After the tour, Lucilia returned to her office. It was fun leading those students around on a merry chase, but now there was the matter of organizing their papers. Most of the students had hefty portfolios on them for record keeping, but there was also a notable handful without so much as a picture of them. Keeping records on the students were important for the sake of keeping track of them, not to mention making sure that the college didn't end up taking in an impostor of some sort. Not that it was an easy task, since Lucilia had to do it all alone for all the students. "Well now..." It was mostly her fault; she should have made a budget to hire assistants. Khan had his demons and Uicle had his golems, but Lucilia cut the budget for herself because she thought she could do it all alone. She could, not that she would want to. There was a little over a thousand students here at the college, more coming in and out at a moments notice. Not to mention the other hundred staffmembers she needed to keep track of, at least the living ones.
Lucilia was just about to get started when there was a knock on her door. Excited that there was something to distract her from her daunting task, with a wave of her hand she had the door open.
"Wooow..." A single soft voice was heard as the door opened, showing Coco's form admiring the way it was opened without anybody pulling it from the inside.
And then as she listened, she was able to locate the female she was looking for- Lucilia, the vampire. She did smell a bit like bat, but it was strange, because she also smelled human. Apparently half animal humans were a commo thing aroudn here, like the half-snake humans that were arguing earlier.
Remembering common manners, she bowed slightly before stepping inside and speaking.
"Hello, my name's Coco Bean, I'm a Foreas, and I can shock things. I was told by Val, the nice Rune Master, that I was an Electromancer, but that sounds waaaay too great. I think I'm more like one of those strange electric eels." She said, feeling the leaf shivers again due to her excitement, but forcing them back down.
"I was told you're a vampire and could turn into a bat. Can you speak to bats? Could I pet one right now? Are they the blood sucking bats, or the fruit eating bats?"
To Lucilia's surprise, a strange creature called a Foreas entered her office. She had read about them in passing, but this would be her first encounter. Sufficent to say, she did not imagine one to be so... Hyper. Still, this was not a bad thing. Lucilia listened to the Foreas, Coco Bean, speak a little about her (It? Coco appeared female) self. Apparently she was an Electromancer and wanted to know more about Lucilia. She imagined that that wasn't Coco's original purprose here, but she'd humor her for now.
"Yes, I am a Vampire. Lucilia Riovas. I can turn into a bat or into an entire swarm. I suppose my bats are a bit more... Unique than the ones you'd find in the wild. They're not too picky with what they eat. Here."
A small bat meld out of her hand, scratching it's head as if growing out of Lucilia was a natural thing to do. The bat flew over towards the Foreas, landing on her and inching across her body. Despite being a bat however, it was nothing like a real one, and the only similarities were in apperance. In truth the bat was a part of Lucilia, and shared her mind. Not that they were smart, but they had their uses.
b"I can speak to my bats, but I can't do the same for others. Now, Coco Bean, I don't suppose you came all the way here just to ask a little bit about me? Val did send you for some reason, didn't she?"
"Whoa! Val was not joking! You can actually turn into and make bats!" Coco said in surprise as the bat flew over to her. her body twitching and shivering in some places as the bat walked on them, as if Coco was laughing, yet no sound came out of her Artifact.
"It's cute, I like the bat. I think it deserves a name, maybe..." She began, lifting her hand and extending her index finger as the bat perched itself on it. "Climate? Clima? Clim?"
She quickly waved her arm, sending the bat flying back towards Lucilia. "Because it's warm and fluffly and makes me want to plant something."
On Lucilia's mention about her actual reason to be there, she thought for a short moment. Why was she there? She couldn't really bring up anything for a relatively long while, due to her focus on the bat. But after thinking really hard, she perked up along with her leaves.
"Admission! I was sent here to learn about my Mageblood, and I just wanted to know what I had to do to become a student. Do I have to take care of any offspring, water plants or bring you some knowledge?"
The bat came back to Lucilia, melding back into her skin. She didn't comment on the name, but made a mental note that should she ever have any reason to bring her bats out again around Coco, she might remember to name one of the Clima. But more importantly, the Foreas wanted to know about admission for the college. Lucilia sighed. More business.
"I see... If you don't mind, please wait a moment." Lucilia opened one box containing information about students. Unfortunately, it was not that well organized. Wasn't even inserted by alphabetical order. And this was just one box. But where others would need to take the time to read over each sheet of paper, Lucilia had an advantage most wouldn't know about: Word Searching.
All these pieces of paper were made of wood pulp from trees in her own grove, and she could feel the indention of each pen stroke with just a touch. Normally she wouldn't notice these things because it requires concentration, but since she needed to find anything pertaining to Coco, Lucilia began to focus hard. She skimed through all her files for words like "Coco" "Bean" and "Foreas". She took out the peices of paper that had those words, and by the time she was done she had only twelve. A quick read showed that none of them had anything to do with the guest in Lucilia's office, so she knew that this Coco Bean was a walk-on student.
