Celebrating (Fifth Year Girls' Dorm). on Aladren Commons

Alicia Bauer

May 28, 2013 12:03 PM

Celebrating (Fifth Year Girls' Dorm). by Alicia Bauer

One advantage of having talked to a first year at the Feast became apparent as soon as the meal was concluded. Another person would have been difficult to get rid of, which would have made it more difficult in turn to do what she had to do, but a first year could be delivered relatively quickly to Professor Fawcett, permitting Alicia herself to hurry away and hide in the stacks for just a minute, just so she had time to collect herself before she faced her roommates.

It had to be this way. She knew that. In the end, it had really been inevitable; she had put on a good show, she thought, she would give herself credit for that - impatiently, she blinked back tears; there was no one here who could be manipulated by her crying, so there was no point in doing it - but there had been no real substance behind it, and so this had happened. There had been a chance, but she had known from the start that it was not a great one, all factors considered equally. She had been relying on pure luck to stay by her side, and Fortune was like that, smiling one moment and frowning the next, and it had been far too long since she had last frowned at Alicia. The bill had come due. She could accept that. But why, why had it had to be another girl? And worse, the other girl she thought of as one of her friends, and so couldn't even hate for it?

For just a moment, she allowed herself to think that way. She let herself have every thought she wanted to have, let herself feel all the frustration and hurt she could muster, which was never a small amount, and indulged herself in the full awareness of her impotence in the face of the things causing those feelings. She let it all rush through her and over her, let it happen, because there was really no burying it indefinitely. Then she got a grip.

“Get over it,” she whispered, very low and contemptuous of her own moment of self-pity, to the shelf in front of her. Magical Secrets of the Himalayas. Voyages in Wizardry. The Grand Tour of Gaius Greer, Vol. 1: 1848-1849.. The travel section. She’d have to mention it to Ava. “It is what it is. I can do this.” She took out her wand, the weight reassuring against her fingers after so long, and turned Gaius Greer around with the other hand, moving the back cover to face her so she could charm it into a mirror. "I can do this." Her reflection was pale, her eyes dark and glittering, her mouth thin.

Slowly, though, it began to change. Her shoulders relaxed. Her expression softened, then turned up into a smile. Her brown eyes sparkled. She ran her hands over her face and brought the color back.

“Here we go,” she muttered, putting the book back to normal and pushing it back onto the shelf. Then, the mask of confidence settling over her again, she walked back to the shelf they used to get in, pulled the Bird Book, and headed for her dorm room, where she broke into a positively gleeful smile as soon as she laid eyes on the woman of the night.

“Henny!” she exclaimed, her voice an octave higher than usual. “Congratulations!” she continued in the same overexcited tone, stepping forward and putting out her arms for a hug. “You’re gonna be awesome. This calls for a celebration. Anyone else want some cranberry water before bed? I have enough glasses for everyone.”

She needed some herself, anyway, and so used her wand again to open up her trunk and retrieve the necessary items. Then, unable to contain her curiosity, she let her hair swing forward to obscure any momentary change in her expression. “So, tell us. How did it feel when she called your name, Henny?” she asked, then tucked her hair back and began to pour.

