The excited shrieks of newly accepted first-years signaled that summer was coming to an end. This was perfectly fine with Lulu Von Grimmelshausen- the girl hated having nothing to do.
The Connlaothian girl sat on the top bunk, reading a book titled "Domination And Dominion: How To Bend Another's Will To Your Own". She had already read this particular text in her first year at Wyrdwood, but that was three years ago. Surely there were things in the tome she'd forgotten since then, right?
Lulu's clean, unfolded clothes lay on the bottom bunk. Her shepherds crook lay haphazardly on top of them, along with a plethora of library books. Since she was without a roommate for the summer, she'd taken to using the second mattress as a place to keep her stuff. The girl doubted she'd have a new one this year- her last two roommates had both switched rooms after a semester, and "Lulu is impossible to live with" had become a sort of running joke among the other girls her year.
A sudden creak caused Lulu to flinch. She spun her head around to see her door being opened by somebody unseen. "Who's there?" she called, mildly annoyed that her reading was being interrupted. "The birds frown on those who don't wear sandals."
The birds... frown upon those... who don't wear sandals? Ailith Leighlin dismissed the odd phrase; or tried to, at least. The second she had saw that she had been put as Lulu Von Grimmelshausen's roommate, she had been dreading going back to school. She tried to wave off the myths of how weird Lulu was, but she gave up after a few days. Who was she kidding? This girl couldn't seem keep a roommate for a week. And now her greeting was "the birds frown upon those who don't wear sandals." There was no way she was going to get through this year.
"It's your roommate," Ailith responded, not even trying to sound excited. No use trying to act something she wasn't. She went to put her stuff on a bunk, but saw that the top was occupied by Lulu and bottom by her stuff. She tried not to blame Lulu: she probably wasn't used to living with others with how often people got switched out of her dorm. "Sorry I'm not... wearing... sandals."
"Oh." Lulu thought, her blue eyes narrowing as the girl entered the room. "So they did find me a new one. Huh." Peering over the bunk's railing, she smiled. "It's okay! They aren't here right now anyway!"
Hopping down from where she was, Lulu extended her hand as if to shake. She then retracted it, as if she had thought better of it. "My name is Lucile, but you can call me Lulu." she said happily. "That's the first two letters of my name, twice!" Lulu held up two fingers, as if to illustrate this. "What's your name?"
Lucile, huh. Honestly, Ailith thought Lulu sounded more weird and crazy, so maybe that's why she went by that. Ailith noted that Lulu spoke kind of like a child, at least to her. Add that to the list of things that made Lulu strange, or better yet, list of reasons why she needed to switch dorms.
"Uh, Ailith," she said. She wondered if Lulu would give her a weird nickname like she gave herself. She guessed that maybe she should sound at least a little bit welcoming, so she tried to start a conversation. "So... nice to be living with you."
But failed miserably.
For the briefest of moments, Lulu's happy smile turned vaguely sinister. "Hah! I made you do it! I made you say "uh"!" she thought, a sense of accomplishment rising in her chest. "I'm so good at this!"
Of course, Lulu didn't take advantage of Ailith's moment of weakness. If the teachers found out she was actually practicing her ability on other students, she'd likely get in a lot of trouble. Simply making people confused wasn't breaking any rules, however- Lulu could practice making people utter her ability's "trigger" all she liked.
In a flash, the girl's smile returned to normal. "That's a pretty name!" she said cheerily as she began to throw her laundry off the bed and onto the floor. "It sounds expensive! Where did you buy it?"
"You can't buy... names..." Ailith resisted the urge to groan. Were conversations always going to go this way? They were already getting very, very quickly. "But thanks..." I guess, she added silently.
She tried not to look at Lulu strangely. She thought that, for a second, Lulu looked kind of... creepy... but it must be her imagination making excuses for her switch rooms. Of course, she wanted to, but she couldn't without valid reason. And it'd probably be more work than just sticking it out. So she was stuck. Most definitely stuck.
"You are very welcome!" Lulu said cheerily, sitting down on the floor and beginning to fold her clothes. "I pay attention to names, and you definitely picked out a good one!"
"Alright, that's enough for now." she thought, intentionally mismatching her socks. "This is too easy to be fun."
"So, what school of magic are you here for?" Lulu asked curiously. "Or are you here for general studies?"
"I'm learning how to control Air." Oh no. Small talk. Ailith both hated it and was horrible at it. What was supposed to say next? Something else about herself or ask something in return? She decided the latter. "What about you?"
Ailith tried not to cringe. It sounded terribly awkward when she said it. Maybe her voice just sounded like that. She hoped her voice just sounded like that.
