[center][b][i]April 8th, 117AV[/i][/b][/center]

[i][b]"Congratulations!!"[/b]

"Huh? What? Why... huh?"

"Surprise, Chie!"
"We kinda sprung this on her out of nowhere..."
"Don't worry, the teacher said we could use the classroom!"
"Hey, come sit! This is your farewell party!"

"Farewell party? I didn't think it was [b]that[/b] important..."

"Quit the modesty already Chie! It's Nova Lux you're going to! Nova Lux!"
"I don't really want her to go, though..."
"I know, right? I don't like goodbyes."
"Come on, everyone... keep a smile on! I don't want to see Chie go either, but we should support her, right?"

"..."

"Hey, Chie, try these! I baked them myself!"
"Oooooh... why have I never gotten some?!"
"These are [b]farewell[/b] cookies. You come to my house enough as-is."
"...Huh? Hey, Chie, is something wrong?"

"No... no, nothing at all. Thank you, everyone."[/i][hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/LKcsd6y.png[/img][/center]
[hr][hr]The dim light coming out the screen of Chie's phone was more than enough to see with for the darkened night sky which surrounded her. It wasn't pitch-black by any means- the abundance of night lighting at both the dock and scattered through the vast city below made sure of this- but the artificiality of it all didn't comfort her any. Anticipation, nerves, fear, longing... the emotions Chie felt were complex, compounded by her incessant staring at the minutes counting down. Her escort was a rather tall, serious man and had made for a poor company. Not that Chie had tried particularly hard to strike up a conversation, but most any of her questions were answered swiftly and with no hope for a followup. She was left with nothing to entertain herself, save for the act of slowly watching time tick and tick by.

It felt strange. She wasn't particularly bound to her home, but now that it was almost time to leave...

"Ah!"

Chie's thoughts were broken as she heard the airship dock. Naturally, it was at the station where she'd been (im)patiently waiting. She looked back up at her escort who, after a bit of hushed chatter with his earpiece, told her to wait just a little longer. It wasn't long before three girls were escorted off the airship by a slew of military personnel. Chie thought to ask some more questions, but before a word could escape her lips her escort had already begun explaining. He informed her that the airship would not be used to make the rest of the journey. Instead, she and the other three would be lead to a railcar which would be making the rest of the trip in its stead.

It hardly took any time for the five to get settled, but a silence hung over them nevertheless. It was quite the... interesting group. Out of the four, Chie figured she looked the most ordinary, but maybe each of the other girls thought much the same about themselves. One girl had hair unlike everybody else's, vibrant and colourful. But even more than the colour, what stood out how well-maintained it was. It looked like it'd give the feeling of silk were you to touch it. Another one was more modest. Her hair was fashioned in twintails and what stood out most about the her was just how [i]fidgety[/i] she seemed. She'd been fiddling with something, or otherwise had been nervously twitching her legs or fingers, all the way from the airship to here. As for the last one, well... 

[color=00a99d]"[i]Hallo![/i]"[/color]

The last didn't take too long to make herself known. She introduced herself as Selma, no family name given, and was a taller woman than Chie could have imagined possible. It was no secret that the people of Calcaria were shorter than some of the more western-laid city city states, but Chie hadn't even seen a [i]man[/i] as tall as Selma. The girl seemed nice and friendly enough, but the difference in height was going to leave Chie uncomfortable for a while longer. Selma [i]had[/i] introduced herself, however, so it wouldn't do to not respond in kind.

"My name is Masuzu Chie. I don't need help with my luggage, but I hope we can all get along from this point forwards."

Chie waited to hear the names of the other three.