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It was the start of the school year - and Mercy found that the rumors were true - Kappa Alpha Nu (ΚΑΝ), notorious party house of Mayet University, threw the biggest and best house party to “start the year off right.” Barely an hour past dusk, and the fraternity house was already a hum of activity, with the new Freshmen members doing their initiation ceremony on top of just the overall “open” house party. Mercy’s mission was to see if she could chat up some of the sorority girls, and see if any of them resonated with her - She had two years yet at the community college - mainly because she just wanted to hammer out her gen-eds without having to worry about anything else - and she wanted to be sure that when she did finally transfer - she could do while joining a sorority that… facilitated her networking needs.

Her current eye was on Delta Sigma Pi (ΔΣΠ), notable for its more… well off alumni. Rumor was that the current heir of White Industries was a member, not that Mercy expected her to be at one of these kinds of parties. The music thrummed loudly - and whoever they had hired as a DJ was either a house member - or deaf - because the music was just loud and obnoxious as she sipped the “totally not spiked” punch. She’d barely felt it hit her tongue and she’d identified at least three different brands of basement shelf vodka in it.

Thanks Aunt Mary!

She’d dressed the part too - halter top, skirt, sandals, college hoodie (one size too large) she’d bought at the campus gift-shop ages ago because her brother still played football here so it looked properly worn in and “borrowed.”

The only thing she hadn’t brought - an excuse to leave. Which she was now thoroughly regretting as she now found herself cornered, unable to even go for her phone for fear of giving one of the three gentlemen who now had her effectively penned in against the wall near what she suspected was a coat closet that probably was rarely used for its actual purpose.

“Haven’t seen you around before,” The ringleader - the tallest and most physically fit of the three commented. “You starting this year? What’s your major?”

Resisting the urge to stall by sipping, Mercy instead tried to go the shy, coy, this jacket is actually my boyfriend’s and he’ll be back any minute, route, by looking past him and into the crowd then down into her cup.

“Uhm,” She offered. “I don’t actually go here. I’m still knocking out my gen-eds at the County Community College.”

“Ah, you gonna transfer?” He asked further, running a hand through his chin length hair like it would help with the fact that it wasn’t styled. “Not a bad plan - would have saved me some trouble if I had done that, but you know… Liking the party so far? If you do transfer we have them quite often.”

Nope, he didn’t take the hint, awesome.

“I mean, uhm…” Mercy shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot for a moment. “I was planning to once my gen-ends were done but…” She shot another glance out into the crowd as if trying to see someone. “... Anyway thanks for like… the chat but I gotta go…”

She started to move, only to find that the three men had only tightened the ring around her.

“So soon?” The ringleader asked with a faux chuckle. “Come now, at least let me top off your drink or something… maybe we could…”

“I’m good - thanks…” She said, trying to find a way out of the ring of bodies and the wall to her back - which she honestly was pretty sure was the only thing keeping her entirely safe in the moment.

Panic had almost set in, and she was pretty sure the three were going to start offering other suggestions entirely when she heard a female voice and her head immediately jerked toward the sound. Her own face becoming a mask of recognition as she reached out and took hold of the other woman's arm using the elbow nudging as an excuse to breach the ring through the hole the older woman had made and stand close to her, while maintaining the look of semi-lost confusion.

"You did and I TOTALLY space-" Mercy had begun to say, before the ringleader's voice cleared.

"Hold up," He grunted, shifting his stance as the tow others took their cue to try and pen them in again. "She's not one of yours, she already said she's at the community college."

"Yeah, but I'm gonna transfer asap," Mercy said, shooting the older woman a glance. "My friend is just making sure I get to know folks,:

The ringleader narrowed his eyes at Delilah a hint of realization crossing his features, before he shot another glance at Mercy, before making a disgruntled grumble and turning away, muttering something about being cockblocked. His friends, realizing that the leader of their pack was taking an L as to not start an inter-order incident - especially against one of the few sororities still in their dating pool - peeled off leaving the two women - for the moment at least - semi-alone.

"Thanks!" Mercy expressed genuine gratitude. "Not going to lie, got in a bit over my head there..."

"Realized that about two minutes too late," Mercy admitted, quickly falling in with the other woman, noting that she was likely one of the Delta Sigma Pi girls she had been HOPING to find - but now was making a terrible first impression with. Lovely. Oh well.

"But yes, all for an emergency evac," She added, keeping close to the older woman. There was something about her - the way she spoke, the way she talked - that Mercy found trustworthy. Oh - it could all be an act of course, and she could just be leading her into the lion's den - but the way the guy had looked at her she was pretty sure that she was on the up-and-up.

And if she wasn't - well that would be a hard lesson for her to learn. Like not coming to frat parties alone.

She poured her cup out as they passed a houseplant, having no desire to lug around probably the WORST mixed drink she'd ever had the displeasure to try - and she'd tried her Aunt's attempts at screwdrivers.

"I had heard that the Kappa Alpha Nu boys were rowdy, but I didn't expect them to be... well..." She made a face. "That aggressive."

Now she knew. "The name's Mercy, by the way..." Mercy added. "Thanks for the cavalry."

