Insomniac [one or both roomies]

[Ariana Simone]

Ariana was exhausted. Classes were starting to get on her nerves, the subjects getting muddled together in her brain. Teachers weren’t exactly lenient when it came to homework due dates and even now after five years it was still hard for her to keep track of the two different time streams. So she stayed up late into the night trying to finish assignments sometimes a couple weeks before they were due, just in case she totally forgot about the homework a few days later. It was tiring, but it helped her keep her grades from falling. Head bent over her laptop as she typed feverishly one of the essays she had due sometime or another for English, Ari could tell it was going to be a long night. She’d need some sustenance to keep herself going soon.

Pulling at her fedora’s brim with frustration, she pushed her laptop away, sighing. The muse for writing about Oliver Twist just wasn’t there. Why did her teacher care about the metaphors and similes used throughout the novel and how they made Dickens’s work better? Trying to resist the urge to slam her head against her desk, she pushed her chair out, heading for the door. With a sharp twist she was in the general living room for the suite she lived in, heading for the cabinets where her tea was stored. Jasmine, where did I stash the jasmine? She rifled through the different packets until she found what she was looking for, grinning tiredly as she pulled out the package. Putting on the kettle, she waited patiently for her water to boil, humming under her breath as her foot tapped a rhythm against the ground. Finally the kettle whistled and she took it off the stove, pouring herself a cup and dunking the bag filled with jasmine leaves and petals that gave the tea its flavor.

Taking her cup with her, she slouched onto one of the couches, settling into place as she sipped quietly. She was starting to wake up, but it wasn’t enough. She needed something to keep her awake. Reaching for the remote, she flipped the television on to some random show, watching the soap opera with little attention. The acting was horrible, the emotion barely there. Taking off her hat and running her fingers through her hair, she shook the tendrils out, letting the strands fall about her face wildly. She needed better entertainment.

[/justify]

[Eric Bower]

School was school, and Eric was glad that it was. His powers were giving him the most problems right now because he hadn't figured out the...well how to turn it on and off. Basically they did what they wanted to, and Eric was just there. The unwilling victim. Speaking of unwilling victims...his face was still pretty busted up. The stitches were still in the cut on his forehead, but his eye was it's normal size, and he could see out of it. The cornea was just all bloodshot, and the area around his eye was still scary black and purple. He didn't like going to class because everyone stared at him. He hadn't had it in him to explain exactly what happened every single time someone asked so he had resorted to using the excuse of a bad training session. The only person who knew what happened was Mia, because she was there. Everyone else, including the teachers, heard what he could explain, or the excuse. Eric wasn't sure he liked all the attention and he just wished it would go away.

He couldn't sleep, though, because he saw their faces, and felt their fists when he tried to go to sleep. When he closed his eyes, he was back on the road, and lost, and alone. Then they'd grab him and hurt him all over again. He knew he should probably talk to someone, but rumor had it, that the teachers and staff had their hands full with some sort of...well he wasn't sure. But he didn't want to be a burden. He could handle himself. He was pretty sure once he was healed, then he would get better on his own. Just these first two weeks would suck really bad. He had been thinking about giving up on sleep and going to watch a movie, like maybe Transformers again. That was when he heard the TV come on. He sat up from his bed, his eyes were cracked open.

He slid out of bed and then, and went to crack open the door. He knew he had roommates, but they were both, well older than him and they scared him. Mostly because they were girls, though. He opened his door to crack to see which one it was, it was the newer one, the less intimidating one. He made a production of opening the door rest of the way, to alert her of his presence so he didn't scare her. He shut the door behind him, just to be sure, and then he moved around from the couch and sat down slowly.

"Mind if I join you? I can't sleep." He asked softly, just to not wake up the other roommate, Fifi. He turned sideways at her, then looked back at the Tv. He didn't know exactly what she was watching, but the music in the background told him that it was a soap opera. He looked back at her curiously. "Whatcha watchin'?" He asked curiously, a small grin upon his face.

