[GV, then open]

[unlogic]

WHO: Desidera, Gunvolt for prompt 1, open for the other two
WHAT: Desi has a talk with her roommate, and then spends the next couple weeks occasionally safely blowing stuff up, and also being a big eater
WHERE: Aube 203 for GV, Mithril Cage or cafeteria for the others
WHEN: August 29 for GV, September 1-20 for the others
WARNINGS: mention of horrible decisions and the outcome of said horrible decisions, primarily prompt 1 but can potentially be prompt 2 as well depending on who talks to her

[ AUGUST 29, AFTERNOON @ AUBE 203 (Gunvolt) ]
[During some downtime on the afternoon of the 29th, Desi is in her room, on her bed and staring up at the ceiling. She hadn't felt like doing too much on this day or the previous, not after that attack on the academy. Her thoughts are still largely focused on what all had happened that day, and how she decided that her roommate needed to know about her. Like, actually know. He saw what she could do, and seeing how they're basically living together while they're both here, he should probably know why she was able to do it.

She rolls herself over, such that she's now facing out toward the rest of the room.]

GV?

[ VARIOUS SEPTEMBER MORNINGS @ MITHRIL CAGE (open) ]
[The first few times Desi had gone to the Mithril Cage was to meet Valvatorez there, in order to show him what she was generally capable of and to begin working on ensuring that she could keep it under control. It would probably come as no real surprise—at least not to the professor—that she has since taken to coming out on her own with the intent to continue working on it, to see how much she could do before it started to actually get away from her, and with the intent to eventually reach a point where she could just handle it, period.

She's been wondering if that thing she had pulled off during the Grimm attack was just a one-off thing, or if she could regularly do something that large under the right conditions.

So, on some mornings when the Cage isn't already in use, she can be found there, practicing what she knows. Rather than burn through a pile of training dummies with her magic—literally, sometimes—she uses the opportunity to practice her shadow powers as well, repeatedly recreating a pitch-black imitation of one of the dummies and using that as her target instead; it saves the staff the trouble of having to make more of the actual dummies. Each fireball, every explosion, lightning bolt, or cluster of shadow spikes is slightly bigger than the last, until one comes out looking like it was barely controlled, prompting her to stop.

Sometimes she experiments with making weapons out of shadows as well, but that generally doesn't get too far; she has no experience in actually wielding the things.]

[ ANY SEPTEMBER AFTERNOON @ CAFETERIA (open) ]
[On most afternoons, with the occasional exception of staying in her room or heading to the library, Desidera can be found in the cafeteria, with just as large a tray of food as she'd had on her first day here. That is to say, it's a lot. Probably enough for three people, actually. While she still finds a table to sit at by herself out of habit, she's a bit less-worried now about how people might react to her appearance, so if she spots anyone she recognizes, she invites them to join her without too much of a second thought, and if anyone else asks to join her, she doesn't turn them away.]

Comments

Mithril Cage

[lastexit]

*Maya's powers worked best, the hearing not the perpetual silence that made her an accidental ninja, when she knew what she was hearing. Which lead her to finding places to just- listen and watch. And, sure, maybe hiding at the edges of the cage to watch someone blow things up wasn't the safest thing. But the issue was trying to hear through the barrier charms. She wasn't in the direct blast lines and a fair enough distance away she shouldn't be in the killzone or anything.*

...Maybe you should practice with normal weapons before trying anything with your- is that shadow magic?

*Maya hopes that she wasn't too well hidden, surprising people who blow stuff up is generally bad.*

[unlogic]

[Hearing the voice and realizing someone was speaking to her, Desidera stops and turns her attention toward Maya. She hadn't really noticed that she had gained any sort of audience, but that was probably to be expected; she had been pretty engrossed in what she was doing.

With her no longer focusing on them, the shadow constructs—both the imitation dummy and what looked like a simple sword in her hand—fall into the floor and return to the shadow that she had constructed them from, that being her own.]

Ah? Yes, yes, it is. And I probably should, honestly, if I'm going to start trying to do something like this.

[shockingblue]

[GV was at his desk, actually not working on some matter of runecraft for once. No, right now, he was just doing some more normal studying, on an actually mundane general education class. It wasn't even really all that important, he just wanted to be on top of things, so it was easy enough to set aside when Desi called for his attention.]

Yeah? What's up?

