Thread: St. Marriott's (ClearSight & SomethingEsoteric)

St. Marriotts, a school full of the exceptional, those with the brightest of futures ahead of them. Many would have spoken about how the future leaders came from schools like St. Marriotts, how the women who graduated from the school were of exceptional quality. It was all a joke. In fact while there were students who fit that mold there were far more women who had enrolled using connections and money. People who wanted to go to St. Marriotts due to the reputation it would bring and the further connections they could make. It hadnt been that way for Sera, she had made it in to St. Marriotts as a scholarship student originally, working hard and ignoring those who put her down along the way. That was how it was for her, most people taunted and teased her for her background and the fact that she was open about her sexuality didnt help either, being a lesbian in a preppy all girl school brought its fair share of problems. Yet someone had come into her life that made it all worth it, Heidi. She had become Seras everything, the reason for her perseverance. She was beautiful and kind, Seras best friend and her lover, it was a relationship that defined Sera and was truly her reason for getting up in the morning. Sure things werent easy, people still looked down on them and the words and stares hadnt been lessened by them being together, but it was worth it to be by her side. They had done everything together, considered losers by others but feeling more victorious and lucky than anyone else could hope to. It was happiness, innocent and had a certain dream quality to it. However good things never lasted, Seras life had always turned upside down in the presence of joy. So when she was at her most joyous, with the person she had quickly come to consider her destined person, everything changed. At first it had been small things, Sera used her power to stop bullying and make life a little easier. Then she had begun to use it for more sinister acts such as revenge and cheating, ensuring that she received top marks without even showing up for class or tests. She wouldnt attend class and then just alter the perceptions of her teachers to make it like she had been there all along, and even for unnecessary things like grades she used her magic, abandoning her genius levels of intelligence for an easy few words to ensure success. With that came an appearance change. Sera had always been beautiful, a hidden beauty but one that once revealed was undeniable. Her skin was of olive complexion, an ancestry of Mediterranean decent. She had the most beautiful brown eyes and a mane of raven hair that she had kept long and flowing. Sure she had glasses and her sense of style was non-existent but standing at five ten with feminine features and a toned figure she was easily in the top percentile. Now however she was different, her previously soft eyes had grown sharp and distrustful. Her long flowing hair had been cut shorter and she had fixed her eyes with magic, no longer requiring glasses. Her fashion sense had improved and as one of the social elites she was considered one of the most beautiful women in school, if not the most. She was no longer cute and innocent and had instead changed to a much more alluring woman with a habit of a foul mouth and sour mood. So the promise that had been made to achieve a better life, a covenant made between the two lovers had destroyed their happiness. Sure they got what they wanted, both of them risen to the top of the social ladder, becoming idols for others to look upon with envy but that wasnt enough for Sera, the power they had obtained had corrupted her heart, turning her from the loving loner that she had been to a cruel and malicious being more interesting in furthering her ideals of domination than anything else. She had begun to hurt people, to use her new found powers to wreak havoc amongst those she deemed as enemies, forcing people aside and granting herself benefits that were more than unfair to others. Her magic itself had turned dark and the one person who could have had a chance to pull her back failed. Before long she had manipulated anyone to get her way and found herself a nice little seat at the social throne. It had gone so far that she had all but abandoned Heidi. Yet Seras mind was warped. In her perception of events it was much different. In her mind she had created a paradise, rising to the top and squashing all those who had made the lives of other students terrible. In her mind she was generous, fair, and those who spoke otherwise were jealous or traitors. That label even stuck to Heidi, the one person she would have died for becoming her Judas Iscariot. Her mind diluted reality to the point that she saw her forsaking of Heidi as her lover abandoning her. Things only grew worse from there, feeling alone once more and scorned by the one she had always relied on to keep herself rooted to sanity she snapped. Sera began throwing tantrums, hurting others and taking everything she wanted without giving a damn about the consequences. Yet all the while she still carried the torch, the torch of love and desire for the woman she saw