This had been boring, the travel back had been boring so far.
She had vague memories of almost a year back when they arrived and had that dramatic encounter with the customs officer who had been overly aggressive. So she had hyped herself to fight back any and all allegations thrown her way.
What did she get?
"Do you have anything to declare on your person or in a [Skill]?" A female customs officer asking her bland questions with a smile on her face, as if this was the most fun thing in the world to do.
"Nothing illegal as far as I know," Elizabeth answered as much trying to think if her [Appraisal] was high level enough to pierce her defenses.
It probably wasn't, if the woman had been using any kind of skill to grease the social gears, then the thing must be over-leveled, a mild non-invasive [Appraisal] had returned [Civil Servant] as her approximate [Job].
No level attached nor a name to go by, just that as brackets over the customs officer, "I will now use a skill called [Detect Illegal object], this will send a mana wave into any [Skill] that you have active." But this was the same as before, the only real difference being that the skill was enforced by the [System] and not enforced by an artifact.
What had happened with all of those things anyway?
Maybe that was part of the reason the [System] had purged the Saintsworths from the world? Since most of their things had been replaced by this System. She would need to ask to someone who knew more about this kind of thing...
Sadly, she didn't know anyone like that anymore, she could maybe be that someone if she took most of the [Skills] that Alexanders had left for her...But she wasn't inclined to follow after him, nor after Chloe's fight style.
She would use some of what they left of course, but that would depend on what she did with her life. "And done, you are clear to move, please wait your turn and the prompt from the [Mage - Traveler] on site." The customs officer said to her and signaled for her to move.
No mention at all about her level, no mention about her [Job], nothing. Not even a passing comment about anything at all, just another day for that woman, it had been a nice gesture for them to send them to a woman, but she guessed that was more on Rossie's side to keep her happy.
She had heard some of the other lines and it seems that particular type of job granted access to some [Skills] that allowed them to scan and see through objects, she could imagine how those skills could be abused by some of the less...Honorable members of society.
So she understood why the people at the top would make sure a woman was the one looking after two potentially dangerous (Really, only Rossie was dangerous here) [Metahumans], not that only man could abuse a skill like that.
She wouldn't mind having one of those to look from time to time at Rossie...Maybe she could build a spell like that? But the [Formulae] to make sure she could modulate how many layers to penetrate....And to keep the wavelength weak enough that it could pretend to be ambient mana...
"What are you thinking so hard about Eli-Eli?" A voice from her side asked her, bringing her out of her musings.
"Oh nothing hard, was designing a new spell to..." She started answering on reflex while turning her head towards the voice and stopping at a smiling pink-haired girl.
She was dressed in a simple summer dress with some hearts and flowers, a cute bag hanging at her side, and a ridiculously big hat on her head, really no normal human would need such a ridiculously big hat?
"A new spell to...?" The other girl asked showing too much interest in her spell.
That was bad, she had somehow managed to keep their relationship at a steady [Let's see how things work while we know each other more, and only flirt from time to time] for now, but Rossie had an insatiable hunger for more...
And Elizabeth wasn't sure if she could manage to keep the girl under control when she found out that she liked to imagine her under...Dressed on...Questionable styles...Or without said clothes.
"Oh...You know, this and that..." So she would try to not describe too much about her spell. "...A new application to a wave type offensive spell to modulate the amount of..."
And do what she did best!
Make something simple overly complex!
"I see..." Rossie said while listening to her, she even brought a notepad!
"...And make it resonate with the target to see how dense it is to get a better picture of how many magical or mundane defenses are and make it easier to modulate any future attack..." Elizabeth was running out of ideas to make it sound like something else!
This wouldn't be a problem if Rossie was dumb...BUT SHE WASN'T!
CURSE YOU CREATORS! WHY DID YOU MAKE ROSSIE CUTE, GOOD-LOOKING, SMART, HOT, AND LOVELY!?!?
