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Lilly’s eyes struggle to open from her… nap? She can’t tell how long she’s been out, but it definitely felt like it had been way too long to consider it that.
She vaguely remembers having an odd dream. Something with unseen figures speaking in ominous words, none of which she really remembers the specifics of — And none of which is important now, for sure, the air feels both stuffy and cold, almost eerie. That definitely felt like a much more pressing issue right now.
She tries to move to rub her eyes, still sleep-addled. Immediately, she comes to realize how cramped the space around her was.
“Ugh, this lid’s so heavy…”
Lid? The word makes restlessness quickly take over. A bit clumsily, Lilly pats around in the dark, feeling the cold, harsh walls surrounding her. She pushes against whatever was right in front of her as soon as she finds it, leaning her body into the act, light comes into her vision…
…as she steps out of a coffin.
The step she takes forward echoes, making her stomach go cold. The room surrounding her is covered with these weird intricate dark decorations juxtaposed with bright, glowing things she doesn’t have the time or brainpower to fully notice. Not when there are literal coffins lining the walls.
“I better hurry up and find that uni— Huh? You ain’t supposed to be awake yet!”
…There’s no other visible person in there. Just a cat. Gray-coated, floating, with blue flames where the fluffy fur near its ears should be. It stares her dead in the eyes like she’s the weirdest thing in that place, and in the moment they’re just silently standing in front of each other, Lilly looks around, only to catch a reflection of her on stained glass with wings sprouting from her back.
…Yeah, she was definitely dreaming.
“Are… you… the one talking?” …Are the first few words Lilly manages to get out, mouth agape. Despite the fact it wasn’t much like a regular cat’s face in the first place, she still feels surprised at how its expression manages to twist to anger in such a human way.
“Nyeh, and you’re disrespectful too! Aah, whatever, just gimme that uniform so I can get in!” It insists, the little flames in its ears flaring.
Quickly, a wave of blue and brightness floods her vision, feeling a rush of heat fly right past her shoulder, so close to brushing against it— And she leaps out of the way before it hits her, something like a fireball, leaving a blazing trail right next to the coffin she stepped out of.
“Hey, what the hell? Why are you attacking me?!“
The cat is definitely determined, though, for whatever reason. Another blast of blue fire comes her way, Lilly jumping out of its target just before it scorches her shoes. Her thoughts feel like they’re spinning too fast, she can’t even stop to look at her surroundings—
“Goddamn it! Can’t you just gimme that uniform already? Don’t act like ya belong here more than me just ‘cause you’ve got these wings!” There’s fire blazing on the floor, the noticeably stony floor that’s definitely not supposed to be flammable. The cat’s words drive her eyes towards her back, confirming that those wings she saw were here indeed.
They flutter and sparkle weirdly, even tilted down, she remarks, but there’s no time to remark much else, unless she wants that cat to burn her to a crisp—
Her ears ring and she runs out of that dome-like room. Lilly’s steps definitely feel much lighter and faster than they should be, but there’s no time to overthink that right now.
The hallway she delves into seems to stretch on forever, surroundings rapidly morphing in their various shades of black, purple and blue, with a dash of ominous green glow every now and then. Lilly loses count of the seconds as she runs, the shoes she was wearing definitely not made for the job, but she grits her teeth and keeps going.
But the cat’s yells soon get louder behind her, and the ache of exertion gets harder to ignore, traveling up from her calves to her upper back— She wishes she knew how to use those wings, now, but everything was happening all at once and she just had no clue— hiding may be a better option for a moment. Looking around quickly, there’s several doors surrounding her, one that seems to lead into a bright, spacious room. It'd be a gamble to go in there, but…
“Haa… hah… dammit, you’re fast!”
But, the instant she detects the blue glow again, she takes a leap. Putting all of her strength into the act, her body lifts off with an ease that’s noticeable even now, especially for the height it reaches, but she’s not thinking about that right now. No, her main concern is not getting burned to a crisp, regardless of whether it’d be a real burn or not.
“Now, what do we have— Oof!”
…And her body harshly collides with another, as if there wasn’t a worse possible time for that to happen.
There’s a tall man with dark hair who seemed to just appear out of thin air in front of her. With the same lightness that she felt when she leaped, she stumbles back from the impact, sparks flooding the corners of her vision as she nearly falls backward.
“M…My, what exactly is happening here? You’re not supposed to be in this place right now.” The man sputters as he gets back on his feet. “The orientation ceremony has already begun!”
“T-There was a cat chasing me down the halls and throwing fire at me!” She blurts out. The man’s face is covered by a mask shaped like some sort of bird. A crow? The rest of his clothes somehow manage to match the flashiness, a full set with a three piece suit, top hat, and cape, all in midnight blue and black.. “I… I didn’t— Wait, he’s right behind you!”
