PC: Luxanna

[overlimit]

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Week 0, Sunday

[overlimit]

[hey lux, rita's sitting down at your table here in the cafeteria. it's not even clear if she meant to or not, she just looks really distracted? there's a sandwich and a banana on her plate.

she just kind of. lets out a sigh.]

[illuminance]

[ lux returns the sigh, but then offers a weak, weary smile. ]

Well. Good thing that we voted correctly, overall. I suppose.

[overlimit]

Hmph. I guess that's about the one way this could have gone worse.

[illuminance]

We have to focus on the light, somehow.

[ hard to tell how much she actually believes that. ]

... I'm accustomed to killing those who kill. But that's in war.

[overlimit]

I kill if I have to. If someone's a threat.

But... I don't think we had enough information to say if that's what she was or not.

[illuminance]

She killed that boy. Didn't confess to it. Didn't justify herself to us.

[ ... ]

Yet I still think you're right. That didn't feel like the right fate for her to face.

[overlimit]

Can't completely blame her for staying quiet. That trial was a joke, and we had no way of knowing what was going to happen afterward.

[illuminance]

It wouldn't be easy to speak the truth knowing you may face some sort of... Mob "justice" for it.

[overlimit]

Yeah. Not like we can actually trust anyone here, either.

Week 2, Monday

[overlimit]

[rita hurries over to check the task board early in the day, and...!]

Oh, thank god. It's something normal this time.

[yeah she just. lets out a breath of relief.]

[illuminance]

[ lux is over checking it out too, and laughs. ]

I'm relieved as well! Last week I had to choose more for the assignment than the answer it was associated with.

[overlimit]

Yyyeah. I tried my best to ignore the annoying parts.

Not that any of these choices suit me, either, but I guess that was never really the point.

[illuminance]

Really? Then what is it that you would do, if not any of these options?

[overlimit]

Put it towards research costs.

... and rebuilding my home.

[illuminance]

Those both sound like very admirable decisions.

Could you tell me more about your home?

[overlimit]

[...]

It's called Aspio. It's The City of Scholars, though it has a lot of other names too.

The whole city is a research facility for mages, built inside a massive cavern.

[illuminance]

It sounds dangerous.

What happened to it?

Week 5, Monday

[overlimit]

[sometime while lux is on the campus grounds near the cafeteria, rita'll walk out, spot her, and after some deliberation... walk over. it's weird that they haven't talked since the trial, right? like, maybe.

how about an icebreaker!]

Dean's List, huh. Congratulations.

[she doesn't sound very sincere.]

[illuminance]

[ lux gives her a smile! the smile itself is not insincere, even if this is: ]

Why, thank you. I've been working so hard in all my very important classes.

[overlimit]

I was on it a couple weeks back, so I suppose we're both getting honored for excellence in bullshit.

[she folds her arms...]

I'm still not sorry for what I did, but... I get it now. I don't plan on antagonizing you or Otome any more. For the record.

[illuminance]

It was... Unfortunate timing, for me. I had a bad week, and it took away the only thing I had been looking forward to that I'd felt would make it better.

[ she says this as neutrally as she can, because she isn't interested in guilt-tripping rita, only explaining. ]

So I was frustrated by it. But I don't blame you. I can't blame anyone who is doing their best to keep people safe, using the information they have.

[overlimit]

[there's a raised eyebrow at that... imagine having things to look forward to at the end of the week? she can't.]

... Hmph.

So... whatever. I guess we're all on the same side now.

[she's stating it as a fact, but she's still kind of grappling with fully believing it.]

[illuminance]

[ lux would rather have nothing to look forward to than to have it taken away. ]

We always have been. This has been my assertion from the beginning.

This place may force us to distrust and vote for one another on the weekends, but I don't want to believe that we're so weak that we'll hold onto that distrust.

But it is what it is.

[overlimit]

Yeah, well, I'm over it.

[is she???]

You need any tasks or extra credit or whatever? While I'm here.

[it's... an olive branch?]

[illuminance]

I appreciate the sentiment, but I stopped doing my extra credit when the assignment was to hurt someone.

But a task wouldn't be bad.