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To say Varis was displeased with this turn of events would be an understatement. The second he discovered what participating in this inane mage assessment required, he’d nearly marched over to Ryner’s office and gave her a piece of his mind. Leave a vampire blind in the hands of a mage? The commoners were understandable. They infested this sad excuse of an establishment and could be replaced as easily as rats but the [i]nobles[/i]? She collected the irreplaceable ones and now had the audacity to send them stumbling about in the middle of the night when their mages couldn’t see the tip of their noses? No matter that’s the point of the exercise. The fact still remained, the boy would be in charge of his safety and Varis was barely ready to let him be in charge of his correspondence, much less [i]this[/i]. 

On the bus he wanted nothing to do with anyone so where he would have normally invited Eris to sit, he sat Aaron on the outside and refused any sort of interaction. He kept himself together in public, even as he still wanted to [i]murder[/i], and focused instead on how to handle the situation with Ryner. She’d probably politely “insist” that he accept it because everyone else has to. Varis would tell her that was unacceptable because not everyone else was a noble and had a hand in council matters. Anything that resulted in his injury would ultimately reflect poorly on her tenfold considering the situation during revel. That’d be his angle. She couldn’t use some second rate news broadcast to hide anything happening to him and he’d make sure to remind her of that. As if Varis was going to rely on[i]the boy[/i] of all people.

But Varis was prepared for the inevitable. As he expected, the royal dogs planned on magically searching each of the students and right after the boy was done, Varis immediately offered his phone to the inspector. [color=f7976a] “Don’t bother. Just take it.”[/color] Varis snapped as the man took it, stashed it away, and put his hand out in front of Varis before he could leave. Varis gave the man a look that would have killed anyone else but he continued with his job without batting an eye. It wouldn't be the first time handling an upset noble. He had children at home too. 

[color=deepskyblue] “Compass, map, and pen light please.”[/color] The guard held out his hand. Varis’ jaw worked as he reached into his coat and pulled out the pen light, pulled the compass out of his pant pocket, and lifted his pant leg to fetch the map he’d folded so carefully out of his sock. He stormed past the guards and off the bus, furious that his ploy to get through this nightmare as quickly as possible was ruined, and scoffed at the words being blasted from a megaphone. Herding vampires around rather than mages? What a disgrace to vampire kind. These other sheep may be perfectly content being at their mage’s mercy but Varis would rather take a long walk at dawn than let any of them lead him anywhere. 

Ryner caught his eye and he stormed through the crowd, not bothering with avoiding people as he made his way through. She was making conversation with some nobody as if she wasn’t practically sentencing him to death and that just riled him up more. He made little effort quieting his approach and Ryner broke off the conversation with a sigh when he snapped her name.

[color=f7976a] “Do you really expect me to think I’m safe after your little slip up during Revel? You want to put vampires, the nobles, and me at the mercy of mages barely even trained in their magic when for all we know there could be another deraigned killer on the loose.[/color] Varis snapped, having at least the forethought to keep his voice down despite the situation. [color=f7976a] “I will not allow this nonsense to happen to me while the security of your campus is in question! They’ve had their magic and actual training for a few months! Vampires are the superior race― our entire body of law revolves around that particular concept, in case you’ve forgotten―and here we are, surrendering ourselves to the whim of mages? I will not be made to look like a fool, [i]Princess[/i], so you’ll either wave my need for this enchantment or cancel this whole thing all together, do you understand?”[/color]


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[center][color=FC8686][h1]Madalyn Vazquez[/h1][/color][/center]

Sleep did not come easily that day. What if she lost Ari somewhere in the woods? What if she got tired, ran out of magic, and had to forfeit the exam? Why was she being put in charge of a vampire’s safety so early on? She was a life mage. She didn’t really come with the skills necessary to escape a forest. Sleep came to her in bursts at first but eventually, she succumbed to sleep and resumed her normal routine of snoozing at least the first three alarms. There was definitely a process to her waking up and the sinking feeling in her stomach wasn’t making it any easier for her to face the day.

But eventually, she couldn’t ignore the alarms any longer and she hauled herself out of bed, stumbling into the kitchen where―and thank the Queen for whoever had the foresight to give them this―the preprogrammed coffee maker already had a pot of coffee waiting for her. She pulled out her favorite mug, poured herself a cup, added a healthy dose of cream and cinnamon, and leaned against the counter for a second while her brain caught up with the morning. She made sure to hurry up, being a little behind schedule, and launched herself through her morning routine. She picked out warmer clothes: A thick long sleeved shirt, pair of insulated pants, a plain jacket, a pair of sturdy hiking boots, gloves, and a scarf. When she shopped, she aggressively went for plain and nondescript in her clothing. She had no intention of standing out and only wore the nicer pieces that caught her eye to places that she felt comfortable with the people she was with. She tucked her focus into it's sheath and attached it firmly to her hip. Hopefully, she wouldn't need it but it was better to have ti on hand just in case.

[color=FC8686] “I wonder if it would look bad to have something confiscated.”[/color] Maddie thought out loud to herself. She really wanted another cup of coffee and she did bring a thermos but she wasn’t sure how far away the grounds were and leaving a half full thermos of coffee would be kind of gross. So, with a sigh, she opted against it. She left with Ari and trudged onto the bus, taking the seat next to the Countess. [color=FC8686]“This is more than a little nerve wracking.”[/color] She said softly to the Countess as the bus pulled away from the school. A name caught her attention, a fighter from the most recent Titan match. Another pair next to them was talking about the move one of the fire mages pulled, hiding a nasty evocation spell beneath the fire they started, that nearly won them the match when the air mage launched himself over top of it. Maddie listened in intently, adding her own piece or two when it felt appropriate.

When the bus stopped and it came time to seperate, she squeezed Ari’s hand discreetly before they stood. [color=FC8686] “I’ll see you soon.”[/color] She said as she followed the mage she was talking with on the bus ride. They kept up a conversation about the match, grabbing their bags and hand warmers before they split up looking for their names.