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 Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 9:41 am
In spite of her polite nature, Fallon wasn't really a social butterfly. People had a tendency to disrupt the order of things, and it was very important to Fallon that her life proceed according to the guidelines needed to keep her OCD in check. It was a tenuous balance, but one that Fallon was well-equipped to maintain. She had spent a lifetime discovering ways to balance her need for people with her need for alone time; her need for compassion with her need for apathy; her need for control with her need for companionship. After cooking for her floor that afternoon for lunch, Fallon retreated to her bedroom -- her inner sanctum, as it were -- and went straight to her closet, pausing only to remove her shoes at the door.
Opening the door, her closet appeared as a muted rainbow -- a perfectly color-coded organization of all of her understated blues, grays, and purples. Fallon bent over and lifted a box from the bottom of the dresser. The pieces inside slid noisily against the cardboard container. Carefully shutting the closet with her free hand, she crossed to the low coffee table that sat in the middle of her room. It was puzzle time.
Puzzles were a passion for Fallon -- and by passion, that is to say, coping mechanism. Nothing calmed the girl quite like organizing a 5000-piece puzzle and then carefully putting it together. She didn't smile or seem amused by the activity; it was more like she was scratching an itch, fulfilling a need to give order to the disorder in front of her. Reaching out a hand, she pulled out the second part of the table. It slid out like a trundle bed, forming an L-shape around Fallon's knelt form.
Hopping up to start her electronic hot water heater boiling, she darted back to the table, laying out each piece with the utmost care. Fallon did this so quickly that she was nearly done straightening every piece (and arranging it by color) all over the table when the hot water heater began to leak out steam. Crossing to the kitchen, she took a scoop of dried leaves out of a canister and dumped them into a pristine clear coffee mug. Fallon poured water over the leaves and then slowly stirred, waiting for each one to sink.
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Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 11:01 am
The floor two dorms were both pristinely kept and the most welcoming community of all the three floors, or at least they were if anyone bothered to ask Dagmar. They rarely did, at least not on this subject, but she didn't mind telling them anyway - the dorms were her greatest source of pride, despite her inherently irresponsible (and just slightly lazy) nature.
Initially when she'd been named floor assistant she hadn't really given much thought. Had she? She'd skived off, hadn't done her duties and ignored the complaints from the other students in favour of her books and ribbon collection, but eventually the teachers had stepped in with some strict disciplining and she'd learned to take it more seriously.
Funnily enough though, she could never quite remember how she'd actually been punished or even skiving off from her duties. It was there, sure, but everything was so.. hazy. But nevermind that! It had happened, and now Aggie took her duties as floor assistant very, very seriously. If it was a badge, she'd have shined it every morning, midday and evening until it shone (and most likely started to chip off, because you just don't get badges like you used to).
Aggie took to being a floor assistant like a fish to water - albeit a slightly mousy, slightly delusional and unconfrontational to a fault kind of fish. Aggie liked to say that everyone in dorm two got along with each other; the truth was more along the lines that if anyone didn't, Aggie didn't notice. On purpose. Well, unless they came to her for some reason or other and brought it up because then she had to notice. But otherwise it was a free-for-all.
She'd even made it a point to get along with all of the tenants, or at least not antagonate anyone into any sort of enmity.
Yep, floor two was perfect. Except for one teeny, tiny problem by the name of Fallon Novette-Naim. Or human-sized problem, as it were.
Fallon was a nice girl, in the sense that she didn't complain too much and didn't party like it was 1999 on schooldays and honestly, Aggie had never had a problem with her.
But then there had been The Incident. The Incident had started off innocently enough with said nice girl approaching her on any regular day in the cafeteria. This was nice. Usually Aggie sat with Zeke and anyone approaching their table to chat with her was kind of a novelty, so she'd instantly been happy. She'd even put on her best smile.
