Gwynn, Swen, Maoin
Guest starring
that bitch Aetheria
The kitten's ears perked up as she heard the approach of her frustrating, irritating, problematic mistress. Her eyes drifted upwards, and the black haired girl stood at attention and she practically bounced up and down slightly and started to run towards Gwynn. After a second, the neko realized that was how a dog acted and managed to right herself about ten feet away.
The cat hoped Gwynn didn't noticed her uncharacteristic excitement. It was a little embarrassing to be found waiting out on the porch having no idea what to do aside from wait.
"I'm glad to see you've returned safely."Unfortunately for the cat though, Gwynn did in fact see. While she was a bit annoyed the cat had waited on her all day, a small grin crept across the blonds face as the cat slowed down and approached. Well, she couldn't resist just messing with her a little.
"I just went to the Library like a good little student." Gwynn chuckled with a grin.
"Anyways, if you're so eager for my affection you could just ask." She reached a hand out and started petting the cat's head as she started talking.
"Have you seen Swen anywhere? I wanna get this started. Found something that could help us a bit, heh~"Maoin leaned into the petting, closing whatever distance remained. Although she enjoyed it, the neko gave a quick glare towards her owner. Of course, she didn't resist it at all. It was rather pointless, since her twitching ears and swishing tail made her true feelings incredibly obvious.
Of course, something in the back of her head said that there was something she should have noticed about what her mistress had said, but the kitten couldn't manage a verbal reply as she practically started leaning into her owner. Pettings were a blessing and a curse.
The moment Gwynn stopped however, the cat would have something to say.
Gwynn simply stared at the cat, a small smile on her face as she continued petting her. Well, it wasn't exactly what she wanted, even if the cat was obviously enjoying herself. Meaning, this was getting a bit boring so Gwynn stopped, giving a small annoyed seeming huff, but she said nothing.
Maoin glared at her mistress with a deep scowl and a slight blush going across her face. Other people had been watching, and a few of them were laughing softly at the obvious exchange. The kitten herself wasn't exactly sure if she was upset because she was obviously enjoying herself, or upset because her mistress decided to stop.
The girl crossed her arms as her eyes eventually looked away from Gwynn, unable to maintain her gaze.
"... I ... mistress ... It's your job ..." The girl managed to collect herself after a few seconds, her eyes returning to her owner.
"A mage rewards the familiar when they choose, it's not my place to ask for such a treat."The blush ran across Maoin's face again, as she realized what she just said. The bench she had been sitting on caught the majority of her attention.
"Of - Of course I'd appreciate anything-" It seemed the girl was trying to come up with some sort of explanation about why she appreciated it, rather than simply admitting she enjoyed it.
Eventually, she changed the topic with an accusatory glare.
"And I'm assuming you went to class BEFORE you headed off to the library, mistress?" Maoin seemed back on her feet, ready to lecture her owner again.
"O-of course I went to class, heh." Gwynn replied in a fairly unconvincing manner. That aside, Maoin just behaved in a fairly cute manner. She couldn't act on it now but...hmm...IDEAS WERE HAD. For now though, change of topic away from her and her not going to class.
"A-anyways, have you seen Swen?"Maoin grabbed the hand of her mistress, pulling her back into the room so she could dress appropriately for commiting a robbery. Even though the kitten thought her mistress looked nice in long green dresses, the girl had to admit that perhaps the standard fair wasn't the best for such a covert operation.
As they entered the room and left public, Maoin started her lecture.
"No, I haven't mistress. And yes, we arranged it before I brought you home." The kitten had to resist the urge to go into detail about Gwynn overnight, so decided to get to her point.
"You KNOW this is a bad idea. If you decide to pursue such ... pointless ... errands with the Prince, that is fine. OUTSIDE of class time. But if you skip class again I swear I'll ... I'll ..."Gwynn's dress dropped to the floor and Maoin returned with the other, Maoin paused for a moment as she wondered what she could possibly threaten her mistress with. It's wasn't like she could spank her owner. This delay caused Maoin to be standing in front of her owner's exposed form, and a blush spread across her face.
Those few hours away apparently had made Maoin lose track of her game.
Gwynn let herself be ushered inside and let herself be derobed by the kitten. Was that a word? Well, it was now. Gwynn simply rolled her eyes as the cat spoke. It was certainly a...questionable idea. Bad? The only bad ideas were ones that got you put into immediate danger. Foolish though? Well, yes. Any good idea had a hint of foolishness to it. Regardless though, that last bit definitely caught her attention and was perfect opportunity to play with Maoin just a little. Not caring one bit she had no clothes on, Gwynn walked over to Maoin, barely a foot away as she looked down at the cat, a small, smug seeming smile forming.
"You'll what, mom? Give me a spanking? Take away my sword or something?" Her tone of voice was definitely challenging. Almost as if she wanted the kitten to try either of those.
Maoin fumbled with whatever words she had.
"I'll - I'll..." It seemed the kitten tried to form a response, but the blush had spread as her owner approached, kitty ears listening as her mistress delivered sarcasm so obvious that even Maoin noticed it. A few seconds later her skin was a shade of deep red, as the girl's blunder was exposed and her mistress pried into it.
The kitten had seen her mistress exposed plenty of times, although this level of aggressiveness threw the black haired girl off. The previous night's confusion came back to her, and the black haired girl's gaze looked towards the floor, unmoving. Her ears went flat into a submissive stance and her tail went between her legs.
"... I'll be irritated ... That's it ..." A few seconds passed silently.
"... Forgive me mistress, that was out of line ..." The black haired girl walked behind her mistress, helping her into the dress again without further comment.
Gwynn actually looked like she was pouting slightly at Maoin, but said nothing. Only a small sigh and a rather bored eye roll gave any indication of disappointment. Gwynn remained silent as Maoin dressed her, deciding to let her work in silence. Really, she had been hoping the cat would at least do something entertaining, but nope. She had half a mind to dress herself, too, but at least not doing so would make her happy. At least breaking into the library and meeting Swen could possibly be fun.
"You done yet?" She asked after a few more minutes.
"This isn't exactly some stuffy noble party, so I don't have to look all fancy, Maoin."The black haired girl raised a questioning eyebrow as her mistress questioned her apparel. It was a dark blue dress that ended just below the knees with slits up the sides to make sure it wouldn't be caught on anything. It was made of a ragged material that wouldn't cost too much to replace if torn.
If anything, her owner looked like an overdressed peasant in a more progressive part of Europe.
"Just making sure it won't fall off mistress ... done! Anyways, let's go. Your Prince is waiting for us!" Maoin began to lead the way to where the prince was waiting.
The pair of girls eventually arrived outside the library, where the prince was waiting in clothes that appeared far too casual for him. The only person dressed normally was Maoin, but her servants uniform could afford to get a little dirty. Either way, the Prince raised a questioning eye as the situation was explained by the neko.
"So, you managed to find something?" Based on his eyes, he looked excited, but based on his stance seeming a little fidgety, he seemed nervous.
"Yep, something that could help us." Honestly, Gwynn felt more comfortable in these clothes then she ever did in one of those fancy dresses. She was glad to be out of one of them and able to walk about in something that was easier to move in.
"But uhm, you alright there? You seem a bit nervous, Swen." She grinned impishly at the noble kid, .
