{lisa}
lisa found the gang waiting for her at their usual spot—the stone benches near the central fountain. Armia was sitting primly, her back straight as always, while Isabella lounged with her head in Raven's lap, much to the stoic girl's visible discomfort.
"There she is!" Isabella called, sitting up so fast she nearly headbutted Raven in the chin. "Our library explorer returns! Find any ancient treasures? Secret tos? Dirty magazines from a hundred years ago?"
"No dirty magazines," lisa replied, dropping onto the bench beside Armia with a dramatic sigh. "Just a weird tal disc thing that Javir made us put back where we found it."
"You went to Javir?" Armia asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, Ms. Goody-Two-Shoes insisted," lisa jerked her thumb over her shoulder, indicating the absent Jaylin. "And then Javir gave us this whole lecture about 'unknown magical artifacts' and 'responsible magical research' and blah blah blah."
Isabella snorted.
"Sounds thrilling. Where's your shadow now?"
"Jaylin? Probably making a color-coded study schedule for our project," lisa rolled her eyes. "I bailed as soon as we put the artifact back."
"How very responsible of you," Armia said dryly.
"Hey, I needed a ntal health break from all the glaring and sighing. And I know I promised we'd hang out after classes," lisa said, nudging Isabella with her foot. "So, what's the plan? Wanna co back ho?"
"Hell yeah," Isabella answered.
"I need so of Margaret's cooking," Armia said with a sigh. "What they feed the army is a war cri in itself."
"What are we waiting for, then?" lisa grinned, standing back up. "Let's go!"
They made their way off campus, Isabella skipping ahead while animatedly describing all the desserts she planned to sample. lisa and Armia walked side by side, with Raven trailing slightly behind, her ever-watchful eyes scanning their surroundings out of habit.
"So what was this artifact?" Armia asked quietly. "The one in the library, I an."
"Just so old disc with weird markings on it," lisa replied with a shrug. "Javir seed to think it might have sothing to do with mory or thought transfer, but we didn't get to test it."
"Probably for the best," Armia said. "mory magic can be unpredictable."
"Maybe, but it would have been interesting to—"
"lisa!" Isabella called from up ahead, cutting off whatever lisa had been about to say. "Co look at this!"
Isabella was pointing excitedly at a shop window display. Before lisa could see what had caught her attention, Isabella bounded back to her, grabbing her arm and practically dragging her forward.
Isabella pressed her body against lisa's, practically vibrating with excitent. Their skin touched where Isabella's hands gripped lisa's arm, and suddenly—
The world tilted.
lisa was no longer on the street.
She was in Isabella's bedroom, watching from Isabella's perspective as she examined a sleek, crystalline wand. The wand glowed softly in her hand—Isabella's hand—as she turned it this way and that, admiring its craftsmanship.
Then the scene shifted.
Now Isabella was lying on her bed, completely naked, her pink tail twitching with anticipation. The wand was in her hand, but it wasn't being used for magic—at least, not the kind they taught at the academy.
"Let's see if this works better than the last one," Isabella's voice whispered, and lisa felt her lips move with the words.
The wand moved lower, tracing patterns across Isabella's bare stomach, then lower still. Isabella arched her back as the smooth crystal pressed against—
And then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the vision ended. lisa was back on the street, Isabella still clutching her arm, staring up at her with a puzzled expression.
"l? You okay? You went all weird for a second there."
lisa blinked rapidly, her cheeks burning.
[What... What just happened?]
---
{Javir}
Javir tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear as she approached the manor.
She'd left the academy earlier than usual, partly because she'd finished grading all her papers, but mostly because she couldn't stop thinking about that strange disc lisa and Jaylin had brought to her.
She shook her head, pushing the thought aside as she reached the front door.
[Eh, it's probably nothing.]
Right now, she needed a cup of tea and perhaps one of Margaret's infamous honey cakes.
As she entered the house, she heard voices from the living room. Hazel's high-pitched giggles, underscored by listair's deep rumble.
"Absolutely incredible, Hazel!" Margaret was saying as Javir entered the room. "When did you learn to do that?"
Hazel, standing in the center of the room, was creating tiny floating lights with her fingers, making them dance in patterns around her head. For a nine-year-old, it was an impressive display of magical control.
"Mommy's been teaching !" Hazel replied proudly. "I can make them change colors too, watch!"
The lights shifted from white to a soft blue, then pink, then green. lisa and listair applauded, both looking equally proud.
[Margaret's been making good use of Jaylin's lessons, I see.]
"I'm ho," Javir announced, setting her bag down by the door.
"Javir!" Hazel's eyes lit up, quite literally—the lights around her head brightened. "Look what I can do!"
"Very impressive," Javir said with a genuine smile. "You're quite the talented young mage."
She moved to join listair on the couch.
"Good evening," the gentleman said.
"Likewise," Javir replied, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. As their skin made contact, the world spun around her.
Suddenly she was in the bedroom, but she was seeing it from listair's perspective. Margaret was pressed against him, her silver hair spilling over her shoulders as she kissed him deeply. Her hands were working at the buttons of his shirt, while his—which felt like Javir's own at that mont—tangled in Margaret's hair.
"The kids are all out," Margaret murmured against his lips. "We have the house to ourselves for once."
Then, just as quickly as it had started, the vision vanished.
Javir found herself back in the living room, her hand still resting lightly on listair's cheek. He was looking at her with mild confusion.
"You all right?" he asked. "You went a bit rigid there for a second."
"Fine," Javir replied automatically, her academic mind already analyzing what had just happened. "Just rembered sothing I forgot to tell a student."
She glanced over at lisa, who was watching her with an expression of dawning horror that probably matched her own. Their eyes locked, and in that mont, Javir knew they were thinking the sa thing.
The disc. It hadn't been as harmless as it appeared.
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