And what was she supposed to do? Was she supposed to sit on the floor with Lulu? She ended up just standing in the place she had already been. She hoped that didn't look as uncomfortable as she felt.
"Ahhh, air." Lulu said, throwing the socks she'd been folding into the air dramatically. "The invisible element that no one can see!" She looked up at Ailith - who looked rather uncomfortable- and gave her an odd grin. "I wish I coud see it. I'd stare at it all day long!"
Giggling, she returned to folding socks. "I have the ability to control the actions of individuals by subtly taking over their subconscious!" she said in a posh (and clearly fake) accent. "There isn't an official course on mind control though, so I need to take a bunch of electives that kinda relate to the subject in order to get the education I want."
No. No way. Ailith was adding that to the list of "creepy things about Lulu". Why was she learning about mind control, of all things? Well... that was kind of rude, but it was scary nonetheless. Though she had it admit, it was clever of Lulu to use electives like that to get what she wanted. Ailith would never do that.
"You're... not using that on me, right?" She felt the need ask. She hoped it didn't seem rude to Lulu. She hoped everything she said wasn't rude, now that she thought about it. Maybe she should just stop overthinking stuff... Yeah, that'd help...
"Is she serious?" Lulu thought. "Is she seriously asking this question?"
She slowly turned her head to look at Ailith, her face completely deadpan. "If I were using it on you, which of us would be folding my socks?"
"O-Oh..." Ailith didn't know if she should take that as comforting or not. At least she wasn't born being mind controlled, but she feared she would be soon... She forced her mouth shut and looks away, trying not to seem suspicious.
Lulu made a small huffing noise, as if she'd settled something. "Stupid." she thought, nose wrinkling. "Maybe I should control you, make you read a book- you might actually learn something."
The growing sound of chattering voices and footsteps from outside caught Lulu's attention. She looked up at the magic-powered timepiece on the wall, and her eyes widened. "By Ansgar, it's dinnertime already?" the girl said, once again using her fake accent. "It feels like noon!" Standing up, Lulu walked out the door- holding it for Ailith if she chose to follow.
The hall outside their dorm was packed with first years making their way to the dinner hall for the first time. Getting through the sea of younger students would be slow going...
(Sorry for the late reply, on vacation)
Just by looking outside the door — that Lulu held out for her, which she didn't know if that was a good thing or not — Ailith could tell it wasn't going to be easy to get to the dining hall. 'Why does there have to be so many people...' she thought to herself as she stepped outside the door. She pressed herself against the wall, as to not get lost in the crowd.
"Too many," she whispered to herself. Although she'd been here before (four times before), she could never get used to the crowded hallways. She just wanted to eat: it didn't have to be such a chore!
Lulu slowly waded through the flood of younger students, grumbling under her breath. "Stupid, overexcitable first years..." she thought, beginning to get annoyed. "The food here isn't even that good..."
Finally fed up, Lulu decided to take measures into her own hands. Grabbing a boy in front of her by the shoulder, she spun him around to look him in the eyes. The girl gave him a big smile. "Did you know that the largest species of crab in Le'Raana weighs over seventeen tons? It's true!"
The boy, who couldn't have been older than twelve, stared at her in confusion. "H-huh?" he said, looking very distraught. "W-what are you-"
The boy suddenly went silent, his eyes glowing a pale blue. Lulu smirked. "Cause a scene." she said softly, beginning to walk once more.
The boy nodded sleepily, and promptly fell over. "Aaauurrgh!" he screamed, clutching his knee. "I broke my leg! Help me!" The crowd of students slowed as they stopped to watch the commotion. A few older students stepped forwards to help, only to scratch their heads in confusion as they realized the boy was just fine.
Assuming Ailith didn't pull away, Lulu would grab her roommate by the arm and drag her to the front of the now dwindeling crowd. "That's better, don't you think?"
"Uh, yeah..." Ailith hated being touched or grabbed, but she was really too scared to pull away from Lulu. She looked at the boy who was still on the ground. 'Poor kid...' she thought. He was probably terrified as it was. Who knows how he might feel once he realized what he'd done. He'd probably be mortified.
It was so much better to be walking freely, though... A lot of the time, Ailith couldn't go more than a few feet in a crowded hallway without feeling like screaming, crying, hitting someone, or a combination of the three. She hated when people brushed up against her. Honestly, she'd rather be dragged by Lulu than be stuck in that crowd once again. So, even if it meant she was somewhat evil, she was actually a little bit grateful that Lulu did that.