"You're not gonna chicken out, are ya? That'd be bad, because I'm going regardless and anything I find I won't share with ya, heh. Can't have you messing anything up either, so if you're not gonna be behind this little venture a hundred percent, you might as well go home." While she
was mostly just messing with Swen, her words were somewhat serious. She had already decided on going after all, and if Swen was gonna be nervous about it and possibly screw something up, then she might as well leave him here.
The Prince shook his head, trying to shake it out of his system.
"I'm just a bit excited, that's all." It was a little embarassing to be teased by the pretty girl, but it was the truth. Any gentleman should be able to turn themselves to steel at a moments notice, and perhaps a little danger would help him out with that. As for the mage, he lifted up the large book that was his grimore.
"I am equiped with a few spells that may be of assistance to us. Spells of silence and detection galore."As for Maoin, she reached into a small satchel at her side and withdrew two sturdy lockpicks.
"I have my abilities as well. So what's the plan, mistress?" Both noble and servant eyes looked onto Gwynn as they waited. They both seemed to assume she had some sort of plan.
"Heh, plan. Right." In truth, Gwynn hadn't really thought of any major plan. She couldn't find anything about the layout of the Restricted section at all. The Headmistress probably made sure to get rid of anything like that. What she did find, was building plans for the school in general, including the library and the entrance. It didn't give any sort of information on what was actually in there - but it did reveal some information about the first door they would have to go through. At least its physical properties.
"So I did a little digging in the library and found some blueprints for the school." Gwynn began.
"Nothing about the Restricted section, but it'll help us get in. The door leading to the restricted section - at least the first one we have to go through - is a pretty sophisticated lock from what I read in the blueprints. If Maoin can pick it, we'll probably at least get in easily enough. You guys should know the door. It's the one in the Library that's kept locked at all times. The Hedmistress and the Librarian are the only ones with keys." As she spoke, Gwynn's voice picked up enthusiasm. She looked like a little kid almost, preparing to go on some world saving adventure for treasure and fortune. Chances were, that's exactly what she thought this was too. She probably planned to nab whatever valuable she could get her mitts on and get out of there.
"So no student has ever seen it. But according to these blueprints there's another door behind that one. I have no idea what that one is, but its big and probably has some sort of magical locks. The blueprints also mention several...theft deterrents as well. I have no idea what those are but the headmistress is probably hiding something pretty valuable in there to go through all that trouble. Who knows what else is down there, right?" It wasn't even much of a real plan, though to be honest. It basically amounted to 'get in, and go from there'. But they didn't exactly have a lot to go on, did they? Not that Gwynn minded, the uncertainty was part of the fun, after all.
Prince Swen and Maoin looked at Gwynn, nodding slightly. Swen raised his hand slightly, as if he was asking to speak.
"So the first door can be taken care of by your familiar. I have quite the stack of spells in here, so I should be able to take care of the second door. If you are suggesting there are guards, then perhaps you could fend those off? You stated you are the adventuring sort, after all." The man put a hand against his chin.
"Though I think we should keep evidence of our doings to an absolute minimum. There will be search for sure if we take too much." Something about Gwynn's mannerisms made it seem like they would be trying to take the entire place with them ...
Maoin didn't argue, but she gave a slightly dissaproving glare towards the pair as they countinued this plot.
"Well, I dunno about guards but if they have any, I can kick their butts." She grinned, punching the palm of her hand with the other.
"But yeah, we should probably not try and...take everything of...value." The pause in her words after that, probably clearly indicated that she was thinking about doing exactly that. Honestly, asking Gwynn to help you rob some place was probably not the best of ideas but it was too late now for them to do much about it. She was going, and if they tried to stop her it would only end badly.
"But standing out here's not gonna get us anywhere. Come on, this place probably has a lot of valuable loo-er, stuff that we can tak-er, study while we're there!~"The three of them entered the building, largely empty at this late hour. A few students were studying even after their second day of classes, and Swen would normally be along them. Today however, the three of them had a seperate goal. Rather than sneaking towards the 'forbidden door' on the back wall, Swen opted to walk towards it normally and simply appeared to look towards one of the bookcases and shuffle through it.
Strangely, the subject turned out to be
The Thousand Tales of Socha O' Mailoran, Radiant King of the Heavens, the Prince quickly flipped through the tome, and decided that at some later date he would have to check it out. He hadn't known the Phoenix to associate with dragons, so it would be interesting to study the relationship between two mythical beings.
While Swen thumbed through the tome, Maoin sat down and got to work, her ears clearly focusing on the lock as she pulled out the picks. After a quick glance towards her mistress for confirmation the kitten got to work.
After giving Maoin the okay to get started, Gwynn simply leaned against one of the large book cases appearing almost completely disinterested. However, she did keep an eye out for trouble - teachers, staff, or whoever else that could pose a threat to their little plan. Unlike Swen, she didn't particularly care about reading anything aside from some history and things regarding magic.
Maoin worked dilligently at the lock. Twenty seconds past, and the girl furrowed her eyes in frustration. Her ears heard the mechanism within with precision though, and soon she began to solve the thing as if it was a puzzle. For someone so keen on obeyng tradition, the kitten was an incredibly talented lockpick.
It still took her five minutes of effort. She had to pull out additional picks, eventually working with five at once as she started to jam some into place in order to keep some of the notches from returning to their original position. As her ears decected the final click, she turned towards her mistress.
"After you, my lady." Swen picked up on the sound, and returned the book to it's shelf as the servant opened the door.
Gwynn was getting a bit impatient by the time Maoin had finished. Really, five minutes? She could have frozen it and already smashed it in the time it took the kitten to finish. Maoin seemed pleased, though so she didn't say anything about that. Instead, she walked over to the kitten.
"Wow, for someone who doesn't like getting up to no good you're not half bad. Maybe I'll bring you with me next time I break in somewhere, heh." Gwynn teased the kitten, giving her a friendly wink but otherwise not saying anything. They had a job to do, after all. Gwynn stepped into the room first, not sensing any sort of magical traps or anything, but she wasn't exactly the best at that sort of thing. That said, she didn't seem too concerned anyways and walked straight into the middle of the room.
The room itself wasn't as large as she thought it was, about the size of one of the smaller classrooms. The room was windowless, the only source of light was a low hanging chandelier that lit the room. There was a desk near the wall to their left, as well as a bookshelf behind it. On the right, a few glass cases with...books in them? Perhaps they were valuable. Lastly, two, smooth wooden double doors were at the other end of the room. For the most part though, that was all that was in the room.
"Oh yeah," Gwynn said, turning her head to Swen as he entered.
"Might wanna lock the door behind you. It'd be bad if some teacher came and saw it was open."Maoin frowned slightly as she was teased, still disapproving of this entire adventure. Swen soon followed her bethrothed into the door, and the kitten obediently shut the door behind them after removing all her various tools.
Looking around, the Prince did his first step: he removed his Grimore, casting a spell to detect any magic in the room and identify it if possible. It was something many students missed out on, but it was extremely useful for this sort of adventure. Of course, it wasn't a hundred percent accurate, and there were methods of foiling the spell.
The pages of his book lit up by some radiant glow, and the biggest source of magic within the room was made immedietly obvious: the door ahead of them had enough protective glyphs to halt a small army.
"No surprise, that door is like the gate to a castle. I'll see what I can do." The wizard advanced, flipping to another page in his Grimore and attempting to dispel the magic. It was a rather advanced spell, but rather than expecting it to be truly successful he just wanted to get an idea of what they were dealing with. The Magierprinz chanted quickly, and the words on the page turned silver before what appeared to be a semicorpeal serpent headed to the door.
