LikeSpringRain (8:22 PM)
[ Open Thread ]
It was a cold morning in the city of Not-Manila, the capital of Not-Philippines. The winter month had recently set, marking a new year. 2031 it was, yet everyone was still in their winter coats, still wearing those beanies and mittens to keep away from the cold, still searching for places of warmth along the journey to their destination. Spring may be arriving but unless it moved quicker many treated it as if winter had never left. Brave then are those that attempted to brace the cold as they walked along refurbished roads and cleaned streets lined with trees or decoration, between alleys and skyscrapers rebuilt. Under the shade of the skyway that spread across the entire city now. Some had some respite from the cold in the refurbished MRTs whose lines grew expansive and whose stations were rebuilt from the ground up. Others were not so lucky when they had to take the Modernized Jeeps and Tricycles that still roamed the streets. Everyone around Not-Manila was looking for a warm place to stay during the cold transition, the students of the Alterneo were no exception.
A new semester, a new set of classes, a new set of professors, a new set of readings to worry about. Everything was new this second half, yet somethings stayed the same. Despite the cold, the blonde-haired Freshman, who went by name Kotone Pangalinan, stood in the rather open MLP Basement.
Light winter clothing she wore, a long cardigan paired with a turtleneck and some slim fit jeans. Kotone held a particularly large hard case in one hand, her school bag slung over her shoulder. The freshman looked around and saw people passed to and from down the Yellow Brick Road, all shivering in the cold. A gentle breeze passed by, freezing people unprepared. She felt it too. Though instead of being deterred to do what she hoped to do, she felt more eager to try.
Taking a seat on the ground, she opened the hard guitar case that she carried. She crossed her legs and pulled out her guitar. Getting comfortable, the Freshman looked towards those who passed by. She took a deep breath, then exhaled. She then started plucking on the strings of the guitar. Sound resounded across the cold and somewhat silent brick road, then followed Kotone’s gentle voice. While others walked on, some slowed to at least listen. The rare one or two stopped to listen, embracing the cold to listen to her gentle tune. Kotone continued to play her tune despite the singular digit audience to pass the time.
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TheTragicOrpheus (8:26 PM)
Tunes.
It has been a while since she heard such familiar tunes. Leonor approached,
It wasn’t long that a familiar face approached, lured by the familiar sounds that resonated through the cold and quiet air. She normally wouldn’t stay out too long in this weather but finding the source of gentle music in this harsh cold weather overwrote the normal attitude.
Around the corner and into the empty space that was the basement, the little red-haired Freshman approached the singer from behind as quiet as she could. She leaned down and readied her hands.
“Surprise! Guess who!” Leonor exclaims, covering Kotone’s eyes from behind. She did little to cover her voice.
Three guesses Kotone, no cheating.
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MortyMan87 (8:26 PM)
Mardock was walking along the Yellow Brick Road when he saw Kotone in the basement. He walked on over to say hi to his friend.
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LikeSpringRain (8:28 PM)
Kotone stopped playing when her eyes were covered, though there was enough familiarity in the gesture and the voice to figure out who it was.
“I have one guess. An aspiring writer. A close friend. She goes by the name of Leonor.” Kotone replies. The blonde smiles. “It’s good to see you again Leonor. How’re your stories going?” She asks her friend. Since her eyes were covered, she couldn’t see her old friend Mardock approaching.
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TheTragicOrpheus (8:30 PM)
“And it’s good to see you too Kotone! It’s been too long!” Leonor replies. She then let the blonde see, but she quickly embraced Kotone from behind. “I couldn’t write much over the break. I realized really can’t write without your music playing in the background!” Leonor said, which was both true and false.
She looks up to see the only orange jacket wearing fellow in the Alterneo. “Yo, Orange.” She greets Mardock.
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MortyMan87 (8:26 PM)
Mardock was surprised to see someone sneak up on Kotone, but he sighed when he realized who it was. He approached and waved at Leonor.
“Hey there Little Red, Kotone.” Mardock greets, he then notices the guitar Kotone had on her. “I see you’re still playing the guitar even with the cold weather.” He said, smiling. He looked to Leonor. “…And I see you’re still slacking off from your writing.”