"So you are making an X-Ray spell?" In the end, Rossie asked that, stopping her from making further excuses.
"Ooooh, that would make my spell so much simpler!" Elizabeth pretended to not notice the hidden glint in Rossie's eyes. "You are a time savior Rossie! This will save so much time from my design phase now!"
"Happy to help!" Rossie said, "By the way, a vast majority of [Mages] and [Sorcerers] have tried to do the same, but they haven't managed to get a functioning spell to only target clothing, either normal or magical. Well, they managed to penetrate the outer defense but the [Magical Girls] always feel the invasion, and those [Mages] end up exiled. So don't use it on any other girls."
And with that, she started walking towards one of the reception areas "I will go and register us as arrived, the customs officer should have done that already, but I like to make sure." And walked away.
Leaving her awkwardly standing there, "...Elizabeth seems to have retained some level of airhead level..." hearing Rossie write that on her notepad as she walked away.
She wasn't sure if she should be happy about Rossie believing her...Or disappointed in herself for making the pink-haired girl think she had some levels of the same brainfarts former Elizabeth had.
She decided to shove that idea in the dark recess of her [Soulscape]'s Loci area, the part that only she could access and was secure. That way she would have something to distract herself with while bored in class... That part of her [Soulscape] was growing more than she expected, unlike before when she could browse a PC within the [Soulscape] and install new spells...
She now needed to create the formula, design the magic circle, and test them, so she needed to work much more, at least she seemed to have some degree of talent in that, and her mana manipulation was getting her a nice boost in that.
"Starbright, Singh. Please get to Portal [27]." Said a message on the speakers.
She quickly grabbed her handbag and Rossie's handbag and walked towards the same reception desk the pink-haired girl had walked, she didn't make it far, as halfway through she managed to see the big summer hat. "Let's go Eli-Eli, I managed to get us the spot of a no-show." Said Rossie, she probably bribed someone with a delayed Heal spell or something.
Not that she minded it, she didn't want to stay longer than necessary in this area, too much human activity around meant too much heat, and she loathed the idea of getting sweaty again. Unlike Rossie's summer dress, she was on a pair of jeans and a normal blouse with a jacket.
And nothing on her ensemble was good on the breathing front, she looked nice on it though, and that was enough for her, she needed to look nice for Rossie after all.
"Are you familiar with long-range teleport?" Asked a [Mage] in front of a magical circle.
She eyed the circle critically, her new mastery over the thing pinging the back of her mind, the thing...Wasn't the best, it would work, but...
"Yes, this isn't the first one we have used." Answered Rossie giving the [Mage] a ticket, it had a date on it...The day the mid-terms started.
"That does not count, these aren't spells designed by [Spell-Nodes] nor can be tested in a [Soulscape] to make sure, they are enforced by the [System] so they work. But since no one takes the [Long-Distance Teleport] skill, these depend on multiple skills to work...So they can be...Jarring." Answered the [Mage] while powering up the magic circle.
So that's the reason she got such an... An odd reaction from the magic circle, her knowledge about [Magic Circles] told her that thing shouldn't work, and her knowledge about [Mana Manipulation] told her that thing was wasting mana.
"What should we expect?" Asked Rossie to the [Mage], he seemed tired enough, and annoyed as he pretended to not hear the pink-haired girl's question.
But before Rossie attempted again "Disorientation, dizziness, mild pain...Blindness...? Why would this thing make anyone blind?" Elizabeth said while thinking about the side effects of an overcharged space-aligned magic circle, and making mental calculations on how the formulae behind the magic circle in front of her could discharge.
The [Mage] however seemed mildly annoyed at her, "So you have traveled on one of the most recent ones...We aren't sure on why most of those effects work, the blindness comes from overcharge on the light spectrum and the quick change in the coordinates...We think." But he still answered her.
