Lola sat on the tiles, her dress poofing up around her knees as she intently watched Bloof.

The cavyrn, on the other hand, was acting utterly disinterested. Every now and then he turned to look at her, but that was about as much as she could get out of him. As for Codex's oculahl, it was standing right next to her, glaring at Bloof while its tailfeathers flicked irritably.

They were all inside a room with real grass, a tree growing in the corner, and casting a shadow over them. The room was circular, small outcroppings of rock extending upwards to support the primarily glass dome above them. All in all, it was probably a hundred feet across and at least forty high.

After Lola had finished her breakfast, she'd more or less grabbed Codex, Bloof, and the oculahl and ran here. She still wasn't sure what Codex had named the shy bird, or even if he had named it, but she thought it was rather cute regardless.

The room they were in was designed more or less from the ground up with the sole purpose of training familiars. Lola's mother had been Bound to a Vitality golemoid, a stout creature made of wood, and had commissioned the dome to be built separate from the main house, some distance away in the gardens.

Lola leaned forward, resting her cheeks in her hands as she gently kicked her feet back and forth, staring at Bloof. "Please? Just one little spell?"

The cavyrn turned to look at her and stuck his nose in the air before awkwardly cleaning himself. His wings kept getting in the way of his head, but he managed to skillfully complete the task without much issue.

Lola sighed loudly. For whatever reason, her charm of two hundred and sixty-four wasn't working on the cavyrn, which meant the extraordinary amount of influence she ordinarily commanded over others wasn't helping her at all here. In other words, she was just going to have to figure out a different way.

Crawling forward clumsily on her hands and knees, puffy dress getting in the way, she patted him on the head. He jerked from the contact and looked at her in surprise. She solemnly stared him in the eye in the way only a twelve-year-old girl could.

His ears leaned back, flattening against the side of his head, and went back to cleaning himself, keeping an eye on her. Lola sighed. She'd thought this would be easier.

Suddenly, she perked up. She hadn't checked Bloof's status yet, that was why! He was probably grumpy that she wasn't paying enough attention to him. With a thought, the cavyrn's status displayed itself.

Bloof: Lvl 1

Health: 37/37

Mana: 29/29

Endurance: 37

Agility: 51

Strength: 28

Intelligence: 21

Charm: 64

Perks: Feline Disposition, Draconic Relative

Lola's brow furrowed as she saw its abilities. They were fairly... normal, in all honesty. She could remember Barkley saying that cavyrns had a lot of mana and intelligence, but the relative stats were kind of low in comparison. She'd never heard of its two Perks, either. From their names alone, she could tell that they had something to do with the cavyrn's animal parts, but she wasn't sure what exactly they entailed.

She gently punched her hand into the palm of the other. She could just go look in the library!

Standing, she looked down at Bloof and told him excitedly, "Let's go! I know somewhere were you can help me a bit, okay?"

Bloof glanced up at her and mewed quietly, before going back to what he was doing.

Lola frowned. Familiars were turning out to be more difficult than she'd thought they would be, and she wasn't entirely confident in her ability to persuade someone or something without her Charm and Adorable Perk.

The oculahl turned its mask-like face up at her. Mother-master sad?

Lola's eyes widened to an enormous size as she covered her mouth. The oculahl leaned back slightly at the expression, but repeated, Mother-master sad...

She tackled it in a feathery, poofy hug. "You can talk! I didn't know familiars could talk - Bloof, can you talk?" The cavryn flicked its gaze to her and spitefully continued licking itself.

Mother say Athena.

Releasing the oculahl, Lola asked, "Who's your mother? And who's Athena?"

It hopped over to her satchel, and an eye morphed into the surface of its mask, staring at Codex. Mother book. I Athena.

Lola went back and forth between them, a massive grin spreading across her face. "Your name is Athena? And you think Codex is your..." She dissolved into a fit of giggles, before pulling the oculahl into another hug, which it - she - seemed to dislike.

