Her Inheritance

CHAPTER 18 -•- Wispy the Cat

          The House of Vaedra sat around a small table in their schools' giant, advanced library while they discussed the club's latest advances. Aurora watched stressed kids cram for tests and ask SOPHIA for study tips and recommendations. Taya was quickly typing some of the last notes from their meeting as Nyra and Marla briefly sipped on their iced coffees from the cafeteria's coffee shop. Severine was staring out the glass window as the passing students, giving people dirty looks whenever they gazed in her direction, which Aurora now realized was literally just how her face naturally looked, even when she was just vibing. Kids would eye the group curiously, then lock eyes with Severine and immediately look away. Aurora was a little amused by it.
           "Okay... That meeting with Master Noc is scheduled... the next HoV meeting is going to include the boys. We're gonna go with... auxiliary members. And now we're all the inner core?" Taya eyed Severine.
           "Yes," she answered without looking at her.
           "Wait, I don't get it... so Jude and Kairo are in HoV... but not really?" Aurora asked the group again in confusion.
           "They will be formal members of HoV. They'll get their pendants... attend meetings and events... hover around the group, like they've already been doing. But they won't be part of our main image. Some things, they simply won't be involved in. I'm not sure if I want them in the public eye with us, either. I think I found a way around that with their marketing credits, though. I believe it's time we started branding ourselves on social media, and they're going to run our page," Severine explained slowly, looking a little curious and distracted as she kept examining some of the students outside of the glass.
           "Oh, Kairo was born to be a social media influencer. He'll do great," Aurora smiled confidently as she waved her hands.
           "Exactly," Severine smiled slightly at the mention of his name, "the more exposed we are to the public, the more I'm beginning to realize we need physical protection. I have always been opposed to violence, but when it comes to making a statement, I believe it's sometimes necessary. Aurora's first live debate will come and go, and then we'll be taking her on her first mission. Maybe it would be a good idea to bring the boys too," Severine droned on in thought, and Aurora choked on Nyra's drink that she was taking a sip of at her last statement.
           "M-mission?" she questioned between coughs as she covered her mouth.
           "Yes, Rory, your very first, real HoV mission," Taya grinned at her from behind her laptop.
           "We'll talk about it more when we get there, we still aren't sure on a lot of the details, and the last thing I need is you stressing about it before it even happens," Severine put up her gloved hand before anyone could go on about it, and Taya shot Aurora one last giddy expression before sliding her fingers over her lips like she was zipping them closed. Aurora smiled between them, scoffing slightly in disbelief, "anyway... you do have everything ready for your debate on Thursday, don't you?"
           "It's only been keeping me awake every night since you told me the date... my Dad has been helping me a lot with it, too," Aurora sighed, making Severine nod in approval.
           "Well, is that everything, then? I hate to cut us short, but I'm actually in a hurry to get out of this void of an academy today..." Marla sighed as she impatiently eyed her holo-watch.
           "What? Did Evren finally agree to meet up with you tonight?" Taya asked without looking at her as she typed a few more things. Marla blushed and stared at her, before sighing in annoyance, leaning back in her seat. Her lack of response was all the response they needed. Aurora frowned at Marla.
           "You know, I'm sure Evren is really nice. Marla likes him! That can't be for no reason, right? He probably is just really busy, he's in college! I mean, what do we know about him?" Aurora danced around her words with a nervous laugh.
           "Exactly, thank you, Aurora," Marla sighed, lifting her hand in the air in declaration.
           "Really nice? I'm sorry, but haven't you ever heard of that saying, if he wanted to, he would? If he actually cared about Marla and respected her feelings, he would want to spend more time with her the way she desperately wants and deserves," Taya explained to Aurora like Marla wasn't sitting right in front of them listening, which made Marla pinch the bridge of her nose.
           "Why do we have to bring this up right now? It honestly isn't any of your business. There was a reason I didn't explicitly tell you I'm seeing him tonight," Marla snapped at her, making Taya roll her eyes.
           "Severine, will you tell this girl that this Evren guy is bad news?" Taya turned to Severine, who raised an eyebrow at her.
           "What would be the point? She won't listen to me, if she thinks she loves him. And anyway, it's not my place to tell people who do date," Severine rolled her eyes at the two of them, strongly declining her offer to butt in.
           "Oh, come on. You're the only one who's met him, I know you picked something up that nobody else did," Taya pushed again, eyeing Marla with an annoyed stare. Severine sighed when Marla turned to her challengingly.
