A new interviewee walked in.
“Welcome.”
“Hello,” the girl said excitedly. She handed him her application form and the interviewer let out a sigh of relief. Maybe this one would be normal.
As he read the form, everything checked out. Feier Fiammetta was a seventeen year-old human girl from the Federation. The form said she had
black hair, fair skin, and green eyes. He looked up at the girl. So far, so good... and then from ‘Magical Abilities/Skills’ to ‘Hobbies and Interests’ were various drawings of fire.
“It says here your magical skill is... fire. Would you care to explain?” He was surprised by the burst of excitement he saw in the girl’s eyes.
“Can I give you a demonstration? Is that legal?” The words spilled out of the girl’s mouth so fast that the admissions officer couldn’t even tell if he heard her right.
“I don’t see why not.” He answered. What he was expecting was a small flame to appear in the girl’s hand. What he was not expecting was for the girl to set her own head on fire. If he had learned anything from his past interviews, it was to expect the unexpected. Everything from the neck-up was in flames, but the girl didn’t seem to be phased by it at all. She looked surprisingly soothed by it.
“Can I do the rest? Is that legal?” The girl asked.
“You mean...set the rest of your body on fire?” He looked at the room around him and decided that it was not at all fire-proof. The chair behind the girl was wood, for example.
“Yeah!” She exclaimed. The interviewer decided that she was much too excited to be setting herself on fire, and that he wanted to take as little health risks as he could for the rest of the day. Interviewing the past two were dangerous enough.
“I think I got the gist.” He said. He was almost saddened by the look of disappointment on the girl’s face as she extinguished her fire and sat back down, but his safety was more important here. “I take it you’re fire-proof.”
“Yes!”“Is that why the drawing next to Magical Quirks is a picture of a girl with long hair on fire?”
“Did you like it?” She gleamed, anticipating the other’s answer.
“Yes. It’s a very skillful piece of art.” He said, smiling when he saw the girl quietly cheer to herself. It wasn’t like he was lying, either; the drawing had quite a bit of detail to it for how small it was. He could tell that the girl on the paper was the same girl in front of him right now. Maybe that explained why there had been a picture of a girl drawing fire next to ‘General Skills.’ “Anyways, what else can you do?”
“I can set things on fire by making them hot. Oh, and I can make my own fire.” She grinned and raised her finger towards the man. Several sparks appeared before the man ducked just in time to avoid a small jet of flames.
“Why!?” The interviewer cried, looking behind him. He was surprised to see that neither the doors or walls had been burnt.
“To show you, duh,” She said matter-of-factly.
“I can put out my own fires, so you really had no reason to be scared,” She crossed her arms and looked to the side.
“Plus it was a slow one.”“Sure...” He looked at the girl like she was crazy. As if he would’ve seen that coming. In any case, he thought it’d be safe to get the topic off of any volatile chemical reactions. Perhaps it’d do them good to talk about her backstory.
“So, why are you here?” He asked.
“I burnt down some, uh,” she paused for a second to collect her thoughts.
“Some things.” The admissions officer raised an eyebrow.
“What kind of things, exactly?”
“Oh, y’know. The things.”“I don’t really go around burning things down, so I wouldn’t know. Most people don’t.”
“Okay, okay,” she took a deep breath.
“I may have burnt down a few buildings.” She said. The admissions officer’s eyes widened and looked like he almost fell out of his seat. Taking note of this, she tried to save herself.
“There weren’t any people in it! I thin-“ She raised a finger and stopped herself from shooting herself in the foot.
“Nobody got hurt.”“Are there any other incidents I should know of?” He asked. The girl’s uneasy and forced laughter gave him his answer. “Never mind. Why did you do it?”
“Stress.”“I’m surprised you even feel negative emotion.” He remarked. Feier looked slightly offended in response.
“That’s what everyone says!”“When I’m stressed, I tend to exercise.”
“I do that too,” she pouted,
“But fire looks so cool. And it’s so relaxing.” The admissions officer sighed.
“Would you mind taking a few suggestions I have for stress-relieving activities?” He tried to ask, but was only met with a quizzical sound in response. It seemed that the girl was entirely focused on the small flame in her hand and not the interviewer. He waved his hand. “Forget it. What exactly did you burn down?”
“Well...” The girl away up to avoid eye contact.
“It was...” She drawled. She looked visibly embarrassed by what the full story must’ve been.
“It was?”
“Don’t rush me!” She yelled, the fire in her eyes making the man shrink into himself.
“It was a new area they had built in this other school, for science research or something.” She drawled.
“Didn’t the top magic school in the Federation get a new science wing built recently? And then it mysteriously got burnt down?”
Feier leaped behind her chair and gasped loudly.
“How did you know that!? You... you spy!” She pointed her finger accusingly at the man. She cleared her throat and put her hand down. Her attempt to look put-together and calm would’ve worked if it hadn’t been for her previous blunders.
“Not that I did it.”“I see.” She definitely did it, he thought. Though, it was still impressive that she was able to get into such a school. He ran out of questions on the form, so now was the time for him to quell his curiosities. “How’d you get in?”
“Oh, it was easy. I got in by-“ She paused, lit her hand on fire, and lightly hit herself in the head with it.
“If, in some universe, I were to have gotten into that school, it would’ve been with a scholarship achieved after they recognized my magical abilities.”“Would you mind explaining why you weren’t put in some kind of magical jail?”
“In another universe, they did. Then, in that same alternate universe, the unnamed school let me out for some reason. Maybe they liked the hypothetical fantasy me.”“You’re really doubling down on this story, huh?” The glare that Feier gave him made him correct himself. “Sorry. You’re making it clear that you’re telling me about a what-if scenario?” He chuckled when the girl nodded slowly. She didn’t seem as intentionally dangerous as she did unpredictable. “Is there anything else you want to tell me?”
"Nope.”“Alright, let me just write a few things down...”
Feier is a 5’6” 17-year-old girl. Likes to wear rings. Is quite energetic. Seems to have a short attention span. Would recommend to keep her distracted somehow. Also seems rather genuine. Shows symptoms of pyromania. Is terrible at lying. Gullible? Likely. Friendly? Probably. Eccentric, definitely. If roommate, hide all flammable valuables so they are safe from her potential ‘stress-relieving methods.’ Good at drawing. And she is...“Do you use a wand?”
“Of course not.”a barbaric individual.He stopped writing once he was satisfied with his quick summary of the girl. “That will conclude our interview.” He considered putting out his hand to go for a handshake, but remembered that she could light herself on fire. He opted to get up and open the door for her instead. “I wish you luck.”
When the girl happily walked out, the admissions officer wondered how many more of these he could survive.
