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for all we know this canonically happened to lissa instead of her dying
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Lissa's encountered mals before, by now. She's learned a few spells to deal with them, but most of the time she prefers to distract and run. However, the mal that comes charging at her as she and a group of other students leave their classroom doesn't look like the type a few illusions will distract, or that her actual damaging spells can handle. She immediately does what most wizard-raised children would consider an extremely dumb move.

"Run!" she yells to the others, before waving her arms wildly at the mal. "Hey, over here!" she calls, running towards it, trying to think of every offensive spell she can cast with her current mana. It won't do more than annoy, but maybe that will make the difference. By now, her classmates have immediately taken the chance to flee, leaving her and the mal in the hallway as it charges towards her, jaws open and dripping corrosive liquid. She reaches back, finding a doorknob that she's pretty sure only leads to a bathroom, but maybe if she lures it in there she can keep it contained for longer? She fumbles for a moment, the door swinging open behind her as she stumbles back into-

-a place that's very much not a bathroom.

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Perhaps she gets a glimpse of a cozy taproom, decorated for a winter holiday - except by wizards, including features such as a pleasant indoor snowfall, icicles hanging from the ceiling in strategic places, and holly and mistletoe growing out of the walls.

However, her view is shortly blocked.

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There is a flash of blue, and then a young man, perhaps a few years above graduation age, is standing between her and the rest of the room. Only briefly, however, before he shoves her behind him so he can focus on eviscerating the mal attempting to follow her inside, raising a hand and spontaneously generating... a very localized black hole?

The mal does not survive the very localized black hole.

That dealt with, the effect vanishes, and the young man steps forward and closes the door, leaning forward to rest his head on it with a sigh.

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As Lissa stumbles through, she trips, falling flat on her ass, but the young man and the black hole come in just in time.

"Um...thanks?" She blinks a few times, trying to figure out just who this way-too-old guy is. And now that she can get a more thorough view of the room, this definitely doesn't feel like the Scholomance just rearranging things on her.

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"Don't mention it," the guy says on another sigh, still face-first in the cool wooden surface of the door, "Just doing my job. No violence on the first floor."

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The room is so festive! Thin snowdrifts cover the floor near to the walls and under tables, and snowflakes fall nearly to her nose before they melt into thin air.

There are also so many places for mals to hide in here, under tables and chairs, behind that bar, between the cushions of the comfy couches and armchairs settled around the fireplaces, up the chimneys if they're immune to fire, in among the holly and mistletoe branches strung along the walls and furniture...

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Lissa blinks as she realizes there are actually snowflakes falling from the ceiling somehow, and it's not just her vision going blurry. She's pretty sure magic could do this, but she's also pretty sure by now no one in the Scholomance would waste mana on this kind of aesthetic. Not to mention the rest of the decor, all of which is setting her on edge. She scrambles to her feet, looking around for the most wide-open space, just out of the instincts she's managed to develop.

"Where-where is this?" she asks slowly.

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The most wide open space is between the bar and the tables.

This is also where you can get the best look at a window onto a vast void littered with stars - which are, one by one, exploding in the great distance in a series of spectacular displays of stellar pyrotechnics.

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"Milliways," says the young man. "Talk to the bar if you want more." He straightens with a groan, "See ya."

And he vanishes in another flash of blue.

 

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...what. Lissa wanders over to the window, trying to tell if that's an illusion of any sort, but it feels...very real, actually. She slowly turns back to the bar. Well, she has learned a bit about how to make things work for you, in the Scholomance.

"Hey there," she says, strolling over. "Could you tell me a bit more about this place? I'm sure you must be very familiar with it, since you've been here so long. Nice and solid, too."

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A napkin appears, featuring the words:

Why thank you! You're quite right, I am familiar with the place. Welcome to Milliways, the restaurant at the end of the universe. May I offer you a drink? The first one is free, along with all subsequent hot drinks for this holiday event.

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Su-Yeong already knows she's insane. Sane people don't turn into husks, after all. But—

It's summer. She knows it's summer.

So why, as she shuffles through the trees in search of someplace comfy to curl up and nap, is there snow? It's not even like the past spring was particularly cold, or like these woods are big enough to have leftover snow in the deep parts.

She's not sure the emotion she feels when she comes to a clearing and sees not only a lake but a building is surprise. It's not like it's any weirder to see a building on an island she knows is uninhabited than snow in June.

She almost doesn't want to go in. She knows how dangerous she can get. But… she doesn't feel angry, and it's cold enough that she'd rather be inside.

She opens the door.

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"Free? Really?" There's a pause, before Lissa asks, "Can I have a milkshake? As many flavors and as big as possible?"

Assuming she does get that drink, she'll take her time to savor it, enjoying the sweetness and mix of flavors that she's missed for so long. Still, she immediately perks up at the creak of the door, head spinning around to look.

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It's… an empty restaurant decorated for Solstice? No, not empty, there's a kid sitting at the bar ordering a milkshake to thin air. And… getting a milkshake from thin air? Su-Yeong is pretty sure that's not a thing that magic can do, not that she's gone to university or anything for it.

She approaches the bar, sitting a nice personal-space-respecting distance from Milkshake Kid. It's only when she sits down that she notices that the view from the window is definitely not of a snowy forest.

"Hey," she tries with a cautious smile.

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Lissa tenses for a moment upon seeing the glowing red eyes, but the person certainly doesn't act like a mal. She relaxes as the woman approaches and sits down, a distance away from her as well.

"Hi!" she says, smiling back. "Is this your first time here too?" She can kind of recognize that confused expression.

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She can't blame the kid for being spooked!

"Yeah."

She looks around, curious. They still seem to be alone, although this place seems like someone was expecting a party.

"Where… is here? I was on an uninhabited island before showing up. And it was summer."

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