And then the trouble started. Fallon was very polite in her request to use the kitchen and certainly, that was fine - all the students were allowed to use the kitchen and they even had a handy-dandy list for the week where you could tell other people in advance when you planned to use it if you wanted to do something special. It was the 'locking the doors for a couple of hourse'-part that was the problem.
The fridges had to be accessible at all hours by school rule and unless they could manage to move the massive appliances, that just wasn't going to happen and even if they could, it'd still have been more than a good bit dodgy. It was a no-go, something that Aggie had tried to relate in the nicest way possible while clutching a badly made, school-issued burrito in the bustle of the lunch crowd.
It hadn't gone over too well. Needless to say, there'd been a blow-up and, well.. Fallon had carried a grudge. Dagmar wasn't quite sure if it'd been the kicked-puppy-looks she'd sent the other girl at every given opportunity or the small apology notes she'd slipped under the door that had done the trick, but the brunette had eased up.
Still, better safe than sorry and Aggie made it a point to check in on Fallon every-so-often to make sure everything was okay and she wasn't actually planning any attempted murders anytime soon or anything. (If she was, Aggie had a Plan of Attack that included sacrificing her best ribbon to the would-be murderess and/or hiding out in Imo's closet until Fallon forgot she existed. It could work, right?)
The check-ins were a good idea, she was sure.
And precisely that was what she was doing when she knocked on the door to room NOV-40, anxiously biting her lip and waiting for someone to answer her. "Helloooo? Is anyone in here?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 1:49 pm
To say that Fallon had been displeased with Dagmar's refusal of her request would be an understatement. She understood the logic; she just didn't like it. For class, they allowed her the use of the private kitchen, but it was not open to her during non-class hours. What a shame. Fallon only hoped that she might be able to take over the floor kitchen for a short time -- oh, only a handful of hours. When Aggie told her no, she more or less stormed off, running to her room to rearrange her colored marbles and calm her nerves. She kept her distance for a while, hoping to avoid any contact with Aggie at all.
And then the notes had started.
After a week of it, Fallon realized that it was more trouble to maintain her annoyance at Aggie than to just forgive her and move on. Besides, Fallon had found a way to adapt, utilizing duct tape lines and offering to cook for anyone who attempted to use the kitchen while she was in there. So far, it had been quite successful. Aggie continued to pop in, and though Fallon hated surprises, she found the girl's malleable personality quite agreeable. So long as Aggie didn't violate the order of her life, Fallon could forgive her.
Standing in the kitchen, she placed the spoon on the painted spoon rest. She had just started to lift the cup to her mouth when she heard the knocking. The voice that followed was unmistakable. Setting her mug down, Fallon crossed to the door and opened it slowly. She kept her body in the doorway so that Aggie wouldn't be able to just walk in. Fallon would need to give her permission.
"Aggie," she said, curling painted nails around the doorframe. "Can I help you?" Her eyes flickered down to the girl's feet. If she planned on coming inside, she would need to leave those just inside Fallon's door. It was one of The Rules.
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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:32 pm
Nevertheless, for all her niceness, Fallon intimidated Aggie. Mostly everyone with a bit of confidence intimidated Aggie, really, so perhaps it wasn't a surprise that a girl as outwardly focused as Fallon would too. But she did and the maroon-haired girl tightly linked her fingers together as she was wont to do whenever she got nervous - it calmed her, to have something to hold on to.
"No! Uh t-that is to say, no I'm fine thank you, I just.. wanted to check how everything was going here. No problems, right? The heater's not acting up again? Because I can totally do something about that if it does, I've been reading up on it!" She had nearly emptied the library of all the books she thought might even be the slightest bit relevant to the subject, in fact and had poured over them for days, breaking out a new notebook and taking notes. Dagmar was determined to get along with Fallon and if fixing her dodgy heater did that, then by golly, she'd do it.
