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Margaret Cole

Barely squeaking by.

0 · 292 views · located in Periwinkle Institute

a character in “The Isekai Wonderland Project”, as played by druidquest

Description

THE IWL APPLICATION FORM
♫ Still retain a sense of self. Can I get a bit more?

ImageFULL NAME: MARGARET COLE
AGE: 28 YEARS OLD
YEAR/COURSE: - First Year / Bachelor of Arts -
PLACE OF BIRTH: Nevada
PREVIOUS JOB EXPERIENCE: Night Stocker, Independent Game Developer, Live-In Maid (Current)
REFERENCES:
xxxxFirst Reference - Anne-Michelle Dougherty
xxxxSecond Reference - ...............................
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: (Disabilities? Illnesses? Allergies?)
xxxxMargaret appears to be suffering from insomnia and nightmares. Stress seems to have had an adverse effect on her constitution, as she also suffers chronic migraines and a persistent cough, although nothing about her health is an immediate concern.

WHY DO YOU WANT TO EXPERIENCE ISEKAI?
xxxx”What? I just wanted to return the phone.”

Margaret Cole is deeply unsatisfied with her life. Experiencing an utter lack of success in any endeavor she’s taken in the past, she is now employed by the family of her second cousin as part of the live-in staff. She seems eager for any opportunity to escape her circumstances, though unsure of how, and does not appear to have any qualms about exactly which actions may need to be taken in order to break from the fetters which chafe her so.





APPLICANT'S BIOGRAPHY
Human Resources Department Use Only

xxxxMs. Cole came to IWP at the last second as an employee of another applicant, apparently seeking to return the Gatekeeper after Miss Dougherty changed her mind about participation in the project. She has an unremarkable education and an apparent lack of ambition, having changed programs seemingly once every six months since she first started at the university. She barely graduated high school, holds no scholarships or student loans, and attends Periwinkle Institute on her father’s cousin’s dime, evidently as a qualifier for her employment.

Margaret seems to have changed her name in her early twenties, as her surname does not match that of any of her family members, and there is no record of her being married at any point.




Signature here:
Meg

So begins...

Margaret Cole's Story

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Character Portrait: Margaret Cole
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The sun hadn’t yet crept over the horizon when the incessant BEEPBEEPBEEP of an alarm clock filled one of the small staff quarters tucked away behind the kitchen. Meg shifted and groaned into her pillow, trying to will the noise away, but the sound of motion from the room next to her told her there would be no such luck. She tucked one elbow underneath her, using it to pry herself off the mattress while her other hand groped around for her phone to shut the alarm off. The alarm went silent, and Meg’s face fell back into her pillow, a brief moment of soft and fluffy suffocation before the clanging of pots began to stab at her through the wall. Meg peered one eye out of her refuge toward the screen of her phone, reading the row of numbers representing the hour and minutes of the day to guess just how much of a battery she had to work with this morning.

One hour and fifteen minutes. Not too bad.

Meg heaved herself back up onto her elbows in time with a rapping at her door, the voice of one of the other maids calling through it to rouse her into action. Meg called back a response, rolling over to get her feet on the floor only to find her back impacting on the wood paneling instead. Ow.

“Are you alright?” the voice came again, the door handle starting to turn.

”I’m fine!” Meg called back, picking herself up off the ground. She stretched with her arms over her head, hearing her back crack pleasantly.

“Are you sure?” The pale face of an older woman appeared in the door frame, brow furrowed in concern.

”Certain,” Meg assured, moving to the door and gently pressing against it from her side. The worry was appreciated, but there was barely enough space in here for one person. ”I’ll be right out,” she added, giving a slightly strained, placating smile.

Her coworker fussed a bit more, but ultimately Meg managed to get the door shut, locking it for good measure. She let out a breath, forehead resting against the doorframe, then turned and took in the room. It was small, with just enough room for a bed, dresser, and the tiniest writing desk Meg had ever seen. Still, it was better than some of the other living spaces she’d had. She stripped off her night shirt quickly, letting it fall to the floor as she snatched up her uniform from where it was resting on top of the dresser. It didn’t really feel like a maid uniform to her, looking more like a suit from the 40’s or so, but it was much lighter and more breathable than appearance would suggest, and she had to admit the full uniform with the accompanying jacket was pretty nice to look at. Once dressed, she brushed her hair quickly, then stepped quickly out into the hall to join the others.





