Shape of Magic
Added 2024-10-03 02:12:51 +0000 UTCChapter 4 went up today on both AO3 and QQ, but have a sneak peak at chapter 5:
Still, her small exploration must have woken someone up for she heard, and then saw, another student walk down the stairs. Second year, a little taller than she was, named Caitlin if she didn’t mishear the conversation from the feast.
“Why are you awake?” The girl asked, rubbing at her eyes, “And why are your gloves white?”
“I grew up around…” She mentally counted, “On average fifteen other kids at the orphanage, you get used to waking up early.” Taylor shrugged. “And I haven’t had the chance to dye it yet, I’ll probably go with black to better match the robes but maybe purple or green would work better.” She hummed lightly, thinking about it.
“I can tell you haven’t had time to diet…” Caitlin muttered, making Taylor pause for a moment.
The proportional response would be to insult her back, the girl had eaten her share of desserts during the feast and it wouldn’t have been hard to retort to the provocation. The Skitter response would have been to punch her, maybe swarm her with stinging insects. Weaver would have scared her, surrounding her in bugs for a few moments as a threat. It was best not to mention what Khepri would have done.
But she wasn’t them anymore. She was the Big Sister to fifteen other kids (including ones older than her, ha!), on average, and had grown past that. Besides, it was a rather simple and… childish attack, but a clever one. Carrot and Stick then.
