radio414

Peter only got a quick glance around the room before people started to notice he was there but what he saw was about what he’d expected. The size of the gymnasium had betrayed the expected size of the duel team, after all, and the outbursts of coming from the sidewall also betrayed -- in Peter’s mind -- the sort of seriousness his soon-to-be teammates were taking the whole affair. The only thing that really caught him off-guard was the co-Captain(?) Charlie asking him to introduce himself. He’d have thought… well, it didn’t matter. Maybe it was a formality anyway. “My name’s -” Someone who was neither Charlie nor Peter spoke up -- “Avi,” Charlie had said, right? -- cutting Peter off. “You’re Peter, aren’t you?” Avi said. “The third or something.” Well, that was close enough to what Peter had been expecting. He still winced a little at Avi’s “the third” comment -- without a surname attached the name just sounded like a king’s name and he was pretty sure he wasn’t that. “Peter Wilson, that’s me. Just ‘Peter’ is -” Avi cut him off again. “I met your parents a couple of years ago. Good duelists. I take it you didn’t take after them if you're here?” Peter almost said, “I don’t remember my parents mentioning you so maybe I could say the same thing,” but he managed to bite his tongue. Some of that hesitance was a simple worry that he was about to make one of those bad first impressions his parents always warned him about, but his larger worry was that, if Avi was telling the truth, there was the possibility he’d be able to relay the snark back to his parents, and as bad as bad first impressions were, bad first impressions that his parents knew about were even worse. All of this was compounded by the fact that Avi loomed large over Peter. Normally, Peter would be used to that sort of thing -- grown-ups were grown-ups and fourteen-year-olds were fourteen-year-olds, after all -- but Avi had to be, like, a foot taller than him. “You’re definitely the genius one, right? So small!” someone else said. Peter looked over, and while he couldn’t quite remember their name just yet, there was really only one person it could have come from: a girl who, despite her best efforts, still had crumbs on her cheeks. She, Peter found, was easier to respond to. “Sorry, um, your captain already said I can’t be a genius because my parents enrolled me in a historically great school that, uh, quote ‘is just in a liiitle slump right now.’ That’s, uh, those are their words.” And now that he’d started talking, Peter found it easier to keep talking. He turned back to the captains, especially Avi. “I don’t know. I’m only fourteen, after all. But I don’t think I would be here if I wasn’t pretty good, I mean.”

not yui but

Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. -Genesis 9:3 (NIV)Melissa smiled when she heard Gabriela was alright. Not that she’d expected anything else, really, so maybe the smile was also that she’d been able to catch her? Whichever it was, the smile remained as Gabriela thanked her in the way only Gabriela would. “An honored guest?” Melissa said, “Um, is this in addition to all the other times I’ll be honored in Romvania or do they all compound together into one very honorable ceremony?” Not that she minded or wanted to actually call out Gabriela on any of those promises, but she was interested. The interest was quickly revealed to be of the idle sort, though, as when Gabriela said she wanted food, or “nourishment” for “dark power such as hers,” Melissa developed a new plan. Gabriela’s request had also reminded Melissa how hungry she’d gotten after she lost her own dinner during the duel. Fortunately, she’d also heard that Fast Food (the food truck, not, like catering or anything) would be outside during the dance portion and that seemed like a good place to sate both of their hunger, so she took Gabriela by the hand -- “Alright, let’s fix that,” she said -- and guided her back outside the dance hall. There were still a bunch of other people around, either in line or eating or otherwise idling around, though it was certainly less crowded than the masses still indoors. The volumes of the music and the chatter had been reversed, too; Melissa could still hear the thumping bass and maybe when she paid attention she could hear some of the melody, but most of the noise came from the fragments of conversation around her. “My parents were always like, ‘If someone asks you to dance, you should be courteous and give them at least one. More can come if you want to after that, or you can leave, but give them the one.’ I don’t know. I’m not seeing anyone here who I’d want to dance with.” “I’m not dancing until the deejay plays something with some actual artistic merit. If they open the floor to requests, first thing I’m doing is going in and suggesting some King Gizz because otherwise I’m going to lose my mind.” “Who’d you vote for Kickoff King and Queen? I was thinking Chaderson and Rendleman but I could be persuaded otherwise…” And so on. Regardless of anything else, Melissa at least appreciated that it made the line move a little faster, and pretty soon both of them had a burger in hand. Luckily for both of them, too, a picnic table just cleared out nearby. It was a little dirty still -- one of the table’s occupants hadn’t even thrown out their leftovers -- but Melissa took care of that. She gathered it all into one corner of the table and looked back at Gabriela. “I don’t- if we go looking for a trash can now someone’ll probably take the spot without us,” she said, “um, but is this okay? I think that ketchup is still fresh so you might have to watch your elbow, but…?”

