I'm not secretly eating cake!

Weiss had had enough of the overcrowding in the dorm area. She needed to get to and from her classes in a timely manner, and the fact that every single person had just magically started to meet in the halls was a huge inconvenience. 

Swiftly making her way through the crowds, she had her eyes glued to the exit. She didn’t have time to waste on the pointless conversation that surrounded the girls’ dorms. With a recital later that day, she needed to rehearse like crazy. Those finals were nervewracking enough with enough preparation.

Almost to her destination, she runs into a very heavy box. Knocking her shins, she wants to let out a stream of curses but refuses to let anything but a hiss leave her lips. 

Icy blue hues trail down to see tufts of purple hair, and Weiss freezes. She knows this girl, from somewhere important. Pursing her lips, she frowns. She could leave her on the floor and keep moving, or retrieve the mess of the human below her. 

“And why  are you in a box on the floor?” She demands, crossing her arms. “If you need to get somewhere, just shove your way through.”

“W-Weiss?!”

A small voice squeaks up from the brown box. With a single twitch, the corner of the box flicks open as Bernie’s small face pokes out. After affirming the identity of this voice, she quickly yelps and recedes to her safe place.

“I-I mean...! M-Meeeoooow...!”

Bernie waits for a moment, listening for a reaction. Believing that she has successfully fooled her acquaintance, she stealthily attempts to shimmy on to the side, before....

“Ouch!”

...She hits a coffee table. She whimpers for a moment before slowly lifting the corner once again.

“J-just shove through...? E-easy for you to say...!”

Suddenly, her eyes alight.

[ txt ] :: sdjgSKJDFNKJDKJASKJGNFLKANKJNFNKJA

[ txt ] :: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[ txt ] :: U CANT BE GOOD IF UR BLEEDING!!!!!!!!!!

[ txt ] :: DNT ‘IM GOOD’ ME GO 2 THE HOSPTIALLLLLLLLLLLLLGFGDSFRGDFBG

[ txt ] :: Club Penguin??

[ txt ] :: I hop ther not Bing 2 mean!! ><

[ txt ] :: If u gt them 2 say a bad word,,, u can get thm banned tho

[ txt ] :: W8 THTS BAD DNT DO THAT!!

Bernie heard her phone ping from the dark confines of the large sports bag she willingly entered. …It was a text from her partner in crime, and his attitude wasn’t particularly inspiring.

The path back to Bernie’s dorm was full of dangerous strangers loitering about; and the only logical way to get past them was to stuff herself in a large bag and get someone to carry her to her room.

And Linhardt, much to his chagrin, was the scouted carrier.

[ txt ] :: O RLY?!??

[ txt ] :: WHT GAV THT AWAY?!?!

[ txt ] :: WS IT TH PART W IM STUK IN A BAG??!!

…Some?

Some?

Oh no… what does this mean? D-did he hit send before he finished? Or is it on purpose? Maybe he couldn’t summon the energy to waste on me, and wanted me to figure out the rest?? Like a puzzle?? L-like he’s trying to say ‘some trash has more worth than you’ or like, ‘sometimes you’re really annoying’…! AAaaa I’m sorry!

But what if it was really an accidental send? To me, of all people?! What if he’s embarrassed?! Oooh nooo, and he thinks that I’m judging him, and he’s already planning a revenge plot…?! Th-that’s not it at all! I’m not judging!

I-I just need an answer that can fit both scenarios…! I need to agree with him for the insults so he can move on with his day, or be supportive so he doesn’t try to take revenge…!

Ohmygosh someone sent me a message oh god who is it aaaAAA!! 

Wh-who is this? Someone I know? Is it a bot?! Does it want my information?! Oh no…!

W-wait, ‘you okay’…? Wh-what does that mean? Does he know something bad is gonna happen to me and is asking ahead of time?? Did he plan something and is now mocking me thinking that I fell into his trap or something?! Wait, why is he concerned with me in the first place?! I-Is he trying to be nice by feigning concern?! WHY THE SUDDEN QUESTION?! How do I even respond? Like, does he want me to say ‘yes’? Or does he want to try and talk to me and ACTUALLY support me?? No, that can’t be right!! He’s up to something, I’m sure of it!

Ohhh god it’s been too long hasn’t it? I’ve spent too long thinking about this and now he’s getting impatient! C-Can I just not answer?? But if I don’t he might actually come up and knock on my door! If I don’t respond, it definitely looks like I’m NOT alright! M-maybe I can just pretend I never saw the – OH GOD IT SAYS ‘READ’ OH NO I HAVE TO ANSWER!!

B-but how do I answer? Do I just say ‘yes’? But if I say that and he’s not satisfied with such a simple answer, he may message again! ‘No’? Aaaa, but that would guarantee a response! Should I say ‘yes, I’m fine!’ With an exclamation point? Would that bee TOO excitable? But what if he’s only expecting a small answer and I say that and he thinks something’s up?! Like I’m being fishy or something?! A-and just ‘yes’ seems too stiff! Aaaaa time’s ticking down! He’s been waiting for 2 WHOLE MINUTES.

