Before going with Bea to the snakes commonroom she would need to find June. Afterall they shared room right now, and if Fila would just disappear just like that. Well June would start a manhunt for her.
It didn't take long to find her, as there weren't many Blue and cherry red students walking around.
Fila grabbed her arm and June turned with a shocked expression before she saw who it was. "Oh Fila. Ready to head back…" but she didn't get to finish as Fila pulled her in closer to whisper in her ear.
"Listen, don't freak out," Fila whispered, her raspy voice vibrating against June's ear. "I'm not coming back to the guest wing tonight. I'm crashing with the Snakes. Bea invited me."
June pulled back just enough to stare at Fila, her magic flickering in a frantic, confused rhythm. "The Snakes? You mean the locals? Fila, we've been here for a few hours and you're already defecting? What if they have those carnivorous plants in their pillows?"
Fila smiled, "I don't think they plants are going to be my biggest issue tonight…" Fila whispered back with a smirk. She was joking, but you never know.
June's eyes went wide, her magic spiking in a jittery, bright pink puff of pure anxiety. She opened her mouth to say something but only mumbo jumbo came out of it while trying to say something remotely correct.
But fila wasn't going to stay as she pulled back and sprinted to Bea who stood just outside the doors of the great hall.
Fila's laughter, raspy and light, trailed behind her like a physical spark as she left a sputtering, panicked June in the dust. She reached Beatriz in a few effortless strides, her boots barely making a sound against the stone floor.
"Babysitter handled?" Beatriz asked, pushing off the wall with a grin that matched Fila's for sheer mischief.
"Handled," Fila rasped, adjusting the silver-stitched lapel of her vest. "Though I think her brain might have short-circuited."
Bea looked at Fila. "Oh? So two beautiful girls cant share a bed?"
Fila looked at the girl, she didn't know if she was joking or being fully serious. "You are dangerous, I fucking love that." She said and laughed.
Beatriz threw her head back and laughed, a bright, sparking sound that sent a faint ripple of violet static through the humid air. "Dangerous? You're the one who kicked the doors open and threatened a Japanese ocean before dessert, North American. I'm just being a good host."
She pushed off the wall and started walking, her hips swaying with confidence.
Fila joined in beside her. "You are going to love the common room, its really cozy and warm. And we have A LOT of snacks." Bea said, she seemed excited. And Fila could see it on how her magic had been twirling in a circle since she asked.
Bea hooked Fila's arm in a hook, just like they had when she helped her back to her school when she got lost.
Now one would think that after going through everything she had, she would be more on guard. Especially since she was currently walking into a common room with a girl she had only known for a couple of hours. And with a history of trusting someone too much, and getting cursed by said person.
But, Bea seemed different. And with her flower sight she could see her magic. It wasn't some dark mess that usually dark wizards had. Was it really enough to dismiss the thought about trusting someone to quickly? No. But one thing to remember is that Fila isn't that Fila anymore.
After being tricked by Amanda in second grade, she had learnt a lot.
And Bea here, all fell withing the perimeter of who she considered safe to be with. Its like a check list, No dark magic? Check. Being in a school for a long time before she even knew Fila would come here? check. And so on.
"We're almost there," Bea whispered, her voice bouncing playfully off the root-lined walls. "And don't worry about the guys. They know better than to touch a guest of Ilvermorny... or a girl who can kick mahogany doors off their hinges."
Fila sighed. "And here I was hoping that they would try something so I could kick their ass."
Bea laughed, "No they are way to scared, most of them cant even talk to a girl without collapsing."
They reached a massive, circular stone slab etched with the carving of a coiled serpent. Beatriz didn't use a wand; she simply pressed her palm against the stone. she hissed at the door, and the stone rumbled, sliding aside to reveal the Snake Tribe's lair.
Fila looked confused as she thought she had just heard parseltongue. "You speak parseltongue?"
Bea shook her head. "No, it's just the sound of a snake. But it would be really cool if we all could speak parseltongue."
It was a cavernous space bathed in a warm, amber glow from hundreds of floating lanterns. Instead of the rigid, cold stone of the hallways, the floor here was covered in soft, woven rugs and thick cushions. Massive roots twisted from the ceiling, supporting hammocks and hanging beds that looked like silk cocoons.
"Cozy, right?" Bea said, unhooking her arm to spin around and gesture at the room.
