Neviara
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Cycle 1-3: School of Hard Knocks
🕑 Added 2023-06-10 19:01:14 +0000 UTCWhen she opened the door to her room, half of the space had been transformed. Posters of boy bands and cute animals plastered the walls, lights strung back and forth across them in a comedic exaggeration of the ones hung over her own desk. A small, modern-looking pink chair sat near the corner of the room, standing watch over a very fluffy looking lavender rug and a vertical fan. It was a very familiar look.
Kaitlyn found Heather busy hanging up clothes in the dresser. The girl looked up with a wide grin. “Welcome back! We got everything set up, don’t worry, just organizing the last of my stuff. Did you go to the dining hall? How was it?”
“It was… Ok. Lots of options.” Even coming in prepared, Kaitlyn was still reeling at the onslaught of words. Still ,she tried to focus. Maybe I can learn something. I mean, I need all the help I can get on the “talking to people” front.
“Really? Ohmigosh, I’ll have to try it tonight. My parents and I went off campus for lunch, since it’s kinda a going away thing. There was this nice little spot down the street, like, a little brunch place? It was sooooo cute! The decor was all like sophisticated and classy, we sat outside and the tables had the cutest fresh flower arrangements, I swear, you have to go sometime-”
On the other hand, maybe not. Heather seemed to be quite capable of holding a conversation all by herself. Kaitlyn listened, looking for a spot to speak but finding none. By the time she registered an opening, the brief silence was already being filled in.
Eventually, the blonde finished organizing her clothes. “All done! Perfect! Ok, I’m gonna head out to the common room to meet the others. Maybe I’ll find someone who shares a class or two! Do you wanna come?”
Kaitlyn hesitated, then shook her head. “No thanks. I’m pretty tired, maybe I’ll go tomorrow after classes.
Her roomate shrugged. “Ok! No worries, totally get it. See ya!” With a wave and a few bouncy steps, she was gone.
With a deep, tired sigh, Kaitlyn slumped onto her bed. Alone at last. Heather was… a lot. Not that she disliked the girl or anything. It was just that she truly wasn’t used to that much interaction, much less all at once.
Maybe it’s because it’s her first day. I’m sure she’ll calm down soon enough. Kaitlyn had been pretty excited on her first day of college too. But between having done this before and her disappointing male lead encounter earlier, her excitement had been doused somewhat.
Still, it was only the first day. There had to be plenty more opportunities for her to take advantage of, plenty of adventure and romance in her future.
Pulling out her phone to research more about this world, she smiled. This won’t be so bad.
***
When Kaitlyn pictured a dating sim, she had a specific framework in mind. The main character would dart from location to location to indicate an interest in a specific set of activities. Those activities would, in turn, determine what guys she’d be predisposed towards interacting with. Sometimes they’d lead towards encounters themselves, and she’d end up chatting with the male leads and socializing with the occasional side character when necessary.
The point was, the locations themselves didn’t have a lot going for them. Unless there was an encounter, she’d stay in a location for as long as it took to get through a little bit of flavor text, afterwards choosing from a clearly defined list of other possible locations to continue her romantic efforts. They were just there to serve as backdrops and filler, to provide a sense of believability or logic to the situations the main character found herself in. To help move along the more important things, like romance.
She had not expected this dating sim to be so… detailed.
Kaitlyn leaned her chin on one hand, staring dully at the professor at the front of the lecture hall. The short, pudgy, balding man was scribbling some formula or another across the blackboard, droning on about whatever it was. A blank notebook sat on the small fold-out desk in front of her.
Why the heck am I sitting in a calculus class? I’m a Journalism major! She shook her head. No, I WAS a Journalism major. Here I’m a Biology major. And biologists apparently need to know how to take a derivative, for some reason.
She sighed, leaning back and stretching slightly. Her seat was strategically placed at the back corner of the massive lecture hall. It was the best vantage point to scout for any recognizable faces. Or, rather, heads of hair from this angle. Still, despite her efforts, she hadn’t managed to spot any male leads in any of the classes she’d attended so far. It was honestly surprising. Being enrolled in five classes made no sense unless they would be useful for meeting five guys. That is, of course, unless the main character was meant to be some sort of brainiac genius who could actually handle this kind of workload.
Initially she had hoped that classes in this world were watered down or at least simplified, considering that it was a game after all. Instead, they were arguably harder than the ones she was familiar with. Not only was she taking completely unfamiliar subjects in an unfamiliar major, but the workloads that got assigned were many times larger than they should have been. It hadn’t been a week and she was already drowning in more work than a normal human could ever hope to manage.
