Untitled, 2018

Prelude: Stasis

Author's Note: Hope you enjoy... trying something new out as it's my first time here :)

This chapter is just to introduce the OC, Riti (who I promise is believable and relatable).

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          It was a fresh, fresh morning in LA and Riti was feeling it from her tips of her tanned fingers to her very core on her run. Moving to California for college had been a much wanted respite from the cold of Minnesota, especially when she remembered her childhood spent in India. Besides, she liked the golden tint it gave her and the optimism it filled her with.

         As Riti rounded a corner of the park and slowed down, she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. Taking out her earbuds, she saw it was a message from her mom, and below that, a notification from 3 minutes ago: a post from one of her favorite music groups. By force of habit, she clicked on the Twitter notification and saw a greatly filtered video of her favorite member's face, a smile playing on his lips. Long since having given up on Twitter to translate the caption, she used what elementary skills in Korean she had picked up herself to realize that he wrote something along the lines of "I miss you, ARMY".

         Riti scoffed - the idea of having such fandoms and fandom names felt a little childish to her, honestly. The last time she'd called herself part of a fandom was... well, she was probably twelve. Though she knew that if she'd ever voiced this opinion to the internet, she'd likely get some hate. Thanks to... you guessed it, fandoms stirring up trouble. It just wasn't worth her time. All she wanted to do was glean the perks from her fanpage on Instagram to keep up with latest news. I'm a simple girl, she thought wistfully. And she supposed making friends was part of the fun while she was at it. While sighing at the caption, her lips still betrayed her as they curled at the tips, and she soon found herself gazing into the eyes of a man she didn't know, in a video on loop.

         She knew she was being ridiculous. "Time to grow up, Riti," she murmured as she hastily shoved her phone back into her pocket. Her mother's words buzzed in the back of her mind, on repeat, "You ruined your life because of your obsessions, your addictions". Turning up the volume on her exercise playlist, she angrily huffed and continued her run. She had to finish quickly - her university's Women in Coding club was having a guest speaker in Hall 2 in an hour. A panel of top female corporate management! Riti pumped her fist in the air with renewed energy. She had to get a head start in this whole networking game. After all, Dorothy(DoRiti?), we're not in high school anymore.