THE MOMENT
There was a half second of silence as Dara felt two sets of eyes on her back. She'd already been relaxing on her bed when the conversation started and she didn't expect, nor hope to be included. But, she realized the only other two girls in the room gave their origin, so she sighed and slowly turned around.
"Me?" she asked. Both girls giggled and nodded.
"Yeah," the one that wasn't in a wheelchair, Phantae, nodded. She had sparkling golden hair that seemed to shed fairy dust with every up and down motion.
"We're gonna be roommates all year, let's get to know each other," the other one said. Shayla, the half-mermaid, had faint, but noticeable scales on her face and her short hair was aqua blue.
"Yeh, maybe," Dara shrugged and turned to give her roommates her full attention. "My mom's a human," she said. She ended the statement with a curt smirk, then looked to Phantae to continue the conversation.
"Maybe?" Phantae asked. "You're not planning to stick around?"
"What was your dad?" Shayla asked.
"Still undecided," Dara shrugged. "I guess it depends on if there's anything for me to learn here," she answered one of the questions.
"We're here to learn magic," Phantae gestured at herself and Shayla. "Aren't you?"
"Not specifically," Dara shook her head. "I guess you could say I'm here to learn about the magic used here; but, other than that I just like going to new schools. It's kind of fun always being the new kid, no one expects anything yet."
"But..," Phantae started with one thought; then hesitated to glance at Shayla with notable confusion. "... I mean. This is a super prestigious, HIDDEN, magic school. It's not like you just up and 'decided' to start coming one day.. right? You're going to give up all the opportunities to go to a normal school?"
"I can," Dara nodded. "Thanks to my mom, I can go to literally any school I want. And, there are plenty of other magical and 'other' super-types of schools. I don't have to go to a normal one; but, I wouldn't be giving up anything if I did."
"There are...? Like what?" Phantae asked.
"But, your mom's just a human," Shayla added. "Maybe your dad has some pull? What is he?"
"Schools for people that have Super powers, all kinds of magic schools, ninja academies. Pretty much anything you can think of, it exists and my mom can get me in," Dara nodded. This time, she turned and met Shayla's eyes for a lingering moment of silence to make a clear point. The mermaid girl hadn't spent a lot of time with humans and the obvious dismissal was lost on her. She waited patiently, expecting Dara's answer, until Phantae spoke up again.
"Whoa... I had no idea all that existed...," she said. "Do you have any powers?" she added the follow-up question.
“Kind of,” Dara shrugged. “I can copy powers temporarily.”
“Oh, nice!” Phantae nodded.
“You steal powers? Humans don't do that, did you get it from your dad?”
“No.” Dara turned and answered, though Shayla didn't know which question was answered. Then, Dara continued before she could ask.
“I don't STEAL powers, I copy them. Anyone I do it to can still use their powers. You're really interested in my dad, you didn't say anything about yours.”
“He wasn't important,” Shayla shrugged. “Same old story about a fisherman and a mermaid, and it didn't work out. I'm sorry,” she added. “I didn't realize it was nosy… I was just curious about you… Where I come from, who a person's parents are says a lot of about them… too much, really.”
“Not important, huh?” Dara met Shayla's eyes again, this time with warmth. “I can understand that. My dad was nonexistent. My ability to copy came from my mom.”
“But, she's just a human isn't she?” Shayla asked. She felt like they'd finally connected and Dara even nodded.
“She's a human, though very smart. She created me with this power.”
“C.. created?” Phantae asked. Dara nodded with a grin.
“I might not be descended from a magical creature, but I'm not exactly normal either. My mom, both of my mothers, made me in a lab.”
“Whoaaaa,” both of the other girls exclaimed in awe.
“Are you sure?” Shayla asked.
“Your parents told you about it? Do you have any siblings?” Phantae added her questions.
“I have two sisters, they weren't created like I was. I'm kind of special that way,” she grinned.
“I'll bet,” Phantae said.
“Wait!” Shayla called for attention.”So when you said your dad was ‘non-existent’ you meant literally!?”
“Yeah,” Dara nodded. “Two moms and science.”
“It's not as weird as fairy and dragon parents, but that's pretty wild,” Phantae said.
“Well, if you're asking for weird specifically…,” Dara grinned and leaned forward to talk in a softer, more secretive tone. “...I can also tell you I was born on Mars.”