In the middle of a practically bare room stood a tall girl, her head tilted down to the point her chin almost rested against her sternum, her hands were clasping a crisp white card between them so she could study the writing scrawled carefully across the front. A deep breath in, slow one out. Her head slowly rose to look at the outfit that was draped over her pristine bed. What is there to be nervous about, really? Just put it on, go to the room. Introduce yourself. Do your duty as a Miator student. Return. Nothing to it.

Zephyra laid the card down next to the black and white jumble of garments before lifting the cloth and moving to the bathroom adjoining her room without a look back. It was only a few moments later that the redhead moved back into her room and stepped in front of her floor length mirror to make sure all was in check. She tugged gently on the skirt of the black dress, then the little, white frilled apron that protected the material beneath. Her slim fingers then traveled up to the thin string tied in a perfect bow over her abdomen and pulled it loose before retying it.

Thankfully it all fit perfectly. Not a single imperfection in the whole getup. She would have to thank Hilda profusely.. Maybe even bow before her on her knees for giving her such a cute outfit to wear while taking care of her seniors. She smiled softly to her reflection, practicing it seemed. Crimson hues suddenly narrowed in judgement and her hands instantly went to work, tugging her thick locks over her shoulder. If she left them down they would get in her way. Her head tilted to the side so she could easily braid the mass before letting it rest comfortably over her shoulder to dangle over the slight rise of her chest with the last curl brushing against her hip. She nodded and turned for the door.

Halfway down the hall she paused, turned on a booted heel and walked as fast and ladylike as she could back to her room. Zeph snatched the card off her bed, sliding it into her pocket before heading back out into the hallway and off to Asami-sama and Kuramiko-sama's room. Her back was straight, hands clasped behind her back and chin tilted slightly up. Nothing to it!

That was until she was standing before the very door she was seeking, a hand was raised to knock, but remained frozen in midair. Now or never. Knuckles rapped against the wood precisely three times, exactly a second between each tap. In order to quell her quaking, the first year quickly clasped her hands before her, ready to bow as soon as the door showed even a hint of opening.

A certain bob haired girl with icy blue eyes sat at her desk. The room surrounding her was adorned in black and purple lace. Her half, covered in black doilies, pictures and lolita paraphernalia, Kura's half was pristine and free of Asami's decorative "clutter" even so, a room shared by two gothic lolita women was bound to have an overall feel of hush, romanticism, and twilight.

She had her back to Kura's easel, a half finished painting of the view from their window lay untouched. Asami traced a black polished fingernail over the fine printed text of her book. Lace fingerless gloves decorating her hands and fore arms, black ribbons tied, criss crossing to a bow at her elbows. Long eyelashes cast shadows down her pale checks as she read. The whole world was silent inside her black lace cocoon. She knew they would have a maid arrive today, and had assured Kura that she could handle the task of welcoming her while the taller loli had to deal with family matters off campus.

So when there was a knock. She promptly marked her place and shut the volume. Black heeled boots laced up to her knees, fishnets decorated her legs, and a most intricate corset dress came to a detailed stop just above the delicate bend of her legs A thick black ribbon was tied around her neck, supporting a silver cross that accented the square neckline of her dress. She straightened her clothes, touched her hair and within only a moment of the knock, opened the door.

The light from the hall cut a blazing white line into the dim room beyond, but the lolita opened the door quite wide, so as to show herself in full. She didn't say anything, just looked the tall maid up and down. How annoying that the maid dwarfed her so. Though it didn't matter. The girl bowed, Asami rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue.

"At least, you're on time, that's decent of you." She clipped and stood aside, no elaborating on what she was comparing her to, "You may come in." She crossed her arms, shut the door and turned on a proper light. Transforming the room from a dark haven to a finely decorated room. Though there was a very clear line between Asami's side and Kura's. She sighed, words coming out as if it were a bother to speak them, "If you start over there it'll seem as if the work is already done. Queen 'so and so' keeps her things very tidy, one can hardly tell she lives here. She has instructed me to tell you however, not to touch her paints, lest you ruin something..." She sounded bored, "As for my side, I prefer my closet organized by skirt length and corsets from full to half. And dust my pictures would you? They are quite neglected." She waved her hand around at everything as if shooing flies and retrived the black tome from her desk. Three English letters were printed in gold on its cover, "POE" and the loli sat on her black crushed velvet comforter, crossing her ankles and resumed her place.

