living dead

sometimes - just every once in awhile - the fates seemed to smile upon him, and he would happen to stumble upon someone completely extraordinary - someone who was so delightfully irresistible to tease.  there was just something endlessly amusing about them - their red-cheeked glowers, their squawks of dismay - that drew his eye and loosened his tongue, to the point where he almost couldn’t help but rile them up. like that stoic secretary at the law office, for example. or that one grumpy janitor with her sharp, no-nonsense tongue. 

or, in this particular case, the heavens themselves had apparently deigned to gift him with one bianca de sainte-coquille. 

bratty, ill-tempered and prone to vicious verbal onslaughts, took herself far too seriously — everything about her practically begged for him to toy with her. and who was he to refuse such a perfect target?

how fortunate that they had both been called in that morning to do a screen test together. even as they had gone through an initial table reading, he could practically feel her seething from where she sat across from him as he practically shouted each line with overzealous vigor, clearly overacting. and, given the way she stomped into the green room, he’d say that his efforts had been well worth it.

‘ goodness, reprehensible? such harsh words from such a sweet face. ’ he pretended to ponder her words, tapping his chin as if in thought, then gave a firm, decisive nod. ‘ hmm, you’re right. perhaps i need to go bigger. ’

•｡ ღ 𝒞ertainly, she believed in a higher power - a divine being that intentionally aligns the stars and utilizes their force to make those within this worldly realm cross one another. Some call it fate, some call it karma. Nevertheless, Bianca contemplated the wide array of individuals and diverse personalities that she had encountered thus far during her life - considering the tolerable ones and the insufferable ones; alas, no matter what spin she decided to place on her luck in meeting different kinds of people, no words at that moment in time could be strung together to express how unbearable it was for her to be standing in the same room as this completely and utterly despicable man. Part of her wanted to walk out and pay herself a favor by never seeing the whites of his eyes ever again - but that would simply ignite the fire flickering inside of him to ensnare every last nerve she had. 

𝒴et, if this was a game of cat and mouse, she was determined to be the cat with him caught dead in her trap.

“𝒜re you dumbfounded that I am one of the only ladies you have met that can intelligently express her thought?” Bianca sarcastically displayed a joyous smile, fanning herself with artificial embarrassment. “No wonder you are envious of me and my sweet face! The only brain you have is in your pants because your head is so far lodged up your ass!” She scoffed and returned her focus to her phone, scrolling through her social media when she could sense his aquamarine eyes burning into the back of her head - sizzling with his insidious comment of going bigger. 

Kevin was not the least bit surprised when she approached. Lifting up a bit, he adjusted his position so his head was rested on his fist. He obviously wouldn’t be getting sleep anytime soon. And just as he expected, the storm began. Kevin looked at her with half closed eyes. 

What the fuck….

“Yeah…so can you just let me die in peace?” He shifted so he was now lying on his back. “…Do you need something..?” This girl has some serious issues.

•｡ ღ Bianca huffed and placed her hands on her hips, rolling her amethyst eyes into oblivion as she sought for the sanity to deal with this incompetent fool. “How dense are you?” She asked, clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “If you are going to die, then do it somewhere else where no one has to see the sights of you. A bench is for people to sit on, not waste away on.” Honestly. Maybe he needed to study more and receive a comprehensible education instead of spilling stupidity from his lips.

When enrolling for the academy it really wasn’t a questionwhether or not Alice would take French, she wasFrench, for heaven’s sake. It was an easy A if nothing else, even if she had tosuffer through ridiculous archaic grammar points that no one actually used.

So why, she wanted to know, was she expected to partake inpartner work? No one else in this classroom could ever hope to be half as goodas she was at French, and obviously all they would do is get her to rattle ofthe answers with ease and then takethe credit for it, and she wasn’t going to risk letting them do the work, lestshe risk a less than perfect grade.

She almost shuddered when someone actually had the audacityto think they could speak to her,snapping her out of her thoughts – she’d been thinking of the best way toensure she could work alone, her current option was daddy’s money – she turnedher head, looking the girl up and down. She didn’t seem too awful, she gave off an air of class seemingly no one elsein the school possessed. Alice would give her one chance.

“Hello.” She gestured to the currently vacant desk next toher, “Move that closer, then, and we’ll start.” As she waited for the other girl to sit, she continued speaking, “Who are you? And you better be good at French, I’m not here to carry you through this assignment and watch you act like you had any part in it, you can either pull your weight or don’t waste both of our times.”

•｡ ღ Normally, Bianca would never follow the orders of another individual regarding her behavior or actions -- much less from someone who was nothing but a stranger in her eyes; however, there was something about this young girl in particular. Yet, she could not place her finger on it. Whatever it may be, no matter how uncharacteristic of her it was, she followed through with her own decision and will to speak to this person. If anything, she should be honored to be basking in her presence. Would she rather be partners with some moron who enrolled in this class with the hope of putting forth a minimum effort? Please.

Katie was used to people not wanting to try the food shemade, considering how often her cooking went wrong, but she was a capable cook! She must’veinherited some talent from herfamily, and if not, she certainly was dedicated to improving her skill.

