Chapter 2: Meeting Caitlynn
Walking up to the second line she could see the person currently standing at the back of the line of her class. She was tall — almost a head above everyone around her. With long and shapely legs currently on display past her skirt which reached her mid-thighs, hot pink hair reaching the small of her back with fluffy and soft-looking cat ears of the same color on top of her head.
Before Elayna had the chance to introduce herself, the very pretty Catgirl, she realized, had already turned around and let a quick and appreciative gaze run over her. She had clearly liked what she had seen, and her unmistakably feline pupils narrowed after catching the light, eyes which turned into something playful as they moved over Elayna's face.
Then her eyes started to drift lower—
And the smirk that had started to form on her face fell apart, eyes going as wide as her tightly knit eyebrows allowed them to when her eyes had passed her waist.
Her vertical slits narrowed to near nothing. A bead of sweat ran slowly down her high-set cheekbones.
It was as if the Catgirl couldn’t possibly believe what she was currently witnessing. She looked deeply confused, which mirrored Elayna's feelings. Not understanding if she had done anything weird, she felt herself growing anxious as she was walking closer to the line.
Seeing her come to a stop a bit far away from her while looking so exceptionally nervous and fidgety seemed to let the pretty Cat-kin retain some semblance of herself and let her initial shock pass. She still looked back up to Elayna's face with a look of utter disbelief, as if she was waiting for her to unveil what must surely have been a naughty little prank she was pulling on her.
After she revealed no prank. The Catgirl shook her head briefly to clear it. Having settled on instead wearing a look of puzzled interest, mostly, it still carried hints of wonder as she welcomed her newest classmate.
“Why hello there. Trust me when I say it’s nice to meet you." she said sultrily. She bent her knees slightly, bringing herself a little closer to the elf's eye level. "I'm Caitlynn, but you can call me Cait. And please, do tell. Just what, am I supposed to call an adorable little thing such as yourself?"
The word adorable made her spine do a short and delightful, but involuntary shiver. She was so caught up at being called cute that she failed to notice she’d also just been called thing.
Having a hard time meeting the pretty Catgirl's gaze and an even harder time finding her own voice, she somehow managed to force out a reply.
“M-my name is Elayna, it’s nice to meet you as well! And I hope we can be good friends!”
Internally, she mentally pumped her fist. That had definitely been a completely normal reply. Caitlynn probably didn’t even notice her slight stutter.
She only hoped the pink-haired beauty didn’t think she was too awkward.
Not knowing what to say or do next, Elayna thought to let herself take a proper look at Caitlynn. Since she was so nervous when she had walked up, and so nervous about slipping up while talking, she hadn’t taken a good look at the Cat-kin yet.
She already knew that the Catgirl was attractive, she found out quickly though, just exactly how attractive. When she couldn’t tear her eyes away.
Elayna didn’t want to get caught staring. But the Catgirl was maybe just a taaaad bit too pleasing to look at for it to matter, she was simply breathtaking.
I’ll look. Just for a moment, she told herself.
She started just as one naturally would, with the face. And immediately understood that this whole idea of 'taking a good look' was a terrible mistake.
Caitlynn's face was the kind of face that made a person feel faintly stupid just for looking at it. High cheekbones. A mouth that looked like it had never once in its life formed an uncertain expression. And her eyes—bewitching—feline, emerald eyes with pupils that were slightly dilated. Caitlynn was looking back at her with a raised eyebrow hinting at very patient amusement.
Well? Is what those eyes seemed to say.
...W-well? Elayna thought. A face that pretty has no business existing on a person I'm supposed to hold a normal conversation with.
Caitlynn’s pink and fuzzy cat ears sat atop of her head, slightly angled forward towards their owner's newest curiosity, looking incredibly soft to the touch.
Elayna had once sneaked to a restricted area in her family's library and had read about a demon race called ‘succubi’ in some monster compendiums. She now felt, with some conviction, that those compendiums had been written by people who had never actually met one. Or maybe met one and had severely lacked the vocabulary to properly describe one, or what one was supposed to feel. What she now felt was what they had supposedly felt, only ten times over...
Still. There was, after all, more to look at. She had already committed to this. Stopping now would just be... wasteful... yeah. Wasteful. She thought.
She saw Caitlynn smile in her peripheral vision but shyly kept looking.
