voidrifter

[voidrifter]

@originsrebirth asked:

[S’MORES] she honestly had felt a little overdressed for heading out to the park , almost a little embarrassing , but , she didn't really mind it in the end , it was something she seemed to want to do , after being cooped up on the moon for so long ? she can't really blame her , she'd happily indulge in whatever she dragged her out on . of course , she knew something else that could probably bring a smile to her face , pulling a few things out of the bag she'd brought and moving towards the fire , remaining in her silence for a little bit , eyes drifting back towards Kiana every now and again , to ensure no cryptids ended up running up on her while she was distracted . . . not that she didn't think Kiana could handle it . after a little bit , she moved towards her , tapping her on the shoulder and extending it a s'more out to her . " in the mood for a snack ? "

There aren't a whole lot of things that can beat the endless night sky and the company of Raiden Mei, especially not when coupled with the warm crackling of a campfire.

Scratch that-- there is nothing that can beat the endless night sky and the company of Raiden Mei with a s'more in her outstretched hand. 

Kiana cracks one eye open and sniffs the air twice before the other follows suit. A fool might think the offering to just be any old snack, but a wiser man ( as Kiana Kaslana so proudly is ) would know that there is no such thing as any old snack in the hands of the woman before her. Sure, there's not a whole lot more a person can do for a s'more than roast a marshmallow pretty okay, but to everything there is an art and to Mei it is as second nature as breathing.

"Who, me?" She wrinkles her nose. "Guilty as charged."

Shifting her weight where she remains propped up on her arms, Kiana leans in to steal a bite. It is impossibly inelegant, as there is not a way known to man to eat a s'more otherwise, and she comes away with a string of marshmallow goop still between her lip and what's left in Mei's hand. Sheepish, she thumbs it away.

"Mm," oh yeah, that's a s'more by Mei alright. "S'there chocolate on my face..?"

[voidrifter]

@sedena asked:

[SLIP ‘N SLIDE] “Is the free drink really worth it?” A voice pipes up near the top of the slide, where Sedene looks at the great many people brushing off brushes and scratches from where the sand would inevitably leave a harmless but irritating mark.  Due to the nature of the activity, a great variety was offered for both the adults and children participating in the challenge. Sedene didn’t really see the point- if she wanted a drink, she could buy one herself- so she posed her question innocently to someone nearby, who looked like the type of person who might volunteer to go next.

"Oh, uh..."

This would appear to be the first time the question had occurred to she who it is asked of, or at least who hears it. Kiana's motions seem to slow where they had been undeniably preparing herself for her own venture down it. If the bruises and scrapes she sports are any indication, it won't have been her first.

"I mean, it's a free drink." This is spoken as though it is most obvious, because it makes good enough sense to her. "And it's pretty fun, so why not?"

The last person to go skids to a stop at the bottom. From the corner of her eye, Kiana watches them rise to stand with no small effort. Where they had just been, a large rock has torn a gash in the slide's neon colors. Awkwardly, she scratches the back of her neck.

"Well, it might not be so worth it anymore..." 

[voidrifter]

@jxrmngxndr asked:

[ZIP-WIRE] - The newest advancement in outdoors-y tech, someone’s rigged up the very first two-seater harness. Ever wanted to go careening over the forest with nothing but a line of rope and a stranger to hold? There’s never a better time than now.

"You should be sure of yourself, before you step onto this platform. Any doubts that you have...will be shattered upon the ground, far beneath your feet, long beyond the event horizon." His eyes raised to hers, fixed bright and intense on that mirrored blue whose flames rage in defiance of his cold, sought out the slightest points of weakness in her, just as he had done all that time ago when her Finality had torn Deliverance from his throne. "If you would turn back now," he continued, his steps taking him to the precipice with a gust of warm air fluctuating in spikes with the chill of his breath, his fingers coming to grip the handle of the line, "then I will continue on, alone." The trees stretched out in an ocean before them, miles of them until the coastal beaches to one end, stony cliff-faces to the other, and his grip tightened, he took another step off of the platform. "Come, if you are coming."

If, like she had a choice in that matter. 

Though Kiana supposes she does, or at the very least could make one. The whole time manipulation thing would really come in handy here, and be kind of funny even. She's entertaining the thought now, of exercising Finality's will just to step out at the last second and watch Kevin Kaslana of all men go careening down a zip line all by his lonesome. 

It's almost enough to make her snicker. 