While Swen did...whatever he was doing, Gwynn had instead walked over to the desk. Might have had something interesting in it, at least. The desk was rather simple, though it did have a few simple embellishments carved into its wood. One side had a few drawers in them, though all of them had a lock making simply opening them somewhat complicated. She could have easily used her magic to break the locks like she wanted too earlier, but she'd likely end up breaking the entire desk in the process...which wouldn't be good.
"Hey Maoin," She turned her head to the cat.
"There's some locks on this desk think you can-"Before she could finish the sentence, the serpent creature Swen tried to use to undo the wards dissipated, being almost completely useless against the wards the Headmistress personally had installed. The frame around the door lit up, several runic inscriptions glowing with a soft blue light, and a softly glowing blue wall formed in front of the two doors as a number of other Wards formed from the attempted magical tampering. The door they had come through did much the same, a hard wall of blue light forming.
They were effectively trapped here unless they could undo the wards. Thankfully, the serpent had managed to deactivate the alarm that had been set to go off, but it didn't help them with dispelling any of the now buffed wards.
Gwynn simply stared at Swen, giving him a small hostile look.
"Wow, you're an idiot." She replied, definitely unimpressed with this turn of events. Well, it wasn't like she had much room to talk. She couldn't do much to dispel the wards, so maybe this was normal. Eh, either way she wasn't happy and she was gonna give Swen a hard time regardless.
Swen sent a glare in her direction, before he started to think. It was a rather nice system, but there had to be some way within the room to deactivate the wards. After all, it wasn't as if every time the headmistress or the librarian came within that they reactivated all the traps. If they had, one of them would have eventually become sloppy in their laziness.
Maoin started picking one of the locks that Gwynn indicated were in her way. Apparently the Prince and the familiar had reached the conclusion that the answer was elsewhere within the room, because he started observing the chandelier to see if there was anything he had missed.
Eventually the desk opened as Maoin worked on it, and she searched within to see if there was any sort of mechanism within. A few moments later, her hand touched a shining metallic object: a key that likely went to the door ahead.
"... Would ... this come in handy?" The kitten was looking over to her mistress.
"Looks like a key, yep." Gwynn said, giving a small huh.
"Probably the head librarians."At this point, Swen looked at her, and notcing the object appeared throughouly frustrated. The man was tempted to cast a magic detection spell to see where it belonged, but at this point the chamber was probably intended to be solved by more mundane means.
Swen decided to pick up the key, and head over to the glass bookcases the pair hadn't inspected yet. If there was a keyhole, he would attempt inserting the key into it. After a moment, the bookshelf didn't open.
Instead, the prince decided to walk towards the double doors and attempt another dispel magic. Now that the spell had appeared, hopefully it would be easier to remove.
Gwynn watched with mild disinterest and annoyance. Great, they had pretty much got locked in here and stopped before they even got in there. At least watching Swen fumble about with his fancy spells was fun. Surprisingly though, the barrier faltered for a moment, seeming almost as if it was going to give under Swen's spellcasting - and for a few seconds, it seemed like it did, only to reform a few moments later, the runes engraved on the door frame shimmering once again as they reactivated. Perhaps, those runes were what was keeping the barrier up.
"Hey, Swen...is there anyway we could do something with those...whatever they are on the door frame?" The question was, how could they get to them if they were behind the barrier? There wasn't any room to stand between it and the door, and the dispel only lasted for a few seconds. Maybe if someone was quick they could get the key and open the door, but she didn't think any of them were that quick.
Maoin at this point raised an eyebrow and thought for a moment.
"Perhaps if you cast that again, I can open the door before it resummons? Would it be possible for you to maintain it longer, your highness?"The Prince seemed to contemplate for a moment, looking through the pages of his book. He did have a dispel magic that was stronger, although there was only one.
Gwynn's eyes widened a bit at Maoin's suggestion, and before Swen could get a word off interjected.
"No, not happening, Maoin." Gwynn firmly, but quickly stated. For once, she looked oddly serious - and sounded just a bit concerned for the cat. They had no idea what that magic was capable of - hell, at this point it might try and turn anyone that touched the lock into bacon. Certainly Gwynn wanted to see what was in there - if she could try the lock herself she'd certainly do it, but Maoin? The cat could barely look after herself. No way in hell was she about to let her do something like that.
Maoin looked somewhat surprised at her mistress, and considered interjecting before lower her ears to the floor submissively. It was somewhat her job to risk herself in such a situation, but ...
"Of course, mistress."Swen tore a button off of the cloak he wore, making a suggestion as he looked at it.
"Perhaps we could test the barrier? It's in a school - it's probably not meant to kill us. Hopefully." At this point though, he wouldn't do so without the woman's approval. The Prince REALLY didn't want to irritate his date more than he already had.
Testing it? That seemed like a good idea, but...she grit her teeth, eyes glancing towards the floor as she weighed her options. As much as the obedient cat annoyed her, she didn't want to see her get hurt on her account or doing something
for her. Swen's suggestion though...maybe. She could care less if he got hurt, and he was right that the barrier probably wasn't meant to kill. After all, it would have probably been easy enough to set something up so that they'd have already been dealt with in such a manner if it was.
"Alright," Gwynn replied finally after a few moments of thought, she cast a glance to Maoin as she folded her arms across her chest and gave Swen a serious look.
"Test it or whatever."Swen tossed the button at the barrier, scrutanizing the effect on it. It of course, stopped. Swen retrieved the button, deactivating the barrier and throwing it towards the door. It of course, bounced back and hit him square in the forehead.
"Perhaps someone could catch her? She'll probably be fast enough, but the ground isn't exactly soft." Of course, Gwynn was the only person who wouldn't be busy at that point.
Maoin seemed somewhat relieved as she noticed the effect on the button, not too concerned about flying back. A cat always lands on it's feet.
"I'll do it." Gwynn was swift to volunteer, though she chuckled a bit at the button hitting Swen in the forehead. She almost wanted to see it happen again, but a thought for later.
"Lets just get this over with." She didn't have much more to say on the matter, but it was clear she wasn't too happy about this. For what reason, it was uncertain but her displeasure was obvious.
Prince Swen nodded in surprise, and the key twirrled in Maoin's hand. The neko approached the barrier as close as she dared, and the nobleman cast his spell once more to lower it. The cat proceeded to unlock the door easily, slipping through the barrier before it reappeared. She took a brief look around the next room as the nobleman looked over at Gwynn, ready to lower the barrier in their case.
Soon all three had slipped through, although Swen was tossed back once himself. Maoin clearly was excited, her ears high and tail swishing. Despite her disapproval, this WAS a change from the standard -Clean Clothes-Do Dishes-Inform Mistress of Duties- and was a reasonable change of pace. The Prince was clearly sweating from the exertion of having cast so many spells, and leaned against the wall and closed his eyes for a brief second. In truth, he was also worrying that the group had been detected, but by this point they were dedicated to the cause of entry.
Gwynn hurried in as soon as Swen lowered the barrier for them. She gave Maoin a quick once over, and upon seeing her mostly unharmed she seemed a lot more at ease.
