A couple hours later, Cheyenne paused on her walk down the hall of the girls' dorm, her eyes widening seeing her room was far more active then it had been when she had left. She could hear voices, a lot of shifting around and some kind of electric tool whirring loudly. Either she was getting robbed or her new roommate had arrived!
She rushed forward excitedly, so focused on getting to see inside she didn't see the guy coming out the door just in time for her to run head on into him, taking them both down to the hardwood hallway floor with a painful thud.
"Ow!" Chey whined at the same time the guy gasped in offense. "My yogurt! I was eating that!"
"Screw your yogurt you heavy sod, my excitement has been interrupted! Who wanders around other people's rooms waiting for the perfect moment to get tackled?"
Mystery guy glared at her, surprising her with those eyes. Wait, she'd seen those gorgeous aquamarine eyes before. "Sinbad?? Wait no you can't be, your hair isn't as pretty."
The glare got worse, making her get off him to put some distance between them. She sure hoped this stranger wasn't like, a grim reaper in human skin or something. "I don't know who the hells you think you are to have offended me thrice in less than a minute, but saying my gorgeous black mane is less attractive than my brother's blinding blonde one is just, unacceptable. Apologize!"
Ahh so this was the other brother prince Sinbad had mentioned. In his defense, he did look much different than his brother in every aspect except those eyes. This guy's skin was a milk chocolatey brown, his hair in a fashionable glossy black faux hawk, and an athletic body covered in a lot of piercings and a lot of leather. Sweet, that meant all he could really do to her was over glamor her mind when she didn't put a protective spell on it first. Though to be fair, he looked pretty fit. If he wanted to start a fist fight she'd have to think faster on how to escape or incapacitate him.
She was opening her mouth to give a peace making apology, but he beat her to it. "Usually when women throw themselves at me, they have the decency to swoon properly." He looked her over slowly with a gaze that made her eyes twitch remembering the wizard boy twits from her old school that thought she was a piece of meat from the deli to drool over. He even had the same cocky smirk spread on his face. "And have the decency to not be as chubby. Some guys like thick thighs but….I'm gonna have to be convinced"
She didn't bother to wait for his expectant gaze to make it up to her face before deciding she had wasted her inner good manners by bothering to think he deserved any kind of apology. Some things really never did change, no matter where you went in the world, huh.
Her mind made up on what to do, she gave the excitement ruiner a polite smile, noting the smug smirk grew wider. "Oh deary me, how could I ever be so foolish? Obviously this was all my fault, I should have approached you in a far more delicate manner that you so clearly deserve."
"Well now, that's more like i-"
"BUT unfortunately I happen to be a firm believer in it being very impolite to stare at people's goods when they don't like you. So. Aqua iecit!" His big head was too busy thinking she was groveling he hadn't noticed she had gotten her wand out of her boot and easily chanted off a spell of high pressured water to blast him well away from her damn door all the way down the hall until he was slammed against the wall by the stairs choking his lungs out. She hmphed at him as he collapsed and lay gurgling face down in the water, his body trying to recover from what just happened. People really should learn how to be nice to her before she got annoyed with them.
"Oh my good lord, we are all going to die here in the land of monsters by the end of the night", she heard voice of reason whimper, followed by a loud guffaw from the demon.
"Oh hush, we'll be just fine. Being a monster is no excuse for having no manners. I thought you'd be proud of me and my astounding high good sense to stop bullies before they can take more advantage, really."
She ignored the concerned looking stares of the girls who had come out of their rooms to see what the commotion was about and turned to finally see what was going on in her room. She got another mini heart attack when she saw a light brown skinned boy with white hair and grey tips poking his head out of her room looking at her with piercing gold eyes, his stare moving from her to the prick. People also needed to learn to stop sneaking up on her, it was getting old!
"Sup." He nodded to her in greeting, making her squint suspiciously feeling her brain get the same warm, fuzzy feeling she had gotten from Sinbad and Hyli
"Sup. How many of you sirens are there and why do you all have terrible timing?"
