Midnight Monologue [open]

[Ariana Simone]

Back again. 

It seemed like forever and a day since Ariana had seen the familiar lights of Hammel and felt the warmth of a home that she'd missed on the cool nights in a hotel room in NYC. There'd been a follow up seminar for the one she'd went to last winter, and she was loathe not to take the opportunity at her fingertips, especially since it was all paid for already. She'd earned a scholarship to come back in the last seminar, so it only seemed right that she'd go back. Was she sad to leave again so soon after her arrival back home? Of course. She'd missed Hammel...and if she was honest with herself, she had missed a certain healer as well. However, sacrifices had to be made if she was ever to have a highly successful career. 

Travel worn and weary, she'd lugged her baggage back into the dorm suites, almost a bit surprised that she still had her old dorm room. One of her roommates had left, but it looked like the other two were still there, one of them the boy she'd played midnight pool with. At least not too much had changed in her absence. As much as she loved the cold streets of the Big Apple, there was always that bit of longing for the familiar that was Pilot Ridge. She never thought she'd miss Hammel so much until she left it for a hotel room for months on end. 

One ofthe plus sides about going back was that she could see Cassandra again. She'd met the singer last seminar, and they'd really had some fun together...some of it not the innocent kind. Getting back together again was quite an adventure in and of itself, on top of the magnificence of Broadway. Still, they were nothing serious, and it was great to be back. 

She'd rearranged her room back to her liking already, a new mannequin erected in the corner with a half-finished project on it. It felt like home again, after months away in a cold, if amazing city. Still, there was one more place she needed to go before she felt truly felt complete. Wandering around at night wasn't advised, but she didn't care. She had an urge to go back to where it all had started for her: on stage. 

Her feet brought her to the auditorium, finding a way to get in. She'd been doing this for years since she was a small girl, so she'd figured out how to get in after dark when she felt like rehearsing on stage late at night. Her slippers slid over the floor as she headed to the fair end of the auditorium, looking fondly at the first stage she'd ever set foot on. Many fond memories had been made here for her. Stepping up onto the stage, she looked out over the auditorium, imagining how it looked when the seats were lined up and people were filled to the brim to see one of her performances. Applause and praise was what she seemed to live for. A smile lit up her face, her eyes closing as she soaked in the memories. 

Maybe she could squeeze in a small rehearsal? Might as well. Something simple...something she knew by heart. Maybe it was a bit cliche....but nothing beat Shakespeare. The words were in her head and she concentrated, channeling the torn Capulet as she spoke. 

"O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?
Deny they father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet. 
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy. 
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. 
What's Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face. O, be some other name
Belonging to a man. 
What's in a name? That which they call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet. 
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name;
And for thy name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself. "

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

To Harmony, rules like curfew did not apply. At least in her own head. She wanted to get the lay of the school down. So instead of going to bed, she decided to wander around the halls for a bit. So far, she hadn’t run into anyone, students or faculty.

As she was walking past the auditorium, she heard a voice coming from the stage. Staying in the shadows, she snuck up through the rows of seats until she was near the front row. As the girl on stage finished her speech, Harmony rose her to feet, clapping her hands together.

“So you think Romeo will show up?” she asked, with a grin on her face. She had never really understood Shakespeare, not that she ever bothered to try, but she knew the basic story of Romeo and Juliet from movies. “You better hurry up and find him before he offs himself.”

[Ariana Simone]

It wasn't unusual for Ariana to get lost within her own performance and not notice a visitor or two that just happened to sneak into her rehearsals. Sometimes it was a good thing, sometimes not. As she wound down from her monologue, the retrognitive was very surprised to hear applause at this late hour. Apparently she wasn't the only one out of bed. Her eyes flashed out to the seats, surprise settling onto her face as she took in one of the younger students sitting near the front row. She hadn't seen her around before...perhaps the girl had arrived at Hammel while she was still away in New York? Then again, Ariana did have a terrible tendency to forget things, especially people if she didn't know them.