"Well, after this, it's decided. Those nimble fingers of yours are gonna definitely come in handy in picking locks...hehe..." Judging from the look on Gwynn's face, she was already planning what exactly she could be doing with that skill of Maoins. Probably wasn't anything good, either. As the doors closed behind them, Gwynn walked over to Swen and gave him a friendly pat on his back.
"You did pretty good too!~" She grinned.
"Maybe you're not so useless after all, heh."Swen would have managed a more coherent reply, but the use of magic had depleted him and he only managed to respond with a friendly but weak smile.
With that, she looked at the room they had entered. It was about as big as the main library, and they were standing right in the middle of it. A blue dark blue carpet was rolled out on the marble floor in front of them with bookcases about half as tall as the room standing on either side of them. Directly to their left and rights, were staircases that led to a second floor where more bookcases were stacked. Above, several impressive looking chandeliers lit the room with quite a number of magic crystals, almost perfectly illuminating the room as if it was bright as day. Several decorative suits of armor with a variety of weapons seemed to rest against the ends of a few bookcases. Most were incredibly shiny, as if they had just received a good polishing.
That's not what caught Gwynn's attention though.
At the end of the Blue carpet at the opposite end of the room, in between two staircases was what looked like a large statue. It was a cloaked figure, made out of stone, its facial features hidden under a hood. Its cloak fell off of the pedestal it was standing on and flowed out onto the floor. In one hand, rested a long scythe, its cloaked head resting against the haft and the blade resting on the stone pedestal. In its other hand...a large, whitish blue crystal giving off a faint glow.
She had no idea what that was, but it was a big, shiny, and likely expensive and her eyes went wide at the sight of it.
"So...here's the plan. We nab that crystal and get out, sell it, live like kings."At this point Maoin actually grabbed the hand of her mistress, tugging it slightly. Perhaps it was innapropriate for her to do so, but the servant believed it was neccessary. While it was wrong to deny one's owner what they wished, it was also the job of a familiar to keep their mage protected no matter the cost.
"Mistress ... we should be more careful than that. We came here to get what we needed with minimal disturbance, stealing that would be ... a disturbance. We should let it rest." If her mistress actually decided to go towards it, the kitten would resist the more the closer they got. Gwynn would likely have to resort to physical action or her innate powers as Maoin's mistress to pry her off.
The prince, who had read books both fiction and non-fiction nodded in agreement. In every book involving the raiding of a tomb, a scene like that usually led to some degree of suffering on the robber.
Gwynn looked at Maoin, clearly unimpressed. At first, it seemed like she was going to approach that crystal regardless of what the cat wanted. However, after a few seconds of deliberation she gave a huff, deciding that she should at least for now, not attempt to take anything without seeing what else was around the section.
"Fine." She replied.
"But I'm not leaving here without something." And she wasn't either. Either she was getting that crystal, or something else seemingly of value. So they might as well start looking and see what this place had to offer, and whatever Swen was interested in she wasn't at all. She just wanted something that she could use for money...or possibly some sort of rare magical artifact.
Swen seemed to come back to his senses, and after quickly looking around the library in an attempt to figure out it's organizational system headed off to the section on Ireland, hoping he would discover something about his bethrothed's lands.
Maoin simply sighed in relief, but then furrowed her brow as her mistress seemed to countinue on her path.
"Mistress ... remember why we are here." The kitten dedicated herself to keeping a watchful eye on her mistress, deciding to make a secondary suggestion.
"We should at least follow his highness. We are standing right in the open here." The black haired girl, still holding her owner's hand, started to follow the prince.
She hoped her mistress would follow, and not be distracted.
Gwynn watched Swen as he left, walking over to some section about history about lands or whatever something about Ireland he could find. And while she was somewhat intrigued by history, she'd let him take care of that himself. She was here for an entirely different reason, after all.
"Hmm...well, you're right we are standing out in the open here." For a moment, it looked like she was going to follow after Swen...before promptly walking in the opposite direction and choosing a random isle to go down.
"M-mistress?!" It was fairly typical for Maoin to get dragged along by her owner, and she was yanked in the opposite direction as the pair of them went down an aisle that contained books about the various flora and fauna of the orient.
"W-where are we going?""TO adventure, obviously!~" Gwynn somewhat childishly, and excitedly shouted. Flora and Fauna of the orient? Eh, didn't sound like a particularly interesting read nor something that would be worth her time. That said, she took a book off the shelf and thumbed through it anyways....and immediately regretted it. Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at the pages, taking perhaps a bit too much interest in it, regardless though. That was...flora and fauna alright...but not the kind she'd have ever want to come into contact with. Or maybe...it'd be fun? That certainly looked like it might be...interesting...
Her face flushed slightly as she observed the book, before forgetting that it was probably not a good thing to keep reading that. Closing it, she placed it back on the shelf.
"R-right! Let's see...there has to be something interesting here." Something about a few legends, curses, and other miscellaneous things. Something titled simply 'The Exiled One', but for the most part seemed completely uninteresting.
"Hrm...dusty old books. You see anything interesting Maoin? Like, I dunno, something that looks like it might lead to buried treasure or something?At this Maoin nodded slightly.
"Yes mistress, I know a good lead on where we can find treasure." For once, the kitten was going to make her owner at least ask 'what' before giving off the answer.
Eh? She actually said yes? Gwynn gave the cat a skeptical look, leaving the shelf she had been inspecting.
"You do? I didn't even see you look at the shelves. let's hear it.""Yes ma'am. It's on the isle where your boyfriend and future husband now resides. Seems like he's better at this than you are." Maoin's reply wasn't teasing, but rather snarky. Her thoughts about her mistress wondering off were made plain and obvious, and the black haired girl released her grip on her owner's hand.
"Prince Swen IS searching for a hidden power within your territory, and he provided plenty of reason to think there is a lead."Gwynn was less than impressed, folding her arms against her chest as she gave Maoin a slight frown. Boyfriend? Future Husband? Neither of those things were true at all. She as of now, had no intention to be anything more than friends with him. Her parents could do whatever they wanted too, but she had absolutely no wish to conform to their wishes so easily. Honestly, Maoin had just pissed her off just slightly. She didn't want to be harsh on the kitten, since she was just following the orders of her parents herself but...it was difficult.
"You just want me to spend time with Swen." She replied in a rather Irate manner.
"And boyfriend? Future husband? Don't make me laugh, Maoin. I have no intention of being nothing more than...friends with that guy." She turned, walking further away from Swen.
"Honestly, after tonight, I have no intention of seeing him. The only reason I'm making friends now, is because he helped me get in here." She reached the end of this series of bookshelves, taking a look left and right, unsure which way to go...but her eyes couldn't resist being drawn to that crystal once again.
...with Maoin here it'd be incredibly difficult to do anything, though. Didn't stop her from scanning the second floor for a possibly access point to somehow nabbing it.
Maoin of course, listened to her mistress' unfair statements and saw the taller woman still eyeing the crystal. It irritated the kitten to no end that her owner was so stubborn sometimes, and such a nuisance sometimes. The neko's ears twitched in frustration as Gwynn swore that she would never meet the man again, and began to walk away from her comrade. The girl jumped in front of her owner, blocking her path to the best of her ability and leaning forward as she tried to appear larger than she really was.
"Mistress!" The black haired girl's voice had been louder and deeper than she had intended, and dripped with an angry hostility.
Despite all their arguing over the past year, this was probably the first time her mistress had ever seen her familiar assume a threatening stance and tone. Aside from it's lack of occurance, there was truly no reason for anyone to be scared. The girl was short, and although generally dexterous, weak. She was light enough to be dragged around easily, and it was possible for Gwynn to use their magical bond in an instant to punish her.
