Where'd I put my keys...

[Deleted]

Willow had thrown her bags into her dorm hastily before going outside to say goodbye to her mother one last time, not that she cared much to say goodbye. Her mother, having shipped her off to boarding school to essentially get rid of her so they could have more time to deal with Willow’s needy older sister, was playing the attentive, caring mother role in order to deal with her guilt. Willow had decided going with it was easier than making a fuss. Walking back to her dorm, she realized she was moving so quickly before she didn’t get a chance to get a good look at the place. It was nice, in a cozy sort of way. It certainly didn’t look like your typical dorm. But then again, everything at Blue Ridge seemed to be nicer than she was used to.

She had hoped she’d get a single – hadn’t she requested not to have a roommate on her application? – but it was clear from the made bed that her request had not been heeded. And she could have sworn she heard someone saying something about extra empty rooms… Hopefully the b**ch will just stay out of my way, Willow thought while resentfully staring at the lived in side of the room, as if through staring at inanimate objects her resentment would somehow be transferred onto their owner.  She didn’t do well with people in big spaces, let alone dorm rooms, and at home her room was like her refuge.  Coming into her room was like infringing on her privacy, intruding on her space.  Clearly, she would have to find another area to relax in. She turned Pandora radio on to her alternative rock station, cranked the volume, and continued to unpack, hoping she wouldn’t be intruded on any time soon.

[Serenity Oliver]

Serenity was dressed in an ankle length, mauve gypsy style dress and a purple velvet cape. She was enjoying a little peace and quiet, well peace from other humans as her kitten was winding between the girl's legs, as she walked through the Memory Garden. Even though it wasn't a cemetery in the technical sense, it still carried the same feeling of tranquillity.

Once she had finished sorting her thoughts, she scooped up Luna and made her way back to the dorm room. As soon as she walked into the House, she knew that Tommy was in his bedroom. Something about being a twin made her know where he was. Even if they were a distance apart, she wouldn't know exactly where he was, but she could point in the direction he was in and nine out of ten times, if someone drew a straight line from her finger, the line would end at her brother.

Walking up the stairs, with Luna still tucked under her arm, she paused at the door to her room. She had been in the room by herself since she joined the Academy, that it was easy to know that she was no longer the only occupant in the room, as she didn't even have to go through the door to feel the change in the energy. Placing Luna on the floor, she stepped forward, pushed the door open and walked into the room. "Welcome to C oh one." She said she crossed to her side of the room and quickly pushed the large leather covered tome that was on her desk to the back of it, letting out a breath when she could tell that it hadn't been touched. 

[Deleted]

Willow was flying through the unpacking process. It helped that her mother, as part of her attentive parent act, had folded and organized her clothes so all Willow had to do was pick up the piles and put them into suitcases, and then pick up those piles and put them into drawers. It certainly was more efficient than Willow’s go-to method of packing, which was throwing everything into a bag and dealing with it when you get wherever you’re going. It also helped that Willow simply didn’t have a lot of stuff. All that she brought with her fit into two large duffels and one smaller bag.

Willow was simultaneously rocking out to an old My Chemical Romance song and putting away the last of her clothes when she heard the door to the room open. Being the cold and distant girl she was, she didn’t even bother to turn around and greet who she assumed was her roommate until she had heard the other girl’s greeting and had finished the task she had at hand. She rotated to face the girl.

The two could not have more different styles. Willow was wearing a t-shirt, skinny jeans so tight they were practically painted on to her legs, and low black leather boots. In a sort of joke with herself, Willow stared gape-mouthed for a second or two before actually speaking. ”Well, aren’t you a trip,” she scoffed with a laugh. She took in the girl’s dress, the velvet cape. It was as if this girl were in a period costume. There’s no way there could be a drama production this early in the year, Willow decided, realizing that this simply was the outfit her roommate had chosen for the day. ”I think you're lost. Medieval Times ended about five or six centuries ago…” Willow mocked, chuckling to herself as she turned around to open the next suitcase she would unpack.

[Serenity Oliver]

Serenity felt herself blush at the other girl's attitude. "I guess you're just lucky you weren't here on Halloween then." She replied as she swept the cap off her shoulders and put it away in her closet. She then turned to her drawers and opened the second and third, pulling out the clothing she wanted; a white and blue peasant shirt and black skinny jeans. With a smile toward the other girl, she headed for the bathroom to get changed.

