todd coward

bethany esda shsl indie game dev

[haplesshikikomori]

ń̕¬ĞÕŒ̛½͏ŗř͘FA̛T̵Eđ̸ĕ̀ç̌¤ijðʼnďŪ·Ź̴±ÆF̸AL͢L͝ÍN̕G͟ùĦ̧ ñ̶Ļ»Ş̀ã͞ĽŇÒżŀ̛œĄP͟AŔTį͞Č̛ó̸¦̨ú̡Ř̡°͡ÑŦ́Ø͡¿͡Ö̕ŕ¥̀ | Beth | Chapter 4 Body Discovery

The foreboding feeling that this, that something was happening again, didn’t leave Beth as she drifted to the scene with everyone else. But there had never been any disruptions to their peaceful life in the Literature Club. None at all. It wasn’t always easy to get along with everyone, and in fact, there weren’t a great many people she believed she could get along with. Most of the girls she found tolerable were D̵̷̡̢́E̴̛À͡͠͏̵D̶͏̵̨͡ had never existed. At least some of them didn’t bother her, and she was fine with that. The boys in general were alright, but Jérémie was really the only one she considered a close friend. She was happy for Travanis and Toto, she really was, but ever since she had, ahem, tactfully encouraged them to get together, it felt like she’d seen less and less of them.

That was fine. She still had her friend. Her friend who she was currently worried to death over. Her heart sank when the discovery was made apparent to everyone, she didn’t see him congregate with everyone, he wasn’t there why wasn’t he there, where was he, where WAS he--

…

Oh.

Oh no.

There he was.

On shaking legs and with the audible sounds of sniffling and crying trailing behind her, she unsteadily wandered out of the pool area, ultimately collapsing in the locker room, and sobbing.

[haplesshikikomori]

É̔̏́ª̛͂ć͕͕̣̠̜͟ħ̡̗̝̞̠̫̑́̽°͉̳̯͇̣̓͠ō̘͍̲͓̰̮̟ó̹̹͗ő͓̦̪̀͒ǿ̩̈́̄Ó̟͙͉̀ͪ͌̓ͦ̏Ö̘̬̠̩̍͗ͪ̀͘ͅͅŎ͓ͮ̂̅ͅ | Beth | Chapter 2 Body Discovery

Something was wrong.

The game developer knew that as soon as she woke up. Something just felt wrong, there was no reason for her to be waking up so early. N̕ ͟ò̷ ̶͢͜OO̸ ̢o̸̷͟ reason whatsoever. Everything was fine. Everything was fine. Everything was fine. ÈnvoĕtŔhÿi±ħnĬgʼn÷ġ was exactly the way it had always been. Bethany awake. Kouta awake. Travanis awake. Toto awake. Suzaku dead.

Suzaku dead?

Well. Perhaps something was out of place after all. By the time Beth noticed she was one of the first to be yelling, a small crowd had already gathered in her room. Oh. OH THERE WERE PEOPLE THERE. While under any other circumstances it might have been a little inappropriate to feel that way, Beth couldn't help but feel grateful for the fact that the very dead body gave her a sufficient window of opportunity to make a mad grab for her hoodie and yank it on before anyone could see anything they weren't supposed to.

Sure, she didn't care if her ROOMMATES got an eyeful because they were all cute, but she had standards! Low ones, but standards! Beth couldn't help it if it got unreasonably warm at night and she had to sleep in her underwear, consequences be damned! Except now there were consequences that she couldn't damn! This sucked! Both because her cute roommate was dead and because there was a crowd in her room!

[haplesshikikomori]

Another For Jenny And The Wimp | Ch. 2 Open | Beth

Waking up to Ẁ͕̮̦̻a̖͇̱̠͓̭k̖̟̙̠̩̬̖a̙̪̠̮̟̳͇̦͜͠ͅń̝͚̖̥̫͈͢a͚͇̼̳͢A̷̧͓̟̟͙̗͍͕͎A͚͇͕A̗͉̮̳͇̗͈͠A̵̧̭̝͙̰̰̪̤A̴̡͙͕A͏҉̵͓Ḁ̬͕̤͖̠͈̹͜A̶̶̝̫̪̩̭̫͍̯̗͡Ą̷̖̫̳͖̠̱A҉̖̤̟͖A̵̳̗͙A̵̡̻̗͔̱A̵̢̮̺̦̱͇͚̹̼͖À̛̟̯̫̬A̵̻̥̟͇̩̖̬̯͘A̸̼̤͢A̸̢͍̮̝͎̩͠ͅͅA̦̯͈̩͖̹A̰̞A̧̪̥͖ͅA͏͔͝A͇͕̱̭̮͇̝̭ͅA̷̠̹̹̰̱̘̫͠A͚̬͍̬͉̥͢Ą̷̲̙̣̯͖͙̠A̺̫̭̙̥̗̺̼̗̕A̰A̘͇̲͔̤̙̦̫ͅĄ̼͠A̤̙̱̖̦̰̳̦͢͡A̧͍̦̜͇̟A̧̤̻͓͟A̲̖̭͇̹̺̗̣̱A̶͉̝À̴͖̺͢A̼̼̻̯̖͚͝

her four lovely roommates as usual was always a perfectly pleasant start to the morning! For once, she’d gotten a decent rest, exhausted from... exhausted from...? From...?

