Daisy was seated on a bench near the center of campus, watching students hurry by and reading a book she held in one hand. The sun felt warm and she sat back with a smile. The day had been relaxing, if nothing else. A new book, a new place to read it.

Cedric was still in class. Theo had wandered off somewhere. She was on her own until Cedric was done, and that was fine by her.

The bench lurched as someone sat on it. She peeked to see who it was, but didn't recognize them. "Hey," she offered with one raised hand.

When the new girl spoke, the mystery was broken, "Enjoying yourself?" Selena smirked, not a feline anymore. She looked like a small rat with a twitchy tail.

Daisy smiled back at her and nodded. "This book is good." She flipped the page. "And yes, I am. You? How are those classes going?"

"I'm learning a lot, but it's not easy." She folded her arms. "How do you deal with a naked tail? I can feel every little breeze." She shuddered with the thought. "It's very distracting."

Daisy rolled an ear back. "Mice don't have naked tails." She grabbed her tail with her free hand to show it. "See? Furry. Why the rat look?"

"Because you're making me jealous." Her tail flicked again. "I thought it would be nice, but it's so hard to get used to!"

Daisy smiled gently. "Sorry. You shouldn't be jealous of me." She wrinkled her nose. "Most people have complications you don't see on the surface, mucking things up."

"Maybe you do. Still..." Selena sighed softly and settled back. "I just feel like I'm doing everything wrong in this world."

Daisy let out a long sigh at that. "Yeah. Been there." Her ears shifted as she thought back. "I doubt we're talking about the same thing. Hm, so, how are your grades?"

"Pretty good so far." Selena looked up and away. "I haven't messed up too much yet."

"Well that's not so bad then, is it?" Daisy flipped another page of her book. "A student of magic doing well at that. Why do you think you're doing badly?"

Selena frowned. "Because I don't stand out." She leveled a finger at Daisy. "Unlike you. Everyone's looking at you. How long have you been here? You still get looks."

Daisy shrugged lightly. "And I'll never stop. Do you really think it's all admiration? They can be looking for dozens of reasons. Some of those aren't very good." Her voice was calm and gentle. "And it's annoying more often than not. The moment you have fame, it's easy to realize why you may not want it."

"I would rather have it and make it my own than sit in your shadow," Selena said with a frown. "And I intend to start making my mark."

Daisy leaned forward curiously. "By imitating me?" She looked Selena over. "You do make a cute rat, but I may be rodent-biased at this point."

Selena's tail flicked. "It won't just be by that." Her eyes narrowed. "I'm going to outdo you. You'll see!"

Daisy laughed at that, clapping her hands. "You're welcome to try, but now I'm curious what you have in mind, and worried it'll hurt you, or someone around you." She reached over and put her hand on the rat girl's arm. "Be careful? I don't want us to be enemies. It'd be nice to have more friends."

Selena pulled away with a pout. "Ugh! Sexy and modest. You one-upped me, again." She hopped to her feet and danced in place. "And you got married! To two!" She held up two fingers. "And I'm still trying to get anyone's attention! I didn't come here to sit on the sidelines."

"Sorry," Daisy said as she reached up to scratch at an ear. "I, um, wasn't trying to take anyone. Maybe I could help you?"

Selena snorted at that. "Help me?" She glared at the mouse woman. "You expect me to believe you'd put in the work to make me into some sex bomb?"

Mental images of such danced through Daisy's mind. "Maybe? Is that even what you want? I'm increasingly unsure." She set her book down. "You're jealous of my body, but also want to get ahead in school. Are you trying to get someone's attention, or show me up in some way? You don't want sexy, specifically. You want something that stands out and gets noticed."

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Fine! You don't need to pick my dreams apart." She turned and kicked a pebble on the path. "It would be nice if a boy looked at me."

Daisy set her whiskers askew. "Sorry." She folded her book closed. "It's just, this." She waved at the floating sign just above her breasts. "It's not lying. I am a mutagen source."

Selena's ears perked. "Oh." She rubbed her chin. "You're right." She sniffed Daisy. "I can smell it, too."

Daisy jerked at that. "There's a specific smell to that?"

Selena shrugged as she stood. "To most people, no. Me?" She directed a pointer finger at herself. "I love mutagens, and have spent more than enough time getting a sniff of a few. They have a smell, under the other stuff. Each one's different, but mutagen, itself, has a core smell." She twitched her sensitive nose. "If you learn, which most don't do."

