[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/qSXKgkY.png[/img]
[sub][@Nanaya][/sub][/center]
Otis frowned.

[i]A bad roll of the dice.[/i]

He didn’t like that phrase. Didn’t like the implication of something as indistinct as ‘luck’ out there. But he held his tongue there, a neutral stare matching Chloe’s glare. Regardless of the threat that the wolf-like being presented, it was no mere monstrosity, unidentifiable and without reason. It was no impossible threat either, not an insurmountable enemy. Instructor Alto had spoken of how Wingram was different from Strigari, how the former was merciful compared to the latter, but Otis himself couldn’t particularly picture it, in truth.

A few first-year students disappearing into the forest, never to return?

That was a rounding error. If they died, they would not become the heroes that the Vaalin Union desired. The facilities themselves would remain, and only those who survived the threats within and without deserved such a vainglorious title. The Strigidae understood this, did not feel anything about it. Chloe did, however. Ciara held darker, heavier [i]nama[/i], but Chloe’s burned just as well, simmering beneath the surface only to boil over and over and over.

[b]“This is a space isolated from Castalia, in a manner even more so than Ascendia,”[/b] Otis said, [b]“Nothing spoken here will be heard elsewhere, Chloe. If there is something you know, say it here. If you do not wish to answer my questions, be forthright with it, because I do not get the sense that you are quite as conniving and calculating as the environment you find yourself in.”[/b]

Whether that prompted any particular response from her or not, however, the owlkin himself would move on. Answers could be obtained from more than just a single source. Answers could be obtained even from a single source, regardless of consent, if one had the right tools and spells.

[b]“Time, however, flows regardless of isolation, and when I had left, the attunement ceremony had already begun. Do you wish to attend, or would you rest and recover at a clinic?”[/b]