Disclaimer: The characters of Roswell belong to Jason Katims, Melinda Metz, WB, and UPN. They are not mine and no infringement is intended
Couples: Rath/Maria Michael/Tess Lonnie/Maria Zan/Clio Alex/Lonnie
Rating: Adult
Summary: From Shi and Zygotes challenge : Maria Deluca is an intelligent girl who had a bright and glorious future ahead of her at New York School of Arts University next fall, she never expected to find herself in a million years, on a alien planet that was in the middle of a revolutionary war; Nor did she ever dream that she would be sold as a slave to one of the warring Kings of that world.
Pt 1.
Maria took all the required courses during high school. Her dedication to wanting to be an artist had her taking art electives everywhere else possible. Instead of having study halls, she had decided to take a different art elective for each. On the occasion that she couldn’t replace one of her study halls with an art elective she would get a pass from Ms. Dafazi and spend that period in the art room. Her classes had ranged from drawing, painting and photography to sculpture. She kept a well maintained portfolio of all her work that included shots of her sculptures since she couldn’t just carry those around with her.
Her friends often ragged on her about her dedication to becoming an artist. Maria would rather spend her time increasing the size of her portfolio and the quality of her work. She didn’t see the point of going to a football game or a party when staying home improved her chances of getting accepted into an art school like she dreamed. Which was why people in her class, that were not dedicated artists, called her strange.
Maria sighed knowing that she was called one of the ‘Artsie ones’. She always hated the cliques but knew that was where she belonged. One of her friends, Jamie had insisted that she couldn’t pass up this one party. She reluctantly agreed to go. While there, she heard a couple of Jocks talking about how she was such a waste by being one of the artsies. She slipped out of the party and quickly walked home, their words playing over and over in her head. She has such a hot body but no one will ever get that close to her. Maybe if they were a pencil. I’d like to try just to say I was the one who popped her cherry.
“So what if I am a virgin,” Maria mumbled to herself. Not like I would let you touch me, you stupid jock. Guess I’ll be the one you can’t add to that list of girls you bagged in high school, she thought while angrily slamming her bedroom door. Glancing at her vanity, she saw the post-it stuck to her mirror. My interview for NYS of Arts is in a couple of days, she thought while trying to think about anything other than what Steve had said to his jock buddies.
A couple of days later, Maria walked into her interview clutching the handle of her portfolio in her hand. She was so nervous, her stomach felt upset, almost like there were butterflies flying inside. Breathing in and out, she willed herself to calm down while hoping that all her hard work would finally pay off. Ms. McBaine held out her hand and said, “Ms. Deluca. I am Ms. McBaine.” Maria shook her hand and said, “Nice to meet you and please call me Maria.”
Maria placed her portfolio on the desk and sat down in the chair. Ms. McBaine sat down and slowly unzipped the portfolio. She started to flip through the pages admiring the different drawings, sketches, paintings, photos and shots of her sculptures. Maria sat across from her watching her intently.
While Ms. McBaine looked through her portfolio she hoped her work was good enough. She knew that she was the most critical about her own work since she was the artist. They say an artist is their own biggest critic. Her stomach did flip flops when Ms. McBaine stopped at one of her favorite pieces, a sketch of a leopard that looked like it was going to jump through the page since the leopard was crouched as if stalking prey. She used color pencils in the background before shading around the Leopard and then did the spots in pointillism, which was one of her favorite mediums.
Ms. McBaine continued flipping through the pages until she came to a shot of a salt sculpture that Maria had done. Being her usual self, Maria babbled, “We were given a big block of salt, you know the salt licks that farmers get, and told to turn the block into anything we envisioned. I decided to do a horses head. It was lots of fun seeing the block turn into what I had envisioned.” Ms. McBaine nodded her head and smiled. “We had a local art show where we put a couple of our pieces,” Maria said.
Noticing that Ms. McBaine seemed pleased, Maria continued saying, “The show took a lot of time and hard work but was a lot of fun.” Ms. McBaine closed the portfolio and said, “Your work is very good and you chose lots of different mediums.” Maria smiled and nodded her head yes. “Though I noticed that only two of your works are of people and one of those is a self portrait,” Ms. McBaine said. Maria nodded her head yes and nibbled on her bottom lip nervously for a moment while trying to think of the best way to explain why she avoided drawing people.
“Every artist has a hard time with certain things. You could work on that during your first term at NYAU,” Ms. McBaine said. Maria smiled while wanting to stand up and scream in delight. I got in I got in. “I look forward to seeing you around campus in the fall,” Ms. McBaine said. Maria shook her hand and said, “Thanks. I look forward to seeing you in the fall and can’t wait.” She picked her portfolio up a moment later and walked out of her interview with a huge smile on her face.