From such an exciting day of club activities, of course! That would explain why her head throbbed with such a dull ache. Her body wasn’t used to that kind of good sleep, and was punishing her for deviating from its schedule. Yes, that made sense. That dull ache was probably just lingering from the strange dream she’d had about being kicked in the head. When one sleeps as little as Bethany Esda does, they seldom dream. And when they do, they can get weird.

Nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all was wrong with that. She had weird dreams on the odd nights where she actually slept for more than a couple hours at a time, just like the always had.

It was okay, though. Beth didn’t mind waking up in the morning anymore. Not with her roommates to make everything better just by being there.

---

The second floor, on the other hand, was certainly something else altogether. It was starting to really feel like an actual school - or at least, feel like what Beth assumed normal schools were like. For five years, bed, home, and school had all been the same place. Now that had been turned on its head, she was almost getting to live a little more normally for someone her age!

Although the fact that she was presently in the infirmary decorating herself with plasters said otherwise. One over the bridge of her nose, another on her cheek, one on the collarbone opposite her cheek sticking out from under her hoodie a little bit, a couple around her fingers... one had somehow even wound up stuck in her hair, although it seemed like that fact was lost on the game dev.

[haplesshikikomori]

Sharing Is Not Caring | Open | Beth

[mangaxisxlit-blog]

“Uhm, are you sure…?” 

Kouta can’t help but smile. A consequence of embarrassment, or happiness? Maybe both? He had been really nervous about sharing poems with people, so having someone offer theirs first was a big relief somehow. He probably should have resisted a little more for the sake of being polite, but he’d already taken the poem in his hands. Nice going, Murakami. You’ll have to apologize later somehow…!

For now, he’ll read. It looks like he may have gone over it a second time.

“It’s something that takes a little bit to sink in…”

A pause. Did Kouta say that out loud, or was he still in his head? He should probably say something else, just to be sure.

“I guess maybe…deceptively complex is a good word for it? You seem the type to spend a lot of time in your inner world, Esda-san, so I guess it’s not surprising that your writing would be something profound and kind of mystical! Uhm, I mean, you’d have to be really smart and creative to do what you do, so, of course you’d be good at something like this, hahah… I feel like it’s worded in a way that a lot of people can relate to in their own way! That’s amazing. That’s something that comes from experience, right?”

Yeesh, this guy suddenly doesn’t seem to have much problem talking when it comes to talking about someone else. It’s hard to keep himself from rambling on when it comes to stuff like this. His classmates are all really amazing and talented, so it should be expected! Still, Kouta always finds himself amazed by the situation he’s found himself in. Getting to work alongside such amazing people…

Ah, right. It’s probably rude to just read her poem without offering the same in return, isn’t it…?

“I’m a little embarrassed though, uhm, my poem isn’t on the same level as yours at all. That’s, I expected that much from the beginning, but I hope it isn’t too disappointing… Writing isn’t really my strong suit, and uhm…”

Please just shut up and give her the paper. The boy does so, eventually, with rigid hands and an averted gaze. There. The hard part is over! There’s no turning back now.

As she reads, Kouta fidgets with the strap of his messenger bag, silently fighting off his flight response with everything he’s got! If he’s going to be in a club like this, he has to get used to his peers reviewing his work. No–he should be doing that whether he’s in a club or not! Even if he already knows it’s garbage. Surely some people would give anything for some direct feedback from someone like Bethany Esda, right? He should be grateful. It’s not like he isn’t, but–!

[haplesshikikomori]

“A-ah! Thanks, um… thank you, Murakami-san. I guess you could say that, um, haha...” Boy, was it getting hot in there, or was it just her face? Maybe the air conditioning was just broken or something. Oh hey would you look at that a poem to read wow that’s way better than focusing on how flustered she is that an entire boy is being polite to her for club activity purposes. “H-hey, um…! I’m sure it’s great. You don’t, um, you don’t have to compare it to mine or anything. It’s like, you know, I write my way and you write yours? That doesn’t make either of them better or worse, just… different. You know?” Wow she actually stopped getting flustered for long enough to actually say something vaguely decent there. Not horribly insightful, but about as good as you’re gonna get from Beth in a literature club meeting.

