[center][img]https://i.gyazo.com/e7d34903eeb2b52326f461f4c9f4bc43.png[/img] [img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/201114/bc6f475fea3cb608b073822f0c581099.png[/img][/center] [hr] As the music wound down to its denouement, and the cordial pair's sweeping arcs too dwindled, Selma nodded along as her dance partner replied in earnest to her (by conifer standards) careful probing. Seemed that word of the specific difficulties her team had suffered in the long ride over to Palmyra hadn't quite gotten out... Good, honestly. That encounter following them like a stormcloud would weigh on everything they did after— the judgement of their actions, their progression as Ars Magi, their reputations— and even if it were in a positive light, extra expectations could be a burden all their own on the girls. It would be best if it stayed this way, you know? Best they all took only the lessons they needed from it, and nothing more. Hyun cracked a grin. “Personally I’d rather hear what Selma has to say about Selma than read about it in a report.” She could only respond in kind, but while his was wry, the verdant titan's was all but leonine. Far removed from her affectations of princely bearing for Chie's sake, Hyun looked up at a girl who knew, down to her bones, [color=00a99d]"I say they're not ready for me out there. And if the manifestation at the exams are anything to go by? They [i]know[/i] it, too."[/color] Their hands parted soon after, courtly bows exchanging before a much more easygoing farewell in the spoken word. She took the invitation to the cadets' table into the back of her head for now— every chance she might wind up over there to drop by and say hello should the night drag on enough, but at present, she had a Chie and a Crystal to scoop back up— and, hopefully, not a band to save from Rivka. [hr] [i]WHUMP-[color=00a99d]"Aaaaah..."[/color][/i] The well worn springs of the mattress strained heroically as an all-too familiar weight of one Miss Rosmarie collapsed upon it, a graceless flopping that only tower demolitions, sequoia deforestation, and wiped Ars Magi could replicate. It wasn't as boring a night as she'd expected, in all fairness. Spending time in various duos and trios with her favorite four girls on the planet, as it turned out, couldn't manage to turn out that way, but [i]cripes[/i] if it wasn't a long one. What was more, she might have snatched one or two hors d'oeurves too many off the revolving platters that the serving staff had so graciously carried (she hoped they got paid well enough, in retrospect) throughout the night, if the rock she felt in her stomach was any indication. Tonight was gonna be one for a good, [i]looooong[/i] snooze. She stretched her limbs on the bed, back arching until she pulled a fairly satisfying pop out of somewhere between the shoulder blades. Mossy hair splayed in a wave all across the pillow, she let her head lull to the side to regard her partner in crime across the room, before letting her gaze turn up towards the ceiling. [color=00a99d]"Say,"[/color] she began, breaking their companionable silence almost in time with the sounds of running water through the walls between them and their next door neighbors. Fitting, because for all intents and purposes... [color=00a99d]"Whaddya think the like... [i]funniest[/i] thing you could do with your Elementum would be?"[/color] After all, it was kind of a shower thought. [color=00a99d]"Because, you know how we basically always are being watched by the staff? Like, I even saw some people at the ball keeping an eye on us— and they put us in teams, right? So I'm guessing they expect us all to synergize, have good teamwork, have powers that complement eachother, all that stuff—"[/color] Clearly thinking aloud at about the same clip as the words came to her head in the first place, she made the herculean effort to prop herself up onto an elbow as she rolled on. [color=00a99d]"So at some point, I'm gonna guess we need to come up with combo moves, too. And with Earth and Gravity... is it weird that I immediately just think of dropping a rock [i]really[/i] hard on a Void?"[/color] And it wasn't just themselves they'd be graded on ease of teamwork with, she reckoned... [i]“We’re supposed to be receiving individual dossiers for our next exercise. With most of you having unique powers, we have to understand what you’re capable of to do our jobs.” [/i] The Officer cadets were there for a reason too. She would be more than a little surprised if, whenever joint exercises began, they didn't meet a face that wasn't familiar to at least [i]one[/i] of the girls. To that point of Hyun's, maybe it was time to start considering how their tandems played out. [color=00a99d]"...I dunno how seriously I could take splatting a void like what's in my head, is all. What's your take?"[/color] Rivka never [i]did[/i] get that crucible she wanted out of her...