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Post by Tokrochiru on Aug 26, 2012 20:44:31 GMT -5
"There aren't any dorms specifically for girls. They're spread out. Rooms in these buildings follow a formula. Wing, floor, then the room on that floor. This room here is room N-109. That means that this dorm is in the North Wing, on the first floor, and is the ninth room on that floor. If you can give me your dorm number I can give you specific directions."
Sometimes Kyle wondered how people got lost in these places when there was a map right in front of the building. Then again, his mother always said that he had a great sense of direction. He never argued with her, since he could never remember the last time he had been truly lost.
...Wait. Was she carrying all of that with her own muscle?
Kyle walked passed Arkadi and took some of the weight off of her arms. His dad had taught him to help a girl carry something if she couldn't carry it herself. Granted, his mother considered it a bit sexist, but Kyle didn't see anything really wrong with it so long as the girl didn't object.
Kyle stood there with an armful of stuff in his hand, waiting for the girl's response.
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A click sounded, and the door to room N-112 opened, revealing a pale, thin young man with brown hair and a scruffy goatee.
"Top of the morning to you fella. Figured you'd get here just a smidgen earlier than I would. Car's been having some mighty trouble this week."
The upbeat fellow was wearing a modest button up t-shirt and some khakis. His arms were a bit hairy, and there was a rather bulky looking watch on his right hand. He also appeared to be wearing glasses.
"Name's Neil O'Connor. You're Trevor, I take it? It'd be bad if you weren't, 'cause then I'd have to wonder what the hell you're doin' in my dorm."
Neil snorted a little his own joke. It seemed at this point that he had a bit of a motormouth. At the very least, he seemed friendly, albeit perhaps a bit too friendly.
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Post by BloodValkyrie on Aug 26, 2012 21:35:52 GMT -5
Aika was having some difficulty responding to the woman's compliment. Actually, it didn't even really sound like one. It sounded like she was just casually saying it. Like it was some kind of established fact. Taking that into account though...no matter what, such a thing was a compliment. After all, how could it be bad to have beautiful eyes?
"Thy words art appreciated."
She walked towards her two velvet suitcases and grabbed both their handles, nodding at Clara. The silver-haired beauty walked to the bed on the right side of the room and plopped herself down on it, bouncing a few times. Aika laughed quietly at this and looked back at her roommate.
"Truthfully, the beds are far more comfortable than I had originally conceived. "
She opened one of her suitcases and began to remove its contents. Among them were bed sheets with a colorful design similar to her dress, several fantasy and classic novels, and a plushy of a white wolf with red markings and a flaming green disc on its back. Aika gathered the books in her hands, a few falling back onto the bed, and moved over to one of the shelves to the side.
She did all of this in silence. Apparently, this woman wasn't very talkative.
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Post by Jisui on Aug 26, 2012 23:02:56 GMT -5
"..." It seemed both of the two were naturally quiet. Not the best combination... but it was somewhat of a point of relief for Clara. If they were both quiet like this, than it would probably get along just fine. Her roommate seemed bright and quiet, but didn't poke too much into her business, like her hoodie for one. She didn't have many problems with someone like that.
Placing both of her boxes on the floor, the hispanic girl began moving items out of them onto the counter. Her clothes came out first, layers and layers of what seemed to be an endless amount of hoodies, jeans, and camisoles with a lone black dress tossed into the mix at one point. After that were a small amount of detective novels and stories, as well as a box set of the popular show "Rule and Order". But after that... came an endless stream of odd-looking machines and gadgets, from what looked like a laptop, all the way to heavy duty binoculars and even wall tracking cameras. After a long while sent unpacking in comfortable silence, the large plethora of machines were finally set up on her counter, the young hooded girl wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead and nodding in satisfaction.
Now all that was left was to do the bed, since the wall cameras could wait until later. Quietly moving over to the bed, her eyes widened as her foot snagged onto a wire she had unloaded to the floor, a tiny squeak somehow escaping her lips as she collapsed to the floor in a heap.