"Thanks," she managed out. God, taking over somebody's subconscious isn't something she should thankful for, but there's a first for everything, she guessed. "I hate crowds."
Lulu smirked, letting go of Ailith's arm. "It's no problem~!" the girl sang cheerily. She snapped her fingers a few times, as if keeping the beat to a song only she could hear.
Behind them, the boy had stopped screaming, and was looking around with a confused expression on his face. The crowd had begun to move again, though at a much slower pace than before. The once excited first years were now visibly on edge, as if the same thing could happen to them at any given moment.
Lulu looked at her roommate, twirling her pigtails in her fingers. "I'm not doing it again though." she said, beaming happily. "Remember, staying comfy means you gotta take initiative for yourself." The girl looked ahead, her face growing dark. "Otherwise things will get taken from you."
Ailith didn't expect — or want — Lulu to do it again, so thank god she wasn't going to. The first time had helped enough, anyways; everybody was going slower, so they were basically some of the only people at the front. Still... she still felt just a little bit bad. And that last thing Lulu said, "things will get taken from you"... it was a little bit ominous, to say the least.
"Yeah," she said, agreeing with Lulu though she didn't know the full implications of what it meant. Taking initiative, however, was one thing she agreed with. She hated doing it, but Lulu was right, in a way. Even if it sounded creepy the way she said it.
Lulu smirked as they approached their destination, the smell of warm food growing stronger with each passing moment. The first few days of the semester always had the best meals- as if the cooks stopped caring what they served after making their first impression. "Maybe they'll serve the cherry tart today..." the girl thought wistfully. "It's about the only thing here worth eating."
The main hall was packed with students both old and new, and it was difficult to find any seats that were unoccupied. Finally, Lulu spotted two empty chairs in the very corner of the room. Motioning for Ailith to follow, she waltzed to the table.
As it turned out, the two wouldn't be sitting alone. Across from their seats sat two first-year girls- a mousy looking redhead, and a blue-haired girl with an oddly pushed in face. The two were already deep in discussion as Lulu took her seat.
"I-I don't know if I want to b-be here anymore..." the redheaded girl said shakily. "I m-miss my mom and dad..."
"You only just got here! You'll be fine!" the blue-haird girl replied condescendingly. "I don't miss my parents, but that's 'cause they're international criminals and stuff. They're pretty much-"
"Aah!" the redhead cried out. Having just noticed the older girls joining them, the child began to panic. "I-I'm sorry! Is this your table? Should we not be here?"
"A-Ah, no, you're fine," Ailith said, attempting to comfort the redhead. She was pretty bad at that kind of stuff: what else was she supposed to say or do? It never felt like she did enough. But when she tried to, she always did something wrong, so she just shut her mouth on that subject. She didn't want to make the redhead feel worse.
"It looks like we're sitting with you two," she countinued, "so what are your names? I-If you don't mind."
The redhead- who didn't looked any less worried than before- stared at Ailith with eyes like saucepans. "S-Susie!" she squeaked. "Susie R-Rainfeather!"
The girl with the pushed in face smirked. "Well, I'm Beatrix Evans, and I'm pretty much the best shadowmancer to ever attend Wyrdwood." The girl began to twirl her hair with her wand. "In fact, the teachers are already talking about moving me up a year- I'm that good."
Lulu smiled at both of them. "Well, my name is Ailith, and this is my friend Lulu!" she said cheerily, pointing at the real Ailith. "I'm sure you'll both do wonderful here!"
Ailith was pretty sure she heard something wrong, and once she did a double take, she realized, yup, that naming order wasnt right. But she decided to roll with it: it couldn't do that much harm, and admittedly, could be a little bit funny.
"You two are first years, right?" She smiled at them. Susie seemed nice enough, but Beatrix..: eh, she'd play along for now. "Wrydwood is an amazing school. I'm sure you'll love it here!"
"I still can't believe I was accepted!" Susie said, wide eyed. "My parents are mundanes, and we barely have any money! Mom says that it must be Myyla blessing us, but I'm worried it was a mistake..."
Beatrix scoffed. "Hah! Well, I was recommended to the school by Queen Di'Veera herself! I'm basically a prodigy, you know."
Lulu snickered as Susie stared at the blue haired girl in utter disbelief. "Um..." the redhead said nervously, glancing at the two older girls. "Uh, what about you guys? Was it... hard for you to get accepted?"
Ailith didn't really believe that Beatrix was really recommended by the Queen, but she didn't protest. Last thing she wanted was an argument with her. So she instead answered Susie's question.
"Yeah... A little bit," Ailith admitted, staring at the table. "Elementalists aren't that rare. I guess I was better than the rest."
