Chapter Text
A young girl stands alone in her room. It just so happens that today, the 14th of October 2021, is her 19th birthday. Though it was 19 years ago she was given life, it was only 6 years ago she was given a name.
Your name is ROSINE. As was previously mentioned, it is your BIRTHDAY. You are a CULINARY STUDENT, and quite a good one at that, and are very good with your hands, making most of your own clothes with SEAMSTRESSRY experience and COMPOSING MUSIC on various instruments, especailly your prized VIOLA. You have but one roommate, a faithful furry friend- FENNYL the rat. In your down-time you can be found PARTYING and PLAYING SOCIAL GAMES, with a special ability to douse any hot bodies in AMONG US.
What will you do?
Naturally, you take a look around your room, first stopping to admire the assortment of various garments strewn about currently. Right, you hadn't cleared up after collapsing half-way through making your outfit for your big night tonight. You spend a little time tidying this away, collecting them neatly in your tub of arts supplies and slotting it under your lovely half-bunk-bed. You clap your hands together pleased at your good work and now cleaned room.
The room itself is rather large for a single college-aged (and college-budget) occupant, but you'd never believe that looking at it; each wall is plastered in hangers, railings, and all the colourful clothes that adorn them, the lighting provided by a long string of remote controlled LED fairy lights currently set to a soft amber to wake you up for the day ahead. You have two desks, one mounted with various consortments of sewing equipment, and the other with an old, chittering personal computer, humming away on idle in protest of how long you left it on while napping. Sorry pal, nap time waits for nobody. A couple of bookshelves house a plethora of alphabetically and section-sorted books, ranging from whimsical fantasy novels to cookbooks!
You reach to the closest shelf and pick out a book at random, allowing Fennyl to guide your hand with shut eyes. You pick out "Composition Of The Spinal Chord: A Concrete Study On Miraculous Cases Of Patients Stealing Life Back". Amazing, not exactly a good omen for how today will go. Of course THIS was the one to get plucked out.
You swiftly deposit the book into its space on the shelf once more, hoping that is the last time it is ever pulled from there via unlucky ratty grasps. Fennyl issues a few apologetic squeaks you roughly translate as "My bad Rose I thought the spinal chord was a type of fruit!" Silly Fennyl. You whisk the protesting scamp back into your pocket and head over to the lone window to take a look outside. It's a busy morning, as one would expect from the city centre, with raucous shoppers heading to and fro while dodging the single-minded students slinking from one class to the next. Your campus spans a great distance over the city, and while this does make for great exercise, it invites a very particular kind of day of learning- one filled with awkward sweat stains and addled brains that simply cannot avoid fellow pedestrians on a commute.
Nominally, today you would usually be posted in the library, neck-deep in some french literature review on the history of chain restaurants and their growth in the industry. However as mentioned it is your birthday! And birthdays are NOT condusive to great learning. You also specifically requested that it not be condusive to your closest confidants such that you get to play this Birthday Video Game Sy has been harping on for the last month prior to your engagements this evening. Best to seperate work and play, after all. Or I guess play and more, different play. Whatever, it's your day.
It is while you are creepily people-watching that you hear a sound ping off on your computer- must be a friend pestering you! Your stomach begins to grumble, though, so you think it best to respond on your shitty mobile device while you head downstairs to cook some breakfast.
--- tarragonTyrant [TT] began pestering gnometasticGutterrat [GG] at 10:32 ---
TT: rosine happy birthday!
TT: youre old as shit now. thats so weird do you need help grocery shopping hows your back doing
TT: ok preemptive sorry that was mean please dont hit me at the party later
TT: you getting ready
TT: come on we gotta hop on the game soon sylleth is hype as shit. think theyve been waiting even longer than you are old haha
TT: which is old as fuck again for clarification
GG: Wow thank you my good friend for being so kind and supportive to me on my birthday of all days! ^v^/¯
GG: You truly are a light in my life that continues to guide me forward through rain, sleet, and storms.
TT: oh cmon rose you know you laughed i can literally hear you laughing through my screen
GG: Shut it and start counting your days dumbass. Well, day. Your about-ten-hours-until-I-kick-your-ass.
GG: "3"/¯
TT: sorry rosiiiiiiiine happy birthday you lovely ball of sunshine light of my life. if its any better i got you a present, will give it to you later
GG: Much better!
TT: ok but seriously youre ready for the game right
GG: Ugh yes! Well, sort of. I need to make breakfast (am doing so right now!), and I need to finish up my dress for tonight...
GG: Oh Kay you're going to love it, I'm adding little ornaments along the waistband but it's so flowy and elegant still! ^D^/¯
TT: breakfast you say. watcha making.