That said… it was time for her to engage in a little bit of top-notch A-grade poem analysis! Reading over the poem, Beth definitely handled the paper in a comedically over the top way visually - craning her neck, rotating the paper, tilting her head to the side, squinting at it a little bit to make sure she’d read something right - it didn’t really look like someone who was analyzing it in any meaningful way. Like a caricature of someone trying and failing to read. After a bit, though, she seemed satisfied with what she’d taken away from Kouta’s poem and nodded to herself thoughtfully - maybe? It was hard to tell because frankly, she still seemed kind of out of it, as per usual. She’s smiling softly, though, or… at least seems like she is? Reading Beth’s expression at any given time and coming away with a response other than bored or flustered could be tricky.

“I-it’s definitely a more experimental style than what I’m used to, but I think you pulled it off really well. You used your literary devices well, and, um, I really like the imagery as well. The, um, the duality of it gives it a nice sort of, um, almost juxtaposition? And, um, I really like that.” Okay this is a lot harder than she thought it was so maybe if she just keeps talking it’ll be fine. “T-this is, um, something it’s a lot harder to pull off in a digital medium, too. Personally, I feel like, um… the fact that you can’t just paste it into an image editor and rotate it 180 degrees makes it a lot more impactful, stylistically, um…” Peer reviewing was not something she ever expected to do. When you’re your own quality assurance guy, it’s easy because you know what you’re trying to accomplish! When you’re trying to offer feedback to some cute guy who’s thought process is completely different from your own, it’s like trying to nail Jello to a tree!

“My point is, um…! I really like it. I’d go further in-depth, but, um, i-it’d probably be rude to just focus on one poem for the whole meeting…” Okay she doesn’t actually believe that but this is all part of the plan. She’d gladly spend the whole meeting on this one poem since it’s actually not that bad, and also the author is cute. “But, um, if you want to afterwards or something, I’d be happy to, um… consult with you further? One creator to another and all that.” SMOOTH BETHANY. Really smooth. The nervous blushy sorta chuckle probably killed any chances of that seeming super generous or anything. I mean, we all know she just wants to spend more time with Any Boy lbr.

[haplesshikikomori]

VOTE FOR BETHESDA 2KWHATEVER | Open | Beth

Monika really loved to drone on and on, didn’t she? Ah, but maybe that was just what club presidents did? If that was the case, though, she had no interest in being the vice president. None whatsoever. Although scrapbooking sounded like fun - furthermore, it sounded like she would have an even better excuse to not talk to anyone at their club meetings! Anyone she didn’t want to talk to could be handed the excuse of ‘I’m busy taking pictures’ or something equally unbelievable. But they’d have to buy it! Besides, she favoured herself better at graphic design than any of her classmates as it was.

Although she could have sworn Monika was looking at her for a moment there, she shrugged it off. Probably just her imagination - after all, she did have to look out at everyone when addressing them as a club. That just made sense. Although she wasn’t especially invested in the club, she felt a strange pull to ‘campaign’ for the historian position. She really wanted to be able to design a book of memories for the club with her own, superior artistic vision. She would be absolutely perfect for the part. She wasn’t particularly invested in it, but since it was inevitable, she might as well take the initiative to ensure it didn’t completely suck.

Barely shifting in her seat to recline somewhat, arm hanging over the back of her chair, Beth sort of kind of addressed the whole class with a lazy wave. “Graphic design is my passion. Vote Beth Esda for historian unless you want a stupid and boring book of memories or whatever. ‘Kay, thanks in advance.” Yeah, that was gonna work. Super convincing.

[haplesshikikomori]

Sharing Is Not Caring | Open | Beth

Bethany was not satisfied with her work whatsoever. She was a venerable wordsmith, proud of her craft and able to structure compelling narratives for her games, but poetry? What a laugh. An absolute joke. She didn’t like putting out sub-par work, but she figured nobody would know the difference. It wasn’t like there were any English majors in the crowd. Although considering that her poem wasn’t even written in English, that line of thought was ultimately pointless. Her worst writing would look stellar next to that of some of her classmates, she was certain of it.

Even if she hated it, it wasn’t like she was going to try and write anything better. What she had was what she had.

The pale moon reflects upon a serene pool of water, Resplendent, beautiful, tangible and yet so fragile Like the wings of a butterfly that conjure calamitous storms, One slight disturbance shatters the fragile illusion Ripples are sent dancing across the surface As you reach out for what you sought after Thinking for but a moment that which captivated you so Was remotely within reach, tangible, accessible Yet so unattainable, so impossible, so far away As you find nothing but a broken mockery, Where the image of what you desired once lay Wondering if it you could have ever reached it at all

What a joke. A gaff. An utter disgrace to the sort of writing she normally put out. But whatever, it was just some stupid poem. As long as she didn’t show it to any of the guys, she’d probably be able to retain some of her credibility with them. They had to share poems, and maybe if she showed how much better she was at this than some of the other girls (you know, because she’s not like those other girls) they would understand to back off if there was to be any competition for certain affections. Gazing down at her paper with tired eyes and fidgeting idly with her pen, Beth sighed.

