Sonia made a mental note to save the coffee for after school. It was a shame since she genuinely enjoyed the taste and feel of coffee no matter the flavor, but she didn’t want to get into trouble with Tholl. Looking on the bright side, this just means that Sonia will have more coffee over the long run, to reward herself after a long day of work.
”Of course, professor. I’ll make sure to limit myself.”Sonia wasn't sure what Tholl was talking about with the Dawn Breaker's salary. Sonia knew that Tholl was part of the economics class though so she likely meant how their jobs applied to the greater society as a whole. Secretly, Sonia wasn't too interested in the Dawn Slayers for the purpose of fighting monsters and saving the world, though that certainly was something that motivates her. Originally she just wanted to learn and gain great arcane power. But what good would that be if she didn't have monsters to fight and a world to save? Though when it came to money, Sonia was lacking. She was receiving some allowance from her family, but most of her money came from her Spider Silk sales. Which made Sonia realize why she felt so afraid of Tholl: she was competition.
While it's certainly true that working together and combining skills and resources will create more profit than just an business owned and operated by an individual would, and Arachne's pride could rarely allowed that to happen. Even her own mother, who was the main silk producer of her home, left her family's silk spinning business to strike out on her own and create her own store without family ties. And when other Arachne tried to set up shop competition was fierce. Sonia's mother was scariest when she thought her livelihood was in danger, and Sonia realized that this was the feeling she had around Tholl. Tholl was the big spider on campus; all the things Sonia used to take for granted being one of the few Arachne around was now threaten by someone who was older, wiser, stronger, all and all more successful. But unlike her mother, Sonia knew better than to act on her primitive instincts.
They weren't stone age barbarians competing for natural resources. They were modern people in a modern age. Society was built to subvert and overcome archaic impulses that are no longer needed or even just redundant. In other words, tradition. Tholl was kind though Sonia had no doubts that she was just being manipulative. But Sonia had no reason to try to compete with her beyond reasons of pride and it would be a bigger blow to her pride to be defeated utterly. She knew when to fold, and besides in this day and age who you know was more important than what you can do. Or rather, who knew you. And if Tholl can trust Sonia and her abilities, it would only make Sonia more successful.
These thoughts were interrupted when Tholl mentioned the smoothie. Apparently she liked to prank Mako with the meat slurry. Sonia couldn't help but crack a smile at this. She remembered doing something similar in her younger days, tricking other students to eat meat from disgusting but otherwise harmless sources, like liver or hearts.
"How devious, professor. But your secret is safe with me." Tholl then went on to talk about her family, specifying that there was only one arachne among them, her daughter Danessa. Sonia was going to ask more when she noticed someone sitting at her table and making a mess.
Just barely glancing to her side she saw the smaller person devouring his food as if he was a starved beast. Sonia could appreciate a healthy appetite, but that was no excuse for ill manners. As mentioned above, they weren't barbarians. And no matter who or what race or culture this person came from, they too have to compromise with the fact that they need to adjust themselves to the society they live in now, not the one they grew up in. Sure a traditional Arachne meal would be a live animal struggling in webbing, but Sonia wasn't going to disturb everyone by bringing in game and then sucking all the fluids from it's body until it was a desiccated husk. There were
standards.
At least he was apologizing. Sonia let out a sign and finished her own meal too, in a much more calm and organized manner.
"I'm sure you are. But you should try and control yourself. It won't do good for you or everyone else if you keep this up." Sonia's words were a touch harsher than her previous attitude was. While she meant to be a touch scolding, it was almost like she was dismissive of the other student. Frankly she wouldn't mind if he did leave now in shame but she wasn't going to press the matter any further. That's when another joined the table: Yurius the vampire teacher. If Sonia remembered correctly she was going to his class next.
"Hello professor."At this point Sonia wasn't really too bothered by all these random folks coming to her table. At the very least it'll make some sense for a fellow teacher to join Tholl. Though instead of talking to Tholl, Yurius asked Sonia a question directly. It was just small talk though so she answered back.
"So far so good. I just finished spells and potion class with Professor Mako. Though I finished my potion I don't think I'll get any feedback until tomorrow. How about you sir? Any students show promise?"@Conscripts@Lonewolf685@Strange Rodent
Master Crim