FALL COMMON ROOM - WEEK 5

[dormheads]

common room.

The common room of the Fall Dorm has soft, dimmer lighting; plush carpet over wood; and several comfortable chairs and sectionals. A few big windows overlook the dormitory area of campus, but there is also a single, cozy bay window on one side.

A television and bluetooth surround-sound are here for Fall students who are more inclined to be tech savvy. In the cabinets under the entertainment stand are an assortment of board games, but the television does have a generic "free tv" app for shows and music.

Above the enormous center fireplace is a moody painting.

This week, there's something else.

specialty room.

Through a door on the first floor, there is an antigravity room. Stepping just a few feet through the doorway will lift everyone up into the air. The seating and most of the rest of the room remains somehow rightfully in place on the floor and will not move. Students, however, can grab pillows and blankets, cups or bowls, or other small items to bring into the air with them.

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Please use this as an open post for members of Fall 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

[lifeless]

[mabel....]

Do you regret purchasing that power from Sally?

[foreversweaterweather]

No! Of course not! It's...it... Using it was the first time I managed to actually do something helpful here!

I just wish everyone else saw it that way too...

[lifeless]

I think some people thought it was fine. [we're thinking of caleb and rita] But are you really okay with it? Being happy for three days means you'll be sad for the rest.

[foreversweaterweather]

But...I wanna help fix things here! And I can't do that if I'm sad all the time!

[lifeless]

[she eats another fry. her tone is matter-or-fact,]

You can still do things even if you're sad. Sadness can be a strength too. [...] I know Lila and Caiman meant a lot to you -- and that you don't want to see more people dead. It's fine to be sad about that. Being sad about it means you'll remember them, and want to do right by them.

[foreversweaterweather]

[ ...she turns away and jams her head back into the burrito. ]

...no. Being sad just means I'm gonna cry and be helpless until everybody hates me.

[lifeless]

You can still do those things and think about your friends.

[foreversweaterweather]

Uh-uh. I tried doing that, and it didn't work! I just made everything worse.

[lifeless]

And that's why you used your vouchers for that power?

[foreversweaterweather]

Mmhmm. If...if me being sad just gets in everyone's way and makes things worse, then...me not being sad should fix it!

...I thought it worked great, but...now people keep saying not to use it, and Nier kicked me out of summer...

[lifeless]

I see. I can see how that's confusing.

[damn we're all just really bad adults]

Forget about what everyone else told you for a second. What do you think your brother would say? You're close to him, right?

[foreversweaterweather]

My brother...? [ no one's ever brought up that angle to her. she peeks out of the blankets and pauses, thoughtful. ]

He'd...he'd tell me that...even if stuff is scary, we'd always have each other to help and make things better.

[ ...and then she buries her face in the blankets again, sobbing uncontrollably ]

But he's not here!!

[lifeless]

[better tears than REPRESSION, MABEL!!!

either way Manwol will wait it out patiently,]

He's pretty smart. Not everyone thinks that, or can even do that.

[foreversweaterweather]

[ sounds fake, but okay. JK, NOT OKAY!!!!!

she sniffles ]

He'd be so much better at all this stuff...he's the smart one, he's so good at solving mysteries and stuff.

[lifeless]

What kind of mysteries? Murder mysteries?

[foreversweaterweather]

Uhhh...wax statue murders, sometimes? Mostly just...monster mysteries...or like, conspiracy stuff, I guess.

[lifeless]

Like those ghosts that possessed you at the grocery store?

[foreversweaterweather]

Uh-huh...he's the one who figured out how to defeat them.

[lifeless]

So you've been with him for just about everything.

[foreversweaterweather]

Uh-huh...everything! Our whole lives!

[lifeless]

You must have lots of experience then. Conspiracy things, mysteries... Even if your brother was the one solving them, you were right there watching him do that, weren't you?

[foreversweaterweather]

I guess...but I was never any good at that part of it. He's always been the smart one, and I'm the silly one.

...although lately, I'm not any good at that either.

[lifeless]

You don't have to be good at anything. You can just do what you like. That's what I do.

[foreversweaterweather]

But...I wanna help fix stuff! And bring people back!

[lifeless]

Then you can do those things.