The literature club could be so exhausting sometimes.

[mangaxisxlit-blog]

Their situations seemed kind of similar to him. The two are both storytellers by craft, after all. They’re both storytellers, but not like this. Limiting himself to telling a story with only a few words feels like a completely different world from the one he’s used to. Maybe that’s why Kouta found himself seeking Beth out.

He ended up seeking her out, but… This girl looks so tired that maybe he shouldn’t bother her after all. The blond fidgeted behind her in silence for a moment before eventually deciding to speak up–it’d definitely be weirder to just stand behind her without saying anything! What if everyone starts to think he’s some kind of creep? Hovering behind a girl like this without saying anything…!

Kouta forces the words out without thought, before the silence could drag him down into a hole he can’t climb out of.

“Did you have any luck with your poem, Esda-san?” 

Of course, thought would inevitably catch up to him–and thought is a relentless beast. Why wasn’t he thinking? Kouta shouldn’t just go assuming that just because Beth doesn’t have a strictly literary talent like him that they would approach writing the same way! For all he knew, Beth could have loved to write poetry in her spare time. Stop imagining things about people you don’t know anything about.

“Uhm, that’s…not that I think you wouldn’t! Your games are always so creative, I’m sure anything you wrote is amazing! That’s, I admire your work, so…!”

Oh, this is embarrassing. So much for not digging himself a hole. 

[haplesshikikomori]

Ah--! There was someone behind her! It might have caused her to jump if she was more on edge, but considering that Beth seemed to live in approximately half of the moment at any given time it didn’t elicit much of a reaction from her. She shifted in her seat, turning so that she could still comfortably lean against the back of the chair while still looking at whoever had addressed  her-- oh that was Kouta who _wait like Murakami oh gosh oh jeez._ Worse still, he was being all cute! Not only was he getting all flustered, he was proclaiming himself to admire her work! This, in turn, prompted a somewhat embarrassed reaction from Beth herself, giggling like an idiot and blushing profusely.

“Uh-- hey, w-what a coincidence, huh? I, um, I really… your work too. I like it. A lot.” If Kouta was digging himself a hole, Beth was hell-bent on boring a ravine for herself. “It’s, um, it’s… it’s okay, I guess, it wasn’t terrible really. But I’m sure whatever you wrote is amazing…!” Absolutely amazing. Before she could tank the social interaction any further into the pit of irrecoverability, she lifted her own paper and proffered it out to Kouta. “H-here! You can read it, um, i-if you want… um, I hope you like it.”

Bethany please stop being such a disaster around any boy you talk to I’m begging you here as the person who has to narrate your actions please s to p.

[haplesshikikomori]

Sharing Is Not Caring | Open | Beth

[dokidoki-hitomi-chan]

haplesshikikomori:

Bethany was not satisfied with her work whatsoever. She was a venerable wordsmith, proud of her craft and able to structure compelling narratives for her games, but poetry? What a laugh. An absolute joke. She didn’t like putting out sub-par work, but she figured nobody would know the difference. It wasn’t like there were any English majors in the crowd. Although considering that her poem wasn’t even written in English, that line of thought was ultimately pointless. Her worst writing would look stellar next to that of some of her classmates, she was certain of it.

Even if she hated it, it wasn’t like she was going to try and write anything better. What she had was what she had.

The pale moon reflects upon a serene pool of water, Resplendent, beautiful, tangible and yet so fragile Like the wings of a butterfly that conjure calamitous storms, One slight disturbance shatters the fragile illusion Ripples are sent dancing across the surface As you reach out for what you sought after Thinking for but a moment that which captivated you so Was remotely within reach, tangible, accessible Yet so unattainable, so impossible, so far away As you find nothing but a broken mockery, Where the image of what you desired once lay Wondering if it you could have ever reached it at all

What a joke. A gaff. An utter disgrace to the sort of writing she normally put out. But whatever, it was just some stupid poem. As long as she didn’t show it to any of the guys, she’d probably be able to retain some of her credibility with them. They had to share poems, and maybe if she showed how much better she was at this than some of the other girls (you know, because she’s not like those other girls) they would understand to back off if there was to be any competition for certain affections. Gazing down at her paper with tired eyes and fidgeting idly with her pen, Beth sighed.

The literature club could be so exhausting sometimes.

H-Hey, um… wanna share poems?

Woo, looks like Hitomi finished writing hers in time after all! Hers seems to be shorter, and her sheet of paper is crumpled from how tightly she holds it. This is a sure victory for Beth already.

I’m um, a first year, s-so, not… not sure if it’s okay, but… P-Please read it!

Everyone here is a first year, Hitomi.

[haplesshikikomori]

Expression otherwise set in stone, Beth raised an eyebrow at Hitomi, shrugging softly in vague affirmation. Not like she had anything to lose from sharing with someone so... meek.

