Enid
As Hibiscus was training away, a fairly short girl entered the gymnasium. She silently watched the people inside from a distance, until her gaze fell upon Hibiscus and stayed there. She'd patiently wait until Hibiscus would stop, either to question the staring or to simply finish the training. In either case, she'd eventually approach Hibiscus.
"Say, would you happen to have a moment of your time to spare?"
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Another day, another training pretty much wasted. There was a small amount of blood on the floor from Hibiscus trying out new things. But all she had to show for her effort was a waste of Prana and a slight headache. She hadn't gotten stronger, tougher, or faster. The only thing she knew was that her healing spells were slightly more potent, but that's about it.
Right around the end of her personal training, someone came up to Hibiscus to ask her a question. Hibiscus figured it might as well be the end of her unproductive training and sighed, "
Yea, what do you want?" She asked, putting away her knife and book.
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"I'd like to ask you some questions concerning your magic, although it might be better suited to find a slightly more private place. Would you care to join me for a cup of tea?" If Hibiscus were to agree, she'd soon be lead through-out the Academy building into an old part of the building that was mostly used for storage. The one room they entered seemed to be an exception, as it contained some sparse decorations in the sense of a crimson rug and similarly colored curtains, as well as a round table with a few chairs surrounding it. It seemed like an ideal place for students to retreat to and play card games, or in their case, drink tea. The latter seemed to be accounted for in the form of a water-cooker standing atop a cupboard in the corner of the room. Not the most elegant, but pretty efficient.
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This girl wanted to learn about Hibiscus's magic?... Hibiscus would have liked to know herself, but she might as well follow her to talk. Not like she had anything else to do…
Hibiscus dismissed her transformation, nodding to the girl, "
A-Alright! Lead the way!" She said, following the girl to wherever she wanted.
The path they took made Lyka poke her head out of Hibiscus's pocket, "
Wow, this place sure looks cruddily old." She said, before ducking her head back into the pocket.
Hibiscus followed the girl into the room, which sorta looked less-elegant that a tea room should look like, but it was fine either way. Hibiscus would sit down if the other girl did, and asked her, "
So… What did you want to talk to me about?..."
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After successfully
luring in her victim escorting Hibiscus to the room, Enid turned on the water boiler. She'd eventually put two cups of hot water and a variety of tea on the table, before sitting down and going with a classical black tea and a hint of milk herself. With that done, it was time to get to business.
"Well, users of blood magic are fairly rare, as you might know. When I heard about a new one arriving, I went to see if it was true, and there you were..." She paused a short moment.
"Ah, my bad, I don't think I've even introduced myself yet. I'm Enid." She'd reach over the table to shake Hibiscus' hand.
With the formalities out of the way, she could return to their topic.
"Can you tell me, in as exact terms as possible, which parts of the magic require your blood? Oh, and does it need to be your own?"
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Hibiscus took the hand and shook it with her own, "
I-I see!" She said, "
My name is Hibiscus. My spirit's name is Lyka." She replied, with Lyka popping out of Hibiscus's pocket to wave a quick, "
Yo." Before settling back in.
At Enid's statement, Hibiscus wondered if that was really true. And if it was, wasn't the same true of every power? Hibiscus doesn't remember seeing many of the same powers, but she decided to humor the girl anyways, "
Well. It's hard to explain, because we don't even know much about it. Yes, it requires only my blood. The part that requires it is, uh…" Hibiscus paused for a moment, "
When I apply a mark to someone using my blood. And, uh, when I do the spell itself. I have to cut my arm with my knife, and the blood pools onto my book. The book then turns it into magical energy. I-I'm sorry, I don't really know much about it, and Lyka doesn't either."
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"Hmmm... that sounds almost ritualistic in nature, not quite what I expected..." Enid mumbled to herself.
"How do you not know much about it? It sounds like a pretty specific pattern to follow for something you'd just stumble into. Like, how did you learn to do those things if you don't know why they are needed?" She sounded more confused than accusing, as she asked Hibiscus about it.
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Hibiscus tried her best to explain, but couldn't think of the words needed, "
W-Well.. To put it bluntly, I don't. I just try a lot of things to see if it works. What I was doing in the gym was exactly that, and why the magic wasn't working. I was trying to see if I had learned any new spells so I kept stabbing myself trying to work the magic. I-Isn't that how all magic is learned? Through accidental learning?"
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Enid shook her head.
"Most of us know our magic, at least to some degree, before bonding with someone. The bonded version of that magic is often just a strengthened version of our old magic, with some exceptions, of course. In any case, must of us know what do, or at least have a strong sense of what direction we should work if we wish to further develop our magic. Your spirit seems to be an exception." After a short sigh, she figured she'd let it go.
"In either case, would you be willing to leave behind some blood for further study?" Enid realized that now might not be a very good time to ask.
"It doesn't have to be given now, in case you're still feeling anemic from your training earlier."
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Apparently Hibiscus was the exception to people knowing their spells. They could easily know about it, while she had to work for it. Kinda felt unfair, but Hibiscus just sighed annoyingly. It irked her that she had to spend so much time training just to be on par with everyone else.
She sat up and thought for a moment, "
N-No, it's fine! You can take my blood. I have a way of replenishing my blood levels, so I'll be fine. But..." Hibiscus said, kind of trailing off, "
What exactly do you need it for?"
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Enid raised an eyebrow at the sudden follow-up question, after having happily taken two vials from a cupboard in the far back of the room. The sudden scepticism wasn't ideal.
"Just for some tests, for now, at least, stuff like levels of iron in the blood, general blood-type, if there's traces of prana in it, the usual stuff and then some." She returned with the vials, handing one of them over to Hibiscus.