Several students were scattered around, some playing a magical version of cards, others leaning over scrolls, but they all paused to look at the girl in the black vest and black blindfold.
"Fila, meet the pit," Bea announced. "Pit, meet the girl who's going to make our lives very difficult for the next few weeks."
Some students waved, others didn't even look up from what they were doing.
Fila didn't wait for an invitation. She navigated the room with that effortless grace, her senses picking up the location of every person and every snack bowl. She found a low, root-carved table piled with strange, colorful fruits and small, honey-glazed cakes.
"You weren't lying about the snacks," Fila rasped, her smirk returning as she plucked a small, purple fruit from a bowl.
Clara, who had been sitting by the central fire pit, stood up and stretched. "We're Snakes, Flower. We like to be comfortable. So, about that bed-sharing..." she teased, glancing at Bea.
Fila bit into the fruit, the sweet juice bursting over her tongue. She turned her blindfolded face toward Bea, her eyes (if she had any) would likely be dancing with mischief.
Bea seemed to flush slightly, but quickly looked away. Fila looked towards Clara and gave her a thumbs up as for thanks for that.
Clara's grin widened into something positively wicked, her magic shimmering with the satisfaction of a successful prank. She flopped back onto a pile of oversized cushions, watching the two of them like it was the best show in the school.
"You're welcome, Flower," Clara chirped, tossing a honey-glazed cake into the air and catching it in her mouth.
Beatriz, usually the one in control of the room, was currently struggling to find her footing.
"Clara has a big mouth and very little sense," Bea muttered, though the lack of bite in her voice made the protest weak. She finally turned back to Fila, her face still holding a ghost of that flush under the amber light. "Lets go see the rooms." She said and quickly started moving. And while passing by Fila she took hold of her hand and pulled her along.
The physical contact was sudden, but Fila didn't pull away. Bea's hand was warm, and she seemed to hold on like Fila would just run away.
They moved past the central fire, where the scent of cedar and roasting cocoa beans was thickest, and toward a series of archways veiled by hanging ferns. As they entered the corridor leading to the sleeping quarters, the warm feeling of the commonroom change to a colder feeling. Not a bad cold but a good cold, as a cold you would be comfortable sleeping in.
"You're awfully quiet now, Bea," Fila rasped, her thumb tracing the back of Bea's hand as they walked. Her magic seemed to have calmed down slightly.
Bea didn't look back, but the way her shoulders squared suggested she was trying to regain her usual poise. "I'm just making sure you don't trip. These roots have a habit of moving when they think someone isn't paying attention."
"If you only knew," Fila countered, her signature smirk deepening.
They reached a large, circular room where the floor was a thick, springy carpet. The whole room looked like it was dug out by real snakes, like a burrow. In the walls and in the roof lights were dug into the, casting ambient lights that made the room feel like it had a campfire lit in it.
Fila looked around at the furniture and other interesting things in the room, the beds were made from hollowed out trunks of trees. And much to her disapproval, they were bigger than the beds at Ilvermorny, they could easily fit two people. All the beds had bed frames, with hanging curtains made from linen.
"its nice and cozy, but I would miss having a view like the thunderbird tower." Fila remarked as she looked up through the window in the ceiling. It's a nice view of the sky at least.
Bea sat down on one of the chairs at a desk, the bed beside her was probably hers.
Fila walked over to the bed Bea had pointed out. She ran a hand along the edge of the wood, feeling the faint, lingering life force of the tree it had once been. It was sturdy—solid. She turned her blindfolded face back to Bea, her smirk turning into something a bit more challenging.
"One thing, Bea," Fila said, her airy lilt dropping an octave. "You mentioned sharing a bed earlier. And considering these things are basically small boats..." She gestured to the wide trunk. "Was that just more of your 'good host' routine, or are you actually going to try and steal all the blankets from a guest of Ilvermorny?"
Bea tried to look away, but a shade of red started appearing on the girls face. "There is only one blanket…" she said, and turned silent.
Fila let out a soft laugh, and started unbuttoning her black vest. "You know, sharing bed and blanket isn't something two does just like that. Or is it some sort of tradition here?"
The girl wasn't looking at Fila. And didn't see her taking of the vest and hanging it on a hook beside the bed. "Yeah… tradition… I need to be a good host after all." The girl finally turned to she Fila without vest and half unbuttoned shirt.
