Allie strolled into the Skirmisher Club fairly earlier than she normally did. Other members may have noticed that her hair was more unkempt than normal, and she was rubbing her neck. She kept to the edges of the room as she sat down.

Of course, Allie had no intention of revealing the source of her discomfort to anyone, nor the reason for her absence from class the previous day. However, she had to deal with the ramifications of her choices in spontaneous, entire-day napping areas, and she silently hoped that sparring would help shake off her sluggishness and aching muscles.

Allie kept her back to the wall as she watched Tania's summon with curiosity. Allie didn't really go out of her way to fight summons, other than her own sparring drone. Some of them were far too tricky for her to handle at the current level she was at. Maybe if she had better equipment. Of course, there was only so much studying that she could do towards that front.

Allie stood up from her empty corner and took off her jacket. Other than watching Tania's summon fight, she probably was going to just stick to her own training drone for today, unless something out of the ordinary happened. Before the place got too crowded, Allie began doing some warm-up exercises.

Pela was a bit…. Anxious. That encounter with Sazel was quite stressful. She was so forward and… close. ”Oh geez… I’m feeling tired now.” She muttered to her harpy companion. ”Athena, what do you make of that Sazel girl?”

The harpy looked at her from the corner of her eye as they walked and soon enough her whole head turned fully around. ”I mean, she’s a bit suspicious in my eyes. Just… Be careful around her. Anyhow, if you’re tired, call out that sphinx and have her give you a ride.” Athena mentioned before disappearing into a number of scattering leaves.

”Whaa! A-Athena!” Pelanu exclaimed. She was not happy about this at all! ”C-c-c-come on out, Lapis Lazuli!” Nearby, a small sinkhole appeared and started replacing dirt with sand. From the hole a creature crawled out. The first sight of her showed off a feminine quality about her as she started to pull herself out of the pit. As more and more of her escaped the confines it became increasingly obvious to the outside viewer that she wasn’t human. Instead, an oversized cat body seemed to be the lower portions of her body, starting from her midsection.

”Ahh! Pelanu, my dear. I’ve missed you.” The creature known as Lapis Lazuli smiled as she shook some of the sand off. ”Why do you call on me today?” She added, walking close to the girl after making sure she got most of the sand off.

”Ahh.. Well, long story… But… Stress, tired, wobbly legs and you’re warm and relaxing to ride.” Pela told the creature, a sphinx. ”I was hoping you’d take me to the cafeteria…”

”Poor dear, I shall spare you the riddle today. Climb aboard…. And off we go!” Pela mounted on the sphinx’s back and wrapped her arms around the creature’s waist.

The repetitive tapping of the old crook against the stone floor of the school bled into the sounds of footsteps from many sources. Many students were on their way to the cafeteria for lunch. Nettle was no exception in this.

By her side walked the tall suit of armor, silvery with a green tint, that she called The Green Knight. It carried it’s large menacing axe as though it were weightless. In its hands it practically was.

The knight turned its head, casting it’s gaze over its shoulder down the hall where the sound of paws drummed towards them. Not an uncommon occurrence for either of them but there always existed the risk of getting trampled by a wayward summon if they weren’t careful.

Nettle looked over to see what had drawn the knights attention and saw the fellow student approaching quickly upon the back of her summon. She watched the student with care as they drew near, her eyes overshadowed by the hood which cast its dark shade over her face.

Lapis took her time in moving, not trying to bounce her rider up and down too hard. ”We’ll take it slow. You just need to feel better.” As they moved, they came upon something. ”Oh my. A girl and a suit of armor. How quaint.” The sphinx said as she took stop in front of the two. Pela, on the other hand, was trying as she could to hide from the other pair. Her head was obscured, yes, but her body was pretty obvious.

It seemed that the four of them were stalled to a halt in this hall. Looking up to the tauric entity and her rider Nettle listened to what the mount had to say. They remained silent for what was likely an awkwardly long time, the two of them still looking up at the other two before Nettle finally spoke.

“Hhhh… Hello.” The greeting escaped her lips like a dying gasp, the breathy nature of her accent drawing it out. The knight was silent as always, it’s eyes simply fixed upon the two as it stood by.