Ailith hoped it didn't sound like she was bragging. She just said what came to mind. And hopefully it didn't make Susie feel bad, either. Ailith felt like Susie should probably be hanging around someone other than Beatrix.
Susie nodded, seeming to take some comfort in Ailith's answer. Lulu smiled- she felt just as out of place when she first arrived as the redheaded girl did. She was about to say something reassuring, but before she had a chance, the dinner menus materialized on their plates in a puff of smoke!
Lulu grinned. "About time! The cooks kept us waiting today." Picking up her menu, the girl picked out a she liked and pointed her finger at it. "Roast chicken... Presto!" In another puff of smoke, Lulu's plate was filled with piping hot food.
Beatrix immediately followed suit ("Pea soup... Presto!"), but Susie looked at the menu apprehensively. She then gazed at Ailith, as if looking for the older girl's approval. "Um... Lulu?" she asked timidly. "What... what do I get? Some of this food seems really fancy... I don't need to pay for it, do I?"
Ailith almost corrected Susie before she remembered the act they were playing. "Oh, no, all the food is covered," she assured. "It's part of your scholarship, so it's free."
Ailith looked at the menu. Everything seemed so good... but she really couldn't eat that much. "Chicken soup... Presto!" The soup materialized in front of her. No matter how many times she did that, it was still really cool so see.
"Get whatever you want!" She said to Susie. "The foods there for a reason."
Susie smiled, muttering a quiet "Thank you..." Pointing her wand at the menu, the girl stammered her order. "Beef Stroganoff... Presto!"
As the nervous girl's plate was filled with hot food, Beatrix began to snort with laughter. "Hahaha! Ailith, what are you doing?"
Looking up, Susie saw Lulu had begun cutting her chicken with her fork, then picking it up with her knife to bring it to her mouth. "Ummm..." the redhead said, looking incredibly lost. "Am- am I supposed to eat like that? Is it a rule here?"
Ailith tried not to laugh, but a small "pfft" still escaped her. "No, of course not," she said. "In fact, it'd probably be harder to do so."
She stared at Lulu's plate, trying to figure out how she was doing that. How do you cut food with a fork? She would try it herself, but she'd probably only end up embarassing herself... So instead, she started to eat her own food.
She looked over at Susie, who still hadn't touched her plate. "You should try it," she said, with her mouth still slightly full. "It's really good, I promise."
Lulu smiled inwardly. It had been stupidly easy to get the redhead to utter her ability's trigger- too easy, in fact. "That girl won't last if her confidence doesn't go up." she thought to herself. "Wyrdwood will be tough for her."
Susie gave Ailith a nod, then tenatively began to eat her meal. Her eyes lit up. "Whoah!" she said excitedly. "You were right this is amazing! Much better then the stuff my parents can aff- um, buy for us..." The redhead's cheeks flushed pink, as if she'd said something dirty.
"Well, at my house we have a gourmet chef cook all our meals." Beatrix bragged. "Yeah, my family is basically the richest in the world. "It's a pain having so much money, y'know?"
Wow. Ailith really wished it was allowed to send rich snobs like Beatrix into oblivion with magic. But unfortunately, it wasn't, so she could only sit and grimance through these bratty remarks. Could she stop bragging for literally one second?
Why did Susie even hang out with her? It'd probably be much better for her confidence, and Ailith could tell Susie needed a lot of it if she wanted to survive Wyrdwood. It wasn't a school full of bullies, per say, but confidence was key for magic, at least to Ailith.
"The food's one of the best parts," Ailith said to Susie, ignoring Beatrix. She swallowed another spoonful of her soup. "Honestly, I think it's some of the best food I've tasted too."
Susie nodded excitely. "Taking a bite of her stroganoff. "It's really somfing else!" she said with her mouth full. "I wonder if th' food is magi- whoa!"
Looking towards where Susie was pointing, Lulu saw a boy fly into the dining hall on a broomstick. Flying towards the ceiling, he did a loop before landing on the opposite end of the hall. The students nearby broke into applause, and many left their seats to get a closer look at the boy. Grinning excitedly, Beatrix stood up to join them. "That was so cool! Come on Susie, lets go see!"
Giving Ailith an appreciative smile, the redhead left her seat. "I-I'll be back! Thanks for being so nice!"
Lulu watched the two go, eying the girls carefully. "The first-years seem to get stranger with each passing year, huh?" she said, placing a finger on her chin. "Think they'll last here?"
"Beatrix will for sure, even with that attitude..." Ailith looked at the two first-years. "Susie, though... She needs to be more confident. She won't get anywhere if she's always so nervous."
