Chapter Text
Hold a flower, and it'll embrace the warmth like a vitalizing ray of sunlight. That's how it was with everyone was regardless of appearance, background, or differences. Surely there's no exceptions, right?
Well, unfortunately, there was a young maiden who could say otherwise... Every time she held anything full of life in her grasp, it would wither away from the coldness of her skin in an instant.
Nearly everyone questions it, including herself, which is part of the sad reality of living with a curse. She's been trying anything, and everything to find a solution in putting an end to it.
Not too much ago, she said to herself, "Perhaps if I seek out enough information, then maybe I could figure something out." Which is the very statement that had her first day of going to a college be this one.
Ah, yes, school. It's tedious, such as many other things that are necessary in life. But if Castorice wanted to learn more about herself and the history of Amphoreus, then she would have to reap out as much information as she can get. And what better way to do that by attending classes at The Grove Of Epiphany?
It was the education center that was embodied by Cerces, the Titan of reason and wisdom, herself. A tree that was home to the greatest scholars in history, and where an abundance of grand debates took place. The branches bristled with leaves that were full of life, and knowledge, both metaphorically, and literally.
Castorice had been treading far across the trailway, breathing in the fresh breeze that frequently blew across her lilac purple hair and the pure white, flowery fabric of her dress on her way.
She stops a few feet away from the entrance, glancing upward at the tips of the tree, where many of the leaves fell from, dancing freely in the air. She blinks a couple of times in admiration, then saunters into the building.
She keeps her grip tight on her bag, decorated much like her flowery white dress, holding all of the folders and supplies she needed for class.
On her way there however, she suddenly halts, and her eyes squinted in confusion, “Wait… what was the room number again…?”
“Hi Cassie! I didn't think I’d see you here this semester.” Another girl's voice beams.
Castorice turns around, her eyes widening a bit in recognition, “Oh, Hyacine, good to see you! If it's not much trouble, could I ask a favor really quickly?”
Hyacine nods, “Sure, I’d be glad to help out.”
Castorice takes out her folder, dusting it off a little bit, “Could you show me where professor Anaxa's room is? I'm having a bit of trouble finding it.”
Hyacine ambles in front of her, “Of course, in fact I was just about to make my way over there.”
“Thank you.” Castorice follows her lead, walking up the thick wooden road that leads to the classroom. She sighs lightly, “Do you think I'll make any new friends here?”
Hyacine nods, “I'm sure we’ll be able to. Maybe I can introduce you to some people sooner or later.”
“Sure, I’d be alright with that.” Castorice smiles, but then glances over to her side, “I have to admit that I'm a little bit nervous.”
Hyacine hums, “I understand that. You don't exactly know what's going to happen.”
“I suppose it happens to the best of everyone.”
“Absolutely. Especially the newer students. I remember the times where I saw many of them go into the place, and end up getting overwhelmed after their first few days. Some of them even had migraines, which is why I helped out at the nurse’s office so much last semester.”
“Speaking of which, has it been going alright for you?”
“Yeah! I actually managed to get a job part time, along with volunteering at other places. I still have a long way to go. But I'm sure if I keep studying and working hard, I’ll be able to help many more people in the future!”
They talk a little more until eventually they reach the door. Once they do, Castorice places her hand gently on it, before pushing it open. She and Hyacine step into the room, noticing that it was nearly full of students, which led to them feeling a bit guilty.
“Hello, Miss Castorice, and Hyancinthia. I had just gotten done with attendance. Care to explain why you two are late?” Anaxa inquires, setting down a few papers on the desk.
Castorice puts her hands behind her back, staring at the corner in shame, “My apologies, I ended up getting a little lost since it's my first time attending a class here.”
Hyacine puts a hand to her chest, “It happens to a lot of new students, so I think it'll be okay. Right Cassie?”
A relieved look forms on Castorice, and she nods, “Yes, we should head to our seats. Do you want to sit next to me?”
Hyacine jumps a bit in anticipation, “I was just thinking that!”
“Hey you two! It's good to see you!” Phainon beams, waving his hand in the air.
Anaxa points his “teaching tool” -which was literally a gun, dear titans hopefully it's not loaded, or anything- right at him, “Keep your voice down.”
“Ah, whoops. I forgot. Silence is golden.” Phainon rehearses. He puts his hand on the table he was at, “Wanna sit with me? I figured we could all stick together through class to keep each motivated. Plus, we can always have some fun discussions on the side, since we're already pretty familiar with each other. That, and maybe just hang out together afterwards-”
“That’s enough talking from you. We’ve already wasted more than enough time with mindless chatter.” Anaxa scoffs, crossing his arms.
