Fantasy The Owl House - Statice and Oak

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:
​

Thomas nodded and smiled very weakly. "Right," he said, "steps," he said softly. He cocked his head to the side slightly with interest as he listened to her once again, oddly wise and inspiring words for their age. Thomas wondered where she got all of these quotes from. Must have been some sort of a book she read, he thought. But Thomas sure didn't want to have to wait for "a thousand steps" to master illusions. He wanted to do it now. His parents had mastered it early, so why couldn't he? He had to follow in their footsteps. He opened his mouth to say something about her having all of these wise words of advice and various quotes, but stopped himself as they both realized they had to get to classes soon. "A thousands steps...." he repeated to himself in his head, gulping nervously. He dreaded the thought of that, the thought of taking long to learn things. He wanted to become a master now, some what of an early child prodigy just as his parents had been. How pathetic, he thought, would it be if he slowly learned illusions and didn't shine at the top of his class like his own two parents did when they were his age and going to school?

He widened his eyes and shook his head quickly, snapping out of his little trance of negative thoughts and dreads. "Right," he said looking at her and nodding his head, "c- classes. Yea.... I- I'll see you around I guess," he said as he gave her a small a sorry excuse for a wave goodbye. He chuckled as the girl patted him on the shoulder. "Y- yea, I won't...." he said with a very tiny smile, so quietly you could barely hear it. But with that, she was already off to her class and Thomas figured he should start making his way to his own class. Tom closed his eyes briefly and took a deep breath, before he went off to make his way to his own class. This class he would not have with Audrey, but the next one was a General Magics class that he would share with her. He'd be fine with or without her, he was barely following any of his classes up until this point, with the exception of history. He shook his head slowly, disappointed with himself for being so lost in his classes (especially illusions), as he made his way to the next classroom. Thomas was also beginning to regret more and more not eating lunch. His stomach crinkled a bit and groaned with hunger. He put a hand clutching his belly, hoping his gut would quiet down so he could focus on his next class.

General Magics Class
​

Thomas left the room of his previous class, sighing and shaking his head, glad it was over with. Next was a General Magic class. Maybe he'd do well in this next class, he thought. Plus, he would have Audrea in this class with him, so he'd at least have a friend. It felt weird to Thomas, considering this girl as a friend. He himself was pretty surprised he had already managed to make a friend, and with not much effort from his own part. He was also surprised this girl stuck around with him. He was a quiet and timid kid who barely spoke, he figured by now she'd get bored of him or think he was one of those weird quiet kids. But no, she seemed to like Thomas. There must have been something she saw in the young boy. From the outside, he just looked like a shy nervous shell of a guy, buckling under the pressure (mostly internally created) from his parents and their expectations. Thomas wondered, was this all real? How long would this friendship last? He didn't have much time to doubt and dwell on his thoughts though as he soon walked and approached his next classroom.

From within the room, in the halls, Thomas could hear a loud and bombastic voice, screaming and shouting something. He raised a single confused eyebrow. He wondered what the commotion was about in that classroom. He felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach when he realized it was coming from the classroom in which he had his General Magics class in next. He sure hoped this next professor wasn't some sort of a strict hard-ass. Upon further examination however, as Thomas reached closer to the classroom, he noticed that this professor wasn't shouting angrily nor directed down at a student, but something about making a fireball. The voice seemed much less scary now, even a bit wacky and "out there." Thomas scrambled to take out the piece of paper with his schedule on it. It was now crumpled slightly from being shoved in his bag all day. He took it out and held it in front of him, making sure he had the right classroom and right teacher. His next class read: "General Magics with Professor Ursa." Thomas looked up at the room number. Yep, this was the place.

With that, Thomas took a deep breath and entered the classroom for the first time, about to meet the bombastic Professor Ursa for the first time.

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano
​

Audrey was chatting with a pair of students from the next table over, just nothing in particular. The classrooms strange layout and how it suggested we would be doing far more actual magic than just reading about magic, and Audrey shared the enthusiasm they showed. How Professor Ursa seemed to be a strange, but good hearted teacher. How nice it was to be in the final class of the day, and how it was probably going to be a fun class. She told them about how Professor Crowe made theater plays of History, and they were vocal with their jealousy, their own history teachers were boring and favored books. This small talk exhausted Audrey, but the day was almost over, so she endured. After all, these broader subject classes were the best way to make connections outside of her Coven track, and first impressions mattered.

It wasn't long until movement by the door caught her eye and she spotted Thomas walking in. She finished up her conversation quickly, then threw on a big smile and animatedly patted the space on the table next to her. She grabbed her bag from the seat next to her and put it on the table, freeing up the seat she'd been saving since she got there. Then Professor Ursa noticed him enter.
"ANOTHER ONE APPEARS!" Professor Ursa said, "COME IN! SIT..." He looked around, noticing that the classroom was now nearly full, he saw Audrey lift up her bag onto the table, "SIT NEXT TO YOUNG AUDREA PERHAPS." He offered, moving a hand to show where she was. Her smile turned slightly more smug when the Professor said that. Now there was no getting away from it. As Thomas got closer she took out that box of abomination goo she made during lunch, setting it down next to her bag on the table, and while her bag was open she also took out her Magic 101 book, setting it on the edge of the table.
"So, how was that hour away from me?" She teased, she shifted in her seat to better face Thomas. She hoped he'd somehow found something to eat in that time. She guessed that this class, even on the first day, would be intensive on their bilesacs. She remembered training to cast magic while hungry and low on magic, how the pangs of hunger intensified, how she felt stomach acid creeping up her throat, and how miserable everything felt until there was finally nothing left to fuel the spells. She also remembered how small of an actual chance those symptoms were would realistically appear, time allowed the bilesac to recover, for the witch to relax, eat, drink, even water was enough for spells. Getting down to those effects, even on purpose, took the better part of an entire day not eating or drinking anything, combined with constant exercise and spell casting. But she didn't want Thomas to even feel a fraction of those effects. She only learned because she wanted to, needed to. Liberi explained that not even the Emperor's Covens Scouts trained to such a degree, but Audrey craved power, anything that would give her an edge. She glanced at the box, just to make sure it was still there.

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:​

The young timid boy was certainly caught off guard by the bombastic Professor Ursa. It seemed that the professor had noticed Thomas slowly and apprehensively entering the classroom. Thomas' eyes widened as he felt himself jolt awake as Professor Ursa's loud voice filled the room, but this time it was directed over at him. He just stood there silently, eyes as wide as the full moon as the professor suggested that maybe he take a seat next to Audrea. Thomas nodded his head, "Y- yes sir," he said quietly and respectfully as he made his way to sit in the seat right next to Audrea. Truth be told, he was a bit glad that he was getting to sit next to someone familiar, a friend, in this class. For some reason he couldn't help but blush as his cheeks turned a slightly red tint as the professor directed his hand towards where Audrea was sitting and smiling smugly. She had moved her bag to make way for Thomas to come sit next to her, so, he did just that. He couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed for being called out by the professor in front of a nearly full classroom. Sure, it wasn't for anything particularly embarrassing, but the boy just hated any sort of unwanted attention coming his way.

Thomas approached Audrea who was sitting down already, making his way over to take his seat next to her and put his own stuff down. As he took his seat, setting his bag down, Audrea asked him how the hour or so away from her was with a little teasing grin. Thomas just shrugged, a little awkward chuckle/cough emitting from the young witchlet. "Fine. I- it was fine," he replied, half lying. In reality, it wasn't really that fine. He was not enjoying any of his classes and felt as if he were essentially lost in all of them. Plus, added on to his feelings of nervousness, as each hour after lunch passed, Thomas became more and more hungrier. He really regretted not eating all of his ham sandwich from earlier. It was ill advised to both perform spells and learn magic on an empty stomach, and Thomas was beginning to see that his mother's advice was right and should have been taken seriously. Thinking of his hunger once more, a thought he had temporarily forgot about as he had focused on the bombastic professor and taking his seat in the room, Thomas felt his stomach crinkle with hunger. He wished he could go home right now, but he couldn't back out now. He gulped nervously, shifting his weight in his seat a bit as he tried to distract himself from his hunger. The boy hoped his stomach remained quiet and didn't make too much noise. He had to focus on class now, not his hunger.

