Incident #1 - The Devoid Dormitory

Jun pulls a chair over to the vent. The first problem is the screws. They're tight, but her fingernails are stronger. She notices this cover used to be painted over but isn't anymore, like the power outlet are, so this cover has been removed in the past. Now...does that mean anything? Hard to say. The building is older, and has had quite a few occupants in its day. Once the over is off however...

...nothing seems out of place. No devices, or evidence of tampering jump out at Jun.

Turning to her own posessions, all of her precious valuables appear untouched untouched. Things are right where Jun remembers putting them, until she gets to her unmentionables...

And it isn't something missing that catches Jun's attention, it's something that shouldn't have been there at all. A hair tie. A one inch wide black elastic band with an oval shaped ornamentation, inlaid with mother of pearl and surrounded by cheap plastic "diamonds" that add to the shiny. It's worthless really, Jun picked it up in some shop on a whim, maybe wore it half a dozen times, bit not since coming to Willowveil.

But someone has worn it recently. As recently as last night. When the two girls were unpacking she noticed it and commented on it. Since it didn't mean anything to Jun she offered it as a gift to help build their budding friendship. As Concetta was finishing up she contemplated putting her hair up and decided that would be the look to start the night, letting her hair down like in the movies if she met someone worth flirting with. She'd for sure left wearing it.

But finding it now, in the EXACT place Jun is sure she would have placed it had she not given it to Concetta...what could that mean?

Jun clutches the hairband. Definitely, she’s not… oh, Concetta…

Now, the tears are for the roommate who could have been her friend, could have been… or could have been…

She takes out her phone and texts Sia.

Sia, I found a hairband.
Okay, that sounds rather daft. But if you know my system, you know that no one other than myself would put the hairband in the right spot.
That rules out a kidnapping.
And it rules out identity-thievery, as Concetta’d have no way of knowing where to put it. It went from my luggage to her, as a gift.
Which means, what? Did she never exist in the first place? Because if I imagined her, then I’d have just put it there.
If I’m not daft, the alternative is worse, I fear.

Sia hears the notification and rolls over to check her cell. She sees Jun's frantic texts.

Calm down

That is disturbing to learn though

Others experienced this as well. So, you're not going crazy and I doubt this is mass hallucinations or hysteria

Jun lets Sia’s message sink in.

Then it’s the alternative. Concetta was here, but somehow only I remember her.
So what does that mean for Concetta? Did she cease to exist? Did her life get altered, and maybe she stayed in Italy? Or is she in a world where I’m the one gone, and she’s wondering what had become of me?

After a minute.

Honestly, it would be easier if Mass Hallucinations were the case.
Well, I’m going to head to the alternative housing.

After another minute.

In an hour.

Alternative housing?

Like without stupid rules and a more progressive attitude?

Sounds like a dream

Jun reads the text. The word ‘progressive’ could mean many things, but to Sia?
The housing is being offered to those who don’t feel safe after what happened. But I don’t want to stay there. I’ve got a good neighbor here on the seventh floor.
I mean to share my findings with the others; perhaps learn of their discoveries.

After a minute…
I think the woman in your art is not nude because of a progressive environment. I think she’s nude despite the environment, and despite whatever so-called progress the patriarchy offers.

Immediately after that:
Sorry.

And there are "…"s for about a minute…

The "…"s stop.

There’s a knock on Sia’s door.

Sia rolls off the bed and onto her feet. She softly pads to the door and looks through the security viewer.

Jun is at the door, clad in a tight green singlet. Over the singlet is a loose crop top.She has a rather awkward look, and if left standing long, her eyes flicker down the hall in both directions before composing herself and displaying patience.

Seeing Jun, Sia unlatched the dead bolt, removes the chain, unlocks the door handle, and opens the door to admit Jun into her room again. She quickly locks everything back once they are both safely inside.

"Jun? Are you alright? You seem shaken. Is everything well with you?" Sia is concerned and insists her new acquaintance sit down, as she opens the mini frig and hands Jun a bottle of water.

Jun isn’t sure why she came in here. She’s afraid she’s just being a pest, but she is shaken. And it’s not the patriarchy or the nudity or the teammate named Artemis or the disappearing roommate or the past half hour of staring at that yearbook page.

It’s all of those things at once and more.

"Thank you, Sia." She graciously accepts the water. She sips it slowly, savoring its taste. Progress is bottling Nature’s Gift for profit.

"Would you think me daft for believing magic possible?"

