The Dorms

[Lagomorph]

There's a ton of info on the dormitories out there. Unfortunately, it's not all in one place, which means it's often hard to find the answer to questions you seek, and it also means it's not easily digestible by new people.

This is my attempt to start collecting it all into one place. For now this is a work in progress. Please pardon the mess.

Short term goal: Put all the posts in one place. This thread.

Long term goal: Condense all of the information into something more approachable.

[Lagomorph]

Subject: Ask Mimi

2. In my mind, SJS has a campus. I envision a couple things. The main building is U shaped. It is made of heavy, churchy stone from the early part of the 20th century. The "handles" of the U are the dormitories, or at least ther original ones. The connector of the U is the original school building, with offices and classrooms and such. In the middle is the quad.
We have said that the school sustained damage during the Rikti attack. So, the girls' dorm was almost levelled, and has been rebuilt with more modern matierials.

Subject: Ask Mimi

Okay, hit me with the image of the dorm quad. Is the quad 4 separate rooms with central shared stuff, is it one big room for 4 people with shared ammenities? Is it two people per room and two rooms with a central common area? I have 3 quadmates, but does that mean that I have 4 roomates? Or one, or none? Just curious how that dynamic works. I don't really care where the dorms are, but knowing what the room I live in looks like would be a big help

Sure thing.

The boys' dorm is still part of the original architecture. Since Saint Joe's was originally an all-girls' school run exclusively by the church, privacy concerns were not paramount at the time of its' construction. The quads are pretty much large square rooms. All four boys sleep in the same room, which in my head always had two bunkbeds, though four single beds could also work. The beds are on either side of a simple open space, in which the boys might put a TV or whatever. All quads have at least a couple windows. The boys' dorm has bathrooms and showers at the end of each hall, shared by everyone who lives on that floor.

When it was rebuilt after the Rikti war, the girls sortof lucked out. Their new dorm is much nicer, and built with the sensibilities of the modern day. The girls' dorm was not entirely destroyed, however, so a small number of the rooms are still done in the "classic" style of the boys' dorm. The other modernized rooms, however, have one of two styles.

The first style is really what I would call a "joined double". Three rooms: two bedrooms, each with a pair of beds, seperated by a small common room.

The second style is similar to the "open" style of the boys' dorm, but due to more modern architecture, provides more privacy by placing the beds in recessed "nooks." This second style has a larger common area, but essentially mimics the old style.

The girls' dorm also has shared bathroom and showers on each floor.

Now, a word about both dorms. Each floor has an RA (resident assistant) double-sized room that a single student occupies. This person is usually a kind of "dorm monitor," harkening back to the days of a staff member who lived with the students and kept them in check. Nowadays, only one staff member lives in each of the dorms, on the ground floor. The other floors are "monitored" by student RAs.

Also, the boys' dorm has a small number of odd singles and doubles, some of which have their own bathroom facilties. Nobody remembers what the function of these rooms are, and some are occupied, some empty. If you've ever been in an old building and stumbled across a wierd room with a random sink in it? Yeah, that sort of thing.

Also, both the boys' dorm and the remaining "old" section of the girls' dorm have a garrett room, up at the point of the roof. It's sortof like living in the attic.

Last word on this: there is a proposal to build a new set of dormitory buildings. Whether they would be for freshmen or for upperclassmen is not known, but certainly, one or the other.

Subject: Ask Mimi

Oh, I guess I should say one last thing about the "look" of the dorms.

The boy's dorm is sortof a big block. The rooms are on either side of a central hallway and there is a set of stairs that is pretty well contained by heavy fire doors and such. It isn't dismal, but it's pretty uninspired.

The girls' dorm, when it was rebuilt, was built a little wider. Instead of a single central hallway, there is an open airway, surrounded by a bannister and topped by skylights. The stairs are open, built into the airway. A girl on the top floor can go out her door, lean over the railing, and shout to a girl on the first floor, for instance. At the bottom of the airway is a little planter or green space, with ficus trees or whatever, near the door to the quad.

Needless to say, the skylights provide cheeky entertainment to the braver boys, who sometimes sneak up there to watch the girls as they scurry to and fro to the showers. Everyone knows the boys do this, but hell, the building is built and its not going to be rebuilt again (hopefully) anytime soon.

Subject: Ask Mimi

does the tile color in the boys showers match that of the girls? are the showers open in a military fasion or separated by curtons?

Depends which bathroom. The bathrooms in the original buildings were just open, like a locker room (again, the nuns did not much consider the privacy of their charges). The newer ones have those stainless steel dividers and plastic curtains.

are the sheets for the beds egyption cotton or cotton, poliester, silk or nylon?