“’Kay. Let’s see it.”

Sliding her own poem closer to Hitomi, Bethany just shrugged off the other girl’s concerns. “You worry too much. Done is good enough for shit like poems. Art is subjective or whatever.”

Sounds... reassuring? GG Beth.

[haplesshikikomori]

Sharing Is Not Caring | Open | Beth

Bethany was not satisfied with her work whatsoever. She was a venerable wordsmith, proud of her craft and able to structure compelling narratives for her games, but poetry? What a laugh. An absolute joke. She didn’t like putting out sub-par work, but she figured nobody would know the difference. It wasn’t like there were any English majors in the crowd. Although considering that her poem wasn’t even written in English, that line of thought was ultimately pointless. Her worst writing would look stellar next to that of some of her classmates, she was certain of it.

Even if she hated it, it wasn’t like she was going to try and write anything better. What she had was what she had.

The pale moon reflects upon a serene pool of water, Resplendent, beautiful, tangible and yet so fragile Like the wings of a butterfly that conjure calamitous storms, One slight disturbance shatters the fragile illusion Ripples are sent dancing across the surface As you reach out for what you sought after Thinking for but a moment that which captivated you so Was remotely within reach, tangible, accessible Yet so unattainable, so impossible, so far away As you find nothing but a broken mockery, Where the image of what you desired once lay Wondering if it you could have ever reached it at all

What a joke. A gaff. An utter disgrace to the sort of writing she normally put out. But whatever, it was just some stupid poem. As long as she didn’t show it to any of the guys, she’d probably be able to retain some of her credibility with them. They had to share poems, and maybe if she showed how much better she was at this than some of the other girls (you know, because she’s not like those other girls) they would understand to back off if there was to be any competition for certain affections. Gazing down at her paper with tired eyes and fidgeting idly with her pen, Beth sighed.

The literature club could be so exhausting sometimes.

[haplesshikikomori]

Social interaction? Absolutely disgusting | Chapter 1 | Yua+Beth

As delightful as the area was, and as nice as poetry was, at the end of the day none of those things really mattered. Bethany Esda was many things, but a people person was not one of them. She certainly couldn’t slink off to her room for a moment of peace, knowing that the condensed form of raw energy presenting itself as a highschool girl named Wakana would probably be there. The other places were ‘social’ enough that resigning herself to one of those would invite further conversation. Where else was a game dev to go but the ROOM OF BANISHMENT?

With… yeah, I was gonna say ‘a surprising amount of speed and grace’ to sort of imply she managed to slip in the door  virtually unnoticed, but Beth’s general lethargy drew the entire process out a fair bit longer than it really should have taken. Regardless, she was fairly certain no one had seen her enter and was equally certain that she hadn’t seen anyone as she entered. With little to work with but her notepad and pen and the pleasant perceived solitude, curled up in a corner of the already… cozy area where one could quite plausibly miss her presence in the room upon a very cursory glance, although she was far from hidden, she set to work.

Doing… what, exactly, was a good question. She may or may not be doodling on a nice page of the notebook instead of using it for writing. MA’AM THAT IS NOT THE INTENDED PURPOSE.

[haplesshikikomori]

Does Not Compute | Open | Beth

[iamboxchan-deactivated20180802]

   Oh! Well…at least it wasn’t a rude response! She was expecting something far harsher than that!

   “I-! Um…is…is there anymore…r-room in the closet at all?”

   But wait. Even if there WAS, they might not want to give it up anyway. Especially for someone like her…

   “I mean-! I-If not, that’s okay…! O-Or if you just…don’t wanna share it I-I understand…-”

[haplesshikikomori]

“Uh. Yeah? Sure, whatever, I guess.” Beth was too tired to really protest, and as much as she didn’t really like the idea of sharing the space, it’d bring this interaction to a really quick close and getting to know the sort of people that were here would... probably be a good thing, since she was starting to get the idea they might not be leaving any time soon.

“Come in, I guess.” She wasn’t about to open the door for her or anything, and in fact, she was sort of scooting to the back of the room to figure out how much space she wanted for herself.

[haplesshikikomori]

Does Not Compute | Open | Beth

[haplesshikikomori]

Well, at least the woman was cordial. It was kinda like talking to her mom through her bedroom door, which could be a bit of a task at times but it was close enough to being her usual routine that Beth didn’t think too much of it. She wasn’t demanding to be let in, or letting herself in, or anything. She was just asking questions and, as a game dev, Beth was pretty used to answering them. Yes, that may have been almost exclusively nonverbal considering her relative internet anonymity, but she’d been asked more annoying questions by more annoying kids before.