Mother say. She paused for a moment, the mana-infused eye screwing up as she listened to some invisible voice. Mother say I listen you.

It took Lola a few seconds to decipher what she was trying to say, but got the message. "Codex wants you to listen to me?"

Athena nodded several times, flapping her wings. Mother-master... Lola.

Bloof amiably and yet purposefully walked over to them, and sat down, staring at Lola. He mewed loudly, and perhaps a little aggressively. Lola looked back and forth between Athena and Bloof, an idea forming in her mind. "Athena... can you talk to Bloof and tell me what he wants?"

Athena glared at Bloof, her eye narrowing. Bloof mean. Bloof bite tail. Lola poked her head into her view, smiling winningly. Her Charm might not work on Bloof, but it might work on Athena. "Please? Would you do it for me?"

Athena looked down at Codex, securely placed in Lola's satchel, and then back to Lola. Mother say obey. She then returned her gaze to Bloof, before the eye disappeared. Two small motes of light appeared, floating around Athena. One of them hovered up to Lola's eye level, and she saw that was in fact a miniature eye all of its own. Presumably, the other one was also an eye, which was watching Bloof intently.

...humans. so disobedient.

Lola jumped, startled, as a silky smooth voice entered her mind. She stared at Athena, stunned. "Are you... making us talk to each other?"

The oculahl turned her head to Lola, smugness practically radiating from it. Proxy. Link selves.

human. i require food.

Lola picked it up, and his lower legs hung in the air as she held him at arm's length, staring into his yellow eyes. "My name's Lola Bourgeious. You're my familiar!"

His face wrinkled up. i am not anyone's. you are mine. She put him down, a little confused, and he sauntered away, his heavy tail brushing the grass. you are all mine. obey me, pathetic humans! Bloof's attention suddenly deviated entirely to a small dragonfly, busily flitting among the grass. His pupils dilated, and he automatically hunched, his tail tip flicking back and forth. prey. come here, prey. be eaten by - DISOBEDIENT!

His pounce had entirely overshot its mark, and the dragonfly vanished into the air. Bloof hissed loudly after it, before returning his attention to Lola. bring prey.

Athena broke the Proxy off, turning her face to Lola. Bloof mean.

Lola was distracted from the conundrum by Isaac entering the dome. She was more than a little surprised - it was relatively late in the morning. Normally her father would be hard at work for the company he worked for. She wasn't entirely sure what he did, but it was very important.

He approached her, smiling. "Ah, I see miss Faxter was correct. Congratulations on summoning two familiars, Lola!"

The excitable young girl shook her head insistently, correcting him. "I only summoned Bloof. Athena is Codex's familiar!"

Isaac's face soured faster than a pan of milk in hot sun. "...Is that so?"

Lola nodded happily. "Yup! She can read minds and talk and everything! She's really smart!" Athena puffed up slightly, preening at the praise. Bloof looked over, ears flattening to the back of his head as a low hiss built up in his throat. If Lola could have heard what it was saying, an irritable request to be praised would have worked its way into her mind.

But she couldn't, so she didn't.

Isaac leaned down, fixing Athena with a piercing stare. "Really? Would you mind demonstrating?" Paying attention to every movement the bird was making, he saw her glance at Codex and noted it down. Apparently the Living Book really had summoned its own familiar.

A feeling invaded his mind, cutting straight through his considerable mental defenses, and he almost attacked from the curious feeling. Mother-master-father? She sounded a bit curious, as though it was more concepts than she was comfortable linking together.

Isaac nodded, a forced smile rising to his face. "Well. That's quite - impressive. I suppose. And how is your familiar coming along?"

A pout appeared on Lola's face, and she slumped. "Bloof won't listen to me."

Isaac looked over at the disinterested cavyrn, eyes narrowing. "Is that so? Well, I know a few ways to get him to obey you..." He flexed his fingers, a short burst of red mana dancing between them.

Bloof looked over at them. He had just sensed a potentially worrying scenario coming, and wasn't sure if he should keep cleaning.

Oh well. It was always best to look one's best.