Archive World of Darkness: The Academy - Chapter 7: The Way They Were

[Ravi FitzCoventry]

As Ravi pondered what to do next his phone, unheeded since he'd placed it in his pocket earlier, started to play Santana's 'Maria-Maria'. A smile crossed his handsome lips as he lifted it to his ear without even looking to see who was calling.

"Mari! I was just thinking my morning needed brightening up, and here you are." he all but purred down the line. Mari was glad that she was facing away from the others right then as she felt the temperature of her face rise slightly along with the urge to giggle, which was totally incongruous with the situation as well as being completely uncool.

"Hi, I--we're all over here, um, in the arts building. Kinda trying to figure out what to do next and Renata's here and Sean and Ryan and Ms. Dorn. And that girl, Frida--she made this amazing painting all across the walls of what happened last night and it's super creepy but really beautiful too and you're in it." The words had come in a sweetly breathless rush, but then she paused and flicked her soft hazel eyes Frida's way. "And she got your eyes just right."

"Really?" Ravi's eyebrows lifted under his shades. Why on Earth would Frida paint a mural about last night's events... Was the girl insane? "I should come over and have a look, then." He focused on Mari's voice then, the memory of how he'd almost attacked her last night fresh in his mind. "How are you, Mari?"

"Oh." She nibbled her lower lip and paused to mess with her hair absentmindedly. He was asking how she was. All that was going on, and he still asked about her! "I'm alright, I guess. It's been...kinda crazy. There

was this cop asking a bunch of questions..." Ravi frowned and nodded unconsciously.

"Ahh, yes. We met." He gave an audible sniff before delivering his verdict. "He stank." He paused for a second before asking with deliberate not-quite casualness. "Did he bother you?"

"Well. No. I mean, he was just doing his job I guess. It was kind of scary..." Mari stopped. "Wait, you talked to him? What did you say?" Ravi tried to resist, but he just had to play a little.

"Oh, the truth." He waited a heartbeat, long enough for preternaturally sharp ears to catch Mari's very soft, fearful breath, before continuing. "That I was asleep in my room, and that I woke up this morning to find the school in uproar. He found my missing ring, by the way. Someone had vandalised it and dumped it in the

quad. Fancy that."

"Someone vandalized your ring?" Mari's answer, spoken as it was with entirely genuine mild outrage, let Ravi know that his innuendo had gone straight past the innocent young girl. "The one with your family crest on it? Why would anyone do that?"

Ravi started to explain, maybe to drop a heavier hint, then decided it could wait. "I'm certain I have no idea. I'm heading over to the Arts building. I have to see this splendidly creepy mural of Frida's. Wait for me there?" he asked her, smiling at just how sweetly naive the lovely girl could be. Smart, but unworldly at times.

"Sure." Mari chirped. "Oh, and um, Ryan's saying he's gonna go break into Pritchard's office and I think

it's a really bad idea...can you say something to him? No one's listening to me...Sean just left. Hold on...!" she walked over to Ryan and held out the phone insistently. "It's Ravi. He wants to talk to you." she told the athlete earnestly. Ryan frowned, but took the phone. "Yeah?"

"Ryan, it's me. Act like I'm talking you out of it, okay. Please? Mari has a conscience and I suspect that one day she'll have to overcome it, but let's not do that right now."

"Uh-huh, I'm listening." Ryan responded, setting his jaw truculently as though preparing for an argument.

"I think it's a good idea. Just be careful for crying out loud. If that witch can brainwash guards and create stick-men, she might have traps laying around that are magical too." Ravi said as he walked fast along the pathway towards the Arts building.

"I guess." said Ryan, shuffling his feet and generally acting like he was being reluctantly talked round.

"Good. Hand me back to Mari?" Ryan passed the phone back to it's owner, shrugging and looking ambivalent about his plans. Mari lifted the phone to her ear. "Yes?"

"I think he's having second thoughts." Ravi said. "And I'll be there..."

The door opened and he walked in, slipping the iPhone into his back pocket. "...about now, I would say. Hello everyone." he announced with a sharp grin as he took off his shades. The brilliant, reflective green eyes took in everyone present, their highlights catching the light, before turning to the mural and studying it for a long, silent moment. He simply stood there, taking in the two panthers, the dead faces, and the whole vividly painted scene.

