skip. and apparently had behaved quite badly toward Fal's new friend) by grounding him. Again. Normally he didn't mind, because he could sneak out his window, but his still mending leg wouldn't allow that sort of agility yet, so he was well and truly stuck at home.

He sighed again, flipping his DS lite closed again. He really didn't feel like playing by himself; if he'd had someone to swap Pokemon with that would have been one thing, but he just didn't want to run around fighting by himself at that moment. "You're the worst big sister ever." He announced sulkily. "I ain't gonna mess it up, why won't ya let me help?"

[Sidra Cotton]

"That wouldn't just be a no, Twerp, but a Hell No." Sidra rolled to the side so she could snag two flat and two spiral steels to insert into the boning channels she'd sewn into the corset. It was all but done, but even so the thought of Thad 'helping' and taking apart everything she'd done for the patchwork corset...

"No, it's not even a Hell No, but a Fucking Hell No." the eldest of the Cotton children did understand that youngest was bored. His own damn fault for getting grounded again. Really, he just shouldn't give the mothers fodder against him.

"And how is it," asked she, acidic sarcasm dripping from her tongue, "that you can call me the worst sister ever when I've already started buying your Christmas presents?" Distract! DISTRACT! Give the boy something shiny to think about and he won't try to help with the corsetry. The last time he'd tried to help she'd had to contact her buyers, explain that their orders were going to be late, and THEN she'd had to give a refund/discount.

So no. Never. Not gonna happen with the "helping". She'd play the guessing game with him, tease him with vague hints about what he was getting for Christmas or his birthday. Yes, she'd play that... and finish her corseting then get it shipped off.

[Thad Cotton]

"Christmas?" Thad dropped his DS lite onto the floor beside his sister, his attention piqued. "Christmas is forever away!! You're lying." He accused, staring at her suspiciously. It was only March, who would possibly be crazy enough to begin Christmas shopping so far in advance? And assuming she was telling him the truth, how did she expect him to wait so long?! Even his birthday was too far away -- September 15th, in fact -- and at the moment he was coming up short on any other gift-exchanging holidays, so unless he decided to make something up and hope she'd believe him and give him the gifts early (which wasn't likely -- it was difficult to fool Sidra) then he really was going to have to wait.

"I can't wait a whole year!" He informed her dramatically, squirming to the edge of the sofa and attempting to lean his elbows on the floor -- but his leg told him to forget about that, it was not propping him up, so with a loud harrumph the boy slid to the floor, wrapping one arm around his older sister. "C'mon, tell meeeeeee. I wanna know! You wouldn't torture me by tellin' me you got me summin' an' then makin' me wait a whole year til you lemme know what it was, would ya?" He wheedled, giving her his very best impression of puppy dog eyes. Not that Sidra was very susceptible to puppy dog eyes; in fact, her brother was certain she was immune. That didn't mean he never tried, though.

[Fallon Cotton]

Fallon woke up in Si's bed. For a moment she was not sure where she was, but then she recognized Si's room. Fal slide out of the bed and made it back to her room. Si might have noticed or not, that Fal was there, but it was either Si or Thad, and Si was the older sister. Shefelt safe there. Like the bad dreams, and her messed up head could not penetrate her room.

Fal looked inside her room, looking for witches or whatever could hurt her. Fallon knew that was a stupid idea, but her dream, was vivid and seemed so real. Fallon bounced into her room and looked around. She stretched and decided to get to work. it was still early and she had work to do. Dresses, skirts, pants and everything else needed to be made. Fallon felt like she could go on for hours.

She brushed her teeth, and used the bathroom, but remained in her fairy pj's. She started to get to work. However soon Fal became irritated. Becoming easily irritated was a sign. Although a lot of people could become easily irritated. Their mother and her wife did.

Fallon was about half way done with her fourth dress in six hours. it was still morning. Thats how early she woke up, oh and one dress usually took an hour or more. Give or take. Fallon was having trouble with the fourth dress and thought she could use some help.

So she took it and went to find her siblings. Fall walked right in talking, "I need help, you see this...yes this..i can't figure it out, and if I can't figure it out then I cannot finish it and if I cannot fnish it then what am I even doing. I finsihed three yet I cannot finish this one." Fallon circled both siblings as much as she could continuing to talk fast and go off n a tangent about her three dresses and the fourth one she could not finish.

