Throwback AKA: There's Something Strange Going On (Computers are for Nerds)

[ArcusofBrambles]

show spoiler

hide spoiler

Hey to anyone actually reading this. Welcome to my first adventure, it's mostly text based but there will be a few pictures here and there in order to establish some things or if I deem something "epic" enough. I hope you all enjoy it plenty.

You are now the girl.

You are currently standing in the middle of your room posing toward an imaginary camera, though you're not entirely sure why. Your interests are DOODLING, COMPUTER GAMES and READING, which is fairly typical for PEOPLE YOUR AGE, as well as any old movie involving STEVE MCQUEEN, FANTASY AND THE PARANORMAL, PARQOUR and tend to think BELL BOTTOMS are still PRETTY NEAT, which is not quite as typical for PEOPLE YOUR AGE.

Speaking of YOUR AGE, you turned 15 about 2 MONTHS AGO which means (in your mind) that tomorrow is the FIRST DAY of your SECOND YEAR of HIGH SCHOOL. Which you are terrible at and hate, mostly because you tend to be fairly SARCASTIC and SCATHING when you first meet someone because of how SHY you are, but also because the classes are usually things you ALREADY KNOW or DON'T CARE ABOUT and are so BORING you STOP PAYING ATTENTION. You also LIE about having any HOMEWORK and have gotten pretty good at it, so that doesn't ever end up getting done and your GRADES would be "L's" for LOOSER if they could even go that low. So you BASICALLY can't stand ANYTHING to do with SCHOOL and prefer to either spend all day on your COMPUTER or PRACTICING PARQOUR which you are pretty OKAY at.

Also you may or may not be a PEOPLE, which you are not aware of, and are ADOPTED which you are aware of.

It is currently 3:41 in the AFTERNOON and your computer is yelling at you.

WHAT DO YOU DO?

[PersonPerson]

YELL BACK AT IT!

[Filio]

YELL BACK AT IT!

MAKE IT CRYYYYYYY.

[ArcusofBrambles]

YELL BACK AT IT!

Yeah alright you guess you can do that. You were planning on ignoring him for a little while longer, but it's not like he's going to shut up anytime soon. You sit in the badly drawn computer chair, stretching out leisurely as you prepare for the waves of annoyance that are inbound, hearing your back pop as you do. After minimizing a few pages you had up you click on the blinking orange Skype tab near the bottom of your screen.

