Late Night Library (Serena)

[Iris Applegate]

The library was usually open late; for students that wanted to stuff in some late-night studying or other things. There were lights on each desk and a mobile light that crept between the bookshelves. Oh wait. No, no. That's just Iris.

The brunette used to be the best sneaker out of her siblings with her light weight and soft footsteps. However, her constant bioluminescence meant that she wasn't as stealthy. So, like an albino jaguar, Iris now had to rely on silence and opportunity to sneak up on her prey. She had gotten good at it.

Wearing comfy pajama shorts and a spotted tank top, Iris quietly slunk throughout the dusty books; her eyes squinting as they focused on a sole person at a table. The lamp on the table was on so Iris' glowstick-like light shouldn't be too distracting. 

Iris silently padded forward on fuzzy socks, her movements very silent with her glow the only distracting thing about her. She didn't know her prey but that didn't matter. A tiger doesn't care for the gazelle it pounces on, neither does a bear care for the fish it catches, nor does a brother care about the painful wedgies that he gives. It's all about the end satisfaction, the kill. Or in this less lethal case, the sweet sound of a startled scream.

Breathing hushed, Iris paused directly behind the late-night book-worker. A sly grin crept across her face and she brought her hands to the stranger's shoulders with a firm but careful grip whilst releasing her hunter shriek.

"SKREEEEEE!"

[Serena Varsair]

Okay, so maybe this wasn't her ideal when she couldn't sleep. But with the cold weather, she wasn't able to get in as much exercise, so there was more energy to burn, so she had to stay up for longer, and then she-

Breathe.

Serena shook herself from her thinking cycle to look back at her reading for the next week and the fact that she was still looking at the last page. She didn't want to finish it because that meant she had nothing to do at all.

Dressed in a loose dark blue sweater, the only visual definition to her upper body being granted by a not visible bra, and black pants with black shoes, Serena was definitely warm, which was nice in the colder weather. Not much care was kept to keeping the library warm at this time of night. If only some guy were available to warm with tonight. Oh we-

"MERDE!" Serena squealed in a frightened French accent. Twisting and turning around in the chair, she found her English words again, "What are you doing?!" A heavy French accent swept over her words, something that frequently occured when she experienced sudden anxiety or fear.

As Serena realized her 'assailant' was another teen girl, she calmed slightly. But she couldn't help but ask, her accent toning down slightly, "Why...why are you glowing?"

[Iris Applegate]

Now, if you scare someone, the first thing you should do is back up immeadiatly. If you know them or don't, there's always a chance that they try to cast a swing at you.

Which is exactly why Iris slightly jumped backwards with a triumphant smirk on her face as the sweet sounds of fear pierced her ears. French fear apparently. The brunette snorted and covered her mouth with both hands to stop from laughing as the stranger screamed a french word. She didn't know what that word meant so she decided to assume it was rude.

Iris slowly regained her 'sinister' scare facade when the stranger asked her first question. The french accent was clear; Iris and her brothers enjoyed practicing accents for fun, she was pretty good at the Russian accent but all four of them sucked at french. Instead of resisting the temptation to laugh, Iris began to gently wave her arms in front of her, as if mocking a very bad ghost.

"I am glowing because I am the Christmas spirit! Or a glowstick. You choose. I don't actually like christmas much." Iris moved one of her hands to her mouth and chin, supporting its elbow with her other hand, in a thoughtful position. "Maybe its because I'm a ghost. Maybe its Maybelline."

[Serena Varsair]

(Sorry for taking a couple days, got hammered by a snowstorm)

The red section of her otherwise silver hair fell right in front of her face as her face heated up to match. Serena wasn't upset at being scared, she was embarassed for not hearing or seeing this girl coming. Serena sometimes wished she had a power that could freak just for this kind of situation. But no, she could just stay awake forever, and be cursed (blessed?) with thin body and bottomless stomach.

"Glowstick sounds better," Serena said, her accent fading slightly with each word. Her French accent came out so rarely other than its usual tinge to her words that she wasn't exactly sure how to get it back to normal. With the edge of her book, still gripped tightly in her hand from the scare, she attempted to poke at the girl right in the middle of the chest, "I think you're real. I'm reasonably sure."

Despite the lateness of the hour, Serena was still wide awake. "Are you looking for something, or do you normally scare innocent little girls at all hours of the night?" Serena said this with smile. She wasn't really bothered by it (outside of wanting to do it to her at some point), but she still wasn't sure who (or what) she was dealing with yet. Still, it was something to do.

