Cosmic Illumination - JRPGesque Space Magic Academy

Your name is Theoxena Tarasotis and right now you're going monster hunting!

Wait, that makes you sound too excited. You're not really that excited about monster hunting. You're, um, actually a little teensy-bit scared about fighting monsters. They always have sharp teeth and claws and radioactive breath and all those sorts of dangerous features so going up against them with just a pointy trident (you call it Three-Pointer - it wasn't called Three-Pointer two months ago but everyone else gives their weapons a cool name so you thought of one because you think basketball's pretty neat!) and all the water magic you kind of (sort of) learnt from your yiayia isn't helping you feel very confident about your chances. Even when you try and remind yourself that you've fought and killed monsters before you know that "past performance is no guarantee of future results" or whatever it is that your big sis keeps saying when you ask her about her day job so even if you beat up one flying rodent thing one day you'll be eaten by the giant centipede of the next day! And you nearly did get eaten by a giant centipede! It looked gross and weirdly human and sometimes when you're in the shower you remember that feeling of hanging upside-down and the sound of its cries and that gaping slimy maw and being dunked straight into -

"Do you, um, fight monsters a lot, Sieg?" you chirp.

Sieghild Scylding, your first friend here on Aniša, glances briefly back at you. She's leading the way to the closest city gate because she has a map on her and you don't.

"Only ... infrequently," she replies, and you can already feel that giant bundle of panic and anxiety slinking back into its hiding place with her every word. "Given your question though, I suppose we can be relative amateurs together."

She gives a wry smile at that. It's a nice smile. It's not the biggest one or anything but you think it's kind of ... um ... nice (even your own brain's bad at word-ing). You don't think she gets to smile much - in the week since you've known her she's mostly just, um, gone about things (most of the time) pretty stoically and formally and quietly and you're not judging her because of that but ... well ... you don't actually know where you're going with that. You think there was something about her smile that you wanted to talk about but you just have to face up to the fact that you kind of forgot.

Because you're thinking about a smile? A smile on someone's face? It might be a stretch but you think you could get something out of that!

You're not going to tell it to Sieghild because you think it's weird and creepy and maybe unwarranted to just blurt a pun at her out of the blue. And she wouldn't have the context and you think that telling her you're thinking about her smile is definitely creepy.

"Theoxena? Is something wrong?"

"Oh, um, I'm thinking of a joke," you answer automatically.

"... Likely a terrible one?"

"You think all my jokes are bad!"

Sieghild shakes her head and sighs. "You put far too much stock in punning."

You pout. "Well I think they're fun."

"... Mhm."

You know Sieghild doesn't think your puns are funny. You, um, disagree with her about that but you also know that a lot of people don't really like them either. Well, Melissa does but she always takes a few minutes to get them and it's not as funny anymore. Because timing is absolutely key to comedy and if you lose that even the best material will definitely fall flat. Sieghild always understands immediately (you can tell because her eyes always do that exact same thing where they go flat and blank and stare off into the distance) but she'll always say they're bad or sometimes pretend that she's busy thinking about something else. It's nice that she listens to them, though. And doesn't tell you to stop. You don't know if she was just being polite when she told you she didn't find them offensive but even if it's a lie you're ... um, glad that she said that at least.

But it's really rude of you to think she's lying about that! You've only known her for a week tops but you're sure she wouldn't lie about your jokes. She can be surly and dishonest and sometimes says really hurtful things but that wasn't a lie ... you think. Well, you're kind of ... um ... bad at finding liars anyway so even if she was lying (and she was definitely not) it wouldn't change a thing, right?

Just thinking about it is affecting you enough that even Sieghild notices that you're really obviously distracted by something though.

"Is there something else, Theoxena?" she asks, with that slight pause she always does. "... Do you want to head back?"

There's a hint of concern in her blue eyes and while you appreciate that she cares it's kind of a bit awkward.

"Oh, um, no ..." You're stammering again. This always happens! "Sorry."

You don't want to hold people back, right?

"... If it's the prospect of fighting monsters ..." Sieghild takes in a short, sharp breath. You think she does that to bolster her confidence but you're not really sure. "I admit that it ... doesn't, ah, elicit the best of memories for me either."

