...and discovering that she was to live in a small suite of rooms.  Wait.  Three... bedrooms off of a small central room with a kitchenette and a single bathroom?  Surely, that couldn't mean...

Rosa and Luisa entered the room behind her.

"So we're all in the same suite?" said Rosa.  "Cool."

"That's awesome!" Alicia said. "I've always wanted roommates!"

"...seems about right," said Rosa.

"Um, do you care which room?" Luisa asked.  "I should get unpacked."

"I don't. You guys pick and I'll take what's left," Alicia said.

The picked rooms; they all looked identical anyway.  But so small!

Soon the others were unpacked.

Alicia hurried to do it as well.

Soon they were done.

"...now what should we do?" Luisa asked.  "Classes don't start until tomorrow."

"Maybe we should get something to eat. My treat," Alicia said.

"I won't argue with that!" said Rosa.  "...so where do we go?"

"There's a place in the dorm," Luisa answered, looking at a booklet.

"Sure, that sounds like a plan," Alicia said.

Back at the room, Rosa looked the others over.

"...so we need to start training," she said.  "We have weapons.  We need to get good with them, and fast."

"Sure, but how do we train? We have a lot of skill, reflexes or whatever from the awakening," Alicia said.

"We still need practice, and to hone our bodies," said Rosa.  "Instincts are a start, but we need to be better, and we need to be strong and fast enough to use them."

"Okay, well, I'm up for that," Alicia said.

"...it's all scary, but yeah, I think you're right," said Luisa.  "...Do we want to do anything else tonight?  Watching videos or games or just talking?"

"I've never really played video games before," Alicia said. "But videos sound fun."

They settled in to watch videos.  Even Rosa's laugh sounded familiar...

"This might, um, be a weird question, but have you felt any weird connections to people?" Alicia asked.

"Kind of?" said Luisa.  "It's all mixed-up and weird, though."

"...yeah, there's this familiar feeling to all of this," said Rosa.  "And, y'know.  You."

"I do feel something too. I'm not sure what it is," Alicia said.

"I think we should try to figure it out sometime," said Luisa.  "It might be important."

"I guess? I don't remember anything beyond that," Alicia said.

"It might come to us," said Rosa.

"I hope so," Alicia said.

And the night passed... but how would Alicia cope with sharing a bathroom in the morning?

Alicia was a bit unsure.

"I've never shared a bathroom before. What is the etiquette here?"

"Wait for whoever got there first, but if it's your turn and people are waiting, be quick," said Rosa.  "No one should have to wait long."

Alicia nodded.

"Got it!"

They got dressed, and went for breakfast...

Soon, they were back in the room, attempting to set up their new gear.

Technology roll?

"I'm no good with this stuff," Alicia said. "What about you two?"

"I can do it," said Luisa, and she got to work.

"...do you use any streaming services?" she asked after a while.  "We should get passwords in."

"I have a few," Alicia said, telling Luisa them.

Rosa had a couple.  Soon they were all set up.

"So," said Rosa.  "Now what?"

"Well, we got a bunch of junk food too," Alicia said. "Pretty obvious, right?"

"What kinds of shows do you two like?" Luisa asked, serving out the junk food.

"I don't know, I'm up for a lot," Alicia said.

"Maybe one of those awesome Chinese action/romance movies, like Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon?" Rosa suggested.

"Okay, that sounds good," Alicia said.

They put on the movie...

...there were vibes.  Lots of it seemed vaguely familiar.  Not literally... but that kind of thing.

Alicia kept it to herself, but snuck a look over at Rosa.

Rosa was entranced.  And... well... shifting closer to Alicia.

Alicia stayed still, not objecting.

Their hands touched...

A tone played throughout the dorm, indicating lights-out in fifteen minutes.  At least the movie would be over by then.

Alicia blushed as her hand touched Rosa's. She hadn't done anything like this before, but it was exciting.

The movie ended.

Luisa glanced at the two of them and cleared her throat.

"U-um, we should get to bed soon," she said.

"Right! Right," Alicia said, now deep red.

They went to their beds...

...was this a dream?  Alicia was standing in a strange, giant forest.  None of the plants seemed... right.  The smells and noises were alien.

Alicia began to move through the forest.

There were strange things flying through the air-- a bit like insects, a bit like worms or snakes.  Strange, multilegged things scuttled into the underbrush...

...there was a LOT of underbrush.

Up ahead, there was a strange, green flickering light.  There was a sound like distant speech.

Alicia continued heading towards it.

...there was a clearing ahead.  Something was emerging from a hole in the ground-- like some sort of gigantic grub, perhaps.  A green fire burned in front of it, and someone, dressed in a hooded cloak, was addressing it.  Their back was to Alicia, so she couldn't see any details about them.

Alicia crept closer, wanting to hear what they were saying.

"...and in time, and in time, and in time again, you will rise again, and I will feed you, and you will grow.  And in time, and in time, and in time again, you will gnaw and breed inside, and all things will be filled by your children.  And all people will be filled by your children.  And you will become the world.  Hail, O Conqueror Worm!  Hail!" the figure chanted.

Alicia drew her flower blade and approached the hooded figure from behind.

Stealth

(OOC: Stealth Roll - Alicia Green rolled 33 using 1d20+14)

She crept up very closely behind the figure.  Somehow, this was extremely familiar, but... what was happening?

