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Post by Obscuris on Apr 26, 2016 23:02:02 GMT
It was the first snowfall of the season. It had arrived unexpectedly and unannounced, burying the last remains of the summer beneath a good couple of meters of white snow. The immaculate and pure mantle covered the woods, hiding any signs of the warm and spring-like days of just a few days before. A lonely deer, showing his magnificent and intricate antlers, dug around the snow trying to get to the still fresh grass. It was the perfect atmosphere. Raw nature, something that seemed pulled of the ancient paper of a fairy tale right into the real world. The rest of the wood was in perfect silence, as if it knew how special that fleeting moment was. Until Arlana and Sun walked straight into it, that’s it. The loud sounds of a heated discussion scared the poor deer away, who sprinted away leaving a deep trail through the snow.
“Are you sure it’s around here, Sun?” Arlana asked, for the ninth time that afternoon. The girl was dressed with just barely enough to endure the cold weather and if she had decided to walk into those woods a few weeks later, she would be freezing to death. But the sun shone bright on the sky and the temperature was just perfect for her worn out jeans, thick lumberjack shirt and gloves. “For the eleventh time in the last hour, dumbass, yes!” Sun answered bitterly as he circled around Arlana’s head, trying to find something around the woods “I’ve told you a thousand times that I can feel where the other cards are, just I can’t tell you exactly where or which they are”.
“Well, aren’t you useful” said Arlana, ducking just in time to dodge Sun’s attempt to hit her on the head with an annoyed screech. “Are you all right?” Arlana asked her companion “You’re acting like a dick. More than the usual. Wait… is all of this about me eating the last donut the other day, right?”
“I am an eternal and powerful being. I’ve seen the ages pass, the rise and fall of emperors and kings, the life span of a civilization is just the length of a breathe for me. I’m part of one of the most powerful magic on the face of this planet and many others. I do not care about such simple things as ‘donuts’” During Sun’s pretentious speech, Arlana’s eyebrow raised higher and higher with a sarcastic smirk. “So guess that the ‘eternal and powerful being’” she said, trying her best to hold her laughter as she imitated Sun “won’t mind if I eat that piece of strawberry cake he has been saving, right?” Sun stopped mid speech to stare angrily at Arlana and didn’t notice the tree coming in front of him until it was too late. Arlana exploded into a sudden burst of crystalline laughter when her bad mouthed friend crashed head first into the thick bark of a pine tree and fell to the snow like a ragdoll. When Sun recovered, Arlana was rolling on the ground trying her best to stop laughing. With his small cheeks turning of a bright red, Sun turned his head away in an indignant gesture and tried his best to throw back the ball at Arlana “Y-yeah! Sure, eat it. I guess you needed to fill that fat a… Hey! Let me go!”
“Oh! So warm, so nice!” sang Arlana with maliciously high pitched voice as she squeezed Sun between her gloves “Who would thought such an asshole bird would be so warm?”. “Let me go you flat chested fat fuck!” With high spirits, they kept insulting each other as they walked through the snowy woods.
Their fun stopped abruptly when, in the middle of a violent exchange of curses, Arlana hit her head into what seemed to be an invisible brick wall. “Ow!” she grunted as she rubbed a red spot on her forehead “What the hell was that?” Carefully, Arlana extended her hand and touched the strange phenomenon. “Lana, it’s here” Sun voice had lost all of its mocking tone “You better be ready” The Tarot Apprentice gulped and, touching the barrier with her hand, started walking next to it.
There, deep into Canada’s woods, Arlana wondered what the hell she was going to find at the end of her walk.
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Post by HungryHunter on Apr 27, 2016 3:24:57 GMT
A bushy head peeked around a tree as Arlana passed. Wide eyes followed her progress, following her silently through the snow, leaving oversized barefooted footprints behind her. The massive woman was right behind Arlana when she met the wall, staring down at her. Her wild red hair tangled over her entire body, reaching her thighs. Much more hair was exposed by her sparse and filthy clothing, merely consisting of an unbottoned shirt, the underlying bra, and panties decorated with polka dots. Her thick body hair was matted and wet like her clothing. Her overall look was so fuzzy and filthy it might take Arlana a moment to even notice she was human. "Talking bird." She said, wide eyes staring right down at Arlana.
