[img]https://i.imgur.com/fl5E36F.png[/img]

[h1][i][center]Still Pretty Early[/center][/i][/h1]

[@Dezuel]

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Bak couldn't help but let out a huge yawn as she made her way back to the School. She had eaten too much, that was the cause of it. That had been the best breakfast she'd had in a long while, much better and much more than the soggy pancakes and not really sausage whipped up by the cafeteria staff in the morning or those lemon glazed donuts from the convenience shop. She could feel the drowsiness really hitting her now. 

She had to soldier on. There was no telling how long she would stay asleep if she dozed off on her feet here, and the waning morning hours were going to give way quickly to the hustle and bustle of a city that was awake and alive. Though, now that she thought about it, maybe that would be a good thing? since coming to this city she'd remained shut up in the school basement, only really coming out on tournament days. Despite living here for more than a year now she had still only seen the small part of Rhea surrounding St/ Lucifer. There were lots of reasons she could use as an excuse. She could tell herself she was helping keep the secret of St. Mephistos, that she'd just recently been implicated in aiding and abetting a criminal, or that her passport was more of a shipping manifest and on paper she was a forklift.

But none of those were the reasons. It was like she'd admitted to Rurik.

She was just scared.

That self-reflection, a concept more terrifying to Bak than any of the monster stories she'd ever heard, turned out to be enough to keep her from lapsing even into the walking doze she'd fallen into by following Rurik out and meant that she made in back in good time. The city seemed more slow to wake up today, much more captious, so she didn't have to face the anxiety of passerby by on this trip. That was good. Baby steps. Baby steps that brought her right back to a familiar gate and, happily, a familiar face. 

"Vittorio, you are awake!" she shouted happily, before suddenly remembering that he was probably a wanted man and covering her mouth. "Vittorio, you are awake." she repeated in a loud whisper as she approached, as if that would cancel it out. She had spotted him coming out and the relief nearly sapped the last of the tension holding her to consciousness. Even her addled mind, though, could tell something might be wrong. Why was he carrying himself? Why did it look like he was ready for a fight? Her mind went back to the bloodstains on Rurik's steps. "Oh no, did strange men come here as well?" she said, looking around.