#AN: I originally thought all of this to be part of the previous chapter, but some edits happened and I decided this split worked better. Also, the whole Guiche part is actually the most recent chunk I've written. Only took me five months to figure out what would happen! Now, if I could just figure out the fallout from it...
Chapter 3: In Which Louise is a Little Pent Up
Intellectually, Louise knew contracting Tabitha as a familiar meant that damnable vixen, Kirche, was going to be a larger factor in her life than ever before. What she didn't count on was the manner.
"What's this, Zero? Pulling rank to take advantage of my dear, sweet Tabitha already? Such a beast!" Naturally, they had been ambushed just outside Louise's door. Louise hadn't even said anything yet and the sex torch was already wrapped around Tabitha, pulling them apart to hold her in mocking protectiveness.
Yes, intellectually, she may have been resigned to this unpleasant association, but rationality was never really a safe bet when Kirche was involved. Indignation, though?
"What the hell, Zerbst! Can't I get a break from your rubbish for just one day?" But Kirche didn't miss a beat.
"Ah, but I do wonder..." detaching from her old friend, she began a slow circle, appraising Louise from every angle. "...what is it about you Vallière? It's not normal, you know.
"Summoning an explosion elemental or a hydrazine golem, I could see. One good boom deserves another, right?" She chuckled humorlessly at her own joke. "But no, you - you who has never cast a single spell properly in her life - summoned my best friend as your familiar. Have you ever heard of such a thing in your life?"
Mesmerised by the cadence of Kirche's footfalls and the equally dangerous and seductive note in her voice, Louise emitted a surprised squeak when Kirche stepped in to grapple her from behind, hands coming to rest on her breast and inner thigh. She was struck dumb by the heady perfume and soft- er, softness of her nemesis.
"No, it's not normal at all," she purred, "You've caught my interest... Louise." Was it a threat? A promise? Before Louise could even muster a reaction, the hands, the soft pressure on her back, and the hot breath in her ear were all gone; Kirche had returned to her usual boisterous self.
"Why, would you look at the time! We're late for breakfast; best get moving, my lovelies!"
And just like that, she was gone with only the faint hint of smoke on the air and a ragged Louise as evidence the Zerbst scion had ever been there in the first place.
"That was really disturbing," she remarked once she had composed herself. Dimly, she was aware that she'd had an audience. One who she was trying to call friend. "Hey, she's your friend, right? I really wouldn't have minded a hand back there..." Looking up from the book she had pulled out, Tabitha fixed her with a stare that she imagined said "Do I look like I place so little value on my personal space?" and mumbled but a single word in response:
"Unstoppable."
It was telling that the first clear emotion she caught on Tabitha's face was most probably an expression of trauma.
"Oh boy, I have a headache and classes haven't even started yet."
The sidelong glances were the worst, she decided. At least the ones who stared were willing to own their gawking. And the ones who pointedly looked away were unwittingly doing a favour. But the fumbling failures of discretion practically shouted "I'm totally looking at you, but I don't want to be honest about it because I'm a twit!"
The walk to their morning meal was their first chance to really observe how the rest of the student body would react. They would later agree the current verdict was "as awkwardly as humanly possible". They disrupted conversations simply by passing and, though no one had the audacity to approach them, they definitely had everyone's attention. Louise was not enjoying fame. But what Louise lacked in stature, she made up in boldness.
"Let them watch, Tabitha. They're just a bunch of dumb kids anyway."
The dining hall did not fall silent upon their entry, to their great relief. Louise really didn't feel like enduring the spotlight any more than she usually did, and the morning was already off to a stressful start. Making to move toward her customary edge table, she was stalled by a hand on her shoulder. Ignoring the flurry of hushed whispers over the gesture at a nearby table, she turned, her eyes tracing the impinging arm back to its owner, and raised an eyebrow.
"Dine outside?" It was an innocuous suggestion, but after her encounter with Kirche, some fresh air did sound awfully nice...
Am I really that easy to read? Or is this some familiar weirdness? The nearby chatter became more urgent, and for once it made her distinctly uncomfortable.
"Good idea. Can you find us a nice spot? I'm... ah, that is, I actually need to freshen up a bit real quick." It was a snap decision. She doubled back, darting out of the hall and into the nearby washroom to rein in her crumbling composure without even waiting for Tabitha's tiny nod of assent. A few minutes later, she stepped back into the dining hall with her usual noble bearing only to find herself staring at the back of every head.
Working her way around the perimeter of the crowd, she heard the spectacle before she saw it: shrill whining and angry girls.
Guiche is getting an early start this week. She sighed at the banality of his philandering. Though it does let me avoid the attention myself.
Her relief was short-lived, as she heard a familiar voice in the ruckus.
"I'm so sorry, Mr. Gramont, but I could never have known this would happen!" The language was respectful, but pregnant with fear.
That's... the one from last night? Maybe this isn't his usual girl problem?
"Be silent, wretch! Your irresponsible actions have brought two delicate ladies to tears."
- Or, he could just be dragging innocent peons into his own idiocy. She hesitated. Am I really about to get involved in this? "Foremost, a noble protects the innocent!" ...guess I don't have much of a choice. Groaning, she pushed through the crowd to survey the scene.
A curly-haired blonde - bimbo - was in a teary-eyed stare-and-growl match with a younger - gullible first-year - brunette over the round table. Anyone who had been at the table had long since vacated it, leaving their meals and wine behind. A couple of his - spineless - hangers-on were still in the area, appearing conflicted but not enough to intervene. And in the centre of it all, Guiche de Gramont, fourth - idiot - son of a respectable General, was red with rage, hovering ominously over a terrified black-bobbed maid.
