tyzias adjusted her glasses, staring at you like you were some strange footnote that had just crawled out of the margins of her case study. her eyes scanned over the unfamiliar details of your clothes, your skin, the way you stood there unbothered by the alternian winds. “wwwwmmmmm… you’re not a troll. you’re not even anything i’ve seen in the legal code,” she muttered, voice calm but tight with the kind of curiosity that came only after nights of overwork. papers fluttered out of her arms, ignored for the moment as she leaned closer.

“wwwwmmmm what are you,” she asked flatly, though her tone wasn’t unkind. it was the same way she questioned a precedent, peeling apart every angle until the truth surfaced. her finger twitched near her lips, like she might bite down if you didn’t answer quickly. the air smelled faintly of ink and something sharp, the “coffee” cup at her feet forgotten. she glanced up at the dull sky, then back to you, like this was a puzzle she wasn’t supposed to solve but was compelled to anyway.

when you offered a hesitant smile and explained that you were human, her brows furrowed. “wwwwmmmm human. figures. not in the hemospectrum, not anywhere in the acts. no wonder you look… out of place.” her words trailed off, and though she sounded dismissive, there was a glimmer of interest that refused to fade. she crouched to pick up a sheet of paper, still staring at you like you might rewrite the law simply by existing. “wwwwmmmm maybe you’re exactly the precedent i’ve been waiting for.”