She stood their taking a long needed drag of her smoke. Her full lips sliding to take the filter in, and with an inhale, nicotine laden smoke rushes into her lungs, filling her with a light-headed sensation and her nerves seemed to be calmed. As her slender hand pulled the cigarrette away from those pouty lips, she exhaled and a cloud of tension seemed to join the grey wafts in escaping her body and floated away. They seemed to dift on the soft currents of air that blew past at this altitude, diffusing into nothing.

She wore her form fitting uniform, her breasts pressing against the cotton top, her nipples large enough to almost be seen through the fabric of the top, and concealed bra. As she took another drag, she shifted her stance slightly, and her butt, barely covered by the material of what pass for a skirt danced slightly as she shifted her hips. Her shapely legs, shifted and with her free hand she bent down and adjusted her stocking. It was an older pair, and she thought breifly about a quick trip by the campus store for a new set before her afternoon classes began.

She reached up and flattened an unruly part of her straight fringe that had been blown about by a soft gust. Here on the roof of the library, Ruby came to steal illegal moments of pleasure. It was her break from studying, her timeout from friends. It was her time to calm herself before finishing another day, before she could celebrate as only a few knew how. It was finally here. Friday. It was the day they met, the day it happened.

Lost in her thoughts she jumped slightly at the sound of the door to the roof closing behind her. Ruby quickly turns, hands darting behind her back as she does so, cherry held away from her, soft tendrils of smoke still fluttering up into the air.

Half expecting to see an angry prefect, caught dead to rights in an act that would certainly earn her some terrible attentions in a basement cell that she had been familiar with once before. Once, that was all she needed. But as she turned, a curious sight stood before her emerald eyes. The girl standing before her in the summer sun was not what she was expecting. She certainly wasn't a damned prefect, that much was obvious.

The roof top entrance to the library closed with a conspicuous bang, announcing the presence of another soul on this isolated sanctuary. Rather than stepping out onto the tarmac, however, the new comer fell back, bracing themselves against the door and pressing a hand to their heart. Judging by the sheen of sweat clinging to her skin and the deep, ragged breaths, whoever this girl was, she’d run all the way up here. Of course, with her eyes closed as she focused on catching her breath, it gave Rose a moment to get a good look at this interloper.

Tomboy, that was usually the first impression that Juniper gave to someone. Her soft brown hair was cut short, bangs swept off to one side in a way that was feminine but also clearly chosen for how easy it was to maintain. Even as windtossed as it was from her run, it managed to avoid looking messy. Her skin had settled gracefully into a light tan, suggesting that she spent a great deal of time outside rather than hiding from the island’s tropical warm indoors with the modern marvel of air conditioning. Her breathing was slowing, that rapid rise and fall of her chest settling into an easy rhythm as she dropped her hand away and to the side, the light cotton top of the school’s uniform draping over a pair of firm breasts, though she seemed to have the foresight to wear a white bra to keep from showing through the thin material of her shirt. She was slender and light, her body tapering into a narrow waist before her generous hips curved out from them. Her long legs stretched out from under the short navy skirt of the school’s uniform, her heels digging into the roof as she leaned back. They were long and toned, combined with the lack of fat on her body, there was no way she wasn’t a runner, though she certainly wasn’t on the school track team. That said, it was hardly as though the island didn’t provide plenty of reasons for one to run regardless. Her white socks seemed a bit loose, ruffling up in bunches along her lower calf before tucking into her simple running shoes.

More noteworthy than that, however, was the camera slung from a strap around her neck, a long telephoto lens attached that she was carefully cradling with her other hand. Taking one more easy breath through her nose, she opened her eyes slightly as the familiar, tempting waft of tobacco reached her. God, she could use a smoke … she hadn’t had one since arriving on the island. Not that she hadn’t had access to them, she could find most things in a pinch, but she needed every edge she could get to keep ahead of what the island had thrown at her. She’d been caught underwater too many times to risk her lung capacity, to say nothing of the impact on her running.

Damned if it weren’t tempting though.

