The Arcanine Complication

[Camlin]

A private roleplay with @Idea and myself.


As she walked back to her dormitory, Verity Rosenthal seethed. Her footsteps fell heavy on the cobblestone path, her breath came in huffs, and her fingernails dug into the skin of her palms as she clenched her hands open and shut.


To say the least, class had not gone well today. It was perfectly normal for her magic to fail, though enormously aggravating. But her spells didn't usually backfire quite so spectacularly as they had at the end of their last class. While the other students were turning their mice into cats, Verity managed to make her mouse swell to the size of a small child and burst, spewing blood every which way. After taking the blast face-on, Verity had joined several other students in shrieking and puking.


The teacher then used a spell to clean everyone off and dismissed the class, but he left the classroom for Verity to clean as punishment. She had to take on the task the old-fashioned way, as she couldn't risk using magic and making everything worse. The teacher knew this as well as she did, even providing her with the cleaning supplies. So she stayed behind for hours washing away blood and her own vomit, all the while feeding fuel to her anger at the world to keep her eyes dry.


And there was plenty to be angry about. She fumed at the pitying eyes that always turned her way during the practical portions of classes. She railed against the sneers and laughter that followed her mistakes. She burned at the thought of herself, talentless, single-handedly dragging down the Rosenthal name. But that last one brought her too close to the dreaded tears, so she quickly moved on.


Then there was the infuriating Casunit Theramor. Born a peasant, descended from a disgraced noble house, he was somehow the top student in the school, her opposite in every way. How weak was she, to have Rosenthal blood and still lose daily to this underbred teacher's pet? And how audacious of him, to join the students picking on her, when the same group also bullied him every other day?


Verity let out a long, slow breath and shook out her hands. She didn't need the anger anymore; the worst of her day was past. The only silver lining to her cleaning punishment was that the other students were long gone by the time she was leaving. If she used the side entrance right next to her dormitory room, she could avoid everyone until tomorrow. She would skip eating in the dining hall--she wasn't very hungry, anyway.


She was just daydreaming about a nice, hot shower when she spotted the cat. Laying on the ground off to the side of the path, it whimpered. Clearly something was wrong. Verity knelt beside the creature and spoke to it in soothing tones. "Hey there, fella. What's wrong?"

 

[Idea]

• Casunit

• 
  
  
  This was starting to become a serious problem, and who knew how much more it would yet escalate. The bucket was turning red as the blood mixed with the fountain water that everyone went to fetch after Verity had caused YET ANOTHER incident. Seriously, it would be better if that girl had no magic control, than having it as little as she did. At least that way, she wouldn´t be able to make these messes every time. Today had been one of her most obnoxious "party tricks" (as everyone called her attempts at using magic) to date: She had successfully exploded a mice in the process of trying to transform it. Seriously, barely any of us was an alchemist on that class, and we all succeeded! The rats had been practically drowned in morphling oil, so help us cast that kind of spell. And yet, hers had bursted into pieces, pieces that was STILL trying to remove from my uniform. It seemed as though I wasn´t being fast enough, the water was getting contaminated faster than I could actually wash away the stains.
  
  
  I sighed, regretting my own paranoia. The teacher had cast a spell to clean us all, but my numberless wards around myself had prevented it from taking effect on me. As one might expect of someone with my background, I was often bullied. And who wouldn´t want to keep themselves safe in that situation? Not that I hated my family for it. If anything, I thought of those spirit dragons they made, imagined myself petting one, having that power and courage... But all I had were some weak wards I placed around myself that in the end only made me have to clean myself. Those stupid things... I just removed them right after, but the teacher was angry at me for the non-allowed wards, and refused to cast the spell as second time.
  
  
  "Well, I suppose I should cast a purification spell. It should keep it clean for a little until I can finish with this." I told myself, raising a hand over the bucket of reddening water. I closed my eyes as an aura of green light surrounded me entirely, strangely still allowing anyone to view my body in full.I focused, knowing this could be tricky, because I didn´t just want to break water and blood apart, I wanted to do so in such a way that blood would be in the bottom. The first idea that came to mind was using heat: If I heated the water and kept the blood cold, the water should be up, and the blood down, once I broke them apart. If I over did it, though, it would be impossible to wash, as either the water would be too hot to be touched or would even evaporate. For that reason, I had to take into account the power-enhancing properties of the fountain´s water.
  
  
  "Flow of wind, water, light
  
  
  show us the mirror
  
  
  remove the present blight. " I chanted. An aura similar to mine surrounded the water, which started bubbling. I soon began seeing some parts becoming even redder while other were clearing up. At first, it was a separation of right and left, but after a bit, the red parts seemed to start sliding down. I smiled. Everyone said only nobles could perform proper magic, but here I was. Sure, my family had technically been nobles once, but this certainly proved...
  
  
  "Hey, freaktwig!" Someone called out. I gulped. I knew that voice. Calvin. This wasn´t about to be entertaining. It never was, even when I wasn´t the target. But just to add to it, Verity was stuck in the classroom today. Which meant...
  
  
  "What are you doing? Cleaning up? I heard your wards saved you from that TERRIFYING cleaning spell!" The blond boy chuckled as I reddened. "But I suppose you scum must be scared of it. I always wondered why commoners were dirty all the time... But, you know, I just think it´s very HUMANE, to go around smelling like that..."
  
  
  I gulped again, raising my head. With that tone, the way he was speaking and approaching me... He was about to cast something on me! I had to set up my wards again and...
  
  
  Ouch! What was that? My head felt dizzy, wavering. It was hard to remember the words, or even to really keep my eyes open. I raised a hand nonetheless.
  
  
  "Meow..." Was all that came out of my mouth. My eyes widened. Someone changed my speaking! But Calvin hadn´t chanted anything. Which meant he had help!
  
  
  Soon the other boys began laughing their balls off, as they came out of hiding. Bushes, walls, invisibility spells... All kinds of things to keep me from noticing them while Calvin distracted me into not hearing either. I shivered, wondering what would happen to me now that I couldn´t chant any wards. Why was I so stupid as to remove the wards? Damm it!
  
  
  Calvin pressed his thick, ugly hand on my forehead.
  
  
  "Oh spirtis of nature and wild..."
  
  
  ............................................................................................................................
  
  
  I woke up with someone asking me what was wrong in the strangest manner possible. As if talking to a pet. I opened my eyes, gazing at the sky. Wasn´t it supposed to be blue or orange? Why was it semi-purple then? I blinked, attempting a reply.
  
  
  "Meow." I gulped. Oh, right, that happened... I was turned into a cat, the bullies had stolen my clothes and the bucket, and pretty mucn everything else, and left me there, but not before they gave me enough kicks to knock me out.
  
  
  @Camlin