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 Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 5:43 pm
Yeah, Audrey didn't see that coming. Cast as the evil queen in the total farce that represented Nealite's life as she saw it? It was an absolute shocker, the teen was absolutely surprised that she didn't fall over dead of a heart attack, it was so incredibly out of left field. Also, Audrey probably should have also been admitted to the school through the gift of sarcasm, because she didn't mean a damn word of any of it. Obviously.
Why Ursula had called her to the office with such a public announcement like that, she couldn't fathom. And the other boy, Khaldun..wait. Was that the same Khal she'd met at the mall?! Her prom date?! Well okay, but it still made no sense, even for the drama teacher. Thoroughly puzzled, she leaned against the office door and waited for whatever it was Nealite had planned for her unfortunate cast member.
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 7:21 pm
She heard the push on the door as Audrey's weight pressed against it, the soft shake on the doorknob signaling that someone was standing outside.
"Khal, that better be you," she practically snarled, not glancing up from her paperwork. Well, alright, as a theater teacher she didn't exactly have paperwork, but she did find it terribly necessary to spend a good deal of her afternoon doodling images of how she envisioned the cast's costumes to look. Very important doodling, rest assured. "Or Audrey. Whoever. Just... just come in, already!"
Her temper was still as fierce as it had been after her morning discovery, but distractions had helped calm her nerves... at least, until now.
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 7:27 pm
A second thought. That was good, it meant Ursula wasn't obsessively thinking about her and only her. That meant she wasn't totally screwed. Probably just somewhat. Sigh. Turning around with a resigned slump of her shoulders, Audrey turned the knob and leaned on the door until both it and girl were falling into the office.
"You called Ne...er, Miss Johnson?" The grimace at her own mixup was quickly blanked out by a cool look at the director of the play. After all, she'd seen the castling list already today. She wasn't supposed to be pleased. If she looked like she was about to enjoy the frazzled look on the other Lieuentant's face, things would go downhill much faster than usual.
With circumstances being what they were, that was probably not good.
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 8:37 pm
Her pencil was digging harder into the paper as Audrey's innocent voice spoke up, the door opening as the bluenette walked inside. So hard, in fact, the lead snapped itself, and the teacher all but tossed the pencil to the other side of her desk in frustration.
"Shut the door." She ordered, her hands moving up to pat down the unruly strands of hair dangling from her bun, her fingers needing a distraction to keep them from wrapping themselves around the teenager's neck.
After taming her temper's flare, her hands returned to her desk, folding themselves together as she stared into the girl's amber eyes. Ursula was not accustomed to addressing female students, but one didn't need to be of a specific gender to be lectured, as far as she was concerned.
"So, Miss Collins, would you mind telling me what you were up to last night?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 8:46 pm
Wow. Whatever had happened to make Nealite this furious must have been incredibly bad. Never before at any point had Audrey seen her this angry and ready to blow, and at another time, with less at risk, she probably would have poked and prodded at it. Flopping down into a chair across from the teacher's paper-strewn desk, she thought hard.
"Last night? Uhm, I remember eating cake and running into Pierrette again. You know, Nia's understudy? Then I went back to go farm it up a bit, did some dailies. Went to bed. As far as nights go, it was pretty quiet. Don't wanna start running around and sneaking out until I get a feel for everyone, you know? That, and I'm on the third floor. I thought it was bad back home, but it's NOT easy to get up three stories, you know?"
Trailing off there, she shook her head. What did Ursula care about that? Probably not at all. "Why? What happened that involves me?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 10:16 pm
Orange eyes watched and studied the younger woman, as if Ursula was attempting to detect any lies or hesitance in Audrey's voice. It was only after she finished her explanation that Ursula took her eyes off of the other girl, sitting back in her chair as she closed them, rocking gently in her chair. Her hands moved up to rub her temples, a sigh escaping her lips.
"Nothing, apparently." she muttered, wondering why she'd even bothered to deal with Audrey in the first place. The girl was a terrible liar, proof from their last encounter. She couldn't lie or con her way out of a paper bag if she tried, which only meant the culprit behind burning her scripts was none other than Little Dreads himself. "Just trying to figure out a puzzle, but I think you gave me the last clue. Besides, you may be a bit dim, but you're not dumb enough to ******** with me after the other night with Castor."
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 10:26 pm
"Yeaaaaaah. I'm avoiding you like the plague, as if I didn't before. I'm not going to be able to avoid much during the play, but like any terrible abusive relationship, I think we work better when we're firmly apart." Seeing her so frazzled was always a treat, but Audrey couldn't help but admit insatiable curiosity.
"So what happened that has you all messed up? I'm not sure if I should be horrified or flattered that you considered me a culprit." The girl languished in the chair, unwilling to get up now that her anxiety had expired along with some of Nealite's.
