2 A Talk And Accommodation

"Soooo," Bloom trailed off as we sat on a bench toward the accommodation we were apparently sharing, "...You're a Werewolf, huh?"

"...Yep," I nodded, leaning back into the wooden support of the bench. Things went a little quiet between us, the silence only broken by the occasional student or students who passed by. Quiet until I spoke up again, "Got any questions you wanna ask about me being a beast of the Moon? Got any species-related prejudice you've been dying to prove?" I joked in a lighthearted manner but Bloom turned to me with a slightly worried expression until she saw me smirking.

"No!" she huffed before crossing her arms in a sulking gesture, things going quiet again before she glanced at me from the corner of her eye, "So, do you break out in hives if you touch silver?" she asked and I had no clue if she was joking or being completely serious.

In the end I smiled while shaking my head, "No. God no. I don't break out in hives if I touch silver," I laughed toward the end before regaining my composure and continuing, "That's simply a myth cooked up by humans who ran into us. You can kill a Werewolf through any normal means. You've just gotta be strong enough to do it," I shrugged.

Bloom cocked up one of her eyebrows, "Strong enough?" she asked.

I rolled my eyes and stood up from the bench before bending down and grabbing the underside of the bench with one hand and then easily lifting it up. Bloom and my luggage bag included. The redhead gave a yelp, clutching at the wooden armrest next to her like a drowning woman would clutch a piece of floating wood. Smirking at her reaction, I placed the bench back down and looked down at her smugly, "Think you're strong enough to take on a Werewolf?" I challenged jovially.

"Err--No, I think I'll pass on that, Ezra," she said, eyes wide as she look at me up and down like it was her first time seeing me. I can understand the sentiment. I'm a big guy, sure, muscular and brawny like a sprinter but one-hand lifting a heavy wooden bench with excess deadweight on top of it? I was deceptively strong and Bloom was beginning to realise that.

We matched gazes for a few moments before bursting out laughing at the oddness of our situation. Thankfully the tension Bloom had had when next to me since the Headmistress' slip of the tongue began to fade away with each second she laughed.

In the end, we just sat there and had a good laugh.

"Not scared of me anymore?" I teased and Bloom looked away, somewhat embarrassed.

"I wasn't scared," she mumbled before continuing on, "I was just shocked, is all. Not everyday you find out you're standing next to a Werewolf in a college for Fairies, you know? I was already a little overwhelmed and I guess that was the straw that broke the camel's back," Bloomed shrugged before looking back to me and saw my deadpan expression. She broke a little and gave an impish smile, "Okay, I was a little scared," she held up her finger and thumb, holding them a little apart, "A tiny little bit scared."

I laughed at that, "Sure," I sarcastically remarked, "Because nothing can scare the Fire Fairy, Bloom Peters," I said before continuing to laugh.

"You're such an ass," Bloom said but the lack of heat in her tone and the fact she was laughing herself told me she wasn't really that aggravated by what I said, if at all. Then she gave a pause, fidgeting with her hands and glanced up at me with her hazel doe eyes, "Ezra...how did you know I was a Fire Fairy?"

"Well," I started, crossing a leg over the top of the other one, "Werewolves has keen noses, right? Like wolves," I clarified and she nodded, as if that was obvious, so I continued, "And we were made through magic, centuries and centuries ago. Pushing on a thousand years. Because we were made of magic, our abilities are partly physical and partly magical and as such we can kinda smell magic." Bloom's eyes went wide at that, the question of 'Really?!' blaring in her eyes, so I nodded, "Really. Some can smell it better than others and I'm one of those. All Fairies have a specific scent because of the magic element they were born with."

She seemed a little awestruck by that and I won't lie, it did stroke my ego. If I had a tail, it'd be wagging no doubt. Then Bloom looked at me, her curiosity back in spades, "What does my magic smell like then? Is it good? Is it bad? Oh! Does it smell like cinnamon, because I actually really like the smell of cinnamon for some reason and it could be because of my magic right--" she started rambling and I gave her a little grin which stopped her in her tracks, "Sorry, I ramble when I...you know, find something interesting. And magic smelling Werewolves?" she rhetorically asked before giving a childish smile, "Pretty damn interesting."

I nodded, "I can see why you'd think that. I used to be the same when I was younger but obviously it's lost it's lustre as time went on because it's just a normal part of life for me," I explained, trying to put her at ease and not shame her interest in new things. Then I stopped and took a subtle whiff of her magic's scent and actually paid attention this time.

It wasn't just spicy. It was...sweet. Like chilli infused chocolate. A soothing spice, one that tastes nice but will burn your tongue out your mouth.