”Oh! She talks! Wonderful, I thought your voice was broken.” Lapis stated with a wide smile across her face. ”A pleasure to meet you. Well, a pleasure for me and less for her.” The sphinx said, pointing to the person attached to her waist. Said person smacked her a couple of times on the side. ”You may call me Lapis Lazuli.”

Nettle’s face had not changed from her default expression, a distant stare with no inflections of any emotion to speak of.

“Hh… O- oh. Hmy name is Nettle.” She had almost forgotten that when others introduce themselves it was socially expected that they trade names.

As the two stood there looking up at the one addressing them her gaze slowly shifted from the mount to it’s rider. She seemed frightened of them, or perhaps injured? Nettle didn’t have a solid read on her emotions or anyone’s for that matter. The behaviour of those outside her swamp was certainly quite different. It took some getting used to.

“Hhh… H-is hshe… Alright?” Nettle inquired, more out of curiosity than out of any serious concern.

”Perfectly.” Lapis giggled. ”If she wasn’t alright I’d be rushing off.” She continued, looking back to her master. ”She’s besides the point right now. Now then, since I’m here now… You may not pass unless thee answer my riddle correctly. How unfortunate.” She giggled and put herself in between Nettle and leaving. ”Now then, my riddle is thus. There is a house. One enters it blind and comes out seeing. What is it?”

Nettle tilted her head to one side, her long curved bangs swaying slightly with the motion. This was a strange and curious query by this entity who kept them captive until they answered this question of hers.

“Hhh… I am hnot familiar with, hhhh… Hriddle.” Letting the creature know this she moved her train of thought over to the question asked.

“Hh-I would suppose it hwould depend. Hh-are you asking what a house is or what it is?”

”Clearly the riddle is over “what sort of house would one enter blind but leave seeing.” Tis’ not hard.” Lapis said, cocking her head to the side slightly. How odd this human was so far. ”Dost thou wish to leave?” She asked, just to make sure. ”Or is my beauty that enrapturing?”

Despite her words Nettle looked only somewhat confused over the matter. All the while the knight was so still it wouldn’t be unreasonable to mistake it for a decorative stand.

“Hhh… Hleave?... Depends.” Taking in the variety of responses the mount provided she mulled over each one, going down the list in her mind to summon up her own response to each one.

“H-if it is a house hyou wish to know of in the hhh… Question regarding a variety of house hwhich deals with mending sight, hhh… Hh-an optometrist’s house, o-or building rather, would be h-an answer. Hhh… People with difficulty seeing h-often go to those to have their sight hrepaired.” The only change on her face after delivering the answer was but a couple blinks, her face quite still as she puzzled over the remaining question.

“Hhh-as for your beauty I do hnot know… Hh-am I supposed to be? I understand hsome beings use visual cues to lure prey… Hlights on angler hfish… Alraune’s likenesses to human mates… Mermaids in a similar hmethod.” As she started on this line of thought her voice slowly descended into a whisper as she was half talking to the mount and half to herself. All the while her gaze slowly fell, first scanning along the height of the mount until she was looking upon the floor itself, her eyes far from occupied with the sight at the moment. Just then her eyes flitted back up to meet with their inquisitor’s own as a question emerged.

“Are you… Hhhunting us?” With that question the knight’s posture changed slightly. It went from standing by to interposing it’s weapon between it and it’s summoner. The head of the axe had not shrunken down since the confrontation back in the herbology clubroom and it had not dwindled since then. The knight’s grip on its weapon was firm.

”Easy now, child.” The sphinx said, pointing the bottom end of one of her paws at the knight to tell him to calm down.

”If I was hunting you I would have pounced on you as your knight here was not quite at attention. No, I am merely riddling you so you may pass. I am not so crass as to not give some chances. I’ll even give a hint as you remind me of my master in a way. All away from home and house in this land of the civil. Speaking of houses, it is not the house of an individual but a type of house. It allows you not to see in a literal sense but in a metaphorical sense. If your knight can communicate I will allow two heads to work as one.”

Stranger yet. Nettle and the knight remained uncertain of this summon. She pressed on with her riddle all the same.

“Hhh… I am, hhh- not well h-accustomed to metaphors.” Nettle replied. “H-I am hstill somewhat unfamiliar with double entendres… Or hwas it double meanings?”