With that, the young witchlet took out his Magic 101 book and prepared for the ensuing lecture from Professor Ursa. He had no clue as to the professor's teaching style, but something deep down in his gut told him it'd certainly be a bit different than the previous classes, specifically his illusions coven specific classes. Since they still had a couple of minutes of time to kill as they waited for the last remaining students to file into the classroom, Thomas decided to return Audrea the favor and ask her how her one hour without him was. Surely she had a better time than him, he thought. She seemed to have an aura of confidence about her and he noticed she was already making a whole lot more friends than he was. "Oh!- A- and you?" the young blonde haired witch asked, deciding to continue the casual conversation.

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano
​

Audrey's smile relaxed from the smugness as Thomas said that his class was fine. He seemed better than he was during lunch time, but something in her gut told her that something was still up. Considering that Thomas hadn't had lunch, she guessed it was probably that. She watched him settle down into the table, taking out his text book, it wasn't long until he spoke up again.
"Oh!- A- and you?" He asked, like he suddenly remembered to ask.
"Oh awfully!" She replied, a lot more jovially than expected from the words spoken, "Math is my worst subject by far, and I don't care for it a bit, so even trying to stay awake in that class is a struggle." She explained, her attitude not wavering. It would be tough, but she would do just enough to pass, at least that was her plan. She put her bag on her lap, her tone becoming more normal, "To be honest I don't get the witches who like math, but I guess that's where accountants and architects come from right?" She wondered out loud, glancing up to Thomas from her bag. If he was hungry during lunch, but didn't have an appetite, the hunger by now would be definitely hard to ignore. So she decided that she needed to take action, not bait and prod Thomas into admitting he was hungry. "Say, I wonder if we're allowed to eat in class." She said suddenly, and before Thomas could respond, she quickly looked up to Professor Ursa and shouted at him from across the room. "Professor! Is food and drink allowed?!"

Professor Ursa looked over his shoulder, "Of course! I was actually going to talk about that once we started." He said back, "I actually run a little shop here at my desk! Don't tell Principal Bump though, hah!" He chuckled, "Everythings just a snail, if you need something feel free to rummage through the desk."
Audrey turned to Thomas, "Be right back." She said, shooting him a quick smile as she got up, moving swiftly to the desk. She pulled out the shelves two at a time, a few were just folders and papers, but the ones of the left were full of snacks. She fished out two bags of hexmix, and grabbed a juice box, the same kind that Thomas had at lunch. That was a pretty safe bet. She reached into her pocket and placed three snails on the desk. When she got back to their table, she stood on the opposite side of the desk where Thomas sat.
"I'm a little peckish, how about you?" She asked, leaning over to grab the cube of abomination goo so it was between them. She drew a spell circle and the cube unfolded, revealing the napkin wrapped sandwiches. She rubbed off a smudge of goo off the napkins and unwrapped the sandwiches, which thankfully, had no abomination stuff on it. The clay moved across the table, forming a large rectangle, lining the large desk they occupied. While that was happening, Audrey was busy placing the hexmix bags and the juice box next to the sandwich, and before long they had their own little pile of food between them. Behind Audrey, several more students had gotten up, perusing through Professor Ursa's hidden snack shop.

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:
​

Thomas raised one eyebrow over the other as the girl replied to him, a jovial tone for saying how much she was struggling in the previous class. He wondered how she could maintain that positive of an attitude despite feeling like you weren't understanding anything in a certain class. In fact, he envied it slightly to an extent. If only he could have that positive outlook on life and challenge his life problems head on. He nodded as she thought allowed. Thomas wasn't particularly bad at math, but he hated the class as well and found it boring. He had struggled a bit in his mathematics class a bit earlier in the day. He knew he certainly wasn't going to attempt to become an architect or an accountant- those fields were not suited for him. "Aww man," the young blonde witchlet replied softly, frowning a bit and looking down at the desk, "That sucks..." he added quietly.

He then looked looked up at Audrea as she asked the professor if they could eat and drink in the class. Thomas' eyes widened as he raised his eyebrows, looking at Audrea. Was she insane? How did she have the nerve to ask so casually if they were allowed to do something so frowned upon in class- eating? But then, as if to prove Thomas wrong, Professor Ursa reacted in the complete opposite way that the young boy would have expected. Thomas' mouth opened ajar slightly with shock as Ursa told them that he had somewhat of his own little hidden snack shop behind his desk, and furthermore, that students could feel free to rummage through his desk and get whatever they needed for a snail. Thomas' mother had made sure to send him off to school with a few snails, so if he did want to get something somewhere, he definitely could. Thomas just looked at Professor Ursa and then back to Audrea, a confused look on his face as he raised on eyebrow over the other. His whole belief system was essentially being challenged. He had long thought that it was established that eating food and drink in class was frowned upon. In fact, most of his professors throughout the day already had established that eating and drinking during lecture was strictly prohibited, and Thomas, ever the rule-follower, would dare not disobey.

With that, Audrea made her way to the desk. Thomas' eyes followed her to the front of the room, watching curiously. Was she trying to get some food? He wondered how the girl could possibly be hungry, hadn't she eaten lunch? The whole thought of food and eating made Thomas even more hungrier as he watched Audrea get something from the desk. Once again, he regretted not eating. Maybe his mother's advice wasn't so stupid about eating. He watched as Audrea came back with something- some kinda of food or snacks perhaps. She came back, exclaiming she was hungry, asking him if he was too. He WAS hungry and he wanted to say yes, but he didn't want to cause her any sense of guilt for making him go hungry because she did have his lunch, but to be fair he did say she could have it. He had lost his appetite due to a nervousness feeling in his stomach, an almost queasy feeling, so he ended up just not finishing his sandwich and letting Audrea have it as to not waste any food. He tilted his head to the side a bit as she put something that was wrapped on the table, a bit covered in abomination goo, which she wiped right off.

As she drew the spell circle, two wrapped sandwiches in a napkin were revealed as Thomas' eyes went wide with surprise. "She's gonna have TWO sandwiches? Damn, what an appetite!" Thomas thought to himself in his head. He looked down at the sandwiches, feeling his mouth water and his stomach grumble. Now more than ever he regretted not eating. He didn't know how he was going to survive with her eating two sandwiches right in front of him during this whole class period. "Uh- a- a bit...." he finally replied, of course downplaying his hunger, staring down at the sandwiches voraciously, his mouth watering slightly. He closed his eyes and shook his head, trying not to focus on his hunger or the sandwiches. They weren't for him, after all, the boy thought. He cleared his throat and looked casually to the front of the room, hoping she hadn't caught him staring at the sandwiches like that. He still couldn't help but feel like Audrea was about to commit a sin by eating in class, despite Professor Ursa totally allowing the act.

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano
​

Audrey gave Thomas a smile when he admitted that he was a bit hungry. Reading between the lines, he was probably starving, but now she wouldn't have to force him to take the food.
"Here!" She said chipperly, she pushed the two sandwich halves towards Thomas, and then placed a bag of hexmix and the juice box on his side of the table as well, leaning over as she pushed the meal towards him. She pointed at one sandwich half, which had a bite in it already, "That one was yours anyways." She said, noticing his hesitation about the food. The professor said it was fine to eat during class, or was it that the food was technically hers? Either way, the offer was made, permission was granted, now all he had to do was just go for it. She hoped he went for it. If he didn't take it, she would just leave it on the table for him the entire class. She was just above to move around the table to sit back down in her seat when the bell demon screamed, and then Professor Ursa shouted over the bell.