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Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 12:49 am
Sighing, narrowed eyes looked up as she shook her head, wisps of curls tumbling down to rest alongside her chin and neck.
"I just got finished saying you weren't dumb and you ask me this? Use your brain, Audrey, it was posted right above the note to you. And don't tell me you didn't read the note because you wouldn't ******** be here if you didn't read my note."
Sighing again, she motioned her hand in a shooing manner towards the bluenette. "Get out of here; Khaldun should be here any minute and it's clear that he's the one I need to be talking with and not you, Miss Collins."
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Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 1:24 am
Khaldun had been there for two minutes, listening in as was customary for him. He hadn't actually seen the cast list - some other Barren Pines students had hunted him down to congratulate him, and let him know about the important note at the bottom of the cast list. He thought it was a joke the first time - he'd burned the scripts, there should not have been anything left of the play to perform at all. This wasn't boding well.
He'd considered his options. This wasn't Hillworth - he wasn't going to get a detention with Killingworth in this place. But he'd never exactly been subjected to Nealite's idea of disciplinary action outside of threats that 'Charonite is going to hear about this', at which point Khal would attempt to talk his way out with varying levels of success. Now, though, she was a teacher, not unlike Obsidian, and considerably more dangerous because of it. He was feeling apprehensive even as he hung about the office. How the hell could she have found out he'd burned the scripts? There were no witnesses, no pieces of evidence. She'd have a hell of a time proving anything. And ********, 'King Charles'? She wouldn't... she couldn't... there was no goddamn way. He shouldn't have to be here, now, having to suffer through any of Nealite's long-winded message of love to Charonite. He'd done plenty for her on that front; this was too much. ******** it. She could get over it this time. She had gotten over it, considering the play hadn't died the way he'd expected it to even after such a lethal blow.
At least he got a girlfriend out of all this - he was going to take full advantage of it for as long as he could. Khaldun lurked around the door until Audrey opened it. He'd seen her at the auditions and heard her suffering through Nealite's bout of PMS. Why, he almost felt sorry for her, getting caught up in all this, but then again she chose to try out for the play. Poor, poor, uninformed Audrey. Without a word he stepped forward, encircled Audrey's waist with his arms, and leaned in for a sudden, passionate hormonal make-out session. The bluenette wasn't even halfway through the office doorframe. She was his girlfriend, and this was what boyfriends were supposed to do. Or at least, that's what Khaldun would have thought if he'd bothered to do any thinking.
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Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 1:28 am
Having rolled her eyes as an answer to Nealite's orders, the blue teen had more than happily started to make her way out of the office when she was roughly grabbed, and held against a very strong, incredibly male body. One hand reached up to pull the head away, when it met the unmistakable feel of dreadlocks. Knowing only one male that would be at Nealite's office with such a style, Audrey gladly submitted to the heavy kisses.
It became rapidly evident that Khaldun knew what he was doing. Whether through natural gifts or experience, she didn't know and did not care to know. Eventually though, she had to extricate her lips from his. Pulling gently at the dreads, her lips slipped away with a giggle, but her body didn't move one inch.
"It's good to see you too, Khal."
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Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 4:45 am
She'd glanced down as Audrey began to leave her office, but as the student never completely left her office, her eyes were quick to rise and see what the hold up was.
The pencil, which she'd leaned over to retrieve, snapped in half.
Her temper, now spiked, drove her to rise up from her chair and stalk over to where the young lovers stood, and one well manicured hand reached out and forcibly shoved the young woman out of the hands of her boyfriend.
"I said to get out of here, Miss Collins." she stated coldly, then turned towards the taller boy with a look of disapproval. Reaching out, she grabbed a handful of dreadlocks and yanked, dragging the boy back into her office with her and closing the door with a thunderous slam.
Inside, she released her hold of his hair and pointed towards the chair in front of her desk. "Sit."
Her office was significantly smaller than that of any of the Hillworth teachers (or Barren Pines teachers, for that matter) but an office was an office and Ursula had intended to treat it as such.
Moving to step behind her desk, she stood there, glaring. There were no words to describe the mixture of emotions running through her. Hurt, betrayal, anger, animosity.
Finally, she asked the one thing that had been plaguing her mind more than anything else.
"Why, Khal?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 5:12 am
If only the pair hadn't picked the threshold of Nealite's office for their show of intimacy, it could have gone on a little longer. He didn't get the chance to say anything to Audrey then, which in retrospect was probably a good thing, Khaldun being Khaldun. But in no time at all Nealite had shoved the girl from out of his grip. And being pulled around by the hair hurt - no matter how macho he was trying to play himself up as around Audrey, after several seconds of Nealite pulling on his hair with the full force of her anger, he had to follow her back into her office. The door slam and the way Nealite was walking around the small room she called an office were Not Good. Khaldun knew Not Good when he saw it in a school setting. Not Good was the only way he ever seemed to experience school settings.