"Ehem," she said, glancing up, if the girl was working, she'd look at her critically and curl her lip, ready to comment on how foreign and out of place she looked, and how ridiculous it was that she was so tall. And if she wasn't working, Asami would prompt her to begin with a snap of her fingers, "quickly now, before the earth swallows you up."


(This last part is dependant on what you have zeph do when asami finishes her instruction, if she gets right to it, or if she hesitates, I wrote a reaction to both options just in case, so you weren't limited.)

Once the preteen returned to her full height she followed the woman into the room, hands still clasped before her waist. Not a word was uttered until Takashi-sama finished her explanation of her duties and how they should be preformed. Zephyra gave another curt bow with a soft, "Of course, right away ojou-sama." Even though she spoke the words in Japanese her Gaelic accent pressed through giving her words an awkward lit.

Hands unclasped to draw out a dust rag from one of the many pockets decorating the costume with frilly edges. The tall Celt stepped further into the room and lifted one of the many pictures to capture any dust on the frame before lightly swiping the surface it was placed upon. After the square was free of dust she returned it to the exact place it was originally and moved onto the next.

The soft clearing of a throat drew her attention, so she turned fully toward to the little lolita. Her hands continued to work over the frame as she kept her expression controlled in a soft smile. "I suppose that would only be expected, Lady Asami. My homeland is a very long way from here, but there is no better school than St. Miator Academy." Zephyra smiled softly at this and set the picture back down.

The girl then moved to the bookshelf and rose on to her tip toes to pass the rag over the top shelf. Even though her height had always been a spre spot she smiled all the more. "Both of my parents were fairly tall, so it is only expected that I would follow suit. If I could choose though, I would not wish to have this stature. But it is what life has given me and I will not take it for granted. For instance, at least I don't need a step ladder to reach high places and waste time going to find one."

Her hand dropped to the next shelf, after delicately brushing the tops and spines of the lined up books. Wishing not to keep the attention upon herself she spoke over her shoulder. "You dress is very attractive, ojou-sama. Did you design it yourself?"

A barrage of further insults was prepared as the girl aknowledged her height, and she was about to unleash them, but something she said changed her mind. The girl regretted being so tall,

"You poor thing," She said, voice monotone, "at least you are making the most of your unfortunate condition." She wasn't going to bother that she felt the same about being short, and unlike the maid ,could find few practical benefits to her stature other than being able to brag about wearing smaller clothes.

Then the topic changed to something far more favorable. Fashion. The maid's question immediately made her think of her roommate, who did actually make her own clothes.

"Ugh, of course not," she snorted, "my fingers are far too delicate for such painstaking work. I purchase all of my garments fromt a shop called Lolita Ai in the mall. Mind you I have many of my dresses tailored or custom made but I don't do "home made" clothes. That is Queen so-and-so's domain. If you peek in her closet, you'll see the shoddy workmanship, a dead give away that she makes her own clothes, but does she offer to make me a dress? No. Because she's selfish and lazy, that's why. Not that I would want one anyway." She sniffed.

The thruth was Kuramiko's wardrobe was even finer craftsmanship than Asami's and the tiny lolita was painfully jealous, but with far too much pride to ask for a dress...or five. "But I suppose someone with hands made for work," implying they were thick and calloused, when Kura's hands certainly weren't, "can do such things. You would never catch me with a needle, ugh, barbaric." She curled her lip, blue eyes flashing over the maid and she raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, but I suppose you had to have that custom made. I can tell because it's not Miator's standard issue maid uniform. None of those would fit someone with your condition." She pushed herself off the bed, leaving her book behind to look more closely at it. "It's not poorly tailored, but I wouldn't have used so much white in the bodice, it shows dirt too easily." Another sniff and she turned her critical gaze on Kura's unfinished painting.

