Her body still ached for more sleep. Waking up and getting out of bed early was a stronger ordeal that took every single fiber of will in her body to get out of her luxurious imported blankets and comforters with freshly puffed pillows out into the routine and even with all that she was till uncomfortable.
Jane was still asleep hearing the loud snoring next to her. How could she stand it? All the blankets and pillows were from her grandpa from what she told her. Surplus from his older days. Too scratchy and rough for a proper sleep. More like towels to Cecelia.
Not like she could see their scraggly and dimmed colors anyhow. Her sleeping mask remained on during her entire morning, even while stumbling to find the too-tiny door for the even smaller bathroom they shared and especially when brushing her teeth. When she actually did take it off it was to wash her face looking directly downward into the sink, closing her eyes and patting herself dry while leaving the room.
The darkness was comforting to her, her eyes were used to it's dark nothingness and she preferred not to blind them with the lights yet. Even if she did stub her toe getting out of the door, with more stumbling and wandering around her familiar path until she found the chair at her desk finding it by feeling it out the framework of a backrest.
When she did manage to sit down she paused for a moment anticipating what was going to happen. It always reminded her of the gradual reveal of curtains from the operas she enjoys so much. Except in this case it wouldn't reveal living artistry. With a self made struggle of taking off her sleeping mask she stared at the curtains on the all too barren desk.
Pushing the dark fabrics to both sides from the middle she saw herself in the vanity. So much work to do, looking around adjusting her face to different angles to see all the damage she'd need to fix it, her ever present smile was gone, replaced with a frown that was comfortable angling down. She slapped her cheeks with her hands lightly to try to raise it's spirits again.
Where should she start? Too many things to do looking at herself, even in the dark morning it was like a small light was being shined in the mirror over all the defects singing her eyes the longer she focused on a certain one. Even looking down her nails were starting to lose the quality of polish while seeing the veins of her arms. (She was getting too muscular, there was a ratio she needed to balance and this was uneven.)
Well, the moisturizer routine was always the first thing she did. Just some cleansers, toners, treatments, serums, creams, and moisturizers out of her drawers that were painstakingly researched and tested to ensure their quality they were reliable but just looking at them she knew she needed to find something better to look greater.
One by one she carefully applied them to herself in a very proper and professional manner. This was her skill, she knew herself in this and had self-made instructions on how to bring her looks back up just so she maintained that veneer of quality she always promised when one looked at her.
Slowly and steadily she knew her skin would continue to glimmer in fairness, this was a rebuilding and reinforcement of herself. Acne would disappear, blemishes would be faint. It was a tiresome process but it was one that gave results that she saw everyday.
When it was said and done after a rigorous testing there was still the matter of makeup but the patience to wait for her skin care to set left her feeling awkward at the inability to do anything about herself for even a few minutes. Doing something distracted her from these dull moments, as such she pulled out her personal phone covered in pure white and played some orchestral music, the symphony giving her the feeling of a restful slumber being wafted up through an orchestral adventure almost leading her into actual sleep.
Makeup. This was where the real work began with coloring the outlines she drew. Blurring primer to reduce her large pores and get that smooth base to begin off her motions. Dewy primer to accentuate the effect. Skipping the foundation was an important yet agonizing step as it required the texture of her skin to shine through she had to keep it natural, concealer helped satiate the itch with the dusting of setting powder to top it off, although it came back when she had to apply the tiniest amount of blush. Liquid highlighter to make her complexion glow.
All the while she was trying to ignore the other issues from each step following after the current. She only had 2 hands, and needed to be precise in her quality. Too many things to focus on and it all falls in on itself with wasted effort.
Her eyes. The next important step, if someone tried to look into her soul they'd see a princess's chambers. She brought out the rack of eye shadow tins in her desk cabinets and blended the creams inside with her fingers in just the right amounts. Brown eyeliner on her waterline to define it, just enough even if it felt like too little. Curling mascara and an eyebrow pencil to fill out her brow. With lipstick as close to the original color of her lips as possible with lip balm to top it off finally finishing the process with setting spray.
She looked at herself again. Almost done. She tried to bring the same smile of earlier to no avail. More work needed to be done. Especially in the final area. Taking off her hair scarf she was greeted by that and a tremor rang out through, she averted her gaze from it and forced herself to finalize.
She grabbed her blue headband and placed her hair under where she would put it on her forehead just for good measure, then placed it on as was her general procedure. After that would be a simple act of curling the edges of her hair and she'd be done.