Why?
Was she seriously asking why he did that? Why did a bird fly? Why did a bee buzz? Why did a flower blossom? Why did Khaldun burn every copy of Nia, Princess of Love?
Answer: Because they all ******** felt like it.
No matter what, Nealite was still a Lieutenant just like he was, and even if he wasn't about to attack her directly or anything close to it, that ******** play she wrote was not off-limits in his mind. She was mocking him then, and worse now, casting him as the role obviously mirroring Charonite. The make-out session was an ego boost, which the teen took full advantage of as he slid into the chair. Khaldun met her gaze with one that was (unfortunately for him) ever so slightly amused. It was only paper. He'd had a senshi destroy his Negaverse weapon, but that wasn't the reason he'd hunted her down. No, property damage was not so important compared to avoiding the risk of life and limb. And destroying the scripts had not put Ursula herself in any danger. He didn't see a problem here. But then again, he'd always been terrible at trying to guess her behavior. But no matter. She could try proving her accusations before he really needed to defend himself from her wrath. Khaldun leaned back in his seat, arms crossed over his chest. Level as he tried to keep his voice, some indescribable tone seeped in that hinted that he knew damn well what she was talking about. "Why what?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 5:23 am
Her eyes closed and she sucked in a breath, attempting to keep herself collected. "For the love of God, Khladun, don't you dare play stupid with me. You know exactly what I'm talking about."
Dropping into her chair, she pulled up to her desk, her eyes focused solely on him, on his nonchalant expression. Was all of this just a joke to him? Just another school, another day in the life of Khaldun, School Slacker? And to not only destroy her scripts, he had the audacity to stand there in front of her ******** door and makeout with Audrey Collins?
Finally breaking her stare on him, she pulled open her top drawer and reached in, dragging out a scorched, ruined copy of her play, the last remnant she had of hours of work. She tossed it at him, her scowl clear and evident. "Here. Jog whatever's left of that memory of yours, and then you tell me why the ******** you decided to come and burn every single one of my scripts."
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Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 5:52 am
"I'm not a mind-reader," he purred. He was notorious for such self-absorption at Hillworth. Khaldun used free time blackmailing some students and creating havoc designed to torture or frame others. Nealite had simply been lucky she only ever seemed to see him after he'd already been caught in the act of something or another by the time he was waiting in her office to see the principal. It could have seemed tame from that perspective, but Khaldun was very much the opposite in the face of authority. He could not fight the power, not at all, but he could instigate a series of minor annoyances for it instead, over and over again until it got fed up and instigated back.
He let out an audible puff of air from his nose at the memory comment, like an enraged bull might, but failed to comment. He caught the charred packet with both hands and thumbed through it idly, scattering bits of ash and charcoal onto his lap and the floor around his feet where his fingers made contact with the thoroughly abused paper. This was one of those puzzles Khaldun enjoyed, a battle of wits where losing didn't mean cuts and bruises and a broken nose. He couldn't say for sure that he got himself into trouble just to play them, as he was usually caught in acts of vengeance to begin with. But despite the risks, such a challenge was already too much to resist taking one last shot before he admitted his guilt to Nealite and got ready for the real shitstorm to come. Though he held the paper in front of his face like a shield, his voice was carried quite clearly through the shallow gap between the two. "But Ms. Johnson, you ought to remember I tried out for this play. I don't seem to have a motive - better luck next time?"
Check aaand mate.
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Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 6:09 am
Her hands clenched themselves into balls, her knuckles turning white as they squeezed tighter and tighter. She didn't have time for games and ********. His tone was all she needed, that and the knowledge Audrey was too scared shitless over the Castor blackmail to do a goddamn thing against her right now. She didn't have time for this, not when so much more needed to be done. But why? Why would Khaldun, of all the people to lash out at her, why would Little Dreads be the one to bring her dream crashing down?
"You're not off the hook that easily, Mr. Cilentani." she said crisply, her hand lowering itself once more to dig through her purse. Out came a cell phone, sleek and black, which was placed in the middle of her desk, clear for Khaldun to stare at. "May I remind you that you are my student at this school and my responsibility to care after. I don't think your father would be happy to know what transpired this morning, just as I would not like to have to explain how uncooperative you are being and my inability to keep you in line. I may be a new teacher, but I'm not new to this game, so save us both the embarrassment of explaining how we both ******** up and start talking, Cilentani, else he's going to get a call. Right now."
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