<div class="floatright">(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQbgyjauXhO1CEQQmnGiDe8O0jXLFBLToZgKysWmzMC_63iTaLkxPcPie5lUa77LKvxDJc&amp;usqp=CAU)</div><br/><strong>Merriweather's office</strong><br/><br/>The student nodded slowly, noting the title. She seldom actually needed writing utensils, well practiced in memorizing things of relevance to herself. Relying on having access to notes was foolish, as they could be both stolen and hard to get in an emergency. “<em>Illuminating the Shadows.</em>” Alundra repeated, just to show she was paying attention. Sometimes people were creeped out by her silences, thinking her aloof or addlebrained. Her nose crinkled at the mention of teasing… People either couldn’t leave innocent things alone, meddling where they should just mind their own business… Or, far worse and hugely destructive, ignored the terrible they couldn’t deal with and buried their heads to avoid the routine horrors perpetrated by neighbors and churches, schools and authorities behind the thin protection of closed doors. Anyone who was a victim had to deserve it on some level, right? Because bad things didn’t happen to good people, and if nothing bad happened for ignoring evil, then well that must be right!<br/><br/>She had to giggle, shaking her head slowly. “Well, that’s kind of a shame, honestly. A pretty sparkly vampiress..” A little blush and quick shrug to indicate that the thought had slipped out. Which of course was false, someone like Alundra weighed each and every word well before potentially speaking it. But she didn’t mind flirting with the professor, not at all. And the younger….. much much younger redhead couldn’t resist. Such a good opportunity. “Less than a thousand? You absolutely don’t look over a hundred, professor!” The student chirped, a rare joke from the reserved, guarded girl. Oh yeah, the professor was gorgeous. Sign us up for private lessons! Still, what a weird world. Just under a thousand years, how common. And she had to shudder at the idea of how dangerous her new home could be… Were all magical cops bastards? The system in the normie world certainly had gaping holes for unwanted children and the poor. If Alundra hadn’t gotten shunted to the Special Problems department, it was pretty likely prison was in her immediate future. Miss Merriweather seemed nice, but rarely was something what it seemed.<br/><br/>The magical theory lesson was interesting enough to be listened to without thinking of disaster or ways it could be used against her. Though odds were high she’d end up like one of those urban fantasy protagonists,  coat full of pockets with counters for every situation.  “Magical poetry, hm..” Hard to say exactly where her thoughts were going on that one, but it was clear her attention was still held, her mind working. Maybe Shakespeare was a wizard? Actually…. “Was<em> A Midsummer Night’s Dream</em>a recounting of an actual night?” Donkey heads sounded like… well, frat boy pranks in the magical world. Yick.<br/><br/>The small one took the flask with a sweet, shy smile. For most people, such a small kindness was almost nothing. But then, few people lived with as much almost nothing as the lost ones like Alundra. And of course, presents from beautiful older women got extra appreciation. Not… that she’d ever fully succeeded in seducing one, but everybody had to have goals. “Thank you, professor…” She said all softly, eyes smiling up at the teacher. “That sounds like a really good plan, thank you. I’ll do just that.” Suiting actions to words, the girl headed over to the umbrella, gently shaking it to collect the drops. “Hey, utterly random question, but if I put three pictures of Fallingwater, the famous Wright building, as one of the ingredients, what would happen? Is that too metaphorical, or would it be a different type of spell? Or just silliness?”<br/><br/><br/><hr/><hr/><br/><strong>Where</strong>: Tuesday afternoon, deep in the library stacks<br/><br/>Back in the quiet sections of the library, haunted by the ghosts of books unwritten and the quiet whisperings of the tomes themselves, and overlooked by busts of obscure horror novelists, Alundra sat on the ground, leaning against a bookshelf. She had one uniformed leg propped against the far shelves, kind of slouched over to use the knee as a book stand. She was slowly flipping pages of<em>Introductions to Magical Theory</em>by Abdul Alhazred the fifth. The girl's lips moved quietly in time to each word, clearly reading out loud to herself inside her head. A natural speed reader she was just not.<br/><br/>