"Having a way to replenish your blood levels sounds quite useful, do you think you could fill both vials with it?"
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Hibiscus looked at the vials, but didn't take them. She was starting to get suspicious of this. It was one thing for a nurse to ask for blood, but from a random student who only was interested in her blood powers? Hibiscus had already screwed up by letting her dopple possibly free the mistress, so she didn't want to be so hasty with this, "
What's this 'and then some' you're talking about? I don't want to be giving away my blood without knowing exactly what's going to happen to it."
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Ah. She'd been careless. That wasn't ideal. That said, this girl's blood seemed really promising, so letting go of it might be a waste. She wondered if simply throwing money at it would help, but paying off suspicion didn't seem possible in this scenario. To be honest or to lie, it was a tough choice.
"Eh..." After going through three or four possible scenarios, she gave up.
"Can you promise to keep it a secret? It's nothing dangerous, but it's a little embarrassing and all that."
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"
Eh? Embarrassing?..." Hibiscus didn't like the sound of that. She didn't want to hear how this girl wanted to bath in her blood or something like that one count she had read about.
"
S-Sure…" Hibiscus replied, somewhat frightened to hear the answer.
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Enid wasn't sure what Hibiscus was imagining, but she was sure it was
"Not like that!" judging from how questioning Hibiscus sounded. Anything she'd be imaging was likely far worse than the actual thing.
"Okay, so, remember how I told you that bonded magic is most often a stronger version of a spirit's normal magic? Well, as a result of that, we've kind-off made it so the mage we bonded now needs to use her blood for her magic, similar to you, but she can't restore it all that easily, so instead she's learned how to recover by using other's blood. It's not really a pleasant thing, and she was already set-back a lot by bonding us, so I figured I'd try to see if I could at least get her good enough blood to make it easier. Another blood-user seemed like the obvious choice." Well, with that, the cookies had crumbled and the milk was spilled.
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Hibiscus tilted her head questioningly, it didn't seem made up, hopefully, as making up a story like that would have been harder on the spot, and it would have been way easier to say something like "we want to see how your blood is specifically", so Hibiscus figured she could at least partly trust this explanation. She nodded, but also asked, "
Alright, I'll do it, but what do you mean by that? The mage you bonded, and how she was set back by bonding…. 'Us'. Do you mean the royal 'we' and 'us'?"
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"Royal whatnot?" Enid shook her head.
"No, I'm sorry, I didn't mention. I bonded her at the same time as Serkan, who was my mentor at the time, sort-off. We've got similar magic as well. Anyhow... You're really keeping this a secret, right?" She seemed more than a little uncomfortable spilling all the beans, asking for reconfirmation before she'd continue.
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Ah, so she WAS a spirit. Although Hibiscus was curious to learn about her power as well, she probably had done enough question asking… Although she was the one being asked for the favor…
Hibiscus nodded, "
Of course! I'll keep it a secret, although Lyka-"
"
Shut yer trap, I'll do the same…" A muffled voice said from the confines of Hibiscus's pocket.
Hibiscus then nodded to Enid, "
Alright, we'll both keep it a secret."
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"Well, we kind-off met her because Serkan tried to scam her. She managed to turn the tables on him, and put him in debt instead. However, rather than just plucking him for all he was worth, she was merciful enough to let us work it off bit by bit. That went so well that she eventually made us business partners. When that turned out for the better, we figured we'd seal the deal by forming a bond. Turns out that was a bad idea, as we heavily underestimate the Spectres and ended up here. We've pretty much brought her career to an end by being careless, on top of having her end up with inconvenient magic."
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Hibiscus tilted her head at the name, Serkan. She hadn't ever heard of that name before, but apparently she got to where she was today because of him. Hibiscus nodded, that was pretty much all she needed to know, "
Alright. I'll give you my blood then, do you have any equipment for it here, or do you just want me to cut myself with my knife?"
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"Eh, I used to have syringes somewhere, I think, but if you're okay with it, it seems like it'll be just as easy and a lot faster if you use the knife again."
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Hibiscus nodded, grabbing one of the bottles, saying "
Transform." And sticking her knife into her arm, dragging it down and putting the bottle under it, letting it pool into the bottle.
After that bottle was filled, she tried wiping off the excess blood on her shirt, "
Do you need both bottles?" She asked, and if the answer was yes, Hibiscus would fill up the second bottle, "
What else do you need?"
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"If possible, that would be great." Two was better than one, after all.
"Nothing else is needed, you've been a great help!" After a bit of deliberation, she added;
"If this turns out to test well, would you be willing to provide blood more often? Of course, we'll look for a way to remunerate your efforts."
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Hibiscus nodded and waved her hand, "
Sure, whatever." Hibiscus said, leaning back in her chair, taking a sip of the tea for once.
Once she had finished off the tea, she set the cup back down on the table, and stood up, "
Thanks for the tea. Here's my number if you ever want to get in contact with me." Hibiscus said, showing her AMB ID and number for her phone.
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Oddly enough, it seemed like losing two vials of blood had caused the girl to be a bit more sassy, or something along those lines. Enid wasn't quite sure what to blame the change on. That said...
"Great, thank you! Here's mine in return." After noting down the information, Enid gave Hibiscus a business card titling Enid as 'investment advisor' for a 'von Rothschild' company.
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Hibiscus took the card, then pocketed it in the pocket that Lyka wasn't hiding out in, "
See ya." She said, before leaving the room and leaving Enid to herself, going about the rest of her day.
von Rothschild sounded familiar to Hibiscus, but she couldn't place where she heard it from, so she just ignored it and went about her day.