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.

[illuminance]

I don't think that's right, either.

We should still try to trust one another.

[overlimit]

Why? We're all strangers, aren't we?

[illuminance]

Yes... But we're all strangers dragged into the same situation. It would be unwise to try to go about it as if we're not in this together.

[overlimit]

"Together"? We practically sacrificed that girl. We'll probably be expected to do it again sometime, too.

[illuminance]

... Mm. I don't feel right about what happened to her. And in the end, even a vote against the majority was not any more noble.

[overlimit]

So no matter how chummy we all get with each other, there's a good chance that everybody's going to turn against somebody again.

[illuminance]

It's still worth it.

We can't get through this alone.

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?

[overlimit]

Dangerous? Don't be stupid. It was the most peaceful city in the world. At least, until...

[... she sighs.]

The city started as an excavation site where a massive blastia had been found. --Er, that's a kind of magic technology. People were studying it for decades, but...

Someone found a way to activate it. It turned out that something even bigger was hidden under the mountain, and when it moved... the whole cavern collapsed and the city was destroyed.