And then a neat, tight ball of flame bursts through its chest and spreads to precisely outline the creature that was about to attack her, flares once, and then ashes start drifting down.

"That was a close one," Daniella says, coming over to inspect her handiwork. "All right there, Luthien?" She reaches out to brush some ash off Luthien's sleeve.

Oh great now she also needs to swallow the - far less messy - dramatic murder spell that'd been on the tip of her tongue. "I had it. You just got ash on my notes," is the first offended thing out of her mouth. 

"Whoops! Sorry. But I mean, better ash than acid, right?" Actually what she can see of the notes looks interesting- wait no this girl's not from New York she's gonna get upset if Daniella peeks.

Yeah she covers her notes with a smooth motion. (Also, Daniella only knows some of those languages - looking at them too long might get the Scholomance to start thinking maybe she's learning... Whatever the fuck that was.)

"I was in the middle of casting a spell that'd cause neither," she grumbles. "I didn't need your 'rescue.'" She makes actual air quotes with her fingers on 'rescue.' And pretends she isn't the slightest bit charmed.

"Welllll. You got it anyway. So we'll call it even, I guess."

"I'm Daniella, by the way, I don't think we've talked before."

"Probably not."

"This seems like a golden opportunity, then."

"I'm not going to be one of your groupies," she says, warningly.

Gasp! "Oh, how you wound me!"

"That wasn't a wound. If I wound you, you'll notice."

"Good thing I know people with healing spells."

"What? You want to find out what it feels like?" she asks, with a predatory smile, a hungry grin - one which might explain why there's a persistent quiet rumor that she's a cannibal.

"I like to feel things."

Hummm...

"Too bad. Still not interested."

Daniella's about to respond when one of her enclavemates from New York tugs on her sleeve, asking for her help reviewing their worksheet.

She tosses a last glance over her shoulder as she's dragged away. (The dragger is determinedly Not Looking at the maybe-cannibal weirdo.)

Saves her needing to get up to sell her 'not interested.' She resolutely ignores the New Yorkers, turning back to her papers - and to humming. 

She may be ignoring the New Yorkers, but most of the rest of the school doesn't. By lunchtime, there are all kinds of rumors floating around the junior class about what exactly went down, from a misaimed assassination attempt to a duel to a marriage proposal.

Anyone mentioning those where she can hear them (especially the marriage proposal, or anything about Luthien needing rescuing like some kind of damsel) is liable to get something else to worry about - Luthien has a special talent for making people piss themselves just by looking at them funny. 

That definitely gets people to stop talking around her. (Doesn't do a whole lot in terms of actually quenching the fires of rumor, of course. Denial's as good as confirmation to some people.)

It'll burn out - rumors always do, especially any that aren't 'Luthien is (or will be) a dark sorceress of DOOM and you should run.' Ones on that theme tend to stick around. 

...Does Daniella making like she's going to come over to Luthien's table at dinner change her mind on that front?

She's going to have to push her way in - Luthien picks fights with mals when she gets bored, sometimes, and will generally turn and attack any in the same room as her rather than fleeing like a normal person, and there's a small gaggle of assorted losers (especially in the lower years) that have decided the creepy overly-friendly maybe-cannibal is less scary than mals, and so therefore often take shelter in her general vicinity.

(Some of the ones in her year are also on neutral trading terms with El, table and bathroom company even if not friends or potential allies; Luthien will absolutely murderize any mal in the general vicinity of El, which makes hiding behind El an even better bet. And El always sits with Luthien.)

-Usually a seat opens up for her. This is new and different.

Daniella hesitates just long enough that once again one of her enclavemates will drag her away to their usual table and away from a mistake she is clearly intent on making.

El whaps Luthien on the back of the head. "Now what have you done?" she says exasperatedly.

"I just threatened her!" she protests, pouting. "It's not my fault if she's going to take it the wrong way."

"Your idea of 'threatening' involves puns on eating people out," one of the people El sometimes trades with, Shinta, says with a distinctly unimpressed tone. (She is, other than El, one of the only people in the school not scared even a little of Luthien. Which says more about her own nerves of steel and general refusal to be impressed than anything else.) "You can't really be that surprised."

