"Hey there, Finny! Over here!"
Phineas whirled around as he heard that nickname shouted at him. He'd been so lost in his own melancholic thoughts that it took him a moment to recognize the source of the voice. When he did, he went over to the seat where the voice had come from, dragging his luggage along with him. He smiled as he did so. The voice belonged to... a friend.
It was still a novel concept to him. He, Phineas Fortescue, knew people who wanted him around them. He'd been pretty much a loner through his first years of schooling. And yet, during the last year, a unique set of circumstances had led him to striking up a friendship with the two girls who were now sitting on the seat across from him.
The girl who'd called out to him was Ruby Summers. She was red-headed and brown-eyed with a short and stocky figure, and possessed a loud voice and strong determination. She needed to be determined, since she hailed from a family of low-income farmers. Ruby could only attend classes at the Citadel because of a scholarship she'd earned through much reading and hardship, and she wasn't about to let this chance at making a better life for herself slip away.
The other girl who was on the seat next to Ruby, meanwhile, had an entirely different background. Azul de la Mar was the third daughter of the eminent de la Mar family, whose ancestral home was a castle built on a private island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Like all true-blooded members of the family, Azul possessed eyes and hair of the deepest blue as well as dusky skin and a curvy figure. Azul had never needed to truly try hard at anything; no one in her family expected much of her, since she was so far down the line of succession. It was a shame, since she had enormous magical potential. Even putting in a bare minimum of effort allowed Azul to easily succeed in all of her classes. Fortunately, her laid-back and easygoing personality made it easy enough to get along with her.
Over the last year, Phineas, Ruby, and Azul had all been in many of the same classes. Said classes involved a lot of group projects, and it soon became clear that no one wanted any of them in their groups. Phineas was ostracized because social anxiety, Ruby due to her lowborn background, and Azul because she didn't get involved in the cliquishness that defined the social hierarchy of the noble children. The three had to work together, because there was literally no-one else who would. At first, Ruby and Azul's differing natures had made work difficult, but Phineas had managed to provide the cement that allowed the three to work together effectively.
And they had been effective. Phineas had never had a more productive school year than the one he'd had last year, and he had his two partners... his two friends to thank for that. All of a sudden, a boring and dread-inducing train ride felt a lot more bearable. After giving Phineas a moment to settle in, the three began to catch up, talking about how their summers had gone as well as referencing several in-jokes that only the three of them got.
However, as the conversation went on, Phineas began to notice a certain tension the air. He wasn't that good at reading social situations in the first place, but even he couldn't help but notice when Ruby began to wax poetical about her mother's home-cooking, when Azul complained that she'd needed buy a new wardrobe just before school since none of her old pants fit, and when both began talking about what kind of delights might be had at the welcome feast. Phineas shifted uncomfortably as he heard all this talk. He had to clamp down on his imagination before it ran away with images of Ruby stuffing herself full of steak and potatoes and Azul's butt getting big enough to ruin another pair of pants. He'd only just managed to make his first real friends! He was not going to screw this up!
If only he knew.
During their first year of acquiantance with one Phineas Fortescue, both Ruby Summers and Azul de la Mar had come to know a lot about him. Both girls appreciated his sensitivity, thoughtfulness, and even found his awkwardness endearing. They had also both found out, in their own ways, about Mr. Fortescue's preference for larger women. So each had decided, on her own, of her own volition, to try getting bigger to win his heart. Furthermore, in the conversation they'd had before Ruby had called "Finny" over, each had learned that the other girl had come up with the same idea. And in the end, both Ruby and Azul decided that...
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