yellowtlhwk42: HEEEEY!
yellowtlhwk42: DID YOU GET IT!?
yellowtlhwk42: HEY
yellowtlhwk42: HEY
yellowtlhwk42: HEY
yellowtlhwk42: HEY
yellowtlhwk42: HYE
yellowtlhwk42: EYH
yellowtlhwk42: HY
yellowtlhwk42: YH
yellowtlhwk42: YE
yellowtlhwk42: Y
yellowtlhwk42: Y
yellowtlhwk42: Y
yellowtlhwk42: Y
yellowtlhwk42: Y
yellowtlhwk42: Y
yellowtlhwk42: Y
yellowtlhwk42: Y
yellowtlhwk42: Y
yellowtlhwk42: Y
yellowtlhwk42: Y
yellowtlhwk42: Y
gRndrgn00: WOULD YOU
yellowtlhwk42: Y
grndrgn00: JUST
grndrgn00: SHUT
grndrgn00: UP
yellowtlhwk42: ...
grandrgn00: Thank you
yellowtlhwk42: Y
grndrgn00: GOD DAMN IT YOTEA!!
yellowtlhwk42: alright alright im done jeez
yellowtlhwk42: but did you get it?
grndrgn00: YES! I got it! Are you happy now?
yellowtlhwk42: yes
yellowtlhwk42: get oooooooonnnnn
grndrgn00: Would you hang on? I haven't finished registering yet
yellowtlhwk42: ...
yellowtlhwk42: wait but you said you got it already
yellowtlhwk42: ARE YOU LYING TO ME???
yellowtlhwk42: ?
yellowtlhwk42: ?
yellowtlhwk42: ?
yellowtlhwk42: ?
yellowtlhwk42: ?
yellowtlhwk42: ?
yellowtlhwk42: ?
yellowtlhwk42: ?
grndrgn00: YOTEA
yellowtlhwk42: ?
yellowtlhwk42: ?
yellowtlhwk42: ?
yellowtlhwk42: ?
yellowtlhwk42: ?
yellowtlhwk42: ?
yellowtlhwk42: ?
grndrgn00: I SWEAR TO GOD
yellowtlhwk42: ?
yellowtlhwk42: ?
yellowtlhwk42: ?
yellowtlhwk42: ?
yellowtlhwk42: ?
yellowtlhwk42: ?
yellowtlhwk42: ?
grndrgn00: I WILL KILL YOU
yellowtlhwk42: ?
yellowtlhwk42: :o
grndrgn00: Are you done?
yellowtlhwk42: ...
grndrgn00: Yotea!
yellowtlhwk42: jes
yellowtlhwk42: ;D
grndrgn00: Ugh...
grndrgn00: As I was going to say before your idiotic ass started up, I have it downloaded already, I just have to finish the registration process.
yellowtlhwk: well hurry uuuuuuppppp!!!
grndrgn00: Hold your horses, jeez. What's so special about this whole thing anyway? There's practically nothing about it anywhere on the web, not even on the site itself
yellowtlhwk: you'll see
yellowtlhwk: ;)
grndrgn00: Ugh... It really doesn't help that you and Rex BOTH completely refuse to tell me ANYTHING about this
yellowtlhwk42: >:3
yellowtlhwk42: > :3
yellowtlhwk42: >:3
yellowtlhwk42: > :3
yellowtlhwk42: >:3
grndrgn00: -rolls eyes- You realize the longer you bug me about this the longer it'll take for me to actually register and get on.
yellowtlhwk42: ...
yellowtlhwk42: imma go away now
yellowtlhwk42 is now set to Away
grndrgn00: Right

MAKE IT CRYYYYYYY.

You shake out your hands and pop your neck, setting your hands back on the keyboard and mouse before pausing, a name catching your eye. He's been giving you the silent treatment lately, though he hasn't said why. You're pretty sure it's because he wants you to finish getting this thing and isn't going to talk until you do but... You technically have it now, so maybe if you tell him that he'll actually respond? Yeah you doubt that but...

grndrgn00: Rex?
grndrgn00: Are you there?

grndrgn00: I have it now
redrex93 is now online
redrex93: are you on?
grndrgn00: Well no, I still have to register, but I still technically have it
redrex93 is now set to Away
grndrgn00: Damn it...

[Askia]

naah you cant be bothered, practice parqour

[ArcusofBrambles]

naah you cant be bothered, practice parqour

You would, you really would, but at the moment you don't have your keys and your dad isn't home from work yet so leaving now would mean no one would be home and the door would be unlocked. Not to mention the fact that your assumptions about Rex not talking to you till you get on this... THING, whatever the heck it is, AND Yotea will inevitably be back to bug you at SOME point well... You might as well just get it done now. Besides, it's a fairly simple registration process from what you can tell.

You give the golden summer light filtering through your curtains one last longing look before letting out a sigh and scanning over the half filled out registration form again.

LEGENDS OF ROYOMAY ACCOUNT CREATOR

ACCOUNT NAME: grndrgn00
EMAIL: grndrgn00@gmail.com
CONFIRM EMAIL: grndrgn00@gmail.com
DATE OF BIRTH: 12-06-1996
COUNTRY: United States

Actually, it looks like the only thing you have left to do is...

Your name... Right...

ENTER NAME

[SkyKat]

>Julia Faquarson

[ScabbedAngel]

> Trina Vimmer

[CthulhuZuzu]

Pandora Thorn

[reflectiveRhino]

>Hannah Leonard

[PersonPerson]

Perororo Lelololo

[ArcusofBrambles]

Pandora Thorn

Okay that's just plain badass. No points for something completely imaginary and unrealistic, but being named after not ONLY the original cause of all chaos, and something extremely sharp and painful, would probably be one of the coolest things in your life. It's a shame it isn't your name though...

