Mystic Academy Ch. 02

"I really must apologize again young lady, "Lohar said from his desk, "The behavior of my Walara was quite unacceptable."

Megan sat in the large chair in front of Lohar's desk, hands cradling a cup of tea Bram had prepared for her earlier. The professors office was, if anything, even more cluttered than Brams. Lohar's desk was on a side wall of a rather large room, three large windows letting in dim light. Along the walls and through the middle of the room were a collection of tables with various, somethings, going on. Megan had no idea what to make of the various vials bubbling, frisky monkeys swinging around or birds winging their way along the ceiling. The whole hall seemed slightly crazy to Megan, but as she reminded herself, she really needed this job.

Professor Lohar was a older gentleman wearing a dark slightly worn suit and red vest over a white shirt. He adjusted his glasses as he spoke, eyes narrowing slightly as he focused on Megan.

Her face still burned with embarrassment at the glance, thinking back to her sitting on the floor half undressed being swarmed by a bunch of frisky monkeys, Walara or whatever they called the gropy little critters here. She would never admit it, but she still felt an odd flutter in her chest when she thought of what happened, unsure what she thought of the whole thing. But determined to play it to the hilt.

"It is ok sir," Megan said softly. Professor Lohar had been really apologetic, guiding her to his office personally, the ever-present Bram helping her get herself presentable before gently closing the door behind him.

"I'm surprised, though" Lohar said reflectively, "The Walara are attuned to a persons psyche, they can usually give me a better impression of an individual than Bram, who by the way gave his approval of you for this position you came to discuss. They seemed quite taken with you, although perhaps in an inappropriate way."

"Again, it's ok sir" Megan repeated, snuggling back in the chair. She had lost a couple buttons in her adventure, but never one to downplay an advantage, made sure her back was straight and shoulders back. "It really was unusual but I hope we can still have our interview for the position working with you!"

"Oh, yes, right, the interview." Lohar shuffled the papers on his desk. Lohar seemed flustered for a moment before he continued, "Um yes. So, your resume shows you have a fair bit of experience dealing with the various sentients we work with here?"

Megan nodded, no idea what he was talking about other than being gang-groped and tickled by monkeys seemed to be a ok thing here.

"Yes sir, I have extensive experience with sentients."

"Excellent," he looked up from the papers for a moment as if suddenly noticing the attractive woman sitting in front of him, "Yes, right and we will have to add my Walara to that list I see. For this position you would be staying here at the academy with us. I work long hours so I would expect you to be available if I were to need any assistance setting up and experiment"

"That would not be a problem, sir," Megan replied feeling a spike of excitement.

"We had another individual in mind," Lohar muttered to himself flipping through some papers, "but with your interaction I feel you would be a good fit here."

Megan clasped her hands tightly, not wanting to say anything to interrupt the professor. If it takes getting stripped and tickle groped to land the job, she thought, I'll drop the blouse in a heartbeat!

"Thank you, sir" Megan said excitedly, deciding to run with it while Lohar seemed distracted, "You won't be disappointed!"

"Yes, well thank you Megan," Lohar said, dropping the papers on the table. Behind him something chimed from one of the tables pulling his attention away.

"Oh, right," Lohar pushed a button on his desk as he turned away, "Bram here will show you to your room. We do have something of a uniform policy here so Bram will make arrangements for your measurements and all that thing."

The office door opened and Bram stepped in, his slightly frazzled expression pausing at Megan for a moment before looking at Professor Lohar.

"Bram, Megan here has accepted the position working with us here. Can you arrange to get her to her room and whatever else you do with new assistants."

Megan raised an eyebrow at that comment, but looked up to smile at Bram.

"I am ready when you are, sir!"

"Yes of course, Professor, I will have her settled in the assistants office. Right this way Megan."

Collecting her bag and keeping a hand holding the now buttonless and ripped shirt closed, Megan followed Bram on a tour of the academy. The building was surprisingly warm so she had her jacket draped over a arm expecting a brief stroll, a choice she started to regret as the tour started.

Bram led them from the office and followed an oddly rambling path through the academy. The stone walls, although beautiful with the various paintings and views from the windows, blended together after a while leaving her hopelessly lost. To make matters worse, Bram's pace was as frantic as his personality, so after a few moments Megan was getting tired of racing about. To make matters worse, class must have just gotten out so the halls were filling quickly with students, all of which were eyeing the woman walking by holding her shirt closed.

"Excuse me, sir," Megan said after walking past a group of particularly leering group, "Sorry, I was just wondering if we are almost at my room? We seem to have been walking about for some time now."

"Yes, I suppose. The Professor likes us to do daily walkabouts to make sure the students are dedicated to their studies. You will be doing this most days once you get situated."

Megan looked up slightly, eyes widening in surprise and annoyance. Like he really needed to take her for a walk after the damn Walara! Walking by another group, the low whistles she knew the last thing the students were thinking of was their studies.

