1 / Establishment of Routine

[syncingdoll]

Characters: Kohaku and a game of fill-in-the-blank. ..as in, you fill in the blank.
Setting: Dormitories, floors quickly accessible from the dormitories.
Format: Prose, but I like action brackets too.
Summary: The real question is "what now?"
Warnings: If you haven't seen Kohaku's opt-out thread yet, take a gander.

'Let's all be happy here.'
Kohaku's smile hadn't twitched as she read over the letter again, and it remained fixed as she calmly folded the document back up, and laid it beside herself upon the bed. Absently she smoothed out some of the wrinkles she'd created in the cover from getting up earlier.

"Maybe the apocalypse happened when I blinked my eyes.. that's really inconvenient."

'Inconvenient' was a light word. For a while, Kohaku stared at her hand, trying to work out what to do next past what she'd done automatically already. Looking over the letter was something she'd done the day she arrived, but that was at least yesterday - reading it again had just been a strange affirmation. She'd probably do it again the next morning.

What next..? The door to room 2-07 clicked behind her, and the hall provided no more ideas than the back of her hand had, save a direction to walk.

Comments

[chainsawn]

[ Exploring is practically second nature to Urotsuki, especially in dreams - and even if this may not be a dream, it seems very close to the ones she sometimes has. It's just easier to file it away as some sort of dream she can't escape from even if she pinches herself.

Still, when she goes exploring now she can't help but notice that at the same time as she's coming out of her room, so is another girl - only two rooms over from 2-09, where she is staying. So Urotsuki just stares quietly for a few moments, as if the girl is some museum piece rather than a human, and then she finally nods. ]

Hello.

[syncingdoll]

_{[The appraising stare is matched by another - so many new faces to memorize, so little time in a day... Urotsuki's nod is taken as if Kohaku had found herself judged and passed whatever the judgment was for, and she gives a cheery smile at that.]}

Hello to you too. It looks like we synched up with the idea of taking a walk, ah?

[chainsawn]

So it seems.

[ Urotsuki is a little more quiet and a bit less.. expressive, but even if she doesn't smile there seems to be at least some sense of being slightly content in her expression. ]

It could just be coincidence, though. Nobody can tell.

[syncingdoll]

That's right. It's not that unusual an idea. There's not much too interesting in just the dorms, after all.

_{[Kohaku, conversely, doesn't stop smiling - it evens out into something more casual after the initial spike, but doesn't leave.]}

[chainsawn]

[ She plays around with the doorknob some more before turning away from it to fully look at the other girl instead. Honestly, part of her just wanted to sleep more ever since she read that letter, but she forced herself out - it's why she's here talking in the first place. ]

Have you already seen a lot..? [ .. ] Of this place, I mean. I'm still.. new, I guess.

[syncingdoll]

Oh, no. I'm just easily bored. _{[And the day Kohaku discovers the media room will turn into the several days of 'wait, I logged how many hours on these arcade cabinets?']} We're both new, unless you're newer than, ah..two? Three days?

[chainsawn]

Two days. [ a small nod as if to confirm it. ]

But with the way some people were talking.. it was like they've already been here for a long time. So I thought I stood out a little. [ and not 'standing out' in a good way, judging from her tone. ]

[moontothetide]

"Oh."

Tara is currently standing a few feet down the hallway, having just paused in the act of returning to 2-07. She hadn't expected anyone else to come out of the room, and so the sight of Kohaku startles her a bit.

Granted, there were four beds inside, and she'd only accounted for herself and Fran thus far, but her all but shattered nerves had been hoping for a rest without having to put up with any new faces.

Even so, she puts on a smile for the other girl. "H-Hi. I-Is this your room, too?"

[syncingdoll]

Well, well. She meets another of her wayward roommates. Kohaku takes a few steps back clear of Tara's access to the doorway, and so that she can consult with the nameplate by the door.

"It seems like it will be from now on. I've met Kirigiri-san already, so.. you must be Fran or Tara?"

[moontothetide]

"Um, Tara." She holds out her hand to shake. "I-I'm Tara. I met Fran...yesterday. I think. It's...k-kind of hard to tell, here."

Tara offers the girl a soft smile. "W-What's your name?"

[syncingdoll]

Oh, a handshake! She hasn't had the opportunity for one of those in a long while. The offer's accepted a bit energetically.

"Ah, I see. So there's only one mystery roommate left for me now... I'll have to be extra on the lookout so I can complete the set."

It's a little concerning that she's talking about people in sets like you'd gather up a product line of toys, but.. maybe she's just quirky.

"It's Kohaku."

[moontothetide]

...probably just quirky. Heck, after a couple of years in Buffy's company, it barely registers for Tara. Buffy Summers, as far as she's concerned, takes the cake, pie, and tablecloth on the quirky speech front.