Even though she's completely off the mark about what you're thinking of it's still reassuring! Sometimes it's really hard to read Sieghild (and really easy at other times!) and you're never absolutely sure what's going on in her brain so it's ... nice that she's trying to be friendly like that! It's good. Because she's your friend and you want to be open with her and she's definitely right about the monsters being scary because they're all powered and mutated by cosmic stuff in ways you don't really remember because you were, um, doodling in your notes instead of listening during that class and that means they can eat both of you alive! You hope they don't eat you alive but both you and Sieghild aren't monster fighting experts so it's still a real possibility!

Wait, but being a Cosmodriver means being a monster fighting expert! Well like Sieghild said both of you are still amateurs at the whole monster fighting thing right now so you think it's still okay to be a small fry for now? You drop a hand into your pocket to squeeze a little on your charm. Maybe? You think that logic's a bit fishy (didn't you already use this joke?) and it's making your cowlick twist in knots because you think you're getting off track again, but, um, everybody has to start somewhere, and even if this sun's not your Sun its shine will still protect you while you try to get the hang of things, right?

"We can do it!" you say reassuringly, giving her a thumbs-up. You're not actually sure if you're reassuring yourself or Sieghild but you're you and she's really fast with a sword. She could probably beat lesser monsters like fish with legs or those weird plant things you see around campus sometimes easily while you help out a little by poking things a few times. "You, um, wanted to get better at it, right? It'll be fine, I can keep up!"

Sieghild smiles again and have you mentioned that you like it when she smiles? She doesn't seem that surly and sad when she does it.

"Then I'll have to impose on you, sorry," she says, and then the two of you are off again on the quest to hunt monsters!

You're still not that excited about that, but this means Sieghild isn't worrying herself over you and you guess you, um, do want to improve a little bit too so next time she doesn't feel like she needs to apologise for bringing you along. Besides, saying 'sorry' is your thing, not hers!


Your name is Sieghild Scylding, and currently, you feel mildly uncomfortable.

There's a niggling sensation at the back of your mind, a dull thrum of unease that absolutely refuses to go away. Ignoring it doesn't work. Neither does thinking about anything else. No matter how hard you try, it just will not wane in the slightest. Even focusing on the forest trail before you is proving to be an annoyance, because the feeling is unceasingly prodding away at the edge of your consciousness, like a stubborn little itch that you simply cannot be rid of.

Because it is the environment itself that irritates you. It is the bizarre foliage that surrounds you, violet and leafy, hiding the unnaturally twisted branches that threaten to poke out the eyes of the incautious. It is the buzzing of the strange, overgrown insects, a stark reminder that their disgusting visages and great, dusty wings lie in wait amongst the trees to menace you. It is the very air, sizzling with cosmic power, so much so that you could probably taste it on the tip of your tongue.

You ... don't really enjoy being in a monster system. No less one that reminds you of your misadventure the week before. This small patch of forest just down the hillside from one of Šapinuwa's gates isn't the ravine where you made a complete and utter fool of yourself, and there are no strange cave systems in sight, but the tangible energy of everything is just too similar! It's not like you were expecting the flora and fauna around the city to radically change depending on the terrace of the plateau - it's perfectly logical for the environment to remain unchanged, even with magic involved - but ... this is just ... just so irritating.

You take in a deep breath.

It must have resembled a sigh, because behind you, Theoxena voices a note of concern.

"Sieg?"

"... It's nothing," you reply.

You simply have to overcome that feeling. In the first place, it was your suggestion to go hunting for monsters. To be repelled by ... anxiety ... over some bad memories ... you find that utterly unacceptable. Especially when you had brought Theoxena along as well. You don't know if she really is entirely fine with the situation, but even so, you have a responsibility to answer her determination! It would be improper of somebody of your position and name to let her down. The very height of disgrace!

That's why you must acclimate yourself to this. You have to ignore the gross squelching of wet, packed clay beneath your boots. You have to ignore the weird animals that pop their strange, rectangular heads out from nearby bushes because they want to eat some disgusting insect flying past them or whatnot. You cannot be allowed to stew and wallow in your own misery and irritation, not if you want to improve yourself as a warrior, and take another small step along this path you chose.

