Paying 302 a Visit

Anima knocked on the door of Dorm 302, anxiously waiting for a response. It was time to deal with the last of the fallout from a certain somebody having a bit of fun with Anima's Esper. Hopefully Anima would be able to convince Nicola, or at the very least she wouldn't end up pissing Nicola off. Given how this was in person, that would have the potential to end very poorly, and that was the last thing Anima wanted. She continued to wait at the door uneasily, with her notebook clutched to her chest.

Nighttime after classes and all she was expecting was to be able to relax. Her roommates didn't seem to be around. She had the entire dorm to herself, didn't she?

That was what she had thought. The moment the bell had rung, rushing back and flopping unceremoniously onto the couch was the first thing that had struck her mind. What was the point of getting back only to do homework? Finally being allowed to leave her dorm and attend classes normally was one thing - thank you mister Sun for not shining so brightly down on the Earth - but the deadlines were a drag. Procrastinate, procrastinate, procrastinate. They shouldn't be too hard, after all. There'd been too many strange incidents happening lately and they keep getting weirder and weirder by the days. Every time, this school was starting to prove that there was more to it than there seemed to meet the eye, but the closer she thought she was getting to finding the answer, the further away it was getting. Being so close yet so far... It was annoying.

Not being able to answer the question that kept lingering and pounding her brain to work was giving her more pain in her temples than necessary. Pinching the bridge of her nose, her fingers twirled the pencil and tapped it in a staccato rhythm against the coffee table, a paper flooded with sentences and sentences of sloppy handwriting resting on top. No, this was too much. Working on it later seemed like a better option than anything.

A loud, scratching noise emitted from the legs as the table was slid off to the side. Nicola picked up the TV remote and crinkling could be heard from the bag of chips that were conveniently always next to her on the couch. Opening it up, she absentmindedly pressed buttons onto a random channel. Nothing seemed very interesting. Just some stupid cartoon playing about some obscure boy and another random sidekick that didn't seem very relevant. The program reflected off her irises as she wrapped herself cozily in a blanket, all the lights were off and Lulu was curled up right beside her, seemingly sound asleep. Peace and quiet, just a little bit of time to---

Knock-knock!

Her head fell back in defeat, each pound on the door striking pangs of annoyance into her head and only serving to enhance her headache further. Any minute now and it would blossom into a beautiful flower and she'd just give up for the day. All went quiet on the western side of the room. Maybe the person had been thinking it was the wrong room and they had been fixing their mistake. Maybe they were drunk and had... Oh, who was she kidding? This wasn't New Years. It wasn't likely anyone was partying at the moment. Let's be realistic for a few moments. No one really ever visited her - sans Madison, the occasional Owen, her brother, and a few friends - and her roommates never really got visitors either... except when Brant goes to hang out with Destiny or something.

Maybe if she waited a bit this person would leave. Or curiosity could kill the cat and Nicola found herself walking towards the door. Self-reminder to kill Lulu later. She was going to regret her decision and it's all her cat's fault. Twisting the door knob, the Victorian-esque door swung open to reveal the figure of a girl only an inch or so shy of her height, hugging a notebook with a more anxious and awkward disposition than Madison could have. Charcoal black hair bobbed teasingly at her neck and her face looked familiar. Nicola couldn't put her finger on it.

She reached up to the bill of her cap, adjusting it a bit to the keep the light out of her gaze. Who was this again? Jogging her memory, it wasn't easy. Too many people at this school, too many facts to memorize for classes, too much classified information on demons... Wait, this was...? Oh, right. That Anima girl that sent those creepy-ass nudes over Esper. Nicola hadn't been expecting her to actually come, but here she was, standing out in the hallway and knowing she'd be in this dorm. How? It wasn't like dorm assignments were posted everywhere.

Ugh, forgot that. Time to get down to business. "Jeez, at least give me a heads-up if you plan to come." A hand flicked a strand of snow white hair out, the other expanding the distance between the door and the wall. "Help you herself in."