As I thought. Okay, Louise, remember: "Foremost, a noble is responsible for their actions." He's not. You have the high ground. Taking a deep breath, she loudly cut into the ongoing tirade.
"Ah, you there, maid! I need you to attend us as we break our fast. Retrieve repast for two and bring it to the terrace." All sound ceased as she took the centre of attention. Even the stupid girls broke their dominance ritual to stare. She narrowed her eyes to see that Guiche had frozen with his hand raised to strike the servant. "Well? What are you waiting for? Go on! I hunger!"
Failing entirely at discreetly wiping her eyes and not quite concealing her sniffles, she scurried off to do what as she was told. Nodding once, Louise rounded on the idiot.
"You have a lot of nerve, pretending you're not responsible for your own loose morals. And look at yourself! Poised to hit a defenceless girl because of your own poor life choices. How superbly manly." Shaking her head in mock sorrow, she slowly sauntered closer to him.
"Was there something wrong with your birth? Is that why you can't even follow the simplest tenets of common decency and instead skulk about at night, flirting with any pretty face? Ah, how pitiable it is that the good General de Gramont's youngest brings nothing but shame to the family!" Having closed the distance to stand before him, she turned to the table and grabbed a goblet of wine and took a sip.
"Really, it's far too early for this nonsense." She looked back up to see the blonde boy shaking, eyes dilated and a rictus grin on his face. She would question later why she did it, but in the moment, it seemed like a great idea.
"Oh yes, one last thing!" She threw the remaining wine in his face and shouted, "You're a two-timing pig!" Ignoring his sputtering, she began to stalk toward the terrace, the eerily quiet crowd parting before her.
"Where do you think you're going, Vallière? Do you really expect me to bear this insult without retort?" Guiche, at least, had finally found his voice. What a pity. She paused to look over her shoulder at his seething.
"I'm going to breakfast," she ground out. "And I expect you to take responsibility for your own actions as a true noble ought!" She began to move again.
"Zero! I demand satisfaction from you!"
"Demand satisfaction from your hand."
"No, I won't allow this outrage! I challenge you to a duel!"
"Student dueling is prohibited, are you a moron?"
"Oh, like you're even a student anyway, Zero." She froze. Taking this as a sign, he continued. "Everyone knows all your spells blow up on you. It was very clever of you to pay another student to pretend you'd summoned her, but I've got you figured out!" The people near Louise unconsciously began to back away, as her shoulders slumped and her whole body quivered.
"It's a truly impressive ruse, my dear," he crowed, "but it's still just that: a ruse. And to think, the likes of you had the sheer unparalleled audacity to lecture moi on nobility!" She was shaking visibly now, whispering. "What was that? I can't hear your apologies if you're that quiet. You need to speak up and look your betters in the eye when you address them." Not breaking her monologue, she turned to face him so he could finally understand what Louise was... growling?
"... and so what if I can only make explosions, it's not like it's my fault, you probably think I've been a lazy lout like you, but I bet you've never spent all day in the woods wearing yourself half to death with attempts to make even a simple cantrip work correctly, I've never seen you in the library when I've been scouring the most advanced books I can find for even the mere semblance of documented record of anything like me, you probably don't even know this place has a library, you've never worked for your magic, you've never bled for your magic, yet you dare... you dare to say that my one accomplishment - the only one! - is a lie!?" Finally looking at him as he requested, he realised her face was a mask of ice cold iron over a rolling boil of bitter anger where he had thought to see crushed weeping. Involuntarily, he stepped back and slipped on her discarded goblet from earlier, landing roughly on his rear.
"Yes, that's right! Fall back, coward! Even if I had no magic at all, you would never measure up to me because even without it, at least I have dignity! Attacking the sacred bond we share might even be forgivable if you didn't insult my friend with your baseless accusations! One day. Just one measly day, I wanted to enjoy the little piece of happiness that I finally managed to carve out of the constant struggle to have some small proof that my efforts haven't been in vain..." Louise really was crying now, letting far more out in this tirade than anyone present had ever heard.
"But you. You. You would deny me this!?" Straightening her stance as though she were delivering the high courts judgement, she drew her wand and practically roared, "Cur! I will flay the flesh from your useless bones and commission a doily from that ridiculous mop you call your coiffure!"
Before she could make good on her threat, another figure materialised at her side and a dainty hand pushed her wand back down.
"Louise. Stop." It was Tabitha. Panting from the exertion of her tirade and the dissipation of willpower she had gathered for a truly deserved explosion, she could only watch as Tabitha walked over to the terrified boy, conspicuously stepping around a puddle of what might have been his urine. She looked down at him and offered a hand, helping him back to his feet. It took every ounce of her remaining self control to remain standing, to not give in to the despair that washed over her as her only friend at the academy betr-
"Fop." Guiche acquired a third reddening welt as Tabitha slapped him with all the deceptive strength she could muster. Turning back, Louise could see her properly for the first time. She looked... normal. Ordinary, unflappable Tabitha. Almost. She hadn't had much time to learn her subtle mannerisms and tics, but something about the Tabitha before her now screamed "You bet your ass I'm beyond pissed!" Very quietly, but it was still screaming. She wondered for a moment if any of the other people around could tell.
...Oh. Right. The crowd. The spell that had held everyone rapt broke then, and a cacophony of mixed impressions hit her like a solid wall of force. She didn't fall over from the onslaught only because she had locked up (and turned very red). Tabitha stepped up, her expression softening ever-so-slightly as she filled Louise's field of vision.
"Food. Come." Nonplussed, Louise allowed herself to be led out the door by the hand as she wondered if she had really seen the ghost of a smile on her friend's impassive face.