Meg balanced the tray carefully on one arm, keeping her back straight as she brought her right hand up to knock lightly against the door to the office.

“Come in.”

Meg gently nudged the door open, careful not to catch the tray against the edge of the doorframe. The master of the house kept his back to her as she entered, too focused on the sheaf of papers strewn about the desk where he sat working. Light peeked through the gap in the curtains on the window, the early morning sunbeams falling gently behind his head and across the carpet. Mr. Dougherty turned his head slightly as Meg came around to the side of the desk, and he shifted some of the papers out of the way for her before returning to the task at hand. He quietly offered thanks in his somewhat raspy smoker’s voice as she set down a heavy mug of light coffee and a plate of nutella toast, before stepping back with the tray held under her arm.

”Will you be needing anything else?” she asked in polite, clipped speech.

“No, thank you,” he answered, gingerly lifting a piece of toast off the plate with one hand while continuing to scrawl notes in the margins of his documents with the other. “I’ll come down for something more substantial once I’ve finished.”

”Of course.” Meg tilted forward in a slight bow, then turned for the door. She made it nearly the full way across the floor when Mr. Dougherty spoke again.

“I had a conversation with someone from Yonder Wonder yesterday.” Meg froze mid-stride. “They were kind enough to inform me you would need to stay in the on-site dorms for the duration of the project.”

Meg did her best to keep her voice even and measured, her face a mask. ”I suppose there’s nothing for it then.” Her heart thrummed in her chest. ”If it were to interfere with my duties here-”

“I gave them my consent.” And just like that it stopped entirely, if only for a moment. “I’ll arrange for some of your things to be brought over, as a leave of absence.”

Meg swallowed, her mouth feeling far too dry. ”Are you sure? With just the two of them here-”

Mr. Dougherty chuckled softly. “I think we’ll manage just fine. You forget it was just the two of them before you started here, and the building remained standing.”

Meg’s eyes remained fixed on the open door in front of her, blood pounding in her ears. She opened her mouth to say something, but her throat failed her. She swallowed hard, rallying for a second attempt to speak.

“I was worried, you know.” Mr. Dougherty cut her off before she could. “How long has it been, three years since you came here? Three years, and five program changes at Periwinkle, I was starting to think- well, I’m not sure what. I don’t want to say I thought I might be wasting my money, no amount of education could really be a waste, and yet-

“When I heard you had applied for this program, I thought it was the best piece of news I’ve gotten in a long while. It was certainly the first time I’ve seen you take an interest in anything since I’ve known you.” Meg almost jumped at the touch on her shoulder. She turned around, almost bumping into Mr. Dougherty as she did so. “Honestly, what kind of man would I be if I didn’t give you my blessing for this?”

A smarter one, Meg thought but didn’t say. She didn’t know where to even begin correcting all his apparent misunderstandings of this situation - that it had been his daughter who had applied, not her? That she didn’t have any interest in this dumbass experiment program, and had been roped into it while trying to return the equipment Anne-Michelle had told her to throw out, and she had only tried to return it in the first place because her conscience had gotten the better of her when she’d first tried to pawn it? Meg hadn’t even turned it on aside from checking that it worked, and the weight of the phone they’d sent felt heavy in the inner pocket of her jacket.

”I- Thank you,” she muttered, staring at the buttons of Mr. Dougherty’s shirt so she wouldn’t have to look him in the eye. He squeezed her shoulder encouragingly, and Meg could feel that ignorant bright-eyed smile of his burning into her like a laser beam. ”I’ll- I should go get ready for class, then,” she said, eager to break free of this interaction.

“Of course.” He squeezed her shoulder one last time. “I am really proud of you.” Then he turned and went back to his desk, whistling pleasantly as he got back to work.

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The room was bigger than she expected. Meg stood in the doorway, wondering for a moment if she wasn’t in the wrong place. But no, that was her name on the small plate next to the door. The sound of someone shouting in the stairwell snapped Meg back to reality, and she shut the door behind her, letting the suitcase slowly slip off her shoulder and down to the floor.