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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 3:20 pm
Leaning her hip into the door frame, Fallon kept her eyes on Dagmar, even as the girl seemed to falter. Fallon had no problem with Aggie; she was an agreeable person who seemed content to do almost everything Fallon asked. At Aggie's mention, Fallon glanced back to her electric water kettle. Without access to the kitchen, she wanted to find a way to prepare hot drinks for herself without making a trip down the hall; it was the perfect solution. A few weeks ago, there had been a power surge, and the heater had been acting a bit strange. Fallon didn't really expect Aggie to care much about it. "The electric kettle is fine," she said, softening her lips in to a smile. "I appreciate your concern. I'm actually preparing a bit of tea for myself right now. Would you like to join me?" Since Aggie had shown concern for her, Fallon recognized that the appropriate thing to do would be to be hospitable. And if there was one thing that Fallon was, it was OCD hospitable. She pushed the door open a bit wider with one hand, stepping backward to allow Aggie inside. "Please remove your shoes and place them in the bottom left slot." A slender hand gestured to the plastic shoe caddy standing just to the left on the inside of the door. "And do not touch anything without checking with me. Please." Despite the please, it did not sound like a request. Because it wasn't.
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 11:23 pm
Obediently placing her shoes in the bottom left slot (and taking a few seconds to arrange them so they matched the way that Fallon's own shoes were arranged in the other slots) and carefully making her way into the room while trying to keep all her limbs as close as humanly possible to her body in accordance with the other girl's wishes.
"Oh, uh, thank you very much!" She took an interested look at the room, noting the clean and proper way everything seemed to be arranged. It was a bit intimidating, but also refreshing compared to some of the sloppy rooms she'd seen as a floor assistant. "I'm glad everything's working fine, too, that's just great, I was so worried you know? Sometimes admin can be a bit slow to send someone out to fix it, so yeah."
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Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 12:24 pm
It brought a light smile to Fallon's lips to see Aggie follow her instructions so well. Hm... perhaps it wouldn't be so terrible if she stayed? It was the polite thing to do after all, and Fallon could feel the societal script calling for her to invite a little pleasant interaction. "Would you like a cup of tea, Aggie? I was just preparing some for myself. I have jasmine oolong, black mint, and a rose and honeybush floral?" Spinning on her heel, she folded her hands neatly across her stomach, finger tapping a steady rhythm on a button just at the seam.
No one ever did things on Fallon's schedule, and it was a disappointment she had learned to live with all her life. Most of the time she found a way to get someone else to fix the broken things in her room. The maintenance staff was simply not reliable enough. "I am satisfied with my room," she added, if only to give the girl some peace of mind. She was a worrisome girl, but Fallon liked that. It really brought out the people pleaser in her, which was a nice change of pace.
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 5:27 am
"Oh, that'd be lovely! But if you don't mind, c-could you choose the blend for me? I wouldn't want to pick something if it's your last bit, or anything like that." Worried was an expression Aggie had long ago gotten down to a tee, and she wore it now, fidgeting slightly on the heels of her feet as she stared at the other girl.
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 6:18 am
Normally, Fallon found that her guests preferred to choose their own, but she was happy to do so for the girl, pouring a cup of mint tea for Aggie and a jasmine oolong for herself. Holding one clear mug in each hand, she crossed toward Aggie and handed her the one with darker tea inside. "Give it a minute for the leaves to sink. I have honey, milk, and sugar, if you'd like me to add it," she said, smiling again. Fallon took her tea without any of the frills; she liked to taste the quality of the leaves in every sip and sweeteners simply masked that.
Sensing an upcoming lull in conversation, Fallon crossed to her table covered in puzzle pieces, sliding out a low to the ground TV tray. "I was going to work on my puzzle. Would you like to talk while I do?" She didn't offer to let Aggie help because she wasn't certain she could trust her to do it correctly. Leonette was the only person Fallon had ever let assemble puzzles with her, and unless Aggie was willing to follow Fallon's every rule, she would really rather the girl just sit and make idle conversation. "How are you classes?" Fallon prompted, ready to get the small talk session underway. She sipped lightly at her tea, eyes watching the puzzle pieces with a detached interest.
