Gloria
"Haha, your forces stand no match against the might of my Giant Nevermore!" Abe yells standing up and pointing at Michael, his violet eyes sparkling with victory and his brown, curly hair flying as he throws his head back to laugh triumphantly.
"But if you don't roll a 7 or higher the Nevermore will turn on your own forces!" Michael challenged, looking up at Abe, and I can't help but stare at him for a minute. He has red, sleek hair partly covering his handsome, lively face. Gentle amber eyes, set lightly within their sockets. Michael notices me watching him and smiles at me. I quickly look back at my cards, lifting them a bit to cover the blush that was quickly blooming on my cheeks. We were sitting in our dorm room, without four beds along one wall and a window opposite that, we had moved the desk into the middle of the room to play, it was usually set under the window.
Headmaster Lionheart's voice comes over the intercom, "Would Team MAGE please report to my office."
Everyone immediately looks up from the round of Remnant the Game and stares at Abraham.
"Dude, what did you do this time!" Michael demands.
"I had nothing to do with this," Abe says defensively, he pauses for a moment, "probably, I think, I have no idea! El, back me up!"
"Yep..." Elizaphine says distractedly her light blonde, layered hair was put up in a neat ponytail revealing a furrowed, radiant face. Wide violet eyes, set narrowly within their sockets, scans the pages of her book intently.
"Well, we better get going!" Michael says enthusiastically, "Let's go and see what Abe did!" With that, he skips out of the room.
"Did anyone else notice that Michael was skipping?" Abraham asks to no one in particular as he walks out. Elizaphine and I follow Abe out. We arrived at the Headmaster's office and knock.
"Come in." Headmaster Lionheart calls through the door. The office is shaped as a half-circle, with another, smaller half-circle jutting out to the room's front door. A large desk made of mahogany dominates the space of the autumn-colored office. In the right-hand corner are a small table and chairs for guests. On the table is a tea set. Two tall bookshelves flank the front door. Spanning the far wall of the office and above the windows is a single shelf lined with books, boxes and lamps. Ladders are present to provide access to the high shelves. Much of the floor is open, and a large, rectangular green rug leads from the door to the desk. In the center of the ceiling is a chandelier. I notice a faint crack in the wall a little to my right, like someone had taken a knife to the wall.
Lionheart was seated at the desk and motioned to four other chairs on the other side of the desk, we all sat down.
I look around nervously. I want to bolt out of here, I've never liked the suspense of Lionheart's office. My tail is starting to go down against the fabric of my skirt, the nervous energy making me want to run.
"I have called you four here to discuss the Vytal Festival," Lionheart began, "It has come to my attention that you all would like to enter, given the special circumstances with your… powers I am not inclined to allow you to go."
One of the reasons we were called Team MAGE, we were all, somehow, magic users. I myself had plant magic, Michael had electricity, Abe had Void, and El was… special.
"I will allow you to go on one condition," he continued, " you do not call attention to yourselves and if anyone does notice you have to claim you are just a skilled Dust user."
"Yes, sir." Michael said immediately.
"The airships leave at 9:00 sharp tomorrow morning, so don't be late! You are all dismissed."
I stood up and hurried out of the room, followed by my team members.I waited for them at the first curve of the hallway. Teams in the 4 main combat schools in the 4 kingdoms have teams made up of four students and the letters of their first or last name is used to make a word, usually not with exact spelling like ours. I looked down the hall and saw Sofia of Team CHSS running towards me.
"So, are you guys in trouble?" she said breathlessly.
"No, he just called us in to talk to us about the Vytal festival."
"Yeah," Michael says walking up behind me, "he wanted to make sure Abe wouldn't do anything stupid, you know." Doing a bad impression of Lionheart, he says, "If I hear even a mention of you doing anything from Ozpin you'll come straight back."
All of us laugh, especially me. I try to cover up my small, snorting laughter, but failed. Michael takes notice and smiles directly at me, I feel myself start to blush and I quickly look away.
"So," Michael said with a clap of his hands, "Should we head to the dorm to pack?"
"Ya, I guess." El said.
"Wait!" said Abe suddenly, "I left my bag in the library."
With that, he ran down the hall with shocking speed. We all headed for the dorm with little event, unless you count El almost tripping on a loose rug. We reached the dorm room and I went right to packing. I heard the door open about five minutes later and Abe's voice about zero seconds after that.
