concoursec | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Character(s): Yuri, Gwendolyn
Location: Dorm B109
Rating: PG
Open/Closed/Finished: Closed, unless your character might be dropping in on Gwendolyn
Summary: Gwendolyn's getting one and a half new roommates.

Yuri had: a gym bag with a net and roller hockey equipment slung over her shoulders, a few changes of clothes, a strange froglike creature on her head who flicked his ropey tongue out constantly, tasting the unfamiliar scents of this new place, and a new load of doubts and fears to add to the ones she had brought with her from home.

Here she was, a preteen refugee, thrown from a reality that was uncomfortable and scary but at the very least familiar, something she'd managed to fit herself into, into one that was huge and scary in entirely unknown ways. The idea that this might not be so, that she might be able to be comfortable here, liked, happy, simply didn't occur to her. If Kumi wasn't here, why would it?

But she swallowed all of that as she paused on the threshold of her new dorm. Being from Tokyo, she didn't much mind its small size, but she hoped her new roommate was nice at least.

"Hello? I'm sorry to intrude. I'm coming in." She said in hesitant Japanese (the device at her throat translating it first into the local vernacular) and stepped through.

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Gwendolyn had been told, of course, that she would be getting a new roommate this day - apparently, it had taken nearly a month for the faculty to notice Miku hadn't occupied her room at all. While she was glad to have someone to talk to in the dorms besides 'Lenneth' (or however the bird was addressing herself today), a part of her was wondering how long she would last - though if nothing else, maybe she would stop having that nightmare where she would wake up and greet a faceless Rin.

Seating on the common table, organizing her notes for the next day, she heard the voice - the foreign language and its dry translation something she had been familiarized with over the past quarter. She turned from where she was seated to take a look at the new arrival - a rather young one, at that - and greeted her: "Greetings. I trust you had a pleasant travel?" she asked, recalling that was a common way to greet a new arrival.

Her new roommate was a pretty, silver haired girl of high school age, it seemed. "Y-yes. I'm Yuri Otani. It's nice to m-" She stammered out before bowing so deeply that her forehead banged the table. She recoiled from it, hand reflexively going to cover it. "Owww..."

"You're so clumsy, Yuri." Replied her 'hat', unhelpfully.

Gwendolyn took note of her new roommate's nervousness - something to aid her in, no doubt - and then blinked at the second voice. Did it come from her headgear...?

Getting up from her seat slowly - she had seen stranger things, after all, than talking headgear - she gave a shorter bow. "I am Gwendolyn of Ragnanival. 'Tis an honor, Miss Yuri," she replied.

Meanwhile, the bird had fluttered in from Gwendolyn's room to see the commotion. She was silent at the moment, not sure whether this new roommate - the first she had actually seen since her arrival - was supernaturally inclined enough to notice her. She had to agree with the hat, the new girl seemed clumsy and not the type to belong in a military academy, even one as lax as Garden.

Yuri didn't notice but Borg sure did, his froggy eyes following the phantom bird, although slightly off target, as if he couldn't quite see all of it.

Yuri pulled Borg off of her head and went into her room to drop her things off. She stood awkwardly in the doorway a few moments. "Ah...I realize i'm new here, and you've been here quite a while. So i'm happy to obey whatever rules you set for this place. And I apologize for anything my Borg says in advance...he can be kindof mean sometimes."

Both Gwendolyn and 'Lenneth' noticed the headgear's eyes following - or trying to, anyway - the phantom bird, with some slight interest.

"I see. I can help you learn the intricacies of the rules of this place if you have any questions about them. I'd appreciate it, however, if you don't enter the Training Center unaccompanied until I'm confident you can at least evade the T-Rexaurs. And I am used to hearing... criticism from unlikely sources."

"T-Rexaurs...like the dinosaurs? That doesn't sound like any place I want to be. But thank you." Yuri had no intention of going anywhere she might encounter T-rexanything.

"You do need to keep in practice, Yuri. You'll be expected to do many things here that are similar to your duties in the Alien Party, it seems." Borg admonished from under her arm, still trying to follow the phantom bird.