"Ugh..." Clara complained, lightly rubbing her hair and freezing slightly in trepidation as she realized what had happened. Her hood fallen off to the side, Aika could finally see the woman face-to-face for the first time. Although she looked fairly attractive before, her face accented the rest of her down-to-earth beauty even more. With the hoodie gone, the young detective's caramel-colored skin and bright green eyes were shown, as well as her light brown hair hair, which was tightly tied into a small ponytail that ran past her neck. On her neck was a pair of slim headphones that seemed to be of high quality, but most of all, which stood out the most...
Was her slim ears, small and rounding out to elegant points.
"..." The young half-elf could only stare at Aika in a mixture of fear and dismay, unconsciously touching her ears with her hands as if trying to hide them.
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Post by Shin RyuKen on Aug 27, 2012 0:23:00 GMT -5
Arkadi stumbled a bit in surprise of all of the things the girl was carrying. Oh my, she was killing herself with all that luggage...with it being move-in day, Arkadi had a feeling he would be running into many more people like her, and the thought it was slightly unsettling to him. He just guessed that many of these people were new to campus being that British colleges tended to pull in a lot of international students like Arkadi himself, so maybe he should be a little more fair.
However, that didn't really solve the luggage situation. At least, until Kyle got involved. This seemed to be his kind of strength or so to speak...he could've carried luggage as well, but all that she was carrying completely startled him more than he already was by that brutish roommate of his and his rippling body frame. So he stood there briefly, as his roommate handled the situation, leaving Arkadi to simply escort her as it seemed appropriate and gentlemanlike to do so.
"Here...I'll help you find your room." Arkadi restored his nervous smile again and walked towards Lyla's right side, keeping her and his roommate company. "What room are you looking for..? Maybe I can point you the right way."
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Post by BloodValkyrie on Aug 27, 2012 0:44:29 GMT -5
Aika was completely comfortable with the silence. She and her roommate had a good introduction and there was nothing to be awkward about. She preferred silence over noise. It allowed her mind to think in peace. To concentrate on the task at hand. Of course, her attention was pulled away from her shelf of books by a small, but audible, squeak. She quickly turned around and saw Clara sprawled out onto her bed. Obviously the hispanic woman had fallen over something.
Aika then noticed Clara's hair. It was a common dark brown, yet it worked for her. Simple, yet still pretty. Her orange eyes then noticed the woman's unusual pointed ears. The silver-haired woman stared at them for a full minute; the atmosphere of the room becoming slightly awkward. Until a small smile grew on her face.
Aika placed a hand to her mouth and giggled at Clara's frantic expression. This explained why she wore her hoodie like that. It also explained why she felt compelled to talk to this woman. She wasn't normal. She was far more unique than the other normal people in this school.
"I thought there was a queer aspect of thee." She said with cheer. "Thou art an elf?"
Before allowing Clara to react or say anything in response, Aika placed a hand to her chest and spoke in a reassuring tone. "Thou needn't fear my knowing of thine true nature. I shan't tell a soul."
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Post by Advix on Aug 27, 2012 1:23:45 GMT -5
Trevor didn't laugh, he just seemed to look at Neil for a while processing that this guy would be his roommate. "...Awesome." he spoke flatly. He let out a long sigh, before he took the lolipop out of his mouth. "Yeah, I'm Trevor. Trevor Axelrod. You're a math major, I'm guessing. Power to ya. That kind of stuff takes a different kind of animal than me." Trevor still spoke with a lazy and tired tone. He extended a closed fist out to Neil from his lying position on the top bunk. It was an unenergetic gesture, though Trevor was at least a little curious as to how Neil would respond.
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Post by Greed on Aug 27, 2012 11:14:56 GMT -5
Lyla smiled broadly as the two guys began to help her out, taking some of her stuff, and offering to point her in the right direction. With some of her stuff being held by the taller gentleman, she thought for a moment, trying to remember the room number.
"Uhm, well, lets see... N-171 if remember it right." The girl's face was finally visible, now that Kyle had removed a large portion of the weight she was carrying. However, now it would be apparent there was something odd about her. Even Kyle should have been surprised at what she was carrying now, as most of the people in the hall wouldn't be able to carry a third of it at once. And the other thing was her eyes. Her irises looked... flat, for lack of a better word. There weren't the characteristic details you would expect in a normal person's eyes, and instead, they were a flat dark blue. However, despite that, the girl had a pretty, and cheerful profile, giving the pair of roommates a broad smile.
