[center][h1][img]https://txt-dynamic.static.1001fonts.net/txt/b3RmLjcyLmY3ZDlkZC5TR0Z1WVNCTGFXMCwuMA,,/fisrt-time.regular.png[/img][/h1][/center]
[hr]
A cool breeze that wafted through a bullet hole in a window had found its way to Hana’s resting place, waking her as her body shivered in response. There was a blue fleece blanket piled on the ground by the couch where Hana slept, probably having fallen there during the night. [i]No wonder I’m so goddamn cold,[/i] Hana cursed to herself as she picked up the rag and wrapped herself in it. She sighed, placing her hands by her temples, as if massaging away pain. With her eyes closed, Hana desperately grabbed for the remnants of sleep that hadn’t quite left her body yet. There’s that feeling everyone gets - you know, when you abruptly wake up from a good dream, and you close your eyes again in hopes of resuming it, stubbornly refusing to let reality interrupt the moment. Right now, Hana was stubborn - in her dreams were visions, escapes into the past, the mundanities that Hana regretted taking for granted. She could remember what happened the day LA turned upside down - it started like any other.

[center]~[/center]
Hana had a homemade iced americano in hand, like usual, as she read through the notifications that had piled up on her phone from the night and morning before. Her latest instagram post has amassed a measly 754 likes over two days - a stark decline from the one previous to it. She knitted her eyebrows in frustration. Her followers had now idea how long it took her to meticulously lay out her jewelry, perfume bottles, and flowers on a marble vanity to get the perfect shot. [i]Well, whatever[/i], Hana sighed in defeat, wiping the condensation from the iced drink on her pyjama pants before proceeding to delete the post. 

It was a little past 2 PM, from what Hana could remember, when she arrived to the lecture hall with about 200 other students. The professor was setting up for class at the podium while the students engaged in mindless drivel. Then, a small tremor interrupted the atmosphere. A general air of confusion spread as the ground continued to shake, freezing everyone in the room. It felt like the calm before the storm - everyone looked at one another, in silence, save for the clattering pens and Starbucks tumblers that rolled off the many tables. By the time the quaking had grown in severity, it was already a little too late. The fluorescent lights on the ceiling began breaking off from its hinges, and streams of plaster and dust flowed freely down on the students, who frantically bolted to the exits of the auditorium.

The crowds around the sole two exits grew increasingly violent as anxiety and fear overruled rational thought. Hana trembled at the thought of getting trampled to death or being crushed by falling debris, but she mustered enough courage to push through the horde. Outside the lecture building, the hysteria was worse. People dashed left and right to find shelter from the crumbling infrastructure, though the shaking of the ground threw many off balance as they rushed about. Hana was utterly lost in the panic - she ran, but had no clear destination, only following where others seemed to be going. She remembered the pounding of her own heartbeat more vividly than whatever thoughts swam through her head during all of this, but she eventually found herself sitting with a bunch of students on a large grassy patch of campus. The next thing Hana knew, she was spending her days and nights in a makeshift relief shelter at the university.

Then, a little under three months later, Hana found herself with the GalPals (as Jack called them). She only joined the group recently, a few days ago, since the college campus began running out of supplies. Groups of college students began branching out to look for food, water, and other necessities elsewhere, and Hana had initially left with some friends too. As much as she wanted to stay with familiar faces, the chaos, strife, and destruction in the city raised tensions and distrust between gangs and groups. Some were vehemently anti-deltahuman, and had managed to get their hands on delta-point energy detectors to scan new members coming into their settlement. Hana didn’t see any other option aside from leaving her friends if she didn't want to out herself as a harbinger of carnage, or so some humans viewed it, and thus slipped away from them one night.

[center]~[/center]
Before Hana could get up on her own, the thunderous sound of gunfire did it for her. She erupted from her seated position with a jolt, taking a second to remember to breathe. Loud shouting followed the gunfire. Hana couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, but it appeared to be coming from the north face of the building. The room she currently resided in had windows facing north, allowing her to hear much of the havoc. 

[color=ffe8e8]“Ahh,”[/color] a nervous noise came from Hana as her body fell victim to panic and chills. She shook her hands for a quick second, as if attempting to rid her appendages of the weakness and numbness that took over them. She kept the blanket wrapped around her as she escaped the north-facing room, to search for a place to hide far away from the violence. It sounded like members of the GalPals joined in on the fight, but Hana had no intention of getting herself killed.

Hana’s hasty feet had carried her to a room as far south as she could go within the building. She didn’t think twice about entering the room, quickly bursting through and slamming the door behind her. That’s when Hana realized, much to her shock, that she wasn’t alone.

[color=ffe8e8]“Uh. H-hi,”[/color] Hana wrapped the blue blanket around her more tightly, hiding a part of her face behind the fabric. The man that stood in front of her was slightly intimidating. He towered over her in height, covered in tattoos and piercings. Despite his stature, he looked as shocked as Hana was, and seemed to be hiding from the gunfire as well. [color=ffe8e8]“Are you...part of the Gal-”[/color] Hana stopped herself from saying the awkward title, [color=ffe8e8]“I mean, are you with the group that lives here?”
[/color]