Another chapter! So, my brother that I usually get to poof read these things before I post them is not currently here so there may be a few more errors than usual. If you see any, let me know. Also, the quote I put here for Marangal isn't the one I originally had. I'm not sure if I like this one better or not... I liked it when I changed it but now I'm not so sure...
What you think is not what you believe.
Nilla woke up to discover that her legs were trapped in place.
"Ebony, get off," she grumbled groggily, attempting to dislodge the odd weight.
"Ebony, huh?" Ciara's voice broke through the remains of sleep and Nilla bolted upright, launching a small black form onto the floor. "I was wondering. I was also wondering why you didn't mention you had a cat. And why you snuck him in in the middle of the night." Ciara was sitting on the edge of her bed, Marangal finally having convinced her to switch to the one next to Nilla, her arms crossed. It had been a few days since the team had been formed and Nilla had come to recognize Ciara's no nonsense expression.
"I don't have a cat." Nilla glared at the creature and he stared back, unblinking. "Ebony is just a nuisance that follows me everywhere." She flopped back down on her bed with a groan.
"Then how did he get on the room? How did he find you in the first place?" Ciara didn't sound happy. Nilla sighed.
"He does that. If you figure out how let me know."
"Do you have something against him?" Ciara asked cautiously.
"Yes," Nilla said shortly, "He follows me around and eats more than any creature that size has any right to."
"Okay then... If you don't like him then why did you name him?"
Nilla hesitated a moment, "Well after he survived the defenestration and still stuck around, I figured he earned it."
"Defen- You threw him out a window!" Ciara looked shocked.
"He deserved it," Nilla shrugged calmly.
"Why?"
"It's a long story..."
"You threw a cat out of a window, and that's all you have to say for yourself?" Ciara asked in disbelief.
"He was fine," Nilla waved her off, "His aura protected him."
"He has an aura?" Nilla nodded. "And you knew this before you threw him out a window, right?" Nilla hesitated again.
"More like suspected, but it was a very strong suspicion. Like 98 percent sure."
"So there was a two percent chance he wouldn't have survived?" There was a dangerous tone to her voice now.
"No, he wouldn't have died either way. This way he just wasn't injured. I kinda figured he wouldn't be after..." She trailed off.
"After what?"
"Nevermind," Nilla muttered, "let's just say it wasn't fun and call it good."
"Okay then..." Ciara seemed lost, the first time that had happened in their week as a team.
Ebony jumped back onto the bed and bumped his head against Nilla's shoulder. She absently patted his head before climbing out of bed.
Ciara watched her go, confusion mounting. Does she hate the cat or like it? She wondered. Ebony jumped up beside her and stared at her with dark blue eyes. He looked almost accusing but Ciara shook the thought away as ridiculous. She petted the cat for a moment then stood with a sigh.
She walked over to Marangal's sleeping form and attempted to shake him awake. When that didn't work, she grabbed the edge of his mattress and flipped it up until be slid off with a thump. Aero jolted awake at the sound, eyes wide. After figuring out what had happened, he began to make his preparations to start the day. Marangal sat up and began his daily complaints to Ciara. Apparently, he didn't like being flipped out if bed.
"If you would wake up on your own I wouldn't have to," Ciara's vicious smile suggested that she didn't see it as much of a burden.
"I might wake up on my own if you gave me a chance!"
"I did. You didn't wake up so I resorted to drastic measures."
"Ha! That's what I mean; they're drastic and unnecessary!"
"I'm willing to concede on the drastic, but I fail to see how it's unnecessary." Nilla sighed as she walked back out of the bathroom. This was quickly becoming the daily routine for their team.
Aero claimed the bathroom before Marangal could. Nilla noticed that Ciara was already dressed and frowned. Normally, Nilla was the first one up and she wondered what was different today.
"It's very unnecessary! There are-" he broke off suddenly and stared at Ebony, "is that a cat?"
"Yes. Apparently, he's 'not' Nilla's." She made air quotes around 'not.' Marangal spun to face Nilla.
"You have a cat. And you didn't tell us. Why?"
"Not mine. You can have him if you want him." Marangal looked thoughtfully down at Ebony. Ebony hissed at him and turned away.
"Ebony, be friendly," Nilla chided. The black cat seemed to sniff and stalk away from Marangal. He walked over to Nilla who ignored him and kept getting ready for the day.
"Did he just...?" Marangal seemed at a loss for words.
"He does that. Ignore him," Nilla muttered absently, giving her uniform jacket an annoyed tug.
"He did something kinda like that earlier too..." Ciara mused.