Almost, because she never quite runs out of things to prove to him. Even though she's proven all she needs to, if anyone's really keeping score. That's the curse of being her, or maybe that's the curse of being human. The constant need to prove. She cants her head one way and follows suit behind him. Step for step, motion for motion. There is a resemblance to them greater than even genetic, a nature impossible to learn or teach. 

Her fingers curl to tighten on her own hold and she meets eternal frost with a lopsided smile. 

"You sure do love your monologues, huh?" 

Heels on the edge of a worn wooden platform, she tests her weight against the endless expanse before them and the single wire above them. Kiana's nose turns to the sky, she shuts her eyes. It's chilly beside him, but it's warm somewhere else. She cracks one eye open to her company, worries the soles of her shoes on the ledge once more.

"Just don't look down!" 

[voidrifter]

@flower-of-oblivion asked:

[WATERFALL] - It takes the bravest of hearts to jump from so high, but all hazards have been carefully removed to make for only the safest leap of faith down the rapids. Take the plunge, or shove someone else into taking it!

Acheron's aimlessly wandering the hiking trails near the waterfall - her suit exchanged for something more casual and athletic, in recognition of the environment - when she runs into the stranger. Almost quite literally. Blue eyes, white hair, that same smile...just like h̵̝͎͚̓̓̿e̴̞̼̓͒͒r̴͎͖͉̀͌͘... The unfamiliar familiarity stops her in her tracks for a moment, the shadow of the past overlaid with the light of the present, but with an effort of will, she forces her ghosts aside and stumbles back. "Ah - sorry, my apologies. It's...a lovely day...for a walk, isn't it?" Not her most eloquent moment, true. But then, ś̴̡̝̼͆̈́h̸̡̟̙́͋̔e̴̺̼͉̽͐͒ always had had that effect on her...

Endless trees part for a riverbank. There are rapids a ways down, what will funnel off into falls in so many yards, but here the water merely babbles languidly. Kiana's bent at the knees just before it, arm outstretched for a sunbathing lizard. It meanders up her palm and she moves to stand all too quickly, eager to show off her new friend. 

In hindsight, she's sure nobody would blame her for the mistake. They sound so similar, and with the murmuring of the water drowning out the cool, faraway undertone that sets this woman's voice apart from hers, it's only natural that a shock of violet hair bring her to expect someone else.

"Mei, look! Isn't he-" She freezes, heat climbs up her neck. Not Mei, no. Really close to her, though. Kiana's arms retract, holding her little lizard near her chest. It wriggles in her grasp, directly contrasting where she has gone stock-still.

"Oh, ah, sorry. I thought you were someone else."

But she's had years of life enough to train for moments just like this. She recovers quickly, offering the little guy out again. Much gentler this time, however.

"Mhm," a smile, only a touch sheepish. "Hey, any chance you feel like helping me give my new friend here a name?"

[voidrifter]

@fanfaire asked:

[CRYPTID SIGHTING]　/　she recalls that the last time they'd crossed paths, it'd been at an event. . . much like this, really. an acting exercise in the court of fontaine last year, ostensibly in preparation for that bizarre stage play she had gone through after. then, she had been testing the girl——or her character, at least. but this time—— "unhand me! i've told you, i don't feel well enough to go anywhere! much less looking for a——for a——c-cryptid." yes. yes, she wasn't well ; she'd had a migraine that'd suddenly come on just now, and since she'd woken up this morning, she'd been feeling light-headed and under the weather. it'd be best to take the day to rest! perhaps browse some light novels. certainly not traipsing through the wilderness looking for a, what was it? stoutankle, something, rather? "it is not that i'm afraid," she insists, only now finally managing to wrench her arm from the girl's startlingly strong grasp⠀(⠀though perhaps it isn't so startling, keeping in mind their first jarring meeting in that dream⠀)⠀and rubbing her palms down the sides of her skirt. "just that. . . no matter how you look at it, it seems an unwise use of time, pursuing old wives' tales without any substance or proof. we won't be here forever, and this place has so many more delightful things to offer." like never-before-tried cakes. or perhaps some movie theatres of its own. she posits these one by one, placing them forth like safeguards against voodoo or curses kiana's curiosity might invite. "naturally, you'd agree that any of those sound much more appealing."

Furina is released with relative ease despite her apparent struggle, though Kiana's hardly paying her any attention until she realizes the squirming in her grasp has stopped. Two snowy brows pinch to furrow.