Rossie who knew she hadn't traveled in one of these in the last half of a year just arched one eyebrow in her direction, "I am just reading the [Magic Circle] using my skill...That thing got botched in a few spots so it has terrible discharging issues..." So she answered while pointing to some spots on the thing.
The [Mage] however perked at that "Can you point them?" Asking her while siphoning the mana back out of the magic circle.
So she was happy to oblige, anything to make Rossie's travels easier was a win on her book. Was she standing out?
She didn't care!
She would stand out enough already from being a [Transfer Student] anyway!
And winning a stacked match against her? Well, that would make her stand out as a sore thumb either way!
She would not allow anyone to see Rossie puke her guts out in a summer dress!
That was beyond the question! No one would ever see Rossie in a bad light if she could help it!
So yes, she stood out while she went methodically fixing the magic circle. Yes, she made sure the thing was functional enough. And No, she did not fix any other circle and even warned the supervisor who came to try and make her fix the others about how she would make everyone arrive at the wrong side of the planet if they nulled their travel rights.
So in the end the magic circle she fixed turned into a [VIP - Only] magic circle, and they would be the first ones to test it. "Prepare for [Mana Discharge]." And so the [Mage] announced as they walked into the magic circle.
The thing now was totally different than before, it was a beautiful display of mana fractals drawn within geometrically impossible flowers, did she need to make it this overly complex?
No, she didn't need to do it like this. Did she try to make it look this complex to show off to Rossie? Yes.
"Love the last sight you got us Eli-Eli." Said Rossie while the mana started to grow more and more, making the circle discharge blue and pink light.
More decorations she had put on the thing, she doubted many [VIP] would like to teleport away in the middle of a dance of pink and blue lights, but she didn't care.
"Happy to help." And so she answered to Rossie.
"[Discharge]." And they got bathed in a flash of light.
"[Confirmed], Travelers landed on site. No mana leakage...No abnormal symptoms on our side...Travelers look okay." Another [Mage] was speaking into a magic circle on its side, they threw a couple of diagnosis magic circles their way for a few seconds.
At least till they annoyed her enough that she actively started stopping them using her own [Magic Circle] and [Mana Manipulation] skills on them, that was good enough to make them stop as she was actively destroying any good data they could get.
And since half of what they were doing wasn't part of travel regulations..."They can't complain about it, nice job Eli-Eli." They managed to leave the place fast enough.
"Any way to make you create another...?" Not fast enough to dodge a [Manager] wanting to get a copy of the magic circle she designed on [Camelot] though.
"This is an approximate cost, I only accept transfers and will work on it [After] you pay in full. No refunds unless you want me to activate a delayed sub-magic circle that would destroy the thing...Mid function." Elizabeth answered as such while passing an honestly too-expensive bill.
But since she no longer had money..."We will consider it...Welcome to [Nexus], your [Teleport] to the MPI is ready...This way." Well, they could always call her if they decided that they too wanted one of her designs.
Not that they needed it that badly, this close to a central for teleports?
Yeah, they had dedicated [Mage-Space] around to go, so unlike the most common travel spots they could do without her [Designs].
"So...Why did we arrive here instead of the MPI?" Elizabeth asked her pink-haired companion.
"Most teleport points redirect to a [Nexus] and then to the actual spot, no one can just...Teleport into a school like the MPI." Answered Rossie back, weird...Didn't she... "Unless you have some serious backing, we will be here for at least half an hour till they give us clearance and then teleport to the reception at the MPI."
"Oh...Okay then...So...Do we have anything fun to do around while we wait...?" Elizabeth decided to not speak more about the subject.
They couldn't do anything about her previous way to go to the MPI anyway, [Mother] never shared any of her spells with her besides basic knowledge about what she had deemed to call [Tropes]. A way she liked to use to categorize how some [Worlds] worked.
"Nothing much, we can only wait...Really, did you forget what you did the last year?" Rossie joked at her, "No one will believe you studied here like that."
