Stuck as a man (FF) (OPEN)

(Continued for Katrina a short while after the events in FF Playing Pretend.)

Katrina walked out of her “counseling session” feeling slightly better, not because any issues she was suppose to have been counseled for had been resolved, but rather because she now didn't have to worry about talking about the issues. The odd red headed teacher, Raina, had been quite understanding that she hadn't wanted to talk and hadn't forced her to say anything she didn't feel like saying. They hadn't really had much else to talk about aside from that, but staring out the window and playing with the various time wasting toys from Raina's desk, like the liquid motion one with colored sand and water between glass that slowly made a new landscape-like picture whenever it was turned upside down. It was actually quite relaxing.

Now that the chore of going to the appointment was over with, she could go back to her brooding in peace. Unless, of course, someone was knocking at the door. Katrina looked around, up the stairs, and down the hallways, but she didn't see anyone to open the door other than herself. This put her at something of an impasse. She did not, under any circumstances, wish to be alone with anyone she didn't know any time in the near future. However, anyone that would actually be knocking at the door was undoubtedly a stranger, with a very few unlikely exceptions. Still, it would be rude not to let someone inside what was essentially a public place. It wasn't exactly mansion policy to be unfriendly towards newcomers.

Katrina crept up to the tall narrow window next to the door and peeked through the curtain. Outside was a man she had never seen before. He was full grown, so not a potential student. That left... a potential teacher, a salesperson, and someone who was up to no good on the list of possible identities. Katrina let the curtain fall back.

“Hello? How can I help you,” she questioned through the thick door in a loud voice.

It was only then that her eyes caught sight of the lock on the door. It was unbolted.

Crap.

Her eyes widened. Would it be rude to lock it now? Certainly it would. He would be able to hear it.

Crapcrapcrap.

The young illusionist braced herself, for what she wasn't certain. If that door opened, though, she'd be out of there so fast a red eyed elf wouldn't even be able to catch her. She'd turn invisible, too. Maybe a distraction illusion. Where were all the adults and the guard dogs when she needed them?

The tall blonde man on the other side of the door claimed to know Raina. That was really weird, considering she had just been talking with Raina not ten minutes ago. Unfortunately, Raina was now unavailable. As soon as their scheduled time together had reached an end, the red haired counselor had said something about going back to bed and had left the office going the opposite way Katrina had when they had parted ways.

Which made it very strange that this guy supposedly had an appointment. Either Raina was not very good at keeping a schedule for her appointments, or this guy was lying through his teeth. She was inclined to believe the person she thought was a fairly responsible adult hadn't just mislaid her appointment book. Therefore, this guy must letting falsehoods spew forth from his oral cavity in order to gain admittance where he didn't belong.

Now she really wished that deadbolt was turned.

The lies continued. He had a son who would be starting here soon, named “Calean” which sounded exactly the same as Calley with an “n” tacked onto the end. That was suspicious too, as were the constant uh sounds inserted into his sentences. He knew a lot about the people at the mansion for someone whose son was only a potential student. Still, it was no proof that he was lying.

The time that he had spent our the stoop stretched to an awkwardly uncomfortable amount of time for a girl who was used to being polite at all times. Inside herself a conflict stirred. She was polite to strangers, it was part of her nature, and yet recently it had turned around to bite her when a stranger had been less than polite back in s thoroughly scarring way. After a brief pause, the young girl spoke, hoping to stall for more time. With any luck, someone would come down the stairs and she wouldn't have to deal with this on her own.

“Raina is still in bed. I'm afraid she is unavailable right now,” she called through the wood panels to the scary stranger on the other side.

The deadbolt taunted her. It would be so easy to turn it and just run away, but so very very rude.

>>>"You sound a bit younger than my son but am I correct in assuming you enjoy it here at the mansion? I guess you must otherwise you wouldn't still be around."

The man on the other side of the door tittered at his own comment. Katrina thought it had sounded rhetorical, so she wasn't sure if she was supposed to respond. Then the guy started in talking about Raina's birthday party.

This was getting suspiciouser and suspiciouser. If this guy was supposed to be bringing a new student to the mansion, then why on Earth was he hanging out all the way back in November? And what was he doing here on such a momentous occasion as an attack on the mansion? Katrina hadn't seen him at the party right before the whole thing had broken out into a battle, but he could have arrived later with the attackers, she supposed. Though, that didn't necessarily make him a bad person either, since she had personally known and been friends with some of the attackers, too. Everyone else practically hissed when they mentioned the you-know-which group, but Katrina had a hard time coming to hate the crew she had lived, trained, and survived with during the Registration period.

Anyway, back to the problem at hand. The strange blonde man obviously wanted to come in and Katrina really didn't want him to come in. At least, she didn't want to while she was alone and unprotected on the inside. She remembered her mothers' words, which had been echoed a number of times recently by both her matriarch and others, that she should take self defense lessons with Sam. She was finally starting to consider it. If she had the confidence that she could take this person down if he tried anything, maybe she'd feel more comfortable letting him in to sit at some office while he waited for one of the greeters to meet with him. As it was now, they were at an impasse. In the end it was the gravelly voiced man outside that came up with the solution to both their problems:

>>>"I dont suppose Sam or Shawn are around? Raina said if I couldn't reach her that they;d be more then able to assist me?"

Aha! Now that she could work with.

“Hang on just a second, I'll see if I can find them.” Katrina gave the unbolted lock one last longing look before scampering off to see if any of the official greeters were available to help the poor suspicious man out on the doorstep.

Katrina had barely even made it up the stairs when she heard the door scraping against its moorings to escape. That put an end to her flight up the stairs to find Sam or Shawn and gave her every reason to turn invisible and inaudible. It was maybe not the best defense ever, since it had failed her in the past, but it was almost instinctual for her to want to be as hidden as possible.

The broad shoulder against the door started Operation: Repel Intruder. This guy was not going to just invade her home like this without being invited in. He was like a burglar posing as window repairman, except with this guy she had no idea what he was after. She didn't think it was the family jewels.

If this guy was even a fraction as sinister and devious as he-with-the-green-eyes, Katrina had to protect the rest of the mansion children. The thought of facing a stranger alone scared her nearly senseless (she was already losing the feeling in her toes, or thought she was, but when she wiggled them they still responded albeit invisibly), but the thought that something like what had happened to her happening again to someone else was even worse. She couldn't let the younger students get hurt. Even the ones her age that so innocently believed that the world was a good place filled with good people could use protection.

She knew now that the world was filled with people who were both good and evil. Evil existed after all, and in quite large doses within some individuals. That illusion of hers that people were essentially good had been dashed against the rocks, broken into bits, and rolled around in the surf until the view was unrecognizably different from its idealistic starting point.

If this guy thought he could just break into her mansion and... and... do whatever he was planning, he had another thing coming. It was called an invisible wall. When he ran into it, it would feel very much like he'd run head on into a real wall, except he wouldn't see this one coming.