A Pounding Bass Line || Ro

[arabella]

Arabella had spent over half an hour styling her hair. Some might think that this was a ridiculous amount of time but the tall blond believed that you needed to put in the effort if you wanted the best outcome. Arabella always wanted the best outcome. She needed to look flawless. Now that her hair was to her exacting standards she inspected her face for any imperfections the first few times she looked. She traced a finger around her eyes, making sure the skin still felt firm before frowning and opening up one of the many tiny pots and vials that were arranged neatly in front of the mirror and dabbing cream into the skin.

Satisfied that was all she could do at the moment Arabella stood up and paced over to her wardrobe, carefully flicking through tops and bottoms dismissively. Having gone through all of her selections in moments She stalked over to her iPods docking station and put on a song with a heavy dance beat, turning it up loudly and smiling when the bass made her mirror shake. That was how music was meant to be played, loud and overwhelming. You needed to be able to lose yourself in it at a moments notice.

Deciding that the music was far more important than getting dressed Arabella began moving, arms above her head and hips swaying to the beat. Long ago she'd been in ballet and jazz and tap. Back in the days where her mother had wanted a little girl to show off to their neighbors and to make her proud. After her mother had left her father hadn't seen the point in continuing since Felicity had said Arabella didn't act like she really cared. It wasn't like her pinch-penny father really needed to save the money on the classes. All it meant now was that she could move to the beat in ways that boys seemed to find fascinating.

Thankfully the Thunder Tower was the highest in the school and constantly hidden by volatile cloud coverage. Arabella never thought of such things when distracted by things like an insane beat, even when she was only in her underwear and bra. She twisted her hips, smile spreading across her face as she undulated her body. She'd always been an active girl, liking to work out her muscles and dancing was just as sweat inducing as soccer or volleyball. The girl was entranced, she didn't care about her fellow students or her clothing or impressing a boy at the moment. Though if a boy did wander in she had no doubt that he'd be very impressed by her.

[ROWENA AUDREY BENNETT]

She was getting better on the subject of Syria's death. There had been several nights after the initial news that Rowena had woken up feeling groggy and congested from falling asleep after a long bout of crying, when the tears would start pouring down her cheeks and she'd been unable to stop them. She hadn't slept in her dormitory at the Academy for weeks, because even though Ro loathed the apartment she shared with Syria and Altair she hated showing signs of weakness to other people even more. It was bad enough that she'd been unable to control her emotions in the company of others sometimes without her roommate seeing her in a sorry state as well.

That was going to change. She'd decided that the first night she'd woken up and rolled out of bed looking a mess, but it was only this very morning that she'd finally succeeded. She didn't smile at her reflection in the mirror as she examined it--oh, how she looked so much like Syria--but though she felt a tug it was nothing compared to the endless sorrow she'd felt before. She was getting better. Rowena wasn't the sort of person that spent a lot of her time feeling sorry for herself. Her life was a mess because she'd made it so and it took acceptance of this to get over her problems. So she brushed out the knots in her soft white-blonde hair, she put on her makeup and for the first time in a long time, she went over to her closet to design an outfit that really spoke to her.

Twenty minutes later as she found herself within the stone halls of the Academy, there wasn't much physical change about her. She was still thinner than she should have been and didn't radiate the sort of self-confidence one would expect of Altair, but she was in a... well, not quite a good mood, but a decent mood. It was the sort of neutral mood one would associate with nonchalance--she didn't want to dance and sing, but she didn't want to cry or curl up into a ball, either. The period of grieving might have seemed short to anyone who didn't know Ro, but those that did (so, basically, one person) would have been surprised that it had taken so long for her to get control of her emotions. She had always been in control before. Prior to the drugs she'd had a good handle on herself and had almost never cried. She'd been less serious and morose then, still having her innocence intact, but she'd at least been stable. With the drugs, she hadn't needed to try to feel nothing. She had felt nothing, and so she'd actually forgotten what control felt like. And now? She had herself back on track at least a little.