           "Sure... but just like Marla, there was a reason I didn't explicitly say it," Severine told her with a warning, making Marla scoff and roll her eyes as well.
           "Well, now you have to say it, don't you? Or else it's going to drive me insane until it finally does slip out," she glared at Severine as she crossed her arms. Severine stared at her for a long moment, debating if she really should say it or not.
           "You're dead serious?" Severine asked her again, making Marla give her an impatient stare, "fine... I think he's a total trophy boyfriend to you, and you gave up your virginity to 'keep him around', when I think it's pretty obvious he sleeps with any stupid girl that gives him the time of day, and he clearly still isn't fully invested in you since he got what he wanted," Severine looked a little guilty after saying it, and she refused to watch Marla's expression begin to crumble.
           "Severine!" Aurora gasped at her in shock. Severine just looked back at her, daring her to challenge her decision to speak her mind again, and Aurora sunk back as she turned to Marla, who suddenly looked despondent and confused.
           "Sometimes the truth is the last thing you want to hear. She wanted me to say it, I gave her the chance to change her mind," Severine shrugged slightly. Aurora felt heartbroken for Marla. She didn't seem like the type of girl to end up in a situation like that, and it was a little surprising to see this breaking version of her. The table went dead silent, and everyone just avoided eye contact.
           "Was it... good?" Aurora asked, making Marla suddenly look back at her with glassy eyes.
           "What?" she asked, running a knuckle under her water line as she looked away.
           "I mean... losing your virginity... was it a bad experience?" she asked her, making Marla sniffle and look down in thought.
           "Oh... uh... no, actually. It was really nice. I mean, I wasn't planning to go through with it that night, you know? But he took me to this really nice restaurant... said all the right things... We were laughing so much, it was the best time. When we got to his apartment, he had rose petals on the bed and candles lit... romantic music playing... chocolate-covered strawberries," Marla giggled as Aurora stared at her in awe, "it was... really nice, actually. I didn't feel pity... I didn't feel like I had to... I just wanted to," she shrugged as her frown began to reappear, until Aurora grabbed her hand that was resting on the table, making her look back at her.
           "Even if things don't work out... at least he made it special for you," Aurora smiled at her. Marla had to blink away tears as she laughed at her. Severine just stared at Aurora with awe and a silent admiration. Taya frowned at Marla and sighed through her nose.
           "I'm sorry, Marla. You know I talk all that smack because I care about you, right? You do deserve someone who makes you feel that way all the time," she explained, and Marla sighed again.
           "I know," she admitted, "look, can we just stop talking about my relationship now? Why don't you— just talk about Nyra's weird love life instead," she complained suddenly, directing their attention on the cat girl who suddenly froze mid-sip.
           "Actually, that's a good point. You need to tell me more about your human, whatever the five that means," Aurora chuckled as she turned to her.
           "What would you possibly want to know about that boring stuff?" Nyra asked her.
           "Well... why do you like him? Have any of us girls met or seen him?" Aurora asked her, curiously leaning into the palms of her hands.
           "Yeah, he's such a mystery, Nyra, I mean, you won't even describe him to us," Marla chuckled, lightening back up a bit.
           "She's never going to tell us who he is because she knows we're gonna point him out as soon as we see him," Taya laughed as she shook her head.
           "Exactly!" Nyra agreed with her, making Marla and Taya roll their eyes in annoyance.
           "Come on, Nyra... we know his name is Casper. Does he go to school with us?" Aurora asked.
           "Nope," Nyra asked, making Aurora look back at Taya with a small smile.
           "Is he... tall?" she asked.
           "He's taller than me," Nyra smiled, pulling the straw out of her drink and licking it.
           "So, no... he's not tall," Taya said, causing the girls, and even Severine to snicker slightly.
           "Is he... uhhh... brunette?" Aurora asked, and Nyra shook her head, "black hair? Redhead? No? Really? He must be blonde then," Aurora smiled as Nyra finally nodded her head.
           "Long hair? Short hair? What? If it's not long or short then what is it?" Taya questioned her next, making Nyra giggle and shrug, and Taya rolled her eyes, "Okay, then, some kind of shortish-longish-medium-type of hair," Aurora hummed in thought, thinking of any other defining characteristics.
           "Does he have glasses, like Jude?" Aurora smiled toward her, causing Nyra to eagerly nod her head, making Aurora gasp in delight, "Awe, he sounds so cute!"
