Hydra Corp (An Airhead Tribute)

[DeirdreTonbo]

During the fall of last year there was an accident that was universally admitted to being the fault of the Hydra Corporation. There was only one casualty, a college student named Charlotte Sanders. The rising young model, Ciel Sirocco was admitted to rehab after passing out at the same event. Though the event was tragic, Hydra Corp would like everyone to continue to trust in their products and in Ciel, the face of Hydra.

Miss Sanders left behind her girlfriend, Nikki who was present at the time of the accident and works at the college she attended. In a strange coincidence, Ciel, the face of Hydra, will begin attending the same college.

An RP for Dee and Rev, yo. This might eventually be a more intelligent post but no promises. It is an RP more or less in tribute to the Airhead series by Meg Cabot so I don't claim all responsibility for making it.

Dee: Charlotte Sanders/Ciel Sirocco
Revan: Nicole (Nikki) Jackson

Maybe there will be some stats here.  

[DeirdreTonbo]

Profiles

And then there was a miracle, for the rp gods hath spake and they hath prodded Revan in the bum and cause her to produce a profile. And the people were happy. And the rejoicing hath began.

Name:Nicole (Nikki/Nic) Jackson
Age/Gender 24/Female
Height/Weight5'9"/143lbs
Major:English with a minor in Creative Writing.
Description:
Tall and slender with some what broad shoulders, Nicole had always leaned towards the more masculine side of the line with her clothing and tomboy-ish hair cuts. A writer by passion, her hands, those of a season pianist, were often stained with pen ink.
Personality:Winging it.
History:Despite her parents best efforts so shape her into a famous piano player, the tall blonde had developed a passion for written word long before she even learn to read on her own. Beyond her love of books and writing, and her parent's pressure to learn piano, Nikki was a normal, tomboy-ish girl, having enjoyed many hours running out in the sun, and attending summer camp when school wasn't in.
It was at summer camp one year, when she was eight that she met Charlottle, the nerdy blonde hair girl who was then her arch-enemy, then later in life, her best friend, until highschool, where, believing that her feelings for her best friend would never be returned, Nikki began dating a mutual female friend of their's. The relationship was short lived, ending after Nikki and Char had a massive fight one day, the fight, sparked by jealousy, ended up being the beginnings of a relationship that lasted the rest of highschool, and into college, until the accident happened, and Charlotte died.

Since the death of her long time girlfriend, Nic, lives alone in the apartment she had originally gotten with Char, the blonde tomboy having buried herself in her studies to cope with the pain of loss, her only source of comfort, her writing, and music. In her final years at college for advance studies, she acts as a teacher's aid for english, often being asked to teach the class herself due to her pregnant professor's approaching due date
Other:blah

Name: Charlotte Sanders
Age/Gender: 24/Female
Height/Weight: 5'3"/151lbs
Major: Music
Description: Though not the ideal slender, Char was enjoyable voluptuous. Her long, blonde hair was often swept into interesting configurations, often based on something fantastic she had seen in a video game. Charlotte was surprisingly strong for her size after years of carrying her cello case aroung with her.
Personality: Charlotte was considerably nerdtoverted. She wasn't particularly shy, but she found it hard to talk to strangers as most of her conversations revolved around the video game she was currently working on. Her other great passion was music- just not pop music.
History: Met her girlfriend at summer camp when they were both 8 and did not get along. It wasn't until they both got older and (in theory) more mature they became the best of friends. Their friendship seemed rocky for a brief period in highschool when Nikki attempted to date a mutual (female) friend of theirs, causing a surprising jealous reaction from Charlotte. Charlotte realized her bicuriousness was gayness. Once they got that figured out, the two have been together since. Early in the last year, Nikki and Charlotte got an apartment together. Then Charlotte died.
Other: Charlotte's brain is preserved in the body of model Ciel Sirocco but is publicly and legally considered dead.

Name: Ciel Sirocco
Age/Gender: 20/Female
Height/Weight: 5'10"/122
Major: Music (now, previously nothing)
Description: Ciel is the slender perfection of modeling; tall, with long legs, a fair complexion, and naturally red hair.
Personality: Publicly Ciel acts and behaves like a model. She has undergone some recent changes since leaving rehabilitation such as attending a good university. There was a rather ugly and very public break up with her long-time boyfriend.
History: Not much is known about Ciel before she hit the fashion scene.
Other: As far as Charlotte knows, Ciel's brain flat-lined in the same accident that destroyed her own body. In a (secret) miracle of modern science, her brain has been transplanted into the body of the model.  

[Revan Star]

The early fall was unusually humid, the promise of a storm in the air as students meandered slowly through the thick heat to and from afternoon classes.

