Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sathe scribbled away at his sketch of a certain Chimera in an unfortunate situation, still incensed at the victory his rival had snatched out of his hands at the last minute. It was the last class of the day anyway, there was usually nothing important to do. Or at least that’s what he told himself. Even though he was furious at the loss, and plotting his revenge, he much preferred when they worked as a team. When they got along as a team, at least. Those rare moments were spectacular, though he would never openly admit it to the winged hellion; Rutta would probably die from laughing at him.

The bell rang, snapping him out of his daydreams of glorious conquest, and he quickly packed up his stuff and bolted for the door. Once in the hall, he did a bit of a double-take as he heard the teacher reminding the other students that their homework was due the next class. Homework? He hadn’t been paying enough attention to write down whatever the assignment was, but hey, his sketch of the other male was not too...horrible. At least something good came out of the time.

It was already too late to doubleback to the classroom, as the rest of the students were piling out, and he wasn’t about to wait around for the teacher; people might think he was a nerd or something. Well, with any luck it would be mentioned somewhere else, and if not he could deal with the consequence of his failure. No sense in worrying about it now.

A silvery grey chimera with cotton candy colored hair and wings, and outfit too, slipped out the door, past the other juniors, and headed towards dorms. She held her books to her chest, her head slightly down, letting her hair hang in her face. She seemed a little withdrawn, which might clash a bit with how brightly colored the girl was.

Her wings were closed tight, too, wrapped up so they wouldn't bang into anyone, and she was moving somewhat fast, darting between the various students between her and escape.

Unfortunately, her plans for escape didn't go as well as she would like, as a larger chimera... and she wasn't a short girl... Banged hard into her as he moved towards the exit, not paying attention to where he was going. She gave a startled cry as she fought to stay upright, and lost her grip on her books.

The dark grey baphomet slowly plowed his way through the crowd, though most simply knew to get the hell out of the way this late in the year. He was wearing one of his many hoodies, black today, with one hand in the pocket and the other holding the strap for his backpack. Adorning his legs were some loose pants that went down to his hooves, with a few too many straps and chains than were necessary for practical use.

He watched the colorful chimera slip past him and around other students, obviously in a hurry, though he was a little surprised with how fast and nimble she was. That didn’t really help when another somehow taller chimera obliviously blundered into her, knocking her back and sending her books across the smooth floor.

Frowning, he upped his pace a bit and moved to the side of the hallway where she was, taking in the details of the offending chimera; he’d have to deal with them later. For now, he adjusted his bag and moved next to her, making sure nobody tried to step on her books. Looking her over through his loose hair, he gently placed his free hand on her shoulder, changing his stance slightly for better stability in case someone else ran into either of them.

“Hey, you alright?”

She started, eyes wide and unnerved as she turned to face the unknown baphomet who touched her. It was pretty clear she wasn't at all prepared for a stranger to approach her, and she froze while watching him for a long moment. Then his words filtered through, and her entire body just... relaxed, and went somewhat limp in relief.

"I... yeah, mostly." She said, in a quiet, gentle voice. She had a slightly high, sweet voice, but it held little energy or emotion at the moment. "That guy's a careless idiot. I've noticed that before, he knocks stuff down, doesn't notice, whether the stuff is a living being or just a book from a shelf." She gave the retreating back a dirty look. "And if I find out he has any familiars who are getting that treatment, I'll find a way to rescue them." She sounded determined, for a moment, then the energy washed back out of her. "If I can figure one out..."

She sighed, deeply, and eyed her books, before crouching down to begin gathering everything back up again, not asking for help, and clearly not expecting any. "Thank you for asking, though." She said, still in that soft voice.

He frowned a bit more at her reaction, though it wasn’t entirely unexpected. The important thing was that he didn’t do anything else to surprise her; she was about his size, and he knew from experience that chimeras could throw their light frames around very effectively. As such, he remained motionless until she replied, feeling her relax under his touch.

Shifting slightly, he gave her a bit of space as she continued, eyes following her gaze before doing a quick check to make sure they weren’t in immediate danger of being run into. She knew the guy? Maybe it would be easier to track him down then, but it could certainly wait. She seemed pretty focused on familiars though, he wasn’t quite sure what to make of that in particular, but again there were more pressing matters.