Peter always found phone conversations with his parents -- especially the ones where they put him on speaker and huddled over their phone analyzing his every word (like this one was) -- to be kind of like a rhythm game. They’d ask a question or say something and he’d have to respond quick enough that they didn’t think he was taking too long, yet slow enough that they thought he was still thinking about the answers. Maybe that was just because his parents had tried to instill that same sense of timing in other areas of his life, though it wasn’t like he’d be able to excel at an instrument or anything when most of his free time had been dedicated to cards. “You’re not lost, are you?” his mom said. “No, mom, there are only a few gyms and I know where this one is already. It’s by, uh, it’s by the classroom that community service club you said I should join uses.” Peter’s father piped in. “Oh, you did decide to join that! Good for you.” Inwardly, Peter wondered if he’d ever actually had any choice in the matter, and he mouthed along to his father’s follow-up “You know, stuff like that always looks real good, especially when you get older.” “Is everyone there treating you okay?” “Yes, mom. There are only a few people in that club anyway, and this one girl there barely talks to anyone, too. I think they just want-” “A girl! Is she cute?” “Mom!” It was a rare outburst and an especially rare break in the conversation’s rhythm, but Peter was pretty sure he was justified. She’d interrupted him first, after all. “Sorry! Sorry!” his mom said. “I’m just teasing you, honey. You know that, right?” Peter reached the gymnasium entrance and peeked in. It was definitely the place, though there weren’t too many people inside just yet. He wondered if he was supposed to wait outside for everyone else, or wait even more and be fashionably late. His parents had always been like that. “If you show up just a little bit late,” his father would say, “you show that you knew the time and you care about being there -- this is especially true if you apologize when you come in -- but by being late at all you get to be the center of attention when you come in.” Maybe he could just not show up at all, too. Maybe he could weave this grand lie for his parents where he wasn’t actually a duelist but pretended he was just for his parents and that’d- No, that was just a bad idea from the getgo. They’d find out. They always found out. “Honey? You still there?” Ah beans, Peter thought to himself. He’d gotten his thoughts sidetracked and forgot about the most important one. “Yes, mom. Sorry, I was- I just got to the gym and was making sure-” It was his father’s turn to interrupt him this time. “Oh, you did? That’s great, Pete! Knock ‘em dead!” Peter winced at, well, everything in what his father just said. Mostly it was the nickname, but the other parts, too, only served to remind him exactly why he was doing this and it wasn’t something he was particularly fond of being reminded. His mom broke through his thoughts again. “I suppose you want us to hang up now, don’t you?” “I guess,” Peter said. His parents both laughed. “I guess,” his mom echoed back at him. “Alright, honey, you’ve got this! We’ll be cheering for you.” There was a small beep and they were gone. Peter stared at the gymnasium door and his mind again wondered what he was supposed to be doing. Waiting… Not waiting… Either way, too, was he supposed to introduce himself and act like people already didn’t know who he was? Or was that too humble where he shouldn’t be? He knew what his parents wanted from him (“Be proud of who you are!” “We just want the best for you.”), but what did everybody else? He sighed, opened the door, and crossed the threshold.

Elsie tried not to react as the Nathaniel melted back into Tricky before her very eyes, though due to exhaustion, her elation at winning, or perhaps a mix of both, she couldn’t entirely suppress a wry smile. Being right about the magic circle had rejuvenated her somewhat; she wasn’t breathing quite as heavy as she was before, and watching this transformation was in the process of improving her even more. A shapeshifter! She might have guessed if she hadn’t been so focused on everything else. It made sense, after all. Why introduce someone new like that after all the introductions that had gone on back in the conference room? “That was fun though, right?” Tricky said. It was mostly, right? It wasn’t like he’d displayed any real ability to threaten her until she’d willingly landed and he started shoving her around. And even then, the second he found himself unable to trap her, that was it. Everything else was just throwing hailstones and lightning around, and who didn’t love that? So was it fun? “I guess,” Elsie said. The shoving part, being more recent, was fresher in Elsie’s mind than the fun parts, and part of her couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if she’d realized too late where Tricky wanted her to go. She had Corbin to thank for that realization, but he’d flittered off when Tricky had shoved her. Only now that it was all over did he land back on Elsie’s broomstick. “Did you have fun?” Elsie asked him. “You need to be more aware of your surroundings, I think,” Corbin said. “I’m not always going to be able to call your shots or point out some weird rocks on the ground for you.” Elsie rolled her eyes. She’d forgotten Corbin’s idea of fun was lecturing her. “You also should have known just calling out someone’s trick isn’t going to get them to stop using it. Especially when their name is something like ‘Tricky.’” “Yeah, okay, I got it,” Elsie said. “Anything else?” “Probably. Those are the two big points, though.” Elsie was about to say something back when someone else came into the arena: Alexandre. He didn’t seem to be approaching, though. Instead, he moved over and leaned against the wall. Elsie waved at him and called out, “Hallo! Do you know who else is coming? I’m kind of tapped out for right now, but I’d enjoy watching someone else.”