[Roxy Rivera]

Roxy was in her room, bored. She was still in her pajamas playing around with her wardrobe wondering what she should do to update it. She sort of wanted to start dressing more like that Elend girl...she wanted to be able to pass for 18. But of course all that would have to wait. Tonight she had plans...bowling plans.

Oh right! Bowling plans! She needed to make sure Thad could go! She and Ezzie had already made plans to break him out if he couldn't...of course she wasn't 100% sure about the plan as it involved her pretending to be locked out of her house and distracting the Cotton mom's while, Ez got Thad out. Roxy's parents were actually going out this evening, so she was okay on that front, but she wasn't sure how Ez would manage to get Thad out, crutches and all. But in any case, with any luck he was allowed to go and she wouldn't have to worry about it.

She didn't even consider he'd be grounded for skipping school. She'd just been given a warning this time since it was the only time she'd been caught skipping school, her parents thought it was a one time offense. If she got caught doing it again though, she'd be grounded for sure.

Roxy walked across the room and grabbed her phone, quickly sending a text to Thad:

"Hey you allowed to go bowling tonight or do I have to sneak you out? Already have a plan sort of so let me know!"

Once the text was sent, Roxy placed her phone back down and moved back to her closet. Maybe she should pick something out to wear to bowling that night. Did anything go with bowling shoes anyway?

[Sidra Cotton]

She should have known better than to tease her gimp of a brother with presents. While Sidra did have ideas brewing for both her brother's birthday and Christmas, they hadn't been bought yet. Money was being set aside for it, of course, but the actual purchases would be made closer to the two gift-giving days.

"Yes I have ideas, no I'm not going to tell you, kindly scoot your cast OFF the spiral steels. Thank you." Retrieving one of the steels she slid it carefully into the channel and pined the finishing ribbon above it into place.

"But you can make guesses. Start with a col-" the eldest was cut off by the middle child as she came in brandishing a dress that only needed a few more things added to it for it to be done. Fallon had ended up in her bed sometime during the night, mumbling something about mosters and being afraid. Si had chalked it up to that jerk who'd cornered her little sister and Sebastian in the mirror maze. He would have to learn, and quick, that no one messed with the Cottons. Not on Sidra's watch. There were things far more frightening than a vampire, and a pissed off big sister was one of them.

"Breath, Fal. Hold still. Turn it around and lemme see the dress."

Studying the fabric, and her sister's irritated face, Si bit the inside of her cheek. It was unlikely that she'd be able to finish the corset any time soon, and with Fal's temper and the restless night she'd had... better to be good big sister.

"Maybe a ribbon around the waist's seam line? A little bit of gather there, and there," fingers with black tipped nails pushed pins into the places she had indicated, "and maybe a tiny bit of flounce over the shoulders?"

[Thad Cotton]

Thad made a face at Sidra as she ignored him in favor of Fallon's dress. Not that Fallon wasn't a fantastic designer -- he thought she was incredible, in fact -- but his interest in dresses began and ended with the girls wearing them, so unless Fallon managed to get Roxy into one of her designs he wasn't likely to pay much attention to exactly what sort of seam her dress had, or the buttons or the ruffles. He just knew it looked difficult to do, and really cool when she was finished. Right now, though, he wanted to know about presents, and Fallon wasn't helping by distracting Sidra from the main point!

"I'm bored! An' nobody'll lemme help!" He complained sulkily, but neither girl appeared to hear him, too intent on their shared interest in fashion and creating. "Ugh, fine. Ignore me." He muttered darkly, slouching down -- and sitting straighter immediately when he slouched himself down onto some of Si's pins. "Ow!"

Fortunately, he was distracted by the sound of his cell phone -- he had to dig up the cushions on the couch to find it -- and beamed when he saw that the message was from Roxy. He knew it! She couldn't get enough of him! And she liked him enough she would help break him out for bowling! He made a mental note to ask her out next time he saw her; it would hurt Ezzy's feelings, but she would just have to understand. He tapped a reply excitedly, thrilled at the idea of escaping his middle-class prison.

"Grounded. whats the plan?"

[Roxy Rivera]

What to wear...what to wear...oh text message! That was Roxy's thought process as she moved from her closet back to her phone. Grounded...of course Thad was grounded. And she had really been hoping that Thad would just be allowed to go. Of course that was too easy.

Well, they had a plan...just not a full fledged plan. Roxy sat down on her bed and thought for a moment. There was no way that Ezzie was going to be able to sneak him out from his bedroom...not with the bum leg. He'd have to be downstairs...the back door perhaps? Ezzie could sneak Thad out the back door and they could hide in the yard. Then once Roxy was back in her house, she could keep and eye out and text them when the coast was clear. Yeah...that would work...right...

