Head For The Blondes

You wave back to Selena, indicating that you will join them as soon as you grab some food.

With a plateful of eggs, French Toast, and a few breakfast sausages (with a couple extra for Tara) you join your Pegasus House friends. "Hey there!" Selena chirps between mouthfuls, her eyes sparkling eagerly in a way that makes her seem excited about more than the food.

"Keeping some weird company this morning," Mana says, giving you a friendly smile but her eyes occasionally darting in the direction Victor walked off in.

"Wasn't my choice, I assure you," is your reply as you watch Tara flutter down from your shoulder and onto the table to grab one of the sausages.

Despite it being almost as big as she is, the Dragon-Fairy still opens her mouth absurdly wide to take a big bite out of the side of the sausage. As she chews she looks over at Selena and Mana and seems... curious. Almost as if she is uncertain of how to take them. In return, Selena seems enamored with Tara as she all but coos, "Oh my, you got her in a summoning class, didn't you? She's adorable! The best me and Mana ever managed were a pair of cat familiars!"

"Yeah, but they ran off together not even a week later," Mana adds.

"How romantic," you comment with a smirk.

"I guess," Mana replies with a shrug before sighing.

"What's wrong?" Selena asks, her big blue eyes filled with concern.

"Eh," Mana grunts, "The usual."

Selena smirks and conspiratorially leans closer to you to stage whisper, "I think she's jealous our cats have better 'luck' than we do."

"SELENA!"

The pony-tailed blonde's giggling is infectious and you find yourself smiling slightly as you watch Mana's face turn red for a moment. You then notice Selena looking at you again and when you return her gaze she asks, "So... how are you doing? We heard about what happened... with Parisa."

A sigh escapes your lips as your amusement leaves you. "I'm okay. Just kind of confused about the whole thing, really. How's... she doing?"

"They moved her to the attic room," Mana says as she regains her composure, "So she's all alone up there and they don't let other students up to visit. They changed her meal times too, so it's when the least amount of other students are around. Not that she could talk to anyone anyway, with that curse in place."

"She looks like she's going to cry all the time," Selena says, "I just don't get it! Why'd she do it?! I know things had been a little rough for her lately with the break up and other stuff but I didn't think she'd ever... snap like that!"

"That reminds me," you remark, "She mentioned some of that 'other stuff' involved Artie. Is it okay if I ask what happened?"

Both of the girls wince simultaneously. "What did she tell you?" Mana asks with a worried tone in her voice.

"That he stares at her, groped her," you pause to watch the two blonde's expressions, noting none of these claims seem to be a surprise to them before deciding to move up to the bigger ones, "stole some of her underwear, and hid a camera in the girl's showers."

They still seem unsurprised but clearly saddened as you continue with, "And that you didn't believe her and just agreed to not talk about it."

Mana suddenly slaps the table, a flash of pained anger joining her sorrow as her outrage draws a few looks of surprise from others around them. "It's not that we don't believe her!" she snaps before noticing the rubberneckers and lowering her voice again, "It's true some girls underwear went missing a couple times and we DID find a camera hidden in the showers. So SOMETHING happened! I just... can't believe Artie would be the kind of guy to do that kind of thing."

"It was one of those instant photo ones," Selena adds, "But the part where the picture comes out had a portal spell on it so whenever the camera took one, the picture went right to wherever the person controlling it wanted it to go. And Professor Dove had Artie's room searched but they didn't find anything but Parisa kept insisting it was him. It was really weird!"

"If they find whoever did it," Mana says, now picking at her food, "I'll beat 'em to a pulp. Even if it somehow is him."

She suddenly stands up, picking up her breakfast tray. "I'll be waiting by the door," she says to Selena, now looking slightly upset, "I'm not really hungry anymore."

"Sorry," you mutter, the realization that you were picking at a wound that was tearing the girl between two of her friends.

Mana gives you a slight nod as if to accept your apology, though she may only be acknowledging it, and walks away to dispose of her leftovers.

"It's not your fault," Selena says as she reaches out to touch your arm, "You're caught up in this now too, so you deserved to know. It's just... y'know... hard."

You nod in understanding... and then look down at her hand as her fingers rub at your bicep. She does not look like she is planning to let go right away and when you look up at her she is blushing ever so slightly.

"Ummm," she says, suddenly finding it hard to meet your eyes, "I-If you're free this afternoon, around 4-ish? W-Would you be willing to come visit our room?"