[h1][color=da9100]Berenice Eldri[/color][/h1][hr] Berenice was quite eager to finally talk to the magus in charge of her, and the urgency in her step as she walked around, searching for her attested to the young Novitiate’s mixed feelings. On the one hand, she was excited to finally start her real journey through the unknown and mysterious, that which only official Magi of the Cults were privy to. On the other hand, there was a feeling of nervousness deep within her, mainly due to some abject fear of not doing well in her studies, as well as the unknown environment of the Cult of the Serpent. She had caught glimpses of their members once or twice, mainly whenever her father had a meeting with some of them for official things and she happened to be at the house. At the time she had been around 12 years old, barely having started learning about magic. Her father had summoned her over to their main house in order to check up on her progress. Unfortunately for her, he had failed to tell her that he had also invited two certified Magi, close friends of his, one of them being of the Cult of the Serpent. Her first impression of the man was quite normal; with a smile on his face, the Magus had done some simple tests on her that she would later come to know were for her aptitude in Biomancy. During one of the tests he had shown her several papyruses with strange, distorted shapes drawn on them. Every time he pulled up a new picture, he would ask her to shout the first thing that came to her mind. Berenice still remembered the look on his face when she’d shouted “YOU!” right in front of his face after he’d shown her one particular picture. The man had gone from puzzled, to embarrassed and to angry in a matter of seconds. To her defense, however, the picture really looked like the man’s face, bald with a stubble and recessed eye sockets, and a nose as big as her little finger. --- She chuckled at the memory, and the snake tutelary shifted under her Novitiate robe in faint agreement. Atum peeked his little head outside, surveying the surrounding space. His black, forked tongue slithered out of his mouth occasionally, taking in the strange scents of food, drink and general merriment. After a while he turned around and looked at Berenice, and she knew immediately what he wanted. [color=da9100][i]“Look, I know you are hungry, but you really should’ve eaten back at the table. I brought the food off the table for you, but you refused to budge.”[/i][/color] Berenice’s retorts immediately dampened the little snake’s mood and he made his dissatisfaction known to her by the usual way – smacking the end of his tail on her calf. Not too hard, for it would leave a mark, but not too soft either, for it would not count as a protest. It was not the first or the last time Atum had behaved like that. Berenice quickly came to realize her tutelary’s peculiar personality after she had summoned and bound it to herself: needy, picky, arrogant and clingy are a few of the personality traits that she especially was not fond of. Whenever she refused to do something for him, Atum would protest in this passive aggressive way of smacking the end of his tail on her calf. At first it had been funny, but Berenice very quickly grew bored, and even annoyed of it. Alas, no matter how many times she’d tell him to stop, he would always start again after a while, with the same beat and cadence as previously. Eventually she grew numb to it, but that didn’t stop him from using it as a means to show dissatisfaction. [color=da9100][i]“No, I need to find the Magus and greet her. Help me look for her and I’ll get you an extra big portion of meat to eat later.”[/i][/color] The snake looked at her for a few seconds before deciding to believe her words. His tail movements slowly came to a stop as his head picked up the pace, peeking out of the cloak and searching for the Magus himself. --- It took some time for the two, novitiate and tutelary, to find Magus Nevrakis as she had quickly removed herself from the dais after the short ceremony, mingling with the rest of the crowd and partaking in the celebrations. Berenice found the Magus seated by a table filled with people unknown to the young novitiate. After coming a little closer, she noticed a familiar figure attending to the Magus’ needs. [color=da9100][i]“Sarahi? That’s an interesting way of currying favor, I didn’t have you for a person that cared about those sorts of things…”[/i][/color] Berenice thought with an odd look on her face but chose to abstain from commenting for the moment. Instead, she went ahead and introduced herself. [color=da9100][b]“Greetings esteemed Magus. My name is Berenice Eldri. It’s my honor to be under your tutelage.”[/b][/color] Berenice gave the Magus a slight bow, her hand in a fist and over her left chest in the usual greeting of the Order Sekhmet. [right][sup]Greeting and getting greeted by [@Dead Cruiser]. Misunderstandings ensue [@Hero][/sup][/right]