[Frida Ricci]

Frida blinked in surprise at Mari's vehement response, and arched a brow slightly, but the girl had pulled out her cell phone before the young artist had a chance to respond. Sean and Swan's departure passed with little in the way of response, merely a glance in their direction as she watched them leave the room. It was but a few moments later that Ravi swept into the room, commanding the attention of all present (as usual) as he greeted them, and moved in to study Frida's latest "masterpiece".

But much to the eager young Mari's chagrin, it wasn't her who overcame the force that his presence demanded first. It was the abnormally quiet, disturbingly creepy (at least in Mari's opinion), amazingly talented artist across the room who spoke first. She didn't flush when speaking to Ravi, or stutter, or do any of the things Mari knew that she did in the handsome English lordling's presence. She merely took a few steps closer to him, glancing up at him to catch his gaze, and spoke - her voice a smooth and cultured counterpoint to Mari's excessively naive innocent ramblings.

"Ravi.. are you alright? I'm sorry about the message.. I shouldn't have gotten you involved. It triggered quite the.. situation."

[Ryan Jackson]

Ryan put on the show an dance for Ravi and Mari, Fine, you wanna tap that, whatever. As Ravi rolled on in and started to study Frida's nightmarish painting Ryan rolled his eyes, "Well, this is exciting, I love telling the same shit five times over. I'm gonna catch up to Sean." He didn't bother waiting for a reply but simply moved off through the door and down and out to the quad.

The place was calming down from the earlier insanity and the number of police crawling over the scene was decreasing slowly but surely. Entirely certain that he wanted no part of a discussion with the cops Ryan took the long way around the campus, warming himself up with a leisurely jogging pace as he circled around to the administration building.

[Ravi FitzCoventry]

Ravi glanced away from his rapt consideration of the mural, and the practiced eye of the young artist was immediately struck by how subtly different he seemed now. Part of it was his eyes, for it hadn't been a trick of the light making them seem more lambent than usual: the green-gold orbs were changed, a beast's eyes retaining a human shape.

"You weren't to know." he told her, his voice smooth and warm as he smiled. "If I didn't know, how in the hell would anyone else? It even surprised Pritchard, I remember that distinctly. She acted as though it was the last thing on Earth she had expected." He leaned forward and gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek, smelling of a hint of cologne together with something else that Frida couldn't place, but which made her heart beat faster nonetheless as her body seemed to recognise it just fine. "I'm just glad that I was able to keep from hurting others, struggle though it was. Sorry for giving you a scare." He straightened up and looked over at Sylvia.

"So where are we in the planning?" he asked the room at large, his eyes fixed on the Lancaster house-mother.

[Atomicweasel]

Mari watched in silence as Ravi strolled into the room, breezing past her without so much as a glance, and over to Frida. She watched as Frida stepped forward to greet him, watched as Ravi answered the troubled artist with a mile and a kiss. Mari felt a cold wave of dread wash over her. It felt as if someone had packed ice into her lungs. Her throat tightened and her eyes itched. Had she imagined everything she thought she knew about Ravi? Had she imagined the tenderness of his touch, the angry passion of his kiss, the intensity of his gaze when it fixed on her? Or had it meant so little to him and so much to her? Mari couldn’t even move, she stood still as a statue, the bright red rectangle of her phone held to her sternum.

The black beast in Frida’s mural glared out at Mari. Those powerful green eyes seemed to taunt her. You don’t know the real Ravi, was their unspoken message. The real Ravi is me.

__________________

Height: 5'1", Weight: 102 lbs, Hair: Dark brown, Eyes: Hazel, Striking looks 4, Dexterity 4, Presence 4

[SalmonMax]

Renata felt sick watching Mari, as she watched Ravi. Sick because the horror was so clearly etched on her face. She wore her pain so clearly, with no barriers or walls. How could someone have reached high school so defenseless?

Mari would never look at her that way, Renata realized. It wouldn't occur to her to. If Renata blew her off as completely as Ravi, she might feel a bit slighted, but it wouldn't destroy her world.

