A step at a time. One day, one step, a little bit closer to the end of this debacle. So goes the mantra that Percy's been whispering to herself moment to moment over the past week.

There's an appointment with a new specialist on tomorrow's horizon despite some red-tape tap-dancing, a metric crapload of reading done and over with, and a good night's sleep behind her.

These are tiny victories, and Percy is clinging to them. They're what's getting her through everything, what's fueling her prayers and contributing to that strange reserve of strength she's drawing on to get up and out of bed each and every morning. In these small  triumphs is the very hand of God, and she's gripping at it with white-knuckle intensity.

There's still so much ahead though. School and life don't stop just because you're having breakdowns of the physical and emotional variety. Papers still need to be written. Projects need attending to. Groups need to meet. No number of seizures, hospital visits, or doctors will change this fact. So Percy grips harder, claiming her wins when she can, clutching hard to them in order to push herself to get through one more day.

She will conquer, she knows this. It's an intellectual knowledge though, and intellectual knowledge is no comfort when you're lying there in bed in the dark of night and wondering why your own body is betraying you in all sorts of new ways, not just the old ones. Intellectual knowledge doesn't help when you're in pain and neither you nor the doctors know why.

So she grits her teeth and grips harder. A step at a time. One day, one step, a little bit closer to the end of this debacle.  She will overcome.

She wouldn't swear to it, but Percy's pretty sure she was checked out and chatted up this afternoon.

Right. Rewind, press play.

It's mid-afternoon on one of those days that walks the line between autumn and fall, somewhere between the high heat of noon and the cool of evening. Campus is bright and pleasant, with students scattered over the green. They're studying, playing volleyball, laughing, eating, or just plain hanging out. 

Percy's just gotten out of class and is bus stop bound. She's fresh out of English, which was both enjoyable and exhausting at the same time. As a result, she's feeling rather gross. Academic exertion doesn't lend itself to attractiveness at the best of times.

Today is not a best of times. She's mentally spent, jonesing hard for something caffeinated, and has a checklist of things to accomplish sitting in her shoulderbag that's already weighing heavilly on her. So much to do, and only a weekend in which to do it.

"Hey. Nice afternoon, huh?"

Percy blinks. Say again now? She turns to her left only to see a guy siding up next to her.

"Yeah." She replies, a little stunned. "Yeah, it is."

Shut up and smile, some older and wiser part of her commands. Percy listens.

"So, you on your weekend yet, or..."

Cofusion reigns -- what's he doing here? Why is he walking next to her? What the flip is that goofy smile doing on his face? She runs his face through the database of her brain. Is he in one of her classes, and she's just loosing her mind? Has she seen him in the collegium?

"Yep. Just done. Yourself?"

"One more class 'till I'm free." He sticks out a hand. "I'm ______, by the way."

Ahhhh. So she's not going crazy. She doesn't know him after all. As she takes his hand and shakes it, her grin spreads a little further across her face, getting to the point where it might even serve as a passable mirror to his own.

"Percy."

"Nice to meet you. What year are you?"

"Third."

"Me too."

"Good stuff."

As lame as the conversation looks on paper, it's congenial in life. They're right by the Student Life office now, and he makes to excuse himself.

"Gotta go pay my rent." He explains, and Percy finds herself a little dissapointed even though she should probably be picking up the pace if she doesn't want to wait half-an-hour for the next bus.

Rudimentary goodbyes are exchanged, smiles traded once more, and the two of them go their separate ways. It's as Percy takes to a brisk jog towards the bus stop, her shoulderbag slamming against her hip in time to her step, that she finally starts to suspect the truth. A random guy just came up and initiated a conversation with her. How...how does that work? Her hair is frizzy and horrible today, and she's fighting a breakout all over her face. She's feeling distracted at best, and it probably shows in her glazed-over eyes.This is not the picture of beauty here. This isn't even the picture of mild attractiveness. The picture of mediocrity would probably even be stretching it a little. What on earth could have possessed him to do something like that?

That smile is still on her face though, even as she comes up to the bus stop in time to meet a couple people she knows there. She's actually little flattered.

Right. And the Nile is just a little river, that older and wiser voice laughs.

"How's your day been?" One of the friends at the bus stop asks.

"Good." Percy replies with an amount of conviction that shocks her. "Really good."

The first couple days of school are now officially over, and I've lived to tell the tale.

Overall impression? It's looking like this is going to be a pretty damn intense. I'm not so sure that taking two education classes back to back on Tuesday afternoons was such a good idea -- they're both fairly intense classes on their own -- but I'm generally quite pleased all around. There's still traces of first-week panic, which I can best describe as a combination of paranoia and overload at having an entire semester worth of work being thrown at you in five days. Other than that, I'm good.

I'd go on more about classes and what I'm thinking about all of it, but I must away for now. The parents are out for the night which leaves me to fend for myself dinner-wise. After that, I have a whole checklist of things that I want to get through this evening. Academically, there's much reading to get done since this weekend is going to be spent working (and indulging in part two of the "Heroes" marathon with Carlos). Then, on the not-so-scholarly side, I need to clean some clothes, my bathroom, and my bedroom.

The schedule for the evening goes thusly as a result: Dinner. Bathroom. Getting my butt to a coffee shop for a cafe au lait and some quality time with education textbooks. And, y'know, potentially sleeping tonight considering I'm working tomorrow.

Cheers luvs.