The soft clops of his hooves were not what made her shift in gaze, but that the very movement of him turning around and forcing her line of sight directly on his other half, specifically his rear, is what caused a moment of alarm. She slapped a hand to her mouth to keep from yelling as her eyes stared in shock. He was...a centaur?<br/><br/>WHAT IS IT WITH THESE HALF MEN BEING SO DAMNED GORGEOUS!?!?<br/><br/>“...why was that your first thought?!” Lori snapped at herself beneath her breath. As he began to move without her, her breath hitched when she heard him call back to her. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t seem to keep her thoughts together. Nevertheless, she nodded to his question and, hesitantly at first, made a small quick jog to his side. One more monster. Just one more monster to deal with and then she could be out of this mess.<br/><br/>She tried to keep her eyes to the floor, but through their journey she couldn’t help but sneak glances at various parts of his body: his human half, which she had no issues indulging in for a bit of that eye candy, where the two halves met and the small ombré effect the joint had on his skin/fur, and his horse half which was just as muscular as his human half, watching the way it moved with each step. She found herself, whenever she did stare, start to slow in pace to take in his form at more angles. Greek mythology was one of her favorite subjects growing up, and here was her first real encounter with a creature from lore. Well, she supposed the HSE 101 professor could be compared to the gorgon Medusa, but that might have been a stretch. Besides, her encounter with him was not quite in a relaxed situation such as this one, so it was hard for her to observe.<br/><br/>Wait, she thought to herself a moment, I’m...relaxed? I’m ok? She shook her head as she rushed a small apology to him, forcing herself to catch up with him once more. That couldn’t be right though, she needed to speak to the Dean because she was NOT okay. Right? As she started questioning her resolve, the centaur started some idle chit chat with her. She answered honestly, taking care not to stare too much. “I was given free tuition. I just needed to...well...work for it while I studied here.” She didn’t like the taste in her mouth when she said the word “work.” She clicked her tongue a few times as if trying to clear the bad taste out, before answering his next question.<br/><br/>“Predecessor?” She thought back to the class she had just run from and remembered what the TA had mentioned, something about Barbara. “Uhm, from what Mr. Lawrence said, he wasn’t entirely clear about it thought, but I’m pretty sure my ‘predecessor’” she said the word with two fingers from each hand in the air, signifying quotations, “was some kind of CPR dummy name Barbara...or something to that effect.” She couldn’t help but laugh, thinking about the possibility of the ridiculously expressioned life size hunk of plastic being poked and displayed as an accurate representation of the female body.<br/><br/>“Honestly, though, the day so far hasn’t actually been all that bad.” It seemed the chatting with the centaur eased things up for her dramatically. He was oddly very easy to talk to. And perhaps the fact that she wasn’t exactly surrounded by strange creatures, or being stared at for over an hour by them, through a good portion of their walk certainly didn’t hurt the progress either. She found herself to think about the day’s events a bit more objectively at what exactly had happened. A whole lot of nothing. “When I first arrived, I met one of my roommates, Ed. He was...a strange duck for certain. I might have jumped down his throat. I should go and apologize when I next see him.” (<a class="username" data-user-id="2079" data-username="@Sanity43217" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" href="https://blackdahliaroleplaying.com/members/2079/">@Sanity43217</a>) She was surprised at the words that came out of her mouth. When she next saw him, as if she wasn’t going to leave. No, she had to go back to the dorm to get her stuff. That’s all. She’s still going to leave....right? “Thats when I met Hugh. He was a perfect gentleman. Super sweet, super helpful, and very friendly, much like you’re being right now.” She gave him a sincere smile before a thought crossed her head, “wait. Is Hugh a monster too?! What is he?! He looks like just a regular guy.” Realizing a little bit too late, she apologized. That probably wasn’t for the centaur to tell her. She was sure she’d find out soon enough.<br/><br/>There it is again. Thoughts of still being here after today. She bit her bottom lip in concern for her own thoughts, “anyway, that’s when he took me to my first class. I thought it was fine at first, realizing I was going to be helping out. And helping out a class with a professor that looks like Professor Salini, I shouldn’t have any complaints.” She laughed again, “and yet, I feel bad for saying this, because he was super nice, as soon as Mr. Lawrence walked in I guess I...lost it. That’s when it dawned on me where I was and I kinda freaked.” She put her face in her hands and groaned. “I’m such a jerk. He was being so super nice the entire time and I just looked at him like he was a freak.” In her defense, having seen nothing like him before, to her he was a bit of a freak, but it was still rude nevertheless. “I’m going to have to spend the day apologizing to everybody...aren’t I?” She half asked her new friend, half asked herself with an answer she already knew. Yes.<br/><br/>It wasn’t long before they reached the Dean’s office. She stopped outside the closed door adorned with his name in black lettering, and turned back to the centaur. “Thank you again, by the way. I’m sorry if I seemed really weird at first, I’m still trying to take all this in. It’s...not something I’m used to.” She offered him a hand to shake, “I’d hug you for all the sincerity and kindness you showed me, but I don’t think I could reach that high.” She gave one more last laugh. She couldn’t remember a single time where she felt this calm since first arriving.