Cindy glanced at Chrysalis and smiled. "Cindy Ella," she said, placing a book mark in her book. "Nice to meet you!" She tapped her glass sneakers against the floor as she tried to balance the books and papers in her arms. "Remind me to get a backpack."
I walked outside sighing. I didn't want to be part of that whole lunch thing, I wasn't interested in meeting anyone. I just wanted to do my work and get done with this whole thing, this year and then I'm done. I can move onto college, get away from those hypocrites, and don't have to worry about a bunch of assholes bugging me. I walked down the cobblestone path and sat down on one of the benches on the side and looked up at the blue sky. "...What to do now...?" I mumbled sighing softly, I knew my options, do something here, go home, or walk around town...
"I thought I saw you sneaking out," a very familiar voice said, sitting next to Joe. Tam leaned back, but didn't look like his airy self, instead looking more serious and thoughtful. "You okay?" he asked, a true tone of concern in his voice.
I stand a moment trying to take in this new information. "Cindy.....Ella. Alright then. It is nice to meet you Cindy Ella. It's good to see a friendly face... I'm not sure when I should remind you of that though..." I say giving a frown. "Is there a specific time would you like me to do this?" I stand at attention awaiting for Cindy Ella's response.
Cindy gave a small laugh, and adjusted her glasses. "Just call me Cindy. Or Cinder. Just not Cinderella. Unless it's Halloween." Cindy managed to right herself, and flipped open her book. "Let me see... eenie, meanie, miney... Hey, Puss, mind if I borrow your sack?" A cat's paw jumped out, holding a sack, which Cindy pulled out with her teeth. "Thanks Puss!" She shut the book, and managed to put her stuff in the sack. "So, I heard there was a commotion earlier. What's that about?"
"That's alot of names to use.....Alright just Cindy then. " I say looks towards her book in confusion. "W-what was that just now?....Oh yeah. Magic right? I though we weren't supposed to use that out in the open. You do know you could get in trouble for doing that right?" I say with a genuine look of concern. "I just don't want you getting in trouble. So please be more careful."
Wyndy slipped out of the councilor's office holding the sheet that contained her list of classes, nervous but also slightly excited. She wondered who of the students she'd already met would be in her classes, and with a quick shift of form, the girl -now dog- padded with her clothes and paper in her jaws to her room before running outside. She'd started out chasing a bird, but froze when she saw Tam and the other boy sitting on a bench between the trees. Noroi said Tam was up to something...I better check this out... Careful to keep quiet, she slunk over to the bushes and peered out at them from between the leaves. She didn't really care if she was found out by Tam -it was the other boy that made her ears fold back and her tail tuck in.
"We aren't?" Cindy glanced around. "I must have missed that memo. Most people think I have a pop-up book... still, I'll be careful." She hitched up the sack, her book clutched close to her. "What classes do you have?" she asked.
"Yes, that would be good.....Oh my classes." I look down to my paper schedule. "....Magic 101, Beginners alchemy, sparring, Lore, herbalism, magic circles, and magic runes.....and those are all my classes. Which classes did you take Cindy?"
"Ugh... will you just leave me alone already?" I asked annoyed. "I'm pretty sure that I've made it clear, I don't want to have anything to do with you nor anyone else here, stop acting like you actually give a damn and leave me be." I said. I heard something rustle in the bushes behind us. I turned around and fixed a cold glare at the dog from before, who was actually a girl. "...Ugh... so annoying, go eavesdrop somewhere else." I said coldly.
Cindy glanced over her classes. "The usual, plus Lore and some other odds and ends," Cindy said, flipping through the schedule. "I'm starving. You?" ---- "Maybe I'm acting like I give a damn because I give a damn," Tam said. "Dude, I can see your heart. You know how damaged you are? You're screaming in pain, drowning in agony. You need to talk to someone."
I rolled my eyes. "Sure you do. I know how people are like. They use, they cheat, they lie to get what they want. They don't really care, and that includes you as well. You may not admit it, but there's something you hope to gain out of this. Also, don't pretend that you know what I feel and claim that I'm damaged, and if I were to talk to someone, which I won't by the way, it wouldn't be you." I said, allowing my anger to seep into my voice. I got up. "Hmph... well I guess you made my decision easy, good day." I said, I walked toward the gate, my hands in my pockets.
