Innocent Sin: Actress Again
II: Her Loyalty
Aisha
The Alchemy classroom was sweltering. Streamers of cobalt-tinged smoke spiraled from the cast-iron cauldrons which hung over the crackling flames. A gentle breeze from outside wafted into the room, but did little to alleviate our suffering as we stirred the mana potions we were supposed to brewing for today's lesson. Just a simple procedure, nothing too fancy unlike crafting a Rachel's Grace which I could only imagine the horror from the grisly tales I heard from the senior students. Even on a simple level, Alchemy was still no less miserable though.
"Urk…" Ara moaned, glowering irately at her concoction which despite her best efforts remained a chalky aquamarine color that was the consistency of sludge. Biting my bottom lip, I hastily shot my gaze around the room, gauging the progress of my classmates. Rena Tyrell- a pretty blonde-haired elf with olive eyes and a big bust which always seemed to pop a few shirt buttons was doing fairly well. Her potion was a little off-color, but at least it wasn't spitting sparks unlike poor Subtractia Targaryen's. Being the sister of Add Targaryen, she was expected to be a whiz at technical procedures such as this, but she was more interested in design and literature than she was in Nasodian Tech and Mathematical Theory, which was a stark contrast to her brother, who devoured such things greedily like I went through a box of chocolate truffles stuffed with rich raspberry cream. Even now, her pale face was flushed and her round glasses were fogged with steam as she feverishly batted at the potion, succeeding in only making it discharge more sparks.
I glanced over at Eve and Chung Seiker- an attractive and mild-mannered boy with spiky russet-tipped blonde hair and wide cerulean eyes. They were easily doing the best. Both of their brews were flawless right down to the exact hue of cobalt and the honey-like consistency that standard mana potions were supposed to be. Feeling inadequate, I dropped my gaze down to my own cauldron. The potion was too dark of a blue and had the consistency of water, which would never do in Grail's eyes. He was a prickly perfectionist who got severely agitated if you made fun of him because he looks like a dog (long story by the way).
"Stupid, stupid, stupid thing!" Ara swore zealously, practically stabbing the cauldron with stunning force, knocking it off the burner and spilling it all over the floor. Hiss… The mixture whispered sibilantly, oozing into the crevices in the granite floor. The smell of burning stone permeated the room, making my eyes water.
"Miss Haan!" Grail barked, his black eyes flashing dangerously as he bared his canines in a beastly snarl. Ara rolled her eyes, cantering her hips sassily as she folded her arms. "Yeah?" she drawled in a bored tenor. Our Alchemy teacher stormed over to her, gesturing wildly at the steaming mess on the floor. "Look at the mess you created!" his hands juddered, struggling against his rage. "Didn't I tell you only a little bit of ground moon El? Can't you get it through your thick head that you were supposed to add only a tinge of death shade?"
Ara pursed her lips, gazing casually at the mess on the floor, looking unperturbed despite the fact that the rest of us were gagging from the noxious vapors. Even Eve looked as if she were about to hurl, which was extremely hard to do since the only poisons that Nasods were weak against were Alterasian Spores.
"I don't see anything wrong," she sassed drily. Grail puffed up, his dog ears perking upwards and his hair standing on end. "You!" he made a violent motion with his hands. "Grail!" Subtractia yelped, stunned, blissfully unaware that the ends of her low-hanging, braided pigtails were smoldering rather precariously. There was a brief moment of silence. Slowly, Grail calmed down, heaving deep, controlled breaths. He turned to Subtractia, his expression resuming his normal dispassion and he pointed at her.
"The ends of your pigtails are about to spontaneously combust, I suggest you run them under water before you catch on fire," he remarked flatly, sauntering over to his desk and taking a deep quaff from his oversized ceramic coffee mug. Subtractia nodded, "Tha- Wait… What?!" she screamed and hurtled over to the sink at lightning speed, ducking her head under the faucet. Grail rolled his eyes and trotted over to the row of windows that dotted the wall, opening two more to relieve the room of the miasma Ara created.
Ara sneered as we watched Subtractia douse her head in water with bemused expressions. "Poor girl…" Rena muttered faintly, clasping a hand over her heart. With her gargantuan melons, it looked more as if she were groping herself. "What a dork," Ara jeered, flipping her hair with one fluid motion as she sauntered over to where Eve, Chung, and I were standing.