That got an eyebrow raise. "Excuse you madam, my timing is always perfect. Though my brother down there has no excuse. I keep telling him to be nice to people and not expect them to bow down before his glory, but does he ever listen?"
He paused long enough to make her realize he was waiting for her answer. "Oh, well, heck no given how our first meeting just went. Quick question, who are you and why are you in my room making noise?"
Those weird gold eyes widened, his head quickly moving to check the name board next to her door. "Are you Cheyenne?" She nodded, grinning when he clapped happily. "About time you showed up! What took you so long?"
"A mandatory tour around this big school to help me from getting lost in the futu-"
He yanked her into her room, ignoring her shock at seeing what mayham was going on from her roommate's side: piles of clothes, handmade looking furniture like that shelf getting nailed to the wall by some tall, copper haired dude with keys attached to his headband staring at her…..and a door that shouldn't be there. Placed high on the wall one of the beds was pushed against. The small glance she got of the other side of it showed the inside of a log cabin that looked like roomie's furniture matched perfectly…..Magic?? Probably magic. Direct dimensional transportation magic. So cool!
Mystery guy didn't stop pushing her until she was standing in front of a teenage girl sitting cross legged on the desk, looking at Chey in surprise with a powdered doughnut halfway to her mouth.
So this was her? The girl that she was going to spend the next year living with? She had long orange hair tied up in a ponytail, green eyes that looked like they belonged to a primal dinosaur, a surprising amount of muscle her fashionable, flowy shirt and shorts couldn't hide and the coolest boots Chey had ever seen, with chains and lockets wrapping around both boots individually. Chey liked her already!
Locket was still busy sizing her new roommate up, surprised at how short she was. Barely 5'0, had some good curves but no distinguishable muscles showing she worked out. Curiosity filled maple brown eyes with what Locket swore were little colorful stars swirling in her eyes like the bubbles in a soda pop, shoulder length dirty blonde hair that had the same weird black tips on the end like Salem's did, making her wonder if it was natural like his too. She looked like a cute, soft person filled with cookie dough that Locket wanted to hug! But after hearing the ruckus that happened outside sounding like she had magically obtained a high pressured fire department grade water hose to silence the foolish Senel, she didn't think it'd be a smart idea. What a no nonsense taking cool chick, Locket liked her already!
Tumbler McGregor, who had made a door from his home in Scotsland to open directly into his little sisters new dorm to help her move her clothes and bestie approved decorations and necessities, watched the new girl and Locket in concern as they grinned at each other happily. Almost creepily as they still hadn't said a word to each other. Well, they must not want to rip each other to shreds, that was a good sign.
He moved his gaze to Salem who was wiping a tear from his eye like a proud parent. "Look at her go, almost a solid 2 minutes of awkward silence with no desire to attack like a wild dog like last year! I'm so proud."
That snapped Locket out of it enough to snort. "It wasn't MY fault the lass was stupid." She quickly moved her eyes back to Chey with what Chey was pretty sure was a defensive version of justice. "She tried to mark her territory over the whole room by throwin' her shiz everywhere, including me bed and desk, and gave me some snide comment when I asked about it. So I tossed her belongings that were polluting my side to a different dimension and sent her a pic of them set on fire." That made Chey snort. "So she screamed at me and poked me very offensively, and I broke her arm. When she didn't learn her lesson and screamed louder at me with some insults, well I had to knock her out. Then she tried to sue me. And then she was gone and no longer my problem or roommate anymore."
Before Chey could let the extremely ominous tone of that shake her into worry, Salem swooped in. "Not death, I feel desperate to clarify. I did my best friend duties by paying her off to go away and drop all the charges so Locket here wouldn't be arrested." He looked up to the ceiling in thought for a long moment before shrugging. "I mean, not arrested in this dimension. Nice to meet you new buddy, I'm Salem Goldfin."
Monsters were apparently really good at lobbing a bunch of information at once to make her head spin around too much to be able to focus enough on one fascinating question at a time, good word. Ok, let's start by focusing on his name, she could work with a name. "Salem. Nice, cool to meet you. You sound like a great bestie-Wait, more Goldfins??"