16 Alicia Bauer Celebrating (Fifth Year Girls' Dorm). 210 Alicia Bauer 1 5

Henny B-F-R

May 28, 2013 3:43 PM

[Insert witty title befitting a prefect here] by Henny B-F-R

Henny hadn't noticed Alicia's absence during the Head of House speech - it would have been odd to assume she was not there, somewhere - until Professor Fawcett had got to the bit about prefects. Her eyes had subconsciously darted about for her friend, once more hoping to verify that all was well between them. Alicia was not readily to be found. But perhaps she was merely not in Henny's eye-line – after all, she could not very well swivel and fidget about too much when Professor Fawcett was talking. She would never have done so ordinarily and doing so just after being named prefect would have made it an even worse offence. When the speech ended, she scanned the room properly. Not finding Alicia, Henny made her way upstairs. Although it would be most unlike Alicia to step out on Professor Fawcett's speech, perhaps she had urgently needed the bathroom, or was feeling tired or maybe even unwell... Or, said a nasty voice in the back of Henny's mind, upset, and wanting to be by herself... Her steps slowed and she hesitated for a moment. If Alicia had gone upstairs to have a private cry, what would she say on walking in on that? She wasn't sure but, she resolved, it was her responsibility as a friend (and as prefect...) to look after Alicia. Besides which, she couldn't just sleep out on the landing. Feeling purposeful, she turned the handle, swung the door back and stepped into.... an empty room. Something like genuine panic fluttered in her stomach. If Alicia hadn't been downstairs and wasn't in here, where was she and why? Was she ill or angry to such a degree that she hadn't been able to face being in the same room as Henny? She wondered what to do.... It wasn't quite curfew yet, so Alicia was really well within her rights to be out... And perhaps she had been in the common room after all and Henny had merely not noticed. Or Alicia had not wanted to be noticed... As Henny wracked her brains for non-catastrophic reasons for her roommate's absence, a thought occurred that made her insides twist.... She tried to recall whether she had seen Thad downstairs. She couldn't be sure of it. And she usually noticed when he was around. He and Alicia hadn't seen each other all summer. Perhaps they had wanted a chance to catch up....

Concluding that either something dire had happened or that her two best friends were making private time to snog each other, Henny sat down on her bed. Neither was a particularly pleasing option and she felt some of the euphoria that had followed her announcement as prefect start to ebb away... Before she had had too much time to dwell on this, however, Alica was bounding in. Her voice didn't quite sound like Alicia, not even quite like Alicia when she was excited usually did, but she didn't seem to have been crying (reason two for her absence then...) and was holding out her arms. Henny bounced up, her grin more or less back in place and squeezed Alicia tightly.

“Th-thank you,” she smiled, almost bowled over by Alicia's enthusiasm, “And yes, I'd love some. That's really nice of you,” she added. The doubt of the last few minutes had somewhat intruded upon her earlier thoughts, and of what she knew to be her friend's nature – even if Alicia was sad for herself, which would be understandable, she'd still put her all into being happy for her. She was a good friend like that.

“Surprising,” was her reply, when Alicia had asked how it felt. She picked her next words carefully. She wanted to let Alicia know she truly thought it could have been either one of them but without embarrassing or upsetting her. Or Andri, because if she said it the wrong way, it implied she thought it wouldn't have been her. “I mean, it's probably usually close with Aladrens but with us....” she left the sentence there, sure it was clear as it stood and thanking English for its ambiguity. “And I don't think I'll be resting on any laurels when we go to the public vote at the end of next year,” she added. She doubted Alicia needed reminding that there was a bigger prize still to scoop but she hoped the idea might make her feel better. If she needed it. Henny knew she would have done, although it would have been buried under a lot of outward happiness for Alicia. But then her friend had probably just been snogging Thad Pierce, so perhaps her spirits didn't need that much lifting.

OOC - I wrote as if Henny got to the room first cos that just made writing easier, but vaguely like Andri's also there by the end, so it's up to you if/when you want her to appear. Basically, all we know is Henny was first into the room. The rest is up to fuzzy time.

13 Henny B-F-R [Insert witty title befitting a prefect here] 211 Henny B-F-R 0 5

Alicia Bauer

May 29, 2013 10:18 AM

[Insert equally clever response.] by Alicia Bauer

Alicia wanted to wince as soon as she heard herself speaking, knowing that her performance had not been quite note-perfect, but Henny seemed to buy it well enough. She almost felt guilty when the other girl said she was nice, considering that she had spent quite some time planning how to deal with every set of outcomes she could think of mostly to preserve her own comfort and position and circle of friends and control rather than out of any genuine pleasure at the thought of the majority of those situations, but found guilt as useless an experience as feeling sorry for herself and so tried not to bother herself with it. What did it matter, anyway, if she were really kind or just presenting herself as such, so long as she wasn't secretly trying to hurt Henny, a last part which only mattered at all because Henny was a friend? If it had been one of the other girls, she was reasonably sure that she wouldn't have felt a thing even if she had been out to get the other person, and as it was, they both won: Henny was happy, Alicia was on her way to getting one of her consolation prizes, and everything was fine.

