{ still i can't get away from it all. [deidara]

[{ andromeda l }]

Andromeda let out a soft sigh as the evening breeze blew over her stack of papers and she had to chase after them, long hair tied up in a ponytail to keep it from blowing in the wind like her drawings. I knew this was a bad idea. she thought as leaned down to grab the last fleeing sheet, an older picture of the red leaf that she liked to take for inspiration whenever she drew anything. "Finally!" she exclaimed, taking her stack over to a park bench and sitting down. It was a little late to be out, but her parents had brought out the old photo albums again, and she hated seeing the photos of herself as a little girl, so carefree and innocent, knowing absolutely nothing of the disaster in the future.

When they immersed themselves in the memories, she had to get out, escape, because the past was her prison, a prison of happiness and naivety that she knew now she could never go back to. Her scars, though the wounds were not as deep as those of many others, lingered fresh in her mind every day. So to go back before the scars was unthinkable, for that only made the pain worse.

She had to stop thinking about things like that, or she would begin to cry, and she didn't want to cry for the sake of her own sanity. If she had any sanity left. With that thought in mind and a small grin on her face, she began to sketch the setting sun and the purple-lined clouds around it.

[Deidara]

It was dusk. Not quite daylight any more, nor was it evening just yet. The street lights were lit up overhead, even if for now they were useless. The sky had painted radient colors above Konoha. Daylight was still there. One could walk the streets without getting lost in the dark.

Deidara wanted to practice. Practice made perfect. But what he wanted to practice wasn't exactly encouraged in city limits, per say. But no matter. Civilians were returning home from work about this time a day, or having dinner. He figured the park would be deserted.

It was a large piece of land, and he aimed to go right to the center. He strolled in like he owned the place, hands stuffed in his pockets. Up he climbed, a decent sized hill. His cupped right hand pulled out of the pocket of his pants. Opening his palm revealed what from afar would look like a blob of white. But if one were to look closer, they would notice that it had a body, limbs, a head, and even facial features. This creature had eight limbs in fact. It was a spider. Deidara cracked a sly grin, his blue eyes twinkling in the orange light.

Out of his other hand he brought out a lighter. Sticking out of the clay spider was a wick, for inside it was a firecracker. He lit the wick and watched it spark and make lovely sizzling noises. His whole body tingled with excitement, his eyes were wide with fascination. He was completely and totally absorbed.

A raven landed two feet away, and cawed loudly. Deidara hadn't even noticed the bird, and was taken by surprise. With a yelp his hands flew up. The spider bomb went up into the air, landed, and started to tumble down the hill. Oh fuck. With a horrified expression, Deidara started after it. The firecracker wasn't powerful enough to obliterate something... well, with the explosion alone. But it could catch something on fire if it wasn't tossed high into the air at the last second.

[{ andromeda l }]

The sketch was turning out quite well, if she did say so herself. It didn't have any color yet- she always saved that for the end- but the clouds looked... bulbous enough. With a little shading around the edges, they would look even better, so she added a few dark lines to each one. Now it looks like they could be storm clouds... It wasn't going to storm, as far as she knew, but a little deviation from reality never hurt anyone, especially not anyone like her.

The wind had died down to a gentle breeze that didn't threaten the survival of her papers, which she was utterly grateful for. Chewing on the end of her pencil, she pondered on what to add nest; she might as well make it look like a storm, so... lightning. Lightning was one of her favorite things to draw, the jagged yellow lines outlined in electric blue, stemming down from the clouds like ladders, almost. They touched the ground, electricity fizzling out with a loud crackling sound... it was a scene she could picture perfectly without any help from nature, and the lines appeared on the paper as fast as she could draw them.

On the ground, where the largest bolt of lightning struck, laid the red leaf- obviously not red yet, but it would be soon enough- hit directly in the center by the force of nature, its existence fizzling out just as the lightnings did. It was rather disturbing when you thought about what the red leaf symbolized and then viewed the picture, its being dying symbolically, and representing her childhood, almost, which had been lost to the travesties that had occurred.

Then she heard a crackling sound, and wondered if she was hallucinating... She wasn't that out of it, was she? Andro wouldn't normally doubt that she was, but tonight she was lucid, not lost in the memories, or anything like that. She looked to her left, and there was the source of the noise; a little white... spider? Spiders were kind of cute... but they didn't crackle. Then she saw the fuse, and her eyes widened.

That could not be a good thing.

[Deidara]

Find the spider, find the FUCKING spider! That was all that mattered. Deidara was in a panic; the last thing he wanted was to get charged for Arson again. But at that time, he had been a minor, and was given a lighter setence, thanks to the youth court. But now, he was eighteen. If he got arrested again, he was screwed.