Shifting and playing with the hem of her shirt, Ari smiled, chuckling softly at the girl's words. "Oh, I highly doubt Romeo will show his face now. Maybe one day," she grinned, stepping forward to the edge of the stage before she sat down, her legs swinging over the side. "I can only hope he doesn't 'off himself' before I get to him." The teen laughed, eyes alight with humor as she watched the younger girl, curiosity in her eyes. She looked sweet, maybe a little mischievous. She remembered being around her age, all bright eyed and eager to see everything there was to see at this strange new place that eventually became her home. She wondered how long this girl had been here, if she was brand new or had been here for a couple months.

"What are you doing up so late?" she asked, tilting her head as she looked at the girl. "Not many of the others go outside the dorms this late at night." It was true. The many times she had left the dorms at night, it was rare to find any of the other students wandering around as well. Probably because most of the others didn't suffer from insomnia. Ariana always had a hard time sleeping, even after her night time tea. Speaking of tea... the diva was definitely craving some of her jasmine tea right now.

[Romeo Buckland]

Ask Romeo what he’s doing around so late and he’d basically gave the same story as Harmony will. New, can’t sleep and with a huge distaste ignorance to the rules

Only difference is that he’s currently dripping wet. And cold. Extremely cold.

The night started out like any other night these past few weeks – the boy woke up after two or three hours of dreaming about Ireland and the caravan, about his family and the woods. He then found himself surrounded in relatively luxury – soft bed, carpeted floors, fully furnished and air-conditioned room – and started to get just a tad bit homesick. He tossed and turned, but after a while, decided that another nightly stroll would help him sleep. The smell of the trees in the night always relaxed his mind anyway. Should things have gone normally, he would’ve been back in his room already.

As it was, things took a turn for the worse.

Enthralled by the reflection of the full moon on the still pond surface, the boy walked closer to the edge of the small body of water. Unfortunately for him, the rocks in the bank were extra slippery and before he even knew it, he was already taking a midnight swim with the koi.

Reason would have it that he go straight to his room to get out of his wet white tank top and black shorts. But then if he does, not only will he draw attention to himself (hello wet droplets), he’d also ruin the carpeting. Not good. So instead he went inside the nearest building he saw and decided to dry himself there.

He was on his way to the janitor’s closet to grab a rag to wipe himself with when he heard voices from the door he just past. He would’ve let it pass, had he not heard his name being called.

“Uh, I’m here now? Why are you looking for me again?” he asked, in a slightly confused, slightly bothered face as he peeked inside, his Irish accent shining through, “Did I do something wrong? And do I know you?”

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

Harmony smiled when the girl laughed at her comments. She walked up onto the stage near the girl. “Didn’t feel like sleeping much,” she said, looking around the stage. “So I decided to get used to my surroundings, ya know?” It’s always good to know where the quick exits are, Harmony thought to herself and smiled again.

“I guess the rest of the students are too goody-two-shoes to sneak out this late,” she said with disgust in her voice. “Oh well. Their loss, right?” She looked to the older girl, wishing she wasn’t so new at Hammel. It would be nice to know the other students so she could gage how to act around them. But she figured if this girl was breaking curfew as well then she couldn’t be all bad. Even if she was a drama geek.

“So,” Harmony said, looking out into the audience. “Is there anything cool to do around here?” She figured there was no problems in letting this girl know she was new. She was much older and had probably been here for a while.

Just then, a dripping wet boy walked into the auditorium. Harmony couldn’t help but laugh a little at his current condition. “Dude,” she said, smiling. “What happened to you? Get in a fight with a fire hydrant?”

[Ariana Simone]

“It’s always good to get to know your surroundings. Never know when it might come in handy, knowing the nooks and crannies of where to hide.” She’d had a quite a few close calls over the years with sneaking out, and knowing where the good hard to get to places helped her get out of some well deserved detention time. So far, Ariana had a clean slate, but only by her own good fortune. She smiled impishly at the girl, patting the part of the stage to her left. “Hop up here, I won’t bite,” she promised, eyes twinkling in amusement.