“Yeah, shit like that’s why I try to keep something on me to write down ideas as they come. Or any really good dreams.” Usually that was a lot easier, because she usually had access to a phone and a laptop at bare minimum. There was like, NOTHING here. What a bummer. Fortunately, she didn’t have much interest in writing down the details of her dream, or any good ideas she was going to miss. Her best idea had been entering the closet.

“Oh yeah. Yeah, It’s, uh, Bethany Esda. Beth’s fine.” Comfortable would be maybe the wrong word to describe how she felt talking to Suzu, but nonchalant would probably work. Considering that, again, it did kind of feel like talking to her mom in a weird sort of way. Maybe it was the whole ‘asking neutral questions and seeming vaguely concerned about her well-being while also being resigned to the fact that she was definitely not going to be leaving the small room anytime soon’ thing? Probably. “What about you?”

[haplesshikikomori]

Does Not Compute | Open | Beth

[iamboxchan-deactivated20180802]

   She’d had enough of listening to others chatter. She’d had enough of the glances and stares being tossed at her. She needed to further escape, and her only hope is the closet…

   …but…someone just snuck off in there. Oh. You snooze you lose…maybe if she wasn’t being so hesitant, she could have hid first.

   …Ah, forget it! She’s desperate right now!

   There’s a weak knock on the closet door, followed by an equally as weak voice;

   “…ah, um….h-hello? …p-person who went in the closet…?”

[haplesshikikomori]

Aw, it was almost like hearing an anxious kid come knockin’ on her door for Halloween. Costume and everything, although Beth couldn’t actually see the box/costume immediately, so she was just imagining it being some short girl in, like... an ambiguously cutesy Halloween outfit.

In her infinite wisdom, she stepped away from the door on the off chance it would be opened and folded her arms neutrally while venturing an equally neutral reply. “Person who’s outside the closet, ‘sup. Need something?”

Ten outta ten would talk to Beth again. And by that I mean I’m sorry, Box-chan, you deserve better than this.

[haplesshikikomori]

Does Not Compute | Open | Beth

[haplesshikikomori]

Ooooh, fancy. Or maybe just French. The two weren’t necessarily correlated, but I mean, Beth’s here for it nonetheless. That’s just how she is, I guess. She was curious to learn more, maybe introduce herself, but maybe that could wait. Jérémie seemed like he was pretty tired anyways, and frankly, how relatable? The only difference being that he seemed like he actually opted to sleep when he was tired as opposed to… you know, staying awake for ridiculous stretches of time. But if he wanted to sleep, she wasn’t going to bother him (yet.)

It did put a smile on her face, though, and a quiet “Cute.” escaped her lips. She settled against a wall herself, knees up to her chest. Taking up less space was more comfortable, and it let her kinda rest her head on her knees a bit and keep an eye on the door. Definitely watching the door and not the boy against it. Yep.

Damn, she really wished she had her art tablet on her. Maybe at least a pencil and paper or something. Was that weird? Yes, it was absolutely weird, but you have to remember that Bethany Esda herself is pretty weird and therefore thinks that it’s a reasonable human response to want to draw cute sleepy boys who you literally just met and don’t actually know the name of. But it was still kind of nice. Just spending time alone, quietly, with her thoughts and letting the guy take a nap. If he was still that tired after the whole ‘probable kidnapping’ thing, he probably needed it. Someone really needs to let her know it’s rude to stare.

[haplesshikikomori]

Does Not Compute | Open | Beth

[haplesshikikomori]

Talking to this mystery woman on the other side of the closet was like talking to a personified internet personality test. At least, it sort of felt that way? Beth could have probably said far worse things only to be met with a professional ‘I understand’ or at least… honestly, that’s just how she felt since the person she was speaking to was more feminine. Not being forced to answer was nice, but it wasn’t like it was a personal question.

“Not really.” She shrugged, although the usefulness of that gesture was lost considering it was communicated on the opposite side of a door. “Why? You remember something you’re looking for confirmation on?” Normally, that might have been a little more hostile, but as far as sleepy Bethany went it was actually… fairly dialed back. Even if she wouldn’t state it outright, she was at least a little curious about how they all wound up like this.

After a brief pause, she exhaled softly. “... I got nothing for you if that’s the case.” She had nothing of interest to the hypnotherapist, or at least it didn’t seem that way. She wasn’t going to apologize for being just as confused as everyone else, but at least she appreciated the woman giving her space enough to be slightly more cooperative.

[haplesshikikomori]

Does Not Compute | Open | Beth

[yoekisachi]

Arisa walks into the closet.

And just…stands in there, too.

“….” She crosses her arms and points her head down, hoping not to make a complete fool out of herself in doing this. Beth, like any other classmate, deserves just as much concern as another, more sociable one. Just because she desires to hide in a closet doesn’t make that acceptable behavior in any way, shape, or form. 

“Just because you do not appreciate it, doesn’t mean I won’t give it. Help comes in many forms, often seen as anything but.”