If the student does not bring (or purchase) sheets from home, they are white cotton. Laundry is done once a week, but you can do your own laundry whenever you like at $1 a wash and .25 cents for each drying cycle of 15 minutes.

Subject: Ask Mimi

Okay, I think we used to have 8 quads each but we now have 12. The 4 new quads for each side, are they the new dorm buildings? If so, what are their layouts? Are they "joined double" layouts or something else?

They're still in the same building.

There are probably 6 quads on each floor, three floors, plus the random sorts of rooms the boys' dorm still contains, plus the garrett. That's 18 quads plus some random doubles and singles on the boys' side.

New quad numbers "appeared" because we needed some more quads.

If we "build" a new dorm, it will most likely be housing for grades 7 and 8.

Subject: Ask Mimi

For those students with special residential needs (too huge for the beds/doors, can only sleep/recharge under specific conditions, could be dangerous to any roommates, etc.), where are they housed? In specialized rooms in the dorms, or somewhere else entirely? And do they get their own rooms, or does the staff seek to pair them with roommates that won't be bothered by (or also need) the unusual conditions?

That largely depends on two factors, one IC and one OOC.

In character, it depends exactly how dangerous or how unusual we're talking about. Let me explore a couple examples.

If we had an entirely aquatic student, one who would 'drown' if he did not sleep in a large tank of water, the administration would need to balance out the problem of keeping that student healthy with the desire to not isolate that student. Probably, that student would have a room assignment but might actually sleep in a special tank in the basement of the dorm. It's also possible that the student would be assigned to a room on the first floor, with their sleeping tank directly below their quad, accessible from the quad by a 'waterlock' (think a plexiglas tube like an airlock, but it fills with water). Even with this extreme example, Saint Joe's is going to try very hard to make sure that student is not isolated.

Now, let's talk about a dangerous student, a student who, say, is deadly radioactive when he doesn't keep mental focus. Obviously, when he sleeps he loses focus and he becomes a whirling storm of radioactivity. There is no way to keep this student in a dorm. While he still may have a room assignment, the administration cannot even afford to let this boy take a nap, let alone sleep near other students.

Now, the OOC factor is quite simple, really: do you want your student to be isolated? For some, isolation is part of the concept (or rather, overcoming their isolation). For others, they are not interested in having their character be alone. So, out of character, a decision about what sort of speculative technology would be involved in keeping the student healthy and happy.

So, to bring this back into focus, let's talk specifically about Cryogene. It's your question, after all. For her history and powers, I see a couple IC options, but ultimately the decision is yours to make about her. I can envision a unit built into the wall above her bed, that folds down over her as she sleeps, filled with thermo-coils (like a big space heater!) that allow her to absorb as much heat as she needs as she sleeps. Hooked up to a bioregulator provided by the nice folks at SERAPH, even someone sleeping nearby would not be disturbed. She could also require a much bulkier apparatus, in which case she has her very own hyperthermic tank in the basement (next door to the water tank for the aquatic boy, perhaps) and though she has a room assignment, it is not where she actually sleeps.

Subject: Ask Mimi

How seperate are the boys and girls dorms kept?

What's the security like?

Can a boy just walk into the girls dorms and look around?

Does he have to stand around outside while the room is called?

The boys' and girls' dormitories are across the quad from each other.

As I've said before, the original SJS building is sortof a big U. The dorms are the 'arms' of the U, and the original school building is the 'base' of the U. The quad would lie in the 'cup' of the U.

As far as security..? There aren't turrets or anything. There are nuns and teachers and other students, though. As long as it is not after curfew, a student can certainly visit the other gender's dorm. There is probably a "door open" policy that many private boarding schools have: when you have company over, you are forbidden to close your door.

Subject: Ask Mimi

I have a question about the rooms themselves. Are pets (with in reason) allowed? and whats the policy on laying down grass? I havent done anything yet Im just...wondering...

Small pets are allowed. The school defines a "small pet" as an animal that can be entirely restricted to a 10-gallon tank or small cage without ill effects. Therefore, things like fish, hermit crabs, gerbils, or even a little garter snake would be fine. Larger animals or animals that require exercise outside their cage are not permitted. Ferrets are not allowed. Birds are permitted, so long as they have their wings clipped and are not songbirds.

Service animals are of course permitted in the dorms.

School policy remains that you must have the permission of your roommates before any pet will be allowed in.

As for "laying down grass"? Well, you can have a window box, certainly. But if the administration finds you unrolling sod in your common room, there will be detention involved.

Also is it one big room with a bathroom? or is there smaller rooms a kitchen and a bathroom and closets?

Most dorms are quads, with two bunk beds on either side of a larger common room. Bathrooms and showers are down at the end of the hall.