“Oh trust me, there are quite a few goody-two-shoes around here. They suck the joy out of every little piece of rule breaking,” she muttered, rolling her eyes in annoyance. If the staff didn’t bust her, quite a few of the students would. It wasn’t like what they were doing was all that bad. Just finding something to do on the long summer nights, what was the harm in that? “It is most definitely their loss. They don’t know what they’re missing out on. The night is a place of many mysteries to explore. It’s much more intriguing than the day.”

The diva looked over at the girl with a grin, nodding her head. “Depends on what you like to do, I suppose. It’s a small town out in Pilot’s Ridge, but it’s got all the necessities. Here, you have all the needs of a boarding school. The dorms are full loaded, we got the koi pond not too far out of the way, the fields and the gym, pretty big library too. With the right equipment, a small town can turn into the most amazing place in the world.” She’d come from a small town seven years ago. She’d learned the art of entertaining yourself with what ya got years ago.

Her attention was diverted at the sound of another voice, clearly male, as he asked if they had been calling for him. She raised a brow as she began to turn her head, witty retort on her tongue before it died upon seeing the mess he was. “Oh wow,” she murmured, eyes wide as she takes in his dripping form. “I take it you found the koi pond?” Her eyes lifted, a bit of mirth in their hazel depths. She slipped off the stage, head tilted in curiosity. His accent was…interesting. It wasn’t often they had foreign students at Hammel, but she guessed he might have been an exchange student.

“Looks like you could use a change of clothes. I know where we can get some really quick, if you’d like. Unless you want to get water everywhere.” She was already thinking about which costume it’d be alright to get a little wet. She had created quite a few of them, after all, with the other costumers.

[Romeo Buckland]

It was only when he was greeted with such confused (yet apparently amused) faces did Romeo realize that there was something amiss with his sudden appearance. And it’s not just because he’s dripping wet inside out. “Wait, didn’t you call for me earlier?” While it had occurred to him earlier that he has no recollection of talking to the two girls, hence the implausibility of them knowing his name and expecting him to appear out of the blue, he figured they must’ve heard about him from someone else. How though, he has no idea. But now it’s slowly dawning on him that he might’ve put himself in quite the embarrassing situation. “Or was it a different Romeo you both are searching for just a while ago?” he asked as he blushed and bit his lip in embarrassment.

Thank goodness Autie wasn’t around to tease him about all this.

“If I say I got a fight with the koi pond, would that make me less of an embarrassment?” said the Irish boy with a nervous chuckle, “It cheated and made me tripped me. Good thing it didn’t bash my head else I’d be dead already.” The administration should really put some lights around it. Or at least an active guard or something. People can drown despite how small and shallow it seems.

Thinking that the girl would be making him wear her clothes (not only would that be odd, but something about his pride is telling him it’s ‘ungentlemanly’), he decided to politely turn her offer down. But then a cold breeze blew through the halls and he found himself suddenly jumping into the auditorium, shivering rather hard. “I don’t want to bother you,” he nodded as he rubbed his arms, “I mean, if you have like a piece of rag or something, I’d be good. Just to pat myself dry and all that.”

“Sorry if I’m intruding by the way. Please don’t mind me.”

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

Harmony was please that the girl followed her view on rules. She hadn’t been at Hammel that long, but already she was beginning to wonder if she’d meet anyone who would be fun to hang around. “I agree,” Harmony said. “Sometimes I wish I could forget about school and all that and sleep all day so I could enjoy all that the night has to offer, ya know?” She smiled when the girl offered a seat next to her on the stage. “If you do, I’ll just bite back,” she teased as she hopped onto the stage and made herself comfortable. “I’m Harmony, by the way.”

As the girl went on to describe all that the school and surrounding town had to offer, Harmony’s smile quickly faded. She was really starting to miss city life. She’d had enough of her share of living in the middle of nowhere when her mother had still been in her hippie phase. “Libraries and koi ponds aren’t really my thing,” she said, swinging her feet so that she could kick the edge of the stage. “What kinda stuff is there in the town?”

Harmony laughed when Romeo told the girl’s his name. And she thought her name was bad. I wonder what his mom was thinking, she thought to herself. “See,” she said, nudging the other girl in the side. “Told you that you need to find him before he died.”

