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Post by Administrator on Jun 22, 2008 16:46:50 GMT -5
Governor Theodore Roosevelt lives in this imposing manor with his wife and six children.
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Post by alice on Jun 22, 2008 17:21:55 GMT -5
Finally!
The front doors to the Roosevelt Manor pulsed open, and out stepped a seventeen-year-old girl, wearing an elegant gown, but walking away from the front steps like something was after her. A glare on her pretty face, she held her head high as she stopped near the manor gates, not wanting to go much further. She knew no one would follow her anyway, and when she went back in they would act like she never stormed out. This had become the pattern that was so expected, it had become painfully mundane.
Alice Roosevelt had just managed to get out of the most insufferable dinner party she'd even attended. Nothing but mayors and senators, their wives who looked to be made of wax, and their bratty, barbarian children. Nothing but talk of the idlest things. The president elects. The weather. How's your cough coming along? Where did you get this lovely vase? It was enough to make Alice sick, and she stole away as soon as she could.
She stood at the iron gates, looking out on the rest of the world. She felt as if everything out there, beyond the gates emblazoned with an enormous R in its center, was interesting. Beyond the gates was where real problems were, with real people and real events, things that couldn't be handled with money or power. Everything behind her, ultimately, was as fake as the smiles she tried to put on to please her father.
The daughter of the Governor of New York found herself wondering what life would be like outside these gilded gates. A white gloved hand reached out and wrapped around one of the bars. Alice's face was thoughtful, and after a moment of consideration and a quick glance over her shoulder, Alice pushed at the gate.
Locked.
Of course.
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Post by smileyanderson on Aug 27, 2008 13:18:14 GMT -5
Smiley was taking a lonely stroll around town. She had been wandering for hours, not really caring where she went. She was hungry, broke, and cold. For some strange reason, her footsteps brought her to the rich side of town. She stopped in front of the gates of the Rooselvelt Manor just staring up at the huge house in wonder. There must have been some kind of party or gathering at the house because there were some ladies in long elegant dresses and fancy large hats, and gentlemen in silk suits and bowties. She just stared in a daze, amazed. She tugged at her own threadbare coat frowning, and looked down at her own outfit. Her vest had a couple holes and where it used to be a pretty light brown, it was now a ugly brown dirt color. Her light blue skirt was faded and her boots were scuffed, no longer shiny. She felt raggedy and dirty. She gazed up at the house. So that was what it was like to be rich, she thought. Her mother used to be very wealthy, before she had married her farm boy father. Then she had died when Smiley was 9 years old. Smiley wondered if her mother's house had been as lavish as this one.
She saw a tall girl in an elegant dress standing by the gate. Smiley wondered why she wasn't by the party, the girl had her gloved hand resting on the gate, she looked frustrated. Smiley wondered who she was.
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Post by alice on Aug 27, 2008 15:56:07 GMT -5
She was still looking out to the world beyond the locked gates, wondering what exactly she would have done had they been open, when footfalls took her from her thoughts. She glanced to one side, looking at the sidewalk that stretched in front of the manor, to see a girl standing there, gaping up at the large house. Alice had seen this several times before: young street children or tenement families looking at the large house or its inhabitants in wonder, looking at their clothes and the lavish of everything around them. It made Alice feel guilty as anything, and the way her father would sent a manservant to shoo them away, when, if he couldn't get away from it, the Governor would be smiling and shaking their hands. All false, just like everything else...
Alice turned her attention to the girl. She was better dressed than some others she'd seen walking about, and her clothes consisted of half girls' clothes, half boys. Interesting choice, Alice thought with a mental shrug. She called to the girl, "May I help you?"
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Post by smileyanderson on Aug 27, 2008 15:59:28 GMT -5
Smiley jumped, woken from her daze she stared at the girl.
"Oh, um no, I was just standin' heah. I'll leave if ya want me ta, sorry miss." She said, looking down at the ground, biting her lip. She turned and started to walk away.
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Post by alice on Aug 27, 2008 16:07:34 GMT -5
"Oh, um no, I was just standin' heah. I'll leave if ya want me ta, sorry miss."
Alice shook her head. "No, it's fine. I didn't mean to frighten you away. I was asking if there was anything you needed..." She tried not to flinch at what she'd just said. By looking at this girl, it was painfully obvious there were a few things she needed. Better try to cover it up. "Anything I could help you with." Good job, Alice, she scolded herself mentally. That did absolutely nothing for you. But she didn't let her thoughts show through, and looked patiently at the girl.
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Post by smileyanderson on Aug 27, 2008 16:12:48 GMT -5
"No, it's fine. I didn't mean to frighten you away. I was asking if there was anything you needed...Anything I could help you with."
"No, I don't need help wit anythin. But thanks." The girl smiled a small smile. "I was just starin' up at dat house. It's beautiful. I'se nevah seen a house like it. Ya goin' ta a party heah?" Smiley asked, tapping the gate with he boot and looking at the wealthy girl standing behind the gate.
