damned_institute | Day 55: Courtyard [4th Shift]

Talking with friends usually put Anise in a better mood, but the subjects that she, Guy, and Tear covered at lunch were so heavy that Anise couldn't help but feel weighed down afterward. It was hard to think and talk about the terrible things that came about from her lies. She wasn't going to cry, not now, but she felt like she needed a little space.

Fortunately, children were going out to the Courtyard today, and that sounded like a good, wide area where she could get a little alone time. The fresh air could help her mood, too.

When Anise reached the door, however, a blast of cold air rushed in at her, and all she could see outside was a blinding veil of whiteness. For a moment, she simply stared at the sight. She never saw much for snow at Landel's, but here it had already covered everything in just one day!

"You might need this," a soldier said, presenting a black jacket to her. The color and style really didn't suit Anise, but it looked expensive. She slipped it on, and while it wasn't as feminine as she liked her clothes to be, the lining actually had a nice feel to it. On the left breast, she noticed a name embroidered over it. It wasn't her name, but it was still kind of impressive that they personalized these things.

Outside, snow had settled onto every surface, like a big fluffy blanket over the ground. Anise walked along the path for a bit, creating a single set of footprints in the otherwise smooth surface. Once she was a fair distance from the doors, she diverged from the path (which was barely visible to begin with) and walked to the edge of the pond, watching the falling snowflakes disappear into the water.

It was a pretty sight, but it wasn't enough to completely take her mind off of Ion. Before long, Anise found herself wondering if it was snowing where Ion was, too. Maybe he was really far away, though...

[waiting for her boyfriends ♥]

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She stopped what she was doing, shaking her head at him. "Bah. No fun," she berated with another grin. But hey. There was other stuff to try after all. "Well enough," she replied. "What with all this sh- stuff going on and all. It's been a weird day." More and more, weird days were all there was. She sighed, tilting her head.

Then moved to spin and face him. "Haven't seen you for a bit. Everything been alright with you?" For a couple days at least. And the last time... Had her a bit concerned. Moreso with everybody's talk of weapons lately. "I wanted to see you today actually. I learned something you might find interesting."

Nigredo frowned visibly at the near slip of the tongue but kept any chastisements to himself. Besides, the potential for intel shifted his attention. He might say no to colorful language, but he would never refuse something he "might find interesting". With wide eyes, he tipped a head to the side, expression curious.

"Yes. I've been fine," he lied. For once, the child's attention was not on trying to falsify convincingly. It might have come off pathetically obvious. "What did you learn?"

She half-frowned at that, then rolled her eyes slightly. She'd give the kid what she was going to anyway, and if he was in a more open mood after that, then she would try again. As it was, she shrugged lightly. "Do you still have that ring I gave you?" she wondered at him. "'Cause I heard some interesting things about it."

Hell, he might have already figured it out given the chance, but if he hadn't, she would clue him in. At the very least, he should get a warning on it. She raised a hand to scratch at her neck idly. "Actually, I should probably ask you if you went somewhere you didn't try to go first. Maybe a... small locked room, by any chance?" Hell, if he had ended up there, she had an apology to give him as well. Trapped there for any stretch alone couldn't be happy.

Of course, he still had the ring on him. Nigredo had never thought to part with it since Senna gave it to him initially. And now, she knew of its properties. There could be nothing else she could say about the ring. Hopefully nothing. It would be kind of hilarious if it somehow shortened his life, but that touched too closely to poetic justice.

What she asked, however, was far from expected. Far too like a wonder. He didn't think to ask how the girl knew of the small locked room. No, all he could recall were the events in that room and the consequences that followed. Contrary to his character and habits, the child chuckled, the tones hollow. Nigredo couldn't be happy, but how could that matter? This was funny.

Finally, his laughter died long enough for him to offer a bland smile. "How did you know?"

The laugh was reminiscent of something else, and if it had been another, Senna would have probably been more than a little disturbed. There was more lack than amusement in it, though, and after watching him warily for a moment, the girl just pressed her lips together in concern. This kid... Really, really needed something happy in his life. "Because that was where I was the night everybody was portal hopping. My group got locked in there at the end of the night."

