Today is the day [Anjali]

[Anjali Kedar]

"I'm not opposed to it." She agreed, "But it wasn't easy to shut you up." She taunted back playfully, and it was true.  She would need to be creative to get Celia to knock it off it seemed.  Again she wondered how long it would be this way.  Just today? Maybe next time also? Until they stopped being friends, or just until they stopped hopping around the supposed reason they were hanging out.  She knew what was coming at some point and she had to wonder if maybe after all was said and done would she be less bashful about it all? Maybe she would be the one making the jokes.  Then again that wasn't her style.  She could never be so open about saying what Celia did.  The innuendos weren't her thing.

"Cute?" She repeated softly, cocking a brow.  Was she really so cute while flustered?  Maybe she should be less 'cute'.  "Alright, first of all, from now on you're not allowed to come to yoga unless you're interested in actually learning yoga.  If you want to see me bend then.. we can do that, like.. privately.  Here or something." She felt that warmth in her cheeks again, but she needed to set boundaries, just like Chris had suggested.  Thinking about Celia's eyes on her as she moved from pose to pose made her feel squirmy all over.


"Second of all, I've been doing yoga, for, like ever.  Since I was a kid, but not like I do now.  Just some basic stuff we always used to do at home.  I got more into it a few years ago and just kept up with it."  Her eyes fell on her tea for a moment before back to Celia, noting her chest which only warmed her cheeks more.  "Uhh, how long have you been doing Metal?"

[Celia Gaines]

Well everyone could tell she wasn't opposed to it, if she were any more experienced she would have been teasing Celia just as hard, she knew that. Then again, it wouldn't be teasing as much as setting up a fun time. Maybe she was glad Anjali wasn't as experienced as her, it wouldn't nearly be as much fun. Buuut she was starting to think she had all set this up herslef and that wasn't true, she'd stumbled upon the fact of her being into women days after having stumbled into her yoga classes, and the first few classes she didn't even really notice her like she did the latest pair. For all any psychiatrist could tell her she had some deepseated hungering for closeness or something, or was using her charms to get private lessons more easily.

It pleased her to see what Anjali was doing, she took more of a stand and was actually setting boundaries. Something Celia actually seemed to enjoy, not having people around her doing whatever she said but being told what to do for once. ''You know I don't want to see you just bend, right?'' Pushing it once more. But she didn't care because this was starting to get fun!

But.. they were beyond that now, weren't they? They were genuinly sitting down to talk, get to know each other and dig deeper than just two fuckbuddies. ''Okay, I have been wondering, where exactly did you grow up if you don't mind me asking?''

''And the metal thing.. a few years I suppose. Four, really. It's just a matter of time before I get signed, yadda yadda. Matter of time before I maybe get a gig in India! Traveling has always been my thing.''

[Anjali Kedar]

She braced herself for the words that came next.  She didn't just want to see her bend, she wanted to see her do.. nothing.  Nothing came next and she was floored by it.  What an easy set up! She could have said anything, and here Anjali was more surprised that she hadn't.  

"New Jersey." She laughed a little at the absurdity of it.  "I was born and raised in Jersey, but my parents both immigrated here.  Not together, they like met here and stuff, through their families, but my brother and I were born here.  We have a lot of family that's come over and lives in that area."  There was a surprising amount of Indian people there she had found, if you knew where to look which of course her parents did.  They never seemed to run out of young men to try and fix her up with, but only the worthwhile ones they said.

"That's a long time to be screaming." She teased with a smile, reaching for her mug and sipping it before just letting it rest in her hands, warming them.  "Even if you make it super huge, don't expect a gig in India.  They're really not into metal there.  Unless you learn some Bollywood dancing.  Anyone who can dance to Bollywood songs has a future there."  She remembered a few of the dances back from when she was a girl, or some of them.  She and her cousins always enjoyed dancing along to the videos they found so hysterical as girls.  And really, they were.