"Duly noted, and me without my bear mace," Mercy half-heartedly joked. She had followed Delilah's glance, and had noticed the one warning look, as well as the eye-roll. Lovely. Well, when she finally transferred she knew that there was no way in hell she would be joining Delta Sigma Pi. Tonight probably had her blacklisted. God, she hoped nobody noticed her resemblance to the school's secondary quarterback - the last thing she needed - or wanted - was to have Jonathan to have any sort of ammo to hang over her head this year.

As they made it to the front door, she did not relax, she could tell that her savior wasn't anywhere near chill and she shot a look again for the three stooges, not seeing them present - she wondered if they'd wondered deeper into the house in the hunt for... easier prey.

She closed her hoodie and zipped it up, hoping that maybe by covering her... prodigious gifts she'd maybe get less people staring at her. Probably too little too late at this point - but at least it was an attempt.

"I'm not parked far," She said. "I think I'm going to avoid these sorts of parties in the future - at least until I make some friends, and even then..." She shook her head. "I don't think I'm very popular right now."

She half-groaned. "Well, if a one Jonathan Haynes comes asking if anyone saw me here - please do me a BIG old favor and lie," Mercy asked with a half smile. "It's bad enough even if the rumor gets out - but that cat is probably out of the bag, I really should have planned better."

She managed to smile at Delilah though when she revealed the mace, before she pulled out her own keys, holding them so that the prong of key was sticking out through her knuckles like a spike. She wasn't dumb.

"But, it would have been weird to drag my aunt out here," She huffed. "Ugh, it's weird to even call her that - she's barely older than I am. And there's no way on god's green earth I'd bring my uncle even remotely within spitting distance of here he'd throw me over his shoulder and rat me out to my parents in no time."

She laughed and shook her head.

"Sorry, first world problems," She waved them away. as they walked. "And that's fine - I realized about halfway through that we were on a time table."

She shot a glance back at the house and frowned when she noticed that three figures were now starting to follow them down the street.

"Duly noted about the question thing, I'll remember that next time - if there is a next time..." She made a face. "Just a heads up, I think we have a tail - but I'm not sure, they could be just getting air."

But as they passed under one of the street lights she caught a glimpse of the ringleader's brown-blonde hair and grimaced.

"... Maybe I should tell them my brother is on the football team." She glowered to herself.

The night was getting out of hand - drastically so - and it had the younger woman cursing herself for lack of forethought and planning. A mistake she would not make again. She nodded her head toward the rather new looking BMW 5 Series parked maybe about 100 feet down the street. THAT she had at least had the forethought to park as close as humanly possible in case she did have to abort her initial mission.

So when the other woman told her to bolt - she bolted. Cursing the fact that she did not have her sports bra on with every step, but moving with a sense of urgency that would have made people wonder if she was trying to get away from someone - because she was.

The car was unlocked before she'd even reached it with a frantic press of her finger on the fob, and then it was open door, shut door, key in the ignition to start it up with a loud VROOM.

Then it was looking in the rearview to make sure nobody else was following them and hoping against hope that her savior had joined her in bolting because she could see the three figures starting to jog toward her car.

"If I hit them it's not my fault," Mercy said flatly before she slammed her foot down and shifted the car into gear, before peeling out, all four tired screeching - narrowly missing the mirror of the car in front of her. As the figures slowed to a stop behind them and started to grow distant in the mirror, only then did Mercy relax - and slow the car down to legal road speeds.

The last thing she needed was to deal with the cops at this hour and in the mood she was in.

"So, thank you, again," She huffed. "To answer your question from earlier - yes."

"Also, sorry for stealing you from the party if you were trying to... you know - have fun," She added, risking a glance back at the woman in her back seat. "Anywhere I can drop you off? I think tonight was a wash for me anyway - at least as far as networking is concerned. I've had all the excitement I can stomach for tonight."

And to think she had canceled her STREAM for this.

At the very first stop sign they hit, Mercy paused to put on her own belt, mulling over how best to answer the question from the woman next to her. A perfunctory lie would of course, would have been the most prudent action, but the way she spoke, and the way she was looking at Mercy, informed the younger woman that if she went that route - well - it would be soused out in rather short order.

There was something oddly familiar about her passenger and she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Like she'd seen her somewhere before but again, her brain just couldn't connect the dots - be it from the adrenaline still flooding her system or just general distraction as she was also trying to drive.

"I wanted to try and... meet some of the girls of Delta Sigma Pi, and from what I heard is that some of them would be there at the party," Mercy said. "My hope, being, of course, that I could at least meet some of the younger ones who might still be around when I transfer over in a year or two once my gen-eds are done so I can focus on law school. Delta Sigma Pi has a reputation of being good for networking... Which I'll need to work more on once I'm working full time at my father's practice as a junior lawyer."

"Of course, what I DID do, is make myself look like a complete idiot," She snorted and shook her head. "As you said - I won't be long forgotten and... NOT in a good way."

"I'll admit, it wasn't the best plan," She added as she kept driving, waiting for her passenger to give her some sort of direction. She had a full tank of gas and all night to burn.