~Najwa Attar~
So this was Arkangrad, hm? Najwa smiled as she looked at the academy and the castle town below as she leaned against her 'father'. It certainly wasn't what she expected, though she had never been out of the ancient homeland of the Ifrit once in her relatively short life. Cool, salty air of the sea blew gently passed the two Ifrit as they observed the school grounds below. Various noises could be heard drifting up to their ears, foreign noises. Naj had made an effort to learn multiple languages so she could easily converse with the humans but to her ancient ears and mind, it still sounded so strange. Foreign.
"Worried, little flame?" Her 'father' questioned in their native tongue. At least, he was the closest thing ifrit would ever have to a true parent. He wasn't a father in the traditional sense, but rather - he was the one who gave his flame so she could be created. Not that parentage ever had much of an effect on Ifrit, but it was still proper to show the one who gave you life some sort of respect, always. She hummed quietly, a tune from the sands of her homeland, as the arm resting around his shoulder removed itself...and pulled the turban he was wearing over his eyes earning a displeased grunt from the vastly older Ifrit.
"...curious, mostly. They look so...weak and fragile." She replied in the same tongue with a light tone.
"Hmm...no wonder the war devastated them. Its an impressive wonder they survived so long despite being so utterly weak." She laughed.
"Humans are far from weak, little flame." He replied, straightening his turban.
"Hm...remains to be seen." Naj replied, a bit more seriously.
"Compared to me? The weakest flame in all of the sands? They are weak. Which is not saying much about their future. If they were smart at all, the would have saved themselves the trouble and signed their lives away to us for protection.""Naj!""Oh, it was merely a joke." Naj replied with a dismissive huff, sitting up and untangling herself from her father fully.
"They will not take it as such if you go around saying that, Little flame! You must be careful with your words, did you learn nothing before coming here?" Naj frowned, furrowing her eyebrows.
"...I should curb my tongue instead of speaking proudly and truthfully?""If it prevents conflict with the humans, yes. I have told you this before. We - the Ifrit - can simply not survive another conflict with these humans. There are so few of us left - barely more than a handful. You must improve relations with the humans and make them realize not all of us were like those...that committed so many atrocities in the war."Naj fell silent, looking at the fabric of the carpet that they were flying in on as it started its descent towards a cliff near the seaside. The large square rug was a relic of the Ifrit, one of the few remaining 'Flying Carpets' in existence. She couldn't understand, she really couldn't. She had tried to, but she couldn't. It be going so very much against her nature. Ifrit were proud. She was proud of her heritage no matter what they did in the past. Plus, she was strong - so much stronger than most humans would ever hope to be. She might take a few more decades to get there, but once she did...her strength
would be the truth, wouldn't it?
"You will understand one day soon I hope, little flame." Her father replied again
"...I will try. But it is not something this little fire can understand at the moment. Humans are so weak, so fragile...so delicate. The Ifrit are better than they simply by nature of our creators.""That is why you were sent here, Naj. To understand these humans."She remained silent, not replying for that would only further upset her progenitor. She couldn't understand. Humans were weak, Ifrit were not. Therefore, Ifrit were inherently better. That was logical, was it not? She just couldn't understand at all. She had sworn an oath she wouldn't intentionally cause trouble - it was the only way the other elders would feel comfortable sending someone with such a volatile flame as hers.
"I will do my best.""No, you must succeed! Use that Ifrit pride and fire to succeed, Naj! Ifrit's flame is not merely used for domination or destruction...least of all yours, little flame. Use that fire to succeed."The young Ifrit merely sighed, and fell silent. The rest of the descent continued as such, Naj sitting near the edge of the carpet watching the humans move about below, like little insects scurrying about. If she had vocalized that analogy she'd have gotten a smack upside the head, but that is what they looked like to her. Of course she'd succeed. Her pride would not allow failure of any kind, nor would it allow anything less than perfection.
Soon enough, the flying carpet came to a halt near the ground. Naj stepped off the magical vehicle, onto the grass below - causing a few blades to become singed merely from her presence.
"You can do it, little flame. It is odd for an Ifrit to say such a thing, I know...but I have lived long." He handed her a number of bags that she was to carry with her. A few decorative items and necessities from the land of the sands.
"I have thought long and hard, on our people...we are too caught up in past, tradition and our foolish pride. It is our nature, to be sure...but it is not something that we can not overcome with effort, Naj. You must believe this.""Of course." She took the bags, giving her progenitor a respectful bow.
"I will...understand these humans.""Alshams 'iirshadik, little flame.""And you, father." With that, the carpet rose vertically, before taking off in the direction they had come from. She watched the older Ifrit leave with some apprehension. She was somewhat glad he was gone. This conversation was not something she had enjoyed - she just didn't understand. She was an Ifrit. She was proud, and while she understood she couldn't throw around her power without repercussions, and she understood the value of human life...what she didn't understand, were humans themselves.