[unlogic]

That thing we did during the attack on the academy a few days ago. [He knows the one.] I—

I think you should know why I'm able to do that. Just in case. ["Just in case?"] I'm a Mage, but that wasn't any normal magic. I mean— [Pause.] The fire was. The lightning was. The shadows...no. That was something else.

[lastexit]

It's still an impressive trick.

*Trick isn't the right term, but Maya's not got anything better. She's still listening for all the notes of what power this girl is using. It isn't all shadows, of course, explosions don't feel shady to her.*

I hang around to hear different magics. Never heard shadows before. Nice sound to it.

[shockingblue]

[Gunvolt turned around in his chair fully to face her. This definitely sounded serious, so he wanted to give her his full attention. And sure enough, he knows instantly what she's referring to, nodding along when she speaks.

When he answers, his tone is even, calm. Almost stoic, but there's just a hint of emotion in there that keeps it from being stony, enough to signal that he cared about what she had to say, but didn't appear worried or frightened about whatever it might be.]

So it wasn't typical magecraft. Then what was it?

[unlogic]

[Same as with Gunvolt back while responding to the Grimm attack, Desidera isn't completely sure how to respond to what she thinks is a compliment, and especially not one regarding her use of shadows.

The fire, the explosions, and the lightning all sound fairly normal, albeit with a faint underlying buzz of something else. That something else becomes more prominent—and potentially recognizable—when Maya listens to the shadows. If she can identify it despite the other sounds accompanying it, then she may be able to determine that at least part of the magic Desidera wields is daemonic in origin.

It might not be too much of a surprise, considering the girl's appearance, but that's what it is.

Maya telling Desi why she's there, though, that grabs the girl's attention.]

You can hear magic?

CAFETERIA

[yokeye]

[Toki has been eating here more often than he used to. Mostly as some sort of integration experiment for appropriate social conduct. He has yet to master it. He's forgotten her name, but he recognizes Desidera as a newer student he'd spoken to in the library. At least he thinks so, that could have been a months ago, really. Either way, she's sitting alone and that's sad.]

Hello~! How are you~!?

[He still has his personal guard along, much like in the library. They both sit at the table, though Marcel's not eating. In contrast to Desidera, Toki has barely anything on his plate. Some sort of rice dish. It looks fairly bland and unappetizing.]

[unlogic]

It's still magic, but its origins are... It's daemonic. Not human. Anyone could probably assume as much just by looking at me, but I wanted to confirm it for you, because if we're going to be together for the foreseeable future, then you need to know.

As for how it came about... [This is where she really hesitates.] The best way to put it is, I'm corrupted. [She won't call herself contracted, because the contract itself isn't hers.] My mother tried her hand at contracting seventeen years ago, but the agreement that she made, it affected me rather than her. Before I came here, I had little to no contact with the rest of the world because of it.

[Hey GV, do you want to know what the worst part is? Just take note of how long ago she said this was, and:]

I'm sixteen.

[unlogic]

[Up until now, Desidera had looked like she was simply going about a normal routine, but when Toki approaches, she brightens a bit, recognizing him from before.]

Ah! Hello, ah... Toki, I believe you said it was? [And then, directed to Marcel, if he'll acknowledge it:] And to you as well.

[Back to Toki:] I'm doing well, what about you?

[yokeye]

Yes!

[Which means he does know her name. It will come to him. Marcel just gives her a nod.]

It's a good day and there's been no incidents so far! So, uhh... Oh! What are your academic pursuits for the upcoming semester?

[That should be a safe topic.]

[unlogic]

[No...incidents? That is a mildly concerning pair of words to put together.

The question does seem to briefly catch her off-guard as well. Desi's having been focusing on what she came to the academy for in the first place has had the secondary effect of...not really considering normal school things.

Fortunately, though, there are some classes that play into her interests pretty well.]

Aside from the classes and other lessons that I need? I believe I'll be looking into the literature classes that are offered here. Are you familiar with them? [Or, in other words, she's wondering what she can expect.]

[yokeye]

Literature~! That's great! A good choice!

[It's almost as bad as history classes. Reading is hard enough as it is, why take electives in literature? Oh my god.]

I kind of missed out on the classes a lot so far, so I'm afraid I haven't taken any literature ones yet!

[Toki barely attended any of his classes since his arrival in January, passing a mere two of them. He's never taken a literature class in his life and never will unless it's mandatory and he somehow can't escape.]

