Chapter Text
“Are you ready, Nugget?” Crowley asked, peeking his head through her bedroom door. Yoru sat crouched on the chair in front of her desk, frantically flipping through pages of notes and excerpts she’d copied from every textbook she could get her hands on. She wasn’t sure exactly what would be on the entrance exam for Walpurga Nacht Academy, but since she knew she would fail most of the practical magic exams she had to ace the written portion. No mistakes.
She ran her blackened hand through her messy green hair, trying to shake out some of the tangles that had formed as she studied and looked backwards at Crowley. “Dad, stop calling me Nugget you know I hate it” She sighed and stretched out her legs in front of her, from her knees down she had the feet of a Harpy. Black feathers dotted her knees that spread to a thick scaly skin that reached all the way to her feet, where her legs ended in long talons.
Crowley clapped his hands together in glee, approaching her “I can’t help it! The thought of my little girl going to write the entrance exam at the most esteemed women's academy! How exciting!” He peered over the peaks of her wings towards her scattered notes “That does look…. Hmmmm… difficult? No… that's not quite the word...AHA! Boring” He mused, hand on his chin. “But worry not my dear daughter! The Nisse Tomte will be here soon, and I have the utmost faith in you!” He clapped her on the shoulders and retreated. Yoru rubbed her face, sighing again. Crowley always seemed to come in with a burst of energy that left her drained. Since the disaster that was her last school she’d been searching for somewhere to complete high school where it wouldn’t matter that she was half harpy, somewhere she’d be able to focus on what magic she did know, and maybe finding a way to cure herself of her Harpy features.
She heard a sharp knock on the door, it was time. One way or another, she’d prepared to the best of her abilities and only time would tell if it would be enough. The Nisse Tomte was already seated at the head of the dining room table when she made her way down the stairs. There were several books piled onto the chair for him to sit on so he had a full view of the table in front of him, exam paper laid out in front. He started to talk in a high pitched garble, Yoru at a complete loss for what he was saying. She hoped that Nissenese wasn’t a part of the exam.
Crowley leaned in to speak over him “I think he’s saying that you have five hours for the exam, and not to cheat..that sort of stuff”. Yoru looked at him and raised an eyebrow, she hadn’t realized that Crowley understood him… though she realized that maybe he didn’t and had previously read the requirements for the exam. She stretched and sat down at the table, opening the exam booklet to read the first question. Oh. She glanced quickly at the remainder of the page, a grin slowly spreading across her face, she'd taught herself all of this in middle school.
While the other children were learning basic spell composition, she was teaching herself the intricacies of alchemy and beyond. No way the entire test was going to be this easy, she thought to herself, quickly flipping to a few pages further along. Ahhhh, there was the meat of it, the test started off easy to lure one into a false sense of security, clever. She smiled and got to work, wondering if she’d be able to set a new personal record for how quickly she was able to finish an exam.
As the test progressed she realized that she had underestimated it, it had gotten fiendishly difficult by the middle, and she struggled to remember some of the obscure dates required for the history of magic questions. She’d have to come back to those, if she had time. Yoru sighed and rubbed her eyes, she really should have expected this, WNA wouldn’t set an exam so easy that just anyone would be able to pass.
“Time?” she asked the small gnome like man, watching her intensely. He answered and she remembered again that she couldn’t understand a word he was saying.
“An hour and a half!” Crowley shouted from the kitchen, clearly having been hanging around in case she needed him. She wondered again if he was able to understand the little man.
All that remained was the three-page essay on why magic was an important and necessary part of society. Easy enough to ramble about this one, even though she herself was inept at most forms of magic. Somehow she’d been born to the headmaster of Night Raven College, but couldn’t even manage to light a candle with magic. If she hadn’t had talons, large feathery wings, and black sclera, one might have thought she wasn’t magical at all. As she finished adding her final answers the Nisse Tomte stood up and held out his hand for the exam. She breathed a sigh of relief, having finished the paper just in time. She didn’t beat her previous exam time, but she managed to answer everything correctly...she hoped. The gnome shuffled from the room and disappeared out the front door. Crowley shuffled in from the kitchen beaming
“How was it Nugget!? I spied on you while you were writing! You looked so intense, it was so exciting! How can we celebrate? I know! Let’s visit the village for dinner! There’s a restaurant that makes a lovely Venison stew I’ve been dying to try…” He looked at Yoru, laying with her arms outstretched on the table in front of her.
