Location: Dorms Date: 4 August Time: 11:56am Closed to: @caseyhxndrix
They probably should have been tired. They'd been travelling since before the sun was up, saying goodbye to their sister before bed and then loading everything into a taxi even earlier than the crack of dawn and finally on to the bus station. They probably should have slept on the bus, but they'd been too wired, a mix of fear and excitement keeping them on constant edge, and they'd absorbed about as much distraction as they could from their old Nintendo DS and a few-generations-old iPad they'd got second hand and as a Christmas present from Dana, who'd probably pulled it out of the lost and found at the restaurant anyway after it had gone unclaimed for over a month.
River had never lived anywhere but home before, first in the bedroom shared with Dana at their parents' house in Indiana and then in New York where they'd at least split a two-bed that was probably too small to really be classed as such, but it was home. This was a dorm with strangers. Divided by gender. Arriving at Fox Tower and picking up their keys and campus map, now River's heart was pounding way too fast for them to even consider being 'tired'.
Suitcase dragged with one arm and a big gym bag full of stuff slung over their chest, they made their way to the third floor and counted the numbers on the doors until they came to it. Room 322. It was dumb to knock, but they did anyway, pushing the slightly open door all the way open and walking inside. "Hey," they greeted, because someone was already there. They placed their bags down, pushing back their hair and straightening their jacket, self-consciously making sure their 'they/them' pronoun badge was still fastened securely to the front of their denim jacket. "Uh, I'm River. I guess we're room-mates?"