Unseen Academy

X: Rochelle Victoria Poppy-Merlot

Lady Rochelle Victoria Poppy-Merlot sat by the window of her ever darkening room, as far from the door as she possibly could. Normally the stained glass of the window would filter violets, reds and greens into her room, making the colors dance upon the floor, but this evening that would not be the case. The residual cloud coverage from the earlier storm kept all star and moonlight at bay, making the virulent colors despairing and iky instead.

Yet she made no movement to so much as light a candle. In fact, besides the controlled rise and fall of her still developing chest, she did not seem to dare to move at all.  

Lady Rochelle was a noble girl who was well admired, and equally well envied. Among the living Merlot families, the Poppy’s were only second in power to the Ryders - albeit they were  not nearly as closely related to them as that made it sound. But where the Ryder bloodline currently held more power - the Poppy’s far surpassed them in wealth. If that wasn’t enough to gain envy and admirers, Rochelle was also considered quite beautiful. With fair skin in a near flawless complection, and beautiful long auburn hair. She looked a lot like her mother - or at least so she was told. She could barely remember the woman, who died when she was still a small child. Unlike her mother though, she had a startlingly bright green set of eyes, some would even call them hypnotic.

Such a pretty girl should have been getting her beautyrest - tomorrow was a big day after all. Yet she didn’t move from her window side seat.  The dark brought her comfort - she could hide in the dark, secrets could be whispered in the dark, promises had been made in the dark…but the dark’s safe embrace could not keep fear at bay.

What was she afraid of? She didn't speak of that. She never explicitly told anybody, and she tried her hardest to never think about it. She could never keep the fear at bay though. It plagued her dreams, and even when awake it made sweat ooze and gooseflesh crawl along her skin.

So still as a statue she sat, not wanting to give the fear anything to work with. She couldn't tell you how long she sat there for - fear had this awful way of turning moments into minutes, and mear minutes into hours…

No moment truly lasts forever though, and her stillness was broken when she turned to hear the jingle of metal that had started up outside of her door.

“Gerber - what is it, exactly, that you think you are doing?” The voice had sounded cold, smooth, and almost bored.

The sound of small metal items hitting the stone floor overtook the surprised stutter that started the reply. The continued jangle when it was presumably picked up again. “...I’ll just be going then. Try to not fall overboard tomorrow~.” What Rochelle could hear was sarcastic, a thinly veiled rage behind the words.

There was a sudden light through the cracks of the door, and even from where she sat, Rochelle felt a little warmer, as the sound of fire crackled, the formally bored tones boomed for a moment. “Leave now.”

    After a bit the light beyond the door faded, leaving Rochelle in the quiet and darkness to wait. Something about the interaction left her...calmer now than before. She rose up from her seat, brushing at her skirts to straighten the fabrics, before walking over to the unlit fireplace. It was getting to the point of it being nearly impossible for her to see, however she knew the room better than the details of her own hand.

She could feel a draft in the room when a secret passage opened, and hear a light scrapping of stone on stone. She held her breath for a moment, but when flame bust to life in the fireplace, and from it emerged her beloved fiance, she let all the fear and worry of the evening escape her with a relieved sigh.

“Lucy…” She greeted warmly.

The flames behind him only lit his silhouette, yet still Rochelle watched in awe as what seemed to be ash flaking off of him, and one humanoid form changed into another, with horns, tail and wings. He held up a vaguely body shaped object. “I acquired our uniforms like you request--” His sentence was cut off by her suddenly hugging him, and he moved from holding the fabric from his hand to with one of his wings, before lightly holding her to him. “We’ll leave early tomorrow.” He spoke softly into her hair, “Then you can put your fears behind you Ras.”