as a traitor. She couldnt stop herself from loving Heidi, she couldnt get rid of that emotion no matter how hard the new part of her tried. It was the one light still shining among the blackness that had taken over her heart. Yet it was so smothered it couldnt prevail and she took it upon herself to watch Heidi, stalk her and do her best to keep the woman from moving on. That was until she had found out the most recent of news that Heidi was on the search for a new partner. Not simply a romantic partner but a partner to replace Sera as the source of her power, someone to cut the last bond that tied them and kick Sera from atop her throne seized by power. Infuriated she knew something had to be done, knew that she could no longer hope that Heidi would come around and return to her, that in order to sustain her power she needed a replacement, needed to make sure the twisting of the knife that had long since been lodged in her back was not the finishing blow Heidi believed it would be. Yes, it was time to act. ----- Kat had been born Katarina Von Ornstein, a family with a history of nobility and wealth, a history that was no more. As opposed to her ancestors who had grown up in castles and extreme wealth she had grown up in a rundown home with barely enough money for food. Her parents were unreliable, her mother being an addict and her father a drunk. Abuse had been present since childhood and while it had never come to anything severe Kat did not lead an easy life. Bullying had only furthered her suffering and where most people would have given up she pushed on, striving to make a life for herself that didnt include fresh bruises daily, a life that would provide for her needs without having to rely on anyone else. So she emancipated herself and moved as far away as she could with the little money she had managed to save up, settling in and doing her best to move on, to forget. It was a tough life, she worked several jobs and finished high school without any support, no friends or family to help her in the times of hardship. When she was sick she treated herself and when she cried it was always alone. Yet it made her grow stronger. She became immune to problems that affected most people, to the harsh words that were often thrown at a girl such as herself. Freak not even penetrating her thick skin, skin that was home to several tattoos. She had become a unique person, a large colored tattoo of a tiger on her back, flowers surrounding it in a beautiful display that hid scars that had riddled her back from cuts and cigarettes. Her left arm was covered from shoulder to forearm in tribal marks and hidden symbols. Ivy wrapped around her right thigh and down her calf and she had piercings to complete her look. Her ears were pierced several times, several on the top arch and each lobe. A small stud was placed in her nose on the left side and several other piercings she didnt let others see often. Yet despite her choice of body art she wasnt a dark person, she wore bright colors most of the time or a plain white and was usually in jeans, and she was beautiful. Her feminine features shown out despite the usual attire of t-shirt and jeans and her figure was impressive, life leading her to eat only what she had to and work harder than most men. Her hair was luxurious and long, black and often kept up in a ponytail. She stood around five seven and had the brightest blue eyes and smooth sun kissed skin. She could even smile still, a feat difficult for most with similar experiences. She was truly a strong woman and that strength allowed her to survive until she caught her break. Kat had received a scholarship to St. Marriotts University. Not because she had money like most of the students, but because she was an outstanding athlete. Her one hobby, the one thing she did for herself outside of work and school, had given her a chance to succeed where she never believed she would. She was being invited to St. Marriotts on a swimming scholarship and she could barely believe it. Her of all people, she was being invited to a prestigious college for her abilities and there she would receive the finest education, fully paid for room and board, food and every other need she could think of. She would finally be able to stop working and focus on making a future for herself. So she entered in, young and excited, a freshman who was ready to work as hard as she had every day in her life. She was going to succeed. Though that wasnt as easy done as it was said, school had only just started yet it was anything but easy. As if that wasn't hard enough, people at St. Marriott's, more than anywhere else, had choice words for her and the first few days of classes had shown her quite quickly how difficult things would be. Sure she could swim, maybe better than any of the other girls, but she had to pass classes to do that and it was a tall order for someone with barely a public school education and little talent for scholastic endeavors. That would be dealt with in time however, for the moment she was exiting her last class for the week, sighing as she began down the hallway and ready to shed the uniform and slip into something comfortable for the weekend.