He watched her stoop down to pick her stuff up, following suit and getting the books and papers that had been scattered near him before standing again, shifting her things to his free hand while he re-adjusted his shoulder strap. Turning slightly to face her again, he indicated with his head the direction she had been going.

“I'll walk you to your dorm.”

He would have left it at that and started off, but he didn't really know where her dorm was beyond the nearest exit; she would need to lead the way. Well, if she wanted to lead.

“If that's alright.”

As she gathered her things, she kept half an eye on him, from under her hair, making sure she knew what he was doing the entire time. His gathering her stuff made her feel confused, and yet she smiled, shyly, at him for his help, thinking it was very kind of him.

His statement, almost question, threw her further into confusion. She didn't know this baphomet at all, and she wasn't sure what his intentions were. At the same time, he'd only shown concern for her, and had helped her. After a long, quiet moment, she said "Oh... yes, alright. Thank you." Her tone was shy, and the uncertainty was there, but she nodded, and shyly began walking towards where her room was.

He gave her a bit of a smile when she agreed, just enough to convey the expression, but not so much to make it look out of place compared to the rest of his appearance. No sense in dressing up just to grin like an idiot.

Falling into step beside her, he stayed about a half-step behind her so that she could lead; hooves thudding against the smooth flooring and chains on his pants jingling around as he kept pace. Music to his ears, really. He casually glanced over at her every so often to make sure she was okay, otherwise occupying himself with his surroundings, eyes flicking here and there to make sure there would be few surprises if any.

He kept a tight hold on her belongings, letting go of the strap to his backpack for a moment in order to hold the door open for her as they reached the exit to the building, giving her space to lead in the right direction before resuming his position next to her.

She smiled slightly in response to his, and started walking, shyly, the things she had gathered up held against her chest. She looked nervous about the fact that she was going back to her room with someone she didn't know. He hadn't even given her his name, which made her wonder what his goal was.

She was about to reach for the door, when he opened it. She blinked at him, and gave him a more genuinely relaxed smile, because that was a kind act from him. She thought that through, then realized he'd been nothing but kind, in a slightly gruff way, to her. Maybe she should stop being worried about him. Maybe. "Thank you..."

She headed straight for the Eldritch dorms, her eyes just watching the path ahead of her. She frowned a little, as the jerk Chim who'd banged her was loudly chattering with his friends in a courtyard near the building, and swerved to pick a door nowhere near the jerk.

He nodded and murmured a ‘Don’t mention it’ as she walked past, trotting a bit to catch up to her once they had passed the doorway, resuming his position next to and slightly behind her. Eyes scanning for possible trouble as they continued towards the Eldritch dorms, he spotted the chimera as well, letting out a muffled growl at the possible confrontation she was leading them into.

As luck would have it, she didn’t seem to have any interest in a repeat encounter, though she did take him by surprise as she changed direction and crossed in front of him to head the other way, his feet skidding slightly as he managed to avoid running into her. Collision avoided, he moved to her other side, keeping himself between her and the larger chimera. No point in starting trouble when he was escorting someone.

He reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, a light touch so that he could keep pace with her as he memorized the details of the other male, and also so that she would have an idea of where he was. Or at least that was the intent. Once they were a sufficient distance away, he focused back on where they were going, letting his hand drop to his side as he moved alongside her once more. As they approached the next set of doors, he grabbed it for her again, taking a quick look to make sure they weren’t being followed.

The growl had earned him a startled look over her shoulder at him, which meant she saw him almost collide with her. "Ah! Sorry, sorry..." She blushed, embarrassed, at the fact that she could have knocked HIM down by accident.

She watched him move past her to open the doors, and whispered quietly "Oh! Thank you." She moved inside, quietly, blinking a few times to adjust to the light change, before moving down the hall a little, checking to see if he was still there behind her

He nodded again like before, though this time he only gave her an ‘Mhmm’ in response as she entered the building, following her in after a moment. Readjusting his backpack once more, he walked up to her, tilting his head ever so slightly when he found her looking back at him. It had been more of an eventful walk than he was hoping so far, so he couldn’t really blame her for...whatever that look was for.

“Sorry about back there, wanted to keep myself between you and that punk. ...Name’s Sathe, by the way.”