She opened her eyes the rest of the way, finally seeing the other girl on the roof. She smiled slightly, recognizing the stance of someone trying to hide a cigarette from the times she herself had used it … these days she’d probably have flicked it off the roof to cover her butt instead.

“Hey.” She said noncommittally, “Don’t mind me, I didn’t think there’d be anyone else up here.” She said with a faint chuckle. She pushed herself away from the door, a thoughtful expression on her face before she pointed.

“Rose, right?”

The scared red head quickly calmed down upon seeing who she shared the roof with. For sure, this new comer was not a prefect. Besides missing the tell tale sash, this girl clearly didn't give off the holier than thou, I know what you've done, before you've even done it vibe. Instead of tossing her only half smoked cigarrette away, she nonchalantly brought her hand down to her sides before taking another drag.

She flattened her wind blown bangs, before taking a second puff and exhaling. As she blew the smoke skyward she took in the intruder who had invaded her sacred space. Her legs were the first thing that caught her attention. She definitely was a runner, those legs slim but well defined. Her ass definitely redefined the word toned, yet was well sized. She was slim and it appeared she hardly had an ounce of at on her entire body. She smiled as her eye traveled further upwards. Already feeling a little self-conscious, next to her, she had a body most would gladly trade for. But she felt a little befter when she got to her chest. She was not flat chested by any means and Ruby was sure through her sweat soaked top that this girl had a pair of perky puppies meant to be cupped, yet being a few sizer larger in that department made up for her not-nearly-as hourglassed figure. She had an innocent face, one that begged for a first kiss with those thin lips, rather than her own full pouty ones that one rude classmate in highschool had described simply as being perfectly made for sucking-cock. Finally she took in her brunnette hair. It matched her tanned nearly perfectly clear skin. She wished she could get away with a cut that short, but it was simply too hot on the tropical island and anything more than her straight bangs wasn't worth the effort. The high humidity made straightening anything but her bangs a lost cause, the frizz was simply too much. So Ruby left her mane wavy and just past her shoulders. This girl on the other hand seemed blessed with naturally straight hair with bangs slightly past her eye brows, parted to one side as if she were growing them out, yet failing every often and getting them trimmed as they became bothersome. The rest of her hair seemed to frame that angelic face perfectly while leaving her slender neck clear in this endless heat. It certainly wasn't butch for the short not even chin grazing length that it was.

It wasn't as if Ruby hated the weather, on the contrary it was one of the selling points for the school. The tropical island was a paradise that reminded many of Hawaii.

It's Ruby actually. Her eyes narrow on the camera. She points to it, cherry up in the air, And what exactly is that for? You aren't a rat are you? Not one of those goodies sent up here to catch me again are you? If you are, this is my last one I swear... for some reason she couldn't put her finger on she didn't think that was the right assessment. Those eyes although innocent seemed like they had maybe seen a thing or two.

Nahh, I think you are ok. You want one? She slips a pack free of the loose brick she had hidden it behind. It was a great place to avoid attention she thought. Who went to a library to break the rules, she thought with a smile. She flipped open the nearly full pack and held it out to her...

What's your name? Do I know you? The questions are asked more at ease, and if anything, with a hint of snob ringing through her vocals.

“Ruby.” Juniper repeated, snapping a finger and looking a bit annoyed with herself, “I was close.” she muttered to herself. June wouldn’t claim that she was familiar with everyone on the island, it was hard for any one person to track that many individuals, but she did make an effort to recognize as many as she could. Particularly the smokers, the trouble makers, and the ones with vices that couldn’t be met while observing the school rules, friends and contacts were important things to cultivate for someone in her profession. No one was quite a fast a friend as the one who benefited from knowing you, and Juniper had a talent for digging up all manner of things on the island.

“A rat?” she asked incredulously, touching her hand to her chest, “You impinge upon my honor, I’m no snitch to ferret out trouble for the faculty. Let ‘em do their own jobs, I say.”

“I’m a snoop. Entirely different brand of nosy busybody.” She chuckled to herself with an impish smile. “I just look into things that interest me, or, occasionally, I find things for people who need someone with my talents.” Her voice, and her chest, swelled a little with pride as she explained her talents. It was clear that she put a lot of stock in what she did … though, how it translated into a course curriculum was kind of unclear.