"I can't do anything about it...I really don't know anything about [Nexus]...Last year...Was different." Elizabeth said in a low voice.
It really was, last year she had hoped to not awake anything, to go to the normal side of the school. Instead, she turned to have both [Magic] and [Skills], then got ostracized by almost every member with power in the school...
Probably a side effect to her [Taint] now that she knew about the thing, and it was also the likely reason [Mother] had teleported her straight to the school, she could only imagine what they would have done to make her arrival harder if she had ever set a foot here.
"Oh...Sorry...Do you...?" Rossie apologized to her, probably thinking she had touched a bad memory or a soft spot.
"It's okay, [Mother] would get mad at me for being hung up on the past anyway," Elizabeth said, she was mildly annoyed that she couldn't even say their names out loud before the [System] censored them and parsed them using [Idea].
Not that she ever used them aloud...But she would love to be able to use other variations while talking about them. "And really, at least this will be closer to a first impression, better to get the whole package...And besides, I have you around to cheer me up!" Elizabeth smiled while hugging the pink-haired cute thing at her side.
Was she using cheering herself up as an excuse to snuggle Rossie? Yes.
This was definitely on the side of using a sad backstory as an excuse to snuggle the girl she liked, "As long as you are okay Eli-Eli..." She of course couldn't miss the sad undertone of Rossie as the girl answered her both with her words and her body, snuggling at her back.
But that was okay, she wasn't sad, she was starting again all of this again, from the beginning. Something not many got a chance to do, something that was granted to her at the sacrifice of others.
So she would do it, and maybe at some point, she would be able to speak her mind and perhaps raise a couple of complaints towards her [Parents] about how they did things.
But for now?
"Elizabeth Starbright, Rossalina Signh...Please come to the reception desk, we are ready for you." For now, she would move forward and prepare for her test.
"Let's go, Rossie, the school awaits." The test was finally here.
Or the first part of a test she hoped, she got the feeling that she had been going about this for quite some time after all.
This had been boring, the travel back had been boring so far.
She had vague memories of almost a year back when they arrived and had that dramatic encounter with the customs officer who had been overly aggressive. So she had hyped herself to fight back any and all allegations thrown her way.
What did she get?
"Do you have anything to declare on your person or in a [Skill]?" A female customs officer asking her bland questions with a smile on her face, as if this was the most fun thing in the world to do.
"Nothing illegal as far as I know," Elizabeth answered as much trying to think if her [Appraisal] was high level enough to pierce her defenses.
It probably wasn't, if the woman had been using any kind of skill to grease the social gears, then the thing must be over-leveled, a mild non-invasive [Appraisal] had returned [Civil Servant] as her approximate [Job].
No level attached nor a name to go by, just that as brackets over the customs officer, "I will now use a skill called [Detect Illegal object], this will send a mana wave into any [Skill] that you have active." But this was the same as before, the only real difference being that the skill was enforced by the [System] and not enforced by an artifact.
What had happened with all of those things anyway?
Maybe that was part of the reason the [System] had purged the Saintsworths from the world? Since most of their things had been replaced by this System. She would need to ask to someone who knew more about this kind of thing...
Sadly, she didn't know anyone like that anymore, she could maybe be that someone if she took most of the [Skills] that Alexanders had left for her...But she wasn't inclined to follow after him, nor after Chloe's fight style.
She would use some of what they left of course, but that would depend on what she did with her life. "And done, you are clear to move, please wait your turn and the prompt from the [Mage - Traveler] on site." The customs officer said to her and signaled for her to move.
No mention at all about her level, no mention about her [Job], nothing. Not even a passing comment about anything at all, just another day for that woman, it had been a nice gesture for them to send them to a woman, but she guessed that was more on Rossie's side to keep her happy.
She had heard some of the other lines and it seems that particular type of job granted access to some [Skills] that allowed them to scan and see through objects, she could imagine how those skills could be abused by some of the less...Honorable members of society.