"Kuramiko-san has her talents, if you would call them that, but it's so dirty. Look at that mess," she flicked her fingers in the direction of the easel, "disgusting." Again, the truth was Asami liked art, she loved it really, but, as with needles, wouldn't be caught dead with a paint brush or those dirty paints and risk getting dirty, nor would she wear one of those ugly paint smocks. As of to distract herself from something distributing she turned her her own for length mirror and started primping, checking and scrutinizing herself for imperfections.

"I see. In any case it suits you well, Asami-sama." Zeph gently lowered herself to her knees, a lady doesn't crouch or bend, to reach the bottom shelves. All the while she was taking in the names on the delicate spines of each book, storing them to memory even while conversing with the upperclassmen. "Do you mind if I ask, why do you call Kuramiko-sama Queen so-and-so?" Soon after questioning the girl, she stood and lightly brushed off the black stockings that covered her knees. "I will take your word for it, ojou-sama. I do not wish to look in on someone else's things, unless they would like me to. She is allowed her privacy."

The crimson haired girl paused, clasping her hands before her once more as she turned to the only other occupant of the room. "I'm sure there is a better reason for her not making you a dress. Perhaps she does not believe you are interested in such things and doesn't want to bother you?" Her smile had a sort of knowing tilt to it as she watched her sniffing ojou-sama. Why is it I don't believe you? So cold on the outside.. but her eyes show so much more. "Briseann au duchais tri schule an chat." Was murmured beneath her breath in flowing fashion.

When the smaller girl approached her Zephyra stiffened her already perfect posture and remained perfectly still, only her eyes following the blackette's movements. "Indeed it was. The sisters made an exception since they could not find a uniform quite long enough to cover my legs decently. I will pass your compliment along to the creator." She bowed her head slightly, though her eyes never left the lolita. Suddenly the thought of her favorite stable hand, Ailin caused a smile to cross her lips and his voice rang in her head with his harsh accent and little knowledge of the English language, 't'row it in de wash und till be grand.' Thankfully, the other didn't notice her glee, for she had already turned to the unfinished painting.

"The only artists I have ever met have lived in a cluttered chaos. Kuramiko-sama seems to like her things tidy. A very unnatural insight for a painter." Zephyra reached out and tugged on the velvet comforter, gently easing any wrinkles out of the bedspread before she returned to her full height. Her booted feet carried her over to the foot of the bed and she rested a hand against the handle of Asami's closet, peering over the girl's shoulder to catch her eye in the mirror. Once she captured the woman's attention with a soft clearing of her throat she raised her 'brows slightly. "May I? I'd like to begin organizing now."

She made a disgusted sound, "Why? Because she's a snob that's why, so high and mighty, better than everyone, ugh, she thinks she's so great." She wrinkled her nose and rolled her eyes, "Queen too cool for her own name, whatever. She's Queen so-and-so." Of course never mind that the pot was calling the kettle black.

"What's not unnatural about queenie?" she commented, her eyes moved in the mirror looking at the tall maid, side didn't answer so much as flicked her hands again and raising her eyebrows like 'duh' full well knowing if she hadn't asked, she probably would have criticized that too. As her closet opened, she turned around with her hands on her hips, looking upset, but also thoughtful. She clicked her tongue and stomped over to Kura's closet. She wasn't coming back any time soon anyway, and so what? If Asami wanted to look at her closet, she could, she could do whatever she wanted. She started throwing garmets on Kura's bed. And came out with two, a red and black one, and one with handkerchief lace shapes in the skirt,

She held one up in front of her, too big, though the red satin complimented her skin, she held up the other, also too big as Kura was both taller and bustier than Asami. She frowned, and threw the black one aside and toyed with the ruffle on the red dress as she looked at herself, pretending to model it, all the while looking very critically at her reflection. "Who would wear this thing? It's so sloppy," she smoothed her hand over its bodice, "a total train wreck." Her eyebrows raised high, meeting in the middle, "ugh. Ugly." She said weakly, tossing it back on the bed, which caused a separate garmet to fall. She looked at it, crumpled on the floor, staring at it. She wasn't going to pick it up, it wasn't her fault it fell. She rolled her eyes and sat on her bed, hands on the blankets, still looking at the crumpled garmet. She glared at it, like it was insulting her, taunting her. With another disgusted sound she stormed over and quickly sntached the thing up by its hanger, "What? It's not like I care if her stupid clothes are on the floor, I just don't want to listen to her complain" she brushed the wrinkles out and fingered a small charm sewn into a bow at the collar. "Stupid dress." She said to herself, thrusting all the dresses back into the closet and pushing at them to try and make them look straight. The hangers only seemed to get more uneven, poking out at odd angles. She huffed, and fuming went back to her own bed to play with the ruffles on her pillow.

