[color=gray][CENTER][img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1070792705547980842/1079948061868048414/Katja_Banner.png[/img][/CENTER][indent][sub][COLOR=SILVER][B]Location:[/B][/COLOR] [I]Pacific Royal Collegiate & University[/I] - [I]Dundas Islands, Pacific Ocean[/I][/sub][sup][right][COLOR=SILVER][b]The Homecoming Trials #1.06:[/b][/COLOR] [I]Heavy Bagage[/I][/right][/sup][/indent][sub][hr][/sub][INDENT][sub][color=SILVER][B]Interaction(s):[/B][/COLOR] [I]Banjo (Indirectly), Haleigh[/I][/sub][SUP][RIGHT][COLOR=SILVER][b]Previously:[/b][/COLOR] [I]N/A[/I][/right][/SUP]
[INDENT]Katja awoke with an audible gasp from her slumber. Again, as with every night, the nightmare had returned. It seemed that she would be eternally cursed with reliving the worst day of her life every time she went to sleep. She had initially hoped that going to an environment where people like her, Hyper-humans, were accepted would lessen the frequency of her dreams. But alas, after nearly a week at Pacific Royal Collegiate & University, this hope seemed to be in vain. It’s not like she hadn’t accounted for this. It’s why she picked the bottom bunk after all. Given her limited experience, and thus control, over her power, Katja might accidentally trigger her abilities and suddenly increase her mass tenfold. And if that happened, you wouldn’t want to be in a bunk bed beneath her.

Sitting half upright in her bed, Katja looked over at her phone to check the time. She cursed under her breath as she saw that it was still two hours before the bugle call which would announce the official start of the school day, again. Controlling the urge to throw her phone away in frustration, she reached below her pillow to get the one item that would always calm her down. It was a silver beret pin. It had the shape of a rook chess piece, behind which were two crossed Mauser rifles and it was overlaid by two big Cs. It used to be her father’s back when he and her uncle still worked for their private security firm back in South Africa. Gripping it tightly in her hand, she put the pin close to her chest and felt her post-nightmare adrenaline subside.

Having calmed down, Katja got up from her bed and put on some running clothes. Given how she was awake long before the dress style was enforced, she could afford to spend some time outside of the uniform.

Even though she’d only been here less than a week, an early morning jog had already become part of Katja’s daily routine. It helped to get her acquainted with the P.R.C.U. campus, plus it gave her some time for herself. There hadn’t been a lot of interaction with the other people in the dorms yet, as most people were probably trying to feel out the situation. Still, here she was on her own and she could focus on her run and studies. 

While the semester hadn’t officially commenced as of yet, Katja did try to get a headstart with studying. One of her electives had been History, preferably military history, and so she was currently listening to an audiobook detailing the African conflicts during the Cold War. She knew it was a bit of a niche topic, but there was something interesting about the asymmetry of these wars that made her think about how these tactics would be applied if… 

[color=#FF7514]“Kak”[/color] Katja cursed to herself as she had forgotten about the time due to being completely lost in thought. Running back on the double, she returned to the dorms with just enough time to spare to take a quick shower and then getting dressed in uniform before the morning call. After opting to go for the kilt, as that seemed to fit her hard rock minded fashion sense the most, she went on her way to start her daily community contribution.

[hr]

For her community contribution Katja was placed into the Sanitation bracket. She was relieved to hear that she’d be responsible for cleaning duties at the library instead of having one of the shitty tasks like cleaning the toilets. It was a mostly mindless job where she could just turn her brain off and go on autopilot mopping the floors and emptying trash bins. 

[i]Mostly.[/i] Because some asshat decided earlier that it’d be great fun to light one of them on fire. Dealing with that proved to be quite a pain in the ass, as not only did it require replacing, Katja also had to help with the administrative hassle that came with it, which meant working over time. Luckily classes hadn’t started yet as she definitely would have missed half of the class, if not more.

She had no real idea who the culprit was, as she wasn’t told by the library staff. Still, that wouldn’t stop her from thinking about it. [color=#FF7514]If I find out who was responsible for that mess…[/color] Katja tightly wrung the handle of her mop as if emphasize the point to herself.

Luckily the amount of trash fires today were at the much more tolerable number of zero. So after she had finished mopping the floor and emptying the bins Katja finished her assignment with a few minutes to spare. 

As she walked through the Collegiate part of the library she spotted one of her team members, the blonde Aussie, as he was restacking some books. Katja could have sworn he had said something about working at the University wing. Since he worked here, maybe he’d know more about who caused the trash fire. Shrugging to herself she thought she’d ask him about it later when she had the time.

Now though, it was time for the main event of the day.

[hr]

The stadium was already packed by the time Katja arrived. Most of the more senior student teams seemed to be sitting together, so she tried to find some sign of her own team members. Unfortunately finding any of them in this sea of students turned out to be as easy as finding a needle in a haystack. So Katja quickly gave up on finding any of her fellow team members and just found a random empty seat somewhere close to an elevated stand.

Soon after, the ceremony would begin.

Katja slowly rose to her feet when everyone was asked to stand up for the national anthem. While most sang or hummed along, there were [i]some[/i] in attendance who sang their own country’s national anthems. Even over the crowd she could pick out some Australian loudly belting out his own anthem, which made her smirk. But only for a second. Katja herself would keep her lips tightly shut. She had no love for any of the Mundane nation states, as they had shown little love for her. Perhaps Canada was different, but given her experiences in South Africa and the United States, she was highly doubtful about that.

Dr. Lehrer took the stage after the anthem was finished. Katja had to admit that he was quite a charismatic man, and she’d be lying if she said that she didn’t enjoy his speech. The time seemed to fly by during his speech, making Katja almost forget her sense of time. But she was pulled back to the present when Dr. Lehrer announced the commencement of the Homecoming Trials with some pretty impressive pyrotechnics that wouldn’t be amiss at a Rammstein concert.

When Katja turned around to head back to the Intake House to prepare for the trials to come she spotted a familiar face: Haleigh Crawford, a fellow member of Team 21.

As Katja got closer to her, she noticed that something seemed off. Even Though they hadn’t interacted a lot before, Haleigh didn’t seem to be the person to become anxious because of a little trial. Yet here she was, seemingly stressing the fuck out. Seeing her like that… Katja couldn’t just ignore it.

After quickly running out of patience waiting for the file of students to slowly shuffle out of the stadium, Katja used her imposing physique to -carefully- force her way through towards Haleigh. While she received a few angry glances, none really spoke out against the tall girl. As Katja got closer she gingerly raised her hand to get Haleigh’s attention so as to not unnecessarily startle her

[color=#FF7514]“Hey,”[/color] Katja said in a soft voice as she squatted down next to Haleigh, [color=#FF7514]“you alright sus?”[/color]


[hr]

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