She feels like worlds were colliding and she hates that. When she met him, she had been taking a gap year and it was shortly after her eighteenth birthday. Spy prep was harsh on her and she couldn’t handle enrolling into Gallagher right away. And maybe it was a week, but nothing had been simple about it, because during the week she was able to pretend everything was fine. And then they had parted ways because he had to leave Massachusetts. “As easy as that.” She doesn’t get why anyone would deliberately want to join this life. “Why?” she questions. Whether he was going to be honest or not was another story entirely. “Unfortunately so. My family’s apparently a big thing here,” she says it in an annoyed tone, because she’s never happy about that.

“Oh, definitely not,” Mateo said, shaking his head with an amused smirk on his face. “They would never put me on a welcome wagon. Though with this face, they should.” He brought his hand back and crossed his arms over his chest. “I will try my best because I refuse to be deemed a bad roommate, but I don’t believe I’ll be able to promise anything.” 

        FIRST THE FLASK,  and now the boy says he’s an older first year ;   caden can only chuckle at the similarities between them, taking a seat beside him and helping himself to a swig from the flask.   “ don’t drink all your alcohol at once ? “   he tries.  caden’s not exactly one for ADVICE.   “ i don’t know, what’s your major ? “

– “YEAH, GERMS, SHMERMS,” RICKY DISMISSES LIKE IT’S RIDICULOUS, adding in a wave of his hand for emphasis. “ alright, you don’t have to be RUDE about it, you kind of sound like a dick when you talk like that, ” ricky chuckles, thinking the man opposite kind of LOOKS like a supervillain to, on top of it all. “ oh, ” ricky’s eyes widen, not sure how to react. a year ago, he would’ve been thrilled to be recognized, but now, it’s sort of hit or miss. he’s not sure WHAT this guy thinks of him, but it might not be good… “ yeah, that’s me. best fuckin’ formula three racer there ever was, ” he jokes. “ you still could, i mean, he’s not dead or anything. he just doesn’t race any more, obviously. ” 

Maybe it was odd, but Carmen loved the clean and neat smell of the lab. To her the smell of metal and oil and polish almost smelled, if not better, than a bouquet of flowers. And walking into Gallagher’s made her take a long, deep breath. The last semester had been chaos but here…here everything was in order. It was hers to manipulate and control to her imagination’s content. She wanted to dive right in, to get back into her latest project, but she saw that someone else had had the same idea as her. It shocked her that someone had beat her to the punch. But that shock dissipated when she saw who it was. “Theo?”

@prcdigiums​

“I thought geniuses were supposed to have perfect memories,” Ria scoffed. So she had been his first time and he hadn’t bothered to mention that or remember her? How rude. “That explains it. You were horrible, but you’re welcome I guess. So you’re a first year, yeah? The bottom of the totem pole. How’s it feel?” She hadn’t intended to come out with full claws. Only a little jesting until he put two and two together… then he had to go and be an asshole, so she had no choice.

“oh my god– hi!” she was excited. though, well, a comparison to a puppy was always in check for aria, since she seemed to always be excited. but this was pure! she didn’t know many people from before she was brought in to gallagher, and this was quite exciting to her. “uh… well, glitter is back in, and i simply like to look trendy. i’m much more a neon gal nowadays though. glad to see you still wear…. black shoes?” was that a compliment? she just couldn’t find one, but she surely made it sound like one.

ting is surprised he doesn’t seem to have his entire major memorized, then mentally reminds herself that not everyone is entering gallagher like it’s their first trip to disney world. “research and development, i’ll bet that’s interesting!” she shakes her head, tapping the tip of her pink ballet flats against the leg of the table lightly as she talks. “no, i was just paying attention when first years were given our things! theo it is. are you excited?”

