LJNT

Dorm Decorations

"Aaaaaand we've finally finished! It looks great!"

Lyra brushed her hands together, a satisfied look on her face. The rest of the team couldn't even muster up any fake excitement about the room, and Lyra frowned.

"What? This is a happy occasion! We finally got everything unpacked!"

"Yeah, but..." Tanya couldn't even figure out the words, unable to tell Lyra about how shocked they all were about her sudden mood swings.

"But what?"

"But you're acting so weird!" Tanya just spit it out. "Everyone said you were all crazy and now you're just...fine!?"

"...Yeah? The room is finally complete, of course I'm fine!"

"...I feel like I'm g-getting whiplash," Nico muttered. "The way she changes s-subjects..i-it's so..."

"...Uh, Nico...you know the word whiplash?" Tanya questioned, her stormy grey eyes wide. Nico shrugged.

"I-It's w-when s-someone hits y-you really h-hard w-with a whip, r-right?"

Everyone stared at Nico before Janelle just sighed.

"Why would you use a word if you do not know the meaning...?" Janelle said, and Nico blushed.

"W-Wait, w-what does i-it mean?"

"It is when-wait, why are we getting distracted by something so trivial?" Janelle suddenly realized as she fiddled with her dress. "Nico, we can go over some intense vocabulary later."

"B-But w-what if I d-don't w-want to..."

"You do not get a choice," Janelle said bluntly before glancing around their finished room. "Perhaps in this new environment, I can finally get some work done. That would certainly make teaching Nico easier now that we have a proper workspace..."

"Uh, right..." Tanya laughed. "I don't think a proper workspace would make anyone focus better."

"Enough about the desks, can we just admire the room for a moment?" Lyra interjected, admiring her own part of the room. Pictures were strung up on the wall, featuring Lyra and Pyrrha together happily. A poster of the two posing was stationed above Lyra's bed, right next to the shelf that housed all of Lyra's golden trophies. "...Ah, feels just like home."

"I do not have anywhere near enough books here for it to feel like home," Janelle said, looking wistfully at the shelf above her bed that was stacked with books. A stoic picture of her family sat next to the stories. As her gaze shifted toward Tanya's side of the room, she suddenly frowned. "...Tanya, what are those...dolls?"

"DOLLS!? They're action figures!" Tanya screeched, protectively rushing over to the shelf above her bed that was decorated with stuffed animals. She pulled down the figures from her shelf, holding them up. "See!? Look, I have one of Pyrrha! She's got her spear held up and everything, look how cool she looks! Here's one of Lyra dancing, and I've got a couple of my parents!"

"You have a figure of me!?" Lyra sprinted over, admiring the little figurine of herself in a dance pose. "Whoa, neat! And Pyrrha's looks amazing!"

"Yeah!" Tanya rushed over to a brown chest in the corner, pulling out more figurines as prop swords fell out of the bin. "Oh, here's my favorite Pyrrha statue!!"

"...Is that...do not tell me...you have a toy chest," Janelle couldn't help but sigh loudly as Tanya just laughed. "Tanya...you are a child."

"Yeah, and proud!"

"You know...at least she's honest," Lyra shrugged before turning to Nico's bed. Her side of the room had nothing on it; the shelf was unoccupied while there was nothing resembling decoration around the bed. Even the window was boring, with the basic red curtains blocking the autumn leaves that blew around outside. "Uh, Nico, did you really finish decorating?"

"U-Um...Y-Yeah...I-I d-don't h-have anything w-with me..." Nico shifted from side to side awkwardly. "Y-You know...because of the...the accident..."

"Oh..." Tanya ran back over to her bed, taking a couple of stuffed animals and throwing them at Nico. "There, now you have something! Tada!"

"T-Thanks," Nico placed the derpy little penguin toy and the cheetah onto her bed gently.

"Uh, I'd offer you a picture, but I don't think you want one of Pyrrha and I," Lyra laughed. "We need to take more pictures together..."

"I-I don't l-like pictures..."

"But if we don't take pictures, how are you supposed to have anything on your wall!"

"There's plenty of other stuff!" Tanya said, pointing to the sword heirloom above her bed rest. "I'm sure Nico will find something."

"I could lend you a couple of books," Janelle added, fidgeting with the end of her dress. "...You could use it."

"T-Thanks."

"We'll find something to make your side of the room amazing," Lyra said in a reassuring tone as she placed her hand on Nico's shoulder. Nico couldn't help but flinch still. Even though she knew Lyra's intentions were good, Nico couldn't help it. There was also the added fact that Lyra's eyes were clouded. Insincere. Still, Nico wanted nothing more than to believe that Lyra was right. So she simply nodded and agreed, wondering just what was swimming around inside of Lyra's mind...

"Y-yeah, we w-will..."