[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/sno7KOz.png[/img][/center]

[sub][@Lonewolf685][/sub]

Suzuya gave her answer.

Stripes's eyes momentarily widened. 

Suzuya was at quite the disadvantage. After all, Stripes was the one who initiated the question. She did not state her preference, and so Suzuya would not be able to tell Stripes what she wanted to hear. It was quite the conundrum for most people. While Americans can be quite boisterous about their political views, it is not uncommon for Japanese people to try to avoid such topics to maintain the peace. It would be different if Stripes opened with saying she liked or hated the aforementioned topping, but she had left that information out by design.

There are only two ways to answer a question like this: Tell the truth, or dodge it.

Suzuya could have told Stripes that she preferred one or the other, and it wouldn't have mattered. She was telling her honest opinion and revealing herself to be open with topics that some may find controversial or disagree with. Honesty was a respectable attribute to have, regardless of what side of the political spectrum they fell on. But Suzuya, somehow, had never eaten a pizza in a country that regularly ate both Italian and American style pizzas. [i]Hisui[/i] made a valid attempt to feign interest in trying it. It was an attempt to gauge Stripe's view on the topping so that she could answer "correctly," but would ultimately backfire. 

But Stripes was apathy embodied, and would show no outward emotion. 

[color=tomato]"Seems your mind is still too ripe for such questions."[/color] The witch nodded and stepped away. 

Normally Stripes would be fine waiting for the rest of the teams to pick each other out, but it was pretty evident what was going to happen. Suzuya was probably going to team up with her verbose room mate, while the monkey and flower formed a team of their own. Familiarity sticks together, and a student that randomly left to go hunt pageless on her own was not going to be a common pick for anyone. While stripes was fine working alone, she knew that wasn't going to help her move forward. And if none of the "old" students were going to pick her, she was going to have to pick one of the newer ones. 

[sub][@Majoras End][/sub]

Olivia was in the middle of blabbing something to Lupin when Stripes wrapped her arm around the wolf woman's waist and carried her under her arm. [color=tomato]"We need to get you up to speed."[/color] Stripes wasn't looking at anyone, but she stared ahead with her eye lids at half mast. [color=tomato]"Lets do some night training of our own. I'll make a woman out of you yet, Lupin."[/color] She walked a bit further before suddenly realizing she forgot something. [color=tomato]"I'm Stripes, or Silvia if you prefer. I've been around here for a few years."[/color] She looked over her shoulder. [color=tomato]"I think we lost her. Did you want to walk to the library, or would you prefer I carry you?"[/color] 

[hr]

There was only so much training one could squeeze into a week, especially when one had to make time for their own studies and classes. However, Stripes made sure to spend ample time with the new student. 

The tabby and wolf might have seemed like an unlikely duo, but their powers synergized well together. Stripes could bombard her enemies with magic missiles while Lupin threw her knives. Since Stripes's magic missiles always hit their targets, Lupin was free to enter melee without worrying about getting hit by friendly fire. It was unfortunate that Stripes couldn't use her full tiger form when working with Lupin, but this did yield other advantages. They brainstormed a move where Silvia entered her "Neko" form and Lupin used her hood to copy it, making it harder for an enemy to identify the weaker stripes from the far stronger Lupin. Little was said during their training sessions, at least on Stripes's part. 

On the day of the patrol, Stripes showed up and said little to any of her teachers. This was something she had done a few times, and there was always one curveball or another coming their way. Little reason to get excited, but it could prove an opportunity to display their growth. 

(EDIT in response to earlier EDIT)

There wasn't much to say in response to Maria's speech. It was just another variation of "do your best, be a team," which had been repeated to Stripes ad nauseum. Stripes never felt like those words were meant for her. One, her grimoire was a bit unusual in that she was stronger alone, and two, she doubted many of her fellow students would have gone through the lengths she had to ensure her partner and her had good synergy. 

Suzuya had asked Stripes about having Pizza later, which caused the witch to bring her finger to her lips. [color=tomato]"We're on patrol. Stay focused."[/color] She looked at the teachers and noticed that for the moment, they were not looking directly at them. [color=tomato]"I think that journeys of self discovery, such as deciding if you like pineapple pizza, should be undertaken alone."[/color] Stripes's delivery was so dead pan that few would doubt she was being serious, and she was. It just seemed like Olivia and Suzuya were joined at the hip. Talking to Rose and her groom for an extended period of time was not her idea of a good time. 

[color=tomato]"If something happens, we need to break off from the main group. Otherwise, my power will get divided between everyone and we'll have lost our advantage."[/color] Stripes told Lupin as she prepared to march. [color=tomato]"We can start with projectile spam like we practiced."[/color]