GG: No you can't come over idiot.
TT: noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
TT: but i swear ill do the dishes and even clean your room or something rosiiiiiiiiiiiine
TT: i need your food rose its so good please
GG: Absolutely not! TuT/¯ Last time you came over, yes you did the dishes, but you fell asleep halfway through the conversation! ON A PILE
OF MY GARMENTS SO I COULDN'T GET ANY WORK DONE!
GG: You can cook breakfast for yourself (at 11am MIGHT I ADD) like a grown man.
TT: fine but dont expect help when youre floundering with the controls later
GG: Oh give it a rest Kay.
TT: haha fine
TT: really though happy birthday, love ya rose
TT: sooooo anything nice from the family
GG: You bet. You are speaking to the proud owner of the Crockercorp Sew-o-matic 2048! *u*/¯
GG: My family sent it up to arrive for last week. I couldn't help myself and...
TT: lemme guess, you fell asleep on a PILE OF YOUR GARMENTS while trying it out for your new dress.
GG: v_v/¯
GG: I couldn't help myself Kadyn! The powerful motor! The adjustable stitch patterns!
GG: Don't get me STARTED on the automatic tension regulation!
TT: ok i wont
GG: XpX/¯
TT: still thats really awesome rose, im happy for ya.
TT: you still feeling rough not bein able to see em and all?
GG: I...
GG: I'm fine, dude, seriously. They're just back at home waiting for me. I am a grown woman!
TT: i know i know rose dont worry. youre so big and brave and strong and independent.
TT: in fact i think youre so brave youll let me not wear that stuffy suit to the party later!
GG: If you turn up in sweats I will gut you like a fish and make it look like an accident. That quite possibly is a job I am most suited for out of
anyone ever.
TT: geez... loud and clear ill wear the suit. gotta go, speak to you in a sec.
GG: No worries, catch you later! \OvO/¯
--- tarragonTyrant [TT] ceased pestering gnometasticGutterrat [GG] ---
What a piece of work that friend of yours is. Not that you mind exactly- the incessant jokes and japes are nice after spending so long cooped up. He did get in the way of your cooking though! Luckily, you catch the moment the bacon starts going beyond that exact crispness you like, trained into your calloused hands through determination, and lift it off the stove to join its family atop your novelty RATATOUILLE plate. You decide you can leave the various cooking utensils, pots, and pans for later; Kadyn did say he would wash up for you. Never said it was reliant on him getting food. Poor sucker.
You make your way back upstairs from your first-floor abandoned takeaway kitchen and settle down at your desk where your PC rests. Open on it are a few guides on instructions for your new sewing machine, various forums on what settings to use for best motor control on which mode, and a couple of YouScroll tabs dedicated to half-watched cooking podcasts. As you munch on your rather traditional breakfast comprised of eggs, bacon, and fruits on the side, you start to ponder the plans for the day ahead.
The main event, of course, is your blowout tonight! You plan to host everybody downstairs in the restaurant. The wide space of the cleared out dining room, combined with the cheap sofas and televisions that have made their way there, provide a stellar backdrop for a night of fun. If you all get hungry, you can go and cook together in a kitchen typically meant for a full team, and should you run out of booze, your trusty next-door convenience store is open 24/7. You check your desk drawers- cards for drinking games? Check. Your contribution to the powerpoint section? Check. Disco ball? Check X2 combo.
Finishing your plate with a hefty sigh, and sneaking (despite being the only person present) some nuts and fruits to Fennyl, you let yourself fall into your chair and relax. Before you can think of any of that, you will have to see to your plans to play some game with your closest friends! Apparently there is quite a bit of setup involved, so you think it wise to speak to your proprieter in this endeavour, one dear Sylleth. After all, they bought the game for you, sure, but it has yet to arrive in the mail... It is as you are thinking on this that the person in question lights up your dashboard.
--- cloakborneTutor [CT] began pestering gnometasticGutterrat [GG] at 11:54 ---
CT: Happy birthday, Rosine! I cannot believe it's truly been over a year since we met. Sorry it's somewhat out of the blue, my morning has
been... rather hectic, trying to wrangle together plans for the game. I just want you to know I truly value you as a dear friend, and I wish I
could thank you in multitudes of time for the way your reaching out to me saved me. :) As you know, I have gotten you a gift! It was ordered
far in advance, so please keep a listen for the door. I cannot wait to play the game with you all.
GG: Oh Sylleth that is so sweet TuT/¯ Seriously, thank you so much.
