Homecoming

OOC: From here on out, all of the events are going to be taking place at roughly the same time, or within a few hours of each other.

*Senthose & Noctis do meet again, the next day, in class. Senthose is again sitting near the back of the room. This time, he's reading a newspaper & eating a doughnut.*
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*Sab is in introductory biology, a class set in a large lecture hall. It's mostly full when Roatha sits down next to her & asks if she has any notes from the first week or so.*
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*Eve enters the kitchen early the next morning to find Thiera, hair sticking out a odd angles & wearing white fleece pajamas, up & making waffles.*
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*Hector, Eduj, & Astarte take to the kitchen after those events. It's just a bit past 7, so it's dark, & there's nothing going on.*
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*Mimiru & Azuma wake up to whatever they wake up to.*
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*Taiyo is lying in her room after her nightmare.*
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*Tirea wakes up.*
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*Monu wakes up.*
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*Figuring she should get back into shape, Euryale wakes up around 8 or 9 & heads to the gym.*
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*Kylie falls back asleep, but Cameron finds it too difficult.*

Astarte took a bowl of cereal and a glass of juice, and sat down in the lounge room. She turned on the television and immediately found the sudden noise irritating. She muted it and put on the subtitles, then started eating her breakfast.

"So, why'd you come over, again? I guess I was asleep when you turned up," Hector asked Eduj as set about making toast for the two of them.
"Dad left. It was uncomfortable," Eduj shrugged.
"Fair enough I guess," Hector replied, handing over a plate with a few slices of buttered toast with strawberry jam. "Better than spam, huh?"

Taiyo gets out of bed, shivering. She sits on the edge of the bed for a moment, shaking her head to clear the images before she heads to the bathroom to start the day. Her first stop being the school to see if she's still a dorm resident.

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Azuma sits up on the hide-a-bed in Kentaro & Kari's living room, Mimiru sitting on the edge, her head in her hands.

Azuma: "What's up?"

Mimiru: "Weird dream."

Azuma: "You too? That can't be a good sign."

Gabe and Mortal were at the front end of the gym on treadmills talking about nothing in particular. They both stop talking for a second to inspect the red head who just walked in. Both of them give a small wave, then go back to their conversation, "Yea, so, like I was saying, giant squids totally exist. Like, we found them in Japan or something."

"Weird..."

--

Sab rummages around and produces a notebook and hands it to Roatha, "Yeah, here. I title my notes with the class session, so you should be able to find what you need. Just, uh, ignore the doodles that come later..."

She smiled a bit to herself, then pulled out another notebook and opened to a clean page and marked the date, and class session. "So, what did you miss class for?" She asked absentmindedly.

--

Noct takes a seat next to Senthose, and unpacks her laptop, and opens a new Word file and titles it 'Notes', then opens up the internet and opens whatever the German liberal media would be and begins to read away.

R"Being dead, apparently. Used to be, they actually looked for a body before they had the funeral."

*Roatha starts copying shit down.*
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*She finds a story about how the recent cop murderer is suspected to be another cop, who has now disappeared in the forest. Police say they aren't sure of the motive, but they have plenty of evidence. His car was found in the black forest with his corpse inside, having gotten into a wreck. Senthose is reading a similar article.*

"Not sure if karmic or just convenient."
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*Euryale waved back. She didn't really like running much, but figured it was the best way to get back in shape. She pulls off her sweatshirt to reveal a thick black sports bra underneath. Because she's wearing matching shorts underneath, she figures it isn't that big of a deal to just take her pants off right there. She walks up to an empty treadmill beside Gabe & Mortal, & points at it.*

"Excuse me, is this taken?"
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*Taiyo arrives on the edge of campus, past a road, to a 7-floor office building, more of a black box than anything else. The offices for housing are on Floor 4. Because of recent construction, the area around the building is bare dirt, piled up in the back. An unattended back hoe is parked off to the side.*
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*Azuma & Mimiru are still doing whatever.*
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*On the news is a story summing up their rescue. One of the cops interviewed notes that they were suffering from hallucinations brought on by stress, dehydration, & malnourishment, citing the claim of "dangerous creatures" in the forest. He elaborates that they had curious delusions of a young man who, when they looked him up, didn't turn out in the enrollment list, or indeed, any local records at all. The reporter then begins going into the story above.*

Sab is weirded out and just thinks Roatha is some weird emo kid. She kind of nods, and just waits for him to finish up.