Pouting!

"So ambush her outside the workshop, fuck her against the wall, and let's all move on with our lives," El says. "The last thing we need is New York after us for jerking their perfect little pyromancer around. She's their graduation plan, everyone knows it."

"El," Luthien whines. 

"Lu," she mimics back.

...Hm. Then, with a smirk: "But I wouldn't want to make you jealous by having that much fun without you..." 

"What, you need me to hold your hand?"

"Or hold her down..."

"Seeing both of us together might actually scare her off."

"Though that could also make the problem worse... She'd be spoiled for any other girls."

"Burn that bridge when we get to it."

"Fine, fine, we'll do it your way." She kisses El's cheek. (And the barely restrained snickering of the freshmen and sophmores hiding behind them gets a bit less restrained.)

She spares a quick smile for Luthien then a glare for the peanut gallery. "And if any of you little fuckers spread this around, you can all find somewhere else to sit."

She giggles and throws in a saucy, terrifying wink, to a general round of squeaks and hasty agreements. 

Yeah, they're a good team. Best evil sorceresses.

"Speaking of the workshop," she turns to address Shinta. "I need some more materials for my term project. I was thinking about taking a trip down before curfew."

She hums, thoughtfully. "So you're looking for a third for the trip?" (It goes without saying that El and Luthien will be glued together for extracurricular things like this.)

"If you need anything."

"Assorted bits, mostly. Nothing specific." Which means she isn't eager to go down there herself, but will give them a good trade for anything they fill their pockets with. 

"Fair enough. I'll keep an eye out."

"Anyone else want to do a run down?"

No one else at the table looks especially eager to brave the stairs down at night.

But someone coincidentally passing by on the way to the door does!

"You're going to the shop? I'll tag along."

Exasperated face. ...Then glance at El.

And a predatory grin. "Let's go now." Before any New Yorkers can intercept, anyone can get cold feet, or anyone can think too hard about how dangerous this trip is. Better if they think the three girls are down there fucking, actually. 

...Yeah, fair enough, Lu.

"All right." She stands to clear the trays away. "Meet you two by the stairs."

"Sounds good!" Daniella looks nothing but eager.

She makes sure to keep Daniella moving at a reasonable pace out of the cafeteria and towards the stairs. One that might lead to a bit of alone time towards the end. 

A quick pace helps disguise the wiggles.

"You have a pretty full table, huh?"

"People who recognize my greatness."

"Mostly underclassmen."

"People who recognize my greatness, and don't have the common sense to run away yet," she says, teasingly.

"Ah, everything becomes clear."

"Oh?"

"You're doing the cannibal thing on purpose."

"It'd be silly to eat people on accident..."

"No, I mean the- reputation."

"What makes you say that?" she asks, something dangerous in her tone. 

"You'd be eating the kids, if you were eating anyone."

"Maybe they don't have enough meat on their bones, yet."

"Saving up for graduation, then?"

- She should keep the joke going. Keep convincing this spoiled enclaver that Luthien is evil, not quite 'call a tribunal' bad, but definitely someone she doesn't want to be fucking with or even thinking about. But there's one rumor absolutely nothing in Luthien can stand, and so, even as she knows she shouldn't - 

"I'm not a fucking maleficer," she snaps.

Okay, yeah, that's actually anger. Probably too far.

"You don't feel like one," she says quietly.

"...Most people struggle to tell," she says, suspiciously. (Not Luthien, and not El, and not their mom - she thinks maybe it has something to do with being strict mana, Luthien so strict she's stuck hard and fast to veganism even when the school refuses to give her anything suitable to eat, but none of the Mumbai kids would talk to her so she couldn't exactly ask them about it.)

"Casting magic's a lot like burning something, in some ways. And I'm good at fire. Mana and malia... burn different."

"Doesn't feel like burning things to me. But - mana smells good. Malia doesn't." Not strictly true, but.

Shrug. "I don't think most people notice."

"...Being strict mana probably makes it easier," she says, almost testingly.

"Maybe? It's- I dunno, fire needs control more than anything and I've got a power sharer..."

