Def true. The person above me was bored. 

Novice Quiz - [Complete]

Arrival: Meet MoN - URL - [ - / 4 ] [Complete / Incomplete]

One OP Related RP - URL - [ - / 4 ] [Complete / Incomplete]
* Class 1: - URL - [ - / 1 ] [Complete / Incomplete]
* Class 2: - URL - [ - / 1 ] [Complete / Incomplete]
* Class 3: - URL - [ - / 1 ] [Complete / Incomplete]
* Class 4: - URL - [ - / 1 ] [Complete / Incomplete]

2 Choice RPs:
* [Name of Req] - URL - Word Count / [ - / 4 ] [Complete / Incomplete]
* [Name of Req] - URL - Word Count / [ - / 4 ] [Complete / Incomplete]

Three Arches - URL - Word Count - [Complete / Incomplete]

Meridian listened attentively, though she did not stare at Girt. Instead she only glanced at her occasionally. She knew that a direct gaze could be intimidating, and she didn’t think the other girl could deal with that right now. Leaving all one knew behind was traumatic enough without other things being stacked on top of that.

“Better the devil you know, than you one you don’t, right?” she asked kindly, then shrugged sympathetically. She was all too aware of just how fast the wheel could turn and then she would be the one crying and Girt would be listening to her--- What?! Her eyes widened in shock. She blushed in embarrassment; both surprised and unsettled by how quickly her mind had decided that it could rely upon this stranger from Arad Doman.

As Girt became more and more distressed, Meridian shot a glance at the door, praying that no one outside would hear or pay attention to the distressed wailing of a novice. She sighed. And when she swallowed she realized that a thick lump was making it difficult to breathe. Here she was, newly arrived to the Tower herself, and her own vague expectations of trouble and discomfort had solidified in the distress of her new roommate and presented themselves to her face in such a fashion that she could not simply shove her doubts into the back of her mind and ignore them. What if I made the wrong choice? What if I fail here? What if… she got up and quietly crossed the room. Meridian seat herself on Girt’s bed and slid back so she could lean against the wall, just in time to hear the girl’s whispered apology.

“It’s ok,” she replied simply, at a loss as to what to say to make things better. What if it isn’t ok? She thought to herself and tentatively slid her arm around the other girl’s thin shoulders. “I do not know much about the Aes Sedai, but I have never heard stories of them throwing anyone out in the streets. But, if they do, I will find a way to get you back to Arad Doman. Promise.” She crossed her fingers, hoping Girt would not see the unvoiced doubt in her mind. She suspected that once within the White Tower, leaving was not something that was a viable option. Not for novices. Not in a city full of Aes Sedai. She wanted to ask about the necklace. It obviously meant something to Girt, but she could tell it was a touchy subject.

“There. See? That’s better already,” Meridian replied, inwardly releasing a long sigh of relief. She eyed Girt for a moment and decided she wouldn’t have been let inside the Tower if she had carried an infestation of lice so, “It’s just a hairbrush, you’re welcome to borrow it whenever you like,” until and unless it is confiscated by the Aes Sedai she completed the thought silently. Despite her appearance she guessed that Girt was about her same age. Doubtless it was her background that made her appear older. She had noticed that commoners as a rule tended to look older than aristocrats, particularly the women. She made a tentative offer, “if you need help washing your hair, I’ll do it…you know, if you want?” Now watch her get all huffy because I implied she’s dirty. If she scrubs any harder I bet her skin will fall off. A crease appeared between Meridian’s eyebrows as she thought about this.

A thought struck her and she sat up suddenly, turning to face Girt and drawing her own knees up under her chin. “If no one was nice to you at home---why do you miss it?” Maybe it was just because the White Tower was unfamiliar, but maybe there was more to it than that. “You don’t have to answer, of course,” she added with a belated smile. “I didn’t mean to pry exactly,” I am trying to find out more about you, but not to do you injury.

“At least this is better than circling each other like a pair of territorial cats with our backs arched and occasionally hissing at each other, right?” Now that she considered it, Meridian realized that she wanted to like her roommate. Maybe she would even end up becoming friends. "We can take turns asking questions."

Meridian’s eyes widened in surprise as Girt burst out passionately in a voluble storm of words that she really had no chance to interrupt and then stormed out of the room. She hurled the brush at the closed door and sighed. Then, she stood up, tugged the front of her dress straight and walked over to pick it up. She put it away and then flopped backwards onto her bed wondering what else would happen today. 

She propped herself up on one elbow as Girt unceremoniously re-entered the room. She didn’t interrupt although she was practically itching to do so. However, as soon as the girl paused to draw breath, she darted in with, “Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t know you well enough to like you, but I did make the first overture.” As Girt curled up in bed and presented her with a back to speak to, Meridian gave a dramatic eyeroll, placed her hand to her brow in the approved fashion, and flopped back on her bed as if she had swooned. “It’s not about you displeasing me, or me despising you, because I actually don’t. If you want to earn yourself another penance, I’m sure going to the Mistress of Novices and complaining about roommate assignments is the short path to that destination. In fact, I’ll probably be written into her book for personal attention as well, so I’d much rather you didn’t.”

