[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/210929/f6ee504806737f8801907f99068216f5.png[/img]
[img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/ea489ca605f9004b420f31c30db4cbcf/9b54ab3bd550bf91-64/s540x810/50d013037cfcb80a860323e976029ec39c9276b1.gifv[/img]
[sub][color=gray]Location: OIC Quad -> Hastings Library
Mentions: Laren Hastings [@Venus] | Axel Maddox [@viktorseier][/color][/sub][/center]
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[color=ba314f]“Jesus fucking Christ, where’d she find this picture? I’m a photogenic person! She had options! Also, what the fuck does she mean by ‘The Tyrant’?”[/color] Katie Callaghan found herself on Monday morning, storming across the quad, a photograph of herself in hand. She was, per usual, dressed to the nines, still refusing to abandon aesthetics in favor of functionality. 

[color=31ba9c]“You a tyrant? How dare she?”[/color] Jamie Callaghan replied, dry and biting. His long legs carried him casually alongside his sister, his eyes trained elsewhere.

Katie rolled her eyes and shoved an elbow into Jamie’s side. [color=ba314f]“Fuck off.”[/color]

[color=31ba9c]“Oh yes, benevolent dictator. Fucking off now,”[/color] Jamie said, the corners of his mouth curling up ever so slightly. [color=31ba9c]“Seriously though, it’s not [i]that[/i] bad of a picture. I’ve seen worse of you. Who cares what this bitch has to say anyway?”[/color]

[color=ba314f]“[i]You[/i] should care. Your name was on that list too. You’re telling me you’re the kind of person who holds up under scrutiny?”[/color] Katie cocked her eyebrow and looked over at Jamie, awaiting a retort. Instead she found him staring down at his phone, eyebrows knit together. She rolled her eyes, always annoyed by even the smallest of interruptions. [color=ba314f]“Hello? We were having a verbal sparring match?”[/color]

Jamie looked up from his phone. [color=31ba9c]“Huh? Oh yeah, one second.”[/color]

[color=ba314f]“Oh my god, see this right here,”[/color] Katie waved her finger around in a wild gesture, as if her shouts needed emphasis, [color=ba314f]“is my point! How long until Ms. Fortune has her eyes trained on you and your boyfriend?”[/color]

Jamie frowned. [color=31ba9c]“He’s not my boyfriend! How’d you even know I was texting him you nosy little weevil?”[/color]

Katie laughed. [color=ba314f]“Because, I’m the only other person you text, and I’m standing right here.”[/color]

[color=31ba9c]“Well, maybe I was texting… Birdie.”[/color]

Katie laughed again. [color=ba314f]“Yes, because you and Birdie have so much to talk about.”[/color] Katie stepped into Jamie’s path, and spun around, stopping him. [color=ba314f]“Look, all I’m saying is, it doesn’t matter what it looks like. It just matters what people see.”[/color] 

It was Jamie’s turn to roll his eyes. [color=31ba9c]“Okay, fuck you. You're being dramatic, surprise surprise. I’m going to get coffee with Axel, and guess what? The world isn't going to end because of it.”[/color] Jamie said, before spinning on his heel and walking away.

Katie smiled and waved him off, shouting after him, [color=ba314f]“I knew it!”[/color] before continuing towards the library, pulling out her own phone to fill Laren in on the bulletin board fiasco. If anyone honestly needed a heads up that they were in Ms. Fortune’s crosshairs, it was Ren. Katie wasn’t the biggest supporter of her and Johnny B, but she didn’t want to see it get messy and Ms. Fortune had a reputation for doing just that.

Katie pushed open the grand double doors to the library, and slipped her phone into the designer purse hanging from her arm. She found herself a seat at an empty table, and let out a breath. She couldn’t afford to let the personal bleed into the academic. Compartmentalization was key to success, and she prided herself on having mastered it.  She caught a handful of eyes on her, but she pushed them out of her mind. Really, how different was it from any other Monday? Katie wasn’t exactly unfamiliar with the stares of strangers.

Still, even as she set about unpacking her laptop and busying herself with work, she found it hard to escape a nagging feeling that this was simply the calm before the storm. A few times her hands wandered to her mouth, but she refrained from chewing on her well manicured nails. She wouldn’t ruin hard work over emotions as silly as fear and anxiety. She was Katie Callaghan, and she did not back down from challenges. As far as she was concerned, Ms. Fortune was just another challenger. For now. [/indent][/color]