Guys, It's My Birthday

[Anonymous]

Varius Cromwell — who more frequently went by her surname, considering she didn't have many friends to call her anything but Candidate Cromwell — didn't make a habit of doing drugs like many Aedolians. She didn't like feeling... unlike herself; she preferred having a clear mind to better avoid social situations and come up with excuses to extricate herself from awkward encounters. However, this night in particular proved to be an exception: it was her birthday, Varius was sad, and there was nothing else in the world to do.

"Depressed" was Varius's general state of being, and she was rather tired of it. Depression wasn't the most stimulating of emotions and, in fact, tended to be a bit boring. Depression and Cromwell weren't good friends; she merely tolerated its presence, letting it hibernate, unperturbed, in the cobwebbed corners of her mind.

But again, tonight was unlike most nights. Prior to her sentence at the ATC — that's what Varius felt, that this whole Candidacy fiasco was prison, minus the bars and with more physical labor — birthdays were a big deal. Cromwell belonged to a race of shapeshifters that produced offspring only every few hundred years, thus making birthdays a significant occasion that called for celebration. However, this year, instead of celebration, Varius received a long day of classes and an empty evening.

So with a few hours to spare until curfew, Varius had indulged herself in one of the Aedolis-specific pleasures: a couple inhalations of some mind-stimulating drug, just enough to make Varius feel comfortable in her own skin and not entirely detest herself. She now amused herself by roaming the halls, simply walking considering leaving the ATC wasn't much of an option and returning to her dorm seemed to mundane for the mood she was in. This, unfortunately, was when someone decided to exit a room right in front of Varius. She collided with the other person — not painfully or violently, just in a surprising sort of way — and then jumped back in embarrassment, only to trip over her own feet and wind up sprawled on the floor on her butt.

"Shit, I'm sorry," she hastily apologized. Varius climbed back to her feet, cheeks red with embarrassment and her skin wanting to fold in upon itself... quite literally. She always seemed to be able to make a fool out of herself, and now this other person would probably take it out on her in some violent manner. Candidates were an unforgiving group, she'd realized.

[Anonymous]

Cain as usual was distracted by his pen, though not enough to not stop walking.  He had just gotten out of a math class, and had the beginnings of a headache from it.  If he had learned to control his power, he could have done something for his own headache, but whatever he'd live. The homework was in his bag, which was the same as everyone else unfortunately. Was being a individual to much to ask?

Than someone bonked into him and his ears flicked up in surprise. He looked away from his pen, in time to see the girl jump back and fall to the ground. Luckily this was his last class of the day, but the homework was going to keep him up a bit as it was.

He held a hand out to the girl, offering to help her up. Even from his vantage point, he could see the redness in her eyes. It was probably drugs, generally people weren't clumsy enough to fall over after lightly running into someone.

"Are you high?" he asked, it was kinda difficult to get drugs in here, but perhaps she had connections.

[Anonymous]

Cromwell shook her head at the offered hand, instead crossing her ankles and lithely regaining her feet. She... wasn't big on touching people, for one, and second, she was independent and didn't need any help. Right? Varius nervously smoothed down her shirt and pants, quirking a sheepish smile at the boy.

Are you high? Oh dear. How was she supposed to respond to that? Varius flushed red and immediately moved to change the subject: "You have ears." Her eyes were inevitably drawn to the furry protrusions from the boy's skull, peeking out of his hair. "I mean. Ears."

She'd never seen an Aedolian with feline ears before. The ATC was full of strange characters, but... this boy took the cake. "Can I touch them?" The words escaped her mouth with no thought as to whether or not that would be rude. And okay, she was a little high, so that further impaired her social forethought, but... she really wanted to touch them.

[Anonymous]

(occ: sorry for the short fail post)
Cain smiled back and put his hand back at his side when she regained her footing. Probably had something against touching people. It was whatever.

"Cat ears yes, "  he said and paused thinking about her query. "Yeah, just dont pull on them okay? Bit sensitive and all"