Ugh that makes her feel like she should explain being strict mana. Nope. Not on. Instead, she cuts Daniella off with a grouchy: "'I don't cheat' should be one of the last things you need to explain the why of." Though power sharers are totally cheating. 

Confused Dani. "Okay."

Ugggghhhhhhhh. But, unfortunately for herself, Luthien is fundamentally incapable of letting awkward silences linger, so she instead veers back to, "What do you think I'm doing, if I'm not eating people?"

"Haven't figured it out yet."

Oh no. "Don't even try," Luthien says, forcefully. 

"...Sure."

Perhaps fortunately for both these two idiots, here is where El shows up again.

"Ready?"

"Have been," she says, then sends an evaluating look Daniella's way. "Do you do better first or middle?" she asks. (No way a girl they don't trust is getting to go last; Luthien wouldn't even be offering middle if she wasn't a very solid front-liner.)

"Either. I can do first if you've got the range."

How dare she keep being a minimally decent person. Very rude of her.

Unfortunately, Luthien is in fact best in front. (Or perhaps in an arrangement where she's darting in front of and then behind someone else's shield line; she invented a spell when she was a kid to bodily fling herself at El at high speeds, and it only took a little tweaking for bodily flinging herself at enemies with knives in her hands. It's mana-intensive if she's going more than a few steps, but it drops in cost if she strings together destructive or other movement-related spells with it, and it's perfect for darting in and out of cover.)

(That is not, in fact, an option here.)

"You take point," she says, grouchily, because she's not anywhere near stupid enough to not take that obvious line.

"Sure. Here we go." And down the stairs, a muttered incantation summoning a little barrier of fire to light the way.

...Useful, that. Both deadly and utility.

Especially useful when something nearly inevitably tries to lurk ominously on the ceiling of the stairwell landing. Probably intending to jump El - that's what most of these things try for - so it'll be a test of whether Luthien or Daniella's murderous reflexes are better. 

Daniella's pretty quick on the draw, with a fire whip shaped out of the little barrier snaking up and whapping up at the ceiling.

She swallows a spell again and redirects her effort to making sure the mal is definitely dead. It is. Most mals do not particularly like fire. So: time to keep moving onwards.

The hallway outside the lab is dark, the doors to assorted classrooms open very, very slightly - enough they won't get the warning of a turning knob, not enough they can actually see inside. And it's quiet, other than the constant background hum of gears. 

Daniella grows the fire barrier until it's more of a tower shield than a buckler, lashing tendrils around the edges ready to snap out.

Nothing else accosts them before reaching the workshop, which is dark and very, very quiet. Furniture looms barely visible in the gloom, the chairs especially - something about the darkness and the creeping unease makes it almost feel like there's too many. (Luthien eyes the room with tremendous suspicion, sniffing the air almost like a blood hound.)

Fuck, but she hates the lab after hours. "Spread that light around a little, huh? Can't see for shit in here."

"Uh, right. Sure." She splits up her fire into six orbs and spreads them out across the lab room.

Time to be systemetic about their sweeps before and while opening anything - and with three people, they can have El on lookout, Luthien poking things with her knives, and Daniella covering everyone with fire as needed. 

The very first thing Luthien pokes is those exceptionally suspicious chairs. She can't quite pinpoint which ones are definitely mimics or definitely not, but... She's got a good sense. 

Turns out the mimics don't appreciate her good sense! Chair with teeth would like to eat her arm! Rawr!

Poke with the knife becomes a stab - and the tiniest sliver of mana channels a spell through it, a particularly nasty disruption spell she built off a spell for tearing apart shields after wondering what happens if she stabs someone with it - 

'Their own mana tears them apart' seems to be the answer, at least if they're a mal.

Her other knife pulls back at the same time, dragging her with it, in a spell that makes her look like a film with over three-fourths of its frames stripped out, movements fast and jittering. She's too fast for most mals, like that, if they can even track her disorienting movement at all. 

Still, this one's agonizing death seems to act as a signal to all the other extra chairs that the jig is up and they should attack!

Daniella drops fireballs at the movement, but metal's harder to burn-

El starts chanting her chain lightning spell, point at each target in turn. (Luthien may want to get Daniella to back up a bit.)