Phainon scratches his head, smiling awkwardly at him, “Ah, my bad, my bad. I got a little carried away there.”
Hyacine and Castorice receive a paper from Anaxa that involves the basic rules of attending their class. Then they head over to the table where Phainon was at, all three of them taking their seats.
Like many schools, the first day is relatively laid back. So far, the basics have Castorice and her other two friends feeling comfy and present. She sets one of her folders on her desk, then rustles her hand through her bag until she pulls out a bottle of water. She turns the cap open, then starts sipping on it, while keeping a keen eye on Anaxa.
They point their tool at the board, “Alright, so for the first couple of units of this semester, we will be going over everything you need to know about dromases.”
Castorice immediately spits her water out in reaction to their statement, accidentally wavering unwanted attention from them, and the other students. Her face fills up with remorse, and she fidgets a little bit with the end of her dress, “... Sorry about that… I’m just… well I’m just really confused…”
Anaxa tilts their head, “And why’s that Miss Castorice?”
She wipes her mouth, having her thoughts get slightly blurry, “I apologize if this comes off as rude but… this is… This is a history class right?”
“It is. We’ll be learning, and discussing the origins of dromases to get a better background for our first official project.” They respond.
She puts a hand to her chin, “What's the first project?”
They smile, “Ah, I’m glad you asked. For our first project, you will be required to write an essay on why dromases are superior to titans.”
Silence floods the entire class, everyone’s minds now buffering in bewilderment. Many people started questioning their decisions, a couple even felt like they had been deceived of their money.
Agh… the money, Castorice was on the verge of straining her head on that… she already spent too much on accessories for her bag and stickers for her folders. Now she's running low on it, knowing this had her flustered in regret, because where was she supposed to get any more.
Punishments via execution were null, so she couldn't collect anything there. She didn't care about the money there anyways, nor did she want to; greed sickens her, but reaping innocent souls just to fulfill a desire for more cash made her nearly want to throw up.
Hm, maybe her friends could help her out.
“Phainon… sit down, and please don't question.” Hyacine muttered, her teeth clenched out of nervousness with her hand secured on his shoulder. She didn't want the group to get in any more trouble, considering that Anaxa was relatively strict in his teachings.
Phainon sat back down, although his hair stood up on end when Anaxa walked over to them.
They went over to Castorice, handing her a couple paper towels, “Here, and try not to stress about things too much now. We have the first couple of days to introduce everything onto the table.”
Castorice sighs in relief, taking the towels gently, “Thank you, and I’ll try to. Hopefully everything will work out for myself and the group.”
She wipes up the water off from the table, then sits back down, staying put until class finishes up.
Once it ends, she gets her bag and follows Phainon and Hyacine.
“I think we should plan ahead on our first project, so I was thinking we could go to the library and get some books related to dromases, and the history of the titans.” Hyacine proposes.
Phainon nods, “Wise decision my good friend. I’ve got a few books on my mind already since I’ve learned a lot growing up.”
Castorice rearranges her tiara, “That sounds okay with me. What time are you all free?”
Phainon shrugs his shoulders, “I’m free for now, I only have a class this evening.”
Hyacine puts her hands behind her back, “I can head with you guys right now. I'm pretty free for today too.”
All three of them stroll their way to the library, browsing across the numerous books that were arranged upright and packed well on each shelf. Phainon ended up taking them to the history section to get his hand on a book that he had been familiar with due to the reviews he had read not too long ago.
It was easy to know which book was suitable with one quick and easy search on the internet. Hyacine didn't bother to get herself a biology book on dromases, while Castorice went for a simple yet well written one on Thanatos.
She considered that it was a good start on learning more about what was close to home. Hopefully it can aid to the bigger picture of her eventual plan of freeing herself from her curse. The shorter length would also give her more free time, however she often felt like doing anything with her friends was leisure overall.
All three of them went outside together to read and study a bit together.
Phainon peeks over at the book Hyacine had opened up, “It still baffles me a little bit that professor Anaxa thinks that such a silly looking animal could overpower a titan in some way.”
“Hmmm, maybe there's a different reason that they're superior. I highly doubt that a dromas would be capable of killing a…” Castorice’s sentence cuts off. She looks over at the bushes nearby, hearing a few rustles and footsteps.
Although, just before she could go over, she heard a rumble in someone's stomach.
“Seems like I’m hungry. Say? Wanna go back to Okhema? I know a food stand that's not too far away from here that has some pretty good stuff.” Phainon suggests.
Hyacine closes her book, “Sure! What about you Cassie?”
She gets her bag, “That sounds alright. I’ve been getting a little hungry too.”
