12.17 -- So, the staff may have been a bit out of it this past week, but we were just busy celebrating the end of the semester by partying way too much. Now that that's all over, it's time to focus on Free Falling. We're gonnna introduce an event as well as a great new way to make money for your characters! It's gonna be hella exciting, stay tuned! BLU OUT ~
AKA: How Ash decided it was time to learn how to code v5 and ended up making a site. Obviously I'm no pro, so if there's something that I messed up and you can help me fix it, please do that!
- PLEASE READ ALL THE RULES BEFORE JOINING! - TRY TO REIGSTER YOUR ACCOUNT WITH YOUR CHARACTER'S POKEMON AS THEIR USERNAME DOING SO MAKES TAGGING MUCH EASIER FOR THE STAFF
Welcome to modern day Atlaea; if you're here, it means you have the powers of a pokemon inside of you. We advise that you apply to the university and start your training in one of four subjects: battling, coordinating, healing, or pokemon history and begin your journey towards becoming the very best like no one ever was!
Kirsten didn't have any tests to study for, not even a quiz. In fact, there was nothing coming up soon in her schedule that required studying, but still she sat by the windows in the cafeteria, chewing on a pencil instead of her food. She frowned at her textbook and compared the words to her notes.
There was chicken marsala and a bowl of rice on a lunch tray, but it was untouched--or maybe she'd taken a bite or two. It was hard to tell. Her glass of water was almost empty.
Sighing, she set her textbook down with a thump. "Ugh," she said, which was all that needed to be said about how her studies were going.
She stabbed a bit of chicken with her fork, took a bite, chewed, swallowed. "Ugh," she repeated for an entirely different reason, making a face. "That's horrible."
Some time out of the classroom was always nice- and making your own meals was an added bonus in the case of Hiruka, who tended to stray from meat for reasons she's never really understood herself. However, it was rather hard to find a place to sit sometimes to eat. But, a green haired girl of even shorter stature than Hiruka caught her attention. It looked like she wasn't too happy with her meal, either...
"Can I join you?" She was a little nervous- it was a stranger, after all. But still, her tendency to want to help out someone she saw needing it called for her. "You don't look to be enjoying your meal much. Want some of mine instead? Homemade food is tastier than school food...Or so I'd like to think. Won't be getting any meat, but you can have as much as you like of my food in general since I made a lot."
"I--" she began, about to come up with an ingenious reason to say no, but on second thought, the cafeteria was crowded, and it wasn't like she needed to focus right now.
(If it'd been last year, Kirsten would've been happy to share her table with anyone. It was so exciting to meet new people.)
Kirsten smiled, although it was wan and tired, and she moved her tray a bit to make more space for Hiruka. "Of course, seat's all yours."
The girl's lunch sure did look a lot better than what she'd gotten from the school. Homemade was better, always, but Kirsten wasn't sure that there was even anything worse than school food. "I'd love to try some, if you don't mind? I'm alright without meat--I think that bite of chicken just turned me off meat for at least a week."
She set down her fork, but she peered curiously at Hiruka's lunch. "I'm Kirsten," she said, leaving out her last name. "It's nice to meet you! What's your major?"
Hiruka Azalea [ you can tag me using @kirlia, it'll be easier for me to see your replies that way! ]
Last Edit: Dec 10, 2014 2:21:24 GMT by KIRSTEN FAY
As the girl moved over, Hiruka tried rather hard not to giggle a bit from the sleepy sound of her voice- someone needed some extra rest, and the rambunctious teenager could clearly notice it. As she put her food down and pushed her lunchbox between the two, she smiled a bit more openly, relaxing herself against the cafeteria chair. "Of course it's fine, I offered silly. I wouldn't offer if I didn't want to give you some."
The note of being turned off meat was both entertaining and understandable to Hiruka, who mostly didn't like the stuff because it just didn't suit her taste buds. That, and she was against basically all violence- and it was hard to guarantee meat was made from an animal that hadn't been killed rudely. Alas, at least she could understand the feeling- and it made it easier to share food, as she instead just hoped it was liked by the other girl.
"Kirsten, huh? That's a nice name! I'm Hiruka from the Healing department. If you ever aren't feeling well, I've gotten a good knack so far for herbal medicine at the least, so I can take care of any first aid if I'm nearby." Not really meaning to self-promote, she just honestly wanted to help- and then realized she hadn't even learned if she'd need to. "What about you? What are you studying at school? Something fun?"
"I guess I can be a little silly sometimes," she said with a little laugh. It was genuine though, with actual warmth, not one of those forced ha ha has. It'd been so long since she'd laughed--textbooks don't really provide warm, fuzzy feelings--that it hurt her face a little.
Kirsten shuddered at the mention of herbal medicine. That stuff was nasty.
"I'm okay, really." She probably wasn't, but compared to rehab and withdrawal, Kirsten felt fine. " And... thanks. I don't think I need medicine though, unless it can help me focus? I just haven't slept much... or eaten very much, and I just can't make sense of what I've been reading at all. I wanted to figure this chapter out on my own but it's just so confusing! I must be doing something wrong!"
That a mini-rant, but it was nice to let go, if only for a sentence. "Sorry, I don't mean to complain! I just want to really good this semester. I'm a history major. I love it, but there's a lot of dates and details to keep track of. That's why I love it, but sometimes it's why I hate it, you know? It makes me think I should've chosen something else."
