Difference Between Worlds
It should have been the end of a long day once they got back to Louise's room. However, it seemed the young mage had some mental ticks in her head that mande no sense to Kamvex. Not thirty seconds after entering the room passed before she announced she was tired, and casually dropped her skirt.
"What are you doing?" The dumbfounded familiar asked as her hands moved to her blouse buttons.
She cocked an eyebrow. "Did you not hear me? I am tired, so I'm getting ready for bed."
"And you're doing that in front of a guy?"
"What is your point," she asked. "You are my familiar and servant, there is no shame in changing in front of either a dog or a butler. In fact, it's expected that you help me change in the morning."
He stared dumbfounded. *Definitely medieval high society.* He then smirked and took off his coat whist eyeing her. "Fine, have it your way."
"Good. You understand." She smiled triumphantly, happy he was listening to her. Then she heard a zipper open and looked to see him slowly fumbling with his pants, his boots kicked off to the side of the room. She pointed, staring in embarrassment, "W-w-w-what ar-r-re you d-doing!"
He smirked viciously, "why Mistress, I'm getting ready for bed. Surely you didn't think I slept in my day clothes did you?" The pants fell unceremoniously to the floor and he stepped out of them, closer to her. Her currently frying mind missed that it was as big a step that he could take. He did not miss the effect it had on her.
"Why are you doing this in front of me!?" She exclaimed. Her previous thoughts of physique were confirmed, as without the coat or... Pants... It showed the musculature of an acrobat. It was also FAR too much skin for her!
He put his hand to his chest in mock surprise. "Why Louise, I didn't think you'd have a problem with me changing here. After all, I'm just a familiar." He bent down, bringing his face closer to her. "You don't have a problem with me, a man, changing in here with you watching do you?"
He was being coy and sarcastic! Again! He was challenging her! Louise bit back the urge to fling him away, to smother her frame with her unbuttoned blouse. She swallowed and gazed at him, meeting his challenge. She was Louise de la Vallière; her pride would not let her succumb.
So she threw her blouse and camisole in his face, stripped her panties off and picked up her nightgown up in one fell swoop. "Wash these for me tomorrow. Oh and these too." She flicked the panties at him as he removed the fabric, distracting him enough to slip her night clothes on.
Kamvex looked down at the pile of clothes that fell off his face, a light blush of his own covering his dark cheeks. *This cheeky bitch...* He thought, glancing up at her. The light of her lamp, unbeknownst to her, showed off the silhouette of her figure to him. For her body type, the curves she had were gentle, yet perfect. Her proud face on top of this only heightened the look of elegance. This only cemented his own thoughts from downstairs.
"That's fine," he started, picking up the girl's clothes, "I need to clean my own clothes as well. Maybe head to the servant quarters and pick something up for days like that... Hmm.." he started mumbling again as he piled both his and her clothes together. Afterwards he moved to his backpack again, "don't suppose you have a bed for me do you?"
She blinked, surprised, and a little disappointed he didn't continue their game. Not that it mattered since she obviously won! "No, I had straw prepared for an animal. And you can't sleep in my bed!" She quickly added.
"I wouldn't be so presumptuous as to assume that," he answered. He opened the top flap of the pack, reached in and brought out a roll of some kind. He unfurled it and revealed a bag with a pillow inside. "Just need to find a spot for this. You don't sleep walk, do you?"
"No, just set it up over by the hay pile then."
The two then got get into their beds, before Louise turned out the light. The captain looked up at his mistress' peaceful face. For now, he could just protect her, and learn about this new world. Though as he turned over,he couldn't help but wonder...
*How does this planet have a name in our records?*
~Next Morning~
He woke with a start before letting out a deep breath. Alive. He was still alive. Reaching to his side he picked up his datapad, checking to see if the signal he sent was still going through. Luckily it was, but it was faint. Too faint while using anything else on it. He sighed, and got to work, beeps and buzzes coming from the tiny thing as he boosted the signal.
It was different and loud enough that it woke the snoozing girl in the bed above him. She groaned lightly, looking over at the man working. "W-who are you," she asked sleepily.