... Okay. So she was still drinking, still smoking, and she'd caved yesterday and reverted back into her bulimic ways. You couldn't blame a girl for trying!

It would be more convenient and certainly a little more comfortable to stay in the dormitories again following her slight recovery, and so that was where Ro went next. Being that it had been a while since she'd stepped foot inside she hesitated on the threshhold for a moment--What if she's got a new mate to kip with?--and then went inside. Blinking at the sight she beheld, Ro kept her eyes on the dancing figure of Arabella for a long moment and then actually snorted with her amusement, shaking her head. "Ever hear of a lock?" she asked, gesturing to the door. "Any boy and his mother coulda got through that door... but you'd probably enjoy that, wouldn't you?" Those words might have sounded quite scathing if they'd been spoken by anyone else. Rowena, who didn't really have a problem with Ara's promiscuity--look at who she had for a sister!--said them in a sarcastic but almost friendly manner. "Them bastards haven't found a way t'replace me yet, have they?" Though said lightly and meant as a bit of a joke, the question was also somewhat serious. Did they do that here? Ro wouldn't know. She had only attended for a little while.

[arabella]

Arabella was happily lost in the moment. Music was better than alcohol or sex or even dark chocolate. It made you want to move and spin and close your eyes and just exist without thought. It made her feel so much more alive than she usually did. A familiar voice broke through her revery and Arabella spun around, still dancing as she smiled at her former roommate's words. "Locks are for nancys." She replied with a delighted kind of laugh. She was in a good mood and Rowena was fun. "His mother might not approve of her baby's reaction once they walked through the door but she would always be free to walk back out again," She didn't mind if women looked their fill of her but Ara wasn't attracted to other women. She'd much rather have a man.

The song changed and Arabella decided that since Ro hadn't turned it down she'd simply leave it blasting through the room. It wasn't like the other girl every really complained anyway. It was why they'd been put together in the first place. Very few people could handle Arabella's personality. It was also why they'd left Rowena's place open in case she came back to the Dorms. "Rowena Bennett, you are irreplaceable." Arabella held her arms out and spun in a circle before dropping backwards onto her bad, laughing once again as she bounced a bit. She sighed happily and turned onto her side, propping her head up on her palm and staring at the younger girl critically for a moment.

"Rowena, I adore you. You know it's true darling but I have to say you look like shite. If those boys that wank to your magazine pictures could see you now," The statuesque blond trailed off with a sigh before smirking. "Well you'd still be out of their league and leave them all a drooling mess but then that's to be expected. How are you holding up?" Really she was asking Ro but she wanted to know about Altair as well, her sometime BFF sometime Arch Enemy and she were on the mend again and she was curious. Sometimes she worried about the other girl.

The death of Syria had been devastating to Altair and Ro. Ara couldn't even contemplate the loss of one of her brothers and they weren't nearly as close as the triplets had been. Were the twins now that one of them was dead? She'd ask someone later when they weren't around. She didn't want to get in a fight less than 5 minutes after Ro had come back. There were much more interesting things they could be doing instead. Organizing a night of drunken debauchery or paining their nails for instance.

"I took over your half of the wardrobe. We might need to have a second one moved in." She shrugged a bit, unconcerned about where Ro would be putting her clothing. The girl had borrowed Ara's clothes before and she could again if she wanted to. They were the same height though Ara (who was considered rather thin) was bigger than the younger girl, thankfully the clothes all still looked good on Ro so it didn't matter.

[ROWENA AUDREY BENNETT]

Oh, Rowena couldn't claim that she was as straight as a ruler. She had slept with other girls and certainly found some of them attractive, but she had never felt herself attracted to Arabella. The other woman seemed to think that she was gorgeous, of course, and a hell of a lot of the boys in the Academy agreed with her, but if Ro had a 'type' her roommate and friend was not it. Rolling her eyes, she replied, "Might as well take the bloody thing off its hinges," she snorted, "the amount of privacy I get rooming with you." She didn't really care about keeping the door locked all of the time but she had a little more concern for safety and privacy compared to Ara. She couldn't really decide whether she preferred the dingy little apartment or the dormitory where everything had to be compromised or agreed upon. At least she shared the apartment with her sister and they could talk about anything they wanted to change. She was accepting of some things--to room with certain people, you had to be--but if something really bothered her she would certainly bring it to the table. Ro was not a pushover, just quiet.