She's used to working with El, so one of the knives she keeps strapped to her back will ground lightning she gets incidentally hit with, but still - she takes out the mimic nearest her and Daniella, throws a fourth knife at the mimic nearest El (the mimic tears into a spiral of shredded wood and the knife comes flying back at her; she catches it almost idly), as she moves out of the blast zone, shouting at Daniella: "Take cover! Away from metal!" She'll tackle the girl if Daniella doesn't move fast enough. 

Daniella's moving, but her lightning-related reflexes are maybe not so finely honed as Luthien's.

She body checks her out of the way, then, and hovers protectively over her in case she needs to catch anything. (She can, most of the time, catch and recycle any extra mana spillover from El this way, too - her lightning-rod knife isn't just defensive.)

Daniella falls with a muffled 'oof', looking up at Luthien with wide eyes.

The El's spell goes off with a actinic flash and crack-crack-BOOM, energy jumping from mimic to mimic and fusing them all into so much raw slag.

Luthien catches the spillover, keeping most of the spare mana for herself but feeding some back to El. (This has the side effect of wreathing her in small crackles of lightning, since it involves pulling in any lightning not involved in killing something.)

The lightning's over pretty quick, but Daniella doesn't move, still staring up at Luthien.

She turns around and raises an eyebrow. "You injured?"

"Uh. No. I'm fine."

"That was really cool."

"We've practiced," she says, wryly. 

"I can tell!"

She fights a smile. "Come on. Let's get moving."

"Yeah, you can flirt while you work. Make yourself useful and check the tool chests."

"Uh. Right." She levers herself up and goes to look.

She elbows her sister, and then goes to check a supply cabinet. 

Daniella starts rummaging in a nearby drawer.

"Your knives are cool," she says.

"They're all unique, beautiful works of art, and I love them," she says good-naturedly, because keeping her knives happy with her is more important than keeping her head down. (Luthien is not, in fact, in any way talented at artifice, and she cheated by applying spellbook principles - which she knew really well - to her first ever project. This had... Interesting side effects.) (She is also currently making a point of trying to find a good oil for them and some materials to further beautify their sheaths and display stand, as a thanks for being so helpful, on top of the stuff she's looking for for El and for general trading.)

"I like sharp things."

"I'm not letting you wield my knives, even if you beg."

"Is that a scenario you've already considered? Me begging?" Daniella looks like she's considering it now.

"You look like the type."

"With the right inducement, maybe."

"Oh?"

"Oh, y'know. Sometimes I gotta be shown what's good for me."

"Careful what you wish for..."

"I think it's more fun to live a little dangerously." She attempts to bump her hip against Luthien's.

She grabs Daniella, spinning her around and pinning her against an open stretch of wall. 

Eeep!

(She's not trying very hard or at all to get away, though.)

"What do you think, El? Does she need to learn a lesson?"

El glances over and smirks. "I think we've got a few minutes to spare. Just be sure to clean up any mess you make."

"Roger," she says, pulling out one of her knives - a particularly ornate one, with a jagged edge that isn't very useful in combat. 

Her eyes get very big seeing the blade.

She rests the edge against Daniella's forearm. "What's wrong? I thought you liked living a bit dangerously."

"I'm not screaming yet," she says, biting her lower lip.

"I don't think El would approve of you screaming down here. Who knows what would hear you?"

"You might have to do something about that, then."

"Hmmm... Improvising a good gag will take more than a few minutes..."

"Use one of her socks," El says. "Or her panties."

"An excellent idea," she says, removing the knife from Daniella's arm so she can tug Daniella's bottoms down enough to expose the straps of her panties.

Wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle.

If she doesn't hold still, Luthien's knife might slip a little while cutting her panties off...

Not wiggling is basically physically impossible so she's just going to have to resign herself- Ouch! Hiss of pain!

She helpfully wipes up the blood and then presses on the wound with Daniella's panties, getting the straps nice and soaked before it stops. 

"That's sharp."

"I take good care of my knives."

"All her possessions, really."

"Ooh, I see."

"Spellbooks adore me."

"I think you're very adorable."

She laughs - and pulls Daniella's panties out from between her legs. "I'm not working hard enough to scare you, then."

