Bookbound Bunny

"Sorry, I've never met a Serpia before," Lily said. "That goes double for an extinct bloodline. I honestly didn't even know that was possible."

"It was a first for me, too, and it's literally me we are talking about. Apparently, a lot of the basilisk bloods were hunted back in the day when society wasn't as civilized. That, combined with our abnormal nature, meant that we died out," Lotte explained.

"Oh. I'm so sorry…"

Lotte tilted her head curiously, "Why? We're talking about hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago! It didn't affect me or any of my parents or grandparents. I'm just a little bit of a freak who had a dormant, extinct bloodline awakened in me."

"Don't call yourself a freak. I mean, what does that make me? I don't think there's ever been a Lagia bloodline."

"True, true, although I'm quite literally a freak. I have poisonous blood; how creepy is that?" Lotte said before giving a self-deprecating chuckle.

Lily shivered.

"Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to give you the shivers," she quickly apologized. "I thought I'd break the ice, but I'm not exactly the best when it comes to these sorts of things."

"No… I'm just a little squeamish about those sorts of things," Lily admitted. "How does that even work? Are you immune to poison?"

"Yes and no…" Lotte said, bobbing her head from side to side. "I'm not immune but am highly resistant to poisons and venoms. However, it's tied to my constitution, so if I get sick, there's a good chance I could kick the bucket if there aren't any healers on standby. Hence why, the bloodline was thought to be extinct; they quite literally killed themselves."

Lily paled.

"And there I went and creeped you out again. Maybe I should keep my mouth shut…" Lotte sighed.

"N-no, it's okay. It's just a lot to take in."

To Lily's joy, Aura appeared with the "food" for Lotte. It was a plate of something vaguely resembling meat if it had fallen into lava.

"Order up. Glad to see you two girls making friends already," Aura chirped.

"Food! Boy, I'm starved," Lotte said happily.

Aura and Lily shared a curious glance with one another, but Lotte grabbed something resembling a chicken drumstick and proceeded to stuff her mouth with it. Although to Lily's eyes, it was almost like the girl had inhaled the food as the entire thing went into her mouth and down her throat in a single gulp.

"Huh… and here I thought you lost a bet or something to keep coming back here so often," Aura said curiously.

"Huh, why?" Lotte asked.

"You don't even taste the food; it's just gone, bone and all," Lily answered, still blinking rapidly in disbelief.

"Oh. Yeah. I grew up with a lot of siblings. We weren't poor or anything, but we fought over food, so I learned to eat as quickly as possible," Lotte explained.

"But the bone?" Lily pressed.

"Oh! Yeah, I've got some super stomach acid. I could swallow rocks if I really wanted. I've done it on a dare before, actually. It meant that none of my brothers and sisters could beat me if I really went all out in our eating competitions."

"Just try not to swallow the cutlery…" Aura pleaded.

"No problem. I don't make it a habit of eating things I'm not supposed to, but bone marrow is super nutritious."

Lily couldn't believe what she was hearing. She gingerly continued to nibble on her bread roll. Lotte started to hand over pieces of boneless meat to her Familiar, whose mouth opened wide and only closed once she had stuffed it fully. Jade didn't inhale her food like Lotte; instead, she chomped it down thoroughly.

[Once again, I'm fascinated by these bloodlines that have emerged in the world. I should probably point out that the basilisk of legend was gigantic, larger than even most dragons, and would indeed swallow things whole. Some were worshipped and received offerings as tribute to satiate their insatiable appetites. The poisonous blood is also part of their legend, and why they were so troublesome to deal with as every wound inflicted would potentially harm the attacker too.]

Lily was listening to Arakil's mini-lecture silently, which Aura must have interpreted as awkwardness between the two girls as she suddenly injected herself into the situation.

"So, Lily and I were just talking about the selection process and factions. Have you made any choices yourself yet?"

"Uh… maybe alchemy?" Lotte said with a noncommittal shrug.

"Oh no. Not another nerd," Aura sighed.

"Really, you want to do alchemy?" Lily asked, now invested.

"Yeah, I want potions for emergencies—so more of a necessity than for fun," Lotte explained. "None of the others really caught my eye, so it's not like I'm giving up anything fun or exciting."

"I'm glad there wasn't another victim of Sorcerous Warfare," Aura said teasingly. "But what about Beast Handling? Or Hearthcraft?"

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"Animals hate me," Lotte quickly answered. "Or, more accurately, they seem to be terrified of me. We once ran into a bear, and it saw me and ran away; I was nine!"

"Um… do you want to talk about it?" Aura offered awkwardly.

"Not really? It's not like I'm traumatized by it. If anything, it's pretty funny, a giant bear running away from a tiny nine-year-old, but yeah… I'd cause a stampede if I tried to pat the unicorn. Thankfully, it looks like Familiars don't care about me, and I've got this big silly lizard here to keep me company."

"Um… Hearthcraft sounds like fun?" Lily suggested.

"Magic cooking and stuff? No thanks," Lotte waved it off. "The farming is a no-go as well, as no doubt I'd salt the earth with my sweat—not that I want to do backbreaking labor and get all hot and sticky in a field."

"Well, when you put it like that, then yeah, alchemy is your only option unless you do something crazy like Lily and take a second-year subject," Aura said.

"Really?" Lotte asked curiously.

"Enchanting. I learned glyphs before coming here, so I wanted to do it. Alchemy, too, but I'm doing that so I can take the follow-up course next year."

"Oh, I guess we will be alchemy buddies then. If we get homework, we can work together, maybe?" Lotte suggested.

"Sure, I don't mind. But I had a pretty strict teacher, so I might be a bit… prickly about things," Lily warned.

"Not at all. If I'm being a dumbass, then let me know… looks like I've made a pretty good first friend here," Lotte said cheerfully.