Gwynn had to stop herself from nearly running over Maoin. Well, this was surprising. Gwynn had never seen Maoin behave so...assertively before. While it was a refreshing change of pace, right now it was kind of just pissing her off more. Why, of all things, did she have to be so assertive on things she didn't want her to be assertive on? All she was doing was annoyingly following what her parents wanted her to do...Gwynn folded her arms across her chest, looking down at the cat with obvious irritation.
"Oh? Now your being assertive!" She replied.
"Well isn't that just fun, cat." She hadn't even realized herself she hadn't actually used Maoin's name there.
"You've got a problem with me doing whatever I want too? Lets hear it, then. What does the wise and ever so obedient Maoin think I should do?"Maoin's frown deepened as she was simply called an animal. She couldn't really correct her mistress on that - it was true. But still, it was one of the worst reductions a familiar could be brought down to. It was like being told you weren't really a person Tears welled in her eyes as the black haired girl formulated her point.
"Mistress, I have a problem with you ... being pointlessly stubborn against EVERYTHING." Something deep in the back of Maoin's mind told her to calm down, but her blood was boiling.
"You don't NEED the gem. You are already nobility. You have a servant that holds your hair back while you DRUNKENLY vomit, and then cleans up the mess. You have fine dresses that cost more than nine out of ten's people's yearly income! You are betrothed to a Prince who is not only rich, but that you became friends with before your formal introduction and takes you on an ADVENTURE within the first fourty eight hours of meeting him. You ALREADY live like a Queen, milady. That piece of jewelry is worthless to you." At this point, Maoin stomped, trying to let out some of that building frustration.
"Admit it: You only don't like him, this life, because you were told to do so. If your parents told you to raid a village, you'd be a pacifist." As she finished, Maoin glared straight into the eyes of her endlessly frustrating mistress.
Gwynn simply stared the cat down, obviously not caring about any of her words or being called 'needlessly stubborn'. Honestly? She was pissed. She wanted to just slap the damn cat and just...put her in her place. She was
hers after all, therefore she should listen to whatever it was
she said. But no. NO. All she ever did was what she
thought was best for her. Gwynn though, couldn't bring herself too. She didn't want to take advantage of Maoin like that.
But what she said last? Well...like this stupid cat knew anything about what she actually thought or wanted. Her parents told her to go raid a village or something? Why would she say no? That was right up her alley. Now...of course, she wouldn't just go randomly raiding some village that didn't exactly deserve it, but that was besides the point. Her fists gripped the edge of her arms, trying desperately to not do something rash...but she couldn't.
Gwynns hand met the side of Maoins face with as much strength as she could muster, not caring if she hurt the kitten in the process at all.
"Maybe I don't want any of that." Gwynn's voice was oddly quiet for her, and it carried very little anger or annoyance...only sounding oddly defeated? She didn't make any apology or even showed any remorse for it. The expression she wore was a simple, but icy one that perhaps showed just a bit of disappointment. Not that Maoin would likely notice. Without even looking to see if she was alright, Gwynn walked past the cat and headed for the stairs to the second floor.
She wanted to be alone right now.
Being a familiar meant one always had to be on their toes. No matter how friendly, informal, or sweet your relationship was, you should always feel one emotion towards your master: Fear. That was what the other servants working at the Foghlu' estate had told her. Maoin had started to believe those were exaggerations. That as much as her mistress irritated her, Gwynn didn't support the social order to that extent. Her owner was the exception to those rules, and that no matter how frustrating it might be to have someone watching over you, her mistress understood she was just doing her best.
The harsh reality of the world was spelled out as she was slammed into a bookcase, falling to the ground as she lost her balance. The kitten's eyes adjusted over time, tears naturally forming from the pain. She clutched her head instinctively, cradling it as she leaned against the bookcase.
As she cried, she didn't see her mistress walk away. She didn't hear her mistresses departing words. Eventually Maoin pulled one of her hands down to wipe away the stream of tears that was still forming. Blood coated the side of it. Seeing it, she collapsed onto her side and curled up on the floor, letting the tears flow.
Familiars had an obvious master: the mages who owned them. Humans had their own masters though: the emotions that controlled them. No matter how independent one pretended to be, everyone has their own personal gods.
Gwynn felt terrible. Guilty? Maybe, but more than anything, she was depressed. She hadn't meant to slap the poor kitten, or even let herself get that angry, but she couldn't help it. She was fine and all if Maoin was assertive, but when she spoke as if she knew what she actually wanted, that just pissed her off. She didn't want to be some queen, noble, or anything like that. Sure, most people might have wanted that, but her? She grew up around that. And she could say with certainty, it was utterly
boring. She didn't have any friends, she didn't have anyone really. She was hoping Maoin could have...
She finally reached the stairs, taking a seat at the top of them and resting her elbows on her knees and placing her face in her hands.
It didn't matter, really. What else could she have expected? She never got what she wanted. Always, always just having to do what her
parents wanted. Never once thought about what she wanted or what she wanted to do. Maoin was the same, even as much as she wanted to hope she would have been different. She sighed into her hands, looking up. Maybe she should just hand Maoin over to someone else and go off and keep good on that promise of becoming an explorer, adventurer...or...whatever it was that wasn't
this.
Drawing some moisture out of the air, a crystal of ice formed in one of her hands, taking different shapes as she tried and failed to distract herself. She'd just sit here until Swen was done. She lost all motivation for being here.
The magierprinz had found what he wanted, although it took some time to search. Of course, he wasn't stupid enough to steal the book: he simply flipped through the pages rapidly, having the tome he was looking at along with several others be instantly copied to a stone he carried.
The man stood up afterwards, heading off to where he saw Gwynn on a story beneath him. She was sitting on a staircase, seeming disinterested in everything. It took a few minutes for him to arrive, but eventually the magierprinz did. After contemplating for a second, he sat down next to her, giving her a smile.
'Hey ... you alright? I expected to see you looting the place by now." The bandit seemed awfully passive compared to her usual attitude.
"Oh yeah...just hating my life as usual." Gwynn replied with a quiet chuckle, not even looking at Swen. A few seconds of silence passed before she continued.
"...Hey, Swen? If I said that I didn't want to attend this school any more and just travel...would you come with me?" She didn't really even know why she was asking that herself. Chances were, he'd say no...and she'd probably be even more depressed after that.
Swen listened to his betrothed talk, and after three years at the academy had learned to recognize 'hypothetical' questions. The Prince thought about it for a few moments.
Obviously, he should answer yes. His future wife required his aid, and it was his job to provide it. His education was largely finished, and if Swen was honest with himself he had the power of some lower ranked staff members. And besides - it was fun.
Obviously, he should say no. His parents had told him to attend this academy. Despite his magical proficiency, he knew he still had a lot to learn. And besides, at heart he was an academic.
When conflicted, one should always gather more information.
"I might say yes. However, I am curious as to what prompts this question?" The even more confusing thing to him was why she was asking him - a guy she had met the previous day. Did she really trust him that much? Did it have something to do with their betrothal?
"Does it matter?" She turned to face Swen, ice crystal dissolving into the air as she leaned slightly towards him.