“No thanks, I don’t really feel like being stared at by a bunch of strangers today. Just bring me something back, I’ll be on the roof” She stood up and lazily dragged herself up the stairs.
“Well… she did say it was okay for me to go myself…” Crowley mused to himself, wringing his hands “Surely she’s fine… I will just bring back some extra stew for her. How lovely dinner will be!” He exclaimed with a dramatic flourish and swept out the front door towards the promise of meat.
Yoru sat crouched on the roof feeling the hot July air on her face as she looked out into the forest. Her and Crowley lived in a small cottage in the woods behind the school, he said it was reminiscent of the one the Beautiful Queen had traveled to and as such thought it was charming. She sighed, thinking about the exam, worrying if she’d managed to get everything correct, agonizing over the few questions she hadn’t been sure about and had to guess on. She leaned back on the roof, bracing herself with her talons and looked up to the sky, there were a lot of crows milling about, the campus of Night Raven Academy always seemed to have an abundance of crows.
She breathed deeply and closed her eyes, activating her Unique Magic, Crow Sight. She was able to see through the eyes of every crow within a 3 kilometer radius, though seeing that much at once was dizzying. She narrowed her focus to the crows flying around the campus buildings. She watched the students that had arrived early on campus go about their day, and wondered why someone would return to school so far in advance… but perhaps their home lives were just boring and the campus offered them an exciting escape. She began to worry again about her exam and lost focus in the birds, her vision returning to her own eyes. Her stomach growled and she regretted not joining her father for dinner, venison stew did sound delicious, but with how worried she was about whether she passed the exam or not she wouldn’t be able to handle the whispers about her wings, eyes, hands, or feet well so knew it was best to stay hidden.
She awoke with the gentle weight of birds stepping on her, she’d fallen asleep on the roof waiting for Crowley to return. She crawled back in through her bedroom window, landing lightly on the floor hoping to catch a sniff of dinner. It was already dark out and she wasn’t sure how long she’d been asleep, Crowley must have returned hours ago. She found him asleep in front of the television, a game of Magical Shift on in the background, it seemed as if he had eaten too much at dinner and exhausted himself. Yoru chuckled and covered him with a blanket and crept towards the kitchen. She opened the fridge to find a few containers with a label that read “for my Nugget”. She rolled her eyes wishing that he’d drop the stupid nickname already, she wasn’t a child anymore! She sat at the table, eating the food right out of the containers. Even cold it was delicious, she’d have to accompany him the next time he went to the village, maybe the villagers would stare at him in his ludicrous top-hat and feathered jacket instead of her… on the other hand… did she want to be seen with him wearing that same ludicrous hat and feathered jacket? What if they passed a shop and he decided they should match? She laughed out loud to herself, continuing her feast of cold venison.
***
Yoru had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. The date of the practical exams had arrived, and she knew that this was likely to be her downfall. Despite all her practice, she’d never managed to perfect even basic spells. Elemental and transformative magic seemed completely beyond her reach. She was able to identify most plants, potions, and poisons from look alone, but still hadn’t accomplished even the most basic of spells like changing the colour of a flower, or making a feather levitate. She once joked with her teacher that since she had feathers and could fly she was very capable of making MANY feathers levitate at once and shouldn’t fail the test on that alone, but her teacher didn’t like her tone and failed her anyway adding a detention on top of the failing grade. She knew the physical portion at the end of the test would be easy, a 5 kilometer endurance test was nothing, she often trained more than that with Coach Vargas when she found time. Despite not being a student at NRC, she’d grown up on campus and had become close with the over exuberant physical education teacher, he was one of the only ones who had seen her bird body and thought it marvelous rather than a curse, and convinced her to get trained up to be in peak physical condition.
