I don't understand why, if that's the case. Why bring us here and try to get us to lead school lives if that's the end plan? And what on earth is causing us to kill each other? Not to mention these strange kidnapping cases where groups of you keep coming back horribly injured and occasionally traumatized. I'm starting to wonder if I should just provide people who this hasn't happened to yet with first-aid kits or at least basic knowledge or...
[ She's honestly so tense that he'll feel it when he touches her back-- but also she physically flinches out of that ramble upon contact, blinking up at him before she tries for a slower breath. ]
... It's certainly set up like a series, if the documents the Dorm Heads have been offering are to be believed. But...
How would we even win? Make it to graduation with at least one of us still standing?
We'd need some sort of advantage to stumble upon first, but--
[ But memshare week isn't over yet, despite Otome dearly wishing it was, so.
She's on her back, one hand on her blood-soaked chest, the other with her fingers weakly grasping at the ground. The air is thick with the smell of blood and smoke and even in her current position, she can see the flames rise higher and higher, joining together and consuming each other. She can see patches of an inky blackness eating away at whatever it touches, leaving nothingness in its wake. She can see some sort of mass, the monster they'd been fighting, though she can't make out the details.
Worse, as she feebly turns her head to the side, gasping for breath that she can't ever fully pull into her lungs, she sees crumpled bodies. Some, still trying to push themselves up. Some, screaming in agony. A girl with long red hair in a ponytail, shielding a smaller girl, unmoving while the younger girl shoves at her and cries out her name. A young boy, scowl still twisted on his face, practically eviscerated. These people are all precious, all important.
And she can't even lift a finger to help them. She's bleeding out on the chunk of debris she'd been slammed into, feeling the blood pool beneath her and around her, and she knows, without a doubt.
She's going to die. But they-- if they fell here, Arcturus would destroy everyone and everything. If they fell here, "he" would never be able to return and if they fall here...
She's terrified. But it's too late and soon enough, even that emotion is replaced by nothing but darkness. ]
Yes, it's... something I hoped I would never have in common with anyone.
[ She pauses, then squeezes his hand in return. ]
That's why-- I want to try to save you. I don't know what that will look like, if that's possible, or if doing so means I wouldn't be able to help you go back to your own world.
[ He genuinely doesn't know what to do. Claude is— used to fighting his own battles, keeping his secrets, shouldering everything that comes with being alive alone. There are people who cared for him—Judith, Hilda, Nader—but they relied on him. He was their leader and general, and it was his role to take care of them.
Even though, he thinks that they probably would've wanted to return the favour, if he'd ever given them a chance.
Here, he's no one special. And Otome is leagues stronger than him. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
week 3, friday, dorms
He'll smile slightly at Otome. ]
Taking a walk?
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(She has like three more in hand because people are Emotional and probably not warmly-dressed right now.)
Also, as ever on Fridays, she just looks tired from Doctor Stuff from the day before and the fiasco that people being dead brings. ]
Just a short one. You?
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Needed some air. Mood's a little rough in the dorm.
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I can imagine. We were like that the week we lost Lan Wangji and Lila.
[ Summer at 7 strong whoo. ]
Would you be opposed to some company for a little while?
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[ He'll turn so that they're more side by side. ]
I have to wonder when this'll end. Is the point to eradicate each one of us?
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[ Now she's just anxiously mumbling now. ]
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Entertainment value? It's just a game, I think. Like... The Bachelor. They want to see who will win: this school, or us.
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... It's certainly set up like a series, if the documents the Dorm Heads have been offering are to be believed. But...
How would we even win? Make it to graduation with at least one of us still standing?
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[ He thinks about it for a moment. ]
Byleth is hoping that we're the underdogs who are meant to triumph in the end. But how that'll happen, it's hard to say.
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[ But memshare week isn't over yet, despite Otome dearly wishing it was, so.
She's on her back, one hand on her blood-soaked chest, the other with her fingers weakly grasping at the ground. The air is thick with the smell of blood and smoke and even in her current position, she can see the flames rise higher and higher, joining together and consuming each other. She can see patches of an inky blackness eating away at whatever it touches, leaving nothingness in its wake. She can see some sort of mass, the monster they'd been fighting, though she can't make out the details.
Worse, as she feebly turns her head to the side, gasping for breath that she can't ever fully pull into her lungs, she sees crumpled bodies. Some, still trying to push themselves up. Some, screaming in agony. A girl with long red hair in a ponytail, shielding a smaller girl, unmoving while the younger girl shoves at her and cries out her name. A young boy, scowl still twisted on his face, practically eviscerated. These people are all precious, all important.
And she can't even lift a finger to help them. She's bleeding out on the chunk of debris she'd been slammed into, feeling the blood pool beneath her and around her, and she knows, without a doubt.
She's going to die. But they-- if they fell here, Arcturus would destroy everyone and everything. If they fell here, "he" would never be able to return and if they fall here...
She's terrified. But it's too late and soon enough, even that emotion is replaced by nothing but darkness. ]
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He looks. Completely lost. ]
... Are you going to tell me we're a pair in this too?
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Yes and no. I did die-- myself, and so many people precious to me who had fought beside me. I couldn't do anything for any of them.
But things were reset. It's-- it's just another thing I ended up remembering, eventually.
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[ Genuinely. He's going to take one of her hands and squeeze it. ]
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[ She pauses, then squeezes his hand in return. ]
That's why-- I want to try to save you. I don't know what that will look like, if that's possible, or if doing so means I wouldn't be able to help you go back to your own world.
But I... please, let me try?
[ Her fingers are trembling a bit. ]
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Even though, he thinks that they probably would've wanted to return the favour, if he'd ever given them a chance.
Here, he's no one special. And Otome is leagues stronger than him. ]
I... okay, I won't stop you. [ ... ] Thank you.
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You know, you thank me for the strangest things sometimes.
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[ He doesn't mean that in a derogatory way. ]
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Speaking from experience?
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[ you can't fluster her, Claude. ]