Gwen Carey
May 14, 2007 9:37 PM
Let's go, girls...(my roommates) by Gwen Carey
OOC: Takes place on the second afternoon back…I love fuzzy time. BIC:Gwen had felt shaky all morning – the inevitable consequence, she supposed, of knowing that she was playing with fire. Breakfast, as it had a way of doing when she was nervous, hadn’t gone over too well, and lunch didn’t look too promising, either. Eating it with girls she’d been at the next thing to war with for the past three years did not suggest that many good things were in store for her nerves, and there was that ladies were supposed to be as dainty and light-eating as possible to keep up their figures and the semblance of hovering a level above normal humans. Maybe supper would be better…Assuming no one decided to murder her after this episode. Gwen thought Connor was starting to accept that she did what she deemed to be in her best interests and meant, more often than not, nothing by it, but Lily, Anne, Amber, Cate, maybe even Morgaine…Yes, they could prove problematic.
The Cascade Hall was crowded at lunch, so that helped, at least in her head. It was easier to pretend that her at-least-one-afternoon-long defection to the Dark Side would remain under the table in a large setting. The truth, of course, was that nothing Jordanna, Nicoletta and Catherine did went unnoticed at Sonora, and that people’s interest in them would go even further up when they did something as bizarre as associate with their forgotten roommate, the school’s most visible, scandal-ridden neurotic. It was, to use an expression she’d once heard her father employ, like a last-ditch toss of the dice on a bad run as to whether or not people who didn’t need to notice her did: It was possible that everything would work out, but it wasn’t very likely.
Spotting one of them seated, she almost turned on the spot, ran back to her usual place, and crawled under the table. Closet cowardice, impossible to dissipate but concealed as well as she could manage, had always lurked right under the skin with her, and the bulk of her nervous fits could be traced back to it. Most people, from what she had deduced, thought of her as erratic and perhaps a bit unbalanced, maybe manipulative, but not the sort to run before the party even got started. Right at the beginning, maybe, before it all got started properly, but not before the band started playing. If creating a new image turned out impossible, she’d need to keep up the one she already had. Besides, she had to live with the triumvirate for the rest of this year and three more besides, and she would never live down running. She might as well…how did that line go? Come out with her shield or in it?
It was surprisingly easy to fall back into the old forms. Straightening her back a little, she put on her best, emptiest smile and walked towards the gathering place, doing her level best to seem as if she thought she owned the school, if not the entire planet. That was what they understood: the illusion of perfect, total control. Between the loan from Nicoletta and a little covert work with the Muggle make-up stuff Amber had given her for Christmas, she looked the best she had in years, by her lights. She had seen the way boys looked at the three princesses, and while she was in no way interested in romantic entanglements – her mother was the poster child for why women in their family should steer clear of men, and she felt no desire whatsoever to risk being wrong by staking her Carey genes against her Vaughn ones – she wouldn’t mind being thought of and looked at as a girl instead of as a mental case.
“Good afternoon,” she said, almost pleasantly, as she sat down and began helping herself to lunch as if she did this every day. Great Merlin, she was insane, unless she was one of those people who just liked torturing herself. Were they considered crazy, too? “Nice day so far?” She felt like laughing. The very people who made her crazy and who had built up the image of her as crazy were the people who, for whatever reason, were drawing her in, at least for the moment. It was beyond bizarre. If they pulled something, so help her..."Nice day so far?"
0
Gwen Carey
Let's go, girls...(my roommates)
63
Gwen Carey
1
5
Nicoletta
May 23, 2007 9:38 PM
Finally here by Nicoletta
Nicoletta sat at a table picking at her chicken salad. Her thoughts were elsewhere, specifically on someone. she had no idea how they were going to pull off seeing each other, especially when she was always in the public eye so to speak.On the thought of the public eye, as though on cue, Nicoletta's eye fell on Gwen. She was dressed in the outfit she had suggested with her pretty blonde hair done up. Gwen looked fantastic! But then, Nicoletta didn't expect anything less after giving her an invitation. It would have been social suicide. Gwen may have been close, but she wasn't there yet. The obstacle would be to see if she could be pulled back into their world. It seemed like Gwen was already on her way, as she made the appropriate greetings.
"Wonderful," Nicoletta replied with a genuine smile. "Yourself?"
0
Nicoletta
Finally here
0
Nicoletta
0
5
Gwen
May 24, 2007 9:29 PM
Welcome. by Gwen
"Marvelous," Gwen said, smiling back. She had always been a pretty liar - that was much better than being a liar of the usual kind. She wasn't very fond of lying, but the rules of proper relations said that it was the way. Truth was always frowned upon, especially in regards to questions like that. That was true even outside of society. No one who asked how anyone else was really wanted to know, and it took an idiot to tell it anyway. It was like giving a potential adversary a weapon.The sensation that her nerves were all rattling was getting worse. The old idea that their actions mattered was, despite having been denounced for years, slipping back into her perception of events. This could make her or break her, and it all hung on whether or not she could slide back into the game as if she'd never left it. She couldn't think well enough to come up with something to say. Most of her energy was going towards keeping herself from screaming.