He glanced back, -"not again... Good morning Miss. Time to wake up."-
"Right... Gibberish speaking familiar..." She yawned before her eyes snapped open. "Wait, you were speaking fine yesterday."
- "Hmm? Ahh, the spell must've worn off..."- he supposed. -"wait, that should've only worked of maybe two hours, so how did it work for nearly double that."- he started mumbling and rambling in a language she didn't understand or care about first thing in the morning.
"If you won't listen, then I'll have you silenced," she spoke irritated. She stole to her desk and grabbed her wand. "Now how did that go again? Ah yes! -"
~Ansur Ver Ang. Obey my request immediately! SILENCE!~
~Comprehend~
She saw a hint of light at his throat and ears before her detonation went off, knocking him to the floor with a yell. *What was that?*
"Oi, give a little warning next time you want to cast a spell," he growled out.
Sigh. "Another failure. I was trying to silence you and your inane babble."
He huffed as he stood tall, "well, it seems you managed to cast the same spell as me, but with a ton more power."
She blinked, frozen in place. "The... Same spell... As you..?"
"Yeah, Comprehend Language," he answered. "Though what differences there are in the spells, we'll have to see later."
"You're a mage?" It was a perfectly good question. He cast a spell on himself, "wait, you used wandless magic!?"
He scratched the back of his head, "I'm not, and I did." Two contradicting statements if she'd ever heard them! He wasn't a mage, yet casually cast wandless magic? "Anyway, shall we get dress and get food? I'm starving."
Her eye twitched in further irritation. "Fine, but we will speak about this. Clothes," she demanded, pointing at her armoire.
Kamvex gave her an incredulous look before gathering his pants, trudging over and gathering her things. "I will do this once, unless you're sick," he explained. "And I'm not dressing you, so don't ask." He then tossed her uniform on to her bed.
"Then I guess you'll continue to starve for the day," She said gathering her things. He refused to turn and meet her gaze, so she dressed into her school clothes and tossed her gown at him. "Add that to the clothes you need to wash then."
He sighed in frustration. He pulled on his pants and turned with the gown in hand, once again pulling open his bag, this time a smaller side pocket.
Louise looked on, curious as to what the star captain was up to. From the pouch he pulled out about twenty small bars, wrapped in a sleek but bland white wrapper. He then moved to a front pouch and pulled out there small boxes with unintelligible writing, but the unmistakable picture of a full meal. Afterwards, turned and presented them to her.
"This is all the food I have with me," he explained. "Could sustain me for at least three weeks, but I won't cheat your rules with food." He bowed his head, "if you decide such a punishment is needed then I shall take it."
She groaned, why was he making this difficult! Still, she was a Vallière. She would not bend. "Very well Familiar, as long as you understand your duties tomorrow," she spoke with a hint of satisfaction.
"Oh no, I'm still not doing that," she stopped at that. What? "I just want to make sure you know that I'm not eating behind your back. I'm still no one's servant." He looked her up and down. "I will show you respect in situations that call for it, I'll even defer to you on things that need done for the most part." He leveled a hard gaze on her, "but I'm not your servant and I'm not your slave. I am your partner."
She couldn't take this anymore! "Who do you think is going to provide for you? It's me! I will be providing you a place to sleep, food and anything else that you need." She huffed and turned toward the door, "since you can't do anything that a normal familiar can, I will have you do servant work for me."
"What then, can a normal mage in familiar do?"
She sighed, "normally I made you can see through her familiars eyes. And familiars can instinctively gather reagents and other materials for spell casting." She looked at him pointedly. "I can't see out of your eyes, and if you're not a mage, you probably don't know anything about magical reagents."
"Truth on the second part. Are spell casters don't need regents anymore." A mighty headache was coming on, so he calmed himself down. "Look, can we come to an accord on this? The only thing I'm not doing is dressing you, and I'm only asking for some respect. Does that really warrant such a bad start?"
She looked at him hard. There was truth to his words, he never truly complained about anything but dressing her. However, "do something here to gain my respect," she started.
"I've believed you come from another world. There's nothing here quite like the things you have shown me." She moved past him to the door, "but your full story is too outlandish for me to believe fully yet."