After putting the papers away, Lucilia turned back towards the foreas. She has yet to see another Foreas at the college aside from educational text with illustrations of them. She wasn't even sure if they, being creatures made of what appeared to be wood, could even have blood at all. If they were cut, would they bleed red? She wouldn't test the theory, but it was something to think about. Still, the vampire couldn't ignore the fact that the Foreas was here, and whether she really had mage blood or not could at least be tested. "Well... There are a lot of papers that you need to help us fill out. Writing and such. I understand that if you don't know how, I can help you with that. I need to know some things about you like where you came from, who raised you, some things about your past. But these things take some time to put together, you know? And I'm very busy, as you may see." Lucilia laced her fingers across each other as she continued to stare at the Foreas.
"So to make sure that everything goes alright, you'll need to stay here at the college for a while, okay? Later, maybe tomorrow, you and I can meet each other again and you can tell me more about yourself. Does that sound good to you?"
Coco had to wait for minutes. Given the fact she could still think about the bat and its soft fur, staying silent was made hard, but she achieved it nonetheless. Lucilia looked through some thin objects. The ones made of meat often used these objects, and she had no idea why. But apparently they held information and knowledge, much like the Great Tree.
Eventually Lucilia spoke the requirements to be admitted, and Coco slowly tilted her head, growing increasingly worried due to the nature of the questions. The only true examples Coco was given were questions that she couldn't answer. She didn't know the exact location where she woke up from the pod. She wasn't really raised by anyone.
"Yes, you sound very busy." She said softly in reply to Lucilia's words, pointing two fingers towards her featureless face.
"I can do that! I can bring your bats something to eat. Do they like fruit? Apples smell good, so they should taste good to them, right?"
Lucilia smiled at Coco's eagerness, as well as her own failed preception check. Sometimes speech occurs faster than thoughts. As for Coco's offering of food, Lucilia polietly declined. "There is no need for that. But thank you for the offer. Now, before I send you off, I suppose I should at least find you a place to lodge for a while." Lucilia stepped out of her chair and over to her door. "Is there anything you need to feel comfortable here? I would offer you a room, but I'm not entirely sure how... You like to live."
Suddenly Lucilia was taken by an overwhelming urge to observe the life and action of Coco. As an herbamancer, a creature like Coco was surely something that would interest her. And she was suddenly drawing up blanks on what Foreas was like. As a professor of Herbamancy, she should not let this traversity go on longer than now. "What I meant to say was, is there anything I can do for you right now?"
Lucilia's offer of lodging immediately sparked up interest in Coco's mind.
"I want to sleep in a garden! With many many flowers and a few bushes." She said, stepping out of the office, clapping her hands twice to clear up her surroundings.
"I like the scent of flowers. I also like the pollen and the bees. Bees are nice." She mentioned, waiting for Lucilia.
"A Garden?"[ It was a strange offer, but at the same time, it might make sense for a Foreas. Being plant people, perhaps they like being in an open area with lost of vegetation. Lucilia could always give her a space in the Alchemical Garden, but decided against it. There were too many precious things there to let someone live there. Lucilia racked her mind with what to do, and came to a conclusion. It would take some time, but she was certain she could pull it off before tomorrow. But she'd need to start right now.
"Alright, I think I know of a place. But Coco, I should let you know that I'll need some time to prepare it for you. It should be ready for you by, say... After today's feast? After the feast, come and find me and I'll take you to your garden. Does that sound good?"
"That seems awesome, thank you Lucilia the Vampire Female. I'll see you after the Feast! And remember, many flowers and bees! Bees know to hit my ticklish spots, and they're nice to have around!" She affirmed, starting to walk down the hallway, waving goodbye back at Lucilia before disappearing on a turn.
Coco BeanThis College would be her end. Ever since she had put a step inside it, she had been the most excited in her life. The new scents, textures and sounds all got her mind working at nearly a hundred percent all of the time, and now, hours after her arrival, she was getting even more excited. There was a Feast to attend to- Some kind of tradition of the College, where most consumed things to live. Food and drink. Naturally, she would not be able to eat or drink any of what was served, but attending it was a surefire way to learn new things!
As she stepped into the huge Dining Hall, she could feel stares on herself. Though she couldn't really know who had been looking at her, she knew that she had garnered some attention... Probably it was the fact she was, well... The only Foreas there, along with the first Foreas they had ever seen. But that was understandable. She could feel a wave of heat rush over her body as she shivered in sheer excitement, standing still for a couple minutes as she listened to all the sounds and took in all the scents she could.
"Here we go." She whispered to herself, now focused on finding something really interesting to go touch and smell- And that's when she saw it.
A group of big floating stones! Now that was something she had to go feel!
And so she walked over to the floating stones, her leaves puffing out slowly before she laid her hand on one of them and gently rubbed it, trying to feel its texture the best she could.
"This stone is so weird! It feels so different..." She said to herself, placing both hands now on the stone and grabbing it to study it closer.
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