Then young women will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow. -Jeremiah 31:13 (NIV)At the exact moment Gabriela stumbled, Melissa had a realization. Hugging Elizabeth in the restroom and hugging Gabriela just after had been two entirely different experiences, and yet, although she understood that with a certainty that surprised even her, she still found it difficult to mentally enunciate the exact differences between those two moments. As far as she remembered, she’d been in more or less the same headspace both times, but… Maybe she’d held Gabriela a bit tighter than she had Elizabeth? But if that was true -- and Melissa wasn’t entirely sure that it was -- that was only part of it, she felt. And it was a small part, a part that barely allowed her to make any actual progress towards understanding the actual “why” of it all. Gabriela was falling now… How much did she value knowing each of them? Melissa knew the answer in regards to Elizabeth at least almost immediately. Who else would she have called out to when she trapped herself in the restroom? Who else would have been able to talk her out of it? Nobody else had come to mind then and nobody else was coming to mind as she thought about it now. That still didn’t explain the hug, though. Melissa instinctively opened her arms to catch her falling date. It took her a few more split-seconds to realize what exactly was about to happen, and only then did she brace herself. At the exact moment of collision, Melissa let out a soft -- even soft for her -- “oh,” and Gabriela’s momentum sent her back a step as well. The world seemed to freeze; the music even faded out and the deejay started going through their introduction and hyping up the crowd. Their words were unintelligible to Melissa. She was still trying to process what exactly was happening. This embrace was different, too, though it was different in the same unexplainable ways. Time resumed quickly enough. In fact, it seemed to come in right as the next song started. Melissa felt no closer to figuring anything out, but she released Gabriela from her hold and asked, “Are you okay? You’re not dizzy or anything, are you? Do you need some water?” She remembered that there was a food truck outside, too, if Gabriela needed food. The lyrics kicked in on the overhead speakers: Right now, I’m in a state of mind I wanna be in like all the time...

Presenting: Past Prince, Present Pauper

Ahhh, okay. The Correspondents - Fear & Delight OK Go - Here It Goes Again Fatboy Slim - Weapon of Choice Mint Royale - Blue Song

To clarify, the rules say four videos, but only one artist per person? So I'm locked into a single band if I want to nomitate more than one?

They weren’t lost. Why would they be lost? Elsie had been a part of ARCH for how long now, anyway? Whatever it was, it was enough time for Elsie to have familiarized herself with the layout of the place. So even if she and Corbin had taken a wrong turn or two, she easily would have been able to course-correct and they’d be right back on track. “I think we’re lost,” Corbin said. Of course, Corbin had to go and spoil the illusion. “It’s not my fault these hallways all look the same,” Elsie said. “I mean, I wanted to make something this labyrinthine, I’d at least want a minotaur, right?” She paused. “Does Jekyll have a minotaur?” The conversation proceeded to go nowhere quickly. The only thing that changed was that Elsie gave up on walking. Instead, she mounted her broomstick and meandered down, weaving this way and that along each corridor looking for something that she recognized. Corbin, too, had moved from Elsie’s shoulder to the tip of the broomstick, his own head on a swivel as he aided in the search. It took a while, but Elsie and Corbin did eventually find something a bit more familiar, or more familiar than all the same-looking doors; they found the door to their own room. They'd been going in a big circle. “Oh,” was all Elsie could say. Corbin only had a little bit more. “I mean, you know how to get there from here, right?” he said. It was true. She did. Elsie had spent enough time going back and forth between her room and the arena. What else was she supposed to do in the downtime anyway? It wasn’t like she’d seen any other Jaegers hanging around until just today, and when she wasn’t on assignment, she’d wanted to keep herself sharp. Plus, on the off chance she did get to meet someone new, she figured there was where they would show up. There or the kitchen, anyway. She wanted to get there as quick as possible, but a few moments resting couldn’t hurt either, right? Maybe she could refresh her glamour? Freshen up in general? It was just a quick duck inside anyway, so Elsie took that opportunity. It also let her talk with Corbin without either of them being distracted by a possibly familiar rogue detail. “What do you think they all do?” Elsie said. “The other Jaegers, I mean. You were the one looking around at all of them.” “Who knows?” Corbin said. “I mean, if you looked at you, what would you think you were?” Elsie looked at herself in the mirror and shrugged. “I mean, the broomstick, the hat-” “Without the hat and the broomstick and all that,” Corbin cut in. “Would you still think you’re a witch?” Elsie cycled through a few glamours. “I dunno, maybe not? There’s something weird probably still, like the eyes probably if you got a good look at me.” “Right,” Corbin said. “Nobody else there looked like a witch. They all just looked as weird as you. I can… maybe guess at Lachlan. Maybe. But that’s about it.” “I like Lach,” Elsie said. “I know he’s, like, the only one we talked to, but he’s probably my favorite so far. The other one, uh, Lopt? I think that’s how you pronounce his name. Um, he’s harder to get a read on, I guess. From my perspective, at least.” Only a few moments later, Elsie settled on a look she was comfortable with and the two headed back out. They remained on Elsie’s broomstick simply out of convenience, but it really was only a few quick turns and they were just outside the arena. “I wonder if we’re still the first ones here,” Elsie said as she opened the door. “Greetings, Jaegers!” Well, that answered that question. They were second, though the first was not someone Elsie recognized. The other one was a large bear of a man who, if he weren’t a bit of distance away in the center of the arena, would probably tower over Elsie. He was standing at attention and saluting, too, which only broadened the supposed height gap. “Shall we start?” he asked. “Just the one Jaeger, actually,” Elsie called back. “Hi. I think people have been calling me Ellie, so I guess you can too if you tell me yours.” To his question, though Elsie said, “I was actually expecting some other people, but if you’re game, I guess we can fight.” She gripped her broom handle tightler as Corbin took off from his perch and into the skies. “Ready when you are.”