Caitlynn's neck was kind of long. She wasn’t wearing the academy capelet so Elayna could see her collarbones above the uniform's neckline, and of course they were perfect, sharp, strong and perfect. The academy bodice fit her as if it had been measured, remeasured, and then personally blessed, doing nothing. Truly. No, really nothing to conceal the fact that her chest was...
Elayna's brain, ever helpful, produced not just one but two, whole words... Just unfair. Then it produced several other words in rapid succession that she very firmly declined to acknowledge. She was a dignified person after all. She was going to be a master sword mage. She was not going to stand in line on her very first day and think words like that about someone she had known for approximately four minutes.
So, she was going to stop looking now.
She didn't stop looking.
Caitlynn was standing with her weight shifted onto one leg, hip cocked out to the left, in the idle and completely unconscious way of someone who had never once in their life needed to think about how to stand or where to put their body, because their body simply knew and the rest of the world rearranged itself accordingly. She was bare from mid-thigh downward past the hem of her skirt, and Elayna saw her legs that were—
Long legs. Very long legs, yet they were so generously full, so beautifully shaped. Smooth and pale they curved in a way that made Elayna’s gaze linger for way too long... She had to stop to swallow once. Caitlynn's legs had the distinct kind of toned look that seemed less like physical training and more like a natural consequence of simply existing on a body like that.
Elayna became aware, after swallowing hard one more time, that her mouth had gone dry.
This was a completely normal physiological response to—to standing near someone who was... she was looking for the right word. Gorgeous. Caitlynn was ridiculously gorgeous. That was a word. A good word. A word that a composed and academically inclined young polite person might use in polite company... and it was not, for instance, any of the other words her brain was currently and enthusiastically proposing for her to say out loud.
She wasn’t quite done looking yet when someone behind her knocked on her shoulder.
Oh th-thank the saints, Elayna thought, both relieved and disappointed her staring had been interrupted.
“Uhm, excuse me.”
Turning around she met eyes with a Human boy, with short brown hair and unsure eyes. Elayna realized he had probably tried to introduce himself from behind before knocking on her shoulder.
“Ah! I’m so sorry, I didn’t notice—”
“Mm. That would be my fault.” The Catgirl interrupted in a low voice as she stared down at Elayna. “Name’s Caitlynn and this little sweet thing is Elayna”
Having already answered for her, Elayna saw Cait sweep her gaze briefly to the boy and then down to her own eyes, not bothering to hide her very amused eyes nor her knowing smirk.
Elayna froze.
To be fair to herself, and she felt she deserved some fairness right now, all things considered. It was not really her fault, was it? It wasn’t as if Caitlynn was any normal amount of attractive. A normal amount of attractive was that silver-haired Fae standing to her left, whose serene attractiveness she could observe briefly and appreciate, like a nice sunset, o-or a well-crafted sword.
Caitlynn’s attractiveness wasn’t like that. This was the kind of attractive that went past your eyes, and straight through your brain right to the part of your brain responsible for sensible decisions.
The catgirl in question was still looking back at her with those green cat-eyes like she found the situation tremendously amusing.
She definitely thinks I'm an idiot, Elayna concluded. We’ve known each other for five minutes and right now she thinks I’m some little country Elf who’s never seen someone pretty before. Which was not true. Elayna had seen plenty of pretty people, Caitlynn was just... something a bit more than pretty. A lot more... But this is fine. I'm fine. I came here to primarily become a strong and capable sword mage.
She held onto that thought like a handhold on a steep cliff.
I am going to at the very least become a master ranked sword mage. And I am under no circumstances going to think about what it would feel like to have those eyes bore down at me as I’m being sternly held down—
Feeling like she would somehow be losing something that was hers to Caitlynn if she continued that thought. She cut herself off and put the promise she’d made to her mother at the front of her mind.
I w-will not get seduced on the very first day. She thought, reproaching herself.
Not knowing or sensing the inner turmoil of the Elf, the Human boy started his attempts at conversation with the two girls who he privately thought were ridiculously beautiful. He was not a perceptive boy, but he was a patient one. And he'd be a fool to not take this chance, any chance, at getting to know two girls such as the ones standing right in front of him.
He scratched the back of his head. "...S-so, where are you guys from?"