"If I said I wanted to leave right now, leaving all of this nonsense nobility, rules, and whatever behind, would you?" It was obvious to her, if pressed, his answer would have been no. His previous answer showed that as far as she was concerned. It was obvious she was avoiding the question, though. Of course, she also wasn't saying that that would mean they would be anything more than friends, but at the moment Swen well...was the closest thing she had to that even if they had only known each other for barely two days.
Swen scooted closer to her ... and looked into her eyes. He soon came to the same logical conclusion that she had and realized that she HAD no friends. The nobleman wondered about Maoin, but she wasn't around. Had something happened?
He had nothing to say though, and she seemed to demand an answer. He couldn't say yes or no. He wouldn't abandon society forever, but he wouldn't mind a quick trip away. However, this wasn't about him. Gwynn was the one having a problem, and based on what she was saying it sounded less like she was looking truly to travel and more like she wanted to run away.
He knew it was a terrible idea to tell her not to run. Anyone would deny running from their problems. So instead, he simply gave her a hug. A firm, but gentle one. A reliable and caring one that didn't suffocate a person. It was the best thing he could think of in the moment, since he really couldn't rely on words at this point.
Gwynn let herself be hugged to start with. Honestly, she had never had a friendly hug like that before....it was...nice. For an instant, she almost wanted to hug back...maybe if she was forced to be with this guy, it wouldn't be so bad? After all, out of the servants back at her home, Maoin included, he was the only one that felt like someone she could...well, easily be friends with at least. For a few quiet moments, she remained like that.
And then Gwynn.exe started working again.
Her face turned a few shades of red, before quickly shoving Swen off of her, though not in a violent manner she might have done someone else.
"D-don't get so handsy. We've only been on one date." She stuttered somewhat quickly, looking away from him as she idly played with a loose strand of hair.
"But...t-thanks." She cleared her throat, standing up and giving a small sigh as she took a look around the area.
"You find whatever it was you were looking for?"The nobleman allowed himself to be pushed off, blushing himself a little as he noticed her face. Had he seriously just made an univited move on a woman? He hadn't intended it to be like that! How could he make up for it?
Wait. Did she just say thank you?
Now he was confused. The manuals he had read earlier hadn't provided advice for this situation?!
After a few seconds of waiting to understand, he nodded his head and simply decided to answer the second question.
"We just have to return to my place. I can transcribe everything from there.""Well alright then." Gwynn replied, starting a few steps down the stairs.
"Lemme uh...go find my kitten and we can get going. I'll meet ya back at the front. Try not to do anything stupid again and set off some more traps, alright?~" She gave him a playful wink as she headed back down. The noblewoman was slightly disappointed she wasn't going to be getting anything shiny and expensive from this...but well, that was fine. She'd find some other place to nab from later. For now though, she should find Maoin and...apologize...
...but how could she do that? Uuugh, she really screwed up with that. Swen nodded, heading straight towards the door.
While Swen and Gwynn talked above, Maoin was in a less safe position. If she was listening carefully, she would have heard movement, the sound of movement that may have been made by armor moving as it was worn. Of course, if she looked she would have seen nothing completely out of the ordinary unless she had taken note of one of the decorative suits that was positioned at the end of the bookshelf. It wasn't there any more - somehow, it had moved to the end she was closest too.
The kitten wasn't paying attention to much of anything. However, her sensitive ears managed to pick up the sound of something ... like metal? The girl looked up from her sobbing briefly, and looked around from where she was sitting. Aside from the harnesses of armor, there was nothing to be seen. Perhaps her mistress had decided to break into a vault of some sort?
The girl resumed sobbing for a bit, unable to really keep her emotions in check.
The sound of metal moving towards the cat grew louder, until a shadow blocked out the light from overhead. As she looked up at the growing noise, she saw a visage of metal. A few seconds later, her eyelids felt heavy and she fell into a deep sleep, unable to move.
Swen headed straight for the door. He disagreed with splitting the party, but ultimately he felt he berothed needed a little time to think. It didn't take him long to arrive, and everything seemed normal.
Well, aside from the heavy suit of armor standing over a slightly bloodied Maoin. The prince was a little surprised that the traps in here could prove to be lethal, but this wasn't the time to question them. A series of spells quickly followed.
The first: a messenging spell to Gwynn. She would hear a voice in her head.
"Gwynn! The Armor! Danger!" The spell didn't give a lot of words, but he hoped she would get the message.
The second: a spell of force meant to knock away the armor. The prince hadn't prepared any lethal spells - he hadn't intended for there to be a fight.
The third spell was a precious dispel magic he casted on the familiar if the armor went away.
The fourth was a detect magic, so he could keep track of any suits around him.
He couldn't keep this up forever.
The armor Swen had attacked reacted almost immediately to being knocked over. It got up swiftly, though its movements were as rigid as its appearance might suggest. Its headless helmet turned to Swen, and started walking towards him - though it had no obvious means of attacking.
Gwynn made her way to the spot where she had left the kitten easily enough...only to find her gone. She sighed, not surprised. After what happened, she would have left as well. On the upside maybe the kitten finally learned that waiting around on her wasn't going to accomplish anything? Well, whatever. Seems like she'd look around the library a bit more to see if she was here, but she was pretty sure she had already left.
So Gwynn turned, and intended to head for the exit, only to come face to face with a suit of armor. She reacted quickly, and jumped backwards, running into a bookshelf as she barely avoided a arm from the suit of armor.
"YEAH, THANKS FOR THE HEADS UP YA IDIOT!" She shouted back as Swen's voice echoed in her head, immediately assuming he had tripped some other security measure. Well, this had just got a lot worse...and a lot more exciting. That said, it was likely these things had done something with Maoin.
And that pissed her off.
Grinning, she stared down the suit of armor who was already walking towards her again. It attempted to grab her again, only for Gwynn to avoid it...and using her magic, freeze its feet into place. As it struggled to move, she made a beeline for the end of the bookshelf, only to come face to face with two of the suits of armor.
At this point, Maoin's eyes fluttered open. Strangely enough, the suit of armor in front of her immediately flew backwards. She didn't know was that it was the second time. What she did know was that it was time to get the hell out of there, since the Prince was defending her.
The kitten quickly scurried up the bookshelf closest to Swen, putting a hand on her head in order to keep an update on her wound.
"What ... what's going on? BEHIND YOU!"Swen spun around, shooting away another set of armor.
"Thanks! Find your mistress!" The prince pointed in the direction of where he last heard Gwynn's voice.
The kitten nodded, running on top of the bookshelves in that direction.
"MISTRESS!" For now, the confrontation from earlier was forgotten. Adreniline was winning.
Two suits of armor were easy enough to slip past. They were slow, and their movements were swift and deliberate, but oddly...mechanical. It made predicting their movements rather easy. When one went to grab her, she froze its helmet to the bookcase and when she tried to free itself she froze its hands there as well. The second was similarly dealt with, though with some more difficulty. She tried getting it to slip by freezing the floor under its foot which failed, almost getting her nabbed by it but she managed to avoid its arm and freeze its feet to the floor, slipping past both of them and out into the main carpet.
Hearing 'mistress' though, caused her to look up in the direction of the Kitten's voice.
"Maoin!?" She shouted. Well, Gwynn was relieved that the kitten was alright. She didn't exactly have time to talk that much. A few more suits were coming from the direction of the statue. She wanted to fight them, honestly, but with how things were currently...that might well, not go so well.