--

"There is no such thing as karma," Noct said, "Things just happen, usually resulting in someone getting screwed over. So, I'd say just convenient."

--

"Not at all," Mortal said with a smile. "I'm Mortal, by the way, and this is Gabriel."

Gabe waved, "Hello."

"You look new," Mortal said, "Come here often?" Despite being on a treadmill, Mortal's speech was even and calm.

Taiyo goes into the building and upto the fourth floor.

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Azuma: "I wouldn't put too much thought into it. Anywho, we got housing arrangments to look into. As much as I love my family, I don't think they want us living on their couch."

Mimiru goes to change, her clothes having been stashed in her backpack and washed while at Kentaro & Kari's. She had slept in a pair of pajamas Kari lent her. Azuma had some clothes at the house for when he came over during weekends and holidays.

Once dressed, the two set out.

Astarte cringed, remembering her dream. She stared pointedly at her cereal as she ate it.
"So, Astarte, will you come with us?" Hector asked, suddenly sitting next to her along with Eduj. Astarte jumped slightly and stared at him, apparently not understanding. "We're going to college to see what's up with... us in general. Do you feel up to it?"
Astarte looked back to her cereal, sighed and nodded.
"You don't have to..." Hector took a bite of his toast.
"No, I'll go," Astarte nodded again but continued to stare at her cereal. "Staying here all alone isn't going to do any good."

*Near the doors to the stairs & elevator is a reception desk in a little hollowed out office area in the wall, there being halls on either side of this hallway. A young man with dark, neatly combed hair in casual business dress looks up from what he's typing.*

<Can I help you?>
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"That's a coincidence. Which it very well could be. But I still don't like how neatly those cases worked out."
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*Roatha spends a lot of time copying shit down.*

"Alright, I'm feeling confident about this test."
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*Euryale takes off her boots, stows her clothes next to the wall by the machine, & begins a slow jog.*

"Well, I didn't used to come here very often, but I've been...incapacitated for a while, so I need to build back some muscle. I'm Euryale."

Taiyo: "I'm wondering if I still have a dorm room. I was on that trip that went missing."

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The two are presumably still going to the university.

"What, you think someone was orchestrating the outcome or something?" Noct asked.

--

"Nice to meet you, Euryale," Mortal said, "But if you want muscle, cardio work outs are not for you. You want dumbbells, or some kind of weight lifting. Cardio actually only builds up stamina, and helps with weight loss."

"Too much cardio can actually impede muscle growth," Gabe added, "I'm on here for the track team though."

--

"Yea? That is good," Sab said with a smile, "Hopefully you'll do great."

The three finished their breakfast and Hector went to wake Sidon and have him drive them. Astarte and Eduj were left to watch some more morning television until Sidon drove the three of them in.

<Good morning. Sleep well?>

*Eve yawns, looking tired and just a bit on edge*
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*Monu stretches and stands up and starts taking a shower to clear his head*
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*Tirea starts eating breakfast, watching the news. She's realizable shaken by the dream*
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*Cameron slides off the couch as to not disturb Kylie before starting to take his own shower*

"That is possible. The case already involves corruption. If we have a cop on the take, it would be necessary to establish a cover-up. It is also possible that he was the culprit, but his death wasn't entirely an accident. No one wants to go through the process of being investigated, so they fudge a few details."

*He flips a page.*

"I would argue that the latter is more likely, but the guy is dead, and he has no family, so we'll never hear his defense."
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"Not really. I had this awful dream that I was lost in the woods again, & found some of that big, white monster's hair. I started getting anxious that it was secretly watching me, but that's when I woke up."
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*The news switches to the weather. The forecast is a lot of rain.*
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"That was actually sarcasm, but thanks anyway. Almost done with this, I have just a few paragraphs to go."

