Behind the Bleeding Veil

Regina was surprised when she saw the owner of the quarrelsome voice that first bade her a reluctant entrance. The girl, Fluttershy, was hardly quarrelsome looking. In fact she was quite pleasant to look at. She was sitting on her bed, slightly reclined on a stack of pillows. Her legs were crossed in what used to be called Indian style, a book, which she had been reading, laid in her lap, opened, both hands still holding onto it. Even in this position though. Regina could see this girl had an athletic build to her. Her hair was long, parted on the left hand side, and swept over. It was a strawberry blonde with the final six inches dyed black. Her face was delicately proportioned, yet conveyed a strength and severity that one would trifle with at their own risk. Every feature appeared to be almost supernaturally symmetrical. Her mouth and nose were perfectly sized to one another and her surrounding face. Neither too big or too small, Her cheek bones were high and striking but not harsh or aristocratic looking. Her eyes were a piercing, vibrant turquoise that both compelled you to look at them while simultaneously looking through you. Her make-up was equally flawless. It did as make-up should, high light her features, not cover them up or compete with them. Her brows here perfectly shaped, the black eye liner made those mesmerizing eyes stand out even more. Her skin had a hint of yellow to it, which on a lesser being would have made them seem sick but on her, it made her appear as if she was almost glowing. The rest of her body (from what Regina could make out from the position Fluttershy was in) was as equally well proportioned as her face was. As with her make-up, her clothes complimented and showed off her frame. The black, lace up vest she had on hugged her body showing how thin she was, it's low cut, V-neck exposed her cleavage to be ample but not grotesquely large. It stopped slightly above the waste, showing off a nice six pack. Her bottoms were a pair of faded, cut off jeans which showed off her thin, but muscular legs. She was bare foot with red painted toenails. Regina was shocked to the point of almost breathlessness at how perfect she looked. That a creature this beautiful could exist anywhere outside of the angelic realms seemed impossible and a minor miracle. She thought that God must have wept when her created her.

Fluttershy sat on her bed looking at the person who had so rudely invaded her private space. She looked to be about five foot seven. She wore no make-up with full, bushy eyebrows. She wore a covering over her head, revealing only a little bit of brown hair that looked like it was in a tightly wound bun underneath the white cloth which covered the rest of it. She had a long, overly busy, floral pattern dress on. The business of the pattern combined with the sheer size of it, obscured any form which might be hiding underneath. Not only did this girl not conform to any ideas of modern femininity, it looked as though she was actively at war with them. Despite that, there was still a soft prettiness underneath that no attempt of obscuring could hide. With the right make over, this intruder might even become drop dead gorgeous.

Still. All that aside, this person was intruding in her personal time and space. More than that, the way she looked at Fluttershy annoyed the hell out of her. She just kind of gaped at her like a fan might at their favorite star. She just stood there, mouth slightly parted, eyes wide. One might even wonder if the girl was about to have a heart attack or seizure.

"Can I help you?" Flutter asked without even trying to disguise her irritation or disdain.

Regina snapped back at the sound of Fluttershy's voice (but not before noting how even when cross, it held an almost musical tone to it). She stammered a bit before saying, "I'm Regina Maxwell. This is my first year here, I mean I just started, here, well college in general. This is the dorm I was assigned. You must be Fluttershy." Regina stuck out her hand as she had been instructed to by her father. He had told her this was the proper greeting in the fallen world.

Fluttershy just looked at Regina with a mixture of bewilderment and disdain. "Uh-huh," she flatly out loud and oh fucking hell to herself on the inside. She collected herself quickly though and responded somewhat more welcomingly, "Ok. First off, I don't go by 'Fluttershy' anymore. I officially changed it this summer. It's Faustine now. Faustine Geisel."

Regina turned a deep red and began to apologize profusely. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. It just said here on my assignment page . . ."

Fluttershy raised her hand and mercifully cut the poor girl off. "It's ok. It hasn't been fully updated in the system yet."

Fluttershy smiled and was now able to take a better measure of Regina. There was something in her aspect that drew a mild fondness from her. In some ways she reminded Fluttershy of her former self - shy, sweet, wanting to, if not please, then be liked by others. Maybe she was reading too much into this new girl, but the mind does and goes where it wants. Besides, while she would prefer to be alone to better pursue her studies (both official and personal); she also knew that by staying in the dorms she would be forced to have a roommate, and better some one like this than an obnoxious, party girl.

Regina smiled back. Her earlier fears about Fluttershy were disappearing now. In fact she was already growing quite fond of her new roommate. "If you don't mind, may I ask why you changed it? Fluttershy is an unusual name, but it is pretty. Kind of like butterfly."

Fluttershy's face grew a bit sadder with a touch of anger, and Regina thought she had inadvertently committed some great personal sin against her. Then Fluttershy's face softened again and she answered in a way that was both thoughtful but yet also holding something back.

"Yes, that's what it was actually supposed to stand for. I was my father's little butterfly. My original last name was Shy. So technically, the way my name is supposed to be said is Flutter Shy. But everyone, even me, always said it as one word." She paused for a second as if thinking about what she wanted to say and how to say it.

"It wasn't me anymore; I guess is the best answer. I, I was adopted by another family. I took their last name - Geisel, and decided to take another first name as well. I decided I still wanted it to start with F. I considered Florence, Felicia for a time in honor of . . ." Fluttershy stopped for a moment to regain her composure. It had been Rarity who had half jokingly suggested Felicia as a possible new first name and after she had died, Fluttershy had considered it in honor of Rarity's memory but decided against it. Remembering Rarity always brought Fluttershy to the point of tears; so she had to take a moment before she continued. "In honor of my sister. My adoptive sister. In the end, Faustine just fit me more."

