just relax [zephyr]

[NICOLAI ASHTON HART]

nico was certainly a stoner, and he'd freely admit it. it didn't bother him one bit. the only thing that bothered him was when people thought of him differently because of it. but even then, he got over it pretty quickly. he didn't think much of other people's opinions, ever. he liked being his own person, doing what he wanted and not giving a damn about what other people thought. some people thought he should care a little bit more about what people said or thought, but he didn't think so. he just wanted to do what he wanted to do, without other people bothering him. and that was how he had lived his life since he had first run away when he was thirteen. doing what he wanted to do, no matter what.

that day, nico was once again doing just what he wanted to do. it was really early, only about four thirty in the morning. but nico wanted to be outside. he had woken up, and couldn't go back to sleep. so he got up, got dressed, and walked outside. of course, he also brought a joint with him, figuring no one would be out that would care if he was smoking. walking down the street, he decided to head to the park, thinking no one would be there right then. it was still slightly dark out, so he didn't think too many people would be walking around. lighting up the joint, he inhaled deeply, holding the smoke in his lungs for a moment before releasing it. getting to the park a minute or two later, he sat down on a bench, looking around to see if anyone was there and letting his high wash over him.

[ZEPHYR O'MALLEY]

Zephyr smiled softly at the sky. On most occasions, people would find the blond to be confident, easygoing and probably a little buzzed off marijuana but she did have her moments when she was stressed, sober and in need of escape. This was one such occasion, at nearly five in the morning in the park. There were swings and slides and benches around but none of them seemed right for what she wanted this evening. Not that it mattered really. Her parents, as much as she loved them, probably wouldn't have noticed her leaving and if they had then they wouldn't have worried. That was one thing on her mind.

Another was her quickening approach to the end of high school. Sure, she was a junior now but she was a senior next and then there was nothing else. Her parents had always said that they would support her whether she went to college or not but it seemed that they had never pushed her towards anything. And now, when it really counted she was unsure of what she would do. A sigh passed through her pink lips and her hazel eyes locked on a bright star.

She wondered what life would be like if she were a star. Then again, she was sure that her parents had told her that she was at some point. "Zephyr, we are all stars in this universe of life. Just floating around and waiting until we wither and die out, ya know? So we can be reborn like a Phoenix and shine even brighter." All that hippie mumbo jumbo. Zephyr laughed, turning her attention away from the stars and rubbing her cheekagainst the soft grass. Because being Zephyr O'Malley, she couldn't settle for normal things like sitting on a bench or swinging aimlessly on a swing. A girl like her, born and bred to love the natural surroundings of the Earth, preferred to lay out on the grass with her arms spread wide and her legs out.

She felt more at peace that way.

It wasn't long before she smelt a smell so familiar, it was like mom's home cooking to anyone else. Shortly after, she heard the footsteps and that provoked her to pick her head up just a bit. There was a boy, walking towards a bench with a joint in hand. A smirk placed itself on her lips as she watched him sit. She perked herself up, making it easier to see, on her elbows and watched him for a moment. Well, she had been out here since about midnight, why not socialize a bit?

"You know, you shouldn't bring treats unless you have enough to share." she commented, cocking an eyebrow as she quoted a rule she'd been hearing since she started public school.

[NICOLAI ASHTON HART]

nico had hardly even noticed that there was another person near him. it wasn't until he heard her voice that he even realized she was there. smiling a little at her sentence, he grinned and gave a slight shrug. he remembered hearing that statement very often while he was still in school, he had never completely understood it though. why would you want to share things with people you hated? but he pushed those thoughts away quickly. "good thing i got enough to share then." he replied, laughing a little and taking another deep drag of the joint. glancing up at the sky for a moment, he blew out more smoke before turning his gaze back to her. then, after a second or two, he realized how early it was. he wasn't even expecting anyone else to be out, so he was pretty surprised. "so what're you doing out here this early huh?" he asked, speaking a little slower than he normally would. it seemed like weed had that affect on everyone though. mellowed them out, made most people happier it seemed too. he could never figure out why it was still illegal. it was better than a lot of other things that were legal. but yet, it seemed that nobody in the government had figured that tiny little fact out yet, and it was still against the law to smoke it. not that nico cared of course.

