Gwenhwyfar Carey
April 30, 2005 6:38 PM
The Serpent's Lair by Gwenhwyfar Carey
Gwenhwyfar walked into the Common Room, outwardly composed and in control. Behind the mask, she was rattled more than she should ever have allowed herself to be. She had to get a grip. She was in the Crotalus Common Room, the one place in Sonora where she would be a fool to feel truly safe. Every word she said, ever gesture she made, was part of the Grand Masque while she was here, and she had to play her part flawlessly. Her father had been preparing her for this her whole life, and she didn't want to think about the repercussions if she proved a disappointment.She saw Jordanna Howard talking to Asher and deliberately went as far from them as she could get. She had a feeling that the conversation was not a friendly one, and, given what she had already deduced of Jordanna and Asher's characters, things would get even less friendly if the conversation was prolonged. Moving purposefully, she went to where a silver pitcher of water sat on a tray next to a matching goblet. She was only able to fill the goblet half of the way becaus her hands started shaking so violently that she knew any more would end up all over the tabletop instead of in the goblet. She focused on calm. She had just endured a day from hell, but she wasn't going to let it get to her. She was stronger than that. Sitting down in the nearest armchair, she crossed her knees and sipped at her water, attempting to look unthreatening.
She really saw the Common Room for the first time. She had been exhausted when she came to bed the night before, and hadn't taken much time to enjoy the scenery while trying to hurry to breakfast that morning. Not bad, for a Spanish-style building in the West. The ceiling was respectably high, the angles of the room managed not to be awkward, and the wall hangings and rugs and furnishings were plainly of good quality, even if the deep, rich red color was a bit choking. She wanted to start mentally pricing things, but she was here to think about people, not possessions.
The deal she had struck with Anne during the flying lesson complicated things for her. It had been a risk, being so brutally honest. It could get back to her parents, which would without a doubt lead to painful consequences, and it could have lost her the friends she had managed to make. She didn't regret it, though. She had made the decision that the risk was worth it, and it couldn't be changed. Until Christmas, she had to watch her step twice as closely as she would have anyway.
The part of her personality that was pure Carey, all politics and relatively little heart, had risen to prominence as a result of the stresses of the day, and it would be a perfect waste to not use the element of calculation that had temporarily surfaced to consider her position and her options. She hadn't wanted to be calculating or deceptive at all while she was at school, but circumstances, not wishes, dictate life. The first year Crotali were divided into two camps from what she could tell, and it was going to take all the guile she could muster to navigate her way through the layers of intrigue and hostility that were bound to start piling up. Her position was neither strong nor gifted with many options at that moment, but that could change easily. She wouldn't be in Jordanna's clique even if she was asked, but she thought she might be able to establish herself as a member's rival. Having that little girl's gang see her as a possible threat would be enough to satisfy her, but it was going to take work to reach that point. She knew where to start, though.
Her eyes lit on a rug depicting the silver rattlesnake of Crotalus. A rattler was a fitting emblem for them, she thought, since it appeared to her that nine-tenths of the Crotalus population were nothing but snakes in high grass, waiting for a chance to strike. She drank down the rest of the painfully cold water in one long swallow and slammed the goblet down on the table beside the pitcher. She was just another viper in a nest of vipers, and it wasn't a question of if they would kill each other off, only when. Only when. Her train of thought was broken by the shadow of another student falling across her chair, and she didn't have to look to know that it wasn't one of her friends. Just as well. She needed to talk to someone she couldn't trust just then, to make sure her skills were still sharp. \n\n
Subthreads: Yes, and some are more lethal than others by Catherine Raines with Gwenhwyfar Carey, Nicoletta Dupree, Asher Tallow, Nicoletta
Eaves-dropping: Not for the weak at heart by Earl Valentine
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Gwenhwyfar Carey
The Serpent's Lair
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Gwenhwyfar Carey
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Catherine Raines
May 01, 2005 8:57 PM
Yes, and some are more lethal than others by Catherine Raines
Catherine entered the Crotalus common room, glancing around discreetly to determine whether she would stay or go upstairs. Jordanna was writing a letter, by the looks of it, and one of the loser crew was sitting as far from her as she could get, drinking a glass of what Catherine assumed was water. The loser was surveying the room in a way that made Catherine uneasy, for some reason. She thought it would probably be best to go on to the dorm and wait for the others to join her.She was halfway across the room when she heard the sound of metal hitting wood very hard. Loser Girl had, for no apparent reason, slammed her silver goblet onto the table. That sort of thing just couldn't be overlooked. Did Loser Girl have any idea how much that goblet and that table probably cost? Irate, Catherine marched over.
"Are you even stupider than I thought you were?" she asked, not bothering to be polite. If this girl was anyone worth being polite to, she would be in the group with Catherine and Jordanna and Nicoletta, not with two badly-dressed girls who certainly didn't act like any purebloods Catherine Raines had ever heard of. "I mean, obviously your taste in friends lacks something to be desired, but don't act like a complete idiot. Although I certainly can't tell why, you're in Crotalus, and the House image is very important. Do you have any idea how much damage you could have done to the table, or how much it would cost to replace the table?" She thought she remembered this one. She spoke with a Southern accent and had been presumptuos enough to say good morning to Catherine and Nicoletta that morning in the dorms. This was the one Catherine thought might almost be a threat to her own position in the House, but not quite. She crossed her arms and tapped her toe, daring Loser Girl to make a comeback. \n\n
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Catherine Raines
Yes, and some are more lethal than others
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Catherine Raines
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Gwenhwyfar Carey
May 01, 2005 9:37 PM
What's that supposed to mean? by Gwenhwyfar Carey
Gwenhwyfar looked up, faintly amused, as Miss Raines finished her rant. "Well, well, well," she drawled out cooly. "Catherine Raines, isn't it? Yes, I've heard about you." She didn't say what she had heard, and for two good reasons. One was that what wasn't said was always twice as threatening as what was said. The other was that she hadn't actually heard any dirt on Raines yet.The fact that Catherine was a stupid prep did not count as dirt."And I am perfectly aware of how much everything in this room costs," she said, her voice still perfectly controlled. "I like to think I probably know better than you do, as I have shown some symptoms of moderate intelligence. Finding out the names of my enemies, for example. I'm willing to bet you haven't got the first idea who I am. The name's Carey, Gwenhwyfar Carey." She gave Raines a contemptuous look. "Notice that I didn't give you permission to use it."