"Welcome! To Spelling class!" The lizard witch chuckled at his own pun. It wasn't anything new, everyone knew that General Magics was shortened to Spelling often. "Some rules first, don't cast spells on your fellow students, unless I say you can!" He said. Audrey by now had decided to just turn around, and sit on her side of the desk. Nobody dared to talk over the professor, his sheer voice alone demanded your attention, not like anyone could talk over him anyways. "You can talk amongst yourselves, as long as you stay on topic. And," He looked at Audrey, "As Young Audrey asked earlier, yes! You can eat and drink in class! Some Professors earned the privilege to teach by going to academies and learning through books! I earned the privilege to teach through danger! I can guarantee you, no other Professor in this school has been chased for days by untiring, unkillable, relentlessly dangerous wild magic golems!" He explained, "Except for Crowe!" Professor Ursa said with a smile. Audrey rose an eyebrow in confusion, and shot a glance to Thomas. Professor Crowe seemed perfectly normal, the complete opposite of Professor Ursa. He was soft spoken and polite, and apparently in his younger days, had been chased by wild magic golems side by side with Professor Ursa? "Anyways, I'm getting ahead of myself. You need fuel for your magic! There is no shame in refueling when you need to cast!" He said loudly. Audrey looked around, no other student had opened any of their snacks, some hadn't even started on their drinks. So as if on cue, Audrey loudly opened her bag of hexmix, and popped a square shaped pretzel into her mouth. Several students looked her way, but Professor Ursa just continued.

"We'll be starting the year with fire! Fire is important, if you're lost, you can use a spark to make a signal fire, or to light a fire for warmth, or to cook if you're hungry, to scare away beasts, the applications in a situation where you need help are endless! Some Spelling Professors think you should start with simple energy manipulation, but if you're stranded on The Knee, what is a simple blast of energy going to do for you? You need fire! In the cold of the mountains, fire will provide warmth! In the endless forests of the Forearms, fire will provide light! Fire will allow you to help yourself, when nobody can come to help you!" Ursa said passionately. Audrey had suddenly stopped snacking, she looked at Ursa thoughtfully, tilting her head for just a moment, then glancing down. After a moment she continued to snack on her hexmix. "Now, some students already know how to make fire!" He said proudly, "Young Starla of The Oracles, Young Zohar of The Beastkeepers, and Young Audrea of The Abominations." He introduced, "If you need help, they may have some advice. Now! A primer on the basics of casting fire!" He said walking over to the chalkboard, he began to lecture, surprisingly in depth and technically, how the very start of a fire was air, heat, and fuel. Air was around us, fuel would be our magic, and that to start, we should focus on heat. Generating the heat, and then sparking it with more magic and air was the key to making fire.
And half an hour later of explaining the intricacies of the 'fire triangle', he let the class loose to practice. Very quickly, Professor Ursa had walked over to some students who looked uneasy, and began instructing them further. Starla helped some of her friends, and as the other students drew spellcircles in the air to try and generate heat, or to try to make fire, Audrey looked over to Thomas, still sitting on the table, "Do you have it down?" She asked.

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:
​

Thomas looked down at the table and widened his eyes as Audrea pushed over the two sandwich halves to him. He looked at her, and then back down at the sandwich, surprised and still processing, his eyes almost asking "is this for me?" But it was for him as she had just told him. A small smiled forced itself on Thomas' face. "Th- thanks Audrea," he said softly, moving the sandwich a bit closer to him. The boy stared down at the sandwich nervously, debating on whether or not he should be taking a bite from it during class. Sure, Professor Ursa had said it was ok for students to eat during his class, but Thomas still couldn't help but think eating during class was sacrilegious. He slowly hovered his hand above the sandwich before he felt himself jump and quickly pull his hand back as the lizard witch professor began to speak.

While Professor Ursa spoke, he reiterated that he did in fact allow eating during his class. As the professor spoke, Thomas went against every fiber of his being as he slowly took one of the halves of the sandwiches, his stomach growling with hunger and anticipation, and began chomping down on it. His taste buds began to tingle with joy as he realized just how truly hungry he really was. As he chewed the food in his mouth, savoring every morsel, he wanted to say thank you to Audrea once again, but decided against it as he didn't want to be talking while the professor was talking. His stomach gurgled with joy and satisfaction as it was filled finally, after practically skipping lunch just a few hours ago, Thomas had been forced to run on empty for a majority of his afternoon classes. As he quietly nibbled on his sandwich, he listened to Professor Ursa give his introduction to the class. Thomas admittedly felt much more comfortable eating in class as Ursa told the class that there was no harm in refueling while casting spells and furthermore, when he heard Audrea almost loudly opening her bag of hexmix.

The young blonde witchlet's eyes widened as he heard that today, they'd be starting off with fire magic. He nodded slowly as Ursa explained to them a bit about the fire magic as he softly nibbled on a bit more of his first sandwich half. He tilted his head with curiosity as the professor exclaimed that there were a few people in the class who already knew how to perform some levels of fire magic, one of them including Audrea. Thomas looked to the girl sitting beside him, his look full of questions. How in the world did she already know some fire magic, he wondered inside of his head. All Thomas knew before coming to Hexside was a few basic illusions spells due to both of his parents being masters of illusions and illusions coven members.

Eventually, class time and spell casting began as each of the students got to work on their first fire spells. After about a half an hour or so of various different attempts to draw a fire triangle and to generate some heat, Thomas eventually somewhat got it, finally generating some weak yet present heat. He tried a few more times to get it down better but just came up with the same result- a weak fire triangle with weak heat. "Do you have it down?" Audrea asked him. He blushed a bit, feeling slightly embarrassed for not having it as down as some of the other students, including her. He hated feeling behind in his classes and all day, he had felt just that- behind. He felt as if he was struggling a bit in all of his classes- his struggles in his illusions coven specific classes bugging and nagging at him the most. He looked at Audrea, a sad look in his eyes. "Eh k- kind of I guess," he replied to the girl. With that, Thomas closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying his spell circle once more. He did it slowly this time, focusing very hard on this next spell circle. This time, the young blonde witch in training had some more success. He casted a spell circle, generating quite a bit of heat and fire. Thomas' face lit up as his eyes widened with pleasant surprise and a large smile forming on the boy's youthful face. "I- I think I did it!" Thomas said happily, proclaiming his victory.

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano
​

Audrey looked over once the class was set to practice the fire spell, and saw that Thomas had already eaten his food, and was now focusing on drawing spell circles. She smiled, and got up to help other students who were having trouble. Most of the class were having trouble with the fire spell, and Audrey was bouncing around the classroom, much like Professor Ursa, offering advice and encouragement to the rest of the class. After a couple of minutes, or, a long time, she didn't know. Audrey was admittedly having a lot of fun doing this. Eventually the young witch made her way back to Thomas, and she asked if he had it down.
"Eh k- kind of I guess," He said, he looked down and sounded unsure. But Audrey just gave him a reassuring smile and leaned on the desk, resting her elbows on the table. He closed his eyes and focused, he was going to try again. Audrey watched him slowly draw his spell circle, in her head she was rooting for him. When he finished his spell circle, a haze of heat appeared, and then a sphere of orange fire appeared, flicks of flame rose up from it. Audrey smiled, looking up at Thomas, who was surprised at his own magic. "I- I think I did it!" He declared.

