Esper

So couple things. First, as always, thanks to Bnnuy for editing. Second, thinking of doing a author box again to just chuck some ideas out, and ask about the direction the story should go (in a broad sence) as well as gauge how you guys like what I'm doing, what I'm doing wrong, and how I can fix it. Now I just need a time frame to ask, do you guys want it sooner or later? check the poll at the end for more stuff on it.

Chapter 3: How best to sleep

*Thump. Thump*

A thumping sound inside a room started growing, one of the occupants noticed quickly and smiled.

*Crack, pop*

“Ah… good morning.”

A girl in silver pajamas muttered, looking around her room with a smile, seeing her sister and ‘pupper’. She looked over at her clock, seeing the time,  04:00. Nodding  as she pressed the snooze button on the clock, and slid out from her bed; hair trailing behind her. She had to get dressed before her maid woke up, as she had something to practice.

Yesterday was an exception to her routine, she knew she would be facing people for the first time. Such is the reason she took a long rest in her bed, yet now she would be facing the same people, thus she figured it would be fine to return to old habits. Taking off her pajama shirt, she started to stretch, putting on a sports bra she looked herself over, with a smile and a nod, she moved to go out.

Looking at her room, she smiled, slowly walking out she breathed in, her heart getting ready for the exercise. She started walking, as she started jogging the speed growing as she hummed to herself, as she ran, her head took up time keeping, her feet following a well-trod path.

As the golden-haired girl, in a white bra and silver pajamas pants, ran. The grounds, in which she ran through, were covered in a thick mist that obscured some of the area’s landmarks. The girl continued running, her voice ringing throughout, and as she neared a lake she sighed, the sun was rising, and it reflected across the shining waters.

“Beautiful… hah… Gotta be back before she wakes up!”

As she took but a second to admire the lake, the mist fading, the girl began to run back to her home.

Returning to her room, the girl dressed herself up in a different pair of pajamas and then sat in her window desk, opening her music box, putting some enchanted earpieces in and slowly listening to her old world music. She enjoyed the remixed style of old record music and modern beat style, it relaxed her as she stared out watching the sky turn an orange-red, her smile tempered by her longing eyes. 

“Lady Samantha, wake up!”

Looking up from the window, lifting her head from her desk, the girl sighed and stretched, looking at her bed, wherein the occupants woke with a start. With a smile, the girl moved from her chair, looking at her younger sister and wolf-dog.

“Morning sleepy heads, you guys go back to sleep.”

The younger one yawned, looked at the overly fluffy hound and shrugged. Before laying back into the beast, who had made sure to give a few small licks to the younger sister's head to slick back their hair as it had frazzled with static.

Opening the door to a maid, dressed as best as one could, her hands by her abdomen and her shoulders back, Liana always did look stricter when the lady woke at this time.

“Ahhh… Morning, Liana…”

“Good morning, young lady.” She says with a bow. “Would you like me to draw the bath before we get to the washrooms?”

Nodding, the young lady slowly began to walk down the halls, her hand tapping her side as she hummed along to a tune in her head. The abnormally short bath that happened because of her sleeping in didn’t happen this day, by 06:00 she was washed clean by Liana, who insisted she do her duty even as the lady protested. By 07:00 the lady was dressed, her bags packed into the driver’s car, and she was eating breakfast whilst talking to the cook a bit. The clocks, all magical, had been set by the lord to fit his sensibilities, who enjoyed military thinking and embraced it no matter what.

“ ‘ell hon’ I think y’ah gonna do fine, everyone was ‘appy to meet ya, no?”

“Yes… but I think they were a little too happy about it, you know how I feel about so many people.”

“ ‘ey me’ lady, ya tell me many a time in no uncer’ain terms ‘ow much ya don’t like groups.”

“So… Should I just follow my plan to slip out?”

“Sure hon’, you’d just burn ya self if ya played up to ‘em.”

Nodding, the girl finished up. Talking to close allies always helped when she felt lost.

___

“-is how one will make a basis for lay line absorption, now can anyone tell me why mages have forgone this method of mana circulation?”

The professor talked, turning to the class with a quizzical expression. The students all were writing down notes, some whispering to one another before they all stopped, the teacher's gaze freezing the room's small chatter.

One girl, gold in locks and blue in eyes, muttered to a girl, brown in hair and brown in eyes, who stood up.

“Because it will eventually lead to disruption of the lay line, reducing all magic in the area into a null field and effectively erasing a mage's ability to cast.”

“Good, now that you all understand that, please take notes off of the black board. Lunch will begin soon, so hurry if you want any information from it.”

The girl quickly sat down and furiously began writing down the complex circle on the board, extra information about certain areas, and how lay lines were monitored. The student beside her yawned, her droopy eyes giving off a bored look to her, her hands lay on her desk while her eyes watched the other students. Some continued writing, others began to strike conversations with their peers. Most began collecting their bags, a few girls started to walk over to the golden haired beauty with smirks and smug expressions, the girl for her part slowly stood up, tapping her friend's shoulder before turning to the smug ladies.

“So Sam was it?” The oldest of the girls asked, her face in a smirk.