Raines had been put on probation by Dupree that morning, after a fashion, but Gwenhwyfar had seen Howard having cozy little chats with her more than once. If she cut Raines down before she had time to really become a true threat, it would weaken the prep power base. Oh, this was going to be fun, the kind of fun her father had when he successfully got people kicked off the board of the Southern Wizarding Convention. She had never liked it that she was the most like her father of his three children, but it was useful, sometimes. Sitting back in the rather comfortable armchair, she watched Raines unflinchingly, waiting for the other girl's reaction.\n\n
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Gwenhwyfar Carey
What's that supposed to mean?
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Gwenhwyfar Carey
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Nicoletta Dupree
May 02, 2005 12:54 PM
Isn't it obvious? by Nicoletta Dupree
Nicoletta had walked into the Common room in time to hear a quite interesting discussion between her friend and the girl she had snubbed earlier. She narrowed her eyes slightly. How dare she threaten her friend! While she knew Catherine was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, Nicoletta thought it was time to show the power of their group.Stepping up next to them with an air of cool confidence, she said in a deathly calm voice, "Gwenhwyfar, is it? Let's see how far you will go here. You are willing to place bets on that which you really don't know, nor aren't at least fifty-one percent truly sure of. It really isn't a bet I would take."
To further conclude her point, Nicoletta narrowed her eyes further and continued, slowly and carefully, "Let's consider this, shall we? You assumed that she didn't know who her enemies were. Just because we don't brag about knowing who they are, doesn't mean we don't. After all, one shouldn't show all their cards at once. Believe me, stick around for the grand finale."\n\n
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Nicoletta Dupree
Isn't it obvious?
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Nicoletta Dupree
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Gwenhwyfar Carey
May 02, 2005 8:38 PM
Unsheathing our claws a bit early, aren't we? by Gwenhwyfar Carey
Gwenhwyfar had to work hard to keep from laughing hysterically when Nicoletta Dupree joined Catherine's assault on her. She felt as if she were drunk, making her wonder for a split second if one of the preps hadn't done something to the water. She didn't let herself entertain paranoia for long, though. It was too risky, here and now.Without allowing her face to change, she attempted to deduce just how powerful Raines and Dupree were together. She was sure she could deal with either one of them alone, but she didn't know if she could really deal with two at once. It would be a gamble, but she was a regular Savannah cliche from a whole family of them. Gambling was in her blood. She smiled at her two adversaries.
"I'd almost say that was a threat, Nicoletta, but of course you wouldn't stoop that low," she said. "And while we're talking about assumptions, let's move on to you. You said 'Gwenhwyfar, is it?', therefore proving that you didn't know who I was. I didn't know someone who claims to be so well-bred could be so totally lacking in subtlety. Another example of this is your assumption that I've shown and played all my cards." She allowed a hint of mocking amusement to show in her blue eyes. "You see, Nicoletta? I have evidence to back up my assumptions while you know nothing about me at all. And I will be sure to stick around for the grand finale where you and your little friends have your noses quite thoroughly ground into the mud."
They were more united than she had thought, but she still had her last-ditch resource if she and her friends couldn't take on the full clique. If all else failed, she had one last thing to fall back on in the last extremes of desperation. A debt unpaid did nothing but gain interest until it was paid, and paid in full. As long as that debt went unpaid, they would never be able to take her down further than she already was.\n\n
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Gwenhwyfar Carey
Unsheathing our claws a bit early, aren't we?
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Gwenhwyfar Carey
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Catherine Raines
May 05, 2005 9:47 PM
Getting defensive already? by Catherine Raines
Catherine was about to make a sharp retort when Nicoletta came up and delivered a very cutting speech to Gwenhwyfar. Their group was more than a match for Gwenhwyfar Carey, and Nicoletta was helping her to make that abundantly clear. Carey might have been smart, she might have been well-versed in the ways of the pureblood world for all Catherine knew, but she lacked the most essential thing of all for winning confrontations like these:strong allies.Disdain turned to anger when Gwenhwyfar replied. Just who did this loser think she was? She looked like she was probably smart enough to realize just how far down the social ladder she was, smart enough to realize that in their world she was supposed to bend over backwards to earn the approval of her betters. Gwenhwyfar was, as far as Catherine was concerned, an embarrassment to pureblood society. She came from an old family, if Catherine's memory was any good, but she was little better than the mudblood trash she befriended.
"You think so?" she said when Gwenhwyfar announced she would be sure to stay around for the grand finale where Catherine and her friends got their noses ground in the mud. "If you had any idea of how things actually work in our world, Gwenhwyfar, you would know you're claiming to do the impossible. It's you who's going to be knocked off your pedastal,not us. Don't worry, though-you're so close to the ground anyway that you probably won't even break a heel." She gave the other girl her practiced cold, disdainful look down her nose. "I wouldn't try to make any more clever replies if I were you, because every word you say just gives more verisimiltude to the idea that you're a nobody and never will be anything else." Catherine wasn't entirely sure she had used the word verisimiltude correctly, but it sounded good and Gwenhwyfar probably wouldn't know the difference anyway. \n\n
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Catherine Raines
Getting defensive already?
