Room 1025: New Home, New Roommate [Roxanne]

[Matt Miyama]

Matt turned his gaze to the forests around him as he walked up the uphill dirt path leading towards the Osiris dorm building. It certainly wasn't the dorm he had expected to be approaching on his first day at the academy, but alas, he stayed up late studying and had fallen asleep during the entrance exams as a result. Maya, his older sister and the one who had essentially raised him, had expressed her disappointment in his low score on the test but had urged him to work hard and rise through the ranks to make up for it. There wasn't much else he could do but agree with his sibling and work his way up to Obelisk to rectify his mistake.

As he gazed into the clusters of trees as he passed by, his thoughts turned to the dorms themselves. He hadn't seen them in person or on paper, so he could only imagine what sort of place he was going to be living in. He had heard varying stories about the dorms from the existing students at the entrance exam. He had overheard some Obelisks saying that the Osiris dorms were run down and full of slackers while Osiris students had mostly claimed that it wasn't so bad. Matt's imagination conjured up several different images of possible living conditions, ranging from completely run down to a small apartment.

The duelist let out a small sigh and began to turn his eyes up towards the noon sky when a sudden roar pierced the otherwise quiet day. He stopped in his tracks and quickly dropped his gaze back to his surroundings, but he couldn't identify what had roared. It had sounded like it had come from a duel monster. A few moments later, the familiar sound of a monster being destroyed echoed through the area. The noise had sounded like it had come from somewhere ahead.

As he resumed his trek and reached the top of the uphill path, a large dragon came into view. Matt recognized the dragon as Dragunity Knight - Trident. Below the duel monster was two duelists standing opposite of each other, each wearing an Osiris Red blazer. The summoner of the Dragunity Knight seemed very pleased with himself. It seemed that he had the upper hand. Behind the two duelists was the large building that Matt assumed to be the Osiris dorms. The building didn't look nearly as rundown as he had heard. After watching the Dragunity Knight attack into a Magic Cylinder trap, Matt approached the two duelists.

"Excuse me, could you tell me where dorm 1025 is?" he asked. The two duelists gave him a friendly greeting, welcoming him to the dorm and telling him how to get to his dorm. After thanking them and leaving them to their duel, Matt followed their directions and soon found himself standing in front of his new dorm. As he retrieved the key to his dorm from his pocket and moved to unlock the door, the young man noticed that his wasn't the only name lists for the dorm. Beside his own was the name 'Roxanne Greenfield'. A feeling of nervousness ran through him as he remembered being told that he would most likely have a roommate during his stay at the academy. The thought of living in the same room with someone he didn't know, and a female judging by the name, made him feel a bit uneasy. After taking a short breath, he unlocked the door and peeked into the room.

"Excuse me..." Matt said. When no answer came and no other noises came from within the small room, the duelist entered the dorm. It was a small room and only seemed to be equipped with the bare basics. In the back-right corner of the room was a bunk bed with blankets and pillows already folded up on each bunk. Across from that, there was deck settled in the back-left corner of the room, next to the only window. The window was open to let the fresh sea air in and had dark red curtains hanging at its sides. Sitting next to the decks was a single level shelf with a small television sitting on top. There was a closet on the right side of the room, next to the bed, with two dressers sitting side by side. Finally, there was a small sink with a mirror cabinet hanging above it just to the right of the door.

Although it was small, Matt thought the room felt cozy and nowhere near as bad as some of the other students had made it out to be. His could see his luggage next to the bed along side of more luggage that he assumed belonged to Roxanne. Closing the door behind him, the new student gathered his luggage and sat on the edge of the bottom bunk and began going through his things to make sure nothing was missing. He didn't want to seem rude by settling in before his roommate even got there. After all, perhaps she would want the bottom bunk instead of him.

[[Note: I think I went a bit overboard on my post...]]