Coming to a stop by her, he patiently waited for her to continue, pretty sure she didn’t live on the same floor as he did, but otherwise at a loss of where her room might be. She seemed familiar, as he had started taking more notice of the chimeras he met after starting a rivalry with one, though he couldn’t place exactly where he’d seen her. Nothing that time wouldn’t fix though.

She started to walk again, and she blinked, and said in the soft way she seemed to used, "It's ok... Just... didn't expect the growl." She pushed some of her hair away from her face, and then blinked, saying "I'm Niamh... It's nice to meet you." She headed for the stairs, and up two flights, before moving down the hall. Now that they were somewhere more deserted, she was less hunched in on herself, and moved a little faster.

She stopped at a door, and said "This is my room. If you want to come in for a minute, I can put my stuff down, and then take what you're carrying." She paused, then added as an afterthought "Though, if you do, please be warned I have a lot of familiars, and they may insist on inspecting you. They're very friendly, just... there's a lot of them, and someone might get overwhelmed, maybe?" She then turned to her door, and unlocked it, pushing it open.

Once it was open, she called out, in a gentle, sweet and loving voice "I'm home, everyone..." Which seemed to trigger the sounds of paws and hooves and other things.

He followed her to the stairs and up to her floor, the sound of his feet muffled by the carpeting, but the chains on his pants still jingling away. The change in her posture and speed was curious, though he didn’t really say anything, and simply walked faster as well to keep up. He stopped next to her door as she spoke, giving her some space since there was really nobody else to be cautious of, a neutral expression still on his face as he looked at her.

Nodding at her suggestion and warning, he didn’t really think there was any danger; he’d known people that had ‘lots’ of familiars, he could handle the three, five, whatever amount she had. Once she opened the door and said familiars stirred, he suddenly realized that she had much more than five. Still, not one to shy away from new experiences, he followed her in, stopping a step or two into the room in order to close the door in case one of the zoo decided to make a run for it.

“Wow.”

There wasn’t really anything else he could say to the sight of at least ten familiars crowding around Niamh, some starting to migrate towards him once they realized there was a new person. He stood still, not wanting to move and potentially step on one, and not too sure of their various temperaments to try petting one. The fluffbug that approached him seemed docile enough though, and he vaguely remembered that they weren’t really dangerous anymore, and so offered a hand for it to sniff, inspect, sit on...whatever they did.

She set her papers down and knelt into the crowd of familiars, a pair of griftoos running between her legs, making ridiculous happy noises, a cockatriel landing on her shoulder and grooming her hair. Three slimes just started bobbing in circles around her as a Mewgle just bounced on it's ball in the corner. A Kidden suddenly ran up to Sathe, and began bouncing in a way that only Kidden could, until a dark colored Spectrefox came over and used it's paw to press down on it.

The Fluffbug hovered around him for a minute, then gently, softly landed on his hand, wings settling against it's back, pink-red eyes inspecting Sathe curiously. This seemed to be the signal for 3 cockatriels to come winging in to land on his shoulders, making happy noises, a third Griftoo to come sit on his FOOT, and a nezubat to swoop around him in a friendly way.

Niamh happened to glance up, and saw him with her familiars. She blinked, and then laughed, a genuine laugh, possibly the happiest noise he'd have heard her make so far, and she rose. "I'm sorry, we don't get visitors often, and they like attention."

Once the fluffbug had settled onto his hand, he carefully drew it closer to him, having never seen one up close before like this. He didn’t have very long to look at it before the cockatriels perched on his shoulders, the nezubat circled around him, and...something else sat on his foot. Well, none of them were trying to attack him, and the larger spectrefox seemed to be reining in the kidden that was getting out of hand. There was so much commotion around him that it took him a few moments to take it all in. Her laugh brought his attention back to her, and he couldn’t help but give her a warm smile, probably the nicest expression he’d shown.

“I can see that, they’re very well behaved though.”

There wasn’t much else he could do but stand there though; he was still holding her books, and he didn’t really want to disturb the fluffbug on his other hand. Carefully shifting the foot that wasn’t being sat on, he held out her books for her, eyes narrowing slightly when he noticed a familiar looking textbook on top. Eyes flicking back up to her, his brain finally made the connection.

“Hey...you’re in that social studies class at the end of the day too, right?”

She blinked, and smiled back at him, thinking he had a nice smile. "I do my best to train them. Not all of them came to me from happy adoptions." She sighed softly, and scooped up a salamander to snuggle. "It's amazing how some people can be." Her voice was sad and she walked closer, taking her books back from him. She set them down with the others, then his question caught her attention.