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Catherine Raines
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Asher Tallow
May 06, 2005 12:28 PM
Thank the gods for the subconscious. by Asher Tallow
Half way up the stairs that led to the girls' side of the dorms, it occurred to Asher what she had seen after stomping away from that Howard brat in a haze of red vision. Two steps past the midway point, and another thought hit her. No way was Gwen just having a friendly chat with the likes of Nicoletta Dupree and Catherine Raines. And two against one was just not fair.Asher launched herself back down the stairs, giving little thought to how exactly she was going to save her friend from the mortal peril that came with being penned in with two of the Hens at the same time. She supposed she could threaten to touch them or something- the Hens apparently thought she was Muggle-born. It seemed that even with the Tallow name being so old and everything, it didn't carry much of a punch. She gave a mental shrug; no skin off her back on that one.
She skipped over the last two steps and arrived in the room just in time to hear Catherine Raines attempt to sound intelligent. Asher's reflexive bark of laughter interrupted like nails on a blackboard- completely worthy of cringing.
"Aw...come on, Catherine," she began with a false tone of friendliness. "You know better than to use words with more than two syllables; it only shows off what your family's years of inbreeding has resulted in. 'Verisimilitude' is defined as something having the appearance of truth, but not proof of it. You just gave my friend Gwen here a very nice compliment. If it weren't for the fact you were trying to insult her, I might compliment you on a nicely handled bit of rhetoric."
Asher cozied on into the somewhat triangular formulation, siding up next to Gwen in a firm wall of solidarity. "But you know, really, I should thank you anyway Catherine, for going out of your way to show that very little needs to be said for you to make a complete idiot out of yourself. I should ask about getting a podium placed in here, and designate Wednesday nights as Catherine Raines Night: Idiocy at Its Pureblood Finest."
She gave Gwen's elbow a slight tug, hoping that the other girl wouldn't be upset at her just butting on in. Arguments were one of the few times her sarcasm ever came in handy, and thankfully Raines had made it more than easy to make fun of her. \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Asher Tallow
Thank the gods for the subconscious.
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Asher Tallow
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Nicoletta
May 06, 2005 2:52 PM
You have one? by Nicoletta
In the grander scheme of things, flies mean nothing. They live briefly and then they die, just really something to swat at, much like this girl. Nicoletta thought it was amusing that she tried to be clever by using one of the definitions of verisimilitude. She should probably correct the girl before she embarrassed herself further."Acutally, verisimilitude can also mean depicting realism, as in Gwenhwyfar was just showing the reality that she is a nobody and always will be," Nicoletta said in a matter of fact tone.
Thank goodness part of her home-studies had included an extensive improvement of vocabulary. She didn't know what she would have done if she had the same word usage of someone of lesser blood.
"As for you," she continued, looking at the other girl, "did no one ever teach you it is impolite to interrupt a conversation? I've heard even muggles know how to say 'excuse me.'"
This girl was rude and crude. She had no true manners. One of noble blood should have such even in the face of adversity, which just showed how much lesser the girl was compared to Catherine and herself.\n\n
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Nicoletta
You have one?
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Nicoletta
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Gwenhwyfar Carey
May 07, 2005 9:52 PM
And you know how to <i>think</i>? I'm in shock. by Gwenhwyfar Carey
Gwenhwyfar was startled when another voice cut in, explaining to Catherine just how stupid she was. It took her a minute to recognize the new speaker as Asher. She threw her friend a quick look as Asher tugged very slightly on her elbow. Shifting her gaze back to Raines and Dupree, she gave a barely noticable nod. Asher evened things out, making it two-on-two, and her pureblood status made a strong statement about the accuracy of their rivals' mudlsinging. She remembered an old saying about pureblood girls that floated around the half-blood part of Savannah, the one where four pureblood girls meant someone ended up dead. How very fitting."Better book the podium for the whole week," she said. "The fact that she can only speak for so long before she runs out of pre-memorized statements has to be taken into account and accomodations made." She lowered her voice to a fake whisper the other girls would have to be deaf not to hear as if she were in a play. "Poor thing. She hasn't got the sense to tie her own shoes, I don't suppose. It's really hard not to feel sorry for her, living out her whole life without a clue or any way of getting one." She wondered if that might not be a bit much for even Asher to stomach, but she had never been kind when there was a battle at hand, and this was war to the knife.
She clapped her hands like a delighted child when Nicoletta offered an alternate definition for versimilitude. "Very good, Nicoletta," she said sweetly. "Good for you and Catherine both. You can actually pronounce the great big word!" Her voice was heavy-laden with the false, overenthusiastic note of praise used for no purpose other than to insult and mock an enemy.
Her eyes narrowed when Nicoletta asked Asher if she had ever been taught manners. "You're a fine one to talk about manners, Nicoletta," she said. "So far, neither you nor your little friend Cate here have shown me the slightest hint of politeness, and surely even you two aren't stupid enough to not realize I'm fully your equal by birth and breeding.As a matter of fact, you've both been downright rude and offensive, first to me and now to Asher, who, if you're not smart enough to realize it, is also a pureblood. I know a lot of people in high places who would think twice about marrying you to their sons if I accidentally let slip that you're both stupid preps without any notions of propriety or social abilities."
True enough, that. As a Carey, she had connections to every major family in the South, and she had blood relationships to most of them. Years of sectionalism and inbreeding had made the families of the Southern Wizarding Convention all cousins, one way or another, and she was everyone's favorite niece. The Princess of Savannah. Leader of a clique in South Carolina that would eat Jordanna Howard, Nicoletta Dupree, and Catherine Raines alive if the two ever crossed paths. More than a match for any girl at Sonora Academy, if she felt like putting forth the effort to be. She felt like throwing herself into outmatching these preps wholeheartedly, just now. They thought they were so much better than her, here and now. They'd learn the hard way that she was not a good enemy to make. Oh, how they'd learn. It was all just a matter of time.