A dresser sat against the wall across from the foot of the queen-sized bed which filled the center of the room, and Meg decided that was a good enough place to start. She bent down to pick up the suitcase then walked over and set it on top of the dresser. She began attending to the zipper, zipping it back up slightly when it got stuck before opening it completely. All of her clothing had been rolled tightly rather than folded, a trick she’d been told was supposed to make it easier to pack more with less space, but she didn’t remember where specifically she’d heard that and honestly, she wasn’t convinced it really mattered in this circumstance. She had packed light, or rather, hadn’t had much to pack in the first place, and it took barely over a minute to get everything properly folded and put away in drawers.

Meg stepped back, and when she felt the foot of the bed bump against the back of her knees she sank back onto it, her hands gently gripping at the blanket as she sat there silently for a long moment. Clothing wasn’t all she had included in the suitcase, and her eyes rested with some vague sense of melancholy on the laptop still packed inside. She wasn’t sure why she’d decided to bring it. Maybe
 maybe some part of her felt like it could be useful, if she needed something to do while staying here? It wasn’t even the one she used for her schoolwork - that one was still sitting in her quarters at the Dougherty residence. Ah, that must be it then, she’d just grabbed it by accident! But


She shook her head, rubbing at her eyes before standing suddenly and zipping the suitcase back up. She shoved it under the bed, a good enough place for now; as for her school laptop, she’d just call one of the other maids and ask her to bring it over. Meg unbuttoned her jacket, then slipped her hand into the left inside pocket to grab her- No, that was the other phone, the one the project had sent for Anne-Michelle. Meg hadn’t turned it on at all since trying to return it, and only once prior - to check if it actually worked. It did, but as soon as it had powered on it had immediately launched some kind of program that pressed her for a name. Probably whatever VR or AR or Whatever-R mobile game this project wanted them to help
 playtest, or whatever. Meg just tossed it on the dresser for now, and pulled the phone out of her right inside pocket instead.

”Kara? Hi, sorry, I just wanted- Yes, I’m fin- Yes, I found it alrigh-” Meg slipped the jacket off and dropped it on the bed, fighting for her life against the older woman’s sudden barrage of questions. ”Listen, I just wanted to know if you could drop off my laptop? It should still be in my room, I forgot it while packing. Mm-hm, if you can just bring it by tomorrow I’d appreciate it. Yes. Yes, I- Yes, I will. Thank you, really. Mm-hm. Yes, I- Yes. Mm-hm. Ok, thank you. Buh-bye.”

Meg let her arm fall to her side, letting out a long, weary breath. She felt very drained, even more than she did after conversations with Anne-Michelle. It was also at that moment when she really began to notice just how hungry she was - what was the last thing she’d even eaten today? Ugh, maybe she’d be able to snatch something out of the dorm kitchen.

Wait, hadn’t someone been making something in there when she’d come in? What were their names
 Maria and Georgie, or something like that. They had offered her the first slice
 assuming it hadn’t just been politeness, maybe she could go cash that in now? It was worth checking, anyway.

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The ceiling spun in slow, steady circles above her, Meg’s mind floating disconnected in her skull even as the burning of her eyes and bile stinging at her throat kept her anchored in heavy, terrible reality. The late September evening cooled the dorm and breathed chill air against her skin, leaving her feeling too cold even as she felt she might burn up from inside.

Her hand grasped blindly for where her phone sat on the nightstand, lifting it above her face to check the time. Barely twenty minutes to four. Normally she’d be up by 4:30, helping make breakfast, prep for the rest of the day’s meals, get the kitchen clean again, lay out clothes for Doughertys, start running water for Ms. Belle’s bath, and a hundred other things that would keep her running around into the early afternoon. But she wasn’t staff here, she wasn’t responsible for anything here. It was strange, to have a morning with nothing to do. To know she could just lay here and sleep.

If she could sleep.

The screen of her phone faded back to black, leaving her staring at her own reflection on the screen. Her eyes were bloodshot and sunken, surrounded by dark, heavy circles. Nothing some decent rest wouldn’t fix. Or makeup. That’s what it was for, right?

