Time Warp: Ascendance

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

December, 2013

Dorm monitors existed for a reason; a specific purpose which was to insure rules were kept in place within the dormitories. Of course, Penelope was unaware that she was one of the few students who wanted rules kept in place at all, or that - in theory - dorm monitors were something of a heavy, respectable job.

Except one.

Lips pursed together as she hung up the phone. Having called before, the Brit knew enough which ones were effective and which were not. Or rather, she only readily recalled the one that so often failed at her job, everyone else was simply nothing.

So, when Penelope called to report the graffiti and vandalism that occurred in her room, one could imagine her frustration when said useless dorm monitor was the one to answer her complaint.

Regardless, she waited for the woman to show up. Someone was better than no one, and the incident had to be documented for the proper steps to be taken afterward, but as Penelope crossed her arms and stared at the new galaxy on her ceiling, her stomach refused to settle, tightening much like her chest as she sucked in another forceful breath.

Without her roommates present, the psychometrist kept her door open and ready for inspection. The sooner this was over, the sooner it'd be gone. And she was trying to convince herself that was exactly what she wanted.

[Ella Robbinson]

Ella was working; on call as it were. She handled every kind of complaint in a dorm building one could imagine, from fighting - physical and verbal - to kicking people out, to contraband to curfews to filtering through who was in the right room at the right time and who wasn't.

When she received a message to head up to dorm 4-0-6, she was quick to oblige. After all, that wasn't a whole lot else going on for her to police that day anyway. It should have been a quick trip; the girls floor in this building wasn't anywhere near as bad as the co-eds and every little thing they did wrong of a day. Stepping through the common room door, Ella allowed herself to wander through the area with ease.

"Afternoon~!" The hemokinetic greeted lightly, unaware of who might catch her voice first. There was only one door open, so she took the process of elimination route and headed that way. "What seems to be the-"

Steps in. To the doorway, and there, she stood. Her dark eyes shot straight up, never even glancing at the shorter, younger girl who stared at it, too.

"Wow."

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

A much too light of voice rang distantly in Penelope's ears. With the door open, there was no need to look towards the dormitory monitor. Or rather, she struggled to tear her gaze away from the painted galaxy above her, which only made matters all that much worse. Her hands tightened around her crossed arms, jaw clenched as dark eyes inspected every inch of the piece of art. The vandalism she reported.

Slow to respond, Penelope finally straightened her neck and looked to the woman who was supposed to help, yet she looked just as caught up in the galaxy above, too.

"Yes." The Brit replied flatly, ignoring the heightened nature of her own pulse as she felt it within her ears. Because good or bad, there was certainly a wow factor to the darkened nature of her ceiling. It was just like Lucy Serrano to insure that much. "As you can see, my room has been vandalized. I wish for it to be taken care of immediately."

[Ella Robbinson]

This girl replied with such a short, sharp answer. Almost as if she agreed with the fact that there was a definite wow factor to her room, now. Ella had seen painted works on dorm rooms before, but never been called to fix one. To each their own, she supposed.

Vandalism was harsh. She raised her eyebrows, kept them up, and firmly tore her gaze away to look at her instead.

"Um," Ella hummed honestly, attempting to draw a moment out to the best of her ability; "I mean, sure, we can do that." Raising her hands, her index fingers pointing up as she looked towards her. "But," There was always a but, right? Always a point to make, "Why would you..."

No, that wasn't right. That was potentially offensive to question her like that. The last thing Ella needed was to show the coherent ability to offend people. "Do you really want to get rid of it?" She tried instead. It felt safer that way.

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

It should have been a simple, straightforward message. One that could be received with ease to move forward to the next step; getting rid of the stars above her bed. Back to white. Clean. Completely rid of Lucy Serrano.

Even as she looked to the dormitory monitor, Penelope really looked through her. Even, for a moment, the Brit's gaze filtered past her head to the handprint left next to the door. The handprint that put a tightening feeling in her stomach. A true signature to the work that had been created in her room.

Her eyes snapped back with the conjunction, eyebrows raising as she dared the woman to speak. She did, nonetheless, but with a trailed off sentence she had started again. Regardless, it wasn't hard to determine where she had been going with her half finished question. It was almost enough to make the psychometrist laugh; if she were capable of it. Why. It was such a loaded question.

"I'm positive." She replied instead. "And I wish for the student responsible to be reprimanded."

[Ella Robbinson]

Positivity and this girl didn't really seem to go hand in hand. Though Ella had never been called to the usually quiet dorm to deal with anything, she could get relatively instinctive vibes from anyone she encountered. And right now, she was almost certain that the response she gave wasn't what she was supposed to offer in the slightest.

"Mmm," She hummed, taking in the words offered to her with wide eyes glued to a practical essence on a ceiling, "Yes. Right. Okay." She continued, each word deserving a small nod from her head. Proving she was listening was always really important, right? She could totally do this. "Now,"

"I don't really know how to find who did it." Ella admitted. After all, there were a myriad of people in the building itself. "Have you thought about locking your door whenever you leave?"

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penelope refused to take her gaze of Ella, even if she looked through the dorm monitor more actively than she did directly at her. Regardless, she still made note of every nod. How the Brit assumed it was supposed to offer her some sort of comfort, and how it did not in the slightest.

"Lucy. Serrano." Penelope replied flatly. It wouldn't be hard to find the student if she knew who it was, and surely the dorm monitor knew who the Australian was. The psychometrist wouldn't have been surprised to know that several calls have been made in regards to Lucy's behavior. The Australian was reckless and pure trouble. "I caught her in here personally." She explained further, hearing the bite in her own tone.

Continuing without offering the poor woman to respond, Penelope gave her no room for comfort. "It was supposed to be locked; I'm assuming she broke in." Admitting she might have forgotten to lock the door this once? Never.