Sweeping sweat damp sandy blonde strands out of her eyes, Nikki was no different, her long slack encased legs eating ground at a more hurried pace then the re rest of the students. The masculine woman balancing a small stack of school gear on her left hip while her right hand's slender fingers worked to un-do the top three buttons of her shirt, uncaring of proper appearance in that moment as she felt sweat trickle down the back of her neck even as she ducked pass another student, slipping into the closing doors of the colleges English building.

Though cooler inside, the misery cased by the clinging summer heat had students appearing droopy eyed, their cranky grumbles and wishes for the end of the day's lessons reaching her ears even as she rushed up a flight of stairs to the next floor.

In her fifth year of study, the tall English student had taken a teacher's aid position for a English professor, the job wasn't meant to be as demanding as it was. But the sweltering weather had bedridden the professor with hay fever, her absence from classes a precaution due to her delicate condition of being with child.

Entering room 231, Nicole quickly moved past the mostly empty rows of seating, a few more studious students scattered through out the room, early for class as pre their usual brown-nosing ways. Nic, noted with dry humor how a few of their faces dropped upon seeing her move to the front of the room, setting her things down on the teacher's desk.

A quick glance at the wall clock told her she had another ten minuets before the course would begin, so she set about organizing her things, mentally running over the lesson plan, ignoring the nagging feeling she was forgetting something.  

[DeirdreTonbo]

It was almost the full ten minutes before it would come to Nicole the little matter she was forgetting. Actually it was a big matter, and she heard it before she saw it. A hum of many voices preceded the matter as it approached the classroom.

Charlotte clutched her class schedule in Ciel's manicured hand as she tried to navigate her way through the escort that was seeing her to her english class. Actually, Char was not a fan of english- true she liked to read but she hated to read things and then analyze it til she hated the book. She had normally gotten good grades in the subject with the help of her girlfriend.

From Nikki's perspective, the door opened with an increase of the volume from the hallway and Ciel Sirocco walked into her classroom. THE Ciel Sirocco. Runway model and starlet Ciel Sirocco. There was a braid on one side of her vibrant red hair, pinning it back and out of her eyes in a unique but attractive way. She wore a pair of bermuda-length plaid shorts with a ruffled tank top and a expensive leather bag slung over her shoulder. With her long legs and big eyes, in person Ciel was far more impressive than in magazines or television.

From Charlotte's expression, she escaped the crowd in the hallway to have her breath stolen as she looked at Nicole. Of course she'd wanted to see her, wanted to call wanted to... Of all the english classes she could have drawn, this was where she ended up.  

[Revan Star]

The ears of the teacher's aid caught the faint sound of excited voices coming down the hall, the noise not really sinking in as she read the professor's notes for today's class. It wasn't until the door opened, and the noise level from the hall filled the room whose occupants - the number having grown in the ten minuets since she first arrived - began to excitedly chatter themselves, all eyes on the figure at the door.

Standing behind the teacher's desk, bent over it slightly with her left hand bracing her weight and her right hand resting casually on her hip, Nic looked up then, her blue eyes locking on the red haired young woman at the door.

Nic felt her heart clench, and carefully schooled her expression to hide the flicker of pain that crossed it. The name Ciel Sirocco had meant little to the blonde before, she knew it, only in passing, like one knew the name of a new singer, or a actor, but she hadn't known who the redhead was before....

After... After the accident, the name was everywhere, the news, the radio, magazines, on the lips of her peers. The name and the face was everywhere as the blonde sat in her apartment and mourned the lost of the woman she loved.

Seeing the model in person brought a fresh wave a pain, and heated anger, that had the masculine woman clenching her jaw. It figured, the doctors couldn't save Charlottle, but they had saved the skinny bimbo model.

Grinding her teeth together, she exhaled sharply through her nose, her eyes flickering to the clock before dropping back to the paper she had been reading prior.

"Miss Sirocco, this is a place of higher education, not a runway, please leave your fans in the hall and take a seat.........The rest of you, stop gawking."

Her words, calm and cool, cut through the excited whispers like a knife though she never raised her voice. As the students quieted down, their excitement contained to glances at Ciel, and words whispered into the ears of their friends, - Nic worked her throat, her eyes still on the paper on the desk, though she was no longer seeing it.

It took a few moments for her to push back the memories, and her emotions, but finally the tall woman straighten, walking around the desk, her eyes sweeping over the students calmly.

"Today we will be discussing chapters twenty through twenty five, which you were supposed to read.. ----"

And so class began  

[DeirdreTonbo]

Charlotte closed the door behind her, shutting out some of the noise. After a moment's hesitation she pulled down the little shade over the tiny window in the door, closing off all the faces trying to stare in at her. Well, stare at Ciel. No one gave a damn about Charlotte... except the one person who didn't give a damn about Ciel.