[unlogic]

[Maybe it's weird or stupid to him, but hey, she likes reading.

But as Toki's keeping his opinion to himself, Desi continues as if there's nothing wrong here at all.] Is that so? Ah well, I thought it couldn't hurt to ask. So, what about you, then? Is there anything in particular you're looking into, yourself?

[yokeye]

Uhh... math maybe, but like I met the new mathematics professor and he was awesome and then it kind of went all- [He flails a little.]- you know, and I might have tried to bribe him and then like he made me think I was an alien and it was weird, but anyway what I'm saying is I like math, but I'm not as good at it as I thought I was maybe, but I don't know if I'll actually have room for any electives because I failed so many classes and I was like way behind to start with and I've been studying on my own, like in the library, but I'm nowhere near like where I should be on like a grade level thing, but with the summer classes being automatic A's, I have enough credits to go to the next grade, but like I wasn't even ready for the last one and it's just going to be a disaster, so like I hope I can take at least one class I'm actually interest in, which is something mathy or sciencey!

[His rambling gets faster the longer he goes on for, but eventually he's finished his thought. He tries the rice, and it's pretty bad, but whatever. He'll eat it. After a moment, he blurts it out. What he's been wanting to ask. He has a theory on red eyes.]

Do you have a daemon contract!?

[unlogic]

[Well, here it is, Desidera's first Actual Toki Experience, straight out of left field because she had basically no reason to expect anything like it. She listens, tries following along, has some questions that she probably won't be asking. She glances to Marcel a couple times during the ramble, looking to see how the guard responds to all of this.

But it's fine. Maybe. It's still an actual answer to her question.]

It's...easier when it's a class about something you like, I would think.

[Then there's that question. She wasn't ready for it. Should have expected it, maybe, because of the horns and eyes, but she still wasn't actually ready. Valvatorez knows about her situation. Gunvolt does, too—she'd made sure of that by the end of August, just a couple days after the Grimm. The infirmary staff have probably figured it out as well, at least partially.]

A-ah? Um. A contract, no, but daemonic corruption, yes. It's. Just a little complicated.

[yokeye]

[Marcel, for his part, maintains an unchanging bland expression. This isn't even a long-winded ramble by Toki standards and he thinks nothing of it. Toki nods at Desidera's assessment that classes are easier when you like them. She gets it. Then comes the answer to his question.]

Corruption?

[That's a new concept, although it's similar to his roommate's situation, which he is unaware of. He has also yet to notice Desidera's horns, because their color blends into her hair too much and he doesn't have depth perception.]

Like... it possessed you? I didn't know daemons could do that! Though I used to think like the one I have contract with was like sort of possessing my eye, but like- nevermind! Because that was just thinking and it wasn't true!

[Desidera might notice he has one red eye as well. That's where his "red eyes = daemon influence" theory comes from.]

[unlogic]

No, it's not due to possession, I'm sure of that. It's... [Well, it certainly looks like she needs to offer at least a partial explanation.] It's because of a contract, but the daemon granted power to me rather than the person who made the contract.

[There are certain details that she deliberately avoids mentioning.]

That's why I say I don't have a contract, it's not actually mine.

[Desi does notice that red eye, but as she considers this sort of thing to be a rather sensitive subject, she refrains from asking what the deal with it really is; that's something that should be saved for later, probably after they know each other a bit more, if it's to be touched on at all.]

[yokeye]

[Toki's not the smartest person, so he wants to make sure he's understanding this correctly.]

So... someone else made a contract with a daemon and you were the one who... paid?

[The concept is disturbing to him. Toki has made a lot of bad decisions, but they were his to make. It sounds like Desidera never had a choice to begin with. He realizes this may not be an appropriate topic.]

I apologize for my rudeness. I shouldn't have asked you such a personal question with no warning and I hope I haven't upset you.

[He looks at the table as he says it. This is the point in conversations where he used to just leave, but he stays and tries to redirect to something less serious.]

What would you like to talk about?

[It feels weird to say, perfunctory and unnatural, but this is what he thinks he should be doing.]

[unlogic]

It's something like that. [She doesn't know if her being like this is the price that had been paid, or if her mother had to have given something of her own up for it; Desidera was never actually told that part, as much as she really should have been. Still, Toki's gotten the general idea.]