"I see," Megan said patiently while trying not to grind her teeth, "Are we almost finished? I appreciate the tour but my belongings are getting rather heavy and, well, my blouse has seen better days."

Bram looked down, eyes lingering a moment over her body before looking forward again, "We are almost done, one more room and we will circle back. I hope you were paying attention."

"Yes, quite." Megan shrugged, tugging her top down as she looked past another group. Is that a larger hall? Coming to the end of the corridor her heart sank as she tightened the grip on her top. So many people!

"Well look at this!"

Basil leaned back in his seat, nudging his friends to look at the entrance to the study hall. A third-year student, Basil was a athletic man with short brown hair and mischievous air about him. Dropping his feet from the table he leaned forward to watch Bram and the new woman walk in and stop by the door.

"Bram has a new helper!"

Beside him, Basil's girlfriend Clementine looked up from her book with a disdainful sniff. Her fiery red hair was pulled back from her face, curling down her shoulders. She rested the book on her lap, brushing the creases from her dress as she did.

"Oh well isn't that fun," Clemintine said with a tone that implied it was anything but, "Whatever happened to the last one? I can't keep track of them all."

"Basement ghouls," Ivan was a taller well-built man, bulky compared to Basil's lean athleticism. He brushed his shoulder length black hair back as he looked at the new woman appreciatively, "What I heard she went down looking for something and got caught, ghouls were tickle-licking her for hours before they found her."

"Oh, how sad. Anyway."

"Clemintine stop," her friend Violet said laughing. Violet was a shorter woman with blond hair in the usual school bun, "Don't be like that."

"Don't be like what?"

"New girl, exists. Clemintine 'I hate her", Ivan said in a high voice made even funnier by the bulk of the man.

"She must be destroyed!" Basil said laughing as he leaned across the table to fist-bump his friend, "Oh stop with the glares, I'm immune to the red rage."

Clemintine threw a death glare at the two, ignoring Violet covering her mouth to hide her laugh as the two continued. Focusing on the new woman, Clemintine drew on her power, calling several of the fairies darting around the hall. All new girls at the academy needed to learning the hierarchy here, the one that placed her at the top.

The voices of the hall faded as Clemintine concentrated, calling several of the faeries to her. They fluttered behind her, ignored by the others, small humanoids with butterfly wings answering the call of a like minded mistress. Many of the faeries were gentle and kind, but the ones favored and supported by Clemintine were anything but kind and loving.

Whispering under her breath, her eyes narrowed as she gave her command's leaning back as her minions darted across the room.

This just sucked!

Megan looked across the huge room, dozens of low tables surrounded by couches and chairs and even more students sitting around. The air was alive with the buzz of conversation and flying creatures darting about near the ceiling. If she wasn't holding a torn blouse she would have loved the vibrant energy of the room, but after the morning episode and Bram's hike, the only thing she felt was tired and sore.

"This is one of the student halls. You will be expected to come through here several times a day to offer any support the students may need." Brams voice droned on, Megans tired brain making her head nod as if she was paying attention.

Looking away she noticed a few of the faeries had clustered by a pretty red-haired woman. Looking more closely, that bunched seemed a bit agitated, darting around aggressively, she thought. Their manic movement pulled at her attention, a feeling of nervousness clenching in her belly. Wait a second, she thought, they are coming this way!

Playtime!

Clementines faeries had been especially groomed since she arrived at the Academy four years ago. Attracted to the chaotic energy of the woman they acted as her hands, dolling out torment to anyone or thing that caught her gaze. Normally peaceful, Clementines faeries enjoyed the sound of laughter with a tingle of desperation and eagerly flew across the room to extract just that sound.

The faeries hit Megan like a tornado. Her bag went flying with her jacket, arms reaching to cover her head as she shrieked. The faeries landed freely; the remains of the blouse gone as they started tickling the topless woman mercilessly. Others flew up the dress, leaving it billowing to expose her bare legs, almost buckling as their nails tickled her thighs, behind her knees making her dance in place, screams and laughter echoing through the hall. One faerie landed on her hair, grabbing her fingers while another dug into her armpits making her laugh even louder as its fingers danced along the smooth soft skin.

"Stop!" She shrieked, a mix of anger and laughter in her voice. The faeries had her spinning in place, the dress suddenly breaking free leaving her naked. The tickle torment did not stop, jumping and twisting to get away, the students cheering along with her laughter.

After several minutes she fell and Bram snapped a command, the faeries slowly pulling away to fly off to the ceiling again. Megan sat on the floor trying to catch her breath, to tired to care that she was naked on the floor in the students study hall. She looked up at Bram, her hair a wild mess again sitting back with her heels by her butt. In a exhausted voice she asked softly,

"Sir, can I just go to my room now?"