"Your magic smells spicy and sweet, like chocolate and chilli powder," I smiling replied, admittedly liking the scent more than I'd vocally admit, "Not bad at all, Bloom. Not bad at all. Just be thankful you're not a Mind Fairy," I trailed off before shivering, "They can smell really funky at times."

Bloom nodded to herself, "Spicy and sweet, huh..." she laughed quietly at it before looking to me and smiling widely, "Mind Fairy's smell funky? Wanna speak about it on the way to our dorm?"

I grimaced slightly, "I'd rather not give you any biases about Mind Fairy's because of my nose, Bloom, but I'm all for going to our dorm and unpacking before the welcoming party tonight."

It was Bloom's turn to grimace, "Urgh," she groaned, "A welcome party? I'd rather not be surrounded by strangers in a new place. Rather stay in the dorm and read up on whatever classes we're gonna be doing."

"Not much of a people person, huh?" I rhetorically asked before standing and looking down at the redhead, "Well, if I'm there you'll know at least one person, right? No need for you to suffer all alone surrounded by strangers."

"I've known you for less than a day, Ezra. You're still pretty much a stranger," she smilingly refuted as she stood up herself.

I brought a hand to my chest and put on an exaggerated expression of pain, "Ouch, you've wounded me with your harsh, harsh words, Bloom. I've told you my secrets and yet we're still strangers? And here I was contemplating on whether or not to introduce you to my parents," I sarcastically said, to which Bloom just rolled her eyes at me. I stopped the charade and picked up my bag, "But it's better the devil you know than the devil you don't, right? At the very least you won't be completely surrounded by strangers. Mostly strangers and a fellow Earthling who you sort of know."

She just shook her head, still smiling, and we got on our way back to the dorm. The only reason we'd stopped was because I'd told Bloom I wanted to talk and clear up some things but now that was done, we could be on our way again.

And it really wasn't that far of a walk, so we soon arrived at the Winx Suite.

Upon entering, I saw one of our roommates placing plants in the little living room we'd be sharing...and she was placing A LOT of plants. The entire space near the window was completely covered in all sorts of flora. They looked pretty though, I'll give her that.

I can't remember her name - I'd only watched a single episode and that was, well, seventeen years ago - but I knew she was one of the main-ish characters.

Her magic scent was kinda earthy. Like freshly cut grass. It was nice. Probably an Earth Fairy.

Her appearance was fine as well. A bit short and chubby but nothing too bad. Overall she looked like a nice, friendly girl. She noticed us approaching and turned from her self-appointed job of setting down plant pots and walked over to us with peppy gait, "Hello!" she said in a friendly, if not energetic, manner, "I'm Terra, it's nice to meet you. We'll be in the same dorm, right? I hope we get along!" her continued energy was...admirable. It was pretty early in the morning, after all.

"Ezra," I held out a hand which she had the good manners of shaking, "Nice to meet you too, Terra. You've got quite the collection of plants, huh?" I broke off the handshake and motioned to the plants not too far from us and the brunette gave an awkward chuckle as she turned and double-checked the utter amount of plants in the room.

"Y-yeah," she turned back and nodded, her smile faltering ever so slightly, "Well, plants in dorms usually help keep the place oxygenated and it helps with stress and stuff...you know?"

I held my hands up in mock surrender, "Hey, I get it. Not trying to knock on the plants or anything. They're pretty either way," I dropped my hands before motioning to Bloom, "Should help her a lot from what I've gathered. Very feisty and very prone to stressing," I joked and Bloom gave me a faux glare but soon stepped forward to introduce herself to Terra.

While they did that, I broke away and searched for the only free room left. Well, free room that I could have all to myself anyway. The way the dorm was set up was there were five rooms. Two of those each had two beds a piece, one of the rooms was the aforementioned shared living room and finally there were two rooms each with one bed. And frankly? I didn't want to share a room with another person. Enhanced senses are bad enough as it is, I don't need to be close enough to someone to hear their lungs expand while they sleep.

Anyway, I walked into the empty room and took it in. A double bed with white covers, a nice black carpet under my feet and I quickly kicked my boots off before I went any further into the room. I dropped my luggage bag off on the bed and looked around. A bookshelf, a desk and a wardrobe. A pretty basic room, all things considered, but I'm glad the bed is big enough. I like spreading out when I sleep, sue me.

Grabbing the bag off the bed, I made my way across to the wardrobe and began unloading my clothes into it, hanging them up.

When I was halfway through the whole thing, I heard someone approaching my room. I didn't turn to look and just took a whiff of the air - the smell wasn't new and I remember it from before I even entered the college physically. Sweet like marshmallows. So it's Stella. And low and behold, I heard her posh accent enter my ears soon after I made the connection.

