Aetherion was sunbathing in the lawn outside the stables when Riven came bustling over with a small grin on his face. The bright morning light reflecting off the pale dragon's scales. When Riven approached, Aetherion raised his head to peer at him with sleepy yellow eyes.

"Let's go! I'm going to try and make some breakfast for everyone!" he quipped cheerfully as he began waddling towards the Willow with an armload of stuff. Aetherion rumbled as he pushed himself to his feet to follow his rider. "They've all headed there already besides one." The dragon's voice reverberated in his head.

"Well... I can cook while we talk!" Riven snapped back, hurrying his pace along as the dragon followed, his long tail dragging the ground behind him.

When they reached the willow, Riven could see Pheonix curled in the grass, Valentina was here! His eyes also spotted Thorn and Obsidian waiting, he was glad to see they were okay. Riven attempted a wave at his friend, but quickly had to catch something slipping from his arms. "Ermm... I swindled Greta for some food for everyone!" he let out a breathy laugh as he moved to head up the willow. "How are you and Obsidian feeling this morning?" he offered as he tried to push the door open. He'd found himself genuinely worried about these people in such a short amount of time. He kept yapping away as he climbed the stairs up into the main area of the willow, where he immediately moved to the kitchen area to unload his stockpile. He needed to clean up in here too. Did he really miss his home that much that he was actually excited to cook and clean in this little place? It was like a little extra home away from home. Sure they had their dorms, but he'd found himself avoiding most the other students here recently. But not these guys. Obviously he was happy Valentina was spending time with them, Thorn seemed like a decent guy, Seraph.... "Hey, where is Seraph? Usually her and Whiplash are up right?"

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Seraph could barely pull herself from bed. The restless sleep that finally took her was full of vivid flashes and ominous voices. She felt an odd urge to just run into the academy and start searching, but she wasn't sure why. Normally she bounced out of bed in the mornings and ran to meet Whiplash for their early morning flights, but this morning she was even late for waking up. With a groggy start she pulled on some clothes and slowly made her way to the stables.

"SERAPH!"

A voice yelled in her head. "Good goddesses, Whiplash, why are you yelling?" Seraph scolded as the iridescent red dragon bounded up to her, clearly disturbed by her rider's tardiness this morning.

"Where have you been!" The dragon kept berating her rider as the blonde sleepily walked towards the willow.

She moved herself in and didn't speak a word as she went into the willow and plopped down. Weariness evident on her face and her eyes struggled to stay open.

(Sorry to cut it short, I'm supposed to be in class right now. XD)

Thorn was grateful for Riven's chatting. It filled up the empty space around them and meant Thorn didn't have to talk as much. "I'm fine and so is Obsidian. He actually wanted to come here so I guess that's good." He was surprised when Riven mentioned making breakfast. Honestly, he hadn't thought Golden Boy could cook. Could he even call him Golden Boy anymore? In a few days, Thorn had found out a lot about the three and it turned out Riven wasn't nearly as shallow as he'd once thought. Thorn tilted his head slightly, coming to a decision. Golden Boy was Riven's new nickname.

"You really don't have to cook for us," he said with a grin on his face. His eyes darted to the door, suddenly aware of the fact he'd have to face Valentina in a few moments. Entering the room, however, hadn't been nearly as bad as Thorn imagined. Valentina was sitting silently on the window seat, a book open in her lap, amber eyes focused on the words in front of her. She did look up though when she heard Riven. Val smiled softly and waved at them. Thorn hesitated but waved back.