Unfortunately, part and parcel of living at the academymeant she didn’t always have adequate storage for food she was making, or,honestly if she wanted to have a late night snack. She tried to avoid anythingthat could smell offensive, lest deal with the wrath of her roommates, but shewas craving the food, okay? No onecould really blame her.

Katie had been hoping she could’ve removed the offendingdish before any of her roomiesreturned, but alas, as she discovered the secondshe opened the door, she had not succeeded. She opened her mouth, about toretort that she had not actually cookedanything, and that kimchi was simply fermented raw cabbage. Quite simple tomake, just not the best smell to some people.

Instead she walked past Bianca, collecting the offendingcabbage from the minifridge, and grabbing a pair of chopsticks from her bedsidetable drawer (What? A girl has to be prepared for all kinds of cuisine) “Ithink it smells fine, actually. And I’d much rather that it was eaten than putin the trash.”

•｡ ღ “Of course you would.” Bianca rolled her amethyst eyes into oblivion, scoffing at her incredulous comment. Quite honestly, could the senseless girl not consume her garbage that she insisted was equitable to food somewhere outside of their room? It was as if she willingly selected the ginger as her roommate without any influence from the mindless employees who assigned their living arrangements. Why could her father, who simply wished to have the best education for his darling princess, not find it in his heart to purchase his little girl a single room? Though, it appeared that it was far too late and beyond whatever deadline enacted by the Academy for the untimely removal of her from this forsaken room. Or, better yet, they could take this girl out with the trash.

No, no, no.

No freakin way.

That was not Bianca de Saint Coquille standing right in front of her.

Why would she be here? For the same reason Selphy was? To get away from home, and have some freedom?

They had talked several times before, all briefly. About things that didn’t matter, like money and status. All because Selphy was expected to get along with the local rich families.

She didn’t mind the idea of being friends with Bianca, but…would she keep quiet about how they met? Would she be okay using Selphy instead of Selphius?

She was about to find out, because fear had her paralyzed to the spot.

Forgot? Vishnal’s smile flickered for a moment Was he so easily forgettable? Was he more of a backdrop on a scene than anything else? Well, no matter - he was an employee, he reminded himself, not a friend, and it’d be good of him to remember that.

“Yes, Miss Bianca, of course,” he said as he came inside. He’d brought a bag, of course, and he opened it, sifting through it to find Bianca’s preferred brand of shoe polish as well as a new rag, so as to make sure that the polish that Miss Luna preferred didn’t have any kind of cross-contamination with hers. He came to the edge of her closet, then paused, seeing the wide assortment of high heels so delicately displayed. There were…ah, quite a few choices there. Which did she mean?

Rather than assume he knew better, he came down on his knees and decided to polish all of them.

“I love your taste in fashion,” Vishnal said brightly as he started on the first of many shoes. “I hope that someday I might have a flair for color like you! Though I, ah, already know I’ll never be able to master it like you have. You have a natural gift. I admire you so.” He looked up at her with a smile, then frowned slowly - something about her face reminded him of his younger sisters. “Have…you had a nice day, Miss Bianca?”

•｡ ღ Bianca held a silky smooth tissue between her eyelashes and blinked repeatedly, for any moisture to reach into contact with the mascara would certainly be imminent for a beauty disaster. Thankfully, her eyelashes remained as glossy glamorous as ever, and her friend -- rather, her servant -- was completely oblivious and dedicating his attention to her wide array of high heels, just like one in servitude should. Tch. And to believe that the dastardly word ‘friend’ almost reigned in entitlement regarding her feelings towards the young boy -- that was to say, it was a working relationship. Besides, if she never had any friends prior to her arrival to the Harvest Academy, then why would she start now? She didn’t attend this prestigious school to make friends, she came here to win -- exactly what that entailed, she was still in the process of learning.

@iamtheprincessxo

Something happened whenever Vishnal applied himself to a certain task - especially one that he knew he was excellent at, especially one for someone other than himself. Things…dissipated. His fears that his little sisters would never have a beautiful, enriched life like they deserved due to constant poverty. His concern that his parents would die young after the amount of hours they worked to care for all of them. His awareness that their house was falling to pieces, that so many things needed to be replaced, that it was a constant uphill struggle to make it all…okay. Service calmed his rushing thoughts, like a dam turning dangerous waves into a quiet, placid stream. It sent a shivery tingle over his scalp. It slowed his heart. It was good.

The money wasn’t bad either.

Something about dorm room A2 seemed to attract girls with an eager desire to spend money for someone to do their simple chores that took next to no time to complete. He didn’t quite understand their desire to have someone else do these things, but goodness, he had bills, he had needs, and he had a family back home that couldn’t afford to send the rest of their children to college, much less Vishnal. So he drifted to A2 every once and a while, impeccably groomed - hair in a neat arrangement, shoes polished, clothes ironed, breath clean - to see what he could do for them. Today was such a day. What he knew about the girls told him that Miss Bianca would be in the room right now, if not the others, and he knocked at the door and waited patiently.