She paused, growing very still as she looked at that open pack of cigarettes, the familiar orange filters presented to her in peace offering. She licked her lips slightly, putting a bit of moisture back onto them as her hand reached, however slightly towards them. This was probably the closest she been to a good smoke in months, even if she didn’t recognize the brand. Just before she could take on though, she closed her eyes and closed her hand into a fist.

“Ah … no, thank you. I’m trying to quit.” She said reluctantly, a faintly pained sound in her voice. As if to demonstrate, she plucked a simple lollipop from her vest, a small sphere of sugar crystal at the end of a hollow plastic stick. Pulling the wrapper off, she closed her lips around it, rolling her tongue slowly around the head. When the cravings hit her like this, sometimes a surrogate to stick in her mouth was the only way she got through.

“Juniper Modnar.” She said by way of introduction, offering her hand to Ruby for a quick shake, “We haven’t been properly introduced, no, but that doesn’t mean you might not have heard of me. Like I said, sometimes I find things for people. Sometimes those are things like cigarettes, so, my name gets passed around a bit.”

She glanced off towards the edge of the roof for a moment, as if trying to see something in the distance. She hadn’t just dashed up here for her health, after all. While she enjoyed meeting new people, the longer she dallied here with Ruby, the greater the chances that she’d miss her window.

“I’m sorry, could you excuse me for a moment? There’s something I really don’t want to miss. Snoop-stuff.” She said with a crooked smile, as if to ask “what can you do?”

Ruby held out the pack, and it seemed as if Juniper truly desired a cigarette of her own. Ruby knew that look, one of desire, one of resistance, one of clinging to one's will-power against a great temptation. In the end though she won the battle of the day, and politely declined.

Suit yourself, the girl says, slowly closing the pack and sliding it back into her hiding space before replacing the brick that concealed it. She turned to see the girl place a lollipop into her mouth, working it over like it needed a lesson.

Juniper, she thought, the name didn't ring any bells, but if she can get me more smokes perhaps she might be more useful than she appears. Cigarettes were quite a challenge to come by, any link towards obtaining more was valuable indeed. Perhaps it was a name worth remembering. She didn't dwell long on the thought though as another morsel of interesting information slipped from Juniper's lips.

You look into things that interest you? The redhead asks, staring at that camera, her curiosity obviously piqued. What sort of things might those...?

She tried to ask the question but Juniper seemed distracted and in a hurry all at once. Perhaps she might get her unfinished question answered in short order. For a moment, this odd student had distracted her from her vice, as the wind blew a trickle of smoke up into the air in front of her, she remembered her valuable smoke and hurried not to waste any more of the nicotine treat. Ruby took in a deep pull.

She turned to watched what had the brunette in such a hurry, what had brought her up here into her safe space with the camera? As she did so, Ruby exhaled and a giant breath of smoke exited her parted lips. She kept mentioning being a snoop, while she minded her own business to a large degree, she knew the power of secrets, and the power over others who wished to protect those secrets at any cost. Maybe she would be more useful than she knew. Anxious to find out what she was all about she turned and joined Juniper in looking where she was looking.

“Well, all manner of things, really.” Juniper answered the question put to her casually, striding over to one edge of the roof. Like most of the buildings of the school, it really wasn’t intended as a hangout for students, so there was no fence around the upper edge to keep people from falling. Juniper settled down to her knees close to the edge, lying forward to minimize the chances of anyone noticing her standing there at the edge of the room, her legs spread out behind her as she got into position. “The habits of local wild life, what goes on in the areas off limits to students, the history with all the weird imported plants that seem to have taken root in the wild reaches. If it seems odd and out of place, I just kinda pick at it until something interesting falls out.”

Of course, while she said what she was looking at, that wasn’t really what she was looking for. Shokushu was home to monsters, of that she was undeniably certain, though finding compelling evidence was proving to be difficult. She’d found a few keepsakes along the way, documented what she could discover of the strange creatures, and pried at the secrets of the faculty where she could. She was determined to discover the secret of this place, to name its purpose. Of course, far too often, getting into these places proved significantly easier than getting out of them again. A few of the things out there seemed almost as interested in her as she was in them, and they had … other methods of sating their curiosity.