"Before I forget, thanks again. You guys are a alot more helpful than the gits back in Manhattan. Just saying, here, 'fore I forget."
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Post by Shin RyuKen on Aug 27, 2012 20:50:58 GMT -5
N-171. Arkadi had memorized the vast majority of this building as most of it could've been found online, as well as the visits he had made during his orientation sessions months before attending the school. This should've been really easy for him as he scouted out most of the rooms on this floor while passing by all of the people earlier, so why did he still feel nervous? Oh my, he hoped he hadn't forgotten last second and made a big fool of himself in front of everyone! Wait...
"Okay, N-171..." Arkadi looked up and stroked his chin in thought once again to recollect where that was, if only for a split moment so he could get his scattered thoughts together. "Oh right! It's on the other end of this wing, see," the boy pointed outward with a slight burst of confidence such that he didn't crack under the pressure. "Rooms on the left of the wing descend in numbers while the right wing is where the numbers go up." Arkadi thought a lot in numbers; he had a rather solid mathematic base and even though he forsook it for the time being while in college, it was a skill that would prove useful for him as he pressed onward into his college studies.
The boy continued to walk Kyle and Lyla's side in escorting her to where her room is. New York...he hadn't ever been there to be honest, although he heard stories from other friends that there was a rather arrogant attitude of people who lived there. Although he couldn't attest to how unsettling it must've been to have lived there, he could've answered to how it could only get better from there in college, where it was a place far away from all those people.
Doing his best to continue the conversation, Arkadi simply answered in a hushed tone. "Heh...no problem. I'm sure a lot of people here must be better, in fact."
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Post by Jisui on Aug 27, 2012 22:42:53 GMT -5
The half-elf honestly didn't know what to think when the hood dropped. Clara had gone most of her life hiding those pointed ears of hers, so the only way she could have reacted was logically, she was afraid of the uncertain. How would her roommate react? Her mother had always told her, above else, to hide her ears. What would happen now? Would she be called a freak? Taken away and expelled? A whirl of possibilities surrounded her thoughts, before she calmed herself and forced her mind to think logically, like it always did. She would just tell her that she wanted her ears like this, so she surgically had them done. It was odd, but not impossible.
Of course, all of her logic and reason went down the drain as Aika cheerfully promised not to tell anyone about her secret, even seeming to brighten up further upon seeing her ears. Whatever words she was going to say were thrown into a confused disarray, not understanding what had just happened. The silver-haired woman didn't seem to think of her half-elf nature as odd at all. In fact, she seemed excited at the prospect of meeting her... a wave of relief ran over the half-elf as she realized how lucky she had gotten with her roommate, a rare grateful smile emerging on her lips.
"...A half-elf. My father is human. And... thanks." Her voice sounded truly sincere, grateful for Aika's willingness to keep silent on the matter. As if becoming more comfortable without her hoodie, the hispanic half-elf's posture relaxed slightly as she stood up. However, something else had bothered her. She could barely understand her roommate's words at all... not only did she talk weird, but Clara wasn't taught english like what Aika spoke. Her odd use of strange words like "Thou" and "Shan't" threw Clara into confusion that somewhat irritated the intelligent girl, who wasn't used to not understanding something. And somewhere along the line, she was fairly sure that Aika had called her a lesbian in some slang terms she had picked up in the States. It would certainly be rather uncomfortable if they lived together with that hanging over their heads.
She resolved to pack the question away for later, perhaps subtly noting it during dinnertime. For now, it seemed a bullet had been dodged. Actually... Aika had accepted it all a bit too easily for her taste, not surprised in the least. It was as if...
"Aika..." Clara began to mutter, using her roommate's name for the first time. "You... haven't met an elf before, have you?"
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Post by Tokrochiru on Aug 27, 2012 22:59:16 GMT -5
Kyle walked, Lyla's luggage in hand as his roommate explained things that he could have explained himself. He didn't take offense to it. Rather, he was appreciative that he didn't have to explain the layout of the school to their visitor. He knew the layout of just about anyplace with a map like the back of his hand, but explaining it was another matter entirely. Kyle wasn't very gifted when it came to phrasing things correctly, or at least, that was what he believed.
