[FF7: Lucrecia Crescent] New Killer Star
Album: "Reality" by David Bowie Claim: Lucrecia Crescent Characters: Lucrecia, random OC Rating: PG Summary: Commune children have a natural awkwardness to the outside world. Doesn't help that Lucrecia is calculating on top of it.
There had always been, right under the surface of community and progress a sort of competition to it all.
Lucrecia had come to realize that to some extent that she'd been spoiled by a sort of cradle of intelligence. As predictable a pace car as Seiichiro had turned into, he was still at least a certain level above what she was learning was the standard for university students. And she'd only been in the women's dormitory for a few days and already she knew she'd be spending a lot of time in Sei's room, if only so that her ears wouldn't bleed from...
"What kind of conditioner do you use? Your hair's really pretty."
Don't ever say I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready
That. She knew that it wasn't a woman thing, her parents were both smart, and even Vin's mother had a quiet sort of intelligence to her, despite the fact his father far outshined her. Maybe she'd missed the assignment when she hit puberty that she was supposed to carry on small talk about hygiene. Or maybe all that time with the boys really had wiped away whatever feminity she was supposed to have.
"Just something I picked up," she replied, hoping the frizzed out blonde wouldn't continue to pester her when she brushed her teeth. Whoever had thought that a floor of girls sharing a bathroom was a good idea needed to re-evaluate their life's purpose.
Maybe she would go buy a skirt. Maybe that would help. Wait, what did that matter? She likely wasn't going to be in class with any of them anyway.
Her roommate was at least shy. Mousy looking thing with glasses bigger than her face. Lucrecia hadn't gotten a peep out of the girl, so she didn't know if she was some sad little journalist hopeful or another scientist. That sense of competition hoped she was another like her, so that she'd have some kind of advantage--she'd always heard the quiet ones were what you had to watch out for.
Mom had said this would be good for her... all it seemed like was unnecessary. They had weird rules, weird rituals. Part of her wanted to study it too, see if there was some code to life outside of Nibelheim. Some kind of pattern to why boys weren't allowed in the dormitory past a certain hour and why they had activities scheduled for people that only had to live together because of their sex.
I'll never say I'm better, I'm better, I'm better
Class presented its own problems. Sure, they'd had schedules back home, but they were loose. Breathable. The idea was the more they imposed externally, the less they would want to do internally. Her introductory chemistry professor had gotten things wrong, too. He'd looked at her like she had grown another head when she'd corrected him.
Back home... no, she wasn't going to be homesick, because that was silly.
Lucrecia merely had to accept that a lot of people were idiots. That was the only explanation to it. She could see why their parents had set up camp far from this city--it only seemed to attract idiocy in the student body and faculty. And since Sei didn't feel the need to speak up in the classes they overlapped, she would have to. Her mom would be proud of that at least.
"Hey, why don't you come join us for dinner?"
"No, I've already got a few assignments." Lucrecia was at least getting good at dodging these attempts at bonding. Why did they keep approaching her anyway? She wasn't friendly at all. And she was getting the feeling that some of the girls were sizing her up, that there was another type of competition that she hadn't learned the rules to yet.
Don't ever say I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready
Maybe she was a little mad at Sei for being able to blend in so easily. Maybe she was a little mad at Vin for likely doing the same thing elsewhere. With them, she didn't tend to feel out of place, but without them she was starting to realize that there was something... something she'd missed?
Lucrecia hadn't realized that she'd gotten into her room and that her breathing was irregular and that she was leaning against the door. She'd told herself she wouldn't call Sei during the first week at all, that she'd get her bearings her own way. He seemed fine enough. She would be too.
"Are you alright?" She almost jumped at the voice, which was almost an impression of a sound than a voice. Mom had always said to enunciate and be loud. People heard you when you spoke up. Grim had told her she had a nice voice once, her mom couldn't be that far off in telling her that.
"I'm fine," Lucrecia clipped, hand going to her hair and feet taking her to her painfully small desk. Her mousy roommate seemed to cringe a little at the tone. It was just as well.
"Do... you miss home?" That girl would have to learn to speak up, Lucrecia barely heard her. It almost made her wonder if she were hallucinating, but she'd done that before and it felt very different.
Still. She was going to share a direct living space with the girl. Lucrecia might as well have a little tact about it.
"I guess I do. You?"
She nodded.
I'll never said I'm better, I'm better, I'm better, I'm better than you
"What's your name?"
"Sally." A mousy name to go with her mousy appearance. Well, it wouldn't be hard to remember, at least.
To think she'd gotten on Vin's case about regretting change, about being stuck. Here was progress, right in front of her and she could barely bring herself to talk to her quiet roommate. Maybe that was the curse of the intelligent, to go through life never feeling quite in place.
And yet. "Lucrecia. Lucrecia Crescent."
"Oh. Pretty."
"Not really. It was a joke of my mom's, actually. Do you read much?"
"Not much... I'm here for physics."
Maybe this was the right arrangement. Another scientist, but not the kind she'd be tested against. They probably wouldn't be friends because that's not what she was here for, but it would be something different from the boys. No awkward hormones.
Maybe the quiet type was just the type she needed to help her navigate some of this.
"You wouldn't happen to know where I could buy a skirt, would you?"
All the corners of the buildings Who but we remember these? The sidewalks and trees I'm thinking now I got a better way