“Today, for example,” she started, propping her elbows on the tarmac to steady her hands as she lifted the camera into position, turning a ring along her telephoto lens to try and bring her distant subject into focus, “I’m on the hunt for a conspiracy.”

Under one of the shade trees to the edge of the main courtyard, a pair of girls were having a casual conversation. It was the kind of thing that one saw every day here at Shokushu, wholly unnoteworthy to the casual observer. Juniper, however, waited patiently, focusing the lens on the girl standing closer to the tree. Waiting for her to turn, waiting for her to expose her face.

“There wasn’t an announcement, but someone broke into the restricted stacks in the library. I found a memo passed around to the faculty about it, the librarian frankly seemed a little frantic about it. Oooooooooold text, a translation of some old Israli tome by an English monk a couple hundred years ago. Apparently, the poor guy went crazy and his parish blamed the book, so they locked it away in a reliquary , which worked great until German mercenaries sacked the church decades later. It’s a one of a kind item, donated from the Headmaster’s personal collection.” She said conversationally.

“Now, that’d be interesting enough by itself, but it’s not the only thing that’s gone missing.” She added, sounding a little excited, as though she were sharing a secret for the first time, “Cloth from the drama club’s wardrobe department, candles from the commissary, rock salt from the cafeteria, and some other odds and ends. Sounds like we’ve got an aspiring witch on campus to me.” She bobbed her head side to side with a broad smile.

“Now, whoever did the grabbing, they were good. Real good, not even a trace for me to follow … but they weren’t working alone.” she tongued the sucker along to the other corner of her mouth, creating a natural pause with a smirk, “You see, they have an accomplice. A decoy. I checked it out, and before things went missing, there was an incident. Someone pulling a shelf down on their head, starting a fight outside the drama department, asking about some specialty food from the cooking staff … her description was consistent each time. A little bit of digging, and I managed to put a proper name to that face.”

“So, now, the trick is to just follow her around, see who she talks to. Once I’ve got a decent list of suspects, I do a little digging and start crossing names off the list. Whoever’s left…” she shrugged, looking a little smug, “Is probably up to something interesting.”

The redhead watched as the slim brunette headed for the edge, getting prone, camera acting as an eyeglass. What she scoped became quickly apparent as her target seemed to be a couple students talking under a tree in the distance. Without the camera to aid her, Ruby was unable to make out the distant form completely clearly. Yet as she revealed her intentions, she had some inclination of whom that identity belong to.

The gathering of supplies would match descriptions of rituals ancient and forbidden as described on the stolen parchment. While other works held rumors of what was inscribed, none told of those forbidden details, except the original.

Ruby took another deep puff. Was there a reason she felt the need to divulge all of this information to her in particular, or was it merely a coincidence. As the nicotine, was absorbed into her bloodstream, her paranoia dwindled back down. Surely it was coincidence?

Exhale, and relax. Act normal, did she suspect her? The thought was a wild one, and she knew it. Careful to not be seen together, the girls rarely made contact outside of their meetups. Had this Juniper known about those, well she would hardly be up here in the early stages of what appeared to be quite a competant investigation. Perhaps she could contain this. A plan slowly began to form, pieces snapping into place almost as quickly as the cherry approached the butt in her fingers.

A witch? Ruby asked the question, doing her best to feign surprise, eyes wide. With the sudden reveal though, the shock wasn't entirely falsified.

She quickly tossed the butt off to one side and she approached the edge and layed next to her on the warm roof. She wanted to seem engaged, eager as it were to gain her confidence. Her body was unneccessarily close, her soft legs pressing against Juniper's.

The spirited girl had gone so far as to obtain a name. This would make things trickier. She would have to let Vanessa know she was being followed before their acquintance could be discovered, or that list might get dramatically short, fast.

