persona_uni | (no subject)

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a. A day in the life

Welcome to yet another day at Vanderhall University. The sun is up, the trees are green, and it’s a little cold but not all that bad. Go to class, or don’t! It’s your day, to do as you want on this perfectly normal college campus that has nothing wrong with it. Clearly.

b. When the clock strikes twelve...

It’s college. Almost no one is in bed by 10, 11, or even midnight. Currently it’s 11:59, and many students (and non-students) are out and about. Some are at the library, working on late night projects or cramming for a test (or several). Some are probably a little, or more than a little, drunk, wandering around with friends or alone. A few might be in their dorms, watching Netflix or just trolling the internet.

But then the clock strikes midnight...

...and suddenly, everything changes.

That computer you were working on, or that phone midtext? Shuts off. It looks like it’s died, but looking around... no technology around is working. Worse, any people you were talking to, or who were even nearby, are now replaced by coffins according to their height. The moon hangs pale and large in the sky, and the entire world is cast in an eerie green light.

Anyone who’s left awake will have maybe a few minutes to take in their surroundings and panic as a result before something else appears. No matter where they are, they will attract creatures like nothing they will have seen before. Even though they’re completely foreign, anyone with a work sense of self-preservation will have their instincts screaming one thing at them.

Run.

[ooc: The game is open! Please feel free to make a top level for one or both prompts; tag around and have fun!]

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"Do you think dying one way is better than another? Dying is dying." They reach the shed, no Shadows behind them for now. He gestures for Alec to come in as he holsters the gun at his side. He rubs at his jaw.

"If this is like before, we've only got to wait this out about forty minutes."

“Sure. One way is going to end up with my name in the paper, and in another I’ll just be quietly forgotten.” Although maybe he’ll get his name in the paper, no matter what, given who he is. He’d rather not have to think about that aspect of things, though.

Alec stands beside this other man, and stays where he’s told, but his eyes also watch the gun as it’s holstered, more anticipatory than afraid.

"But you'll be dead. Why does it matter?" He is not unaware of the strangeness of this interaction, discussing philosophy with a stranger while he barricades them into a shed, pushing a table up against the door.

"I don't know if this will stop them," He admits. The Shadows don't seem completely tangible, it's possible they won't be stopped by walls or anything at all.

Richard doesn't miss much. He sees Alec's eyes follow the gun, but misinterprets the meaning. "There should be something in here, if you want something to protect yourself with. A knife, maybe." He does sounds hesitant, given their conversation so far, but if they get separated he wants to give the student a chance.

“What does anything about my life matter, considering that I’m going to die some day?” This seems like a perfectly reasonable conversation to be having at the moment, but then Alec doesn’t really care about whether or not this helps their survival odds and he’s also quite content to listen to the sound of his own voice.

“I don’t fight.” It’s said with a raise of his hand, as if shooing away the notion of arming himself.

"It matters while you're alive." Death isn't a problem for Richard, but there seems no reason to choose it over living.

He nods, shrugging his jacket further forward to cover the gun. It makes sense. Nothing about the student's lean frame suggests that he favors any form of physical activity. Then again, that isn't uncommon among the university students.

“All the more reason not to be.” Alec isn’t a very self-contented sort of person, in any manner, and he’s also sure that him living isn’t accomplishing anything. If he weren’t such a coward, this wouldn’t still be a matter of debate.

“Do you think that if we stay in here we’ll be safe?”

That particular thread of conversation seems to have ended, and Richard is thankful for it. He could try and convince Alec of the merits of life, but it seems he would be fighting a losing battle.

Richard looks out one of the windows, frowning. "Well, they haven't found us yet. Hopefully it stays that way - I'm not convinced a door or a window will stop them."

He turns back to the student. "My name is Richard, by the way."

“Alec,” he says. There’d only been a first name, so he didn’t have to think about whether or not he should say Campion. Relatively few people recognized the name as being associated with the Tremontaine financial empire, but relatively few is still more than Alec generally wants.

“How will we ever pass the time?” By talking? Probably not by making polite chit-chat. Alec’s not sure he can stomach such a thing.

