To kiarrith‘s prompt to This Call for Addergoole Prompts.

All new characters.

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Third week of School, Addergoole Year 16

Minerva slipped into the suite after her magic class – Yaku! Water, her new favorite Word – to hear the tail end of a conversation she was likely meant not to hear.

“…do about Minerva?”

She froze, and then just as quickly unfroze and found a place to hide. The closet. The closet was right there.

“I don’t think there’s anything we need to do about her.” Oh, good. Calum was angry. Minerva touched the collar around her neck – call it a choker or a necklace all you wanted, it was still a collar. Calum was angry and one of the girls wanted to do something about Minerva. Again. She curled a little further into the back of the closet, behind a winter coat she’d had no use for yet.

“Something has to be done. Calum, I know you’re fond of her, but she doesn’t really fit in, does she?” Kenna had that tone in her voice that meant she was going to bend the facts until they fit. Or bend Minerva – or Calum – until they fit.

“And she’s miserable.” Tzefira this time, with a coaxing, cajoling tone in her voice. “She doesn’t like being left out any more than we like leaving her out.”

She was? She didn’t? They didn’t? But if this was a two-on-one intervention, Calum’s crew-mates were really sick of her being around. And if it was two-on-one, Calum didn’t stand a chance. He might not wear their collar, but it hadn’t taken Minerva long to figure out who really pulled the strings around here.

“She doesn’t seem miserable to me…”

“Well, she wouldn’t, would she?” Tzefira was so very persuasive. “Did you want to look miserable, when you were ours?”

“No, no, but you still knew.”

“Well, dear…”

She had to say something. Calum would yell. Tzefira and Kenna would yell. But it was that or get kicked out. Minerva stood up, pushing the coats out of the way.

Nobody noticed her at first. Tzefira was going on about how they knew better than he did. It let Minerva step forward until she was standing at the table.

Kenna was taller than Minerva – and that didn’t happen often at all – but they were all sitting, and she was standing. “Why don’t you want me here?”

They didn’t deal well with direct, she’d noticed. Kenna coughed. “It’s not that we don’t want you here, it’s just that you don’t fit here happily. We think you’d be better off somewhere else.”

“Calum has to grow up sometime, you know.” The worst they could do was get rid of her, and they were going to do that anyway. “He can’t be your pet forever.”

“Of course not.” Tzefira recovered faster than her crew-mate. “We released him. We know he needs to be his own person. But don’t you want to be your own person, too?”

Good one. Minerva thought it ought to have hit home, but it didn’t. She shrugged instead. “Right now, I like being Calum’s – when you let him have me.”

“Minerva.” Calum’s voice didn’t have warning so much as pleading. She ignored him, as much as it sent twists into her stomach.

“I like being his, but you don’t want him to Own someone, because it brings home that he’s not yours anymore – not to you, because you both know the truth. But to him. Him being in control of someone reminds him that he’s the one in control.”

Tzefira was smiling. That was unexpected. “You think so?”

“I know so. That’s why you don’t want me here. Not because I’m miserable – I’m not, Calum. Not because I don’t like being left out – I don’t mind, and neither do you. But because it draws a line in Calum’s brain.”

The two women shared a look. “You want to be his pet, even knowing…” Kenna’s gesture was entirely unclear, but Minerva took her meaning anyway.

“Even knowing how it works between you two and him. Yes.”

“Why?” Tzefire leaned forward; this answer was the important one.

Why, indeed? Minerva licked her lips. “I like what you guys have here. I’d like to have it some day. But right now, that’s not what I want. Right now, I want a nice, comfortable collar and a Keeping to get me through this first year of school. And… I like him. I really do. Doormat status and all.”

“Minerva!” This time, it was a warning. She sat down and watched the three of them, waiting.

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The Characters
Tzefira‘s the only one with a wiki page so far

Calum
The character is male
5 ft. 11 in. tall.
muscular build.
cropped short perfectly straight black hair.
brown eyes.
light skin.
movement is notable in some fashion

CHANGES
unicorn related Change
Significant physical Changes include skin tone , facial feature(s) , hands and/or feet
Innate ability can consume thoughts in some way.

Kenna
The character is female
6 ft. 1 in. tall.
curvy/stocky build.
hip length+ tight curls Irish red hair.
grey eyes.
ebony skin.
movement is notable in some fashion

CHANGES
djinn related Change
Significant physical Changes include hair color , eye color
Innate ability can control space in some way.

Minerva
The character is female
6 ft. 0 in. tall.
slim build.
shoulder length wavy blue-black hair.
black eyes.
dark skin.
hands is notable in some fashion

CHANGES
naiad related Change
Significant physical Changes include eye color , height , hands and/or feet
Innate ability can destroy thoughts in some way.

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