"Ah? Ahhhhhhhhh yes, I am." She turned back to face him, quietly curious, before walking to her bed to sit down. "Um. Would you like to use my desk chair?" She offered, before moving to lean in the corner against the wall, several of her familiars jumping to join her. Her position mirrored one she had some months back, in a room she didn't like to think about.

"Anyways, what about the class?"

He hadn’t really planned on staying that long, initially just long enough to make sure she got here without issue, but he seemed to be getting dragged into a conversation. That and there was a lot of familiars that seemed to have taken a liking to him, it would seem rude to simply leave now.

“As long as it’s alright with you.”

Carefully dislodging his foot from the griftoo that was sitting on it, he made his way to her desk, making sure he wouldn’t step on anyone for the short distance it took. Rolling his shoulder, he slipped his backpack off in a fluid motion and let it drop to the floor, catching the handle when he realized it would land on a slime. He gently nudged the slime out of the way with the bag, and set it down in the spot it previously occupied. That taken care of, he deposited himself in her chair, leaning forward with his hands between his knees.

“Oh, I realized we have the same class, and I wanted to…”

He paused for a moment as he looked at her, attentive eyes slowly taking in her appearance. The way she looked leaning against the wall seemed so familiar, but he couldn’t figure out why. He rubbed at his face for a moment, as if that would make the memory any clearer, then rested his chin on his hands, facing her, but looking through her.

It was from the Academy for sure, maybe not a classroom since he’d never really noticed her in his class or classes before. Plain painted walls behind her, rows of chairs in front of her, the auditorium? He remembered a lot of people everywhere, mostly blurs, but he had never really been in the auditorium; he preferred the gymnasium for obvious reasons. The only time he was in the aud recently had been… He focused on her again, sitting up a bit, muscles tensed beneath the loose fitting hoodie, his voice soft, but concerned.

“You... You were in the auditorium that night, against the wall like that, weren’t you?”

"Yeah, it's fine... You brought up class, I assumed you had a reason." She watched him, a small, pleased smile on her face at how gentle he was with her 'children.' So few people showed that kind of care, honestly, in her view that it mattered a great deal. He was slowly inching his way up in her estimation. Or maybe not so slowly at this point, it might be fairer to say 'quickly.'

When he started to bring up the class thing, she listened, her attention on him. She frowned, a little, confused at his stopping, and the way he was staring at her. "Sathe..." She said, quietly, concerned.

And then he asked the question, and her head flew back, thumping the wall pretty hard. Her eyes were huge as his question made her remember. Remember a long night of terror, remember feeling trapped and powerless and afraid. She began to shake as her memories began to overload her, and tears appeared in her heterochromic eyes. She clenched her fingers into the top sheet under her, and her wings unfolded and wrapped around her body.

He jumped slightly when she visibly reacted to his question, hands going to the arms of the chair, and then she started crumbling in front of him. Oh Nine, what had he done? Standing up fully, he carefully picked his way through the familiars that seemed to be crowding closer to her, as if they could sense the distress she was in. He didn’t really know her, they had only just met, but...he couldn’t leave her like this, especially since it was his fault.

“Hey, it’s okay, you’re safe…”

He spoke softly as he approached her, his hand moving to touch her back gently, trying to reach through to her. Placing his other hand on the bed frame to steady himself, stepping alongside her, words slipping from his mouth as he leaned towards her.

“Niamh. I’m right here Niamh, I’ll keep you safe, I’ll protect you…”

Her shaking intensified initially when he touched her, and she almost drew away from him. She was clearly trapped in a memory spiral. His words, though, caused her to slowly look up at him, her face filled with panic and terror. She focused on him, still trembling for a long moment.

In her mind, the terrifying broadcast was playing. She didn't know what to do, or how to handle it. So she did something she probably would be horribly embarrassed for doing later. She collapsed into him, crying hard, her body shaking with the memories she didn't want, the horrible things, the fear that everything she had would be taken from her by terrifying monsters or some new race with powers she didn't understand.

