Chapter Text
A gentle rhythm tapped on the window panes of ramshackle dorm, a tender ‘welcome to the world’ from the rain outside as your eyes crack open. You blink a few times and lift a hand to rub the sleep from your eyes, feeling a familiar warm lump on your chest. It’s the little gray cat-beast-thing known as Grim. The little flames in his ears color the dim room a pleasant blue and give you just enough warmth.
You instinctually reach for your phone and check the time- it’s just a little over an hour before you’re due for class on this gloomy Friday, and you woke up just a minute before your alarm goes off. A groan escapes your chest as you scoop the feline from your bosom and plop him onto the bed beside you.
“Hey, human…” The beast chides, stretching a languid paw from his circular pose, “careful, I’m precious… cargo.”
And just like that, the beast is fast asleep once more. Envy wells up in your chest and you half consider curling back up and saying goodbye to the day just the same, but in that moment, the tune of your alarm plants you firmly back into reality. After silencing your alarm you grasp at your side table for your glasses and don your uniform for the school day.
As your fingers guide the buttons of your vest into their places you wander toward the window and take in the dreary atmosphere outside. You’ve always found comfort in these kinds of days; having an excuse to stay tucked away from the world and bask in the comfort of your own company was a blessing, and something about the gentle embrace of the darker days made you feel safer than the harsh rays of sunlight on a clear day.
Just as your eyes finally adjust to the day, a stray orb of golden light dances across your view, and then another. Maybe you had some more sleep in your eyes than you thought?
You wipe at your eyes a little more but the lights dance evermore, a new group gracing your vision. Your gaze follows their path with a sense of wonder, the same sense of wonder you’ve felt over and over since you arrived in this world just two weeks ago. You were barely used to the way things worked around here- magic, mages, and whole new types of people you’d never seen before- but you were getting into the rhythm of things nonetheless.
The glimmers grow denser as you follow their path, and just as you lean into your windowpane to see where they end, he appears in your vision.
A tall fae man stands in the thick of the dancing lights, standing beneath one of the barren trees surrounding your dorm. Elegantly curved ebony horns stand proud from his sleek raven hair making it immediately apparent that none other than Malleus Draconia was in your midst. You feel your heart skip a beat- this was the most feared student on campus, the housewarden of Diasomnia whom you’d only caught a glimpse of one single time. His fearsome reputation preceded him, yet in this moment he felt gentle, a quiet spectator of the world around him, as if he were feeling the same sense of wonder you did.
You register that he’s looking toward your dorm, scanning the exterior with piqued interest as if he’s on the lookout for something in particular. He’s without an umbrella, surely he’s soaked? Should you go out and offer him an umbrella? A towel perhaps? You’re sure you can find something to help him out.
His gaze grazes your window just as you retreat in search of some sort of reprieve to offer him from the rain, heart pounding even faster now, both from your scurrying and worrying. Would somebody like Malleus even dignify an offering from the likes of you? He’s everything you’re not- powerful, graceful, and well-known.
That leads you to wonder, though: why was Malleus here, at your dorm? Why was he wandering about the grounds of Ramshackle dorm anyway? You ponder the question, hurriedly scanning each room until you find your umbrella dropped haphazardly at the entryway. In a hurry you take it into your grasp and push open the door to make a beeline toward the fae in your yard.
“Excuse me!” You chirp, neglecting to open the umbrella for even yourself in these moments as you’re caught up in the whirlwind of your racing thoughts. As you round the corner though, the lights are gone, and so is Malleus.
Your shoulders slump and you catch your breath. Where did he go? You take a few moments to survey the area before you feel sure he’s gone, shuffling back into the dorm and hurrying to gather your things. You toss your bag over your shoulder and make sure you’ve got your phone on you before you return to the outdoors, this time with your umbrella open and shielding you from the shower.
You start off into your second Friday at Night Raven College. You take the old overgrown path connecting Ramshackle to the classroom building and carefully watch your step to ensure you don’t further ruin your appearance with gifts from the storm. As you commute, you replay the near miss with Malleus in your head like a mystery to be uncovered. He seemed to be looking for something around your building, but what? The dorm in which you reside is a disheveled mess of shutters dangling off their hinges, sun-bleached and weathered paint, rotting wood, and a painfully unkept garden, surely not a place for one as regal as Malleus Draconia.
“Prefect,” You hear a familiar from behind you “Why are you all wet? Don’t know how to use an umbrella?”
Cater Diamond stood with his hands on his hips just behind you with a pretty grin plastered on his face. You straighten up with a huff but can’t help returning a smile his way. “Guess not. What, are the umbrellas in this world magic too?” You teasingly retort, tucking the umbrella into your bag. “I’m still trying to get used to this place, cut me some slack.” You’d run into Cater early into your “orientation” and he’d helped you get your things together after the ruckus had settled down. You hadn’t made many friends at NRC yet, but you were at least acquainted with Cater and a few of the other third-years you’d met in class.
“Got it,” The redhead sighs and tousles his hair with a hand to try and shake out any raindrops clinging to his strands. “You still seem like a lost little puppy. You in a club yet?” He tilts his head, looking you over and helping to re-adjust your half-soaked uniform as if he already saw you as a friend.
“Nope,” you sigh and take a step back to finish fixing up your uniform as best you can.
“Well… the pop music club is having a little rehearsal tonight, you wanna come?” Cater shoots you another smile.
Your instincts tell you to immediately decline- you’ve always been incredibly introverted. Back home you had a few close friends you stuck to and sort of did your own thing most of the time, oftentimes overwhelmed by overly friendly extroverted types like Cater, and you wanted nothing more than to spend your weekend huddled up in cozy bliss with the latest volume of your favorite series. This isn’t home, though, and you don’t know anybody here. You really could use some people around to help you navigate this world and there’s an open invite right in front of you.
“Sure. I’ll be there,” you confirm. Cater’s smile pulls into an eager grin. He extends his phone to you with an empty contact screen.
“I’ll shoot you the deets later,” You take his phone and quickly input your information. “I know everyone will be happy to have a cool new audience member,” the redhead winks as he pockets his phone and gives you a quick wave before making his way to class. After returning the wave and offering him your own sheepish smile, you turn and scan your schedule to find your own class.
Just as you start off, you spot Malleus from the corner of your eye rounding a corner, just barely catching sight of him through his entourage. He looked perfectly dry and composed despite having stood in the rain outside your dorm for who knows how long. You can’t help but examine him head to toe, then back up to his head- not a single drop of water! He must be as powerful as everyone makes him seem. He’s also powerful enough to feel you staring, and you lock eyes with his piercing emerald gaze for just a brief moment. Something akin to lightning runs down your spine and kickstarts your heart in a flurry. You catch your breath in a gasp and turn on your heel to seek refuge in your magic history lecture.
You settle into your seat in the back of the lecture hall as best you can and organize your things for class, trying to shake the intense response you felt from your chance encounter with Diasomnia’s housewarden. His eyes still burned in your mind, though, piercing through the words of the lecture as they began. You scribble down some notes but find yourself losing focus, scrawling some doodles across the margins of your pages instead as you stop yourself from overanalyzing the event.
After what felt like forever, the lecture is released with a toll of the school bell, and you steel yourself to face the rest of the day. You just need to survive the next few hours of classes, do what you can to enjoy the pop music club rehearsal later tonight, and silently pray that you don’t see Draconia for a third time today.