Intruder of a Lesser Degree

Late morning. Lunie tip-toed into the sitting room, as if the slightest misstep would immediately alert the others of his presence. It felt almost a crime to be here, giving a new thrill to his harmless jaunt around the different houses. Until now, he'd kept within the safe reaches of his own dorm, but curiousity had finally gotten the better of him.

He'd half-expected a completely different world, but to his disappointment, the room seemed almost identical to the Dobhran sitting room. To his fortune, nobody else was present. May as well take the chance to explore when he had the chance.

Strolling across the room, he stepped towards a chair, stroking his finger against the smooth, wooden surface. It didn't feel any different, but that wasn't his intention. No, this was a Caora chair. It just was different. It intruiged him. It felt almost too sacred to sit on, so he left it for the time being, venturing towards the window.

The view wasn't much different, but Lunie found his gaze entrapped, unable to look away. "...Woow," he mumbled, staring out. "Caora view... much nicer...!"

Larita burst through the front doors of the Caora house with her shoulder. She dragged her suitcase through the opening and dropped it on the floor along with her matching dufflebag. She leaned one arm against the doorframe and took dramatic breaths as if she had just run a marathon. Eventually, her breathing slowed and she blew some stray strands of hair from her face. Pouting, she patted her head, trying to tame her brunette hair as she made her way across the marble floor, her tall heels clicking loudly with each step. When her hand brushed her forehead she noticed a dampness. Was that... sweat?!

With an exasperated sigh she fell into one of the cushioned chairs. She lifted and straightened her leg to get a good look at her shoes, the heels of which were thick with mud. "Oh eww," she whined, letting her foot fall back to the ground. She looked around the room, and that's when she finally noticed the little fluffy yellow guy standing near the lounge window.

"Oh my god," she said outloud. "What the heck are you supposed to be?" She looked the small creature up and down. Since she had lived all of her life up til now as a normal human girl, she was completely unaware that such strange creatures existed. She had expected to see others that were special, but nothing quite like this. Could its brain really work properly? No, probably not. Maybe it was some sort of magical servant or something. Yes, that must be it.

"Well, whatever you are, don't just stand there. My bags need to be carried in. And I need to be shown to my room. The service in this place is pathetic." She pointed to her rolling suitcase and dufflebag which were still lying on the floor and rather heavy with shoes and clothes. Larita brought her hand up in front of her face to get a good look at her nails while she waited.

Lunie jumped noticably when Larita spoke to him, and he swivelled his head around to look at her. He hadn't noticed another presence enter - too busy daydreaming out the window view. It was too late to run now, she'd seen him, and she clearly didn't look at all pleased about it.

Cringing, he awaited scolding, but instead recieved a blunt question. He stared oddly at her. His tail twitched. "I'm a..." he started, only to be cut off when she continued listing commands. Glancing to the baggage and then back at Larita, he seemed to understand immediately. The poor girl looked exhausted! She probably would need assistance.

Smiling, he stepped towards her, eyeing her appearance up and down. "A-are you... a caora?" he asked, tentatively peering at her nails along with her. "B-because this is a caora room, yes?" He giggled slightly, albiet unsurely, to try and lighten what appeared to be a bad mood.

"No worries about bags," he assured, reaching to grab the handle of the duffel bag. He expected it to be an easy lift, so it surprised him when it didn't immediately rise. "Huh?" He tugged again. It failed to move even an inch. "Is... is stuck to the floor! How is...?!" He began to whine, his wimpy efforts at lifting it proving rather futile.

Larita raised her thin eyebrows at the creatures twitchy-ness. What was he so nervous for? She thought about the question for less than a second before she shrugged it off, unconsciously deciding that she didn't care.

"Caora?" she asked then began to tap her fingers on her jawline. She knew she had heard that word somewhere before. "Well, I don't know.. some woman just told me that my room was here, so I came in. It's not very nice, though, is it?" The last question was directed more to herself than the fluffy creature she assumed to be a servant as she took in the room for the first time since she'd entered it. It could hardly be considered large for a sitting room, and there were only two sofas and three chairs.. barely enough to host a decent sized party. And all the furniture looked so wooden and old.

