<div class="floatleft">(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/64/a1/eb/64a1ebbbcf4fdbd74d30ee3e374e3270.jpg)</div>It was strange, how awkward and uneasy Celine felt as she wallflowered in a corner and waited for Marcus to either find Finn in the burgeoning crowd, or come back empty-handed. She was a grown-ass woman, for God's sake, even if some of her colleagues didn't always treat her that way. But here she was, in a house full of mostly, if not entirely, undergrads, getting lit and loud and...was that pot she smelled? OK, she wasn't going to go all hall monitor, but if the place happened tog et raided, she could kiss her fellowship goodbye. She was a<em> fucking </em>Law Student.<br/><br/>There was the energy, too. Raw, full of untamed potential. had she ever felt like that when she was that age? Not that it was<em> that</em>long ago, thank YOU,  but she'd always been a bit of a bookish sort, the one who told jokes no one got. In another generation, she probably would have been the kid who always got called on to run the slide projector in class.<br/><br/>God. Hadn't that been another of Renée's complaints?  That she was always by the book, by the numbers,<em>alles im Richtung</em>?  Which...was a funny accusation, coming from a woman who had gone out of her way looking for things that violated her own sense of propriety, so she she could get pissy about them. Didn't make her wrong.<br/><br/>She couldn't say if she was relieved when her two new friends picked their way back over to her- or disappointed. Two friendly faces, anchors in the storm- but had she wanted to let herself get swept away? Well, she wasn't finding out tonight. No mid-life crisis pre-30 for her.<br/><br/>Finn's comments on the likelihood of them being able to study made her laugh. he was right- the place already looked, sounded, and smelt like a frat house. If they could find a space, and defend it from being invade, the music would still make it impossible to think. "Let's at least go outside, out of the crush?," she suggested. "We can raid the food on the way past."  She thankfully accepted Marcus' offer of a soda, though what she really wanted, needed, was a cold beer. Or a nice glass of wine...