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LikeSpringRain (8:28 PM)
“I don’t know if a week is too long a time,” Kotone said, smiling at the exaggerations that Leonor was putting out. She would have commented but then she saw Mardock approach. She waved at him and smiled, glad to see him. Then she heard his comments and could hear him purposely tease and poke at the Little Red again.
Oh dear. Somethings were different, but most things stayed the same.
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TheTragicOrpheus (8:30 PM)
“Hey! I’ve been-” She was going to defend herself only to be interrupted by a sneeze. Leonor looked largely annoyed, pulling out a handkerchief and rubbing her nose clean. Unlike Kotone, she wore a lot more to keep from the cold. A coat, a scarf, mittens, even thermals, and yet the little Red’s face became a hint redder around the nose.
“As I was saying- *sniff* I’ve written over the break!”
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MortyMan87 (8:26 PM)
“I don’t know now if I should be worried about your writing, or you being sick before the sem even started,” Mardock replies. “I rather not hear that Alterneo’s ‘next greatest writer’ got struck down by the cold for a month because she didn’t bring enough jackets.” He jokes.
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LikeSpringRain (8:28 PM)
Ah, the two were at it again. Always were stirring up some trouble when around each other, but that was the dynamic of Red and Orange in the Alterneo. She worried about her friend getting sick if she stood outside with her, but she also remembered that Glass Hall and the other heated locations were packed to the brim with students like themselves. Not a great place to play music…
Then she had an idea.
“Oh, why don’t we go to the music hall at Aria?” Kotone suggested. “It should be heated, and there isn’t anyone there at this time. I can always ask the department to open the doors for us.”
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fruh then heard her phone ring, she looked around and saw that the light on the case of her flip phone was blinking. It was easy to find in the pitch black room since it continued to blink. She reached for it from the bed and checked the caller from the little screen in front. It was her uncle, she decided to pick it up.
“Umm…Fruh? Want to get some dinner outside maybe? I can meet you at the lounge. Just got off work.” Her uncle asked.
“Ah, no thanks Uncle A. I ate some of the bread in the cabinet earlier. I’m pretty full.” She said.
“Umm…Are you sure that’s enough? You’ve been in that room the whole day-”
“I’ll be fine uncle.” Fruh reassured her uncle, interrupting him. Her eyes were still on the screen of her laptop whose screen illuminated the room.
“O…kay then. Takeout then?” Her uncle asked, she hadn’t noticed that he lowered his tone.
“Umm…Nah I’m good. Just get back home safe okay uncle? Bye.” She told her uncle, she hung up before he could respond. She needed the time, and speaking of time she looked out of the window.
The night was still young. The clock nearby announced that it was 8 o’clock, it’s been an hour since she had an early dinner. If they planned to jam until the formal session ended then she had to find around 4 hours of music worth, which was easy to find since she spent all her time listening to music on the internet. Kotone’s Author, a girl named Fruh, opened a new tab and scoured the list of songs she had. Most were instrumental covers of songs she was familiar with, ranging from guitar to piano. This is something Fruh had come to expect from Kotone, every thread became a jam session if the blonde was around. It was a welcome change compared to the early dull days of writing Kotone.
She looked through the one of many albums of covers and instrumentals that she had, she took note of songs that gave a nice and cozy feeling to them, ones she would play in her room’s speakers whenever she was by herself in the apartment on the weekends. Fruh stared intently at the screen that almost illuminated her pitch-black room, searching for songs and hearing snippets when the undeniable sound of a notification interrupted the search. She checked to see if Mardock or Leonor had replied to the thread. Instead, it looked to be a chat message from one of the roleplay moderators. One of the people assigned to moderate the main story and to keep the common roleplayers in check. ‘Dungeon Masters’ of sorts, without the fancy title.
