Wherefor Art Thou? |Dez|

[Dawn Phillips]

"Da-ARCI!" Dawn groaned, stamping her feet like a child. "I don't see why you have to come, too. I mean, not that I totally don't want you around, but seriously, I'm not a little girl. I have had to run lines with Dez for the last week in class, and you weren't there then, why does it have to be nooow?" she whined.

She turned back to her vanity so fast her hair whipped around, and she had to fix it again. Straightening hair was such an effing nightmare. She hated Darci for having straight hair. Hers was only straight if she used a lot of conditioner and a flat iron. Not that it wasn't straightish, it just liked to curl more than not, especially in the humidity. She gave up and just let it do what it wanted, and then snatched her lipgloss, eying her sister in the reflection of the mirror.

"Even after I totally bought you that uber-cute dress at Bloomingdale's," she sighed.

[Will Hammersmark]

Dawn was jealous of her straight hair? Well, at least Darci had ONE thing, in that case. Darci? She was jealous of the fact that Dawn had this PERFECT, GOD-LIKE luck. In everything. Seriously, it was like someone up in the sky had decided that OH-HO-HO, HOW AMUSING WOULD IT BE IF WE TOOK THE LUCK OF THIS GIRL AND GAVE IT TO HER LITTLE SISTER? Plus, Dawn didn't have any strange phobias. Darci's aquaphobia was very real, but that didn't mean that she sometimes really wished she wasn't afraid of water. It really, really made things very difficult sometimes. Come on... wasn't it 70% or something of the planet that was covered with the stuff?

Seventy percent. Darci was fairly sure.

And then, in addition to this unreasonably high percentage of water covering perfectly usable land with this awful wet stuff, you also had to worry about rain. And swimming pools. And all the OTHER places that water was. Like bathrooms, and the street the night after it had rained, and in the summer in parks when all those nutters were having water fights. It was hazardous so much as stepping outside, really.

Darci sighed from her position on her little sister's comforter, tapping her foot lightly against the carpet to this song that was stuck in her head. "Why do I have to go with you? Well, for one you're my little sister," (a slightly wicked grin - but really, that was one of the few advantages that she held over Dawn... at least it seemed that way some days) "for another, I have nothing whatsoever to do today and watching you making goo-goo eyes at your new dahling Romeo is as good a way to spend the day as any other. Besides-" and here she stood up and walked over to Dawn, "I know you. I know I know you. Don't pretend that you don't know that I know you, because I do."

Darci was confusing sometimes. She liked that.

She took up a brush and one of the sparkly clips that littered the vanity. "Here, you want me to help you with your hair?" One of the (relatively few) things that Darci really was good at was hair, surprisingly enough. She wasn't bad with makeup either, though mascara wands = evil. PURE EVIL. Stupid things poked you in the eye EVERY TIME YOU TRIED TO USE THEM.

[Dawn Phillips]

Dawn tried to look offended when Darci affirmed that she knew her, but her gape-mouthed expression didn't hold for long when she realized she couldn't hold her smile off. She gave her a little shove and turned away, then turned back. "Whatever! Shut up! We're just friends. And anyways," she sighed, picking up her mascara and looking at Darci while she ran it through her already-long lashes (without using the mirror), "he's way old for me. I mean, ew, nineteen is like, ancient." She grinned smugly.

"And yes, I would like help with my hair. I love that clip. It's got so much glitter on it that it sheds, and I end up getting little sparkles in my hair. So cute," she crooned. She had about a billion of them, but the dark purple one Darci had picked up was by far her favourite. She sat down on the little stool and allowed Darci to toy with her hair.

"It's fine, I guess you can come," she said finally. As if there had been a debate. "But, try not to make me laugh, okay? I mean, I'm practicing with college kids and when we have to do those stupid squishy romantic lines everyone giggles. And don't let me forget my gum. I'm afraid I still have pizza breath from lunch," she said woefully.

"At least it's not supposed to rain this week," she chirped happily, knowing Darci would like that little bit of news.

[Will Hammersmark]

"Brat," Darci said good-naturedly, and stuck her tongue out at Dawn. "Nineteen is not ancient. Honestly, if I'm ancient then what on earth is Casey? I shudder to think." All of 25 years old, away from home, off at college on the other side of the country getting a degree in graphic design. He wanted to work on video games; typical, that. Darci pulled a little face - she missed her big brother. She couldn't usually convince anyone else to play Mario Kart with her.

Darci brushed Dawn's hair - it was nice, fiddling with it like this. Sort of soothing, like petting a cat or something.

She was so never going to tell Dawn that she'd just thought that.

Darci laughed when Dawn 'caved' - "Well I'm glad you agreed, because unless I manage to break my ankle on the way to the car," (she wouldn't put it past herself, honestly) "you'd have had a hard time stopping me. And if I do that you'll have to take me to the hospital anyway and will be late. So there.