…Like it’s nothing, he waves his hand right the second the cat wooshes into the room, sending him a good few feet backwards.
“N-Nyeh! That hurt!”
“Hmm, since I am kind, I won’t be really punishing you. But this is certainly not the behavior a familiar should have.” He turns to the cat, straightening out his mask, then back to Lilly. The holes where his eyes should be shine with a pinkish hue. “As for you… you look very confused. Something might have gone wrong with the process of your arrival.”
“With the… um, yeah, I am confused, what’s happening here?” Lilly rubs her own temple, trying to ease the spinning sensation. The man hums, tapping his chin with a gloved hand. “What’s with the cat? Who are you?”
“Hmm, it seems you got quite a lot of memory loss. Well, these things can happen sometimes…” He muses, looking her up and down — she could only tell that from how his head moved though, his face so heavily covered by that freaky mask — and then smiles widely, maybe too much.“Don’t worry! I’m a very kind man, so I shall take you to your orientation and answer your questions on the way. What’s your name?”
He takes a step forward, as if she’s already agreed to come with him, giving him a beckoning nod. The cat swears and tries to break free from his unseen restraints.
He’s not taking no for an answer, or even just silence . Well, I guess I’ll be playing along with this for now…
“Uh, I’m Lilly-Mae Belle. You said orientation…?”
“Belle… I see. I’m unsure if I recall seeing your name in the list of students starting this year. I am Dire Crowley, headmaster of Night Raven College. That is the place you are in.” He announces quite pompously. The names spin around in Lilly’s head, certainly not making their walk any more pleasant. “I suppose the issue with your arrival could be quite understandable, given your…condition. I would have almost thought the Dark Mirror made a mistake!”
“My condition.” She repeats, and he nods, chuckling at her response.
“See, this academy was originally intended to only have male students…” He says, and it hits Lilly’s head like a heavy weight, another thing to spin around as she tried to stay steady through the walk. “But as I’ve said, the judgement of the Dark Mirror is never wrong. I would perhaps doubt it if you seemed to be magicless, but that’s clearly not the case. You even have a familiar, after all!”
“Hah? ‘scuse me? I’m no familiar!” The cat yells, going wholly ignored. “I’m Grim and I’m my own mage! And a real magic prodigy too! This lady can’t even move her wings right!”
She opens her mouth to retort, but the reminder of those wings hits too hard. Right, they’re there, she thinks, glancing over her shoulder. They’re noticeably translucent, especially in the darkness of the hallway…
(When she looks at them, they really do feel like they should be one of the strangest things here, yet she can’t actually feel surprise when she sees them. It makes sense in a way, they’re technically just another body part — that’s just not a thought Lilly ever expected to have before.)
“Yes, yes, typical unruly familiar behavior. He’s quite the feisty one. Do keep in mind that you’ll have to watch him yourself later on.” Crowley chuckles once again, shaking his head.
“Hey, I ain’t no weasel!”
…Curiosity starts to slowly replace the unease. She nods at his words, but she’s not paying that much attention, really. Now that she’s not busy running for her life, her eyes are stuck roaming over all the details of her surroundings. The paintings and windows so tall they seemed to want to touch the ceiling, it felt weird to think of this as a school, when it looked so much like a giant gothic mansion—
“Are we done with orientation and dorm assignments?” Lilly blinks out of her daydream, as a buzz of voices becomes audible, noticing they approached a big gateway. A particularly clear voice stands out in the crowd. “All right, new students, I’ll be clear. In the Heartslabyul dorm, I am the law. Break the rules and it’s off with your head!”
They pass through the gateway, a deeper tone, quieter but still commanding, comes soon after the first. “Ugh… this took way too long. Anyone in Savanaclaw, just follow me.”
“Hold on, did anyone see where the headmaster went?” A third voice speaks, as clear as the first, but more imposing — Crowley’s steps slow down, it seems they’ve reached their destination. “He’s not supposed to be away for this long. Can we even be sure the ceremony is actually over?”
“Apologies for the wait, students!” …And soon after, Crowley speaks up, Lilly nearly jolting from how loud he suddenly sounded, echoing across the area— “There’s been an issue with the arrival of a certain freshman, so I had to fetch them myself.”
The buzz comes to a halt as he steps towards the center of the room. There’s multiple eyes on her, maybe as many as hundreds— the crowd is made up of boys in these intricate dark robes, mostly with the hoods up, shadows cast over their faces.
“Let’s continue the ceremony as usual, shall we? Now, Miss Belle, please step in front of that mirror…”
He’s not as loud now, but the words carry a certain pressure that feels nearly physical.
“Did he just say ‘Miss’?”
“Since when does NRC let girls in…?”
“Has there ever been an ‘issue’ with someone’s arrival like this, though…”
…The sudden attention hits like a ton of bricks. Lilly’s face burns, she tries her best to tune out all the voices, but it’s impossible to not pick up things here and there.