"Not sleeping and eating enough is bad for your health. If you're not up to eating, you can at least drink something full of vitamins or something. Maybe a protein shake? Less biting, but still lots of good stuff in it. And some are really tasty." She smiled, watching the girl curiously while anticipating the first bite- she already knew her own food, but the stranger- Kirsten- didn't. Hiruka had a mix of excitement and fear over whether or not the fellow would enjoy the taste of the vegetarian meal. "If it's just not having time, I can make you something to eat sometimes too. Cooking for two isn't much harder than one."
That wasn't the only issue though, and as a natural worry-wart despite her high tendency towards adrenaline junkiehood, Hiruka could only contemplate why Kirsten wasn't sleeping and fail. "BUt it might be that part of the reason you're having problems with your focus is that you're not getting enough sleep and nutrition. A balanced diet is important for the brain, and so is sleep. I don't know why you're not eating or sleeping enough, but you should really try to find a way to remedy it. It won't help you memorize or focus at all. Though, some people, like me, just can't memorize things in general."
Pressing her lips together, nervous, she took a forkful of Hiruka's lunch. It was a tiny little forkful. In fact, it was a forkempty.
"It's good!" she said. "You must be really talented at cooking."
It tasted like nutrition and warmth and fulfillment. Maybe it really had been too long since her last decent meal. 'I dont eat very much," Kirsten admitted. "I'm low on time too, so I just get lunch from here. It's not very tasty though, so I don't finish veyr often. But I take vitamins every morning!"
Withdrawal had given her a lack of appetite that she'd never really found again even after she was clean, and she'd never had much of an appetite to begin with anyway. People in her family's industry looked like supermodels, and the thought of putting on even a smidgen of weight made her blood run cold.
"Maybe I'll try a protein shake. I've seen those meal replacement ones, I think. I could get a dozen and feed myself for a week..." That sounded practical. Then she wouldn't even have to leave the library to go to the dining hall; she could just throw a shake into her backpack. "I need the time to study," she explained. "It's just so hard to schedule in time to eat and sleep. I keep forgetting too. It's hard to tell what time of day it is in the library."
"Have you tried staying near one of the windows? THe light changes from outside will tell you more, right? Not that I stay in the library much myself. I don't dislike books, but...It's easier for me to focus in a tree." Then again, anything was easier to Hiruka if it involved trees. If trees had ovens in them, she'd do all her cooking there. Sadly, though, they didn't have ovens- nor did trees tend to be the classroom in any way, shape or form. So, she was stuck on land for a lot of things.
But even then, fresh air was easy enough to get, right? "If you can read somewhere with an open window, it might help to have some fresher air too. At least, I've always felt fresh air helps me feel better."
Hiruka took a forkful of food herself, happily offering more to the girl as she ate. "I'm glad you like it. I've always loved to cook, so I take pride in my cooking at this point. Except meat. If someone wants me to cook meat, they're probably going to hate it." A little bit of laughter later, and she was already on her next forkful. "It's good you're taking your vitamins, but some vitamins don't absorb properly without food. And if you don't get enough fiber, which is harder to find a pill for, it's bad for you."
Mechanically, she said, "The windows are distracting." Daylight had been good for her before, when it was a comfort, the summer equivalent to a warm fireplace. Less mechanically and quite a bit more sheepish, Kirsten explained, "Instead of looking at my books, I just look outside. It's still so nice out."
She took another forkful--this one actually a moderately sized forkful rather than a forkempty. It was only a bite, but it got rid of the dry, achy feeling in her throat, and it eased the emptiness of her stomach.
"Really? I didn't know that about vitamins." She frowned, realizing that her protein shake for a week plan had a few flaws. "Hm... do you study in trees? Maybe I should try that. Oh, but I'd probably fall out and hurt myself or something."
Post by Hiruka Azalea on Dec 14, 2014 16:52:49 GMT
"Yep, trees are like my home away from home. I even sleep in them sometimes...Though it really worries people when they see it." She laughed a bit, giggling. "I can stay with you so you don't fall as likely. I've been playing in trees since I was small, so I'm pretty good at balancing. Since you're cute, it'd be bad if you fell, but I can protect you, so you don't have to worry."
Yes, Hiruka would protect her- protect her like a knight in shining armor, or just the idiot who spent too much time in trees to figure out how gravity worked on other people. Sure, she fell out when she was asleep. But, could anyone blame her? Probably not. Well, maybe...She wasn't sure. "But I see what you mean. Windows are definitely distracting. I look outside and it makes me wanna go out and play."
She smiled, although she didn't know how to politely turn down an offer to play. She'd never been good at turning people down on anything. "I've played under trees before, but I've never been very good at playing in a tree. It must be a nice place to live... all that fresh air."
She'd grown up in a mansion. Living in a tree should've seemed barbaric in comparison, but while Kirsten didn't fancy the idea, it sounded interesting. That was the best thing about AU--meeting people from all walks of life! Still, she shook her head. Stay focused, she reminded herself. "I don't think I can play soon. Maybe sometime. Definitely sometime! But not this week. I think next week--no... next week would be hard too. There's just so much to do."
How about after midterms? There would be a brief respite then, surely. "I should be free after the first set of midterms. ...That's so far in the future though. A weekend? There must be a weekend. I've heard a day off is as good as three days' hard work sometimes. Well, I can't do a whole day off, but I think an afternoon. No evenings though. I have a curfew."
She was to stay very far away from clubs and nightlife. It was a self-imposed curfew, but by god, she was going to stick to it.
Kirsten didn't have any tests to study for, not even a quiz. In fact, there was nothing coming up soon in her schedule that required studying, but still she sat by the windows in the cafeteria, chewing on a pencil instead of her food. She frowned at her textbook and compared the words to her notes.