xp_logs | Maddie moves in with Hope (backdated) (Reply)

Maddie moves in with her new roommate and discovers there is hope for Hope.

Hope surveyed her side from the room from where she was standing by the window. Over the time she had spent alone in the room, several of her belongings had migrated to the other side, but she thought she had gathered everything and put everything away. The only thing she still had to do, was arranging hair accessories, makeup and jewelry in and on the vanity table her grandmother had sent her. So she took a seat on the small bench that came with it and started to sort out her hair accessories in a tray's in one of the drawers.

The process of moving was familiar to Maddie, but this was by far the shortest distance she had ever needed to travel. In fact, her new room was only across the hall, hardly a move at all really, but it still entailed packing everything into her footlocker, backpack, suitcase, and a few extra boxes. Somehow, like always, she felt like she couldn't possibly have this much stuff, and had stared at the pyramid of packed boxes. Normally, it would have taken several trips to move everything across the hall, but Maddie of course was both a teek and a genius. So, with backpack slung over her shoulders, suitcase being wheeled, and the footlocker with the boxes tied down on top floating behind her, the redhead crossed the vast expanse and pushed open the door to her new suite.

"Honeys, I'm home," she called out, allowing the suspended luggage to drop back to the ground as she walked in further. "Hello? Tandy? Hope?"

Hope looked from her work and quickly stood up, heading into the living room she now would be sharing with two other girls. "Madelyne? Please, come in. I cleared this side of the room for you, if you wish." She gave the redhead a short smile

She was still not quite sure what to think on her new roommate. She had known she would probably receive one, but she had not expected it to be the boisterous girl now standing in front of her. They had only briefly spoken on Molly's birthday party, but Madelyne had quickly run off again. Time would show how things would go though. She quickly resumed her seat at her vanity table, smoothing the skirt of her sundress down to lie neatly.

"Holy-" A look of shock appeared on Maddie's face as she crossed into her new room, and set the backpack on the ground (the suitcase and whatnot could wait until later). Half the room was completely clear, and the other half contained more girly items than you'd see in a feminine product commercial. "Oh sweetie," she shook her head sadly at her new roommate. "You really are a Stepford wife in training."

"Hmm..." Hope looked up from her sorting. "A Stepford wife? I am sorry, Madelyne. I don't quite understand what you are referring to." It was one of a range of conversational tricks her mother had taught her. If someone made a comment that was... strange... politely asking for an explanation would either make people lay it out or quiet them down.

After all, courtesy was a ladies armor and Hope was feeling like she could use a bit of armor right now. The whole getting a roommate thing was making her pretty nervous.

"You know, Stepford Wife." The redhead slowly meandered through the room, eyeing the posters on the wall and the vanity table. Now, she could appreciate art, and there were certainly merits to 19th century oils, but they just screamed "I read romance novels and am waiting for my white knight to sweep me off my feet." All that super romanticized true love and knights and ladies was as bad as most Disney movies; corrupting the minds of young girls into believing that their lives can only be fulfilled with a man. Gross.

"Marries a wealthy dude, stays at home all the time, cooks casseroles wearing a full-on dress, pearls, and makeup. Drives her kids to soccer and ballet. Get botox done as part of her daily errands."

"Now you explain it, I think I have heard the term before." Hope closed the drawer with her hair accessories and pulled open the largest middle drawer to start putting her makeup away. She hoped it would cover that she had actually very little idea what to say to Madelyne's frank reply. "I believe the novel was about wives being replaced by robots though. I have no intention of letting that happen."

Maddie cast a doubtful glance Hope's way and sat down on the bed, bouncing on it a few times. Not as springy as her last mattress; she might just have to swap them. "Well, anyways," she replied, continuing to bounce. "You're like 15. And you're in America, not one of those cultures who marry their daughters at like age eight. Hey," Maddie perked up and sat still. "Did you know there's this ethnic group in Cambodia, I think, who build love huts for their girls to have sex in when they're like thirteen so their parents aren't kept up by the noise? Yeah. They totally encourage girls to explore and take ownership over their sexuality and their bodies and stuff? There's like, no rape, apparently, because the girl will kick the boy out of her hut if she gets bad vibes off him."