Perororo Lelololo

Okay what? You're not even going to justify this one with a crappy image. Just what. What.

>Julia Faquarson

In contrast this name is... Kinda dumpy sounding... Not that being called Julia is a BAD thing you suppose, but that last name... Why are you suddenly reminded of the first Shrek movie and The Hunchback of Notre Dame at the same time? It's kind of baffling... Whatever, this isn't your name and you're kinda glad it isn't.

> Trina Vimmer

Here we go, your name is Trina Vimmer. Not the BEST NAME of Pandora Thorn, but you suppose it's a suitable one, and you aren't going to make fun of the name your dad gave you. Anyway, now that you've stopped goofing off and inputting random names you completely made up off the top of your head you've suddenly seemed to remember that you have people waiting on you.

You continue on to the next page and find yourself in one of those smaller windows inside the larger ones containing a large amount of small text emblazoned with the title TERMS OF SERVICE and PRIVACY POLICY and whatnot. You quickly scroll to the bottom, ignoring most of it and click the little box stating that you have read the above documents and agree to everything they say. Blah blah blah, it's the same thing every time, you read one of these things you've read them all. The only time they change it up is when they actually require you to go to the bottom of the document in order to click on the agreement box, or even more rarely they have you scroll at a certain speed, though you've only seen that once. Whatever the case, you finish up and move on fairly quickly.

A moment later and you've registered your email account as well, and now... You suppose that's it. All that's left to do is click the little icon on your desktop and start up the... Game... Thing. Whatever the hell it's supposed to be.

[ArcusofBrambles]

show spoiler

hide spoiler

HARBARGH! Sorry I left it in a weird spot last time, kinda hard to respond to. That may be the case for the next few updates, but for the most part if I don't get any suggestions I can just keep it going. Woulda done it yesterday but I was kinda busy. ANYWAY I AM NOT PLANNING ON ABANDONING THIS ADVENTURE AND I CAN MOST LIKELY UPDATE IT MORE THAN ONCE A DAY SO IF IT GOES FAST NO PROBLEMS. Oh and the format from here on out is going to change a little, I wanted to start with something familiar to acclimate you guys but then it's going into its own thing. Hope you stick with it~!

You hesitate for a moment, frowning. Once again you wish your friends weren't such assholes and would just tell you what this thing was. Obviously it isn't anything dangerous since they have it themselves and everything, or at least you hope it isn't, but... You kinda wish they didn't have this whole secrecy complex thing going on. Maybe not so much with Yotea, but Rex definitely, always acting like he has something on his mind then refusing to share it with anyone else. You've been friends with him for years now and it's ALWAYS been like this. And now that he HAS Yotea doing it as well the two are nearly insufferable. You didn't even think Rex LIKED Yotea before this but now they're all buddy buddy over this weird Legends of Roy's Omi or whatever. Wait...



...

Okay now you just have to start the game thing in order to make sure it has NOTHING to do with your own subconscious!

You click on the icon as quickly as you can, feeling like your eyes might be bleeding from that last image it was so strange. A few title screens fly past as the thing takes up your entire screen. In fact the more you see of this thing the more it looks like a game of some sort with screens for each developer and the like, even a title menu that looks pretty dumb of three people standing on a cliff overlooking a forest staring into the sunset. You're not sure who these people are, but you're fairly certain you don't care. You get into the settings and switch it to window mode before clicking out of the screen and back onto Skype.

grndrgn00: Okay Rex, I'm on. I'm in the title screen and everything. Now what the heck do you want me to do?
redrex93 is away
grndrgn00: ...
grndrgn00: Are you serious!? Come on I'm on just tell me what you want dammit!
grndrgn00: Hello!?
grndrgn00: You know what fine I'll figure it out on my own

