I AM BACK

Yep, I'm back... and a little rusty. This segment kinda sucks. It's mostly an excuse to name-drop and describe what the characters actually look like. Hopefully I'll soon get to the meat of the story and have things actually happen... until then, have this.

_4_

Zed stepped out of her office. She stood in front of the five girls, sitting neatly in a row against the wall. They all looked like they had just stepped off the stage of a play, something written centuries ago when everyone wore too much clothing with too many frills and decorations. She cleared her throat, the stares of the girls unsettling her. Their skin had a shimmering, unreal quality, more like paint or cream than skin. Standing close to them, Zed could almost feel some sort of warmth radiating from them. She clicked the recorder on her lapel on.

"Now first, I would like to get everyone's names."

The girl on the left spoke first. "I'll start! My name's Cherry," she chirped, smiling wide. She looked to be in her early teen years, with a thin, wiry frame. She had green eyes and soft-looking green hair falling down a little past her shoulders, with a red cloth cap. If it was dyed, it was a professional job; it looked natural to Zed. She had on an expensive-looking dress, red down the middle with white sleeves. Zed jotted her name down on her notebook.

"My name's Sunny," the next girl said. Her hair was a soft golden color, like wheat, held into long twin-tails by a pair of thin, white ribbons. Her eyes were a similar white. She had white vest that stretched all the way down into a skirt, with a yellowish streak running up the center, and white arm-socks, like detached sleeves.

"I'm Lunara." The third girl's body was mostly hidden under a poofy black dress, with a wide black hat lying loosely on her head, her orange-tinted hair down to around her chest. The sleeves of her dress were rolled up to her upper arms. The outfit reminded her of those witch costumes women used to wear sometimes on Halloween.

"I'm Flora," the fourth girl looked to be the oldest, sitting a few inches taller than the other girls. Compared to the others she looked downright matronly, with thick white hair partially hidden under her bonnet. She had a lavender dress that looked a size too large for her, with a white apron around her waist.

"I'm Noelle," the final girl said. She was noticeably shorter than the others. Zed guessed that she was about three feet tall, with the boyish face of a ten-year-old. Her hair was a short, sparkling blue, the color of the ocean, with a big dark-blue bow on the back of her head. She had a blue jumper dress, with a crisp white blouse underneath.

Zed scribbled sentence fragments of her impressions onto her notebook. Lots of white. Clothing themed on colors. Pastels; red, blue, black. Layered, uncomfortable looking.