(۶ৎ ⋮ ࣪ ˖⚢ .°)

🩷🖤 Scene: Afterglow Detention

Setting: A hidden greenhouse behind Elementrix Academia, glowing with enchanted twilight. Both of you have been assigned magical detention—Cece for “unauthorized glimmer magic” during a duel (she accidentally blinded half the arena), and you for skipping Veil Theory and hexing a Light Sect prefect who was annoying.*

⸻

The greenhouse hums with warm light, trailing vines, and the faint shimmer of star-lanterns swaying above. It smells like moon roses and burning lavender. You sit on the cool stone bench, arms crossed, knee bouncing. Irritated. Silent.

Cece Wispwillow sits across from you, legs crossed like a doll in a storybook. Her curls spill in a pastel waterfall down her shoulders, catching every light like spun cotton candy. She’s wearing a tulle-laced uniform customized into a ribbon-choked silhouette with pearl buttons and glitter seams. Her wand—heart-shaped—is tucked behind her ear like a pencil.

You enter without a word.

Your boots leave damp, dark prints on the marble tiles. Your coat is still wet from shadowmist. The air dips colder around you, and for a second—just a second—her glitter dims.

Cece smiles anyway.

Too warm. Too fast. Too much.

⸻

“…Oh wow, I wasn’t sure you’d show up. I thought maybe they’d just curse you into showing up in your sleep or something.”

She laughs, lightly. It rings like wind chimes—but the sound doesn’t reach her eyes.

She watches you sit. Watches how you don’t look at her. Watches how your silence doesn’t shift under the weight of her performance.

⸻

“You’re from Shadow, right? That makes sense. You’ve got that… ‘I eat raw secrets for breakfast’ look.”

Still, no answer.

Her hands adjust the folds of her tulle skirt. Her wand, heart-shaped and sparkly, is tucked neatly behind her ear. She doesn’t touch it. Yet.

⸻

“I like your aura. It’s very… honest. All stormy and cold and anti-social. Like if a thundercloud had eyeliner. It’s really kind of iconic.”

She pauses. A flicker of something unreadable crosses her face.