Dancing through life, down at the Stardust, if only because dust is what we come to! And the strange thing, your life could end up changing while you're dancing through!
Whirling, twirling, and getting way more into it than she thought she would, Weronika was… actually smiling! There were rainbow disco lights above as the dancefloor thrummed rhythmically below, music surrounding her on all sides, dancing with her. Neo was onstage singing, Sophia DJing behind her, and Elsie sat sipping champagne from a nearby table.
This was just a practice session for Abyssmare, Sho wishing for them to prove their worth before they tried their hands at overseas work. But Weronika was still having the time of her life, even though Abyssmare was just a side-show act tonight. She was grinning from ear to ear when her dark red gaze happened to meet Elsie's amber one.
ooo
Hours later, "Seperack. Your… presentation tonight was… adequate."
"Adequate?! At least I was practicing somethin'!" Weronika poked her chest with her thumb angrily. "Meanwhile, you were off to the side lazily sipping champagne out of your dainty little glass!" Weronika pantomimed the action with exaggerated affect.
"I was observing you!" Elsie sniffed. "Now that we're unit-mates, I've decided to make you my new project!" Abyssmare is a unit of villains, yes, but we are sophisticated! Not thugs and heathens. We are wicked AND popular! I know that Neo and Sho can pave my road to greatness, and nobody in all the world—no wild Weronika that there is or was—is ever gonna bring ME down!
"You… really don't have to do that…" Weronika deadpanned. Where to even begin with that one?
"I know! That's what makes me so nice!" Elsie bragged sweetly.
Weronika snorted, scoffed, and shook her head. "Why don't you tackle Sophia first? She could use it more than me!"
"Ah, ah, ah! Not so! Not so!" Elsie sing-songed, waggling a finger and smirking. As… socially inept as their DJ was, at least she had a "Cool" persona. And, she does whatever Neo does! I needn't train her, for Neo already has her perfectly obedient! Weronika, on the other hand? She is obnoxious. Her "cool persona" is aggressive rather than aloof, and that is the problem.
The two girls sat on their respective beds in their half of the hotel suite, Sophia and Neo on the other side of the bathroom that connected the two bedrooms. Elsie hopped up from her bed and raced over to Weronika's.
"What the-?!" Weronika grunted under her breath as Elsie bounced onto her bed. Now they were only inches apart. Oh, God, she's drunk, isn't she? Just how much champagne did she drink?! She's underage! Then again, I guess it wouldn't take much, and rules never stopped her anyway…
"Whenever I see someone less fortunate than I—and let's face it, who isn't less fortunate than I?" Elsie asked, still sickly sweet.
Was this just an excuse to roast my ass? Even drunk, she throws shade at "the poors"…
"My tender heart tends to start to bleed!" Elsie clutched her chest and affected a dramatic expression. Weronika snorted yet again, but just like before, Elsie seemed not to hear. "And when someone needs a makeover, I simply HAVE to take over!" Her fingers twitched into claws as if she wanted to wring someone's neck, and Weronika nearly launched herself off the side of the bed at the same time in shock and alarm.
"WHAT?!"
"I know! I know!" Elsie held up her hands, expression calm and wise once more as her eyes drifted shut. "Exactly what they need…"
Weronika would've scoffed at the hypocrisy if her heart hadn't been so busy trying to beat its way out of her chest at the thought of… A makeover from Elsie Largo…! The thought alone made her shudder in horror and disgust.
"And even in your case," Elsie continued, opening her eyes to look Weronika up and down again. Her nose crinkled. The other girl still looked like she was struggling not to fall off the side of the bed. "Though it's the toughest case I've yet to face!"
"Hey!" Weronika pulled herself back upright out of sheer indignation.
"Don't worry!" Elsie interrupted, holding up a finger again and almost pressing it to Weronika's lips to hush her. "I'm determined to succeed!" Elsie flexed her muscles and grinned wickedly. "Follow my lead! And yes, indeed! You… will… be…" With every word, she leaned closer and closer to Weronika, until their noses were almost touching, and Weronika was leaning dangerously off the side of the bed again.
Then Elsie said it. She dropped the bomb. "Popular…!"
"WHAT?!"