"Who'd have guessed two royals would be in the same dorm?" she joked as she walked into the room, closed the door and sat on the bed. I turned and looked over my shoulder as I put a jumper on a hanger just as she continued, "Okay, I will admit, I knew we'd be put together. Politics. Probably some sort of plan to foster good relations between Solaria and the Werewolf community - but we shouldn't let that get in the way of actually getting on, should we?" she looked to me and I was pretty sure she was being sincere but I'd have to wait and see.

"Is there anything else you wanted to say, Stella?" I asked, gesturing to my luggage, "I'm still unpacking. Maybe we can talk at welcome party for the first-years, yeah?"

She looked taken aback by my lack of being enthralled and on the edge of her every word but soon nodded and stood up, "Y-yeah," she stuttered before seeming to reprimand herself mentally and regained her composure, "Yes, we can do that. I'll see you then, Ezra," she said and stood up, walked to the door, took one last glance at me and then left.

That last glance was...odd. I think me being the way I was might have attracted her a little. Her actual bodily scent seemed to indicate so as well. So, the way to Stella's attraction is by being hard to get and not being a simp? Good to know, I guess.

Turning back to my wardrobe, I got to unloading my luggage into it. I heard a few more people enter the dorm and once I was finished, I decided to go and introduce myself to them.

Leaving my room, I saw one of the people was next to Terra, being a tiny bit rude by ignoring her and wearing headphones but I guess she had her reasons. Bloom was face-timing her parents and the person who was rooming with her was giving her a bit of an odd look. Listening to the conversation I quickly understood why.

It only just occurred to me that Bloom's parents were normal people. I guess it just didn't cross my mind when I was thinking about other stuff but it makes sense that she has to lie to them about what Alfea actually is, even if I wouldn't personally do it. But then again, I understand that lying to your family will just cause you more trouble than it's worth. Even if you think the lie will protect them or whatever.

Regardless, I walked into Bloom's room and caught the attention of the other girl. She was a real beauty. Dark skin, braided black hair with blue highlights and an athletic but feminine figure. If I remember correctly, she's a swimmer so that last part makes sense. Just like I had to her, she looked me up and down and from the elevated heart rate, she must've liked what she saw.

I put on my best smile and held out a hand, "Ezra, one of your roommates. A pleasure to meet you."

"Aisha," she didn't miss a beat, heightened heart rate or not, and took my hand in a firm grip, "I didn't think they did co-ed at Alfea but I guess I never really looked into it much before I came."

I nodded in agreement, "Same. I was just as surprised when the Headmistress dropped it on me ten or so minutes ago that I was rooming with five girls," I said, giving a wry laugh. She smiled in reply before vocally doing so.

"Well, I guess you're just that lucky, aren't you, Ezra?" she got out before Bloom began death staring us. Not because she was jealous or anything outlandish like that but because her parents could apparently hear my voice - did I know they would? Yes. Did I really care? No. Was I going to limit myself just because Bloom doesn't want her parents knowing she's rooming in a dorm with a guy? Also no.

"It's nothing mom, dad," she said, panicked, "Just some guys passing by the dorm room, okay?"

I heard a scoff from the phone, "I know what I heard, Bloom. I'm not deaf," came a female voice in reply, "Turn the phone around so I can say hello!" she, Bloom's mom, urged. Bloom gave us one final glare before flipping the phone around and showing me. I gave a little wave. "Well, look at him! I guess we don't need to worry about anyone trying to hurt bloom with a big strapping young man like him being roommates with her, huh, honey?" Bloom's mom turned to a man who was presumably Bloom's dad before turning back and waving, "Hello! I'm Bloom's mom, Vanessa! I know she can be a bit of a handful but please look after her!"

...It's always awkward talking to parents of people you know, isn't it?

I gave a nod in reply, "Yeah, sure. I'll, uh, do my best," I said before actually introducing myself, "I'm Ezra, by the way."

"Oh, Ezra? That's a lovely name!" she had a similar high-energy output to Terra and I was already feeling a little drained. Don't get me wrong, she seems like a lovely woman and a loving mother but again, it's so early in the morning and the Gateway I used to get to Alfea was really bumpy. Do I have some sort of magical jetlag? Questions for later.

"Okay, okay, mom--Mom!" Bloom cut in at that point and turned the phone back around. I made a quick escape and left Bloom to deal with her parents. Werewolf or not, her dad was giving me the evil eye man. The type that said 'I own a shotgun, I will hunt you down'.

With everything said and done, I decided to get back to my room and changed into something a bit more befitting of an orientation/welcome party. I was in a baggy t-shirt and some sweatpants at the minute, so I wasn't exactly the epitome of style.