The hopeful students lined up at the beginning of the track set out for the race, snippets of nervous chattering breaking through Yoru’s concentration. No way she’d let anyone beat her at a race...she realized that she likely wouldn’t be able to fly for any potion of it though, significantly cutting down her speed. She readied herself and launched herself forward when the signal sounded, even without the wings to help her along, her grip on the ground meant she was able to push off faster and farther than anyone else. Keeping her wings idle was her biggest challenge, she didn’t want to be disqualified for cheating, even if it was accidental. She kept them pressed firmly together, frustrated knowing that she’d be done already if this wasn’t a foot race. Yoru made it across the finish line before all the other hopefuls either way, and finally shook her wings out. She hadn’t realized how tense her shoulders were from holding them in place for a little over the ten minutes it took her to complete the race.
She grinned to herself knowing that at least if she struggled with the practical portion, she had at least aced the physical. She watched the other students cross the finish line in various levels of disarray, wondering how normal people would feel about training for something like this, she smiled every time one of the other students glared at her for being finished so soon, and not struggling to catch her breath. The health check she passed with flying colours, she’d have to make sure to thank Vargas for all his hard work training with her when she got home. She knew, however, that the biggest struggle was still to come. She hoped that the tasks she was set to perform would be more alchemy leaning than practical magic leaning so she didn’t completely bomb.
As the testing began she started feeling like she might be sick. There was a burning in her chest and she felt light headed, she wasn’t fond of being in large groups, and being in a large group where she knew she was going to embarrass herself was weighing on her heavily. She was watching all the other students before her perform each task admirably, realizing she’d be able to block their view with her wings if she stood just right, perhaps she’d be able to avoid complete humiliation if she were careful. Her name was called and she walked to the front of the group, a ball of nervousness sitting heavy in her stomach. The whispers of “that’s the bird that cheated during the race- I wonder how she’ll do on this part” didn’t escape her. She positioned herself in front of the examiner and flared her wings open a little to completely cover the view of the table from behind.
“Identify and arrange these mushrooms from most to least poisonous”. Easy. First stage cleared.
“Read the ingredients list and determine what poisons can be made with them, then tell us what one would need to create an antidote” Easy. Second stage cleared.
“Make this chair levitate” Shit. This is where things were going to fall apart. She struggled to muster enough magic to move the chair even a fraction of an inch, it stayed in place despite her best efforts.
“Light the wick of this lantern without breaking the glass” Shit. She still hadn’t even managed to light a candle with magic, there was no way she’d be able to light one around a glass encasing. She grimaced at the examiner and shook her head. She felt like she was going to throw up. All of her studying meant nothing if she couldn’t perform these basic tasks.
“Change the colour of this apple” Yoru clenched her jaw. There was no way she’d be able to change it’s colour, but she wasn’t ready to completely give up. “I refuse. That apple is already the optimal colour for freshness. Any change of it’s skin would alter our perception of the flavour, muddying it’s appeal.” The examiner raised an eyebrow at her refusal.
The Nisse dismissed her, that would be enough from Miss Yoru Crowley. She nodded and flew away, searching for the nearest mirror so she would be able to return to NRC before her worries got the better of her. Crowley was waiting for her in the mirror chamber, pacing back and forth waiting for her arrival. “How did it go!?” He asked frantically, wringing his hands. She just shook her head and sighed, walking silently out of the room to go brood on whatever rooftop offered her the most privacy. She knew she failed the practical portion of the exam, she knew she would, but didn’t feel any better getting confirmation of how useless she was in a world where magic reigned. She watched the sun set over the edge of campus, wondering what had possessed her to think she was good enough to take the entrance exam for a school focused on magic. She should have just swallowed her pride and gone to the high school in the village, wings and bird feet be damned. She sighed and curled her arms around her knees, really what was she thinking, taking a test about magic, thinking she could pass it.