She stifled a yawn. “Besides, who knows, maybe we will be friends sometime?” Here I thought she’d be pleased that I’d offered an alliance. It's a working relationship, much more stable than immediate professions of friendship based upon wishful thinking. What kind of world does she come from? She seemed so on edge at first, expecting to serve, flinching away…and yet she wanted me to like her immediately? It was a conundrum, one she would work out eventually if given the opportunity. Unfortunately, Girt seemed to be possessed of a prickly nature that would daunt even a fellow cactus.

Meridian suppressed a grimace. She would have thought someone with calloused hands would have a firm grip, but maybe she thought Meridian was too delicate. Or maybe she thought Meridian would find some way to make her life miserable. “It was only a half hour I think, but it felt like an eternity, an eternity that suddenly ended way too quickly.” She suspected that for novices that was always what it felt like to be waiting outside the Mistress of Novices’ door. This time though she knew she hadn’t done anything worthy of being summoned, so she guessed that she would only really know the gut-wrenching uncertainty of punishment about to fall later on.

She folded her arms and paced up and down a bit. Moving helped her think. Girt seemed to dislike her automatically. To be fair, she wasn’t overly impressed with her roommate either. But now the girl seemed to think she was trying to buy her friendship. Of all the--- She could have offered her her mirror, or inks, but that would be a bribe and might get Girt into trouble if she was found with them. She mentioned that Meridian might have been allowed to keep her satchel since she was a lady. Light, if I offer her a present, she’ll be offended. If I don’t offer her one, she will stay offended. By this point Girt was telling her about her own arrival in the White Tower. “Goodness, you’ve got rotten luck,” she replied, sensing that the other girl wanted her to say something, but not really sure what to say.

She sat down on the bed that she thought was hers, stiffening as Girt began brushing her hair none too gently at first, but then relaxing a bit. It was hard not to relax when someone was brushing one’s hair. Not a bad day?! What constitutes a bad day around here? She wondered.

She sat there in silence, thinking hard while Girt finished her hair. Then, she turned around, appropriated her hairbrush and began brushing Girt’s hair trying not to pull hard. “Look, you don’t know me, and I don’t know you. Neither of us likes the other, but we’ve been stuck in the same place and I don’t see any way out of that,” she was talking as much to herself as to Girt, “but, we still have a choice. We can make the best of it, or we can make ourselves miserable, and from what I’ve seen so far, there are plenty of other people around who would be only too happy to see us miserable.”

She half expected the girl to jerk away from her, but she carried on anyway. “I left my servants, my family, and my life behind to come here. I don’t want a friend, but I think we had definitely better come to some arrangement, so, you watch my back, and I’ll watch yours.” She mentally crossed her fingers. If Girt’s luck became hers, she didn’t know what she would do.

Arad Doman. She had heard of it, but never been there of course. Her personal geographical familiarity was restricted to Cairhien and its environs. Her family was neither important enough, nor affluent enough to travel often. “I’m from Cairhien,” she volunteered, if the subdued color of the dress she had arrived in as well as its fashion hadn’t been enough for Girt to reach that conclusion herself.

She shrugged helplessly. Why would they make me room with her? She reflected on the little she did know about Aes Sedai: they manipulated like it was their calling in life. Maybe they invented Daes Dae’mar? That made this familiar ground. Kind of. It meant she knew the basic rules, but not much more. “Probably to make us both uncomfortable and keep us on edge.” She sighed. “Which means, we can’t let them know that we are uncomfortable.” She guessed she could wait an hour for food, going hungry was probably just another thing she would need to get used to.

“What do you think you’re---“ she cut off the harsh interrogative as Girt flapped her dress in front of her to shake out the wrinkles and proceeded to store it in a fashion that would have made her mother smile if she had been around to witness it. “I mean,” she backpedaled as the other girl again looked abashed, honestly, does she think I’ll strike her? “thank you.”

“Allowed?” I don’t think rank has any weight once one is inside the Tower. And with that thought, Meridian realized just how small and alone she was in the world now. She moved over to the cabinet and winced as she skinned her ankle on the bedpost. “Don’t bother unpacking it.” There was so much she didn’t know. “There’s nothing of value, and I expect everything will be confiscated in due course anyway.” She hoped Girt wouldn’t resent her on account of that.

“I’m Meridian Ankarin,” she reiterated, smiling in what she hoped was a friendly fashion. “Formerly in training to be a lady of a House that is so minor in the political realm that most people don’t even know it exists.” She reached up and attempted to smooth her unruly brown hair back into a semblance of order. It hadn’t withstood the static effect of pulling her novice dress over it. “So, just Meridian.”

Brown eyes took in Girt’s worried look and rough appearance. Meridian knew with an instinctive certainty that her rooming assignment could have been a whole lot worse. She took a deep breath and once again held out her hand as she made an offer, “Allies?”

“A bath would be lovely,” Meridian replied, more out of habit than any actual expectation of one. Truly, after a lengthy stint of traveling a hot bath was a luxury indeed. But, looking around at this room, she did not think baths were something for novices. Besides, the sooner she did not look out of place, the better.