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Post by alice on Aug 27, 2008 16:18:09 GMT -5
"No, I don't need help wit anythin. But thanks. I was just starin' up at dat house. It's beautiful. I'se nevah seen a house like it. Ya goin' ta a party heah?"
At first, Alice was surprised the girl didn't recognize her. She'd been in the papers a few times, and even street kids would sometimes get their hands on newspapers. Of course, most street kids were the ones who sold them, but Alice couldn't assume that about this girl. She shook her head. "I'm not a party guest. I live here. My name is Alice Roosevelt." Alice waited for one of the usual reactions: something between reverence, because of her father was; or embarrassment, because they didn't realize who they were talking to, and who her father was.
((How old is Smiley?))
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Post by smileyanderson on Aug 27, 2008 16:24:01 GMT -5
Smiley looked up at her in shock.
"Wow...I mean...wow....Ya live heah? Ya'r ol' Govner Teddy's daughta?? Wow." Smiley uttered. She realized what she was saying and shook her head. She figured Alice probably had heard this a million times and she might get annoyed.
"Nice ta meet ya. Sorry about dat, I'se never met a famous person before. Ya'r father's a good man. He looks out for us newsies and he closed down da bad refuges."
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Post by alice on Aug 28, 2008 11:45:23 GMT -5
"Wow...I mean...wow....Ya live heah? Ya'r ol' Govner Teddy's daughta?? Wow."
Alice gave a wry smile. "Yes, I am..." she said. Wishing to avoid the topic as much as possible. "And you are?" She felt rude talking to the girl without knowing her name.
"Nice ta meet ya. Sorry about dat, I'se never met a famous person before. Ya'r father's a good man. He looks out for us newsies and he closed down da bad refuges."
Alice chuckled a bit. "You're mistaken. I'm not famous; my father is. I'm just dragged along for the ride." Her fame was only because of whose daughter she was, and so she was limited in her definition of self. "But my father is a good man," she agreed, almost proudly. "I know he's advocated for child labor laws..." Something, she realized, that might just affect this girl directly. She'd indicated she was a newsie, so yes, it very well did.
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Post by smileyanderson on Aug 29, 2008 14:47:51 GMT -5
"And you are?"
"Oh haha sorry, Smiley Anderson." She put her hand out, almost spitting in it as a habit but controlled herself.
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Post by alice on Jun 2, 2009 18:50:45 GMT -5
[[New Day]]
[[For the rich and priveleded - A party!]]
Alice Roosevelt looked in her vanity mirror one final time. Her complexion was clear, as it always was, and her hair was decent. Her dress was a lovely yellow number she'd worn for her debute ball, and it flattered her. She had put rogue on her cheeks and lips, against her stepmother's wishes, to give her pale skin some life. Her blue eyes, however, were cold as ice as she descended the stairs into the main parlor.
The houseservants in the Roosevelt manor had prepared the parlor for a party for Alice and several other young women around her age. Alice had been rather loath--after all, Edith hadn't allowed her to make the guest list--but Alice knew that she was expected to do things like this, and would be so long as her father was in office. Her half brothers and half sister had been told to stay out of the vicinity for the afternoon, which was fine by her, but she wondered if she would have wanted Teddy around after a while for some actual company. She didn't know what she could expect from these girls...
One of the manservants entered. "Miss Alice," he said. "The first guest has arrived."
"Thank you, Mr. Chesterton. Please, send her in." Alice rose from her chair, as she was taught, to recieve the guest, whoever it may be.
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Post by Antoinette Dubois on Jun 2, 2009 19:00:03 GMT -5
Antoinette stepped down from her carriage to look up at the Roosevelt manor. She was absolutely escatic that she had been invited to the Governor's home and she knew it would impress her father. Opening her lacy umbrella to keep the glare of the sun from her skin she began to walk to the front door, where she was greeted by a servant and shown to the tearoom. Antoinette gave Alice a spectacular smile, "Hello."
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Post by alice on Jun 2, 2009 20:03:03 GMT -5
"Hello."
Alice had been forewarned of all the guests' names, and told of their physical characteristics so that she may identify them as if they were old friends. It seemed oddly false-fronted to Alice, but she would rather seem friendly than seem a fool. "Good afternoon." She noted the girl's blond hair and slight Southern accent, and knew this was the daughter of the Georgian businessman. "Antoinette Dubois, I presume?" Alice strode over, offering Antoinette an equally brilliant smile. "Alice Roosevelt. A pleasure. Please, come in. Do make yourself comfortable. You're the first to arrive." Alice gestured into the room with an elegant sweeping gesture of her arm. Her smile never faltered.
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Post by Marie Adams on Jun 2, 2009 21:50:44 GMT -5
Marie entered the room next after the servant had announced her presence. Everything about her oozed haughtiness, from the slightly bored expression on her face to the slow measured steps of her gate. Approaching her hostess she offered a perfectly polite and exquisite grin. "Good afternoon Alice, things have been well, I presume." It really wasn't a question. There was always part of Marie that loathed Alice Roosevelt, knowing that the prominence of her family was something Marie could never hope to achieve unless she were to marry very very well. Which, of course, she intended to.
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