Fic: First Day of School & Room 302 (SP)
I apologize that this ISN'T the continuation of the Aja/Lec story but I'm getting back to that. This came to my head first.
I apologize for not putting Kilce's part in first person. My brain started going and I forgot that I was going to put her stuff in first person. It worked so I'm not going to redo this.
Title: First Day of School
Prompt: 13. Knickers in a Twist
Word Count: 1150
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original - Streetlight People 'verse
Pairings (if any): none
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/RPF etc): none
Summary: Kilce finds herself on the campus of Grantson Academy without a clue as to where she needs to go.
There had been no introductory period where Kilce was given a chance to get used to the idea of being at Grantson Academy. No one gave her a run down of the rules (those written down or left to the students to make up as they went along) or showed her around campus. From the moment that she walked back onto the campus for the second time, she was expected to fit in. Not blend in, mind you. She was not the sort of person to blend in. Her skin, still pale-white as if she'd never seen the sun, was not in vogue this year as girls sported makeup meant to darken their complexions. Her hair (a color neither brown nor blonde but somewhere horribly between the two) was cut in an odd style, as if she'd taken a knife and butchered it herself just so it was out of the way. That was exactly what she'd done but no one asked, only staring at her with narrowed eyes as if they were trying to figure out what kind of bug she was so they could figure out how to kill it.
Growing up on the streets in Old City had made her a fighter but Kilce wasn't sure who to fight. Everyone looked the same here. There was no way of sizing someone up to find out what they wanted from her. Everyone she encountered looked like the enemy.
Enough was enough, though. She finally snagged the hem of a boy's coat as he walked by. "Help me find this place," she demanded, pushing a map toward him. When he tried to balk and pull away, she tugged up the bit of magic she'd gotten used to welding these days. Help me.
"It's right over there." His pointed finger was vague because there were several buildings in the direction he wanted her to go. She'd grown accustomed to reading maps in the past few years, as she'd had to memorize layouts of buildings to find the important things that some rooms held, like locked cabinets filled with physical coins that spent better than credits even though they were easier to trace back to their previous owners. These random blocks that were barely labeled wouldn't help her find anything, even with this random direction.
Kilce snagged his finger, interlocking her fingers with his. "Why don't you just show me." Help me, she pushed a little stronger. "I'm sure you don't have anywhere important to be. Do you?"
"Just..." but he didn't finish the statement as he looked around and realized his friends had all abandoned him. "Fine. Come on."
The tour left something to be desired but he mumbled helpful hints like, "That's Gaffan Hall. Bunch of jerks." and "That's the Chancellor's rose garden. Never go in there." She'd already been in the rose garden (the smell was glorious but she'd been unable to see any of the flowers seeing as the moon had been non-existant four days ago) and didn't know why she'd ever want to go to Gaffan Hall but it was all good to know. When he left her at the front door of Yunnic Hall, she didn't try to keep him nearby. The magic she'd had to use just to get him out of his normal routine had left a bitter taste at the back of her throat that would have her throwing up and feeling puny for several days if she'd pushed it any longer. Not the way she wanted to spend her first couple of days at her new home.
Besides, she was pretty sure she could find her room on her own. Of course, that was when she figured the doors themselves would have numbers on them. Otherwise, what good was telling her that she was in Room 302? She reasoned out, after fifteen frustrating minutes, that it was on the third floor. Taking a deep breath, she figured the only way to find out which one was the second room was to knock on what looked like the second door and ask for more directions.
The fever was already starting to make her skin feel prickly. If she had to push any suggestions at anyone, she might never make it back to Administration for her box of things. Not tonight, at least. Probably not tomorrow, either. She shouldn't have pushed so hard at that boy but he'd been more difficult to control than even the baker who refused to ever give out an extra crust with any of her orders. Kilce had always assumed it was the other way around and life was easier behind the invisible walls that surrounded the Academy from even New City.
If she'd known it would be this hard, she wouldn't have followed the impulse to ask for this life in exchange for her silence. The Chancellor had some very interesting secrets, not all of which had been kept in the locked cabinet behind the charms that had been ridiculously easy to break through. It had been a stroke of genius to goad him with his sins but it had broken him down almost immediately. She'd really just wanted to know if he had access to more credits than what she'd found but he'd started babbling on and on about responsibilities and ethics committees. In order to stop the flow of both words and tears (for he cried far too much than any man ever should), she'd demanded the one thing that would keep her silent - a place among the students of Grantson Academy.
So much for just automatically belonging. She sighed before she lifted her hand to knock. The door was opened almost automatically and then nearly shut just as fast. She was faster, though, her booted foot wedging into the opening so that the door couldn't close.
"I'll call the Honor Guard," came the shrill reply from the other side. "They don't allow just anyone in here."
"Don't get your knickers in a twist," she muttered darkly as she pushed back against the door so that it opened wider. She stared into obscenely blue eyes that nature could not have created. "Is this 302?"
"No. 301."
Kilce looked down the hall again. "But this is the second door."
"On the north side." The girl rolled her eyes as if to express Kilce's stupidity at not understanding the layout. If she'd been feeling at all up to snuff, Kilce would have inspired the girl to jab herself in one of those blue eyes with a stick. "You want that room."