Ailith watched Beatrix and Susie. She almost lost track of the two of them in the crowd of students: it seemed like everyone wanted to meet this boy. Ailith, however, didn't care all that much. She'd seen a lot of things here, and things like this had happened before. But it was somewhat heartwarming to see how the two first-years responded. It was like a nostalgia trip.
"I think Susie will find her confidence eventually, though," Ailith said, looking back at Lulu. "Once she gets used to it, I'm sure she'll be fine."
"Mm..." Lulu hummed, nodding. It was certainly no lie that Susie would need to adjust to Wyrdwood's culture, but unlike Ailith, Lulu was cynical. "I remember my first year. Had I not come from..." She paused, a sad look in her eyes. "...If I wasn't as tough as I was, I wouldn't have made it." she said finally. "The other students didn't take too kindly to me being Connlaothian and all that."
Lulu looked like she wanted to say something else, but the sound of a spoon tapping a goblet shifted her attention to the front of the hall. "Ugh, looks like it's time for the start-of-semester speech." she groaned. "Do you want to just skip it? It's the same every year." Lulu crossed her arms. "We could grab some food from the kitchen if you're still hungry, they probably wouldn't mind..."
Ailith glanced at the front of the hall. She had never skipped the start-of-the-semester speech, but Lulu was right. For the past three years, it had been almost the exact same speech, word for word. She really didn't want to sit through it again... and... she kind of wanted to be rebellious...
"Let's just skip it," Ailith decided, looking back to Lulu. "I'm still kind of hungry, anyways." The thought of sneaking in the kitchen still scared her, for sure, but the thought of more of the delicious food the school cooked was way better. And getting away with it sounded thrilling. "Do you know a way in?"
Lulu grinned, glancing in the direction of the high table where the professors sat. "Of course I know a way in!" she whispered excitedly. "The crumbs will guide us!"
Standing up non-chalantly, the girl slowly made her way to the exit. From behind her she could hear Professor Zinc begin to drone on about Wyrdwood's prestige, and smirked. "Yeah. As if."
Reaching the entrance of the hall, Lulu would look behind her to make sure Ailith was following. She held the door open a crack-just enough for a person to squeeze through. "Come on!" she whispered. "Before the mice get them!"
Ailith glanced behind her quickly to make sure nobody was looking at them before they slipped out. Of course, everybody was too focused on the speech to notice, and she doubted that any bored student that spotted her would actually call them out. She slipped through the exit, heart pounding as she did so.
"Where do go from here?" Ailith whispered, staring in front of her. 'Follow the crumbs,' Lulu had said, but she didn't see any. Maybe they were in the wrong area? Or maybe they were too small...
"We gotta go to where people eat, besides the dining hall." Lullu explained, walking quickly down the hall. "People break the 'no food outside the hall' rule all the time, I'm not even the teachers enforce it anymore."
After a few minutes, their destination was in sight- Staircase Twenty-six. The staircase itself was normal, but underneath it was where the school misfits usually hung out. Most of them didn't care for the school rules much- especially one as pointless as 'no food'. Slowing down, Lulu pressed herself against the wall, motioning for Ailith to follow. Sure enough, a few empty snack boxes lay on the floor, along with a half eaten cookie and some bottles of fizzy water. "Okay. We made it." the girl said quietly. "Now we just gotta wait for the mice..."
Wait for the mice, huh... That could take a while. From what Ailith was gathering, the mice should lead them to wherever the kids were eating, and then... hopefully they'd have a food stash there. If they were there, though... that'd be awkward.
Ailith heard a tiny squeaking sound. She looked down, and sure enough, there was a mouse there, checking out the remains of a cookie. She stared at it, trying not to scare it. The mouse left the cookie, looking on the ground for presumably something it could fit in it's mouth.
"Please find something," she whispered to herself. The mouse halted for a few seconds, then ran forward. She thought it might've left them when it stopped again. It might've found something! "...Should we follow it?" She asked quietly.
Lulu watched the mouse intently, smirking. There was no way the school mice would leave a cookie that size behind! "Just wait a little longer..." she whispered. "Watch, the mice here are clever."
The mouse lifted it's head into the air, squeaking loudly. In an instant, three more mice scampered out of the shadows, following the first back to where the cookie lay. Lulu smiled in excitement- this was always so fun to watch!
With dexterity rarely seen in rodents, the four mice stood up on their hind legs, picking up the cookie and running off with it. "Now!" the girl hissed as she quietly began to follow them. "They're taking it back to the kitchen! This is our chance!"