"It's not exactly champagne, but we'll make it work," she said of her cranberry water.

"Of course not,” she said matter-of-factly when Henny disclaimed any intent to rest on her laurels when it came to Head Girl. “You’ll run for the money right along with the rest of us.” Politics might save her there. She was seeing at last the downside of pulling Henny further into her group last year, but she was pretty sure that Thad and Cepheus were still hers first, and hopefully Evan would follow along. She wondered if other people paid as much attention to bathroom graffiti as she did. It could be a viable way of planting rumors, if she got the timing right, and she was not yet decided over whether or not she wanted Megan and Theresa to have a gigantic cat fight in public. Such a pity Cepheus no doubt had too much self-respect to fool around with Waverly as well…. “As my mother so kindly kept reminding me this summer, we’ve got a lot of talent in this year.”

She smiled at Henny. “Which makes that – “ she tilted her glass toward Henny’s badge – “all the more of an accomplishment,” she concluded. “Though honestly, I wasn’t really surprised at all. You deserved it.” She raised the glass in her hand a little. “Here’s to you, Miss Prefect,” she said, and drank.

Already, she was considering revisions to the plans she had made. Some of them required too much cooperation from other people. Some of them could possibly use some more. One of them was going on hold until she could get her hands on a purple dress. She thought the groundwork was laid, though, and that was the important part. Tomorrow was nothing but a series of opportunities which were hers to seize or miss.

16 Alicia Bauer [Insert equally clever response.] 210 Alicia Bauer 0 5

Andrina Thornton

June 04, 2013 12:02 AM

[Insert a silent smile here] by Andrina Thornton

Andri had followed Henny into Aladren Commons after the Feast, though she was a few steps behind her roommate, lost in thought about the fact that she'd literally just spilled more than she ever had of herself out there right in the open of the Hall. Andri half assumed that Alicia would be up there crying that she had lost something else, but she wasn't in the room when Henny or her walked in. She didn't think anything of it, she just as assumed that their roommate was with Thad or something somewhere else and opened her mouth to perhaps continue somewhat of a conversation with Henny when Alicia came into the room. Andri's mouth shut as fast as it had opened up to Henny at Cascade Hall and instead Andri watched Alicia end up in a gleeful smile. I wonder what she's planning... Andri thought to herself, but didn't make a scene or say anything just yet.

When Alicia spoke, Andri glanced from one roommate to another in surprise. Is Alicia being fake? she thought to herself with a silent nod of her head. Of course she is... Still Andri stayed quiet, by this point she'd sat down on her bed and pulled her hair down and was sitting brushing it out. Alicia asked if anyone wanted cranberry water and Andri half wanted to say 'sure' but then worried that Alicia had planned poison for them or something. But Henny is Alicia's friend, would she really poison her own friend because she got Prefect over her? YES! Andri smiled towards Alicia and spoke to her directly. "I'm alright, thanks though, I'm good with my lemon water. I'm not such a big fan of cranberry..." she said with a small shrug, pulling out a water bottle from her trunk and opening it for a sip and a smile to show she was okay. Alicia asked Henny how it felt and started to pour the drink for the others.

When Henny started talking, Andri took her eyes off Alicia to watch and listen to the one talking and smiled at her friend and roommate. Sure, they didn't really know each other well, which was also surprising since they'd lived together that long, but Henny was with Alicia more than her and it was clear that Andri and Alicia didn't get along so well.

Alicia and Henny were talking, so Andri stayed silent once more, continuing to brush out her red hair until she heard Alicia say that there was a lot of talent in their year. I'm sure she doesn't mean me... Andri thought as Alicia drank to Henny. Andri drank to her also, making it clear to Henny that she, at least, was genuine in her drinking to her friend and roommate.

0 Andrina Thornton [Insert a silent smile here] 214 Andrina Thornton 0 5