GG: You mean a lot to me as well! I can't wait to see you later at my party! I feel like we don't get the chance all that often vxv/¯
CT: Ah, yes. Of course I will... I'll be there as soon as I am able. Thank you for the invitation. It truly brightened my day to receive such a
well-thought out letter.
GG: Hehe no really it's fine, you don't need to keep saying thank you dude. Really.
GG: Do you know when the game's gonna arrive? ^o^/¯
GG: I still have some alterations to make on my outfit is all hehe. ^p^/¯
CT: Ah, I am so sorry, I had failed to consider your teeming schedule. Of course. It should arrive sometime soon; it states on the electronic
mail I received that it is estimated for 12:20. I'll inform you should this change. Apologies again.
GG: Syll, seriously. Chill out. Thanks for the heads-up ^o^/¯ I'll message when I get it.
CT: Naturally.
CT: ...Rosine?
GG: ? Yeah what's up?
CT: I will see you later, no matter what. Please do not fret that matter.
GG: Uh sure yeah! See you there! \0^0/¯
--- gnometasticGutterrat [GG] ceased pestering cloakborneTutor [CT] ---
That was weird. But that's not exactly uncommon at this point in your life, so you decide to take it in stride and pretend you didn't notice.
It takes some time before the doorbell rings, time you spend altering and adjusting the dress posted on your desk. A smidge off the shoulders, pull in the waist... As the final stitch is tied off, you are interrupted on your well-needed pride time. You leap from your chair and hop down the stairs, the spring in your step fading as you reach the bottom just to see the backside of a note being posted through! You pick it up and read it.
YOUR PARCEL COULD NOT BE DELIVERED. PLEASE SEE THE ADDRESS BELOW TO LOCATE YOUR LOCAL PICK-UP HUB:
The card goes on to list an address well-known to you- mainly due to the fact it is exactly one off of yours. Great. Some dunce courier has decided you aren't worth waiting the ten seconds for, and now you must pay the price. You retrieve your dress-up RAPIER and equip it to your RAPIERKIND STRIFE SPECIBUS to prepare to duel a most worthy of foes: the-bored-old-woman-that-works-in-the-post-office-next-to-your-apartment-that-won't-stop-bugging-you-for-a-duel. A retired full-time larper, she now spends her days harrassing the youth in an attempt to regain her former glory as Queen of Blood. What a stupid title, you think to yourself, trying to pretend to nobody in particular that you don't think that's fucking awesome for an old lady to do.
You head out the door and round the building, swinging through her own with a mighty bang!
Or rather, a pitiful ring, as the bell affixed atop the entrance alerts her to your presence. Even from across the tall, narrow rows of birthday cards and a plethora of canned meat brands, she spots you instantly, her gaze transfixed. You are pinned to the spot by the sheer gravitas of her stare; surely, she is far too prepared for battle when the weather is so nice. One should be prepared for a picnic, or even a visit to the local coffeehouse. But no, she pushes aside the customer she was tending to with enough force to send the poor bystander through the wall, and leaps over, towering over you at her mighty 5'3 frame! Her ragged clothes hang off her skin and bones, sporting a pale complexion reminiscent of a skeleton, and her deep-set eyes tell of a life well-lived. Or that she doesn't get enough sleep as the only shopkeep to a 24 hour store. Who's to say? She certainly isn't as she bears in, fists-a-flurry!
Rosine: SRIFE
> Aggrieve
You thrust your blunt weapon at your target (completely off-centre to her core) and strike true at the air. You had hoped she would play along and pretend this was a lethal blow. She did not.
> Alert
You dodge the lady's keen strikes while attempting to distract her with tales of how it's your """birthday""" and how """busy you are""". The unrelenting blows care not for your concerns.
> Aggrieve
As much as she didn't care to let it on, you see her shoulders drop ever-so-slightly! Her guard lowered with your canny wiles, your blade launches towards her heart, stopping just soon enough to lightly wind the 60 year old.
> Abscond
With old-bones out of commission for now, it is the perfect time to dash- you leap the counter, landing an acrobatic fucking pirouette off the shelves, grab your package, neatly tucked away in its usual hiding spot, and escape! After ensuring she was fine and just pretending, of course. She really is a piece of work. You can't help but smile a little at her as you leave, though; her tendencies keep you sharp, and frankly you have never seen her family visit. What's one sparring session a day to tend to a neighbour? You leave the shop re-invigorated, skipping the street and further the stairs (catching your foot on one and halfway fumbling up the rest). Before you can pop the disc into its drive, you see a notification from one Tyreal and one Kadyn! God you're popular. You decide to give Tyreal the time of day first while the game installs, benevolent friend you are.