Oop!

She giggles not nervously at all, nope.

She takes the opening to shove the panties in Daniella's mouth. 

Mmmf!

Now, is Daniella going to be good, or does Luthien have to find a way to tie the gag in place...?

She'll be good. (Grin.)

She better. 

Her first challenge will be Luthien's knife skimming over her arms - not cutting - until the tip rests just below Daniella's collarbone, where it very slowly slips in. 

Mmmmmmffffff.

Luthien licks up the blood that drips out, murmuring, "You're very tasty..."

Cautious wiggle, concentrated in the hands and lower body.

She focuses mostly on carving Daniella up, in areas hidden by her clothes so any scars won't be too obvious - and trying to minimize how much blood she draws, keeping to shallow cuts she can lap at until they begin to scab over. 

She only gets close to spitting out the gag a couple times.

Luthien punishes her each time - and shoves the panties further in her mouth. 

"All right, girls. Wrap it up. We don't want to miss curfew."

"Yes, ma'am," she says, very rudely stepping back from Daniella. "Did you get everything you were looking for?"

Small whine.

"And a drill," she says, brandishing it.

"Nice!"

Smirk.

"Are you going to help your toy get presentable again, Lu?"

"As long as she doesn't move too vigorously, these shouldn't pop back open..." She says of the numerous scabs. Still, she'll help fix Daniella's clothing. 

Much appreciated.

Back to their dorm level, then? 

Before that... "Are you satisfied now?" she asks Daniella.

"Um?"

"With your experiment in dangerous play."

"Do you... not want to do it again?"

...She glances at El.

"That part's fine. You following her around like a lovesick puppy is less fine."

"Oh."

"...We don't want trouble from New York."

"There won't be trouble-"

"You are their ticket through the graduation hall. If they think you're jeopardizing that by throwing yourself at us to be eaten, there will be trouble."

"You're not gonna eat me, though."

She suspects 'they don't know that' won't go anywhere. Nor will 'you don't know that.' "You're their star. They're not going to like it if two weird maleficers in the making start hanging off you - best case scenario, we cause a bit of embarrassment and damage their reputation. But if you're following us on runs like this because you're a desperate little puppy, you're going to at best burn mana they'd rather you save, and at worst get killed by some enterprising mal."

"You don't think- we could become friends?"

"Us and New York?" she scoffs, with somehow more venom than when she'd denied being a maleficer.

"We're not interested in enclaves, and we're not interested in New York."

Softly, "Oh."

Then, with forced cheer. "Just a one time thing, then."

"No interest in secret hook ups, then?" she says, almost cruelly. Only a little uncomfortably, and certainly not woundedly.

"Are those on offer?"

"If you're willing to put in the work."

"I can do work."

"Then those are on offer."

Happy smile!

She laughs despite herself. "Your half of the deal is keeping your enclave buddies off our backs, then." 

"I'll do my best. Um, how will-?"

"We'll contact you."

"Some way or another."

"A suspenseful mystery, then."

"If you won't feel scared like anyone else would."

"Pretty girl makes up for a lot."

"Your enclave might have good reason to be concerned about your tastes..."

"Don't say that when it's working in your favor."

"Maybe I'm the morally conflicted kind of cannibal. You never know."

"Finding out's the fun."

"Let's find out on the way back up."

"Once we've gotten El away from anything - other than me - that might want her pretty skin."

"Want me in front again?"

"The view is very nice."

"Maybe we'd better put you in front then, Lu. If you'll be having trouble concentrating otherwise."

Hum. "I do do my best work up close and personal..."

"Give us another show."

She struts toward the door. "Gladly, darling."

Nice.

(Yeah.)

"Well? Get moving."

"Yes ma'am."

(Nice to know they have someone along who acknowledges El's right to boss them around.)

They get pretty lucky with mals on the way back up, which means the only thing that tries to jump them is small and dumb and gets promptly skewered by one of Luthien's knives. She doesn't even use mana. She literally just stabs it.

Of course, they should split up once they reach their dorms.

Yeah. She'll. See them around.

Be good, now.

Right.

Off she goes.

Grin. And El sidles over to Luthien. "Come back to mine for a bit?" she whispers.