The moment Beatriz turned, her breath hitched. Fila stood by the hollowed-out trunk, her black vest already discarded to reveal the lean, functional lines of her physique. The half-unbuttoned shirt offered a glimpse to the toned girl from another school.
"Um… ii…" Bea couldn't fisnish something, as her gaze couldn't be pulled away from the back of girl changing right in front of her.
Fila of course knew this effect, as it was the same on Calla and June. Everyone seems to have a odd obsession with wide backs and muscles, and often the two combined.
"You were saying?" Fila asked with a raised eyebrow as she turned to look at Bea still sitting on the chair.
Beatriz blinked rapidly, finally snapping her gaze up to Fila's face. "Lets just go to bed." Bea said rapidly, and stood. She walked to her closet, and picked out a pajamas.
"You're going to sleep in pajamas? How, its so hot in here" Fila said as she took of her shirt. She now only had pants on, this wasn't the plan for her. But seeing the girl all flustered gave her a strange sense of satisfaction.
Bea had truned around by now and her gaze ones again stuck on the topless girl. "Fila… I cant focus!" the girl exclaimed while taking of her outfit and putting on her pajamas.
Fila unbuttoned her pants. "Focus on what?" she smiled playfully, and slid out of her pants, she had to wiggle a little to make them go down over her hips.
And Bea lost it, she crashed sown into the bed and refused to look more at her guest. 'Why is my heart beating so fast, and why is she so open with this. is this how Americans always does things like this?' Bea thought as she felt Fila lay down next to her.
Fila laid on her back. "This bed is a lot more comfortable than I thought it would be." Even the pillow felt like a soft cloud.
After much hesitation, Bea finally turned to lay on her back as well. But in doing so she caught a glimpse of the girl beside her. Topless and only wearing panties, while she laid in pajamas. And on their first time meeting.
"How are you so calm about being half naked, with a girl you met today?" Bea asked, she didn't look away from Fila this time.
Fila turned her head toward Beatriz, her black blindfold catching the ambient amber light of the burrow. A lazy, confident smile pulled at the corner of her mouth.
Fila turned her head toward Beatriz, her sapphire-blue blindfold catching the ambient amber light of the burrow. A lazy, confident smirk pulled at the corner of her mouth.
"I've spent the last few years learning that shame is just another weight you don't need to carry," Fila said, her voice soft in the quiet of the room. "Besides, I'm blind, Bea. To me, everyone is half-naked until I decide otherwise."
The two were silent for a bit after that, it made sense. She was blind and couldn't even see herself most of the time, until she used the sight from a nearby tree of something.
"But, your reactions are way to fucking adorable. And I thought you would like to see a topless champion sometime" she said and bit her lip while turning to her side, now facing directly to Bea.
The heat in the room suddenly got higher. Bea let out a audible breath of air she had been holding.
"You are... absolutely impossible," Beatriz whispered, her voice barely a thread of sound. She didn't move away. In fact, she seemed pinned to the mattress by the sheer weight of Fila's proximity. "Is this part of your strategy? Distract the local champions so they can't think straight before a duel?"
Fila softly laughed. "No, this is just out of self-interest." Fila looked at the girl. Her deep brown reflecting the lights slightly. "Are you nervous about dueling?"
The question felt like a break from the tension that had built up for a while now. And Bea had a visible change in posture as she finally relaxed.
"Yes and no." Bea let out, also turning to her side to face Fila. "I'm not nervous about everyone, but I know some of them I cant win against. And I'm not even sure about you."
Fila smiled. "Want a tip if you go against me?"
The shift in tone was like a sudden drop in a roller coaster, one moment they were flirting with disaster, and the next, they were two competitors sharing a quiet truth in the dark.
"A tip?" Beatriz asked, her eyebrows arching. She looked at Fila, really looked at her, noting the way the moonlight played off the white streak of hair. "You'd give away your own secrets before the first bell even rings? You really are a different breed of champion."
"I know, I'm way more beautiful than most." She said nonchalantly. "But alright, lets see" she thought about what to give away.
And why would she give away a secret and risk loosing? She didn't know. Was it for fun, or did she just not care about the competition.
The short answer is both. She didn't care if she won or not anymore, before she did. But now she saw that it didn't matter at all. I would give her a trophy, and a massive headache. Maybe Fontaine wasn't totally wrong telling her to lose on purpose. But she wasn't going to lose on purpose.