[Iris Applegate]

A slight creak from one of the bookcases made Iris turn her head from the girl, staring into the darkness even though her glow made it practically impossible for her eyes to adjust enough to see. The brunette was usually a quite brave, or at least confident, person. Willing to wrestle her brothers, accomplish a dare, climb the roof, etc... However, the dark scared her. Or maybe it made her wary would be a better way of putting it. Since she cannot see into the dark, Iris tends to avoid it. She couldn't sleep, so she wandered, found Serena; silently relieved that she won't have to stay in the dark alone any longer.


"Glowstick sounds better, I think you're real. I'm reasonably sure."


Iris quietly gasped as her chest was poked, bending her knees and clutching at herself briefly to mimic intense pain, before straightening up again.

"Are you sure? This could be a drug-induced hallucination." Iris muttered slightly, shiftily glancing from side to side. It was no such thing of course, but the brunette enjoyed being dramatic about things. It made her serious side a lot more... serious.


"Are you looking for something, or do you normally scare innocent little girls at all hours of the night?"

"Well, which one sounds more fun?" Iris asked with a grin, glancing behind her to the dark room again. Focusing slightly, Iris tried to turn off her light. She focused more on her light manipulation than her bioluminesence, so there wasn't a large chance of her light dulling. Instead, her glowstick-like glow flickered like a broken bulb before staying on as Iris let out a short gasp of exasperation. 

[Serena Varsair]

It didn't look like Serena needed to scare the girl. Was she like...paranoid of the dark? She lit up like a steroided Christmas tree, and traveled around at night. And she was afraid of the dark. "You okay?" Serena asked in reponse to Iris turning away for the moment.

Well, she was certainly fun, as she reacted to her poke in dramatic fashion. "For whom? You? Well, I totally believe I could be a drug hallucination. Look at my hair. How 'bout my accent." Serena increased her accent heavily when she mentioned it, but otherwise her voice was firmly French-tinted-American.

That grin, however. "Are you on drugs?" Serena asked at her attitude, especially when she looked away again, light flickering for a moment. "You know, I've never met a girl who shined more than she wanted to. Most girls really just want to shine more or not give a damn." Obviously a joke, becuase the shining that the girl was doing and the shining Serena referred to were different.

[Iris Applegate]

Iris swiveled her head back around to face Serena as she spoke, forgetting her worry for a moment as she looked at the other student. "Who me? Pfft, right as rain." Iris grinned, flicking a hand at Serena in an almost dismissive manner.

 "I totally believe I could be a drug hallucination. Look at my hair. How 'bout my accent."

As the silver-haired girl's voice changed, Iris tilted her head back and frowned heavily in a look of utter betrayal. "You shape changer." The brunette joked before straightening her head again, wincing as her neck cracked.

Iris chuckled as Serena asked about the drugs and was about to reply before she started speaking again. She waited for Serena to finish speaking before she returned her thoughts. "Me on drugs? Of course not, if I were on drugs could I do this?" Iris breathed in deeply and focused her manipulation abilities on her own light. A few seconds later, her body started to slowly change from red to orange to yellow to green to blue and then repeated the cycle. Iris released what air she had been holding in a heavy exhale, her glow fading back to its usual glowstick-color.

"And besides," Iris flicked her hair with a hand and pursued her lips like a fish, "I don't need to shine." With a small hop, Iris assumed a very weird pose with one leg bent, one leg straight and both arms behind her head. "Who could resist this?"

[Serena Varsair]

When the girl's lightshow began, Serena's mouth just hung. Maybe she was in drugs, "Did someone spike my water?" Serena couldn't help but murmur. Assuming this was her meta power, and not some weird fever dream that she was frozen in, Serena was curious what it was like to have such a power. "So...you're your own rave? You must get invited to all of the dances..." Serena reached for her water bottle to get a drink before changing her mind. This was too trippy.

When the lightshow had stopped and the girl was posing, "Oh, believe me, you're very pretty." Serena rushed out. "Your own little glow adds something..." Serena pursed her own lips for a moment before adding, "unique. I've never seen anyone like this...and I've seen two schools of metas." Thinking as to the hour, Serena cleared her space and began putting stuff in her bag, as she said, "Does it make it hard to sleep?" Serena knew insomnia well, and for a girl to be like this at this hour...well, Serena had called more than a few boys to keep her company at night when she couldn't sleep. "Y'know...the glow?"

[Iris Applegate]

"Actually no," Iris grinned at Serena's assumption, "I'm a bit too strange for dances. Besides, my brothers would never let me go alone." She rolled her eyes; Ryan would give her a lecture on dangers and diseases she could catch, Jayden would distract her with food before trapping her behind the sofa or something and Jordan would just put her to sleep before promptly falling asleep himself. Her family is a family of freaks; herself included.

