Private You Spin Me Right Round

This was one of Tilly’s favorite rooms. It was one of the older, dingier places, with old cracked wooden desks that might have been covered with cobwebs had she not cleaned them herself. This was one of the spots she used for a quiet moment alone when she needed a break, usually when she would rather be in her room but was choosing to avoid her RA. Some of the lights didn’t work anymore, and the ones that did hummed with effort, casting yellow light on the room, like some of the older ones did.

The bookshelves in the corner were stacked with very out-of-date textbooks, the kind with cool kids from the 90’s plastered all over them. One of the more prominent books was a biology text that featured a centaur fist bumping what appeared to be an alien, like, little gray men.

It was clear Tilly spent a lot of time here, because the furniture was arranged to her liking. The desks were pushed to the sides,parted to form little nooks and rooms in the corners. She sat in the teacher’s desk, in a surprisingly comfortable leather chair, the kind with the little wheels on the bottom. She was spinning idly in the chair, round and round she went, just killing time.

Lottie should be here soon. She’d told her to come here so they could practice some of the tricks they’d used during their duel. She was eager to learn her little switcheroo spell, and she’d brought the tomes for her portable hole, and some potion supplies in case she wanted to make the sleeping drought.

”Hey, Lottie!” Tilly greeted her, spinning her chair quickly to face her. She’d been goofing around mostly, humming a tune while she waited, but she hadn’t been here horribly long. She’d had a free period before Lottie got out of class, so she had just come here to study like normal. ”Yeah, this is usually where I hang out when I have my free period. Or, y’know, if I just need a break from the dorm.” She said, rolling the chair forward so that she sat behind the desk, folding her hands and attempting to look important. ”Step into my office.”

As she spoke, she grabbed one of the books she’d brought with her. ”I wasn’t sure if you practiced alchemy, so I figured we’d start with the portable hole. I’ll be the teacher first, since I’m the one in the chair. Then we can switch. Sound cool?” She asked, licking her pinkie to flick through the pages of her notebook, until she reached the one she was looking for. The writing was all her own handwriting.

”This one I actually made myself, so you’ll have to put up with my chicken scratch. Do you learn better by reading, like me, or do you like to try things the hands-on way?” She inquired, turning the book towards her so that she could have a peek.

She shrugged, spinning lazily in her chair.
”If you ever wanna learn, I’m more than happy to teach. And I’d love to teach your friend about the sleep grenade.” She said, gesturing to a bottle she’d prepared for example, sitting on the table. ”It’s come in handy more times than I can remember.”

She smiled bashfully at Lottie’s praise, waving a hand dismissively. Tilly was one of the easiest people in the world to flatter, and if it were anybody but Lottie, she’d be suspicious that she was trying to get something from her. But no, Lottie was just too sweet for this world. She couldn’t sense even an ounce of badness in her, and she’d been around a lot of that lately. ”I’m sure people have done it before me, but the spellwork is all mine.” She explained, raising an eyebrow at Lottie’s grimoire.

”Huh.” She said, staring at it. ”How did you get a book like that?” She asked, curious. She knew what it did just by looking at it, not that it was hard to figure out with just context.It reminded her of her own spellbook, where she stored most of her magical knowledge, only hers wasn’t, well, real. It resided in her library, a purely mental construct, but it seemed to behave exactly the same.

Curious.

When it came time to prepare the circle, Tilly took out a few pieces of chalk, laying them on the table and approaching the chalkboard with one. She drew a large circle, and, just as before, a hole opened up on the surface of the table, which caused the remaining piece of chalk to fall through, and directly into her hand. ”You technically don’t need the chalk. I can do it without, but it takes significantly more focus. But yes, you’re correct. You can trace the circle anywhere you like, and visualize where you’d like the other end to appear. I haven’t really played around with it much, but I know that the two surfaces need to be mostly flat. I haven’t experimented much with how far away it can be, but I can only really make the other circle appear within my line of sight.” She explained, tossing her a piece of chalk, and setting the other back on the table.

She couldn’t hide her interest at Lottie’s book, but there wasn’t really a logical way to explain why it caught her attention. Her own book(s) were a bit more difficult to use and archaic in their function. Lottie’s seemed to copy what she read exactly, where Tilly’s books tended to transcribe things in her own words. Well, her subconscious’ own words, anyways. She’d had to make some hasty corrections after her recent encounters with Shiro and Caissa, on the off chance anybody ever read her mind or something.
”That’s interesting.” She said thoughtfully, glancing at her perfect rendition of the first Harry Potter novel.

She watched Lottie prepare, pressing the chalk to the board, and tapped her chin thoughtfully at the girl’s question. ”I’m not sure. The bigger the circle, the harder it will be to pull off. I’ve only ever made one of like five feet in diameter at most. I wouldn’t recommend trying more, or your hole might intersect with one of the outer realms.” She advised, shuddering at the reminder of her encounter with the Hounds of Tindalos.