You who are young, be happy while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. -Ecclesiastes 11:9 (NIV)The fact that Gabriela had been startled by Melissa’s apology was encouraging, even if Melissa’s first instinct was to apologize again for startling her. It meant maybe at least some of her fears had been unfounded. Or Gabriela was just being nice. Melissa really tried to focus on the former, though. Elizabeth’s advice still played over and over in her head, and though her words got fainter and fainter with every echo, the message did a much better job of sticking. “Yes,” Gabriela said. “Let’s do the dancing thing. With the music. And the closeness. And the moving.” Melissa smiled. There was something else Gabriela said too, but that was less important. “Well, let’s get down to the dancefloor first,” she said. A few other couples and groups had arranged themselves around the floor, though there was still a rather large amount of space left open. Melissa assumed that that was there wasn’t any music yet; a balcony had been commandeered and a deejay was still in the process of setting up. She wondered if they were planning on using the school’s speakers -- the ones in the ceiling pointed straight down at the auditorium -- to help with the sound, though surely the deejay would have speakers of their own specifically chosen for occasions like these, right? Melissa took the opportunity to address some of Gabriela’s concerns. She’d prepared for this, and just because there was that slip in the middle there didn’t mean the words didn’t come flowing out of her when she was ready. “Okay, so at dinner, we talked mostly about slow dancing, um, that’s probably going to be, like, a quarter at best of what’s going to happen, though,” she said. “The idea is the same, though. The drumbeat’ll- um, the basic idea is that you count probably to four over and over and then start doing moves to match each count. So, like, um…” She went through the motions she’d prepared earlier. “So if I’m standing like this, then one is stepping to the side and bringing my arms up like this, right? And then on two, I snap my fingers --” She demonstrated the sound “-- and then get ready for three, where I step the other way and on four I snap again.” Another snap. “And then, I guess you just keep doing that, or some other motion until the song ends “It’s silly, I know, and you’re probably not like me like this but it’s easy to think you look stupid doing stuff like this if you’re not- if you haven’t done something like this before. But the thing everyone told me last year when they were trying to get me to do this was, um, nobody really cares. The only one who would is me and I won’t. I promise.” Melissa gave a wry smile. “I’ll probably be wondering who else is looking at me, to be honest. But, um, give it a try. Just, uh, one.” She stepped, arms up. “Two.” Snap. “Three.” The other way. “Four.” Snap. “One-” The deejay cut in. They’d finally set up, apparently, and after a little feedback, the music finally cut in, starting with a chorus even Melissa knew. If our lo~ove is tragedy Why are you my remedy? If our lo~ove’s insanity Why are you my clarity? Melissa mouthed a “Ready?” at Gabriela, though she wasn’t sure if Gabriela saw or heard that. Still, she started counting, going through the motions again. One. Two. Three. Four. One. Two. Three. Four. This was the final hill she had to climb, right? This was what all her efforts had gone towards, right? She just had to guide Gabriela through a set and hope that she had fun in the process. One. Two. Three. Four. Melissa could barely admit it to herself, but she was almost having fun too.

Five Foot Two, Eyes Of Blue

Did somebody say CHRISTMAS MUSIC?

