Days of Change (Seeking Celliope & Ash)

[Seeking Calliope]

10:30 Monday August 21

Fort Collins, Colorado

Setting

Fort Collins is a Home Rule Municipality in and the county seat of Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Situated on the Cache La Poudre River along the Colorado Front Range, Fort Collins is located 65 miles (105 km) north of the State Capitol in Denver. With a 2012 estimated population of 148,612, it is the fourth most populous city in Colorado after Aurora, Colorado Springs and Denver.Fort Collins is a midsize college city, home to Colorado State University. It was named Money magazine's Best Place to live in the U.S. in 2006, No. 2 in 2008, and No. 6 in 2010. It is also known as one of the towns that inspired the design of Main Street, U.S.A. inside the main entrance of the many 'Disneyland'-style parks run by The Walt Disney Company around the world.

Colorado State University (also referred to as Colorado State and CSU) is a public research university located in Fort Collins, in the U.S. state of Colorado. The current enrollment is approximately 30,700 students, including resident and non-resident instruction students. The university has approximately 1,540 faculty members in eight colleges and 55 academic departments. Bachelor's degrees are offered in 65 fields of study, with Master's degrees in 55 fields. Colorado State confers doctoral degrees in 40 fields of study, in addition to a professional degree in veterinary medicine. In 2012, CSU's research expenditures were $340 million—ranking second in the nation for public universities without a medical school.

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Sara Chalfon had lived in the state of Colorado for most of her life, but had only lived in the city of Fort Collins for the last month. She had found an affordable apartment, within walking distance to campus, and moved what little possessions she had before she found a job selling electronics at the local Sears in the city's only mall. She had made a few friends through work, though she didn't count any of them close. It was her hope to make a few real friends once the semester began.

Sara felt she was still getting her bearings when the first day of classes arrived. She had purchased her books the Friday before, using her scholarship account, though work and back-to-school house parties had kept her from getting a jump-start on her studies. After her first morning class, Sara was regretting, ever so slightly, that she had not spent any time familiarizing herself with the lessons.

Now, at the Quad, Sara was sitting upon the grass, under a tree, her C++ book opened to the middle of the first chapter, while she picked at the garden salad which she had bought from the school's cantina. Her straight black hair cascaded over her face as she split her attention between the text book and her lunch.

 

[Ash]

The sound of two hundred backpacks zipping closed and papers shuffling towards him forced the man from his slumber. Eyelids fluttering open, he collected the papers that landed on the desk in front of him and quickly stood to collect the rest as the students began to file out of the classroom. It was only the first week of classes and Killian Crowe was already nodding off. He had decided to TA for two of the Introductory Genetics courses and their complementing labs. One could have hardly said that it was an introductory course—it had been the most difficult class that he'd taken in the three years that he'd been at the university.

Rising from the seat, the blond-haired man crammed the papers into his backpack and swung it over his shoulder. The professor had sent around a "survey" to assess what pre-requisite knowledge the students currently possessed about the subject. It was his job to go through the stack and report his findings and grades back to the professor. He more than likely would have been stuck doing the same bitch work throughout the entire semester, however, he was getting paid for it so he really didn't mind. He descended the stairs from the back of the class and nodded at the instructor before exiting the room.

The campus was crowded with lost freshmen whose noses were shoved deep into their class schedules. The uninterrupted flow of people down the sidewalk slightly irritated him, however, he understood that it was only short-lived. Many students would fail to come to class regularly, making it easier to travel through the campus buildings. He finally arrived at his usual spot in the Quad. The man tossed his backpack onto a bench that was shaded by a tall tree and plopped down next to it. He supposed that he should have gotten started on grading those surveys. The tall man unzipped the backpack and pulled out a pen and the papers, but not before he stretched out along the entire length of the bench. Leaning back, he used his bag as a headrest and began lazily correcting the surveys.

Growing bored quickly, Killian let his head fall to the side and he began to observe the students in the Quad like he often did. They were clearly more interesting than the task before him. Many students used the Quad as a liaison between their classes. He watched as a boy rushed through the grassy area anxiously, almost tripping over his own feet. Other students preferred to do their homework or study in the area. The man's cold blue eyes fell onto a dark-haired female attempting to eat and read. His eyes lingered on her for a moment, sensing something oddly familiar about the young woman's features. However, he shrugged the feeling off. Even as large as the campus was, he was sure to have seen everyone at least once.