You grumble at the screen and click on a different name this time

grndrgn00: Yotea
grndrgn00: I have the stupid game now
grndrgn00: What am I supposed to do so I can talk to you guys?
yellowtlhwk42: ...
yellowtlhwk42: rex isn't telling you?
grndrgn00: No I'm coming to you first
yellowtlhwk42: ...
yellowtlhwk42: no your not
grndrgn00: Yes I am, don't try to psycho bullshit me right now!
yellowtlhwk42: no, your not. and im not psycho analyzing you or nothing, rex told me you tried to get help from him first
grndrgn00: ...
grndrgn00: God damn it Rex!!
yellowtlhwk42: which means you wont know what to do till i tell you
yellowtlhwk42: which means your gonna owe me something
yellowtlhwk42: >;3
grndrgn00: Yotea, you suck. You know that?
yellowtlhwk42: jes
grndrgn00: Fine. I'm going to owe you. Just tell me what to do.
yellowtlhwk42: oh thats easy you just have to start a new character. everything is in the tutorial
grndrgn00: ... I hate you Yotea. I really really do
yellowtlhwk42: i know

You rub your temples for a few moments, then click back onto the game screen again and begin working on creating a new character for the game. From what you've gathered so far it seems to be some sort of MMO, though perhaps without the massiveness to it since there doesn't appear to be any real propaganda for it online anywhere, which is probably the weirdest thing. The graphics aren't bad from what you've seen, though maybe a bit stiff looking, and the aesthetics of it are fairly realistic with a small touch of cartoonish proportions. Typical fantasy fair, especially considering that the character customization includes races like dwarves, elves and an orcish looking creature, not to mention a few others like cursed humans which look like a cross between a furry and a gnome, complete with nonsensical haircolors. The actual facial features are fairly in depth as well, looking less like something out of an MMO and more like you're actually given a CHOICE as to what your character's genetics were.

After fiddling with your options for a while you make a human rogue with a medium build and heavy facial features. A tutorial brings your through the basics of the gameplay, a lot more action oriented than your typical MMO, more akin to something like The Elder Scrolls, though not quite as fluid. All in all, you suppose it could be fun, but how Rex and Yotea forced you into it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Maybe if they just told you about it in the first place you would have been a little less quick to judge.

After the tutorial you find yourself in a hub of sorts, a city made out of one giant tree, and after some searching find yourself in a tavern that serves as the chatroom. Almost immediately a small window appears on your screen, a friend request from a username you recognize.