Besides, it's entirely expected that a Cosmodriver should have no issue with these creatures. You can definitely move past a measly bad experience with a monster system in one city on one planet! Not simply because you have no other choice, but because you can absolutely push through whatever difficulty Šapinuwa throws at you.

A bush rustles ahead of you.

Energy crackles. Your gleaming blade rips through the air.

"Look, it's just me! Not really a monster or that kind of thing!"

Behind the bush, Santa-ziti slowly peeks his head up over the blue leaves, large grey eyes looking mildly panicked. You slowly lower your sword, releasing a sigh that you didn't realise you had been holding. Just Santa-ziti. Not ... not that you would have been worried if it was a monster or anything. You could have definitely handled one, and is it not perfectly natural to bring out a weapon in case of danger? You certainly weren't frightened of anything that could have possibly been lying in wait in that harmless bush.

"That uh, kind of scared me," says the brown-haired boy as he rises to his feet. You notice that he's holding a large bundle of flowers in his arms. "You're really fast on the ..."

He pauses mid-sentence, mouth open. His eyes clench shut.

"Sorry, give me a sec." Santa-ziti's voice suddenly sounds rather nasal. Is he ... trying to hold back a sneeze? "Got a face full of ... pollen."

"Allergies?" Theoxena asks, stepping up to your side.

"I ... wouldn't be ... carrying these flowers ... if I did ... have them!" He lets out a gasp for air, then shakes his head. "This bush just, uh ... sucks."

If you actually cared about the bush itself, you would probably find his explanation more than a little half-hearted. The somewhat awkward and shy expression he wears suggests that your classmate is thinking the exact same thing. However, that isn't particularly important to you. You instead focus on his actual presence here - Santa-ziti is dressed rather casually, donning a thin collared shirt over red inner-wear. It's very much similar to his style when in uniform: the shirt is unbuttoned, showing off his bare neck and the pink and silver pendant he always wears. The only real addition you observe is the small flower hair-clip in his fluffy hair.

You wonder if he should even be diving into bushes when wearing such thin fabrics. Really, did he not know how rough the branches here could be on his clothing?

... In that regard, you, ah, have some experience.

"You seem rather fond of flowers," you note mildly, noting the bundle of assorted specimens still in his arms. He's holding them very carefully, although you lack the proper knowledge to really judge. "Are you ... particularly familiar with those?"

"I wouldn't say I'm, uh, 'familiar', per se," Santa-ziti replies, trying to awkwardly rub his neck with a shoulder. "My dad's a florist. Obviously works all the time with them. So I guess flowers are, uh, something I have to know well."

"That's pretty neat!" says Theoxena. She pauses for a moment, then her blue eyes light up as if remembering something. "Oh, um, we saw you earlier today too! You were sleeping during breakfast in the cafeteria, right?"

"Hawawawawa?!"

The change is almost dramatic.

"You didn't see anything weird or me, uh, doing anything stupid, right?"

Santa-ziti's face is flush. He's clearly aware of it, because he's raised the bundle of flowers to try and block his embarrassed face from view. It isn't working at all, because you can still clearly make out from between the stems his blushing red cheeks, the distressed, averted eyes and his general flustered demeanour.

It's a very ... excessive reaction.

"Aie? Santa-ziti?" The emerald-haired girl beside you is at loss for words. "You were, um, just yawning over cereal?!"

He peeks briefly through the flowers. His shoulders are still hunched as if to hide, and red still colours his pouting face. "... You didn't see my, uh, sleeping face?"

"... Not really?"

The boy quietly breathes out a sigh of relief.

Really though, you don't particularly understand what brought on such a response. Personally, you find it somewhat of an overreaction for what seems to be a rather minor issue. It's almost unbecoming to become so flustered, and definitely not at all very dignified of him. Divinities know that you would certainly not want to act in such an unseemly manner had been you been in his position.

"Heh," you unconsciously let out.

For some reason, Theoxena slowly turns her gaze upon you.

"What is it?" you ask. You have absolutely no idea whatsoever why she would be looking in your direction.

"Um ..."

There's an undercurrent to that sound. As if she's attempting to imply something. Although what that would be, you certainly are not aware of.

