Lets Talk All Over Again

"Summer's still around," Jude confirmed, glancing over his shoulder to Gyan. "This is Gyan," he said. "He's taken me under his wing. Been... ah, teaching me to meditate, since I don't sleep anymore thanks to summer."

Gyan obviously took it as his cue to join the conversation, and he did, sliding over to the girls and giving Liliana a polite smile.

"Sleeping has important mental effects, and while miss Summer's powers remove the physical consequences of not sleeping, I am not convinced it does the same for the mental ones. While his other pacted companions encourage Jude to do challenges, I would rather seem him taking care of his mental state, so he hasn't been doing as many challenges. You've done about the same number, I would wager."

Jude looked momentarily embarrassed at how much information Gyan had just dropped on her. She really didn't need to know about his mental state, did she?

Gyan gave a small smile at the mention of it being hard on the body.

"His body can handle it," Gyan said. "It's his mind I'm concerned about. Sleep gives the brain time to process what it is dealing with. Jude doesn't sleep as much as he should, and he lacks the ability to forget, so I worry that there will be unintended consequences."

Jude winced.

"Like I said," he said, "he's teaching me to meditate."

He was eager to move the conversation on, and he jumped at the opportunity.

"I did six, but I only did three wins and three losses. I'm - well, I don't know if you know, but the overall winner gets to become the Regalia's leader, or something like that. So I'm not really trying to win at all."

Hold on, what? Jude did a double take, and Gyan winced behind him.

No second guess on if Gyan had known all along.

"So you die, and then you become the leader? So it's not even a prize at all if you're immortal. You get nothing. Or you're not eligible."

Only he was mortal. Did he even want that? To be king?

No, definitely not. He'd had a hard enough time being in the limelight for student council, let alone being king of an entire species.

"It's not a real prize," Jude agreed.

The masquerade. He hadn't given it much thought, even if he'd heard of it. Really, a part of him was happy it was such a big thing, because it meant the school wasn't going to make the student council do their own Halloween dance. Samhain dance? Something like that. While the masquerade was held in the academy, it wasn't an academy thing.

"Maybe," he admitted. "I haven't asked her yet. I am planning to go myself, at the very least. I like the idea."

Even if it would be a pain to find clothes for it. There were some places that did rentals, so maybe he could do that? He'd have to get gloves for his hand, a good mask... He had stuff he'd worn for work. Maybe a suit? A tux?

The thought hadn't occured to him, but now that she'd said it he couldn't help but crack a smile.

"I used to go to all of them anyway. They were great for getting to know who was who, and who was doing what. You could learn a lot by watching other people at social events, and when it came to things that could be counted as high society, making an appearance was expected. You couldn't just skip out without damaging your position."