Anima nodded, walking into the dorm while still clutching her notebook. Looking around, she noticed how no one else seemed to be present in the dorm. She wasn't about to complain, of course. It was probably for the best that no one else be around; the last thing Anima wanted was for more people to become aware of the little Esper incident. She stood around near the couch, and eventually started to write in her notebook. She'd come here for a reason, after all. I'm still really sorry about what happened on Esper. I really didn't mean for anyone else to see those drawings. I didn't have a choice or the whole school wohld've seen them.

Like a cat watching a mouse's every movement, Nicola's sharp eyes followed Anima as she walked in, honing in on the notepad that she kept hugged at her chest with the slightest of frowns. Not even so much as a greeting or hello, huh? Manners and proper etiquette didn't exist anymore. Just waltz right into a room as though you owned the place, thanks... then again, she did sort of say that Anima could help herself in, didn't she? That still didn't excuse the lack of salutations that needed to be voiced. With an exasperated sigh, the door slammed itself shut as her fingers readjusted the lock before she leaped back onto the couch, the pillows cushioning her fall and bouncing her right back up into a sitting position.

Her house guest was awfully quiet. Too quiet. At least Madison, as awkwardly intriguing as she was, could manage a conversation but not so much as a peep had passed the other girl's lips. An introvert, Nicola had to conclude. Ugh, humans weren't that terrifying. There was no reason to be scared of another person like that so that it was impossible to talk for just a few minutes. Everyone was the same in one way or another, after all, according to the human genome project. What was it again? 6.3% to differentiate race? Yeah, people weren't all that different. Pretty close to the same, if not exactly identical. By that logic, humans would be treating chimpanzees in a similar manner, but... well, whatever the rest of the world feels like doing. Not enough people used their heads, only jumping some stupid bandwagon that came up for anything possible. People were dumb, sometimes, but that was an endearing feature about them too, drew in her curiosity.

Agh, enough about science. Introverts. Right. She hated most of them... except Madison, Devin, and a few select others. What's the point in trying to talk to someone who doesn't feel like talking back?

Anima was stiffly hovering at the side of the couch and after what seemed like a millennium, she finally moved. Time was crawling at its usual snail's pace, but this was ridiculous. It wasn't even possible to hear her breath. Was she some kind of mute? Great, just... great. Even worse than an introvert. One-sided conversations were the absolute best. There was always the possibility that she was only trying to collect herself to find the right words to speak. Thinking before speaking was a good idea. Impulse wasn't so bad sometimes either. But there was a slim chance of that being the case. Annoying screeching and scribbling noises came from her side, just as Nicola had been grabbing for her blanket to wrap herself up in a cocoon. She lifted her chin up towards the source, only to see Anima fiercely writing something.

Oh, come on.

Goddammit. She was actually mute.

An annoyed grumble bubbled up Nicola's throat as the book's pages were revealed to her. The sentences flying across the paper were all organized, the kind that was evenly spaced with consistent font size, easily readable. Nothing fancy, no silly little girly swirls here and there, not cursive, nothing decorative. So... plain. Too hard to read in the dark - probably should've turned the lights on. Oh well. She could barely make out the words with her poor vision, but context clues were a thing. Let's see... Esper, drawings, something. Her shoulders slumped, another exasperated sigh escaping from her. Seriously? It's been almost a month since this happened and Anima chose to come now of all times? It was so long ago - she had better things to focus on - and truth be told, Nicola had forgotten about it.

Blowing a stray strand of hair out of her eyes, Nicola kicked her legs up onto the coffee table and leaned back. "Yeah, got yourself into quite the predicament there, didn'tcha?" As much as it was in the realms of possibility, only an idiot would trap themselves in a corner without any route of escape. Anima was dumb enough to get there - it was her fault alone. "'course, anyone could've forwarded the pictures around in PMs. Whole school still sees it all right under your nose." Her hand reached into her pocket for her phone, a half-smile lacing across her features. Power on, get on Esper.

"I could do it right now~" Or she would've, if a notification hadn't gone off. Gossip Girl. Ugh. Her again? Skimming over the blog, her fingers speedily threw in a message. The first subject that had been discussed was about Anima... and her skimpy bikini with some girl named Evelyn. Suspiciously, Nicola eyed the girl in question. "Aren't you confident enough to share your body in public and in your drawings?"

"Should be confident enough to speak up, right? Look me in the eye and tell me the real story." Oh wait, she was forgetting something. Hastily, Nicola added on a phrase. "No writing."