She raises her smoking hand, holding it to her forehead like a visor where her bangs were cut blunt to her eyebrows. Making a show of squinting and straining, she decided to play a gamble.

It's kind of far...can I borrow that? Ruby asks, the camera clearly the object she desired. Wait...she sort of looks familiar...

She feigns curiosity, seeking to put an air of surprise and innocence into her voice.Wait a minute...what's her name? I think I have a literature class with that girl. I think her name is... she pauses, looks up as if searching for an answer to a test she had studied for extensively. She pauses long enough to see if Juniper would fill in the blank, distancing her knowledge of the raven haired girl.

“Well, it’s only a hypothesis.” Juniper admitted, sounding like someone caught in spreading an unfounded rumor. There was a certain amount of enthusiasm in her that made it sound like there was more at play here than a strictly professional interest. She was eager, she wanted this to be something, like a dog that had just caught a whiff of rabbit on a shifting wind. She lightly rocked her weight from one side to the other, rocking slightly against the hot pavement as she focused down the lens. “It’s a promising one though. Really, you’d be surprised at the demand for occult esoterica on the island. Hypnotism, alchemy, tantra, fortune telling … if you bundle them all together, they’re probably the second most prominent hobby here.”

“The first seems to be tea.” She said, picking her head up from the camera to glance over as Rubys bare leg brushed up against hers, alerting June to the other girl settling down next to her, “Seriously. I’m English, but some of the brews girls around here ask for…whew.” She rolled her eyes slightly. “Must be a society thing.”

“I …” there was a moment of reluctance when Ruby asked to borrow her camera. It may as well have been an extension of her, she’d somehow managed to hang onto it since coming to the island, despite all the close calls and rough captures. “…Just…don’t drop it.” She sighed a bit, unlooping the strap from around her neck and passing it over to her. If the other girl could confirm who she was looking at, that would be worth it.

“You wouldn’t believe what I’d have to go through to replace it.”

Ruby pauses waiting for her to supply that "forgotten" name. Yet, it doesn't come. Instead it seemed as if she were merely basing her opinion on speculation. Juniper was more astounding than she had given her credit for. She had taken isolated incidents, those strung together by the barest of threads, and made some amazingly accurate assessments. Yet in the end, she admitted they were simlly guesses. Those guesses might have been backed up by fact, and one hundred percent dead accurate, yet they were still simply guesses.

Ruby reaches out and takes the precious camera, handling what was obviously an important object to Juniper, and held it up to here own eye. Staring briefly through the lens, she focused on what she knew she would see.

It was Vanessa. She stood under the branches talking to a classmate, one Ruby didn't know personally, but had shared a class with. Vanessa wore the same standard issue uniform shared by all the schoolgirls on the island. She was average height, had average sized chest, waist and hips. Her skin was slightly pale, overall an average girl. The only unique things about her were her eyes and hair. Both were the color of midnight. Her pupils were almost indistinguishable from the iris that surrounded them. Her dark hair was straight and cut into a cute bob that curled at the tips inward, a couple inches below her jaw. She wore a headband nearly always, creating a slight bump, from the way the toothed accessory dramatically pulled her dark hair back. The look drew attention upwards and away from a nose that was slightly smaller than perfect for an otherwise pretty, but average face.

Vanessa... she gives the name, pretending as if it had suddenly been recalled.

We've seen each other once or twice outside class due to mutual friends. She seemed nice enough. Are you certain she's the one doing all those things? She doesn't seem like quite the aspiring witch, capable of violence to me.

Ruby, finishes watching the girl laugh, and pulls her eye back from the opening. She hands the camera back to Juniper.

The comments on tea and brews rolled through her brain. Was there something she was missing, or was thing English lass simply overskilled at small talk?

I can talk to her after my next class this afternoon, if you like? I don't know her that well, but I could find an excuse for her to come by my room after class if you wanted to meet her? Maybe this whole thing is just your imagination or a misunderstanding?

Ruby puts the offer out there, not certain how such an offer would be recieved. Would she decline and continue to spy from a distance? Her snooping may be inconveniet all things considered. While an introduction held its own set of problems as well.