*Up above, an old man who apparently likes to wear lab coats enters & turns on a power point about cellular differentiation.*
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"Yes, but I'm having trouble walking...that sounds ridiculous. I had...an injury. So I was bedridden for a few days. I'm not, like, paraplegic, but it's still an adjustment."
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<I'm pretty sure that the only dorm rooms that were reassigned were from students who dropped out.>

<Me too. In mine, I was following this redheaded girl, then we ran into the shadow man and I woke up. Do you need any help?>
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*Monu exits the shower, gets dressed, and heads for the door*

<Bye Mom!>

*Monu jogs towards the campus*
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*Tirea stands up, grabs her workout bag, and takes the bus to the campus*
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*Cameron grabs a bagel and eats it as he grabs his backpack*

<Can you drive me?>

*His father nods, and they head out to the car, and drive to the university*

"Did we really want to, though?" Noct asked, "Well, I suppose it would be just that everyone gets a say." She shrugged a bit, "So, do you normally try to stay up to date on the news, or do you just find this story interesting?"

--

Sab writes 'Cellular Differentiation' at the head of her page, and starts taking notes, "Oh, I, um... have trouble catching sarcasm sometimes. Sorry."

--

Mortal held up a hand, "I wasn't trying to pry or anything. You seem to be choosing your words carefully, so I don't want you to feel you need to give me excuses. I was just letting you know, one gym goer to another. Anyway, I hope you get better, I wouldn't mind having another familiar face around. You go to Ulm, right?"

"No, I just need to know what you want on your waffles."
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"Yes, I believe all of my classes were reinstated."

*Euryale turns the speed up just a tad.*
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"That's fine. I'm done with this, by the way."

*He hands Sab her notebook back, & begins furiously copying down the cellular differentiation notes.*
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"I picked up the story about the crash when it turned out that it wasn't fatal after all. Both the victim & the accused were working on the case."

<If you are sure, I'll have syrup and butter, please.>
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*Tirea gets off near the gym, and enters, heading for the locker room*
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*When he arrives, Monu heads for the administrative building, where he runs into Cameron*

Monu:<Morning.>

Cameron:<Hey.>

*They enter together*

"Thank you," Sab said, putting away her book.

--

"That's great," Mortal said.

"So, what classes would those be?" Gabe asked, "What's you major?"

--

"Ah, I suppose the story was indeed an interesting case," Noct said.

"I, uh, don't really have a major yet. I'm in the first year English course, Alg. 2, & History of Europe. I also had a science class, but that...didn't work out...very well...."

*She watches her feet for a while. Tirea of course passes this scene on her way to the locker room, which is mostly empty, except for a few people in the back that she can't see.*
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"No, thank you."
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*They are now in the bottom floor of the building. The stairs & elevator are nearby, with a reception desk against the wall. It's pretty much the same format across all floors.*
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*Thiera sits down with a bunch of waffles. The table is already set. She, for one, chooses to slather hers with strawberry & blueberry syrups.*
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<Oddly enough, they're talking about failure to investigate in class, & how it dramatically changes the trial.>

"Science... Oh, ooooooh," Mortal shook her head, "You were on that trip? That must have been horrible."

--

Noct takes notes on this, liek a bawz.

*Eve sits down and pours some syrup over her waffles before cutting into them and taking a bite*

<This tastes excellent, thank you.>
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*Monu and Cameron head up to the reception desk*
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*Tirea changes out, before heading back to Euryale and others*

<Euryale! Hey!>

Taiyo: "Oh, okay. Thank you."

Taiyo begins to leave to head to the dorms.

On campus, Azuma and Mimiru go to make the same inquiry concerning their living arrangments.

Astarte half-watched the weather and half just stared at the screen, unable to focus fully.
"...Are you feeling alright now?" Eduj asked. "You seemed to have a horrible dream."
"I'm fine," Astarte replied automatically, but hesitated afterwards. "I mean... not fine... but I'll be okay. I was sure to have nightmares after all that."
"Okay, then."
Hector came back into the room and seeing that they had both finished breakfast, took their things to put in the dishwasher. They could hear that Sidon has risen and was showering, and went to change in their rooms. All of them were ready to leave at about the same time and Sidon lead them out to his car. They took two black and white umbrellas along with them and set off to Ulm.

<What is it?>
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*They are told the same thing. They presumably pass Taiyo.*
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"It wasn't too bad."

*She turns, having heard her name called, & stumbles. She latches on to one of the side bars & quickly reaches up to turn off the machine.*
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*Eventually, the classes let out.*
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*Thiera finishes breakfast & puts her plate in the sink.*

"Well, I'd better get to class."