“State your name.” A disembodied voice speaks in this stern kind of tone, Lilly sees the image of a theater mask in the center of the mirror when her eyes are drawn to the source of the sound.
“I’m Lilly-Mae Belle…”
There’s no reflection to look at in the mirror, at least not around the area occupied by the mask, and even a few inches away from that. It had something like a halo of pitch black surrounding it — But some corners showed her slight glimpses. She sees her hands, her calves, the tips of her new wings.
“Lilly-Mae. The shape of your soul is…” The voice ponders. “…unclear to me.”
And a heavy feeling follows. The students murmur about it, she can feel the eyes on her even more intensely, even as she avoids looking at the crowd.
“What do you mean?” Crowley asks, stepping closer. The face in the mirror remains unchanged. His hesitation alarms her, even though she obviously couldn’t know what it implied—
“The shape and color of this one’s soul… it’s nothing that would fit within the existing dorms.”
Crowley’s lips curl downwards in a frown. She. an imagine his brow furrowing behind the mask. “Well, perhaps that’s a… no, no, there’s no way it could be a mistake. The only way that would happen is if we had brought in a magicless human, which this girl clearly is not!”
God, what an elaborate dream.
“Excuse me, is there not a rule in place for cases like this? There should definitely be one.” A voice she recognizes as the first one she heard, coming from a small boy with red hair, is the first to speak up clearly.
“Uh, well, the rule is implied, right… it’s not a co-ed school.” A new voice speaks up, one not coming from a person, but instead something like a floating tablet… now that was something new. Maybe she would have been surprised if everything wasn’t already so weird. “I-I mean. Not that there’s anything wrong with… you know. But…”
“This is such a waste of time. It’s not going to make a difference if the Mirror picks her dorm or not…”
“Well, if the Mirror doesn’t do it, how is it going to be picked? That’s not how things work in this school.”
“Aw, well, if we can’t decide on anything, Scarabia’s doors are always open to anybody!”
The boys that were the closest to the mirror spot all speak up, each one of them with striking features and voices of their own, her head whips around to look so much she feels dizzy. They seemed to be important here in some way, she vaguely thinks.
“If she’s bein’ such a problem, you should just let me be a student instead!” Suddenly, Grim says out loud, and she jolts again, looks like the restraint isn’t as effective now— “C’mon, let the mirror take a look at me!”
“No, none of that.” Crowley says quickly, stopping Grim right when he’s about to rush towards them, thank god. “This is an odd situation to be in, sure, but… if the Dark Mirror has chosen this girl, then Night Raven College is where she’s supposed to be. And if it cannot place her into a dorm, then… Hm. It may be time to reopen the doors of our unused dorm…”
“…well, I guess that works…” The voice from the tablet murmurs first.
“Oh? So we’re getting a new dorm leader?” The boy who offered a place in his dorm asks, voice sparking with curiosity. Crowley nods, slowly at first, but seeming to quickly become more decisive.
“…As an educator, and a kind person, I couldn’t possibly just leave this girl in the dust, especially given the state of her memory…” He mutters, looking her up and down again. Lilly almost opens her mouth to speak, but ends up stopping herself when Crowley breaks into a smile. “Yes, yes… There's no need to worry, Miss Belle! Despite the strange conditions of your enrollment, You’ll make a wonderful dorm leader for Ramshackle, I am sure!”
. . .
…So, there she was now.
Ramshackle turned out to truly live up to its name. Lilly doesn’t know what she was expecting, really — She can’t have an opinion on what’s happening when every event is bizarrely new. Grim’s hostility, which she briefly worried about as they were taken to the dorm, quickly turned to its state of disarray.
Crowley leaves them there, handing her a few informative papers. Lilly has no choice but to go to bed, regardless of the dust on the air, or how long it took to be comfortable, because as she finds out, it’s quite painful when she lays on her wings—
…She’s not really supposed to be here, is she? Her entire mind is a blur, like her life just started when she stepped out of that coffin. But she knew in an instinctive level that those wings weren’t here before.
She falls asleep thinking she’ll just wake up in her regular bedroom, as unclear as that picture was right now—
…But she opens her eyes to that same run down bedroom. She sits up to feel her wings struggling to stretch out of the weird fold they were put in during her sleep. To really feel it, the slight tug on her upper back similar to how her hands would feel if she stretched her fingers.
So that was that. Whatever was happening wouldn’t be over anytime soon. Might as well attend classes as instructed.
(Her teacher for the day was a man in a fur coat with a riding crop. Needless to say, there weren’t any more issues with Grim.)
“I’m just sayin’, he was putting too much work on swinging that thing around, and not enough at actually teaching! It just ain’t right!”