"Anyway. I'm sure you'll be great - I mean, aren't you used to all the giggling and stuff at this point? You should be. And if you forget your gum because you insist on taking it out every other second to leave it in unlikely places instead of just leaving it in your purse then I totally have some tictacs. You can have one, if you're that worried."

[Dawn Phillips]

Dawn giggled to herself at being called a brat. "Casey's an eternal twelve year old, that's what," she replied smoothly, picking up her little day planner to scribble something down. She had to run by the store on the way home and get soda. Her little miniature fridge was down to one Diet Coke, and she utterly despised diet. She only kept it because she had friends who swilled it down like it was from the Fountain of Youth. Gross.

"Ehgawd, do NOT say anything like that," she pleaded to Darci. "No ankle breaking, or tripping, or accidents, or bumps, or bruises. Event-free today, okay? And anyways, when we're together I think we cancel eachother out, so maybe your suckvoid of bad luck and my super good luck will just like, negate eachother and we can be normal." Yeah, fat chance. She could hope, though!

"And yes, the giggling bugs me sometimes. There is this one girl there that's gunning for my spot. I know the only reason I got it is because my teacher put in a good word, but honestly, she sucks. I mean, seriously. She reads lines like she's reading the stock exchange. Like. This. Totally monotone. I think she's only in there because she thought it would be a bump class, but she's always giving me these dirty looks and stuff. I bet she likes Dez. Dumb whore," she muttered. "Girls are so stupid. Like it's my fault he's Romeo."

[Will Hammersmark]

"Eh, give him some credit," Darci said. "I think that we can say he's 14. Aaaand... I'll try. Honestly girl, you've gotta figure out some way to transfer some of that luck of yours over. Even just for a little while. I can't tell you how fine I would be with some of that luck even just for a little while."

Dawn moved on to complaining, making faces at the dresser, and Darci peered around at her. "It really bugs you, huh?" Darci asked, peering at her sister's face. "Well I'd offer to hit 'em when they started up, but I'd trip and then break my hand and then get sued, or something like that. What you need to do is haul Edward along one of these times - he can stand there and glower menacingly at them whenever they start it up. You know, I'll never understand how he manages to pull that look off so well, but... man. He's scary sometimes."

Darci pulled back a few more strands of hair, examined the effect with a critical eye, then fixed them in place. "There, Bunny Foo-Foo. Done."

[Dawn Phillips]

"Well, she bugs me. Erika is technically my understudy, and I don't like being watched, like someone's waiting for me to fail. Honestly, people are so mean sometimes," she trailed off. Edward coming to glower at Erika might be worth it, actually. "Maybe he can pin her down like he used to do to us and drool on her," she said thoughtfully. God, that would be gratifying. Hearing that stupid prissy girl scream while her brother dribbled spit at her.

She looked in the mirror, and smiled brightly. "For someone so unlucky, you sure can fix hair. I'd say you could do something with that talent, but most of the stuff involving hair also involves scissors. And chemicals. And hot things, like curling irons." She stopped. "Thanks, Darci," she said finally. The only other person who could ever get her hair right was her mom, and... yeah.

"We should probably go. I said I'd be there by two, and it's one now. It's not far, but there are so many freaking traffic lights..." she muttered. "I'm just glad the air conditioner in the car works like the polar ice caps. Remember when it broke? Yeah. Yeah.... that was HELL."

She picked up her purse, and her gum, thankfully, and slipped into her white flip-flops. "I gotta wash these things. I got little black footprints on them," she said, pointing down.

[Will Hammersmark]

"Eww, Dawn," Darci giggled. "Anyway, just remember that the whole reason you got that role is that no one's better than you. And the reason that she's just the understudy who isn't ever going to perform unless the director decides to throw her a bone is because, in comparison to you, she sucks. I mean, given that the understudy is just there for if something bad happens to the main actor (or actress) and, given how lucky you are, nothing bad shall ever happen to you, she's just gonna have to suck it up."

And... yea. Darci would consider going into hair or something, if not for the fact that she'd cut her finger off in school, and then give herself third-degree burns. Actually, she had no idea what she wanted to go into. Which was, she was told, the state that most kids entered college in, but which was still somewhat nerve-wracking. Dawn trailed off, and it didn't really take much for Darci to follow her train of thought, effectively killing both their moods. Fake light-heartedness, however, was something that she'd become fairly adept at; most of the time she could even fool herself. Maybe she should be an actress. She'd get a stunt-double; that would be good. What would be better would be if she could get a stunt double for her normal life, but such things could not be.

"Yea, we really should. I mean, normally for you all the lights would be green, but... you got me with you today. Somehow I don't think quite all of them will be. And oh, yes, I remember when the air conditioner didn't work. It was 104 that day and we had to drive for four hours. Honestly Dawn, why do you bring up these painful memories? Come on, let's get out of here."