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Post by Obscuris on Apr 27, 2016 4:11:42 GMT
"Any guess which card is around here?" asked Arlana. After they reached the barrier, the girl had been carrying Sun between her hands like a small basket to warm them up. "No idea, but if I had to guess I..." the magical bird's voice suddenly cracked and Arlana caught a glimpse of his surprise expression, beak hanging and eyes wide open, right before an enormous shadow blocked the light behind them. Arlana could hear a few branches cracking and the sound of something big standing behind them. With a slow mechanical movement, similar to the way the clock hands marking the seconds, the red haired girl turned her head backwards and saw the nightmarish and furry creature behind her.
“BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR” Yelling in terror, Arlana jumped forward. In an exceptional moment of clarity, she noticed something. “Wait… were those… panties?”. Too bad she had realize a bit too late to stop her jump straight against the invisible wall. A loud gong noise crossed the woods when Arlana violently bashed her head against the barrier and fell on her back, completely knocked out.
If Sun didn’t need his wings to fly, he would have certainly face palmed himself. “Crap, what a moron” he thought bitterly, staring at the spinning eyes of Arlana. After the initial scare, he had noticed that it was actually a human. A very hairy and strange human, but a human at last. What really worried him was what that… thing had said. “Ehm… uhm… tweet?”
He could be a powerful and eternal being, but he sucked at acting.
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Post by HungryHunter on Apr 27, 2016 17:42:13 GMT
Becky rushed forward when Arlana struck the barrier, catching her in her arms. She gently laid Arlana down. Her quick thinking likely spared Arlana further injury, with the unfortunate side effect of smearing her with mud and dirt and Becky's rancid body odor. She looked at Sun flying overhead and whistled a perfect imitation of some local songbird. "Like that."
She remained in a crouched position to check on Arlana. She started popping the buttons on Arlana's shirt to expose her chest, then lowered her hand. She ground her knuckles on Arlana's exposed sternum, a thoroughly unpleasant sensation that would make anybody not 100% out of it stir. Of course, it also got more muck on Arlana, but Becky didn't even seem to notice that. "Wake up."
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Post by Obscuris on Apr 28, 2016 22:54:46 GMT
“Hey! Let her go!” Sun exclaimed, misunderstanding the beast-like woman’s intentions, as he flew towards her and landed on her head. His golden flames licked Becky’s hair, letting out a powerful smell of burned hair, and Sun tried to yank the woman’s head backwards by biting some of that greasy mess of locks. Bad idea, considering Becky’s lack of hygiene.
Of course, Sun efforts were fruitless against the massive and furry body of his opponent. Becky wouldn’t be bothered by her tiny attacker and continued opening her shirt. A few seconds after those giant knuckles, big like nuts, pressed Arlana’s chest firmly, her eyes popped open. The Tarot Apprentice first impulse was too scream, but she hesitated when she saw the intelligence behind Becky’s eyes. Instead of freaking out, the freed herself of Becky’s fist and rolled around to get some space between them. She fought with the snow for a bit until she was able to stand up, closing her shirt with her hands to prevent even a glimpse of her bra from escaping. Sun flew away from Becky at the same time as Arlana and tried to say something but the woman’s sticky hair was stuck on his beak and he was coughing to get it out.
Arlana went for the deck on her pocket, but stopped midway. What was that? A bear? Bigfoot? Or were all Canadians who lived in the woods like that?. “W-what do you want?” Arlana said, trying to sound confident. She actually looked a lot like a scared deer, about to get the hell out of there.
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Post by HungryHunter on Apr 30, 2016 18:59:50 GMT
Becky's hair went from red to pitch black and rippled to pat itself out. "Tiny phoenix jerk." She gave Sun a glare. The shadows leaked back out and her hair was normal once more. "Looking for Gateway?" She looked back at Arlana. She walked towards the invisble wall and extended her hand. It seemed to vanish beyond the wall, suggesting an illusion at work. She extended her hand towards Arlana, a clear offer to take it.
