With her junior year of college winding down, Simone was feeling the pressure. She had several papers due over the next few weeks, and the hardest part of that was cutting them down to fit the requirements. So many of her peers complained about how hard it was to get essays long enough, but she'd found herself consistently struck with the opposite problem. There was just so much information out there, so many perspectives on things, and she wanted to dig into it all. And then, once she did finally trim her essays down to a more appropriate length, she had to sort through her references to figure out which ones still applied. It was, in short, quite the hassle.

She had taken up at a booth in the tavern, a soda on the table in front of her, stacks of books and papers spread out in organized chaos. She'd ordered food already, but the tavern was surprisingly busy for a Monday late afternoon, so she didn't expect it to come out quickly. Thankfully, she found it quite easy to get lost in her work and forget that she was hungry.