OOC- Oh okay. Just being played like a sucker. Well all right as long as I'm not dying yet. The cafe was too crowded to eat there, most likely because it was the first establishment so the two went back to their rooms to eat. The walk back was a very awkward silence. Elizabeth didn't say much, but somehow, Allison thought she was annoyed with her. Well I guess I don't blame her. I did end up waking way late and taking a bit of time in the shower. Though granted I was up all day and night yesterday just about. Well not that anyone really knows save for those that got the e-mail. Unfortunately, she still wasn't quite up to speed with the e-mail, unlike Harley who seemed to be on top of everything. And as much as she would like to disregard the double entendre of that statement, it was probably true. Allison wasn't blind. She knew Harley was that kind of guy and she wholeheartedly believed that it was a miracle that they became friends in the first place. When they almost arrived at the room, Allison told Elizabeth she had somewhere to be and bid her goodbye with a smile. In reality, she just didn't want to go back to the room and eat in that silent atmosphere she knew would happen if they were both in the room at the same time. Allison managed to find a quiet place to eat at the dining hall and texted Harley out of curiosity and boredom. And loneliness. Hey. You never told me what had happened. Want to meet some time soon? If she didn't get a reply some time soon, she would just call it a day and go to sleep.
Allison followed behind Elizabeth as she seemed to know exactly where to go for their meal. Unfortunately, by this point it had started to get a bit late so it seemed like breakfast would be brunch. Finally she noticed their destination, Ishmael Coffee. Ooooohhhh... thought Allison in awe as her eyes widened a bit. She had always seen a few establishments of this chain cafe but she had never actually step foot in one since she was not much of a coffee person. In fact she didn't really know how to drink coffee, though she always loved the smell of it. Coffee always smelled fantastic. Not to mention, word on the street was, this was the original cafe for this chain. When they got inside and waited in line, Allison started looking at the menu trying to figure out what would be good as brunch. She had plenty of money and so when Elizabeth asked her to pay for her, well, "What? Of course! It's absolutely no problem. An espresso and a croissant? Sure thing." she replied happily. She figured she would also get some kind of pastry and have a latte or something that didn't really have coffee in it, since she didn't know what was sweet. Allison hated bitter stuff.
OOC- Oh shiz pissing Liz off. Situation dangerous. Abort! Abort! Abort! "Thank you so much! And yes I do have money." Allison replied as she quickly toweled herself off before using the school provided hairdryer in the bathroom. Luckily so because she had forgotten a hairdryer and even if she had brought one, she didn't really want to burden Elizabeth anymore. The day was starting to turn out pretty bad. After 10 minutes, her hair was dry enough. It wasn't dry enough to go to sleep in or anything but since she had the whole day ahead of her for it to dry, it seemed fine. Though Allison was a bit worried about the cold. Would her head freeze? Eh I'll worry about that later. Elizabeth's been waiting long enough. she thought distressed as she dressed hurriedly in jeans and a white turtleneck. She normally tied her long hair in a low ponytail, despite it being so long, but for purposes of drying, she decided to just comb through her hair a bit and let it be free for today. Allison hoped the wind wouldn't get too crazy. Pocahontas made it look far too glamorous when in real life, wind blowing your hair does not look that good. At all. Whatsoever. Oh I'll deal with it somehow. Allison finally left the bathroom clean and comfortable and ready for the day. "Okay sorry for the wait. Let's be off now." she smiled trying to hide her embarrassment while putting on her jacket and bag over the jacket.