He gave a proud smile that made her squint at how shiny it was. Oh yeah, definitely a siren bro. "Yup! There are 5 of us here at school. You blasted my 2nd eldest down the hall a few minutes ago."
Locket had a weirdly satisfied grin on her face directed at Chey. Like she was proud of her. Awww! "Similar to that one girl who thought she could take advantage of you, can't just let people walk all over us right?"
"Damn straight," Locket nodded, deciding this new girl was worthy. She had planned to keep to herself this year with Salem as her only companion like usual, how had she gotten so lucky to be literally handed a new extremely potential partner in crime?? Maybe her nerd was right, this year was gonna be a good one for new socialization endeavors worthy of her effort.
Tumbler huffed when they stared at each other in camaraderie again, happy that his sister had made a new friend. But impatient to help her with her stuff and return home. He didn't have all day. "Oi. Finish unpackin', then ye can have the whole rest of the year te bond and befriend. Don't ye all have an event tonight te get te?"
A shudder ran through Locket before she glared hard at the metallic copper haired guy that had been putting up the shelf. Salem smirked smugly at Locket. "Yeeees, we do indeed. There's a perfectly decent meet and greet dance tonight after orientation dinner, a fine way to meet new students we'll be spending the year together with." He moved those odd gold eyes to Chey excitedly. "Locket doesn't have a choice, but you do. Wanna come associate with the masses with us?"
Chey took a step back in shock, putting a hand to her chest as her inner demon and reason gasped with her. Was….was she just invited somewhere socially?! Directly and by choice, not obligation or fear! Was this real?!
'I dunno, is it?' she oofed in pain, clutching her chest tighter when the demon punk strained against his chains to arch back and headbutt her heart. 'Look at that, guess you're not dreaming!'
"Ow, geez, prick!" She wheezed, making Locket raise an eyebrow and Salem's eyes sharpen staring at her. Staring unusually hard at her chest actually, when she could stand up straight. The heck??
"I'll repeat what I had to tell your creep brother before I blasted him into the wall: It is very impolite to stare at people's goods without permission, sir."
'Of all the ways to phrase it….' Reason sighed in disappointment at how unladylike Chey was, noticing that Salem's head tilted but that he hadn't taken Cheyenne's threat advice. 'That is odd though, the WAY he is staring seems more inquisitive than the usual, painfully blank drooling examination of the other crude boys. Don't you agree?'
"Yes," Cheyenne and Salem said at the same time, startling the witch. He stared for a minute longer before finally relaxing and moving his weird eyes up to her confused, vaguely violated stare. "I didn't notice them before because they hadn't said anything. But now that I'm right up next to you, I can hear them. Are you possessed by 2 spirits??"
…...The pair inside was as shocked as she was, wow. Stunned straight into silence. Monsters really were something else. "I have been here, in this new monster country, this monster filled school, for like, 2 minutes…..and 2 of you soul invaders have already seen the things I've been cursed with eternally since I was a kid…." Her eyes moved up to the ceiling as she released a long breath, full of disbelieving relief. "Not even the churches believed me." She whispered.
Locket looked startled that her new friend looked like she was about to cry from….she didn't know what. Salem had been doing his weird intense thinking stare and talked about spirit possession. Did he hurt her feelings somehow? Would she have to scoldingly smack her bestie for hurting her new roommate she was starting to like?
Salem finally noticed Locket's judging stare and clarified. "She's got 2 souls that aren't hers trapped inside her, one sounds like a dick, the other sounds like….a moral compass? But yeah, I didn't notice them before because they were quiet and if it took me, a soul eater hybrid, this long to notice their existence, then there is probably no way anyone else from her home country could find them. You're human-ish with magic so...I presume you're from English?"
"I….yes, I was raised in the Magic Kingdom after my magic had gotten strong enough to require me to go to school to learn to control it. Are you a detective mindreader like that freezing glasses guy??"
Both of them puffed out an amused laugh. "It's hilarious how easy it is to identify Hyli from the vaguest of descriptions."