"Er..." Naturally. Yeah, she supposes this girl would be the type to call something like that natural. Sure, cakes are good and movies ( why does she say 'theatre' like that? ) are fun and all, but those are the kinds of things you can get anywhere. Maybe Kiana's just not quite the connoisseur her companion evidently makes of herself, but she really just doesn't get it.

Thoughtful hands settle on either of her hips, since there's no point in continuing her pursuit of LARGEANKLE while Furina opts to play stick-in-the-mud. Her head tilts, then tips the opposite direction.

"You don't think it's interesting? I mean, I've had plenty of cake in my life but I've definitely never heard of a Large Ankle." Pause. "Well, I've heard of ankles being large but-"

Kiana clears her throat.

"I'll make you a deal! One hour looking for this Ankle guy and if we come back with nothing I'll buy you a sample of every dessert display you can find. And we can look for a uh... theatre. Yeah? How about it? C'monnnnn!"

[voidrifter]

@ichordreamed asked:

[WAVE POOL] - IT'S A FAIRLY RELAXED OCCASION, but the hotel is far too fancy for his tastes, the rooms putting even the master bedroom in the Kaslana Estate to shame with the size and opulence of their suites. Perhaps this is why he's spent more time by the pool than in the resort itself, attempting to avoid the unnecessary grandeur rather than embrace it. Even now, sipping away at what feels like an endless pitcher of pineapple juice is little more than a method to avoid his thoughts... that is until he sees a familiar bob of white cross the corner of his vision. It's been a long time since he's had a reason to swim with her, not since long before Siberia, yet he's long since committed to making up for lost time in the best of ways. A sigh, bringing himself from his thoughts before he's setting the thankfully empty glass down and moving towards his youngest daughter. "Kiana." Soft words, tapping her on the shoulder as she approaches the step. "Think you can beat the strongest wave, Kiddo?" A smirk on the face of the father, even as he's brushing past her to challenge the throne of waves.

A challenge is a challenge, and a challenge from her old man is more a challenge than any other. Kiana's head turns, stars in her eyes wide with surprise eclipsed just as quickly by determination.

"Who, me?" Her head cocks, her expression breaks with a grin. "Think I can't?"

Laughter is already bubbling up from her chest as she makes after him. The water is chemically curated to be crystal clear and an absolute assault to the senses, and her hair will definitely be shades of green by the time they're out of it, but it's cool where she wades into it. To a normal person, this is probably a wonderful means to relax-- splash around a bit at worst.

The Kaslana family has never claimed to be normal, however.

At the very least she has the decency not to bend Finality's will into a surfboard, though temptation most certainly arises. It's not a challenge if she's got a leg up, though she's pretty sure as age goes she's got a couple of those already.

"Try to keep up, old man!"

[voidrifter]

KIANA @ REVELATION !!

because who could ever say no to something like this? certainly not the girl who's spent the better part of the past <radio static> years on the moon! kiana will be doing a little bit of everything at least once, but you'll have your best luck finding her at the park or beach. what? there's not a lot of sunlight on the moon...

For Kiana I'll mostly be sending around asks, which should start hitting inboxes today. With prayers for my own sanity, I'm likely not going to continue many interactions into larger threads. If you'd like to, feel free to ask! Just... do ask first HAHA. Her inbox is also open, if you'd like!

And since I asked everyone else to drop their fits, for the most part you'll find her lookin like this. If you want her in that ballroom, you're going to have to beg her to find at least a pair of shoes first.

[voidrifter]

"Uhhh..."

She knows what normal cats eat, of course, but these things aren't normal at all. Of course, before she can properly wrack her brain for ideas, the other girl is pointing and-

Kiana knows what must be done. "I got it! One sec-"

Time skids to a slow and she's taking off yet again, disappearing into the folds of it if only to come out a second later on the other side and with one additional (very startled) creature in hand. It takes a few stumbling steps not to lose her balance from the momentum, and she skips to the synthesizer without falling on her face or losing a catcake, at least.

Which is when she realizes that she has nothing to put into it, or knows how to use it really either. With some struggle not to drop her current collection of creatures, Kiana fishes around in her pocket long enough to produce what would appear to be a half eaten bag of sour candies. Good enough. She crams it in, watches the thing think.

And then spit out another, lime green catcake. Kiana blanches.