This train of thought was interrupted by the creature's struggles with her bags. Larita stood up in frustration. "Is everyone around her so useless?" she shouted, quickly followed by an equally frustrated sigh as she stomped one foot against the floor. "Oh, forget it. Just take me to my room."

"I think it's very nice," he defensively piped, still tugging pitifully at the bag. He did miraculously manage to lift it almost an inch from the floor. Once. It landed back on the floor with a 'thud'. Lunie looked exhausted.

He winced at Larita's shouting, cowering with his ears tucked behind his head. "I sorry! I not meaning to being not carrying...!" Looking rather ashamed, he nodded slightly at her following request. He'd only just met her, and he'd already disappointed her! He sorely hoped she'd be kind enough to forgive him.

Opening the door out of the sitting room, Lunie reached to take Larita's hand, aiming to pull her into the corridor. He looked out into the corridor, his eyes narrowing with thought as they skimmed over the different doors. Finally, he turned to Larita again. "...Where is your room...?"

Larita waved her hand dismissively at the creature's apology. "Whatever."

She stood up and let the small yellow thing take her hand, following him into the corridor as she smoothed her dress with her free hand. With each step she stumbled a bit, as her feet were all blistered and tired. She barely paid attention to where they were going, assuming that the little servant would take her where she needed to go. All she wanted to do was get to her room and lie down.

She stopped short when he spoke and widened her eyes at him dramatically.. "Where is my room? Well, how am I supposed to know? I thought you knew. Geez, what kind of servant are you anyway?"

Upon realising that his escortee was just as clueless as he was, Lunie released her hand, dumbfounded. He glanced around quickly. There was no one else that he could shove responsibility on. Eventually, he shook his head. "Nu uh, I'm a feluis," he stressed, only vaguely aware of the concept of servantry.

He looked around the doors, deciding that he shouldn't just leave her standing around. Taking a chance, he opened one of the rooms, peering inside. Thankfully, there was no one inside, so at the very least he wouldn't get told off by them. Taking a tentative step into the room, he saw that the room was remarkably plain- it didn't seem to be occupied by anyone. It was almost like his own, he saw. He wondered if it was the same in every dorm room.

He turned to Larita, smiling sheepishly. "I... I think maybe you can go in here? Is much empty saving for bed and window!" Holding his hands together, he looked at Larita expectantly, anticipating a no doubt pleasant reaction.

Larita waved her hand dismissively at the creature's insistence that it was.. well whatever it said it was. Instead, she looked over him into the empty room. As she didn't know where her room actually was, she assumed that the creature was right in pointing her to this one. There was no one else in it, after all, and she was exhausted. So assuming that this, in fact, was her room, she was furious. And the first thing that the girl noticed was the sheer lack of size.

She pushed past Lunie, standing in the middle of the room, her mouth agape. "This is my room?! It is way too small! And why is there only a twin bed.. I specifically asked for a king! A king-sized bed! How am I supposed to sleep at all in this tiny little wooden piece of crap?" She kicked at the leg of the bed, stubbing her toe and sitting on the mattress as she held her foot on her lap. "Ow!" she cried. "Why is nothing going my way?"

Larita's pushing was unexpected, and the feluis probably would've toppled over if he hadn't regained his balance in time. Staring at her, he was confused at her disappointed reaction. Hadn't he shown her to the right room? Still, she seemed pretty distressed, and Lunie wasn't about to stand by and watch her awful mood.

Before he had the chance to comfort her, she kicked the bed for some reason. He shrieked horribly, almost as if she'd just been mutilated before his eyes. He immediately rushed forward by her side, patting her shoulder sympathetically. "I'm so sorry!" he spluttered, out of sheer force of habit. He looked down at her foot, unwilling to touch it incase he made this supposed injury worse. "How- How is I helping for you? Making feel better?" he offered, not sure what to do for himself.

As soon as the creature shrieked, Larita's hands flew to cover her ears. The screech was unusually loud and Larita stared at the source of the horrible noise. "What the crap was that?" she asked, an accusing tone to her voice. "Do you want to make me go deaf as well as lame?" She removed her hands from her ears only to put them back. She did this a few times until she was satisfied that she could still hear. She scowled at the tiny yellow beast before turning her attention back to her foot.