She was used to the blaring of loud music from parties and the number of modelling events she'd went to over the course of her seventeen years, so Ro didn't pay much attention to the music at all. "Flattered," she said sarcastically, rolling her bright blue eyes at her roommate. "Bet that translates to 'they couldn't find anyone who wanted to replace me'." She supposed that her level of tolerance came from growing up with Altair and Syria being such big parts of her life. Altair was much angrier and more aggressive than their Water counterpart was had been, but it didn't matter how docile a person, things came out when you had to live together. You learned how to compromise. And she had, which was precisely why it was so easy for her to tune out the loud music in the background.

"And much as I adore you, Ara, I don't care what you think." Though her tone was light there was a bit of an edge to her words. She did not like when people told her she looked like shit, thank you very much. She knew that she was improving, after all, and it was a serious blow to one's self-confidence when you had someone telling you that you looked like crap when you were supposed to be getting better. So instead of accepting the words she just tried to shove them aside. There was a knot in her throat when Arabella asked her how she was doing but Ro ignored this, too. If she wanted to improve her mental state she was going to have to keep hold of the emotions she'd so difficultly suppressed. "M'alive, aren't I?" It was a rhetorical question of course. She didn't say it with any air of depression or upset. She wasn't the type that was going to mope and say that life was a curse because her sister was gone. No, that had never been a part of Ro's personality.

She gave her roommate a look and a frown when Arabella told her about the loss of her wardrobe. "That's fine," she said, though a little coolly. "I've got all of my stuff back home." And if Ara was going to seize the first chance to carelessly impede on Ro's space in this room then the blonde was going to keep it that way. She wasn't sure what to think about this and so just pushed this out of mind as well. Ignorance was bliss, as they said. "It's a shame. I leave for a month and you've not changed a bit." This was said with a bit more humour than the other things had been. Though she might have been irritated by some of the things that Ara was saying, Ro was also avoiding a fight at the moment. She wasn't in the mood to argue with anyone today. "Who's your latest boy toy?" At least her bed was still in the room, and Rowena lay down upon it and propped her head against her hand.

[arabella]

Ara didn't respond to the comment about taking the door off the hinges, she just smiled cheerfully. If Ro wanted privacy she could request a room change or go back to wherever she'd been staying with her sisters. Sister? She'd have to figure out how to say that without making a big deal about the fact that Rowena and Altair had lost their third. Arabella herself had never lost anyone close to her and simply wasn't able to contemplate such a thing. Thankfully she'd never been that close to Syria so she could just shove the disturbing feelings away from her.

"You might be right. I am extremely picky. I want someone who knows how to dress and behave living with me. None of this early to bed shite, and certainly no one who gasps when I wander in drunk. I mean really, we're teenagers." She frowned a bit and chose not to think about the various girls who had requested room changes so they wouldn't have to deal with her. Ara was high maintenance. There was nothing wrong with that. Some girls rolled out of bed and threw on ratty jeans and ugly shirts. Ara had never been and would never be one of those. She had more respect for herself than to ever do something as disgusting as put on anything that didn't make her look her best.

Ara shrugged as Ro's words took on a bit of a bite. She didn't have to care about what Ara thought, but her words were true. "I suppose you are looking much better than last week so there has been improvement. It's just that you still have a good bit of work left." Her version of tact might not be up to polite people's standards but at least she was honest. Ro was gorgeous (when Ara was willing to admit such things to herself) but she was looking rather emaciated at the moment.