***
As the week wore on, Yoru found herself getting more agitated while waiting for correspondence from the school. On the 7th day it was such that she was unable to sit still, and spent the day flying around campus watching for any sight of one of the mechanical dolls bearing an acceptance letter. As the sun set, she found herself seated on the roof of Ramshackle Dorm, watching through as many crows as she could, in case she had somehow missed the dolls’ arrival earlier. She watched the sun set from a hundred pairs of eyes, no acceptance anywhere to be found. She stood up slowly and stepped off the roof, opening her wings to catch herself before she hit the ground. She made her way back to her house, dragging her feet, ruminating on the idea that she wasn’t good enough and was foolish to think she’d maybe eked out a passing grade. The stairs creaked as she ascended, Crowley calling up after her, which she ignored. He huffed, being the father of a moody bird was sometimes not the easiest task. He knocked on her door and peeked his head in, she was laying face down on her mattress, she hadn’t even bothered to pull a blanket over herself.
“You okay Nugget?” he asked.
“No” she mumbled, her voice barely escaping from the mattress. Crowley nodded to himself, unsure of what else to do, he tried to speak a few more times but when he found himself at a loss for words he turned to leave.
“Hey dad?” a muttered plea escaped the mattress
“Yes Nugget?”
“Can’t I just come to NRC?” Crowley frowned, the weight of his words heavy in his chest.
“I’m sorry Nugget, but no. NRC is an all boys school, I can’t change the rules simply because you’re my daughter” he waited for a response, hoping she wouldn’t hate him for saying so.
“Kay. Whatever. I guess it doesn’t matter anyway. Good night”. He nodded again though she couldn’t see him and walked quietly from her room, closing the door behind him.
She stayed face down on the mattress as her room grew dark around her, the clanging bells of failure ringing in her head. Why had she ever thought that a bird without magic would be able to get into a prestigious magic school? And why had she ever thought that Crowley would be so kind to change the rules of his school just because she asked him. She supposed that she could always make a potion to change her gender so that she could attend, but found the idea too disingenuous to really go through with it. Not as if any potion she had taken to try and change her appearance had worked yet anyway. Yoru spent the night cursing herself, the failings of her research, and her stubborn Harpy blood. Spending years reading, researching and developing her Unique Magic mattered not when the bar to succeed was set so high above where she could reach. She sighed, knowing that attending the regular school would never be an option, she’d never be satisfied learning only the mundane musings of regular people.
***
“NUGGET! NUGGET! ITS HERE!” Crowley burst through her door without any decorum. Yoru groaned and rolled over to face him, wondering why the hell he was being so loud so early in the afternoon. He was holding a black box in his hand out towards her “Its here! Your acceptance! They couldn’t find you at your school so they thought to bring it here to try and find you!”
Yoru shot up in bed and grabbed the box from his hand, noting the intricate carving of witches dancing around a fire on it. “No way...after I thought….” She cracked the box out and pulled out the admission letter, scanning through it as quickly as possible. “I… I did it…” she looked at Crowley, face still unsure what to do with the barrage of emotions she was feeling. She stared at the letter, almost unwilling to believe it was real, after the botched practical exams she figured there would have been witches more worthy of admission…
“NUGGET YOU DID ITTTT!!” Crowley shouted pulling her out of bed and spinning her around in a circle. “Now we shall celebrate! Get dressed! We are going for dinner and you can’t say no this time!” He was nearly skipping when he left the room, Yoru finally letting herself be overwhelmed by the wave of happiness that had been threatening to burst forward. Crowley treated them to a dinner of fried chicken and they chatted happily all throughout their meal, ignoring the questioning looks by strangers wondering about the morality of bird people eating chicken.