And the worst of it was, Renata didn't think she could even 'use' this against Ravi. Not right away at least. Mari didn't seem to have that crucial circuit that turned pain into anger, anger into hate. She'd feel bad about herself, bad that Ravi didn't like her, bad that she'd misjudged the situation. She'd feel betrayed, and worry that she'd brought the betrayal on herself. In time, with healing, she might feel sorry for Ravi, and the soulless life he lived.

But she'd never hate him. No matter how Ren tried to spin it.

"I'm stepping out for a second," Renata announced in a rough voice. "Need some fresh air." She took hold of Mari's wrist, as if planning to drag her out as well. "You coming, Mari?"

[Sylvia Dorn]

Sylvia returned Ravi's look. There was a hint of challenge there; whether she or he truly acknowledged it, two predators were regarding one another, measuring each other up.

"We're very nearly at the end of the immediate planning, Mr. FitzCoventry," she said at last. "A small contingent will be arranging a meeting with Ms. Pritchard; at this time, that contingent looks to include Miss Ricci, Miss Hodges and myself. Mr. Cassidy is escorting Swan to the library to do a bit of research in the interim, and Miss Palacios has suggest and you and she join them."

[Ravi FitzCoventry]

Ravi stepped towards the center of the room, head tilted to one side as he listened and considered Sylvia's words. Apparently the plan met with his approval, for at the mention of Mari's suggestion he turned his gaze to her and smiled.

"That sounds ideal." he stated, and Sylvia breathed a little easier at the knowledge that Ravi wouldn't be in her vicinity whilst she was trying to negotiate with the Pritchard woman. "I doubt I want to see more of Pritchard right now. But by all means, feel free to call me if she proves difficult. Or threaten to call me, if you think it'll prove effective. Give her my regards."

Moving with the same lazy, unhurried grace he stepped to Mari's side, looking down into her hazel eyes. His brow furrowed a touch at what he saw there, and his green eyes narrowed curiously. He offered the girl a courteous hand, noting Renata holding her other wrist as though Mari were a rag doll to be dragged hither and yon. Ravi felt a snarl itching to come up from his chest but restrained it, sparing Renata only a cursory glance and focusing on Mari.

"Shall we go to the library?" he asked her gently. "I'd like to talk with you on the way."

[Atomicweasel]

The wave of dread had become an ocean of dread and Mari was drowning in it. I’d like to talk with you... Mari wasn’t experienced in love. She was no Yani. She wasn’t even an Eli. While Yani had been busy conquering hearts and Eli had been drowning the sorrows of adolescence with her pillow and bad music, Mari had been busy kicking a soccer ball around. But even Mari knew what ‘let’s talk’ meant. She would have known it even if she hadn’t watched a bunch of telenovelas with her mom when she was home sick from school. ‘Let’s talk’ invariably meant ‘I’m breaking up with you’. It meant, ‘Sorry, it’s been real, but I’m going to Hawaii with this hot young nurse I met in the hospital after that terrible car accident I had a couple of shows ago.’

Mari felt that if she looked at Ravi, if she looked at Renata, if she looked at anyone, she would burst into tears. She hadn’t given much thought to her Quinces until she’d met Ravi. Since then she’d begun to imagine what it would be like to have him escort her to the dance. She had imagined herself at his side in a white dress, holding hands as he brought her through the crowd. She had imagined the stares he would draw from her friends, her sisters, and all the envious girls who would writhe with jealousy and wish that they were standing in her place. But instead of wearing a white dress and a shit-eating grin, she would be wearing pajamas and watching something stupid on TV in the common room at Lancaster, because what was the point of having a Quinces now? She’d just make herself miserable picturing Ravi with some other girl, some girl like Frida—cool and elegant and oozing privilege, like all the girls at Dalton. Except me.

