Thalia set her bowl down on the table and sank in to her seat. She weakly greeted the three other girls who arrived, joining her at the small round table.
"I'm so damn tired it is not even funny," Avis groaned.
Thalia nodded in agreement as she swallowed a spoonful of her potato soup.
"I'm definitely taking tomorrow off," She hummed.
"Did they really have you guys fly all night?" Iris, one of Thalia's teammates, asked.
"They did. Took most of the day to get back too, can you believe that?" Thalia huffed.
"I think that's child abuse," Serena said.
"It sure feels like it," Avis said, "If we take it to court will you represent us?"
Serena nodded, blonde curls bouncing, "Of course, what's your guy's defense?"
"Me, I'm the defense," Iris said deadpan.
The table groaned at the terrible joke. Iris somehow managed to turn everything in to a joke, and it was fun, but only if she really tried. The I'm-a-defenseman was not very high effort in the group's eyes.
"Our real defense is um...I need my beauty sleep," Thalia drank the broth from her bowl.
"Calm down, you sickly victorian boy, the soup isn't going anywhere," Iris laughed.
Thalia glared playfully and wiped the off white broth from her upper lip, "How dare you. I have no food for days; my family is starving. Is this how you treat the poor? the sick? the dying? I thought you were better than this Iris."
"I'm not," she responded.
"Jail! Jail for the heartless wench!" Thalia cried.
Avis slid a pale arm protectively around the purple-haired girl, "Excuse you, you will not send my bitch to the cooler. Not her fault you're starving."
Thalia's hand flew to her chest in mock hurt, "My right hand woman, betraying me?"
"You were always the side piece, boo," Avis grinned.
Thalia collapsed on to Serena, pretending to sob in the girl's shoulder while she patted her back in comfort. Eventually Thalia pushed off and went to set her bowl on the counter for the workers to take. She passed by Noah's table and waved. He returned it and quickly leapt from his seat, falling in stride with her.
"You got any plans for tonight?" He asked.
She set the bowl down and turned to him, "sleeping."
"Oh," he seemed a little bit...dejected?
"Why, what are your plans?" She asks.
"Oh I was gonna go out to the lake and study. Normally I go alone but you know I figured since you're so bad at math-"
Thalia's mouth dropped open as she playfully smacked his shoulder.
"You should respect your elders young man, who says I don't understand math??" She huffed.
"Me. I said that. Were you not listening?" He kept at the bit.
She swatted at him again, this time aiming for his face. He ducked under her hand and laughed. Thalia smiled and rolled her eyes.
"Maybe next time Noah," She walked back towards her table as he did the same.
"Oooo, Thalia bagging the young ones now," Iris teased.
Avis rolled her eyes and genuinely looked annoyed about the comment. Thalia brushed the act off, only assuming it was because Avis was never interested in dating.
"He's only a year below us, s he's not thaaaat young," Thalia hummed.
"You didn't deny bagging him though," She said with a grin.
Thalia crumpled a napkin and threw it at her.
"Guys we're gonna get yelled at for throwing things," Serena whispered, eyes darting to the dinner monitor standing nearby.
"Oops," Thalia began to whistle and folded her hands over each other. She placed them calmly on top of the table as to look as innocent as possible.
She must have zoned out, because someone shook her shoulder pretty hard to get her attention.
"Hm?" Thalia looked to Serena as she pulled her arm off of Thalia's shoulder.
"You left us for a second there. Iris was just saying how she was gonna go find some trouble to get in to at the plaza. See you tomorrow?"
"Oh, yeah. I'll see you guys tomorrow, have fun. Be safe," Thalia stood up and hugged her friends.
They walked out of the dining hall together but when Serena, Iris, and Avis all turned left she went right. Thalia walked in silence all the way back to her dorm, using the lines in the pavement to entertain herself on the way back. The pathways were made of stones and Thalia made up a game of trying to avoid all the lines. She ended up having to stretch and spin in order to follow her own rules.
She made it to the quad of the section C dorm halls, walking around the benches and bushes to go to the front door of her hall. When she opened it she noticed someone sitting on the couches.
That someone looked an awful lot like a dude.