Walking out, she hung the dress up in her closet and then. picking up the leather tome, she sat cross-legged on her bed and opened the book to where she had it marked. She liked reading through things she had written in the past, as what she had written previously, could only help her in her current study. "Hey Luna." She said as the jet black kitten jumped up onto the bed and made herself comfortable in the hollow of the girl's legs. "I'm Serenity." She offered to the other girl.

Lifting the cat off her legs, she unfolded herself and walked over to the bookshelf where she selected a paperback and returned to her bed. "I really like your boots." She said as she folded her legs again and returned to her books.

[Deleted]

Willow watched the girl pull out new clothes while she thought back to Halloween. Or was it Halloween two years ago she was thinking of? Not that it made much of a difference. For the past however many Halloweens, Willow had taken full advantage of the slutty Halloween costume trend, blending right in at the sloppy Halloween parties instead of sticking out like a sore, out of control, thumb like she normally did. For a moment, she tried to imagine this girl in one of those scenes, with her dress and her cape, and a witch hat on just for effect. ”I can only imagine…” Willow said, more to herself than the girl, smirking and rolling her eyes as she started pulling towels and bedding out of her suitcase.

Willow had pulled everything out of her suitcase and arranged it all in organized piles on the floor by the time the girl came back out of the bathroom in her new outfit. She looked the girl up and down again, taking in the different look. ”Oh sweetie,” she said, her voice laced with ice, ”I know imitation is the best form of flattery, but trying too hard kind of ruins the image, dontcha think?” She was being condescending, and yet playful. At least, she was having fun. It was worth noting that Willow didn’t actually think the outfit was half bad. Willow also noticed that while the girl seemed a little taken aback initially, she didn’t seem too deterred by Willow’s icy attitude. Interesting…

”How sweet, a cat that follows you around. Do you two have matching fleas?” Willow scoffed, chuckling again to herself. ”And if you do, can I get pest control called on the both of you?” Willow flashed an icy smile that anyone would find off-putting. ”God, that would be your name,” Willow said with an exasperation of breath, again more to herself than to Serenity. She knew that normally this would be the time to introduce herself, but Willow wasn’t one to follow normal social frameworks. Instead, she threw her now empty suitcase off to the side and started making her bed. ”Wow, so the talking Medieval doll does have some fashion sense!” Willow flashed one sideways glance at Serenity, noting the old leathery book Serenity had while feigning absolute disinterest, and went back to making her bed.

[Serenity Oliver]

Reni arched a single eyebrow as she pulled her blonde hair back into a pony tail. "If I was trying to imitate you, I'd have had my jeans spray painted on." She replied easily. Sure, her older brother was only five minutes older, but he still felt that his height over her gave him permission to torment her as though there were years that separated them, so she could fire out the retorts when she needed to.

The freshman sighed at the other girl's comment about her cat. "Luna only follows me around inside. Unlike my brother's cat, Onyx, who follows Tommy everywhere. And if you so feel inclined to call pest control, just be careful. People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones and all that." Her tone hadn't changed once, even with the sarcastic retorts, she still sounded calm and slightly distant from the whole conversation.

Reni glanced over as the girl was making her bed, eyebrow lifted again. "Gee, I didn't realise that we were still in middle school. I was sure that most people grew out of the childish snarkiness when they hit fourteen. Obviously, where you come from, someone skipped you when they were handing out maturity." Her lips moved in a smile that didn't reach her eyes. She knew that if her roomie didn't lose the attitude, things were going to get very interesting in the room, and Serenity was going to bring out her true witch.

[Deleted]

Willow was taken aback by Serenity’s cool and calm disposition in response to Willow’s attitude. Damn, she knows how to handle herself, Willow thought, so used to people either avoiding her or ignoring her or crumbling before her. She knew how to respond in those types of situations – with more ruthless wit. In situations like these, she had to get crafty or risk having her mean and apathetic façade break apart.

”If you spray painted any article of clothing on, I’d be seeing way more than I signed up for, and frankly, I don’t swing that way.” Willow winked at Serenity, knowing fully that the girl wasn’t coming on to her, but Willow was always willing to ruffle feathers so to speak. ”How sweet, a family of fleas!” Willow laughed to herself, mostly for effect, not bothering to pause making her bed as she shot off her rude remarks without a second thought. ”Are you trying to turn my comment around on me? How cute,” Willow said with a demeaning attitude.