So she understood why the people at the top would make sure a woman was the one looking after two potentially dangerous (Really, only Rossie was dangerous here) [Metahumans], not that only man could abuse a skill like that.
She wouldn't mind having one of those to look from time to time at Rossie...Maybe she could build a spell like that? But the [Formulae] to make sure she could modulate how many layers to penetrate....And to keep the wavelength weak enough that it could pretend to be ambient mana...
"What are you thinking so hard about Eli-Eli?" A voice from her side asked her, bringing her out of her musings.
"Oh nothing hard, was designing a new spell to..." She started answering on reflex while turning her head towards the voice and stopping at a smiling pink-haired girl.
She was dressed in a simple summer dress with some hearts and flowers, a cute bag hanging at her side, and a ridiculously big hat on her head, really no normal human would need such a ridiculously big hat?
"A new spell to...?" The other girl asked showing too much interest in her spell.
That was bad, she had somehow managed to keep their relationship at a steady [Let's see how things work while we know each other more, and only flirt from time to time] for now, but Rossie had an insatiable hunger for more...
And Elizabeth wasn't sure if she could manage to keep the girl under control when she found out that she liked to imagine her under...Dressed on...Questionable styles...Or without said clothes.
"Oh...You know, this and that..." So she would try to not describe too much about her spell. "...A new application to a wave type offensive spell to modulate the amount of..."
And do what she did best!
Make something simple overly complex!
"I see..." Rossie said while listening to her, she even brought a notepad!
"...And make it resonate with the target to see how dense it is to get a better picture of how many magical or mundane defenses are and make it easier to modulate any future attack..." Elizabeth was running out of ideas to make it sound like something else!
This wouldn't be a problem if Rossie was dumb...BUT SHE WASN'T!
CURSE YOU CREATORS! WHY DID YOU MAKE ROSSIE CUTE, GOOD-LOOKING, SMART, HOT, AND LOVELY!?!?
"So you are making an X-Ray spell?" In the end, Rossie asked that, stopping her from making further excuses.
"Ooooh, that would make my spell so much simpler!" Elizabeth pretended to not notice the hidden glint in Rossie's eyes. "You are a time savior Rossie! This will save so much time from my design phase now!"
"Happy to help!" Rossie said, "By the way, a vast majority of [Mages] and [Sorcerers] have tried to do the same, but they haven't managed to get a functioning spell to only target clothing, either normal or magical. Well, they managed to penetrate the outer defense but the [Magical Girls] always feel the invasion, and those [Mages] end up exiled. So don't use it on any other girls."
And with that, she started walking towards one of the reception areas "I will go and register us as arrived, the customs officer should have done that already, but I like to make sure." And walked away.
Leaving her awkwardly standing there, "...Elizabeth seems to have retained some level of airhead level..." hearing Rossie write that on her notepad as she walked away.
She wasn't sure if she should be happy about Rossie believing her...Or disappointed in herself for making the pink-haired girl think she had some levels of the same brainfarts former Elizabeth had.
She decided to shove that idea in the dark recess of her [Soulscape]'s Loci area, the part that only she could access and was secure. That way she would have something to distract herself with while bored in class... That part of her [Soulscape] was growing more than she expected, unlike before when she could browse a PC within the [Soulscape] and install new spells...
She now needed to create the formula, design the magic circle, and test them, so she needed to work much more, at least she seemed to have some degree of talent in that, and her mana manipulation was getting her a nice boost in that.
"Starbright, Singh. Please get to Portal [27]." Said a message on the speakers.
She quickly grabbed her handbag and Rossie's handbag and walked towards the same reception desk the pink-haired girl had walked, she didn't make it far, as halfway through she managed to see the big summer hat. "Let's go Eli-Eli, I managed to get us the spot of a no-show." Said Rossie, she probably bribed someone with a delayed Heal spell or something.
