Perseverance
Intermediate 5
28%
Persuasion
Intermediate 5
16%
Running
Beginner 4
53%
Sense Motive
Intermediate 5
6%
Singing
Beginner 4
10%
Sleight of Hand
Intermediate 2
73%
Small Blades
Beginner 7
0%
Speed Reading
Intermediate 7
78%
Stealth
Intermediate 1
7%
Tailoring
Beginner 8
18%
Tracking
Beginner 4
58%
Unarmed Combat
Beginner 6
57%
Walking
Intermediate 7
16%
Water Magic
Intermediate 4
61%
Wind Magic
Beginner 10
69%
Writing
Beginner 2
15%
It was a good thing no one else could see her sheet, because even she could tell it was absolutely ridiculous for someone who’d only been in the world for five full days. She had to laugh that her three highest skills were information gathering, speed reading, walking, and only then did light magic come in. The simple things in life really were the best!
She happily noted the values of her new skills. She’d siphoned accessorycraft and tracking, so she expected those on her list, but danger sense was something that had appeared on its own after her encounter with the doppelganger. It wasn’t something she’d seen on anyone else’s list before. She was curious as to how it worked, but just chalked it up to spidey senses tingling. Or maybe it was something that only came when you had insight, mana sense, and perception? Did skills spawn new skills?
Deciding that was a useless path to tread since there were no obvious answers, she quickly got out of the bath and ready for the day. Given that she was going to be active and healing today, she opted to tie her hair back in a nice french braid while picking out clothes that were loose and comfortable to move in with short sleeves. Skipping down the hall towards the common room, she sang softly, “I’m walking on sunshine, wooooah, and don’t it feel good!” She jumped down the last step with a grin before it faded as she looked blankly around the common room.
She could vaguely hear the sounds of someone washing the dishes in the kitchen, but otherwise it was completely empty. Oh, there were a few empty plates that looked like they hadn’t been cleared off in the far end of the room, but that was it. Making her way to the kitchen, she poked her head in and saw Kaylee and Jessica washing the dishes. Clearing her throat, she called out softly, “Morning!”
“Oh, Jade, you’re awake! Let me get you something to eat.” They’d both turned to look at her, but Jessica was the one who rinsed off her hands and started to bustle around the kitchen, gathering things for her.
“Thanks… Just one question. Where is everyone?”
Kaylee laughed at her quizzical confusement. “Oh sweetheart, they’re already at Dracona! Eric told us you were exempted from the morning workout. I was actually just going to go make sure you were awake in a minute. You’ve got just under an hour to eat and get up there.” Jade had taken a seat at a nearby counter, remembering that she had very vehemently opted against going to the earliest classes.
She hadn’t thought it might isolate her so much. Ah well, she’d be healing them, so she’d still see people in her armload of classes. She’d asked Eric what the normal course load was, and he’d told her that most people had less than half the amount of afternoon classes she did. So really, she didn’t feel too bad about missing one hour of general fitness.
Jessica plopped a plate full of food in front of her, smiling. “Seems like you’ve got a few admirers. Kaylee was asked by no less than five people where you were.” Jade paused shoveling food in her mouth to laugh a bit at that. Admirers?
“That’s unlikely. They were probably just curious.” She smiled and went back to eating. She wasn’t a bag of bones anymore, but she didn’t think she was anything particularly special either. It was probably Will, Jackson, Evan, or Adam who was asking, since she’d been eating breakfast with them the last few days. Or was it day? So much had happened in such a short period of time that she sort of felt like everything was blurred together.
“Speaking of curious, how did you do your hair like that? It’s so pretty.” Kaylee was now mooning over her french braid. “You always have the prettiest hairstyles, but this one would work so well to keep everything out of the way.”
Jade laughed. “That was kinda the point. It’s simple.” She pulled out her pocket watch, glancing at the time. She still had forty-five minutes, and it was around a twenty-five minute walk, she figured. Grinning, she declared, “Here, I’ll do your hair really quick, and you guys can watch me do the other’s so you learn how to do it. It’s not hard.” She pushed away her already empty plate because she’d unconsciously wolfed it down as they were talking.
“Really?” Kaylee’s eyes were bugged out as if she’d just won the lottery, and both Jade and Jessica burst into laughter as Jade nodded, trying not to cry because she was laughing so hard. Kaylee lightly whapped them on the arm and reprimanded, “Stop laughing!” This, of course, only made them laugh more.
It only took her about five minutes to do both hairdos, even with much giggling and her pointing out the necessary parts of the braid. It was a super simple thing, after all, but they were both amazed and enraptured by their new dos. They were still examining each other cheerfully when Raphael walked in, shaking his head. “I should have guessed you’d be in here.”
Jade grinned. “What, you expected to find me somewhere other than the source of all goodness?” He glanced around, noticing her already empty plate, and just smiled sardonically. He looked a lot better when he smiled, flashing his pearly whites. Distracted, she realized that her teeth were getting whiter by the day too. If she kept raising her scores, would she look like she was born to star in a dental commercial? Raphael waved his hand in front of her face, bringing her back to reality. All three of them were laughing at her.
“Welcome back.” Raphael was having a hard time suppressing his smirk. “Did you hear anything I just said?” Guiltily, she shook her head and Jessica burst into a fresh peal of laughter. “I was saying, you’d probably better head for Dracona if you’re done eating. You don’t want to be late on your first day, do you?”
Startled, she looked back at her watch, noting that she now only had thirty minutes. Jumping to her feet, she glanced around, now a bit flustered. “Okay!” She started patting things down, checking that she had her library card, her school ID, pins in case anything fell down, money to pay for anything she needed…
“Have fun! Don’t bully the other kids too much!” Jessica called out as she was leaving the kitchen, and Jade quickly turned around, rushing over to hug a surprised Jessica and Kaylee.
She grinned as she let them go. “I’ll try not to. Have a wonderful day!” She poked them both, dancing away as they squealed in protest. She returned to Raphael’s side, who was holding open the outer door for her. She was about to step into the sunshine when she realized… “My sunglasses!” Turning around, she sprinted for the stairs while she heard Raphael let out a laughing sigh.