Anima, feeling her phone vibrate in her pocket, was also made away of the Esper post. Seeing as Nicola seemed to already be looking at it, Anima took out her own phone and went on Esper. Almost immediately, she froze, her face reddening. What the fuck? She wasn't sure what was worse: the fact the whole school had probably seen that or the fact some creep had been able to take a picture without her noticing. Anima slowly looked up at Nicola when she spoke again. How was she supposed to communicate without writing? Trying to make this question known while avoiding writing, Anima shook her head.

The way her face was growing as red as a tomato, the disbelief written across her eyes as blatantly obvious as a neon sign shining all the way in Las Vegas to denote the many casinos and hotels and whatever services were flying around the bustling city, to the way she cautiously lifted her head and feverishly shook it as though to bring forth some message that will never pass her lips, never be heard - it made Nicola frown. As much as she'd love to play around with Anima and tease the living hell out of her, there were many things that could come out of this. Those kinds of emotions were the kinds that were not easy to replicate or fake. But now that she was into it, there really wasn't any way to back out.

Logical as it may seem that Anima was probably mute and couldn't communicate with her without writing, that could all be an act too. Hell, maybe she was completely embarrassed about something else, not the fact that her picture was posted online; could be that she was all flustered up about being mentioned with this one girl. Gossip Girl always had the greatest implications possible, didn't she? She hated that blog with a burning passion that was more indescribable than she could ever imagine in any way that was remotely possible. Twisting the truth into these over-complicated and far-off from the real deal stories, there was a personal vendetta here and there. Most of it being that it attacked friends. Keirsta and Leo, her little group with Owen and Madison, more about Leo, a few bits on Aleta and Devin, etc. etc. Too far, they were beginning to sprint their way across an unstable bridge that should be out of boundaries, forbidden to pass by.

But curiosity killed the cat.

It's what happens when you have rumors passed by to someone who liked to think a lot.

There was no way around it.

Yeah, she definitely trusted her friends. They weren't the type to do bad things or whatever Gossip Girl seemed to be imply about them. Leo was as true of an angel as could be. Keirsta wouldn't ever take advantage of her boyfriend. Owen and Madison were great friends, but that was really it - it wasn't like they were in some competition or something... just friends. Yeah. Just... friends. Hell, even Aleta and Devin were only beginning to hang out together a lot; Aleta was doing a good deed and Devin really needed someone to be there for him. Circumstances pushed them together, but a friend in need is a friend indeed. Was that the saying? Agh, this wasn't part of anything that she was supposed to be doing, huh? What was her attention on again? Girl in front of you. Out of the corner of her eyes, Anima's entire presence reminded her of the whole reason she was wandering off again in her own train of thought.

Phone in hand, screen up, skimpy picture of a girl with a swimsuit that hardly provided any cover and came off as indecent. Was she trying to make herself seem like a sexual object? Because that was the impression that Nicola could only arrive at. Maybe Anima was working around and trying to boost her self-confidence. That was fine, anyone needed that assurance that they were alright now and then. But giving herself a fake image like that? Really? Did she think, if she wore clothes like a slut that she would grab people's attention or something? It didn't work like that. It never did. It was an iffy method and it kind of disgusted Nicola a bit.

People like that had to pay the consequences for their actions. Her finger slid through her message threads before she reached one that seemed almost ancient. Anima's drawings. She had to restrain a repulsive look glancing back at these again. Yeah, they were well-drawn. And that's why it was cringeworthy. They were too real to be good. She didn't know much about drawing, but it was definitely only okay to have these kind of pictures if you were a NFSW artist or if it was incomplete or something, right? Isn't it illegal for people under 18 to draw this stuff?

Deep breath in, deep breath out. Just calm down a bit.

Flicking snow white strands of hair off to the side, flaring out and flying in a nonexistent breeze before gracefully falling back to her shoulders, Nicola turned back towards her guest, her head falling back onto the couch and being absorbed in the plush soft and sinking in. "Cat got your tongue? 'ya going to explain to me what's up?" A dark look entered her eyes, her smirk reviving itself and curving the corners of her mouth upward in a wry manner. If she did it this way, Anima couldn't fight back. She couldn't. This was a prefect's room. Destroying it could get her in serious trouble. Her brother was a prefect. And if Anima couldn't fight back, then her conclusions were always right.

