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Ophelia draped herself over the quaint little bench outside a cafe that sold mainly sweet bread. The Reaper visited the Academy once in a while, saying hello to her favorite instructor. The Academy also had the best sweet bread she could find. Nothing like that in Moonfall.

With her mp3 player in one hand and her wax-paper-wrapped treat in the other, the reaper scrolled through her playlist looking for a good song to accompany her mid-morning snack.

With a smirk, she pressed 'play' and despite her headphones looking to be the noise-cancelling type, they did a poor job cancelling -their- noise from reaching the ears of people passing near-by.

She wouldn't be able to hear them complain anyways. Despite what they think, it's not actually that loud. It's just bad at keeping the noise going into her ears and not everywhere.

Yet, she smiled to herself, taking a bite of her bread and laying her head against one of the bench's metal arm rests. Not the most comfortable of spots, she thought. A nice guy's lap would be way better! she mentally added, imagining a cute couple with herself as the girl, naturally.

Giggling aloud, she took another bite of the bread and savored it until that bite was finished. Licking her lips, she began lip syncing the words to the passionate rock ballad coming from her headphones, completely oblivious to anyone that might offer her a 'hello'.

Loud music continued to pulse through Ophelia's headphones, her eyes closed as she soaked in the music. The song transitioned into the bridge, it was her favori--did something just hit my foot? Sitting up and looking down, she spied a pencil just inches from her heel. Picking it up, she spotted another, then a pen, then a girl picking everything up. Ah! she musta dropped them all Smirking, she could lip read the girl apologizing, and quickly took out her mp3 player to pause it.

Picking up the three writing utensils that rolled her way while setting her headphones against her shoulder she yelled out to the girl, "HEY" and almost immediately cut herself off. Too loud, Ophelia, too loud! She was used to talking to others with her headphone still on. "I mean uhm....hey" she said, a little quieter this time.

"Uh..these are yours, right?" she asked, presenting the pencils and pen to the girl. She smiled, spying the Makai uniform. It seemed like yesterday she wore the same garb, though she didn't wear the long black stockings this girl did. But her long black hair...even that was the same as back then. Subconsciously, Ophelia twirled a lock of her white hair, which she bleached and dyed every so often. It wasn't like she missed her natural hair color, some part she let stay black. It was just...nostalgic to see this girl.

Smiling more pleasantly now, she bent down to pick up a few more pencils and pens before giving them to the girl. Spying the book, she leaned a little closer, hoping to catch the title while asking, "Whatcha got there?" her voice sounding slightly demanding.

As the last pieces of fallen supplies were picked up, Ophelia began to feel awkward. This girl was pretty quiet, huh. Maybe she's not like me when I was a student..she thought. But hearing the title of the book quickly made her mind change subjects. She wasn't even aware of being ogled.

"Ohhh! Studying~" she said, perking up. It wasn't like Ophelia -enjoyed- studying when she was a student. But she was well familiar with the process. Long nights spent in her dorm room feverishly trying to memorize various terms. Her time at Makai was no walk in the park, but she made it through.

Mouthing the title again in a whisper, she tilted her head and grinned mischievously. "Sooo 'Magicks of the Mind', eh?" she said, stroking her chin. What did that entail again? What a shame that all that studying didn't make her long term memory... Finally, she said, "Can ya read my mind? What am I thinking about right now, hm? hmmm?" each 'hmmm' she leaned closer in, staring at the girl eye-to-eye. As if it would somehow help her 'read her mind'. But she truly wondered if the girl could guess what she was thinking about. Then again, no-one alive knows about her secret obsession with dating sims and how she was determined to get the new Ars Lilium-based sim that was coming out next week.....right?

"Ohhh~ That's right. Telekinesis. Now I remember" she said, patting her palm with her fist. Hatching an idea, she straightened her back and held up her chin. Holding an invisible clipboard and snatching a pen out of the girl's hand, she pretended to make a few notes before saying, in a 'teacher's voice', "Now, Miss..." oh wait..what's her name? Ah whatever I'll just make something up. *ahem* "Miss Psychie~" she said, her face clearly proud of the pathetic nickname that managed to crawl out of her mind. "Please pick up that bench over there..Oh wait. My sweet bread.." the last part in her normal voice.