Maria smiled while thinking about how all her hard work in the art room back home had paid off when she was accepted into the New York School of Arts University. Walking through the city, she was still having a hard time believing that she was finally here which made her giggle since she arrived a month ago. In the time that she had been in NY, she had discovered that the city was much better than living back home in Roswell. She felt right at home even with all the people and constant noises.
I always wanted something better than Roswell and now I have it. At night she did miss seeing all the stars in the night sky. That’s the only thing I miss. No more goofy alien themes. All the stars seemed to be replaced with the big city lights, which was the one thing she loved most, to sit out on her balcony with her sketch book and gaze out at all the city lights. Looking at the lights always seemed to inspire her.
After looking at several apartments, she had about given up on finding a decent apartment to rent. Maria looked around the small studio apartment not minding the small kitchen which was perfect for her since she hated to cook. The living room was furnished with a light-blue love seat, a matching blue recliner and a cute little oak coffee table. She noticed there wasn’t a TV but there was a small boom box which she liked much better since listening to music while painting always seemed to make the time she was working fly right by.
Continuing through the apartment, she found a small bedroom furnished with a twin sized bed and a little oak end stand. Seeing two other doors, one in the middle of the wall and the other off to the right, she opened the one in the middle to find a small bathroom. Going over to the other door, she slowly opened the door and was surprised to see the small room was empty. Strange. But perfect for a studio.
Walking back through the apartment, she couldn’t help but wonder why the rent was so cheap. “Is there a reason the one room doesn’t have any furniture?” Maria asked. The old man ran his hands through his hair almost as if he was afraid to answer her question. “I want the apartment no matter what, I was just curious,” Maria said while thinking, Curiosity killed the cat. “The girl that rented this before you disappeared one night,” the old man said.
Her green eyes doubled in size as he continued saying, “I was here trying to collect her rent several times before I ended up getting a court order to have her vacate the premises for non payment of rent. When I opened the door, I discovered that she had left everything except the backroom there was bare.” She assumed that she must have looked freaked because he said, “I’m not trying to scare you or anything but if you happen to speak to your neighbor across the street they will tell you that the girl was abducted by aliens since they claim she had never left the apartment.”
Maria laughed before saying, “I grew up in Roswell, New Mexico and there is no such thing as aliens.” The old man smiled before saying, “So that was why I lowered the rent.” Reaching into her purse Maria took out her wallet and said, “I’ll take the apartment.” She wrote out a check for first month’s rent, security deposit and second month’s rent. Handing him the check, she thought, All the shifts at the diner are finally paying off. Taking the check, the old man said, “You can just mail me the rent that will be due two months from now since you paid for two months.”
A slight chill ran down her spine while thinking about the reason the rent was so cheap. She continued down the street heading to the amazing apartment she had found while apartment hunting. You are just being silly. His old tenant probably didn’t want to pay her second month’s rent and skipped out while the nosy neighbor was sleeping. Nothing had happened in the time she had spent in that room which she had made into her own little studio.
Reaching her apartment, she took out the keys and shook her head knowing the neighbor across the street was watching her. Opening the door, she threw her keys on the counter and slipped off her mules. She locked and bolted the door before walking into the kitchen. Turning on the lights, she went over to the coffee maker and pressed the button. I want to finish that painting of how I view the city at night.
Filling her mug with coffee, she picked the mug up and walked through the living room. Opening the door to her studio, she went inside and closed the door. She flipped on the small lamp she had brought into the room and pulled up the cloth covering her canvas. Noticing the light flicker, she thought nothing of it and sipped her coffee while trying to decide what she should paint next onto the canvas of the valley.
The lights flickered again and Maria wondered if there was a storm brewing. “The power better not go out,” Maria mumbled. Reaching down she picked a paint brush up and was about to dunk it into her paints, when suddenly there was a blinding light and before her eyes the room seemed to change shape. In the blink of an eye she was sucked into the circle of light that was before her. She screamed in fright while she and everything in the small room was pulled in with her.
Maria continued to scream. She felt weightless while her body was surrounded by the bright light. Tears filled her green eyes while she thought, This isn’t happening. My over active imagination is at work. Her green eyes doubled in size when she saw she was being propelled to an opening at the end. She gasped when a moment later, she dropped onto what appeared to be sand in the middle of nowhere. Looking around she noticed that there were hills all around her but they didn’t look like hills she had ever seen before.
“Where am I,” Maria cried. She looked up at the sky and instantly noticed that the sky was not blue but instead a pinkish-red in color. Her eyes grew even bigger when she noticed that there was a large blue moon in the middle of three smaller blue moons. “I’m dreaming. I have to be having a nightmare,” Maria babbled nervously. Stepping forward, she found that she couldn’t go anywhere when she came in contact with an invisible force field. A bright light showed for a moment and then disappeared. Sitting down on the ground, she brought her knees to her chest and rocked back and forth while thinking, This can’t be happening.
Tbc
you might want to skip the one part where Maria will be with the other slaves