"You're gonna be popular! I'll teach you the proper poise when you talk to boys! Little ways to flirt and flounce!" Before Weronika even had time to blink, on the words "flirt" and "flounce", Elsie playfully reached out as if she was going to adjust Weronika's chest, but the moment Weronika looked down to try to stop her, Elsie's finger shot forward and playfully clipped her chin, lifting her eyes again. Elsie giggled while Weronika was left so dumbfounded that she wasn't even able to slap Elsie's hands away before Elsie removed them of her own accord.
"I'll show you what shoes to wear!" Elsie finally bounced back off Weronika's bed, but only to grab her long line of shoes resting against the wall opposite the two beds. Even though they were only performing for a couple nights, Elsie had enough clothes for weeks. Then again, she was a Largo! All the finest fashion from comes from Italy! Dolce & Gabbana, Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Prada, Versace! Elsie has it all!
After grabbing an armload of heels, platforms, boots, stilettos, flats, and more, she bounded back over to Weronika's bed, swiping a brush off the nightstand in the same fluid motion. "How to fix your hair!"
Hey! Weronika pouted indignantly to herself again as her hands shot up to her hair on a reflex. Even though Elsie's tone was still uncannily and disgustingly perky, there was a slight drop in her voice that indicated disapproval.
Short hair can absolutely be feminine and beautiful, as exemplified by myself and Sophia, Elsie thought as she catapulted back onto Weronika's bed. But Weronika? She is shaggy, wild, unkempt, and unclean! A tramp to MY lady!
Though that was something Weronika would've disagreed with. After all, it wasn't her that kept siccing bodyguards on innocent people! But Elsie would justified it as a part of her popularity. She had to keep the unwashed, uncontrolled, heathen, hedonistic masses at bay, didn't she?
"It's everything that really counts to be popular!" Elsie beamed, smug and knowing and wise. "I'll help you be popular! You'll hang with the right cohorts, you'll be good at sports, and know the slang you've got to know!" Weronika might've been a jock, but Elsie was thinking of more elegant, refined sports like croquet, golf, and horseback riding.
Likewise, maybe Weronika was hip with the trends because of her three kid siblings, but Elsie wanted her to embody class and high society! That couldn't happen if all Weronika did was cuss and meme in English and Polish. As Elsie had thought about earlier, Abyssmare was a unit of villains, but they had style. Wicked AND popular!
"So, let's start!" She encouraged Weronika, unusually chummy and physical that night. "'Cause you got an awfully long way to go…"
"Hey!"
"Don't be offended by my frank analysis!" Once again, Elsie raised a finger to hush Weronika as, without Weronika's consent, she climbed behind the other girl and began brushing. Weronika cried out again, trying to shield her head and swat Elsie away, but it was all for naught.
Jesus freakin' Christ! Since when was this stupid shrimp THIS strong?! Then again, Elsie was rather… persistent.
"Think of it as personality dialysis!" she continued, dragging her brush through Weronika's short, coarse hair. It was disgusting. Part of the reason it was so tangled and rough was because Weronika didn't take very good care of it, and she was such a physically hard worker that the sweat and oil were rampant through her lavender locks. Elsie clicked her tongue disapprovingly. Her own hair was silky to perfection!
"What the hell is dialysis?!" Weronika grumbled, still trying to shy away from Elsie, and failing miserably. Elsie seemed not to hear her.
"Now that I've chosen to become a pal, a sister, and adviser—!"
"Oh, God, no," Weronika deadpanned. That rhyme was AWFUL! Cringey to the max!
"—there's nobody wiser! Not when it comes to… Popular!" Once again, she sang the word with such reverence, and all Weronika wanted to do was throw up in her mouth. "I KNOW about "Popular"! And with an assist from me, we'll find who you'll be!" Elsie stopped brushing Weronika's hair, holding out her arm in front of both of them as if gesturing to a yet unseen future version of Weronika. "Instead of dreary like you were! Well, are!"
"Hey!"
"There's nothing that can stop you from becoming pop-u-lar!" There was a second of silence as Elsie realized her rhyme didn't quite fit, so she fixed it. "lAAAAr!" And Weronika cringed to death yet again. Elsie sashayed away moments later, humming to herself, and when she came back, she had a full makeup kit and an armload of dresses and jewelry to rival the armload of shoes. Weronika's eye twitched as Elsie continued to beam.
