Short chapter today! I couldn't find a good stopping place within the next couple of chapters and I haven't had much time to write, so I decided I'd have this one be separate.
"...So yeah! Back in the day, there was a species of Grimm that could drain your will to do just about anything, leaving your body to atrophy until it eventually just shut down entirely!" the always upbeat professor Brown concluded, her ponytail bouncing with her enthused words. "None of that will be on the test, but I just thought that was a cool little story!"
The bell rang, signalling the end of Intro to Grimm Studies. Caspian joined the others in closing his books, packing up his things, and zipping rain coat all the way to his neck. He planned to do the usual for a weekday, grab lunch with his friends in The Roots, get a bit of homework done alone, and spend the rest of the day back with Ichigo, Rowan, and Snow.
"Hey. Lilly," a voice grunted.
Caspian and Lilly both started with surprise. Towering over the two a row back was Noxis, stony gaze locked on the one he called.
"Yes?" Lilly prompted.
"Are you free? Let's grab some tea."
Caspian's heart felt as if it struck the inside of his ribcage. He kept his gaze down, jaw threatening to shatter his teeth with how hard it clenched.
"Ah, there actually is a place I've been meaning to try!" Lilly responded. "It's a bit North of campus but just a block or two away from a Link stop, so we should stay mostly out of the rain!"
"That works. I want to drop off my bag, so let's meet at the stop near Cedar," Noxis confirmed. Without another word, he turned and joined the crowd draining out of the lecture hall and into the storm. Lilly followed, then Rowan. Biting his lip and strapping up his backpack, Caspian joined with dragging feet.
The doors opened to Sentinel's Blue Square, often regarded as the center of campus. Students crossed the square in every direction, some coming out of the lecture hall behind the three, others going in. To their right was Slate Library. Its first floor was an open study space, with tables and chairs surrounding an abstract statue that spiralled up to the ceiling between the rings of mezzanines making up the second and third floors. Directly across the square was Skye Hall. A bit conceited of his dad, Caspian thought, naming the infirmary and main administrative tower after himself. But he earned the right to sit in his office, two hundred feet above the rest of campus. Between Skye Hall and the other main lecture hall to their left was a set of stairs lowering down toward the flowers and fountain of Halfmoon Plaza. No buildings had been built between those stairs and downtown Port Cyrreine a mile and a half across the bay, gifting the square a gorgeous view of the city, day and night.
"I was with Aspen until so late last night, I needed something to pick me up like this!" Lilly commented from under her umbrella.
"You sure are popular!" Rowan teased. He cocked his head with a mischievous smile. "Hey, if Noxis and Aspen fought over you, who would win?"
"Oh, stop," Lilly dismissed. "Aspen is a friend, and this is just going to be two partners getting to know each other."
"...It's not a date?" Caspian managed.
Lilly shook her head. "It's not. And if it was, I would politely decline. He doesn't seem much my type."
"What is her type?" Caspian wondered.
"I'd like the lavender chamomile, please," Lilly asked of the bunny-eared waitress. "I had been looking for cafés nearby since before coming to Sentinel, I'm so very excited to try this one!"
"Well, I hope we can live up to your expectations!" the waitress returned with a smile, entering a note into her Holoband. The stone fireplace ignited behind her as she turned to Noxis. "And what would you like?"
"Oolong."
"Ah. Good choice," the waitress affirmed. "Anything else?"
"I think that will be it for now, thank you," Lilly concluded. She brushed a white lock of curly frizz from her face, then folded her hands on the table. "So, did you ask me here for a reason?"
"Yeah. You seem like the only other one on our team who has any common sense," Noxis responded. "I want to pick your brain a little bit."
"Well, then. Pick away," Lilly invited.
"What do you think of this city?"
"This city?"
"Yes, Port Cyrreine."
Lilly bid a slight smile, looking to a painting mounted on the mahogany-panelled wall. "I grew up nearby, and have many good memories here, so I'm quite fond of it. The city really is quite beautiful."
Noxis looked dissatisfied with her answer.
"And you? What do you think?" Lilly inquired.
"This city makes me sick."
Several uneasy gazes flicked to him. He hadn't made any effort to keep his voice down, after all. As the waitress returned with their tea, the eyes turned away.
"It was little more than a handful of ports before Frontline built their headquarters here. This city is built on greed, and it's plain to see. Have you ever been in the Eastern Docks district?"
"No, I can't say I have."
"I'm not surprised," Noxis replied, slightest twinge of irritation in his voice. "Highest crime rate in all of Vale. Mean income? A third of what it is up here in the North, just a couple of miles away. You can't walk a block without seeing some addict passed out halfway in the street- or worse. It's worse than Mistral's slums these days. Worse than Mantle."
Lilly took a sip of her tea, and bowed her head. "It's... an unfortunate situation, yes."
Noxis's eyes narrowed. "An unfortunate situation? These are peoples' lives in this city,'' he growled. "All while Griswold Baine sits in his tower, watching over the place like he owns it, and building Organds to take more jobs from the people of Vale. He'd let the entire kingdom go to shit if it meant more money in his pocket."
"Of all companies, even just those based here, it seems odd you should take issue with Frontline," Lilly asserted.
Noxis raised a brow.
"They have done far more good than harm," Lilly stated. "Frontline's scientists have developed cures for multiple diseases previously thought incurable. Much of the money they make goes to funding further research, and-"
"What they're doing is unnatural."
"Excuse me?"
"Organds make humanity weak," Noxis snarled. "Their use in security has rendered the few who still choose to be huntsmen useless, unless they go into that corporatized professional league." He took a deep breath, then returned to his point seemingly angrier than before. "The Creatures of Grimm are humanity's predator. People have grown complacent with the creation of those... glorified computers, and have forgotten how to defend themselves. Organds shouldn't exist."
"I see..." Lilly offered.
"Have you heard of natural selection?" Noxis continued.
"I'm familiar with the basic idea, yes."
"Then you'll know that in the natural world, those with some advantage over their peers will survive to pass their genes to the next generation more often?"
Lilly nodded. "That's how species evolve, yes."
"Well, in Frontline's care, we've created a world with no place for natural selection. All can survive and pass their genes on, no matter how slow, sickly, or unworthy. We've stunted our own evolution."
Lilly looked down to her tea, then side-eyed out the window, pursing her lips. She took a breath of pause. "The question as to what constitutes 'worthy' of passing on genes aside, I fail to see how Frontline curing illness has ceased our evolution," she debated. She looked up. "On the day mankind first created weapons, and harnessed the power of dust to defend themselves against Grimm, did they become weaker? By your logic, it would seem so. But I daresay this allowed humans to survive longer and reproduce at a greater rate; biologically making them a more fit species."
"Weapons are different. They're simply a tool humans use in order to ensure their survival," Noxis explained.
"You've previously called Organds 'computers.' How is this not a tool?" Lilly inquired. She took a sip of her tea, waiting for a response that did not come. "Left only to their strength, without weapons or dust, not even the most physically gifted human can hope to compete with nature's top predators, nor the Creatures of Grimm. The human body is simply weaker. Human evolution is through the mind. With all its advancements, Frontline Biomedical is evidence we are evolving more rapidly than ever before."
"I..." Noxis began.
Lilly smiled politely, straightening up in her seat. "The tea here is quite good, wouldn't you agree? I'd like to return sometime."
Noxis bolted upright, the pounding of his boots on the hardwood floor drawing half the eyes in the café. Lilly held her cup to steady it against the shaking of the table. The wolf faunus plunged his hand into his pocket, and slapped a few one-lien notes on the table in front of her.
"This should cover mine. Goodbye."