We Are Smart

[Kurt Meyer]

Kalinda University
[member="Sebastian Thel"]

There were very few things in the Galaxy that Kurt didn't like.

He generally had an open mind about pretty much everything. Food, Starships, whatever. He would try anything once. Yet as more time was passing, as he was spending almost every waking hour with his nose in a book or studying for some class...he was finding he really really hated school.

It was hard.

Annoying.

But worst of all Kurt was absolutely awful at it. He knew it too. He was constantly calling up his father or Jamie, he was up all night trying to solve one simple problem that took everyone else five minutes. He had absolutely no talent for any of this. The best respites that he got where the brief moments when he had a lab class or free time in the engineering hall. The stress was wearing on him, pressing in.

Still, he knew he'd done the right thing.

Even as he sat in the huge outdoor garden of Kalinda University cradling yet another book he knew that eventually all of this would come to some sort of pay off. What that pay off was Kurt didn't quite yet know, but he also didn't care.

A shrug rolled over his shoulder, and then suddenly he noticed a girl running through the garden. Her eyes were half bugged and she looked like she was about to trip over herself or something. "Hey!"

He called out to her.

"What's going on?" The girl didn't answer, instead choosing to keep up her sprint. For a moment Kurt didn't do anything, then with another shrug he picked himself up and headed after her. It was time for a break anyway.

 

[Sebastian Thel]

Being stuck in the one place for too long made Sebastian nervous. Especially being stuck in a school. He promised himself he would stay until exams were over before he bailed on the place. University had proven to be different to high school, which was a start. The students were more mature, the teachers more relaxed and he could come and go to lectures whenever he chose. He did not think he could anything remotely similar to a high school.

The cafeteria bustled with activity as students chattered around tables. Sebastian found him presently the only one not chatting and he sat by himself near the wall with a pen in his mouth. He wore a black T-shirt and khaki army pants over lace-up boots as he occasionally looked behind his back, a habit he developed in high scho0l. Shoving a fork into a dumpling, he sipped milk tea through a big straw and jotted down the most recent set of equations he was required to answer for his calculus unit.

Oh dear.

Becky, a member of the sorority house who did not like him very much, swished passed Sebastian and slammed a screwed up piece of paper on the table. Some things, he noted, still had not changed school. He unfurled the piece of paper and read two words in capital letters.

KILL YOURSELF

Feeling anxious for a moment, Sebastian's nerves were quickly replaced by anger. He had enough of this crap as a teenager and was more or less accustomed to the brutality of high school environment. He had been impressed with the maturity of university students until now. Resting his head on a fist, he drummed his fingers on the table and swallowed, thinking to himself and deciding whether or not he should deal with Becky. Would that be immature? He did not care. By the time exams were over, he would have found a pilot and escaped this place.

Sebastian packed up his notes, which he slid into a leather satchel hanging over his chest. He threw away the empty dumpling box and cup, coursing over the students for any sign of Becky. He found her in the hallway talking to her boyfriend and planted his back against the wall, around the corner. Suddenly, he collapsed and his intent became blurred. He did not have it in him to verbally approach, so he just shot out a hand and blew up her skirt to length of her back with the force.

His feet felt frozen to the ground. He forgot to move as she turned around, face scarlet and abhorred and gasped as he saw him. The chase was on as Sebastian took his feet and she ran after him. Gripping his satchel, he sprinted through the corridor and into the gardens outside, where Becky chased him, only to be stopped by [member="Kurt Meyer"]. The other student's attempt worked to no avail and she caught Sebastian at the edge of the garden, who looked at Kurt with wide eyes, before Becky punched him clean in the face.

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Sebastian Thel"]

Kurt had absolutely no idea what was going on.

In fact that might have been a bit of an understatement.

Kalinda had it's share of crazy happening in and around the campus. There were parties, brawls, and last week someone had even set a speeder on fire, but it wasn't like this sort of thing happened every day. Plus the campus was so big that most of the time you didn't even get to see it. Something like this just didn't happen often enough that Kurt had actually caught it and time, and in truth...it was sort of amazing in it's own way. He watched quietly in amazement.

His jaw dropped and his voice half broke. "He-what the hell?"

Becky, the girl who had just done the punching immediately stared daggers at him.

The former Courier looked around bewildered. What the hell had just happened? Did he need to call security? Medic? The punch had looked like a serious one to say the least, in fact it appeared the girl well knew how to fight.

He let out a quiet curse and then stepped between the girl and the young man, his hand throwing up as if to signal for the girl to stop. He had absolutely no business interjecting like this, and a part of him actually felt kind of bad about it, but...well he couldn't just stand there and watch.

"You alright?" He kept his voice low so only Sebastian would hear.

 

[Sebastian Thel]

"I'm okay! I'm okay!" Sebastian told himself as the pain coursed through his face. Instantly regretting his actions, he was thrown to the ground with the impact as Becky stormed away. He felt the bone around his eye socket bruise as he gripped the grass between his fingers.

The whole university watched him recoil in embarrassment, not one of them lifting a finger to help. He groaned and rubbed his face, feeling no blood, he assumed that nothing was broken. Eyes from every direction affronted his dignity and he blinked, trying to see clearly as imagery fluttered before his gaze.

Students gathered around Sebastian as he sat upright, checking to see if no notes had fallen out of his satchel. As he blinked, a young man who appeared the same age as him motioned forward and asked if he was alright.

"I'm okay..." Sebastian groaned slightly. "That was my fault." His head felt light and dizzy, which he tried to ignore. The only thing on his mind was his exams in a few days, for which he was determined to study. He stood on his feet, shorter than the other student and ran a hand nervously through his dark brown hair, making it appear even messier.

"What's your name?" He tried to engage him in conversation to distract the students watching, making them walk away upon seeing that nothing too serious had happened. "I'm Sebastian." He said, glancing around to check in case anybody was still looking at him.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]