Juniper had stopped watching Vanessa, turning slightly to rest her weight on one elbow as she instead watched Ruby look through the lens. It wasn’t that she was suspicious of Ruby, exactly. If anything, she was happy to have someone completely unrelated to her investigation to use as a sounding board for a moment; saying these things aloud always helped her order the details of one of her hunts. It was more that, perched as close to the edge of the roof as they were, it was far too easy for her to imagine her camera tumbling from Ruby’s grip, bouncing and rolling along the roof that scant distance, and then falling the full distance to the sidewalk below. A sharp gust of wind, seeing something shocking through that lens … if it happened, Juniper wanted to be ready to at least attempt to save it.

“Mn-hmn, Vanessa Strictland.” Juniper provided, once Ruby had provided the first name on her own, “A second year student, 3.2 grade average. Her club attendance has been down recently, but no one really knows what she’s been up to.”

Gingerly, Juniper recovered her camera, slipping the strap back around her neck a repressing a relieved sigh. Her teeth came down on a jagged chunked of sugar crystal, the unconscious worrying of her teeth having split the sucker in her mouth in half. Still, her tongue ran along the broken edge still at the end of the stick, smoothing it slowly as it melted away.

“Well, strictly speaking, she may not be the witch.” She pointed out, drawing the camera back to her eye and focusing on the pair under the tree again. It seemed like they were wrapping up, “I’ve only got her pegged as an accomplice so far. It’s not out of the question that she’s being coerced into helping, intimidation, blackmail …” she paused a moment before smirking, “mind control? Either way, with how much cloth was stolen from the drama club, I sincerely doubt that whoever is behind this is acting on their own.”

“Though, to clarify, that fight I mentioned was a verbal argument, nothing quite as extreme as you might be thinking. It was loud and hurtful enough to draw a crowd, that kind of thing could be premeditated easily enough.” She added, “That much is definitely within Vanessa’s range.”

There was a click as Juniper pressed the shutter on the camera, then a second, and a third in rapid succession. Finally, the other girl had turned away from her mark and started walking away. Honey blonde hair spilled over her narrow shoulders in curling waves, a white hairband keeping it at least somewhat ruly as she moved. A bit on the short side, Juniper wouldn’t have guessed she was much more than five feet tall, but she wore it well. Bright green eyes and a button nose gave her a mischievous, even child-like impression, though there was no chance that her full bosom and soft, curvaceous figure belonged to a child.

As ever, it remained difficult to stay confident in your appearance on this island, set alongside such a variety of beauties. Still, it was another face for her list, she shifted her appearance slightly to see where Vanessa was going now. It seemed like she was wending her way back towards the dorms, though a toss of her head told Juniper she was considering hitting the commissary on the way back.

“Ah, no.” Juniper answered, a bit too hastily as Ruby offered to arrange a meeting, “I appreciate it, but with something like this you don’t want to tip your hand too early. You’ll just drive the mark to be even more secretive, or shelve their wrong doings until they think you’ve given up.” She said with a faint smile, apparently unaware that she had already tipped her hand.

“It’d be best if she just kept up her usual routine until I can get all my facts in order.” She raised a finger with a wink, “Once I’ve got enough to act on, it’ll be less like a confrontation, and more like a trap. Once you can convince someone that you know everything, you’d be surprised what they let slip.”

Juniper smirked a little bit, rolling over onto her back and sitting up as she climbed back to her feet.

“Besides, like I said, I’m not with the faculty. So long as she’s not hurting anyone, I don’t really have an interest in stopping her.” She shrugged slightly, “I just kinda wonder what all that stuff is for … at least until the staff offers a reward for the translation.” She laughed a little bit at that.

Ruby watched as Juniper took back her camera and worked her lollipop over. On an island of young adults that would have easily been accepted as models or pornstars, which was mainly bereft of the opposite sex, every action seemed filled with innuendo. The reality was though that few actions were truly sexual in nature, but only perceived that way due to wishful thinking. Such was the case with that sucker. Ruby paused pondering if that mouth work was simply an oral habit, or unconcious desire. No, she decided that Junipers sucking of that candy was merely what she thought it was. Her passion clearly ran towards this investigative bent, and not one of sexual abandon.