Regina looked at Fluttershy quizzically. It was obvious something was weighing on the girl's soul, making her sad, but she didn't know what and she didn't want to push (not this early in their relationship). She would still make it a point to pray for the girl none the less.

"So, what's your deal?" Fluttershy asked in a forced, upbeat tone of voice. "You look like a parody of an Amish girl; which since you're here, I take it you're not."

"Oh no. The Amish are a false religion, deceived of the Devil," Regina replied in a cheerfully, matter of fact manner that was both weird yet comical at the same time. "The one thing they do get right is the modest dress for women."

Holy fucking shit Fluttershy though to herself. This girl can't be for real. It was with a sudden dread that Fluttershy came to the understanding that her new roommate was some sort of radical Christian. FUCK! this is going to suck!

Fluttershy forced a smile and said, "So you're a Christian I take it?"

"I am a servant of Christ. Christian is a slur of the fallen world. I was originally homeschooled as to give me proper instruction in the ways and meaning of Christ and to keep me from the sin and temptation of the fallen world." Regina's words were spoken in such a cheerful, yet normal voice it made them seem all the more strange and bizarre. It was like hearing a madman cheerfully explain his invisible friend to you.

"Oooooooooooooookay. And you're here now why? I mean, if your parents kept you from the 'fallen world' for so long, dropping you in college now seems a bit, well, odd. Kind of like never allowing your kid to learn how to ride a bike because you're afraid they'll get hurt and then on their sixteenth birthday, putting them behind the wheel of a race car. Doesn't really make sense."

Regina smiled a big, broad, almost maniacal, smile. This was her opportunity to explain her mission. "My father had a prophesy. When he came to visit my mother and I this past May, he said the Lord God had told him in a vision that the End Times were upon us and it was to be my mission to go forth and lead the fallen, all who would listen, to the righteous path. 'I send you out as sheep among wolves' Jesus told his disciples before he ascended back into Heaven, and it was my turn to go out. So, my mother and I applied to various schools and I was accepted to this one. Well, I guess I should say this is the on God wanted me at."

There was a whole lot of messed up in that statement Fluttershy thought. So much that her mind reeled just trying to pick it all apart. First, Regina said her father had visited her and her mother. Didn't he live with them? Even if he traveled a lot for ministerial purposes, "visit" seemed like the wrong word. "Came home" or "took a break from traveling to say", all things would have sounded better. "Visit" made it seem like he didn't live with them, which was decidedly un-Christian in her eyes. Also, with Fluttershy knowing the real truth about the cosmic order, she knew that Regina's father's vision was the delusion of a madman. Yet, there was something about it that intrigued her, considering her extracurricular studies of late.

While Fluttershy thought over everything Regina had said; Regina took notice to the necklace Fluttershy was wearing. It was a black, rope like string from which hung a charm that looked to be made of an antique brass and was a layer of different symbols, one imposed over the other. The bottom most looked to be a "W" with the top turned 35 degrees to the east. Over that appeared to be a "C" turned so the opened mouth was inline with the peaks of the "W". Over those were a series of lines, dots, and stars. There were so many symbols and lines that the longer she stared at it, the harder it was to fully make out what everything was. It was so busy in fact that it gave the illusion of movement.

Regina knew this was impossible and that it was only an optical illusion. While she knew magic existed, her Father on one of his weekly visits had explained to her about optical illusions so she would not be taken in by false prophets once she was out in the fallen world. The example he had shown her was of a bunch of zig zagged lines, all running parallel to each other vertically. He told her to look at it and the lines appeared to move and dance. Then he put a pencil in the middle of it. One the thick, reference line of the pencil had been established, the illusion of movement ceased immediately. It was one of the most fascinating things she had ever seen. Looking at the necklace Fluutershy had on now, she knew all she had to do was put something down to act a reference and the magic movement would stop dead just as it had for the zig zag lines.

"Are you staring at my tits?" Fluttershy asked in a voice that was one part confused, one part angry, and one part amused.

Regina snapped out of the daze she had been lulled into by the necklace. Her face grew a bright, beet red. "No! No! I mean, I'm a girl. Why would a girl look at another girls, you know. No. I was just looking at your necklace there." She even pointed to it for emphasis. "It's very interesting. Does it mean anything?"

Regina saw Fluttershy almost gasp. She had an expression on her face of shock, like she couldn't believe something. She took and picked up the charm from her chest, looked at it, laid it back down, and looked back Regina with the same shocked and confused look on her face.

"Oh, you noticed. Oh, um, yeah. Most people do not. Uh, I had it custom made over the summer. Yeah. Thanks for noticing. Um, it does have meaning, but it's private. Maybe if we become close friends, I'll explain it to you."

Regina's face suddenly grew alarmed. "Wait, you're not a Devil worshiper are you?" she asked in fear.

Fluttershy let out a giant, genuine laugh. "No, no. Trust me, I do not worship the Devil," if for no other reason than because my ex-friends and I killed him about four years ago , Fluttershy thought to herself with great amusement.

Regina breathed a sigh of relief. Then she scolded herself for being afraid. God would not put her somewhere she couldn't handle. "So what are you? Are you at least some form of believer?" she asked with her good cheer returning.

"Oh, I believe lots of things. I believe chocolate cookie dough is the best ice cream flavor ever. I believe A Map of All Our Failures is one of My Dying Bride's best albums, I believe South Park is one of the most over rated TV shows ever and should have been canceled years ago along with The Simpson's, but, no, I do not believe in any of man's religions. Sorry." It was kind of a snarky answer but Fluttershy delivered it with empathy and real compassion for this little, deluded girl.

Regina's smile broadened again. "Well then, I know why I'm with you then," she said happily.

Fluttershy looked down at her necklace again and thought, You're here for a reason alright; just not the one you're thinking of.