“I mean, it’s the first day of class. Usually that means there won’t be any actual content...” She shrugs, it definitely doesn’t feel any sort of normal to be talking to this creature so casually, but what else could she do? Boys walking around them steal glances every now and then, Lilly just takes a deep breath and keeps walking. “Are you sure you wanna come with me anyway? I don’t know if walking around is gonna be… fun. For you I mean.”
“Nyeh, like you said… nothing better to do, right? We might as well get to know what we’re workin’ with and all that.”
She hums, nodding. It’s a little bit awkward to be walking with Grim, considering the events of the night prior, but the whole place was just so huge and intricate, and again, what else could she do? Now that she finally has the time to stop and give the decorations a good once-over, she sees how some portraits moved and some torches actually float.
“God, this place is so…” She says to herself, looking all around with wide eyes.
Grim makes a noise of half-baked acknowledgement, see, I told you you’d get bored, she thinks of saying. They cross the cafeteria, Lilly taking a moment to run her hand over the table again, just to feel the texture of the wood that was unfamiliar to her.
“So this one’s full of mirrors…”
She stops again. If Grim grumbles anything, she doesn’t really hear it. Something about the green glow of the lanterns in the wall just really caught Lilly’s eye — light fading in and out, it kind of reminded her of fireflies — she almost didn't notice the third person in the room with them.
“Oh. You’re the new dorm leader girl, huh?” A voice brings her back from her thoughts. She looks in its direction, seeing a redheaded boy with a heart painted over his eye. He offers her a smile. “The one everybody’s talking about.”
“Huh? Uh, I guess I am…” She meets the boy’s eyes. Well, isn’t it refreshing to be spoken to casually? “I’m Lilly-Mae Belle. But, um, just Lilly is okay. You’re a freshman too?”
“Yeah, I’m Ace Trappola.” Ace says, nodding at her, and Lilly smiles a little. “From Heartslabyul dorm. I gotta say, I wasn’t expecting the school to turn co-ed when I enrolled. And we get a new dorm with a leader who’s still a freshman? It’s pretty crazy.”
“To be fair, even I wasn’t expecting that.” She laughs a little awkwardly, shaking her head. “I’m guessing most of the dorm leaders aren’t freshmen like…us.”
“Oh, yeah, most of them are in their third year, pretty sure. Usually you need to win a duel against your dorm leader to take over. They don’t really say you can’t get the position in your first… but y’know. You have to prove you can handle the job to get it.” Ace speaks, taking a moment to look around at the mirrors, then back at her. “I think it’s fair, I don’t know. Handling a dorm looks like a lot of work… Especially one that’s all trashed like yours.”
“Yeah, it really looks like— Hey, what’s that for?” Lilly gets so lost in the talk, she only snaps out of it when she hears Ace’s snicker.
“Uhuh, that ‘new’ dorm you’re a leader of is like an abandoned house, right? Man, people are gonna be talking about that for years.” He smirks, and she feels her face heating up with irritation. “I think the headmaster just felt bad about sending you home. Or he thought it’d look lame to do it in the middle of the ceremony. I mean, making an abandoned house into an NRC dorm? Please.”
“What do you even have to do with it? It’s not like it’s your dorm.” She huffs, and he barks out a laugh.
“Well, duh! ‘cause I was actually supposed to enroll. I mean, can you even use actual magic? Like, more than wing flapping?” His eyes narrow, his smirk widens — Lilly is really starting to tap into her self-control reserves here. “I think you would’ve ended up in a real dorm if you could.”
“I… You’re all talk, aren’t you? You’re literally a freshman too!”
“Yeah, I am, but I can do this.” He pulls the pen out of his blazer’s pocket, swinging it in Lilly’s direction and making a gust of wind blow at her— sending her stumbling backwards, sputtering. “Oh, wow. This was just a little breeze. And people will talk about fae like they’re so strong, huh? You really think you can be a dorm leader if you can’t handle this right here?”
He laughs out loud, summoning a stronger hit with another pen wave, and Lilly’s face heats up more than she thinks it ever has. “ Ugh, you really think you’re so funny, don’t you…”
“Is that the new dorm leader?” Another voice joins in the mix, oh, that’s just great, Lilly thinks through grit teeth, trying to brace herself to not stumble from Ace’s stupid little tricks — A black haired boy in a similarly red-accented uniform rushes in, frowning. “Hey, you, what do you think you’re doing? You’re not supposed to use magic against another student like that!”
“I know, dumbass. But she’s so not a real student, let alone a dorm leader. ” Ace waves the pen again, cackling when she stumbles, wings fluttering. “C’mon, don’t be naive. The headmaster just didn’t wanna look bad. NRC isn’t co-ed.”
“T-There’s no reason why it couldn’t become co-ed, though! You can’t… just discriminate against people like that! ” He stumbles on his words, but still argues. The boy moves like he’s trying to take away the pen from Ace, but he’s not fast enough. “Come on, quit it! You’re gonna get everybody in trouble!”
