[@ERode]

[b][h3]WORLD BETWEEN DOORS[/h3][/b]

"I cannot... no, rather, I [i]will[/i] not say much."

Chloe crossed her arms and turned her gaze, looking off into the distance of this dimension - anything to avoid looking at its creator, whose approach to inquiry mentally disarmed her. It was all so direct and so forward, nothing like the verbal dances she had often heard of the nobility swaying to. It was foreign and odd, to be around somebody so direct - to be around people so direct, in general. Perhaps, if nobody could hear her but the singular Strigidae before her, a small fragment could be told?

"I and another have been cursed, I suppose you could say. I with far too much essence, and they with not enough, and yet neither of us able to balance those scales," she began, raising a thumb to her teeth to bite down lightly, recounting something in her mind. "Not permanently, at least, and never again," she would end with a mutter.

Uncrossing her arms, the frill-elf once more stared at Otis, her body now openly facing towards him as she floated.

"I came here to find an answer to cure the two of us. As it stands now, should our natural lives play out, I will live to see every short-lived person I know die before me while I wither into a husk, and they..."

Trailing off momentarily, Chloe shook her head, defying her own hesitation and bringing the words aloud in this world that housed only two.

"Their prime essence will expire in six years, and they will die before having truly lived. So my time here will be spent doing what I can to ensure that we both live our lives at their intended lengths - no more, and no less. And perhaps as a result of that, I allowed myself to fall into talks with all sorts of individuals with all sorts of knowledge. That's all I can say."

Chloe would allow silence to fill the air, a portion of her secret off her chest to at least one person. When Otis had moved on, a scowl of regret crossed her features, nodding.

"I think it would be best if I were dropped at the clinic, if that suits you. The blood loss is making me a little lightheaded..."

The girl would slowly blink her eyes open and closed, a drowsy disposition gradually overtaking her. 

[hr]

[@AThousandCurses]

[b][h3]CAMPUS GROUNDS, LEYLINE ATTUNEMENT ZONE[/h3][/b]

"Aggrieved? It's nothin' like that. It's not like you did anything to me personally, didn't burn my house down or kill my parents."

Rio would take a half-pace closer, eyes locked.

"But you [i]do[/i] remind me of all those shitty cement kissers in the capital. The kind to abide by the law while rising to the top off of the charity or success of others, only to toss 'em all aside when they got where they wanted to be. Smoochin' the ground of their superiors until they had the power to overthrow 'em."

Another half-pace, now with a small grin on the fighter's face that still held a look of annoyance in the eyes. He dug into his jacket pocket and unfurled a stick of gum, lobbing it into his mouth and chewing quickly. He was one step away as he continued speaking.

"Your stoicism hides it, but you have just as much to prove as any of those anxious goons. It's in the way that ya give the bare minimum until forced, I didn't need much time at all to see that. There's something in there, right? That thing ya brought out in the leyline, for example. Sorta tells me that if ya gave it your all from the beginning, the thing with Alto would've gone a lot more smoothly."

Rio's right foot slowly extended forward, but stopped before making a full step. He would spit his gum out onto the ground where his foot was about to touch, the shoe now hovering just over it. Looking back up at Chunji, the grin had faded.

"Now, I was goin' somewhere. Things are almost definitely covered with Pink and Shoots by now, I imagine, so no point in me making the run there. Am I gonna have to finish taking this step and ruining the sole of my shoe with this foul piece of gum underneath it, or are you gonna fuck off and let me do my thing?"