ercnerd | Catch-all: Rita

[When he came back from the so-called alternate universe, he did so covered in rainbow-colored paint.

It's later in the night now, and Sieghart descends the stairs into the common room, dressed in the dress shirt and pants of his campus-assigned school uniform. His hair is damp and no longer caked in paint. With a heavy sigh, he drops down onto the couch that doesn't belong.]

[rita's there in the common room, going through some books she's stacked on the coffee table. silber is unhelpfully seated on one of the stacks, as if intending to obstruct her from accessing them.

she looks up when he sits.]

Looks like we're finally getting out of here. Not that I had any doubts that we'd succeed.

Yeah?

[He lifts his head to eye the stack of books.]

You sounded serious about the sequel last night.

I just meant... you know, if things ended badly for us. Or for the dorm heads.

But it looks like everyone's going to be okay, so it's fine. Just had to be sure we could make it to this point, one way or another.

Thanks to everyone, we could.

We're slated to graduate, so what are all those books for?

Thought I'd bring some back with me. I've still got plenty to learn about otherworld technology that could be applied to my research back home.

Thinking about your research again? You and Mari would get along swimmingly.

That the "other scholar" you said I reminded you of before?

Yeah.

She's always reading and building things. And once she's done that, she takes everything apart to start over again. . . . I'm pretty sure she enjoys explosions, too.

...

I guess that does kinda sound like me.

Is she someone you're planning on seeing when you get back to where you're from?

Sooner or later, I'll have to see how she's doing. If I don't, she'll never leave her room.

[oh. she's kind of, staring off into a corner of the room, like she doesn't totally want to acknowledge this, but...]

...Guess we have that in common, too...