[Celia Gaines]

''Oddly enough I've never been there. Yet.'' Obviously it would be a yet due to the inevitable request for a performance there, she wondered if there were any great venues there.. ''Honestly, the farthest I've gone is probably New York in that direction. I did have some gigs in Canada though.. good times.'' Yeah, good times in terms of women throwing themselves at her, she was way satisfied after having been there. ''Best. Month. Ever.'' She decided to stop talking about it however, in case it made Anjali trip up again.

''Sounds like a good place to take you sometime then. New Jersey and India both.'' She had confidence in the fact they would both know eachother long enough. Besides, without boasting about anything she did it would do Anjali good to at least keep her as a friend. Get a few free trips here and there. ''Maybe I'll get a request to go over there soon or something,'' She said with a smile. ''might just have to take you with me.'' She teasingly added.

''That only means I have a great lung capacity and I know how to use my tongue.'' She joked as she playfully poked her on the shoulder. ''And maybe I won't be expecting it, maybe I was just telling you for my own reasons.. like.. I don't know.. future purposes? Also, I'm sure you can teach me some Bollywood dancing. Isn't it like.. just showing off your body and moving your hips in front of a large crowd? I can do that. Combining my own songs with it might be an issue though.''

[Anjali Kedar]

She laughed and shook her head.  "No way, if you're taking me anywhere New Jersey isn't it, not unless you want me to show you my old stomping grounds." She joked.  "No, I want to go to the west coast.  Never been there.  Or Florida. Yah know, like Disney World.  I'm sure they have metal concerts at Disney."  She knew they didn't, but it was an amusing thought anyway, finding herself loosening up a little now that the sexual jokes had been toned down a bit.  

Before long she was at it again making reference to the skills her tongue had.  Naturally she was reminded that she might get acquainted with that tongue at some point today and she had to swallow the lump in her throat.  The heat turned up a little and she brought the cool air around her to compensate.  What sort of future purposes did Celia have with her.  Chris's words rang again through her mind.  Why just friends with benefits and not girlfriends?  Was Celia really not her type? They seemed to be getting along better than she'd expected. At least on a friendly level. But Chris.. She was starting to wonder if she was getting herself in over her head.  She pushed the thoughts away immediately.  She didn't need to think about that now, not when she was trying to have a conversation with Celia.

"I could teach you some if you wanted.  The old stuff is more fun.  I guess newer music is more like pop here, but like, with an Indian twist.  It's more complicated than just showing off your body and moving your hips!" Though she knew not much more complicated.  It was just remembering the moves.  

"How big are you exactly? Like.. do you have an album or anything? Do you open for people? Like.. are you famous?"

[Celia Gaines]

Metal concerts at Disney..? ''I heard Betraying the Martyrs does a hell of a Let it go cover, I'm sure I can do the same. Besides, I'm an actual girl, I can dress up like Elsa and win over all the little kiddies! And use actual clean vocals for one, not like that demonic screaming those guys do. Ugh, men.'' She knew that wasn't possible, she'd never heard of a concert at Disney anyway. One could dream though. But first she would need to get proper backing.

Still, maybe that was something to play around with, clean vocals, Disney. She could do covers or something.

''I know how Indian music sounds. Being a musician means a lot more than just having to sing you know? It's just the dancing I don't really know.. I mean, I don't do any dancing on stage because, well, it isn't really metal, you know? But perhaps branching out for some future material might not be such a bad idea, not saying I'm going to be doing Indian styled music, but maybe appealing to a greater crowd would do me some good.'' She said. She hoped Anjali didn't mind the winded 'no' to the Indian music though. The dancing she didn't mind however, could be a good workout. ''Dancing might help me keep my shape though..'' She laughed.

She would say she wasn't big at all because she wasn't a guy, but she knew that would be going too far yet again so she decided against it. ''Big in terms of being famous? Not that big yet, I suppose. We're in the middle of 'probation' if you will, we're getting a few gigs here and there and if they go like they want them to we're going to get signed.'' A smile was starting to creep upon her face but she quickly cleared her throat and continued speaking. ''No reason for joy yet though. It's just a trial right now. And no, there are no albums yet. No professional ones at least, there is a demo, but that one is only a single song.''