He shrugged, figuring it was the best he'd get. If he were from a place like this he probably would've thought him crazy too. "I can deal with that. Not like I haven't had to earn respect before."
"I'll give you a small breakfast but then no food till tomorrow. That will be your punishment for the disrespect."
"I can accept that." He said. "I'll grab up the laundry when it becomes lunchtime today. " He fished out his Wayfinder and addressed her again. "Oh, and by the way Miss," he flicked the compass open, and spinning with light was the small jewel. "Taking food from me won't work. This little guy keeps one fine without food or nutrients."
"Wh-what?" She had nothing to control him with from the start? "But you said-"
"I said no food. I said nothing about magic stones that keep me from needing to eat" he said cheekily. She began to tremble, face a bit red and bangs hiding her eyes. "That's... Probably enough buttons pushed."
"I take it back! No breakfast for you!" She yelled. "And no magic stones either!"
[Jean Colbert's Office]
There was something off about the rooms that appeared on that human familiar. Jean was sure of it. The fact that there even was a human familiar was enough to ring a few bells for him to start looking into forgotten lore.
He was sure he'd seen it once in his studies. He - There!
ᚷᚢᚾᛞᛟᛚᚠ
The Runes of Gandalfr, one of the four familiars of Founder Brimir. But, this couldn't be right. Gandalfr was known as the Left HAND of God. But the symbol appeared on the left arm, just under the shoulder.
Just what was going on with this odd Familiar? More research needed to be done.
[Alviss Dining Hall]
"So how does this thing work again?" The pinkette asked, eyeing the small clear stone. She was sitting near a wall whist Kamvex leaned against it.
"It's called and Ioun Stone," her famil- Parther explained. "And there are two ways they work. One is how I use it, in the Wayfinder or a standard issue Starstone Compass. Or alternatively, you hold it for a minute, let go, and it orbits around." He started waving his finger around as demonstration.
She looked sceptical, but he'd given her the stone after a brief chase as a sign of good faith. She had yet to eat as she was thinking of trying this.
"Hello there Louise!" Came a voice she really didn't want to hear right now. She let go of the stone and turned her head to face the Germainian girl.
"Hello Kirche, what do you want?" She asked tensely. If this was just to bother her about yesterday then she was just being an annoyance.
"Oh I just came to see what all that yelling was this morning," she tittered. "There sounded like quite the passion coming... From your room..."
Louise hazard a looked up to see the busty woman looking confused at something. She quirked her eyebrow and turned to Kamvex, noticing more eyes on her. They were making her uncomfortable. He, however just stood there before pointing up. Confused, she looked, and saw floating a two feet away was the stone.
She then looked at the food on her plate. She realized that she could eat but she wasn't hungry anymore. The stone really worked! "See, easy as that." The bronzed man said walking towards her. "Though just like that," he snatched it out of the air, and her hunger returned, "the effect can easily be undone."
At just the wrong time too, as the wait staff coming in showed it was time for class. So now she had no time to eat. Perfect. She sighed in resignation and got up. *Stupid Familiar, making me miss breakfast. How am I supposed to concentrate in class now?*
She grabbed some bread and made to put it in one of the cloak pockets, but stopped when she felt an unfamiliar weight in it. And then a familiar sensation of fullness came over her. She checked the pocket and inside was the Captain's Wayfinder. And from the glow, the stone was working as well.
She looked ahead as Kamvex waited at the large double doors. He gave a quick salute and a wink, before holding the door for her. "After you, madam." He bowed and held out his hand directing her.
She smiled and held her head high, nodding her thanks to him. She paused briefly before breaking the small bread loaf she took in half and laid it in his outstretched hand. His confused but appreciative look made her blush lightly.
Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad after all.
AN: So a real quick note on chapter length. I'm not going to have a set limit on how long a chapter should be per se. I've never felt good about having a set limits other than it may be more than 2000 words, but I'll probably have decent natural start and end points for chapters.
This one in particular was not supposed to be where it is right now. The entirety of this part kind of just took off on its own direction that I hadn't planned for. So much so that I actually had to change the title of the chapter.
I would like to say thank you to those of you who have been reading for these first 36 hours. It means a lot to me. See ya next time!