Meet the Roommate (Attention: Maurelle)

[tonnalea]

OOC:  I wasn't entirely sure how to play this, so I just started writing and this is what came out. lol I hope it works for you. :)

 

 

IC:

 

Ariani swore loudly, and everything that had been on her desk went flying across the room.

 

"Have you no respect for other people's things?!" she yelled at the door, although she knew that no one was on the other side to hear it. "Move my things, will you," 

she grumbled and then yelled again, "I could have done this myself!"

 

She was very much aware that she was currently throwing a temper tantrum, but the thought of someone else moving around her belongings, undoing hours of 

careful organization just made her blood boil. She sat in the middle of the mess and sighed, "Where to begin?" 

She began shuffling through the papers on the floor until she found two things; a list of names, and an artistic rendering of a small, white flower with red veins and a blood 

red center. These, she stuck to the mirror on her dresser. Slowly, she began reorganizing her half of the room by categories: things that belong in the dresser, things that 

belong on the desk, and so on. Soon enough, things began to fall back into order and she began feeling a little more calm. 

 

Ariani sat on the bed and waited. She was to be here to greet her new roommate, and despite the fact that she was displeased with the whole arrangement, she was going 

to try to at least be civil to the girl...provided that she didn't try to prod too much into her life. The thought of that set her temper ablaze again and she sat there and fumed 

about it for a moment. "The nerve...why would anyone ask so many questions? Why would anyone need to know anything more other than who I am and where I am from? 

They don't. And I'll tell her too. I'll offer up no more information than I have to."

 

Ariani stopped her thought, realizing how silly she was being. She hadn't even met this girl yet, and for all she knew, this girl didn't want to have too much to do with her either. 

She layed back on her bed, singing to herself softly at first, something she had always done to calm herself down. The more relaxed she became, the louder her voice got, until it 

was almost resonating off of the walls in the small room.

 

"......But I will hold her close to me in heart and dearest memory, and with her strength to steel my soul, her love to warm my heart-strings. I will stand where we once sang, though cold wind shakes the willow."

 

 

 

 

 

[Maurelle]

Erlene was late. Not a terribly unusual occurrence and the main reason that the Mistress of Novices decided that she needed a roommate. It was hardly her fault that she was late. They expected her at the kitchens before dawn-which was not at issue, she loved the kitchens- and they wanted her at her first lesson directly after the end of breakfast bell. The kitchens were on the ground floor and her first lesson the fourth. Even moving at a run-something that had nearly earned a switching the first and only time she tried it-she had been late. She knew better than to suggest a change in the time or placement of her lessons.

 

A harrumph escaped her lips as she caught sight of the new room. Honestly, it was like they were trying to make her choose between her lessons and the kitchens. Well, they would be in for a treat if they thought they could make her do so. She had seen nothing in her lessons so far that would preclude her from enjoying making her own meal. But that had nothing to do with whoever was behind the door. Erlene dusted her skirts off and adjusted the white head scarf over the perfect golden ringlets of her hair. The novice behind the door likely hadn't volunteered for this either. 

 

She reached for the door and blinked. Was that singing she heard? Her eyes flicked up and down the hall looking for the source. No one. That meant it was whoever was behind the door. Curiosity sparked behind eyes the color of peacock feathers. The voice wasn't bad-a little pitchy here and there, but not bad. A grin curled her lips as she turned the knob. As long as the other woman wasn't planning on singing into the wee hours of the morning, she wouldn't take issue with it.

 

Pushing open the door, she took in the sight of the other. At first she thought she was looking at an exceptionally lovely boy in a novice dress. Erlene was ready to rage through the hall, Aes Sedai calm be cursed, looking for the miscreant who had decided to pull this prank on her, when she remembered the voice. No boy could have that voice. Taking a deep breath she closed the door with a soft snick and groaned at the sight of her belongs strewn about the small bed.

 

"Honestly, I think half the servants here need a good switching and the other half need to go back to apprenticeships. Look at the mess they made of my sewing kit!" Erlene held up the tangled mass of needles, thread and white fabric patches. It was going to take her a good hour to get it untangled and put away. "I'm Erlene by the way." She tossed the kit on her pillow and began shoving things in the chest at the foot of the bed.

[tonnalea]

Ariani sat up when the door opened and a girl, whom she could only assume was her new roommate, rushed in. She hadn't even had time to 

speak before the other girl rushed to her bed and began fussing over the mess that had been left on it for her, and introducing herself as Erlene.  

 

Erlene looked like several of the other girls that she had seen here. She moved as if she were performing a dance, and not a hair was out of place.

She reminded her of the girls in this place who liked to giggle as Ariani would pass or just say or do something mean. "Well, at least she won't make 

a mess," Ariani thought to herself as she leaned back on her elbows on the bed, relieved that the catastrophe that was Erlene's bed was finally being 

taken care of. She had been trying to ignore it, but if the girl hadn't shown up when she did, then Ariani was going to go try to make sense of it herself. 