Two perfectly arched 'brows rose slightly, all that passed her lips was a quiet, "I see." Thinking that keeping her thoughts to herself would be a great plan right now. A simple nod and she moved into Asami's closet to take in the extent of damage done to the small room. She stood with her hands on her hips, feet spread shoulder width apart. It.. was a completely disaster. She almost hung her head in defeat but not today! Challenge accepted! 

She went to work, pulling this and that out of random places. It wasn't a few moments before there was a sort of order to the chaos before her. The longest of the skirted dresses on the left going to the shortest on the right. Now she just needed to pull out the half corsets. With crimson hues narrowed she tossed her braid over her shoulder and once again started pulling articles from the rack. Her hands finally returned to her hips, reviewing her work. The dresses were neatly organized from skirt length and full to half corset. She even stepped it up a bit and sorted them by the little amount of color each outfit held. She stepped out of the closet just as Asami moved out of Kuramiko's closet and settled on her bed. Zephyra didn't comment on the woman's ruffled appearance. She had obviously come across hardships in the small space across the room. Instead, she stepped up to the girl and slowly reached out, hesitating for an instant, but then her digits gently ran over her silken locks. Her touch was so soft it barely even disturbed the raven colored strands. The hand dropped back to her side as she explained, "There was a little dust in your hair, ojou-sama."

Without waiting for an answer, the redhead turned on her heel and made her way into Kuramiko's closet. Once inside she let out a slow breath and reached up to touch a lightly tinged cheek. Zeph gently bit into her lower lip while her eyebrows came together. Lost in thought, she deftly straightened each hanger that was jutting out, but didn't organize it, since the owner probably knew where every article was meant to be and she didn't wish to disturb the artists order.

Her eyes slid up to the corners, what? Why was she reaching for her? How dare sh-Oh.

She batted her hand away and fixed her hair herself even though the redhead was already finished with the action, "Oh, uh, right, well..." She glared at Kura's closet, "if anywhere it would have come from there. How disgusting."

She watched Zephyra walk across the room, and it reminded her of home, a tall foreign maid doing things for her. But she wasn't six, and the maid wasn't going to play dolls with her. Dolls were stupid. And she didn't have dolls anyway. It then occurred to her that her messing around in there would surely have mixed things up, she didn't pay any attention to how they'd been hung, and if Kura came back complaining, she'd just blame it on the redhead.

She crossed her arms looking especially annoyed, "Hey, after this, don't you have somewhere to be? You should blow it off, I need to go to the bookstore and someone should carry my purchases." She frowned, unable to look at the first year, instead, she looked pretty angry, but under the frown was a little embarrassment, she didn't need such a reason to just want some company, but the similarity to the childhood caretaker, even though this girl was younger than she was, made her want to hang out...and she couldn't just ask that. Wanting to spend time with the help, ugh, dishonorable, embarrassing. She sniffed, "But if you have to do something else, then fine, I'll just find someone else. Whatever."

Zeph didn't even flinch as her hand was batted away. Controlled, easy flowing, her body shifted away from the girl and she disappeared through the door. Shifting this and that back in to place, even replacing the shoulder of one dress back onto the hanger. Taking a quick look around she found everything to be in order. The redhead paused on hearing her senior's words, but stepped up to the door, placing a hand on the frame while she cocked her head to the side. "I finished my homework before I came here. I don't have any place to be, specifically. I shall accompany you. I would prefer not to go to town dressed in this though.. Would you mind if I went to change before we left?"