"We're gonna make you pop-u-lar!"
ooo
Hours later, Weronika was dragged through makeup, dress-up, and even a shower and bath!
Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the makeup?! Weronika thought as Elsie dragged her back out of the tub and began to scrub her dry with a big, fluffy towel. She was surprisingly aggressive. It was such a surreal experience that some of the embarrassment and awkwardness they should've felt—Elsie playing with Weronika's naked body as if she was an oversized, IRL Barbie doll—was utterly absent.
It's like I'm a friggin' dog, and she's the vet, or something! I've been picked, poked, prodded, waxed, and shaved! And in places I didn't even know existed! She winced at the memory before quickly distracting herself with another irony was not lost on Weronika that many times in the past, she'd mentally compared the spoiled little Italian brat to a poodle. Now that poodle was running the dog-show.
"When I see depressing creatures with unprepossessing features, I remind them on their own behalf to think of celebrated heads of state or especially great communicators!" Elsie referenced their country's 40th leader as she dragged Weronika back out of the bathroom and to the bed again.
Depressing creatures?! And what the hell does "unprepossessing" mean?! Does SHE even know?!
"Did they have brains or knowledge? Pfft! HA! Don't make me laugh! They were popular! Please!" Elsie held up a hand and flicked her wrist, sighing and rolling her eyes as she cackled and shook her head. That much, admittedly, caught Weronika a little off guard.
Thought she was a stuck-up prissy princess about school? Well, she was, but not for the sake of the education…
"It's all about popular!" Appearances! Networking! Who cared about schoolwork?
Ah. Right. Of course. Weronika sighed and shook her head, or at least tried to as Elsie continued to dry and brush her and her hair, also lathering every inch of her in lotion so her skin wouldn't dry out after the shower/bath.
"It's not about aptitude! It's the way you're viewed! So it's very shrewd to be, very, very popular, like me!"
Great. Now all she needs is the jazz hands to finish it off. Weronika was completely deadpan. At least until…
ooo
"And now, for the finishing touch!" After a whole lot more bullsh—ah, beauty schooling—(including a hair-toss lesson that Weronika copied only to show Elsie how STUPID they looked doing it), Elsie removed the little flower clip from her hair. It was pink-purple-reddish and silver-white. After placing it in Weronika's hair, she leaned back, beaming proudly, not at Weronika, but herself.
"Pink goes good with white!" Then she gave Weronika a hand-held mirror. Of course, it was gold. "Ms. Seperack, look at you! You're beautiful!"
Weronika scoffed as she finally turned her skeptical gaze from Elsie to the mirror. She didn't even change me that much! Like, all I did was get clean, and she put a flower in my hair. Big whoop. Is that really ALL the Elsie Largo "the Great and Terrible" is capable—
Weronika saw her eyes widen in the mirror, then before she knew what she was doing, she'd shoved the mirror back into Elsie's hands. "I- I- I h-have to go!" She flew from the room wearing only her bath towel and Elsie's hairclip.
"Uhhhh…" EX-CUUUU-SE you?! "YOU'RE WELCOOOOMMMMEEEE!" Elsie shouted after her.
As she waved her arms in frustration (she was Italian, of course she spoke with her hands!), her amber eyes caught a glimpse of the silver surface of her golden mirror. "Oh, hello!" she crooned, touching her cheek as she began to inspect her reflection, angling the mirror this way and that. The Polish girl was quickly forgotten. At least for a moment… But then Elsie lowered her mirror again.
"And though you protest your disinterest, I know clandestinely… You're gonna grin and bear it, your newfound popularity!" Elsie cackled as she sashayed back to her bed, singing at her gorgeous reflection once more. Ah well, Seperack will get used to it! She doesn't have a choice! "You'll be popular! Just not quite as popular as MEEEE!"
What Elsie didn't know, though, was that Weronika hadn't just fled because she was sick and tired of the makeover.
She didn't even change me that much… And yet, what was it that Elsie had said?
"Ms. Seperack, look at you! You're beautiful!"
AN: Based on the "Popular" song from the Broadway musical "Wicked". Gelphie was my first lesbian ship and helped me realize that I was also queer for women, so long live Gelphie! It'll always have a special place in my heart as my first OTP! And yes, mild inspiration from the ElWero card "Practice Makes Perfect".