“If you lost a fight with a pond, maybe you need to brush up on your combat skills,” Harmony said, turning toward Romeo and smiling. She was a little confused by the girl offering to give him some dry clothes, but figured that maybe she meant she would run back to her room and get something for him. At least that way he wouldn’t leave a trail of water through the entire school.

“No prob,” Harmony said to Romeo. “It’s worth the interruption to see a dude whose lost a fight with some fish.”

[Ariana Simone]

“I’ll probably do night classes for college,” Ariana mused, tilting her head in thought, “Yes, just skipping school and having the night to wander would be a dream come true, really. Too bad the world doesn’t work that way.” She knew so many night owls like herself, so she really didn’t understand why they couldn’t have their own schedule that could work with the daylighters. It simply wasn’t fair. She smiled over at Harmony, putting out her hand to shake. “Well, I suppose that does seem fair. It’s a pleasure, Harmony. I’m Ariana. Welcome to Hammel,” she grinned, shaking her hand.

“Well, we have the mall and the movie theatres. There are a ton of shops and restaurants too. Kali’s Kafe is pretty bomb, they have live musicians sometimes.” Her brow furrowed as she scraped her memory for other fun things around here. At twelve, she liked reading and going to the movies. Even just staying here in Hammel and going swimming was fun to her. She was used to entertaining herself. She didn’t need much, really, just herself and a script to practice with. “There’s a park too, if you like wandering. It’s a good place to meet people sometimes.”

She chuckled slightly as the guy revealed his name to them, finding it just a bit ironic. “I guess it’s a bit late for that, eh? The pond went and offed him already,” she teased quietly to Harmony, eyes glinting merrily as she looked at Romeo. “I guess it would make it a bit better. Getting into fights with ponds isn’t a very usual occurrence. Unless you have hydrokinesis, then I suppose it’s fairly plausible.” The diva tilted her head thoughtfully. “Do you have hydrokinesis?” she asked with a wondering tone, lips pursed curiously as she watched the curly haired boy.

“No, the interruption is perfectly fine. And I doubt the costume crew will begrudge you something until your clothes can get dry,” she smiled, shaking her hair out as she stood. “Come on, I promise I won’t force you into any puffy shirts or tights…unless you want them.” She grinned impishly, motioning them to follow her backstage. “Come on, I want to show you guys something. It’s a good place to hide and change if you ever get in a sticky situation with clothing, as long as you bring the costumes back in good condition.”

She hopped up onstage, motioning them to follow her as she led them into the bowels of the auditorium. There wasn’t much in the main backstage area, but there were two doors on either side, one leading to the sets and props department and one that led to the costume department. Ariana took out the key she kept in her back pocket, unlocking the door as she stepped inside. She’d had a copy since the last few times she’d worked costumes for the shows. The diva had spent overtime making the costumes, so they found it okay to just give her the key to make things easier for her to continue her work. She opened the door, slipping inside and turned on the light, illuminating the dark space, revealing racks of clothing and a couple worktables laden with sewing machines, thimbles, and new materials.

Without looking back to see if they’d followed, she dove into the racks, swiftly sorting through the costumes until she found a pair of jeans and a reasonably normal shirt for Romeo to wear. Her eyes flitted towards the entrance as she held the two garments up. “I think these will do. There’s changing rooms over there,” she pointed towards the corner where some makeshift changing rooms were set up, “Just make sure to handle these with care, we’ll be using them again soon for the next show. And try not to drip on anything, though it’ll be okay.”

[Romeo Buckland]

Romeo situated himself along one of the aisles as the two girls talked about (at least from the snippets he got) what seemed like the overall Pilot Ridge-Hammel experience. (He would’ve sat down on one of the comfy seats, but he’s afraid he might soil them with his wet butt). He simply sat there, watching and listening, partly because he’s not really in a position to intrude (town-talk doesn’t interest him, as he’ll be escaping with Autie back to Ireland in a few weeks anyway) and partly because he’s shivering so much from the cold. Sure it was summer, but the breeze was just brutal. He already sat far from the door but he was still shaking rather violently.