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Post by Obscuris on May 4, 2016 0:52:41 GMT
“Gatewhat-now?” Arlana muttered, staring suspiciously at the enormous woman in front of her. Despite that, her jaw dropped when Becky’s hand sank in the barrier as if nothing was there. Sun started pecking Arlana’s ear intensely, but the girl didn’t need the birds annoying signals to notice the sheer amount of energy that came from the “hole” Becky’s arm left in the barrier. Even a girl as inexperienced as Arlana when it came to magic could sense the strength of the magical power that hid behind it. “Ohhh, Gateway, yeah” Arlana tried to sound as convincing as she could, scratching the back of her head and giggling nervously between words “Yeaaah, we’re totally headed that way!”. Like master, like annoying bird servant.
Arlana walked cautiously towards her imposing guide and hesitated just a bit before grabbing her hand. She sighed after feeling the stickiness of Becky’s filth beneath her gloves. Damn it, those were her only pair. “So… what now?”
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Post by HungryHunter on May 4, 2016 15:07:41 GMT
Becky didn't answer the question, just stepping forward. Arlana was pulled behind, through the barrier. The forest vanished, replaced by a town, brightly lit and pleasant looking. Shops surrounded the square they stood in, a fountain marking the center, depicting marble lovers in embrace. It was blatantly hidden world in ways Arlana had likely never seen before. A child caused the fountain to spray his brother by waving his hand. A twisted pair of old women flew overhead, winged instead of armed. A teenager took advantage of the room in the square to teach a 12 foot long dragon to roll over. In the distance, a huge, castle like structure rose above all else. "Gateway." Becky pointed at the far off building. "Bye." Becky slipped back through the barrier, leaving Arlana alone in an unfamiliar place.
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Post by Vapovile on May 5, 2016 4:47:19 GMT
Sitting at a nearby coffee shop, a strange half-kitsune girl with long fox ears and one visible tail, wearing a large blue coat with puffy insulation in it and brown pants, watched as a curiously underdressed girl slipped through the town barrier, pointed at the Gateway campus, and then went right back through. Just who was this new girl that Becky drug in? She seemed to have no idea where she was currently...perfect. Turning to the person with her, Lindsey motions toward Arlana. "Looks like we have a clueless person over there. Follow my lead." She says to the first year. Grinning, Lindsey finishes her coffee and leaps onto a nearby shops's roof, carefully keeping out of Arlana's sight. Once she was nearby, the experienced free-runner cast an illusion on herself to become invisible, and jumped on top of a lamp post directly next to Arlana. Disspelling the illusion, Lindsey latched onto the top of the lamp post with her tail and swung down to meet Arlana, hanging upside down and looking at the tarot mage.
"Hey, you seem lost. Are you one of Becky's weird friends?" The fox girl motioned toward the barrier behind them, where Becky just left. Truthfully, Lindsey didn't think Becky had many friends...besides that sadistic dueling club captain.
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Post by HungryHunter on May 6, 2016 19:09:46 GMT
The first year in the oversized orange jacket nodded and followed until Lindsey vanished. Her hand automatically grasped for the sword she wasn't carrying. She shook her head and kept going. Her instincts still hadn't dulled. She at least had a good idea of where Lindsey was going, and walked in front of the new girl. She looked Arlana over, eyes lingering over her body much more than was appropriate, searching her for threats. Her eyes widened just the tiniest bit when she saw Sun over Arlana's head.
She whistled and raised her hands. She fired light beams from her fingers, creating a little portal where they intersected. What resembled a small songbird flew free, fluttering up to meet Sun. While at a glance it appeared to be a bird, up close it wasn't quite right. Its golden, glowing feathers appeared to actually be small fleshy extensions, bright with bioluminescent bacteria. Its soft beak, if looked closely at, contained tiny teeth and a forked tongue in pitch black. It flicked this tongue out at Sun and chirped at him, landing softly on Arlana's head and holding on with black feet.