"You think you did it?" Audrey repeated, "You definitely did it! That's it right there!" She said, then an idea popped into her head, "Wait, hold it right there, just like that." She drew her own spellcircle, a small one, and a small candle like flame came from it, colored pink. Her fire spun on her fingertip, and she brought it close to Thomas's own fire. Wisps of her pink fire jumped over to Thomas's fire, spiraling around his before disappearing into the air as light smoke. She let several more wisps flick over before releasing her spell, and the rest of the pink fire jumped over to Thomas's, making a single large pink streak dance around his fire. "Cool trick huh?"

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:​

Thomas was certainly glad to get something to eat and in his stomach. His mother, as much as he hated to admit it was right. "Don't perform spells on an empty stomach my little witchlet!" she would always lovingly remind him, even as a little boy. He'd roll his eyes of course, but now as he got into Hexside and began doing some real magic which required more effort, these words held more true than ever.

But the young blonde was focused on the spell which, much to his surprise, it looked like he had nailed down. A look of surprise was on his face, a big smile and a shimmer of hope in those chocolate brown eyes of his. "You definitely did it! That's it right there!" the girl exclaimed to him happily, confirming his suspicions. He had finally done it- he did a spell well and correctly today! His smile only grew larger as Audrea congratulated him, praising him and smiling, seemingly proud of him. Praise- praise was a rare thing for the young blonde witchlet to hear, especially from his father. His father Andrew Vlasic was a very hard man to impress, Thomas often wondered how his mother Bella ever wooed the man and got together with him, he was THAT hard to impress. Maybe she won him over with some sort of illusion.

His chocolate brown orbs of eyes glistened in the light of the fire, wide with eager innocence and astonishment as his own feat with the spell circle. "Wait, hold it right there, just like that," the young witch girl beside him advised. He nodded his head closing his mouth but still smiling as he waited on and watched her with interest. Soon, the witch girl drew a spell circle of her own, a small candle-like pink flame forming. The pink fire from Audrea danced around Thomas' own orangish-red fire. The young boy watched, his mouth opening slightly ajar once more as she performed her little trick. "Woah," he said, ever so softly under his breath as he kept his wide eyes focused on the pink and orange fire intertwined with each other. "H- how did you do that?" Thomas asked her, clearly impressed by her little trick. It was clear that Audrea knew some magic beforehand, and he wondered how, slightly envying it as he felt even a bit more behind now.

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano​

The fire trick she did seemed to astonish Thomas, just like she was, when she first saw it. To him, it was a beautiful dance of fire. Audrey smiled at Thomas, he was curious, which was good. Curiosity would fuel him to get better with this magic, and she wanted to encourage that. "You should ask, how did we do that? It takes two to dance at the ballroom right?" She asked. "Try making your fire spell smaller, you don't need it to be big to do this. And give it a little spin. You can try spinning your spell circle itself, or you can try controlling how the fire forms, or how the fire takes in air. Whichever works for you, try them all out. Maybe one will work better than the other, or a mix will work better for you. Or you might find your own way to spin it. And then just..." Audrey instructed, she drew a larger spell circle with a finger, and a pink fire appeared over her finger. "Let it stand close next to mine."

To her, it was an exercise of control, a foundational practice that built up greater precision over any fire spell that left her fingertips. A fireball thrown from the hand could veer wildly to any direction, a fireball with spin could curve around objects and hit a target hiding behind something. A jet of flame uncontrolled is just a wild heat, but a focused beam could cut through stone. Mastery over the more advanced forms of fire magic came from this simple exercise of spinning a ball of fire over your fingertip. Audrey remembered the first time she created fire all those years ago. Liberi had taught her that rage was an excellent motivator, and she spent the day with him in the forest trying to summon fire. She remembered holding onto her resentment and anger, her feelings of stress, inadequacy, weakness, her loneliness and fragility, and wanting to scream at the world that it wasn't supposed to be like this. She focused all of that into her spell circles, and created a wild roar of fire, bursting out like a hungry flood, consuming the leaves, brushes, grass, and twigs, reducing them to ash and soot. Fire stuck to tree trunks, burning bark, making thick columns of smoke as the flames grew in size, threatening to consume entire trees.

Liberi stepped in, dousing the flames with abomination clay, but the scars of the fire remained on the trees. And Audrey was appalled at the destruction she wrought. Then her mentor told her to now learn how to control her fire, and that started with a simple spin. An exercise of control, a meditative practice of focus, to ensure the fire maintained a consistent size, temperature, and rotation. But to Thomas it was a dance, and Audrey was the person who showed him this dance, and now she was teaching him how to dance. It felt good, and it would be nice to be able to remember this moment, instead of just the burning of a forest grove.

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:​

​

"W- we?" Thomas asked softly, "I- I helped do that?" he asked, in disbelief that he could even remotely contribute to the little fire trick. He listened to her, nodding as he looked at her and she instructed him that his fire spell didn't need to be so big. The small light of the flames glistened in his little brown eyes as he looked on. He closed them temporarily as he focused on making his flame a little bit smaller with her.

It was a small little dance of flames and light emitting from both of their fingertips. Thomas opened his eyes and watched on as he formed a small flame from his little spell circle and looked at it as it seemed to dance around Audrea's small pink flames. He looked from her to the flames, looking back and forth as he had a happy look in his eyes as he smiled at her, impressed with both of their handy work. Like she had said, it took two to dance in a ballroom, so Thomas knew he had some part in the little trick too. For a little moment there with her, the whole world took a back seat as the two did their little flame magic tricks. "Woah th- this is so cool," he said softly and breathily. He watched as their flames stood together. It almost looked like they had been rehearsing the trick- except, they hadn't. Audrea as like Thomas' teacher in this moment, his hypothetical Master Liberi.

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano​

Audrey smiled and pulled her hand back, bringing her fire with her for a moment. Her pink fire spell got smaller, the same size as Thomas's, and then she brought it back closer to his. As the candle sized fires approached, they briefly intensified, and then they combined. Pink and orange fire swirled around each other, instead of one around the other. The combined fire grew slightly larger, and tails of swirling orange and pink flicked up towards the ceiling. It was nice, and beautiful. Much better looking at this, than the scorched grass and burning trees. Her mind began to wander to what else they coul-
"AAAAAAAAAHH"

Audrey immediately canceled her fire spell. Her previously peaceful and happy expression darkened with the flick of a switch. Moving fast, she drew a small spell circle with her index and middle finger, and the abomination clay lining the edges of the table crawled across it to her hand. The hand she was sliding across the table as she moved to stand upright and face the source of the scream. She was in a readied stance with her fists balled in the blink of an eye when a massive scaled hand patted her on the head twice. The hand was so large it practically covered her face too. When the hand left her head, she looked at Professor Ursa with an unamused look. Now pushed out of her stance, she was leaning against the table, half sitting on it.
"You're surprisingly fast Young Audrea, and a natural teacher as well. I didn't want to interrupt your lesson, but it seems the bell demon had other plans!" He said, "You," He pointed at Thomas, "Have you ever cast fire before? You're a natural at it!"
Audrey just huffed, fixing her hair, pushing her bangs behind her ears. "And you're surprisingly sneaky for being as tall as a house." Audrey commented, clearly not very pleased.
"Of course! I had to learn, how else could I have survived those golems?" Professor Ursa replied, taking it in stride, and then he whispered, much quieter than Audrey expected he could, "And put that away, young witch. No need for that here."
Audrey looked away from the professor guiltily and covered her right hand with her left. It was covered with abomination goo, shaped in the form of a gauntlet. The gauntlet was tight and well fitted to her hand, with liquid clay forming a glove, and hardened solid clay forming plates over her fingers and the back of her hand. She drew a spell circle and the goo receeded from her hand, moving back up her sleeve to form the bracelet. She looked around the classroom, avoiding Ursa's eyes. The classroom around them was surprisingly lacking in activity. Students of course got up, chatted amongst themselves, but none seemed to be in any hurry to leave. Some looked determined, still trying to make fire with their spell circles, while others had called it a day and slowly gathered their things.