So she wasn't going to let Anima talk to her. No writing, no speaking, no nothing. But she left a loophole. How smart was the other girl? Could she figure it out?

"Or am I right about what I've said?" She was an awful person, but this was too fun to pass the opportunity. Madison wouldn't let her do this again. She wouldn't be alive if she did this to Madison again. Onto the next victim until they've been tired out. "You shouldn't continue down this path, 'ya know..." insert glowing left blue eye here "Unless you wanna have a bad time."

Well, if she couldn't write or speak, why not draw? Anima flipped through to a blank page of her notebook frantically. Once she got to a blank page, she started to draw as quick as she could afford to without harming the clarity of the drawing. Eventually when she was done with the drawing, she flipped it around so that Nicola could see it. On the page were several drawings with lines separating them. The first drawing depicted Anima holding her notebook, with some other girl nearby. The next depicted the same, except now the other girl had it, a malicious look drawn on her face. There were more drawings like this that depicted the whole scene of the girl taking Anima's notebook and proceeding to use it for blackmail. Anima looked at Nicola. Would she believe her?

She should've confiscated that notebook. Inwardly grumbling, Nicola tucked her phone back into her pockets and slumped back onto the couch. All she could hear was the scratching sounds of the pencil Anima was working with, perhaps the sound of lead snapping here and there with perhaps the eraser rubbing at the side to get rid of unwanted lines or whatever she was doing. It sounded like drawing rather than writing - smooth strokes that were swift and maybe aimed to be a bit rougher while letters were much more firm and didn't need as much time. Besides, Anima seemed way too scared to go against her orders or something. She was panicking more violently than a storm with her flimsy and uncertain movements. This was going to take awhile, wasn't it? Too bad she wasn't very patient.

While Anima was scribbling away to her heart's desire, her hand reached for the remote, flipping through different TV channels to keep herself entertained or something along the lines. There's that one about some guy with his electric mouse, that other one about a gogglehead and his orange dinosaur thing, some other one about a dude and his ball monster thing, a guy with weird hard that played with cards, and a few more obscure ones. What was it, retro-monster cartoon marathon day? None of these were interesting. They were all cookie-cutter shows that were basically the same with a few differences here and there. Boooooooring. Hurry up. How could anyone be this slow? What was she doing, drawing a comic? Adding cute little sound effects here and there with glitter and whatever fancy things that comics used? Lines for drama or something?

Oh, wait... She was. Fucking kill her already. She didn't want a silly little story that Anima might've come up with on the spot from how long she had taken with it. Okay, well, admittedly, they're pretty good sketches. All of that nice 'n fine detail and such, the same detail that went too far with the pictures that were sent to her some time ago and the whole reason this girl was invading her personal time in the first place. Too bad it was kind of hard to tell who the other girl was supposed to be with the lack of color. Anyone could mistake it for someone else and even then, people can have generic appearances and look similar to one another. Nicola rolled her eyes, brushing off the amount of effort that her guest was trying to convince her of this little story.

Her fingers fiddled with the brim of her cap, pulling it down and covering her blue gaze. "That s'posed to be me? I can still send it to the entire school, 'ya know." It was true. She could easily pluck her phone out, insert a few names here and there, and have everyone let the pictures circulate around until every single person on the campus saw it. That was a huge possibility. The only difference was, she hadn't taken Anima's notebook yet. Did she use two different ones - one to draw and one to write? Not likely. Seemed too much like a waste of paper. There was only one way to find out, though. Holding her palm out, Nicola straightened right back up and placed her hat on the coffee table in front of her.

"Mind handin' that over to me?" This was her room. Her room, her rules, right? Forget the prefects. Brant wouldn't mind her doing this. He wasn't the one received those wretched drawings that she would've really loved to not ever hear about ever again. "Warnin' you now - give it and nobody gets hurt~"

Well, almost nobody. But Anima didn't need to know that, right?

... Right?

Too late to go back on all of this now. 'Finish what you started' they always say.