You have accepted yellowtlhwk's friend request

yellowtlhwk: HEY!!! you made it! finally
grndrgn00: Yeah, no thanks to you
yellowtlhwk: but its more fun if you have to figure it out on your own
yellowtlhwk: its how i had to do it anyway
grndrgn00: Whatever. So what was the point of all this?
yellowtlhwk: not much. it was rexs idea
grndrgn00: What? To force me into playing this game with you guys?
grndrgn00: I mean I guess it seems kinda cool, but I don't get why there was all the secrecy from the two of you, or from the internet in general
grndrgn00: It feels like it's nearly impossible to find out anything about this thing.
yellowtlhwk: well thats cause it is
yellowtlhwk: its sort of like a hazing sorta thing
yellowtlhwk: you have to be able to get thru that in order to be allowed to play
grndrgn00: -Raises eyebrow- I can't say that's a very good business model.
yellowtlhwk: sure but the point isnt for them to make money
yellowtlhwk: its for the game ya know?
grndrgn00: I can't say I do, no.
yellowtlhwk: oh whatever
yellowtlhwk: your here now arent you?
grndrgn00: I suppose so
grndrgn00: But only because you were being annoying and Rex refused to talk to me
yellowtlhwk: yeah he really wanted you to join
yellowtlhwk: dunno what that was about
yellowtlhwk: from what i can tell hes just weird like that
yellowtlhwk: and its not like its all that inconvenient
yellowtlhwk: it works well as a chat engine if nothing else and it makes it so you can customize yourself on here which skype doesnt allow
yellowtlhwk: plus you know. COLORS!
grndrgn00: Sure I guess, and if I can't talk to Rex any other way I suppose making due is fine
grndrgn00: I just don't like when he acts like an ass like that
grndrgn00: Where is Rex anyway? It's not like he said he'd be here right away or anything, but he does know what my username will be
grndrgn00: I'm a little surprised he hasn't added me yet.
yellowtlhwk: i dunno
yellowtlhwk: it said he logged off about five minutes ago
yellowtlhwk: not that that usually means anything since he apparently likes to appear offline in everything
yellowtlhwk: if you wanna talk about annoying i think thats a good place to start
grndrgn00: He likes his privacy. There's nothing wrong with that.
grndrgn00: Anyway my dad just got home so if he's not back soon I'm gonna go for a run
yellowtlhwk: D;
yellowtlhwk: and leave me here all alone?
yellowtlhwk: i thought we could at least get you through a quest or two
yellowtlhwk: the games actually kinda fun if a little buggy at points
grndrgn00: Nah, I've been waiting to talk to Rex all day and if he's gonna just leave after ignoring me for so long I want to do something other than sit at the computer
yellowtlhwk: oh come on he could get back at any second
yellowtlhwk: just stick around a little while longer
grndrgn00: Yotea stop being so clingy I have the game and I'll play it with you when I get back
yellowtlhwk: but thats gonna take houuurrrrsssss
yellowtlhwk: ssss
yellowtlhwk: sss s s s ss
grndrgn00: Stop
yellowtlhwk: s s ss s
grndrgn00: Now
yellowtlhwk: s
yellowtlhwk: ss
yellowtlhwk: s ss
yellowtlhwk: s
grndrgn00: Dammit Yotea!
yellowtlhwk: okay im done
grndrgn00: Thank you
yellowtlhwk: :D
yellowtlhwk: your very welcome
yellowtlhwk: ...
yellowtlhwk: Dublo?
grndrgn00: Hang on, there's something going on outside
yellowtlhwk: ?
grndrgn00: I can't see it from my window
grndrgn00: It sounds like someone's fighting
grndrgn00: I'll be right back, I'm gonna go check this out
yellowtlhwk: huh?
yellowtlhwk: ...
yellowtlhwk: is it just me or does something feel really familiar about this whole thing?
yellowtlhwk: like its happened before or something
yellowtlhwk: i dunno it just occurred to me the whole game thing and stuff
yellowtlhwk: but like we skipped something
yellowtlhwk: you didnt throw a cake out your window did you?
yellowtlhwk: i dunno why i asked that but it seems relevant
grndrgn00 is now offline
yellowtlhwk: D:

After a moment of trying to figure out how to turn the game off you stand up from your computer, send a lingering glance at your window and turn around, heading toward your door when an explosion rips through your window, sending glass flying everywhere and throwing you to the floor. You hit your head against something hard and there is a sharp pain in your left eye before your vision fades to black and you drift away.





---------



It is now three weeks later. This is your first morning back from the hospital and your alarm is blaring, telling you it is time to get ready for school.

[PersonPerson]

Do what your alarm is telling you it's time to do.

[Arashii]

Ignore alarm. Play the game.

[Askia]

fk school, sleep

[ArcusofBrambles]

fk school, sleep

Yeah this is just about the best suggestion you've given yourself in a while. You smack the snooze button and roll over in your bed, snuggling yourself deeper into the covers. It may only be three weeks into September but it's already bitterly cold at night, frost creeping up your window at the hospital each morning. It didn't help that your room had a bit of a draft.

Normally you wouldn't be so keen on staying in bed after such a long time stuck in one, but the prospect of school has dampened your enjoyment of actually being able to move around. It helps that the covers are exceedingly warm and the air outside of them exceedingly not so. You fall asleep again quickly.

Ignore alarm. Play the game.

Five minutes later the dream that you think you may have been having is rudely interrupted by a harsh beeping, the sound of your alarm going off once again. Cursed snooze button, some day you will end its miserable existence. Those aren't your exact thoughts at the time of course, but approximately what "Grunt" would translate to. You sit up, eyes squeezed tight, and begin the process of turning on your computer, making sure to wrap your warm blanket around yourself. The recently put in carpets under your feet feel foreign and tough, compared to the old, well used mat of fabric that used to cover your floors. Just another reminder of that day.