They all ended up leaving the campus and arriving at the location that Phainon had mentioned.
Castorice sets their stuff down on a nearby bench before heading over with them to the stand to order, and get their food.
Once they got their meals, they all spent their time mostly watching people and dromases traveling across the streets, and engaging in idle chatter until they finished eating.
Now feeling full, Castorice tosses an apple core into the trash, then goes over in preparation to get everyone’s stuff. However, she stops, keeping her hold on her bag, “So… would you two prefer studying here, or would it be better if we head back to The Grove instead?”
“Hmmm, I prefer we stay here, it's important to get some sunlight for our health.” Hyacine answers.
Phainon puts a hand on his hip, “Right on the mark. Plus maybe there's a good chance we can run into some of the other heirs. Maybe Aglaea, Mydei, Hysilens, Tribbie, Trianne, or Trinon. I had someone else I wanted to mention, but I don't know who…”
“I'm sure it’ll come back up eventually.” Castorice then checks her bag. Suddenly she freezes, with her expression becoming worried, “Um… where did the history books and my purple folder go...? I swore I had everything here…”
“Huh? What do you mean?” Hyacine veers over to her, shuffling through the bag, “Oh no… the biology book is gone too.”
Phainon’s eyes widened, “Wait… What? Come on, there's no way. I could have sworn I kept my eye on it this whole time.”
“Well… I'm not exactly sure what to say… because it is gone.” Castorice admits, her face now somber.
Phainon rushes over to get a look inside the bag, “There's no way that- aww what!? You're kidding me.”
Castorice turns away, staring around the bustling streets with plenty of people strolling, working, or engaging in other sorts of leisurely activities. Everything seemed ordinary, as far as she was concerned.
This is until she caught sight of a huge golden coin floating not too far away from them.
Alarmed, she steps forward, and points her finger at it, “Guys, look.”
“Is that a coin of whimsy?” Phainon questions. Although it was rhetorical, since he and the others knew how those things looked all too well.
Hyacine holds her place for a moment, waiting for some people to move out of the way. Then she rushes over in an attempt grasp hold of it.
Unfortunately, the tips of her fingers nearly made contact, before the coin suddenly ended up disappearing out of the blue. Leaving her standing in slight annoyance.
Phainon and Castorice sprint over to her in a hurry, now completely puzzled. Everyone's eyes the start darting around the scene within a heartbeat, praying they’d find another clue.
Castorice's eyes widened, then she points out, “There’s another one over there.”
Frantically, they race over to try and grasp it, only to be disappointed again.
Phainon catches wind of another one, then hurries over, “Just keep following, that's what it's trying to do.”
Castorice takes off, dashing alongside him, “What are the chances that we're just getting lured into a scheme of some sort.”
Hyacine quickly catches up beside them on the run, “If we can't find it, I’m sure they'll understand if we tell them what happened.”
“Tell them that someone stole it from us, at least that's my conclusion.” Castorice huffs out, chasing down another coin.
Everyone moved forward, having all of their hearts thudding against their ribs with sweat coating their bodies. Phainon kept jumping over crates on the sidewalk accidentally tipping stuff over, Hyacine was scrambling through the crowds in constant apologies, and Castorice nearly ran into a dromas
Throughout this whole time, all three of them swore that they could have touched over twenty coins at this point, unless a dromas had eaten some while they weren't looking.
They got reeled into the intersection of a small avenue, then Hyacine suddenly ended up tumbling over. The other two stopped behind her as she was resting on the ground on the brink of exhaustion. The other two stopped, waiting for her to regain composure.
Phainon kneels down by her side, “Are you gonna be alright?”
Hyacine nods, “Yeah, I’ll be okay. Don't worry, I just need to catch my breath, and settle down for a little bit.”
Castorice nods, “Alright. Please take care.”
Hyacine gets up, putting a hand on her chest, “I will.”
Phainon gets in front of them, looking left and right. He turns over to them, scratching his head, “There's a coin down both ends here Cas.”
Castorice sighs, walking over to him, and taking time to view each end. Sooner or later, she makes up her mind, “I’ll go into the secluded one. Just to be safe, and not bump into anyone.”
Despite saying this, her hunch told her that she would, just not physically. There was a strange presence that felt rather familiar to her. In preparation for anything, she kept her guard up, then started wandering down, glancing around the dusty and torn walls, accompanied by an abundance of silence.
She didn't mind it, if anything, she found it relaxing to be away from all of the loudness that filled up the area; too much of it often tired her out. She could admit to herself that she was overwhelmed a good bit by the chase, so hopefully she can settle down on her search here.
Nothing came off as suspicious in her observations of her surroundings, so she jogs down the trail in hopes of obtaining the coin.