Allison tried not to immediately look nervous, but her smile was starting to twitch before freezing on her face. This roommate of hers seemed extremely intimidating. Thus, it was a great surprise to her that Elizabeth had asked her whether they wanted to eat breakfast together. Especially since she seemed to have disturbed her in the middle of reading. Oh the days when Allison used to read. Good times a long time ago. Regardless of how nervous she felt previously, Allison's face brightened up a bit in shock. "Wait, really? Oh sure! Just uh...sorry about this, but I need to take a shower first. If you want to go ahead of me, I'll try and meet you at the dining hall...er...wherever you want to go to breakfast. Sorry, I'll try and take a fast shower. Should be no longer than 20 minutes. Thanks!" she replied excited and already unpacking her spare clothing from the hot springs trip and rushing into the bathroom, afraid that this will put a kink in Liz's plans. Though she would never say that nickname to her face. Least not yet if they were still this far apart and cold to each other sort of. Maybe they would warm up to each other later and it would be a happy roommate relationship. The hot water was soothing, but Allison tried not to get caught up in it and end up staying in the shower for longer than necessary. She washed her hair and her body and turned off the water then searched around for a towel. Only to remember she forgot to get it from her backpack. She facepalmed deeply ashamed at how much of a careless idiot she was. "Um....Elizabeth? Elizabeth....uh...could you....get my towel...from the bag....I...uh...forgot to...get it....sorry....um....please?" she called out, her voice echoing slightly in the bathroom. Allison hoped she could hear her. In her experience whenever she thought she was loud and shouting, most people would not really hear her since she would actually be speaking somewhat softly. Bonding time. Right. Diving into the Ocean of Awkward. She desperately hoped Elizabeth wouldn't hate her and think her incompetent after this. Oh who am I kidding, even my parents know that.
Allison was sort of a heavy sleeper sometimes, but other times, the slightest sound would stir her. Thus, her eyes immediately opened at the sound of the other bed shifting followed by the shower. Wh...wha? Oh...looks like the roommate's awake. Uh...should I get up now? But that'd be kind of awkward wouldn't it? Once the shower was done, Allison still hadn't come to a complete decision to get up and introduce herself, so she pretended to be asleep as Elizabeth went about her business until she left the room. Unfortunately, pretending to sleep turned into actual sleep soon after and Allison didn't wake again until the sound of books hitting the table shocked her awake with a slight twitch and her eyes opened again. Wha? What happened? Felt like a few seconds ago when I closed my eyes. All right come on now. She probably saw and heard you twitch, just get up you lazy bum. It's going to be awkward either way just dive into it. You practically live in awkardness anyway. Yawning and stretching a bit, Allison finally sat up over the side of the bed, her feet feeling the cold wooden floorboards. Her back was still to her roommate and she drew in a breath before slowly exhaling and wearing a slight awkward smile as she turned around to get a good look at her roommate. Diving in it is. "Hey there. Um...I noticed you were asleep when I finally went to bed last night so I tried to be quiet about it. Hope I wasn't too loud. Hehe...um...uh...so...I'm Allison. Guess we'll be rooming for a time, huh?" she said keeping her awkward grin plastered to her face. Oh my god you dork, no shiz you're rooming together. Jesus Christ. God I'm such an idiot. Allison hoped her smile wasn't that awkward, but no guarantees.
Allison and Harley had no luck finding John, and it was starting to get a bit worrisome. Luckily for them, it seemed someone else had found him and...did the dirty deed, sparing the two of them. It was for the best really, Allison had a thing against all bugs, as well as her brother sometimes when he annoyed her, but she could never think of actually causing serious harm to someone, much less kill them. And though there were times she could feel a serious kind of darkness stirring within Harley that scared her, she didn't want him to go down such a treacherous road. For some reason or other, she felt obligated to help him. Maybe he was just using her for his own personal gains. If that was the case, at least she was being useful for something for once. Oh come on stop it. He's not that terrible, right?...right? Eh whatever, it's been a long nearly 48 hours. Thus, Allison told Harley goodbye and that they could talk later about whatever was bothering him before she left in the direction of the girls' dorms. When she got to her room, she was surprised to see her roommate had arrived and was already asleep. Ooh better be quiet. I'll take a shower in the morning. It was too late today and she didn't want to wake her roommate. That'd be a bad start. So she grinned and beared being filthy as she changed into sleeping pants and went to sleep almost immediately in the comfortable beds.