Meg let her phone fall onto the bed, sitting up and scooting toward the dresser across from the end where her jacket lay on top of it. A small makeup kit, eyedrops, a trio of medications in clear plastic bags. Who needs a purse when your jacket has so many little pockets on the inside? The medications could stay where they were for now (“Take them before bed, this one will make you drowsy!” It sure will, Doc.) and used the eyedrops first to clear away the redness. She spent roughly fifteen minutes on her face, ran a comb through her hair, then slid both the kit and eye drops back into her jacket.

She stood, one hand falling onto the dresser to steady herself, then opened each of the first two drawers in turn to pull out another pair of slacks and a dress shirt. Meg unbuttoned the shirt she was already wearing and dropped it on the bed before putting on the fresh one, then pulled on her pants and tucked the ends of the shirt in below the waistband. She retrieved her suspenders where they lay on the dresser, then clipped them into place and pulled the bands over her shoulders. She opened the bottom drawer of the dresser to retrieve a new pair of socks, pulling them halfway up her calves before slipping on her polished black shoes. She pulled her jacket on last, buttoning it fully then patting herself down to make sure it didn’t bulge anywhere. Satisfied, she took it back off and draped it over one arm before leaving the room and heading downstairs.

The light in the kitchen blinded her briefly as it flickered on, Meg squinting against the brightness before her eyes adjusted. It was clean, mostly, but her eye was still drawn to the few spots Mariya and Jorji had missed the night before. She knew where the cleaning supplies were tucked away under the sink, and spent a few minutes scrubbing at the grout between the tiles on the counters and floor before deciding the kitchen was good enough to cook in.

Meg hadn’t had much of an opportunity to investigate the dorm kitchen supplies the night before, but looking now she was pleasantly surprised. It couldn’t match the fully stocked stores she had grown used to over the last few years, but it was certainly more significant than cup ramen and pop tarts. It was getting close to 4:30 now, and she didn’t know what time her new dormmates typically woke at, so Meg opted to focus on making preparations for lunch and dinner for now. She afforded maybe an hour and a half to this, emptying the fridge and filling it back up with tupperware full of chopped vegetables and marinades before turning her attention back to the matter of breakfast.

Something simple would probably be best for now, right? Chicken, tomatoes, and pepper jack cheese were a solid base to work around. Meg started with the chicken breasts - boneless, skinless, and far too big at present for what she had in mind. She rinsed and cut each of them in half until ten chunks of naked pink bird flesh stared up at her, then started to cut into each of them horizontally, stopping before they were completely bisected. Meg patted them dry with paper towels, then spent a minute or two looking around for some kind of meat tenderizer she could use to flatten them before realizing that the Yonder Wonder company and not, in fact, stocked the kitchen as well as she had initially believed. Oh well. She could make it work.

Meg sandwiched a slightly thick slice of pepper jack between each section of chicken. She then dipped each chunk into- Oh, she still needed to prep the breading crap. She pulled the eggs out of the fridge and a large cylinder of bread crumbs from the cabinet, along with
 seven different seasonings. Eight? Was she forgetting something? She counted them off on her fingers - paprika, black pepper, rosemary, thyme, onion powder, basil, oregano
 Garlic? No, maybe not garlic. Whatever, it was fine for now.

She mixed the seasonings with the breadcrumbs and cracked a trio of eggs into a separate bowl, whisking them until they were a smooth yellow. Her chicken chunks were dipped in the order of- wait, the oil. She poured a bit of vegetable oil into a large frying pan, then turned on the heat, waiting for it to reach an appropriate temperature.

Sage! That’s what she forgot. She quickly added it to the breading mixture.

Meg dipped the chicken chunks in the order of breading-egg-breading, setting them on a paper towel briefly while waiting for the oil to reach temp. Once it had, she placed them into the frying pan three at a time for maybe
 five..ish? Minutes on each side, until the breading was a nice golden color before setting them aside on a separate towel. She procured a second skillet, heating it before dropping slices of tomato into it and sprinkling them with olive oil, letting them sear on each side for a moment with eggs frying in the same pan before lifting them out.