           "A glasses-wearing blondie named Casper who goes to another school. Well, I guess that narrows it down a little," Taya smiled.
           "All I know is he's the reason you wanted my veilglass pendant..." Severine sighed, causing Nyra to glance at her sheepishly.
           "I'm still waiting to give it to him, you know? I'm waiting for him to get sad again, he's been in a really good mood lately, shockingly," Nyra rolled her eyes, and the girls froze when they realized how much information she was giving up all of a sudden. They turned to Severine again, who smiled at her.
           "What does he plan on doing with it?" Severine chuckled, shaking her head at her.
           "I don't know. I just know he wants one," Nyra giggled with a smile.
           "Well, won't that be a lucky find," Severine stared at her with amusement as Nyra giggled again.
           "Okay... so you do hang out with him outside of school?" Aurora suddenly turned to Nyra in shock. Nyra frowned at her and looked away again with a shrug.
           "Not exactly... Nyra is... a weirdo. Her relationship to Casper is uh... very different from what you'd expect. Casper has met Nyra but he hasn't met... the real Nyra," Severine explained, making Aurora's face twist into utter confusion the more she spoke. She looked at Nyra again who was body drinking her coffee.
           "Do you guys have any idea what that means?" she turned to Marla and Taya, who looked at each other and smiled.
           "Let's put it this way... you know how we go around saying we don't have endowments, even though, now that you're in the group, it's starting to become pretty obvious that that's just a front we put on? Well, Nyra puts on a front, too. And her endowment is the reason she is the way she is," Taya chuckled as she whispered to her, and Aurora looked at Nyra again, raising an eyebrow at her. Aurora narrowed her eyes at her as she slowly sipped her drink, looking back at Aurora's icy blue eyes. Aurora stared closely at her endless supply of cat-themed clothing and accessories, her weird little double buns she couldn't live without, as if they were an extension of her body, and her bright, yellow eyes that she had only seen in the wild on very specific animals...
           "Ohhhhhh...." Aurora suddenly leaned back and stared at Nyra in awe, and a smirk tugged at her lips when Nyra smiled and flashed her unnaturally pointed teeth at her. She giggled at her after a moment of processing, "you know, Nyra... you probably know Casper really well. I'm sure he'd want to get to know the real you, if you gave him the chance," Aurora smiled at her, making her look Aurora up and down in surprise. She didn't say anything though, just turned back to her drink, deep in thought.
           "Only Nyra would find it appealing to be a literal frog princess... or uh... cat princess," Marla said, making Nyra's yellow eyes light up imaginatively.
           "You mean... the princess who kisses a frog and makes it turn into a prince?" Aurora chuckled, and Nyra nodded in agreement, "wow... yeah, Nyra, I think you are a little twisted."
           "It's what makes me the best," she shrugged confidently, making the girls smile, "I do love Casper... I want him to take my virginity..." she giggled devilishly, making the girls all wince and cringe in response.
           "Oh good... I was hoping I wasn't the only one here who was still so inexperienced," Aurora laughed with relief.
           "Oh, Aurora... there is nothing wrong with being inexperienced at our age, or any age, for that matter," Severine assured her, making her look up at her in surprise.
           "Are you still a virgin, Sev?" Aurora asked her.
           "Absolutely. I would never do such disgusting things with another human..." Severine said, which shocked Aurora until it made Marla and Taya laugh.
           "Don't let this vexlet fool you... yes, Severine is highly closed off and has never had a sexual partner, for obvious reasons, but she is absolutely the horniest person in this entire group," Taya pointed at her with her thumb, making Aurora laugh when she looked back at Severine's sheepish smile.
           "Me and Taya are the only ones who have had sex," Marla clarified.
           "That's... surprising... in a good way! You guys are so pretty and powerful, and Severine, the way you dress... I guess I just assumed you all had pretty active sex lives," Aurora told them nervously, making them smile at each other.
           "You know, sex is a very sacred thing... I don't think people take it seriously these days," Severine sighed, slightly eyeing Taya and Marla, who rolled their eyes.
           "Okay, but... I have no regrets... Lexley Swanson was one sweet piece of ass," Taya smiled to herself as she reminisced, "if only she didn't have to move to Mercy."
           "And I just got done talking about how my experience was still special," Marla rolled her eyes.
           "I'm not judging, I'm just giving my opinion," Severine sighed with a smile, and Marla and Taya looked back at each other as they shook their heads.