"You see, I have many tricks up my sleeve. But the one you must be vary of more than most is this." she held out her hand slightly. And suddenly from the edge of the bed a vine came almost crawling up towards it.
Bea's eyes widened.
And soon the vine twisted around Filas arms like a bracelet. And soon small flowers sprouted from the vine.
"You did that just like that?" Bea asked while gently touching the vine. And than it hit her. Fila's nickname, The flower of Ilvermorny wasn't for being pretty like a flower or anything. She was literally the flower of Ilvermorny.
Bea felt conflicted. All this time she had learnt to never show anything that might help the opponent, but her she had met a girl who threw all that out of the window like it was just scrap. She didn't need advantage to win, she had confidence in her ability and could flex with it.
And that more than anything was both respectful and impressive.
"I know that you did something I France, because I'm related to the Delacour family." She said out. Which made fila turned her head.
"Omg you know Fleur?"
Bea looked at Fila. "Yes why? How do you know her?"
Fila smiled, "She's my friend. We met in France and I hung out with her, and she came to me after I got tortured and helped me walk for the…"
"Wait hold on what did you say? Tortured?" Bea sat slightly up when she heard what Fila had said.
Fila looked at the girl, she seemed shocked and surprised and worried at the same time. "Yeah, the whole thing with the dark wizards are that they captured me and turned me into their plaything. They are the reason I don't have eyes anymore."
Bea's eyes fell on the black blindfold, and the scars that covered her body. She didn't think about the scars before but now they seemed so much more intense.
"Fila..." Bea's voice was a ragged whisper. She reached out, her hand trembling slightly before she caught herself and rested it on the edge of the hollowed trunk. "You say it like you're talking about the weather. They... they did that to you? On purpose?"
Fila didn't move. She stayed on her side, the vine still loosely coiled around her arm, though the flowers had begun to close their petals. "Dark wizards don't really do things by accident, Bea."
She let out a short, dry laugh that lacked its usual raspy melody. "It's why I don't care about trophies or secrets. Once you've felt a Cruciatus hit your marrow, a tournament duel feels like a playground game."
Beatriz moved closer, disregarding the "borders" entirely now. She sat on the edge of her pillows, looking down at Fila with a mixture of horror and a fierce, protective brand of respect that she hadn't felt for anyone her own age before.
"I had no idea," Bea murmured. "No one told us. We just heard that Ilvermorny was sending a 'powerhouse.'" She reached out, her fingers tentatively brushing the hair away from Fila's temple, near the edge of the blindfold. "Does it... does it still hurt?"
Fila turned her face slightly into the touch, her smirk returning, though it was softer now, more honest. "No, but the memories does, and the nightmares are the worst. Other than that nothing."
She reached up and caught Bea's hand, guiding it to rest against the center of her chest, right above her heart. "But don't go getting all sentimental on me, Bea. I didn't tell you so you'd pity me." But in one yank, Fila pulled Bea down into a embrace. "Hehe, now your stuck. Lets sleep. I really want to see how to do in classes."
The students from other school were encouraged to attend the classes here, they could choose what to attend if they didn't have any assignments from their own professors.
"Wait actually, what grade are you in?" Fila asked pulling the girl slightly back to look at her.
Bea looked up after being buried into the neck of Fila. "Fourth grade. Im one year above you. I asked the headmistress what grade you are in."
"Fourth grade? So you're an upperclassman, huh? I guess that explains the 'dangerous host' complex. You've had an extra year to practice being intimidating." Fila once again pulled her in.
And Bea didn't mind.
She didn't let go of the embrace, however. If anything, she tucked the blanket more securely around both of them. Fila could feel the rhythmic thump of Bea's heart against her own chest.
"Fourth grade," Fila mused, her airy lilt returning. "Does that mean I have to call you 'Senpai' or something? Because if so, I'm going back to the guest wing right now. My ego has a strict 'no-honorifics' policy."
Beatriz let out a genuine, albeit tired, laugh. The sound was muffled against Fila's collarbone. "No, you don't have to call me anything but my name. But maybe you should show a little respect to your elders, North American. I've survived another year of the Amazon; that's worth something."
Fila laughed. "Your one year older than me, but alright. Senior may I sleep now?"
Bea laughed as well, but in a tired way. "Yes you may."
"Goodnight, Flower," Bea whispered, her voice trailing off into the first edges of sleep.
"Night, Storm," Fila replied, her flowersight dimming as she let the school's pulse guide her into a dreamless rest.