Hope's hands stopped moving as she paused the action of tucking her various makeup brushes in a partition on the tray and blinked at Maddie a few times. "I am... I am sure that... this practice works very well in their culture. I do not think it would work well in modern American culture though." She was glad she finally managed to get something out that sounded vaguely accepting, but that still denounced the practice for her here and now. "Though I am sure it must give those young girl's an... interesting... sense of self-confidence."

Oh boy. This girl needed some serious horizon expanding, stat. Maddie could tell from the look on Hope's face that the other girl was sheltered. And, if she wasn't mistaken, beneath that pleasant tone of voice, there was totally some judging going on. Some sort of super repressed denial of female sexuality a la mid-century America upbringing that denies the concept of female empowerment. This wasn't just about teenagers having sex, Maddie surmised, Hope really WAS a Stepford in training.

Haller was right: Maddie totally needed to un-brainwash her new roommate. Show her that there is a big, huge world outside that bubble she was currently living in. She always had to do everything. Sigh. That sundae was going to be rightly earned through blood, sweat, and tears (though not her own, obviously).

"Right." The redhead stood up and began crossing her new room. "I need to get my stuff and unpack. And, no offense, but I'm really particular about my stuff, so no need to offer to help." She picked up her backpack then stepped aside as her footlocker floated in.

"I'll talk to Kyle about installing a privacy curtain between our sides. And I'll work on getting you some good noise cancelling headphones so you don't have to worrying about hearing or seeing all the noisy sex I'll be having over there." Maddie smiled a broad, sunshiney smile and set the luggage down.

Blink... blink... This time is was not the rather obvious display of mutant powers that was giving Hope pause. She had grown somewhat used to that in the weeks she had been in the mansion. But her roommate's rather extreme frankness was somewhat startling. The first statement was the easier one to deal with, so that one went first. "Of course. One of my friends in Bloomfield Hills shared that particular habit. If you do end up needed assistance, I'd be happy to help."

Hope continued organizing her makeup drawer, tucking in various small boxes of cream eye shadow into place. "And Madelyne, if you do end up finding some noise cancelling headphones, perhaps a pair for yourself might be a good suggestion. I have been known to cause some screeching."

"Holy shit!" The words were out of her mouth before Maddie even finished thinking them. She whipped her head around to stare at Hope, a look of shock on her face. "Did you just make a joke about having loud sex?" Maybe she had misjudged the girl after all.

"Uh... no..." Hope aimed her gaze demurely at her lap, but she peeked up with twinkling eyes through her eye lashes. "I was merrily referring to the fact that I do practice with my violin quite a bit. Hence the screeching." She explained innocently. "A true lady does not kiss and tell."

"Nuh uh." The redhead jumped up and rushed over to the new girl, eyes wide as they scanned Hope head to toe in fascination. "No no no. You totally just made a sexual innuendo." Before protestations could be made, Maddie quickly wrapped her arms around her new roommate and squeezed her tight. "I'm so proud of you. There is totally hope for you, my Hope."

Hope kind of froze when Madelyne was suddenly hugging her, her eyes going wide. "I presume that is a good thing, as they say?" She ventured carefully after she had been let go, some confusion visible in her eyes still. She folded her hands in her lap to keep them from fluttering about.

Maddie stared at Hope, eyebrows raised in the universal look of skepticism. If her peer wanted to play that way, then Maddie just had to change the rules to suit her needs. But the innuendo had definitely showed that behind that veneer of robotic prim and proper housewife-to-be, Hope had an actual personality. Maddie just needed to chip away at the layers in order to let the True Hope free.

"Okay, sweetheart. You go back to that," her palm circled the air before her, as if cleaning Hope's glass house. "I'll go back to settling in." And concocting a plan to get her roommate to cut the crap and be herself.

"I do need to get this done." Hope agreed blithely as she surveyed the remaining make up and her jewelry containers that were still on top of the vanity.