How they thought, how they think, or anything, really. They should be content to let themselves be protected by someone strong...like her. They were weak, and would only hurt themselves in the process.
...ah she wouldn't linger on those thoughts. She picked up the bags, easily carrying the heavy and somewhat large objects towards where she was supposed to go, leaving little embers of fire trailing off of her body as she walked. She could definitely feel a few eyes on her as she walked - as it should be. The humans at least, could easily tell when someone that was their better were present. She didn't make an attempt to converse with any of them, however. She had things to do and had no reason too. It didn't take her long to reach the clearing between the gardens. There were so many unfamiliar plants here that she would love to get to know...unfortunately, getting anywhere near plants would likely mean her burning them, as unfortunate as it was.
Still, she took a seat on one of the benches and listened to the headmasters speech. It seemed to be standard fare for a place like this. Nothing special. Still, Headmaster Wick spoke it with certainty and firmness. For a human, he seemed quite...gathered, at least. She might have even been wrong - but she felt a strong flame within him. A pyromancer perhaps? That would prove...troubling, but then, as an Ifrit among mages she was already in a considerably bad position if she got into a conflict.
Which meant it would be smart to keep her nose clean here. Not that she had any plans of causing trouble, of course. When the speech was over, and she found a piece of paper that was stuffed inside of her clothes robes somehow, she could only frown.
Four roommates? And some of the likely to be human or other lesser beings. She had never had a roommate before...this would prove annoying, and troubling. Well, she might as well go ahead and claim her dorm as her own for now then, shouldn't she?
Sighing in disapproval, she started walking, hefting the large and somewhat heavy bag over her shoulders as she walked towards the dorms. Hmph. She would have much rather preferred a room by herself, or at most a single other person. She wasn't entirely sure she could handle so many...others, in another area. She shouldn't have to be subjected to something so ridiculous. At least let her have some decision over her roommates. Complaints or no, that was the way it was going to be whether she liked it or not.
After telling a handful of people that no, she did not need their help with her luggage she finally made her way to her dorm. Upon entering, anyone inside the small foyer area would have noticed a near immediate five degree spike in temperature as she walked in. She took a moment to take in the rather...simple decor. Nothing she didn't expect. What was odd though, were the two doors splitting off from the foyer. One was open, and she could see a Lamia sitting inside waiting for what was probably more roommates with two beds visible. Ho...so inside the dorms, they were split into two separate rooms? Well then...she walked to the door that had yet to be open.
And was pleasantly surprised to find no one in there yet.
So what's the first thing she did? She walked into the room, closed it, made sure it was locked or at least secured from being open as best she could, and set about unpacking her things, tossing the bag onto the bed. First things first. A complete redecoration of the room. She of course, realized she couldn't have the entire room to herself, even if she'd prefer it...but that didn't mean she could decorate it as she saw fit.
~Viola Rifei~
Among the students that were arriving, one would note a girl that appeared no older than fourteen or fifteen at most, standing at barely four foot ten with long blond hair tied back into a braid, wearing a fairly elaborate looking purple dress. Upon her shoulder sat a blue creature made of odd flame like material, parts of its flame like body disappearing into the air around it. It vaguely resembled and extremely tiny fox, one of its ethereal flame-like ears twitching in idleness.
"Arthur can kiss my butt. I am not attending some silly opening ceremony. Totally boring." She walked down the street with a slow, waltz like pace. she wasn't going to be sitting up there with the rest of the staff and being a complete and total bore, oh no, she was going to find a student and play with them. Yep, that would be a lot more fun and better, wouldn't it? Yep yep. Much better.
The fox on her shoulder nodded in agreement.
"Heh, I wonder...there's always someone good to mess with on the first day here." She just had to find them. Preferably, someone incredibly easy to tease...one that was alone...and one that had no idea she was a teacher here! Technically, none of them should know but if there were some older students milling about or something she could get ratted out ruining her fun.
Of course she'd just spend the rest of the weak haunting them in the most horror storyish fashion she could, so that was probably a bad idea on their end. Most would know it, too. She was rather infamous among the students for choosing a random student every week and just constantly harassing them, and there was fuck all they could do about it too since it was mostly harmless. Of course, she had gotten into trouble with Arthur on occasion...but she would never take that crotchety old man serious ever again.
Well, when in doubt...find someone at random!~
With a childish chuckle, the fox leapt off of Viola's shoulder and sprinted in a random direct with her following behind it at a walking pace. She could keep up with her spirits easily enough.
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