She flashed a cocky smile. "Beat you in something at least."

Daisy laughed with a soft roll of her ears. "You got me there. And here I thought my nose was good. So, um, why don't I smell it? It's inside me."

Selena rolled her eyes. "It's subtle if you aren't looking for it. You can't even hear your own heartbeat until someone points out it's there, right?"

Daisy was still a moment. "Dang it, now I can hear it." But she burst into laughter at the whole thing. "You have a point. Clever little thing."

"I'm not little." Selena put her hands at her hips, tail lashing. It hit her a moment later. "Okay, compared to you, and in this form, a little small." She sighed and sat back on the bench, arms folded.

Daisy watched her tail lash around with every motion. It was adorable and distracting. She reached over and stilled it with one hand. "You looked pretty used to cat tails. They're twitchy too, but in a different way." She let go of it. "You'll get used to that one. It's cute!"

Selena jerked away from that. "Don't do that without asking." She rolled her eyes. "You have absolutely no etiquette when it comes to these things. Worse, everyone just forgives you."

Daisy shook her head. "Sorry." She rubbed behind one ear. "I'm used to being very open with my partners about that kind of stuff. I don't know enough about your culture to know where the lines are. I'm not even sure where the lines are here, really."

Selena stared at her for a long moment. "Wait. Wait! You're an otherworlder?" She blinked in surprise. "I knew the whole story sounded nuts, but if that's true, it all makes sense." She fluffed her whiskers out and curled them back down. "You don't know how everything works because you're brand new." She clapped her hands. "You just lucked into this whole thing, you rotten mouse! Here I was thinking you were some sexy vixen, all experienced and stuff. Nope!" She pointed at Daisy with both hands, her tail lashing as she spoke. "You're new!"

Daisy rolled her head to the side. "You are laying it on a little thick, hm? Glad you're feeling better at least. Maybe we can be friends?" She stuck her tongue out in a cute way. "If I was a vixen, I could still be new, but I get what you mean. You think that makes you better than me?"

"Yes." There was not even a hint of doubt in her. "And I'll prove it." With giggles, she fled.

Daisy watched the tiny rat girl hurry away, then picked her book back up and settled into it.

Cedric arrived shortly afterwards. "Hey, I'm done with class for the day!"

Daisy caught him when he was close enough and pulled the rabbit man into her lap. "Learn anything fun today?" She pet his belly as she waited for the reply.

"I learned more about how to handle magic items and how to identify them." He hugged Daisy and leaned back into her. "What did you do today?"

"I sat around reading. I don't know where Theo is. Oh, and Selena stopped by." She frowned at that. "I think she wants to be my rival." She wrinkled her snout at the idea. "I'm really not sure if I'm annoyed, tickled, or put out. Can you be all three?"

Cedric's nose twitched. "Maybe?"

Daisy let the moment linger as he rested against her breasts. "So, what are we doing tonight?"

"Staying in and getting some studying done?" He offered with a weak smile. "I have more school tomorrow. If you want to do something far out of town, I'll need a little warning."

She patted his chest lightly. "I can make it worth your while." Her tail curled as she considered what to do next. "Or we could just relax on a couch. If you're okay with that, of course." She clicked her tongue. "Actually, I know a dungeon near here that's not even on any of the maps, the one I arrived in. It has a dragon for a boss."

Cedric stared at her for a moment. "You want to go fight a dragon? You are bored!"

She laughed at that. "I want to see if he remembers me. I remember him plenty. If he does, I have a question or two before we probably move on to pummeling him. Besides, there were monster mice in that dungeon. Asking them some questions may be useful, since they knew what a brood mouse was last I ran into them."

Cedric shrugged. "So long as we're back in time for classes tomorrow, I think I can help with this. I'll go see if Theo wants to come." He frowned slightly, then hopped off her lap and hurried away, or at least that was the plan. His feet pedaled wildly, but didn't reach the ground.

Daisy was holding him up. "Not today. You just asked for warning, so this is warning. Tonight, if you want to do anything, maybe get something tasty?" She set him back down on her lap.

Cedric nodded slowly. "You got it!" He leaned against her more firmly and wrapped his arms around her. "Do we have to go anywhere tonight?"

Daisy rubbed gently along his back. "If you'd rather make this a night at home, I can be talked into it fairly easily."

He leaned into her. "Thank you."