Issue 1 Downtime

After filing her paperwork, Anika makes it a point to head to the basketball court. It had been a while and she felt rusty. Regardless, it was time to practice. She wasn't about let herself get out of shape. She starts with a few stretches, her ipod plugged into a small speaker that seems to be playing music from a soundtrack of a movie.

((Open))

Off to the side, just like she had for her PE classes, Victoria leaned against the bleachers, smoking a cigarette.

Not bad...
Like I'm anyone to judge on sports.
I can judge those tattoos, though...
Oh, stop it.

She looks to Victoria, continuing her stretching. Raising her arms and stretching them behind her, she speaks up. "You gonna play?" Her tone isn't friendly, but it isn't hostile either. Just a basic question.

"Not my thing, darling. This just seemed marginally more interesting than smoking and watching an empty lawn."

She looks Victoria over a bit more. "Yeah I can see that." Sitting down now, she stretches her legs. "So you're a student here, then?"

Wait, what was that?
Did she just call me out of shape?
Bitch.

"Mhm. Did they get your bike fished out of the water?"

"Yep. It'll be worked on. Not too worried about it. Was worth it." Was it? Fourteen thousand euros, Anika. "So what all can you do? Just those high school witchcraft spells? Or is there more than meets the eye?"

"What, a lady can't maintain a few secrets?" Victoria mused. "Those of us who don't go burning their clothes off, that is?"

She stops for a moment and can't help but laugh a bit as she stands and steps over to pick up a basketball, dribbling it a few times. "You got a name, sweetheart?"

She smirked, though it seemed as close to a smile as she got. "Victoria. And I defy any high school witch to do what I do. You?"

Dribbling between her legs a few times, she begins to walk over to place herself in a position to make an off-side three-pointer. "Anika. Ani for short if you're a friend. If you're not, it'll just piss me off. How long have you been here?" She shoots. Swish. Good. Still got it. She jogs over to retrieve the ball as she listens.

"Couple years now. The lovely school for wayward people with nowhere else to go," Victoria mused with a smirk before she took another drag. "There are worse places to be. Could be near Paris."

"Ugh. Wouldn't want to go near that shithole. Went their once, got robbed by a couple kids acting like they were dying. Gypsies. The place is dirty. Sure, they got nice monuments, but at the rate you're looked down on, it's not worth it." She then does a running layup. Once this is completed, she does a random routine of layups, not stopping even if she missed. From the left, from the right...it was like a cardio start.

"And the men there," Victoria said distastefully. "Lot of little trolls that think they're god's gift to women. I'd rather date a caveman." She shook her head, shuddering slightly.

"Yeah? That bad?"

"You could go find out for yourself," Victoria suggested sweetly. "Expect to be plied with the cheapest wine that they can make up something about as they try to awe you with their country's rich culture of smoking bad cigarettes and using cologne to mask a lack of deoderant."

She laughs. "I think I'll have to pass on that. I'm more of a liquor kind of girl anyway." She finishes the layup routine and begins to practice making long shots. "So how'd you get here, anyway? Where are you from?"

She shrugged, sidestepping the 'where are you from' question for a moment. "You know of any other colleges that would take or tolerate me?"

"...Also, my big sister kind of left a few stipulations in her will. Way to twist my arm."

"Ouch. What a pain in the ass. You got a major then? Or are you one of those superhero major...things..." She still didn't quite get it, but it wasn't her problem either.

"I try not to make a habit of it, unless the world is really ending. Or something really interesting comes up. Or there's a good angle," Victoria answered. "I'm a culinary arts major."

She stops her shots and looks at Victoria. "....you're a cook?" She looked rather surprised.

"A girl has to eat," she said, smirking. "And, come on, cafeteria food? Just no."

"Wouldn't have taken you for being a fancy cook. What's your specialty? Wait, don't tell me. French cuisine, right?" She smirks.

Victoria flipped her off. "Italian fusions, mostly, with a side of 'well rounded.' Diversity, spice of life, that whole cliched mess," she answered without any irritation in her voice.

She acted as if she caught the middle finger gesture mid air, pressing her hand to her heart. "So sweet." She stops for a few moments, taking a seat right on the court floor. "You gonna open a restaurant or something? Or just do it for pleasure?"

"Hell, I don't know. I shudder to think what people could stand to work for me. Most of the time it feels like I'm cooking to keep me from going crazy from everything else."

"Nothing wrong with a bit of crazy. Keeps things fun."

"There's a line. You know when that line's crossed," Victoria said, taking another hit. "When you have demons trying to crawl through reality into your dorm room, you know you're well past that line."

"Sounds more like a party, actually." She gives a shrug and stands, stepping over to her belongings and grabbing her bottle of Gatorade. "Can't help but wonder why the fuck you have demons trying to crawl through your dorm room though. The hell do they want?"

"I'm a witch. They want to eat significant things that will give them power. Or that they can corrupt. Do the math," she said, slightly evasively, taking another hit of her cigarette.

"So how do they try to corrupt you then? Slap a succubus on the table and try to seduce you?" She jokes.

"Well, when they fail enough times, they just try to eat you. That gets fun."

"Sounds like it." She says honestly. Drawing from her bag a pack of cigarettes (still the fire scalded pack), she pulls out her last one that is actually good enough to be smoked and snaps her fingers, lighting it. "What is there around to do here that's fun? Besides trying not to be eaten by demons, that is."

She shrugged. "You're less than an hour from London. So if the local night life disappoints you, there's always that. When, y'know, the world isn't ending."

"The world isn't going to end. It'll be here as it has been since it was created or birthed or whatever the fuck happened with it. What will end eventually is people. It's the natural cycle of things, really. It's just a matter of if something stands in the way to speed that process up." She takes a drag from her cigarette. "So how is the night life locally then? You a part of it? Or do you just sit a brood?"