He watched her settle back on the bed, glad that she indicated when to take a cup, since he was completely out of his element here. Gingerly taking one of the cups, he looked at it for a moment, and the tea tray. There was nothing else on the tray, so he guessed that he was supposed to drink it straight. Bringing it closer, he took in the interesting aroma, before carefully taking a sip. It was very hot, but thankfully he hadn’t made a fool of himself by getting burned. Yet.

“This is pretty good. Thank you.”

He looked over to her again, nodding slightly. He knew it was an idealistic dream, but he sympathized. It was certainly better than doing nothing, at least.

“That’s the best you can do, really. Anything more is going to hurt you or them.”

He swirled the tea around in the cup at her question, trying to come up with suitable wording.

“None myself, if I did I’d probably have to interact with my roommate.”

He looked up at her when he realized how that sounded, trying to wave it off.

“He’s not that bad though. I ignore him, he ignores me, no fights break out in the room.”

She took the other cup, and settled back, blowing gently across the surface to cool it a little, as she listened to him. "I'm glad you like it. It's my favorite." She sipped slowly, an expression of slightly serene happiness on her face. The steam wafted up and across her face, which she seemed to enjoy as well.

"I know... It doesn't mean I don't wish I could do more." She gave a soft shrug, eyes gazing out her window.

She looked at him, brows together at the thought. "You have a roommate? I'm sorry to hear that, if it's not to your taste. I managed to stay solo, possibly because people heard the rumors about me being the Crazy Familiar Lady." A slight hint of bitterness to that, as if someone had made less than kind comments. "I'm sorry you don't, though. They're incredibly relaxing." She paused, wondering if she should offer, then nodded a little. "If you want, you could visit mine anytime you like?"

He sort of shrugged at the roommate comment. It was complicated and it didn't merit taking up her time right now. An eyebrow quirked at the Crazy Familiar Lady line though; he had only heard that phrase a few times, and had dismissed it as referring to something else. Perhaps he would have to pick some bones if he heard it again. He stiffened a bit at her suggestion of coming over, realizing that she didn't know him very well.

Taking another sip of the tea, he set it back down on the tray, before getting up to move in front of her, kneeling on one knee as he looked up at her.

“Niamh. We just met and hardly know each other, but I need to tell you something. The long and short is that I don't actually follow the ‘return a favor’ traditions that baphomets do. I've seen too many of my kind screwed over by that, and I refuse to let that happen to me.”

He paused for a moment, looking down; this was not a confidence inspiring speech that he was hoping for. Looking up at her again, he gently took her free hand, placing his other on top as he continued in a softer tone.

“That said, I don't make promises that I don't intend to keep. I promised I would keep you safe, I promised I would protect you, and I'm not backing down from either of those.

I'm not exactly sure what to do, but I know we live in the same building, and I think we share a few classes as well. So...I'd like to walk with you to and from class, if that's okay.”

She sipped her tea as he seemed to think about her words. The way he stiffened confused her. Had she said something wrong, and offended him somehow? When he put the tea down and got up, her wings began to droop a little, convinced this was the case.

Then he knelt in front of her. One knee? Why was he on one knee in front of her. This was not a normal thing, this was like a proposal, but they'd literally just met what in the Nine was going on.

His words had her brows coming together in utter confusion, and her head tilting. What did his choice regarding the traditions of his people have to do with him kneeling there? It made no se...

He had taken her hand. This was getting weirder by the minute. She was staring at him with an expression that might be best described as looking like someone had whacked her in the head with a bat, she was so stunned.

His words flowed over her, leaving her confused about everything, but they sunk in all the same. She continued to stare at him before finally she said "I... Um. Yes?"

His eyes narrowed slightly at her words, tilting his head a little to the side. Somehow that was not how he had expected her to respond. Letting his hands slide from hers, he knelt there for a moment as he tried to figure out how this went wrong. Or, maybe it was a bad idea to start with. Standing, he took a half-step back, frowning as he ran a hand through his hair.

He wasn’t even sure how else to recover from this, standing there suddenly feeling uncomfortably warm. s**t, usually he went to the gym when this happened, but that wasn’t really an option without making things worse. Welp, might as well own this.

“Hmm. Can we go back to having tea? I’m terrible with words, apparently.”

"It's ok." She said, softly, peering up at him. "I just... it was very unexpected? It's very... very kind, gentlemanly of you, and I really... do appreciate it." Her eyes dropped, and a pinkish tint appeared under the silvergrey of her skin as she blushed a little. "You're been the kindest person I've met in a long time, so it's... taking some getting used to, honestly, Sathe." She had a lonely sound to her voice as she spoke, her eyes on her tea.