She heaved a little bit of a sigh, settling into a seat in the middle front-ish of the class. She hadn't read the reading of course, it was her first day in the class. But Charlotte pulled a notebook from her bag and the book they were working on, Dune.

No one in class was paying attention to Nicole except Charlotte who was the center of attention herself. A little bit of a blush crept up her cheeks but she determinedly continued to take notes under their scrutiny.  

[Revan Star]

Blue eyes swept across the classroom periodically, noting the lack of attention from the half heated answers, and the way the students kept looking at the redhead.

Eyes narrowed with displeasure, both at the behavior of the students, and the model's presence, Nic's reaction was somewhat harsh, a wicked streak that had developed since the accident.

"'To suspect your own mortality is to know the beginning of terror; to learn irrefutably that you are mortal is to know the end of terror.'..... these are the words spoken on page two forty-four. Does anyone care to decipher what they could mean....?"

She quoted from the book perfectly, the inquiry for student input drawing some of the student's attention to her. However the blonde didnt pay attention to the few hesitant hands that started to raise.

"Miss Sirocco, perhaps you might grace us with an opinion, seeing how you hold the attention of your peers already"

The words, baring a cold clip to them drew every eye back to the starlet, Nikki's blue eyes challenging. She would have normally never called upon a new transfer student on their first day, but the older woman's emotions were clouding her judgement in this case.  

[DeirdreTonbo]

Oh balls.

Charlotte was surprised, eyebrows rising slightly. She glanced down at the quote that she had copied in her notes, thinking about it.

"Ah.. perhaps it's saying to accept fate?" She tried hopefully. Charlotte lifted her chin as she spoke, looking haughty and beautiful as she answered. Her eyes met Nicole's, quirking one brow ever so slightly.

She did remember once telling Nicole that Dune was a movie about how drugs were bad. Kay? And here she was trying to make sense of one line pulled out of the middle of the book.  

[Revan Star]

A dark look rippled across the face of the teacher's aid before her features smoothed once more into a cold mask, the blonde trampling down the more negative emotions that the red haired woman inspired.

"Perhaps?" She drawled, one of her own brows lifting in response to the uncertainty.

Briefly, the memory of her and her late girlfriend sitting curled up on the sofa playing videogames, giggling over the subtext of of something one of the characters came to mind. Char had loved videogames almost as much as music, a shared interest, they had been able to talk about the characters and the stories at length. To the English major, those times meant the world to her, as the musician had not been as avid as a reader as she.

Giving herself a mental shake to dispel the memory from her mind, Nic glanced at the clock and sighed.

"As enlightening as this lesson has been for you all I am sure......." her words dripped with sarcasm. "We are out of time. And since it appears you have all failed to read the assigned chapters, I expect at fifteen hundred word essay on the chapters from last week. In addition to reading the next five chapters."

The murmuring returned as students slowly began to gather their things, eyes sliding to the starlet. The earlier recalled memory having soften her temper, Nic took pity on the redhead and after drawing herself up to her full height added in a tone that left no room for argument.

"There will be no lingering behind to speak to the new student. I expect all of you out of this class room and down the hall in exactly sixty seconds...... " Blue eyes flickered over to the 'student' in question "Miss Sirocco, I suggest you wait a few minuets for the halls to clear"  

[DeirdreTonbo]

Charlotte took her time putting her things away smiling politely to the passing students. She closed her notebook quickly, she found she was unable to change her handwriting. Old habits turned up and her a's just would not change. Once the classroom had mostly emptied, Char unfolded Ciel's body from the desk an approached the front of the room.

"N-Miss um... it says here that Anders is the professor, are you...?" Of course Charlotte knew perfectly well that Nicole was not the professor, but she wasn't supposed to know that. "Do you want me to try to get caught up with this book? Or write an essay about the movie because I wont be able to accomplish both." She used her thumb to flip through the paperback copy of the book.  

[Revan Star]

As Ciel came up to the desk, which Nic was once more bent over, much the same as she had been at the beginning of class, the blonde did not look up from what she was writing.

It was only the curious stutter the starlet gave that case the tall woman's hand to still for a moment before she continued writing, speaking in a low voice that was her norm, as it normally forced people to have to pay attention in order to hear her.

"I am not. Professor Anders is ill. I am her aid and am covering for her until she returns. -- I will also be covering for her while she is on maternity leave." She added the second bit as a after thought before continuing, this time however she did look up, her blue eyes frosty and her tone colder then it had been earlier in front of the other students - the last of which having just exited the classroom.