\n\n
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Gwenhwyfar Carey
And you know how to <i>think</i>? I'm in shock.
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Gwenhwyfar Carey
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Catherine Raines
May 10, 2005 9:23 PM
Some have the gift of thinking. Others do not. by Catherine Raines
Catherine's right arm jerked towards her wand before she could stop it when another loser cut in and cheerfully called her stupid. She wanted to hex the other girl into oblivion, but there were two minor obstacles to doing so. One was the fact it showed a total lack of refinement, as if she really wasn't intelligent enough to resort to any methods of revenge besides physical violence. The other was that she didn't know quite enough hexes to do the job properly yet.Nicoletta did a very good job of putting the new girl in her place, Catherine thought approvingly, with a hint of admiration for her friend's speech abilities. She was infuriated again when Gwenhwyfar stood up for her trashy little friend, continuing to work on the 'Catherine is stupid' theory.She was proud to hear her voice come out very soft and level, clear and cold. She could sound that way when she had to, and right now it was as easy as breating.
"I can understand why you're so defensive, Gwenhwyfar," she said. "I wish you wouldn't attribute your motives and personality flaws to me, however. I myself am perfectly capable of thinking, whereas you don't seem to enjoy the same gift. As Nicoletta so accurately pointed out, you've already shown us your strength now instead of waiting until a more advantageous time. You also seem to lack instincts about people, seeing as you seem to think you can take on me and my friends with your-" she made a brief, dismissive gesture, her lip curling a little with derisision-"allies." The usage of the words 'friends' and 'allies' was deliberate, to show Gwenhwyfar what anyone should have realized:friends were in it with you for the long haul, while allies were unreliable, as likely as not to switch sides when it suited their purposes.
She had to fight not to laugh triumphantly when Gwenhwyfar made her little manners speech. Oh, this was good. Gwenhwyfar had unwittingly handed her a perfect answer.
"You like threatening people, don't you?" Catherine said, her voice even softer now, colder. It was a wonderful talent, if one she wished could manifest itself a little more often. "You attempted to intimidate me at the start of this conversation, and here you are again, threatening to play tattle-tale and keep your redneck relatives from marrying me or Nicoletta.Childish and completely useless-wasted time and effort, just like everything you do. I reassure you, we can count on better matches than you can even dream of, and not to slow-talking illiterate fools who still live in the antebellum era. Marry your cousins yourself, Gwenhwyfar, because I certainly don't want any of them and I seriously doubt Nicoletta does either." She was fully aware of how severely she had insulted Gwenhwyfar's family and Gwenhwyfar herself, by Southern standards especially. She was testing the other girl, just to see how far the blonde would take this. She thought it would be...interesting...to see what the test results were. \n\n
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Catherine Raines
Some have the gift of thinking. Others do not.
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Catherine Raines
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Gwenhwyfar Carey
May 11, 2005 7:49 PM
And you are clearly one of the ones who does not. by Gwenhwyfar Carey
Gwenhwyfar's desire to laugh finally found a proper place in the conversation. She laughed contemptuously as Catherine repeated both herself and Nicoletta. "You see? The best you can manage is pre-memorized statements, just as I said. You've ran out of lines for the day, so you're repeating yourself and Dupree. How very charming."Spots of red appeared on her high cheekbones when Catherine dismissed her family out of hand, accused her of tossing threats without backing, and then threw that accursed stereotype about Southerners marrying their cousins out on the table. Her eyes glittered with hostility. "Childish? No, that would be giving you the backhanding you richly deserve, Catherine. That's the point, isn't it? Get the stupid redneck girl to show her utter lack of refinement by slapping you. Dream on, Catherine. I don't like playing by other people's rules, especially when that person is a complete moron without the sense God gave a goat." She pulled out her wand. "I would advise you to keep your mouth shut about my family, though," she added. "You see, my father is Alasdair Carey. I'm sure you girls will have heard of him, if you really are purebloods. I learned quite a few good spells from Father, and it would make me very happy to use all of them on you." She glanced at Nicoletta for a moment. "On you as well, if you're getting any ideas," she said quietly. Being the daughter of a dark wizard and a psychotic paid off, sometimes. She had been telling a flat-out lie when she claimed to know a lot of spells; her father, ever the cautious one, had kept her from learning much magic in case she ever used it against him. Just as well he didn't know her secret. Twirling her wand, she felt her other hand clench into a fist. If she had her way, he never would. \n\n
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Gwenhwyfar Carey
And you are clearly one of the ones who does not.
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Gwenhwyfar Carey
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Asher Tallow
May 12, 2005 3:37 AM
And now for some breaking news! by Asher Tallow
It only took a few moments for Asher to realize that not only must she have been born on a different planet from all three of the other girls, chances were she was still living on it. Holy cripes, but between the name dropping and reputation threats, she was practically reeling. Sure, Asher's interactions with pureblood society had been limited to the Faulkers who lived near Helena, and meeting her dad's older brother when she was nine, but still, no way could there be people who spoke and acted like this for real. No way!First there was Nicoletta's attempt at insulting her by saying something about Muggles, which might have been effective should Asher care about such things. Then Gwen whipped back with a threat about preventing future marriages. Holy cripes! Gwen was her friend and all, but marriage? Did these girls really think about such things already? Marriage was for when a girl was at least twenty and that was ages still. So then Gwen threatened no future husbands, and Catherine rallied back with something or the other about marrying cousins. Asher had a hard time stiffling a giggle at that one. Honestly, it was only common sense that if you're a pureblood, you're bound to eventually find that your family is all inter-related as it is. Even she knew that.
Asher listened as Gwen rejoinedered yet again, this time with the threat of her wand. She didn't bother holding back this time. Her dark eyes rolled reactively and a short breath of impatience huffed from between her lips.
