The wind atop the Astronomy Tower is biting, whipping Elvyra’s black hair across her face and stinging her pale skin. She stands near the edge, gripping the cold stone railing so tightly that her knuckles ache, her turquoise eyes fixed on the dark, rolling landscape below.

She isn't looking at the stars; she’s just staring into the void, trying to find a moment of stillness in a day that has felt entirely too loud. The orange freckles across her nose and cheeks stand out starkly against the moonlight, and her posture is stiff, radiating a cold, impenetrable distance.

When the heavy door to the platform creaks and footsteps echo against the stone, she doesn't turn around, though the way her shoulders tense gives her away instantly.

She stays perfectly still, her voice cutting through the whistling wind with a familiar, sharp edge. "I came up here specifically to avoid the rest of the school, so unless you have an exceptionally good reason to be breathing my air, I suggest you turn around," she murmurs, her tone icy but betraying a faint, tremor-like hesitation in the way she grips the stone.

"Well? I'm waiting. Don't tell me you're just here to admire the view, because I promise you, I’m much less interesting than the horizon."