"I am Nicole Jackson....and just to make it clear Miss Sirocco, while I will grade your work fairly and treat you like any other student in this class. I do not like you... because you survived and the woman I love did not

The English major held Ciel's eyes coldly, before dropping them back to the papers on the desk, her tone devoid of its previous coldness, and her manner detached.

"This is a English class Miss Sirocco, there for, you will have to read the book, I understand you have just started here, but you were informed that you would be expected to play catch up."

Scribbling something on a piece of paper in her flowing half print-half cursive handwriting, she slid it across the desk to the starlet. "You will fine a list of the assignments on this website. I hope you can read quickly, you have a lot to catch up on.....Good day Miss Sirocco."

It was clear, that the famous young woman had just been dismissed, in how she did not once look back up at the redhead. It would only be after Nic believed Ciel had left would her shoulders start to shake, eyes closing as she breathed a broken whispered so softly into the empty room, the name of her dead lover.

"....Char....."  

[DeirdreTonbo]

For just a quick moment Charlotte took advantage of her position to glance down Nicole's blouse as she finished writing the note. Her fingers accepted it with a flick down of her eyes to see it.

Of all the stubborn...

"Miss Jackson I don't know if I can tell you how sorry I am for your loss. I'm sure that you've heard this a lot. I don't really remember a lot about the accident the um, doctors say that I must have hit my head." Charlotte touched the back of her head at the base of her skull. Right at her hairline she still bore a scar from the incision that had been made. It was still very tender to the touch. "If there's anything I can do..."

C'mon Nikki, see me.

She write something down on a sheet of paper, a phone number. "You can get a hold of me at this number if..." Charlotte took a quick breath and grabbed her things, leaving the slip of paper on the desk behind her.  

[Revan Star]

Nic hadnt looked up the whole time the red head spoke, and other then the to soft whisper, she didnt speak... until her eyes landed on the slip of paper that hand been placed before her. A phone number... Feeling her temper flare, the still healing wounds from Char's death raw at Ceil's presence, the blonde grabbed the slip of paper, crumpling it into a ball.

"I dont want your god damn number, I want my girlfriend back damnit!

The words were growled, Nikki's voice raised, cracked with emotion, her shoulders shaking as she tossed the crumple paper into the trash before gathering up her things. Logically she knew she sounded like a child, crying about how life wasnt fair, but the accident happened just hours before she had plan to... she shook her head, and instead brushed past the starlet, her long legs quickly taking her to, and through the door.  

[DeirdreTonbo]

Charlotte watched her leave, sticking her tongue out at Nik's back as the door closed.

Maybe if you weren't so busy hating me you'd see I was still here.

Not that she could blame Nicole entirely. If their situations were reversed... It seemed impossible even to Charlotte and yet here she was. It was heartbreaking at the same time as it left her hopeful, Nicole's words. The first time they met it had been pretty clear Nik hated her then too.

She left the crumpled paper in the trash and let her feet take her walking. Though Charlotte intended to go to the library instead she found herself slipping into the music room. It was the place she always went when she needed to cool her head and find some answers. There had been a standing piano in her old apartment, but there was a grand in the music room.

Charlotte dumped her bag beside the seat, caressing the keys with Ciel's long fingers. She hadn't played since the operation, since the accident. She pulled a screen in the way so she could not be seen from the window or immediately on entering the room. Breathing a contented sigh, Charlotte seated herself at the piano and pulled a book of music from her bag. Oh yes, this had been on her list of things to do that day.  

[Revan Star]

After she had fled the classroom, she had walked the grounds of the college, other students rushing around her, as the distant sound of thunder rolled over head, the heat and humidity beginning its rise to crescendo in the form of a thunderstorm. Soon the campus was devoid of life, as the wind picked up and the temperature dropped.

It was with the sound of thunder and the first flashes of lightning in the clouds above that Nic found her way to the music hall. Her feet carrying her down a familiar path, having made this trip many times because of her love, and many times since the accident.

The masculine blonde stepped into the building, running a hand through her wind swept hair. At first, the sound of thunder drowned out the haunting melody that played from the practice room. It wasnt until she drew closer did her ears pick up the first notes.

Thats....from warcrack..... Char would play this song when she was upset....

Her girlfriend's geeky love for music from world of warcraft had been something Nic had teased the other woman about endlessly, until Charlotte had walked in on her playing music from different Final Fantasy games.

Silently, she pushed open the door, entering the music room. Because of the way the room was set up, she couldnt see who was playing the piano, and for a moment Nic lost herself in a memory of finding Charlotte here playing this exact song after a argument they had had their first year of college.

Shutting the door and leaning against it. Nikki closed her eyes, allowing herself to get lost in the haunting melody, allowing herself for just one song to believe that if she walked up to the piano, she would see the familure form of her girlfriend sitting there playing because the taller girl had once more done something to make her mad.