"Until the first warning bells ring," she murmurs back. 

Quick nip to the ear, then El is dragging Lu back to her room. She's got a whole explanation planned out to say how hot her carving up Daniella was.

With illustrative examples, she hopes? 

And practical demonstrations. Hands-on lessons.

An unambiguous indication of which parts were hottest.

Maybe some ideas for future refinement...

Things Luthien could do to Daniella at the next opportunity? 

Certainly.

She'll pay close attention. 

There's a good girl.

Wiggles!!! (El's good girl.)

The best one El's got.

Best one she'll ever have. 

Undoubtedly.

Kisses!!! (Which her own administrations to Daniella will probably feature less of...)

Then El will have to make up the difference for her.

Wonderful. 

Alas, all too soon the warning bell for curfew rings.

Her face scrunches up, like it always does when curfew looms.

(She'd complained to El once that their first night in the school had been her worst ever night, the first time she really truly remembers sleeping alone, at least in the several years before induction. She often seems to prefer a room full of mals, a good fight over a lonely night. She pretty often sleeps in the library, though, El's hand in her hair, her sleep made deeper by their mom's insomnia spells, and then studies at night, but today's been too busy for that.)

El's probably going to have to chide her to leave in a timely manner. 

"Come on, Lu." One last kiss. "I'll see you for breakfast, okay?"

Kiss. "Yeah." And she steps back then turns away, clearly fighting not to look back over her shoulder. 

Never gets any easier. (They've tried sharing. It- doesn't work. El's worse than useless the next day, and while they're not balancing on the edge of failure, they just don't have the budget to make it a regular thing.)

(Luthien isn't hit as hard by sharing - she's good at killing mals with pretty minimal mana use - but it's not exactly conducive to a good night's sleep. She can usually get enough anyways, she needs a lot less than El, but... The five hours of sleep she can get by on can be more or less grabbed in the library, most days, and since she installed the sun lamp she traded a weapon worth a small fortune with Shinta for in her room she's been able to swing three or so, with catch up on the weekends.)

She heads back to her room without a complaint, where she somehow gets about two hours of sleep in broken fits and starts, spending the rest of the time exercising in the dark until she's built some mana for their crystals and exhausted herself enough she can doze half asleep for the last hour before it's time to get up for morning shower and breakfast. (She and El, of course, always watch each other's backs for hygiene.)

(Okay, she doesn't actually spend all of her awake time exercising. She gets frustrated enough at one point after having laid awake for an hour to start shouting at the void in her room, demanding shielding spells, artifice guides, something to keep mals out of a room for a single precious night. She gets: detailed instructions for building a door-warden out of human bone and sinew from some of the cleverer mals; yet another wildly expensive way to summon mortal flame (she's up to double digits on that one); a spell that will convert her door into a mana-thief to kill any mals trying to squeeze past it, and incidentally also any students walking by; the usual hoard of summoned something-or-other she could in theory command to defend her; a spell that needs to be constantly chanted with a circle and will ward malice out only as long as it's being repeated perfectly (great except for how she needs to sleep - and it's got astronomical mana costs and is too complicated to just bribe a couple of freshman into hiding in her room and casting it for her); a spell that will kill everything around her room for a very large distance and create what she's pretty sure is a radioactive fallout zone that will last for decades, though it's of course described in a dead language by an author who doesn't know what radioactive fallout is; and increasingly off track spells as she gets more and more frustrated, until she finally gives it up for broke and goes to sprint around her room until she feels somewhat less homicidal.)

So. Yeah. Not a very productive night, and it's a grouchy Luthien that emerges.

Yeah. El's wards only got pinged once and nothing actually came in, so she's in really good shape, actually. Lu can have the second shower if she wants, El goes quick and then she'll have the rest of the time before they have to leave for the cafeteria.

Honestly, having the best El makes up for a lot of the Scholomance's bullshit. Not all, but a lot. 

It'd be so much worse for both of them if they didn't have each other.

And for everyone else.

The world really lucked out there.

Too bad they'll never learn of their good fortune. 

Mum would probably say it already knows, or something.

The world, sure, but not its inhabitants. 

The ones who really matter do.