Once again, the finger pointed in a vague direction toward an area of the hall that Kilce hadn't been to yet. "Which one, exactly?"
"Why, 302, of course." The words came out sugar-coated as if the girl knew that she was being obtuse and was enjoying every single moment of Kilce's ignorance. "If you really go here, you'll figure it out."
Title: Room 302
Prompt: Collapse
Word Count: 437
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original - Streetlight People 'verse
Pairings (if any): none
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/RPF etc): none
Summary: Kilce finds herself on the campus of Grantson Academy without a clue as to where she needs to go.
There were six doors on the south side of the hall. Kilce knocked on each door, asking, "302?" as soon as the door was opened. No one was as outright mean as the first girl had been but neither were they helpful enough to tell her where exactly she was going or if she was on the right track. When she got to the fifth door, Kilce knew that she wasn't going to stay upright much longer. The magic was taking it's toll here and now, whether or not she could afford to pay for it. She'd forgotten all about having to push the cabbie to give her a ride in the first place, seeing as he'd picked her up on Crescent and no cabbie in his right mind actually stopped on Crescent to pick up passengers. It was the furthest she could go with her heavy box, though.
"Serves me right," she muttered as she tried lifting her arm to knock. When that didn't work, she kicked the door instead.
"Yes?" This time, the question was asked as if the person on the other side of the door truly wanted to be helpful. Her smile was even genuine and her eyes, behind the wire-rimmed glass that Kilce had seen often in the crowds of people she'd passed, seemed friendly. Definitely a welcome change after the outright hostility of the first room and the indifference in the others.
"Is this room 302?" Her voice was raspy, hardly more than a croak. It hurt to breath as her lungs began to burn with sudden infection. She would be coughing in a matter of minutes and the medicine she'd procured for just such an emergency was, sadly, in her box. "I'm looking for 302."
"This is. Are you Kilce? They told me I was getting a roommate sometime today. My last roommate had to leave... rather quickly. I was never sure why. She didn't tell me she was even leaving but, it's expected I guess."
Kilce was able to nod her head in response to the first question but she wasn't quite able to follow the rest. Instead, she let herself lean against the doorframe. Then she decided that maybe she'd slide down until she was sitting on the floor. It was a nice floor, after all. Nice enough that she considered stretching out full-length to enjoy it fully.
Just before she blacked out, Kilce realized that the girl who had opened the door was dragging her into the room. At least she wouldn't be forced to spend the night out in the elements. That would be a nice change.
This entry was cross posted at dreamwidth - where the cool kids hang out.
I apologize for not putting Kilce's part in first person. My brain started going and I forgot that I was going to put her stuff in first person. It worked so I'm not going to redo this.
Title: First Day of School
Prompt: 13. Knickers in a Twist
Word Count: 1150
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original - Streetlight People 'verse
Pairings (if any): none
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/RPF etc): none
Summary: Kilce finds herself on the campus of Grantson Academy without a clue as to where she needs to go.
There had been no introductory period where Kilce was given a chance to get used to the idea of being at Grantson Academy. No one gave her a run down of the rules (those written down or left to the students to make up as they went along) or showed her around campus. From the moment that she walked back onto the campus for the second time, she was expected to fit in. Not blend in, mind you. She was not the sort of person to blend in. Her skin, still pale-white as if she'd never seen the sun, was not in vogue this year as girls sported makeup meant to darken their complexions. Her hair (a color neither brown nor blonde but somewhere horribly between the two) was cut in an odd style, as if she'd taken a knife and butchered it herself just so it was out of the way. That was exactly what she'd done but no one asked, only staring at her with narrowed eyes as if they were trying to figure out what kind of bug she was so they could figure out how to kill it.
Growing up on the streets in Old City had made her a fighter but Kilce wasn't sure who to fight. Everyone looked the same here. There was no way of sizing someone up to find out what they wanted from her. Everyone she encountered looked like the enemy.
Enough was enough, though. She finally snagged the hem of a boy's coat as he walked by. "Help me find this place," she demanded, pushing a map toward him. When he tried to balk and pull away, she tugged up the bit of magic she'd gotten used to welding these days. Help me.
"It's right over there." His pointed finger was vague because there were several buildings in the direction he wanted her to go. She'd grown accustomed to reading maps in the past few years, as she'd had to memorize layouts of buildings to find the important things that some rooms held, like locked cabinets filled with physical coins that spent better than credits even though they were easier to trace back to their previous owners. These random blocks that were barely labeled wouldn't help her find anything, even with this random direction.
Kilce snagged his finger, interlocking her fingers with his. "Why don't you just show me." Help me, she pushed a little stronger. "I'm sure you don't have anywhere important to be. Do you?"
"Just..." but he didn't finish the statement as he looked around and realized his friends had all abandoned him. "Fine. Come on."
