[ lumine responds to his questions with silence, the words she wants to say lodged in her throat. she could just tell him what happened, what she heard, what they told her, what they did. but for some reason, the words just aren't forming, her voice not coming out.

instead, she lets out a quiet sob as she presses a hand against her neck, trying to stymie the bleeding from her cut. it doesn't seem deep, but any movement she does seems to aggravate it for some reason. ]

Look, it doesn't matter. But if you actually care about me, even for a bit, you'll take my word for it and stop.

[ she quickly hangs up the phone and spends the trip back to her shared apartment with aether in silence. ajax will receive a message from her twin brother the next morning:

hey, ajax. we need to talk. lumi was attacked last night. she said the guys who grabbed her mentioned a grudge towards your family, so i think it's related to the work i've done for you. ]