 

[Seeking Calliope]

Sara's crystal blue eyes lifted their gaze from her text book as a young man ran past her. Her focus broken, she took the time to survey her surroundings. The fact that there were so many people her own age nearby made her feel like she belonged, even if she didn't know anyone. Her lips curled into a pleased and shy smile as she watched several bare-chested young men toss around a football. Feeling as if she was staring, she quickly directed her gaze to the other side of the Quad, where a number of students were traversing between classes. Her eyes finally settled upon a young man who seemed to possess a casual demeanor about him and exuded a sense of belonging. His head rested on his backpack and his long body was sprawled out before him in what appeared to be a comfortable fashion. Judging by the stack of papers which occupied his attention, he was most likely a teacher's assistant or, possibly, someone who worked on the campus; he appeared far too young to be a professor.

The weight of her text book, upon her lap, reminded her that she was still behind in her studies and a quick glance at her phone informed her that she still had an hour to kill which reassured her that she had plenty of time to study. The young co-ed scooted further into the shade of the tree in an attempt to protect her fair skin. She tucked her legs underneath her, the fabric of her hip-hugging jeans stretched tightly against her knees, slightly flared hips, and shapely rump. Her peach colored blouse allowed for the gentle breeze to cool her skin and left her arms bare; the top button was unfastened.

She plopped a cherry tomato into her mouth and puckered at the unexpected juicy explosion. Unbidden, her gaze returned to the teacher's assistant. She couldn't shake the feeling that there was something familiar about him and the thought began to nag at the recesses of her mind. After several minutes, her homework was quickly forgotten and the nagging feeling consumed her focus. Despite her best attempts to refocus, her mind and eyes were inexplicably drawn to the young man and his stack of papers. After a few more minutes passed, she was chewing on her lower lip as she tried to place how she knew him, or if she even did.

Was it her imagination or did she just make eye contact with him?

 

[Ash]

Killian locked gazes with the woman for a moment, before his head lolled back to its center and he peered up at the blinding sky. Wincing slightly, the man toyed with the inner part of his lip ring. He could have sworn that he'd seen the women somewhere before. Why couldn't he remember where? Was she one of his lab students? Another T.A.? Did it even matter? He supposed it didn't.

Although oddly enough, the man found his eyes wandering back to the female sitting just under the shade of the nearby tree. He was so sure that he'd never met her before, however, there was something almost too familiar about her. What exactly was it? He couldn't quite place his finger on it. Before, she appeared to be giving him the same questionable stare. Eyebrows drawing inward, he pushed himself upright. The man glanced down at his wristwatch . His next class didn't start for quite some time. Perhaps he should have entertained this query, else he would have been bothered by it all day.

Cramming the papers back into his bag and zipping it, he grabbed his pen and rose from the wooden bench. Swinging the backpack over his shoulders, he felt a slight tightening in the pit of his stomach before it rumbled hungrily. Perhaps after he attempted to confront this women, he would have gone to the dining hall to grab a quick bite to eat. The tall man crossed the grassy area to the woman who was only a few yards away. He hovered over her for a moment, blue eyes searching her face for some unique feature that might refresh his memory. His brow wrinkled in slight confusion and he realized that he probably would have been standing there all day trying to figure out where they'd seen each other.

"Do I know you?" he asked quickly. His question was assertive, almost forced—as though he were irritated at the idea of having not been able to place her face. His eyes dropped to the to the unbuttoned part of her shirt before traveling back to her face and lingering there, waiting for her response. ​

 

[Seeking Calliope]

Sara was doing her best not to stare at the man near the bench reclining upon his backpack. It became a frustrating challenge that she was all too aware of. Her white teeth raked over her upper lip as she tried to keep her mind from wondering back to the nagging sensation of familiarity with a man she couldn't place. Even with her crystal blue eyes focused on her book, her gaze wandered to where the man sat. If she was going to get any studying done she was going to need to find a new place to attempt to do it.

She began to gather her belongings, placed the plastic lid haphazardly over the black container which held her mostly eaten salad, only the onions and eggs remained. Her text book was slipped into her backpack and she zipped the bag closed.

When her gaze drifted up, and intentionally toward where the man sat, she was surprised to find him standing above her. The soft features of her face, unblemished and with only the slightest hint of blush and eyeliner, regarded him questioningly as she quickly recovered from her shock. Looking up at him, as she was, angled her chin and neck in such a way that allowed for more than a mere peek at the pale skin and subtle swell of her chest. If she noticed his glance she showed no evidence of it. Instead, her eyes, easily her most defining feature, searched his face in a hope to find the hint that would trigger her memory. After a short, yet seemingly prolonged moment, her lip-gloss coated lips curled into a friendly and warm smile.