In around 30 delicate minutes she fixed herself back to normal standards, clothing would be an easier focus. There was a moment of pride she felt staring in her small closet looking at her prepared outfit for the day, a custom made skirt addition to the academic wardrobe they supplied to the students. She stood out, radiating an aura of difference that caught other's eyes and made her the talk of the school.
After gently putting it on to ensure no sorts of flaws were possible in the process she looked at the corner of the mirror slowly turning her head to the center. It was her most definitely, she made it look easy. All of the looks and qualities were there to make it look like she woke up like this naturally, her face absolutely radiant in a way that didn't seem forced.
Even then the longer he kept staring at herself the more she chided the effort put forth as the issues felt more "surfaced" now that she dealt with them as if by logic of covering them they were more noticeable. It was underwhelming seeing the end result. Maybe it was just her getting used to the same routine over and over again and realizing it's flaws. She had an eye for improvement after all.
She was the closest she could be to the princess in the picture for now. Although, she may have gone too lightly on the pencil so action must be taken to alleviate that. Grabbing the pencil from the pencil holder and set to work quickly fixing her mistake.
Just as the tip of the pencil hit her eyebrow a sudden burst of a bugle came to break the quiet. The notes were loud and forced her hands to raise upwards in shock at the sudden noise. Cecelia quickly checked to make sure she didn't force anything wrong to happen eyes wide open nervously looking at the eyebrow she would have ruined.
It touched her face and she instantly started panicking at the heavy search, her rush making it all the more difficult to find. The slight notch reveals itself after recalling how they looked days before in her mind.
Maybe a slightly damp towel could fix it. But there were more pressing matters at hand with her instantly turning to Jane with a newfound scowl with her not even bothering to hide her disdain from the groggy figure of her friend.
"Change your alarm. It interrupts my process and is unnecessary in its loudness." She would keep her civility in this topic and make a difference.
"Yea, yea." Not like she could notice in her state. Her eyes barely opened enough to look at her. she was one with the darkness of the room about to fall back into the comfort of her covers.
"No. I'm serious it's a destructive habit that hampers my ability-"
"Sad' ya ya. Gota bucket on ya hed o sometin?" Her calm and constructive request was ignored so summarily she decided to do something about it flipping the switch next to her flooding the room in a bright light that stung Cecelia's eyes but would blind Jane's.
"AGH! Piss. Load of tosh making me miffed." Jane held her hand to her face to help give her a shadow as she stepped back against the light in reaction.
"Will you listen to my oh so very humble and simple request now?" Cecelia lost the steam in her fit of anger but found pleasure in slightly tormenting her friend.
"Put a sock in it." Jane still decided to be unruly and defy her. Alright then. Cecelia started flickering the lights on and off to further disorient.
"Stap it. Stap it." Cecelia was about to do so anyways but she would never tell Jane that.
"I'll "ask" again and you know it, not all of us are fine with morning reveille everyday, especially when we're doing IMPORTANT things."
That just got a lazy smile out of Jane giving a rise of frustration from the lack of a proper reaction.
Jane with a grin walked over to the bathroom in silence while Cecelia maintained her look of discontent for a minute before trying to fix the horrendous mess Jane made of her after a while she heard footsteps and the bathroom door opening again with Jane stepping out to join her standing next to her admiring herself in it's reflection.
"Luk me and the fam hated it but maw paw an' unc woke up when tey were tommies y'know? Works to all even when we're knackered an' they forced it on us, got used ta it and did a decision to keep it for home's sake don't ya know?"
(Look, me and my family hated it but my father and uncle woke up to it everyday when they were soldiers. It works even if we're absolutely tired and they forced it on us without asking. I just kept it because it reminded me of home.)
Cecelia didn't bother to even look at her, mostly focusing on the Jane in the mirror. Her dark skin tone was complex yet pleasing with her face being more symmetrical than her own. Her buzz cut she originally saw her with when they first met was regrowing into a curly spiral hairdo all by itself falling over her head with no products necessary. Teeth were naturally straight unlike the painful era where Cecelia wore braces. And she was naturally tall.
She could be very attractive in her own right, different in a separate way than her, a more amazonian look (even if muscles were never as attractive as daintiness.). But could was the main focus of this descriptor. She took decent care of herself but never really tried to push her own looks into the stratosphere. Even when Cecelia told her she could use her products whenever she wanted Jane just opted into using her shampoo and conditioner at night.
It was a shame seeing a waste of a diamond being lost because they just didn't care enough about themselves to get out of the coarse ground . Maybe it'd be fun to treat someone else for a change to see what she could never pull off herself.
"It's a shock to see or hear more like it in the morning. Especially when you're in the middle of doing something important." Shock. More like a cry of a banshee in a quiet room.