"Peculiar..."
"Apparently he has an aura too," Ciara informed him. Ebony gave Nilla a look that seemed to say 'this is all your fault.'
"You chose to come here," Nilla muttered to him and headed for the door. At the last second she spun and pointed at him. "Stay," she commanded before walking out. Ebony gave the door a curious sniff then went and curled up on Nilla's bed.
"I don't think I've heard her talk that much all week," Ciara noted.
"Yeah," Marangal agreed. Then, he realized it was almost time for class and he wasn't ready. He dashed for the bathroom and Ciara snickered at him.
"Come on, Aero. Let's go." Ciara gave the black cat one last glance before she shut the door behind her. A few moments later they heard the door slam shut and Marangal caught up to them at a run.
"Did you have to slam the door?"
"Of course. How else would I announce that my amazingness has entered the halls again?"
"Amazingness? Really?"
"Of course. How else can I be described?"
"Annoying."
"Hey!"
The banter followed them all the way down the halls and into the courtyard. Nilla was waiting there with a large group in front of the statue. Akane was standing next to her and, as usual, bouncing with excitement.
"Hi guys!" Akane greeted them as they walked up.
"Hey," Ciara returned. Aero gave her a hesitant smile and Marangal gave her a cocky grin that made Nilla roll her eyes.
"Isn't there supposed to be a professor here?" Marangal asked. This was the first time they had this particular class. It was set up so that they only had this class once a week.
"He'll be here," Akane reassured him.
"How do you know?" She struck a dramatic pose that would have been much more impressive had she not been five foot zero.
"Because I know everything, Marangal- I forgot your last name," she deflated back to her normal position.
"Really convincing on the all-knowing bit there," Ciara smirked.
"At least I try."
"You gotta give her that one," Marangal smirked.
"Attention students," a voice came from the statue. The looked up to discover that a man was standing on top of the statue. He had a black hair and a small beard. He wore a suit, like all the professors, and a black cowboy hat. His blue eyes stared out at the assembled students in a rather predatory manner. "I am Professor Nior. I will be attempting to teach you all the various arts of woodcraft that will be useful to you in your chosen life of huntsman and huntresses. This is why we are outside. To learn about the outdoors you must go outdoors. Are there any questions?" His gaze swept over the students and a few of them shivered. No one raised a hand. "Good. Now let us begin."
"See, told you he'd be here." Akane grinned.
"All knowing indeed," Marangal grinned at her.
"Today we will begin with one of the most basic things for survival; how to build a fire." The class proceeded in this vein for the rest of the hour. Nilla and Akane both did rather well, having some degree of knowledge in the area already. Akane ended up helping Marangal and Aero, as well as Phoenix, one of her teammates. Ciara picked it up fairly quickly. Chloe, on the other hand, didn't really get it and refused help from anyone. Especially Akane.
If the professor noticed he didn't seem concerned. "That should be enough for today," he said as the hour drew to an end, "I would request that you practice this in your own time but I'm afraid we might end up with someone burning down the building. If you do decide to practice, use caution. Do not use dust. We will go over methods for starting fires with dust at a later date and many can be dangerous if done improperly." His cold gaze swept over them one last time. "Class dismissed."
Akane led their little group out, skipping happily into the hall.
"Is it just me or is he a bit… creepy?" Marangal asked.
"He's not so bad," Akane grinned, spinning to face him and walking backwards.
"How do you know? Maybe he's being nice for the first day of school," Marangal countered.
"If that's him being nice, I don't want to see him angry," Ciara added.
"He's really not that bad…" Akane seemed very concerned by their reactions.
"How do you know?" Aero asked cautiously.
"Umm… Well, he's kinda my dad…" Akane answered hesitantly.
"He's what?" Marangal asked incredulously. He stared at the hyper girl as if trying to find some similarity between her and the chilly professor. "I'm not seeing it…"
"Explains how you got in here," Chloe sneered. Akane spun towards her as though she was about to yell at the girl but hesitated at the last moment. Instead she gave the pink haired girl an overly sweet smile.
"At least I'm not trying to ride on my daddy's reputation." Chloe opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by Marangal.
"Look at the time! We should really be getting to class now."
"Combat class," Ciara added with a giant grin.
"Oh yeah! We're starting sparring today!" Akane bounced down the hall, argument forgotten. Oh, That explains why Ciara was up early today, Nilla thought.
So... yeah. That was a thing. Professor Nior is based off of Oobleck's comment of a "textbook campfire" in the field trip episodes (I don't remember exactly which one...). Yeah... That's actually all I have to say.