"Honestly," she said crossly, her hand grabbing at Gwen's fisted one in an effort to molify the girl before curses were exchanged. "This is getting ridiculous. It's late, we all obviously dislike each other. Gwen thinks you two are pathetic, and I think you're idiots. You think Gwen's some kind of hick, and that I'm inferior or something. So don't bother yanking out your wand and muttering some dark threat, I'll just sum up the rest for the both of you."
Thinking of her waiting bed and wishing she had just gone to it after leaving the common room for the first time, she rushed on. "Nicoletta: Ha ha, little Carey wants to wave her wand at me. I'll just smite her down with my superior Pureblood ways. Boom, down we go. Catherine: You're not even worth the effort it takes to shift my wrist. I'll use my innate superiority and snub you to death. We cower in fear. Blah, blah, blah... There, see? All done."
Asher gave Gwen's fist another tug and made a pointed gesture to the stair well. Asher wasn't about to abandon Gwen to 2/3's of the Hens clutches, but bed sounded really good, and she was hoping Gwen was thinking the same.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Asher Tallow
And now for some breaking news!
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Asher Tallow
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Nicoletta
May 12, 2005 5:36 PM
But it really wasn't. by Nicoletta
Nicoletta nearly burst out laughing at Asher's description of the end. She was actually not going to use her superiority at all. She was more intrigued on exactly what the other girl would do with her wand. If the girl did, it meant she would get in trouble, which Nicoletta would love to see. She had been taught better, meaning not threatening and using her wand, unless she knew she wouldn't get caught. This was just not one of those times."I'm so disappointed. You completely misrepresented me," she said with a sad, hurt tone and pain in her eyes. Just as suddenly, Nicoletta's eyes became wide and innocent and she broke into a brillant grin. "What I was going to say, and still will, is - go ahead, Gwen, I want to see what you can do with your wand."\n\n
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Nicoletta
But it really wasn't.
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Nicoletta
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Gwenhwyfar Carey
May 12, 2005 10:03 PM
Check, but not Checkmate... by Gwenhwyfar Carey
Gwen took one look at Nicoletta's face, and she knew. All it took was that sudden shift of expression from hurt to innocent, a slight change in Dupree's voice, and she knew. Nicoletta was testing her, just as Catherine had. She was being backed into a corner, a corner she had very little way of getting out of. Blind panic seized her by the throat. She should never have let things get this far out of control. She considered allowing herself to faint, but dismissed it immediately. Showing weakness was not an option.Pulling her hand out of Asher's, she put her wand back in its place. "I would, but I don't want to give you the satisfaction," she said, her voice not as steady as she would have liked. She was an idiot, letting the conversation go in a direction she couldn't control. If these girls found out...or if she lost control...she shook her head. No. It wouldn't happen. Not now, not ever. "Once again, the game's up. You're trying to get me thrown in detention, and I really just can't stand the idea of making your day, Nicoletta." She swore mentally. Why, why hadn't they been intimidated by her father's name? Paranoia flared, and for a split second her face was drawn with sudden fear. They might already know, it might have gotten out. How many specialists had there been? How many payrolls might they have been on? She pushed it down ruthlessly. She was being stupid. These girls probably wouldn't know where she was talking about if she mentioned Bellevue, and the name Carey obviously meant little outside of the South.
"Let's go, Asher," she said. "I'll go nuts if I have to listen to these idiots much longer." She turned resolutely and started to walk away from the preps. She was going to have to explain this whole episode, she knew. It was not an explination she was looking forward to.\n\n
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Gwenhwyfar Carey
Check, but not Checkmate...
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Gwenhwyfar Carey
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Catherine Raines
May 14, 2005 12:46 PM
The Queen is the strongest piece... by Catherine Raines
Catherine knew that people often assumed she was as stupid as she sometimes acted. Gwenhwyfar and Asher obviously had. Fools. Schoolwork might not have been one of her talents, but situations like this were where she flourished, and now she was in her element. Gwenhwyfar was interesting to watch. There was something going on behind her masklike face, Catherine was sure. Whether it was fear or cunning was another question altogether.It took all her disipline not to react to the name Alasdair Carey. Her mother had spoken of him often enough for her to know that he had been in the highest rank of dark wizards since he was seventeen years old, a veritable mafia don, by all accounts. He was also notorious for the injuries he inflicted on his wife, Lorena, and his two daughters. Gwenhwyfar didn't seem to be physically damaged in any way, but mentally...
Her reaction to Nicoletta's challenge was startling, if one watched for it as closely as Catherine did. The other girl was terrified. It showed clearly in her face at one point, but it was apparent even before. Her voice was shaking when she spoke. She was shaking her head at something like a crazy woman. Gwenhwyfar was either mentally unbalanced or hiding something, and Catherine was fairly sure it was the latter. After all, surely even old Marnett drew the line somewhere. Surely not even she would let crazy people in, in spite of the fact she was crazy herself.
"Come now, Gwenhwyfar," she said, deciding to go in for the kill and hoping she didn't mishandle it. "You know that you won't stand a chance if you try to fight us. There's one of you and three of us. Your little friends won't stand by you in the end because you are different. You dress differently. You speak differently. You think differently. Your friends hang out with you so maybe someone will think they're other than what they are, but they'll abandon you when they realize that you need them because really respectable people won't have anything to do with you." Not completely orthodox, that, but it would be effective. Catherine knew when she could and could not cross lines, and this was a time when she could.
Gwenhwyfar seemed to regain a semblance of composure when she told Asher that she'd go nuts if she had to listen to Catherine and Nicoletta any longer.She then turned and started to leave without waiting on her friend. Interesting. Catherine caught Nicoletta's eye and hoped Nicoletta got the general idea. This could be very useful, she thought. They're not going to let it rest. We have to get them before they get us. It was a grim thought, but it was proper. Rivals had to be eliminated, and Gwenhwyfar Carey was plainly setting herself up as one. Even if Catherine had to go it alone behind Jordanna and Nicoletta's backs, Gwenhwyfar Carey was going down.\n\n
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Catherine Raines
The Queen is the strongest piece...