Nettle remained silent and still like her companion as she dwelled on the meaning.

“In a way, I suppose. Mayhap I should give more of a hint. Being blind is not knowing.” The sphinx said with a small giggle. Lapis was hoping that would be enough information for the girl to figure it out… But… “Think about your surroundings a little bit.”

“Hmy surroundings?” Nettle looked up from the mount and scanned her surroundings.

“Hhh… H-the answer, is it Hl’mordryn Academy?” After all, it was a building with knowledge in it.

“Heh. Well, not the exact answer I was looking for but I’ll take ‘Hl’Mordryn Academy’ for now.” Lapis giggled. ”The answer I was looking for was a ‘schoolhouse’. Children go in blind to the world and when they leave their eyes open.” Lapis wasn’t quite like the sphinxs from legends and such. She asked riddles for fun. There was hardly any reward so the punishment like-wise barely existed. ”I’ll have to think of one for you next time.”

For a good half a minute Nettle, like her silent companion, was still and silent as stone. The only evident motion came when she blinked.

“... H-I’m not hwell accustomed to metaphors.” The answer the summon was seeking made little sense to her. It wasn’t like people who came to this school were blind and even if they were leaving it would hardly improve their sight. Such a strange summon she was to her.

“Hhh…. A- anyways I remember hyou said we could pass if hwe answered. I hshall be passing through this hall now.” Nettle and her cohort turned to continue on down towards the cafeteria before Nettle stopped, remembering something just as she was leaving.

“Hh-ah, yes. H-in parting we hshould trade farewells.” She muttered to herself aloud before turning back to the mount and it’s rider.

“Hhh… Goodbye Lapis and hhh…” Nettle’s words slowed to a still as she realised she didn’t know the rider’s name. She was not informed of what social protocol was in effect when one involved party did not disclose their name at the beginning of a discourse. For the first time in this conversation Nettle’s brow furrowed slightly as this conundrum put her mind to real work.

“... Hhuman?” She awkwardly raised her hand and pointed at the tan woman sat upon her quizzical mount. Maybe not the best approach to this puzzling social dilemma but Nettle was in unfamiliar territory.

Lapis laughed. ”This is correct, though her name is Pelan--” She cut her sentence off as the said human was hitting the side of the Sphinx’s body. ”PELANU!” She yelled to get it out. ”Anyhow, we’re heading to the cafeteria.”

More puzzling behaviour, this time out of the rider rather than the mount. Nettle didn’t look less confused about it all.

“Hhh-any ways,” She paused, thinking if that was the word she was looking for. “Hh-I too am hheading for the cafeteria. Hthat would mean I, hhh… I hwould see you later hh… Pelan’pelanu?”

Nettle figured the name of the human was Pelan’pelanu, not deducing that it was an unintentional interruption and not a purposeful glottal stop.

Not that Nettle could see, but Pela was tensing up and hitting Lapis’ side again. ”Indeed, fare thee well Riddle-Less human. I shall accost you again in the future.” With that, the sphinx started to walk off towards the cafeteria.

With that Nettle and The Green Knight also took their leave. This of course resulted in the four of them walking together in relative silence towards the cafeteria, having bidden the other leave but staying the same course to the same destination. Nettle, like the knight, kept to herself as she quietly walked down the stone halls. Her crook tapped all the while, a gentle rhythmic clack against the tiles with each tap of her old wooden aid.

After the encounter with Pelanu, Sazel had moved on in her quest to get drawing materials, however, to her dismay, by the time she arrived at the academy’s supply shop the staff was away on a break. Of course, she could wait thirty minutes or so, but that was too much for Sazel. ”Ah, I guess the path to greatness is never easy.”

Then, on the side of her vision, she caught sight of the announcement board, approaching it, she noticed the current list of clubs and gasped. ”There is an Artisans club?” that was even better than what she had planned, with their aid, she could finally deal with the greatest obstacle on her quest to solve the mystery.

Marching down the halls on a quick pace, the metal buttons of her unusual outfit chiming as she went, Sazel quickly reached the door to the club, opening it as gently as an overexcited girl with poor common sense could, which meant opening it quickly and loudly, striking a pose as if she had just broken some magical barrier.