"And yes, of course... please. I made the tea for you to enjoy. You're not awkward, I promise."

He smiled at her reassurance and looked up at her, a little surprised to see a faint blush on her cheeks, but finding that she looked rather cute that way. Not that his current mindset would let him go any further than that. He moved back to his previous spot on the bed, settling down and looking at the tea for a moment. Scooting back to lean against the wall, he took the tea cup and considered her words it as he rolled it in his hands.

“Someone as sweet as you? That I find hard to believe. I don’t really consider myself a kind person anyway.”

He took a sip of the tea, which had cooled down from liquid fire temperature, before looking over at her.

“I appreciate your invitation to come back though, it means a lot to me.”

She was continuing to drink her tea, her hair falling into her face as she did so, feeling quietly shy, now, knowing she was going to be spending time in this young man's company at least twice a day for the foreseeable future. She caressed her cup, trying to process what had happened this afternoon. It just seemed do impossible, and yet here it was. She took another soft sip, her head tilting when he spoke again.

Sweet, her? How odd.

"I... nevertheless, it's true. Most people just... ignore me, or something like that... They all know I'm weird, and have been since the Forest... and then... That night..." She wasn't freaking out, now, but it was clear she wasn't enjoying her words. "And... Most people tended to just walk by, when things like what happened earlier occurred so..."

She shrugged softly. "Of course."

He looked down at his cup for a few moments, before deciding to finish it off, setting the empty cup back on the tray. It still burned that he had been there that night, looking to help people, and had done nothing. Looking up at her, it seemed like she was curling into herself once more, even with the tea. It seemed like any memory of that night set her down this spiral, which meant he should probably not lament about his own experience that night.

Instead, he carefully moved the tray behind her, scooting into the free spot next to her. He nudged up against her gently, hoping that contact would help pull her out, lightly putting an arm over her shoulders as he looked on with worry.

“I’m going to see to it that your luck changes then.”

She looked up, surprised when he moved to her, but leaned into the arm he offered. She remembered, at the Forest, a friend she'd made on the bus... and lost track of. She wondered where he was now, how he was doing. She hoped he was ok... Just being held, though, reminded her of before, when she was happy and would cuddle with new friends at the drop of a hat, and show off her familiars and laugh at being called Crazy Familiar Lady.

She wondered how she had gotten so weak. Everyone else seemed to have moved on from all this stuff, the night the corrupted came out of hiding, the Forest... Only she seemed to be still trapped in her stupid head.

She gave him a weak smile, and reached up with a free hand to gently pat his. "Thank you... I... appreciate that."

He gave her a hopeful smile in return, squeezing her shoulder gently before leaning back onto his arms. For having pledged himself to her, he felt rather useless right now. His skills revolved mostly around physical prowess, what could he do against the past?

Watching as the fluffbug floated back towards him, he held out his hand again, smiling a bit when it settled onto him. Bringing it closer, he tilted his head slightly as he looked over the fuzzy insect, speaking softly as it seemed to inspect him as well.

“How did you get this one?”

She rested against him, glad he was here, unsure how the world had turned so upside down that she had someone swearing to protect her like a knight of old or something. She certainly was no princess, nor in her head a great prize, so she was confused by it but accepted it the way she was accepting his offer. She sipped her tea, quiet and oddly comfortable.

When her fluffbug Loria came back over, she watched the little one float around him curiously. She smiled at how Loria seemed to like her new friend. She trusted the judgment of her familiars, as they tended to have a good idea as to who was a b*****d and who was ok.

His question caught her attention. "Oh, at... I think it was a harvest festival? She's one of my first familiars, you see, so it's been a long time... She came to me and spent the rest of the festival with me."

He glanced at her as she responded, head tilting slightly as he tried to remember ever going to a harvest festival. Looking back to the fluffbug on his hand, which was a girl apparently, he shifted slightly and used the other hand to lightly pet the large insect.

“Familiars will do that, follow you home?”

He had never had that happen to himself, but perhaps he simply wasn’t the right sort of person, or didn’t frequent the right sort of areas. Probably for the best anyway, given his current living situation. Or would he have reason to change that if he had a familiar tag along?