Elsie gave a sigh of relief as Jekyll elaborated on, well, everything. Especially Lucine and her questions, though. Survivors still existed, and covens in the area certainly would carry on, even if Hecate reclaimed a few. She wondered if she knew any of them. It was unlikely, but… But also, like, it didn’t matter, did it? Either way, she was still going to help Jekyll, kick some Fahlyn butt, and look good doing it. If any of the other Jaegers in the room were as good as she knew she was (again, one of them had slain a dragon!), what trouble could there be? And when -- not if, but when -- she saved Grimm, she wouldn't have to worry about any of that stuff. Elsie listened to the rest of the question and answer session, but those thoughts remained at the forefront of her mind. If a friend of hers was actually in trouble -- if a Fahlyn had come across a coven she’d visited -- they would have called out. Maybe not to her specifically, but she’d have known. But they hadn’t and she didn’t, so she’d be okay, right? One question stood out to her. The Jaeger with the bunny ears (did he say was Lopt? Low-pit? Whatever) had asked, “Do you really think you can do something as grand as saving the world with children?” and while Elsie did allow Jekyll to answer the question himself, she still had to wonder, what was that supposed to mean? “What’s that supposed to mean?” Elsie said as soon as Jekyll was finished. “The bit about the children and the- yeah, what was that about?” “I mean no offense, my dear,” Lopt turned to her, a little shocked, “only that... is it wise to throw someone with their entire life ahead of them into the fray? It’s a terrible thing to see someone as young as us die. Especially when many of us look so frail...” “I guess…” Elsie said. “I dunno, I’m not planning on dying any time soon.” She looked at Corbin. “What about you?” Corbin had spent the presentation similar to how Elsie had: he stared at the image of the Fahlyn and while Elsie couldn’t tell his thoughts directly, she still felt that same sort-of-fear from him that she’d felt herself. Only he just never took his eyes off of it. Even when Elsie called out to him, he didn’t flinch. “Hello…” Elsie leaned out to him and gave the table a knock. “Hey, Earth to raven. You planning on dying?” Corbin hopped almost straight up and cawed -- his own shock was of a much more physical nature compared to Lopt’s -- before landing on Elsie’s hand. “Uh, what?” he said. “No. Unless you were?” His fear rose a little. “Are you?” Elsie gave him a little scratch. “Of course not, silly.” Jekyll, at that point, had left the room, as had one of the other Jaegers, Alexandre Roi. Elsie took that as as good a cue as any to also leave. “Alright,” she said, standing up, “well, it was nice to meet you all. I’m sure we’ll all get to know each other real well by the end of this. I’m going to head to the sparring arena if anyone wants to follow? Gotta work off this breakfast somehow, I think.” With that, she guided Corbin back to her shoulder and went right out the door. Properly this time. Of course, Corbin had to ruin it. “I think you left your broomstick in there,” he said. Well, she’d embarrassed herself in front of most of them once already. What was one more, right? At least, that’s how she thought it, though she still couldn’t help but give a sheepish grin to everyone as she snuck back in and grabbed it, and Corbin couldn’t help but chirp a “We’re gonna have to tie that to you, aren’t we?” just for kicks. Elsie’s goodbye was much quicker the second time. “So, uh, yeah,” she said. “If you want to fight or talk or, I dunno if there’s something else, um, you know where to find me.”

What I Like: Less action-oriented stuff. Action and violence can still be there, but I'd rather it not be the focus of the anime. It's not a huge deal if it is, but I did want that out there. Pretentious writing because I am pretentious. A good soundtrack would be nice. What I Don't Like: Anything long. I know this was already mentioned, but my limit is 39 episodes and even that's pushing it. 26 or less (or, better yet, a single movie) is much more preferable. Fanservice. Like, it'll probably just get an eyebrow raise -- but I ask that you use your discretion. That animation style where it's clearly all 3D models but it's trying to pretend that it's 2D. I don't actually know how common this is but I've come across it two or three times now which shouldn't be possible given how infrequently I actually watch anime. MyAnimeList: I haven't seen nearly enough stuff to want to start keeping track of it all. If you want to send me something but hesitate because you think, "radio's probably seen that already," I probably haven't. And if I have, I probably won't mind watching it again. May edit in more but there's the gist.