After a minute the computer sings a quiet welcome to you, happy to be in use once again after so long. The usual programs you had used three weeks past start themselves up quickly, perhaps a tad faster than you remember? It wouldn't surprise you if your dad had done some work on your PC while you were away, for all you know it was completely trashed by the blast. So much else was.

Another small wait goes by as you yawn into the screen, smacking in distaste at your morning breath as you wait for Legends of Royomay to start up. You've become fairly familiar with this game over the past couple of weeks, having found you had very little better to do with your time than mess around on it. By now you have a fairly high level rogue built up and tend to spend a lot of time in different city hubs picking random player's pockets and swapping their inventory with another person, leaving a note with the other person's screen name too. With all the gold you've spent on random slips of paper and writing utensils you probably could have bought a house by now, but to be honest you just don't really care. The one major downfall of the game is, after all, its lackluster level design in any place other than the main city hubs, to the point where if you've seen one area you've seen them all, and it makes people who like exploring very bored very quickly.

Still, at this point it's become habit more than anything else that makes you get on every day and go to the tavern to chat with your friends, to the point that you rarely use Skype anymore unless it's for voice chat, and even then the only one who will do that is Yotea. Predictably though, no one is online right now, leaving you to watch as a couple of low level characters wander around the town roleplaying with each other.

Do what your alarm is telling you it's time to do.

After a few minutes of sitting idle, not really sure what you meant to do while getting on, you log off again. You sit in your chair, something else that's new along with your bookshelf since the older latter of the two broke the older former when it fell on it, then was burnt too badly to be recovered. You also lost about half your books and quite a few nick knacks you'd collected over the years, including an old stuffed toy you'd had since you were in diapers. Other things about the room seem foreign and strange, like your monitor and the large chunks of wall that have been plastered over. You had quite a lot of stuff that's just gone now, and you've been told many many times that it's lucky you aren't too, that you got off lightly.

Eventually you stand and leave your bedroom, walking down a short hall, into a small bathroom. You take advantage of the lack of light to take care of some business. After washing your hands and brushing your teeth you flip on the light switch so as to-





Oh. Right. You decide you don't really care about looking for the fake and dig around in a drawer for the eyepatch your doctors gave you.

After placing the little black patch on the counter you find yourself looking at your reflection in the mirror for a few more minutes, a macabre sense of wonder flitting through your thoughts. It's not really the first time you've seen your eye like this, but it still brings up those thoughts each time. You shake your head clear and strip down, turning the water on and waiting for the cheap plumbing to heat it to the near scalding degrees needed to really make yourself feel clean.

About an hour later you make your way out of the bathroom, showered, hair dry and pulled back, what minimal makeup you wear applied. You make your way into the joint kitchen dining room, another small affair with a basic white fridge and oven, as well as a toaster in one corner of the wraparound counters that sit under cupboards.

show spoiler

hide spoiler

The last two images were provided by my good friend Eriyonai. You can find him at http://eriyonai.deviantart.com. I would highly recommend looking through his gallery and giving him praise since he deserves and needs it.

[Askia]

this suddenly took a dark turn

> go to school

[ArcusofBrambles]

show spoiler

hide spoiler

It was always meant to go in that direction though. While I really do enjoy reading them, I'm not too fond of writing the whole "Wake up in a room here is your character" scenario. It's been done over and over again, so you aren't going to find that when it comes to any other character intro's. There will still be plenty of comedy here and there, some in the style of Homestuck and other forum adventures, some not so much if I can get away with it, but on the whole it's going to be a bit darker in tone than your average adventure...

Or at least it would be if I could get any SUGGESTIONS. I prefer to have about 3 or more before I update, so you, yes you forumite who is currently reading this, your name was Bob wasn't it? Or maybe Sarah... Anyway, would you kindly make some sort of suggestion for me? Remember she has just entered her kitchen and currently has about an hour before she has to leave. THERE IS STUFF TO DO AND EVEN IF IT'S WACKY SHE JUST MIGHT DO IT! LET'S GOOOO!!!