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Asher Tallow
May 14, 2005 11:56 PM
Actually, potentially, the pawn is strongest. by Asher Tallow
It was so terribly cliche to say, but really, something snapped in Asher when Catherine Raines' smug tone stated matter-a-factly that Gwen's friends were sure to desert her. Some stupid trite about being different- of all the stupid things! What was wrong with these girls? Were they completely unhinged? Who thought this way- really, who did? It had to be exhausting, constantly second guessing and imagining scheming and betrayal. It was exhausting just having to hear about it.Her foot stomped down with a thump of frustration, and Asher gave full voice to her thoughts. "Holy cripes, but you two are the most ridiculous people I've ever met. Honestly, do you even hear yourselves? Who even cares? Really now, who cares? In case you've missed it, it's your little group, Raines, who's outnumbered. Did you happen to miss the whole flock load of students in Sonora while twittering about? It's you two- three with Howard- who are in desperate need of a wake-up call."
She let out an impatient sigh, fed up with having to deal with such obstinancy in her own house. Surely these girls couldn't be so blind as to miss how it was them who were the different ones- them who were the odd ones out. Not Gwen, not Laura, and certainly not herself.
"No one cares about you here, much. Most of us could care less what your last name is, how long your family's been inter-marrying, or how much money you have piled up in some vault. Get a clue- you're not in whatever strange pureblood land you grew up in anymore."
Asher cradled her temple and then dropped her hand with tired wave. She gave both girls a considering glance, still bewildered by their utterly foreign behaviors, before following behind Gwen to the stair case. Her feet followed the stairs while her mind stuck with the passed encounter. Perhaps she, too, should consider opening her eyes a bit. Just as Raines and Dupree were no longer in their pureblood niches, she was no longer in the comfortable paradigm of her home. She'd have to get used to people acting differently from her, from her family. Sonora, while smaller in space than what she was used to, held a world far larger than her home.
She would need to remember that.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Asher Tallow
Actually, potentially, the pawn is strongest.
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Gwenhwyfar Carey
May 20, 2005 11:25 PM
Oh? I never knew that. by Gwenhwyfar Carey
The temptation to slap Raines was enormous. Catherine had just voiced the one thing that had been weighing most heavily on Gwen's subconscious all day. After all, the main reason she had ended up as part of the anti-clique subfaction was a simple lack of knowledge of names outside of her own region. What if she did end up with everyone against her?"If I do end up a loner," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, "at least I'll still have my self-respect, which is more than you'll ever be able to say, Catherine Raines. At least I'll know I tried to be something besides another pureblood broodmare-in-waiting." She whirled on her heel and hurried towards the dorms as Asher started laying into the preps.
She started pacing up and down, her head spinning. If she had been cracking before, now she was broken into bits. She wished she could run home and cry while Trinny guarded the door, but what good would it do? None. She had to learn to survive like this, alone in the real world and vulnerable to attack. She was a survivor; she could do it. Now was the best time to start proving what she had always believed.
She looked around the circle of beds and made a decision. Going over to her trunk, she pulled out two sheets of parchment and scribbled down a quick note on one, then carefully folded it and tucked it away. She wasn't going to use it quite yet, not until she absolutely had to. The second took a few minutes to write and would have to be delivered early in the morning, before many people were in the Owlery to observe her sending a letter to her grandmother.
She had just tucked the letter to Eileen into the cover of her diary when Asher entered the dorm. "I'm sorry you had to put up with that," Gwen said quietly. "Things got out of hand. Thanks for ending it." She paused, unsure of whether or not it would be in her best interests to continue. "I was out of line," she said flatly. "The why doesn't matter. I messed up and I'll have to try to make up for it." She stopped herself before she said more. She was getting too close to subjects better left silently understood than openly discussed, not to mention that there was no such thing as a private conversation.
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Gwenhwyfar Carey
Oh? I never knew that.
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Asher Tallow
May 22, 2005 3:49 AM
A pawn can become queen, and there are many pawns. by Asher Tallow
Asher hovered near the doorway, unsure of how to deal with how her friend seemed to be feeling. There was this almost palpable wave of...self-control flailing off of Gwen's shoulders that even Asher could feel its strength. It showed itself in the expressionless way that Gwen next spoke, despite the words having said more than enough. She opened her mouth to respond and then promptly shut it. The dormroom was no place for open conversation.Instead, she shook her head and gestured to the empty washroom. Once they were both inside, she closed the door firmly. She turned on the faucet and then began to speak her say. "You got mad, I get that. I more than understand that. Those girls certainly don't inspire happy feelings. But-"
She broke off and stared at their reflection in the mirror. Gwen's fair features appeared drawn in the light and the mirror, thankfully silent, seemed to reflect that all the more clearly. Asher's own darker colors contrasted sharply, almost haggardly to the delicate weariness of her friend. Raines's and Dupree's words echoed hollowly for a second, and roughly, she tore away from both the reflection and the revived words.
"I don't know your world," she stated bluntly, finally having settled on her hands as a suitable object to stare at. "I grew up with a different way of thinking, obviously. My family- well, we just don't care about marriage and all that seemed so important downstairs. I guess you do, but-"
Asher broke off again, more than slightly annoyed at herself at being so inarticulate. She wanted Gwen to know that things were okay. That Gwen needn't worry about being alone- sure, they were different, something that mirror's reflection accentuated perfectly. But different needn't matter so much. A friend was a friend, simple as that.
"I guess, what I mean is: I'm your friend, Gwen. It might seem kind of stupid as a reassurance, but still, I'm your friend. And friends help each other out, even when they don't understand what's going on. So, it's okay. Okay?"