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Post by Obscuris on May 10, 2016 2:15:21 GMT
The transition was strange. In the blink of an eye, the old pine trees were replaced small cozy houses, the ominous silence was broken by the laughter of children and energetic chatter of men and woman. With her eyes opened wide, Arlana took an involuntary step back when her boots clacked against the swarm stone tiles. Standing there with jaw dropping and her eyes wide open, Arlana didn’t notice her guide’s sudden departure. But Sun did. “Hey! You can’t just leave us here!” he said shouted flying behind Becky. The hairy woman disappeared before Sun could get to her and the bird didn’t have other choice than turning around and face the Arlana’s inevitable freak out.
But the Tarot Apprentice didn’t give him that pleasure. Her knees trembled and her eyes sparkled, yes. But for a whole different reason. “T-this…” she muttered with a quivering voice. “T-this… is” Sun flew towards her cautiously “AWESOMEEEEEE!”. Arlana excited squeal flew across town and the surprise almost sent the poor Sun straight into the ground. He encountered an even worse faith when Arlana caught him. “OHMYGODthisissocoolican’tbeliveaplacelikethisexistsandwearehereandholycrapthereisafriggindragonthereand…” the girl seemed about to pass out as she shook Sun between her hands, whose small fiery head flying from side to side like dizzy little flag. “Knock it oooooooffff!” yelled Sun with his eyes spinning “How the hell are you so happy about all this!”
What Sun didn’t know was that when Arlana was young, all alone in her father’s mansion with just the occasional company of some servants, her only way to pass time was reading. To put it simply, she had become a fantasy nerd. She used to sit around their library with piles and piles of fantasy novels and stories around her, which was one of the reasons why some of the cards she summoned looked so much like the weapons of medieval heroes. And as it’s natural, she was fascinated by what was around her. With Sun in the verge of unconsciousness in her hands, Arlana tried to take all of that incredible place at the same time with an almost childish excitement. And then she found herself face to face with a Fox woman, who stared at her with devilish smile on her sharp and attractive features.
Luckily for Sun, he wasn’t completely knocked out because otherwise he would have landed a few kilometers away from there when Arlana let out a high pitched shriek and threw him like a rock across the square. The girl put a hand over her chest as she tried to recover from the scare, breathing heavily as the strange creature greeted her. “W-what, who is B…. Oh! Right... No, I’m not her friend. I’m just looking for… well I don’t really know, I think its…” She was interrupted when she felt a pair of claws holding gently against her red mane and looked up, to see the nightmarish creature that landed on her head.
Sun was about to recover when Arlana scream threw him into the ground once. “IIIIIHHHH, GET IT OF, GET IT OF!” She screamed, running in circles. Dragons were cool. Creepy alien bird, not so much.
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Post by Vapovile on May 12, 2016 9:50:14 GMT
Lindsey watched as Sun was tossed across the square, skillfully releasing her tail, pressing her feet against the post, and rocketing down to catch Sun before he hit the ground. The kitsune girl didn't know if this creature was a summon or not, but considering the abuse it had just been given, it would have de-spawned by now. Gently holding Sun in her right hand, Lindsey catches back up with Marigold and Arlana just in time to see the new girl running around screaming at Marigold's tiny bird summon. Man...this girl has really never seen a creature like that before, but was still able to get through the barrier? Was she really this new to the Hidden World?
Looking at Marigold, Lindsey motions toward the running and screaming Arlana. "As entertaining as this is...you might want to get your summon off of her before she hurts it." Still holding Sun in her palm, Lindsey calls out to Arlana. "Relax! It's just a little bird! It's not going to hurt you...unless you try hurting it, or Marigold tells it to attack! Which she won't!" Hopefully, anyway.
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Post by HungryHunter on May 12, 2016 16:50:16 GMT
"Tweet. Back." The tiny summon hopped from Arlana's head. It fluttered and circled before landing on Marigold's head. "Tweet doesn't like her. I don't like her either." Marigold informed Lindsey. Tweet chirped in agreement.