 

"Ariani," she said nonchalantly, "and yes they should. Only, it wasn't the servants that did it. It was a bloody Accepted who was ordered to do this as 

part of some kind of punishment. Had I been here when she did this, she would have left with a black eye and some nicely reddened welts." She grinned 

roguishly and then added, "Her punishment doesn't fit her crime." She grabbed a book from the desk and thumbed through a few pages before finally settling 

on one, determined to keep her distance as much as she could in this tiny space. 

[Maurelle]

"Bloody Accepted," Erlene muttered under her breath. "Think just because they passed the test they're light's gift to the world." She snorted and sat on the lumpy mattress beginning to untangle her sewing kit. "Do me a favor, if I ever get that stuck up box my ears good." She shook her head and sent her blonde curls swinging as they tried to push their way past the confines of the white scarf holding them back. Erlene's quick fingers made fast work of her sewing kit-her mother and the other ladies at the estate made sure that she would have all the skills necessary to take care of herself, a husband, and kids. One of those skills was at least a passing knowledge of needle craft. She moved off the bed and dug through the mess of clothes, books, and stationary supplies for the stockings with the heel she knew needed patching. The other novices told her to just put them in the laundry shoot and they would be taken care of. Erlene knew better. They would be either tossed or put in a pile for some poor novice to darn. She trusted her own needlework a sight better than she did some moonbrained, lily-white, soft handed novice and was appalled at the idea of throwing out decent clothing.

 

"Got anything that needs mending or darning?" she asked tossing the stockings on the bed. Ariani looked like she hadn't had the domestic training that Erlene had grown up breathing. The state her hair was in attested to it. Her mother would've taken to her with a switch if she had done that to her hair regardless of her age. A rueful smile twisted her mouth at the thought. She had been thinking about her mother more lately than normal. The woman had been given to the earth years past, but it was her lessons and the lessons of the other woman at the estate that were proving to be the most useful. She sat back on the bed and began threading a needle. 

[tonnalea]

Ariani forced a smile to her face and laid her book down, letting a slightly chilly sapphire gaze fall on Erlene. "No thank you," she said, reminding 

herself of her oath to be polite, "I've always preferred to do for myself."

 

To Ariani, Erlene seemed to be just as irritated with their new living conditions as she was. Her offer to do Ariani's mending had been polite, but it 

had come across as forced. Twice now, she had caught the other girl looking her over and it was almost identical to the looks that she had received from 

most of the other girls. To question the Mistress of Novices as to why she would put this girl in a room with her would be futile, and it might even earn 

both of them a switching. She would eventually figure it out. Still, the two of them couldn't very well walk on eggshells around each other day in and day out. 

Something had to be said. 

 

"Listen," she heard herself saying in a cool tone, "I can tell when someone is not happy. So there is no reason for the two of us to go on with the forced niceties." 

She waited a moment to make sure that she had Erlene's attention before going on, "Judging from the way that you looked at me when you came in, and the way 

that you looked at me a moment ago...I am the absolute last person that you would choose as a roommate. As for myself, I do not understand the necessity of this. 

I would have chosen to remain alone."

 

Ariani stood up and paced the room, her feet not making a sound on the cool wooden floor. "We could go and ask Valeri Sedai what this is all about, and we could 

earn a switching and two months in the kitchens. I have no problem with work, but there are places around here that I've yet to explore and I would prefer it if we 

didn't have any more chores piled onto us than we have to. Or....we can figure this situation out ourselves, leave the Aes Sedai out of it, and be better off for it."

 

 

[Maurelle]

Erlene's blue eyes widened in shock. She wondered if her bow shaped lips were hanging open to catch flies. Honestly, she had just been talking to talk-a bad habit if she had one. She had offered to mend her stuff because she liked sewing and didn't have any kind of problem with the other woman. Well, she hadn't had any problem with her. She put her mending on the bed, making sure the needle wouldn't get lost in the fabric or her bedding. She adjusted the white kerchief over her golden curls and pursed her lips in anger.

 

"How dare you presume to know what is going on in my head," her voice was normally an octave lower than most, but in anger it got deeper rather than louder. "I didn't have a problem with you until you decided to get a burr up your butt over my curiosity. How could a person not be curious about someone she has never met before?" Erlene stood and put her hands on her hips. Her eyes followed the other woman's progress back and forth across the room. It had been a while since her temper had been given free rein and it buzzed in the back of her mind like a wet hornet's nest. "I wasn't being nice to you out of some kind of societal convention- I was being nice because I like to think I am a nice person. And you aren't the last person I'd choose as a roommate-there are plenty of Accepted who can hold that position. Light, I know as much about you as I do the moon." Most of her temper blew out her mouth with the words and she let out a sigh.

