It's late a night again, and we've spent the whole day settling the freshly arrived mages into their rooms. Fortunately most are experienced and know the drill, so they're helping settle in the students that have had their active service moved up to deal with the crisis. We've now got over 600 mages of the thousand mage full combat strength that the Combat Mage Corps can usually field here at our disposal, if you count the students. The rest are committed to other countries, and a few early developing portals that Earth is on good terms with.
It seems that the mages, the smallest of the supernatural groups, have been nominated to take care of this huge amount of land mostly alone, with help from anyone local to the portal openings.
Chicago seems to be mostly back under control. The military has pushed the dragon riders back to the vicinity of the portal in Seattle but they're still holding strong. They've got mages and witches among them, and the magic is proving harder to overcome than anticipated.
All in all it's been a lousy day. I'm so stressed that I've been in Lycan form since I got back to my room, not able to spare the effort needed to shift back.
The only good news so far is that the damage control teams are doing their jobs. The public still thinks the portals are exceedingly rare, for now, and that the 2 opening in major cities was a fluke of terrible luck.
Without so much as a knock on the door, Lala silently enters my room.
"What's up little Miss?" I ask her, already getting used to her simply appearing where she finds necessary.
"Karl thought you might need stress relief, so he sent me over to your room" Lala smiles at me, and I notice she's carrying one of the long shirts she uses as a night gown.
Bless and curse that man, but I'm not giving up this opportunity.
"Stay here I'll be right back" I tell her, darting out of the room to the dining hall to grab snacks.
Returning with my armload of loot I ask "Have you ever had a sleepover?"
"Uhmm, I'm not really sure what that entails. If you mean sleeping in someone's bed, I've done that plenty, but I suspect that's not what you mean"
Shaking my head at her tragic but limited world view, I quickly explain that a sleepover is a bonding activity between friends. That we will watch a movie, eat snacks, talk about things we like and dislike and just generally have a relaxing good time.
Taking the opportunity as she digests this new bit of information I turn the TV on and find a suitable movie. Finally I settle on 10 things I hate about you. Close enough, we get changed into our night wear and press play.
Chatting happily about everything and nothing, we're well into the snacks when the movie starts to end and Lala's head starts to nod in and out of sleep.
"You know what the best part of a sleepover is?"
Lala shakes her head in confusion.
"Not needing to leave the bed at the end" I giggle and pull the blankets up to cover us.
The next morning I wake up with an insanely itchy nose. Trying to rub the itch away I find my every limb entangled with a small bunny girl. Lala has rolled over from her side of the bed and is fully entangled with me. The itching it seems is her ears flicking back and forth across my face as her face contorts into various happy expressions, obviously still engrossed in a pleasant dream.
I just can't bring myself to wake her up, might as well catch another fifteen minutes sleep right? I settle back down, fully intending to go to sleep when my phone rings and Lala shoots bolt upright, standing on the bed in a panic.
"Calm down Lala, it's just the phone, see" I say pointing at it as it rings again and I pick it up.
"Hey, you two awake? We've got a mission if you're done with your fluffing and snuggling." Karl sounds bemused.
"We had a sleepover, and snacks and watched a movie and did you know there's a big magical screen in every room Karl?" Lala interjects causing laughter to sound through the telephone.
"In fact I did. I put them there. But they're not magic, they're technology. I'm glad you two are getting along so well. Wouldn't want any hard feelings when we get back and Lala finds out how much paperwork is involved in being our secretary."
"We'll meet you for breakfast in 30, sound good?"
"Alright ladies, I'll see you in the mess hall."
"I brought two outfits for today Kat, which one do I need?" Lala asks with a beseeching look "The learning outfit or the secretary outfit? It's not too soon for the secretary outfit is it, being my first real day and all?"
Oh no, I forgot to talk to her about those outfits. Well, hopefully it'll be okay.
"Let's try the secretary outfit first"
Lala grabs a collection of clothes and drags me into the bathroom. Maybe she doesn't know how to put them all on yet?
That ended up not being the case at all, it seems Lala has never showered alone before and insists they are a group activity.
"But come on Kat, I've always showered with someone. Master washed me, or he sent someone to wash me. Even the time I babysat his grandchildren we all got in the tub together."
This is just not an argument worth having right now, we've got places to be, so I hop into the shower where Lala efficiently begins to scrub my back. Trading places, I wash hers, then she shampoos my hair for me. You know, I could get used to this pampering. Her fingers are magic on my scalp.
Soon we are clean and the moment of truth arrives. What does she think that a secretary's outfit should entail, after looking over the pictures in a fetish magazine.
A dark blue pinstriped pencil skirt and blazer with a black silk blouse, stockings and no underwear is the outfit she has so proudly chosen. Not bad, closer than I'd expected. With a quick lesson on the importance of undergarments we both get dressed, before Lala styles my hair into a tidy Dutch Braid and I fashion her shoulder length snow white locks into a messy bun, leaving loose locks framing her face.
"Perfect, now let's go. We're only 10 minutes late, Karl shouldn't be mad yet"
"Lala is a positive influence on you I see" Karl notes as we enter and head immediately to grab something to eat. "You've very nearly made your estimated time"
Shooting him what I hope is an evil glare I ask "What's the mission today?"