[center][h2][colour=2c75ff]Cereza[/colour][/h2][/center]

The blonde didn’t really think about it until she arrived in the ballroom, on the tail end of a large group filled with joking teens and raucous laughter, but seeing the other hopeful applicants rolling out their sleeping bags with the air of a group of children having a slumber party really hammered the situation home for Cereza. She was going to have to sleep in the same room as all of these people.

She hadn’t slept with someone else in the room since she was seven.

She hadn’t been alone, facing this many people at once, in her entire life.

[i][colour=2c75ff]’I can’t – I can’t do this.’[/colour][/i] The hacker panicked to herself. [i][colour=2c75ff]’Midas, help!’[/colour][/i] She reached with her semblance to her scroll, activating the message function as the blonde typed up a quick message to her brother, still standing in the entryway to the ballroom as people pushed their way past her. The lithe girl had just finished thinking of the words she wanted to say when a group of kids off to one side let out a boastful, “My parents always knew I’d become a brilliant Hunter. They always believed in me.”

Cereza paused, and methodically erased the message she’d been about to send to Midas. He had supported her, her entire life. He had given up everything for her, and when the young woman told her older brother she intended to become a Hunter, he had wholeheartedly supported her. She had a duty to repay him for everything – it was up to her to see his dreams fulfilled. She couldn’t back out now.

[colour=2c75ff][i]’Chin up. Eyes forward. Fingers ready.’[/i][/colour] Cereza reminded herself and she strode into the ballroom, trying to disguise any nervousness she may feel as the same excitement everyone else seemed to be showing. She found an out of the way corner and rolled out her sleeping bag, stripping off her gloves and boots before climbing in, not even bothering to change into pyjamas. Cereza unclipped the miniature solar farm from her vest and plugged her weapons in to charge. The hacker lay on her side and deactivated her semblance; the feeling of the small but steady drain stop after a long day was pleasant, and she closed her eyes to try and sleep.

The blonde lay there for what felt like hours even after the hubbub had died down, every little noise jolting her awake. A kid sniffled somewhere in the room, there was some sort of scuffle at the opposite end, soft murmurs carried on the echoing hall. Cereza heaved a sigh and turned the other way, hoping to find some way of blocking out the noise. She shoved her head underneath her pillow and stared at the back of her eyelids, praying for sleep to come.

[b](Round 2)[/b]