Vᴀɴᴅᴇʀʙɪʟᴛ Aᴄᴀᴅᴇᴍʏ Fᴏʀ Tʜᴇ Eʟɪᴛᴇ © discussion

situated about a twelve minute walk away from the heart of campus, this area is a little isolated. the statue garden is full of statues donated by alumni, with a reflecting pond created by alexander vanderbilt, and numerous well trimmed hedges.

As gaudy as some of the other campus locations were, Darianne liked the statue garden. For one, barely anyone ever came here. Maybe it was the walk, or just the idea of statues and how they might not fit the "mainstream aesthetic" anymore for a lot of students. Either way, she was glad to have this place relatively to herself. It allowed her to stop and think, and was probably one of the few places she could go to that wasn't bound to end up overpopulated with rich kids.

She closed her eyes as she stood in front of the reflecting pond, arms crossed, and just breathed. It was nice to not be entirely stifled by the wealth of those around her for once. When next she opened her eyes, she took to walking among the hedges, studying the features of each statue. Well-preserved, she'd say, if not a little weather worn.

Alec had been led to another part of Vanderbilt by the website, which touted the statue garden as “a magnificent place to sit and look at the many exquisite pieces of art”. He figured it would a nice change of pace from the gym where he spent most of his time. He had even brought his violin, to practice a little bit of Clair de Lune for fun. Alec was doing nothing but keeping busy, until he saw another person in the statue garden and got sidetracked. Everybody was a potential friend to Alec, so he went over and introduced himself. “Hey there, I’m Alec!” He said, catapulting over the hedges as he strode over to the reflecting pool.

( fiend, who did u say was available for the glam clan to harrass? ))

Darianne's peace and quiet was interrupted by someone calling out to her. Great. The blonde regarded the boy with little interest as he introduced himself, watching him coolly. Alec, as he said he was, had practically leapt over the hedges to say hello. Too much out of his way, she would say. Rather than greet him with a smile, she merely nodded in acknowledgment before turning away to look at a statue once more.

Maybe if she ignored him, he would go away. That tended to happen usually. It would be a great way for this to go, as well. She had come out to be alone, and that was what she was going to do.

( darianne, ramone, xinyi, and minjun are all viable targets for them )

Alec was a little puzzled by Darianne’s lack of reaction. Huh. Well, Alec would have to be fine with that. He certainly did enough talking for two. “No name, huh? That’s alright! I’ll just play my violin—“ he jabbed a finger at the other end of the reflecting pool,” over here, and you can do your thing over there!” He gave Darianne a little wave as he pulled out his violin and began to play from memory. He usually got a reaction from people when he said hi- heck, even Orion replied, even if it was grumbly, but this girl just didn’t talk at all.

The blonde merely raised her brows in response, waiting for Alec to carry on with what he said he'd do. A partial success. He would be away from her, at least. Hands behind her back, she moved on to the next statue. Her quiet observance was interrupted once again by Alec as he began playing his violin. Not terribly, but also not what she wanted to hear right at the moment. Closing her eyes once more, she considered venturing into another section. But, she'd been here first.

Sighing, she moved on to another statue, reaching out to touch it tentatively.

Alec heard the girl sighing— okay, so maybe his presence wasn’t wanted, but this was where he went to school to! He had just the same right as her to be in the statue garden, no matter how anti-social she was. So Alec continued playing Clair de Lune, moving around the garden a bit. Alec was so full of energy, he could never stay still for too long. “Excuse me!” He yelled in Darianne’s general direction, “am I bothering you?” Of course, Alec knew he was bothering her, but two could play at this passive aggressive game. Truth to be told, he was not vindicitive, more like playing a joke on her.

Darianne had figured it was time to explore other portions of the garden. And for whatever reason, the music from Alec's violin seemed to move around with her. If she were being honest, it sounded almost like it was following her. Not in the way that the sound would carry in the wind, but like it was truly moving in her direction. She, however, decided to ignore it as she had before and turned her attention back on the statues.

She was usually quite good at holding her concentration on a singular thing, but she had not prepared for needing to not be distracted. The purpose of being here was to be distracted, after all. Alec spoke again, and jaw clenched, she resisted the urge to look back at him with as seething a look as she could muster. If he wanted to mess around, he could do it on his own. And so, she moved further away without a response, not bothering to look back.

Alec wondered why this girl wouldn’t speak. Was she mute? Or did she just instantaneously hate his guts? It puzzled him to no end as he plucked some strings on his violin absentmindedly after going through a few lines of Clair de Lune. He hadn’t ever seen this girl before— was she anti-social? She must’ve been, to seek out an isolated place on campus and refuse to talk. He continued playing, walking a couple hundred feet behind her.

So she hadn't been imagining it; Alec was following her. Not only was it creepy, it was downright annoying and completely unwarranted. To put it frankly: he was being an asshole. Stopping abruptly, she turned on her heels.

"Can I help you with something?" There was nothing that really warranted that he be following the blonde. She had left him to his space and gone about her own business. If he really wanted a conversation, Darianne would be more than glad to have his teeth chat with her fist.

(( i totally forgot!! I’ll respond soon ))

“Ah, sorry. I just tend to walk around when I’m playing violin.” Although it was true, it was a bit of a fib, since he had been trailing her out of a curiosity. A bit creepy now that he thought about it. Observing Darianne, Alec raised some questions in his mind- was she a scholarship student? Member of the Spade house?