A-alright, you got this Bernie! But how should I say ‘yes’? should it be a ‘Yeah!’ or a ‘yeah’? Agh, that sounds passive aggressive! Like I’m going ‘ugh, yeah’! I don’t want that! That’s the last thing I want! But the ‘Yeah!’ with the exclamation point makes it look like I’m excited! I’m not excited! I’m terrified! But what if he sees through that? Sees my perfectly crafted answer and thinks ‘oh, she obviously thought about this and is trying to hard to come up with a simple response.’!

Then he’d start making assumptions! Thinking that I might have f-feelings because I’m trying to hard to put out the perfect response!! I don’t want thaaat! I’d never live that down! OH NO ITS BEEN 3 MINUTES BERNIE! YOU HAVE TO ANSWER! WHAT DO I SAY AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

@bernadettavonv​

It wasn’t exactly rare to have someone knock on Bernadetta’s door. People got rooms wrong all the time, or just wanted to check in on their favorite shut-in. This time, of course, it was the latter. While she saw her regularly enough in the web design classes she was the TA for, Shamir had never come to her room directly. That is, until now.

The tweet the poor girl had posted was likely on accident, but she wasn’t about to let an opportunity to ease a student into campus activities go to waste. Especially ones that weren’t a waste of time, and actually helped the entire campus! Plus, there was the fact that one of the professors she reported to was promising coffee on them for any TA that brought along a student from their class. 

Knocking purposefully, if not loudly, she says, “Bernadetta. It’s your TA, Shamir. I noticed you were interested in the campus event. Did you need any help getting started outside?”

“Oh? A present for me?: “Hmmm... I guess I can take it if you really don’t want it...”

“Tch.”

With a click of the tongue, Bernie promptly opens the menu and clicks ‘quickload’.

“All right... how about... this?”

“Oh? A present for me?: “Hmmm... I guess I can take it if you really don’t want it...”

“Gaagh!”

Bernie lets out an agitated groan, her knees pulled up to her chest as she sat in front of the wide display. That line signalled that the present she had chosen had resulted in the worst possible outcome, representing 0 affinity points.  She had been playing this dating sim for a few days now, and this guy was the last route to complete. ...The only problem was that you had to make very specific choices and he was impossible to read when it came to the presents.

“Just take the sports magazines...! Don’t you play basketball...?!”

And as usual, it was riling Bernie up. 

“What hecking present do I need to get for you to take your clothes o--- AAUUUUGGGGHHH!”

A knock on the door, and a familiar voice interrupted her vocal grumblings.

Oh no oh no oh no oh no did she HEAR me?! Oh god, oh noooo...!”

After a very audible scream and perhaps a spill off her computer chair, Bernie clambers to her bed and sets up her main defence -- the pillow fort.

“I-I wasn’t doing anything, I swear! N-No clothes were coming off, honest!” She calls out to the door. “E-er, wait... c-campus... event?”

...Oh no. The tweet.

Aaaaaa thank you for the question nonny!

For the most part, Bernie plays a lot of single player RPGs. More specifically, she enjoys JRPGs, as the generally character-driven stories inspire her (and gives good material for her manga/comic side projects). 

She really wants to play MMOs, but often finds interacting with other players difficult ;w; She’ll sometimes play them until she has to party up but then just,, never progress further.

Other than that, a few rhythm games, clickers and uhhh...

Dating sims.

Lots of dating sims.

The ‘official’ reason is so she can use them to learn how to interact with people. 

The uh, ‘personal’ reason is that there’s a lot of good otome games that she... enjoys. Specifically to fuel certain shipping pairs that may feature in her after hours manga/fics that she may or may not write.

Also, shouting at the fictional guys/girls when they don’t like her presents/dialog choices in game is one of the only times Bernie will get openly annoyed and raise her voice. Fun fact.

With a pensive whimper, Bernadetta lets the curtain she had been peeking past drop in front of her dorm room window. Everyone outside seemed to be taking part of a university event. Planting trees, was it...?

Crawling her way through the piles of clothes, empty food packets, cans and many, many sketches and storyboards, Bernie makes it to her computer. It must be nice, being able to do something like that for the environment... That said...

“I-It’s okay, Bernie... You can help too. W-without going outside.”

With a few clicks, she finds her way to the teamtrees website. It was scary, having to type urls in after just using her shortcuts for so long. Almost as if she was a shut-in to her usual sites, too... Scrolling past the many messages and donations from people all over the world, Bernie gives a gulp.

“Come on, Bernie. Just do it under anonymous... Nobody will know...”

Speaking to herself (as she is wont to do), Bernie bites her lip and scrolls back to the top where the donate prompt lay. Initially, she hovers her mouse over the ‘20 trees’ option... before clicking on the ‘100′ one instead. While she was by all definitions a gremlin, Bernadetta Von Varley came from an affluent family. Besides, she felt guilty for not joining any group activities like her peers.

Stopping to recover from a mini heart attack after every click, Bernie manages to get through the first tab, making sure to remain anonymous. However, on the next page...