“The pond’s a bitch,” chuckled the boy, not really minding that he was being ridiculed at the moment. He himself found the whole thing stupid, so why even bother covering it up for them? “N’aww. The pond owns everyone. Who was that you Americans say can defeat everyone? Chuck Knorr was it? I don’t think he stands a chance.”

If Harmony thinks his name is weird, wait till she hears his brother’s name. Othello. At least Romeo seemed a bit saner.

“Hydrokine-what?” A fairly new meta (his powers manifested only recently, a late start really), Romeo still has problems with all the technical terms people use to describe their powers. Thank goodness his is straight forward. “I don’t know what you mean, but I’m fairly sure I’m not one.” ‘Hydro’ sounds like it has something to do with water, and his power is anything but. “My skin becomes metallic,” he added, just in case.

His eyes brightened when the older girl mentioned costumes. As long as she won’t be bothered to go a long way for him, he’s good. “You sure? Thanks then,” he nodded as he stood up and walked up the stage, taking his wet shirt off (it’s being too heavy already) as he followed her ‘round back.

“These’ll do nicely, thanks,” he said, grinning widely as he took the shirt and pants from the brunette. “Do you have like a sink or a drain around here somewhere?” He still needs to wring his clothes dry after all. He wouldn’t want them to smell, and wearing dripping wet boxers under dry jeans is in no way comfortable.

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

“Thanks,” Harmony said as Ariana welcomed her. Even though she still thought the school itself was pretty lame. At least some of the students were okay. That was better than nothing.

She started smiling when Ariana started to describe the town. That sounded a little more up her alley than koi ponds and libraries. “Kali’s Kafe sounds great. I’ll have to check that out when I get a chance.” I hope the musicians aren’t lame, she thought to herself. The park might not be too bad either. At least it would be a place away from the school grounds where she could hang out.

Harmony laughed when Romeo mentioned Chuck Norris. “Are you kidding?” she asked. “Chuck would turn that pond into a puddle before it had a chance to even think about splashing him.” She realized that this conversation was getting a little absurd, but she wasn’t about to let Romeo diss an American icon.

Like Romeo, Harmony was still learning the meta lingo. She waited for Ariana to explain what sort of power she was talking about. Turning her head to the side, she tried to imagine Romeo covered in metal. I’ll be that looks hot amazing.

Harmony followed Ariana backstage. When she reached the door to the costume room, she stayed standing in the doorway a little amazed. She had never really been into the whole drama scene, but just looking around the room she could tell why so many found it fascinating.

“Oh come on,” Harmony said when Ariana picked out a plain looking outfit for Romeo to borrow. “Why not put him in something like this?” She held up a purple tunic looking thing. She wasn’t even sure if it was supposed to be for a girl or a guy, but that made it all the more fun.

[Ariana Simone]

Ariana was happy that she seemed to be getting along fairly well with Harmony. Younger teens never were her forte, mostly because she couldn’t quite figure out how to relate to them. She couldn’t always remember what she herself was like at that age. It was one of the problems that she had with her retrocognition. It was funny that she could see the past of objects and the people that handled them, but couldn’t see her own past. She was literally whited out, in a way. Still, it was nice to be able to talk to the younger girl about all that Hammel and Pilot Ridge could offer. She knew this probably wasn’t the type of setting a young girl would probably want to be stuck in, but it actually was better than it seemed. Mostly it was the people here that made it all worth while. Having people that could relate to you in such a way that no regular person could was pretty amazing.

She laughed lightheartedly as he talked about Chuck Norris, shaking her head in amusement. ”Chuck Norris beats everything. Hands down,” she said, hazel eyes gleaming with mirth. She smiled at their obvious confusion, blushing a bit. She guessed that both were new to this whole thing. Ariana was used to all the weird terms that they used to describe their powers after years of being around the difficult terminology. ”Hydrokinesis. It means you have control over water. Like, you can manipulate it to do whatever you want, with some limitations, I suppose.” The actress tapped her chin in thought, pursing her lips. All powers had some sort of drawbacks to them. It sort of was the natural way to balance, to make sure that they didn’t get out of hand with them.