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Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 3:40 am
"N-no, it's no problem." Truthfully she always took her tea with copious amounts of both sugar and milk, enough that the original taste of the leaves was nothing but a slight aftertaste in the orgy of sickly sweetness, but seeing how the other girl didn't take anything in her tea - well, Aggie didn't want to inconvenience anyone, so she kept quiet.
"They're um, hard I guess? I'm not doing very well in English and the make-up work the teacher has me doing is pretty hard." She blushed, looking uncomfortably embarrassed with the admission. But Fallon had asked, and Aggie would answer.
Much more interesting than talk of English class was the large puzzle on the table, however; staring at it with a wrinkled brow for more than a few seconds, Dagmar was pretty sure she'd actually seen it before. Odd, because she'd never done puzzles before, herself: it took too much concentration and it was far, far too quiet. She'd heard that puzzles consisting of continents or countries were pretty popular, though, and from what she could see the puzzle on Fallon's table was one of those.
"Is.. is that South Africa?" Perhaps the whole continent would've been to large to include, Aggie didn't know, but it certainly seemed to be South Africa - the KwaZulu-Natal province's coast was pretty unique, as far as she was concerned.
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Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 5:34 am
Fallon lifted each piece in an unidentifiable pattern of selection, rolling pieces over her fingers. There was a large blank spot in the middle of the table, and after a few moments, Fallon began to connect the pieces that would form the outline, one snapping in right after the other. "English is fine for me. I enjoy reading," she mused, finishing off one corner of the puzzle. Fallon moved quickly, as if she knew where everything went long before she began touching the pieces. Reading was nice, but Fallon's compulsions that went along with it could make things complicated. She could only read fifty pages at a time, and after she finished a page, she felt compelled to dogear it. All of her books looked as though they were well used despite the fact that she was the first owner -- and she refused to read books that someone else had read first.
Lifting another piece, she twirled it over one finger and added, "I'm terrible at history. All the wars blend, all the leaders. Things repeat, but not precisely." She shrugged. "I like math. There are rules for math, rules that are easily followed." When Aggie drew attention to the puzzle, Fallon smiled. "Yes, it is South Africa." She paused for a moment, touching a puzzle piece to her lip and contemplating her next move. Her eyes flickered up to Aggie. Hm... well, maybe she would be able to listen. "If you'd like, Aggie, you could help me but--" She lowered her eyes gravely. "--you may only assemble what I tell you to. For example, you could fit together that section of gray pieces that make a figure." Fallon gestured to a corner of the table where all of the gray pieces were gathered. As long as Aggie only put together what Fallon asked, it probably wouldn't be so bad.
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Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 6:45 am
Aggie had a hard time believing that there was anything that Fallon didn't excel at, but she listened gravely as the other girl went through her classes. No-one could say that Aggie wasn't a good listener, for the girl had perfected the art of nodding at the right places, looking attentive and, most importantly of all, actually listening to what people said instead of just letting it float in through one ear and out the next.
But she liked the way Fallon did her puzzles; concise and quickly, as if she'd already seen how everything came together in her mind. Gazing admiringly at the other girl's work, she was quite startled at the offer of joining in.
"Me?" Wide-eyed, Aggie turned her attention off of the board and back to her hostess, "Oh! Really? I - I'll do my best!" She nodded rapidly, beaming in joy and pride. Fallon had asked her for help! Fallon! And Aggie, who'd been so very worried that the other girl was secretly planning her demise, would do her Very Best to please her and not make her regret her generous offer.
"Independent of the main puzzle, r-right?" She really had no prior experience with puzzles and she'd loathe to make a fatal mistake when things were going so well.
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Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 7:17 am
The tone of the room was very much so to Fallon's liking. Aggie was waiting for instruction. Aggie was nodding politely. Aggie asked questions before she took action. All of these things made Aggie improve right before Fallon's eye. Perhaps she had misjudged the girl? Perhaps she wasn't some useless sack of air that held a position of power despite her total lack of qualifications. There hadn't even been an application process. Fallon would have applied. She could have organized everyone's rooms for them. She could have held weekly dinner parties for the entire floor.