Sazel is greeted by a sparsely populated room, only seven or so individuals in total. Most were huddled around a buxom young woman who at first glance seemed to be nude, save for a thin cloth draped over her shoulder and flowing loosely between her legs. A few students, and the model, turned to the young Bestia invoker as she barged in, pausing their sketching to look at her with annoyance before settling on mild surprise. Apparently they were expecting someone else from that entrance. Behind the small group was an elevated desk, at which a silver haired young girl(?) was laid face down, heavily snoring and ignoring the rest of the gathered party.

The young noble took a moment to take in what she was seeing, though her reaction was not one of awkwardness at the sight, first because she didn’t particularly follow social convention so the repulsion to nudity hadn’t been hammered into her mind, second because she knew the basics of what art academies did from one time in which her aunt took her to the one in the capital of her duchy. Of course, this room was way, way below the standard of that one, even though that one was already a dreary example of what an academy should be

She ignored the stares at the moment, simply walking around the half-dozen artists and the model, stepping towards the elevated desk before taking a deep breath. ”Good evening! Are you the leader of this club? I need to speak with them about serious matters!” she told in a loud piercing tone.

The young girl looks up at this new noise, purple eyes glaring holes at Sazel for interrupting what was decidedly nap time. ”I am, unfortunately. What do you want? Can’t you see I’m in the middle of very important work?” They ask, shuffling a few papers and laying their head back down. ”If this is about the modern art expo we did last week only two people were seriously injured and the school agreed that it didn’t happen. So whatever claims to damages you have should go to Cogsworths’ office for rejection. Not mine.” They add, grumbling slightly.

”Interesting! Another student who can do things while they sleep, I used to think I was odd for that skill, but you are like the fourth person like that I have met. As expected of a club leader, I guess!” she observed with a slow nod before her eyes shone at the mention of modern art. ”Ah, so it was your group which held that one exposition? That is cool! It sounded very fun from the descriptions, made me wish I was there, but I guess I just never cared much about art… until now!” she slapped her hand on the desk, looking quite dramatic as she finished the sentence.

”I need to learn how to draw as quick as possible! There is something that may or may not be important in line, leading to things that could possibly have consequences!” she started, arms up, metal thingamajigs chiming. ”And as such, I decided to join your club, after all, where else would I find people willing to help, plus, there are free pencils! So please, tell me the ways of the art of… art…? How do I start? Is it by drawing naked girls?”

The girl stares at Sazel, eyes glazed over as if not paying attention. ”...First off. No, the pencils are not free. We PAY for those. Or atleast they come out of the club budget. So if you’re here to snag from my pencil horde I swear to god I will hentai hog tie you to the school flag pole.” She says, eyes stern as she sits up fully and glares at the other members. ”That goes for all of you fucking moochers. You especially Clark! Yes I know it is you fucker don’t think I don’t.” She yells, a few of the members flinching but continuing to sketch.

Turning back to Sazel the girls sighs. ”But other than that yeah you can join the club. Normally I’d tell you to fuck off but the school has informed me I can’t reject people from the club for being a hassle. I’m Fran. It is...a thing that is happening to met you.” She says, offering a limp hand to shake. ”As to how to learn...we’ve got books for that if you want to borrow some. We’re also doing a workshop on anatomy right now, so you can join the others in sketching Rena in still life for review. That’ll tell us at what level of inept you are working with and I can show you how to improve from there.” she adds laxly, sounding like she would only do so under protest.

It took some time for the bestia to fully get she had been accepted, she was receiving too many mixed messages from this club leader. ”Wow? For real? You know, from the amount of curse words I thought this would be harder, the chroniclers had me writing a three page report on the spot and I am not even allowed to disclose the tests for the exploration club.” she shrugged. ”But hey, what type of person complains about easy things, not me, that is who! Ah yeah, my name is Sazel Zivrik, Bestia summoner, Adept tier one.