[Ariana Simone]

She still wondered why the administration had decided to switch her dorm room after living in the same one for about four to five years. Well, it was okay with her-her roommates had graduated last year and she would have been alone in the room now. She absolutely hated being alone. It just seemed unnatural, too quiet. Sipping tea quietly, she let her eyes wander to the ceiling for a moment before she hard the quiet click of a door opening and closing. Turning her head, she glimpsed the brunette head that was headed her way and smiled a bit. She had had only a few glimpses of her roommates so far. The other girl seemed a bit untouchable, but the boy was pretty cute. At least, what she saw of him was cute. She hadn’t really interacted with them, and that was okay. It was just the presence of others that she craved, not usually the company. It was just the way she was.

Glancing over at him as he sat down, a soft look crept into her eyes, the sometimes icy exterior that surrounded her melting away. She had always had a soft spot for children-basically anyone younger than her by a day. Just by the look of him, his adorable face and wide eyes (even if one eye was still slightly swollen shut and there were stitches in his forehead) made her want to hug him. She cast a curious gaze in his direction as he hesitantly sat down beside her, but decided not to comment. If it was her, she knew she wouldn’t want people to stare and ask questions. It must be pretty awkward to have to explain that to people. So she cut him some slack and leaned back further into the cushions.

”Mind if I join you? I can’t sleep” His voice was soft, though she could hear him perfectly well. Almost out of instinct, her free hand ruffled his hair gently, hoping she didn’t annoy him with the gesture. ”Not at all. I’m just trying to wake myself up again.” The hum of the show in the background brought her attention back to the TV. Currently, the guy was trying to woo back the girl he had cheated on with her sister. Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. ”Whatcha watchin’?” He asked, his eyes alight with interest. Gazing at the screen, she tried to think of the name of the show. She came up blank. ”I’m not quite sure. And I’m not sure I want to. The plot isn’t too great.” Glancing over at him, she brandished the remote in his direction, grinning. ”You can change the channel if you want to, kiddo.”

[Eric Bower]

This room was the first room Eric had been assigned, and he'd been in it for about three-four months now, and while in that time he'd made lots of friends elsewhere, he'd shirked his get-to-know-the-roommates, simply because they were older than him, and female. Zac, who always seemed to complain about not having girl roommates, would probably demand a trade from him, and Eric might just take him up on that. He was really nervous around them, especially because Fifi says really odd and slightly scared things...and tried to touch him. Yeah, he did his best to avoid her. He didn't know much about the one he was looking at. He was pretty sure her name was Adrianne. Or maybe Adri...on wait! Ariana. Yeah, or...he wasn't sure.

He didn't wanna ask her though and offend her or something. He saw a look in her eyes, it was something he'd seen a lot lately, just from his face--because of the bruises. He appreciated that she didn't gawk and him and ask what was wrong, or what happened. He just...didn't want to talk about it. Maybe if someone'd give him a chance, he might want to talk it out. But only when he was ready. And that wasn't right now, and it probably wasn't tonight or the rest of next week either. He just...needed time, alright?

He was a bit surprised as she ruffled his hair. What an Amanda thing to do (Amanda was his younger sister). He leaned so his head went out from under her hand. "Hey. I spent many hours working to get my hair awesome! And you ruin it!" He then made a production of trying to get his bangs to stand on end, like they do after he towel dries it in the morning, and sighed heavily when it fell. He then chuckled, to show he was totally kidding. See, Eric can be normal when he doesn't think about his face all the time. He glanced back at the tv as she did, and the only thing he got from it was that the camera angle was weird and it was blurry and the music was too loud. And the microphones on the two people on screen were weird as well.

The fact she called him kiddo wasn't lost on him. "You are---I'm not that young! I'm not a kid." He argued, his eyes (eye) narrowed at her and he fought of the strong urge to stick his tongue out at her. He took the remote from her, out of spite and started flipping through the channels. Commercial, commercial, talk show, the E! channel, talk show, commercial, commercial, sports, commercial, werewolf movie. He decided to stick with there werewolf movie. He hadn't seen it before, and didn't recognize anyone in it, but there were wolves chasing after someone that resembled a vampire. He set the remote between them on the couch, in case it got too....well in case either of them wanted to change the channel.

"I'm Eric, by the way." He said looking at her with a friendly smile.