While Ruby was not a lesbian in the traditional sense, she was open to other experiences. She was no fool when it came to the natural limitations of an all girls' campus, nor was she oblivious to the hormones that rampaged through all their sexy young bodies. Instead of taking things as they were, she used the situation as she always did, and that was to use it towards her advantage.

Unbeknownst to Juniper, her assumptions of Vanessa's motivations were all misplaced. The raven haired girl was not coerced into the trivial violations she was being tracked for. Instead she simply did them willingly. Vanessa had been friendly, but a geek in high school. Smart, in honors classes, but rarely applied herself. She went about her life average in almost all regards, including going unnoticed by the opposite sex. While others went to proms and homecomings she lacked the confidence to interact widely with others. She had been timid and fearful.

Ruby had changed all of that.

Scroll stolen she needed someone help in translating it and Vanessa while not a brainiac, was there on a Latin scholarship. Five minutes with the girl who answered her ad in the school's paper and she knew she was desperate for more than an average existence of going unnoticed. She made her pitch, and it was gladly accepted by a girl dying to rebel. The fact that she had been untouched by either sex before Ruby was only icing on the cake. No, no manipulation was needed, she volunteered herself for what was needed, without hesitation.

So right in every other regard, yet she missed one of the most important reasons behind every story, the motivation.

I see. Well if you want my help, let me know. This sounds kind of fun and exciting. I'll understand if you have other things to do, but my offers still stand..., she reaches behind the brick procuring one more smoke and lighting it with a deep pull. She holds the pack toward Juniper, knowing she probably wouldn't take it, yet seeing what a second exposure to temptation did to the strongwilled girl. She knew saying no once was easy, it was the second time, and all times after that, that took the true willpower. Both offers of help seemed extended in that simple gesture, maybe getting her to decline one would lead to acceptance of the other.

I have a study session with a neighbor of her's. The room just to the left of hers. If you do decide you need me for anything I will be there tonight after dinner.

Juniper bent over slightly to brush the grit from her legs, apparently unconscious of the way the gesture made her skirt ride up to just barely tease a glimpse of the lower curve of her backside and a flash of robin’s-egg blue from Ruby’s low position. She brushed her finger tips along her forehead, tucking one of the bangs behind her ear as she looked over the school grounds, a briefly distant look on her face as she considered her next step. Even after such a short rest, it seemed like she’d gotten her breath back, her time on the track having granted her significant stamina.

“Heh, it can be.” Juniper said, a broad smile crossing her lips as Ruby said that this seemed exciting. There were also times when it was painfully, drearily, droll. The research, the fact checking, the theorizing … essential to creating a real news story rather than a splash of eye grabbing tabloid filth. Still, Juniper was in the habit of playing fast and loose with the rules, so she generally found some excitement. She looked back to Ruby, her eyes catching on that pack of cigarettes once again companionably offered to her.

--krnch!--

Her teeth came down hard, crushing what was left of the sucker in her mouth mercilessly and Juniper yanked on the reigns of her self-control once again. She plucked the stick out of her mouth, her bottom lip pouting slightly as she regarded the bare, bent tip of the lollipop stick in her hand with disappointment. It had barely lasted a minute.

“Mmn … maybe next time.” She said, waving off the cigarettes again, while intimating that there would be a next time. Casually, she flicked the stick over her shoulder, letting it tumble end over end as it inscribed a shallow arc over the edge of the roof and towards the paved walkway below. No reason to carry the trash around, after all, not when the campus seemed to be capable of cleaning and maintaining itself anyway.

“Tell you what, give me a little time to run the faces I got today, and I’ll catch up with you at the study-thing.” She said with a little shrug, “Assuming everything looks safe, maybe a direct confrontation is the best choice to get some traction going.”

Ah, there it was, Juniper’s fatal flaw as an investigator. She was impatient, she wanted answers quickly. On one hand, it pushed her to do the kinds of things that most would balk at in the pursuit of a story. Of course, that recklessness was also part of what got her into so much trouble in the first place.