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 Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 9:38 pm
Elke had a mission. It was a sacred mission, given to her straight from Serenade, who was the Princess. This mission: Get Aurelia to talk about why she had been fighting with Hero. It was possible that Aurelia would decline answering the question if she asked it right out, so instead, Elke was going to be...
...Sneaky.
Okay, laugh all you want, but she could so do it! The Princess had faith in her, so Elke had faith in herself. Believe in the Princess who believes in you!
And so she stopped outside Aurelia's door bright and early on a Saturday, when Aurelia had penciled her in to work on a schedule. She straightened her hat and knocked, twice, on the door to Aurelia and Giselle's room.
"Aurelia, are you in?"
Surely the brunette upperclassman could keep her own schedule?...
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Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 9:54 pm
Aurelia was of course, in. She opened the door to Elke, graciously offered her inside, and sat back down at her desk, leaving her bed to Elke to sit on if she desired to do so.
She had a tea set on the night table, the pot slowly steaming, and a plate of cookies. The pile of cookies was rather oddly formed, as if someone had already eaten about half of them and then realigned them in to a sort of sad cookie pile. There were crumbs on Aurelia's desk.
There was something... off about her. Every hair was in place, her glasses were shining, her clothes were perfectly pressed-- and that was just it. She looked TOO perfect. Ever since the fight Aurelia had taken every care to make sure that she looked like there was nothing wrong, that it was no skin off her nose that Miss Barrett and her were in something akin to the Cold War. As if Miss Barrett would ever notice, she was too content to suck face with the village lothario.
"Good afternoon Miss Arma. Would you care for tea? Or would you rather we get right down to business?" Aurelia opened her black planner. It was new. Her old one was nowhere to be seen.
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Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 10:46 pm
She had never been in Aurelia and Giselle's room before. It looked sort of like Elke and Serenade's room, but it didn't have the same layout even if it was close in size. She sat down on Aurelia's bed, managing to look composed for maybe twenty seconds before she flopped onto her stomach, shoes on the floor so she could swing the rest of herself onto the bed. It was clear she'd done it before; maybe not on this bed, but she had hardly disturbed the comforter at all during the whole operation, so.
"I wouldn't mind tea," said Elke, still unashamedly looking around. She was fixated on the planner, now, in its shiny black newness. That was weird. Well, maybe it was just for the new year. "What's up, Aurelia?"
Not exactly a ninja of question-asking, this one. She looked avidly innocent.
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Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 11:34 pm
Aurelia poured two cups, dropped a slice of lemon in hers and left Elke to her own devices-- she had cream and sugar set up as well, in case that was Elke's preference (she was under the impression that the preference would definitely involve sugar).
"Miss Arma, I was under the impression that you needed my help. Which I will gladly give to you, we have several hours set aside today for whatever you need. "Whats up" is that I am waiting to hear what it is you want me to do."
Aurelia briskly handed Elke a clipboard full of blank paper, with a blue pen clipped to the side. She clicked her own pen open.
"Now then. What is up with you Miss Arma? You had me schedule this so it is far more prudent that we discuss you rather than pleasantries. Oh bother, we can get those out of the way too. How do you do Miss Arma, pleasure to see you again, the weather is lovely for the start of the New Year, I'm feeling..."
Aurelia stopped with a jolt, and cleared her throat.
"How do you like your tea, Miss Arma." There was a warble, definitely.
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Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 12:23 am
Elke sighed, taking her teacup and adding, exactly, nothing at all. Exhibiting the perfect manners demanded by Aysel Arma, she held it in front of her, content to wait until it cooled. Because you never, ever, blew on your tea like a country bumpkin. Never ever.
Ambassadoring wasn't all manners and scandal like before, but making her Papa look bad got a lecture from Maman.
"I need help making a schedule," explained Elke, "I keep forgetting to do stuff that I should be doing every day, like I keep on wandering off instead of doing my homework and sometimes I forget to go drag the Pr-- Serenade off to supper when she's practicing, you know?"
Pause.
Wait, what was that? Elke was staring, almost openly, at Aurelia now. Because Aurelia had warbled, a real tremor in her voice. Whoa. Maybe the fight with Captain was more serious than Elke had imagined! "Are you okay, Aurelia," asked Elke, olive green eyes huge over her cup of tea and the clipboard.