“She? Does she have a name then?”

He didn't really doubt that she had a name; Niamh seemed like the type given how she treated them, and how well they were behaved in return.

"Well I mean a few of mine have?" She said, sounding like she didn't know if this was normal or common. "So I assume it's happened to other people. I was just a freshling, you see." She just shrugged some, as she watched Loria getting to know Sathe, a smile on her face as she watched the pair of them.

"Yeah. That's Loria." She added, to his second question, and she gently reached over to give the bug a gentle petting between her wings. Loria fluttered them for a moment after the pet, and Niamh smiled. "She likes that, pets between her wings... You have to be gentle though, she has delicate skin."

He watched as Niamh showed him her favorite spot, smirking as Loria buzzed her wings in response. Smiling at her, he reached out to try and replicate her demonstration, pausing for a moment as she turned on his hand. Once she had settled again, he ran a pair of fingers lightly between the ruby patterned wings, her head turning to look at him as he murmured to her.

“There, like that?”

He laughed softly when she seemed to reply with another buzz of her wings, looking over at Niamh with a smile. Familiars weren’t really...familiar to him, but it was nice to feel like he could connect with someone, something, for once.

Niamh smiled happily, enjoying the way both of them seemed to be becoming friends with each other. She reached over to pet her spectrefox, as she watched them. Her odd knight was, at least, going to be friends with some of her companions. She could approve highly of this.

She finished her tea, and carefully put the cup on her tray, then put the tray on her bedside table. "Loria likes you. I am glad to see that." She reached over, and patted Sathe's hand in a friendly, gentle fashion, a quiet smile on her face.

Sathe looked over at the spectrefox that was watching them, wondering for a moment that if each of her familiars had a name and a story, how long it would be until he knew them all. Not that he would mind. They all seemed friendly, and Niamh was being a very gracious host, given the events of the afternoon.

He watched as she set aside the tea tray, smiling warmly at her compliment, though a little surprised at the friendly gesture.

“I can definitely see why you like them, and why they like you in return.”

He turned to look at Loria again, but his gaze fell upon his bag, seemingly abandoned by her desk. That was what he had been needing help with before he caused her breakdown. Hopefully this time he wouldn't mess up again.

“About...the social studies class… Did you by chance get the homework assignment?”

She liked his smile when he really let it out. It was warm and comforting, and it made her feel safe. What an odd, and surprising sensation that was, feeling safe from the smile of someone she barely knew. She pondered that thought, curiously, then mentally tucked it away for later.

"I... Yes." She wasn't sure what to say about them liking her, and his being able to see why. She was just glad he WAS. It felt nice, insider, very nice indeed, and she wouldn't forget that feeling anytime soon either.

When he asked the second question, though, she blinked at him, then chuckled. "Forgot to write it down, Sathe? Yeah. I did." She stood up and went to her pile of papers that... she sighed and began reorganizing things, because to answer his question, she needed to find where she had it written down. "Give me a minute."

He ran a hand through his hair for a moment, looking to the side with a smirk. It wasn’t like him to not do homework, even more so that he asked someone else for help, so this was a bit of unexplored territory for him.

“I’m certain I didn’t hear it to write it down. I was...uh...preoccupied with something else.”

Nodding at her request, he quickly realized that she wouldn’t have seen it, but decided that it didn’t need a verbal response. Standing as well, he knelt by his bag and pulled out his notebook and a pen, then sat back on her bed as he rifled through the pages. There was the chair and desk, of course, but it wouldn’t be polite to crowd her. Besides, he was no stranger to writing on uneven surfaces. After a bit he reached the page he had left notes on. Or at least a few minutes worth of notes, before he started doodling Rutta. It almost seemed silly now, looking back. Almost.

"Oh... I didn't really notice anything else going on, but... I tend to just focus on the teacher." She didn't comment on how she had a desk she sat in at the far back of the class every time. It was just easier to avoid the issue that way. "But I'm more than happy to help you."

Finally she managed to get things in the right order, still sighing in frustration at the mess things had ended up in. She turned through the pages, getting to today's notes. She pulled the right one out and walked back to him, holding the page with all the details written on it down.

Her handwriting was delicate, gentle, but also very neat. He shouldn't have any issues copying the information down. She glanced at the page he had upmost, and blinked. "That's a good sketch."