irisnetwork | un: werther

This school boasts about forming a last bastion against Nightfall, but all I truly hear are tales of student-on-student violence and poor prevention measures for such incidents. I was brought here under the pretenses of 'channeling my talents more productively', but I can't help wondering if this isn't just a quarantine zone for those who are deemed potentially troublesome. Let them cause trouble for each other, rather than for those in power.

Not that I mind. I've never once considered using my talents 'productively'. That is just synonymous with 'for other people'. I hold no interest in becoming a tool for anyone.

in person option

[ Miach's been going to this school since the start of the semester, and she's spoken to exactly nobody since. She's just... around. A silent new presence on campus, always with a book in hand, never greeting anybody. If that's the kind of person you'd approach, you can find her anywhere, but most commonly in the library.

Note for faculty: Miach got transferred away from her last school for summoning a demon and getting students injured. Faculty would likely be informed of this ahead of time. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well.... no. I just thought.

[he shakes his head.]

Never mind. You just reminded me of a dragon clan I know.

And what clan is that?

[ This guy may be annoying more than anything, but getting trivia knowledge? Always nice. ]

Not sure if they have a name exactly. They're a clan of white dragons with blue eyes. Have some affinity for lightning based magic.

[there's a beat.]

Found a settlement where they used to live, but I'm not sure if they're still around. Seems like a lot of them might've died out, but there could still be more survivors.

[ There's a short laugh at that. ]

Was that in Chechnya? Then we'll have a bonafide conspiracy theory.

[the laugh gets a blink -- like he wasn't really expecting her to take any part of what he said seriously, though he doesn't have high hopes for that to stay true.]

No, the settlement was in the Outlands. But the clan's been around for thousands of years. It wouldn't surprise me if some clan members decided to live amongst humans instead over time.

[then back to more intrusive curiosity....]

How come after you were rescued you were sent to Japan instead of back home to Chechnya?

[not that chechnya seems that much more convincing of a hometown considering miach's extremely unusual appearance, but at least he's not saying it?]

I suppose they thought sending an orphan to a highly industrial first world country would be doing them a favor.

[ Not logic she is in agreement with. Though she's never really interacted with other Chechen people aside from her village, a part of Miach misses Chechnya and the feeling of home it used to radiate for her. ]

Nobody ever told me directly though.

[keith stays quiet for a moment. now that miach's not busy judging him or being mysterious on purpose, he has to admit it's very strange talking to someone who has a background that's even more messed up than his own.]

Seems like you should have had a bigger say in that.

[which is putting it mildly, though it's not less true. but he knows all too well just how little listening adults really do to troublesome orphans. he glances away for a moment down towards cosmo who has, up until this point, been a very good boy and not charging up to miach all inquisitively. the pupper whines a little, clearly wanting to say hello, though.]

Did they at least keep you with the others they liberated?

[ Miach shakes her head. There had been a few other kids, largely girls, and she supposes they're living a peaceful life somewhere out there now. None of them had been from her village - she doesn't know what happened to those who got taken alongside her, but she presumes they're long dead. Accordingly, Miach had little interest in keeping up with the strangers she met while in chains.

Cosmo's whining is a distraction though and she holds out her hand for the wolf to sniff. ]

The resistance gave us to human hunters and those gave us into brief intensive therapy and then into completely separate adoptive families. Case closed, how neat. Right?

[the small gesture is all cosmo needs to stroll up to miach and press his snout into her extended hand, fluffy tail wagging.]

So you weren't liberated by a human hunter organization to begin with?

[he's a little surprised by that, thoguh he supposes in retrospect there'd been no real basis for that assumption in the first place.]

Does your adoptive family treat you well, at least?

What, worried suddenly?

[ Miach raises an eyebrow at Keith, though it's very brief mockery. There's a soft puppy here demanding her attention and sometimes even Miach is just a girl. Cosmo gets ear-scritches and most of Miach's attention. ]

As best as they can while being completely unprepared and unwilling to deal with an ex-child-slave. It's laughable.

[the question gets an immediately disgruntled expression from keith who has half a mind to yank cosmo away from miach and continue his lovely day. instead he folds his arms and rolls his eyes slightly.]

About you? Pretty sure you can handle yourself if you made it out of being captured by demons with that attitude. Why'd they even adopt you in the first place if they weren't ready to deal with your baggage?

I had therapy. Surely I must have been 'fixed' then.

[ Oh the sarcasm...

Miach doesn't consider herself broken so much as enlightened. She's seen more than the average person and it's made her unable to become a normal child, one who is unaware of the world's cruelties. ]

[despite himself keith actually huffs in amusement at that.]

Sounds familiar. Therapy is full of shit.

It just becomes more convenient to say what they want to hear and get discharged faster, in the end.

[ At least that's certainly what she did when she'd caught on to the concept. ]

I take it you never got to the point where they get mad at you for just saying what they want to hear because you're not taking it seriously enough, huh.

[though in retrospect, he has a feeling that had less to do with the content of what he said so much as how he said it.]

They were too eager to get rid of me for such finesse.

[ And thank god, too. It sounds endlessly annoying. Miach pulls a disapproving face at the thought. ]

What were you in for?

[... yeah, he should've seen this question coming.]

I... uh... got into a lot of fights. [he offers a shrug.] They seemed to think it was my fault.

Were they wrong?

[ Seems to her that it takes two to tango. She may not support stuffing kids into involuntary therapy thanks to this kind of banality, but she does think Keith should own up to his past. ]

un: werther

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