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[color=9df7ff]Cordelia Whittaker[/color]
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[i]"Ms. Whittaker, as a result of your preliminary exam results, we have decided to place you on a team of five individual Ars Magi."

[color=9df7ff]"I understand."[/color][/i]

Cordelia examined each of her new individual teammates during the gala one at a time. She had heard of each of them in some capacity at one time or another. Yet, there were things about them that she found off-putting. Characteristics, personality traits she had not anticipated. There was Penny Grenoble, known for her intellect and ability to control an element as ambivalent and prevalent as electricity. By all accounts a known quantity on the battlefield. Yet here she was across from Cordelia, struggling with the formal attire afforded to them by this academy. And then there was the scarlet-haired girl who sat beside her. Perfectly in tune with what each of her teammates was feeling.

It was odd.

However, even as carefully as she plucked at the strings of her friends, laughing in rhythm with them, something was missing. Something that had once been there now wasn't, a wedge through which Cordelia could be planted and grow. She saw what was quite possibly a role to be played for these girls. Her comrades in arms. This was who she was now. This was how she could continue to serve.

[i]“Please understand that this is not a punishment, nor a reward for your performance. This is simply where Nova Lux has determined you will be best suited in the coming weeks.”

[color=9df7ff]"I understand.”[/color][/i]

[url=https://youtu.be/T5OsMJUVXYA?t=474]The band exploded from a lull.[/url] As if puppets on strings, everyone jumped from their chairs and erupted into conversation. Cordelia immediately felt herself seize up as she realized she was to get to know these very same girls through conversation. The sharing of opinions that Cordelia had never truly formed. Her mind instantly threw herself back to what she knew. Etiquette classes, the way someone impressed another through shared facsimiles, rather than words. 

Cordelia stood up a beat after the rest of her table, immediately spewing a few niceties towards Penny as she made her way towards the Scarlet haired girl at the head of the table.

[color=9df7ff]"Nicole Cognoscenti. Considered by many to be a leader among her peers, with a discerning eye and a lightness on her feet. It is my utmost pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Cordelia Whittaker, and I am to join this team. It would be my greatest honour that you afford me a dance,”[/color] Cordelia said. She dipped into a slight bow and held her hand towards her new companion.