Melissa stared at herself in the mirror. Despite feeling, you know, a little bit better about things, she still looked like a mess. And that was even if she ignored how smudged her makeup was getting. That could be washed off with enough elbow grease, and she felt like she had to wash her face anyway, but the telltale signs of a mess went deeper than that. It was apparent in her posture and her face, and the nice dress and flowers did little to conceal it. Gone was the prepared -- almost confident(!) -- girl from the beginning of the night; she’d regressed back into her natural state. What was she supposed to say to Gabriela? “Sorry. I’m fine,” didn’t seem to cut it. Not tonight, and not to her. The “sorry” part, sure, that could stay, but she didn’t want to glibly dismiss Gabriela’s concerns if she had any. If she had any. Because despite Elizabeth talking her down, Melissa still had that lingering doubt that she was mad about something she’d said. “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’” -Luke 15:21 (NI-No, that wasn’t right either. Even if changed the wording to make it make more sense, all the other words… it still felt too dramatic for a thing she’d been trying to convince herself she hadn’t done. But at the same time, she didn’t want to imply that any of what had happened was Gabriela’s fault. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. It just happened. Her makeup wasn’t being particularly cooperative. Melissa supposed that was because of a mix of the only-tepid-instead-of-hot water and a lack of any wipes or other equipment. It was better, but it wasn’t better better, if that made sense. “People aren’t very good at showing their intentions,” Elizabeth had said. Melissa kept coming back to those words. Maybe she needed to tell Gabriela hers? Melissa mouthed the words “I’m doing this for you,” at her reflection. That’s what she’d been telling herself every hour of every day ever since Gabriela had asked her, after all. But it felt weird to say; it was starting to feel like an excuse. But that left her with nothing, didn’t it? This was something she’d spent half a week on, she had to say something, right? Right? The makeup problem was as solved as it was going to be until she got home. The other problem, well… It was strange. Now that she’d calmed down, Melissa felt both resolve and a sense of confusion. And while the confusion had been winning, she’d still managed not to have another breakdown (would Elizabeth even tolerate a second bathroom meeting or would Melissa have to pull herself out of that one?). It was the resolve, now, that guided her out the door and back into the rest of the world. The duel had finished in the meantime, and a large portion of the audience had started filing out into Kickoff’s various other areas. Melissa didn’t see Gabriela among any of the faces she’d seen so far, though. Was she still in the stands? She’d have to fight through so many people going the opposite way to check… And yet, she kept moving. It took a bit, but people seemed to flow right past her without giving her a second glance. Or maybe they did but she didn’t notice, like behind her back or something. It didn’t matter to Melissa. Her mind was made up. Melissa reached the top of the stairs and immediately spotted Gabriela, right next to- was she still talking to Jun? It felt like she’d spent days -- no, weeks -- in that bathroom and yet once she came back, well, the significantly shorter time scale finally hit her. If Gabriela was mad at her, she was probably still mad. Melissa kept going anyway, though. She finally had something to say. It started, though, when she reached her date, by not saying a word. Melissa simply pulled Gabriela aside, away from Jun and wrapped her up in as tight a hug as she could manage. The enormity of what she was doing finally hit her, and the tears returned. “Sorry,” Melissa whispered into Gabriela’s ear. “Sorry. Sorry.” She released Gabriela from the hug but still kept her close. “I don’t- I do want to talk about what happened,” she said, “but, um, I don’t know what I’m supposed to say other than that right now. I think people are setting up for the dance, though. Do you want to- do you want to still do that?”

couldn't find a good youtube video with the album art on it, sorry. just this one.