"Speaking of which, what faction did the two of you get? I haven't even heard Lily's yet. Actually, before you answer, I should remind you that you're encouraged to be wearing your badge at all times. Some older students and teachers might even decide to intervene if you aren't."

"They really take this stupid faction thing that seriously?" Lotte asked, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, you bet, and if you're strong and powerful, then expect anyone running the tournaments and duels to hound you into joining and practicing," Aura explained.

"Well, I think I get a free pass in that regard; I can't see anyone wanting me to join their team. Heck, when I was doing my evaluation, and I mentioned poison magic, I was forbidden from really casting any spells. The one snooty guy was especially uppity about it."

"Um… I'm honestly not sure," Aura admitted. "I know the Wards don't work on certain types of magic. Are you one of the bloodlines that restrict your magic?"

"I can do some earth and a bit of water magic, but it's honestly kind of pathetic in comparison. I'll probably just stick to dungeon stuff; no rules against poisoning monsters!"

[Interesting… I wonder what the link to water is? I can understand the connection to earth is probably due to petrification being loosely associated with it.]

The only remotely close idea Lily could think of was that venoms were typically liquids, and maybe that was why she could do water magic. It was honestly very flimsy, and she even wondered then why not air magic, as some poisons were gaseous.

"Well. Are you going to take out badges?" Aura requested.

Both girls reached into their pockets and pulled out their badges; as luck would have it, both of them were holding the blue spiral badge belonging to Maranix.

"Huh, well, that's rather lucky," Aura pointed out. "Looks like it was fate that you two met today!"

"What faction were you in? Or still in?" Lily asked.

"Do cafeteria staff count?" Lotte quickly added.

"Zephyrix, I don't wear my badge just in case someone from Terravix thinks I'm trying to sabotage their star players. Bunch of hotheads that lot."

"Ha! Of course, the bird is in the sky faction. I should have guessed," Lotte replied.

"The principal was extremely vocal about there being no correlation at all between the factions," Lily commented.

"I mean, come on. Of course, the Aviania will be in that faction, right?" Lotte insisted.

"Well, Arthur did get in…" Lily mentioned.

"Another feathery friend?" Lotte asked.

Lily nodded, causing Lotte to slap her thighs and laugh heartily.

Aura sighed, "It honestly is a lot of strange coincidences. At this point, I don't know what to tell you."

"Well, I guess I got into Maranix because of my loose connection to water, then?" Lotte asked. "Although my earth magic is actually kind of decent, so maybe I should have been in Terravix?"

"Uh…" Aura mumbled and sheepishly scratched her cheek. "No offense meant, but Maranix does have a bit of a reputation for being full of sneaky individuals. Terravix often complains that they can't win in a straight-up fair fight and need to resort to underhanded tactics."

"Oh, that's perfect then!" Lotte cheered. "Nothing more underhanded than poison, right?"

"I suppose…" Aura sighed. "Although that's not really the type of label I'd want to be attached, personally speaking."

"Then why did Lily here get selected? No way such a cute little bunny is hiding such nefarious secrets, right? Or is that all part of your secret plot… fess up, bunny!"

Lily vigorously shook her head in denial.

"None of that… and my magic is stars and moon related. Nothing nefarious about that!"

"Stars and moon?" Lotte repeated, her confusion plainly evident on her face.

[Technically, you could argue that the moon is related to the oceans, as it controls the tides. Also, there is the fact that you are currently hiding a portion of your capabilities and also my existence, so that could fit the bill.]

Lily felt her hands getting a little bit clammy. She wasn't exactly sure what Arakil was talking about with the moon and the ocean, but she, indeed, was being underhanded in hiding her full magical capabilities.

I thought you didn't believe in fate and stuff like that! She furiously protested, of course, to no avail as the mental conversations were still entirely one-sided.

"Can we see this star magic?" Aura asked, breaking Lily out of her momentary

"Yes, please. I'd offer to show mine in return, but I don't think anyone wants to see that."

"Especially not in a cafeteria!" Aura protested.

"Honestly, I don't think that matters; the kids were already calling the food poison," Lotte teased but missed her mark. Aura did not look pleased.

"Um, sure… so this is star magic," Lily quickly said, trying to defuse the situation.

She held out her hand and revealed a cluster of starlight spells. She had them dance around in the palm of her hand, with some of them floating up and spiraling in the air.

"Isn't that just light magic?" Aura asked a little bit of snappiness to her tone.

Lily frowned. "It's not like I can do attack spells inside…"

"I think it's kind of pretty," Lotte commented in response.

"I can show my cloak, though," Lily rebutted.

"Your cloak?" Lotte asked.

Lily gave a little flourish with her right arm, causing the starry cloak to manifest and flutter around her. Under normal circumstances, it would be as still as a serene lack, but she had it ripple to give off a stronger impression—in her opinion, anyway.

It must have had some effect as Aura jumped backward a little, letting out a tiny "eep" unbefitting of her. Lotte, on the other hand, had her eyes widen at dinner plates as she stared in amazement.

"It's like you've draped yourself in the night!" she said while excitedly bouncing in her seat. Lotte wasted no time in reaching a hand forward and running her fingers down some of the cloak that was fluttering over the table.

"Ahh… this isn't fair; none of my spells look anything like this," she lamented.

"I could probably do something similar out of flames," Aura mentioned, recovering from her surprise. "Although it would probably set my clothes on fire."

"Well, that would certainly be a way to distract your opponent in a duel," Lotte joked. "But wow, I've never seen anything like it. The first thing you showed was a little boring, like a slightly fancier light magic, but this really is something else."

Lily puffed out her chest in pride as she smiled with satisfaction. She was determined to make everyone eventually see the starry wonders of her magic.

Now, if only I could think of a reasonable name to call it…