"Oh, believe me, you're very pretty."

Iris raised one hand to her cheek and flicked the other at Serena in an odd 'stahp it'-like motion. She wasn't used to compliments, her social groups had always involved her siblings so insults had always been the 'thing'. "Oh hush, you'll make me blush." Iris pretended to swoon, swaying backwards slightly before standing straight.

iris paused as Serena asked about sleep. Having a constant nightlight certainly hurt her sleep-time but she rarely felt tired until the afternoon. "Of course it does." Iris answered honestly, pulling out the chair next to Serena before sitting down and crossing her legs. "Though I've discovered that using one of those weird eye-thingies helps a bit, even if not by much." Iris made circular motions around her eyes, trying to reference an eyemask.

[Serena Varsair]

"Well, that's a shame. I'm sure you'd be the li-, the life of the party." Serena was honestly about to say 'light of the party', but she caught herself just in time. Serena wasn't a huge partier, she preferred spending time a bit more intimately (not just in that way!), and with fewer people. Still, it could be fun at times.

As soon as girl said that she'd make her blush, Serena immediately regretted her words. While clearly the girl was playful and silly, it didn't even occur that what she said could be construed as a flirt. Which she definitely didn't want. Did she? No. This was a very pretty, very glowy girl, and Serena was most definitely interested in only guys. Serena's jaw just moved up and down silently during this process, unable to communicate further in the moment.

"I could never use a mask," Serena replied to the girl. Now that they were both seated again, Serena felt much more relaxed and less like she was just jumped on. "It'd be so irritating. I'd never get any sleep. I only get a couple hours as it is." Serena looked like a normal person would at 2 PM as she said this. Definitely at the lower end of her energy, but for the lateness didn't seem all that tired. "I don't even know when I'll get to sleep tonight. Maybe 4 AM?" Serena said with a laugh, shaking her head.

[Iris Applegate]

Iris raised an eyebrow at Serena's fish impression - there were no Nemos around here. Not since the war... The redhead leaned her elbows on the table at the fellow student continued to speak. Most of the time it was difficult for Iris to pay attention but since they were (assuming) the only ones in the library, it was easier for her to focus on just the one set of voices.

"I feel your deprivation of sleep as if it were my own." Iris spoke, placing a hand on her heart and making a tearful chuckle-like noise. She used to really struggle with the lack of sleep but she had gotten better at ignoring her own glow; though dulling it down was still really difficult.

"Sometimes I'm jealous of my brothers, particularly Jordan. He can fall asleep anywhere, the lazy git." Iris blew a raspberry in annoyance. It was as if Jordan was stealing away all her rightful sleep. She didn't blame or resent him though. Nah, it was too hilarious watching him headbutt the floors, walls, doors and anything else that got in his way on the way down.

[Serena Varsair]

"I miss when I was younger, y'know. Before I was a meta. Sleep was so comfortable and enjoyable. Now it is an annoyance, a struggle just to try to get there. I have to be constantly going..." Pausing for a moment, Serena sighed and add. "Now my only relaxing comfort tends to be food, and that's gonna be annoying after school if I can't afford it." Serena had never really rambled like that before, but she was a social creature, and they were alone for the time being, so she was a little more open than usual. Plus, she truly felt that despite her light (no pun intended) nature, that this girl could relate.

"Ha. What's his secret?" Serena couldn't help but ask. Probably had a power that did the opposite of hers or something. She knew there were much worse powers than hers. Looking for something to ask the other girl about, she suddenly interjected, "I'm Serena, by the way. What do I call you other than Glowstick?" Not that glowstick was a bad thing to call someone, but it definitely lacked something personal. Or even name-like.

[Iris Applegate]

Iris rested her head on the palm of her hand as she listened to the girl, god did she speak the truth. "Yeah, it was certainly.. easier I suppose." She murmured thoughtfully. Things just seemed less exhausting when her biggest worry was who was going to get the last bowl of cereal.

However, Iris had to admit it has been a lot more fun among others since she became a meat, like being around Serena for example. In her previous schools, she had wanted to hang herself just listening to the popular kids wail about make-up, boyfriends, starbucks and something about 'on fleek'. It was easier in Hammel; people actually sounded human rather than copycats of each other.

Iris chuckled as Serena asked her brother's secret. Tactile Athesia ,she thought to herself with a smirk, and laziness. Iris' thoughts flicked back to the present as Serena introduced herself and asked for her name. "Oh, my name's Iris." She stuck her tongue out and wrinkled her nose. "Girlish, I know, but it could be worse."