Aaaaand there Lachan went apologizing again, though at least this time maybe he had an actual reason for it? Like, it was for different things. New things. Some of them she hadn’t even known she’d been slighted -- Lachlan was apologizing for thinking Corbin was a rook or a jackdaw and how was she supposed to get angry about that? She wasn’t a mind reader. Not without the requisite spell, at least. What was clear to Elsie was that Corbin’s words had affected Lachlan to the point of overwhelming his emotions. That was a little weird. “I think I broke him,” Corbin said into Elsie’s ear where Lachlan couldn’t hear him. Elsie shushed him anyway. “The important thing- the important thing about birds, at least,” Elsie said, “is that they remember stuff like this. And they’ll let you know when they’re not happy with you, too. This one --” she gestured at her shoulder again “-- he likes you, it seems. And they’ll remember that too. We’ll certainly remember that.” Whatever other conversation they might have had was cut short by the commotion at the other end of the room. From what Elsie could pick up, it started when someone called someone else “Mommy?” Or wanted to someone to call them “Mommy?” Elsie tried not to laugh. Like that -- her calling and her being called -- would ever happen. Thankfully, Jekyll put a stop to that right there with the actual reason they were all together. But first: Breakfast! It was a veritable cornucopia of foods. Some -- most, even -- were too rich for Elsie’s taste, like basically anything with at the end involving syrup or sweetened dough, but that didn’t mean those weren’t a feast for the eyes. And it wasn’t like there weren’t a bunch of things she could eat, like the eggs or any of the greens or a roll- oh, they were out of rolls it seemed (why even bring out the extra plate?). Corbin, though, he hopped about wherever he pleased, taking nips at the various scraps left behind before hopping off somewhere else. It was also ample time to take in her fellow jaegers around the table. She’d been paying so much attention to just Lachlan, all she really had otherwise were names and faces. And some of them, like the cat woman, or the man with the cloak (wait, did Jekyll really call him “dragon slayer?” Elsie wasn’t even sure she could do that), Elsie didn’t even have that. Still, she took the opportunity finally started attaching the names she had heard to faces. The rest, well, the rest would come in time. Jekyll, meanwhile, had started his presentation. When the image of the Fahlyn came on the screen, Elsie’s eyes immediately snapped to it. Not because she recognized it (who would?), but because of the opposite. It was so… unnatural, and as someone who’d spent so much of her life in nature, well, how could she not stare at it? It was just an image, she knew that, but she still felt like she had to be ready in case it started to not be one. It had that energy to it. And when the lights came back up, the wall where the image had been suddenly did too. It took Jekyll opening the floor for questions to finally break the spell. “Are there still survivors?” someone (Lucine?) asked. That was a good question. Elsie was about to ask a follow-up when someone else spoke up. “Are there a lot, or just a few powerful ones?” the man with the cloak asked. That was a good question too! Maybe she should- “How are we supposed to be taking care of these?” Lachlan asked. Well- “What is your plan?” Okay, all of that, but, like, now that she was fifth down, her question felt a little less important. She still dutifully raised her hand and asked it: “Is it just the populated areas?” she said. “Kind of like, uh, Lucine -- Lucine, right? -- like she said, could survivors escape into the woods or wilderness?” It was a selfish question; it wouldn’t be her coven out there, but she was still a little worried about her kin. If she had that sort of reaction to just the image of a fahlyn, what would those who’d seen one in person, how would they react?