“Stop me yourself, then. If you even can!” Ace steps out of the way as the other boy tries it again— The pen wave his dodge results in makes Lilly get hit yet another time, anger rising in her chest.
“Oh my god, this is so stupid, can’t you just mind your business?!” Obviously, her words fall on deaf ears. “Grim, are you just gonna stand here and watch this? It’s your dorm too—!”
The boys wrestle for the pen, the dark haired one getting closer to his victory. There’s just enough of a break from magically getting pushed for her to glance at where Grim should be, steaming with anger.
“Aw, you’re calling for help from your little weasel now?” Ace cackles, turning to her for a second — Right when Lilly’s irritation pauses, and she realizes the cat is nowhere to be seen.
“Wait, no, he’s not…“ She looks around, and the break in her act seems to finally get Ace to snap out of it. “Grim? Where the hell did you go?”
“A-Ah, did your familiar run away? That can’t be good…” The other boy says, eyes widening. Lilly’s gaze scans all around one more time. He’s really nowhere to be found.
“You think so? The headmaster said he’s my responsibility! Damn it, this cat…” She swears under her breath, hurrying to go look for him — He probably just got bored and went back to the dorm, right? That would be the logical assumption, but she still had such a strong bad feeling in her chest.
“Wait, I’ll come with you! I can help restrain him if needed!” She hears the black-haired boy speak behind her, quick steps joining hers, and that’d be something she’d have to thank him for later, when she had the time for gratitude—
“Seriously? You’re gonna waste time looking for that weasel?” For some stupid reason, Ace follows right behind them. Lilly’s jaw clenches in anger involuntarily, it’s not the time for this either,
“Don’t you know about the school rules for familiars? She could get expelled if he gets into trouble!”
“Yeah, and? She’s not supposed to be here anyway.”
“Can you just shut up if you want to follow me so bad?” Lilly snaps, and oh, so now he decides to be quiet! “Grim? Where did you go? You’re gonna get us in trouble!”
It’s a matter of a few minutes until they get to the cafeteria, Lilly’s heart rate hitting another peak when she finally, thankfully, catches a glimpse of a blue flame—
“Yeah, whatever, I’m outta here!” He’s floating about in circles, ears flat against his head as he grumbles to himself. “I’m not gonna play along with being in some lame fake dorm…!”
“He’s over there!” The black-haired boy calls, definitely all good intentions, but it backfires against her now, and Grim’s eyes go wide as he realizes he’s being chased.
“Hah? What’re you doing?” He asks in a yell, then growls. “Aargh, whatever! You’re not keeping me from leaving this mess!”
He speeds away, god damn it, and Lilly does everything she can to match the speed. “Stupid, they’re not gonna let you leave, we’re just gonna be both in trouble—!”
“D-Don’t worry, I’ll stop him! I… I can cast a spell and… immobilize him, like—“
…It all moves in a blur. Lilly tries to mind the wings, amateurishly speeding her steps with some gliding to try and catch up to him. The cat, too damn stubborn , uses the fact she can’t go very high up to his advantage, moving up towards the ceiling.
“Ha! Try and reach me now!”
And then, almost crashing into Lilly in the middle of her clumsy flying, the other boy does something, and a huge, dark shape comes into existence out of thin air, positioned right over Grim— A damn cauldron, oh my god.
“Nyeh?! A-Are you crazy? You’re gonna squash me!”
“Dude, wait, stop, the chandelier is—“
Lilly’s eyes turn to the cauldron, to the chandelier nearby, and during that millisecond, gravity finally reaches that stupid huge thing, and she’s spurred into action— She hops as high as she can bring herself to, a sudden strong rush of wind powering her enough to reach Grim’s height.
…And with the strength that can only come from a real adrenalin spike, she grabs Grim with one arm, wrapping around his middle, and pushes — ineptly tackles, really — the cauldron out of their way, including out of the chandelier’s way, by some miracle of physics or luck.
Grim near screeches from her handling. Dull pain spikes through her body from the collision, and her wings give out at the exact second that everything drops—
“Ow, what the hell?”
“Aargh, g-get your hands off me!”
…The overpoweringly loud clang of the cauldron’s fall drowns out the complaints. She just barely manages to make her wings move enough to not fall from an outright dangerous height, but still ends up colliding with the boys, all three of them knocked over like a row of dominoes.
“Haah… Ouch, that thing was heavy…”
Pain pulsates on the side of her body that hit the cauldron. She pants as she tries to get back on her feet, lightheaded from the sheer speed of everything that happened.
Even Grim is surprisingly still in her arms, eyes wide with shock. The boys groan as they stand up, definitely not getting out of this bruise-free—
God, her head won’t stop spinning. As it slowly settles, though, one question shows up before any others.
“Did… you use that wind magic again?”