His shaking hands roamed through the bushes that the spider disappeared into. Then an idea occured to him. He stopped, held still, and listened. Tsssssssttttssss It was audible, but faint. It was close by... sort of. He ran around the bush, where, a mere four feet away was a bench. There, on the bench, sat a girl. He rushed toward her. With blue eyes wide, his heart racing, he spat out a few words, "Oiy! Hey, um, you didn't happen to see a white spider around here by any chance, hn? It's got... eight legs.. and uh, a couple holes for eyes, yeah yeah. And, it- it sparks, un!" Then, he looked at his feet and answered his own question. His artwork laid in the grass, abandoned. The fuse was still lit and crackling-- but it was almost used up. Shit!

Bending down, he hastily picked up his poor clay figure. As he stood up and reeled his arm back, he said bemusedly, "Heh, that's a little too close for comfort, yeah." With a loud grunt he thrusted his arm forward, letting the hissing arachnid soar high into the sky. Just as it soared, say, twelve feet into the air, when momentum was still carrying it upward, it exploded into a series of shades of orange, yellow, and red. The fire cracker screamed and whistled, echoing across the park. Deidara balled his hand into a fist and whooped. "Art is surely a bang, un!" He crowed. He had totally forgotten about the girl for that one, fleeting moment.

[{ andromeda l }]

Andro was about to hide behind the bench with her papers when a man came running out of what seemed like nowhere. He was panicking, and that made her want to panic even more than she already was, which would not be a very good thing. Instead of moving or asking him what was wrong, she sat there and stared, pencil hanging limply in her hand. What was he doing? Meanwhile the hiss-crackle of the spider thing was getting louder, and that was terrible, but she didn't really know what to do. Her capacity for reacting when afraid had been surpassed by the spider thing, whatever it was.

She flinched back when the man spoke to her, scrabbling at the back of the bench. Ooh, she didn't like loud people, especially not panicky loud people that she didn't know. "Umm... it's... I think it's over there..." Andro muttered, pointing at the grass. Then she realized he had already found it, and chewed on her lip. Maybe now he would go away... but no luck there. He just.. threw the spider into the air.

The thin girl watched its path curiously, flinching back again when it exploded. Sure, the colors were pretty, but that could have gone off right by her. "I didn't know what it was... or I would've g-gotten rid of it." she said, more to herself than him- not that he would hear her anyways. He was too caught up watching the explosion, which was kind of odd, considering that they both could've been hurt by it. But she wasn't here to observe the weird behavior of strangers, she was here to sketch. And sketch she would.

Andro turned back to her lightning, finishing up the background of fizzling electricity. It didn't look too outstanding, but that was okay. It could look like crap for all she cared; it didn't matter if she had fun, right? And this was definitely fun. Except for the whole exploding-spider-crazy-man situation. She took another look up at the sky, tilting her head to the side. "It is pretty."

[Deidara]

Deidara watched with glee as the last sparks of his masterpiece faded into the orange and pink sky. Grinning from ear to ear, he places his hands on his hips. "Not quite the way I planned it, yeah, but it was still a success like always. Hn." Chuckling to himself, he started to turn around, and only then did he acknowledge the girl. Only then did her works register in her brain.

"Pretty, hmm? More than that. It's a work of art, un. They say a picture is worth a thousand words... I would say a glorious explosion of muse and beauty is worth more than three words, yeah?" His blue eyes were trained on her. Interesting that she didn't threaten to report him to the cops or comment on how he dressed and looked like girl. He narrowed his brow, as in concentrating. Where had he seen this girl before?

He took a step towards her, tilting his head. Deidara looked her up and down, trying hard to remember. Hmm...

[{ andromeda l }]

"If it makes you happy, then it's the most beautiful thing in the w-world." Andro replied softly, glancing at her sketch again. Art is one of the only things that makes me happy... Is he the same way? He didn't look like he was alone- in the sense of being friendless and withdrawn (his behavior was enough of an indicator of that)- but maybe... maybe she could do what her parents had always wanted her to do and make a friend?

She was quite possibly the most skittish being on the planet, however; she couldn't keep herself from flinching back when he stepped towards her. Andro offered him a shy, sheepish smile. "I-I'm Andro. What's yo-your name?"

[Deidara]

Deidara found himself smiling. She would be one of thef first, he thought. Apparently explosions, well, freak people out. He failed to understand that- after all, his artworks were safely in the sky, away from harm. But hey, people liked to bitch.

Hmm, this girl seemed to stutter a lot. Maybe she was a Lady Gaga enthusiast? Lady Gaga was artistic. Mmm, yes, Deidara approved of Lady Gaga. "Hmm? Ah, Deidara, hn! Andro, eh? That's an interesting name for a girl, un." He cocked an eyebrow. Well... it was certainly... unique. And unique was surely artistic!

[{ andromeda l }]

"It's, uh, short for A-Andromeda... she was a pr-princess in Greek mythology that was ch-chained to a rock to be sacrificed to a sea m-monster as a punishment for her mo-mother's boasting." Andro informed him, color flushing her cheeks. It was always a little awkward telling people about her name. "I-it's also the name of a galaxy."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Deidara. Why are you... blowing things up?" she asked.