When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. -Job 2:11 (NIV)Melissa had gone from leaning over an open toilet bowl to sitting on a closed one, and yet even in the short time it had taken her to perform the actions necessary to transition from one to the other, she had hardly taken her eyes off her phone. The read receipt had come through. She saw it, with her own eyes, how the little text at the bottom of her screen had flickered from “Sent at:…” to “Read at:…” and now all that was left was the interminable wait. No response had come. How likely was it that one would? Like, there weren’t any other girls huddled in the stalls -- everyone else was a normal person. There were so, so many things Melissa could imagine wanting to do besides talk through a stall door at someone and yet she’d still sent the message in the bottle out there. It was stupid. It was stupid and she hated it and she hated that she’d done it. But what else could she do? Melissa clutched her phone a bit tighter. Her only relief was that, after the “You’re too good for him” girl, nobody else had come in. Nobody else had to deal with her. Until the door opened. Someone walked in. They stopped at the mirrors, though, so hopefully, if it wasn’t Elizabeth, they’d only be there for a little bit. They were probably just fixing up their makeup then. The crying girl was probably barely a distraction. Still, Melissa tried to shut up, though a few whimpers and a few gasps for air still escaped. They knocked. “Melissa? I just got your message. Are you decent? Can I come in?” “No, don’t!” Melissa said. She was decent, yes, but that didn’t mean she wanted Elizabeth to see her how she was. And yet, she was still relieved that Elizabeth had come at all. “Um, if- could you just lean against the door or, I don’t know, just be there.” In any other instance, she would have waited, but the question she’d been meaning to ask was already there, and she was ready to just get going. “I don’t- is this what you meant when you said I had baggage? I just- I keep thinking about that. I’m sorry, um, maybe it’s not related to why I’m here but I…” The sentence never finished.Elizabeth put her hands up as if she were being told to freeze in place by a bobby, in acknowledgment of Melissa's panicked request. “I, well, I'm not really sure why you're here, it's hard for me to say.” She leaned her hip against the stall door, crossing her legs, “My baggage is from emotional trauma; it's something heavy that I always carry around even if I'd rather leave it home. Hell, his face is plastered on half the walls in this bloody academy. If you've got something like that that's brought you here… then I suppose so.” She rifled through her purse, looking at the contents. She thought, briefly, about a quick dart; normally that's what she did in the bathrooms when she couldn't get outside. She figured the action would be read as insensitive though, and closed her purse again. “You don't have to answer me if you don't want to, I won't leave until you're ready, but… What happened that's got you in here?” Elizabeth heard the roar of the crowd; something exciting must have just happened. She cursed internally; the duel was ending much faster than she thought.Melissa’s outburst didn’t even miss a beat. “I don’t know!” she said. “I don’t know of anything like that. I told you that, I think, on Wednesday or something. I’m just…” She managed a few breaths. “I hoped you knew, honestly. Because you said it. “At the same time, um, at the same time if I say it, if I say I’ve got baggage, I don’t know, what does that make yours? I’m sorry, um, I shouldn’t have brought it up maybe, but you know what I’m saying, right?” She wished she could pace. Or stare at herself in the mirror. Or splash water on her face. But she also didn’t dare come out. It was the same reason she didn’t want Elizabeth to come in, really. And now that she’d said things she already regretted (and probably would at least for as long as she’d be in the stall, if not the rest of her life), that certainly wasn’t happening anytime soon. “I’m sorry, Elizabeth,” Melissa said again. “I- I wish I knew what was wrong. If I knew what was wrong, I could deal with it.” Another beat. “It’s the same answer to your second question, I guess,” Melissa said. “I don’t know. I can- this one I can kind of guess, but it’s like, am I sure? No. I’m not sure, Elizabeth. You’re, um, here’s what happened happened though:” Melissa went about describing just about everything that had happened since she’d left Elizabeth outside the Duel Team meeting. She touched on being invited to the Entertainment Club and what happened there but spent most of her time talking about Gabriela. “You’ve met, I think,” Melissa said. “Or if you haven’t, um, I think you’ve seen her? I think you’ve been in the same room a couple times at least. She was also at the Duel Team meeting. That’s why I was there, actually.” She talked about all the things she did after Gabriela asked her to kickoff. She talked about how she prepared and color matching and the corsage shopping and dinner, anything and everything that she could think of. Including Ashley. Especially Ashley. “I didn’t realize you knew each other,” Melissa said. “That you were friends. If I knew, I probably would have taken it all better. You didn’t- that doesn’t mean you should have told me, just that I wish I’d known. “That’s a lot, I know. And saying ‘you asked’ isn’t an excuse, but, like, I can kind of draw a line through it all? Because it’s happened before. But- I don’t know. I’m sorry. That’s what I’ve got. If you can make more sense of it than I can, please.”Elizabeth couldn't help but chuckle, “Christ, mine's a bit more like a cargo plane some days.” She stood up fully, “But, it's never fair to compare one's plights. I've never walked in your shoes. It would be foolish to assume you've had it better.” Then the rambling came. Elizabeth was kind, interrupting occasional points and story markers with “Yup”s, “Sure”s and “Right then”s to show she was paying attention. That was until Melissa got to her best friend, “Ashley? Heavens Melissa, you haven't got a thing to worry about with Ashley. She gets a bad reputation, but she's no more harmless than a housefly. If you're worried about showing up on every screen on campus… that's not really her game unless you're a duelist. She just likes to keep herself involved in the goings-on of campus life. She can be intense though, I get it. I've known her for years now and she's been one of the best people I've ever had in my life. When I was… bad, well, worse.” Another roar from the crowd. She leaned her head back and looked to the fluorescent lighting above in partial agony, “She never let me sink. Even when I didn't want to swim. But what's this about Gabriela? I can't say I know her. I'm sorry I can't be of much help in that regard. But of your concerns…” she thought to the struggles she and Yushiro had had of late getting on the same page, of the struggles they would have when it came to light that she had missed his duel the same way he had missed hers: something had come up. It reminded her vaguely of what Hitomu had described of his end with Tess… Beth shuddered and shelved the thought. “I've come to learn that people aren't very good at showing their intentions. Perhaps she's got some baggage of her own that she's not quite ready to share with people.”Melissa couldn’t help but imagine someone choking on a housefly, despite Elizabeth’s reassurances. Like, what if a fly flew into someone’s mouth and they couldn’t get it out? And when Elizabeth said “Unless you’re a duelist”, well, she didn’t go through the first Entertainment Duelist meeting again, but she couldn’t help but squeak out “But-” That was it, though. She didn’t actually protest, she just made the imitation of one. And when Elizabeth asked more about Gabriela, she paused. “She’s great. I thought- I think, um. I think she’s great. She puts up with me, and I know I shouldn’t be thinking like that but, like, I- yeah. You do too, at least I think, if you came in like this. I’m sorry, this probably wasn’t how you wanted to spend your Kickoff.” She was starting to feel better, though. A few more breaths and she was even willing to stand up in her little stall, and not even lean over the toilet bowl. It probably wasn’t her fault, she supposed, whatever happened with Gabriela. There was still that niggling fear, but it had gotten better. And while she felt bad that she’d pulled Elizabeth in here, that was fine for now. She was better, at least for now. The crowd roared one final time, one much longer than any of the cheers before it, as Melissa finally pushed through the stall door and collapsed into Elizabeth’s arms, embracing her in half of a hug and half of just kind of hanging on. She held it for a long moment -- probably longer than was comfortable or necessary -- and then went over to the sinks to wash her face. Before she did, though, she turned back towards Elizabeth one final time and smiled. “You can- Thanks, Elizabeth. Hope you have a good rest of Kickoff.”