25 The two made a decision and hurrying to the west they checked the Faculty of Student Life out. Allison hoped they found him soon. She didn't necessarily want to kill him, but they would try and figure out waht to do after finding him. "Let's just find him first." she replied as they ran in search of the ever elusive John. She also hoped he wasn't some place impossible to reach, like a belltower or some such. That'd be crazy.
38 Allison never managed to talk to Harley all night and ended up being awake throughout the night until the next day. For some reason it seemed she was running on some sort of slight adrenaline and felt completely fine. She had explored a bit more of the academy before deciding to go to her dorm to drop of her backpack of stuff. It was starting to feel exceptionally heavy and when exploring, having unneeded weight was annoying. Feeling lighter after parting with her belongings, Allison tried to remember the events of last night. She had tried calling Harley and then...there was a great gust of wind and it began to storm. Then it all suddenly stopped. It reminded her of the freak earthquake and eclipse. At that moment, she heard a great voice in her head informing her of a mission of sorts. Is this...C? Oh...wow...it's...really real. Wait. Of course it's real! Ah then...I need to...search for this guy. John? John who? So many Johns in the world...I need to ask someone. Harley! Harley ought to know. Allison quickly whipped out her phone as she texted Harley as fast as she could. Hey dude. You heard the voice. Who's this john person? And what's he look like? Do i know him? While waiting for an answer, she decided to head to the Crescent Valley Theater as she assumed that maybe the guy liked plays? Allison also assumed that if Harley couldn't give her information then this C probably could. Maybe it'd be like Hot and Cold.
Whoa geez dude. I had no idea. Sorry I didn't do anything. I've gotten really out of touch with KHV. But I hope that you'll feel better soon.
"Ah all right. Thanks anyway, Cherno." replied Allison sadly as she turned away from him. Deciding that this was an important moment, Allison decided to stop being lame and just call Harley asking where he was. "Hey, where are you? I'm trying to find you. Are you all right?" she said into the voicemail. It was then that her stomach growled and she realized she never had dinner. Or lunch really. Or breakfast. Brunchinner it is. She then looked around her to see if she could find a sign pointing to a restaurant. Before she had known it, it had been early day again. A full all nighter. Her parents would not be that happy. Actually, she was surprised they hadn't called her yet. Maybe they figured out I was staying at the dorms for today because of the backpack.
Allison didn't get a chance to respond back to Harley's reply as she too had arrived at the academy a little after their train did. Hurriedly getting off and running to the entrance, she caught them all in the grand reception building. The place was like freaking Dogwarts. And she didn't even read Barry Motter. Still though, she was in a hurry. It sounded like things went way south according to Harley's text. He said he needed a friend. She was a friend. She would find Harley and be a good friend. Unfortunately, Allison had no idea where he or Quintus were. They could be anywhere at this point because of how late she was. A person could disappear in a few seconds. They can be long gone in a few minutes. Looking around and rushing, she tried to calm down and think, but this was a new place. She had no idea where to start. Ask someone. What? Ask that guy there. Your 'rival'. It was then that Allison spotted Cherno sitting in one of the cushy chairs in the place. If she went to ask him where Harley went, that would possibly be the first time they had ever actually interacted. She liked to think of herself as an intellectual "rival of sorts" to the guy when in reality, she was no such thing. At all. In the slightest. She had tried to get his inside history jokes and stuff, but she never could. She just didn't have the brains. Not to mention the courage to even announce this "rivalry". Probably for the best since it was so ridiculously silly and old news by this point. That was all last year. Finally approaching Cherno, and noticing that he looked extremely worn out, but already having made her presence known poised for a question she couldn't back out of, Allison asked him, "Sorry 'bout this, Cherno, but do you know which way Harley went?...with Quintus?"
