This school was strange.

That was the overwhelming sense of the place she'd felt ever since getting off the airplane. Ren Alexander was Shokushu's newest student, a 5'7" well-traveled athelete with an insatiable lust for exploration and adventure. Her first hint of strangeness was when she finally got a chance to get to her dorm room and unpack her meager luggage, her climbing gear - everything from her harness to helmet to belay and descent gear to everything in between - including a survival knife - were gone. Nothing else touched, not her laptop, her iPod and pricey set of headphones, nothing. Just the climbing gear. She'd seen mountains coming over the island right before landing, some good cliff faces, and was reckoning to give them a going-over once she'd gotten herself settled... now, not so much. Unless she wanted to tackle it gearless, which might be fun anyway.

Other strange thing about the school? No roads outside of the campus. It was a self-contained entity, a little mini-town almost, with an airstrip and the campus proper, and little else. No town support system, no bars or pizza joints or anything. Total isolation. She'd been all over the United States and never seen anything like it.

Odd start, but she's an adaptable girl, she'd adjust.

Either way, she'd gotten her room set up pretty quickly. She didn't have much in the realm of physical possessions - she traveled with a (now lighter) suitcase and a backpack and that was basically it; the suitcase itself was brand-new, bought right before leaving for Shokushu itself. Formerly, its contents lived in a set of saddlebags draped across her bike, which she already missed dearly.

Her single-occupancy room is a spartan place, she's placed her MacBook Pro and iPod on her otherwise bare desk, charging currently, stashed her camera, and has stored the small amount of clothing she owned in her closet and drawers. Her toiletries are left in their storage bag - this was dorms, she really didn't have her own bathroom. No big issue there. The rest of her room? She has no posters up, no knickknacks, no nothing; just a small amount of useful things and nothing else. She hasn't had, or wanted, a space of her 'own' in quite a while and finds the idea of decorating it amusing, at least for the moment. Maybe she'll see if the campus has a large-format printer she can bang out an image from her camera's memory stick, toss it up on the wall just to add a little color.

Past that, it's minimalist all the way. White sheets, pillowcases and school-supplied comforter, good enough for her. White lamp, white blinds on the windows, etcetera etcetera. This was a place to rest her head and presumably study, not much else yet.

Aside from that? She notices her school uniforms, neatly pressed and bagged, hanging in her closet, but doesn't even really bother looking them over yet. Right now she's wearing a plain pair of jeans, a black tanktop, and black boots. There's a leather jacket, probably the one she wears riding, draped over the back of the school-supplied desk chair.

Her door is wide open, and she's looking out the window, leaned against the ledge to take in the campus. It was peaceful, at the moment. Late in the day, lots of students bustling around, and the breeze was cool and crisp as it rolled over her toned shoulders.

Ziggy was dancing down the hall when she noticed an open door. Glancing inside, she saw a beautiful, leggy brunette inside. Knocking on the doorframe, Ziggy called out "Hello?"

Ren turns around, not seeming to mind the sudden intrusion. There's Pandora tuned to a downtempo station on her laptop, pumping relaxing tunes through the sparse room. She'll plant her butt on the windowsill she was leaning against before, turned to look at Ziggy fully. She gives the girl a two-fingered wave, looking friendly enough.

"Hey, what's up?"

Looking around the barren room, Ziggy smiled. "Not much. Such a shame to leave this canvas blank, no?" She said, gesturing towards the room. "After all, a space is only as comfortable as you are, right?" Friendly enough, and not really able to be taken as an advance, for once Ziggy was happy with what she said.

"Eh, I just got in a few hours ago. Haven't really had time to do much with it yet."

Ren rolls her shoulders in a languid shrug, faint grin on her lips. She looked the girl up and down, just appraising - friendly sort, Ziggy seemed. Ren, as barren as the room looked, seemed pretty comfortable in it no matter what. Ziggy might get the sense that the girl exuded a quiet confidence, comfort in her own skin... she was an adaptable thing, that was for certain. Much easier to be that way when you have no expectations of what's to come. ... Especially here.

"I'm Ren."

She'll move through the small room with smooth, efficient movement, telltale signs of an athlete, and stick out a hand for Ziggy to shake.

Ziggy stepped over the threshold, hand extended to grasp Ren's. Instead of a shake, Ziggy pulled her into a friendly hug, and pulled back.

"I'm Ziggy, the ex Rave Queen of New York." Hearing the soft music, she listened for a moment. "You have good taste. In music, I mean. A little too calm for my tastes, but still well composed." Smiling, Ziggy appraised Ren in return.