Not that she minded it, she didn't want to stay longer than necessary in this area, too much human activity around meant too much heat, and she loathed the idea of getting sweaty again. Unlike Rossie's summer dress, she was on a pair of jeans and a normal blouse with a jacket.
And nothing on her ensemble was good on the breathing front, she looked nice on it though, and that was enough for her, she needed to look nice for Rossie after all.
"Are you familiar with long-range teleport?" Asked a [Mage] in front of a magical circle.
She eyed the circle critically, her new mastery over the thing pinging the back of her mind, the thing...Wasn't the best, it would work, but...
"Yes, this isn't the first one we have used." Answered Rossie giving the [Mage] a ticket, it had a date on it...The day the mid-terms started.
"That does not count, these aren't spells designed by [Spell-Nodes] nor can be tested in a [Soulscape] to make sure, they are enforced by the [System] so they work. But since no one takes the [Long-Distance Teleport] skill, these depend on multiple skills to work...So they can be...Jarring." Answered the [Mage] while powering up the magic circle.
So that's the reason she got such an... An odd reaction from the magic circle, her knowledge about [Magic Circles] told her that thing shouldn't work, and her knowledge about [Mana Manipulation] told her that thing was wasting mana.
"What should we expect?" Asked Rossie to the [Mage], he seemed tired enough, and annoyed as he pretended to not hear the pink-haired girl's question.
But before Rossie attempted again "Disorientation, dizziness, mild pain...Blindness...? Why would this thing make anyone blind?" Elizabeth said while thinking about the side effects of an overcharged space-aligned magic circle, and making mental calculations on how the formulae behind the magic circle in front of her could discharge.
The [Mage] however seemed mildly annoyed at her, "So you have traveled on one of the most recent ones...We aren't sure on why most of those effects work, the blindness comes from overcharge on the light spectrum and the quick change in the coordinates...We think." But he still answered her.
Rossie who knew she hadn't traveled in one of these in the last half of a year just arched one eyebrow in her direction, "I am just reading the [Magic Circle] using my skill...That thing got botched in a few spots so it has terrible discharging issues..." So she answered while pointing to some spots on the thing.
The [Mage] however perked at that "Can you point them?" Asking her while siphoning the mana back out of the magic circle.
So she was happy to oblige, anything to make Rossie's travels easier was a win on her book. Was she standing out?
She didn't care!
She would stand out enough already from being a [Transfer Student] anyway!
And winning a stacked match against her? Well, that would make her stand out as a sore thumb either way!
She would not allow anyone to see Rossie puke her guts out in a summer dress!
That was beyond the question! No one would ever see Rossie in a bad light if she could help it!
So yes, she stood out while she went methodically fixing the magic circle. Yes, she made sure the thing was functional enough. And No, she did not fix any other circle and even warned the supervisor who came to try and make her fix the others about how she would make everyone arrive at the wrong side of the planet if they nulled their travel rights.
So in the end the magic circle she fixed turned into a [VIP - Only] magic circle, and they would be the first ones to test it. "Prepare for [Mana Discharge]." And so the [Mage] announced as they walked into the magic circle.
The thing now was totally different than before, it was a beautiful display of mana fractals drawn within geometrically impossible flowers, did she need to make it this overly complex?
No, she didn't need to do it like this. Did she try to make it look this complex to show off to Rossie? Yes.
"Love the last sight you got us Eli-Eli." Said Rossie while the mana started to grow more and more, making the circle discharge blue and pink light.
More decorations she had put on the thing, she doubted many [VIP] would like to teleport away in the middle of a dance of pink and blue lights, but she didn't care.
"Happy to help." And so she answered to Rossie.
"[Discharge]." And they got bathed in a flash of light.
"[Confirmed], Travelers landed on site. No mana leakage...No abnormal symptoms on our side...Travelers look okay." Another [Mage] was speaking into a magic circle on its side, they threw a couple of diagnosis magic circles their way for a few seconds.