Her head straightened and she moved through the door to stop by Kuramiko's bed, she fluffed the pillow a few times then returned it to the bed and smoothed out the covers. All this movement was making her relax more and more, and her not so terrible company was helping a little. Asami reminded her a little of her first riding coach, but their clipped tone and high horse attitude was where the similarities ended. She was far more pretty and stylish than that brute of a man. Her cheeks lit up a bit, but she kept her back to her ojou-sama until she was finished with the bed. Zeph then straightened and turned on her heel to face the girl. "Is there anything else you would like done, ojou-sama?"

"Are you kidding me? You've done a perfect job, stupid. Hurry up and go change. I'd offer you one of Queen so-and-so's dresses, but she'd be mad probably. I'll have a car meet us at the gate. And don't dilly dally."

She was excited, but a little upset that she had to wait while the girl changed. But she supposed she could humor her, she wouldn't have been caught dead in one of those outfits off campus either in her first year. She could allow a change, "Just don't come back looking ridiculous. I can't be seen with an idiot."

From the way the young woman carried herself though, Asami wondered what kind of clothes she would wear outside of the uniforms. She wasn;t going to get the door for her, she wasn't going to thank her either, but she did go to her desk to pull out a small over decorated cellphone (link)[/i] and began dialing a number, flashing a final annoyed look at the girl as if to say "Duh, go already!"

"Yes, hello? Get me a car will you?...UGH it's Takahi....Yes!" She raised her hand as if exasperated with the sheer idiocy of whoever she was talking to. "at the gate you idiot, and make it quick." She paused a half a second more before she killed the connection. She turned to the girl as she was probably already slipping away, "You've got ten minutes."

Asami went to her trunk at the end of the bed and retrieved a black lace parasol and her pocketbook. She went to the mirror to fix her makeup and then, when she was sure the redhead was no where to be seen, only then would she go to the gate to wait.

A bright, teeth showing smile flashed across her face as she bowed slightly to the woman. "Thank you, ojou-sama. I am glad that my work pleases you. I would not wish to take one of Lady Kuramiko's dresses anyway. I could not pull it off as well as she could."

The girl flushed slightly, "Ah.. Yes, of course, Lady Asami. I will keep that in mind while I change." Zephyra bowed once more, hands clasped before her as another bow folded her frame. She then turned to the door and pulled it open silently as to not interrupt the phone call, though her eyes lingered on the case of the phone and she grinned lopsidedly. As soon as the door shut behind her she heard the amount of time she had to change. A curse words almost slipped through her lips but she swallowed it as soon as it played against the back of her tongue.

Clipped steps, moving as fast as she could without running, the redhead made it to her room in no time. It was all the better that the hallways were practically deserted and her long legs ate up the distance quickly. But once she was in her room nerves instantly slammed into her stomach and had her pressing a hand to her lower lip. "What am I going to wear?.."

She quickly pulled the maid dress over her head after loosing the tie on the front and moved to her closet. It was filled from front to back with crisp slacks, tall riding boots and coat after coat. Velvet, silk, you name it, it was probably there. After a quick scan of her wardrobe the redhead pulled out a silk, hunter green frock coat to layer over a fitted white button down. She jerked the shirt on and rushed to button it before tugging on a pair of tight black dress slacks, which the shirt was quickly tucked into. Her boots were pulled on as she hopped around on one leg. It proved to be a difficult task and she almost fell over twice, but finally got both on and whipped her jacket over her shoulders and into place. A quick look in the mirror and she pulled her hair from its braid.

A glance to her watch had the girl scurrying to get out the door. Four minutes left. She would not be late. Long legs once more ate of the distance needed to get down to the gate, all the while she ignored any she passed. It would not do to be late, so she kept her chin up, avoiding the gaze of any passerby, but it was hard not to notice a few of the wide eyed stares coming her way. With the gate in view her wrist watch was once again brought into view. One minute.

She arrived at the gate with thirty seconds to spare looking as if she had taken a leisurely stroll instead of a half jog across the campus. Before she stepped up to the woman her hands jerked the silk into a more suitable position, when escorting a senior, you always look your best in their presence, right?