Y’know…the closet really doesn’t seem that bad. Its a little cramped, sure, but the small slits to an outside world, only a fraction of reality crossing through…

…still not enough to convince the tracker that this is something Beth should be doing without any resistance.

[haplesshikikomori]

Like a normal human person, Beth stares up at Arisa in stunned silence at the audacity of it all. And by that I mean it’s kind of like this vague stare which is only really half-focusing on the other girl. Crouching behind a shelf is really not the most flattering first impression, but neither is intruding on a technically public space. … So maybe Bethany wasn’t in the right, but she sure didn’t feel like that was the case.

“... I don’t need help. I work better on my own is all. A-and, um, a bit of time alone to try and think about this would be reaaaaaaaaaaally helpful.” Beth dragged out the ‘really’ to a really obnoxious level of implied ‘go AWAY ALREADY’, not quite glaring but definitely trying to stare Arisa down in the process.

“It’s not like we can get out anyways, right? I-If we could, everyone would have left already, or gone to find a teacher or some shit.” She did, to her credit, finally stand up straight-ish to talk to this girl. While they were, in fact, the same height, Beth’s terribly slouchy posture probably gave the impression that she might have been just a tiny bit shorter.

[haplesshikikomori]

Does Not Compute | Open | Beth

[haplesshikikomori]

This was why the Internet was such a nice place. She didn’t have to introduce herself on the Internet! Bethany Esda was someone who you could either Google or just already know who she was. Didn’t need to see how she behaved in person, didn’t need to match a face to a name, just good ol’ Google searching her and her games. Beth didn’t care about being recognized in the flesh, and therefore, it had little to do with how much she already didn’t like this… Arisa Minamoto. Why couldn’t she just go away? What part of ‘not wanting to talk to people’ wasn’t clear?

That wasn’t entirely true, considering her perpetual thirst, but y’know. Arisa is a girl and therefore Beth’s interest in talking to her is not a priority, especially considering how they met. After a moment of hesitance, she curtly offered “Bethany Esda.” Hardly a polite introduction, but it was the best Arisa was gonna get - at least, at that moment in time.

Concern? Beth’s (somewhat wheezy) laughter rang out for a moment, sounding like she was caught off guard. “Yeah, and I’m the Prime Minister.” Guess she doesn’t believe Arisa. But whatever. The other girl wasn’t barging in and like, dragging her out, so she’d tolerate this nonsense a little longer. If she went silent, she’d almost definitely have to speak with her face to face, so this was the easier option. “I, um, already told you. I don’t want to talk to anyone. I-it’s nice and quiet in here, and I like it that way.” This straight is at it again, being obtuse. Of course, the whole being antisocial thing doesn’t really help in the first place. She genuinely just doesn’t want to be talking to Arisa right now.

Beth probably needs to go outside more.

[yoekisachi]

“Oh. Bethany.” Yeah, she researched everybody here. Arisa is a tracker, after all, it would be useful to have at least a sliver of information on her classmates.

“I played your cute game. The one about petting a dog outside. It was very meaningful to me.” What. It was! Arisa installed it, checked it out for like an hour, and then called it a day. It was an enjoyable experience, one she’s never been truly able to capture as well as the small niche game did. 

Its even more impressive, seeing that the girl spent an hour trying to install the thing, too. Scary girl is not tech-savvy.

“Bethany, I do carry concern for all of my new classmates. You, in specific, have fled to a closet. This makes you of a higher concern to me, because it shows that you are uncomfortable…due to something.”

Maybe she’s not comfortable with people? Maybe a hidden identity? She definitely looks Japanese, yet carries an English-sounding name. Perhaps she holds secrets necessary to hide. Nothing relating to the current situation, hopefully.

“Peace of mind away from people is a respectable wish. However, this is no time for that peace. We are in a situation that hiding away cannot solve. Please, tell me you agree with this at least.”

She probably won’t, some sort of slight defiance, another request for Arisa to just go away. Fully expected, but the demands won’t be met.

[haplesshikikomori]

Oh, this girl had played her games? … Well, at least one of them. And it was the old, crappy one. But at least she had good taste in people who make old, crappy games which obtain minor meme status for a month and then fade into relative obscurity. Beth still didn’t really believe Arisa would care about a stranger, and didn’t really like being called her new ‘classmate.’ Because that implied they were in a class together, as opposed to having woken up in the same classroom, and that would be ridiculous.

How many times did she have to tell this chick she just didn’t want to be around people, though? Honestly, extrapolating ‘I am uncomfortable being around these people I don’t know and just woke up with even if some of them are cute’ from her statements wouldn’t be a stretch. It wasn’t that unusual. She’d identified a place where she wouldn’t have to talk to people and, like a socially awkward moth to a flame (terrible analogy considering she preferred the dark) was drawn to it almost instinctively.