***
The Witches Dance were set to take place a week before the entrance ceremony, Yoru had been looking forward to them since well before she had even written the exams. They were a historical part of the school, though they had been tamed down in the more recent years. She’d asked Crowley to tell her what they were about, but he was only able to give the most vague of answers, she suspected he was making it all up. She had built up a bundle of tense energy leading up to the Witches Dance, so when she finally arrived at WNA Yoru could barely stand still.
She had her notebook ready to take notes on all the dorms so she’d be able to choose the one that would fit her best. She edged closer to the front of the group of young witches, hoping to get a better view, hyper aware of the girls muttering about her wings blocking the view for them. Yoru tried to ignore them, but eventually ended up stepping back from the front of the group, as she retreated she passed a girl with long red hair and what seemed to be teeth jutting from it.
“Cool hair” she muttered as she walked passed
“cool wings” was the reply she heard before losing her in the crowd completely.
She found herself near the back, she could still hear what was happening at the front but her line of sight was partially blocked by the various bobbing heads and shoulders. She activated her Unique Magic in one of her eyes, her left iris clouding over in black. She narrowed the sight to only 5 crows that were perched near where the dances would take place. This way she’d be able to watch from 6 vantages and still take notes without making herself sick by trying to do too much at once.
As dusk settled, the bonfire blazed and the Danse Macabre began. The students danced in dizzying circles around the flames, erratic and spastic. There were shouts and chanting, Yoru found herself excited that she could possibly be a part of something so animalistic and so refined at once, realizing that maybe she would finally be at a school where she would be able to thrive with students considered as her equal. By the time the dance finished, Yoru realized she’d been holding her breath. As the headmistress began her address to the students, Yoru realized for the first time in a long time she was well and truly excited to be out in public somewhere, she was excited to see what the dorms had to offer, and readied her notebook.
The dorm leader of Rosenhex had taken the stage and launched into her dance of charms and enchantments, Yoru jotting down in her notebook that while flashy, she’d be unable to do anything that was presented to her and wrote a quick “no point” near the dorm description. The Grimmaire prefect walked on stage, Yoru thought she looked a little stiff, then when the witch launched into a monologue of spells and their composition, Yoru jotted down a brief “boring” next to the other notes she’d taken. Kreigskalds' prefect was at least more interesting to watch, but Yoru had trouble with technology and wasn’t likely to succeed, but took down detailed notes because the construction of armour and the likes was at least an interesting thought. Galdtrea she found more interesting, Yoru could feel the interest of the other witches slipping away as the dorm prefect described the uses and methods of procurement for many magical plants, she wrote down a “could be very useful” next to the dorm name.
Monarchia presented a variety of beasts for the waiting witches, Yoru found her eyes growing wide. She could handle animals, and had found she was already fairly proficient in animal languages, and jotted down “I can fit here” into her notes. Oraluna’s dance was very strange to Yoru, she wasn’t fond of magic that could see or predict the future, and when they called girls from the crowd to have their fortunes seen she bristled at the thought of not having control over her future. She wrote a solid “no” in her notebook near her very bereft notes. Eliksia seemed to have a feel similar to Crewels' classes that Yoru had spied on growing up, though much more wild. There was mention of human experimentation that piqued her interest more than it probably should. She took more than a page of notes, writing “could be the solution”, and patiently waited for the final dance to begin.
The beginning of Noctasis’ dance was the most dramatic of them until then, the prefect making a show of her entrance and love of the damned. Yoru found herself nearly unable to keep up with note taking as the dance progressed, there was a lot shown, and a lot of it being of interest to her. She finished with a flourish and “not even death will stop the pursuit of knowledge”. Yoru felt satisfied with her notes, but was glad to have a week to decide on a dorm, she hadn’t expected so many choices to interest her. She returned home with a notebook full of scribbles and a head full of confused thoughts.