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:​

​

Thomas was so caught up in the wonder and glory that was their little fire spell, as was Audrea, that the loud screaming of the bell demon to signify the end of class had more than jolted and startled Thomas out of his little trance-like state of stupor and wonder. Their fire was so beautiful- almost hypnotizing. In that very moment there with Audrea, Thomas had lost sight of every thing else and focused entirely on their little magic trick. It was awe inspiring and fascinating to the boy, especially so since he was involved in the little display of magic.

"AAAAAHHHH"

The screaming of the bell demon stopped everything. Thomas' eyes widened as he felt himself jolt, his heart rate now racing because of being put on edge by the sudden loud noise. As if almost in sink with Audrea, Thomas had immediately cancelled the fire spell, extinguishing his flame at the same time she had put out hers. Thomas felt himself blush with embarrassment as he saw Professor Ursa looking at the two of them. He didn't look angry at all or as if the two had done something egregiously wrong, but still, Thomas couldn't help but feel embarrassed that they had let themselves get carried away and lose sight of class ending soon. His eyes widened as the lizard professor pointed at him. He gulped nervously, but was quickly surprised at the professor's words. "A natural?!" Thomas thought to himself in his head, replaying the professor's words: "Have you ever cast fire before? You're a natural at it!" Ursa told him.

"Th- thank you sir," Thomas said softly and respectfully, honestly still stunned by the professor's words. He, a natural? It was pure nonsense in the boy's mind! To him, he felt he was good for nothing and sucking in all of his classes. It was nice to hear that he had done something good- something well done. Thomas figured Professor Ursa must have seen thousands of young students walk through his door and try to perform fire magic, yet for him to say that Thomas was a natural? Well that had to mean something!

The boy looked at Audrea as she talked back to the professor, his eyes widening. The young witch couldn't imagine ever talking to a teacher in that way, nor did he even have the guts to do so. A nervous and concerned look came across Thomas' face as the professor said something under his breath softly. He was raised to respect all elders, especially his teachers, so he was surprised the girl had so snarky to the tall lizard professor. He didn't want to leave a bad impression on the man, since he was hanging out and working with Audrea, he could be "guilty by association." Wanting to ease the tension a bit, Thomas balled his fist up and put it to his mouth, clearing his throat and looking anxiously at Audrea. "Well umm uhh, that was the bell demon," the boy said nervously, "W- we should probably get going!" Thomas said, wanting to lightly grab Audrea's sleeve and pull her along before she could say anything to lash out at the professor again. He opted not to though and instead decided to make a weak little hand gesture to signal to the female witchlet to follow him and get out of the room and to their next class. The day was almost over anyways, so he didn't need to be getting into any sort of trouble on only his first day here at Hexside.

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano​

Audrey glared at the bell demon when Thomas said that the yell came from it. She knew that, of course. He suggested that they should leave, and he reached out to grab her arm, but stopped, instead making a gesture to go. She looked at his hand and nodded, not looking at Thomas. Of course it was the bell demon, nobody here would throw a war cry at her while leaping into an attack. She turned to face the professor, and the massive lizard witch stepped aside, letting her grab her bag and walk out of the classroom.

Before Thomas could follow her, Professor Ursa put a hand in his way for a moment. He turned to the young witch and got on one knee, putting himself at a more similar height to Thomas, though he was still taller. He took a deep breath and sighed, looking deep in thought, as much as a massive bipedal lizard could.
"She seems to have taken a liking to you. I'll cut right to the chase, I'm going to ask you to keep an eye on Audrea, young witch." He began, speaking quietly, seriousness in his voice, "It is not a natural response for a witch to go battle ready when being startled. Something happened to her, perhaps conditioned her, to respond in that way." Professor Ursa said, "Try to keep her out of trouble. And if she does get into trouble, try to keep her from going too far." He said. "And if you need any advice or help, feel free to come to me, or to Elwin Crowe. Tell him that I sent you. Good luck." And with that said, Professor Ursa looked back at the door, seeing Audrey peeking in from around the doorframe. Once she was spotted she retreated back around the corner out of sight.

Audrey ducked out of sight once she was spotted by Professor Ursa. She was wondering what they were talking about, if the professor was offering advice about fire magic, or if Thomas had a question about something. And a small voice in her head wondered if they were talking about her. She took a deep breath and cleared her mind, leaning on a locker demon, waiting for Thomas to get out of the classroom. Once he did, she pushed herself off of the locker.
"So. End of the day, that cafe I was talking about this morning is called Blood and Bread, been there before?" She asked with a smile on her face, but she didn't look at his eyes.

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:​

Thomas watched as the lizard witch professor stepped to the side and let the two exit the room. Audrea left first, with Thomas following. But suddenly, Thomas' eyes widened as he felt his heart jump- he had felt and seen a hand being put in his way, stopping him right in his tracks. He looked the professor in the eyes, Thomas' own as wide as the full moon. "She seems to have taken a liking to you," he began. The words came as a surprise to the young witch boy. "What does he mean by that?" Thomas wondered inside of his head. But he didn't have much time to dwell on that thought as the professor moved on and continued speaking to him.

Keep an eye on Audrea? This was insanity! Thomas could barely handle himself here at Hexside and now he was being asked to keep a close eye on and control of this wildly ambitious witch girl he had just met?! Plus, Thomas thought she was way more talented and skilled with magic than him, why was HE of all people being asked to take up such a task? The professor went on, his words seeming almost ominous. Thomas just nodded his head slowly as a frightened look on his face never ceased during the whole one-sided conversation. Ursa's words were certainly some cause for thought. It was a bit odd that she had gotten into a "battle-ready" stance and demeanor once the bell demon had startled her, but surely that wasn't any cause for alarm, right? Thomas figured she was just someone who got put on edge easily.

But who was Thomas to dare deny or protest, especially against an elder and someone who he should have the utmost respect for- like a professor? "O- of course, y- yes sir," replied Thomas softly yet respectfully and obediently. He brought his arm up to salute the professor but stopped halfway, realizing that would be a bit silly. The professor moved aside and let Thomas exit, leaving the boy to digest the words and the little talk they had in his head. His mind was racing with all sorts of different thoughts, but he figured he'd get a move on as to not keep Audrea waiting. Now, Thomas had to keep an eye on her- professor's orders. Odd...

Thomas finally exited the classroom, meeting Audrea outside near some lockers in the hallway. As they walked along and she talked, Thomas just had a thousand yard stare the whole way, looking like he had just seen a ghost. He was still processing the professors "orders" in his little head. He closed his eyes tight temporarily and shook his head once quickly, opening his eyes back up again, the thousand yard stare failing to go away still. "N- no, n- never been," replied the young blonde quietly. Thomas simply was in a state of almost stupor as he continued to process the conversation with the professor in his head. Why had he been asked to keep a watch on Audrea? Did the professor know something about her that he didn't?

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano​

Audrey walked down the halls of Hexside to the entrance of the school, with Thomas following suit. He seemed lost in thought, after saying that he'd never been to Blood and Bread before. As they were walking, Audrey kept an eye on their surroundings, watching students walk out of classrooms, chat amongst themselves, exiting the school. She noticed some groups would enter a classroom, even though school was over, and a cursory peek revealed that clubs were held afterschool in certain classrooms. There were students with cauldrons in one classroom, with vegetables and cuts of meat, they seemed to be making a stew. In another classroom, there were students with decks of cards, playing some kind of game. In the Plant Coven classroom, students were chatting, watering plants, and talking over packets of seeds. Not all of them were in the plant coven either. It was strange to her, seeing all these clubs. In Glandus, clubs were more like gatherings for the powerful and their entourages. To talk strategies on how to get one up over each other, on who's becoming weaker, and who's becoming stronger.

