Study psychology

The hour is growing late. Perhaps it would be wise to go to bed. But a quick look at the list of your outstanding assignments convinces you to stay up for an hour or two more. You head down to the hall lounge, wanting a bit of company while you hit the books.

To your pleasant surprise, you find Dani pacing around the hall lounge, her face scrunched up in concentration as she waves a whiteboard marker with a free hand. Not daring to break her focus, you watch her for a minute, until she sprints to the whiteboard and scribbles down a few symbols and arrows. She frowns, begins pacing again, and then lights up when she spots you.

“Hey Dani!” you call out, waving to her.

“Hey Alex,” she smiles, waving back at you. “Here to do work?”

You raise up the small pile of books tucked under your arm, replying: “What else?”

You drop the books on a desk next to Dani’s stuff, and are about to crack them open for a deep dive when you look up at her.

“Wait a second, what are you doing in my hall?” you ask. “Don’t you and Val live in West Hall?”

“We do,” Dani nods. “But Valentine is visiting your hall tonight. Apparently there’s some weird event going on tonight. Something about asking questions? Have you heard about that?”

“Can’t say that rings a bell,” you reply.

“It’s one of Emma’s events,” a cold voice rings out.

You turn to see Tatiana standing by the window. Where did she come from?

“That explains everything,” you say, and Dani gives you a funny look. “She’s an upperclassman living in the dorms.”

“Ah, that does explain everything,” Dani says.

Tatiana crosses her arms, giving you a hard look.

“No offense,” you quickly say. “You’re an RA. You have a good reason to be here!”

“I hear you’re the nicest RA of them all!” Dani quickly adds. “Alex is always telling me that.”

Tatiana scoffs.

“I’ll let the two of you off the hook this time,” she says, but the smile that lingers on her face after the fact makes her true feelings about the matter clear. “It’s about time for me to go check on the usual suspects. Don’t make trouble while I’m gone.”

“Don’t worry, ma’am, we’ll be studying right here,” you say, and Tatiana nods curtly.

“Good.”

With that, she leaves the room, leaving you and Dani together.

“Drat. I lost my train of thought there,” Dani says, staring at the jumble of equations on her whiteboard.

“Guess it’s back to the grind,” you sigh, opening up your first psych reading for the night.

“Can’t stop, won’t stop,” Dani smiles, and a minute later, the two of you are engrossed in your respective studies.

Dani +10
Tatiana +5