She needed a break. She needed a break baddddddddddd. A shower had been nice and being cleaned up and unbloodied had been pleasant. It had made her feel clean, confident, and better than that – their results for the Trial of Famine made her ecstatic. They’d done well. The clan of Famine had found her group to be the best ranked.

They were on top.

Amazing.

Less amazing was what happened when she went into the school to just walk around, despite it being empty. Mobbed – everybody wanted a piece of the students. She was particular real estate for an interview, however, because of those screens showing how her group had done. She was somewhat recognizable. Shehk wasn’t sure she liked it, but…

“Hey! Hello! You were on Team ‘Shipster’ right?” some man called out to her as they approached – summoning another interviewer over as well to ask her a few questions. Shehk smiled awkwardly.

“Yes. I’m the Captain of Team Shipster.” Shehk answered, putting on her best smile. Both men seemed excited by their find – “Come take a seat!” she was beckoned over to a cafeteria table, and Shehk hesitantly made her way over, sitting down with a sort of awkward stiffness. Riley would have been handling this much better than she ever could. Immediately there was a tape recorder from one and a notepad from the other, Shehk wringing her skirt underneath the table with some level of anxiety.

“So, Miss…”

“Shehk Iordanescu.”

“Miss Shehk – that’s a lovely name, might I add – During the last trial, a student dissipated! Does this scare you for what is to come?” One of the two individuals asked. Shehk smiled a bit. “Well, I’ll admit I’m a bit more scared for my teammates than I am for myself.” There was a quick jotting down of this answer, before the other individual piped up – “What do you mean by that?”

Shehk had to stop wringing her skirt, instead making sure of her hands to motion with them; “Well – As both an undead and having experienced a few run-ins with dissipation because of brawls and other accidents, I’m not too scared of Dissipating. It hurts – kinda – but the worst discomfort I get is from cold limbs.” She opened and closed her hands. “As well, I don’t know how much of this is known, but as Team Captain, if I dissipate, our entire team is out. So I have to take care of myself to not get us disqualified from a challenge. We got top three in this last one, but I’d hate for all of our hard work to just…” she made a noise and slapped her hands onto the table, making a dispersing gesture away from a center point with both hands, then lifting them up, simulating an explosion.

“That. Y’know?”

The two looked at each other, then nodded.

“So then, why do you think your school deserves to participate in these trials? There has been a lot of scandal around Amityville lately and it seems odd that this school with so much – errr….” The man trailed off, noting the growing anger on Shehk’s face as he implied there was possibly something wrong with the Academy.

“Despite its reputation, the students at Amityville are strong and capable individuals. If you’d met some of them, I’m sure you would see that. Have you looked at Team [[Shrugbird.gif]] at all? Their captain, Riley, as well as Jericho, Malodore…. All of them are strong, capable, fantastic people. Even my own team has lovely people on it – I’d shout out Sammy in particular, but she’s been my best friend ever since I started attending, so I am biased. But Siddie, Israfel, Lucien – they all pulled their weight and we’ve all gone through enough training together,” she made sure to not mention field trips, “to be able to work efficiently together.”

She made sure to answer the question as firmly as possible.

“Besides, I can’t think of any reason why Amityville shouldn’t be allowed to participate in these trials. The school is one of the oldest and most esteemed Academies in Halloween, and despite what has been in the papers as of late, a few blemishes on its reputation shouldn’t mean anything as to how it prepares its students for the real world – safely.”

She emphasized this as clearly as she could. She didn’t give a s**t what had been said in the papers previously. She was totally serious.

Her intensity probably wasn’t the most helpful, however. Another glance was passed between the two before the next, and expected, question was popped:

“I've heard rumours that the Heirs of the Four Clans reside in Amityville.”

Shehk made a small face. She wasn’t surprise by this.

“Is this true? What are they like?”

“As part of the Student Council, I’ve had a small run in with the four Heirs at one point in time a few months back. They seemed like reasonable and respectable individuals. I think if you were to ask in the general populace, however, I think the Heir to the Clan of Conquest – Invictus – would be the one for you to find most readily. He socializes quite a bit.

I’m actually surprised you weren’t on the lookout for them at the Trials. I would have been surprised for them to have not arrived based on how at least Invictus and Aisa – she’s the Heir to Death – both reacted to hearing the Trials would be happening.”

Somehow, her talk about the Horsemen garnered the most interest, and once it seemed like she had nothing else to say, the two men got up, bid Shehk a farewell – as well as a handshake – and headed along on their way to find someone else to bother.