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Post by Obscuris on May 14, 2016 2:15:30 GMT
The relief on Arlana’s sigh was almost inhuman, once Marigold’s bird jumped off her head. “I’m sorry!” she apologized. She took off her gloves, filthy after her encounter with Becky, and rubbed the spot where Tweet landed. The strange bird hadn’t hurt her, but Arlana was almost obsessed with keeping her distrusting eyes and sort of offended after the girl’s open statement.
On the other hand, Sun couldn’t be in a better mood. After Arlana threw him like a doll, a pair of gentle and caring hands caught him before he crashed and carried him softly towards his master. When he opened his eyes, he found himself facing a breath taking beauty in the form of a Kitsune woman. The small bird jumped to his claws and stood in Lindsey palm. “Weeeell, hello there” he said, unashamedly ogling the woman like a piece of candy “What do we’ve here? What a babe! Hey Lana, you should start cutting down on cakes if you wanna end up as hot as…” He was interrupted by a handful of foot kicked him with painful precision with a round kick and, displaying a comical agility, caught him again in midair with an axe kick to stomp the poor bird into the ground, leaving just his flaming wings popping out of around her foot like a golden fan. “Hehehe, don’t mind him” Arlana said with a tense smile and a few veins marked on her forehead “He’s just a bird brained jerk”
“Worth it!” Sun’s weak voice was drowned once more by Arlana’s foot, as she made a sideways motion as if she was turning off a cigarette. Ignoring the small streams of smoke that came of her boot as Sun’s flames burned its sole, Arlana examined Lindsey in a vain attempt to figure out what she was. “Soooooooo, I’m looking for…” Crap! What was that name the bear-woman had said? Portkey? Keyhole? “Gateway!” She exclaimed when she finally remembered the name.
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Post by Vapovile on May 16, 2016 2:28:59 GMT
Frowning at the bird in her hands, Lindsey was about to toss it onto the ground herself...until Arlana managed to kick the tiny bird out of her hands and begin to grind it into the pavement with her shoe. The fox girl couldn't help but chuckle as Arlana apologized while digging Sun into the ground. "Hehe...it's alright. Gotta say, I've never been hit on by a...bird...before." Just what WAS this thing? She didn't hear about any summons at Gateway that could talk, much less form entire sentences reminiscent of a bad romantic sit-com!
Perking up at the mention of Gateway, Lindsey turns to the side and, with her tail, points at the main path leading up a large hill toward an expansive castle-like structure in the distance. "If you're a transfer student, Gateway's that huge building up there!" With her enhanced reflexes, Lindsey twirls to the side and wraps her right arm around Arlana's shoulder, resting it on them. "It's a pretty big place, want us to show ya around?" Lindsey gave a friendly grin as she asked Arlana, gears already turning in her head. If this girl was freaked out at seeing Marigold's summon...oh, there was SO much she could do to mess with this girl and her obnoxious bird.
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Post by HungryHunter on May 16, 2016 3:06:57 GMT
Marigold bounced with excitement. "I can teach you all about Gateway. The year was never properly recorded, but it was founded in the early 10th century." Marigold spoke like she was giving a report, emotion suddenly in her formerly flat voice. "That fountain was created by Founder Azur to celebrate her daughter's wedding. Most progressive of the founders, she charmed it to reflect the preferences of the viewer." Marigold gazed at the fountain with her wide brown eyes reflecting genderless figures.
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Post by Obscuris on May 16, 2016 3:38:49 GMT
“Yeaaaaaaah, he’s a weirdo” Arlana picked up Sun by the feathers of his tail and swung the beaten bird in front of her face, glaring at the flaming bastard, before throwing him in an arch towards the hood of her jacket. “Hm… so that’s Gateway, huh?” The girl fixed her eyes in the massive castle that rose between the jungle of rooftops and tiles. A curious feeling went down her spine, like the small pinches of a bug running through her back. It was as if something about that castle was drawing her attention, calling to her. Even without Sun’s guidance, the inexperienced Tarot mage knew that whatever they were looking for in that cold hell that was Canada, was waiting for them inside of the castle. She became so lost in that strange sensation that almost missed half of Marigold explanation.