”Metallic? That’s one I haven’t seen yet,” she commented, smiling over at Romeo, ”I have retrocognition. That means I can see into the past. Really, I only see into the pasts of objects, not people, and it’s just when I touch them. It’s not all that helpful, really,” she muttered, shrugging her shoulders. All it was really good for was a million headaches. Her eyes slipped over to Harmony in curiosity. ”What can you do? I’m kind of curious,” Ariana asked, tilting her head as she waited for an answer. What could she do? It was interesting to try to guess what people could do. Her guesses were usually inaccurate, but it was still fun.

Inside the costume department, she nodded her head as she handed over the new clothes. ”We actually have a washer and dryer in the back. We can put them in there once you’re done changing,” she assured, looking over at Harmony as she pulled up one of the costumes. Ari laughed, shaking her head as she walked over to the younger girl, looking the tunic over with a smile. ”If he gets that wet, it’ll take forever to dry. The material soaks up water and hates to let it go,” she explained, taking the tunic into her hands as she looked it over, looking back at Harmony with a grin. ”Although… if you’d like to dress up, it’d probably look good on you. And we have the hoes to match,” the actress teased lightly.

[Romeo Buckland]

Romeo had virtually no idea who Chuck Norris was, but judging from the two girls’ tones and the glimmer on their faces, he figured they’re trying to be funny so he let out a short chuckle. He wasn’t dense after all (or at least he’d like to think that he isn’t). “Who is this Chuck Nories anyway? Is he like an American president? Folk hero? Or the giant troll that shaped the continent with just his eyebrows?”

He mouthed off hydrokinesis several times as Ariana explained, arms crossed over his chest. “Sounds mighty cool,” he muttered, remembering the blonde he saw yesterday making the water from his bottle freeze. Could that be considered as hydrokinesis too? Or is that something else entirely?

“I haven’t seen anyone around with it too. Didn’t know it was rather rare.” It provided Romeo with some sort of pride really. That he still sticks out (in a good way) despite being in a place for so-called ‘unique’ teens. Again he tried to say Ariana’s power (re-tro-cog-ni-tion) in an effort to make it stick inside his head. “Well at least your clothes don’t rip when you transform,” he grinned, nodding intently, “I can work with a thread and a needle but sewing over and over and over and over again gets a little too tedious for comfort.” This is why he’s decided to assign a pair of shorts, underwear and two t-shirts as his ‘training clothes’.

At the mention of a dryer, the Irish boy grinned. Guess he doesn’t have to wear wet boxers under dry jeans then. He just can’t tell them he’ll be going commando for a good minute or so. He doesn’t want to corrupt Harmony after all. No boners please, he thought as he went into the changing rooms.

It took him two minutes to get out of his drenched clothes and into the dry clothes Ariana put out for him. “Are the dryers over there?” he asked as he held the clothes in one arm, careful to put his boxers in between his wet pants and shirt.

“It’s not wrong to be out this late, right?” He figured it is, but hey, who knew, maybe Hammel’s not that strict when it comes to curfew. They’re still inside school grounds anyway.

ooc:
Gawd.SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG. D;. I totally did not mean it to be this late. Please forgive me. >.<
- Jam

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

"Giant Troll?!?" Harmony asked, astonished. "What planet did you fall off of? Chuck Norris is only the biggest and best bad ass of them all. When the Bogeyman goes to sleep every night he checks his closet for Chuck Norris." Harmony laughed at her own joke and then gave Romeo a confused look. "You've seriously never heard of him?"

Harmony was starting to wonder if anyone around Hammel shared the same power as her. Not that she wanted to be a freak among freaks, but she wasn't sure she wanted to share either. Still she figured teleporting couldn't be all that unique in a world were people could see the past or have metal skin.

"I teleport." Harmony said simply. She didn't feel like explaining that right now she'd be lucky if she could teleport across the room on command. Let them think the she could pop around the ground of Hammel at will. It would make her feel a little better if they did.

"Oh well," Harmony said when Ariana explain that the tunic was a bad option. "And no way will you ever catch me playing dress-up." She stuck out her tongue and stepped backwards away from the tunic.

"Who cares if it's wrong," Harmony said. "Rules are made to be broken."