"Well! Um, I don't know." She doesn't look back over for the other, too sheepish. "We could just run the ones we've caught back, but then..." The ones they haven't yet will just get further, and then they'll definitely lose a few, and- Yeah, bad plan. Think, Kiana!

She spies a trashcan, one of those industrial types with wheels on the back and (blissfully) empty. Someone must have just left it, but that's too bad. Kiana empties her hands into it, waving apologetically down to the little guys below. At least it didn't smell that bad.

Another exercise of Finality's will and she's caught up to Kokomi, cat-bin in tow. "Here, we'll let them back out ASAP."

put the cat back in the bag

harmony ... catcake adoption day

[voidrifter]

Oh.

It takes a moment, a long one, but Kiana nods her head once. This she understands-- has no choice but to understand. At least a little, in her own way. But if she can blame Fu Hua for this then Fu Hua can blame her for the way she so nearly could have killed her. And maybe that would be the right choice, but it's not the one that's being made. So she supposes she should do the same.

"Alright, I forgive you."

In the small space between them, she extends her hand. The other might not be real, might not can feel or be felt, but she does it anyway. It's principle, it's kindness, it's the only thing she knows how to do and so she does it.

"I like you too." Not out of pity, not because the other says she is lonely. Not because she has to, because she has no other choice. Just because she does, because she did before. Kiana doesn't smile or try to fake one, just stares back, sincere and unwavering.

"We're even, anyway."

till death do us part type shit

arc north, march 2017

[voidrifter]

"Your face? Common?" Kiana rolls her eyes. "What's that saying, that everyone has at least five doppelgangers or whatever they're called?" Disregard the whole bubble universe thing, the fact that both of their faces are probably as common as they come. "Nobody else is my Mei."

She's teasing, trying to coax the other back from where she can see her mind beginning to wander. Mei gets like that sometimes, faraway when she has something to say but isn't quite certain that she should.

But then she looks back, changes the subject. Kiana's eyebrows raise, she blinks a few times. Her expression shifts into something sheepish.

"Ha... me? N-no, I'm nothing like my old man!"

She's lying. She knows she's lying and she knows Mei definitely doesn't believe it.

"You... um... you talked to him?" It's been bound to happen, the two of them properly meeting. Kiana wishes she had been there, gotten to introduce them to one another herself. It would have been terrible, impossibly awkward, but she would have done it. She would have liked to have done it. "If he said anything weird just ignore it, okay?"

Oh god. He definitely said something weird.

"What did he want?"

i sleep so i can see you

[voidrifter]

"Ow-"

From where her hands are busy with one small, round lizard thing, Kiana's head swivels on maybe the fourth hit. These things sure are top heavy, with awfully hard heads to boot, and that's definitely gonna be a bruise tomorrow. "There are better ways to ask for my attention, little man."

As cute of a sight as it might be, the puddle of little dinosaurs had very quickly begun to felt like a swarm. There are only six or so, but they're needy little things, and Kiana's only got two hands to entertain them with. For the one brutalizing her ankle, she liberates a hand from the chin of another, pushing its nose away from landing a fifth. By the sixth, she'll certainly have broken something.

"You really gotta watch that head of yours, buddy. Seriously. I've been hit by softer bricks."

Her hand is still splayed over its face, guiding its attention away from her poor ankle, when she realizes that it is no longer taking quite so much effort to maintain her safety. Kiana blinks at the saurian, realizes its eyes have gone wide and eager, and has about half a second to realize why before it's bolting.

A woman, one who looms with all the presence of a dark cloud after a storm long past, stands a mere handful of paces away. It's lucky that their little friend has tiny legs, as it charges towards their company nearly fast enough to make up for that.

Finality's authority is what stops it, slowing the scramble just so that Kiana might stumble to her feet and lurch after the thing. She catches it around the middle, only just regaining her balance as time returns to normal around them.

The saurian whines and writhes in her arms, but she pays it no mind.

"So I'm not the only one to fall for some tiny creature sob stories, huh?" She greets the other with a smile. "These guys are real handfuls, you're lucky to still have shins."

They're just little dragons! They said. What could possibly go wrong? They said.

⁀➴ with @voidrifter

[voidrifter]

They both idle at the fork, her new company only a few paces behind where Kiana has paused. She's not really one for running probabilities, which sucks, because every time she decides a direction she sees another and wastes a few more seconds. It's not like the little things are going to cause any sort of property damage, but that's not really her concern. With as big as a space as this, there's no shortage of spots a little guy could hide in.