Relax, she told herself. It had been a long time - a very long time, she thought - since she had been in a place where she had to talk herself down like this. Just relax and everything will work out. I don't want to scream. I'm a Carey. Bless her subconscious; she had started to put a plate together without really noticing. That looked normal. Her act-as-if-it's-all-normal routine had worked for her so far, and should, therefore, keep on doing so. This is it this time. No more chances. Screw it up, and it's all over. Just act normal. It works.
"You look nice today," she complimented, falling back on an old, half-remembered staple of conversation among ladies at Magnolia Grove. Ladies didn't come to Bellevue; the island, it seemed, had a way of putting off those who were not used to it. Gwen had her theories about why - the inhabitants of the place figured prominently in most of them - but she had sense enough to keep those to herself. It wasn't as if most Savannah Careys liked company, anyway. They were a singular sort of people, given to their own, now odd-seeming ways of doing things, and only stayed in society because they still had the Carey name to think about. "Did you do something to your hair?"
0
Gwen
Welcome.
63
Gwen
0
5
Catherine
May 30, 2007 4:22 PM
...to the halls of torture? by Catherine
The porcelain sink felt cold under Catherine's long fingers as she gripped its edges, her eyes fixed on the reflections of themselves in the girls' bathroom mirror. They looked so tired. It was the second day back from holidays - a spoiled heiress like her, just returning to school after spending a holiday with her doting family, had no reason to feel tired yet. It wasn't like she had any problems. A psycho who knew way too much was trying to ruin her, she was half-convinced that her father was dying, and her mother was having a baby with the gardener, but none of that was a problem. A girl like her didn't have problems.Yeah, right.
Blinking and letting go of the sink at once, Catherine took a step back and did what she'd come into the bathroom to do and began surveying her appearance. She had put in an extra amount of effort that morning, and thought it might've been noticed. The admiring looks from the boys and jealous looks from the girls, when she could get them, were always an ego booster, and she needed it, just like she needed to seem as perfect as possible today. Everyone had to know she was not and never would be slipping, and Gwenhwyfar Carey had to be informed that she wasn't half the threat she really was.
Her hair, looking almost as dark as her mother's today, had been trimmed and let to fall around her shoulders with very little interference - it was a good hair day. Her dress was dark blue and simple, but it suited her figure, and she had sapphire earrings and good shoes to match. Make-up had been immaculately applied, of course. She felt safer wearing all of it and almost pretty, which meant she was...well, saying she was ready would have been an overstatement, but she was as ready as she was likely to get.
Catherine walked into the Cascade Hall in approved, back-straight chin-up fashion. She was later than she'd wanted to be, but she thought she was still showing up before an incident of any note could occur, and she had needed that minute or so to get a grip on herself. She had never been quite as perfect as the others, but she'd figured out how to work with what she had. Her step faltered the smallest bit when she saw that Gwen had gotten to Nicoletta first. She had wanted to have a word with her friend before Gwen and Jordanna came, to figure out what was really going on and what in the world Nicoletta meant by it.
Well, that wasn't going to be possible now. She had to work with what she had. Nervously, she wondered what her dearest enemy was saying to the de facto queen of the year. She was quite sure Gwen could smile and look completely normal - if looking that good had been normal for her, anyway - while a conversation about who should be dropped was going on. Gwen was crazy, Catherine was sure of it now, but 'crazy' didn't necessarily mean 'stupid'.
She put on a broad smile as she approached them, taking the seat next to Nicoletta. Let the Blonde Ones have their very own side of the table - maybe they'd claw each other's eyes out. Catherine tried to feel bad for the thought - Jordanna was, after all, one of them - but facts were facts, and the fact of the matter was that Jordanna had been drifting away from them, or so it felt. Until the previous day, Nicoletta had been the only person at Sonora Catherine had trusted at all; now, she didn't even know if she could trust Nicoletta entirely anymore. "Hey," she said, still smiling. "Anything good happen today?" The meaning, of course, was 'has anyone got any gossip today', but it wouldn't be nice to say that.
Normally, she would have been able to recognize a minimum of ninety-six percent of the stories anyone produced. The rumor mill was her specialty area, after all; if teachers had ever put things about how to use the grapevine on her tests, Catherine would have been valedictorian. Between a bad case of family drama during midterm and a bad case of roommate drama now that they were back, though, she was a bit out of the loop; neither crisis had left her with the time or inclination to listen around very much. She began putting food onto her plate, feeling faintly nervous. She had never liked getting her information this way; hearing it from the girls was just supposed to be validation.