The next week found her muttering to herself at every turn, Crowley looking at her concerned when he found her wandering in circles or sitting in a tree talking to herself, face buried in her notes. She’d crossed out Kreigskald on her first day home, as interesting as it was, she really felt like she wouldn’t be able to keep up. She’d debated a long time about Galdtrea, deciding that she was able to get all the plant knowledge she needed from Crewel and from watching the boys at NRC in her free time that she didn’t need to dedicate any more time to it. Noctasis had initially taken ahold of her from the witch dances, she had a difficult time getting the image of the pale girl that looked like a ghoul alight with passion for the macabre out of her head, but realized that there was magic needing to be done that was well out of her grasp, and she gave up the idea, sighing at the thought of the lost black dorm colours. It was a small thing, but she’d never liked the red of her elementary and middle school, so was taken in by the call of black.
She was having trouble deciding between Monarchia and Eliksia, on one hand, working with beasts usually came naturally to her, being half Harpy herself. On the other hand the promise of experimentation beyond what was normally considered acceptable intrigued her too, and since it was alchemy based she didn’t need to worry about her lack of transfigurative or elemental magic. The last days before the sorting ceremony ticked away, Yoru still unable to settle on a dorm. Crowley had tried to help her choose, but when she explained her thought process behind each one, he seemed to get uncomfortable and wouldn’t give her a straight answer. She was unable to wheedle out of him his reasoning for being immature about the dorms she’d chosen. She wasn’t sure if it was the mentions of mass nudity common for Monarchia or the self experimentation of Eliksia. She was glad that his opinion didn’t actually matter and she’d choose one way or another at the sorting ceremony.
“Nugget are you excited! I made breakfast!” Crowley had burst into her room at the crack of dawn, spatula waving freely in his hand.
If Yoru had been able to sleep, she would have been annoyed with her fathers constant dramatics, especially early in the morning, but she’d found herself unable to sleep. She WAS excited. She’d been up all night at her desk making notes and lists between the two dorms she still couldn’t choose between, at this point both lists rivaled some of the textbooks in NRCs library. She followed Crowley to the kitchen where he’d laid out two plates, laden with a breakfast she knew he didn’t actually make.
“So the ghosts made breakfast then?” She chuckled, sitting down staring at all the dishes she knew Crowley had at one point in her life tried and failed to make. Crowley raised the spatula, using it as if it were a pointer
“Of course! But I plated everything here, so that counts!!” He sat with a dramatic flourish and began to eat, chatting happily about how excited he was that his sweet baby Nugget was finally going to go to a school where she fit in and would be able to make friends. He had been worried that her spending all her time alone growing up had done some damage to her ability to socialize, but he was sure she’d be fine. What was high school if not the perfect place to make new friends!
Yoru packed a few essentials and used the magic mirror to travel back to the WNA campus just before dusk, ready for the sorting. She wasn’t sure what to expect, and was worried about how the dorms worked, she’d never had to share a room before...at least not since she’d been sent home from elementary school boarding due to an unfortunate incident with her belongings and another students broken nose. She was really beginning to look forward to being a part of a sisterhood, she hoped the girl with the neat hair chose the same dorm she did...if she was ever able to settle on one. She arrived at the school, a knot of nerves bundled in her stomach once more.
As she arrived in the garden she was handed a clear quartz gem, a nervous smile spreading itself across her face. She’d never had a magical gem before. She didn’t think she ever really needed one since her magical abilities were so poor, but it was nice to have one nonetheless. She spotted the girl with the neat hair in the crowd of witches and stood beside her,
“So... uhhh… hi. what dorm are you going to go for?” she asked, hoping the girl didn’t mind her just speaking to her. The girl glanced at Yoru, tearing her attention away from the Chalice where the girls had started to get sorted.
“Kriegskald” She muttered, turning back to the sorting.
“Ah. Um. K. Bye then” Yoru muttered, stepping away, making friends was way harder than Crowley had made it seem. What the hell was she supposed to do? Clearly just striking up a conversation was a bust. She was so focused on the mysteries of friendship she almost missed her name being called, she’d nearly forgotten she herself hadn’t chosen yet and the uncertainty of which dorm she wanted to choose came flooding back.