The tour left something to be desired but he mumbled helpful hints like, "That's Gaffan Hall. Bunch of jerks." and "That's the Chancellor's rose garden. Never go in there." She'd already been in the rose garden (the smell was glorious but she'd been unable to see any of the flowers seeing as the moon had been non-existant four days ago) and didn't know why she'd ever want to go to Gaffan Hall but it was all good to know. When he left her at the front door of Yunnic Hall, she didn't try to keep him nearby. The magic she'd had to use just to get him out of his normal routine had left a bitter taste at the back of her throat that would have her throwing up and feeling puny for several days if she'd pushed it any longer. Not the way she wanted to spend her first couple of days at her new home.
Besides, she was pretty sure she could find her room on her own. Of course, that was when she figured the doors themselves would have numbers on them. Otherwise, what good was telling her that she was in Room 302? She reasoned out, after fifteen frustrating minutes, that it was on the third floor. Taking a deep breath, she figured the only way to find out which one was the second room was to knock on what looked like the second door and ask for more directions.
The fever was already starting to make her skin feel prickly. If she had to push any suggestions at anyone, she might never make it back to Administration for her box of things. Not tonight, at least. Probably not tomorrow, either. She shouldn't have pushed so hard at that boy but he'd been more difficult to control than even the baker who refused to ever give out an extra crust with any of her orders. Kilce had always assumed it was the other way around and life was easier behind the invisible walls that surrounded the Academy from even New City.
If she'd known it would be this hard, she wouldn't have followed the impulse to ask for this life in exchange for her silence. The Chancellor had some very interesting secrets, not all of which had been kept in the locked cabinet behind the charms that had been ridiculously easy to break through. It had been a stroke of genius to goad him with his sins but it had broken him down almost immediately. She'd really just wanted to know if he had access to more credits than what she'd found but he'd started babbling on and on about responsibilities and ethics committees. In order to stop the flow of both words and tears (for he cried far too much than any man ever should), she'd demanded the one thing that would keep her silent - a place among the students of Grantson Academy.
So much for just automatically belonging. She sighed before she lifted her hand to knock. The door was opened almost automatically and then nearly shut just as fast. She was faster, though, her booted foot wedging into the opening so that the door couldn't close.
"I'll call the Honor Guard," came the shrill reply from the other side. "They don't allow just anyone in here."
"Don't get your knickers in a twist," she muttered darkly as she pushed back against the door so that it opened wider. She stared into obscenely blue eyes that nature could not have created. "Is this 302?"
"No. 301."
Kilce looked down the hall again. "But this is the second door."
"On the north side." The girl rolled her eyes as if to express Kilce's stupidity at not understanding the layout. If she'd been feeling at all up to snuff, Kilce would have inspired the girl to jab herself in one of those blue eyes with a stick. "You want that room."
Once again, the finger pointed in a vague direction toward an area of the hall that Kilce hadn't been to yet. "Which one, exactly?"
"Why, 302, of course." The words came out sugar-coated as if the girl knew that she was being obtuse and was enjoying every single moment of Kilce's ignorance. "If you really go here, you'll figure it out."
Title: Room 302
Prompt: Collapse
Word Count: 437
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original - Streetlight People 'verse
Pairings (if any): none
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/RPF etc): none
Summary: Kilce finds herself on the campus of Grantson Academy without a clue as to where she needs to go.
There were six doors on the south side of the hall. Kilce knocked on each door, asking, "302?" as soon as the door was opened. No one was as outright mean as the first girl had been but neither were they helpful enough to tell her where exactly she was going or if she was on the right track. When she got to the fifth door, Kilce knew that she wasn't going to stay upright much longer. The magic was taking it's toll here and now, whether or not she could afford to pay for it. She'd forgotten all about having to push the cabbie to give her a ride in the first place, seeing as he'd picked her up on Crescent and no cabbie in his right mind actually stopped on Crescent to pick up passengers. It was the furthest she could go with her heavy box, though.
"Serves me right," she muttered as she tried lifting her arm to knock. When that didn't work, she kicked the door instead.
"Yes?" This time, the question was asked as if the person on the other side of the door truly wanted to be helpful. Her smile was even genuine and her eyes, behind the wire-rimmed glass that Kilce had seen often in the crowds of people she'd passed, seemed friendly. Definitely a welcome change after the outright hostility of the first room and the indifference in the others.
"Is this room 302?" Her voice was raspy, hardly more than a croak. It hurt to breath as her lungs began to burn with sudden infection. She would be coughing in a matter of minutes and the medicine she'd procured for just such an emergency was, sadly, in her box. "I'm looking for 302."
"This is. Are you Kilce? They told me I was getting a roommate sometime today. My last roommate had to leave... rather quickly. I was never sure why. She didn't tell me she was even leaving but, it's expected I guess."
Kilce was able to nod her head in response to the first question but she wasn't quite able to follow the rest. Instead, she let herself lean against the doorframe. Then she decided that maybe she'd slide down until she was sitting on the floor. It was a nice floor, after all. Nice enough that she considered stretching out full-length to enjoy it fully.
Just before she blacked out, Kilce realized that the girl who had opened the door was dragging her into the room. At least she wouldn't be forced to spend the night out in the elements. That would be a nice change.
This entry was cross posted at dreamwidth - where the cool kids hang out.