Her train had finally arrived and she got on silently wearing her usual stoic face, disappointed that she couldn't have train shenanigans and make practically 10 new friends in a day. But alas. It was not meant to be. Maybe later. I hope. she sighed as she sat down, moving her bulging backpack to her lap. It would be a bit of time before she arrived at the academy. At best, she'd get there earlier than everyone else. At worst, she'd be later than everyone else and would have to play catch up for a little while longer. Bored again, Allison decided to text Harley again, since her anger had dissipated by now. So dude. Whatever happened with quintus? You never did tell me. Also how's the ride? Making new friends? I hope you're not disturbing anyone. Having sent the text, she wondered about her roommate situation. She hoped they would be nice. And clean. And not mind her laziness, but that may be asking a bit too much. She just hoped they weren't too crazy or a *****.
Shortly after musing on those depressing thoughts and memories, a series of strange events happened. First there was an earthquake which was pretty surprising, followed by an extreme heat wave which was all right at first since it was previously cold, but it got a bit much. Allison had gone to her bedroom window and looked outside to see the strangest sight she'd ever seen. Global warming had gotten pretty bad screwing up the weather, but having a heat wave with snow and rain with the sun out? Now only a miracle could cause something that strange to happen. The next thing gave her a chill of fear. Everything had suddenly gone dark, and when she tried to find the sun again, she noticed it was a solar eclipse. Now that was pretty cool since that barely ever happens, but somehow it felt more like a demonic entity was coming from the darkness, rather than a natural phenomenon. Not to mention it was so much darker since it had happened during the day, none of the lights were on. Then it seemed as soon as the world had gone dark, it became light again. Allison froze and stayed where she was for a moment, blinking in confusion and wondering if all of that had really just happened. Then common sense and courtesy kicked back in again and she went to check on her parents. "<Are you all right?>" she asked them. "<Yeah, everything's fine. Thank you. How nice of you to check on us, sweet daughter~ <3>" her mother replied. Allison sighed in annoyance but was glad that everything seemed fine for the most part. Luckily the earthquake hadn't damaged them much. A couple minutes later, Allison received a text from Anthony somehow asking if everyone was all right. Confused, but appreciating the gesture, she texted him back saying she was fine. Hero huh? How cute. Wait who's Anthony again? Well he's obviously on the e-mail. I guess Harley should know. He knows everything for some reason. Speak of the devil, and the devil appears, shortly after she had replied to Anthony, Harley texted her about a trip to visit the academy happening now. THE HELL IS THIS?! OH GOD I'M GOING TO BE LATE. WHY DID HE TEXT ME SO LATE, THAT ASSHOLE. She didn't have much time to pack anything, but she hadn't exactly unpacked her stuff from the hot springs trip, so she just grabbed the backpack and quickly told her parents she was going out with friends. Hurriedly getting into her car, she shifted it into gear and drove out of the neighborhood speeding up to 5 over the speed limit, but pushing it occasionally to 6 or 7 over. She was in a hurry, but she still didn't want a ticket. If they were all on a train from Coy City to Brookridge, then she could have caught them at Frontier station had she had more time. Quickly parking in the metro parking lot, she hurriedly bought the next ticket and waited for the train. While buying the ticket, Allison realized that there was no way she could get on the same train as everyone else. She would have to meet everyone at the academy. No train shenanigans for her. Angrily, she texted Harley back. Dude thanks for the late message. Text me when you guys are at the academy. I have to meet you guys there. And i'm older than you, asshole.