Sazel raised her hands to behind her head and walked idly to the bookcase, taking the one that seemed to be the most newcomer friendly and skimming through casually. ”Hmm… yeah… seems to be what I imagined it would be… hmm! Bleh, this is boring, I will just go to the more interesting practical bits and draw some butts or whatever.” with that, she took a pencil and a blank canvas.
Fran grumbled something incomprehensible and laid her head down, ignoring the new comer as they settled in. A few of the other club members gave her a cursory nod before going back to their own work. The model, however, shot Sazel a playful smile and nodded to an empty space in front of her, evidently inviting the girl to join their little semi-circle.

Sazel nodded back before dragging a chair to the empty spot, sitting on it and placing the canvas in front of her, keeping the guide open on her feet before starting to look at the model, imitating the people in the pictures the book by closing one eye and raising the pencil.

A few of the other students chuckle at the display but otherwise do nothing. The model sits quietly, holding her pose comfortably. Now that there is a chance for closer inspection, it looks like the ‘naked’ girl is in fact somewhat modest. If one counts flesh colored panties and tape over her breasts as modest. The quiet persists for a while, only the occasional clearing of a members throat or the snore from the club leader disturbing the silence.

After twenty minutes the girl from the back stops snoring and raises her head. She checks the clock on the wall for a brief second before speaking. ”You losers have 15 minute remaining to finish your sketches.” she states blithly, earning her a few glares from the other club members. ”...don’t give me the ‘tude. Skirmishers reserved the room for a post work out dick measuring contest. Don’t like it tough titties.” She says, finally picking up a pencil and starting her own sketch silently.

Sazel does her thing for a bit, having arrived late being new to all this. Seeing the worries of the model in staying modest she quickly connected the dots and understood who they were expecting when she ‘invaded’ their room. Soon, time was over, Sazel pouting softly at her work… it wasn’t anything to call her a brilliant newcomer, but… it wasn’t that bad either, already a step up from her doodling from before, albeit more time should have been spent on the structures of the body and the overall picture instead of spending so much effort into useless decorations and patterns over the canvas. She sighed. ”Whoa, who would have guessed moving a pencil around could be so tiring. Hey, Fran, you said I could borrow books, right?” she asked, turning, wondering if the leader would even be up or focused on whatever dream dimension work they were so busy with. ‘Well… if they weren't, they couldn’t say yes, but they also couldn’t say no to say, borrowing some books, paper and a handful of pencils’ Sazel thought, smirking.

”Fuckin fine by me…” Fran grumbles, not looking up from her work. ”Literally said you could. Just leave your sketch with me or Rena...Thats the naked girl, and we’ll have notes for you next time.” She says, scribbling quickly across her canvas. Looking at it, it seems Fran didn’t even bother trying to copy the model, instead sketching out the rough structure of a much thinner girl, fully clothed, girl hunched over some yet as defined compartment. ”Just be sure to practice every night. You’re fucking worthless right now but you’ll keep being worthless if you don’t bother. And I can’t be ass’d to review the same shit over and over again.” She huffs, a tentacle sliding out of her clothing and quickly snatching up a finer point pencil as she leaned in to fix some minor detail.

”Yep, I get that this is worthless alright. If I drew the mysterious girl from the photo the teacher had, people still wouldn’t be able to recognize her. And oh! Of course I will train a lot, the sooner I do this, the lesser is the chance of me forgetting the features.” Sazel explained, forgetting she hadn’t even given the proper context on the situation yet. ”Thanks for the help today, and thanks to you too, Rena.” she said, keeping the courteous tone, even though now she was on a 50/50 on whether the chronicle club would see an anonymous report on the state of the art club as soon as she had her sketch of the mysterious girl made.

Although Max found the current situation amusing to watch, he wasn't exactly the hugging type, or so he told himself. He instead turned his attention to Livia. He had only caught the tail end of the conversation, but he had heard something interesting when walking in. He called out to her from the table, "Hey, Livia. I think I overheard that you had a new summon. Do you mind telling me about it or showing it off? I could use a distraction from all this cuddling in the name of science mumbo jumbo." Max crossed his arms and looked around, "If you all don't mind doing some show and tell." He signed, "I'd do the same, but I don't have a summon right now." He smiled, "But, I can tell you a bit about my new summon project I'm working on." Max said, then pressing his fingers together, he grinned as if he had a wonderful secret to share, "It is a creature so dangerous that I think with the right equipment it could be unstoppable. Curious?" Max asked, hoping to get some attention.