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Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 1:33 am
Putting her cup down crisply in its saucer, Aurelia smoothed her thumb over the other hand in her lap. She was fidgeting. Aurelia couldn't remember very many moments where she couldn't control her limbs-- it felt like a full on seizure to the naturally composed Aurelia. Her treacherous mind remembered that she was supposed to trust her fellow Zodiac-- whispered to her is Miss Barrett's voice. She had a long history of spilling her emotions and problems to her parents without fail, because doing anything less would probably have them reevaluate her sanity-- Aurelia had always endeavored to keep this sort of thing to herself because after discussing her parents sexual habits when she was in grade one, in great detail, to a growing group of children, Aurelia had been severely reprimanded. The environment that she had grown up in was not conductive to normal society and she would rather blend in to the background than to be humiliated again. Aurelia had never expected to find herself in a situation where she actually desired to be candid, rather than forced to be (she had learned to write her parents scads of letters, describing each and every moment of her life, in order to keep from the excruciating "family meetings")
"I am... worried," Aurelia admitted, her body rigid as if she could not let herself move for fear of... Aurelia hadn't the faintest but she was uncomfortable as all hell, "To be honest Miss Arma, this meeting is for your sake not mine."
Aurelia rubbed at her forehead with the back of her hand.
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Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 1:42 pm
She was watching this whole ordeal like she was afraid Aurelia was about to explode, wide-eyed and a little more worried than before. Aurelia was fidgeting. When had Aurelia ever fidgeted, ever, in the history of the world?
This was indicative of a Big Problem.
"Um, okay, we can do that," said Elke, "but... Aurelia, are you-- is it about the fight you had with Hero?"
Elke took a sip of her tea and braced herself for an explosion.
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Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 3:38 pm
Aurelia's hand slid down to cover her mouth, as if she was ashamed. She was, the two of them had acted like children, slinging mud at each other, a naked grudge match to end all naked grudge matches. It was even worse that their princess had caught them at it, just days after speaking of trusting your fellow Zodiac. Because Aurelia didn't trust her fellow Zodiac-- with the exclusion of Miss Barrett but even now that was being called in to question. They had known each other forever-- Miss Barrett had been her friend before her parents divorced, been her friend after, and all the while Aurelia never questioned her friends loyalty, or her loyalty to Miss Barrett.
It was just awful that they were fighting over a boy. They were acting like shrieking teenagers.
"Yes," She paused. Elke was looking at her with her big kind eyes, and Aurelia sighed heavily, brushing at the makeup covered bruise at the bottom of her jaw, "I am worried about Miss Barrett. Were you aware that our esteemed leader is something of a ho?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 3:51 pm
Gasp. No, seriously, Elke gasped, green eyes massively wide, expression a mix of What, really, and You did not just call the Captain a ho!!
"No," she gasped, "I wasn't."
Why would Hero and Aurelia be fighting over a gardening implement? Hero wasn't even really a gardening implement. Wait, there was another meaning for ho, wasn't there. Ho also meant whore, didn't it?...
"I wasn't," repeated Elke, the dawning light of comprehension clear on her face.
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Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 4:29 pm
"Well. She is," Aurelia testily replied, and brought out her clipboard again, "All right Miss Arma, what is your schedule like during the day? I'll need to have a copy of your school schedule, as well as things that you normally do every day, how long you spend doing such things, and any things that may come up that you don't have control of, so we have a good idea of how much time we should allot to emergencies."
Aurelia had admitted her feelings. She thought that they should get down to business now.
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Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 8:24 pm
Ugh, you couldn't go and call the Captain a prostitute and not explain why! And Elke knew that if she asked the Captain about it, she'd have to spar with the Captain, and then she'd probably have a broken nose to explain to Papa. Ugh! So unfair!
But Aurelia looked pretty resolved, so Elke set her tea on the saucer it had originally come from and dug in her bag for her schedule. It had been folded plenty of times already, and she flattened it out on the bed in front of her before handing it over to Aurelia. Investigation of it would reveal she was, in fact, an academic lightweight. (Except in languages, where she was without fail in advanced placement, and photography, where she was in honors, and writing, where she was taking three classes.)
She looked down at her own clipboard. What was she supposed to be doing with this, huh?
"Why would you call Hero a prostitute," asked Elke, still staring at the clipboard like it was a terrorist holding the location of the bomb in its depths.