"You seem to be pretty fit. Parkour? No... Your legs aren't like a freerunner's. I do like your expression. Like a living piece of art, almost. Very pretty, to say the least." Ziggy giggled. "Sorry, I tend to say what I'm thinking. I'll shut up now." Embarrassed, Ziggy was red from her hair to her hands. That was all the skin that was visible right now, as her orange track jacket was zipped up, comfortably hugging her upper torso, and her pants were loose enough to allow free movement. Functional, and fashionable, that was how Ziggy preferred to roll.

She's a bit taken aback at the rather abrupt hug, startled in fact, but manages to play it off only a little bit awkwardly, transitioning the handshake in to a half-hug of her own, blinking before they separate.

"Hah, that so? You an electronica girl, huh? I have a little bit of everything on this thing..."

She gestures to her laptop to indicate, then tries to suppress a chuckle as Ziggy starts trying to analyze her right out the gate. She'll let a slight grin curl her lips as Ziggy rattles off her thoughts, leaning against the doorframe of her room now, thumbs hooked in the pockets of her well-worn jeans.

"I've done parkour, actually. It's a lot of fun scrambling around cities like a monkey on crystal meth. And thanks, I guess? Speak your mind girl, no worries here, I don't judge. How long've you been here?"

"About a month. Studying Psych. I'm actually working on a paper right now, talking about the effects of techno and dub step on the human body and mind." Ziggy smiled, excited to be allowed to speak her mind about this. "Before I go off on a tangent, I want to mention something. You've probably noticed that some stuff went missing. Same shit happens to all the girls here, and nobody knows why. Some say that there's one girl who finds stuff and gets it back, but as far as I know, that's just a rumor. There's some other weird stuff floating around as well. Stories about monsters who attack the students, pranks like clothes being cut in revealing places, yadda yadda. Personally, I don't believe it. Monsters, really? What are we, five?"

Ziggy laughed a little, hoping not to seem to be one of those 'too good for you' girls.

"Anyways, you're new. Why not be the awkward and awesome person I am? Tell me, men, or women?" Ziggy smiled, knowing how odd the question would be, and hoping that Ren wouldn't shy away. She didn't seem the type, but Ziggy could have been wrong.

Is everyone on campus this blunt? Holy hell. Ren rode out the onslaught of language spewing from Ziggy's mouth, sharpening her attention when she heard about people's things missing out of suitcases and such. ... Okay, so she wasn't the only one. Ren's mental radar was on high alert already, and this just brought the strangeness of the place more to the forefront of her mind. Her thoughts went off their own for a moment, trying to figure out why in the world they would have taken her hiking gear, and she completely tunes out the bit about monsters - it sounds like crazy talk, it just doesn't make it through her brain's proverbial filter as something she'd need to take in to consideration. When Ziggy stops to laugh (and presumably breathe), she'll open her mouth to say something... and then Ziggy just starts right back up... and throws a proverbial left hook at her. Ren blinks, scratching the back of her head and eyeing the rave girl a little more critically.. maybe all the candy she'd eaten, so to speak, had led to the motormouth and outrageous bluntness? Maybe it was the dubstep. Who knows.

"I've known you for all of what, twenty seconds and you're asking me that? Come on now."

She'll laugh, shaking her head, not offering the girl an answer one way or another. She doesn't seem offended, just a bit bewildered.

"I know, but why hide behind walls of ice and words? It just doesn't make sense to me. Sorry I'm babbling so much, by the way, just... Had a long day is all. I needed to get all of that out of my brain so I could be more serious." Ziggy smiled. "The sexuality thing was a joke, Ren. It's not a big deal if you don't want to answer it, I'm just curious." Ziggy looked at the floor, still embarrassed. Why did I even say that? Man, I'm an idiot... Ziggy thought, beating herself up for being so blunt.

"It's cool, no worries."

She'll offer the girl a wry grin, rolling her shoulders in a shrug. Ren just rolled with that proverbial punch, popping her dorm fridge open and grabbing a few bottles of water, offering one over to Ziggy. She'll twist the cap of her own and drain a few gulps out of it, leaning her butt against the little fridge, which creaks under her weight.

"So monsters and pranks, huh? Sorority night in Transylvania?"

It's clear she's not exactly taking it seriously, as that grin curls her lips one more time.

"Where do you think I could scrape up some stuff to put in the room, here? There's no town or anything near campus, it's weird. Amazon for everything, or what?"