Meg quickly buttered one side each of multiple pairs of bread, dropping them into the same skillet she’d used to - she quickly shut off the heat to the frying pan she’d used for the chicken as she remembered it - into the same skillet she’d used to cook the tomatoes and eggs to toast on one side before layering a slice of tomato, chicken, egg, then another slice of bread with the top buttered on top of them. She flipped each sandwich in turn, letting the second piece of bread toast, then rescued them from the heat and wrapped them in paper towels, setting them onto a plate to await each of the others as they started to wake and head downstairs.

Wait, had one of them been vegetarian? Shit. She tried to recall what they might’ve mentioned about their dietary habits when she’d met them over banana bread the night before. Tannis, Mariya, Jorji, the other guy
 Meg didn’t
 think any of them had mentioned being vegetarian? Maybe she should play it safe. She leaned back on the kitchen table as she considered her options, swallowing back the bile as it started rising in her throat again. Ugh, she was getting a headache. This was so much easier with other people.

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Character Portrait: Margaret Cole Character Portrait: Tannis Donnis
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Tannis Donnis




Her dress flared as she spun; scattering petals of roses made from moon dust and sunshine. The world warped around her foot-falls, swirling as if reality was whirling down a drain, bending and smearing


Her face was forever tilted upwards, towards an open sky smattered with more stars than ever. A tapestry of wondrous light, twinkling and shining. She took another step. Thunder rumbled from some far off point in the distance.

Her foot found ground again, heel of marble clicking against a floor made of prismatic glass. The world twisted around the point of impact, glowing softly at first
 And then


A slow bolt of light, burgundy and gold, twisted through the air. Like a slow motion bolt of lightning, muddied and filled with something ominous. The air lost its mythical energy, took on the weight of a nightmare. That slow grinding whirl of helpless lack of control.

The dreamer tried to breathe faster, tried to turn away as the dancer stopped. Became statuesque in her stillness. The dreamer tried to pull back, to scream, as the statue turned in place, bleeding an aura of anger and vitriol that was choking.

Terrible. Awe-some, and terrible. The dancer made a sound, like a reindeers scream and a blender, with the tumbling crescendo of a rockslide.

As the dream turned nightmare moved along, the twisting reality at her foot burst into violet flame. Her face turned away from the sky, turned towards the viewer, the camera, the eyes who could only watch. Smoke billowed, rain fell, sizzling like acid.

Thunder rumbled again, booming like a mountain being torn asunder, as her voice slashed through the air. Laden with venom, with scorn and hate.

“Why did you leave me? Where did you go Tannis? Where are you
 I need you. I can’t be alone. Tannis, come back. You have to come back! How could you leave?! How dare you?! How dare—”

The thunder crashed one last time. Overwhelming, deafening, sundering the dream into a fizz of bubbles that tickled the eyes, danced on the skin.



Tannis bolted upright, sucking in a breath that immediately caught in their throat. She was back, just outside the door obviously, she was knocking, banging and pounding and trying to get in and there was no—

“Tannis. You’re alright
 Calm down. Breathe. You’re safe. You’re in the dorms. Breathe.”

And there was the thunderous rumble, Numinar appearing at the edge of the bed. Gray and black smoke billowed from his nostrils as he spoke. Tannis looked at him first, still panting, still on that edge of panic that threatened to send them flying off the handle.

Then they blinked twice, nodding their understanding. They threw the sheets off; sparing hardly any time and none of the embarrassment as they got dressed as quickly as possible. No clean shirts meant just a binder and a tank top. Laundry could be done in the hours they’d now spend awake.

“I’m getting food
” they whispered, subdued and ‘empty’.

Numinar for his part simply nodded. He meandered over, following them quietly as they made their way to the kitchen.
They checked their phone.

One text from their oldest sibling. Asking how it was going so far, and was the money enough so far? (It wasn’t.)
That would be ignored.

One text from the group project chat; Travis asking about meeting up for coffee. In the morning, when it wasn’t nearly 6:00 AM.
Tannis declined, opting to instead insinuate that Travis and Kennedy turn it into a personal date.
They smiled at that.

Tannis’ feet carried them to the doorway into the kitchen, a shared space in the dorms. They checked themselves over.
No body odor? Good.
No obvious signs of distress? Good! Nevermind that they couldn’t actually really see that they were pale as a sheet, a stark contrast from their otherwise darker complexion.