Though he had answered her question without her even asking. "I'm really sorry about that. I would have warned you if I knew. Were you able to get out of there? It would have sucked to be in there all alone."

There lay the explanation he sought for. Rather barren when compared to what had transpired during the night in question, but Nigredo supposed he couldn't complain. Senna obviously had never known of the ring's capabilities so she could not be at fault for the accident. Though he had suspected otherwise earlier, he now could hardly believe she would ever lie. Not with this topic, not with how he was. Such a prank would be in poor form.

"Here I thought you knew all this time," he confessed. The smile stayed. "It's okay. I was trapped, but I wasn't alone." That was what made it worse, but no. He was not yet all alone.

Nigredo sobered, and his expression vanished. With nothing else, he raised his right hand, the ring around his middle finger and the number on his palm in clear view. "Would you rather have it back?" the variant asked without sarcasm. "I wouldn't want you to lose something useful."

It was a little better, even if Nigredo's expressions weren't doing much to reassure. Like that night, she guessed, breaking the ring brought the people you were with with you. She puffed out a sigh, pulling her hat off for a second to ruffle up her bangs. "Well. Still sorry for locking you in there. It was the last place I was in. Obviously."

The serious nature of the boy was met with an unamused frown the deteriorated into the girl sticking her tongue out at him. "Nope! It's yours, I gave it to you. I can pop around without a ring to help me." She smiled at him, then nodded once. "Though there's more. It's broke now, right? You can reset it. Weirdly enough." She held up a finger and made a face. "Put a drop of your blood on the casting, and when you break it next, it'll take you back to where you were when you did that. Handy, huh?"

"The last place," Nigredo repeated, staring down at the accessory with a blank face. That must have been disheartening, even if Senna probably didn't hold quite the same experience. He regretted the previous reaction for a few seconds before throwing the emotion away with a shrug. They were both alive; the humor wasn't unwarranted. "I'm here so it's fine. The whole thing was kind of funny in hindsight anyway." Guess she had to have been there.

The additional information Senna provided was intriguing, however, and Nigredo's attention instantly moved. For instance, she said she could "pop" around without a ring. Did she have the ability to teleport? "So you can do the same thing?" he asked, curious.

The boy glanced over the groove of where the red gem used to be, his mind processing the utilization of blood to restore it. Indeed, this fact made the item more than a simple token of friendship. Already, he could find more than one possibility for such a thing. "Handy is an understatement. Where did you get this ring?"

Senna cocked a brow in half-amusement, wondering at the funny-in-hindsight type deal. "Well.... As long as it worked out all right, in the end. I guess then there's no harm no foul and all that." She shrugged and then made a thoughtful face, a little exaggerated. "Mm, well. Not to that extent. I have to see where I'm going. So I can't pop somewhere out of sight."

The kid was a lot more focused than she was, and more serious than he damn well should be. She half had a mind to shove snow down his shirt if he didn't change his tune in a second. But hey! She was an understanding sort. She'd finishing the explanations first. "Drawer in my room. According to my friend, a lot of people got 'em after that teleporting night. Like every couple people, maybe. Might have been random."

Yes. No harm, no foul. It required effort to keep his hands from twitching. "That's a disappointment," Nigredo remarked, all hints to his distress wiped from surface impressions. "Still, it is pretty amazing. I've never known anyone who can teleport without the aid of a device."

He almost asked on the mechanics, only to stop himself as his mind formed the inquiry. Was there a point to this? Weren't they simply making smalltalk by now? Senna seemed okay with the bout of information sharing; perhaps she no longer cared that the child had promised something deeper. Perhaps it no longer mattered. Eyelids dropped as the other mentioned the distribution of the rings, and suddenly, nothing in him was willing to move forward.

"I'll have to look into it," he said. "Was there anything else?"

Day 55: Courtyard [4th Shift]

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