At least till they annoyed her enough that she actively started stopping them using her own [Magic Circle] and [Mana Manipulation] skills on them, that was good enough to make them stop as she was actively destroying any good data they could get.
And since half of what they were doing wasn't part of travel regulations..."They can't complain about it, nice job Eli-Eli." They managed to leave the place fast enough.
"Any way to make you create another...?" Not fast enough to dodge a [Manager] wanting to get a copy of the magic circle she designed on [Camelot] though.
"This is an approximate cost, I only accept transfers and will work on it [After] you pay in full. No refunds unless you want me to activate a delayed sub-magic circle that would destroy the thing...Mid function." Elizabeth answered as such while passing an honestly too-expensive bill.
But since she no longer had money..."We will consider it...Welcome to [Nexus], your [Teleport] to the MPI is ready...This way." Well, they could always call her if they decided that they too wanted one of her designs.
Not that they needed it that badly, this close to a central for teleports?
Yeah, they had dedicated [Mage-Space] around to go, so unlike the most common travel spots they could do without her [Designs].
"So...Why did we arrive here instead of the MPI?" Elizabeth asked her pink-haired companion.
"Most teleport points redirect to a [Nexus] and then to the actual spot, no one can just...Teleport into a school like the MPI." Answered Rossie back, weird...Didn't she... "Unless you have some serious backing, we will be here for at least half an hour till they give us clearance and then teleport to the reception at the MPI."
"Oh...Okay then...So...Do we have anything fun to do around while we wait...?" Elizabeth decided to not speak more about the subject.
They couldn't do anything about her previous way to go to the MPI anyway, [Mother] never shared any of her spells with her besides basic knowledge about what she had deemed to call [Tropes]. A way she liked to use to categorize how some [Worlds] worked.
"Nothing much, we can only wait...Really, did you forget what you did the last year?" Rossie joked at her, "No one will believe you studied here like that."
"I can't do anything about it...I really don't know anything about [Nexus]...Last year...Was different." Elizabeth said in a low voice.
It really was, last year she had hoped to not awake anything, to go to the normal side of the school. Instead, she turned to have both [Magic] and [Skills], then got ostracized by almost every member with power in the school...
Probably a side effect to her [Taint] now that she knew about the thing, and it was also the likely reason [Mother] had teleported her straight to the school, she could only imagine what they would have done to make her arrival harder if she had ever set a foot here.
"Oh...Sorry...Do you...?" Rossie apologized to her, probably thinking she had touched a bad memory or a soft spot.
"It's okay, [Mother] would get mad at me for being hung up on the past anyway," Elizabeth said, she was mildly annoyed that she couldn't even say their names out loud before the [System] censored them and parsed them using [Idea].
Not that she ever used them aloud...But she would love to be able to use other variations while talking about them. "And really, at least this will be closer to a first impression, better to get the whole package...And besides, I have you around to cheer me up!" Elizabeth smiled while hugging the pink-haired cute thing at her side.
Was she using cheering herself up as an excuse to snuggle Rossie? Yes.
This was definitely on the side of using a sad backstory as an excuse to snuggle the girl she liked, "As long as you are okay Eli-Eli..." She of course couldn't miss the sad undertone of Rossie as the girl answered her both with her words and her body, snuggling at her back.
But that was okay, she wasn't sad, she was starting again all of this again, from the beginning. Something not many got a chance to do, something that was granted to her at the sacrifice of others.
So she would do it, and maybe at some point, she would be able to speak her mind and perhaps raise a couple of complaints towards her [Parents] about how they did things.
But for now?
"Elizabeth Starbright, Rossalina Signh...Please come to the reception desk, we are ready for you." For now, she would move forward and prepare for her test.
"Let's go, Rossie, the school awaits." The test was finally here.
Or the first part of a test she hoped, she got the feeling that she had been going about this for quite some time after all.