Maybe she had misunderstood. She was assigned to room with a ‘Girt Salinas’ and so far the other girl had not even thought to name herself. From the speed with which Meridian found herself being helped out of her clothes---by a complete stranger no less!---perhaps she had been given a maid. But no, that could not be right. Her eyes narrowed shrewdly as she twisted to look at her companion in the eye. Girt back away, confused and apologetic. She has to be a novice, maybe she was a maid before?

She held up her hands and looked at them closely, really looked. They weren’t the hands of someone accustomed to working. “I guess I’ll learn how to serve,” she hesitated uncomfortably on the last word. One thing she did know was that one must know their place in the order of the world, and the sooner she figured out where she was supposed to be, the better. And she would be safer. Theoretically. She did not want to get on the bad side of an Aes Sedai for some failure she wasn’t even aware of.

Meridian stepped out of her dress and let it fall to the floor before picking it up and tossing it haphazardly on the bed next to her white dress. Not wishing to draw attention to the other girl’s embarrassment, she spoke in a muffled voice while pulling the white fabric over her head. “I think we are the lowest of the low here,” and while some deference from her roommate might be nice, this cringing in the corner would have to stop. It would certainly attract attention from the wrong quarters. “Novices both. I don’t suppose there’s any chance of a meal soon?” she enquired, while rolling up the dress she’d arrived in. “I guess it will be a long time before I’m allowed to wear colors again. I’ve heard that white is enforced rather strictly.” And that in itself would be an annoyance and a half: white is the hardest of the colors to keep clean. The symbolism of purity was nice, but in the real world of chores she wondered how she would be able to keep it clean.

Finally, attired in white, Meridian approached Girt cautiously, almost as if she was a squirrel that she was trying not to startle in the woods. “What’s your name?”

Meridian was tired, but since she’d only just left her initial meeting with the Mistress of Novices her tiredness was simply the natural result of the journey to the White Tower combined with the completely new, unfamiliar territory and environment in which she now found herself. For one thing, instead of being the one deferred to, she was expected to do the deferring herself! The look she’d been given when handing the white dress that was currently draped across her arm to the novice who had shown her to this room, the closed door of which she was standing outside, would probably have made a plant spontaneously burst into flames. Sure, she had clumsily apologized upon realizing her mistake, but she knew already she would have to do more than that repair things.

“Thank you,” she spoke to the white back of the girl who had shown her to her room and then left in a huff. The air even felt annoyed! How did she do that? Meridian wondered as she turned to face the solid door of the room that was supposed to be her new home.

She pushed the door open, stepped inside, and nearly tripped on a floor that was painfully clean and in the process of being polished. “What---who?” the question died on her lips as a girl probably close to herself in age got to her feet and immediately sank into a deep curtsy. Finally. Meridian smiled, determined to make a better impression this time. “Oh, there’s no hurry. You can finish your chores,” she waved at the scrub bucket and floor. What would her mother say? Meridian quickly new she would have to figure out her own way to do things.

And then she realized what the other girl had said, “my room to share,” and she quickly looked around: small room, one cabinet, TWO beds with accompanying desks that looked more like glorified campstools. Her jaw dropped in undignified chagrin. So much for making a good impression.

The plain white dress the other girl was wearing made her own dress of forest green with a brown surcoat laced at the sides stand out painfully, although back home it would have been considered drab. Flame rose in her cheeks as her gaze fell to the similar dress draped over her arm. The embarrassment made her forget the small travel satchel slung over her shoulder. With a sinking feeling she knew she’d been assigned this---this---peasant, as a roommate. And she instinctively knew that there was no appeal in this place. Not for something like this anyway.

So, she squared her shoulders and stepped further into the room, shutting the door with a well-placed heel, as she held out her hand in greeting. “Let’s start over,” she hoped the other girl would take her hand, “please?” she asked. “I’m obviously quite new here. Just arrived, in fact,” she shook the dress she was carrying on her arm as evidence. “I suppose I had better get changed.”

Do you want to know how long I spent looking through that link and other related ones? **sighs**

Yeah, I have. I'll try that one other hotkey thing. And then just type it. :)

Can't do it at all. :)

I cannot copy/paste the Reqs for my thread. Actually, I cannot copy/paste anything at all when I attempt to create that thread. I've tried it from WORD, Skype... I may just have to type the whole thing out. However, if I do that, you won't have the nice little bullet points and all. :)

R & U

(Something about DM is not letting me copy/paste the format into a thread for my character! Help?)

Received the message a bit ago, but I have been super busy in the past few weeks. >.<

1.   Meridian

2.   Meridian Ankarin

3.   Novice (brand-spankin'-new!)

4.   I think I can see everything...

.... that is just wrong!

Dwayne the bathtub; I'm dwowning!

O.O

**laughter** I've never heard that one before.

I'ma regret this...

Dwayne who?

Who's there?

I do love fireflies actually. But, I think the person above me is speaking from experience.

The person above me is trying to help people denying reality.