A walk down memory lane (Rin/Crystal/whoever)

It was the sort of dusky darkness that preceded the rising of the sun when her car pulled into the sparsely populated parking lot just inside of the Academy gates. She figured that most of the cars would be from early-arrivers like herself or else the students who stayed in the dormitories but lived in Maple Hollow or at least worked there enough to get away with having transportation. The buses that would travel down to Maple Hollow to pick up anyone lacking a ride were parked neatly in a row, their headlights dark and their interiors abandoned. She didn't usually come to school this early. It might be almost creepy if she were the type to be spooked by such things but Rin had always prided herself in being a brave woman.

Besides, there was a reason that she'd arrived during the too-early hours of the morning. That'll be the last time I try to cook when I'm half awake, she thought irritably, closing the car door with a little more force than was necessary. A car alarm going off just outside her building had roused her at an earlier hour than her normal alarm would have and a gnawing hunger had sent her into the kitchen. Half-awake and bleary-eyed, she'd somehow managed to start a small fire in her oven. Smoke alarm assaulting her ears and smoke filling the apartment, she'd managed to put it out herself but had been eager to get the hell out of the place until the open windows had lured the smoke into the fresh air and out of her house. This was why she usually ordered takeout. Ugh. But she'd tried to be responsible last week and had actually bought groceries, which had led to the oh-so-lovely apartment fire. Why did anyone bother cooking?

The faint chill in the air reminded her that the warm summer days were almost over. Instead of following the main path up to the doors, Rin decided to pass some time by taking the more scenic route along the lakeside. She expected to be alone, given the time, and so she paused in suspicion when someone surfaced from the depths of the lake. Water elemental, probably, she thought with a roll of her eyes. She'd never understand their fixation with swimming and the like. She didn't get off on jumping into the centre of a tornado, now did she? The thought amused her for a moment and she resumed walking until she was close enough to recognise the figure. Not a student, as she'd initially thought, but a fellow member of faculty. The orange shade of her hair gave it away fairly quickly. There weren't a lot of redheads in the faculty and so it was hard to miss either one of them walking down a hall. "Crystal," she acknowledged, because she never used surnames or titles. She wasn't a student any more, no matter how uppity some of the professors could get. "The hell are you doing out in a freezing lake in the middle of the night?" All right, so it was hardly the middle of the night, but surely the other woman would get her point.

[Didn't know how well they were supposed to know each other so I kept it vague ;D]

She raised her eyebrow. Was she being mocked for her lack of a cheerful greeting? She couldn't tell. It didn't seem like it, at any rate. "Bullshit. You kept your good morning to yourself." Would Crystal pick up on the meaning of the words? Rin wasn't trying to hide the fact that her morning hadn't been quite as enjoyable, not feeling like she had anything to hide. The words were deadpan and without real feeling as Cat flipped her dark red hair behind her shoulder. Her job was bound to put her in a worse mood, it usually did, but she showed up to work each day and did what she was meant to do. She needed the money and so she stuck to the rules.

The redhead looked out across the lake, thinking back to her own high school days when she'd hung out with her friends out by the cliff smoking and skipping class. The lake was clear during classes, too, but of course Crystal was probably holed up in her office playing a good guidance counsellor during these hours just as Rin would be in her classroom. "You're a Water, aren't you? Make waves, kick everyone out. Problem solved." She shrugged, completely serious. Rin could do something very similar and she demonstrated that then, icy eyes narrowing in concentration as a violent gale whipped up around them, sending her hair about her before it slammed into the lake and caused a large, carrying wave that crashed against the cliffs on the far side. "Course you'd need to make sure there weren't any casualties." She smirked. It would definitely hurt to crack your skull open against the cliff. She might have been sadistic but even Rin wouldn't try to kill a student. She didn't have a wish for jail, she was no murderer.

She gave the counsellor a long look as if she'd grown a second and third head right there in front of her. "You're sure you're not the one that needs counselling?" Caterina had never been known for her gentleness in conversation. She was as blunt as a hammer. "Once you lose another couple thousand brain cells you'll be telling me that jumping in lava helps depression." It could be hard to tell whether her offensive comments were made in jest sometimes but she didn't bother to explain. This was Rin, plain and simple.

It was her time to be questioned and she did not pause very long at all before giving her answer. "My oven had a nice shot at impersonating a Fire elemental. Too bad it didn't learn your little tricks as well." She rolled her eyes but looked otherwise unbothered. She wasn't too bummed about the already shitty apartment, she had more of a problem with being here than there most days. Like any human being, though, she hated the acrid taste of smoke and didn't want to die from its inhalation so she'd decided an early trip to work had been order. "Not like I sleep here. Hell no." As she once more lifted a hand to tuck red hair behind her ear this time, the deep green vine that started the tattoo that stretched up her left arm to the shoulder was partially visible. The blouse she wore was enough to cover it and sure enough, as soon as he arm was lowered and the sleeve dropped back down, it was invisible. She wouldn't be judging Crystal for any tattoos, that was for sure.