"I know right? And yet every descriptor fits him perfectly." Salem nodded at the confused Chey. "Hyli's my cousin, he's another soulsucker siren hybrid. You'll find a lot of us on campus actually. Our dads had a lot of brothers. Anyway, you're half right on my detective mind reader skills but mostly it was common sense from what I've seen from you. You certainly feel human, but you have too much magic surrounding you to really be convincing." He squinted at her chest again, making her demon growl at him for the privacy invasion. "I can tell you're a hybrid like us too, but I can't tell what your other half is yet either. Ah well, we've got plenty of time to get to know each other, the dance tonight alone is literally for meeting and greeting everyone for the new year. The second we finish putting up all you guys' stuff, we can go down and get some food. Need some help with your furniture?"
Chey smiled at the cute mind invader, happy he at least seemed like he cared. She didn't feel like she had to worry about him stealing her stuff if she were to accept his help, that was a great start. "No, but thank you. Perks to being a magic witch is using magic for daily tasks!" She took a careful look around their comfortably sized room, noting where her side ended and Locket's began. She walked backwards to the door on her right side by her desk and window and nodded looking over the bathroom that now had Locket's things neatly placed on one side, leaving a spare side for her to put her own things. She walked back to the main room towards their front door and went to the closet door on her side, opening it wide and scanning it. When she had all the visuals she needed, she stepped back to the middle of the room and nodded, feeling ready.
Feeling like showing off a bit, she hopped up on one foot to reach her wand from her boot once again, twirling it out and pointing at her bottomless suitcase she had set against her wall earlier today. Her mind sorted through it's collections of spells until she found a general one for lifting multiple items at once, then paired it with another spell that could make all those items go to where she wanted as long as she could keep the mental picture visible for it to follow. She heard impressed oooohs from behind her as the spells came forth to open her suitcase and find the items she wanted to pull out from the bottomless suitcase: mainly her bed covers with their colorful polka dots and black background with their matching pillows, some of her favorite posters, mainly typical desk supplies, her favorite lamp alarm clock shaped like her favorite cupcake mascot from Sweeten, her purple on one side and cream on the other curtains. She had to move backwards carefully back to the bathroom to properly set her bathroom supplies down in their right places. All in all it took her about 15 minutes to get her side to the way she liked it, but overall it did look exactly as she wanted when she was finished.
She turned around to grin at the others that had been chatting and clapping while she was working, giving them a bow. "Thank you, thank you, magic convenience at it's finest. I'll do my clothes next but it's not as interesting."
After Locket was finished inspecting the magically placed furniture to make sure they weren't going to come to life and come at her like that one Quizney movie, she grinned at Chey. "For sure this would be the one way to convince me to do my laundry and set up my own furniture. Big bro here would finally be out of the job if I did."
The copper haired boy snorted at Locket, tossing her a hammer she caught out the air. "Not even magic would be 'nough te get ye off yer lazy arse te do yer own chures, who ye be kiddin'? It's the wee Salem ye got te thank for not lettin' ye become a fellow hobo." He turned around when she hopped up on the bed next him, passing her some screws for her shelf. "Ye should tell em thank ya more often."
"Sure." She leaned back to meet Salem's gaze and give him that same grin she had given Chey with her teeth. "Thanks for not letting me become a completely hopeless degenerate, mama Salem."
"Oh, shut up," Salem stuck his tongue at her as he went to her closet on the opposite side of Chey's, both of them giving a smile. He picked up some hangers and got ready to set Locket's clothes up neatly. "So, we're gonna find out eventually at the Meet and Greet dance, but why don't you tell us about yourself, new girl. How are you liking Kookiness the Land of Monsters so far?"
"It's pretty awesome! Been a long day though." She shoved her chest to the bottom of the closet, deciding she would pull out the rest of her things later. She plopped on her bed and crossed her legs. "Wanna hear about how my recent birthday trip almost ended with me accidentally killing my old schoolmates with a unique and very deadly if left uncontrolled curse? I'd like to proudly inform you I safely extracted the curse, so it won't happen. A second time."