Raising a brow, Sia shakes her head. "No, Jun, I wouldn't think that of you. There are many things the world of men can only guess at and even then most of the time they still get it wrong."

"Especially Artemisean lore," Jun replies. "…which o’ course is on me mind because… me teammate, Artemis is her name…"

Jun is stumbling over her own words, not sure where the TMI zones are. But Sia has been quite candid about her impression of nudism.

"…and she’s o’ mixed ethnicity like meself, possibly part Greek. And we’re named for the same goddess, so I thought maybe she’d want to share in a tradition me grandmother had told me about. Surely, you’ve read of Artemis and her retinue o’ nymphs bathing under the moon.

"So I asked Artemis if she’d join me at the lake, east o’ here, reasonably secluded. She feared for me safety, said there are those who prey in search o’ blood and souls."

She pauses a moment, not sure how believable this story is to a human. "Have you heard o’ that? Ireland has its wee folk, but they’ve never come to prank me. What Artemis spoke o’… that’s new to me."

"Ahh...Bathing in the moonlight." Sia says with fond inflection. "It does sound exquisite. Though, the natural bodies of water in this area probably too cold this time of year for my personal tastes." She listens as Jun goes on. "Hmmm? Blood and souls, you say? I have heard of those kinds before." She grins slightly. "I never discount anything about legend and myth until I know for sure either way. I have never met a faery..." She shrugs.

Jun’s eyes drop to her half-finished bottle.

"You’ve met a nymph."

—she forces the words out, and it takes a couple seconds to realize she actually just blurted it. She wanted to, but meant to ease Sia into the idea. But none of the magic would make sense to a mortal if she didn’t just come out with—

Well… shit.

She faces Sia, blushing now, not sure what else to say. Her lips part, but no sound follows. Jun’s teeth form an awkward square. She fidgets with her water bottle cap.

Sia grins with Jun's reaction to her words. "Well..no. Umm...not a nymph, but I have met a few individuals who weren't..." She pauses for a second and adds, "...Human."

June’s expression becomes relaxed the moment Sia says ‘human.’

"Well, I thought demigoddess’d come off snooty. That, and I’m only 28% Greek, so demi’s exaggerated. Me maternal grandmother’s a naiad, and there’s an oceanid a few generations back on me father’s side.

"I’m not sure I count for both. Categorically, nymph’s the broader nomenclature, and accurate: I breathe salt water as easily as fresh…" She stops long enough to breathe a little air. "Good to know I’m part of a list o’ non-humans you’ve met. It alleviates the pressure."

Sia smiles. "Well..I guess I should amend my previous statement. I have met a nymph." Sia glances down at her sleeve-covered hands, then back over to Jun. "I guess this is the part I explain why I am open to believing in those other than humans who roam this world?" She looks Jun in the eyes and grins. "I am a half breed myself. My matriarchal line are what some would call, vetalarana: emotion vampires. Not the undead kind. They are living immortals." She holds up one covered hand to show Jun. "I sense emotions and draw it off through my touch for sustenance."

Immortal…!

Jun takes comfort in this. It’s nice not to be the only one.

Her eyes lock onto Sia’s covered hand. Could the benefit of drawing emotions be mutual? Looking at that photo of Addy and herself was…

She chides herself for being selfish when Concetta might be in danger. If I remember her, she’s not gone…?

"Oh, what a fantastic coincidence this is! Then given your truth, you probably have a better grasp o’ what Artemis told me. She said if I hear me name called at night, or in the woods, and I don’t see the source o’ the voice—I’m not to respond.

"If I do, it’s how they can take me. It’s their rule." Her eyes flicker to the direction of her own room, then back to Sia. "You think they took Concetta and the others that way? A college party likely made for a target-rich environment for the nightstalkers."

"I just made that term up, just now," she confesses.

"It is possible that someone or something took the missing of Garnier Hall through a veil to another place occupying the same point in reality as this." Sia shrugs. "I can't say without searching and finding evidence of this." She looks down at the sleeved hands again. "Never a good idea to announce your presence to something unseen." Sia grins at Jun's newly created descriptive for their unknown cause for the missing and gestures toward the pen and ink drawing of the teen still open on her desk. "As passionate as I am about my art, its forensics that is my calling I think. Forensic pathology is what I persue here at Willowveil as my major. I have a gift for it."

She pauses for a moment. "In fact..didn't you say you found something in your belongings you had previously gifted your roommate? There's a slight chance I could get a read off of it."