[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/CYlMXgd.png[/img][/center]
[hr]
A pen scratched satisfyingly on paper, though the writing produced was near illegible to anyone but Jory herself. It wasn’t exactly by choice—her handwriting was just naturally terrible, and though she had made some effort to beautify it a bit over the course of her life, it wasn’t something she had ever put enough time into to counteract her natural tendency to just [i]scribble[/i]. 

In this case, at least, it didn’t matter. All the writing was solely for herself, going over what little notes she had from the first week of lectures. The goal was simply repetition to commit the information to memory. A necessary—if boring—effort to make sure she'd be able to keep achieving the perfect grades she wanted. Swiftly understanding difficult concepts was unfortunately not a talent that she was afforded by whatever powers that be. 

[i]Stingy bastards.[/i]

The girl’s eyes shifted from the paper to her phone on the desk. It was almost 5 am. She picked the phone up and navigated the menus to turn off the set alarm preemptively—there just in case she happened to be asleep at this time, rare as that was.

She also noted the few messages she had received last night, still left unread. With a sigh, she gave in and tapped through them. A few, short broken texts from her brother, and one single properly written one from her grandfather. Mostly just pleasantries, asking how her week had gone. Jory knew she should respond, but… getting roped into a full conversation, knowing where it might go—it just wasn’t high on her list of priorities for the day.

Later then, she decided. [i]Maybe.[/i]

Checking the weather app, she noted it was comfortably cool. No need for her hoodie, then. She threw it off, tied up her sneakers, and headed out for her morning run.

[hr]
Just over an hour later, Jory had taken a quick shower—fighting to wet her thick hair as per usual, having to stand on her tiptoes to press her scalp against the showerhead—and finished off with a minute of cold water.

Breakfast was the usual—large and relatively healthy, for a university student. At such an early hour, she avoided running into anybody in the kitchen, which was just as she liked it. After her meal, she finished her morning routine, grabbed a random clean hoodie, tossed everything she might need haphazardly into her duffel bag, and headed out.

Her first lecture was only at 10 am, so she had some time to kill. While she absolutely could have hidden in her room, the little notes she [i]did[/i] have to study were no longer sufficient enough distraction for her liking. To use her time a bit more productively, she figured she may as well continue her efforts to make a mental map of her new surroundings—even if that meant a high probability of being accosted by other eager students.

[hr]
It was exhausting. Even so early in the morning, there were still plenty of keeners up and willing to say hello to her. Where did these people come from?

[color=7ea7d8]“You!”[/color]

Jory visibly flinched. After a brief pause, she decided to ignore the female voice and continued to walk, her gaze stiffly bolted in front of her.

[color=7ea7d8]“Cute red-head! You!”[/color]

Her shoulders slumped, this time slowly turning to look in the voice’s direction.

[color=7ea7d8]“You look like you’d be great on skates!”[/color]

Jory blinked in surprise. Did they know who she was? It wouldn't have been the first time she'd been randomly recognized, but she really wasn't expecting that to happen across the pond.

[color=7ea7d8]“You have the body for it too! Lithe, but deceptively strong, right? Right?”[/color]

Jory looked the excited girl up and down. A brunette, just a touch shorter than herself. Beyond her stood a girl watching them who looked… a lot like the first girl, to be honest. Jory suspected they were related. The second girl simply smiled when they made eye contact.

[color=7ea7d8]“So? How would you like to join our ice skating club?”[/color]

Huh, just right into it. Weren’t these recruiters supposed to like, ask for your name or something first?

[color=25f59e]“I’m… I’m good,"[/color] Jory said. [color=25f59e]"Not really interested, and I’m usually busy at night anyway. Thanks, though.”[/color]

She couldn’t really tell her she was busy due to her own figure skating practices outside of school, with her latest coach and a few other athletes. It would just excite the girl more and there would be no escaping her.

The brunette’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. She made a show of glancing down to look at Jory’s chest. The red-head instinctively covered herself, feeling judged, but then followed the gaze.

Oh. [i]Oh.[/i] 

She was wearing her old Toronto figure skating club’s hoodie. Well, that explained things.

And also left her up shit creek without a paddle.

[color=25f59e]“I-It’s uh… a friend’s?”[/color]

[color=7ea7d8]“Uh-huh,"[/color] the girl said, a smug look of satisfaction painting her face.