looking around the park quickly, he tried to see whether there were more people around. he figured that if he hadn't seen her, there could be other people that he wasn't seeing. but he didn't really hope so. he hoped not, at least. he wasn't really in the mood to have to deal with adults or cops, telling him how he shouldn't be smoking, how it's illegal and not good for you and whatever else they would try to tell him. that's what they always said. they said it about anything good though. drugs, parties, having fun. it was all 'dangerous' and would 'make you dumb'. in a way, nico guessed it was kind of true, but that didn't matter. if he wanted to fuck up his life, then he thought they should just let him. along with anyone else who wanted to mess up their lives too. that was just the way he saw it. it might've not been the smartest approach, but then again, nico wasn't the smartest kid around anyway. his parents used to like to especially tell him stuff like that though, he just never seemed to listen to it. it wasn't like they actually knew anything, right? surely it was right, at least to him.

[ZEPHYR O'MALLEY]

Zephyr grinned, pulling her body off the ground so that she could join Nico for the smoke. "I'm glad you do have enough to share." she said, her smirk still present. Absently, Zephyr brushed her fallen blond hair from her face, exposing her naturally flushed cheek. When Nico passed her the joint, she took a long drag, inhaling and holding her breath for a moment before exhaling through her mouth and then sucking back in. Zephyr was a pro, and she had learned her technique. If you can breathe back in before you fully breathe out, your high high came more quickly. She had picked up that little tip from her friends in Los Angelas.

"So what're you doing out here this early, huh?" Zephyr took a quick second hit before passing the joint back to Nico. "Being." she said simply, channeling her inner hippie. "Being at peace with everything and just forgetting about stupid shit." the coolness in voice dropped as she finished her sentence, but a small giggle escaped her. It was silly to Zeph how she could be super hippie one second and then entirely serious sounding the next.

She supposed, most things were sort of silly like that. Her thoughts drifted to the reason she had come out here in the first place, and the actual, true origin of her late night thinkfest had escaped her. She shook her head, accidentally causing her golden curls to fall back into her face. She groaned pushing them back only to have them fall again. "What about you? What brings you out here so early?"

[NICOLAI ASHTON HART]

nodding at her comment, he smiled a little and laughed softly. already the smoke was taking it's effect, making him even calmer and more laid back than normal. not that nico was ever a high strung person. he didn't really like being all hyper and everything to be honest. he thought it was tiring, and it seemed boring after a while. plus, it just wasn't him. it never had been, even since he was younger. hearing her answer to his question though, nico couldn't help but raise his eyebrows a bit. it wasn't really a common answer. being. in his mind, you were always being. it wasn't really something you thought about or did, you just were. but when she added onto that after a second, he shrugged and nodded slightly. "that's cool." he said to her after a second or two.

listening to her ask him the same question back, he thought it over in his mind for a moment. why was he out there? there wasn't really a reason, nothing deep or changing like how she had answered the question. he was there to smoke and be outside because he couldn't sleep very well. seemed like a pretty normal answer to him, but oh well. "no reason really. just to smoke, relax." he told her, nodding gently. a slight smile was still present on his lips, for no reason really, other than that he was in a pretty good mood in that particular moment. anytime he was smoking he was in a pretty good mood though. it just seemed to make so much stuff so much better.

[ZEPHYR O'MALLEY]

It was Zephyr's turn to nod. His answer seemed a little more thought out than hers. At least it was honest. In reality, Zephyr didn't really know why she was there. Originally, she knew that it was because she thought her parents were too passive and that she was completely unprepared for life after school, but not it seemed so silly. There were people worse off than her in the word. The hippie in her knew that she should care more about them and maybe even fight for them. Join the Peace Corps maybe? That was an option. But there were always so many options... and Zephyr didn't want options. She wanted direction and a dead set, no other choice, decision.

She sighed loudly, taking her turn again to inhale. She was now decently buzzed but her mind was still weighed with it's original troubles. Another sigh escaped her as she handed the joint back to Nico again. "Do you ever wonder about the future?" she asked, deciding that she would get better advice from the boy in front of her than her parents. At least, she would probably be able to understand his advice better. It would likely not be filled with metaphors that made no sense at all.