I rubbed the back of my head wincing as I felt something hit the back of my head. I turned around and looked down, I saw it was a shoe and immediately noticed he was missing one. I clenched my fists. "Fuck. You." I said through gritted teeth. I turned back around, resisting the urge to go back and punch that idiot. I walked faster, eager to get away from here and away from him.
I nod my head. "Well....yeah I think I am a bit hungry myself. Are you wanting to go onto the cafeteria to go eat?....Hmm I wonder what they will have? Do they really change what they serve everyday?" I ask curiously towards Cindy.
"Hope so!" Cindy grinned, practically skipping down the hall towards the cafeteria. Once there, she quickly scanned the place and found some pizza. Glancing around, she thumbed her book. --- Outside, Tam growled, took off his other shoe, threw both shoes away in a trash bin, and walked back inside.
I sighed deeply and stopped only when I felt something bumping up against my leg and letting out loud mews. I looked down and saw Leo. "...Heh... followed me to school... figures they never let you back inside." I muttered, I knelt down and scratched him behind his ears and smiled softly as he nuzzled my hand. "Well, let's go back to the suburban shit hole, shall we?" I asked, Leo let out a mew, I assumed it meant that he agreed with me. He hopped up onto my shoulder, I chuckled softly. "Always there to help me calm down, aren't ya?" I asked, scratching under his chin. With that, I walked home.
I blink a moment in confusion seeing Cindy going towards the cafeteria so energetically. It took me a moment to realize I was being left behind and I quickly dashed after her to make sure I didn't lose Cindy. "P-phew I caught up.....Um....is that book important to you?" I ask seeing her thumb the pages of the book she was holding.
"It's a family heirloom," Cindy said, absentmindedly. "My great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother, Lady Ella of France, she made it herself to channel her magic, which was a gift from her godmother. She collected stories, including her own." Cindy opened up the first story in the book, featuring a young woman dashing from a castle. "She was better known as Cinderella."
I glance at the story book as she opened it up to show me the story. "It's used for magical purposes? That seems extremely useful.....Cinderella? Ah so you're named after your ancestor then. So your ancestor Cinderella.....I do not see why she is running away from that castle. Is there something bad inside of it scaring her off?"
Cindy gave a small smile. "How about I read the story to you? Once upon a time..." Several minutes went past as Cindy told the story of her ancestor, Cinderella, describing the evil stepsisters, the wondrous fairy godmother, and the glass slippers. "...and they all lived happily ever after," Cindy said, closing the book. "And that is the story of Cinderella." She set the book to her side, and ate her pizza.
I sit down next to Cindy copying what she had gotten for lunch. It seemed a bit odd but it looked absolutely delicious. I glance towards the book watching it as she told me the story. "....Wow. So fairy godmother's exist? That's interesting!" I say excitedly. "That was a great story. I'm glad that it all worked out in the end....So throughout your family tree you have been related to royalty? O-oh should I be calling you by your title?"
Cindy smiled. "I am related to some of the royal line, but, I myself am not royalty due to circumstances," she explained. "So, please, just call me Cindy. If everyone called my a princess, I wouldn't know what to do with myself."
The bell rang at 8:50 signaling it was time for them to return to their dorms. Once it hit nine o'clock, the gates shut for the night. Locking late students outside and the others in. They'd find that their dorm rooms were of a decent size, they consisted of two beds, two wardrobes, and a small bathroom, they were allowed to bring whatever they wished in to decorate their rooms. They had to leave their things behind when they first arrived. They'd find that those things were now in their rooms for them to arrange. Luckily for them they did not have to share their rooms so they could decorate as they liked, of course it could wait in the morning, they'd have a long and... unique day ahead of them. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The next morning the bell chimed at 7:00, signaling it was time for the gates to open and they had an hour to get ready and get breakfast for their first day. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - As usual I woke up far earlier than my parents, got ready. I put my new uniform on and looked at myself in the mirror. I felt way overdressed. It consisted of a blue blazer with a golden owl's face engraved on the left side of my chest. A plain black tie, a white dress shirt, black dress pants, black dress socks, and black dress shoes. I finished getting ready and went outside with Leon at about 6:30 and got to the school at 6:45 and waited outside in silence with a few other students and walked inside at 7:00 when the gate opened.
