Survival Of The Fittest

"Now look you. All of you! We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam's dead sisters. And that is all." Her face flushed and a single lock of hair having escaped its restraint, the girl's manic gaze took in the surrounding room, the desperation and panic in her eyes clear for anybody to see.

After a pause, she continued, voice more level and controlled, but with its undeniable trembling waver betraying the fear coursing through her.

"And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you!" Another pause, the spike of threatening anger giving way to a moment of quiet as a collection of memories – terrifying images and sounds that sent shivers trickling down her spine – replayed itself in her mind. "And you know I can do it: I saw Indians smash my dear parents' heads on the pillow next to mine, and I have seen some reddish work done at night, and I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!"

Hazel Jung's eyes darted down to the dog-eared photocopy of The Crucible clutched within her hands, flicking over the highlighted lines she'd just recited as she caught her breath from the concoction of emotions she'd just been attempting to convey. After a moment's pause, a contented grin washed over her face; it was a heavy and important speech, and to know it off by heart so soon after she'd been introduced to the play could only be a good thing. Before going off-book she'd too often find herself double-checking the script every couple of words, which always killed momentum in moments like these. To know that was slightly less of a possibility right now just made her day.

Checking her wristwatch, she decided that the length of time surpassed during her after-school rehearsal, combined with the progress she'd made with line-learning, meant a break had been well-earned. She crossed to the edge of the vacant classroom, sneakers clip-clopping against the flooring, and let her legs dangle over the edge of her chosen seat as she sifted through her backpack, retrieving a granola bar and a bottle of water. Taking a sweet mouthful of oats and fruit and washing it down with a swig of water, Hazel rested her head on her hand calmly, letting herself relax in the tranquil and quiet serenity of the area.

Well dang. Somebody was getting to work in here, and she had a pretty good idea who.

((Caedyn Miller Continued From The Tyranny of Grocery Bags))

Caedyn poked her head into the classroom the intense monologue had been projecting from and gave a grin as she spotted Hazel chilling and catching a snack. "Heeeeey baaaaeeeee," she purred as she slipped into the room and practically skipped over to the seat, "who's getting pointy reckoning today?"

Hazel was all, like, complicated and stuff? Sometimes she was just really, really into a scene and all angsty or happy or sad or whatever and that was just her doing her. Sometimes though, she picked stuff to work out whatever she was feeling that day, and if there was a juicy story behind her murder monologue, Caedyn wanted her to dish, ASAP.

((Cass Prince: Continued from Spare Tire))

Passionate rants echoed down the hall and Cass smiled, pausing in their tracks a moment to listen. They had always held an admiration for actors, those who sought to paint a scene with nothing but body language and tone of voice. Not only that, but for those who had the courage to do it on stage, in front of a live audience; something Cass could never even begin to aspire to.

After Hazel's voice had quieted and it was safe to interrupt, Cass casually slipped into the classroom.  They had forgotten their sketchbook, and under most circumstances it would have been a simple, stress free in-and-out operation to retrieve it. Today, however, there was Caedyn, and Cass froze in their tracks for a moment. After a quick internal debate on whether or not to get out of dodge while they could, Cass pressed onward. It was too late to escape their "friend's" notice, anyway.

"...Hey, Caedyn. Hazel. Don't mind me, just forgot my sketchbook. I'll be out of your hair in a minute." Cass said, snatching their precious belonging from underneath a desk and hoping that Caedyn would be content to leave it at that.

"Oh, just a load of bored Puritan girls with nothing better to do than wreck havoc in their small, dreary village," Hazel replied, holding up her script for the new arrival to see.

Caedyn Miller was known around Cochise for having a very divisive personality. Whenever she came up as a topic in conversation, Hazel had been treated to a variety of differing opinions on her; varying from ‘creepy' to ‘sweet' to ‘talented' to ‘bitch' and many, many others. Personally, though, Hazel didn't mind the other girl too much. Her dedication to theatre was unwavering, and although she could often be a massive attention whore, Hazel had gotten used to dealing with those in her years performing. Caedyn wasn't anything Hazel hadn't encountered with before – just in a different packaging.