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 1:34 am
Aurelia eyed Elke evenly, and weighed her words. In all fairness, Elke Arma was not the type of girl that you discuss matters of grave importance with. Elke was the girl you played Truth or Dare with at a slumber party, who asks the group, eyes wide, who has kissed a boy. Elke Arma was more prone to nurturing hugs as if they fixed all the worlds ills, than to discuss anything of import.
But Elke Arma was all she had at the moment. Aurelia swallowed heavily, laying her clipboard on her lap. Preparing herself, Aurelia remarked to herself snidely.
"Prostitute is not the right word; I was merely using coarse slang to sum up Miss Barrett's current status as Mr Lawson's current partner," Aurelia spat out the word, and was embarrassed, "We-- the Zodiac's, I mean-- have enough problems with Mr Lawson without Miss Barrett getting so involved. And it's just. It's Lawson. I always imagined her with-- with-- good lord, I never imagined her with anyone, to be honest, but Jude Lawson? It is quite a hard pill to swallow."
Cue, hug. Enter stage right.
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 2:00 am
If Elke knew she was so predictable, she would have been quite put out. The facts were, the first step you took towards comforting anyway was to give them a hug. The second step was trying nicely to get them to talk about it, and the third was annoying them until they did. If they were a guy, there was a fourth step, and that was crying. Elke didn't like that step.
"I'm sorry, Aurelia," Elke was saying as she hugged the older girl, but she was thinking: Wow, Hero and Jude are dating! Wait, Aurelia and Hero are fighting because Hero and Jude are dating? It was enough to make her pretty navy head spin.
She did let go of Aurelia eventually, sitting back on the bed and staring at the brunette with huge olive eyes. "I didn't think the Captain could date anybody," said Elke reflectively, "And really not Jude. Why would she date Jude? I mean, if it was a romance novel Miss Ba-- Hero would be all swoon swoon and fall all over him but it isn't, is it?"
Nevermind how much she wished real life was like a romance novel. It wasn't, she wasn't, she just had to deal with it and move on. Elke was looking at her hands, folded neatly in her lap, and mumbling out: "I kinda... well, I don't know, there's kind of this... feeling? You know, at the back of my head, where... It kind of feels wrong, for Zodiacs to date each other."
Pause.
"I didn't think we could do that," she finished, looking up at Aurelia through her bangs.
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 2:20 am
"We're not supposed to, dammit!" Aurelia banged her fist on the table. It seemed she had picked up some Bad Habits from Miss Barrett. Even Aurelia looked taken aback by her sudden outburst, and kept her fist on the table, embarrassed.
"We're not supposed to Miss Arma, you are correct; Miss Barrett knows of our rules better than anyone, and yet here we are, Miss Arma. I am concerned. I am confused, and I don't know what to do; we have never disagreed in such a violent manner before, don't look quizzically at me, Miss Arma, the entire school knows of the incident in the communal showers." To Aurelia's continued, daily horror.
"I tried forcing the issue on Miss Barrett, but she does not listen to reason about Mr. Lawson. I really should have known better, honestly. She is acting just like any other rebellious teenager in... love," (Aurelia was loathe to say that dreaded word), "but she is not acting like our Captain. And I don't trust her right now, and you and I both know that's not right."
Aurelia looked crushed and defeated. This was the longest fight the two of them had been in, possibly the longest since Miss Barrett had lost the Student Council Presidency in grade 5 because of a printing error. Bourgeoisie was not bearneasé-- Miss Barrett had not spoken to her in a week. Not that anyone knew the difference between the two in grade 5, but it was the principle of the matter.
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 3:09 am
The confirmation that her little niggling feeling was true would have made Elke happy on any other day but today. That would have meant she wasn't going mad, could be trusted with the most important duty of being the Princess's roommate. Today she frowned, stared at Aurelia with eyes that practically overflowed with concern for her friend. She even tried to kill the quizzical look, but didn't quite succeed.
She had never imagined she would have learned quite this much to share with the Princess.
"Yeah," she admitted, "Serenade told me..." The thought of not trusting the Captain was frightening. It was hard to imagine ever not fearing the Captain, but nearly impossible to imagine not trusting the Captain. It definitely wasn't right and-- "Oh, Aurelia," said Elke, hugging the upperclassman again. "I don't think I can say that you're wrong..."
For a moment, it seemed like Elke was going to have one of her extraordinarily rare moments of sheer linguistic brilliance, where she made her good intentions and her command of the English language come together. Then she just sighed and said, "It's not like Hero would even listen to us if we tried to remind her."
Hero was breaking the rules.
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