Yup! Good to go. They pushed their way into the kitchen, pausing at the sight and smell of 
 uhhhh

 MEG! Meg! Making food??? This early? Who the hell does that?


 Well, besides them, who the hell does that.

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Character Portrait: Margaret Cole Character Portrait: Tannis Donnis
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Meg vaguely recalled seeing an eggplant in the fridge while she was fussing with its contents earlier. A fried eggplant sandwich could work, right? She turned on her heel to open the fridge, and nearly jumped a foot in the air.

”Shit! she cursed softly, brushing a few strands of hair out of her face. ”How long have you been there?”

“HAH! Sorry! Sorry. I uh, JUST, walked in. Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. Maybe. Probably. Hi! You’re
 Cooking?”
Tannis whispered the words, shoulders coming up to their ears as they laughed and winced in equal measure.

They tilted their head a bit, waving a hand as they inexplicably kept talking. Whispering. Whatever. “Soooo
 Are you up because of nightmares too? Or because you couldn’t sleep and your form of late night/early morning therapy is cooking
?”

”I’m always up this early,” Meg replied, turning back toward the fridge. Her hand lingered on top of the door, not yet opening it. She looked back at Tannis over her shoulder. ”Was anyone here vegetarian, or
? You can take one of those by the way.” Meg gestured vaguely at the plate on the counter.

Tannis blinked a few times, letting their shoulders drop before shrugging. “N’eh? I dunno. I don’t thhhhink anyone is? Thanks, by the way. I’m Tannis! Nice to meetcha, early mornin ‘always awake this hour’ pal!”
They darted a hand out, taking up a sandwich with a bit too much eagerness. Good food sounded divine after the nightmare.

”Right, we’ve
 met. Last night. Banana bread. Remember?” Meg chuckled softly, taking her hand off the refrigerator door. If none of them were vegetarian, she didn’t need to worry about making anything else.

Another shrug, before half the sandwich vanished down a ravenous maw from which no meal ever would escape.
“Okay fair, but also, I’m EXTREMELY discombobulated right now, so! Memory isn’t exactly the best?”

”Fair enough,” Meg agreed, pulling out a chair and sitting down. ”Coffee might help, if you’re the type to drink it,” she added, gesturing vaguely at the untouched pot.

”Do you know how long this project thing is supposed to go for?” Meg asked, changing the subject. The question had occurred to her a while ago, though she hadn’t thought to voice it yet. She didn’t really know a lot about what it entailed, and though she had her own assumptions, she thought it might be worth gauging the thoughts of her fellow participants.

Tannis took a moment to think, consider all their options. On the one hand
 Coffee meant no sleep until twelve the next day. And forgetting to take important meds

On the other hand


They spoke as they moved, taking their phone out of the dirty basketball shorts they snatched in a rush, and made themselves a cup of coffee.
And shoved the rest of the sandwich into their maw.
“Well
 Yeah nah. No clue; probably a while? Maybe the whole semester or
 like
 Five? I didn’t really look,” They paused for breath, “Escaping my horrid past lest it consume me wholesale; devouring my soul from the horrors of it all!”

They finished with a flourish, holding the coffee mug away from themself with one hand, bowing and tapping their chest with the other.
The fake Victorian voice was so fun.

Ah, so Tannis didn’t know either. Hm. Meg was a little disappointed, but not really surprised. If she was right in her assumptions, they could be here anywhere from a couple of weeks to several months, depending on whether the project leads wanted to hold them over for multiple testing periods. She yawned, a light crack sounding on one side of her jaw, then rubbed her eyes.

”That’s great, then,” she muttered, tapping one nail on the table in thought. ”I don’t suppose you know much else about it?”

“Nope!” They popped their ‘P’, leaning hard against the counter as the coffee got sip-sip-sipped away. “I know that technically the AI we got will follow us when we go jumping into worlds not our own, and I know that we technically don’t HAVE to stay, I think, it’s just preferred we did.”

They waved a hand, like swatting away flies. “’M pretty sure you could just ask yours and he, or she, or it, or they, could tell ya!”

Meg blinked at Tannis in wide-eyed bemusement. color=#2c64ef]”...AI?”[/color] What AI? Meg racked her brain, trying to recall if she’d heard anything about this. It probably had something to do with the phone the project had sent, but Meg had only ever turned it on once.

