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It was funny Bix would put it like that, because she had come specifically to try and be more adult-like. For the most part, aside from chuckling at the appropriate time and the occasional nod, Stormy was quiet as she listened. Her head tilted as she mulled it over, hands clasped in her lap.

"You make good points, sir," she said at length. "Being at Deus changes some things. Or maybe it doesn't. Happy people aren't always married in any world." It was unclear to her whether she was saying this more to herself, however, or if she was just regurgitating parts of Bix's answer in summation. "Still. Maybe it doesn't change anything in the physical world, but...The willingness to commit like that says something about a person, I think--especially under these circumstances." She smiled a little. "If it makes people like Miss Candace and Dakota or Cass and Mr. Marcus happy, maybe that's all that matters. And if you're fine just like this with Miss Ceres, then that's a-okay, too. Happiness and love come in all sorts of ways."

The mention of that dream as well as Bix's knowing look caused her to flush a little (and just when it had started to die down). "I disagree," Stormy mumbled with a twiddle of her thumbs, then cleared her throat. "Maybe it's not ideal here, but we can make meaningful communities. There are people here I consider family. I was actually sort've hoping you'd be part of it, Mr. Bix."

What if some of the locked stuff is "By the way I'm sort of helping a traitor out and your boss knows it and my boss probably knows it too and I don't want you tied to that"? Then again Caelius had sort of blabbed it out in sensitivity training, so maybe there was no point in hiding it anymore...She considered Bix's words and leaned against his shoulder with a thoughtful look.

"Eccentric Uncle Bix," she began, "you give pretty cool advice, so I'll poke your brain a little more if you don't mind. Why'd you come to Deus? And would you still've come if you really knew what sort of stuff you'd be dealing with?"

Stormy chuckled and poked his arm as he showed off, inspired into spontaneous song. "Wonderboooooy~ What is the secret of your power? Wonderboooooy~ Won't you take me far away from the mucky muck, maaaaaan?" Her repertoire wasn't just Disney, after all.

"I can't imagine you as bad with people, though. I mean, you're super chill and funny, and obviously you're an awesome Sun. It's like hanging out with Robin Hood!" she said with a grin. "Or, um. You said superheroes, so like...what was the guy with the arrows in the movie again...Hawky? Plus you're Gale's bro, that's saying something."

"Legolas, yeah!" She snapped her fingers. "I remember he mentioned that, too, and something about him being a dwarf? From that Lord of the Rings stuff?" Making a very serious face, Storm plucked a blade of grass and held it out. "'You have my sword.'" That was a line, right? She wanted to be cool and pop culturey too!

"Sorry to hear, though..." She wiggled the grass against Bix's shoulder. "My school time wasn't great either. That's one thing I miss about the dream: going to school with people who understood." That was something Stormy felt didn't have to be restricted to the alternate world. No families and no safe homes, she understood, but maybe...Maybe the town could still be salvaged somehow.

She hesitated when Gale was brought up, and for a few seconds she twisted the blade of grass against her cheek. "We're okay," she slowly answered, to use the word they themselves had used the last time they hung out. "He's still an amazing boyfriend. It's been a little more...awkward recently 'cause my ex woke up, though."

"It shouldn't be that big a deal . . ." Stormy made a face, though, because one way or another it was. "His name's Jack Hawthorn. Really tall guy with green hair in Life Division. He didn't take to the break up so well and overall has been a bit antagonistic ever since."

< < A bit. > > Thane scoffed.

"We've been okay otherwise," she added quickly, causing her partner to snort again. "Just, you know, getting past the honey moon phase, feeling each other out a bit more. N-Not like literally, though, not really." This was an important distinction her cheeks decided to make, growing just a hint darker.

She shook her head. "Don't bug him about me unless you have to, please," Stormy told him. "I don't need guard dogs, and he's the kind've guy that'll just start something if you give him a chance. I just figured, y'know, eccentric uncles should know a little about that for future reference." Jack was also the kind of guy that had made it obvious that he'd happily start something even without provocation, though . . . But the more she ignored it, hopefully the less it would happen.

Taking the opportunity to skip past a rather awkward topic, she cleared her throat. "I gotta ask you something, too, especially since you're a Sun. Have you ever, um . . . killed someone?" Because murder was easier to talk about than her boyfriend: such was the nature of hunterhood.

Her pause answered him before she did. "It wasn't a real person," Stormy explained, though her mouth was set into a grim line. "Just a really good golem of one. But I didn't know that at the time. It was during the trials The Circle kidnapped us into a few months ago. My group was stuck in a place and there was no way out, I think, unless we actually killed someone. It was pitch black, I had night vision goggles, and I had a dagger."

Her hands fidgeted some more.

"I didn't want to, though, you have to believe me. The only reason I even considered it was because if we didn't, this voice threatened to kill all these other people . . . And in the end, it was trading one life for many others, and--that's alright, right?" Well, technically they had all died regardless, but in that moment it had made sense in the most pragmatic way.

"But it was real, Bix. That weapon was real and that decision was real, even if the person wasn't." It comforted her that he had had to do the same in the original trials, but it also emphasized how wrong it was to her, even if the lines of her morals had only temporarily blurred. Stormy had never thought she would have it in her; but then again, she had never really been tested.

"In my trials, I ran away most of the time," she mumbled, gazing at their hands as well. "Kept to the shadows and just trailed after people, avoiding fights when I could, then sticking close to one or two people when it started winding down. That's how I survived. Had a dagger back then, too, but only in self-defense." It had been a very long time since she had to recall those trials, memories she wanted to leave behind as soon as she could. Always running away, always avoiding the problem.

It had felt good, in a twisted way, to take action in the mockery of those trials. A purpose that was morally ambiguous was still a purpose and was better than being a coward all the time.

Stormy sighed. "I guess the real question I wanna ask is, can you always justify killing one to save more? Is that the right thing?"