She held it in her hand for a moment, still cringing against the supposed pain. Then, she looked up at the very attentive creature in front of her. And, even though she had been talking to him for about 30 minutes by now, it was as if she just noticed him. Beside the rather ridiculous amount of yellow fur, and the absurd size of his eyes, she realized that he was slightly adorable. She had had servants her whole life, but none that had seemed quite so energetic about serving her. She smiled at him and nodded in response to his question. "It still hurts though," she said, pouting. "I think it's broken."

As she spoke, she removed her red shoe, examining the big toe which she had stubbed. It was not broken as she had so dramatically supposed, but rather just a shy shade of pink. What was more astounding, however, was the line of dirt left where the edge of the shoe had rubbed against the top of her foot. "Ewww!" she cried. "That's disgusting!" She had walked much longer than she was used to on a road that had much more dirt than she was used to. She stuck out her thumb and tried to wipe the line away, but it had been rubbed in and only smudged at the attempt to remove it.

Lunie blinked apologetically at Larita, seeing as she reacted badly to his scream of fear. "S-sorry," he stuttered, twiddling his fingers anxiously. "I-I can't help it! It just comes out, I thought y-you got really hurt!" Bowing his head slightly, he pouted. “..Sorry.”

Her prolonged reaction to the pain was worrying, and all he could do was offer a nervous, comforting smile as she attended to it. When she started eyeing him, his gaze retreated to the floor embarrassedly. Despite her only being a new student, she had a rather superior kind of presence, a presence that almost made him feel unworthy standing next to her. "Broken?" he echoed, glancing at the pinkened toe. It didn't look broken, but then again, what did he know? He'd have to take her word for it.

At her failed attempt to rub the dirt away, he sighed. Licking his hand just below the palm, he leaned in close to rub away the dirt with said hand, a far more efficient tactic than merely smearing it.

Larita felt the wetness on the yellow creature's hand and her first reaction was to pull away. "Hey! What makes you think I want your spit on my foot!" she shouted and glared angrily. She stared at him for a moment before she looked down at her foot. Whie disgusting, the spit did do the job, wiping away the streak of dirt. She looked between the creature and her foot, and then sighed heavily, shoving the almost clean foot back at him. "Oh alright, if you must," she said as if cleaning her foot had been something that he wanted to do. "I'll just wash it with soap later."

Then an idea came to her. No one else in this place so far had been willing to carry her bags or do her chores, but this little guy seemed more than willing, eager even. Larita bit her bottom lip as she thought. Perhaps, she could get used to him after all. "Hey," she said, a friendly smile suddenly appearing on her face. "What's your name anyway?"

"Hmm!" Lunie's reaction to the girl's snapping was a mixture of fear and annoyance, and he flinched backwards, sticking his bottom lip out in displeasure. He hadn't expected her to suddenly start shouting at him, especially not after his selfless act of conern. He huffed, slightly offended, that is, until she mysteriously decided to 'forgive' him, shoving her foot near him again. The mood whiplash was appreciated, and he smiled in satisfaction as he was allowed to finish off what he started.

"My name?" he echoed, almost shocked at himself. How could he have not told her? However, the idea of sharing things about himself greatly appealed to him, and he immediately raised his ears in eagerness. "Oh! My name is Lunie! Please not call me anything else!" Bowing his head, he continued. "Your name? Is it nice name?" His gaze momentarily detatched itself form the floor to eye her dress, which he tentatively reached a hand out to stroke the material. "Are you is humen? You look and sound like humen, I-I think!"

Xanyu opened the doors into the Caora dormitory. She stared into the hallway. It was a simple hallway, but none the less, looked better than her old home. She walked in timidly, clutching her small satchel that only carried two outfits provided by Mr. Narving. She wore, at the moment, the same simple white tunic and shorts that she had worn over the last ten years. Her ears perked up at the sound of people in a room further down the hall. She walked slowly down the hall. One voice seemed frustrated and a bit, maybe, royal. The other was bubblier.

As Xanyu reached the room, she stayed out of view of whoever was inside. She listened in, the voices having calmed. She stood there a moment, unsure whether to confront the owners of the voices. She finally decided on trying to talk to them, timidly poking her head into the doorway. She froze there, surprised by the small fluffy creature.

After a moment, she finally composed herself enough to speak "U...Um....Is everyone a...alright? I was w..wondering if you might know of any empty rooms I could board in? I was only t...told to come here..." Her voice was even more quiet than usual, and she hoped she wouldn't need to repeat.