So all four of them?

Exactly.

Sounds reasonable to her. 

Shoulder bump.

And off to breakfast.

Breakfast! Unfortunately they'll probably land pretty late in the junior queue...

How it goes some days. They make it work.

Luthien has a really good eye for food, at least, and is exceptionally good at snatching food from partially infested trays without getting caught - she'll sometimes also stab the mal in question if she's feeling either very generous or in a very bad mood, like today. (Usually after grabbing the food, though.)

She still finishes breakfast hungry, but, well. That's most days; Luthien never seems to feel full since induction day, and it's gotten worse as her growth spurts have picked up. She bets she could eat everything in the cafeteria with only a mild stomach ache.

They'll make up for it later with snack bar, though, and right now - they have classes. (Maybe they can spend work period after lunch in the library, curled up... Or share a booth in language lab. Luthien inhales languages about as readily as food, and sometimes picks one up on accident; she can afford to nap through lab, which honestly drives her to distraction with all the dramatic whispers.)

Or both, both would be good. (El hates her whispers. Enough to drive her mad.)

...Luthien is unfortunately too exhausted today to keep watch and do both their work while El sleeps through lab... (But both would be very good.)

If she gets a Sanskrit sheet, El will take the watch.

One Sanskrit sheet, coming right up. (Luckily, the school seems bound and determined to make her outright master Sanskrit, not just get to 'good enough,' and will make her plow through several exercises before it offers her anything in her other languages.)

Naptime for sleepy baby, then. Pat pat.

Snuggle! And purrrrr. An ability that their mom fortunately didn't make them reverse after El tried to turn Lu into a cat at age ten, unlike the ears, tail, weird eyes, and whiskers.

Possibly because El managed to think quickly enough to have Lu hide it from Mum. Still doesn't regret that.

It's a nice counterpoint to the voice from the booth extolling the reign of fire and blood El will spread across the lands and rivers.

It is a pretty lovely poem, honestly; Luthien being strict mana doesn't mean she can't appreciate an epic poem or several about El being a sexy goddess of doom. (Louder purrs at the part about a harem of girls at El's feet.)

(Luthien's spent a lot of time getting into arguments with the booth voices and rewriting their poems to be more complimentary to her sister, and that's now an increasingly common theme in her assignments. Sometimes the voices go along with her, or just get lazy and reuse one of Luthien's poems. And they're a lot more likely to dangle very tempting bait like 'Consider: El would be extremely sexy if she went evil' when Luthien is sharing El's booth.)

El would prefer more, y'know, actually useful conversational practice but if it makes Luthien happy, then. (...And this vocabulary is more tailored to the spells she actually gets.)

And helpful for dirty talk, which is definitely useful conversational practice. 

Not so much with people other than her.

Maybe she can murmur sweet nothings of doom in Daniella's ear now. 

If she's on Sanskrit. Wouldn't want to spellblock her.

They'll need to figure out what languages she has, then. 

Sounds like a plan.

A good one. (And back to cuddle snoozing.)

Scritch scritch.

A relaxing way to pass the lesson time.

And gets her rested up enough she can actually pay some attention in alchemy... And then another nap in work period after lunch can carry her through the rest of the day. 

Nice. Hopefully tonight goes better for her. And they can try to be earlier for dinner to snag a little extra food.

Which works out. 

Library, French stack #16, after dinner pls
-DL

...Worth going? 

Could be? Not a whole lot of detail but at least she's trying to be subtle now. Maybe just see what she wants.

To the library after dinner, then. 

Where Daniella is pacing somewhat nervously in the indicated area.

She checks the perimeter before approaching. "What's up?"

"Luisa Estevez. She disappeared a few weeks back. Someone- told me you were the reason."

"Do you believe them?"

"No, but-"

"What did happen? People don't- aren't dying in our class like they usually do."

"Pretty sure her dying is separate from - everyone else not dying. There isn't some kind of trade."

"Then why? She's gone and people think you did it, don't you care?"

"Convincing people I'm not a monster doesn't... Work, once they think I am."

"So you'll just let it be?"

"I don't need them to like me."

"I think it'd still be... better, if they didn't think you killed her."