This is supposed to be a cool adventure. Not a strictly worse version of what I was already doing, she thought sourly. At least the writing class she could handle pretty well. Still, she’d give things a try. Surely classes would help her with encounters somehow?
Eventually, the hour and a half drained away and the dense rows of students stood to rush to their next destinations.
Ok, so I’ve checked out writing, statistics, chemistry, and now calculus. One more to go. Kaitlyn also packed up her things and headed towards her final class.
The genetics lecture was nearby, a blessing considering that it was right after calculus. The building itself was a somewhat smaller structure than the others. Although a single story, the whole thing was lent a sense of grandeur and height from the soaring archway and ornamented columns. Both the pointed arch and the edges of the building were trimmed with off white sculpted embellishments of vines and flowers, which contrasted nicely with the standard red brick.
She settled herself into her customary spot once more, scanning the crowd dutifully as students entered. The hall smelled slightly of sweat, likely from the fresh crush of bodies that had just left. Still, the seat was fairly new and actually had cushioning this time. It was nicer than expected.
A minute before class was set to start, a frazzled-looking woman with curly brown hair rushed in through a side door and began setting up at the front. The professor, most likely. Glancing around again, her heart sank. Was there really not a single romance target in any of her classes? Could she have missed them? Maybe they didn’t come for some reason?
At the last second, just as the professor began to speak, she heard the door push open once more. Turning to look, excitement and hope bubbled up once more.
A tall, suntanned student eased the door closed behind him. A red and black flannel hung loosely over his wiry frame, unbuttoned and flapping to reveal a white shirt beneath. His bright ginger hair contrasted nicely with his green eyes, and his cool gaze swept across the seats to find an opening.
Kaitlyn gaped. This guy is… Ok, he looks fit. Not like bodybuilder ripped or anything, but more toned than I expected. I mean, the brown haired guy was cute, but him? He’s giving me way more dependable vibes. Wow. She was still gaping as the ginger started unhurriedly down the stairs away from her. His hands slipped into his jean pockets as he strode towards an empty seat near the front.
Eventually, she tore her eyes away. After that though, the lecture seemed even more far away and unimportant. I have to meet him. I gotta. He’s just so cool! Frowning, she considered the options. Well… I can’t just walk up to him now. There’s an open seat near him, but class already started. And I can’t just single him out and be obvious about it, I’d look like a total creep. Maybe I can figure out a way to catch him after class?
As the professor flicked through a powerpoint covering the class syllabus and the basics of DNA, Kaitlyn formulated a plan.
***
As the mass of students rose from their seats, Kaitlyn waited until the red-haired guy was just a few rows down from her own position. Quickly ducking out of her seat, she slipped into a pocket of empty space in the crowd. She then executed the master stroke of her plan - dropping her notebooks and pen.
The operation went just according to plan. The notebooks fell to the floor with a dull thud and scattered slightly, while the pen began to roll down the stairs towards the ginger guy. Perfect. Even better than I planned it.
The oncoming crowd parted slightly around the scene. There was no need to feign nervousness or clumsiness as she bent to retrieve the books - her heart was already pounding. Then, she saw it. From the corner of her vision appeared a callused hand holding a pen.
She looked up, meeting the guy’s emerald eyes. For a moment, she simply stared. How could she not? He was even more attractive up close. Before the pause became too awkward though, she reached out and accepted the pen in a daze. “T-thank you.”
A faint smile passed his lips as he nodded and made to stand. Now it was time to follow through.
“U-um, excuse me!”
The ginger haired guy ignored her, climbing the steps and moving to rejoin the crowd. Kaitlyn’s face felt hot. No, wait, I can’t just let it end like that! I was so close this time!
“Um! W-wait, hello!”
She scrambled to her feet, nearly dropping her collected notebooks again in haste. By the time she recovered, the ginger had been engulfed by the crowd, his height allowing him to remain visible like an autumn leaf meandering downstream. She rushed forward to follow, but the crush of bodies jostled her back and forth. Soon enough, her quarry was too far away to reach without running outright.
Kaitlyn slumped onto a nearby bench in defeat. Again?! What am I, invisible? I swore I had it that time! Something definitely should have happened there! She packed her things away and tried to rationalize the encounter away. It’s ok. It’s fine. We’re in the same class, and that’s something. There’s gonna be other chances. I just… I just have to make use of them. That’s all.
With one last deep breath, she stood. Classes were done for the day. Now to take a look at the assignments she’d picked up. With dread beginning to creep into her heart, she headed home.
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