Renata’s angry voice brought Mari out of her tortured musings. “Actually, you know what? How ‘bout you and me step outside and talk?” Renata spat, letting go of Mari to place herself directly in front of Ravi. She balled her hands into fists. “I’’ve got a couple of things I’d like to—“

“Ren!” Mari blurted, “What are you doing? Stop...” Mari squeezed herself swiftly between Ravi and her friend. She cut off Renata’s protest, placing her hands on the taller girl’s shoulders. “Relax,” She said gently. When Renata opened her mouth to say something more, Mari quickly added. “I know. It’s okay.” If she had to say anything else, Mari was sure she’d start bawling, so she put on a brave little smile for Renata, and then, with her pride lodged firmly someplace in her esophagus, Mari meekly reached for Ravi’s hand.

When Mari had touched her, Renata had felt her anger drain away as if it had never been. In its place a calm warmth had grown. Mari’s smile was so reassuring, so encouraging, it left no place for rage. But when the svelte little freshman turned away and walked outside with Ravi, Renata’s frustration and fury came rushing back...

__________________

Height: 5'1", Weight: 102 lbs, Hair: Dark brown, Eyes: Hazel, Striking looks 4, Dexterity 4, Presence 4

[Ravi FitzCoventry]

Ravi quelled the urge to goad the angry Renata further. It would have been easy: a smile could have done it. Instead he kept his handsome features placid while Mari calmed her friend down, even going so far as to bow his head respectfully to her as Mari took his hand and walked off with him. But in his secret thoughts, behind the mask of puzzled politeness, he stored away the slight.

For later.

As they exited the Arts building hand in hand, Ravi took a deep breath of the cool morning air and looked at Mari. He frowned slightly. Mari was looking down at the ground a couple of meters ahead of her feet as she walked, her whole attitude one of pensive dread.

She thinks I'm giving her THAT talk. Ravi realised with a start. Oh gods, this would be funny if it wasn't so... Actually, it is funny. Teenage girls, honestly! He squeezed her hand gently.

"You know that animals are incredibly sensitive to moods?" he began conversationally. Mari looked up at him, the question not what she had expected to hear. There was supposed to be some small talk, perhaps a long uncomfortable silence... Not something like this. Ravi smiled at her, his green eyes glittering, and nodded. "It's common knowledge. I even knew why before today: it's to do with scents and body language, things that animals are more attuned to. It's also why animals are more tactile than humans. Touch is another form of communication." He stroked the back of her delicate hand with a thumb. "It's why animals imprint on each other, and on humans. It's odd to experience it."

"These senses I have now... I wish I could share them with you, Mari." he looked around as they moved towards the library. "It's like everything was black and white before, by comparison. I can smell people's moods, tell when they're unhappy or afraid." He looked at her again, a warm smile on his lips just for her. "Like you are right now." Mari flushed and told herself not to look away.

"Are you and- and Frida...?" she began.

"Friends? Yes." Ravi stated simply. "She painted my portrait recently. She captured me perfectly, like no one else has before. I'll have to show you it. The best artist I've ever met, and I've met a few. She's also very alone, like a lot of extremely creative and talented people. She has never really connected with others her own age before." He snorted scornfully. "They call her 'Freaky Frida'. I think she's nice, if a little eccentric."

"She sees dead people." Mari ventured, the knot of ice thawing in her belly. "Those were the ones in the painting. No wonder she's a bit weird. But she seems nice though. Quiet but nice." She looked up at Ravi and smiled at him. A portrait, of course. That Frida girl had called Ravi when she felt afraid of the mysterious Ms Pritchard because she didn't have anyone else to call. And Ravi had been so gentle with her when she apologised for the horrible things that had happened as a result. She squeezed his hand.

"What you were saying before... you're not really an animal, you know." she asserted firmly, as much to herself as to Ravi.

"Not totally, no." he partially agreed. "But I'm not all the way human either. I think..." he looked around and leaned closer, his voice hushing. "Can I tell you a secret?"

"Uh-huh." Mari looked up at him eagerly. He was confiding in her. He wasn't breaking up with her!

"It's important. You are the only person I'm telling this to, right now."

"I swear." Mari nodded seriously through her elation.

"I think my family know about it. At least my father and grandparents." In the same hushed tone, he explained his rationale: the crest with the black 'lions' on it, the fact that his grandfather had the same eyes and the fuss his Indian relatives had made over that. Mari listened, her beautiful eyes widening. A family of werepanthers?

