IC INBOX | Daybreak

[quintessent]

Allura
UN: PrincessAllura

STATUS: Student, Undergrad

ACCOLADES: Top of my class as a child. Incidentally, I was what you humans would call homeschooled.

BIO: Princess of the Altean Enclave in the Outlands. I am relatively new to Earth so I would appreciate patience as I learn about the humans and your culture.

© TESSISAMESS

Comments

un: black

[marmoron]

why are your accolades like that

[quintessent]

Why are my accolades like what?

I wrote my profile truthfully.

[marmoron]

that's less an accolade and more
you know what? never mind
did you settle in ok

[quintessent]

I have my room, and I discovered what "Summer Vacation" is.

You didn't mention that classes are on a hiatus right now.

[marmoron]

did you not have summer vacation in altea
and look you can blame the herald for most of the classes getting cancelled
thought there was at least one guy teaching runes or something

[quintessent]

My education was a little different from yours.

So I've heard.
But doesn't that mean we should be working twice as hard? What if there are more threats on the horizon?

[marmoron]

i'm not the one who needs to be told that
do you want to go get some coffee wth me

[quintessent]

Do you mean immediately?
Or is this a future invitation?

[marmoron]

i meant now but if you arent free now i guess it's a future invitation

[quintessent]

Now is acceptable. Do you mind if I bring my friends?

[Keith may be able to deduce that she's talking about her mice, considering he escorted the whole lot of them back to the academy in the first place.]

[marmoron]

you have friends already?

[quintessent]

Evidentially not.

[and here she was becoming fond of him.]

[marmoron]

??
ok. so are you or are you not bringing friends to coffee?

[quintessent]

Yes.
We will see you soon.

[marmoron]

wait but who's "we"
what if i just want to talk to you?
alone i mean

[quintessent]

It is only the mice.
But what do you want to talk about that's so private?

[marmoron]

[God help him, he's so frustrated by this already.]

never mind just bring the mice
i'll see you at the coffee shop in soleil in 15 minutes
unless you don't know where that is

[quintessent]

[He is so hot and cold about this. No wonder the Red Lion likes him.]

I can find it.
Is 15 minutes a long amount of time or a short amount?

[marmoron]

[On second thought...]

which dorm room are you in again?
i'll come find you there

[quintessent]

I am in Lumière. Room number 105

[Yes, she doesn't know what a minute is but she figured out how to add an accent on this device.]

I will meet you in front of it.

[marmoron]

[There are zero (0) issues with Allura's priorities here. He doesn't bother responding to this, so he'll just... show up at Lumi in a few of those mysterious minutes Allura has not acquainted herself with.

Also since she's bringing her animals, Cosmo's coming along too. When Keith sees her, he'll nod then check his phone.]

That was about five minutes for the record.

[quintessent]

[Allura is there by the time Keith arrives, head down and looking at her phone, looking as much like any other student besides her general otherworldly appearance. At her feet, the mice are gathered in a pile, and they're the first to raise their heads when the pair arrive, all four of them scurrying over to sniff at Cosmo.

Meanwhile, Allura smiles and finally looks up,] I know, [And she holds up her own phone to show Keith the screen she'd been looking at: A timer.] I discovered the ticker on here. Four minutes and fifty-nine... human ticks.

[Maybe timing him comes off as a little intense but it was educational.]

[marmoron]

[Cosmo immediately lowers his head, tail wagging as the four mice scamper up close. It's definitely an invitation to play as he sniffs in Platt's direction. Keith meanwhile, much less playfully raises an eyebrow. Half a second of internal debate over teaching her that they're called seconds later, he decides to just.. roll with ticks. Sure.]

They're not human ticks, they're everyone's ticks, Allura. Yours too, now that you're here.

[quintessent]

[What is this, Animorphs?

The mice are happy to oblige, Plachu, Chuchule, and Chulatt standing on one anothers' shoulders to try and get up to Cosmo's height, meanwhile Platt takes the lowered head as invitation to climb right on and make a cozy spot for a nap on Cosmo's back.

Allura frowns, turning the phone back around to face her, before tucking it away in some pocket. Defensively,] It does not hurt to make a distinction between the two.

[After all, she won't always be here, she includes in her head. But she doesn't seem to be in the spirit of picking arguments with Keith right now, and her voice brightens as she shifts topics,] But, I am glad you asked me to drink coffee with you, Keith.

[marmoron]

[well if you find a morphing cube in Oriande one day....

Cosmo straightens up after Platt scampers up, then trots over to the other mice. If they don't do something they're all about to get licked. Meanwhile Keith's just now beginning to realize he could just talk to Allura in private right now and not bother with the coffee at all, but somehow he doubts that's gonna play well.]

Well technically... [And then he just shuts his mouth because yeah. Yeah.] I mean, I'm glad you agreed. There's some stuff that shouldn't be said on the network, so....coffee.

[And before that gets too awkward, he's going to motion to Cosmo to interrupt whatever he and the mice are up to.]

C'mom buddy, let's go.

[quintessent]

[Hmm. I forgot that's entirely possible in this canon.

Only Plachu seems opposed to the idea of being licked. And Cosmo is well on his way to becoming a mouse taxi when Keith calls on them to get moving, all four of them jumping up to board the pup's back.]

Oh. [Said like this is the first time she thought about this as anything other than just a friendly get together, but she doesn't make any commentary right away, instead she matches pace with Keith, hands tucked behind her back,] ...What sort of things do you not want to say over the network?

[marmoron]

For starters it's probably better not to say anything that challenges the status quo of how the administration of Daybreak handles its affairs.

[quintessent]

[She hums thoughtfully, thinking back to their conversation before, and what sparked the sudden interest in coffee in the first place.] Then you don’t trust this school’s administration?

[It’s not a judgmental statement, but her voice is measured, her expression serious. If Keith has reason to doubt them, then she wants to know about it.]

[marmoron]

It's complicated.

[It's also not a conversation he really starts until they've cleared the Lumi dorms and start heading outside. Cosmo takes the lead, scampering up with the mice on his back. He frowns, clearly picking his words carefully.]

The higher ups aren't transparent about what's going on. You've heard about the Herald of Nightfall, right? We were told maybe a week before he showed up in Australia that we would need to prepare for battle. Apparently that's when the High Seer's visions were clearest.

[Arms folding across his chest, he continues walking, dropping his voice whenever he spots a faculty member passing by.]

I know Sight is powerful magic, but visions can be misinterpreted or missed entirely. But besides that, it seems like we're not really being told the full story. Or at least, it doesn't seem like any real effort is going into trying to talk to the Outlanders who want Nightfall to come. I think they owe us answers, but they're not giving them to us. That's why I don't fully trust them.

[A beat.]

...Well, that and I don't know how far they're willing to go to keep the secrecy clause intact.

[quintessent]

[Keeping pace beside him, Allura stays quiet for the whole thing, face attentive and her expression occasionally pinching in concern at what he's bringing up. She's heard a little about the Herald, and what happened to the land known as Australia by now (it was hard not to, even for the short time she's been on campus). There was a lot of it that set wrong with her, but she's been reserving judgement for the time being, until she understood more. But listening to Keith now, she has no reason to argue with his doubts, although one thing catches her interest,]

You should be careful about the Outlanders that seek the Nightfall. [Her voice is deadly serious,] They are incredibly dangerous, especially for humans.

[Maybe this is an unfair generalization. But her people spent years fighting back against those groups. She doesn't think it's a coincidence that her people are gone now.]