[Roxanne Greenfield]

Having arrived earlier in the day, Roxanne had already made herself at home within the dorm. When she arrived the dorm had been covered in dust from no use during the long winter. At first she shuffled around the room, unsure of what to do about it. After opening the window and letting in a soft breeze, she opened her bag and pulled out the curtains she loved so much. Last semester the curtains had been so dingy and worn, fading in colour also, so this semester Roxanne brought her own curtains. She slid the old faded red curtains and replaced them with the dark red drapes.

After several moments of standing, she turned and left the room. Roxanne returned with a bucket and several rags. She had to do this earlier in the school year when she first arrived as well. Since these were the Osiris dorms, no one came in to regularly dust or clean them during vacations. It's not like it took long though. The room was small, so Roxanne was done in under half an hour. She huffed softly as she gathered the cleaning supplies and left the room, closing the door behind her. As she walked away, she stopped and took note of the name next to hers on the label that gave the room's owners.

"Matt? What a funny name for a girl..." she muttered as she walked off. Maybe it was short for Matilda?

Putting the supplies away had taken longer than she though it would. It turns out there had been a line to get them since all the rooms were fairly dusty. So, before she even reached the closet all the items she had taken out were grabbed from her by other students who wanted fresh dorms. After all, when you're an Osiris Red, no one does much for you. Not that Roxanne minded it. She had grown up having everything done for her, so this was a nice change of pace.

Opening the door, Roxanne walked into the room, rolling her shoulders and sighing as she stepped in. Her sigh caught in her throat as she noticed the boy in the room. "Erm.." she muttered softly as she looked at him. Backing slowly to the door, Roxanne rubbed her arm softly. "Are you.. uh, lost?" she asked, avoiding eye contact with him as if he had a disease.

[Matt Miyama]

After spending a few minutes quickly looking through his clothes, school supplies and misc. possessions, a familiar decorated case caught his attention. Moving the bag that held most of his spare clothes in it, Matt picked up the medium-sized case and laid it across his lap. It took a moment for the realization that his sister must have snuck it into his things before he left. He hadn't packed it himself since he had not planned on using its contents during his stay on the island. Just as he was about to open the case and examine its contents, the rattle of the dorm's doorknob caught his attention. Looking up from the case, his heart skipped a beat as he saw a young woman with long blonde hair enter the dorm.

A small moments of silence passed as the situation clicked in their minds. Matt's first thought was that she was kind of cute. However, a feeling of nervousness began to well up in him upon realizing that the girl was most likely his roommate, Roxanne. Why else would she just enter their dorm unless to find a place to be alone? The girl's unsure inquiry as to if he was lost told him that the former option was probably true and that he was most likely talking to Roxanne. Matt couldn't help but feel nervous and awkward as the full realization that his roommate could very well be female dawned on him. He vaguely remembered Maya telling him that he would most likely be dorming with someone else, but he didn't remember being told that the dorms would be coed. After taking a moment to try and collect himself, Matt carefully set the case on the bed next to him and rose to his feet.

"No, I don't think so. This happens to be the dorm I was assigned to..." he said as he scratched the back of his head. Although he tried to mask his nervousness, he could still hear a hint of it escape in his voice. Perhaps he was just being paranoid due to the circumstances. He couldn't tell. "Um... Are you Roxanne Greenfield, by any chance?" he asked.

[Roxanne Greenfield]

It was like there was a little mouse running on a wheel and that's what powered Roxanne's brain. The moment the boy spoke, saying that the room was the one he was assigned to, the mouse decided to stop for a cheese break. She stared at him for a moment, answering his question without even knowing why. "Yes, I am Roxanne Greenfield.. And I guess you're Matt Miyama?" she asked.

Then, hitting her like an eight wheeler truck, Roxanne realized that if her roommate was a boy then suddenly living in a dorm became a much stricter existence. That mean- Oh god! What if her luggage fell open and he saw her delicates. Her face turned red as she ran to her luggage, attempting to hoist it up to stow away in the closet only to fall back as she tried to pick it up. Someone had carried it into the dorm for her, so she hadn't the slightest idea it was actually that heavy!