“Mhm, may I help you ladies in any way?” The gold haired girl asked, her smile giving the gaggle of girls a troubled expression.

“Ah, yes… you were taking notes during class, right?” The leader asked, the other two looked at her confusedly, turned to the smiling girl, then nodded in some sort of approval.

“I did indeed, is there perhaps any specific reason you ask? If not, I would very much like to eat my lunch.”

“Right, um… could you share your notes with us? I will bring them back when we are done with them.”

“Of course, here.” The girl looks in her bag before handing over a very neat, black journal like booklet, small and portable with a pen clipped to the edge.

“If that is all, I shall take my leave.”

She bowed before walking out of the classroom. The gaggle of girls started muttering to one another, the leader staring at her hands, in which held the small booklet, she had no idea why she had asked for it other than she needed help in the class. Hadn’t her plan been to mess with the new girl? Muttering something before checking through the notes.

___

“Hah…”

A girl, golden locks brushed away from her blue eyes. Walked up to the rooftop, yawning as she saw the cityscape before her. Walking towards the railing, she moved her hair to the right side of her head, while it fluttered in a soft wind. She sat down and leaned on the railing, closing her eyes slowly as she breathed a long sigh, taking in the city air as she listened to the noise. It wasn’t as loud as in her old world. She smiled, as she thought that, a pang of guilt ran through her as she remembered what she left behind. Her ma, who was now was alone in her old world, sometimes she wishes she could see how she was taking their death, was it a year since he died back then?

“Hah… really. How did it turn out like this?”

She lowered her head, muttering as she did when given time to think on her new life, and his old one. It wasn’t much, she knew that, but the work back then always did feel good, it gave him purpose… Sighing she looked off into the distance again, down to the cityscape below, it wasn’t a big city, heck, calling it such maybe an overstatement. It was a few office buildings, a group of suburbs and a mall area that took up barely any space, all of it within walking distance of each other.

As she stared out, she always thought of her death back then, for some morbid reason it helped her sleep, a comfort she understood as accepting death. She slowly closed her eyes, feeling the cool touch of wind across her skin, her dress kept her warm enough that she didn’t bother with adding a coat, her breathing slowed down as she laid there, she was used to sleeping uncomfortably, so this was child’s play.

“You really shouldn’t do stuff like that, you know?”

A familiar voice spoke out into her world.

“Mmm… why not? Sleep is the greatest gift to the world.”

“For one, you sleep in the strangest of places, second, you’ll catch a cold like that.”

Sighing, the girl opened her eyes, her older sister standing above her. Looking once more at the outside, she turns to the eldest of her siblings.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think I would need a coat, however, was I mistaken?”

The older stares at her younger, sighing as she shakes her head.

“You really amaze me sometimes, yes, you need a coat. The season is changing right into autumn, and you're wearing a skirt and a vest, why would you not?”

The athletic girl, her dirty blond hair and cobalt blue eyes soft with worry for her sister whom shows such frivolous nature to her health. She picks up her younger sister, her strength more than enough to pull her up.

“Come on, let’s actually eat lunch, then we can try you out in some of the P.E. classes, the school didn’t have you do any since you guys just got into the school right?”

“Mmm... First we eat, then we talk.”

“Avoiding the question doesn’t mean it wasn’t asked, little sis.”

“But it does mean I don’t answer, no?”

The older’s eye twitched at that, her cheeks puffed, before deflating muttering before ruffling her sister's hair.

 “Yeah, yeah, little sis.”

The older sister noticed her younger sister's eyes fade out a bit, with a smile they continued brushing, knowing how much they enjoy it, as the girl started to zone out she stopped.

“Ah! Hey, not fair!”

The younger sister shouted, her eyes brought straight back and her senses returning with the disappearance of her sister's brushing.

“Ahahaha! Hey! Wait, get off! I didn’t re- no, no, no!”

The older sister was being, “attacked”, by her younger, as they scrambled at each other they laughed somewhat, the two hadn’t been around one another for a while now, but they still messed with one another like the kids in the backyard. The older felt the fuzzy feeling she had known as a quirk of their family, mothers’ side, it just felt so good… she shook her head.

“NOT THIS TIME!”

“Gah! How!”

The younger sister, now on her sister’s shoulders and scratching with a soft, gentle, fury at the eldest sister's head, was surprised with her breaking free. The older started to tickle her, the younger, often a stoic person, known for her moments of brooding, always fell into laughter with the eldest sister's coaxing.

‘Yeah… she shouldn’t be so sad looking.’ The eldest sister thought. She had seen her sister, when she came up, laying down with a pained expression, and had brought it upon herself to fix it. She knew her sister, a year ago, had gone through something pretty bad but never asked, she knew something had to be done, but as a bruiser and not a talky type, she stuck with what she knew, she hoped it would be enough for now. ‘She really should smile more.’ Mused the sister, before the bell rang throughout the school, lunch was over. With a few jabs and mutters of revenge, the girls got up, dusted themselves off and wandered down, they had just warmed up, P.E. was ahead of them, and they would see how well they faired.