Thalia stopped. Was it actually a guy in the girls hall, or did they just look like one? She didn't want to be rude but the person looked up at her a second later as the door shut.
Hazel eyes pierced in to her soul and Thalia looked down for a split second.
"Uh..hi?" She greeted cautiously.
"Hello," A gruff voice replied.
"You uh....this is a girls dorm," Thalia said trying not to sound nervous.
"I'm waiting on someone," He answered.
"Oh. Okay," with that Thalia sped past him to get to her room.
When she got there she saw Cordelia at her desk, working diligently on an art project. Thalia shut the door behind her and locked it, also using the chain near the top of the door. Hearing the jingling Cordelia looked up at her roommate.
"There's a creepy guy in the common room. He said he was waiting on someone but I don't think anyone in this hall has daddy issues so bad they'd want to be around him," Thalia said quickly.
"You're never shaken up about new people," Cordelia hummed.
"Yeah but he was creepy. He looked like a sixth year. He was just kinda...sitting there," Thalia walked over to her dresser and got undressed, changing in to an oversized shirt and loose shorts to sleep in.
"Well he'll be gone soon probably," Cordelia shrugged, turning back to her painting.
"I'm not staying conscious to find out," Thalia leapt up on to her bed and snuggled beneath her blankets.
"Oh, I'm not gonna bother you by working right?"
The brunette poked her heads up out of her covers, "nope," she dove back down under them.
The room only had one light on, but it soon flickered off as Cordelia flicked the switch. She set the lamp on her desk closer to the canvas and turned it on, wanting her roommate to get a good nights rest while not sacrificing her work at the same time.
Thalia could not care less, as she was already fast asleep.
As Thalia dreamed, Cordelia painted. Her soft brush glided along the canvas, laying down color wherever it touched. The girl hunched over her work as if it would help her blend the colors together better. The paint blended to create a light skin tone for the girl outlined in lead. Cordelia's hands were soft as she set little shadows over the unnamed girls face, carving out little details from a 2d surface. The painting's brown eyes stared back at Cordelia in thanks. They admired the young artist and she breathed life in to the fabric, wondering how such rough looking hands could be so gentle with something so delicate.
A heavy knock came at the door.
A brush flung across the canvas from a sudden jolt of the holder's body.
Ruined.
Cordelia slammed a fist down on to the desk and shoved her chair back. For a split second the nearby analog clock caught her eye.
1:46 pm.
Has it been that long? Cordelia thought, Surely I had only been painting for half an hour.
She walked to her door, undoing her roommates locks so she could rip the door open angrily. She glared at the security guard standing in front of her in full armor.
"This matter involves Miss O'Callahan," He mused.
Of course it doesn't, ruin my painting for the other girl, She thought rudely
"She's asleep," Cordelia deadpanned.
"This is urgent. Wake her up," he ordered.
She sighed and turned around, walking to the left side bed. She yanked the covers off of the sleeping girl. Thalia instinctively curled in on herself only to be shaken by her roommate.
"Huh?" She mumbled as she began to wake.
"A guard is here to talk to you," her roommate said, though to the half awake girl it sounded more like "egg hard is beer to bulk be you"
"Okay," Thalia grumbled in response, turning on her side again to sleep.
Cordelia became fed up and grabbed her, pulling Thalia off of her soft mattress. Feeling the warmth of her bed vanish and be replaced with the cold floor shocked Thalia in to a much more awake state.
"Okay okay geez," Thalia pushed herself to her feet and walked closer to the door to hear what the guard had to say.
"We must speak outside," He says.
"Fine," Thalia grumbled, far too tired to worry about why exactly he'd want that.
She followed the man down the hall, faintly hearing her door close behind her. The guard stopped a little hang out area. It was shaped like a circle and stuck out in the building. It used to just be a watch tower but got converted when security improved. Now every floor had a little circle room with a small light and some chairs, though Thalia never actually recalled seeing someone sitting there.
He turned to face her and pulled his black cloth face mask down so she could see the lower half of his face. Brown stubble stuck out around his chin, he looked about 20 at most. Seemed awful young for a guard.
"Your dragon was tagged."
Four words made Thalia's reality crash in an instant.