“Really? That’s… ehmm… pretty cool” she managed to say as Marigold finished her explanation and Lindsey wrapped her arms around Arlana’s shoulders. The girl didn’t took her eyes off the castle as the Kitsune spoke but the offer for a tour around the castle managed to reached Arlana’s absent mind. Shaking her head to get rid of the hypnotic calling of Gateway, Arlana started walking at Lindsey side “You would do that? That would be awesome!” She replied, excited "Yeah. I'm a transfer student, sure. I really don't know much about this place. Where are we going first, inside that cast...Gateway?" She lied the best she could. She thought she had found a free pass to that bizarre place, without realizing she was about to fall right into a fox trap.
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Post by Vapovile on May 18, 2016 1:56:23 GMT
Arlana's lying was painfully apparent to Lindsey, but she didn't seem like a person there to cause any harm. Quite frankly, she'd be surprised if Arlana even knew where she was right now. Just what was she after...? Continuing to walk at Arlana's side, Lindsey and the group walk the stone path that led to the main gates of the academy. The closer the group got to the place, the older the buildings appeared to look; some even having roofs made up of thatched straw layered on top of the walls. It was clear that this was part of a historical district, showing just how old this place actually was.
"Marigold here knows all about this place. So I'll let her fill you in on it. I'm sure you already know aaaaaall about it, though, being a transfer student." Lindsey couldn't help but smirk as she said that last sentence, going back to her normal expression a second afterwards.
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Post by HungryHunter on May 18, 2016 5:15:56 GMT
Marigold nodded. She did indeed know a lot about this place. "This is the original part of town, founded by the Gateway founders along with the school as living quarters for their families and the families of students. It's one of the oldest continuously occupied settlements in the Americas." She pointed out at a river that zig zagged at unnatural angles out in the open fields exposed in the space between the old town and Gateway itself. "Founder Azur made that river herself exploring inland. She preferred to travel by boat and there wasn't a river to this spot, so she made one." She paused when Lindsey poked fun of Arlana's cover story. "The first transfer student here was from an all ogre school in Africa." She seemed not to notice if anybody was actually listening to her information.
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Post by Obscuris on May 26, 2016 22:32:57 GMT
Arlana felt a twinge of sorrow as the trio walked into an ancient part of town. The rough and grinded stone, the brownish color of the straw… it was all too similar to the abandoned town that stood just a green hill away from her old home. Those memories of her happily jumping around the stone ruins as his father locked himself in his study to learn about the Cards were like a painful splinter on her heart; too deep to pull and too fresh to forget. The redhead sighed and tried focusing on whatever Marigold was saying. Luckily, the young girl’s rant was enough to take her off her musings. Maybe a bit too effective, actually.
An all ogre school in Africa? A headmaster had actually created the FRIKING River? What the hell was that place? Arlana fascinatedly listen as Marigold explained the history of Gateway. “Ok, if I see a goblet of fire and a kid with a lighting scar on his forehead, I’m going to have to pinch myself” she thought. As any fantasy fan, Arlana had waited for her letter to join Hogwarts. But she was getting way to old to be having dreams about that now.
“Really?! That’s so co.. ehem” the girl hawked guiltily “I mean, yeah! They thought us that back in my school in Ireland, but the way you tell it is so much cooler!” Oh, please buy that, please buy that, pleas buy that… “Aaaaaanyway! I should probably go tell someone I’m here, right?” That was a wild guess, of course. Arlana didn’t have the luck to go to school when she was younger but she had seen enough shows to have some kind of idea of what she should do. A very cliché idea. “Where should I go?” she asked her guides.
The strange pull towards the school was getting stronger with each step she took. And judging on the restless shaking of her hood, Sun was feeling it too.
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