"Uh, anyway!" Santa-ziti coughs deliberately, drawing your attention back to him. The blush is beginning to fade from his cheeks. "So I'm, uh, here because of the Gardening Club. What about you two?"

You can ... appreciate his attempt at diverting the conversation.

"We are here to, ah, hunt monsters," you reply. The answer is an obvious one, given the sword you wield and the trident currently sticking out of Theoxena's backpack.

Something occurs to you. Unlike the two of you, Santa-ziti carries no visible weapon on him. Yet despite that, he has wandered into a monster system solely for the purpose of ... gathering flowers? You have to question the logic of such a decision. It seems rather ... suspect.

"Are you alone?" you ask.

Santa-ziti sucks air in through his teeth. "Eeeeeeeehhhhhhhh ... uh, not really."

And Illuyanka immediately drops in from the sky, a dead monster in hand.

"Hey Santa!" she says in that obnoxiously cheerful manner of hers, and with her every word you can feel your mood slowly plummet. "You really don't wanna beat something up? Come on, they squish good! It'll be easy to get strong!"

The Antuhsas girl has completely failed to notice either you or Theoxena. Which is ... par for the course for her. You're well aware of her tendency to pay not even the slightest of attention whatsoever to her surroundings. She's so caught up in attempting to converse with Santa-ziti (who, for his part, appears to be remarkably unfazed by her ... dramatic and sudden arrival) and the bizarre, blocky carcass she's holding in one hand (its features frozen in anguished death) that her eyes have not even looked in your direction. It's behaviour that you can only describe as impolite and very much rude, but ... you're not sure if that particularly surprises you.

Still, you can only feel yourself growing increasingly exasperated at the sight of her. Her brainless yammering is not at all what you wanted to encounter here today.

Beside you, Theoxena seems to have worked through the shock of Illuyanka barging in, and is rapidly looking between the Antuhsas and Santa-ziti.

"Oh, um, are you two here together?"

"I wouldn't say we're 'together' uh, per se," Santa-ziti explains slowly. "We just happened to be ... going in the same direction."

You must admit that you really don't see any meaningful difference.

"... What?" he asks confusedly, when Theoxena gives him a look. "I'm uh, just here to collect flowers, and she's ..."

"This guy outside the temple was giving away twenty pizzas! Not big ones though." Illuyanka finally seems to take notice of you, showing off a wide grin full of teeth. "He said he wanted to trade boarlizards for them."

You assume that is the name for the dead creature she currently holds.

"That sounds suspicious," says Santa-ziti. "I'm not sure that someone uh, would give out twenty pizzas when they could just eat them all themselves."

"Don't worry, I saw the pizza already!" The girl flaps her wings. "You should trust people more, Santa."

A confused blink. "... Wait, but weren't you allergic to tomatoes?"

"Was I?"

Santa-ziti seems unable to answer that question. In fairness to him, you don't think you would have been able to either.

In any case, you have no stake whatsoever in the strange ... turn that this conversation has taken. Not that it really involved you in the first place. It's almost entirely orthogonal to your purpose here, even if Illuyanka did share a goal in hunting down monsters. And unlike her companion, she seems at least appropriately prepared for the part. Her outfit is even more casual than Santa-ziti's, consisting solely of a dark sleeveless shirt that shows off her arms and shoulders, plus a pair of simple shorts. Something that she can move far more easily in when compared to her uniform.

And the weapon she carries - you can barely recognise it as a sword. You don't actually have much of an interest in acknowledging it as an actual sword. It's more akin to an oversized chopper knife pretending to be something more dignified than it actually is. An uncomplicated hunk of metal.

It fits her.

"Say, wanna tag along?" Illuyanka asks suddenly, interrupting your musings. "You should be here for gains too, so we let's go smash things together! It'll be more fun!"

You:
[] Refuse. You have absolutely no desire to join in on Illuyanka's romp through this forest system when you can train more peacefully with Theoxena. How could this Antuhsas girl be able to make your training in any way more productive?
[] Accept. As much as you find her obnoxious, you aren't ... entirely opposed to at least seeing her in action. After all, given that she claimed to be the "strongest" when running for class representative, it behoves you to verify that claim. That's perfectly expected, no?