The rest of the walk was done in relative silence, with Audrey glancing at Thomas looking more and more concerned. That small voice in her head that suggested that they'd talked about her was getting louder and louder. By the time they got to the busy entrance of the academy Audrey turned to Thomas.
"Hey, is everything okay? You've been spacing out." She asked, concern clear on her face, and after a pause she continued, "What'd you talk about with Ursa anyways?"

---

Principal Hieronymus Bump​

Principal Bump was surprisingly pleased. Two of his teachers were sitting in his office, Ursa and Elwin. When they came in, he expected bad news, especially considering that he had purposely assigned that new Glandus transfer student to them. He hoped they would be able to handle her, Glandus transfers were always causing trouble, and he knew Ursa and Elwin to be particularly sturdy witches. But when they sat down, they only had good news about her. He expected at least three students being sent to the school healer, maybe a few broken doors or floor tiles, and that expectation caused not an insignificant amount of anxiety in him throughout the day. Listening to the two younger teachers, the only incident was from the very last few minutes of the day, when the Glandus student... Principal Bump looked to her file on his desk, a thick folder full of incident reports and transfer papers, and looked at her name... when Etheldreda, nearly struck Ursa. Ursa was thankfully fast enough to catch her before she reacted, and he was insistent on not blaming her, saying that it was a conditional reaction. Bump nodded at the explanation, pleased that he had chosen correctly. This Etheldreda would be a handful, Glandus transfers always were, and placing her under the tutelage of teachers like Ursa seemed to have been a good move.

"And she made a friend in my class! I told him to keep an eye on her. His name is Thomas Vlasic, a meek boy, determined, though." Ursa said.
"Hm..." Bump got up and flipped through his student files, pulling out Thomas's very thin folder. No incident reports to note of. "Hopefully Thomas rubs off on Etheldreda."
"Even if he doesn't, it was certainly a good idea to encourage they keep each other company." Elwin Crowe replied, "Edalyn certainly slowed down her antics after she met Raine."
"Ugh. Don't remind me of Edalyn." Bump groaned, "But you have a point." Bump put Thomas's file back into the cabinet and sat back down onto his chair, "Now, the Club Fair? Is the swimming club still asking for a pool?"

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:​

Indeed Thomas was quite lost in thought. He didn't realize how much so it looked visible to Audrea. He walked in relative silence with her- odd for Audrea, but typical for Thomas. The boy always kicked himself for not being good at hiding his emotions and for not being able to mask his facial expressions sometimes. He looked straight down, his thousand yard stare still there as they walked through the halls. Out of the corner of his eyes in his peripheral vision, he could see a few students going into various different classroom, despite the last class of the day being over and the school day being done with. They must have been going to after school clubs- something Thomas hadn't yet joined, but to be honest, Thomas didn't even know if he really desired to join an after school club.

The boy was lost in his thoughts for quite some time as they walked along silently in the hallways. Suddenly, Thomas was interrupted in his stream of thoughts by a familiar voice. "Hey, is everything okay? You've been spacing out." Audrea said. Thomas' eyes widened as the pace of his heart rate swiftly quickened in that moment. He brought his head up to look at her quickly as he balled his fist and brought it to his mouth, clearing his throat to break his silence. There was a visibly nervous look on the blonde witchlet boy's face as he spoke. "Huh? W- what? No not at all!" Thomas reassured her, cracking a fake little smile. But his nervousness only got worse as Audrea asked him a question.

"What'd you talk about with Ursa anyways?" Audrea asked him innocently. As if the boy's eyes couldn't get more wide- they did just that. Surely, sure knew, didn't she? She was standing outside of the door. Had she caught wind of any of their conversation? He gulped nervously, trying to re-compose himself. This wasn't good, the boy thought. He certainly wasn't about to tell her the truth- what they had REALLY spoken about. Surely she'd be angry, maybe with him, certainly with Ursa, and possibly take action. He didn't need to lose his first and only real friend here at Hexside on only the first day, and he certainly didn't want himself or her getting in trouble from any retaliation Audrea might act on if she found out that Ursa told Thomas to keep a close eye on her. Plus, surely she wouldn't want to be friends with someone who was essentially being "assigned" to be her babysitter. Thomas had no clue how she'd react if he told her the truth- but he only expected it would be negatively. He figured he couldn't risk it and he didn't want to sever their only day old relationship.

Thomas closed his eyes, shaking his head and smiling, casually brushing it off, "Ah, it was nothing. Just how he was impressed with our little fire magic spell there." Thomas lied. He chuckled, clearing his throat awkwardly again as they walked on in the halls. He had hoped he had done a good job lying to her, although he did suspect that maybe she had a sneaking hint that the conversation with Ursa regarded her. But Thomas now had a job to do- and that was keeping watch over Audrea. He couldn't let Ursa and Crowe down. He now had a task to do, and he would try to do it as best he could to the best of his ability. He had to keep Audrea reigned in and keep her under control- keep her from getting too out of control and rowdy.

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano​

Audrey looked at Thomas, blank faced, she glanced at his eyes as he said that it was nothing. Saying that Professor Ursa was just impressed with the fire magic they did. She blinked.
"Okay." She said simply and plainly. She turned around and kept walking forward, away from the school and towards the outskirts of Bonesborough, she spoke up again after a deep breath, speaking much more lively now. A tone more to what Thomas was used to. "Come on, Blood and Bread isn't that far. It's just on the edge of Bonesborough, next to a bunch of nice looking shops and restaurants. I think it's in a fancy neighborhood."

It was frustrating to her that she was caught off guard so easily, that Titan cursed bell. She spared a thought about actually cursing the bell, but that would have to wait, most likely. She would have to look into how long the clubs were active for, if any clubs were near Ursa's classroom, learn if the Hexside guards had any patrol patterns, and how long they were around the campus for. She would also have to actually pick and learn a curse. Too much required preperation for a spur of the moment thing. And she had this cafe get together too. She huffed quietly, that damned bell. The whole day was going so well, and she was pretty spot on with timing, keeping track of when the bell demons would go off, but for some reason when she was teaching Thomas, all of that just left her head. And then she got surprised, actually surprised, and that soured her mood. It was so easy to slip into that persona of being cheerful, helpful, sociable, and it was fun. She liked being those things. But she wasn't those things.

---

The Blood and Bread Cafe


​

The cafe was definitely in one of the nicer parts of Bonesborough. The neighborhood seemed to be a small, well kept market street, with clean stone walls and floors. Every shop had a few trees or bushes in front of it, and the place seemed so idyllic. There were well dressed witches populating the street, though the street was far from crowded. They went in and out of the many shops, a gardening store, an oracles shop, book stores, a tailor, to name a few, and the Blood and Bread Cafe itself was similarly populated. It wasn't crowded, but it wasn't empty either. Witches sat both inside the cafe and some were occupying the tables and seats set just outside of the cafe. The smell of freshly baked pastries and breads filled the air as the shop readied its dinner selections, leaning more towards sweets and desserts, as well as offering a small selection of sandwiches and the house special soup, which they served in bread bowls. Outside, chalkboard menu could be seen. The dinner house special today was a cream of mushroom soup, with onions, garlic, and fresh herbs.

Inside the cafe, a record player played relaxing music. Tables and chairs were placed neatly on the floor, evenly spaced out. A corner of the cafe had sofas and large cushioned chairs, with lower tables, a lounging section. The bar itself had a large section dedicated to baked goods, with the various breads, pastries, and desserts behind glass. A kind looking middle aged woman with two horns stood behind the bar, wearing an apron and a short sleeved shirt, she was busy sorting things behind the counter. Above and behind her were two large chalkboards, with the menu written in colored chalk. Light brown for coffees, which they had a large selection of, ranging from normal pour over coffees, to more complicated drinks like flat whites and mochas. Teas were written in green, and similarly had a large selection of black, green, and herbal teas. A small section was dedicated to juices, written in pink, and another small section was dedicated to sandwiches and the soup of the day.