“Obviously? I’m not trying to get banned from this school!” Ace scoffs as they separate, glancing up at the chandelier. “I was just messing around, okay! It’s not like I was expecting your familiar and this guy to go crazy!”
“Hey, I have a name! It’s Deuce!” Deuce snaps back, even while he’s in the middle of getting back on his feet. “You seriously don’t remember it? We’re classmates! A-And… I panicked, okay? I don’t want her to get expelled!”
“Who cares, it’s not like you remember mine, Juice. And I said, she’s not a—“
“You’re both crazy! I almost got squashed here!”
Breath finally steadying itself, Lilly finds herself stares off at the cauldron in the distance, then at the chandelier. The huge, intricate chandelier, carrying candles that glowed in an unnaturally bright and constant way.
Who would’ve known what would happen to them if it got damaged. There’s no way that thing was not a huge deal to the school— And even if that worst case scenario was avoided, the drop of the cauldron still left a massive dent on the floor—
“Guys.” She calls, shaken as she is, but still determined to act. Surprisingly, her voice gets both their attentions quickly. “I think we really should get out of here. This cauldron literally cracked the floor.”
“Well, Juice was the one who summoned it, so it’s his fault!” Grim is the first to protest.
“It’s Deuce!”
“Wow, some responsible dorm leader you are, huh.” Ace snarks, but for once, she can hear a hint of reason in his voice. “Yeah, actually. We should. If they find out we did this, we’re all toast.”
“But it’d be totally fine if someone found out you were harassing me before, right?” She can’t hold back the response, but it doesn’t really have much of a bite. At least they can agree on this, even Grim doesn’t flail when she releases him.
Face softening and paling slightly, Deuce forgets about the mispronouncing of his name when he hears Ace’s words. “That’s… um, I’m trying to be a good student this year, it definitely wouldn’t do me any good if the headmaster knew I…”
The three of them exchange glances.
Without a word, or any mind paid to the bruises, they dust themselves off and start speed walking out of the cafeteria.
“…Good student, huh. I can tell that’s gonna go as well as Lilly’s ‘dorm leading’.”
“Oh my god, can you actually shut up? We’re gonna get caught if anyone hears you!”
“We’re gonna get caught if we keep walking together, that’s what.” Ace says through poorly hushed, quickened breaths, right when they all reach a hallway leading outside.
Dusk casts such a cozy glow across the courtyard right now that it feels ironic, and they’re just lucky enough there aren’t any other students walking around in this specific hallway…
“…Basically, let’s just pretend this never happened, alright?” Ace prompts, setting aside the stupid remarks for a second. And you know, right now, Lilly can get behind that.
“Yeah, that… I think that’s for the best.” Deuce mutters, cringing as he looks over his shoulder.
“I’ll just… pretend to go to the library. So we don’t get back at the same time. So it’s not suspicious. Okay?” Ace turns to him to ask, and Deuce nods vigorously.
“Yeah, alright, I’m just bringing us both back to Ramshackle…” Lilly laughs nervously. They all nod at each other.
“If anybody asks, we never heard of the cauldron. None of this happened.”
“Y-Yes, definitely not.”
“Nope, never saw it.”
. . .
The morning after, there’s not only whispers about the cauldron incident Lilly totally was not involved in, but she realizes that both Ace and Deuce were in the same class as her.
Awkward.
Not a word is said about the incident, needless to say. But this sort of thing inevitably comes with a bond, doesn’t it? And in a way, Lilly is grateful the whispers aren’t so focused on how she’s a girl in the all-boys school leading the weird new dorm.
Her gratitude comes out, as she finds, by having the patience to give Ace the time of day when he shows up at the very dorm he dissed, complaining about his own dorm leader. All “he’s insane, I swear, we literally can’t do anything without getting our magic taken away!” with a goofy heart-shaped collar around his neck.
They were even now, maybe.
“Well, aren’t you glad you know a reasonable dorm leader?” She teases him while he rants and she works on reassembling the headboard, snickering. “Who doesn’t do that to people, and even lets you stay over when you’re tired of Heartslabyul?”
“Whatever.” Ace rolls his eyes, but she’s satisfied enough. “Yeah, sure, maybe Ramshackle isn’t that bad…”
Her chest puffs up with pride as she hammers in the nail, and the conversation doesn’t go anywhere noteworthy, but it stays in her mind anyway. The other dorm leaders themselves were noteworthy, after all.
When word comes out that they had regular meetings, she makes sure that it’s known she would love to be a part of the next one. Interestingly, the news arrive at her through the vice leader of Heartslabyul himself, who casually approached her during lunch one day, and mentioned Riddle — The very dorm leader Ace had been complaining about for days — specifically, requested her presence.