''We're being given the choice to open for some bands though, yeah.''

[Anjali Kedar]

Betraying the Martyrs? She'd never heard of them, but that wasn't surprising.  Up until the other day Anjali had never really sat down and listened to a metal song.  The only reason she had was to get a better understanding of the type of music Celia sang.  Sang.. screamed.  The type of music Celia screamed. 

"Dancing could totally be metal if you did it right.  Like, I bet you could come up with some really great moves.  Do like teeny bopper metal and have some repetitive dance in there? They'll mirror your videos on youtube and everything.  It'll be great."  She was mostly teasing, and the smile on her face proved it, but still part of her was a little serious.  Though she didn't think metal was for kids.  Metal wasn't for most people, at least in her opinion.  If she and Celia became close she would most definitely support her, but she didn't have to like what she supported on a personal level.

"I don't think you need dancing to keep your figure." She pointed out, and it was true.  Whatever Celia was doing was working for her.  She could tell by the way her shirt fit on her and the definition in her arms.  It was sexy.  She was sexy.  

"That's still exciting!" She gushed, and it was even if Anjali didn't like the music Celia sang.  Then again she hadn't heard her yet.  She would like to, though.  "Soon you'll be touring the country while I'm stuck here doing yoga and finishing my degree."  She wrinkled her nose playfully, but it was true.  A con to add to the Celia list.  She couldn't really go with her.  Not until school was over, and even then she planned to study abroad for a bit.  No sense worrying about all that now, though.  "So when do I get to hear you actually sing? Or scream..Scring?"

[Celia Gaines]

''Teeny bopper metal!'' Celia laughed even as she repeated it. It was such a funny thing to say and think, and maybe even something she should look into. Contrary to popular though, not all metal involved the grunting she did, so it could be adapted to a younger audience.. ''I guess I should look into some of those movies then, copy Dora perhaps. Maybe even help people learn or something.'' She had a slight shrug, it wasn't really her thing to make anyone learn through her music, not in the sense of math anyway. ''Do something to stray from just having a ukelele or something, make kids know there's more than just what they listen to. The dancing is just a plus!'' Besides, it was simple to get kids to like you, right? Get the kids, get the money. It was a crude thing to think, but it was true.

''As said, the dancing is a plus. I know I don't need it to keep my figure.'' As always she was quick to jump on the compliment and boost her own ego a bit. ''But it can't hurt, right? Gotta get those male fans somehow.'' She winked at Anjali. She didn't do it for the fans though, nor for anyone else. Well, maybe a bit for the women she had run ins with, but she mainly did it for herself. She did realize however that she wasn't exactly 'standard' with the colored hair and the piercings, but that was just her.

She had gone from blue hair to blue with highlights to red and even black with higlights. Not that that had anything to do with her music, but people did notice it and react differently on it.

''I sing, thank you very much.'' That was one of the things she didn't like about what she did, if it was called screaming. That word seemed to reduce the whole genre to something primitive.. it irked her. ''And the next time I need to sing somewhere I'll let you know!'' The thing about the future though.. she hadn't thought about that. Celia touring the country while Anjali was stuck in one place. ''Eh.. I.. hadn't thought about that.''

She was glad Anjali wasn't really shocked by the metal part though, even if they did joke about it. ''I'm glad you're not judging or anything. Had too many people do that, mainly men.'' She moved on and slightly lowered her head. ''I kind of do not like men. Being a woman in metal is hard when all you hear is about how women can't do metal and how they don't belong.''

She raised her head and smiled at Anjali then. ''I plan to show them that I do belong though.''

[Anjali Kedar]

"I can see Dora doing metal now." She teased with a genuine little laugh.  The very thought was absurd, but funny none the less.  "No, but seriously, this is probably the worst idea in the world.  Parents are crazy, they'll hunt you down."