Yoru stood in front of the chalice as it flashed the dorm colours, heartbeat loud in her ears, how does anyone choose between dorms? Rich plum. Sky blue. Striking crimson. Calming lavender. Homely beige. Deepest prussian. Forest green. Deepest black. She got lost in the flurry of colours, all of them blending together to sing the chorus of her future. She couldn’t say how long she stared into the flickering Chalice, the colours reflecting against the black sclera of her eyes.
“Eliksia'' she muttered as if coming out of a trance. The flickering had stopped, her gem absorbing the green of the water. A quick outburst of laughter broke the silence, a hissed hush following shortly after. Yoru felt a knot in her stomach form again; a wave of shame washed over her, maybe this school wouldn’t be so different from her last one after all.
She walked back into the crowd of waiting witches, wishing she had been paying more attention to the other girls that had chosen her same dorm so she could try and approach them. Yoru focused on the remainder of the girls waiting to be sorted, wondering if any of them were due to be her roommate. They were led back to their dorm by the dorm leader after the sorting had ended, she felt someone small brush by her muttering
“there are..many interesting...things… on land… after all… '' she wasn’t sure if it was a student or another creature of sorts on the staff, the person had disappeared into the crowd so easily.
Yoru searched around the lounge as the dorm leader explained the finer details of the dorm, where they’d sleep, what time they woke up, how to pick their electives, and handed out class schedules. Her eyes lingered on the shelves on the walls, completely covered in potions. She made a mental note to come check what all of them were later, trying to decide if the greenish hue of the room reminded her more of the sea or a deep forest, despite the moving wallpaper of deep sea creatures. The Nisse Tomte came in near the end of the speech, the dorm leader explaining that they would take the measurements for their uniforms and that they would be ready in the morning. She let herself be led to her dorm room where she arranged the few possessions she did bring, her roommate seemingly not pleased she’d have to share with a bird. Despite her roommates reluctance to speak to her, she crawled into her bed, happy to be away from home for the first time in many years.
She awoke much earlier than was necessary, her excitement getting the better of her again. Yoru spied her uniform sitting on the chair in her half of the room, springing out of bed she eagerly tried to try it on. She realized as she struggled to get dressed, that the Nisse Tomte hadn’t left any openings for her wings on her uniforms. She accidentally woke her roommate up trying to force her wings through her shirt with no luck, they were bulky but not sharp, there was no way they’d pierce through the fabric. Her roommate sighed and helped her rip holes into the back of her uniform, bemoaning that the tears looked awful and that she’d have to take it to a seamstress right away cause the Headmistress wouldn’t allow it. Yoru looked at herself in the mirror, the tears in her clothing not visible from the front, her uniform boots remained untouched on the floor.
“Crowley!” Her prefect called out to her after morning cleaning was underway “Where are your boots?” she looked at Yoru’s feet, talons flush against the floor.
She raised her eyebrow “they’re in my room? How do you suppose I’m going to wear them with feet like this?”
The dorm prefect looked at her, expressionless “And you’ve ripped your shirt too. Alterations of the uniform are not allowed at this school”. Yoru felt herself getting frustrated with the girl. She knew the rules, but how was she supposed to wear a uniform that wasn’t meant for a bird when she was cursed by the parts of a bird? “Go see the Headmistress. I’m not sure what to do with you” the prefect waved her away and continued on with her own cleaning and seeing to the questions of the new students.
Yoru stomped from the dorm, mad at how easily she was dismissed. It was her first day of school and already sent to the Headmistress for something completely out of her control? This was ridiculous. She wandered around the halls for a while before realizing she didn’t know where the Headmistress’s office actually was, and wished she had a map.
“Are you lost, child of Crowley?” a voice sounded from behind her. Yoru wheeled around and saw no one, but a cat walking blithely toward her.
“How do you know I’m Crowleys?” she asked him, feeling strange talking so freely with a cat. It wasn’t often they spoke the same language.
“You look just like him, child, follow me I’ll lead you to the Headmistress”.