Ophelia clip clopped over to the bench she was sitting on and grabbed her bread, still holding the invisible clipboard and the student's pen. Scampering back, she stood up straight again and cleared her throat to assume the 'mature' voice.. "Pick up that bench and move it..somewhere else" she commanded with an amused grin. Not amused like she enjoyed the fact that she was probably torturing the poor girl. But genuinely excited about seeing her use the magic the girl was interested in. She pointed at the bench with the girl's pen, wiggling it as if to tell her to hurry up. With childlike eyes, she practically bounced in place, waiting.

Ophelia took another bite of her sweet bread and watched as the bench toppled over. "AWUMM" she said, her mouth still full. Hurrying to gulp down her bite, she repeated, "Awesome~...Falys Credita." She would probably only call her by her real name once. "I shall call you 'Credit Card' " she added, bouncing over to the young girl and giving her a big hug as if they'd been long-lost friends.

"You get a gold star for today!" she laughed boisterously. Credit Card was just too adorable of a girl. Rubbing her cheek against her, Ophelia giggled and finally released the poor girl. Still holding the "clipboard" and pen, she over-exaggerated writing "A+" on the "paper".

Grinning, she finally introduced herself. "My name is Ophelia Thanos~" she said, clicking her heels together and saluting to the student.

"Awww" Ophelia said, making an over-exaggerated pout. "But it's such clever nickname..." she added, honestly believing it was. Finishing off her bread, she crumpled the wrapper into a ball and tossed it into the trash can nearby. Then she trotted back over to the bench and slowly managed to pull it upright. Good thing it was a wooden bench...

Dusting off her hands, she sat down and looked at the girl with a pleasant smile, "Then..we'll just have to become friends, right?....Falys?" She patted the space next to her as she said the girl's name. She was so unused to using people's real names. But becoming friends and being able to call her by her new nickname? It seemed to Ophelia that she'd be killing two birds with one stone! The reaper was always on the lookout for new friends, as she has had little over the years.

"Ding ding ding! You're correct!" she said, hoping it didn't sound sarcastic. "I actually graduated a little over a year ago. I'm back to visit my favorite instructor." she added, smiling widely. Ahhh Professor Intrecias. If he wasn't over the hill, Ophelia would have had the biggest schoolgirl crush on that man. But given his age, he was more a father to her than a crush. And more a father to her than her own father...

Bringing up her knees to her chest and hugging them around her, she turned to look at Falys. Falys..fallacy? Maybe she'd try that nickname sometime. She remembered that Prof. Intrecias was the only person she ever let call her by a nickname. It was simply a shortened version of her name, Lia. But since then, she's always made nicknames for others, but considered a nickname for herself to be the most special gift she could give. Only people she really cared about could call her something like "Lia". Feeling nostalgic again, she asked. "Do you like it here? At Makai?"

Ophelia absent-mindedly twisted a black lock of hair between her fingers as she answered, "Professor Intrecias," with a gentle smile. "He taught magic that weakens others...That's the kind of magic i'm good at. But my parents never approved of it. They wanted me to be good at offensive magic..But no matter how many times I tried to tell them that's just how I was born, they never accepted it. I mean. You can't really choose what you're naturally good at, right?" She asked, brows raised in question.

Not realizing she had begun telling this girl her life's story, she continued on, "Professor Intrecias was the first person to tell me it was okay to be good at this kind of magic. To only be good at this magic. He really believed in me. He was the only person to believe in me at that time...and it kept me going. And even then, I didn't cast spells like the other students. I sang my magic. I didn't recite 'power words' or 'incantations'. I sang, and with the emotions and melodies from my voice, the magic was cast." She chuckled slightly. "All the other students thought I was just trying to stand out. But that's how I was most comfortable doing it...And even then, Professor Intrecias was always there. Saying he was proud of me." And with the last sentence, her smile faded. She realized, not even her own parents ever said they were proud of her.

Involuntarily, a tear slid down her cheek and the young reaper hastily brushed it away, not willing to show such weakness to the girl beside her. She turned away, her lip quivering. She wondered if her parents were proud of her now, as she was a reaper. She took a few deep breaths and answered the girl's second question in a slightly wavering voice.

"Not much has changed, just the students. It's hard to believe it's been a year. Sometimes when I look in the mirror I still see myself with black hair and a Makai Uniform. But I don't recognize the students anymore. I didn't have a lot of friends here, but most of the one's I knew are already gone. I wonder what they're doing now.." she trailed off, a few more shaky breaths and she felt that her composure was regained. How embarrassing to cry in front of someone she just met. And to lay her sob story all over her! Falys must think her a fool now.