Respectable wish? No time for peace? Who did this girl think she was? God, it was like an annoying side character in one of the games she played (not made, since her writing was better than that dammit) had been given physical form. Trying to support people who clearly didn’t want or need it like it made them some sort of paragon of virtue. Probably just compensating for feeling like she wasn’t good enough by pretending to care for everyone. At least she had passable taste in video games, although really her later works were so much better that it wasn’t even funny.

When all was said and done, though, she could agree wholeheartedly that hiding wouldn’t help anything. “Well, y-yeah, but you seem like you have it under control.” She agreed, but she just didn’t care. “I’m, uh, I’m fine in here. Someone else would appreciate your concern more. So… bye.” Wow, Beth, rude. She sounded like a cranky teenager who’d been woken up from a nap and was too exhausted to process emotion at the moment.

[haplesshikikomori]

Does Not Compute | Open | Beth

It felt like she’d been asleep for ages. Maybe she’d fallen asleep in class? Class… class, no, that probably wasn’t it. Her classes didn’t have hard plastic chairs like this. It was uncomfortable, not the sort of place any reasonable person would sleep even if they liked to sleep in the first place, and yet… she didn’t want to move. Bethany was far too lethargic for that kind of thing, and she was content to keep her head on the desk even as her eyes lazily drifted open. There wasn’t a whole lot she could make out from her position with bleary eyes, but… hm. Forcing herself to sit up, propping herself up on spindly arms, she rubbed at her tired eyes and raised an eyebrow. Maybe she had fallen asleep in class. The lack of rest was probably just screwing with her memory or something, and she wrote it off as such without putting much further thought into it.

The problem being, of course, that there were other people. Something Beth was terribly inexperienced with in this many dimensions. The lack of laptop screen glowing softly by her head was equally disconcerting, though her expression conveyed exhaustion over everything else. Frankly, it seemed like she was more inconvenienced and uncomfortable than upset by the situation. Pulling her hood up over her mess of pale blue hair, avoiding eye contact (even with the cute boys, for the time being) Beth wordlessly stood up, smoothing out the short hem of her skirt as she did so, and made a beeline for a door. Not the door to the hallways, mind, she had little to no interest in that whatsoever.

Rather, she tried the handle of the door to the closet.

Finding that it opened, she slipped past it and closed it right back behind her. Immediately afterwards, she let herself slide to the floor with her back against the door. It wouldn’t stop anyone from talking to her through the door, and if anyone was particularly determined to come in they’d probably just end up knocking her over with the door. She was much happier to isolate herself until the teacher got back or someone explained what was going on or whatever. It was easier than being around people who were probably way more alert and freaked out than she was. But in spite of the extended rest she had apparently taken, Beth was just… too tired to be worried at the moment. Unless someone tried to bother her, she’d be fine until things got sorted out.

[suzussleepysnakes]

The hypnotherapist was in the middle of trying to open one of the doors by the hallway, to no avail, of course.  It was like trying to take candy away from a grown man, who was twice your size, no less.  Hearing the sound of the door- or rather, a door opening up, Suzu looked around to see who opened what door…

…Only to be slightly let down, and realize that it was only the closet door that was opened, and shut.  It was rather odd, though - the person that seemed to have opened seemed to have gone into the closet in a hurry.  The woman with white locks couldn’t help but become curious as to why someone would lock themselves in a dark place like that.  It was natural to want to hide somewhere when you’re in a place that wasn’t welcoming in the first place, but to actually hide…?

Suzu started to walk towards the closet, and takes a deep breath, before settling to knock quietly three times against the door.  “…Excuse me.  Are you…alright?  I can understand that these circumstances are a bit…over the top.”

[haplesshikikomori]

Bethany exhaled softly at the sound of the knocks. It had been the most obvious thing in the world to her to sequester herself away from unwanted socialization, but in doing so, had brought it upon herself. Normally, when she hid herself away it was a sign that she wanted to be left alone which was respected. But maybe people just didn’t get that about her yet. She’d need to educate them on her incredibly good and healthy lifestyle habits, such as not talking to people in most situations, and being tired all the time. Hallmarks of a functional human person.

But whoever was knocking wasn’t being too forceful. At least she had the decency to not interrogate her. “Yeah, fine.” Straight to the point. Incredibly straight, kind of like Beth herself. She was pretty close to the door, content enough to have a conversation through it rather than shouting from behind a shelf like some kind of weirdo. Because Beth was not a weirdo. She was very charming, obviously, which was why she was avoiding socialization by finding the nearest closet and isolating herself inside of it.

As for the situation… well, she didn’t seem too bothered. Probably because she seemed more like she was still half-asleep. “Eh, it’s… kinda weird I guess. But I just didn’t wanna talk to all those people.” The whole ‘mysterious situation’ thing was less of a priority than avoiding social interaction. I’d say it was iconic, but Beth is too much of a walking disaster to be an icon of any sort. "That good enough?"