“Sh-share on Twitter...?”

Bernie gulps. Her Twitter was solely for lurking. While she had a few followers, mostly people who knew her irl, she had never made a tweet. Not once.

...But...

“Y-you can do this, Bernie...!”

~~

Followers of @BernieBear can now see a tweet from her dead profile.

‘Plz donate if u can. https://teamtrees.org/”

“O-Oh no...”

There-- right in the middle of the hallway. A small group of girls were casually chatting amongst each other.

...And they were in Bernie’s way.

She had snuck out to grab a few things, hoping to not be seen, but her path back was now blocked by very dangerous strangers. This hallway was the only path in the female dorms that Bernie could take to return to the solace of her own room.

“H-how am I going to get past...?”

Attempting the formulate a plan, Bernadetta spots an empty cardboard box next to the dormitory bookshelves. Must have been used to carry in more donated titles... Wait... that box... wasn’t it the perfect size...?

Bernie lets out a gulp.

“N-no... you can do this Bernie... Just imagine you’re Solid Snake! O-or was it Big Boss...?”

Giving a brief glance over her shoulders and ascertaining that there’s nobody within eyeshot, she discreetly lifts the box over her head... and crouches to the ground.

“A-alright, Bernie... You got this... Just start waddling...”

And waddle she did. But... was this the right direction? Just as Bernie is wondering this...

Bump!

...She hits something. Someone? Oh, nooo...! Letting out a short yelp, she collapses, pressing into the ground as much as possible.

“N-no, not like that. C-curl your fingers a little more... outwards...”

Bernadetta’s voice was barely above a squeak within this secluded corner of the library. She gave a pensive look over the the man across from her. Her living reference. Hood pulled over her head, and knees drawn to her chest, Bernadetta’s wrist swiftly copied down the various gestures and poses she needed.

While this social outing was a little too much for Bernie, it was... necessary. She hit a major artist’s block regarding how to draw... male characters. Both living in the female dorms and rarely leaving her room made any male presence in her life scarce. Bar some of the more... vivid comics she makes. All of the reference pics she found online just weren’t doing it for her, so... the only option was this.

Sitting across from him at polar ends of a long table, she had to lean in and squint to properly see the finer details.

She chose Sylvain to be her model for several reasons:

He knew about her... secret. Her secret about drawing manga/comics, that is. Getting him involved wasn’t ideal, but it’s all she has.

Due to their history, he was the only boy she felt relativity comfortable speaking to -- don’t worry, the irony wasn’t lost on her.

He was... an actor. Even if she had to put up with his quips, at least he knew how to pose.

Having to meet in the library wasn’t particularly ideal for the shut-in. If she could have it her way, she would have Sylvain come to her, but that would lead to... complications. Bringing someone of his character into the female dorms led to a bit of a... problem. Not that she has done it before. 

Jumping at every tiny bit of movement in her surroundings, Bernie’s eyes grow wide as she looks from bookcase to bookcase. Her vision briefly glancing past the ‘wall’ of books she had made along the side of their table, she audibly whimpers.

Hello my friends! While Bernie had been locked away drawing manga and lurking in chat, I've gotten to a comfortable point with my other muses that she can now (much to her dismay) go outside and die on the inside while talking to people!

This is a second starter call, capping at 2 so I don't go overboard. Cast mates are an exception!

All Welcome Bernadetta Von Varley

> @zeroxuravity​ liked for a starter!

Amongst the piles of unfolded clothes, empty energy drinks and the other 600 misplaced items in her room, Bernadetta had been making the finishing touches to her graphic design assignment, scribbling away on her tablet with Twitch streams running in the background. These days she often found herself watching a minor streaming group known as the Chaos Squad.

It was fun to listen to when working. She had actually found herself a fan of the channel (especially the member with the handle Uravity), even if all she did was lurk in chat, too afraid to type anything. Downing the remains of an energy drink, Bernie reaches for another... only to find that there were none. She had a mini fridge tucked away in her room that she dragged up sometime in her freshman year (which she’s not even certain she’s allowed to have), and it was freshly out of any caffeinated drink.

Cue the Kill Bill sirens

“Oh no... ooohhhh nooo...”

She needed her caffeine. If there was any hope of getting this assignment done, it required the sweet stuff. Luckily for her, it looked like the Chaos Squad had just gone offline, so she could --gulp-- L-leave the room...

Over-dramatically sneaking out of the dorms like the new lead of the next Mission Impossible, Bernie scampered her way to the 24 hour convenience store on campus. This is how she got all her supplies. There was nobody around at 1am... usually. With the hood of her oversized hoodie firmly over her head, she makes her way into the store, eyes glued to the floor.

Alright... walk 5 tiles this way... turn... 6 tiles in this direction... There they were

The energy drinks lined the shelves in front of her. With a crooked smile, she reaches out for one -- and so does another hand.

“UwaaH! Wh-who are you?! Who am I?! I-I’ll leave now! I-I mean, sorry for shouting! D-did you want the-?! Y-you can have it! W-wait I also -- AaaaAAaaH!”