Lilly’s not sure what to expect when she walks into the room where she was told the meeting would take place. She was one of the first ones to get there too, it seemed. For a few minutes, it was just her awkwardly sitting near Riddle and a boy with glasses who introduced himself as Azul. Azul seemed interested in something related to her, but his attempt at conversation was cut off as the others arrived, just when he was done unpromptedly telling her about all the other dorm leaders—
(Which she did appreciate, in a way. She didn’t want to get people’s names wrong or something, that’d be awkward as hell— Azul surely didn’t seem like the most trustworthy person out there, though.)
“…But, you think Idia will really show up? As in, physically?” Vil speaks up as he types something on his phone. Riddle shakes his head firmly.
“I made sure he knew it would go against the rules not to.” He announces, crossing his arms. A frown twists on his face, seeing his serious expression from up close felt a little funny, the way it stood out on his baby face. “I’d like to believe he knows better than to go against that.”
“I thought he had like, an agreement with the headmaster? To let him do stuff through the tablet, I mean.” Kalim taps his fingers on the table, his jewelry softly jingling along. “I mean, wasn’t he the one who basically made it too? That would make it his right, I think.”
…These words immediately catch Lilly’s attention. She recalls the floating tablet during the orientation ceremony. So there were people like that at a magic school? Interesting.
“Well, when I read the school rules, it specified that when a new dorm leader receives the title, a proper meeting is in order. One with all the members.” Riddle insists, a little bit of a huff to his tone.
“I mean… that definitely sounds reasonable, but, I hope you don’t feel like you have to go out of your way for me too much.” Lilly speaks, voice coming out a bit stilted and awkward. She wanted to come off a little responsible here, despite knowing it wasn’t exactly her forte… but it seemed to be going well so far.
“It’s best to get it out of the way while we don’t have things like exams coming up. And it’s fair you get properly introduced to how things work.” Vil shrugs as he puts the phone down, crossing his legs.
“Exactly, it’s not too much work at all.” Azul adds on, smiling quite widely at her. “Especially when we have such a… good addition to our group. I do appreciate how proactive you are.”
“Hah… yeah, thanks.” She tries to smile back, she really does. But god, this guy really came off shady—
“Yeah, sure. I think you’re not living in reality if you think that shut-in’s actually going to come in here.” Leona off-handedly comments through a yawn. Vil is about to open his mouth and say something, when the door creaks open—
“Oho, are we already getting started? Sorry for coming in late. Your invite might’ve gotten lost, I only just heard about the meeting, and I couldn’t find Malleus in time.” A more unfamiliar figure enters the scene. That must be Lilia? She squints as he looks inside through the half open door before stepping in— “…So I thought I should make sure a certain someone else doesn’t miss it, to compensate.”
Oh, so this is the infamous Idia Shroud.
Lilia walks in, grasping the arm of a much taller boy with a head full of what seemed to literally be blue flames—- It alarms Lilly, thinking back to that bizarre chase with Grim from just a few days ago that now felt so much like old news…
“Th— I-I said, I was going to attend it through the tablet! I don’t see why you’d need me to… to show my face here, it’s not like it makes a real difference.”
…the feeling goes away the second he opens his mouth, needless to say.
“It’s what the school rules say. And it is just one meeting, is it really so difficult to just do what you’re supposed to do?” Riddle chides him, his cheeks turning red. Idia sputters, looking genuinely flabbergasted.
“…Uh, is it really a good idea to do it like that if he’s so uncomfortable?” Lilly can’t stop herself from speaking up, even though she gets a feeling that maybe she shouldn’t. Especially considering how strict Riddle is, and how she did enable Ace and Deuce’s misbehavior. “I don’t think this is going to make the meeting any more productive… whatever the topic of the meeting even is.”
Idia turns to her with wide eyes, like he’s genuinely shocked she’d stand up for him. “S-See! Your ‘special guest’ herself said it! We’re wasting time here…”
“I gotta agree with Radish Sprout over there. Let’s just get to the point.” Leona cuts him off, staring at them both with very little expression on his face. “What’s this meeting even for, anyway? I don’t think we have anything to discuss.”
“Well,” Riddle retorts, looking flustered, then pauses. “I… I heard there was an incident with a giant cauldron in the cafeteria.”
Lilly feels her back going stiff. She uses every bit of her strength to keep her poker face on.
“…Seriously? You wanted to drag me out of my room to talk about that?” Surprisingly, Idia’s voice replies almost instantly, with a newfound snark in his tone. “Normies are actually so weird…”
…Now, meeting aside, Lilly couldn’t deny how insanely curious she was getting about this guy. Mostly over the supposedly “homemade” tablet. But he really seemed like… a character, too, despite not even making any points that were too out there.
“I can’t speak on anything related to that.” Lilly says, averting her eyes from Riddle’s. “My dorm only has one… technically two members so far.”
“Hmm, it’s interesting you bring this up, Riddle…” Azul muses, doing the exact opposite. “I don’t want to assume, but did you, by any chance, call this meeting to accuse the new dorm leader of something?”