She shakes her head. "It's always been like this - we can't even trade with other juniors or seniors, no one except Shinta. They decided we killed her because they hate and fear us, and they're looking for an excuse, and they'll never stop. Someone needs to be the monster, when a monstrous thing has happened."

"And they'll never believe in the real monsters."

"...Sorry for wasting your time, then."

...Ugh. "But that - wasn't your only question, was it?"

"Well. I wanted to figure what did happen to Luisa..."

"...A maleficer did get her." 

"Who?"

"What would you do with that information?"

"Go after them."

"Would you kill them right back?"

"That would be balance."

"And if they're someone nice, and well liked, who anyone will vouch for, and they deny everything?"

"But you know it was them for sure?"

"Yes; as sure as I can, without having sat there and watched it happen myself."

"Then- I believe you."

Blink blink. "You're a fool," she says, exasperated, then sends a questioning look to El, a silent - 'I want to do this, any objections?'

Ugh. Why does her sister have such terrible taste in girls.

El rolls her eyes. "Don't go alone, if you're really going through with it."

Small smile. "Maleficers - real ones - are dangerous," she agrees. "Get some of your hangers-on to be your backup."

"I can do that."

"Good."

"The maleficer who killed Luisa is Jacky Westing. She's in our year, blonde, American indie - and she's a vicious psychopath. Don't tell her we sent you."

"I won't."

"Thank you."

"...You're welcome."

"...Can I have a kiss for luck?"

She giggles, and gives Daniella a very bracing kiss. 

Mmm! She feels a lot luckier now.

Good. On with her, then. (She adds in a slap to Daniella's butt for good measure.)

Eep! (Hehehe.)

Off she goes.

And off Luthien and El go to El's room? 

Seems fine. No point in establishing an alibi.

Daniella seems plenty willing to take the heat. 

That's what she's good at, after all.

A pretty major talent. 

She does work with it, El will give her that.

Maybe next time Lu can try out giving Daniella a little heat of her own...

Oh, that'd be fun...

She has a few ideas...

They can talk through them after getting a bit ahead on work, how about.

Awww... Though possibly what Luthien gets for spending work period on cuddling.

El's not about to let her sister fail a class now.

How considerate.

El is nothing but, doesn't Lu know that by now?

Doesn't mean it isn't worth complimenting her on. 

Lu's so thoughtful that way. El loves that about her.

Preen!

(Cute!)

They're going to have to get caught up before El can do anything about that cuteness, though...

Damnation, caught in a snare of her own devising.

Lu's sure she'll be strong. 

She'll be brave and endure.

For long enough, at least.

Long enough to see the reward at the end.

And seize it, hopefully. 

Sadly, before that prize can come fully in sight... Someone knocks sharply on their door, a rapid tattattat that manages to sound almost like Daniella through the bare medium of a few knocks. 

What's that idiot doing knocking on her door...? Better answer in case she's gotten herself in trouble, El guesses.

- But it isn't Daniella on the other side. Instead, it's an unpleasantly familiar blonde girl, her normally carefully tended curls a wild mess, a nasty burn splashing over her left shoulder and up her neck, her carefully nice blouse in burnt tatters that leave her bra the barest nod to decency, and it looks like the left strap melted into that charred mess - blood splattered over her right, a chaotic criss-cross like she stabbed someone multiple times -

It's a girl with a sharp grin and a sharper knife, which immediately dives for El's stomach as soon as the door is even a little open.

Aaaah shitshitshit!

She gasps in pain and stumbles backwards from the door.

Luthien lets out a howl of fury and dives for the door, her own knives coming eagerly into her hands. 

And Jacky steps in with a grin, the door slamming shut behind her. She draws another knife, leaving the one she'd stabbed El with in place - it feels odd, like El's blood is clotting much too fast around it. Good for not bleeding out (unless she removes it), probably adds up to some kind of horrendous poison if left in. 

She meets Luthien almost casually, parrying her with the grace and energy of a maleficer glut on malia. Her eyes are pure white, her skin crackles like old paper as she moves, and she's as much of a close-quarters specialist as Luthien.

"Is that all you're willing to do, Luthien?" she croons.

"Fuck off and die!"