WINTER COMMON ROOM - WEEK 2

[dormheads]

common room.

Similar to the rest of the architecture, the common room in the Winter Dorm is almost more reminiscent of a tea room or parlor that you would find in a manor. A chandelier hangs above, everything in the room glistening in the light that is both welcoming and just a tinge cold. Seating is available for a number of people to gather, adjusting each week to seemingly accommodate a little bit over the number of people assigned to the dorm. A piano doesn't sit too far, and sometimes when the room isn't too full, it's almost like a beautiful classical melody will begin to play itself to make up for the empty space.

Or... is that a showtune...?

Who can say?

This week, your requested revisions seem to be done. Exciting! Welcome to Kainé's Housé.

specialty room.

However on the first floor, there's an oddity amidst the serene architecture. One of the rooms opens to a Gaming Lounge, complete with screens that stretch across the entirety of one wall length-wise. Incredible comfortable chairs and couches sit opposite the screen, comfortable enough to steal you away from the outside world for hours upon hours. A series of gaming systems are hooked up to the screens, and a small tower of handhelds sit on a bookcase nearby. Every game you can think of is downloaded and programmed onto each device, though every time you start one up it seems to immediately pull up an otome game or farming simulator. The lighting system changes between a rainbow of colors, and one wall is lined with snacks that are a little less decadent but still just as delicious. The room will adjust based on the needs of the game you play, a wall spinning out to roll out DDR dance pads, virtual reality goggles, or whatever you could need for the ultimate gaming experience.

No, it isn't incredibly reminiscent of Dude Perfect's Game Time Lounge. You're imagining it. (But really, click the link for a better idea of what the room looks like.)

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Please use this as an open post for members of Winter Dorm. You may post top-levels whenever you'd like and go wild. A new post will go up at the start of each week.

Comments

[steelo]

What'd you ask her for specifically?

[ squints...] ...Cause there's nothing on this paper, man.

[chevaliered]

I didn't. She told me she could sell me information, so I went for it.

[ squints harder ] There really is. Like three pages of it, editor's notes and all.

[steelo]

I guess maybe cause you bought it, only you can read it? You're gonna have to tell it to us straight up. What'd you learn?

[chevaliered]

[ bleeeerrggh. ]

You want the summary or every gritty detail?

[steelo]

Summary first, but we're probably gonna have to do it bit by bit, too, if it's really important.

[ rip ]

[chevaliered]

It's a script for a show: Wiwaldi Academy: Four Seasons of Drama. With a massive "Cancelled" stamped across the front.

Talks about the Dorm Wars, the seasonal dorms, references the areas around the academy like The Capital, The City, etc, except they were meant to be named later on. There's a whole load of editorial notes at the bottom as well, from a school plotline being boring and needing more spice, to the cast being too small.

Even the dorm leader's names are here: "Four Dorms will open, led by the Chaddiest CHAD, the chatty SALLY, the brooding LUKE, and the overeager VIOLA."

1/2

[steelo]

[ at first this just gets a squint and a ]

Bro, what?

[steelo]

[ and then

just like really suddenly, as if this is the greatest realization of all time, very quietly to himself ]

Holy shit, are we actually in an isekai?

[chevaliered]

People keep saying that word and I still don't know what it means.

[steelo]

We gotta get you more genre savvy, man. We should have a movie night, I'll hook us up with a good isekai to watch. Something classic.

[ sweats ] I guess it counts as research now... wild.

[chevaliered]

If you say so...?

[ he'll just realise rean is someone's isekai self insert oc that way, that's all ]

Yeah. There's... more detail in there but essentially: what we're living now was an unused script of some kind. But specifically the unused script, here--

[ he reads some other parts out loud ]

"Wiwaldi Academy, a prestigious institution just on the outskirts of ***THE CITY, PUT A REAL NAME FOR THE CITY HERE LATER***, is a thriving institution that prides itself on its long history and grand ideals. Located an equal distance from ***THE CAPITAL, IT’S YOU KNOW THE CAPITAL***, ***THE NORTH??? YEAH THAT’S A DIRECTION COME UP WITH A NAME LATER***, and ***THE ISLANDS*** students come from not all over the country but all across the universe in order to attend."

"A janitor sweeps the fallen autumnal leaves, before being chased off camera by a swarm of bees. ***CONSIDER REPLACING WITH GEESE INSTEAD, BEES MAY BE NEEDED LATER***"

Like someone got their hands on the prototype, plus editorial comments and went for it. Also uh... someone kinda literal minded, maybe?

"EDITOR #4 FEEDBACK: What if the principal was a hot bear to appeal to the gays?". So there's that mystery solved.

[steelo]

[ he's just kind of nodding along and listening, slowly making more and more of a face

and then at the last part he just opens his mouth and closes it, and then puts his hand on his own face. ]

...bruh.

[ LIKE WHAT ELSE DO YOU EVEN SAY TO THAT ]

[disreguarded]

[she's just DEADEYEING THIS]

Oh, hey, I hate this. What a wonderful thing to wake up to.

[refate]

Well that explains the bullshit names of locations.

[refate]

[ CLOSES HIS EYES ]

[steelo]

[ DONT CLOSE YOUR EYES AT HIM OUR THEORIZING WAS RIGHT ]

[refate]

[ THAT'S WHY HE'S CLOSING HIS EYES, BECAUSE HE HATES THIS.

softly, but with feeling: ] I want this to be a non-VR issekai, no matter my specialization. Please let that be the case.

[disreguarded]

A what.

[steelo]

It's a genre of anime and manga - well, and light novels, and games, too. Basically, somebody gets dragged into a fictional universe and has to solve a bunch of problems in it, and then they get to go back home when they're done. It's kinda overdone but there are some good classics, if you really are interested in it, I can rec you some stuff...

[ .... ]

But, uh, if we're in one, it's probably more important that we figure out how to get out of it.

[disreguarded]

[a long pause, as she looks down at her phone, texting, and then she shows ichiro a text from molly that says:]

We got a note this morning in our lockers.

THE MOON IS A GIANT GOOSE EGG.

Or something like that.

[commandertoolbelt]

How is this news by now, dude?

[steelo]

It's not! I mean - shit, that's what I was telling myself when we first got here, you know? Time stops, you do a bunch of shit in another world, you come home. But that was straight up just trying to figure out how things worked.

[ he gestures at the paper ] And now that thing's got a whole fourth wall. Dude. Like, legitimately, getting sucked into a whole ass fictional universe. I didn't think the fictional part was legit!

[superjock]

[whispers:]

What's an isekai?

[chevaliered]

[ whispers back: ]

Sounds like some guy's power trip escapism fantasy?

[superjock]

Well.

It's a bad fantasy and they should feel bad.