Know Thy Self

Group projects usually sucked. At West, Matilda had usually been the one pulling all of the weight in the group, while her partners sat on their phones and waited patiently for her to earn them their A. Here, at least she usually enjoyed the subject material. She couldn’t say about the other students yet, although everyone she had met thus far seemed at least a bit more happy to be here than your usual high school student, save for maybe Diego.

Today, for instance, they were grouped into pairs and tasked with making a little presentation, comparing and contrasting their powers. Strengths, weaknesses, that kind of thing. Meek as she was, Matilda was struggling to come up with any weaknesses to her powers. Her chart was full to burst on the “Pros” side, and nearly empty on the “Cons” end of the spectrum. The soul addition to that particular side was “Preparation required,” helpfully scrawled by the instructor when they saw Matilda’s pride was holding her back.

She sat there, a book about Merlin laid across her lap, flipping through it idly as she looked to her project with mock exhaustion.
”Well, I think I’m just about done here. Almost done with yours?” She asked her partner, flipping the book shut.

”Really? Wow, this whole island must be pretty crazy for you, then. I at least had my magic for a year or two before I had to use it.” Tilly said, idly scribbling into her journal. Kon was definitely one of the better partners she’d had. Heck, he actually seemed to be enjoying the assignment. When he asked her if she needed help, she glanced solemnly at her own chart once again.

”I, uh… I suppose I could use an outside perspective.” She mumbled, sheepishly pushing her diagram towards him. ”I just can’t think of what isn’t good about magic!” She groaned. ”It’s so versatile, and it’s not like it hurts me to use it. I’m tapping into my own power, from my own mind. There’s no price but diligent study. I feel like this assignment really wasn’t made for me.” Said Tilly, throwing up her hands in exasperation.

As if on cue, the light fixture nearest to them flickered out. Tilly glanced at her wrist. ”Thunderation.” She cursed in a low breath, realizing she’d forgotten her bracelet again. For the most part, her mana static didn’t occur too frequently, so she could forget quite often. It was only really when she practiced magic that it got really bad.