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:​

Thomas couldn't help but wince slightly as he awaited her response. Once she had responded Thomas just looked at her nervously, internally doubting himself on whether or not he had successfully convinced her and lied. Her soft "Okay," was certainly not a tone Thomas was used to from the girl in just the few hours he had known her. He gulped nervously, wondering if he indeed had messed up here. But luckily, the female witchlet soon changed the subject. As they walked along, Audrea once again brought up this Blood and Bread Cafe place that was in Bonesborough- Thomas' home town. Titan, how he hated that damned bell though. At least that last bell of the day meant that classes for his first day of school were finally over. He had made it through and successfully survived his first day at Hexside. Audrea had said the cafe was in a fancy neighborhood in Bonesbourough, and the boy wondered if it was in his own neighborhood and he had just never heard of it. Thomas did live in a relatively nice upper-middle class neighborhood in the town. "Y- yea, sounds good," he replied, "let's go and see this cafe." he said. He walked along, still replaying Ursa's words in his head. For some reason now, he felt an odd obligation to keep this witch girl- the only person who had made an effort to become his friend here on the first day- under control and hopefully out of trouble. The rest of the walk was in uncharacteristic (for Audrea at least) silence.

The pair had walked out of the Hexside school building and began to make their way down to Bonesborough, a familiar environment for Thomas, as it was the place on the Boiling Isles where he grew up and still lived. Thomas followed Audrea, letting her lead the way, since he obviously didn't know where this Blood and Bread Cafe was. He wondered in his head where this girl was from. Was she from this fancy neighborhood here in Bonesborough near the cafe? Is this how she knew about it and he didn't, despite being a Bonesborough resident and native all of his life? Nevertheless, the pair eventually arrived in a nice neighborhood, seeing a fancy looking cute little cafe, the "fabled" Blood and Bread Cafe that Audrea had been telling him about briefly. He looked around, the environment was so quaint- so relaxing, nice, and peaceful. Thomas continued to follow Audrea along to the cafe. He looked at a menu listed on a small black chalk board outside of the establishment. It wasn't crowded at all, and the relaxing music playing in the background seemed to put Thomas' nervous and anxious mind at ease temporarily. As they entered, Thomas looked at Audrea, brushing his pale blue sleeves of his illusions coven student Hexside school uniform slightly, "So uhh, what do you usually get here?" Thomas asked, hoping to get a recommendation from Audrea, since it seemed that she came here often.

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano​

As Audrey lead Thomas to the cafe she found herself having to think about where she was actually going and having to seek out familiar landmarks. Or rather, just something that looked familiar. But eventually, she managed to successfully find the street without getting lost, and she managed to lighten up her mood a little. She was focused on getting to the cafe, and that left her little to no time to dwell on what happened earlier. And once they got to the street, the scent of baking bread filled the air, and she felt a smile tugging at her lips. Sometimes her parents would bake bread in the morning, and she would wake up on the weekends to that same smell. She glanced at the menu outside, noting the soup of the day, and saw that Thomas was doing the same before dusting himself off and going into the cafe. Audrey followed close behind, and Thomas looked over.

"So uhh, what do you usually get here?" He asked.
Audrey blinked and looked at the wide selection of pastries, "I uhh... hm. I only just saw this place, I've never been here before." She replied, in a much better mood. She looked at Thomas with a playful smile, "So let's find out."
Audrey reached for his sleeve and grabbed it, and she made a beeline for the bakery section of the bar. She looked over rolls, cakes, cookies, tarts, puffs, eyes wide with wonder. "I didn't even know half of these were a thing." She said astounded, "Look at these custard tarts they're so small!" Audrey exclaimed, pointing at them. They were only a few inches wide. "I want to try them all." She said to herself, then she suddenly stopped and narrowed her eyes, "Wait... we're here for fried orbs... here we'll grab one of something else with the fried orbs, you pick?" She said to Thomas, "I don't know what's good."

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:​

Thomas widened his eyes as he learned that Audrea in fact did not come here often. He could have sworn- or at least he originally thought, that she was a regular here or something. "Oh uhh, alright," he replied, nodding his head and acknowledging her answer. He tried his best to reciprocate her little playful smile by shooting her a tiny little smile of his own. He nodded his head again, ready to find out what this cafe had to offer. Suddenly, his eyes widened with surprise as Audrea excitedly grabbed his pale blue illusion coven sleeves of his Hexside uniform and made a beeline for the bakery section. The two students eyed and looked at the different pastries and baked goods on display. Thomas eyes widened as he put his hands to the glass display case and voraciously stared down the custard tarts, his mouth beginning to water a bit.

The bakery section of the bar smelled amazing, even a bit nostalgic to Thomas. It reminded him of the smell that would float through his home whenever his mother baked for him and his father. It was delicious, and the aroma floating around in the Vlasic household when his mother Bella was baking was pleasant. But he tried to stop thinking about his mother's baking, not wanting to get too emotional or nostalgic here, especially not in front of Audrea. He looked at the baked goods as Audrea excitedly listed off a few things she might like or want to try. She seemed to want to try a lot- maybe a little bit of everything here. Thomas turned to look at his new friend. "Let's get some of those fried orbs and hmm," he said, putting a finger to his chin in thought until he finally made his decision. "Oh! And let's get some of those custard tarts!" Thomas said, smiling and licking his lips. They looked pretty tasty. This cafe looked amazing, and smelled amazing too.

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano​

Audrey put her hand on her chin and closed her eyes in thought, nodding in agreement, "Yes, a wise choice Thom. I've had custard tarts before and having them from here would be a good comparison to judge the quality of their bakery." She explained, "Of course I've have fried orbs too but those are just fried orbs. How different could they be?" She looked at the bakery section again and walked up and down it to find the fried orbs, and she found them near the end of the display. They were much smaller than she expected, having been used to fried orbs on a stick the size of her head. These were the size of a small apple, and it intrigued her.

She looked up to the woman working behind the bar, "Excuse me!" She called, and the older witch came over with a smile on her face.
"Ready now kids?" She asked,
"Yep, we'll have two fried orbs, two of these custard tarts..." Audrey looked up at the drinks, skimming the tea menu. She liked the taste of mochas, after all it was chocolate and coffee, but the caffeine would keep her up all night. Instead she looked for a nice herbal tea, and she quickly spotted a berry hibiscus tea that sounded great. "I'll have a berry hibiscus tea, medium iced. For here please." She requested, and the cafe worker nodded while putting the tarts and fried orbs on paper trays.
"What would you like on your fried orbs?"
"Huh?" Audrey asked, confused.
"We put toppings and sauces on these, we have chocolate, caramel, fruit sauces, and we can add tree seeds, bug legs-"
"Oh, we'll just keep it simple, caramel and tree seeds?"
The cafe worker nodded with a smile and went to work behind the counter, brewing tea and assembling their pastries.
While the worker headed away, Audrey turned to Thomas, "Hey Thom what do you wanna drink? And find us a table to sit at later, I'll bring over our stuff in just a little bit." She asked.

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:​

Tom nodded and smiled as Audrea called his choice "wise." "Oh that's cool," he said with a little smile. He sighed, "My ma doesn't let me have to many sweets. Something about 'being healthy' or whatever," he said, shrugging his shoulders and rolling his eyes a bit. It wasn't that the boy couldn't handle sweets or went crazy when he had them, it's just that his mother Bella wanted her little witchlet in the best physical condition that he could be, so sweets and custards were a rarity in the Vlasic household. It was why Thomas so treasured the rare moments when his mother did end up baking. For someone who didn't like to bake too much, she sure was amazing at it. And Thomas has had fried orbs before, so he figured that they'd be good- maybe even the best, here too. He shrugged, how different than the fried orbs Thomas has had before could these ones be?