Allison got up and went downstairs to see what there was for breakfast. Nothing much. Well nothing much to her. She had come across her parents and after greeting them they drew her attention to a letter they had received. Something from school. It remained unopened, since it was kind of for her. She went to the letter and after a few minutes of trying to open the letter without the top ripping, Allison opened it up and read it. Brookbridge Academy? Her parents asked what the letter said. She explained that she was to go to Brookbridge Academy since the school got flooded. They were delighted as Allison went back upstairs to her room. Brookbridge. Technically, Allison lived in Brookbridge and probably would've gone to Brookbridge Academy had it not cost some money as well as requiring a test. Those who passed the test were eligible to be granted a full ride scholarship and not need to pay. Though the acceptance pool was quite large, there was still a lot of competition. Not to mention the test was very similar to an IQ test. Allison had some beef with that place obviously. Before she had gone to Bellhurst High, she had made some friends in junior high that were all also Chinese. Thus, in a way they were all "friends of sorts" since their respective mothers all knew each other. Except one was not a "friend of sorts". She was a best friend. Clarise was a friend that share all of Allison's interests, except she was far prettier and talented than her. Clarise was an artist, a writer, a dancer, and a gamer. She was funny and smart and sociable. She was truly a great friend and it was no wonder that she was also good friends with the other kids that Allison filed as "friends of sorts". They were all also quite smart and true Asians. However, Allison was not. At the middle school she had gone to, they were all in higher class levels than she was. They were in "gifted" classes, while she was in "honors" classes. Thus, even though Clarise was a good friend, she never could understand or hang out with her enough to further cement their friendship. Their friendship was sturdy as a string. Easily cut. And it was cut when they all took the test for Brookbridge's scholarship. They all received it and entered Brookbridge for their high school, except for Allison. She didn't make it and was forced to go to Bellhurst instead. Not that there was anything wrong with Bellhurst it was just seen as less...presitigious to the critical eyes of the crows that made up the Asian mother gossip circles. She hated how word spread fast through the moms. And she hated hearing about other family's Asian success stories about their kids. Oh so and so got into medical school, oh so and so did this and that. Allison didn't need to hear any of this crap, but her mom always told her anyway. She never outright asked the question, but Allison could tell what it was that she was wondering. Why can't you be like them? Why can't you make your parents proud? "Heh." smirked Allison as she lay back on her bed remembering and pondering all this. Well she could stop worrying about that. Her days were numbered after all. No more need to worry about any of that crap with bringing honor and glory to her parents. And it wasn't like Clarise and Allison stopped being friends all of a sudden, they just weren't as close anymore. And to think I used to grieve the day our friendship would dissolve into something like this. Well it's happened already and I don't feel much of anything. Going to Brookbridge probably wasn't going to be that bad, she probably wouldn't even see any of those people, the place was so huge. And they probably wouldn't even recognize her. It had been a few years after all. However there was this dorm situation. Should she stay there in the dorms? Or commute? Commuting would be a pain, and Allison got the feeling that her parents would want her to really experience the setting. Guess I should hope for a good roommate.
In the end, Harley never texted her back so Allison was forced to assume that things were all right. Everything would always be all right. She was always all right. However, only a few close friends would know that that wasn't always true. They would be able to tell when she was lying to others about being all right. She smiled a small sad smile thinking on the many times that she lied to people. One time she even had a witness, a friend she was walking with through the halls of school as others that she knew greeted her and asked how she was. "Look at the people I'm lying to!" she had said jokingly to him. Still, for now things were relatively okay. Sort of. Allison still hadn't really thought about the whole "100 Days Left to Live" thing. Maybe she never would. It was easier to just live, but time also passed far faster that way, and she wasn't sure if she wanted that to happen or if she wanted to grab and hold onto each remaining day left than just speed through the rest. Well what can I do right now? Nothing, since it was night now. Another wasted day like all the others. The internet sure took up a lot of her remaining time, not that sh minded much. Allison went to sleep relatively content and despite the events that transpired yesterday, still slept soundly, refusing to think too much about the deaths.
Do you know what AC3 stands for?
