The foreigner inspected and peered around… Now where to sit and wait…

So many chairs, so many seats, so many spots to sit, but she struggled to pick. She did not…care at all…about where she should sit, yet her behavior and indecisiveness seemed to suggest otherwise…being so oddly picky.

All those who were already seated minded their own business, seemingly, with a few chatting among themselves. A few eyes had stared and glared at her when she had first entered, but most had lost interest by this point…besides save…one.

There was a denizen, a girl seemingly, who seemed to be eyeing her…and had been for some time. The foreigner stared back, only for the denizen to immediately avert her eyes in a flustered turn away.

Hmm…she peered at this nervous denizen who was pretending as though she had not been glaring prior, evaluating.

This denizen seemed to have what the locals would call ‘light-maple’ colored straight hair and had rather potent ‘hazel-amber’ eyes. Unlike many females of these lands, this denizen seemed to be almost at her height, albeit perhaps somewhat taller.

Indeed, the foreigner…and Far Westerners in general…were considered somewhat ‘short’ for the standards of these lands, apparently. Even though, for the standards of her and those like her, she was…almost…quite literally…at standard, her height being ~0.99915 ‘standard height units’ (~5 feet 5.944 inches; ~167.496744 centimeters), with only ~0.00085 height units below ‘standard’.

Hmm…the foreigner continued to peer… Interesting local this one was. Whenever she looked away, the denizen would stare again…only to snap her head away as soon as she returned the stare. Hmm… This denizen was clearly…interested in something… A desire to socialize, perhaps?

Well…she herself was never in the mood to mingle with the locals, but it was best to always keep her socialization and bantering skills sharpened. She, again, sighed faintly, before she approached and courteously took a seat right next to this denizen, who flustered almost instantaneously.

Nervous, anxious, and timid; the denizen remained silent.

The foreigner was silent in kind, but she could tell, from the very corner edges of her attention’s spotlight, that the denizen was glancing on and off and on and off, over and over, her figure rather tense.

“You know…that I can see that you are staring” the foreigner finally spoke, breaking the silence.

The denizen immediately flustered in a light and faint jolt; “Teh! S-sorry! I-I was…just…your mask was a-and and…I just…couldn’t help but… Oh I don’t know what I was…doing, sorry sorry” she blurtfully said, apologetically and in a panic, her voice somewhat raised before quieting.

The foreigner sighed; “It is not necessary for apologizing; you were simply with the curiosity… I also stare randomly at the things some of the times” she replied courteously, with a reassuring charm.

The denizen seemed to calm somewhat, becoming less nervous…to a point, letting out a deep relieving exhale; “It’s just…I hardly see…strange masquerade-wearing foreigners… so you stick out…and I couldn’t help but stare” she remarked before…quickly realizing; “And n-not in a bad way, not at all!” she rapidly attempted to clarify in a fluster.

“Ah…that is the truth, there are not many…people like me…in these lands” the foreigner responded cordially; though, it was somewhat clear…that she perhaps did not necessarily know how to…keep this ‘small-talk’ going.

Indeed, silence quickly resumed as more ladies began to take their seats around; many entered this center while many exited—some in joy, others in tears, a few in rage. Mages would pop out from a door, calling for numbers, from time to time.

The denizen glanced at the foreigner again; “…so, you are…number ten, rightly? Since I noticed you went up after me…” she inquired with remark, finally breaking the silence.

The foreigner glanced in kind; “Yes, that is correct” she replied; “…and what of you?”

“Oh, rightly… I am number nine—because, of course, I just have to be nine” the denizen replied cordially, yet then…abruptly paused…as her affect seemingly shifted. “………ahem” She tensed and immediately went mute with an embarrassed flustered blush, one stronger than any before, as if she had just blurted out something she should not have.

That silence resumed, once again.

Yet, soon enough, the denizen looked at the foreigner again, aheming yet again; “Soooo…” thus she began to say, “what are you—sorry, I mean to ask…why are you trying to…get into the Collegium? What are your…goals?” she inquired cordially, becoming less anxious and nervous, seemingly.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

« Mah… » the foreigner blurted; “…I just need the job to pay the rent” she answered rather bluntly.

The denizen stared…blankly…for a second, processing, before pffting in giggling realization, seemingly humored by this; “Oh, that shouldn’t be surprising to me, b-but your delivery was… I don’t even know, but I can’t help but giggle at it!” she said with quite the warm giggle.

“And you?” the foreigner asked in turn, mask-obscured eyes glancing.

The denizen looked away…her eyes changing affect, becoming more timid and…disconcerted, not due to the foreigner, but seemingly due to whatever thoughts were happening on the inside, known only to her.

“…well, apparently my bloodline had…a lot of mages in it and…so a couple of affinities runs in our blood…so there is that… I’ve also…always been interested in magic and magical theory…and philosophy, so there is also that… and…” she replied, yet her affect was seemingly becoming more mellow and nervous; “…and well, I guess I am in a…cracked jar” she stated.

The foreigner tilted her head; “…a cracked jar?” she repeated, attempting to wrap her head around this local…idiomatic phrase of theirs.