The words were still awkward, and even she could barely make sense of them. Still though, she was speaking honestly and somewhat from the heart. Her past friendships had been few, and even then, somewhat superficial when things were broken down and laid side by side. She had seven years at Sonora, seven years in which she and Gwen and those other girls would all be sharing a room and mealtimes and classes, and essentially, growing up. In her mind, the more friends she had in that group of semi-permanent associates, the better.\n\n
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Asher Tallow
A pawn can become queen, and there are many pawns.
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Gwenhwyfar Carey
May 22, 2005 6:07 PM
Everyone's a pawn, in one way or another. by Gwenhwyfar Carey
No matter which part of her personality was dominant at a given time, Gwen had always hated mirrors. They showed too much and not enough at the same time. The one in the washroom certainly did, illustrating quite clearly the differences between her and Asher but not any of the reasons for those differences. The fine bones of her face looked more prominent than usual and the skin beneath her eyes looked bruised as the stress of the past-what, half hour?-drained away, leaving her too exhausted to much care anymore.She listened to Asher stumble around whatever it was she was trying to say and decided to speak again to fill the silence when the other girl broke off. That kind of silence was almost as despised as mirrors. "Marriage scares me more than it matters to me," she said, shrugging. Still looking at the mirror rather than at her friend, she could see the wariness in her eyes. "There has been talk I won't be allowed to finish school because my parents want to marry me off by the time I'm sixteen. My mother prefers fourteen." She gave Asher a shadowy smile. "It's legal in Alabama, and Mother wants me out of the way as soon as possible. Father already has my husband-to-be picked out, so it's only a matter of a place, a priest, and a ring, essentially."
She really didn't have it that bad, as far as her future marriage went. Phillipe Robinond was the heir to an old Louisiana family. She had met him once, and he had been very nice, especially when compared to his brother Andrean who, while closer to her in age, was not the heir to anything and had a cruel streak. If it was not for the fact that she wanted to be the first Carey woman to finish school and that the very thought of bearing ten children the way her mother had repulsed her, she wouldn't have minded the plan.
Asher finally managed to put her thoughts in some kind of order. It was a little jumbled, but Gwen understood well enough. "Okay," she said. Then, after a brief pause, "Thanks." She closed her eyes for a moment, gathering her defenses, and smiled. "Raines had a point, you know," she said, managing to sound more or less normal instead of the disassociated monotone of earlier. "We are different. One thing that she probably didn't realize is that it's the differences between people in a group that enables the group to survive." There was a trace of humor in her next words. "Imagine how long humanity would survive if everyone was like those two!"\n\n
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Gwenhwyfar Carey
Everyone's a pawn, in one way or another.
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Asher Tallow
May 25, 2005 11:57 AM
Then we each have the potential to be Queen. by Asher Tallow
She leaned back against the wall, the slightly brittle feel of the silver veined marble prickling against her bare arms. The garnet marble stretched to cover each of the wall panes, only flaring out to encompass the sinks and cradle the silver wrought mirrors. The molding of the marble was seamless, and Asher's eyes trailed over the spider web etchings of silver that throated through the garnet.She remembered once reading a short story for class, in the fourth grade, of a young boy who had the ability to talk with inanimate objects. He could speak with chairs and carpets, sheets and tennis shoes. The boy could talk with any of these, but he couldn't talk with humans. His tongue would gum up and the only sounds he could make were garbled grunts. In the story, the boy eventually quits speaking entirely, even with his favorite toys. Her teacher at the time said the story's point was to show that imitation will always fall short.
Gwen's words about marriage, leaving school, and that weak attempt at humor made Asher think of that story and that sad boy who tried to make-up his loss of human contact by speaking with the inanimate. A person could only pretend so long, before the strength of what's real drags them back to the reality they wish to escape. She brought her eyes back from the wall to the mirror and its reflection. By profile, Gwen seemed to lose that strength she animated elsewhere.
For the moment, Gwen seemed to Asher to be nothhing more than a little girl of eleven, tired and probably a little frightened.
She straightened from her slouch against the wall. "I think..I think that we're not at home anymore; you're not at home anymore, Gwen. Your parents aren't here; there's no one to watch over your every move. I think, you should forget for a little while about your parents and what they might do." Asher turned her gaze to her friend's and gave a sly, half smile. "You're only eleven once, after all. Might as well make the best of being a kid while you're still technically one. Let Raines and Dupree and Howard play at being adults. When it comes down to it, they still have several years to go before anyone starts treating them as grown-ups."
Her hands went to her hips in a trademark gesture her brothers had witnessed for years. They called it the 'Grand Statement Pose.' It meant the coming of a bold comment, most likely something slightly cheesy in nature, but nevertheless, a 'Grand Statement.'
"Forget about survival of a group, Gwen. Let Raines have her allies and treaties or whatever. You have something much better than an alliance- you have friends."\n\n
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Asher Tallow
Then we each have the potential to be Queen.
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Gwenhwyfar Carey
May 26, 2005 10:43 PM
Each in her own way and of her own realm. by Gwenhwyfar Carey
We're not at home anymore. Gwen knew that it was just her mind playing tricks on her, but the words seemed to echo faintly, as if to emphasize themselves. It was true, she realized suddenly. Home was far enough away that her parents couldn't reach her. For eleven years, they had ruled her with an iron fist, but now they were...gone. No one here greatly cared whether or not she held on to convention or threw it straight out the window. The gates of her prison had been opened, and the only thing stopping her from walking out was herself. If she had been given to emotional displays, she thought she might have hugged Asher just then.The power of disillusionment, she thought dryly. She had forgotten to be immaculate and charming and radiant and all that other stuff she was expected to be. She had forgotten that her sole purpose in life was to dazzle, and it was faintly surprising to see that none of it was real. Now that she had been tested by her world and found lacking, she found that none of it really mattered and that she didn't have the energy to care-not tonight, at least. She laughed suddenly, a real laugh.
