Klaire was alone in her dorm room, curled up in a papasan chair with one of her favorite novels and loving every second of it. That is, until she heard the sound of keys jingling in the door. Normally when Klaire was reading she would be completely engrossed and oblivious to the rest of the world, but today she was in the middle of one of her...trashier, vampire romance novels. As a result, her guard was up as high as possible.
Without so much as a blink she quickly shot up from the chair and stuffed the book under her pillow, then grabbed a decoy book that was sitting on her bed. The book was already opened to a page that she knew well enough to recite from memory if necessary. She was determined to keep her kinks a secret. Which was exactly why she was reading during what she thought would be her private time. Needless to say, she was angry.
By the time the door finally opened and Rayne stepped in, Klaire was visibly furious. She slammed the book closed and threw it onto her bed, folding her arms in disgust. Rayne just smiled and said "Hello" in a very friendly, polite voice.
Klaire jumped to her feet. "Don't you 'hello' me! You know you're not supposed to be in here before 7pm! It is exactly...3:48! Get. Out. Now!" Klaire said, mustering up all of the anger and tension she felt from almost having her secret reading habits discovered.
This power struggle had played out at least a half a dozen times since Klaire had been forced to share a room with Rayne. She didn't really mind Rayne as a person, but reminding her who was in charge kept the power squarely in Klaire's hands. This time, however, something very...different happened. Instead of cowering in fear and running out of the room as quickly as she could...Rayne simply smiled, walked right up to Klaire, and confidently gazed into her eyes.
Before Klaire could react, Rayne spoke in a very commanding, yet soothing, tone. "Relax..." The shock of the command and the confidence in Rayne's eyes visibly took Klaire by surprise. For a brief moment, Klaire's jaw dropped and she nearly gasped. Not to mention, Rayne noticed, that Klaire's pupils happened to dilate ever so slightly, a clear sign that her snotty roommate was dropping into a trance, however light that trance may have been. The moment was brief and Klaire's defenses kicked in quite quickly, but before she could respond Rayne cut her off again. "Relax. I'm only here for a moment. You'll have your private time back soon enough. Until then...just...relax."
Klaire's mind was beyond confused. Not only had her roommate managed to stand her ground when she normally cowered away, but she had completely taken charge of the situation and stolen the power right out of Klaire's hands. The worst part, though, was that not a single retort, snarky comment, or even an expression of disapproval seemed to come to mind. No matter how hard she tried, Klaire just couldn't manage to come up with a response. And then one word finally came to mind. "Okay." she said softly. "Wait a minute?" she thought to herself. "That's not what I wanted to say! Why did I say okay?! This is very much...NOT...okay!" But her thoughts trailed off again as an ever confident Rayne took a step closer to her.
Rayne stared into Klaire's confused eyes, their noses mere inches from touching, and spoke in a more serious, authoritative tone than Klaire had ever heard from her. "Some things need to change here, Klaire." Rayne started. "I know this is all an act, a persona that you put on. No one is this mean, or this anti-social. When I come back tonight, Klaire, things are going to be different. We are going to be roommates. We are going to be...equals. You are going to learn to relax around me Klaire, and you are going to learn to enjoy your time around me. You can see that to be true...can't you Klaire." She ended the list of carefully worded statements not with a question, despite its wording, but with a command.
Klaire was completely dumbfounded. She tried to form a response, but once again nothing came to mind. She was, however, completely unaware of her head slowly nodding up and down to signify a simple 'yes' to Rayne's command.
Rayne smiled confidently as she stepped back and pointed to the pile of Klaire's things that were sitting on Rayne's bed. "I expect that be cleaned up. In one hour." Rayne said, staring just as deeply at Klaire, knowing full well she would not be back in an hour. Her confused roommate managed another gentle, subtle nod to indicate 'yes' as a response and nothing more. She was completely frozen in shock, surprise, and confusion.
Rayne smiled as she turned to grab her backpack and exited the room. Klaire, however, was completely in shock and could only stand there, staring off into space. A few moments passed before she was finally able to form words. "What...the hell...just happened?"
--
Outside of the room, Rayne was leaning against the wall and shaking with a mix of fear, excitement, and an ever growing hint of arousal. She slowly slid down the wall until she was sitting on floor of the hallway, panting and laughing ever so slightly as she whispered "It worked...it actually worked..." to no one in particular.
--
Some time later, after composing herself, Rayne walked into the common area on the fourth floor of the residential hall for graduate students. Trisha and Laura were already inside, talking amongst themselves, and barely stopped to say hello before they went back to discussing the agenda for the sorority's first meeting.
As they continued their conversation, Eve walked into the room and began to make small talk with the girls. Moreso with Laura and Trisha, as Rayne was too busy trying to figure out why Eve looked so familiar. Images of Eve and Laura, standing at the front of a classroom, hypnotized, kept flashing through her mind. But every time she started to think about it, the memory slipped further and further away.
