An odd expression crossed Reginald's face upon hearing Elastasia's remark—one that could probably have been described as a mix of surprise, confusion, and vague recognition of the word that she spoke. A salamander was a salamander, after all—and confusing it's name for something like "Wooper" was so uncannily odd that it couldn't have been an honest mistake. Not unless there was another creature with a similar name, at least.
To this, the black-haired student seemed to stand in silence for a few moments, his brow furrowed as he tried to figure out if there were any other animals that could
possibly have a similar enough physiology and name to result in such an honest mistake. But when none came to mind, Reginald's mind instead drifted back to his 'old' native language—Japanese—and a certain multimedia franchise that had become popular the world over.
There was a theoretical now, a 'what-if' beginning to take root in the back of his mind—that maybe the mistake was one borne from a Freudian slip from someone who had found themselves in similar circumstances to his own. It was hard to make any definitive claims at the moment, though the idea did cross his mind to ask, if not subtly, what Elastasia had meant by that...
But ultimately, it seemed wiser to wait and see if there were any other hints he could attempt to glean before trying to ask proper. Of course, the time he had spent thinking about those matters had just as well been spent half-staring at the upperclassman in question, for better or worse—and, somewhat unfortunately, only barely acknowledging Terys' words of thanks with a slight nod.
Mella's talk of cooking the bird that had taken to her was ultimately what pulled his attention back to more "present" matter, and her apparent dislike of the avian was... Honestly quite amusing to him, in a bit of a twisted way. It wasn't like the bird was doing any explicit harm, at least, and despite her less-than-subtle threats it seemed satisfied perched upon her head.
"Mmm... I think that if it's rare and seems to be taken with you, it might do some good to actually research what breed it is. I doubt it'd return to whatever shopkeeper it came from at this point, and honestly it might be less trouble paying for the creature than attempting to wrangle it away from you..."
And given how confident both Elastasia and his maid had been about how it was able to injure him, maybe that would be for the best.
By this point, another shopkeeper—one of a
far sturdier make—finally came around and took the large canine off of his hands, though certainly more literally than figuratively as the gruff man hefted the massive dog under his arm and walked off.
"Well, matters of cleaning up this chaos aside, I've nothing better to do at the moment. Given how I intend to at least look into that new friend of course, the least I could do is follow along until you are finished—or we could simply make our way there now, given how you seem to have a different creature entirely in your grasp."
@Raineh Daze@Rune_Alchemist
"I am aware that you claimed to help another student earlier, and I do not deny that fact. What I am
asking, quite honestly, is why the young woman at your side is with you. Though I suppose that she seems to be a bit more rattled by my presence than I would like..."
There was a pause as a bit of a shadow crossed Lilian's face after she spoke her piece to Serrica, and the words "reputation" and "bad" could scarcely be heard by Anne as the blonde girl whispered to herself barely loud enough for another to hear—before the topic of the Prince came up once more.
To this (far more forward) declaration, however, Lilian's face seemed to color itself ever so slightly red, and her fleeting moment of pause seemed to be replaced in an instant by indignation and embarrassment. That seemed to only be further exacerbated by Anne's response, loud as it was—the young woman's face seemed to dye itself a deep shade of red now—so much so that denying her feelings would have been all but impossible now.
"E-enough about the Crown Prince!" she exclaimed, a slight tremor in her voice. "I'm—"
"...Hm? I thought I heard a shout over here..."
And, almost as if on cue, the Crown Prince turned a nearby corner and walked towards the three girls, a light smile on his face.
"Miss Haldblum. Miss Meridan. I hope the day finds you well," Christopher said as he turned towards the two before the latter promptly turned away and covered her face in embarrassment. Seeing Lilian acting as she was, though, Christopher's gaze inevitably tuned back towards Anne, whose presence here seemed to be a bit more surprising to him.
"...Hm? I didn't expect to see you so soon again, Miss... I apologize, but I never actually got your name—nor you mine, I believe—when we last met. Christopher Alvonshire, the first son of King Asher Alvonshire. I presume your friend is well, then, if you are exploring the school grounds now?"
@Pyromania99@VitaVitaAR