One thing was for sure, Celia definitely knew she looked good.  Anjali was skeptical about her looks at times, but Celia had no problems with self image.  She wished she had that kind of confidence.  Her eyes flowed down her own body; she wasn't nearly as pretty as Celia.  She didn't have her kind of body, which was way more appealing.  She had a much smaller chest and only recently really began to develop hips.  For babies, her mother said, something that still made her cringe.  Not that she didn't want children, she wanted a slew of them, but to think her body was preparing itself and having it pointed out was just weird.  She didn't know who she was yet, how could her body tell her it was time to reproduce?  The whole thing felt strange to her.


"Good, because I want to watch." It was only fair, after all.  Even if there was going to be a room full of pierced up, horny guys.  "Why would I judge you?" She was genuinely curious about it all, about Celia and what she did.  She had no reason to judge the other girl, but she was also very unfamiliar with the lifestyle Celia chose for herself.  She didn't know how male-centric it all was.  "Is that why you don't like men?" She asked, a teasing undertone in her voice as she smirked.  She knew better than anyone Celia's attraction to women probably had absolutely nothing to do with her taste in music, but still she had to tease her for once, because it was she who had been the target of most teasing and the conversation had gotten somewhat serious.

"You belong anywhere you want to be." She encouraged, letting her own humor die down as she reached to put a hand on Celia's knee.  "Don't ever let them tell you otherwise.  You're probably way better than most of them, and totally hotter." The playful smile was back as she realized she was starting to get flirty with the other girl.  It wasn't that hard.. she could do this.

[Celia Gaines]

''Uhm, yeah, I suppose that's a thing.'' Celia replied. Last thing she wanted was to be hunted down. ''Maybe when I'm old and still look eighteen I'll make something that's not metal.'' That was something she could always do, say there would be another time for it. ''Do people still do that though?'' She jokingly asked. She knew people were crazy enough, but wasn't the time of physically hunting people down 400 years ago or something? ''Hunt someone down? I might not like being hunted down by a mob of people, I suspect the torches they have now are a bit more hard-hitting.''

When Anjali suddenly looked at her own body Celia couldn't help but have her eyes follow and be strangely aware of the fact she had been checking her out. So.. was she insecure? Did she think she wasn't as pretty? What? The insecure thing she would slap away as if it was the foulest thing anyone had ever said. ''Hey, Hey, my eyes are up here!'' She joked.

''Don't know why you'd judge me, really. But I never quite got why other people did. I suppose there's the same chance you will.. Glad that's not the case though.'' Celia smiled. Being happy was her thing, even if stuff got her down she would bounce right back, her anger or poutyness or whatever would never last longer than five minutes tops. ''And yeah.'' She nodded, chuckling lightly when Anjali asked if that was the reason she didn't like men. She was aware it was a tease, and a welcome one at that. ''That happens to be a reason I dislike men.''

That she belonged she knew, she'd just said she would show the men in the business she did anyway, so why try to cheer her up? The effort was appreciated though. Especially a nice touch was the hand on her knee. C'mon Anji, slightly higher! ''Hotter than middle aged men? I should hope so!''

[Anjali Kedar]

She snorted and rolled her eyes.  The window for Celia to look eighteen would close sooner rather than later she was sure, but she didn't want to say that.  Besides, she liked physical maturity in others.  It was sort of attractive.  "I mean, I think so but no torches.  I would imagine it's all done via the web and they like destroy you over the internet.  Haven't you ever heard of 4chan?"

"I won't." She promised, because she knew she wouldn't judge Celia, not for the metal thing anyway.  Maybe some other stuff, but she didn't know yet.  She didn't know Celia well enough to make that call, but she tried to be open minded and rarely judged others unless they did something she deemed inappropriate or wrong on some level.  "Are there other reasons you don't like men?" She asked.  She wondered if Celia was interested in girls because of her experience with the guys she surrounded herself with.  It wasn't that way for Anjali, unfortunately.  She wished she could be attracted to men, specifically the nice ones her parents had introduced her to, but she simply wasn't.  It would make life so much easier and far less complicated.  She still internally freaked when her parents asked what was wrong with this boy or that.  She couldn't tell them the reason was because he was actually a man.

