1.28 – Closing Introspection

1.28 – Closing Introspection

Sammy’s tour lasted a half-hour more. She seemed frustrated about having to cut it off, but she ‘really did have something she was supposed to be doing’ and couldn’t entertain Natalie all night. Her assigned duty for today’s freshmen hadn’t been tours, as she’d said earlier—and one-on-one tours weren’t really a thing anyway—but had made an exception for Natalie, taking interest.

Which was great news. Natalie suspected tomorrow night, during the first party of the year—sorry, ‘school pride event’—she’d be getting lucky. There’d definitely been chemistry between them. Though not especially of a romantic kind ... but that wasn’t either of them were looking for, she thought.

How lucky? She guessed she’d be finding out. But she all but had an open invitation to stay in Sammy’s room, so unless she fucked things up, her night ought to turn out well.

As for Natalie’s problem—the thing between her legs—well, she’d handle that as it came. Jordan had taken it in stride, but she was Jordan. Would other girls be fine with it? That was assuming she even got that far. But she thought she would. Sammy’s intentions—and Natalie’s—had been pretty clear.

After the tank’s guild tour, Natalie, as planned, checked out the other guild halls. Fortunately, or unfortunately, none were as interesting as her adventure with Sammy. It was, however, amusing—and intriguing—seeing each of the guild’s personalities. Individuals were individuals, of course, but each guild had a specific air about them: both on the large scale and the small scale.

That was where her thoughts wandered first: home. She wondered how Mom and Dad were doing. For all Mom’s wailing at the train station, she had to be somewhat grateful for having the house empty. Though, she was definitely worried for Natalie’s safety. Tenet had outwardly seemed not far from a regular university campus—which was hilarious, because Natalie, going to university?—but the truth was, she’d be seeing the reality of the situation shortly.

This was a school designed to create hardened delvers ... Natalie was pretty sure a normal university didn’t have a death rate roughly equal to its wash out rate.

The good news was, she’d made a friend of sorts through Sammy. A contact, at least. She’d need to make more of those. She hadn’t bumped into any of the ‘politics’ that Tenet was infamous for, but she suspected that was because classes hadn’t actually started.

It would be nice if Natalie could get away from it all. As a nobody from a nowhere town, she might be able to, right? The politicking of the major houses was pervasive, but it would be a load off her shoulders if she could simply sidestep aligning herself with any of them. Though that came with its own problems. Having allies—even if it meant having enemies—might be better than cutting herself off from it all.

She sighed, knowing it was sure to be a headache.

Eventually, the lights shut off and the bustle of the barracks slowed. With so many people, and no strictly enforced sleeping hours, there remained a low buzz of noise ... but Natalie’s tiredness eventually overtook her.Reaad the latest stories on novelbin(.)com