The girl flopped backwards on her bed, staring at the ceiling that had been painted a cheerful yellow once upon a time and was now covered in tiny scorch marks and melted bits of glow in the dark stars. Ara was very good at sparks. Static Electricity was her friend after all, some day she would actually handle lightning. That was her end goal anyhow. She wasn't sure why she would need such a dangerous talent but only the best could do it and so she would be one of the best. It was all that really mattered in the end. Being the best. Being remembered. Mattering.

She turned her dark eyes toward her roommate, Ro had flopped down on her own bed and was looking her way. Ara let her fingers play in her long curls as she contemplated the other girls words. It should be such an easy question to answer shouldn't it? The newest boy toy? They changed so often it really was hard to keep track of. "I've been like this for 17 years, I'm not about to change now." The words were said idly as she continued to contemplate the relationships she'd had lately.

"There have been a few brief flings. I think I might give Brett another chance. He told me I was beautiful." She was very good at forgetting the times that Brett had brought her high with his adoration and then stomped her so low that she couldn't bring herself to leave her room for days on end. He always gave her the best compliments and knew how to make her feel good about herself. He could bring her up so very easily, always had been able to do that really. They'd been in school together going on 4 years and every time he brought her up he then brought her down ... and yet those highs were so addictive and wonderful that she forgot all about those lows as soon as he smiled her way.

[ROWENA AUDREY BENNETT]

Arching a white-blonde eyebrow coolly, Ro looked at her roommate. "I do hope you know that I behave however the fuck I like," she said, almost conversationally. She didn't act the way she did because Ara wanted her to and she certainly didn't dress the way that anyone else wanted. In fact, Ro was a designer by nature and she altered and made a lot of her own things. Fads and trends tended to fly over her head because she was busy making herself look good to her own standards and no one else's. She snorted when Ara mentioned the bit about wandering in drunk, however. "I'm used to tha'." Look who the girl had for a sister! It was not a dis on Altair by any means, however. Rowena adored her slightly-older triplet more than anything else in the world. Certainly more than Ara.

See, Ro was a rather selfish girl. She put herself before other people and if someone stood in the way between Rowena and something that the Thunder elemental wanted, she wasn't always opposed to backstabbing and cutting throats to get what she wanted. That was how she'd been treated in the modelling industry. The other girls had done anything to stand out against their competition and if that meant lying, cheating, creating scandal... well, such was life. Ara had just never really stood in her way before, so the friendship remained as it was. Not that Rowena always succeeded. Her plans often backfired on her and the friends turned into enemies just based on the sole fact that she'd tried to use them for personal gain. She wasn't invincible and some people--many people--were better than her. She didn't like to acknowledge this but also could not deny it, so for the most part Ro just ignored it. For as they say, ignorance is bliss.

Speaking of ignorance, she chose to ignore Arabella's remark about her appearance and overall recovery. The girl was starting to rub Rowena's nerves the wrong way and though the blonde was not submissive she could be very passive aggressive. She wasn't going to start a fight right then and there but she'd probably remember this on a day where Ara wasn't looking so hot. She tended to be vindictive, Rowena did. It usually was not over something so petty but her self-worth was a bit fragile at the moment. She had a lot of issues that needed getting over and she knew that this wasn't going to be accomplished when she had some bitch in her life putting her down. At the same time, she had moments when she got along fine with Ara. Or perhaps they'd just gotten along so well when Ro had been drugged up because the girl wouldn't have cared about such things back then. She cared a lot more now, but chose to keep that much to herself.

Rowena regarded this new information and then said with a shrug, "Brett's alright." She'd never connected with the guy on a sexual level, though. She just thought that he was alright company and since he seemed to get along quite well with her sister, too, he could technically be considered a mutual friend. He could be a bit of an asshole but Ro just assumed that Ara could deal with that because she was so bitchy herself sometimes. It didn't even occur to the blonde that her 'friend' was relying on Brett for confidence in herself. "Y'know you're not the only girl he's told that, right?" It wasn't an attempt to make Ara feel bad and nor was it an attempt to be nice and warn her. She was just making conversation in her own way. She had no idea whether Ara was aware of what Brett was like. Then again, Ara slept with other men and so maybe it didn't matter to her.