[Dawn Phillips]

"She does suck," she agreed. That was the final word on the matter as they clamoured out of the house. "Bye Gram! See you in a few hours!" Dawn called, snatching her script off of the kitchen counter as she whizzed by. She held the door open for Darci so that her sister wouldn't knock it off the hinges or something, and then followed her out to the car. She pulled the handle twice when Darci unlocked her side before getting in, something she did on purpose to mess with Darci.

"Weeee-eeell, let's see what's in rotation today," she said, pulling out Darci's CD case. She flipped through a few, and then held up the little black thing, fingers holding it open to one CD in particular. "Seriously? Hanna Montana? Tell me you bought that on accident?"

She relinquished the case to Darci before they got out of the driveway, and fished around in her purse for her gum. Yum, Trident berry blast. Citrus and blackberry, it was the bomb. She needed to buy stock in it she chewed so much of it. It was a wonder they hadn't started to send her free gifts. She'd like Trident as long as she could remember.

[Will Hammersmark]

Darci had come down after her sister, grabbing her keys and the purse that held necessities - the Tictacs, for one; Dawn had her Trident and Darci had her Tictacs - as well stuff like her wallet, lip gloss, a really old peppermint, a few pens and so on. Fairly normal, really. Down to the car - there was Dawn, pulling on the handle at the exact right/wrong moment again.

Darci pursed her lips and informed her sister, in no uncertain terms, that if she continued to do that then she would be left and have to arrange alternate transportation. She smiled when Dawn stopped after that and climbed into the car. And immediately started judging her based on her current CD collection, which was not small - Darci was addicted to music. All kinds of music, she loved going through life with a soundtrack, so yes, she had some... um... slightly unexpected albums sometimes.

"Oh come on," she said, handing Dawn the portable CD player and adapter as she peered through the case - she really had to get an actual CD player in her actual car, but at the moment she only had a tape player and one of those thingies that let you play CDs with them. "Not all of the songs are that bad, you know. Though if it will satisfy you, no, I didn't buy that one. Someone gave it to me. I kind of think that it might have been a joke, but if that's the case then the joke is on them.

"Ha. Ha. Ha."

Turning the keys, she pulled out of the driveway, pulled up to the stop sign, and then spent a few long moments very carefully checking everything before pulling out into the intersection. Some accused Darci of being and overly cautious driver - she always told them that she felt fully justified in being so. Honestly, she was a trouble magnet it seemed like, some days.

[Dawn Phillips]

Dawn was bouncing around in her seat, singing to some Hillary Duff. Honestly, could the two sisters be any more... well, teenage? She twirled her little necklace around on her finger as she popped bubbles with her gum, silent for as long as she could allow in between singing bouts. At least Darci was singing too, it made her feel less retarded.

"Hm, maybe Sebastian will be there, too," she said thoughtfully. "Then, instead of harping on me, you could talk to him. Maybe he could find you a nice, bubble-wrapped box to sit in while we practiced so you wouldn't hurt yourself?" she suggested gaily, laughing as she spoke.

"I think, by the way, I might change my major. I know I talked about the computer thing, but I've been thinking about psychology, too. I dunno. I could always pursue acting, too, but that's like, a one in a million shot. It isn't like my dad is super-famous singer or something, so I don't have my foot in the door already," she pouted. "But, yeah. Psychology. Sounds kind of neat, right?"

[Will Hammersmark]

Darci, for her part, wasn't doing much besides singing and driving - both hands on the wheel, ten and two o'clock. Darci was a very responsible driver.

Dawn made her crack about a padded box for her to occupy while the rehearsal went on so that she wouldn't hurt herself - Darci glance over at a stoplight, her expression somewhat sardonic. "You're hilarious, Dawn. You should go into stand-up comedy." The younger girl started talking about career options, and Darci listened and nodded.

"You," the girl said. "You, a psychologist." She laughed a little. "I dunno, actually you might be kinda good at that, though that's really kind of strange to think of. And whaddya mean changing your major anyway? Don't you mean choosing? In several years, if memory serves?"

Darci could be a brat sometimes too.

[Dawn Phillips]

Dawn made a series of flustered noises before folding her arms and pouting - for about .5 seconds, anyways. She wasn't really that unused to being teased about her age, especially when it wasn't malicious.

"I don't know what I want to do. I guess we'll see when our tests come back where I need to drastically improve on and what I'm good at." She wrinkled her nose - school. Why were they talking about school? She changed the subject.

"So, seeing anyone new or interesting?" she pried, turning to look at Darci with a bright grin. "You know, when you pick me up at the college I always have some of the guys ask me who you are. I guess they've not seen you on campus before or anything. It's a little fun, if not a little bubble-bursting. I'm used to all the attention, but it looks like you're commanding a good bit of it." She almost reached out to poke Darci, but she thought better of it. Messing with Darci while driving was an instant shove/slap situation, and for good reason. No wrecks. Wrecks bad.