"Unfortunately I don't keep a copy of Monopoly in here." He shrugs, lifting himself to sit on one of the benches. "There's only half an hour left now, hopefully. I'm sure we'll manage, even if we have to spend it in silence."

Alec looks around the shed with a little more active interest. "You seem to be fairly knowledgeable about what is and isn't here." Alec does silence even less well than he does polite. And in the back of his mind is the suspicion that he'll be able to drive Richard to annoyance with him.

"I work here. Less than glamorous, I know, but it pays the bills. I'm guessing you don't spend much time out on the grounds, if you haven't seen me before?" Alec does look like the kind who would prefer cooping himself up in a library over lounging out on the grass on sunny days like some of the students.

“On the grounds crew?” There’s something in Alec’s voice, neither admiring nor patronizing yet somehow both at once. He’s willing enough to tilt it further into the latter direction. “What, McDonald’s wasn’t hiring?”

"Mhm." It's difficult to ruffle Richard. Hardly even batting an eyelid (but with a slight upwards curve to his mouth) he replies, "I did my time at McDonald's." He glances out the window again - still nothing.

"I wasn't smart enough for a scholarship, and wasn't rich enough to pay my way in to university.

Those were some of the things Alec might have brought up as an attempt to get a rise out of the other boy, but that doesn't mean he's going to give up now that it's clear they won't work. He'll just have to try a different tact. They have nothing but time, after all.

"Yes, by all means, let's have the uneducated in our country be the ones with the guns."

Again, Richard seems completely unoffended. He would be more surprised by Alec's determination to get him to lash out if it weren't for their previous discussion. "Uneducated isn't the same as unintelligent. You think reading books qualifies you to be responsible with a weapon?"

"Isn't it?" Alec shrugs. "At least I understand the philosophical implications of using one. But I don't fight, so it doesn't matter what I'm going to be responsible for."

"I understand that shooting someone can kill them." And deciding whether to kill someone goes far beyond education, in Richard's opinion. "Count yourself lucky that you've never had to fight."

"Have you ever?" If Alec's voice sounds more charmed than shocked or scared, Richard must be getting used to that by now. "Shot someone to kill them, before that thing back there?"

Richard shifts from one foot to the other, the only sign of discomfort at Alec's question. Otherwise his face remains impassive as he shrugs and answers: "Yeah. Unfortunately."

"Oh?" Alec shifts, eyes fixed on Richard's for the moment. "Was it because they were threatening you? Or perhaps just flirting too aggressively with your girlfriend?"

"Seriously? I know you hardly know me, but do you really pick me for the kind of person who'd kill someone out of jealousy? If that were the case, I'd be in jail, not working at a school."

"They threatened someone I cared about." His tone is flat. Despite all they've discussed, he is closing off now, making it clear that this is the line Alec should not cross.

That Alec has found that spot to make him close off just makes him want to push it more, to see if he can get Richard to lash out instead.

This is, after all, what he's been poking after and looking for.

"It seems like you should still be in jail, no?"

"No." His reply is curt as he disconnects from the conversation. Getting Richard to lash out is a feat only a few have achieved, and he's not going to add this abrasive student to the list.

He stares out the window as the sky changes from green to black.

"It's over." He pulls the table away from the door, then turns back to Alec. "I'll walk you back."

Alec watches him for a careful moment, then lets out a breath and a shrug as Richard starts to move again.

If the danger is over, then his perverse need to keep Alec safe should be as well.

"Are you going to kiss me on my doorstep?"

Richard's eyebrows raise at that. Of all the strange things Alec has said so far, this has caught him most by surprise. He doesn't respond immediately, looking over Alec to determine if it is simply a joke as he opens the door for him. He can't deny that Alec is attractive, in an unconventional way, sharp cheekbones and piercing eyes.

He fixes Alec with a serious stare and responds with: "You don't owe me anything." The question is so out of left field that he wonders if this is Alec's way of trying to thank him for protecting him, though given the student's supposed desire to die that doesn't really make sense.