"I thought I outta get some practice in, y'know?" She continued, standing up so as to remove the need to positively crane her neck to meet Caedyn's gaze; though their height difference was still enough that Hazel still had to tilt her head to maintain eye-contact. "Always good to add another character to my repertoire, and Abigail's got so much going on that I feel you could portray her in a dozen different ways and they'd all still be great."

Hazel was about to ask what brought Caedyn in, and how she'd been doing, when the classroom's door creaked open once more, and another girl entered the room.

"Oh, hey Cass," Hazel smiled at the new arrival, offering her a slight wave as she searched for her forgotten sketchbook. She didn't really speak much to Cass, but from the few brief conversations they'd had and from what she'd heard from others, Cass struck her as both a talented artist and a very strong academic. She figured they'd probably get along pretty well if they took the time to get to know each other properly.

"Let me know if you need any else, okay?"

Hmm. Now that was significantly less scandalous than she was hoping for. Instead of venting secret frustrations and plotting against anybody in particular, Hazel was just...being a better actress, or whatever. Which was cool because, like, she was a really good actress already, so it was kinda pumping to think about her going further, but some gossip would have been fun. She'd have to find the juicy stuff elsewhere, probably.

Another distraction worked it's way into the room as Cass tried to sneak by her and get out with just a snag of their artbook. They should really know by now it wasn't going to be that easy. Caedyn flashed them a grin and turned her attention in their direction. "Caaaaass! What's good, hun? You know, I've been wanting to compare some notes with you! Ja's providence, yeah?"

As she reread over the passage of script she'd assigned herself, Hazel began to realise something. She'd been so eager to get some proper rehearsal in that she hadn't really considered the things she'd need to make such a rehearsal work to its full potential. And one of those things was a scene partner. Sure, her main focus today had been getting all of those ‘pointy reckoning' lines down-pat, but she couldn't help but feel that her performance would gain just that extra layer of depth and intensity if she had actual people to rave at; instead of having to conjure them from her imagination.

All in all, she knew she'd gained as much progress as she possibly could from this rehearsal without over-stretching herself. Whilst it would've been nice to stick around and chat, there was a tad too much on her plate for her to afford much time for idle banter, even if it would give her the chance to catch up with Caedyn and get to know Cass a little better.

"Sadly, I think I'm gonna have to leave you both," she gave a genuine sigh as she packed her belongings away and pulled her backpack over her shoulders. "Places to be, people to see, things to do, y'know?"

"I'll see you in English, Cass? I'll sit with you if you'd like – could always do with a new conversation partner."

Hazel knew that if any of the girls from her clique heard what she'd just said then she'd be in for some mighty dirty looks, but English was the only class she had where none of them were present, so it couldn't really come back to haunt her, could it? And if it did, she could always scrounge up some excuse. Hopefully. Acting did sometimes have its practical applications, after all.

"Have a nice day, girls." She blew them a kiss, and left.

((Hazel Jung continued in Bittersweet and Sour))

Jah, nobody was any fun today. All this self-improvement and friendship tralalala was nice and touching and she could probably squeeze some decent shipping artwork out of it if she was watching it on a screen, but in real life it was supes boring. Haze was off in her own little world talking about acting or reading or something like that, and Cass was being all, y'know, Cass-y, and neither one of them seemed like they'd be stirring up any trouble at all. Snore.

Caedyn pulled out her phone and pretended to engage in an urgent spree of texting, like there was something new and exciting drawing her attention away from the room. She walked out without even looking up, letting them sort themselves out as she headed out the door. There wasn't anything pressing, persay, for her to run off to, but she wanted them to at least think that there was, and anything had to be more interesting than this.

((Caedyn Miller Continued In Hecate On Roman Halloween))

Cass left.

((take a look.))