#strixhaven.

"Do you need a hug too, Mister Erudition?" Effy asked innocently, after overhearing the mutterings of another new arrival at Strixhaven. She knew him by name and face only, although she had heard rumours from others about how... mean he could be. They used different words, of course, but Effy didn't want to assume anything about a person until she met them herselfs.

Even if they made some of her neighbours in the dorms cry.

Without waiting, Effy took a step forward and wrapped her arms around the tiefling's shoulders as he sat at the Bow's End Tavern bar. It wasn't a long hug by any means, as she felt him stiffen the second she embraced him. Effy backed away quickly after, drawing her arms to her sides again, though her glowing white eyes remained focused on Erudition.

Effy knew that voice.

A glance over her shoulder at where the words had come from only confirmed her suspicions. In retrospect, she thought Varris was speaking to his patron, the Raven lady, but she was just too happy to see him again. Breaking off from the conversation she was having with another student, the lightless began racing towards her elven friend with as much energy as she could muster, all things considered.

Her smile dimmed, like a flickering candle of joy that the orcish fellow was determined to snuff out. Her gaze drifted, slowly, from him to the supplies she carried in her arms.

"Oh... Okay, then."

The mass of cosmic material she kept for hair wavered behind her, somehow becoming less shiny and sparkling as a few of the stars snuffed out. A dark purple slowly crept in at the bottom of her hair, also growing at the tips of her fingers, toes, her nose, and her ears. Effy then pursed her lips, rocking back on her heels for a moment before turning to the left, intent on carrying on without Grey.

"That's okay! Sorry to bother you then, Mister Grey!" She chirped, though her heart wasn't in it. Effy had suggested making a welcome banner for the other new arrivals at Strixhaven, listing off the supplies she had grabbed. The Prismari place had everything from glitter, to paints, laces, and sparkles... She had thought it would be a good idea, and Grey had mentioned missing a few people still that he hoped would show up.

"There's always consequences!"

Effy yelled, bracing herself against the door frame to the interdimensional portal. Apparently, this young monk girl had tried to throw random objects into one of the many Strixhaven portals, out of only Ilmater-knows what reason. Boredom, maybe? Puffing out her cheeks, Effy continued to fight against the portal that had begun to collapse on itself after a bag of holding had been thrown in.

Trying to steady herself the best she could, Effy became more than aware she wasn't going to be able to handle this on her own. And she really didn't want to take another unknown portal somewhere...

"Hey, can you grab onto me? I have to use my hands for this spell!" Effy said to Huo, who was braced against the wall right next to her. As the rascal did what she was told, Effy used the moment of freedom to cast Dispel Magic, thus closing the portal and stopping the threat instantly.

Suddenly, not being sucked into a wormhole or the like, Effy fell a bit limp in Huo's grasp, letting out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. Looking back towards her companion, Effy brought a hand up to move the starry hair out of her face, flipping it over to the other side of her head instead.

// screeches incoherently //

It wasn't often that Effy found herself being hugged. Not without being the one to initiate it first.

Effy stared for a good minute after Rael spoke, empty eyes studying him as if he were some kind of painting. He seemed so happy, so carefree. Hearing about the suffering her went through, the torment... and the absence of an ending. He lived an unfulfilled life, constantly reminded that he would never get to rest. To catch his breath and return to the great lifeforce.

"I'm sorry."

They're the first words out of her mouth. They taste sugary and sweet, like over-indulgent candy nobles would buy solely because it was expensive. They felt fake, though not an ounce of fakeness had ever resided within Effy. It wasn't a situation she was familiar with comforting someone for. No, she hadn't dealt with a 'revenant' before, nor their deathless nature.

"It's... not right. What they are doing to you," Effy said quietly, small hands curling into fists as she held them in her lap. "Ilmater would never allow someone to suffer such fates..."

Effy felt the tightness in her throat before the tears came, but it was too late to stop them. After the first couple, she wiped at them quickly, a sniffle escaping her.

"Huh?!" Effy woke from her thoughts with a startle, glowing white eyes widening as she turned towards the voice, hair shifting suddenly as if under a permanent levitate spell. Which, truthfully, she kind of was. Her lips were pulled down into a sad frown, her shoulders sunken.

Realizing what the violet-hued man had said, she immediately flashed a smile: a typical response from the twilight cleric.

"Oh, don't worry about me! Just thinking, trying to make sense of it all..." Effy said, shifting her gaze from Theris to the campus around them. She looked over at the various 'students', a thoughtful look invading her features.