The New Kid

[Hope]

Real Rhydin Team House - Move-In Day

“Hi!” The first thing Eden did as she bounced through the front door was smile and wave directly into the camera lens. No matter how many times the production crew told her not to look at the camera and not to acknowledge the crew, Eden just couldn’t seem to help herself. Like they had last IFL, the reality show’s editors would just have to edit around her.

After a look exchanged between camera-person and boom operator, they followed Eden as she bounced around the first floor looking in the different rooms and then up to the second floor where she did the same.

It was in one of the last bedrooms that Eden stopped short --- the bed was unmade. It was slept in! Eden turned around in a circle. There were clothes visible through the ajar closet door. A pair of shoes peeked out from under the bed. Eden tipped her head.

Then she shrugged and went bouncing towards another room to claim it for herself and Kheldar.

The next entrant - Jaycy - on the other hand, producers had a plan for. Off-camera they directed her toward that last bedroom that’d caught Eden’s eye; what drama would there be if Jaycy roomed with the blonde?! She nodded her thanks and held back the resigned sigh until she was out of sight. A smallish suitcase in one hand and Sunspark (aka Sparkles, the baby golden phoenix) on her other shoulder, the redhead made her way to the second floor and that already-moved-into bedroom. Brows lifted as she peered at the collection while remaining at the door, frowning lightly. “Huh. She got here early. And brought a lot.” A little shrug and she moved into her designated hiding-hole.

“Seriously, Hope,” she mumbled, setting down her suitcase and turning her shoulder to allow Sparkles onto the halfway-covered bed. Jaycy scooped up the tall stack of clothes and twisted so that she could dump it wholesale onto the unmade bed. Hmph. Suitcase on the floor and phoenix on her bed, she left the room to go explore the house.

The Empress breezed in through the front door, waving off a harried intern with a clipboard, “No. I am not signing that. And yes, I’m supposed to be here.” When the intern tried to get in her way one more time, she twirled around and stuck her finger in the young woman’s face, “Listen. Your bosses are smarter than you. They know that this show will be [censored!] without me. So no, I don’t need to sign your waiver form in case I get hurt in a fight cause I’m not fighting. But I am living here. So be a doll and bring my stuff up to my room, yeah?”

With a cutting smile, The Empress left the intern behind and moved into the kitchen. Opening the fridge, she grabbed a Badsider and was in the process of opening it when she noticed a sticky note on it, Property of D. “Who’s D?” None of the crew answered her. She looked around, confused and then shouted out into the house in general, “Hey! Who is D?” When no one responded immediately, Jewell shrugged, opened the bottle, and took a sip. “Maybe Kheldar is rebranding himself?”

[Hope]

Upstairs, Eden finished taping a sign on the door of her chosen bedroom. It had a picture of a pineapple on roller skates and read: KHELDAR & EDEN’S ROOM.

Hearing noise, in the rest of the house, she turned, “Hi!” But still not seeing anyone, she shouted generally, “ARE WE GOING IN THE HOT TUB?”

“What? AGAIN? She’s not even on the roster! Why do I get matched with Jewell every year?” Gren sighed tragically and slumped his shoulders. “Okay, please at least tell me she didn’t bring her 200 piece collection of hot pants. Ah . . . the twitch is coming back . . .” Gren’s face made a sharp cringe to the left before he caught himself. “IFL 2020. Here we go.” Gren muttered disheartened as he trudged up the steps towards the bedrooms with his luggage.

Dakota Street, a young private investigator relatively new to Rhydin, had been looking for a way to promote her business. When the offer came to have a crew film and follow her, she jumped at the chance to show off what she could do. The exposure would lead to more jobs, which would lead to more money, which would lead to being able to afford a better place to live - and the contract even had a temporary living space! What she failed to read until after she signed was that she had agreed to be placed on a dueling team despite having no experience dueling. When she went to the producers and tried to get out of it while asking for an explanation, they said things like “no” and “it’s drama” and “twists” and “ratings” and “iron clad.”

So Dakota moved in early to at least try and establish some parameters and get a good room for herself (she didn’t know about sharing the room). She had been out on a run and just returned to the house, with her first destination being the kitchen. With her earbuds still in, she gave an upnod to Jewell and opened the fridge to reach for her Badsider. When it wasn’t there, she squinted toward the blue-haired woman and saw her drinking her drink. Her eyes narrowed, but she wanted to avoid having her first conversation with a teammate be an argument, so Dakota instead grabbed the only other drink left: a bottle of Cherry Coke. Little notice was given to the six different kinds of pie or the hand-written note on the fridge.

After taking her drink, she passed by Gren on the stairs. It looked like he had his luggage in hand, so she gave a friendly wave and smile while passing him by. She did take her headphones off to say “Hey” to him, and at the same time heard something about the hot tub. After reaching upstairs, she started to walk to her room and spotted Eden.

“Hot tub is down at the moment. I’m getting it disinfected and deep cleaned because - it’s a hot tub. Should be back up in a day or so. Nice wings,” Dakota said with another smile to Eden before taking a long drink of the Cherry Coke and continuing on toward her room.

“Yeah right there is just fine.” Hope was directing a pair of workers with a statue- notably not one of Bailey’s, of her in the backyard. “Perfect.” The marble-esque replica was of her holding one hand up to the sun blocking it from her eyes and the other on her hip. “The rest should be getting in here soon.” She heard Eden from inside and clapped her hands. “That’s a great idea.”