"Eh..." Her gaze flits from one walkway to another and then another, then back, over and over until she's at risk of getting dizzy. "Shoot, let's just start with the left one. If we split up we'll have a harder time wrangling them, so-" She's wasting time explaining. "C'mon."

Without waiting for another suggestion to her (admittedly pretty awful) plan, Kiana books it in the aforementioned direction. There are no fewer than five cat-things down this particular way, all skittering at varying speeds away from them. One turns its little head to see them coming and begins to hop a bit faster, two silvery ears twitching.

"Nope, not so fast!" Time slows a fraction enough so that she can scoop the thing up by its scruff-- is it still scruff if it's... cake shaped?-- and tuck it under her arm. The thing hisses in protest, silver eyes glaring daggers into its captor, and Kiana is reminded momentarily of a beloved friend.

Then, over her shoulder she calls out. "They're awfully fast for their shape." Seriously, how are they so fast? "I don't figure you know a way to slow down a hoard of cats?"

put the cat back in the bag

harmony ... catcake adoption day

[voidrifter]

And as famously miserable as he may well be, Kiana finds herself rather bewildered by how... simple he seems.

He doesn't think so. She's still lingering on that sentence as he peers at her, hardly hearing him speak when he does again. It may well make sense that she not know the kinds of things he likes, but then the notion that he doesn't either is something else entirely. Not for the first time (and certainly not for the last) Kiana is reminded that she pities him.

No, pity isn't quite the right word. All the nightmares she has of becoming him and this is the scariest one.

And so she breezes right past his remark, swats away the conversation of who killed who and who deserved it without a second thought. Kiana looks at him, really looks.

"So you prefer it hot, the old fashioned way." Her chin dips in a nod, thoughtful. "That must suck. How did you used to have it?" Before he froze everything he touched, or maybe before he forgot how he preferred it. Whichever came first. "I always prefer cream, never really cared for the whole bitter thing. When I was in school I used to steal extra sugar from the cafeteria because there was never enough. Aunt Theresa caught me eventually."

And as much as she knows that she's just talking, that maybe he doesn't care or maybe he'll find such a conversation pointless and annoying, Kiana doesn't feel inclined to stop. How often do you get a chance to get to know a guy so deeply ingrained in the history of the world, and how often do you get to ask him how he likes his coffee?

"You don't really strike me as someone with a sweet tooth, for some reason."

MORE LYTES THAN YOUR BODY HAS ROOM FOR

[voidrifter]

In another life, she might be crying. It crosses her mind in this one, too, but life and loss have hardened her just enough that she can swallow the urge. For as long as he will talk and as long as he will hold her ( which might be forever, she thinks, because he's the type to do that ) Kiana is content to remain. It's rare, this affection, for nothing other than a lack of time.

But it exists, it cradles her in warmth and memory. It sings softly in her mother's soprano, because maybe it was not hers to hear then but it is hers now. It is theirs-- hers and her father's-- to carry with them into this embrace.

"Alright, alright-" It's been a few minutes-- maybe ten, maybe an hour, she doesn't know-- when at last she untangles herself from his arms. It's with a laugh, with the feeling of his arms still tender on her skin where she knows that they will remain for some hours longer. Forever, maybe.

Kiana makes a great show of smoothing out her shirt and flattening her ruffled hair, goes so far as to wipe at her cheeks, and tries not to start when her fingers come back wet.

"I really don't know what to say," she's laughing again, that breathless kind of sound that always chokes out of her when she has too much emotion to know what to do with. "Thank you just doesn't seem right. I thought-"

That she would spend forever up there, alone? That she would watch the world forget her and have to love it enough, anyway? She would always love it, she knows that, but wanting to protect a world that has forgotten all you did for it didn't really bode so well for the last Kaslana to try. She shuts her eyes, shakes her head, and smiles at him.

They've never really been the most emotionally upfront of a duo, herself and her father. She doesn't know how to tell him what this means to her-- what this time with him, this love from him, is. She trusts he will understand, because somehow he always has.

"I'm just really happy, that's all."

FLY ME TO THE MOON

Happy Birthday Kiana, (2024) - w/ @voidrifter

[voidrifter]

Duh. She says it like it's obvious, which... well, Kiana supposes it probably should be. There isn't really anything else to come up here for unless it's your job, which it certainly isn't Senti's.