Mira had to do a double take at the sight of the familiar face. It’s been two years since she last had any sort of contact with him. And she thinks life is just playing jokes on her at this point. A lot has happened to Mira since then and it had been one simple week. But again, life often played jokes on people. “I could say the same thing,” she states, voice and expression collected. She’d been so through so much shit in her life, it was so easy for her to remain collected through things now. Has he been from a spy family this entire time? Frankly, she never thought she’d see him again because as far as she knew, he was just a civilian! “And you’re here. Have you been a spy in training this entire time?” As blunt as always and always straight to the point.

– “OH, YOU’RE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE THAT THINKS GERMS ARE REAL?” RICKY LAUGHS, it’s a half-joke, but he’s never SEEN a germ, so ! he holds the handkerchief between two of his fingers, “ what am i supposed to do with this ? wipe my hands ? face ? the statue ? ” he asks. “ don’t think so, but i forget a face sometimes…though if we met earlier today, you’d probably remember me, no ? ” ricky suggests, “ maybe you know my grandfather, people say we look ALIKE. or, well, we used to, when he had hair. pedro alonso ? ” 

For being an intelligent person, he sounded like an idiot already. Was that what time did to a person? Did she have to worry about her memories wearing away so soon? Eek. Rather than politely reintroducing herself, she decided to lay out their interactions as a reminder. “Boston, summer of 2013. You maybe lasted three minutes. Not a great impression, but left an impression.” And he was smart. Before Gallagher, meeting young people with that much intelligence was rare.

           HE’S DEFINITELY NOT JEALOUS OF A MAN WITH A FLASK — because hello, basic much ?   that had literally been caden last year.  but now that he’s flaskless and the more he’s watching him…  well, it is a nice offer.   “ i’ll take some, if you’re offering, “   he shrugs his shoulders, holding his hand out to take it.

            his father’s ---- his internship was prestigious people from all over the world wanted it and while he did give opportunities abroad he liked to provide them more for domestic students.  flights were a hassle and he did not want to deal with them.  since he taught some of the classes he had grown to know a couple of the interns and one of them happened to be in the same school as him.  “ well , well , well. “ he says as he looked up from his phone.  “ glad to see you’re still wearing a shit ton of glitter. “  though his words sounded somewhat brash he was smiling nonetheless.

              being 24 surrounded by teenagers and recently turned adults was not fun --- he usually tried to lie but the exhaustion on his face was more or not an indicator that teddy was too old for this shit.  luckily , he had his way of making things a little more bearable --- it’d helped him out before and now he didn’t have to pay from frat guy to buy him a bottle.  he opened up his poorly hidden flask and took a long sip however --- he did however feel eyes on him when he did that.  he lowered the flask and looked at the ---- hairy man that was staring at him.  “ want some or are you jealous ? “

open starter / @gallagherstart​

– “OH, SHIT, WERE YOU WATCHING?” RICKY TURNS AROUND ON THE COURTYARD. “ cause that…was not what it looked like, ” he tries to explain, “ i mean, maybe it was ? some upperclassman told me if you kiss her, you ace all your classes and your chances of getting laid are up by like, sixty percent. figured i’d give gilly a little makeout action for good measure, right ? ” he flashes a big, overexaggerated grin, ‘cause honestly, it’s just funny at this point. 

                it was funny how life worked , his life was filled with a lot of busy work.  he did like to indulge in luxuries from time to time but never with people.  he tended to keep those at a distance because people tended to be thrown off by the amount of wealth he possessed.  he tended to be horrible with faces and even worse with names --- it’s why he always had s.o.f.i.a at his disposal.  however , hers was a face he would remember , but the name --- the name was escaping him.  he couldn’t help but stare and eventually spoke up hoping she might help him out.  “ you know --- i wondered if you were still alive.  “

closed for @prcdigiums​

ting doesn’t want to be intimidated, and she doesn’t feel like she is, not necessarily. but there is something a little unique about how there can be such an age gap between students in the same year as her. she doesn’t assume the age of the person sitting near her as she flips through the packet of information she’s been given about the school, but ting very much looks her age, and he seems to as well. “what are you majoring in, if you don’t mind me asking?” ting offers as a greeting as she leans forward a little, eager to start meeting people. “my name is ting, i’m a first year as well.”