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Rudolf sucked in his first steady breath of the class period as Professor Malathice answered his question. He didn't have the Crest of Seiros, which meant his Crest couldn't fall into the horrible uncontrollable awful life-ruining category. But the Crest of Noa had never been studied extensively, right? What if he was another exception? No, then the professor would've said it occurred in people with the Crest of Macuil too. There was hope!

All he had to do was find this nebulous prompt that spurred his Crest into action. Which was easier said than done, admittedly. Still, it meant this would be the one course at Garreg Mach that didn't feel like a complete and utter waste of time. Plus, it was the Black Eagles' professor [i]and[/i] head magic instructor teaching it, Rudolf would have innumerable chances to pick Tomai's brain for tips and guidance. It wasn't like he had anything else to accomplish during his tenure, if he mastered this skill alone, he'd be well on his way to-

[color=red]"For some, you might never truly be able to turn it on or shut it off."[/color]

Oh.

[i]Oh.[/i]

He was a fool. A naive idealist that tried to find succor in the bitter venom of hope, only to subject himself to a far more gruesome demise than had he just supped on fatalism like he deserved. There was no salvation for him in this church, as his uppity classmates seemed to have surmised for themselves. He had no idea what they were up in arms about, hollow as their words were around him, but he was inclined to agree regardless. Only Rudolf had no energy for impassioned pleas and grand spectacles of storming out of the room, just quiet despair. He probably should've been paying attention; if anyone was getting an exemption from the class, joining them was his top priority. No need to sit and watch everyone else focus their Goddess-given abilities while Rudolf himself just stumbled onto increasingly creative ways to make himself [i]more[/i] invisible. That was surely want everyone wanted, ways to make their ability stronger; cursed rejects like him who wanted to [i]weaken[/i] themselves weren't worth wasting class time on. Maybe next he could make his voice disappear too. And then they'd patronize him about how cool his Crest is, how masterfully he could employ it on the field of battle, but Saints forbid he wanted to be greeted in the hallway every once in a while.

His crimson gaze drifted downward toward his fidgeting hands, picking at the cuffs of his uniform jacket in an idle attempt to keep himself from doing something stupid like sob. Not that it would've mattered if no one could even [i]see[/i] him. The advent of voices closer to him didn't rouse him from his stupor, even though it surely meant Veronica and Kayden were discussing something and he was possibly included. When he raised his head to find Kayden seemingly waiting for a response, Rudolf gave a noncommittal hum that could've been construed any number of ways.

[color=b300b3]"Did he ever answer whether we could opt out or not?"[/color] He inquired wearily. Not that the answer mattered, his attendance wouldn't be noted whether he was present or not. He could even call it Crest training, if pressed.

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