“Yeah. A very nasty cracked jar…” the denizen replied; “I’m honestly really…terrified actually, nervous too… I can hardly…think straight; I really want to get in, you know? It is my only acceptable way out… I just… There hasn’t been a mage in my family in a long-long time…a very long-long time, so I don’t even know how strong my affinity will be… too much blood has been diluted” she explained in lament, seemingly.

The denizen appeared to be nervous and anxious, scared and…worried, greatly so. Hmm…yet, despite that, the foreigner could not help but feel…strange, as if something was off about this denizen. She could not exactly put her finger on it either, but it was…as if…she were staring into a…mirror—not in terms of appearance but in…behavior and affect, yet also…not really.

The foreigner gently, and rather…atypically, bonkingly tapped at her own head. Clearly, she was just overthinking—would not be the first time. Indeed, best not to do such a thing with denizens of all things…for she would only ever get lost in the absurdity of their abstracted finite existences.

The foreigner stared; the denizen seemed distressed and turbulent on the inside, and also nervous and anxious. No point in overthinking; best to assume she saw what she was seeing.

Hmm… though…what could she even do or say to rectify this apparent instability? Denizens had not the benefit of encoded protocols that could automatically flatten and inhibit, thus… Hmm…“…you said that you are…scared about your affinity for the magics…because of this diluted…blood, no?” she inquired.

The denizen, however, was…seemingly adrift, before she quickly shifted her attention to the foreigner; “Huh? Oh, y-yes… S-s-sorry, I was…I was…lost in my head I guess…” she replied, flustered from her mind, seemingly.

“Hmm…rightly, I am not sure if this will have the help to you, but…from where I come, we do not…view this ‘affinity’ and ‘blood’… To us, the magics and the…those things, they come from the… Hmm… How do I…? ‘Soul’? Yes…the ‘soul’, that is the good word for that, and the soul, it…it…is something that is…not given…but…it…is ‘influenced’—yes influenced…by the soul of the parent the… ehm…word…word… ‘mother’, yes the ‘mother’… The mother’s soul influences…the soul of the…child…somewhat, and these influences…carry on…and do not dilute or go away…and, in truth, the less you learn…the magics, the less…complex…the influences are and that means…the older ones…carry over longer…and are not ‘diluted’ by…the newer ones…” the foreigner explained…or at least attempted to.

Indeed, she was not only attempting to condense and primitivize an incredibly…complex and multi-faceted affair, but she was also doing so in a language not any of her primaries.

The denizen, however, tilted her head gently, listening…rather attentively, calmer than before, nodding along as her mind attempted to…make sense of the foreigner’s rather accented explanation.

The foreigner quickly realized that…this was perhaps going nowhere; “Ahem—basically: because…there has not been the mages in your…line of bloods…bloodline… for long time, that means that…your affinity could be less diluted and more… strong? Potent? Yes, potent…because there is not the many of…other stuff to add to the…messiness and make the influences more…weird…” she attempted to summarize.

“…I give the apologies, my grasp of this…tongue is still not good” she apologized, somewhat embarrassed…perhaps vaguely more genuinely. Indeed, she sounded like an idiot, even to herself.

The denizen stared blankly, before a…smile suddenly entered her face. She began to laugh a rather sweet-sounding laugh; “You—I mean no-no offense—but you—the way you speak is-is something alright! It’s charming in its own way!” she remarked cordially in her laughing giggles. Yet…she quickly settled down as eyes all around began to stare and glare, their peaceful silence having been disrupted and disturbed.

“Ahem… Sorry…” she apologized with a faint blush, embarrassed.

The denizen, now…much quieter, returned her attention to the foreigner; “No but…your way with words aside… uhm…what you said, it was…interesting; not sure if it helped…but this idea…that…blood has nothing to do with it… I guess makes me feel comforted… So…yeah…maybe it…did…help…” she said warmly, albeit somewhat…awkwardly, but seemingly more at ease; “though, I guess I find it more interesting how…differently other lands see magic… It makes me curious in so many ways” she added.

A door, near yet afar, suddenly sprang open as a rather tired mage stepped out, a ledger of numbers in his hands. His peering eyes scouted the room around, instantly noticing; “Alrightly—Oh Gods’ sacred…even more now… Ten, twenty…thirty… Hugh” he grumbled to himself, exhausted from the sight alone; “…now let’s see—oh, we’ll have to do two at a time—nine and ten! Come come! Let’s get this over with!” he shouted.

The denizen looked at the foreigner, a smile on her face; “…well, I guess we are…testing buddies…” she said, standing up.

“Thus, it seems…” the foreigner responded cordially, standing up in kind.

The two promptly began to make way, side-by-side. The denizen’s evasive eyes, however, glanced at the foreigner…over and over…evading down, blushing somewhat. An odd feeling entered her being…one that felt…more heated than necessary, than planned.“…Oh Mother Raven, how easy it is for me to fall…ugh” thus murmured the denizen’s breaths, a silent whisper unheard by any ears around.

How cute, indeed

Although irrelevant

To those hearing ears