Allison woke up still feeling kind of jetlagged and tired, but she was starting to get used to the current day and night cycle of home. Since she never got a day to rest and be lazy on account of the sudden hot spring trip that ended up with death, Allison took this day to be lazy and just watch Utube videos to catch up with her subscriptions and browse her favorite webcomics for updates. Her parents especially didn't mind this as they were shocked that such a tragic thing could happen at the resort while she was staying there for a night. She was almost afraid that they'd be too afraid to let her go out anymore, but thankfully it didn't come to that. At least she hoped so. That wouldn't be cool. While she was bumming out, she hoped she would receive a text from Harley soon or she would text him first asking how he was. Of course, it would be a while later before she actually acted on this decision because the internet just makes time pass by so very quickly. Hey dude. How's Quintus? And how are you? Also do you know where Heidi went? She hoped she would get to see the girl some time soon. She even asked her mom for a spare pair of gloves to "give to someone" and she allowed it. Though it looked like Allison would have to always keep that pair and the bandages on her at all times from now on in case she encountered the girl again. She hoped she was all right. It didn't look like she was doing so hot the last time she saw her.
Allison was a bit confused when Harley got a hold of her and told her to pack up. She noticed immediately that something was wrong with him as she saw Quintus faint. Everything was moving so quickly all of a sudden, that she almost forgot about her task she set for herself. That was fine though, the next time she saw Heidi, she'd give her the bandages. When they had gotten back to their room to pack, Allison was slightly annoyed that after unpacking everything, she had to pack everything back up. She should've succumbed to laziness. However, now wasn't the time. Allison packed up everything as fast as she could and went with Harley back to his car. He drove extremely fast, and Allison was almost scared had she not known that Harley was a very trustworthy driver. Not a single word was spoken on the hour drive back. Harley dropped her off at her house, and she barely had a chance to say thank you and goodbye before he drove off. He seemed very worried about his cousin. He had told her he'd text her later about the situation with Quintus. She sighed as she unpacked her things and took a shower, thinking on things before drying her hair and laying on her bed. If she thought about the deaths too much, she would cry. She knew this, so she tried not to. The last thing Allison thought before drifting to sleep was how she hoped that Quintus, Heidi, and Harley would be all right.
Madeline and Temperance. Two people she didn't know, but could have known eventually had this not happened. They may have even been friends of sorts. Or just straight up enemies. But now Allison would never know. Now they were just nothing. Nothing more than names to her, which was unfortunate. "That's a nice name, Heidi," she replied a bit absentmindedly before turning to look at her more closely. It was then that Allison noticed her strange behavior again. The girl had hid her hands in the oversized sweatshirt, but she kept scratching. Allison was starting to get a bit disturbed and didn't know what to do. She was also about to try and stop her from scratching and hurting herself, but Harley beat her to it. It was rather nice to see Harley's behavior. It had been a long while since she had seen him be so kind to another human being genuinely. She smiled a small smile before locking eyes with Heidi again. "I'm going to ask the front desk to see if they have some bandaids and maybe if they have an extra pair of gloves to spare for you. Though that might be a long shot," she said softly as she took her leave. Sure enough, they had a first aid kit back there and gave her however many number of bandaids she said she'd need. And Allison figured she'd need a lot. However she had no gloves to give. That was fine. Maybe eventually she'll come across some gloves and give them to Heidi.
Allison looked in the direction where she heard her name come from. There, at the entrance to the blocked off host springs was Harley. Why hadn't she seen him before? How could she have missed him? She groaned in annoyance at herself and made her way down the remaining stairs. As she meandered her way through the crowd, she dropped plenty of 'pardon's and 'excuse me's before finally arriving where Harley was. "So what's going on? Who died? And how?" she asked him. Since he seemed so keen to play detective. It was then she noticed two other kids that seemed to be with Harley. A boy with heterochromia which she took a second to marvel at his pretty eyes. So cool. She had never met anyone with heterochromia before. She then looked to the girl. Oh, it was the girl from before. "Hey there, I didn't get your name before, I'm Allison," she said with a smile.