“Thanks cat”. He turned around to face her, raising a feline eyebrow.
“You may call me Alkin” he turned back around and continued to lead her to her fate.
When they arrived he waited patiently at the door for Yoru to knock and open the door, he jumped up onto her desk and stared at Yoru, somehow she felt as if he was looking down on her despite still being much shorter than her even with the boost in height. Yoru recognized the Headmistress from the entrance ceremony, and was hit by the sheer power of her presence. Unlike her father, she felt that this was a woman that she wouldn’t be able to talk back to without consequence, she gulped.
“I hear you have had some uniform issues, young Crowley”.
She nodded and took a deep breath. “I had to cut holes for my wings” She said, turning around to show her the mutilated blouse “and I can’t wear the boots” she lifted her leg and flexed her foot, talons shining in the light.
“And there is no way for you to suppress those features? We do not allow uniform alterations in this school”.
Yoru was taken aback “at all? How am I supposed to wear it if I can’t get it over my body? There are other beastwomen at this school and they’re allowed...”
Ursa Astoria stared at her from across the desk, a slight smile playing on her lips “That is not my problem to solve, Yoru Crowley. The other beastwomen are able to wear the uniforms as they were made upon the creation of this school. Unfortunately, until you are able to meet those same standards, you are unable to attend this academy. I will give you one week to comply with the dress code or I will have to ask you to leave” She nodded slightly, Yoru recognizing the dismissal.
She walked down the hallway, lost in her own head. After everything she’d done to get here, the thing that was going to stop her was the one problem she hadn’t been able to solve. She’d chosen Eliksia in hopes she’d be able to find a cure for her bird legs and her wings, but now she wasn’t even allowed to attend because of them. She felt the bile rising up in her throat as she walked back to her dorm room to collect what possessions she had brought with her. There was no point staying longer than she had to, she knew there was no way she’d be able to fit into regular boots or shirts in a week. She’d already been experimenting for over a year and hadn’t managed to change a single thing. She gathered her things, leaving her uniform boots in her room and walked to the mirror that would take her back home.
Crowley heard a faint thumping from above him, absolutely certain there was an intruder in his home, he flew up the stairs at top speed, throwing Yoru’s bedroom door open with a crash. He found her sitting on her bed, staring at her feet stretched out before her.
“N-Nugget?” He asked “Why are you home? Are you not starting school today?” She didn’t look up when she shook her head, keeping her eyes focused on her feet.
“I can’t. I’m not allowed.” She muttered, refusing to meet his gaze.
“What!? Why not!? That Miss Astoria! What did she say?”
Yoru sighed, quickly glancing at him “I don’t fit the uniform properly because of my stupid wings and my stupid feet. So I can’t go.”
“That’s preposterous!” Crowley objected “I’ll go talk to Miss Asoria right away! No way my Nugget can’t go to school because she’s got cute little birdy feet! Absolutely not!” He sat down on the bed next to her in a huff. “So unfair, Miss Astoria should know better, telling my Nugget no. How dare she!” he muttered to himself.
Yoru kicked her feet out a little bit “I could always just go to NRC, I already live here…” She asked again, hoping she wouldn’t have to relive the embarrassment of WNA again.
“No no. You’ll go to your school, you worked hard to get in! I will go talk to Miss Astoria! I shall convince her that you should attend, and that discrimination is VERY rude!” He stood up dramatically and crossed his arms. He didn’t move. Minutes ticked by on the clock, Yoru growing more amused the longer he waited.
“Aren’t…..aren’t you going to go?” She asked quietly after a quarter of an hour.
Crowley deflated before her “Please give me time, my Nugget, Miss Astoria is...!” He swung his arms a few times as if to loosen up. “Okay. Here I go! Off to help my Nugget. Off to talk to Miss Astoria…” He sat back down on the bed beside her. “Okay, maybe a few more minutes, she’s VERY scary!” Yoru cracked a smile, unintentionally, Crowley had managed to cheer her up just a little bit.