Things could have been perfect.
Unfortunately, the administration of Barren Pines believed that throwing a dart at a dartboard was a more effective means of deciding who would be the floor liaision. Oh well. Lifting a manicured nail, Fallon traced the outline of the puzzle in the air above the table and said, "First, let me finish assembling the outline of the puzzle. Once I have done so, I will give you the go ahead, and we will begin building from the outside in. Do not extend too far into the center. We will complete it in a ring, gradually moving toward filling the center." She illustrated all of this with her hands, giving Aggie a stern look. Fallon was very particular about everything; puzzles were no exception.
As soon as she finished speaking, Fallon began to move her hands across the pieces, assembling the outline of the puzzle in record time -- like some kind of puzzle savant. Truth was, she had done this puzzle before, but it didn't matter to her. Fallon cared very little about what the actual appearance of the final image was; she just liked the process of assembling it. Snapping the last piece into place, she turned her attention back to Aggie, lifting up one of the gray pieces that she had pointed out earlier. "All right, you may assemble the elephant in the bottom right hand corner. Finish every inch of her -- but no more. I will start on the opposite corner with the large tree full of birds." Fallon snapped the first gray piece in to place to illustrate what she meant.
The puzzle was facing Aggie, which would make it a bit easier for her. Fallon liked the challenge of working upside down, and she preferred it to sitting side by side with her puzzle guests. No, she needed her own space. Fallon waited for confirmation that Aggie understood the rules before starting to snap the green and brown pieces at her fingertips into place.
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Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 11:40 am
"Alright!" Her first instinct had to been to bark off a 'yes sir!', but Aggie wasn't entirely sure that Fallon wouldn't have taken it the wrong way and she would hate to lose all the progress she'd seemingly made with the other girl.
No, Aggie would stay calm, cool and focused and assemble her elephant like she'd been asked to do. Each piece of the gray elephant was painstakingly, carefully selected and propped into the puzzle - never mashed, in a slower, less graceful parody of Fallon's own assembling. Concentration was key. In fact, Aggie was pretty sure that she was more concentrated on this puzzle than she'd ever been in Literature, ever.
Then again, Literature didn't have the promised treat of Fallon's approval looming in the distance, either.
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Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 4:33 am
Fallon glanced over to Aggie's progress on the puzzle every so often. The girl didn't do it quite right, but she was doing much better than Fallon had ever expected. She hadn't knocked anything over, or assembled the wrong section. She seemed fairly content to simply arrange the puzzle as Fallon requested, which was quite a nice thing indeed.
After a few moments of silence, Fallon felt the societal pressure to maintain a friendly conversation. And so she did. "So, Dagmar," she began, fitting another piece in with a muffled click, "how do you like being the floor liaision? Do you find the position rewarding?" There was no malice in her voice, but it certainly lurked in her mind, causing her eyes to narrow slightly. Fallon would have been an excellent floor head. She would have organized regular events, made sure everyone was well dressed and fed, and, of course, made sure that each room met the standards of the Second Floor -- which were, of course, her own. It would be like living in her personal doll house, and all the residents would be little pieces for her to play with every day.
And if one ever stepped out of line, she would have the power to smite them.
Given her occasional violent outbursts, Fallon had always expected to find herself in trouble with the administration of Barren Pines. And yet -- it never seemed to come. Sure, maybe there was a small conversation, a few stern looks, a Don't do it again! every now and then, but any other school might have made her see a counselor or put here in a special program or something. It made Fallon feel more comfortable, as if the administration understood the things that she had to deal with on a daily basis and approved of her personal means of expressing herself. And, hey, she knew how to control it a lot of them time, like with her massive puzzles. On that thought, she clicked in a few more pieces and began to move clockwise around the outline at about double Aggie's speed.
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