"I'm fine! Get out of here!" She shouted back, starting to run towards the door, seeing Swen already at the end.
Maoin stopped as she ran on the bookshelf, nearly falling over in the process. As she heard her mistresses' commands though, she sprinted back across the bookshelves to where the Prince was holding the line against the armors.
As Gwynn entered the man's line of sight, he blasted a few more away from them. Maoin jumped down from the bookshelves, heading towards the mage. The three of them found themselves at the entrance. The prince casted a quick glance behind himself at the magical barrier.
He still had the greater dispel magic. It would take it down for all three of them. Without warning, he faced the door and depended on Gwynn to hold them off. A few seconds later he lifted his hand at the barrier, and a stream of blackness struck it. It appeared to be down.
"MAOIN! NOW! Gwynn, follow!" There wasn't much room for debate in the nobleman's tone. He hoped the spell would last long enough for him to leave as well.
The kitten grabbed the hand of her mistress, tugging her through the door if she had any qualms about not leaving last. The Prince followed, jumping through the closing entryway. A second later, he collapsed.
The middle room was empty, although the kitten's ears picked up on the locked door being opened. The kitten pointed towards the door, then towards the desk, then towards Swen making it obvious they needed to hide.
Well that could have gone better, but Gwynn didn't have much time to ponder that. If she was reading Maoin right, then this was bad. They had been discovered! Damn it all! Gritting her teeth, she looked to the door, then to the unconscious Swen, then to Maoin. She pointed to Maoin, then to the desk.
"You. Hide. Now." She firmly commanded. She wasn't going to be taking no for an answer either - if anyone was going to be getting in trouble for doing this, it was going to be her. She wasn't going to let Swen or Maoin take the blame for something that was objectively her fault. Why was it her fault? Well, as their self proclaimed leader they were her responsibility.
Gwynn didn't wait for a reply, merely moving to the center of the room.
The adrenline rush coming to an end, the kitten heard the orders of her mistress. She looked down towards Swen, but assumed that the stronger Gwynn would pick him up. As she ducked behind the desk obediently, she raised her hand to the still painful wound on her face. She'd learned her lesson, and wouldn't dare to question an order from her.
If her owner said to hide, she would do her best job of it. Although something was wrong. When was her mistress arriving?
The doorway began to open as someone finished fumbling with their keys.
Well, at least Maoin got to safety. That was enough for her at the moment. She couldn't act fast enough to move Swen, though, but...well. He knew what he was getting into when he came here. She felt bad that he was going to get into trouble but well, Maoin was her priority. She shouldn't suffer for being basically ordered to do something.
So she stood in the center of the room, gave a yawn, and looked at the door.
"Wow, can you hurry up and get us already?!" She said loudly.
"I'm going to be as old as you by the time you get in here!"Aetheria walked in there after a bit, looking at the seemingly upset girl. The barrier, of course, dispelled itself as she walked by it. She looked at the noble girl in front of herself, and the passed out compatriot. The white mage didn't feel very merciful, considering her exhausted state.
"Done yet?""I dunno, how much longer are you gonna take to walk over here ya old hag?" Gwynn replied with a grunt. That insult was mostly to try and make sure the teacher was focused more on her than anything else at the moment.
By now, Aetheria had realized that this woman was simply using her as a distraction. The teenagers insults were so over the top that it was obvious she was trying to make the teacher angry. She had been informed by the suits that there were three of them. The white mage wouldn't have minded interrogating the girl if Livia didn't know what she knew- but alas, tourturing the students was not allowed.
"As long as it takes for you to get your friend out of hiding. You have ten seconds." Her voice made it very clear that the fact that there was three people wasn't up for debate. It also made it very clear that she was incredibly irritated, and was likely to follow through with her threat.
Gwynn was surprised, but she didn't show it. She was at least, fairly good at snarking her way out of things.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, teach." Gwynn replied, giving a small grin. She didn't care what Aetheria threatened her with. She wasn't going to tell anyone at all where Maoin was...it was, well, the least she could do to makeup for what happened in there.
"So, you know, do your worst. I'm pretty sure drinkings hurt me more than you can."Aetheria gave out the smile of a devil, raising her eyebrow at Gwynn. The noble girl of course, was right. She seemed like the chivalric sort. Ten ... nine ... eight ... seven ... six ... she watched the noble bitch yawn. Five ... four ... three ... two ... one. The white mage simply approached Gwynn, lightly placing a hand on her head. To the noble, she would feel a slight tingling sensation. She took a few steps back, smiling as she looked in the direction of the desk.
A few seconds later the white mage walked over to the desk, and sure enough, there was a black haired girl. The mage simply lifted the neko by her hair, yanking her hard enough that the younger girl was on her tipy toes, face slightly consorted in pain.
Strange ... there was a wound on the side of the girl's head. Recent as well. Obviously from blunt contact ... perhaps a fist maybe a pole? None of the armour was set to attack, and she was near certain they hadn't damaged the armor enough to warrant them going offensively.
"Tripped down a staircase, I assume?" It was such a common excuse that she just had to make fun of it.
As for Maoin, she looked at Gwynn not begging for help, but actually with a look of fear.
Well, that was bad.
"Speaking from experience, eh? Pretty sure old people trip over stuff pretty often." Gwynn replied with a glare towards Aetheria. Upon noticing Maoin's look towards her though, it caused her voice to waver slightly, but...well, she didn't let it bother her that much. She couldn't appear weak here. Instead, she took a step towards the teacher, not afraid that she was likely going up against someone a lot stronger than she was.
"Leave her alone, ya old crone. She was just doing what I told her to." She didn't seem intent on giving up the snark though, and likely wouldn't any time soon.
Upon listening to the countinued string of insults, the white mage sighed. Students who required discipline were always like this. She advanced towards the angry girl, still dragging the familiar by the hair. On further examination of the wound, the healer became nearly certain that it was a fist. Her eyes drifted over to the hands of the blonde haired girl before her, noticing a small amount of blood.
Aetheria seriously considered casting some sort of pain spell on the noble girl, but Livia wouldn't like that. While it was legal to punish the familiar for this, so far the black haired girl had proven herself respectful. So, the woman countered snarkiness with guilt. The white mage let the girl's feet touch the ground, then tugged on her head to make the kitten's acquired injury extremely clear to the student.
"Ah, the obedient type! So was this a reward for excellence in service, or perhaps part of a little training?" After a few seconds, the white mage firmly decided on what to do. It was obvious the noblewoman was protective of her familiar.
"Don't worry, I'll simply remind her of your lesson." Aetheria placed a single hand on the familiar's injury and released her, taking a few steps back.
A quick spell had been cast, and the kitten felt as if the punch just occured. Of course, it was not material in nature, and simply a small mental trick. The cat tried resisting the urge to sob, but tears started to roll down her cheeks and as she looked up at Gwynn she felt only abject fear as she was reminded of her disobedience. Her balance was lost as she attempted to maintain her footing, unable to stand completely straight as the world swayed. The kitten's eyes seemed shift between her owner and the door, as if uncertain which one was preferable.
"I have the right to punish her further, but I figured she'd recieve enough of a reward from you after getting caught today. Now leave. Livia will decide what to do with you." The three of them would feel an increasing force pushing them out of the library. If Gwynn cast an offensive spell, the white mage would send whatever was launched straight back at her.