Alicia spun the figure around, blade ready to attack.

The giant grub loomed, screeching a warning!

The figure spun around!  The face was revealed!  No-- it couldn't be!  It was--

-- Alicia woke up in her bed.  She couldn't recall the face, or even the voice, of the mysterious figure.  It had been a dream, after all.

Alicia looked over at the clock, if it was time to get up and get ready, she would.

It was 5 AM.

Perception

(OOC: Perception Roll - Alicia Green rolled 17 using 1d20+8)

Someone was moving around the suite, outside her actual bedroom, but only just.

Alicia snuck after them.

(OOC: Stealth - Alicia Green rolled 23 using 1d20+14. Eh, rerolling that. Alicia Green rolled 31 using 1d20+14)

...a pale figure, only visible as a robed silhouette in the darkness, about to open one of the other doors in the suite!  But they hadn't noticed Alicia yet.

Alice went to tackle them.

Attack roll, plz

(OOC: Attack roll - Alicia Green rolled 21 using 1d20+15)

Alicia tackled the figure, striking from complete surprise!  They both fell to the floor with a grunt!

...a feminine grunt.

"Who are you and what are you doing?" Alicia demanded.

"...trying to take a shower?" said Rosa.  She was only wearing a bathrobe, now a bit off-kilter.

"Huh? But you were in my room, weren't you?" Alicia asked.

"What?" said Rosa.  "This is the common area of our suite.  Your bedroom is over there.  Mine's there.  The bathroom is right over there.  Luisa's room is--"

Luisa's door opened and she stuck her head out.  She saw the two of them entangled on the floor and blushed brightly.

"Um," she said.  "...I really need to use the bathroom.  Maybe you could take that to one of your rooms?"

And she dashed for the bathroom.

But she stuck her head out again.

"But, um, congratulations?"

And then she shut the door.

"There was someone in my room," Alicia said. "Really!"

"I went by your room," said Rosa.  "...are you sure you didn't hear me?  Or was there someone else around?"

"I don't know, I had this dream about a weird forest. It was full of all these weird creatures. I went in deeper and deeper. There was a robbed figure talking with something horrible. I snuck up on them and then I woke up," Alicia said.

"I'd say something about that being a crazy dream..." said Rosa.  "I think you sleepwalk... but the thing is... weird forest.  What was that like?"

"Um, there was a lot of weird insect things flying around and crawling on the ground. A whole lot of underbrush...there was also a lot of green light," Alicia said.

"...about a week ago, I had a dream about a weird forest, and green light," said Rosa.  "I'm starting to really not believe in coincidences."

"What do we do now?" Alicia asked.

"Get up off the floor?" Rosa suggested.

"Oh, sorry," Alicia said, doing that.

Rosa stood up as well.

"...We are dreaming the same things, and we both recognize each other, don't we?" she said. "And other people, too.  Something strange is going on, even beyond the expected stuff."

"I know there's something there, and, um, our connection," Alicia said.

"Yeah," said Rosa.  "...That whole connection thing has been hitting me hard tonight.  Well, last night, I guess.  I'm not sure what I should do with that."

"Um, well, I don't mind it," Alicia said, blushing.

"Oh," said Rosa.  "Um.  So... what are you saying we should do about it?"

"Date or something like that," Alicia said.

"That sounds really nice," said Rosa, moving in closer...

...The bathroom door opened.  There was a squeak, and it slammed shut again.

"Sorry!" Alicia called out. "I guess we should talk in a bedroom instead."

"Yes!" came Luisa's voice.

"...Your room?" Rosa asked.

"Yes, let's go there," Alicia said, taking Rosa by the hand and pulling her.

They were now alone.  In Alicia's bedroom.  And Rosa was only wearing a bathrobe, with nothing underneath.

"So, uh," she said.  "What... did you have in mind, exactly?"

"I don't know, I haven't dated anyone before. I've been kind of making this up as I go," Alicia said.

"That's fair," said Rosa.  "...bringing me in here like this, I was wondering if you were trying for something more physical."

Alicia blushed.

"Well, ah...that is to say...," Alicia started to say, but was unable to finish.

Rosa leaned over and kissed her.

"...not too much right now, all right?" she said.  "I still have to shower and exercise."

"Right! I wasn't thinking that far...I mean, you're really pretty and, uh, I'm just going to stop talking...," Alicia said.

Rosa smiled, and kissed her quite aggressively five or six more times, as if trying options of how to kiss her out.

Alicia could feel the steam rising from her head, she was beet red and felt like all her bones were jelly.

Rosa pulled back.

"Luisa's lucky that I take my exercise schedule seriously," she said, and she ran out, towards the bathroom.

Alicia fell backwards onto her bed and lay there, thinking about what had just happened.

That had been... intense.  And familiar.  Like it had happened before...

...also, it was all too easy to imagine Rosa naked now.

Alicia shot up. This wasn't going to help her sleep.

Eventually, she could tell that Rosa had left the bathroom.

Alicia hurried to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

Soon, they were all gathered.  Luisa kept giggling; Rosa had a hard time meeting Alicia's eyes.

Alicia was the same, also very red.

"...well, leaving all that aside," said Luisa, out of nowhere, "we ought to get breakfast.  And this time, let's go to the cafeteria."

"That sounds like a good idea," Alicia said.