The bell rang at 8:00 signalling for the first class of the day. That class being for us Beginner's Potions and Alchemy. In the class there were several tables, a large cauldron in the center, in the back walls there were a few forges. A young woman with long brown hair that went down to her waist was standing with her back to the door, she was standing in front of the cauldron stirring the contents. "Swirly... swirly..." She muttered, there was suddenly a bright light from the cauldron. "Done!~" She said, she leaned into the cauldron and came back up with a large cake, already frosted and coated with strawberries. "I'm sure that everyone'll enjoy this." She said to herself, she turned around and smiled at the students that had walked in. "Oh, just in time, take a seat anywhere." She said smiling. The teacher had fair skin, brown eyes, and a friendly warm smile that seemed almost contagious. She was wearing a pendant with the school's crest on it, a white blouse, black jeans, and black shoes. She set the cake down on a plate and cut it up into pieces for everyone and set them onto paper plates and handed them around, placing a plate in front of each student, along with a plastic fork. Everyone who ate the cake would feel a burst of energy if they were tired and helped them perk up. "Welcome everyone, I'm Lily Foster, you can call me Ms. Foster or Lily if you prefer, I don't mind." She said smiling. "Anyway, welcome to Beginner's Alchemy and Potions, since the two processes are similar in some ways we like to group it together and allow students get a taste for both, I think today we'll just dive right in. The theories are pretty boring anyway, I prefer a practical approach." She said. She walked over to a large trunk and opened it. She pulled out some green herbs, roots and a bucket full of water and walked over to the cauldron, her hands glowed blue and water suddenly began to gush out of the cauldron and poured into a drain into the floor. "It's always important to clean your cauldron between uses, after all, it could adversely affect the outcome of your alchemical creation or potion." She explained, she then began to prepare the herb for use, she cut away the dead portions of the herbs and then poured the bucket of water into the cauldron, as it began to bubble she tossed in the herbs and roots and began to mix it with a large ornately carved wooden staff with an ornate gold top with red gems set into it. "Watch closely, when working with alchemy, it's very important that we follow the process very closely otherwise accidents can happen, and when messing with alchemy it's far more dangerous than potion making, the mixture could explode or cause something even worse to happen. Once a student accidentally summoned an angry water spirit, nearly drowned the poor boy, but of course this is a simple, but powerful salve that can heal cuts and bruises quite well. The worst thing that can happen is that it'll just burn up and waste the ingredients. The key ingredient is the mandrake root, otherwise you can put any type of herb or liquid inside, the type and quality of liquid and herb that you use will affect the final product. For instance some herbs could strengthen the salve or even help you restore energy or give you resistance against certain things, though of course since this salve is very simple, you'd have to use some rare materials to get such a reaction, it'd be a waste in the long run, though of course these materials all carry one of the four key elements, fire, water, air, and earth, a professional alchemist can tap into the elements within the materials and do something special with them, such as increasing the quality of the final product, allowing more attributes into the product, copying the effects of one of the ingredients, or even creating more of the product." She said. Soon the liquid inside of the cauldron began to thicken up. "Ah, it's ready!" She said smiling. She began to scoop the sweet smelling salve into small containers, it filled about three of them. "Now, let me show you how effective this is." She said smiling, she grabbed a knife and gave herself a superficial cut on the back of her hand and dipped her hand into the salve and rubbed it onto the cut, she showed as the cut began to slowly seal up. "Tada!" She said smiling. "Now, everyone here is going to make it as well, you'll partner up with everyone at your table, please split up the work evenly, okay? Because I will be grading on how well your salve turns out." She said, she walked over to the trunk and began digging into it and then gasped. "Oh no!" She said she got up. "I-I forgot to pick up more mandrake root... I am so sorry!" She said, she bit the nail on her thumb nervously. "Oh... what to do...?" She mumbled. "...Oh! I know!" She said smiling. "I believe it's time for a class trip!" She said. "We'll just have to postpone our project until tomorrow." She said, she then walked out of the classroom and waited outside for everyone to join her. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I had been just watching and listening. I hadn't even touched the cake that she had handed out to everyone. I barely ate... I was never hungry, everything just tasted bland. I watched as she created the salve and tested it out, not even bothered by the fact she had cut herself... though I was bothered when more of those chains suddenly ripped through her when she had said that she forgot to pick up more mandrake root so then everyone could create the salve. I sighed deeply, got up, and walked outside with the other students and gathered around the teacher.
