Issue 1 Downtime

With a slight bounce in her step Belle thought about the handsome English man she had just met. She kept her sweater tight around herself as she wandered her way back to her dorm.

I hope he does take me to that art museum! He was simply adorable! Try not to sleep with him on the first date okay? If I do though would be so bad...?

Violet weaves through the other students deftly, glancing at the number above each door then back down to the sheet of paper in her hand. She doesn't see the haughty stranger at first but when she does she quickly steps behind a lumbering man, taking cover.

Finally Belle's wandering had ended as she stood in front of her dorm patting herself down for the key. She did her front pockets then her back, repeated till she exclaimed, "Bollocks!"

I must have lost it! Or left it in the room again!

Violet's eyes grow wide in disbelief Oh no. Oh hell no The room number matched the one on the paper in her hand. Why was that girl in front of that door. "this can't be happening" she mutters in a voice heavy with dread.

Belle stood for a moment thinking of what to do... She placed her hands on her hips and tapped her utterly frustrated with the situation.

With a hint of annoyance at the situation she turned around and shouted to the crowd, "Does anyone happen to have the mutant power to open doors!"

Reluctantly, Violet steps forward. Eyes firmly on the floor she answers "Kind of" slipping a key out of her pocket and opening the door without another word.

Belle simply kept her hands on her hips, leaned back on one leg, and locked the meek girl up and down.

"You?" Her minded processed the information. Since returning to the institute she had been assigned a different dorm and had been waiting for her roommate to arrive. I can't believe this. Well...nothing normal ever happens at this university.

"Well are you going to open the door or not?" she said in a slightly nonchalant tone of voice. "If not I'm sure I can find some other person to do it for me."

Violet answers coolly "Perhaps but it's more likely you would stand here until maintenance bothered to respond." she doesn't look at the girl again. Trying hard to avoid a conflict despite the flash of anger the girl's words provoked. shut up shut up shut up, you are stuck with her all year. Shut. Up. she takes a deep breathe to steady herself and fixates on a memory of intense nausea. She opens the door and steps inside, focusing until the memory is all-encompassing. With a glance, she projects the memory onto Belle, trying hard to make her sick.

God I know I don't need to get scraped again! I haven't slept with anyone for a long while! Belle rubs her stomach annoyed as follows right behind the woman.

"Thank you," she said without much sincerity clearly focused on her new feeling of nausea.

As the two ladies step inside the other girl would have noticed that the bed room was not long cut down the middle. It had been taken over completely by Belle's belongs. There were clothes racks galore with expensive dresses in plastic protectors. Boxes of shoes piled on top of each other. Make up cases on both dressers and the second bed pushed into the corner. Her bed had many pillows and a few stuffed animals.

The keys were left on the night stand, "There they are..."

Nodding stiffly in acknowledgement, Violet moves to her sad little bed and carefully sets her heavy knapsack on the floor beside it. Suppose I should send mom and dad a revised list of what to ship. No way all of my stuff's going to fit in here. Jesus christ. I didn't realize I'd be rooming with a Vegas showgirl. She is quiet for a long moment, eyes drifting over the sea of belongings dubiously. "May I ask your name?" she says finally.

Belle took the throw off her bed and wrapped it around herself. Carefully she laid on her bed facing the wall and slowly rolled up into a ball, I didn't eat anything weird!

"I'm Belle," she replied a few moments later after being asked.

Spitefully, Violet doesn't provide her own name. She tries hard to keep the amusement out of her voice as she asked in what she hoped was a sympathetic tone "Hey, you feeling ok? Anything I can get you"?

"A moment of silence?"

Smiling, Violet rises to her feet. Curtseying stiffly to the woman's back she giggles as she grabs her keys and sets off to grab the rest of her things. As the door jam brushes against the cuts on her arms she remembers the woman de-thorning her and suddenly feels bad. Closing her eyes she tries to disperse the illness.