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You don't mind if I join? I always did want to rp with Larita. But if you do mind, I can delete it.

"Ah, Lunie," she said in a high-pitched, too-sweet voice that one might use to speak to a young child or a puppy, reaching forward to pat the creature between his ears. "Yes," she continued, her voice reverting back to almost normal, though still oddly pleasant. "I have a beautiful name. It's Larita. La-ree-ta." She smiled widely, tilting her head to the side. "And you are a very good friend to have, I think. Do you have many friends?" she asked, leaning forward. But before the conversation could continue, they were interrupted by another very strange looking creature. As the little grey-thing spoke, Larita furrowed her eyebrows, wondering if every other student in this place was some sort of odd furry beast. How had she never noticed them in the world before? It's not like they'd be able to hide or anything. Unless they pretended to be dogs.. possibly.

While she was busy with all this wondering, Larita didn't quite hear what the new creature had said. Besides, she had spoken in an absurdly quiet voice, a trait which Larita never understood, even in humans. "What?" she said when the creature was finished. "You have to speak up if you want anyone to hear you, ya know." She leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest and waiting, perhaps a little annoyed that this new creature had interrupted.


((I don't mind at all! Ignore Larita.. she's grumpy now but I think she might learn to like Xanyu.. from what I've heard ^^.))

As he was patted between the ears, he smiled coyly, removing his hands from her dress to instead coil his tail around his fingeres, fiddling with it mindlessly. "Lar-ee-ta," he repeated, before grinning in approval. The name was indeed as beautiful as she claimed it to be. That said, it was no difficult task meeting Lunie's standards at all.

At her compliment, he giggled feverishly, ducking his head in embarassment. She thought he was a good friend? His heart leapt, and it didn't fail to show through his estatic expresion. Before he had the chance to reply, a tiny voice interrupted him, and he immediately spun his head around to gaze at the new being with wide, interested eyes. "Aaa..!" he gasped in slight surprise, not only at her sudden arrival, but her rather outlandish appearance. It took Lunie a few moments to realise that she wasn't a monster about to devour them, and he smiled apologetically.

"Oh, Larita (he pronounced the name with great satisfaction) said you have to speak louder, so please!" he nodded, mimicing her crossing of the arms. Despite what he said, he had heard and understood Xanyu's words, although he had difficulty comprehending the stuttered words. "...You can room here if you wanting," he quickly added afterwards, unable to resist.

Xanyu nodded, her voice raising to it's normal volume. "S...sorry. I was wondering if you knew of an empty room I could board in..." She took a good look at the two. The smaller, yellow one seemed nice so she guessed being kind was the best way to not get on his bad side, if he had one. The other one gave off a more impatient and maybe abit pompous. She thought, to keep on her side, being docile and saying many compliments will at least keep her from getting too mad.

Xanyu stepped abit into the room. "R...really?" She asked the yellow one, "I thought you two w...were the occupants....And I wouldn't want to intrude too much. You probably have more important stuff to do than talk to me." She bowed her head, "I'm sorry if I am any trouble. Um...Might I ask your names? M..Mine is Xanyu."

Larita looked at Lunie in shock. "She can't stay here!" Larita said firmly. "This is my room." Larita crosses her arms stubbornly. There might be two beds in here, but she had no intention of sharing her personal space with anyone. She eyed the newcomer up and down thoughtfully. At least she seemed polite, and another possible good servant if Lunie didn't work out. Of course, there was also nothing wrong with having two. "But I suppose you can stay here for a few minutes, but that's all. Don't get comfortable."

"And yes, as Lunie so kindly pointed out a moment ago, My name is Larita. Larita Marten." The girl didn't stand up to greet Xanyu, but remained in her seat on the bed, waiting to see what the other would do.

Lunie looked notably disappointed when she rejected the idea of them rooming together. Wouldn't Larita get lonely witohut a roommate? Lunie himself had endured a period of time with no one to room with - he couldn't say that he'd allow others to share the same unfortunate fate. Luckily, Larita reluctantly withdrew her statement and he smiled in satisfaction. Heading over towards Xanyu, he hoped to take her hand in his, if she allowed it.