Although, now that she thought of it, she had been prompted to name something when she’d turned it on to check if it worked. So the AI was like their user interface, then? Now that she was considering it, Meg supposed prompting users to name an AI guide instead of themself could be a good idea if you wanted to encourage an emotional bond with your game’s core NPC. If she understood the concept correctly, the AI would be the only recurring character by design.

”So the AI only disseminates tutorial information when prompted with verbal questions?” she mused quietly to herself. If the goal was to make communication with it feel natural and not overload the user with too much information at once, she supposed she could understand the logic of that design choice. Hm.

“Uhhh
???” Tannis questioned, tilting their head as they went through the motions of making another cup of coffee. “Yeah and nah. They also have, y’know, personalities. They’re basically sapient! It’s pretty insane! Numinar is great though, he’s super helpful— Oh! What’d’you name yours? Have y’all talked much?”

They had turned by now, holding out the cup of coffee to Meg. It was black, though they did have creamer and sugar packets in their other hand. Tannis gave her a smile. “Oh
 Also if I’m talking too much, jus’ lemme know, an’ I’ll shut the hell up!”

”No, no, you’re fine,” Meg assured, waving away the proffered cup. ”And I named it uh.” She thought quickly. ”Pol. And we talk all the time, yeah.” So there was a social element to the AI as well? What was it supposed to be, a tamagotchi? Did it have feeding mechanics or something? It felt like Yonder Wonder was pulling this mobile game of theirs in too many directions.

”So, any plans for the day?” Meg asked with a sigh, changing the subject for the second time.

Tannis stretched, thinking quietly before shrugging! They rolled their shoulders, glancing around the kitchen some before looking back to Meg.
“Nah. Not really. Probably gonna go for a run or something, grab some gifts for the dorm if I have the money? I dunno. Something!”

They gave her a smile. “And you? Gonna stay up for the rest of the day? I can get you something while I’m out!”

”No, I don’t need anything. I think.” Meg stretched in turn, glancing through the kitchen doorway. It didn’t seem like anyone else was up yet, so she should have time to get some stuff done around the dorm uninterrupted. ”I’ve got a few other things to get done, I think. I’ll see what comes up.”

She settled back in her chair, not really thinking of anything for the moment, just taking in the view of the kitchen and Tannis inhaling coffee faster than was probably safe. She exhaled slowly through her nose, enjoying the silence while she had it.

“Oh,” she spoke up suddenly, something occurring to her. “Tea. They only have that Lipton crap here. Hold on, I think I have some money in my
” Meg groped her arm awkwardly behind her, trying to find the right pocket in her coat without getting up and looking. After a prolonged period of failure, she finally gave up and just pulled the article of clothing into her lap before retrieving her wallet.

”Here,” she said, offering Tannis a folded twenty. ”Loose leaf green tea and a box of Earl Grey should be fine. We only need the staples.”

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Character Portrait: Margaret Cole
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Meg looked up at the sound of the chime rang through the house, pulling herself out from behind the toilet and sitting back on her haunches. She let out a breath, closing her eyes and letting the project director’s clipped speech wash over her. Things were getting started sooner than she had anticipated; doubtless Yonder Wonder was eager to get moving, but Meg had assumed they would at least allow a day or two for the participants to acclimate to life under the same roof.

Still, a summons was a summons, so Meg picked herself up off the floor, setting the scrub brush and spray bottle on the bathroom counter before pulling off her latex gloves and apron. The head maid would’ve scolded her for not putting them away properly, but five minutes was five minutes, so she could always finish up after they finished whatever the project had planned for them today. Orientation, maybe? Coupled with a large stack of release forms and non-disclosure agreements, no doubt. Yes, now that she thought of it, that was likely what they were being called together for.

She checked her appearance in the mirror quickly, straightening her shirt before heading out in the hall, taking her jacket off the doorknob as she passed. The second floor lounge wasn’t far from her room, and Meg already saw a few of the others making their way over. Tattoo boy and the girl in the wheelchair - she hadn’t caught their names yet. Meg wondered idly if they’d be forced to give formal introductions after they were all gathered, like a bunch of school kids.