Kyle continued onward with seemingly little difficulty. Despite being built like a basketball player, he seemed to have the muscle of an olympic weightlifter.
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Neil almost shook Trevor's hand, before realizing what the gesture really was. He awkwardly bumped his weak fist up against Trevor's.
"Well, math is only part of it, really. My true passions have to do with geology and technology. Math's a big part of those two things, so I guess you could say I'm consequently good with it too. I don't know anyone who gets into math for the sake of math. Rocks and wires are a lot prettier than numbers, don'tcha think?"
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Post by Greed on Aug 28, 2012 0:09:25 GMT -5
Lyla smiled, nodding as she followed the two guys down the hallway.
"Well, I'd bloody well hope so. I jumped at the chance to come back home once I got that invitation. It feels good to be out of that city... won't be surprised if my dorm is better than my flat, honestly." The long haired girl kept walking, ogling the school's architecture as she went. Which made her wonder about some of the random chatter she'd heard from the people in the hallways.
"Oye, you two heard that some people were turning down the invitations to this place?" It was a weird thing she'd been hearing; but it made sense she guessed; people who didn't want to go oversees, already been accepted by another college, or something else... she guessed. Really though, it seemed like a waste to turn down an open pass like this. Then again, she probably only thought that way because she just wanted to leave New York. Really, REALLY badly.
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Post by Shin RyuKen on Aug 28, 2012 1:49:31 GMT -5
Arkadi shrugged, as he didn't really have much to argue against with people that might've turned down this university. He however, was even a different situation. His father practically enrolled him in this university for him. He had enough scholarship money to pay for his whole education here and that was an offer he couldn't refuse. He was too boggled down by the power and influence his father not just over him, but over everyone around him with all the money he had too much to use. The thought of it was sort of unsettling and left Arkadi with a delayed response to Lyla's thought.
"Y-yeah, I heard. I guess it happens though," Arkadi softly replied as he continued to walk Lyla down the hall. "Some people just have different reasons for going places, other options they like more. I got into Columbia and Imperial College London, but even those places didn't sit well with me." The last thought made Arkadi gulp somewhat. He never liked to brag about his achievements, especially considering that was a trait he inherited from his father, but for some reason it comes out subconsciously through conversation. He always worried above anything else that his wealthy upbringing alienated him from his peers and made him seem a lot more uptight than he actually was.
But of course, he didn't want to abide by that belief. He wanted to prove to people he was better than that, and he tried his best at any rate. He couldn't shake off the uncertain feeling in his gut, however, as he continued to walk with a hurried gait forward.
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Post by Tokrochiru on Aug 28, 2012 2:06:43 GMT -5
Columbia University? Imperial College London?
Kyle didn't really have much personal information about those places, but based on their reputation they sure did sound impressive. They were probably a lot more prestigious than this place, at least. The kind of place that Kyle could never get into, no matter how hard he tried. That made him wonder what could be here that he was missing at a more highly recognized institution.
What could this place offer that those places couldn't?
...Well, an opportunity for Kyle of all people to have a higher education was probably something few other universities could offer. Maybe he simply wanted to be apart of a different environment than the one provided by Columbia. Kyle probably wouldn't be able to get along well with that crowd either. They were simply too smart for him. Too educated in unreal things like calculus and financial business.
He had to wonder...was Arkadi one of these people?
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Post by Advix on Aug 28, 2012 13:36:07 GMT -5
Trevor sighed at the weak bump he received. This guy seemed as weak and timid as he had first appeared, although... "Geology?" The teacher that Trevor knew taught geology, among other things. Many other things. Some things that you wouldn't find in a college course. ...No not like that. She taught Trevor self defense, and a few other tricks. How did she teach Trevor from across the Atlantic? Well...
Neil's comment caught Trevor's attention. "Rocks and wires are a lot prettier than numbers, don'tcha think?" That got a light smile out of Trevor, who sat up and turned to his roommate.
"Heh. Tell me about it. So, do you know who your Geology teacher is?"
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Post by Tokrochiru on Aug 29, 2012 1:52:08 GMT -5
"Not in the slightest, friend. Why? Do you?"
Neil sat on a nearby stool and rested his head on his hand. He apparently had it in his head that he was going to be talking to Trevor for a good while here. Considering how social he was, he may very well have been right.
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