[Eriyonai]

>Look in the fridge with the urge to scavenge yourself up a breakfast like no breakfast you have ever had before. You deserve it.

[Helljumper]

> look in the fridge to make yourself a sammich. And then head back to your room for doodling. Screw school,your hurt.

[ArcusofBrambles]

>Look in the fridge with the urge to scavenge yourself up a breakfast like no breakfast you have ever had before. You deserve it.

Well you've never really cooked all that much before but since your dad isn't home right now... Might as well.



You open up the fridge and frown to yourself. It's surprisingly empty, even if it is the day before your dad goes out shopping. There are a few jars in the side, as well as some mayo and ketchup, but most of it is things you don't even have a name for. Some milk that went bad a week ago, a jar of pickles, and various jams that look like they haven't been touched in years. There are other strange specimens in different drawers, but you can tell without opening them that they're mostly wilted greens of some sort. Not that you could ever tell one vegetable from another other than the most obvious. And then there's the cheese. There are about 12 different types of cheeses laying everywhere, scattered about, some with blue spots that you don't really think are intentional (not that it'll stop your dad), but that's not all that unusual. He usually has at least 9, but you think the past couple of weeks have been a bit hard on him. He obviously let the fridge go if nothing else.

You decide to check the cupboards instead...



In one of them you find a can of diced tomatoes, some dried seaweed, rice, and for some reason an elderly looking onion. There were other things but most of them didn't look all that edible, especially the can of beans you think must have been in there since the 90's. Surprising because you've only lived in this house since 2005. You are beginning to realize why you don't normally do anything in the kitchen...

> look in the fridge to make yourself a sammich. And then head back to your room for doodling. Screw school, you're hurt.

Yeah screw this stuff, you're making yourself a sandwich. Thankfully there's some fresh looking bread on top of the fridge, and you think a bit of cheese, leafy green and mayo would be, if not the most appetizing thing in the world, at least filling. You throw everything together fairly quickly, using the last of a wedge of aged Parmesan and something that looks suspiciously like spinach as well as a few slices of the onion, cut the creation in half and head back to your room. You get changed fairly quickly, then turn on a cop show on Netflix and begin doodling on some scrap pieces of paper as you eat.

> go to school

About half an hour later your alarm goes off again and you step into the bathroom to brush your teeth and put the eye patch on. You grab your backpack and begin filling it with the few books and supplies you had left out. As much as staying home appeals to you right now, your school made it pretty clear that you needed to start going to classes as soon as you were out of the hospital. Besides after being confined to a bed for the past three weeks you really wouldn't mind something to break up the monotony. Plus it'll give you a change to get a good run in, something you haven't been able to do for way too long.

Shutting down your computer you stretch yourself out a little bit. Your muscles feel soft from so little use, and after so long anything careless could strain them, leaving you limping the rest of the way to school. It's something you've dealt with before, pretty much after every winter break, but thankfully you have a good route for getting yourself back into the game. It takes a little longer, but involves a lot less strenuous activity. That, and the fact that even if you're a little worse off than you would be after only three weeks it has only BEEN three weeks instead of two months, gives you the confidence that you'll be back in no time. You step out of your apartment and lock the door behind you before taking in a deep breath and walking down the wooden stairs to the small pathway walled off by tall shrubbery on one side and apartment on the other.

There's a distinct chill to the air, one that speaks of falling leaves and golden orange colors, the deep twilight of night arriving earlier and earlier each day, and the animals finishing their harvests for hibernation. Fog stills all wind and clings to clothes, giving everything a cold clammy feeling while hindering vision and dampening sound. All in all the world feels motionless and dead, giving the distinct impression that you could be the last creature alive in a desolate planet. A silly notion, but one that for some reason gives you immense satisfaction.

You take another deep breath and begin to run.