"Agh. Beaut instad' of best. I get but it'd be best nat ta today eh? Sleep mah be for da week but I gues ya wanna be lookin dishy and peng while krakin' down eh jus as alway'?" Jane started walking over to her own closet and threw it open without a care causing a large bang. Cecelia could tell from the mirror while she was patting down her ruined eyebrow gently, almost interrupting her process again.
(Ah, Beauty instead of beast. I get it but it'd be best not to today right? Sleep may be for the weak, but I guess you wish to look glamorous and good looking while absolutely annihilating that man just as always.)
"Don't even begin with him. One day I met him he seemed-" Cecelia actually had to decide how she viewed him being paused in thought. "-amicable and comical the other he's tired and bruised, and purple like a raisin glaring at anyone who even talks to him."
"Aye. Eye herd the ramour all 'bout 'im. Double polarity 'most in way 'e act aint it? E' got ya buzzin loike wasps now more then i've ever seen. Buncha peeps insigdht." Jane got her all too wrinkled uniform and walked into the bathroom to start her day.
(Yea, I've heard the rumors all about him. Kind and absolutely crude in the way he acts right? He's gotten you more frenzied than I've ever seen you at.)
Cecelia gave out a bitter groan of irritation just as she finished fixing everything right when Jane walked back out. " I need more time. I will best him but I loathe the possibility of being bested today."
"Again and infront of all those new people." Oh god she's right. A rematch would always light a fire and everyone always came to watch those.
To cecelia it was like the creeping possibilities flooded into her, especially with the possibility of his own preparation. His own research into her weaknesses. Laughing at how easy this would be again. While she was fiddling around with targets and barely making a dent on how he worked.
"Yew were caught off guard. It just happens." Jane seemed to backtrack to try to make her feel better about herself. Cecelia knew too well what she was doing.
(You were caught off guard. It just happens.)
"Standards. I have them. Anyone who makes the people question them is someone who must be taken care of, especially if they start to make me begin to question them."
"Jus rememba ta humie insie righ?" Jane threw off a forced chuckle.
(Just remember the human inside right?)
"All's fair isn't it?" A good distraction. Tossing the ball.
"Luve ta 'ate in war." Ah, for all her roughness she still shared a love of the greater literature, catching the alluding.
(Love to hate in war.)
Cecelia stood up and her legs turned unstable. Training too hard, she instinctively grabbed the backrest again to right herself.
God, Houki. Even with her being fine with the addition of harsher training that still unprepared her for the harshness of her full force. Any sort of push back just made her slam harder. Good thing she was on her side. Although it hurt her ego with the knowledge that she'd play the bruiser.
"One of us is better. And I already know who it is." Cecelia was uncertain in the confidence of her words.
"Tere's always gunna be some lot better." Jane was trying reassurance but failed. She wouldn't even tolerate being the bettered.
(There's always going to be someone better. Just try to be better than him.)
"Now that. Is something I won't accept." Cecelia strutted over to the door calmly even if her legs were still reeling from their use."
She looked over to the window near Jane's bed, even being at the other side of the room to a proper overlooking view of the academy at a blinding altitude when first gazed upon. An olympus. Falling from grace at this height would hurt. Although Cecelia snapped out of it when Jane started talking.
"Sometin I was told by my da' when I was preppin for sandhurst 'fore my sensitivity kicked in and i was sent here in a gust. Just ta handle all the stressors. Said he alway's spoke it to 'imself 'fore the action started. " What sort of commoner wisdom could she impart on her?
(Something I was told by my father when I was preparing to attend Sandhurst before my IS compatibility was revealed and I was sent here quickly. Just to handle everything that came my way. He said he always spoke it for himself whenever combat started.)
"It was?" Cecelia's interest took the bait.
"Always die tired." Jane's grin was malicious with chaos sparkling in her green eyes like fireworks.
Cecelia couldn't help but release a proper laugh at that. Struggle to win even while tumbling to the lowest point. A good lesson one she seemed to take to heart already, just need a reminder of.
"Alright. Promise I'll do that." Consider Cecelia's nerves calmed for the moment until the gauntlet started yet again.
"Aye, good on ya Cecil." Jane walked over and opened the door for her. Stepping outside brought back the emotions again. But she put them down knowing things would be different this time.
"One thing before we go." Cecelia could use more reassurance and turned to look at her friend's face.
"It is?" Jane like wise was curious.
"Do i look good?"
The sudden groan released did not help her in that regard.
"'Jus' as use"
(Just as usual.)
That simple response gave out a similar response from Cecelia.