[COLOR=GRAY][INDENT][INDENT][i]Adrianna bundled together clothes as she packed for going away. A drone hovered in her room, with a sizable bar speaker playing a phone call with crystal clear audio quality. [color=white]"Are you sure this is what you want? I mean, what are you gonna do up there?"[/color] [color=lime]"Well, it's not like I can do anything here. Might as well scoop a doctorate or handful of degrees with my time. You said it yourself, 'Lexi, as long as the hyperhuman thing remains a hot-button issue I'm going to be stuck short term. Might as well use the time I'm forced to take."[/color] [color=white]"You could've just said 'keggers', Adie. You know that's about as valuable... Nobody needs a piece of paper to know what they're already fully aware you're capable of."[/color] [color=lime]"Also keggers."[/color] Adrianna replied to Alexis. [color=lime]"If I twist the degree like this, you could make a pretty good funnel out of it. Get a few of them together, I could make myself some biodegradable beer pong cups. Could probably make some frat-boy hunk a pretty decent toga out of an A1 copy of my doctorate..."[/color] [color=white]"Oh good, so long as you know what those papers are actually worth..."[/color] [hr] [color=white]"Now why do you think I called you in here, Adrianna."[/color] [img]https://i.imgur.com/R1Qqd7q.jpeg[/img] [color=lime]"I'm not one of your wide-eyed, naive little kids, Jonas. Get to the point."[/color] [color=white]"You are not. But your time here, may not be as valuable as you are used to. Patience can be a virtue, Adrianna."[/color] Adie glared at Jonas Lehrer from the otherside of the desk. She gave up considerable height and it was even more pronounced by the layout of the room. The wooden beams overhead, the cold clinical feel produced by the rows of framed pinned insects and anatomical designs, everything added to the perspective that you were smaller and an object of study. Her glare steeled further. Interminable seconds passed as the pair maintained eye contact. [color=white]"Hmm. I suppose we could come back to this later, Adrianna."[/color] [color=lime]"Patience not so valuable now, Jonas..?"[/color] [color=white]"I also have other recent arrivals to see. And it would seem the one I'm talking to right now is... less than amenable."[/color] [color=lime]"I'm plenty amenable to talking, Jonas. I'm just not going to play your stupid games. You have something to say, say it. Have I ever proven myself to be anything other than willing to help?"[/color] The unspoken part was the millions she'd pumped into aspects of the school. Sure, they had the means to pay their own way, but there's something to be said for the liquidity of a fresh cash injection, rather than relying on commodities pricing and hyperhuman precious metals transmutation. Jonas' silence and expression gave the distinct impression that she'd just touched on her reason for being here. Or at least that was how Adie read it. [color=lime]"That's it, isn't it? You're concerned I'm going to run my mouth, swinging receipts? Jonas, my time here... I only want to be seen as a regular student. I'm not looking for special treatment, if that's your concern. Now if you think I'm going to be OK with... whatever the Hell this is... I don't know what you expected. But I'm not looking for any special treatment. Just set me up with my own penthouse in the faculty bloc and I'll be all good."[/color] Dr Lehrer raised his eyebrow at the last comment. [color=lime]"It was a joke, Jonas. I'm for the dorms just like everybody else. Like I said, no special treatment. I [b][u]WANT[/u][/b] to be seen as just a reguar student."[/color] [color=white]"Hmm. We'll see. Could you please let the next one in on your way out?"[/color] [/i] [/INDENT][/INDENT][hr][CENTER][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/ea908735971a18689ce44bad239a48d2/tumblr_inline_p7hbyrrZpH1rrrkde_500.gifv[/img][/CENTER][indent][sub][COLOR=SILVER][B]Location:[/B][/COLOR] [I]Pacific Royal Collegiate & University - Dundas Islands, Pacific Ocean[/I][/sub][sup][right][COLOR=SILVER][b]The Homecoming Trials: # 1.81[/b][/COLOR] [I]Trekking without the Stars[/I][/right][/sup][/indent][sub][hr][/sub][INDENT][sub][color=SILVER][B]Interaction(s):[/B][/COLOR] Nil[/sub][SUP][RIGHT][COLOR=SILVER][b]Previously:[/b][/COLOR] [I]N/A[/I][/right][/SUP] [INDENT] Adie looked out over the cliffs as the howling banshee scream echoed all around this remarkable place. It had been years since they'd gone camping. Dad would load up the truck with tents, a little portable stove that ran on methylated spirits, sleeping bags, and they'd drive on out to some place or another... Camp Resolution when they were young, but then further afield to Eldorado out by Lake Tahoe as they got older. This was why she was here. To get away from the constant reminders. The side-eyes. The suits. Of course the hike didn't start that way. There was that strange Australian guy sitting in a chair in the middle of the path back when they first began. Sure, he seemed polite enough. But it was weird enough to draw attention to and to heighten her. It was like he was waiting for something or someone, but if she could go three months without seeing anyone in executivewear it'd be a panacea to the nerves. A minitiarised drone soared out over her shoulder, beyond the cliff face and turned and snapped some photos. She returned to the path, and the change in the humm let her know the photos had been sent to her phone. They could wait though. She'd look when they got where they were going. She trusted the drone's programming to get some good shots. After all, she trusted the designer and programmer implicitly, they weren't going anywhere. She saw them every day in the mirror. [color=white]"Alright, Firebirds, campsite's just ahead."[/color] Miranda called out. She'd been invaluable so far, with the rapid info dump on all things new enrollees would need to know just starting out at the school - the Trials, a run down on the House system and offers that would be coming their way, and the H.E.A.T program. [color=white]"It looks like we're one of the earlier groups here. We'll find a patch to the clearing for our team, and it'll be two to a tent. After that, you're free to get to know one another as you help put dinner together. Nothing too difficult. We're having campfire pizzas. We've brought most of your common ingredients. Anyone wanting anchovies is going to be out of luck though."[/color] Miranda turned to check on the team as they followed. She smiled at Adie, [color=white]"Nothing better for building comraderie than sharing fistfulls of cheese, eh? It's just up ahead."[/color] Adie pushed on as their Faculty representative waded back through the group to check on everyone. She found their clearing and put her pack down. Putting her hands on her hips and taking in a deep gulp of the clean air, and looking deep into the darkest rain clouds she'd seen in a while. She checked her phone. Photos were perfect, as expected. With the way the numbers worked, and Adie as one of the smaller teammembers she hadn't been given a tent to carry. She'd have to wait for one of the others who were carrying one to catch up in order to figure out sleeping arrangements. 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