"Isn't Seraph with you?" she asked, though her question seemed to be aimed more at Riven. Only moments later, the mentioned blonde walked into the room. Thorn raised an eyebrow at her very tired look. "Are you okay, Seraph?" he asked her, genuinely concerned.

~~~~~

Val was glad her interaction with Thorn hadn't been too awkward.

"Shut it, Pheonix!" Val muttered under her belreath, annoyed. She could imagine Pheonix huffing in annoyance. Even if her dragon had been right after all, Thorn clearly didn't want to be around her. She'd heard him talking with Riven as they walked up the stairs. And just now, he was fine speaking to Seraph. So it was just her after all. She didn't blame him. Usually she didn't care too much if someone was angry at her but this was different. Val wasn't sure whether it was because she actually cared about Thorn, she still felt really guilty or maybe a mix of the two.

Val gave Seraph a worried glance. She did look really tired. Then again, after last night Seraph probably hadn't slept very well.

Anxious to move away from Thorn to avoid any interaction with him, Val went up to Riven. She looked at all the ingredients he had. "So, what're you making? And could I help?"

"I don't mind, I used to always cook for some of the younger kids back home. Actually became kind of a getaway for me." Riven laughed slightly as he and Thorn bustled into the room. He sat his stuff down on the counter and returned Valentina's wave, but quickly averted his focus back to the food on the counter to avoid his cheeks flushing. He recalled those memories from his home. The academy felt more like a home than anything. His village had been ravaged by the war, almost to the point of falling apart but a few devoted individuals kept it alive. Most of their able-bodied people had went off to the war and never returned. His village's population struggled ever since. With Riven being considerably a "physically capable" person, he was often stuck with learning things he didn't find enjoyable, but it was the one way he could provide for his family. Even at a young age he was an apprentice for any craftsmen who needed an extra pair of hands. But helping the baker was probably always his favorite job.
With a few quick blinks, he removed the memory from his mind as Valentina approached him, offering her help. Riven realized now that he hadn't actually though through what he was cooking, he just grabbed stuff he thought he'd need. Maybe he could make some of the fruit pies the baker used to? Just loaves of bread with a gooey fruity filling that was baked. They were messy, but a good morale booster. Sweet and filling.
"Fruit pies?" he suggested with an awkward grin. He glanced over his shoulder to check on Thorn and Seraph, the blonde looked, well... awful. She was normally always on alert and seemed ready for anything, but this morning, her clothes seemed barely tugged on, her hair was just tucked back behind her ears in a wavy mess, and her eyes seemed devoid of it's normal wild spark. He wanted to ask about it, but decided not to bother her. Maybe yesterday's events took a larger toll than he thought. Yesterday was horrible, but he didn't like to dwell on the awful things. He'd be too sad all of the time. The past was out of his control, but the present and future weren't.

"You good, blondie?" Riven offered a lighthearted joke.
With another soft smile to himself, he went about explaining what he had in mind for the ingredients he gathered to Valentina. He never though he'd have this much fun making fruity bread.

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Seraph could barely hear the voices going on around her. The sunlight streaming in from the windows was almost blinding. She rested a hand on her forehead and attempted to intake and exhale slow breaths. It felt like she should have a headache, but there was no pain. Just a throbbing like someone had squeezed her brain her too hard. She kept hearing a voice, and it wasn't her mentors. It kept calling, beckoning, longing.

With a jolt she jerked her attention up at Riven's quiery. Her green eyes hazed in and out of focus. She opened her mouth like she wanted to speak, but no sound came out. After a moment of a great gaping fish mouth impersonation, Seraph finally managed to get a few croaky words out. "I'm good, golden boy." she attempted a joke in response. Normally Seraph was always quick to comeback with a witty response but her head felt like she'd been up all night studying for a practical or something.

Then, as if it was a totally normal topic of conversation, and in a much clearer voice that almost sounded like it wasn't coming from her, "Have you guys ever wondered what's beneath the school?"

Val thought it was cute Riven would cook for the younger kids. Valentina grinned at Riven, happy to be useful. She gladly gathered some of the ingredients, being careful not to add too much or too little of something. Although nobody minded a little extra sweetness.

Baking with Riven reminded her of when she was younger. She loved cooking with her mother, and aunts when they visited, and honestly, she missed it. The delicious smells wafting from the kitchen, the loud family meals. True, the hall could be loud at meal times and the food did smell, and taste, amazing but to Val, it just didn't feel like home. Flying through the clouds, training with her dragons and meeting new people was great but there were always days when Val just wanted to do normal people things.

Pausing from her task, the redhead turned around to face the others at Seraph's query. She only knew what the other students said plus a couple of theories from her history professor. "I've heard a few things. Some say there's a monster down there, either to protect the school in extreme danger or trapped to protect us. Though if the second one is true there's a chance the thing's dead by now. I remember someone else saying it might be the 'heart of the school'. Where magic is stored." Val wiped her hands and tucked some hair behind her ear, nose scrunched up in thought. "It could just be a giant, empty basement. That is, if there's anything under the school at all."

~~~~~

Thorn moved over to sit next to Seraph. He raised an eyebrow at her question. "Why do you ask?" It was a strange thing to ask all of a sudden, especially once she looked half-dead. Come to think of it, her hair reminded Thorn of a harpy he saw in a book once....

Val's voice snapped him out of his thoughts and back into the real world. He missed the first few words she'd said but the rest was actually pretty interesting.

Thorn managed to look up at Val as she explained a few of the rumours. He was surprised she knew so much, he hadn't even known there was anything under the school until Seraph mentioned it just then. He was starting to see why Riven thought Val would be a good addition and why he fancied her so much.