She smiles at the energetic handshake. Kohaku is certainly one of the most normal looking people she's met thus far...the others being a fish man, a bunny girl, and a demon...so she's actually at ease, more or less.

"A-And she's nice. Fran, I mean. Sh-She just got here, like we did, but she's nice."

>mention hands not being visible in comment >PICK ICON WITH VISIBLE HANDS, GOTTA FIX

[syncingdoll]

Ah, but at least Buffy didn't run away with the table, too!

Kohaku's seen a few of the odder residents, but not directly approached any - her first day or so has been a bit of an empty daze.

Handshake complete, Kohaku folds her hands behind her back, used to falling into the posture. "That's good. It wouldn't due to be rooming with someone too unpleasant, since sleeping would turn difficult. Hm.. I think our whole room is brand new."

[fusedstars]

Hei had just been exploring the area by himself, investigating everything around him. He had already seen the fifth floor, and could not believe it. As possible as it may have seemed, and how this was far too elaborate to be some kind of trap, it was still hard to swallow. There had to be something, some kind of plausible explanation. Thus far, all he could manage was that someone toyed with the Gates and created all of this.

Walking around, he had seen Kohaku. New resident maybe? Or someone who actually knew more about this place? Either way, useful Intel may be his.

"Are you new here as well?"

[syncingdoll]

Upon being addressed, the first thing Kohaku does is surreptitiously scan the surroundings to see if it's really her the question's aimed at, too used to being backdrop to Akiha's conversations. Once confirmed, she politely nods. "Yes, that's right. As of a day or so ago."

[fusedstars]

"I see..."

So much for information regarding this place more it seems. Still, targeting others and finding information even on new people could help. Who knows, maybe there were more from alternate worlds, like this 'Hyrule' that one person mentioned.

"I don't suppose you have seen the cause of your world's supposed destruction, have you?" Only reason he said supposed was because of the large doubt that refused to go away.

[syncingdoll]

"About that..."

Kohaku brings a hand up to cover her mouth thoughtfully, eyes flicking up to the utterly nondescript ceiling as she strings speculations into words.

"..I wonder what scale a world would really be? I could picture a rocket hitting a house unexpectedly, but the whole destruction of a planet... there's always a nuclear war suddenly breaking out, but I don't know about that one, either."

[fusedstars]

"If we want to go into technicalities, a nuclear war can devastate the life on the planet, but not destroy it entirely. Not without an impossible number of weapons being made as a result."

Just one of the few educational things the Syndicate had taught him, mainly by describing mostly every weapon available. Even the strongest of nuclear weaponry cannot do such a thing. Not to mention if a war did break out, full blown nuclear war was near impossible, as they had no effect on the Gates. Something would be left standing after such a war.

[syncingdoll]

"Ahah, that's right! It did say 'destroyed,' instead of 'dead.' In that case, maybe a meteor came out of some cosmic blind spot, and went whapow."

Bruce Willis, have you really failed us so...?

i hate that you make me tag you

[nemophila]

Jun was...starting to feel a bit better. It was hard to remember positive thinking, but for now at least, he wasn't trying to let it get him down. A trip to the library was good, and so the kid was settled at one of the reading tables, a stack of books on the table, some open, some closed, and one open in front of him, his nose buried deep in it.

:3

[syncingdoll]

Click, click go the geta on the library floor, as Kohaku's head swivels to look at the shelves upon shelves. It's probably very distracting.

>:V

[nemophila]

OK that was

getting kind of annoying.

Distracting it indeed was (man, it kind of reminded him of his freshman year at Cuss High when he was basically the only one in the library that studied), as Jun looked up from his study materials to try and locate the source.

OK let's not be angry and bitter like at Cuss, yes? "Um... are you looking for something...?"

Re: >:V

[syncingdoll]

"--Eh?"

Well, the click-clack stops when Kohaku does, turning in a quick whirl to face Jun. ..she must not have noticed him at all, from that way she's acting.

_{It's another case of 'glance at the book titles to learn about the person,' here - outwardly it'll seem like she just stopped meeting his gaze from embarrassment.}

"..the ceiling. These cases are like wooden skyscrapers..."

[nemophila]

The book titles that could be seen were a bit of a random assortment; most of them were history books, or were about modern scientific research, and those were in a nicer stack on the table. The ones that were layed open and in a more chaotic array seemed to primarily concern astrology and linguistics-- the latter especially.

"The...ceiling's not that hard to find. You could just go to an area without bookshelves." Meanwhile Jun was thinking wow, this chick is kind of suspicious and weird.

[syncingdoll]

"..eheheh. I guess I meant more that.. I haven't seen a library this large, before."

Stars and words, huh? The less-touched books seem characteristic of the kind of thing you'd pick up more because 'I should learn more about this,' than the ones spread out like a literate whirlwind had gone through them.