On Serenity’s comment about maturity, Willow thought about her history, how she’d had her innocence stolen from her and had dealt with it in the only way she knew how – on her own. She’d spent years grieving the loss of her childhood by playing in an adult’s world and lashing out at others when she found that she didn’t fit in that adult’s world. ”You know nothing about maturity,” Willow shot back, trying to keep the same sarcastic distant tone in her voice but ever so subtly failing. While she didn’t know Serenity’s history, she did know her own, and that was enough for her voice to be subtly laced with venom.

[Serenity Oliver]

Reni shook her head at the other girl and rolled her eyes and raised her eyebrows feigning surprise. "Wow, you actually do have a brain in there aside all the acid." She commented when the other girl worked out that she had turned the comment on her. "And thanks, my family have always said I'm pretty cute."

She pulled a pen out from under her pillow and began to take notes from the paperback she was reading into her leather bound book. "Ooh, I seem to have hit a nerve." She remarked when the acid seemed to have vanished from the other's voice when she commented about maturity. "Want to talk about it?" She unfolded her legs once more as she rose to her feet and walked over to the altar she had set up on the window sill. She noticed that the water bowl was more empty then it was full so she grabbed the glass bottle from the wooden box in her closet and filled the bowl up once more. Opening the drawer in the side of the wooden box altar, she pulled out a lighter and lit the incense, breathing in the soothing Lilac scent, and then lit each of the coloured tea-light candles that sat at each compass point on the altar. Placing her hands together, she bowed slightly over the altar. "Namaste." She whispered and returned to her bed. Let her new roomie make what she wanted out of that!

[Deleted]

”They seem to have let me into this fine academy, so I must have something” Willow spat in response to Serenity’s comment about having a brain. She was making fun of the various brochures and pamphlets she had received, all boasting the elite nature of the boarding school. ”I bet they called you special, too!” Willow said sarcastically, her voice held by a mocking excited tone.

Still reeling from Serenity’s comment about maturity, Willow shot the girl a glaring, yet dead look. Her eyes, normally colored with amusement, were stark, and her face held none of the backwards playfulness it often did. That glare, however, could cut through stone. ”There’s nothing to talk about.” The barren look left as quickly as it had come.

Willow warily eyed the girl as she went over to her weirdly set up wooden box. She watched as the girl filled the bowl of water, which she had previously thought might be for the cat, but now was realizing it was something else entirely. She watched as the girl lit the incense with its recognizable smell, and the candles. ”Isn’t that some sort of fire hazard,” Willow shot venomously, trying to interrupt the girl’s ritual. ”Oh yeah, your parents definitely called you special…” Willow chuckled to herself as she put the finishing touches on her bed and put the extra bedding away before starting to give the rest of the piles on the floor a place.

Suddenly, the smell of incense filled the last corners of the room. ”I understand religious tolerance and all that,” Willow started condescendingly, taking the box with the candles to be a religious ritual, ”but that is NOT gonna fly.” Willow aggressively pointed to the incense so there could be no confusion.

[Serenity Oliver]

Serenity let the special comment slide as she yawned, growing bored with the entire conversation. "Oh, I seem to have hit a small nerve." She commented offhandedly.

She glanced over her shoulder after she finished lighting the candles. "I make them small, so they burn for no long than an hour, they are no where near the curtains, so no. There is no fire hazard." She replied breezily. "To be honest with you. Yes, my parents do indeed call me special, as Tommy and I seem to have a gift that none of our family have had for many generations."

She settled herself on the bed and closed her eyes as she inhaled the Lilac scent. She opened her eyes and gave the girl an angelic smile. "What's wrong?" She asked, her tone innocent. "Lilac is perfect for soothing, increasing psychic powers and to attract harmony into one's life." She shrugged. "I'm sure that attracting harmony wouldn't be such a bad thing in your case. And you never know, if you sit and meditate for a bit, you might even learn some more about yourself." If it wasn't for the fire hazard thing, Reni would have a candle lit in front of her. The girl loved candles, and it was interesting what you could do with a flame. "And thank you for acknowledging that witchcraft is a religion." She gave the girl another angelic smile and went back to her studying.