You don't need to apologize for asking, I— [She starts a bit quickly, but then catches herself and slows down a little.] I don't like to talk about it, but I know that I'll have to. I was expecting for someone to ask eventually.

I'm not upset. [Really, she's not.

Being offered a chance to steer the conversation in another direction is something she's grateful for, though.]

Mm, why don't you tell me a bit about yourself, then? I mean, I should get to know my fellow students when I can. Although, I'm afraid there isn't too much to me aside from what you already see so I might not be able to offer much in return; my life before coming here was honestly incredibly boring.

[shockingblue]

[He's quiet as she explains, keeping his ears open and making sure he doesn't miss anything. He doesn't fidget or squirm, or even look terribly uncomfortable at the mention of daemonic magic, or even at daemonic corruption. ...What makes the mask slip, however, is the bombshell that she's younger than the contract that her mother made. A bit of shock makes it through on his face at that revelation, but it's not one of revulsion.]

Wow, uh. That's a lot to unpack right there.

[Understatement of the century, GV. Either way, he leaned back into his chair to take a moment to process that. Not spending any time in the outside world... that had to be a lonely existence, especially because it was no fault of her own.]

...Before you were even born. Wow. I mean, I had a feeling there was... something, going on involving daemonic things with you, but I gotta say, I didn't expect that. That's....

[His words failed him in that moment, and he found himself emptily gesticulating, trying to find what he wanted to say. Eventually, he shook his head, and instead went from another angle.]

Just to make it clear, the whole daemon thing? Doesn't bother me. I care more about who someone is rather than what, and you've done right by me since we met. So don't worry about that, at least.

[yokeye]

[He's visibly relieved that's she's not upset. It's hard for him to tell when he's stepped over the line sometimes.]

Uhh...

[Unfortunately, her question is the worst one. He barely has a self concept, and anything he can tell her that isn't superficial is awful. He's completely useless and screwed up and he's lucky he can function at all.]

Let me... think how to say this concisely, because I don't want to start off on tangents about things that you don't need to hear about...

[Who is he? How can he conceptualize this? Just short sentences of facts, maybe.]

I... I'm a Seer. [That always seems the most important.] I'm from Japan... I like art I think...

[He's starting to panic, for no discernible reason. Why is it so hard? Before he realizes what he's doing, he's standing up from the table and shouting.]

I'm a horrible person and you shouldn't even be talking to me because it's a waste of your time!

[Oh shit.]

Sorry! I didn't- I should- I have to go now!

[His intent to run off is stopped by Marcel. Last month didn't go too well, and one priority this time is to try and make Toki understand that it's himself he's trying to run away from. An impossible task.]

[unlogic]

[Well. Clearly she's struck some kind of nerve.] S-sorry. Maybe— Maybe I shouldn't have asked that. [Toki's response being to put himself down so loudly, however justified or not it might be, it bothers her. Maybe she should have asked something specific instead of putting him on the spot like this.

Marcel keeping Toki from leaving does do her a bit of a concern, as well; forcing someone to stay when they're clearly not doing okay doesn't seem like the best of ideas to her. But, it also means she has some small chance to save this, for whatever that's worth.]

Would it be okay for me to ask something else instead? And you can tell me if you don't want to answer.

[yokeye]

[He sits back down, and stares at his plate, trying to be calm before addressing Desidera again.]

It was a perfectly fine question to ask, I just didn't have much of an answer and that's not your problem. You can ask whatever you want. I apologize for my outburst and I'm sorry if this is awkward for you. I'm... I'm not well.

[Saying it out loud hurts, and this conversation is already going in Marcel's "incident" column, he knows. Toki had apparently jinxed himself by telling her there hadn't been any incidents earlier. A mistake he won't make again.]

[unlogic]

[So he had suspected something, which was to be expected, and he's okay with it. He's actually okay with it.

She'd gotten a good impression from him when they first met earlier in the month, and the events that took place over the past week had generally solidified her opinion of him, but this? There was no longer any room for argument; however he might see things himself, as far as she's concerned, he's actually a friend. Her first, even; she'd had none before, for reasons that she had just given, and the other students she's met thus far are still simply considered as acquaintances.

Desidera rolls back into a position where she's once again staring at the ceiling.

She stays in that spot only for a few seconds, though, as she then sits up and climbs down out of the bed, approaching Gunvolt in his chair before leaning down to grab him up into a hug—not too hard of one, though; she knows better than that.]