She laughed softly.  "Even if they were girls like you, you'd probably still be the hottest." She insisted.  Celia was by far one of the most attractive women she knew.  Not even the girls she crushed on were as pretty as Celia.  She was out of her league.  There had to be a reason she was even interested, though.  A musician like her? Any stage time would likely draw fans.  They couldn't all be men, there had to be some cute girls who actually threw themselves at her, so Anjali had to wonder what her own appeal was.  Yeah, sure, she was cute and all, but not the type of person she would expect Celia to be with.  Then again, wasn't that judging her? She'd sworn she wouldn't do that.

"So where are you from? Do you have any siblings?"

[Celia Gaines]

Oof. 4chan. How she liked that site. It was a weird, random site, and though some of the posts on there were funny, some of them.. not so much. ''4chan via the web? I can easily see 4chan being weird enough to spawn a deformed dog puking pitchforks at my doorstep or something.'' Just trying to imagine that made her want to laugh, yes, she was fucked up. ''Sorry for the.. possible.. I don't know. Sorry.'' She shrugged and went back to smiling at Anjali with a slight cough.

''Well, since you want to know..'' She replied when she was asked about the reasons she disliked men, if there were maybe others. Honestly, there was one major one, she wasn't quite sure she should tell it fully yet though. ''My dad.. well.. he kinda made me hate men.'' So that was a lie. Her dad had been involved in the scenario, yes, but he was no more the cause than she was herself. The cause of her hatred had been all the men in her life beyond that point complaining about her touch. She wanted to touch people, yet she couldn't because of that damned meta thing she had. She looked at her hands and thought about the time she actually hated having them. She was okay with them now though, her power was under control and she hadn't received any complaints. Not about her hands anyway.

''We kind of had a fight.. my parents and I.'' She said hesitantly. ''This was back when I was a teenager, I think I should add.'' She figured it'd be a good idea to at least give her some context. ''Well, long story short and not to bore you, I found out I was meta because of my dad.'' She didn't hate being a meta or her dad, but bending the truth was a bad habit of hers.

''And I grew up in Canada. Moved to America when Hammel happened though. You know, circumstances and such.'' She began twiddling her thumbs. ''And I have no siblings. Sometimes I think it'd all be a bit easier with one around though.''

Someone she could trust without question did sound pretty good to her.

[Anjali Kedar]

She had to laugh at the imagery that Celia created.  Deformed dogs puking pitchforks.  She shook her head and slipped her hand to her cheek; that was just silly.  "Now that wasn't what I expected." She admitted, her tone amused as her eyes twinkled with delight.  The other girl certainly had a way with words.

Her laughter died down as Celia started on a more serious topic; her dislike of men.  She wondered what happened with her father that had started her man hating, but she was too polite to inquire. It wasn't her business and she wouldn't press on something so personal, but she had to wonder about the details of Celia's story.  What kind of fight had made her hate men? She wondered if it was physical somehow, but again she pushed herself to not ask.  Maybe one day she would, if they became closer.  She'd like to know about that part of Celia, but for now she was content with the vague story she received.  

Anjali sat up a little straighter at the sound of her alma mater.  "Hey, I went to Hammel too!" She gushed, grinning.  They were probably there at the same time and had never crossed paths, or maybe they had and she just didn't realize it at the time.  Wasn't that uncommon for the graduates to stick around for the university.  It did make life easier, and there were plenty of students who needed to stay in town to learn better control.  She wasn't one of them, but she'd known plenty of people who were.

"I have an older brother, but he's back in New Jersey.  He's my best friend." She grinned a bit bashfully at the sentiment.  Nik would tease her for sure if he'd heard but she knew he felt the same.  They were closer. She told him everything and vice versa, and he was the first person she wanted to talk to when she decided to let Celia into her life for whatever the heck this was.  This friendship. "So, uhh.. Hammel, huh?" Her brows lifted and she nipped the right corner of her bottom lip.  "Is it too forward to ask what you were there for?" The obvious reason was she was a meta.  The less obvious one was what kind.