She leaned up, pushing the suitcase to the closet and shutting the door behind it. Roxanne turned to Matt, laughing nervously as she brushed a strand of loose hair behind her ear. "S-So um.. roommate?" she asked softly, "I-It's a pleasure to meet you," she said, so soft it was a whisper.

[Matt Miyama]

"Yeah, that's me..." Matt responded uneasily. Before he could say anything else, Roxanne's face suddenly turned red in a blush as she spotted her luggage at the foot of the bed. The male student watched as his roommate rushed her luggage into the closet with a bit of trouble. The case seemed a bit heavy for her, though he was unsure if he should offer to help or not. He still felt a bit nervous about the whole situation and the way she had rushed in getting it shoved into the closet gave him the feeling that she didn't want him seeing its contents. Once the closet door had been shut, Matt felt a friendly smile form across his mouth as his roommate rose to her feet with a nervous laugh. When she spoke to greet him though, it was only a whisper.

"Thanks. It's a pleasure to meet you as well." Matt said. There was still a hint of nervousness in his voice that he couldn't hide. Part of him felt that he should be used to sharing a room with someone of the opposite gender. He and his sister had shared a room for years before she had made enough money to buy them a house with separate rooms. But this situation was almost completely different. There had been a strong bond of trust between the two siblings. Matt didn't know anything about Roxanne and he assumed she didn't know anything about him.

Even so, being nervous was no excuse for poor manners and he felt that acting like himself would help ease the situation. He just hoped that he wasn't doing anything that seemed rude or otherwise negative to her.

[Roxanne Greenfield]

Roxanne smiled softly as her roommate replied. It sounded like he was a little nervous about the living arrangement also; that made things a lot easier. She clasped her hands together and took a couple of steps to one of the desks in the room. "S-So um, you duel right?" she asked. A few seconds after asking that Roxanne was scolding herself within her head. Of course he dueled! This was a dueling academy after all! That was such a stupid question.

Still, she turned from him to face the desk, chewing her lip nervously. "Ah, what kind of decks do you play?" she asked as her fingers ran over the deck boxes she had placed on the desk while cleaning. Each box had a small drawing of an Egyptian hieroglyph with some historical facts written in Egyptian along the bottom, most of them having to do with Duel Monsters. Her brother had given them to her before she came to the Academy. He had all the faith in the world that she would be placed in Obelisk once entering, but, sadly, her nerves had kept her from doing well on the exam. It probably didn't help that she had stayed up all night talking to her cards.

"E-erm... do you w-want to duel?" she asked softly. It seemed that was a good way to get to know each other right? Dueling was usually how people got closer on TV... Oh dear was she actually using TV to guide her through real life? Roxanne chewed on her lower lip more as she realized she really did need more of a life.

[Matt Miyama]

It seemed the tension in the room had lessened a fair amount as the conversation flowed, which served to somewhat alleviate Matt's nervous feelings. Still, he had a feeling that it would take him a bit of time to completely get used to having Roxanne as his roommate if they didn't split into different dorms later. As his roommate approached one of the two desks in the room, Matt returned to his seat on the edge of the bottom bunk. He grabbed the decorated case that held the duel disk his sister had bought him and placed it back among the rest of the baggage as he listened to Roxanne's question. He'd have time to look it over and see if it had made it through the trip alright later.

"Oh... Yeah, I do." Matt said. At first, the male duelist was confused at the question. The fact that he was enrolled at Duel Academy should probably have been enough to tell her that he was a duelist. After a moment, he chalked the question up to her being nervous. He had already come close to letting something slip as well, though he had managed to catch himself before he had. A few seconds of silence between the two before Roxanne asked what kind of decks he played. Matt thought for a moment before answering.