0
Catherine
...to the halls of torture?
0
Catherine
0
5
Nicoletta
June 09, 2007 3:29 AM
It's not that terrible....or is it? by Nicoletta
Nicoletta smiled graciously at Gwen, delighted by the display of societal rules. Something that Jordanna had been lacking as of late. She had to wonder if the girl would even be making an appearance. After all, this was undoubtedly as critic for her as it was for Gwen. If Jordanna was pushed out of the group, it would most likely make her the leader. That was unless, of course, she pushed Gwen to that spot, but she doubted she would for multiple reasons.With the tension between Gwen and Catherine, it would probably drive Catherine away. Something that she didn't want to do to her friend. Catherine, whether or not she realized it, was a powerful ally. The other being, in truth, she wanted the spot for herself. She was tired of allowing Jordanna to front the group. When all she was but a puppet. Nicoletta knew, as well as anyone else, that she held the real power. Jordanna was just face value. If she were feeling generous, she might allow Jordanna to stay within, but no longer in control. Not that she ever really was.
At that point, Catherine joined them, choosing to sit next to Nicoletta. She greeted the other girl. They had yet to talk about what was going on. She knew she had to soon. She couldn't afford to lose Catherine to Jordanna or even for the other girl to remain neutral. Catherine was the key to the shift in power. If she didn't choose, then it would just mean that she and Jordanna would just be pettily arguing, something Nicoletta would not do. No, this was a takeover, just like in business. That's all it ever was, business, shifts in power, control.
And it seemed like she was in more power than she thought if Catherine was asking what the latest gossip was. Unfortunately, there wasn't much since midterm had just ended and most had gone home. All except...”Well, Jordanna stayed over term. I don't know why though. I had to stay too, but my parents were in negotiations for a match for Chris.”
Chris would have to tell Kaylie soon about the engagement. Their parents had made it perfectly clear that he and Kaylie, or any girl, other than Marie, had no future together. She thought it was for the best. She had nothing against Kaylie, but she was too nice. She simply wouldn't survive in their family. Chris was to be the head of the Dupree line one day. He needed to have someone that could play the politics of their world. She had told him as much, that their parents knew best.
He hadn't liked that too much, but she knew he would listen. Chris had always been the obedient son, doing what was expected of him and that wasn't about to change. Just like she would always do what was expected of her.
0
Nicoletta
It's not that terrible....or is it?
0
Nicoletta
0
5
Gwen
June 12, 2007 12:45 PM
Of course it isn't *smiles sweetly*. by Gwen
Gwen smiled politely as Catherine joined them, knowing that the gesture would probably make Cate more paranoid than any odd display ever could have. Besides, it gave her an excuse to give the taller girl a quick once-over, to get some idea of how seriously and well Cate was taking what was going on in the dorm. Based on how she was dressed, Catherine seemed to be taking it fairly seriously and so falling back into a trap they had all gotten rather fond of. As for how she was taking it...That was harder to say. Make-up was a wonderful thing, at least for the one behind it, and Cate had been in this game for a long time.Even through the almost drunk feeling just sitting at this table and playing these games gave her, Gwen found them as amusing as ever - maybe moreso. Cate was a perfect example of the saying that politics would be politics. Cate had to be miserable, she was most likely paranoid, and seeking an escape route might have crossed her mind, but she appeared fine. The notion that they were all old before their times stuck her. None of them looked, at least to her, like they were fourteen years old.
No wonder other groups thought American purebloods were so screwed up. It was nothing but the truth.
Gwen was momentarily confused when Catherine's request for good events was met with a report on Jordanna's Christmas, but then she put it together. Anything good was the code term for gossip. Well, she'd known it would be sink or swim with them; they had spent four years building their order, and she was a late arrival. If she lacked the brains to pick up on what was going on, she didn't deserve to be there. "She was in a terrible mood," Gwen added when Nicoletta finished. "I don't know why, though." She didn't tell them about the Incident. It was better to avoid overt trouble on her first day.
Howard's absence was rather conspicuous, but she kept quiet about that, too. Maybe Jordanna was that upset about Gwen's presence...or maybe it was true that she was falling off of her pedestal at last. It was hardly unusual to see Cate and Nicoletta talking or together, but Jordanna didn't stand in front of the pack as much as she once had. The triumvirate, together, was no longer a particularly common sight. Better to let it rest, look out, and see what she could. "Did they find him anyone?" she asked, returning to the conversation. She'd wondered what Nicoletta had been doing around for the holidays...
0
Gwen
Of course it isn't *smiles sweetly*.
63
Gwen
0
5