"I'm Lunie," he mentioned, despite Larita already addressing him. "Are you Caora too? So is Larita! You two can be such good friends!" he optimistically assured, giving the sitting girl a playful look, hoping she would agree with him. As he said this, he opted to tug Xanyu a little closer to Larita - it was rather awkward when they were all a distance apart.

Xanyu widened her eyes slightly. She was confused when Larita got mad at Lunie. He wasn't doing anything wrong. She was glad that she wasn't kicked out at the moment. She was hoping to get some help. It surprised her when Lunie pulled her inside the room more. "Y...yeah. I'm in Caora." She looked over at Larita, "I do hope we can be friends, you're a very...lovely person." She smiled not expecting a smile back.

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sorry it's short. I was in a hurry

Larita did smile back, with one of her sweet, innocent smiles that she saved for those times when she was aiming to get something that she wanted. "So," she said. "What are [i]you?[/] then? Lunie here is some sort of creature, you must be some sort of strange thing as well. I never saw anything like you back home." Unable to help it, Larita was actually quite curious where both of these creatures came from. Of course, the curiousness didn't outweigh her own desire to talk about herself.

"I mean, at least I look normal, right? No one even knew how special I was. They just knew that I was beautiful, but that's not so abnormal. You couldn't have possibly gone to school, could you?" She was responding to Xanyu, but her question was directed at both the creatures in front of her, as she made obvious by her wide-eyes which shifted back and forth between the two of them.

"I'm a feluis," Lunie chipped in when Larita disregarded the name of his species. He hadn't been offended though, but when others started calling him strange things like 'werecat' or 'yellow furry thing', he didn't paticularly appreciate it.

A hopeful grin at Xanyu revealed his desire to also be friends, even if the statement was not directed at him. He hadn't let go of her hand yet - he didn't seem to realise that he was still holding it. When Larita spoke of herself proudly, he gazed wide-eyed in wonder, sucking in every single word intently. At the question, he blinked, pausing to think. "Umm," he began. "Lillygard is my first school," he bashfully grinned. "Is such a nice place, yes? I learning to write and read!" Excitedly, giggling at the thought, his gaze slid downwards with giddy embarassment, fidgetting with the end of his tail with one hand.

Xanyu looked at Lunie, "A Feluis? I've never heard of that race. I guess that will be expected." She looked at Larita. She seemed to be interested in what Xanyu was, though she talked about herself in the way Xanyu thought she might. "I'm...a Draco Homo-Isoptera. Father said it meant I was part dragon, part insect, and part human."

Xanyu looked at the floor, her ears lowering abit. "Father never let me out of our home. He had me home-schooled. I was brought here by Mr. Narving." She looked up and cocked her head to the side. "You are very pretty. May I ask what you are? I mean, you look like a human, though better. Why are you here?"

"Learning to write and read?" Larita looked wide-eyed at Lunie. "What, does this mean you like, have to take special-ed classes or something? We can't possibly be in the same classes if you don't even know how to write and read yet! That would just be an absolute joke."

Larita continued by scoffing at the mention that Xanyu was part human. There didn't appear to be anything human about the dull, grayish creature. Insect and dragon though, yeah she supposed she could see that. "I am a siren. Well, half siren actually. And I'm here because I'm special, like you I suppose." She was, of course, glad that Xanyu had said that she looked better than a normal human, but she was still frustrated with both of the other's responses to her earlier question and showed this by letting out a heavy sigh while her eyes seemed to search the ceiling for an answer.

"But how did you hide?" she emphasized the last word slowly, to make sure they, what she meant "From humans, I mean."

Seeing that Xanyu had never heard of his race before, he smiled proudly, feeling all the more unique. After coming to the academy, he'd soon realised that he was the only feluis on the island. It was a lonely thought, but when he thought about it, most other people were in the same boat too.

He looked to Larita as she asked her question, nodding as he misunderstood it slightly. "Oh yes! All my classes are special! And I do know how to read, see, I learning so fast!" Poking his tongue out playfully at her, he continued to listen to her. He didn't know what a siren was, but they seemed to look a lot like humans. Then again, most things in this academy did.

"Hide?" he echoed, before smiling excitedly. "Maybe play like hide and seek? That game is fun! See, I'm good at that game, see?" He giggled to himself, before giving a sly glance to the other two. "I-I really am...!"