Hand it over? But... why? That threat disguised as a warning didn't really help either. Whatever she intended to do with the notebook should Anima hand it over, it probably wasn't good. Anima took a step backward towards the door, extending a shaking hand, palm facing towards Nicola. Even though she probably wouldn't go as far to attack over a damn notebook, better safe than sorry, right? All Anima wanted now was to get out of the dorm room and far away from here without things getting really bad. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like that was terribly likely.

At this point of time, it was hard not to feel sorry for Anima in the slightest bit. She knew that she was going way too far with all of this and that maybe now was the time to stop trying to frighten an already cornered mouse by retracting claws in and out, and she probably would've if it weren't for her pride and confidence holding her back. It was a bit much to go this far, but then again, it was a bit much to go this far to try and convince some random stranger that someone didn't draw naked self-portraits of themselves to send to other people. A part of her believed Anima's story, but she didn't let that lingering thought reveal itself on her face. That was kind of a sign of weakness.

There were many things she could go about doing here. One was to drop the act and get on with the show already. Another one would've been to let it all go and pretend this never happened ever again. Or maybe something along the lines of a mixture of both would've been a good idea too. With the way things were going, the only path she could really take was the one she had already been going towards - making her guest pay for the crime she committed. Of course, maybe toning it down would've been fine as well. This was already going too far and breaking through her moral standards or whatever other values she held somewhere up there. The last time she did something like this was back with Madison.

It was strange, seeing the uncanny resemblance between the two of them. Outside of the obvious dark hair and subtle, muted eye colors, they were both pathetically awkward and seemed to lack social skills here and there. Madison had a sketchpad too where she drew other people, perhaps maybe even herself, while this girl carried her book around and clung to it as though it were her only lifeline. Technically, it was her saving grace to speak and communicate with everyone else, but she could've gotten herself a few lessons on sign language and brought a translator along, couldn't she? That seemed more logical unless she was too poor for it. Certainly seemed like it. But who was she to judge? The cliche was rich people tend to have proper etiquette and manners while the poor were in a state of noble savage and reverted to the wild beasts of the forest and here she was, staring at an already defeated soul with a Cheshire Cat-like grin, ready to pounce on its tail and continue to play like she never had before.

Hopping onto her feet with a skip to its beat, Nicola went with the only thing she knew she could do now. She took a step forward wordlessly grasping at one of her elbows. The faintest sly smirk was a ghost on her lips. Kneeling down, her disheveled white hair fell over her eyes as a crackling crimson red glow snaked around her arms, a vermilion line etched in.

A sword's handle began to take shape from underneath her flesh and soon enough, she pulled it out. The plaything of a demon, meant to break the enemy's guard with fear and some other tactics. Nicola knew better than to attack another student - it was part of the rules. But there wasn't anything wrong with using it as part of a little scheme like this. Lifting up her chin, red spilled into her blue eyes, oozing in like each drop of water from a faucet, and she gave an innocent smile, slowly rising from her position with ease. She closed her eyes in something that was longer than a standard blink before pulling back and taking another pace forward.  

It was better not to think about how stupid this was. She hadn't acted on impulse since she tricked Madison into playing the accursed Pocky game with her. She needed the fun for once. Homework was beginning to eat her from the inside.

Waving an index finger surrounded by a mysterious red substance, luminescent particles spinning around it, Nicola couldn't help but tease. "No can do~" Anima should know by now that if she tried to escape, there would be none. She wouldn't be able to escape this school without ridicule and torment chasing her at every corner until the next big thing that happened. Gossip Girl would be her Jesus there, if something that big ever happened.

"If you leave, I'll make sure everyone at the academy receives the pictures."

More than anything, it was an empty threat. Nicola wouldn't ever go that far. She liked to tease, not necessarily bully someone and ruin their entire reputation or life. That was way too far. This was more like getting a girl to keep playing along with a prank. In the end, it probably was just a prank. Messing with someone else's emotions for entertainment - in a sense, she was a tiny bit sadistic. But she was bored and wanted something to get her excitement levels going. It slipped her mind that this wasn't supposed to be taking so long. Oh well.

This was too much fun for now. She'll regret it later, but what's life without being a little reckless and rash?

Better to take risks than to never take a chance at all.