Clovix Club: Origination

Chapter 5: Lost and Found

Alma

Alma picked at the hem of her outdoor uniform, rolling the seams between her fingers. The thing had been thrust at her the second she walked up to the clearing which held Professor Palladium's class with her roommates. The four of them had barely had time to change before the entire class had been whisked away by magic.

The uniform didn't fit well to begin with, and although it was a romper made with shorts, the thick material itched her skin and made her sweat beneath the canvas fabric. Wherever the teacher had brought them was frustratingly humid.

Her roommates weren't faring much better. Clementine patted the loose waist of her uniform in a futile attempt to make it fit her better, or at least look slightly more attractive than the way it was currently loosely hanging on her frame.

Dawn's tight pink curls had unraveled themselves almost the minute they had set foot in their new location. Rather than a neat, curly bob, the girl honestly looked like she had been attacked by animals with how much frizziness was attached to her head. Patience was fanning themself something fierce in an attempt to cool down in the oppressive heat.

Other fairies grouped themselves up naturally. Most stuck to their roommate groups, while others grouped together in formed friend groups, sizes ranging from duos to large groups of six. Alma vaguely remembers Dawn filing some form with the school to get them listed as a group of four. The Clovix Club or something. The motion at least ensured some consistency for her to depend on in classes and assignments like this.

The fairies tittered among themselves, as Palladium waited oddly silent in front of his class. There was a flash to the right, and as it faded, a class of specialists tumbled out. What could be assumed as the teacher followed behind them.

Said teacher introduced themself, but Alma wasn't paying attention, her eyes scanned the specialist crowd scrupulously for Vale. She couldn't yet decide if she wanted him to be there or not. Her eyes landed on his familiar ponytail, and she found herself whispering a short curse.

This was the first time the two of them had been together in a class setting, and Alma was finding that she did not like it. Hopefully, crossover classes between Red Fountain and Alfea would be few and far between.

Her first duty was always going to be to protect Vale, it was why she was sent to Magix in the first place. If he was here, he was her first priority. And that meant sacrificing her performance in class if necessary, something her competitive nature wasn't feeling too thrilled about. She may not have liked attending Alfea, but she sure liked succeeding.

As she was running the numbers on how badly she would have to fail this assignment for it to badly impact her life at Alfea, Vale saw her looking at him. Utterly oblivious to her own mental calculations, the specialist giddily waved at her, grin wide across his face. She let out some air through her nose, ignoring him as she turned back to the professors.

"Welcome all to the Surcona Grove!" Palladium's cheerful voice rang out through the clearing. "As you can see, today's first-year Natural Magic class will be a joint assignment with Red Fountain's first-year Wilderness Survival students!" The specialists had the grace to awkwardly smile and wave at the staring fairies. "In today's assignment, fairies will be tasked with using their magical connection to nature to guide themselves and others through the forest towards their objective."