"Hi," she said before she realized what he had asked. "I don't know. I was kind of wondering the same thing. You look very familiar," she said as she shook her head in bewilderment. "I'm Sara Chalfon," she added as she extended her hand toward him. She hoped that learning his name might be enough to click things into place.

Despite the fact that he loomed over her, sitting upon the grass as she was, she didn't feel intimidated. Instead, she had a peculiar and unexplainable feeling that she was safe, amongst the feelings of familiarity that she, amazingly, found herself growing accustomed to.

"Are you a student or do you work on campus?" She asked with a slowly building fear that their encounter would pass and with it her chance to discover who he was and how she knew him.

 

[Ash]

He eyed the woman tentatively, watching her eyes as she responded. His eyebrows drew inward, listening to her speak—as though the sound of her voice might induce an old memory of the female.

Nothing... the man thought. It seemed odd, seeing as Killian was typically good at remembering at least the places in which he had encountered certain people, if not, then surely their names. However, even as she had introduced herself, the man couldn't have pointed out any familiarity in her name. He smirked as a fair-skinned hand was extended upward and in his direction, although after a short moment he took it quickly.

"Killian Crowe." he responded shortly. It wasn't often that the student found himself making introductions in the quad. In fact, it was little new to him,despite already have attended the university for quite some time. The action made him feel as though he were reliving his awkward freshmen days, forcing an introduction or two so that he may or may not have had several people to possibly call his friends later on. However, this hardly seemed like the commencement of a friendship as much as it did an evaluation.

Even still, as his hand firmly grasped hers, there was that oddly familiar sensation again—as though they had known each other for awhile and their relationship was only now being rekindled. It invoked a particular emotion in the man, something he couldn't quite interpret, but for a moment he lost himself. It was subtle, a simple blink and one would have missed it. However, the slight flicker of an alteration within his eyes arose, shifting from their usual icy blue to a forest green and returning once again back to their normal color.

He blinked quickly, releasing the girl known as Sara's hand. Rarely did something like this happen and as he began to master and dominate his own abilities, he found that he worried about it occurring less and less. But occasionally, having come so far in his own mastery of the talent, he would break focus and induce some sort of physical change to himself. Often, it was his eyes and for that, he was thankful—a structure that could easily have been explained should someone have taken notice. Although, he had certainly hoped that Sara, here, had not.

The man adjusted himself, standing upright again. "Both. I'm a student and a teaching assistant for an introductory lecture and lab for genetics." His eyes passed over the woman again before they traveled upward and around at the student body mindlessly making their way past the two. His icy hues cast themselves back down at Sara. "I'm assuming that you are a student as well? What is your major?" He was curious. Perhaps she had been in one of his previous classes. Perhaps a general pre-requisite or another genetics class that he had taken. ​

 

[Seeking Calliope]

Her brows knit at the mention of his name. It didn't ring a bell. His hand engulfed her smaller one, and warm and strong, not clammy or sweaty like some guys. Despite sitting upon the grass and him standing above her, she didn't feel intimidated by the man. There was actually an odd type of peace about having him near.

Perhaps it was simply his demeanor, she thought to herself. He was a teacher's assistant, after all.

Her gaze remained upon his. It was only natural to give someone who she was talking to her full attention. She continued to study his face for any feature that would trigger her memory. He was rather attractive, she thought. Sara didn't think she'd tire of staring at his blue eyes, and her mind wondered what it would feel like if her lips were pressed to his, and his voice was soothing and comforting in her opinion.

The momentarily change of color to his eyes seemed to go unnoticed by Sara or if she did notice there was no outward indication. In fact, she didn't seem to notice the change of her own eyes, from crystal blue to a vibrant emerald green, the natural color of her eyes, though she wouldn't remember that, as if in immediate response to his faux pas.

Completely unaware of what had just occurred, Sara smiled with interest and replied to his question. "Genetics? Wow, that's cool." She'd never been good with science, partly due to never having a good study environment. "Yeah," she laughed lightly when asked if she was a student too. She was far too young to be anything else, even if she was slightly older than the other traditional students. "Computer information," she replied before adding "programming," as if that explained anything.