Okay, good news, bad news. Being an optimistic person, Alistair preferred to look at the bad news first. The bad news was that he'd been in the crowd for roughly three minutes, and he hadn't spotted anyone who was either accessible, or not already in a group. That was the bad news. The good news was that he'd been in the crowd for three minutes, and no one had commented on his performance at the exam, or given him an off glance, or-

[i]"I know, it's bull$#!t, I'd have destroyed that guy if the judges were fair...Nah, I still got in, but so did he! ...I dunno if beating him woulda kept him out or not, I just know I looked stupid...well my friends thought so! ...Listen, babe, you're not being very supportive, I listened to you whine about your dead aunt for, like, five minutes, can ya' pipe down while I talk about my business?" [/i]

...

That wasn't good.

Alistair all but froze on the spot, head turning towards the source of the noise. Leaning against the wall, talking into a cell phone with [i]great[/i] annoyance, was the same muscular jock who he'd had the misfortune of fighting at the exams, and apparently, of being on the same airship with. He didn't seem to have noticed him yet, but judging by the conversation he was overhearing (Though truthfully it wasn't hard, he was talking so loud that everyone could hear.), Alistair was the topic of conversation at hand. And also judging by that conversation, his foe was very, very angry.

Even worse, said jock now had a clear line of sight, if he happened to look this direction.

No sooner did this process, Alistair darted towards the edge of the room, all but flattening himself against the wall, using a student nearby to try and shield himself from view. Whether it was effective or not he couldn't tell; his former sparring opponent might have noticed him in his hurry, or he might not have. Unbeknownst to him, however, he had taken shelter near the one person who [i]had[/i] taken a few moments to note his presence.

"Pardon me," He said to Morella in an almost conversational tone. "I'll be out of your way shortly, but a... Ahem, friend of mine over there has something of an axe to grind, pun completely intended."