Still, she's not really sure if she should feel flattered or insulted. Or both, maybe neither. That's pretty much how it always goes, and she typically favors flattered. As much air as the other can fill, Kiana thinks she has a decent idea of what all her words are trying to mean. Or she does most of the time.

"Well thanks for coming," she says, because Senti deserves the sincerity, "surprise visits are always nice." And it's not like she cares if the floor here gets scuffed. Aunt Theresa can do her best to try and punish the culprit all she wants, it's not really in the Herrscher of Finality's job description.

The stars in her eyes follow the objects in the other's hand, then the expression on her face as she preens to her own words. Kiana can practically see the way feathers ruffle when she puffs up her chest, hear the squawk in her voice.

"I'm not bored, though," she does not oblige so easily in this, though. For starters, because if she does then she has to accept it herself, and if she does then it will become harder to ignore. Also, because Senti is just a touch ridiculous. Even if the boredom part is soundly not what she's being ridiculous about, and even though Kiana knows it.

"If you're really such a saint, you shouldn't need my input," comes her retort, arms folding flat across her chest. "But if you really want it, 'O Herrscher of Sentience, how about that one arcade from Hua's memories? Or that one beach..." Her shoulders rise, then fall. "Unless you've got a better idea."

✧ ;- i saw her in the rightest way

[voidrifter]

"Right."

Mei speaks and Kiana listens, watching her like there is nothing else in the world but the words on her lips. When she stops, it takes a moment to register the silence. The absence of her voice, prompting Kiana to fill it. She swallows.

"Oh, wow. Quite the cast." A half laugh. They don't have to talk about her distant relative and all the complications of his continued existence, Kiana isn't really sure she wants to. It's not like it's Mei's first time being left alone with him, either-- she probably knows him better than Kiana does herself.

A fact that that settles under her tongue like a sour candy. Not quite envy, something more hollow. A sense of failure.

"I had this weird doctor guy I met one time before, and a couple of others. I don't think you know any of them." Kiana turns her cheek, sets it in the hand that extends towards her and shuts her eyes. "There was one guy, he kind of reminded me of dad."

The thought ends there with a shrug of her shoulders. She could tell Mei what happened, that she ate a round too many and may well have died there, but then she would risk worrying her. They don't keep secrets, and Kiana knows it will come out one day, but it doesn't have to right now.

"The one who recognized you, what about them? Did you not recognize them?" She's prompting to keep the other talking, wants to hear her voice instead of her own thoughts. "I didn't know you were so popular," a teasing nudge into Mei's palm.

i sleep so i can see you

[voidrifter]

It's like she's a kid again, sat in some rickety pencil-stained desk with a teacher's nose over her shoulder asking after her plans for her future. Back then, she never had a good answer-- the future to Kiana had nothing to do with some sparkly career title or pretty diploma. She had a world to see, back then.

She can see it now, orbiting behind the strange man's holographic shoulder. All of it.

But the question of the future has turned into something else, now. One she's not really sure she wants to ask. For her, the future may well be indefinite. It's hard to conceptualize, let alone to answer to a hypothetical of what she might do with an endless number of years.

It's a question that makes her squirm and, not for the first time, entertain the idea that this position would be better suited for someone else. For all that she is confident and capable, and for all of the reasons that fate has chosen her, maybe the role would have been better served for someone with real aspirations. Someone with a life less determined by the will of the wind, as Kiana Kaslana's has been since the day she was manufactured.

"Don't know if there really is an end," says Finality.

"You're really asking the wrong guy," she continues after a pause, a soft sigh in her voice. "I do what it takes, I'll do what it takes. I'm not really the type to plan for what that is until it's right before me, but I always know how to make it work in the end."

She hasn't felt this way in a long while, not since all of the smart people around her became as familiar as her own limbs. With them, there's nobody to impress. They set their expectations and they know which ones she'll meet and which ones she won't, most of which are homework assignments being turned in on time. She doesn't feel stupid around them, not like she used to.

And she doesn't really feel stupid in front of him, either. Just... inadequate, almost. Like the answer she should have and the one she does are just too far off from the same.

"What, is there some worse threat you've come to test my mettle for?" She phrases it with a little awkward half-laugh, like it's a joke even though it very well might not be.

Every Tree That Reaches The Sky, Starts as a Shoot

kiana kaslana & veritas ratio thread 一 " This Is Humanity "