"Don't remind me..."

"What sort of warrior would tremble at the thought of facing a dragon - and a wingless one at that..." the bird muttered.

Gwendolyn pointedly ignored Lenneth's comment as she replied. "If you're not yet confident in your skills to flee the T-Rexaurs, you could also train in the open fields outside Garden; the monsters outside are generally weaker, though your training time would be severely limited."

She paused for a moment, pondering the nature of the headgear Borg. Most likely it was a sort of mentor. "Perhaps I could aid you better in your adaptation if you were to tell me of your duties in this 'Alien Party'...?" she inquired.

Borg rolled his mucutaneous eyes at that. He'd often wondered the same thing himself. But he was resigned to his lot in life.

"I...I'll try that then." Yuri said, sounding as if she didn't want to try that at all. She thought about how she'd explained this to the people who'd found her earlier. "Where i'm from, aliens drop from the sky pretty frequently. they're more like animals than a real invasion force, but some of them are dangerous. So every school has its own Alien Party. I was assigned to mine last year, even though I didn't want to do it. It's because of that that they're putting me in training here, I think. Wh-where are you from, Guendorin-san?" She was going to have to work on her English too, it seemed.

"That sounds suspiciously like that Lunar Cry event on this world's books," Lenneth opined.

"It does sound similar to how the native monsters arrive, from what I've heard." She made no comment on her pronounciation, aware of the language variations among offworlders. "I hail from the world of Erion. 'Tis quite small compared to this world, with most races gathered on one large landmass. My world knows much of conflict, the most recent one before my parting being between the Aesir of Ragnanival and the Vanir of Ringford."

"How appropriate, that a former member of each side would find their way here," Lenneth commented.

"I myself served under the Aesir prior to my arrival, and so have some familiarity with a few of the subjects taught here," she continued, trying not to roll her eyes at the bird's comments. "The teaching here are sound, I can assure you. Though, I must ask: if you didn't wish to be assigned to an Alien Party, why were you? Meaning no offense, but you don't appear to have been raised for battle."

Yuri was far too young to be catching the mythological connections. "I see. You must be a pretty good soldier then." She shuffled her feet, already feeling a little inadequate to the tasks ahead of her. That last comment only seemed to highlight it.

"I had no choice. I was voted in because noone else wanted to do it." There were more factors to it of course. There was the very Japanese sense of duty that compelled many of the alien fighters too, as well as the academic advantages. But societal sanction and force kept her in the role.

Borg was now quietly listening, half lidded as if sleepy.

"I am an adequate one; my sister was a far better soldier than I, and there is more to being a SeeD than knowing military protocol and how to strike at enemies."

"If an adequate soldier is what it takes to slay a rogue general, I fear for the Aesir's prospects," Lenneth commented, trying not to look as though she was puffing her chest in pride.

"So you were 'volunteered' because there were not enough people interested in serving their community, is that what you imply?"

"Th-that's right. The other two girls both volunteered for it though. I mean really volunteered." She thought for a moment. Perhaps if it were possible to specialize in a support role she could avoid most of the Scary Stuff, her primary goal at the moment. That with her Borg on she was more than the equal of an untrained person didn't seem to matter too much to her. "What else do we have to do usually?"

"Good to hear." She nodded. "From what I've heard of the other students, the courses that aren't centered around learning battle are little different from those found in standard civilian education. Also, there are specializations in support roles - you would still require some combat training for emergencies, but you could avoid the front lines were you to take that path."

This girl completely had Yuri's number. "Oh. That sounds good. I was in my final year of elementary school anyway. Th-tha-" Her thanks dissolved into a yawn. Where she'd come from, it was the middle of the night, and the time compression had drained her. "I think i'm going to bed. Goodnight, Gouendurin-san."

Inside her own room, she collapsed onto her bed. She tried to cry as quietly as she could, to not disturb her new roommate.

"Sleep well, Miss Yuri." Gwendolyn nodded at her and let her take her leave.

She could hear some slight sobs if she paid attention. The bird was oddly silent about this, as though waiting for her decision...

"...I understand. A cadet is responsible for their fellow students in need."

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