Dorm rooms have no kitchens, nor are open cooking appliances allowed. Mircrowaves and mini-fridges are fine. No toaster-ovens or BBQ grills or anything, though.

Subject: Ask Mimi

Ok...

My turn. Purely for forum rp and story telling.

Something I've talked about with various people for a while. Considering the open door policy in the dorms, would it be possible for Bryan, Jason and Jake (if he's ok with the idea) to host a movie party in their dorm on a Saturday afternoon or something? Is this possilbe?

I would suspect the idea of hosting a party actually in your quad would be discouraged, unless you're talking more of a "get-together" and less of a "party". If you were thinking of having more than just a small few attend, you'd be directed to a common room/lounge or out onto the main quad.

Subject: Ask Mimi

I would think we would have some sort of open area either on the floor we are on, or at least on the main floor where I'm sure we could reserve time to use the tv and dvd player or something.

This is what I meant by a common room or lounge.

If they had a ton of people over to their room during the day on a Saturday, and they weren't overly disruptive, would anybody even notice?

Well, yes and no, and I waffle for story reasons. I do not want to accidentally start a 'slippery slope' by saying "probably no one would notice" and then having a lack of supervision be used by someone else to justify something we wouldn't want happening.

Plus, I think "a ton of people" aged 14-17 would have a VERY hard time keeping in quiet

In general, if we're talking about having a few people, that's fine. More than 6 or 8 people is going to start to be cramped in one of the boys' dormrooms, and maybe a "lounge" should play in.

Subject: Ask Mimi

As long as we're on the subject, what are the rules for guys in the girls' dorms and vice versa? Any time or location restrictions?

Well, I think a page or two back, I mentioned a "door open" policy. That is to say, when someone has a guest in their room, they are expected to leave their door open at least a foot (so as to diminish the sense of privacy, and lessen the chances of hanky-panky).

During the day, I think boys and girls can freely visit each others' dorms. My temptation is to say that after a certain hour of the evening (or possibly just use the generality "after dark"), you are expected to be back in your gender-appropriate dorm. This probably also applies until after breakfast in the mornings. This is so people can shower or whatever without having to worry about it.

We've said before that the dorms have common-type areas or lounges with things like a fridge, a microwave, some couches and a TV and DVD setup. While the lounges are in the dorms, they are not near the actual dorm rooms themselves. With that in mind, I think the lounges are open for co-mingling until curfew, which is probably something like 9 or 10 pm weeknights and midnight or 1 am Fridays and Saturdays.

And just because someone might ask: NO, NO, A THOUSAND TIMES NO-- time in the real world is not a factor in our curfew. Neither is the rapid passage of day and night in Paragon City. Curfew is a roleplay detail and falls distinctly under the "wonky time" clause of our digital reality.

Subject: Ask Mimi

3. No one lives off-campus unless their parents live in Paragon City, and the student lives with their parents.

Subject: Ask Mimi

How much freedom do we have in concieving the design of the room? Which design scheme does it follow, the girl's or boy's dorm? It's worth noting that I wouldn't think of anything extravagantly fancy....it'd have the makeup of a standard room, but with the extra tech needed for the gravity/inertial dampeners in the walls. Also, he'd need a bathroom somehow attached so he can do the things you do in a bathroom.

Largely, yes-- you have a great deal of say about what your room needs to have. What we'll need to debate a little is how the room's properties are going to affect (or not) students besides Malcolm.

My first thought is that some items in the room would simply be built to accommodate Malcolm's natural weight (which is, I think, something like 2 tons, right?). Well, that means that the toilet, the chairs, the bed, and the desk need to be able to basically support the weight of a large car or pickup truck.

While there is certainly super-science in play, I'm not sure how realistic an anti-gravity room is. Something might be simulated using electromagnets, I suppose. Hmm. Honestly (and this may sound really weird, but bear wth me) Malcolm's room might take advantage of magic rather than technology to accommodate him: while DATA may not have an antigravity generator, MAGI might have access to spells that make things float.

If you want to open it up for brainstorming, I'd say start a thread in RP chat

As for being isolated, well, once again, if we go with a magical route (something that does not require huge generators or machinery), then maybe all that would be required is that Malcolm's room must be on the ground floor of the dorm (you know, just in case ). Otherwise, yes-- Malcolm is in "special habitation" which I think we last established was on the ground floor of MECCa. Which is pretty isolated after curfew.

[Lagomorph]

Subject: dormitory

Most schools make an effort to make sure that one's roomates expand your horizons and do not accidentally make you more insular.

With that in mind, it is unlikely that Franky and Jazz room together, for instance: they are both magic origin and both draw a little heavily from the darker side of life. Just as it is unlikely that Cricket and I would be placed together, both being sonic heroes.

Anyway, something to think about.