He watched on as Audrea ordered for them and ordered a little drink for herself. He was a bit thirsty, but he wasn't feeling anything too crazy or exotic. When she asked him what he wanted to drink, he softly replied, "J- just water for me, thanks." Sure, they had a wide variety of great drinks to choose from here at this cafe, but again, at home, Thomas wasn't really supposed to be having any unhealthy or "exotic" drinks. Although he was out, and certainly not with his parents, he couldn't help but feel nervous about ordering and then drinking anything but water, especially not without his parents' permission. That was often his downfall- he was too obedient and too much of a rule-follower. Thomas turned to look at the worker behind the counter to catch her in a good spot while she could take a little break in making their food so he could politely put in his drink order.

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano​

Audrey gasped at Thomas's comment about his mother. No sweets? That was so boring, and bland, and disheartening, and a few other words she couldn't think of at the moment. Snacks, candies and desserts were so important to her she couldn't imagine life without them.
"Thats..." She began with a furrowed brow, well, it certainly wasn't healthy, Thomas's mother was right about that, and it took self discipline not to go overboard. But did he even have a favorite pastry? She shot a glance to the tarts on the tray by the register. Did he suggest the tarts because she commented on their size earlier? Sure, egg and custard tarts were her favorite, but there were also much more interesting looking things out on display. Flaky cookies with dozens of layers, shaped like butterfly wings, cones of dough filled with cream with chocolate drizzled on them, small cakes cut into squares, rectangles and triangles all sorts of colors and flavors. Her face softened, "Well, that sounds like you've had a critical lack of desserts in your life. Stick with me, I'll help you get some more sweet in your life." She said with a smile and a wink.

As if on cue, the cafe worker came back with the iced tea in a paper cup, and she set it down by the paper trays.
"Oh, that was fast. Could we have a cup of water too?"
"Sure sugar." She said with a smile, and she wasn't even gone for half a minute before the older witch was back with a cup of water. And a pair of small sandwich cookies wrapped with a piece of wax paper, pink in color with lighter pink cream in between the cookie pieces. Audrey looked up at her with confusion. "On the house. I overheard what you said to your friend." The witch said with a slight mischievous smile, "This cookie here is an experiment of mine, macarons are typically nutty and plain, but these have strawberries in them." The witch explained, she gave Audrey a knowing smile and looked to Thomas, "She says she'll help you get some more sweets in your life but sugar here is made of sweet. I can tell because she's about to buy all of this." The witch said, pointing down at Audrey's hip, where she already had her snail purse out. She looked at Thomas, "I thought you should know."
Audrey was taken aback, she had definitely taken out her purse, but she thought she had done it in a way to avoid attention. Specifically, Thomas's. She told him that drinks and fried orbs were on her this morning, but they'd managed to pick up a big more than just that. She didn't say anything, and she felt her ears and cheeks warm up from embarrassment. She pursed her lips.
"It's 17 snails." The older witch said, turning to look back at Audrey.
Audrey quickly put down the snails, grabbed her tea, the tray with the tarts, and retreated from the older woman. She found a table a fair distance away from the bar and headed towards it. Leaving behind the cup of water, the cookies, and the fried orbs, drizzled with caramel sauce that pooled at the bottom of the tray, with chopped tree seeds sprinkled on top, sticking to the caramel.
The cafe worker laughed, "It's not every day I see a young witch pay for afternoon tea behind her friends back. You've got yourself a good one, sneaky, but a good one. I wish my husband was as sweet as her." She said to Thomas.

Audrey found a nice wooden circular table by the window, offering a good amount of natural light, as well as lamp light from the cafe. She put her things down on the table and sat down on the wooden chairs with a huff, burying her face in her hands for a moment.
"I can't believe she said all that. I can't believe she caught me." She groaned.

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:​

Thomas shrugged. He didn't think anything of it. That was just the way it was- deserts and sweets were a rarity in the house. Mother and father wanted to keep their one and only little witchlet healthy. He forced a small little smile as he caught glimpse of Audrea's little smile and wink. He assumed that it meant she had intentions of treating him and that there would be nothing he could do to stop her from doing so. He still felt incredibly guilty about going out to this cafe without his parents' permissions and worse- having sweets there, again, without his parents permissions.... Surely if they knew of this little unexpected diversion from home after school, they would be less than impressed. He figured he'd have to explain to them why it took him so long to come home after the first day. Maybe he'd lie and say that he was helping one of his professors after school, but Thomas was a bad liar. He hated lying and he rarely did it. It made him feel all weird and queasy inside. Thomas was a good kid, an honest kid. Lying from him was a rarity. It was the way he was raised.

He was a bit surprised by the swiftness in which the cafe worker had come back with Audrea's tea. Soon, the older witch returned with some of the cookies and baked goods they had ordered. Thomas' eyes widened as the cookie lady behind the counter said that it would be on the house for the two of them. It was a kind gesture that made Thomas feel a little less guilty about not having money to pay back with or for having Audrea pay for them both. "Thank you, ma'am," the young blonde witch boy softly responded as soon, the older woman began explaining to them about some of the cookies she had brought them at the counter. His eyebrows raised. It sure was a lot of things. He felt bad knowing that if the older witch hadn't said it was on the house, Audrea would probably be paying for all of this. He hadn't even noticed her pulling out her purse until the older witch pointed down at Audrea's hip where sure enough, she was pulling out her purse to pay for it all. His eyes widened with surprise. Was she really about to pay for all of this? Why? The gesture was incredibly shocking but of course, heart warming a bit.

If it wasn't for the older witch woman pointing out that Audrea was pulling out her purse to pay for all of this, Thomas most likely would have never noticed since she did it in a way as to not attract too much attention to herself. Plus, Thomas was too engrossed with listening to the woman explain about the cookies- all of these cookies Thomas had never seen nor had before. His eyes widened as he looked to Audrea who was mid-pulling her purse out to pay for him. She looked just as surprised as he was, but surprised over the fact that the older witch had "caught her in the act." Thomas' eyes were still as wide as the full moon as he couldn't help but blush a bit, his little cheeks tinting a very slight shade of rosy pink, as the cafe lady behind the counter had told him that he had found a "good one." He just gulped and nodded at the lady as she chuckled. He thought about saying something but didn't know what to say. Instead, he just respectfully and silently nodded, acknowledging her statement as he went off with Audrea and the trays of sweets and baked goods to find a seat in the cafe. On the way there, the boy rubbed his cheeks, feeling them being slightly warm from blushing a tiny bit.

Thomas followed Audrea to a nice little wooden table with a circular shape. It was right by one of the windows offering them a good amount of natural sunlight shining through. They set their things down at the table and the two young witch students sat down at the table together. His eyebrows raised with surprise and soon confusion as she heard Audrea groan about being "caught." He didn't really know why she had reacted that way, but he sure was grateful that she was even going to pay for them like that in the first place. It was an extremely kind gesture. Maybe the old lady behind the counter was right- Thomas had found a good one. But he was still barely processing those words. By now, luckily for Thomas, the natural color had returned to his cheeks. Thomas cleared his throat, "I- it's ok," he said quietly. "Th- thank you for what you did- or, err, were going to do back there," said Thomas, bringing his head and eyes to meet hers. "I appreciate that you were gonna go pay for us both there," he said. He looked down at all of their cookies and sweets, "All this..." he added. He was going to ask why. Why pay for this timid and nervous looking boy who barely had a grasp on any of the magic he was supposed to? Why pay for such a sorry little guy? She had only just befriended him today, earlier this morning. They were far from close friends, so why? Why had she done this for him? Him, out of all people, he wondered inside of his head.