rondezview | I see now, clear and free

[Azul was definitely not prepared for that question, and it shows in how he actually becomes very quickly flustered in response--]

What? Why? ... W--wait, do I want to know why?

[Floyd is absolutely laughing loudly right now and making no attempt to hide it, while Jade is definitely smirking in response to Azul's reaction to the question.]

That's between me and your contact, sorry.

[Pause, and then a wide smile spreads out over her face.]

Unless... that reaction must mean you're an octopus, right?

[Azul.exe stops working, or rather, he takes too long of a pause as his two cohorts end up responding before he can jump in with a potential denial.]

"My, that's quite the brilliant observation there, Miss Evangeline."

"And an accurate one at that! Ne, ne, Azul, maybe you're the kind of cute octopus that Anglerfishie is looking for!"

[That seems to snap him out of his momentary silent treatment as he glares at Floyd in particular.]

Floyd, be quiet. [...] You too for that matter, Jade.

"Now now, I was merely only offering our guest a compliment. You're the one who ended up confirming it to be true just now."

[Ugh, why is he friends with either of you... Azul coughs, regaining some semblance of control before he speaks.]

Well, it was likely going to end up being brought to your attention at some point regardless, but yes, I'm what you might call an octomer. However, it's an inconvenient form for me to use while attending school here, as is the case for many of the other mer-students that make up the student body.

[Hence, the human form he has right now.]

Oh, that's a shame. I mean, I get it, legs are definitely pretty convenient to have for moving around land, but the human body is so boring. You can do so many more fun things with extra limbs. Especially flexible ones... yeah, tentacles are the best.

[A happy sigh, momentarily recalling past encounters. Probably better not to ask about those.]

I'd love to see you like that sometime. In private, preferably.

[Floyd goes right back to howling with laughter at this, while Jade seems to offer a friendly (but given his accompanying sharp smile, it's anything but) pat on Azul's shoulder in response to Azul sputtering momentarily in embarrassment again, completely flabbergasted by her boldness.]

N--not happening.

[Is it too late to get back to the tour and pretend he didn't hear any of this?]

No? ...Well, that's a shame. You're pretty cute when you're embarrassed, even in human form.

[Maybe he's not into human girls, she can respect both parts of that.]

"You should see his face when he gets like this in octopus form too, he's so delightfully fun to squeeze when he gets embarrassed--Ow!"

[Azul stomps down hard on Floyd's foot.]

Ignore him, he doesn't know what he's talking about.

[And yet, he's definitely blushing now before he quickly turns his attention back to business.]

Anyway, we should finish up the tour so that you can be shown to the lounge soon. Is that alright?

Oh, yes, I'm starving. Do you have pizza there?

[Possibly the only thing that could distract her from the thought of squeezing an octoAzul.]

Oh, of course.

[And just like that, Azul seems to have regained composure--it's always a pleasure for him when he gets to talk about his cafe business here at school.]

We have a wonderfully diverse menu that we've put together to try to accommodate any tastes a guest may have, and that extends to our drinks as well. I'm looking forward to seeing your reaction when we arrive.

[He is quite proud of his little establishment, and thus, the tour wraps up quickly so that Evangeline can be brought before the Mirror that will teleport students to each dorm. Upon going through the one labeled for Octavinelle, she will now get to see that it's set up to look like a small underwater city. They are still on land though, for the time being, but when they pass a few windows she'll see that several large aquariums have been set up where some ocean life is swimming around, and perhaps even a few students lounging in pools here and there, some human, some mermen with different colored tails.

And then, Evangeline is taken inside the closest building, and taking the straight path forward leads to the part of the dorm that contains the lounge. This one also has an ocean aesthetic to it, albeit with darker mood lighting.]

Jade. Floyd.

[He snaps his fingers, and immediately the two drift away to look for an unoccupied table for their guest to sit at, Floyd handing her a menu and Jade already standing by with a notepad ready to take her order.]