You know this route like the back of your hand, you could run it with your eyes closed, especially this early in the morning when everything is still and in its place. You learned years ago, to your surprise, how much you can learn about someone just by running past, around, or over their house every day. How the Jenkins couple had had marriage problems for the past few months which you learned by vaulting over Mr. Jenkin's car and seeing how he always parked it too close to his wife's, how one person had taken up wood crafting in his backyard to relieve stress at work a year ago and you'd noticed him gradually get more skilled with it as the months wore on, or when you knocked over a trashcan at one point how one woman had begun trying to lose weight despite how thin she already was. Someone could ask you about any of these people and you would respond with some sort of tidbit of information in a fond tone of voice. It was hard to learn about a person's life like that and not feel at least something for them.

You vault over one last fence and slow yourself to a walk as you arrive at the large field in front of the school, breathing heavily. You walk the rest of the way and step into the front doors of the school into the main hall. Grey light filters in from the frosted glass ceiling, falling on a giant clock made up of tiny intricate stainless steel parts, hanging from one wall. Its hands tick away, telling you that you have 20 more minutes until school starts, and from far away you hear a mass of voices all blending into one another, coming from the lunchroom where most students gather before the day begins.

A woman peeks out of a side door to your left, her hair piled on top of her head in a mass of grey curls.

"Are you Trina Vimmer?" She asks, looking concerned. You recognize her as the secretary type that has spoken to each student before but never manages to remember any of them. You're fairly sure you've spoken to her before too, but the exact memory eludes you.

"Yes ma'am," You respond politely, doing your best to stretch out your legs and arms while remaining inconspicuous.

"Ah, good. I was fairly certain because of the-" She raises her hand almost to her face before stopping herself and you suddenly realize she's been staring at the left side of your own face the entire time and the skin under your patch itches. You get the distinct impression that she isn't going to forget you from here on out. The two of you look at each other for a few silent moments before she clears her throat and continues. "Anyway, since you haven't been to school yet I thought I should give you your schedule."

She hands you two pieces of paper, one the aforementioned schedule, the other a map of the school from above. You mumble a thank you under your breath and she titters back, reminding you of a frantic little songbird with too much to do and not enough time to do it. She gives you one last glance before receding back into the room she came from and closing the door behind her. You look down at the schedule and map.

Period	Subject	Teacher	Room #
1	Math10	AIvonov	290
2	History10	JBoid	467
3	GraphDesign	WJohnson	790
Lunch
4	Physical Science	SGalvus	828
5	English10	BRivard	382
6	PhysEd	MPoiter	160
7	Art	IEvens	411

(Please note that this is not an exact map, but one according to Trina's perspective, blocking out things that she doesn't really care about. As such rooms aren't numbered, but the locations of her classes are marked.)

You now have 20 minutes before school to do whatever you want.

[PersonPerson]

Visit the kitchens. Steal food. You're still hungry.

[ArcusofBrambles]

Visit the kitchens. Steal food. You're still hungry.

Well you can't really get into the kitchens since you aren't part of Culinary Arts, but you can go to the cafeteria and order some breakfast. You also don't need to steal anything as the school has an account based system where each meal is a flat rate and you put money in your account and then when you want to eat you can put in your account number and they withdraw the flat rate of food and... You're doing a bad job at explaining, and it's really not that complicated. Suffice it to say your dad is fairly good at keeping money in your account so you never go hungry when at school. Then again, with some of the food they serve you might prefer going hungry to actually eating anything. Especially on macaroni and cheese days.

After a short walk through the fog filled courtyard your enter the cafeteria and make your way to the serving area. Sometimes they have cinnamon rolls, but you have to get there early before they sell out, and in any case there aren't any today. Instead you get a small blueberry muffin in it's own plastic packaging and some apple juice in another plastic container, a foil lid sealing away its apply goodness. You sit down at one of the few empty tables and pull the foil lid off the apple juice, taking a large swig of the liquid and BLEAUGH!!



You'd forgotten that you'd brushed your teeth about half an hour earlier and the taste is still in your mouth! Nice going numb nuts, there goes your breakfast.

"Hey! Trina is that you?"



Oh great as if being covered in apple juice and your own spit weren't enough now you have to talk to this ... Chick...

[PersonPerson]

Talk to this ... Chick...