"I need to call my father." Ravi said. "Once we get this mess here cleaned up, I will be. I get why they didn't tell me before: what if they were wrong? But maybe I can learn to control this thing better from them." He smiled at her. "After all, if my ancestors were freaking out and trying to eat Queen Victoria, I think it might have been noticed." He gave Mari a kiss on the cheek, his breath warm and soft as his lips.

"I'm telling you all of this because I want you to know me, Mari. You deserve to know these things so..." he hesitated and took a breath, his eyes sober. "So you can decide whether or not you want me anymore."

[SalmonMax]

Renata watched them go, feeling like she should intervene but knowing that it wouldn't accomplish anything. It was like watching through a glass wall a friend walk into a pit of snakes.

After a second she turned and gave Frida a piercing look.

"I didn't know you and Ravi were so friendly," Ren commented. "What's the deal with you two?"

[Frida Ricci]

Frida followed the entire interplay with a fairly neutral expression on her face, marked with only a small furrow of the brow and a little frown to indicate confusion. The concept of jealousy didn't really enter into Frida's mind, it wasn't as if she and Ravi had made any promises to her. Indeed, her tryst with Ravi in the woods had been a wonderful adventure, and she was looking forward to the opportunity for another such encounter. What Ravi had given her - acceptance, and pleasure, and emotion - was such a wonderful gift, it hadn't dawned on Frida to expect anything more.. certainly not any sort of exclusivity. When Renata's focus shifted to her, the young artist studied her for a moment, still looking a bit confused, before she shrugged slightly and smiled a little bit.

"We're friends, I think. I painted his portrait."

Frida had almost been more forthright about the nature of their relationship - if for no other reason that it hadn't really dawned on her that it could create a problem. But somewhere in the archives of her memory, she recalled a school rule that expressly prohibited sexual activity between the students. Frida thought such a rule was kind of silly - based on everything she'd read about - and witnessed, as a fairly silent observer that no one ever took notice of - there was plenty of sexual activity going on amongst the Dalton Academy students. But admitting to it in front of Ms. Dorn seemed an unwise idea, despite a general tendency on behalf of the staff to overlook such transgressions as long as they were committed discreetly.

[Atomicweasel]

It was strange how you could feel so miserable one second and so happy the next, Mari reflected. If her spirits soared any higher, she might just float away. Ravi’s words, his kiss, had put a smile back on Mari’s face and now, dimple-cheeked and gleeful she teased, “So, if I decide I do want you, then does that mean we’re going out?” The look she gave Ravi as they walked along hand in hand was not, for all of Mari’s renewed cheer, entirely playful. It had too some element of tense expectation, as if Mari half-expected things to take another calamitous turn.

“As I understand it, that’s the way this works,” Ravi answered wryly.

Mari fought back the urge to start skipping. That would be way too Little Girl. “Oh, good...cuz if I’m gonna get beat up for being your girlfriend, then I wanna make sure I really earned it.” Mari said mildly.

“Who threatened to beat you up?”

“That doesn’t matter.” Mari teased. “Just some girl from Lancaster. Just a member of your fan-club. Probably she was lonely.” Like Frida.

“My fan club.”

“Mmm hmm.” Mari glanced up at Ravi with an impish little smile.

“Mari,” Ravi turned her to face him. “just understand that I’m not perfect, or even particularly nice. I’m dealing with the tail end of puberty and now I’ve got a whole other set of changes. But I’ll never try to hurt you.”

Before Ravi could fully process the change in Mari’s scent she rose up on the balls of her feet and placed a soft, tender kiss against his lips. “I know you’re a good person.” She told him. Left unspoken was the conclusion that she wouldn’t be with him if it were otherwise. She sounded so convinced, so sincere, that it almost made Ravi doubt his own assessment of himself. Could a girl that looked at him with such guileless adoration really be wrong?

“C’mon,” Mari gave Ravi’s hand a gentle tug. They resumed their walk toward the library. Mari may not have been wearing white, strolling down the center of a ballroom to celebrate her Quinces, but she was wearing a big shit-eating grin.

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Height: 5'1", Weight: 102 lbs, Hair: Dark brown, Eyes: Hazel, Striking looks 4, Dexterity 4, Presence 4