"YO GUYS! What's up!" He yelled as soon as he was through the door, his bag on his shoulder. I just continued to pack as if nothing had changed. Realizing I still needed my toothbrush I stood up and walked in the bathroom. As I entered I couldn't help but look in the mirror.
My dull green hair swung in front of my eyes, and I pushed it away. It was always getting in my way, and my bet was that it didn't look all that attractive with my bluish eyes. But it was what I had, so I tried.
I finished packing first because the others were talking so I sat on my bed and just listened to their conversations.
"Now that just isn't true, between a Giant Nevermore and a deathstalker, the Nevermore would obviously win because it can fly! Duh!" Elizaphine said fiercely.
"Fine," Abe conceded., "how about a King Taijitu against a Beringel?"
"Hmm, now that's a hard one...I mean, it depends if the Beringel has other Grimm around to help it, because if I remember correctly it will throw smaller Grimm at its target."
"True, but as the King Taijitu has two heads and can easily kill a Beowolf - and I think both are pretty agile - I am voting for the King Taijitu."
"Fine, I guess I'll vote for the Beringel," El typed a couple things on her scroll, "and done, let's watch." Both El and Abe watched the screen intently. I moved to look over their shoulder and watched as a 3D models of the two Grimm fought. The King Taijitu was easily distracting the Beringel by attacking it with one head while the other went at it from behind. After a couple of attacks in this manner the Breingel fell over and the scroll pronounced the King Taijitu the winner. El grumbled something about it not being fair and went back to packing. The others finished packing without any more talking.
"Alright, what to do now?" Michael said once he saw Abe and El where done.
"I was going to meet Sofia in town if anyo-" I began.
"I'm gonna go to the library." Abe said loudly, interrupting me.
"I'm gonna go to the library with Abe," El said almost immediately after Abe was done.
"Okay, I am going to go with Gloria." Michael said coming to clap me on the back.
"Got it," Abe said as he threw the door open, "You two have fun."
"So when were you planning to meet Sofia?" Michael asked after the door had closed.
"Pretty soon, we should probably get going."
"After you, then," he said, holding the door open for me. I walked into the hallway, followed quickly by Michael. We exited Haven and went out into the city; I quickly located the restaurant I was meeting Sofia, mostly because it was our favorite meeting spot. I held the door open for Michael and entered, I spotted Sofia sitting in a booth in the back corner. I walked over and sat next to her while Michael slid into the seat across from us.
"So, you guys are going to Vale for the Vytal Festival?" Sofia asks after we sit down.
"Yeah," I reply, "we leave tomorrow morning."
"You have to promise to text me about everything, or else!"
"Or else what?"
"Still figuring that part out. Michael, what do you think I should do to Gloria if she doesn't text me?"
"What?" Michael says, he had been studying his menu and hadn't heard any of our conversation. Sofia and I glance at each other and burst out laughing. He rolled his eyes, even though he was smiling too. "Okay, so what's good here?" he asks when we stop laughing, "Because honestly I have no idea."
"Well, I usually just get a salad," I reply. I'm a vegetarian and always have been.
"You should get the spaghetti, it's pretty good," Sofia says.
"Didn't you hate the spaghetti?" I whisper in Sofia's ear.
"Yeah, but he doesn't know that!" she whispers back.
"What are you two whispering about?" Michael says, leaning across the table. I shove him back into his seat, blushing. After the meaningless small talk that involved too many puns for my taste, the waitress came to take our order.
The rest of the night passed in a blur of jokes and side talk, and all too soon we are at our dorm room door, waving goodbye to Sofia. We walk in to find Abe sleeping on the floor in the middle of the room.
"Not again," Michael complains loudly, kicking Abe awake, "Dude, beds exist for a reason." He turns to me, gesturing to the floor, and I laugh at the scene that happens too often. He speaks again, "I mean, honestly."
Abe groans and sits up, "I can't help it if the floor is more comfortable than the stiff, school-issued mattress."
Michael glares at him, and shakes his head. "Your mattress wouldn't be as stiff if you actually slept in it."
Abe ignores him and lays down on the floor again.
"Why do I even try?" Michael says, sighing.