“What?” He sputters, face turning red. Oh, Lilly can’t help but feel bad for the guy, all eyes are on him now. “Who do you take me for?”
“That’s a bold assumption, too…” Lilia remarks, resting his chin on his hand, then glancing at Lilly with… an oddly knowing look. “Shouldn’t we be focusing on assisting the new dorm leader? Remembering the exact protocols for receiving one is a bit too much for my old man brain… but I think that’s this rule was founded in.”
“I…I’m trying to assist! It’s important that a new dorm leader is aware of the rules!” Riddle argues, but with much less bite. Azul smirks almost victoriously.
…It’s pretty obvious there are a lot of dynamics at play between those people. Lilly didn’t know what to expect here, but it definitely wasn’t to feel so left out during a meeting that was arguably supposed to be about her.
“Oh, that would make sense, yeah!” Kalim chimes, nodding along. “You’re getting a whole new dorm too, right? And you’re the first girl to enroll in NRC too… that’s gotta be a lot of pressure, huh?”
That really doesn’t make her feel any better, either.
“Ahem. Yeah, I guess it is.” She replies, trying to keep a measured tone. All eyes on her once again. “If… that’s important for you to know, I’ve been trying to stay in the loop with the dorm leader stuff as much as I can. I read all the papers the headmaster gave me…”
“Hmm, it’s good to have such a proactive person added to this little ‘team’.” Lilia chuckles, still eyeing her way too intensely. She does her best to ignore it.
“…I wouldn’t say I’m really having trouble with anything. I guess, maybe, I’d like to work on fixing up the dorm? If I’m a dorm leader, that means people might be joining in next year, right? The building isn’t really in any condition for that.”
There's silence, and she stays put as she waits for a response. Was that dorm leader-y enough? She thought it sounded pretty okay. It was all honesty, too.
“Um, I can make a lot of stuff work by myself though. I know a lot about… repairs, and crafts.” She ends up adding in, uneasy from all the stares. This time it actually gets her an arguably good reaction. Some of the boys get this slight impressed look in their eyes.
“Woah, so that’s how you’ve been dealing with the building problems?” Kalim asks, looking at her with big eyes. “That’s really cool! I think it could add a lot to your dorm’s identity.”
“…Yes, core values are originally what the dorms were founded on.” Lilia comments. “That craftiness of yours could be a good starting point.”
“It could be troublesome.” Riddle crosses his arms as he says, but there’s not much of a bite to his words. Or at least it doesn’t sound like that. “But, since your dorm is in disrepair…”
. . .
When she steps out of that meeting room, Lilly doesn’t know how much she should believe what had just taken place.
The events of the last few days flash across her mind — Randomly showing up in this school, the weird underlying hostility with her now “familiar”, the two boys she ended up befriending, if you could even call it that.
(And, of course, this new body. It was almost offputting how it barely took any time for it to stop feeling all that new. And the things people seemed to assume of her based on her “fae” status were definitely something to keep an eye on.)
“I’ll expect to see you on the next meeting, too.” Riddle gives her a warning as he walks away, and she just smiles and nods back. There’s no way he was really suspecting she had anything to do with that cauldron incident, right? It’s not like there was any evidence—
“Mhm. I’ll be expecting the same.” Lilia says. “I hope you get the chance to meet Malleus soon, too. I think he would like you.”
“It was wonderful to talk to you in person. If you need any assistance in repairing your dorm, feel free to come by Octavinelle at any time…”
“Yeah, you can come talk to me in Scarabia if you feel like too! I’ll be happy to help!”
As they walk away, some of the boys address her, some of them don’t. After all that talking, which honestly didn’t really teach her anything new about them, her feeling of being an outsider only grew stronger.
There’s going to be plenty of time to remedy that, maybe. Some of them did seem as curious about her and she was about them. But there was a real distance there, even with someone like Kalim, who was very outwardly friendly…
…One thing remains in her mind, though. And at the very least, it seems like the universe supported that curiosity, because it just so happened that Idia was taking a while to leave the room.
Lilly stares at the way the fire of his hair moves ever so slightly. She wonders if it feels like the real thing— before she knows, she’s already taken a step in his direction, interrupting his fumbling with whatever it was he was holding.
“Hey.” She speaks up, and she can’t help but almost giggle at how he jumps at just that greeting. “That tablet you use, I heard you made it yourself. Is that true?”
“I… did. Yeah. Kinda.” He mumbles. “You said you were interested in… this kinda stuff?”
The flustered, startled look on his face shifts to something different. Interesting. She wouldn’t have thought someone this shy would be the first person to catch her eye.
“Yeah, it’s different from what I make, but… I was curious about it. How does it work, I mean?”
She knew only time could tell what this world had in store for her, sure— But that didn’t mean she’d just sit around and wait for things to be shown to her, not when there was so much to explore.