is it too much to ask for a minute more

[stavros]

[health classroom]

[The egg-raising project is over, and most of the kids have either turned in the monsters they hatched to the Tamer organizations that lent them out or just kept them. Most of them also got... well, more impressive monsters. Kokoro, meanwhile, is still sitting in the classroom with. Well. Whatever this is oozing around on the table.]

I know people were talking to me about pets, but... what would I even feed you?

[library]

[That aside, finals are underway, and that means studying. Kokoro's been in here more often than not, and you can find her poring through books in the morning... or at night, having fallen asleep at one of the desks. Probably wake her up.]

Comments

library

[buddinghopes]

Ah...

[Yeah, falling asleep here of all places is not a great idea.

Lia tucks her own books under one arm and approaches Kokoro to gently shake her shoulder.]

Hey, Kokoro...

[stavros]

Mm -- ah!

[She startles awake, flails a bit, and nearly falls off the chair. Clears her throat.]

Yes. Hello. Lia. My apologies.

[buddinghopes]

Ah, careful now--!

[Oops.]

I was about to head back to the dorm. Want to head back together? It's getting pretty late.

[stavros]

[Kokoro checks her phone for the time, makes a face, and starts gathering up her books.]

Very well. You have my thanks. I have no idea how it got this late. I just really, really do not wish to fail any finals.

[buddinghopes]

Well, you've been studying hard, I imagine time getting away from you isn't too much of a surprise.

[Lia shifts her bag.]

But I feel you. I don't want to fail mine, either. [Avert Nightfall only to fail finals... embarrassing.] Maybe we could get some of the others together and do a study group? Not tonight, obviously, but.

[stavros]

That sounds good. I'd assume everybody would be doing nothing but studying right now, when they're not sleeping or actually taking said finals.

[buddinghopes]

Well, I do give myself breaks... Sometimes I'll need to not stare at my notes or textbooks for a while, especially if I've been at it a long time.

[Breaks are good! And important!]

[stavros]

I know. Everyone always tells me to take breaks these days, so I am trying... I swear.

[buddinghopes]

Maybe using that time for something else productive could help?

[stavros]

...organizing my holy water?

[buddinghopes]

That, weapon maintenance--[Not that Lia needs to do much of that herself]--exercise is never a bad choice if you don't overdo it...

Personal projects, if you have them, but that might just be me.

[stavros]

I'd suspect most people around here have personal projects, given the things that come out of the workshops.

[buddinghopes]

Fair enough.

[...]

I wonder how many of those aren't combat-related these days... [Since there's been less need for it...]

[stavros]

I know not. Though now that you mention it, I wonder how much of the curriculum will be the same next year. Or, for that matter, the school itself.

[buddinghopes]

Yeah, me too. A lot's changed, even besides Nightfall not being a thing anymore.

[The veil not being a thing anymore chief among them...]

Plus, I can't help but wonder about new faculty, too.

[stavros]

That's true. It is inevitable more will come, at least to replace those who left once Nightfall was no longer an obligation. Though the thought is depressing, I'll admit.

[buddinghopes]

A little, yeah. Those classes just won't be the same... I did hear the literature TA's going to be taking over those classes in the fall... but that's about all I've heard.

[stavros]

At least we aren't apt to hear the kinds of stories Professor Jailbreak liked to trail off and say...

[buddinghopes]

Ahaha... you can say that again. She was my favorite teacher, but some of those anecdotes were, uh...

[... Well. Kokoro knows.]

[stavros]

There were many things I never wished to learn.

[buddinghopes]

... Yeah, I can imagine. [Poor Kokoro.] I'm pretty sure I've blocked a few of her stories out of my brain, honestly...

[stavros]

Perhaps this, too, is the inescapable hand of fate.