[Celia Gaines]

''I tend to do the unexpected.'' She nodded with a shrug. Being random was one of her things, and while not always appreciated, the moment she found someone who didn't back down from it was the moment she knew she was in. Well, with Anjali she probably had been for quite a while now, friendship wise anyway, though the entire thing was still in its infancy. ''They should make an angry mob dispenser or something. Just one big red button that, instead of launching nukes gathers up people to form a mob or something.'' She laughed. ''Shit, they need to make a movie out of that one.''

She was glad she had been able to talk over the whole man hating thing with a lie though. The real reason was a different thing. Her father and she.. well they still had good contact. Less so with her mother because she wasn't really into the metal side of things, but still there was plenty of support there. What she told Anji was basically just a very small part of it, her dad jumpstarted her ability so to speak but didn't hate her for it, the rest of the male population, namely the men she dated (or tried to date) hated her for it. Hammel was such a good place.

''Well that's just a g- wait, why haven't I ever seen you then?'' She asked, wondering how she had missed the girl she was speaking to right now. ''Granted it was before I figured out I liked women more but still, pretty odd you and I never hung out then.'' She said, a grin forming. ''This sooo calls for a belated pillow fight. We could order pizza, gossip about guys- or girls, do each others hair and practice making out!'' She giggled at the image. She did imagine however that it would be pretty hot to do so, and probably manageable, though just ending up a simple sleepover or something.

As Anjali said she had an older brother who was her best friend Celia raised a brow slightly. She found it a bit sad to think your brother was your best friend, but she also wanted to know what it was like to even have siblings. ''Bet there's lots of teasing going on in a sibling friendship.'' She said as she poked Anjali with her shoulder and shot her a wink. ''Still, must be nice to have someone you can rely on.''

''Not at all! I was there for school, mainly. Classes and stuff. You know the drill.'' She jokingy replied with a smile as she then waved her hand at Anjali to indicate she was done and getting to the real deal. ''Something called Tactile Power Suppression. Basically I can shut down powers as long as I touch someone.'' Who knew, maybe she could figure out the reason she hated men on her own.

[Anjali Kedar]

She laughed and nodded.  "Yeah, I can see that." She agreed.  Anjali simply shook her head as the other girl continued.  The last thing this world needed was some angry mobs! More than they already had.  They weren't the same as they used to be, but that didn't mean they didn't still exist in one form or another!  "There's your big break! Better start writing a script, you'll be a billionaire." She teased.

Her brow raised a little.  Was Celia really wondering why they had never run into each other on Hammel grounds?  The school was pretty big and there was a decent change their schedules conflicted.  Celia wasn't the first person she'd met after graduation who had attended Hammel with her.  Maybe they were different years? Besides, she was sure Celia wouldn't have looked twice at her back then.  She didn't exactly stand out in the crowd, except for maybe her skin color, but even then that didn't make her any more special than anyone else.  "I don't know." She insisted, amused until Celia continued and then she just laughed, covering her face with her hands and shaking her head.  Would she ever stop? Granted, this time it was more funny than embarrassing to be propositioned, because she knew it was a joke considering the context.


"Oh my God, you're relentless! We can do all those things.  Especially the pizza. Probably the making out, too."  Her cheeks warmed slightly at agreeing to make out, but truth be told she sort of wanted to.  No, not sort of.  Definitely.  It had been brought up enough that it was already on her mind, and the way Celia said it now was silly, which eased her in a way it didn't the other times.  

"There's definitely some teasing, but only playful.  Like, I would tell Nik anything and he would only tease me if it was okay to tease someone about that.  Like.. well, like you for instance.  He's going to want details whenever I call him and he'll probably poke fun, but it's okay because he's my biddy, yah know?"  He was someone she could rely on.  Sometimes she felt the only someone, but that was usually when she was at her lowest.

She narrowed her eyes as Celia went on about the obvious reasons she was there, but the other girl waved it off before continuing with the real reasons.  "That sounds useful." She said with a nod, reaching for her tea and pulling her legs up under her.  "I guess only if a meta was like doing something you didn't want them to be doing though.  Like this."  She moved her head ever so slightly, pulling the air around them and spinning it around Celia to get her hair to whip around at the small gust circled her.