Melisara wandered into the common room, dressed in casual clothing. The academy was still new to her. The surroundings were so strange...and yet so wonderful! Purple banners had been hung everywhere, and there were signs all over the place, on bulletin boards and on tables, advertising clubs, associations, study groups, and, of course, the ever-present rules. She leaned in close to read one, then another, then yet another. So many new opportunities! And she looked around her house to see her classmates--Nightmares of all races, not just Baphomets, but Fallen and Demons as well, and Litches and Geists and even Grimms! She tucked her arms behind her back and continued wandering around the room. She wanted to talk to someone, but who? Who could she talk to?
There was a Grimm child sitting on the couch. Grimm had been extinct during the war. She couldn't help but be fascinated by them. She sat down next to the freshling and waved. "Howdy there!" she said. "Ah'm Sara. Nice t' meet yah."
Kobe was chilling on the couch, eating food that was certainly not healthy but so delicious that he couldn't help himself. As he sat in his quiet space, he noticed a couple other nightmares talking and a few others arguing. He was lost in thought, wondering why they were fighting when they were friends... friends didn't fight normally, right? He wondered if he had ever fought with his friends, deciding he hadn't and shrugged it off. As he went to shove his gulp full of chips, someone plopped beside him and began to converse with him.
Kobe's eyes went wide as his shyness kicked in. What should he say? When? How? What? Ahhhh! He slowly munched on a chip as he basically stared at her. The awkward stare lasted less than a minute before he swallowed his chip and smiled softly, "H-Hello there... Sara lady... I'm the little good wolf and I AM GONNA EAT... THIS CHIP!" He build up to being a bit louder than usual, chomping on the chip before he giggled a bit. "Want some, Sara lady?" He asked politely.
The little Grimm was silent for a while--not long enough to make Sara go away, but long enough certainly to make her nervous. The other sounds in the room seemed to get louder, including incessant shouting between a pair of fellow juniors over something largely trivial. Before she could turn around and yell at them that any boy that acted like that wasn't worth fighting over, her younger classmate spoke up. She returned his smile. He had an odd way of talking...but then again, Melisara supposed, so did she.
"Are yah a good wolf? Well, that's good t' hear. If y' were a bad wolf, see, I'd haveta be afraid a' yah. And Ah don't know this school nearly well enough to know where t' hahd from a big, scary wolf lahk you." She held out her hand. "Ah'd love t' have a chip, mahghty neighbor. What's your name?"
Kobe looked at her in awe as he heard her accent. It was heavy and a little hard to understand her. Nonetheless, he smiled to her and giggled. "I'm notta bad wolf! I'm good! Keekee says im the sweetest grimm around!" He told her as he handed her a handful of chips. "I'm too cute to be eviiiil!" He added with another smiled, his tail swishing a bit. "I'm Kobe! I'mma be a doctor one day and save lives with medicines!" He told her excitedly. He knew he didn't have to say all of that but he felt like it. He liked this other girl, she was nice and not mean like the bullies that teased him often.
Melisara couldn't help but smile. The little Grimm's enthusiasm was palpable and infectious. She was glad she'd walked over here to talk to him! It was nice to have someone to talk to, especially someone as excited as he was. "Well, Ah'm glad yer not an evil wolf. Y'do seem like a good one, and Ah'll have to agree with Keekee that y' definitely seem sweeter'n sugar." She took the handful of chips and ate them one by one, trying not to get crumbs on the couch. They were pretty tasty, even if a little greasy. "Well, it's very nice to meet yah, Kobe. Ah'm goin' to be a teacher and teach kids about other folks. Seems like we're both interested in helpin' other people out."
Kobe's smile faded into an awe face. "Waiiiiiit! You know about others!!" He said excitedly, pouncing into her lap to look even more into her eyes. "Do you know about me!! About grimms!!?" He asked with an intense sense of hope in his voice. His tail swished excitedly, his ears perked as he listened extra carefully to the other.
No one could ever tell him about his kind, not even his teachers. He craved to know more about his kind. Being a rare race was hard, even if he was comforted by Keegan. He told him that in being a rare race meant that they had to rely on each other and are probably better for it.. But that didn't stop his curiosity!
The leap into her lap was startling, but Melisara had two younger siblings at home, and a whole host of cousins--she knew what it was like to have someone sitting in her lap demanding stories. It was just startling for a classmate--a friend--to do it instead of a family member. She smiled and gave him a short hug. She was starting to get a measure for this little fellow, and she suspected that he would like hugs very much.
"About Grimms? Ah wish. Ah hate t' say it, Kobe, but most folks don' know much about Grimms. Their lore and traditions weren't recorded--it was probably passed on orally, from parent t' child, passin' on traditions and beliefs through the power o' words. So when they all disappeared, so did the culture." She sighed. It had been disappointing to find out that even the Academy, the largest concentration of Grimms in Below, didn't have information. It was a glaring hole in her knowledge base and in the textbooks, and her eyes and brain itched with the need to learn more.
She gave Kobe one of her regular-sized hugs--which was bigger than most people's regular-sized hugs. She rested her chin on the top of his head and sighed. "Ah'm awful sorry, Kobe. Ah grew up with mah people--Ah can only imagine what it'd be lahk not to know about yer kin. But...Ah'll tell y' what. Ah'll find out as much as Ah can about yer people, and Ah'll let'cha know what Ah fahnd out. How's that?"
Kobes happy swishing tail dropped, as did his happy expression and his perked ears. He let the other hug him, too sad to return the hug fully. "That's what everyone says... I'm never gonna know..." He whined, moving to sit beside the other. "You're lucky to know about your stuff... All I know if what we look like and that we live in packs." He explained to her.
Kobe pushed his disappointment, fears and sadness to the back of his mind. Forcing a smile on his face. "So whacha doing here anyways?" He asked cheerfully, bounding on the couch again.
Melisara nodded. She wondered, briefly, what it would be like to have no family and no idea what your people were like. It was a brief thought only, because in that moment she experienced a terror she had never known. "Maybe someday we'll fahnd out more about yer people, Kobe. Maybe someone wrote stuff down about 'em, in some labrary somewhere where no one's looked?" She didn't have much hope for that--Alcyone, with its cache below, seemed like a likely place for such records to be kept, and it was gone now.
"Well, Kobe," she said, in answer to his question, "Ah'm here huggin' you. But Ah'm at the academy t' get an education. It's a tradition in our family, t' send folks to the Academy t' expand our horahzons and get us a better education. Most of our neighbors don't do lahkwahs, but we do. Ah thank we kahnda consider it a duty or somethin' to be the educated ones."
Kobe listened to the other as she expressed little hope in finding more about his kind. It was fine though, he was rather used to it at this point. The young grimm listened to Melisara talk of her family and their tradition to send them to school. He smiled to him, his tail swishing happily. "Oh! Tat's pretty neat! Never hurt anyone to learn!" He replied excitedly, "I'm here cause I'mma cache kiddo!" He explained, "But I'm happy to be here cause I get to learn!" He added. Just as he was about to ask her another question, the bell rang. Kobe's ears flicked at the loud noise then smiled to Sara. "Loooook like it's time for me to go! Gotta meet up with Keekee, Tobii andddd my brother." He told her, hopping into her lap again to give her a big hug. "Thanks for talkin with me! Hope I see you soon!" He told her as he giggled, bouncing off her. He waved as he skittered off.
Melisara nodded and waved at the kid. "Have fun, Kobe!" She hoped she would see him again, and soon. It was nice to have friends at school.
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