Closer, closer, closer until she's at the end.
Once she was, her hand reaches out, touching it at last.
*poof*
There it goes, instantly becoming a treasure chest.
“Come on, please be here.” Castorice's heart was racing, while kneeling down in preparation to open it.
She shoves off the lid in an instant, and the result was…
Well… It was a big fat disappointment that left her wearing an unamused expression.
Castorice suddenly hears a woman laughing from behind her, which had her springing up, and around instantly.
“What do you think? I got you good didn't I?” The woman teases.
Castorice turns around, someone she knew all too well; she had short silver hair, sky blue eyes that could pierce through any soul, along with the tail and ears of a cat. An annoyed sigh leaves her, “Now's not the time for games, lady Cipher.”
Cipher struts closer to her, holding the two books and folders up, “Hm, well I’d disagree. Dragged you here to give you all your stuff back, didn't I?~”
Castorice lightly stomps her way over, snatching the books and folders out of her hands, “We would have been fine, if you didn't steal it in the first place.”
Cipher crosses her arms, feeling satisfied by her reaction, “Oh? And what makes you think that I was the one here who stole it, princess homebody?”
Castorice squints her eyes, “That's a good question. Maybe it's because you’ve often taken some of my other stuff in the past, or perhaps it's just your endless theft record in general.”
A grin forms on Cipher, “Pulling up the record card are we? A typical assumption as per usual.”
Castorice rests her eyes, shaking her head and wandering off with her stuff.
Cipher puts a hand on her hip, “Now, wait a minute there. There's something I haven't told you yet.”
Castorice halts for a minute, then turns around, and sighs, “Yes?”
“What if I told you that I only stole one of the items you currently have in your arms.”
“What makes me think that I would believe you?”
“Well, not too long ago, I managed to spot someone, as you were getting your food with Mr. Delivery boy, and that pink girl. Just your average student by the looks of it, they had that typical scholar’s wear on em’.”
Castorice stops, contemplating long and hard. It felt useless to her to solve a riddle. Why couldn't the thief just give her a normal answer? She’d believe her if she did.
Cipher tilts her head, smiling fondly at her, “Take your time. I'm sure you'll come to a conclusion one way or another.”
“If he looked like a scholar, then I think he went for the books.” Castorice states.
Cipher snaps her fingers, “Ding! Ya got it.”
Castorice's eyes widened, “Wait… if it was just the books that were stolen by them… Then… Why did you steal my folder? And most importantly, why did you lure me here by myself? Was it just because you wanted to make sure I didn't accidentally hit someone?”
“That, and overall, you’d be the only one to believe me. We’ve known each other for a good bit in past gatherings with the heirs, no?” Cipher slowly takes a few steps forward, hoping that she’d come a little closer as well.
However, Castorice steps back brushing some of the hair strands out of her face, “Yes… but, you ignored my first question. With that said, why did you steal my folder?”
Cipher puts her hands up slightly, and shakes her head, “Don't you see just how attached you are to it? Go ahead, guess why I took it, I’ll wait.”
“Was that scholar planning to take everything? That's… the only answer I can make.”
“And guess what? It's the correct one. Smart girl.~” Cipher notices the girl treading off, and frowns a little bit. Her voice tones into something between pleading and mockery, “Aww, princess. Not even a goodbye to your friend?”
“I’ll be seeing you again back with some of the others for dinner anyways.” Castorice explains. She walks her way out of the alley, and eventually makes it back over to Phainon and Hyacine.
Hyacine rushes over, “Cassie! Is everything alright?”
Castorice nods, “Yes, I’m fine. I just ended up running into lady Cipher, and eventually, she gave all of our stuff back.”
Phainon scoffs a little, “Ah, let me guess, she stole it, because she wanted someone to play with.”
Castorice scratches her head, “Um… I would say that the situation was more complicated than that. I spoke with her, and she informed me of what happened.”
Phainon tilts his head, “Which is...?”
“Let's talk about it after studying more when we all go to dinner together.” Castorice offers, beginning to saunter in front of them. She didn't think much back in the intersection, but when she was leaving the avenue, she felt a bit of a tickle in her heart.
She found it a bit flattering that Cipher expressed care over her stuff. Even if it was in a way where she couldn't fully understand it. Granted, a lot of people did, but she knew that was what she wanted.
While they often poke at her patience, she would be lying to herself if she said that she didn't enjoy the games and tricks at least sometimes. The ideas for them were endless, so anything could happen.
It left Castorice wondering when the next trick would occur. She could already feel herself getting eyed down by her.
Or maybe, that was just something she thought by herself.