| Jake41ification: Yo Spring! How was your Friday night? Didn’t see you log in and you didn’t say anything. |
| Fruh smiled. Always the attentive one the lore moderator was. |
| LikeSpringRain: Sorry about that! I figured I might sleep at night for once, so I don’t sleep through the day like I always do. |
Fruh replied. She checked to see if the thread had been replied to by its participants. Mardock replied and so did Leonor, both wanted to go to the auditorium to Kotone. Fruh had hoped a fourth specific person was there to join them, a man named Morgan, but she didn’t fret too much of their absence. Fruh was typing her reply that would indicate a transfer of location when another message from the moderator.
| Jake41ification: Ah I see. A heads up next time would be appreciated! Also take care of yourself alright? |
| LikeSpringRain: Don’t worry I’ll be fine. Besides, I don’t really go out that often. |
| Jake41ification: I’ll take your word for it. |
Anyway, was just wondering if you need any help getting back into the main story? It has been a while since you joined in on a investigation, or so I heard.
Fruh paused when she saw the message. Tempted, she checked the other ongoing threads in the formal session. Lo and behold, the moderator team was hard at work accompanying the many roleplayers wanting to solve this ‘supernatural mystery of the Alterneo’ which this supposedly normal slice of life roleplay had suddenly created. Many were going around the Alterneo searching for clues, meeting at cafes in Not-Katipunan to discuss what was on their cork boards. Witnesses, events, scenes, subjects. Everyone had put on their hats and pulled out their magnifying glass to solve the supernatural occurrences. Though, not Fruh.
| LikeSpringRain: It has! But I think I want to focus on Kotone a bit more. Finish her story before jumping into this whole mystery thing. |
| Fruh was about to type her reply to Mardock and Leonor, but then the Jake41ification messaged her again. |
| Jake41ification: Kotone’s story isn’t finished yet? It looked quite finished. |
Fruh paused to think. True, Kotone has changed over the few months she has written her. But she wasn’t done yet, not in Fruh’s eyes. There was still one more part of the character she hasn’t ever revealed at all, one that she hoped to reveal now that Kotone has been established.
| LikeSpringRain: There’s one little thing I want to settle before she’s finished. I haven’t delved into her backstory at all. I was thinking that if I want to be happy with Kotone I have to delve into her backstory. |
| Jake41ification: Ah really now? Alright then. What are you planning to do if ever? |
| LikeSpringRain: That’s a secret~ |
| Jake41ification: Welp. Guess I’m going to have to watch it unfold along with everyone else. If you need any help just ask me or Aquilla alright? I’m just going to check on others. |
| LikeSpringRain: Alright! Take care! |
And that ended that conversation. Fruh looked back to the thread and to her character Kotone. She had to agree, Kotone’s story could be mistaken for being complete. The freshman had taken up music again and she was planning to transfer out of her management classes to the fine arts to pursue music further. She has changed compared to when she was first introduced.
What was missing then? The background of Kotone that only Fruh knew, the one that was in the word document that she then pulled up. Fruh figured that now Kotone had changed, this was the best time to start on it. Though, what she had planned was barebones thus far. She hadn’t really had the time to work on it fully since she was asleep most of the time on the weekends, since after all there wasn’t much to do in the apartment. The girl put a hand on her chin and pondered.
“Hmm…” Where to start? She already wrote down Kotone’s parents and the barebones of it, she already detailed in a way how Kotone seemed attuned to music. She played back before in Grade school and High school. What then could she do to link it to the character’s first demeanor, one that was broody and didn’t think of much. Fruh thought about it, she wondered what would make her character quite moody and quite dark. She pondered on the idea, trying to find ways.
A contest that she lost and was ashamed of?
Bullying?
Problems with self-worth?
Family problems maybe?
Fruh pondered on the topic, then wondering what she could make. She wanted to maybe plan for it tonight, or when she was free.
Ping.
But first, her thread. It looked like she was working past midnight if she wanted to get started to reveal her character’s backstory before the roleplay ends within the month. She technically had before tomorrow 8PM, before the time when everyone was active. And if she worked hard enough, she could get some sleep at around 4AM in the morning. She nodded in agreement with herself and decided to focus on the story, on the side she thought of what kind of backstory she could make.
She was oddly excited for this.
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