Roxy quickly texted Thad back: "Be by your back door around 3--make sure its unlocked. Ezzie will come get you. Hide in your yard till I give the signal."

Right...that would work...hopefully. Roxy sighed and texted Ezzie next: "I'm going to need you at my house at 2:30--we're breaking Thad out for bowling"

Her parents would be gone by then...she could easily pretend to be locked out...while the Cotton mom's helped her get back in her house, Ezzie could sneak around back...break Thad out and then they could hide. Once Roxy was safely inside and the mom's were out of sight, she'd get them and they'd hopefully be able to sneak away without being caught. Thad could move fast enough on his crutches...right? Or maybe they could call a cab.

[Sebastian Flambert]

Outside

The large wheels of the bus slowly squeaked to a stop, and were promptly followed with the distinct *hiss* of the automatic door swinging open. A very peculiar teen with a large red and white striped hat atop his head bounced happily off the steps of the massive vehicle, taking care to deposit his fare into the steel funnel position just next to the door.

"Thank You!"

He was an interesting sight, with a light blue baby blanket wrapped tightly around his shoulders in a very "Superman-esque" fashion and an oversized striped hat standing erect atop his head of hair. Thin black "cat whiskers", meticulously painted just above his upper lip, added a noticable air of cuteness to the perennial toddler.

Of course, quite a few people gave him dirty looks on the bus, but Sebastian Flambert paid them no mind. After all, today was "Seuss Day"..

Glancing about the neighborhood, Sebastian couldn't help but bite his lip anxiously at the many different houses on this particular street, all of which looked nearly the same. While Fallon had, in fact, given Sebastian information regarding her address before... The teen unfortunately had forgotten all but the general street during his Dr. Seuss-inspired excitment.

Make up was, after all, a very fun thing to play with..

"Ugh..." muttered Sebastian, shifting uncomfortably on the sidewalk.

The large brown paper bag he held in his arms seemed to agree with his predicament, and felt almost heavier as stood awkardly on the concrete.

After several minutes of awkward hesitation, the boy nevertheless decided to ring the door of the house in front of him.

Walking up the wooden steps to the door of the house, Sebastian adjusted his large felt hat's position on top of his head before pressing firmly down on the doorbell, praying to the heavens that he had found the right house.


(The Hat)

[Fallon Cotton]

"No, no, no, no..." Fallon jumped up and down in frustration and stomped her foot like a child. "It wont work, it wont work." A ribbon, a stupid ribbon would never work, it was...a ribbion...like a belt..it was perfect. Fallon's mood quickly went from irritated to happy. "A ribbon..oh, oh, oh, oh...it will work..I can make it and then i can possibly finish five more before noon. Take a few minutes for lunch then make more before dinner, and then more before bed, I can push my bedtime back...oh it will work, it will wok." Fallon hugged Si very tight.

Then she sat on the bed and swung her legs excitedly. "Oh Thad you can help me...the more help, the more I get done. And we can make it fun...and then we can celebrate...its Dr. Seuss day..at least Sebastian says it is. But we can celebrate, and work, and celebrate...oh, but we have school, but still..oh it will be fun." Fallon then hugged Thad very tightly. "It will be great." She squealed.

Meanwhile down stairs Ms. Cotton answered the door and looked at the boy. "You must be a friend of my sons." Thad wore make up and this kid showed up with a weird hat and whiskers on his face, or what appeared to be whiskers. "My son is grounded, so no friends are allowed over, you will have to come ba...." Ms. Cotton did not get to finish before a loud, loud voice was heard.

"SEBASTIAAAAANNNNN!!!!" Fallon screamed from the top of the stairs. She literally bounced down the stairs two at a time and ran over to the door pulling the boy inside. "Happy Br. Seuss day. Mom this is Sebastian..Sebastian this is my mom, come on." She pulled Sebastian quickly away from her mother trying to run with him up the stairs.

All this was how Fallon normally was in a manic episode, but she could be seen as an overly excited child.

*************************

(Ezzie Lopez)

Ezzie got the text from Roxy and clapped. "Awesome. I will be there is style. Ur an evil genius...its g8t.- Ez" Ezzie pressed the send button.

Then Ezzie sent a message to Thad, "Ready for a prison break..should I dress in black, with camo makeup?- Ez" Once it was sent she took off to go get ready. She had lots to do before 2:30.