Soon, the sun began to set.
lisa was walking around the academy.
All that studying had done nothing to lessen her energy, so she was walking.
She had paced almost all throughout the academy grounds, drawing curious glances and the occasional lustful stare. But, now, it was ti to head back to the dorms.
[Okay, first things first,] she thought, her tail swishing behind her as she walked. [I need to talk to Raven about Life Magic. Then, tomorrow maybe, I'll hit up the nearest church for so Light Magic intel.]
As she approached the dormitory, however, a flutter of nervousness settled in her stomach.
[Ohhhh god, what if things are weird now? I an, we did kind of... jump each other earlier.]
lisa paused at the door to their shared room, taking a deep breath to steady herself.
[Damn pheromones! Co on, lisa. You're a grown woman. You can handle a little post-sex awkwardness.]
She pushed the door open, stepping inside with what she hoped was an air of casual confidence.
The sight that greeted her made her heart skip a beat.
Raven lay sprawled on her bed, fully clothed, staring up at the ceiling with an unreadable expression.
Her usually pale skin was flushed, her dark hair a tangled ss against the pillow.
It seed like she'd been doing her own endless running around.
[Oh fuck, she looks... Well, she looks like soone who's been thoroughly fucked. By . Oh god. We- AH!]
lisa cleared her throat, forcing herself to speak.
"Hey, Raven. How, uh... how are you feeling?"
Raven's eyes flicked to lisa, then quickly back to the ceiling.
"I'm fine," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
An awkward silence stretched between them, thick enough to cut with a knife.
[Shit, shit, shit. Say sothing, you idiot!]
"Listen, Raven, about earlier..." lisa began, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.
Raven looked over at lisa.
"It was nice."
"I-"
lisa stopped. Raven's voice had been so quiet that the beating of lisa's heart had almost completely drowned those three words out.
lisa blinked.
"Oh. Okay, good. But, I an, if you want to ta..."
However, Raven shook her head, a faint blush coloring her cheeks.
"I don't."
"..."
[Well... Alright then.]
She took a deep breath, deciding to change tactics.
"Actually, Raven, there was sothing I wanted to ask you about. It's, uh, not related to..." She gestured back and forth between them. "It's related to magic."
Raven's eyebrow quirked slightly, a hint of curiosity breaking through her stoic facade.
"What kind of magic?"
lisa moved closer, perching on the edge of her own bed.
"Life Magic, actually. I know you've had so... experience with it, and," she kept going as Raven visibly tensed up, "I was hoping you could tell more about the fundantals."
Raven's eyes widened slightly, a flicker of surprise crossing her face.
"Why the sudden interest?"
lisa chewed her lip.
"Weeell, I want to master every school of magic. Life Magic is one of those few schools the academy doesn't seem to have a grasp on. I was wondering if you could tell a bit about it."
Raven studied her for a mont, her gaze piercing.
Then (thankfully), she looked away.
"I... I guess I could show you the fundantals. But, the Life Magic I know..." She trailed off quietly. "You know what it is. Is that a type of magic you'd like to learn?"
To Raven's clear surprise, lisa nodded.
"I would."
"What?"
"I-I an," lisa scratched the back of her neck, "I don't really see why Blood Magic is inherently bad or anything. To ," she took a few steps closer, "it's just a tool like any other. I an, when you think about it logically, what's the difference between setting soone on fire and using Blood Magic to kill them? The separation seems arbitrary to ."
Raven's eyes widened at lisa's words, a mix of surprise and sothing else - perhaps intrigue - flickering across her face.
She fell silent, her gaze distant as she seed to ponder lisa's perspective.
lisa waited, her tail swishing nervously behind her.
[Maybe I shouldn't have been so blunt. What if she thinks I'm so kind of monster now?]
After what felt like an eternity, Raven sat up, her grey eyes locking onto lisa's with an intensity that made the nim girl's breath catch in her throat.
"There is a difference," Raven said, her voice low and serious. "Blood Magic... it's not like other schools. You can't just generate it from within yourself or draw it from the environnt."
lisa leaned in, curiosity overtaking her nervousness.
"What do you an?"
Raven's hands clenched in her lap.
