Chapter Text
Late nights are different for everyone. Most people are asleep at 3 a.m. Not freshman Starling Leech of Octavinelle house, no. He blames his never ending zeal for life, his ever burning curiosity, and his comfirmed insomnia. It used to be an issue exclusive to him, since up until enrolling, he had never had to share a room with anyone. But now, he has the absolute delight of rooming with Riptide Ashengrotto-Shroud, an equally strange entity.
Except... Riptide actually has the ability to sleep nine hours straight. Starling can barely even sleep three at times. He pouts, sitting on his bed in a fetal position and staring over at his fast asleep roommate. The long, wispy blue flames of Riptide's hair glow dimly as he snores. He's out like a light. A very peaceful light that hums and flickers and actually, probably needs its bulb changed out or something.
"Okay... weird analogy," Starling mumbles into the fabric of his pants as he rests his chin on his knees. "He's not a lightbulb."
It's so boring... Starling hates it more than he says he does. "Doesn't it suck to be an insomniac?" "Maybe. I don't know, I'm not too bothered." YES HE IS. He feels like this is going to kill him. He doesn't understand why he has to put up with this. It's not silly goofy fun at all. Screw his life, honestly. He'd give anything to be genuinely rested instead of getting a couple of hours a night and frequently passing out during the day thanks to his very unwanted sleep deprivation.
What to do when you can't do anything at all? Go practice your magic! Ignore the curfew! Don't get caught, and don't get your ass kicked! Sounds simple enough to him! The other day, when Starling had stood outside the off-campus dormitory that had gone to ruins thanks to one of its old inhabitants having left this world entirely and the other staying behind and marrying in this world (a fact that still surprises everyone who's known her for a while), he discovered something. Something he didn't know he had in him.
He had unlocked his signature spell. His own unique magic! It had caught him so off-guard the first time he successfully cast it that he had scurried away in fear and snuck all the way back to Octavinelle. But now he wants to go back to it, to explore it, to figure out every possible detail there is to know about it. To practice it. To master it to a T. He has to pay close attention this time to what's going on when he uses this spell. He forces himself to remain vigilant and diligent.
One thing Starling certainly has mastered by now is the art of stealth. He remains undetected as be slips through the hallways and pathways all the way to the solitary, rundown Ramshackle dorm. The only people living there are the ghosts that have been there forever, but they haven't noticed Starling so far. He considers that a major win. If any of the ghosts were to come out and find him, he's sure he would get in major trouble. They love to ruin things for people. But also, nothing ever seems to go well for him anyway.
The thing is, Starling is a walking miracle. His parents have said so. His uncles have said so. His grandparents have said so. Numerous times as a child, the boy had gotten into seriously dangerous situations, up until the point where his father said, “We can't let him step foot outside the house anymore, it's horribly irresponsible of us. We shouldn't even be allowed to raise him anymore, but we do.”
This had gotten a scoff from the man's husband, who gripped his hand so firmly it began to turn red. “Foolishness, Silver. I call foolishness. You want us to raise a caged bird? I will go out with him every time from now on. I've always wanted to anyway, because I've never had somebody so interested in spending time in things I wanted to do. He will always be watched. If you still insist on cooping him up, you have no faith in me, your own husband.”
His father had sighed and stared sadly down at the table. “You're right, Jade. I have so much faith in you.”
This conversation had happened when Starling was around nine years old. From that point on, he'd never been alone for a moment. It wasn't as though he was of high status and had people after him all the time. So many unfortunate things had occurred to him specifically that his loved ones were simply anxious about letting him out of their sight. That being said, Starling was never seen away from his cousin, Adder, or Riptide. This was all the more reason why his sneaking out at night to practice his magic alone was exhilarating. He wasn't supposed to be here. But he was.
“What did I call it…" he mumbles, pacing back and forth. The creaking of the dorm's busted door as it swings back and forth in the wind gets on his nerves, but he hums just as loudly to tune it out. "How did I even cast it, really? Augh, I can't remember! And to think Spirit has his signature spell already nailed, and he has had it nailed since before he even started here! It's a real brag… Drives Riptide nuts. But that might also be a twin thing, getting on each other's nerves.”
Spirit was the name of Riptide's twin brother, who was all alone in Ignihyde. That made a whole lot of sense, though. He really took after Idia. Riptide was so glaringly different, it was hard to imagine they were related if you weren't looking at them side by side. While he focused on physical training, his brother worked tirelessly to hone magical prowess, eventually mastering his signature spell, "Nether Labyrinth” at age 15. It was a freaky kind of spell, too. It locked its targets in some hellish escape room, while Spirit just laughed and watched as they worked to get out. What a freaky kind of mage, honestly…
He's a serious dork, though. A major nerd. So Starling isn't really afraid of him as much as he is enamored by how flustered he can get if you push the right buttons. Apparently, Starling was the only one who felt this way. Thorn (whose real name is Malleon), one of Starling's childhood friends, also likes to mess with Spirit. But this is solely because Riptide is Thorn's boyfriend, ergo making Spirit a potential brother-in-law. Makes sense honestly, they're both from pretty important families, it's no wonder they've spent so much time together and gotten close.
Meanwhile, Starling is just a normal kid with no exceptional talent to speak of except the talent to get himself into immense trouble. It seriously bums him out. Especially now that he knows he's got his own signature spell that he used entirely by accident out of boredom. What the hell was it?
He groans and slides his back down a wall. No progress tonight, huh? What else is new? It isn't as though anything in life goes well for him anymore. Oh, yeah, he'll act like it doesn't bother him all he wants, but that won't change the reality of his feelings.
“I guess I wasn't meant to be anything special, was I? Just some kid who grew up in the woods with fairly normal parents," Starling grumbles, kicking a stone by his foot and simultaneously waving his mage pen absentmindedly. “Woo, cool magic spell or whatever. Woo, go to sleep, mediocre mage boy.” He coughs, feeling lightheaded as the words, “The heat of night rises as the people sleep. Fever Dream…"
No sooner than when these words pass through his lips do the boy's knees give out under him, and he falls unconscious to the ground.