"That's not very nice…" Chung trailed, the cat-ear tufts that were in his hair pricking upwards slightly. Eve pressed her lips so thin, they seemed to disappear from her face. "She certainly does not have her brother's gift for these sorts of thing does she?" she mused airily. Ara's smirk was complacent, looking as if she had scored an "A" not an "F" and more than likely, detention, knowing Grail. "Honestly, she looks as pathetic as those commoners from Midgard. What's with those geeky glasses anyway? I'm going to go and ask Add if she was adopted."
Eve sighed, tucking a loose ribbon of silver hair behind her ear. "You already asked him that, and he confirmed that she is his blood relative," she stated in a bored tone. I sighed noisily, feeling ignored. "That may be true, but at times, it can be hard to believe no matter what Add says," I averred firmly and brushed the tears that watered the corners of my eyes. "Ara nodded her head in acquiescence tilting her head to the side and patting me on my shoulder. "This girl gets it," she smiled wickedly at me, "Especially since Add is pretty much the only guy in this entire school with the whole package: brains, looks, a wicked sense of humor, balls, and most importantly, he's from our level… My level more like it… He's from one of the Five Noble families." Her expression was dreamy as she gushed about Add, making the corners of my lip twitch upwards.
Personally, I didn't care for Targaryen. Subtractia was a dork, but at least she didn't have such a condescending aura and her brother's insufferable "know it all" attitude. To each her own I guess.
"So what does that mean Miss Haan? Am I not a qualified and worthy man?" Chung queried, feigning an affronted air. Ara snickered, placing her hand in front of her mouth. "You're just fine Chung, but honestly, you appeal more to the Shotacons here like Eve." Eve's porcelain cheeks rouged themselves with a rosy hue. "Wh-what is that supposed to mean?" she stammered, looking put out. Ara flipped her hair and wrapped her arm around Eve's shoulder, drawing her closer. "You like… hmm… let's say… younger-looking men."
Eve's jaw dropped, making me giggle. "When you put it like that Ara, it sounds creepy," I retorted airily fiddling with my fuchsia hairclip. Her amber eyes glinted with an impish light. "Hue… We all have our own tastes in men. I'm not going to judge."
Eve snorted, opening her mouth to make a retort.
"Miss Haan! Come over here, now and mop up your mess!" Grail yipped from the other side of the room, cutting Eve off before she could speak. Ara released a disparaging groan and threw her hands up in the air, glaring acerbically at the Alchemy teacher. Eve watched her sullen retreating form with a certain amount of self-satisfaction. "I suppose it's detention for her," she cupped her chin with her hands. I sighed, rubbing my forehead, my head pounding from the vapors of Ara's mana potion.
"Ah, but I have a lot of homework and now I have no one to do it with," I mumbled, my bottom lip jutting outwards. Eve crinkled her brow, placing a hand lightly on her forehead. "What about me? I am feeling rather neglected." I rolled my eyes, my smile humorless as I started to put my Alchemy supplies back in the desk cupboard in a haphazard fashion. "You actually make me do work. With Ara, we just have fun banging our heads together until you take pity on us and give us the answers." Eve rubbed at her temples, smiling ruefully. "Perhaps I should stop being so generous so that way maybe you two would actually do some work."
I gaped incredulously at her. "Do you want us to fail?" I whined, crossing my arms as I put on a churlish expression. She smiled thinly at me, "I desire for you two to express some interest in your future. Do you want to get de-ranked for lack of work?"
A chill went down my spine. De-ranking, one of the worst possible things that could happen to a family from Asgard. Life as you knew it would end.
"Now, now Eve, that's a little extreme," Chung bit his bottom lip, gingerly tapping Eve on the shoulder. Eve exhaled deeply, her eyelids fluttering. "It is the truth, if she continues down the path of lazy, reckless, self-indulgence alongside Ara. She will be booted from Asgard for 'being a bad influence on an esteemed member of the Haan family'." Her nostrils flared, "Even though we know it is the opposite way around."
Chung grimaced while I bristled. "What do you mean by that?" I snapped, gathering my textbooks. Eve deadpanned, folding her hands together. "She keeps you up at all strange hours of the night, she flaunts her name, and she rarely does her work."
I blazed, absolutely livid at hearing her criticize Ara. She was an incredible person who gave me- a nobody mage from a minor family the time of day and made me known and respected throughout the school. She gave me opportunities. It was because of Ara that I even knew Eve. And here Eve goes criticizing her? The nerve!