"To liberation and facing reality," she said, raising an imaginary toast. "Let them have their world-I'm out." The words felt strange, coming from her, but she didn't have to be Gwenhwyfar Carey, at least not right now. She could just be Gwen. "Yeah," she repeated, testing the grammatically incorrect word. "I'm out. Friends beat an alliance any day."
All the humor left her face for a moment. "I'm your average melodramatic Southern cliche, but I can get a point when it's hammered home hard enough," she said. "You helped me out a lot tonight, and I owe you one. If you ever need to vent, I'll listen." Not her most eloquent speech ever, but she meant it.
Anything else she might have meant to say was cut off by a yawn. "I don't know about you, but I'm about ready to fall over," she said around a second yawn. "What d'you say to turning in for the night?"
Once she was in her bed, though, Gwen didn't go straight to sleep. Pulling the curtains shut, she lit her lamp and recorded every detail of both conversations she had been part of in the unemotional prose she always used in her diaries. She wasn't really thinking as she wrote, but she knew from expirience that all the details would be there. She would sort it all out later, when she had rested and rallied her defenses.
As she closed the book, the two folded sheets of parchment fell from the cover. She unfolded them both and read the messages she had put down in her neat hand. After a long moment of thought, she put the letter to her grandmother aside. That could be revised. Careful not to let the tearing parchment make too much noise, she slowly tore the note into narrow strips and then tore the strips into pieces she made a mental note to throw in the fire the next morning. She would have burned them in the flame from her lamp, but there was always the chance of setting the bed on fire. After rearranging the pieces to reassure herself they were all there, she mixed them up again and put them away. She wouldn't be needing that particular note.\n\n
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Gwenhwyfar Carey
Each in her own way and of her own realm.
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Earl Valentine
May 27, 2005 11:55 PM
Eaves-dropping: Not for the weak at heart by Earl Valentine
The red hangings blocked his vision of the empty room. The silence pressed on his ears. Earl was not used to it being this quiet. At home, there was always someone emmiting discord through the house, or the traffic outside at the very least, but here- in the middle of nowhere- it was just too quiet. It made sleep impossible.Just as he was about to give up and light his wand to start drawing (something he did when he couldn't sleep, or was bored, or any time, really) a voice resonated through the large chamber. It was girl. Earl listened carefully, fully used to hearing things he wasn't supposed to, his ears having been fine-tuned to catch even the smallest of fights.
There was more than one girl and the longer Earl listened, the more interesting the argument got. Soon, curiosity got the better of him, and he slid awkwardly out of bed. Without putting a robe on, he walked out of his room and sat on the very top step of the boy's staircase: a perfect vantage point.
He watched and listened carefully to the energetic words pilfering the common room. He'd never heard an argument like this before. With only one female in the entire family, the subtlty of the the fairer sex's strategies was entirely new to him, and staring at the group of girls uttering silver-coated acid at one another had Earl completely mesmerized.
His deep brown eyes remained wide open, barely blinking, and his mouth hung slack, until he began to drool and quickly wiped his face before conituing to gaze in awe at the verbal tennis match going on below, mouth shut tight, of course.
The heated words lasted at least fifteen minutes and Earl drunk up every one of them. As he listened, Earl became increasingly glad he had become friends with Asher rather than those snotty, prissy, pure-bloods, and hating the latter with more and more vigor.
Finally, the excitement ended as Asher and her friend- Gewn, he was pretty sure her name was- huffed up the staircase leading to the girl's rooms. Earl shivered, he'd only just now realized that the fire in the common was going out and he was sitting far from it in nothing, but his boxers with the snitches on it Eavan had insisted on buying him.
Slowly, he crept back to his room hoping no one had noticed him at his lofty postion, and crawled back beneath the warm covers of his bed, thanking heaven that he wasn't a girl.\n\n
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Earl Valentine
Eaves-dropping: Not for the weak at heart
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Catherine Raines
May 28, 2005 7:38 PM
Potential guarantees nothing. by Catherine Raines
OOC: I'm alive, I really am!Catherine entered the dorms just in time to hear the very end of Gwenhwyfar and Asher's conversation through the bathroom door. If she had entertained any suspicions that the fact Asher was a pureblood made her a threat, she had just discarded them. How dumb did you have to "forget" about the prospect of an alliance, never mind assume that parents magically lost their ability to monitor you just because you were at school? She found Gwenhwyfar more and more amusing, though. Catherine was beginning to think that she had been telling more truth than she had known when she pointed out the little Miss Carey was different from the rest of her alliance. She wasn't truly a pureblood in her way of thinking, but she knew the way of things, apparently. It was all too obvious to Catherine that she didn't mean a word of her little reform speech.
She drew back into the shadow of the entranceway when the other two girls emerged for bed and remained there until she was sure they were both in their beds with curtains drawn. After a count of ten, she crossed over to her own bed, thinking regretfully about how she had only gotten the fourth most comfortable bed.
Carey's bed was right beside hers, and it was because of that she could see the glow of a lamp through the red velvet curtain. There was the faint scratching of a quill on parchment, then parchment tearing. Now, what could Carey be up to that she needed to keep secret? She would have to remember this.
Catherine thought she heard footsteps on the stairs and quickly jerked the curtains of her own bed closed. She was going to do things the Raines way, now. She felt Carey was a threat to her,if not a very strong one, but she didn't know if the others would share that view. It was obvious that Gwenhwyfar's so-called friends didn't see Catherine as a threat. So it's going to be me against her, without backup, Catherine thought, and smiled. Carey had failed the first and second tests, both of which Catherine had passed. Now it was time for the third round: girl-to-girl rivalry. Catherine was certain she would be the victor.
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Catherine Raines
Potential guarantees nothing.
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