 

"I'd rather be your friend than take the switching," she said crossing her arms and blowing a stray curl that had escaped her kerchief out of her face.

[tonnalea]

OOC: Ok, lol. I can't do the first thing that I wanted. I can't quit laughing. I don't know why. Erlene is just funny when she gets mad so, I'm probably about

to incite even more anger out of her. 

 

IC:

 

 

Ariani watched Erlene erupt in anger and at first was shocked that someone so small could have such a temper. Then she remembered that she wasn't 

very much taller herself and she lost her own temper quite often. Erlene looked almost hopped as she spoke, and her face...whether the girl realized it 

or not, had turned bright red. The outburst somehow worked some of her hair loose from her head scarf and her knuckles had turned white from clenching 

her fists. And then, just as suddenly as it had started, it was over. Erlene stood there with her arms folded and trying to blow a stray curl out of her face. 

Ariani had just realized how silly she had to look during her own outbursts, and wondered briefly if Erlene had ever seen herself.

 

Ariani knew that she should probably be preparing for a brawl, Erlene's temper rivaled her own, but this....was just ridiculous. She starting laughing, 

at first trying to stifle it, but giving up as soon as Erlene tried to blow that curl out of her face again.

 

"You," Ariani, started and then had to stop to fight off another fit of laughter, "I....haven't laughed like this in a long, long time. You have no idea." 

Sitting down and wiping tears from her cheeks, she said, "If I had known that I looked like that when I got mad, I would have tried to tame my temper 

sooner. You....."

 

She lifted her eyes back to Erlene who stood there looking less like an angry badger and more and more confused, "You have no idea what you look 

like right now." Ariani picked up a mirror and held it out to the other girl.

 

I'm sorry," Ariani said through her laughter, "We can go bare knuckles if you want, but I'll warn you. I came here from the streets of the Foregate. I'm 

not too bad. Or we can sit here and laugh at how silly both of us look right now."

[Maurelle]

Erlene bit the corner of her lips to suppress the reflexive laughter that stuck in her throat when Ariani burst out laughing. She peered into the cloudy mirror-the clearer and better mirrors went to Accepted and Aes Sedai- and let loose her own hearty laugh. She had seen herself in a full temper before, every Murandy woman had seen themselves and others in a good rage at one time or another. Light, it was practically a qualification for marriage to be able to work into a good lather. She had the hardest time trying to understand these foreign women who hid their tempers behind smiles and titters.

 

"I'd prefer the laughter. I've never been much of a brawler," she winked to let the other woman know she didn't begrudge her the skills. "Now, give me a cast iron skillet and decent kitchen knife..." She pantomimed swinging the skillet at an imaginary man's head. Erlene undid the kerchief around her hair and shook out the curls. Gold ringlets sprang her life in a nimbus around her head. She made a face as she redid her hair.

 

"There is one thing you do need to know about me, if we're going to make this little arrangement work: I get angry often. Hopping mad as the expression goes. I can't let the Aes Sedai and those holier than thou Accepted see it. So, I'll prolly explode here and often. Sometimes it'll be at my shoes. Sometimes it'll be at you. I don't mean anything by it, and I'll likely forget I was even mad seconds later. So, far warning." The smile banished from her face so she could let the other girl know that she was serious. Erlene had lost potential friends here because they couldn't understand her need to vent. She would project that calm all these Aes Sedai went on about in public if it killed her, but there was no way she was going to become some meek little chit.

[tonnalea]

"You'd be better off using the skillet as a shield and finding a well sharpened butcher's knife to use as a weapon," 

Ariani giggled as she said, "Maybe we'll find you a nice kettle as a helmet. You could join the Tower Guard." With 

that statement, she fell into another fit of laughter.

 

Soon enough, the fit of laughter was over and she regained her composure. Light, but it was difficult to stop laughing 

once it had gotten started. A slightly more serious look came across her face as Erlene explained her explosive temper, 

but it was soon replaced by a playfully raised eyebrow and a roguish grin. 

 

"I see," Ariani said with a tone as serious as she could manage, and then adding in a more sarcastic tone, "I can live with 

that, as long as you can live with one of two things. You start yelling at me, and I show you your face in that miserable excuse 

for a mirror again OR I douse you with cold water. Your choice." Her grin widened and she winked mischievously and started giggling again.

 

"Seriously, though. Done," she said, "But you'll have to understand too, I take my studies very seriously. To the point that, you are probably 

the first person that I've said more than three words to, that I didn't have to speak with. Oh, and I am very blunt and to the point. I will tell you 

what I think and I don't give a spit about how it comes out. I don't like to honey coat anything. I can, but I won't. So, fair warning."