"You're just mad because she beat you out for the spot of class president," I snapped tartly, angrily shoving my books into my already-overstuffed tote bag. Eve stiffened, her face becoming dangerously neutral. "You know full well as I do Miss Kaname that she only got the presidency because her last name was Haan, unlike her brother who is a Haan, but still had to work for it," she rebuked in a level intonation.
I frowned, muttering fervid curses under my breath as my Arithmetic textbook obstinately refused to fit inside my bag. "Aren only had to work for it because nobody likes him. He's too serious and does not bother socializing with anyone. He's a busy-body who's always criticizing Ara for trivial things," I snarled, taking a crumbled wad of papers and flinging them over my shoulder.
"Your view of people is disgustingly narrow."
"Why don't you just fuck off?" I cried, finally losing it. Furious, I whipped around to face Eve, my face flushing until it was a uniform shade of puce. "You're just jealous of Ara, you're jealous because she's pretty and witty, and people like her! The only one here who likes you is Chung!" I jabbed a zealous finger at the now-annoyed Chung. "Keep it up and at this rate, you'll be scraping the bottom of the barrel like Rena!" I screamed.
Awkward silence descended upon the room.
"…" Eve narrowed her eyes, the golden coins flickering to an acidic yellow. "Whooo…" Ara whistled, impressed. "Miss Kaname… That was unnecessarily mean." Chung snipped, sticking his nose up in the air. I blazed, tears welling up in the corners of my eyes.
"Damn all of you!" I screeched and hurled my open tote bag across the room, slamming into the labyrinth of glass beakers and vials, and foggy test tubes on Grail's desk, shattering them into a million pieces. "Miss Aisha Kaname!" Grail howled, hopping around as his other class demos flowed out from the shattered glass, staining the floor a sickly rainbow of dull colors.
"You're horrible! All of you!" I wailed, stamping my feet on the ground. "Hey!" Ara yelped, shooting upright from her hunched position. "You excluded," I sniffled with a weak smile. Ara relaxed, her shoulders drooping.
"But the rest of you can just leave me the hell alone!" I hollered, turning my anger back to the rest of the room and ran outside the class, leaving behind a dumbfounded crowd.
RC: Aaand cut! Sorry for lazy uninspired chapter… but I have a lot going on at home around… Someone close to me is missing and I'm worried about her…. I'm also suffering from the fact Driver's ED is soon-to-come, my internship with Quicken Loans has expired and they've replaced me with a blonde, texting, cheerleader (Even though I can actually use powerpoint and she can't Q.Q) and my exhaustive quest to do promos for free kching so I can get a b-slot on my Elesis, soon to be Saber Knight… DAMMIT! I have been converted to the sexy back!
Eve: I have mixed reactions to this… but I will say… Would sorry be appropriate?
RC: *QQing her eyes out* Yup…
Aisha: I'm upset about my weak character here… Why do I kiss up to Ara's rear end?
RC: Fool… Ara is master race alongside Eve and Elesis.
Aisha: You hate me, don't you?
RC: VP is ok, DW is too-girly and mahout shoujo (Go back to Puella Magi Madoka Magica dammit) and EM is A OK until you get to PvP, then it's all-out war.
Rena: What about me?
RC: Fanservice and soul mate to Raven :3
Rena: ;w; I can live with that.
Ara: I know you have awful plans for me, but I am sorry about your missing person. For the sake of privacy and preventing this from becoming a HUGE affair, I won't say who… but I will say. I know your pain.
RC: *Gives Ara hug* I'm sorry for judging you before you became playable. You're an angel!
Ara: So you'll spare me?
RC: No.
Ara: *QQing in the emo corner*
Eve: I can't believe how much longer this chapter is in comparison to my story's chapters!
RC: It's Innocent Sin, plus looking at this chapter makes me want to kill myself. I want to establish Aisha as a weak, ineffectual character at first so that's what I'm doing. But I can't help shake the feeling it's detracting from the story. Oh well… You still get some RC fan service by the end of next chapter though…
Aren: Your fan service does not correlate to the normal definition of "fan service"
RC: Exactly
Addition: I would- *Cut off by RC*
RC: Remember to R&R for moral support! I thank all chu guys! Ja Nee! *Flies out the window*