Gwynn watched, completely helpless as Aetheria
tortured Maoin. More than anything though, she was
pissed. Gwynn didn't like to think she was all that easy to seriously anger. Oh certainly, she was easily annoyed, and resorted to snark quite often, but actual
anger? That was twice tonight. Perhaps she was easier to anger than she thought, but that was irrelevant right now. Maoin was in pain.
And she had promised herself, she wouldn't let anything happen to the cat.
Gwynn practically snarled, but before she could move, she felt herself being pushed out of the room by some unseen force, likely the teachers magic. She tried to move towards Aetheria, but it was in vain. Like hell she was going to let that happen. This bitch had just received the number one spot on her hit list, and she wasn't going to be forced out of the room so easily. Really, she knew this was a bad idea. She knew she likely couldn't beat Aetheria - and if she could she would have to use every single bit of skill she cold muster.
Thick ice began to form around Gwynn's feet, holding her in place. If she couldn't move forwards, then she'd just defiantly stand where she was.
"I'm not through with you, bitch." The blond snarled, a sharp shard of ice tossing itself towards Aetheria, but again, it was in vain. It was tossed back at her, but it was nothing she couldn't handle. It bounced harmlessly off of the far wall.
"That cat, is mine. And I'm going to beat you to a bloody pulp for that."How? She had no goddamn idea, but she'd figure something out.
Maoin had no method to avoid the pull of magic, and Swen's limp body started sliding first out of the room then out of the library gradually. The kitten contemplated helping her mistress, but spent too long in indecision and was pushed out. Outside, she thought about Gwynn and the day's events as she tried to make the Prince comfortable.
Aetheria raised her eyebrow at the girl, wondering what compelled the girl to be so resistant. It wasn't as if she had done anything worse than the blonde, but the point seemed to be lost on the angry noblewoman. Having been raised from the peasanty, such arrogance angered her. If she had acted in such a manner to a superior, she could have been executed.
"Apologies for damaging your property. I can always pay you compensation. The reward you delivered to your cat." Aetheria waved a hand in front of herself.
For a few seconds, Gwynn would feel the same pain that she had delivered to Maoin, the hardest punch she could manage. It was always strange to see how people reacted to recieving their own medicine.
Her first thought was: Damn, she had a mean right hook. Second, was how she was going to violently murder this bitch and have a
lot of fun doing it. Her head hurt, and it was reeling. The noble visibly staggered, legs barely managing to keep her up as pain surged through her head. Ugh, it was worse than a hangover almost.
"Heh...if that's," She held her head in her hand, obviously wincing. Despite the pain though, it wasn't a physical wound, and Gwynn wasn't going to yield so easily.
"The best you got, then I can do this all night. Those cheap tricks are gonna need to hurt a hell of a lot worse." There had to be
something she could do here. Her magic was simply being reflected back at her...well, at least any ranged attack was. She couldn't test any close range attacks because that coward was maintaining a good distance away from her.
Maybe...long ranged melee attack? Well, she was nothing if not creative when it came how to beat someone to a bloody pulp.
At this point, Aetheria sighed and simply waved her hand in front of herself as she nodded.
"Fair enough." The woman considered what she should really do at the moment. Surely Livia would take care of any punishment, and if the white mage went too far the headmistress was more likely to say 'you've already learned your lesson'. Scowling, the white mage simply cast a spell of sleep. She didn't want the stupid blonde in pain, she wanted the girl expelled.
From Gwynn's perspective, she'd feel her eyes become droopy, herself lowered to the ground, and then nothing.
When she awoke, the ice mage would find herself in their room, covered by plenty of sheets, with her kitten watching from a safe distance of seven feet rather than right up against the bedside. It seemed as if the black haired girl wanted to make a comment as she raised a finger, but something stopped her. Maoin's eyes simply drifted towards the ground, unable to meet those of her owner. Her face was obviously tear streaked, but the room was still clean. She had obviously done her job.
On Gwynn's bedside, there was a small salad in case she was hungry, along with a glass of water.
"GAH. where's that bitch at?!" Gwynn woke, rather suddenly, shouting probably loud enough to wake whoever else was in the room. The covers of her bed were tossed carelessly aside as she sat up on the bed, looking around the room, eyes quickly falling on Maoin. Her heart almost broke upon seeing the kitten. She went quiet, unsure of what exactly to say at the moment. It was obvious she had been crying, and likely for a very obvious reason.
Gwynn was slightly angry at herself. If she could effectively punch herself, she would, but that wouldn't get her anywhere at the moment.
...business as usual, then?
"...Hey Maoin." She quietly greeted the kitten, noticing the distance between them.
"What are you all the way over there for? I remember last time you almost came running to me like a lost puppy." The teasing seemed a bit halfhearted, however.
The kitten jumped back as her mistress shouted, unsure of what had enraged her mistress so. Maoin briefly looked up towards her mistress with some fear in her eyes as Gwynn spoke more calmly, obviously unsure what to do at the moment. However, it was clear that her owner wanted her close? Right? Or was she still upset from earlier? Gwynn would see her familiar slowly approach to within reach, obviously nervous. Words just above silence left her mouth.
"I'm ... I'm sorry." The kitten wasn't sure if she was apologizing for allowing them to get caught, not standing nearby, or for being far too assertive for her station.
"I ..." She was unable to form her words. Did Gwynn want her to apologize and waste her time? The woman always seemed to hate it when she did. She was confused, and therefore said nothing further.
Gwynn frowned. Not at any displeasure for the cats actions, but she wouldn't know that. Her own eyes drifted to the bed she was sitting on. Her teasing normally got a different reaction out of the cat but that? That was just difficult to listen too. But well, what should she do here? She had no idea what to do in this situation. She wasn't a people person. Should she apologize to Maoin? The cat would likely just brush off anything like that as something her 'mistress' shouldn't be doing.
...so she did the only thing she could think of that she knew the cat would enjoy regardless. She reached a hand out, and placed it on her head and started to gently pet the cat. She made sure to avoid the spot she had struck earlier, but the noble couldn't bring herself to look at the cat.
The cat became worried as she noticed her mistress frowned, and had to stop herself from flinching or moving out of the way as her owner reached for her. Of course, she enjoyed the pettings. They always felt nice. But her ears remained flat and her tail between her legs as she noticed that her owner couldn't even bear to look at the failure she was. Maoin was confused and saddened. She'd been hit for following an order, and now she was being petted. The familiar could never bring herself to hate her mage. At the same time though ... perhaps she hadn't appreciated her owner's kindness enough? What did her mistress want her to do?
"M-mistress. You are too kind." Maoin didn't say this sarcastically, but rather as if she honestly believed it. Then she immediatly regretted what she said, realizing that she had accused her mistress of being overly generous.
Gwynn sighed, hand resting on top of the cats head.
"No, Maoin...I don't think I am." She didn't elaborate any more on that, though and instead got off the bed. Wordlessly, she removed her green dress, deciding to wear something much simpler and easier to move in. Something that would perhaps be indicative of person who traveled a lot. Strapping her sword to her belt, she headed to the door of her room only briefly talking to Maoin.
"Do whatever you want...I'm gonna go take a walk." Chances are the cat wouldn't do much without being ordered, but she didn't want to be around Maoin right now.
...maybe she'd go talk with Swen.
Maoin didn't say anything, nodding slowly. It was rather obvious that her owner didn't want anything to do with her at this point. As soon as her owner left, the kitten looked towards her nest, curled up in it, and swore it had started raining.