"Welcome to Mostro Lounge. What can we start you off with for today?"

[Evangeline does take in the sights, but her gaze doesn't linger too long on any of the mermen - it's rude to stare at people who don't know you're staring.]

Oooh, I love the ambiance here. Definitely makes you want to kick back and relax. [Making herself comfortable and glancing over the menu.]

May I have a personal pepperoni pizza, please? And - let's see, there's nothing alcoholic on the menu since this is a student place, makes sense. I'll have a diet cola.

[Jade nods and takes her order dutifully, before he and Floyd drift away to the kitchens with it. It looks like they'll be taking care of it personally rather than just handing it off to one of the waiters nearby.

After a moment of checking on the status of business today--steady flow of customers, nothing that looks off from profits or supplies, Azul returns to join Evangeline at her table.]

Jade and Floyd are excellent assets to have for this establishment when it comes to preparing meals, so I hope you enjoy their efforts when they return with your order.

[But in the meantime, this does mean that they are now alone, instead of having Azul's cohorts floating around over his shoulder while they talk...]

It's nice to have reliable coworkers.

[...A little melancholy, given that she'd never been able to get attached to any of her coworkers, but it fades soon enough.]

Sorry for earlier. I know I'm pretty shameless, but I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable.

... It's quite alright. I simply wasn't prepared for that line of questioning... which, I suppose is my own fault for not expecting it when I should have, even after having sat through that lecture you gave earlier today.

[Yes, it was embarrassing, but it seems Azul is willing to let bygones be bygones, so to speak.]

As such, I'll accept your apology, so you need not worry about it too much now.

That's good to hear. Otherwise I'd start worrying that I was too subtle with the lecture.

[And nobody wants that.]

Do you like this school?

Of course. It's given me the opportunity to not only run my business here, but it's an honor to get to study many of the same kind of magic and potion-making that the Great Seven were talented in. I'm glad I was able to attend this school above all others out there.

It's all really impressive. I don't have any magic myself - just a few gifts from the monsters I used to work with .

[She adjusts the flower in her hair. Speaking of.]

Are a lot of people worried about the overblot incidents, do you think...?

[At that, Azul does frown.]

I think so. Overblotting can happen when someone uses too much magic or their emotions end up affecting it negatively. It's not a particularly uncommon thing to happen to mages, but... it is strange that it's been happening very frequently here at school as opposed to just a once in a blue moon occurrence.

[Riddle, Leona... himself...]

It would be surprising otherwise if there weren't people that were starting to become more worried about this whole thing lately.

Hmm... That makes sense. It's hard for me to judge how normal people react to these things, but especially if this school was safe before, it'd be pretty scary.

[No one's died, so it doesn't register as a Problem by Evangeline's standards, but she's at least aware of it.]

I hope my research comes up with something useful. -And if worst comes to worst, I'm pretty experienced at calming people down with blunt force.

To be fair, that is pretty much the method people here have been using thus far when dealing with overblotting... albeit, with magic attacks rather than actually hitting each other over the head.

[But it would be kind of funny to potentially watch this woman hit someone and cure their overblot with blunt force trauma...]

Does anyone here use weapons at all? If not, I'll have to show off sometime.

Not really: not only does it seem largely unnecessary when most of us can use magic instead, but honestly, I don't trust some students here to be responsible when it comes to handling weapons.

[Like say... Floyd...]

Rook might have experience with weapons due to his interest in hunting, but he might be a tad difficult to hold a conversation with when first meeting him.

Is that right? I'm pretty confident in my ability to talk to weird people, personally...

[Rook hasn't even eaten any of her coworkers, it'll probably be fine.]

[Knowing Rook...]

I could tell you, but I think it might be better for you to draw your own conclusions when you meet him for yourself.

Can I at least know what dorm he's in? So I know who to keep an eye out for.

Pomefiore. Rook is the vice-housewarden of that dorm, so it's likely a matter of time before you end up crossing paths.

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