"Blood Magic requires sacrifice. Always. That's why it's considered evil by most. Its casting requires you to first, at so point, exchange a life for it."
[Oh,] lisa thought, a chill running down her spine. [That's... intense.]
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"What kind of sacrifice?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
"It can be small things, at first," Raven explained, her tone clinical but with an undercurrent of... sothing. Regret? Sha? "Rats, insects, small animals. But the more powerful the spell, the greater the sacrifice needed.
And nothing..." She swallowed hard. "Nothing amplifies Blood Magic like humanoid sacrifice."
lisa's mind raced, processing this information.
[Right, right, that's why it's taboo. It's not just about the thod, it's about the cost.]
Raven studied lisa's face, searching for a reaction.
"Do you still want to learn, knowing this? Knowing what it truly ans to wield Blood Magic?"
lisa took a deep breath, considering her answer carefully. The logical part of her brain warred with her emotions, weighing the potential benefits against the moral implications.
[It's dangerous knowledge,] she thought. [But knowledge itself isn't evil. And if I understand it, maybe I can find ways to counter it, or... or use it in ergencies only.]
Finally, she t Raven's gaze, her crimson eyes filled with determination.
"Yes," lisa said firmly. "I... Like I said, I want to master every school. Even if I don't plan on using it myself, I still want to know about Blood Magic, if anything so I can learn its weaknesses."
Raven looked back at her for a while.
Then, she nodded.
"Alright then. Co," she patted the spot next to her. "Let's begin."
---
{Javir}
Javir leaned back in her chair, stretching her arms above her head with a satisfied groan.
The stack of paperwork on her desk had finally dwindled to a manageable size, and she could feel the tension of the day slowly seeping from her muscles.
[Finally,] she thought, a small smile tugging at her lips. [Maybe now I can actually relax for a bit.]
As she reached for her cup of tea, now lukewarm from neglect, her mind began to wander.
Images of Margaret floated through her thoughts - the nim woman's soft purple skin, her crimson eyes sparkling with mischief, the way her lips curved into that irresistible smile...
Her giant, divine rack.
Javir felt a familiar warmth spreading through her body, her fingers tightening slightly around the teacup. She allowed herself to indulge in the fantasy for a mont, rembering the taste of Margaret's lips, the feel of her curves pressed against her own.
[Gods, it's been too long since we've had a proper mont alone,] Javir mused, her free hand absently tracing patterns on her thigh.
It hadn't been that long at all, of course, but even a single day without getting to taste her felt like an eternity.
Suddenly, unbidden, another image flashed through her mind.
listair, fresh from work, his muscular fra glistening with sweat, that easy grin on his face as he ran a hand through his tousled hair...
Javir blinked, startled by the direction her thoughts had taken.
[What the hell?] she thought with a smirk, shaking her head as if to clear it. [Since when do I think about listair like that?]
It wasn't that listair wasn't attractive - objectively speaking, he was quite handso. But Javir couldn't rember the last ti she'd been interested in a man in that way.
[Must be all the stress getting to ,] Javir rationalized with a chuckle.
Before she could dwell on it further, a sharp knock at her office door jolted her back to reality.
"Co in," she called, grateful for the distraction.
A young courier entered, looking slightly out of breath.
"A ssage for you, Professor Folden," he said, holding out a sealed envelope.
Javir's eyebrows rose as she took the letter. One glance at the ornate seal was enough to make her heart skip a beat.
[The royal palace? What could they want at this hour?]
"Thank you," she said to the courier, who bowed slightly before retreating from the room.
Once alone, Javir turned the envelope over in her hands, a mix of curiosity and apprehension building in her chest.
With a sigh, she broke the seal and unfolded the letter, her eyes quickly scanning its contents.
As she read, her expression shifted from concern to surprise, and finally to a kind of wry amusent.
"Oh," she murmured, a hint of a smirk playing at the corners of her mouth. "It's already ti for that?"
Javir leaned back in her chair, the letter still clutched in her hand, her mind already racing with the implications of its contents.
[Well,] she thought, her earlier confusion all but forgotten, [things are certainly about to get interesting for a few days. Oh well.]
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