"I mostly play Agent fairy and Wind-Up based decks right now..." Matt said. He tapped his own deck boxes hanging from his belt as he spoke. The containers were plain black and silver with gold designs near the edges that he had put on himself. He used to play plants, but the ban list had hit them pretty hard not too long ago. Add in a few newer cards that were released afterward and the duelist discouraged himself from keeping with the deck type. He had been thinking of reverting back recently, but he was still on the line about it. Matt was about to ask what kind of deck that his roommate used when she asked if he wanted to duel.

"A duel, huh...?" Matt thought quietly. Were his decks even ready to duel? He had been editing them on the boat ride and lost track of time. He had still been in the middle of working on them when the captain had announced they had reached the island. Opening both of his deck boxes, Matt quickly scanned through both of his decks.

"Sure, I'll duel you!" he said as he rose to his feet. He picked up his academy assigned, red duel disk, placed it on his arm and inserted his deck into it. The disk was lighter compared to his own, though a bit more comfortable because of it. He glanced around the room before scratching the back of his head again. "I guess duel disks wouldn't work too well in here... Do you want to duel in here or outside?"

[Roxanne Greenfield]

Roxanne nodded as he explained the kind of decks he played. She had seen wind-up decks before, but never an Agent Fairy one. From what she remembered wind-up decks were fairly effective, especially if people could use them right. If he had a wind up deck, maybe he was a better duelist than he led on, but then why would be in the red dorm.

She just nodded softly as her eyes picked up on him looking through the deck boxes. What was he thinking? Was he going to accept her challenge? Oh god, she hoped he wasn't too disappointed if he did. Roxanne had never been terribly good at dueling; she really specialized in the historical side of Duel Monsters. That's why she mainly wanted to come to the school, to study the history of Duel Monsters!

When he accepted, her soft smile grew into a larger one. "A-Alright!" she chirped as she bent down and picked up the red duel disk that was provided by the Academy. Sliding it into her arm, she stood up and reached for one of her decks, clipping her deck into it's proper place. Roxanne nodded softly as she spoke, "Why don't we duel outside..? It's a pleasant day, and um, maybe it'd be a good way to cheer up some of the other Osiris students?" she asked. On her way in earlier, she had noticed a lot of them seemed glum about being placed in the Osiris dorm. Roxanne knew she had been a little depressed at first, but she quickly figured it could have been a lot worse. She could have been rejected all together.

Maybe watching a duel would cheer them up?

[Matt Miyama]

Matt nodded in agreement as his roommate suggested that they duel outside. A lot of the students he had seen being placed in Osiris hadn't seemed happy about it. Being placed in the lowest dorm and looking forward to being bullied by the higher ranking students had probably effected their morale for the worse. If they were anything like him, a good duel would help to cheer them up and maybe give them a bit of hope. He and his sister had both been a bit disappointed in him for falling asleep during the test, but it wasn't anything hard work couldn't solve. Part of him was even glad to be put into the lower rank. Most of the students in Osiris seemed friendly whereas the students in Obelisk seemed to be comprised mostly of elitists. He hadn't met many Ra students, so he wasn't sure about them.

"Yeah, I agree." Matt said. After moving his luggage out of the way, Matt made his way towards the dorm's door and opened it. The holograms from the earlier duel were gone now. The duel had probably finished not long after he had gotten into the dorm. The few students that were lingering outside of the dorm were talking amongst themselves, wandering around aimlessly or just relaxing and enjoying the day. There didn't seem to be any specific area intended for dueling, though that wasn't much of a problem since they were using duel disks.

Once he had finished looking over the area, Matt made his way down to the spot he had seen the other two students dueling and took his place on the field. He held his arm up as his duel disk activated, extending the top half of the blade out from its standby mode. A quiet whur came as the disk shuffled the cards of his deck in preparation for the duel and his life point counter flashed on to show 8000 points.

"Ready when you are." Matt called to his roommate and opponent. A few students had already noticed the beginnings of a duel and had begun watching, though they seemed to be refraining from cheering loudly.